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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🦚 Knicks set to bring NBA back to NBC? A strangely placed promotional appearance by New York Knicks reserve guard Deuce McBride (whose name Stephen A. Smith forgot in a SportsCenter hit last week) at the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Show, coupled with comments from the NBC host for the event, led many to wonder whether the Knicks could be part of NBC’s season-opener in October as the league returns to NBC airwaves for the first time in more than two decades.

⚾ ESPN botches Jenks announcement. Former Chicago White Sox closer Bobby Jenks passed away this weekend at just 44 years old. The ESPN post announcing Jenks’ death referred to him as merely “on the roster” during the team’s 2005 World Series championship, despite Jenks closing out the series on the mound. Former teammate and Fox announcer A.J. Pierzynski and many others around MLB and sports media called out the network for its poorly worded tribute.

🎾 More ESPN criticism from Osaka. The American tennis star struggled through another early-round lost at Wimbledon, then called out the Worldwide Leader for going overboard posting clips of her sorrowful press conference. “Why push the narrative that I’m always sad?” she wrote on Threads.

️‍🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

WNBA players not prepared for tough questions from media?

Christine Brennan has not made many friends around the WNBA since reporting out her new book on Caitlin Clark. But the eight-time author knows how to sell copies.

In the latest excerpt of On Her Game — the USA Today columnist’s exploration of the crater left in the WNBA when Clark crashed down onto it — Brennan shared a quote from an anonymous WNBA PR rep about how much of a shock critical coverage has been for players in the W.

“Unfortunately, most of our players have zero idea what real media exposure is,” the league official told Brennan. “They don’t know what real coverage is, they have been shielded at college, and then they come to the WNBA not knowing what real questions are. Frankly, our players just don’t get it.”

Elements of this comment are reasonable. As someone who has covered the WNBA for eight years, I know firsthand how little coverage the league gets (still). Most teams do not have a dedicated traveling beat reporter, and some struggle to get coverage even at home. This is why coaches like four-time WNBA champion Cheryl Reeve and three-time NCAA champion Dawn Staley go out of their way to show appreciation for local television and print journalists who cover their teams.

Naturally, less coverage means teams and the league have a lower bar for who they allow into games and practices. The reporters covering WNBA games are, on average, less experienced than the press corps at an NFL or NBA game. With fewer people around and a lower average age, a lot can slip through the cracks.

This will change as the league matures. More outlets are hiring writers and editors to cover the WNBA and other women’s sports. New and podcast show are finding an audience. Retired WNBA players are getting more opportunities in media.

Over time, there will be more people to address an incident like the dust-up between Caitlin Clark and DiJonai Carrington during last year’s postseason. It won’t just be Brennan, whose question on the topic last October was admittedly awkward and pulled from social media hearsay.

This excerpt marks a far more productive chapter of Brennan’s coverage and the conversations Clark as brought to the league. We can all hope the book does more of the same. Where less relevant portions of Brennan’s book appear to fixate on USA Basketball’s choice to snub Clark from a bench spot at the 2024 Olympics, this media complaint has a chance to drive evolution in the league.

Rather than blindly accusing WNBA players of being jealous or resentful of Clark, Brennan’s reporting defines the issue. Players may be overwhelmed by the scrutiny. This can be improved by more media training and PR help. Talent reps and managers who see what Brennan says will want their clients to be more ready than the last year’s rookies.

Of course this line of reporting helps Brennan defend herself from the harsh criticism she received for asking Carrington about the hard foul on Clark last year — and Connecticut players laughing about it on the bench. But that doesn’t mean it can’t also be true, and get closer to a WNBA that is “ready” to absorb Clark than the one she has surfed on for two years running.

🎧 THE AWFUL ANNOUNCING PODCAST 📺

Tim Legler on his return to the ESPN booth

NBA on ESPN analyst joined The Awful Announcing Podcast last week after his first season back in the No. 2 broadcast booth at the network.

In the episode, Legler discussed the latest news around the NBA with Damian Lillard and LeBron James as well as:

• Legler’s rise as a media star after a journeyman career in basketball

• How NBA coverage has evolved since he joined the media two decades ago

• And more!

Listen to the full episode of The AA Podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts!

📈 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 💰

• On his podcast late last week, Colin Cowherd gave his reaction to being named to the Radio Hall of Fame, saying, “It’s a big deal for me. I don’t want to be congratulatory, but yeah, in my life, it’s been one of my goals.”

• USA Today hired its first-ever women’s sports editor, poaching Heather Burns from ESPN. Burns previously served as the lead editor for ESPN’s digital NFL coverage from its NFL Nation reporters.

• Amid reignited negotiations with Major League Baseball over their TV deal with the league, ESPN caught flak over the weekend for delaying the All-Star selection show for 10 minutes to air… competitive cornhole.

• The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz got some tough love from its fanbase for an odd Independence Day special featuring a medley of the show’s past interviews with President Donald Trump. For most of the last decade, Le Batard has been a vocal opponent of Trump’s, and the vaguely silly special was received poorly by his fans.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

Shannon Sharpe still quiet after lawsuit

Despite all the public negotiating and unseemly leaks in the early stages of Shannon Sharpe’s defense against a lawsuit alleging rape and other violent crimes by a former romantic partner, Sharpe has not filed a response to the suit all these weeks later.

That’s before we even get to the countersuit that Sharpe was expected to file through his counsel, Lanny Davis. Neither has been filed in Nevada, where Sharpe is fighting allegations that he sexually assaulted a former girlfriend and secretly recorded their sexual activity.

The update comes via Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk, as does the news that a hearing is scheduled this Wednesday in the Silver State. After the hearing was already delayed once from original June 30, Sharpe won’t have many more chances to push back his appearance in court if he intends to fight the charges.

The suit originally dropped in early April, meaning Sharpe has taken nearly three months to put together a defense. In the meantime, Sharpe has continued to release his live late-night sports digital show Nightcap and his interview show Club Shay Shay. The looming deadline over all this for the sports media industry is Sharpe’s supposed return to ESPN in time for football season.

When Sharpe took a leave of absence from the company in April, the Pro Football Hall of Famer pledged to be back in time to talk football on First Take in the late summer. Now, with legal proceedings hardly underway yet, it will be difficult for Sharpe to settle his affairs in time for the season.

Some have predicted since April that Sharpe’s days at ESPN were as good as over. This latest news certainly will add fuel to that fire.