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Rich Shertenlieb: NFL, NBC Wouldn’t Let Anyone Find Out If Tom Brady Has Covid

“They’ve got too much riding on this game. The amount of money, the amount of advertisers, the amount of viewers they know they’re going to be getting on Sunday night.”

Derek Futterman

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June 11, 1997. Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan is battling symptoms of the flu, and, despite pleas from his team and family, decides to play the game anyway. Playing 44 minutes, Jordan put up a performance for the ages, scoring 38 points on five assists and three steals. In the contest notoriously referred to as the “Flu Game,” the Chicago Bulls took a three-to-two series lead over the Utah Jazz, and would go on to win the NBA Finals two nights later at home, giving Jordan his fifth of six N.B.A. championships.

September 30, 2021. Tampa, Fla. Prior to the immensely-promoted matchup between Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots, parallels could undeniably be drawn between this event and what occurred over two decades ago. A seven-time Super Bowl champion and arguably the greatest quarterback in National Football League History, Brady will return to the place where it all started Sunday night. At practice in Tampa, Brady spoke to reporters and, like Jordan that night in 1997, sounded hoarse and under-the-weather, likely blaring alarms in the minds of both sports media outlets and football fans.

On Friday morning, “Toucher and Rich” on 98.5 The Sports Hub spoke about Brady’s demeanor, and what his illness could mean for this game, which is expected to draw a record-breaking viewing audience across multiple platforms.

“Tom Brady yesterday obviously sounded like crap,” said Rich Shertenlieb, co-host of the Boston morning drive program. “Even if he tested positive [for COVID-19], the NFL would, in no way shape or form let that go public. They’ve got too much riding on this game. The amount of money, the amount of advertisers, the amount of viewers they know they’re going to be getting on Sunday night. I do believe in shenanigans and I think they would keep that away.”

The 44-year-old quarterback is vaccinated against COVID-19; however, there remains a risk of breakthrough cases as new variants of the novel coronavirus, most notably the Delta variant, spread throughout the United States.

Aside from record-setting levels of viewership, the world of sports betting is also thriving in the days leading up to the primetime matchup.

“[The game is] already on pace for record-setting betts,” said Shertenlieb. “You take a look at how much money Vegas is bringing in, and it’s absolutely absurd. There was a report yesterday that [this game has had] 25% more bets than any other game.”

Earlier in the show, co-host Fred Toucher said, “Part of what makes sports fun is the suspension of reality.” As sports fans and citizens alike strive for some sense of normalcy after a difficult last year-and-a-half, not seeing Brady play in a matchup that has been hyped up for weeks on end, including the creation of a poignant trailer to Adele’s pop ballad “Hello,” would unequivocally be a major letdown. Sunday Night Football on NBC will be simulcast to Peacock and Universo, with pregame coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ahead of the 8:20 p.m. kickoff. In a press release, NBC called the matchup “one of the most anticipated regular-season games in NFL history.”

Sports Radio News

Doug Gottlieb Details Interviewing For College Basketball Head Coaching Vacancy

“I’ve told people that for the radio element to — for the right thing — I’d give it up. The (podcast), I’m not giving it up.”

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Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb recently interviewed for the vacant head coaching job at Wisconsin-Green Bay and detailed the experience on his podcast.

“I got a chance to talk to (Wisconsin-Green Bay AD) Josh Moon several times during the year after they had made their coaching job available and my approach to how I’ve done these things — and this is not the first time I’ve gone down this path, but this was a different path,” Gottlieb said on his All Ball podcast.

“This is a low-major, mid-major job, and there’s no connection there. I’ve told people that for the radio element to — for the right thing — I’d give it up. The (podcast), I’m not giving it up. I love doing it and I think there’s a very smart world where if I’m coaching I can still do this podcast and still do it with basketball people all over the country and the world, and it’s kind of like a cheat code.”

He continued by saying that seeing Shaka Smart be successful at Marquette has motivated him to continue to search for the right fit as a college basketball coach.

“That’s what I want to do. And last year when I was coaching in Israel, that also continued to invigorate me…this is something that I would really like to do. It has to be the right thing. It has to be the right AD who hits the right message.”

He continued by saying that a sticking point of negotiations was he wasn’t willing to give up his nationally syndicated radio program for the job. He was willing to take less money for his assistants pool, but also to continue doing his radio show.

Gottlieb did not get the position with the Phoenix, noting that he was a finalist but was never offered the job. The position ultimately went to Wyoming assistant coach Sundance Wicks. Wicks had previous head coaching experience and had worked with Green Bay athletic director Josh Moon at Division II Northern State. He admitted he wasn’t necessarily “all-in” on the job due to the current ages of his children and whether the timing was right to uproot his family to move to Northeastern Wisconsin.

The Fox Sports Radio host does have coaching experience. He has worked as a coach for the U.S. men’s basketball team at the Maccabiah Games, sometimes referred to as the Jewish Olympics.

Gottlieb’s father — Bob — was the head men’s basketball coach at Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1975-1980, compiling a 97-91 record.

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Waddle & Silvy: Scott Hanson Told Us to Lose His Number

“We didn’t call him back, so he set out what he wanted to do.”

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Aaron Rodgers took immense pride in the fact that he told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter to “lose his number” while discussing his future earlier this week on The Pat McAfee Show. ESPN 1000’s Waddle & Silvy said they’ve experienced similar treatment from guests on their radio show.

While discussing the Rodgers interview with McAfee, the pair admitted that NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson once told their producer to stop trying to book him for interviews on the program.

“I believe the presentation was ‘Do me a favor: lose my number after this interview’,” Tom Waddle said. “So he tried to do it politely. Scott Hanson did. Get out of here. That concept is foreign to me. How about ‘Hey, next time you text me, my schedule is full. I can’t do it, but thanks for thinking of me’. ‘Lose my number?’ You ain’t the President, for Christ’s sake. I’m saying that to anyone who would say that. ‘Lose my number?’ We’re all in the communication business. I just don’t know — why be rude like that to people? What does that accomplish? You know what it accomplished? We didn’t call him back, so he set out what he wanted to do.”

Co-host Mark Silverman then mentioned that the show once tried to book Hansen and NFL Red Zone host Andrew Siciliano together in the same block, with the idea of doing a trivia game to see who the supreme Red Zone host was. Siciliano agreed, but Hansen declined.

The pair also confirmed that an NFL Network personality had told them to lose their number, but couldn’t remember if it was Rich Eisen or not.

Silverman later joked that maybe Hanson was getting a new phone with a new number, and was politely sharing with the producer that he could lose the current phone number because he would share his new number in short order.

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Seth Payne: Aaron Rodgers ‘Makes Gross Inaccuracies’ When Calling Out Media

“This is where Rodgers does this thing where he, in calling out reporters for their inaccuracies, makes gross inaccuracies in his accusations.”

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Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is always mad at the media for the inaccurate things he says they report, but according to Sports Radio 610 morning man Seth Payne, no one is more inaccurate than the quarterback himself.

Friday morning, Payne and his partner Sean Pendergast played audio of Aaron Rodgers responding to a question about a list of players he provided to the Jets demanding they sign. Rodgers called the idea that he would make demands “so stupid” and chastised ESPN reporter Dianna Russini, who was the first to report it.

“Now to be clear, Dianna Russini didn’t say demands in her tweet. She said wishlist,” Pendergast clarified.

They also played a clip of Russini responding to Rodgers on NFL Live saying that she stands by her reporting and it is her job to reach out to confirm that it is true.

“This is where Rodgers does this thing where he, in calling out reporters for their inaccuracies, makes gross inaccuracies in his accusations,” Seth Payne said.

He added that if Rodgers is being serious, he is doing some serious nitpicking. He claims that he didn’t give the Jets a list, but that he spoke glowingly about former teammates and told the Jets executives that he met with who he enjoyed playing with during his career.

Payne joked that maybe he wrote down the names in a circle pattern so that it was not a list. Pendergast added that he could have had Fat Head stickers on his wall that he pointed to instead of writing anything at all.

In Payne’s mind, this is a case of Russini catching stray frustration. Neither in her initial tweet nor in any subsequent media appearance did she use the phrase “demands”.

“What he’s actually responding to in that instance is Pat McAfee is the one that described it as a list of demands,” Seth Payne said.

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