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Chris Webber, Kenny Smith Stand Out During Surreal, Memorable Day in Sports: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Chris Webber asks, "If not now, when?" While Kenny Smith walks off TNT set.

Jimmy Traina

1. Two moments from the NBA broadcast world stood out Wednesday as players decided to pass on playing their playoff games in the wake of cops shooting Jacob Blake. 

TNT's Chris Webber, who was set to call a game, spoke about supporting the players and why this is the right time to take a stand.

"If not now, when?," Webber asked. "If not during a pandemic, and countless lives being lost, if not now, when? That's all I just wanna hear. The rest of the night where everyone is pontificating and thinking and soapboxing, all of that, we know nothing is gonna change. We get it. Martin Luther King got shot and risked his life. We've seen this in all of our heroes constantly taken down. We understand it's not gonna end. But that does not mean—young men—that you don't do anything. Don't listen to these people telling you don't do anything because it's not gonna end right away. You are starting something for the next generation and the next generation. Do you have to be smart? Yes. Do you have to make sure you have a plan? Yes. Do you have to be articulate about the plan? Yes. All of those things. So I applaud it. Because it is the young people leading the way. And I applaud them."

Meanwhile, on Inside the NBA, a clearly shaken Kenny Smith got up and left the set in the middle of the program to show solidarity with the players who decided not to take the court on Wednesday.

The symbolism of Smith's empty seat for the rest of the show was powerful.

2. More than one million likes for LeBron James's tweet from Wednesday.

3. A new SI Media Podcast came out Wednesday afternoon, and it features two guests. First up is Sports Business Journal NFL reporter Ben Fischer. Fischer talks about what the league is going through in terms of having fans in stadiums this season, what ABC/Disney will do when it possibly lands two television packages in the new TV deal, what it would take to shut down the NFL season, and more.

Following Fischer, ESPN NBA analyst Richard Jefferson joins the podcast. Jefferson discusses what bubble life is like for the players, shares insight into LeBron James's personality, talks about transitioning from player to media, and more.

4. Headline on Traina Thoughts from Aug. 11: "'Hard Knocks' Returns Tonight, but Does Anybody Care?"

The answer is clearly no.

5. I don't have a link or a tweet or a video for this item. I just want to say something simple and quick. If you're on social media, you don't have to mention, reply to, quote tweet or amplify in any way, shape or form, bad people who use days like Wednesday to get attention. You are just giving the disingenuous carnival barkers exactly what they want. Stop doing it.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: WWF legend, Sgt. Slaughter turns 72 years old today. Imagine this angle playing out today.

7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: The first Thursday Night Football game of the season takes place two weeks from today. The first-ever Thursday Night Football game took place in 2006. This was the intro to that game, which featured Bryant Gumbel on play-by-play.

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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.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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