IDIOT OF THE YEAR #6: Sage Steele, the Candace Owens of ESPN

Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:

10. Thom Brennaman

9. Ted Cruz

8. Rob Manfred

7. Kyrie Irving

6. Sage Steele

5. Urban Meyer

Sage Steele loves three things: pissing off Black people, letting white people play in her hair, and finding ways to outdo herself.

After a year in which she ran to the Wall Street Journal alleging that that two of her fellow Black colleagues, Michael Eaves and Elle Duncan, worked to keep her from taking part in a special, called Time for Change: We Won’t Be Defeated, trying to get them fired or their reputations damaged, Steele wound up getting demoted to the 12:00 p.m. SportsCenter while she was replaced by the person she tried to get fired — Duncan — on the 6:00 p.m. telecast.

But, instead of taking her 2020 0-2 record on the chin, the University of Indiana alum went full Bobby Knight mode and gave it her all in 2021.

First, she teamed up with Clay Travis on Twitter and did the whole “ well, what about Chicago?” thing — as they implied that the Black city was more dangerous than COVID-19.

Like clockwork, Steele’s racist knight in shining prejudicial armor showed up to defend her.

“Let’s also keep in mind, guys, she got COVID. Not only did she have to get the Covid vaccine but then she had one of these breakthrough cases of COVID which seem to be occurring at a fairly regular rate,” said Travis. “Dr. Fauci says they don’t track them. I think a lot of people listening now who know someone in their own friend or family circle who had this happen to them. The reality is Jemele Hill, when she was working at ESPN called Donald Trump a white supremacist and nothing happened. ESPN didn’t do anything. Steele is getting suspended for saying she doesn’t think the company should have a vaccine mandate? That’s absolute madness.”

Then, she went on Jay Cutler’s podcast and publicly complained about ESPN’s vaccine mandate. Cutler also called her “The Candace Owens of ESPN,” something our Carron Phillips had already dubbed her in 2020.

And finally, Steele wound up missing weeks of work because she tested positive for COVID, because of course she did.

We can’t wait to see what Sage has in store for us in 2023.