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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

⚖️ Former Deadspin editor Tim Burke saw half of the federal charges facing him dismissed, but he still faces a tough legal battle ahead.

⚾ It was another positive year for Major League Baseball on the national television front with viewership increases with their various partners, even ESPN.

🖥️ Speaking of ESPN, former Around the Horn host Tony Reali announced that he is launching his own digital media company.

🏒 In a troubling move, the Vegas Golden Knights removed a reporter from The Athletic from their facility for asking about the Hockey Canada rape case.

🏀 Former First Take host Molly Qerim landed her first gig after leaving ESPN, she will host a Q&A with Dan Hurley at alma mater Connecticut.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Is the NFL really no fun?

It seems like it’s been a long time since the ESPN Monday Night Football schedule fell under scrutiny for bad games and a revolving door broadcast booth. Since those dark years, ESPN and the NFL have fully repaired their relationship - the network has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on talent, the schedule has improved (with flex capabilities), and the two struck a massive equity deal. But there’s only so much that can be done to sell fans on what MNF showed this week.

In one of its last doubleheaders, NFL fans had the choice between the 0-3 Jets and the 0-3 Dolphins and the 2-1 Bengals at the 1-2 Broncos. While you would have thought the latter would be compelling, the absence of Joe Burrow meant it was anything but. Denver blew out an uncompetitive Cincinnati 28-3 in a game that was most noteworthy for the Bengals’ putrid offense and the propensity of flags.

It was so bad that ESPN analyst Troy Aikman questioned the quality of the product that was being put on the field. After one flag too many for his liking, Aikman let it all go.

The NFL usually doesn’t like its broadcasters being so blunt in assessing the quality of its product or questioning officials (see McDonough, Sean). But if there’s someone who has earned the right to do so, it’s certainly Troy Aikman.

But let’s address Aikman’s main concern - the quality of play in the NFL just isn’t that good right now. And although ratings continue to climb, it should make the league somewhat concerned. Let’s take a look at a few factors…

Penalties

Yellow flags are the scorn of broadcasters, players, coaches, and fans alike. And while the “No Fun League” has a reputation for being flag-happy, is it really worse in 2025? The answer is yes. NFL teams are averaging 7.18 penalties per game in 2025, which would rank for the second-most in a season since 2001.

Injuries

Injuries impacted both MNF games this week severely. The Bengals’ season has gone off the rails thanks to Joe Burrow’s injury. And the one memorable moment from either game was Tyreek Hill’s devastating knee injury. On top of that, star quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy, and Brock Purdy are already under injury clouds. Malik Nabers was lost for the season for the Giants and so of course was Hill. Injuries have always been a part of football, but the impact seems outsized when it is the league’s biggest names at key positions going down.

Overexposure

Broncos-Bengals was the fifth nationally televised game in Week 4. (Sixth if you count Baltimore-Kansas City going to the wide majority of the country in the late Sunday window). There are just only going to be so many great games to go around. With that much exposure, sometimes the league’s bottom half is going to have to be featured. Flex scheduling can only do so much. Even the Cleveland Browns have a nationally televised game Sunday morning from the UK next week against the Vikings and Carson Wentz. Are you ready for some football!!!

Excitement Factor

There’s also the matter of what’s happening with the style of play. Long gone are the days of Brees, Brady, and Manning lighting up defenses with high-profile passing attacks. Dak Prescott is on pace to lead the NFL with 4,750 passing yards in 17 games this year. Brees passed the 5,000 yard mark five times by himself in just 16 games.

This season, NFL teams are averaging just 207.8 passing yards per game, the lowest since 2006. Total yardage levels are on par with where we were in the 1980s. But on the flip side, field goals and kickoff return yardage are at all-time highs. With the new kickoff rules and explosive growth of field goal kickers, teams sometimes need only one or two first downs to be in legitimate field goal range. Is that really what fans want?

Add it all up and it’s not just vibes. There is big data to back up why this year’s NFL may seem like it’s not as fun as in years past.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

If we’re talking about the NFL and fun there may be no better moment than this J.K. Dobbins ESPN Deportes interview with John Sutcliffe.

Was Sean McDonough late from a restroom visit here during ESPN’s MLB Wild Card coverage, leaving Todd Frazier to do play-by-play?

The mother of Shedeur Sanders is not a Rex Ryan fan.

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“I feel glee about your pain today. Cause you deserve it. The way you tried to make my life a living hell by all those Juan Soto tweets.” - Yankees announcer Michael Kay was more than happy to rub the Mets’ collapse in the face of their fans.

“But today after the press conference, after it’s over, he’s saying, ‘I think golf should be held to a higher standard of decorum.’ But in the meantime, he says ‘f-you, f-you, f-you’ in full voice for the world to see.” - Paul Azinger is not a fan of Rory McIlroy’s comments about boorish fan behavior at the Ryder Cup.

“It’s garbage! That’s my thought. Look, you can’t take it seriously. It’s way too reactionary.” - ESPN’s Heather Dinich is the latest to take aim at the legitimacy of the AP Poll.

“We signed the deal that we signed. We obviously lost a significant amount of network races in this TV deal.” - NASCAR star Denny Hamlin believes the lack of races on network TV plays a big role in falling ratings for the series.

️‍🔥The Closer🔥

Phee vs The World

Minnesota Lynx All-Star Napheesa Collier dropped a bombshell on WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the entire sport on Tuesday. After the perennial MVP candidate suffered an ankle injury in the semifinals defeat against the Phoenix Mercury, she unleashed a message straight towards the league office.

Collier is someone worth listening to as she’s not just a star player. She has a leadership role in the players union and helped found the offseason Unrivaled 3-on-3 league that has its own television deal with TNT Sports.

So when she says that the WNBA has the “worst leadership in the world,” it should send alarm bells throughout the entire sport. The WNBA and its players already looked like they were headed for a work stoppage of some kind, and now those chances have exponentially grown.

Collier talked about a lack of accountability, a lack of quality officiating, and an inability to control physical play. But the quote that will steal all the headlines is saying that Engelbert relayed a message that new stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers should be thankful for the WNBA platform in spite of their paltry salaries.

“I also asked how she planned to fix the fact that players like Caitlin, Angel and Paige, who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league, are making so little for their first four years. Her response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court, because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything,'” Collier said.

Not only is that dead wrong (Clark made millions in NIL endorsements before stepping foot into the league) it’s a dangerously aloof, backwards, and downright hostile opinion towards growing the league any further. In the hours after Collier’s public address, Sports Business Journal reported that Engelbert was likely to exit the league after CBA negotiations. But that may too late to prevent more damage from being done to the WNBA and its future.