Well, Happy Anniversary? It was one year ago on this day when Dan Patrick told his listeners and team he had picked a retirement date. Fortunately for those of us that enjoy listening to Dan’s show, the date Patrick gave for his final show, Friday December 24, 2027, was four and a half years from the day he said it. Unfortunately for those that enjoy listening to Dan’s show, that date is now only three and a half years away.
“It’s a young man’s game,” Patrick said back on July 19, 2023. “Like, I’m the oldest guy doing this. And I enjoyed doing it. But by the end of 2027, that’ll be it. It’ll be it; you have my word. So, plan accordingly.”
To my knowledge, Patrick has not wavered from this at all during the year. This is no Charles Barkley retirement; this actually feels like it is going to happen. After being on the radio with us since 1999, after 28 years there will be no more of The Dan Patrick Show at the end of 2027.
That means, it’s darn near getting time to actually start thinking about what happens next.
We know what happens next for Dan. He puts the microphone down at 70 years of age and kicks back and enjoys whatever it is he wants to do. And deservedly so. Patrick and his team of ‘Danettes’ have provided a lot of great moments for the listeners in their years and they continue to do it at a very high level today.
Based on the smile on the face of Patrick when he is doing the show, when he is goofing off and having fun with his crew, when he is interviewing one of the hundreds of major celebrities that come on the show each year, or just when he is waxing poetically about a sports topic, Patrick looks like he is having as much fun as he has ever had.
Back in 2021, Patrick told Ryen Russillo on his podcast that he was more proud of the success he has with his radio show compared to when he was on SportsCenter. He said that’s largely because of how the show was built from the ground up.
“I had guys who I had worked with at ESPN and I asked them to take a leap of faith. We had 12 radio affiliates. I didn’t have any TV partner. I had nothing. We were doing the show in my attic and those guys gave up their jobs at ESPN and they joined me. I didn’t know what I had, but I knew what we could be.”
My, how far they have come.
Look, this is one of those situations where Dan will hopefully go out on top and have the audience wanting more from him. This, as opposed to someone like Skip Bayless, who has had an amazing career in sports media, but is anyone really clamoring for more from Skip Bayless? Do people clamor for more from Dan Patrick? I do.
If you were to go into a lab and make a great, national, sports radio host, it would probably come out a lot like Dan Patrick. First and foremost, as I mentioned before, he seems like he is having the time of his life doing the show and that is half the battle. He has a great voice you can listen to all day, he is witty, he has strong takes without coming off like a pompous ass each time he talks. He doesn’t get personal and rip people just to get attention. It is good, quality, consistent sports talk radio, and it will be missed when it goes away.
You don’t replace Dan Patrick. You put someone else in and hope like heck they work out eventually. We have seen this before with Patrick. While there have been others who have done SportsCenter very well, has there ever been a pairing again like Patrick and Olbermann? Or a SportsCenter anchor who was better than Dan Patrick?
When I sat down to write this, I intended to list some names of people who I think could potentially fill Dan’s spot on the radio. I bagged that idea when I really couldn’t come up with anyone. In all honesty, when I think of all the qualities Patrick brings to the table, I only came up with one name of someone I think can come close to matching all of it – Scott Van Pelt. I don’t see SVP stopping all the great things he has going on in his career, so I don’t think he is even a possibility, but he is the only person out there I can think of that would be ready for something like taking over for Dan Patrick’s radio show.
Maybe next year on this day we will be ready to talk more about who could possibly take Dan’s seat when 2028 comes around. Perhaps we just aren’t ready yet to even think about it. Let’s just enjoy another year of what Dan Patrick and The Dan Patrick Show bring to the airwaves each weekday and we will talk again on this next July.
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The Best Thing I Heard/Watched Recently
I cannot tell you how well done I thought Episode 3 of Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants was. I am a sucker for any kind of behind-the-scenes programming and to borrow a line from the late, great Keith Jackson, ‘Whoa, Nellie!’
This was as much behind-the-scenes as you can expect to get as a fan. Whether it was Giants owner John Mara saying, “I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia…He’s the most popular player we have by far,” or watching as General Manager Joe Schoen navigated through trying to sign early free agents, this is the content fans crave.
10 out of 10. Five stars. Two thumbs up. Give me more. Yes, yes, yes! So good.
You can see the information about the series from HBO by clicking here.
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In Case You Missed It
Derek Futterman did a feature earlier this week on Darren Rovell and his new venture, Cllct. The former ESPN reporter who was most recently at The Action Network now finds himself in the collectible’s world and based on what I see from him on social media, it looks like this is a true passion for him. Here is how he explained it to Derek:
“I’ve spent the last 15 years putting [a] significant amount of money into the collectibles business, sports and otherwise, and the community is amazing,” Rovell said. “The upside if you’re smart has been tremendous.”
If you don’t know much about Rovell away from what he did at ESPN, you should check out the feature by clicking here.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
