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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🤝 Google & Disney get cozy. According to court records obtained by Awful Announcing, Google and Disney have reached a settlement in the poaching lawsuit involving former Disney/ESPN distribution executive Justin Connolly, a sign that the two sides may be more likely than not to reach a new carriage deal for Disney content on YouTube TV and avoid blackouts. In May, Google-owned YouTube TV hired Connolly away from Disney shortly after he had signed a multiyear deal to remain with the entertainment conglomerate through 2027.

📺 Disney hearts Fubo. After Disney announced its intentions to purchase Fubo in January of this year, the transaction has now been formalized. On Wednesday, the two companies made the acquisition official, with Fubo set to merge with Hulu + Live TV, creating the sixth-largest pay TV provider in the United States. Under the combined entity, Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will remain two distinct services, but both will be owned by Disney and operate within the same business unit.

⚾ Yanked away. YES Network has decided to move on from New York Yankees analyst John Flaherty after two decades as a prominent member of their broadcast crew. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic was first to report the news on Wednesday afternoon. In addition to Flaherty, The Athletic reports YES Network also won’t be bringing back part-time analysts Jeff Nelson and Dave Valle next season.

🎙️ Volume up. Back in 2023, Colin Cowherd flaunted venture capital interest in his digital content network The Volume, claiming it was worth more than $100 million. Now, two years and several high-profile acquisitions later, Cowherd continues to insist he is not shopping the company. Despite watching as Bill Simmons sold The Ringer for a reported $250 million in 2020 and Dave Portnoy sold Barstool for about $550 million in 2023, Cowherd said this week that the company is profitable and “not necessarily for sale.”

🥊 Netflix punches back. It’s been more than 10 years since Floyd Mayweather defeated Manny Pacquiao in what was one of the most highly anticipated boxing matches of all time. Now it appears that the two boxing legends are looking to run it back, with Ring Magazine‘s Mike Coppinger reporting that discussions are ongoing for a rematch that would potentially stream on Netflix. Keep in mind the two fighters, now 48 and 46 years old, haven't been regular competitors in years.

🚨 LEADING OFF 🚨

It’s not that complicated, NBA fans

This NBA season has brought much change, as audiences said goodbye to TNT and started watching games on NBC (again) and Amazon Prime Video. At least, that’s the theory. Because with any change, there are early frustrations about finding the familiar while rejecting what’s new.

That goes double in the modern media landscape, which includes network, cable, and streaming services. And when it comes to finding NBA games this year, you may have to do a little bit of homework for a while.

This post from The Athletic’s Howard Beck made the rounds earlier this week. No shade to Beck, who is a fantastic writer, and I don’t even think he was complaining per se, but it’s precisely the kind of “Luddite porn” that does well in times like these.

It’s very similar to things we saw when Major League Baseball started shopping games to streamers and especially when the NFL started giving exclusives to the likes of Peacock and Prime.

Eventually, almost everyone got over it. And much sooner than one might have thought.

For one, because you kinda don’t have a choice. And two, because it’s actually not as complicated as people want to make it out to be.

“This does look like you have to remember a lot of different places to watch, but five of seven days the games are on NBC, ABC, or ESPN, which are networks most people get, so I really don't think it’s that big a deal,” wrote @joshmallow.bsky.social in response to that post. “I think it's become cool to complain online about the overabundance of streaming services, but sports media rights have always been split between several networks, and this doesn't seem that different.”

That about sums it up. The new ways aren’t really all that different from the “old” way, with regional sports networks, ESPN+, local broadcasting exclusives, and more. If you want to complain about costs, you probably have a foothold there, but complaining about the fragmentation of media deals is so passe.

Besides, if splitting up the regular-season to include paid streamers and online exclusives bothers you, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

🎺 AROUND AA 🎺

Millions of  Major League Baseball fans stayed up way past their bedtimes on Monday night (and Tuesday morning) to watch Freddie Freeman hit a solo shot over the Dodgers Stadium centerfield fence in the bottom of the 18th inning and seal the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-5 victory in a World Series Game 3 for the ages.

It was one thing to watch the game trudge on into the early morning from the comfort of your couch. It was another thing altogether to be tasked with calling the six-hour-and-39-minute classic. That’s what Jon “Boog” Sciambi did, calling Game 3 of the 2025 World Series for ESPN Radio, all the while knowing he’d have to be back at the ballpark a few hours later to call Game 4.

Awful Announcing spoke with Sciambi following the Toronto Blue Jays’ series-evening Game 4 victory to get his perspective on Game 3, what it’s like to call an 18-inning game, what he thinks of how competitive the series has been, and, of course, what to make of Shohei Ohtani’s unprecedented performance.

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“I’m sure there’s a lot of other people that want to get clicks and views and posts on ‘myface’ or whatever. But it’s just a bunch of garbage.” - Bill Belichick on the reporting around his UNC football program.

“Coaches ain’t wearing suits no more on the sideline. I think the game of basketball and sports [in general] is just changing. The dynamics [are] changing. The way people talk the game is changing.” - NBC’s Carmelo Anthony clapping back at criticism over his wardrobe.

“For most women, it can be incredibly scary to stand on an opinion, because people want to do anything they can to minimize its impact.” - ESPN’s Elle Duncan on sharing opinions on TV.

“You always try to go where the best story is for that week. And you try to judge what the buzz is. And you also try to look at the landscape.” - ESPN’s Rece Davis on how they choose College GameDay locations.

“Any chance you’re gonna play?” - ESPN’s Katie George to Donovan Mitchell on the court.

"I can’t think of anything that is more fitting of a tribute than to do this." - ESPN’s Kevin Clark to Jim Nantz, who helped him grieve the loss of his father.

📈 DATA DUMP 📊

• The Los Angeles Dodgers’ thrilling walk-off win in the 18th inning averaged 11.4 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, and Fox’s digital platforms. It was the second most-watched Game 3 since 2021, trailing only last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series.

• A doubleheader featuring the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, averaged 1.25 million viewers on Prime Video, a sizeable increase versus last year’s comparable doubleheader on ESPN (1.10 million viewers). Celtics-Knicks averaged 1.17 million viewers in the early window, a 41% increase versus a Pacers-Knicks game in the same time slot on ESPN last year. Timberwolves-Lakers averaged 1.33 million viewers, down 4% versus Suns-Lakers on ESPN last year.

• For the third consecutive week, ABC won all three primary college football broadcast windows on Saturday (noon, afternoon, primetime). A tight game between Ole Miss and Oklahoma started the network on a firm footing in the noon ET window, averaging 6.6 million viewers. The Rebels’ win handily beat Fox’s Big Noon Saturday showcase game, which featured Indiana blowing out UCLA by 50 points and averaged 3 million viewers.

️‍🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Is Koki Riley the worst AP Poll voter or the best?

As there often is, there has been much Sturm und Drang about the AP Poll this college football season. The complaints have perhaps been a bit louder this year due to the flux that so many programs have found themselves in. Early-season top-ten picks like Notre Dame, Penn State, and Texas have tumbled while the pollsters clearly didn’t see Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, or Indiana coming.

Even when the overall poll itself is aligned with expectations, there are always some outliers. A pollster giving their local team a little too much shine. Another might severely handicap a team that everyone else thinks should be No. 1. It often makes for fun fodder.

And then there’s Koki Riley of the Baton Rouge Advocate, who has been accused of being the worst AP Poll voter “in the history of the sport.”

So said Barstool Tate earlier this week after the most recent poll was released. Compared to the aggregate, Riley had undefeated Ohio State at No. 3, undefeated Georgia Tech underranked by nine spots, undefeated BYU underranked by four spots, did not rank Virginia (No. 15 overall), and was the only voter to rank Illinois.

To his credit, Riley responded, explaining his thinking on each of those controversial picks. Riley doesn't come across as a voter who doesn’t watch the games or is biased; he offers clear reasoning for each selection and says he will continue to rank teams accordingly.

Ultimately, yes, some of Riley’s rankings are unconventional and are outliers, but we’re gonna side with him on this one. Isn’t this what you want from an AP voter? An independent thought process that takes into account the minutiae of gameplay, outcomes, and strength of schedule?

You might disagree with his ranking, but we’ll gladly take someone willing to step out on a ledge and defend themselves over a voter who ranks teams in lockstep with everyone else. The latter is usually why we end up with bad preseason polls in the first place.