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Traina Thoughts: Breaking Down the 2019 Sports Emmy Nominations
1. The 40th annual Sports Emmy Awards nominatons were announced on Wednesday. Just like with any awards show, they really don't matter in the grand scheme of life, but they are fun to pick apart.
I have no idea how the Television Academy comes up with these nominations because they seem very random. For instance, the NFL on CBS was nominated for Outstanding Live Sports Series. However, the NFL on FOX was not. Was there really a big difference in the coverage between the two? The Emmys did seem to echo the voice of the public, though, by giving Monday Night Football just one nomination and it came in the Post-Produced Graphic Design category. Lisa Salters was nominated in the Outstanding Sports Personality - Sports Reporter category. Salters does sideline reporting on ESPN's NBA coverage in addition to Monday Night Football.
Anyway, I got a few tweets from people about some of the nominations, so I thought I'd do a little breakdown of some of the bigger categories and weigh in with my opinion. Let me know what you guys think on Twitter.
OUTSTANDING LIVE SPORTS SERIES
Golf Channel on NBC
Major League Baseball on ESPN
NFL on CBS
SEC on CBS
Sunday Night Football, NBC
* The only thought I have about this category is that it’s shocking to me that Major League Baseball on ESPN would get a nomination. Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN is close to an unwatchable telecast on a weekly basis.
OUTSTANDING PLAYOFF COVERAGE
2018 FIFA World Cup on FOX/FS1
AFC Championship, CBS, New England Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, TBS/CBS/TNT/truTV
NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four, ESPN2, Louisville vs. Mississippi State and Notre Dame vs. Connecticut
SEC Championship Game CBS
* The Patriots-Chiefs AFC tilt was the game when Tony Romo went nuts with his predictions, especially in the second half, and dominated the broadcast.
OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW - WEEKLY
College GameDay, ESPN
Football Night in America, NBC
FOX NFL Sunday
Inside the NBA on TNT
The NFL Today CBS
* Inside the NBA vs. College GameDay is a ferocious battle. GameDay won the award last year, so this should be Inside the NBA's turn.
OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW - DAILY
The Dan Patrick Show DIRECTV/NBCSN
The Jump ESPN
MLB Tonight MLB Network
Outside The Lines ESPN
Pardon The Interruption ESPN
* If you read this column, you know my show is Good Morning Football and they got snubbed bigtime, but it's not surprising that the stuffy Academy wouldn't appreciate a show that has fun and features original creativity on a daily basis. It's nice to see The Jump get a nomination. Rachel Nicols has done a great job of making that studio show not feel like a typical studio show.
OUTSTANDING SOCIAL TV EXPERIENCE
Always Late with Katie Nolan ESPN+
Hard Knocks HBO
Training Camp with the Cleveland Browns [NFL Films]
Inside the NBA on TNT TNT
SportsCenter on Snapchat ESPN/Snapchat
XXIII Olympic Winter Games NBC
* I don’t know what "Social TV Experience" means, but if Hard Knocks is nominated, it should win because last season was one of the best ever and I’d like to see Bob Wylie pick up the award in a tux.
OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY - STUDIO HOST
Rece Davis ESPN
Ernie Johnson TNT
Bob Ley ESPN
Curt Menefee FOX
Mike Tirico NBC/Golf Channel
Scott Van Pelt ESPN
* All of the guys are great at what they do. I honestly don’t know how you pick one over the other. One snub here is Kevin Burkhardt, who does a great job on FOX/FS1's MLB studio coverage.
OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY - PLAY-BY-PLAY
Mike Breen ESPN/ABC
Joe Buck FOX/FS1/NFL Network
Ian Eagle TBS/CBS/TNT/truTV/Tennis Channel
Mike Emrick NBC/NBCSN
Jim Nantz tbs/CBS/TNT/truTV
* Same line as above. All of the guys are great at what they do. I honestly don’t know how you pick one over the other. Would love to see Ian get recognized for his work here, especially since he's nominated with the industry's heavyweights. The omission of Al Michaels here is pretty stunning.
OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY - STUDIO ANALYST
Charles Barkley TNT
Kirk Herbstreit ESPN
Alex Rodriguez FS1
Michael Strahan FOX
Kurt Warner NFL Network
* I feel like we’re being pranked with the A-Rod nomination, but let’s not get hung up on that. This has to be the most lopsided category of all with Barkley and Herbsteit on another level than the other three guys. Believe it or not, neither Barkley nor Herbstreit were nominated last year and Harold Reynolds took home this trophy, so that's all you have to know about getting worked up about awards.
OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY - SPORTS EVENT ANALYST
Jay Bilas ESPN/ESPN2
Cris Collinsworth NBC
Kirk Herbstreit ESPN/ABC
Bill Raftery tbs/CBS/TNT/truTV/FS1
Tony Romo CBS
John Smoltz FOX/FS1/MLB Network
* Every nominee is great, but can it be anyone but Romo this year? Yes, he cut down on the predictions, but he furthered the gap between him and the next best analyst in the NFL and he had a tremendous run in the postseason.
2. The newest SI Media Podcast features two interviews. First up is Taylor Rooks from Bleacher Report. Rooks has a new interview show for the site and she discusses that as well as having the title of "rising sports media star," how she's used social media to further her career, how she deals with comments about her looks, loving Oprah, and much more.
At the 33-minute mark of the podcast, the founder and publisher of the Wrestler Observer newsletter, aka the Wrestling Bible, Dave Meltzer joins the show to preview WrestleMania and share info on the women's main event, The Undertaker, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Rob Gronkowski, and much more. We also talked about the viral John Oliver segment that went after the WWE.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play.
3. Rays pitcher Jose Alvarado threw one of the nastiest pitches you'll ever see Wednesday night.
4. How can you not love Gregg Popovich? The guy got tossed pretty much when the Spurs game against the Nuggets started Wednesday night and then he joyfully crashed Mike Malone's press conference after his team whipped San Antonio.
5. It will be an absolute disgrace if Major League Baseball does not suspend umpire Ron Kulpa, who repeatedly told Astros manager A.J. Hinch, "I can do anything I want," during an argument Wednesday night.
6.RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of WrestleMania this Sunday, here's the big contract signing between The Ulimate Warrior and Hullk Hogan prior to WrestleMania XI in which the Warrior was more unhinged than usual.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustarted Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina. You can also follow on Twitter and Instagram.
IN CLOSING: Why does Robert Kraft want to keep the story of him getting a rub-and-tug going and going and going? Just move on already.
