The Sweep: The Committee Was 'Drunk,' Stephen A. Gets Fact-Checked Live, Hurley Throws Out His 200th-Win Ball

The day after an election, sports media spent a remarkable amount of time arguing with itself. Eight items, newest first, and nearly all of them started on a studio set or a podcast rather than a field.

November 4: Paul Finebaum says the committee looked drunk, then says he wouldn't say it

On Wednesday's Get Up, Finebaum called the first College Football Playoff rankings "about as discombobulated a ranking as I've ever seen." The next line was the one that traveled: "I would use words like the committee was drunk, but that would be inappropriate for such an august group of people." He went after Alabama from inside the state where he built his career, saying the Tide "has no business being where they are" at No. 5, ahead of a Tennessee team that "disemboweled them." Chair Hunter Yurachek's defense is on the record through AP. Our call: Finebaum's outrage serves ESPN's weekly show, but the Alabama complaint is correct on what the committee has explained so far.

November 4: Katie Nolan on Pat McAfee: he "acts irresponsibly," then wants everyone to manage his feelings

On her podcast released Wednesday, Nolan took on McAfee's on-air account last week of feeling "very, very uncomfortable" at Utah after a university-account video of students trolling him. McAfee compared the risk to that faced by Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated at Utah Valley University last year. "The guy is winning in every sense of the word, and yet is constantly acting like the world is attacking him baselessly," Nolan said. She also dismissed the FBI contact reported after Kirk's death, calling his fear "irrational." We will not referee another person's sense of physical safety, and neither should she. Her narrower point, that a very powerful broadcaster treats ordinary criticism as an attack, is a fair one that stands on its own.

November 4: Nick Wright goes after Stephen A. Smith's political persona

After Smith posted a video on the midterms warning Democrats about "woke ideology" and "identity politics," Fox Sports 1's Wright wrote on X: "The problem with refusing to be honest with your audience (and potentially yourself!) about your politics while creating political content is you end up creating political content that appeals to… absolutely no one." The two traded shots earlier this year when Wright said Smith sounded like a "mob boss" toward Jaylen Brown. We take no position on Smith's politics. As a media feud it is the rare one with some substance: Wright is arguing about the format, and it is a rival daytime host making the argument, which you should discount accordingly.

November 4: Stephen A. Smith asks the Colts' owner to "do something." Jeff Saturday: she just did.

Same morning, same host, different target. On First Take, Smith asked of Carlie Irsay-Gordon: "What you on the sideline for? You just sightseeing? Do something! Get rid of somebody! Make a change!" Saturday cut in: "She just fired a guy!" She did. Chris Ballard was fired as general manager after a 2-4 start, and the Colts have since traded Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner. Smith pivoted to asking why coach Shane Steichen still has a job, which is a legitimate question and not the one he opened with. Saturday wins this one on the facts.

November 4: Bill Simmons calls Adam Silver's schedule "negligence and greed"

On his podcast, Simmons called for a 70-game NBA season: "I think it's like actual negligence and greed. And those are the two words." Awful Announcing's list of players facing significant absences includes Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero and Kawhi Leonard, and the league is adding revenue through expansion. Simmons did not cite injury data in what we read, and nobody has established that 12 fewer games would fix this. Still, owners give up real money on any cut, which is why the idea keeps getting discussed and keeps going nowhere. The NHL, for its part, just went from 82 games to 84.

November 4: MLB reverses itself on the last day of Intentional Talk

MLB Network announced on October 19 that the show would sign off for good on November 4. On the day of the planned finale, The Athletic's Andrew Marchand reported that Rob Manfred and league executives had relented after fans and players lobbied to keep it. Kevin Millar had said on air in October, "I've cried. I've taken walks." It is a good outcome reached in the most embarrassing possible way, and the staffers who spent two weeks preparing for an ending are entitled to find it less charming than the rest of us.

November 4: Phil Simms has seen this movie before

The Joe Buck and Troy Aikman split at ESPN keeps getting worse in public. On WFAN Wednesday, Simms, once bumped from CBS's lead booth for Tony Romo, said Monday's Bears-Seahawks broadcast was among their best and that he thought, "Wow, they're going to break them up!" His summary: "I don't quite know why it got that bad, but it did. And it's hard to backtrack when those things happen." Crisis consultant Jeff Hunt told Awful Announcing that if Aikman's time is ending, ESPN should say so and end the squabbling. Buck has his extension and Aikman, per reports, has no deal. We think Hunt is right, because the current silence helps nobody except the people leaking.

November 2: Dan Hurley throws out the 200th-win ball

UConn beat Gardner-Webb in its opener and handed Hurley a game ball for his 200th win at the school. "I took the 200-win ball they gave me, and I threw it out the door in the hallway. I don't want that sh*t," he told reporters. "Because I don't care. What am I going to do with that?" Awful Announcing dates the game to Tuesday night; UCTV's video of the press conference went up late on November 2, and that is the date we are using. The staffers who prepared the ball deserved a better line. Fans of a program with his two national titles will mostly forgive it.

What we are not running, and why

Dianna Russini's return "next week." The report is Mike Florio's, from a single unnamed source, and it does not say where she will work or in what job. We can check nothing beyond that, and the backstory involves personal allegations she disputes. Wait for an employer to announce it.

Malachi Toney's ankle. NBC Sports' betting preview itself labels it a rumor, and a headline elsewhere calls the news "concerning." We searched and found no confirmation from Miami. A betting line may well be reacting to it. That is a reason to be careful with it, not to spread it.

A "press conference ends abruptly" story from a site called Beypazari Haber TV. It surfaced in search under a vague 2026 headline. We did not open it and could not tie it to an original report. It has the shape of a scraped rewrite.

Paul Gallen and Nelson Asofa-Solomona's press conference. Real, dated today, and about remarks concerning a fighter's wife. Our only read was a search summary of an aggregator's account of an Australian fight promotion, and we have no primary report or video.

Wosny Lambre on Victor Wembanyama. A November 3 item that we passed on yesterday, and it is still circulating through rewrites. Nothing new was added.

Saquon Barkley's Polymarket stake. It keeps turning up in fresh-looking feeds. It dates to October 28, and it needs its date on it if anyone cites it as news.

Jack Campbell's condition. Headlines have now moved on to family statements and reporter reflections about the Lions linebacker's injury. This is a health matter, not drama, and it does not belong in this column.