Terrell Suggs: American Hero

After yesterday's heartbreaking loss at the hands of the New England Patriots, you had to figure that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs would be in no mood to take flak from anybody looking to provoke an interesting quote on the game. One such person who pushed too many of T-Sizzle's buttons was arch-nemesis and ESPN jackass-of-all-trades Skip Bayless.

What followed was one of the best moments in sports television history and one that makes me proud to be an Arizona State Sun Devil, as seen below:




Skip Bayless, like many ESPN analysts, has a love-hate relationship with viewers. Those who love him would defend his points of view until their dying, while those who hate him are, well, pretty much the other 99% of the world's population.

Whether or not you like Bayless is irrelevant in relation to the bigger issue here. Bayless' entire intention during this clip appeared to be trying to force Suggs into criticize the officiating from yesterday's game. I get it. Athletes do say a lot of stupid things. They sometimes like to criticize the officials whether it's actually their fault or not. Hell, people say a lot of stupid things in general. But when the interviewer goes out of their way to infuse some "drama" into the program, it isn't journalism and it isn't really that much of an interview.

It seems like nowadays, whoever is able to get their point across to the general public is the one who can yell the loudest. Some analysts are so blatantly crossing the line by fraternizing with the team they played with and then proceeding to provide analysis on the game. After the Pats' win, the CBS cameras showed Tedy Bruschi hugging owner Bob Kraft in a suite. I get that it's not easy to break ties with a team that a particular player was so closely associated with. It's human nature to be biased towards these things. Especially in the case of Kraft, who has gone through a tumultuous year after losing his wife Myra to cancer last July. If you want to make a name for yourself providing quality NFL analysis, do that. If you want to celebrate and pop bottles of champagne on the field after a victory with your former teammates, go do that. But don't try and do both while pretending there isn't some sort of conflict of interest.

There are still plenty of great places to get quality analysis that is as close to unbiased as possible. Places like SB Nation are proof that fans and ordinary people are more than able to provide this type of analysis using statistics and unique perspectives. And I think more and more people are developing a better sense of which analysts' words you must take with a grain of salt. Terrell Suggs, as an athlete, took a stand for these people.

Let's hope Skip and others can learn something from it.