Anyone willing to crash Craig James interview and ask about the 5 hookers?

[DemosZTV]

Oh, I forgot to add: he did say he was opposed to recreational sex. So there's your reason craig james allegedly killed 5 hookers at smu.

[Degenerate Gardener]

And he seems as dumb in person as he does in the booth.

So you're saying he has a decent shot in the election?

[DemosZTV]

Not to get all cloak room, but nah - no one likes this guy.

[mikey4]

Not to get all cloak room, but nah - no one likes this guy.

I think cloak room is reserved for controversial matters. ;)

[DemosZTV]

I think cloak room is reserved for controversial matters. ;)

True; pretty sure that consensus is that craig james sucks and is an alleged murderer of 5 hookers because he is opposed to recreational sex.

[MNLonghorn10]

I cant wait until november...redemption will be sweet for those pour 5 hookers craig james killed while he was at smu

[BoKnows]

Do we have any early poll numbers on james' senate run?

[Yossarian]

Do we have any early poll numbers on james' senate run?

According to one of the dead hookers, Craig James poll is about 2 inches.

[DemosZTV]

Do we have any early poll numbers on james' senate run?

According to a UT/Tribune poll, he's at 7 percent, which according to james means he's surging.

They should be uploading the video of this farce sometime this afternoon on their website so you can watch him try and spin those numbers.

[SPII]

dude's getting killed on Texas Tribune's facebook

[randomscribbles]

Per Chuck Carlton's twitter:

Asked ESPN PR this Q: How Craig James's political comments would be weighed by ESPN/Disney in attempt to be re-hired?

An ESPN spokesperson:"You are asking a hypothetical since we don’t intend to bring Craig back." So it's on the record.

We are free!

[Yossarian]

This just made my entire year!

[Hagbard Celine]

i love how belo is able to write a story that purports to clothe itself in negativity, without actually really saying anything negative, and while simultaneously distorting and/or not reporting factual truths recorded in trial and deposition transcripts.... and they don't even give credit where credit is due... :)

Craig James faces backlash to his broadcasting career as he runs for Senate




Craig James, shown at Sammy's Bar-B-Q in Dallas last month, built a reputation as a smooth, well-prepared TV analyst with close ties to coaches and college football programs.

damn paywalled
this morning
some dude named Tom Benning

Craig James is using the polish and name recognition he garnered from years as a TV sports analyst to fuel a long-shot Senate bid against several well-established Texas politicians.

But as the former ESPN broadcaster and SMU football star leans on that high-profile resume, he must also wade through the recent crush of negativity that surrounded his broadcasting career — especially in connection with his complaint two years ago that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach mistreated his son. Since that time, college football blogs seized upon the dispute — which resulted in Leach’s firing and multiple lawsuits — to lob both reasoned criticism and juvenile insults in James’ direction. Fans across the country waged “Fire Craig James” campaigns on Twitter and Facebook.
And the feud became part of a larger backlash against what serves, in effect, as James’ public record over the past two decades.
“Over the past couple of years, Craig James has been the most unpopular college football broadcaster in this country,” said Richard Deitsch, media critic for Sports Illustrated. “You would have to go to Antarctica to find a positive comment about the guy.”
James said recently that “all those things that are out there do not impact me.” But he fiercely defended “supporting my son against an evil act” and acknowledged that he’s factored the situation into his electoral math.
“You have to understand that there are 25 million Texans and not all of those folks are Texas Tech alums,” he said in an interview. “So I’m going to continue to share what I am, who I am, and with that, people will make their minds up.”
Voter interest
How much GOP primary voters care about James’ broadcasting reputation, good or bad, is an open question. Some experts said the political newcomer benefits from his time on TV regardless, thanks to fundraising connections, high name identification and a natural ease in the spotlight.
It’s difficult to separate the football and TV work from James’ Senate campaign, in which he’s offering a fairly typical Republican platform of conservative social values and limited government.
James entered sports broadcasting soon after retiring from the NFL in 1989. He’s worked on ESPN’s popular College GameDay and, more recently, he offered analysis on marquee Thursday and Saturday college football games.
James built a reputation as a smooth, well-prepared analyst with close ties to coaches and programs. And although some dismissed him as too close to his old colleagues to offer independent criticism, James said his career speaks for itself.
“The job I had at ESPN was at the highest level,” he said. “If there were any kind of reservations from ESPN about me and my character and what I have done, I would’ve been fired a long time ago.”
The Tech saga
But everything changed in 2009, when James accused Leach of ordering his son Adam, a Tech football player, to stand in a dark, confined space after suffering a concussion in practice. Leach denied any wrongdoing, and after Leach was fired, the popular coach sued Tech and ESPN. The suit against the university was thrown out, and the one against ESPN is pending.
Leach, now head coach at Washington State, also painted James as an overbearing dad who complained about his son’s playing time and who used his influence at ESPN to undermine Leach and sway coverage.
James has rejected those charges, calling them “stories and false statements” that will “come clear and clean” in due time.
But his broadcasting reputation took a hit, particularly as he continued working ESPN games while the network reported on his dispute with Leach. Another wave of criticism came last year when Leach unloaded fresh allegations in his book, Swing Your Sword.
Blog traffic
Some fans turned James’ strengths against him, casting his access and polish as opportunism and smarminess. And “the animus started playing on itself,” said Deitsch, the Sports Illustrated critic, who was inundated with favorable reactions after blasting James’ credentials in a column last fall.
The vitriol spilled into the comments of a popular college football blog, titled Every Day Should Be Saturday, where users turned a false and ridiculous rumor about James into something that shows up in Google results for the former SMU star.
And another well-read blog, Awful Announcing, held an online voting contest last July to add another media personality to its “Mount Rushmore” of terrible sports broadcasting. The site’s editors included James almost as an afterthought, but he won the “honor” with huge margins.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before, where you had so many people unanimously turn against someone in the sports media,” said Matt Yoder, the site’s managing editor.
James hasn’t shied away from the Tech dispute — and accompanying backlash — in interviews and media appearances across the state. He also took the Google results problem head-on, explaining on Twitter that “they’re a headache, but they won’t slow down this campaign.”
But mainly, James has framed the conflict as something that has made him, his family and his campaign even stronger.
“The life lessons that I’ve been through have served me well,” he said. “The things we’re going through in Washington right now are going to take a backbone and guts. … And I’m gonna go up there with a mission and a task.”

[H34TX]

no one wore this replica SMU jersey?

[BoBigRed]

I just got back from this deal. No questions about 5 dead hookers, but there was plenty of seating for 5 zombie hookers; seriously, hardly anyone was there. Last time I went to one of these it was with the editor of Texas Monthly - Paul Burka - and the place was packed.

They did ask him about pay-for-play and Leach though. Regarding Leach he said that he was defending his son against a bully, that any dad would have done what he did and that Leach had locked James in an unlit closet (which we all know isn't true).

And he seems as dumb in person as he does in the booth.

James is a tool.

I finally got Swing your Sword while I was in Gulf Shores, Alabama this week (I would highly recommend the book, by the way). Before I picked it up, I was ambivalent, probably a little more on the side of Tech administration. But after reading the book I am pro team Leach. I understand that Tech administration was pissed off that he got them to sign that contract, that business is business and that in business you do what your employer tells you to do. But the thing is, THEY SIGNED THE CONTRACT WITH HIM and then TRIED TO SCREW HIM. That's called going back on your word.

I will now be rooting full on for Leach in every game he coaches at Washington State. Here's to the Palouse Pirates beating Tech and their good old boy admin by 70 the next time they play.

Oh and Adam James is NEVER the kind of guy I'd want on my football team. Living off his daddy's name, expected to be handed the world and didn't earn a spot on the team.