Future of Bill Raftery and Grant Hill, MLB Changes, WWE Coverage and More

In Jimmy Traina’s SI Media mailbag, he answers questions about the CBS/Turner NCAA tournament crew, how rules changes will affect MLB broadcasters and ratings and much more.

Welcome to the first installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing every Tuesday about the world of sports media (and anything else you want to chime in about). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.

Here we go …

Will cbs keep grant hill on the gig when it’s eagle and raftery? Def don’t need his voice with those 2.

— Patrick Webb (@webb_02) March 27, 2023

When Ian takes over the final four next year, will Raf and Hill still be the color commentary?

Any chance Gus ever makes it back on CBS?

— Alex Zwart (@alexuconn57) March 27, 2023

I would be stunned if CBS removed Grant Hill from the No. 1 booth before next season when Ian Eagle takes over for Jim Nantz. I think CBS will give Bill Raftery and Hill a year or two with Eagle, and then you may possibly see a change since the network brought in Jay Wright, who many are high on as an analyst.

Eagle was recently on the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast and said he expected Raftery to be back next season.

I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Gus Johnson one day down the road ends up back at CBS calling college basketball and the NFL, but I wouldn’t expect it to happen anytime soon since he’s entrenched as Fox’s lead college football play-by-play guy.

Here is a question for you Jimmy assuming you didn't mute me 12 years ago (drunk jets fan).

Are you using chatGPT yet?

— Neville (@nevillearthur) March 27, 2023

I didn’t mute you since I saw this question, but now I’m intrigued by what you did that made you think I may have muted you. Please let me know. I have no idea what ChatGPT is so I’m not using it yet.

May be a dumb question but…
Why can’t the NFL figure out where to place microphones in the press room so we can hear the questions?

— Rev. Hoagie (@ljester_lisa) March 27, 2023

This is an excellent question and something I’ve never thought about. I don’t have an answer for you, but I’m sure this is something that the NFL has never seen as a problem so the league has never addressed it.

Do major sports media folks, such as you, have any plans to set up accounts on Mastodon as well as Twitter? If not, why not?

— Robert Geller; ロバート・ゲラー (@rjgeller) March 27, 2023

I hate Twitter so much, but it’ll be Twitter or nothing for me. I just don’t think a copycat version of Twitter will have much impact.

Who takes longer to adjust to new MLB rules:
Hitters?
Pitchers?
Announcers?

— TopShotYoda (@TopShotYoda) March 27, 2023

From things I’ve read, it sounds like pitchers and hitters have done a decent job of adjusting as spring training has gone on. You hit on something that hasn’t been talked about enough, though. The broadcasters will be severely challenged by the pitch clock. It won’t be easy for them to get into stories and anecdotes with pitches coming every 20 seconds.

Do you think there will ever be a time when the #1 booth for MLB on FOX will work every Saturday again?

— Michael Silvers (@msilvers1979) March 27, 2023

I doubt it. National regular-season MLB ratings don’t justify the need for Joe Davis and John Smoltz to be in a booth every single week.

Who do networks insist on announcers not having a personality? Isn’t it good when an announcer are interesting?

— J🍩ey Bag 🍩f D🍩nuts 🍩 (@joeybagovdonuts) March 27, 2023

I think this has changed a lot over the years. Most of the top personalities across the board—Joe Buck, Ian Eagle, Tony Romo, Jeff Van Gundy, Kevin Harlan, to name a few—have great personalities. The sport that probably needs to make the most improvement with this is Major League Baseball.

Do you think we'll see an uptick in the national ratings for MLB this season as a result of the league's new rules? If so, how soon will we see those increases?

— Douglas Pucci (@SonOfTheBronx) March 27, 2023

I expect we’ll see an uptick early out of curiosity. I think the game is going to be vastly different, and people will want to check it out. Whether the uptick continues throughout the season, I have no idea. I still think it’s a challenge to get people across the country to tune in to an ESPN game featuring the Brewers and Braves on a Sunday night in the summer. Baseball is a regional sport, so as great as the pitch clock will be, I’m not sure how much it will help ratings. Hopefully it does, though.

Who do you think should replace John Sterling?

— Neil schoolnik (@Neilschoolnik) March 27, 2023

Nobody. Ever.

Stern or Larry David as a podcast guest?

— havertick (@havertick) March 27, 2023

Larry David for two reasons. I think there is a 1% chance I could someday interview Larry. I think there is a 0% chance I could ever interview Howard Stern. Plus, as much as I’m fascinated by Howard, I just think Larry would be a better interview. He’d be miserable, but he’d give you more and would get into the banter.

Email question from Paul M.

Hi, Jimmy. I do really like your work. Read your stuff pretty much every day.

But I have one issue: Pro Wrestling. I fully understand these men and women are athletes. I don’t debate that. But it’s not a sport. It’s scripted entertainment.

So I’m at a loss why it’s included in a forum that’s dedicated to sports. Makes no sense to me. So when I see it referenced in your (or anyone else column) my eyes glaze over and I skim to the next topic that includes actual sporting events.

But I’m at a loss as to why you include it in a sports column. I’ll shut up now. Thanks for listening.

The reason it’s included is kinda simple and straightforward. Wrestling content is included in my columns because I want to include it. It’s not really any deeper than that. When I pitched and created the Hot Clicks column a million years ago and then the current Traina Thoughts column, the idea was to write about the stuff that I’m into. I'm into wrestling, so I write about it. Oh, and our wrestling content gets very good traffic.