With Pat McAfee confirming that he’ll return to the set of College GameDay for the 2024 college football season, any concerns about Kirk Herbstreit’s future with the show were quickly — and we mean within minutes — put to rest.
While it would be presumptuous to assume that Herbstreit’s comments about his future at GameDay being directly tied to McAfee’s were more than a tactic, he was serious about the former Indianapolis Colts punter’s impact on him and the traveling pregame show.
Despite being a polarizing figure, McAfee understands that he may not be everyone’s cup of tea, as revealed in a survey conducted by The Athletic. However, he received support from his colleagues at ESPN’s College GameDay, including Herbstreit, who defended him against criticism. With that, Herbstreit’s remarks on McAfee’s show during the weekend were not entirely unexpected.
During Friday’s edition of the McAfee Show, around the one hour and 21-minute mark, Herbstreit expressed his desire to discuss the can of worms that is his colleague’s future on ESPN’s primary college football pregame show. McAfee voiced his frustration with the constant negativity and death threats he receives every week, and it’s understandable why he feels that way.
But even with those understandable drawbacks, Herbstreit isn’t letting McAfee leave him.
“I’m just going to say this right now,” Herbstreit told McAfee. “If you dare even think of leaving College GameDay, I’m leaving with you. I am. I am. I’m dead serious..”
In quoting the late Michael Clarke Duncan’s character from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, McAfee insisted that Herbstreit not put that (evil) on him.
“Don’t you put that on me, Hebrstreit,” said McAfee. “Don’t you put that on me.”
“This son of a ***** is the one saying he’s leaving,” Herbstreit replied. “I’m just saying…”
“I’m not kissing your ***. I’m not just telling you that — and I told you this a lot — that you’ve changed my experience. I work really hard with these three projects I’m on,” Hebrsitret continued. “I’m on GameDay, the Thursday night game with Al (Michaels) and Saturday with Chris (Fowler). You’ve really changed the approach, the energy, not just on the set, but like the week. I’m having a blast… It’s like being on a team where you get good energy.”
Awful Announcing’s Andrew Bucholtz previously wrote that McAfee planned on returning, even if he did so a bit begrudgingly.
“I pride myself on being a good locker room guy, good vibes guy, good energy guy, which is why it is becoming something where it’s like, every single Saturday, do I want to read — because I’m on the internet a lot. We’re an internet show. So I’m like on there. People are like, ‘Don’t read your mentions.’ It’s like, ‘I have to.’ It’s part of our job,” McAfee said. “It’s like, these college fans are awesome, they’re phenomenal, they’re incredibly passionate. But man, that negativity — normally when I get dropped into a new show like the WWE, that negativity is like three months. They hate my life, they hate my — they hate everything about me. And then they’re like, ‘You know what? This guy, not that bad.’
“How about this? I’m back. I don’t love it. I don’t love that my life is just going to continue to have people telling me to run into oncoming traffic, swallow a barrel.”
McAfee appears none too pleased about his return, likely due to the negative attention he has received. However, Herbstreit is still eagerly anticipating his colleague’s return for another go-round.
[The Pat McAfee Show via Al.com]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.