Let me start by saying this: I have nothing against Pat McAfee.

I’m sure he’s a nice guy and, heck, he’d be fun to go out with for a few hours. Maybe not all night.

He was an NFL punter for eight years, earned two Pro Bowl selections, and — to his credit — can analyze and articulate quite well. A whole lot better than I could do.

I enjoy much of McAfee’s work and his addition to “College Gameday” was and still is appropriate. He could be a picture-perfect face of college football, which comes with rowdy student sections, crazy mascots, and even Kirk Herbstreit’s dog, who gets more press than most foreign leaders.

McAfee has my respect and then some, but . . .

He can go a bit too far. Perhaps worse, he’s become a representation of sports media delegitimizing itself and becoming its own worst enemy.

Don’t get me wrong. Sports are fun and always have been. We’re not curing diseases during a 10 a.m. tailgate.

Lee Corso’s headgear picks were fun. Shaquille O’Neal poking fun at Charles Barkley’s lack of championships and calling the Hall of Famer a “bum” is fun. Joe Namath wearing his iconic fur coat as a guest commentator was fun — until he went too far in the infamous Suzy Kolber interview.

Fun fact: My father met “Broadway Joe” and asked if he could catch a pass from him. Namath said something along the lines of, “Yes, but you better not drop it!”

I’m a big fan of sports being fun. They wouldn’t be the same without a little bit of self-awareness (like most things in life).

All that said, I also think you can wear a collared shirt to work, even if you’re talking about sports. When McAfee wears a tank top — that’s if he’s even wearing a shirt at all — I don’t think it’s a good look. Or funny. Or cool.

He may or may not have been smoking marijuana on the set of his show the other day. Who knows?

Then, there’s quarterback-turned-analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick, who also sports a lovely shirtless look from time to time. In WWE fashion, he leaped and broke a table during last week’s “Thursday Night Football” game in Buffalo.

We don’t need to be doing that. Again — not funny, not cool.

Call me out of touch. Call me grumpy. It’s how I feel.

Part of me wishes I could enjoy it, but most of me will always prefer pure definitions of professionalism, such as the great Ernie Johnson (excellent autobiography, might I add).

Anyway . . .

• Lynn native and St. John’s Prep graduate Joenel Aguero, a safety for Ole Miss, made four tackles against LSU on Saturday. Let’s see if the Rebels (3-0) can keep that perfect record intact.

• How great has Dom Mercier (a transfer from Malden Catholic) been for Peabody High? The dual-threat quarterback completed 14 of 15 passes for 128 yards against Malden with four total touchdowns. Coach Mark Bettencourt and his Tanners are 2-0, making this Friday’s matchup against Lynn English (1-1) an interesting one.

• The Bruins return in a little more than a week, but let’s be real — more of the same is coming. David Pastrnak will reach 100 points, they’ll put together a few winning streaks, and the young guys will get us excited from time to time. There’s no way this roster gets past the second round — if that.

• Can you believe a certain college football team from Amherst is 3-0? Then again, other than a good (not great) road win against Rutgers, now 0-3, UMass has taken down Sacred Heart and Stonehill. I’m not sure we’ve got a 1996 situation on our hands. That’s when coach John Calipari and Naismith Player of the Year Marcus Camby led the Minutemen basketball team to the Final Four.

• Who will Peyton Manning root for during Saturday’s game between Tennessee and Texas: alma mater or nephew Arch? Also, with “College Gameday” heading to Knoxville, who will be the guest picker? I vote Kenny Chesney.

The post Barrett: When is it too far? appeared first on Itemlive.

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