Channing Crowder's body retires, mouth carries on
Posted by Ryan Wilson
Rex Ryan will have to find a new South Beach debate parter. After six NFL seasons, Channing Crowder has retired. The Dolphins' third-round pick in the 2005 draft, Crowder played his entire career in Miami.
In a radio interview Tuesday, Crowder told WQAM's Sid Rosenberg "I'm retiring. I'm hanging it up." The Dolphins released him on July 29, and after visiting the Patriots, retirement “started eating at me," he said.
“When I went to the workout with the Patriots, it was just weird,” Crowder told the Miami Herald after the interview. “I thought I’d be excited. I’d show them what I got. But it just felt dead. So I prayed on it, and things just started lining up.”
Crowder cited the arrival of his first child as another reason to call it quits, although he would like to pursue media opportunities. WQAM general manager Joe Bell told the Herald that Crowder will have a role at the station this season but “I don’t know what form. He’s as good as any athlete I’ve ever heard on radio.”
And that's the thing: Crowder is probably better known for the words that escaped his lips than anything he ever accomplished on the field.
The choicest nuggets:
* June 2009: In response to Rex Ryan quotes that had nothing to do with Crowder or the Dolphins (Ryan, months into the Jets gig, said he wasn't going to kiss Bill Belichick's rings):
"Oh, (Rex's) going crazy. He's going absolutely nuts. I know it's his first chance to be a head coach, and I know he's excited about life. But, like I said, I've never played a football game in June in my whole life. So congratulations to him. He's the OTA, the OTA Super Bowl winner."
Crowder wasn't done. "He says he'd take care of me if he was younger? I'd have beat the hell out of that big old joker. Or if he really wants to get retro, my daddy or my uncle could have handled him. Don't get big. Win with preparation? Start watching some tape and learn who your rival is. Come on now."
* November 2010: Crowder claimed Ravens' RB Le'Ron McClain spit in his face during a Baltimore-Miami game. When he appealed to the officials, this is his version of what they told him:
"Then [the officials] said something about they let [Dolphins linebacker] Karlos Dansby get away with a facemask the play before. Who the f--- cares? A guy just spit in my face! I don't give a damn about Karlos pulling somebody's facemask. Like they didn't see [Dolphins quarterback] Chad Henne get hit twice when he slid. Yeah, a little Stevie Wonder and Anne Frank."
When asked what the Anne Frank reference meant, Crowder said: "Who was that? Is that the blind girl? Helen Keller ... I don't know who the f--- Anne Frank is. I'm mad right now. F--- it. I'm not as swift as I usually am."
* June 2011: Appearing on WQAM, Crowder said “I know people hate me. When people hate on you you’ve got to be doing something right,” and then offered his unwavering support for embattled Terrelle Pryor: "'ll know why [former Ohio St. coach Jim] Tressel got in trouble -- he was lying. But Pryor can't sell his stuff? It's his."
The final tally (assuming a Favre-ian comeback isn't on the horizon): 344 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one interceptions, three fumble recoveries, and countless verbal beatdowns.
