1. Mental health has become a big topic in this country in recent years, but some people still don’t get it. You might not expect this to become an issue on a sports-talk radio show, but that was the case Tuesday morning on New York’s WFAN. The result was host Gregg Giannotti’s offering an impassioned and accurate explanation of what it’s like to deal with a mental illness and why the stigma around mental illness needs to change.
It all started with a caller on Tuesday’s show who told Giannotti and Boomer Esiason that their program should be called “Boomer and Mary” as an insult to Giannotti.
Another caller then brought up Giannotti’s having an anxiety attack while on the air last year.
“You basically stopped the show,” the caller told Giannotti.
“I had an anxiety attack,” Giannotti explained. “I had a legit anxiety attack that day. That’s what was going on, so you’re taking on that thing? That’s the thing you’re gonna point out? You’re gonna go to the mental illness bucket and bring that one in now? That was a legit anxiety attack so give me another example.
The ignorant caller then told Giannotti he was “soft” and said, “From my point of view, an anxiety attack like that, you know what, I’m of the mindset and I’m probably older than you, you just gotta suck it up.”
This ridiculous and dangerous thinking set off Giannotti, and rightfully so.
“Oh my God. Are you serious? You gotta suck it up? You know how many people have killed themselves because they were told to suck up their mental illness? Seriously? You know how many people? That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard of all time. I’ve gone to therapy; I’m on two different medications. I’m trying my best to get through the things that I have wrong with me, and you’re telling me to suck it up? This is why you get a lot of people who go through real trauma that are out in wars and come back here and kill themselves, because they were told to suck it up because of guys like you, Bill in Connecticut, because I’m soft, because I had a panic attack. That’s a real thing, man. It’s a real thing. If you don’t want to believe it, then you’re not smart enough or intelligent enough to understand it. You’re soft because you had a panic attack? We have got the most idiotic, neanderthal callers out there. This is not 1945 anymore. Women are equal, and people have mental illness.”
Giannotti then put an exclamation point on his rebuttal by telling off the caller.
“You’re a d---,” said Giannotti. “We’re not soft. Got it? Those of us who admit we got issues, whether it be depression or anxiety and deal with it in our lives to get to be in a better place, are not soft. You my friend, you are the soft one. You are the idiot and you are the d---. Get that through your head.
“The last thing that people who confront their mental issues to have a better life for them and their families is soft. That’s the last f’n thing. I’m of the old school. No, you’re not. You’re an idiot. An idiot who hasn’t developed.”
Amen and well done. As someone who suffers from panic attacks, I can’t emphasize the stupidity of telling someone to “suck it up.” Do you think those of us who get panic attacks want panic attacks? Do you think we enjoy panic attacks? Do you think if we could help it, we’d still want to have panic attacks?
When the anxiety attack happens, you don’t have control of it. There are things you can do when you are going through the panic attack, but you can’t prevent it from happening. And as Giannotti correctly pointed out, “suck it up” is not an option when someone suffers from anxiety.
2. Here are the NCAA tournament broadcast teams that you will hear on CBS/Turner/TNT/TruTV:
Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill
Brian Anderson, Jim Jackson
Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel
Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy
Lisa Byington, Steve Smith, Avery Johnson
Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas
Spero Dedes, Deb Antonelli, Brad Nessler, Brendan Haywood
3. Stugotz, from The Dan Le Batard Show, had thoughts on Chris Rock’s Netflix special, and you need to stick around for the very last line.
4. One of the things I regularly point out in Traina Thoughts is that football coaches are so weird. Today’s example of this, regarding new Broncos coach Sean Payton, comes via Peter King’s Football Morning in America column:
“Payton told me he’s going to put an old car front and center in the parking lot so that all players and coaches will see it. He said he’ll have the rearview mirror plus the side mirrors removed from the car. As he said at the Combine, he wants his players and his new organization to look ahead, and not behind, at the nightmare that was the 2022 Broncos season.
I’m pretty sure you can ask your players to do this without leaving a car in a parking lost, but, whatever.
5. Bill Walton had a great moment during his ManningCast–esque show during Monday’s Celtics-Cavs game.
6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with the WWE’s Paul Heyman. Topics covered include:
• The smash-hit story line involving Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn, why it’s worked so well and who should get credit for the creative
• Why The Rock wasn’t able to pull off a rumored match with Reigns at WrestleMania
• Selling fans on a Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns WrestleMania main event
• Vince McMahon’s return to the WWE
• When will he start a podcast
• An encounter with Michael Jordan
Following Heyman, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we share their thoughts on Major League Baseball implementing the pitch clock and read recent Apple reviews for the podcast.
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.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This was a funny routine about ESPN.
