Bill Simmons and Pat McAfee are quietly taking shots at each other on their own shows

There's a feud brewing between a member of the old and new age of sports media.

Feb 16, 2024 - 04:30

0 8

Bill Simmons and Pat McAfee are quietly taking shots at each other on their own shows

There's a new beef that's starting to heat up in the sports media space, and it feels like a battle of the generations.

Bill Simmons and Pat McAfee have been throwing some shots at one another on their respective shows, fueling a beef that does have some legs to it.

This all started in mid-January when Simmons did an impression of McAfee during an episode of the "The Bill Simmons Show." Simmons and his friend and frequent guest, Sal Iacono, mocked McAfee and "The Pat McAfee Show" for having shallow sports conversations.

"He starts the show being like, "Cowboys, bro, I don't know man, I don't know! What's going on there, bro?'" Simmons said. "And then it cuts to his three people and they'll be like, 'Well, I don't know.'"

Bill Simmons with a surprisingly accurate impression of Pat McAfee

(h/t @rBillSimmonsPod) pic.twitter.com/SI4ziWOMpw— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024

This mockery came just a few weeks after McAfee's civil war with ESPN that stemmed from his frequent guest, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, beefing with late night host Jimmy Kimmel.

Simmons is notably being friends with Kimmel because he used to work for the host in the early 2000s — and Iacono is known as "Cousin Sal" because he is Kimmel's cousin. But Simmons chose to not comment on the beef, but he did do more than one impression of the NFL-punter-turned-sports-media-personality.

McAfee finally fired back on his show on Tuesday, Feb. 12 by citing a FanDuel Super Bowl parlay that was suggested by Simmons.

"I think Bill Simmons, who has it all figured out, I think he had like 8,000 people riding alongside him," McAfee said. "That's a huge number that did not hit. That's really big. Really good, Bill. You still have it. I think we had 250,000 people or something like that. Keep running your mouth, Bill."

Pat McAfee took aim at Bill Simmons over his FanDuel parlay: "I think Bill Simmons, who has it all figured out, I think he had like 8,000 people riding alongside him. That's a huge number that did not hit. That's really big. Really good, Bill. You still have it... Keep running… pic.twitter.com/934SQ5IyRT— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 12, 2024

Simmons then fired back another shot at McAfee while discussing television ratings for sports. He cited that how Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched Super Bowl in history to make his point, but took a subtle jab at McAfee in the process.

"Everybody's ratings are basically up except for the NBA and whoever replaced the 12 p.m. SportsCenter," Simmons said.