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Comedian John Oliver calls out Clemson’s Dabo Swinney's during NCAA rant

graham watson

If you’ve seen the hashtag “#soybeanwind” floating around social media in the past 24 hours, you can thank comedian and talk show host John Oliver.

Oliver, who hosts HBO’s "Last Week Tonight" had a 21-minute rant about the NCAA and during it, he cited Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and comments he made last June about paying student-athletes (start at the 14:07 mark).

“As far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that’s where you lose me,” Swinney said. “I’ll go do something else because there’s enough entitlement in this world as there is.”

Here’s what Oliver had to say about Swinney’s comments:

“If you find that infuriating, you might like to know that Dabo Swinney is an anagram for Soybean Wind, which I think is fitting because he seems as pleasant as an edamame fart. And the fact that his name is an anagram for Soybean Wind is not relevant to this discussion, but I felt it was worth mentioning because it feels like something he’d be annoyed by and would not want people to know on a wide basis, hashtag soybean wind.”

“The larger point is, Swinney has trademarked his name for use on shirts because he’s allowed to do that. The NCAA manual explicitly states coaches are free to pursue endorsements or consultation contracts and players are acutely aware of this discrepancy.”

The video then shifts to a rant by former Michigan basketball player Jalen Rose, who notes that coaches have five different revenue streams thanks to endorsement deals and radio show contracts. Meanwhile, student athletes, such as himself, were wondering how they were going to help their mothers keep their lights on.

Of course, Swinney’s new nickname took off on social media and was trending at one point late Sunday evening. Some enterprising Internet troll even changed Swinney’s Wikipedia page to reflect the nickname.

Chances are Swinney didn’t even know about his viral fame until Monday morning, long after the damage had been done. Swinney isn’t the first coach to speak out against paying student-athletes, but he is the only coach with a name that makes a terrific anagram.

To be clear, the NCAA did allow universities to issue cost-of-attendance scholarships beginning with the 2015-16 school year. While it might not be the amount Oliver wants student-athletes to get, it is at least something more than they were getting.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

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