From former players, radio personalities, to lifelong journalists, and more… The sports world has many people willing to speak into a microphone. But a few child psychologists or first-grade teachers should get some airtime, too.
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Well, they are needed since we have a beef on our hands that is more fitting for a playground squabble that ends with someone sticking out their tongue and asking, ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ And it involves Draymond Green. Why aren’t you surprised?
Green is going at it with the guys on First Take, specifically Stephen A. Smith, Marcus Spears, and Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo. It all started when Dray called Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott “a bum” on his podcast, aptly named Why Is Draymond Green Talking About Football? He cohosts the pod with Jordan Schultz.
Draymond sort of walked his take back by clarifying that he only meant that Dak is no good in the playoffs when it matters most. However, it was still a pretty harsh attack on a player who’s having a good season but isn’t winning many games because his defense is the worst in the league.
All three ESPN employees took exception to Draymond’s take on Dak for different reasons. Stephen A. was mad that Draymond stole his schtick, as he’s known for sticking it to the Cowboys and their fans whenever possible. Spears felt like the Warriors star was talking out of pocket and without respect for how difficult and demanding it is to be an NFL player.
Spears pointed specifically to how NFL players can’t afford one bad game in the playoffs because they’d be eliminated. NBA players don’t face that same pressure.
“You get a seven-game series. You could have a bad night and come back and look like Jordan the next night, and everybody’ll forget about the night before,” said Spears.
Russo, as he often does, had the oddest take. He tried to discredit Draymond by saying that he wouldn’t get any playing time on the 1986 Boston Celtics. Huh, where did that come from?
When people try to out-crazy Draymond, it just allows him to re-take the position of sanity and righteousness that he voluntarily gives up so often. In this case, Green saying Dak is a bum was a needless barrage of stray bullets for a guy who doesn’t start trouble with anyone.
But once Russo went off the deep end, it gave Draymond the chance to respond and seem reasonable by comparison. In the newest episode of The Draymond Green Show, the Warriors forward began by saying he respected Stephen A. for setting him straight about his usage of the word “bum.”
Green then gave Spears props for having a great career. And he talked up what a great basketball prospect the former NFL player’s son, Marcus Spears Jr., is. Then he got to Russo, and he went line by line down the careers of guys like Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale, and Bill Walton, all members of that 1986 Celtics frontcourt.
Draymond compared his career accolades to what those three Hall of Famers did, and he proved that he’s in the same ballpark. He has four titles, two Olympic gold medals. And Green didn’t back down in saying, “When you name these names, one thing’s for certain, Mad Dog, when you throw these names out there, I got a seat at this table.”
Rather than trying to argue that he’s better than these legends, Draymond did the smartest thing he could do: He showed some humility and said, “It actually don’t f***** matter. It’s irrelevant.”
And you know what? Green is right. Any basketball fan with eyes and a brain could see what an integral part of those Championship-winning Warriors teams Draymond was. Would he have cracked that Celtics roster? Who cares? That’s a different team from a different era.
Mad Dog probably hasn’t played a sport since he was having a catch with his dad in the backyard while Mickey Mantle’s at-bat was broadcast on the radio. He seems to think that he owned Draymond with some kind of gotcha moment here. But all he did was make the Warriors’ forward look better.
Draymond wrapped up his rebuttal by saying he has a lot of respect for Mad Dog. That just casts Russo in an even worse light by bringing such a petty and flimsy argument to the table.
Draymond’s final point sealed his win. “When you say, ‘Man, Draymond wouldn’t play on that team,’ and then you name three Hall of Famers, I want you to understand, I don’t take that as a slight at all,” he said.
“Nor do I walk around thinking I’m any one of those three guys,” continued Green. “Ever. Never would. Got the utmost respect for their careers and what they are and what they’ve done and who they are… No disrespect taken when you say I couldn’t play in front of three Hall of Famers. No disrespect taken. I appreciate you for actually pretty much admitting I’m a Hall of Famer.”
This is right around the point when a teacher would intervene, breaking these two up and dragging them off the playground. Draymond would return to class a conquering hero, while Russo would have to fake being sick to go home and avoid the embarrassment of what just happened.
