Traina Thoughts: Kirk Herbstreit Shut Down by ESPN Producer After Ill-Advised Michigan State Tweet

An ESPN producer was not happy with Kirk Herbstreit's ill-advisted tweet about Michigan State coverage.

1. There was some legit ESPN-on-ESPN crime going down on Twitter on Thursday thanks to Kirk Herbstreit.

The network's lead college football analyst was reacting to the NCAA clearing Michigan State of any potential violations, which ended the investigations into the school’s handling of Larry Nassar’s repeated sexual abuse and allegations of student misconduct in the football and men’s basketball programs.

Herbstreit fired off this missive in a now-deleted tweet: “Can't wait to watch, read, and listen to ALL the follow up stories from the same folks that had @MSUBasketball and @MSU_Football Guilty Until Proven Innocent. Is that one reporter that followed Coach Izzo around at post game pressers gonna chase him down now?!?”

Besides being a bad take, the other issue here is that the reporter Herbstreit called out just so happens to work for—cue the SportsCenter theme in your brain—DaDaDa, DaDaDa: ESPN and Outside the Lines!

And the producer in question, Nicole Noren, did not let Herbstreit's tweet go by unanswered.

Naturally, after the fallout, Herbstreit offered the obligatory apology.

Seems like ESPN may need to update its social media policy for talent to include an item about not criticizing journalists for, you know, actually doing their jobs.

2. Peyton Manning says he came very close to not doing the famous "United Way" skit when he hosted Saturday Night Live in 2007.

Thank goodness Manning listened to reason so we could be treated to this gem:

3. Yet another reason I love Baker Mayfield. Remember when the No Fun Police had a fit because he did this at Ohio State last year?

Mayfield is now spoofing his flag plant in a new commercial.

4. THE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MEDIA PODCAST

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If you're a sports media nerd or a superfan of The Office or both, you will thoroughly enjoy the latest SI Media Podcast. Over the first 44 minutes, I interviewed Ryan Russillo about his career, working for ESPN and The Ringer, why he left ESPN last December, how he feels about doing radio, why he thinks he's good at radio, whether he'd like to have his own TV show and much more. Russillo doesn't hold back, either, talking about ESPN "liking" him, but not "loving" him, being told he was being laid off only to not get laid off and more. The final 20 minutes of the podcast we do a deep dive into The Office and argue about Russillo's take that Pam Beesly is "evil." You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes.

5. You didn't need more proof that Bob Ley is a boss and a legend, but here's some anyway.

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7. RANDOM COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIDEO OF THE DAY: Sometimes the best action doesn't happen on the field, but off it, as proven here by the legendary Lee Corso.

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: No Traina Thoughts on Monday. Enjoy your holiday. See you on Tuesday when we go into full football mode.