At Deadspin, the philosophy is if you don't have anything bad to say about someone -- particularly Trump supporters -- don't say anything. Jesse Spector has plenty of negative things to say about famous sports figures backing the president, and he's spewing all of it in a Deadspin slideshow.
For instance, Spector slams Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Brett Favre for "ripping off low-income families in Mississippi by taking a million bucks for a charity PSA." Favre, who endorsed President Donald Trump last week, did not include "amazing at fraud" in that endorsement, but cited "freedom of speech & religion, 2nd Amnd, hard working tax paying citizens, police & military," Spector complains. Favre is slimy also because he loves "actual guns."
The rest of the story? Last May, Insider writer Kelly McLaughlin reported, "NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre has agreed to return $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare funds that he had received for public appearances he never made, the state's auditor said Wednesday."
However, Favre further spiked the scandal narrative when he said that he actually received the money for his public service radio announcements and advertisements that ran for a few years in Mississippi.
Nobody speaks ill of baseball Hall of Famer and super good guy Mariano Rivera, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from Trump. So Spector shows a photo of the award ceremony and dumps on Trump for "a dumb lie." The president said he'd been invited to throw out the first pitch at a Yankees-Red Sox game in August when no fans were present. So Rivera is dragged through the mud for that.
Former pitching great Curt Schilling is derided for serving on the Build the Wall PAC, which "allegedly" defrauded hundreds of thousands of people. Steve Bannon and three others were indicted on that charge, but Schilling appears to be an innocent victim of Spector's shameless guilt-by-association smear.
Herschel Walker (appearing in above photo), one of the greatest college football players of all time, gets dinged by Spector for speaking at the Republican National Convention and praising President Trump for "putting family first." That's true "when it comes to grift," but not for honoring marriage vows.
Step forward for your lashing, former football coach Lou Holtz. He also spoke at the GOP convention and called Joe Biden a "Catholic In Name Only." Which "was pretty rich from a guy who also said 'Trump genuinely cares about people.' "
Ed Orgeron, who coached LSU football to the 2019 National Championship, is derided as a "single-issue voter" whose prime issue is "getting on the football field."
Even a baseball umpire makes Spector's hall of shame: Joe West, who said he'd like to eject Trump from a baseball game but will also vote for him. This makes West more ethically qualified to serve on the federal bench than any of Trump's nominees, Spector says.
Others harpooned by Spector for joining the Trump bandwagon are former football coaches Bobby Bowden and Mike Ditka, former baseball player Darryl Strawberry, former pro wrestler Dan Rodimer, former football player and current U.S. congressional candidate (Utah) Burgess Owens, former Auburn football coach and current U.S. Senate candidate (Alabama) Tommy Tuberville. Also, golf legends Jack Nicklaus, John Daly and Greg Norman, along with former boxer Mike Tyson, are criticized.
