NBC
Traina Thoughts: NBC and Michael Jordan Teamed Up for One of the Best Game Promos You'll Ever See
1. The Red Sox won the World Series and the Rams and Packers played one of the best games of the NFL season on Sunday, but the highlight of the day was an outstanding promo from NBC for next week's Sunday Night Football game between the Packers and Patriots.
Normally, network promos for upcoming games are boring, cookie-cutter oversell jobs, but when you can get Michael Jordan to hype a game in a very clever way, you have something special. Watch:
Granted, I'm not that intelligent, so when I initially saw this on Sunday night, I was very confused about Michael Jordan appearing during a football game, so I thoroughly enjoyed the payoff at the end, while also being a little disappointed that MJ was talking about Brady vs. Rodgers instead of him vs. LeBron. Sounds like James was, too.
2. Notable items from Week 8 in the NFL:
• CBS's Andrew Catalon dropped a solid Billy Madison reference after Colts tight end Jack Doyle scored a touchdown against the Raiders.
• Kareem Hunt had the touchdown of the day, if not the touchdown of the year.
• Seattle's Michael Dickson ran a crazy fake punt, but was not happy with a quote about his genitalia after the game.
3. What an embarrassment for the NFL in Los Angeles on Sunday. You had the league's best and only undefeated team playing a home game that was really a road game because Packers fans outnumbered Rams fans because nobody in L.A. cares about football. To add insult to injury, the poor Rams had to play on a field that still had "USC" painted in the end zone and the Pac-12 logo on the field. But thank goodness the league has football in L.A.
4. As someone who is two seasons sober from fantasy football, I can respect Rams running back Todd Gurley not giving a crap about anyone's team. However, when he besmirches Vegas and gambling, he crosses the line.
In case you missed it, the quote is in reference to Gurley passing on a walk-in touchdown to take a knee to close out the Rams' win over the Packers. The final score ended up 29-27 and the over/under in Vegas was 57.
5. I said last week that Chris "Mad Dog" Russo has been doing some of the best shows of his career on MLB Network and SiriusXM. More proof came Sunday when he went completely nuts over Dave Roberts's mismanagement in Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night.
6. NFL Network's four-man booth for Sunday's Jags-Eagles game in London actually worked. The crew of Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Steve Mariucci and Michael Irvin did not step all over each other and there was a nice calmness about the telecast. Warner was the standout and listening to him really made you wonder why ESPN didn't go with him over Jason Witten for the Monday Night Football job.
Here is Eisen on the latest edition of the SI Media Podcast talking about the four-man booth, how LeBron James has dominated the Rams and Dodgers in Los Angels and much more.
7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: I post this video every Halloween, but I don't feel like waiting two more days so you're getting it today. Enjoy.
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: Patriots should cover the 13.5-point spread by halftime Monday night.
