Yankees Broadcaster Trends After Fan Exposes Bizarre Twitter DM

Also in Traina Thoughts: new ‘SI Media’ podcast; Angels continue bush league moves; Jason Kelce’s daughter has hilarious reaction to his new look; and more.

1. When I fired up Twitter this morning, I saw that Michael Kay was trending. For those of you outside of New York who may not know, Kay calls Yankees games for the YES Network and hosts a daily radio show that airs on YES as well.

Being a Yankees fan, I wanted to see why Kay was trending. When I finally discovered the reason, it certainly wasn’t anything I would’ve expected.

It appears that shortly after calling Wednesday night’s Yankees win over the Guardians, Kay sent a direct message to a random person on Twitter who had accused him of defending New York general manager Brian Cashman during the game. That person then tweeted the DM that Kay had sent him, which then caused Kay to respond publicly.

There is just so much here to unpack, so let me go with the bullet points:

• I really don’t like people publicly exposing DMs. It’s a s----y thing to do, and, unless someone is threatening you, there’s really no need to do that. Just handle the situation one on one.

• If you are going to DM a random person, you should keep it short and sweet. “I did not defend Brian Cashman tonight” was all Kay had to say instead of doing on a diatribe.

• Having said that, why on earth is the play-by-play man for the New York Yankees DMing a challenge to a random fan? Kay would say he’s defending himself against a false accusation. Who cares? The accusation isn’t coming from someone who has any power. Plus, play-by-play folks across the board get criticized on a daily basis. Most of it is unfair stuff. Why would you bother paying any attention to it?

• I need to reiterate this point. You are the play-by-play man for the most storied and popular franchise in the sport and one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. You need to be above DMing randoms, no matter what they say about your performance during a game.

• The fan accused Kay of defending Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Kay claims he did no such thing. I have no idea what happened, because the game was on Amazon Prime, and I refuse to watch any Yankees game on Amazon Prime. Having said that, if you’re a Yankees fan, you are a fool if you think Kay or anyone on the YES Network will criticize Brian Cashman. It will never, ever happen. The Yankees are the largest shareholder of the YES Network. So if you work for YES, you can’t go on TV during a game and say it’s time for the GM to go, even though it’s more than clear it’s time for the GM to go.

• Now, the people who work for YES will probably say they would criticize the front office if they felt it was warranted. Trust me, they wouldn’t. And that’s fine. I can’t bash Sports Illustrated in this column. You can’t publicly bash the people who pay you. It’s just the nature of the beast.

• The main lesson here: If you do play-by-play work, don’t read your mentions. If you don’t have that discipline, then at the very least, don’t ever respond to someone on DM.

2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast dropped Thursday morning, and this week’s guest is the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Topics discussed include:

• Why he loves covering the NFL draft

• What NFL event causes him to get the least amount of sleep

• Thoughts about the 2023 NFL schedule release

• Competing with ESPN’s Adam Schefter

• Aaron Rodgers telling Pat McAfee that Rapoport “doesn't know s--- about him”

• Enjoying the Shams vs. Woj rivalry

• His favorite experience breaking a story

• His biggest mistake breaking a story and much more.

Following Rapoport, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. Topics covered include ESPN using old footage of the Twin Towers during an NBA playoff game, Aaron Rodgers embracing New York, Twitter life without a blue check and much more.

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

3. I don’t mind TNT experimenting with a drone camera during a game, but can you maybe do it during one of the meaningless regular-season games you air instead of debuting it in the middle of a second-round playoff game?

4. Eagles center Jason Kelce had his head shaved by brother Travis at an event for their New Heights podcast last week. Jason shared how his young daughter reacted to seeing him without hair for the first time, and it’s absolutely tremendous.

5. What on earth is going on with the Angels? Last month, reporter Sam Blum revealed that he was “no longer welcomed back” on a show called the Beat Reporter Roundup that airs on an Angels-owned radio station because he was too negative.

Now Blum reports that the Angels are making reporters send questions for Angels players and coaches in advance of interviews to avoid negativity.

6. The Inside the NBA fellas were tossing the football around Wednesday night, and Shaq took out Charles Barkley. To add insult to injury, Barkley also dropped the pass.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This wedding entrance paid tribute to the legendary Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.