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Traina Thoughts: Broadcasters Braylon Edwards, Mark Jones Get in Trouble Thanks to Twitter
1. If you missed it over the long holiday weekend, two announcers ended up causing a brouhaha over—what else?—tweets.
First we had Big Ten Network analyst Braylon Edwards ripping is alma mater Michigan in a now-deleted tweet over their pathetic performance in a loss at Notre Dame on Saturday.
Edwards, of course, tried to do damage control after getting in trouble.
Meanwhile, ESPN college football play-by-play man Mark Jones sent out this tweet while Auburn was beating Washington.
Jones's cupcake reference had to do with a Huskies game he called last year and this bit that upset Washington backers.
So naturally, Jones, like Edwards, attemped some damage control of his own.
The end results: Edwards has been suspended by Big Ten Network and the Pac 12 released this statement about Jones: "We are aware of the inappropriate comments in this tweet and have addressed it with ESPN.”
Now that the facts have been laid out, I'd just like to say that Big Ten Network and the Pac 12 are big babies.
In the case of Edwards, nobody thinks of him as an objective broadcaster. He went to the school for Pete's sake. We all know he's rooting for Michigan in every capacity. If Big Ten Network really cared about objectivity, they wouldn't have Edwards ever talk about the Wolverines.
As for Jones, again, the sensitivity displayed by Washington and the Pac 12 is just laughable. The Huskies got beaten badly, they play a weak out-of-conference schedule and Jones sends a lighthearted tweet about it and the conference higher-ups are all up in arms? Could you possibly be more sensitive? How does that harmless tweet sent by Jones mean he can't call a Washington game? It's ridiculous.
My favorite part of all this childish nonsense is that networks still want to con the audience—you, the viewing public—into thinking broadcasters are objective. No broadcaster is objective. None. Zilch.
They all have ties to athletes and coaches. They use them for anonymous, off-the-record quotes, they share the same agents, etc. Every single broadcaster has their favorites. Every single broadcaster has players and coaches they don't like.
I have more respect for a guy like Edwards, who I know up front, has zero chance to be objective since he actually was a Wolverine, than say a play-by-play person who shares the same agent as a player and therefore constantly pumps up said player.
Hell, every single member of the media basically soils their underwear any Sunday that Tiger Woods is in contention. Is that objective? No. They're rooting for a storyline and they're rooting for what's good for business.
There is no such thing as objectivitiy in sports broadcasting. For Edwards and Jones to get disciplined for those tweets is ridiculous.
2. Speaking of tweets, Brent Musburger is 79 years old and out there dominating on the social media service.
You'll recall that Brent caused a big stink in 2013 when he fawned over McCarron's then-girlfriend Katherine Webb during the Notre Dame-Alabama national title game.
Props to Brent for sending that tweet and not giving a flying you know what.
3. Twitter isn't the only place athletes and broadcasters are getting in trouble. It's also happening now on ... Fortnite. Yes, Padres slugger Wil Myers got caught trashing his manager Andy Green during a live stream of the popular video game.
According to MLB.com Myers was overheard saying, "The Padres are doing cutoff and relays tomorrow at 3 o'clock—in September, dude. Oh my god. It's so miserable, man. It's insane. Andy could not be any worse than he is right now."
Oops.
4. After the Bills named Nathan Peterman their starting quarterback Monday morning, I sent out this tweet.
I'd just like to address three things because it's truly stunning to see how people have no use for the truth. 1) FACT: The Broncos did not make Colin Kaepernick a contract offer. 2) FACT: The Ravens did not make Colin Kaepernick a contract offer. 3) There are people who responded to my tweet by telling me that Nathan Peterman played well in the preseason as if that's a barometer that should be used when evaulating an NFL player. Scary.
5. Thanks to Western Kentucky's Joshua Samuel and Lucky Jackson for giving us this.
6. 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.
7.RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: I ended up in a YouTube rabbit hole over the weekend and came across this great video compilation of sports broadcasters getting very angry on the air. You've seen some of the clips before, but there are some real gems in here.
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: I have several wishes for the sports media. Near the top of the list is that they stop doing stories on people burning jerseys and apparel.
