Colin Cowherd claimed athletes who accept improper benefits “lack ethics” and urged them to be more like Jesus on his The Herd With Colin Cowherd radio program Thursday morning.

Responding to arguments that it’s reasonable for poor college students to accept cash or other benefits, Cowherd said “Jesus was a pauper” and that being poor does not excuse one from lacking “ethics” and “taking money that isn’t theirs”:

The full text of his rant:

One of the things yesterday, during that whole Miami football scandal, you know, one of the lamest excuses people use all the time is these Miami players are poor and so they took payouts. That’s a lame excuse for lacking ethics. Being poor, rich and poor in morality are separate issues, ok? The man, Jesus, was a pauper, ok? He didn’t care about material things and watches and yacht trips. And you’re poor. Nobody is — nobody lacks ethics because they’re poor. There are millions of Americans who are categorized financially as poor who have ethics and don’t take things that belong to them. The truth is, though, people don’t like to admit their faults. Very few people will own their own baggage. That’s why therapy is good for all of us. So people make excuses for doing things. I’m poor so i took $30,000 from a booster. No, you lack ethics, and you just happened to be poor. But a lot of poor people don’t take money that’s not their money.

In Cowherd’s world, taking money that’s being offered to you is “not your money,” which I suppose means every time Cowherd cashes his paycheck it’s stealing.

Follow Timothy on Twitter at @bubbaprog.

ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd twisted history to suit his own purposes Wednesday morning when making the argument that quarterbacks who win the national championship in college go on to be professional failures.

His list of national championship-winning quarterbacks (1992-2007) was as follows:

Jay Barker, Charlie Ward, Tommie Frazier, Danny Wuerffel, Brian Griese, Tee Martin, Chris Weinke, Josh Heupel, Ken Dorsey, Craig Krenzel, JaMarcus Russell, Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Chris Leak, and Matt Flynn.

The problems with this list are numerous. For one, even in the BCS age defining exactly whom is the “national champion” is difficult — there are no fewer than sixteen organizations that name national champions. ESPN‘s traditional policy is to use their poll (ESPN co-sponsored the USA Today poll from 1997-2005) on-air, yet Cowherd cited the Associated Press poll for 1997. (He should have stuck with the ESPN poll, which named 13-0 Nebraska led by Scott Frost its national champion.)

He ignores the 1994 Penn State team, named national champs by eight organizations — including the then-influential New York Times poll in the pre-ESPN age — and one helmed by Kerry Collins, who led four teams to the playoffs and is now in his 18th year in the NFL.

These somewhat excusable oversights are trumped, however, by his inclusion of Russell on the list, most likely because of his status as a notorious NFL flop. Russell was, indeed, on the 2003 LSU team that was named USA Today/ESPN national champions (the AP tapped USC, led by Matt Leinart, their champions). But Russell was redshirted in 2003, and never saw the field. Matt Mauck led that Tigers team to the championship.

Cowherd’s point is entirely salient (with the exception, perhaps, of his exclusion of Collins) without these errors and oversights. He doesn’t need to twist history just to sound smarter with his audience.

Follow Timothy on Twitter at @bubbaprog.

Zing! The above back-and-forth, between controversial ESPN radio/TV host Colin Cowherd and Texans running back Arian Foster, came after Foster tweeted his displeasure with people caring a little too much about their fantasy teams this morning. With this newest tweet, he instantly becomes a top 5 draft pick in your “athletes who can come up surprisingly deep-cutting putdowns” roto-league.

Colin Cowherd had SI’s Peter King on his radio show today, but we’re not here to talk about the interview itself – we’re here to talk about the way Cowherd teased that interview. Now, don’t get us wrong, we love our football and we love our sandwiches, but putting it this way – well, the result’s a little less appetizing:

And that right there is one of the most bizarre food metaphors we’ve heard in a while. (Where are the Fire Joe Morgan guys when you need them?!) We’re also not sure what Peter King thinks of the idea of a “Peter King meat sandwich” – if we were him, we’d be a little unsettled. An NFL meat sandwich, though? That’s a can’t-miss. Think about it: some sub chain partners with the NFL and attaches the league name to some giant overstuffed sandwich – that could sell. And now we’re hungry. Definitely more hungry than the idea of a Peter King meat sandwich makes us.

[h/t Chuck Anderson by way of Awful Announcing]

The child sex abuse allegations against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky are the heaviest of the heavy. They constitute some of the very worst things a person can do, and the enormity of the awfulness, if the allegations are proven true, is hard to comprehend. More than ever, that showed yesterday when Matt Millen, who played under Sandusky in college, broke down while trying to wrap his mind around it all. And it showed today, when ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd took a call from a listener who’d been sexually abused in his youth, and couldn’t hide how wrenching an issue this is:

Cowherd’s earned some praise over how he’s dealt with the Sandusky controversy since it broke, and there’s no denying this was a compelling moment, albeit in the worst possible way. The caller hits on something when he says that Paterno wouldn’t have the backers he does if the people supporting him had suffered through sexual abuse themselves. We have no doubt this is true, and though most people are anti-Paterno now anyway, the caller’s comments are a stark reminder just how much Paterno’s fate pales next to those of the kids he – and his university superiors, don’t forget – didn’t do enough to protect. Thinking about it all, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed.

[Busted Coverage]

This Chris Paul mess is quickly spinning out of control for the NBA.

Earlier today, the league vetoed a trade that would’ve sent Paul from the New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers. The feeling among most executives, fans, and talking heads was that, while Paul’s move to the Lakers would create another super-powered team in a big market, it was actually a better deal for the Hornets than for the Lakers. In exchange for a single player (that would be leaving town in 6 months anyway), they’d get Lamar Odom, Rockets guards Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic, forward Luis Scola, and a 2012 first-round pick. Not bad, right?

Except it didn’t happen. Commissioner David Stern, after being pressured by several owners who deemed the trade unfair, vetoed it, and now everyone — those executives, fans and taking heads — are wondering how the league can squash such an exciting (and fair) trade. This was going to be big. This was going to be huge. Now? Paul appears to be stuck on a small-market team that he doesn’t want to be on, the Hornets are left with a star that doesn’t want to be there, and the fans are robbed of seeing Paul playing in the same backcourt as Kobe Bryant. How does any of this make sense?

It doesn’t, as TNT analyst Steve Kerr pointed out this morning on Colin Cowherd‘s ESPN Radio show. Kerr deemed it “one of the dumbest things the league has ever done,” and noted that it opens up the league to possibly getting sued by Paul. Which is, conceivably, the only way this gets worse for the NBA.

Photo via.

Earlier today, Colin Cowherd interviewed Kate Upton. It was weird. He asked her if she ever gets uncomfortable with “58-year-old men” taking pictures of her. He mentioned her going to the University of Michigan, and she didn’t. And later, when he asked her if she got a huge bonus for being on the cover of SI’s swimsuit issue, she – in the nicest way possible – refused to say. Well, after it was over, Cowherd defended his interview tactics, and also wanted to clear something up: he was TOTALLY NOT flirting with Kate Upton, you guys.

He also doesn’t sound like he was too happy with the Upton interview in general, does he? Dismissively talking about the idea of having her on as a “coin flip,” “Whatever,” “it is what it is” – pretty harsh since he’s talking about, in his own words, a “19-year-old girl on [the] radio.” And again, Upton wasn’t combative – she called the question about the cover bonus “inappropriate” and wouldn’t answer, but listen to it here – she’s laughing through it. Getting an “it is what it is” for that? Rough.

Not to mention – Cowherd was trying awfully hard to sound so coolly dismissive of the idea he was flirting with Upton, no? But whether or not he was flirting, he came down pretty hard on Upton after the fact. Maybe it wasn’t the greatest segment of radio to ever hit the airwaves, but she wasn’t Billy Bob Thornton either, and we think Cowherd was tougher on her than she deserved. We were, though, glad to find out that the first name that comes to his mind when he thinks of an incredibly in-shape man is Tony Robbins.

Ah, another March, another controversial Duke basketball media moment. Last year’s, if you remember, involved Jalen Rose and “Uncle Toms.” And this one involved ESPN’s Colin Cowherd and the use of a word that’s acquired an ugly racial context to it in the sports world: “thug.”

Cowherd used “thug” a lot on his program earlier today (and just kept going and going) while discussing the Sports Illustrated story investigating the many issues currently befalling UCLA’s basketball program. The issue with using “thug” to describe an athlete was summed up by Matt Ufford a while ago: too often, it equates to “any black athlete with tattoos.”

And that makes it worth pointing out that when he first brought it up, Cowherd was using it to refer to Reeves Nelson, the oft-troubled former UCLA player who is also… white (tons of tats, though). But again, Cowherd kept on using and using “thug,” and talking about how said thugs are everywhere, at programs all around the country, and that he could only think of one program that’s consistently a national contender and doesn’t have that type of person in the program:

Duke, as you probably don’t need to have pointed out to you but we will anyway, tends to have a, well, whiter team than most nationally-contending basketball programs, so coupling that with saying that they’ve largely avoided the thug issue (not to mention some things Cowherd himself has said in the past) – it’s not hard to see how people would interpret that. And Cowherd figured that out pretty quickly. That led to this response later in his show:

It’s true, of course – theoretically, “thug” knows no race. And again, like he said, the “thug” in question earlier is white. But there’s no getting around the connotations, and it’s useless to act like they’re not there. So the easiest way to avoid a potential controversy like this is not to say “thug” to begin with. After all, when Ufford brought up “thug” in the piece we mentioned earlier, it wasn’t necessarily to say it’s racist: it was to say it’s lazy. Lazy. Boring. Something to be ignored. And in Colin Cowherd’s world (i.e. the sports radio world), being ignored is the greatest sin of all.

[h/t Chris Littmann]

What day is it? A day? Any day at all? Well, then that must mean Colin Cowherd is pissing people off again. And this time, it’s on a subject seemingly less controversial than, say, Duke and the “thug issue” or Roger Goodell supposedly being a dad to NFLers who never had one or John Wall’s dancing. Today, Cowherd was talking about… the brevity of Rangers coach John Tortorella’s press conferences.

Tortorella clearly wants nothing to do with any situation involving speaking to the media, and last night (following a 3-2 loss, likely not coincidentally), it resulted in one of his briefest outings behind the microphone yet. Where Cowherd came in: he thought that perhaps one reason for Tortorella’s non-answers (some of which you can hear below) was that newspapers aren’t assigning their best people to cover the hockey beat.

Cowherd’s claim that “young, cheap people” are covering hockey – thereby leading to worse press conference questions, the type that someone like Tortorella would be more likely to brush aside – was roundly rebuked. Fine. That’s usually what happens when Colin Cowherd makes bold claims for which he doesn’t provide actual supporting evidence.

But it made us think about something a little different – namely, the fact that Tortorella’s press conferences are being treated in many circles as a funny little lark. Take SportsCenter, which today played Tortorella’s press conference from last night with a timer at the bottom, so viewers could see the exact amount of time it took before Torts could no longer stand to even condescend to reporters – because, you know, that might give them the slightest idea that he acknowledges them as fellow human beings).

The time has come to stop doing that – and in fairness, it seems to be happening. The “Tortorella is a dick to reporters” thing didn’t start last night. Again, we posted this 11 days ago. There’s enough material to do stuff like this. Even if Tortorella’s trying to be amusing – even if he was amusing at one point – the bit’s getting old.

Tortorella’s not under any obligation to be nice to everybody. If he wants to be short with everyone, he can. And not every question’s going to be great – sometimes, his attitude will be justified. But if the active celebrating of that attitude goes any further, the media’s just going to look pathetic. Again, fewer and fewer people seem like they’re enjoying it. But why does anyone still enjoy it? The man holds – at least acts like he holds – reporters in utter contempt. Don’t play along.

Michelle Beadle is leaving ESPN for NBC soon, as you probably know. And one potential side effect of knowing you’re on the way out at your current employer is feeling emboldened to say and do things you might not otherwise. What can they do – get rid of you? You’re about to do that yourself anyway. This same feeling might also transfer to your coworkers. Pretty soon, they won’t be seeing you on a daily basis anymore, so what’s the worst that could happen if they say something ill-advised?

That mindset is worth noting as you watch the video below. It’s a clip from SportsNation yesterday, and Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle discuss a certain someone they don’t mention by name. That, though, didn’t mean it wasn’t perfectly clear who they meant:

Yes, we’d bet our bottom dollar that was a not-especially-subtle reference to Matthew Barnaby, former NHL player, ESPN analyst, and significant other of Beadle, who became a former ESPN analyst right around the time he did this. Previously, he’d been in trouble for this, a pattern that Cowherd was maybe possibly alluding to just a little bit.

Add in Beadle praising her own “great taste” while dripping with enough sarcasm to submerge a large dog, and you’ve got two people clearly engaging in a discussion because they know it will have no consequences. And we’re glad they did, because this was fun all around. Cowherd and Beadle seemed to think so, too, the way they laughed through it. It was the laughter of people who knew they were getting away with something, and when the guy on the business end of the barbs is someone who’s pretty clearly brought it on himself, it wasn’t too hard to laugh right along with them.

Thanks to reader Katie for the heads up.

Colin Cowherd is one of the few mainstream media personalities that actually acknowledges that sports betting exists and is a massive industry. For that, I respect him. But the quality of his coverage is like most people’s: poor.

There are some "mainstream" media personalities, like @ESPN_Colin, who think they know about betting. But their understanding is sophomoric.

— WagerMinds (@WagerMinds) March 5, 2014

Cowherd discussed the poor quality of mainstream sports gambling coverage this morning on “The Herd,” and I perked up, having recently answered the upsetting question: Why Are Grantland And The New York Times Peddling The Bullshit Of Sports Betting Sleazeballs?

But, unsurprisingly, Cowherd simply wound up looking like a hypocrite — continuing his own, constant mistakes and spreading misinformation.

I transcribed most of the interview, and here are some lowlights, with commentary on why the segment was upsetting.

He started out with the simplest issue, the singular thing that many mainstream outlets actually do understand and cover properly: It’s ridiculous that sports betting is illegal.

One of the big industries out there in this country — it kinda cracks me up… I used to live in Vegas, and I’ve never quite understood in this country where like $800 billion are bet on sports, but you can’t legally bet on sports.

You got the buyer, you got the seller, you got the infrastructure, but you can’t do it.

It’s like pot. If I wanted to get pot, I could get it in 45 minutes from now. Probably from one of my producers. I mean, radio producers. Not pot producers.

But the point is: After a while… just institutionalize it, and tax it and make some money. So, I’ve always been kinda pro-sports-gambling.

Good. I like that he explicitly says that, because some guys are afraid to, or so clueless that they don’t get it. Good start.

All the guys I knew in Vegas, all the guys I know in New York, they’re all legit guys.

ALERT (never believe anyone when they say a gambling guy is “legit”)

So, Jack Ford is doing a piece on 60 Minutes Sports tonight about New Jersey. New Jersey is trying to legalize sports gambling and all the leagues are against it.

Again, this is a simple issue. Leagues profit indirectly off sports betting and their opposition to it is hypocritical and absurd. Sports betting is a thriving, massive industry and it should clearly be legal. It’s legal in the vast majority of the world. The US is backwards.

But the funny thing about it — and I love Jack — but I’ve always felt bad for the guys like Chad Millman at this company and our buddy RJ Bell and all the guys I know that do this for a living. Like they’re all, like, regular guys, with kids, and families — they’re like, regular guys. But every time they do a story on it, like Jack Ford’s gonna do, they always get, like, former conmen.

And now, I shed a few tears. I’ll ignore Chad Millman for the purposes of this article, although there are many problems with his work.

But he’s grouping RJ Bell (and Millman) in with “all the guys (he) know(s) that do this for a living.” Ignoring the fact that we have no idea who these professional gamblers he knows are, or if they’re in any way legit — let’s realize that neither Millman nor Bell are professional gamblers. They don’t even claim to be.

But here’s the real problem: “my buddy RJ Bell.” Cowherd is trying to explain why the mainstream media fails at covering sports betting, and then he praises RJ Bell.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about: Legitimizing this man “named” RJ Bell is a huge problem. And Cowherd is one of the biggest facilitators of Bell’s con, featuring him on his show for years, giving him the platform (~80k Twitter followers!) he has today.

RJ Bell sells bad sports picks to make money. He relies on credibility indicators like “I’m on ESPN radio!” to con people into buying losing sports picks. Very simple problem.

So he’s gonna have this show tonight — 60 Minutes Sports — and he finds a former mobster to do it. And I’ve already seen bits and pieces of it, and the mobster has some insight — now the guy’s gone clean now in New Jersey, but it’s like: Couldn’t you get Chad Millman? It’s always a guy named, Bobby the Revolver Costino, or Pauly The Pin Cushion. ‘Hey, let’s get Nicky Two-Times and Johnny Mattress — they’ll have an opinion on it. Joey Bananas used to be in the industry.

I feel bad for some people in some industries — they’re a family man, and they’ve got kids and are just trying to make a decent living in gambling, and now they go out and get… Cadillac Carl!

Chad Millman is nowhere near the best source to talk about the legalization of sports betting, but, again, that’s not a big issue. He knows enough to say “leagues are hypocritical and should legalize betting.” He would probably do an acceptable job on 60 Minutes. Possibly better than “Johnny Mattress.”

But Cowherd still mentioned RJ Bell, as if this “regular guy” who sells people losing picks for a living, is some sort of transparent, honest guy. I could go on for days here, but I’ll leave you with this: According to the Times Leader, the dude doesn’t even use his real name. (Though the rest of the article is horrid and serves as an example of typical sports betting “coverage.”)

But, what you might not have realized about gambling guru R.J. Bell or – as he’s more well known in the Ohio Valley – Randall Busack is that he’s a 1988 Shadyside High graduate.

Oh, and RJ Bell’s employees are no different. His touts are “named” Vegas Runner, Goodfella, Johnny Detroit, King Creole and Denver Money.

If you really care about improving sports betting coverage, Colin, get your shit together. At least Pauly the Pin Cushion cleaned up his act. RJ Bell is still conning people, and you’re helping him do it.

ALSO READ: Why Are Grantland And The New York Times Peddling The Bullshit Of Sports Betting Sleazeballs?

RJ Bell’s PR Firm Had Us Publish This ‘Rebuttal’ That Fails To Dent Our Argument

Though he may be slow to realize he’s facilitating sports betting con artist, R.J. Bell, Colin Cowherd quickly illuminated a relevant, under-discussed reality of fast football. In case you weren’t aware, the NCAA is addressing a potential rule change this week that would force offenses to wait for the big ol’ fatties on the field to catch their damn breath.

Cowherd thinks this is perpetuating an unhealthy, out-dated component of the sport: The super-fat lineman.

[Associated Press] A proposed rule change that would penalize college football offenses for snapping the ball before 10 seconds had run off the 40-second play clock is scheduled to be reviewed one last time by an NCAA committee on Wednesday…

…The proposed change was made to address player-safety concerns held by some coaches who say hurry up, no-huddle offenses that increase the number of plays in games and limit defensive substitutions put players at greater risk for injuries.

During an on-air conversation with Urban Meyer today on ESPN Radio’s “The Herd,” Cowherd inquired about the systemic roots of a “hurry-up offense.” “It’s not an offense,” the Ohio State head coach said. “It’s program-wide…It’s a mindset. It’s a culture.”

That culture is lower weight/higher rep workouts, more cardiovascular training, and lower fat diets. It’s a healthier culture.

The point speaks to the larger issue of player safety, which is reportedly at the heart of the issue for those proposing the rule change. Benevolent as that may be, forcing players to bulk up to close to 400-pounds is, perhaps, a more pressing health risk than any flesh wound sustained during the course of a game.

Bottom-line: Football is changing, and with it, the players and training methods need to change as well. With the advent of Chip Kelly-type offenses, programs have no choice but to cultivate lighter, more nimble, faster, and subsequently healthier athletes. It’s hard to argue that’s not a good thing. We’ll keep you updated on the results of the NCAA ruling as it becomes public.

UPDATE: Looks like the hurry-up isn’t going anywhere soon.

Johnny Manziel’s draft stock took a hit Friday when he sat down with Vikings’ leadership — most notably, head coach Mike Zimmer — and answered some questions regarding his maturity.

Or lack thereof.

Zimmer was not impressed, citing “some flags” that lead him to believe Manziel isn’t the right guy to rest your franchise’s hopes and dreams on. Hey, we’re with you there — Johnny Football ain’t the safe option.

[NFL.com] “We asked him all kinds of questions. We went to dinner with him the night after (his pro day). We talked to him at the combine. There are some flags that come up,” Zimmer told 104.9 The Horn, according to a transcription at 247sports.com. “All of the things that happened out in Los Angeles, the commercials and all that stuff. The position of quarterback in the NFL is such an important position and the reason these guys need to be a totally football-minded guy is the pressure of the position and being the face of an NFL team and doing everything right.

“That’s the thing you want to know about him: Will he be into work early every single day? Will be the last to leave? Will he be the guy that is working the hardest to get better?”

So this morning, ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd hopped on the Manziel-hating bandwagon to weigh in on what exactly it is that makes the kid such a risky draft pick. “He’s got some narcissistic personality disorder stamped on his forehead. That kid is about that kid. I mean, you don’t go on Twitter and do what he does, ‘I can’t wait to get out of A&M.’ Andrew Luck isn’t doing that. Peyton Manning isn’t doing that.”

It’s a fair point, but overzealous and kind of douchey if you ask us. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is characterized by a lack of empathy, that is, an inability to understand how others feel from a purely emotional standpoint. That’s a bit of a jump from “He goes on Twitter and says he wants to leave college.” Are we really at the point where a 21-year-old gets diagnosed with a disorder because they’re a bit ostentatious?

We get it — Manziel has some less-than-ideal qualities. But to call him out as being some sort of inadequate human being because he doesn’t conduct himself like superhumans Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning sounds like a hypercritical assessment (a symptom of NPD in and of itself).

If the Vikings give the kid a shot, let’s wait until the shit thoroughly hits the fan before we start grouping him in with Ted Bundy. (The diagnosis comes at the 2:17 mark.)

For someone who calls himself a libertarian, Colin Cowherd sure seems to be fine with the United States patent office canceling Dan Snyder’s trademark on the controversial “Redskins” name. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — it’s offensive to a growing number of Americans, including those it directly caricatures: Native Americans.

But that doesn’t mean people are cool with Uncle Sam stepping in and removing private property. The ESPN radio personality makes the case that our government does this kind of stuff everyday, so it’s not something to get all worked up about. “I want to know why it bothers people,” Cowherd asks his audience, insinuating that those who are angry about the patent office’s decision might be mad about something other than the whole “individual rights” war cry popular among the American far right.

He also complains about how much rich white guys complain about things, despite being the luckiest people on Earth.

Watch him field a contentious, political, heated phone call from a guy who thinks the government has no right to revoke trademark rights under any circumstances.

[Via ESPNU]

The term he actually uses is “seamheads.” Seamheads, apparently, are network television dinosaurs whose myopic sports views prioritize baseball higher than it should be. According to Colin Cowherd, most of these people are from Boston — and they dominate the ESPN campus (which is in New England), putting an inordinate emphasis on baseball programming, contrary what the rest of the country actually gives a shit about: Football.

All the time. Even in July.

What do Kenny Mane, Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd, and Jimmy Fallon, all have in common? Television. Ok, what else?

They’re all kinda similarly shaped white dudes. Ugh. What else?

They’ve all commented on the disturbing power of Adrian Peterson’s handshake. His cripplingly powerful handshake.

“Anybody who’s ever shaken hands with Adrian knows he can crush your hand in a handshake,” Bayless said today on First Take.

“The man has the most devastating handshake,” Kenny Manye said back in 2007.

“It was so abnormally intense that I remember going home and, you know, telling people, he is not all there. It’s beyond the strong handshake,” Cowherd said this morning, pointing out that Peterson appears to enjoy the pain he inflicts with his overzealous greeting.

“Adrian Peterson one day shook nine hands and literally enjoyed the pain he was creating for smaller people. I watched it.”

After the news (and photos) surfaced he’d bloodied his child with a tree branch, Cowherd sounds like he may be on to something.

[ESPN]

“Adrian Peterson doesn’t mean anything. He’s a point a game.” Wow, that’s a pretty bold opinion about a guy who averages a shade below 100 yards per game…for his career. Just a quick recap, AP was the 2007 Rookie of the Year, the 2012 MVP, a six-time Pro Bowler, and a three-time first team All-Pro.

Cowherd’s point, however, wasn’t that Peterson isn’t a good, or even great, running back. He was saying that anyone who isn’t a star quarterback is nonessential, and thus, not worth following through the mud as the Vikings initially did with Peterson.

The Wilfs have since changed their position and benched him for the foreseeable future.

Colin Cowherd has an angle he likes to take on his radio program. He speaks in absolutes about which groups of people do what — and it seems to have worked out well for him. “Old people watch golf,” he said today. “Women don’t care about sports.” “Young people looooooove hockey.” This kind of stuff is fairly common on his show and is often presented as fact, though it’s assumed he’s speaking hyperbolically.

Then he dropped this bombshell: “By the way, African-American men do not watch hockey.”

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch did not take kindly to that last one. After a few snarky tweets about the ESPN Radio personality, Deitsch started retweeting African American Twitter users who found Cowherd’s assertion to be inaccurate, because they themselves are hockey fans.

If history serves as a guide, Colin Cowherd will get a raise off his take today and Outside The Lines will be moved to another network.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 8, 2014

Cowherd just said African-American men don't watch hockey. He cited no data. I'll assume another raise is coming for him.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 8, 2014

Cowherd just said African-American men don't watch hockey. He cited no data. I'll assume another raise is coming for him.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 8, 2014

@richarddeitsch I watch the Caps, but I guess I was not a part of the survey.

— J.J. (@CarbonPrimo) October 8, 2014

@richarddeitsch I'm African-American. I watch hockey, albeit not religiously. So that's 1 right there.

— Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander) October 8, 2014

If longtime Colin Cowherd enablers @jksports and @ESPNprDScott want to draw publicly, I'm always here, fellas. Let's be adults.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 8, 2014

@richarddeitsch raises hand pic.twitter.com/e69SRMGK4n

— Evan F. Moore (@evanFmoore) October 8, 2014

@richarddeitsch Because when I see Colin Cowherd, I see a guy that has his pulse on the African-American community.

— Vaughn Johnson (@VaughnMJohnson) October 8, 2014

Then Cowherd clarified his statement — either sensing the backlash that was building or reading Deitsch’s tweets — and came back after a commercial break to read off “the numbers” detailing which racial demographics watch which sports.

“Hockey, 92% Caucasian. 2% Latino. 3% African-American. Facts, you want them? Got them all. By the way, women, Latinos, Caucasians, African-Americans all watch and love different things. Let’s celebrate it. It’s okay. Let’s not be afraid of it. Let’s not be afraid of real data that exists that we’re all different, we like different stuff. It is awesome — but let’s not hide from it and criticize the real data that is there.”

Deitsch then began retweeting people who were supporting Cowherd, ya know, to cover both sides of the story.

@richarddeitsch To be fair… He said, he saw numbers. It's a talk show. Conversations happen spontaneously on radio, RD. Plus, he's right

— Jorge Sedano (@SedanoESPN) October 8, 2014

@richarddeitsch It's crazy how stubborn you are about this. This is where I lose you, honestly. He's the smartest guy on ESPN Radio.

— Bob Hayes (@_BobHayes_) October 8, 2014

However, Deitsch wasn’t done bashing the radio host just yet, as he resumed retweeting African-Americans who watch hockey and voicing his own displeasure with “Cowturd’s” blanket statement. Once again, it was clearly hyperbolic and being taken literally.

@richarddeitsch I was at the Bs preseason game last week Cowturd pic.twitter.com/9rJeiefXrk

— Mista Double Fista (@MoJoMarciano) October 8, 2014

Seen the stories about African-Americans #s watching hockey. Even if you buy the #s, Cowherd trades in absolutes. Which is nonsense.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 8, 2014

@richarddeitsch I'm a Red Wings fan and have been since I was a kid and I'm a black man. So I guess I wasn't a part of that survey.

— Quincy Coleman III (@quco1996) October 8, 2014

Today on Colin Cowherd’s ESPN Radio program, Adam Schefter revealed that he had spoken with an unnamed league executive who thought Tom Brady could be had for two first-round picks.

“One pick for the position. One pick for the marketing, intangibles, and leadership he brings.”

Whoa.

With rumors circulating that Tom Brady is upset with some of Bill Belichick’s decisions, and the sheer fact that the Patriots continue to draft quarterbacks with picks that could be used to bolster Brady’s receiving corps, the possibility of a mega-deal sending him elsewhere isn’t necessarily out of the question.

“It’s about respect,” Schefter said. “Tom feels disrespected right now.”

Today on Colin Cowherd’s radio program, ESPN columnist Jason Whitlock took to explaining Mike Freeman’s report that some of Russell Wilson’s teammates think he “isn’t black enough.” ICYMI, yesterday Freeman posted an article detailing the issues currently plaguing the Seattle locker room.

[Bleacher Report] There is also an element of race that needs to be discussed. My feeling on this—and it’s backed up by several interviews with Seahawks players—is that some of the black players think Wilson isn’t black enough.

The gist of Whitlock’s rather longwinded response was that Wilson needs to do a better job of connecting with his African American teammates, much in the same way Whitlock still kicks it with his childhood friends living in the bottom 1%. Whitlock does not implore Wilson’s teammates, however, to try and understand where he’s coming from, instead suggesting that it’s Wilson’s responsibility as a black person to engage with black teammates on their terms because that’s just part of the job of being a quarterback. He goes on to say that’s especially true for black quarterbacks.

“I guarantee Peyton Manning finds a way to connect with guys in that locker room that are from different backgrounds, and make them feel that he respects them,” Whitlock speculated.

“Some of those guys in the Seahawks locker room may feel that Russell Wilson respects them.”