'College Football 25' Is Here and Sports Fans Are Beyond Ecstatic (2024)

1. The wait is over.

After an 11-year hiatus, college football fans finally have a new video game to play.

EA Sports’ College Football 25 dropped Monday afternoon and the reviews have been stellar. So have over-the-top reactions to having a college football game back in the mix.

To say college football fans are happy about College Football 25 would be a gross understatement. Here’s a sampling from some fans who took to Twitter to share their experiences with the game on Day 1.

2. Singer Ingrid Andress is the story of the day after a hard-to-believe rendition of the national anthem at Monday’s Home Run Derby.

I had never heard of Andress before last night, but this was the most shocking thing I’ve learned about her: She’s been nominated for four Grammys!

3. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about the Yankees’ play-by-play voice, Michael Kay, being upset about an ad that ran on his radio show calling the Mets booth of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling the best in baseball.

Kay was adamant that he’s part of the best booth in baseball, but as I wrote, the Yankees don’t even have a real booth because they have a slew of analysts.

I tell you all this to set up this item from Awful Announcing. The site polled their readers to grade each Major League Baseball team’s local TV booths. The Yankees’ booth finished 22nd and the Mets’ booth finished first.

4. Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz got to meet his favorite player, Derek Jeter, on Monday and the result was a sweet, wholesome moment.

Jeter had a different reaction to Colin Cowherd when the radio host was completely wrong about the timeline of the Hall of Famer’s career.

Luckily, I made no such mistakes during Jeter’s recent appearance on the SI Media Podcast and we had a wonderful conversation.

5. “Look at me!”

Baker Mayfield had a great reaction to getting drug tested 11 times in one season when he was with the Browns.

6. The latest episode ofSI Media With Jimmy Trainafeatures an interview withSports Business JournalNFL reporter Ben Fischer.

Fischer covered the antitrust trial in which a jury ordered the NFL to pay $4.7 billion for violating antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service. How much will Sunday Ticket customers get and when? What are theNFL’s chances to win an appeal? What does the verdict mean for how the NFL will distribute games in the future? Will the NFL ever sell single-team or single-game packages? What revelations came out of the trial?

Fischer also talks about what's going on with the NFL Network, the cancellation of the popularAround the NFLpodcast, movingGood Morning Footballout of New York, and more.

Following Fischer, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Joe Burrow’s idea for the NFL schedule, the backlash aimed at LeBron James for playing with Bronny James, the Yankees’ woes and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Trainabelow or onAppleandSpotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina onSports Illustrated‘sYouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 56th birthday to the great Barry Sanders.

Be sure tocatch up on past editions of Traina Thoughtsand check out theSports Illustrated Media Podcasthosted by Jimmy Traina onApple,SpotifyorGoogle. You can also follow Jimmy onTwitter and Instagram.