Plenty ran afoul to make ‘Turkeys of the Year’

By David Mullens

The 2023 sports year has provided DFW fans plenty of reasons to give thanks. The Stars, Mavericks and Cowboys are off to searing starts, and the main discourse — the pièce de résistance — will be how GM Chris Young and manager Bruce Bochy cooked up a World Championship for the Texas Rangers. 

To spice up Thanksgiving sports talk, we serve up a menu with this year’s annual “Turkeys of the Year” awards.  

ESPN/Disney corporate management. In June, ESPN announced that commentators Suzy Kolber, Jeff Van Gundy,  Jalen Rose,  Ashley Brewer, Steve Young, Keyshawn Johnson, NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay and others were being let go at the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.”

In March 2022, The “Monday Night Football” announcing team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman signed a contract for $165 million combined. In February 2023, ESPN parent company Disney, through CEO Bob Iger, announced budget cuts requiring elimination of 7,000 jobs. Despite the reductions, in May, ESPN announced the signing of the crass beacon of internet sports Pat McAfee for a reported five-year, $85 million contract. McAfee joins loudmouth Stephen A. Smith as ESPN’s highest paid on-air “talent.” On ESPN, yelling sells.

“SportsCenter” used to be a TV spectacle. Before phone apps and twitter posts, it was America’s No.1 source for sports news, and their top anchors were stars. Throughout the years, sportscasters have included Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Chris Berman, Bob Ley, Tom Mees, Robin Roberts, Rich Eisen, Craig Kilborn, Kenny Mayne, Charley Steiner, Hannah Storm, Brian Kenny, Larry Biel, Robert Flores, Trey Wingo, Scott Van Pelt, Stuart Scott, Linda Cohn, Rich Eisen, Neil Everett, Lindsay Czarniak, Kolber and Brewer. Mees and Scott passed away. Only Storm, Van Pelt, Cohn and Berman — in a reduced role on ESPN+ — remain. Couple that with the elimination of stellar programming like “Outside the Lines” and ESPN has not gotten better, it’s gotten louder. 

The New York Mets. The Mets started the 2023 season with an MLB record payroll of $334,233,332. 

They finished the 2023 season with a 75-87 record in fourth place in the NL East, 29 games behind the Atlanta Braves. 

John Fisher. Billionaire Fisher has run the proud Oakland A’s franchise into the ground and is orchestrating a taxpayer funded stadium in Las Vegas. Fans in Oakland and across the U.S. began a “Sell the Team” chant at the top of the fifth inning at A’s home and road games. Fisher, who inherited his money from his entrepreneurial parents, continues to eschew offers from groups wanting to buy the team and keep them in Oakland, where they have resided since 1968. 

Wander Franco. An All-Star shortstop with the Tampa Bay Rays, the 22-year-old Franco was placed on administrative leave for allegations of relationships with underage girls in his native Dominican Republic. He has yet to return to the team.     

College football head coaches and university regents. In July, Northwestern head football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, was fired for overseeing a culture of hazing, racism and sexual misconduct. Fitzgerald is owed a reported $40 million. 

In September, Michigan State University (MSU) head football coach Mel Tucker was fired amid accusations of sexual harassment. MSU is fighting Tucker over the remainder of his $95 million contract. 

On November 9, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for the team’s final three games, including a home battle with No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday, Nov. 25, over knowledge of an “impermissible, in-person scouting operation” led by former football staffer Connor Stalions. 

On November 11, Texas A&M fired head football coach Jimbo Fisher after a 51-10 win over Mississippi State giving the Aggies bowl eligibility. AD Ross Bjork said the team was “stuck in neutral.” Fisher’s buyout is $76.8 million.

Pac-12 leadership. Due to the cluelessness of two commissioners and a dozen university presidents,  UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington are jumping to the Big Ten Conference, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are going to the Big 12 and Cal and Stanford are joining the ACC in 2024. Only Oregon State and Washington State remain.

Ja Morant. The Memphis Grizzlies star was suspended for eight games in March for showing a firearm on social media. In June, Morant was back on social media with a firearm and was suspended 25 games without pay by the NBA for conduct detrimental to the league.

The NBA in-season tournament. Confusing, unwieldy and unnecessary, the NBA announced an in-season tournament integrated into the regular season with cash incentives to get multi-millionaire players to play. Tasteless uniforms and gawdy home courts will alert bewildered basketball fans that the games are part of the NBA Cup.    

PGA/LIV Golf. In a stunning development announced on June 6, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced a “framework agreement,” merging the PGA with the Saudi-funded, less than two-year-old and frequently shunned LIV Tour. The PGA failed to notify players and sponsors, both of whom resisted any association with the Saudi government.  

In keeping with a Thanksgiving theme, the Rangers won with grace. The Stars and Mavericks are eying their piece of the pie. And with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles in the way of a return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1996, the Cowboys plate is full.