Nobody has ever accused Pat McAfee of being a traditional broadcaster. In fact, it’s a big part of his appeal.
And McAfee’s unpolished style was on full display during Monday’s episode of College GameDay as host Rece Davis introduced a feature on Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe.
“Jalen Milroe often wears his own branded apparel reading “LANK” across the front of it,” Davis said. “It’s an acronym that stands for ‘Let a naysayer know.'”
As Davis continued his read, McAfee couldn’t let it slide.
“That is not what I thought — boy, ‘Let a naysayer know?'” McAfee interjected.
“Let a naysayer know,” Davis confirmed sheepishly.
Rece Davis was discussing the meaning of Jalen Milroe's LANK (Let A Naysayer Know) apparel.
The rest of the GameDay crew thought he was going somewhere else with it. pic.twitter.com/YfqKMgztD2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 1, 2024
From there, the segment only went further off the rails, with Joey Galloway and Desmond Howard cracking up and Herbstreit imploring McAfee to let Davis continue doing his job.
“A professional’s right in the middle of his read!” Herbstreit shouted.
“Rece, you were too smooth with that,” a still-laughing Galloway said. “I thought it was going down.”
“Let a naysayer know. That’s what we thought the whole time,” McAfee said.
While Milroe and many Alabama players have, indeed, used LANK as a rallying cry this season, a quick social media search shows that ‘naysayer’ appears to be a stand-in for a different kind of N-word. So in essence, you had McAfee (and Galloway and Howard) listening to Davis’ read and wondering where he was heading with it, knowing that the more well known version of LANK involves a racial slur.
Davis, for his part, seemed totally unaware of the phrase’s hidden meaning and didn’t catch on until nearly a minute of razzing from his GameDay colleagues. While McAfee has been a polarizing presence on GameDay, his willingness to break the fourth wall and say what’s on everyone else’s mind is exactly what he was brought to the show to do.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.