Welcome to the 15th installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing about the world of sports media (and anything else you want to chime in on). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.
It’s amazing how you guys have questions about NFL Sunday Ticket every week. I guess I can understand the confusion with the service moving from DirecTV to YouTube.
Please clear up Sunday Ticket on YouTube.
A countless number of players and coaches around the NFL were slapped with fines for breaking COVID protocols during the 2020 campaign. Sean Payton and Jon Gruden were among that group, but only one of the head coaches decided to pay up.
According to ESPN, during a Week 2 matchup between Payton’s Saints and Gruden’s Raiders, the two coaches were found to be in violation of the league’s policy. Their egregious offense? Not wearing their masks properly on the sideline.
The No Fun League elected to slap them both with $100,000 fines. For not wearing a cloth over their faces.
Set Number: X163766 TK2
Everything you need to know about sports and life.
In the world of professional sports unwritten rules are horrible. They’re often invented by the most boring, starchy people in existence that insist on “doing things the right way” and sucking all the fun out of sport.
That said, in our personal lives unwritten rules are critical. They’re the unspoken guidelines we have to follow in order to have a society run smoothly.
It’s all Aaron’s fault.
That’s what radio host Colin Cowherd is saying after HBO and the NFL announced that the New York Jets were chosen – aka forced – to have to be this year’s Hard Knocks team because of their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.
“When you become Mr. Polarizing and noisy in the offseason, this is what HBO wants. Juice and heaters and gossip” the FS1 host began.
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m so relieved to have endured the slowest sports week of the year.
In today’s SI:AM:
⚾ Second-half MLB story lines
🌏 Women’s world cup previews
❌ Another coach fired at Northwestern
If you’re reading this on SI.com, you can sign up to get this free newsletter in your inbox each weekday at SI.com/newsletters.
MLB’s second half starts now
Now after the All-Star break, the season gets serious. Every team is back in action tonight, including notable series like Marlins-Orioles, Diamondbacks–Blue Jays, Reds-Brewers and Astros-Angels.
When Hugh Freeze takes the stage in Nashville next week to speak with over a thousand reporters, nerves shouldn’t be a problem. The former Ole Miss head coach is back in his element, looking to make a splash for the Auburn Tigers, who took a chance on Freeze this past November.
Folks on the plains have to be excited about where the program stands right now, compared to last year’s media day in Atlanta.
Northwestern fired baseball coach Jim Foster on Thursday, with sources saying his dismissal came after allegations of bullying and a toxic environment within the program.
As the Angels begin to tumble out of the American League playoff picture, Shohei Ohtani trade rumors have once again resurfaced. If Los Angeles is unable to make the postseason, yet again, with the two-way phenom, it stands to reason that the franchise is better off getting something in return him for the last half of the season, rather than risk him walking away with no return in free agency.
On Thursday, ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney argued that the Yankees are the team with the most motivation to make a huge splash and land Ohtani ahead of the trade deadline.
Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
It took some time, but we thought of some questions facing Red Bull right now
Things are never dull in Formula 1.
This was supposed to be a quiet week off, following a back-to-back in Austria and Britain, and ahead of another back-to-back in Hungary and the Netherlands. But a thunderbolt from the clouds came down on Monday, with the shocking news that Daniel Ricciardo was coming back to the grid.
After just ten races, AlphaTauri and Red Bull had seen enough from Nyck de Vries.
At the beginning of each episode of Goliath, the well-crafted, three-part Showtime docuseries on legendary hoops star Wilt Chamberlain that premieres this Friday, there’s a disclaimer.
“Wilt Chamberlain’s voice in this series is created using an A.I. program with the permission of the Wilt Chamberlain estate. Wilt’s words have been composed of quotations of his written work and public statements,” the statement reads.
Other interesting filmmaking tactics have been utilized before to voice departed legends.
