IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Who’s worse — the alleged sex pest or the Nazi enthusiast?

Where Matt Riddle’s in- and out-of-ring personas overlap has always been a little bit of a question mark, which is a good thing in professional wrestling — when you’re not reckless. Enter the month of September for Riddle, who accused a police officer of sexually assaulting him at JFK airport in New York City earlier this month. Riddle posted a now-deleted post on Instagram of the alleged cop involved in the incident who worked for the Port Authority.

During Riddle’s visit to the Queens airport, police were also called for a disturbance with a “heavily intoxicated’ passenger, later identified as Riddle as he was making a connecting flight from India. Riddle was not detained or arrested in the incident, though the New York/New Jersey Port Authority Police did launch a token investigation into Riddle’s claims. In a Sept. 10 Instagram post, Riddle said he never wanted to come back to JFK again.

Riddle never appeared on WWE television again after the incident, and was released by the company on Sept. 22. His out-of-ring antics might’ve also become too much for WWE to handle. It’s unclear if Riddle’s release was due to budget cuts, drama, or both. Regardless, Riddle became expendable to WWE in record time after the incident at JFK.

This stuff is supposed to get better with time. Much of the American government keeps telling me that the attitudes of the past have died or are in the process of dying.

Well, that certainly was not the case at Bryant-Denney Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Sept. 9. As Alabama was getting pushed up and down the field by Texas, some fans were not happy, and let the bigoted language of their forefathers, and likely their actual fathers, fly.

A Texas fan shared footage on social media of what he alleges were Alabama students yelling homophobic slurs at Black Texas players, as well as “Go back to the projects!” One of the parents of the Texas player being slurred in the video shared the post and claimed that beer and water bottles were thrown at their section all night.

That F-word is about as ugly as it gets. Then to combine it with a word that has been used for decades by white people as an insult to Black people — a reference to neighborhoods and buildings that white people deteriorated using federal law — that is quite the homophobic and racist sandwich.

Attitudes like that are supposed to be antiquated. Racism is more about microaggressions and implicit bias these days than actual hatred of Black people. America’s homophobia is in the past. Gay marriage has long been legal and there has been an openly gay player in the NFL. There is no need in states like Alabama and Texas for children to be taught that these issues are systemic and must always be fought against.

It is all better now. We don’t need Between the World and Me in libraries that are located in majority Republican states. Colleges in those states don’t need diversity, equity, and inclusion offices. Kids must above all else not feel bad for being white.

Well, Black people certainly do not deserve to be slurred by their peers. Unfortunately, there are still people out there who use the foul language that they were taught. And in these two states, kids won’t learn just how much evil is in that type of speech.

Marcus Freeman better be careful. The Notre Dame head coach brought a defensive acumen and youthful exuberance to a vintage program that’s fallen behind the times. Unfortunately, that experience cost the Fighting Irish in the waning moment of their 17-14 loss to Ohio State.

Lining up on the 1-yard-line with one fewer defensive lineman ultimately allowed the Buckeyes to scoot in for the game-winning touchdown. Too many men on the field is a common mistake discombobulated teams make amid the fast-paced substitutions that happen at pit crew speeds from time to time. Better safe than sorry. However, undercounting is an egregious error that can’t be explained. Yet, Freeman tried and actually made it worse.

When Freeman was asked in his postgame presser why he didn’t take a penalty to get the extra defensive lineman on the field, Freeman explained that they were out of timeouts, and didn’t couldn’t afford to take the penalty. That reasoning would fly if Notre Dame were at the 10 or 20-yard line. However, from the 1, the most yardage that could be tacked on was half the distance to the goal. Even in the moment, Freeman didn’t seem to understand he was implying that having one fewer defensive lineman on the final play from scrimmage wasn’t worth half a yard.

The abysmal attention to detail was bad enough, but Freeman’s answer magnified his poor game management. The margin between a college football playoff berth and a bowl game can often be inches. The great coaches are experts in situational football. Notre Dame’s talent disparity diminishes its margin for error. Freeman’s brain cramps didn’t end there.

The final play against Ohio State was also the second time Freeman made that mistake this season. Against Tennessee State, Notre Dame lined up with 10 players and surrendered a deep ball touchdown on the play. Freeman also waited until after Notre suffered their first loss to inform ESPN that he planned to implement a signal that would draw a penalty to stop the game, but that should have been done after the Tennessee State brain lapse.

All this isn’t to imply that Freeman is mentally undercooked, but these lapses in the most basic aspect of football alignment reflect poorly on him so far. College football’s most distinguished coaches are more than just recruiters, they’re savvy schemers and over-prepared. In one of the early crucible games of his young coaching career, Freeman was neither.

When you’re one play away from Zach Wilson being your starting quarterback, and the man keeping the worst No. 2 overall draft pick since Ryan Leaf off the field is 39 years old, it was always hard to understand why Jets fans hyped themselves up so much this offseason. The team was good, but clearly not good enough to make a serious push for a Super Bowl. And the team’s savior, Aaron Rodgers, didn’t complete a pass in his first season with the Jets. He only lasted four plays before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury. What did Jets fans get excited for again?

The team has looked lethargic at best since Wilson’s re-insertion into the starting lineup and he’s looked the part of a benchwarmer since leaving his post on the sidelines. The only reason New York won its season opener with him at the helm is because Garrett Wilson is ridiculously talented and turned an interception into a touchdown with that amazing one-handed grab. Since that win over Buffalo, the Jets have sucked, giving more credence to those who stated Rodgers wouldn’t cover up all of the teams’ issues.

It’s a matter of when it goes wrong for New York, not if. And why did those in East Rutherford, New Jersey believe Mr. Ayahuasca would be any different? Instead of a butt fumble, which was quick and painful, this is like a flood, long, and painful. Yes, Sauce Gardner has the makings of a multi-time All-Pro cornerback. The team has other great players. Thinking Wilson or Rodgers will do anything to change mediocrity, if not worse, is asinine. Thanks for giving the rest of us something to laugh at Jets fans who thought this would end differently.

Oh, and you thought for a second they were doing to beat the Chiefs, huh?

There are a lot of reasons why the Bears could be on this month’s Idiots list. The perpetual terrible head-coaching choices. The systematic takedowns of their own promising young quarterbacks. That fact that the owners can’t make a decent decision to save their lives. But, in September, the Bears truly outdid themselves in the way they completely fumbled whatever the hell happened with Defensive Coordinator Alan Williams’ resignation.

Williams, who had been away from the team since Week 1 for undisclosed reasons, stepped down before Week 3 for undisclosed reasons that he claimed were related to his health, and family. This, of course, is after the Bears gave the beat reporters that Williams’ absence was not due to his health or family. Bears head coach Matt Eberflus fanned the flames of the conspiracies that were already running wild online by refusing to answer questions about Williams’ absence. And, even after rumors began swirling on social media that both Williams’ home and Halas Hall had been raided by the FBI, the Bears issued a perfunctory statement, saying only, “Alan Williams submitted his resignation as the team’s defensive coordinator this afternoon.” And that was it! No “best of luck,” nothing about Williams’ future. Nothing. Just “he quit.”

Two weeks later, Bears fans still don’t have answers to why Williams resigned so suddenly. The national media eventually took over, doing what the Bears never managed to do, and denied that the FBI, former Bear Peanut Tillman in tow, searched Halas Hall.

It was a master class on how not to handle rumors and controversy surrounding your football team, especially one that, as of Sunday morning, was 0-3, and looking worse every week. Oh, and then the Bears had $100,000 of lawn equipment stolen.

This is far from Curt Schilling’s first IDIOT OF THE MONTH rodeo, but, to our knowledge, this is the first time anyone has ever made the list for revealing another person’s cancer diagnosis. (Rest in peace, Tim Wakefield. Even though you were a Sox guy, knuckleballers get a pass.)

Schilling was roundly blasted for putting Wakefield’s business out there — and not just by fans who already disliked him. Former teammates and their families jumped in as well, punctuating the sad reality that the zero-time Cy Young winner’s occasional on-field heroics have become, at this point, fully overshadowed by his status as an irredeemably weird jerk.

While Schilling’s decision to dox Wakefield’s illness was surely his most idiotic act this month, the fallout led to many perusing his tweets, and realizing, perhaps far too late, that he’s got some pretty weird ideas about the Third Reich and politics in general. This was not a new development — he’s always been known for his collection of German World War II “memorabilia” and fondness for ridiculous words like “libtard” and “demokkkrat” — but, if anything, he’s become even more unhinged as he continues his second act as a right-wing gasbag for second-tier conservative publications.

If there was ever anyone who perfectly fits the description of what it takes to make this list, Mel Tucker is it.

Because not only did he admit to making “sexual comments” about Brenda Tracy — a rape survivor — while “masturbating” during a “late-night intimate conversation” that lasted 36 minutes, he’s married and is in the process of blowing the 10-year, $95 million extension he signed in 2021, all because he chose to unzip his pants after answering/making a call that night.

Life is all about choices. And at every turn, Mel Tucker made the wrong one.

As we learn more about the alleged false and misleading statements that Tucker has made and is still making, it feels like he will wind up as nothing more than an example of what never to do by the time this is over.

“Let’s be clear. I don’t believe MSU plans to fire me because I admitted to an entirely consensual, private relationship with another adult who gave one presentation at MSU, at my behest, over two years ago,” Tucker wrote in a statement.

There’s also the fact this is about a man and woman and what did or didn’t happen. But, this is also about a Black man, and a white woman — and everything that comes with that in America. However, despite how electric that notion can be, it was also Tucker’s choice.

So much is at play in this situation, but one thing has always remained consistent. Mel Tucker is in this mess because Mel Tucker is a horrible decision-maker — which is what has always turned people into idiots.