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ESPN Legend Bob Ley on the State of Sports Media, Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith and More

Also in Traina Thoughts: potential gambling scandal; a deserved apology; Marlins games are about to get weird and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. ESPN's Bob Ley retired in 2019 after taking a sabbatical in 2018 after 40 years with the company. The landscape of sports media has undergone massive changes since Ley stepped away from SportsCenter, Outside the Lines and being one of the faces of the World Wide Leader.

Ley shared his thoughts on many of those changes as well as his memory of longtime ESPN colleague Chris Mortensen, who passed alway last week, on the most recent episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina.

Ley talks about whether he got out of the industry at the right time, why it was a no-brainer for ESPN to get in business with Pat McAfee and how Stephen A. Smith is able to get away with venturing far out of the sports world.

Ley also explains why one of the first things he did after retiring from ESPN was cutting the cord, shares which recent stories he would've liked to cover and how he keeps up with sports news in retirement.

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 Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel.

2. Do we have a gambling scandal on our hands?

On Thursday, the line for the UAB-Temple game was UAB -1.5. During the day, the line jumped to UAB -8. When the game tipped off, the line was UAB -7. UAB ended up covering easy, blowing out Temple 100-72.

The only way a line moves that much in one day is if there is an injury or suspension, but, my colleague Pat Forde, who has the full story on this controversy, noted that there were no such things for Temple.

I don't know enough—or anything, to be honest—about either team, but it also seems odd to me that UAB would've been 1.5-point favorites to begin with when UAB was 18-11 going into the game and Temple was 11-18.

3. Speaking of gambling, I owe a big apology to ESPN play-by-player Tom Hart.

In Thursday's Traina Thoughts, I posted this clip about a wild gambling moment in Thursday's Tennessee-South Carolina game and wrote, "I also have to point out that ESPN play-by-player Tom Hart did a bad job here by saying, 'the follow slam means nothing.' Oh, it meant a lot, Tom. A LOT."

Hart emailed me to defend himself and let me know that the clip posted online cut off before he finished his call. The full call from Hart was, "It means nothing for the final outcome, but it is important for some."

I besmirched Hart on two fronts here. I knocked him for acting like the betting line didn't matter and didn't give him credit for actually slyly addressing the betting line.

Terrible job by me, especially since I enjoy Hart's work on the SEC Network during the college football season.

4. I truly hope Saints wideout Michael Thomas doesn't end up getting cut by the team because he will look like a complete fool after tweeting these things about The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com columnist Jeff Duncan.

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5. I'm gonna predict this doesn't end well.

6. I honestly don't understand why one human being would watch this, but I'm sure it will be huge.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of Bob Ley's appearance on this week's SI Media Podcast, let's remember the time Ley had to read Jay-Z lyrics on SportsCenter.

And now with the music.

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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