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Michael Kay: ‘I Was Irresponsible’ to Criticize Brian Daboll for Kid’s Birthday Party

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After tearing into New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll the day after their season-opening shutout loss to the Dallas Cowboys, ESPN New York host Michael Kay issued an apology to Daboll on the air for some comments he made.

On Monday, Kay reported that Daboll was at a big party the day before the game and how that probably wasn’t the best of looks considering the result on the field.

“You’re not throwing a big party if you’re about to get your butt kicked by the Cowboys,” Kay said. “There’s no way the head coach of a team throws a huge party like that the night before the opener if they think that there’s a chance that they’re going to get blown out. They just don’t do that.”

But later it turned out that big party wasn’t like the infamous boat trip Odell Beckham Jr. and other Giants players took before losing to the Packers in the 2017 playoffs. The big blowout Daboll attended was for his 6 year old son.

On Tuesday, Kay acknowledged his error and called it a huge mistake before apologizing to Daboll and the Giants.

“I should have done more work,” Kay said. “I’m a complete ass for doing this, and I feel sorry for any pain I might have caused that family by insinuating anything.”

Kay added that not doing the proper due diligence before speaking about it on the air was completely regrettable.

“I should have dug deeper,” he said. “And I didn’t think it was going to be a big thing, but it became sort of a big thing last night, and I want to cut it off at the legs and say that is on me, and I was irresponsible because I didn’t check it out further and I apologize to anybody that was impacted by my flippant remark about a party at his house.”

“I just feel like a complete idiot,” he said.

Marcus Spears Calls Charles Barkley His Biggest TV Influence

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Marcus Spears Calls Charles Barkley His Biggest TV Influence

ESPN NFL analyst Marcus Spears is carving out his own space in the media industry, and he has a couple icons in the business he looks to for inspiration.

Talking to Andrew Marchand and John Ourand on The Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast, Spears said Michael Strahan and Charles Barkley have been huge in how he navigates his career.

“Strahan was a big influence because of how he expanded and how he was able to do multiple things,” Spears said. “But it’s a conglomeration of a lot of people that I admire.”

“I would say Chuck is probably the closest, because Chuck don’t give a damn and I don’t either,” he added.

Spears said while you can expect for him to make mistakes from time to time, he’s going to keep it real no matter the situation. That’s how he operates.

“If you’re looking for somebody to be perfect, I’m not the guy,” Spears said. “But if you’re looking for somebody to be real, you’re looking for somebody to be honest not afraid to mix it up or say what needs to be said when people are beating around the bush, I’m your guy.”

Allen Sliwa: Matthew Stafford’s Wife Is Why He’s on Season 2 of Quarterback

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There are new reports that L.A. Rams quarterback Matt Stafford is being considered for the next season of the Netflix docuseries Quarterback. And 710 ESPN hosts Travis Rodgers and Allen Sliwa think Stafford being on the show would make for some interesting TV.

On Travis & Sliwa on Wednesday, Rodgers said Stafford must have been compelled to want to take part in the show in some way because the Rams shouldn’t be a bad team this year.

“He must think the Rams are decent,” he said. “He must think the Rams are somewhere between good to better than that. Because I can’t imagine anybody would want to sign up for a team that they thought was gonna go 3-14 or 5-12.”

“Why would you want to sign up for that if you thought your team was gonna be not very good?” Rodgers added. “I don’t think you would.”

Sliwa said entertainment factor is a big part of it. He felt like the first season with Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota was great because each person had a unique personality that really shined through in the finished product. Sliwa thought that Stafford’s family, including his wife Kelly, would also be presented well.

“The other part that’s interesting is, I know who his wife is,” Sliwa said. “You know who his wife is.”

“It at least crossed my mind,” Rodgers responded. “She’s out there. She has a podcast. She talks.”

Rodgers and Sliwa figured that Stafford would likely serve as the Kirk Cousins role in the second season. They felt like Cousins really gave the show a wholesome, genuine feel. It didn’t feel like Stafford would fill the role Mariota played.

“Who knows what the football component of it is, but he’s got four very telegenic daughters, he’s got a wife that has a public persona, and we don’t know anything about him,” Rodgers said. “I think getting to know him a little bit would be very interesting.”

Sliwa said that the show will have a local appeal to whoever is featured because the fans for those teams will take an interest. But for a broader audience, the who factor is going to make a difference.

“I don’t know what it is on a national level,” he said. “I think it’s also gonna depend a lot on who the top quarterback’s gonna be and then who the other quarterback’s gonna be.”

Robert Griffin III Accuses Grant Paulsen of ‘Chasing Clout’ & ‘Being a Weasel’

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A story circulates the internet on Tuesday claiming that Robert Griffin III was publicly lobbying for the Jets to bring him in to replace the injured Aaron Rodgers. On Wednesday he took to social media to call out the man he says is responsible for spreading the rumor – 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen.

Paulsen tweeted out a video that showed Griffin on ESPN’s Get Up saying, “Some of these guys like Carson Wentz, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, myself; it’s not that we can’t play the game anymore, it’s that we are a big distraction if you bring us in. So now that your starter in Aaron Rodgers is out, you can potentially go and grab some of those guys.”

The video doesn’t show the follow up, which was Griffin saying, “I’ll tell you right now, there is not a guy on the streets or anywhere including myself that will give the Jets a better chance to win than Zach Wilson. None of us know the offense, none of us have those relationships in the locker room.”

He posted the whole video on X (formerly Twitter) with a message addressing Paulsen directly.

“Grant. Stop chasing clout,” he wrote. “Do your job and post the whole clip instead of being a weasel. The point is Zach Wilson gives the Jets the best chance to win. No one off the street will save the Jets.”

For the record, Paulsen also jumped on X to explain that he is not the one behind the video. 

“People seem to think I made this video,” he wrote. “I didn’t. It was making it’s way around Twitter and the edit was funny and I retweeted it.”

The video originally came from the account @mrburnz10. There is no identifying information about the owner. It is only followed by 15 people.

RJ Choppy: ESPN Being ‘Gutless’ in Jim Trotter/NFL Lawsuit Coverage

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RJ Choppy: ESPN Being ‘Gutless’ in Jim Trotter/NFL Lawsuit Coverage

The NFL certainly hopes that Jim Trotter’s lawsuit goes away quietly. Having a former employee of NFL Media allege that two team owners openly made racist comments about black players and employees is not something the league wants its media partners covering and according to RJ Choppy, one of those partners seems to be complying.

Wednesday morning on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Choppy and his partners Shan Shariff and Bobby Belt discussed the way ESPN reported on the accusations in Trotter’s lawsuit.

“There’s two people in this story and right there on the right side, the top headline: ‘Bills Owner Made Racist Comment Lawsuit Alleges,’” he said reading from ESPN’s website. “And that is ESPN being the gutless organization that they are. If they wanted to promote this story, they would have put, which they do every other day, ‘Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Makes Racist Comment.’”

In his lawsuit, Trotter accuses the league of retaliation and racial discrimination. He accuses Jones of telling Black players concerned about diversity to “buy their own team and hire who they want to hire” and accuses Buffalo Bills owner Tom Pegula of saying that players participating in racial justice protests should “should go back to Africa and see how bad it is”.

Even staff members at ESPN have complained about how much the network leans on coverage of the team for clicks and ratings. Jones is one of the league’s biggest celebrities. It is curious that the network wouldn’t employ a similar strategy in this case.

To Choppy, there is no mystery. He believes it was a decision made to help a business partner.

“They want the story to go away,” he said. “So they say ‘Bills Owner’ does it because nobody will click on that or the amount of people that will click on it is probably far less than would had they put ‘Cowboys’ on it.”

Jim Trotter exited NFL Network this year when his contract was not renewed. The league claimed it was simply a cost-cutting move and was not tied to Trotter questioning Commissioner Roger Goodell’s commitment to diversity in league hiring practices.

WWE, UFC Have Discussed ‘All Star TKO Weekend’ Events

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WWE, UFC Have Discussed ‘All Star TKO Weekend’ Events

Will the dead periods on the sports calendar soon be a thing of the past? That was on Bill Simmons’s mind this week when he sat down with WWE CEO Nick Khan this week.

Now that the TKO Holdings merger is complete and the WWE and UFC are under the same roof, Simmons asked if the company could circle times outside of football season for what he described as “a mega-weekend.”

“So the conversations are just beginning now,” Khan responded. “Everybody wanted to make sure that we got all the regulatory approvals in place.”

The conversations that are just getting started might be about particulars. It sounds like Khan and his colleagues have already recognized that there is an opening for TKO to embraces something like what Simmons described.

“What everyone envisions is can you set up an all star TKO weekend where if Smackdown goes on Friday and the UFC goes on Saturday with the pay-per-view and WWE goes with a premium live event on Sunday. Can you do that from the same city? Certainly a lot of cost efficiencies there in terms of production, but a lot of revenue efficiencies in terms of upside, we think, there as well.”

Those efficiencies are where some of the preliminary discussions have taken place. Khan said that he does not expect a talent crossover to happen regularly, but he says the producers of UFC and WWE events have had conversations about how crossover events could work.

“Hopefully we have some news on that in a couple of months,” Khan concluded.

Charissa Thompson: Amazon, FOX Roles are the ‘Best of Both Worlds’

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Charissa Thompson: Amazon, FOX Roles are the ‘Best of Both Worlds’

Charissa Thompson is entering her second year as the host of TNF Tonight, the studio-style program for Thursday Night Football accompanying coverage from the broadcast team of Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit and Kaylee Hartung. She also balances this role by anchoring FOX NFL Kickoff on Sundays in Los Angeles, Calif. featuring analysts Michael Vick, Charles Woodson and Julian Edelman. Being able to hold two high-profile hosting roles at the same time, in addition to recording a weekly podcast with FOX Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews, can seem like a daunting task, yet it is a situation she takes in stride, referring to it as a “dream scenario.”

“You spend a lot more time together on the road,” Thompson said, “and just being out in the atmosphere of a game is also great too because I haven’t done sidelines in a long time and I miss sort of being out on the road.”

Thompson remembers taking workout classes with Andrew Whitworth over the course of last season and has many memorable moments as the property enters its second year on the air. The regular-season debut of Thursday Night Football takes place this Thursday night when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Minnesota Vikings, with kickoff set to occur at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. EST.

“For me, it’s the best of both worlds,” Thompson said. “….It really is a dream come true to have the variety.”

Thompson and the TNF Tonight crew will begin their coverage at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST, providing fans with information and insights leading into the NFC clash. She is joined by Whitworth, along with analysts Tony Gonzalez, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Richard Sherman. Michael Smith and Taylor Rooks contribute throughout the program as well, providing football fans a comprehensive and shrewd pregame show ahead of the regular game broadcast.

Adam Amin: All of My Jobs Get That NFL Comes First

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Adam Amin: All of My Jobs Get That NFL Comes First

Versatility is a key asset that can get a person very far in their respective career or give them plenty of opportunities to get their foot in the door regardless of their chosen field. When he was at ESPN from 2011-2020, Adam Amin was the play-by-play broadcaster for a number of different sports and it helped him gain some valuable experience.

The now-TV voice of the Chicago Bulls as well as NFL and MLB play-by-play for FOX joined Julie Stewart-Binks on the Off Air with Julie Stewart-Binks podcast, where he talked about versatility being expected now for broadcasters. 

“I have always been someone that likes a lot of different things, likes a lot of different hobbies, likes a lot of different sports,” he said. It just kind of fit my personality to be able to do as many things as possible. I always wanted to learn. You always gather different information from different sports that you cover and different events that you cover and maybe that applies to something you do later on in your career…It fits my personality to be able to do a lot of different things and apply knowledge to a lot of different avenues.”

Amin lost count of the number of different types of sports he called for ESPN across the college and pro landscapes. Eventually he wanted to focus on the sports he was passionate about, which led him to FOX and his work with the Bulls.

“As I got older and I wanted to start to narrow things down a bit, that was the other pull of moving jobs was to really focus on the few things that I was really the most passionate about. A lot of that just has to do with being from a major city (Chicago). This is a pro sports town. I grew up a pro sports fan. My three favorite sports were MLB, NFL, and NBA. I’m very fortunate that I get to focus my energies on those things.”

There is a lot on Adam Amin’s plate, but his colleagues know that his work on the NFL with Mark Schlereth takes precedence.

“The nice thing is with these jobs, there’s a lot of crossover between basketball and football, but both parties know I’m going to be working on football. There’s not much crossover really at all with my baseball schedule thankfully. Everybody is kind of understanding the NFL stuff takes precedence and I am gone on weekends. I try as hard as I can to be home during the week if I can help it during the NBA season to try to get as many games in as possible. Everybody’s really cool about it. That’s the big thing.”

Richard Sherman: ‘Undisputed’ Preparation Helps ‘Thursday Night Football’ Work

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Richard Sherman: ‘Undisputed’ Preparation Helps ‘Thursday Night Football’ Work

Upon the departure of Shannon Sharpe from Undisputed after seven years on the air earlier this year, the morning debate program went on a two-month hiatus to reorganize. The program ultimately came back to the air complete with a new look, cast and theme song written and performed by Lil’ Wayne.

After months of speculation, the question of who would be joining Skip Bayless in the morning was answered, with FOX Sports revealing that on-air contributors would be rotated in depending on the topics to debate the longtime sports pundit. The program adopted a similar approach to Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim’s hit morning program, First Take, and is starting to see increased levels of viewership with aspirations to be the No. 1 program on television. 

Keyshawn Johnson, Rachel Nichols, Michael Irvin, Josina Anderson and Lil’ Wayne, along with a bevy of FOX Sports 1 personalities, have appeared on the show to discuss everything from the National Basketball Association to the National Football League. One addition that surprised some people, however, was that of Richard Sherman, who verbally attacked Bayless on air during a First Take appearance in 2013.

Bayless and Sherman addressed the infamous altercation on the first episode of the show, presumably to quell any rumors about their rapport and move past the incident. At the time, First Take was trying to land an afternoon slot on ESPN and endured a probationary period, although the details of such have been conveyed differently by Bayless and Smith through their individual podcasts. One decade later, Sherman feels the duo has moved past that and is enjoying his time working with him on FOX Sports 1 on Monday through Wednesday each week.

“The preparation I’m doing for Undisputed every single day helps me for the preparation I’m doing for this Philly and Minnesota game,” Sherman said, referencing Thursday night’s prime-time game kicking off at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST. “….When we get to Thursday and we’re talking about it, it’s second-nature for me. I’m grateful for the opportunities. I’m grateful to be a part of this team – to be on Prime Video – and to be able to help assist the story of the game, as Al [Michaels] would put it.”

Sherman looks at Irvin as inspiration for how to do his job as an analyst, both on Undisputed and TNF Tonight. Irvin, who recently reached a settlement in a lawsuit with Marriott and was reinstated from his indefinite suspension by NFL Media, is known for his flamboyance and confidence displayed on the air.

“He always came with a lot of energy [and] a lot of enthusiasm,” Sherman said. “Regardless of what he’s talking about – he could be talking about paint drying, but he could talk about it in the most excitable way.”

Sherman also serves as a member of the studio team for Thursday Night Football on Prime Video and is often on site for the weekly game. This season, he is looking forward to continuing to cultivate on-air chemistry with the rest of the TNF Tonight panel, which includes former NFL players Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth and Tony Gonzalez, along with host Charissa Thompson.

“Because we had Charissa and Tony, who were so experienced and so veteran and so smooth, it made the transition a lot easier,” Sherman said. “Having Whit and Fitz made the transition easier for me [as well] because you’ve got guys who are in the same situation [and] same boat as you.”

Fred Toucher: Mike Greenberg Caused Aaron Rodgers’ Injury

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On Monday night, ESPN host Mike Greenberg had several people over to his New York City home to watch the New York Jets opening matchup against the Buffalo Bills. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was making his long-anticipated debut for the team, taking the field in front of a packed house at MetLife Stadium ready to watch the four-time Most Valuable Player lead the offense.

Four plays later, he was being helped off the field, leaving Greenberg in disbelief and devastation. Through discussions with the people at his home, including former Jets star Damien Woody, and a video call with ESPN host Pat McAfee, it was quickly discerned that the quarterback may have suffered a torn Achilles. The next morning, an MRI confirmed the team’s worst fears and officially sidelined Rodgers for the season.

Despite hosting a Boston morning radio show on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Fred Toucher is a fan of the New York Jets. Watching what happened to Rodgers ended what Toucher called an “awful” Week 1 in the National Football League that, nonetheless, still led to several flourishes in viewership. In fact, the prime-time matchup between the Jets and the Bills averaged more than 22.6 million viewers, establishing a new record for the most-watched Monday Night Football game for ESPN on record. The “Worldwide Leader” has been the rightsholder of the marquee property since 2006, and has these coveted rights secured until 2033 for a reported $2.7 billion annually.

“I was up until 1:30 in the morning last night; I’m sure you can understand,” Toucher said. “I couldn’t sleep [with] all the negativity surrounding the team.”

As the show began another segment focused on the callers of the SEC Network program, The Paul Finebaum Show, Toucher made sure to mention the source of what he believes to be the reason of Rodgers sudden season-ending exit on Monday night.

“It’s Mike Greenberg’s fault that Aaron Rodgers got hurt,” Toucher said. “It’s Mike Greenberg’s silly, little cutesy theatrics that got him hurt.”

Greenberg has been enthusiastic about the Jets from the moment the team acquired Rodgers, framing a special legacy throwback uniform at the ESPN Seaport Studios in New York City. When contributors to the morning show, Get Up, would voice their concerns with the team, there were moments where he would summon the jersey, presumably for protection. Greenberg also vowed to go on his own darkness retreat in southern Oregon if Rodgers came to the team, a promise he has yet to fulfill.

“[He was] really just [being] a silly goose about the whole thing,” Toucher added, who has been critical of Greenberg on numerous occasions. “He was not cool.”

Toucher has previously stated that ESPN consists of three people – Greenberg; Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee – in an attempt to demonstrate the silo of voices being heard on its coverage. Malika Andrews, however, was named as the new host of NBA Countdown in an effort for Greenberg to spend more time on Get Up and his national radio program, #Greeny.

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