Michael Wilbon Has Gained A Ton Of Fans Over The Past Week

Michael Wilbon has been cooking with gas as of late.

The longtime "Pardon the Interruption" star has been making appearances on ESPN's "First Take." And he absolutely has not been holding anything back. Wilbon has taken public shots at ESPN over their coverage of Aaron Rodgers and, now, their push to expand the College Football Playoff.

Wilbon, formerly of the Washington Post, first called out ESPN for talking so much about Aaron Rodgers.

"He's irrelevant. He's overstated," Wilbon said. "Aaron Rodgers is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, a great quarterback for years. He's irrelevant now."

Wilbon continued.

"He's not LeBron James, he's not Tom Brady," Wilbon continued. "He's not playing that way into his 40s."

Then, on Thursday morning, Wilbon put ABC/ESPN and FOX on blast, for wanting to expand the College Football Playoff.

"This is about ESPN/ABC and Fox, this is about some turf wars going on there with conference affiliations…nobody should want 24, nobody. We hear all this nonsense about health and safety, what hypocrisy," Wilbon said in declarative fashion.

It's rare to see someone from within ESPN publicly putting the network on blast for some of its decisions.

But fans are loving it.

Wilbon is gaining a ton of fans

Sports media fans are loving it.

"He is spot on. 12th team is way different than the 24th. This will turn college football into something you don't have to pay attention to until the postseason, just like college basketball. It devalues the regular season," one wrote.

"Wilbon has been cooking recently," one fan added.

"Love to hear this. Well said, Wilbon," one fan added.

"You've gained a fan in me, Michael Wilbon," one fan added.

Wilbon might work for ESPN, but that's not stopping him from putting his own network on blast from time to time.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 4:00 PM.