The Josh Innes Show - Finally, I Rage About NFL/ESPN Media Coverage

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

I see all these people bitching about how the NFL owning part of ESPN will now lead to biased media coverage of the league. Anyone who tells you there wasn't already biased is full of shit. Radio stations and tv stations that have broadcast rights have always catered to the leagues/teams. Also, Dan Patrick is full of shit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, maybe this time. Finally, I will talk about this NFL thing. I think I just need to get right into it. So you get the point. Guy was doing a show in Detroit about how terrible it is and how you're going to get distorted news coverage of the NFL. And you know where I stand on that is news has always been bought and paid for, whether it's sports news, actual news.

Who gives a shit if the NFL squashes some random stories? None of us care. No one cares if the NFL goes to ESPN and says, hey let's not report on this or hey let's muzzle this because why would we it's football it's professional football it is the toy department who cares the average person may say they want to know all the dirt and they want someone to be brought down for some crime they committed or whatever they don't care here's what people in this era care about they care about hearing about their team and real talk they just want to hear what they believe about their team it is

the Fox News syndrome. The Fox News syndrome is that, like, and this is how Fox News became what it became. It just became an echo chamber. People tuned in not to get the news, but to have their opinions validated. Their beliefs validated, and that's what Fox News did for old people for a long time. And people that were right-wing people. It validated their worldview. They did not go there to get dissenting opinions.

That's why Hannity and Combs went away, and it just became Hannity. They weren't there for dissenting opinions. They just wanted to be valid. And Roger Ales understood that, and that's why Fox News became what it became. That's how sports media is. That's why podcasts are so big and blogs are so big and websites are so big. Every city has its own little mini bar stool, right? Like, I'm in Detroit.

It's called Woodward Sports. And it's like their own little mini wannabe barstool. Houston doesn't really have that mini want to be barstool. Philadelphia has their own little wannabe bar stools. And most cities across the country that have professional. sports have one group that found some funding and built something that is like their own mini version of barstool. And if they don't, they have the bar stool from that city anyway, Chicago, whatever, Philly,

New York. They all have their own barstool anyhow. But people don't care to see the league brought down by shit that doesn't impact them. Concussions don't impact them. How much money players are making does not impact them. Crimes these guys are committing. We could talk about how shitty they are all the time. But deep down, we don't give a shot.

shit. What we care about is, is the game on television? Can we watch it? And what are people saying about our team? That's all we care about. That's all the fans care about. People want team-owned media. They want it. And one of the arguments he made, this Mike Valenti from the last two podcasts, is that, you know, like, in their line of work, in radio, teams still pay to have their games on the radio, thus they don't own the station. First of all, let me play a couple commercials here, and we'll get into that. We'll see if I actually stay on track this time. Damn you, coffee.

So his argument was that since teams pay to be on the station, the station still has some form of credibility. But if you believe that those radio stations aren't being told shit they can and can't do and you don't think teams are trying to muzzle guys, then I got some ocean front property for you because I fucking lived it. I lived it in Houston twice, to a much lesser degree I lived it in Philly. In certain cities

the teams can't get away with it as much. Cities where people still have a pulse like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, like the teams don't have as much sway over what the guys say on the radio. But in the kind of lesser, less passionate, passive cities like Houston, Dallas cities like that, southern cities,

the teams have a lot of power and control. Like somebody brought this up to me the other day. It was somebody in my DM. I think when I was talking about this. And they said, well, I kind of get what you're saying, but like, I don't want to be in a situation like in Dallas where Jerry threatened to get the coach or the host fired. And is that what ESPN's going to be?

Maybe, but guess what? The guy in Dallas didn't get fired. So, like, yes, he's pissed off. So I'll tell you remember this. Like, Jerry owns that. That's the other thing that you guys don't know. And maybe you do, maybe you don't. The Cowboys own that interview.

1053, the fan doesn't own that interview. Like, that's a piece of programming that the Dallas Cowboys own, and Jerry can pick who he wants on there. He chooses to keep the guys from the show on there, and I'm sure they work out a deal for that. When I was at 610, for a year, I was the host of the Gary Kubiak show with Rich Lord. Then one day I wasn't the host anymore, and it was Rich Lord and Mark Vandermere, and the Texans ended up owning that, and they never put me on it. That's their prerogative, and that happens in a lot of places. Like, I don't know. I think it's a misguided, outdated viewpoint, and maybe they're the ones that are right, and they probably

are and there's a large part of me that agrees with what these guys say. When like a Mike Valenti says, well, this is going to be team run and league run media. Yeah, it's going to be fucking Pravda. 100% it is. I agree. But I'm going to point in my life now where I don't care. Now, if it impacted my life, if I were the guy on television and I couldn't, you know, say what I truly believed, I'd get pissed. I've lived that life. From a personal standpoint, I've lived the life of having the team come after you for shit that you say on the air and try to threaten your job. I've been there multiple times. I get it, and that would piss me off. But as a consumer of the NFL, I don't really give a shit if the NFL comes in and says,

you know, squash this story. I don't give a shit about the story. The stories that ended up, and by the way, I don't believe that's going to be the case. I don't believe it's going to be much different than it already is. Do you think that there haven't been times that ESPN has been asked by the league? And by the way, the league is the biggest entity ESPN has. It is the most important sports league in the country, in the world, arguably. Do you think there haven't been times when someone from the NFL's reached out to ESPN and said, hey, can we pump the brakes on this? Do you think that already doesn't happen?

Do you think that doesn't happen in news media? This is one of my go-toes here. But when you start talking about news media, as long as there are advertisements that run during the news, it's not credible. Because it can be bought and paid for and can be controlled and manipulated by sponsors and other people, and it can control the way. You do things in the narrative that you present. So while this just officially says, hey, ESPN is 10% owned by the NFL, I don't believe this is any different than anything we've seen in the past.

I guarantee you that CBS, like the SEC would reach out to CBS when they had the games and say, hey, can we pump the brakes on this? I'm sure that when Bob Costas was talking about concussions on Sunday night football, I'm sure that the NFL reached out to NBC and said, what the fuck and NBC did something about it. This is not new, except that it's just official that the NFL owns a piece of ESPN. But do I believe that this is going to truly negatively impact the way you watch football and consume football? No. Hell, most you already bitch about what's on ESPN anyway. Oh, you're sick of Pat McAfee.

Oh, you hate Stephen A. Smith. Oh, you hate this show. Oh, they don't do highlights anymore. Where's the baseball? You're already bitching about ESPN. How is this going to change that for you? But here's a story. ESPN reporter rips Dan Patrick over concerns with NFL deal, quote, I'm embarrassed for you.

I think Dan Patrick is the worst among them. I think he's one of these guys that because people hold so near and dear to their heart, what SportsCenter used to be in the 1990s, that they hold him in a very high regard. And he's not like Keith Oberman who lost his fucking mind, so like they haven't turned on Dan Patrick. He's likable. He's affable. But, like, I don't care about what Dan Patrick. says. I don't seek out Dan Patrick's content. And I know anytime he makes news, it's usually because he's talking about ESPN, and the same way that when Dan Levitard makes news, he's talking

about ESPN. Senior writer Dan Van Natta Jr. Lambasted Dan Patrick over the former SportsCenter anchor questioned if the outlet would still cover negative NFL stories. Quote, Dan and I did run exclusive reporting on the NFLPA story that led directly to Lloyd Howell's resignation and confidentiality agree. the Carlisle Group strip club receipts. Do your homework before you malign your ex-colleg, I'm embarrassed for you. Van Nata and Collar teamed up to report nine stories for ESPN about the recent NFLPA scandal and Howells's resignation in recent weeks. On Wednesday's episode of the Dan Patrick's show, Patrick voices skepticism of how ESPN will handle the deal from a journalistic standpoint.

Like, no offense, Dan. You said shit like, The Whiff. Like, that's what you're known for. Nobody watched you on ESPN because they thought you were some credible journalist. You narrated highlights. Like, that's the other thing that irks me about, like, the way we sing so, the praises of these guys from the 1990s. Oh, Stuart Scott and Dan Patrick and Rich Eisen. What made them journalists?

What made them, like, special hard-hitting guys? You know who was a journalist? Bob fucking Lee. That guy was a journalist. He hosted outside the lines and unearthed some shit. You know, go watch real sports with Brian Gumble. You can't because it doesn't exist anymore. But they unearth some shit.

I will wait. What big thing did Dan Patrick uncover? What investigative reporting did Dan Patrick do? Somebody let me know. I'm not saying this to shit on the guy. If there's something that I'm missing, great. All Dan Patrick did was showed up on television, watched highlights, and said, The Whiff.

That's all Dan Patrick did. And he talks as if he's fucking. Woodward and Bernstein. He talks as if he's Walter Cronkite, like he was on the front lines and nom. All you did was said hokey shit on television in the 90s. That's it. Yet somehow you're like, like, dude, fucking Chris Berman did more reporting than you did. Chris Berman is a more credible reporter than you are.

Bob Lee was a G. Bob Lee kicked ass at that shit. Outside the lines was the shit. So like this idea that we're sitting here and we're like, let me tell you, I don't know. I don't know how deep ESPN went into the mess with the NFLPA. I know Mike Floreo did and a couple people did. Congrats. Your buddy, Mike Floreo kept hammering a story that the people did not give a shit about.

No one cared. The average person's life was not changed and their football viewing experience was not changed over the NFLPA story. No one cared. In the minds of the average person, here's what that story was. Oh, no, a millionaire misses out on a million dollars. Big fucking deal. I'm going to go drive my truck now. They did not care.

So when I see people like Dan Patrick, I don't know if ESPN's going to cover this shit. Like, does ESPN suck now? Yeah. Did we enjoy watching it when we were younger hearing the whiff and cool as the other side of the pillow? Yes. This group of people who were on ESPN in the 1990s think, way too highly of themselves. And Dan Patrick is at the forefront of that.

What did Dan Patrick do? Tell me a memorable story that Dan Patrick broke. Tell me an investigative report that he did. Tell me what real investigative journalism we saw from Dan Patrick. None. Now, if I'm wrong, please, I'll say, I'm wrong, baby's dad, dirty dancing. I'm wrong. I say I'm wrong.

Find it for me. When I see people like Dan Patrick, if I'm going to be critical of people for what they're doing, I want to make sure that what, like, I'm not doing the same shit they did or I actually have something to fall back on. Like, I think I'm a better radio person than the people on WIP, okay? I think I'm a bet, like when we talked about the guys at 610 being nominated for a Marconi. No offense to those guys. What we were doing in 2009, 2009, 2010, 11, and 12 was better than anything these guys will ever do on 610. And I will stand by that.

And I think our content was better. I think our program director was better. I think we were better overall, and I will stand by that. You can debate it, but I believe that, and I feel like what we were doing was different. Dan Patrick literally got on TV and said hokey shit. I'm not saying he's not a real journalist in the sense that he's educated in it. He is, went to Dayton, or he and Rich Lord went to the same college. But my point still remains that Dan Patrick wasn't some guy that was out there on the front lines breaking stories.

He was the puppet that sat in front of the monitor and said, The Whiff. He's actually, you know what the most famous thing Dan Patrick has ever done is? He got duped by one of the stern people. That's the most famous thing that Dan Patrick has ever done. That's it. How can we trust Dan Patrick to give us honest analysis of these Adam Sandler movies if he's in the Adam Sandler movies?

How about that, Dan? you're in the shitty happy Gilmore too how will you give an honest review of it if you're in it you're in the media where's your honest review please did you think it was like the next citizen Kane so that's what annoys me about these these people are all full of shit and everybody knows that the leagues like to the point about radio when teams are on a radio station they have power does it always work no do they always fire guys they want them to fire no but they try to wield that power they swing their sword. Don't think they don't. That's just reality of this. So when I say, oh my God, we're in jeopardy of having the NFL covered like it's Nazi propaganda, shit always has been. Always. And by the way, it's just sports. This isn't real life. Here's what I like. The number of like liberal media type people who will say, oh my God, we're being muzzled in sports media, are the same people who had no

problem with them telling you that you were forced to get a vaccine and not reporting anything on laptops or or or fouchy and any of that shit it's all that's how we all are and it goes back to my initial point of what people want from media all they want from media is to be validated so if these same media people that think they're being muzzled in sports media are the same people that probably believe that they were fine and reporting all the shit they did during COVID it's all about validating your beliefs that's it anyway more to come Thank you.