Tony Romo has a message for his haters before NFL season, Apple TV MLB girl & the pandering WNBA is exhausting

‘Nightcaps’ is a daily column that catches you up on the biggest sports, news and culture stories you may have missed while pretending to do work at your desk. It runs Monday–Friday on OutKick.com.

Middle Hump Day of July! Whew. One minute, you’re celebrating our 250th birthday. The next, you’re staring down the barrel of the second half of the month.

We’ve also reached the absolute slowest time of year, minus the pesky World Cup which apparently is still going on despite the U.S. getting bounced last week. Who knew?!

AFTER BLOWOUT LOSS TO BELGIUM, MANY ARE WONDERING IF TEAM USA IS BETTER OR WORSE THAN IT WAS A DECADE AGO

Other than that? Crickets. No baseball tonight. Only one game tomorrow. We do get the British Cup, which is nice.

Although that’s usually over before lunch, so it ain’t exactly taking up space this weekend.

We’re in the Dog Days right now. It’s official. They’re here. We’ve got ACC Media Days going on this week, if you care. I reckon another WNBA player could do something dumb tonight? There’s always that possibility.

But otherwise, it’s a grind right now. Good thing that’s our specialty! Let’s roll.

Welcome to a Hump Day Nightcaps — the one where Tony Romo has a message for all you (hand raised) haters who have grown tired of the act.

What else? I’ve got Apple TV’s MLB girl, Tricia Whitaker, throwing heat the All-Star game, ESPN NFL Draft, Paige Bueckers being just beyond insufferable, and where do we all stand on this potential Daylight Savings Time bill?

We in on more sunlight during the evenings? Or OUT on less sunlight in the mornings? Let’s figure it out together.

OK, grab you an ice-cold Miller Lite with Olivia Dunne and settle in for a Hump Day ‘Cap!

Tony Romo ain’t changing!

Couple housekeeping notes before we get started …

Yes, I know Amber led with Livvy Dunne in yesterday’s class. I don’t care. Any time Olivia Dunne is slugging back Miller Lites, it gets VIP seating in this class. Those are the rules.
And yes, I put a new disclaimer at the top of today’s column. Usually, it’s at the bottom. I’ve decided to move it up because, frankly, I’m tired of getting emails like this:

From Rob S:

If you’re going to write about something, write about it, don’t ramble on in so many different directions that it’s impossible to continue reading or finish reading since you never seem to get where you going.

Thanks, Rob! That’s the entire point of this column. It’s quite literally why it was created over three years ago now — to catch everyone up on the day’s events/biggest stories without doing too much of a deep dive into any of them.

So now you know, right off the bat. Proceed with caution!

OK, let’s get class started with Tony Romo — who America has really turned on in recent years — telling the viewers he ain’t listening when they mock him for the weird noises he makes in the CBS booth:

“I’m OK with it,” Romo said during this week’s “Pardon My Take” podcast. “It’s been a long time since I’ve taken offense to people.

The Tony Romo complex

Romo continued:

“You’re on air three hours a week, you’re gonna do something right … we do more right than wrong, otherwise we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in. But I think, with anything, you’re always going to do something wrong … I want to teach. I want people to understand ‘why,’ because there’s so much of that that goes into it. ‘Why did they make this decision? Why did they run the ball on fourth and two?’

“I just feel like that’s what people want, and the more people I talk to love it. There’s a gazillion people who come up to you and they like it.”

Thoughts? First impressions?

Here’s the thing … I used to love Romo. I think we all did, right? When he first came to CBS, he was must-see TV. Calling out the plays before they happened, and being right all the time. The enthusiasm. It was awesome.

Somewhere along the way, something changed. The Nostradamus stuff wore off. The enthusiasm sort of died away. He became obsessed with Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

Brutal. About 10 Sundays out of the year, Romo calls a Patrick Mahomes game at 4:25 on CBS, and it’s just the worst. Once in a while, he gets the Mahomes-Allen game, and it’s painful.

I don’t really care about the weird noises Tony makes while calling a game. His “I don’t know Jim!” has become a bit of a calling card over the years. It’s fine. It’s fun.

But the other stuff? The Mahomes-Allen obsession? The BRUTAL game he had last year in the wild card round in which he claimed he was sick? That’s the stuff that annoys me.

Tricia, Paige & DST?

OK, that’s a lot of Romo to begin class. Again, though, it’s July 15th. There is nothing going on right now. There’s a reason sports writers take the entire month of July off, you know?

Not me. I’m a patriot. I go down with the ship!

Let’s rapid-fire this Hump Day class into a big Hump Day Night. First up? This Paige Bueckers is just intolerable:

“I’m for equal opportunity, no discrimination based on what you look like, who you like and anything of that nature. I grew up with a lot of prominent Black women in my life that were very important to me in how I was raised and how I grew up, being my stepmom, my AAU coach.”

“I understand how amazing they are and how they should get the same equal opportunity as a white woman, as a white man to be an important piece of this league. And it was built on a lot of black women, this league, so it’s definitely right for them to get the same equal opportunity as everyone else.”

Good lord.

For some reason, Paige was talking about the lack of black coaches in the WNBA. Talk about a slow time of year! Good God. It’s just exhausting. They’re all so exhausting. The virtue-signaling, pandering, full-of-crap WNBA players who act like we’re still living in the 1800s are just so exhausting.

I don’t think the WNBA has a racial problem, Paige. I think you’re good. I think it’s covered.

Lordy.

Next? Where do we stand on this?

You know what? The more I think about it, the more on the fence I am. Originally, I was all for later sunsets. But I think as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate the early sunrise a little more.

I also live in Florida and none of this really applies to us because it doesn’t get dark that early down here during the “winter.”

But, I also lived in Boston for four years, so I fully understand just how miserable January-March evenings are. You can go DAYS up there without seeing the sun, especially when you’re in college and going to bed at 5 a.m. half the time.

Tough call.