1. Sports fans seem to pay very close attention to anything Joe Buck does these days. The voice of Monday Night Football (and recent SI Media Podcast guest) always trends when he calls a game, but Monday, Buck didn’t draw attention for his play-by-play work. This time, it was Buck’s intro to the Saints-Bucs game on ESPN that caught fans’ attention.
Buck sounded hyped—very hyped—to be calling a 5–6 vs. 4–8 matchup.
As we saw the scene outside the stadium, Buck said, “The weather is beautiful in Tampa, Florida. It’s Week 13. Good matchup in the NFC South. It’s DECEMBER! Can you believe it? Already December. Bucs and Saints, coming up!”
After that, the camera cut to Tom Brady running on the field, and Buck got very excited at the sight of the GOAT, who launched his trademark pregame “LET’S F---ING GO!” rally cry.
“There he is. All eyes on 12. He’s ready to go. Look. He’s gonna prove it. YEAH! Let’s go. I can’t say one of those words. Mike Evans, what’s going on with that combo with Tom Brady? They better figure that out here down the stretch. There he is, the Red Rifle. Got that beard all tucked into that chin strap ready to go. Tenth consecutive start for the Saints.”
Yes, Buck was so fired up for the game he even got excited at the sight of Andy Dalton.
Buck’s performance quickly became fodder for Twitter, which had some fun opining about what had gotten into the legendary play-by-play caller.
Obviously, it’s beyond preposterous for anyone to think Buck would imbibe before a game, but it was fun to see the array of substances people thought could be responsible for Buck’s enthusiasm.
If all these people listened to the SI Media Podcast, they’d know that Buck is thrilled to be calling Monday Night Football and is having a blast this season, so this excitement was all natural.
2. Saints running back had a shocking blunder that helped his team choke away a late 16–3 lead to the Bucs on Monday when he ran out of bounds instead of finishing a run for a first down.
After his team’s 17–16 loss, Ingram apologized via Twitter.
3. The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx remains real. This morning, it was announced that Stephen Curry is SI’s Sportsperson of the Year.
Curry knew the announcement was coming today and ended up having his worst game of the season last night in Golden State’s 112–104 loss to Indiana.
4. The NFL announced the slate of games that will take place on the Saturday (Dec. 17) of Week 15.
1:00 p.m. ET: Colts vs. Vikings
4:30 p.m. ET: Ravens vs. Browns
8:15 p.m. ET: Dolphins vs. Bills
All games will air on the NFL Network. If anyone from the NFL Network is reading this, may I suggest letting the Good Morning Football crew of Kyle Brandt, Peter Schrager, Jason McCourty and Jamie Erdahl call one of the games?
Also of note for Week 15, Giants at Commanders has been flexed into the Sunday-night game on NBC with Raiders-Patriots getting bumped to 1 p.m.
5. Giannis is ready for an amazing birthday.
6. This week's SI Media Podcast features a conversation with the voice of Sunday Night Football on NBC, Mike Tirico.
Tirico, who took over the role from Al Michaels this year, talks about how closely he pays attention to NBC's flex scheduling options, what goes into flexing a game and the logistics of flexing. Tirico also shares how he watches games every Sunday, the difference between doing Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football, his stance on referencing point spreads and over/unders during games and much more.
Following Tirico, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins Jimmy for their weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Jimmy talks about Jim Nantz’s mentioning his name during the Bills-Lions telecast on Thanksgiving, the sad state of Charles Barkley’s friendship with Michael Jordan, Spotify Unwrapped and more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
