One of the problems with the good people of Bristol and how they put bread on the table is that the system almost forces them - should they really want to succeed - to become caricatures of themselves.
Skip Bayless, since defrocked as a fraud with a $1.5 million sexual harassment problem, helped create that. And Stephen A. Smith now embodies the phenomenon.
And still ... it's weird to see a real live former NFL GM stooping so low to play that same game.
Mike Tannenbaum, who used to run the New York Jets, now finds himself bashing Aaron Rodgers at every turn .. seemingly in every segment he's allowed to do on the network.
Does Rodgers merit criticism as he becomes the present (not future) hope of the Pittsburgh Steelers? Sure; the self-appointed "Enigma'' brings some of that on himself.
But ...
Speaking on ESPN's “Get Up,” Tannenbaum predicted that a few months into the upcoming season, Rodgers will be benched ... and Day 3 rookie draft pick Will Howard will be starting under center.
Tannenbaum tried to offer logic for his view; he failed to do so convincingly.
“Will Howard will be starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers by Dec. 1,” Tannenbaum declaired. “Will Howard led Ohio State to the National Championship — 89 QBR and 35 touchdown passes. If he was a little better in the offseason before the draft, he could have been a third or fourth-round pick. ...''
What? Tannenbaum is saying, essentially, that if Howard was a little better, he'd be a little better?
And that he's this-close to being better than Aaron Rodgers?
Somebody has an agenda here. ... an agenda so strong that he's willing to make a cartoon of himself. Our best guess? Tannenbaum not only used to work for the Jets ... in an advisory capacity, he still does. So when he's bashing Rodgers - the same Rodgers who played for New York last year - he might just be doing so as a shadow Jets employee.
Or even as a Jets mouthpiece puppet.
With all due respect to Howard - who by the way would also have to leapfrog over Mason Rudolph for the No. 1 job - there is nobody in Pittsburgh who thinks he's better than Rodgers.
And outside of being a Rodgers "hater,'' in their heart and heads, we doubt there is anybody in Bristol who thinks that, either.