On Monday afternoon, the New York Jets made headlines when Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that quarterback Zach Wilson was reluctant to reassume the starting role when asked by the team. Shortly after the report was promulgated, ESPN New York afternoon program, The Michael Kay Show, welcomed ESPN SportsCenter and Monday Night Countdown host Scott Van Pelt for his weekly appearance on the show. When he was asked about the Wilson situation, he compared it to how those in the sports media business interact with management and earn credibility and prestige.

“Peter, you wear a lot of hats man,” Van Pelt said, addressing co-host Peter Rosenberg. “Your boss says, ‘Hey, we need you to come in and do this, that or the other.’ I always say to people in any business, ‘Say yes until you earn the right to say no.’ You put as much on your plate; be a good earner for your employer; and then at some point maybe you earn the right to say, ‘Listen, I’d rather not do this, but I’ve got you on all these other things.”

Show co-host Michael Kay hypothesized a scenario in which Van Pelt would tell ESPN management that he did not want to host Monday Night Countdown because of the injury to Cincinnati Bengals starting quarterback Joe Burrow. For Scott Van Pelt though, he understands the position he is in and how there are other people that look at him with a sense of envy.

“This is where you could point out, ‘How many people would kill to do this?,’ and that’s what we hear in our business [is] ‘You know how many people would kill to do this?,’” Van Pelt said. “Of course, and we get all that, and we’re lucky people – all of us – we’re in the get-to job, not got-to.”

Scott Van Pelt brought up how there are likely listeners who work extremely hard and would be aghast and perplexed if they heard someone in sports media talking about how they did not want to go to work. Moreover, he referred to what Wilson reportedly said as “an indefensible position” as the segment concluded.

Earlier in the segment, Kay called it “bizarre” that the discussion was even being had about Wilson not wanting to return to the starting quarterback job after being relegated from the role two weeks ago. Co-host Don La Greca also added his perspective into the situation, addressing Kay about how he goes about his work as the play-by-play voice of the New York Yankees and working in other roles.

“Michael, you know in your life there’s probably lots of times you’d love to tell your boss, ‘Are you kidding me?,’” La Greca said, “but you still say ‘Yes’ because it’s your boss.”

SiriusXM has announced that former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover is joining its PGA TOUR Radio Channel as the host of a new hour-long program, titled The Lucas Glover Show. The special featured presentation makes its debut on the channel on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 8 PM ET, and it will air regularly throughout the year exclusively on SiriusXM.

“Lucas is a terrific player and personality who has seen and accomplished much in his career,” Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM president and chief content officer, said in a statement. “He’s an excellent addition to SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio and we’re excited to give him a platform to share his strong perspectives and opinions on the game with our listeners throughout the year.”

After graduating from Clemson University, Glover began playing professional golf on the Nationwide Tour (currently known as the “Korn Ferry Tour”) and garnered several accolades. Earning a spot on the PGA TOUR card in 2004, he made 17 of 30 cuts during his rookie season, along with recording two top-10 and five top-25 finishes. During his second year on the PGA TOUR, he earned his first victory at the 2005 FUNAI Classic in Orlando, Fla. and took home the U.S. Open championship four years later in Bethpage, N.Y.

Through years of additional victories and top finishes, along with battles with injuries, he has experienced a resurgence that includes a recent victory at the John Deere Classic in July 2021. During the past season, Glover earned three consecutive top-10 finishes during the month of July and earned back-to-back victories at the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship.

“I’m really excited to join the SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio channel,” Glover said in a statement. “It’s an excellent platform for me to have a voice in the game and reach golf fans all over the country. Having my own show is something I’ve actually thought about doing since I won the U.S. Open. Now, having experienced all I have throughout my career, I’m ready and looking forward to sharing lots of stories, lessons learned and opinions on our game.”

SiriusXM subscribers can tune in to SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio on Channel 92 and by using the SiriusXM app. In addition to Glover’s new program, the outlet also provides live coverage of PGA TOUR events and major championships, along with daily programming that focuses on all aspects of the game of golf.

The final College Football Playoff rankings shook up the college football world on Sunday. Undefeated ACC champion Florida State was the first team left out of the 2023 CFP in favor of one-loss SEC champion Alabama. In Cleveland on 92.3 The Fan, host Ken Carman theorized that no matter what the Seminoles did against Louisville in the ACC title game, the playoff committee was always going to keep FSU out of the semifinals. And for good reason.

ESPN, which runs the ACC and SEC Network and owns the vast majority of college bowl games, is in cahoots with the CFP and the SEC to lure Florida State into the same conference as their in-state rivals at Florida.

It’s clear in Carman’s eyes that Florida State is a football-first school, and they deserve to be in a conference that sees the value in football over being a strong basketball conference.

“They left them out, and they wanted to do it cause they want the ACC to break up,” Ken Carman said. “They (the SEC) want them all, and they know Florida State.”

Co-host Anthony Lima said the quarterback situation at FSU was completely different than what Ohio State had in 2014 when Cardale Jones led the Buckeyes through the playoff and to a national championship in place of J. T. Barrett.

Lima said the Seminoles lacked the ability to successfully politick their way into the playoff, because they didn’t have a capable backup quarterback to answer the call against the likes of Michigan or Washington.

“How are you gonna politick?” he asked. “Nobody thinks you’re half as good of a team as you were when you had a star quarterback. That’s a big difference.”

“If they won by 40 against Louisville, they weren’t getting in,” Carman responded. “It was Alabama played the right team at the right time and beat the right team at the right time.”

“I think for a lot of Florida State fans and for a lot of general college football fans, 13-0’s better than 12-1. Don’t give a damn,” he later added. “They should be in and not you. But this is where ESPN gets exactly what they want. And this isn’t anti-ESPN. It’s just the truth of how I see it.

“It’s the beginning of the end of the ACC. Clemson will go with them. Throw in another couple if you want to. Maybe the Big Ten will grab a couple, even though I don’t know how many programs they would actually want. Maybe the Big 12, who is trying to position itself as THE basketball conference, goes and gets more. But hell, they already got 16 teams in the conference. How many more can you take?”