Hear Me Out...The worst hot takes of 2018

By ALEX KUHN

Sports Editor

We're days away from closing the book on the year that was 2018. It was another good sports year but rather than regurgitate all the highlights of the sports world (That will be next week's column), I want to recap the worst hot takes I remember from 2018.

Most of these takes are funny and from sports media personalities I like or find entertaining. I haven't included any takes from Mike Francesa or Jason Whitlock. I find both guys enjoyable but at the same time, they're overly dramatic. Francesa is great at giving out primo hot takes that he'll either contradict within the same take or in his next segment. And Whitlock has perfected his hot takes with everything is a conspiracy while also trying too hard to coin new phrases.

Whitlock and Francesa could have easily commanded a 2,000 word column just between the two of them. I also didn't include Clay Travis because I find him boring, we get it Clay you don't like ESPN.

The takes I have laid out are in no particular order but I did save the worst of 2018 for last, so let's get to it.

Stephen A. Smith says he can't wait to see aHunter Henry and Derrick Johnson matchup.

Stephen A. Smith has really turned the hot take into an art. It's not only how he crafts a take but it's his delivery that really sells it. Just before last week's TNF game between the Chiefs and Chargers, Smith proclaimed that one sneaky on-the-field battle he was looking forward to the most was Chargers TE Hunter Henry vs. Chiefs LB Derrick Johnson.

This take would have been excellent too if not for the small fact, I mean large fact that Henry hasn't played a down this season because of an ACL injury and Derrick Johnson was cut by the Chiefs in the offseason, signed with Oakland, then cut by the Raiders on Oct. 16 and hasn't been signed since.

One of the funnier parts of this was while Smith talked up this fantasy matchup, the looks of confusion on the faces of Teddy Bruschi and Max Kellerman was comedy gold. Then to make it better Stephen A., rather than owning it 100 percent, tried to save the take by saying he meant to say Chargers TE Virgil Green. Here are Green's stats on the season, as of writing, 17 receptions, 198 yards and one touchdown. He's hardly setting the league on fire.

Smith was pummeled on social media for this and as usual, most of it was over the top. It's a funny moment and there's no need to take it so seriously. When you consider that Smith's initial take was hilarious, but that he tried to correct himself by saying he meant Green but didn't think to address the fact that Johnson hasn't played since October, took this take into a new stratosphere and made it a lock as the funniest of 2018.

MATT WALSH KIND OF SORT OF SAYS KAREEM HUNT IS A VICTIM TO OWN THE LIBS

Walsh isn't a sports media guy he's a conservative blogger that for the most part writes about the politics of the day. But after the Kareem Hunt video was released and all media was talking about it, Walsh threw his two cents in as well. It's no secret I'm wordy on my columns but Walsh is even wordier than I am, so rather than pull just one paragraph from his blog I'll just give you the column title so you can look it up if you so please. "An NFL Player Is Being Condemned For Hitting A Woman. She Hit Him, Too. What Happened To Gender Equality?"

Walsh does some wild mental gymnastics by essentially saying if feminists want true equality, like being paid the same as their male counterparts, when a woman lightly slaps a man they should expect to be assaulted as if they were a man. It's an odd read that reek's of that I'm-dug-in-on-my-specific-viewpoints-and-if-you-don't-agree-you're-a-part-of-the-grand-conspiracy-to-ruin-my-way-of-life mentality that has murdered any kind of nuanced thinking.

BRITT MCHENRY ON JIMMY G AND WASHINGTON REDSKINS CHEERLEADERS

At different times this year, former ESPN employee Britt McHenry went after 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo for dating a porn star by saying "He should have more values and class than parading a porn star in LA", and saying if the Washington Redskin cheerleaders "don't want to be treated like a 'sex object,' perhaps don't be one for $."

It's funny that McHenry of all people pretends to be this salt of the earth person but there is video of her ripping and demeaning a towing company's parking lot attendant for no reason. I get that people can change and that incident happened three years ago, but judging from the way McHenry attacks people on Twitter for even the most insignificant of slights, I'm going out on a limb and saying she hasn't learned anything from that 2015 incident.

So while McHenry likes to pretend to be this self-righteous, down-to-earth person she's far from it. Who cares who Jimmy G wants to date? Yes, the Washington cheerleaders signed up to do a swimsuit calendar shoot, but it wasn't in the contract to have a bunch of pervy rich dudes crash what was supposed to be a closed shoot, then have your employer not get your back because the owner wants to suck up to these pervy rich dudes.

COLIN COWHERD CALLS BAKER MAYFIELD UNDRAFTABLE AND REFUSES TO TAKE THE L

Stephen A. Smith might have a hard time admitting he's wrong but Colin Cowherd is the sports media's king at not admitting he's wrong. There was no better example of this than when Baker Mayfield went on his show during the summer.

Cowherd has relentlessly crushed Mayfield and even calling him undraftable at one point. So when Mayfield went on Cowherd's show, Cowherd used it as a means to point out all the mistakes Mayfield has made.

One clip Cowherd brings up is during Mayfield's last year at OU when they're playing Ohio State in Columbus. In the clip, Mayfield throws a touchdown then runs off away from his teammates. Cowherd tells Mayfield he doesn't like that and asks him why he didn't celebrate with his teammates. Mayfield tells him he ran that way to celebrate with the student section and band, then he tells Cowherd if he watched the whole game, like he says he did, we would have seen him celebrate with his teammates on the three touchdowns before that clip and the touchdowns afterward.

Rather admit he's wrong Cowherd doubles down and sheepishly keeps saying he doesn't like that Mayfield celebrated one touchdown with the band and student section that traveled to the game. Just take the L Cowherd, there's no shame in it.

And I love how Cowherd has his radio show setup in a Howard Stern way but the person he has in the Robin Quivers role never really calls him on anything, they're just there to back up Colin when guests start taking their shots at him.

STEPHEN A. SMITH ON JOSH GORDON

This is the freshest hot take and probably the most depressing. When it comes to being a sports personality Stephen A. is one of the best but his Achilles Heel is talking about serious issues. He never says the right thing and always, ALWAYS has to backtrack or clarify what he meant to say.

This time around, Smith talked about WR Josh Gordon leaving the Patriots to focus on his mental health and substance abuse.

From the jump, Smith shows a blinding lack of knowledge about substance abuse and no remorse for Gordon. Everything about the Gordon story is a bummer, it's a loss for Gordon, a loss for the Patriots and a loss for NFL fans. Gordon is an absolute, all-world talent and was one of few players that could turn a simple five-yard catch into a 70-yard touchdown just by way of his athletic gifts.

There was no hypothetical about it Gordon literally had millions of dollars at stake but couldn't beat his addiction, that alone shows you how serious addiction is. It's easy for those of us who don't have these struggles to lob out criticisms like "How could you walk away from that money?" but we're not wired that way and that's why it's absolutely foreign to us.

Ultimately, Gordon's health comes down to him and I'm not saying he needs to be coddled but having a shred of humanity for someone battling these demons isn't asking much.

BILL SIMMONS SUGGESTING THE EAGLES TRADE CARSON WENTZ

Simmons is one of my favorite sports media personalities and his Book of Basketball is a must read for any basketball fan. But when he suggested on his podcast that the Eagles trade Carson Wentz and keep Nick Foles, I had to put him on the list. Wentz had a bad year and that's mostly due to him coming back too soon from an ACL injury. Wentz is going to be fine and he'll be back to his MVP form next season.

I think it's because the NFL regular season is shorter compared to the other major sports that it's just a hotbed for crazy hot takes and recency bias. Foles was awful at the beginning of the season and that's why the Eagles rushed back Wentz. But because he beat a banged up Rams team, everyone forgets that.

I really wish there was a way for guys like Simmons to run pro franchises because it would be funny to see how quickly they'd run a team into the ground. I'm not sure who would be the worst at running a franchise between Simmons, Cowherd and Stephen A. They'd all be so emotionally triggered from game to game that by their fourth or fifth game in, they'd have a completely different team.

ALEX KUHN THE JAGS WILL WIN SUPER BOWL LIII

I don't care how most of my preseason or playoff predictions go. They're meant to be fun and if I was any good at them, I'd be writing this column from one of four houses I owned. But I'm not going to lie this one stings since the Jags are my favorite team.

I was all in on Blake Bortles and the Jags this year, I thought they were bound for glory. Then the injuries to the offensive line piled up and RB Leonard Fournette missed a big chunk of the season.

That put the success of the offense squarely on Bortles' shoulders. He was put in a tough position and while every jerk on ESPN and FS1 claimed the Jags lost season was because of Bortles, it's not entirely his fault. The blame can be distributed evenly across the board. For Bortles to be successful he had to have everything just perfect and with the O-line having a starter go down nearly every week of the season that messed things up.

While the Jags defense has been better of late, it didn't help that the scheming didn't evolve; and teams, especially in the early part of the season, were able to attack this unit successfully.

It was just a bad season and a bad take on my part.

The Jags are in full-on tank mode and there are going to be plenty of moves made this offseason. The roster will be completely different and the coaching staff might be new too, and as poorly as this season went, I still feel a Jags Super Bowl LIV prediction is in store for next year's NFL season preview.

Ah, the hell with it, Jags Super Bowl LIV champs!