Jalen Milroe #4 of the Alabama Crimson Tide warms up before the Rose Bowl game between the University of Alabama and the University of Michigan at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2024, in Pasadena, California. | Source: Steve Limentani/ISI Photos / Getty
There’s an early contender for word of the year after 2024 kicked off with an unintended comical moment on an ESPN telecast of a college football game on Monday morning.
As the network’s flagship college football show College GameDay was filming live on location at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, host Rece Davis explained to viewers what University of Alabama star quarterback Jalen Milroe’s apparel line’s name stood for.
LANK is the name of Milroe’s own signature apparel line that he previously told the Associated Press represents initials for “Let All Naysayers Know.”
But Davis, apparently slightly confused, used four other words that seemed to lean closer to hip-hop vernacular than the name Milroe gave his apparel line.
You see, LANK, Davis explained, stands for “Let A Naysayer Know.”
That phrasing was apparently a little too close for comfort for the analysts sitting alongside Davis, who quickly advised Davis that he was likely mistaken.
Analyst Pat McAfee quickly asked Davis in disbelief: “Let a naysayer know?”
The rest of the five-man crew devolved into knowing laughter as Davis questioned the response innocently enough.
“You almost lost me,” analyst Desmond Howard said through his own laughter.
Watch the hilarity ensue below:
So, what’s the big joke, you ask?
The phrasing of Milroe’s nickname mirrors language that is popular particularly in hip-hop circles, as evidenced by several song titles that swap in the N-word for “naysayers.”
It’s typically used in a context meant to reinforce one’s superiority – a reminder, if you will, of the greatness being both displayed and witnessed.
At any rate, the viral moment is undoubtedly helping Milroe and his LANK apparel, for which he opened up a pop-up store in Pasadena during the Rose Bowl.
Of course, to sports fans of the Crimson Tide watching Milroe compete on Monday, they know that the attention LANK was getting was the best news of the day since they lost to the University of Michigan in overtime in the College Football Playoff Semifinal, ending Alabama’s season.
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