Colin Cowherd said exactly what I thought he’d say about Draymond Green.
Let me peel back the curtain a bit. I’m aware that “(Insert Pundit Here) said something I disagree with” is the easiest story to write. I don’t get a whole lot of joy writing about the downsides of the industry, or writing about the things that I think stink. You don’t wake up on a Monday morning and think “I want to read about what that fat kid on BarrettSportsMedia.com thinks sucks”. And I don’t want to write about it! But, alas, here we are.
When the video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole went public on TMZ, I had a few rapid-fire thoughts. I won’t necessarily bore you with my theory of why it looked like Jordan Poole may have had it coming, but I will tell you about thought number three in my head was “Colin Cowherd is going to spin this so hard”.
If Colin Cowherd is anything, he’s a company man. Not a company shill, like other famous, highly paid hosts who do both radio and TV, but a “company man”. For instance, Cowherd called wrestling fans dopes and losers who lived in their parent’s basements for two decades…until FOX got the rights for Friday Night Smackdown and, by god, there was Cowherd in the front row chopping it up with WWE executives and proclaiming the mastery of the greatest athletes in sports entertainment.
If you didn’t know, Draymond Green has a podcast, eponymously named The Draymond Green Show, which is distributed by The Volume. Which is operated, curated, whatever phrasing you want to use, by Colin Cowherd. It’s one of those new-fangled “new media” things you hear about on the news.
So I was less than shocked to see Cowherd turn Green’s punch into a positive for the Warriors, and tried to limit the damage to Green himself. During his The Colin Cowherd Podcast, Cowherd essentially made the argument that this happens all the time, and equated Green’s punch to that of your run-of-the-mill practice “scuffle”.
It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill practice “scuffle”, however. Cowherd attempted to equate Green’s punch to that of one given to his head coach, Steve Kerr, by Michael Jordan that has reached near mythical status. I don’t believe, however, that Jordan “stepped away” from his team for a few days to “re-assess” himself as a person. Green himself called the act “pathetic”, well past what Cowherd would say about the incident. Kevin Durant, who in full disclosure probably has reason to make Green look worse, said he’s never seen a fight like that in his 16 years in the league. And yet, Cowherd tried to claim it happens all the time. Who should I believe in that scenario? The guy in the NBA practice gym every day since George W. Bush was still President or the guy in the radio/TV studio?
The business relationship Cowherd has with Green is not unlike many radio stations around the country. You can argue that their relationship is a better situation than “NFL city sports radio station interviews the team’s quarterback every Tuesday at 9:00 AM and pays him $5,000 per week for the appearance”, but I digress. It’s a business relationship nonetheless. And it is in Cowherd’s best interest for Green to remain polarizing. And polarizing is the correct word. Not loved. Not looked at favorably. But polarizing. Because we pay attention to things we hate as much as we pay attention to things we love. And Cowherd doesn’t care if you hate Green or love him, as long as you find him relevant.
In April of 2019, Cowherd said Green was “almost an annoyance to his teammates as much as the other team”, among other various criticisms of his game. But when Green signed on to host a podcast for The Volume, Cowherd’s opinion of the Warriors star shifted. In July of this year, he claimed Green’s “value to the Warriors is indisputable”. Make no mistake about it, Draymond Green’s role with the Warriors hasn’t changed from 2019 to now. But his relationship with Cowherd certainly has.
You have to walk a fine line while being in business with the athletes you’re supposed to objectively cover. I’m not a gigantic fan of the term “slippery slope”, but I think it fits in this case. As a listener of Cowherd’s show, do I trust that he is telling me what he actually believes regarding Draymond Green? Of course not. But is it any different than a radio station in an NFL market that has their team’s quarterback on every week? I don’t think so. It’s that slippery slope of which we so often speak.
If there’s one thing, in my opinion, that you don’t want to be battling for with your listeners and viewers, it’s credibility. And the moment I don’t believe what is coming out of your mouth is the moment I begin to question all of your other opinions. And the reason I’m tuning into your program is that I value what you have to say. But when I can’t believe what is coming out of your mouth is what you really think? That’s a tough battle to fight.
Increasingly, people value authenticity. And in this case, I think Cowherd failed the test. If Baker Mayfield had punched Robbie Anderson and the video leaked, I have a hard time believing his reaction would have included the phrases “run of the mill” and “that’s what great leaders do”. The same could be said for John Wall. Or any other in a long list of athletes that have caught Cowherd’s ire. But they don’t make Colin Cowherd money.
Or do they?
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
