Adam Schefter Gets Roasted for Promoting Disgusting-Looking Pizza

Also in Traina Thoughts: Tom Brady speaks the truth; miked-up Adam Wainwright was fantastic; Ballsack Sports claims another victim; and more.

1. With the NFL preseason coming to an end this past weekend, Monday marked a reset of the football calendar.

Major cuts are coming, rosters will be set and the next game we’ll see will be the regular-season opener between the Bills and Rams on Sept. 8.

So how did the NFL’s top information man get this day started at around 8:30 a.m. ET?

By promoting a company that sells a vile concoction that they call pizza, but isn’t really pizza.

Football is back and to celebrate, starting today, @papajohns has introduced football-shaped pizzas, now available nationwide.#PapaJohnsPartner pic.twitter.com/cYtfxQhkEK

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2022

The best part about this is Schefter acted like he was unveiling something that the masses would drool over. The reality is, the NFL insider opened the box to reveal something totally unappetizing.

People were relentless.

Let me give you the best tweet first:

now even easier to throw the pizza into the trash https://t.co/CXSuQE6lD0

— Griff (@griffinjawn) August 29, 2022

In addition to pointing out that the “pizza” looked disgusting, many also pointed out that by putting the pie in the shape of a football, you’re getting conned into paying more for less food. Others called out the questionable judgment that led Schefter to do this ad. He really felt the wrath of the Twitterverse on this one. Here’s a sampling of some of the best jokes:

Nothing says yum like football shaped food that tastes so bad that they have to include complimentary garlic oil tubs to choke it down with

— Jeff B (@wrestlinpanda) August 29, 2022

that looks terrible and the surface area lost by going from circle to oblong probably makes it a rip-off too

— Stephen J (@FollowThisSmell) August 29, 2022

Would you eat this, Adam? I don't think you would eat this. I would not either...FWIW. https://t.co/3ELxUQE6PP

— Eric Rieser (@ERieserd00d) August 29, 2022

Unfortunately they taste like footballs too https://t.co/LQPDhH60Xr

— Dave 🇺🇸🦅 (@eaglesdiehard) August 29, 2022

I feel bad for you, Adam. https://t.co/pqdswCSr5W

— JP 🇺🇸 (@jjhparker) August 29, 2022

Now take that shyt and immediately throw it in the trash https://t.co/x8HPU1gHfp

— B4iSelfDestruct (@comeflywithbee4) August 29, 2022

That pizza looks like someone super-sized a lunchable. https://t.co/S74ADRE7Go

— Hänsel (@UberHansen) August 29, 2022

Somehow this looks even worse than I expected. https://t.co/1mHz8rx4Bm

— Greg Kopycinski (@GregKope) August 29, 2022

Would’ve been better off not showing that pizza 😆

— 𝕜𝔢𝔳 (@kev0487) August 29, 2022

Truly your most despicable tweet yet

— Matt Geiger (@matthewgeiger) August 29, 2022

Yay, less amount of gross pizza

— Shawn (@shawnjc12) August 29, 2022

Papa Johns is gross and changing the shape of pizza doesn’t change that. https://t.co/Q1GNvI5MKN

— Greg (@GregNJ) August 29, 2022

2. If you missed it over the weekend, Tom Brady gave us one of the all-time great sports quotes while explaining his absence from training camp.

Tom Brady addressing his 11-day break from the team in training camp. “I’m 45 years old. There’s a lot of shit going on.” pic.twitter.com/yr70fVfotN

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 28, 2022

3. Great stuff by ESPN and Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright during Sunday Night Baseball. The veteran pitcher was miked up, and he shared insight about having to warm up and take the mound after a rain delay.

Adam Wainwright: Routine vs. Superstition. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OfwMblF60o

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 29, 2022

4. Olden Polynice, who played in the NBA from 1988 to 2004, went on a podcast recently and repeated a fake story from Ballsack Sports about Kevin Durant. Durant, who doesn't seem to miss a thing on the internet, made sure to set Polynice straight.

Olden after he dropped that generational lie https://t.co/XpPbBiXYrk pic.twitter.com/vGCQF2OSIo

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 29, 2022

There was no truth in what u said. U have no impact on anything Olden. Enjoy retirement lol https://t.co/XLreomiv12

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 29, 2022

5. We had a new entry over the weekend on the lengthy list of weird baseball injuries.

Prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees placed LHP Aroldis Chapman on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to 8/24) with an infected wound from a recent tattoo.

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 27, 2022

6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features two interviews.

First up is WWE universal champion Roman Reigns. Reigns opens up about Vince McMahon’s controversial retirement from the company, what McMahon’s departure means for him personally, his new part-time schedule and a possible WrestleMania match against The Rock. Reigns also explains the differences between getting a pop from a promo and a move, discusses the challenges of fatherhood and shares his reaction to seeing his “Acknowledge Me” boxer briefs, sold on WWE.com, for the first time.

Following Reigns, Andy Staples, who covers college football for The Athletic, joins the podcast to talk about the Big Ten's recent media deals with CBS and NBC, what it means for college football viewers and how it impacts the SEC. Staples also talks about whether USC and UCLA have impact across the country, the future of the Pac-12 Network, Urban Meyer's return to Fox's pregame show, the Netflix Manti Te’o documentary and more.

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

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I watched two episodes of Vice's excellent Dark Side of Comedy series over the weekend. One episode was about Chris Farley; the other was about Andrew "Dice" Clay. This clip was shown during the Clay episode and instantly became an "I wish Twitter were around for this" moment for me. The way the anchor tries to shift to Art Carney was hilarious.

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 Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.