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Joel Klatt: Seeing ‘Jump Around’ Tradition Live Was Emotional Experience

“Klatt joined The Colin Cowherd Podcast to explain the atmosphere.”

Ricky Keeler

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Week One of college football is in the books and what stood out to some people was the energy from the full-capacity stadiums and traditions, that didn’t take place in 2020 due to COVID-19, which resumed this year with fans in the stands. Amongst those traditions are “Enter Sandman” playing before Virginia Tech games and “Jump Around” playing before the start of the 4th quarter at Wisconsin.

Joel Klatt was in the broadcast booth for Penn State’s win at Wisconsin Saturday along with Gus Johnson and sideline reporter Jenny Taft to experience the Madison energy first-hand. He even wrote on Twitter Saturday that it was tough for him to even speak during the experience.

Klatt joined The Colin Cowherd Podcast to explain the atmosphere. He explained that it was FOX’s decision to show the experience live rather than taped coming out of a commercial break.

“What we experienced, Gus, I, and Jenny at Camp Randall for “Jump Around”, I couldn’t speak. Our producer, Chuck McDonald, it was his idea. Thankfully, everybody in our programming department was like yeah, we are going to come back early, figure out where to put those commercials elsewhere in the game so that we can cover “Jump Around” live, not on tape. What they were doing there you were experiencing at home.

“That was an amazing idea. Everybody at FOX said yes, let’s figure it out. Our director did an amazing job shooting it, bringing you into the stadium. Chuck McDonald and Rich Dewey did an amazing job.” 

Cowherd even mentioned that watching that moment during the Big Ten matchup gave him goosebumps and he got emotional watching it as a fan. 

The moment also hit home for Taft as she wrote on Twitter that she used to go to Wisconsin games growing up, so she got to experience the fan tradition in a different way as a sideline reporter.

FOX’s Big Noon Saturday will be in Columbus, Ohio this week for the Top 15 matchup between Oregon and Ohio State. As traditions come back in college football, one would expect FOX and other networks to show more of these events live to remind fans of what they missed during an unprecedented season a year ago. 

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Sean McManus: LIV Golfers Won’t Get Different Treatment During The Masters

“We’re not gonna put our heads in the sand.”

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CBS Sports is preparing for coverage of its 68th consecutive year of The Masters, but the 2023 event could prove to be unlike any before it, and CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus is cognizant of the situation.

After several former Masters champions departed the PGA Tour for the upstart LIV Golf, many pondered what that meant for the sport’s major championships. The Masters decided to continue to allow the golfers who are now playing exclusively with the Saudi-backed league to compete for the green jacket. McManus shared that CBS will continue the showcase the golfers as it always has.

“We’re not gonna cover up or hide anything,” McManus said, as reported by Golf Digest. “As I’ve said so often, our job is to cover the golf tournament. We’re not gonna show any different treatment for the golfers who have played on the LIV tour than we do the other golfers. And if there’s a pertinent point or something that we need to, or we feel that we should bring up in our coverage on Saturday and Sunday, or on our other coverage throughout the week, you know, we’re not gonna put our heads in the sand.

“Having said that, unless it really affects the story that’s taking place on the golf course, we’re not gonna go out of our way to cover it. I’m not sure there’s anything that we could add to the story as it already exists. We’ll cover it as, as is suitable.”

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NFL Owners Not Voting on Flex Scheduling For Thursday Night Football

“The owners have simply decided to wait until May to make their decision.”

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Thursday Night Football

Amazon will have to wait for flex scheduling. NFL owners decided to table a proposal that would allow the league to create more compelling matchups for Thursday Night Football later in the season.

That doesn’t mean flex scheduling won’t be a reality on Thursday nights this season. The owners have simply decided to wait until May to make their decision.

Earlier this week, Peter King of NBC Sports reported that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is pushing the idea. Coaches have been outspoken about how much they dislike it, complaining about managing injuries and the competitive disadvantage that would come with finding out you suddenly have a shorter week of preparation than expected. According to King, Goodell is trying to make Amazon happy after the first season of Thursday Night Football failed to deliver projected audience numbers for Prime Video.

League owners did take a step they hope will lead to fewer games between losing teams. Last season, teams could only be scheduled once for a Thursday night game. The owners decided to bump that limit up to twice per season.

Goodell defended the proposal against accusations that the league is prioritizing revenue over player safety. 

“We always look at the data with respect to injuries,” he told the media gathered at the league meetings. “That is what drove our decisions throughout the first 12 or so years of Thursday Night Football and how it’s evolved. I think the data was very clear: it doesn’t show a higher injury rate. But we recognize shorter weeks. We went through this with COVID, too.”

When the idea of flex scheduling is revisited in May, it will require the support of 24 team owners in order to become a reality. 

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Eric Shanks Got Approval From Alex Rodriguez Before FOX Hired Derek Jeter

“Why wouldn’t we reach out?”

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Derek Jeter is going to work a very limited schedule for FOX next season. Still, before he came on board, FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks wanted the support of Jeter’s former Yankees teammate and on-again/off-again friend Alex Rodriguez.

Andrew Marchand is reporting that Shanks reached out to ARod personally. Rodriguez gave his approval to the network.

“Why wouldn’t we reach out?” a Fox Sports spokesman said when The New York Post reached out for confirmation.

While Derek Jeter is now part of the FOX family, fans shouldn’t expect to see him every time baseball is on the network. He is only scheduled to work “marquee events”. This season, those include the London series, the All-Star Game, and the World Series.

He will be at the desk alongside Kevin Burkhardt, David Ortíz, and Rodriguez.

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