1. Here’s one way to spice up a lengthy baseball broadcast: Put one of the greatest living comedians in the booth.
Bill Burr joined NESN’s telecast of Tuesday’s Blue Jays–Red Sox game and put on a stellar performance.
Just having Burr involved in a live broadcast is exciting because he’s prone to saying things that will give censors panic attacks. Last night, though, he kept things relatively tame … until the end of his appearance.
I don’t want to give you the specifics because I want you to go in fresh when you watch the clip, but among the highlights:
• Burr told play-by-play man Dave O’Brien to shut up after O’Brien was talking over a play.
• He poked fun at Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter for habitually jumping away from pitches that were right down the middle.
• He mocked Toronto and its fans and called people in Canada, “low-key hostile.”
• He took a shot at Vitaminwater.
Watch and enjoy.
I’ll take this over analysts talking about WAR and exit velocity every single day.
2. It’s Wednesday, so that means Chris “Mad Dog” Russo joined Stephen A. Smith on First Take for A LOT of screaming, yelling and fighting.
3. I'm glad I binged Winning Time over the weekend considering all the backlash that has come toward the show this week.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar blasted the show a couple of days ago and last night, Jerry West went public for his demand of a retraction after the show portrayed him as a very angry and somewhat unstable individual.
My take: Watch the show for pure entertainment purposes and take everything with a grain of salt.
4. Just some wholesome content that we all need, courtesy of Suns star Devin Booker.
5. One correction from yesterday’s Traina Thoughts. I posted a tweet that said the NBA had its best playoff opening weekend in terms of viewership since 2018.
It was actually the NBA’s best since 2011.
6. This week’s Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features a conversation with Ian Eagle from Turner Sports and CBS. The podcast closes out with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Chris Long, former Super Bowl champion and host of the Green Light Podcast, fills in for Sal Licata.
Eagle previews the NBA playoffs, talks about the Nets’ bizarre season and explains what went wrong with the Lakers. He also weighs in on the Inside the NBA crew mocking the Timberwolves’ celebration after winning their play-in game, Greg Gumbel's recent SI Media Podcast comments on broadcasters not bringing any viewers to a telecast and the recent explosion in NFL broadcaster salaries. We also discuss the NCAA tournament, Bill Raftery, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and more.
Following the conversation with Eagle, Long joins Jimmy for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s segment features thoughts on the story that Tom Brady and Sean Payton had a plan to join the Dolphins, the USFL, the NFL’s social media trend, Severance on Apple TV+, Tiger Woods and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
