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RADIO WARS: Angelo Cataldi Says “the Pussies Have Taken Over” Philadelphia Sports Media

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Mar 17th, 2026 · 11:29 AM EDT

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We had some WIP-on-WIP violence this past weekend when Howard Eskin invited Angelo Cataldi on his YouTube show. The pair spent a few minutes lamenting the current state of sports talk radio, which garnered responses from Spike Eskin, Ava Graham, Jon Marks, and others.

In a RESPONSE to the RESPONSE, Cataldi went on Dan Sileo’s JAKIB Media show and elaborated on his comments, saying he thinks we’re all pussies in Philadelphia sports media:

“I think we did it in a more courageous and more honest way than they do it now, and if that’s a problem, good, get upset. I don’t really care, I didn’t care when the players got upset, I didn’t care when the managers got upset, I’m gonna care when fellow talk show hosts get upset? No, I really don’t give a damn… Here’s the problem, WIP is part of a much bigger story, which is no one’s doing it. Other than Marcus Hayes. Marcus Hayes is still doing it. And now it stands out because no one will take a strong opinion on anything. No one wants to go near it, even really talented writers are not going after hot opinion now. They’re not going after strong takes on big issues. That’s my complaint. It’s not exclusive to WIP, it’s everywhere in Philadelphia right now. The pussies have taken over!”

Cataldi went on to talk about how “vicious” the Daily News writers used to be in terms of taking strong stances back in the day.

Anyway, we’ve been over this many times before. Angelo and his ilk have long championed the idea of “accountability,” which means you hold feet to the fire and call out players, managers, and coaches when they aren’t performing to the level of the their capability. He made an entire career out of this, partly in radio shtick buffoonery and partly in very good 1v1 interviewing that we all listened to when he got Eagles and Phillies people on his radio show.

But the problem is that this largely came across as negative, and it turned Angelo into a one-trick pony who was only ever capable of ripping people and criticizing them and ragging them, day after day. It worked back then because all of the teams were largely shit and weren’t close to winning anything, so the low-IQ Boomer and Gen X listeners gobbled it up lived inside this perpetual bubble of Negadelphia and hostility, constantly complaining that nothing was ever good enough. Everybody should be fired, traded, or cut.

Things are different now because we look at the players as human beings. We like to give credit where it’s due and try to be positive about Philadelphia sports when warranted. What’s so bad about that? That doesn’t make anybody a pussy. It shows maturity and growth. It means we’re trying to be fair and walk a more reasonable line between criticism and praise, handing out both as necessary.

The totally comical thing is that Angelo shouts out Marcus Hayes as the last one holding the torch, a columnist who has been called out by both A.J. Brown and Joel Embiid in recent years. Is that what we’re all supposed to be in Philly sports media? You want us to be so combative that we’re being shoved by players in the locker room? Give me a fucking break!

Showing some restraint and temperance doesn’t make you a pussy. Being fair to players and coaches doesn’t make you a pussy. The contemporary Philly sports media is trying to get away from the festering negativity that people like Howard and Angelo infused into an entire generation of miserable fucking dopes. We’re trying to deconstruct that and look at things in a more pragmatic way. We’re also less hostile than our predecessors because we’ve seen a World Series and two Super Bowl victories. We’re happier than the grumpy boomers and we don’t live our lives inside this echo chamber of pessimism.

Play the song!