1. Early Monday morning, Fox announced that Tom Brady will become its lead NFL analyst once he retires. On Monday afternoon, the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand (who will be on the SI Media Podcast this Thursday) reported that Brady’s Fox deal is for 10 years and $375 million.
Reaction to both pieces of news came rolling in fast and furious throughout the day as the GOAT dominated the news cycles.
Brady’s future sideline reporter Erin Andrews took to her Instagram stories to show us just how pumped up she was to have Brady join the Fox team.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Brady’s former teammate Julian Edelman poked fun at the fact that it seems Brady won’t retire for a long time.
The Post came out with a strong back page Wednesday.
According to Mediaite, noted Patriots fan Bill Simmons, was very confused by the Brady-Fox marriage.
“I think it’s one of the most confusing media moments in recent sports media history,” said Simmons. “I don’t understand any piece of it, including the part that he might play two more years.”
Simmons continued, “As someone who really appreciates all the great stuff Brady did for my life over the years, won us all these Super Bowls, all these fun moments. This seems to be a guy who’s just grasping at the next step, really since that last playoff game.”
“Now he’s set up for this 10-year TV career, after he told us how he wanted to spend time with his family. If I was his media PR adviser, I wouldn’t know what to do. I think I would just resign,” Simmons added.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Jalen Rose also seemed baffled by the Brady money.
As always, Chris Long had a good take.
There were also plenty of other funny reactions to the news.
2. Speaking of Simmons, like Draymond Green a couple of weeks ago, Joel Embiid is also wrong about his interpretation of Simmons saying "F--- Jalen Green" during one of his Ringer podcast episodes. Clearly these guys did not hear it themselves or see the full quote for context.
3. This is the greatest scoreboard bio to ever appear at a Major League Baseball game.
4. A's second baseman Tony Kemp made a ridiculous catch against the White Sox yesterday, but his reaction was even more entertaining than the grab.
It’s even better in GIF form.
5. Since I’m a huge fan of the WWE’s Attitude Era (and The Rock), I’m really looking forward to this book from former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz. If you’re a loyal listener of the Something to Wrestle With podcast, you are familiar with how influential Gewirtz was to the WWE when it experienced a boom in popularity.
Gewirtz will share his story about working for WWE for more than 15 years in There’s Just One Problem … True Tales From the Former, One-Time, 7th Most Powerful Person in WWE out Aug. 16.
Gewirtz is the current SVP of development at Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions and was the youngest and longest-tenured head writer in WWE history after Johnson suggest he join the company as a writer when Gewirtz was just 26 years old.
6. This week's Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features a conversation with Katie Nolan, who is part of MLB coverage on Apple TV+.
Nolan discusses how she got the job with Apple, what Apple is trying to accomplish with its broadcasts, understanding that traditional MLB fans may not get the telecast, how she prepares for each game and the time she stayed silent for several innings after reading backlash on social media.
Nolan also opens up about her time at ESPN, what she liked about working there, whether she thought ESPN knew how to use her and what she has learned about navigating the sports media business.
The podcast closes with our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment featuring Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York. This week, Jimmy and Sal read recent SI Media Podcast Apple reviews, discuss Kevin Harlan getting the top gig at Turner Sports, the NFL giving a game exclusively to ESPN+ and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
