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Traina Thoughts: Clemson's Dabo Swinney Hates His Players Having Fun, Seems Extremely Uptight

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney got mad at Christian Wilkins for celebrating a TD, but then ran up the score.

Jimmy Traina

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

1. After bashing the NFL for years because of its anti-celebration policy, the No Fun League has turned things around in a big way. Now it's time to turn our attention to college football and its really bizarre head coaches.

Saturday night, 6'4", 315-pound Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins scored a rushing touchdown against South Carolina and then followed it up with a very low-key, yet amusing Heisman pose celebration.

Apparently, this infuriated his head coach Dabo Swinney. The AP reported that Swinney, "got in Wilkins face for a minute or two on the sidelines" and then he told Wilkins he'd never get another carry "if he ever pulls a similar stunt."

Stunt? Doing the Heisman pose as a joke is now a stunt? You got in a kid's face because he did a Heisman pose? What would you do if he actually did something bad? Get a grip, Dabo. 

The coach was obvioulsy angry because the NCAA wants to make sure that the kids who generate millions for their schools, but get nothing in return don't have any fun. The Heisman pose got Wilkins a 15-yard penalty, which is pathetic.

What's also pathetic is that Swinney—who makes nearly $7 million a year and thinks it's normal to get in a player's face for something harmless—had no problem running up the score on the Gamecocks.

With Clemson leading 49-35 and a minute left, Swinney didn't tell his players to take a knee. He was still running plays. And with 39 seconds left, the Tigers scored another touchdown to give them a 56-35 win.

Very classy.

2. By now you've seen the video of the Patriots' Cordarelle Patterson grabbing a handful of Jets defensive tackle Henry Anderson. 

The best reaction to the grope came from Anderson's fiancé.

3. What a difference a coach makes.

4. Other notable items from NFL Week 12:

• Browns running back Nick Chubb had the most ridiculous touchdown of the day.

• Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay had the smoothest play of the day.

• People in Los Angeles still don't care about football.

5. Blake Griffin is the latest celebrity to take the Hot Ones challenge. The Pistons forward gave it a good effort, but ended up in tears. Things start to get hot at the 14-minute mark.

6. The newest SI Media Podcast features an interview with the The Athletic's Stewart Mandel, who is the site's editor-in-chief of college football coverage. Stew, who also writes for the site, talks about the business of sports media and what it's like to work for a pay-subsciption website. In addition to discussing the current state of sports media, we touched on the College Football Playoff and the dilemma for Central Florida. The end of the podcast closes with us reminiscing about Stew's days at SI.com and his "Mailbag Crush" feature, which led to him once exchanging MySpace messages with The Office's Jenna Fischer. You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: Came across this interview I had never seen before over the weekend while in a YouTube rabbit hole. Who would've thought this was the guy who'd one day be running WWE?

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Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here. And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.

IN CLOSING: Under 42.5 is the play Monday night in the Titans-Texans game.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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