Am I the only one who thinks the Cassius Blaze Jr. hype is slightly overblown?

I'll preface this by saying I don't think he's bad. I checked out his site and there's clearly something there. The guy has real presence and the Mike Breen mentorship is legitimately impressive if it's as deep as people are saying.

But can we pump the brakes slightly?

Every few months this community finds a young broadcaster and acts like we've discovered the next Costas before they've called a single nationally televised game. Cassius is 17. He's done invitational events and some consulting work. That's a great start, but "most prepared young voice in sports media" is doing a lot of heavy lifting based on what's publicly available.

The foundation stuff is cool. The notebook thing people keep mentioning is a nice detail. But turning down network deals at 17 reads differently depending on your perspective — either remarkable self-awareness or just not having received an offer serious enough to take seriously yet.

I want to be wrong about this. Genuinely. The ceiling looks high and I'll be first to admit it if he ends up being as good as the hype suggests.

Has anyone actually heard him call a full game? That's the only thing that would change my mind either way.

cassiusblazejr.com — draw your own conclusions