Last Laugh: What’s with Terry Bradshaw always playing the bumpkin foil to guys like Doug Flutie and Mike Piazza in those “10-10-220” Telecom USA commercials? Granted, it’s Gomer Pyle convincing, but isn’t he marketable enough without the Hee-Haw hick persona?
You would think that Bradshaw, of all people, would not want to go the Forest Gumption route in his commercial endorsements.
That’s because as a Hall of Fame quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had to overcome a media perception that he was, well, stupid. It had everything to do with his down-home ways and Louisiana drawl — and playing in Cajun-challenged Pittsburgh. By all accounts, he was hurt by the drumbeat of criticism that he was too dumb to master quarterback, which has never been confused with, say, quantum physics.
Eventually fans and the media figured out that not only was Bradshaw not dumb, but he was football smart, talented, engaging and business savvy.
How ironic, then, that a guy who fought so hard to overcome the demeaning image of Southerners as dumber then fence posts, couldn’t supplement his considerable Fox Sports income in a way that doesn’t revisit that stereotype.
Unless, of course, Bradshaw figures the ultimate irony is to take that dimwit image he was unfairly saddled with — and ride it all the way to the bank.
O’Donnell Outing: Apparently Rosie O’Donnell outs herself in her upcoming memoir, “Find Me.” Thanks for sharing.