We’re all aware that intellectual consistency isn’t one of Herbie’s strong suits, but in praising Baker Mayfield after Mayfield won the Heisman, he really stepped in it.
Why would I say that? Because Herbstreit got owned by a Tennessee defensive back about whom Herbstreit once proclaimed,
“I just need to say this because I haven’t had a chance to say this all week, no chance of winning the game against Alabama and one of their players, No. 7, Rashaan Gaulden, ends up throwing up the fingers,” Herbstreit said. “You’re thinking, with everything that’s been going on with Tennessee, that guy will probably never play again. Next series, defense is on the field, No. 7 is back in the lineup playing on the field.
“And you wonder why Tennessee has issues. They don’t have any discipline. (Butch Jones) should’ve taken his uniform off, sent him upstairs to go get a popcorn and say you’re no longer on the team and sent a message to the whole team.”
Mayfield, you may remember, communicated with a similar gesture against Kansas. One might think that would be something to arouse a similar reaction from the Kirkster, but, no, he’s got nothing but love in his heart for the Oklahoma quarterback.
As you might expect, this didn’t sit well with Gaulden, who fired back with this:
https://twitter.com/Gmoney_7era/status/939730812253163521
You know new depths have been plumbed when I have to take sides with a UT player on any subject, but that’s where we’re at here. Not that I expect it, but Herbie owes somebody an apology.
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UPDATE: Give Herbstreit credit.
Get The Picture 
Could Mayfield’s lack of “SEC Speed” be at issue?
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Honestly, I doubt it.
He’s just an inconsistent ass who reacts in the moment instead of thinking about what he’s saying.
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I couldn’t agree more. Nice post.
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I’m sure you’re right. Somehow it always gets back to Tebow for me. He operated by different standards (celebrating after first down runs, gator-chomping, etc.). In my heart of hearts I knew a kid with dreads would’ve been hit with the celebration penalty on those.
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only if he played for us.
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100 percent true. Plus, the kid with dreds would be called “a thug. “
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Herbstreit has probably blocked half of the twitter universe from his account by now for dissing him. You’re no longer in elite company Senator, just another blogger, LOL.
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You talking about Herbstreit or mayfield?
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As an inconsistent ass, to clarify
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Seriously?
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Well, um, I think so.
Maybe I should go back and read the link. But in my defense, we all know Herbstreit is an inconsistent ass.
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Maybe, but this reeks of a subconscious bias. He deserves to be called out for more than being inconsistent.
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Herbstreit is a clown.
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He is one of the most self righteous and inconsistent mouthpieces in an industry full of them. That’s hard to do.
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You know how it goes. If you are really good, everyone will justify what you do.
Also, they have now that they allowed both Johnnie Football and Mayfield to get the Heisman, they really can’t play the off the field antics mean crap to them card.
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Don’t forget Winston
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This guy gets it. If you’re successful people will overlook whatever character flaws you may have.
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Biggly.
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I’ll say the same thing about Mayfield that I said about Manziel: I won’t go so far as to wish for his demise, but nonetheless, watching his fall from star QB to D-list nightclub guest will be entertaining.
I hope we Colt Brennan the shit out of him in the Rose Bowl.
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I’d love to see it, but I don’t think it will happen. Mayfield has a much better cast around him.
Let’s just give him an early start to the off-season.
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Manziel, Winston, and now Mayfield.
They’re all punks and shouldn’t be sniffing the Heisman.
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Yep, merk knows. Quick to jump on the sore loser thing, and even quicker to gush and capitulate to a guy on a team having a good season. Just typical tv personality conundrum.
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A clear example of white privilege.
tWWL gonna have a talk with Herbie to ensure they are on the right side of the virtue signalling.
This aggression will not stand, man!
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Herbie’s hatred for all things SEC rivals my hatred for UF. Such blind hatred can result in hypocrisy and double standards. Love seeing the kids call him out.
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This is exactly the type of unintentional racism black people deal with every damn day.
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I don’t quibble with the notion of the everyday kind of racialism that affects this country on a number of levels, but in defense of Herbstreit, I think this is a case of being more star-struck than anything else. Mayfield is a big name; Gaulden isn’t. That’s why he gives one the benefit of the doubt and the other the back of his hand.
There’s a difference between a hypocrite and a thoughtless racist.
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I don’t think he’s a bigot, or that he got up in the morning and thought about how he was going to talk bad about a black guy today. This is the type of thing that most of us could do without thinking about why we’re doing it. Racism doesn’t have to be intentional, sometimes we do racist stuff and don’t know it. This seems like a prime example.
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I agree with you Spence. Doesn’t make Herbstreit a racist, it just illustrates the implicit bias that exists in all of us no matter our perspective. Rather than run continuing to run from it, I just wish we’d admit its an issue and try to deal with it.
It reminds me of Barbara Dooley on Finebaum being asked about her husbands role in the rules committee to eliminate celebrations in college football. The lady literally said “acting like monkeys.”
Is she a racist? I don’t think so. Did race play a role in how she viewed things even if they weren’t conscious? Yes.
No matter our perspective, whether we’re openly hostile to exceedingly liberal, we (white, black, Hispanic, etc), carry that baggage around.
I’m pretty sure Jameis Winston was suspended for an entire game for saying something vulgar. Baker lost like what a series or a quarter?
So I’m clear I think Herbstreit was closer to right the first time. The UT kid should not have played again that day and perhaps not the next game and Baker should have sat the rest of that game and the next. I’m not for permissiveness, quite the opposite, but I am for consistency.
I do sometimes wonder what the old coaches like Dooley and Bear would have done if they saw one of their kids act like that. My guess is theyd be too damn afraid to do it in the first place.
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Sometimes Derek just makes too much sense. I can’t stand it when I have to admit that I totally agree, but I do. Great post.
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I’d agree with this but would make the following modification: To that kid and all the kids who are the victims of implicit bias, it’s still racist. I don’t think Herbie is a bad dude or a bigot who sets out to treat people differently because of race, but when anyone including myself (and, sadly, I have, though I hate that that’s true) treats someone in a lesser manner because (in whole or in part) because of their race, it’s not about intent it’s about the consequence.
So we agree, but what he did in my mind is still “racist” or maybe more accurately the result of prejudices he (like most of us) hold in our subconscious.
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Barbara Dooley was a somewhat batty old southern lady. If she wasn’t harboring some amount of racism, I’d be shocked. I don’t think Herbstreit’s response has anything to do with race. I think the Senator nailed it, and beyond that, I’m guessing that he and Mayfield bro’d out at some point while he was covering him. Hence, the double-standard.
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Lest we forget Mayfield getting Goldberg’d by a police officer as he tried to run from a public drunkenness pinch. Makes one question Big XII speed. How many games did Mayfield miss as a result? Yeah that’s what I thought.
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That’s Oklahoma, man. They don’t change.
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I don’t care for Mayfield but he’s not as bad as Manziel (yet), and he’s not even in the same cell block as Jameis. Being an obnoxious ass isn’t in the same league as having a probable rape covered up.
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Lincoln Riley has done nothing yet to imply he is as big an enabler as Jimbo Fisher. Yet.
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Winston is a terrible person but that rape allegation was bogus. The girl said she was drunk and drugged. Tests showed she was neither. I’m pretty sure that if Jameis Winston forcibly raped this girl there would be either physical evidence of assault (injury) and/or evidence of her intoxication. There was neither.
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Giving the finger is always tasteless..but in one case it was gloating in the face of fans that the player had pulled himself up on the wall to do, and the other case it was on the field at opposing team. Slight but significant difference…like taking a swing at another player or taking a swing at fans in the stand.
I understand the well founded reasons behind suspicions that race plays a part in who has historically been punished for what…but I don’t think Herbistreit operates like that. I think he just want’s to see the SEC fail so badly that he is now doing with OK what he couldn’t manage with OSU…promote and will them into greatness. The enemy of Herbie’s enemy is his friend.
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The UT DB was just being an asshole. Intercepting a pass and running it back for a TD is no cause to shoot birds at the opponent’s fans. At least Mayfield directed his ire at the Kansas bench. Mayfield had been personally insulted pre-game by the Kansas players refusing to shake his hand after the coin toss, then during the game one tried to injure him with a late hit a la Nick Fairley. I don’t blame Baker Mayfield for being pissed off. He just shouldn’t have shouted obscenities or made any obscene gestures. That said, I could easily see myself at 22 doing the same thing Mayfield did. Each of you posters needs to be honest with yourselves about that, too. As for Kirk Herbstreit, what a jerk!
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Herbie just apologized to him on Twitter. So at least this time he actually recognized the hypocrisy.
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I’m sure he was pressured. Herbie doesn’t strike me as the kind to apologize much. He certainly hasn’t apologized for actively campaigning against Georgia getting into the BCSCG in 2007 on the grounds that they weren’t champions of their conference when he did the exact opposite the previous year, trying to get both tOSU and Michigan in the BCSCG when clearly Michigan wasn’t conference champion; then reversing field again when Bama lost to LSU in the regular season but got into the BCSNCG anyway. Herbstreit is the living definition of situational ethics.
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he’s been sticking his toe in a lot of hot water lately. The Schianno thing was pretty rough too. I think his ESPN people were like “apologize and move on” and he took them up on it.
I wish he could (ESPN would never let him) recognize that race MAY have played a role in his comments. Doesn’t make him a bad dude and could have helped us all have a more open conversation about a tough subject.
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I can’t stand Herbstriet and I’m glad the Tennessee kid called him on his bullshit but as for wishing he would recognize race may have played a role, maybe it just didn’t. No need to wish for something like that.
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I agree Mike. Sometimes things really aren’t about race no matter how hard somebody tries to make it about race.
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Exactly right Mike. So many here who don’t feel they have gotten their quota of labeling people they don’t know if they don’t just assume every sentence contains some bashing of whatever “cause” they are overly sensitive to. We once had “right” and “wrong” behavior, now it is filtered/excused/highlighted by your degree of political stupidity; we need to keep the lines straight for every person, regardless of their personal characteristics.
I don’t think Hypocritical Herb said this for anything related to race, but it was dumb to have forgotten his earlier rant just 5 weeks ago. But then, he has a habit of getting twisted on prior positions. Both of these actions were wrong, the TN player’s looked more stupid, not because of his skin color but because they were getting absolutely hammered by Bama when he took on the crowd. Sometimes you just have run the clock out and go get on the bus.
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