While Super Bowl LX will take place on Sunday in Santa Clara, CA, the NFL world descended on San Francisco for the annual pre-game festivities, including Radio Row and other events.
That means the spotlight has been on the Bay Area’s biggest city, which has been heaped with scorn in recent years over perceptions about homelessness, income inequality, and public drug usage. It’s not uncommon to see Fox News or conservative politicians hold the city up as their example of what’s wrong with California.
So strong is that perception that Pat McAfee spent an inordinate amount of time on his show this week to say how surprised he has been to find that San Francisco was not, in fact, a hellhole. He even had San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on to talk about the work they’ve been doing to improve the city.
In San Francisco, we are focused on delivering results for the people who live, work, and visit our amazing city. That’s what I told everyone on The Pat McAfee Show, and that’s what I tell San Franciscans every day.
This Super Bowl week, San Francisco is showing the world that… pic.twitter.com/MRUtbZrYTG
— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) February 5, 2026
Not everyone has been so open-minded and curious during their time in San Francisco this week. In town to cover the New England Patriots, Boston radio hosts Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti shared their thoughts on the city on an episode of Felger & Mazz this week, and did not hold back in their assessment.
Clip 1: Felger painting San Francisco like it’s a ‘zombie apocalypse’ on Tuesday’s show.
Clip 2: The audio version of the Chronicle piece below.
would he catch the same heat if he described Mass + Cass like this during World Cup week?
cc: @davecullinane https://t.co/nHRCztdxNt pic.twitter.com/6ZnXTQOvac
— Boston Radio Watch®️ (@bostonradio) February 5, 2026
“Talk about a city has plummeted… inside of 10 years. Completely plummeted,” said Massarotti. “It is filthy. There’s crap all over the sidewalks. Dogs taking a leak, practically, on your feet. It’s a mess. I used to love coming here, and I do like the food of the city. The food here is great. But man, what a dump it has turned into.”
“They need to get a grip on their drug problem,” added Felger.
“Holy crap. Like, what has happened here?” asked Mazz.
It’s not just squalar. It’s not just homelessness,” said Felger. “It is the tweaked-out, drugged-out element that is too close to everything else.”
“It’s borderline post-apocalyptic,” added Mazz.
“I deemed it the zombie apocalypse in 2016. It is the zombie apocalypse,” said Felger. “It is just the tweaked out, not just winos or homeless or down on their luck. The ‘out of a horror movie’ tweaked-out drug element is just… It’s a lot. It’s a lot. I pulled into my hotel…at midnight the other night. Guy’s lighting up right there across the street. When I say not a big street, like right across the alley with the crack pipe and the open needle. It is like, woof, people. You’ve got to figure this out in some way, shape, or form.
“I have two pieces of advice if you’re coming here, head on a swivel, okay? Just be aware of your surroundings and seek higher ground. The higher you go, the neighborhoods automatically get a little nicer the higher you go. I think it’s because the zombies can’t walk up the hills.
“And there’s a million wheelchairs here. A million drugged-out people in wheelchairs with their dogs. It’s like Mad Max. It’s freakin’ hard to look at. But the higher you go, I don’t think they can get their wheelchairs up there, and they can’t get up there. So, seek higher ground and head on a swivel. Those are my two pieces of advice if you’re coming to San Francisco.”
On Wednesday, San Francisco Chronicle culture critic Peter Hartlaub defended the city and took a swipe at the Boston radio hosts, asking in a column, “Are all Patriots fans this soft?”
I feel like I’ve written this column 1,000 times. San Francisco’s reputation outside of California has long – in part because of disingenuous politicians and poor journalism – been defined by its struggles.
It’s my full-time job to explore the city, and my standard line to tourists includes asterisks: You’re safe here, and violent crime is low compared to other big cities. (Last year San Francisco saw the fewest homicides since 1954!) Also, don’t leave electronics in your car. Be aware of your surroundings when walking downtown. And if you’re coming to town with children or adults who are sheltered, be ready for some complex conversations about what wealth disparity is doing to our country.
But a “Mad Max” dystopia? Get to high ground to escape people in wheelchairs? A zombie apocalypse?
Are all adult male Patriots fans this fragile and soft?
Felger volleyed back on Thursday’s episode of Felger and Mazz.
“Empathy is not one of my great traits,” Felger said. “So these quotes sound like I’m not empathetic, for sure, guilty as charged. But I do have sympathy. That’s why it’s so hard to look at. It’s so hard to look at these people in parts of the city, and I don’t know how anyone can think it’s okay.”
Felger added that he really does like San Francisco, but “what’s going on outside of our hotel is not okay. Like that’s just not okay. And as a city, I can’t believe that there are a significant number of people in this city who are okay with that… It blows me away, that I guess, the acceptance level of it.”
The disconnect seems to be that people outside San Francisco think the people who live there aren’t doing anything to improve their city and help their community, which is just flat-out wrong. That’s largely based on messaging from people who don’t actually care about San Francisco, but the hope is that many of those who do visit the city this week will come away seeing that there’s way more to it than the problems it’s already trying to solve.