1. The two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl are truly awful for many, many reasons. No more football. Media Night or whatever that Monday monstrosity is officially called. Everyone becomes a prop bet expert. Radio Row, which just becomes one big infomercial with boring interviews.
I could go on, but I’m going to focus on one particular Super Bowl week trend that hits me especially hard. For those of us in sports media, this is the week when PR people make the most ridiculous and nonsensical pitches to anyone who has a platform.
Now, I don’t want to paint all PR people as being clueless, because I deal with a ton of great PR people on a regular basis.
And I understand that they have a job to do, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable that I ask the person pitching me to have some idea of what I do with this column or SI Media With Jimmy Traina and what kind of content I try to bring to my readers.
And I always send a nice, standard reply that usually goes something that, “Thanks for the opportunity, but this one isn’t a fit. I appreciate the offer.”
In reality, I want to write, “This is totally irrelevant to what I do, so I don’t know why you’re emailing me this.”
So, I’m going to pull back the curtain and share some of the more bizarre items that have hit my inbox this week. I’m not giving all the details because I don’t want to publicly embarrass anyone. I just want to know why the people who pitched these items to me thought I’d be interested in any of this stuff.
- A TV company asked if I wanted to cover Eagles wideout DeVonta Smith gifting his barber a television.
- A glasses company wanted to know if I’d be interested in a story about Kris Jenner teaming with Chris Hemswroth and Chris Pratt to promote AI glasses.
- The official wine sponsor of the NFL (who the hell knew the NFL had a wine sponsor?) wanted to know if I’d like to interview a “former WAG” about the wine.
- A food company asked if I’d promote Saquon Barkley’s partnership with a sweet & salty pretzel snack. Of course, they didn’t offer an interview with Barkley. They just want me to name the product.
And then there was this gem:
“Hi Jimmy - I wanted to reach out to see if you'd be interested in covering or sharing the news that Chispa, Match Group’s dating and friendship app for the Latino community, is making theater history with the first-ever off-Broadway production by a dating app.”
I can’t wait for this week to end.
2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast dropped Thursday morning, and this week’s show is an All-Traina Thoughts edition with Sal Licata from WFAN.
This week’s topics include Super Bowl LIX between the Eagles and Chiefs: Has this matchup fallen flat with sports fans? Has Chiefs fatigue hurt excitement for the game? How different would the buzz be if the Lions and/or Bills were in the game? Plus, we talk about prop bets, which team we like to win the game and why the Super Bowl doesn’t feel like a real game.
Other topics discussed during the podcast include the Luka Doncic–Anthony Davis trade, a must-watch Saturday Night Live special and my Curb Your Enthusiasm rewatch. In addition, Sal gives a full recap of his recent cataract surgery.
The show closes with me reading and reacting to recent Apple reviews from listeners of SI Media With Jimmy Traina.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
3. Charles Barkley has said so much over the past year about his future. The latest installment of Charles talking about his status as a broadcaster on TNT came Wednesday when he said he wasn’t happy with TNT’s actions in recent times.
Charles Barkley details his ongoing contract negotiations:
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) February 4, 2025
"My decision was going to come down to strictly one thing, my workload... Dan I'm really good at working one day a week, I am great it." pic.twitter.com/geWmBqAAHI
4. Luka Doncic’s first game as a Laker is expected to be Saturday, so ESPN has picked up that game. Los Angeles will host the Pacers at 4 p.m. ET. Dave Pasch and Tim Legler will have the call.
And don’t forget that Hubie Brown’s final game behind the mic will take place on Super Bowl Sunday. Brown will join Mike Breen for the Sixers-Bucks game at 2 p.m. ET on ABC.
5. Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt nailed it with this breakdown of how sports media people talk to each other.
How every single conversation goes between two media members in the Super Bowl city….
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) February 5, 2025
My media brothers and sisters, what am I missing? pic.twitter.com/thf29VUTCn
6. If you plan on going crazy with prop bets Sunday, Covers.com has the full list of everything that’s being offered on various sites.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 63rd birthday to Axl Rose. A concert moment doesn’t get any more electric than this.
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 Here Are the Most Ridiculous PR Pitches for Super Bowl Week That Hit My Inbox.
