1. One quick note before we start. You can now get TRAINA THOUGHTS delivered to your inbox every day (Monday through Friday) in newsletter form by signing up here, so click that link.
First and foremost, terrible job by me forgetting to write about this on Monday after the weekend, because it deserved to be acknowledged then.
In case you missed it, during last Saturday’s Clemson-Georgia Tech game on ESPN, viewers experienced something new. We got to hear the discussion between the referee on the field and the replay official during reviews.
Here’s how it looked and sounded.
This is what it looks and sounds like when an ACC ref talks over a replay review with the ACC Game Day Operations Center. 🏈🦓📺🎙️ #CFB pic.twitter.com/PxvF2WDksM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 13, 2025
Very cool. Very informative. And actually serves the viewer.
TV networks love to spruce up broadcasts with so many bells and whistles, yet most of them are useless and don’t add anything to the viewing experience. Letting us listen in as the ref and the replay official discuss the play in question is the opposite of useless. It gives us a unique insight into how a decision comes about. Anytime viewers can be taken “inside,” that’s a good thing. It’s a VERY good thing in the case of a replay decision because there are many times we can’t understand how a call could stand or get overturned based on what we saw. Now, we will know.
I’m writing about this today because it was reported on Thursday that the Big 12 will now join the ACC in letting viewers hear the discussion between ref and replay official.
NEWS: The Big 12 will become the second conference to share video from the conference’s replay center for its broadcasts, @Brett_McMurphy reports.
— On3 (@On3sports) September 18, 2025
The Big 12 will provide only the video from its replay center this season. Audio is expected in 2026. https://t.co/9i6L4iKfM0 pic.twitter.com/xubrDDsGo9
This is the rare good trend in sports television. This should be the norm for every single conference and every single game. Transparency is always a good thing, especially in sports. And double especially (I know that’s not a phrase) in a time when sports betting is as prolific as ever.
2. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features two interviews plus the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment.
First up is ESPN’s Mina Kimes, who talks about how she got her start at ESPN, transitioning into an NFL analyst, the stigma of being an NFL analyst who didn’t play the game, what her typical Sunday is like and whether she’d like to be in the booth calling games one day.
Kimes also discusses auditioning for the ManningCast, the worst thing about social media becoming a cesspool, working with Dan Orlovsky and much more.
Following Kimes, WWE Superstar Seth Rollins joins the show. Rollins talks about the WWE’s upcoming show on ESPN, Wrestlepalooza, fooling the entire wrestling world with his fake knee injury, the one person he felt bad about lying to, becoming a cast member on Good Morning Football, getting duped by Kyle Brandt, why he despises the “Tush Push” and more.
The podcast closes with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment featuring Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV. This week, we talk about my friends and I getting booted from a restaurant, Sal’s second week in a row suffering a horrific NFL betting loss, a crazy college football bad beat, Sal losing the Emmy Award on his birthday and more.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
3. Major League Baseball is once again showing you that it knows its Friday night Apple TV exclusive game package is a disaster. When Aaron Judge was on the verge of breaking a home run record two years ago, and the Yankees were set to be on Apple only, the game ended up getting broadcast in the New York market.
Now, with the Blue Jays on the verge of clinching the AL East, tonight’s game, which was supposed to be an Apple exclusive, will also air in Canada on Sportsnet.
I would do anything to find out just how bad those Apple viewership numbers are for the Friday night MLB package.
BREAKING: MLB helps #Bluejays, Sportsnet broker a deal to simulcast Apple TV's broadcast of Friday's potential post-season clincher. https://t.co/j5Iz7UxiMt
— Rob Longley (@longleysunsport) September 18, 2025
4. You can say whatever you want on Amazon, but I’m sure the NFL wasn’t exactly thrilled that Ryan Fitzpatrick read a fan sign word for word last night.
Ryan Fitzpatrick raising ALL the eyebrows on TNF's Prime Video postgame reading back this fan's sign 👀
— 5 GOATs (@5GOATs_) September 19, 2025
Richard Sherman's reaction is priceless 😂https://t.co/Rb5GD0C1nkpic.twitter.com/DHGT26gseP
5. This was like an old-school ECW show.
The lights turned off during the middle of the potential game-winning shot in the WNBA Playoffs 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) September 19, 2025
pic.twitter.com/hB18IZNPNR
6. Important reminder: If you’re not an NFL pregame show watcher, you’ll want to tune in to CBS’s The NFL Today on Sunday. It will be a throwback edition to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary. The graphics and look will be retro and the legendary Brent Musburger will be in studio.
CBS SPORTS CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF 'THE NFL TODAY' WITH THROWBACK COVERAGE IN WEEK 3
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) September 18, 2025
Brent Musburger joins JB, Coach Cowher, Nate and Matt in studio for a vintage edition of THE NFL TODAY
The @NFLonCBS features a full slate of Week 3 action pic.twitter.com/pKNvIyscAk
Sunday THE NFL TODAY on CBS
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) September 18, 2025
We travel back to 1981.
Try to guess which NFL team from that era was Black Sabbath. pic.twitter.com/CiwjYOWbxq
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Goodfellas was released 35 years ago today. Here is the Siskel & Ebert review of one of the greatest movies ever made.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as This Is the Best Sports TV Innovation in a Long Time.
