Sometimes I read the replies on X and wonder who these people are when they put down their phones. Like, truly, who are they?
Are they husbands? Fathers? Do they have daughters? What were they taught growing up? Do they speak this way at work, at church or across the dinner table—or does the safety of a screen unlock a version of themselves they would never allow anyone in their real lives to see?
More importantly, were these people abused as kids? Are they in bad relationships now? Do they have shitty jobs, or are they just generally disappointed with their lives? They have to be, right? Who the hell says the things they say to another human being? Let alone a great one like Nicole.
I love Nicole. I am a huge fan of her work. She works her ass off and does an incredible job—to the point that she was named the NSMA National Sportswriter of the Year in 2020.
She elevated her career from writing for The Athletic to an on-air role with NBC as one of the network’s top college football voices. She has even excelled at covering the Olympics. She’s smart, she’s savvy and she won’t put up with bullshit.
I found myself asking those questions after NBC Sports reporter and SiriusXM host Nicole Auerbach responded to a clip of Arch Manning laughing about an AI-generated video depicting Steve Sarkisian slapping Holly Rowe.
“The laughter from all the men in the room … so, so gross,” Auerbach wrote.
That was it. She did not attack Manning’s family. She did not call for him to be suspended. She did not declare him irredeemable. She pointed out something plainly visible and uncomfortable: A room full of men was laughing while a 22-year-old quarterback described a fake video of a man striking a woman as “hilarious.”
Then came the replies.
Men told Auerbach to “get out of a man’s space.” They called her a “dumb ass” and a “broad.” One decided she “certainly isn’t a babe,” as if a female journalist’s physical appearance determines whether she is permitted to object to men laughing about violence against another woman.
In 2026. Yeah, really. I know. Go look for yourself.
She isn’t alone. Go look at the feeds of Mina Kimes, Laura Rutledge and other women working in sports. They are loaded with weird, imbecilic and, quite frankly, scary stuff.
They’re tougher than I am. If it were on my feed, it would freak me out. I’d probably quit and decide it wasn’t worth it. But Nicole and other women like her are tougher than I am. They are badasses.
I wonder what makes someone react that way. Is it how they were raised? Is it a lack of education or empathy? Is it tribal loyalty to Texas football—but the really stupid person’s version of tribal loyalty, like Harvey Updyke poisoning the trees at Auburn? Is it the belief that any woman who enters a predominantly male space must quietly tolerate whatever the men find funny?
Because guess what? To men who are educated and respect women as their equals, those jokes only make you look stupid and ignorant.
I do not know their backgrounds, and I will not pretend that I do. Some may be highly educated. That would make me sad, but I have met plenty of people with advanced degrees and low morals. Some may sit in church every Sunday. Some may be perfectly pleasant to the women in their own families.
But social media removes the immediate consequences of cruelty. There is no woman standing across from them. There is no boss listening. There is no daughter watching her father type the word “broad.”
I wish there were.
Imagine these dudes having to repeat what they write on the internet to the faces of their wives, daughters or pastors. Instead, there is only an avatar, an audience and the intoxicating little reward of attention.
It is the definition of insecurity wrapped in machismo. Pathetic.
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As for Arch Manning, let me be equally clear: What he said was dumb.
A video depicting a man slapping Holly Rowe is not funny. It does not become harmless because artificial intelligence created it. Laughing about violence against a woman—and then calling it “hilarious” in front of cameras—is gross. I would imagine his father, grandfather and uncles were embarrassed when they saw it.
Being young does not excuse it. Being a Manning certainly does not excuse it. In fact, carrying that name and living beneath that enormous spotlight should make Arch more aware of how quickly an immature comment can become a national story.
The Mannings are, quite frankly, the closest thing to British royalty we have in American football. Imagine Prince William saying something like that. King Charles would not be too pleased, would he? Or is Arch simply Harry at this point?
Alas, time will tell.
But do I believe this proves Arch Manning is a fundamentally bad person? No.
I think he is a 22-year-old college kid who said something stupid, realized almost immediately that he had screwed up and will probably wish for the rest of his life that he could pull those words back into his mouth.
Watch his reaction. After he says it, he looks to the side and appears to recognize that the temperature in the room has changed. I am guessing he saw a Texas communications staffer—possibly John Bianco, whom I know and respect—and understood that he had just created a problem for himself and the university.
That does not erase what he said. It does mean this can be a moment from which he learns.
Arch should apologize directly to Holly Rowe. Not through a carefully sterilized statement written by the Texas communications department. He should call her, own what he said and listen to her. Then, if he speaks publicly, he should explain what he learned without asking anyone to feel sorry for him. (Update: Arch released an instagram statement")
The grown men in Nicole Auerbach’s replies may need the lesson even more.
Sadly, I doubt they will learn it. I hope the manosphere dies soon. I do. I also hope we soon have a woman president. Judging someone based on gender is as ridiculous as judging someone based on race—and yet, here we are, still talking about it.
Arch’s mistake lasted a few seconds. They had time to read Nicole’s words, consider their responses and press “post.” Faced with a woman objecting to a joke about a woman being struck, their instinct was to demean and verbally attack another woman.
They were supposedly defending Arch Manning.
Instead, they proved Nicole Auerbach’s point.
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Truly sick of that sort of seemingly ‘harmless’ misogyny. A whole lot of men get it these days but those at the press conference didn’t. So glad Nicole called it out.
Well said Chris. Thanks for writing this. I listen to Full Ride every day and was dissapointed today that you and Coach and Allie did not address, what you said so very clearly here, Arch's comments and the room full of laughter and encouragement about it, on the show. Your show would help educated these idiots about.......well the humanity that has been lost in this last decade. A miss for Full Ride, but thank you for making up for it here.