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Some posited that sports media feuds were a thing of the past. The past couple of weeks have proved them wrong.
Prominent sports media members from Stephen A. Smith and Michelle Beadle to Bill Simmons and Pablo Torre have been sniping at one another. Some of these beefs are just for fun; some are more serious. As sports media devolves into a Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest situation, it’s not good to come out on the losing end in the court of public opinion.
This comes on the heels of multiple public squabbles, including Ryan Clark vs. Robert Griffin III and Stephen A. Smith vs. LeBron James. These verbal brawls typically flare up in the summer, when there are fewer sports to dissect on talk shows and podcasts.
We ranked the recent shots fired from most contentious to least.
No. 1: Stephen A. Smith vs. Michelle Beadle
This one has been raging since Wednesday after smoldering for more than a decade. It started when Beadle went off on her show about SiriusXM giving her Mad Dog Sports Radio weekday time slot to Smith—without a proper heads-up. In her first off-air interview after learning the news, Beadle doubled down to Front Office Sports, telling me there was “no love lost” between her and Smith since clashing at ESPN in 2014. “I don’t respect him. I don’t respect his work. He doesn’t like me,” she said.
Smith adamantly defended himself, albeit without citing Beadle by name. He called into Mad Dog Sports Radio on Wednesday to insist he had zero to do with SiriusXM management not telling Beadle and Cody Decker he was taking their time slot in September. “I don’t believe in blindsiding anybody. Or backstabbing anybody. You see me coming,” said Smith.
They’re both right. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo admitted his network should have been more upfront with Beadle and Decker. It also became clear Thursday that Smith had nothing to do with SiriusXM management hiding news of his specific hire from other on-air talents like Beadle.
On Thursday night, a SiriusXM spokesman told FOS they had “parted ways” with Beadle and Decker effective immediately. Mad Dog Sports Radio will employ a rotating cast of hosts and contributors until Smith debuts his new show on Sept. 2.
No. 2: Bill Simmons vs. Pablo Torre
The Sports Guy made the mistake of letting his Patriots fandom spur him to attack Torre’s fascinating reporting on the May-December relationship between 73-year-old Bill Belichick and 24-year-old Jordon Hudson.
Simmons fired the first shot, accusing Torre of milking their tabloid romance for attention. “I’ve never seen anybody dine on a stupider story for a week and a half while pretending you’re a journalist. What the fuck was that? Seriously?” he asked on his Rewatchables podcast.
Torre shot back on X/Twitter: “Dear @BillSimmons: Since you have such a strong public opinion about my work… I happen to have a few questions for you, specifically. Unless you’re afraid of @pablofindsout and someone just ‘pretending to be a journalist,’ of course. Thanks, Pablo.”
To his credit, Simmons invited Torre on his podcast to hash out their differences. Awful Announcing declared Torre the “decisive winner” after their conversation, during which Simmons admitted he hadn’t watched or listened to any of Torre’s full episodes on the topic.
Simmons and Torre seemed too chummy to really dislike each other. Plus, there are too many ties that bind these ex-ESPNers, from guest-hosting Pardon the Interruption to friends on the Ringer staff as well as at Meadowlark Media.
No. 3: Cris Carter vs. Joy Taylor
After being dragged into the bombshell sexual harassment lawsuit by a former Fox Sports hairdresser, Taylor is now in the crosshairs of former FS1 talent Cris Carter. Taylor’s deal with Fox expires this summer. Now Carter is mocking her comment that Aaron Rodgers should have shown up for the Steelers’ organized team activities even though the QB was not under contract. While looking out his window at the Atlantic Ocean, Carter said on his podcast: “I was trying to see if some dolphins or sharks popped up from the ocean. I’d much rather listen to them than Joy Taylor.”
I’m not hearing that Carter has much beef with Taylor, cohost of FS1’s Speak. But the Pro Football Hall of Famer does have issues with FS1, which dumped him in 2019. Our own Ryan Glasspiegel was first on the Carter news, reporting FS1 had suspended him pending an internal investigation.
Honorable Mentions
- Clay Travis of OutKick vs. Joel Anderson of The Ringer
- Jason Whitlock of Blaze vs. Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports
- Author Jeff Pearlman vs. both Simmons and Torre (but mostly Simmons)
- Carl Banks vs. Gregg Giannotti
