1. Charles Barkley is unlike any broadcaster in the history of sports media. There is not one other person of his profile who would go on a national radio program and give all the details of the negotiations he made with one company and where he stands with another company.
But Barkley did that Monday during an interview with Dan Patrick, where he talked openly about possibly joining the LIV Golf Tour and leaving TNT.
As well as saying, “Obviously it’s about the money” and that LIV would have to give him an “astronomical” deal in order for him to leave Turner Sports, Barkley gave Patrick a lot of information about where he stands with TNT and LIV.
Given the amount of money LIV has spent on golfers, I’d be surprised if they didn’t give Barkley the money he needs. It’s pretty jarring, but I honestly think we’ve seen the last of Barkley on Inside the NBA.
And while Barkley’s comments are the news here, I have to say one thing: Dan Patrick is a great interviewer. He asked Barkley every question that needed to be asked.
2. The Blue Jays beat the Red Sox 28–5 on Friday, 4–1 on Saturday and 8–4 on Sunday. That equates to 40 runs for Toronto and 10 runs for Boston. The comedy of errors that you have to see to believe was introduced to the Red Sox.
3. Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas showed up to his postgame interviews Sunday wearing a cowboy hat.
As a result studio analyst Al Hrabosky wanted to make a Ron Burgundy reference. However, Hrabosky dropped the name of a famous porn star instead, which caused a great reaction from Hrabosky’s on-air partner.
4. WWE officially announced Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan as co-chief executives on Monday.
More importantly for WWE viewers, the company also announced that Triple H, aka Paul Levesque, will “assume all creative responsibilities for WWE, in addition to his regular duties.”
It will be very interesting to see if Levesque can implement any changes he wants, considering that even though Vince McMahon is gone from the company, he is still Levesque’s father-in-law.
5. I missed this last week because I don’t pay attention to anything related to the ESPYs, but there was vintage Kevin Durant responding on Twitter to Peyton Manning’s jokes about him at the 2017 ESPYs.
6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features a fun conversation with the always entertaining Peter Schrager.
Topics covered include the Good Morning Football cast changes, inside stories of Sean McVay’s recent wedding, Zach Wilson’s recent turn in the spotlight, which current NFL players would make good broadcasters, comic deaths in movies, Succession and many others.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
7. VIDEO OF THE DAY: Congratulations to Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. It was announced on Monday morning that the Doggie will be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame later this year. In honor of the occasion, let’s revisit a classic Mad Dog moment.
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 Google. You can follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
