Nearly a month ago, the state of Massachusetts made sports betting legal. Since then, the discussion has been about how soon the state could get their wagers started.
Toucher and Rich were a part of the “when will it happen” discussion and on the show, regular guest and gaming analyst for 98.5 The Sports Hub Dan Lifshatz predicted that people would be able to make bets within a month based on what he’s heard. That frustrated the Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner Brad Hill.
At the Thursday meeting of the commission, Hill spoke out.
“I was tuned into 98.5 today, I was listening to the Toucher & Rich show, which is a very entertaining show,” said Hill. “But today I actually got a little frustrated with it because they had a guest on and they were talking about sports betting and they made a comment that some think we might be able to make a bet in three weeks at our brick and mortar casinos and our simulcasting facilities, and obviously that’s not going to happen and it was frustrating because of the hundreds of thousands of people that listen to that show and think that they might be able to place a bet here in Massachusetts.”
Al Michaels recognizes he is stepping into a big unknown with his role as the play-by-play announcer of a strictly streaming NFL package.
Michaels, speaking to Jimmy Traina on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, talked about how comfortable he is with Kirk Herbstreit and that he trusts the game’s producer Fred Gaudelli, but he knows people are going to struggle at first to find the game.
Michaels then told Traina that he does have one fear about doing the Amazon Thursday Night Football package but it has nothing to do with the presentation from the main game.
“The only fear I have with going into this package, and Nielsen is going to rate everything now for the first time ever, so I’m a little nervous about that and I don’t know how that’s going to work out,” said Michaels. “But if I see that Dude Perfect on the alternate feed out rates us one night, I’m done. I’m announcing my retirement.”
Michaels was teasing with the Dude Perfect comment because when asked about alternate feeds, he had no problems with them in general. He went on to say that he believes in the “Big Top” theory when it comes to the alternate broadcasts.
“Come one, come all. If that’s your thing, great.”
He also said that eventually, the game is the star and people will come back to it.
“You have to go back and watch the game, too,” Michaels said. “Sometimes you want to watch the game as the game.”
Good Karma Brands and ESPN Wisconsin have announced the launch of the Tundra Trio Radio Network, which will see Green Bay Packers content on 94.5 ESPN and 620 WTMJ in Milwaukee, and 100.5 ESPN in Madison.
Each Packers game day, Gary Ellerson and Greg Matzek will host Green Bay Gameday on the Tundra Trio Radio Network, while Gabe Neitzel, Steve “The Homer” True, and Mark Tauscher will host Pack Attack Postgame for three hours following each game.
“We’re thrilled to bring Gary’s unique brand of humor and insight to the Tundra Trio Radio Network,” GKB Milwaukee Director of Content Ryan Maguire said. “Longtime fans of his now have a place to listen to him throughout football season, along with Brett Favre, Mark Tauscher, Mark Chmura, Jason Wilde and more!”
In addition, Hall of Famer Brett Favre will join Jen, Gabe, and Chewy each Monday morning at 7:30 AM for a half hour interview on 94.5 ESPN. Tauscher will also appear on Wisconsin’s Morning News each weekday at 7:50 AM on 620 WTMJ. Finally, 4th & 16, a new segment launching on Wisconsin’s Afternoon News at 4:16 PM, will feature analysis from Tauscher, former Packer Mark Chmura, Ellerson and Jason Wilde.
Before Friday morning’s show, 93.7 The Fan host Colin Dunlap caught and confronted a would-be burglar in the parking lot before the show began.
After admitting he goes the wrong way through an exit only lane to get to the parking garage because its faster and its early in the morning, Dunlap noticed someone near producer Adam Crowley’s car.
“It’s probably 100 feet before I turn to where his car is parked and the car is parked as I turn, my lights flash on the broad side — the passenger side — of it and he parked going crossways. I noticed — what I first think is Crowley — on the passenger side. It’s not,” said Dunlap. “It’s some man. Looking into Crowley’s passenger side window. I normally park two spots away from Crowley and I back in. As I pull down, it still doesn’t hit the guy that a car is coming towards him. I make it about halfway down and the guy pops up and looks over his shoulder and notices this car coming. Immediately, he walks off real fast and goes up these steps to another parking lot above ours.”
Dunlap then made a lap around the parking lot before returning to his normal parking spot, while waiting inside to see if the person also returned.
“Two minutes later, here comes the guy circling back the other way, looks into (93.7 The Fan producer) Greg Finley’s car, which is parked in a different part of the lot. Pulls the handle. It doesn’t open. Then he walks back towards Crowley’s car towards the drivers side. He doesn’t see me in my car. At this point, I got out of my car and I said ‘Listen, it’s gonna happen one way or the other. Either I’m gonna grab you and knock you the hell out or you’re gonna get the eff out of here’. Cause I knew what was happening here. And I start walking towards him. And I’m five, maybe 10 feet from the guy, and boom. Sprint. Dude takes off.”
Dunlap then said he called 911 and reported the incident, noting two-minutes later three police officers were on the scene.
“I was still on the phone with 911 longer than it took them to get there,” Dunlap said. He added the man was a “junkie looking guy” who he didn’t fear was armed or dangerous.
What an awesome start to Football Friday. Pulled into parking lot and caught a guy about to break into @_adamcrowley’s car. Confrontation, police involved, etc. Go Steelers!
Ryan Fitzpatrick doesn’t seem very nervous about his new job with Amazon. He will be in the studio for Thursday Night Football alongside Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman and Charissa Thompson for every game on Prime Video this season.
Friday morning, he was a guest on The Dan Patrick Show and told the host that the only issue he had coming into the job was that being a journeyman quarterback means he has a lot of relationships around the league. There are a lot of people whose confidence he wants to keep.
“That trust issue for me is one of those things where I’m not really sure where that line is going to be,” Fitzpatrick said.
Patrick responded by telling him that the best thing he can do is be honest. He has a job to do and he cannot be so preoccupied with who may get upset that he never offers any real opinions.
“If I go through a show and I don’t remember anything you said, you didn’t do your job,” Dan Patrick said.
He asked Ryan Fitzpatrick how his first night on Thursday Night Football compared to his first NFL start. Fitzpatrick said that what he is doing now is considerably easier. In fact, he felt no real nervousness at all.
“I’m not going to say this part’s gonna be easy, but this is me getting to watch football and talk about football,” he said.
He added that the first preseason game Amazon covered gave him real confidence. Watching the first half, he picked up on some signs that 49ers quarterback Trey Lance’s lack of NFL experience was forcing him to rush through a play and he was able to show that to the audience with a highlight package.
“Picking up on those little nuances, that’s what got me going a little bit as I was doing my stuff at halftime was being able to see that, take my perspective and project it to the audience.”
Dan Patrick said the only note that he would have for Ryan Fitzpatrick is to button his shirt entirely. Fitzpatrick, who is notorious for showing off a little chest hair said that he actually considered undoing one more button for TV, but promised he would brush his chest hair first.
Next Thursday night, Charissa Thompson will be leading the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for Amazon Prime Video’s first NFL regular season game broadcast between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. Being part of launching a new network or broadcast isn’t something that’s uncommon for Thompson over the course of her career.
Thompson was on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Thursday and she mentioned how she feels lucky to be a part of Amazon’s NFL coverage after she was a part of the first Big Ten Network football game and she was at FS1 when that network launched as well.
“I feel so lucky. I got to be part of a launch of the Big 10 Network, my first ever game on the air for the Big 10 Network was my first ever sideline game, Michigan-Appalachian State. I remember walking to the car after the fact with Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis and they said where does that rank of all the games you worked? I said this was my first one.
“With FS1, I got to launch that as well. I feel very lucky to have had that experience and now with this unprecedented platform of Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football package being the first ever streamer to have rights to the NFL, it’s awesome. I feel so, so grateful. I don’t just say that because that’s what you are supposed to say. I genuinely feel that way….I’m just waiting for them to kick me off this set like I got kicked off the field at Lambeau and say your time is up.”
Yes, you read that right. Thompson was kicked out of Lambeau Field once before by Mike McCarthy before the NFC Championship Game when she was a co-host on The Best Damn Sports Show Period. She got into that story as well:
“Mike McCarthy had me kicked off the field because I was running routes with Eli Manning doing cartwheels and nonsense…We were out on the field talking about how cold it was and I was trying to stay warm so Eli was like throwing me passes….It made for a funny story, but at the time I thought am I going to be in trouble? But, I didn’t get in trouble. They didn’t scold me after the fact. They were like, did you get the feature? I got the feature.”
Even though there might be nerves for many people before a big broadcast like Prime Video has upcoming, Thompson says she doesn’t feel nervous with anything she does in the industry because she likes being put in uncomfortable situations.
“I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing. I don’t get nervous a lot when it comes to my profession. I think about it like this. Whatever happens, happens. Hopefully, I like to believe that I am prepared and I love live television because I like to react to what happens next. I like being put in uncomfortable, precarious situations and figuring out how I can maneuver out of them or save some of my colleagues as well.
“I think that the adrenaline is similar to playing sports. You get excited right before a tipoff or before you do anything in the athletic space. For me, it’s a matter of preparation and sitting at the desk and knowing that your employers have enough belief in you and don’t screw it up and try not to embarrass yourself or them.”
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared at the Code Conference earlier this week, and mentioned he suggested the company purchase Twitter in 2016.
Iger, who said he was quickly rebuffed, said the sticking point of the deal was similar to the concerns Elon Musk had when exploring a purchase of the social media site: the amount of bots and fake accounts.
“Then, after we sold the whole concept to the Disney board and the Twitter board, and we’re really ready to execute — the negotiation was just about done — I went home, contemplated it for a weekend, and thought, ‘I’m not looking at this as carefully as I need to look at it.’ Yes, it’s a great solution from a distribution perspective. But it would come with so many other challenges and complexities that as a manager of a great global brand, I was not prepared to take on a major distraction and having to manage circumstances that weren’t even close to anything that we had faced before.”
Iger said the deal fell apart after the 2016 election, saying the potential for hate on the platform didn’t align with Disney’s brand.
“Then you have to look, of course, at all the hate speech and potential to do as much harm as good. We’re in the business of manufacturing fun at Disney — of doing nothing but good, even though there are others today that criticize Disney for the opposite, which is wrong. This was just something that we were not ready to take on and I was not ready to take on as the CEO of a company and I thought it would have been irresponsible.”
97.3 The Game in Milwaukee is the new radio flagship of the Green Bay Packers. It has teamed with Skyview Networks to distribute the broadcasts to affiliates.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with iHeartMedia Milwaukee and its Green Bay Packers radio rightsholder, The Game 97.3,” said Skyview Networks’ Senior Vice President of Business Development and Communication Andrew Kalb. “We look forward to collaborating on taking the Packers network to the next level and I am confident that with our technology, they will see new efficiencies and greater insight into revenue.”
“We are excited to have Skyview and their AdView software in place for our new broadcast partnership with the Green Bay Packers,” said iHeartMedia Area President Jeff Tyler. “It gives us that all-in-one system to ensure the highest level of game day broadcast both the Packers and iHeartMedia expects to deliver.”
97.3 The Game’s first game as flagship of the Packers will be Sunday as Green Bay faces the Minnesota Vikings.
When the NFL schedule was released in May, many questioned the week two doubleheader on Monday Night Football. The games feature the Tennessee Titans facing the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings traveling to Philadelphia to play the Eagles. With start times of 7:15 PM and 8:30 PM, there’s bound to be overlap, and NFL Vice President of Broadcasting Mike North joined WFAN’s Boomer & Gio to set the record straight on the NFL’s thought process, noting it wasn’t an ESPN idea for the doubleheader to overlap.
“When we did the new deals with ESPN and the Disney family, ABC has been getting back in the NFL family over the course of the last couple of years. They’ve been simulcasting the Wild Card game, they’ve been simulcasting a couple of Monday Night Football games, and they wanted a couple of games of their own. So what we talked to them about was what’s the right way to do that?
“You’ll remember, during week one, we’ve been doing the Monday Night doubleheader at 7:00 PM and and 10:15 PM starts. That’s fun. 6 hours of uninterrupted football but that gets pretty late in the East coast, so we talked to Disney this year about trying something different. So we’re gonna try a little overlap. So you’ll get four-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted football with a little bit of overlap. We tried to time it so halftime of the early game coincides with kickoff of the late game and we’ll see what happens. Just like Sunday afternoons, you’ll have games going on. You can flip back and forth, you’ll see highlights, live look-ins, it should be fun for the fans.”
The Titans/Bills game will air on ESPN, while the Vikings/Eagles game can be seen on ABC.
Jason Fitz is the guest on the latest episode of the Sports Talkers Podcast. During the show, he told host Stephen Strom that his ESPN Radio partner Sarah Spain had a major influence on the way he approaches a sports radio show.
Spain & Fitz initially launched in 2018. Fitz says he came into the show thinking of the format purely as an entertainment product, comparing it to his music career. He didn’t want to bore the crowd with any proverbial “slow jams.”
“I look at it like ‘Man, most of the people tuning in have already had a really bad week. They just want to celebrate sports. They want levity. They want to laugh. They want entertainment value out of this.’ So I want to do a concert full of up-tempo songs,” he said. “Sarah taught me if that’s all you do, that’s all you’ll ever be seen as and you won’t get the same level of reality and respect from people.”
Sarah Spain is a journalist and thinks about how to present tough stories. Jason Fitz says that is not something he knew how to do on his own and has learned from his partner.
He added that Spain’s passion for women’s sports, where the audience continues to grow, has taught him the value of sports is not about their popularity, but in what hosts can do with them. Her view is that being a broadcast partner of a league like the WNBA gives ESPN properties the advantage of being able to do more with the league’s best stories.
“The number one thing I have learned from Sarah, that no matter where the rest of my career or her career goes, that I will always keep with me is we have an obligation to not be dismissive of sports and instead to look for the great stories in sports that deserve that great storytelling. And most of them do,” Jason Fitz said.
New episodes of The Sports Talkers Podcast drop every Thursday.
