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Traina Thoughts: Relive These Five Glorious NFL Calls to Get Ready for the 2019 Season
1. The NFL season is finally here. We get a little appetizer tonight with the Packers and Bears before we dive into the main course Sunday at 1 p.m.
To celebrate the beginning of the 2019 season and get you pumped up for five months of football, I'm providing you with five of the most memorable calls from recent years that you will no doubt enjoy thoroughly.
• Let's get things started with something every football fan loves: A fat guy touchdown. Dick Enberg has the call on this spectacular play by Bears defensive lineman Keith Traylor.
• Gus Johnson. Brandon Stokley. Game-winning 87-yard touchdown. Gusgasm.
• Joe Buck's call of Stefon Diggs's game-winning touchdown against the Saints in the 2017 NFC Divisional Round playoff game is the best of his career, in my opinion.
• Technically, this entry should be Al Michaels's call to Peter Jennings during the O.J. Simpson car chase prank call, but since we just celebrated that a couple of months ago, I'm giving you something else. Listen to Al call two missed field goals in overtime during a digsusting Cardinals-Seahawks game in 2016.
• Kevin Harlan's play-by-play of a streaker during a Rams-49ers Monday night game in 2016 might very well be the greatest call in sports history.
2. Here are the NFL season win total over/unders that I have wagered for the 2019 season:
Texans under 8.5: They lost Lamar Miller, Jadeveon Clowney is gone and they don't have a GM. Love this under.
Chiefs over 10.5: Patrick Mahomes is only going to get better. And their defense cannot be worse than it was last year.
Chargers under 9.5: I just don't see this team getting to 10 wins. At some point, Philip Rivers has to begin to slow down. It also doesn't help that they don't have anything resembling a homefield advantage when they play at home.
Giants over 6: This is by far the bet I like the most. They have a ridiculously easy schedule and I think trading Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns will be an addition-by-subtraction thing for the club. They still have a lot of talent at wide receiver, tight end and running back. They key to winning this bet will be for the Giants to not implode early, which would lead to a quarterback controversy. If they can come out of the gate 2-2 or 3-3, they win this bet easy.
Seahawks over 8.5: Their defense will be a nightmare for opposing teams and Russell Wilson keeps getting better.
3. Just in case you think you are truly pumped up for the start of the NFL season, let me tell you that you have NOTHING on Bill Belichick.
4. Browns fever continues to run rampant across America. According to Fanatics, Baker Mayfield had the top-selling NFL jersey during the preseason.
5. TMZ got a hold of Ric Flair on Wednesday and the legendary wrestler revealed that he's angry with the WWE and may end up suing the company. The man who coined the phrase, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man," is not happy that the WWE is calling Becky Lynch, "The Man."
6. A brand new SI Media Podcast dropped recently and it's a very good one. First up is NFL Network's Rich Eisen, who talked about the Andrew Luck bombshell, the upcoming NFL season and what makes an NFL pregame show stand out in such a crowded field. Eisen also shared some great stories about Larry David, who attended Rich's 50th birthday party, and shared some info on the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
At the 40-minute mark of the podcast, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo from SiriusXM and MLB Network joins the show to opine on a variety of topics like only he can. The Doggie discussed being snubbed from the Radio Hall of Fame, whether he reached out to his old partner Mike Francesa to congratulate him on his induction, why athletes don't care about sports talk radio anymore, whether the future of radio is in jeopardy, why the NBA's popularity annoys him and much, much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes. Spotify, Stitcher or Google Play.
7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of the NFL season, let's also remember that Larry David legitimately thinks he can be a coordinator in the league.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
IN CLOSING: Bears -3 tonight. Let's goooooooo.
