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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 Troy Aikman told a story about how he got burned in making an NIL donation to UCLA.

🏀 Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton will make appearances on Amazon’s NBA Nightcap while continuing his injury recovery.

📺 Curt Menefee is leaving his morning show role on Good Day New York and Nate Burleson could be heading out the exit door at CBS Mornings.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Notre Dame vs The World

When it comes to the most hated teams in sports, there are plenty of worthy candidates who can take the top spot. But in all likelihood, your answer to that question probably depends on which region you come from or which sport you enjoy the most. It could be the Yankees, Red Sox, Cowboys, Lakers, Celtics, or even the Duke Blue Devils. For anyone born in the 1900s in the midwest, that team is Notre Dame football.

It’s easy to see why. When it comes to “hateability” from a sports perspective, Notre Dame checks all the boxes. Not only have they had decades of success, but they have done so with an air of superiority. No other school has their own national television contract and maintained their independence in such a powerful way. Notre Dame has always gotten their way as long as most people breathing now have been alive.

Until now.

The Fighting Irish snub from the playoff wasn’t entirely unexpected given Miami beat them head-to-head. Yes, the jump happening in the final week of the CFP rankings was totally unproductive and total insanity. But it doesn’t change what happened on the field between the two teams.

Instead of acknowledging that truth, though, Notre Dame has gone scorched earth. And the entitlement oozing from everything they have done - from making it known they wouldn’t accept a bowl bid, to threatening the ACC, to complaining about ESPN - has reminded fans why they are the team that everyone loves to hate.

That continued on Tuesday with a live press conference from athletic director Pete Bevacqua. As a former NBC Sports executive, he should know the importance of the media narrative and public relations battle. So when he largely aired the same grievances and victim mentality with little new to say, it only entrenched the hard feelings that exist outside South Bend. It’s one thing to be called out by talking heads like Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon. It’s another when it comes from inside the sport like Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark.

The past few days have been a bad look for the Fighting Irish. But a dose of reality is needed. The networks and the conferences will still crawl all over themselves to be in a relationship with Notre Dame. If they truly do nuke their ACC partnership, the Big Ten will be at their doorstep in a heartbeat. Fox, CBS, and ESPN would love nothing more than to have more of their games on their channels. And their return to true supervillain status will only cause more people to watch them next year.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

It’s a good thing Bob Cousy is still with us, because he would be rolling over in his grave if he saw this form from Chris Russo on the basketball court.

Speaking of Russo, Mike Francesa completely disputed Max Kellerman’s story when it came to potentially replacing the Mad Dog as his radio partner.

College football might be a much more colorful place with Pete Golding now the head coach at Ole Miss.

📈 DATA DUMP 📊

🏈 The Big Ten set a ratings record for their championship game as a #1 vs #2 showdown overcame the Indiana-Ohio State game not actually having any real playoff implications.

🏀 The NBA is seeing huge viewership increases for games this season, but it’s a different story for studio programming on NBA TV.

⛳ LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil accepts the renegade golf league has a long way to go to improve its American television ratings.

️‍️‍🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Blank Space

It’s been an incredibly disappointing season for the Kansas City Chiefs. The perennial Super Bowl contenders have slumped to a 6-7 record and are now on the outside looking in at the AFC playoff picture.

But the play on the field isn’t the only thing that has seemingly been off with the Chiefs this season. It’s the lack of buzz around the world’s most famous pop star following the team in Taylor Swift.

Apparently, that’s been intentional as Swift is reportedly keeping a much lower profile at Chiefs games after all the attention she has received in years past.

It wasn’t that long ago when Swift and her relationship with Travis Kelce were dominating headlines around the world. First came her New Heights podcast appearance where she announced her new album and offered a window into her private life with Kelce like we had never seen before. Then came the announcement of her engagement to Kelce.

But whereas NFL fans have gotten used to seeing Swift in the luxury boxes at Chiefs games numerous times, that has not been the case this year. In fact, Swift has been conspicuous by her absence on most Chiefs games. She was only shown once this past weekend on Sunday Night Football.

So if you really want to see more of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, you may just have to set your calendar for June 13, 2026 when they are scheduled to tie the knot.