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Rob Parker Rips ESPN’s Upcoming Tom Brady Doc

Jacob Conley

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Sports documentaries are a hot commodity right now and with the success of ESPN’s The Last Dance, it seems everybody wants a piece of the pie. Many prominent athletes have announced that documentaries about their lives and careers are in the works, including Magic Johnson and Tom Brady.  FOX Sports personality Rob Parker contends, however, that a documentary about the NFL quarterback nicknamed “Tom Terrific” will be anything but.

“Tom Brady is a bore and nobody wants to see a 9-part series about him,” Parker said during Monday evening’s broadcast of The Odd Couple. “He doesn’t say anything and he’s barely ever said anything… He’s given us nothing in all these years. There’s nothing compelling about him, and nothing that makes me want to hear (the documentary).”

Parker’s comments come after Brady announced that he will be the subject of a nine part documentary series called Man in the Arena, covering multiple topics from Brady’s six Super Bowl wins to the controversies surrounding the New England Patriots, including “Spygate” and “Deflategate.”

“Everybody has Last Dance fever,” Parker said. “But I don’t want to hear about how Tom Brady is the greatest, about his perfect life, his supermodel wife, his kids, his hair or his clear skin. I just don’t want to hear it.” 

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback, the documentary’s producer Gotham Chopra says they will set Man in the Arena apart from The Last Dance.

“It’s not Tom Brady’s Last Dance,” Chopra said. “It’s not that. That may or may not exist 20 years from now, I don’t know. There’s this sort of immediacy to this.… The premise [of The Last Dance] was telling stories about the seasons, whereas [Brady’s], it does feel a little bit more real time. Tom continues to be an active player. So the idea is, ‘O.K., let’s talk about these nine seasons, this incredible body of work across 20 years, and how it’s still sort of affecting him.’”

That immediacy is one of the issues Parker has with the documentary implying that not enough time has passed to garner much interest.

“Right there is when Adam Vinatieri kicked that field goal to beat the “Greatest Show on Turf”, Parker said. “Right there is when the Falcons choked down the Super Bowl because they didn’t run the football in the second half. That’s when Pete Carroll didn’t run ‘Beast Mode’ from the one-yard line. Is that what it’s going to be about?”

Parker admits though that he would be interested in watching if Brady does indeed address the scandals. 

“Maybe if he opens up about the scandals, the cheating, wants to rip Bill Belichick, and wants to talk about Robert Kraft and his situation down in Florida, now I’m interested in watching.”

ESPN is set to air Man in the Arena in 2021.

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Dan Patrick to Appear in December Episode of The Simpsons

“I’ve had a couple of sessions, and I only had like four lines, five lines.”

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A photo of Dan Patrick and The Simpsons logo
(Photo: FOX Sports Radio, 20th Century Fox)

For a sports radio host, Dan Patrick has quite an impressive list of IMDb credits. He will add a new one next month, when he appears on The Simpsons.

During The Dan Patrick Show Tuesday, the legendary sportscaster mentioned that several of the voices for the show are reaching senior citizen status, putting future seasons in question. Patrick joked that the show’s guest booker, Todd Fritz, could be a natural replacement for Julie Kavner as the voice of Marge Simpson.

After joking that Fritz would want to change the script too often, Patrick revealed he would appear in an upcoming episode, and changing the script wouldn’t be an easy proposition.

“I’m on an episode that — I think — comes out on Christmas Eve (of) The Simpsons” Patrick admitted. “I’ve had a couple of sessions, and I only had like four lines, five lines. They wanna hear what they wanna hear.”

Patrick continued by noting that when he worked at ESPN, former co-worker Kenny Mayne was notorious for wanting to change the scripts of commercials during the “This is SportsCenter” campaigns.

“Kenny would always go ‘Hey, how about this?’ or ‘What about this?’, and I’d say ‘Let’s just stick to the script. They really have a good track record here.'”

He added that the voiceover artists on the program have deserved the millions they’ve made during the show’s long-running tenure.

“They’re extremely talented. They do a variety of voices there…that show has been on for how many decades? (It’s) still funny (and) relevant,” Patrick said.

On his IMDb page, Dan Patrick has 36 acting credits to his name, with the majority coming from projects with Adam Sandler.

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Matt Jones: ‘I’m Not Ashamed to Have Epilepsy’

“It’s a medical condition, and there is nothing I can do about it. I take medication, and that helps, and I wanted to show people that you can have a condition like that and still succeed…”

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Matt Jones
Courtesy: Simon & Schuster

In a Netflix documentary series released in September, Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones is seen having an epileptic seizure. He has shared why he allowed the video to be shown.

In an interview with Lexington TV station WKYT, Jones says he wants others with epilepsy to know they’re not alone.

“I think the world is a better place when people realize they are not the only ones feeling whatever it is they are feeling,” Jones said.

He shared that talking about the effects the condition has on him breaks down the stigma.

“You know I’m not ashamed to have epilepsy; it’s a medical condition, and there is nothing I can do about it. I take medication, and that helps, and I wanted to show people that you can have a condition like that and still succeed and still go through life, and you should not be ashamed of it,” he said.

The Kentucky Sports Radio host said his first seizure happened when he was 22, which is rare because most people with epilepsy suffer it at an earlier age. He said the seizure he suffered while filming the Netflix series Wrestlers — which features a behind-the-scenes look at Ohio Valley Wrestling and attempts to save the promotion in which Jones is a partner — was one of the worst he’s ever experienced.

Matt Jones told the TV station his only hesitation in showing the footage was he didn’t want his mother to see it.

“The director talked to me about airing it. He basically said are you okay with airing it? My initial inclination was no, not because of me, but because of my mother, and I didn’t want her to have to see it. She had never seen me have one,” Jones concluded.

November is Epilepsy Awareness Month. 1 in 26 people in the United States suffer from the condition.

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Ben Wagner Out As Blue Jays Radio Voice After Sportsnet Contract Not Renewed

“Thank you, Ben, for sharing your voice and expertise with listeners across Canada.”

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Ben Wagner
Courtesy: Ben Wagner on Instagram

Toronto Blue Jays radio play-by-play announcer Ben Wagner will not be on the team’s broadcasts next season, Sportsnet announced on Wednesday morning.

The company posted a statement on X that divulged that it decided not to renew his contract for the next season. The new radio broadcast booth for the team will be announced prior to the start of the 2024 Blue Jays season.

“Thank you, Ben, for sharing your voice and expertise with listeners across Canada,” the statement read. “We wish you the very best.”

Wagner had served as the radio voice of the team for the last six seasons and called road games remotely for the last several years following the COVID-19 pandemic. He was briefly taken off the radio broadcasts when Sportsnet decided to simulcast its television broadcast on radio; however, that move was expeditiously reversed.

During this past season, Wagner worked alongside color commentator Chris Leroux and had the opportunity to travel to call the team’s Wild Card Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, which ended in a 2-0 loss. The Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels were the only two MLB teams not to send their broadcasters on the road during the 2023 MLB regular season.

Upon graduating from Indiana State University with a degree in radio and television, Ben Wagner worked as the director of media and public relations for the Lakewood BlueClaws, a Class-A Minor League Baseball team for which he also served as its play-by-play announcer.

Three years later, he called games for the Buffalo Bisons in Triple-A for the next 11 seasons before replacing Jerry Howarth as the radio play-by-play voice of the Blue Jays.

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