Introducing the Shannon Sharpe lifestyle. Credit: Getty Images
“Mumble, bumble, dumbel. Right, JB? Mumble, bumble, tumble. OK, JB. Mumble, zumble, Gumbel? Back to you, JB.”
– Shannon Sharpe, The NFL Today, 2011
We’re three weeks in to the 2014 NFL season and we’ve got to admit, we kinda miss Shannon Sharpe and his non-sensical ramblings on the NFL on CBS set. It’s a classic case of, you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone … or at least a classic case of, “Wow, Bart Scott is annoying as hell.”
Of course we know why Scott and Tony Gonzalez are now in place of Sharpe and Dan Marino. (No, it’s not because one of the two knocked up a CBS production assistant in the mid-2000s.) Scott and Gonzalez are there because TV executives mistakenly think that we’ll think that their show is “fresh” because they now have guys talking about football that were actually playing football within the past few years. Sharpe retired in 2003 and Marino retired in 1999. In other words, there are football fans that are seniors in high school right now that don’t remember seeing either play in the NFL.
Sharpe was “sad and disappointed” when he learned after last season’s Super Bowl that CBS didn’t want him back.
“There’s no way I would ever complain,” Sharpe told the Denver Post in February. “Am I sad and disappointed? Absolutely. But I’m grateful for the 10 years they did give me. They gave me the opportunity when I had no broadcasting experience. So I’m forever grateful what they did for me. I’ll be fine … I’m going to work [in TV again] because I want to, not because I have to. I can be a little more picky. I don’t have to rush into anything because I’m under no financial strain or obligation. I’m going to weigh all my options.”
Sharpe is still weighing those options as far as TV goes, though he did appear on CNN recently to talk about the Ray Rice matter.
Sharpe is currently preaching on his website, properly titled ShannonSharpe.com, about a “Shannon Sharpe lifestyle.” It includes what he eats, how he works out and his views on life. He also likes to discuss fashion trends:
So basically, Shannon Sharpe wants to start a cult of Shannon Sharpe clones. He will tell you what to eat, what to say and how to dress.
Yes, it actually is possible to miss someone with this big of an ego.
Follow Metro Boston sports editor and columnist Matt Burke on Twitter: @BurkeMetroBOS
