Clay Travis Is An Idiot

By Fred Segal, aka Old Takes Exposed on Twitter

In case you haven’t heard, Clay Travis and Outkick the Coverage are “dominating” in “all respects.” The full-fledged domination extends nationwide, on Periscoperadio, inpolitics, here, there, everywhere.  You name the place, Outkick is murdering the competition.  Also, did you know that Clay is a multi-millionaire, with a mansionbeach house, three sons (albeit one who is lice-ridden) and a hot wife? You’ve probably heard about it once or twice. And even though he “hates to brag,” the abundance of Clay-haters on Twitter compel him to constantly push back with statisticsaccomplishments, and achievements at the risk of decimating his humble and sheepish facade.

Now we all can agree that the fact that some random goofy dude with a beard from Nashville has attained such success in the sports media industry is extraordinary.  But that is not Clay’s most impressive accomplishment. Clay’s most amazing feat is that he can achieve so much despite being an idiot. Yes, that’s right.  Clay is a huge dope.

To be fair, he’s not a complete bozo.  He does own some intelligent and commendable achievements. He’s written a few popular books and graduated from Vanderbilt Law School (currently a Top 20 law school in the country).  That should count for something. But through the years, Clay has made countless stupid takes and terrible predictions ranging from plain dumb to downright outrageously idiotic. Thus, the only logical conclusion is that he is a buffoon.

Notwithstanding all this, being the generous and modest man that he is, Clay has been kind enough to allow me space on Outkick to chronicle many of his blunders.  Without further ado, here are some of Clay Travis’ most ludicrous and horrifically wrong assessments and predictions.

Let’s start out with some of my all-time favorites:

CLAY’S PEYTON MANNING-TO-TITANS NEWS BREAKING FAIL

Back in early 2012, when Outkick was in its beginning stages and Clay was an afternoon radio co-host in Nashville, he appeared to be on the forefront of the biggest story of the NFL offseason: Peyton Manning’s free agency destination. Clay, an unabashed Titans and Manning fanboy, was feverishly hoping that Manning would sign with the Titans.

Here’s a clip from early March 2012, during Manning’s free agency courtship tour, that Clay recorded on his phone across the street from the Titans facility as the legendary QB arrived for a visit. You can hear a giddy Clay giving play-by-play of Manning getting out the car in the parking lot and walking into the building.




















To Clay’s credit, he knew it was a crappy video…






The excitement intensified later in the week as Clay embarked on the scoop of his life via a “source.” According to said source, Peyton Manning would be taking his talents to Nashville and sign with the Titans. Here’s a mini timeline of Clay sporadically firing Woj-like missles:













As we all now know, this source was far from iron-clad. When the bombshell dropped a day later that Manning was headed to Denver, no one was more shocked than the Bearded One himself…














Can you say sour grapes? And given Manning’s success during his four years in Denver, hindsight now allows us to also laugh at Clay’s “money grab” theory, which seems a smidge off.

Also, is there anyone who wouldn’t pay money to hear or see the communication between Clay and the “source” after the Broncos news dropped? I would pay. I would pay a hefty sum.

BOOGIE COUSINS CLAPS BACK AT CLAY FOR OLD WRONG TWEET

Just as he has had throughout his NBA career, All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins had his fair share of emotional incidents when he played at the University of Kentucky. After one incident in January 2010, Clay Travis fired off this tweet:












Not just a chance, a “100% chance!” Mighty Clay leaves himself no wiggle room! Of course, Kentucky’s Big Blue Nation (i.e. “BBN”) fan base took offense. I wonder if Clay even thought this through. Twitter was a relatively new medium at the time, and five years is a long time off. Maybe he believed that Twitter would be long gone and no one would remember his hyperbolic dig.

Well, apparently Cousins remembered and had his calendar set. On January 30, 2015, exactly five years to the day of Clay’s guarantee, Boogie dropped this Instagram clap-back for the ages…



The post has since been deleted. Maybe Boogie erased it as an act of mercy on poor Clay, who was clearly left with his tail between his legs. To Clay’s credit he admitted he was “slaughtered” by Cousins. He also donated $5K to Cousins’ charity of choice.

Clay’s 2010 Cousins tweet may have been one of the triggers of an anti-Clay Travis sentiment that permeated throughout BBN for years and still stands today. Unsurprisingly, Clay has done just about everything to fuel the flames as, among many other things, he has called John Calipari a cheater and underachiever numerous times, and has called Kentucky fans “awful”, the “worst fanbase in America,” and “Alabama Football fans in winter coats”. He also ranked the Kentucky fan base the “#2 dumbest fan base in America” in 2013.

URBAN MEYER AND OHIO STATE PUTS CLAY IN A BODYBAG AFTER CLAY TAUNTED THEM THROUGHOUT THE 2014 SEASON.

Anyone who has followed or paid attention to Clay for at least a millisecond knows that he is a proud SEC supporter and apologist and touts SEC Football as the all-time greatest conference. Nothing can change his mind. His biggest punching bag in touting SEC supremacy is usually the Big Ten. Clay rips on the Big Ten and its fans any chance he gets. This was no more evident than in 2014, the inaugural season of the College Football Playoff. On September 6, 2014 after Ohio State uncharacteristically lost a home game to Virginia Tech, Clay immediately eliminated the Buckeyes and the Big Ten from contention in the playoffs.


















Officially!! I think during his gloating and trolling Clay forgot that this is freaking college football, you know, the sport where the title picture shifts more times in a season than Clay tweets about ESPN. I mean, when’s the last time a team was knocked out ofcontention in September? No matter to Clay. In both his Outkick “Top 10” column and his “Starting 11” column after the Ohio State loss, he declared the Big Ten dead in his lede sentence. He then continued to taunt and gibe Buckeye fans throughout the season.












After destroying Wisconsin in the Big 10 championship game, Ohio State backed into the Playoff as the number four seed. This was much to the disappointment of Baylor and TCU both of whom, in some folks’ eyes, including Clay’s, had legitimate arguments to be included over the Buckeyes. But, the playoff committee spoke, and the Buckeyes were in. So that’s it right? Clay said that the Buckeyes “died” with that loss to Virginia Tech in September. Now they were in the playoffs. Time for Mr. Travis to gracefully eat crow, right? Nope. The Bearded Bomber was too busy gleefully foreshadowing the beatdown Urban and the Buckeyes were about to receive in New Orleans by number one seed Alabama from the vaunted SEC West, the same division that Clay declared the “best division in College Football history” just three months prior.












Of course, Clay was wrong again as the Buckeyes ended up throttling the Tide en route to a National Championship. At this point, Clay had no choice but to crown Urban Meyer as the “unquestioned best coach in College Football.”

CLAY SAYS THAT RONDA ROUSEY WOULD “BEAT FLOYD MAYWEATHER’S ASS” IN A FIGHT

Yes you read that right. Clay wrote that Ronda Rousey would beat Floyd Mayweather’s ass in a fight. It’s in this Outkick column where Clay vociferously advocates for a Mayweather and Rousey fight. I personally think the real purpose of the piece was to give Clay an excuse to brag about the fact that Rousey put him “in an arm bar in the Fox Sports green room and chose not to break arm.” But nevertheless, he put the bizarre “Rousey over Mayweather” pronouncement in print.

Once Rousey lost to Holly Holm three months later, the Mayweather fight idea thankfully died down. Then, after Rousey was pummeled by Amanda Nunes this past December, Clay conceded that a Rousey/Mayweather fight would have been a bad idea.












So Clay missed the mark a bit on thinking Rousey could beat Mayweather’s ass. It’s no biggie though. You live and learn, right? Nope. Not R. Clay Travis. Turns out it wasn’t Clay’s fault! At least per Clay. He theorized that Rousey was never all that great and her dominance was entirely a media creation. In fact, he believes “with every fiber of being” no less, that Rousey is the “most fraudulent creation in the history of sports.” A creation concocted by the people who wanted to be a part of the “I am a woman hear me roar” movement. As a result, Clay was an innocent victim to this irresponsible hypewhich caused him to make all sorts of outlandish declarations.

Putting discussion of the merits of Clay’s theory (which has been debated by many) aside, not even the most fraudulent media overhype of colossal and mythological proportions should be able to convince rational people to believe that Rousey could win a fight over Money Mayweather, much less beat his ass. You gotta take the L on this one, CT.

CLAY TAUNTS CLEMSON FANS, EVENTUALLY LOOKS STUPID

Let’s go back to October 22, 2016:













Not a nice thing to say to eventual National Champs, eh?

CLAY CALLS TWITTER USER A DIPSHIT; TURNS OUT TO BE THE DIPSHIT

When Les Miles was fired in late September a poor dude had the audacity to suggest that interim Head Coach Ed Orgeron was at least a candidate to be named the permanent Head Coach. Clay’s response:











Good call, dipshit.

ALABAMA FIRES OFF 26 STRAIGHT WINS AFTER CLAY DECLARES DYNASTY DEAD

Below are some Clay quotes and tweet from the days after Alabama suffered a shocking upset loss at home to Ole Miss on September 19, 2015:










From Clay’s September 21, 2015 Outkick “Starting 11” column titled “Alabama’s Dynasty Is Still Dead:”

“The rest of the SEC has caught up with Alabama and Nick Saban, particularly Saban’s defense.”

“So long as Saban’s still in Tuscaloosa the Tide can still be good, but I don’t believe they’ll ever be dominant again.”

“In two weeks, when the Tide roll into Georgia and lose, it will be a perfect capstone to the rise and fall of the Tide dynasty.”

Two weeks later Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide crushed Georgia 38-10 in Athens, the second win of 26-game Alabama winning streak.

Here are some more genius predictions/takes from Mr. Travis:

-In November 2011, after LSU beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Clay wrote that Les Miles proved “he’s a better coach than Nick Saban.” Les Miles never won another game against Saban, going 0-5 before LSU fired him in September.

-October 2012, Clay took Florida QB Jeff Driskel to win the 2013 Heisman, and wished he “could get prop bet now.”

-In late September 2013, Clay wrote that LSU QB Zach Mettenberger “will be a first round draft pick this spring.” Clay added that “Mettenberger will soar up the draft boards once scouts get to watch all his game tape…” The Titans ended up picking Mettenberger in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. In early January 2016, Claytweeted “Congrats to Zach Mettenberger on joining Brodie Croyle as the worst starting QB – 0-10 – in the history of the NFL.” Mettenberger’s 0-10 starting record is one thatClay does not think will “ever be broken.”

-In December 2013, Clay said that the Texans should draft Johnny Manziel #1 overall in the upcoming NFL Draft.

-In his January 7, 2014 Outkick Pre-Preseason Top 25 For 2014 Column, Clay wrote:

“The Gus Bus is going to be running roughshod over an awful lot of other SEC teams.

Could Malzahn now be the best coach in Alabama? It may be blasphemy, but there’s a strong argument for, I can’t believe I’m saying this, yes.”

Since the foregoing column, Malzahn and Auburn have tallied an 11-13 record in SEC games while Saban and Alabama are 22-2.

-In May 2015, Clay advised his followers: “Write this in stone – Twitter is at $36.75 today. Buy, buy, buy.” As of August 8, 2017, Twitter stock is at $16.15.

-On September 19, 2015, after LSU’s third game Clay tweeted “Just give Leonard Fournette the Heisman now.” A week later, Clay wrote “no need for a vote this year: Fournette wins the Heisman.” Alabama RB Derrick Henry won the 2015 Heisman Trophy.

-In December 2015, Clay tweeted “We’re selling hundreds of these $20 Outkick pants everyday: May go pro at pant sales soon. Buy them $20! A steal…” On August 22, 2016, he wrote a 2,000 word column titled “How I lost $50K in Pants” begging people to buy his pants because he had “2200 pair of pants left” in storage a warehouse for which he was paying $1,000 a month.

-On Masters Sunday in April 2016, when Jordan Spieth took five stroke lead after 9 holes, Clay, who bet Spieth to win the tournament, tweeted “it’s over. Our Spieth +850 futures ticket is cashing. Got $20 pants, t-shirts and visors at outkickgear.com.” Spieth ended up collapsing on the first three holes of the back nine and losing the green jacket to Danny Willett.

-When Golden State was up 2-0 on Cleveland in the 2016 NBA Finals, Clay said the Cavs were “dead,” and “done,” and proclaimed that they “are to the NBA what the Big Ten is to college football just about every year: outclassed title frauds.” Of course, the Cavs won the series 4-3.

-With Ole Miss up 28-6 over FSU in the Camping World Kickoff in Orlando on Labor Day, Clay tweeted “Pray for #fsutwitter. They dead.” Final score: FSU 45 Ole Miss 34.

-In November 2015 when it looked like LSU was going to fire head coach Les Miles, Clay tweeted “If LSU fires Les Miles this is one of the dumbest decisions in college football history.” Les ended up keeping his job. Two games into the 2016 season Clay said LSU is “absurdly bad” and should fire Miles.

Alright you get the picture. Clay can be a real doofus. But hey, it happens. Nothing to be ashamed of. We’ve all been there; even dudes who are filled with hubris the size of the Alabama D-Line. That being said, when the dust settles, this past year, Clay has already, among other things, treated his family to a long European vacation(although slacked on the hair washing), spoke and interviewed Johnny Manziel in Costa Rica (via Outkick the Coverage periscope as told to Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage and posted to www.outkickthecoverage.com and all Outkick owned social media pages as well as Clay Travis’ Twitter and Facebook pages), and lounged in luxury boxes for the Stanley Cup finals (while sporting Dad jeans), and enjoyed WWE Raw from front row. All the while, the rest of us chumps are trying to hustle a quick buck here and there. Guess the joke is on us #dbap.


Fred Segal is an attorney from West Palm Beach, FL. He operates the popular Freezing Cold Takes twitter account (@OldTakesExposed) and website (www.freezingcoldtakes.com), which highlights, among other things, hilarious unprophetic and inaccurate takes and predictions. He also hosts a podcast, “Freezing Cold Take Spotlights With Fred Segal,” which you can find on both ITunes and the Bumpers app.















































Written by
Clay Travis is the founder of the fastest growing national multimedia platform, OutKick, that produces and distributes engaging content across sports and pop culture to millions of fans across the country. OutKick was created by Travis in 2011 and sold to the Fox Corporation in 2021. One of the most electrifying and outspoken personalities in the industry, Travis hosts OutKick The Show where he provides his unfiltered opinion on the most compelling headlines throughout sports, culture, and politics. He also makes regular appearances on FOX News Media as a contributor providing analysis on a variety of subjects ranging from sports news to the cultural landscape. Throughout the college football season, Travis is on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports breaking down the game and the latest storylines. Additionally, Travis serves as a co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour conservative radio talk program syndicated across Premiere Networks radio stations nationwide. Previously, he launched OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio that included interviews and listener interactions and was on Fox Sports Bet for four years. Additionally, Travis started an iHeartRadio Original Podcast called Wins & Losses that featured in-depth conversations with the biggest names in sports. Travis is a graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School. Based in Nashville, he is the author of Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top, and Republicans Buy Sneakers Too.