Awful Announcing

More than anything to do with his expected performance on the field headed into Year 3 of his NFL career, the story of Jayden Daniels’ offseason focused on a strange beef that became public with his college team. The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for LSU, who is now the starting signal-caller for the Washington Commanders, sent…

The scheming of Gianni Infantino to bring private equity into world soccer has brought chaos to FIFA. But his plans go beyond selling a stake in the World Cup and reportedly involve a children’s competition inspired by the Little League World Series with a potential partner in ESPN. ESPN has televised the Little League World…

Brian Kelly is without a coaching job for the 2026 college football season, but he’s attempting to stay relevant in the media. SiriusXM announced Kelly is joining their College Sports Radio channel this season, with the former Notre Dame and LSU head football coach co-hosting a weekly show with Danny Kanell and Roy Philpott. The…

On this week’s episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast, host Brandon Contes interviews former WFAN personality Sal Licata. They discuss a wide range of topics including Licata’s new venture Underscore Media, his departure from WFAN, working with Brandon Tierney, producing Mike and the Mad Dog, being there for Chris Russo’s departure to SiriusXM, potential Mike…

Mike Breen’s dream New York summer isn’t over yet. Breen was on the call when his beloved New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals, winning their first championship in 53 years. He also emceed the Knicks’ championship ceremony. Breen continued healing his inner child when he crashed SNY’s broadcast…

On Monday night, Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink swatted five blocks in a loss to the Atlanta Dream. Her most impressive block of the night came before the game even started. Brink, the 2024 No. 2 overall pick, spoke exclusively with Jarrod Castillo of Mirror US about the disingenuous media cloud hovering over the…

Last week, Good Good Golf released an ad spot for its co-branded Callaway driver. In it, Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark tackles a woman who dared reach for his driver, stands over her, and says, “Do not touch my new driver.” After swift and intense backlash, the ad was deleted, but not before several people…

Wrestling news outlet SEScoops has retracted its story reporting that ESPN would not be renewing its contract with WWE when the current agreement between the two companies expires in 2030. “Before a story like this runs, the subject deserves a direct chance to respond, and that step wasn’t taken to the appropriate standard,” SEScoops said…

If you love watching Pat McAfee on College GameDay every Saturday morning, you can thank Kirk Herbstreit for helping to bring him there. McAfee has been a full-time analyst on ESPN’s College GameDay since 2022, and Herbstreit has been there since 1996. And while the old guard of any sports show might typically be reluctant…

On Wednesday, it was reported that ESPN was preparing a significant change to how it would present its college football broadcasts for the coming season. The BottomLine ticker, which scrolls across the bottom of screens informing the audience of the scores of other games across college football, is no more. “We’re always looking for ways to better…

Ten years ago, Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem in peaceful protest of Black oppression and police brutality in America. Kaepernick, then the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, had refused to stand for the national anthem earlier that offseason. But nobody really noticed until Aug. 26, 2016, when he didn’t stand for the…

The New York Mets’ broadcast booth finished third in Awful Announcing’s 2026 MLB local broadcaster rankings. But even Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling aren’t immune to technical difficulties. On Tuesday night, the Mets hosted the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field. Milwaukee (81-51) and New York (60-72) were tangled at 2-2 when David Hamilton…

Tony Gonzalez will soon resume his analyst duties on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end just picked up another gig. It has absolutely nothing to do with football. On Tuesday, iHeartMedia and SMAC Productions announced No Safe Words with October and Tony Gonzalez, a weekly podcast…

As a longtime San Francisco sports broadcaster and lead radio play-by-play voice for the 49ers, Greg Papa continues to recover from numerous health issues. But his profile on the Bay Area airwaves is growing rather than shrinking, and he’s now planning an earlier-than-expected return to the booth. Papa confirmed Tuesday that he plans to return…

The fallout continues from a bizarre ad for the Good Good Golf line of Callaway golf clubs, which depicted a man from the golf content brand shoving a female colleague. Both companies quickly deleted the video from their platforms and have continued to face questions over the nature of the commercial and the approval process.…

The Philadelphia Phillies won their ninth straight game on Sunday thanks to a dramatic comeback in the final frame. Trailing 4–0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a lone man on base, the back end of the Phillies’ lineup rallied. After a J.T. Realmuto single, a Justin Crawford walk, an Edmundo…

The NFL world was shocked, but not surprised on Monday when Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken announced that Deshaun Watson would be the team’s starting quarterback in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The shock came from the fact that Watson had admonished Browns fans for booing him after another underwhelming preseason performance just…

It’s becoming quite rare these days for any sports documentary to get made without some level of editorial approval from the subjects themselves. Whether that means these projects should be called documentaries at all is certainly a discussion worth having. But there’s a real access problem in the sports documentary world right now. Athletes demand…

For the first time since securing the intellectual property rights for the RedZone brand as part of its equity deal with the NFL, ESPN is utilizing the RedZone franchise for a sport other than football. On Monday, ESPN announced that it will bring RedZone’s patented whip-around coverage to tennis during the US Open later this…

The big leagues took over the Little League World Series on Sunday night. With the little leaguers taking a break, the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves came out to Williamsport, PA for the Little League Classic and put on a show, meeting with fans and the next potential generation of MLB stars at the home…

The utility of the on-field interview during MLB games is questionable at best. First and foremost, these are professional athletes who are attempting to perform at the highest level while also bantering with whoever is on play-by-play. Beyond that obvious hiccup, conversations can be stilted and awkward, with the wind and weather making communication between…

America’s favorite, or at least most well-known, fictional soccer coach returned to streaming recently, with Ted Lasso premiering its fourth season on Apple TV. The new season follows the fictional AFC Richmond as the club forms a new women’s team from scratch, with Lasso obviously at the helm. Your mileage may vary on the new…

Nick Saban will always be associated with the SEC. The legendary coach won seven national championships as part of the conference, six with Alabama and one with LSU. It was where he had by far the most success as a coach and cemented his status as one of the greats ever to walk the sidelines.…

The NFL preseason is an opportunity for teams to try out new ideas and formations on the field in a low-stakes environment. The same holds true for the broadcast booth, and on Saturday, actress Brenda Song made her debut as a color commentator for the Los Angeles Rams in their preseason game against the New…