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.

🏈 Aikman faces new rules. ESPN’s Troy Aikman will be subject to the same rules as Fox’s Tom Brady this NFL season, after Aikman joined the Miami Dolphins’ front office. This means Aikman will not be allowed on team premises and must participate in production meetings virtually.

📱 Kalshi’s pause. “Mention markets” on Kalshi, or wagers on what sports announcers might say during a broadcast, have been shut down since Aug. 3 amid a reported investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

👎 NABJ rejects Stephen A. The National Association of Black Journalists gave Stephen A. Smith its “Thumbs Down” award for a “recurring public pattern of disparaging commentary” toward Black women in sports, politics and entertainment. In response, Smith pledged a thorough response on his show Monday.

🎧 McAfee’s debut. ESPN’s Pat McAfee released his debut musical album “The Diary of a Polarizing Figure” on Friday. Some of McAfee’s best pals at the network, including Dan Orlovsky and Kirk Herbstreit, were highly supportive, while public reception wasn’t quite so positive.

Read more of today’s top stories at Awful Announcing.

Lately, everything is coming up Pat McAfee.

Reports surfaced earlier in the summer suggesting the host and his show were in line for a $60 million payday from ESPN. A key McAfee ally, Mike Foss, was promoted earlier this summer and has reportedly encouraged talent to embrace their “authenticity,” much like McAfee did during his rise to the top of the industry. Even amid the ESPN layoffs and recent programming decisions, the network appeared to realign itself more with McAfee than with the network's erstwhile face, Stephen A. Smith.

Beyond ESPN, McAfee returned to WWE this year as a key heel aligned with Randy Orton in the run-up to WrestleMania. He will also appear in the Peter Berg film The Mosquito Bowl later this year on Netflix.

The host’s hot streak would be the envy of just about any sports media talent in the history of the industry.

With so much momentum, it’s somewhat understandable that McAfee would take the opportunity to release his debut musical album, a project he has hyped for months. Call it a heat check.

Instead of another big bucket, though, “The Diary of a Polarizing Figure” is something far closer to the classic GIF of Nick Young celebrating a pull-up three-pointer as it rims up and out behind him. As we covered in our review of the record, a heavily autotuned McAfee unspools empty taunts at the haters and blandly considers his life's successes. Not only is it thin, but it is full of tired McAfee tropes.

The audience seems to agree. On McAfee’s YouTube channel, which boasts nearly 3 million subscribers, songs range from 15,000 to 55,000 views. A Friday clip from the show hyping up rookie running back Jeremiyah Love already has 82,000 views. The album’s numbers are similar on Spotify.

Over at the Pat McAfee Show Reddit community, the top post about the album has this caption:

Pat is always talking about how the internet is undefeated when someone else is getting killed online. I hope he keeps that same energy for himself and realizes this album was a bad idea

Outside of McAfee’s two best ESPN pals, Dan Orlovsky and Kirk Herbstreit, almost nobody seems to like the music.

And truly, this isn’t a pile-on. Yes, I called it empty and bland and thin and tired, but that’s all a product of McAfee’s true whiff with the album.

When YouTube streamer iShowSpeed released anthems for the World Cup in 2022 and 2026, they were also heavily digitized and silly-sounding. The difference is that the music was pure hype, and Speed didn’t take it too seriously.

McAfee, on the other hand, has, for a long time now, taken himself way too seriously.

The reason to liken the album to Young’s ill-fated three-pointer isn’t that McAfee wanted to venture into new formats or express his thoughts through lyrics. That may be unusual, but McAfee has broken down other walls before. McAfee went wrong by insisting on confronting his haters, his doubters, and his opps.

As a former NFL punter vying to make the biggest sports talk show in America, the underdog story is valid. It is one of the most unlikely origin stories in the history of pop culture. People rightly eat it up. But as perhaps the biggest television star in the country, on the verge of making $60 million and about to star in a feature film while appearing as a guest of honor of the president, that message no longer has any chance of resonating with McAfee’s audience.

The NBA offseason has been busy with big-picture storylines that will affect the league's hierarchy.

NBA content creator Legend of Winning joined our talk show, The Play-By-Play LIVE, to discuss LeBron James’ move to Philadelphia, the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers, and the league’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. Plus, LOW shares his keys to success in creating live NBA content on Twitch and how his audience thinks about the league.

Watch the episode on YouTube, or listen on Spotify or Apple.

LeBron James is on YouTube.

James is the latest star athlete to join the platform, following Cristiano Ronaldo's stream of a Padel event on his channel last year and Steph Curry's announcement of his own sneaker partnership. The trend is unmistakable, and so is the content vertical James seems to plan to occupy, at least in the early stages of his YouTube career.

More than cashing in on his brand, as James has long done, the move to YouTube is better described as cashing in on the influx of investment into digital golf content. Last year, Good Good Sports raised $45 million from a group of investors including Peyton Manning. The company is also a title sponsor of a PGA Tour event in Texas. Before that, Dude Perfect scored a nine-figure raise. And Bob Does Sports, which hosted James for a viral interview earlier this year, is on the way up as well, signing with UTA and co-hosting the popular Internet Invitational tournament with Barstool.

Near the time I started covering digital media here at Awful Announcing, I wrote a column noting how many podcasts had also embraced golf content. Just about every popular digital show — from Barstool to Meadowlark Media to Pat McAfee — had their own video series showing the hosts on the course. The format is physically beautiful and lets talent show personality in a casual environment.

Of course, the most prominent golf YouTuber is also one of the sport’s biggest stars: Bryson DeChambeau. Since 2021, DeChambeau has drawn nearly 3 million subscribers and launched multiple video series. Fans watch DeChambeau play rounds or watch interviews with athletes and celebrities. DeChambeau is seen as a driving force behind golf’s gradual embrace of digital content and behind-the-scenes access, first at LIV and more recently in the PGA.

James’ embrace of the medium isn’t the same groundbreaking thing that, say, SpringHill or The Shop were. But if the other brands’ massive success is any indication, James should do very well.

The other trend that James’ YouTube launch fits into is the industry’s move toward what Playmaker CEO Dave Katzman recently dubbed “off the couch” content in an interview with me. Katzman’s company recently hired former NFL QB Jameis Winston to do a sports travel show, and at Wave, Olympian Ilona Maher is launching a similar in-the-gym interview show.

Now James has his own such feed, if the first “scramble” video starring the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers is any indication. It joins an assemblage of James media properties that also includes a video podcast with Amazon and his own company, SpringHill.

The first go-round of James’ media footprint felt incredibly traditional, with a show on HBO, a film with Warner Bros., and a bunch of production deals. Yet just as the storyline around King’s winding NBA career has evolved over time, so too has his media strategy. The latest venture into YouTube is a shrewd pivot for James as he gradually moves into the post-playing phase of his role as an entertainer.

While spectacle is familiar territory for the streaming giant, Netflix is new to MLB. The league formally announced its new media rights deals with Netflix, NBC, and ESPN last November.

So far, Netflix has handled the Opening Night broadcast between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants and has the exclusive rights to the 2026 Home Run Derby in July. Both broadcasts showed promise, but left room for improvement.

Was the third time the charm for Netflix’s MLB coverage? Let’s get into it.

Click to read more from Awful Announcing's Megan Armstrong on Netflix’s Field of Dreams broadcast last week.