1. Urban Meyer, the man who coached Aaron Hernandez at Florida and the man who didn’t last a full season in the NFL after going 2–11 and getting caught up in an off-the-field scandal, has figured out who the real enemy is in the alleged Michigan cheating saga: the media.
Of course.
Apparently there is a show called Urban’s Take With Tim May and on a recent episode, Meyer spoke about the allegations that Michigan has been involved in stealing the signs of their opponents. Here’s what Meyer had to say.
“I’ve been asked over 100 times to comment on it and I just won’t. But I am going to, I’ll tell you my thoughts: First of all I’m very skeptical of reporters reporting. My experience is they’re wrong most of the time. And that’s not a shot at the media; that’s reality. People say things that they’re reporting that’s just not true. So I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt saying, first of all it’s hard for me to believe that is true.”
What’s delicious about this ridiculous take from Meyer is that he works for Fox Sports. Fox Sports has many reporters. Is he skeptical of their reporting? Or does he just want to cast doubt on the credibility on the entire media because they don’t paint Meyer in a positive light these days?
Hell, even Fox was embarrassed to bring Meyer back to its college football pregame show after his disastrous tenure in Jacksonville. The network never announced Meyer's return, never sent out a press release and just casually mentioned it one day in a release about their entire college football roster.
But let’s get back to what Meyer said regarding Michigan. He said that reporters are wrong “most of the time.” So should we believe that Fox college football reporter Bruce Feldman is wrong most of the time? What about Fox NFL reporter Jay Glazer? Is he wrong most of the time? Are Peter Schrager’s reports on Fox NFL Sunday wrong?
Meyer claims “people say things that they’re reporting that’s just not true.” So does Fox’s Ken Rosenthal report things that aren’t true? Should we believe that Fox’s Tom Rinaldi says things that aren’t true?
Do sports reporters get things wrong sometimes? Yes. Do they get things wrong “most of the time” as Meyer absurdly claims? No.
Reporters haven’t claimed yet that Jim Harbaugh knew about the alleged sign-stealing. But there is an investigation going on, and Michigan has suspended football staffer Connor Stalions, who is at the center of the alleged sign-stealing scheme. So I’m not even sure which part of the story Meyer thinks reporters got wrong.
But this wasn’t about Meyer’s take on Michigan’s possible wrongdoing. This was Meyer trying to diminish the reliability of the sports media because he doesn’t like his own coverage.
2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning, and it features two interviews.
First up is Robert Griffin III, who is a college football color commentator for ESPN, one of the analysts of ESPN's Monday Night Countdown and the host of a new podcast, RG3 and The Ones.
Griffin discusses his various roles in broadcasting, how and why he decided to get into sports media after having no interest in it during his playing days and what the ultimate goal is for his media career. He also talks about navigating social media and handling all his own social media, finding himself in the middle of a controversy, what NFL players are saying about the league’s officiating problem, a surreal Halloween moment and much more.
Following RGIII, Peter Schrager from Good Morning Football and Fox joins the podcast to talk about his recent appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy!
Was he nervous? Did he practice? How did he stick to his NDA? Was the experience everything he hoped it would be? He also discusses how Jeopardy! led to a connection with Debbie Gibson.
Following Schrager, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss my day at Sal’s house for an NFL Sunday that was filled with Sunday Ticket glitches on YouTube, the terrible World Series ratings and the sad passing of Matthew Perry.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.
3. There was little interest in the World Series and not much excitement in the Rangers’ 4–1 series win. However, we did get a memorable moment last night, but it had nothing to do with Texas or Arizona. Commissioner Rob Manfred basically had no voice during the trophy presentation, and it was funny to watch him struggle through it as boos rained down from the Arizona crowd.
THE RANGERS RAISE THE TROPHY 🏆 pic.twitter.com/PLD5dqAMpa
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 2, 2023
4. We don’t talk enough about how great and creative and odd some of the turnover celebrations are in college football. This brings us to Akron, who showed us last night they have a Turnover Tire.
MACTI🛞N! pic.twitter.com/NQ9XVfKwJO
— #MACtion (@MACSports) November 2, 2023
5. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is not happy that the must-watch Chiefs-Dolphins game this week is kicking off at 9:30 a.m. ET.
ESPN’s Mad Dog Russo went on a WILD RANT today about how early the #Chiefs, #Dolphins game is on Sunday and how he needs to be praying in church
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) November 1, 2023
“I GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY”
“I can’t be praying to Mahomes and Tua”
pic.twitter.com/iPfZ3UuzI8
6. This is one of those stories that’s funny after the fact. On Wednesday’s Pat McAfee Show, J.J. Watt explained how his brother, T.J., who has a nut allergy, learned the hard way that pesto sauce is not something he’ll ever order again.
"We were in Rome one time and @_TJWatt has a severe tree nut allergy..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 1, 2023
He ordered a massive pesto pasta dish and literally stopped breathing at the table..
We had to get him to the Italian hospital and for about an hour we had no idea if he was gonna make it" ~ @JJWatt #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/PqP0xApz9u
