Welcome to IDIOT OF THE MONTH, the beloved series in which we take mean-spirited potshots at sports figures who have gone off the deep end. Many of November’s cadre of idiots are veterans, joined this month by some fresh meat — including, notably, budding moron Zach Wilson of the New York Jets. Modern society is destined for collapse!
How many times does it need to be said? It doesn’t matter in what context the N-word is used — if you’re white, you can’t say it. It’s not a hard rule to follow; just eliminate that word that’s been used to degrade an entire race for generations. Yet time and time again, this simple task has proven too much to ask of some people.
This month, it was former Florida commit Marcus Stokes, who didn’t say the word, but rather sang it as he was following along to the lyrics of a song he was listening to in his car. Stokes took a video of him uttering the words, “Welcome back, n—-a” and once the video was made public, he promptly tried to erase its existence, but the damage had already been done.
The video was shared across social media, and Florida, the school he’d wanted to attend since the ninth grade, rescinded its scholarship offer. Thankfully, Stokes took full accountability for his actions, posting an apology on Twitter reading, “I fully accept the consequences for my actions and I respect the University of Florida’s decision to withdraw my scholarship offer to play football.”
You’d think this was an obvious situation to avoid if you were Stokes. It doesn’t matter if your favorite song’s lyrics include the word, just don’t say it. You know how devastating that word can be to your career, so don’t, under any circumstances ever utter that word, but no. Stokes had to get that Snapchat and destroy his chances at playing for his dream university. Now, even with his apology, everyone believes he’s the type of guy who uses that word in casual conversations with his friends. He’s got nobody to blame but himself.
Hopefully, this is the final month that Kyrie Irving earns this “honor.”
Make no mistake, he will be on next month’s Idiot of the Year list. We will release our 2022 Wrapped on Kyrie then, but for now, the focus will be narrowed on him putting his career in serious jeopardy this month.
All Kyrie had to do was say “I’m sorry,” the first time.
When he tweeted out the link to that vile documentary, he was combative when asked about it at a press conference. The next week he spoke in a media scrum, and all he had to do was say I’m sorry, and when asked if he is antisemitic respond, “no.”
If he does that, the controversy quickly fades away and he misses no time on the court. Instead, he hovered the plane around the runway, but never landed it, putting himself in a dangerous situation.
He spent five minutes of that scrum talking down to the media, but at least said that he isn’t a Holocaust denier. Kyrie discussed how he’s reading, and trying to learn more — and used that offensive “if you want to hide it from a Black person, keep it in a book” phrase — but he’s a young man trying to find himself and seeking knowledge. He just happens to keep seeking it in the wrong places.
Then Nick Friedell asked Kyrie for a yes or no answer on if he’s antisemitic. His response: “I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from.”
The only worse answer would’ve been yes. Of course, that highlight went far more viral than everything else said, but that was with good reason. His response to Friedell’s question was both obtuse and offensive. It left the Nets with no choice but to suspend him until they could be sure that he would never say anything like that again.
Did the Nets take it too far with that public list of benchmarks he had to reach to be allowed back on the floor? Yes. He had to be corrected, but they went further than that. Their goal was also to shame him.
Kyrie was suspended for eight games. He was reinstated for the Brooklyn Nets’ win on Nov. 20 against the Memphis Grizzlies. He appeared to express genuine remorse and received some solid information. Maybe he learned enough to avoid this list next year. [Editor’s note: We’ll see about that.]
It’s a wonder how Mike Tomlin got nine seasons of Antonio Brown without a complete meltdown. Pittsburgh actually received draft picks in a trade for him. Since leaving the Steel City, it’s been one tantrum after another for Brown, along with a bevy of sexual misconduct accusations (that he denies). If you want to point to his Super Bowl with Tampa, you’re pointing to the wrong things, as that also ended in the most explosive way possible.
The last person with confidence in AB also got canceled, but this isn’t about Ye or Donda Sports. Or the video of Brown harassing a woman and flashing his dick at a hotel pool in the Middle East. It’s about his bizarre one-way feud with Tom Brady. The wide receiver has been unrelenting in attacking his former QB, who has more or less not taken the bait. (Probably because TB12 is too busy snorting avocados and figuring out the target for his next botox injection rather than taking any kind of high road.)
The latest drama surrounds Brady’s divorce from Gisele Bündchen, with Brown photoshopping the supermodel’s face onto a nude woman and sharing it on Snapchat. He also put his face on Brady’s body in a picture of the now-former couple.
There isn’t really much more to the idiocy than that. The photoshops look like AB used the free version of whatever app he downloaded to make them, and it would be fair to assume no one is surprised by Brown’s antics anymore. But it is still a little shocking that the Raiders gave away draft capital to acquire him — AND HE DIDN’T EVEN PLAY A GAME IN SILVER AND BLACK.
Year 2 in the NFL has been turbulent for New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson. In the preseason, Wilson suffered a non-contact knee injury that forced him to miss the first three games of the year. Before that, there was an incident over the summer where it was revealed that Wilson had been dating a former BYU teammate’s mother. So, of course, MILF and cougar jokes were plentiful. Dating a supposed friend’s mom is despicable and more than enough to get the QB blasted for his idiocy.
But then the season started, and the former No. 2 overall pick returned from injury. The Jets won four in a row upon Wilson’s return but looking closely at those victories, they were in spite of his play, not because of it. During that four-game winning streak, Wilson threw one touchdown and two interceptions. New York lost its next two out of three, and Wilson failed to take accountability for his shortcomings on the field.
The Jets lost to the Patriots 10-3 in Week 11, and when Wilson was asked if he felt he’d let down his defense following the game, his answer was, “No, no.” No one should be shocked that a spoiled, privileged, rich kid wouldn’t take accountability for his poor performance. Wilson’s likely never been forced to be accountable for anything, and that attitude won’t win him many friends in any NFL locker room. He’s still young, so he can change, but it’s hard to adjust the attitude of someone who’s been enabled and probably told he’s better than everyone his entire life.
Head coach Robert Saleh initially said the Jets were sticking with Wilson as their starting QB. Then Saleh switched up, sending Wilson to the bench — and started Mike F’n White — after all the criticism that came down on his underachieving QB. Since that post-game press conference, there have been whispers and reports that teammates of Wilson’s were not happy about his unwillingness to take responsibility for the offense’s flaws. This benching could be the best thing to ever happen for Wilson. Or it could be the start of another mediocre white QB’s lengthy career who repeatedly gets chance after chance even though he doesn’t deserve it.
Congratulations Georgia. We have another appearance from your “beloved” Herschel Walker on this list as we still have to care about the worst political candidate this country’s seen since Joseph McCarthy. The Texas resident trying to cash in on his gridiron career by entering a U.S. Senate race against much-more-qualified opponent Raphael Warnock continues into December with a runoff somehow. This is like the ending of Game of Thrones if all eight of its seasons were shit.
Walker’s strongest candidacy is for our Idiots of the Year list with his evergreen appearances on this countdown. We’re not seeking out his idiocy, he makes it easy. Walker’s pro-life stance contradicts the abortions he’s allegedly paid for. He’s a constant liar, not only about where he lives, but past jobs and basically everything. Those are the qualifications of a distinguished member of Congress according to the Republican Party.
The reasons why the Peach State shouldn’t elect Walker are massive, and he did lose to Warnock in the general election despite neither candidate getting the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a runoff. Good luck getting right-leaning Georgians to just show up for him, especially with the balance of power in the Senate not up for grabs.
Maybe the Republicans should’ve nominated a famous Brave or Falcon to run for the seat with any kind of public empathy and political acumen if they wanted a body that would vote with their party no matter what. Walker’s candidacy and repeated slip-ups expose his own stupidity. But what a strong case he’s building for Idiot of the Year!