Shaun King Is Happy But Not Really

The Tribune did a brief interview with Shaun King and it's exactly as exciting as it sounds. King is currently doing color commentary for Arena League games and he's not bitter at all about the way his football career turned out.

Well, I mean it's one of those things that sometimes in life you give everything you have to something and you don't necessarily get back what you feel like you deserve from it.

I would like to quote Denis Leary here: "Life sucks, get a fucking helmet." Oh wait, that quote doesn't really work for King.

Actually, it's hard to rip King for his football since his career passer rating is better than two of the quarterbacks currently on the roster (Bruce Gradkowski and Chris Simms) and only slightly worse than two of the others (Luke McCown and Brian Griese). A decent running game and an unbelievable defense make his numbers during his first couple years look better than they really are, but he did make his share of plays. But it seems like after that Pittsburgh game in 2002, he just lost whatever he might have been able to give to a team. Even Tony Dungy couldn't find a spot for him on the Colts roster.

Which leads me to another weird point. Dungy's track record with former Buccaneers really sucks. King, Joe Hamilton, Anthony McFarland, Simeon Rice... they all came into Indianapolis and fell right on their faces, except for McFarland who did actually play for half a year before spending another season on IR. It makes you wonder how Rod Marinelli will do with all his old Bucs in Detroit. If Brian Kelly, Dwight Smith, Dewayne White and Chartric Darby contribute in any meaningful way for the Lions this year, Marinelli will be doing significantly better with his former Bucs than Dungy ever did. I don't know if this makes Marinelli a better coach or not, but it does indicate something.

Wait, where was I going with this? Oh, right, King.

So if the opportunity presents itself to go to the NFL I would surely go, but I'm content.

It's funny because I was just thinking the same thing about myself. I'm ok where I am, but yes, if an NFL team did call me in to play, I would surely go also. Me and King have a lot in common, except I wasn't cut by the two worst teams in the NFL and an AFL team inside of two years.

Huh, I guess it's not as hard to rip him as I thought.