1. In this day and age of conspiracy theories, things that seem straightforward get questioned or doubted.
The Pat Fitzgerald situation is straightforward. Northwestern football players revealed detailed accounts of hazing. Other players alleged Fitzgerald made Black players cut their dreadlocks, among other things. The school did an investigation. University president Michael Schill said 11 current or former college athletes acknowledged the hazing with the football team. Fitzgerald got fired.
This is not a complicated story.
Yet, some in the media made sure to go public with their opinion that there may be more to the story.
Many more details to come Im certain, but it’s hard to believe all these accusations are true. I’ll keep an open mind but @coachfitz51 has been a remarkably gifted and charismatic Head Coach for a long time.Given the circumstances I’ll simply say, I need more information. pic.twitter.com/Jk8agnJsTC
— Tim Brando (@TimBrando) July 11, 2023
Actually, the details we have now seem like more than enough. There is no need for “many more details to come.” Eleven players confirmed the hazing. Do you need 15 to confirm it? Twenty? What’s the magic number? Also, Pat Fitzgerald’s being charismatic has absolutely nothing to do with whether Northwestern players were participating in hazing.
I hate this. Pat Fitzgerald is a good human who cared about his players deeply. He ran his program the right way and has a stellar reputation. I have never heard anyone have a bad thing to say about him. This feels wrong.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) July 10, 2023
You never heard anyone have a bad thing to say about him, but 11 players just corroborated the hazing accusations. That means (a) you have heard someone have a bad thing to say about him, and (b) he didn’t run his program the right way.
I realize you all want to cancel Pat Fitzgerald and want me to cancel him too…immediately.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 9, 2023
Unfortunately, when you have a 27-year relationship with a person, you can’t read one story, or an account attributed to one or two people, and cancel a man who you know to be one of the…
Again, 11 people told the university president that hazing was going on, not one or two. Just because you like Pat Fitzgerald, that doesn't mean the players revealing what happened are lying.
And let me be clear about something because I know many of the Fitzgerald defenders are going to say, “He didn’t know about the hazing.”
Whether he knew is irrelevant. He’s the head football coach. If he didn’t know, that’s also on him.
The only take these people should have is that the kids at The Daily Northwestern did something that took guts in reporting the story about their own school, and they were ultimately proved right based on the president’s statement.
2. Speaking of bizarre media stuff, this Seattle radio host harassing Orioles pitcher Félix Bautista about Baltimore’s social media team nicknaming him “King Félix” because he feels it’s a slight to Mariners legend Félix Hernández is so embarrassing and just plain weird.
Straight from the horses mouth. Knock that shit off @Orioles pic.twitter.com/BILSTxuyDx
— Dave “Softy” Mahler (@Softykjr) July 10, 2023
3. Our friend on Twitter, @SportsTVRatings provided us with an update on viewership numbers for various sports events over the weekend.
most-watched sporting telecasts of the weekend:
— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) July 11, 2023
7/9: NASCAR Cup Series, USA: 2.56 million
7/8: Mexico/Costa Rica Gold Cup, UNI: 2.472M
7/9: USA/Canada Gold Cup, UNI, 2.323M
7/8: FOX MLB Saturday: 2.201M
7/9: PGA John Deere Classic, CBS: 1.587M
7/9: US Women's Open, NBC: 1.548M
What should be noted is that WWE’s Friday Night SmackDown on Fox outrated all these sporting events, drawing 2,561,000 viewers. I was at this show since it took place in Madison Square Garden and if you’re a wrestling fan who has the chance to attend a live show, you must. Being in the stands for Roman Reigns demanding that the crowd acknowledge him and for nearly 20,000 people all singing Seth Rollins’s theme song for what felt like five minutes straight was absolutely electric.
4. Speaking of ratings, ESPN's various SportsCenters have experienced ratings growth, led by recent SI Media podcast guest Scott Van Pelt, whose viewership is up 13% over the first half of 2022.
ESPN viewership down? "SportsCenter" declining? Not so fast.
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) July 10, 2023
🔲 ESPN total-day audience is +2% thru June (compared to 1st half 2022). Continues gains seen last year
🔲@SportsCenter (all) +7%
🔲 Scott Van Pelt top "SC" window at 745,000 viewers (+13%).https://t.co/dnt666LadU pic.twitter.com/87Onx5oSXT
5. Netflix's documentary, Quarterback, which covered the 2022 seasons of Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota, comes out Wednesday and based on the trailer, looks like a must-watch.
It's almost time for kick off!
— Netflix (@netflix) July 10, 2023
Watch the first four minutes of Quarterback, our new docuseries following Marcus Mariota, Kirk Cousins, Patrick Mahomes. Premieres this Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/NOIsORFmjB
6. Before I left for vacation, I dropped two podcasts.
First up was a great conversation with Adam Schein of SiriusXM and CBS Sports Network.
Schein talked about the challenges of doing a national show for SiriusXM and the differences between hosting a radio show and podcast, who he'd like to interview right now, what he does on the radio during a slow news day, the radio gimmicks he hates, why he took on a podcast, having the perfect voice for radio and more.
I also did a quick podcast about the ESPN layoffs and shared my thoughts on the sad turn of events at the World Wide Leader. This podcast also featured my weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment where we read Apple reviews for the month of June.
You can also listen to the podcasts on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I saw this video on Twitter and had no recollection of when it happened. Slugger Albert Belle, who should be in the Hall of Fame, was once hit by a pitch but refused to go to first base.
That time Albert Belle refused to take first after getting hit by a pitch pic.twitter.com/hdaYmOIbzB
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) July 10, 2023
