I will save my judgement of this pod until after I’ve listened.
HOWEVA - Cohn is, from my perspective, a freaking clown. He is a fan with a large follower count. It’s impossible to take this guy seriously. He had an on-field confrontation with a player and NOT ONE of his colleagues came to his defense. He is not an impartial media member who judges based off of results and reporting. He is 100% vibes ONLY. I don’t need that as a consumer of all things Niners. Go listen to the Light Years podcast that was dropped right after they traded for CMC. It was ludicrous then and even more ludicrous now. That podcast alone should disqualify him as a serious football/49ers knower.
I’ll listen to this, begrudgingly, with my thumb hovering over the fastforward button.
Post listen: If Grant wants to position himself as the one guy whose job it is is to piss on whatever team he covers, that would be one thing. To say Tim Kawakami is taking how he covered the Warriors and using that method to cover the 49ers is asinine. Sorry Grant, TK's been in the business of covering ACTUALLY dog shit teams for way longer than you've been watching your dad do a better job of what you try to do. The reason this dude is unlikable is because he for real thinks he's the Kyle Shanahan of 49ers media, when he's really the annoying fly in the room that gets everyone's attention because you keep hearing him buzz by your ear.
Ask yourself this question: if the 49ers won the SB last year, do you think Grant would all of the sudden change his tune and drop his schtick? Obviously he would not. Neither would Lombardi if somehow they went 0-17 this year. Anyone with eyes can tell Lombardi has a crazy bias to think everything the Niners do is the right move. Why does Grant act like he's anything other than the opposite of this?
I came into this blind, had no idea who this guy was, am not a niners fan, etc… 25 or so minutes in the thought “this is probably the dumbest guy ever to appear on this podcast” spontaneously flashed across my mind.
What a surprise that the cerebral 49ers coach hates him, or that his writing career went nowhere despite his familial advantages, or that what made him a success was being a YouTuber.
Grant sort of implies that there needs to be equal amount criticism as praise. That doesn't make sense-- Do the Chiefs warrant the same amount of criticism as the Panthers? That ratio depends on a number of factors. Cohn has an anonymous reddit user mindset: Well they didn't win it all so therefore they need to change something to win!
That shows an inability think probabilistically, the 49ers keep putting themselves in position to be the last team standing out of 32. That's a remarkably difficult thing to do, and this all-or-nothing mindset is ignorant. It's like having the best odds at winning a draft lottery and complaining that you didn't win it on your first attempt. Getting to multiple Super Bowls without an elite top 5 QB is a tremendous achievement. Did Andy Reid completely change who he was to get his first Super Bowl or did he just keep doing what he was doing, only with a better QB?
One more pod where I have to hear horrific NFL takes from someone who isn't an expert in the field and I am gone. My god, between Brock Purdy> Josh Allen, using a CB college interceptions to judge his ability at the next level , or basically any other football opinion, I would rather shoot myself in the face before hearing another.
I do not have an idea of the best CBs and their college stats. However, I do enjoy the draft process so I can name good (not great to be fair) CBs from just the past few years with very few ints.
Trent McDuffie had two interceptions, Greg Newsome (solid starter) had one career int, Jaycee Horn had two career ints (some inj problems but has been good when on field). Thats just the past few years at top of the draft. A little older, but Jalen Ramsey of the same school had 3 career ints and zero in his final season.
It's fair to get made at the process of a coaching staff but fans judging individual picks of players they have never watched is an insane reaction we have come to accept.
Apologies about the shot in the face line. I was being hyperbolic. I would probably take a bullet to the thigh at the most.
Not a full-time DB until late in his college career but Sam Shields for the Packers made a pro bowl as a corner with zero college INTs. Found a few others out there with two college INTs.
“Good WRs are becoming like RBs, dime a dozen” might have been one of most asinine things I’ve ever heard. I appreciate that Ethan is willing to sling takes and talk football even not as an expert, but some of these eps get hard to listen to because we clearly don’t watch most teams & most games
We need Nellie Bowles on HoS. Her new book Morning After the Revolution is widely entertaining. I’ve spent the whole day listening to the audiobook that dropped today. The chapters include “The Failure of San Francisco” and “The Joy of Canceling.”
Look I love tk but there are no sacred cows on here. If there are reasonable grounds for criticism it shouldn’t be disregarded just because it’s critical of tk
He said that Kawakami gave the 49ers org the same benefit of the doubt that he gave the warriors org despite the fact that the 49ers hadn’t won a championship. That’s not my assessment of the situation but I think it’s a fair criticism. TK isn’t perfect and I think some of his takes on players like wiseman and Poole have been influenced by personal dislike or trying to maintain connections with ppl in these organizations. Doesn’t make him bad at what he does he’s one of the best but I don’t think grants criticism was out of bounds at all.
When it became obvious that the Niners were going to fire Harbaugh, TK KILLED Jed and Baalke. Even before then, he was killing Jed for the bad turf. And he didn't stop killing Jed until he hired Shanahan/Lynch when it quickly became obvious that the team was now on the right track.
Yea I said in my response that I didn’t agree with grants assessment. Tim has ripped every organization he covers when it’s fair. I just don’t think grants criticism was out of bounds in any way even if I slightly disagree. A lot of fans in this market don’t like grant bc he talks about things that make them uncomfortable and isn’t afraid to broach subjects that might upset some fans/players.
As someone who was born and raised in Ohio, having to see the Browns and Bengals have the worst management in the nfl for most of my life, I find it funny how harsh Grant is about the 9ers. The 9ers are very well run and I hope he can go cover the Bengals sometime if he wants a dose of reality in the NFL
Another sideways comment.. Nick Wright's basketball artist take is the biggest hole in his LeBron goat argument. LeBron is the greatest bb craftsman of all time, but Jordan is the greatest artist. Which one is the goat? It's close... but not really.
There's no good place to put this but since you brought up LeBron and Jordan...
Who is a better TE, Gronk or Gonzalez? That's the crux of the MJ vs LeBron debate. Gronk didn't have the better career but everyone in their right mind would choose 8 years of peak Gronk over 8 years of peak Gonzalez.
Yep. Also, Gronk is better than Gonz because he blocked like a demon. Per the Tyler Dunne book on tight ends, Tony wasn't exactly the most selfless of players.
Gronk is absolutely one of the best TEs ever but he had 10 years to play with the greatest QB we've ever seen. Tony Gonzalez was racking up all-pro appearances with Elvis Grbac and Trent Green at QB, and even made first-team all-pro at 36. Gronk has been retired for three years and still isn't that old. Gonzalez is also 6th all-time in receiving yards for any position. To me his accomplishments outweigh Gronk's value-add as a blocker.
A challenge for Grant/Grant's style is that many fans actually care more about feeling good about their team than being the best every year.
Kyle/Brock gave Niners fans ~23.9 weeks of feeling good last year, so while there may be truth to Grant's critiques, it often doesnt fit the vibe of the fanbase and thats where the pushback exists
The media needs more Grant Cohns. Almost all sports media people now are essentially doing PR for the team. I don't dislike Lombardi, I read his stuff, but he could be replaced by AI tomorrow and there wouldn't be much difference.
I enjoy Grant’s YT channel -- and I’m a diehard Niners hater (Rams fan).
He gives takes and doesn’t hold back; it’s just sports, it’s not that serious. And it’s a helluva lot better than the soft team-friendly content Niners reporters like Lombardi push out.
yep - everything is a take. I put espn on in the morning as back ground noise. My wife is why do you have those dumb yellers on? Well dumb yellers are everywhere. IF I want smart content I go to podcasts- Athletic (Slater, Amick,etc) Dunc'on prime , Ross Tucker, Windhorst pod, Ball don't lie with Vinnie Goodwill. So yeah let Cohn rant.
I will save my judgement of this pod until after I’ve listened.
HOWEVA - Cohn is, from my perspective, a freaking clown. He is a fan with a large follower count. It’s impossible to take this guy seriously. He had an on-field confrontation with a player and NOT ONE of his colleagues came to his defense. He is not an impartial media member who judges based off of results and reporting. He is 100% vibes ONLY. I don’t need that as a consumer of all things Niners. Go listen to the Light Years podcast that was dropped right after they traded for CMC. It was ludicrous then and even more ludicrous now. That podcast alone should disqualify him as a serious football/49ers knower.
I’ll listen to this, begrudgingly, with my thumb hovering over the fastforward button.
Post listen: If Grant wants to position himself as the one guy whose job it is is to piss on whatever team he covers, that would be one thing. To say Tim Kawakami is taking how he covered the Warriors and using that method to cover the 49ers is asinine. Sorry Grant, TK's been in the business of covering ACTUALLY dog shit teams for way longer than you've been watching your dad do a better job of what you try to do. The reason this dude is unlikable is because he for real thinks he's the Kyle Shanahan of 49ers media, when he's really the annoying fly in the room that gets everyone's attention because you keep hearing him buzz by your ear.
Ask yourself this question: if the 49ers won the SB last year, do you think Grant would all of the sudden change his tune and drop his schtick? Obviously he would not. Neither would Lombardi if somehow they went 0-17 this year. Anyone with eyes can tell Lombardi has a crazy bias to think everything the Niners do is the right move. Why does Grant act like he's anything other than the opposite of this?
I came into this blind, had no idea who this guy was, am not a niners fan, etc… 25 or so minutes in the thought “this is probably the dumbest guy ever to appear on this podcast” spontaneously flashed across my mind.
What a surprise that the cerebral 49ers coach hates him, or that his writing career went nowhere despite his familial advantages, or that what made him a success was being a YouTuber.
Ditto.
Dear god, Cohen has to be the single dumbest guest with the highest self regard to ever appear on the podcast.
Grant sort of implies that there needs to be equal amount criticism as praise. That doesn't make sense-- Do the Chiefs warrant the same amount of criticism as the Panthers? That ratio depends on a number of factors. Cohn has an anonymous reddit user mindset: Well they didn't win it all so therefore they need to change something to win!
That shows an inability think probabilistically, the 49ers keep putting themselves in position to be the last team standing out of 32. That's a remarkably difficult thing to do, and this all-or-nothing mindset is ignorant. It's like having the best odds at winning a draft lottery and complaining that you didn't win it on your first attempt. Getting to multiple Super Bowls without an elite top 5 QB is a tremendous achievement. Did Andy Reid completely change who he was to get his first Super Bowl or did he just keep doing what he was doing, only with a better QB?
One more pod where I have to hear horrific NFL takes from someone who isn't an expert in the field and I am gone. My god, between Brock Purdy> Josh Allen, using a CB college interceptions to judge his ability at the next level , or basically any other football opinion, I would rather shoot myself in the face before hearing another.
Genuinely asking, no snark: How many great NFL CBs had only 1 interception over an entire college career?
I do not have an idea of the best CBs and their college stats. However, I do enjoy the draft process so I can name good (not great to be fair) CBs from just the past few years with very few ints.
Trent McDuffie had two interceptions, Greg Newsome (solid starter) had one career int, Jaycee Horn had two career ints (some inj problems but has been good when on field). Thats just the past few years at top of the draft. A little older, but Jalen Ramsey of the same school had 3 career ints and zero in his final season.
It's fair to get made at the process of a coaching staff but fans judging individual picks of players they have never watched is an insane reaction we have come to accept.
Apologies about the shot in the face line. I was being hyperbolic. I would probably take a bullet to the thigh at the most.
So it's settled. If Renardo Green is great, I get shot in the thigh. If he's a bust, you get shot in the thigh.
Not a full-time DB until late in his college career but Sam Shields for the Packers made a pro bowl as a corner with zero college INTs. Found a few others out there with two college INTs.
“Good WRs are becoming like RBs, dime a dozen” might have been one of most asinine things I’ve ever heard. I appreciate that Ethan is willing to sling takes and talk football even not as an expert, but some of these eps get hard to listen to because we clearly don’t watch most teams & most games
Grant Cohn vs. dave Lombardi: ill say Cohn wins just barely, because i really dislike any independent media who ends up being shill for the team
Grant Cohn vs. his overwhelming desire to be black: the latter wins handily
We need Nellie Bowles on HoS. Her new book Morning After the Revolution is widely entertaining. I’ve spent the whole day listening to the audiobook that dropped today. The chapters include “The Failure of San Francisco” and “The Joy of Canceling.”
I’m trying to book her!
Was this football and 49ers pod cleared with the podbudsman?
Don’t know where the majority of listeners will fall, but contrary to the commenters thus far— I enjoyed the listen.
Grant Cohn vs. David "stop the count!" Lombardi: whoever wins, we all lose.
Don’t mess with TK!
Look I love tk but there are no sacred cows on here. If there are reasonable grounds for criticism it shouldn’t be disregarded just because it’s critical of tk
He didn’t have reasonable criticism. TK’s been covering the 9ers for much much longer than Grant. He didn’t even say anything specific.
He said that Kawakami gave the 49ers org the same benefit of the doubt that he gave the warriors org despite the fact that the 49ers hadn’t won a championship. That’s not my assessment of the situation but I think it’s a fair criticism. TK isn’t perfect and I think some of his takes on players like wiseman and Poole have been influenced by personal dislike or trying to maintain connections with ppl in these organizations. Doesn’t make him bad at what he does he’s one of the best but I don’t think grants criticism was out of bounds at all.
When it became obvious that the Niners were going to fire Harbaugh, TK KILLED Jed and Baalke. Even before then, he was killing Jed for the bad turf. And he didn't stop killing Jed until he hired Shanahan/Lynch when it quickly became obvious that the team was now on the right track.
Yea I said in my response that I didn’t agree with grants assessment. Tim has ripped every organization he covers when it’s fair. I just don’t think grants criticism was out of bounds in any way even if I slightly disagree. A lot of fans in this market don’t like grant bc he talks about things that make them uncomfortable and isn’t afraid to broach subjects that might upset some fans/players.
As someone who was born and raised in Ohio, having to see the Browns and Bengals have the worst management in the nfl for most of my life, I find it funny how harsh Grant is about the 9ers. The 9ers are very well run and I hope he can go cover the Bengals sometime if he wants a dose of reality in the NFL
FWIW - show notes require a pedantic correction. The correct phrase is “heading off at the pass”, not “past”.
Another sideways comment.. Nick Wright's basketball artist take is the biggest hole in his LeBron goat argument. LeBron is the greatest bb craftsman of all time, but Jordan is the greatest artist. Which one is the goat? It's close... but not really.
There's no good place to put this but since you brought up LeBron and Jordan...
Who is a better TE, Gronk or Gonzalez? That's the crux of the MJ vs LeBron debate. Gronk didn't have the better career but everyone in their right mind would choose 8 years of peak Gronk over 8 years of peak Gonzalez.
Yep. Also, Gronk is better than Gonz because he blocked like a demon. Per the Tyler Dunne book on tight ends, Tony wasn't exactly the most selfless of players.
Gronk is absolutely one of the best TEs ever but he had 10 years to play with the greatest QB we've ever seen. Tony Gonzalez was racking up all-pro appearances with Elvis Grbac and Trent Green at QB, and even made first-team all-pro at 36. Gronk has been retired for three years and still isn't that old. Gonzalez is also 6th all-time in receiving yards for any position. To me his accomplishments outweigh Gronk's value-add as a blocker.
F1? Lewis Hamilton?, Niki Lauda as the dark-horse?
A challenge for Grant/Grant's style is that many fans actually care more about feeling good about their team than being the best every year.
Kyle/Brock gave Niners fans ~23.9 weeks of feeling good last year, so while there may be truth to Grant's critiques, it often doesnt fit the vibe of the fanbase and thats where the pushback exists
The media needs more Grant Cohns. Almost all sports media people now are essentially doing PR for the team. I don't dislike Lombardi, I read his stuff, but he could be replaced by AI tomorrow and there wouldn't be much difference.
I enjoy Grant’s YT channel -- and I’m a diehard Niners hater (Rams fan).
He gives takes and doesn’t hold back; it’s just sports, it’s not that serious. And it’s a helluva lot better than the soft team-friendly content Niners reporters like Lombardi push out.
yep - everything is a take. I put espn on in the morning as back ground noise. My wife is why do you have those dumb yellers on? Well dumb yellers are everywhere. IF I want smart content I go to podcasts- Athletic (Slater, Amick,etc) Dunc'on prime , Ross Tucker, Windhorst pod, Ball don't lie with Vinnie Goodwill. So yeah let Cohn rant.