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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 McAfee big mad. You’ll never believe this, but Pat McAfee is complaining about how he’s been slighted. Aggrieved by how NFL “middle management” made things difficult for his show at last week’s NFL Scouting Combine, he announced that he won’t be live at this year’s NFL Draft in Green Bay, choosing to instead remain in the cozy confines of his “Thunderdome.”

🏀 Stephen A. loves LeBron. For now. While he continues to will-he-or-won’t-he about becoming a politician, Smith has already perfected the art of flip-flopping. One week after attacking LeBron James on First Take, Stephen A. Smith gave the Los Angeles Lakers star the utmost compliment by putting him ahead of Michael Jordan, though he did clarify that he believes Peak Jordan was better than Peak James.

📺 Reali gets real. With the announcement that Around The Horn will end on May 23, longtime host Tony Reali’s future. While ESPN is mum on details, Reali told Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz that he’s “sad today” but “can be happy in other parts of me.” The 46-year-old referenced several opportunities that would interest him, including a general interest show like Good Morning America, a sports travel show, or a live sports whiparound show like NFL RedZone.

🏀 Mavericks down bad. “The last month … I submit it’s in the realm of the worst month for an organization in the history of the sport,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said of the Dallas Mavericks, who have angered fans, traded their star player for peanuts, and lost several remaining stars to injury, all while raising ticket prices.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Maybe we found the one thing Tom Brady’s just not that good at

Much was made of Tom Brady’s potential conflict of interest this past NFL season. While the discussion became more about whether or not it even matters, we have seen several shiny examples of how it could pose problems.

First, while preparing to call the Detroit Lions’ playoff game against the Washington Commanders, the Fox broadcaster simultaneously made overtures to Detroit OC Ben Johnson to lure him away to Las Vegas, where he could become the head coach of the team he owns.

Last week, reports emerged that Brady was wooing Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to join the Raiders. While what happened between two reporters in a Starbucks took most of the focus, it was yet another sign that the broadcaster/owner was heavily involved in team decision-making.

Both instances have one thing in common: Brady failed. Soon after the Lions’ loss, Johnson became the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Within days of the Brady-Stafford meeting, the quarterback re-signed with the Rams.

It would be folly to suggest that these things happened because Brady’s sales techniques are subpar. These were far more nuanced situations than that, and those decisions might have even been made before Brady spoke to either man.

Still, given everything we’ve been told about Brady’s aura, competitiveness, and football acumen, it’s worth noting that he’s 0-for-2 so far in getting a high-profile name to sign on the line that is dotted.

While some in the sports media world are tired of hearing about it (especially those at Fox), it remains notable that a guy whose job is to call NFL games is clearly also all-in about attracting the most prominent players and coaches in those games to don the silver and black. And the more he gets spurned, you have to wonder if the flimsy line between those roles will fray even further, especially as we’ve learned the NFL doesn’t seem interested in doing much about it.

Bill Simmons was one of Brady’s biggest fans when he was winning Super Bowls for the New England Patriots. Still, The Ringer boss recently expressed skepticism about Tom Terrific’s chances of becoming a terrific owner.

“I love Tom Brady. Brought me six Super Bowls, one of my favorite athletes of all time,” Simmons said on his podcast. “This is a dangerous thing where you have him running a football team thinking he knows what’s best with quarterbacks because he was a great quarterback. Because all of the evidence with the great players we’ve had, name the sport, mostly they’re not good at this. They think they’re seeing things that other people don’t see, and it’s not actually rational.”

Despite how much interference Adam Schefter seems to be running on Brady’s behalf, there are plenty of other reporters who say the Fox broadcaster “has been heavily involved in the Raiders' overall decision-making process.”

Brady can act in his role with the Raiders for the next few months. He’ll likely have a say in the upcoming NFL Draft. It sounds like he’ll be involved in the free agency process. And you have to wonder if he might have a finger in Pete Carroll’s game-planning pie this season (who’s gonna tell Tom Brady his offensive gameplan input isn’t appreciated?).

However, the 2025 NFL season will eventually arrive, and at that point, Brady will have to put his broadcasting cap back on. He says he wants to see his 10-year deal through, but the pressures of trying to turn the Raiders into a winner while calling games for other teams that actually win is sure to grind on the living legend, especially if he doesn’t improve in the booth. If Las Vegas can’t show improvement, and Brady continues to fall short in bringing in star talent, it feels like something will have to give.

That something could be Brady’s sterling reputation.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

One of the risks of conducting an in-game interview is that something may distract you from the task at hand. For Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson, that distraction came Wednesday in the form of Jesus Luzardo giving up three straight homers on three pitches. His silence spoke volumes.

Allow us to toot our own horn for a minute. We’ve been on Bluesky for a while, and we’ve been really excited to see how quickly our inbound traffic from the social media platform has grown. Some people might say it’s a “liberal echo chamber,” but there’s also a whole lot of sports discussion going on. You can still find AA on all the major platforms, but if you’re on Bluesky, give us a follow!

👏 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🗣️

• A few months after securing global rights to FIFA’s reimagined Club World Cup, sports streaming service DAZN has found a U.S. television partner. The company announced on Wednesday that TNT Sports will be the U.S. television home for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Twenty-four of the tournament’s 63 matches will air live on TNT, TBS, and truTV.

• 538 (FiveThirtyEight) has officially crunched its last number. The data journalism site founded by Nate Silver and sold to Disney in 2013 was included in the latest round of ABC News layoffs. Silver, who departed 538 in 2023, said, “Disney was never particularly interested in running FiveThirtyEight as a business.”

• Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav continues to double down on the notion that his company is better off not paying a ton of money for NBA media rights, hyping up cheaper, less desirable sports properties they’ve acquired to float its cable channels. “We have a great lineup globally, and we saved a huge amount of money,” he told the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference.

• The NHL continues to be a leader in producing animated versions of its players and games, announcing that it will help produce several animated shows and simulcasts for the rest of the 2024-25 regular season, including the “Best Snow Day Ever” on March 11, a simulcast of the Boston Bruins-Florida Panthers game on NESN.

🎙️ THE PLAY-BY-PLAY 🎤

On the latest episode, Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod and Brendon Kleen discuss The ongoing controversy regarding “the face of the NBA” and the feud between Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James, sports’ relationship with President Donald Trump in his second term, and why John Cena’s heel turn has resulted in mainstream sports coverage.

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

️‍🔥The Closer🔥

Who will replace Jimmy Johnson?

While Jimmy Johnson’s official retirement marks the end of an era for Fox NFL Sunday, the show must go on. As such, the highest-rated NFL Sunday pregame studio show could find itself searching for a new co-host for the 2025 season.

Considering the Fox set is still plenty crowded with a full-time cast featuring host Curt Menefee, analysts Michael Strahan, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, reporter Jay Glazer, and part-time player Rob Gronkowski, it’s possible the show could remain as is and wait until Bradshaw’s retirement for a more significant shakeup.

But if Fox does look to replace Johnson after his retirement, it will have plenty of options.

Click to read about our 5 candidates to replace Johnson on ‘Fox NFL Sunday’ and why they’d each make sense.