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Chris Simms And His Self-Professed ‘Big Mouth’ Enjoying Life At NBC

Peter Schwartz
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To be a good football analyst, one certainly has to know and love the sport but you also can’t be afraid to use the most important tool that you have to do the job. Chris Simms has all of those attributes and NBC lets him use them to the best of his abilities.

“I love football and I love X’s and O’s and I got a big mouth so it’s a great combination,” said Simms. “Between my podcast, Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio, and Sunday Night Football, I get plenty of time to talk and get my studies out there.”

There’s no doubt that Chris inherited that self-professed big mouth from his father, former NFL quarterback and longtime NFL on CBS analyst, Phil Simms.

So, the question had to be asked…does Chris have a bigger mouth than his father?

“Yeah, I probably do,” admitted the younger Simms. “That’s a big mouth to overcome, but I think I probably got him beat in that department.”

Chris Simms set out to follow in his father’s footsteps on the field and played quarterback for Ramapo High School in New Jersey where he earned a pair of All-State honors. After graduating high school in 1999, Simms moved on to play quarterback at the University of Texas where he posted a 26-6 career record as a starter and was the team MVP during his senior season in 2002.

Simms was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 2002 NFL Draft and he would guide the Bucs to a playoff berth in 2005.  He would also go on to play for the Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos completing a seven-year NFL playing career. He spent one season as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots before taking his talents to the world of broadcasting.

He started with FOX Sports as a college football announcer in 2013 and then joined Bleacher Report in 2014 while also serving as a color commentator for the NFL on CBS.

And then in 2017, Simms joined NBC Sports where he has certainly found a home.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Simms. “It’s a great company to work for. Just good people all around. They’ve given me the platform to be me. One of the things that I worried about was that I came from Bleacher Report and is NBC going to try to curtail my personality a little bit…sometimes I like to swear on my podcast and do stuff like that and they’ve really allowed me to be me which I really appreciate.”

Simms wears many different suits at NBC Sports, most notably his role as a studio analyst on Football Night in America leading into Sunday Night Football. He’s also a part of the SNF post-game show Sunday Night Football Final on Peacock, Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio, and Chris Simms Unbuttoned, a streaming/digital show that is also a podcast multiple days a week.

But the most eyeballs are on him during Football Night in America, the most watched studio show in sports.

“I grew up wanting to play in these games more than be the guy in the studio but this is like the second-best thing,” said Simms. “I was kind of that kid at 4 or 5 (years old) who could tell you every player in the NFL, their number and all that type of stuff. It’s the NFL on the biggest stage. It’s such a well-done show. I get to be there with Maria Taylor along with Tony Dungy, and Jason Garrett, and Mike Florio, and Matthew Berry. We got a great team and it makes Sunday fun.”

From the “it takes one to know one” category, Simms has also made a name for himself with his ranking of NFL quarterbacks. He’s very diligent when it comes to watching the live action and also in his film study and his top-40 rankings have become a hot topic within the business and around the office coolers.

Simms is well aware that his rankings have become a lightning rod of discussion.

“It all kind of started organically just because I would make statements,” said Simms. “People were like ‘Why don’t you start making a list?’ It’s a really hard thing to do. It offends a lot of people and I hate that. I root for all of these guys and I say on my podcast all the time I hope this guy proves me wrong. I hope he shits on me and shows me that I was wrong. It’s certainly not personal. One of the things I pride myself on is studying and immersing myself in the game all of the time.”

Simms became a full-time employee of NBC Sports in 2019, but his first role with the network came in 2017 when he became a studio analyst for Notre Dame Football.

Here’s a kid that grew up in North Jersey where there’s a ton of Notre Dame alumni and he’s standing on the sidelines at South Bend as part of Fighting Irish telecasts.

“Another special entity,” said Simms. “I used to get chills being out on the field every Saturday there. It gave me great experience in a different way with the halftime show and the pre-game show. One of the years I was kind of the third man in the booth but I was on the sideline. It gave me some reps on in-game stuff as well. I think most importantly what that did for me more than anything is that it opened up more eyes at NBC about me.”

And now Simms’ work has him in the discussion for a new potential opportunity down the road. 

NBC, alongside FOX and CBS, has secured a seven-year media rights deal with the Big Ten Conference that will commence next season. NBC will air Big Ten Saturday Night, the first time that Big Ten Football will have a dedicated primetime broadcast on a national broadcast network. Peacock will stream an additional eight Big Ten games each season and NBC/Peacock will air the 2026 Big Ten Championship Game.

There have been rumblings that Simms could be involved in the coverage. Is he interested?

“I’m intrigued by it,” admitted Simms. “I’m very all NFL right now but broadcasting game is fun. It’s definitely something on my radar for sure. I do have some producers here in the building that are like ‘I’m going to tell the boss I want you to do some of the Big 10 games this year and what do you think about announcing?’ I’ve already had some people in my ear talking about it. It’s awesome for the company regardless. It just expands our football world. As far as me being involved, we’ll see.” 

In a relatively short amount of time, Chris Simms has built up quite the broadcasting portfolio. From FOX to Bleacher Report and CBS to his current expanded role with NBC, Simms has established himself as one of the premier NFL analysts in the business and his podcast has given him the freedom to do something that he loves to do. Including putting his money where his mouth is. 

The Pat McAfee Alternate Broadcast Presents Unique Challenges

Garrett Searight
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The Pat McAfee Alternate Broadcast Presents Unique Challenges

Alternate broadcasts are all the rage these days, and ESPN, in conjunction with Omaha Productions, debuted a new one this weekend as The Pat McAfee Show aired an alternate broadcast of the Clemson and North Carolina State game Saturday evening.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that Manningcast copy-cats were destined for failure. And while I don’t believe McAfee’s debut was a failure by any stretch of the imagination, I couldn’t help but notice it brings its own set of challenges.

First and foremost, College Football Primetime with The Pat McAfee Show — the world’s most convoluted way to say “The McAfeecast” — doesn’t really resemble the Manningcast. And rightfully so. I’m not sure there are two more polar opposite sports media brands than the Mannings and McAfee. The Mannings are funny, but not too funny and never “blue”, while often concerned about how finely quaffed their hair looks and whether the button-down shirt color matches with the Nordstrom quarter-zip they’ve donned. Meanwhile, McAfee wears his black tank-top, like usual, and put his best Pittsburgh-ese foot forward.

Even though the Mannings and McAfee are opposites doesn’t mean they can’t work together, however. The alternate broadcast was a win for Manning, a win for McAfee, a win for ESPN, and a win for viewers.

People love Pat McAfee. Plain and simple. For a multitude of reasons that we can get into in a later story, but let’s focus on that for a moment. It was a big portion of my column a few weeks ago. The Manningcast works because people like Peyton and Eli. The KayRodcast doesn’t work because people hate Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. It’s honestly, truly, that simple.

I think it benefitted the McAfeecast to debut with a smaller game, which seems counterintuitive because it was a matchup of top ten teams in primetime. But let’s be realistic, a number five versus number ten ACC game doesn’t hold the same weight as a number five versus number ten Big Ten or SEC game. And it helped McAfee and crew, because there are obvious kinks to work out.

Firstly, there are entirely too many people on the screen. I’m going to have nice words to say about BostonConnr than the eight-and-a-half-year-old that went viral earlier this summer, but god love ya, your time to shine likely isn’t on primetime on ESPN. In my opinion, for the McAfeecast to really work in the future, a similar setup to the Manningcast with McAfee and A.J. Hawk being the prominent figures on screen is the best solution to the problem. I know McAfee believes in his boys. It’s one of his more endearing qualities, and is frankly part of the reason his show is so successful. But you’re reaching a different audience on ESPN2 on Saturday nights, and the reason the either tuned in or will stay is because of McAfee’s presence.

I didn’t get a great feel for McAfee’s thoughts or reactions on the game simply because you didn’t get a closeup of his face. The best moments of the Manningcast, outside of Eli flipping the double birds or Peyton saying “I can’t hear shit”, have been when the pair have been absolutely disgusted by a decision made by a coach or player and their face shows it without any words following up their reactions. And McAfee definitely holds that ability, and I wish I would have gotten a better sense of his facial reactions on-screen.

Also, and I know this is something McAfee can’t actually control, he had to be a bit more reserved on cable television. Part of the allure of The Pat McAfee Show is the — let’s call it extreme candor — with which he speaks. I believe that’s the scholarly way to write “he says f*** frequently”. And believe me, I subscribe to the theory that the FCC should allow hosts the ability to say obscenities 15 times per week, so I’m down for McAfee’s swearing. But you’re just simply never going to get that on ESPN2. You’re likely never going to get that if the broadcast aired on ESPN+, either. For a “family friendly” company Disney, those cards are just flat out never going to be on the table for McAfee.

One of the things McAfee is known for is his boundless energy, which felt lacking at times on Saturday, but it’s understandable. The man was on College GameDay earlier in the day, flew back to the studio to do the alternate broadcast after travelling the day before to get to Clemson to be on GameDay. I’m sure that takes a toll. On top of that, you’re doing something new for the first time, while trying to, essentially, heard cats on the screen, and you can be a little wiped out by the end of the night.

However, the goodwill McAfee has bought with fans over his extreme generosity was on display as the alternate broadcast donated more than $100,000 to Dabo Swinney’s charity, The Jimmy V Foundation, and the American Red Cross. It was a brilliant move for a debut broadcast, because it acts as a slight shield for criticism. How can you complain about something that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity?

The alternate broadcast, for the most part, avoided the biggest problem I have with the Manningcast. The interviews. I’ve never been watching Monday Night Football, or the Manningcast for that matter, and thought “Man, I wish they were talking to Tracy Morgan right now!” McAfee brought on Peyton Manning, for obvious reasons, and former NC State quarterback Phillip Rivers. That’s it. They didn’t rely on guests to carry them through down periods. The eight folks on screen did most of the heavy lifting, and for that, I thank them.

The McAfeecast was certainly different than any other alternate broadcast I’ve consumed. The crew shooting hoops for extra donations to charity during stoppages of play definitely kept things light and interesting. I couldn’t help but be invested in whether or not someone would bury three out of five threes during an injury timeout for more money for charity.

Speaking of injury timeouts, McAfee planned a giveaway and told fans to use a certain hashtag and when to screenshot or take a picture of their TV. Immediately following him saying “now!”, an injured player appeared on the screen, and he instantly shouted “No! Not now! No! We don’t want that, and we hope he’s ok”. It was a light-hearted, nearly hilarious moment that brought levity to the situation.

The highlight of the cast, however, was — in true McAfee style — picking up on things other broadcasters wouldn’t, like an angry fan. The entire crew shouting at the same time in this specific moment was spectacular television.

Overall, I thought the McAfeecast got off on the right foot. There is undeniably a market for an alternate broadcast based around the former NFL punter’s personality, and I look forward to seeing where the show goes from here.

Jets Partner With talkSPORT To Air Six Games on Radio in U.K.

BSM Staff
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Starting this weekend, fans of the New York Jets in the United Kingdom will have local access to their favorite team.

The New York Jets and talkSPORT have agreed to broadcast six 2022 Jets regular season football games. This will establish talkSPORT as the official UK radio broadcast partner of the Jets. Fans will also have exclusive access to the Jets Touchdown UK Podcast and additional Jets content including player and coach interviews.

“We are so thrilled to extend a radio broadcast of the Jets to our fans in the United Kingdom as we take the next step in utilizing our right to expand this game with the help of the world’s biggest sports radio station,” said New York Jets President Hymie Elhai. “This partnership will allow for so much more than 2022 season coverage as we continue to welcome some of the most passionate fans in the world into our fanbase.”

Colin Cowherd Declares Twitter ‘Loser-ville’ Over Russell Wilson Criticism

BSM Staff
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Colin Cowherd does not make much time for social media and he doesn’t have a lot of respect for the conversation there. He revealed Friday on his FOX Sports Radio show that is particularly true when it comes to Twitter.

“You know who gets ripped on Twitter? Steph Curry. You know what Twitter loves? NFTs and Bitcoin,” he said. “It is loser-ville. People that need to be accepted. Less successful people ripping more successful people. It’s a barnyard musical. You should try it sometime.” 

He compared the way polls show most football fans feel about Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson to the absolute drubbing he took on Twitter over his viral ad for Subway. Cowherd said that Twitter tends to side with image over quality.

“Russell Wilson was just voted by adults in America, people with lives, who aren’t concerned with being cool, the most likable player in the NFL,” he said. “Twitter defended Johnny Manziel at every turn. Baker Mayfield, Cam Newton. The cool guys.”

Colin Cowherd added that every moment that makes Twitter cringe becomes his new favorite thing about Russell Wilson. He said that the things social media users bash are the things most Americans find relatable.

“You know who else was on that list? Patrick Mahomes, who has a silly brother,” he said. “Sometimes his brother is out there being silly. We’ve all got a silly sister or silly brother! That’s America. It’s not cool.”

Cowherd closed the segment by declaring that he was going to go to Subway right after the show ended and order Russell Wilson’s “Dangerwich” to show his support.

Pat McAfee Says College Football Fans Forced Him to Update His Wardrobe

BSM Staff
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College football fans have spoken, and Pat McAfee has taken their words to heart and taken action.

In an appearance on Get Up on ESPN on Thursday, host Mike Greenberg noticed McAfee wasn’t rocking his signature look consisting of a black tank top.

McAfee pointed out that it was some vocal College GameDay fans on social media that helped him make the decision to instead rock a plain t-shirt. It was a move that had been in the works for a couple months now.

“I have been reminded in my mentions by these college football fans, they do all appear to be older white people, that have told me that I am despicable and disgusting on television,” he said. “So I thought it was the right time, I felt like in my life and in my profession to move past just the black tank top every day and maybe wear a t-shirt. So here we are. I’m uncomfortable as you are, but this is the next chapter of me, Greeny.”

Greenberg did jump in and say that as an older white person he was actually a fan of the tank top look. But McAfee wasn’t having it.

“Don’t put me in a blender like that!” he said. “Cause Greeny you know how much we care about your thoughts. Whenever you took like three months off earlier this year we were like, ‘Where the hell is Greeny? Where the hell is Greeny?’ Anything you say goes. You say it, I believe it. So don’t put me in a blender like that, please.”

“But you’re right. It’s a new stage, we’re all gonna have to get used to it,” McAfee added.

Fans will just have to tune in to College GameDay on Saturday to see if McAfee is sticking to his decision or if he’ll go back to the black tank top.

Keith Olbermann: American Journalism ‘Re-Invented’ During Trump Presidency

BNM Staff
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During his Countdown with Keith Olbermann podcast Friday, the former cable news host slammed a recent opinion from Politico’s John Harris that Americans need more journalists like Maggie Haberman, among others.

Olbermann has been critical of Haberman’s decision to withhold important facts in relation to the former President Donald Trump and save them for her upcoming book rather than report them in The New York Times.

“What Harris does not understand is American ‘journalism’ did re-invent itself,” Olbermann said. “The overwriting principle used to be: get a scoop, get in the paper or on the air as soon as possible because that’s your job, and that’s your only actual value to society as well. It is also — and I speak as somebody who broke a lot of sports news including the Wayne Gretzky trade and Michael Jordan’s first dalliance with a comeback — it is the joy of doing the journalism. You have the story, and nobody else does!”

He continued by saying Harris and Haberman believe the point of American journalism is not to inform the public but rather how much money you can make in the process.

Haberman’s book “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” is expected to hit bookshelves on Tuesday, October 4th.

CNBC to Air Fantasy Football Pregame with Matthew Berry

BSM Staff
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NBC Sports continues to show its desire to get the most of its investment into Matthew Berry’s fantasy football expertise and they have added one more step.

Berry’s show, Fantasy Football Pregame with Matthew Berry, will now get national exposure on CNBC. The company plans to air the program in the 12p ET on most Sundays. To this point, the show has been an exclusive to Peacock.

CNBC averaged 9,000 viewers two weeks ago (September 18) in that same time slot and 8,000 viewers last week (September 25).

On ESPN, ESPN2’s Fantasy Football Now on Sunday mornings is averaging 366,000 viewers thru three weeks, down 2% from last season.

ESPN Lafayette Rebrands As 103.3 The Goat

BSM Staff
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ESPN Lafayette Rebrands As 103.3 The Goat

Louisiana sports radio station ESPN Lafayette has rebranded as 103.3 The Goat.

The station is now featuring a positioning statement of “The Greatest Sports Talk of All Time”. Local shows continue on the station as Lynden Burton hosts Rise & Grind from 6:00-7:00 AM CT, while Scott Prather hosts The Great S.C.O.T.T. Show from 7:00 AM-9:00 AM. The Dan Patrick Show and The Rich Eisen Show cover middays while ESPN Radio programming rounds out the rest of the day, according to the station’s website.

The re-brand coincides with the University of Louisiana’s homecoming festivities. The Goat is the radio flagship of the Ragin’ Cajuns radio network.

103.3 The Goat is owned by Townsquare Media.

Rachel Nichols Gets New Gig at SHOWTIME Basketball, Addresses ESPN Exit

BSM Staff
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Rachel Nichols exited ESPN nearly ten months ago and now, ahead of the NBA season, she has landed a new job as a host and producer at Showtime Basketball.

SHOWTIME Basketball is part of the Showtime vertical. Some of the SHOWTIME Basketball projects included Kevin Garnett: Anything Is Possible, Passion Play: Russell Westbrook, Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story, Shut Up and Dribble, Kobe Bryant’s Muse, Basketball County: In the Water and NYC Point Gods.

“We are delighted to welcome Rachel Nichols to the SHOWTIME Basketball family,” said Brian Dailey, Senior Vice President, Sports Programming & Content, Showtime Networks Inc. “Rachel brings unmatched journalistic credibility, great familiarity with our roster and a work ethic that will take us to another level.”

“I’ve been so fortunate to live my dream job alongside some of the best journalists in the business for more than 25 years, and this new development deal with SHOWTIME Sports gives me my most broad playing field yet,” said Nichols. “They’ve asked me to produce, create and host new sports programming across platforms, working alongside Hall of Famers, multiple guys with championship rings and an uber-creative team behind the camera. We’re going to have so much fun.”

Nichols left ESPN in earlier this year after a private conversation was taped and leaked that including her complaining that ESPN chose Maria Taylor to host the NBA Finals pregame show over her.

She also addressed her exit from ESPN in an interview with the All the Smoke podcast.

“Things got complicated later that season. You all know, it was 2020. We had a pandemic. There was the tragic murder of your friend, George Floyd. There were a lot of difficult conversations with this country looking itself in the face and seeing what had to change, what had to be different. And The New York Times did an expose in July of 2020 on racism at ESPN and the lack of opportunities for people of color. And the executives at ESPN said, I think, about what people would expect, ‘We’d like to give people more opportunities, we’re continuing to grow,’ all of those things.”

“Around that same time, I got a phone call asking me would I step aside for Maria to host the NBA Finals and have me go back to being a sideline reporter. They stressed it was my choice, they weren’t telling me to do this, because it was in my contract. But they were putting a lot of pressure on me. I was being told ‘Well, you’re not a team player.’ Which any woman in business knows is code, right? Women are supposed to be kumbaya, and team players, and helpful, and men are aggressive sharks, and all that? I just felt like ‘Hey, I worked so long, decades for this job. I have done everything that was asked. We put on some great shows leading up to the playoffs. And I wanted a chance to do it.”

Texas Rangers TV Analyst Tom Grieve To Retire

BSM Staff
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Texas Rangers television analyst Tom Grieve is slated to retire at the end of the season.

Grieve has been with the Rangers broadcast team for 28 seasons. Rangers managing partner Tom Schieffer said listening to Grieve was “like going to the game with a friend”.

Grieve worked with Josh Lewin from 2002-2010. Lewin told The Dallas Morning News Grieve “made it so ridiculous easy because he had no ego. He was so accommodating. I was a bull in a china shop, and he was the kindly uncle I didn’t know I needed. He showed me what it was to man up.”

He became a broadcaster after a nine-year MLB career with the Washington Senators, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals. He also served as General Manager of the Rangers from 1984-1994. He worked full-time on broadcasts from 1995 through 2017, before splitting duties with C.J. Nitkowski.

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