1. Who the hell knew local college football radio stations were supposed to be professionals? He certainly didn’t know that was the case.
Local college football stations do not host a game. They provide a three hour rah-rah session for fans of the team.
But the Texas Tech radio team crossed the line in the eyes of the Big 12 during last Saturday’s game against Iowa State.
The radio team of Brian Jensen and analyst John Harris were completely stunned by the refereeing that took place in the Red Raiders’ 41-38 home win. Notice the look on Jensen’s face as the umpires overruled a Texas Tech interception (which Jensen called “bulls —” just before the official call).
That look is downright terrifying.
Not only were Jensen and Harris relentless in attacking the umpires, they launched some serious accusations, saying the Big 12 didn’t want Texas Tech to win the game. Jensen also demanded that Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby answer for bad umpiring. Oh, and at one point, Jensen decided to read aloud the names of all the officers working on the game.
Jensen even complained about the calls on Twitter during the game.
Bowlsby, however, did not respond for the bad offices. Instead, he suspended Jensen and Harris for the Texas Tech game this Saturday against Oklahoma State.
“I understand the roles of the play-by-play and color analyst,” Bowlsby said in a statement. “However, as representatives of the University, they also have an obligation to adhere to Conference policy regarding comments on game officials. Comments from Red Raider Radio Network booth announcers were contrary to the Expected levels of respect and professionalism. Questioning the integrity of Conference officers and specifically calling members of the officiating team goes beyond appropriate and permissible behavior. “
Are Jensen and Harris guilty of these things? Yes. Do they deserve a suspension? No. A warning would have been enough. All the big 12 had to do was tell them never to hit umpires like that again. There is no need to put them aside for a game.
And something tells me they would have gotten a warning if they hadn’t mentioned the Big 12 commissioner by name during their rants.
Personally, I don’t think NFL and college football announcers criticize umpires enough for being so lousy, so I loved that Jensen and Harris were there. He was also mesmerized by the sheer spectacle when they lost their minds to the calls. I think they cared more about whether Texas Tech won or lost than the Red Raiders players.
2. A new SI Media Podcast launched this morning with Kenny Mayne.
The longtime ESPN personality spoke about his departure from the company in May after 27 years. How do you feel about what happened? Do you regret revealing that ESPN wanted you to accept a 61% pay cut? How strange was it doing some SportsCenter shows after announcing that you were leaving ESPN?
Mayne also discusses what he’s making it known, how he navigated being a politician on social media while trying to follow ESPN guidelines, whether a sports-themed comedy show can work, which he tweeted to his friend, Aaron Rodgers, after Rodgers got COVID-19 and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it at Apple, Spotify and Stapler.
You can also see the SI Media Podcast in Youtube.
3. Just like the Texas Tech announcers in the first article gave us great entertainment with their collapse, Stephen A. Smith gave us a great art show yesterday while ranting about Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Four. It’s clearly a rant day today on Traina Thoughts. Kings forward Tristan Thompson delivered a swearing speech during his postgame press conference last night about why the players, and not the coach, are responsible for a team’s poor play.
5. Prediction: The Rock vs. Roman Reigns will take place at WrestleMania in 2023 from Los Angeles.
Speaking of the Rock, Traina Thoughts was delayed about 30 minutes today after I got dizzy from this.
6. The full trailer for the upcoming Kurt Warner biopic, American underdog, fell yesterday.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Thanks to Privileged programmingDouglas pucci for alerting me this morning that on this date in 1992, Seinfeld’s episode “The Contest” debuted on NBC and “master of your domain” instantly became part of the lexicon.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and look at the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast Presented by Jimmy Traina at Apple, Spotify or Stapler. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
www.si.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.