{"id":408626,"date":"2026-07-22T23:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408626\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T23:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:00:07","slug":"espns-pat-mcafee-announces-his-debut-album-for-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408626\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN’s Pat McAfee announces his debut album. For real"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pat McAfee<\/a> knows just what the world needs in 2026.<\/p>\n

More Pat McAfee.<\/p>\n

The former Indianapolis Colts punter and kicker already is seemingly everywhere \u2014 as the host of his own show every weekday on ESPN, as an analyst on \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d and guest on a number of other shows on the network, as a commentator\/participant with WWE until earlier this year, as host of multiple podcasts, etc.<\/p>\n

McAfee has not, however, released an album full of songs written and sung entirely by the two-time Pro Bowl selection himself.<\/p>\n

That situation will be rectified in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n

McAfee announced Wednesday<\/a> that he would be dropping his debut record, \u201cThe Diary of a Polarizing Figure,\u201d on Aug. 14, a musical collaboration with country singer-songwriter Ernest<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor as long as I can remember my mere existence has made people hate my guts,\u201d McAfee wrote in an X post announcing the project. \u201cI\u2019ve been writing songs about it for 20yrs & it\u2019s time to let them aht.. A LOT of headlines & narratives.. if I was to die, I\u2019d like my kids to know exactly who their dad is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although McAfee definitely has his detractors, it\u2019s interesting that he\u2019s putting out an album focusing on the haters, considering his current popularity is such that he is reportedly<\/a> in talks for a contract extension with ESPN that would pay him more than $60 million a year.<\/p>\n

Some online commenters have criticized McAfee for the timing of his announcement, which comes a day after a number of his ESPN colleagues were laid off<\/a> by Walt Disney Co. McAfee reposted one such complaint on X and commented<\/a> simply, \u201cThe Diary of a Polarizing Figure, August 14th, 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Wednesday on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show<\/a>\u201d: \u201cA lot of things are being said about me at this exact moment. [People] are going to hear my responses through these songs because these types of situations have been happening to me throughout my entire life. \u2026 Literally since elementary school I\u2019ve had people that just don\u2019t like me because I\u2019m too loud and everything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, McAfee released a country-rock single called \u201cDookie<\/a>,\u201d also a musical collaboration with Ernest. A news release at the time stated that the single marked \u201ca new partnership<\/a> between McAfee and DeVille Records \/ Big Loud Records.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ernest told Whiskey Riff<\/a> early this year that he and McAfee had recorded eight or nine songs together. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny EA Sports game should have a Pat McAfee song on it,\u201d Ernest said in describing the former West Virginia standout\u2019s musical style. \u201cIt\u2019s locker room hype s\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many athletes have attempted musical careers, with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. It would seem far fewer sports broadcasters have tried the same crossover, with John Tesh<\/a> probably being the best-known example after his stint covering athletic events for CBS and NBC in the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n

If he wants advice from a peer, perhaps McAfee might seek it from Terry Bradshaw<\/a>, the four-time Super Bowl champion and longtime NFL analyst who also has released a number of country\/gospel albums and even had a top 10 country hit with a cover<\/a> of \u201cI\u2019m So Lonesome I Could Cry\u201d in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

McAfee said on his show that he \u201cwrote this entire thing over the last 20 years or so in the notes section\u201d of his phone. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of very personal stuff in here,\u201d he said. \u201cFinding my singing voice has been fun. That has been a blast. Then [to] all the incredible people in Nashville who have assisted and kind of helped me piece all this together, I\u2019m so grateful and thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pat McAfee knows just what the world needs in 2026. More Pat McAfee. The former Indianapolis Colts punter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[44539,163846,750,6227,48,52,51,47,50,49,1741,163845,163847,212,80874,592,163848,10390,316,135653,72],"class_list":["post-408626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-debut-album","tag-ernest","tag-espn","tag-host","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-lot","tag-mcafee","tag-musical-collaboration","tag-number","tag-pat-mcafee","tag-people","tag-polarizing-figure","tag-song","tag-wednesday","tag-x-post","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}