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Nick Wright: I Think I Am the Smartest Guy in Sports Media

"...I would think anyone that is in the lane I’m in, if they think there’s someone smarter than them, I would lose respect for them."

Pablo Torre started the latest episode of his Meadowlark Media digital show by recollecting when he attended a holiday party hosted by Kevin Wildes in December 2023. Taking place in New York City, he remembers meeting Nick Wright, co-host of First Things First on FS1, who purportedly told him that he was the second-smartest person in sports media.

Wright, who was a guest on the episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out with FOX Sports colleague Kevin Wildes, did not recall referring to Torre as second, presuming that he could have perhaps been ranked third. From there, he wondered whether or not he had himself or Bomani Jones in first place. Torre explained that he had waited over a year to follow up on this question and wanted to know Wright’s rankings of the smartest people working in sports media.

“Well, do I think I am the smartest guy in sports media?,” Wright questioned. “Obviously I think that, and I would think anyone that is in the lane I’m in, if they think there’s someone smarter than them, I would lose respect for them.”

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Torre wondered if the lane Wright was operating in was ‘breathing person,’ leading him to reply that he did not believe himself to be the smartest person in the world. Yet he also remarked that there are different perspectives regarding how he looks at the situation being embedded within the sports media business.

“But I’m in an industry where the barrier for entry of intelligence is not exactly high,” Wright remarked, “and the lane I have is the annoyingly accurate smart guy.”

Wildes contributed to this claim by stating that Wright has been correct about the Chiefs before. Torre also admitted that there is one-third of his characterization as an “annoyingly accurate smart guy” to be true. In thinking about how he built a career in sports media, Wright rhetorically queried the audience what factors to which his success could potentially be ascribed.

“My look? No,” Wright said. “I got a great voice? No. Connections? No. Athleticism? No. Likability? Pretty clearly not. It’s like, ‘God damnit, that guy really irritates me, but he’s smart. I learned something, and he’s right a lot.’”

Wright contrasted this with Wildes, to whom he attributes success related to his being handsome, funny and likable. Moreover, he added that if he had all of those things plus was the smartest guy in the room, he believes that he would be president. Wright then remarked that it said a lot about Torre that he had been thinking about their interaction for 14 months and that he must be operating under the same assumption as him.

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“See why this guy is my rival?,” Wright said. “Do you see? Do you get it?”

During an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz last year, Wright had described a rivals list that he keeps and explained that he wanted to vanquish Torre. Within his discourse, he had elucidated that he looks at people who are within two years of his age or younger and feels the need to be more successful than them. After reviewing the video clip, Torre responded to Wright using expletives on an earlier edition of his digital show.

“I don’t think that it is unique in any industry to look at the other high achievers that are around your age and measure yourself against them,” Wright said. “So everyone that was around my age, even though we’re not young anymore, they’re all rivals.”

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