1. On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand dropped a story about Pat McAfee.

Among the claims in the piece: 1) McAfee banned Adam Schefter from his show because Schefter blew the show off one day; 2) McAfee has discussed starting his own version of College GameDay; 3) McAfee complained behind the scenes that GameDay showed a video of him striking out against a softball pitcher.

When I read the story, my first thought was, “this is quite the hit piece.” I didn’t put the blame on Marchand for the hit piece, though. I was stunned that someone at ESPN would leak this stuff to Marchand. It’s a pretty brutal inside job.

Clearly, someone at the network has it in for McAfee. Among these accusations, the only one that would seem out of line is trying to start a version of College GameDay while McAfee is currently a huge presence on the actual College GameDay.

He has every right to ban Schefter from his show if he wants to, since ESPN doesn’t control the show. And the nonsense about him getting upset about the GameDay video was clearly someone at ESPN trying to embarrass McAfee since it’s such a petty thing for McAfee to complain about.

I do think it was comical that McAfee had Schefter on his show Thursday one day after the report of Schefter’s ban. That came off as nothing but damage control.

McAfee responded to The Athletic story on his Thursday show and basically refuted everything, without actually addressing each issue specifically. Awful Announcing has a full recap.

To me, it’s so obviously clear that there are those inside ESPN who are just so jealous of McAfee. Jealous because of his success. Jealous because of the money he makes. Jealous because he’s not a traditional journalism-school, suit-and-tie broadcaster.

The biggest reason for the jealously, though, is because McAfee can do whatever he wants. ESPN can’t control McAfee. McAfee can have on all the non-ESPN people he wants. McAfee can curse.

McAfee can also pull guests that most in the industry cannot. LeBron James has done one notable interview in recent years. It was with McAfee. And it came right after LeBron had his dust-up with Stephen A. Smith.

The Marchand story, though, is not about McAfee’s behavior. It’s about someone from the inside trying to embarrass McAfee.

Here’s what stuck with me the most among all the things McAfee said on Thursday while discussing The Athletic story:

“Three years into this, it’s like, come on. We’ve made money for the company. I think we’ve done good things for the company. I think there’s been some awards that have been given to some shows that we’ve [been involved in]. Like, come on. At what point are we just going to f------ just leave us the f--- alone, almost?

“But every time I wake up, it’s like, ‘Hey, there’s another thing being written about you being a piece of s---.’ It’s like, great. F------- great. Can’t wait to continue to do it. But I appreciate Burke Magnus going to bat for us. That was the most definitive statement that has been made by actual people with power at that company. And there’s this level right below there, probably a couple … that they all think they are somebody. Y’all mother------ are dinosaurs, bro. You’re about to get run into extinction. And you know it. And it’s only a matter of time before everybody else does.”

I think McAfee would’ve been better off not even addressing the story because those who leaked the info were probably thrilled to see him upset. Having said that, I don’t know how you could read The Athletic story and not think McAfee has every right to be pissed that people within his own company would leak all that stuff.

2. Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday was able to draw higher ratings than Games 1 and 2, but it was still down 20% from Game 3 last year, drawing 9.19 million viewers.

Since Adam Silver said people are comparing the Finals ratings to 20 years ago, let me repeat: Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and Thunder was down 20% from Game 3 of the NBA Finals LAST YEAR.

3. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce showed up to Thursday’s Stanley Cup game, so naturally, everyone had to lose their minds and treat it like a major world event and make their Swift puns.

Personally, I got a kick out of TNT’s Jackie Redmond saying, “My goodness, Taylor Swift will bring the eyeballs for this one.”

Yes, I’m sure the rating for the game will be through the roof because Swift was there sitting in some suite.

4. Cubs infielder Justin Turner left Chicago’s broadcasters in shock after this video aired during Thursday’s game.

5. Jason Kelce wants to know if he should be offended or flattered. He should be terrified. Absolutely terrified.

6. A brand new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped Thursday morning and it’s an all-Mailbag edition followed by the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment with Sal Licata.

I answered all your questions about the NBA Finals ratings, the presentation of the NBA Finals by ESPN, the way the NBA drags out the NBA Finals schedule, NFL Network’s lack of respect for Good Morning Football, All-Star games, Brian Windhorst’s status with ESPN, Greg Olsen’s future, where the ESPN MLB package of games will end up, John Cena’s heel turn, the WWE controversy surrounding R-Truth, favorite late-night hosts, best decade for pop culture and more.

Following the Mailbag, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss the lack of juice for the NBA Finals, Netflix’s amazing docuseries, American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden, the appeal of Oz the Mentalist and the Savannah Bananas, the anniversary ofThe Sopranos’ final episode and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of Father’s Day on Sunday, let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember how one father reacted to the news that his son has perished.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pat McAfee Has Every Right to Be Angry About ESPN Leaks.

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