Mike Golic, Tony Dungy, Joe Tessitore among those with new CFB gigs
1. The various networks that air college football announced their broadcast lineups this week and there were some notable changes you might be interested in.
Mike Golic, who recently lost his ESPN radio job, will calls game with Dave Pasch for the network. Pasch is great on play-by-play, so this has a chance to be a very good team for ESPN this season.
Joe Tessitore makes his return to college football after two rough seasons calling Monday Night Football. He'll be partnered with analyst Greg McElroy. Tessitore was a fan favorite when he called college football. It will be interesting to see if he can reclaim that magic.
NBC has shaken up its Notre Dame coverage. Tony Dungy replaces Doug Flutie as Mike Tirico's partner in the booth. Flutie will move to the studio as a pregame, postgame and halftime analyst on "select weeks," according to NBC. Those shows will now be hosted by Jac Collinsworth, son of Cris.
Lastly, Fox is expanding its pregame show, Big Noon Kickoff, from one hour to two hours this season, with the show beginning at 10 am ET.
The show, which had a solid debut season last year, wants the Big Ten to reverse course more than anyone. Without a Big Ten game at noon this season, the show could take a viewership hit.
For instance, Big Noon Kickoff will lead into Louisiana Tech at Baylor on Sept. 12. Eek!
2. A brand new SI Media Podcast dropped Tuesday afternoon, and it features two outstanding interviews.
The pod kicks off with Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin Malone on The Office. Baumgartner, who now hosts The Oral History of The Office podcast, goes in-depth about a variety of issues regarding the show, including how an NBC ownership changed played a role in Steve Carell's departure from the show, why The Office became a Netflix sensation and how the video iPod played a role in the show's finding an audience.
We also discussed some of the famous bloopers from the show, the romance he wished Kevin had and being one of the most-used GIFs on Twitter.
Following Baumgartner, Renee Young (now going by her given name, Renee Paquette), who just left the WWE after an eight-year run joins the podcast to talk about why she left the company, her frustration with her role over the past few months, whether she will end up in AEW, what she'd like to do next, how WWE responded to her experience with COVID-19 and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
3. I don't know if you are reading this while sitting at a desk, laying on a couch, using the toilet or standing up in line somewhere. But whatever you are doing, you need to stand up and give Sara Stock a standing ovation.
Who is Sara Stock, you ask? She is the wife of Red Sox pitcher Robert Stock. And she dropped a sensational tweet last night in response to someone who had made some observations about her husband.
4. God bless Andy Reid.
5. Yes, Dictionary.com adding "Jabroni" as a word is awesome. We need them to do "Roody Poo" next.
6. Calling all grillers out there. The folks at Fire and Flavor are here to help you with your barbecue needs. They have given me five of their Natural Sear Charcoal Grillers Bundles, which contain one bag of 20-pound Lump Charcoal and one box of Wood Wool Fire Starters and one Seasoning Variety 3-Pack (Steak, Burger Chicken) to give away.
The first five people to email me (email, not tweet), the answers to the following questions win the bundle.
• On this week's SI Media Podcast, Brian Baumgartner mentions a scene in the "Christmas Party" episode that is "one of his favorite moments in the entire show." What is the scene?
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Rock breaks down the history of the word "jabroni."
7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Jimmy Connors turns 68 years old today. The tennis star would've been a huge hit with the Twitter crowd if the social media service was around in his day, thanks to his regular outbursts at officials.
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.