Why Everybody Loves Jameis Winston (Even When He Lets Us Down) | Ep 1244

Jason Whitlock (0:01)

ESPN spent Monday night selling Aaron Donald's return, Matthew Stafford's four touchdowns, and Jaxson Dart's sprained MCL.

Wrong.

Whenever Jameis Winston takes the field, the story is Jameis Winston. He is a force of nature, the most unique athlete of my lifetime and your lifetime. The most lovable loser in the history of sports. He is Gomer Pyle strapped in to Kingda Ka, and before we leave, you'll understand both halves of that statement. Everybody loves Jameis, including me. We root for him. We know he's going to let us down, and then we root harder. That is the show.

Charles Barkley (0:47)

This is that fire.

SPEAKER_3 (0:49)

Grab your popcorn.

Jason Whitlock (0:52)

Monday Night at SoFi was another episode. Jaxson Dart went down on the first series, the blue tent, the limp, the MRI, waiting for Tuesday. Suddenly, the ball was in the hands of the 32-year-old backup with the permanent smile and the two-year contract extension. He rolled Wendell wide open. Jameis went 11 of 27 for 111 yards and an interception. One completion on his first six throws for one lonely yard. Overthrew a short ball that should have put the Giants in field goal range. Giff wrapped an interception to Trent McDuffie in the red zone. After a fumble recovery at the Rams 11, the coaching staff ran it three times and took the three points like a man putting the car keys on a high shelf.

182 total yards, 11 first downs, 28 to six final score. Jameis looked like a man who had wandered onto an NFL field by accident and was trying to find the exit without making eye contact. And still, still, America will tune in next week against the Titans because the sitcom always reloads. I've been covering this man since he was the youngest Heisman winner alive, a dual sport circus act at Florida State. Famous Jameis, national champion, number one overall pick. I have also covered the other reel, the rape allegation that never became charges, the crab legs, $32 of grocery store seafood, and a three game baseball suspension. And then September, 2014, the Florida State Student Union, Jameis on a table yelling the phrase, the internet made famous, the one that starts with a four letter word and ends with somewhere a Heisman Trophy should never go.

Jimbo Fisher suspended Jameis a half game against Clemson for yelling, eff her right in the you know what. Then the school made it the whole game because the story kept growing legs. Jameis showed up to the game anyway, full uniform, pads, jersey, ready to play the game he was banned from. Jimbo Fisher had to send him back into the locker room and tell him to take that uniform off. That is the moment that locked it for me.

I was on Pardon The Interruption that Friday filling in for Mike Wilbon, and I said the quiet part out loud.

He came across like Gomer Pyle. If you're under 40, you might need a refresher on Gomer. Gomer Pyle was the lovable loser with the big heart and southern upbringing who first walked into American living rooms on the Andy Griffin show as the gas station attendant from Mayberry. Then got his own show as a Marine who kept stumbling upward on pure earnestness and lovability. That is who Jameis is.

Head tilted on the sideline like he was receiving a radio from a different galaxy. Big smile, bigger trouble, audience still rooting.

Let me refresh your memory totally. Here's the clip of me on PTI in 2014, predicting and explaining black Gomer Pyle before anybody knew what was coming. I'm off to Jameis Winston bandwidth. I like the guy, but he has really hurt himself with me. He comes across like a good old boy. Gomer Pyle, it's almost me, Shazam! I mean, well, I'll be Andy. I mean, when he's sitting on the sideline with his head cocked to the side, it's like, what universe is he in? So, I don't see it.

SPEAKER_4 (4:51)

That's the best thing we're going to do all day.

Jason Whitlock (4:53)

It's probably the best thing I've done on PTI anyway, but here's the miracle of famous Jameis. Nothing, nothing kills Jameis Winston, not the allegations, not the crab legs, not the cafeteria sermon, not the Uber case in 2018 that cost him three NFL games, not the interceptions, not leading the league in picks return for touchdowns, not the Buccaneers years, not the Saints years, not the Browns detour, the backup contracts, the 36-53 record as a starter, and not Monday Night's horror show in prime time. The country did not cancel Jameis, the country adopted him. We love Jameis in spite of Jameis, that is the whole product. Most athletes survive one scandal by becoming smaller, quieter, corporate. Jameis survived a highlight reel of dumb and potentially criminal mistakes by becoming larger, louder, more of himself. The smile stayed tatted on, the joy refused to die. He walks into buildings that should hate him and leaves with the room on his side. That is not a football skill. That is a human cheat code. The camera always finds the man who might throw, throw it to the wrong team with a grin on his face. The man who might win the game on pure chaos. The man who makes every snap feel like a coin flip between legend and lawsuit. That is a different currency, and it never inflates away.