The ratings are in, and they are boomin.’
In Pittsburgh anyway.
Look at this report about HBO’s “Hard Knocks” from ProFootballTalk featuring the Raiders and former Steelers receiver Antonio Brown.
“The ratings for Tuesday night’s show in Pittsburgh outpaced the national average by more than three times. This means that Steelers fans enjoy watching the train wreck that former Steelers receiver Antonio Brown‘s time in Oakland at times seems to be on the verge of becoming.”
Three times?!?!
That sounds right.
I always laugh when people rip me for writing about Antonio Brown too much.
Or talking about him too much on the radio. Or discussing him too much on television. Or tweeting about him.
OK, maybe the book of Antonio Brown haikus I published last spring was a bit over the top. But I considered it a passion project. And it still turned a profit.
“A.B. is a joke.
That yellow mustache was dumb.
Best of luck Oakland.”
Not my best effort. But 5-7-5. It works.
Why do you think I do that? For fun? Self-fulfillment? Laughing at his continued foibles and eccentricities just to vent to achieve some sort of schadenfreude?
Well … maybe.
A.B. is the human incarnation of a jumbotron wedding proposal. It’s always uncomfortable. You always want to see it fail. But you can’t turn away. And somehow, if it goes wrong, that makes you laugh really, really hard.
Yet every time I mention Brown, I get predictable responses.
“Who cares about Antonio Brown? Why do yinz keep talking about him n’at? He ain’t with the Stillers no more. Move on! He’s not in Picksburgh so we don’t care what happens to him!”
“Jilted ex” syndrome.
He was one of your stars. Now you want to pretend you don’t care that he’s gone.
Ratings on the TV shows I do when Brown is a topic — and Le’Veon Bell for that matter — spike. Phone calls flood the radio as soon as I mention his name. Columns about Brown consistently rank among our most-read stories.
But don’t blame me for giving you what you want. Tell HBO you don’t care about A.B. either.
It just looks like you may want to wait until 11:01 p.m. Tuesday to make that complaint.
