SI Media Mailbag: Second-Best Studio Show, Masters Coverage, NBA on NBC Theme Song and More

In Jimmy Traina’s SI Media mailbag, he answers questions about studio shows, CBS's Masters coverage, the possible return of a popular theme song and more.

Welcome to the third 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 on). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.

We start with an email question.

Hey, Jimmy. We all know that Inside The NBA is the best studio show, and one of the best shows period, ever. Who do you think is second to them? Even though it's a relatively new show, I think NBA Today on ESPN is showing some real potential. Malika Andrews, Kendrick Perkins, and Richard Jefferson all have genuine chemistry on set and you can tell they enjoy each other off camera too. They have other members come in and out of the show every day, but chemistry is the most important thing when it comes to studio shows, and those three definitely have it together. I could definitely see them moving over to cover primetime games, especially because RJ has already stated that's what he wants to do. It makes the show an entertaining watch just to see how they'll interact with each other, much like Inside The NBA. I also like the Wednesday segment of First Take because of the chemistry between Chris Russo, Steven A., and Molly. You never know what Russo is going to say, which is ratings gold, and Steven A. seems to genuinely enjoy and respect Russo being on the show. Your thoughts? —Kobi

I’ll go backward on this question. Stephen A. Smith deserves a lot of credit for letting Chris “Mad Dog” Russo be Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Russo has been around for nearly 40 years, so his weekly appearances wouldn’t work if he tried to be something different. Smith has let Russo do his thing, and the result has been the show going viral almost every Wednesday. Russo has had a great rapport with Smith and Molly Qerim and has developed nice chemistry with JJ Redick and Marcus Spears.

The second-best studio show behind Inside the NBA is ESPN’s College GameDay. The addition of Pat McAfee last season was huge, and he fit in perfectly with the long-established cast of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Lee Corso. I agree with you that NBA Today does a very nice job each day, and it’s a fun show with a strong, good cast. But College GameDay is on another level.

A CBS broadcaster will never admit that there was an edict not to discuss Phil Mickelson at the Masters. The reality, though, is CBS, NBC and ESPN are in bed with the PGA, and those networks are not going to upset their business partner by going on and on about that partner’s competitor. Jim Nantz will be on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina, so I will ask him the question. Subscribe to the podcast so you can get the answer as soon as the podcast is live.

Obviously, this will depend on who becomes available, but I’m sure some of the ESPN people who get cut in the reported and unfortunate round of layoffs that are expected to hit the company soon will land at Fox and other sports media companies. Things aren’t great out there in the sports media world from a business standpoint, but companies always seem to find a way to bring in talented people, especially if they have a following. However, if the layoffs are going to be as big as reported, there will be a lot of people on the market competing for those jobs, which will make things more difficult.

Andrew Marchand and I discussed the NBA’s television and streaming futures on the latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast, and he felt that NBC would get back in the NBA game. Others have reported the same. I’d be shocked if NBC didn’t make a deal with the song’s rightsholder to bring back the famous theme song if the network gets an NBA package.

Believe it or not, in late 2022, AEW wrestling, which airs on TBS, licensed the rights to “Roundball Rock.”

It's actually kind of wild how much that theme song fit perfectly into a wrestling promo.

I don’t know how Stugotz mentioning my name and then “Jimmy Traina sounds like a guy I’d like to hang out with” and that line becoming a drop on one of the most popular sports radio shows would be anything other than a huge positive. Stugotz has been on SI Media With Jimmy Traina a couple of times, and Dan Le Batard was on once, and all the interviews were great. Plus, I always enjoy making the Le Batard Reddit forum getting tweets from the Stugotz Army any time I mention the Le Batard Show.

I’ve always said that NFL coaches are really weird people, so the obvious choices are Roman and Greg, who I’m counting as one of the Roy children even though he’s a cousin. Roman wouldn’t have the patience and temperament to deal with his GM or owner, so I have to go with Cousin Greg, who does have a little Mike McDaniel in him.

I can 100% envision this and I’m shocked it hasn’t happened yet. The SportsCenter reality show you’re referring to is Dream Job. It ran for three seasons from 2004 to ’06, so that meant it happened before social media. I think a show like that would do so much better in this era. Plus, it would be layup programming for all these streaming services that are in need of fresh content.

For the non–New Yorkers reading, the Craig referred to here is WFAN’s Craig Carton, and the Sal is SI Media With Jimmy Traina weekly contributor Sal Licata. And the Evan is Carton’s current partner, Evan Roberts. Andrew Marchand reported last week that Carton may soon leave WFAN, leaving an opening on the afternoon drive show. Obviously, I’m biased and not objective since Sal is one of my best friends, but he’d be a perfect fit for afternoon drive. Sports-talk radio has gone more and more away from sports talk, so a host has to be able to navigate pop culture/life topics as well as sports topics. Sal, who currently hosts his own overnight show, handles both of those things as well as anyone. WFAN would be smart to give him a spot on its daytime programming.