Most Memorable Sports Calls: TRAINA THOUGHTS

1. I just put together this piece for Sports Illustrated in which I asked several play-by-play broadcasters for their all-time favorite sports call that isn't their own. Al Michaels, Joe Buck, Jim Nantz, Marv Albert, Kevin Harlan, Mike Tirico, Chris Berman, Ian Eagle, Mike Breen, Sean McDonough, Brad Nessler and Rich Eisen all participated and revealed their top call from a fellow broadcaster, so check it out.

As a fan, I find it hard to pick one call as my all-time favorite. If you forced me to choose one, I'd pick Gary Thorne's call of a Don Mattingly home run in a 1995 Yankees playoff game against the Mariners.

If you grew up a Yankees fan in the '80s, Don Mattingly was your idol. His career ended up getting derailed by a back injury, and '95 was his swan song. He was a shell of his former self at the time, but managed to give Yankees fans one last thrill, and Thorne captured the goosebump-inducing moment to perfection.

Here are a few other calls that didn't get named by the play-by-play broadcasters I mentioned, but I always think of whenever someone asks me for my favorite calls.

• Maybe this is recency bias, but Joe Buck's call of Stefon Diggs's wild game-winning touchdown in the Saints-Vikings 2018 playoff game, a.k.a. "The Minneapolis Miracle," is the best of his career.

• Gus Johnson. Xavier–Ohio State. 2007 NCAA tournament. It wasn't Gus's call of Ron Lewis's three-pointer to tie the game and send it to overtime. It was what he said afterward and how he said it: "And we’re going to overtime! In Lexington! Ha haaaaa! College basketball! CBS Sports! THIS is March Madness!”

• Verne Lundquist didn't say much when Christian Laettner hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Duke a win over Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight. It was simply, "There's the pass to Laettner. Puts it up." And then an explosive, "YESSSS!!!!"

• Nothing else needs to be said about this one other than, "Good God almighty, they've killed him. As God is my witness, they've broken him in half."

2. A brand-new Sports Illustrated Media Podcast dropped this morning. Sports Business Journal reporter John Ourand joined me to discuss the latest sports media news, including the NFL's television future and which packages may be on the move, the Rock buying the XFL, WWE's newest big hire, the state of podcasts, why the gambling explosion hasn't happened and much more.

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

3. In Tuesday's Traina Thoughts, I wrote that MLB needed to stop with all the fake stuff and just mic everyone up. Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin wasn't mic'd up during Wednesday's game against the Phillies, but the stadium microphones were still able to pick up the audio while he was going off on home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Nevin told Hernandez everyone knew he didn't want to be working and dropped a bunch of naughty words. 

Again, this is so much better than fake crowd noise.

4. Jeff Van Gundy, who was a must-listen on last week's SI Media Podcast, had two spectacular moments Wednesday night. He bashed a neighbor's dog and weighed in on the Larry Bird tomato.

Like I said, Van Gundy was fantastic on my pod, and it's worth a listen.

5. That's not nice.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Every ridiculous piece of footage needs the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song.

7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Some play-by-play calls are memorable, but not for a good reason.

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.