Bobby Bowden should know better than to spout nonsense at his advanced age but he’d probably fade into obscurity by doing otherwise.
The legendary college football coach said Wednesday during his appearance on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” show that many of his players wore earrings because they wanted to look like their mothers in the absence of their fathers.
“My last years at Florida State, 65 or 70 percent of my boys did not have a daddy at home,” Bowden said. “They were raised by mommas, sweet ol’ mommas. Thank god for them mommas. Or grandmomma. Many times it was grandmomma, or big sister, or aunt. But where’s the man? A boy needs a male figure. And the girls do too. Somebody to discipline them and make them be a man. I used to kid about this, you know, they grow and wanna be like their momma.
“A boy needs a male figure. And the girls do too. Somebody to discipline them and make them be a man. I used to kid about this you know, they grow up and they want to be like their mama. That’s the way they were raised. That’s why they wear earrings.”
Bowden quickly said he was just joking, but the Internet reacted to his comment with predictable outrage.
The 87-year-old probably didn’t heed the lesson of George Karl, whose recent claims about basketball stars who were raised by single mothers drew furious responses from his former players.
People obviously will go through great lengths to promote themselves. In Bowden’s case, “The Bowden Dynasty,” a documentary that will premiere Sunday on ESPN.
Thumbnail photo via Melina Vastola/USA TODAY Sports Images