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Pat McAfee Ripped By Fans After Patriot Games Appearance

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Pat McAfee
Photo Credit: FanDuel, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Pat McAfee’s “stick to sports” image took another hit after the ESPN personality joined President Donald Trump at the Patriot Games.

McAfee appeared with Trump on Tuesday in Geneva, Ohio, where the president attended the closing night of the inaugural high school athletics competition he created.

Trump walked to the center of the arena at SPIRE Academy with McAfee and several student athletes as cheers and pyrotechnics filled the venue.

The two later sat together, with McAfee in a black T-shirt, jeans and a backward baseball cap next to Trump in a suit and red tie.

The appearance immediately put McAfee’s public posture back under scrutiny because he has repeatedly said he is “not a political person” and has urged other sportscasters to “stick to sports” on numerous occasions.

Front Office Sports reported that McAfee was invited as Trump’s guest.

A White House-run social media account posted video of Trump stepping off Air Force One and shaking McAfee’s hand at the bottom of the stairs. The two stood for pictures before heading toward Marine One.

Some sports fans blasted the appearance online. One user reacted to a clip of the two men by writing, “‘I’m not a politics person.’ Also Pat MAGAfee.”

Another brought ESPN into the criticism, writing, “Let’s fire good analysts from ESPN like Ryan Clark, and instead give $60 mill a year to MAGA bootlickers like Pat McAfee.”

The post referred to former NFL star Ryan Clark, who was recently let go by ESPN, and McAfee’s alleged contract.

McAfee later described himself as “proud” to support the Patriot Games.

On X, he shared two selfies from the outing, including one with Trump.

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“Had a BLAST celebrating high schoolers from across the country with the Heads of Disney, ABC, ESPN, and… The United States Of America I’m proud of all parties getting behind this important initiative to keep future generations excited about remaining active,” McAfee wrote.

He ended the post by looking ahead to another year of the event.

“Cheers to the incredible contestants and to next year’s Patriot Games.”

The Patriot Games were organized through Freedom 250, a Trump-backed organization, and ran from Aug. 9 to Aug. 11.

The competition brought together 120 teenage athletes, ages 14 to 17, with one boy and one girl representing each U.S. state, plus participants from territories and tribal nations.

Only one male athlete and one female athlete can win the competition. Each winner receives $125,000 in scholarship money.

The events included dodgeball, kickball, tug of war, victory hoops and the presidential fitness test.

McAfee discussed the games Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” before attending and suggested he would be open to helping the event expand.

“We have no idea what’s going on over there, certainly something we would be interested in though,” McAfee said. “Would certainly like to help this continue.”

Tuesday’s appearance revived criticism that had followed McAfee after he interviewed Trump during an ESPN Veterans Day broadcast in 2025.

Trump told McAfee during that appearance that he came on the program “because I hear you say such nice things about me.”

The president talked about his administration’s work on the Department of Veterans Affairs and resources for people who served in the military, though much of the interview focused on sports.

McAfee asked whether the U.S. Ryder Cup team would win another tournament after losing to the European team earlier that year. Trump answered that the European golfers “really sank a lot of putts.”

When McAfee asked what NFL coach would make a great president, Trump said “some of these coaches would make great warring generals.”

The two also discussed college athletics and name, image and likeness rules that allow athletes to be paid beyond traditional scholarships.

“Along with stopping wars and building in tariffs and $17 trillion, maybe just put that on your desk. Go ahead and figure out the backend of college sports, Mr. President,” McAfee said.

Trump called the college sports question “a very serious problem” and warned that schools could lose control of spending.

“It is a very serious problem because even football, when they give quarterbacks $12 million, $13 million, $14 million, I read a couple of them, and all of a sudden you’re going to see it’s going to be out of control,” Trump said.

“And even rich colleges are going to go bust because you’re not going to be able to do this.”

McAfee answered viewers who objected to the Veterans Day interview.

“Got a lot of people saying a lot of means tuff to me,” he said after the Trump appearance. “Got a lot of people don’t know what a football looks like telling me they are never watching my show again.”

“And I would like you to know, ‘Good. (Expletive) you.’ Let’s move on,” he added.

On his Wednesday show, McAfee said he viewed the segment as a Veterans Day interview with the “leader of the military.”

“In my eyes he’s the leader of the military and we were celebrating the hell out of Veteran’s Day,” McAfee stated.

He said veterans and military members he spoke with appreciated the attention.

“There are people who are not the most happy that that happened, but I would like to say: Every veteran and military person I talked to were grateful and thankful that we spotlighted the heroes of America who walk amongst us and are willing to sign on a line and go for the United States of America.”

McAfee also said anyone against that should “swallow” the accusation that “you hate the troops.”

He added that former presidents from either party were welcome on his show and said there had been talks with former President Barack Obama’s people about an appearance, but it “wasn’t able to work.”

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