Michael Kay pushes back on Pat McAfee’s sports journalists attack: ‘Not everybody who tries to do their job is evil’

Michael Kay knows he can’t win a fight with Pat McAfee. But he’s picking one anyway — sort of.

The ESPN New York radio host spent 20 minutes on Monday defending sports journalists after Pat McAfee called them “curmudgeon bums” who hate sports and spend their careers trying to destroy the industry they cover. McAfee’s comments came in response to a viral moment from Sunday where a reporter offered encouragement to Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen during a postgame press conference instead of asking questions.

Instead of cozying up to McAfee — like a lot of other media members — Kay pushed back hard on the former Indianapolis Colts punter’s characterization of an entire profession, even while acknowledging that going after McAfee publicly at ESPN is “professional suicide.”

“I don’t care if Pat McAfee disagrees with me,” Kay said.

The Lynn Jones moment wasn’t really the issue. Kay said multiple times that what the Jacksonville Free Press editor did was lovely and came from a good place, even if a postgame press conference wasn’t the appropriate venue for it. The issue was what McAfee said about everyone else. The idea that asking tough questions means you hate sports. The suggestion that sports journalists are parasites preying on an industry they secretly despise.

“I don’t think that I’m a curmudgeon bum,” Kay said. “And I don’t hate sports. And I don’t think that sport should be looked at as anything but a unifier for society. And I don’t prey on sports because I saw it was an easier path to make it. I think I’ve done my job in an honorable way.”

The bigger issue here isn’t whether Kay or McAfee is right about Lynn Jones. It’s that there are two competing visions for what sports coverage should be, and they’re fundamentally incompatible.

McAfee represents the celebratory model. His show treats athletes and coaches as entertainers worth celebrating rather than subjects worth scrutinizing. Athletes feel comfortable appearing on his program because they know they won’t face difficult questions about performance or decision-making. The show exists to let them tell their side of the story in a friendly environment where nobody’s going to challenge them.

That formula works. McAfee gets massive guests. His show generates viral moments. ESPN pays him handsomely to license his show because his approach appeals to younger fans who grew up consuming sports content on social media rather than reading newspaper beat writers.

Kay represents the traditional journalism model. Ask questions. Get answers. Hold people accountable for their decisions. Press conference exists to extract information, not to offer therapy or emotional support. If a coach makes a questionable decision in a big game, asking about it isn’t an attack. It’s the job.

Both models have value. The problem is McAfee seems to think only his model should exist, and anyone still practicing traditional sports journalism is a relic who needs to get out of the way.

That’s why Kay pushed back so hard on the Lynn Jones moment specifically. It wasn’t about whether her encouragement was kind or well-intentioned. Kay’s main point was about function. Press conferences serve a specific purpose. They exist to get information about what just happened on the field. Coaches and players are required to show up specifically so reporters can ask questions and fans can get answers.

“Pat McAfee’s show is there to celebrate sports, and I think it’s great, and I think it’s a great thing on ESPN,” Kay said. “He gets the best guests, and obviously, people feel that’s a nice landing spot to give their side of the story. He has figured it out. He’s not there to grill people. He’s there to have a conversation with somebody who’s a newsmaker, make them feel comfortable, have a good time. The formula works. It’s perfect. But you couldn’t do that in a postgame scrum, Pat. You can’t. That’s not the place for it.”

Kay used an example from his own career to illustrate the distinction. After the Yankees lost Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS to the Seattle Mariners, Kay asked manager Buck Showalter tough questions during the press conference about his decisions in the game. After everyone left and the cameras were off, Kay walked up to Showalter privately and told him he was sorry for what he was going through.

“I would never have done that in the press conference,” Kay said. “Doesn’t mean I hate sports. Doesn’t mean that I’m looking to be negative. People have a job to do.”

That’s the difference between personal sympathy and professional responsibility. You can feel bad for someone while still doing your job. You can think a coach is a good person while asking why they made a specific decision in a game. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.

“When Pat says we as a society have to stop taking these particular humans seriously. Wow, that’s pretty strong because people want to do their job and ask why you went for it on fourth and two,” Kay said. “That means that they shouldn’t be taken seriously. So, it’s all supposed to be rah rah. Hey, great. Where’s my Jaguars gear?”

McAfee’s attack on sports journalists for asking questions wasn’t just wrong, Kay argued. It represented a dangerous trend already destroying political media, where objectivity has been replaced by cheerleading and information has given way to partisanship.

To go after these people, I don’t know. It’s a little strong, Pat. It really is. It’s a little strong,” Kay said. “Not everybody is evil. Not everybody who tries to do their jobs is evil.

“That’s what’s happening in politics, by the way. You’re getting cheerleaders on both sides of the aisle. There’s one network that cheerleads for one side. There’s another network that cheerleads for another. Do they really tell you what’s going on, or are they just cheerleading? They’re just cheerleading.

“And you know what happens? It’s the deterioration of information. We don’t find out what we want to find out because there’s one-sidism.”