Dumb and dumber

Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle…

Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux did an interview with FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt during the 2022 College Football Playoff national championship game Monday. Thibodeaux discussed attending Oregon over Alabama, and he had some things to say about the supposed quality of education at both institutions and why he chose the Ducks.

“I already hate the stigmatism of football players being dumb jocks,” Thibodeaux said. “So now, do you know the stigmatism of Alabama education? It ain’t the West Coast. It ain’t Harvard.”

Later in the interview, Thibodeaux continued to talk about an Alabama education.

“If I would have went to Alabama … I don’t know if my degree would mean anything,” Thibodeaux said.

Dude, you’re leaving school early to make millions in the NFL.  Who cares what your college degree means?

Welp, I guess this guy does.

ESPN college football analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy took offense to Thibodeaux’s statements. He discussed it for quite a while on his radio show with Cole Cubelic — “McElroy and Cubelic In the Morning.”

“I just take real personal offense, man,” McElroy said Thursday. “I genuinely do. I don’t care. Don’t come. If you think so little of us, don’t come. Fine by me, because I know the people that live in this state. I chose Alabama, because I love Alabama. … If you don’t want to see Alabama for the greatness it can potentially provide you, it’s on you. You’re missing out.”

Cubelic and McElroy both chastised Thibodeaux for saying “stigmatism” when he meant “stigma.”

“He says he doesn’t like the stigma that athletes are dumb jocks, and yet, he sounds like a dumb jock,” McElroy said.

McElroy played quarterback at Alabama from 2007-10. The New York Jets took him in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

“What I don’t understand is why he felt the need to cut down Alabama,” McElroy said. “And as someone who has always taken his academic situation very seriously, I’ll just come at him with this — if he’d like to take an IQ test, I’m available. If he’d like to take the Wonderlic test, I’m available. As a proud graduate with multiple degrees from Alabama, I will put my degree up against his any day of the week.”

I repeat:  Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle.  Dueling IQ tests?  Seriously?  If I were Kayvon, I’d offer to match bank accounts with McElroy after the NFL draft.

I don’t know about those two, but I feel dumber after taking all that in.

The king of dumb takes

I mean, you attempt to make a living covering college football and offer this as keen insight on your part:

If this year has taught us anything it’s this: 42 bowl games is too many. It’s not even a debate at this point.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) December 29, 2021

Yes, our nation is united on one thing.  There’s too much college football to watch.  Thanks for sharing that, Danny.

Invitation to the opposite

Miami tells media to not ask Mario Cristobal about the process of him being hired.

— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) December 7, 2021

I’m sure that will work.  Idiots.

All I want for Christmas

… is for dumbass Gator fans to get their most cherished wish.

It could never happen, I know.  But if Clay Travis worked miracles at Tennessee, maybe somebody could motivate him to get involved in Gainesville.

Just another Manic Monday

Honestly, imagine waking up and finding this in your Twitter feed.

I'm hearing a repot from a credible source that Texas Longhorns Special Teams Coach Jeff Banks' monkey allegedly attacked and seriously hurt a young Trick-or-Treater last night on Halloween.

The monkey's jaws apparently had to be pried off the small child.

— Tom Campbell (@thomasgcampbell) November 1, 2021

Just to review:

-Jeff Banks leaves wife and kids for stripper known as Pole Assassin (featured on Jerry Springer).
-Texas hires Jeff Banks as special teams coordinator
-Pole Assassin’s monkey (who performs with her) allegedly attacks a trick-or-treater last night

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 2, 2021

I have so many questions.

Paranoia strikes deep.

Just a reminder that coaching douchebaggery isn’t limited to one specific conference:

A reporter for the OU student newspaper used binoculars from a public building to report that Caleb Williams was doing practice with first-reps, got quotes from Spencer Rattler's dad, and Lincoln Riley has now apparently canceled all media availabilities. https://t.co/O0laL4oRA2 https://t.co/5hKbpbtd8D

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 13, 2021

This isn’t Riley’s first brush with media restrictions.

Neither Rattler nor Williams were made available for interviews after the emotional win, which marked the biggest come-from-behind victory in the rivalry’s history. ESPN sideline reporter  that Riley denied her the opportunity to interview Williams on the postgame broadcast.

The tweet, which was later deleted, read: “Dear viewers, please know I am always working for you. I asked to interview [Caleb Williams] postgame and Lincoln Riley said no. That kid deserved this stage and this opportunity. I actually apologized to Caleb who expected to be interviewed.”

Like coaches across the sport, Riley has a history of paranoia around outsiders viewing practice. In 2020, the University of Oklahoma applied an “opaque film” on 54 dorm room windows that could conceivably see the Oklahoma practice field. The move came as many classes at Oklahoma moved online due to the pandemic.

“While I don’t think very many people would intentionally expose our student-athletes to a competitive disadvantage, it would only take one instance to create an unfavorable situation,” Riley wrote in a letter to students affected by the blurring at the time.

Doing it for the kids is undefeated.  That’s how you know he means well.

Wednesday morning buffet

SEC Media Days are always good for a few tasty menu items.

• Smart and Muschamp teaming up to recruit Derion Kendrick from the transfer portal sounds like it has the makings of a good buddy movie.
• UNC has partnered with the Brandr Group to launch their own group licensing apparatus for Tar Heels athletes.
• “They’re getting reps, they’re learning the playbook and it’s really exciting,” nose guard Jordan Davis said. “You see them flash (in workouts). Tykee and Kendrick are really good players…I’m excited to see what they’re going to do during the season. I know they’re going to show out.”
• Prime Time loses his shit.
• For once, Dabo ain’t wrong.
• Bryce Young hasn’t started a game for Alabama yet, but Saban says he’s already close to being a millionaire, thanks to NIL.  Junior’s reaction to the news is priceless.
• Kirby knows what Saban’s figured out already.
• Don’t get too excited about this, but George Pickens is making progress on the rehab front.

***************************************************************************

UPDATE:  This goes out to those of you who have missed the point behind Saban’s comment about Bryce Young.

Bryce Young is very marketable, but he likely hasn’t done anywhere near $1 million in #NIL deals.

At least not yet.

However, Nick Saban has the world talking about it and that’s 1 reason why Alabama will continue to be at the top of the recruiting game. Saban’s playing chess.

— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) July 21, 2021

I’m beginning to think I need to start a Your Daily Tiger feature.

Yeah, I know that unlike Florida, Clemson has a national relevancy of late, but still, dumb is dumb.  And this is a classic by those standards.

TigerNet never disappoints. pic.twitter.com/VtEmGKDTRS

— UGA Hoops Mafia (@UGAHoopsMafia) July 9, 2021

Yes, he’s using the 2013 game and Todd Grantham’s defense to make a point about this year’s game.  And there’s more where that came from in the message board thread.  That’s some incredible insight there; I may have to rethink my entire take on Georgia’s opener now.

Today, in kids these days

Mike Farrell goes all in on the tats and weed narrative.

This is where people will disagree with me but I believe guardrails are needed here, at least at first. I am all for players making money working camps or signing autographs or being on a billboard, but a limit to how they can make is probably a smart thing. Why? These are still kids, and money changes many things. The hunger they have to make the NFL and provide for their family could be curtailed by what is honestly a pittance of money comparatively.

I’d hate to see a player lose his drive or passion because he made $100,000 on something. That’s massive money to a college student but could cost them a lot more in the end if they think they’ve made it. Does that make sense?

No, especially after that “at least at first” qualifier.  What’s supposed to happen that eventually makes it okay for college athletes to pull in whatever they can, just like the rest of us slobs (including Farrell)?

The smartest people in the world

Every new article I read about playoff expansion reinforces my belief that the people running college football (you can add “into the ground” here, if you like) are morons.  Check out the brilliance radiating from Dennis Dodd’s piece.

Driving the discussion now are several factors. Obviously, there is the money. Two industry sources said, depending on the size of the field, an expanded playoff could be worth two or perhaps even three times more than the current $7.2 billion that ESPN is paying the CFP. The average annual payout of the current deal is $475 million. However, typical of media rights deals the payout is backloaded to increase in the final years.

A significant part of the discussion is less about access and more about enhancing the value of the regular season. A sort-of playoff fatigue has formed around the recent stranglehold Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma have put on the game.

“We could go to 24 , and you might still have Alabama and Clemson playing for the championship,” said one person with intimate knowledge of the process.

That’s some enhancement you got there, fellas.

It sounds like Greg Sankey has other fish to fry, though.

“The SEC is going to push 12 because of their brand. I’m hearing 12,” a Group of Five AD told CBS Sports.

A 12-team field would presumably allow for six automatic bids — Power Five conference champions and the top-ranked Group of Five team — along with six at-large bids.

While the SEC might not be overtly driving the discussion for 12 teams, such a structure would likely benefit the game’s most powerful conference. In an eight-team bracket, the SEC would all but be guaranteed two spots annually. In a 12-team bracket, that number could be three or four teams given the current strength of the league and how well it performs in the CFP Rankings.

“The SEC wants more at-larges,” one AD located in the South said.

No shit, Sherlock.  Even SEC hater Danny Kanell gets that.

New CFB 12 team playoff proposal last year could have looked like this:

Bama, ND, Clem, OSU get byes

1st rd matchups:
(5) TAMU vs (12) Coastal in College Station
(6) Iowa St vs (11) IU in Ames
(7) UF vs (10) OU in G'Ville
(8) Cinci vs (9) UGa in Cinci

How great would this be?

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) June 8, 2021

Oh, speaking of enhancing regular season value, the suits are concerned.  Just ask ’em.

Concern was expressed that ESPN’s “Who’s In?” advertising campaign for the CFP has drained interest from the second half of the college football season. That source wasn’t the only one who thought the playoff-or-bust mentality had impacted interest. A growing number of ADs and coaches have been critical.

There has been enough thought on the subject that one Power Five source speculated about the impact of a 24-team field.

“You’d have half of FBS that would still be alive in November for those slots,” the source said. “We’re not going to 24, but theoretically, that’s what I think we can accomplish with this.”

Sure, man.  Everybody knows the cure for playoff-or-bust mentality is to keep growing the playoff because that will make Mickey pay less attention to an event it has the exclusive broadcast rights for.

What really gets me about all this crap is that these are the same people who led playoff expansion for college basketball.  They know from real world experience what happens to the value of the regular season as the postseason grows, not just in terms of the impact of the games themselves, but also in terms of the broadcast dollars.  That they have convinced themselves it’ll be different this time is borderline delusional.  But not surprising.  It’s what you get when the dumbest people in the room are convinced they’re the smartest.