1. Do I feel vindicated because I spent tons of time on the SI Media Podcast the past two weeks pumping up The Roast of Tom Brady and explaining to Sal Licata during our “Traina Thoughts” segment that it was going to be a must-watch?
Yes. Yes, I do.
And big shoutout to TopShotYoda who acknowledged my effort.
As for the roast itself, it was even better than I expected and I had very high expectations. Here are my thoughts.
• It was an interesting strategy for the producers to use the two big guns, Jeff Ross and Nikki Glaser, right out of the gate. It made me wonder if the production team wanted to make it immediately clear that this was going to be a real roast and not some watered-down, PG-rated borefest.
• Make no mistake: While Drew Bledsoe, Julian Edelman and Bill Belichick were outstanding, the masters of roasting—Ross and Glaser—were on another level.
• This is my power rankings of top 5 roasters:
5. Glaser
4. Ross
3. Kevin Hart’s opening
2. Edelman
1. Bledsoe
• How on earth did the directors not give us a shot of Brady when Glaser unleashed this NSFW line?
• I don’t know why Kim Kardashian was part of this, but her presence was well worth it thanks to this shot from Brady.
• It takes A LOT to shock me. And I can’t say I was “shocked,” but it was definitely surreal to see so many Patriots players joke about Aaron Hernandez being a murderer.
• He would never admit it because you have to be a good sport at a roast, but I don’t think Rob Gronkowski liked some of the jokes about his lack of intelligence. But, my goodness, was this so damn good.
Belichick’s set was made even funnier because he was so out of his element and didn’t deliver the punchlines the way punchlines should be delivered. It was like his performance on Pat McAfee’s Draft show. It’s just Bill being Bill and that in itself is funny.
A big theme on social media during the roast was, “Why would Brady agree to this” and “Why would Brady subject himself to this?” How about because it’s fun? How about because laughing is a good thing? How about because it’s entertainment?
2. With the Pacers and Knicks opening up their series tonight, this clip of versatile New York forward Josh Hart trashing the state of Indiana has been unearthed. This is some good added spice to the playoff series.
3. Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, which saw a photo finish with Mystik Dan beating out Sierra Leone, was the most-watched Derby in 35 years. An average of 16.7 million people watched the Derby on NBC. Viewership peaked between 7 and 7:15 pm ET with 20.1 million viewers turning in.
4. Sometimes baseball is funny, as proven here by Giants shortstop Nick Ahmed.
5. The WWE has been touring in Europe over the past week and the crowds for live events have been wild. Here are a few great clips featuring WWE champion Cody Rhodes interacting with some of his fans.
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Puck senior correspondent John Ourand about all the latest sports media news. Ourand breaks down the latest reports regarding the NBA’s upcoming television deals and where things stand between the league and ESPN, TNT, NBC and Amazon. Ourand also shares thoughts on how the new TV deals would impact the future of the Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.
Ourand discusses the changes at CBS’s NFL Today with Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms out and Matt Ryan in, whether the NFL Draft would ever move to a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday schedule instead of Thursday-Friday-Saturday, the status of the Marchand & Ourand Podcast and more.
Following Ourand, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins Jimmy for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include an NFL Draft shocker, a blow to an MLB superstar, Dave & Busters allowing gambling, Jerry Seinfeld turning 70 and much more.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Good stuff by Jerry Seinfeld on this week’s Saturday Night Live as a guy who has done too much press. Hell of a shoutout for Rich Eisen, as well.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter,Instagram and TikTok.
