It’s been nearly four months since Bill Simmons and Pat McAfee first engaged in their war of words.
But while the feud has seemingly been dormant since February, Simmons reignited it this week by poking fun at the former All-Pro punter’s apology for referring to Caitlin Clark as a “white —–“ on Monday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show.
“Luka’s +210,” Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast, referring to Luka Doncic’s NBA Finals MVP odds. “But if Pat McAfee calls him a ‘white —–‘ before game time, would that go up or down, Sal? Would the Finals odds get affected by that?”
“He just apologized for that,” Sal Iacono replied. “He apologized proactively for calling Luka a ‘white —–‘ so that’s good.”
“I happened to watch that apology this morning,” Simmons responded.
“Yeah? Teared up a little bit?” Cousin Sal asked.
“It was emotional stuff,” Simmons replied. “Mullet guy No. 2 was tearing up. It was really great.”
Simmons’ digs at McAfee didn’t stop with his shot at the apology (or Boston Connor) as he proceeded to question how long the West Virginia product would remain on ESPN airwaves.
“Over-under Pat McAfee still on ESPN. If I gave you February 2025, over-under?” Simmons asked Sal and Joe House later in the podcast.
“Oh, I’m going to go under,” Sal replied. “This industry’s insane. Yeah, I’m going to go under. February 2025? That’s what, 17 months? Solid under.”
After House agreed — “of course” — Simmons offered an adjusted line of October 2024 for the end of McAfee’s ESPN tenure.
“That’s different,” Sal replied. “An adjusted line on Pat McAfee.”
“You need him for football season,” Simmons responded.
While Simmons’ latter comments could be viewed as just as much of a commentary about ESPN as McAfee, there’s clearly no love lost between The Ringer founder and the WWE Raw announcer. After Simmons delivered a surprisingly good McAfee impression in January, McAfee responded weeks later by mocking the Sports Guy’s failed FanDuel Super Bowl parlay, with Simmons returning serve with a not-so-subtle shot regarding The Pat McAfee Show‘s ratings on ESPN.
That’s where the back and forth seemed to stop, with neither having referenced each other in any meaningful way since mid-February. But after Simmons opted to reignite the feud while McAfee was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week, it will obviously be interesting to see whether that paves the way for the former punter to return fire in the days ahead.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.