It’s time for another mailbag edition of Traina Thoughts. I asked for questions via X and Instagram and as usual, you guys came through with a wide array of topics. Here we go.

Seeing what the NFL schedule release has become is truly mind-boggling. It shows you that there isn’t an entity on Earth better at marketing itself than the NFL.

It comes off, to me at least, that the NFL’s motto is, We don’t care if this isn’t a big deal at all, we’re going to make it a big deal and then gaslight fans into thinking it’s a big deal.

I mean, honestly, who gives a flying you-know-what that the Washington Commanders and Miami Dolphins will play in Spain? But you see those associated with the NFL, such as Adam Schefter, posting about it, and you almost get convinced that fans care. Outside of a Miami or Washington fan who might want to travel to the game, there isn’t one NFL fan in the rest of the country who cares that the game will be played in Madrid.

The schedule release isn’t just about the schedule anymore. The schedule release is about content. The announcement at this year’s NFL draft of when the schedule would be released was so cringe. The NFL leaks games. And now it promotes when it will leak games. Every team makes social media videos to announce their schedule. And this year, every team’s social media group made videos to tease the schedule announcement videos.

As I get older, I realize that none of this stuff is for me. If it was up to me, I’d just want the NFL to email me a schedule and be done with it. But that’s not the world we live in now. You gotta have engagement and clicks!

It’s all ridiculous. It’s all over the top. And it’s relentless. But the NFL can do whatever it wants. It seems most people eat all that stuff up.

I don’t. Networks should focus on national instead of regional because many sports fans still watch their home team on their local channel.

For example, if tonight’s Boston Celtics–New York Knicks game aired on MSG here in New York, in addition to TNT, everyone in the tri-state area would watch the MSG coverage.

Yes. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be. He has a contract through 2028. He’s getting paid great money. ESPN is getting massive coverage from McAfee’s guests/interviews.

Altcasts have been a big thing for ESPN. Other networks haven’t really jumped on the bandwagon.

TNT would be the ideal NBA network to have an altcast because it could do one with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal.

The NFL’s complete disrespect for Good Morning Football is one of the biggest sports media mysteries in recent times. It seems the NFL/NFL Media/NFL Network didn’t have a clue that they had a special show with a loyal fanbase.

The show got lucky in that it was able to survive some cast changes. Jamie Erdahl was a solid replacement for Kay Adams. Jason McCourty did a great job filling the huge shoes of Nate Burleson.

But, obviously, the show has now underdone just way too many changes, with Kyle Brandt being the only original cast member left thanks to Peter Schrager recently leaving for ESPN.

Brandt is a HUGE talent and highly entertaining, so the show is still worth checking out because of his creativity, but Good Morning Football is in desperate need of a steady and consistent cast.

I don’t think I’ve ever complained about the 9:30 a.m. ET NFL games. I like the 9:30 am ET games. I wish there was one every week. I want as many NFL games in as many standalone time slots as possible.

As for whether I think about the West Coast group, no. I don’t think about them. I only think about me.

My guess is that most houses would buy it. Super Bowl Sunday is a national holiday. Most of the people watching the Super Bowl don’t care about football at all.

The NFC championship game last season between the Philadelphia Eagles and Commanders drew 44.2 million viewers. The AFC championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills drew 57.4 million viewers. The Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl drew 127.7 million viewers.

That means that 70 million who normally don’t typically care about the NFL watched the Super Bowl. They want to watch the halftime show and dopey commercials.

So, yes, most people would cough up the $40 to watch the game because it’s an event, not a game.

I don’t think you’re crazy, but I do think this idea sounds better on paper than in reality. Watching a game with no announcers would be cool for a little bit, but watching a game with no announcers for three hours would be a bit much.

There really wasn’t anyone left. Chrissy was dead. Bobby was dead. Vito was dead. Silvio was in a coma. Junior was in a nursing home. Paulie was too dumb to run the crew.

I think Carmela could’ve been an interesting choice. She could be cut throat when she wanted.

I don’t know all the mob rules, but if a woman isn’t allowed to run a crew, then Carmela could’ve brought Furio back from Italy and he could run the crew while they picked up on their romance.

Some Instagram questions:

Any chance Jeff Van Gundy gets back on a broadcast? He was the best. - @adamgismondi

My guess would be there’s no chance. ESPN will always deny that it fired Van Gundy because the NBA was upset that Van Gundy would complain about the refs and criticize the sport when needed.

And the NBA will always deny that it would complain about Van Gundy to ESPN. But only someone without a functioning brain would believe those things.

ESPN especially embarrassed itself by saying it fired Van Gundy because it thought he might want to get back into coaching while then turning around and hiring Doc Rivers.

Networks are not in the business of firing a person who is considered the best analyst in the sport. Especially when that person was part of the No. 1 crew (along with Mike Breen and Mark Jackson) for 19 years.

So, if the NBA doesn’t want Van Gundy behind a microphone, Van Gundy is not going to be behind a microphone because the networks are partners with the NBA. The networks are not going to go against the league’s wishes.

Where is Tony Reali gonna end up? - @schoolnikneil

With ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product launching soon and the strong possibility that ESPN will acquire NFL Media in the near future, it would be surprising if ESPN didn’t find some sort of role for Reali.

Here’s what Reali told me in early March after news broke that Around The Horn was getting canceled after 23 years on the air:

“I’ve been talking to everybody. I’ve been trying to gauge what my talents are and what I think they are. I’m going to be somebody who is going to be a little more diversified in what I’m doing. It’s not gonna be one show. It’s going to be a number of shows. I’m bringing the energy and I’m bringing the enthusiasm and positivity. That’s very attractive to any show, but I like the wrap-around shows.

“If you tell me there’s any way, ANY WAY in the world, I mean, who in sports media doesn’t love the Red Zone channel. You tell me in any way, any sports, stick ‘Red Zone’ as a name on any type of sport or programming and I’m like, Wow, that’s the type of hosting that serves my sports muscles. Other muscles are family shows and game shows. … So I’m happy to have those conversations. How could you not want to do something like that?”

How many MLB stadiums have you been to? What is next on your list? - @cscharch

I’m terrible with stadium names (and I’m not going to look them all up now), so hopefully you can follow this list.

Old Yankee Stadium
New Yankees Stadium
Old Shea Stadium
Citi Field
Old Olympic Stadium (Expos)
SkyDome
Old Tigers Stadium (My all-time favorite)
Fenway Park
Wrigley Field
Camden Yards
Old Metrodome
Tropicana Field
Progressive Field
Kaufman Stadium
New White Sox stadium
Old Veterans Stadium in Philly
The Marlins’ dump
Busch Stadium in St. Louis
Old Riverfront Stadium
Old Brewers County Stadium
Old Three Rivers in Pittsburgh

The next stadium I’d like to go to is the new Pirates stadium.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Traina Thoughts Mailbag: NFL Schedule Release, Pat McAfee’s Future and More.

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