It’s no secret that San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has been injury prone during his NFL career. 105.3 The Fan’s GBag Nation said it would benefit the Cowboys for McCaffrey to come down with an injury ahead of the team’s NFC Divisional Round playoff matchup this week, and that message wasn’t well received by 49er fans.

A Twitter user –calling the comments “pathetic” — captured a 15-second clip of the show discussing McCaffrey, in which hosts Gavin Dawson and Bryan Broaddus said “We could use an injury, we really could” followed by saying “a hamstring would be good”. The clip has since garnered nearly 50,000 views.

On Thursday, Shan Shariff of Shan & RJ defended his colleagues by calling out 49er fans.

“Want another example of how soft and whiney these Bay Area fans are? Check out the complete meltdowns and crying over @gbagnation joking about Christian McCaffrey. Charles Barkley was right about everything he’s every said about your city and fans”, before tagging 95.7 The Game –sister station of 105.3 The Fan — and that station’s morning host Bonta Hill.

RJ Choppy, Shariff’s partner on the 105.3 The Fan morning show, continued the defense of the station’s afternoon show. He believed the comments from the show were sarcastic in nature.

“I would say I’m surprised that people are unable to pick up on the clear sarcasm” of the two hosts, before saying “but I’m not. Somewhere we lost the ability to know what irreverence sounds like”.

Melissa Stark’s sideline interview with Ravens coach John Harbaugh during the team’s Super Wild Card Round loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last week has received plenty of attention. Harbaugh was less than pleased with being asked what it would take to change quarterbacks.

Erin Andrews addressed interactions with players and athletes like that on Calm Down, the podcast she co-hosts with Charissa Thompson. While Andrews never mentioned Stark by name in her profanity-laced rant, she did say that coaches and players know when someone is trying to make a name for themselves.

“You don’t have to be an asshole,” the FOX Sports sideline reporter said. “How about this? Stop trying to make a name for yourself or be clickbait with these questions that tie these guys down or put them in a bind where you want to be the person in the press conference. Don’t do that. They’re not animals. They’re not pieces of meat.”

On Thursday’s edition of The Fan Morning Show on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, Chris Mack objected to the idea that the interview was Stark trying to get attention.

“Melissa Stark has been doing this for years and I think is pretty good at it and I think those questions were all fair,” he said.

Co-host Dorin Dickerson saw it a little differently. In addition to his role on The Fan Morning Show, Dickerson is also a sideline reporter for the Pitt Panthers’ football radio network. He did not think Stark respected the reality of sideline interviews.

“What Melissa Stark did there, she was prying too much,” he said. “You know that you’re gonna get the run-of-the-mill answers when you ask a coach. The last thing a coach wants to do is talk to you after a bad first half.”

Colin Dunlap added that sideline interviews have value but are not necessary. He said that he enjoyed having access to coaches in the middle of a game, however, coaches could make a point of eliminating sideline interviews from future NFL TV contracts if they are a real problem. He doesn’t expect that would ever happen though.

“They could resist. They absolutely could resist with the TV rights deals and say ‘we’re just not doing it,’ but they know part of their bread is buttered by having that access. That’s built into the television contract.”

As the NFL Playoffs continue, media companies are beginning to plan their week on Radio Row at the Super Bowl in Arizona. CBS Sports Network is no different and apparently has a rather wild idea for the morning hours.

During Boomer & Gio Thursday, host Gregg Giannotti told Boomer Esiason network producers were interested in having the pair film inside a hot air balloon ride.

“He wants you in a hot air balloon,” Giannotti said. “I just actually got the text. ‘Would Boomer want to go up in a hot air balloon? Monday the 6th. Monday after the show’…you think 10 people can get in that hot air balloon?”

“What, we just trying to take the whole show out at once?” Esiason nervously responded.

“What? No! Come on! You’re safe,” Giannotti reassured his co-host. “You’re in a basket in the sky. Worst case scenario, you drift down.”

The former NFL quarterback — who admitted he is afraid of heights — said he couldn’t make Monday morning work, but when presented with the opportunity of a 3:30 PM trip, he agreed, saying it’s something he’s never done before.

“I’ve done an F-16, so why not a balloon?” he added.

WFAN producer Al Dukes declined the opportunity to ride in the balloon, admitting he’s also afraid of heights.

When the show returned from a commercial break, however, the duo discussed the WFAN management team was “concerned” about the hot air balloon ride.

“There was some consternation out in the hallway just now, because our general manager heard the last segment about Boomer going up in the hot air balloon and was not happy about it,” revealed Giannotti.

“There was a big braintrust meeting out there, and I think they were concerned,” Esisason added.

“Concerned enough to say no to this thing,” Giannotti rebutted. “So we’ve got a problem…but I do think the radio bosses may just — no pun intended — spike this thing,” alluding to the WFAN and CBS Sports Radio Vice President of Programming Spike Eskin.

“It’s not in my contract. I can do whatever I want,” quipped Esiason. “They don’t have in my contract that I’m not allowed to do things. This is not like a starting quarterback for the Giants…I heard their concern.”

Giannotti then joked that he shouldn’t have searched for hot air balloon crashes, reading excerpts from various news stories about hot air balloon disasters. However, Esiason noted ratings would be “through the roof” the day following an accident should the hosts perish.