Feinstein Article

[Duvall]

What's this now?

John Feinstein: "Duke [football] is now officially respectable."

He said it, he can't un-say it.

[Atldukie79]

So I may as well register this comment under this thread as anywhere(since Feinstein mentioned it). I keep reading that Duke is bowl eligible for the first time in school history...or it is sometimes referenced as first time since becoming a member of the ACC. Feinstein, Dinich and numerous other "reporters" have made this breatheless claim in light of our recent victory over VT.

If bowl eligible means a .500 season or a winning season, then the 16 consecutive such seasons in the '30s and '40s would seemingly qualify. Bill Murray had more than a few back to back winning seasons in the 50's while a part of the ACC.

Perhaps "bowl eligible" has been co-opted for only the modern game. Maybe they are confusing bowl eligible with bowl participation.
Though I can't substantiate which seasons, Duke also turned down bowl participations some seasons.

The claim carries the implication of eternal ineptness at Duke, which is mis-leading and simply not the case. Yes it is ancient history to some that Duke was once consistently good, but it is inaccurate to claim otherwise.

Am I too sensitive?????

[davekay1971]

What's this now?

John Feinstein: "Duke [football] is now officially respectable."

He said it, he can't un-say it.

Well, he can ignore he said it I guess.

Keep in mind, this is to the best of my recollection as this is an exchange I listened to before I screamed at the car radio and changed the station, on the John Feinstein Show on CBS Sports Radio (which I turn on, apparently, to get my blood pressure up)

Feinstein: "The ACC is one good team and that's it. Miami just got exposed by Virginia Tech. I have one thing to say about Virginia Tech: Duke."

Feinstein's sidekick: "And then they lost to Boston College."

Feinstein: "Boston College is a good team. They've had a good program. Boston College had Doug Flutie. Duke has been bad for so long, the last great Duke football player recently died."

Feinstein's sidekick: "Thaddeus Lewis is very mad at you right now."

Feinstein: "Get out of here."

So, in one quick exchange, Feinstein managed to use Duke as an example of what a fraud Miami is because they lost to a team that lost to Duke, state that Duke doesn't have a good team (at least, as compared to Boston College...which, if you've paid any attention at all to ACC football in 2013, makes no sense at all), dismiss Thaddeus Lewis, and, apparently, ignore the existence of Clemson as a "good team".

The best sense I can make about Feinstein is that his ego is so big, that he's genuinely angry at Duke athletics for not following his suggestions for choosing their AD. Ever since they didn't follow his AD suggestion, in his view, Duke athletics has done nothing right, and everything wrong. The only person in Duke athletics spared from his windmill-charging vendetta is Coach K. Whether that's because he has some loyalty to Coach K, because K is simply too hard to attack given his standing in the world of college athletics, or because he's simply too intimidated by K to attack him, I don't know. I suspect he's got some loyalty to K.

But he'll dismiss Duke football's obvious growth as much as possible, because admitting that Duke did a good job hiring Cutcliffe would be counter to his argument that Duke athletics, well, sucks.

[OldPhiKap]

Well, he can ignore he said it I guess.

Keep in mind, this is to the best of my recollection as this is an exchange I listened to before I screamed at the car radio and changed the station, on the John Feinstein Show on CBS Sports Radio (which I turn on, apparently, to get my blood pressure up)

Feinstein: "The ACC is one good team and that's it. Miami just got exposed by Virginia Tech. I have one thing to say about Virginia Tech: Duke."

Feinstein's sidekick: "And then they lost to Boston College."

Feinstein: "Boston College is a good team. They've had a good program. Boston College had Doug Flutie. Duke has been bad for so long, the last great Duke football player recently died."

Feinstein's sidekick: "Thaddeus Lewis is very mad at you right now."

Feinstein: "Get out of here."

So, in one quick exchange, Feinstein managed to use Duke as an example of what a fraud Miami is because they lost to a team that lost to Duke, state that Duke doesn't have a good team (at least, as compared to Boston College...which, if you've paid any attention at all to ACC football in 2013, makes no sense at all), dismiss Thaddeus Lewis, and, apparently, ignore the existence of Clemson as a "good team".

The best sense I can make about Feinstein is that his ego is so big, that he's genuinely angry at Duke athletics for not following his suggestions for choosing their AD. Ever since they didn't follow his AD suggestion, in his view, Duke athletics has done nothing right, and everything wrong. The only person in Duke athletics spared from his windmill-charging vendetta is Coach K. Whether that's because he has some loyalty to Coach K, because K is simply too hard to attack given his standing in the world of college athletics, or because he's simply too intimidated by K to attack him, I don't know. I suspect he's got some loyalty to K.

But he'll dismiss Duke football's obvious growth as much as possible, because admitting that Duke did a good job hiring Cutcliffe would be counter to his argument that Duke athletics, well, sucks.

While there's still lots of room on the bandwagon, John's ego would take up a lot of space.

Better off with him on the outside. JMHO.

[Reilly]

While there's still lots of room on the bandwagon, John's ego would take up a lot of space.

Better off with him on the outside. JMHO.

What if we used some sort of hot air balloon contraption for a bandwagon? "We need more air in balloon four ... John, get to the starboard side and bloviate." Could be a way to get to El Paso ...

I like Feinstein more than most on this board, I'm guessing, but he's a train wreck of a radio host. He used to be great as a radio show guest on Tony K's show, where he could drop in, spew his stuff, and get off. But when he has to run the whole show, he's been really lost in the times I've heard him, falling into the typical bad sports talk radio trap of talking not about sports, but the inane details of the show itself ... "OK, next we have to take a break, and then after the break, we're going to talk about X, and the producer is telling me it's time to take a break now ...."