Former Steelers Safety Ryan Clark Pours the Tom Brady Praise on a Little Thick

Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety turned studio analyst Ryan Clark is finding out the hard way that staying true to the game and the players is not that easy once you hang up the cleats and step into the studio. From his 'Tom Brady sees ghosts' comments to his latest he is finding out how hard it is to transition jobs without stepping on toes.

Is the cabbage patch still cool?

When asked recently who he thought was the hardest player to face he answered with--Tom Brady.

"Ghosts or no ghosts, I have to go with the greatest living American, and that’s Tom Brady,” Clark said, according to ESPN.com. 

He went on to describe just what made Tom Brady so tough to face, but that's not what I'm concerned with here.

Greatest living American? A quarterback? And not even one that has won the Super Bowl recently? 

You couldn't think of any other great Americans Ryan? I don't know about your politics, but a lot of folks would say the President; ask anyone else in Boston and I bet they talk about the first responders. Maybe a teacher?

This is not to say that Tom Brady is not a great American. The dude is living the dream--okay college QB. late round draft pick, Super Bowl winner, super hot model wife that makes more than the obscene amount of money he makes playing a game....

And his kids are cute. It's the American dream.

I get where Clark is coming from. The only thing better then getting paid to play football is getting paid to talk about it. The trouble with doing it right after you stop playing is that so many current players you now need to give honest critiques on are your friends. You don't want to bash your friends, but you want to do your job at the same time.

Of course you don't want to pull a Tiki Barber too and realize that you were dumb to get out of the game when you did because you are not that great on the air. Oh--and as he implied to his brother who just retired, no one likes him (maybe because of how he retired, the way he went out of his way to bash his former team, etc.).

I can't help but wonder if Clark is reacting to the back lash he got from his Tom Brady/ghosts comments. Maybe that is why he seems to be going out of his way to praise Brady.

If that is the case Ryan--stop it. Or we might look at you the same way we look at Tiki.