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Clay Travis Receives a Call From President Trump

“These football players are very young, strong people, physically. I mean physically they are in extraordinary shape. So they’re not gonna have a problem.”

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President Trump has no problem expressing his opinion on any matter, particularly when it is a popular opinion in a part of the country where he is popular. That is why it shouldn’t be a surprise that the 45th President of the United States was quick to endorse the #WeWantToPlay movement started by several high-profile college football players in response to rumors that Power 5 FBS conferences were meeting to discuss canceling the 2020 season amid Covid-19 fears.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1292873531382992901?s=20

The tweet earned the President an invitation to join Clay Travis on FOX Sports Radio’s Outkick the Coverage. Trump accepted and on Wednesday morning, the two spoke for more than 20 minutes.

President Trump shared his thoughts on multiple sports before eventually discussing college football. Travis asked him how confident he was that given the mystery surrounding college football, how confident is he that we will see an NFL season.

“Well, they want to open and they want to open badly, and they are working with government,” he said before segueing into his personal red meat, players kneeling during the national anthem. “I will say this. If they don’t stand for the national anthem, I hope they don’t open. But other than that I want to see them open and we are doing everything possible for getting them open.”

He says leagues need to consider what fans want more than what players demand. Fans aren’t going to watch something they are offended by.

“I think it has been horrible. Look at the basketball ratings. They are down to very very low numbers. They don’t realize that people are very very angry about it.”

When the conversation finally turned to college football, Trump had trouble putting into words why the issue was important to him. His answer for supporting #WeWantToPlay and more to do with the people around the sport he has met.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDGlQhale34

“The people in that sport, it’s like incredible people, and you know like some of the coaches like Nick Saban and Coach O. How about Coach O? He’s central casting right? You’re doing a football movie. You’ve gotta pick him as your coach, right and put him in the movie. And uh, Lou Holtz is just a fantastic guy, a friend of mine. He’s been a supporter from the beginning. They’re just great people and they want to play football and they know better than anybody else.”

“They know better than anybody else” probably isn’t accurate when it comes to discussing the realities of Covid-19, but the President didn’t really go into any particulars. He did tell Travis and his audience that he spoke with “one of the great doctors” who swore there was virtually no risk of players getting sick.

Trump repeated a statement about only the elderly being at risk that even members of his own Coronavirus Task Force have said is incorrect.

“It just attacks old people, especially old people with a bad heart, diabetes, or some physical problem or a weight problem,” he said and then joked “Isn’t it wonderful that I am such a perfect physical specimen? It’s so great.”

The President is smart enough to know he couldn’t guarantee that everything would be okay if there were a season. He also did not say exactly what he could do to ensure teams did play. He did say though that he found it hard to believe that college athletes would face dire consequences even if they did contract the coronavirus.

“These football players are very young, strong people, physically. I mean physically they are in extraordinary shape. So they’re not gonna have a problem. You’re not gonna see people, could there be? Could it happen? But I doubt it. You’re not going to see people dying.”

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Jason Puckett Launches PuckSports.com

“I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

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Logo for PuckSports.com

Jason Puckett, who decided to walk away from a contract offer from iHeartMedia’s KJR in Seattle after finding out his partner Jim Moore had been laid off, has launched a new venture – PuckSports.com. ‘Puck’ has a baseball opening day show posted on the Puck Sports YouTube page and also posted an introductory message about his new venture and what led to creating it.

“I wanted to talk to you guys, the listeners out there, the viewers out there, sorry for all of this,” an emotional Puckett said. “Sorry for what has happened and what has taken place. Thank you for all of the comments and the well-wishes and what you have said about myself and Jim.

“It has been a whirlwind of a last few days, for sure and I do want to say that I feel for the people that we used to work with. “I know it’s not easy to go through that, I have been on that side of it many, many times in this industry when someone is let go and you have to sit there and answer all the questions about them and for them…It’s unfortunate and it shouldn’t be that way, but the reality of this business is it’s like that.”

Puckett then told his fans that PuckSports.com and YouTube are where you will be finding his content along with Moore. “I am going to take what I have learned over the years and apply it to a new age of media,” he said and noted this was a direction he had been thinking about for a while.

As for what took place that led to his decision to not sign his contract and talk away, he said, “I just want to take you briefly back to last week. I don’t want to get too much in the weeds, I’m not here to lay any blame or point any fingers at anybody…there’s too many good people that I have worked with that I don’t want to drag into this. It was a process that was at times handled fine, handled perfectly, and at other times it got to a point where it just went on too long. But that’s corporate media and that’s what happens.”

Continuing on Puckett said, “…I had been without a contract since about January…when I was away from the station that was something that we and the station agreed upon…to see if we could get something done and we were all hopeful that we would…I was only supposed to be gone a couple of days…unfortunately as these things sometimes happen, it just went a little bit longer…We received the deal and it was what we wanted, but unfortunately with that news a few hours later came the news from corporate that Jim had lost his job. Obviously there was a mix of emotions with that from me.

“I wrestled with that and the decision and what I would do. It was hard for me to move forward…I couldn’t fight the perception more than anything that I had received a new deal while at the same time, my partner and good friend, guy I love to death, who I grew up reading…it was a hard reality…The loyalty I have, I couldn’t live with myself even though Jim knew what the truth was.”

Puckett said he was aware Moore was planning to step away from the radio show at the end of the year and was looking forward to the nine months they would have left to work with one another. Then, when iHeartMedia made the decision to make Moore a casualty of their latest round of layoffs, Puckett knew he needed to revisit the idea of starting his own venture.

He said, “It has kind of changed my timeline as far as what I wanted to do and where I felt I was at…I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

Puckett said several of the show’s regular guests would stay with the show and he thanked several sponsors who he said would remain supporters of the show with the new venture. ‘Puck’ noted that starting next week, “…We get underway in full force…I’m going to continue to try and make people laugh and entertain you and talk about sports…and all of the other things you have become accustomed to with this show.”

As he started to wrap up, Puckett said, “I’m jumping into the deep end of the pool and I am going to see if I can swim or sink.”

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Kirk Minihane: WEEI is “Going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in Afternoons”

“It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful.”

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Photos of Kirk Minihane and Rich Shertenlieb

As the speculation continues on where Boston sports talker Rich Shertenlieb will end up, one former WEEI host said he has the scoop on what is going to happen. Kirk Minihane, now with Barstool Sports, said, “What I heard was, initially, was they were moving Rich Keefe from nights to middays, moving Adam Jones from afternoons to middays and keeping Fauria there, and moving Andy Gresh to afternoons…But now it appears Rich Shertenlieb is going to do afternoons with Andy Gresh.”

On Wednesday, Boston Globe sports and sports media columnist Chad Finn put out a post on X, saying, “Didn’t think Rich Shertenlieb would end up at WEEI after leaving Sports Hub. I do now, most likely in afternoon drive. Audacy management has been telling people to expect changes.”

Minihane continued commenting on the matter, saying, “It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful. Maybe the two most sensitive c***s in the history of radio. That’s a show we are going to ruin…we haven’t done that in a while, we are going to take that show down…Once that show starts, we are just going to blitz them with phone calls because Gresh can’t handle that.

“What they don’t understand, because they are so dumb, is that…Rich Shertenlieb has no fan base…no fan of [Toucher and Hardy] in the morning is going to be like ‘I’m not going to listen to Felger in the afternoons, I’ll now listen to Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb.’ It’s going to be dreadful.”

Recapping what he has heard the rest of the WEEI lineup will be, Minihane said, “…And then in middays you have Adam Jones, failed afternoons. Rich Keefe who has now failed middays, drivetime, nights and is now going to fail again in middays… and Christian Fauria who has never drawn a rating in his life.”

WEEI has not commented on any of the speculation. BSM will have more as the story unfolds.

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Former 670 The Score Host Tommy Williams Has Died

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Photo of Tommy Williams
Courtesy: Lakeshore Public Media

Tommy Williams, who was heard for a decade on 670 The Score, died on Wednesday at the age of 66.

Williams began his broadcasting career in his hometown of Gary, Indiana in 1982 at WLTH before moving on to The Score. In 2003, Williams became the PA Announcer for the Gary Southshore RailCats of the American Association where he had his signature call to get the attention of the fans, “People, People, People.”

A story in The Times of Northwest Indiana said, “The longtime RailCats public address announcer and Lakeshore Public Media sports journalist was known for broadcasting countless games, interviewing countless athletes and covering Region sports at all levels. The Gary native and co-host of “Prep Sports Report,” “Prep Football Report,” and “Lakeshore PBS Scoreboard” often signed off shows saying, “Gary, Indiana, you know I love you.”

“The cadence he had in his voice echoed across the Region in a way we may never see again. He was widely known and widely loved,” Tom Maloney, vice president of radio operations at Lakeshore Public Media told the paper.

“He’d want to be remembered as the voice of Lakeshore sports,” his Regionally Speaking co-host and producer Dee Dotson told The Times. “Most people will remember him for covering prep sports all the way up to semi-pros. He’ll be remembered for treating each of his subjects like they were world champions. His depth of knowledge of sports at all levels is commendable. He was a walking encyclopedia of stats.” 

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