Linked List: March 16, 2022

Wednesday, 16 March 2022

Troy Aikman and Joe Buck Leave Fox for ESPN and Monday Night Football ★

Big football news from ESPN today:

ESPN has signed acclaimed play-by-play commentator Joe Buck and leading football analyst Troy Aikman to multi-year deals, as the NFL’s longest current booth pairing and Pro Football Hall of Fame members will become the new voices of Monday Night Football. The iconic duo’s 2022 Monday Night Football debut will mark their 21st NFL season in the booth together, matching the legendary Pat Summerall and John Madden’s all-time record as on-air NFL partners. In their two decades together, Buck and Aikman have called six Super Bowls, surpassing all other pairings/booths except for Summerall and Madden. [...]

Troy Aikman said, “The opportunity to be a voice on Monday Night Football, adding to its legacy and being a part of the future of the NFL on ESPN, has me motivated and reflective. As a kid in California, the voices of Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and my mom’s personal favorite, Don Meredith, echoed throughout our living room each week. Joe and I are humbled to be part of that same tradition that has existed for more than 50 years across generations of football fans.”

The shine has been off Monday Night Football ever since John Madden and Al Michaels left for NBC in 2006. Aikman and Buck put the shine back on. (And Don Meredith was everyone’s favorite; Cosell was the guy everyone in America loved to hate.) ESPN and ABC have the Super Bowl in 2027 and 2031, too. And now it looks like Fox is left holding a bag of “Who?” for their top booth team.

McLaren Racing Announces Multi-Year Partnership With Google ★

McLaren:

The partnership will bring the best of Google products to McLaren to provide a more seamless technology experience across devices. Throughout the season, McLaren will use 5G-enabled Android devices and Chrome browser across its operations during practice sessions, qualifying and races to support the drivers and team, with the goal of improving on-track performance.

Android and Chrome branding will be carried on the engine cover and wheel covers of the MCL36 Formula 1 race cars, and on the helmets and race suits of McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo from the 2022 Formula 1 season.

The Chrome logo on the wheels is clever. But it seems curious that the prime sponsorship space on the engine cover is for Android. Not Google, not Pixel, but Android generally. Interesting choice!

(Apple sponsored Porsche in 1980 at Le Mans and the livery was a thing of beauty.)

Derpy Trump Advisor Stephen Miller Is Still on His Parents’ Cell Phone Plan ★

Jon Blistein, reporting for Rolling Stone last week:

Stephen Miller, the former adviser Trump adviser known for pushing the administration’s family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border, is suing to block the Jan. 6 committee from obtaining his phone records. The suit argues that the phone records requested contain sensitive family information, and notes that Miller is still on his parents’ T-Mobile cell phone plan.

I didn’t repeatedly call it a kakistocracy for nothing. They wreaked havoc and will again if given the chance, but the whole Trump administration was staffed with stone cold losers.