The NBA is investigating an altercation between Joel Embiid and a Philadelphia sports columnist.
Joel Embiid shouted at and eventually shoved a Philadelphia sports columnist in the 76ers locker room during an exchange of words after Saturday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
The altercation stemmed from a story written by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes that mentioned Embiid’s son and late brother in a criticism of the center’s lack of availability for the 76ers. The column’s lede crossed a line that could unfortunately result in Embiid missing even more time than he already has.
Here’s what Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes wrote, before his altercation with Joel Embiid tonight: pic.twitter.com/7nVvs4RfnP
The altercation began with Embiid confronting Hayes as reporters entered the locker room, according to ESPN, saying “the next time you bring up my dead brother and my son again, you are going to see what I’m going to do to you and I’m going to have to … live with the consequences.”
The NBA is investigating what happened, a league spokesperson told ESPN’s Shams Charania. There hasn’t been mention of discipline for Embiid yet, though that’s completely within the realm of possibility and maybe even an expected consequence for his actions — just like Hayes getting shoved could have been an expected consequence for what he wrote.
Considering the personal nature of the column, Hayes is lucky things didn’t escalate further.
"Joel Embiid got into a physical altercation, shoving a columnist in the postgame locker room tonight." @ShamsCharania on Joel Embiid and the NBA's investigation into the incident on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/p2z3nJqrEY
Using Embiid’s family the way Hayes did was disgusting and completely unnecessary for a critique about how much Embiid plays. I firmly believe in keeping your hands to yourself, but Embiid’s reaction is not hard to understand. If anything, it should be a lesson learned for the entire sports media industry that some things are off limits.
Hayes seemed to understand as much, apologizing on X for the Oct. 23 column just a few hours after it published and removing any mention of Embiid’s family. That it was possible to edit without changing the column proves how unnecessary that part was to begin with.
According to ESPN, Hayes also offered an apology to Embiid during Saturday’s altercation. Embiid, who previously addressed Hayes while talking to reporters Friday, saying “I’ve done way too much for this [expletive] city to be treated like this,” rejected the apology.
“That’s not the [expletive] first time,” Embiid said.
I’m not familiar enough with Hayes to know whether that’s true. But if the column does follow a similar pattern of behavior, Hayes needs to be held equally accountable as Embiid. If he can’t get his points across without personal attacks on athletes, the Inquirer should find a columnist who can.
If the Saints are going to fire Dennis Allen and make a change in-season, now is the time to do it. The post-Thursday game break is an opportunity they can’t squander:
The New Orleans Saints dug their way to new depths in Thursday night’s lopsided 33-10 loss to Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. They lost their fifth game in a row, their second loss by 20-plus points in just five days, and head coach Dennis Allen’s defense was criticized for quitting on him. It couldn’t be more obvious that now is the time to make a change.
Even with all the injuries and adversity, the buck stops with Allen, and his 18-23 record as their head coach speaks for itself. Taken with his Raiders tenure, Allen’s 26-51 record all-but shouts. If the Saints are going to dismiss their head coach and name an interim to replace him during the season, the time to do it has arrived. They’re 2-5 after Week 7 for the second time in three years. Last year they peaked at 3-4.
Look at the schedule. The Saints will get a few days of extra rest before preparing for a road game with the 3-2 Los Angeles Chargers. After that they’ll return home and get ready for another away game, this time visiting the 1-5 Carolina Panthers. Then they get two home games with the 4-2 Atlanta Falcons and 1-5 Cleveland Browns before their real bye week. The NFL trade deadline slots in-between those Panthers and Falcons games, too.
Timing is everything in the NFL, and this is an opportunity they can’t squander. With ten days stretching between this blowout loss to the Broncos and an away game with the Chargers, it’s one of the best chances a new voice could have to resonate in the locker room. Whether that’s special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi or someone else on staff, an interim head coach would have time on their side to make meaningful changes and set a new tone.
But will the Saints take action? Tom Benson never fired a head coach in-season and there’s little to suggest Gayle Benson would sign off on it. General manager Mickey Loomis pinned his reputation to Allen when he chose to promote him to head coach and you have to wonder if he would willingly go down with that ship. Change feels inevitable for the Saints after this disastrous turn to the season. The only question should be when it happens, and there’s no better time than right now.
New York #Jets WR Allen Lazard and South Carolina #Gamecocks DL Dylan Stewart sparked a dialogue about ‘gun celebrations’ in football.
Football is anything but a leisure sport. Violence is at its absolute core.
For some players, football is an outlet. It isn’t uncommon to hear from retired linemen about how they miss the physicality of the game, the feeling of being able to impose their will on other human beings on the gridiron.
None of this is new, and the urge to physically restrain or otherwise hinder the forward progress of another person is hardly unique to American football.
We humans fight wars, after all, and unspeakable acts are committed by people every day.
On Saturday, South Carolina Gamecocks defender Dylan Stewart was flagged for a celebration wherein he pantomimed shooting Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Jaxon Dart, who was lying defenseless on the field.
Stewart’s incident occurred after New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard was penalized and fined for a finger-gun celebration in Week 4 against the Denver Broncos.
In a vacuum, maybe this is acceptable – or at least understandable – behavior.
Perhaps Stewart, who is 19 years old, just got caught up in the moment and was emulating behavior he had seen from other people who were caught up in a moment, too.
Perhaps Lazard, nearly a decade Stewart’s senior, was merely intending to signal a first down, and his outstretched fingers and hand motions were perceived the wrong way by the referee on the field and the NFL officials who fined him.
And, perhaps nobody was hurt by either celebration, and neither deserved to be penalized for their actions.
As a football blogger, it isn’t my place to say where the line between celebration and offensive conduct is. Far be it from me to say that someone should be suspended, or fined, or even that they should get a stern talking-to from a coach on the sideline.
Those decisions are well above my pay grade.
But, as an American, it seems at least a little odd that there is a conversation to be had about this “gun celebration” business anyway.
Guns, their use, and our right to own them, are wholly pervasive in our culture. Our right to own them, in particular, is enshrined in our constitution, which was written by people with far more vision than me.
To be clear, Stewart’s infraction against Ole Miss was far more egregious than Lazard’s. To mimic “emptying the clip” into an opponent is a far more demonstrative action than merely “shooting” finger guns to indicate a first down.
But, at their core, these celebrations serve a similar purpose: to introduce “guns” into a game that, even to its detriment at times, is more than violent enough.
I’m not here to tell you what to think about either celebration, let alone what you should think about guns, firearm culture, or our right in the United States to bear arms.
Rather, I think the fascination with violence (or perceived violence) as a form of celebration is more at issue.
Is it ever appropriate to celebrate an achievement with a real firearm?
Is it ever appropriate to celebrate an achievement with a fake firearm?
What message does it send that, in a moment of ecstasy after making a crucial play, that any celebration would involve an imaginary firearm?
In my usual role over at Chiefs Wire, I covered Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVIII parade, where one person was killed and 33 people were injured after a mass shooting took place at Union Station in my hometown.
A day that should have been about celebration and achievement turned disastrous and deadly when real guns were introduced into the equation.
In a country where tens of thousands of people die at the end of a gun’s barrel (the majority self-inflicted) every year, why is it that these tools are part of any celebration at all, ever?
These are questions that, again, go well beyond my pay grade.
America’s identity is already at the center of every political advertisement you’ll see over the next month and, in an election year, the last thing this writer wants to do is ask people to re-evaluate their stance on guns.
But, as Americans, we have a choice to let this aspect of our culture live or die.
All eyes are on Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin—an enticing candidate whose family ties and recent success may keep him from making the jump to the Gators.
Many believe that the Billy Napier era at Florida football has come to an end, which would conclude a three-season stretch marked by underwhelming performance and missed expectations.
The Gators skipper is not quite out the door but the fanbase nonetheless has been clamoring for a replacement since the Week 1 loss at home to the Miami Hurricanes.
Presumably, the program is now searching for a replacement head coach to get things moving back in the right direction. There have been a number of candidates that fans have been hoping Florida can reel in, but none are as big as Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin.
Who wouldn’t want a coach like Kiffin? He brings the swagger, the charisma, and most importantly, creativity on the offensive side of the ball.
“Florida fans who crave Lane Kiffin as their coach need the Rebels to lose a few games between now and Thanksgiving,” Toppmeyer wrote. “It’s a fine line: Win enough to still look desirable, but lose enough for Ole Miss to miss the College Football Playoff and make Kiffin wonder whether he’s hit his ceiling with the Rebels and ought to uproot and resettle in The Swamp.”
However, it may not be realistic at this point. Of course, we all remember back in 2009 when he suddenly left the Tennessee Volunteers to be the head coach for the USC Trojans after just one season, but things are different now.
He’s been in Oxford, Mississippi, for five years and has really enjoyed his time with the Rebels. Kiffin has settled in, and with the success he has going for him currently, it just doesn’t make sense for him to leave that all behind and start all over again in trying to man a rebuild for school.
Kiffin also has family ties with Oxford. His oldest daughter, Landry, is currently attending Ole Miss as a sophomore, and has been loving it. In fact, back in 2022 when Kiffin was rumored as the next head coach for the Auburn Tigers, it was Landry who convinced him to stay.
Low wrote, “Kiffin was leaning toward taking the Auburn job toward the end of the 2022 season when Landry came to him with a heartfelt message. ‘You left me one time for another job when you went to Alabama, and now I’m here with you and you’re going to do it again?’ she asked her father.”
Low continued, “Landry and her friends created a slideshow, complete with music, showing all of them together with Kiffin at Ole Miss.”
It just doesn’t seem logical for Kiffin to leave a school that his family loves.
Having worked under Nick Saban with the Alabama Crimson Tide, Kiffin may have learned the value of stability and long-term growth within a program. He might believe that continuing to develop the Ole Miss program will be more rewarding than jumping to a program that is currently in turmoil.
Kiffin has significantly improved the Rebels football program, achieving two seasons with at least 10 wins in the last five years, with the potential for a third this season. He has completely turned that program around and has helped his team make a bowl game every year he’s been there.
And now with the growth of Ole Miss’ NIL program, “The Grove Collective”, it has provided advantages in terms of recruiting and creating a presence with the transfer portal. Kiffin wouldn’t just throw that all behind and start from scratch at a new program.
With the way things are going with Florida in terms of desperately getting that program back to the mountaintop of college football, there needs to be an understanding that it will most likely take Kiffin some time to rebuild the program which can create pressure to produce immediate results.
While the allure of Kiffin’s coaching prowess and charisma may captivate Florida fans, the strong connections he has established at Ole Miss—coupled with the program’s recent successes and the stability he has built—suggest that it would be more prudent for him to continue his journey with the Rebels rather than embark on a challenging rebuild in Gainesville.
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The WNBA does not get a trophy for doing the bare minimum.
The WNBA took more than four months to stand in solidarity with its players over repeated harassment, but it finally issued a statement Wednesday denouncing bigoted and threatening comments. It was the bare minimum and long overdue.
As much as the 2024 season should have been solely about basketball, it wasn’t. More fans meant more eyes, and with more eyes, the ugliest parts of humanity — racism, sexism, homophobia and learned ignorance — were amplified at the league’s front door. While the WNBA seemingly handled its previous fan growth spurts well, the intensified harassment of players highlighted a lacking support system that took nearly a whole season to receive performative duct tape.
For months, the league publicly sat on its hands while players endured abuse from fans, including death threats (Warning: NSFW language) and being followed to homes and hotels. The online conversations and in-person confrontations were so glaring, so unhinged that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was asked to explicitly address them in an interview with CNBC. Engelbert fumbled the opportunity and later apologized once it became clear her words didn’t meet the moment. However, a new statement from the league Wednesday, in light of more fan abuse, reflects how loudly the WNBA is failing its players.
“The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world. While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory or threatening comments made about players, teams and anyone affiliated with the league. League security is actively monitoring threat-related activity and will work directly with teams and arenas to take the appropriate measures, to include involving law enforcement, as necessary.”
Why did it take more than four months for the league to put out the bare minimum to denounce what has so clearly impacted its athletes like Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas throughout the season? Why did nothing happen until after one of the league’s other stars, Caitlin Clark, was met with in-person fan harassment during her first playoff series?
I don’t have the answers to those questions; Engelbert and WNBA leadership would have to explain the exact reasoning. But releasing the statement now reeks of cowardice and is almost entirely unserious, especially when players have been speaking out on it.
Also calling out racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc. isn’t brave. It certainly isn’t worth of a gold star or praise. It’s the bare minimum tbh. Ignoring/ tolerating hate speech is part of the problem bc it cultivates a space that enables people to continue their behavior
A professional league with a decades-long reputation as a socially aware entity cannot be this delayed and outwardly obtuse. Beyond the jerseys are people who deserve better from the folks they have entrusted to support them at their jobs.
When we start normalizing vitriol as everyday discourse, the bar for morality and humanity is in the basement. Anyone can tell you not to feed into the “trolls” and the “bots.” However, simply “ignoring them” is a privilege many athletes don’t have.
“ I don’t go on social media, and that’s a part of protecting my peace. But I also realize that’s a privilege for me.”
And ppl wonder why I adore Stephanie White and this team- SHE GETS IT‼️ https://t.co/ercoGVjkHj
In some ways, the sports world has become desensitized to hate hurled at athletes, and if that doesn’t change and boundaries aren’t established, the consequences are potentially dangerous.
The WNBA doesn’t suddenly get credit because it decided to have a spine and speak out in defense of its players. There is no participation trophy for showing common decency; it’s the expectation. Ultimately, this rests at Engelbert’s feet, and if she and the league’s leadership won’t do what’s right, the safety and well-being of players across the league could be at risk.
The WNBA is seemingly only worried about its pockets, not the humanity of its players.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert had a chance to do something that should have been done a long time ago — condemn the people who have used Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese‘s names to further their own agendas. Instead, she sidestepped the opportunity to use her platform, opting for the dollars instead.
Since the 2023 National Championship and into their rookie WNBA seasons, Clark and Reese have been at the center of some of the wildest vitriol women’s sports have seen in recent years. Their stardom has galvanized an extremist movement of “fans” whose only goal is to find the opportunities — the cracks — in the foundation of women’s basketball and fill them with racial, sexist and bigoted sludge.
The narratives driven by “supporters” (and perpetuated by media personalities like Charles Barkley) have grown so loud and dangerous that Clark and Reese were forced to respond and reveal unhinged behavior like death threats and stalking. But the league has been publicly silent about what’s happening. Recently, Engelbert gave a corporate, safe non-answer when allowed to denounce the rhetoric and refocus the conversation on basketball. Here’s what she told CNBC:
“Well, one thing that’s great about the league right now, we do sit at this intersection of culture and sports and fashion and music — like the WNBA players are kind of looked at now as cultural icons. And when you have that, you have a lot of attention on you. There’s no more apathy. Everybody cares.”
“It’s a little bid of that [Larry] Bird-Magic[Johnson] moment…we have that moment with these two. The one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.” Social media is different today than it was in 1979 when it didn’t exist.”
“But…I always tell the players — I was told a long time ago if someone is typing something in and you wouldn’t ask their advice, ignore it. It’s a balance. But certainly, from a marketing dollars — corporate partners are stepping up to endorse these players more so than they were five years ago because they see the benefit of having women and diverse women representing their brand.”
The problem with that answer is that it ignores the elephant in the room.
It minimizes the ugly truth that a small but extremely loud and rapidly growing contingent of WNBA “fans” is dramatically shifting what the conversations should be about. Engelbert’s answer also comes off as dismissive of the gravity of what is being spewed directly to both players, in the names of Caitlin and Angel and other WNBA players.
Earlier this season, Aliyah Boston had to delete her social media because the things said to her were well past basketball. A man tracked down Chennedy Carter and the Chicago Sky to reportedly hurl racist and misogynist marks after a hip-check foul. And those are only two examples.
Dozens more instances involve players, which only worsens when social media is involved. The internet has become a cesspool for people to operate unchecked, all behind the mask of WNBA fandom and free speech. Finding the right words to say on such topics is never easy, and it often requires more profound thought before speaking. But how much longer is this supposed to go on? How bad does it have to get before the league says something?
The WNBA has always been a socially-conscious league focused on being aware of things larger than basketball. However, it cannot turn a blind eye now because its bank account says it’s not worth the fuss. Doing so is disingenuous to every player who has ever played in the league and any future athlete who will wear a WNBA jersey.
The plot has officially been lost when money trumps humanity, and the WNBA is dangerously close to completely fumbling Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese’s impact.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you. I hope you had a fantastic weekend.
Becky Hammon certainly didn’t. I’m not telling you that so you can feel sorry for her — she brought this on herself.
Let’s start with the news, though.
Hammon took a portion of her post-game press conference on Sunday to tell anyone who would listen that she did no harm to current Sparks All-Star Dearica Hamby when she was a member of the Aces.
Hamby filed a lawsuit last week against the Las Vegas Aces and the WNBA, alleging that because she was pregnant after signing her contract extension in 2022, she faced “repeated acts of intimidation, discrimination, and retaliation from the Aces” before the team shipped her to Los Angeles. The details are brutal. Hamby alleges that after Hammon and the Aces found out she was pregnant in July 2022, they reneged on certain agreements in the deal.
More crucially, Hamby also claims to have been bullied by Hammon.
Hamby detailed Hammon’s questions about her dedication to the team during her pregnancy. Hamby said Hammon told her that she “didn’t hold up her end of the bargain” by getting pregnant and that, by signing the extension, Hamby implicitly agreed not to.
It’s jaw-dropping stuff that, if true, would be more than reasonable enough to result in Hammon’s firing. But, according to Becky, none of this ever happened.
“I’ve been in either the WNBA or the NBA for 25 years now; I’ve never had an HR complaint—never, not once. I still didn’t actually ‘cause Dearica didn’t file any. She didn’t file with the players' union.She didn’t file with the WNBA. Those are the facts.” Becky Hammon on lawsuit pic.twitter.com/C0K1cLkpVw
“Here’s some facts,” Hammon told reporters. “I’ve been in either the WNBA or the NBA for now 25 years. I’ve never had an HR complaint. Never, not once. I still didn’t, actually, because Dearica didn’t file any. She didn’t file with the players’ union, she didn’t file with the WNBA. Those are facts.”
You want to talk about facts? Let’s talk about facts.
Hammon claims the bullying “didn’t happen,” yet, somehow, after a months-long investigation spearheaded by the WNBA itself, the league found enough wrongdoing by Hammon to suspend her for two games last season. That’s a fact. Hammon can’t tell us that she didn’t do anything wrong here when we know that to be true.
It’s not unreasonable to believe that it’s true, either. The WNBA has been shaky in the past when handling player pregnancies. All we have to do is look back on how the Mercury treated Skylar Diggins-Smith during her pregnancy last season. It sounds pretty similar.
That might surprise you, but it shouldn’t. The WNBA might be a highly visible league, but we’re still dealing with simple workplace dynamics here.
On one end, you’ve got a coach in Hammon who makes $1 million per year and led her team to a championship (with Hamby included!) in her first season as a head coach. On the other, you’ve got a player who doesn’t even make a quarter of what her coach makes and wasn’t the best talent on the roster.
Given those facts — since, again, Becky says we’re talking about facts — whose side do you think the Aces chose? Whose side do you think the WNBA chose? It’s easy math.
You can’t help but feel like Hammon just put her foot in her mouth. What she’s telling saying is so easy to pick apart.
At best, what she’s doing here is downright irresponsible. There’s a reason folks don’t talk about pending litigation. What she says here will be used in court, and when the parties go into discovery, I’d bet this moment will somehow look worse than it does today. It might even lead to the end of her tenure in Vegas.
At worst, this is sinister and downright ghoulish. Hammon is gaslighting Dearica by telling her that what she had to endure was somehow “over the top care” from her former head coach.
And that, folks, is precisely what workplace bullying looks like. We’ll see how this plays out in court.
Bo Nix … Is that you?
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
If you asked people who they thought was the best bet out there to win Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL this season, you’d probably hear a lot of Caleb Williams. Maybe Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye. Maybe even Rome Odunze or Marvin Harrison Jr.
You probably wouldn’t hear much about Bo Nix, but the guy has looked solid so far in a couple of preseason games for Sean Payton and the Broncos.
“To start, the Denver Broncos rookie almost certainly locked up the team’s starting job with his preseason play, which already gives him an edge over at least two and maybe three of his classmates who won’t see the field. J.J. McCarthy was ruled out for the season after knee surgery. Michael Penix Jr. (+6600) is stuck behind Kirk Cousins for the foreseeable future. And Drake Maye (+3500) is backing up Jacoby Brissett for the time being.
That leaves Caleb Williams (+140) and Jayden Daniels (+500) as the most immediate competition at QB, and both have much shorter odds than Nix at +1200.”
This is impressive stuff from Bo Nix — especially considering how little time he’s had in Denver. That starting spot is up for grabs and he seems to want it.
Am I impressed because my expectations were at 0? Maybe. But who cares! I’m still impressed, nonetheless.
Do the Soto Shuffle
It’s hard not to get excited when you see Juan Soto come up to bat. Not only do you know there’s a solid chance you’re about to see something special, but you also know the Soto Shuffle is coming.
Tony Romo doesn’t seem to realize he’s staring a comet right in the face.
I don’t know where Tony Romo got the idea that he’s this respected NFL announcing ambassador, but he needs to stop. Immediately. No one in their right mind is looking at CBS’s lead color commentator as this shining beacon of broadcasting light in 2024. These days, I’d venture to guess that very few view him as a leading example to follow.
If you listen closely to the way Romo talks about Brady in a recent interview on CBS Mornings, you’d almost get the sense he doesn’t think the 7-time Super Bowl champion quarterback could supplant him as the most beloved modern NFL broadcaster.
It’s Romo’s not paying much of any attention to Brady’s debut and likely announcing ascendance.
“We all know Tom [Brady] well,” Romo said. “You gotta remember, Jim’s [Nantz] done the most Tom Brady football of anyone (in broadcasting) — literally over 100 games. I think it’s great. I think it’s great for the industry that people want to go into this position and these roles. I think you find that the NFL has that grab. This [quarterbacks becoming announcers] was not always that, but Troy Aikman, I felt like really started this.
“Now, it’s part of possibly an arc in your career. But Tom’s gonna do great. He’s working as hard as anybody.”
I understand Romo is trying to be classy here. I know he’s making a point about quarterbacks becoming more comfortable talking to fans every Sunday. That is a welcome development! And I know this is him mostly being magnanimous toward a future “competitor” like Brady. The nature of NFL broadcasting on CBS (which focuses on AFC matchups) and Fox (which centers on NFC duels) doesn’t really make Brady a rival to Romo, even if their networks are fighting over the same afternoon time slots on Sundays. The generally equal conference split makes this more of an apples-and-oranges comparison than we’d like to admit.
At the same time, Romo does understand he’s lost his mantel as The Guy Who Correctly Predicts Plays Before They Happen, right? Surely, he knows that his work announcing games has become rote at best and grating at worst? Right?
Someone like Brady might not technically be a competitor, but that’s definitely not how NFL fans will view this dynamic in the long run. Everyone reading this is old enough to remember the direct Greg Olsen comparisons. It’ll be the same line of thinking for Brady.
Look who's in the booth 👀@TomBrady is in the booth for the first time as a member of @FOXSports at the UFL Championship 👏
If Brady’s awesome at the job for Fox — unfortunately, as much as it pains me to admit out loud in public, he probably will be — then he will be propped up by the football media landscape more than Romo ever was. It won’t be close. Because of Brady’s well-established, built-in playing resume, he can be so good at announcing that he might almost make the days of Romo offering insightful, worthwhile analysis seem like they never happened. And to be candid, that feels so long ago that I’m not sure it happened anymore myself.
Romo talking about how Brady working for Fox is excellent for the broadcast industry is him missing the mark on his own place in football. For cinephiles, it’s like Blockbuster praising Netflix for how it will revolutionize the DVD market. For you work-from-home 9-5ers, it’s like Skype giving Zoom some public shine for jumping into the video call space. For you history buffs out there, it’s like Napoleon Bonaparte telling British naval commander Horatio Nelson, “good job” for hamstringing his navy.
You get the idea.
Kudos to Romo for giving Brady some advice and helping him ease into a new, demanding job. I’m certain not many other people would’ve been nearly as kind in his position, and that’s the point.
No? Really? Clearly, you don’t want to embrace the glorious future.
Well, too bad because NBC is bringing light, depressing dystopia to your sports anyway!
In next month’s Summer Olympics, the colorful peacock network plans to have Al Michaels recap each day’s most important events. Oh, I’m sorry. That’s misleading. It won’t be the Al Michaels we all know and love from decades of calling some of the most famous moments in sports history. It’ll be an A.I. version of him trained to his voice to make it sound like one of the most iconic American broadcasters ever is blasting right into your living room or headphones.
The preview of Fake Al Michaels — who, mind you, is still very much alive at age 79 and could’ve easily done these personalized recaps himself — is as saddening as it sounds:
NBC has announced that it will use A.I. to recreate Al Michaels’ voice for custom recaps during the 2024 Olympics. pic.twitter.com/eX5aTFBVen
Personally, I love having a de facto sports Siri that sounds like it was prerecorded without any emotion or authenticity. Again, I remind you all that we live in the future.
You just can’t put a lid on human beings’ ambition!
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Michaels revealed that he gave NBC his blessing to use his voice in these A.I. Olympics recaps. While his concerns were alleviated, he still didn’t sound too enthused — and understandably so.
Michaels was “very skeptical” of the proposal—until he heard the A.I. for himself. “Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing,” he told me in a phone interview last weekend. “And it was a little bit frightening.” Michaels was left in awe of the nuance—the way it captured his intonations and verbal subtleties. “It was not only close, it was almost 2 percent off perfect,” he said. “I’m thinking, Whoa.”
I understand Michaels’ fears. Any time a broadcast company decides to use a voice you might find in a video game like Madden, it can make a person’s stomach queasy.
Still, that’s not the main takeaway I have from this whole fiasco.
It’s dispiriting that NBC is content to imitate one of the biggest sports voices it has ever had, especially since he is still alive and kicking. Michaels does a pro football game every week on a streaming service during the NFL season. He couldn’t have come back to NBC to record a few lines for a worldwide sports event? I find that hard to believe.
It’s troublesome that these kinds of decisions might soon define our sports-watching and sports-consuming future, which is only a microcosm of a greater collective. When the human element is even excised from the broadcast booth — the one place where a fan should always reasonably expect dependability and energy — then nothing is off limits.
Most of all, watching companies like NBC willingly hop into bed with these sorts of services without even a second thought is infuriating. And it doesn’t matter why they have decided to do so, either. Be it to cut costs or to invest in a hollow foundation devoid of any real exciting spark, it all comes from the same place of desperation and motivation. It’s all borne of the same brand of business cowardice to “get ahead or get left behind” without ever thinking about potential long-term consequences.
Having A.I. Al Michaels recap the Olympics is a sign of overzealousness, of NBC trying to jump onto a fad no one on the outside looking in wants a part of. I sure hope this doesn’t balloon into something much more expansive down the line. Otherwise, I’ll likely soon be inclined to agree with Michaels’ initial thoughts about his fear.
Do you believe in miracles? Well, this wouldn’t qualify.
Team USA’s decision-makers shot an airball when it came to Caitlin Clark and the Olympic roster.
It’s another Saturday in the WNBA season, and once again the collective discourse has been swallowed up by Caitlin Clark and things that mostly have nothing to do with actual basketball being played.
This is far from the most outrageous snub in the history of USA women’s basketball. Look up what happened to Candace Parker in 2016.
There are arguments good and bad to be made for whether Clark should or shouldn’t be on the Olympic team. Ultimately, all of them come down to what you believe is the purpose of Team USA.
Is it for the Americans to show off their dominance in an arena of competition and win every game by as many points possible?
Or is it to grow the game of women’s basketball?
If the goal of Team USA is to bulldoze their way to an eighth consecutive gold medal and obliterate every opponent in their path, then no, Clark should not be on this roster for the Paris Olympics.
With all due respect to the Indiana Fever rookie phenom, she is not currently one of the 12 best Americans playing in the WNBA.
Is it close? Sure. If Team USA carried a roster of 20 players, if this was all just based on skill, stats and merit, Clark would be going to the Olympics. She’s 13th in the league in scoring, fourth in assists and fourth in 3-pointers made per game.
Alas, Olympic rosters for women’s basketball are limited to 12 players. And so, Clark is out.
However, if Team USA set out to assemble the best basketball-playing roster to take to France, there’s a bigger snub that fans should be upset about.
Somehow, Arike Ogunbowale isn’t on this roster.
The Notre Dame product is now in her sixth season in the WNBA. In all five of those previous seasons, she’s finished the year ranked in the top five of scoring average. This year is no different, as Ogunbowale is scoring a career-high 26.6 points per game, second in the WNBA to only MVP-frontrunner A’ja Wilson. The Dallas Wings guard is also first in the league in free throws made per game (6.6), third in free throw percentage (95.2), first in steals (3.1), and 10th in assists with five dimes per game. It’s easy to make the case that Ogunbowale is playing her best basketball right now at this very moment.
Ogunbowale is certainly – right now, in the year of 2024 – a better player than Diana Taurasi, who turns 42 years old on Tuesday. And yet, Taurasi is on the Olympics team for the sixth straight time. And, objectively, Taurasi is simply no longer one of the 12 best Americans playing in the WNBA.
This is the conundrum that Team USA finds itself in. Because clearly, the selection committee was not thinking about just pure basketball when assembling this team. If they were, they would have thanked Taurasi for her time served and given one of those coveted guard spots to a player at the top of their game like Ogunbowale.
What is Taurasi on this team for? Surely not her passing as she’s averaging a career-low 1.1 assists per game this season. There are certainly better shooters in the WNBA than her – Ogunbowale chief among them. So, is she there for leadership? For chemistry? For camaraderie? Is she the team ambassador? It’s unclear.
Either the Team USA selection committee didn’t have the Jurgen Klinsmann-like guts required to cut a beloved, yet aging face of the game like Taurasi, or they are admitting that this about much more than the scoring margin as they try to capture another gold medal.
Which brings us to the second viewpoint: If you believe the purpose of Team USA is to be evangelical for the sport of women’s basketball on the world stage, then shouldn’t Caitlin Clark be on this roster?
There’s no denying that women’s basketball has experienced, and is experiencing, a tremendous amount of growth over the past year and Clark is a big reason why. The past two Final Fours and national championship games, as well as the 2024 WNBA Draft, all shattered previous viewership records. The commonality between all of them? Clark was there. Just Friday night, when Clark’s Fever played in Washington, D.C., a record-setting crowd of 20,333 fans showed up, making it the highest-attended WNBA regular-season game since 2007.
Does Clark deserve all of the credit for all of the new fans and attention that women’s basketball has garnered? No, of course not. She – along with Angel Reese, Juju Watkins, Paige Bueckers and Kamilla Cardoso – stands on the shoulders of A’Ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, who came through doors broken down by Maya Moore and Candace Parker, who had a path paved for them by the likes of Sheryl Swoopes and Cheryl Miller, and on and on and on.
But there’s no denying the impact that Clark has had on women’s basketball. More people tuned in for her pro debut than an NHL playoff game on the same night. By mid-May, the sales of Clark’s Fever jersey trailed only three NBA players. Simply put, Clark continues to reset the expectations for the audience that women’s basketball can draw.
That the decision-makers with Team USA don’t see that is a real shame. And that they aren’t going to put this generational talent on a world stage because they are reportedly concerned about the reaction Clark’s fans might have when they see her sitting on the bench is cowardice.
Team USA should be wanting to garner new fans – not coddling the ones they already have. Leaving Clark in Indiana while this squad goes to Paris accomplishes neither.