Episode 171 – 2020 MAC tournament: Filled with suspense in an empty arena

This year’s Mid-American Conference tournament will be a made-for-TV event, as concerns over the potential spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) have led the league to restrict the list of attendees at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to family members of players, credentialed university and team personnel, and media. Jason Arkley, Ohio University beat writer for the Athens Messenger, joins the show to discuss the MAC’s decision and how other leagues are handling similarly tough calls.

On the court, this year’s MAC tourney appears to be wide open, especially with Buffalo, winner of four of the past five years, bowing out in the first round on Monday. Arkley details Ohio’s surge in the second half of the season under first-year coach Jeff Boals, how former OU coach John Groce has rebuilt Akron into becoming the top seed in this year’s bracket, and rest of the teams and players to watch (on TV from the comfort of your home).


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

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Episode 170 – Romo’s millions, YouTube TV vs. Sinclair, and more sports media headlines

The YouTube TV vs. Sinclair battle that threatened to take Cavs and Indians games off TV in some Northeast Ohio houses has been resolved—for now. Was this fight a preview of what subscribers to other TV providers should expect soon? Tony Romo just got an ungodly sum of money to keep calling NFL games for CBS, sending ESPN back to the drawing board as it tries to reinvent Monday Night Football. Will the answer finally include Peyton Manning and a trade with NBC for legendary play-by-play man Al Michaels?

And finally, why have the NBA’s broadcast partners struggled to find their next generation of commentators? Frequent Nail guest Mark Meszoros is back on the show to discuss those sports media topics and more.


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

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Episode 169 – MLB, NFL and NBA reinventing the wheel, and wait, THIS is the XFL?

The major sports leagues in the U.S. are throwing out a lot of radical ideas to drive up interest these days. MLB is proposing a new postseason with seven teams per league and the top clubs choosing their first-round opponents. The NBA wants to let four teams fight it out for the final two playoff berths in each conference. Meanwhile, as the NFL keeps trying to figure out ways to make flex scheduling possible for Monday Night Football and also get a 17th game on the schedule, a new spring league with an old name has launched with some intriguing innovations that could someday show up on Sundays in the fall.

This week, the guys discuss the surprisingly entertaining debut for the reborn XFL and the aforementioned wild proposals trending in pro sports. Plus: Being out of the country during the Super Bowl, and how the legacy of David Stern has shaped the way national NBA media cover non-glamour market teams like the Cavs.


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

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Episode 168 – Christopher Daniels on AEW ‘Dynamite’ in Cleveland

All Elite Wrestling, the upstart company that launched last January, brings its weekly TNT show “Dynamite” to the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University on Wednesday night. Veteran wrestler Christopher Daniels, who doubles as the company’s head of talent relations, joins The Nail to talk about AEW’s first year in business, what (and who) sold him on joining the new promotion, and how AEW has carved out a niche with wrestling fans by building a diverse roster that features familiar faces like Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Cody Rhodes as well as rising stars like Darby Allin, MJF and Sammy Guevara.


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

Photo from All Elite Wrestling | Photo illustration by The Nail in the Coffin

Episode 167 – A crash course on new Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski with The Athletic’s Arif Hasan

The Browns introduced Kevin Stefanski as their new head coach on Tuesday. To learn more about the Browns’ latest hire, the guys tracked down Arif Hasan, a writer for The Athletic in Minnesota who has covered the Vikings since 2011. Hasan discusses Stefanski’s rise through the Vikings organization and how he is viewed in Minnesota, how his personality, skillset and philosophies translate into a head coaching position, and how much he will be willing to adapt to the roster he will be taking over in Cleveland.


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

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Episode 166 – Should old acquaintance be forgot: Browns close 2019 by cleaning house (again)

This Browns season was supposed to be different. It wasn’t, and the aftermath isn’t either: Jimmy Haslam is cleaning house and hitting the reset button once again. Head coach Freddie Kitchens was sent out the door on Sunday night, and GM John Dorsey followed on Tuesday afternoon. The guys look back on yet another year that went off the rails and take stock of the state of the franchise, from OBJ to Baker Mayfield to the Haslams, as another reboot begins.

Plus: An Ohio State-Clemson game that was every bit as good as expected, one inexplicable replay overturn, and one surprisingly conservative late-game decision by head coach Ryan Day, as well as the future of the Buckeyes and the legacies of the outgoing J.K. Dobbins and Chase Young.


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

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Episode 165 – ESPN vs. Fox Sports is college football’s hottest rivalry this year

College football’s biggest rivalry this season isn’t between any of the sport’s most familiar, storied programs. It’s ESPN, home of the College Football Playoff and proprietor of the long-running “GameDay” kickoff show, vs. Fox Sports, the irreverent upstart riding a wave of SEC fatigue and a suddenly hot pregame show of its own. Awful Announcing editor-in-chief Ben Koo, who recently wrote an in-depth analysis of the TV turf war, joins The Nail to discuss how Fox Sports has leveraged the perception of ESPN favoring the SEC, a strategy to put on its biggest games at noon, Ohio State’s dominant year, and a dash of Urban Meyer to make inroads against ESPN’s once-seemingly impenetrable stranglehold on college football coverage. ... Plus: The wacky late-night TV fun that is #Pac12AfterDark and the future of the College Football Playoff format.


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Intro/outro music: "The 3rd" by Anitek

Photo from Awful Announcing | Photo illustration by The Nail in the Coffin