Colin Cowherd’s well-being relies on him being a successful provocateur. His TV/radio show on FS1, like just about everyone else in sports radio, is premised on the idea of giving bold takes and opinions on the various topics dominating that day’s sports conversation.
There’s an art to this, and even the best find themselves crossing a line at times in their attempt to be bold that comes back to bite them. Cowherd seems to do this more than most, and after his high profile roasting at the hands of Baker Mayfield, he now finds himself in the crosshairs of Mayfield’s new No. 1 target, Odell Beckham Jr.
Cowherd decided to poke fun at Beckham for gaining so much notoriety and fame without the on-field production necessarily matching that by listing his “top 10” career moments. Beckham caught wind of that effort at a joke on Twitter and decided to light Cowherd up for being two-faced on-air compared to in person.
https://twitter.com/obj/status/1129139978007564288
Beckham, who has not been afraid to mix it up with folks on Twitter this offseason, decided he had time for Cowherd on Thursday and dug through his text messages to find one from Cowherd on the day he was traded saying “I’m rooting for you” to illustrate his hypocrisy.
https://twitter.com/obj/status/1129140460247703552
He wasn’t done, either, bringing the text exchange back with a smiley face and caption that is absolutely hysterical.
😭😭😭😭😭 same to u! ✊🏿all LUV pic.twitter.com/vjopwYf0iG
— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) May 16, 2019
Sometimes athletes take offense to what is often fair criticism of their game from those that are otherwise polite in person. There’s always a tricky personal relationship at stake between media and athlete, as a media member being friendly can sometimes be misconstrued as if they will never provide a critique within the professional setting when deemed fit, and vice versa.
In this case, though, it seems like a more fair assessment from Beckham, who sees Cowherd digging at him on air for the sake of riling people up when in interactions with OBJ he says things like “I’m rooting for you.” It’s possible for it to be both, as sometimes jokes are just that, but it’s also understandable why Beckham would feel this crossed a line when you start insisting he’s done little of worth on the football field.
It’s safe to assume the Browns’ new star will be appearing on Cowherd’s show any time soon, but you can bet this will be a lead story on his next radio broadcast.
