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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏆 Beli-check yourself. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has been enveloped by the drama of Bill Belichick reportedly being snubbed by voters for induction in the first year of eligibility. The Hall of Fame issued a blunt statement saying that voters on the selection committee must follow the selection process bylaws and that voters could be removed if the Hall deems the process tainted.

🏈 Polian politicking. Speaking of, Bill Polian is going on the offensive after recent reports suggesting he spearheaded a campaign to keep Bill Belichick from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The former Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills general manager reiterated Wednesday that he voted for Bill Belichick’s inclusion, and the Hall apparently backed him up.

🗣️ Brady backs Belichick. Belichick’s former quarterback came to his defense, telling Brock Huard and Mike Salk on their Seattle Sports radio show, and claimed that if Belichick isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer, then no one is. Brady also has to be wondering what Belichick’s snub might be for his own candidacy a couple of years from now.

⚾ Tirico taps out. In non-Bill Belichick news, we found out there’s one sport that NBC’s Mike Tirico won’t be calling this year. NBC Sports’ NFL, NBA, and Olympics voice will not call Sunday Night Baseball when it debuts on their network this season. Fox Sports’ Jason Benetti is reported to be the network’s top choice to serve as lead play-by-play voice for the package.

🚨 LEADING OFF 🚨

Super Bowl LX's biggest sports media storylines

We’ve finally made it to Super Bowl LX, and all across America—nay, the world, everyone is wondering who will win, the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots.

But if you’re reading this, it’s because you know there are better questions to ask and more interesting outcomes to ponder. The Super Bowl isn’t just the culmination of an NFL season’s highs and lows, coupled with all of the excesses of American culture. It’s also a grand stage for some of the biggest sports media moments and performances of the year.

We’ll dig into all of these in greater detail at Awful Announcing in the coming weeks, but to get your mind right, here are the five biggest sports media storylines you need to be thinking about in the lead-up to Super Bowl LX.

Tirico Time

You could make the argument that Mike Tirico’s entire broadcasting career has led up to this. For everything the iconic announcer has accomplished in his storied career with ESPN and NBC, he’s never called a Super Bowl. He got close in 2022 when he hosted the Super Bowl pregame show. But NBC’s voice of the NBA and Olympics host will be taking the most prominent announcing seat in American sports for the very first time in two weeks.

“The Super Bowl certainly will feel like a milestone achieved or reached, maybe. That hits you differently because… I mean, that’s beyond your wildest dreams,” Tirico told Awful Announcing in September.

Furthermore, Tirico will immediatelyhost Primetime in Milan from Levi’s Stadium after the Super Bowl, pulling the kind of double duty any broadcaster would dream of. It’s been a long time since a sports announcer has been that front and center to American audiences across one day, but if anyone deserves the shot, it’s Tirico. And considering NBC gets the Super Bowl again in 2030, it’s the start of a whole new era for him.

Olympic’s Lead-Out Bump

Talk about an embarrassment of riches. Instead of a new Rob Lowe game show or a sitcom no one will remember in three years, NBC Sports’ Super Bowl lead-out is the freakin’ Olympics. And you can be sure advertisers are paying for that privilege.

Keep an eye on what the ratings end up being for that evening’s coverage from Milan. NBC made a similar move in 2022 and achieved solid numbers (24 million viewers). They almost certainly won’t be able to match the all-time record holder, 1996’s one-hour Friends episode that garnered almost 53 million viewers, but it stands to reason they could hit 25-30 million, especially with the new Nielsen ratings measurements.

The Bad Bunny of It All

For all the drama and controversy kicked up by critics, there never really seemed to be a moment when the NFL second-guessed Bad Bunny as its Super Bowl Halftime Show performer. And honestly, there are plenty of good reasons.

First and foremost, he’s insanely popular. Second, he appeals to worldwide audiences, a major selling point for the league right now.

And third, just look at last year’s Kendrick Lamar performance. That received plenty of pushback and threats of boycotts. It ended up being the most-watched halftime show in history. The critics are loud and make themselves seem like a force, but they’re ultimately way outnumbered.

Will the TPUSA Halftime Show Still Happen?

Speaking of them, there was a lot of hype behind Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show when it was first announced, with some wondering if it might end up siphoning off a significant audience. Now? We’re still not even sure what to make of it.

Organizers swear the show will go on, but refuse to say who’s performing, who’ll appear, and what will happen. They have, at least, confirmed that it will be broadcast on several platforms, including YouTube, X, and Rumble.

There might not be many eyes on this show if and when it happens, but there will be many eyes on what happens during it and what happens next.

Will Super Bowl LX Be The Most-Watched Ever?

Recently, the question hasn’t been whether or not each successive Super Bowl is the most-watched ever, but by how much? Much of this is due to the rise of streaming services, altcasts, and technological advancements that have expanded how people watch.

Breaking from the last few years, NBC Sports is keeping things relatively simple this year. Only three places to watch the game: NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo. No altcasts. The Patriots certainly have the cache to draw an audience, but there’s no Tom Brady this time. Meanwhile, the closest thing the Seahawks have to a household name is Sam Darnold.

However, NBC could be the beneficiary of Nielsen’s measurement changes this year, which have helped rocket ratings figures for just about every sport and league, including the NFL. That could offset any drop-off due to the teams involved.

The number to beat is 127.7 million viewers. Do you think Super Bowl LX can do it?

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“It’s concerning, outrageous, disgusting, supportive, dismissive, divisive, encouraging, discouraging, vile, uplifting, ignorant, and enlightened. Such a disturbing example of how divided America is right now.” - News 4 San Antonio sports anchor Dan Harris on the Facebook reactions to a video of Victor Wembanyama discussing the Minneapolis shootings.

“I didn’t vote against Belichick or Kraft. I voted for the three senior candidates: Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, and L.C. Greenwood. You could call that rationalizing, I suppose. And I’m suddenly reminded of the fortune cookie wisdom that you should never try to explain, since your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway.” - Kansas City Star columnist Vahe Gregorian on why he didn’t vote for Bill Belichick for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“It’s a bad look for NBC, it’s just a bad look, plain and simple. They couldn’t fly to Michael like once a month and do a new interview? That makes NBC look really bad, plain and simple.” - Charles Barkley on NBC’s underwhelming Michael Jordan interviews.

“I would like to know the names of the *ssholes who did not vote for him. They are too cowardly to identify themselves.” - Jimmy Johnson on HOF voters who didn’t vote for Bill Belichick.

“It’s right there in black and white, buddy… You’re the one who shoots it.” - A reporter to Brooks Koepka after pointing out his poor Major performances in recent years.

📺 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🎬

• Future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw is reportedly “nearing a deal” with NBC to serve as a studio analyst for the network’s MLB coverage, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. Kershaw had previously been reported as a “top target” on “select events” for the network.

• As Main Street Sports Group, owner of the FanDuel Sports Networks, inches towards its likely shuttering, many of the 29 teams currently under contract with the regional sports network conglomerate are eyeing alternatives. According to a Sports Business Journal report by Tom Friend, multiple franchises in the group of 29 are in “emergency talks” with the Victory+ streaming platform should Main Street fold in the middle of the current NBA and NHL seasons. Per Friend, teams are once again expecting Main Street to miss upcoming rights payments, due Feb. 1, and are looking for “a quick and reputable replacement that will pay on time.”

• The NFL had its least-watched conference championship weekend in five years on Sunday despite a pair of close games. According to viewership data released by CBS and Fox, Sunday’s conference championship games averaged 47.4 million viewers, marking the NFL’s least-watched penultimate weekend since 2021 (43.3 million viewers). Surprisingly, the early game on CBS led the way in what is traditionally the day's lesser-watched window.

• The New York Yankees will have a familiar face on YES Network in 2026. On Tuesday, the network announced that Willie Randolph is joining its Yankees coverage. Michael Kay later clarified on Yankees Hot Stove that the 71-year-old Randolph will work in the studio. The six-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion effectively fills one of the openings created by the departures of Jeff Nelson and Dave Valle.

• ESPN is staging a 24-hour promotional blitz called “The Handoff” beginning immediately after Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, using SoFi Stadium and Disneyland Park to launch a year-long campaign for the network’s first Super Bowl on Feb. 14, 2027. The event kicks off at SoFi Stadium, where Chris Berman will ceremonially hand off coverage to Scott Van Pelt following the Patriots-Seahawks game. Van Pelt will anchor his late-night SportsCenter from the site of next year’s Super Bowl LXI, with Laura Rutledge hosting a new show, Super Bowl Live, from the same location.

🎺 AROUND AA 🎺

Charles Bediako, who turns 24 in March, played for Alabama during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. He left early to enter the 2023 NBA Draft. Although he went undrafted and never played in the NBA, he has spent the past three seasons with three G League teams. But last week, Bediako was granted eligibility under a 10-day temporary restraining order issued by a Tuscaloosa judge that allowed him to return to the Crimson Tide. He debuted in Saturday’s 79-73 home loss to Tennessee_, scoring 13 points. On Tuesday, he scored 14 points in a 90-64 home victory over Missouri. No.23 Alabama improved to 14-6, 4-3 in the Southeastern Conference.

Connor Earegood of The Detroit News is concerned about what’s going on and has decided to protest. Earegood, an AP Top 25 poll voter, got on his moral high horse by refusing to vote for Alabama.

Awful Announcing’s Michael Grant wrote that the decision on Bediako’s eligibility raises questions, and it’s entirely understandable for Earegood to disagree with it. Fine. But denying Alabama a vote when the team, by most objective measures, is a top-25 program is unnecessary, meaningless, and silly.

Read Grant’s full column here on why Earegood’s stance doesn’t do anyone any good.

️‍️🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Remembering Dan McQuade

Dan McQuade, a longtime Philadelphia writer, former Deadspin editor, and Defector co-founder, has died at the age of 43 following a battle with neuroendocrine cancer. The news, announced by Defector EIC Tom Ley, rippled across social media as friends and fans of his writing shared their favorites.

It would be disingenuous of me to say I knew Dan personally, but we often interacted in the way that so many bloggers and writers of our generation did: Through social media. I admired his sharp sense of humor and ability to take absurd or hyperniche topics and turn them into whimsical missives and can’t-miss columns.

A Penn graduate, Dan wrote extensively about Philadelphia and its complex nuances and random cultural peculiarities, like how far Rocky Balboa actually ran in Rocky II. But he touched on national topics as well, memorably covering Rudy Giuliani’s Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference fiasco.

The two things that most stick out in my mind are his annual rundowns of what’s hot in the wild world of Wildwood Boardwalk T-Shirts and his coverage of the strange collaboration between the 76ers and Color Star Technology.

R.I.P. to a real one with a curious, hilarious, and thoughtful mind.