Power-Ranking the Best ESPN F-Bombs: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Where does Marshawn Lynch's F-bomb rank among ESPN F-bombs?

1. After casually using the word s--- three times during his appearance with Peyton and Eli Manning on their Monday Night Football MegaCast last night, former Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch closed out his segment by dropping the f-bomb.

While hearing an expletive on cable TV isn’t a big deal, it’s always a little jarring when a naughty word gets used on Disney-owned ESPN.

However, Lynch is hardly the first person to use the big four-letter word on ESPN. So without further ado, here are the best instances of someone saying the f-word live on ESPN.

5) DORIS BURKE: This was subtle and mouthed rather than said out loud, but to see the unflappable Burke get flustered after flubbing some lines was amusing.

4) KENNY MAYNE: Unfortunately, this one was bleeped, but hearing Mayne say, “F--- you” to Aaron Rodgers because of some questionable financial advice on his last SportsCenter made for a great moment.

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3) MARSHAWN LYNCH: If you watched Lynch’s entire cameo with Peyton and Eli on Monday night, you knew it was a matter of when—not if—he’d drop the f-bomb. And he delivered perfectly.

2) LEE CORSO: When the College GameDay legend struggled to get on a mascot head during the show’s picks segment, the frustration was just too much and he let us know by saying, “F--- it!” much to the shock and amusement of his cohosts. Just a great TV moment.

BONUS CORSO: The f-bomb incident above is not the only instance of Corso's working blue on College GameDay.

1) CHRIS BERMAN: Maybe this shouldn’t count since it didn’t technically happen on the air, but the column is called “Traina Thoughts,” so we’re going by my rules. This was one of several leaked videos of Berman during breaks on Monday Night Football and boy, oh, boy, did he let the expletives fly.

2. Dan Patrick possesses many qualities that make him a great interviewer. One of those is his calm and casual demeanor. That tone seemed to lull USC quarterback Carson Palmer into a sense of security yesterday when he nonchalantly mentioned that one of the coaches USC is interested in is Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

3. Jaylen Brown unloaded a monster dunk on the Hornets' Miles Bridges last night.

The best part, though, wasn't the dunk. It was the reaction of Brown's teammate Jayson Tatum.

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4. Everybody hates the Yankees and Red Sox, but the single-most watched game of the 2021 Major League Baseball postseason so far is the New York–Boston wild-card game.

5. This got tweeted yesterday shortly after I had posted Traina Thoughts and 24 hours later, I'm still in awe that Kyle Orton was considered a legend by an actual human being.

6. This week's episode of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina features a pair of interviews.

First up is Steve Levy from ESPN. Levy talks about how his second season calling Monday Night Football is going, how he feels about the Peyton and Eli Manning alternate Monday Night Football telecast, the challenges of a three-person booth, the impact that fans in the stands have on a broadcast and much more. Levy also discusses ESPN's getting back in the NHL game and his role on hockey coverage this season. Levy also reminisces about his famous SportsCenter slipup, his favorite SportsCenter moments and his days working at WFAN.

Following Levy, Jeff Garlin from Curb Your Enthusiasm joins the podcast. Garlin talks about the new season of the HBO comedy, which actor breaks the most when filming, whether Curb could work anywhere but HBO, why the show isn't going to do much on COVID-19, how much of a scene is on the outline the actors get, his favorite Curb season and much more.

The podcast closes with the weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week, Jimmy and Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY talk about why this is the best time of year for a sports fan, the Yankees' retaining Aaron Boone, whether Curb should do shows about COVID-19 and more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on AppleSpotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: There's nothing more important in the world than an NFL Sunday as shown here.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on AppleSpotify 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.