SI

Jerry Seinfeld Gleefully Mocks Giants, Yankees in Surprise Call to WFAN

A discussion about ‘Seinfeld’ prompted the comedian to call the sports-talk radio show.

Jimmy Traina

Jerry Seinfeld is still wrapped up on the New York baseball season.
Jerry Seinfeld is still wrapped up on the New York baseball season. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

1. Jerry in New York City, you’re on the FAN.

Imagine doing a sports talk show on a random Tuesday night and Jerry Seinfeld calls in to chop it up with you.

That’s what happened to WFAN host Chris McMonigle Tuesday night.

The reason for Jerry’s call is pretty fantastic, too. When McMonigle was complaining about the hideous NBA courts for the whatever-it’s-called-tournament-thing that’s going on, he compared them to the bright-red Kenny Rogers Roasters sign that blinded Jerry during the famous episode of Seinfeld.

This led to McMonigle’s producer, Paul Rosenberg, inexplicably saying, “One of the few good Seinfeld episodes.” That then led to a discussion about Seinfeld’s standing as one of, if not, the greatest sitcom of all time.

And it just so happened that Jerry was listening to all of this. So, he called in to the FAN and wanted everyone to know he was fine with Rosenberg not being a fan of the show.

“It doesn’t bother me, I’m O.K. with it,” said Seinfeld. “One out of two is fine."

When McMonigle referenced Rosenberg saying there were only a few good episodes of Seinfeld, Jerry responded with quite a sports reference.

“Look, we made 180 Seinfeld episodes. So, we made three good ones. We’re like the Giants. We’re 3–177.”

Since McMonigle had Jerry on the line, he asked the comedian and die-hard Mets fan for his thoughts on the team’s thrilling 2024 campaign.

“You could make a pretty good argument that this season was the most magical Mets season, not counting the two World Series wins,” said Seinfeld. “It was a chemistry and it was an energy and it was an emotional thing of guys that weren’t supposed to be that good. I don’t know what can beat that. Does winning with Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani, would that be as fun as this? As an adult to be jumping up and down and screaming, what makes you jump up and down and scream as an adult? Nothing.”

While Jerry sang the praises of the 2024 Mets, he was on a mission to tweak McMonigle, a Yankees fan, about the Bronx Bombers’ collapse in the World Series.

“But tell me about the pain of the fifth inning,” Seinfeld told McMonigle. “Tell me about that. I wanna know, what did that feel like as a fan?”

“Really,” asked McMonigle. “Do I have to go over that with Jerry Seinfeld right now?”

“Yeah, I wanna hear your pain,” said Jerry.

After discussing that embarrassing fifth inning of Game 5, McMonigle admitted, “A day hasn’t gone by yet where I haven’t thought about it for a little bit.”

“It makes me feel so good to hear that,” said Seinfeld. “Your pain is my pleasure.”

Jerry continued, “Did you notice the next day after that game, the Yankees hats per block in Manhattan went from six to zero in one day? As a Mets fan, that was a very thrilling moment for me.”

The conversation between Jerry and McMonigle ended with Jerry referencing the original argument about Seinfeld only having a few good episodes.

“Thank you for taking my call,” said Jerry. "Thank you for sticking up for me. I just want you to know my feelings were not hurt.”

My favorite part of this entire thing was Jerry saying, “Thank you for taking my call.” Any human being who hosts a radio or TV show would take a call from Jerry Seinfeld.

2. I haven't mentioned the Michael Strahan–national anthem story in Traina Thoughts because I thought it was so incredibly stupid that even acknowledging it was ridiculous. But now Strahan has addressed it, so you can hear his side of this non-issue for yourself.

3. Two weeks ago on the SI Media Podcast, Joe Buck said you shouldn’t hold your breath when it comes to the NFL flexing the Cowboys out of prime-time games because no matter how bad they are, they draw ratings, as you can see in the clip below.

Buck was right.

Sunday’s Eagles-Cowboys game on CBS, which was a 34–6 blowout and completely unwatchable, still drew 24.6 million viewers.

4. Well, would you look at this. Aaron Rodgers, who has often spoken about how he likes to do is own research, fell for a made-up stat on Twitter and repeated it during his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show onTuesday.

5. Gradey Dick had 32 points in the Raptors’ win against the Bucks last night. When TNT ran the highlights for the game, Charles Barkley couldn’t bring himself to refer to the player by his last name, which left Shaq gasping for air.

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast features a conversation with SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

The radio Hall of Famer gives us the full story behind MLB Network canceling his daily show, High Heat, and spoke about his future at the network.

Russo also shares his thoughts on Pat McAfee turning down interviews with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the Yankees hurting Fox and MLB by losing in five games, the current health of Major League Baseball as a sport, the NFL’s primetime schedule, whether he really took a gummy before doing a recent episode of First Take, and his thoughts on becoming known for being the guy who loves gummies.

WFAN’s Sal Licata, who normally joins me each week for our Traina Thoughts segment on the podcast, co-hosted this episode, which led to the show starting with Russo calling out Sal for owing money from betting losses.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 57th birthday to Jimmy Kimmel. We celebrate the occasion by remembering this NFL edition of “Mean Tweets.”

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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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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