1. We live in a time when each day is filled with so many absurd controversies that you have to constantly research to make sure what you’re seeing is actually true.
This happened Thursday when Stephen A. Smith said on First Take he doesn’t care about hockey. For some reason, people were offended by this.
Smith asked guest Michael Kay which New York team would be the next to win a championship. Kay said the Rangers.
Smith responded with, “Oh, Lord,” while First Take host, Molly Qerim chimed in with, “They don’t count.”
“The only thing I know about hockey is that the puck is black,” added Smith, who then asked Kay to limit his answer to the football, basketball and baseball teams in New York.
I know this may come as a shock to some people, and you may want to sit down for this revelation, but guess what? You’re allowed to not care about certain sports. Seriously. I’m not kidding.
If you don’t follow the NFL, that’s fine. If you don’t like Major League Baseball, that’s fine. If you aren’t interested in the WNBA, that’s fine. If you find golf too boring to watch, that’s fine, too. If you find pro wrestling absurd, you have the right to not watch the WWE.
Stephen A. is allowed to not watch or care about the NHL. Some people have made the ridiculous leap that because ESPN now airs the NHL that First Take should cover the NHL. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Smith has said many times that he checks the minute-by-minute ratings for First Take. He knows what topics resonate with the audience and which don’t.
And this is the part people don’t want to say out loud: For the most part, the NHL doesn’t draw ratings or traffic for those who provide content. Yes, there are a few exceptions. Spittin’ Chiclets is an enormously popular hockey podcast. ESPN’s Greg Wyshinski does an outstanding job covering the sport and has a big following.
But the truth is, overall hockey doesn’t generate clicks or ratings for outlets to justify extensive coverage. I don’t know why people just can’t say this instead of doing the faux outrage thing over someone saying they aren’t interested in covering the NHL.
Awful Announcing wrote a story about Smith’s comments with the headline, “Stephen A. Smith Admits First Take Doesn’t Care About Hockey.”
You know how many NHL posts Awful Announcing wrote this entire week? One. And it was its NHL Viewing Guide post.
For the Win also chimed in with a story and a foolish clickbait headline, “Stephen A. Smith’s Wildly Dismissive Comments About Hockey On First Take Had NHL Fans Fuming.”
For the Win wrote 163 posts this week. Seven were about the NHL: 7 out of 163 with five of those being about trades/the trade deadline.
Uproxx ran a story with the headline, Michael Kay Got Yelled At For Trying To Get Stephen A. Smith To Talk Hockey On ‘First Take.’
I couldn’t even find one other NHL story on Uproxx’s entire site.
And this isn’t my calling out those other sites. We all don’t cover the NHL in any significant way. I would never lead this column with something related to the NHL because it would barely get any clicks and that would be bad for business. I don’t understand why this is a bad thing to say out loud.
The one positive about this nonsensical hullabaloo is that Stephen A. didn’t cave into the pressure and do the fake apology thing, instead telling everyone to relax.
2. A new SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast dropped this morning and this week’s guest is 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.
3. Remember last year when Tommy Pham slapped Joc Pederson before a game over a fantasy football dispute? Pham explained his side of the story this week in quite the colorful manner.
View the original article to see embedded media.
4. I don’t have to say much to sell this next item: Charles Barkley’s dancing.
5. I’m probably going to say this every day (as I have been doing) and feature videos like this: The pitch clock is such a beautiful thing.
6. Most shows don’t see a signficant ratings increase after being on the air for so many years, but ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt is enjoying a big 2023 so far. His nighttime edition of SportsCenter is averaging 903,000 viewers, up 45% year over year. SVP does a hell of a job hosting SportsCenter (shout out to “Bad Beats”!), so it’s good to see him enjoy this kind of success.
