AI Summary
5 min readHour 4 - Takin' the Hit
Lane Kiffin says he "struggled" with the decision to pursue former NFL rookies trying to get a fifth year of college eligibility. He claims LSU's player leadership committee unanimously approved it, that nobody will get cut because the team is below the SEC's 105-player roster limit, and that "if it makes your team better and it's legal, I'll take the hit publicly." Ben Maller is not buying any of it.
The Lane Kiffin morality play
Maller's central argument is that Kiffin's tortured-conscience routine is pure theater. "Spare me the tortured soul," he says. "Lane did not, last I checked, suddenly transform himself into the Dalai Lama of roster management." Kiffin's operating system, according to Maller, is simple: if the rules don't explicitly forbid it, "fire up the loophole limousine and floor it." The claim that he's "taking the public hit" for his players gets especially rough treatment. "He's not falling on the sword," Maller says. "He's swinging the sword."
The host frames this as consistent with Kiffin's entire career. "There's no one shadier in college sports, and I would say in all of sports, than Lane Kiffin." The bit about Kiffin having a commercial driver's license and driving a "honey wagon overflowing with doo-doo every time the guy talks" is the kind of extended metaphor that runs through the whole segment.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (03:40) **Hour Four Kickoff & College Football Controversy Tease** - Ben Maller introduces the hour’s main topics: Lane Kiffin’s comments on adding NFL bounce-back players to LSU and Steve Sarkeesian’s moral objections, plus the Steelers’ contract deadline for Joey Porter Jr.
- 2 (06:33) **Lane Kiffin’s “Tortured Soul” Defense** - Maller plays Kiffin’s audio where he says he struggled with the decision but that his players’ best interests come first, and that the leadership committee signed off.
- 3 (12:03) **Steve Sarkeesian’s “Pope Sark” Moral High Ground** - Maller plays Sarkeesian’s rant against programs adding NFL castoffs, where he argues it’s wrong to displace players who have trained for nine months.
- 4 (16:58) **Steelers’ Hardline Contract Deadline on Joey Porter Jr.** - Maller details the Steelers’ policy of refusing to negotiate once the regular season begins, leaving only days to finalize a deal with the 26-year-old cornerback.
- 5 (21:54) **Listener Interaction & Meet-and-Greet Recap** - Ben takes calls from regulars Dick in Dayton and Dante, and addresses Mouthwash Mike’s absence from a recent Vegas event due to hospitalization.
- 6 (41:37) **The Cardboard Kingpin: Shohei Ohtani’s Insane Card Market** - Ben reports that Ohtani has had five seven-figure card sales this year, totaling over $20 million, including an $11 million one-of-one card.
- 7 (43:02) **Wrap-Up and “Who Is That?” Game** - Ben closes the hour with a listener game where callers try to identify a mystery voice from sports media, with Danny DeVito correctly guessing “Kim Wood” for a win.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Ben Maller talks about Lane Kiffin saying his LSU players were emphatic about wanting NFL bounce-back players, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian claiming what Kiffin is doing is "morally wrong", the Steelers giving a hard deadline on Joey Porter Jr. contract talks, Cite the Bite, and more!
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