Have Tim Kurkjian and Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) from Better Call Saul ever been seen in the same place at the same time? We only ask because McKean’s character suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and Kurkjian seems to be deathly afraid of all things technology.
The longtime ESPN MLB writer revealed as such during a recent appearance on Underdog Fantasy’s Baseball is Dead podcast with Jared Carrabis and Dallas Braden. Kurkjian does plenty of podcast appearances, including with Awful Announcing’s Short and to the Point. And he has a podcast of his own, Is This A Great Game, Or What? with his son, Jeff.
The funny thing here is Kurkjian refuses to do that podcast alone from his home, so he drives three hours each way to his son’s home in Philadelphia.
“I am so bad at technology,” Kurkjian explained. “I’ve already told you that I drive three hours to my son’s house in Philadelphia because he’s got all the technology in his basement. And I’m scared to death to be alone in my own house with my own technology, just in case something goes wrong. So I drive there and sit next to him. It’s a better show when you sit next to a person. But I’m only there because I’m afraid my microphone won’t work and he can fix it, and I can’t.”
Carrabis asked Kurkjian how he thinks technology has impacted his job over the years.
“It has really impacted me, and I’m so bad. I have like 700,000 followers on Twitter, and I don’t even know how to use it. I’m scared to death of it because something bad is going to happen. I’m going to send out the wrong thing. Every time I have to send out a tweet—and I’ve sent out a lot over the years—I have to call someone and say, ‘Am I doing this properly?’ Otherwise, something bad might happen.
“So, yes, technology has completely changed my life, and sadly for the worst.”
About four years ago, Kurkjian accidentally tweeted nonsense, what he called a “butt tweet.” A follower responded that they hadn’t seen a tweet from him in two years, and this was what they got. Kurkjian apologized profusely for the gibberish, and his apology received over 10,000 likes.
Here’s that tweet for reference sake:
My first tweet of 2020 was an accidental tweet. Sorry. It made no sense, obviously. Sorry. I stink at technology. I stink at Twitter. Sorry.
— Tim Kurkjian (@Kurkjian_ESPN) February 16, 2020
“That’s how bad I am at this,” he added.
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.