There’s a new beef that’s starting to heat up in the sports media space, and it feels like a battle of the generations.
Bill Simmons and Pat McAfee have been throwing some shots at one another on their respective shows, fueling a beef that does have some legs to it.
This all started in mid-January when Simmons did an impression of McAfee during an episode of the “The Bill Simmons Show.” Simmons and his friend and frequent guest, Sal Iacono, mocked McAfee and “The Pat McAfee Show” for having shallow sports conversations.
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“He starts the show being like, “Cowboys, bro, I don’t know man, I don’t know! What’s going on there, bro?'” Simmons said. “And then it cuts to his three people and they’ll be like, ‘Well, I don’t know.'”
Bill Simmons with a surprisingly accurate impression of Pat McAfee
(h/t @rBillSimmonsPod) pic.twitter.com/SI4ziWOMpw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
This mockery came just a few weeks after McAfee’s civil war with ESPN that stemmed from his frequent guest, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, beefing with late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Simmons is notably being friends with Kimmel because he used to work for the host in the early 2000s — and Iacono is known as “Cousin Sal” because he is Kimmel’s cousin. But Simmons chose to not comment on the beef, but he did do more than one impression of the NFL-punter-turned-sports-media-personality.
Related: Bill Simmons gives hilariously brief reaction to the Aaron Rodgers, Jimmy Kimmel beef
McAfee finally fired back on his show on Tuesday, Feb. 12 by citing a FanDuel Super Bowl parlay that was suggested by Simmons.
“I think Bill Simmons, who has it all figured out, I think he had like 8,000 people riding alongside him,” McAfee said. “That’s a huge number that did not hit. That’s really big. Really good, Bill. You still have it. I think we had 250,000 people or something like that. Keep running your mouth, Bill.”
Pat McAfee took aim at Bill Simmons over his FanDuel parlay: “I think Bill Simmons, who has it all figured out, I think he had like 8,000 people riding alongside him. That’s a huge number that did not hit. That’s really big. Really good, Bill. You still have it… Keep running… pic.twitter.com/934SQ5IyRT
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 12, 2024
Simmons then fired back another shot at McAfee while discussing television ratings for sports. He cited that how Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched Super Bowl in history to make his point, but took a subtle jab at McAfee in the process.
“Everybody’s ratings are basically up except for the NBA and whoever replaced the 12 p.m. SportsCenter,” Simmons said.
Bill Simmons returns fire at Pat McAfee 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/7QqXwJutj2
— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) February 14, 2024
The show that replaced the 12 p.m. SportsCenter is, of course, “The Pat McAfee Show.” Andrew Marchand, the former New York Post columnist who is now with The Athletic, wrote in January about how McAfee’s television ratings are actually down. This was countered by ESPN who said that the ratings were up 35%, though this considered McAfee’s YouTube streaming audience.
It’s clear that the two are now firing shots at one another, whether directly or indirectly, on their shows. The two both have loyal audiences, but took different paths to success with Simmons as the sports historian and McAfee as the charismatic former player. Simmons has already severed ties with ESPN, McAfee has just recently joined the sports giant.
This is likely not going to be the end of the war, and it looks like it’s McAfee’s turn to fire the next bullet. He’s been in a lot of drama so far early this year, so it’ll be interesting to see if he decides to keep stirring the pot.
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