'You're Not Going to F-ing Talk to Me?': The Beef Between Joe Buck and Troy Aikman Continues to Escalate

Stephen Lovekin. Shutterstock Images.

If there's one thing you learn when you've been with the same partner for any length of time, it's that couples fight. The advice you always get from the churches pre-marriage classes, self-help books, relationship experts, and well-meaning family in friends is that the key to a good relationship is honest, open communication. But I'm not aware of it ever being tried, and I know I wasn't going to be the first. To quote a bit Seinfeld has said is his all-time favorite joke, "My wife says I don't pay attention to her. As least I think that's what she said. I wasn't really listening. …" 

Well it would seem that's the point the ongoing divorce between Joe Buck and Troy Aikman is at. The one Mut wrote about last week:

Things are getting uglier between the two. It sounds like the Monday Night Football booth is big enough for the two of them. And now they've officially hit the fingers-in-the-ears "La la la. I'm not listening" phase of their inevitable breakup. According to this report, anyway:

… Buck's side in the dispute over a new contract. 

Source -  Before Troy Aikman and Joe Buck blew up at each other in the SoFi Stadium TV booth before ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” game on Oct. 12, Aikman had a tense one-hour chat with the network’s chairman, Jimmy Pitaro [about] whether there is a future for the duo, according to sources with direct knowledge of the conversation who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. …

The pair’s argument in the booth, first reported by Front Office Sports earlier this month, made the divide between the legendary tandem a public spectacle. The exact details had not been previously reported until today.

The Athletic spoke to sources with direct knowledge of what was said in the expletive-filled spat, including why Aikman believes Buck is responsible for manipulating the end of his ESPN career and the reason Buck thinks Aikman did it to himself.

It is clear ESPN has taken Buck’s side in the pending divorce.

As is so often the case, they're fighting over money.:

Adding to the tension, in the early spring of this year, ESPN and Buck quietly and quickly reached an agreement on a new six-year, $108 million deal that included a 17.9 percent raise from his previous deal and an extra year from his original contract. Neither Buck nor ESPN told Aikman about the extension. …

Aikman took Buck’s secretiveness as a betrayal, while Buck felt it was similar to how Aikman conducted his personal business throughout their run together. … When Aikman left for ESPN, he did so without knowing if Buck, who had a year left on his Fox deal, would be able to follow.

And as always, it's the kids around them are suffering.:

ESPN executives had observed the tension over the first four years with Buck and Aikman. The two had cycled through five “Monday Night” producers and directors before finally feeling comfortable with the tandem of ESPN lifer Steve Ackles and Artie Kempner, a former Fox colleague. 

Sources briefed on Buck’s point of view claim that Aikman’s barking orders for replays he desired made situations untenable for the production staff, while sources with knowledge of Aikman’s perspective believe that Buck is a master of manipulating to get what he wants. …

According to the recollection of sources with direct knowledge of the encounter at SoFi Stadium, Buck initiated the conversation by saying to Aikman, “You are not going to f—ing talk to me?”

Aikman, according to sources aware of his thinking, felt Buck wanted to force a public backlash to appear as the good guy. As the discussion went on, Buck defended himself by saying, “I’m not the reason you don’t have a contract.”

The 59-year-old Aikman, who sources said had long harbored feelings that Buck was behind the incessant producer and director turnover during their “Monday Night” tenure, shot back, “I just never thought you’d do it to me.”

Buck, 57, responded, “They got rid of them because you were screaming at them.”

It can be tough enough keeping a relationship together in private. Hell, even show business collaborations that went tits up were able to keep the beefs behind the scenes. Lennon and McCartney. Glenn Frey and Don Henley. David Gilmour and Rogers Waters. Hall and Oates. In the '90s, VH1's Behind the Music turned "But offstage for the band, things were falling apart," into a catchphrase. 

Imagine having to play out the drama that say, Fleetwood Mac went through in front of a sold out arena. That's pretty much what's going on with Buck and Aikman. Except the arena in question is prime time television with tens of millions in the audience. 

Though I use this comparison intentionally. Because while Fleetwood Mac was at the height of their conflicts, with messy breakups, cheating, fighting, the silent treatment, they produced Rumours, one of the most acclaimed and highest-selling albums of all time. Buck and Aikman can do likewise as the season grinds on. It's one thing to tune in to hear them yammer on about James Cook or Kyler Murray this coming Monday. But getting to watch them stare daggers at each other, knowing these are the first words they've spoken all week? That's TV gold. The more we hear about how much they hate each other, the more interested I am to watch them interact. 

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The best part will come on Valentine's Day, 2027, when they do the Super Bowl together. No matter which teams are involved, the real action will be in the booth. And this Battle of Troy will be one where we all win.