Welcome to 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 ✍️

🏈 Chiefs radio voice fires back at narrative. When it comes to the narrative that the Kansas City Chiefs’ ongoing dynasty has been aided by the officials, Mitch Holthus has heard enough.

Taking to X, the Chiefs’ longtime radio voice pointed out that Kansas City only ranked 17th in the NFL in percentage of drives that included a penalty for a first down during the regular season. The team that finished first in the same category? That would be the Buffalo Bills.

For reasons that remain unclear, Holthus tagged the NFL Network’s Peter Schrager and ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky in the post, despite neither being outspoken critics of the Chiefs. In any event, Holthus’ post only further illustrates the growing narrative/conspiracy theory that is serving as one of the upcoming Super Bowl’s biggest storylines.

🏀Adam Silver advocates for shorter games. Adam Silver is well aware of the criticism his league has faced this season. But while many have pointed to too many three-point attempts or the lack of young American-born stars as reasons for the NBA’s declining ratings, the league’s commissioner has a different suggestion: shorter games.

Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show, Silver indicated he’d support shortening the quarters of NBA games from 12 minutes to 10. The commissioner pointed to the global nature of the game and the reality that the NBA is the only league to currently play 12-minute quarters.

“I am a fan of four 10-minute quarters,” Silver said. “I’m not sure how many others are, and putting aside what it means for records and things like that, I think that a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits.”

Silver’s suggestion might not fix all of the NBA’s issues, but perfection shouldn’t be the enemy of progress. And now that he’s on record as an advocate of 10-minutes quarters, it will be interesting to see if others follow suit.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Doing things differently

As NBC prepares to add the NBA back to its airwaves next season, the network has made a major move regarding its broadcast plans.

According to Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel, NBC has hired Reggie Miller as a color commentator. But while the Hall of Fame sharpshooter will serve as the network’s lead NBA analyst, he won’t be alone.

According to Glasspiegel, Miller won’t exclusively call games alongside lead play-by-play man Mike Tirico, but also Noah Eagle. Meanwhile, Jamal Crawford will also rotate calling games next to Tirico and Eagle, creating a dynamic in which the network will effectively have two lead play-by-play announcers and two lead color commentators with the flexibility to mix and match pairings.

Coincidentally — or maybe not — Amazon might be taking a similar approach as it also prepares to add the NBA to its offerings next season. The streamer is expected to hire Miller’s current TNT colleagues Kevin Harlan and Ian Eagle (Noah’s dad) as play-by-play announcers, while it remains unclear who it will be hiring as it game analysts.

All we know for now is that it won’t be Miller, who has spent the entirety of his NBA broadcasting career at TNT dating back to the end of his playing career in 2005. The hiring is a major coup for NBC and also provides a bit of nostalgia for the network, which frequently featured Miller during the Indiana Pacers’ rivalries with the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

👀 IN THE SPOTLIGHT  🎧️ 

The Play-By-Play drafts Super Bowl storylines

A new episode of The Play-By-Play, Awful Announcing’s weekly sports media news podcast is now live.

On the latest episode, Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod and Brendon Kleen draft Super Bowl storylines and discuss the sports media’s sportsbook bubble.

The Play-By-Play is available anywhere podcasts can be found, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, as well as in video form on the Awful Announcing YouTube page

🎤 MEDIA MOMENTS ✍️ 

• Stephen A. Smith took issue with Bronny James playing 15 scoreless minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night. In a rant on First Take that proceeded to go viral on Wednesday, the ESPN star pled with LeBron James to “stop this” with regard to Bronny’s playing time in the NBA.

• Cam Newton is facing backlash for an interview he did with Dwight Howard’s ex-girlfriend on his Funky Friday podcast. Over the course of the two-and-a-half-hour-long episode, the tone shifted between serious and salacious, with former Basketball Wives star Royce Reed accusing the former NBA center of physical and emotional abuse, while also openly discussing Howard’s sexuality. Newton’s promotion of the interview — including the episode’s title on YouTube and screen grab graphics — certainly didn’t match the serious nature of the allegations.

• Jeff Passan wants to know when the Yankees stopped being the Yankees. In an interview on The Michael Kay Show, the ESPN MLB insider ripped baseball’s most storied franchise for its spending — or lack thereof — pointing out the discrepancies between the Dodgers and Mets’ active offseasons and the Bronx Bombers’.

AROUND AA  ✍️ 

The true king of late night?

Late night television might not resonate the same way that it did just a decade ago, but it’s still something that people in the media industry — and even some viewers — care about.

But while topic of the true heir apparent to Leno and Letterman often features Fallon, Kimmel and Colbert, Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner has another entry for the conversation: Scott Van Pelt.

In a column published on Wednesday, Lerner makes the case for Van Pelt’s place in the current late night landscape. In an industry where it feels like such shows are geared more toward YouTube algorithms and social media buzz, Van Pelt’s version of SportsCenter has become the rare late night show you feel like you have to watch live, as evidenced by its impressive January ratings.

Lerner points out that unlike the traditional late night shows, Van Pelt’s is actually live. Add it all up and perhaps late night programming still works on television after all — we just haven’t been paying attention to the right shows.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥 

Bill Belichick’s jab at PFT misses the mark

Despite his past life as a punter, Pat McAfee has never been one to avoid confrontation.

But on Wednesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, it was his guest who was seeking out conflict.

Joining PMS for his weekly hit, Bill Belichick discussed the recent speculation regarding the unusual nature of his first month as North Carolina’s head coach. And despite McAfee never mentioning Pro Football Talk or Mike Florio during his question, the eight-time Super Bowl champion coach took it there with a jab at the online outlet.

“We’re all set. We’re full speed ahead,” Belichick said of his duties as the Tar Heels’ head coach. “Pro Football Talk’s not a good source for me.”

McAfee let out a hearty laugh while Belichick was fighting through a smile throughout the rest of his answer. And I get it — Florio makes for an easy target. Fair or not, Florio’s propensity for connecting the dots has led to some accusations that his website contains its share of “fan fiction.”

This, however, wasn’t that.

When it comes to Belichick’s first month running the Tar Heels, Florio wasn’t connecting the dots, so much as he was stating/reporting the obvious. It is odd that the 72-year-old has been slow to hire his staff in Chapel Hill, especially considering the recruiting ramifications (the Tar Heels haven’t exactly been killing it there either). And it was strange that he hadn’t officially signed his UNC contract until earlier this week.

All things considered, of course school officials might have been concerned.

Florio wasn’t exactly going out on a limb by pointing out any of this out as evidence that Belichick could be eyeing a potential return to the NFL, especially considering that other reputable insiders were essentially reporting the same thing. But for whatever reason, Florio, in particular, has drawn the ire of Belichick (and UNC general manager Mike Lombardi), leading to what ultimately felt like something between a low blow and a misguided deflection on Wednesday’s episode of PMS.

Not that Florio seems to mind.