Dan Patrick has seen it all, heard it all, and done it all in his time in the sports media universe. And he shared some words of wisdom on lessons learned from when he and SportsCenter were at their biggest heights.
The legendary SportsCenter anchor and current host of The Dan Patrick Show sat down with current ESPN star Cam Newton on his 4th & 1 podcast and talked about his relationships with athletes and whether or not he ever felt too close to the people he covered.
It’s always an interesting situation in the media world, but usually we think of it applying to former athletes or coaches being too careful talking about people they worked with in sports or may work with in the future. As just one example all know that Dan Orlovsky will never say a bad word about Matthew Stafford as long as he is on the air.
But Patrick relayed a story about his career and having to make the choice when straddling the line between friendship and reporting the truth. And it goes back to baseball’s steroid era and balancing reporting the truth with his relationships with Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi.
“I was friends with McGwire & Giambi… then the steroid era hit. I had to choose: friendship or the truth.”
Dan Patrick on when journalism costs you relationships pic.twitter.com/3huFpBWCwC
— 4th&1 with Cam Newton (@4thand1show) September 30, 2025
“I was friends with Mark McGwire, interviewed him a few times for SportsCenter, the home run chase with Sammy Sosa and then all of a sudden we got steroids. And now I had to make a conscious decision to do my job. And this hurt my relationship with Jason Giambi as well. Because I was friends with him and then PEDs. And I think both thought, ‘wait a minute we’re friends.’ In retrospect, I think I got caught up in, ‘that’s Mark he’s my friend,’ and I learned a really valuable lesson. If you’re going to do your job you have to have separation,” Patrick said.
“Have I gotten more access because of that? I did with athletes. But I always wanted to be careful, because there are a lot of times when you get behind the velvet rope and you don’t like what you’re seeing or hearing. And then you’re kind of stuck,” he added.
Dan Patrick then shared that he let his own spotlight get to his head at some point as he was constantly surrounded by the biggest stars in sports and entertainment. But that after wrestling with his own fame and the athletes that he covered, he knew that he ultimately had one priority.
“When I was doing SportsCenter we were stars, mid-90s, I’m interviewing Michael Jordan after every game in the NBA Finals. I’m doing ok. And you get caught up in it and all of a sudden you’re more important than what you think. And then Jerry Seinfeld is coming up to say hello, and I think I’m a big deal. And then you start to color outside the lines, and then you go, ‘what am I doing, ok?’ This all goes away one day. Do your damn job. And I got caught up in it for a couple of years. Sandler’s putting me in movies, I’m in music videos with Hootie & The Blowfish and all of a sudden you’re looking like a star, but I still have a job to do,” Patrick concluded.
That’s some valuable self-reflection from one of the most influential personalities to ever grace the sports media world. Even after his high-profile tenure at SportsCenter when it was at its absolute cultural zenith, Dan Patrick has still continued to have a relevant voice through his work at NBC and now his radio show. He may not have quite the same internal tug-of-war now in the latter stages of his career regarding his own star power, but at least he is still getting roles in Adam Sandler movies.
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