Doug Gottlieb led the hot takes for Nov. 23-29.
FoxBy Andrew Bucholtz on

Welcome to another edition of This Week In Hot Takes, this time looking at the hottest takes from Nov. 23-29.

5. Tony Gonzalez says “Philip Rivers is the best QB in NFL history that has never won a Super Bowl”: Gonzalez showed up on FS1’s Speak For Yourself this week, and he brought a take that fits right in with that show:

“Best quarterback that has never won a Super Bowl” is always a hot topic for lists, from NBC to The Big Lead to Bleacher Report (which somehow went 50 deep). And there are a whole lot of options, from Dan Marino to Jim Kelly to Fran Tarkenton to Sammy Baugh. Rivers appears on some of those lists (usually lower down), and comparing across eras is tough, so there’s no definitive answer to this question, but boldly declaring Rivers as the best here is quite the take. And it’s not an answer that many would give here.

Rating: 🔥🔥

4. Phil Mushnick still hates colleges giving foreign players scholarships: Once again, Phil Mushnick is complaining about colleges using scholarships on talented players who happen to come from elsewhere:

Your tax dollars at work: SUNY- Albany’s men’s basketball roster lists three recruits from Australia, two from Canada, one from Serbia, just two from New York. Seems SUNY schools can’t find New York kids who play basketball and sure could use a college scholarship.

Nothing like some xenophobia from Phil. But he’s living proof of what happens when you undeservedly promote something from New York at all costs.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥

3. Danny Kanell argues that LSU should be lower-ranked than Washington because they gave up 74 points in a game, ignoring that said game went to seven overtimes: Look, the College Football Playoff rankings always come with room for debate, and you can make a case that No. 10 LSU should be lower. However, you probably shouldn’t make that case the way CBS’ Danny Kanell did:

The “give up 74 points” reference comes from LSU’s 74-72 seven-overtime loss to Texas A&M Saturday. That game was 31-31 at the end of regulation. That’s not a particularly good argument that they have a bad defense. And it should be noted that LSU’s three losses have come to more highly-ranked teams than Washington’s; none of the teams Washington lost to (Auburn, Oregon and Cal) are currently ranked. But a data point like this, as misleading as it may be, appears to be all a noted SEC critic like Kanell needs.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥

2. Skip Bayless is somehow still arguing that Tim Tebow could be a good NFL quarterback today: I promise you one thing, you will never see any pundit in the entire country campaign as hard for a particular athlete as Skip Bayless has and continues to do for Tim Tebow. Bayless was Tebow’s biggest booster while at ESPN, and continued to argue for him long after everyone else figured out Tebow wasn’t a NFL quarterback. Bayless is also in the very small minority that thinks Tebow can be an effective MLB player instead of a publicity stunt. And this week, he argued that Tebow, a 31-year-old who hasn’t played a NFL regular-season game since 2012 (or a NFL game of any kind since 2015) and has a career 47.9 percent completion mark, could be an effective NFL quarterback today:

It should be noted that what Tebow ultimately did in 2011 was post a 46.5 percent completion mark, bumble into an overtime playoff win thanks to his defense, lose 45-10 to the Patriots, and then get cut in the offseason. And it’s hard to imagine that he could do even that well now. Skip, I hope you brought enough of whatever you’re smoking to share with the class.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

1. Doug Gottlieb brings all the heat: Fox Sports Radio’s Gottlieb really outdid himself in the dumb takes department this week. First, he tried to say that Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman shouldn’t comment on Ohio State coach Urban Meyer:

What’s great about that is that Gottlieb does all of that every day about a whole lot of people. Oh, and that’s all demonstrably false:

Gottlieb went on to further stupidity a couple days later, this time commenting on Baker Mayfield’s comments on Hue Jackson:

This is not Gottlieb’s first trolling of Mayfield, bringing up his attempt to run from police over a public intoxication charge:

That’s pretty funny, considering that Gottlieb’s own past involves stealing teammates’ credit cards, and that he tried to convince everyone he’s learned from his mistakes and shouldn’t be forever judged by them in a piece just a month before this tweet.

But let’s move on to maybe the spiciest take of them all, Gottlieb insisting that none of the criticism of Lamar Jackson (including his own) has anything to do with race, and that the NFL “is not racist”:

That link doesn’t work, but here’s that full segment:

It’s just shocking that all there’s all this criticism of Lamar Jackson’s “accuracy” (a 57.0 mark for his college career, 59.1 percent in his senior year, 60.7 percent in the NFL so far), and not as much for someone like Josh Allen (56.2 percent in college, 52.5 percent in the NFL). Absolutely nothing at all to do with race there, eh, Dougie?

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Hot Take Standings:

Jason Whitlock – Hall of Fame
Stephen A. Smith – 220
Skip Bayless – 198
Phil Mushnick – 167
Colin Cowherd – 74
Doug Gottlieb – 49
Rob Parker – 47
Shannon Sharpe – 35
Dan Shaughnessy – 26
Albert Breer – 25
Ray Lewis – 25
Danny Kanell – 20
Britt McHenry – 20
JT The Brick – 20
Charles Barkley – 19
Darren Rovell – 17
Jason McIntyre – 16
Andy Benoit – 15
Tony Massarotti – 15
Ben Maller – 15
Don Cherry – 15
Bill Plaschke – 14
Mike Felger – 13
The Sporting News – 13
Chris Broussard – 13
Dan Dakich – 13
Rick Morrissey – 13
Michael Wilbon – 12
John Middlekauff – 11
Michael DeCourcy – 11
Keith Olbermann – 11
Bill James – 10
Jason Smith – 10
Joe Simpson – 10
Bob Brookover – 10
Jeremy Roenick – 10
Berry Tramel – 10
Kristine Leahy – 10
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo – 9
Mike Francesa – 9
Ross Tucker – 9
Ryen Russillo – 9
Garth Crooks – 9
C.J. Nitkowski – 9
Steve Simmons – 8
Frank Isola – 8
Michael Rapaport – 8
Bart Hubbuch – 8
Trent Dilfer – 7
Damien Cox – 7
Mike Bianchi – 7
Kirk Herbstreit – 7
Cris Carter – 7
Pat Forde – 7
The Wall Street Journal – 6
Pat Leonard – 6
Luke Kerr-Dineen – 6
Terry Bradshaw – 6
Greg A. Bedard – 6
Jon Steinberg – 5
Bill Welt – 5
Jack Todd – 5
Aaron Murray – 5
Chris Childers – 5
Mark Knight – 5
The Herald Sun – 5
David Booth – 5
Tom Nichols – 5
Keith Hernandez – 5
Bill O’Reilly – 5
Brandel Chamblee – 5
Michael McCarthy – 5
Mike “The Reputation Doctor®” Paul – 5
Dennis Dodd – 5
Rich Lowry – 5
Chris Reed – 5
San Diego Union-Tribune – 5
David Hookstead – 5
Tomm Looney – 5
Alex Shaw – 5
Rick Reilly – 5
Randall Mell – 5
Ian O’Connor – 5
Michael Bamberger – 5
Bob Bubka – 5
Cathal Kelly – 5
Pete Prisco – 5
Bill Simons – 5
Christine Flowers – 5
Jason Lieser – 5
John Steigerwald – 5
Josh Peter – 5
Alexi Lalas – 5
Greg Gabriel – 5
John Moody – 5
Marni Soupcoff – 5
Ryan Rishaug – 5
Kurtis Larson – 5
Rod Watson – 5
Dan Wolken – 5
Chuck Modiano – 5
Joel Klatt – 5
Steve Buffery – 5
Joe Morgan – 5
Howard Eskin – 5
Nancy Armour – 5
Richard Justice – 5
Ameer Hasan Loggins – 5
Jesse Watters – 5
John McGrath – 5
Mike Sielski – 5
Gordon Monson – 5
Scott Fowler – 5
Terry Frei – 5
David Jones – 5
Sabrina Parr – 5
Abbey Mastracco – 5
Terry Cushman – 5
Rob Rossi – 5
Rick Bozich – 5
Michael O’Doherty – 5
Simon Briggs – 5
Dan Wetzel – 5
Mike Parry – 5
Bob Ryan – 5
Robert Reed – 5
Pete Dougherty – 5
Dan Le Batard – 5
Marcus Hayes – 5
Kyle Turley – 5
Mike Ditka – 5
Erril Laborde – 5
Lowell Cohn – 5
Rosie DiManno – 5
Bruce Levine – 4
Malcolm Gladwell – 4
That’s Kappy – 4
Mitchell Nathanson – 4
The New York Daily News – 4
“Big” Jim Murray – 4
Jeff Diamond – 4
Marc Berman – 4
Evan Roberts – 4
Corbin Smith – 4
DJ Siddiqi – 4
The Express – 4
Mark Kiszla – 4
Greg Witter – 4
Myron Medcalf – 4
Bill Polian – 4
MJ Franklin – 4
Alex Reimer – 4
Joan Vennochi – 4
Graham Couch – 4
Matt Yglesias – 4
Bill Livingston – 4
Michael Irvin – 4
Shawn Windsor – 4
Brock Huard – 4
Byron Tau – 4
Maggie Gray – 4
Michael Powell – 4
Mark Spector – 4
Chad Forbes – 4
Gary Myers – 4
Mark Schlereth – 4
Andy Gray – 4
David Fleming – 4
Jeff Pearlman – 4
Tony Grossi – 4
FanSided – 4
Tony Kornheiser – 4
USA Today op-eds – 4
Nathan Ruiz – 4
Jim Brady – 3
Bill Simmons – 3
Mark Teixeira – 3
Wally Hall – 3
Damien Woody – 3
Victor Cruz – 3
Andrew Walker – 3
Jim Kaat – 3
Jason Gay – 3
Steven J. Brams – 3
Aaron Isaksen – 3
Will Muschamp – 3
Buck Lanford – 3
John Feinstein – 3
Stan Fischler – 3
Sonnie Wooden – 3
Chris Jones – 3
Kelly Smith – 3
Reggie Miller – 3
Mark Madden – 3
Larry Brooks – 3
Dan Canova – 3
Steve Rosenbloom – 3
Stephen Jackson – 3
Mike Sando – 3
Walt Borla – 3
Nick Cafardo – 3
Ice Cube – 3
Justin Peters – 3
Elise Finch – 3
Kevin Skiver – 3
David Bahnsen – 3
Harold Reynolds – 3
Kevin Reynolds – 3
Mike Sheahan – 3
Bob Ford – 3
Steve Greenberg – 3
Matt Burke – 3
Malcolm Gladwell – 3
Mike Milbury – 3
Mac Engel – 3
Nick Kypreos – 3
Caron Butler – 3
Don Brennan – 3
Robert Tychkowski – 3
Mike Johnston – 3
Jeff Mans – 3
Joe Browne – 3
Mike Harrington – 3
Greg Mitchell – 3
Tony Gonzalez – 2
Mike Greenberg – 2
Grant Paulsen – 2
Jeff Ermann – 2
Ed Werder – 2
Ben Mulroney – 2
Ron Cook – 2
Brian Kenny – 2
Barrett Sallee – 2
Craig Calcaterra – 2
Max Kellerman – 2
Gareth Wheeler – 2
John Cornyn – 2
Tony Dungy – 2
Bruce Jenkins – 2
Chris Wesseling – 2
Seth Greenberg – 2
Doug Smith – 2
Newsweek – 2
Teddy Cutler – 2
Will Cain – 2
Bill Cowher – 2
Paul Finebaum – 2
Charley Casserly – 2
Amin Elhassan – 2
Jim Henneman – 2
Mitch Lawrence – 2
Nick Wright – 2
Domonique Foxworth – 2
Gary Parrish – 2
Michael Farber – 2
Andy Furman – 2
Donovan McNabb – 2
Seth Davis – 2
Jon Heyman – 2
Jason La Canfora – 2
Booger McFarland – 2
Joe Schad – 2
Cork Gaines – 2

Thanks for reading! Tune in next week for more This Week In Hot Takes. As always, you can send submissions to me via e-mail or on Twitter.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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