Emmitt Smith Leaves ESPN and Saves the English Language

Sigh... Emmitt's one of my favorite Dallas Cowboys. I have several of his rookie cards, but haven't forked over the money for his autograph just yet.

His gutty performances helped Dallas win three Super Bowls in four years. He could carry the offense for stretches of a game and was the best at picking up the blitz allowing Troy Aikman time to complete passes to Michael Irvin. He was fun to watch (not counting his Arizona seasons).

As great as his NFL career was, his broadcasting career may be the worst since Magic Johnson's crapfest in the booth after his first retirement. It was fun (and sad) to watch Emmitt make up words and phrases during the football season.

But all good things must come to an end. I read on the Awful Announcing blog this weekend that Emmitt and ESPN are parting ways. Here's AA's top 10 Emmittisms and some honorable mentions.

10. "Last year there was a lot of things the Colts had to address. They couldn't stop the run, and all those. That was one of the biggest things they had to address."
9. "You have to have the personality to match up with the Patriots."
8. "He's giving them all the confidences they need. He giving them the confidence that he need."
7. "They do a very good job of flying around the Football field and carousing the Football carrier."
6. "Don't worry about the game you just won or the team that we just blew out. Uhhh... blown. Blown out. Let's think about what we need to do going forward, and they had blown out."
5. "Eli Manning has been given the rites of patches."
4. "This kind of inconsistency, against a team like New England, will get you completely blowed out."
3. "You cannot change the stripes of a leopard."
2. "Go to Arizona, sharp as a whistle, and do some finishing touches, so we can go down in the Super Bowl and play our best football of the whole entire season."
1. "The strength of the Patriots, their offense, got debacled."

Honorable Mention:

• "The NFC West is probably one of the weakest conferences in the whole NFC."
• "The leadership definitely have to come from the leaders."
• "I think it's his self-confidence in himself that make him so confident when it get down into the crunch time."