Some people never forget a kindness, while also never forgiving someone for crossing a line. Veteran Dallas broadcaster Jody Dean painted that as a portrait of Troy Aikman, comparing the Dallas Cowboys legend to Eagles singer Don Henley.
Dean made his remarks while reacting to a report that laid bare just how badly the ESPN broadcasting partners’ relationship had deteriorated.
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Aikman and Buck’s partnership in the Monday Night Football booth was plastered across headlines after their rumored blowup. Initially, Front Office Sports reported that the two had argued before the Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Rams game on October 12, and that the issue had been sparked by contract tensions.
Since then, “In Touch Weekly” claimed that the argument nearly turned physical.
“It nearly got physical off air,” an unnamed source told the magazine. “They were very close to coming to blows.”
Puck’s Dylan Byers reported that the relationship had been getting worse even before the contract talks, with one source describing Aikman as “becoming increasingly cold, difficult, short, making comments” toward Buck.
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Reacting to this context, Dean wrote, “Troy has always reminded me of another guy I admire: Don Henley.”
Henley was one of the founding members of the band “Eagles” and its lead vocalist, delivering hits such as “Hotel California” and “Life in the Fast Lane.”
Dean continued: “He’ll go out of his way to do something kind and swear you to secrecy over it, but God help you if you cross his boundaries; and he doesn’t ever forget.”
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Buck finalized a six-year ESPN extension reportedly worth more than $100 million, while Aikman has no formal offer from the network. That flips how the pair arrived from Fox in 2022, when ESPN signed Aikman first and then found a way to bring Buck over.
Aikman himself addressed the issue in a Dallas radio interview on Oct. 15. “I don’t know that it’s hard to figure out kind of what’s happened,” he said, adding that he would “be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens.”
Byers also reported that Aikman felt betrayed that ESPN, Buck and their agency, CAA, kept him in the dark for months while Buck negotiated an early renewal under which the network proposed he might work without Aikman next season.
For now, Buck and Aikman are still sharing a booth. They called this week’s Monday Night Football game without any visible sign of the off-camera drama as they build toward calling Super Bowl 61.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.