Is Paul Finebaum Running For Senate or What?

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With apologies, everyone, I’ll be keeping it rather brief this week, as it’s been a long one.

So I’ll just focus on one question that’s been on my mind as I’ve seen the reports roll in lately. Is ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum going to run for Senate in his home state of Alabama?

To start with, are we sure he’s not already a Senator? He displays most of the symptoms. Fiercely held opinions, based in fact or otherwise. Argumentative as a matter of principle and sport. Foremost interest in media empire. Demonstrated fondness for the sound of his own voice. Check, check, check, check. Get this guy a pin.

I’ve always found him hard to take seriously, much like his colleague Stephen A. Smith, which, again, might be a sign that they’re both destined for office.

On the one hand, there’s something comically appropriate about Finebaum replacing the outgoing Tommy Tuberville, a prominent football coach who Finebaum frequently criticized when he roamed the sidelines for Auburn. That’s the job, of course, so hey. Water under the bridge.

I just think it’s funny how conservative playcalling once earned Tuberville the coach the full ire of Finebaum the analyst, and it’s now their apparently shared conservative politics that seem poised to pass a Senate seat from one to the next.

Adding to the lols is the fact that former Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl — who has since denied that he will seek office — and former Alabama QB AJ McCarron have been firmly in the rumor mill for public office in the state. Seems like a hot market.

I don’t know much about Finebaum’s substantive positions on the issues of the day. I’d say that’s an important qualifying characteristic in one of the 100 people who, in theory more than practice, collectively check the power of the executive branch. Setting aside his contrarian tendencies, it’s less than clear to me that that would be his intention in heading to Washington.

In fact, he’s essentially asked President Trump for his blessing to take the plunge, telling fellow sports-analyst-turned-political-firebrand Clay Travis that it would be “impossible to say no” if the president were to encourage him to run.

There’s little question that Finebaum could win in Alabama, which makes this a funny little dance indeed. It’s not all that often, or at least it never used to be, that candidates with no political experience can just walk into a Senate seat. But hey, that’s what Tommy Tuberville just did for the same seat. In the legal profession, we call that precedent.

I think Finebaum is well aware that the choice to serve at least one term, before he’d be faced with a potential reelection challenge, is his to make. What he chooses certainly won’t be the most impactful story in politics this year, nor in sports.

We’d be down a college football analyst — who, it must be said, has taken some stands that I agree with. He was right on the vanguard of the “Down with the morally bankrupt NCAA!” movement.

Although, if Doug Gottlieb’s any indication, maybe we wouldn’t be. He’s still coaching UW-Green Bay, by the way, which — and this is not a good thing, but I do think it’s a true thing — is probably an altogether harder job than being a U.S. Senator these days.

Would ESPN still welcome Finebaum on as an analyst if he were a sitting member of Congress? They’ve rushed to deny reports that they slapped his wrist earlier this week, though it’s hard not to wonder. I bet he’d still find his way onto McAfee and the like, even if he put his own show on ice for a while.

Maybe he’ll end up “fixing college sports.” That’s been on the docket in Washington for a while now, no? Can’t recall.

🏀 Sounds like Giannis is once again not going to the Knicks. Thanks for the update, everybody. Next!

⚾ Pour one out for Orion Kerkering. I’m gonna go ahead and say that he’s not the reason the Phillies lost that series, even if it probably felt that way to him last night. It was a bad play, don’t get me wrong, but he’s in a tough spot there. On march the Dodgers. And, for the time being, the Cubs. Blast! They must’ve heard me.

🏈 Cam… Skattebo… for… MVP…? Some guys can just friggin’ play, man, 40 time be damned. He’s one of ‘em.

🏈 Contrary to my article a few weeks ago, maybe Arch Manning and Bill Belichick are instead planning on not figuring it out? Hard to say, but the early returns here are not encouraging on either front. Hm.

📚 And finally, Like I said, it’s been a long week, but I can at least preview next week’s entry, which will be on Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. So far, so great. Here’s to dignified English butlers.