McAfee’s comments came a matter of weeks after he called out ESPN ahead of the ESPY Awards.

On Tuesday, ESPN published the first half of their ranking of the top 100 athletes this century, before McAfee’s daily talk show.

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Pat McAfee laid into ESPN for their recent top 100 athletes ranking on his showCredit: Pat McAfee Show

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ESPN has broadcast The Pat McAfee Show since September 2023Credit: Handout
Attempting to compile a list of the top athletes, taking into account every sport, is a daunting task at best and one that will never please everyone.

Ranking these finalists is another challenge altogether, and one which McAfee seemingly believes has been poorly executed.

“Now, there is a top 100 list that is coming out from ESPN people, and I’ll tell you what, it is the epitome of everything that everybody hates about ESPN,” McAfee said on his show, which has been broadcast every weekday on the network since September 2023.

“What they chose to do in ranking the top 100 athletes from the 21st century, they only gave us 5[1]-100 yesterday – what a s**tshow.

“What an absolutely terrible list.”

The list in question was compiled thanks to over 70,000 votes from network contributors.

“ESPN editions from around the globe contributed to the nominations and voting process, as well as the individual sport list rankings that will follow,” the article explains.

“Voters were instructed to consider only an athlete’s performance since 2000.”

The list kicked off with NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson at 100, with NBA Hall of Famer Steve Nash closing out the first article at 51.

McAfee’s criticism of ESPN’s list prompted plenty of responses from viewers on X.

“No one quite hates ESPN like their top star,” one fan joked.

“Whether you agree or disagree with this opinion, Pat doing this when there’s an ESPN watermark in the corner and his program is airing on their network is certainly a choice,” said a second.

While a third simply added, “Lmao Pat is the best.”

This outburst comes just over two weeks after McAfee called out ESPN for honoring Prince Harry at the annual ESPY Awards.

Pat McAfee’s playing days

Pat McAfee enjoyed a hugely successful stint before switching to a career in the media.

The talk show star played punter in the NFL for eight seasons from 2009 to 2016.

He was a seventh round NFL Draft pick in 2009 out of West Virginia and spent his entire career with the Indianapolis Colts.

The ex-punter was named to the Pro Bowl in 2014 and 2016, and he was a first team All-Pro in 2014, as well.

McAfee owns the unique NFL record of the highest career net average punting yards with 41.4 yards while his longest ever punt was 74.

On June 27, it was announced that Prince Harry would be the recipient of The Pat Tillman Award for Service.

The award is dedicated to its namesake who walked away from his NFL career to serve in the United States Army in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

It aims to honor “an individual with a strong connection to sports that has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of Tillman,” as per ESPN.

“Why does the ESPYs do this s**t?” McAfee asked in response to the news of the Duke of Sussex becoming its latest recipient.

“When you do something like this, you know the immediate reaction from humans and from sports fans and like people with like common sense and brains is going to be like, ‘Hey, don’t be putting our f***ing guy with that guy.'”

What McAfee failed to mention was that Prince Harry had been chosen due to his work with the Invictus Games.

A military veteran himself, having served in the British Royal Army for 10 years during which he was deployed to Afghanistan twice, Prince Harry subsequently co-founded the Games.

This is an Olympic-style event for injured, sick, or wounded current and former service members.

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McAfee was recently critical of ESPN’s deciding to award Prince Harry The Pat Tillman Award for ServiceCredit: Getty