Regis Philbin Did It All, Including Help Launch FS1: TRAINA THOUGHTS

1. I don't know if you have to be a certain age to have an appreciation for Regis Philbin, but if you are a fan of the media business, you know Philbin was an iconic broadcaster.

Obviously, the two jobs at the top of Philbin's résumé were hosting his long-running daytime TV show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Kelly Ripa and hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

I'm not sure everyone remembers what a phenomenon Millionaire was, but it gripped the country in a way few television programs ever have, and Regis was the perfect host for it.  

When he was done with his talk show and Millionaire, Regis ventured into the sports world.

When FS1 launched and promised to be more "fun" than ESPN, it came out of the gate with Crowd Goes Wild, a panel show starring Regis and featuring Katie Nolan, among others.

As always, Regis was up for doing anything he can to entertain, such as reading Nas lyrics and joining Twitter.

Regis was always connected to sports, though, because of Notre Dame and the Yankees. He loved both and talked about both constantly. 

Here is Regis tossing out the first pitch at a Yankees game in 2011—and doing the play-by-play for it.

There are two other Regis-related appearances that must be acknowledged.

His Seinfeld cameo in which he interviewed Kramer about his coffee table book.

And one of the most insane moments in Wheel of Fortune history.

2. As I'm writing this, at around 11:30 a.m. ET, Twitter is ablaze with so many hot takes about sports and the coronavirus. There's really only tweet that you need to see, though.

3. ESPN got strong ratings for its Opening Day telecast of Yankees-Nationals last Thursday. Fox also had a ratings increase for its coverage of Yankees-Nationals on Saturday. 

4. These are the kind of tweets we need more of these days.

5. I said Friday that the end of Mike Francesa's tenure at WFAN was sad after he had such a legendary career. I didn't realize at the time that Mike's final show would encapsulate what made the last few years so rough. Because if Mike had a show today, he would claim he never said this.

6. The latest episode of the SI Media Podcast features an interview with Joe Buck, who talked about baseball's return, calling games during a pandemic, podcasting, the art of interviewing and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date in 1987, Rick Astley released "Never Gonna Give You Up." Many years later, Rick Rolling was a craze, and Astley performed the song with the Foo Fighters.

8. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Here's one for Regis.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.