SI

Ian Eagle Would Like Richard Jefferson to Cover Up His Bare Chest

Also in Traina Thoughts: Aaron Rodgers falls for false conspiracy theory; Rudy Gobert has a theory about Draymond Green; ESPNers get grilled for being cold in Buffalo and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Ian Eagle is hysterically funny. Richard Jefferson is hysterically funny.

(Eagle is the guest on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina, out early Thursday morning. And Jefferson was on the podcast earlier this year.)

So when the duo teams up to call Nets games on the YES Network, you never know what you are going to get.

On Tuesday, we got Eagle pleading with Jefferson to show a little less chest.

Jefferson regularly likes to leave several shirt buttons unbuttoned. Sometimes he even unbuttons every button.

But during Tuesday's Magic-Nets game on YES, Eagle had enough of his broadcast partner and his chest. 

With Jefferson flashing a lot of skin, an incredulous Eagle asked, “What’s happening right now? What’s going on? Is this your signature now?”

Without missing a beat, Jefferson answered, “I think that my signature has always been absurdity.”

Eagle then pleaded with Nets coach Jacque Vaughn to block his view of Jefferson, but Vaughn was a little busy at the moment.

Broadcasters having fun while calling a game. It doesn’t happen often enough, but it’s no surprise Eagle and Jefferson would come through.

2. You know by now that Tuesday’s Warriors-Timberwolves matchup got off to a wild start with Draymond Green putting Rudy Gobert in a choke hold less than two minutes into the game.

After the game, Gobert shared his theory on Green. The Minnesota big man thinks Draymond likes to get ejected in games when Steph Curry does not play.

Gobert might have something here, because according to USA Today, seven of Green’s last 11 ejections have come in games in which Steph didn’t play.

3. With the absurd Draymond Green choke hold taking place on TNT, you knew the Inside the NBA crew would have fun with it after the game. 

4. Last week, in what was clearly a bit of satire, The Dan Le Batard Show’s Billy Gil theorized that maybe Aaron Rodgers was faking his Achilles injury. 

Naturally, some blogs picked this up as if Gil was being serious. And yesterday, during his weekly appearance with Pat McAfee, Rodgers also seemed to have gotten duped.

5. ESPN’s Joe Buck took a little heat Monday night (no pun intended) because he mentioned the cold weather in Buffalo for the Broncos-Bills game, even though it was 46 degrees, so he fired back Tuesday.

And on Wednesday’s First Take, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo tore into Marcus Spears for being all bundled up Monday while on the air from Buffalo.

I'm a big wuss, but I say 46 degrees is cold enough for someone to 1) complain about the weather and 2) get all bundled up.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features no guest. It’s an all–“Traina Thoughts” edition with weekly contributor Sal Licata from WFAN Radio and SNY TV.

This week, I detail my struggles in trying to book a guest for this week’s podcast, we reminisce about the horrible experience they had when we took pictures with Larry David and we discuss the NFL’s prime-time schedule woes and flex-scheduling changes that need to happen. We also discuss Troy Aikman’s call of Chargers-Jets on Monday Night Football, including his repeated criticism of New York quarterback Zach Wilson, and we speculate about LeBron James’s recent streaming issues with YouTubeTV.

We also address tweets regarding whether sports can be enjoyed without gambling on them, an important trait for NFL play-by-play folks, the Apple TV remote control and much more.

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: We continue our week of Bill Burr videos in Traina Thoughts. 

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.

Published
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.

Home/NBA