Pat McAfee — or, Peter Neverville on Friday — took a jab at the “old sports media man” with his Halloween costume during an episode of “The Pat McAfee Show” one week after a report surfaced that the “diva-like” sports host was in another ESPN war.
McAfee opened the first segment of his show by introducing himself as Neverville — a fictional name — and said, “I’ve been covering sports longer than you, so I know sports better than you.”
Then, after describing Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s four-touchdown game against the Dolphins on Thursday, McAfee, as Neverville, then returned to his character.
“If you disagree with me, you’re wrong,” McAfee continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard an argument against mine that I’ve ever liked. And that’s certainly gonna be one you can classify under ‘I hate it’ if you say Lamar Jackson isn’t a Mount Rushmore-type player.”
He also went back to Neverville later in the show during a segment with ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky, according to Awful Announcing.
“Am I a conversational, respect-the-young-generation guy or am I a ‘I know more than you because I’ve been around this place longer than you have, I’ve forgotten more about sports than you’ve ever learned?’” McAfee asked during the segment with Orlovsky, according to the outlet.
It’s unclear who exactly McAfee was throwing shade at with his costume and his impersonation.
But since inking a five-year, $85 million deal with ESPN in 2023, the longtime NFL punter has become a polarizing host and has sparred with the network at times — including an incident last year where he publicly called out former executive Norby Williamson on the show.
Front Office Sports reported last week that ESPN has become tired of the “diva-like” behavior.
“Totally unnecessary. Grow up and talk to these people to make it better. You are not a victim,” an anonymous ESPN source told the outlet. “Everyone is bending over backwards to put you in a good position — and these same people are incentivized for you to succeed.”
Last month, McAfee also called out the “old white people and old ESPN people” who “hate me the most at this stage of life,” according to Awful Announcing — sharing a collection of criticism and comments saying he needed to get removed from “College GameDay” on his Instagram Story while commenting in a video.
McAfee joined “GameDay” in 2022, and after longtime analyst Lee Corso’s retirement earlier this season, McAfee has taken over as the one who makes the final pick at the end of the show.
On Saturday, McAfee ripped off his shirt — at the urging of the Utah fans in the crowd behind him — before the sun had even risen in Salt Lake City in an early segment of the show.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
