As the sports world was surprised to learn of Tom Brady’s retirement Wednesday morning, Dan Le Batard seemed stunned to learn Craig Carton has a TV show.
After news broke of Brady’s retirement, someone in Le Batard’s studio must have decided to put FS1 on the TV to see what the talking heads were saying. And at 8:12am, the time of Brady’s retirement announcement, Craig Carton is the keeper of FS1. The Carton Show launched last September, but it was news to Le Batard, who responded to this revelation by reaching for some low-hanging fruit.
“We are watching on the television screen,” Le Batard said as they reacted to the news of Brady’s retirement. “It enrages me that there’s a Carton show. The man went to jail! The man defrauded the people and got right back into sports entertainment television!”
Harsh! That’s quite the pivot from Brady announcing his retirement. Feel free to criticize Carton or bash his TV show, but Le Batard is usually more creative than just echoing uninventive social media trolls. Surely, Carton has received similar “the man defrauded the people” taunts on Twitter every single day for the last five years.
Yes, Craig Carton spent a year in prison after he was arrested for securities and wire fraud in 2017. “The man went to jail,” and he’s been open about his failures and vices ever since. Carton was released from prison in 2020 and rejoined WFAN later that year to stabilize their afternoon show. And two years after rejoining WFAN, Carton landed a national TV show on FS1.
Albeit he was late to the news, Le Batard definitely wasn’t alone in being surprised to learn of FS1’s interest in Carton. But the surprise in FS1 shuffling their daytime lineup to make room for Craig Carton was less about his criminal record and more about the fact that he doesn’t bring much national appeal to the network. Despite his controversies, Carton has been a successful regional radio host, highlighted by 12 years on WFAN. But New York’s radio scene doesn’t really resonate across America, as proved by the fact that Le Batard seemed unaware that Carton was on TV.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com