SI

There Has Been Some Bizarre Coverage of Overly Aggressive Yankees Fans

Did we really need an interview with the New York fans who got physical with Mookie Betts?

Jimmy Traina

Despite over-the-top fan interference from two Yankees fans, Mookie Betts made the catch.
Despite over-the-top fan interference from two Yankees fans, Mookie Betts made the catch. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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1. Which do you consider worse behavior: running onto a football field during the game, doing a couple of laps and then getting tackled by cops, or grabbing an outfielder’s arm as he leans over the railing while your buddy tries to open the outfielder’s glove and rip the ball out?

Personally, I think the latter is way worse, but I must be in bizarro land today because there has been some curious coverage of the two Yankees fans who decided to get physical with Mookie Betts in Game 4 of the World Series.

What those two fans did to Betts crossed the line and was dangerous. Betts’s arm was hanging over the railing while one of the fans grabbed onto it as the other was trying to … I actually don’t know what the other guy was trying to do because Betts had already made the catch.

But Fox must have thought it was hilarious because they made sure to show the two fans later in the game when they did a stupid Fan Cam bit.

Even worse, one ESPN reporter decided to praise and glorify the fans on Twitter and interview the two fans and highlight a bunch of truly ridiculous quotes.

Meanwhile, when a fan runs onto the field during an NFL game, the broadcast refuses to show it and the announcers get all worked up and act super offended, which is ridiculous, too.

Naturally, I’ve seen reaction that paints these two Yankees fans as the worst people on Earth, and that’s absurd, too. But do we need to highlight them and interview them and make them a thing?

The way things work these days, they’ll probably end up with a podcast.

2. In a true rarity, the World Series drew a higher rating on Monday than the NFL. However, MLB shouldn’t take a big victory lap considering the margin.

Game 3 of the Dodgers-Yankees series drew 13.6 million viewers. The Giants-Steelers game drew 13.4 million viewers.

3. I love this clip, not only because Paul Bissonnette is hilarious, but because I also know what it’s like when you say something wrong or mispronounce something while doing a podcast and you get that helpless feeling.

Biz was trying to talk about how he’s gotten into MLB thanks to "Shohei Oshanti." Meanwhile, his Spittin’ Chiclets partner, Ryan Whitney, mistakenly thought Ashanti had passed away.

The kicker to the Ohtani/Ashanti mixup (and unncessary RIP): Ashanti ended up being the national anthem singer before Game 4.

4. Much to the delight of his Inside the NBA co-hosts, Charles Barkley wore jeans for the show last night. Or, as Shaq, called them, “TAJs.”

5. Everything here is accuate.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with CBS’s James Brown.

The longtime NFL Today host talks about life before broadcasting, when he attended Harvard University and tried out for the Atlanta Hawks, and what happened when he didn't make the team.

Brown then goes into his broadcasting career and discusses his decision to leave Fox’s pregame show to join CBS, what he expects to get out of NFL Today each week, the changes at NFL Today this season with Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason out and Matt Ryan in, what his typical Sunday is like each week and his biggest broadcasting flub, which was an epic 1–2 punch when he did play-by-play.

Following Brown, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include the Dodgers-Yankees World Series, a terrible gambling beat, the NFL trade deadline falling on Election Day and a review of the movie Saturday Night.

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: Tomorrow is Oct. 31. Here’s five minutes of Jerry Seinfeld on Halloween.

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 Twitter 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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