I realized the world was going crazy a few years ago when one of my favorite pastimes in the car, listening to sports radio, became a tedious chore as I sat through leftist talking points waiting for the hosts to actually announce a score. It got to the point where I was more likely to hear about the virtue of the George Floyd rioters than I was to get an analysis of last night’s game. Toxic sports personalities like Jemele Hill and Max Kellerman took to issuing racial polemics instead of analyzing statistics. (Hill thankfully left ESPN to work for, predictably, The Atlantic.)

Cue the outrage when ESPN’s Troy Aikman, angry at an ostensibly terrible roughing-the-passer penalty, made a sexist, terrible, hateful, misogynistic comment during Monday Night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas (I almost wrote Oakland!) Raiders. Be forewarned, intensely harmful language ahead:

I hope that the competition committee looks at this during the set of meetings, and we take the dresses off.

I’m shaking just writing this. “Take the dresses off.” How dare he?! The outrage was predictably swift:

Did Troy Aikman really just say what I think he said?

Did he really just say that it's time for the league to"take the dresses off"? The 60's called, they want their chauvinist back.

Seriously @ESPN… do better than that crap.#MNF

— Jason Page (@TheBackPage) October 11, 2022

Managing Editor of InsideHook Bonnie Stiernberg had a particularly asinine take:

I guarantee you that if Troy Aikman and every other man who says shit like this had to experience menstrual cramps ONE TIME, they would shut the fuck up https://t.co/xQszNAdfix

— Bonnie Stiernberg (@aahrealbonsters) October 11, 2022

Yes, we know, Bonnie, we have mothers, daughters, and wives—we know menstrual cramps suck and childbirth is incredibly painful. Nobody’s suggesting otherwise. In my view, Aikman is not making an attempt to demean women; he presumably knows like everyone else that women play rugby, professional basketball, and many other sports. He’d tell them to take their dresses off too (and no, not in a sexual way). What he means is, let them get down and dirty and play the damn game.

Self-proclaimed “justice journalist” Chuck Modi of Deadspin also woke up that day looking to be outraged:

Troy Aikman really needs to find a non-misogynistic way to critique the call besides “take the dresses off”.

And I say this as someone who heard this misogyny normalized by coaches as a kid & even participated myself. Way past time to end such sports talkpic.twitter.com/lHVhv6WdEv

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) October 11, 2022

Yeah, I’ll be going to Deadspin for my sports news. Never.

USA Today columnist Rex Huppke took a different but no less idiotic take when he accused Aikman of not caring about player safety. Aikman, who had to retire after three Super Bowl wins because of concussion-related issues, is undoubtedly sensitive to player safety. Huppke wrote:

Longtime concussion recipient Troy Aikman has decided the National Football League is doing too much to stop players from brain-damaging each other, saying during Monday night’s game that the league should “take the dresses off” when it comes to roughing-the-passer penalties.

The problem with Huppke’s analysis is that it completely ignores the actual play, which did not involve head injury. “Roughing the passer” can include purposely landing with your entire weight on the QB’s body—making no attempt to break your fall. That is what the Chiefs’ Chris Jones was called for; there was no shot to the head.

Furthermore, this particular call was almost universally decried in NFL circles because A) Jones had stripped the ball from Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, and so only had one arm available to stop his fall, and B) he attempted to cushion himself anyway with his other arm and did not fall with his full force onto Carr. A brain injury, meanwhile, was simply not an issue in this instance. Watch:

Chris Jones knocks the ball out BEFORE he lands on Carr. That’s a clean strip sack! What a bad call #MNF pic.twitter.com/Hb7cZoG0fX

— Coach Aaron Day (@dlinevids1) October 11, 2022

I have written about how NFL protocols recently failed Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and I too am concerned about the issue of head injuries in sports. To imply that Aikman isn’t is just a garbage take.

Don’t you feel that too many in today’s world get out of bed and immediately search for something to be outraged about? If you don’t believe me, read this article by ESPN Senior Writer Howard Bryant, who took the opportunity of July 4 to write, “It is Independence Day in America with independence under current and relentless assault. From Miranda rights to the environment, to the separation of church and state, to guns — so many guns — people are reeling.” The article goes on—and on and on—trashing America. Why can’t he get the hell off the sports pages and go work for The Atlantic alongside Jemele Hill?

The sports world used to be safe haven for those looking to step away from the world of politics, careers, and stress; we just wanted to have a beer and relax in front of the game. The wokesters are doing their best to take that away too. No, the dress comment didn’t offend me, and only those among the perpetually outraged class are truly upset.