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 ✍️

⏰ End of an era. Fox's Mike Pereira told The Washington Post he'll likely retire when his contract expires following the 2026 season, saying, "I don't want to outlive my effectiveness." The 75-year-old trailblazer became sports' first full-time rules analyst when Fox hired him in 2010, creating a role that's now standard across all major sports.

🤦 Worse than Orlovsky? Cleveland radio hosts declared Dillon Gabriel's intentional grounding safety more embarrassing than Dan Orlovsky's infamous play, with The Ken Carman Show's Anthony Lima saying, "That's a worse safety than Dan Orlovsky." The Browns’ rookie turned and threw the ball out of bounds from his own end zone with no receiver in sight and minimal pressure — a "panicked 'I don't belong on the football field' play."

🏈 Go Birds. Shane Gillis crashed Dallas Goedert's postgame interview after the Eagles' win over the Giants, yelling "Go Birds!" as he walked by. The comedian earned himself an honorary tight end invitation, with Goedert saying, "We're trying to get him to Tight End University next year."

⚖️ Legal threats. The Lakers hired famous defamation attorney Marty Singer to threaten journalist Yaron Weitzman over his new book about LeBron James and the Buss family, accusing him of "thinly-veiled misogynistic smears" and warning that they would "have no doubt" about their willingness to sue. The book is now available for purchase.

💔 Gone too soon. Barstool personality Cody "Beef" Franke passed away over the weekend from a sudden medical issue. Dave Portnoy said, "You will never find a nicer, more genuine person than Beef," while the Fore Play podcast described him as "universally known as the nicest guy in the world."

🤔 Replay confusion. Cris Collinsworth pressed Terry McAulay about replay assist during Sunday Night Football, saying, "There's a tough line for the average fan to understand when it is you have to challenge and when it is replay assist comes into play." McAulay explained calls need to be "objectively clear and obvious without further analysis" to qualify for automatic correction.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Kirk Herbstreit got Carson Wentz completely wrong

Kirk Herbstreit has spent years cultivating his reputation as the insightful voice who sees what others miss. Last Thursday night, he proved he can miss what everyone else sees.

During the Chargers' 37-10 destruction of Minnesota, Herbstreit watched Carson Wentz throw his helmet in frustration and delivered a sermon about leadership, about being "the captain of the ship," about how quarterbacks need to "hold some of that emotion in" even when they're hurt.

"It's Week 7," Herbstreit lectured. "There's a long way to go."

The long way turned out to be three days. On Monday, the Vikings announced Wentz would undergo season-ending surgery to repair what was eventually reported to be a dislocated shoulder with a torn labrum and fractured socket — an injury he'd been playing through since Week 5 in London.

Herbstreit watched a quarterback take five sacks with a dislocated shoulder, a torn labrum, and a fractured socket, saw him in obvious agony, heard Al Michaels note "he's hurt," and still decided the problem was Wentz's body language. The "alpha" apparently needed to suffer in silence rather than show human emotion while his shoulder was literally falling apart.

This wasn't just bad in the moment; it was worse with the context Herbstreit chose to ignore. Wentz had missed one snap after the initial injury, then played the entire second half in London wearing protective gear, completing all nine passes on a game-winning drive. He rested during the bye week, started against Philadelphia, then had just three days to recover before Thursday's game. Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said after the game he'd been in constant contact with Wentz and the medical staff throughout the night.

Wentz himself described it as "quite possibly" the most pain he'd experienced during a football game. He wore protective wrapping he'd never used before in his career, or “anything remotely close to," in his words. After the game, he apologized to the equipment staff for throwing his helmet.

"Yeah, I'm not proud of that," Wentz said. "Apologize to the equipment guys for that. But yeah, I was in a good amount of pain there."

But sure, Kirk. The real issue was his attitude.

The irony is that Herbstreit got it exactly backward. Wentz's helmet toss wasn't evidence of poor leadership; it was evidence of someone who'd given everything he had physically and was furious he couldn't do more. He'd gutted out two-plus games on a shoulder that needed immediate surgery, and Herbstreit's takeaway was that he needed to fake it better for the cameras.

This is the problem when broadcasters prioritize narrative over what's actually happening. Herbstreit had his "quarterback leadership" talking point ready and refused to let the reality of a player in genuine distress get in the way. When Justin Jefferson hypothetically throws a helmet, it's a diva receiver being selfish. When a quarterback does it while playing through injuries that would sideline most players? That's somehow worse because of some outdated code about stoicism.

Maybe next time a quarterback is visibly suffering, the captain of the TNF broadcast ship should hold some of that commentary in.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

Colin Cowherd finally abandons his backwards hat take... for Justin Herbert:

Cris Collinsworth worried about Mike Tirico's workload now that he's doing NBA and NFL:

Tony Romo opens up about his biggest regret during Cowboys-Broncos broadcast:

Stephen A. Smith thinks the Cowboys can still make an NFC Championship run at 3-4-1:

📺 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🎬

• Minute Media eliminated roughly 10 positions at The Players' Tribune, pivoting Derek Jeter's athlete-driven publication away from video production and back toward long-form written storytelling. The move bucks industry trends, with most digital publishers chasing video content. There's internal speculation about whether the outlet could be divested, though Minute Media insists it's "not for sale."

• Disney and Comcast "quietly" renewed a distribution agreement earlier this month, keeping ESPN on Xfinity cable systems. However, Xfinity customers still cannot authenticate into ESPN Unlimited due to ongoing tech work, despite an executive promising that the "vast majority" of pay TV subscribers would have access by year's end. Major carriers like Xfinity and YouTube TV remain on the outside looking in.

• Charlie Jablonski, a pioneering NBC Sports Olympics production technology executive, died unexpectedly at age 69 this weekend. Jablonski led NBC Sports through numerous Olympics and World Cups over 36 years, winning 12 Emmy awards and guiding the network through critical transitions, including the move to HDTV, digital formats, and IP advances.

• Most Mountain time zone NBC affiliates will carry the East Coast NBA game during Tuesday's "Coast 2 Coast" telecast, despite NBC's advertising suggesting the region would receive the West Coast game. The inconsistency reveals that game selection can be handled at the affiliate level, potentially opening the door to more flexible scheduling in future seasons.

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

"Pretty pathetic effort in that secondary, trying to bring down Taylor. He is great, but, man, that looked like it lacked a lot of effort, to me." - CBS's Jim Nantz torching the Titans' defense during a game break after Jonathan Taylor jogged untouched for an 80-yard touchdown where neither safety made a serious tackle attempt. Taylor finished with 153 yards and three touchdowns in the Colts' 38-14 win.

"I don't like them at all. I don't know if I could (veto), but I would make every attempt to do so." - Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher ripping the Steelers' throwback uniforms on The Dan Patrick Show after Pittsburgh wore black and yellow striped tops with khaki-colored pants on Sunday Night Football. Cowher famously chose to wear road whites in Super Bowl XL for aesthetic reasons.

"This is a whole different level. My case is different." - Gilbert Arenas denying he snitched on Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups after federal authorities arrested both in a sports gambling investigation. Arenas was arrested in July for allegedly hosting illegal poker games and openly threatened to snitch on his own case, but claims the Rozier and Billups arrests are unrelated.

"I had moments where I was crying, emotional, but guess what I had to do? I had to suck it up and get to my job." - LeSean McCoy crushing Justin Fields on his podcast after the Jets quarterback got emotional discussing his first win following Woody Johnson's public criticism. Fields said he was "damn near about to start crying" on the field because of "the goodness of god."

"You're not an alligator hunter. What the hell are you doing?" - Rex Ryan explaining why Brian Kelly was doomed at LSU on ESPN's Get Up, calling back to Kelly's infamous fake Southern accent at an LSU basketball game three days into the job. Ryan called it "the worst hire in history" and said he knew Kelly was "a phony" from that moment.

📣 THE PLAY-BY-PLAY 🎙️

️‍🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

The media shouldn't provide Brian Kelly a soft landing

Brian Kelly's buyout from LSU comes with an offset provision: any "football-related employment" reduces what the school owes him. That includes TV work. Which means every network that hires him is helping LSU pay less of the $53 million they owe for his failure.

Kelly shouldn't get that opportunity. Not because he failed on the field, though going 4-11 against ranked opponents certainly didn't help. He shouldn't get it because of who he was off it.

This is the coach who showed up to his first LSU basketball game and said "family" with a fake Southern accent he never had at Notre Dame. The one who told the world he left South Bend because Notre Dame didn't have the resources to win a championship, then tried to claim he was "misinterpreted" when Notre Dame reached the title game without him. The coach who said "we're going to beat the heck out of Florida State" on his radio show, then insisted after losing 45-24 that it was "not something I would ever say,” despite that audio existing on LSU's own website.

Kelly snapped at reporters for asking about offensive struggles after wins. He pounded tables and blamed players after losses. He never connected with Louisiana, as Rex Ryan said, he tried to pretend he was "an alligator hunter" instead of just being himself. Multiple analysts noted he seemed checked out on recruiting and the portal, spending time "on a beach in Florida" while the program's infrastructure crumbled.

Then there's Kyren Lacy.

The receiver died in April, and Kenny Lacy posted on Facebook after Kelly's firing that he "didn't even get a call or text" from Kelly after his son's death, while interim coach Frank Wilson "came sit down with our family and showed us some real genuine love." Kelly disputed similar claims publicly before, saying he was at another player's side "on multiple occasions."

Whether that's true or Kelly's version is accurate, the larger point stands: Kelly treated LSU like a $95 million payday, not a place that demanded his full commitment. LSU's previous three coaches all won national championships. Kelly never came close because he never fully showed up.

The media loves to lecture athletes about accountability and character. Here's a chance to apply that standard. Kelly's already getting generational wealth from his buyout. He doesn't need a TV job to rehabilitate his image or position himself for his next gig. Let him sit with this failure instead of handing him a microphone and a paycheck that helps him escape the consequences of his own phoniness.

Hundreds of coaches have succeeded at their jobs and understood the communities they served. Hire one of them.