Tag: Opinion

COLUMN: Where do we go from here?

After a loss like that, it’s tough to make sense of everything. Here are some initial thoughts about where this LSU team is headed.

LSU’s loss to Florida State is one that will linger in the minds of the fans for a long time. It didn’t have many expectations heading into 2022. It’s the first year of the [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] administration, and we knew this was going to be a rebuild.

This team is full of transfers and young guys. Even players that do have experience, like offensive lineman [autotag]Garrett Dellinger[/autotag], found themselves in a new role and position.

[autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] had never played a game with these wide receivers. The defenders are still developing chemistry and learning how to communicate with one another.

There’s a lot that’s new here. New pieces can be cause for excitement, and in this case, many still are. Things needed to change, new players needed to be brought in. That doesn’t mean a transition is going to be easy.

We didn’t expect much, but that’s still a loss that hurts.

Optimism built throughout the summer as LSU gained momentum on the recruiting trail and we heard good thing after good thing about how players looked in camp.

After dropping the season opener in 2020 and 2021, this looked like a time where LSU might be able to start the year on the right foot.

With the way that game ended, what’s important here can become blurry. There’s so much to think about here and the blame doesn’t belong at the feet of any single entity. This was as much of a team loss as a loss can be.

Every unit had their good moments and their bad and the same can be said for individual players. Jayden Daniels legs kept LSU in the game, creating big first downs when LSU needed it most. He also marched LSU the entire length of the field to set up that final touchdown.

Daniels struggled in the first half, though. It’s hard to tell how much of his struggles were his own doing, the offensive line, the playcalling or the wide receivers. In the first half, nobody on offense really stepped up.

Daniels showed enough to keep the job moving forward. LSU doesn’t need to play musical chairs at quarterback right now. The Tigers need consistency, and it needs to allow someone to get comfortable back there.

It shouldn’t be lost on us that LSU did not quit. This team crawled back into this game and made some big plays in some big moments. The heartbreaking way in which it ended can make that easy to forget, but this was a one-point loss where a lot of the underlying numbers were solid.

Going forward, my opinion of this team has not changed much. It’s going to take some time to fix some of these issues, it always was, but they showed enough to where I think a fix is possible.

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COLUMN: We’ve waited all summer

That’s what makes this sport what it is. The intensity never gets old. We return to the same places expecting the same thing and yet, we never grow tired. 

Football is back.

We’ve waited all summer for this.

Once again, we will take to the fields to tailgate. Lose our lungs on the third down. Check the Wi-Fi on Saturday morning to make sure we’re ready for the day. Sneak that one earbud in so we can listen to the game on the radio at a wedding we didn’t want to attend.

We’ll step outside as the sun is setting and smell the fall smoke in the air. See those leaves falling from the trees. We’ll hear those drumlines marching through campus. We’ll listen to a drunk friend explain why his favorite team is about to pull off the upset of the century.

We’ll get our hopes up just to be let down again. Or maybe, our expectations will be met, and we’ll make the memories of a lifetime.

We’ll sit down and forget about what else is going on in the world. For a few hours, we’ll never be alone, because there’s thousands, maybe millions, watching the same game, rooting for the same team.

For three hours, our family won’t be determined by who we share blood with, but by the colors we wear. We will see things we’ve never seen before. Spectacular plays and thrilling comebacks.

But for all the moments that shock and surprise us, we’ll still have our traditions. Things we’ve seen a hundred times before but still leave us in awe every time.

Maybe, that’s what makes this sport what it is. The intensity never gets old. We return to the same places expecting the same thing and yet, we never grow tired.

Whether it’s a tiger who roams in Baton Rouge, an eagle who flies in Auburn, or a Bulldog that patrols the sideline in Athens.

Metallica will blare in Blacksburg, Virginia. Students in Wisconsin will jump around and cowbells will ring out in Mississippi.

Legends will be made. New eras will begin and some will come to an end.

No matter how we consume this sport or which transitions we embrace, it’s back. So, friends, once again, let’s get together. Let’s go on this joy ride that is the college football season. Feel all of it, victory or heartbreak.

We’ve waited all summer for this. Now, it’s here.

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OPINION: Regardless of what happens, Napier’s first year is already a success

Florida football has come a long way since Billy Napier was hired as head coach. Regardless of what happens this season, the Gators are in good hands.

On December 5, 2021, [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] was hired as the 29th head football coach in Florida football history. The soft-spoken coach took the podium and said everything right. He talked about how he wanted to build the best football program in the SEC, the importance of coming together as a program and fan base, and how he was going to revitalize Florida football recruiting.

If you want to read more about that opening press conference, legendary Florida Gators reporter and Gators Wire’s own Pat Dooley wrote up a great piece on the top 10 quotes from that day.

What stood out to me wasn’t anything that Napier said, per se. But rather the sense of calmness that Napier brings to the program. In the modern era of Florida football (from Spurrier onward), we haven’t seen a coach radiate a sense of tranquility as Napier does. Everything he says has been carefully calculated to prevent being a distraction. While other coaches might cosplay as Darth Vader after a brawl breaks out at halftime, Napier seems like the kind of guy that would consider his thoughts on the situation to be an internal matter.

That sense of groundedness, of stability, of organization, is what the Orange and Blue desperately needed when Napier was brought it. The team seemed to quit down the stretch of the 2021 season, fans were up in arms over the rapid decline from Mullen’s first three seasons, and recruiting was seen as an afterthought.

While not overly specific about all the issues, Napier put things into overdrive. He began by forming the largest staff in Florida football history, announcing hires like an industry-crafted album rollout.

If your first thought was, “There are more polos than jerseys in that picture,” that’s the point. Napier understands that in order to win in the SEC and compete for national championships, you need to have the infrastructure to do so. I mean, “scared money don’t make money” seems to be an accurate assessment of the Georgias, Alabamas and Ohio States of the world.

It’s also important to remember that while Florida chose Napier, Napier also chose Florida. He was notoriously picky when his name was being thrown around for SEC jobs in years prior, being rumored to have turned down multiple SEC jobs before landing in Gainesville. That’s because he saw the potential the Gators could reach if given the resources.

In that December 5 introductory press conference, Napier expressed the importance of patience in rebuilding the Florida program. He even had to issue an open letter to the fan base in June after the Gators missed out on a couple of high-profile recruits. His response? He had one of the best recruiting stretches in recent Gators history, jumping into the top 10 on On3’s recruiting rankings just six weeks later.

A few days out from Napier’s debut under the lights of The Swamp, it’s important to remember how far the program has come in such a short time. The culture change is already taking shape. Napier’s presence can be felt all over the program, even in the state-of-the-art football facility that open just a couple of weeks ago, despite being in the works years before his arrival.

The players that Napier will bring in future recruiting classes won’t be on the field this season. The bumps in the road will be there. The Gators will lose football games and will be outplayed at times this season. All of those things are true. Regardless of what the win-loss record indicates at the end of the season, make sure to remember all that Napier has done off the field and how the mentality of this team is already completely different than in years prior.

So have some patience, enjoy the season, and take solace in the fact that the future of Florida football is in good hands under “Blue-Chip Billy”.

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Lynch: PGA Tour’s war with LIV Golf enters ‘Return of the Jedi’ phase

Wednesday’s news showed that the Tour’s biggest names have cemented their position atop the food chain.

ATLANTA — A little more than six months elapsed between Phil Mickelson boasting that players had “leverage” over the PGA Tour and the revelation on Wednesday at East Lake Golf Club that proved the greatest leverage belonged to those who remained, whose loyalty increased in value as the pace of defections to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series quickened.

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As Tour commissioner Jay Monahan fought to ring-fence and then rally his troops in an effort to destroy the evil empire’s (or kingdom’s) Death Star, the price of player loyalty grew exponentially. The final bill he received isn’t cheap, but still represents hella value given the alternative he faced.

For not much more commitment, top players receive a lot more reward: significantly increased purses, often fewer guys to beat for the money, enormous bonus programs not dependent on performance, and an opportunity to benefit from the substantial adjacent wealth surrounding golf, like owning equity in the innovative digital stadium concept announced today by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

It’s been the mantra of every commissioner—admittedly there have only been four—that the PGA Tour is a member-led organization. That’s been nominally true, but only as much as players care to get involved. Most didn’t because they saw no compelling reason to distract themselves from the grind of competition, where their money was made. But when the game’s stars became a sought-after asset class, decisions had to be made. Some opted to cut and run for Saudi money, others to stay and fight—as much against the structure and complacency of their own Tour as against LIV.

Wednesday showed that the Tour’s biggest names have cemented their position atop the food chain.

“We all sort of are our own little independent businesses and we sort of try to compete against each other, and I think this is the first time in a long time where we sort of all sat down and were like, let’s try to be business partners,” McIlroy said. “How can we all pull in the same direction here to benefit everyone and to help the entire Tour and to help each other basically.”

MORE: 5 things we learned from Jay Monahan’s ‘State of the Tour’
MONDAY NIGHT GOLF: Tiger and Rory started a new series

As with any workplace, the Tour has always had a schism between the Have Nots and the Have Yachts, with each camp routinely grumbling that money headed in the other direction ought by rights be coming to them instead. The new future that Monahan outlined won’t do much to heal the divide. That was clear in a meeting of the PGA Tour’s board on Tuesday, when player-member James Hahn was the lone dissenting voice to the new structure that was duly ratified.

In a member-led organization, Hahn’s voice counts as much as that of Woods, no matter how many more fans rush for their remote controls when Tiger plays. But Wednesday’s unveiling was a long-overdue acknowledgement by the PGA Tour that its business cannot be based on mollifying a swath of members who are well-compensated for comparative mediocrity. Every major sports league is built around the stars who drive engagement and revenue. Fans and sponsors expect it. The PGA Tour is finally moving to guarantee the product it provides both.

There will be griping about the new dispensation, of course, some of it defensible. It creates a caste system of tournaments as those not elevated to star status struggle to draw compelling fields. Using the controversial Player Impact Program to define “top” players eligible for lucrative events throws a lifeline to struggling fan favorites (like Rickie Fowler) that other criteria—the world golf ranking—would not.

To defuse dissent, there’s a sop to those who labor below deck on the good ship Tiger: a guaranteed minimum of $500,000 a year to meet the costs associated with competing. Manna for some, meaningless to most. You’d have to scroll through 164 names on this season’s money list to find a player who failed to reach that earnings threshold.

But the gravy doesn’t drip down to the developmental Korn Ferry Tour, the chief pathway to the main circuit. Nor was there news about fast tracking top amateurs onto the Tour. That leaves an opening for LIV to grab the rising talent pipeline, but that would require a strategy of developing talent rather than paying a premium for established stars. There’s no real evidence of that long-term game plan from LIV.

For all the specifics offered, questions remain. Monahan said none of the Tour stops elevated for stars will be held outside the U.S., which suggests he has abandoned plans for three lucrative overseas events. That risks leaving the world stage to LIV and turning the PGA Tour into essentially an American company that exports content rather than the game. These are issues the Tour will need to address.

The notion that guys who left for LIV will experience buyer’s remorse and look longingly at the bountiful paradise Monahan promised his stars today is probably overstated. Most simply wouldn’t benefit under the Tour’s new system for reasons of eroded competitiveness, physical frailty or apathy. Not that they’ll have the option. Monahan was asked if he would lift the suspension on a LIV player who wanted to dismount from the Saudis and saddle up again with his old colleagues.

“No,” he said flatly. “As I’ve been clear throughout, every player has a choice, and I respect their choice, but they’ve made it. We’ve made ours.”

In the case of Cameron Smith, much depends on whether the choice has already been made. Rumors suggest the world No. 2 will soon decamp to LIV. Today’s announcement makes his reported price—$100 million—seem a poor return given what a player of his caliber could earn on the PGA Tour in the coming years, and without the reputational harm that comes with taking guaranteed cash to sportswash Saudi atrocities. But on a single word do such decisions turn. In this case, that word is “earn.”

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Myles Brennan and the end of an era that never happened

For a guy that only started three games, Brennan’s name will be remembered for a long time.

Not every story has a fairy tale ending.

College football is special, not because of the game on the field, but because of the stories and myths behind the curtain.

The story of [autotag]Myles Brennan[/autotag] and his time at LSU is a complex one. Since he first committed to the program, he’s seen two coaching changes. He was a part of a team that lost Troy and a team that won it all.

He committed when [autotag]Cam Cameron[/autotag] was offensive coordinator and has since seen four more OCs — six if you count [autotag]Joe Brady[/autotag] and [autotag]Scott Linehan[/autotag].

He’s played through a pandemic, suffered injuries and watched [autotag]Joe Burrow[/autotag] win a Heisman.

Brennan arrived at LSU with plenty of hype. [autotag]Ed Orgeron[/autotag] took over and promised to change the offense. Brennan was going to be the guy that ended LSU’s quarterback woes.

He saw some action in 2017 as he sat behind [autotag]Danny Etling[/autotag]. The assumption was that Brennan would take over in 2018. That was before Burrow arrived.

To the surprise of many, Brennan didn’t transfer. He stuck around.

A quarterback with his talent level would have had no trouble finding a new home, but he chose to stay. After battling behind Burrow for two years, it was finally going to be Brennan’s moment.

Then the pandemic happened.

LSU was hit hard. This was a program already trying to replace a ton, and COVID-19 disrupted nearly everything. LSU was having to install a new offense when it didn’t even know if there was going to be a season. [autotag]Ja’Marr Chase[/autotag] opted out, and suddenly Brennan lost his top weapon.

Brennan’s first few games in 2020 were good — not great, but good enough. He struggled behind the offensive line, and in the loss to Mississippi State, he looked like a guy that was making his first career start, which he was.

Despite a terrible offensive line, young wide receivers and an offensive staff that was figuring it out on the fly, Brennan still managed to throw for 1,112 yards in just three games.

Then he got hurt. Just as he was settling in, he was finished for the year. A devastating blow.

Alright, so 2021 was going to be his chance, right? This was it. He was healthy, and LSU was ready to rebound back to relevance after 2020.

Just before camp, Brennan broke his arm on a fishing trip. Again, he was done for the season. As the season ended, Brennan entered the transfer portal. It made sense. After all that time at LSU, nothing had gone his way. It was time for a fresh start.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] spoke with Brennan and convinced him to return to LSU. [autotag]Max Johnson[/autotag] had transferred, and it looked like there was a clear path for Brennan to start.

In his sixth-year, he’d finally get a real opportunity.

[autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] then transferred to LSU and [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] continued to progress. As fall camp continued, it became evident that the battle was down to Daniels and Nussmeier.

This time, it was it. This was final. After six years, Brennan would not be LSU’s quarterback.

For a guy that only started three games, Brennan’s name will be remembered for a long time. A lot of that may be just because we talked about him for six offseasons.

Outside of 2019 when Burrow was the clear starter, Brennan was a part of five separate position battles.

Brennan was a good quarterback. I think what he did in 2020 was enough to convince us of that.

I wonder what would have happened in 2020 if Chase didn’t opt out, if there were no pandemic and LSU had the entire offseason to prepare. I think with a healthy Brennan and Chase, LSU goes 7-3 that year.

Unfortunately, that’s all hypothetical. And the story of Brennan and LSU is just that — hypothetical.

It’s the end of an era that never really happened.

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Let’s Talk About It: How is ‘Recruiting the Boot’ going for LSU?

Coach Brian Kelly has silenced much of the criticism surrounding his in-state recruiting.

For the past few months, there have been many posts on social media and football message boards about how LSU coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] was not doing a great job recruiting the best players from Louisiana. So, we’re going to take a look into how well the Tigers are doing when it comes to ‘Recruiting the Boot’.

Of the top 15 recruits in Louisiana for the class of 2023, LSU currently has five commits ([autotag]Shelton Sampson Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Kylin Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Rickie Collins[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyree Adams[/autotag]) and they have  Crystal Ball projections for two more ([autotag]Zalance Heard[/autotag] and [autotag]Khai Prean[/autotag]).

If you go back one more spot, LSU could possibly land eight out of the top 16 players in the state — [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag], another LSU commit, is No. 16 on the list.

Sure, Kelly missed out on some of the top prospects like [autotag]Arch Manning[/autotag], [autotag]Derek Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Eli Holstein[/autotag] and [autotag]Tackett Curtis[/autotag], but this isn’t Pokémon.

You aren’t going to catch them all.

Landing 50% of the top 16 players in the state is a very high clip. It’s also a lot more than anyone else has in your state. Out of the top 16 players, LSU could land eight while Texas has two (Manning and Williams). Alabama ([autotag]Eli Holstein[/autotag]), USC ([autotag]Tackett Curtis[/autotag]), Notre Dame ([autotag]Jaiden Ausberry[/autotag]), Nebraska ([autotag]Omarion Miller[/autotag]), Tennessee ([autotag]Jordan Matthews[/autotag]), and Washington ([autotag]Curley Reed[/autotag]) each have one.

No, it has not been a perfect recruiting cycle, but, in my opinion, it has been pretty successful.

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Opinion: Brian Kelly’s Louisiana recruiting earns stamp of approval

With Shelton Sampson Jr. on board, Kelly has eased concerns about in-state recruiting.

I have never been Brian Kelly’s biggest defender nor his biggest critic.

I’ve always said he is a competent coach who will win a handful of football games wherever he is. He isn’t Nick Saban, but then again, who is?

I think too much was made about how Kelly fit at LSU. Lincoln Riley is from Lubbock, Texas, and nobody made a fuss when he ended up in Southern California.

We also watched Saban and Les Miles win championships at LSU. Neither one of those guys screams Louisiana. If you win football games, people don’t really care about where you’re from, and Kelly has won a lot of football games.

There were questions on how he’d fare recruiting Louisiana. Some of that was because there was all that noise about the culture fit, and some of it was because he’s never been seen as an ace recruiter.

The first few months were iffy. It was a challenge to gain momentum with recruits during the transition. LSU watched as other schools made progress with top recruits like [autotag]Derek Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Tackett Curtis[/autotag]. Longtime commit [autotag]Omarion Miller[/autotag] flipped and followed [autotag]Mickey Joseph[/autotag] to Nebraska.

LSU was having success nationally, but I wanted to see more success in Louisiana. Over the last month or so, Kelly has eased any criticism I had on that front.

LSU pulled in commitments from Louisiana prospects OT [autotag]Tyree Adams[/autotag] and RB [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag].

The big one came on Saturday when WR [autotag]Shelton Sampson Jr.[/autotag] gave his pledge and LSU got one of it’s biggest targets.

Sampson was a guy LSU could not miss on. A five-star receiver from Baton Rouge. If Kelly couldn’t seal the deal here, his critics were going to have a field day.

LSU has been building steam with OT [autotag]Zalance Heard[/autotag]. A big-time prospect from Monroe, Louisiana, who On3 has as a five-star.

Baton Rouge quarterback [autotag]Rickie Collins[/autotag] recently decommitted from Purdue and looks destined to end up a Tiger. Safety [autotag]Kylin Jackson[/autotag] received a 247Sports Crystal Ball to LSU earlier this month.

When it’s all said and done, LSU is going to have a solid class of Louisiana recruits. The Tigers still need to show improvement on the field, but Kelly has done a lot with less talent than he has now.

A decent season should have LSU in a good position to run the state in 2024.

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Patrick Mahomes needs to stop being so polite about the racism he and other Black QBs face everyday

Patrick Mahomes could’ve taken his criticism of the NFL’s evaluation on Black quarterbacks even further

Black quarterbacks still don’t get anywhere near the respect they deserve in the NFL. That’s just the way it’s always gone.

There are always unfair and harsher criticisms levied toward them. For example, Justin Fields’ work ethic was being called into question ahead of the draft without reason. He’d done nothing but be special at Ohio State, but still ran into criticism that had nothing to do with his production on the field.

It’s happened too many times to count with the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, too, most recently with some cowardly defensive coordinator anonymously spouting nonsense ahead of training camp.

We also just saw it with Patrick Mahomes — maybe the best quarterback in the NFL. He’s a Super Bowl champion and an MVP. He’s had perhaps the best start to a career of any quarterback ever. Yet, still, an anonymous defensive coordinator called him nothing but a “streetball” quarterback and said he struggles when he makes it past his first read.

That’s objectively untrue. We have years of visual evidence saying otherwise. Yet, here we are, talking about it because it’s been unfairly placed on Mahomes. This is the sort of thing Black quarterbacks run up against all the time.

Mahomes knows it. And he called it out, too. During a press conference, he was asked whether he feels like he’s evaluated differently because he’s a Black quarterback.

Here’s what he had to say.

“I don’t want to go that far and say that. Obviously, the Black quarterback has had to battle to be in this position that we are to have this many guys in the league playing … Every day, we’re proving that we should have been playing the whole time. We’ve got guys that can think just as well as they can use their athleticism. It’s always weird when you see guys like me, Lamar [Jackson], Kyler kind of get that on them when other guys don’t. But at the same time we’re going out there to prove ourselves every day to show we can be some of the best quarterbacks in the league.”

It’s great that Mahomes is pointing this out. It’s true — it does get weird when we talk about Black quarterbacks.

Folks claim the NFL has caught up to Lamar Jackson so much that it’s become an annual signifier of the preseason. Kyler Murray has been the Cardinals’ best quarterback since Kurt Warner played in the Super Bowl with them, but his study habits are a apparently problem.

Black quarterbacks are consistently treated as one-trick ponies that will be “figured out” in just a matter of time. And once they’re figured out? The jig is up. They’re not good anymore. They’re never good enough.

But, really, it never matters how good you are. Mahomes has made it to the AFC Championship game four consecutive years and is still being called a “streetball” quarterback. That’s ridiculous.

This is why what Mahomes said is good. It’s necessary and it’s accurate. It’s the best quarterback in the league calling out this ridiculous behavior — some of it is done subconsciously, but a lot of it is intentional.

That’s why it’d also help if Mahomes took this a step further. The Chiefs’ quarterback said he doesn’t want to “go that far” in saying that Black quarterbacks are evaluated differently because they’re Black, but that’s very clearly the case here.

We don’t hear this about their white counterparts. No one would’ve ever said this about Tom Brady. Josh Allen struggled for his first 2 years in the league, but no one called him a one-read quarterback. They gave him all the time in the world to improve and now he’s a star.

That patience is a luxury that hasn’t traditionally been applied to Black quarterbacks. And there’s no obvious reason for that outside of them being Black.

So, yes. It’s great that Mahomes said this. And he should say more. There would be nothing controversial or wrong about him taking it “that far,” and saying what things really are. It’s not just “weird.” It’s racist.

It’s unfair that he’s the one who has to deliver that message when he surely wants to focus on football and not create controversies that might be a “distraction.” White quarterbacks don’t have to deal with this sort of thing, and that’s unfair.

But Mahomes has endured unfair treatment all along and obliterated every barrier.

We don’t know if things will change if Patrick Mahomes speaks out, but we do know this much: They definitely aren’t going to if he and others in his position continue taking the high road.

They’ve worked diligently and patiently for so long, aiming to “prove” themselves, and so little has changed.

Thank goodness Charles Barkley didn’t ditch ‘Inside the NBA’ for LIV Golf

Charles Barkley has officially said no to LIV Golf … for now.

Inside the NBA is literally one of the best shows on television right now. There’s not a funnier, more insightful NBA analysis program out there. Nothing touches it.

Where else could you possibly get these beautiful, ridiculous (yet, correct!) rants about the Lakers while also getting a top-notch roast of an NBA star and heated debates like this one? It doesn’t exist outside of this show.

And the star of it all is Charles Barkley. He doesn’t always have the most complex or insightful analysis on the set but does always say precisely what he feels and is occasionally hilarious when he does it.

There’s not another Barkley in sports media. That’s why it was so nerve-wracking when rumors spread that Barkley might leave Inside the NBA for a broadcasting job with LIV Golf.

For those of you who don’t know, LIV is a golf league funded by the Saudi Arabian government. The same government that carried out its biggest mass execution of 81 people in 2022. Yes, you read that correctly.

They’ve got lots of money, but it’s very, very dirty. That hasn’t stopped some of the biggest pro golfers in the world from taking it, though.

Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia. They’re out of their primes, yes. But those are still huge names. And they all jumped ship from the PGA.

Barkley considered doing it, too. He flirted with LIV heavily over the last few weeks. He even played in a pro-am. Ultimately, though, he decided to keep things going with Turner Sports, he told the New York Post.

“I want to thank Greg Norman and LIV for their interest in me,” Barkley said in a phone interview. “I wish those guys great success and nothing but the best. But, in my best interest, and being fair to Turner — because Turner and basketball have given me every single thing in my life. It is best for me to move on and I’m staying with Turner for the rest of my TV career.”

It doesn’t seem to be because of any moral play, though. Ultimately, Barkley’s sponsors were in limbo. He said as much in an interview on Thursday.

“My sponsors are concerned. I’ve heard from Subway, Capital One, Dick’s Sporting Goods, so at some point I’m going to have to make a decision,” he said in an interview with ESPN about potentially jumping ship.

Obviously, when you consider who is bankrolling LIV Golf, there’s definitely a reason to be concerned. Good on Barkley’s sponsors for voicing that.

It wasn’t perfect. We almost lost him. But Barkely doesn’t seem to be going anywhere — for now. Maybe LIV comes with a bigger bag to coax him out. It’s definitely still possible.

But, for now, let’s just be thankful he’ll still be on the TNT set next year.

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The Flyers’ unnecessary trade for noted bigot Tony DeAngelo is a cowardly, disappointing move

The Flyers have completely lost the plot with their trade for terrible human Tony DeAngelo.

The Philadelphia Flyers are currently the biggest disappointment in hockey.

On Friday, before the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, the Flyers traded for defenseman Tony DeAngelo of the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for three draft picks over the next three years. The Flyers then reportedly extended DeAngelo to the tune of a two-year, $10 million contract to lock down the defenseman through the 2024-25 season.

There are more details to this trade, but they don’t matter. What matters is that the Flyers have traded for — then extended — a noted, outspoken bigot and a toxic human being.

There’s a long history of receipts detailing DeAngelo’s putrid behavior on and off the ice. This extends well back into his junior career, where he was suspended twice for violating the OHL’s policy covering “homophobic, racist, and sexist language”. DeAngelo has also been suspended twice for abuse of officials, once verbal and once physical.

On Twitter, DeAngelo’s conservative views came to light as he denied the severity of COVID-19 during the pandemic. He is also a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, even going so far as to deactivate and move to Parler in a temper tantrum when the former president was banned.

Oh, and the impetus for DeAngelo’s falling out with the Rangers that surprisingly put him on waivers in 2021? He was reportedly involved in an altercation with Alexandar Georgiev where the goaltender punched DeAngelo in the face in the tunnel leading to the locker room after a loss. DeAngelo reportedly started the incident after a miscommunication between the two led to Sidney Crosby’s game-winning overtime goal.

Despite this mountain of evidence pointing toward DeAngelo’s noxious personality and petulant temperament, the Flyers traded three draft picks for a player that is, at best, a mediocre defenseman and a terrible human being.

The worst part? Flyers general manger Chuck Fletcher believes the team did its “due diligence” in looking into DeAngelo’s background and how he’d fit with the team going forward.

Those right there are the words of a hockey team that’s completely lost the plot. The Flyers aren’t the first team to be a true disappointment to its fanbase in recent years, but this move truly is the last straw.

You know, the Flyers used to be a paragon franchise in the NHL. Definitely not one of virtue, if their Broad Street Bullies moniker is anything to go by, but the Flyers brand used to mean something. It meant unyielding focus in the face of adversity. It meant passion and grit. Blood, sweat, and tears. “No one likes us, we don’t care” is the motto of Philadelphia sports fans, after all.

But now, all I see in this Flyers franchise is cowardice. This is a franchise clinging to a bygone era of hockey and wishing it were 1975 again. No amount of wishing will turn back the clock and return the Flyers to the powerhouse they once were.

All of this just to win a few extra hockey games? Is toting around DeAngelo’s pestilential baggage — spreading filth in his wake — worth it in the hope he can help the Flyers return to their former glory? Fletcher and the Flyers front office think so, and it’s a crying shame.

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