Fox's Joe Buck praises Jim Nantz, Mike Tirico, Dan Hicks as better golf announcers
1. If you're a sports media nerd, the story of Fox bailing out of the U.S. Open and NBC's picking up the rights is very intriguing.
While scheduling conflicts were a factor, with the tournament getting moved from June to September, this could be a sign that networks might not pay insane prices for rights fees after taking financial hits during the pandemic.
According to Sports Business Journal, Fox was supposed to pay $93 million a year through 2027 for the Open rights. NBC will now pay in the low–$40 million range. That is a significant drop.
Another layer to this story was that Fox had its up and downs getting into the golf business and covered the Open differently than other networks.
The network put its main broadcaster, Joe Buck, on coverage from Day 1, and naturally Buck became a lighting rod for viewers.
But Buck, who is one of the best people in sports media, kept it classy as always Monday, in saying goodbye to golf.
Don't underestimate the egos of everyone in sports media. Not every play-by-play person would shout out competitors and publicly admit to not being as good as them.
But it's not surprising that Buck would do this. He's always kept it classy during his career.
2. Boomer Esiason and son Gunnar appeared together on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Oct. 4, 1993, when Boomer was quarterback of the Jets.
The story detailed Gunnar's experience with cystic fibrosis. Now, 27 years later, he is setting the record straight on masks and people who claim that wearing them is dangerous.
3. Speaking of masks, the people in Kansas City certainly have the right idea.
4. Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond announced Monday night that he would not be playing baseball this season in a very powerful, must-read message.
5. I'm not sure there's an athlete having a better quarantine than Christian McCaffrey. The Panthers running back became the highest paid running back in April, signing a four-year, $64-million contract extension.
With teammate Shaq Thompson, McCaffrey also launched "22 Together," an initiative that will unite the Charlotte community through sports programs for underserved youth.
And he has spent the past four months quarantined with girlfriend, SI Swimsuit model Olivia Culpo.
6. If you would like to do a good deed today, please subscribe to the SI Media Podcast on whatever platform you use for pods. You can subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play. Recent guests include Erin Andrews, Ian Eagle, Peter Schrager, Chris Long and Bob Ley.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: "The Contest" episode of Seinfeld aired Monday night here in New York, and it's amazing how well that 30 minutes of television holds up. The number of great lines is staggering. The sequence below might be the best.
8. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Spring training begins again Wednesday, but one thing that will be missing from the 2020 season is manager-umpire fights. The rules for this season state that umpires coming out of the dugout to argue with umps is banned thanks to social distancing.
So let's remember one of the great manager-umpire blow ups starring Lou Piniella. If you want to get right to the good stuff instead of watching the build-up, fast forward to the 1:15 mark, when things go haywire.
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 Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.