re: Greg McElroy on 12/1/23: “The sanctity of college football is at stake if we leave out FSU

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Whether you like Whitlock or think he's a blowhard, he worked for them and said, nobody can say the truth, can't speak their mind, can't rock the apple cart

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Kind of reminds me of when ESPN fired Paul Pierce. Not that Pierce was particularly good at the job anyway but he made some similar comments afterwards

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Let’s start here: Paul Pierce isn’t sorry.

Not for the video, that minutes-long clip that made the rounds on social media, the one that cost Pierce his job at ESPN. Honestly, Pierce didn’t even know he made a video. Here’s what happened: In April, Pierce was playing poker at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. There was drinking. And smoking. And strippers. And after a little too much drinking and smoking, Pierce decided to start an Instagram Live and, well, show off the strippers. He went on for a few minutes, riffing, he thought, for a couple hundred people. When he finished, he deleted it. He didn’t know IG Lives can be recorded (they can) and reposted (it was). Pierce went home that night thinking no one noticed. He woke up the next day and discovered everyone had.

Still . . . sorry? “For what?” asks Pierce. It’s early July, and Pierce is reclining in a straight-backed chair at The Spot, a hookah lounge tucked into a strip mall in Encino, Calif. Around him, clusters of 20- and 30-somethings, many on laptops huddled over glowing screens, oblivious to the presence of basketball royalty. Hours earlier, Pierce was at home, a tailor dispatched by the Basketball Hall of Fame taking measurements for a suit to fit Pierce’s 6’7” frame. “I haven’t bought a new suit since I retired,” says Pierce. But he needed something to wear in September for his enshrinement in Springfield, Mass., 90 miles from where he spent the bulk of his 19-year NBA career.

ESPN didn’t ask for an apology. The relationship between Pierce and the network had become strained over the past two years. Pierce hated the travel. Network executives didn’t think he was working hard enough. The video, industry sources told Sports Illustrated, was the last straw. “I was done with them, anyway,” says Pierce between pulls of lemon mint. “It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.”

Pierce’s longtime agent, Jeff Schwartz, suggested Pierce apologize anyway. Schwartz worried that the video might influence Hall voters. Pierce didn’t. “Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal,” says Pierce. “These motherf-----s in the Hall of Fame, some did [cocaine], f---ing battery. What the f--- did I do? I was just having a good time. All the people coming after me, half you motherf-----s do the same s---. You’re just hiding it. And you all are married while you’re doing it. I’m divorced. I’m retired. I’m having fun.” And if Hall voters had held it against him? “Listen,” says Pierce, “if I didn’t make it with this class, it would be the biggest stiff job in Hall of Fame history.”

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So why aren't y'all bitching about Texas instead of Bama?

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Oh gee, I don’t know. Maybe because Texas fricking beat Bama by double digits in Tuscaloosa???

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If Georgia pulled out a late touchdown and won the game by 4 we would all still think Alabama is better than Florida State without Travis. Would they have been in with two losses?

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That’s a great question.

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Dude have you watched them without their starting QB?. It’s abominable. It sucks for them but it’s a business and they want good games. They abandoned the “deserving” criterion we grew up with in favor of “best” and they’ve made it clear. There’s no argument that Bama is better in their current form than FSU.

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The. Let’s stop fricking playing games altogether. It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, some group of arse clowns in Grapevine, TX that doesn’t know their arse from a hole in the ground regarding sports can just decide that regardless of what you actually achieved on the field doesn’t matter.

I mean, why even bother with a regular season? Let’s just have the committee decide in August who the best teams are and boom, there’s your playoff.

If you can’t see how much of a joke this is and has been from its inception, you’re either blind, or you have an agenda.

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Both played more final ranked teams than FSU. FSU fans have told me for years that SOS matters more than going undefeated.

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Don’t act like now strength of schedule matters when it absolutely has not in the past.

They would be “worse” than Georgia because of one late drive? Or they’re now “better” because Georgia missed a FG and the winning margin was 3?

Sounds like you’re full of shite to be honest and you’re just basing it on…..winning the game, which isn’t allowed.

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hey would be “worse” than Georgia because of one late drive? Or they’re now “better” because Georgia missed a FG and the winning margin was 3? Sounds like you’re full of shite to be honest and you’re just basing it on…..winning the game, which isn’t allowed.

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I’m just trying to explain their logic and express that I understand it. I hate Alabama as much as anyone but they won the SECCG against an unbeaten #1 team and they are without a doubt a more formidable opponent than FSU right now. It’s sports.shite happens and it sucks for FSU, but the smart move is to put Alabama in the mm4th spot.

Oh and most playoffs of all sports are just money grab exhibitions. The mlb has teams get eliminated in 2 games after playing 162 regular season games. The NFL lets teams with losing records host a playoff game for winning a microscopically small 4 team division. College football doesn’t have a monopoly on goofy postseasons.

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Wait what? You mean when FSU beat Florida in 1996 to close their season then had to play them again in the Sugar Bowl for the national title and lost? FSU got the benefit how?

There was the 1998 season where they lost week 2, then went through and beat a bunch of good teams including #4 Florida the final week while #2 and #3 also lost, vaulting then to #2 and in the national title game.

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FSU sort of got screwed out of so many National Titles...if we're playing the "who's the best team at the end of the year" game.

FSU would lose heartbreakers to Miami early in the year by a goalpost and they were done.

Alabama loses convincingly to start the year and ESPN says, they're the best to end the regular season...goalposts must move for Saban every fricking year.

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Keeps winning without him"... yeah, by struggling with Louisville

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That “powerhouse” Auburn team (that got boatraced by New Mexico st) Bama recently played had them on the ropes… not a real good look for “one of the best” teams.

Quite hypocritical of you.

True. From what I watched, the four best teams in the country are Michigan, Texas, Alabama and Georgia.

While FSU was in the debate until Travis was injured, well, that's a bummer but it happens. If we were on the bubble and God forbid JD went down they would have said the same thing.