Welcome to The A Block, Awful Announcing’s daily newsletter, where you’ll always find the latest sports media news, commentary, and analysis.

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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 RedZone red alert. The sum of all fears was realized on Wednesday when Scott Hanson confirmed that last year’s RedZone test commercials are now officially here to stay. “Commercial-free” will no longer be part of Hanson’s introductory catchphrase for the show. Just in case you think this is ESPN’s fault because of the pending NFL-ESPN deal, here’s a helpful explainer.

🎙️ Radio days. Don’t forget to get your grades in for Awful Announcing’s 2025 MLB local radio broadcaster rankings. This is our first time ranking radio booths, so if there’s an announcer or booth you love, cast your vote and spread the word before 9 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 5.

🏀 Hurley burly. UConn coach Dan Hurley has a new book coming out. In it, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, he strongly considered quitting his job and even had preliminary talks with Fox Sports about joining the broadcast booth this past offseason. While he decided to return to the Huskies, it sounds like he might eventually make the media jump sooner rather than later.

🏈 Big Barstool. While the Big Ten gets most of the attention, Fox is also the Big 12’s primary media rights partner. As Big Noon Kickoff heads to Iowa State this weekend, conference ADs and Commissioner Brett Yormark reportedly joined Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy for a 40-minute call to pitch him on engagement opportunities and sell him on the benefits of selling them.

🚨 LEADING OFF 🚨

Pablo Torre really does find out

It would be dismissive and obnoxious to say that the sports media world lacks good journalism these days. Recently, we’ve seen some excellent investigative reporting from the likes of ESPN’s Don Van Natta, Jr., Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch and Andrew Marchand, and The Washington Post’s Will Hobson, Albert Samaha, and Sam Fortier, to name a few.

But there is just something about the shock-and-awe journalism that Pablo Torre has been doing over the past few months on Pablo Torre Finds Out alone that has made him stand out from the crowd.

As many media outlets shift their focus from journalism to entertainment, virality, or the whims of their owners, coupled with the mega-mergers and partnerships that limit opportunities and cast doubt on independent integrity, it doesn’t feel like a great time for good, old-fashioned reporting.

Perhaps that’s why Torre’s bombshells, like the one he dropped Wednesday about the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard seemingly circumventing the NBA salary cap with a $28 million no-show endorsement deal, hit so hard.

All due respect to the insiders of the world, fighting over transactional table scraps, this is some serious shoe-leather reporting that could have a significant influence on one of the nation's biggest sports entities, just like his reporting on allegations of misconduct inside the NFLPA (with Mike Florio) and the intricacies behind UNC head coach Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson’s relationship.

That Torre has such high-profile detractors speaks to how few people put themselves out there in this way anymore. Many people have grown accustomed to the status quo. And his steadfast desire to defend his work to anyone, anytime, only adds to the excitement. Not to mention, he knows how to make content lemonade out of any lemon.

What’s really wild is that Torre’s show only recently became part of The Athletic’s podcast network. He’s been able to do quite a lot without that backing. And while it’s unclear how much the New York Times-owned outlet’s resources will come into play for PTFO, it makes one wonder just what he can do now that he has those institutions behind him.

Back in July, Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod summed up the solid work Torre has been doing, and that was before this Clippers bombshell.

“Whether he’s covering Jordon Hudson’s Airbnb usage, Dallas Cowboys fans on death row, the latest NBA gambling scandal, or conflicts of interest at the highest level of the NFLPA, Pablo Torre isn’t just doing real journalism; he’s doing real journalism that no one else is doing,” wrote Axelrod. “And despite some protests of some of his seemingly less-serious episodes, that much has been obvious to anyone who’s actually been listening.”

We look forward to seeing what the next #TorreBomb brings when it inevitably shows up in about a month or so.

📺 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🎬

• Just over a year ago, a federal court judge shockingly overturned a $4.7 billion jury verdict against the NFL over its distribution of the Sunday Ticket package. However, the case, now on appeal at the Ninth Circuit, received a significant boost Wednesday when the new judge overseeing it suggested that the plaintiffs had made a strong case that his predecessor, who retired shortly after the ruling, had overlooked a key line of argument.

• When you think of the sound of the NFL on the radio, you think of Westwood One. But until this season, a woman had never called a game for the legendary network. This will change on September 28, when the versatile Kate Scott joins the booth to call the Steelers-Vikings game in Dublin for Week 4.

• When AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery first announced their new media rights deal last year, it included the news that the pro wrestling promotion’s pay-per-views would eventually air on HBO Max. Nearly a year later, that day has now arrived, with HBO announcing on Wednesday that the first AEW pay-per-view to air on its streaming service will be AEW All Out on Saturday, Sept. 20.

🎺 AROUND AA 🎺

Traditionally, Hard Knocks and The White Lotus have shared two things in common.

One, they’re both about an hour long. And two, the series finale pays off weeks of intrigue in a memorable episode that often dominates social media, sports radio, and what we used to call “watercooler talk.”

Tuesday night’s episode of this Buffalo Bills-focused season did absolutely none of that, and capped off an abysmal showing for one of the most storied sports documentary franchises around.

Click to read more from Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo on the 37-minute finale that typified a short, restrictive, and PR-fluff adjacent season of Hard Knocks.

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“I’ve always said that about players too, you know, when players are out. ‘Well, they should be back in their hotel room.’ Okay, what if they’re having an orgy in their hotel room? That okay? You wouldn’t know about it. So, they go out to dinner with people or they’re having fun with people outside, well, that angers you because there’s a game the next day. What if they were in the hotel room and they set up a trapeze, and there were people flying through the air having an orgy? You wouldn’t know about it, but you’d be fine.” - Michael Kay’s very colorful analogy about complaints over Aaron Boone’s trip to UNC.

“I’m just kind of in my lane and someone sent it to me, and I was like, ‘What is this?’ He’s calling me a clout chaser, dude, you’re the one who has my name plastered all over your YouTube that had 36 views, like get out of here.” - Sophie Cunningham skewering Skip Bayless for his rant about her.

“It’s the same thing that happened when I was at SportsCenter. Keith Olbermann and Chris Myers went to Fox Sports, and they were going to develop their own SportsCenter,” Patrick continued. “And I’m like, man, good luck. My quote was, ‘Pack a lunch, dude. And you know what? Pack dinner as well.’ Because you have a head start on people with your viewing patterns, and it’s rare when you change your viewing patterns.” - Dan Patrick on his skepticism about Dave Portnoy’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ role.

“It’s a different day and age, where a sports league and a [media] partner make a deal. And for a piece of a company, I don’t know how that’s going to work. That might be for a larger flowchart than me.” - Rich Eisen discussing the ESPN-NFL partnership on The Awful Announcing Podcast.

🗣️ THE PLAY-BY-PLAY 🗣️

FS1's newest morning show, Wake Up Barstool, premiered this week. It has more buzz than FS1's previous morning shows, but it seems to incorporate Barstool elements alongside a typical morning show format. Will the show find a healthy balance? Drew Lerner and Brendon Kleen discuss on the latest episode of The Play-By-Play.

Head’s up! The Play-By-Play has a new schedule, featuring a live afternoon show every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, as well as additional shows whenever breaking news occurs. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

️‍🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

We get it, NFL, you like money

One of the greatest catchphrases in sports broadcasting will be said no more as the NFL will welcome commercials to RedZone on a full-time basis beginning this season.

“Seven hours of commercial-free football starts now!” May you rest in peace.

Commercials are a significant pain point for sports fans of all shapes, sizes, and interests. It doesn’t matter if it’s football, golf, or anything in between. To a certain point, it’s understandable. Advertising revenue helps make the world go round. But there’s a delicate balance between serving the interests of the league and the interests of fans.

The NFL’s decision to bring permanent commercials into what had been an oasis of pure football is where that balance falls apart. Fans can clearly see through this move (that was tested last year) as a pure cash grab that further lines the pockets of the wealthiest sports league in the world.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder went all-in on the NFL’s lamest move yet to squeeze money out of a rock just because it can. Click to read the whole screed.