Sports Media Briefs: Stephen A. Smith, Solitaire Man; Fox One’s Great Expectations; Michael ‘Jordan Rules’ NBC
By Phillip Swann
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Stephen A. Smith, Solitaire Man
There are few sports personalities who plays his cards better than ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Literally and figuratively. The brash commentator caught Hell last June when he was caught playing solitaire while courtside covering the NBA Finals. But Stephen A knows what to do with the hand you’re dealt in life. The 57-year-old pundit has signed a lucrative deal with a mobile gaming company to be the host of the upcoming World Solitaire Championship.”When I first heard about the World Solitaire Championship, I was intrigued,” Smith said in a statement. “They’re taking a classic game and turning it into something bigger, something that celebrates skill and competition, and that’s something I’m proud to be a part of,” Looks like another winning hand for Stephen A.
Fox Says Fox One Has ‘Exceeded Expectations’ – As Expected
Over the years, corporate executives have learned to use clever short hand to put a PR shine on new products and services. One such corporate-speak is ‘exceeding our expectations,’ which suggests a new product is doing better in the marketplace than anyone could have imagined. However, in nearly every case, the corporation doesn’t say what those expectations were prior to the product’s launch so you can’t determine for yourself if those expectations were truly exceeded; it just says the product exceeded expectations. Unfortunately, many journalists fall for this trick and write stories saying a product is a hit because the company said “it exceeded expectations.” For example, Fox just said its new Fox One app, which costs $19.99 a month and includes live feeds of all Fox channels, has, yes, you guessed it, “exceeded expectations.” Deadine covered the ‘news’ this way: “D2C streamer Fox One, launched over the summer, which the Fox bosses said has also “exceeded expectations,” mainly due to weekend viewing of sports.” To learn more, click here.
Netflix’s Jake Paul-Gervonta “Tank” Davis Fight Cancelled
Social media influencer turned boxer Jake Paul was scheduled to fight Gervonta “Tank” Davis on November 14 exclusively on Netflix. But the streamer just announced that the bout has been cancelled for unspecified reasons. However, Davis was recently accused of domestic abuse by an ex-girlfriend in a civil lawsuit filed in Miami, the site of the planned fight. The surrounding negative publicity undoubtedly led Netflix to pull the plug. However, the streamer says it’s looking to find a new match for Paul sometime before year’s end. To learn more, click here.
Michael ‘Jordan Rules’ NBC Sports
During his Chicago Bulls heyday, the term, ‘Jordan Rules,’ referred to the NBA great’s insistence on specific routines to prepare for and play the game. The rules sometimes grated his teammates but no one could argue with the results. Now, it appears that the Jordan Rules have taken over NBC Sports. The network has hired Jordan to be a commentator for its NBA broadcasts for a handsome payday estimated by some as high as $40 million. However, it appears that Jordan’s appearances thus far have come from a single interview with NBC’s Mike Tirico, spliced up so it can look like multiple segments. Well, the Jordan Rules worked for the Bulls; maybe it will work for NBC Sports. To learn more, click here.
World Series Ratings Through the (SkyDome) Roof
Baseball is dead, or so we were told. But game seven of the exciting 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays was watched by more than 25 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That’s the highest rating for a MLB game in eight years. To learn more, click here.
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