Fox Sports announced. adam wainwright Starting this season, he will be participating in broadcasting MLB games.
This is not a surprising development. I profiled Wainwright three and a half years ago and discussed his interest in becoming a baseball TV analyst.
He participated in Fox's playoff coverage. Adam Amin and AJ PierzynskiSo this seems like a natural progression.
Let's take a look at the move:
1️⃣ Competition to land Fox Sports' No. 1 MLB game analyst begins John Smoltz, a figure who has become a lightning rod among baseball fans. The main criticism of Smoltz is the perception that he is criticizing the game.
Fox has always been very happy with Smoltz, and that has continued over the past two years and during the transition period from Smoltz. Joe Buck to Joe Davis As a lead play by player. There's no sign that Smoltz is in trouble.
2️⃣ If Wainwright continues to grow, he could develop into the following options: Greg Olsen entered the soccer world as the No. 1 analyst developed by the network. While Olsen was still active as a player, he started attending some random NFL and USFL games, and then he landed on the Foxes' No. 2 team. Kevin Burkhardt.The duo was later promoted a little faster than Fox had hoped. Joe Buck and troy aikman Off to ESPN. But it worked out very well for Fox. Wainwright is in a similar position.
3️⃣ Move to bring in Wainwright helps Fox invest in baseball. Last year they brought derek jeter for their studio. The previous year, Jason Benetti He joined as another top-tier young commentary player.
4️⃣ Wainwright could emerge as the next World Series TV analyst after Smoltz, or Fox could look at either one at some point. Max Scherzeor Justin Verlander.Scherzer and Verlander absent tom bradylevel, but more in terms of star power, they'll be seen in that vein as well.
quick click
Of all the Hall of Fames, Baseball is the most special, and nothing even comes close. MLB Network will give it the shine it deserves on Tuesday with eight hours of Hall of Fame coverage starting at 9 a.m. ET. brian kenny Our hosts from Cooperstown were joined by our own hosts Joel Shermanwith jason stark and John Morosi.Mets' david wright, first-time qualifiers will join the network between 2 p.m. The official announcement of this year's hole class will take place at 6pm ET.
…documentary”Sue Bird“In the Clutch'' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. The group said Bird's document was one of 91 selected from 17,500 applications. Bird was pursued by producers for two seasons. Of note are the voices of the WNBA and ESPN/YES. Ryan RuoccoHe is one of the executive producers.
…Perhaps this isn't the end for Sports Illustrated, but Friday was another bad day for the storied magazine.I have no words, I thought it was Ringers. brian curtis did a good job Summarizing recent SI near-death incidents.
ESPN's moat
ESPN reported that he is the favorite to extend his contract with the College Football Playoff. The potential six-year deal would see the network become the home of the playoffs and, most importantly, the semifinals and championship game into the 2030s.
And this brings me to the hands ESPN has for the next decade. They have spent tens of billions of dollars trying to eliminate as many competitors as possible, especially deep-pocketed digital players like Amazon and Apple.
I first wrote about this in my first September 2021 newsletter.
Proceeding under the assumption that ESPN will partner with the NBA again, and that's a good assumption, ESPN will have long-term deals with the NFL, NBA, MLB, College Football Playoff, SEC, NHL, Wimbledon, PGA Tour, etc. Become. others.
ESPN has a hand in just about everything, but it took over the NFL Sunday Ticket, the Big Ten, the Premier League, MLS, and much more.
On the sidelines of the College Football Playoff, ESPN remains in deal mode. A potential stock swap with the NFL would give ESPN more assets and align its operations more closely with TV's most important league as it looks to launch a direct-to-consumer product next year. .
The first game of the divisional round of the playoffs was played this Saturday. It will broadcast the first two Super Bowls as part of an 11-year deal.
Still, someone I highly trust in the industry equates ESPN to a “melting iceberg,” and that may be true when it comes to the decline of cable bundles.
But that's a very big iceberg. Will it be as lucrative as it once was when it supported Disney's profits? Probably not. But the idea that ESPN doesn't control the lives of sports fans is crazy.
Fox, NBC, CBS, TNT Sports, and the upstart Amazon Prime Video have many great assets.
But who has the best hand from an overall portfolio perspective? It's ESPN, and that moat is widening, in part because of the potential CFP extension. To keep ahead of the competition in hopes that they will lose interest or show that their business model for sports rights is no better than ESPN's.
So I don't see ESPN going anywhere.
YouTube's influence on WFAN
reaction to Spike Eskin It was a big deal for me to have WFA as program director and co-host WIP Philadelphia's Afternoon Drive. I wrote a column about it this week.
Part of the essence of what I wrote is that these are different times for FAN. At the same time as the FAN changed, the scenery around the station also changed. This is important.
I think you can point to the exact moment in FAN that shows the world is no longer the same as before.
dismissal of the deceased Don Imus In 2007, YouTube fired him. To be clear, Imus made racist comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. That's why he was released. What he said never gets old. he hated it.
His fans will argue that the comments were a joke and that he has said awful things about many groups over the decades, so these offensive comments are no different.
But by 2007, what changed was the advent of YouTube.A long time ago, as a colleague Phil Mashnick It has been recorded for years, but if anyone wants to double-check what was said, WFAN will say there are no archived tapes. Therefore, everything will come to nothing.
By the time Imus made his comments about the Rutgers, his show was simulcast on MSNBC and YouTube had arrived. So Idolmaster's comment was played out over and over again for everyone to hear. Fans and non-fans alike heard it. If it weren't for YouTube, there would only be an account with Imus' words, and Imus and his fans would probably be fighting over the context. But the tape was there!
IMAS is an extreme example, but it brings us to the current perception of WFAN and its surroundings. I agree with vocal critics that today's broadcasters could use more expertise.
But what sells on social media is crazy. There are no better examples. Chris (Mad Dog) RussoESPN bit. Russo's acting is authentic and he may be the best sports talk show host of all time, but he's a little crazy, which sets him apart. vice versa, Mike Francesa's legacy is safe, and the advent of YouTube and social media has exposed his arrogance to a wider audience beyond FAN listeners.
So with the current state of media, especially social media and podcasts, fans can't be fans of their father. And if social media existed back then and there were tapes, I'm not sure everything the host said at the time would have been supported. It's a different world now where everything doesn't just disappear into the ether. It's all about performance, not just for the caller, but for the social media world.
clicker book club
Papa Clicker writes: Roland Lazenby's latest book, Magic: The Life of Earvin “Magic” Johnson, is an in-depth review of the superstar's successes and challenges. The author takes readers from Magic's early years to NBA greatness and life after playing. Lazenby details Johnson's on-court struggles with Larry Bird's Celtics, Isiah Thomas' Pistons and Michael Jordan's Bulls. He describes Johnson's battle with HIV and how he became a prominent business executive. Mr. Lazenby's work received a score of 4.25 out of 5 from Clicker.
