Troy Aikman destroyed a co-worker for his hot take and managed to avoid much backlash from his bosses in the process.
After Andrew Luck suddenly retired in August, FS1 analyst Doug Gottlieb was among the many to share his opinion on Twitter. It was not an entirely popular or well-received one.
“Retiring cause rehabbing is ‘too hard’ is the most millennial thing ever #AndrewLuck,” Gottlieb tweeted the night Luck announced his retirement.
Aikman, the former Cowboys quarterback and current Fox NFL analyst who uses social media occasionally, saw Gottlieb’s tweet and took him down for it.
“That’s total bulls–t Doug. What qualifies you to decide how someone should live their life?” Aikman tweeted back the next day. “So you’re now the authority on what motivates Andrew Luck? And if his decisions don’t fit into what you think is best for him then you rip him? Guess that keeps you employed on FS1. Nice.”
While he exposed his Fox Sports colleague and called into question why the company still employs him, Aikman seems to have avoided the wrath of his higher-ups at Fox.
“Well I’m still working!” Aikman said with a laugh on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, who suggested Aikman might be “untouchable” because of his stature. “When you say that much trouble I don’t know exactly what that means. I don’t know about untouchable. I will say that over the years I just try to be honest, and I don’t go looking to jump into the fray by any means. But if I have an opinion on something and I feel strongly on something then I’ll say it, and whatever the consequences are they are. I have great bosses.
“And I will tell you they were great in how they handled it, not because they handled it the way I wanted them to handle it, I think they were very direct with me and honest, and I’ve always respected those kinds of people. They respected the fact that I was honest, they did not like that I would say something about the company. I understand that, and I appreciate the way they discussed it with me.”As for Gottlieb, Aikman said he simply saw the tweet and it “really struck a nerve with me.” Having covered Luck for years and been in his shoes when he was a quarterback, Aikman supported his decision and did not appreciate the way others, including Gottlieb, criticized him for it.
“I felt that Doug’s comments were out of line,” Aikman said. “I didn’t intend for it to be personal with Doug, I know Doug, I’ve been on his show several times. I like the guy, I just don’t think the opinion on what Andrew was dealing with was really reflected the way it should have been.”