Controversial Sports Commentators Who Work Our Last Nerve

Updated 01/3/2024 at 12:02 p.m. ET:

With the football season nearing its end, it’s a perfect time to revisit the sports personalities that entertain (and annoy) us the most.

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Out of everyone on this list, he’s probably the least liked. Previously a journalist who worked at ESPN and Fox Sports, Whitlock is currently a conservative pundit at Blaze Media. He was recently in the news after he unknowingly trolled himself in a post on X. I guess he now knows that your search history plays a big role in targeted advertising.

Stephen A. Smith

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Stephen A. Smith is the most popular loud man in sports media. He can’t help but scream on every segment of First Take despite the topic. He’s also known for some horrible takes and his stance on Colin Kaepernick has always been questionable.

Skip Bayless

Skip Bayless is the man everyone loves to hate. Although it’s unclear if anyone know truly likes him, he sure does get eyes to the screen, or at least he used to. His obsession with LeBron James is borderline insane, so as a result, he’s always going to have some haters.

Shannon Sharpe

The NFL Hall of Famer has left Undisputed and taken his personality to First Take. Now, the two loudest and funniest men in sports TV will be working together on the same show. While some may be bothered by his antics, it is normally all in fun.

Mad Dog

Mad Dog Russo is a veteran radio personality who tends to get under people’s skin due to him always thinking the “older days” were better. A year ago NBA champion had some words for him after Russo told him to “shut up and play.” To no surprise, Green responded and said on his podcast that Mad Dog’s comments had a “racist connotation.”

Charles Barkley

The best and worst part about Charles Barkley is that he is uncensored. He says what he wants no matter if he’s on national television or at a barber shop. The good thing is that it normally turns out to be entertaining.

Colin Cowherd

Cowherd often comes across as a snarky and arrogant guy who wants to sound like the smartest in the room. He’s been void of any serious controversy, but we can’t forget that he was dropped from ESPN after he went on a racist rant by insulting the intelligence of Dominicans.

Nick Wright

Boy, this guy is a hot-take machine. He’s a die-hard Kansas City sports fan, and with the Chiefs being one of the best teams in the league, it tends to annoy some people. This season he predicted the Chiefs would go undefeated and win the Super Bowl, just for them to lose the first game of the season.

Mel Kiper Jr.

Mel Kiper Jr. is an NFL Draft expert who has all the info on where players will go in the draft before it happens. Many find it entertaining while others, including NFL GMs, tend to find it annoying.

Jim Rome

Jim Rome is not as popular as used to be a decade ago, but his career makes him deserving of this list. Can we forget when he continued to purposefully call this NFL QB the wrong name in front of his face just for him to get beat up on live TV?

Richard Sherman

Richard Sherman is part of the new cast of guests who will regularly come on Undisputed to debate Skip Bayless. Sherman is an extremely intelligent person, but sometimes he just needs to leave the NBA opinions to himself.

Booger McFarland

Great football name, but Booger has said some things that are just flat-out ignorant. In 2020, after Dwayne Haskins was released by the Washington Commanders, he lumped all Black NFL players together saying that they care about their brand more than working hard, which couldn’t be more wrong, considering there are more great Black quarterbacks now than there ever was before.

Emmanuel Acho

I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t seen anyone say they actually like Emmanuel Acho as a sports personality. Plus, he’s also said some things that make people look at him sideways, including that he doesn’t have “generational trauma” like Black American because he’s Nigerian.

Michael Irvin

We’re losing recipes! Michael Irvin is the loudest Cowboys fan on TV. Yes, even more than Skip Bayless. So that’s always going to get people riled up.

LeSean McCoy

Shady is part of this wave of former NFL players who have taken spots on sports debate shows. It’s mostly worked out, but he still has his moments where he says things that have people angry.

Joe Buck

Joe Buck just calls games. But, sometimes his laid-back demeanor can annoy fans who wish he was more energetic. When he brings life to his calls, they can be special.

Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons has one of the most listened-to sports podcasts out there. But he’s a Boston sports fan, so that’ll always make him a target for hate. He also made some questionable comments about LeBron James in an op-ed criticizing “The Decision.”

Bomani Jones

Bomani Jones is one of the smartest sports personalities out there. For that reason alone, people are going to hate on him just because he probably knows more about any given topic than you.

Bart Scott

Can’t wait! It’s crazy that former NFL players oftentimes have the craziest sports takes. But Bart Scott predicting that the Kansas City Chiefs would not make the playoffs, just for them to win the Super Bowl has got to be an all-time L.

Tony Romo

Tony Romo doesn’t do or say anything crazy. He just calls games on CBS. People used to love him for predicting what plays were being called in games, but recently there have been reports that his approach has been lazy. Plus, he’s a former Dallas Cowboy, people always hate those guys.

Lil Wayne

Weezy? Why is he on this list? Because there’s honestly no reason he should be on TV talking sports weekly. Yeah I know he loves sports, and I don’t doubt his knowledge. But debating Skip Bayless once a week on Undisputed is not what fans signed up for.

Paul Finebaum

The face of college football at ESPN isn’t the void of controversy. While I respect his opinions on football (sometimes), he’s also said some questionable things. I’ll never forget when he said, “This country is not oppressing Black people” when giving his opinion on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest.

Max Kellerman

“I want Iguodala!” Max Kellerman hasn’t really said anything controversial or inappropriate during his time in sports, but his crazy takes on the NFL and NBA have garnered some talk. Remember when he said Kawhi Leonard is better than Kobe Bryant?

Terry Bradshaw

Everybody loves Terry, and I do too. He’s a really entertaining guy on the pre-game show for Fox Sports. But I’ll never forget when he said Sam Darnold is the best QB the Carolina Panthers have ever had. Did he forget that Cam Newton played for them?

Doug Gottlieb

Yeah, Doug Gottlieb is pretty annoying. He tried to have Maria Taylor’s All-NBA vote taken away after she mistakingly left Anthony Davis off her ballot in 2020. He denies there’s racism in any discussion of sports. Gottlieb also prematurely reported that Freddie Freeman’s agent did not notify his client of the Atlanta Braves’ final offer before he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which led to him being sued.

Will Cain

For a while, Will Cain’s job was to say things on ESPN that you would normally hear on Fox News. Now, he just works for Fox News.

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