1. Who the hell knew local radio college football broadcasters were supposed to be professional? I certainly didn’t know that was the case.
Local college football broadcasters don’t call a game. They provide a three-hour rah-rah session for fans of the team.
But Texas Tech’s radio crew crossed the line in the eyes of the Big 12 during last Saturday’s game against Iowa State.
The radio team of play-by-play man Brian Jensen and analyst John Harris were downright apoplectic with the officiating that took place in the Red Raiders 41-38 home win. Check out the look on Jensen’s face when the refs overturned a Texas Tech interception (which Jensen called “bulls---” right before the official call).
That look is downright scary.
Jensen and Harris weren’t only relentless in bashing the refs, but they hurled some serious accusations, saying the the Big 12 didn’t want Texas Tech to win the game. Jensen also demanded that Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby answer for the poor officiating. Oh, and at one point, Jensen decided to read aloud the name of every official working the game.
Jensen even complained about the calls on Twitter during the game.
Bowlsby, though, did not answer for the poor officiating. Instead, he suspended Jensen and Harris for Texas Tech’s game this Saturday against Oklahoma State.
"I understand the roles of the play-by-play and color analyst," Bowlsby said in a statement. "However, as University representatives they also have an obligation to adhere to Conference policy regarding comments about game officials. The comments by the Red Raider Radio Network booth announcers were contrary to expected levels of respect and professionalism. Questioning the integrity of Conference officials and specifically calling out members of the officiating crew is well beyond appropriate and permissible behavior."
Are Jensen and Harris guilty of these things? Yes. Do they deserve a suspension? No. A warning would have sufficed just fine. All the Big 12 had to do was tell them to never bash the refs like that ever again. There’s no need to sideline them for a game.
And something tells me they would’ve gotten a warning had they not mentioned the Big 12 commissioner by name during their rants.
Personally, I don’t think broadcasters in the NFL and college football call out the refs enough for being so lousy, so I got a huge kick out of Jensen and Harris going there. I was also mesmerized by the pure spectacle as they lost their minds over the calls. I think they cared about whether Texas Tech won or lost more than the Red Raiders players.
2. A brand new SI Media Podcast dropped this morning with Kenny Mayne.
The longtime ESPN personality discussed his May departure from the company after 27 years. How does he feel about what went down? Does he regret revealing that ESPN wanted him to take a 61% pay cut? How weird was it to do some SportsCenter shows after announcing he was leaving ESPN?
Mayne also discusses what he's up to know, how he navigated being political on social media while trying to follow ESPN's guidelines, whether a sports-themed comedy show can work, what he tweeted his friend, Aaron Rodgers, after Rodgers got COVID-19 and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
3. Like the Texas Tech broadcasters in the first item gave us great entertainment with their meltdown, Stephen A. Smith provided us with big-time performance art yesterday while ranting about Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
4. It's clearly rant day today in Traina Thoughts. Kings forward Tristan Thompson unloaded an expletive-filled speech during his postgame press conference last night about why players—and not the coach—are responsible for a team's poor play.
5. Prediction: The Rock vs. Roman Reigns will happen at WrestleMania in 2023 from Los Angeles.
Speaking of the Rock, Traina Thoughts was delayed by about 30 minutes today after I got woozy from this.
6. The full trailer for the upcoming biopic on Kurt Warner, American Underdog, dropped yesterday.
