SI Media Mailbag: Best NBA Broadcast Teams; Underrated Broadcasters; NFL Sunday Ticket Distribution and More

In Jimmy Traina’s SI Media mailbag, he answers questions about the broadcast teams calling NBA playoff games; whether Ian Eagle is underrated and more.

Got two similar questions this week. One sent via email and the other sent via tweet.

First the email, then the tweet.

Hey, Jimmy!I wanted to ask about the second-best national TV NBA announcer. I feel safe saying that Mike Breen is the pretty clear #1, but who would be #2? Personally I  would think Kevin Harlan, but I was curious about your thoughts. Thanks! —Andrew

I know that everything on the internet has to be ranked, but I don’t want to rank these.

I think most of the people doing play-by-play in the NBA playoffs are excellent. Mike Breen, Kevin Harlan, Ian Eagle, Mark Jones, Brian Anderson, Dave Pasch and Ryan Ruocco to name a few, all do an outstanding job. Breen is obviously a legend. Harlan and Eagle are as good as it gets.

Given that so many of the play-by-play folks are great, it’s the analyst that can elevate a broadcast team. So using this theory, I’d rank Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson as No. 1 because of Van Gundy. He can break down the X’s and O’s better than anyone, but he also does something nobody else across sports does: He rips the refs. He’s also a bit ornery, which is always amusing.

I think Jeff’s brother, Stan, is the second-best analyst in the playoffs. Stan Van Gundy is currently paired with Brian Anderson for the playoffs. I’d love to see Turner pair Stan with Ian Eagle next season. I think their personalities and senses of humor would mesh perfectly.

No chance Al returns to NBC for Sunday Night Football. That’s Mike Tirico’s job now, and Michaels has two more years left on his Amazon Prime deal. I assume Michaels will call a playoff game for NBC as he did last season. Hopefully he won’t be paired with Tony Dungy again.

I’ll say $500; $1,000 if it’s more than two hours.

No. Ian Eagle is rated fairly because everyone knows he’s one of the best and as good as any No. 1 broadcaster in sports. Here are some people I think are underrated on play-by-play: CBS’s Andrew Catalon, ESPN’s Dave Pasch and Ryan Ruocco, and Fox’s Jason Benetti.

I get so frustrated during college basketball season by the cameras showing the crowd or bench following a made basket instead of the live ball. It doesn’t seem to be the case watching NBA action. What gives and what can be done to make it stop?

— Donald McRoy (@McroyDonald) April 24, 2023

College basketball games are filled with college kids going crazy and behaving in an unhinged manner. Those who produce college basketball games obviously think this makes for good TV. In the NBA, the game is about the players. The games are filled with stars. There’s no need to repeatedly go to the crowd. College basketball hardly has any stars, so producers rely on atmosphere.

You think Mina Kimes will stay at ESPN?

— CR (@TheSaint1025) April 24, 2023

I don’t know Mina Kimes, and I have zero insight into where she may end up once her ESPN contract expires this year. I don’t know if she wants to try other things besides doing studio work and podcasting, but if she’s staying in that lane, she will obviously have several offers. I would assume NFL Network, Meadowlark Media and The Ringer would have significant interest, but despite going through layoffs right now, I predict ESPN makes her the best offer, and she stays there.

Wondering what will happen to bars/restaurants with direct tv that carried Sunday ticket

— gregg (@redseadweller) April 24, 2023

The NFL has a deal in place to have Sunday Ticket distributed to bars, hotels and restaurants. You can read more about it here.

Do you think wwe will go back to monthly PPVs for $70? Who do you think will end up with the tv rights after the current deals expire?

— Jack (@shanjackbel) April 24, 2023

I don’t know what the price point will be, but I fully expect WWE to eventually start charging a hefty price for its monthly pay-per-view events. Currently, if you subscribe to WWE Network on Peacock for $9.99 a month, you get all the pay-per-views for free. Given that WWE has been sold to Endeavor, I’d be shocked if this doesn’t change.

As for the TV rights, Monday Night Raw on USA Network and Friday Night SmackDown on Fox still generate very good ratings for this day and age of cord cutting. I think NBCUniversal (which owns USA) and Fox will both attempt to keep WWE programming. The question is whether an outside player outbids either of those networks. Jim Miller said on SI Media With Jimmy Traina last week that Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns TNT and TBS, has interest in adding WWE programming.

How soon will we see something like Fox News OANN for sports? Maybe not with live games out of the gate, but highlights and debate shows about woke athletes and a tilt toward fishing/hunting/Deep South HSFB?

— Kyle Speicher 🇺🇸 (@TVKyle) April 25, 2023

I’m not sure this would be sustainable for a 24/7 network. Plus, it’s much easier to lie about politics all day than sports. 

Email questions

Why did I empathize so much when Sal called the Jets’ offensive coordinator Buddy Hackett and neither of you noticed? —Art V. Austin, TX

O.K., this is pretty hilarious. On last week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast, during my weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment with Sal Licata, we discussed Aaron Rodgers. At one point, while talking about why Rodgers was going to the Jets, Sal said, “His buddy Hackett is there,” meaning Rogers’ buddy—as in friend—Nathaniel Hackett is the offensive coordinator of the Jets. He did not refer to Nathanial Hackett as comedian Buddy Hackett.