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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

⛳ In spite of finishing T70 in the 2024 South Florida Girls 13-18 standings, Kai Trump will compete in an LPGA Tournament in November on a sponsor exemption. While it will draw tons of criticism over Trump’s true lack of credentials, shouts of nepotism, and bending the knee to the most controversial political figure in American history, at least it will give the LPGA attention.

🏀 The NBA on Peacock “On the Bench” experiment with analysts Robbie Hummel and Austin Rivers shadowing each team’s huddle went a lot smoother than expected.

🏈 Georgia coach Kirby Smart was not a fan of comedian Nate Bargatze openly lobbying top quarterback commit and Nashville native Jared Curtis to come to Vanderbilt on College GameDay.

📺 Why does it seem like NBC has better picture quality than other networks? There is actually a science behind it.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Is ESPN solving a problem or creating one?

Scott Van Pelt has been an institution for ESPN at 11 p.m. ET, serving as host for the late-night SportsCenter for over a decade now. SportsCenter with SVP came along at a time when ESPN’s flagship show was sputtering and found a way to merge the golden era of ESPN with the modern tastes and sensibilities of sports fans in the social media age.

But the SVP era of SportsCenter may be coming to an end. With a gaping hole in their daily lineup at 5 p.m. ET since the cancellation of Around the Horn, ESPN has not filled it with a permanent replacement for several months. And according to The Athletic, Scott Van Pelt is a leading contender to move six hours earlier in the day. ESPN content chief Burke Magnus even attempted an audacious swoop to pair Van Pelt with his former radio co-host Ryen Russillo before Russillo made the decision to do his own thing with Barstool Sports. Brian Windhorst and Peter Schrager are the other leading contenders to take the reins in the valuable lead-in timeslot to ESPN mainstay Pardon the Interruption.

The shock move represents a fork-in-the-road moment for ESPN. Do they move one highly successful program to replace another? Sure, it wouldn’t be a decision if ESPN had just kept ATH alive in the first place when there was no good reason to cancel it, but there’s no undoing that one.

The decision may center on both ESPN’s lack of a true midday option to replace Around the Horn and Van Pelt’s previously stated desire to not do the late-night SportsCenter forever. Moving SVP to 5 p.m. ET would theoretically lengthen his stay and impact at ESPN by giving him a much friendlier daily schedule. And in tone and popularity, he is as close to a spiritual connection as exists at the network in relation to Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser.

That may be part of ESPN’s motivation to make this call. (And make no mistake about it, if ESPN is willing to comment publicly on SVP leading the sweepstakes, it’s all but finalized at this point.) The names most associated with ESPN these days are Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee. They command the highest salaries, most attention, and most social media buzz. What they say during the day often makes it into the headlines. SVP may get more viewers at 11 p.m. ET, but it’s hard to build a lot of buzz in that timeslot that ripples throughout the modern media landscape.

Moving SVP earlier in the day would be a step forward for the kinder, gentler, more beloved branding of ESPN. The one that makes you feel like you’ve just wrapped yourself in a warm blanket versus the one that feels like running the Oklahoma drill when you watch the channel. In that, it could be a net positive for ESPN branding at a time when it feels like the network is losing trust with viewers. (See the panic over ESPN acquiring NFL RedZone.)

However, it’s also a huge risk in that it disrupts what has been a steady, guaranteed win for a decade with the 11 p.m. ET SportsCenter, what has historically been one of ESPN’s most important timeslots. Just as ESPN has had trouble finding a solution at 5 p.m. ET, there are no obvious solutions at 11 p.m. ET. ESPN has invested so much airtime and airspace in their top personalities that the next tiers at the network don’t get the same opportunities they maybe once did. Sure, ESPN could solve one problem in their lineup. But they may have equal trouble in trying to fill Scott Van Pelt’s shoes in late-night as they have Around the Horn.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

We’re pretty sure the NFL didn’t love Troy Aikman suggesting Patrick Mahomes gets favorable treatment from officials. That’s never been a thing, right?

Fox called upon Sydney Sweeney to help promote Game 4 of the World Series. Thankfully, the spot did not mention her jeans.

ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe dumped “Mr. Switzerland” because he dissed Tennessee coaching legend Pat Summitt.

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“I’ve come to the realization that when I don’t do this five days a week, eight hours at a time, most of what we used to do was pretty f*cking stupid. Let’s just be honest about it.” - Trey Wingo really doesn’t seem like he enjoyed a lot of his ESPN tenure.

“I got a message for the NBA, Adam Silver, NBC, Peacock, all of y’all: this man needs to be on (national) TV multiple times a week!” - Tracy McGrady wants to see more Victor Wembanyama on national television. Yes, please.

“If [Sanders’] back isn’t locked up and he doesn’t need a back-iotomy, just put him out there, for the love of Christ! Just put him out there and let’s see!” - Cleveland radio host Ken Carman is ready to see Shedeur Sanders as Browns fans have given up hope once again.

️‍️‍🔥The Closer🔥

Cinderella Spoiler

Game 4 of the 2025 World Series was supposed to be the ultimate coronation for Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. The two-way phenom is simply the most fascinating, indescribable, otherworldly athlete in modern times. If this was 50 years ago and the sports world wasn’t so football-dominant, Ohtani would be a mainstream celebrity figure known by everybody in the country, baseball fan or not.

In fact, his Game 3 heroics (where he reached base a record nine times and hit two home runs) were so astounding that it broke through and demanded multiple segments on ESPN’s morning shows, where baseball is usually only given a passing glance. His skill as a hitter and pitcher is so unique and so unprecedented that it’s hard to find a comparison anywhere in the sports world. Travis Hunter’s Heisman season at Colorado is the only real comparison, but it’s hard to put that even in the same stratosphere as what Ohtani is doing. It’s more like if Patrick Mahomes was winning Super Bowls as the best QB in the game while also somehow being Myles Garrett.

But then a funny thing happened. As Ohtani took the mound in Game 4 for the ultimate follow-up to his performance at the plate, he lost. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched a two-run home run off Ohtani to give the Blue Jays the lead and they never looked back, winning 6-2 to even up the World Series at 2 games a piece.

Shohei Ohtani winning Game 4 of the World Series on his way to winning the MVP award would have been the moment that felt like he cemented himself on the same level as Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and the other biggest stars of this generation. That should obviously still be the case. We’ve never seen anything like Ohtani and probably won’t again in our lifetimes.

But the Toronto Blue Jays had another thing in mind. All the stories about Ohtani’s legacy and the Dodgers dynasty that were pre-written before Game 4 will have to wait because sports is the ultimate reality show and nothing is guaranteed.

Everyone expected the Dodgers to win this World Series against Toronto, even though the Blue Jays had homefield advantage. Their roster is that good, that loaded, and that undeniable. But yet somehow, the Blue Jays keep fighting. Their ability to come back the next night after losing an 18 inning heartbreaker and find a way to beat Ohtani is remarkable. If anything, it deserves just as much widespread coverage as if Ohtani and the Dodgers had won.

If the Blue Jays can go on to pull off the upset against the Dodgers and the best team money can buy, that will be an incredible story of its own.