Joe Namath is taking his opinions to the airwaves.
Sirius/XM announced Wednesday that Namath will be host of a weekly show, “The Broadway Blitz,” on the satellite radio provider. The show will debut this Friday at 2 p.m. and continue to run every week. Adam Schein will serve as co-host.
“It’s a real thrill for me to be joining Sirius NFL Radio and talking about the game I love with fans all over this country,” Namath, who was critical of the Jets’ conservative approach in losing their opener, said in a statement.
“I’ve been involved with football a long time and I still get excited about every season like I did when I was lacing up my cleats as a kid in Pennsylvania. I’ve got a lot of wisdom from my time in the NFL and a lot of thoughts about today’s players and teams. It’ll be fun to share them with our listeners and I look forward to hearing what they think as well.”
Namath hasn’t been shy about expressing himself, but told The Associated Press he’s uncomfortable offering opinions about football.
“It’s clumsy, awkward, not natural,” he said.
The Hall of Fame quarterback says he always believed it was wrong to criticize teammates. But now he tweets about his beloved Jets and Alabama Crimson Tide and posts videos on his website evaluating their games.
Namath said he was tired of hearing others spout opinions he found lacking and realized that when a player makes a mistake, “We’re all seeing it.”
Plus there’s that trademark confidence that puts him at ease stating his mind.
“I see things at a pace that’s faster than 99.9 percent of football fans,” Namath said.
Namath is unabashed about rooting for the Jets, but while he refers to the team as “we” in his Twitter posts, he’ll also describe a disappointing play in Monday night’s season-opening loss with “that’s disgusting.”
“I like to see the team that deserves to win the game to win the game,” Namath said in a phone interview Wednesday. “If the Jets or Alabama is not up to snuff, I’ll know why or try to figure out why.”
With the Jets playing New England this weekend, Namath is concerned about the play of their offensive line. He understands why the coaches are conservative on offense with a young quarterback in Mark Sanchez.
But, said the man who was once a young Jets quarterback, “I don’t know whether that approach is going to be correct to put up enough points to contend with those guys.”
With AP
