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 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 ✍️

🗣️ Awful Announcing has released its first ever College Football media bias rankings where our readers adjudicated the voices most likely to not shoot so straight in their analysis.

📻 After landing a national show on Fox Sports Radio, Jon “Stugotz” Weiner may not be done with longtime partner Dan Le Batard just yet.

🏎️ ESPN wants more credit for helping to grow Formula 1 on its way to a huge Apple payday. Is the global racing giant making a mistake in saying goodbye to the worldwide leader?

⛳ You would not believe how the LIV Golf website broke the news of Brooks Koepka’s departure if you didn’t see it for yourself.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

The Naughty List

The intensification of social media’s grip over all of us has brought us much closer to one another than ever before. While that brings some benefits, it also brings plenty of pitfalls. One of them is that we are way more likely than ever before to get into beefs with one another given the freedom to say things online that we would shy away from saying to someone else in person.

Nowhere is that more true than in sports media.

Sports media beefs are admittedly a bit of a guilty pleasure at Awful Announcing. After all, we’re talking about people covering sports for a living, not nuclear proliferation or world hunger. But sometimes we are all a little bit guilty of being sucked into the vortex where we want to do nothing more than meet a rival in Temecula.

Our Awfulies winner for best feud of the year was NFL insiders Jordan Schultz and Ian Rapoport almost coming to blows at an Indianapolis Starbucks during the NFL Combine. But there were plenty more feuds and fracases worth looking back on in 2025.

Stephen A. Smith vs LeBron James

Only the absurdity of two NFL insiders scrapping at Starbucks could top what was the most explosive sports media feud in memory. LeBron James confronted Stephen A. Smith at a Lakers game in March over comments about his son Bronny. Of course Stephen A. used the viral moment as content for First Take, but the months since have proven that the feud between the two remains very real.

Ryan Clark vs Robert Griffin III

In a year of wild feuds, none was more bizarre than the lengthy dispute between Ryan Clark and Robert Griffin III. Somehow comments about Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese became a deeply personal squabble that ended with Clark admitting publicly that he had a biracial daughter. This was one feud where there were no winners.

Roger Maltbie vs Padraig Harrington

When it comes to the most unlikely confrontation of 2025, it might just be longtime NBC golf reporter Roger Maltbie going at it with former major winner Padraig Harrington. The two had an incredibly animated conversation over a disagreement while Maltbie was covering the US Senior Open.

Michael Kay vs Toronto Blue Jays

Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay is not one to mince words. His thoughts on the eventual AL champions this summer almost led to an international incident. After Toronto swept New York in a series, Kay scolded his sports media colleagues north of the border for rubbing it in his face.

Christine Brennan vs Cheryl Reeve

The book about Caitlin Clark written by veteran journalist Christine Brennan seemingly created months of controversy inside the WNBA. But none was more volatile than her war of words with Team USA and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve over Clark’s exclusion from the 2024 Olympic team. Each side called the other one a liar, leaving everyone else to try to figure out what the truth really is.

Dave Portnoy vs Ohio State

When Fox Sports hired Michigan Man Dave Portnoy, it was only a matter of time before something explosive happened with their arch rival Ohio State. As it turned out, that time was even before Portnoy’s first day on Big Noon Kickoff. OSU banned Portnoy from Ohio Stadium and his Barstool college football show from campus entirely for OSU’s Week 1 showdown with Texas. Although we didn’t see it escalate much further from there, the relationship between Portnoy, Ohio State, Fox, and the Big Ten remains incredibly complex.

Michelle Beadle vs Stephen A. Smith

Former ESPNer Michelle Beadle has never been a fan of former colleague Stephen A. Smith. And those feelings intensified when Smith took her spot in the SiriusXM daily lineup and she found out while she was on the air. After constant barbs aimed in his direction, Smith finally responded to Beadle this fall… only to also call out another former colleague in Cari Champion.

Curt Menefee vs Eric Adams

Curt Menefee is stepping down from his role as Good Day New York host. One man who won’t miss him is outgoing New York mayor Eric Adams. The pair had not one but two viral encounters this year on the morning show where tempers flared.

Jordon Hudson vs Pablo Torre

Pablo Torre won our Sports Media Person of the Year award for his incredible reporting on his podcast. One of the most infamous subjects was Bill Belichick’s girlfriend Jordon Hudson. Months after his investigation, Hudson has threatened to sue Torre over the podcast, which Torre would probably welcome just for the discovery.

📈 DATA DUMP 📊 

🥊 Netflix scored 33 million viewers for the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua fight. No word on how many were actually satisfied with what they watched.

🏈 College Football Playoff ratings were down this year in the first round as Tulane and James Madison were blown out by Power Four opposition.

🏀 The NBA is citing significant growth so far in the first year of their new television deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon.

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“You go to a non-Playoff bowl game or any bowl game, and there’s a cash prize for the players. And Winners get more, and losers get less. Play for money.” - Rece Davis has an idea to fix bowl season, but it’s going to cost organizers.

“We’re not actors here, you know? It was 100% real. There was never any strategy, any deal, any script. AJ wanted to land clean as soon as possible” - Eddie Hearn dismissed claims that the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua fight was fixed.

“Coaches come and go. ADs come and go. We’ve lost SC-Notre Dame, and I blame Lincoln Riley and the weak leadership at USC for allowing this to happen.” - Petros Papadakis is joining the chorus of USC alums furious about the cancellation of the Notre Dame series.

"When you look at what’s missing in the entertainment space currently, it’s a show that is fun that athletes can engage in." - Richard Jefferson wants to make a unique mark in his new podcast.

️‍️‍🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

The Nice List

While feuds and explosions are a bit of a guilty pleasure, there was still plenty of heartwarming moments throughout sports media in 2025 that would be a better fit for the Hallmark Channel instead of something you might see on Jerry Springer.

Lee Corso’s goodbye to College GameDay was the winner of the Awfulies’ best moment of the year, and maybe even the millennium in the industry. Getting to don the Brutus Buckeye headgear one last time in front of 100,000 people and going perfect in his final picks was something to remember. But there were plenty of other moments as well that made you live, laugh, and love.

Here are the best sports media moments of 2025…

Shane Gillis steps up to Nick Saban

You would have to be a brave man or a very foolish man to step onto a college football show and make fun of Nick Saban. Maybe comedian Shane Gillis is a little bit of both? His fearless poking fun at the Hall of Famer was made all the more better by the fact that Saban wasn’t in on the joke.

Hubie Brown says farewell

Lee Corso wasn’t the only emotional goodbye in 2025. ESPN also said farewell to legendary NBA analyst Hubie Brown, who called one last game in February at 90 years of age. Brown remained one of the sharpest analysts on television even in his latter years and was always such a joy to listen to.

What goes around comes around for Nick Wright

FS1’s First Things First is one of the most enjoyable debate shows on sports television because they never take themselves too seriously. So when Nick Wright’s beloved Kansas City Chiefs got blown out in the Super Bowl by the Philadelphia Eagles, they took full advantage to troll him like nobody had ever been trolled before.

High hopes for High Point

There are few things better or more endearing than to listen to student announcers call a historic moment for their school. So listening to the highlights of High Point’s Jimmy Rosselli and Griffin Wright call an insane comeback to make the NCAA Tournament is a true privilege.

Long live Greg Gumbel

This year’s NCAA Tournament was not the same without the venerable Greg Gumbel leading coverage from the studio. At the start of March Madness, the entire CBS crew paid a wonderful tribute to Gumbel with each member on set sharing meaningful words. They even wore shirts from his favorite band, The Rolling Stones.

Ken Griffey Jr.’s Masterful moment

Rory McIlroy finally winning the career grand slam was an incredible sporting moment. What made it even more incredible was the fact that baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was the one to record the win for the history books with the photo of record.

Mel Kiper delivers an all-timer

How could you not love Mel Kiper’s passion and energy for the NFL Draft? The iconic analyst has had his fair share of viral moments over the decades, even before that was even a thing. But his standing up for Shedeur Sanders after his historic slide at the 2025 NFL Draft is going to be one of the things we always remember from his iconic career.

Bill Simmons finds out what Pablo Torre is all about

Whatever the sports media equivalent is of going on the road to win a Game 7 is what Pablo Torre did in his appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast. After being called out by The Sports Guy for his reporting into Bill Belichick, Torre went into enemy territory on the Simmons pod and delivered a podcast performance for the ages. All it was missing was a LeBron James chasedown block.

Taylor Swift breaks the internet

The New Heights podcast appearance by Taylor Swift with fiance Travis Kelce and brother Jason was one of the most anticipated, most streamed, most scrutinized moments of the year. The podcast was so hyped that the livestream actually broke YouTube. And whether you’re a Swiftie, a football fan, or anywhere in between, the interview itself was really fun too.

NBA on NBC triumphant return

Basketball fans everywhere were excited to see what would happen when the NBA returned to NBC for the first time in a generation. And as soon as the first notes hit from Roundball Rock, it was the perfect mix of old and new. NBC has found a way to update its presentation for today’s game while making fans still feel warm feelings of nostalgia.