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Jemele Hill Not Ready To Give ESPN, NFL Credit

“I don’t judge you by what you do when it’s convenient. The only thing that’s changed is that public opinion has changed.”

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Jemele Hill is already a part of The Ringer’s podcast family. She co-hosts the company’s Way Down in a Hole podcast, which takes a deep dive into the TV show, The Wire.

On Tuesday, Hill was a guest on another Ringer podcast. She joined Bryan Curtis on The Press Box to discuss the sports and media industry’s reactions to marches and protests for racial equality following the murder of George Floyd.

America is approaching two full weeks of protests. Before discussing the reaction of the NFL and ESPN, Hill noted that she is encouraged by the fact that the public hasn’t let the fight for equality fade away with the news cycle.

“I certainly expected people in the moment and the aftermath to be so emotionally effected by this tragedy that the momentum would certainly be there, but I never expected it to sustain as long as it did,” Hill said.

She called Roger Goodell’s video acknowledging the NFL was wrong in the way it reacted to Colin Kaepernick and other players kneeling in protest during the national anthem part of “quite an interesting 2020 bingo card” that also includes Taylor Swift calling out white supremacy.

According to Hill, Roger Goodell’s video was simply a case of doing the easy thing. What would carry more weight with her would be a directly apology to Colin Kaepernick from not just Goodell, but also the 32 NFL team owners.

“They destroyed this man’s career for speaking out against the very same thing that happened to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahamad Aubrey. And that’s never going to be made right.”

With Donald Trump running for re-election in 2020, it is almost a certainty that anthem protests will become part of the campaign. The president views calling out those that kneel during the national anthem as an easy way to score points with his base. Hill is skeptical that Roger Goodell and the NFL will hold their current stance and push back if they are bombarded with talking points and tweets coming from the White House.

“We’ll see what happens going forward. There’s a lot of players that are going to be kneeling in protest when football resumes. What is [Goodell] gonna do then?” Hill asked. “Donald Trump is not letting this go. He’s made this clear with his tweets.”

While Hill stopped short of praising ESPN, she did note that the freedom her former employer has given its employees to discuss this moment and their own experiences with racism is not something she ever thought would happen.

“They could have easily brushed past this,” Hill said. “I’m not necessarily giving them credit. I’m just surprised.”

Again though, Hill points out that right now polls show ESPN viewers are receptive to hearing these conversations and are interested in how to make police brutality and racial inequality a thing of the past. What happens in the future?

“I don’t judge you by what you do when it’s convenient. The only thing that’s changed is that public opinion has changed.”

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Saquon Barkley to WFAN’s Tiki Barber: “Don’t Feed Into the B.S.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Logo for the New Heights podcast and a photo of Saquon Barkley

Former New York Giants and current Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley made an appearance this week on New Heights, the podcast hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce. In addition to several football related topics, Barkley spoke about his war of words with WFAN host and former Giants running back Tiki Barber.

After Barkley signed with the Eagles on a three-year, $37.5 million deal, Barber said that Barkley was “dead to us,” referring to New York Giants fans. Barber has said those comments were more about what the fans were thinking and were “tongue-in-cheek.” Barkley came back at Barber on social media and said he was a “hater” since he came to New York.

In explaining what made him upset about Barber’s response, Barkley said he didn’t think it was right to be attacked by a former player.

“I love seeing NFL guys, I love seeing OGs, I love seeing you guys, you have a platform, this is a place where you know ball, you can talk, you can educate fans,” Barkley said. “Maybe use that time to show, ‘Maybe this is why Saquon is going to Philly’ … the business side of it, use that to show, I’m not saying you got to have loyalty to me because I don’t care for that, to be honest, but you are an ex-NFL player, an ex-NFL athlete, don’t feed into the B.S., let fans do that, they’re supposed to do that, they’re emotional.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Joe Buck Misses Calling Baseball But Says He’s Already Called it for “A Lifetime”

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in.”

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Longtime sports broadcaster Joe Buck gave up calling baseball when he made the switch to ESPN and, while he says he misses the sport, he’s called 35 years’ worth of the sport. On the latest edition of Nothing Left Unsaid with Tim Green, Green asks his former broadcast partner about the lack of baseball in his life. While Buck says he misses parts of baseball, he doesn’t miss all of it.

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in. I did 24 World Series — that’s a lot, 24 more than I ever expected to do on national television. What I do miss is calling the game for the home crowd. I do miss the local stuff, where you go into the booth, and you’re the Cardinal announcer, and when the Cardinals win, ‘Yay,’ and when the Cardinals lose, ‘Boo.’ When you do the network stuff, it’s like death by 1000 cuts. It’s, ‘you hate my team, screw you,’ and it gets in your head and it takes a little bit of the fun out of it…I don’t miss the stress that comes with all that, but I do miss calling baseball for [a local team]…You show up, you’re not just there for an organization, but for their fans, and you’re kind of rooting along with them. That’s fun. And so, I miss that, but as far as the national stuff, I don’t miss a lot of that.”

Buck reiterated points he made months ago on 810 WHB with Jason Anderson. “I miss doing local baseball. I miss putting on a headset and being the eyes and ears of Cardinal fans, Royal fans, Rangers fans, whatever,” Buck said back then. “That’s more fun than being Switzerland and getting all the junk that comes with it.”

He stopped calling baseball when he and longtime football partner Troy Aikman moved from FOX to ESPN to call Monday Night Football. While he said publicly that he would miss calling the World Series, he also said the 2022 World Series would have been his last anyway. Buck says he may one day feel compelled to call baseball again, though, saying, “I’ve never said that before, but I just feel like I’m 53, basically 54, [and] I think it’s too early to say nevers at this point in my life. I think at some point, I’ll get the itch again.”

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Former Red Sox Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon Joins Roster of ‘Foul Territory’ Hosts

“I am joining the Foul Territory podcast full-time, no more guest spots…I’m coming in and I can’t wait to pop a bottle on this year’s baseball season.

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The already-stacked roster on Foul Territory just got its closer. Jonathan Papelbon, formerly of the Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Philadelphia Phillies, announced today that he was joining fellow former All-Stars A.J. Pierzynski, Todd Frazier, Adam Jones, Lorenzo Cain, Brock Holt and Jason Kipnis on the show.

The podcast also features former MLB Network host Scott Braun and former 11-year MLB catcher Erik Kratz.

“I am joining the Foul Territory podcast full-time, no more guest spots,” Papelbon said in a video posted to his X account. “Whether it’s a big Ohtani gambling scandal or me giving you baseball gambling winners…I’m coming in, no bulls—-, real talk, and I can’t wait to pop a bottle on this year’s baseball season.”

Papelbon has been a contributor to the show in the past as a guest but will now join in an official capacity. He has also contributed to linear and digital content for NESN since 2021 and will reportedly head to the booth this year.

The former closer will join Alanna Rizzo on the Foul Territory network, who was brought on just a week ago to co-host the podcast’s live program, Fair Territory, with baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.

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