Mike Greenberg, Pat McAfee, and Stephen A. Smith Credit: ESPN
ESPNBy Sean Keeley on

According to estimates, ESPN pays Stephen A. Smith around $12 million per year, Pat McAfee around $17 million per year, and Mike Greenberg around $6.5 million per year.

They got their money’s worth on Monday when all three of them were in the studio together for a live broadcast of The Pat McAfee Show in New York.

The timing couldn’t have been better with arguments and debates surrounding the College Football Playoff at a fever pitch. And who better to bring the volume when needed than Stephen A.?

McAfee was in town to film his show live from ESPN’s New York’s Seaport studio. It only made sense that Smith, who does First Take from the same spot, would stop by and join in the fun.

Since Sunday, there has been a lot of discussion about the College Football Playoff, ESPN’s role in the College Football Playoff, and ESPN talent’s comments about the College Football Playoff. Naturally, this was the perfect time to continue all of it. As Smith explained how he believed the CFP committee made the right decision in choosing Alabama over FSU, Greenberg emerged out of nowhere to disagree defiantly.

“Stephen A., the blasphemy you are speaking on this set to these esteemed people,” Greenberg said while he and Smith flanked McAfee. The Get Up! host then argued that there’s no way the NFL would determine playoff teams the way college football does and pushes back on the narrative that Florida State played an easy schedule.

“There is an objective way they measure these teams in college football,” Greenberg explained. “It is called strength of record. They put all these metrics into a computer and the team whose strength of record was third was Florida State! Number three! What they accomplished was third-best of all the teams in the country.

“So, unless we’ve decided to turn this into figure skating… I love figure skating. I don’t know anything about figure skating, but here’s what I do know: the only way to determine who is a better figure skater… is by letting someone subjectively say, ‘You did it better than you did it.’ In football, we have criteria that have been established ahead of time. They are the third-best team in the country.”

Fittingly, as a metaphor for himself, Smith countered by saying style matters.

“Style points matter. They always have in college football,” Smith said. “Secondly, this isn’t the first time or the second time or the third time we’ve complained about college football committees and their decisions.”

Smith also chastised Greenberg for not bringing up Michigan, who was named the No. 1 seed despite being caught up in a sign-stealing scandal, before pivoting to note that Alabama beat some pretty stiff competition as well.

“Why didn’t you bring them up?” Smith asked. “Why are you looking at Alabama?

“And, by the way, who did Alabama beat? They beat a team that hadn’t lost in two-and-a-half years. They won 29 straight. They were the two-time reigning defending national champions, and you knocked them out. Excuse me, those are the reasons that you put somebody in a College Football Playoff, not somebody that’s gonna have a third-string quarterback. I mean, give me a break.”

Somewhere, an ESPN executive wept while watching their grand vision for the network play out in real-time.

After Smith left, Greeny stuck around to welcome the McAfee crew to New York and talk a little more football. Perhaps most notably, he dropped a nugget that in his discussions with Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan coach couldn’t stop raving about Justin Herbert, implying that he might be eying a jump to the Los Angeles Chargers if they fire Brandon Staley.

All in all, quite the day for ESPN to have three of their biggest and highest-price talents in one room together yelling about sports. Perhaps they’ll try to make it happen more often.

[The Pat McAfee Show, Mediaite]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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