Home Blog Page 1999

Charter, Disney See Stock Rebound After Reaching ESPN Resolution 

BSM Staff
-
0
Charter, Disney See Stock Rebound After Reaching ESPN Resolution 

Monday Night Football proved to be a powerful motivator after all. Disney and Charter reached a deal to restore ESPN and the company’s other networks to Spectrum cable systems on Monday. As all the hullabaloo was put to rest on Monday, stock prices in both companies reacted favorably.

Disney shares saw a 1.7% increase, closing at $82.52 a share.

Meanwhile Charter saw a 3.2% jump by day’s end Monday to $435.84 per share.

Disney pulled its owned networks off Charter’s Spectrum cable service at the end of August as the two sides squabbled, leaving many sports fans without access to ESPN or ABC during the slate of college football games.

As the dispute raged on, both companies saw their stock prices take a hit. Disney stock had fallen by 5% in 2023.

Alex Sherman of CNBC noted that much of the media got carried away with the dispute. He called it “a normal carriage fight” and noted that the two sides always set Monday as the deadline for a new deal. Sherman characterized the new agreement as “a happy ending for cable consumers,” but “not a transformative deal.”

Tiki Barber: Andrew Catalon Didn’t Realize 28-3 Comment Would be Taken as Shot at Matt Ryan

BSM Staff
-
0
Tiki Barber: Andrew Catalon Didn’t Realize 28-3 Comment Would be Taken as Shot at Matt Ryan

Super Bowl LI is still a very touchy subject to Atlanta Falcons fans, and the wounds of February 5, 2017 were seemingly reopened during Week 1 over the weekend thanks to CBS broadcaster Andrew Catalon.

Catalon was doing his halftime hit for the Bucs/Vikings game, when he seemed to mention the score 28-3 to broadcast partner Matt Ryan. Ryan was the quarterback of the Falcons in Super Bowl LI when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead in the second half to the New England Patriots. Ryan’s facial expression when Catalon mentioned the score was interpreted by many on social media as taking offense to a jab Catalon was making.

On Evan & Tiki on WFAN on Monday, Tiki Barber, who was also on the call with Catalon and Ryan, said the comment about the score to Matt was completely harmless.

“To Andrew Catalon, 28-3 means nothing,” Barber said. “It’s an arbitrary score, but it doesn’t mean anything to Andrew Catalon. It doesn’t mean anything to me. And by the way, it doesn’t mean anything to Matt either. I swear to you he doesn’t care.”

“That’s not offending Matt Ryan, because to be honest, that’s not on Matt Ryan,” Barber added. “That’s on Kyle Shanahan.”

Barber corroborated Catalon’s story about how at halftime of the game, the trio was having a bite to eat and talking about mistakes that Minnesota was making. The score at halftime was 10-10. Barber said it was Matt Ryan who brought up the 28-3 score, but even then it wasn’t meant to be a self-deprecating joke.

“Matt, myself and Andrew are talking, and Matt says, ‘God this game should be like 28-3,'” Barber said. “28-3 doesn’t really register automatically as something negative. He says he just regurgitates exactly what Matt said to him.”

“I don’t think he was doing it in any context other than that’s what the score should’ve actually been,” Tiki added.

Barber said the idea of 28-3 being some kind of rib even went over his head. Co-host Evan Roberts asked when it registered that Catalon had maybe inadvertently ticked off the Falcons fanbase.

“It didn’t until we’re in the car heading to the airport and Andrew’s on his phone, and he’s like, ‘Dude I’m getting crushed!'” Barber said.

Rico Beard: Michigan St Had to Suspend Mel Tucker After Naming ESPN Reporter

BSM Staff
-
0

Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker was suspended without pay on Sunday by the school, as details emerged about investigations into sexual harassment claims against Tucker.

Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and advocate for sexual violence prevention, filed a complaint with Michigan State’s Title IX office in December of last year. It stems from a particular incident in April of last year where Tucker masturbated while talking to Tracy on the phone. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for the first week of October.

USA Today published an investigative piece on the situation over the weekend, detailing that at one point Tucker told investigators that ESPN investigative reporter Paula Lavigne was looking into Tracy’s claims that she was gang-raped 25 years ago. Tracy and Tucker developed a relationship tied around Tracy speaking to student-athletes at the school about sexual violence and offered training seminars on campus. Lavigne, who denied Tucker’s claim about her investigating Tracy’s story, notably reported on sexual assaults within the Michigan State athletics program and Larry Nassar.

97.1 The Ticket host Rico Beard told Jeff Riger on The Daily Ticket podcast that one of the worst things Tucker could have done was invoke the name of Paula Lavigne.

“You never, ever, ever mention Paula Lavigne and Michigan State because that’s like catnip to Paula,” Beard said. “Paula, I promise you, will probably have some new report on Michigan State based off of that, and then she’s gonna go back and put the timeline in with Tom Izzo and Dantonio and all the stuff that went on – Larry Nassar – guess what? If you’re a Michigan State fan, and you just got over the Larry Nassr stuff, it’s about to come back up again because he threw her name in there.”

“It’s not gonna go well for you, and this is why Michigan State had to suspend him,” Beard added.

Both Riger and Beard mentioned the fact that the absolute last thing Tucker needed was something like this to happen. Beard echoed Riger who said Tucker helped his naysayers by doing something abhorrently stupid.

“You handed them the keys to put you away forever,” Beard said.

Hard Rock Bet Likely to Take Mobile Bets in Florida Again Soon

BSM Staff
-
0
Hard Rock Bet Likely to Take Mobile Bets in Florida Again Soon

Mobile sports betting in Florida appears to be on its way to going live nearly two years after initial rollout. This thanks to a federal appeals judge who, on Monday, denied a petition by state gaming operators seeking to block an agreement between the Seminole Tribe and the state government.

The tribe reached an agreement with the state in 2021, paving the way for a mobile sportsbook to become available in Florida. By November, the Hard Rock Bet app had gone live. It would be a month before legal challenges started mounting up, and a federal district court judge issued a ruling blocking the compact.

Barring a last-ditched appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and something crazy happening, Hard Rock Bet will be back up and running soon.

FOX Sports 640 host Andy Slater in reporting on the news said he expects Hard Rock Bet to be available by the end of this month.

“The Seminole Tribe of Florida is pleased with today’s denial of the request for an en banc hearing by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals,” the tribe said in a statement.

Dan Le Batard: Impossible ‘to Have My Politics’ & Get Pat McAfee Treatment from ESPN

BSM Staff
-
0
Dan Le Batard: Impossible ‘to Have My Politics’ & Get Pat McAfee Treatment from ESPN

Pat McAfee is now one of the centers of the ESPN universe. Could that have ever been Dan Le Batard? His producer Chris Cote pointed out that there was a lot about McAfee’s ESPN2 simulcast of Texas’s win over Alabama that looked like their show.

Le Batard said he recognizes that too, but isn’t sure it was ever possible for ESPN to put their show in the spotlight the way it is doing for McAfee.

“What is funny about what just happened with McAfee is I don’t know if it’s so because I can’t I can’t go back in time and know if it would actually be possible to have my politics and be what that is, because it’s inescapable that post George Floyd, what happened there is they told me focus groups showed no politics with this and that show’s not going to have politics,” Le Batard said on his Monday show. “But it looks a little bit like ours. Like all of it, the fun formula and all that stuff. But at the center of it is a professional wrestler who’s vastly more entertaining than me.”

Le Batard was careful to note that he was not taking a shot at McAfee. He is a fan of what the former punter has accomplished since walking away from the NFL.

“God, do I admire his story! Bet on himself, did it his way and now cashes all of the king’s riches. But ESPN chose that over Bomani and me and Sarah and whatever it is that we were doing that doesn’t fit with the politics of whatever McAfee’s doing, which is not going to go near Trump and is going to rah rah the hell out of football very well all season.”

Last week, The Pat McAfee Show debuted on ESPN. The network used the matchup between Alabama and Texas as something of a coming out party for their new star. He did his show from Tuscaloosa on Friday, was on College GameDay Saturday morning and then anchored the ESPN2 alternate broadcast of the game that night.

While Dan Le Batard recognizes a lot of his own show in Pat McAfee’s, he isn’t convinced that ESPN would ever have embraced it the way it has McAfee. 

“I don’t know if we could have ever actually been there, given what my politics are like. I don’t think it’s possible.”

Jesse Kelly: Media Landscape Has Changed Dramatically Since I Ran For Congress

BNM Staff
-
0
Jesse Kelly: Media Landscape Has Changed Dramatically Since I Ran For Congress

Conservative radio host Jesse Kelly had an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2010. During a recent radio show, he noted how different the media landscape is compared to then.

Last week, Kelly mentioned that he has known Buck Sexton — co-host of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show — for a really long time. Listeners asked Jesse Kelly when he first met the other radio host, and he couldn’t put a specific date on it.

“I don’t remember. See, I was running for Congress back in the day. And when you’re running for Congress, you try to get in as much media as humanly possible,” noted Kelly. “Fox News, radio, it doesn’t matter what it is, you want to get on as much media as humanly possible. And I remember I used to have to fly to New York City quite a bit because this was before all the Zoom stuff, where everyone just did interviews from everywhere. If you wanted to do media, a lot of media, you had to be in New York City, man. New York City is where it all was.

“I’m almost positive it was one of those things when I was running for office and he was probably a paid contributor to one of those shows or something like that,” Kelly continued. “And we ended up in the same place. I don’t know. It’s wild, though, that I’ve known him for so long. And now we’re both here with Premiere (Networks). It’s crazy.”

Stephen A. Smith: ‘I Report & I Have Sources All Over the Place’

BSM Staff
-
0

Stephen A. Smith doesn’t care what people call him. Some call him a commentator. Others say he is a hot take artist. 

He was on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday and said make no mistake. He is a reporter first. 

“Yeah, I’m a personality, I’m a commentator and all this other stuff, but I’ve been covering sports for 30 years,” the First Take star said. “So when I sit up there and I say something, okay, if somebody want to say I’m wrong, okay, how am I wrong? Don’t tell me I lied. That means somebody else is lying because I don’t make shit up. I report. That’s what I do, and I have sources all over the place.”

Smith shared a story about a coach that blasted him once at a press conference in Philadelphia for a report that the coach publicly said was untrue. He said that as the coach left the podium, he shot Smith a wink and they had dinner that night.

He added that no one has to wonder when and how he gets his information. Anyone with common sense should be able to put it together.

“When I came off vacation, which you’re alluding to, I will remind you that I had been at the Errol Spence Jr/Terence Crawford fight. Did you see all of those folks that at that fight?” he said. “Athletes, coaches, GMs, the owners. Everybody was at the fight. You don’t think Stephen A spoke to anybody? You know, getting a Hennessy and Coke, chilling out. Got my girl, my family with me and I ain’t doing shit? Really? You don’t think for one second that me, who’s been known as being a reporter and an insider for the better part of 30 years, didn’t talk to anybody?”

Stephen A. Smith is not shy about his acumen. He knows how some people see him, but he says anyone in the business knows that he puts in the work to get real information.

“There’s a track record. Go look it up. Google me if you have to. You know, some people talk about reporting. I’ve actually done it.”

Nick Kayal: No One Ever Takes Keith Olbermann’s Side After an Attack

BNM Staff
-
0

Former cable news host Keith Olbermann has a penchant for finding his way into back-and-forth sparring matches on social media. And 1210 WPHT morning host Nick Kayal noticed that no one ever comes to his aid.

A recent interaction between Olbermann and former New York Yankees pitcher David Wells went viral over the weekend. Wells slammed the “woke” culture of MLB, Nike, and Bud Light. He added that he wouldn’t drink Bud Light.

Olbermann responded by saying that Wells would “drink wood alcohol” before calling him a “f—ing fraud”. Wells blasted Olbermann back by telling him to “shut the f— up”.

“Just because you never played the game and all you did was work for ESPN and talk shit on all of us players because you have a degree in journalism makes you an expert on putting athletes down,” wrote Wells on X, formerly Twitter. “And that’s if you even have a degree. Stick to your politics.”

Kayal addressed the situation Monday during Kayal and Company, and said that while Olbermann has legions of followers on social media, they rarely back him.

“Keith Olbermann, formerly of MSNBC, feels the need to pipe in and interjected and ultimately gets crushed,” quipped Nick Kayal. “He’s got a big following on Twitter, yet when he does these types of stunts, almost overwhelmingly, the reaction to him is negative. Statistically, numerically, he has a following. Yet when you bring up the name, he doesn’t resonate with anybody.”

Steak Shapiro: Local NFL Radio ‘A Little More Analytical & Critical’ Than FOX

BSM Staff
-
0

Everyone has an opinion on the Monday morning after the first Sunday of the NFL season. Most sports radio shows are talking about the teams, but in Atlanta, Steak Shapiro wanted to talk about the broadcasters.

He didn’t watch the Falcons’ win over the Carolina Panthers. Instead, he listened on the radio. To him, it is the ideal way to consume football.

“I love listening to the NFL on radio, especially Wes and Dave,” he said on 92.9 The Game. “Sometimes, because they’re the home broadcast team, it’s better than [FOX’s] Chris Myers and Robert Smith.”

Wes Durham calls play-by-play for the Falcons on The Game. Dave Archer handles color commentary. The duo has been working together since 2004. Shapiro says that makes them very honest about what they are seeing. It showed up on the first play of the game, when Atlanta quarterback Desmond Ridder had a pass batted back to him and he grabbed it instead of letting it fall incomplete. 

“It’s all geared towards Atlanta, and the first thing Arch said is ‘huge mistake by Desmond Ridder not to knock the ball down,’ right out of the gate,” Shapiro said. “They’ll be a little more analytical and critical about the Falcons.”

Shapiro’s partner, Sandra Golden, agreed with him. She said listening to the hometown radio broadcast feels more communal than national broadcasters. 

While the nostalgia for sports on the radio is usually focused on baseball, Shapiro says that in Atlanta, it is football that really shines.

“I can get more out of listening to our broadcast with Wes and Dave than when I watch the TV,” he said. “There’s something about the NFL on radio. I mean, baseball is great on radio too…I like listening to them on a signal like ours. It just sounds big.”

Dave Rothenberg: Sunday Was YouTube’s ‘Christmas Morning’

BSM Staff
-
0
Dave Rothenberg: Sunday Was YouTube’s ‘Christmas Morning’

YouTube mostly scored high marks in its first week as the home of NFL Sunday Ticket. Many of the complaints were about individual incidents, operator error or things that were better than before but still not perfect.

Those complaints led Dave Rothenberg to ask a simple question Monday morning on ESPN New York about YouTube customer service.

“It’s like their Christmas morning. They couldn’t be stacked and ready to go with people?”

While he said that he had no complaints about the YouTube TV service, his partner Rick DiPietro had a different experience. The account he signed up for in time to get the $100 discount worked on his wife’s phone, but not on their smart TV.

He called customer service to get it taken care of, but they were at a loss for what to do, so DiPietro had to sign up for a second account and pay a second time.

Rothenberg rubbed his good fortune in.

“The YouTube TV process yesterday was flawless, absolutely flawless for me.”

1...1,9981,9992,000...2,883Page 1,999 of 2,883