Yes, Phil, it's Rude to Acknowledge Reality

If this account of the now-famous Phil Simms/Desmond Howard tete-a-tete is correct, then we have a perfect encapsulation of one of the problems with modern commentary. Simms allegedly told Howard that Howard's criticism of Matt Simms as one of the three worst quarterbacks in the SEC (a criticism that was not far off and possibly shared by Derek Dooley, who replaced Simms with Tyler Bray by the end of the season) was out of bounds because "you don’t say that about anyone else." In other words, if a player is not performing well, it's rude to point this fact out. And this, in a nutshell, is why sentient people would rather hear Cris Collinsworth call a game as opposed to listening to Phil Simms follow the custom of telling us that everyone is wonderful.