IDIOT OF THE YEAR: More dumbasses (Nos. 20-11)

WHY? Why must professional athletics function as such a powerful magnet for stupid, impetuous people? Ugh.

Keith Olbermann was wrong back in April, when he thought Angel Reese was in the wrong for taunting Caitlin Clark as her LSU Tigers defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes for the National Championship. Reese was actually just giving Clark a taste of her own medicine. And even if Clark hadn’t been hitting previous opponents with the “You can’t see me,” children’s eyes would not begin to bleed because Reese decided to rub in the victory.

Who was out of line, though, was Olbermann — for tweeting out that Reese “is a f—ing idiot.” Barstool’s Dave Portnoy called her a “classless piece of s—t,” and both deserve those vulgar insults thrown back at them. Olbermann later apologized for being “uninformed” that Clark also engages in trash talk, and said that both were wrong. He also said that he doesn’t follow basketball in any way.

So, the real reasons why White has been selected are because of his response to slapping his wife across the face in January, and the debut of perhaps the most tone-deaf “sports” league of all time: Ultimate Face Slapping. It’s not actually called that, but that’s exactly what it is — concussions not only included but required.

In his apology for slapping his wife, he said the real punishment was that he’d have to live with the shame for the rest of his life. While he said “real” he really meant “only” as the UFC prez deemed his actions didn’t merit a suspension. He even had to tell UFC fans to stop defending him. Little does he realize that he validated his behavior by skipping the much–needed timeout.

There are some disgusting human beings on planet Earth. Truly vile creatures who commit acts of unspeakable horror. The people who physically violate and/or extinguish the humanity of others are the worst of us. If that is the bottom of the human totem pole, just above those folks are people like Alex Stein.

This wretched creature approached Brittney Griner in June — who spent almost a year detained in Russia — at an airport and harassed her as content for his far-right YouTube page. He approached her and got within arms reach, which security should never have allowed. Stein then repeatedly made derogatory comments to Griner about being traded for Viktor Bout and having sex with Vladimir Putin.

How bold of him to approach a person at an airport who is still likely deeply scarred from the year she spent behind bars in a foreign land, and insult her. Big tough guy who claims on his YouTube page to be a person who “takes on the liberal world order with courage and humor.”

Stein is the antithesis of courage. He is scum. A contemptible coward taking up resources on this planet and providing no value in return. A true stain on the human species. A person not interested in doing any good, and instead finds pleasure in bulldozing decency.

He is pollution that is far worse than fossil fuels or plastic. At least those are capable of powering cars and holding water. Stein provides no beneficial service to the planet in any way. He takes pleasure in degrading society.

A truly pathetic, vomit-inducing pile of feces.

In July, Victor Wembanyama was wrong because he made something out of nothing when he embellished a story to the press. But, we’ll give him a semi-pass because he’s a 19-year-old kid from France who was just days into his new job in America — and boy did America welcome him in the “American way.”

Britney Spears was wrong because she knew she could make something into a bigger something because of who she is. And as a 41-year-old grown woman who fully understands how the media can work — for the bad — she used all of her white woman privilege to play the victim.

Just because you want to meet someone, it doesn’t give you the right to feel you deserve to be acknowledged by them, let alone touch them. Black people aren’t animals. This isn’t a petting zoo.

Jenner shared the November IOTM second-place spot with Chris Broussard after tweeting the r-word, and spelling it wrong.

Chris Broussard’s ability to shriek about the NBA isn’t quite as obnoxious as Stephen A.’s, but it makes FS1’s First Things First a fascinating watch. As long as he doesn’t quote inaccurate sources on the show or brag about his dozens of DM exchanges with NBA All-Stars. Back in November, during a discussion about James Harden’s acquisition by the Los Angeles Clippers, the show nearly derailed after Broussard redundantly asked if the Clippers point guard was r—d. It’s been years since Broussard was the NBA’s Shams Charania and off-handed comments like that are a reminder of how he fell from that perch.

Racist fans in sports are nothing new — just ask Hank Aaron or Serena Wiliams. But one good thing about technology advancing to the point where everyone has a cell phone on them at all times is that their cruelty (and, yes…idiocy) is captured for posterity, where we can mock, and expose them in perpetuity.

In October, it was Broncos defensive back Kareem Jackson, who shared a racist message he received following getting ejected against the Packers. “Stop behaving like a f***ing n** 🤡,” a “fan” sent him via private message. Back in September, it was Vikings’ running back Alexander Mattison sharing screenshots of racist messages he was sent, and that was also the month we saw Alabama fans screaming racist and homophobic slurs at Texas players.

So let’s be clear for those whose parents did raise them right: Despite what certain corners of the internet may tell you, there is no place this is acceptable in the United States of America in 2023. If you are so triggered by your team losing at sports that you revert to your basest and most unseemly urges, you need to seek therapy. You certainly don’t get to watch games where most of the players putting their bodies on the line are Black men (and women), and then resort to racist slurs and taunts when things don’t go your way. Grow up and find a way to stop wasting so much skin.

Dillon Brooks’ metric for success is supposed to be his aggressive defense and ability to knock down open threes. However, for the last few years in Memphis, their supposed 3-and-D wing was a 0-level scorer who resorted to buffoonish antics to keep pace on defense. In his preseason debut against the Indiana Pacers, Brooks showcased the depths of his idiocy by going back to the familiar role of nut tapping.

After initially getting called for a defensive foul seconds earlier in the Rockets preseason opener in October, Brooks was whistled a second time for a flagrant 2 tech after violently slapping Daniel Theis in the groin while trying to run through his screen. It’s a move Brooks has tried before. Somehow most NBA players and professional boxers are able to go their entire career without needlessly punching opponents below the midsection. Worse, he still refused to take responsibility for his clownish behavior.

“I might have tapped him below the waist, but he got right back up. I don’t know. It’s weird that every time it happens to me, I get picked on. I guess it’s part of reputation.” Brooks told the media afterward.

Brooks had much to say about the Lakers and LeBron James in April, most notably before falling behind 3-1 in their opening-round playoff series, where they went on to lose to James 4-2. Like many people in the age of social media, Brooks feels like he can talk crap, and that validates him because he’s playing on the biggest hoops stage in the world.

“I don’t care. He’s old. … I poke bears. I don’t respect someone until he gives me 40,” Brooks said.

No one thinks Brooks or the Grizzlies, in general, should fear any player, or team, but when you fix your lips in preparation to go at a guy like LeBron, you’d better be ready to back it up. Not that James is above reproach, but you can’t talk the way Brooks has and perform in the manner he has on the court in this series. If you’re going to run your mouth non-stop, the least you can do is shoot better than 22 percent from three-point range.

Curt Schilling was roundly blasted in September for putting former teammate Tim Wakefield’s brain cancer diagnosis out there— and not just by fans who already disliked him. Former teammates and their families jumped in as well, punctuating the sad reality that the zero-time Cy Young winner’s occasional on-field heroics have become, at this point, fully overshadowed by his status as an irredeemably weird jerk.

While Schilling’s decision to dox Wakefield’s illness was surely his most idiotic act this month, the fallout led to many perusing his tweets, and realizing, perhaps far too late, that he’s got some pretty weird ideas about the Third Reich and politics in general. This was not a new development — he’s always been known for his collection of German World War II “memorabilia” and fondness for ridiculous words like “libtard” and “demokkkrat” — but, if anything, he’s become even more unhinged as he continues his second act as a right-wing gasbag for second-tier conservative publications.

There is nothing like when racism is spread on one bun and sexism on the other to make a scrumptious offensive sandwich. That is what Chris Curtis managed to pull off in a silly radio segment that resulted in him getting suspended from WEEI back in March.

In a conversation about liquor on The Greg Hill Show, the crew delved into a conversation about the best “nips.” They decided to cobble together — live — a list of alcohols that provide the best sip a.k.a “nip.” Again, this entire conversation is about booze, not people. For those who like to nip other people, your pleasure is your business as long as it’s consensual.

Curtis decided this conversation was a great opportunity to make a joke about Mina Kimes. While the best nips were being discussed, he lightly dropped her name into the microphone. The word that was the subject of their conversation can also function as a slur towards Japanese people. Curtis took a deep dive into his racism files to hurl that one at a Korean person.

That is of course if his goal was to slur Kimes. Curtis defended himself by saying that when he brought her name into the conversation, he was talking about Mila Kunis’ nipples and had a slip of the tongue. If that explanation is true, in his mind the radio airwaves are a comfortable place to insert a woman’s body part into a conversation. A conversation that had nothing to do with human beings. Also, who among you casually abbreviates the word nipple in conversation?

Take a bow, Chris. You invented a sandwich that is perfect to be served on Yawkey Way.