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 ✍️

🐎 Journalism’s win gets a send-up. NBC Sports horse racing announcer Larry Collmus delivered one of the best calls you’ll ever see for Journalism’s incredible come-from-behind victory in the Preakness Stakes: JOURNALISM HAS WON THE PREAKNESS STAKES IN A PERFORMANCE LIKE YOU READ ABOUT!!!!

🏈 Belichick takes the mic back. In addition to some safe interviews with ESPN last week, Bill Belichick also appeared on The Pivot for more damage control. The new UNC head coach claimed it was the program’s choice to decline Hard Knocks and that part of Jordon Hudson’s involvement in UNC affairs came because the university did not have ample PR staffing. Surely we all believe him.

⛳ PGA Championship media. Two foes in the PGA vs. LIV rift, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, handled media obligations very differently this weekend at the PGA Championship. Fresh off his celebrated Masters win, favorite McIlroy skipped all his media sessions after a tough weekend. Meanwhile, DeChambeau spoke with CBS after the final round despite a frustrating second-place finish.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

WNBA narrative picks up right where it left off

In the third quarter of the season opener between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, Caitlin Clark did everyone a favor.

Headed toward a blowout win against her rival Angel Reese on national television to begin Year 2 of her already-historic career, Clark delivered a hard foul on Reese under the basket. For the fourth straight year, this rivalry is the defining story around women’s basketball. By smacking Reese across the arms, Clark made it simple.

The sport revolves around Clark and everything she represents — a jump-shooting WNBA future, cocky success, brash midwestern White fans — versus Reese and everything she represents — a rugged old-school game, younger stans, Black cities like Baltimore, Baton Rouge and Chicago. Every time they play, a new chapter of WNBA history is written.

The aftermath of the foul was telling.

The officials, in typical panicked WNBA referee fashion, upgraded it to a Flagrant 1. While teammates pulled her back, Reese ambled Clark, calling the reigning Rookie of the Year “crazy as f*ck.” Clark appeared for an interview with ESPN at the quarter break and sternly stated it was nothing more than a basketball play. Both players downplayed the foul and their rivalry postgame.

Ignore that.

These two incredibly young stars carry the stories of the league on their shoulders right now. Neither is entirely sure what to say or do about it publicly. They probably can’t diffuse the mess, and they don’t want to amplify it. So they carry on, with Clark cursing out David Letterman on Netflix and Reese building a huge community with her podcast and brand deals.

They may not want the spotlight or to inflame tensions further. But they both want this. They do not act like people who want less attention. Clark is giving a hard foul to her top foe and calling out refs on national TV. Reese is lumbering toward that rival in response, giving her blessing to read into the play.

Unlike Dave Portnoy, I won’t assume the hate allegedly spewed toward Reese at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was falsified. Let’s hope the WNBA gets to the bottom of it.

In the meantime, don’t expect Clark or Reese to put out this fire. They don’t want it to get ugly, but they aren’t stopping it.

They meet again June 7 in Chicago.

👀 AROUND AA 📰 

Is the ‘stick to sports’ crowd out of things to say?

All the right-wing commentators who wanted outspoken liberal athletes to “stick to sports” a decade ago won the culture war. Yet they’re still fighting it.

That’s the argument in Alex Reimer’s latest column at Awful Announcing, in which he argues that people like Clay Travis and his outlet Outkick now own the lane connecting sports to politics. ESPN rid itself of rebels like Dan Le Batard and Jemele Hill who gave the Worldwide Leader a reputation for leaning left. In their place are more conservative voices like Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee. The biggest topics are no longer on-field protests or stadiums being used as polling places, but transgender youth athletes and the NBA’s TV ratings.

Writes Reimer:

A group of right-wing pundits recognized there was a backlash among sports fans, who on average are middle-aged men, over their favorite sports leagues’ increasingly liberal cultural signals. The NBA moved its All-Star game from Charlotte over a transgender bathroom ban, and MLB shifted its All-Star game from Atlanta over a Georgia voting law. Most visibly, there was Colin Kaepernick’s protest, followed by league-wide player demonstrations in denunciation of Donald Trump.

The White House recognized the power of tapping into that venom, sending Mike Pence to an NFL game only so he could walk out when players started kneeling.

So did the conservative talkers. Arguably, nobody did it better than Clay Travis, who grew OutKick into a digital powerhouse before selling to Fox Corp. in 2021. But now, after another Trump victory, his act seems stale.

Read the full article here.

🗣️ THE AWFUL ANNOUNCING PODCAST🗣️

Curt Menefee on ‘Fox NFL Sunday’ and interviewing Eric Adams

Last week on The Awful Announcing Podcast, host Brandon Contes interviewed Fox NFL Sunday and Good Day New York host Curt Menefee. Brandon and Curt discussed a wide range of topics, including hosting Fox NFL Sunday and being a part of Jimmy Johnson’s Pro Football Hall of Fame announcement, a look at the UFL’s strengths and opportunities, pressing New York City mayor Eric Adams in a live interview, and more.

🎥 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 💡

• More NFL on Netflix? In an appearance on The Town podcast, CNBC reporter Alex Sherman dropped a nugget from a conversation with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos that the streamer is apparently pursuing a bigger package of football games. The only issue? Netflix and the NFL want to ensure they can “eventize” each game properly, in typical Netflix fashion.

• Dale Jr. prepping for the worst. The new NASCAR analyst for Prime Video is expecting negative feedback from race fans when the sport debuts on the streamer this year. It “comes with the territory,” according to Earnhardt Jr., who is used to NASCAR lovers complaining about the broadcasters.

• Bussin’ gets a bag. The former Barstool Sports podcast from retired NFLers Taylor Lewan and Will Compton received a whopping $30 million over three years from FanDuel, according to Dave Portnoy in a recent interview.

• Tomlin on TV? As the Pittsburgh Steelers get increasing pressure from their fans and the media to move on from head coach Mike Tomlin, NFL reporter Peter Schrager appeared on Get Up and talked up Tomlin’s potential future in media. Schrager speculated that just as many broadcasters as rival teams would line up for Tomlin if he ever left Pittsburgh.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥 

Another reason to shorten the NBA schedule

Aaron Gordon was the hero for most of the Denver Nuggets’ postseason run, and his hammy pull was part of their undoing.

The glue guy forward toughed through a Grade 2 strain to play in Game 7, a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Fans in the Mile High City will remember his game-winners forever, but the league office should take closer note of his quotes postgame.

Speaking with reporters after the loss, Gordon called on the league to extend the playoff schedule. In the later rounds, teams play every other day, after 82 regular season games and four to seven more in the first round.

“I would really, really appreciate it if there were a couple of games in between games in the playoffs,” Gordon said. “The product of the game would be a lot better … you would see a hire level of basketball, far less blowouts.”

Hear that, Adam Silver?

If you needed one more reason to shorten the regular season, there you go. Playoff basketball is what brands and broadcasters pay for, what fans want to see most, and what players prioritize. Fewer regular season games would not only spruce up the winter schedule and keep players fresh, it would create a better structure for the biggest time of year.

The league stretches out the first round so as to not overload TV schedules, but teams pay for it in rounds two and three. A few dead days without games can’t get in the way of obvious fixes. An extra broadcast partner starting next season will help, but the ultimate solution is to shorten the regular season. With fewer regular season games, the entire postseason can take up more of the calendar and make every round equally paced.

Beyond player health, fan attention spans, and the sports calendar, Gordon is going even further. The quality of play in these huge, spotlight games, he believes, will also be better.

Who wouldn’t want that?