It was troubling when ESPN assimilated Bobby Knight last year, but one thought buoyed my spirits through those dark and troubling times: At least the Worldwide Leader will never get Jon Gruden. The (now former) Tampa Bay Bucs coach would never turn to the dark side; he despises everything that ESPN stands for. How wrong I was (shakes head sadly).

Fame is a cruel mistress, and if you’re not careful, you can find yourself becoming the thing you hate most. Gruden may think that we’ve forgotten his little skirmishes with ESPN in the past, but no, the Intertubes never forget. Chucky’s history with the WWL has been tempestuous at best, and I’ve got the quotes to prove it. Shall we begin?

“I don’t watch ESPN. I don’t believe half the [expletive] people on the channel, personally – no disrespect.”

“You know, these reports make me sick – really. I don’t believe [there is] any truth to it, and I’ll go to my grave believing that. I hope ESPN 3 or 4 has real sources behind this story, because it has nothing to do with the kid.”

“There’s a lot of reports out there,” Gruden said. “I just wish some of these reports were verified. (Chris Mortensen) doesn’t have a (expletive) idea what he’s talking about.

The first two quotes came after an ESPN report in 2007 which claimed that the FBI was investigating a federal points-shaving scandal at Toledo, in which Rockets (and later Buccaneers) quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was a person of interest. The third is from a December 2007 story in the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES in which ESPN’s Mortensen reported that Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia sustained a hairline fracture of the vertebrae.

Gruden topped off the quote on the latter incident with this line: “This is very uncharacteristic, in my opinion, of ‘professional’ journalism.”

No, this is not a match made in heaven. But as we have learned in the past, if you have a commodity ESPN covets, they will co-opt you. But just how did they get to Gruden? My guess is that his 10-year-old son has unlimited free games at both east & west coast ESPN Zones.