SI

Stugotz Spent 20 Minutes Thinking He Was Talking to Aaron Rodgers. He Wasn’t.

Also in Traina Thoughts: New ‘SI Media’ podcast; All-Star Game gets mixed ratings news; Patrick Mahomes is a beast and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Over the years, there have been a few incidents of sports hosts interviewing someone who wasn’t who they thought they were interviewing. 

For example, this reporter thought he was talking to Patrick Mahomes when he was actually speaking with Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero.

However, Stugotz, from The Dan Le Batard Show, took things to a whole new level earlier this week when he thought he had a 20-minute conversation with Aaron Rodgers at a golf event in Lake Tahoe.

Unbeknownst to Stugotz, though, he spent 20 minutes chatting with country music singer Jake Owen.

Full disclosure: I’ve never heard of Jake Owen and wouldn’t have known what he looked like before I had to pull a photo for this story, so I don’t want to mock Stugotz too much.

But I can say that Stugotz’s story recalling his gaffe is hilarious.

Stugotz is a huge Jets fan and continuously refers to Rodgers as “my quarterback,” yet he had no clue that Rodgers was not the man he was in deep conversation with.

“Listen, I will never have the relationship with Aaron Rodgers that I have with the guy that I thought was Aaron Rodgers,” Stugotz told his cohosts, Mike Ryan and Jeremy Taché.

“I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve been going through the details of the conversations. The many different ways I must have creeped out Jake Owen, it’s kept me up most of the night. I’m a little tired. 

"I was hugging him. I was patting him on the stomach. You’re my quarterback. You’re my quarterback. And Jake Owen, going, ‘I am, I am.’

“I am embarrassed. I told you, I stayed up most of the night. I kept going through parts of the conversation and I’m like, How did Jake just stay with it and not laugh at me?”

Hopefully, this saga ends with the real Aaron Rodgers doing an interview with Stugotz.

2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped Thursday morning, and this week’s episode features a conversation with New York Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand. Topics covered include:

• Did the NBA play a role in ESPN’s axing Jeff Van Gundy? 

• What will ESPN do for its top NBA booth? 

• How is Derek Jeter doing on TV? 

• What’s going on with ESPN Radio? 

• Tom Brady–Fox update 

• Threads

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.

3. Fox drew 7,091,000 viewers for Tuesday’s MLB All-Start Game. It is the lowest-rated MLB All-Star Game of all time. However, for anything on network TV in this day and age to generate 7 million viewers is a win.

4. I’ve watched three episodes so far of Netflix’s Quarterback, and it's outstanding. The best part of the show is getting an inside look at the NFL's best player, Patrick Mahomes. This clip of the quarterback going toe-to-toe with Raiders defensive lineman Maxx Crosby is so good.

5. Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels showed up to Big 12 media day Wednesday wearing a necklace that featured a screen playing his highlights, and I have a feeling he’s about to start a trend because that’s some solid marketing.

6. Dick Vitale shared an unfortunate update Wednesday on his latest health battle. Vitale has been through hell the past few years, yet maintains an upbeat and positive attitude and is an inspiration for how he’s handled things. Let’s hope he gets through this latest battle in speedy fashion.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Not only is this clip very amusing, but it’s also narrated by the great Charlie Jones, who called NFL action for NBC back in the 1970s and ’80s.

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.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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