Colin Cowherd is one of the biggest personalities in sports media. He works in Los Angeles, California, which is where the University of Southern California is located. With the recent hiring of USC Football Head Coach, Lincoln Riley, he is obviously very excited. He claims that the hiring is good for networks, in which I agree. He pointed out that networks want USC to be good because many people in Los Angeles are college football fans, but they have not been watching lately because of the lack of success from the program, but now that they have hired one of the best coaches in college football, people will begin watching again. While other programs on the west coast have had short term success, like Oregon or Stanford, they do not compare to the draw that USC will bring to televisions on the west coast, as well as throughout the country.
I agree with Cowherd’s take because as a big college football fan, I have not watched many USC games lately because they have not been good. Although, when I was a child, I watched them frequently, as they were one of the best teams in the country. USC not having a good football team does not feel right, as they are historically a great program who produces high quality talent. Networks will also be excited to once again show USC games and they will receive much higher ratings than they have in the past few years. Overall, the move was great and will be great for networks.
College Football is a huge deal in the Southeastern region of the United States. The SEC conference, arguably the best conference in college football, has its championship game coming up on Saturday, December 4th. In preparation for this big matchup between Alabama and Georgia, the SEC Network is devoting 72 hours of coverage for the big game. This is a bold move by the network, as obviously it is a big matchup in the conference, but that is a great deal of coverage. Game coverage begins on the network on Thursday, December 2nd, at 1:30 P.M, which will include press conferences, interviews.
This is a bold move by the network, but I believe it will pay off. This is their biggest game to this point in the season, with the two best teams matching up, with the winner being crowned the SEC Champion, and likely the #1 seed heading into the college football playoff. The article interested me because I will likely be tuning in to watch some of the pre and post-game coverage, and it let me know when each program will be aired and where I can watch it. This game is a huge deal in the southern part of the United States, and will interests people outside of that region, and the pregame content will likely receive tons of viewers.
Fox NFL Sunday is a very popular show in the football realm. The pre-game show includes former NFL players who discuss the NFL’s news around the NFL and upcoming games each Sunday. They often include entertaining skits and graphics that fans enjoy, as they make the show fun to watch and can add to the football experience. This past Sunday, one of their graphics ideas can find them getting into some trouble. They could be receiving an FCC fine for a bit they did this weekend that mocked the Emergency Alert System, including a faulty message and URL, that lead to a website that did not have to do with football. The emergency alert warned fans that the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance at making the playoffs. The URL that was on the page was not real, but somebody quickly picked it up and created a pro-Trump political page, which could be viewed as a bad look for the league. The FCC states that an Emergency Alert System transmission can only be used for a national, state, or local emergency or as an authorized test for the system, and Fox’s football EAS does not fall into that category.
This story interests me because as somebody who may be in the sports production and media field, this is an important lesson to learn from. The FCC is able to hand out hefty fines to networks for making crucial mistakes like this one. Fox should know better than to put out a false report of an Emergency Alert System message that is not actually for a serious matter. There should have been better planning for this skit or at least had made it very clear that the emergency alert was not real and to not include a fake URL on the screen.
Thanksgiving Day is well-known for two things in America, and they are eating and football. The NFL hosts three games each year on Thanksgiving, with the Dallas Cowboys being one of the teams who plays each year on the holiday. This year they hosted the Las Vegas Raiders, which turned out to be the most-watched regular season game since 1990. It was estimated that there were 38.5 million viewers tuned in for the big game, which is mightily impressive. Some factors that likely went into this large number are that the Cowboys are historically the league’s most watched team, as well as the Raiders also being a popular team, historically. Also, the game was highly competitive, as it was a narrow matchup and also went into overtime.
This story interests me because as a football fan, this was definitely an interesting matchup that I was excited for, but I was not aware of the amount of people that also thought it was an interesting matchup. There have been bigger games with interesting matchups in the past 31 years, but they were not able to draw in the same number of viewers. The face that it was Thanksgiving could have played a role because even people who are not interested in football may watch the games on Thanksgiving as part of the holiday tradition. While many people often ridicule the league for many of the things they do and even threaten to stop watching games, the league remains powerful and dominant across televisions in America.
The USC football team’s Head Coach vacancy has been a hot topic in the sports media world over the past couple months, with much speculation of who will fill the vacancy. The University of Southern California football program is historically one of the best in the country and is one of the best coaching jobs in college football, but as of late, they have struggled to remain a college football power, or even find consistent success. They have just hired one of the best coaches in college football, Lincoln Riley, who comes from a very successful Oklahoma football program, where he held a record of 55-10 in his five years there. This story is huge for sports media because it now makes college football return to relevancy in Los Angeles and brings USC to potentially become a national power again and gain more national media coverage.
This story interests me because I am a huge football fan and when I was growing up as a child, USC had great football teams, produced notable NFL players, and were an exciting program to follow and watch on TV. As of late, they have not played well, produced as much NFL talent, and do not get talked about as much in the sports media world. This move is great for the sports media landscape, as they have already been talked about a great deal because they have brought in one of the best available options, arguably the best, and many anticipate to program to return to being a contender within the next five years, which is great for football fans.
Aaron Rodgers is one of the best players that the NFL has to offer, and a large aspect of the 2021 season has been COVID-19 and all of the rules, issues, and debates that come along with it. In this instance, all of these topics collide, as Aaron Rodgers contracted COVID-19 and was unvaccinated, but in August he gave the impression that he was vaccinated, which caused a roar. Many people are ridiculing him for this occurrence, which caused him to lash out on the NFL, the media, and “cancel culture.” In August, when asked about the vaccine, he claimed that he was “Immunized,” and would not judge teammates who did not receive the vaccine, which many took as the implication that he was vaccinated. He received homeopathic treatment from a doctor in the offseason and says he is allergic to an ingredient in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and did not get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of issues with blood clots. In his efforts to defend himself this week, he called out the NFL for “draconian measures” in their philosophies with the COVID-19 cases, as well as media for trying to “cancel him” in light of this controversy and other statements he has made in the past. His choice of wording in August was very technical and the media took it as he was vaccinated, but he was not, and is now not happy with the media trying to accuse him of lying and people trying to “cancel” him for not getting the vaccine, when that is deemed by many as the right thing to do for society.
Aaron Rodgers is a very smart, outspoken individual, in many cases, and this occasion is very interesting. He has an issue with the media for scorning him because of decision to not get the vaccine, as some have called him selfish or deem him to not being doing the “right thing,” by society’s standards. He also has an issue with the ridicule from the media for lying about getting the vaccine, but technically, he did not lie, he just chose his words carefully. Although he did give off the impression he was vaccinated, it is not safe to assume, which as a member of the media, there is an argument they should have not falsely reported or believed he was vaccinated. On the other hand, the media could have an issue with Rodgers because of this false impression, in which he could now lose his credibility with the media and they could no longer trust him with other statements he makes in the future. Rodgers has been accused of being sensitive in the past, which could be pointed out in this case, as he tries to defend himself against the “woke mob” and has put out many claims to defend himself for not getting vaccine. Although, not many people in media or on social media platforms are trying to cancel him, they are just ridiculing him for his loose wording and false impressions he made, as well as his choice to not get the vaccine. Overall, I understand some of Rodgers’ frustration because he technically never said he was vaccinated, but somebody with his proven intelligence should know the implication he gave off and how it may backfire if he were to get into a sticky situation like this. In reality, this will likely be brushed off into past news as the NFL season gears up for a playoff run, but Rodgers and the media both lost trust in each other in future encounters.
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