It is time again for an all-Mailbag edition of Traina Thoughts.
Before I get to your questions, I need to plug SI Media With Jimmy Traina first, because the run of guests has been outstanding. Please take some time this weekend to give the show a listen, or at least download the episodes for future listening.
And if you’re not yet a subscriber, please, please, please subscribe.
Charles Barkley was the guest on this week’s episode and he dropped plenty of bombshells.
I did a bonus episode this week with the WWE’s highly entertaining Paul Heyman ahead of WrestleMania this weekend.
Last week, ESPN’s Mel Kiper made his first-ever appearance on SI Media With Jimmy Traina and he was outstanding. It was one of my favorite episodes in recent months.
And if you missed it, Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery joined the show recently as well.
O.K., now it’s time for your questions. We’re going to start with a couple of Instagram questions and then go to the Twitter questions.
What was your take on the Braves' field reporter asking for the phone numbers on the air? – @itsameandyp
I think the over-the-top reaction from the people offended was laughable. You would’ve thought the reporter commited a felony. The only people I’d be interested in hearing from are the two women the reporter was talking to. Were they uncomfortable? Did they feel like the guy was being creepy? Or did they think it was all in good fun and just harmless banter?
If they were fine with it, then I’m fine with it.
Thoughts on posting your NFL or college football bets online before the games. Let people tail or fade you. – @drew_nature_dogs
I stopped revealing any of my bets a long time ago for one simple reason: People on Twitter are a--holes and some would root against me or mock me when I lost a wager. So I’ll never post my bets there ever again.
Onto the Twitter questions.
If you could give Pat McaAfee truth serum, do you think he would honestly still enjoy Aaron Rodgers' presence on his show?
— Aaron Zane (@Aaron_Zane) April 18, 2025
Given the attention McAfee’s show gets from Rodgers’s appearances, I have no doubt McAfee loves Rodgers’s presence on the show. Even if McAfee was fed up with Rodgers’s nonsense, those interviews aren’t just good for business. They are GREAT for business.
Every single time Rodgers goes on McAfee’s show, a million outlets across the World Wide Web write about and talk about the interview. Everyone in the content creation business would kill for that kind of attention.
The people who say “I’m bored with Rodgers,” “I don’t care what Rodgers has to say,” and “Enough with Rodgers,” are giving McAfee and ESPN exactly what they want. Bad attention is still good attention in the content game.
Hope i'm not late for this. Been wanting to ask for awhile:
— Iñcognito (@firecashman) April 15, 2025
Will we ever get to a point where we can just buy a single game(NFL specifically) w/o buying the entire Sunday Ticket?
This is without a doubt the No. 1 question I get from NFL fans. Every indication from Roger Goodell and the TV people at the NFL is that this is never going to happen. Obviously, you can never say never, but the option to just purchase games for a single NFL team is not going to happen any time in the near future.
Who’s the least enjoyable number one broadcast crew in sports? Has to be Sunday night baseball right?
— MB West (@BrayMb1) April 16, 2025
Why are you forcing me to be mean? This is not a nice question ... but you’re not wrong. That ESPN booth is just blah. I also find John Smoltz, Fox’s lead MLB analyst, impossible to listen to, and Joe Davis's constant—and I mean CONSTANT yelling—very annoying. So two out of the three lead MLB booths are a problem for me.
Amazingly, the network that gets the least amount of juice in terms of being a national MLB partner, has the best booths. TBS, with Brian Anderson and Don Orsillo on play-by-play, and Ron Darling and Jeff Francoeur. The problem with TBS’s package is that it’s not exclusive. So, for example, if the Yankees are playing on TBS, the game also airs locally here in New York on YES.
Was Jim Nantz under the weather during the final round of The Masters? His voice wasn’t as clear and strong as usual, and in Butler Cabin he looked tired.
— Tony Taglavore (@radiotvman) April 15, 2025
Nantz complained about allergies and pollen issues during Sunday’s final round, so that’s why he was not at 100%.
What did you think of the Masters coverage and specifically Jim Nantz having the ability to say nothing for almost six minutes after Rory won.
— Adam Barasch (@abarasch) April 14, 2025
Wrote a full column about this on Monday. Read it here.
Thoughts on a 70-game NBA season to lock in the 20 playoff teams - they play vs each other in a 12-game in-season tourney with results counting for playoff seeding (82 total games)
— Mike Gill (@MikeGillShow) April 14, 2025
So last month all games are playoff teams vs playoff teams for seeding
The 10 non-playoff teams…
Could not hate this idea anymore. I want fewer playoff teams, not more. If 20 teams make the playoffs, what is the point of the regular season, which is already mostly meaningless?
I also don’t want any in-season tournaments. I don’t like gimmicks and contrived nonsense. Just play a normal regular season and cut the playoff spots down to eight teams. But obviously this would never happen because fewer playoff games mean less profits and sports is all about profits.
Would you watch an AI remake of The NFL Today (1980's cast) for the 2025 season and beyond? pic.twitter.com/ArAq77PzAJ
— BarryB (@Kikuyu09) April 14, 2025
For 30 seconds. Maybe one minute, tops. I have no desire to watch anything AI.
What are your all time favorite announcing teams for each major sport (NFL, NBA, MLB, College Football, College Basketball - maybe tennis, hockey and WNBA)?
— Amy Chapman (@amyrchapman) April 14, 2025
A lot of local broadcast teams would be my answer to some of these questions, but I’ll just go with national broadcast teams here.
NFL: John Madden and Pat Summerall
NBA: Marv Albert and Mike Fratello
MLB: Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola
College football: Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit
College basketball: Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
Why don’t you ever talk about UFC? Their rights are up and they are negotiating starting today. It seems like this would be up your alley.
— Ryan Ashby (@lvryan_99) April 15, 2025
I don’t watch UFC. I don’t follow UFC. I don’t care about UFC. Never have, never will. In addition to not wanting to watch two people beat each other up, just from what I consume via headlines and tweets, it also seems like UFC is filled with some awful people. To steal one of the best sayings from the great Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, if there were a UFC fight in my backyard, I’d draw the blinds. So that’s why I don’t talk about it.
Sometimes your guests on the pod talk on and on and on without interruption. Does that make you anxious? Or do you sit back and think: what an easy interview this is? If the former, how do you fight the urge to interrupt.
— DrNachoMD (@DrNachoMD) April 14, 2025
It makes me VERY anxious. I want to do a conversation more than an interview. There was a time a few years ago when listeners criticized me for interrupting too much, so that’s in my head when I do the podcast, and I’ve tried to sit back now and pick my spots when I interrupt. But I don’t look at it as interrupting. I’m just trying to ask follow-up questions.
How often do you see Maddog in person?
— Jeff (@Football_expert) April 14, 2025
Once or twice a year.
Which characters from The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm would you love to see interact and why? Can be any scenario at any location.
— Michael Benevento (@MikeBenevento) April 15, 2025
Larry and Paulie would be great given their idiosyncrasies. Larry would totally be on board with Paulie’s hand-washing philosophy.
Susie and Tony could make for some spectacular fireworks. Livia’s “poor you” to Tony would be child’s play compared to the number Susie could do on Tony.
Leon and Silvio would work because Silvio could hire Leon to work at the Bada Bing, which would be a dream for Leon.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mailbag: McAfee-Rodgers, NFL Single-Game Dream and More.
