1. The NFL’s push in this country will be fully shown this week as the league prepares to announce its 2022 schedule on Thursday night.
Of course, the schedule is leaking in dribbles and drums ahead of the official announcement. International games came out last week, and we found out two weeks ago chargers–chiefs will be the first game Thursday night at Amazon Prime.
Early Monday, ABC / ESPN announced it would have a doubleheader in week 2.
The night will begin with Titanium on Accounts at 7:15 on ESPN, followed by Vikings code Eagles at 8:30 a.m. on ABC.
Remember, this happens in week 2, not week 1. Week 1 will contain only one Football on Monday night a game that will be broadcast simultaneously on ABC and ESPN.
What you also need to know: That 2nd week night will be the only ABC / ESPN doubleheader on Monday night for the 2022 season. But starting in the 2023 season, ABC / ESPN will have three weeks with double titles on Monday night.
What else you need to know: ESPN has yet to announce which game its new MNF transmission team Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call in Week 2. We also don’t know who will call the second game that night.
Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit would be an obvious choice to name the second game, but Herbstreit is now doing games Thursday night for Amazon. Can Herbstreit do Chargers-Chiefs on Thursday, College GameDay on a Saturday morning, a university football game on a Saturday afternoon or evening, and then Football on Monday night in Buffalo or Philadelphia?
Of course. It would be the safest choice for ESPN. If the network wants to go the other way, it can use another of its faculty teams or put together a booth with some of its NFL studio leaders, such as Dan Orlovsky, Ryan Clark or Marcus Spears.
ABC / ESPN achieved full synergy on Monday, using Buck and Aikman to make an official announcement on the site Good morning America. The segment ended with a funny note with Aikman as if he was justifiably stunned that it was his Football on Monday night the record was not nearly as good as he remembered.
2. Richard Jefferson, who you have to follow on TikTok, shared a funny story over the weekend about a team that performed a catfish joke with a rookie a few years ago.
3. This is a remarkable article by Grant Marek from SFGate.com about how radio host Colin Cowherd spent years tearing up Draymond Green, but then started singing Green’s praises once Warriors the star joined Cowherd’s podcast network.
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4. Good news for the Angels: they had a 5-4 win against the Nationals after scoring three series at the bottom of the ninth on Sunday.
Bad news for the Angels: after the victory, their great Gatorade bath failed.
5. The Yankees infielder, Gleyber Torres, hit a home run against the Rangers in the first game of the match on Sunday. After that, Texas manager Chris Woodward acted like a big loser, complaining about the dimensions of Yankee Stadium.
The last time I checked, the Rangers played a Sunday game at the same stadium as the Yankees, and the Rangers strikers had the same dimensions as the Yankees strikers, so I don’t see a problem here.
6. This week Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features an interview with Katie Nolan, who is part of MLB coverage on Apple TV +.
Nolan discusses how she got the deal with Apple, which Apple is trying to achieve with its broadcast, realizing that traditional MLB fans may not get a TV broadcast, how she prepares for each game and the time she kept silent a few changes after reading the feedback on social media.
Nolan also talks about her time at ESPN, what she liked about working there, whether she thinks ESPN knows how to use it, and what she learned about running a sports media business.
The podcast ends with our weekly segment “Traina Thoughts” with Salo Licat from WFAN and SNY TV in New York. This week Jimmy and Sal are reading recently SI Media Podcast Apple reviews, discuss Kevin Harlan who won the best performance at Turner Sports, the NFL which gives the game exclusively ESPN + and much more
You can listen to the podcast below or download it to Apple, Spotify and Google.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 73rd birthday, Billy Joel. This is still one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced.
Be sure to make up for past editions of the Train of Thought and check Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Train at Apple, Spotify or Google. You can still follow Jimmy Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.