CNN's John King has dominated his maps, and sports fans are impressed
1. With all due respect to the MAC, which kicked off its football season with six games last night, the sports world has taken a back seat to politics this week as we still await the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Many of you (and me) have spent more time this week with John King than anyone else in the world. The CNN chief national correspondent has spent endless hours dominating his touch-screen maps in the same way Michael Jordan used to dominate the NBA.
King rattles off numbers and counties like a machine, while Wolf Blitzer keeps interrupting him and never gets flustered, never flubs a line and never loses his cool.
And he's been doing it since Tuesday with very little rest.
Even Twitter and sports fans—the two toughest and angriest crowds out there—have been thoroughly impressed with King.
The sports-related memes, GIFS, photos tweets and videos honoring King's tremendous work have been on point.
2. Last word on the election: CNN needs to use the tweet below as inspiration and add ESPN's NFL PrimeTime music to its coverage.
3. Great job here by Patrick Mahomes.
Nice job here by the Steelers.
4. Just want to send best wishes to everyone at ESPN. The network is expected to have massive layoffs Thursday, and if you've ever experienced a day with layoffs, whether you survive or not, you know it's truly horrible on every level.
5. This week's SI Media Podcast features an interview with the legendary Paul Heyman. The podcast started with Heyman's questioning me when I asked how he was doing. He then ripped me for writing that Bobby Heenan is the greatest wrestling manager of all time. Then we got into Heyman's role as Roman Reigns's special counsel and how that partnership came to be. The podcast ended with Heyman sharing behind-the-scenes details and insight into his famous "pipe bomb" on Vince McMahon.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: As Michael Scott once showed us, you can try to declare things, but it doesn't really mean anything.
7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of Thursday night's Packers-Niners game, here is Terrell Owens making one of the more impressive catches we've ever seen.
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