The Bridge Ep. 67: Jimmy Traina, SI.com writer, joins the show to discuss working in sports media, the state of the industry, Jeter, Stern, Seinfeld, Francesa and more

Jimmy Traina

The NBA playoffs continue to hold about as much juice as a jar of prunes. So, with the recent ESPN layoffs and the change of trends in sports media, why not talk to someone who knows a thing or two about working in it?

Before we get into Episode 67, as a reminder, The Bridge is now broadcast as a one-hour radio show every Wednesday night at 7 ET on Sports Radio America. Once the dust settles from that live broadcast, the show is released as a podcast on iTunes and on this website on Friday nights. You can listen to the live show every Wednesday on Sports Radio America here or through the TuneIn app.

  • “Sports News Read Like Real News” told the tale of one of the most successful dynasties in dating history, the Derek Jeter Dating Diamond (2:15).
  • The Bridge Question of the Week is: Who won and lost the NBA Draft Lottery and why? Call in or text in your answer to 929-BRIDGE7, that’s 929-274-3437, and you’ll make it on the next show.
  • This week’s guest was Jimmy Traina, a long-time writer SI.com and the Extra Mustard page. Jimmy does a fantastic job of keeping us up-to-date on the latest news in sports and pop culture each day and dips his toe into the water of feature writing as well. We chatted about how he got into sports media and working for Sports Illustrated, the state of sports media as a whole and some pop culture topics, including the Yankees and Derek Jeter, Howard Stern, Seinfeld and Mike Francesa.
  • You can follow him on Twitter @JimmyTraina. The interview starts at the 11:15 mark.

– In the interview, we discuss:

How he got his start in sports media (11:25), combining sports and pop culture to start up “Hot Clicks” for SI.com (12:45), how long it took for Hot Clicks to be accepted (14:22), how difficult it was to leave SI for Fox Sports (15:38), getting laid off from Fox (16:47) and coming back to SI (17:45), what his responsibilities are now (18:29), his No. 1 wrestling phrase of all-time and having to turn down interviewing The Rock (20:49), writing for the digital side of SI instead of the magazine side (22:08), if SI is in the ballpark of a dream job (23:16), teaming up with Richard Deitsch for podcasts (24:10), his thoughts on ESPN (25:51), how the sports media has evolved (28:09) and how he’s been able to evolve with it (29:35), how Derek Jeter benefitted from a life without much social media or camera phones (30:56), if Jeter was one of the last athletes the tabloid media left alone (32:27), asking Derek Jeter who his favorite Friday Night Lights character was when he was dating Minka Kelly (33:58), if there’s a better athlete to tried lives with than Derek Jeter (35:30), if Howard Stern is worthy of trading a radio life with (36:55) and the evolution of his show (37:37), if there was any similarities from his work on Score Phone to Kramer’s work with Moviefone (39:11), his favorite George quote and his favorite episode (39:58), Seinfeld characters on other shows (42:35), if Mike and the Mad Dog will ever get back together (43:24) and the chemistry they still have (44:09) and his vote to replace Mike on WFAN (45:07).

  • “Five Minutes in the Film Room” with Kyle Cicilioni previews “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” the number one movie in the world (43:33). You can follow Kyle on Twitter and Periscope and find some of his work at ajazznetworks.com.

Call in or text the show 24/7 at 929-BRIDGE7, that’s (929) 274-3437. Contact the show with your questions, comments, stories or hot takes and you might be featured in the next installment of The Bridge.

Subscribe to The Bridge Sports Podcast on iTunes (please leave a positive rating and review if you enjoy the show) so you’ll immediately be notified when new episodes are posted each week. You can also find The Bridge Sports Podcast on Google PlaySoundcloudStitcher and TuneIn.

You can listen to the show live on Wednesday nights at 7 ET via Sports Radio America or the TuneIn app.

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Email the show at media [at] lundinbridge [dot] com and follow the host on Twitter @lundinbridge.

Show music: ‘Actionable’ and ‘Epic,’ courtesy of www.bensound.com.

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