Traina Thoughts Mailbag: NFL vs. MLB; Streaming’s Impact; Broadcaster Questions

Welcome to another all-Mailbag edition Traina Thoughts. The questions were all over the place this time around, which I love. I’ll answer Instagram questions first and then tackle questions from the place formerly known as Twitter.

Before we get into it, this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it’s a fantastic episode. NBC college basketball guru John Fanta made his debut appearance on the show and he couldn’t have been a better guest. Here’s proof.

Following Fanta, Sal Licata joined me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. Sal is now friends WITH JERRY SEINFELD, so you have to listen just for that story.

O.K., on to the Mailbag.

What do you think the moment was when the NFL passed MLB as the “national pastime?” – @richfuerstenberg

It wasn't one moment that made this happen. It was a series of events. But let’s not get this twisted: Betting and fantasy football are the two biggest reasons for the NFL’s popularity in the United States. Plain and simple.

MLB games becoming four-hour affairs did serious damage to the sport. The NFL creating RedZone and offering Sunday Ticket were massive factors in increasing its popularity.

You need to have some sort of attention span to watch a baseball game. Every human being’s attention span has plummeted since the invention of the iPhone and scrolling.

A sport that has a 162-game regular season is just never going to be as popular as a sport that has a 17-game regular season. You can’t compare the stakes between each sport when it comes to the regular season.

Is streaming making sports more fragmented? – @adamdigital

Streaming has made everything more fragmented, but I feel like sports hasn’t been fragmented nearly as much as other things in pop culture.

Nobody ever watches a TV show at the same time anymore. One of the coolest things about The Sopranos when it aired on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET, was that every person I knew was watching HBO at that time. The only time this happens in this day and age is with sports.

Streaming has also killed the movie theater business.

So, while streaming has hurt the sports fan from a financial standpoint, the fragmentation hasn’t been that bad thanks to the live element.

How do you maintain your Yankees enthusiasm? 2006 me vs. 2026 me is worlds apart. – @joshfeller

I’m not going to lie. My 2026 Yankees enthusiasm isn’t nearly as high as it was in 2006. It’s been the same old, same old with this organization that it makes it hard to get excited. Have a great regular season thanks to an insanely high payroll, make the playoffs, crap out in the playoffs.

Then do it all over again, because we’ve had the same general manager for almost 30 years. I still watch as many games as I can and I want the team to win a World Series more than anything, but I don’t have any trouble sleeping at night after they lose a tough game the way I used to back in the late ’90s, early ’00s.

What do you think of the Aaron Judge criticism about not performing in the clutch? – @druzz14

I don’t get the criticism. Has Judge performed in the postseason like he does in the regular season? No. Has he had some good postseason series? Yes. Should he perform better in the postseason than he has? Yes.

But if you are of the belief that Judge is not clutch and can’t perform in the postseason, what are you going to do? Bench him?

He’s the best player on your team and you just have to ride it out and hope he can turn it around in the postseason.

Is ESPN happy with is acquisition of WWE content or is it too early to say? – @rosswebermaine

I haven’t seen any numbers for the WWE events that have aired on ESPN Unlimited. I would have to assume ESPN has gotten a decent amount of signups since that’s the only place to watch the PLEs.

I don’t know how everyone at ESPN feels about treating WWE like a sport and not sports entertainment, though. It is bizarre when the official ESPN or SportsCenter accounts are live tweeting a WWE event.

What was the moment you knew you loved Larry David for what he does? – @4medlen

I actually know the exact moment this happened for me.

Season 1, Episode 1. Larry is in his car and gets a call from Jeff. Jeff asks Larry if he wants to play golf. Larry says he has to check with Hitler, meaning his wife. Unbeknownst to Larry, Jeff had Larry on speakerphone. Jeff’s parents were in the car. Jeff’s parents got offended that Larry compared his wife to Hitler. Larry then gets irate with Jeff for having him on speaker without telling him.

That was the moment I fell in love with Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry David.

Favorite Billy Joel song? – @coreywitt

“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.” What a journey for Brenda and Eddie.

When will Jim Miller be back on? – @pignats

Good question. It’s been too long since I had Jim on SI Media With Jimmy Traina. Maybe I will try to get him on around April 1 when ESPN officially takes over the NFL Network.

Do you write out your questions on a legal pad or use your phone note pad? – @greg.fuller.520

I don’t write out any questions for SI Media With Jimmy Traina. I just write bullet points/topics. And I use a regular notebook. I’m old, so I do not use my phone.

Can we get a Peter Luger’s review. Have stayed away in recent years after New York Times bashing. – @brendan682

Funny you should ask the question this way, because I gave a review of Peter Luger’s on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina at the very end of the episode and I addressed the recent bashing, so listen below maybe five minutes before the end.

If money and relationships was not a factor do you think CBS would replace there A team with Ian and JJ? I think in the perfect world they would keep their team for their next Super Bowl and then seriously consider it.
— Maclean Sarr (@SarrMaclean) March 18, 2026

Good question. Obviously, Jim Nantz’s status as the face of CBS Sports, and the fact that he’s been there for 40 years, will make it more than tough for CBS to demote him for Ian Eagle.

This question removes that as a factor, so I think CBS would strongly consider making a move under those circumstances.

The Tony Romo criticisms have gotten totally out of control as far as I’m concerned and I think a lot of it is a pile-on thing. But make no mistake. CBS doesn’t love the fact that Romo is getting bashed for three straight hours every Sunday. Right now, J.J. Watt is the NFL analyst darling across the board, so moving Ian Eagle and Watt into the No. 1 booth would be a good PR move for CBS at this moment.

But it’s just not that easy. Romo has a few years left on his contract and CBS is likely going to let Nantz go out on his terms.

I know that the sports announcers are important and they make huge money. But I have never watched or not watched a game of any kind because of them. Other than Super Bowls or NBA finals how important are the announcers do you think? Do you honestly think that fans care ?
— Juan Alvarez (@dorseydadon) March 18, 2026

I think that fans absolutely care about their local announcers. I think they also care about announcers when it comes to playoffs.

Nobody is going to tune out of a game they want to watch because they don’t like the announcers. But a broadcast crew can definitely enhance your enjoyment of a game and can add to the excitement of a game.

How excited are you for the Kevin Harlan March madness experience? I’m hoping for 2 buzzer beaters in his games.
— Patrick Webb (@webb_02) March 18, 2026

Can’t wait. We can only hope we get a moment like this.

What other pxp guys would you like to see NBC to use for the Wild Card round of MLB playoffs? There's likely two open spots still.
— Matt (@Mchuck16) March 18, 2026

I’ve said this a million times here, but I’d love to see Don Orsillo, who used to call Red Sox games and now calls Padres games, get a national job.

My guess, though, is that NBC, which has Jason Benetti as its lead play-by-play caller, will use Matt Vasgersian on the extra playoff games. Vasgersian is calling NBC’s first regular-season game between the Mets and Pirates next Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.

How much did you pay attention to sports media before covering it professionally? While in high school/college were you interested in who the announcers were of the games you watched?
— Leo (@Leo78080404) March 18, 2026

I paid attention to sports media all the way back when I was in high school. I never missed a column from Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News and Rudy Martzke in USA Today. I was always fascinated by who was on television and who called the games. In addition, high school was when I got into Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN. That played a huge role in my interest with sports media.

With the Vitale crossover complete, is there an announcer (lead or analyst) you’d like to hear call a major event that is blocked by being on a different network?
— Sean Greene (@SeanGreeneWDEL) March 18, 2026

I would love to hear Kevin Harlan call a Major League Baseball game.

After the success of WBC this year has your opinion of it changed from last year ?
— jorge rego (@jorgerego13) March 18, 2026

My opinion hasn’t changed, mainly because I don’t care if Team USA wins or loses, so I have no rooting interest. I’m not interested in made-up tournaments. I’m only interested in Major League Baseball.

In addition, I can’t take an event seriously when the best players aren’t playing in the event. Mason Miller wasn’t used in the championship game because the Padres didn’t want him to pitch. Tarik Skubal only made one start for Team USA. The manager didn’t even know the rules.