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Trent Green Still Wonders “What If”

Jason Barrett

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Trent Green is set for a homecoming this weekend to a place where things could have been much different.

The former Vianney High School quarterback is to be the analyst on CBS’ telecast of the Steelers-Rams game Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome, the same building in which 16 years ago he was poised to be leading the revamped Rams in what became their storybook run to the Super Bowl title as more than a 200-1 preseason longshot.

But the chapter on Green in that storybook is short — he suffered a knee injury in an exhibition game, on a vicious hit by San Diego’s Rodney Harrison, and his season was done. Kurt Warner emerged from obscurity to replace him, became the talk of American sports with his league MVP performance and Green’s days were numbered with the club. He did make five starts the following season when Warner was hurt, throwing for 12 touchdowns and averaging 339 yards passing, but was traded to Kansas City the next spring.

Had the injury not occurred it could have been Green, who had been signed several months earlier, guiding fellow newcomers Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt along with holdover Isaac Bruce and the rest of the “Greatest Show on Turf.” And it might have been Green, not Warner, who currently is being talked about as a possible Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Now, more than a decade and a half later, with a trip looming back to the place where much of that magic unfurled, Green naturally thinks about what might have been. Who wouldn’t?

“There has been a lot of that over the years,” he acknowledged this week. “I tried not allowing myself to think about that when I was playing because it would take away the focus from what I was trying to get done — ultimately that was trying to get back to a point where I was playing at a high level. So yeah, you think about it.

“You see former teammates who are up for the Hall of Fame. You wonder what would have happened if I never got hurt. Who knows? I could have been there 10 more years. I could have been there two more years. Who knows? But there are a lot of what-ifs.”

And a lot of good memories, too.

“That was a special team, a special time for the Rams,” he said. “A lot of close friends and teammates. I would have loved to have had that opportunity, but that wasn’t in the plans, and I’m glad I got an opportunity to continue my career in Kansas City and glad it worked out from a playing standpoint.”

MOVING ON

Green had a stellar run with the Chiefs, starting all their games for the first five years after he arrived and throwing for more than 4,000 yards three times. He was selected for two Pro Bowls and in 2004 threw a league-high 556 passes, for 4,591 yards — No. 2 in the NFL — and still holds numerous team records.

He eventually ended up in Miami for a short time before ending his career in 2008 back with the Rams, for whom he played three games.

He had done some broadcast work while playing, including making Monday morning appearances with Dan Dierdorf on KTRS (550 AM) in 1999. Then he made the transition to the booth in 2009, when Fox hired him as an analyst for several game telecasts.

But he was replaced the next season by — you guessed it — Warner (who now is at NFL Network) as Green moved to radio to do the Thursday night NFL game nationally on the Westwood One network.

There’s another strange twist for Green.

He was broadcasting a playoff game in January 2014 for Westwood One, which was the finale for Dierdorf — who was retiring from his storied network NFL broadcasting career that included long runs on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” then at CBS.

In addition to knowing Dierdorf from those KTRS days, Dierdorf had covered quite a few of Green’s games with the Chiefs.

So when broadcast partner Ian Eagle said he wanted to say hello that day to Dierdorf and partner Greg Gumbel, Green was eager to do so, too. But unbeknownst to him, he would be the one hired by CBS to replace Dierdorf.

“I wanted to go down and congratulate Dan on a great career, just say ‘Hi,’ certainly not knowing I would be joining that booth a year later with Greg and a lot of people from that crew,” Green said.

Green’s broadcast career was taking hold. He also has appeared as a panelist on NFL Network’s “NFL Total Access” show as well as being an analyst on Chiefs exhibition game broadcasts.

CBS was happy to get him.

“Trent’s experience and knowledge of the game, success as an NFL studio analyst and radio broadcaster, combined with his contemporary take on today’s NFL, make him a perfect fit to an already deep roster,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said when he hired Green.

ANOTHER TWIST

It’s funny how things work out. Green replaced twice by Warner. Green replacing Dierdorf.

And Green, who has settled in the Kansas City area, added another item to that list of twist last year when his son T.J. was the quarterback for Rockhurst High, which made it to the Missouri Class 6 championship game before losing 31-24 to CBC. That contest was played in the Dome, and it was as special a day for the father as it was for his son.

“To be back in the Dome, as a fan watching my son play on that field, was a cool experience for me and the rest of my family,’’ he said. “For years they were sitting up there watching me. It was kind of neat to be sitting up with them watching him.”

Now the elder Green is spending his time watching a lot of tape and doing his own homework.

He appears frequently on CBS Sports Network, as a commentator on the “NFL Monday QB” program that’s on at 5 p.m. Mondays and also is on CBS’ Sunday morning pregame programming. And he has a weekly radio appearance in Kansas City.

It’s a busy schedule during the football season.

“It’s pretty much seven days a week,’’ he said. “Tuesday through Friday is prep at home, either watching film and studying tape or reading articles and trying to learn rosters and depth chart and personnel.”

The after being at the site of the game he’s broadcasting for the weekend, he spends Monday “cramming all day” to prepare for his appearance on CBS Sports Network that day. “Then Tuesday around noon we have our first production meeting” for the next week’s game.

But he enjoys his new career.

“I’d much rather be on the field playing, I miss that aspect of it and I’m not sure when that will ever go away,” he said. “I still miss playing. But it’s been a good transition, it keeps me in the game and allows me to be the dad I want to be and the husband I want to be. So it has worked out well.”

To read the rest of the article visit STL Today where it was originally published

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John Anderson Announces Retirement from SportsCenter on ESPN

“I don’t really know what’s quite next, I have some things in the fire. But SportsCenter will not be it.”

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Photo of John Anderson
Credit: Mediaite

Longtime SportsCenter anchor John Anderson has announced that when his contract comes up at the end of June, he will no longer be doing SportsCenter for ESPN. Anderson, who joined ESPN in 1999 does plan to continue covering certain events, but after 25 years he believes it is time to stop doing ESPN’s flagship show. Anderson spoke on his podcast, The Inside Wisconsin Show and prior to the episode’s release tomorrow, a clip was released:

“My contract runs out at ESPN at the end of June,” Anderson said. “I have decided that that will be the end. I’m going to leave the company. I’m going to sort of retire from ‘SportsCenter.’ I’m going to get to do a few track-and-field things, I’m going to get to continue to do the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon – which I love – and some NCAA track meets and some SEC stuff.

“I am incredibly excited about that. It’s been a good run…I feel like it’s been a good run. The operation has changed. I don’t know that it’s passed me by, but it’s taken its toll and I still want to be able to do the best shows that I can, and I don’t know that if in years 26 or 27 I have the stamina to do it again.  

“So, I’m done…I don’t really know what’s quite next. I have some things in the fire. But SportsCenter will not be it.”

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Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo: NFL Streaming Games ‘Gets Obscene’

“They’ve got a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime Video, which means you can’t switch with the remotes.”

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Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo
Courtesy: Cindy Ord, Getty Images for SiriusXM

The National Football League has announced that the Philadelphia Eagles opening matchup taking place from San Paolo, Brazil against an opponent to be determined for the 2024 season will stream exclusively on Peacock. Even though the game will be exclusive to Peacock – thus requiring fans to subscribe in order to watch – it will also be broadcast on an over-the-air network in the local markets of the teams involved in the game. Christopher ‘Mad Dog’ Russo is not a fan of this decision by the league.

During his “What Are You Mad About?” segment on Wednesday morning’s edition of First Take on ESPN, Russo expressed his indignation towards the game being exclusively streamed by Peacock. Within his discourse, he presented a hypothetical scenario of an Eagles fan who continues to spend money to see the team at Lincoln Financial Field and how they would not fly down to Brazil to see the game. Russo continued by saying that the fan would then miss the game without having Peacock so the NFL is able to drive more revenue.

“It’s hard to get Peacock; I don’t want to get Peacock, alright?,” Russo said. “I want to watch the game normal. Give me [Joe] Buck and [Troy] Aikman, give me the CBS crew, [Tom] Brady’s going to do it. Give me something! Don’t put the Eagles 9,000 miles away and then put them on a cable thing on Peacock which you’ve got to subscribe to so NBC can make more money.”

NBC Sports will broadcast an opening night game during Week 1 on Thursday, Sept. 5, along with a Sunday Night Football contest on Sunday, Sept. 8. Within its stretch of primetime football matchups, which also includes a Saturday night Big Ten Conference game, the Friday night NFL game seems to be the only one exclusive to Peacock. The streaming platform is coming off a strong performance for its exclusive Wild Card round playoff matchup, drawing an average of 23 million viewers and becoming the most-streamed NFL game in history.

This past season of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video garnered a 24% increase in viewers compared to its first season, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. These metrics demonstrate that the broadcast property averaged 11.86 million viewers per game during the 2023 NFL season. The OTT streaming platform also presented the inaugural NFL game on Black Friday, which averaged 9.61 million viewers.

Prime Video will reportedly have the exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game next season, and it has continued building out its sports content vertical. The company has reportedly been exploring a potential media rights deal with the National Basketball Association as its national television contract is nearing expiration. The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery are currently in the midst of exclusive negotiating windows with the NBA that conclude on Monday, April 22, after which Amazon will be able to bid.

“They’ve got a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime Video, which means you can’t switch with the remotes,” Russo said, referring to the reported agreement for next season. “I know the NFL prints money – I understand how big they are, but boy this gets obscene.”

“One-hundred percent right,” First Take host Molly Qerim added. “I cannot stand having 8,000 different apps. It needs to be streamlined. It’s annoying – you have to remember all these passwords. I don’t have Peacock; I don’t want Peacock. I completely agree with you.”

ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler proceeded to convey the dedication of Eagles fans in showing up to the stadium and watching their team. Russo agreed with him that Eagles fans will travel down to Brazil since they pack stadiums and fervently support their team. Off of that point, ESPN NFL reporter Kimberley A. Martin explained that she believes the devotion and zeal from the fanbase is part of the reason why this is a shrewd decision by the NFL.

“This is genius,” Martin said. “You do put the Eagles – that type of team – because they’re going to buy it.”

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NCAA Women’s Championship Round 2 on ESPN Up 121%; Iowa-West Virginia Hits 4.9 Million Viewers

ESPN and ABC posted their four most-watched Women’s March Madness second-round games ever, with Iowa/West Virginia averaging 4.9 million viewers

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Graphic of the NCAA Women's basketball tournament

The women’s college basketball hot streak continues with the second round of the NCAA Women’s Championship on ESPN averaging 1.4 million viewers all weekend. Viewership was at its highest for Caitlin Clark’s final game in Iowa when her Iowa Hawkeyes defeated West Virginia, which amassed a staggering 4.9 million viewers and peaked at 6.4 million.

ESPN and ABC achieved their four-most watched second-round games on record this season. Outside of Iowa/WVU, the matchup between UConn and Stanford averaged 2.1 million viewers, the LSU/Middle Tennessee matchup garnered 2 million viewers, and the Kansas/USC tilt averaged 1.8 million viewers. This matches its first-round coverage, which also set marks for its most-viewed games ever.

According to ESPN’s VP of research Flora Kelly, Iowa/WVU’s 4.9 million viewers would have beaten every Women’s National Championship game from 2005 to 2022:

ESPN is no doubt excited for a potential Elite 8 matchup between Iowa and LSU, a rematch of last year’s national championship game. That game averaged 9.9 million viewers, shattering the previous record for a women’s college basketball game on any network. All it needs is an Iowa win over Colorado and an LSU win over UCLA to make their dream a reality. A potential Iowa/South Carolina national title game could surpass even that.

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