1. In a time when everyone seems to be all in a huff about “conflicts of interest” in the sports world, Kevin Kisner’s apology to CBS sure raised my eyebrows (and struck me as completely unnecessary and ridiculous).
The backstory: CBS got destroyed by fans and pretty much everyone in sports media for its poor coverage of the Masters’ final round on Sunday. Viewers were not happy with missed shots, camera angles and more.
CBS’s missteps on Sunday was almost as big a story as Rory McIlroy repeating as champion. The blowback was so bad that Jim Nantz went on Pat McAfee’s show Monday to address it.
"I'm really proud of our crew and they are the best in the business..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 14, 2026
I just walk away from the Masters with more memories and a lot of pride for what everybody did" ~ Jim Nantz #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/P7itUASGRK
NBC golf analyst Kevin Kisner took CBS to task on his Fore Play podcast Monday morning.
If you watch the clip, Kisner was calm, measured and fair. This was not an over-the-top rip job. He did not say anything egregious or out of line.
Here's a snippet of NBC golf analyst Kevin Kisner's rant against CBS and its Masters coverage on @ForePlayPod.
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) April 14, 2026
"What are we doing? You have no commercials. Play live shots." pic.twitter.com/8XgNUj6MLC
Yet, Kisner, despite doing nothing wrong, offered CBS an apology on Thursday.
NBC's Kevin Kisner apologizes to CBS for his Masters criticism: "I crossed the line." pic.twitter.com/jIcfA88IyR
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) April 16, 2026
So my question is, why did Kisner apologize? Some theories:
Maybe NBC wasn’t happy that Kisner ripped another network. This would be totally lame. There’s nothing wrong with someone offering a fair critique of a competitor. Or did the PGA Tour complain to NBC, who is a broadcast partner? Or did the Masters complain to the PGA Tour, who in turn complained to NBC?
Clearly, somebody ordered a code red and made Kisner do a mea culpa.
I despise fake apologies and I despise apologies that aren’t warranted. There was no reason whatsoever for Kisner to apologize for his critique of CBS’s coverage.
2. In other what-the-hell-is-going-on story, we have Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentink.
In a story that perfectly encapsulates what a crappy time we live in thanks to social media and everyone having a camera at their disposal, someone decided to spy on Mentink using her phone, invade her privacy and film her typing a question into Gemini. Mentink had typed: “Good questions after a tough loss in baseball.”
Apparently, the person who had already crossed the line by secretly filming Mentink’s phone decided that wasn’t enough and posted the video of Mentink’s question so everybody could mock her and rip her for the way she’s doing her job.
To her credit, Mentink, who recently suffered a stroke, was able to have some fun with this unfortunate incident.
Currently asking AI how to handle going viral for using AI. 😅
— Angie Mentink (@AngieMentink) April 16, 2026
In all seriousness, I'm late to the AI party. Earlier this season I experimented with AI to see if it had any questions to add to my list for my postgame coverage. We've come a long way from pen and paper when I…
3. WrestleMania 42 takes place this weekend. A slew of WWE wrestlers have been all over ESPN programming all week.
If you want to know why ESPN would give so much time to sports entertainment, here’s why.
ESPN is paying $1.6 billion to stream WWE shows. Wrestlemania is its biggest show of the year and one of the anchors of its streaming strategy. I don't think there's a real conspiracy here. https://t.co/jQayjetdB9
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) April 17, 2026
That’s $1.6 BILLION. You’re damn right ESPN is going to go all out to promote the event.
4. If you live in New York, it’s not exactly a secret that James Dolan, the Knicks and Madison Square Garden are very sensitive about criticism.
In a new episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, Torre, along with WIRED, uncovers just how far Dolan and his cronies will go to find any and all critics.
Read the full @WIRED digital cover story, "The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden's Surveillance Machine": https://t.co/whyD6iELMW
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) April 17, 2026
"Don't talk too loud," Knicks legend Charles Oakley recalls Patrick Ewing saying. "They got the whole building mic'd-up."
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) April 17, 2026
Then, a source tells us + @WIRED, Garden security discussed tracking him across America.
And that's just the start of our new collab on MSG's deep state.… pic.twitter.com/aveI3O6NXx
5. If you ever hear anyone deny that there is an East Coast bias in the media, just bring up Mason Miller.
If Miller played for the Yankees or Red Sox or even the Cubs (I know, not East Coast), he’d be talked about constantly. But because the Padres’ closer plays at 10:10 p.m. ET and doesn’t usually get into a game until around 1 a.m. ET, he doesn’t get the attention he deserves.
Just look at this completely bonkers stat line for the season.
Mason Miller struck out the side yet again tonight for the Padres.
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) April 17, 2026
His stats this year:
9.1 IP
1 H
0 ER
1 BB
23 K
He’s simply on another planet right now ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/TnGKiQQRnZ
6. We have two SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcasts for you this week.
One episode features an interview with ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania.
Charania talks about getting his start in sports media at just 17 years old, getting hired by Adrian Wojnarowski at 21 and how he feels about the day-to-day grind of being an insider. He also weighs in on the recent narratives about reporters in the wake of Dianna Russini’s resignation.
In addition, Charania takes us through what it was like to break the Anthony Davis-Luka Dončić trade. He also weighs in on LeBron James’s future, the NBA’s tanking issue and recently getting called out by Doc Rivers.
Following Charania, Sal Licata from SNY TV joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Russini resigning from The Athletic, the putrid starts by the Mets and Yankees, Netflix’s upcoming documentary on Hulk Hogan, the season finale of DTF St. Louis and more.
You can listen to the Charania interview below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch it on YouTube.
With WrestleMania 42 taking place this weekend, WWE undisputed champion Cody Rhodes joined me for a bonus episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina.
Rhodes talks about his WrestleMania match on Saturday against Randy Orton and all of the controversy surrounding it, thanks WWE parent company TKO inserting Pat McAfee into the storyline.
Rhodes also talks about his love-hate relationship with hosting a podcast, possibly getting into politics once he retires from wrestling, what it’s like to scroll through Instagram Reels and see videos of himself and his father, Dusty Rhodes, what old-school wrestling thing he’d like to see come back today, how he goes into shutdown mode during WrestleMania week, his daily coffee intake (which is shocking), how much his suits cost, warming up to a heel turn and much more.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: With WrestleMania taking place this weekend and Cody Rhodes joining me in person this week for the podcast, let’s go back two years so what might be the greatest WrestleMania finish of all time.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Who Made NBC’s Kevin Kisner Apologize to CBS?.
