Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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SALT LAKE CITY -- Jimmer Fredette has become a household name and the face of college basketball. With that kind of exposure he's bound to have his critics, which is fair, but some of the slams Fredette has seen lately have no real basis and one sports personality has had enough.
Fox Sports Radio host and Sport Illustrated senior writer Dan Patrick stood up for The Jimmer and called out some of his peers in the process. On his syndicated radio show Patrick called out ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd and ESPN.com columnist Rick Reilly.
Cowherd claimed on his show that Jimmer is "90 percent media creation" and only 10 percent talent. Reilly wrote that Fredette has "a really good chance to be your Provo area Isuzu dealer." Then he went on to slam Jimmer's vertical saying he had "YMCA hops."
Patrick thought all of this was nonsense, and he let his listeners know.
This is what Patrick had to say about the vertical comment from Reilly: "If you're going to cut and paste the ‘white guy' reference, at least be accurate. His vertical is 36. Ask anybody who's played the game. You give me a 36-inch vertical, I'll take my chances."
He then noted Cowherd's "90 percent media creation" comment by asking the radio host to take a look at his own network, "You created that. Now you'll take shots at him?"
Jimmer has become a media darling, much like Tim Tebow did his senior year at Florida. And, just like Tebow everyone is asking, "Will Jimmer's talent translate to the pros?"
Patrick has the best answer for that I've heard. He argues that it doesn't matter now if he's a superstar or a washout in the NBA, because currently he's the best in college basketball.
Take a look at Patrick's full monologue on Jimmer here.
E-mail: jclyde@ksl.com
