FS1's Dan O'Toole Reminds Katie Nolan That He's Got Mouths to Feed

The Sporting News’ Michael McCarthy wrote the internet’s latest Katie Nolan profile. In it, the Garbage Time host expresses a desire to have a show on four or five nights a week and that her ideal time slot would be 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. It’s a logical goal for the fast-rising personality to target. The only problem is that the network she works for currently has a high-profile show, Fox Sports Live, occupying that spot.

Dan O’Toole, who co-anchors the network’s marquee nightly show with Jay Onrait, took notice of Nolan’s aspirations and responded with a tweet at 4:25 a.m. Saturday morning.

There’s always the possibility O’Toole was being sarcastic. His replies to Nolan fan defenders over the past 26 hours don’t exactly support that school of thought.

McCarthy followed up with O’Toole, Nolan and Fox Sports seeking comment on the back and forth and got nothing in return. He does support Nolan’s claim that her comments were made in regards to her career trajectory and weren’t specifically about a path at FS1.

Let’s give everyone involved the benefit of the doubt here. First, Nolan’s words came as part of a conversation that got turned to prose. It’s difficult to ascertain the context and tone. The same can be said for O’Toole’s tweet. This could all be a wry joke — and all of us who care about this kind of thing are making a mountain out of a molehill.

On the other hand, if O’Toole read Nolan’s comments as openly politicking for his job, he has every right to be upset. Using the media to campaign for greener pastures at the expense of others is poor form. To put it in sports parlance, this would be like a young but promising baseball player expressing his desire to move into the No. 3 slot to a newspaper reporter instead of talking to his manager.

FS1 has been aggressively pushing Nolan, including plastering up a giant ad in Times Square. O’Toole and Onrait have openly expressed their displeasure with the company in the past. If there’s a perception among the West Coast staff that the New York-based Nolan has been granted favored nation status, there will be friction.

Whether that’s what’s manifesting here is unclear. What’s clearer is that the Twitter public is overwhelmingly siding with Nolan in this dustup/fake dustup.

No surprise there.