Ryan Clark didn't get a pair of the kid gloves that ESPN uses when its discussing Eli Manning and he's not enough of a grumpy old chud to bag on Cam Newton with the rest of the network's suits. Both of those points came to a head when college football commentator Paul Finebaum praised Manning while calling Newton a drain on the Panthers on Wednesday's episode of Get Up.
First, Finebaum gave his take on Manning steadily dragging the Giants into hell. He said that Manning showed class by allowing himself to be benched after hanging around the team's neck for a teeny, tiny four seasons.
"I think it’s the right move but I also think you have to pause for a second and respect the way Eli Manning has handled this. The Giants blew it a couple years ago, they probably should have gotten rid of him then but they held on and Eli took a beating but he still has shown the epitome of class,” he said.
Without a hint of self-reflection, Finebaum barrelled on to say that the much younger and much better-at-being-an-NFL-quarterback Newton was dragging down his team.
“We’re not watching the beginning of the end. It is the end. It’s over for Cam Newton. I don’t know why we’re mincing words and trying to find a pretty way to put it. He’s a train wreck right now," he said. "He can’t do what he used to do and quite frankly, forget the sympathy tour. Cam Newton has never cared about anybody—other than Cam Newton. And that doesn’t mean he should be given the opportunity but he brought his franchise down.”
Clark stomped on the brakes and threw Finebaum's trash take through the show's metaphorical windshield.
"We just spoke glowingly about—not we, Paul just spoke glowingly about Eli Manning and he had been a dud for the last four years. You want to talk about bringing a franchise down? Eli has ruined that franchise," he said. "So we gotta take out how we feel about a dude because he’s a Manning, because we love him, because he gives us this, 'Aw shucks you can do whatever you want to me and I’m going to be okay about it.' That’s not true. If we’re looking at it right now, Cam has more left than Eli has had for years."
Twitter definitely took notice, gleefully watching Finebaum get ground into dust.
