Colin Cowherd
Hockey is no longer a big four. It's football, basketball, baseball and soccer. Now, I'm not talking MLS. I'm talking COPA, World Cup, men's, women's, MLS, youth... and there's a lot of reasons for it.
The Dominican Republic has not been known in my lifetime as having world-class academic abilities.
Baseball is like any sport. It's mostly instincts.
People ask me, 'What's it like to leave ESPN?' and I say, 'I'm not leaving ESPN. I'm leaving ESPNU.' That's what I was on. That network doesn't even have a sales staff.
The culture at ESPN, I found when I left, isn't the same as when I came. It wasn't as much fun.
From a small market, nobody had heard of me. ESPN had guts, they had courage, they rolled the dice. A guy flew into Portland, we got a rare snowstorm, he was stuck there four days, John McConnell listened to me, and he recommended me.
A sports writer who covers baseball could go up to Tony La Russa and have a real baseball argument, and Tony would listen and it would seem reasonable.
There's not a single NFL writer in the country who could diagram a play for Bill Belichick.
Sometimes my tone stinks.
I can be harsh but I don't think I'm mean.
One of the things that was really attractive to me about Fox is they have the NFL, and baseball playoffs.
A lot of these coaches, they're almost like military leaders, and the media is the enemy. Football coaches are just wired tight.
To me, radio is about making you uncomfortable. Television is about making you comfortable: Who do you like? Who do you want to be friends with? So I don't need to tower over people in television.
It's hard to put into words how much fun it is for me, as a broadcaster, to build something with really smart, talented people.
Political radio is often angry.
You have to know what you are and what you're not. And I'm not a politico.
Twitter has created a certain momentum that is not always fact-based. I worry about that because I still live in a world where you need to have two sources.
Even when I agree with the Twitterverse, I don't like the means by which they reach the conclusion. It's a really scary place. And I'm not comfortable with that.
I mean ESPN plucked me out of nowhere and I'm forever grateful for the opportunity. I don't love the way it ended. But I'm not a grudge-holder.
I hurt people with my words and I regret that.
Deep down, I want to be liked, but in the end, I'm willing to argue. Is it because I'm seeking attention? I don't have the answers to that.
So we all want to be liked; I just don't always think I'm that likeable. I think my personality is really 50-50.
I'm not angry. I like to laugh.
Strong families equal strong leaders.
Let me tell you something, I'm a big believer, when it comes to quarterbacks and point guards: Who's your dad? Who's your dad?
The NFL is one of the first places where many star players finally see discipline. Finally have an authoritative male figure: Buck stops here, I make all the calls, you will not get an opinion.
Here's something that's interesting if you look at basic metrics or numbers in this country - 71% of African-American men: no dad at home. No disciplinarian. Fathers are often the louder voice, the disciplinarian. Many of those kids don't grow up with a dad.
Sean Taylor, great player has a history of really really bad judgment, really really bad judgment.
Point guard is like the quarterback. It's an IQ-judgment position. The great ones are not about themselves. They're about the others.
Leadership is IQ, it's not skills.
I don't like Derrick Rose, he'd rather score than distribute. That's not who I want as my point guard.
We're in an on-demand world. You can do real-time commentary now with no barriers. I don't have to drive to a studio, don't have to put makeup on. I don't have to go to a studio and get miked up.
I can age more elegantly if I curate talent.
I want to create this really smart, thoughtful podcast network where I do for young people what somebody did for me.
The demographics of this country are changing. And the people coming to this country are soccer fans, not hockey fans.
Soccer has surpassed, in this country, hockey.
A soccer star is on the field for two hours. In hockey, your star player is on the ice for 20 minutes.
Talent? Overrated. Leadership? Underrated.
If I am ever forced to cover guys playing video games, I will retire and move to a rural fishing village and sell bait.
You know, John Wall and Vick are very similar. I'm not disputing their talent. I mean, Michael Vick and John Wall are fun to watch. But building my franchise around him, leadership position?
I'm in the opinion business.
Do I think John Wall has grown up? Absolutely. Do I think he was immature when he broke into the league? Absolutely.
Do I think he's got character? Yeah. You don't play defense like that without deeply caring about teammates... John Wall plays real defense. He's got real character.
Who likes being wrong? I don't like being wrong.
I'm in talk radio. A story breaks, I need an opinion. I'm not ESPN News.
Tom Brady is the two best quarterbacks of all time.
Listen, when John Wall came out and did the Dougie, first home game, for 34 seconds, he was a moron. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I will never back down.
Well, I came from a small little town on the beach - Grayland, a town of about 1,000 people. I was the quarterback and a basketball player at Ocosta High School. It was a great community to grow up in.
My dad was the town optometrist and my mom worked at the school.