Love him or hate him — or disagree with his opinion on this topic or any other — Colin Cowherd has some serious chops. For decades, the man has talked into a microphone, with only an occasional chime-in by his sidekick producer(s) and interviews. Otherwise, it’s one guy on a mic in front of a camera for hours. Cowherd has remained relevant, credible, and consistent enough to build out a burgeoning podcast empire at The Volume while still maintaining his own unique brand with his long-running show.
So while I respect Cowherd for all he’s accomplished and don’t think he’s a rage-baiting specialist, I do not agree with him on every take he has. Nor do I hold it against him that he literally can’t say the word “neither” and instead opts for “either” every single time.
Cowherd’s fixation on backwards hats has always seemed more like a hyperbolic, long-running bit he’s embraced and run with. Now it’s reached full “cap” capacity, as the latest target for his shtick is retired hooper/exceptional basketball analyst JJ Redick, whose name has been linked to multiple NBA head coaching vacancies. When Cowherd’s latest criticism of a backwards hat on a public figure started making the rounds, Redick hit him with the “LOL” response. LeBron James chimed in for a good laugh at the whole thing, too.
Not gonna lie, I had to dig through myriad replies to figure out that the guy on the left in LeBron’s X post/tweet is Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith. Fair point by The King.
Rather than backing off and being reasonable, Cowherd doubled down on the notion that Redick lacks professionalism by reversing his headgear.
“JJ Redick’s going for NBA head coaching jobs. He looks like a guy that’s gonna move my couch. Didn’t like it. I would tell JJ to his face. […] He’s one of the most cerebral guys in the world talking basketball, literally so layered. Beyond. He’s like Christopher Nolan in Hollywood. He is directing at a different level. JJ Redick is talking basketball at a different level, and look at this guy. I mean listen folks, we can’t just keep lowering our standards, or pretty soon hat on backwards becomes flip flops and board shorts to work.
“[…] I’m getting a lot of pushback on this, as LeBron and JJ Reddick lashed out at me. OK, I’ll take it. That’s fine, go ahead. Standards are standards. If not me, then who raises this serious issue? Somebody’s got to. I’ve started a national dialogue. We’ll go back and forth on this. God bless me and God bless America.”
The last time of note that I recall Cowherd whipping out the “backwards hat” segment was when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy went to the podium for a presser with *GASP*, you guessed it…
To reiterate, I think Cowherd is self-aware enough to recognize that he’s playing to the crowd, antagonizing viewers, and doesn’t really 100% believe that a backwards hat is such an extreme deal-breaker. It’s more amusing than anything else from where I sit. That said, you can see how some people might get triggered by this whole saga.
Redick is such a bright basketball mind who had to weather some of the most vicious hatred I’ve ever seen for an individual player during his college career at Duke. He had to grind from a bit-part role player in his early NBA years with the Magic to develop into a more than serviceable starter. He squeezed every ounce out of his talent that he could, and carved out a very respectable 15-year career at the highest level of pro hoops. I don’t think Redick will have much trouble winning over an NBA locker room if he does become a coach just because he occasionally rocks a backwards hat.
Speaking of Redick’s possible coaching future and his relationship with LeBron — they just started a podcast together titled Mind the Game — there’s a very real possibility they could team up on the Lakers here soon.
