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Mike Francesa, Chris Russo Not Sold on Tom Brady’s Future As a TV Analyst

“It’s a special day! It’s a special day at First Take! Look at the crew I have in front of me.”

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Wednesday was bound to be one of the biggest in the history of First Take. Not only was Mike Francesa scheduled to join the show for a Mike & The Mad Dog reunion, but before the show even went on the air, Tom Brady announced his retirement. It made all the sense in the world that the show went thirty minutes before taking a break.

“It’s a special day! It’s a special day at First Take! Look at the crew I have in front of me,” Molly Qerim said as she introduced the panel that included Francesa alongside the regular Wednesday cast of Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

Before the debates began though, Adam Schefter joined the show to discuss Brady’s retirement. The New York native told Qerim that it was hard not to notice the history on the set.

“You’re in the company of royalty, Molly,” he said. “Stephen A, the greatest ever to do it on TV. Two of the guys that are the founding fathers of sports radio.”

“I wish Brady would have picked another day,” Francesa joked. 

While discussion of what Tom Brady meant to the NFL and the American sports landscape in general dominated the discussion, there was plenty of time for ribbing and reflection. Stephen A. Smith acknowledged what a fan he was of Mike & The Mad Dog when the show aired on WFAN. He called it an honor to be on with Francesa and Russo.

After spending the majority of the top segment talking about Brady, the show opened its second segment talking about the history of Mike & The Mad Dog. The show came back from commercial with a montage from the 30 for 30 film about the duo. It featured clips from their history and colleagues talking about their influence on New York and the sports talk format.

“I feel like I’m at my funeral,” Mike Francesa joked after the video.

Russo acknowledged that what people were seeing on the screen wasn’t always possible. Whether he was talking about what happened on air or behind the scenes, he acknowledged that there was a time when the two of them wouldn’t be able to get through a walk down memory lane.

“We don’t fight as much as we used to. Mike and I one time spent hours killing each other about who had the best bathroom facility between the Yankees or the Giants.” 

The conversation also included a brief discussion about Tom Brady’s future in sports television. Francesa explained why he wasn’t sold on Brady becoming a good analyst, an opinion also shared by Russo.

“It takes a certain personality and a certain mindset to be a good analyst,” Francesa explained. “I don’t think he’s going to be a great analyst. I don’t. I don’t think he is going to be bombastic. I don’t think he has an oversized personality outside of being Tom Brady. I think he will find things he likes more than announcing. I just don’t see that connection. Not every great player is going to be a great analyst, and I don’t think Brady is going to be great.”

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SEC Commissioner Tells Pat McAfee Someone at ESPN Leaked 2024 Schedule Without Permission

“We were trying to protect it. Someone at ESPN apparently leaked it.”

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SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey isn’t particularly thrilled that his new top broadcast partner leaked a portion of next year’s schedule a bit early.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, which just so happens to be an ESPN property, Sankey mentioned his displeasure at the Worldwide Leader for leaking a portion of the 2024 SEC schedule early. According to Sankey, the league and the network agreed to release the schedule together in the near future.

“We were trying to protect it,” Sankey said. “Someone at ESPN apparently leaked it,” according to Yahoo Sports college football reporter Ross Dellenger.

While leaks in the media space are hardly a new phenomenon, especially when it comes to something as desirable as a football conference’s yearly schedule, a leak this early in the newly-formed ESPN-SEC relationship is less than ideal. Starting next season, ESPN will take over as the SEC’s primary broadcast partner, assuming the position CBS had long held for decades.

In the leaked portion of the schedule, the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide will play in the regular season for just the third time in the past 15 years. We also know the Bulldogs will play the debuting Texas Longhorns in Texas, while the Tide will play the other Oklahoma Sooners on the road.

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Jim Boeheim Making Analyst Debut on ACC Network, Joining The CW

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Jim Boeheim
Courtesy: Codie Yan, The NewsHouse

Former Syracuse Orange basketball head coach Jim Boeheim will make his debut as an analyst on Saturday, Dec. 2 on the ACC Network. Boeheim will be on the broadcast for the matchup between Florida State and North Carolina at 2 PM ET featuring play-by-play announcer Wes Durham and sideline reporter Cory Alexander.

Boeheim will make his studio debut on Tuesday, Dec. 5 during halftime of the men’s prime-time doubleheader games on the day – which consists of Central Connecticut against Boston College at 6 PM ET, followed by Cornell taking on Syracuse at 8 PM ET.

On the program, he will be joined by host Kelsey Riggs and analyst Luke Hancock, and he will also remain on the air for the 10 p.m. edition of Nothing But Net, the network’s signature basketball show.

Additionally, Jim Boeheim also joined Westwood One and is reportedly set to work on The CW coverage of ACC basketball, debuting this Saturday with pre-taped segments during halftime of two conference games. News of Boeheim working with The CW was first reported by Mike Waters of Syracuse.com.

Boeheim departed Syracuse University after 47 seasons as a coach and holding an overall win-loss record of 1,015-441. He has the second-most wins at the Division I level in the history of college basketball, only being surpassed by former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

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Dan Le Batard: I Thought Pat McAfee Would Grow College GameDay, But That Hasn’t Happened

Le Batard said McAfee is playing under a different set of rules than others at ESPN.

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Pat McAfee
(Photo: ESPN Images)

Pat McAfee has checked all the boxes Disney and ESPN leadership had when the former NFL punter brought his daily sports talk show into the fray, but one area where it seems like the waters aren’t so smooth for McAfee is in his reception as an analyst on College GameDay.

GameDay viewers have not shied away from making their feelings known that they don’t like seeing McAfee on the show, and Dan Le Batard has found the criticism quite interesting.

On The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Thursday, Le Batard said he thought having Pat McAfee on GameDay would continue taking the show to the next level, but it turns out he was wrong in some respects.

“And so they get McAfee and they give him a new set of rules,” Le Batard said. “But I thought that would result in College GameDay getting bigger and better. More popular. I underestimated the allegiance that the viewer has to David Pollack.”

“I’m reading him and everyone around him saying he’s a good teammate, they all love him, they’re all getting along with him,” Le Batard added. “He is effusive, he is such a positive person. He is effusive in his praise for the people on that sat. But now the numbers are coming back, and this is something that McAfee couldn’t have expected.”

Executive producer Mike Ruiz chimed in saying that a contributing factor in the changing conditions at GameDay is due to the mass layoffs and non-renewals of more expensive talent over the last couple years. He said there was going to be a natural need to switch things up after cutting ties with the likes of Pollack, Tom Rinaldi, and Chris “The Bear” Fallica.

“The format of the show when you take someone like that, you’re changing it,” Ruiz said. “You’re changing the emotional stories that made you cry in advance of a Purdue/Ohio State game. All that stuff starts going away. And now it’s not just going away, some of that stuff is going to FOX.”

Dan Le Batard responded saying he wasn’t trying to blame Pat McAfee for Big Noon Kickoff closing the gap on GameDay and negative fan feedback. But all of a sudden now that FOX can tout its pregame show continuing to grow and be a successful alternative to ESPN’s product, the narrative shifts.

“I always say perception is not reality, but when all you have is perception and fudged numbers, FOX is saying, ‘We’ve caught College GameDay. We’ve caught one of the most popular shows in the history of sports television,'” Le Batard said.

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