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Boomer & Gio: WWE Results Don’t Belong in Sports Updates

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Boomer & Gio: WWE Results Don’t Belong in Sports Updates

It’s safe to say that Boomer Esiason and partner Gregg Giannotti didn’t spend their Sunday evening wondering if Cody Rhodes would finish his story. The Boomer & Gio hosts talked WWE on their Monday edition of the show, but it wasn’t what most wrestling fans were talking about.

‘Gio’ said he heard a Sports Flash during overnights where Peter Schwartz gave the result of the main event of WWE WrestleMania. “…and at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, Cody Rhodes, he finishes the story as he defeats Roman Reigns to win the WWE undisputed universal heavyweight championship,” he said as he wrapped up the report.

After hearing the report, Boomer Esiason’s immediate reaction was, “WWE is scripted, it is not a sport.”

Gregg Gianotti said, “They are athletes and what they do I could never do; however, the results are scripted. I am not downplaying the popularity of WrestleMania, it was huge. But to put it in the update after the Devils score, c’mon…It should not be in the sports update, you agree?”

“Yeah…of course not,” said Esiason.

As the conversation continues, Giannotti realizes he had worked with WWE announcer Corey Graves when he was in Pittsburgh, although he went by his given name then, Matthew Polinsky. “14 years later, he’s one of the lead voices of WWE and that’s a cool thing, I’m happy for the guy,” he said.

In a separate segment, the question was brought up again with Giannotti saying, “Does something that is scripted belong in sports updates?”

Boomer Esiason begins to try and look and see if ESPN.com has coverage of WWE and doesn’t see anything (turns out the section is called ‘Professional Wrestling’). Which leads to a funny moment when Esiason believes a headline says, “North Korea wins 4th consecutive LPGA title,” before he realizes it says Nelly Korda, not North Korea.

Giannotti says talking about major wrestling news on a show is different than putting it in the sports update. “…It’s different when you are on for four hours doing a talk show,” he said. “If you are an anchor reporting the news it’s a totally different thing…It’s sort of the same to me as if he were a Curb [Your Enthusiasm] fan, putting the ending in the update. Same thing – scripted, actors, just because it’s not as physical, doesn’t mean it’s not the same thing. It’s a TV show.”

Boomer compares wrestling to Cirque du Soleil and says, “They’re out there entertaining you. That’s kind of like what WWE does, it entertains you. You love the storylines, and you love the characters and the people that deserve a lot of the credit are the writers behind the scenes who create those characters and those storylines.

Boomer then brings up The Rock, who was part of both nights of WrestleMania 40, and him being one of the top five most popular personalities in the US, and that it started in WWE. “Look at what he has turned into, the success that he is,” Esiason said. “God bless him, but he ain’t playing defensive tackle for the Miami dolphins.”

Gianotti said, “He tried.”

Esiason replied, “But he didn’t.”

Iowa-South Carolina Women’s NCAA National Championship Game Averages 18.7 Million Viewers, Eclipses Previous Viewership Record

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The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament ended with a championship for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the second in the last three years for the program. In a tournament that has set numerous viewership records, the matchup between South Carolina and Iowa garnered an average of 18.7 million viewers, eclipsing the record that had been set last week in the Final Four. The matchup, which peaked at 24 million viewers, is now the most-watched basketball game – college (MCBB, WCBB) and professional (NBA, WNBA) – since 2019. The metric renders the championship showdown as the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record. Excluding football and the Olympics, it was the most-watched sporting event since 2019.

Play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco, color commentator Rebecca Lobo and reporter Holly Rowe were on the call for the ABC broadcast, while WNBA legends Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi hosted an alternate telecast on ESPN. Pregame and postgame coverage featured Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike, Carolyn Peck and Aliyah Boston. South Carolina secured the fifth perfect season in NCAA women’s basketball history, going undefeated in the regular season and winning the National Championship. Viewership was up 89% from the 2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship Game and 285% from the 2022 iteration of the game. It is the second most-watched non-Olympic women’s sporting event ever.

“With a record-setting audience of 18.7 million viewers, Sunday’s Iowa-South Carolina title game was a fitting finale to the most-viewed ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “These exceptional athletes, coaches and teams captured our attention in unprecedented ways and it’s incumbent on all of us to keep the incredible momentum going. I’m also very proud of our talented and committed employees for how they presented this historic event.”

Earlier last week, the Final Four game between Iowa and UConn set the then-viewership record with an average of 14.2 million viewers on ESPN. At that time, the game encompassed the largest audience for any basketball game on record televised by ESPN and was also the most-viewed college event in the history of ESPN+. The game between NC State and South Carolina averaged 7.1 million viewers, comprising the most-watched women’s national semifinals on record.

Before the Final Four, ESPN secured record viewership of the Elite Eight, led by a rematch of last year’s National Championship Game between the LSU Tigers and Iowa Hawkeyes. The LSU-Iowa game averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN and was the most-watched Elite Eight game on record. The women’s quarterfinals averaged 6.2 million viewers, which was up 184% year-over-year. Iowa was televised on ABC during the Sweet 16 several days earlier where it defeated Colorado and scored an average of 6.9 million viewers.

Sid Rosenberg: I Started Trend of News/Talk Shows Going to Israel

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Sid Rosenberg: I Started Trend of News/Talk Shows Going to Israel

77 WABC host Sid Rosenberg announced plans last winter to host his popular morning show from Israel after the October 7th terrorist attacks from Hamas.

Many other news/talk radio hosts — like Salem Radio Network’s Mike Gallagher and 93 WIBC’s Tony Katz — have taken subsequent trips to the Middle East after Rosenberg hosted a week of shows from the Jewish state the final week of January. And the Sid and Friends in the Morning host believes he deserves the credit for starting the trend.

“When we went there, it was a big deal. A lot of shows have gone since. I am taking the credit, yes, I am. I’ve seen shows since. We were the first, and we made a lot of noise. Almost every newspaper in Israel wrote about us,” said Rosenberg. “I did everybody’s show, from Jesse Watters, to Brian Kilmeade, to Mark Levin, it was a very, very, very big deal. And the folks there remain really, really gracious and thankful.”

Sid Rosenberg also revealed he is making plans to go back and host his program from Israel to commemorate the attacks later this year.

“My family wants to go back to Israel this summer, which I’m considering doing. Maybe taking some time…and go to the beaches. At the very least, I want to make sure Sid and Friends in the Morning is absolutely back in Israel, live on the air again, on October 7th. I think the best way to honor the Israelis that were killed would be for us to go back,” Rosenberg said.

“So my plan is to get us back there on the one-year (anniversary). Now, that’s six months away. Who the hell knows what’s gonna happen in six months? It also puts us less than one month away from the election. So, a lot going on, but that is my plan.”

JJ Redick: ESPN Gave Me a ‘Sense of Purpose’ After Retirement

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Earlier in the National Basketball League regular season, Doc Rivers was hired by the Milwaukee Bucks to serve as the new head coach of the team, thus ending his short-lived tenure as a lead basketball analyst for the NBA on ESPN. Redick, who was originally part of another broadcast team for the network, was added to the lead broadcast with play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, analyst Doris Burke and reporter Lisa Salters.

Redick will be on the call for the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals this season for the first time, something he had always wanted to do but is surprised that is happening so quickly. In a recent appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Redick expounded on his logic about calling NBA games.

Redick is involved in a variety of endeavors outside of broadcasting NBA games, including making appearances as an analyst on various ESPN studio programs such as First Take and NBA Today. Moreover, he has his own media company – ThreeFourTwo Productions – through which he has co-hosted his podcast, The Old Man and the Three, alongside Tommy Alter since August 2020. Redic also recently started the Mind the Game podcast with NBA all-time scoring leader and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James last month.

“I would say the best thing for me, truthfully, is calling games,” Redick said. “There’s nothing like it because you do get that closeness to the game and you also get a little bit of that performance anxiety that you had as a player right before you do the live intro and right before as they’re doing the National Anthem and the starting lineup and [the] producer’s in your ear [saying], ‘90 to tease.’ Whatever it may be, that feeling is something that is hard to replicate and probably isn’t at the same level as when I played basketball, but I feel that performance anxiety when I get to call a game, and that’s really fun.”

Over his years working as a host and reporter, Le Batard has seen various athletes step away from the game and struggle with retirement. There have been certain people that have handled it better than others, he stated, but there are other times when self-worth and identity are closely tied to what they did as an athlete. Le Batard asked Redick what his experience with retirement has been like, prompting him to tell a story about his final year in the NBA.

After spending six weeks in the bubble to conclude the pandemic-stricken 2019-2020 NBA season, Redick was back on the road in December in Tampa, Fla. to play the Toronto Raptors on Christmas Day. Redick, then a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, received a video from his wife of their son running downstairs to open up presents under the Christmas tree, a moment he remembers immediately letting go.

“Doc Rivers always talks about this internal battle that we face as players within a game, and we certainly face that a little bit as we get towards the end of our career,” Redick said. “You can’t let go of the rope. You’re in this tug of war – you can’t let go – and at that moment I let go. I really struggled through that entire season.”

Redick remembers speaking to his parents on New Year’s Day and learning that they evinced something was not right with their son upon watching his last several games. Off of that observation, he began to weep that he wanted to go home and was unable to because he could not effectively let go. Following working with his performance coach/therapist for several months, Redick was able to let go and found a way to cease playing the game of basketball. Over the last several years, he has continued to elevate his workload in sports media and has quickly gained a reputation for being an insightful, credible analyst.

“I was fortunate and lucky in some ways just due to timing,” Redick said. “Because I was one of the first guys who had started this player podcast revolution, I had a podcast. I was already going to be doing that podcast – I had one year left on my deal with [Cadence13] at the time – and I got asked by Dave Roberts and my agent – they really pitched me hard on doing a year contract with ESPN. It gave me something to do; it gave me a sense of purpose.”

Jeff Prosser Pays Off Bet; Wears Shock Collar During Show on 1010XL in Jacksonville

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Jeff Prosser Pays Off Bet; Wears Shock Collar During Show on 1010XL in Jacksonville

1010 XL in Jacksonville host Jeff Prosser had a very uncomfortable show today. Due to his last place finish in the station’s March Madness bracket challenge, Prosser had to wear a military grade dog collar for three hours and was allowed to be shocked by producer Emmanuel Thalerand, known as ET, three times each hour. The bet was paid off on this morning’s edition of The Drill with Dan Hicken and Prosser, which airs from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. EST.

The station has a gimmick where it uses a prize wheel, called ‘The Wheel of Punishment,” for people to spin to determine how a bet they have made will be paid off. Prosser landed on “shock collar” and from what he said prior to the collar being attached, he was actually happy with the selection.

“I’m not afraid of the pain…pain don’t bother me so much,” he said. “I would much rather have a painful penalty than have mayonnaise shoved up my nose…”

In addition to a ‘mayo pie to the face’ and the shock collar a few of the other options Prosser could have landed on included wearing a clown suit on a busy highway or having to dress up in Dodgers gear (a team he despises) and eat an outrageous amount of waffles.

Prosser seemed to be a pretty good sport about the whole thing, although it has caused some consternation at home. “I’m perfectly willing to work through this and get this collar on. I’m going to be honest here, this comes against ‘Mrs. P’s’ objections, and I don’t like playing that game in life.”

He added, somewhat in jest, “Y’all are gonna feel bad if I die right here on the air. By the way, if I die, the show dies because Mrs. P is going to come down here and kill the two of you.”

It is difficult not to laugh each time you see ET fire off the remote control and the reaction from Prosser. You can get a good sense of what the audience was treated to by watching the recap post 1010XL put up on Instagram, which you can see by clicking here.

NBC Sports to Air ‘Golf Central Live From the Masters’

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NBC Sports to Air ‘Golf Central Live From the Masters’

NBC Sports has announced its coverage plans for The Masters as the quest for the coveted green jacket begins on Monday from Augusta National Golf Club. Throughout the week, several accomplished golfers such as Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler and last year’s champion Jon Rahm will compete in the tournament and demonstrate their prowess on the course. NBC Sports will present nearly 20 hosts, analysts and reporters contributing to the studio coverage, which includes Golf Central Live From The Masters in prime time with host Rich Lerner and analysts Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley.

NBC Sports will broadcast Golf Central Live From The Masters every day this week, which will include a rotation of hosts, analysts, reporters and contributors appearing on the show. Aside from the aforementioned, some of the talent within this rotation includes Mike Tirico, Anna Jackson, Paige Mackenzie, Ryan Lavner and Eamon Lynch.

The program will implement several features surrounding golfers at the tournament examining their quests for glory. For example, Rich Lerner compiled a feature pertaining to the dominance of Scottie Scheffler in his mission to garner a second green jacket at Augusta. Additionally, Kira K. Dixon looked to see how major championships have driven Will Zalatoris from the time he was a child and to recover from his recent back injury.

Golf Central Live From the Masters will take the air on Monday at 2 p.m. EST and contain nightly prime-time coverage on GOLF Channel and streaming on Peacock. The full schedule of air times for this week can be found below:

DayAir Times (EST)
Monday2-5 p.m. | 7-9 p.m.
Tuesday9 a.m. – 5 p.m. | 7-9 p.m.
Wednesday9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | 6-9 p.m.
Thursday8 a.m. – 3 p.m. | 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Friday8 a.m. – 3 p.m. | 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Saturday9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | 7-9 p.m.
Sunday9 a.m. – 2 p.m. | 7-9 p.m.

Joe Rogan: Elon Musk ‘May Have Saved Humanity’ By Purchasing Twitter

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Joe Rogan has been incredibly complimentary of billionaire Elon Musk, but never more than in his praise of purchasing the social media platform Twitter.

During his latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the stand-up comedian welcomed colleague Andrew Schulz to the podcast for a nearly four-hour conversation.

During the sit-down, Rogan brought up Elon Musk as part of a large discussion on billionaires, when Schulz claimed that anytime Musk takes a political position “he is chastised, shamed, ridiculed.”

Rogan then shared his appreciation for Musk’s ability to not care about critics, pointing to his purchase of Twitter as a case in point.

“He may very well have saved humanity in some way,” said Rogan. “Because by providing this one platform where people can actually speak their minds — up to a point, there are still some rules –but up to a point, you can get away with a lot of s—. I see so much racist s— on Twitter now that I never saw before. Openly racist.”

Joe Rogan continued by sharing his belief that while there is more racism on the platform, it is better for free speech.

“Even if you don’t like it, you have to know that people think certain ways,” he argued. “And the answer to bad speech is not silencing speech, it’s better speech that’s more compelling.”

Tony Rizzo: If You Took Off Work for the Eclipse, You Can’t Work at ESPN Cleveland

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Tony Rizzo: If You Took Off Work for the Eclipse, You Can’t Work at ESPN Cleveland

ESPN Cleveland host Tony Rizzo, known as Uncle Rizz, is excited today, but it has nothing to do with the solar eclipse. In fact, he believes that anyone who is so interested in the eclipse that they have taken time off work to view it, would not be welcomed to work at ESPN Cleveland.

Today also happens to be the home opener for the Cleveland Guardians, who started the season on a 9-game road trip through Oakland, Seattle and Minnesota and came out with a 7-2 record.

Rizzo was asked prior to starting his show with Aaron Goldhammer, if he was more excited about the home opener or the eclipse.

“Look man, I don’t mean to be this guy,” he said. “First of all, the home opener is huge, the [Guardians] are 7-2, don’t kid yourself. But if you think the eclipse is a big deal, if you took off work to look at the eclipse, I don’t think you could work here for us. I don’t because we want people committed to working not taking off.

“I drove downtown, I left early today thinking there would be a ton of traffic. There was no traffic because all the losers took off to go and watch a solar eclipse. Guess what, it’s going to be on the news tonight, look out your window. I don’t see the big deal.”

Rizzo then realized he knew what this was all about. “You know what it is, it’s an excuse to drink, let’s face it,” he said. “This is America. You give America an excuse to drink, they’re gonna take it, that’s what it is today, the ‘solar excuse for a drink eclipse.'”

Ben Shapiro, Jeremy Boreing, Candace Owens Spar Over Proposed Debate on Israel

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Ben Shapiro, Jeremy Boreing, Candace Owens Spar Over Proposed Debate on Israel

Candace Owens continues to make enemies at The Daily Wire after departing the conservative digital outlet last month. Now, she’s publicly sparring with the founders Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing.

In a post to X, Owens shared her interest in debating Shapiro “on Israel and the current definition of antisemitism.”

In response, Ben Shapiro argued that he sent a message to Candace Owens on Thursday, February 29th “offering this very thing.”

He then offered a time, a location, a length, and a platform for the proposed debate.

“Let’s do it on my show this Monday at 5pm at our studios in Nashville; 90 minutes, live-streamed,” Shapiro said.

Owens declined, stating her hesitancy to appear on a show platformed by the company she just departed.

“I’m sure you can appreciate why I’d prefer to keep this off the Daily Wire platform— as well as the true reason why we were never able to make any discussion happen. Let’s choose a neutral, trustworthy platform,” she wrote, before suggesting the two appear with Patrick Bet David.

Shapiro suggested he had “no idea what the hell you’re talking about it,” in regards to Owens’ insinuation that there was a reason the two had not previously held a debate on the topic while she was employed with The Daily Wire.

He also declined to appear with the host Candace Owens suggested, stating that Bet-David had recently claimed the company should rename itself to “The Daily Jewish Wire.”

Bet-David subsequently offered $250,000 to the family of Laken Riley, the Georgia college student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant, if Shapiro would debate Owens on his podcast. The Daily Wire co-founder has not publicly responded to that offer.

After claiming that Owens was attempting to “hide behind a moderator”, Shapiro gave an ultimatum.

“We can sit down and have a healthy debate like adults, and we’ll live-stream it on X and YouTube,” suggested Shapiro. “Take it or leave it.”

“I cannot laugh hard enough at (Ben Shapiro’s) obvious ‘I’ll only do this at the daily wire at 5pm ET on Monday or not at all’ stunt. This dude literally got on a plane to go debate Destiny the streamer (as moderated by Lex Fridman) two months ago,” Owens retorted. “Stop making a show of it, Ben. Man up. Let’s pick a date, time and a mutually agreed to platform—regarding which I have just offered you five viable options.”

That led The Daily Wire’s CEO, Jeremy Boreing, to chime in to the exchange, arguing that Owens was being unreasonable with her demands for a debate she originally suggested.

“There will be no ads on the video and no charge to watch it. No one cashes in,” Boreing said after Owens argued the company was only interested in creating more revenue from hosting a debate with its former employee. “You…have debated plenty of people without a moderator on your own show. You asked for a debate. If you want it, come have it.”

The response from Boreing led Owens to backtrack, stating that both he and Shapiro knew that she was currently in London and unavailable for an in-person debate in Nashville on Monday afternoon.

She suggested a virtual debate, with one caveat.

“I can certainly swing this virtually on Monday, one-on-one if you guys really just cannot wait for me to get back, but I am refusing to allowing this to happen on any Daily Wire platform,” Owens wrote. “This request seems perfectly reasonable and understandable to everyone but the Daily Wire. Why is that?”

That exchange led Jeremy Boreing to say the debate could be streamed on Owens’ platform, offering several concessions about studio space, camera crew, date, and time. However, he would not budge on agreeing to a moderator, and would also not agree to a virtual event or an edited video released after the debate concluded.

“The rest of this is just noise,” Boreing stated.

“I fully accept. No moderator. I will get in touch privately to get this set up,” Owens replied. “Major win!”

Neither Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, nor Jeremy Boreing have commented publicly about further details of a proposed debate.

Jim Costa: “We’re Doing Hot Takes About Women’s Basketball”

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Jim Costa: “We’re Doing Hot Takes About Women’s Basketball”

Ratings for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament National Championship Game have not yet been released, but they are expected to present high and potentially record-breaking levels of viewership. The matchup ended in a victory for the South Carolina Gamecocks, marking the program’s second National Championship in three years. Nonetheless, Iowa posted a valiant performance in the final game for superstar guard Caitlin Clark, who will declare for the WNBA Draft and leave the NCAA as its all-time scoring leader. Jim Costa and Jon Jansen, morning show co-hosts on 97.1 The Ticket, understand the magnitude of the moment and how the “Caitlin Clark effect” has revolutionized women’s sports, precipitating sustained growth and an optimistic forecast.

“This is not the patronizing ‘you go girl’ thing,” Costa explained on Monday’s edition of Costa & Jansen with Heather. “People are legitimately invested in these games, so much so that I saw people complaining about refereeing calls; that I saw older players trying to minimize Caitlin Clark’s legacy; I saw hot takes whether she’s an all-time great. We’re doing hot takes about women’s basketball. This is a legitimate moment for the sport when we’re doing all the things we would do with the men’s game with the women’s game.”

Jansen added that South Carolina had a remarkable run throughout the year, becoming the fifth team in the history of NCAA women’s basketball to have an undefeated season and win the National Championship. Additionally, he acknowledged the run from Clark and shared that he wanted Iowa to win the National Championship after her historic season. South Carolina ended up reigning supreme over its competition in the end, officially completing a perfect season by collecting no losses.

“Their only loss [in] the last two seasons was to Iowa last year in the tournament, and then they rebound to win the title,” Costa said. “Yeah, cool story for South Carolina, the Caitlin Clark effect putting extra eyeballs on the women’s basketball game.”

TBS will televise the NCAA Division I Men’s National Championship Game on Monday night at 9:20 p.m. EST between the Purdue Boilermakers and UConn Huskies. Ian Eagle will make his National Championship Game debut as the lead play-by-play announcer, and he will be joined by analysts Bill Raftery and Grant Hill, and reporter Tracy Wolfson.

Being within Eastern Standard Time (EST), Costa believes that the game is beginning too late, especially since he is now a regular morning drive host. Costa took over the role previously held by Mike Stone after he officially retired from full-time work at 97.1 The Ticket in February.

“Come on now, okay,” Jansen replied. “Basketball games – they don’t last very long. About two hours, but really, you’re going to start that game at 9:20? Why not 8:20?”

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