Bomani Jones, Who Never Earned Anything In His Career, Says Caitlin Clark Needs To 'Earn' Olympic Spot

Former ESPN host Bomani Jones is annoyed by pundits and fans who argue Team USA made a mistake by leaving Caitlin Clark off the Olympic team.

"Caitlin Clark didn't earn a spot," said Jones. "She ain't got no business being on the team."

We'd argue Clark is so much more famous than any other player in the WNBA that her inclusion would behoove the entire sport of women's basketball by way of increased interest.

Nonetheless, we can't help but find amusement in Bomani Jones using the "she didn't earn a spot" argument.

See, no one in sports media – maybe in general media – has received more and earned less than Bomani.

Let us recap:

In 2015, ESPN moved Jones' then-radio show "The Right Time" to afternoon drive (4-7 pm) after struggling to gain affiliates from 7-9 pm. In afternoon drive, where Will Cain set several time slot records, Jones proved disastrous – well, all-time disastrous. 

He lost over 90 affiliates, leading to the least successful national radio show in ESPN history at the time of its 2017 cancelation. (Chiney Ogwumike later broke that record in 2020.)

However, ESPN then rewarded Jones with a television show called "High Noon" with co-host Pablo Torre. Moreover, ESPN re-signed him for around $2.3 million a year, sources tell OutKick.

It's hard to argue Jones earned a TV show or that salary after his stint on radio.

Jones continued to fail up from there.

ESPN first placed his new program immediately following "First Take" with Stephen A. Smith. The result: Jones shed around 70 percent of Stephen A. Smith's viewership. 

ESPN then moved "High Noon" to the afternoon block, which included its flagship "PTI" program. However, "High Noon" set record lows at 4 pm ET before the network canceled the program entirely in 2020.

At that point, it seemed to be a safe bet that Jones would need to earn his way back to television after two straight failed stints. 

But, oh no.

HBO then signed Jones to front a newly developed sports program, with the idea of creating a sports alternative to "Real Time with Bill Maher."

"Game Theory," as HBO named the program, turned out to be Bomani's biggest dud yet. Its first season lost 80 percent of the lead-in audience from "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver." The second season followed Maher, where it lost 82 percent of his audience. 

As Outick reported, HBO released Jones last summer and canceled his show.

Bomani Jones was given television shows following Stephen A. Smith, Bill Maher, and John Oliver – three of the biggest draws in media today. He didn't earn any of them. And he failed – all three times.

Yet he's outraged that Team USA even considered including Caitlin Clark, who, in his opinion, didn't earn a spot on the team. 

But, wait, it gets better.

In 2021, Bomani Jones told the Washington Post he disagreed with ESPN's decision to cancel "High Noon" because, despite the poor ratings, it was good for the company in the long term.

He likened his show to "The Wire."

"No matter what happens, there’s always going to be somebody like ‘The Wire’ was for HBO," he said. " ‘The Wire’ didn’t get great ratings, but they wanted to say they had ‘The Wire.’ It looked good on the masthead. ESPN’s going to have people like that. I just don’t know who they are."

Got that? 

Bomani didn't earn a television show but claimed, like "The Wire," he could grow ESPN's audience over time. 

Hmm. 

His argument reminds us of those who acknowledge that while Clark may not have earned a spot on Team USA just yet, including her would have been worth it in terms of marketing and growth.

Let that marinate for a moment…

Jones complaining about someone not earning a spot would be like "NFL analyst" Mina Kimes complaining about someone receiving a job because of their race and gender combination.

Bomani might want to sit this one out.

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