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SI Media Mailbag: Best Sports Docs, MLB’s National Booths, In-Game Interviews, More

In Jimmy Traina’s SI Media Mailbag, he answers questions about sports documentaries, MLB broadcasters, the usefulness of in-game interviews and much more.

Jimmy Traina

Welcome to the 16th installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing 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.

Off the top of head, without any research, these would be my five favorites, no particular order:

The U, 30 for 30: The best 30 for 30 of all time, on the truly wild Miami Hurricanes teams of the ’80s.

The Last Dance: ESPN's 10-part Michael Jordan doc captivated the sports world during COVID-19 thanks to never-seen-before footage and new interviews with the greatest basketball player of all time.

Beyond the Mat: A must-watch for any wrestling fan thanks to unprecedented behind-the-scenes access of Vince McMahon and the three-ring circus known as the WWE.

O.J.: Made in America: When this came out, you thought, What don't we already know about the O.J. trial? The answer ended up being a lot. The docuseries was filled with stunning revelations and new information.

Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez: The coverage of Hernandez’s troubled career in college and the lack of accountability was shocking.

Sorry my answers took a dark turn at the end.

I don’t like three people in the booth for the NFL, but I’m not going to make any judgements on CBS’s new booth of Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber and Matt Ryan until I actually hear it. Many, many years ago, Fox’s No. 1 booth was Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth. I honestly have no recollection of whether that worked. I would say the last three-person booth that was a hit would be the VERY old Monday Night Football booths with Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf.

The Jets will be featured on prime time five times in 2023, and they will play in the 3 p.m. ET Black Friday game on Amazon. So that leaves 11 games on CBS and Fox. My guess is that Jim Nantz–Tony Romo and Kevin Burkhardt–Greg Olsen will call at least seven of those games.

Jeff Van Gundy was the best analyst in the NBA, so ESPN should already be regretting the fact that it let him go.

I’m not a huge Fowler fan on college football play-by-play. I can’t really put my finger on why. He’s not bad, but something always feels ... off. Having said that, Fowler is outstanding on tennis, as are John and Patrick McEnroe. It’s one of the best booths in all of sports.

Neither booth is great, and I think MLB misses having Joe Buck as the voice of Major League Baseball. There is no one in that role right now.

For Fox, I just wish Joe Davis would yell a lot less. I'm usually pro yelling. I love Kevin Harlan and Gus Johnson. It feels totally natural with them. It doesn't feel natural with Davis. Other than that, I don’t have any other criticism of Davis. 

His partner, John Smoltz, is just whatever. There isn't a ton of personality there. Plus, he lost me when he recently played the “fans never played the game” card.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about,” Smoltz said on a podcast. “There’s a reason I don’t have any Twitter. Because it’s a waste of time. Those people who claim that they have a lot of answers or know things? They never played the game.”

As for ESPN, I like David Cone and Eduardo Perez. Karl Ravech is O.K. But again, this booth is not creating any buzz or excitement.

Overall, baseball could really use some fresh and exciting voices.

I don't want to sit here and act like I know what’s going on here because I don’t follow or watch soccer. But I can tell you that the more Lionel Messi games on Apple, the better for Apple and the worse for the casual soccer fan. What will also be frustrating is that Apple won’t release the sign-up numbers it’ll get from Messi joining MLS. The streaming service hasn’t released any viewership data for its MLS package or its Friday night MLB package.

Yes. Occasionally, you’ll have a coach get nasty with the sideline reporter, and that's always amusing, but in terms of actual game information, they provide absolutely nothing. The coaches and manager are well too trained to actually say anything of substance in those situations.

I know this is a New York story, so I apologize for boring the rest of the country, but I think one of the most under-reported local sports media stories is how Michael Kay on ESPN Radio went from beating Mike Francesa to getting absolutely bludgeoned by Craig Carton and Evan Roberts on WFAN. 

Forget the content or quality of the shows. In the fall of 2019, Kay generated a 7.4 rating, while Francesa had a 6.1. 

In the spring of 2023, Carton and Roberts has a 7.0 rating while Kay had a 3.1. 

Where did all the Kay listeners go? It’s a truly wild dip in listenership.

Peter Luger’s
Rothmann’s
Del Frisco’s
Keen’s
Ruth’s Chris

Ruth's Chris makes the list strictly for its sweet potato casserole, which is the greatest side item at any restaurant. Just pounds of butter and sugar mixed with sweet potatoes, topped with more sugar pecans. You can feel your arteries clog when you eat it, and it’s so good.

Because once I miss an answer, the game is ruined for me, and I don’t want to finish it. So if I cheat, I can finish the game.

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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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