For all the great plays and heartwarming stories in sports, there’s also the ugly and awful. Each weekend, we’ll be bringing you 3-5 of the worst plays/decisions/anything else from that week. Some will be sad, some will be pathetic, but hopefully, most will be funny. The blurbs are short this week – but we will be back with a full column next week.
I want to first address what happened at the end of Thursday Night Football between the Steelers and Browns. As a Steelers fan, you can be sure I have opinions, but I feel like that issue needs further consideration and I will address it in its own article at some point next week.
NFL Screwing Kaepernick Again
Colin Kaepernick will be working out today, Saturday, November 16th, in a highly publicized event in front of an unknown number of NFL teams. There has been plenty of news focusing on why the Saturday choice and the lack of notice will affect his chances, as will the fact that the NFL refuses to tell Kaep or his representatives the identity of the NFL teams that will be there. The NFL has taken a far more guaranteed sabotage tactic that hasn’t been talked about, though.
The coach leading the workout is Hue Jackson, late of the Browns, who in his last two full seasons as head coach had an unfathomably bad record of 1-31. This should be grounds for another lawsuit, honestly.
Knicks Management
After a bad loss to the Cavs, big baby James Dolan apparently complained to Steve Mills and Scott Perry, who theoretically run the team, and his temper tantrum was enough to drive the famously anti-press Knicks management to the interview room. They proceeded to basically blame David Fizdale, apologize to the team, and insist that the roster built for this season was good enough to contend.
As a reminder, the players on the opening day Knicks roster looked like this:
- R.J. Barrett
- Ignas Brazdeikis
- Reggie Bullock
- Damyean Dotson
- Wayne Ellington
- Taj Gibson
- Kevin Knox II
- Marcus Morris
- Frank Ntilikina
- Elfrid Payton
- Bobby Portis
- Julius Randle
- Mitchell Robinson
- Dennis Smith Jr.
- Allonzo Trier
Sell the team, James Dolan.
NCAA being NCAA
The NCAA showed again this week why they are approximately as popular with the American people as Congress is. The situations with Chase Young and James Wiseman, especially because there is a legitimate chance of the two of them being the overall #1 pick in the NFL and NBA drafts respectively.
Young was charged with violating NCAA rules by taking a loan last year from someone he describes as a “family friend” for living expenses. Young explained his mistake in a tweet and said the loan had been paid back earlier this year. The family friend was apparently affiliated with OSU. This is just not something Young should have been suspended for.
The Ringer’s Rodger Sherman highlights another hilarious aspect – Ohio State and Young happened to report this just before the two easiest games of the season, the first of which is already over, and Rutgers this weekend will be a bloodbath regardless. These stupid rules have stupid ends, to take from Shakespeare – enforcement and how it actually punishes teams are so very inconsistent.
Meanwhile, Wiseman… well, this tweet should tell it all.
Wiseman was 7 years old when this happened. 7. Penny must have had a hell of a view as a recruiter to know Wiseman would be that good and that Penny would be coaching his alma mater in over a decade. The NCAA needs to stop getting in its own way all the time.
Bonus: Tarik Cohen Getting the Short End of the Stick
This is the perfect light note to end this week on, as well as a nice little dig at Rachel’s Bears. In the background of an interview with a different Bears player, 5’6″ Tarik Cohen can be heard getting mad at his teammates for keeping the towels on the top shelf. Pranks are apparently fun no matter how much you are making.
