1. Ahead of calling Thursday’s Opening Day game between the Brewers and Yankees on ESPN, Joe Buck spoke with SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on Monday.
Buck’s return to the baseball booth is just a one-off (as of now). With ESPN airing the entire wild-card round, could Buck swoop in to call some of those games? Who knows? While Buck admits to missing the big moments, it wouldn’t seem likely he’d do postseason games based on the work that would entail.
“Have you missed doing baseball play-by-play,” asked Russo. “Do you miss those big moments behind the microphone as a baseball announcer?”
Said Buck: “Yeah, for sure. You miss the big moments. I’ll say two things about that, though. You gotta work all year to get to those big moments. It sounds like a complaint. It’s not. You’re traveling around and mixing that in with football and trying to keep up with all the reading and all the story lines and doing the prep day after day and then you get the big moments.
“But to go, ‘Oh man, I miss the big moments.’ Of course, you miss calling a Freddie Freeman grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series. You can cry about not being there all you want, but it’s not just about being parachuted in for ninth inning, bases loaded, two outs. You gotta do the first inning on a Tuesday night in the regular season to get there. You gotta put the hours in and I don’t have the hours anymore.”
2. The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament have generated 9.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched opening rounds since 1993. The tournament is up 3% over last year.
With teams like Duke, Florida, Michigan State and Kentucky still around, expect more impressive ratings in the next couple of rounds.
TNT Sports and CBS Sports are Delivering the NCAA Tournament's Best Viewership Since 1993, Averaging 9.4 Million Viewers Through the Second Round pic.twitter.com/mOfcKtg7wC
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) March 25, 2025
3. A reader named Mike recently emailed me to ask why I’ve stopped posting Scott Van Pelt’s “Bad Beats.” I explained that I only posted “Bad Beats” during the college football season simply because way, way more people are interested in and bet on college football than college basketball.
Obviously, though, the NCAA tournament is a huge event, so this one is for Mike and all of you who have wagered on the tournament.
Bad Beats
— Stanford Steve (@StanfordSteve82) March 25, 2025
There’s alot in March. pic.twitter.com/fckoFlzyOs
4. Netflix dropped a preview of David Letterman’s upcoming interview with Caitlin Clark on his show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. Clark describes her competitiveness in the clip, which ends with a solid one-liner.
David Letterman will interview WNBA star Caitlin Clark in an upcoming episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. Coming April 8. pic.twitter.com/rWaHyDh6Bu
— Netflix (@netflix) March 24, 2025
5. The highlight of spring training every year is always some ridiculous, hard-to-fathom fluke injury suffered by one of the players. Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm was running out of time to win this honor, but he came through just a few days before Opening Day.
We have an update on Matt Strahm's middle-finger injury
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 24, 2025
He said he was packing his daughter's toys in a box and jammed the cardboard between his nail and finger
It's his 2nd packing injury of the spring
"I'm going to have to buy a house here so I don't have to pack," he said
6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast is an all-mailbag edition in which I answer listener-submitted questions.
Among some of the topics covered: Would Fox move Tom Brady from games to its studio show? Why has ESPN changed Monday Night Football directors for the third time in four years? Would you rather have Kevin Harlan or Ian Eagle calling the final two minutes of a tied game? Why is ESPN totally dropping the ball with Around the Horn’s final episode?
Following the mailbag, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Major League Baseball and Fox ruining Opening Day with several terrible decisions, the NCAA tournament, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s rant against the Mets, John Cena’s first promo after turning heel,The White Lotus and more.
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.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today is Elton John’s 78th birthday. Sure, Elton is one of the great songwriters and singers of all time, but I will always remember being blown away that he performed this song parody for Howard Stern all the way back in 1986.
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 Joe Buck Will Return for Opening Day, but Does He Miss Calling Baseball Games?.
