The athlete podcast boom has changed the way millions of sports fans interact with their favorite stars, even after their playing days are over. And there seems to be no shortage of shows hosted by some of the most talented people ever to play their respective games.
But one question remains: Which podcast would win a winner-take-all athletic event? We may just find out.
Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson laid down the gauntlet recently on Nightcap, saying that regardless of the sport or competition, they (plus Joe Johnson) would whoop any other podcasters’ butts.
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“You’re not better than me at your own sport,” Johnson said, before he and Sharpe laid out many examples, including billiards, throwing darts, ax-throwing, ping pong, swimming, cornhole, horses, dice, and cards.
The duo then singled out specific podcasts and their faults, saying the Pivot Podcast doesn’t know “nothing” and that Bussin’ With the Boys could perhaps only beat them in “chugging beers.”
“They get their ass whooped, too,” added Johnson.
They also checked Gil’s Arena (“Gil, hey, bring your bad knees ass over here, too”), Cam Newton and Omari “Peggy” Collins’ 4th & 1, (“Cam and Peggy don’t want nothing in nothing”), All the Smoke (“I think they might win a basketball, but that’s about it”), The Pat McAfee Show (“We run it through the whole crew”), New Heights, Speakeasy, Mind the Game, Club 520, It Is What It Is, The Stephen A. Smith Show, and even IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson.
To paraphrase Wyatt Earp in the film Tombstone, Nightcap called down the thunder, and now they’ve got it. Several of the podcasts they directly called out responded in kind.
“Shout out to Nightcap, we’ll beat your ass,” said 520’s Jeff Teague. He, DJ Wells, and B Hen then clowned on Pivot Podcast, going from “They don’t know how to pick up a basketball” to “They don’t even know how to pick up a roll, actually” to “They don’t even know how to pick up a basketball.”
Pivot Podcast responded to both Nightcap and 520.
“Listen, Shannon’s not in shape,” rebutted Pivot Podcast’s Fred Taylor. “Ocho might be in shape. Shannon just lifts weights. So we ain’t worrying about his cardio stamina… and then he’s had hip surgery and knee surgery, right? So I think we can just knock him off balance. So I think he’s a liability to that team.”
Ryan Clark also responded to 520, saying, “B Hen, he too top-heavy. He got no shots. DJ, they just got him there for aesthetics, looks, and to facilitate the show… And then Teague went football first, whether it’s flag, touch, or whatever. I’m going to split one of them early, and they’re going to quit.”
The Speakeasy crew went as far as to lay out all of the sports they would dominate Nightcap in, including rock climbing, pickleball, long jump, shot put, and dominoes.
“Here are all the things I am confident Speakeasy can beat Nightcap in,” said Acho. “Basketball, check. Football, check. Handball, check. Soccer. Tennis, check. Golf, check. Cricket, check. Equestrian, check. Swimming and diving while we at it. Rock climbing? Check. Spades, because why not?
“You don’t want that smoke. You don’t want that smoke. You don’t want that smoke. Oh, man. Dominoes. Check. Yeah. Pickleball. Easy work. Long, high jump. Shannon got two hip replacements.
“Basically, everything.”
Not to be outdone, Pat McAfee and his crew ran down all the reasons they would dominate the competition.
“Every single event that was listed, every single one of them. Unc, Ocho. Boys, we’re big fans. We love you. But your conscience was right by keeping us out of that conversation until very late into it,” said McAfee on his show before they ran down all the events they would win.
“As [Johnson] was listing things off… I said, I think we would actually win this thing if this was to actually happen. So maybe it’ll come together. Basically, a podcaster decathlon, a podcaster games for ex-athletes that have podcasts. Three people is what it sounded like was what it was going to be. I love the idea. I like the concept. I think there’s going to be some incredible content. I also love our chances. I really love our chances in that thing.”
Finally, after everyone had had their chance, the Nightcap crew reacted to the reactions.
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“Listen, all you’re hearing, right? If you listen to the people that respond, if you listen to what they’re saying, that’s false confidence, man. They’re not even talking with confidence,” said Johnson. “We really do this. We really do this. We really competed at the highest level. Joe, you competed at the highest level. You competed at the highest level. I competed at the highest level, and I talk that sh*t when I do it. Ain’t nobody that responds to today going to beat us in nothing.
“With all due respect to them, if there’s a way that we can make this happen, we talk about making history, all us uniting, having fun, a podcast Olympics or a podcast decathlon, whatever it may be, and just doing something competitive, man, that would be so fun and so dope, man, for all parties involved.”
So now, we wait. Clearly, there’s demand, and one thing these popular podcasts have not fully leveraged is the level of synergy this creates. A planned event where trios from various athlete-led podcasts compete to see who wins? Many people would love to watch something like that, to say nothing of the post-event episodes and smack talk that would follow.
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.