A sizable portion of our content is devoted to media criticism – calling out those blowhard "pundits" who clearly fail to do any research before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Pounding "pundits" is, as the French would say, our "raison d'etre," which, loosely translated, means "reason to sit around in our underwear all day drinking beer."

 

The Internet has made our effort oh-so-easy. There's tons of content out there, much of it poorly researched drivel from CHFF Grade A certified hacks, and it's easy to find. Our sports-culture zeitgeist has only added to the inanity. Airtime, print space and cyberspace are not necessarily reserved for the most knowledgeable authorities. They're given to the loudest and most opinionated. And as you've no doubt observed yourself while trolling around the seedy underworld of online pigskin "punditry," being the most knowledgeable and the most boisterous are not often one and the same.

 

Then there's also the so-called "media echo chamber" that makes "punditry" in the hands of the wrong person all the more dangerous. One "pundit" throws out one juicy nugget – no matter how inaccurate it may be – and everyone has to repeat it, creating a cacophony of misinformation that shatters the skull and renders the cranial innards of the pigskin public a liquid flesh-soup incapable of absorbing the truth. This happens repeatedly, both in sports and in news journalism. For example, High Prince of Hackery Skip Bayless built his reputation by saying that former Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman was gay. As the rumors about the three-time Super Bowl champ spread, the Prince of Hackery's profile grew accordingly. Hey, this is the guy who said that Aikman's gay! The people who give Bayless his factless forums today don't seem to care that he was wrong about Aikman, who got married, to a woman, in 2000. Hey, Bayless is controversial. That's all that counts.

 

But as the 2005 season gets ready to kick off, we thought it was time to show our more sensitive side and highlight those fact-bloated "pundits" we feel merit your attention during the upcoming football campaign. There are plenty of "pundits" out there who pass our rigorous medical test of truth. Watch as our team doctor pulls on his latex gloves and asks each "pundit" to turn and cough up a few Cold, Hard Football Facts.

 

The ESPN College GameDay crew – There is no better football show on TV – college or pro – and no better on-air chemistry than that found between ESPN's College GameDay crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso. Fowler is the polished, personable professional who keeps it all together. Herbstreit is the ex-Ohio State QB who brings passion and insight into the college game, with none of the hubris found in many former athletes. Corso is the coach-turned-resident-clown who gives the show its levity, comic highlights and signature line: "Not so fast, my friend!" exclaims Corso when he disagrees with Herbstreit's typically cogent analysis and rejoinders with his own. The energy is high, the Cold, Hard Football Facts come in waves and the crew can speak knowledgeably about virtually any team in college football. If you want to know what's going on in college ball, from the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Mountain West, simply spend an hour and a half with this crew each Saturday morning.

 

But the best part of the show is the set location on the campus or at the stadium of the school that's hosting the biggest game in the country each Saturday. No TV program has ever done more to capture the flavor and passion of college football. The GameDay season kicked off in full glory last Saturday, when the set and hosts were placed in front of the stunning confluence of the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela rivers as Pitt prepared to host Notre Dame. A rowdy, sign-hoisting, flag-waving crowd cheered loudly behind Corso, Herbstreit and Fowler as the show began at 10:30 a.m. – a full nine-and-a-half hours before kickoff. The show comes to a boisterous, climactic conclusion each week as the crew makes their predictions and Corso dons the mascot uniform of the team he pegs to win the week's premier game. The crowd erupts as Corso pulls on the team colors and (usually) predicts a big victory for the home squad. College GameDay is like crack for college football fans.

 

Mike Reiss – You know it's a f*cked-up world when a borderline illiterate and factless hack like Pete Prisco has a national column on CBS Sportsline.com, while a hard-nosed and highly knowledgeable football writer like Reiss was rotting away for a small daily called the MetroWest Daily News, a paper in Boston's western suburbs, where his duties apparently included delivering papers on his bicycle while turning out some of the best Patriots coverage in New England.

 

Like most football people in the Boston area, we stumbled across Reiss when the Boston Herald (which owns the MetroWest Daily News and semi-employs the Chief Angry Troll) plopped Reiss's blog on its Web site. Of course, the popularity of the blog and Reiss's consistent ability to break Patriots-related stories quickly raised the reporter's profile. This season, he's moved to the Boston Globe and Boston.com, finally giving the newspaper that's a part owner of the Red Sox (who comically deny a conflict of interest) some legitimacy in the eyes of New England football fans. The Globe was once the nation's best sports page but has been a black hole of quality Patriots coverage for years. The late Will McDonough declined so far and so fast that he was writing articles about himself and his friendships with big-name sports figures as if they were news stories, breaking virtually every rule of Journalism 101 along the way; Nick Cafardo was a moonlighter from the baseball pages; Dan Shaughnessy never met a cliché he didn't beat to death and his copy is about as upbeat as Hurricane Katrina TV coverage; and spiteful, embittered football columnist Ron Borges might just be the most hated man in Boston. (In a recent and highly unscientific CHFF homepage poll, 40 percent of our readers, most of whom are in the Boston area, named Borges the biggest hack in sports writing, beating out several national reporters.)

 

Reiss, however, knows his football, he's fair and fact-filled in his reporting and he breaks more good stories than any writer in Boston. In short, he can save the Globe's football coverage, he offers everything you look for in an honest reporter and he has become the resident "golden boy" of Boston-area sports scribes. (However, we're reasonably certain Paul Hornung could drink him under the table and still beat his 40 time.) Those of you who aren't in Boston will probably learn more about Reiss in the years ahead. Hey, CBS, when you finally fire Prisco, consider Reiss for the job.

 

Bob Ryan – As we mentioned, the Boston Globe's football coverage is a joke among football fans in New England (though college football beat man Mark Blaudschun is outstanding). Even if the paper doesn't admit it, it's considered common knowledge that the organization's ownership stake in the Red Sox cripples its legitimacy and its ability to cover the three-time Super Bowl champions properly. This ain't just the booze talking: Peter King of Sports Illustrated discussed the disparity in the Globe's Red Sox and Patriots coverage in his most recent "Monday Morning Quarterback" column. However, he failed to note that the Globe has a vested interest in trumping up the Red Sox.

 

Through all of the BS, Bob Ryan strides above the fray as one of the giants of modern sports writing. He's first and foremost a basketball fan, but brings entertainment and insight to every sport he covers, from golf to football, with fairness, accuracy and no hint of a hidden agenda. He's one "pundit" worth reading no matter what sport he's writing about. It's considered gauche in sports writing circles to actively cheer for athletes, and in many instances sports writing is dominated by a "gotcha" culture that attempts to create controversy where none exists. But Ryan gives you the feeling that he actually enjoys (heaven forbid!) the sports that he covers and wants you to like them, too. Several decades into his career, Ryan's columns remain fresh, enthusiastic and entertaining, his writing is second to none and he frequently fills his reportage with nifty Cold, Hard Football Facts. His recent ode to New Orleans is an example of Ryan's dexterity. Ryan is also one of the best guests on ESPN's Sunday morning program, "The Sports Reporters."

 

Peter King, Sports Illustrated – There are few must-reads in the pigskin media. King's Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com is one of them (despite his aforementioned failure to note the Red Sox-Globe relationship in his most recent column). King is entertaining, insightful and honest. He has great contacts. He reports what he sees fairly and accurately – seemingly with no agenda, a rarity in today's media. And finally, he always digs up nuggets of data that few others ever have. You can also tell he busts his ass – his lengthy and wildly popular MMQB column is proof.

 

Keith Jackson – Whoa, Nelly! Another college guy makes our list. Listening to Jackson call a college football game makes you happy to be American. He obviously loves the "grand old game," as he often calls college ball, and imparts his passion in each broadcast. His folksy phrases are legend and his Georgia-accented voice still emanates with authority over the sport. He's a walking encyclopedia of football knowledge and speaks of the legends of the game as if they were his best buddies.

 

Jackson has done it all in his career – he has called World Series, covered the traumatic 1972 Munich Olympics and was the first host of ABC's Monday Night Football. He was supposedly headed to retirement a few years ago; then we heard he was only going to cover games where he lives, on the West Coast. And then there he was Saturday, calling ABC's primetime Notre Dame-Pitt game, the game's signature voice back for another season of big-time college ball.

 

Adam Schefter – Did you know Schefter covered the Broncos for 15 years? Probably not. The NFL Network's top reporter covers sports the way they should be covered. He never injects himself in the story, and his opinions are kept where they should be – in the background. He shows absolutely no sign of the factless bombast that defines many on-air personalities, and he has cultivated inside sources that give him the scoop on numerous stories.

 

Steve Rushin – Rushin is not necessarily a football guy, but his front-of-the-magazine "Air and Space" column in Sports Illustrated is simply the most entertaining and most clever read in sports today. His talent can't be taught in journalism school. You either have it in you or you don't. Rushin certainly has it. It's too bad SI reserves its most coveted spot, its back page, for the flavorless commentary of Rick Reilly. Reading Reilly's column after digesting Rushin's work is like tasting Michelob Ultra after downing dreamy pints of Bavarian smoked lager. Don't even bother.

 

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Discuss the pundits your love, or rip apart our chintzy list, on the Football Forum.