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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

⚽️ Gary Lineker out at BBC. After coming under fire for a social media post that used antisemitic imagery, Gary Lineker is out at the BBC, the network and soccer broadcaster each confirmed on Monday. Lineker’s departure brings an end to his 26-year run at the BBC, which now finds itself with a sizable void to fill ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

⛳️ Nike pokes fun at Scheffler arrest. One year after making headlines for his arrest while attempting to enter the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler now finds himself the tournament’s reigning champion. And after Scheffler captured the third major championship of his career in Charlotte on Sunday, Nike celebrated the occasion accordingly with an ad poking fun at his 2024 arrest.

📺️ Treavor Scales returns to ESPN. Four years after first leaving ESPN, Treavor Scales is returning to the Worldwide Leader. After hosting Braves and Hawks games for Atlanta’s Bally’s/FanDuel Sports Network and serving as a sideline reporter for The CW’s college football coverage, the former Harvard running back will now be anchoring SportsCenter, with his first assignment being the 6 p.m. ET episode on May 23.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Boy, that escalated quickly

“Man, Ryan Clark really must not like Robert Griffin III.”

That’s all that I could think to myself on Monday as I watched the former NFL safety take down his former Washington Redskins teammate and ex-ESPN colleague’s proclamation that Angel Reese “hates” Caitlin Clark.

Not only did Ryan Clark make it personal, but he made it about as personal as you can get. In a clip from the latest episode of The Pivot, the 2011 Pro Bowl selection pointed to Griffin’s marriage to a white woman as evidence that he doesn’t understand what Black women deal with in the United States.

“If you’re RG3, when is the last time within your household you’ve had a conversation about what [Angel Reese is] dealing with?” Ryan Clark asked. “You haven’t been able to do that because in both of your marriages, you’ve been married to white women.

“You haven’t had opportunities to have those conversations to educate you on what they’re feeling, what Black women deal with, what they’re seeing when they think of a young Angel Reese. And the whole time that he’s mimicking Angel Reese and bobbing his head and moving his neck while he’s doing this whole piece, his wife is in the back amening and clapping.”

Clark even threw Griffin under the bus with regard to his treatment of his wife, stating that despite her husband’s behavior and comments, he believes there’s more to Grete Griffin than her skin color.

“He always points out on social media the color of his wife’s white skin. As if the color of her skin is what makes her special. As if the color of her skin is what makes her a good wife,” he said of Griffin. “I’ve met the lady, I’ve had a conversation with her. I think she’s more than that.”

Clark concluded the segment with a parting shot at the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner, stating, “This is what I’d like RG3 to know: That no matter how much he continues to echo the micro-aggressions of racists, he’ll be no less Black than me.”

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for Griffin to issue a response of his own, criticizing Clark, who he repeatedly referred to as “wrong and way out of bounds” for invoking his family in retaliation for what he claimed was merely a “sports opinion.” The 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year also said that Clark’s commentary wasn’t just a bad look for himself but also for ESPN, which could be interpreted a number of different ways considering Griffin’s history with the Worldwide Leader.

“Ryan Clark personally attacking me and my family personally over a sports opinion is cowardly, spineless, and weak,” Griffin wrote. “Ryan Clark personally attacking me and my family personally over a sports opinion is a bad look for ESPN and for him as a man.”

Clark reposted Griffin’s message with another response of his own, making it clear that the two have had issues dating back to their time working together at ESPN.

“You’re a phony bro. One of the worst teammates I ever had both on the field and in TV,” Clark wrote. “I didn’t attack your wife. I spoke on what you do on social media and Tv. Like I said. I met your wife and she seemed like a lovely lady that was worth more than the color of her skin! You be good bruh.”

It’s too early to say whether that will be the end of this or if we’re just getting started here. Either way, this has already proven to be one of the most explosive sports media feuds not only in 2025 but in recent memory.

👀 AROUND AA 📰 

What’s the most watchable Week 1 game?

We’ve known the entirety of the 2025 NFL schedule for nearly a week now, but what are its most highly anticipated games? When it comes to Week 1, we’ve got you covered, as our Matt Clapp ranks the 16 matchups in terms of their watchability.

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️ 

• “It’s like you literally don’t remember the Titans” - NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt taking issue with the Tennessee Titans’ lack of primetime games despite the presence of No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.

• “I’m not bothered by this because I love when folks are stupid enough to show themselves… A lot of times, when we see stuff politically, sports-wise, corporate-wise, et cetera, what we’ve missed along the way is fall back and let people show you who they are” - ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on the WNBA’s investigation into allegations that Angel Reese was subjected to hate speech during the Chicago Sky’s season opener vs. the Indiana Fever.

• “I always like to go back a little bit on something that Charles Barkley likes to remind basketball players. Like, I play golf for a living. It’s incredible, right? Am I embarrassed a little bit at how I finished today? Yeah. But I just need to get over it, get over myself” - Jon Rahm after coming up short in the PGA Championship.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥 

Can ‘The Fall of Favre’ be the rise of Netflix’s ‘Untold’ series?

I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Netflix’s Untold series.

In fact, I’ve often joked with colleagues that had I been writing for Awful Announcing earlier, they would have had trouble stopping me from continuously expressing my disdain for the Florida football episode, Swamp Kings.

To me, Untold had reached the point of swinging too far in favor of access to its subjects at the expense of actual journalism. So, my ears certainly perked up when I first heard that there would be an episode focused primarily on Brett Favre’s off-field controversies.

Untold: The Fall of Favre is available on Netflix as of Tuesday and marks a clear departure from the series’ previous formula. In fact, I suspect the primary criticism of this episode — especially in Green Bay and Mississippi — will be that it swung too far the other way and was overly harsh on its subject as opposed to being too soft.

I didn’t feel that way (you can read my full review here), as I found the project’s willingness to critically examine the misdeeds of football’s former golden boy to be a refreshing contrast to previous episodes. As I noted in my review, spending a full hour focused on Brett Favre didn’t make for a particularly enjoyable watch, but it was both informative and worthwhile.

Unsurprisingly, Favre didn’t participate in the project, once again proving that you can still make compelling sports content without the primary subject’s involvement. Moving forward, I expect future seasons of Untold to still include their share of subject-friendly features. But the Fall of Favre at least left me hopeful that there will also be a place for more journalistically minded projects.