Media Mailbag: The best pregame shows, overexposed A-Rod, LeBron's media impact and more (2024)

Welcome tothe sixth Media Mailbag for The Athletic. Writing a mailbag — as egocentric as it is — is always a fun exercise. So thanks for sending in your questions via The Athletic website. Let’s get started.

I find that “College GameDay” is the only pregame show worth watching, not as many characters, more storytelling. In your opinion, what are the most/least watchable pregame shows in any sport? —Scott W

When people have asked what I consider the greatest pregame shows of my lifetime, the answer has always been the same: “Inside The NBA” and “College GameDay.” They rank 1 and 1A. They are obviously significantly different in presentation and GameDay is the far more journalistically sound show because of ESPN’s feature producers, which are among the best anywhere on television. But Inside for me remains the perfect combination of chemistry, spontaneity and honesty. The basketball analytics community may dislike him but Charles Barkley remains a unique figure on sports studio television. NBC’s “Premier League Live” also deserves a place in this space thanks to the professionalism of Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Mustoe Robbie Earle, and Kyle Martino. Least watchable? That would be any pregame show featuring Deion Sanders.

A-Rod was so good before this year? What happened? — Clay B.

Probably not much beyond overexposure. Rare is the sports broadcaster who gets more popular with more airtime. ESPN miscalculated that Rodriguez would be a transformational figure as a game analyst and the network essentially centered “Sunday Night Baseball” around him. I think Rodriguez is very good in the studio and says interesting things on air. But to me, he’d be more effective as a Brock Lesnar type: You want to make his appearances feel special. His weekly role on ESPN has done the opposite.

WWE ratings seem to fall every week. Is Fox nervous?— Kenny F., Dallas, Texas

Nah. Fox knows what it’s paying for and WWE’s ratings are going to drop during the NFL season.

With LeBron in LA, how anxious are the NBA TV partners broadcasting Eastern Conference regular-season games with few compelling teams/storylines? — Mike G

With most of the star players in the West, do you see NBA ratings in prime time struggling because the East isn’t very good and 10 p.m. is alate start for people in the Eastern Time zone? —Zac S

Excellent questions. I think we could see many West Coast regular season games out-rate East Coast games this year, with national viewership during the regular season being a tick down. I asked Sports Business Daily assistant managing editor Austin Karp what he thought: “Getting solid numbers from that early primetime window of a doubleheader for NBA media partners is going to be tough,” Karp said. “The Celtics and 76ers will be draws, but it is tough after that. The Bucks with the Greek Freak are fun to watch, but Milwaukee is obviously one of smallest markets. Big market teams like NY, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta are not likely to move the needle this season, so it might be tough to match 2017-2018 numbers. However, those late night Western Conference windows are going to be must-see TV. So many good matchups. Will be interesting to watch if those games can continue to lift ESPN and TNT.”

The Monday Night Football booth is off to a rough start. Obviously, Jason Witten needs time to find his footing so I’ll still give him a pass for now, but the main problem IMO is that Booger McFarland’s role on the sideline isn’t adding value. Half the time he sounds like part of the dialogue in the booth. If you could put yourself in the MNF producer’s shoes, what tweaks would you make allow him to add more value on the sideline and give viewers a perspective that they don’t normally get with your average announcing team? — Tony M

I’m not as down on McFarland’s field analyst position as you are. I actually think he’s the best on-air part of Monday Night Football right now and he’s added value for me as a viewer. ESPN execs were very honest about Witten: They said the hire wasn’t about 2018. It was about a long-term investment. That investment isn’t going to pay off for some time, if ever, in my opinion. If the network is committed to this announcing group, I’d bring McFarland into the booth — not because I think the field analyst position lacks value but because I think McFarland in the booth is the best chance of a Joe Tessitore-Witten-McFarland booth forming on-air chemistry. I think the only way that can happen is if each person is next to each other so you can read non-verbal cues etc. If I were in charge, as I’ve said before, Louis Riddick would be the on-air analyst for Monday Night Football. But I’m not in charge.

I read an article on The Ringer about how media shifts with the LeBron move to LA and that made me wonder, what is Brian Windhorst’s role now with ESPN? It said he is based in Nebraska, but he has always been a LeBron guy. I am curious where he fits in the ESPN NBA hierarchy now? — Kenneth M.

I emailed Windhorst this weekend to get some info. He moved from New York City to Omaha in 2014 to be closer to his wife’s family. He said he has a studio in his house that he uses several times a week. (Windhorst said ESPN decided to make him one of the pioneers of new technology for in-home studios.) He travels to Los Angeles roughly twice a month for “The Jump” and attended last year nearly as many Lakers/Clippers regular season games as Cavs regular season games.

“I’ve enjoyed living here,” Windhorst said. “There’s no way I could do it without the support of ESPN, which has been tremendous. “Most people, even within the NBA, don’t know I live here. It’s a reminder in this era location is relative and work product remains most important.”

On the hierarchy question, Windhorst remains one of the network’s important NBA voices. Rare is the week you don’t see his byline or hear him somewhere on an ESPN platform. I think he’s long moved past his association with LeBron.

Any idea what it costs for an average college football broadcast? So many of the games seem to have a very limited potential audience that I can’t believe money is made on broadcasting them. — Jim J

I’m told a mid-level college football game — feel free to be subjective on what constitutes a mid-level Division I football program — runs around $200,000 for the production. Obviously, that number would go up for bigger games given more resources would be in place. The 200K number does not include the salary that broadcast talent would be paid for that particular game.

It seems that sports media drives an oversimplified and exaggerated narrative. “The coach doesn’t like player X!” “Such and such an athlete has incredible analytics so he should, without question, play more!” “That team has quit!” And so on. They paint so many issues as black and white — and simple to solve. Whatever efforts are made, the media consistently takes the other side of the coin. Yet, when you subscribe to The Athletic and read the comments below their stories, you realize there are a lot more sports fans out there who don’t want that angle — fans who see more gray area. So why do it? Is there really research that supports such a simple approach to problem-solving? Or does the media think that sports fans are dumb? — David W

My answer here might not be satisfying but one you at least find helpful: The media isn’t a monolith, it isn’t a solo entity —and that extends to sports. As a viewer or reader, it is up to you to find the outlets that go beyond the banal or cliché. Sometimes that will be tough when it comes to broadcast because you ultimately have only one choice to watch a game. But when it comes to the written word, we live in an era where there has never been smarter sports writing, more in-depth storytelling in sports writing, and more choice, and that includes user-generated content.

The NL Wild Card Game was my first time taking in a Statcast broadcast (big fan of Jason Benetti). What did you think of it compared to the regular broadcast? Will it always be a niche thing or could it expand as advanced stats get more mainstream? — Jake B

I really liked the alternative ESPN announcers because they respected our intelligence. Is there a chance that we will see it again? Also, could such an approach work on Monday Night Football? – Jeff H

I thought the ESPN 2 Statcast telecast was light years ahead of most sports broadcasts. Do you think it will eventually become the standard? Or will it be a big-game novelty, used only when a network is airing multiple broadcasts for a single event? — Travis G

I don’t think the Statcast will ever become the defacto main broadcast and the viewership numbers always bear this out when it comes how many people watch the regular broadcast versus the alternative option.

For example, the channel by channel viewership breakdown for the Rockies-Cubs game:

• ESPN: 6.3 million viewers
• ESPN2 (Statcast): 700,000
• ESPN Deportes: 100,000

But the Megacast options ESPN uses for college football and the Statcast broadcast for the NL Wild Card game are examples of the best of ESPN and they should keep doing it because it’s a great user experience and it treats viewers like adults. Total props for ESPN here.

Will ESPN get into the Super Bowl rotation during NFL’s next round of TV negotiations? — Doug B

I’d put the odds at less than 1 percent that you will see a Super Bowl on ESPN in the next 25 years. The NFL has made it very clear that they want their most important property on over-the-air television and I can’t see that changing – if ever – for decades. I personally think you’d see the Super Bowl on Google before ESPN.

Why don’t any of the MLB postseason broadcast partners utilize a former ump or rules official in the booth or at their disposal on broadcasts? —Brian G, Elgin, IL

Here’s what a sports media exec at a baseball rightsholder net told me: “The feeling is that baseball is a bit tricky — out/safe, fair/foul, and strike zone graphics are there for the viewer. It’s pretty rare to get an odd, obstruction call to interpret.” Plus, the good analysts (e.g. Ron Darling, John Smoltz) are often very good at explaining the rules on a play. Just an educated guess: I think if ESPN had more postseason rights, they would employ an umpire analyst.

Care to comment on the recent stories by the NYT and others in regards to The Athletic’s hiring spree? — Mike C

Sure. From my perspective, the management of The Athletic has done a great job hiring talented people across the country and has given them the creative freedom to report and tell stories. I went to a reader appreciation night in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and met some reporters/writers from Toronto that I had not yet met before. Based on that brief interaction, it also seems like The Athletic has a no-hiring assholes policy, which is very promising. As far as external coverage of this place, I’d expect more of it heading forward and welcome it as a reader. As the product grows, more coverage is coming, from honest examinations of the business model to bad-faith brokers with an agenda. Così è la vita.

How much longer will ESPN insult boxing fans with their coverage of the sport continuing to include Stephen A Smith? It reared it’s ugly head again during the ESPN coverage of the GGG/Canelo rematch and including them as boxing analysts is a real black eye in terms of coverage of the sport. With boxing being a major part of ESPN+, do you think they will reevaluate their strategy in covering the sport with such underqualified analysts? — Eric Z

I don’t watch a lot of boxing so I can’t speak informatively to whether Smith is good or not as a boxing analyst. I can tell you that no on-air personality has as much juice right now at ESPN, and ESPN executives, producers and PR executives trip over themselves to push Smith. I would expect him to be there.

I often find “NFL Live” to be incredibly bland and boring, even during NFL season, whereas I find “The Jump” to be really interesting, even when the NBA is out of season. “NFL Live” is shot in a huge Bristol studioand is more often news-oriented, and “The Jump” is shot in a smaller LA studio, and its more story line based. I’m curious to know both how the ratings stack up for these two shows, and if ESPN has any plans to put together a more intriguing NFL show to match “The Jump?”— Matty W

Both shows are very good for ESPN and “NFL Live” has long been an underrated viewership show in terms of the consistency for ESPN. I hope to see “The Jump” get some live shows during the playoffs — it might be ESPN’s smartest show right now. As for viewership, here is a one-day snapshot from last Thursday: “NFL Live” averaged 316,000 viewers airing at 1:30 p.m. ET; “The Jump” averaged 283,000 viewers at 3 p.m. ET.

Ever since the replacement of John Skipper with Jimmy Pitaro it seems as if the rumors about more layoffs at ESPN have died down. Do you think that ESPN is finally done laying people off or are they just waiting until everything has settled down? — Michael A.

I don’t think ESPN is done with layoffs because I think layoffs are inevitable for every person working in the sports media — even at destination outlets like ESPN. I haven’t heard anything is imminent but the network has spent the last 20 months reducing talent contracts and I expect that to continue. The top talent at ESPN will continue to get paid pro athlete money, but ESPN has tried to lower costs among on-air staffers.

What has happened to SI’s circulation since it went to every other week from weekly? Are they on a downhill slope to extinction or has that move resuscitated them? — Bruce, Medicine Hat, Alta.

SI’s circulation is around 2.75 million subscribers, which is down from 3.2 million a decade ago. The move to bi-weekly did not crater the circ but the numbers are going to keep dropping as more people (especially men under 40) never subscribe to a magazine. Something to watch for as SI gets a new owner soon is whether the brand moves from a bi-weekly to a monthly and goes the route of a glossy, Vanity Fair-style publication, with more pages per issue but far less frequency. I still expect SI to do season previews, which always was something both editorially sound and financially successful.

Any chance by the next NFL TV contract we can see local TV announcers? Stick with TNF, SNF, and MNF. And then have CBS and FOX (or someone else) have two national games a week? — Avi B

I don’t see any chance of this happening. CBS and Fox, if they pay billions for NFL rights, are going to want to highlight their own broadcasters and production, even on lower-level games.

Can you reach out to the NFL about their rule of not showing the ending to games once the second part of the doubleheaderbegins? What would’ve been the detriment of the league allowing CBS to show us the ending to the Ravens-Browns game despite the second FOX games being underway? Seems like a rule that no one benefits from. — Derek, Iowa

Here’s a piece from SI’s Jacob Feldman on the topic.

Which pregame show is better: “NBA Countdown” or TNT’s “Inside the NBA?”— Deven P

“Inside The NBA.”

How are ESPN+ and DAZN’s numbers for their boxing content and with HBO getting out of the fight game, will the pivot to streaming platforms curb the sport’s viewership? — Carlos L.

The numbers above are unlikely to be released publicly given they won’t be very high. But ESPN has had some success with its fights airing on its linear networks. On Saturday, the Top Rank card featuring Terence Crawford and Shakur Stevenson airing on ESPN drew a 1.6 overnight rating, the highest-rated boxing telecast in 2018 across all broadcast and cable networks. I think we’ll get a better sense of where boxing is as a broadcast entity when a heavyweight captures the attention of the sporting public in the States.

Question: I’m moving from Minneapolis to Denver. In your opinion, what is the best presentation to watch out of market games? Example NHL TV, NBA League Pass, MLB or Direct Ticket NFL. — Phil S

Good luck with the move. I think the answer to this depends on what sport you love the most. For the season-long stuff, it’s less about presentation and more about what sport you don’t want to miss. Many of the games are simply the production from the local market.

I love Al Michaels calling NFL games on Sunday nights. He’s such a throwback who hasn’t let himself get passed by as the game changes. Some people don’t dig the broadcast, but I do. However, NBC hired Mike Tirico a few years back, and I have been absolutely salivating at the idea of Tirico calling a Super Bowl at some point. NBC has the rights to Super Bowl LV in 2021. What’s the likelihood we see him call that game? — Mike D

If you asked me to place the bet, I’d bet Al Michaels will call Super Bowl LV for NBC on Feb. 7, 2021 in Tampa. After that, I’d bet 50-50 Tirico takes over SNF.

The Ink Report

1. On Monday, Kevin Harlan and Olivia Harlan Dekker will become the first father and daughter to call a national NFL broadcast together. The two are working for Westwood One, the official audio partner of the NFL, where Harlan is the fulltime Monday Night Football game-caller and Olivia Decker has joined the crew as a sideline reporter for the San Francisco 49ers-Green Bay Packers matchup at Lambeau Field. (Kurt Warner will be the game analyst.) Westwood said it is not the first time a parent and child have broadcast an NFL game for the company: During the 2004-05 NFL seasons, Marv Albert called games while son Kenny Albert worked the sidelines.

As he approaches what will be a memorable broadcast, I emailed Harlan over the weekend for some additional perspective.

Have you and Olivia worked together before in any previous capacity?

Olivia and I broadcast Packers TV preseason games three years ago. She was doing some preseason interviews and hosting on the Packers website that summer, and it led to her being asked by the team to be a part of their over-the-air TV preseason broadcasts. At the time she was doing the NBA Atlanta Hawks sideline and had just been hired by ESPN. She was a part of Fox Sports SEC college football telecasts as their sideline reporter at age 21.

One of the things you have previously talked about with me is that you never want to be part of any broadcasting stunt. How did you approach this assignment regarding not wanting the story of you and Olivia working together overshadowing the broadcast?

(Westwood One executive producer) Howard Deneroff was the one who came up with the idea. He had used Olivia on the Westwood One broadcast of the SEC Football Championship game last year. He was impressed with her sideline work with ESPNand approached her about doing the Westwood One SEC Championship after getting permission from the conference office and ESPN. He liked her work on that game, how she handled herself, and that’s what led him to wanting to use her for more Westwood One broadcasts. She was already slated to do the SEC Championship again this year. So if he was comfortable, and had total confidence in her ability, I am as well.

I would never feel comfortable approaching him about her being on one of our NFL broadcasts. It’s not my place and it wouldn’t be fair to Olivia. I want her to earn, as she does on her own, all her accomplishments. There is already attention paid to her because of her age (25), being hired by ESPN at 22, and her new husband being in the NBA.

It’s Howard’s reputation on the line. It doesn’t do anyone any good to do this without that person being qualified and of a certain talent level. If you know Howard, he is meticulous in his selections, which means he has done his thorough due diligence and is totally behind it. I trust his decision. With the game being in Green Bay where she spent a lot of her childhood, and with me on the broadcast, it makes for an interesting angle. But he has told me if she wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t put her on one of his broadcasts. He owes that to the NFL, Westwood One and himself. Just like ESPN wouldn’t have hired her in the first place if they didn’t think she was ready. With that in mind, we plan to treat this like all our NFL broadcasts, as an honor to be representing Westwood One nationally and give the best product we can to our listeners. It’ll just have the added historical aspect of father-daughter and we will make every effort to ensure it won’t distract from the game itself.

How will you refer to each other in any kind of interaction?

I’m not really sure how I am going to approach it. I am hoping it’ll happen organically. I will certainly mention the connection at the top of the show, but won’t be doing that all game long. I’ll probably finish our broadcast with something as well. All that being said, this is one of the most wonderful things that could happen to a parent. My wife Ann and I are beyond proud of what she has done so far at a very young age in an extremely competitive business. She is embracing the challenge of being the best she can be each broadcast.

1a. Anthony Crupi of Ad Age has been featured in this column before as one of the foremost experts in the United States on sports television viewership numbers. Crupi tweeted last week that through Week Five games, NFL viewership was flat versus last year and ratings were up 1 percent. Here’s his chart:

Through the first five weeks of the 2018 NFL season, overall deliveries are flat YOY and ratings are up 1%. Here's the breakdown of how each of the six discrete TV windows is faring. pic.twitter.com/aqP5DLkWS4

— Anthony Crupi (@crupicrupicrupi) October 9, 2018

For readers who want references to the designations above. Said Crupi: “Single” accounts for all the regional windows on whichever network (CBS or Fox) doesn’t happen to have the national 4:20 p.m. ET window that week. “Early” refers to the 1 p.m. ET games on the network that has the big “LNW” —late-national window. As the season goes on, the LNW is generally boiled down to just the marquee game, and the only real competition is whatever standalone regional matchup is playing on select affiliates served by the other network.

1b. Per Fox Sports vice president of research Michael Mulvihill: The Patriots and Red Sox combined in Boston on Sunday for a 54.9 rating and an 81 share. The share is the percentage of televisionsets in use that are tuned to the program at the time of the rating, Thus, an entire city was essentially watching sports on Sunday.

1c. Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Kurt Warner and Michael Irvin will leave the studio as a one-off to call the Oct. 28 game airing on the NFL Network between Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The game kicks off at 9:30 a.m. ET from Wembley Stadium in London. It is airing nationally on NFL Network but will also be available on local broadcast stations in Philadelphia (WPVI) and Jacksonville (WFOX). Several digital streaming options are also available.

It is the first time Eisen will do play by play for an NFL regular season game. He previously called a live game telecast of the Senior Bowl for NFL Network. The game will be the first game analyst assignment for Mariucci. The network is still figuring out where Mariucci, Irvin and Warner will be positioned for the broadcast.

Melissa Stark and Peter Schrager will work as sideline reporters It will be Stark’s first appearance as a sideline reporter since 2002 as a member of ABC’s “Monday Night Football” broadcast team.

2. It’s a significant week for narrative sports podcasts with the debut of three promising true crime audio series.

— The Charlotte Observer debuts a seven-part serialized podcast, video and online series on former NFL player Rae Carruth, who was convicted of conspiring to murder his pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams. The podcast (“Carruth”) is based on the reporting of Charlotte Observer sports writer Scott Fowler, who also serves as the host of the podcast. Carruth has been serving a 19-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. He will be released from prison on October 22. All seven episodes will come out at once on Tuesday. The print/online text series will also be released tomorrow.

Fowler said that the podcast has been 11 months in the making. His outlet started discussing the possibility last November following a long story he did on Saundra and Chancellor Lee Adams, the mother of Cherica Adams and child of Cherica and Rae Curruth. Four staffers worked on the project including Charlotte Observer photographer Jeff Siner, who shot the Carruth trial every day as the pool photographer; Davin Coburn, a senior podcast producer at McClatchy who bought into the idea early and worked on it from Washington, D.C.; and Rachel Wise who works in Charlotte and helped with both audio and video.

Said Fowler: “Carruth” seemed to lend itself to audio, beginning with Cherica Adams’ haunting 12-minute 911 call and a bunch of exclusive interviews. My 3-hour jailhouse interview with the hitman in the murder was the most surreal. Saundra Adams is going to be the person that people remember most from this show – at least I hope. She is such a great storyteller that I thought the format would work with her strong voice. I didn’t have a sit-down with Rae Carruth and I never thought I would because he hasn’t granted anything remotely like the access I was asking for over the past 17 years. He did write me one pretty introspective five-page letter, however. He also called me on the phone once and spoke with me off-the-record for 20 minutes, which helped inform my writing. And he authorized his original defense lawyer David Rudolf to speak for him.”

— The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team has a multi-part podcast serieson Aaron Hernandez, narrated by investigative reporter Bob Hohler. The podcast (“Gladiator”) features prison phone calls, Hernandez’s upbringing, the violent and sexual abuse against him as a child, the brain injuries suffered, secret relationships, locker room behavior, concussions and more.

— Starting Wednesday, Sports Illustrated will debut a narrative podcast series re-examining the murder of Steve McNair. The podcast(“In Fall of a Titan”) is presented by SI and Cadence 13. (Note: Cadence 13 is the company that produces my podcast.) Narrated by MMQB writer Tim Rohan, the podcast explores the question: Did Jenni Kazemi really kill Steve McNair?

2a. Episode 23 of the Sports Media Podcast features Jemele Hill. In this podcast, Hill discusses leaving ESPN after 12 years; why she decided to leave; how one goes about negotiating a buyout with ESPN; the role of management changes at SportsCenter that led to her leaving SC6; whether ESPN management wanted her to stay or leave the company; why SC6 was not a viewership hit; the role of former ESPN president John Skipper in her career and the impact of Skipper’s leaving the network because of a cocaine addiction and the subsequent impact of that addiction; whether ESPN was too deep in political talk; her Twitter feed in the era of Donald Trump; her thoughts on the comments of Disney Chairman Bob Iger regarding ESPN swinging the pendulum a little bit too far away from sports; the culture of ESPN under new president Jimmy Pitaro; ESPN’s commitment to journalism regarding the NFL in the Pitaro era; what she will be writing for The Atlantic, where she will work as a staff writer; her role as the narrator for LeBron James’ upcoming documentary series “Shut Up and Dribble”; her thoughts on a conflict of interest writing about LeBron James and having financial ties to his production company; her upcoming podcast; her thoughts on the future of The Undefeated and much more.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and more.

PODCAST BREAKDOWN

1:50: When and why Hill knew she was going to leave ESPN

8:00: How she approached ESPN to leave the company and the options she had at ESPN.

14:45: Why SC6 did not draw more viewers and why things did not work for Hill and Smith as SportsCenter anchors.

25:00: The role of former ESPN president John Skipper regarding the management of SC6 as well as Skipper’s actions when the White House criticized Hill following her comments on Donald Trump.

32:30: Disney management’s comments on ESPN swinging the pendulum too far at times on politics and how much of the narrative of ESPN being too political is honest.

43:30: ESPN’s relationship with the NFL heading forward.

48:30: Why she decided to write for The Atlantic

53:30: Her ties to LeBron James including addressing any conflict involving financial ties to James.

1:02:20: Her thoughts on the future of ESPN’s The Undefeated.

3. Some college football overnight ratings from the weekend:

• Georgia-LSU (CBS): 3.7
• Wisconsin-Michigan (ABC): 3.6
• Washington-Oregon and UCF-Memphis (ABC and ESPN2) combined window): 2.4
• Missouri-Alabama (ESPN): 2.2
• Florida-Vanderbilt (ESPN): 1.8

4. Sports pieces of note:

• Detroit Free Press writer Jeff Seidel on former Red Wings top pick Joe Murphy being homeless in Canada.
• From Britni de la Cretaz, for The Ringer: Where Are All the Women in Play-by-Play Broadcasting.
• Via Nathan Fenno of the L.A. Times: How Kevin Ellison went from starring in football at USC to dying while wandering through traffic on a freeway. Now his family wonders what role football played in years of mental health problems.
• B/R’s Howard Beck on Kyrie Irving.
• The Ringer’s Jordan Ritter Conn on Enes Kanter, now a stranger (and worse) in his home country.
• The Athletic’s Craig Custance on the day the NHL’s future arrived.
• From Brittany Ghiroli, for Baltimore Baseball.com: A father’s pride, and a daughter’s love.

Non-sports pieces of note:

• Via ProPublica’s Finlay Young: An acclaimed American charity said it was saving some of the world’s most vulnerable girls from sexual exploitation. But from the very beginning, girls were being raped.
• From New York Times Magazine: A Philadelphia neighborhood is the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast. Addicts come from all over, and many never leave.
• Via Dan Barry and Jeffrey E. Singer of The New York Times: The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail.
• From Vanity Fair’s Elizabeth Drew: Will The Myths of Watergate prove misleading?
• From Garrett Graff of Wired: How the US Forced China to Quit Stealing—Using a Chinese Spy.
• Via Rossalyn A Warren of Vox: You buy a purse at Walmart. There’s a note inside from a “Chinese prisoner.” Now what?
• Via Katie Prout for lithub.com: Going Hungry at the Most Prestigious MFA in America.
• From Ethan Watters of Texas Monthly: The Love Story that Upended the Texas Prison System.
• By Taylor Lorenz of The Atlantic: Teens Are Being Bullied on Instagram.

5.The two most-watched postseason baseball games so far:

• Red Sox-Yankees, ALDS Game 4 (TBS): 7.15 million viewers.
• Cubs-Rockies WildCard Game (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes) 7.10 million viewers.

The Red Sox-Yankees game was the most-viewed LDS Game 4 on any network since Indians-Yankees drew 9.23 million viewers on TBS in ’07.

5a. ESPN has picked up the cable rightsfor the PGA Championship that had previously been held by Turner. The tournament’s other long-time media partner, CBS, renewed its dealto carry afternoon coverage on the weekend. The tournament will move to May in 2019, becoming the second major of the year following The Masters. Both deals will run through 2030.

Sports Business Daily media reporter John Ourand reported that CBS will produce the PGA, even when it is on ESPN. Starting with the 2020 event, CBS and ESPN will have wall-to-wall coverage (more than 175 hours) during the tournament. CBS will carry weekend afternoon coverage, while ESPN and ESPN+ will carry the Thursday and Friday rounds exclusively. It also will carry weekend rounds before CBS goes on air.

5b. Fox Sports announced the premiere of “Fair Game with Kristine Leahy” on Oct. 22 (5:30 PM ET). The weekday show, airing on FS1, features host Leahy in conversations with sports and entertainment figures.

5c. Former U.S. Women’s National Team captain Christie Rampone made her debut as a studio analyst Sunday during FS1’s airing of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

5d. Yesterday’s NASCAR race from Talladega Superspeedway marked the final NASCAR race for Mike Wells, who has directed more than 1,000 NASCAR race broadcasts over 37 seasons for NBC, ESPN and Turner Sports. NBC said Wells directed his first Cup Series race in 1981 at Rockingham Speedway and was part of memorable NASCAR productions, including Richard Petty’s final race and Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s last win. Wells will direct NBC Sports’ first-ever coverage of the Indy 500 next year.

5e. Last week I ran a series featuring 42 sports media people from around the country — including from some colleagues atThe Athletic —on the worst team they’ve covered as a professional. Below, the list of insufferable teams, the person who covered (endured) it and links for each sport if you missed it.

NFL

• 1990 Denver Broncos (Adam Schefter)
• 1994 Dallas Cowboys (Dale Hansen)
• 2000 & 2001 San Diego Chargers (Jim Trotter)
• 2003 New York Giants (Tara Sullivan)
• 2010 Denver Broncos (Lindsay Jones)
• 2012 New York Jets (Kimberley A. Martin)
• 2012 Philadelphia Eagles (Les Bowen)
• 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars (Ryan O’Halloran)
• 2017 Indianapolis Colts (Stephen Holder)

NHL

• 2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins (Trenni Kusnierek)
• 2005-06 St. Louis Blues (Jeremy Rutherford)
• 2007-08 Atlanta Thrashers (Craig Custance)
• 2009-10 Toronto Maple Leafs (James Mirtle)
• 2010-11 New York Islanders (Katie Strang)
• 2011-12 Columbus Blue Jackets (Aaron Portzline)
• 2013-14 Vancouver Canucks (Jason Botchford)
• 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres (John Vogl)

MLB

• 1986 California Angels (Gene Wojciechowski)
• 1988 Baltimore Orioles (Richard Justice)
• 1993 New York Mets (Frank Isola)
• 1995 Oakland A’s (Pedro Gomez)
• 1998 Florida Marlins (David O’Brien)
• 2002 Chicago Cubs (Teddy Greenstein)
• 2011-16 New York Yankees (Marly Rivera)
• 2018 Kansas City Royals (Rustin Dodd)

NBA/WNBA

• 1992-93 Washington Bullets (David Aldridge)
• 2005-06 Portland Trail Blazers (John Canzano)
• 2005-06 New York Knicks (Howard Beck)
• 2008-09 Los Angeles Clippers (Lisa Dillman)
• 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers (Jason Lloyd)
• 2011 Tulsa Shock (Kelly Hines)
• 2013-14 Los Angeles Lakers (Dave McMenamin)
• 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets (Tim Bontemps)
• 2015-16 Philadelphia 76ers (Derek Bodner)

Colleges

• 1994 Kentucky Football (Pat Forde)
• 1997 Maryland Football (Seth Emerson)
• 1999 Northwestern Basketball (Mark Lazerus)
• 2002 Stanford Football (Jon Wilner)
• 2002-03 Villanova Basketball (Dana O’Neil)
• 2008 Washington Football (Ted Miller)
• 2014 Michigan Football (Angelique Chengelis)
• 2015 Idaho Football (Michael Shawn-Dugar)

(Top photo: Ray Carlin/Icon SMI Corbis via Getty Images)