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Traina Thoughts: Mike Francesa Doesn't Understand Why Anyone Would Check Out the ESPN 'Body Issue'
1. Mike Francesa pulled the classic move of asking "who cares?" about a topic during his WFAN radio show Thursday while discussing the topic that no one supposedly cares about. This time, it was the ESPN "Body Issue" in Francesa's crosshairs.
The longtime New York radio host couldn't figure out why anyone would want to see naked athletes, before cracking the code that ESPN puts out the "Body Issue" to make money.
"Does anybody care about this issue where they have these naked athletes?" asked Francesa. "Does anybody care about seeing Brooks Koepka naked, swinging the golf club. Is this supposed to be titillating? What is the idea?"
Francesa talked it through and figured out what it's about.
"It is trying to sell magazines and putting athletes in there they hope people wanna see naked," the Sports Pope declared. "It's not any expression of the human form. Because if you were gonna do that, you wouldn't do it with famous people. This is about selling magazines."
Who knew? Crazy revelation.
If Mike thought the Koepka pics were going too far, someone really needs to show the spread that the Eagles offensive line did for the magazine.
Anyway, here is the full clip of the rant followed up by a caller who asked Francesa if ESPN had ever asked him to be in the "Body Issue." As you can imagine, that question didn't go over well with Mike.
2. Hopefully this tease of what the Mavericks home court will look like next season, with a silhouette of Dirk Nowitizki at each end, is 100% real.
3. We already knew The Rock was #FannyPackForLife, but apparently his greatest WWE rival (and recent SI Media Podcast guest) Stone Cold Steve Austin has also been known to dip into fanny pack life, as well.
4. The Panthers just put out the best team hype video you'll see this season, in large part because star running back Christian McCaffrey plays the dramatic music on piano.
McCaffrey's musical talent shouldn't surprise anyone who remembers this clip of him playing Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on harmonica.
5. Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas had the best take that I saw on the Antonio Brown saga with the Raiders.
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: With the NFL kicking into full gear Sunday, I wanted to give you some vintage Madden and Summerall. If you grew up in the '80s watching the NFL, you will get a kick out of this.
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: One piece of advice for everyone out there that is going to place some wagers on Sunday's NFL action, nobody knows anything and there is no such thing as an expert. Don't get hoodwinked.
