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Traina Thoughts: Yankees Are Ready To Fight ESPN Over Scheduling Situation

The New York Yankees are livid with ESPN, MLB over some crazy scheduling.

Jimmy Traina

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1. The Yankees vs. ESPN -- who ya got?

Here's the story: ESPN has picked a Yankees-Blue Jays game in Toronto for Sunday Night Baseball on July 8, after the game was initially supposed to be played a 1pm. ET. The Yankees are livid about this because they have a doubleheader the next day, Monday July 9, in Baltimore with Game 1 scheduled for 4 pm. ET.

"Hopefully there is some pressure being applied because that is not good for the product on the field or the safety of our guys, having go from night game, flight and right into a doubleheader," said New York manager Aaron Boone.  "Anybody who would argue with that is not being truthful.’’

What makes this truly insane is ESPN's reasoning, according to the "New York Daily News," for choosing Yankees-Blue Jays on July 8. From the Daily News:

"According to sources, the reason ESPN picked the Yankee-Blue Jay game for July 8 was because their lead-up to the game is the All-Star voting announcement and they figured the Yankees’ presence in the Sunday night game would pull additional viewers for the All-Star show. But as one Yankee source said: “That’s just ridiculous. The All-Star show is before the game.”

Obviously, I'm biased because I'm a Yankees fan, but if you're moving games and teams around because of a stupid, meaningless All-Star show, that's just wrong. 

The Yankees aren't taking this lightly at all and they're ready to fight the World Wide Leader. From the "Daily News":

"If the Yankees are forced to play Sunday night on July 8, the Yankee management and players are said to be prepared for an all-out war with ESPN in which they will refuse all interviews -- pre-game, in-game and postgame -- with ESPN broadcasters."

Do I think the Yankees refusing to do interviews with ESPN would have any impact on anything? No. Do I like to see the squabbling? Yes. Do I want to see who ends up winning this fight? Hell Yes.

2. Game 2 of the NBA Finals played out the way most people expected most of the games to play out so there isn't much to say about it. The most notable moment came after the game when Tristan Thompson got insulted by a reporter who asked him if he felt helpless trying to guard Stephen Curry.

3. Serena Williams was asked one of the dumbest and most bizarre questions ever over the weekend at the French Open.

Obvioulsy, the question itself is strange, but what makes it even more ridiculous is that there is no Serena Williams-Maria Sharapova rivalry.

4. Indians center field Bradley Zimmer had the catch of the season on Sunday.

5. The newest episode of the SI Media Podcast is an interview with ESPN business reporter, Darren Rovell. The controversial Twitter figure pulled no punches while discussing all sorts of topics about the social media service, including why he blocks so many people, whether he thinks he can unplug from Twitter, whether he has a staff helping him with his tweets, what his set up is while watching games, his Twitter feuds and regrets, and much more. You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes.

6. If you missed on Saturday, Packers linebacker Clay Matthews took a line drive to the face during a charity softball game and it wasn't pretty at all. As one of his teammates said afterward, "he was leaking," which you can see here.

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7. In case you missed it, Jimmy Kimmel gave us an all-NBA version of Mean Tweets after Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Last night, Kimmel had Ben Simmons shooting a MASSIVE ball into a MASSIVE hoop.

8. RANDOM SACHA BARON COHEN VIDEO OF THE DAY: I ended up in an Ali G YouTube rabbit hole over the weekend, so I thought I'd feature the hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen all this week in Traina Thoughts. We kick things off with what might be my single favorite bit from "Da Ali G Show."

Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here. And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.

IN CLOSING: LeBron looks absolutely spent and exhausted.

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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.

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