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 ✍️

🏀 Longtime CBS Sports broadcaster Bill Raftery had much to say about the state of college basketball in an interview with Front Office Sports. But when it comes to retirement, the 81-year-old says, “I’m sure at some point they’ll let me know if you’re not doing your job, but I just sort of take each year as it goes.”

🏈 Wednesday’s edition of ESPN’s NFL Live will look different for viewers watching on World Autism Awareness Day, thanks to help from Madden Orlovsky, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky’s son, who will replace the show’s graphics with hand-drawn artwork.

🎅 After back-to-back appearances on the NFL’s Christmas slate, the Kansas City Chiefs have formally requested to become a permanent fixture on the holiday. Of course, the longer they remain elite, the more likely they will get that.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

The Pat McAfee responsibility dilemma

Last August, I wrote a piece called “Pat McAfee isn’t made for this.” It was in reaction to a segment McAfee did on his popular “progrum” about Algerian boxer Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics. Khelif, who was born as and still is a woman, was being discussed as if she were a transgender woman or “genetically male” based on unverified claims by a boxing organization. The situation took on a life of its own after Khelif’s opening-round opponent withdrew after 46 seconds, leading some to speculate that she shouldn’t be allowed to box other women.

McAfee spent five-plus minutes discussing the situation on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN and YouTube, making several false claims about Khelif and her gender. He also admitted three times that he hasn’t done enough research on the topic and added that he hasn’t “looked into it enough.”

The whole thing typified the push and pull of the Pat McAfee Experience, which presents itself as a Barstool-adjacent hangout for the boys where nothing should be taken too seriously, except that McAfee also wants his voice to be respected in the sports conversation when warranted. And if he happens to get some things wrong or speak out of turn, you’re not supposed to take him to task for it. You’re just supposed to say “Aw shucks, he didn’t mean it,” ruffle his hair, and let him be on his way, cause he doesn’t know any better.

Of course, it doesn’t really work like that. There’s always a trade-off when you step in front of a microphone or stand in front of a TV camera and say something. You are open to feedback, critique, and rebuttal. That’s just a fact of life. Most of all, you are accountable to your viewers for what you say and allow to be said on your show. That’s non-negotiable, as much as McAfee has tried to fight it.

Whether that’s letting your guests espouse harmful conspiracy theories or accuse someone of being a pedophile, you bear responsibility for that. The same goes for reporting something that turned out to be false, cracking jokes about a sexual assault case, or spreading rumors as facts.

McAfee should be familiar with this. Brett Favre sued him for defamation (though that lawsuit was eventually dropped), and he has had to clarify other comments several times to avoid similar legal entanglements. 

He might have to do so again following a piece this week in The Athletic detailing how Ole Miss freshman Mary Kate Cornett’s life has been turned upside down thanks to prominent figures discussing a false and unseemly rumor about her romantic life that went viral on social media. While several sports media members were called out in the piece, she specifically cited McAfee for making light of what she calls a “deliberate and coordinated cyberattack spreading categorically false and defamatory information.” She told The Athletic that she intends to take legal action against McAfee and ESPN over the incident.

Wednesday, Cornett zeroed in on McAfee even further in an NBC News interview, saying “I’m not a public figure that you can go talk about on your show to get more views” and adding “I don’t think these boys know what they’re doing to people.”

Neither ESPN nor McAfee has commented on Cornett, as lawyers have surely stepped in. McAfee has continued business as usual with no mention on his show or social media accounts. This is obviously the smart legal move, but it is also one more example of McAfee failing to grasp the scope of his position and power, let alone the impact he can have on a teenage girl just trying to live her life.

I’m no lawyer, but I imagine Cornett doesn’t have much chance of winning a legal battle against ESPN and McAfee. Perhaps that’s not ultimately the point. Maybe it’s simply about asking McAfee to stand up and admit that he realizes there’s a responsibility that comes with his platform. It might feel like we live in an era where you can say and do whatever you want, but that’s not really true. There are still choices and consequences.

ESPN might keep turning the other way, like they do when he craps all over their employees (so long as he keeps generating social impressions, whatever those are actually worth). McAfee has made it clear how much he hates even a modicum of negative feedback. But it’s much easier to get mad at “the media” than a young girl whose life has been turned upside down while you joked about it on national television. If that’s not going to get him to understand the responsibility of his role, it makes you wonder what inevitable controversy finally will.

📣🎙️ THE PLAY-BY-PLAY 🎤

On the latest episode of The Play By Play, Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo joins Ben Axelrod and Brendon Kleen to discuss the ongoing feud between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith, CBS Sports’ football broadcast booth shakeup, Peter Schrager joining ESPN, Zach Lowe joining The Ringer, Dave Portnoy’s place in politics, and more.

Click the video above to watch or find The Play-By-Play wherever you listen to podcasts!

🔦 IN THE SPOTLIGHT ☀️

BYU Cougars forward Richie Saunders went viral during March Madness when people learned he was the great-grandson of Ore-Ida co-founder and Tater Tots inventor Francis Nephi Grigg. That revelation led to an NIL deal with Ore-Ida that included free tater tots to fans and an appearance by Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite fame to distribute tots to fans at the Cougars’ Sweet 16 game.

Kraft Heinz’s Jackie Britva, Sr., who oversees brand communications for Ore-Ida, spoke with Awful Announcing about the campaign and how it came together.

📈💰INDUSTRY INSIGHTS🧐 

🏈 CBS Sports is not expected to hire a replacement for J.J. Watt on ‘The NFL Today’ as he heads to the No. 2 broadcast booth alongside Ian Eagle. That should give Nate Burleson and Matt Ryan some room to breathe.

🏀 Michael Wilbon doubled down on his recent criticism of ESPN’s obsession with Bronny James, saying, “I found it less than the professional-level standard that I became accustomed to personally at Northwestern, at The Washington Post. Just talking about Bronny James, for what?”

🎾 Starting in 2025, TNT will broadcast the French Open as part of a 10-year, $650 million deal. Andre Agassi, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, will join TNT’s French Open coverage as a studio commentator, per Andrew Marchand.

▶️ Nearly two years after being laid off by ESPN, Joon Lee has reemerged with a new YouTube channel where he wants to “build a community that reminds us why we fell in love with sports in the first place.”

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️ 

• “OH-TANI! INEVITABLE!” - Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Joe Davis on Shohei Ohtani’s walk-off home run Wednesday night to move the team to 8-0.

• "Piss-poor hitting,” or maybe it was “piss-poor inning.” Either way, SNY’s Keith Hernandez’s honest thoughts on Wednesday’s Mets-Marlins game were caught on a hot mic.

• “This is a guy you can’t walk… Rafaela has 160 plate appearances without one now” - Baltimore Orioles announcer Kevin Brown, right before Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela drew his first walk.

• “Fighting with cycling Twitter is worse than any college fan base” - ESPN SportsCenter anchor Randy Scott, who got more than he bargained for after complaining about cyclists hogging the road while driving his car.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

The road to World Cup 2026 is gonna be weird

A lot can happen between now and June 11, 2026. I know this because I think about how much has happened in just the last three months. By then, the FIFA World Cup 26 will be here. And I mean literally here, taking place across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

That sounded like a pretty sweet deal when the joint bid won in 2018. Now, you’d be hard-pressed to find a worse time in the shared history of the three countries to ask them to host a sporting event like the World Cup jointly.

President Trump is waging economic war on Canada, Mexico, and the rest of the world. They’re responding in kind. Trump’s “51st state” rhetoric has lit a fiery patriotism in our northern neighbors that is directed right back at us. To say nothing of everything else in complete upheaval in America right now around travel and immigration.

We’re still more than a year away from teams representing 48 countries showing up in 16 North American cities to play 104 total matches. But if you’re like me, you’re starting to ask yourself how, exactly, all of this is going to work.

Several countries are already issuing travel warnings and advisories about visiting the U.S. The Zambia women’s national team removed U.S.-based players from their squad for upcoming games due to concerns about the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Other countries must be considering America's ongoing hostility and wonder if they even want their teams or fans to show up here. And if they do come, what kind of atmosphere are they arriving in? Will America’s national anthem get booed? And how will Americans respond to that?

Right now, it’s all speculative. Again, there’s a lot of time between then and now. But it’s also not too early to wonder what will happen when the world comes to America in 2026. What will they find when they get here?