If there’s been a key ingredient to the success of Good Morning Football over the years, it’s the chemistry between Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt.
And with Monday marking Schrager’s final day co-hosting the show, that meant that it was time for two of its original co-hosts to say goodbye.
While it assuredly won’t be the final time that Schrager and Brandt share a screen, that didn’t make the former’s final episode any less emotional. That much was clear in Brandt’s farewell, in which the former Real World star bid adieu to his “best buddy.”
“I thought a lot about what I was gonna say in this very moment and everything kept sounding like a really bad maid of honor speech,” Brandt admitted. “I can’t sit here and be like, Peter, you’re my partner in crime. I can’t do it. So what I will say is that I come in here every day and I want to impress you. I come in here every day and my goal is that I wanna make you laugh. And I wanna say something that you didn’t think of that’s what I do every day and it’s very, very challenging. So my original angle is I was gonna talk to wherever you go next and tell them this is what Peter’s about. But I flipped it. I wanna tell you what Peter is not about.”
Brandt proceeded to point out that while Schrager is technically an “insider,” that’s not all he is and certainly don’t ask him to pose with his phone. He also urged his next employer to not “force this person to scream and fight for no reason,” which could prove easier said than done if that winds up being ESPN as expected (my words, not Kyle’s).
He also noted that Schrager doesn’t only love football, but that contrary to popular belief, he’s the true pop culture expert of the duo. He went on to reflect on the role that the 42-year-old played in helping shape Good Morning Football into much more than just a typical morning talk show focused on football before sharing the origin story of their friendship.
“In July of 2016, when we found out that this show was gonna happen, I was gonna be part of it, I got a direct message from Peter Schrager and he said, ‘dude, this is so cool we’re gonna be best buds,'” Brandt recalled. “And he was right and we have been and we are.
“I’m a miserable bastard. I don’t like making friends. At home, I have my wife and my kids. Around the town, I got a few friends. Around the country, I have my high school friends. When I come to work, I have Peter. And Peter, you said we were going to be best buds and we always have been. Thank you very much for eight and a half years for being my best bud.”
“Right on,” a clearly emotional Schrager responded. “I love you, Kyle.”
“I love you too,” Brandt replied.
Admittedly, sports media goodbyes can be awkward and clunky, especially when the departing talent is headline to a competitor. But Monday’s episode of GMFB lived up to its billing as a celebration of Schrager’s time with the show, as best exemplified by Brandt’s touching tribute.