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J.J. Watt Has a Doughnut Dilemma, and We Need to Break It Down

Also in Traina Thoughts: "Inside the NBA" is off to Cancun, early NBA finals betting odds, baseball announcer is clueless about "Star Wars" and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. J.J. Watt has asked the public to weigh in on a controversy surrounding him and a teammate, and we are more than happy to help since the issue involves food.

As the future Hall of Famer tells it, Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz told Watt on Thursday that he was going to bring in doughnuts today and asked Watt what kind of doughnuts he prefers.

Watt said he’d like either a “pink” doughnut or a maple glazed.

Now, I’m a huge Watt fan and he’s been good to me over the years during interviews we’ve done, so I hate to criticize, but as an objective reporter I have to be fair: Strawberry should never be your top flavor. You gotta go jelly or chocolate glazed. Maple glazed is a fine choice, though.

O.K., now onto the dilemma. When Ertz brought in the doughnuts Friday, there was no maple glazed and no strawberry.

This did not sit well with Watt, who took to social media to call out his teammate and ask the masses for their opinion.

“I have a question for everybody out there. So, I know I’m pretty much wrong on this one, but that’s why I’m asking the world.”

Watt explained Ertz asked for a doughnuts recommendation and then ignored the request.

“I’m extremely grateful for the free doughnuts, but do I have any ground to stand on to be upset?”

Our ruling: Yes, Watt has every right to be upset. While free doughnuts are a glorious treat, Ertz is guilty of being a tease.

Why did Ertz ask what type of doughnut Watt wanted if he didn’t have any intention of following through? Poor J.J. was probably thinking all night of devouring a strawberry or maple glazed donut, and then Ertz just snatched that away from him.

You can’t say that you will get the requested flavor and then not follow through. That’s just poor form. It’s disrespectful. It’s wrong.

Personally, if I were Ertz, I would’ve just lied to Watt and said the store was out of strawberry and maple glazed.

But as you can see in the video, Ertz stands by his shady actions of just disregarding Watt’s doughnut preferences.

The ruling here: Watt does have ground to stand on, and Ertz was out of line.

2. How good is this?

3. Great job by the Yankees and Rays on Thursday night. The teams passed on tweeting game updates to tweet about the rampant gun violence problem in the United States. A sampling:

4. Here's an early look at NBA Finals betting odds.

5. I've never seen Star Wars, either, so I totally related to this ESPN broadcaster.

6. Tottenham’s Harry Kane explained to Jimmy Fallon last night how he became friends with Tom Brady simply by sliding into the quarterback’s DMs.

7. This week’s Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina features an interview with Joe Davis from Fox Sports.

Davis talks about taking over this season for Joe Buck as Fox’s lead Major League Baseball play-by-play voice at just 34 years old. Davis, also talks about becoming the Dodgers’ lead play-by-play man after Vin Scully retired and how that will help him replace Buck. The versatile broadcaster also discusses being in the mix for Fox’s No. 2 NFL job with Kevin Burkhardt moving into the No. 1 slot.

Davis also explains the differences in calling baseball and football, why it’s important for a booth to have fun and how important it is for him to call a World Series.

The interview closes with a conversation about Davis’s love of grilling.

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

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: RIP, Ray Liotta. 

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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 Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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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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