SI

Let’s Celebrate Lee Corso on His 89th Birthday

Never forget that Corso gave us one of the great f-bombs in sports TV history.

Jimmy Traina

Corso and his mascot heads have been a staple on college football Saturdays for decades.
Corso and his mascot heads have been a staple on college football Saturdays for decades. / Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

1. I’m going to keep this short and sweet. We need to honor and pay tribute to our legends whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Today is Lee Corso’s 89th birthday. The ESPN College GameDay personality has given us one of the great traditions in the history of sports television in donning a mascot head every Saturday during the season.

He also gave us a truly memorable live TV moment in 2011 when he unleashed an f-bomb, much to the shock and amusement of co-hosts Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler.

2. Someone with the Red Sox social media team either had no idea what this meant or they were just showing that they don’t kink shame with this tweet (which was later deleted) during Boston’s game against Kansas City.

3. Hard Knocks, featuring the Chicago Bears, debuted on Max on Tuesday. The best part of every Hard Knocks season now seems to be the rookie talent show.

Bears first-year tight end Theo Benedet performed a patriotic song with a Magic Mike twist.

4. The White Sox ended their 21-game losing streak late Tuesday with a 5–1 win against the A’s.

Here’s how the final out sounded from a relieved John Schriffen on Bally Sports Chicago.

5. Again, as I wrote in Traina Thoughts a couple of weeks ago, just because a food is outrageous, that doesn’t mean it should be consumed at a ball game.

This looks ridiculous and disgusting.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Puck sports correspondent John Ourand.

Ourand discusses the latest news regarding the NBA refusing Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching offer for Amazon’s television package and WBD subsequently filing a lawsuit against the league.

Will this ever go to trial? Why did the NBA want to move on from WBD after a 30-plus year relationship? Why did WBD let the NBA negotiate with outside companies? Ourand tackles all those questions.

In addition, Ourand handicaps the Barkley sweepstakes that will take place between Disney/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon. Or will WBD try to keep Barkley in the fold since he’s still under contract for seven more years after the 2024–25 season?

Following Ourand, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss Major League Baseball not having a national voice, ignorance when it comes to the Olympics and HBO’s Pete Rose documentary. In addition, I read SI Media With Jimmy Traina Apple reviews for the month of August.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date in in 2011, Curb Your Enthusiasm aired the “Vow of Silence” episode. It featured one of the best scenes in the show’s run and gave us a term that I use all the time: pig parker.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

Published
Jimmy Traina

JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

Home/College Football