Why no outrage about Titans signing a wrestler?
Running off at the typewriter …
Did you see who the Tennessee Titans signed a few days ago? They signed Adam Coon, a 26-year-old former All-America college wrestler at the University of Michigan who hasn’t played football since high school but is getting an NFL tryout as an offensive lineman.
Question: Where’s the outrage from the legions of the miserable on social media and the outcry of “white privilege” from talking heads such as Stephen A. Smith? You know, the same type of reaction the Jacksonville Jaguars got when they had the audacity to sign Tim Tebow as a backup tight end a couple of weeks ago?
There’s really not a whole lot of difference between the Titans wanting to take a look at Coon on the offensive line and the Jaguars wanting to take a look at Tebow at tight end. Well, actually, there is a huge difference. Tebow has at least played football at the highest level. He’s one of the greatest college football players of all time, a former NFL first-round draft pick and a transcendent player who helped Jaguars coach Urban Meyer win two national championships in college. And, oh yeah, he’s also a hometown hero in Jacksonville who is already selling a ton of jerseys.
Coon played high school football nine years ago, which is approximately the last time Tebow played in a real NFL game.
Yet, there has barely been a peep about the Titans signing Coon whereas the backlash of noxious negativity against Tebow has been sickening.
It makes you wonder when exactly we entered this alternative universe in sports and pop culture where it’s become cool to embrace the bad boys and bash the good guys . ...
Short stuff: Speaking of University of Florida legends, Steve Spurrier was hoping the Tampa Bay Bucs would draft Gators QB Kyle Trask and he got his wish. When I asked the HBC on Wednesday how he believes
Trask will do with the Bucs, he didn’t mince any words. “I think he’ll be the next Tom Brady,” Spurrier said. … There seems to be more and more of a push to expand the College Football Playoff, with a possible decision coming in the next few weeks. Some insiders believe the sport’s power brokers are leaning toward a 12-team playoff, which would mean that a four-loss SEC team would then get in ahead of an undefeated UCF. … RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “Police in Ireland
broke up a fight at a chess tournament after a player was found strategizing using a computer in the toilet. Imagine that: Plotting against kings and queens on the throne.” … Can you believe over-the-hill boxer Floyd Mayweather made $30 million for last weekend’s exhibition boxing match with YouTube star Logan Paul? And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why America is the greatest country on earth!!! … Coming soon: Floyd Mayweather and George Foreman in a tag-team match against Carrot Top and Miley Cyrus. …
Popular golfer Rickie Fowler missed getting into the U.S. Open earlier this week, meaning he has failed to qualify for two consecutive majors. Fowler is a nice guy. fan friendly, dresses sharply, but, if you ask me, he’s always been more overrated than Abercrombie & Fitch. In fact, when the Kardashians see Fowler, even they say, “Man, is he overrated or what?” … Here’s all you need to know about what a crapshoot the NBA draft is: Current MVP Nikola Jokic was the 41st player taken (in the second round), defending MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was drafted 15th overall and Donovan Mitchell, the superstar guard of the No. 1-seeded Utah Jazz, was taken 13th
overall. As that great NBA analyst Mick Jagger once told us, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find that you get what you need.” … Orlando Magic guard Terrence Ross had his $220,000 Lamborghini stolen from a repair shop several days ago. Memo to investigators: Have you checked the garage at Joel Greenberg’s house? … The only way Penny Hardaway should be the Orlando Magic’s next head coach is if he brings in Lil Penny as an assistant. And if Penny were to become the Magic’s next head coach would former Magic coach and current team TV commentator Brian Hill organize a team mutiny? …
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, who did a column recently in which he interviewed “cardboard” fans at a baseball game: “At the A’s ballpark,
I interviewed one of those cardboard fans, the only one that was not smiling. Said the fan, ‘I wasn’t cut out for this.’ “… Jacob Harris started out as a college soccer player, went to Western Kentucky as a walk-on, transferred to UCF as a special-teams player and then former coach Josh Heupel saw something in him and groomed Harris as a wide receiver. Harris, recently selected in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft, just signed a 4-year contract worth $3.9 million. Please spare me the sob stories about how college football exploits athletes. College football turned a walk-on soccer player into an NFL millionaire. … That resounding “ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!” you heard reverberating throughout the SEC earlier this week was the 13 other exasperated coaches reacting in unison to news that 69-yearold Nick Saban had just signed a contract extension that will take him through the 2028 season. … The Tennessee Titans getting Julio Jones from the Atlanta Falcons for second- and fourth-round draft picks is the greatest trade since Peter Minuit got Manhattan Island from Native Americans for $24, a case of whiskey, some glass beads and a few beaver pelts. … Did you see where Jon Rahm had a six-shot lead after the third round of the Memorial and had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID? If he had only been vaccinated, PGA Tour rules state that he would not have been tested and therefore likely would have taken home the $1.6 million winner’s check. Jon Rahm, please pick up the nearest white courtesy phone so we can all tell you what a bonehead you are! ...
Last word: In honor of Thursday being National Iced Tea Day, this quote from Jimmy Fallon 10 years ago on the birthday of one Orlando’s most famous former residents: “Happy Birthday to Arnold Palmer, who just turned 82. That’s 41 years iced tea; 41 years lemonade.”
Email me at mbianchi@ orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @ BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2