ESPN historically embodied an erudite, laconic, dryly funny sensibility exemplified by Keith Olbermann, Stuart Scott, Bill Simmons, and shows like Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption. Iconic This Is SportsCenter ads showcased quirky, Beckettian spareness. In 2025, ESPN is shifting toward a direct-to-consumer streaming model while many founding voices have left, raising questions about the persistence of that sensibility. ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro maintains that the network still covers sports with substance, heart, and humor. A high-profile 2023 hire, Pat McAfee, brought a brash, bro-friendly style and became a ubiquitous on-air presence, generating controversy after a false rumor circulated.
ESPN, said Curtis, used to epitomize a sensibility-one that was erudite, laconic, and dryly funny. Its torchbearers included gadflies like Keith Olbermann, Stuart Scott, and Bill Simmons. The flagship talk shows, Around The Horn and Pardon the Interruption, functioned like symposiums for eccentric newspaper columnists. Its most memorable branding initiative, the This Is SportsCenter commercials, possessed a quirky, Beckettian spareness-delightfully nerdy, in a distinctly liberal arts kind of way.
So in 2025, with ESPN shifting toward a direct-to-consumer streaming model, and after so many of those founding voices have departed, does that sensibility still exist? Pitaro, of course, swears that it does. "ESPN is at its best when we're covering sports with substance, heart, and humor," he told Curtis. "I believe that we're still delivering across those three components."
In 2023, ESPN came to terms on a deal with Pat McAfee, a former NFL punter turned broadcaster who emerged from the bro-friendly, right-leaning Barstool Sports. McAfee has become a ubiquitous presence on ESPN's programming slate. The Pat McAfee Show airs from noon to 3 p.m., and the titular host-red in the face, overcaffeinated, perpetually sleeveless-spends most of that time shouting through a daily slate of sports headlines, ready to pounce on anything especially tawdry or fratty.
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