President Obama set up a sports-radio interview in Columbus, Ohio...and then talked about the New York Jets. The New York media ate up Obama's comments dismissing the Jets trade for Tim Tebow. On ESPN, commentator Stephen A. Smith insisted Obama should have been talking about the NBA finals instead of Jets football.
With plenty of ooze, ESPN's Skip Bayless wondered if Smith was going to be a Romney voter: "I loved what he said on a Columbus radio station...I loved what Obama said. It was smart! It was insightful! It was interesting to me. His Regular-Guy stock goes way up with me, ‘cause he can really talk sports. He can talk it in depth....You gotta lay off this poor man."
But if you look at Obama's Jets talk, it's not a fountain of insight. It's pretty vanilla bar chatter:
“I don't like the idea of a QB controversy at the start of a season. So if I was a Jets fan, I’d be pretty nervous,” Obama said on the air.
“Sanchez is not Tom Brady yet, but he led them to the playoffs two years in a row. I think Tim Tebow seems to be a wonderful young man, and he’s got just a great winning attitude. He really steps up when things count. But there’s going to be a lot of tension in that situation,” Obama said. “So it’ll be pretty interesting to see how it plays itself out.”
Smith said he's thought about voting for Romney and said he voted for Obama the last time, and fawned over Mrs. Obama for effect several times in the TV spot, suggesting he'd vote for Obama again because of her.
In June, Smith knocked Obama for making a joke in Boston after the Red Sox traded fan favorite Kevin Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox. “Thank you for Youkilis,” Obama said to boos. Smith said he was “losing his mojo” and his “swag.” Bayless jumped in then, too: “That was nothing but swag! He has regained his mojo! That was straight mojo coming out of his mouth! That was trash talk! He’s talking about the White Sox fan that he is!”
Smith said, “You can’t have swag for the White Sox at this point. While you’re in Massachusetts in an election year.” Bayless shot back: “Hey, that’s the ultimate swag, man. You wanna talk about confidence? You wanna talk about guts?” Bayless only suggested Obama should have known he was going to be booed.
