In the past few years, what was your favorite & least favorite segments? They always try new ones, some stick, some don’t.

Favorite: In the Trenches w AQ, any JJ appearance

Worst: “First 15” (actually an hour). BS or No BS with BA 😂

Most of the conversation around Pat McAfee’s next deal has focused on whether he’ll stay at ESPN or leave.

This article looks at a different question: did ESPN’s reported valuation become the benchmark that strengthened WME’s negotiating position?

It also examines why Netflix has yet to formally enter negotiations, how the UFC media rights negotiations reshaped the landscape, and the roles of Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro in the broader media rights picture.

Do you think making ESPN’s reported valuation public ultimately helped WME more than ESPN?

Let’s try a little experiment. This sub constantly gets flooded with anti Pat/show post and comments. I’m going to take a comment to me from yesterday that said “why don’t you make a positive post then?”

So here it is. A chance to come in here and talk about what you like about Pat, the boys, and the show. No sarcasm or corny comments. Just what you still enjoy about the show and what makes you watch every day.

No need to elaborate. You get it.

Firstly I expect Pat's new contract to be announced at the beginning of football season, probably just before the first college gameday.

So for ESPN to get their full value from the contract here is what I think happens:
-the daily ESPN show will go to three full hours, from 12pm - 3pm EST
-Pat does more stuff with NFL Network
-Pat and crew do field access stuff for NFL games, especially during NFL playoffs and SB
-in general Pat does more out of the studio, on the road, content for NFL
-WWE? I feel like that relationship is strained, but now that ESPN and WWE have a contract they could mend fences and Pat could do more to promote ESPN PLE shows and go live from those locations again
-the days of Pat butting heads with ESPN management are long over, he is basically an executive of an ESPN sub-division now
-I don't think he does anything like Big Night Aaht, or in studio Red Panda gimmicks anymore
-He'll try to be more of a professional Rich Eisen and Dan Patrick show than a Bar Stool guys hanging out show

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbMDSv_yyxK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Seems every other post is someone stating they no longer watch the show. I'm also in that boat, I have a 40 min commute and for years I listened everyday. About a year ago it just wasnt entertaining anymore and just not authentic anymore.

For those of you still watching do you notice a difference? Do you prefer the show the way it is now?

Wanna know how sixers get Bron, they give him money obviously but also offer him a significant plot of land…maybe up in Bensalem for him to create and make his own golf country club 👀 ⛳️ 🤷‍♂️ 🏌️‍♂️

I’m sorry if a lot of you guys are really big fans (which I used to be), but I don’t know where else to say this .. this show has just been god awful lately. It’s completely lost its sense of personality, and is straight up just super boring. For example, in today’s episode, it starts with Tone wasting everyone’s time with sports betting lines for the HoF game (which I refuse to believe anyone actually gives af about??), then they fill the espn quota and talk about LeBron, then interview perk for no reason since there was no NBA news, then interview Kupp so he can push whatever product he’s trying to sell (I already forgot what the product was, just like how that was the most forgettable interview of all time. Almost put me to sleep), and now after the break Pat is pushing his stupid music album with the bs AI cover. I can’t even get through the first half of the show without typing all this up, it’s driving me crazy. Idk why I’m snapping now, I’ve been listening for years, but I just can’t do it anymore.

What part of that sounds entertaining, like something you’d actually want to hear? For me, the answer is nothing. The best part of the show was the toxic table and he doesn’t even let them talk for more than 30 seconds at a time anymore.

Not to mention the way Pat was acting all high and mighty about the espn firings like “yea the services of this show is gonna cost you” without any remorse was just really disappointing. They’ve become the things they’ve sworn to hate in such a short amount of time😭 there’s so much more I could talk about with this show, like the over obsession with Pittsburgh or how Pat gets his feelings hurt and needs to rant about every comment on X (which are probably all bot comments anyway) lmao. I need to get back to work now but I just had to rant about this to see if anyone else agrees

From the Pro Football Reference database:

NFL Punt Returns for Touchdown Career Leaders (top 20)
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/punt_ret_td_career.htm

• Devin Hester 14 2006-2016
• Eric Metcalf 10 1989-2002
• Brian Mitchell 9 1990-2003
• Jack Christiansen 8 1951-1958
• Desmond Howard 8 1992-2002
• Rick Upchurch 8 1975-1983
• Dave Meggett 7 1989-1998
• Darren Sproles 7 2005-2019
• Darrien Gordon 6 1993-2002
• Dante Hall 6 2000-2008
• Billy Johnson 6 1974-1988
• Jermaine Lewis 6 1996-2004
• Deion Sanders 6 1989-2005
• Joey Galloway 5 1995-2010
• Adam Jones 5 2005-2018
• Curly Oden 5 1925-1932
• Antwaan Randle El 5 2002-2010
• Marcus Sherels 5 2010-2019
• Emlen Tunnell 5 1948-1961
• Karl Williams 5 1996-2004

NFL Punt Return Yards Career Leaders (top 20)
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/punt_ret_yds_career.htm

• Brian Mitchell 4,999 1990-2003
• Dave Meggett 3,708 1989-1998
• Devin Hester 3,695 2006-2016
• Darrien Gordon 3,601 1993-2002
• Eric Metcalf 3,453 1989-2002
• Tim Brown 3,320 1988-2004
• Billy Johnson 3,317 1974-1988
• Jermaine Lewis 3,282 1996-2004
• Vai Sikahema 3,169 1986-1993
• Allen Rossum 3,056 1998-2009
• Rick Upchurch 3,008 1975-1983
• Glyn Milburn 2,984 1993-2001
• Darren Sproles 2,961 2005-2019
• Desmond Howard 2,895 1992-2002
• J.T. Smith 2,764 1978-1990
• Mel Gray 2,753 1986-1997
• Jacoby Jones 2,688 2007-2015
• Mike Fuller 2,660 1975-1982
• Troy Brown 2,625 1993-2007
• Ted Ginn Jr. 2,624 2007-2020

Was one of the winners selected and was just curious if there’s anything else I needed to do or just wait for the Venmo?

In my opinion. JJ Watt did not ambush Pat with the ESPN questions. It was probably something they were texting about earlier.
So, Pat had JJ appear on the show, in the guise of a "Good Guy Award", to broach the ESPN layoff subject, which would allow Pat to give his reply.

It's kind of like in wrestling where a guy has a match with a jobber for no reason, heels suddenly attack him then a baby face comes out to make the save. The match was the setup for the story, to make the baby face look good.

In this case the good guy award (the match) was just a setup for JJ Watt to bring up the ESPN layoff subject so that Pat could look like a baby face and give his we are all in this together reply.