What happens in Ireland doesn’t stay in Ireland, especially when ESPN’s Pat McAfee is involved. On Saturday morning, McAfee took his place on the set of “College GameDay” with no visible signs of a hangover, despite making a jaw-dropping claim about his antics the day before.
During Friday afternoon’s live show in Dublin, McAfee confessed to downing an incredible 30 pints of Guinness while soaking in the Irish atmosphere. “What’s the crack, as they say around here? That means, what’s the story,” McAfee quipped. “The story for me was 30 Guinnesses. So, it is an honor to be in this city.”
The bold admission led “GameDay” host Rece Davis to ask McAfee if he had managed to “split the G” on all 30 pints—a reference to the local drinking challenge where drinkers aim to align the top of their beer with the middle of the letter “G” on the Guinness logo.
But McAfee had a different approach to his marathon drinking session. “‘Split the G’ is what the people do, but I powered right through those normally and just made those things disappear,” he explained. “That’s what you have to do when you’re in Ireland among these great people.”
Clearly taken by the experience, McAfee went on to suggest that “College GameDay” should make a remote broadcast in Ireland a regular occurrence. “This should become an annual tradition for us, I think,” he proposed, perhaps already thinking about building up his Guinness tolerance for next year.
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The college football season officially kicked off at noon on Saturday with No. 10 Florida State facing off against Georgia Tech in Dublin, where a crowd of around 47,000 fans, including 25,000 visitors, was expected, according to Davis.
The revelry began the day before at J.R. Mahon’s Pub, where McAfee and the “GameDay” crew broadcasted live. “We’re already drunk,” McAfee announced just minutes into the show. As the beers kept flowing, McAfee later admitted, “We should not be on TV right now.”
By the end of the broadcast, McAfee estimated he was “10 beers deep.” If his claim of drinking 30 Guinnesses is accurate, that means he consumed another 20 pints after the cameras stopped rolling, yet still managed to show up ready for the 9 a.m. start of “GameDay” the next morning.
The Dublin broadcast also marked the introduction of former Alabama head coach Nick Saban to the “GameDay” team, making McAfee’s spirited performance all the more memorable.
Whether or not the Guinness count was exaggerated, one thing is clear: McAfee knows how to make the most of a trip to Ireland, and he’s more than ready to do it all again next year.
