For reasons unknown, Pat McAfee released an album entitled The Diary Of A Polarizing Figure on Aug. 14. For a few days afterward, McAfee’s ESPN colleagues glazed him to high heaven, while the rest of the world recoiled.
It can all seem like a fever dream now, but it happened, and Johnny Knoxville revived The Diary Of A Polarizing Figure in the collective consciousness while serving as the guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday.
Knoxville, the world’s foremost stuntman, completed the Jackass-ification of GameDay by appearing in full Tennessee Volunteers uniform ahead of Tennessee’s clash with No. 1 Texas at Neyland Stadium.
Johnny Knoxville is ready for GameDay … maybe a little TOO ready 😂 pic.twitter.com/gVNJTiaNZO
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 26, 2026
When it came time for the picks, Knoxville sat between McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit and remained committed to the bit, which made it all the more difficult to interpret Knoxville’s analysis and picks as anything more than satire. McAfee certainly hopes Knoxville didn’t actual mean anything he said.
“I’m so sure about this game, that if Missouri loses, I will punish myself by listening to Pat McAfee’s new album on repeat until Halloween.” – Johnny Knoxville pic.twitter.com/BADAqib8MH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 26, 2026
“I’m so sure about this game, that if Missouri loses, I will punish myself by listening to Pat McAfee’s new album on repeat until Halloween,” Knoxville said while picking the Missouri to defeat Mississippi State.
“No!” McAfee said before cracking up. “Don’t do that.”
“No offense,” Knoxville said, unfazed.
“Yeah, dude, offense taken,” McAfee said.
Unfortunately, nobody from the GameDay crew jumped in on Knoxville’s joke (or serious assessment of McAfee’s album?), so the the segment sort of fell flat. Elsewhere, Knoxville compared Georgia and Oklahoma to gout and syphilis and called the University of Texas a UTI.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.