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Deitsch Asks Writers About Worst Team They Covered

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Richard Deutsch has an interesting and fun piece series going up at The Athletic today. He has asked 39 different sports writers to recap tales from the very worst team they covered. The answers span all four major US leagues plus the WNBA and college sports. They also vary in reasons about what made each team the worst.

The series begins with NFL beat reporters talking about their season(s) in hell. The NHL will be in the spotlight on Tuesday. It’s Major League Baseball on Wednesday. The NBA and WNBA stories come Thursday. College teams are highlighted on Friday. Here is the full schedule:

NFL (Monday)

  • 1990 Denver Broncos (Adam Schefter)
  • 1994 Dallas Cowboys (Dale Hansen)
  • 2000 & 2001 San Diego Chargers (Jim Trotter)
  • 2003 New York Giants (Tara Sullivan)
  • 2008 Detroit Lions (Nick Cotsonika)
  • 2010 Denver Broncos (Lindsay Jones)
  • 2012 New York Jets (Kimberley A. Martin)
  • 2012 Philadelphia Eagles (Les Bowen)
  • 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars (Ryan O’Halloran)
  • 2017 Indianapolis Colts (Stephen Holder)

NHL (Tuesday)

  • 2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins (Trenni Kusnierek)
  • 2005-06 St. Louis Blues (Jeremy Rutherford)
  • 2007-08 Atlanta Thrashers (Craig Custance)
  • 2009-10 Toronto Maple Leafs (James Mirtle)
  • 2010-11 New York Islanders (Katie Strang)
  • 2011-12 Columbus Blue Jackets (Aaron Portzline)
  • 2013-14 Vancouver Canucks (Jason Botchford)
  • 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres (John Vogl)

MLB (Wednesday)

  • 1983 California Angels (Gene Wojciechowski)
  • 1988 Baltimore Orioles (Richard Justice)
  • 1993 New York Mets (Frank Isola)
  • 1995 Oakland A’s (Pedro Gomez)
  • 1998 Florida Marlins (Dave O’Brien)
  • 2002 Chicago Cubs (Teddy Greenstein)
  • 2011-16 New York Yankees (Marly Rivera)

NBA/WNBA (Thursday)

  • 1998-99 Cleveland Cavaliers (Jason Lloyd)
  • 2005-06 Portland Trail Blazers (John Canzano)
  • 2005-06 New York Knicks (Howard Beck)
  • 2008-09 Los Angeles Clippers (Lisa Dillman)
  • 2011 Tulsa Shock (Kelly Hines)
  • 2013-14 Los Angeles Lakers (Dave McMenamin)
  • 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets (Tim Bontemps)
  • 2015-16 Philadelphia 76ers (Derek Bodner)

Colleges (Friday)

  • 1994 Kentucky Football (Pat Forde)
  • 1997 Maryland Football (Seth Emerson)
  • 2002 Stanford Football (Jon Wilner)
  • 2002-03 Villanova Basketball (Dana O’Neil)
  • 2014 Michigan Football (Angelique Chengelis)
  • 2015 Idaho Football (Michael Shawn-Dugar)

As for the first piece, the highlights include Dale Hanson of WFAA-TV in Dallas talking about the 1994 Dallas Cowboys, who were a good team according to their record. Hanson says that the hiring of Barry Switzer to replace Jimmy Johnson changed everything about the team’s culture. “But with Switzer’s ‘leadership,’ players were out of control. And there was no one to rein ‘em in. As one player said to me late at night near closing time in an Austin bar, ‘we have a curfew but Switzer’s coaching so who really cares.'”

Jim Trotter of NFL Media said one player ruined his experience with the 2001 San Diego Chargers. “That was the first time I saw up close how a team could splinter if one of its purported leaders was more concerned about himself than the club. That player was quarterback Doug Flutie, North America’s beloved underdog.”

The real gem though is from Nick Cotsonika, who now writes for NHL.com, but in 2008 was a beat reporter covering the Detroit Lions. He writes about the first NFL team to ever go 0-16 with some real fondness for just how terrible they were. “As the losses piled up, each game became more important, not less. It was like covering a team chasing history, only this team was trying to run from it and tripping over its own feet. No NFL team had gone 0-16 before. Kicker Jason Hanson said the Lions were so bad they had something to play for now. It says something the kicker was the one with the cred and the guts to tell it like it was.”

You can read the full piece here if you are a subscriber to The Athletic.

 

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Emily Austin Signs Two-Fight Contract with DAZN

The Haney-Garcia PPV bout will be broadcast by DAZN on Saturday night live from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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Emily Austin
Courtesy: Emily Austin on Instagram

There has been considerable anticipation surrounding the upcoming fight between WBC junior welterweight championship Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia, which has resulted in engagement across multiple platforms. Garcia is coming off a knockout win against Oscar Duarte and arrived to Friday’s weigh-in 3.2 pounds over the 140-pound limit, which disqualifies him from winning the super-lightweight world title. Nonetheless, the card will still take place from Barclays Center broadcasting live on DAZN and PPV.com. It will also mark the DAZN event debut for sports reporter Emily Austin, who has reported on a variety of boxing fights in the past.

Austin inked a two-fight contract with DAZN and has been contributing to its social media coverage throughout the week as the matchup’s social presenter. During the broadcast itself, DAZN will air content created by Austin showcasing the event as a whole. Outside of DAZN, Austin also hosts The Hoop Chat podcast where she has interviewed several NBA players, including Monte Morris, Zach Collins and Miles McBride. Additionally, she appears on news programming and is the owner of People’s Beauty, a skincare company that sells several consumer products.

The main card for Saturday’s DAZN event, which is being presented by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, is available to watch online for $69.99 utilizing the DAZN platform and on PPV.com. Earlier in the week, Fuse Media announced that it had agreed to a partnership with Golden Boy Promotions and the El Rey Rebel FAST Channel to commence a new Friday Night Fights series beginning on Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m. EST.

“We couldn’t be more excited that 10-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions are bringing some of the most epic fights in modern boxing history to El Rey Rebel, Miguel Roggero, chairman and chief executive officer of Fuse Media, said in a statement. “With these thrilling matches, ‘Friday Night Fights’ will be a cornerstone franchise for El Rey Rebel, unleashing the types of raw emotion and adrenaline that the channel’s growing number of viewers are craving.”

The series will look back at memorable fights, beginning with the review of a matchup between De La Hoya and Luis Ramon “Yori Boy” Campas that took place on the same day in 2003. This doubleheader fight presentation concludes with the 2009 matchup between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. Some of the other fights that will be showcased as part of the series will include bouts part of other partnerships from Fuse Media, including Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts franchises Combate Global MMA and BYB Bare Knuckle Fighting.

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Malika Andrews: “Giants Have Sat in this Seat Before Me”

“I’ve always had a deep appreciation for that.”

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Graphic of the SI Media with Jimmy Traina Podcast and picture of Malika Andrews
Courtesy: ESPN

Malika Andrews was the featured guest on a new episode of the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast. Andrews is entering her first playoff season as host of NBA Countdown, a position she took over from Mike Greenberg. Andrews filled in for Greenberg on various editions of the program throughout the 2022-23 regular season, largely due to Greenberg’s busy schedule. 

As Traina pointed out Andrews will have to be on almost every night coming up she said, “I usually don’t think of it in those terms. I get to be on every night versus I have to be on every night.” She later added about the upcoming schedule, “This is new to me. I have never experienced this sort of schedule before.”

Traina asked Andrews about when she found out she had gotten the new gig and whether or not she had an idea it was coming. Andrews said because she had filled in and had a taste of NBA Countdown, “I hoped that someday I would have the opportunity to host NBA Countdown. Giants have sat in this seat before me, and I’ve always had a deep appreciation for that.”

Andrews told Traina about a text she received from Greenberg upon the announcement of her getting the position. “He wanted to make sure that I heard from him, and he said, ‘You’re so ready and you’re going to be so great in this role. I don’t have the least bit of concern, and neither should you. My only advice is keep having fun with it and pace yourself, because it’s a long season. If you need some rest, take it. And I’m looking forward to watching you. I am a text away if you need anything.’

“That meant the world to me, getting that text from him in that moment because he has done so much and continues to do so much. I felt at that point there are a couple of people that see something in me so now I’m going to try and fulfill whatever that is even if I’m a little bit nervous.”

Andrews talked about working on the show and some of the unique personalities show is on with, including Stephen A. Smith. “I always knew that Stephen A. was a machine in terms of the work that he puts in, but I think sitting next to him I’ve definitely grown to have a new appreciation for it…There is nobody who works harder. His work ethic is really unparalleled. I admire his ability to jump sport to sport on First Take and then really know basketball.”

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Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Featured in New Netflix Series

“To their infinite credit, the Cowboys offered unfettered access for the year we filmed the DCC and left us alone. The result is an authentic portrait of one of the most storied and beloved institutions we have in American pop culture.”

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Photo of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Courtesy: Netflix

Netflix has announced a new series which will premier this summer called, ‘America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.’ In a release, Netflix said the series follows the 2023-24 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad from start to finish — kicking off at auditions and training camp and continuing all the way through the NFL season.

The seven-episode series, directed by Emmy Award-winning director Greg Whiteley, will give viewers unfiltered access into the iconic team and franchise that is the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Led by longtime director Kelli Finglass, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders open their doors to document the personal stories behind the uniforms – revealing the drive, hustle, and drama among the cheerleaders and coaches.

Each episode is expected to last 45 minutes.

“The kind of access and creative freedom we need to make the kind of work we want to make is not easy to come by—especially when dealing with a brand as large as the Dallas Cowboys,” said Greg Whiteley, director and executive producer. “To their infinite credit, the Cowboys offered unfettered access for the year we filmed the DCC and left us alone. The result is an authentic portrait of one of the most storied and beloved institutions we have in American pop culture.”

“We’re thrilled to see the results of a season spent with Greg Whiteley and a remarkable crew following every step of the way. The storytelling through this open access will captivate viewers episode after episode and Netflix’s global stage is the perfect platform to showcase it,” said Charlotte Jones, Dallas Cowboys Executive Vice President/Chief Brand Officer and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders President. “We went into this understanding that the opportunity to transparently share the journey of our season, and the emotions, challenges and joy experienced along the way, is exactly what our fans and viewers would want. It’s also part of the reason that, for decades, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have earned their place as being ‘often imitated, but never equaled’.”

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