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In a recent interview with OutKick, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum announced that he is considering leaving his longtime role to run for Senate.
The 70-year-old said following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, he began reconsidering his priorities and got “a little bit more interest.”
“I spent four hours numb talking about things that didn’t matter to me. And it kept building throughout that weekend,” Finebaum told OutKick’s Clay Travis. “I felt very empty doing what I was doing that day.”
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Tommy Tuberville spoke highly of Paul Finebaum, as the college football analyst announced he may run for Senate. (Getty Images)
“It’s hard to describe, not being involved in politics, how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country. And it was an awakening.”
Finebaum would hardly be the first notable name in sports to go into politics. Most recently, Mark Teixeira announced his congressional campaign.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, jumped ship from the college football sidelines to Capitol Hill in 2021, and he gave as close to an endorsement for Finebaum as one could get.
“Paul is smart. He loves the country,” Tuberville said on the “War Room” podcast. “Again, been a friend of mine for a long time. I have not talked with him about it. I did an interview with him, 30 minutes, about two months ago face to face. It went well.
“I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it. But, again, I’m for people that come up here that don’t want to be in politics. They want to come up and help. I don’t support any of them. There’s no reason for me to get involved, but Paul is a good guy, a good friend.”
ESPN/SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum is on set before the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between Georgia and Ohio State on Dec. 31, 2022, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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In somewhat ironic fashion, Finebaum noted to OutKick that Tuberville’s seat could open given his run for Alabama governor. After getting confirmation that recently retired Bruce Pearl was not interested in Tuberville’s seat, Finebaum “started thinking about this.”
Finebaum also said he was relying on Tim Tebow in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.
“The senselessness, but also what got me more than any other thing than the most obvious — losing his life –—was his connection to young people,” Finebaum said of Kirk. “I’m on a college campus every week, and I’m always stupefied when young people come up and tell me they’re fans.
Paul Finebaum and Tim Tebow take a selfie on the set of SEC Nation before the game between Mississippi State and Arkansas on Oct. 8, 2022, at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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“And usually they’ll tell me, ‘I had to be subjected to your show when my parents picked me up.’ But I remember being that age when things affect you in other ways. We’re adults. We’re almost inoculated by tragedy, although not in this case. It was the young people that got to me.”
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