1. Regular Traina Thoughts readers know we love it when things get a little awkward on live TV, so we need to thank Reggie Miller today.
The TNT analyst dropped a one-liner during Thursday’s Bucks-Lakers game that left his play-by-play partner, Kevin Harlan, speechless.
Part of why Harlan was left speechless and part of why this was such an enjoyable moment is because there’s an unwritten rule that people shouldn’t joke about player injuries.
But the player in question was Lakers forward Anthony Davis, who is known for always being hurt. So Miller went there.
Davis went down in the fourth quarter after getting his legs tangled up with a Bucks player.
“Grimacing right there, AD,” said sideline reporter Chris Haynes.
Without missing a beat, Miller said, “That’s the last thing Lakers fans wanna see. Any time AD grimaces, it’s three weeks.”
Hell of a line.
Harlan initially let out a very short laugh but then remained silent for eight full seconds, while he tried to recover, causing Miller to sarcastically ask, “What?” as if he didn’t know why Harlan was flustered.
Harlan, the true pro that he is, tried to carry on as if nothing happened after the savage one-liner, saying, “He has his fifth personal foul.”
However, Harlan was still trying to fight back laughter and then stayed silent for another nine seconds while trying to gather himself.
Nicely done, Reggie.
2. Brett Favre is suing Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe for defamation because both guys talked about the stories regarding Favre allegedly misusing state welfare funds.
I’m not sure why Favre and his team are suing only Favre and Sharpe when it seemed like every person in sports media has gone after Favre over the allegations.
“Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee tried to further their careers by making baseless defamatory allegations against Brett Favre,” a spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
Sure, Pat McAfee was really struggling in building his media empire until he went after Favre.
It doesn’t seem like McAfee is overly concerned about the lawsuit.
3. Kelly Clarkson reworked one of the greatest pop songs of all time to pay tribute to Tom Brady at Thursday’s NFL Honors.
4. Is Charles Barkley ready to expand his portfolio? It seems he will have the opportunity to do so if CNN gets his way because the network reportedly wants the TNT analyst for a prime-time show.
5. I jumped on this week’s MMQB podcast with Gary Gramling and Mitch Goldich to talk Super Bowl prop bets and give out some wagers I liked for Sunday’s Chiefs-Eagles game. I’ll give you the bet I like the most for Sunday: over 20.5 receiving yards for Kansas City running back Jerick McKinnon.
6. A new SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped today, and it features two interviews.
First up is Richard Deitsch of The Athletic to discuss the latest sports media news. Topics covered include Tom Brady’s taking a year off before joining Fox, the recent backlash against Tony Romo, expectations for Fox’s Super Bowl coverage, how Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen will fare calling the Super Bowl, Stephen A. Smith’s and Jay Williams’s getting into a nasty back-and-forth on First Take, Radio Row, the WWE’s hottest story line in a long time and much more.
Following Deitsch, Adam Pullen, an assistant director of trading at Caesars Sportsbook, joins the podcast to talk about sports betting and all things related to Super Bowl betting. How big is Super Bowl wagering going to be this year? What is the most popular prop bet? Should you bet unders more than overs? Is the public behind the Chiefs or Eagles?
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
