Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Talking Sports With Chris Cotter
Aired January 10, 2003 - 06:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking sports this morning, too, and I get to say I told you so to Chris Cotter of "790 The Zone." Actually, you get to tell me.
CHRIS COTTER, "790 THE ZONE": Now, what did you tell me first? Let's try that.
COSTELLO: I can't even remember. I don't even want to go into it.
COTTER: Well, no, I can say, I sort of told you so...
COSTELLO: Oh, yes, yes, yes. I know what it was.
COTTER: What was it?
COSTELLO: It was that call, that illegal man down field.
COTTER: Oh, yes, right.
COSTELLO: Yes, and I said...
COTTER: There's got to be something bogus with that.
COSTELLO: Yes.
COTTER: Well, there was.
COSTELLO: There was. We're talking about the famous blown call that cost the Giants whatever.
COTTER: And, you know, when we talked about it on Monday, I said, you know, you can't have number 65 running down the field trying to catch a pass. Well, you could in this situation. And here's why. Because he declared himself an eligible receiver. Here you see the big guy lumbering down the field right now. He was interfered with, right? Normally a number 60, what is it, 69, 68, whatever it is, can't be an eligible receiver. But he told the officials before the play and before the game. They said this is the play we're running. He said I am an eligible receiver. Then he can be.
So in that case, the officials were right to throw the flag for an illegal man down field. But they should have also convened and said hey, this guy was eligible, let's also call it pass interference on San Francisco and it would have been played over. They would have had another shot.
COSTELLO: Right. And the NFL came clean on that and that will affect the play-off games this weekend.
COTTER: Well, yes, and the thing of it, a lot of the talk this week has been, well, what do you do about that? Do you go back and replay it? Well, you can't. You can't recreate the same scenario, the same situation, the same, you know, atmosphere that you had there. So it's just human error. It's part of the game. You move on but you have to try and look at the officiating, because I think personally all year long college officiating, NFL officiating, there have been some glaring deficiencies, this year more than in previous years. And coaches can't say that because they get fined big bucks.
COSTELLO: Right.
COTTER: But I can say that because I really don't care what anybody thinks.
COSTELLO: Because you can, exactly.
Hey, let's get right to the most exciting game of the weekend. What will it be?
COTTER: I think the most exciting game of the weekend will be Jets-Raiders. I don't, I think that, you know, you talk about old AFL rivalry, I mean these two teams have been around for a long time and the Raiders are coming into the playoffs as hot as any team in football and the Jets are so hot. I mean the Raiders have kind of, they had their middle of the season where they really struggled. The Jets struggled early. They opened up one and four. But since then they've been gang busters.
So two of the hottest teams and two teams that have been very, very prolific offensively, both these teams. So we should see numbers there.
COSTELLO: OK, a final prediction for us. Who will make it to the Super Bowl?
COTTER: I get to do this again? This is three times...
COSTELLO: Yes, because he...
COTTER: ... now I've been able to give you predictions. It seems to...
COSTELLO: Well, are you sticking with your original?
COTTER: You would like to think it gets easier every time.
COSTELLO: ... the Steelers/Philadelphia?
COTTER: Well, my original was the Steelers/Rams.
COSTELLO: Yes.
COTTER: And by mid-season it looked like both those teams were never going to even come close. So I said can I do it again? And you said, yes, do it again. I said Denver and Philadelphia. So Denver's out. The Rams are long gone. I've still got Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but I'm going to say right now Philadelphia, yes, they'll beat Atlanta this weekend. They'll go. And I think the Raiders will beat the Jets and they'll go, as well.
COSTELLO: OK, we'll be watching.
COTTER: So Raiders and Philadelphia just like 1980.
COSTELLO: OK.
COTTER: I forget which Super Bowl that was. Even so, 1980.
COSTELLO: OK, you heard it from Chris Cotter right here on DAYBREAK.
Thanks, Chris.
COTTER: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 10, 2003 - 06:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking sports this morning, too, and I get to say I told you so to Chris Cotter of "790 The Zone." Actually, you get to tell me.
CHRIS COTTER, "790 THE ZONE": Now, what did you tell me first? Let's try that.
COSTELLO: I can't even remember. I don't even want to go into it.
COTTER: Well, no, I can say, I sort of told you so...
COSTELLO: Oh, yes, yes, yes. I know what it was.
COTTER: What was it?
COSTELLO: It was that call, that illegal man down field.
COTTER: Oh, yes, right.
COSTELLO: Yes, and I said...
COTTER: There's got to be something bogus with that.
COSTELLO: Yes.
COTTER: Well, there was.
COSTELLO: There was. We're talking about the famous blown call that cost the Giants whatever.
COTTER: And, you know, when we talked about it on Monday, I said, you know, you can't have number 65 running down the field trying to catch a pass. Well, you could in this situation. And here's why. Because he declared himself an eligible receiver. Here you see the big guy lumbering down the field right now. He was interfered with, right? Normally a number 60, what is it, 69, 68, whatever it is, can't be an eligible receiver. But he told the officials before the play and before the game. They said this is the play we're running. He said I am an eligible receiver. Then he can be.
So in that case, the officials were right to throw the flag for an illegal man down field. But they should have also convened and said hey, this guy was eligible, let's also call it pass interference on San Francisco and it would have been played over. They would have had another shot.
COSTELLO: Right. And the NFL came clean on that and that will affect the play-off games this weekend.
COTTER: Well, yes, and the thing of it, a lot of the talk this week has been, well, what do you do about that? Do you go back and replay it? Well, you can't. You can't recreate the same scenario, the same situation, the same, you know, atmosphere that you had there. So it's just human error. It's part of the game. You move on but you have to try and look at the officiating, because I think personally all year long college officiating, NFL officiating, there have been some glaring deficiencies, this year more than in previous years. And coaches can't say that because they get fined big bucks.
COSTELLO: Right.
COTTER: But I can say that because I really don't care what anybody thinks.
COSTELLO: Because you can, exactly.
Hey, let's get right to the most exciting game of the weekend. What will it be?
COTTER: I think the most exciting game of the weekend will be Jets-Raiders. I don't, I think that, you know, you talk about old AFL rivalry, I mean these two teams have been around for a long time and the Raiders are coming into the playoffs as hot as any team in football and the Jets are so hot. I mean the Raiders have kind of, they had their middle of the season where they really struggled. The Jets struggled early. They opened up one and four. But since then they've been gang busters.
So two of the hottest teams and two teams that have been very, very prolific offensively, both these teams. So we should see numbers there.
COSTELLO: OK, a final prediction for us. Who will make it to the Super Bowl?
COTTER: I get to do this again? This is three times...
COSTELLO: Yes, because he...
COTTER: ... now I've been able to give you predictions. It seems to...
COSTELLO: Well, are you sticking with your original?
COTTER: You would like to think it gets easier every time.
COSTELLO: ... the Steelers/Philadelphia?
COTTER: Well, my original was the Steelers/Rams.
COSTELLO: Yes.
COTTER: And by mid-season it looked like both those teams were never going to even come close. So I said can I do it again? And you said, yes, do it again. I said Denver and Philadelphia. So Denver's out. The Rams are long gone. I've still got Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but I'm going to say right now Philadelphia, yes, they'll beat Atlanta this weekend. They'll go. And I think the Raiders will beat the Jets and they'll go, as well.
COSTELLO: OK, we'll be watching.
COTTER: So Raiders and Philadelphia just like 1980.
COSTELLO: OK.
COTTER: I forget which Super Bowl that was. Even so, 1980.
COSTELLO: OK, you heard it from Chris Cotter right here on DAYBREAK.
Thanks, Chris.
COTTER: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
