‘Pat McAfee Was the Joker Who Was Lighting the World on Fire’ — Media Analyst Likens Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to ‘Commissioner Gordon’ Amid ‘Rift’ Reports
· Yahoo Sports
To Bryan Curtis, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were the “no-drama guys” at an ESPN that is rarely short on drama. On Jimmy Traina’s “Traina Thoughts” podcast this week, The Ringer’s editor-at-large likened Pat McAfee to the Joker and the “Monday Night Football” pair to Commissioner Gordon, and pointed out that the drama has now moved into their booth.
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Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel reported Wednesday that the 25-year booth partners argued before Monday’s Bills-Rams game at SoFi Stadium after Buck raised the unspoken tension over their contracts.
The Athletic reported last month that Buck agreed to a six-year extension with ESPN worth more than $100 million. Aikman, in the final year of his deal, has not received a formal offer.
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Curtis, who writes The Ringer’s media newsletter, built his point around how dependable the pairing had been while everything around it was louder.
“Pat McAfee was the Joker who was lighting the world on fire, and Joe and Troy were like Commissioner Gordon, right? They were just showing up on Monday nights and doing their thing,” Curtis said.
For Curtis, that dependability is what makes the current moment stand out. “You knew it was going to be great because both of them are great, and they’re great together. And for the drama to be located over there now, what a turnaround that is.”
The broadcast held up anyway. FOS reported that the argument cooled off and that viewers would never have been able to tell anything was wrong during the Bills’ 37-34 overtime win over the Rams.
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McAfee, the man Curtis cast as the Joker, has ruled himself out of the “Monday Night Football” booth. On his show Thursday, he said there had been no conversations about him joining it, called the situation contract business playing out in public that’s for Buck and Aikman to figure out, and said he isn’t suited to be a football color commentator.
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Meanwhile, Aikman addressed the situation Thursday on Dallas station 96.7 The Ticket, saying there’s probably a time and place for that discussion while suggesting it isn’t hard to figure out what happened. He said he’ll broadcast through the season, become a free agent, and see where his next landing spot may be, comments FOS read as an apparent confirmation of its report.
Later that day, Aikman told Traina that ESPN seems to be heading in a different direction because there have been no talks and no contract negotiations. With the Super Bowl on Feb. 14 and his contract ending in March, he said it doesn’t seem logical for ESPN to have nothing in place by then if it plans to keep him. Still, Aikman said the rest of the season will be fine and that working it is no problem.
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Buck told The Inquirer last month, “I love him literally like a brother.” He added that they are “two grown men with careers” who have always kept the business side separate.
Buck held out hope that things could work out between ESPN and Aikman, though he didn’t know where things stood and said nothing in the business is guaranteed. Buck declined to comment further Friday, the paper reported, and ESPN has declined to comment.
Buck and Aikman are still set to call ESPN’s first Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, the same building where they reportedly argued Monday.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.