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News/Talk Radio Most Impacted Format By Shift to Work From Home

BNM Staff
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News/Talk Radio Most Impacted Format By Shift to Work From Home

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly changed listening habits for many radio users, but the data now shows that news/talk radio is the most impacted format from the shift of employees working from home.

According to data revealed by Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media, 36% of total radio listeners are now working from home on a full or part-time basis. However, that number jumps to 48% for heavy news/talk listeners.

Sports radio was second on the list with 47% working from home, while the alternative format saw 44% of its main listeners in at least a hybrid situation.

(Photo: Jacobs Media)

Jacobs noted that while the evidence shows that news/talk consumers are no longer spending as much time in a cubicle or office setting as they did before the pandemic, the Techsurvey 2023 data shows that time spent in cars has “normalized – a lot”, but has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

In 2021, 71% of respondents said they were spending less time in their car, and thus, less time listening to the radio. However, in 2023, that number has dropped to 40%, with pre-pandemic levels sitting at roughly 30%.

John Sterling Hit in Head With Foul Ball, Finishes Yankees Game

BSM Staff
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It was a tough night at the ballpark for John Sterling on Saturday. The legendary radio voice of the New York Yankees got nailed with a foul ball that was hit towards his broadcast booth in the Bronx.

Justin Turner swung and fouled a pitch backwards. Listeners then heard Sterling shout “Ow! Ow! Ow!”

Video of the incident released the next day shows the ball hit him just above the eye.

“It really hit me,” Sterling said when he returned to the microphone. “I didn’t know it was coming back that far. So once again, it will be a 3-2.”

The incident happened in the ninth inning, so there was not much game left. Still, John Sterling hung in there and called the final two pitches of the game. 

Sterling was back in the booth on Sunday. He wore a bandage over his left eye, but was in good shape to make the call.

His broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman took the ball and had Turner write a message on it for Sterling.

“To John, no matter where you sit at a ballgame, you’re never safe!” It read.

Sterling recently returned from illness. At 85 years old, he has cut down his travel schedule, but says he is in good health and fans have nothing to worry about.

Elon Musk: ‘It’d Be Great’ For Don Lemon, Rachel Maddow to Host on Twitter

BNM Staff
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Last week, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, tweeted about his desire to have liberal TV hosts like former CNN anchor Don Lemon or MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on his platform. His aim is to balance out conservative viewpoints, represented by Tucker Carlson, with liberal perspectives.

Musk retweeted the second episode of Carlson’s show and expressed his support for the idea of Maddow and Lemon hosting their shows on Twitter. He emphasized that Twitter is a digital town square for everyone and that they would receive complete support.

Musk has reached out to Lemon before. On May 10th, Musk suggested that Lemon should consider broadcasting his show on Musk’s platform. This suggestion came after Lemon announced his departure from the struggling network.

“Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger,” Musk said on May 10, which was posted in response to Lemon’s fiery post announcing his exit from the embattled network.

Lemon co-anchored CNN This Morning with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, but the show’s viewership averaged a disappointing 360,000 before his departure. In contrast, Twitter has around 450 million active monthly users.

In the meantime, The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow’s weekly program, consistently holds the top spot on MSNBC, attracting over 200,000 viewers in the coveted 25-to-54-year-old demographic, according to USTVDB statistics.

For Musk, recruiting voices from across the political spectrum is a personal mission. In the span of two weeks, he has hosted Twitter Spaces events featuring Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The billionaire consistently promotes Twitter as a platform where all voices are given a chance to be heard and where dynamic interactions occur that are unparalleled elsewhere.

However, this strategy has yet to prove successful in terms of the platform’s financial performance. Since Musk assumed control last October, ad revenue has plummeted by 59% as advertisers express concerns about potential chaos under the outspoken mogul.

During the period spanning from April 1 to early May, Twitter experienced a decline of $88 million in ad revenue compared to the previous year, as per documents examined by The New York Times.

The financially constrained social media platform has consistently failed to meet its sales forecasts, sometimes falling short by as much as 30%. According to the disclosed documents, there are no indications of an imminent improvement in these figures.

In a cost-cutting measure, Musk made the decision to terminate half of Twitter’s employees towards the end of the previous year. He asserted that this action would enable Twitter to achieve savings of $700 million in 2023.

Two Decades Later, Amy Lawrence is Far From Finished

Peter Schwartz
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Two Decades Later, Amy Lawrence is Far From Finished

If you look up the definition of “trailblazer”, you will find that it means someone who is a pioneer or an innovator. When it comes to the sports radio industry, CBS Sports Radio’s Amy Lawrence fits that description like a glove. 

The host of After Hours, heard weekday overnights from 2am to 6am eastern time, has been hosting sports radio shows for more than two decades. Lasting that long in the business is hard enough when you’re a male, but she has been able to do in an industry that has not always been accepting to females.

But, even through some very difficult moments, she has persevered to carve out a very successful career.

“There were times when I did not know that I would survive,” said Lawrence, a native of Concord, New Hampshire. “I was fired multiple times for no reason. I was dropped from rotations.  I will never take it for granted. I’m grateful that I get to do what I love every single night. There’s still a passion for it. Every time the microphone goes on, I still feel butterflies to start a show because that’s how much I love it.” 

Lawrence has been with CBS Sports Radio since its inception in 2013. Prior to that, she spent 9 years as a host at ESPN Radio, where she was the only regular female host. 

“It’s unheard of for a host to be in the same time slot on the same show on the same network for this length of time and there are no other women who are doing it,” said Lawrence. “I’m proud of it now but mostly I want to make sure it’s easier for other young women coming up behind me.”

After graduating from Messiah College with Bachelor’s Degrees in Communications and Accounting, Lawrence went on to earn her Master’s in Television and Radio from Syracuse University.

That accounting degree came about because there many people who doubted that sports talk radio would work out for her.

“I had many people tell me that women didn’t do sports talk radio and that I should have a backup plan,” said Lawrence. “Accounting supplemented my income for years in radio.”

Nothing like earning a few extra bucks while you’re on a path to proving people wrong! 

Before national radio came calling, Lawrence made local radio stops in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Syracuse, Rochester and Oklahoma City, where she was the first female sports talk radio host in state history.

Blazing a trail was more than just a concept or a goal. For her, it was a necessity. It’s not like there were many other women who not only wanted to be in sports talk radio, but also had the fire to go out and do it.

“I remember there was no one who I could ask for help,” said Lawrence, who also has more than 25 years of experience in college basketball doing play-by-play and color. 

“There was no one who looked like me, sounded like me, or had the same career goals as me. People ask me a lot who did you look up to? Who did you get inspired by when you were first in this business? It’s all men which is okay. I had some great role models.”

Today, there are young girls who aspire to be in sports radio who now have role models to look up to an emulate…namely Lawrence, who is more than happy to fill a role that wasn’t available to her when she was starting out.

In addition to her full-time job talking sports overnights, Lawrence loves to play the role of mentor which includes being an Adjunct Professor at her alma mater Syracuse University.

She’s always more than happy to share her experiences and offer advice.

“I am proud of the fact that now, when other young women come up through the business or begin their journey, they can look and listen to the example that I have set and they know they’re not alone,” said Lawrence. “That’s what I felt most of the time during my career. I felt primarily alone. I didn’t have anyone to give me advice or share wisdom or experience and I am determined to do that for other young women who reach out.” 

Sports radio, and sports broadcasting in general for that matter, has historically been a male-dominated industry. That has been changing with many women, including Lawrence, holding down high-profile jobs including sports talk, reporting, anchoring and play-by-play. But, unfortunately, there’s still the challenge of women having to deal with hate, especially on social media, from those who believe that women don’t belong in sports.

It’s something that Lawrence has faced in her career.

“I remember the very first time I wandered into a chat room when I was serving as a local host in Norman, Oklahoma and I cried my eyes out,” said Lawrence. “People were making things up about me. It was untrue. The things that they were saying were very hurtful and who knows whether or not the people reading through the posts on the chat actually believed them but that’s something I can’t control.” 

Lawrence was able to channel her inner Taylor Swift and “shake it off” to become a success in this industry.

Even with her success, she still has to endure the nonsense from the haters and the doubters.

“When I first got to CBS Sports Radio and my profile started to blow up on both Twitter and Facebook. There were times when I would reply and I would try to set the record straight or I would get snarky and sarcastic and defensive,” said Lawrence. “And then it dawned on me that those people are just looking for a reaction. It used to be very emotional for me. Now it doesn’t bother me. Not every battle is worth fighting and social media is generally not a battle that is worth your time and your effort.”

Going back to the start of her career, Lawrence has been determined to be successful. A few silly words sent in her direction on Twitter is only going to fuel her fire.

“The only thing that the resistance, the hate, the reaction, the criticism has done over the course of my career is cause me to dig in my heels,” said Lawrence. “It’s caused me to realize that I need to be even better. It’s caused me to look at this as a fight and I have to not only defend myself but defend my territory.”

The sports radio industry is certainly different today than it was when Lawrence was starting out.

It goes without saying that social media now plays a huge role in how listeners can engage with a radio station and the hosts.

Whether it’s polls relating to hot topic sports issues or a popular segment called “Ask Amy Anything”, there’s more to After Hours than just picking up the phone and calling the show.

“We now have this immediate platform for interacting with listeners and also fellow members of the industry,” said Lawrence. “That’s how we make a lot of contacts when it comes to guests on the show, when it comes to news and you really cannot do our job without social media.” 

Lawrence also embraces the digital technology that is now a big part of sports talk radio. She may host the overnight show, but thanks to podcasting and the on-demand features of the free Audacy app, listeners can access the show’s content at all hours.

“Now you can say ‘hey if you missed it, here’s where you can find it.’ People can listen on their own time,” said Lawrence.

More than 20 years into her sports talk career, Lawrence is showing no signs of slowing down. She has the same passion. It helped her become a huge success but now it’s that passion that will keep her going.

Because unlike when she was getting into the business, there’s competition.

“I know that I need to be on the top of my game,” said Lawrence. “I don’t want to be an OG and just kind of ride off into the sunset. It’s a very competitive business. Our industry is going through challenges like never before. I have to stay relevant and I have to continue to push myself because otherwise these young people will pass me.”

Remember the final scene in Rocky III when Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed are about to have their secret third fight? 

Apollo says to Rocky “I’m still young enough to whip your butt stallion.”

Rocky replies “Oh yeah? How are you going to do that? You taught me everything you know.”

And then Apollo says “Almost everything. You gotta remember that you fight great but I’m a great fighter.”

A trailblazer for women in sports radio, Amy Lawrence is the inspiration for those young people who are striving to be just like her. She’s more than happy to show them the ropes, but she’s not ready to give away her microphone just yet. 

Is Stephen A. Smith The Best Teammate at ESPN?

Garrett Searight
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Is Stephen A. Smith The Best Teammate at ESPN?

I know how absolutely preposterous it is to ask about the unselfishness of Stephen A. Smith. But recent developments have me kicking around the question of just how influential he is to ESPN.

Smith has been the face of ESPN — whether you like it or not — for the better part of a decade. I don’t think it is unfair to argue that we’ve seen Smith be selfish in his tenure. He has discussed how he believes he is underpaid, he — if reports are true — sealed the fate of Max Kellerman as his First Take co-host, and has welcomed Shannon Sharpe to join the show, as long as he’s willing to agree to Smith’s terms, and his only.

I’m not arguing whether or not he’s earned the ability to be selfish — he has, frankly — but it’s inarguable that when you think of Smith, the words “prima donna”, “arrogant”, and “selfish” rise to the top.

And he’s earned that! But…is he also a big help to up-and-coming talent at ESPN?

A pair of First Take panelists have mentioned in recent weeks what Stephen A. Smith has taught them about appearing on the program. First, Domonique Foxworth shared that Smith instilled in him the mindset that it’s not “me vs you, it’s us vs the audience”.

“When you do First Take with Stephen A, you learn that he understands that we are on the same team,” Foxworth said while appearing on The Right Time with Bomani Jones.

Additionally, Dan Orlovsky shared that Smith told him “‘This is an entertainment business. Your goal is not to be right all the time.’ Once he said that to me, it completely changed my mindset going into what that show was going to be,” during an appearance on Rise and Schein with Adam Schein.

Now wait just a damn minute. You mean to tell me that Stephen A. Smith — widely regarded as an egomaniac — is out here teaching up-and-coming talent? Well, that doesn’t necessarily fit the narrative now, does it?

Not only have Orlovsky and Foxworth shared that Smith has taken them under his wing when it comes to First Take, it’s abundantly clear that either J.J. Redick and Kendrick Perkins have had similar teachings from Smith, or they’re just really good at creating the TV he wants them to.

Stephen A. Smith has been instrumental in raising the profile of Orlovsky, Foxworth, Redick, and Perkins.

Now, this might not be popular for some of the older people in the industry, but he’s also resurrected the career of Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on the national level. I’m 33 years old and from the Midwest. I certainly didn’t have an appreciation for who he was. Before really diving into the media world, Russo — to me — was the guy who yelled a lot on MLB Network. But, to people my age and younger, Russo’s appearances on First Take have been invaluable in introducing him to a new audience.

You could argue — and you might be right — that Smith’s motives are still ultimately selfish in nature. If Dan Orlovosky, J.J. Redick, Domonique Foxworth, Chris Russo, and Kendrick Perkins are better at debating him, that’s better for First Take, which is better for him.

But there’s still something to be said for sharing the tales of the trade. And Smith’s willingness to help those around him deserves praise, rather than the intense scrutiny he’s usually under.

How Does Chris Simms Have a Sports Media Career If He Can’t Deal With Trolls?

Demetri Ravanos
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How Does Chris Simms Have a Sports Media Career If He Can’t Deal With Trolls?

Nobody in our business gets anonymity in 2023. If you work in the sports media, people have access to you whenever they want it. You may not always be scrolling Twitter, but they can always fire off a take.

In 2023, that access is not new. Either you have been in the business long enough to see social media blow up and turn from a curiosity into a necessity, or you haven’t been around that long and you have never known a world where your audience did not have constant access to you.

That access and those interactions are not always positive ones. Nobody likes dealing with trolls. I get that. When their attacks turn personal, that can be more than just annoying. It can be scary.

But if those trolls are attacking an opinion you had that has since been proven wrong, you better be able to take it, or at least not take it personally.

Chris Simms is learning that lesson the hard way. Football fans, particularly devotees of the Miami Dolphins, are rightfully calling the NBC analyst a jerk for the way he reacted to the death of Eric Carmona.

Carmona was the founder of Tuannon, an internet movement devoted to hyping up Dolphin quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Simms remains a doubter of Tua’s. That made him a frequent target of Carmona’s videos. 

Following the death of Carmona, who was a 30-year-old Navy veteran, friends started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his widow and their four children. Mike Florio brought it up on an episode of Pro Football Talk Live on Peacock, because Tua Tagovailoa donated $10,000 to the campaign. 

In Florio’s eyes, it was a beautiful moment of a pro athlete recognizing the devotion of a diehard fan. Simms suggested the donation was unearned.

“This is a deep subject and I think it’s societal and I won’t go into it because I’m only going to get myself in trouble,” Simms responded after Florio talked about the beauty of fans’ passion for their teams and players. “We’re also setting an example like, ‘Hey here’s money to a guy who was very negative too.’ That’s all I’m saying.”

Now, before I get too hard on Simms, I need to point out that he did donate to the GoFundMe. As of Saturday, the fundraising effort had topped $104,000 with $1000 coming from Simms. It was a nice gesture to follow up a major misstep, but I am not sure it changes the narrative at all.

Okay, with that out of the way…

I have never seen someone in our business look like such a petulant baby in all my life. Simms’s comment was so tone deaf and self-centered that if there wasn’t video of it, I would guess it was a Donald Trump tweet.

“Chris takes a lot of crap. I take a lot of crap,” Florio told Joe Rose during his weekly visit to the WQAM morning show last week. “I’ve been doing it a lot longer than Chris, and I think sometimes Chris just kind of reaches the end of the rope. He doesn’t actively participate in Twitter. He has one of the producers at NBC that primarily updates his account. So I don’t think he’s become as desensitized to it as I have over the years.”

The short fuse is no excuse. When a celebrity dies, the people that bring up the horrible things they did or were accused of are always shouted down by someone. “NOW IS NOT THE TIME!” Well, if that can be true of racism and crimes, surely it can be true of someone being rude to a sports talking head. 

The greater sin for sports media professionals to be aware of is that whether Simms recognizes it or not, this is a gross case of punching down. Eric Carmona did not have near the platform that Simms does. On top of that, he is no longer with us to answer or defend himself. 

There have been real examples of abuse and bullying on Twitter. Just ask any woman in this business what they have to deal with when they are wrong about a prediction or simply have the gall to give an opinion at all. I don’t want to dismiss stuff like that as “hey man, you gotta get used to it.”

But this is a fan telling someone who is paid to give an opinion that his opinion is stupid. That is kind of how opinion works. If it bothers Chris Simms that much, he needs to find a new field or, at the very least, have that NBC producer teach him about Twitter’s block and mute functions. 

Abuse is inexcusable. If you can snuff it out or at least call it out, you should. Trolling is annoying. That is what filters are for. Criticism, though? Criticism is part of what comes with this job. 

Chris Simms knows how to talk. He knows how to get a reaction from people. Those are valuable skills in broadcasting, but if disagreement causes him this much consternation, I am not sure he is in the right business.

Stephen A. Smith: I’m Not Looking For an Everyday Partner on First Take

BSM Staff
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If anyone thought First Take host Stephen A. Smith wanted to make Shannon Sharpe a permanent debate partner on the show, think again.

Stephen A. was among the contingent of ESPN personalities to voice support for Sharpe, who will be leaving Undisputed on FS1 at the conclusion of the NBA Finals. Smith said he would be happy to have Sharpe appear on First Take if ESPN happened to be his next shop.

But Stephen A. last week on his podcast The Stephen A. Smith Show clarified that if Sharpe came to ESPN, the football hall of famer wouldn’t be on every day.

“I got a lot of respect for Shannon Sharpe, but make no mistake about it, I love my crew,” Smith said. “I welcome Shannon Sharpe to First Take, but it would be in the mix of being part of the family. I’m not looking for an everyday person on First Take. So, for all of you clamoring for that, get over it.”

Stephen A. added that the revolving cast of talent that he engages with every day has worked well for him the last couple years. He doesn’t see a point in changing that.

“I like the potpourri of contributors,” he said. “I like the action and the excitement and the fun on the show. Adding people into the mix, is one thing. Changing the complete makeup and formula of the show is entirely different. And that ain’t happening, for anyone.”

What is a Radio Quarter Hour?

Dr. Ed Cohen
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What is a Radio Quarter Hour?

From the day that you started in radio, if you were working in a rated market, you were informed about the importance of a quarter-hour. To a normal everyday person, a quarter-hour refers to fifteen minutes of time. This column will attempt to demystify (or perhaps mystify) the term for radio people because it can be defined in a few different ways.

Let’s start with a clock. In the world of Nielsen Audio, a quarter-hour refers to a clock quarter-hour. Every hour has four “clock” quarter hours; :00-:15, :15-:30, :30-:45, and :45-:00. 

To get listening credit from either a PPM panelist or a diary keeper, you need five minutes of listening to your station during one of those “clock” quarter hours. If the panelist or diary keeper listens from 7:05-7:10, you get credit and that five minutes is treated as fifteen minutes of listening.

However, if the panelist or diary keeper listens to you from 7:11-7:19, you get bupkis (a fine research term) because you didn’t have five minutes of listening in a “clock” quarter-hour, even though the person listened for eight minutes. 

With me so far?

Where the five-minute credit rule came from is likely lost in the mists of time, but it’s still the rule today and we all play to that rule. However, there are differences between the PPM and diary systems. In PPM, any five minutes in the clock quarter-hour earns credit. In PPM, listening to one encoded station from 7:02 until 7:05 and again from 7:10 to 7:12 will earn one quarter-hour of listening credit (3 + 2 = 5 for those of you who were asleep in first grade!).  That doesn’t fly in the diary service although when reviewing diaries, you’ll see very few diary keepers who are that anal so it’s not as big of a deal. 

PPM has one more twist. When the system was designed, it was understood that it might take some number of seconds for the meter to pick up a “good” code, so a one-minute lead-in edit was added. Let’s stick with the example above and assume that someone was leaving their house in the morning to head to their post-COVID work. Also, assume that they weren’t using any PPM-encoded radio or TV prior to getting in their car. 

The panelist starts the car (wearing their meter, of course!) and listens to an encoded radio station. Assume the time was 7:11. The Nielsen system will add one minute to the start of that listening episode, in other words, the lead-in edit. The station receives credit for four minutes, 7:11 to 7:15 plus the one-minute lead-in edit (going back to 7:10), meaning the station earned a quarter-hour with four minutes of listening. Oddly enough, PPM for TV uses different rules. 

Have I confused you some more?

The lead-in edit does not apply when there was encoded listening ahead of that listening event. For radio, the obvious example is switching stations in the car. The meter was already receiving code so no lead-in edit is applied. In other words, you still need five minutes in the clock quarter-hour to receive credit for the full quarter-hour.

There is also something called a bridging edit. If the panelist’s meter, for whatever reason, loses the code for a station for up to one minute, but the listening was to station A on both sides of the “lost minute”, PPM will credit the minute to station A, “bridging” the two listening sessions. The assumption is that the code was temporarily lost and because it was the same station on both sides of that “lost minute”, why not give that station the credit for that minute? The logic is sound, so there’s another situation where a quarter-hour can be, well, certainly less than fifteen minutes and potentially less than five minutes. 

In a diary market, you likely know the value of the vertical line which has no PPM equivalent.  Nielsen even includes the line in the diary’s example page and testing has shown that in many cases, diary keepers do look at the example to better understand how to fill it out. The line or more accurately, an editor’s interpretation of what constitutes a line, can be a gem or cubic zirconia. 

There are a number of twists in the diary edit rules that explain how to credit a line and the difference can be hours of listening or just a few minutes depending on how the diary keeper entered it in their diary. 

That’s the short version of what constitutes a quarter-hour and just this much can make your head spin as well as causing you to question why you got into this business in the first place. 

I’m a huge advocate of “the more you know, the better you’ll do” so think about this and if you have questions, send them to me.

Let’s meet again next week.

Paul Finebaum, Tim Brando Trade Barbs Over SEC Schedule Criticism

BSM Staff
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Paul Finebaum, Tim Brando Trade Barbs Over SEC Schedule Criticism

The SEC is expanding next year with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. There had been a push for the conference to add a league game to each school’s football schedule. The SEC, at its spring meeting recently, decided to stick with an eight-game conference schedule in football in 2024.

Brando appeared on the Daily Wire‘s sports show Crain & Company last week and criticized Finebaum for not using his platform to push back at SEC commissioner Greg Sankey over the nine-game proposal.

“I couldn’t get over the frothing at the mouth that was going on Finebaum’s show, because Paul couldn’t ask the direct questions either for fear his Bat-phone was going to ring,” Brando said. “So he’s asking all these guys from websites to tell him what he already knew. And that is the SEC presidents had their hand out wanting more money from ESPN. Why should ESPN pay them more money? They have a $300 million deal… Are you kidding me?”

Finebaum responded on Friday in an interview on 105.5 WNSP in Mobile, saying Brando is entitled to his opinion but he can stick to hiding behind his Twitter account.

“Tim’s had a great career. He’s welcome to his opinion,” Finebaum said. “He chooses to take cheap shots on Twitter. I try to contain what I have to say within the confines of a 4-hour program every day.”

“The thing, I think, that exposes him more than any other aspect of his being is the fact that he can’t handle criticism,” Paul added. “Why do I say that? Because if you criticize him on social media, he’ll block you. I don’t believe a public person should do that.”

Later Friday night, Brando did respond on Twitter, calling Finebaum’s critique of his social media behavior sad.

Tim Brando used to be a regular presence on The Paul Finebaum Show. That has not been true for quite some time though.

Leroy Hoard: Chris Simms is ’the Lowest Level There is’

BSM Staff
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Leroy Hoard: Chris Simms is ’the Lowest Level There is’

560 WQAM host Leroy Hoard can’t stand Chris Simms, and the NBC NFL analyst’s latest comments on an act of kindness by Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa added on another layer of disdain for Hoard.

Last week, Tua donated $10,000 to a GoFundMe raising money for the grieving family of Dolphins superfan Eric Carmona. Carmona recently died in a motorcycle accident and leaves behind a wife and four children. He was the man behind the popular “TuAnon” videos on Twitter. Carmona would wear a dolphin mask and modify his voice and show his support of Tua, who he felt received a lot of undue criticism. The GoFundMe has raised almost $109,000.

Tagovailoa wasn’t the only Dolphins player to donate. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill and linebacker Andrew van Ginkel also contributed a combined $8,000. Team CEO Tom Garfinkel gave $1,000.

While Simms called Carmona’s death tragic when discussing it on PFT Live last week with Mike Florio, he faced plenty of criticism from fans after seemingly taking issue with the fact that Tua and others were supporting the family of a guy who occasionally used his Twitter platform to lash out at Simms.

After hearing the sound byte, Hoard piled on.

“For once in your pathetic life, I want you to understand this simple fact,” he said Friday on Tobin & Leroy. “There are things that happen in the world that are bigger than you or any beef you may have. Death is one of them. The fact that this man can’t show any compassion and put aside his beef for a tragedy, I don’t know what to say about that. It is the lowest level of scum you can go.”

Hoard added that Simms should’ve left his personal feelings out of it when talking about Carmona’s death. He said it was a case of throwing stones from inside a glass house especially because Simms is a known Twitter troll himself.

“If everybody likes you, you’re living in a dream world. Get over yourself,” Hoard said. “You do things on a daily basis to troll people.”

“You are the lowest level there is,” he added. “Because you spend most of your time at your profession getting under people’s skin with some of the stuff you write and say. And your feelings are the ones that get hurt, because somebody says something about you?!”

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