SI

Where Does Saturday’s NFL–College Football Playoff Smorgasbord Rank Among Best Sports Days of the Year?

Sports fans are in store for one of the best days they can possibly have as the NFL and College Football Playoff go head -to-head.

Jimmy Traina

All eyes will be on Patrick Mahomes on Saturday to see how he plays with an ankle injury.
All eyes will be on Patrick Mahomes on Saturday to see how he plays with an ankle injury. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

A quick programming note before we get today’s mailbag edition of Traina Thoughts.

I will have a fresh column for you this Monday, Dec. 23. Then the column will take a break until the following Monday, Dec. 30. Then the column will take another break until after the New Year. But I want to make sure I give you something on those Mondays after big NFL Sundays, so make sure you check in on those days.

I will also have brand new episodes of SI Media With Jimmy Traina for you both weeks. The annual year-end show with Peter Schrager and Andrew Perloff will be out next Thursday, Dec. 26. I’ll also have a new episode for you the following Thursday, Jan. 2. Make sure you are subscribed to the podcast.

A new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped yesterday with NBC’s Mike Tirico .

For today’s Traina Thoughts, I wanted to get in one more mailbag before the year came to a close, so I asked you all for questions and you came through with quite an array.

Here we go.

NFL on the big TV with sound. College football playoff on the second TV with no sound. If the college games are close late, a switch will be made.

No lie. I’ve spent the past two days telling everyone in my family over and over that I cannot be disturbed or do anything on Saturday. I told them to pretend I went away and I will be available Sunday morning to do whatever nonsense they need me to do.

Saturday is pretty much as good as it gets for a sports day. The NFL got lucky here because the two games feature the best teams in the AFC minus the Bills. Mix that in with three College Football Playoff games and you have the perfect noon-to-midnight couch day.

My favorite sports days of the year are those couple of weekends in the fall when we get college football, the NFL and the MLB playoffs. But you can easily make the argument that this Saturday, with two very good NFL games and three college football playoff games, is the single-best day of the year.

My interest-level rankings of the five games would be 1) Texans-Chiefs, because I want to see how Patrick Mahomes plays on the bad ankle; 2) Steelers-Ravens, because of the AFC North implications; 3) Ohio State–Tennessee, to see if the Buckeyes fans turn on Ryan Day if the Vols get a lead; 4) SMU–Penn State, to see if the Mustangs can hang; 5) Clemson-Texas.

My betting rankings would be: 1) over 44.5 Steelers-Ravens; 2) under 46.5 Tennessee–Ohio State; 3) over 53.5 SMU–Penn State; 4) Clemson +12; 5) Chiefs -3.5.

My guess would be that the NFL wouldn’t want to leave the schedule as “TBD” from Halloween on because that would be too many weeks of uncertainty. In addition, you still don’t really know which teams are in or out at Halloween. The week after Thanksgiving, as Tirico said, really is the perfect time for the “TBD schedule” to begin.

In regards to your other question, while the Bears and Giants are beyond awful, they play in big markets. Big markets mean better ratings. I don’t have a problem with the NFL getting it wrong in May when they make the schedule. My issue is that the NFL doesn’t do enough to flex out of games late in the season when we know which teams are unwatchable.

There hasn’t been a “king of New York radio,” in terms of ratings and buzz, since the first several years of Mike Francesa’s solo run on WFAN before his first retirement.

I don’t think there will ever be a “king of New York radio” ever again simply because of the time we live in. With the competition from podcasts, YouTube and social media, the importance and dominance of radio just isn’t what it used to be. That’s not to say WFAN or ESPN New York personalities aren’t impactful or valuable. It’s just that we don’t live in a day and age where “king of New York radio” is a thing anymore.

NBC and Amazon can’t improve the on-court product. If the sport is going to feature 500 three-pointers per game and the stars are going to blow off regular-season games, there’s nothing the broadcasters can do to make the games more watchable.

I think any day that there aren’t NFL games scheduled would be better for the NBA to have their quintuple-header of games. The NBA catches a break, though, this season, because the NFL doesn’t have a night game on Christmas Day, so the NBA will have two windows to itself.

I think the MLB Network does an outstanding job with most of its studios shows and I really love what it does at night when it does its version of the RedZone while giving you a quad box of games. I wish MLB did that every night, but I think it only does it once or twice a week.

We are taping Monday. It will be out Thursday, Dec. 26.

This is a tough one. No way I could do it in a window seat. I had a terrible panic attack on a flight one time when I accidentally booked a window seat and I was lucky enough to get moved. I think I could pull off the middle seat with the proper amount of Xanax.

Ronnie or Benjy. It’s always going to be Ronnie or Benjy.

1. Home Alone
2. Home Alone
3. Home Alone
4. Home Alone

I know I’m supposed to say Rudy or Hoosiers or Field of Dreams or some other sappy, contrived film, but I’m not a fan of any of those.

This could be recency bias, but I don’t think it is. The best sports movie is Air, which came out in 2023. I really loved that movie. If you would’ve asked me this question before 2023, my answer would’ve been Varsity Blues.

A lot of questions came in on Instagram.

Which young (under 30) media personality/beat writer/insider doesn’t get enough attention? -@itsameandyp

This is really tough because I couldn’t think of many people in the business who are under 30. I’m not sure he qualifies as not getting enough attention, but Noah Eagle, who calls Big Ten football for NBC and will call the Ravens-Texans game for Netflix on Christmas Day, is on his way to becoming one of the elite broadcasters in sports.

Which “underdog” has a legit shot in the CFP? -@coltonunderwood

I’m rolling with SMU. The Mustangs have nothing to lose. They have the motivation to show fans they belong in the playoff. They have a legit offense that can score, which they’ll have to do because they won’t stop Penn State. Plus, James Franklin is a terrible in-game coach.

What’s the difference, really, between wrestling and a Paul-Tyson type fight? You can love both. -@_dennisho

One is scripted entertainment featuring unbelievable athletes. The other was a 58-year-old guy who hadn’t boxed since 2005 fighting a YouTube personality in a car wreck of an event. Big difference.

Why don’t you like/follow MMA? - @lvryan_99

I have no interest whatsoever in watching people beat each up, breaking bones and causing bloody faces. It doesn’t appeal to me on any level.

I know there is some dope who just read that and is firing up their Twitter account to say, “But you like WWE!!!” If you don’t know the difference, I can’t help you, so save your tweet.

When are you going to start posting on BlueSky? We need you. -@erickohli9200

As of now, I have no intention of posting on BlueSky. I made an account there so I can have my name if I decide to use BlueSky, but I haven't posted or followed anyone or checked it. If everyone leaves Twitter and joins BlueSky, then I’ll post there. But it seems to me that everyone posting on BlueSky still posts on Twitter, so I don’t really see the point in posting on BlueSky right now.

How much of a bit is the long pause after, “allllll right here, right now?” Feels like a bit. I love the show. -@heyratty

The “allllll right here, right now” thing that I do on the SI Media Podcast is 100% a bit that I’ve exaggerated even more in recent weeks because several listeners have brought it up to me.

Which duo would win a TLC match: Tom Brady/Kevin Burkhardt or Tony Romo/Jim Nantz? - @neil.grewal1

I saw Tony Romo in person right before the NFL season. He’s a BIG guy. Much bigger than he looks on TV. On the flip side, Burkhardt has an advantage over Nantz just from an age standpoint.

But I think Burkhardt and Brady come out on top thanks to Brady being able to hang with Romo with his pliability, which would be huge in a Tables, Ladder and Chairs match. The only one of the four who could pull off Edge’s famous spear off the ladder is Brady.

If Tony survived the shooting, does he continue as mob boss or finally retires to be a GPA? -@elo1925

If Tony survived the shooting and was still alive today, he would’ve ended up with some role in the Trump Administration. Him and Carmela would be spending a ton of time at Mar-A-Lago and he’d be a Fox News staple railing against woke libs.

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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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