Pat McAfee

[IUPalum]

Jason Kelce is the worst out of any of these guys. I'm not sure why the prerequisite to be in sports media is to rip off your shirt and shotgun beers. I'm in the exact age group of the people they are trying to target with that stuff, and I think it's just horrible. Pat is a close second to Kelce for me. I used to think his act was sort of funny, but he's so far off the rails now.

I mostly like Mark Madden. He can still be a shock jock type, but he does it in the traditional media way. He's not changing or diving into bro culture. Nobody beats his hockey talk. And he tells it like it is pertaining to the Steelers and the NFL. His hatred for Pat Narduzzi makes every word that comes out of his mouth about college sports unlistenable, but I take the good with the bad in that regard. Bottom line, I was glad he re-upped for two additional years. The sports talk show world in Pittsburgh will be sad without him.

Just stop, Narduzzi is a jackass and Pitt is irrelevant. Your love for Pitt has you blinded.

[EastStroud13]

I didn't know Jason Kelce existed until the past year. Thank the Swifties.

Honestly, he deserves the attention after being underrated for so much of his career. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

[TheBigCat2192]

Honestly, he deserves the attention after being underrated for so much of his career. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

The Pro Football HOF doesn’t use the big ballot system like baseball. There are only 50 selectors. I’m also not sold on him being a sure thing either - every team has an OL or two their fans feel belong but it leads to clogs and tough omissions.

[EastStroud13]

The Pro Football HOF doesn’t use the big ballot system like baseball. There are only 50 selectors. I’m also not sold on him being a sure thing either - every team has an OL or two their fans feel belong but it leads to clogs and tough omissions.

There is only 1 human being with more All-Pros at the center position than him. He has the 5th-highest HOF monitor score for a center in NFL history. His continued involvement and visibility in the sport will only enhance his case. I would be shocked if he doesn't get inducted his first year of eligibility.

[Chuck Norris]

The Pro Football HOF doesn’t use the big ballot system like baseball. There are only 50 selectors. I’m also not sold on him being a sure thing either - every team has an OL or two their fans feel belong but it leads to clogs and tough omissions.

6 time first team All Pro. He’s a sure thing.

[TheBigCat2192]

There is only 1 human being with more All-Pros at the center position than him. He has the 5th-highest HOF monitor score for a center in NFL history. His continued involvement and visibility in the sport will only enhance his case. I would be shocked if he doesn't get inducted his first year of eligibility.

I didn’t realize his HOF Monitor ranking had climbed so high. Guess the late career push helped some. Having said that C is typically an undervalued position and OL as a whole are frequently overlooked by voters. It’s possible he gets in the first time he’s considered because of his fame but I still wouldn’t call it a guarantee that he doesn’t wait a year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Honestly, he deserves the attention after being underrated for so much of his career. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

It sounds like he had a great career.

I'm just a 'so-so' NFL follower and had never heard of him. I would venture to guess every city has some OL who are 'famous' in their city but not so much elsewhere. OL also don't appear on fantasy teams so the more casual fans don't hear much about them.

That said, I've certainly heard a lot about him since he's retired.

[SecretlySavage]

Jason Kelce is the worst out of any of these guys. I'm not sure why the prerequisite to be in sports media is to rip off your shirt and shotgun beers. I'm in the exact age group of the people they are trying to target with that stuff, and I think it's just horrible. Pat is a close second to Kelce for me. I used to think his act was sort of funny, but he's so far off the rails now.

I mostly like Mark Madden. He can still be a shock jock type, but he does it in the traditional media way. He's not changing or diving into bro culture. Nobody beats his hockey talk. And he tells it like it is pertaining to the Steelers and the NFL. His hatred for Pat Narduzzi makes every word that comes out of his mouth about college sports unlistenable, but I take the good with the bad in that regard. Bottom line, I was glad he re-upped for two additional years. The sports talk show world in Pittsburgh will be sad without him.

I think the Chiefs are wearing out their welcome very quickly. People are so sick of the Kelces, Taylor Swift, Mahomes, and Butker. Their whole team is so absolutely unlikable that it makes me almost ok with Brady being ahead of Mahomes all time despite what he did to the NFL. My gf hates football but one time she told me, "This is just tik tok drama for boys". She's absolutely right, sports media is the same as girls saying "omg did you hear what Pete Davidson and so and so did blah blah blah". Except for us its "omg did you hear what Steve A said about Lebron blah blah blah."

I love Mark and it will be sad when he is gone, but sometimes even I have to turn him off. He gets into these moods akin to your wife on her period and I just cant do it. Some of it is him being loud or an a-hole for shock but he is also genuinely like that sometimes. My favorite is when Mark is fired up, screaming, and hanging up on people, then he gets a kid caller and he has to be super nice.

[IUP24]

I think the Chiefs are wearing out their welcome very quickly. People are so sick of the Kelces, Taylor Swift, Mahomes, and Butker. Their whole team is so absolutely unlikae that it makes me almost ok with Brady being ahead of Mahomes all time despite what he did to the NFL. My gf hates football but one time she told me, "This is just tik tok drama for boys". She's absolutely right, sports media is the same as girls saying "omg did you hear what Pete Davidson and so and so did blah blah blah". Except for us its "omg did you hear what Steve A said about Lebron blah blah blah."

Honestly, that's a really good way of putting it. I honestly never considered any of those guys on the Chiefs unlikable, and honestly still don't. But they are winning at a level and at a consistency that's more than New England ever did with Brady. Not the same number of Super Bowls (yet), but you see my point. Every time they are going to lose a big game, they somehow end up scoring a touchdown in a 3-play, 84 yard drive, that takes 13 seconds, to win by 1 on the road. I think the constant winning turns people off, especially when the media pushes those guys maybe more than anybody else ever has been shoved down our throats in NFL history.

Regarding the sports media, I mostly just want to listen to sports talk. I never liked frat parties in college, so I don't find guys like Pat or Jason Kelce, who specifically try to act like "frat bros," appealing. The bro culture that's infiltrated sports media just isn't for me - and I'm in the exact age bracket of the people they are trying to appeal to with that stuff.

Clips from The PMS are nauseating. Seeing Jason Kelce rip his shirt off on an ESPN broadcast and shotgun a beer isn't even remotely funny. How people get engaged with this stuff is so interesting to me.

[ctrabs74]

Madden very rarely even mentions Pitt. He'll randomly call Narduzzi a blowhard or something, and say Pitt is irrelevant in Pittsburgh. That's about it. He brings them up every couple weeks. Some callers try to bait him in to Pitt discussions but he just blows them off and hangs up.

In fairness, he's not wrong about Pitt football. When I was living out there before I moved to Texas in 2018, Pitt rarely moved the needle (except on the "B-Team" (aka 93.7 The Fan), which is Pitt football's flagship station).

I actually wish his hockey talk would be cut in half. The Penguins aren't even newsworthy (or watchable). I actually switch to the B-Team during his hockey rants.

Unless something changed, 105.9 The X is the Penguins' flagship station.

[ctrabs74]

I didn't know Jason Kelce existed until the past year. Thank the Swifties.

Maybe outside of Philadelphia, he didn't really "exist" so there's that.

[ctrabs74]

On GameDay this morning, Pat said that Curt Cignetti Jr. got his first head coaching job at D3 IUP!!! Further proof that ESPN grossly overlooks D2.

Well, when you play your college football at Morgantown Hillbilly Tech, then you are prone to make mistakes. Though, half the time, ESPN grossly overlooks FCS unless it's one of the Big Sky teams or one of the Dakota schools.

[RES3CUE]

Well, when you play your college football at Morgantown Hillbilly Tech, then you are prone to make mistakes. Though, half the time, ESPN grossly overlooks FCS unless it's one of the Big Sky teams or one of the Dakota schools.

ESPN hasn't totally overlooked D2...they certainly capitalized on making ESPN+ the only way to watch the D2 playoffs. LOL...Hope yinz all had a great Thanksgiving. Side note...I love Pat McAfee. He's an entertainer

[TheBigCat2192]

Regarding the sports media, I mostly just want to listen to sports talk. I never liked frat parties in college, so I don't find guys like Pat or Jason Kelce, who specifically try to act like "frat bros," appealing. The bro culture that's infiltrated sports media just isn't for me - and I'm in the exact age bracket of the people they are trying to appeal to with that stuff.

Clips from The PMS are nauseating. Seeing Jason Kelce rip his shirt off on an ESPN broadcast and shotgun a beer isn't even remotely funny. How people get engaged with this stuff is so interesting to me.

I think a lot of the popularity for McAfee/Kelce and some of the companies that are in the same vein, most notably Barstool, is fan pushback against preachy sports journalism. Guys are tired of flipping open a paper when they’re at the doctors office or whatever place still subscribes to them or flipping on local radio and hearing some geezer complain about excessive celebration. They want to be loud and they want the same thing from the players. They’re also tired of turning on ESPN and seeing Ja’Bomi Jones or his knockoffs complaining about how there aren’t enough down-low brothas in MLB or whatever.

I think the other driver is a sense of wanting to see what players are like behind the scenes and wanting to believe the illusion that they’re “just like us.” I would say the last bit actually started with Gronkowski and his brothers before the Kelces and McAfee picked up the baton (look up the Gronkowski party cruises if you want an example). It’s not my cup of tea but I can understand why some guys are drawn to it.

The lean into gambling from some of these outfits doesn’t hurt in drawing an audience of young men either.