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By Cameron Kiszla
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Much has been made of Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning's recent reticence to speak freely to the media following his controversial joking about an AI video.
Many in the media have criticized Manning, such as Blake Toppmeyer of USA Today calling him "Robot Arch" and Julian Martinez of Fox 7 in Austin saying he was "noticeably short in the presser" following Saturday's game.
Bob Ballou of CBS Austin calculated that on Monday, Manning was asked 19 questions and provided a total of 56 seconds worth of answers.
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One of the preeminent voices in college football, though, isn't blaming Manning.
Instead, Paul Finebaum took aim at the reporters.
Noting that it was a room full of reporters whose laughter emboldened Manning when he spoke of an AI-generated video of his coach, Steve Sarkisian, slapping reporter Holly Rowe during a testy postgame interview, Finebaum explained that he views Manning's short answers as a bit of revenge.
"Arch made fools out of everybody in that room because they helped make him look like a fool last week with the Holly Rowe situation," he said on his eponymous show on Wednesday. "They all laughed and he took all the heat."
Now, Finebaum argued, Manning isn't going to bail out poor questions with good answers, and he's recently been getting quite a few of those.
"The bottom is, I say this to any media member, don't criticize the subject if you ask stupid and bogus questions, which I heard on most of those," Finebaum said. "If you ask Arch Manning a pertinent question, maybe he will answer them."
Finebaum further explained that "things have changed" and high-profile athletes no longer need the local beat reporter to build a relationship with fans.
"Guys like Arch Manning do not need the local yokels in the media," Finebaum said. "He can reach millions of people with one Instagram post. He can reach millions of people by doing something more than sitting there listening to a bunch of dumb questions from the local media who look like a pack of wolves trying to get some meat at feeding [time]."
Finebaum is right in that Manning is under no obligation to speak at length to these reporters.
Instead, they have to want to make him talk, and if they provide some more intriguing questions, perhaps the more talkative Arch Manning will return.
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