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Traina Thoughts: Antonio Brown Used Social Media Consultants to Help Him Leave the Raiders
1. If you can stand just a few more seconds of Antonio Brown talk, I have to point out a report from ESPN's Chris Mortensen that really sums up the absudity of the entire situation.
According to Mort, the controversial wide receiver actually reached out to social media "experts" to see how Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc., could be used to help get him out of Oakland.
This is where we are in 2019: Athletes hiring people to help them use social media to change teams. I'd say 90% of the time, I'm on players' side and anti-management in sports, but this is just not good.
At least we now know where the idea came from for Brown to record Raiders coach Jon Gruden and use their conversation in an over-the-top video that looked like it was directed by Steven Spielberg.
Meanwhile, Gruden, who repeatedly degraded himself throughout the entire Brown saga, (he actually said Brown was "the most misunderstood f---ing human being of my entire life") said he loved the video after it was released. Hours later, Brown was with the New England Patriots. Nice job, Jon.
The saddest thing about the Brown saga is that there are no winners. Mayock and Gruden look like dopes for bringing Brown in from Pittsburgh and enabling him every step of the way. The Patriots, who were already the most hated team in the league, reward a guy who behaved horribly over the past few weeks and become even more hated. The NFL loses because fans were already suffering from Patriots fatigue and now they become an even bigger lock to win the Super Bowl. And while Brown wins overall because he's on the Patriots and will likely get a ring, he's now the most disliked player in the NFL who most fans, if they're rational, have zero repsect for, and when they win another ring, every single non-Patriots fan will just shrug without giving the team any credit.
The only storyline that can pretty such save the NFL season at this point is Brown imploding in New England and going head to head with Belichick.
2. The second Brown was given his release by the Raiders on Saturday, everyone on Twitter knew Bill Belichick was going to swoop in and do his thing. One person who had to be shocked by this development, though, was WFAN's Mike Francesa.
3. Can you really get all hot and bothered about the Cris Collinsworth slide now that Al and Cris are in on the joke and actually acknowleding it on air?
4. The best play I saw Sunday came from Colts defensive back Malik Hooker, who pulled off a spectacular pick of Philip Rivers.
The most amusing play, highlighted by the refs call, came from the Steelers.
5. It's one week and no judgment should be made yet, but this is not the direction FOX wants to see for its new college football pregame show.
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: Monday Night Raw returns to Madison Square Garden tonight for the first time in 10 years. This got me thinking about an important question.
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: I still believe in the Browns.
