Craig James out at Fox Sports after One Appearance

Submitted by Marley Nowell on
James was a very unpopular figure among college football fans during his latter years at ESPN and statements he made during his Senate campaign last year in Texas -- James declared that gay people would "answer to the Lord for their actions"-- were likely unpopular among some in Fox Sports management.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130902/craig-j…

Mitch Cumstein

September 2nd, 2013 at 9:41 AM ^

I didn't mean it bothered me that they hired him.  I meant it bothers me that they hired him knowing all of that stuff, then fired him b/c of it.  If all that was going to be a problem for them or their viewers, wouldn't that have been easy enough to foresee before making the hire?

Yeoman

September 2nd, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^

...is that they hired him because somebody thought it was all just a PC thing and that he probably had a lot of silent support out there.

Then they brought him on and found out he's reviled by pretty much everyone, left right or center.

Sorry for the apolitical politics, but if there's one thing that unites this country it's contempt for Craig James, and the stuff mentioned in the article is just a small portion of it.

(Plus they probably heard from their employees when they had to deal with him every day.)

Timnotep

September 2nd, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^

they hired him in spite of all that, and then found him to be intolerable and are using that as a convenient excuse to let him go.

or maybe the real reason is something more, dark... sinister... scandalous? I seem to recall something like that being attached to his name

TenThousandThings

September 2nd, 2013 at 7:20 AM ^

Yes. He was at the center of it, but he was untouched, blameless, a victim.

And the Mike Leach thing. James using his position at ESPN in that. ESPN letting him do it. And James getting his son into the Army All-American Bowl, despite the fact he wasn't even all-state in Texas' second-smallest (2A) division. Then using that to sucker Leach into taking him.

LSAClassOf2000

September 2nd, 2013 at 7:22 AM ^

Even when he was hired by Fox Sports Southwest, TheBigLead did a piece highlighting the walking tire fire that they were getting, even employing a rather chuckleworthy quote from the Public Policy Polling summary of his Senate bid:

"As Craig James has become better known he’s just gotten more and more unpopular. Only 14% of voters see him favorably to 32% with a negative opinion. Even among SMU fans he had literally zero support on this poll- granted there were only 12 of them in the sample.”

EGD

September 2nd, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^

This is the reason I never thought James should have been on any network to begin with. The man represents college football at its worst. The most famous thing he ever said was that he "had to take a pay cut to play in the NFL."  How can a guy like that relate to genuine student-athletes?

Besides, he's a serial killer of hookers (allegedly).

JamieH

September 2nd, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^

I've done contract work for Fox Networks.  Fox News is an entirely separate entity.  All of the other Fox Channels work together out of Beverly Hills (not including the regional sports channels which are headquartered regionally of course), but Fox News is headquartered in New York and is prety much a completely independent entity that has pretty much zero overlap with any of the other Fox channels.

Yeah, they all report back to the same place at the top eventually, but Fox News and Fox Sports are 100% different places and the politics of Fox News don't have any bearing on Fox Sports or any of the other Fox channels.

TenThousandThings

September 2nd, 2013 at 8:42 AM ^

While it's true Fox News Channel produces news alerts and other special coverage for the larger broadcast network, it's a mistake to see FNC as in control of the larger entities, Fox Broadcasting and Fox Entertainment, themselves part of 21st Century Fox.

Indeed, keeping the FNC brand separate from the pure entertainment sectors (which include Fox Sports) of the company seems likely to be something the higher-ups are concerned with. A gigantic headache for them, I would think. Thus, this decision with regard to James, a controversial figure on multiple levels. While partisan controversy works well as a business model for FNC, it isn't really broad-based enough to work for entertainment and sports.

MGlobules

September 3rd, 2013 at 8:31 AM ^

than is generally understood. Murdoch backed Obama, quietly, has been close to both parties recently in England and wields considerable influence over both here, was scathing about Romney's campaign, and may well (quietly again) back Hillary. If you see Fox News as a vehicle calibrated to appeal to a certain segment of the electorate rather than as something purely ideological, you're much more likely to be able to parse their moves.

In addition to being a lightning rod, James ain't all that bright.  

SalvatoreQuattro

September 2nd, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^

of left-of-center view points for a good decade after he left ESPN the first time. I don't think politics is the issue with James so much as the fact that he a giant douchebag who got a head coach fired. There is a serious problem with likeability that transcends politics. I think conservatives and liberals both can agree that James is an a**hole.

Mi Sooner

September 2nd, 2013 at 9:59 AM ^

He was hired by a buddy at the regional level without getting approval from the head office. It might cost the guy who hired him his own job at the end of the season. Something else CJames has killed.

Ps. Just in case it wasn't mentioned earlier

CJK5H -- allegedly

Cowboy Cody

September 2nd, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^

When you're a "celeb" and decide to reveal your politics you alienate 50% of the audience. He lost me with his hatchet job on Leach. Adios Craig. Don't let the corporate doors hit you in the ass. Oops...too late.