Top-5 Mac Musings – September 5, 2025

EVERYBODY’S AN ALL-AMERICAN UNTIL…
Football is back and that is a very good thing. While the Eagles and Cowboys were stuck in a long weather delay caused by a lightning storm in the Philadelphia area NBC’s Chris Collinsworth went way deep into the notes to share a story of a Dallas lineman who was selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft and he was listed in the depth chart as a “healthy scratch”. 

For a first-round pick this is never (ever) a good sign. It is even a worse sign when such a thing is being shared on a nationally televised game with a captive audience watching literally the first regular season game of the season.

But this made me remember one of my favorite overblown recruit stories of all time. Travel back with me to the early 2000s for the latest edition of…

STORY TIME
When the latest sports team announces their latest group of student-athletes to sign letters of intent to compete for a school it is a busy time for P.R. staffs working in athletic departments. Details must be added to the story, quotes must be received from the coaches and at times the students themselves.

The one constant: each kid who just signed on the dotted line is going to be “great” and “make an immediate impact”. None of them are ever coming to campus to be “also rans” these are future All-Americans in the making.

Spoiler alert: I worked at USF for 13 years. I wrote hundreds of signing releases. I wrote four All-American releases.

One unremarkable summer day, our Cross Country coach John Drocco bursts into my office as only a part time football turned women’s tennis and cross country coach could do. He was in rare form that day. His cross country program had just been awarded the program’s first scholarship and he was going shopping and had landed “his guy”.

The guy in question was a Kenyan named Moudi Kane. The former San Francisco Fire Department Captain breathlessly showed me pictures of him in action where he was “in the lead” and “winning” races. A future all-time great for the program. An All-American just waiting to happen.

Save for one minor, yet critical detail. Apparently Kenyan stopwatches were using the metric system, or something similar. I made it to Moudi’s debut race at the USF Invitational held in Golden Gate Park. I watched warmups. He was not first in warm ups. He looked thicker than I expected.

At the end of the 8K race I made the following determination: Coach Drocco wasted a scholarship on perhaps the slowest runner Kenya has ever produced. This was the first in many, many examples of “Everybody is an All-American until they get to campus”. Of course most don’t have to take 18 hour flights to prove this theory.

You’re not going to believe this, but I have some further thoughts on Chris Collinsworth’s audition for a third career as a team PR guy, which happens now in…

Mac Musings for Wednesday, September 5.

1. The amount of spin Collinsworth was doing to protect the Cowboys brass from two inexcusable blunders was, for someone (me!) who worked in sports media for more than 20 years, absolutely breathtaking.
2. Collinsworth spent almost two solid minutes defending an almost indefensible position on why they traded, rather than extending the contract for their best player – 3-time All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons… before the season ever started. It was like he was reading talking points provided by the Dallas PR team. Probably because they were, in fact, literally provided by the Dallas PR team. 
3. Then he dug back into the same notes to talk about their botched first round pick. It was unsettling. And the silence from his PBP partner was not a good look either.
4. Teams that are allegedly “built to win now” do not trade away an All-Pro player. Good luck Cowboys fans. At least Collinsworth is in your corner… as long as he has the right notes to regurgitate.
5. I am old enough to remember Chris Collinsworth the player. And he was a good Bengal. I usually enjoy his game analysis, even while thinking he talks way (way) too much. 

My Top-Five Favorite NFL Analysts

1. John Madden – everyone else will forever be playing for second place on this list.
2. Greg Olson – Still far more insightful than Tom Brady will ever be.
3. Troy Aikman – Has really been surging the last couple years since moving to MNF.
4. Dan Fouts – Was always perceptive about what quarterbacks were looking for.
5. Phil Simms – Good insights delivered pretty well.

Honorable Mention: Rodney Harrison, Pam Oliver, Merlin Olson

*Worst NFL Analysts of My Lifetime – alphabetical

Tony Dungy, Kirk Herbstreit, Craig James, Matt Millen, Tony Romo, Joe Theisman

*Not even close to a comprehensive list

Now Watching: Sons of Katie Elder – John Wayne, Dean Martin & Dennis Hopper

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“Football is easy if you’re crazy as hell.”
 – Bo Jackson, Athletic Icon