I’m really excited for this election to be over.
Of course I’m sure you know by now that today is Election Day, with voters headed to the polls in the midterm elections to decide some key races that will determine the balance of power in the Senate and House of Representatives for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
There are plenty of big issues weighing on voters’ minds, from the war in Iran and high gas prices to immigration and national security.
But apparently for the big brains over at MSNOW (formerly MSNBC), the pressing issue that nobody’s talking about in this election is…Pat McAfee on College GameDay.
Obviously McAfee has been a polarizing figure on the weekly college football kickoff show since 2022. While has fans seem to appreciate the energy that he brings to the show, his critics often complain about his “frat boy” antics like taking his shirt off and rage baiting the campus crowds. And of course there was the recent controversy surrounding his visit to the University of Utah recently, where McAfee told the crowd that he hoped to never return after the university posted a video making fun of him ahead of GameDay’s arrival.
Well just like our politics, college football fans are clearly divided on McAfee. And while it’s not necessarily a left/right split, it’s probably not hard to guess which side of the debate the left-leaning hosts on MSNOW fall on…
During their election coverage this morning, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough took time to chime in on the McAfee debate, seemingly implying that a big day for Democrats could spell trouble for McAfee’s popularity:
“I’ll just say it myself. I’ve just had enough of this Pat McAfee ruining College GameDay. I look forward to waking up on Saturday mornings and watching that. And I don’t know if they haven’t got the message yet, but the manosphere that we all thought was brought in in ’24, it may get washed aside and maybe you aren’t having to be [grunts] and yelling at people and being freaked out because two kids in Utah put up signs or say something that might offend you.”
The “manosphere” that Scarborough is referring to is the culture shift we saw in 2024 when young men overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump, following years of being shamed for “toxic masculinity.” (I’m shocked that wasn’t a winning strategy).
Reading between the lines, it’s pretty clear that what Scarborough wants isn’t just an end to McAfee’s time on GameDay, but a sign that the culture is shifting once again back to the pre-2024 “woke” culture where masculinity was something to be mocked and not celebrated, and when the media had the power to “cancel” somebody for views they found unacceptable.
Of course the ratings for College GameDay would seem to indicate that ESPN won’t be making any changes to the lineup any time soon: The show’s visit to BYU a couple of weeks ago was the third most-watched episode in the show’s nearly 40-year history, and so far this year the show has delivered six of its nine most-watched regular season episodes EVER.
Sounds like there are still a few people out there who enjoy the “manosphere.”