Earlier in the week, FS1 host Nick Wright made a guest appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz where he addressed a perceived media beef between him and journalist Pablo Torre. The ordeal precipitated back to when Wright divulged that he considers himself to have rivals in sports media who are around his age on the national level. One of these people is Torre, who has appeared across ESPN programming and also hosts his own podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out, through Meadowlark Media. Torre had Wright on his show once previously with First Things First co-host Kevin Wildes, and an X user voiced that they hope the trio reunites for another program.
In response to the post, Torre shared that he had invited Wright back on his podcast and concluded that he was ducking the show. Wright talked about this assumption, explaining how he is a recurring guest on three programs and that going to Torre’s show cost him money to travel and a lot of time as well. Within his discourse, he acknowledged that Torre has engaged in “really valuable and important reporting” on his podcast, but also sarcastically conveyed that there was “no better use of a state court’s time” than holding the University of North Carolina accountable for fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests he submitted. Torre took the time to address Wright in the opening of the Friday episode of his podcast.
“I am now banning officially Nick Wright,” Torre said. “I just want to say f**k you Nick Wright, you’re off the show. We can get into that a separate time.”
Mina Kimes, who was joining the program discussing how to define an athlete as “cool” and who encompasses the coolest athletes in the current moment, asked if Torre was banning Wright because he did not fit this category. Torre then played a video clip of Wright congratulating NFL Live for its Sports Emmy Award win, the ESPN studio show on which Kimes is an analyst. Yet at the end of his extollment, he said that while Kimes is excellent, he does not think she is as good at anything as him. David Dennis Jr., senior writer for Andscape, asked if this was why Wright was trying to grow his hair akin to Kimes’, drawing laughter from those on the show.
“Nick Wright has been trying to do this whole rivalry thing with me now for four or five years,” Kimes explained, “and honestly, it’s like, I don’t know. What’s a good comp?”
“It’s giving Kobe-stopper – Ruben Patterson-era Kobe-stopper,” Dennis said. “That’s what I’m getting from it.”
Kimes referenced a tweet she saw after San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy signed his contract articulating that he joined Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, referring to him as his “rival.” Although that could be the case, she conveyed that both Purdy and Wright are great but implored everyone to get real here.
“Yeah, both Mr. Irrelevant, I dare say,” Torre replied.
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Nick Wright is both pointless and looks like a ghoul. Wasn’t he in those twilight movies?