Inside the NBA on ESPN, MLB Hits Apple & More: Your Traina Thoughts Mailbag Revealed!

Welcome back to another edition of Traina Thoughts where I dive into the diverse array of inquiries you’ve sent over. This week features a rich blend of topics, including a few particularly inventive ones towards the end. Let’s dive in…

There seems to be a lot of confusion still, and although I’m in the sports media industry, I understand that most fans are not. This confusion highlights that ESPN hasn’t communicated very effectively about this, but perhaps they’re waiting until the season ends to publicize that Inside the NBA—featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal—will be broadcast on their network starting in October.

ESPN will not be able to “control” Inside the NBA as it is not an ESPN-produced show. It will still be produced by TNT, the only change being its broadcast channel.

This arrangement is purely a licensing agreement, similar to the one ESPN has with Pat McAfee. ESPN does not have production or editorial control over McAfee’s show; they can remove it if necessary, but they do not direct its content.

The same conditions apply to Inside the NBA next season. TNT will manage production, while ESPN will handle the broadcast.

A fascinating part of this deal, which I explored in detail with Andrew Marchand on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina, concerns the airing times and duration of the show. There are instances when Inside the NBA continues until 1 a.m. ET. Will this be the case on ESPN?

I’ll continue focusing on television since attending games has become less enjoyable for me personally, given the current lack of public decorum.

Here are six changes I’d implement:

– No sports events on streaming services.

– Eliminate three-person commentary booths.

– NFL games every day of the week, six would suffice.

– Alternate game feeds featuring local commentators for national broadcasts.

– Remove rules analysts from all broadcasts.

– Eliminate all timeouts across sports.

It appears ESPN isn’t fully satisfied with the production quality of Monday Night Football, as evidenced by their replacement of director Derek Mobley with Artie Kempner, who previously collaborated with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman at Fox.

“Our game presentation doesn’t quite match up with Fox and CBS,” said ESPN President Burke Magnus to The Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand.

Kempner is set to be the third director for Buck and Aikman in their four years at ESPN.

Regarding NBA productions, I haven’t noticed a significant decline in ESPN’s coverage quality, aside from an embarrassing focus on celebrities during the Knicks-Celtics series, where they frequently cut to celebrities after Knicks’ scores.

Apple isn’t revealing the viewership numbers for its Friday night baseball broadcasts, which likely indicates they are disappointingly low. Even with a potentially popular Yankees-Dodgers game this Friday, the numbers are not expected to impress.

This was another topic I discussed with Marchand on this week’s SI Media Podcast, and he mentioned that the viewership figures for Apple are “very low.”

One major drawback of Apple’s Friday night package is that Fridays are popular for going out. Many enjoy watching big games in bars or restaurants, which isn’t an option for Apple broadcasts.

No agreement has been reached yet for the Sunday Night Baseball package, the Home Run Derby, and the wild-card round that ESPN relinquished.

According to a report last week by the Wall Street Journal, NBC has submitted a bid for the package.

There’s a bit of confusion here too, but if you’re a subscriber to YouTubeTV with ESPN included in your package, I believe you will have access to everything on ESPN’s direct-to-consumer app upon its release.

Given that the Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) still cover about 150 regular season games, they remain crucial, especially in big markets with strong teams. If you’re a fan of the Yankees or Mets, you wouldn’t just switch to national games and abandon SNY or YES.

I’ve been extremely pleased with Verizon Fios since I switched from DirecTV in 2018 due to poor customer service.

Implementing a split-screen feature would be fantastic, and a quad-box option would be even better. The quad-box feature on YouTube for NFL Sunday Ticket is one of the best viewing enhancements.

No, I have not considered having the New York Post‘s Phil Mushnick on my podcast. If I did, it might be the shortest episode ever because I’d likely ask why he seems so perpetually unhappy, and conclude shortly after his response.

This question originates from the “Traina Thoughts” segment on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina, inspired by Sal Licata, who was gifted a $1,000 ticket to Thursday’s Pacers-Knicks Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.

The only celebrities I’d choose to attend a game with would be Larry David and/or Jerry Seinfeld, though I doubt they need my $1,000. I’d rather pay to have them on my podcast instead of going to a game with them.

Professionally, a pivotal moment was in 2013 when I left SI for Fox Sports and stopped managing Hot Clicks.

This is a fantastic idea, and I will make efforts to realize it.

Here are some questions that came in via Instagram:

What year was The Spike Lee/Reggie Miller choke sign game? –@stevencarroll8

This question also stems from the “Traina Thoughts” segment of this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina where there was mass confusion about the time of the Knicks-Pacers rivalry in the ‘90s.

I was correct on the podcast in saying that the game in which Reggie Miller scored eight points in nine seconds was Game 1 of the 1995 Easter Conference semifinals. I was also correct in saying that Game 7 of the 1995 Easter Conference semifinals was the Patrick Ewing missed finger roll game.

I erred in saying the Miller choke sign/fight with Spike Lee came in 1995. That happened in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals. Sal Licata was wrong about everything!

The funny thing is that now that I have the dates figured out, the Reggie Miller/Spike Lee thing is completely and totally overblown because the Knicks ended up beating the Pacers in that series to go to the NBA Finals.

Brian Cashman fired or 15 hours of unreleased Sopranos scenes from Season 2-5? –@evens4hw

I love the creativity here. I’d look like a jerk if I said I wanted Cashman fired right now when the Yankees are 35–20 and coming off a World Series appearance.

I would like to remind everyone, though, that the Yankees have not won the World Series since 2009.

So I’ll go with the unreleased Sopranos scenes. But I want them all from Season 2 and 3, which are the two best in my opinion. I want more Richie and more Ralphie.

Any chance your dad would be a future guest on the pod? –@drew-nature-dogs

If a lot of listeners tell me they’d like to hear my dad talk about how he doesn’t know how to use one electronic device

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