Pat McAfee ‘heard’ questions about his ESPN return during vacation

Pat McAfee hasn’t fully returned to ESPN from vacation until he finds some way to needle sports media and those who cover the industry.

And Wednesday afternoon, during his first show back on ESPN since Super Bowl Monday, it only took McAfee about a minute to call out an issue he was having with the media. According to McAfee, some were wondering if he was ever returning to ESPN during his more than two-week-long vacation.

“While we were down there, during our break, with how long it was, some people were wondering – I’ve heard – in the industry, ‘Oh, Pat McAfee and the show are never coming back to ESPN.’ They thought we were gonna sail off into the sunset. Never come back,” McAfee claimed. “Then I popped my ass into Disney and I think, ‘Is this not enough of a mention?’ I am literally in Mickey Mouse’s town having the time of my life.

“We are so incredibly grateful that we get to do this. I think that was a lot of the thought while we were gone, is just gratitude, perspective, appreciation, and also, it’s time to get back to work.”

And in getting back to work, McAfee said Aaron Rodgers will join the show next week, to make what will likely be his first comments since the New York Jets announced plans to move on from the 41-year-old quarterback. During McAfee’s break, everyone has been bracing for Rodgers to make his first appearance on the show since his Jets tenure ended. But no one in the industry, at least publicly, was questioning whether McAfee was returning to ESPN.

Maybe he was hearing those questions privately, but it was widely known that McAfee was on vacation in recent weeks, as is common with sports entertainers during the weeks immediately after the Super Bowl. Or maybe McAfee just couldn’t get back into the daily grind without attempting to build some sort of “us against them” narrative.

McAfee’s relationship with ESPN has constantly been judged and reevaluated since the announcement that he would be bringing his show to the network nearly two years ago. But even during a time on the calendar where everyone is desperate for a juicy story, this two-week break from ESPN was never portrayed publicly as anything other than a standard vacation by McAfee.