2022 will close and the law of the Internet says that if you have a column, at the end of the year you must give an award. So Traina’s thoughts give some hardware for the past year in sports media.
SPORTS MEDIA STORY OF THE YEAR: The NFL Broadcaster Shuffle
The NFL offseason brought the movement of broadcasters like we have never seen before. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, after two decades together at Fox, landed at ESPN and Monday Night Football. Al Michaels moved out of the NBC Sunday Night Football booth for Mike Tirico. Kirk Herbstreit added a second gig to his football season (third if you count College GameDay) by joining Michaels for Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football.
Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen were promoted from Fox’s B team to the network’s A team to replace Buck and Aikman. Then the biggest bombshell of all dropped on May 10 when Fox announced it had hired Tom Brady to be its lead NFL analyst whenever he retires. The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand would later report that Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox.
Don’t expect to see this kind of upheaval for a long time now that all the major players have signed long-term deals with the current networks.
SHOW of the year: Inside the NBA
It’s very easy to say, “Listen, everybody knows Inside the NBA is the best sports show on TV and probably the best sports show of all time, so let’s honor another show that deserves recognition.”
But I don’t play that game. Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal deserve their props, and they’re going to get them here.
The bottom line is that Inside the NBA is still the best sports show on TV. There is no drop in quality. It is as relevant as ever. It is as strong as ever. And do not feel old even if it has been in the air for a long time.
They tackle serious problems when they have to, but they entertain every night. This moment is one of the best moments on sports television in 2022.
PODCAST OF THE YEAR: New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce
It should come as no surprise that when you put together two funny people who are also brothers and current NFL players, you get an entertaining and informative podcast. But it’s still interesting to see how this podcast works. This season, it undoubtedly helped that each brother played for arguably the best team in their respective conferences. But the Kelce brothers don’t even have to lean on week-to-week in-game experience to hit the perfect mix of football talk, personal anecdotes and fun debates.
INTERVIEW OF THE YEAR: Taylor Rooks, Turner Sports, Amazon Prime
One day Rooks got Raiders tight end Darren Waller to open up in a strong way about his drug addiction, and the other he got a UFC fighter to admit he had tried to make weight by pleasuring her.
Versatility is just one of the strengths of Rooks. He always seems to ask the right questions, puts his subjects at ease and makes them open up more than you expect.
BEST ADDITION OF THE YEAR (FULL-TIME): Pat McAfee, College GameDay
A lot of people want to see McAfee’s most popular play calling, but I’d argue that he’s right where he is on College GameDay. The atmosphere of the college campus, the nature of sports, picking, banter with the panel-it was all tailor made for McAfee’s personality and skill set. It was interesting to see how McAfee fit in with the crew of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Lee Corso.
BEST ADDITION OF THE YEAR (PART-TIME): Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on First Take
When Hall of Fame radio host Chris Russo joined First Take in March, no one knew what to expect. Will Russo and Stephen A. have chemistry? (Yes.) Will Russo tone down his energetic and quirky antics featured every weekday on SiriusXM? (No!) How will fans unfamiliar with Russo react to the loud voice, flailing arms and constant mispronunciations?
Well, Russo ends up trending on Twitter most Wednesdays, clips from the show that continue to go viral and ratings for First Take, with Russo appearing every Wednesday, have been up more than last year’s.
Best replacement of the year: Jason McCourty, Good Morning Football
Nate Burleson was so good at GMFB that it took the show a full season to find a replacement. Burleson leaves for CBS Mornings before the 2021 season. GMFB uses a fill-in rotation until McCourty is named permanent host this July. For someone just starting out in television, McCourty is remarkably smooth. He also added an excellent new dimension to the show as a current player. It also didn’t take McCourty any time to develop chemistry with his cohosts, Jamie Erdahl, Kyle Brandt and Peter Schrager.
Best use of social media of the year: Richard Jefferson, TikTok
If you still think TikTok is just a video of young people dancing, you need to wake up. TikTok is everything. Sports are a huge part of the platform and no one in the world of sports uses it better than ESPN’s Jefferson, who has more than 1 million followers. He’ll spend a good amount of time blasting people who tease him about being bald, but he also shares some great NBA stories.
VIRAL SPORTS MEDIA MOMENT OF THE YEAR: ESPN’s Brian Windhorst
July 1, 2022. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst appears on First Take to talk about Kevin Durant, but takes a detour. “There was a trade yesterday between the Utah Jazz and the Brooklyn Nets. A very strange trade. Very strange trade. You really have to be a Jazz or Nets fan to know what I’m talking about today. They traded Royce O’Neale, who plays a role, shooter three-point defense to Brooklyn for a first-round draft pick. So you’re going to, what do you care about Royce O’Neale? Now why? Why did the Jazz do that?”
Windhorst continued, but what he said was irrelevant. Once he uttered the line, “Did Jazz do that?” while pointing both index fingers straight up in the air, a meme was born. Social media went bonkers, Windhorst was trending all day and the meme is still being used today.
Windhorst’s performance became even more famous a few days later when the Jazz traded Rudy Gobert, thus starting to rebuild.
BEST LINE OF THE YEAR: Al Michaels, Amazon Prime
In Week 5 on Thursday Night Football, the Colts and Broncos played in one of the worst games of the season, with Indy pulling out a 12-9 victory in overtime. Al Michaels, who for most of his career is called one of the top games every week, is not used to watching bad football like that and he lets the audience know just what they see throughout the game, often mocking the lack of offense. At one point, Michaels summed up the game as only he could: “This is the kind of game you want as the fifth regional on CBS on Sunday.”
BEST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR: Ian Eagle, CBS/Turner
In October, news broke that Ian Eagle would begin calling the Final Four when Jim Nantz stepped away from his role after the 2023 tournament. No one is more deserving of the gig than Eagle, who is as good as calling NBA games. In addition, Eagle is back with Bill Raftery and their reunion in the tournament will be a big win for college basketball fans.
