Athletes who did not speak to the media

Yeah, but Parcells would fill up the notebooks, which is more than I can say about Belichick.

My dealings with Saban are pretty limited, so I'm not sure where he would fall between those two.

 

Saban will answer any question about anything, though he'll often do so in a condescending fashion. If you can stand a 30-second lecture about why you shouldn't have asked that question, he'll give you a great answer.

 

I was on a conference call once when he hung up when someone asked about injuries.

 

Think you're right, it's been a long time since I last interviewed Curtis Pride, back in the mid to late 90s. Despite this he was still an excellent interview.

 

I once overheard a pro player in my neck of the woods advising a few of his teammates to "unleash the cliches" when speaking to the media. At first, I thought it was one of those classic "Bull Durham" moments - the vet teaching the young guys about cliches. Then, when I actually interviewed him, he literally spouted cliche after cliche, even if they weren't appropriate. Like this:

Me: What kind of preparations is the team taking with a fierce opponent in town this weekend?
Cliche man: We're going to take it one game at a time, you know. That's all we can do...

Me: Player X is someone who seems to give a lot of defenses fits. What do you think is the best way to neutralize him?
Cliche man: All I can do is play the best I can. I can only control what I can control, and let the chips fall where they may.

After awhile, it became obvious that he was doing this just to be a dick. And he was a dick. He'd constantly rip his teammates in practice and in the locker room after a game. Thankfully, none of his teammates listened to his schtick about cliches, and he was promptly traded a year later. He was a good player, just a terrible personality. The quintessential talented jerk in every respect.

 

You think he's right?

If Curtis Pride is known for anything, it's for being hearing impaired. (OK, he was really fast too.)

And, Moddy's known him since high school.

And, you're going to conditionally agree with him on this point?

 

Oh, boy. I remember touching off World War III at this site when I casually said to Double Down, a couple of years ago, that, "I think you're probably right" regarding some arcane criminal law matter. It was just throwaway vernacular, and what I really meant was, "You ARE right." But the effect was akin to a nuclear bomb going off.

I see this as my karmic opportunity, and I'm going to give Mr. Bio the benefit of the doubt here.

 

I think you're probably right on the exact terminology of the precise handicap but will only concede he's 100% right with a doctor's confirmation.

Here we go again, Yankee fan loves to stick it to me, don't ya,

 

Absolutely.

And you haven't been around much, so I was pent up.

 

You gonna read my new book YF? It's getting good reviews in the tennis world. "Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew."

 

Greg Lloyd is the only athlete I have ever covered who looked at me like he wanted to kill me. Not for anything I said or wrote. Just because.