This Week In Hot Takes for Jan 4-10.
NCAANFLOnline OutletsBy Andrew Bucholtz on

Welcome to another edition of This Week In Hot Takes. This time around, we’re looking at takes from Jan. 4-10.

5. Ella Dorsey says watching The Bachelor instead of the CFP national championship means women won’t get asked on a second date: Dorsey, a meteorologist for Atlanta’s CBS 46, decided to drop a take correlating watching college football with being asked on a second date:

After a lot of criticism, Dorsey later tried to back off 12 hours later by saying she was joking:

But that’s still a bad take, and one that really doesn’t cover the reality of relationships. First, there are lots of women who love college football in its own right, not as a way to impress a potential romantic partner. Beyond that,, there are plenty of men and women out there who aren’t college football fans and are fans of The Bachelor, so the reverse of Dorsey’s argument might be true for some. And there are also plenty of people who can accept that whoever they’re dating has some different interests. Beyond that, faking interest in something to impress a potential romantic partner often ends badly. Oh, and even some college football fans opted to not watch the title game thanks to it being Alabama-Clemson again. So this is wrong on a lot of levels.

Rating: 🔥🔥

4. Mike Klis argues Broncos are right not to let assistant coaches interview for other jobs, four years after criticizing the Bengals for a similar policy: It’s always interesting to see a pundit go back on what they’ve previously stated, and Mike Klis of Denver NBC affiliate 9News appeared to do that this week. Here’s what he said this week about the Broncos’ decision to not let assistant coaches interview elsewhere until the new head coach evaluated the staff:

https://twitter.com/MikeKlis/status/1082016641402040320

The latest

And here’s what Klis wrote in January 2015 while still at the Denver Post, blasting the Bengals for prohibiting interviews of Vance Joseph in a piece titled “Marvin Lewis, Mike Brown, NFL need to do the right thing for Vance Joseph“:

It’s time for Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis to step up and be heard on behalf of his defensive backs coach Vance Joseph.

This isn’t about the Broncos. This is about Joseph, the former University of Colorado backup quarterback, getting the promotion he has earned and deserves.

…This is the wrong stance for a candidate of any color much less a minority. In the week our nation is honoring Martin Luther King and his life’s work for racial equality, the Bengals are denying Joseph, an African American, his right for a career advancement.

Does the NFL, which has proven to be slow to understand the magnitude of social issues, understand the injustice here? Perhaps, the league is simply too preoccupied with that all-important matter of deflated footballs.

Of course, the situations aren’t completely identical. In Klis’ defense, he’s not necessarily arguing for no interviews at all, but no interviews until a new head coach was named (Vic Fangio was named to that role Thursday). And Joseph wound up getting that promotion anyway, serving as the Miami Dolphins’ DC in 2016 before becoming the Broncos’ head coach in 2017 (he held that role for two years and was fired Dec. 31).

It’s also not clear if the interest Klis mentions is for other offensive line positions, or for a promotion. And Kugler is white, so “much less a minority” doesn’t apply. But Klis did say that “This is the wrong stance for a candidate of any color.” And advocating for blocking an assistant coach who might be fired in a week by the new head coach from even taking interviews elsewhere doesn’t feel like a great stance.

Rating: 🔥🔥

3. Jen Rainwater calls Kyler Murray “a stupid, selfish, baby & brat,” says she’ll laugh if he gets hurt in the NFL: On Wednesday, Jen Rainwater (then a front page writer for SB Nation’s Oakland A’s blog Athletics Nation) saw the news that the A’s expect Kyler Murray (who Oakland picked in the first round of the MLB draft last year) to enter the NFL draft following his Heisman-winning season at Oklahoma, and she went off on him on Twitter in since-deleted tweets (she appears to have deleted her whole account now). Here they are:

Jen Rainwater's Kyler Murray tweets.

This led to SB Nation parting ways with Rainwater, to other stories of her harassing people popping up, and to her posting a since-deleted Facebook rant accusing people of fabricating tweets from her account over years. But just focusing on the Murray take, “stupid, selfish, baby & brat” is quite the thing for a sportswriter to call an athlete, and saying you’ll laugh when he gets injured is even worse.

Rating:  🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

2. Jared Stillman claims Deshaun Watson needs to “dress better”: Houston Texans’ quarterback Deshaun Watson was on the sidelines to watch his alma mater Clemson win the CFP national championship Monday, and was wearing a purple hoodie. ESPN 102.5 Nashville host Jared Stillman had quite the take on Watson’s attire:

First, it’s silly to try and dictate what athletes wear (especially on the sidelines of a game they’re not even playing in), and that’s before you get to Stillman’s claim that “you’re not a corner or a WR,” which would seem to carry some racial connotations given that the majority of players at those positions at the NFL level are black and that the majority of NFL quarterbacks are white. Also, Stillman can’t Google Watson’s name and realize that it’s spelled without a capital S? But what’s particularly funny to see Stillman argue sans evidence that this is somehow damaging for Watson’s brand. As Watson himself later responded, he isn’t too worried about that:

“My brand is pretty solid JARED” is going to become a great go-to response.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

1. Patrick Bet-David says there’s “something wrong with this picture” of Watson celebrating Clemson’s win after the Texans’ loss: Amazingly, Stillman didn’t even have the worst Watson take of the week. That goes to PHP Agency (an insurance company) CEO Patrick Bet-David, who’s also the CEO of Valuetainment Media (“The #1 channel for entrepreneurs on YouTube”). Bet-David had an issue not with Watson’s hoodie, but with…him enjoying a win by his alma mater?

I mean, c’mon, man. Of course that loss probably hurt for Watson, and of course he’s probably still thinking about it, but is he supposed to just go sulk indefinitely, lying in bed and eating ice cream or something? He can’t watch his school win a national title and enjoy that? Trying to regulate other people’s emotions is just silly in general, but this is a particularly bad take on it.

Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Honorable mentions: Colin Cowherd compares working for Nick Saban to Scientology, Stephen A. Smith says Kliff Kingsbury should be on The Bachelor instead of coaching in the NFL (that’s a fun one to combine with Dorsey’s Bachelor take above).

Hot Take Standings:

Jason Whitlock – Hall of Fame
Stephen A. Smith – 223
Skip Bayless – 198
Phil Mushnick – 167
Colin Cowherd – 74
Doug Gottlieb – 53
Rob Parker – 51
Shannon Sharpe – 35
Albert Breer – 29
Dan Shaughnessy – 26
Ray Lewis – 25
Darren Rovell – 20
Danny Kanell – 20
Britt McHenry – 20
JT The Brick – 20
Charles Barkley – 19
Don Cherry – 18
Jason McIntyre – 16
Andy Benoit – 15
Tony Massarotti – 15
Ben Maller – 15
Bill Plaschke – 14
Kirk Herbstreit – 13
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
Greg Gabriel – 10
Rob Rossi – 10
Bill James – 10
Jason Smith – 10
Joe Simpson – 10
Bob Brookover – 10
Jeremy Roenick – 10
Berry Tramel – 10
Kristine Leahy – 10
Graham Couch – 9
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
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
Patrick Bet-David – 5
Jared Stillman – 5
Jen Rainwater – 5
Matt Walsh – 5
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
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
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
Peter King – 4
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
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
Tony La Russa  – 3
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 Klis – 2
Ella Dorsey – 2
The Hill – 2
John Kindt – 2
Bill Madden – 2
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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