Mike Smith-commencement speaker

[ladypanther]

Yesterday I attended the college graduation of my nephew at ETSU.  (I am also an alumnus). The commencement speaker was Mike Smith, head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.  Smith is an alumnus of ETSU, player linebacker there from '77-'81.

 

I give him a D+ on his speech.  He was very self promoting. He seemed out of place.  He quoted Steve Jobs....first called him  Steven...then corrected himself....10 secs later called him Steven again.  He quoted MLK ( a nice quote about our obligation to help those less fortunate) ...it included a couple of words with more than 2 syllables which he stumbled over....so he said, let me repeat......

 

If he had not been so self promoting, it would have been a better speech. (The person who introduced him told of his accomplishments.  That should have been enough.) By the way,he was in Tn. Tn has an NFL team. My guess is Tn fans don't like hearing about the Falcons/Smith accomplishments any more than I did. (Or his name dropping)

 

After the graduation we went out to eat. My nephew who graduated, and his older brother (who live in TN and do not have the same feeling about the Falcons as I do) also said they were disappointed that Smith promoted himself and the Falcons too much.

 

I expected a better speech, even thought I would probably like the guy.  Wish he had been better for my nephew and all the others had worked so hard to earn their degrees.

 

[TheRed]

His childish sideline antics in our loss to the Falcons in Atlanta last year pretty much sealed up my view on him. He was throwing his headset down like a baby and was on camera literally shoving one of his own assistant coaches.

[Ruff]

The guy definitely seems like a pompous ass. He seems to not be able to handle a loss, that's for sure.

[L-TownCat]

Ha! What a douche. Sorry for your nephew though. Nothing surprises me about anything the failcons do.

[bleys]

Atlanta deserves coach mike smith.

[Jase]

he was probably a pretty nice guy before he moved to atlanta and started hitting the tanning bed 5 times a week.

[bleys]

he was probably a pretty nice guy before he moved to atlanta and started hitting the tanning bed 5 times a week.

 

or not...

[Zod]

Most sports coaches have average intelligence at best. Not sure why you expected more.

[Razeyfingers]

Most sports coaches have average intelligence at best. Not sure why you expected more.

 

Wow your definition of average is veeery lofty. There are a crapload of idiots in the world, and that my friend, is average.

 

Mike Judge's Idiocracy is rapidly approaching.

[ladypanther]

Most sports coaches have average intelligence at best. Not sure why you expected more.

 

 

Well, it was a university commencement.

 

I could have overlooked more if he wasn't so damn self promoting.

[wahoojunior]

This probably deserves its own thread, but I'm mostly a lurker on here, oh well.

I just completed grad school at Wingate University this weekend and we had John Kasay as our commencement speaker. Regardless of my being Panther fan, he was a very good speaker. He did speak of his time in Carolina and of the shock and disappointment of being released, as well as his subsequent signing by New Orleans. He mentioned that his phone call from the Saints nearly prompted him to hang up his cleats, but he spoke on "flourishing where you are planted", and he said that he was able to mentor two young players who were on either side of his locker in NO. He told a few stories, one about Reagan offering a White House tour and some of his time to an old lady, and another about perspective, which was more of a fable (this one was just okay, it went on way too long).

I was super excited when I heard that Kasay was speaking and I wasn't disappointed. Overall, I think it was good commencement speech, regardless of whether you were a Panther fan, got to shake his hand and everything walking across the stage. So, in case you were wondering, still a super classy guy.

[ladypanther]

This probably deserves its own thread, but I'm mostly a lurker on here, oh well.

I just completed grad school at Wingate University this weekend and we had John Kasay as our commencement speaker. Regardless of my being Panther fan, he was a very good speaker. He did speak of his time in Carolina and of the shock and disappointment of being released, as well as his subsequent signing by New Orleans. He mentioned that his phone call from the Saints nearly prompted him to hang up his cleats, but he spoke on "flourishing where you are planted", and he said that he was able to mentor two young players who were on either side of his locker in NO. He told a few stories, one about Reagan offering a White House tour and some of his time to an old lady, and another about perspective, which was more of a fable (this one was just okay, it went on way too long).

I was super excited when I heard that Kasay was speaking and I wasn't disappointed. Overall, I think it was good commencement speech, regardless of whether you were a Panther fan, got to shake his hand and everything walking across the stage. So, in case you were wondering, still a super classy guy.

 

Congrats on your degree.

[pstall]

so he did a puppet show?