Fox Sports radio host and noted esports detractor Colin Cowherd is talking shit again.
On Thursday’s edition of The Herd, his daily radio show, Cowherd lambasted esports athletes for, well, their existence, more or less. During a debate about the Olympics, Cowherd’s co-host Kristine Leahy (an avid esports supporter) brought up the possibility of esports being in the 2024 Olympics, which prompted Cowherd to go full heel and rattle off seemingly every gamer stereotype that could come to mind:
Leahy: I just wanted to remind you that the 2024 Olympics in Paris could very well include esports as a medal event.
Cowherd: All you nerds out there get your hotel rooms in Paris. Speaks in snively voice This is Morty. Can I get two rooms for my nine friends? We’re gonna play PAC-MAN for a week.”
Leahy: Here’s where you’re wrong. Those esports people have a lot of money.
Cowherd: No they don’t. Like one guy does.
Leahy: No, actually a lot of them do.
Cowherd: Resumes snively voice Oh, by the way, none of us brought toothpaste or deodorant because we play video games all day. We don’t need a razor. We’re all 9.
Leahy: No, they’re in their 20s and they’re making a lot more money than you probably were in your 20s. So they’re great, and they’re very, very nice people. Every esports event I ever go to, the nicest people. I have a great time.
Cowherd: Yeah, you know why? Because you’re the first pretty girl that’s talked to them in their life.
Leahy: That’s not true! There’s girls everywhere.
Later in the show, Cowherd again brought up esports when asking Leahy if his opinions meant he was just being grumpy.
Cowherd: Watching somebody play a video game is not athletic.
Leahy: Grumpy!
Cowherd: I’m not trying to be rue. It’s nothing against esports. I played Pac-Man in my local bowling alley
Leahy: And didn’t you break a sweat?
Cowherd: Not really, I broke a $20 to get more quarters.
19,000 kids show up to watch my son Jackson
Leahy: No because it’s not your son Jackson, these are people that this is their profession. They spend hours training for this
Cowherd: Yeah, training. Why don’t you get outside and go camp, jog, lift a weight
Leahy: They do!
Cowherd: Have a girlfriend. Do something
Leahy: They do have girlfriends
Cowherd: They don’t
Leahy: I just had someone let me know that one of the top guys, I think it’s Call of Duty, is dating a supermodel. So there you go
Cowherd: A super hand model. Not a supermodel.
Leahy: No. I saw pictures
Cowherd knows how to play the game. He’s a bombastic personality who says a lot of outrageous things, and people listen to him. Esports has long been one of his targets, whether he was criticizing ESPN (his then-employer) for broadcasting a Heroes of the Storm tournament or talking shit in an exchange with NBA player and avid gamer Gordon Hayward.
He seemed to have a change of heart last May, when he told Leahy he was considering investing in esports. But that seems more of a troll as time progresses.
Cover photo: Screenshot