Colin Cowherd Twitter: The Sports Media Maverick Who Masters Controversy
Why the FS1 host abandoned social media, how his takes spark outrage, and what his Chicago move reveals about modern sports broadcasting
November 6, 2025 — Chicago, Illinois
The most interesting thing about Colin Cowherd's Twitter presence is that he's not actually there.
While his @TheHerd account remains active on social media, somebody else is running it. "We rely to some degree on social media. Initially, when Elon Musk took over Twitter, my takeaway was the media has an agenda, they will be anti-Elon Musk. I'm just going to go in and just watch it develop, not going to take a side. Immediately, too many annoying ads. Soon after that, too many violent videos. Too much stuff was getting through that was gross," Cowherd explained on his podcast in 2023.
And yet, despite his physical absence from the platform, Cowherd's voice — controversial, calculated, occasionally infuriating — dominates sports media discourse more than ever. His takes trend. His clips go viral. His opinions spark debate across every social platform he's abandoned. It's a paradox that defines modern sports media: you don't need to be on Twitter to own the conversation.
Welcome to the world of Colin Cowherd, where being wrong is sometimes more valuable than being right, where controversy is currency, and where a strategically deployed hot take can generate more engagement than a thousand thoughtful analyses.
The Social Media Paradox
"I find the Elon Musk Twitter experience—and I try to be fair about it—just an increasingly poor experience," Cowherd said during a conversation with fellow Fox Sports personality Nick Wright. The two discussed what Wright called Musk's dismantling of the verified user experience, making it nearly impossible to separate genuine engagement from bot-driven toxicity.
With Cowherd no longer actively tweeting, it has given him time to do other things, which includes a side project that he is not ready to reveal just yet. "The truth is I have now worked out for 13 straight days for at least an hour, mostly 90 minutes. I have a little passion project on the side, which I won't disclose now, but I probably will soon in a few months that I developed just because I had more time," he said.
But here's what makes Cowherd's strategy brilliant: by delegating his social media presence, he's insulated from the immediate backlash that comes with his most controversial takes while still reaping the benefits of virality. His team posts clips from "The Herd" that generate thousands of replies — most negative, some supportive, all engagement — and Cowherd never has to read a single one.
"I don't care how 'above it' you claim to be. If you have thousands of strangers saying basically, 'You suck,' it's going to get in your head somehow. And the flip side is if you have thousands of strangers saying 'you're the greatest, it's going to get in your head somehow," Wright noted, articulating the mental health cost of constant social media engagement.
Cowherd solved that problem by simply opting out.
The Caitlin Clark Controversy
In May 2025, Cowherd ignited one of the year's biggest sports media controversies with his take on WNBA "gatekeeping" fans. "There's these people who are fans of indie bands, international soccer and the WNBA. They have this gatekeeping mentality. We'll tell you who's great. Colin, I was watching the WNBA long before Caitlin Clark. Well, uh, yeah. It's not my problem your social life was boring. I'm not gonna apologize for watching when it got really interesting," he said.
The "your social life was boring" line went nuclear on social media, generating millions of impressions and positioning Cowherd as either a truth-telling provocateur or an out-of-touch elitist, depending on your perspective.
"WNBA players have weirdly been fighting growth... get out of your own way. It is a bad look," Cowherd continued. "And I've said this about Steph Curry. I love Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler and Podz, but if you take Steph Curry out of the Warriors, they're kind of boring. And if you take Caitlin Clark out of the WNBA, and her team, it's not the same. She's packing now larger arenas. She's taking and making shots nobody's ever done in the history of the sport. She is Steph Curry."
Was he wrong? Not entirely. Clark did drive unprecedented ratings and attendance. But the dismissive tone — essentially telling longtime WNBA fans their devotion didn't matter until a mainstream star arrived — revealed Cowherd's blind spot: he values popularity over authenticity, ratings over loyalty.
In the same way Spike Eskin navigated Philadelphia's demanding sports radio landscape, Cowherd has mastered the art of calculated controversy. But where Eskin faces immediate accountability from passionate local fans, Cowherd operates on a national stage with insulation from direct consequences.
The Flip-Flop Problem
Perhaps no criticism follows Cowherd more consistently than accusations of flip-flopping. In October 2025, fans grilled Cowherd for changing his tune on Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. "You flip-flop more than any talking head in history lol," one fan said after Cowherd praised Williams' performance under new head coach Ben Johnson, despite having criticized the quarterback just days earlier.
"You were just complaining about him being a 'supporting actor' a couple days ago. Your stories are less straight than your teeth," another fan said, a harsh but revealing comment about how Cowherd's credibility erodes with each contradictory take.
The pattern repeats across sports. In October 2025, Cowherd claimed the Green Bay Packers "can't really run" and are "very bad on third down," statements that were demonstrably false according to actual statistics. Fans and analysts alike skewered him for making claims without watching the games.
"With Mike Francesa's move exclusively to a podcast, Cowherd became the worst gasbag in sports broadcasting," one commenter posted. Another asked: "How many games of Packers Colin actually watched this season over 1.5 or under?"
The criticism hits at something fundamental: Cowherd often prioritizes narrative construction over factual accuracy. He'll build an argument that sounds compelling in an eight-minute segment, even if the underlying premise is questionable. And because most casual viewers don't fact-check his claims, he gets away with it more often than not.
The Chicago Move and Fox Contract Extension
In June 2025, Fox Sports announced that The Herd would shift production to Chicago later this year as part of a new contract Cowherd recently signed. Cowherd and his wife are already living in the city since she's an interior designer in town, making the move both professional and personal.
According to reports, Cowherd bought a downtown condo last year for $3.25 million and purchased a home in north suburban Winnetka last December for $4.45 million. Cowherd plans to split time between Chicago and Los Angeles, which has experienced wildfires and an ongoing exodus of TV production in recent years.
The new studio is being built in Fox's Big Ten Network headquarters on the city's near North Side, a strategic location that positions "The Herd" closer to Midwest sports stories while maintaining proximity to major college and professional franchises.
"I love Chicago. My two favorite cities are London and Chicago," Cowherd said, though critics questioned whether the move signaled declining relevance in Los Angeles or simply smart diversification.
While Cowherd's live ratings are modest at best (averaging 142,000 viewers a day through June 2024, down from a year before), Cowherd relies more on clips of the show on social media platforms to reach more people, especially those who don't subscribe to cable.
That stat reveals everything about modern sports media: traditional viewership matters less than digital reach. Cowherd's show might average 142,000 linear viewers, but his clips generate millions of views across Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. He's built a media empire optimized for fragmented attention spans, not appointment viewing.
The Jason McIntyre Problem
In July 2025, when Cowherd took vacation and was replaced by co-host Jason McIntyre, fans revolted. "The irony. I want to watch Colin Cowherd on The Herd, not Jason McIntyre," one fan said. "The best thing for this show while Colin is away, it's to be shut off," another person suggested. "McIntyre is the worst possible option in the whole industry, oh my god," a third fan commented.
The backlash revealed something important: for all the criticism Cowherd receives, his audience genuinely prefers him to alternatives. McIntyre — the founder of "The Big Lead" who's been co-host for years — couldn't command the same attention or engagement, even when given the entire platform.
"I never thought I'd say this, but please come back from vacation, @colincowherd - this is awful," another fan said, articulating what many felt: Cowherd's unique blend of confidence, controversy, and conversational style can't be easily replicated.
Similar to how Breece Hall's value to the Jets became clearer when they considered trading him, Cowherd's worth to Fox Sports crystallized during his absence. The show simply doesn't work without him, which explains why Fox committed to the Chicago studio build and contract extension.
The Strategic Topic Selection
In October 2025, Cowherd explained why he refused to cover Pablo Torre's investigative report about the Los Angeles Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, and owner Steve Ballmer. "The reason I haven't talked about it is I don't care. The Clippers are not a topic on L.A. sports radio," he said bluntly.
"One of the things I found through the years — NCAA stories, the audience doesn't care. They know they're incompetent. The Kawhi Leonard [story]... it's the Clippers. Kawhi is an enigmatic, nonverbal, unlikable star. The Clippers are about the eighth most popular sports topic in the city in which they are based," Cowherd explained.
His frankness is both refreshing and troubling. Refreshing because most hosts pretend every story matters equally. Troubling because it reveals the calculation behind his coverage — he's not serving the story, he's serving the algorithm.
"I think it's [Torre's reporting] made for podcasting, not made for broadcasting. I every day choose stuff I can talk about in an eight-minute segment. That's what works for my audience," Cowherd concluded.
This philosophy — prioritizing digestibility over depth, virality over importance — defines Cowherd's entire approach. He's not trying to be the most insightful analyst. He's trying to be the most engaging content creator, which in 2025, might be more valuable.
The NBA Champions Rankings Controversy
In June 2025, Cowherd ranked the last seven NBA champions, placing the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers at the top, followed by the 2024 Boston Celtics and the 2023 Denver Nuggets. The 2019 Toronto Raptors came in last, a ranking that immediately sparked backlash.
Fans took to social media to roast the list. "Most of them are saying that the rankings are wrong and that the Lakers don't deserve the top spot," one outlet noted, though they conceded that ranking exercises are inherently subjective.
But subjectivity aside, Cowherd's Lakers ranking felt suspiciously convenient for someone who broadcasts from Los Angeles (or at least did, before Chicago). It's the kind of take that generates engagement — Lakers fans defend it, everyone else attacks it, and Cowherd sits back watching the metrics climb.
Much like the Lakers' dramatic comeback against the Spurs that captivated basketball fans, Cowherd understands that Lakers-centric content performs better than nuanced analysis of smaller-market teams. It's not journalism. It's traffic optimization.
The Sauce Gardner Trade Reaction
In November 2025, when the New York Jets traded two-time All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts, Cowherd credited the Jets for recognizing their current position and making a calculated decision. By moving Gardner, New York secured valuable draft capital that positions them to address their most glaring need — a franchise quarterback.
For once, Cowherd's take felt measured and thoughtful. The timing of the trade raised questions after the Jets committed significant resources to Gardner earlier in the year. The cornerback signed a four-year extension worth $120.4 million in July, making the November trade surprising but strategically sound given the franchise's organizational chaos.
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"Those two first-round selections could provide the pathway to finally securing that piece," Cowherd noted, articulating what many analysts felt: the Jets needed to reset, and Gardner's trade value would never be higher.
It's moments like these — when Cowherd offers genuine analysis instead of performance art — that remind viewers why Fox extended his contract. Beneath the hot takes and flip-flops, there's actual sports intelligence.
The Future of Sports Talk
Cowherd is known for making controversial and bizarre statements on-air. In September, he insisted the Tennessee Titans beat the Chicago Bears in their season opener when the opposite happened. In October, Cowherd anticipated a New York Mets-San Diego Padres World Series. The problem? Both teams are in the National League.
These errors should be career-killers. But in the attention economy, they're just content. Each mistake generates corrections, which generate engagement, which generates revenue. Cowherd discovered something profound: being memorably wrong is more valuable than being forgettably right.
"My point being is we live in this outrage blender. Everything is the end of the world and virtually nothing is. If you have a bad day, a bad team, or a bad moment, stuff is never as bad as you think," Cowherd said, a rare moment of self-awareness about the ecosystem he's helped create.
The Verdict on Cowherd
Colin Cowherd isn't the best sports analyst. He's not the most accurate. He's not the most insightful. But he might be the most important figure in understanding how sports media evolved in the 2020s.
He abandoned Twitter but dominates social discourse. He makes factual errors but maintains his platform. He flip-flops constantly but retains audience loyalty. He optimizes for clips, not conversations. He values engagement over enlightenment.
And it works.
Fox Sports didn't extend Cowherd's contract and build him a Chicago studio because he's always right. They did it because he's always relevant. In an era where attention is currency and virality trumps accuracy, Cowherd has mastered the game.
His absence from Twitter is actually his greatest strategic move. By delegating social media management, he insulates himself from toxicity while harvesting the benefits of controversy. His team posts clips that generate outrage. Fans and critics amplify those clips through quote-tweets and reactions. The algorithm rewards engagement regardless of sentiment. And Cowherd never has to read a single hateful reply.
It's genius, if you value reach over responsibility. It's troubling, if you value journalism over entertainment.
The Bigger Picture
What Cowherd represents — and this is either inspiring or depressing depending on your perspective — is the complete transformation of sports media from information delivery to content performance.
Journalists used to be gatekeepers. Now they're engagement farmers. Analysis used to require expertise. Now it requires confidence and controversy. Truth used to matter. Now memorability matters.
Cowherd didn't create this system, but he's perfected it. Every eight-minute segment is optimized for shareability. Every take is calibrated to generate reactions. Every controversy is calculated to maximize reach.
His critics call it pandering. His defenders call it understanding the audience. Both are right.
The Final Word
In his Chicago studio later this year, Colin Cowherd will continue doing what he's always done: talking about sports with the confidence of someone who knows being interesting matters more than being correct. His clips will trend. His takes will infuriate. His audience will tune in, if only to hate-watch.
And somewhere in the depths of Twitter — the platform he abandoned but still dominates — thousands of users will share his clips, argue about his takes, and inadvertently prove that the sports media maverick who refuses to tweet has mastered social media better than anyone still posting.
The joke, ultimately, is on all of us. We complain about Cowherd's hot takes while amplifying them. We mock his flip-flops while spreading them. We criticize his inaccuracy while giving him exactly what he needs: attention.
"Twitter falling apart, while it'll be harder to follow the news, might be good for me because I'm compulsively reading the news on it. I could probably catch up on the news three times a day, instead of every three minutes," Nick Wright said during their conversation about social media's future.
Cowherd took that philosophy further. He doesn't check Twitter three times a day. He doesn't check it at all. Someone else handles that burden while he focuses on what he does best: generating the kind of controversial, compelling, occasionally infuriating content that defines modern sports talk.
Love him or hate him — and most people have strong opinions either way — you can't ignore him. Which is exactly how Colin Cowherd designed it.
In an industry that rewards controversy over clarity, engagement over accuracy, and virality over truth, Cowherd isn't the problem. He's just the most honest reflection of what sports media has become.
And that realization, more than any hot take, is the most uncomfortable truth of all.
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