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FOX Hosts Blast Colin Kaepernick’s Madden Rating

“Clay Travis was the most outspoken critic of the move, while Marcellus Wiley questioned E.A.’s motives.”

Jacob Conley

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Fox Sports personalities took E.A. Sports and their popular Madden video game franchise to task Wednesday for their inclusion of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and his player rating, on the most recent update to Madden 21.

Clay Travis was the most outspoken critic of the move, while Marcellus Wiley questioned E.A.’s motives. Even Emmanuel Acho, who says he likes Kaepernick, says E.A. went too far in giving him a player rating of 81 out of 100.

“They put him (Kaepernick) in the Madden video game and they rated him better than half of the starters in the NFL,” Travis said on Wednesday’s edition of Outkick the Coverage. “He has a better rating than Cam Newton, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray and Ryan Tannehill. He has the same rating as future Hall-of-Famer Ben Roethlisberger. It’s crazy… Madden ostensibly rates players based on their football abilities. Nothing else matters in the game, and yet they are going to argue that a guy who hasn’t played in four years is better than half the starters in the NFL? It’s lunacy.”

SFY co-host Wiley says that E.A, is simply trying to profit of Kaepernick’s popularity with the African-American community.

“Let’s be real for a minute,” Wiley said. “E.A. is sitting there thinking, let’s do something that we really don’t want to do, but this is the flavor of the month. Let’s take advantage of it. Then they season it up and make it real tasty by throwing a Black Power fist on there (the cover) because they know his followers are going to eat it up. It’s not even really what we want. It’s the extras, the left overs. It reminds me of Soul Food. I was told the origins of Soul Food and how our people (African Americans) would eat it up, even though we all know how it started. As leftovers. It was not what we really wanted. I wish the pandering would stop, but there are too many people supporting it.”

While fellow SFY co-host Acho is not as harsh in his criticism, he does admit E.A. made a mistake in rating Kaepernick so highly and then also questions E.A.’s motives.

“Y’all know in hoops when they miss an  egregious call and back down the court they call something that was non-existent because they have got to make up for it?” Acho asks. “That’s a make-up call. That’s all they are doing. In 2018 E.A Sports left Kaepernick’s name off of the soundtrack. In 2019, he’s still not on the game. So in 2020, what do they say? We’re going to make a make-up call but not only are we going to make a make-up call, we are going to make it so outlandish, that he is rated higher than the reigning rookie of the year, former NFL MVP Cam Newton and Ryan Tannehill, who had a historic season last year. I like Kaepernick and you know where I stand on all his stuff, but if you are going to do a make-up call, you have to be a little slicker with it. If Kaepernick was so important, why wasn’t he on the original release back in August? Why wait for the update? Was this done to be seen or was this done because it was the right thing to do?”

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Final ‘Good Morning Football’ Episode from New York Studio Airs Before Hiatus, Move to LA

After today, ‘Good Morning Football’ will take a brief hiatus, then move to LA. But outside of host Jamie Erdahl, who else will join the show on the West Coast?

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Good Morning Football

Today marks the last Good Morning Football episode to air from its New York studios on NFL Network. After today, the show will take a brief hiatus, then move across the country to Los Angeles. But which of the shows beloved cast members will move along with it?

We already know host Jamie Erdahl will be there once she gives birth to her child. The newest GMFB show member gave an emotional send-off to the show’s New York studios before announcing she was headed for maternity leave and would see everyone in LA.

Host Kyle Brandt delivered this message late last night, saying that viewers should tune in to he and his colleagues and that “he has a lot to say.”

As the show ended today, Brandt said, “I am not saying goodbye to any of you…Candidly, I have a lot of questions myself. Here’s what I know: I personally will be intensely involved in Good Morning Football moving forward. And I want to spend the rest of my career with the NFL. And Good Morning Football is not ending, it is expanding. And it’s exciting because it’s a bigger show and it’s more show…It’s all in and it’s all happening and yes, we will be covering the draft. GMFB is leaving home for college…it’s time to evolve. And we are flattered that you are wondering and maybe worried about what’s coming next with the show…I am very proud of what we have built here…it has been a dream job and I know we are going to make a fantastic show from Los Angeles…I’ll see you this summer.”

Earlier this week host Peter Schrager delivered his own goodbye message — one that may sound like a man who’s not ready to move his family across the country at a moment’s notice:

However, no hosts outside of Erdahl have given confirmation that they’re either staying or going.

The NFL’s move to take the show from New York to Los Angeles has been widely criticized by fans and media members alike. Bill Simmons wondered if the move wouldn’t spell just the end of GMFB but the NFL Network as a whole. It has some wondering if this is the end of football’s best show.

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ESPN Coverage of Men’s NIT Tournament Quarterfinals Up 33% vs. 2023

Viewership of the Men’s NIT Quarterfinals on ESPN were up 33 percent compared to last year and featured two games that averaged over one million viewers.

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Even the NIT is riding the recent hot streak of live sports viewership numbers. According to data provided by ESPN, the 2024 NIT Quarterfinals are up 33 percent compared to last year’s tournament. Perhaps more surprisingly, two NIT quarterfinal games topped one million viewers.

The network’s Georgia/Ohio State matchup averaged 1.03 million viewers, while the Cincinnati/Indiana State contest averaged 1.02 million viewers. These two games were the most-watched NIT games since 2017 — including title games. Both Georgia and Ohio State have rabid fanbases, while many thought Indiana State was unjustly left out of the March Madness tournament, which could be a reason why viewers tuned in.

Much of the focus this season has been on the women’s game, thanks to Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, led by Dawn Staley. ESPN just had its most-watched women’s college basketball season since 2008-09 because of the increased interest in the women’s game. The men’s game, however, hasn’t been heralded as much this season for whatever reason, mostly because numbers seem to be holding steady compared to previous years. However, if the NIT is posting viewership wins, that should bode well for the NCAA Tournament’s incoming viewership totals.

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Report: NFL to Put Christmas Day Doubleheader Up For Bids

Bidding is expected to start at $50 million among the current NFL media partners but some think the games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

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The NFL will reportedly put its Christmas Day games up for auction, allowing its current media partners to bid for the games. Now, it’s up to CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video to pay up for rights to one of these two marquee games.

According to Front Office Sports Michael McCarthy, preference will be given to linear networks, so Prime Video and Peacock may sit this one out. Bidding is expected to start at $50 million but McCarthy and his sources expect that number to rise. John Kosner, the former ESPN executive, thinks the new Christmas Day games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

The NFL announced a Wednesday Christmas Day doubleheader during its annual league meetings. The league originally said it wouldn’t force games on Christmas Day if the holiday fell on an odd day of the week, though as the NFL continues to put games on days outside of Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays, we’re running out of days that don’t feature NFL football.

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