💰 More McAfee? According to Ryan Glasspiegel at Front Office Sports, Pat McAfee is in talks to re-up with ESPN on a “long-term” contract extension. His current deal, which sees ESPN license his hit digital video show from noon-2 p.m. ET each day and is reportedly worth $85 million, expires in 2028. The news comes on the heels of McAfee’s announcement on Monday that he is partnering with DraftKings, also the official sportsbook partner of the Worldwide Leader.

🏈 Goodell goes to Washington. On Monday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asking him to testify at a June 10 committee hearing regarding the league’s media rights practices, according to a report by Dan Murphy of ESPN. The NFL and other professional sports leagues have recently faced federal scrutiny over the increased fragmentation of live sporting events across various platforms, driving up the cost of watching sports. In addition to Goodell, OutKick founder Clay Travis is expected to serve as a witness for some reason.

🎤 Marvelous Marv. Marv Albert revealed in a new interview with Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina that NBC asked him to call a game between San Antonio and Philadelphia this past season, but he had to decline due to voice issues. “I couldn’t do it, but it would have been nice to do,” he said.

🎙️ Let Russ analyze. Russell Wilson is officially headed to sports media. Per Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel and ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the 37-year-old Wilson is set to replace Matt Ryan on CBS’s The NFL Today. It was made clear, however, that Wilson is leaving the door open to return to the field if the right opportunity arises.

📺 Scripps goes dark. Two months since Scripps affiliates went dark for Comcast customers, the local station group’s broadcast networks have now gone dark for DirecTV customers across the country. Scripps is among the largest operators of ABC affiliates across the country, meaning impacted customers will be unable to watch the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Final — both of which start this week — through DirecTV platforms.

Read more of today’s top stories at Awful Announcing.

Last Wednesday, the Indiana Fever had a controversy on their hands when they announced superstar Caitlin Clark was inactive due to a back injury just a day after releasing an injury report she wasn’t on. The abrupt change set off alarm bells about transparency and media relations, putting the team and Clark on defense.

A few days later, Clark met with the media and couldn’t help showing her annoyance at the situation.

“I had PT at home. Then I came down here about like 1 o’clock, and we tried to do everything we can,” she told reporters. “Got on the court, I lifted, went through a hard workout. And I actually went back and looked because of all these narratives that are going crazy online about when I told my mom I was going to play the game. 4:47, you guys found out at 5:20. So one of the most important people in my life found out 40 minutes before you guys.”

Last Friday, Clark declined to speak with media following the Fever’s loss to the Valkyries even though the new WNBA media access policy requires that players must be available for interviews if requested by media covering the game.

On Saturday, Clark scored just six points in another loss, and, during the game, Clark and Fever head coach Stephanie White appeared to have a heated exchange on the bench, which led White to sub out his star player. That led to another round of media narratives and social media arguments over what was said and what it means.

On Monday, Clark once again spoke with reporters to clear the air and, this time, she didn’t hold back about scolding the media over what she perceives as unfair coverage.

“First of all, two people being competitive. Two people that really want to win,” said Clark. “I think a lot of those things happen all the time. And I know there’s a camera on me, and that’s how it’s going to be, but there’s a lot of people out there in the media or on TV that they think they know a lot of things, and they’re just blatantly wrong about a lot of things.

“I ride for Steph. I ride for these girls. Steph has my back more than anybody. So, you know, nobody in our locker room, or Steph, or our coaching staff thought twice about it. It’s just another example of what everybody, all of you, want to blow up and make something that is just lost and not in reality.”

By all accounts, this hasn’t been a fun stretch for the WNBA phenom. She’s dealing with injuries, tough losses, poor performances, media scrutiny, and constant narratives about who she is and what she stands for. It’s enough to make even the toughest competitor show signs of cracking.

Clark is showing those signs, and they come not a moment too soon.

The third-year WNBA star has spent most of her college and pro careers attempting to be a cipher. Always positive and always focused on the next game. Never distracted and never allowing too many glimpses at her interior life. So many people have asked her to say more, do more, and be more.

Now, she’s biting back. She’s throwing verbal punches, even if they come from the safety of the one-sided media scrum. She’s visibly annoyed and frustrated.

She is, most of all, revealing her humanity. And while it might not seem like much fun, it is giving fans and the media members who cover her a chance to connect in a way that hasn’t been possible before.

You can’t exist under that kind of scrutiny without eventually cracking in some way. Better to let off some steam over the way you feel the media is blowing a situation out of proportion than to maintain a perfectly controlled image before you one day explode. Just ask Tiger Woods.

No one’s asking Clark to become a villain (well, maybe certain people are), but seeing that she is just like us makes her more relatable, which makes her more interesting.

Clark was asked Monday what it’s like to have a moment like her argument with White be so public and to have so many people have an opinion about it.

“It’s my life,” she said.

It was blunt, and came tinged with a little bit of resentment and frustration. But it was also honest, and that made it the best answer possible.

“She has a superstition dating back to childhood that if she sees a ladybug, she eats it for good luck. Swallows it whole. And so I was told that at the SEC tournament in Kentucky, she had a nice home run and she had ingested a ladybug before that.” - Holly Rowe’s wild anecdote about Texas softball player Hannah Wells.

“The New York Knicks got a chance to do something so special. I’m not gonna lie, last year in the Conference Finals, we traveled, and man, it’s a different thing being in New York. I know New Yorkers are annoying. But man, they’re right. When the Knicks are doing good, it’s a different energy in that city.” - Charles Barkley on New York Knicks fans.

“It’s impossible to make that gesture at this moment, in this time, apolitical. Merely being there and introducing the president is a political statement. That’s where I think we need to be realistic, and anybody who would say it’s not political is trying to advance their own agenda to excuse Dart and criticize Abdul Carter.” - Mike Florio on what Jaxson Dart didn’t say in his statement.

“Definitely a concern; it’s something we are always trying to be cognizant of. You kind of get to some of those middle weeks where we’re playing an international game, and you have four to six teams on bye, yes, you do sometimes end up with a few less games than we’ve historically seen on Sunday afternoon, but that’s where you need to be strategic and deploy a Baltimore-Buffalo game at one o’clock.” - NFL manager of broadcast planning and scheduling analytics Max St. John on the NFL’s shrinking Sunday windows.

On the latest episode of The Play-By-Play, Dan Le Batard and Jon "Stugotz" Weiner appear to be on the last gasp of their attempt to rekindle a relationship that dates back more than 20 years. Brendan Kleen and Brandon Contes discuss whether this is the end for the beloved Meadowlark Media duo.

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts.

Marv Albert. Sean McDonough. Jason Benetti. Kevin Brown. Matt Vasgersian.

What do these broadcasters all have in common, other than being incredibly successful? They all started out calling games for the Triple-A baseball team in Syracuse, NY.

Previously known as the Chiefs and SkyChiefs, and currently known as the Mets until they change their name once more in 2028, this affiliate has been an incubator for Major League Baseball players since 1934 and for the biggest names in broadcasting for just as long.

The lineage is almost hard to believe when you lay it out. Seventeen notable alumni, eight of whom went on to regional play-by-play jobs with major pro franchises.

“Pictures of McDonough, Hoard, Vasgersian, Brown, and all of the legends in the Syracuse broadcast booth instill in me that my dreams are attainable,” current Syracuse voice Joe Puccio said. “There is a path to the big leagues by making a pit stop in Syracuse.”

Click to read Al Daniel’s look at how Syracuse’s Triple-A baseball booth became a sportscasting launching pad.