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Ernie, Charles, Kenny and Shaq Were in Midseason Form on NBA's Opening Night: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Inside the NBA's return had Shaq show up late, Kenny setting the Lou Williams-Magic City wings record straight and more fun antics.

Jimmy Traina

1. The NBA made an impressive return Thursday night, with two close games and outstanding television production from the Orlando bubble.

This is such a cool look, in my opinion.

While there were many unknowns going into the return, one thing we knew we didn't have to worry about was the Inside the NBA crew delivering, as they always do.

Things got off to an outstanding start when Shaq was missing for the opening of the show, which prompted Charles Barkley to ask, "What kind of dummy is late for work the first day?"

Shaq, who was stuck in traffic because of an accident, eventually showed up, and his outfit was ripe for mockery.

Once Shaq got to the extra-long desk put in place for social distancing, he and Chuck quickly got back to their vintage taunting, with Barkley telling O'Neal he won titles only because "you had Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade," while O'Neal taunted Barkley about being ringless.

However, it was Kenny Smith who was responsible for the highlight of the night when he addressed Lou Williams's infamous trip to Magic City for "wings."

It was good to have the NBA back Thursday night. It was just as good to have Ernie, Charles, Kenny and Shaq back, too.

2. Jim Miller, who literally wrote the book about ESPN, dropped some interesting info today. He says it looks like Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick will be the Monday Night Football crew this season.

3. The last few minutes of Mike Golic's last radio show for ESPN on Friday were filled with lots and lots of tears.

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4. If you're a Dodgers fan or just someone who enjoyed Joe Kelly throwing at Astros batters earlier this week, you might want to get one of these T-shirts.

5. ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy, who will call tonight's Bucks-Celtics game, shared his thoughts on a wide range of topics during this week's SI Media Podcast. Among the topics: Magic City wings, Lou Williams's suspension, how weekday afternoon games will have an impact on players, calling games from the Orlando bubble, the NBA being a totally different game today than in the '80s and '90s, people not wearing masks, Twitter, The Last Dance and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: With Jim Miller giving us that Monday Night Football news, let's look back at Saturday Night Live spoofing the Al Michaels, Dan Fouts, Dennis Miller and Melissa Stark crew in 2000.

7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Two amazing things in this clip: 1) Umpire Angel Hernandez once had former Bears defensive lineman Steve McMichael ejected from a game. 2) The insane finish to this 2001 Rockies-Cubs game.

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 Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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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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