SI

ESPN's Paul Finebaum Drops Bombshell Regarding Decision to Pass on Politics

The college football maven says he was asked to go after “woke Disney” if he ran for Senate.

Jimmy Traina

After toying with the idea of running for Senate, Paul Finebaum has decided to say with ESPN.
After toying with the idea of running for Senate, Paul Finebaum has decided to say with ESPN. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

1. Paul Finebaum was seriously thinking about leaving ESPN for politics over the past few months. The college football analyst had his eye on becoming a senator in Alabama before ultimately deciding to remain with the Worldwide Leader.

What kept Finebaum at ESPN? In a brutally honest revelation, he says it was because members of the Republican party wanted him to take direct aim at the network’s parent company, Disney.

In an interview with CBS on Thursday, Finebaum pulled back the curtain on how politics work in this country.

“Ultimately, the reason I couldn’t do it was the political operatives … they told me the clearest and cleanest path to victory—I was running as a Republican in Alabama—was to run, I’m going to paraphrase the political operatives’ words: ‘You need to run against woke Disney,’” Finebaum said.

“And I could not do it. I could not burn down the place I had worked for the last 13 years, that had given me an opportunity as a Birmingham talk show host and use whatever you may think of Disney, I couldn’t do it.”

Finebaum added that he even had two sitting senators tell him that taking on Disney and ESPN was his path if he wanted to win.

Good for Finebaum for not only showing some loyalty, but for also being honest and choosing to express the truth—something that is a true rarity in this day and time.

2. Content put out by team social media departments is normally cringe and unfunny. So it was glorious to see something that was actually creative and original from the Texans, who turned C.J. Stroud dissing owner Cal McNair on a high five after the team beat the Chiefs last week into this.

3. The craziest part of Todd Bowles’s press conference on Thursday night after his team choked against the Falcons wasn’t that he used the f-word a bunch of times. It’s that you really couldn’t tell if it was a real video or one of those A.I. press conference videos that I constantly get in my TikTok feed.

4. I recently said in Traina Thoughts that nobody in sports media does a better job of getting good stories out of their guests than ESPN’s Kevin Clark. He did it again this week when former Bills center Mitch Morse shared the details of an unfortunate incident he had during a game one time.

5. Memo to content creators: If Joe Burrow gives a thoughtful, introspective press conference where he talks about not having fun and going through some difficult times, why on earth would you suggest he join pathetic organizations like the Jets, Raiders and Cardinals? Burrow, and NFL fans, need him on a winner. Use a little common sense.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with the CBS NFL broadcast crew of Ian Eagle and J.J. Watt.

Watt talks about what it’s been like going from the studio to the booth, what has been the most difficult thing about calling games and calling so many Steelers games featuring his brother, T.J.

Eagle and Watt each reveal what has surprised them the most about the other, while Eagle also shares his thoughts on breaking in a new partner and how that has gone for him over the years. In addition, Eagle shares a story about seeing Watt getting hangry at a restaurant.

Other topics covered include Watt’s long hair, why Watt has YouTubeTV, why he is a one-TV guy and much more.

Following Eagle and Watt, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include: the Raiders’ wild cover against the Broncos, the Justin Herbert-Laura Rutledge non-controversy controversy, college football playoff thoughts, Philip Rivers’s shocking return to the NFL, the biggest problem with Christmas trees and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I posted this on Tuesday night.

On Thursday, this video was in my Instagram feed. It is 100% my life.

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 X 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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