Trent Dilfer had the hottest take for Nov. 16-22.
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Welcome to a special Black Friday edition of This Week In Hot Takes. Pay $0.00 for one hot take and get four more for free!

5. Andy Benoit says Thanksgiving food “is overrated,” turkey “is boring” and isn’t on many menus year-round: Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of sports figures debating the best Thanksgiving food options this week, from Greg McElroy’s strawberry pretzel salad to Marcus Spears’ advocacy for chicken instead of “overrated” turkey. But Sports Illustrated’s Andy Benoit may have come up with the hottest food take of them all, choosing not to debate specific foods, but rather declare the whole holiday’s food “overrated”:

https://twitter.com/Andy_Benoit/status/1065317729526153216

“I’m out of order! You’re out of order! This whole damn holiday is out of order!” Surely not a controversial stance to take just before perhaps the most food-focused holiday out there. Oh, and the turkey point is also interesting; yes, some (like Spears) don’t enjoy turkey at all, and some only like it with particular sides, but there are a whole lot of people who love it. And the argument that “it’s not on many restaurant menus year-round” is just false; yes, many restaurants don’t serve turkey, but many do, especially diners, where there’s usually a hot turkey sandwich option, a turkey dinner option or both. Maybe Andy just isn’t going to the right restaurants. But hey, if he thinks turkey is boring, that’s more for the rest of us.

Rating: 🔥🔥

4. The Wall Street Journal tells people not to wear sweatpants when working from home: This isn’t specifically a sports take, but it’s one applicable to many people who write about sports, including the one currently writing this column in sweatpants:

Trying to dictate how people should dress is a bad idea in general, and this take’s particularly annoying for trying to tell those working from home to abandon what’s comfortable for unspecified reasons. The “slobby creatives” line in the summary is also annoying and unnecessary. And sure, there might be benefits to dressing professionally on a teleconference or in a co-working space, but that’s already known information. This is not a particularly helpful take from the WSJ, especially with how they promoted it on social media.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥

3. Rob Parker is back on his acronym bullshit: FS1’s Parker has previously proven his propensity to produce poorly-chosen acronyms for particular players, and he’s doing that again:

Around here, we call Parker The W.A.G.O.A.T: The Worst Acronym Generator Of All Time.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥

2. Bruce Levine bashes the choice of Jonny Venters as MLB Comeback Player of the Year, gets his name and comeback information wrong: There’s often some delightful homerism around award selections, and that sure seems to be the case with this take from Bruce Levine, a MLB analyst for Chicago’s 670 The Score:

First, it’s Jonny Venters, not “Johnny.” Second, it’s three Tommy John surgeries, not two, and Venters made history by being the first pitcher to ever return to the big leagues after three. He also had a fourth “half Tommy John” procedure. And the surgeries weren’t all six years ago; his last MLB game before this season was six years ago. Venters’ comeback (he posted a 3.67 ERA and 27 strikeouts for the Braves this year) is truly remarkable, and it seems a little more remarkable than Zobrist’s comeback from a down year. But the even hotter take is just getting so much wrong about Venters.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

1. Trent Dilfer calls Chiefs-Rams “bad football”, “not what the NFL game is supposed to be”: Much of the world loved the 54-51 shootout the Chiefs and Rams put on on Monday night, but former ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer had to be a contrarian. Dilfer pulled on his “back in my day” pants for this one:

Not content to just get repeatedly dunked on for this on Twitter, Dilfer then took his take to FanSided, writing a full column there on why he thought this was “not what the NFL game is supposed to be”:

Kansas City and Los Angeles put on a great offensive show on Monday Night Football, but this is not what the NFL game is supposed to be.

I’m not Walt Kowalski. I’m not telling you to get off my lawn, or, in this case, my turf. The Monday night game between Kansas City and the Los Angeles Rams was fun. I LOVED the entertainment factor. I LOVED the excitement. I LOVED the playmaking.It just wasn’t good football by NFL standards.

…The NFL is supposed to be a higher level of game. It is supposed to be art. It is supposed to be genius. It’s supposed to combine the art of physical ability and playmaking with the genius of great design and strategy. I know it because I played it. I study it. I wasn’t great at it and I wished I was better, but I understand it. The NFL is supposed to be all the entertainment combined with the intellectual challenge of chess.

Instead, what we had was a game that was fun, while at the same time sloppy. The theatre was great. The scriptwriting left something to be desired. To a certain extent, I can’t blame the people involved. Andy Reid is a genius of a play caller. So is Sean McVay. Wade Phillips and Bob Sutton are great defensive coordinators.

But when the rules are changed the way they have been this season, the game deteriorates from what it’s supposed to be about. To put it another way, the NFL is becoming something akin to Major League Baseball, where hitters either hit a home run or strikeout because the metrics say that’s what you should do.

In the NFL of 2018, you can’t hit the quarterback and you can’t hit receivers after they catch the ball. As a result, offensive coaches such as Reid and McVay realize there is less risk to simply chucking the ball downfield. Pat Mahomes and Jared Goff are great young talents, but they are often just dropping back and winging it.

That’s not good football for this level. Again, the NFL is supposed to have sophistication, intellect and class. I’m a football purist. I’m a football snob. The careless turnovers drive me crazy.

That’s a remarkably bad football take from Dilfer, and it’s nice that he managed to work a bad baseball take in there too. And just saying that you’re a “purist” and a “snob” doesn’t make your tastes better than anyone else’s. At least he admits he “wasn’t great” at the NFL game (certainly true), but his playing career is also worth considering here for his bias; the best success he ever had was on a team known for its defense, where he was asked to protect the ball rather than make impressive plays. And his skill level was nowhere near what Mahomes and Goff possess.

The game has changed, and it’s passed Dilfer by as not only a player, but as an analyst. But fortunately, we didn’t have to listen to him dropping this take on ESPN and ruining the enjoyment of what was an outstanding game. Instead, he put this out there on Twitter and FanSided, and a whole lot of people were able to enjoy a tremendous Monday Night Football contest without ever learning that Dilfer had criticized it.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Honorable mention: The anonymous Canadian media member who complained through B.C. Lions’ special teams coordinator Jeff Reinebold about “nerds” voting Ottawa kicker Lewis Ward as the CFL’s special teams player of the year over B.C.kicker/punter Ty Long:

As Gord Randall noted, this was particularly funny for the quoted comments breaking Reinebold’s tradition of tweeting everything in all caps:

Hot Take Standings:

Jason Whitlock – Hall of Fame
Stephen A. Smith – 220
Skip Bayless – 194
Phil Mushnick – 164
Colin Cowherd – 74
Rob Parker – 47
Doug Gottlieb – 44
Shannon Sharpe – 35
Dan Shaughnessy – 26
Albert Breer – 25
Ray Lewis – 25
Britt McHenry – 20
JT The Brick – 20
Charles Barkley – 19
Danny Kanell – 17
Darren Rovell – 17
Jason McIntyre – 16
Andy Benoit – 15
Tony Massarotti – 15
Ben Maller – 15
Don Cherry – 15
Bill Plaschke – 14
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
Mike Felger – 8
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
Michael Felger – 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
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.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz