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Fox’s Brady Quinn Takes Nasty Shot at ESPN’s Booger McFarland

Also in Traina Thoughts: Jim Nantz is a man of his word, huge weekend for sports ratings, one of the worst beats of the college football season and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Apologies up front for writing about something that took place five days ago, but even though I’ve been off since last Wednesday and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write about broadcaster-on-broadcaster crime.

You may recall that last week, ESPN’s Booger McFarland generated some controversy with this take on Jets quarterback Zack Wilson:

“You mentioned one word: accountability,“ McFarland said to his Monday Night Countdown colleagues. “Let’s understand who this young man is before we ask him to accept accountability. He’s a young man who grew up with a lot of money. I don’t think he’s ever had to accept accountability. And so now on the biggest stage, we want this quarterback to accept responsibility.”

This take offended a lot of people. Among them was Fox Sports college football analyst Brady Quinn, who unloaded on McFarland:

“It was one of the dumbest thing I’ve heard on air,” said Quinn on the Pick Six Podcast last week, “and that’s saying something because Booger was on Monday Night Football and he said a lot of dumb stuff during that period of time.”

GOOD GRIEF! Talk about a low blow! We have to give Quinn credit for not holding back, although we do question whether he would have taken such a vicious shot if it were one of his Fox colleagues who had given that take.

“The interesting thing is that Booger came out on Ross Tucker’s podcast and defended himself as an analyst,” added Quinn. “O.K., well you just contradicted what you just said. Because as an analyst, you’re supposed to be analyzing what’s on the field. The last time I checked, you don’t have a doctorate or you’re not a doctor in understanding the sociology of the relationship or the parenting or anything else that goes along with that yet you want to analyze that. It was a bizarre deal.”

O.K., this is where Quinn lost me. He may not like McFarland using Wilson’s family wealth to critique the quarterback, but every single analyst in every sport analyzes things beyond the field if they think those things affect a player on the field.

Have we already forgotten all the stories written earlier this year about Tom Brady’s divorce possibly being a reason for his in-game struggles? Russell Wilson’s bizarre off-field behavior has been a regularly discussed topic. Hell, some people even claimed Jimmy Garoppolo couldn’t be a good leader because he was spotted having dinner with an adult film star.

In addition to being awful on the field, Wilson has had major attitude problems this year. It’s not out of line for McFarland or anyone else to opine on why that is, even if you think McFarland’s analysis is nonsensical.

But let’s not lose sight of what matters most here and that’s Quinn throwing an absolute haymaker at McFarland.

2. Loyal SI Media Podcast listeners know that a few weeks ago, after I told Jim Nantz it’s enough already with the Lions playing on Thanksgiving, that the CBS play-by-play. man promised to mention my name during the Buffalo-Detroit game if the Lions led at any point in the fourth quarter.

Jim Nantz his a man of his word.

3. Here's a ratings wrap-up from the holiday weekend during which a lot of people watched a lot of sports.

On Thanksgiving, Giants-Cowboys drew 42 million viewers for Fox, making it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.

Bills-Lions generated 31.6 million viewers in the earlier slot, making that game the most-watched early Thanksgiving Day game on any network on record, while 26 million people watched Patriots-Vikings in the night game. 

On Friday afternoon, 15.7 million people watched the U.S.-England World Cup game on Fox.

On Saturday, Michigan–Ohio State brought in 17 million viewers for Fox. It was the most-watched regular-season college football game on any network since 2011.

4. On Saturday night, my buddy Diesel asked me if I saw the way Boise State covered against Utah State. I said I did not, but couldn’t wait to see it on Bad Beats. As always, Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve did not disappoint.

5. I’ve said before that the podcast New Heights, hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce, is fantastic. Check out Jason being totally defeated after comparing who the most famous person is in each of their phones.

6. The latest episode of the SI Media Podcast features a conversation with Kevin Burkhardt from Fox Sports.

Burkhardt talks about getting Fox’s lead NFL play-by-play job after Joe Buck left for ESPN. He reveals how he found out Buck was leaving and talks about the difference between being on the A crew and B crew. Burkhardt also discusses his partnership with Greg Olsen, his future partnership with Tom Brady and what Olsen told Brady when they first saw each other this season. Burkhardt also gives us insight on why he does studio for MLB, how he handled a recent travel nightmare and more.

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: I don't even know what to say about the latest @menwiththepot video featuring a bagel like you've never seen before.

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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