I made it my New Year’s Resolution to stop the whole “I like Pat McAfee, but…” phrasing when you go to criticize someone. You don’t have to reiterate how you feel about a person before being critical. So I’m going to break my own rule here.
I like Pat McAfee, but the constant drama has to stop.
During his rise to media stardom, the allure of Pat McAfee was his willingness to say anything — and I mean anything — at any given time. There was an almost “car crash” quality to his programs. You had to watch because you couldn’t look away.
And I think, for the most part, The Pat McAfee Show still offers that. What it also offers is a constant inferiority complex.
To a point, I understand that feeling. Pat McAfee played sports for decades, and likely had it drilled into him that no one believed in him or his team. You saw it on display for the last two weeks with the San Francisco 49ers. I don’t know how many times I saw quotes from players that gave a “Nobody believed in us” or “everyone doubted us”. No, they didn’t. The 49ers were literally the #1 seed in the NFC and the favorites to win the game. Everyone believed in you.
And Pat McAfee likely went through the same thing. I would understand him still having that mindset, but he retired just over seven years ago. Is that long enough to become reprogrammed from the football motivation cult? I’d like to think so.
Is there some truth to Pat McAfee’s attitude that nobody likes him? Certainly. There have been vocal critics of his performance on College GameDay, myself included.
The reality is not everybody is going to like you. And that’s ok. But it feels like once every couple of weeks McAfee dips into the “Nobody’s rooting for me” bag. It’s exhausting.
In just the last couple of months, he’s had feuds ranging from innocuous (Bill Simmons) to taking a proverbial flamethrower to a high-level ESPN executive, Norby Williamson, in a manner that would get basically any other ESPNer not named Stephen A. Smith or Scott Van Pelt the ol’ “The security guard will escort you off the premises” routine.
Pat, people are rooting for you. You’ve been on some of the most preeminent sports media properties in the early stages of your career. You’ve worked with some of the biggest and best sports outlets in America. You didn’t get there because people don’t like you and they’re rooting against you.
The reality is Pat McAfee gets away with the things he gets away with because people do like him, they are invested in him, and are rooting for his success.
He has seen a meteoric rise through the sports media ranks. And deservedly so. He brings a fresh, unapologetic perspective that people crave and enjoy.
But for someone who showcases a “Man of the people attitude”, he sure spends an awful lot of time focused on what people have to say about him, and he’s never dwelling on the positive.
Baker Mayfield used to pull the “Nobody ever believed in me” card. The dude was the first pick in the NFL draft. The Cleveland Browns could have picked anyone, and they chose him. Of all the cards available to play, that ain’t it.
And Pat McAfee is in the same boat. ESPN ponied up millions — in the middle of widespread layoffs — to license his show and hitch their boats to his wagon. At a time when it was insanely unpopular to do so, the Worldwide Leader in Sports viewed him as a potential savior to its linear and digital issues.
In return, the former NFL punter has rewarded them by beefing with anyone and everyone who dared say a bad word about the program. Maybe this is a lesson learned with time and experience, but there are just some situations that come with being the big dog on the block. Whether it’s McDonalds, Walmart, or Tom Brady, when you’re viewed as the big dog, you just deal with extra bullcrap that others don’t get. It’s a burden that comes with the territory.
Pat McAfee has to learn to deal with being the big dog. It doesn’t always have to be Pat McAfee vs The World. Understanding that sometimes it is ok to let people beneath you — like me! — say what they want to say about you and you get to go on about your day unbothered because you’re above it, is a hell of a place to be in. It is a place many aspire to be.
But maybe I’m wrong. McAfee and I are roughly the same age and are loosely from the same area of the country. Maybe he enjoys the constant drama, the constant bickering, and needs “the haters” for motivation. I just know the older I’ve gotten, the less interested I am in dealing with the opinions of those who don’t and shouldn’t matter to me anymore.
Not having to care about what anybody says or thinks of you is freedom. I hope, someday, McAfee can embrace that freedom — because he’s earned it. When he does embrace it, he’ll continue to ascend to the tops of the sports media mountaintop. But until then, the near-constant junior high “That guy said mean things about me!” reactions aren’t going to help.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
