Holier-Than-Thou Sports Media Is Mad At Charissa Thompson, While Nobody Else Cares | Zach Dean
The sports media world is in a TIZZY over Charissa Thompson today.
We've got wars in the middle east, a border so open you could fit a dozen semis through it and four blueberries just cost me $20 at Publix, but the sports media world is despondent over sideline reporter Charissa Thompson falsely telling us that X team needs to get off the field better on third down.
The rest of the world? They don't care. They literally do not care. Hell, they probably don't even know what I'm talking about.
Because they don't care.
I love drama, especially when it's the petty kind, and what transpired last night on social media was a true Mona Lisa.
But even I got annoyed by it all, and that's saying something. Well, actually, it's not. I have a pretty short fuse when it comes to nonsense, and this is, was, and will forever be nonsense.
But usually it doesn't annoy me enough to pump out a column two hours before I'm supposed to actually start working. But here I am, slugging down my third cup of coffee at 7 a.m. on a Friday and defending Charissa Thompson from the angry sports media mob.
Hop on my back, Charissa, and hold the hell on. We're going in!
Charissa Thompson interview goes viral and the usual suspects are furious
First, let's go back to the beginning for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about -- and I assume that's a lot of you, because, like I said, normal fans don't care about this.
Charissa Thompson, a sideline reporter for FOX and current host of Amazon's Thursday Night Football pregame show, went on a Barstool podcast this week and told the fellas she's made up halftime quotes from NFL coaches before.
Why? Because they wouldn't talk to her. Here's the clip that had the Big J's waking up in a cold sweat last night.
Brace yourselves, because this is very NSFW. If you have kiddos around, cover their ears STAT!
Nope. The clip didn't cut off. That's it. Right there.
That's what caused certain members of the sports media to throw out words like, "shocked, disappointed and disgusted."
Seriously.
Anyway, that clip went viral because we were all bored on a Thursday afternoon, and by nightfall, Charissa was public enemy No. 1 for all the Big J's. Personally, I'd wear that as a badge of honor, but that's just me.
The holier-than-thou tweets came so fast I couldn't keep up.
As Joe Kinsey said, between this, Snoop Dogg giving up weed and George Santos blowing campaign dollars on OnlyFans, it was huge day.
Here are some of the best ones I found. Shockingly, you'll see some familiar faces in here, starting with OutKick legend Mike Freeman sounding the alarms.
Freeman, for those who forgot, once told the Indy Star he graduated from the University of Delaware -- he did not -- and was fired for it.
So, you know, if there's anyone who should be reprimanding Charissa for making things up, it's Mike Freeman.
Charissa Thompson walks it back, because the outrage mob always wins in 2023
Retroactive discipline!
Lindsay -- who has OutKick blocked, shockingly -- is half-right. Her peers have questions. The viewers don't care.
I could literally go on and on. Trust me, there is no shortage of fake mad sports writers. This was their Super Bowl. They saw a shiny new bandwagon leaving the station and they had to jump on it.
As I always say, the media is nothing if not predictable.
Now, let me also say this -- obviously Charissa Thompson shouldn't have made up halftime reports. Not her best move. The only worse move was telling the world she did it, if we're being honest.
Right on cue -- because the woke mob always wins in 2023 -- Charissa walked backed those comments just a bit ago:
Thanks for that, Charissa -- but I promise you, this wasn't, and isn't, going to end the sideline reporter industry for good. I promise.
Not a single fan on this planet woke up this morning thinking to themselves, "Self, I just don't know if I can trust what these coaches say after halftime anymore. Do they really need to run the ball better on first and second down, or was that a lie?"
I promise.
Let's be honest, this was not news
You know why? For starters, we don't care. You'll see what I mean in a second.
Secondly, we've been fed the exact same information out of halftime for the better part of three decades now. It is literally the exact same thing. Every time.
We have to tackle better. We have to get off the field. I’d like to see us run the ball better. Well, for starters, we have to stop hurting ourselves on first and second down.
It's nothing we don't already know or can't just see with our eyes.
Last night, Joe Burrow's hand basically fell off late in the first half and then he came out of the tunnel after halftime with a beanie on.
Replays showed him try to throw the ball and immediately double over in pain. Right before the second half kick, he was wearing a headset.
It was pretty damn obvious to anyone with eyes that Joe Burrow was not playing the rest of the night.
The halftime report we got on the field was that Zac Taylor "stone-faced" said Joe Burrow was questionable but probably wouldn't play the rest of the night.
Gee, ya think? Thanks! He was literally ruled out like four minutes later.
And for those Big J's reading this and getting ready to turn their attention to me (you're welcome, Charissa!), don't get it twisted ...
I love sideline reporters. Male, female, black, white, purple -- don't care. I respect the hell out of the hustle. I'm damn sure I couldn't do it, and we've gotten some iconic moments from them over the years.
Erin Andrews and Richard Sherman. Sal Pal and Bart Scott (can't wait!). This little gem from the ridiculous COVID era:
Just awesome. Without brave sideline reporters, I don't get that moment and my life is worse off because of it. And I don't say brave mockingly. I mean it.
Nick Saban scares the bejesus out of me. I don't have the guts to approach him at halftime and never will.
So this isn't to say we don't need sideline reporters, because we do. They get stories from coaches during the week that they hold for their spots during games, and they sometimes go on-camera with coaches after the game.
*Frankly, I wish everyone would follow Sunday Night Football's lead and interview these coaches on camera at the half, but I'm sure there are rules and machinations involved with that that I don't know about so that's probably another story for another day.*
My point here is that Charissa Thompson admitting she's made up the fact that X team needs to get their asses off the field on third down isn't the crime the sports media world thinks it is. It's just not.
Regular folks like me and you already knew this, and we didn't care. It just doesn't move the needle.
Believe me.
Again, I could go on and on and on. For every angry Big J tweet, there are 10 replies from fans saying the exact same thing: we do not care.
So please, stop being fake mad. I'm begging you. It's silly. Life is too short to be angry at Charissa Thompson for lying about second half adjustments.
The regular fan didn't notice then and they ain't noticing now. I know you all want a scandal. You need the pedestal to stand on, and the clicks and the pageviews.
Believe me, I know.
But this isn't the flex you think it is. This isn't a Shattered Glass moment (underrated movie with very young Anakin Skywalker as the lead, look it up).
The internet is treating this exactly how it should be treated -- by laughing about it and getting back to the game.
Fine, go ahead and email me if you're mad. Or, preferably, if you agree with me! Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.