Ben Maller: "We know a quitter when we see one, and right now the biggest quitter in sports is Simone Biles. She raised the white flag. I’m going to explain this to you like you’re five years old – the going got tough here and she tossed in the sponge. You can spin, spin, spin all you want but there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. They have a saying in the military when you do something like this and it’s called going ‘AWOL’. Simone Biles went AWOL. ‘AWOL’ stands for 'absence without leave’ and basically means you are not where you’re supposed to be at a particular time. Like continuing to finish the event that you started, this was a dereliction of duties. DESERTION is what it is, and when the music stops that is the naked truth. You can say ‘nO yOuR’e mEaN!’ but those are the facts. The thing that upsets me is the selfish nature of this and people are overlooking that. Taking the spot of someone who would have not given up and would have not quit. There’s some faceless gymnast who missed getting on Team USA by one spot who would not have walked away and who would have loved the opportunity to be in Toyko and to compete. It could have been a life-changing opportunity but instead, they’re sitting home somewhere watching Simone Biles... At its core, the issue is really bigger than Simone Biles. It gets down to the very bedrock of athletic competition. I was raised to always follow the code of ‘you always finish what you start’, and you always finish your work. Those are important things to me. In a life well-lived, you don’t quit, and even if you take it on the chin, you take it with a smile on your face. Sports are designed to test the resolve of those who choose to compete. A lot of things have gone upside down here. The pendulum has swung so far in the wrong direction that it's at the point where you gain more clout by being a quitter than winning a medal. You earn your worth in gold bullion by walking away. This is a 180-degree turn from the history of sport. Think of some of the great quotes, Vince Lombardi – ‘winners never quit, and quitters never win.’ Michael Jordan – ‘if you quit once it becomes a habit.’ Now you’re tagged as a quasi-‘HERO’ for screaming ‘I’M DONE!’ The media is working overdrive like a 1990’s rock band the Spin Doctors to rationalize, make excuses, and say it’s not her fault… Biles has been universally praised for showing ‘bravery.’ Making excuses for failure seems to be the rage of the times. She literally and figuratively stopped competing because they were going to lose, they performed better than she did, and she could not handle the pressure of the moment." (Full Video Above)
Listen to Ben Maller rip the sports media for running with such sympathetic coverage of USA gymnast Simon Biles’ shocking decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics because of ‘mental stress’, as Maller says no elite athlete like Biles should ever be commended for quitting on her team on the world’s biggest stage and stealing a spot from another American gymnast who didn't get to live out their Olympic dream.
Check out the video above as Maller details why a male athlete would have been raked over the coals for the rest of their career if they had pulled such a stunt, comparing it to the 1994 NBA Playoffs incident where Scottie Pippen infamously refused to re-enter a postseason game in the final seconds, and was forever branded for it.
Clay Travis: Simone Biles Should Apologize For Quitting on Her Team
Colin Cowherd Ranks the Top 10 NFL Teams Heading Into Training Camp
Doug Gottlieb Says the Media is Giving Simone Biles a Pass For Dropping Out
Why USA Men's Basketball Has a 'Gregg Popovich Problem'
The Real Reason Why USA Men's Basketball is Tanking at the Tokyo Olympics
Clay Travis: NFL Cares More About Vaccines than Sexual Assault Allegations
Why Critics of USA Men's Basketball Need to 'Shut Up'
The Real Reason Why Tokyo Summer Olympics TV Ratings Have Plummeted