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Did Fox Ban Urban Meyer Signs at Its Pregame Show?

Also in Traina Thoughts: ‘Thursday Night Football’ ratings dip; NFL betting trend; Michael Irvin’s tough day and more.

Jimmy Traina

Did Fox Ban Urban Meyer Signs at Its Pregame Show?
Did Fox Ban Urban Meyer Signs at Its Pregame Show? /

1. Fox’s college football pregame show was in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday for the Maryland-Michigan game.

Urban Meyer had great success at Ohio State back in the day, making him a very unpopular figure in Wolverine territory.

Given Meyer’s completely disastrous stint in the NFL and the fact that he’s become an internet punchline thanks to his various controversies with the Jaguars last season (which even made Fox embarrassed about bringing him back to its pregame show), you would’ve imagined the scene at the Big House would be filled with anti-Urban signs.

However, that wasn’t the case, and this tweet was sent out Saturday morning.

I reached out to Fox to find out if it had indeed banned Urban Meyer signs for its pregame show, and this was the statement passed along by a spokesperson:

“Our policy was the same as it is every weekend—no inappropriate signs. There isn’t a separate policy. It’s just no inappropriate signs across the board.”

So that begs the question: What is considered “inappropriate” when it comes to signs at a pregame show? This statement seems like that old line about porn from a Supreme Court justice: “I know it when I see it.”

Would it be considered “inappropriate” to put this photo on a sign and take it to a college football pregame show?

I say no. But I’m sure Meyer didn’t want to see that picture behind him on set for a couple of hours, and I’m sure Fox had people get rid of any signs that featured that image.

Fox says it didn’t implement a specific policy for Meyer, but someone at the network clearly decided they weren’t going to allow Michigan fans to get any of the images of Meyer’s famous night at a Columbus, Ohio, bar on screen.

Meanwhile, with Meyer gone, the 2–1 Jags are feisty and one of the more fun teams in the league to watch. Jacksonville has as many wins in three games this season as Meyer won in 13 games last season.

That could be ripe sign fodder for anyone who wants to make a sign mocking Meyer. The question is whether Fox will consider it inappropriate.

2. The second game for Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football, Steelers at Browns, drew 11 million viewers. Chargers-Chiefs drew 13 million viewers the previous week. The drop isn’t totally unexpected, considering one game featured Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes and the other featured Mitch Trubisky and Jacoby Brissett.

What may end up being a much bigger challenge for Thursday Night Football isn't getting people to realize it airs only on Amazon Prime. It’s that the schedule has some issues. TNF has a very good game this week with the Dolphins visiting the Bengals. But after that, Amazon Prime has Colts at Broncos and Commanders at Bears. 

3. Memo to my fellow degenerates: Get on board with betting unders.

4. Michael Irvin had a rough day on the NFL Network’s pregame show Sunday, and all of us who wear glasses can relate.

5. I know this happened on Friday night, but I wanted to give a shoutout to AppleTV+'s Wayne Randazzo for a great call on Albert Pujols’s 700th home run.

6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features an interview with the NFL Network’s RIch Eisen.

Eisen, whose daily show recently headed to Roku, talks about recently re-signing for four years with the NFL Network, what his NFL Sunday schedule is like, what he would change about the NFL and what he currently loves in the NFL. Eisen also shares his opinion on the Monday Night Football overlap doubleheader, Amazon Prime’s presentation of Thursday Night Football and much more.

The podcast closes with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment with Sal Licata, from WFAN and SNY in New York. The week, Sal and I discuss DirecTV’s streaming issues during Week 2, Sal laments that he had to miss a recent event and I read recent SI Media Podcast Apple reviews. We also give out our NFL Week 3 best bets.

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

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Rihanna is a very solid choice for halftime of the Super Bowl. There is so much potential for duets. My top request is Jay-Z joining her for Umbrella.

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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