Well, congratulations, social media — you've officially ruined Arch Manning. Nice work! He's now another robotic athlete with no emotions and, frankly, no personality.
Well done!
Manning, the biggest name in college football, was dragged through the mud last week because he laughed at an AI video of head coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe. It was a silly video. It was clearly AI. It all stemmed from Sarkisian essentially blowing off Rowe, and ESPN, following Texas' stunning Week 2 win over Ohio State.
Take a look:
That moment went viral, and led to several AI-generated videos of the interaction, including the one Manning mentioned in his press conference last week. He was asked about the interaction, and briefly talked about seeing all the reaction videos on X, including the AI one with Sarkisian slapping Rowe.
Yes, it was a silly video. Yes, it was a poor choice of words from Manning. And yes, the internet — and the virtue-signaling media — got so outraged by it, that Manning, and Sarkisian, were forced to issue apologies.
Naturally, Manning returned to the podium on Tuesday for his weekly presser, and sounded nothing like the kid we saw a week ago.
And I mean NOTHING:
Amazing. Nineteen questions, and only 56 seconds worth of answers. That's almost impossible to do, and Arch pulled it off. Impressive.
It's right out of the Bill Belichick playbook, by the way. Give Manning a few more weeks, and he'll be showing up to these pressers wearing a torn hoodie with no sleeves and speaking in such a low grumble, no microphone on earth would be able to pick it up.
Obviously, this wasn't an accident. Arch Manning spent the last week getting yelled at by the MOB because he made a joke about an AI video. The fake outrage in this situation was impressive, even for the usual suspects in sports media.
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It was an all-timer.
They tore down a 22-year-old kid because he answered a question — from the MEDIA — and laughed about a dumb video. A dumb, and very clearly fake video.
Arch Manning didn't condone hitting women. Come on. Nobody who laughed at that video did, or does. Personally, I think all of these AI-generated videos are stupid. I don't find any of them funny, mainly because it's just so unoriginal at this point.
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But even if you did see it, as Arch did, and you did laugh at it ... so what? It probably just means you're a dumb 22-year-old with a fairly low bar in terms of sense of humor. Those are a dime a dozen nowadays.
But, because it's 2026 and the MOB is always on high alert, Arch Manning was crucified for his reaction, and spent the last week in the PR spin cycle.
And just look what came out ...
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Another boring, bland, vanilla athlete who gives the same, boring, bland, vanilla answers we've heard for years now.
Well done, all!