Joe Buck came to terms with social media criticism: ‘This is part of the job’

Joe Buck’s rise to fame as an announcer came in tandem with the rise of the internet and social media. So as he was learning the ropes and making mistakes on the biggest stages in broadcasting, he was, for a time, the poster boy for criticism and discourse.

From the way he called his beloved St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series to describing Randy Moss’s “disgusting act,” to the infamous Artie Lange interview on his HBO show, Buck had to suffer the slings and arrows of online criticism in a way few, if any, broadcasters had to deal with before.

Now 56, with decades of experience and hindsight, the ESPN MNF announcer has (mostly) come to terms with the role the internet and social media play in the discourse around what he does for a living.

“I did let it bother me,” Buck said of social media criticism during a recent appearance on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch. “Unless you’re a psychopath, when you see things written about you and they’re not nice, it’s hard to just slough that off.”

For years, the prevailing opinion by many of Buck’s peers was that it was just “people living in their mother’s basements,” so who cares, but Buck had the foresight to realize that was merely a coping mechanism.

“People say, ‘Why do you care about somebody in their mom’s basement?'” Buck said. “Well, maybe they’re not in their mom’s basement. Maybe they’re a CEO, and they think you suck. So, I don’t subscribe to that either.”

Ultimately, Buck, who has called numerous World Series, Super Bowls, and other major events, found a level of acceptance with doing a job as public as his, though it can still be tricky to compartmentalize everything.

“If you’re going to cash the check and you’re going to be there all puffed up getting ready to do World Series, Stanley Cup, or the Super Bowl… This is part of the job,” he said. “You have to be an adult and realize that not everybody’s gonna like you. I realized that a long time ago. It wasn’t easy and it hurt.

“When it’s on your phone, it feels personal. When it comes to this thing, and it’s in your hand, and it’s on the same thing that your family and your daughters text you, I love you. Then you see, oh, ‘You suck. You’re the worst I’ve ever heard. Good thing you had a famous dad.’ It’s all filtered in the same machine, and it feels like it’s more personal.”

Not everyone who has traveled the road Buck has would come out the other side with such perspective, so it’s a credit to him that he’s been able to process the totality of his fame and success along with the negative side effects and find some form of peace.