SI

NBC and the NFL Take a Bizarre Victory Lap After Holding Fans Hostage

Also in Traina Thoughts: So many great Lions moments; Cowboys radio crew demoralized; Chris Long is a gambling guru and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Here’s what I wrote in May when the NFL decided to put a playoff game on Peacock: “The NFL can do whatever it wants. The NFL is Teflon. If the NFL put a game on at 3 a.m., we’d watch. The NFL has a grip on this country that gives them the power to do whatever it wants without any ramifications.”

While I’m not above taking a victory lap, I’m not reminding you of these words to pat myself on the back or show you what a genius I am. I’m just reinforcing that the NFL can do whatever it wants, from treating fans horribly to ignoring an officiating problem, and we’ll go along for the ride.

This was proved yet again this weekend when the Miami Dolphins–Kansas City Chiefs game Saturday night drew 23 million viewers on Peacock.

Everyone was outraged that the NFL would sell a postseason game to a streaming service. Fans, media members and players b----ed and complained about the NFL taking advantage of its customers. And yet we all watched. And the NFL knew we would because this country is addicted to the NFL.

The league and Peacock, though, must have gotten a little fed up with all the backlash because they used halftime of Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams–Detroit Lions game on NBC to take a victory lap and congratulate themselves for fleecing fans and making them fork over money to subscribe to Peacock to watch the Chiefs beat the Dolphins.

Poor Mike Tirico was forced to utter the words, “Congratulations to our Comcast and NBCUniversal teammates, thanks to commissioner Roger Goodell and our partners at the NFL and all of the fans on this record-setting collaboration. A milestone moment in media and sports history.”

A milestone moment? History? 

Here’s the real version of what Tirico should’ve said in that embarrassing video:

“Roger Goodell sold an NFL playoff game to Peacock for $110 million, and NFL fans subscribed to Peacock to watch the game. We knew this would happen because Americans love the NFL more than anything, so thank you for going along with our plan of holding you hostage. And you might as well make sure you’re subscribed to Paramount+ and ESPN+ now because the NFL will be selling playoff games to those streaming services, too.”

2. There was so much good stuff about the Lions ending their 32-year playoff drought with a 24–23 win against the Rams on Sunday night.

Detroit coach Dan Campbell gave a pretty great locker-room speech.

Lions players chanted Jared Goff’s name as he entered the locker room after completing 22 of 27 passes for 277 yards while throwing a touchdown and no interceptions.

Lions GM Brad Holmes was screaming his face off inside an elevator immediately after the game.

And NBC did a fantastic job highlighting this 89-year-old fan who has been a Lions season-ticket holder for 66 years.

3. With the Packers up 20–0 late in the first half, the Cowboys had the ball and Dallas’s radio team explained that if the Cowboys could get on the board, they’d then get the ball to start the second half, so things maybe weren’t that bleak. But then Dak Prescott threw a pick-six and broke the Cowboys’ radio crew, making for some good radio.

4. As a degenerate gambler, I can’t tell you how impressive this performance is by Green Light podcast host and Super Bowl champion Chris Long.

5. We need more of this in all sports. Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown busted out the laptop Sunday night to help him blast the poor officiating during his team’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with author, reporter and journalist James Andrew Miller.

Miller, who literally wrote the book on ESPN, pulls back the curtain on Pat McAfee’s on-air claim that executive Norby Williamson is trying to sabotage his show and leak information to the press.

Miller also weighs in on the Aaron Rodgers–Jimmy Kimmel feud, the Pat McAfee Show’s role in the drama and who made the decision to discontinue Rodgers’s appearances on the show during the NFL playoffs.

In addition, Miller discusses the return (and series end) of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Feb. 4 as well as the 25th anniversary of The Sopranos.

Following Miller, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment.

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.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: It’s Martin Luther King Day today, so it’s only right we post this.

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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