This article was written by Clay Travis and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
Lost amid all the controversy surrounding Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, two former NBA players who have declared themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft in April, is a complicating factor that may explain why the WNBA, while attempting to leak that Freedom and White are not eligible for the draft, hasn’t actually told us what a woman is for purposes of the league’s eligibility rules. The WNBA has allowed a woman who identifies as a man to play in the league and said she is eligible to play even though she now says she’s a he.
Meet Layshia Clarendon.
Clarendon played 11 seasons in the WNBA and remained eligible despite having top surgery — the removal of her breasts — and other so-called gender reassignment treatments in 2021. She retired from the WNBA in 2024.
In January of 2021, Clarendon <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpAwB5hYC8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted on social media</a>, “It’s hard to put into words the feeling of seeing my chest for the first time free of breasts, seeing my chest the way I’ve always seen it, and feeling a sense of gender euphoria as opposed to gender dysphoria. Sighhh…freedom…freedom at last.”
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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stated publicly at this time of Clarendon’s surgery: “We are so proud that Layshia is part of the WNBA and we know that their (Layshia uses they/them pronouns) voice and continued advocacy will not only support and help honor and uplift many other non-binary and trans people, but also encourage empathy and understanding for the community across all levels of sport.” The owner of the New York Liberty, Clarendon’s team at the time, Joseph Tsai, also said Layshia is “a proud embodiment of our belief that our strength lies in our truth and no one should live constrained by societal boundaries.”
Layshia has written, “Existing outside the binary for me is freedom. I’ve learned that my gender doesn’t fit into these molds that keep trying to hold it down and box it in. I know that my gender will keep evolving because we change and grow and shape shift and expand. I know that as Andrea Gibson says, my pronouns haven’t even been invented yet. I know that we all have masculinity and femininity inside of us and mine show up equally and wholly and fully.”
She says that her <a href="https://www.hercampus.com/culture/layshia-clarendon-wnba-adidas-trans-athletes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WNBA teammates helped her draw a mustache on her face so she would look more like a man</a>. “One of my teammates, before I had my little mustache, she helped me fill it in one day for media day with her eyebrow pen. She was like, ‘Oh, try this!’ So that was such a sweet, tender moment of a teammate just seeing you and affirming you in the same way someone will be filling in their eyebrows or mascara on their eyelashes.”
Clarendon says she eventually grew a mustache raising an intriguing question: Was she receiving testosterone treatments when this occurred? That seems likely. So in addition to allowing a woman who identified as a man to play basketball in the league, it appears likely the league permitted gender treatments, including testosterone, for a player. Elevated levels of testosterone are prohibited in most leagues, male and female, because they are considered performance enhancing.
Not surprisingly, ESPN, via a trans writer, no less, did a huge feature story on how courageous Clarendon was. The article was published in 2021. You should read it. It lauds Clarendon for leading her team in wearing “Black Trans Lives Matter” t-shirts and speaks about her political activism. <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/31681454/the-power-layshia-clarendon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN labeled Clarendon: The WNBA’s most influential player.</a> The article, which was written amidst the peak-woke sports era, praises Clarendon for her left wing political activism:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“It was Clarendon’s idea to dedicate the 2020 season to the <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29418977/wnba-players-wear-jerseys-names-women-killed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Say Her Name campaign</a>. When the WNBPA launched the social justice council to steer the players’ activism efforts, Clarendon spearheaded it. When an idea was pitched to put “Black Lives Matter” on the court, Clarendon drew rudimentary sketches of basketball courts in Microsoft Paint, brainstorming how to make the concept work.”
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
In the bubble, the social justice council hosted webinars with the African American Policy Forum; politician Stacey Abrams; Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother; and others. Clarendon hosted a conversation with Raquel Willis, a Black transgender writer and activist. Clarendon also lent their expertise to the “Vote Warnock” campaign — the players’ successful mission to <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29732604/inside-wnba-kelly-loeffler-stalemate-give-somebody-go" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oust then-Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler</a> from the U.S. Senate as well as from the league.”
</blockquote>
Later the article continues the praise.
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Holding a microphone on that opening night of the 2020 season, and about to speak to a national audience on TV, Clarendon had that familiar feeling of a heavy emotional anchor, tying their feet to this moment and giving them courage. “I felt like I was standing on holy ground,” Clarendon says.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
With no notes, Clarendon said their names. Sandra Bland. Atatiana Jefferson. Dominique Rem’mie Fells. Breonna Taylor.”
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/31681454/the-power-layshia-clarendon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You should go read the entire article for yourselves, honestly.</a>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WNBA’s Big Legal Mess</h3>
But whatever you think of trans-related issues and far left-wing political activism in sports, the Clarendon story is a huge legal mess for the WNBA when it comes to establishing league eligibility rules. Clarendon is a woman who identifies as a man and the league allowed her to play, while receiving gender change treatments — likely including testosterone treatments — and referring to her as him in all league press releases, guidebooks, and game notes.
If the league truly believes that gender is malleable, the WNBA has already allowed a man to play in the league.
In order to exclude Freedom and White, the league would have to argue Layshia Clarendon wasn’t actually a man, which directly contradicts the public statements the league has already made celebrating her transition to a man.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClayTravis</a> talks WNBA and Enes Kanter Freedom with <a href="https://x.com/seanhannity?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@seanhannity</a>. <a href="https://t.co/EwYa8IxKQI">pic.twitter.com/EwYa8IxKQI</a>
— The Clay Travis &amp; Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) <a href="https://x.com/clayandbuck/status/2092635574943277315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
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So if they let a woman who identifies as a man play in the league, how can they now restrict Freedom and White, who say they are men identifying as women? In essence, how does the WNBA argue that only women are eligible to play in the league if they have already permitted, and publicly celebrated, a trans-man playing in the league?
Legally speaking, the WNBA could adopt a policy going forward that only players born as women are eligible, but that rule doesn’t exist today. Presently the WNBA eligibility guidelines say: “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” But the way the league applied its own rules permitted a woman who says she is a man to play. And any change to league eligibility rules today would be occurring after Freedom and White have already declared themselves eligible under the existing rules, likely rendering the eligibility changes unenforceable under the law.
Complicating this situation further, Clarendon didn’t just play as a man identifying as a woman; she was involved in drafting and ratifying the existing WNBA guidelines under the CBA adopted in 2020. This means not only did the WNBA allow her to play after receiving gender surgery, they had to examine the league rules to permit this to occur. Did they issue any legal guidance then? What did the WNBA’s lawyers say about Clarendon’s eligibility as a woman identifying as a man? All of that would be discoverable in a lawsuit in the event the league excluded Freedom and White from eligibility.
What’s more, we know about Clarendon because she spoke out about her gender transition surgery. Has anyone else in the WNBA had the same surgeries and not publicly disclosed them? Are other players currently receiving testosterone as part of a gender treatment plan? If so, are there records of this? Additionally, are there women who are not actually “women,” that is testing as XX chromosomes when assessed for gender? If so, this might explain why the WNBA has refused to adopt the same gender testing standards as the Women’s Tennis Association, the NCAA, and the International Olympic Committee, all of which require women actually be women to participate in their competitions.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Where Does This Leave Us?</h3>
The WNBA, based on their treatment of Layshia Clarendon, is in a legally precarious position when it comes to what a woman is and how to define it in their league going forward. The league has four real options:
<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Admit that Clarendon was never a man and was eligible to play in the league because she was born a woman, meaning the league must deny her transition to a man is legitimate and affirm that you are the gender on your birth certificate for purposes of league rules.</li>
<li>Admit women who identify as men and men who identify as women into the league, allowing gender identity to govern, not birth gender. This would allow Freedom and White and any other men who identify as women to play in the league.</li>
<li>Deny Freedom and White are actually women, meaning the WNBA knows what a woman is. But, again, the challenge here is they have allowed an avowed man to already play in the league and celebrated it.</li>
<li>Permit Freedom and White to be entered into the WNBA Draft, but have teams refuse to draft them. The problem here is Freedom and White could then immediately sue, alleging antitrust violations based on the conspired agreement of teams to not draft them, when the players would clearly be the best basketball players available to be drafted.</li>
</ol>
I think the WNBA is trapped here, their prior actions and public statements have created a legal minefield when it comes to player eligibility. In essence, if a woman pretending to be a man is eligible to play in the league, how they can exclude men pretending to be women?
Other lawyers can analyze this as well, I’d be genuinely curious to hear what they think too. But I believe the WNBA’s treatment of Layshia Clarendon and public pronouncements that a woman who identified as a man was actually a man creates huge legal obstacles for the WNBA going forward when it comes to keep Freedom and White out of the league.
If you’re wondering why the league has been so quiet when it comes to defining a woman, it may well be because the league’s own lawyers have looked at this issue and realized the WNBA is in a deep legal mess.
By publicly embracing a woman pretending to be a man and allowing her to play in the league for multiple years, they’ve opened the door to men identifying as women being eligible too.
Sport &amp; State has shared this article with WNBA officials requesting comment on all the issues raised here. We will update the article if we receive any comments. But don’t hold your breath.

Phoenix Mercury v Los Angeles Sparks

Clay Travis: Former Trans Player Layshia Clarendon Puts WNBA In Huge Legal Mess

cathy engelbert

enes kanter freedom

layshia clarendon

royce white

sports

transgender athletes in womens sports

wnba

This article was written by Karen Crouse and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
Picture this: Babe Ruth, some of his fellow New York Yankees, and assorted members of the press in a smoke-filled parlor car, cocktails in hand, whiling away the time on a 20-hour train ride to Chicago. That is what access journalism looked like a century ago.
Baseball beat writers in Ruth’s day were protective of the team’s stars. It was implicitly understood that what happened on the train stayed on the train. So, when a married woman, butcher knife in hand, chased a disrobed Sultan of Swat down an aisle, screaming like a lover scorned, the sportswriters present might have looked at each other with mouths agape, but their notebooks remained closed and their typewriters stayed silent.
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<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="&quot;Ruth Boarded Train After Game — Married Woman Burst In With Butcher Knife — He Jumped Off&quot;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ESEUIUvgSzQ?feature=oembed" width="800" height="450" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
</figure>
According to the Society for Baseball Research, the writers had a pact: “If she stabs him, we’re going to have to write about it.” Otherwise, they saw nothing.
Sports journalism has become an anachronism. Flip the calendar to 2026 and it’s forward to the past — except that the knife-wielding woman now could perhaps be a member of the national media.
There has been considerable hand-wringing recently, not about the press swarming the Boys of Summer but those circling the Gladiators of Fall. On Thursday, The Athletic, after a months-long investigation, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7562229/2026/09/03/dianna-russini-report-released-athletic-investigation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released its findings about its former NFL star reporter Dianna Russini </a>and her close, personal relationship with the New England Patriots head coach, Mike Vrabel.
The takeaway: whatever the nature of their connection, which became public when photos surfaced of the pair, both of whom are married to other people, getting cozy at a couples’ resort, it was in “clear violation of The Athletic’s standards.”
Did Russini’s relationship with Vrabel influence her Coach of the Year ballot as an Associated Press voter for the annual NFL awards? It’s a question worth exploring by those who care about the integrity of the voting process.
Similarly, those who purport to care about standards and ethics ought to wonder why many NFL reporters, including ESPN’s alpha insider Adam Schefter, were conspicuously slow to report on a car accident involving the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Kyle Shanahan, with whose father Schefter <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0066620392?lv=shuf&amp;channelId=500&amp;plpRedirect=mhFallback" target="_blank" rel="noopener">happened to collaborate on a book</a> when both worked in Denver.
[Full disclosure: I was publicly made an example of by The New York Times for a standards violation in 2021 for entering into a business collaboration with the swimmer Michael Phelps for a book that had no proposal, no publisher, no manuscript and no timetable.] 
The author/sportswriter/podcaster Jeff Pearlman <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/jeff-pearlman-jay-glazer-free-pass-intimate-relationships-sources.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified a double standard</a> in which it is perfectly copacetic for Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer to host an annual pool party for NFL head coaches and hold professional grudges against players who choose not to be his workout buddies.
As it was in the 1920s, so it is in the 2020s. In exchange for access, some sportswriters will cover up negative stories and serve up public relations pablum. I was on the golf beat for The New York Times when a palatial press building was christened at the 2017 Masters on the grounds of the Augusta National Golf Club — but just. It’s so far from the actual course that a cart ride is required to access it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A look inside the Augusta National Media Center at the Masters—&#8221;the most teched-out media center in sports.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/J5Au04YEoY">pic.twitter.com/J5Au04YEoY</a>
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) <a href="https://x.com/FOS/status/1778423003954696608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Inside, each media member enjoys all the comforts of a home office and then some, with access to transcripts of every interview, video of every shot, unlimited free snacks and free meals at a restaurant-style dining room. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the whole setup was designed to tempt would-be inquiring reporters to remain ensconced in their seats and off the course, where heaven only knows what story they might stumble upon.
If that’s the price for access — a cubicle for your soul — I’d suggest that the Tennessee Titans did YouTuber Jared Stillman a tremendous favor this week by revoking his press credential.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;If you don&#8217;t like it then play better. It&#8217;s not my fault.&#8221; &#8211; <a href="https://x.com/JaredStillman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JaredStillman</a>
Jared joined the show to talk about his credential being revoked by the Titans amid his criticism of the team. <a href="https://t.co/c5JPnSX5VQ">pic.twitter.com/c5JPnSX5VQ</a>
— Hutton &amp; Withrow (@Hutton_Withrow) <a href="https://x.com/Hutton_Withrow/status/2095233969750966287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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I hope Stillman borrows a page from Gay Talese, whose <a href="https://classic.esquire.com/article/19660401106/print" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1966 Esquire profile of Frank Sinatra</a> remains all these decades later a master class in taking rejection and turning it into reportorial gold.
Talese wasn’t an insider, at least not at the time, and his perch on the periphery of Sinatra’s circle is what gave his story its heft and depth. He relied on his observational skills and ingenuity in finding people to interview other than the man himself who could shine a revealing light on Sinatra’s world.
It’s storytelling at its finest. I’d submit that 60 years on, quality journalism has lost none of its allure. There’s still a thirst to read about the human condition in all its complexity, especially in the world of sports, where every competition is its own self-contained drama, bursting with storylines.
The beauty of new delivery systems powered by entrepreneurial content creators is that access isn’t what matters. At the end of the day, it’s about what’s real and true.

Untitled design – 2026-09-09T104213.008

Russini-Vrabel Saga Shows That Access Journalism Takes Backseat To The Real Truth

access journalism

adam schefter

dianna russini

mike vrabel

the athletic

This article was written by Mark J. Burns and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
Most sports fans know the score of the game they’re watching on TV, but they don’t have strong opinions on the graphic that shows it.
Scorebug fans do.
They recognize when a network changes its font or uses a different color scheme. They recall design modifications that received negative reviews. And they track every change and comment online about the slightest of new details.
Call it an interest, hobby or even a full-blown obsession for these fans nerds.
Just don’t call it a scoreboard. It’s a scorebug: the small, ever-present, on-screen graphic used to highlight the teams, score, time, and other important information for fans.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
TNT’s Stanley Cup Playoffs scorebug remains the same in year five of the deal: <a href="https://t.co/ojSy2UNXDA">pic.twitter.com/ojSy2UNXDA</a>
— Braylon Breeze (@Braylon_Breeze) <a href="https://x.com/Braylon_Breeze/status/2045944730689622241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
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This is the strange, unofficial mini sport of scorebug tracking, a phenomenon that has spawned an Internet subculture, Reddit forum, and the never-ending supply of opinions to fit 280 characters.
“I feel like a kid on Christmas morning whenever a network debuts a new bug,” said Jordan Walsh, a recent graduate of data science from Northeastern and sports media observer via his popular X account <a href="https://x.com/TVSportsUpdates">@TVSportsUpdates</a>.
His inner child was happy last Friday as <a href="https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/08/20/espn-soft-launches-a-new-nfl-graphics-package-score-bug-during-thursday-nights-raiders-texans-preseason-game/">ESPN soft-launched a new graphics and animation package</a> with a different scorebug ahead of its first-ever Super Bowl production in February. For the upcoming college football season, the network is reportedly also removing the bottomline ticker, a decision that will further illustrate how prominent and ubiquitous the scorebug has become on broadcasts.
So, what is Walsh’s method for scorebug watching? Surely, there’s an elaborate rhyme and reason for cataloging updates, logging favorites, and documenting the networks’ misses … right?
“A lot of this is actually just done in my head, which is a little embarrassing to admit,” said Walsh, who has followed the finer details of sports programming and announcer scheduling, graphics packages, and the broader media landscape, including the art of the scorebug, since high school. “No sane person should be able to memorize and keep track of all this stuff.”
<h3>‘Nichest Of Niche Communities’</h3>
Brandon Costa, Director of Digital for Sports Video Group, has an “emotional support social media account.”
It’s actually @TVSportsUpdates.
When I told Costa that I spoke with Walsh, Costa expressed that if he ever met Walsh, he’d give him a hug to thank him for his service to the sports media community.
“He’ll post the history of scorebugs that NBC has had on Sunday Night Football, and I’m just like, ‘This is just the greatest thing ever. I love this,’ ” Costa said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Every NBC NFL scorebug. <a href="https://t.co/30L8AjXVpT">pic.twitter.com/30L8AjXVpT</a>
— Sports TV News &amp; Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) <a href="https://x.com/TVSportsUpdates/status/2010522044627050583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Costa and Walsh aren’t alone in their admiration for the history, artistry, and complexity of the scorebug — “we like eye candy,” Costa says — which naturally cuts across the Venn diagram of graphic design, broadcast, production, and media.
“It might be the nichest of niche communities,” said Braylon Breeze, a junior political science student at the University of Kentucky and another scorebug watcher who described his interest, and broader fascination with sports media, as an “obsession” for the past five years. “It is fun to notice the little things that the average viewer probably wouldn’t think twice about.”
This past weekend, Breeze did just that, posting on X about the debut of the Premier League’s new ‘live’ corner bug, sparking hundreds of ‘Likes’ for the sub-community of die-hards.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NBC’s new “LIVE” bug makes its Premier League debut today:
(<a href="https://x.com/TVSportsUpdates?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TVSportsUpdates</a>) <a href="https://t.co/kZku7YvdQ6">pic.twitter.com/kZku7YvdQ6</a>
— Braylon Breeze (@Braylon_Breeze) <a href="https://x.com/Braylon_Breeze/status/2091206336759337242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The scorebug is the one consistent on-screen element throughout every broadcast, regardless of sport or length, almost becoming part of the game itself after fans stare at it for two to three hours. A feature in all of the viral TikTok videos and X clips that fans share on social media, the scorebug sits there front and center, or maybe off to the side in a corner, for all the games’ moments, big and small.
“Ten years from now, if you pulled a highlight of a game, you’re going to see the scorebug — it becomes almost like an artifact of the time,” Walsh said.
<h3>TikTok-ification</h3>
Scorebug fever has reached the NFL, too.
Or maybe the league’s social media administrator is just an avid watcher like the rest of us, highlighting on X the ESPN soft launch during the Raiders-Texans preseason affair.
Naturally, sports fans online also had all of the opinions.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Did ESPN cook on the new scorebug? <a href="https://t.co/GFdr5ZPjoW">pic.twitter.com/GFdr5ZPjoW</a>
— Hard Rock Bet (@HardRockBet) <a href="https://x.com/HardRockBet/status/2090594322055848121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Walsh referred to the new design as the “TikTok-ification” of the NFL’s scorebugs. Over five years ago, all of the networks utilized bar-like bugs, he explained, that covered the entire length of the broadcast screen. Today, all of the networks have shortened their football designs and centered them, making it cleaner to share in a vertical video or static format. Some content creators have already taken notice.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The TikTok-ification of the NFL&#8217;s TV scorebugs is officially complete. <a href="https://t.co/z2mmuxfrUv">pic.twitter.com/z2mmuxfrUv</a>
— Sports TV News &amp; Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) <a href="https://x.com/TVSportsUpdates/status/2090598207076081992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Said Costa, “The scorebug gives you that immediate context and if you can have that in a social media highlight, it’s good for traction, engagement, and all of the other big picture things that these broadcast networks are trying to do now to become more than just TV networks.
“They could scoff, roll their eyes at it, and maybe be old school about it, but I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that all the bugs look like that now.”
<h3>What’s In A Scorebug?</h3>
They need to accomplish everything and nothing, all at the same time. They need to be present and oh, not so present, too. Wait, huh? Sounds like a tough task.
“The haiku exercise of putting a lot of information in a small space that gives a viewer context, I would say in sports broadcasting, is one of the most difficult things to do,” said Gary Hartley, Fox Sports Executive Vice President and Creative Director.
The scorebug — or Fox Box in network lingo — is actually the star of the show for the design package.
“All of the informational graphics then ripple out from that,” said Hartley, who’s been at Fox Sports for 30-plus years and inherited the novel idea from David Hill, former Chairman and Executive Producer at Fox Sports.
As Hartley recalled, Hill brought the tiny graphic to the U.S. from England in 1994, introducing the foreign concept, literally, to an American audience for NFL games. Soon thereafter, death threats followed — yes, seriously — with even the FBI getting involved and suggesting Hill carry a concealed weapon.
“I’ll take my chances,” the Aussie native huffed back.
Death threats be damned, Hill didn’t waver in keeping the scorebug on TV, with all of the other major U.S. networks eventually following suit. Hill had a mantra: if a sports fan walked into a smoky sports bar, he or she needed to see the score from the back of the room.
“That really drives a lot of the decisions we make on typography, so generally speaking, we’re a lot bolder and louder,” said Hartley of the sports bar test, a philosophy that has survived Hill’s exit from Fox a decade ago.
Our panel of scorebug watchers pointed to the teams, game time, score, and other critical information — like down-and-distance in football or the count in baseball — as necessary components in the graphic, but that’s it.
“I don’t need betting lines in there, and I don’t need stats flying out the side of the scorebug,” said Costa, who is a fan of YES Network’s baseball scorebug for its use of big team logos and the way it has incorporated ABS challenges into the graphic.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Yes Network has added the ABS challenges to the scorebug, opinions? <a href="https://t.co/hinf6k3RGS">pic.twitter.com/hinf6k3RGS</a>
— BronxBmbrz (@BronxBmbrz) <a href="https://x.com/BronxBmbrz/status/2052942395210105171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Overall, Costa wants his scorebug to be “fun, interesting, informative, and fun to look at,” though still “completely unintrusive” at the same time. “That, I think, is a really intriguing and interesting creative and technical challenge.”
Meanwhile, Breeze, the college junior, likes “simplicity” with his graphics and prefers the soccer-specific ones — NBC’s Premier League design is his favorite — because they don’t take up a lot of real estate on the broadcast, saying, “If a scorebug takes up a wide margin of the screen, it’s an automatic ‘no’ for me.”
He adds, “The best scorebugs are the ones you don’t notice because they’re not overtly distracting, and they do the job so effectively.”
Breeze knows where networks also fall short. Fox’s college basketball design isn’t his cup of tea. “I watch a lot of college hoops, particularly on Fox with the Big East, so I’ve had my fair share of making do with the bug,” he said.
Walsh of @TVSportsUpdates is fan of Apple’s MLB scorebug — “it’s very clean,” he says — but the MLS scorebug is “boring.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Apple has debuted a modified MLB scorebug, adding background colors to the team logos, as well as adding pitcher/batter information. <a href="https://t.co/HDAVWRrxax">pic.twitter.com/HDAVWRrxax</a>
— Sports TV News &amp; Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) <a href="https://x.com/TVSportsUpdates/status/1905778464566964289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He adds, “I like the ‘SEC on ABC’ bug because it feels very sleek without overdoing it. It doesn’t have a lot of wasted space, but it doesn’t feel cluttered either. Since it’s only used for premier matchups, it just has a general big-game feel.”
When asked for his favorites over the years, Hartley said it’s tough. “They actually become like your kids — you like them all,” he said, and pointed to the New England Patriots’ 28-3 comeback in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons as a memorable one.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Never give up!! 28-3 T-Shirt <a href="https://t.co/o2iKiTBe1q">https://t.co/o2iKiTBe1q</a> <a href="https://t.co/eA9nYBbWbq">pic.twitter.com/eA9nYBbWbq</a>
— Mike Dussault (@MikeDussault19) <a href="https://x.com/MikeDussault19/status/834872099399462912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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“In Massachusetts, that took on a bit of an iconic personality,” he said.
<h3>‘What The Hell?’</h3>
And if the scorebugs are disruptive, distracting, or frankly, just unappealing to the human eye, forget about it — you will feel the collective roar of #SportsTwitter.
During a 2019 Monday Night Football game between the Saints and Texans, ESPN made its down-and-distance graphic yellow, prompting all of the world’s ballknowers to fire off their own unsolicited feedback to executives.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://x.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> please take this yellow-green down-and-distance color and throw it into the ocean. It looks like a flag <a href="https://t.co/jNyMSY7kZA">pic.twitter.com/jNyMSY7kZA</a>
— Riley McAtee (@RileyMcAtee) <a href="https://x.com/RileyMcAtee/status/1171204360996438018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The yellow score bug thing is driving me INSANE
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) <a href="https://x.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/1171208566033801216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“The internet was like ‘What the hell?’” remembers Costa, who added that “nothing that you introduce in a scorebug is happening in a bubble,” especially with an American football audience who knows the ins and outs of the sport and has grown accustomed to them for 25-plus years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
RT this if you want <a href="https://x.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPN</a> to change the color of the down and distance graphic on MNF.
We must stop this horrendous yellow penalty flag pump fake.
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) <a href="https://x.com/WillBrinson/status/1171207481781100545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
By halftime, the Internet bullied ESPN into submission, and the network called an audible, eliminating the color altogether from the graphic.
More recently, Fox hard-launched a new bug with big, bold lettering, and team abbreviations for Super Bowl LIX in 2025, leading to a visceral reaction online, complete with cheeky posts and no shortage of criticism.
“There was just a tsunami of hate mail,” recalls Hartley, the Fox Sports senior executive.
He continued, “You have a personal relationship with the NFL, right? You have an expectation of what that’s going to be like when you sit down on your couch every Sunday. When somebody steps out of the lane, it’s shocking to the system, which compels people to thumb hate a little bit.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
After giving Tom Brady $375 million, Fox only had $25 left to spend on a scorebug design. <a href="https://t.co/OrcEYPP9Zz">pic.twitter.com/OrcEYPP9Zz</a>
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) <a href="https://x.com/TomFornelli/status/1888736249948635580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Both episodes, and there’s plenty more examples, underscore the seriousness of a scorebug. For some sports fans, it is just an inconsequential part of the broadcast that doesn’t elicit any real reaction or emotion. But to others, they are anything but a tiny ol’ graphic — just ask the nerds.

Fans Watch Super Bowl LX In California

Don’t Swat The Seriousness Of The Scorebug: Inside Sports TV Viewers’ Nerdiest Obsession

espn

fox business

lifestyle

scorebug

sports broadcasting

This article was written by Gus Wilson and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
After struggling to define what a woman is, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced she will be leaving the league at the end of 2026.
Engelbert told the world in a press release last week that during the heat of the ongoing argument to determine who can play in the WOMEN’S National Basketball Association, she’s gone. After avoiding the question time and time again, it will officially be someone else’s problem at the start of the new year.
Despite the ongoing crisis her league is facing, Engelbert praised the current landscape of the league in her announcement, as she told Howard Megdal of The IX Sports, “I just feel like we’re in a really good place from a variety of perspectives on the league.”
That is CERTAINLY one way to put it.
In the same piece, Engelbert said that her five brothers were encouraging her to “get out of there” because of all the backlash she was facing from this situation alone.
It’s a little bit too late for that.
Engelbert’s miscues as the first “commissioner” in the league’s history have extended long beyond this year and are apparent throughout since she stepped into the role in 2019. With her “retirement” looming, let’s take a walk down memory lane to show where she went wrong.
<h3>The Problems Were Evident From The Start</h3>
During her first year running the league, the cracks were already showing in Engelbert’s armor.
The 2020 WNBA season was played inside the “COVID bubble” in Florida. Already, she was given a strange scenario where the pandemic forced basketball games to be played in a remote environment, but this wasn’t the issue.
Kelly Loeffler, the United States Administrator of the Small Business Administration and former Republican Senator from Georgia, was the co-owner of the Atlanta Dream at the time when she told Engelbert the league should not plaster “Black Lives Matter” across the association. A minor request turned to players calling for Loeffler’s head and to be fired from the team.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WNBA Players Escalate Protest of Anti-BLM Team Owner, Kelly Loeffler
Loeffler’s WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream, demands she be ejected from the league. Members are outraged by her racist and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, among other controversies. <a href="https://t.co/Y8MNQbf74U">https://t.co/Y8MNQbf74U</a> via <a href="https://x.com/NYTimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYTimes</a>
— Stephanie Kennedy (@WordswithSteph) <a href="https://x.com/WordswithSteph/status/1335840912950366209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Engelbert decided to let the players take over, and they wore shirts supporting the Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock in the 2021 Senate race against Loeffler. The commissioner just sat back and watched as Loeffler sold her stake in the team.
Following the shooting of Jacob Blake that same year, players began to protest the event and Engelbert finally stepped to the light and supported said players. These comments were made strictly to save her reputation. Former WNBA athlete Layshia Clarendon told ESPN that players had to force Engelbert to actually support them.
Yes, that is the same Layshia Clarendon that played in the WNBA as a trans-man as a member of the New York Liberty, throwing a wrench into the league’s argument that only women can play in the league.
Everything really does come full circle. Engelbert’s lack of control under a league she ran was glaring.
<h3>Engelbert’s Lack Of Grasp And Connection To The Association</h3>
That was only the beginning.
Fast forward past contract negotiations and not knowing how to pronounce coaches’ names to 2025. In the same article expressing Clarendon’s exposure of Engelbert being pushed around by players, superstar Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier blew up on the commissioner.
Collier, who is the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) vice president, called the league’s leadership the “worst in the world” because of her negligence when it came to what she was being paid to do. Other players and even the president of the WNBPA, Nneka Ogwumike, publicly agreed.
In 2026, Engelbert still lacks a true governing over the WNBA.
It’s evident when you look at the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. Since she entered the league three years ago and took it by storm, Clark is constantly being attacked and downplayed by her peers. As of two months ago, Clark had drawn eight flagrant fouls in her first 72 games, which is far and away the most in comparison to the rest of the athletes. In June of this year, the Fever guard was struck in the throat by Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas in a blatantly violent act.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The WNBA announced Alyssa Thomas has been suspended for one game after making “reckless contact” to Caitlin Clark’s throat on this play.
WNBA players continue to play very aggressively against Clark three years into her career. <a href="https://t.co/0pWiuI7SlE">pic.twitter.com/0pWiuI7SlE</a>
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) <a href="https://x.com/esidery/status/2070226611329282452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
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To anyone who watches basketball, this surely results in a suspension of at least a game, whether it was intentional … or not.
Engelbert was not planning on punishing Thomas in the slightest until NBA commissioner Adam Silver had to step in and persuade her to do so. How do you run a league when you can’t even make the most simple decisions?
<h3>Who Can Play In The League</h3>
The breaking point in Engelbert’s tenure is one that everyone is familiar with now. Sophie Cunningham voicing her opinion on biological men in a women’s locker room set the league on fire. Coaches and players alike vehemently disagreed with the Fever guard, some in ways more than just a verbal pushback.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DiJonai Carrington assessed a Flagrant 2 and ejected after this hard foul on Sophie Cunningham 😳 <a href="https://t.co/1AebZMgGUi">pic.twitter.com/1AebZMgGUi</a>
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) <a href="https://x.com/LegionHoops/status/2086181936805109777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Former NBA players Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom then declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft after coming out and telling the world they identified as women. According to stances from players and coaches from around the league, they should be deemed eligible because of how they identify, right?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://x.com/EnesFreedom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EnesFreedom</a> to <a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClayTravis</a> on whether the WNBA would become the G league if men are allowed to play.
FREEDOM: &#8220;All they have to do is just go out there and say, I identify as a woman, and they will be making $1.4 million in the WNBA. Trust me, there are many players ready to… <a href="https://t.co/kQjBnvcg71">pic.twitter.com/kQjBnvcg71</a>
— The Clay Travis &amp; Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) <a href="https://x.com/clayandbuck/status/2092315180881285587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Wrong. The league told White and Freedom they were not eligible for the draft, according to sources around the league. Why not? They had a woman identifying as a man play in the league five years prior in Clarendon.
There was no continuity based on past players and the stances of current players on the matter, but Engelbert didn’t say a word.
The commissioner then decided to hold a league meeting with owners and general managers to discuss biological men competing in the WNBA. Finally, a conclusion was going to be made and everyone would get an answer on the league’s next move.
Actually, the complete opposite happened. Engelbert decided on nothing, pushing the decision further down the line.
Three weeks later, she announces her retirement. The inability to make a decision on what should be a simple yes or no was the writing on the wall that her time as a commissioner would and should be coming to an end.

AT&T WNBA All-Star Game 2026

Cathy Engelbert Is Running Away From The WNBA Mess, But Damage Is Already Done

caitlin clark

kelly loeffler

transgender athletes in women's sports

This article was written by Gus Wilson and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
From the drama caused by leaving Ole Miss in the middle of last year’s College Football Playoffs to enrolling former professional players on their roster, Lane Kiffin’s first year at LSU has had it all leading to the highly anticipated kickoff of the 2026 season in Baton Rouge.
It did not disappoint.
The LSU Tigers dismantled Clemson in their season opener, 51-10, despite all of the noise surrounding the Bayou Bengals all offseason. All of the talking points have painted Kiffin and the Tigers as the villains of college football. According to an alleged leaked video of Kiffin’s halftime speech, they are totally bought into the role.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lane Kiffin’s halftime speech from the Clemson game has allegedly leaked. <a href="https://t.co/OzCTQeZpgM">pic.twitter.com/OzCTQeZpgM</a>
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis/status/2097137662297509939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Mind you, LSU was up 31-3 at the end of the first two quarters. They had 20 more FIRST DOWNS and over 280 more total yards than Clemson. Clearly, he did not care about anything that had been done so far.
“Who gives a f*ck what happened? That’s what’s supposed to happen! Ain’t no celebrations for that,” he yelled in the alleged leak.
This mindset is part of the reason many fans and the media despise Kiffin. But again, he could care less how he and his team are portrayed.
“The whole f*cking world hates you. You get a chance to go show the world, ‘Go f*ck yourselves!’”
Love him or hate him, the alleged intensity from Kiffin is a testament to his coaching ability. Watching this video back, I’m ready to run through a wall and my heart rate is through the roof as I am typing this.
The speech supposedly happened just minutes after Kiffin joked about how much better the team would be playing if they decided to roster the ex-NFL players.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lane Kiffin running off the field up 31-3 on Clemson. “Imagine if we had pro players.” This is well played. <a href="https://t.co/0ZYaVF9PgB">pic.twitter.com/0ZYaVF9PgB</a>
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis/status/2096442121053954221?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Kiffin’s supposed intensity carried into his press conference as well, as he called out his backup defensive players for allowing a late touchdown to cut the lead to a nail-biting 41 points. Serious shades of Nick Saban, who he worked alongside from 2014 to 2016.
The intensity post-game – and allegedly during the game – shows a side of Lane Kiffin that people rarely see. This type of mindset is expected to be carried over for the next two weeks when he makes his return to Oxford, Miss., in one of the biggest games of the season.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: SEP 05 Clemson at LSU

Lane Kiffin’s Alleged Halftime Speech Leaked: ‘The Whole F*cking World Hates You’

clemson tiger

college football

lane kiffin

ole miss

This article was written by Karen Crouse and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
<blockquote>WANTED – An enterprising and energetic go-getter with a persuasive and positive communication style to lead a professional women’s sports organization that is at an inflection point. Must be conversant in basketball. A background in marketing, law or entertainment is a plus. Qualified candidates should contact Adam Silver at NBA headquarters.</blockquote>
If it seems like a tall order to fill, WNBA fans take heart. Another long-standing women’s sports organization embarked upon its search for a visionary 17 years ago and made an inspired choice that set it on an ascendant arc for the next decade.
The LPGA’s hiring in 2009 of Mike Whan, who had been a marketing executive for equipment in golf and hockey, with no experience working for a professional sports league, was an outside-the-box move that paid off handsomely. Whan was a consensus builder who succeeded a woman whose failures in leadership proved factious.
Whan was able to turn an organization that, as he told ESPN in 2015, “spent way too much time thinking about us,” into a culture that understood the best outcomes for players individually were achieved through a collective focus outward, on their sponsors and fans and media partners.
The WNBA is in sore need of someone like that to replace Cathy Engelbert, who announced last week that she’s stepping down as the WNBA commissioner at the end of the year. While the league realized the two main goals she laid out at the start of her seven-year tenure — expansion and financial growth that resulted in the first seven-figure player salaries and huge gains in franchise valuations — her legacy is mixed. Engelbert never really won the trust of the players, and she will be remembered for her failure to meaningfully address racial disharmony within her ranks or answer the question of how the league defines a woman.
If the WNBA wants to continue the momentum supercharged by the 2024 arrival in the league of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and the revelatory rookie debut this season of the Minnesota Lynx’s Olivia Miles, its next CEO must be the grownup in the room, someone willing to be their best boss and not their best buddy.
As holds true for the LPGA, the greatest asset of the WNBA — its diversity and inclusion and global representation — can also be its biggest stressor. Would Engelbert have struggled in 2026 to define who is eligible to play in the preeminent women’s basketball 
professional league if she hadn’t offered her full-throated support in 2021 of Layshia Clarendon as Clarendon underwent various treatments to transition to a man while playing for the New York Liberty?
Cheering the active presence in the league of a player who identifies as a man created unintended — but not unforeseen — consequences, most notably the former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom, Larry Sanders and Royce White declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft. A pragmatist with a long-term vision would have recognized what a self-appointed advocate who couldn’t see past their virtue could not, that the road to eligibility rules hell is paved with good intentions.
Before Engelbert, there was Carolyn Bivens, whose stewardship of the oldest continuing women’s professional sports organization in the United States, the LPGA, was also derailed by her inability to connect with the players or diplomatically respond to unique cultural challenges.
Bivens alienated a burgeoning South Korean contingent in the summer of 2008 when she proposed an English language-proficiency policy, which would have required foreign-born players to be able to speak passable English by the end of their second year on Tour or face possible suspension.
At the time of her pronouncement, 120 players, half the tour’s membership, were from outside the United States, including 45 from South Korea, four of whom finished in the top 11 on the Tour’s year-end money list. Another, Jiyai Shin, a non-LPGA member, won three events, including a major.
When the details of the policy were leaked, the criticism from players, civil rights groups, and lawmakers came fast and furious, causing Bivens to back down and put forth a punishment-free program to be adopted in its place.
But Bivens went a step further in her advocacy, saying she wanted to help assimilate the South Korean players into American culture and emancipate them from what she characterized as overbearing fathers. Forcing the players to learn English by threatening their livelihoods if they did not was a means to that end, she explained.
“The language is part of the control the parents have over their young daughters,” Bivens told me in a 2008 interview. “If they don’t even know survival English, they’re totally dependent on the dad.”
Cheering the absence of parents in the golfing lives of the South Korean players on the Tour created unintended — but not unforeseen — consequences, notably turning a language issue into a referendum on Western vs. Eastern culture.
In July of 2009, Bivens received a letter signed by several prominent players asking for her resignation. The veteran Juli Inkster, summing up the sorry state of affairs, told Golf Digest, “We need you guys to start writing about our golf instead of all this 
other crap that’s going on.”
Substitute basketball for golf and the same sentiment, I’m certain, runs rampant right now through the WNBA. The next commissioner can shift the focus away from the culture wars and back to the dynamic brand of basketball that should be the league’s calling card. But only if the league’s next leader is an inspired choice.

Untitled design – 2026-09-09T073848.082

Here’s What The WNBA Can Learn From The LPGA In Choosing Its Next Commissioner

lpga

transgender in sports

women in sports

This article was written by Mark J. Burns and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
I spent the holiday weekend doing what any responsible Floridian would do during Week 1 of the college football season — one eye on the beaches and one eye on the games. Had my Michigan Wolverines lost, though, I might be singing a different tune.
Hey, as an undergrad student, I had to endure the Appalachian State stunner and the worst three-year stretch in Michigan football history, so forgive me if I’m not exactly level-headed at times. We’re onto Oklahoma…
And as we head into the Week 1 finale of FSU–SMU from Tallahassee on Monday night, here are my five sports business and media takeaways from the first weekend of college football.
<h3>1. Yes, College Football Is Professional</h3>
Both of Sunday’s neutral site games epitomized the commercialization of college football in 2026. If the adoption of NIL in 2021 put the amateur status of college sports into serious jeopardy — if there was really even a debate left to be had — these two games officially quashed that notion entirely.
I flipped on the Notre Dame-Wisconsin game from Lambeau Field and got a glimpse of Marcus Freeman’s zip-up sleeve. Did you catch that Big, Bad Corporate Logo from SoFi Technologies? The digital finance firm reportedly has the richest jersey patch agreement with the Fighting Irish in all of Div. I college football, worth $18 to $20 million per year.
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Rate these Notre Dame-Wisconsin uniforms ⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/JUxHHpS3CB">pic.twitter.com/JUxHHpS3CB</a>
— The Irish Tribune (@theirishtribune) <a href="https://x.com/theirishtribune/status/2096779674395255158?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Dozens of schools have signed deals, while others are open for business as they try to secure millions for the biggest billboard in college sports. On-field corporate logos dot the football fields of several major programs across America.
Kudos to ESPN Events and the sales reps behind the Liberty Mutual Music City Kickoff in Nashville between Louisville-Ole Miss, too. The sidelines, in addition to a lot of the field-level, looked like a combined version of international soccer and European men’s ice hockey.
I had to Google &#8220;FrogTape&#8221; to see what the heck I’d be starting at for three hours. We’ve officially reached the point of no return.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We are about to spend hours staring at this abomination of a football field. <a href="https://t.co/kU3M2jIQEC">pic.twitter.com/kU3M2jIQEC</a>
— Brewer (@realwickedbrew) <a href="https://x.com/realwickedbrew/status/2096578100133773785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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<h3>2. Baton Rouge Is Center Of Football Universe</h3>
When Lane Kiffin speaks, the college football world listens. And not necessarily because the LSU football coach has the most enlightening of remarks — he’s currently just shooting from the hip and letting it rip. In other words, Lane being Lane. Maybe someone on the Tigers’ staff can reign in the resident heel of the SEC?
He successfully battled the SEC for weeks in court to allow two former NFL rookies to play for the Tigers, only to hold off on adding tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris to the team’s roster for now. I don’t imagine this topic fading into the sunset.
Meanwhile, this weekend, he got in a few one-liners during the blowout home-opener, which featured unprecedented noise levels in Death Valley.
At the end of Kiffin’s halftime interview on Saturday night, he said to ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe, “Imagine if we had pro players,” as LSU led Clemson 31-3.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;Imagine if we had pro players.&#8221; 😅
Lane Kiffin is not holding back. <a href="https://t.co/OzHEZqw1UW">pic.twitter.com/OzHEZqw1UW</a>
— ESPN (@espn) <a href="https://x.com/espn/status/2096439096017121699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Naturally, the media got a quick response to the off-handed remark, with Kiffin saying, “What’s the difference? Everybody hates you. They can’t hate you that much more.”
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Lane Kiffin, when asked about his halftime comments of “imagine if we had pro players”
Says someone asked him if he really said that..
Kiffin: “What’s the difference? Everybody hates you. They can’t hate you much more” <a href="https://t.co/m4OwIOaxHI">pic.twitter.com/m4OwIOaxHI</a>
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace) <a href="https://x.com/TreyWallace/status/2096470965408378913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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All eyes will be on Kiffin going forward this season, especially when he returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 19 for a date with Ole Miss. How Kiffin talks, acts, and moves — like which celebrities are going to be in his entourage when he enters a stadium — will be closely scrutinized. Comedian Theo Von and former LSU gymnast and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Olivia Dunne strolled into Baton Rouge with Kiffin on Saturday.
I just hope we don’t see a red carpet at some point.
<h3>3. Fans Deserve Marquee Matchups In Week 1</h3>
After nearly an eight-month offseason, college football fans don’t need much of an incentive to tune into Week 1 to get their long-overdue fix.
I stayed up to watch the Colorado-Georgia Tech pillow fight on Thursday night and caught Miami boat race Stanford on Friday — if I’m being honest, I only watched the latter to see how much the Hurricanes’ standout wide receiver Malachi Toney would torch the Cardinal. Spoiler: a record-setting lot.
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Every Malachi Toney catch vs Stanford.
May quickly work himself into the number one overall pick conversation in 2028. <a href="https://t.co/9ctW7E2FBS">pic.twitter.com/9ctW7E2FBS</a>
— Ryan Paganetti (@RyanPaganetti) <a href="https://x.com/RyanPaganetti/status/2096276117019676889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
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There were still a lot of blowouts and lopsided affairs this weekend.
But we had to wait until Sunday night in primetime to get a top-25 matchup between Ole Miss and Louisville. While the first half proved to be a dud, the second half became a track meet, which ended on a walk-off field goal as the Tigers beat the Cardinals 41-38 in Nashville.
As I write this, two of top three trending topics on <s>X </s>Twitter in the U.S. were tied to the Sunday primetime contests.
This all begs the questions — can we get more marquee top 25 games in Week 1 spread across three or four days? Is that too much to ask for? I enjoyed seeing Washington-Washington State in the Apple Cup to open the season, even if it was a bit of a snoozefest. The two Sunday night affairs capped a fun weekend.
Some blue bloods scheduling more home-and-home non-conference series with one another would be nice. You know, for the sake of college football pageantry? Think if we got the likes of LSU-Oregon, Michigan-Georgia, Texas-USC, Miami-Ohio State, Penn State-Utah, and Ole Miss-Notre Dame across a four-day slate.
I know, I know. It all goes back to money and TV, but man, we can all dream for now.
<h3>4. Deion Sanders Is MIA</h3>
The former SI Sportsperson of the Year had the college football world in the palm of his hand in 2023. After a 1-11 record, Colorado hired Deion Sanders to restore some semblance of pride in Boulder, Colo., only to catapult the football program into the national spotlight with an unprecedented level of news coverage before Game 1.
Sanders told the Buffaloes he was “bringing his own baggage with me” before he arrived in Colorado. “And it’s Louis,” he added.
As in Louis Vuitton.
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A 3-0 record, including a 45-42 upset against TCU as 21-point underdogs, to start Sanders’ inaugural campaign only put the media frenzy into overdrive. TV ratings spiked as the Buffaloes became the talk of college football.
Still, after a 4-8 record in year one and a 17-21 mark overall, Sanders and the Buffaloes have become an afterthought in college football — Colorado’s comeback win against Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Friday was barely a blip on the college football radar in Week 1.
It’s a far cry from the early honeymoon phase of 2023 where Sanders, who signed a contract extension in 2025 to become the Big 12’s highest-paid coach, had every talking-head pontificating about his arrival out West. The coverage felt Tim Tebow-esque in some way. Now, he’s without his Louis as he tries to pull the Buffaloes out of the Big 12 basement.
<h3>5. College Football Is Still Wonderfully Weird</h3>
The year is 2026, and college football remains bizarre and chaotic in all its fine glory. Yes, I realize it’s Week 1 and you might be thinking, &#8220;Mark is just coming off a long offseason without one of the greatest sports on earth and is a little romantic about it all.&#8221; Yes, you might be partially correct.
Let me explain the weirdness for you.
A year after going 0-12, UMass upset Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey, last week before the Scarlet Knights decided to blast off fireworks into the New Jersey sky following the humiliating defeat. UMass, which snapped the nation’s longest active losing streak at 16 games, was a 29.5-point underdog.
A disgruntled 20-year Rutgers season ticket holder then called into WFAN and asked for “a firing squad” of the football staff. Yikes.
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Rutgers fans are done with the program.
Never thought Rutgers Football would light up the phone lines tonight on <a href="https://x.com/WFAN660?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WFAN660</a>.
Feel for fans like Gus. <a href="https://t.co/ak1aGw0YeH">pic.twitter.com/ak1aGw0YeH</a>
— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) <a href="https://x.com/ZachGelb/status/2095724343963628009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Did we mention the stolen thrilling Michigan victory against Western Michigan on a last-second Hail Mary attempt? I’m not going to discuss the storming of the field. When you’re a 20-something college student, sometimes you do things you’re going to regret.
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MICHIGAN SURVIVES THE UPSET ON A HAIL MARY 🤯 
<a href="https://t.co/BBAsd26SuV">pic.twitter.com/BBAsd26SuV</a>
— Sport &amp; State (@SportNState) <a href="https://x.com/SportNState/status/2096433490514350521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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In Week 1, three FCS teams beat FBS programs, including Tarelton State narrowly getting by Bowling Green and The Citadel winning a 3OT thriller against Charlotte.
Michigan State offensive lineman Robert Wright Jr. projectile vomited on a defender mid-snap during a successful two-point conversion. Whatever works, I guess.
LSU’s Kiffin even got a practice jump shot in during the Tigers’ Week 1 victory. I can’t believe that’s actually a real sentence.
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Here&#8217;s Lane Kiffin&#8217;s attempt at a jump shot after a Tiger touchdown&#8230; maybe he should&#8217;ve gone for a dunk? Drive the lane? 😉 <a href="https://t.co/BRo45brQOr">pic.twitter.com/BRo45brQOr</a>
— WBRZ News (@WBRZ) <a href="https://x.com/WBRZ/status/2096437531038400849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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There isn’t a normal college football weekend in the fall. And for all the commercial changes, transfer portal chaos, seemingly never-ending legal disputes, and incompetence in Washington, D.C., the weirdness and absurdity remains — and that’s why we all keep returning every Saturday.

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