Cocktails, Gummies and Betting: Mad Dog Leaves ‘First Take’ Crew in Disbelief

Also in Traina Thoughts: Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson’s real talk about flying private, an MLB pitcher’s sleep schedule, hilarious MLB play and more.

1. This is one of those days where I’m not going to go on and on and on to sell you on watching a video. All I’m going to tell you is that on Wednesday’s First Take, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo described to Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Marcus Spears that he was going to spend this Saturday enjoying a cocktail, taking a gummy and betting $10,000 on Colorado against Oregon.

Sure, Russo deserves credit for creating some great television, but Spears deserves just as much for his reactions. With each line that Russo threw out, Spears just became more and more flabbergasted, and it was fantastic on every level.

This is tremendous television. @MadDogUnleashed explains how he’s gonna drink, take gummies and bet $10,000 on Colorado this weekend, leading to pricess reactions from @mspears96. pic.twitter.com/8hz2WDWpXs

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 20, 2023

2. Here are the five most-watched games through two weeks of the NFL season.

🚨NFL Viewership Through Week 2🚨

*17.5 million avg. viewers per game (TV+Digital) -- highest avg. through Week 2 since 2016⁰
*NFL games rank as the top 11 & 12 of the top 15 shows on TV since start of the 2023 season⁰
*Top 5 games of the 2023 season (TV+Digital) pic.twitter.com/KHzH97UE1c

— NFL Media (@NFLMedia) September 19, 2023

3. This might be the MLB story of the year. Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi claims that he sleeps from 11 p.m. to 1 p.m. every day. And that he suffered cramps Tuesday night because he ONLY got 11 hours of sleep.

Yusei said he goes to bed around 11 p.m. usually and wakes up at 1 p.m. Anyway, all this means I’ll have to have a full 3000-word feature on Kikuchi’s sleep schedule at some point

— Kaitlyn McGrath (@kaitlyncmcgrath) September 20, 2023

4. This was such an authentic and funny conversation between Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson about flying private, with Johnson completely blown away by the cost and then explaining how he flies Spirit for $80.

5. If you need a laugh, watch what Mets pitcher Joey Lucchesi did Tuesday night.

The @Marlins take the lead 🔥 pic.twitter.com/A8GIh1z2WE

— Bally Sports Florida: Marlins (@BallyMarlins) September 19, 2023

6. The most recent SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Scott Hanson, who is now in his 15th year as host of the NFL RedZone channel.

Hanson talks about what he remembers from hosting his first show 15 years ago, what has changed about the channel over the years, the use of the term “witching hour” and the show’s enormous popularity.

Hanson also discusses his post-show routine after not eating or using the bathroom for seven hours, what his ideal 1 p.m./4 p.m. ET breakdown is in terms of number of games and famous people who have shouted-out him and RedZone.

Following Hanson, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss the Aaron Rodgers injury, Tom Brady nonsense and Week 1 in the NFL. We also read the most recent reviews readers have left for SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple Podcasts.

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: I meant to post this last week after the Vikings-Eagles Monday night game but totally forgot. It still holds up, though, if you’re like me and quit fantasy football and hate hearing people talk about their fantasy football teams. This woman is my hero.

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.