Luke Littler Compared To NFL Player On US TV As Meltdown Discussed

Luke Littler's meltdown after his round of 16 win has piqued the interest of television in the United States after it was covered in a segment.

Reigning champion Littler is in World Darts Championship quarter final action on New Year's Day when he takes on Krzysztof Ratajski.

It will be Littler's first match at Alexandra Palace since he snapped at the crowd for loudly booing him in his 4-2 win over Rob Cross.

The 18-year-old produced an animated celebration when he checked out for the win and then after more whistling from the hostile crowd, spoke out in his Sky Sports interview.

"I'm not bothered," Littler said.

"Really not bothered. Can I just say one thing? You guys pay for tickets, and you pay for my prize money, so thanks for booing me."

In his press conference, Littler admitted that he "lost it" on stage but claimed he "would have started throwing my darts left hand" if it happened two years ago in a sign of maturity.

Littler's mum hit out at the crowd in an x-rated social media comment, calling the fans "vile t**ts".

The post-match scenes generated huge headlines, to the point that even media in America covered the controversy.

On The Pat McAfee Show, which is streamed live on ESPN, the former NFL kicker host introduced a segment on Littler by bringing up a "crazy day in darts yesterday" and stating that the sport's "youngest and brightest star did something that I've never seen him do".

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Littler compared to NFL sensation

In a segment which had the title, "Luke Littler has turned heel" on social media and featured bizarre impressions of 'The Nuke', the former WWE superstar and commentator McAfee discussed the innate way in which the crowd reacts at Alexandra Palace before Ty Schmit talked up Littler and even compared his situation to Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes and how NFL fans changed their tune on him after success.

"He is arguably the greatest athlete in the world right now, most dominant athlete I think you could probably say," Schmit claimed.

"It's happened to Patrick Mahomes - this guy starts winning Super Bowls and while he is a likeable, very lovable guy - people just start going, 'You know what I hate this son of a b***h'.

"I think we become more fond of him - I know I have to see a few of his press conferences. But the surgical precision of his gameplay - watching darts if you've never done it you're kind of just waiting for a 180, a triple 20.."

McAfee interjected and added: "He had 17 of those in his match with Rob Cross. He's 18 years old. We've seen him for multiple years now as this young phenom and prodigy and he started winning these darts matches in tournaments.

"He qualified for the quarter finals on New Year's Day after beating Rob Cross and we assume he'll win that one and then he'll win again.

"I assume it's going to be the same hostile environment here. This tournament, is, I guess not big Luke Littler fans but what we need the world to know is since this guy's entered the darts community he's been the guy.

"Not everybody's going to like that, especially the old guard - he's worrying about vapes and kebabs and everybody else is worrying about putting a roof on their head. It'll probably ruffle some feathers.

"It's Luke Littler dartball, it is literally what Luke Littler has done since the beginning. It's why we love him."

Littler was a huge crowd favourite when he was the undergo but after an unprecedented dominant run in the sport which saw him become the No.1 ranked player, now his opponents are getting the support.

The Warrington player said it was "the first time I've been at the World Championships and the crowd haven't wanted me to win" and said he would "expect the worst on New Year's Day" irrespective of his opponent.

With £100,000 already guaranteed, Littler will face Polish player Ratajsk in the evening session and will double his prize money with victory

He is out to become just the fourth player to win successive PDC World Darts Championships and will pocket a whopping £1 million prize if he does go all the way again.