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Paul Finebaum calls out Kirby Smart for response to viral shoving incident vs. Mississippi State
By Mark Kern
Published:
Paul Finebaum saw the sideline incident on Saturday where Georgia coach Kirby Smart made contact with Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr.
When asked after the game, Smart didn’t give an apology or really even acknowledge the incident. Instead, Smart simply said he was trying to get the attention of DC Glenn Schumann and claimed he didn’t remember the shove of Van Buren.
During his Monday morning appearance for “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning,” Finebaum admitted he doesn’t understand Smart’s lack of response at all. According to Finebaum, it was a chance to get on top of the situation, but Smart has let it linger into Monday.
“The one thing I would like to hear from Kirby Smart — and guys I may have missed it,” Finebaum said. “I know he said he didn’t remember it, I don’t think he’s said anything else… This is where the mistake has been by Kirby Smart. Someone around Kirby needed to grab him in the aftermath and say before you say a word, let’s talk about this and figure it out. Because what you did was clearly wrong. The right thing to do here is say you were sorry, personally call the player and move this off the conversation. Instead, he’s now let this thing fester, nearly 40 hours, and it’s an obvious mistake.”
Finebaum made it clear that he doesn’t think Smart did this intentionally, but his lack of communication after the game allowed this to become a bigger story than it should have.
“Do anyone of us really think he did this purposefully?” Finebaum asked. “No, why would he? What was the explanation for it? But that’s been one of the problems that Kirby Smart has had in dealing with the media all along. I am quite amazed and shocked that someone as smart as he is and as well-respected as he is would have allowed something that easily could have been handled by midnight on Saturday to allow this thing to reach mid-morning on Monday.”
To have this still a story heading into the week for Smart is just an unnecessary distraction as the Bulldogs try and prepare to hit the road to take on No. 1 Texas next Saturday.
