Credit: SEC Network
By Drew Lerner on

We all know where Paul Finebaum’s allegiances stand. His SEC favoritism was off the charts in Awful Announcing’s inaugural college football media bias rankings.

But after Indiana completed its undefeated run to a national title on Monday, even Finebaum is acknowledging reality. He was wrong about the Hoosiers. He was wrong about Curt Cignetti. And now he’s extending an olive branch to those in Bloomington.

“There can be debate about whether Indiana had the best season in college football history, but there can be no debate: It is the greatest story in the history of the game,” Finebaum began. “And what made it even more amazing is how people misunderstood what Curt Cignetti was doing in Bloomington. Let me assure you, nobody was more incorrect in understanding that process than me. Almost everything I said throughout the season, about him and about Indiana, was wrong. And it was an epic failure on my part. There was no question Indiana was the best team. And yes, the Big Ten is the best conference in the country. We congratulate coach Cignetti, Indiana, and the Big Ten, for an extraordinary run.”

Did anyone see this coming? Finebaum has been one of Indiana’s biggest detractors all season. Now we’re getting a full-throated mea culpa. Sure, it took the Hoosiers winning the whole damn thing before Finebaum was ready for this type of retrospection. But in today’s sports media environment, we’re usually lucky when people hold themselves accountable at all.

Maybe this is why Finebaum decided against a run at the U.S. Senate as a Republican. He’s just too honest! Why admit you were wrong about something when you can simply claim you were saying “ice land” and not “Iceland.”

Not Finebaum. Despite his crystal clear SEC allegiances, he’s at least willing to admit when he gets it wrong.

Perhaps this is Finebaum’s response to the resurfacing of some of his cold Indiana takes, particularly this one from October when he said he was “not convinced” Curt Cignetti was one of the top coaches in the country.

There’s a fine line between caping for a particular viewpoint or perspective and risking your reputation as a credible sports commentator. Paul Finebaum knows he needs to toe the rights side of that line before people begin to view him as a caricature, rather than someone worth listening to.

That means in moments like this, where he’s clearly wrong, he needs to own it. And he did.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner