Welcome to The A Block, Awful Announcing’s daily newsletter where you’ll always find the latest sports media news, commentary, and analysis.

Did someone share this newsletter with you? Sign up for free to make sure you never miss it.

🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 The breathless reporting and speculation about Netflix being on the hunt for a Sunday afternoon NFL package were wildly exaggerated when you actually listened to the comments of chief content officer Bela Bajaria about a purely hypothetical scenario where a rights package could become available in several years time.

 🏒 ESPN NHL analyst P.K. Subban took full advantage of the moment in the sun that hockey is enjoying by drawing a contrast between the 4 Nations Face-Off and NBA All-Star Game and sending a stern message to NBA players.

⚾ Joe Buck will make a surprising return to the baseball broadcast booth for ESPN to call an Opening Day game at Yankee Stadium for ESPN.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

NBA nostalgia versus reality

With all of the major sports leagues on hiatus, there has been plenty of extended conversation and takes about the NBA All-Star Game. While I’m certainly in the camp that the film of that broadcast should be buried deep in an abandoned nuclear waste facility, the current NBA product needs defending against a narrative that has persisted this season.

It’s inescapable to find someone talk about how “boring” today’s NBA is, from Shaquille O’Neal to Draymond Green to fans complaining on social media.

But it’s time for a nostalgia reality check.

As someone who grew up in the mid-90s, I’m nostalgic for a lot of things from that era. Stuart Scott and Rich Eisen on SportsCenter, vintage NFL Primetime highlights and NFL Films videos, and even MTV’s Rock n’ Jock.

One thing I am not nostalgic for are the basketball rock fights of the mid to late 1990s. Sure, we all savor Michael Jordan’s heroics during the 1998 NBA Finals during The Last Dance. Are we sure we feel the same way about the Jazz putting up 54 points over 48 minutes in Game 3 of that series?

Anyone calling today’s NBA boring should follow the lead of The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, who actually pulled up real life footage from basketball games a generation ago to see if they were really that much better than today’s run and gun three point shooting contest. If a total lack of spacing and contested mid-range jump shots are your thing, so be it! But to say the game has somehow transformed for the worse because players are more skilled, more athletic, and better shooters seems like we’re living in some kind of upside down world.

But let’s be fair and put aside nostalgia and feeling. What about the numbers? Take a look at some of the overall league statistics this season compared to the 1994-1995 season 30 years ago.

Field Goal Percentage

1994-1995: 46.6%
2024-2025: 46.5%

3 Point Percentage

1994-1995: 35.9%
2024-2025: 35.9%

The biggest differences come (obviously) in teams taking way more threes per game (15.3 vs 37.5). But while that number has skyrocketed, so has the overall quality of offensive basketball. Teams are not only playing at a higher pace in today’s NBA (99.0 vs 92.9 possessions per 48 minutes) but also turning the ball over less (15.9 vs 14.5) compared to 30 years ago. And if you want to complain about a lack of ball movement or offensive sets, even the assist rate on made field goals is higher now (63.6% vs 61.5%) compared to back then.

Nostalgia can be a very powerful thing, but it doesn’t automatically mean things were better a generation ago than they are today. Well, except for the fact that The Simpsons actually ended in Season Nine when Principal Skinner was revealed as Armin Tanzarian.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

We’re dedicating today’s social segment to Andy Isaac, formerly of Uproxx. If you’ve been around online sports for any length of time, you’ve likely come across some of his work at the @WorldofIsaac handle and beyond.

Isaac was one of the OG’s of the sports blogosphere who was widely admired for how real and funny he was, whether it was DQ Blizzard rankings, his Detroit sports fandom, or anything in between. But more than that, anyone who has ever worked with him, encountered him on social media, or just been a follower and fan, has said over and over again what a great human being he is. Thousands of replies and messages came across social media as he posted on Tuesday that he was entering hospice care after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer.

Hopefully, Andy Isaac can find rest and comfort knowing just how much he meant to so many people and what a cherished presence he was in our corner of the world.

🔦 IN THE SPOTLIGHT ☀️

On Presidents’ Day Monday, TGL had as good of a day as any startup sports league has ever had. An all day tripleheader produced three captivating matchups that showed the full potential of what TGL can be. Forget being just a complement to the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, TGL was entertaining enough to stand on its own to be a valued entity.

🏄 CHANNEL SURFING 🌊 

📺 Nielsen released new numbers that Super Bowl LIX reached a record 182.8 million people. But just for clarification’s sake, know that the average viewership did not jump over 50 million viewers from the record 127.7 million. Instead, this is a different number representing the total number of unique viewers who watched at least a minute of the broadcast instead of the average broadcast audience.

🗣️ Commissioner Teresa Gould tells Front Office Sports the resurrected Pac-12 is in negotiation with multiple networks over a new television rights deal. But as we’ve learned from experience, it’s best not to get your hopes up until it actually crosses the finish line.

🏎️ As Sports Business Journal notes, NASCAR fans were actually treated to fewer commercials during this year’s running of the Daytona 500. When was the last time we could ever say that about a sporting event?

🎙️ AT THE MIC 🎙️ 

🗣️ Longtime sports talk radio host Amy Lawrence told our Jessica Kleinschmidt about her decision to walk away from her CBS Sports Radio show on the latest edition of Short and to the Point.

🗣️ When was the last time a sitting Governor called a Division I college basketball game? Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will do just that on a Pitt-Syracuse radio broadcast.

🗣️ Everyone has their own idea on how to “fix” the NBA All-Star Game, but if the best the literal author of the Book of Basketball can do is this convoluted scheme, then it’s probably best just to call it off.

🗣️ Jason Kelce was open and honest about his “ambitious” attempt to become a late night talk show host at ESPN in a podcast appearance with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Ambitious is certainly one word for it.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

Draymond vs Chuck: Then, Now, Forever

Speaking of nostalgia and basketball, one day the masses will likely yearn for the days of Charles Barkley as the voice of the NBA if and when he finally follows through on one of his many threats of retirement.

When Sir Charles finally does ride into the television sunset, the conventional wisdom has been that Warriors forward Draymond Green is his likely successor as one of the faces of the league in the studio.

But while Green shares Barkley’s ability to pull no punches and provide viral soundbytes, he’s lacking one important thing - actually connecting with the audience.

Barkley famously proclaimed that he wasn’t a role model, but the secret to his success over the decades on television hasn’t been his X’s and O’s analysis, but his ability to make fun of himself and everyone else. If you really broke down a lot of his analysis (especially about today’s game) there would be a lot to pick apart. But what we will remember when he departs Inside the NBA is all the countless laughs and entertainment over the years.

But Green’s controversial comments about the NBA All-Star Game, and Barkley’s immediate rebuttal, displayed the Warriors star’s lack of self-awareness and self-deprecation. Has Draymond Green provided any real memories or entertainment in his many cameos in the TNT studio? Has he left anyone saying, “Wow, I can’t wait for him to go into broadcasting full time!” Not really. And the negative reaction to his All-Star takes are symbolic of what basketball fans think about Green on TNT on the whole as well.

Unless Draymond Green has a drastic change of persona and personality, he’s not going to be the next Charles Barkley. But if Skip Bayless is still looking for a new podcast partner after his playing days are done, maybe that would be a better fit.