ESPN’s “C’Mon Man!” segment is typically lighthearted in nature and something that fans find entertaining, but one high school football coach is not happy that Randy Moss took aim at his quarterback on Monday night.
For his portion of the “C’Mon Man!” segment, Moss highlighted a major flub from Fayetteville High School in its Arkansas state playoff game against Little Rock Central. Facing 4th-and-32 with a 35-34 lead and just seconds remaining in the game, Fayetteville quarterback Bladen Fike for some reason took a knee deep in his own territory. There were two seconds remaining on the clock, so Little Rock Central took over on downs and kicked a game-winning field goal.
You can see the portion of the segment around the 1:35 mark below:
“Y’all got eliminated from the playoffs because you didn’t understand the game? Man, quarterback Bladen Fike, y’all know what it is, c’mon man!” Moss said.
Fayetteville High School head coach Casey Dick called it “disheartening” that Moss and ESPN would criticize a high school kid on national television. Dick took full responsibility for the kneeldown and praised Fike on Twitter.
“It’s disheartening to see @espn run a segment like this on a kid. I as HIS HEAD COACH take full responsibility. Any criticism needs to be directed towards me. @BladenFike is a tremendous young man with a bright future! Proud to be his coach! #FamilY,” the coach wrote.
Fike also addressed the heartbreaking finish in a tweet and tagged Moss.
“I took my eye off the clock. However, criticizing me off of one play does not define me as a Quarterback. I am much better than that! I love my team and my coaches! Thanks for having my back. #familY #PurpleReign @CdickC @RandyMoss,” Fike wrote.
You can understand why Dick was upset. ESPN is better off highlighting high school games in its “You Got Mossed!” segment rather than criticizing high school students for mistakes. We know how proud Moss is of his own kids, and he has shown that on TV in some great ways. He probably wouldn’t be happy if someone was showing up one of his kids when they were still in high school.
H/T New York Post
