Remembering Some of Jeff Van Gundy’s Best Rants As ESPN’s Lead NBA Analyst

Also in Traina Thoughts: Oral history of Brian Windhorst meme; Pat McAfee has a great Undertaker story; Mets fan’s advice ignored and more.

1. In a shocking turn of events, ESPN has cut ties with its lead NBA analyst, Jeff Van Gundy.

The move comes as part of a cost-cutting wave of layoffs affecting on-air talent at the World Wide Leader.

Van Gundy, who joined ESPN in 2007, has called the past 17 NBA Finals alongside Mike Breen and Mark Jackson.

My guess is that Van Gundy won’t be out of a broadcasting job for too long. With the NBA’s television deals expiring in 2024, new outlets are expected to get packages, including possibly NBC and Amazon.

And with Jeff’s brother, Stan, already at TNT, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see that network make a run at Van Gundy to pair up the brothers.

There are many things that make Van Gundy a great NBA analyst. At the very top of the list is his ability to tell it like it is, not sugarcoat things and call out anyone or anything that needs to be called out.

Van Gundy has treated viewers to many rants and funny pop culture moments over the years. Here are some examples of his most memorable moments.

• Intentional fouls

• Flopping

• More flopping

• Rihanna

• One Direction

2. GQ has made an oral history of the memorable Brian Windhorst meme from last year when he was talking about the Jazz on First Take.

From those meme’d hand gestures to why one "First Take" host thought it was bad television, this is the story of how Brian Windhorst’s captivating two-minute monologue came together https://t.co/XFgbfNLtRs

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) June 29, 2023

The best part of the story is Windhorst crediting the chair he was sitting on as a contributor to his viral moment. From the article:

“Windhorst: The chairs on First Take are very, very good. In that particular moment, I leaned back because that chair is a great chair. You would never normally lean back, and so when I leaned back as part of the storytelling, I made gestures that I normally wouldn’t. That just happened in the moment, but those are the best chairs. Stephen A. has rigorous chair requirements, and he is rewarded with spectacular, spectacular chairs on that desk.”

3. In the middle of Thursday’s game, Cardinals analyst Jim Edmonds expressed his confusion over team nicknames being switched in recent years. While everyone was focusing on what Edmonds was saying, I couldn’t get enough of the sheer relief in the voice of St. Louis play-by-play guy Chip Caray, when the Cardinals’ Nolan Gorman grounded out to end the inning and Edmonds’s bizarre speech. When Caray said, “Onnnn the ground to SECOND,” it totally came across as, “Thank goodness we are going to commercial.”

Jim Edmonds, everybody. pic.twitter.com/viMXaMH6UO

— Chad Finn (@GlobeChadFinn) June 30, 2023

4. Most of us have been thrown on a group text with someone we may not know because their number isn't stored in our phone. This happened to Pat McAfee. And the mystery person turned out to be none other than The Undertaker.

"The Undertaker is the nicest dude that I've ever met..

We were on a group text talking about gym equipment & the guy didn't tell me that Mark was The Undertaker..

I went out to his house to try out the equipment & he was telling me about his whole career"@tomsegura #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/ut9HBpoWhF

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 28, 2023

5. With Starling Marte coming to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning and the bases loaded and two outs with the Mets down 3–2 against the Brewers on Thursday night, one fan offered some sound advice: “Don’t swing at everything.”

Marte then proceeded to swing and miss at three straight pitches to end the game.

"DON'T SWING AT EVERYTHING"

He swung at everything pic.twitter.com/fi8Dk2YhWz

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 30, 2023

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast features a great conversation with SiriusXM’s Adam Schein.

Schein talks about why he loves radio so much, the challenges of doing a national show for SiriusXM and the differences between hosting a radio show and podcast.

Other topics covered with Schein include who he’d like to interview right now, what he does on the radio during a slow news day, the radio gimmicks he hates, why he took on a podcast, having the perfect voice for radio and more.

Following Schein, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss Sal still being on a high from his big WFAN promotion, Ryan Seacrest being named Wheel of Fortune host, the Jets’ reluctance to appear on Hard Knocks, Shohei Ohtani’s surreal season and much more.

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

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This is the last Traina Thoughts for a little bit. We’ll be taking next week off and we’ll return the week after. So since we have a holiday coming up and you may be attending a party or cookout or some festivity, I thought I’d leave you with some classic Seinfeld.

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.