This might be a first we’ve seen at Awful Announcing – a sportswriter taking back his own take.
It happened with The Ringer’s NBA writer Kevin O’Connor. On a recent podcast, O’Connor was critical of Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau playing such a short rotation on back-to-back games. Given everything happening in the NBA in recent years with regards to resting players, it’s certainly an old school mentality that might be frowned upon in the wider NBA universe today.
O’Connor’s take was so strong that he said he would fire Thibodeau. And the Ringer used it to promote their quarter season awards podcast because it was surely a take that would draw people in.
But then something interesting happened. The first comment on The Ringer’s tweet promoting O’Connor’s quote on Thibodeau was from O’Connor himself, who replied that his suggestion of firing Thibodeau was “an in-the-moment take that I take back.” Can you do that in the world of sports takes? Is that allowed?
As rare as it is to see someone immediately reverse their own featured take, good for O’Connor. He recognized that he may have been a little harsh in his criticism and walked it back after having a second thought. It’d be refreshing if every writer, podcaster, analyst, or what have you would be willing to do the same amount of self-reflection. Maybe some of you reading will even live to see the day when Skip Bayless or Stephen A. Smith goes on national television and actually admits he was wrong about something. Maybe.
About Matt Yoder