Joe

Come to find out, as we approach the season of plump turkey legs and similar Santa Clauses, all is not well at ESPN. Turns out Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are having a hissy fit.

Will sports broadcasting ever be the same? As the late Chick Hearn would say, “Oh me, oh my.”

Buck and Aikman have broadcast various pro football games together for 25 years. They are Abbott and Costello, but not anywhere near as funny. You tune in just to wait for Joe to say, “I’m Joe Buck and this is Hall of Famer Troy Aikman.”

Kind of gives you goose bumps.

Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, left, and analyst Troy Aikman, right, work in the broadcast booth.

(Associated Press)

According to various reports, Joe went out and negotiated a new contract without telling Troy. Divorce lawyers are now circling the wagons.

The reports have Joe getting $108 million for six years. That’s around $17.5 million a year, so that Joe can tell us that one of the teams on the field needs to establish a run game. Golly.

Troy didn’t know about his buddy’s new deal, wasn’t happy not to know and reportedly doesn’t quite get that much, so there is little joy in Mudville’s press box. (OK, that’s baseball, but you get the point.)

If that kind of money ruffles your feathers a bit, at a time when you need to carry a blood pressure machine with you to the gas pump and grocery store, being paid around $17 million a year and having a hissy fit about it would seem to be a little tone deaf. Remember, these guys aren’t getting hit, they describing how others are.

Troy cut his broadcasting teeth by starring at quarterback at UCLA and the Dallas Cowboys. He knew what was going on when Peyton Manning yelled “Omaha.” Joe probably knew, too, when Troy told him. Joe cut his teeth by working his way up the ranks; also maybe by hanging around a lot when dad Jack Buck broadcast for years from most of the sacred citadels of sports.

Again, these guys don’t play, they talk.

Anyway, who ever said there were attempts to introduce perspective to sports via a broadcast team? No need. Take the stats the network intern kids are handing you and create drama with the tone of your voice, even though the picture from the field covers that better.

Of course there is homework to be done.

“We talked to wide receiver Jim Lightning-Fast yesterday and he said this team is ready for a big game.”

“Coach Harold Headset told us that this is the best week of practice this team has had all year.”

Then they can throw it down to a sideline reporter:

— “Coach, how do you feel about that flat first half by your team?” (The real answer: lousy).

— “Coach, what does it mean to you winning tonight’s game?” (Real answer: It means I won’t get fired this week).

Those stick-a-microphone-in-your-face interviews always bring to mind the way the great Gregg Popovich of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs handled them. He was once asked how his team’s winning play happened. “We practiced it,” he said.

The Joe-Troy hissy fit takes on additional import because they are set to call the Feb. 14 Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. ESPN has three and a half months to fix this, but there is speculation that even if the hissy fit isn’t settled, the game will go on.

How about this: Hire Peyton Manning to do the color commentary. He certainly knows football and he has that elusive thing that most of those in sports speaking into microphones lack. A sense of humor.

Pair him with the legendary Al Michaels, who is 81, also has a sense of humor and still brings it on Prime Ticket’s Thursday night game. Michaels knows more about baseball and football and yes, even hockey, than most of his younger peers.

But obviously, for that Manning-Michaels matchup to happen, we’d have to believe in miracles.

Hawkins, 24, and Scarlets partner Eddie James have developed as Wales’ first-choice centre pairing during the past 12 months.

Wales head coach Steve Tandy has selected five different starting centre partnerships in 13 games since taking charge in September 2025.

Hawkins and James are the most prolific pair, having been together for seven games which include victory in an uncapped match against Barbarians.

Tandy did go back to Ben Thomas and Max Llewellyn for the 43-0 defeat by South Africa in July, but the Scarlets pair have been the preferred option.

“Eddie and I have a good relationship on and off the field,” said Hawkins.

“That is starting to grow on the pitch with the more opportunities we get together.”

The make-up of the Wales midfield has caused debate with Tandy and attack coach Matt Sherratt wanting a creative ball-playing inside centre like Hawkins or Thomas.

This leaves James as the physical presence at outside centre with Tandy stating he sees his long-term future as a Test 13.

Many observers believe James should be considered as a 12 but Wales are determined to keep their creative options open.

With Thomas missing because of a calf injury, Hawkins appears to be competing for the Wales’ 12 jersey with uncapped Dragons centre Aneurin Owen, although Llewellyn has also featured at inside centre for Gloucester this season.

“The ball-playing stuff is stuff I enjoy doing but you still need to go forward as well and I feel like I can also produce that side of it,” said Hawkins.

“Matt [Sherratt] likes you always in and around that first receiver position so you are always in those decision-making roles.

“You’ve got to be comfortable on the ball and making decisions at high speed.

“But there’s not always going to be opportunities to ball play, so you’ve got to try and have a bit of a rounded game.”

Hawkins has also been employed as an outside-half by Scarlets but he sees his future at 12.

“It gives me a lot more respect for the 10s, having been in there, with all the work they do,” he added.

“It probably helps me when I play centre from being a 10, I know what they need from me a little bit more, so the information and communication I’m feeding helps the whole team.”

The Prem

Bath (19) 36

Tries: Arundell, De Glanville, Cokanasiga 2, Hennessey Cons: Russell 4 Pens: Russell

Sale (7) 28

Tries: Jibulu, O’Flaherty, Cowan-Dickie, Canakaivata Cons: Ford 4

Joe Cokanasiga scored twice as Bath ended a three-game winless run in all competitions with victory over Sale.

Henry Arundell, Tom de Glanville and Louis Hennessey also got on the scoreboard for the hosts as they took a maximum of five points to go into the international break on a high.

Nathan Jibulu and Tom O’Flaherty crossed for Sale and they were largely outclassed until the final 10 minutes when Luke Cowan-Dickie and Elia Canakaivata added late tries, to ensure the Sharks at least left the Recreation Ground with a point.

The result is the third loss of the campaign for Sale and means they go into the international break eighth, while Bath move up to fourth.

Bath have been hit by a raft of injuries to their backline in the early part of the season and while they are now without Santiago Carreras for the rest of the campaign, De Glanville and Arundell’s return from injuries proved timely.

Arundell needed less than three minutes to bag a try on his first Prem game of the season when he charged through a gap on halfway and used his speed to race into the corner.

Sale then enjoyed their best spell of pressure until the end of the game although were unable to turn frequent entries into Bath’s 22 into more than one try.

Prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour was turned over a few metres out and Joe Carpenter dropped a long pass when he had acres of space ahead, before Jibulu brought them level carrying over from the back of a maul.

De Glanville restored Bath’s lead, as the hosts switched direction across the pitch from a line-out and the full-back dashed through a gap when Tom Roebuck slipped trying to make a tackle.

Cokanasiga added their third with a well-worked team try started when Arundell caught a high ball on halfway, and they whipped it quickly through their backs, and in a two-on-one with De Glanville, Cokanasiga had a simple finish.

The wing had his second and Bath’s bonus-point fourth immediately into the second half, when he jumped to catch Russell’s cross-field kick, side-stepped past Alex Lozowski and stretched over under a tackle.

O’Flaherty replied minutes later at the other end with a superb one-handed dive into the corner as Sale looked for a way back in.

A Russell penalty stretched Bath 15 points clear and Hennessey ran on to a Bernard van der Linde grubber kick a minute after coming on to all-but seal victory.

Yet Sale rallied to end the game on top, with Cowan-Dickie barging through before Canakaivata grabbed another try in the final minute to give Sale a point.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Arundell; Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Frost, Griffin, Jeanes, Ewels, Hill, Reid, Bayliss.

Replacements: Dunn, Wheeler, Stuart, Opoku-Gyamfi, Richards, Van Der Linde, Hennessey, Coetzee.

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, Marchant, Lozowski, O’Flaherty; Ford, Warr; Smith, Jibulu, Opoku-Fordjour, Van Rhyn (c), Bamber, Tshiunza, B. Curry, T. Curry.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, McIntyre, Francis, Burrow, Dugdale, Hanson, Ma’asi-White, Canakaivata.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

It was 41 years ago in April of 1987 as a 28-year-old sportswriter that I was given one of my favorite assignments.

From LAX, I flew to Indianapolis, rented a car and drove one hour to Bloomington, Ind., home of the NCAA basketball champion Indiana Hoosiers. My most vivid memory was nervously driving on Route 37 with no GPS guiding me and seeing the many varieties of basketball hoops hanging on farm houses and family homes, providing powerful evidence that all the stereotypes about the state’s love for basketball were true.

This was months after the best selling book, “A Season on the Brink,” was published. And a month after coach Bob Knight and Indiana won their fifth NCAA basketball championship.

My assignment was to check in with Glendale native Joe Hillman, a 1984 Hoover High graduate who was Knight’s first recruit from west of the Mississippi River. Hillman averaged 41.3 points his senior year at Hoover He ended up being a reserve guard behind Steve Alford and Keith Smart on the 1987 NCAA championship team, so it was perfect timing.

He also continued to play baseball and was a 25th-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 1986.

Fast forward to Tuesday at the YMCA in La Cañada Flintridge. The guest speaker for the Glendale Quarterback Club was Hillman. It was the first time seeing him since my trip to Indiana. Now 60 and living outside of Indianapolis, Hillman was asked tough questions.

1984 All-CIF basketball team.

(1984 Foundation)

Can you still hit?

“I can still do that.”

Can you still make free throws?

“I don’t know about that.”

How come you never went into coaching?

“I wouldn’t have been patient enough.”

How did Knight convince you to go to Indiana?

“We don’t have this in Indiana,” Knight told him during a visit to Santa Anita while looking out at the San Gabriel Mountains. “Why would a California kid come to Indiana?”

Hillman: “I want to play on a national championship team.”

Any Knight stories to tell?

“I don’t know if you can put them in a paper.”

Years later, when talking to other players, Hillman said, “There was a method to his madness. They all had the same stories with different names.”

Indiana’s Daryl Thomas (24) and Joe Hillman (44) victorious during interview with CBS announcers Billy Packer (L) and Brent Musberger (R) in 1987.

(Manny Millan/Sports Illustrated via Getty Imaages)

Among the Knight truths: Players who practiced best always got to play. The best players always got the most heat from him. Anyone who graduated from Indiana received his total loyalty.

Hillman remembers calling Knight eight years after graduation seeking a phone number to reach a Reebok executive to inquire about a job. Knight ended up telling the executive he’d drop Adidas shoe contract for Reebok if Hillman were hired. Hillman didn’t get the job but learned what Knight would do for any player who got his degree.

“He was the most honest, most blunt coach,” Hillman said.

Asked why he chose to be subjected to such harsh criticism for four years, Hillman said, “My father was on me from the time of T-ball. He said constructive criticism was good.”

Comparing today’s college sports environment of NIL deals with the 1980s, Hillman said, “It would have been scary what kind of money we could have gotten.”

Hillman expressed disappointment at the lack of multiple-sport athletes today in high school sports. He said even Knight appreciated and supported his option to keep playing baseball.

Looking back on that trip from 1987, I re-read my observations: “The four-lane highway that stretches from Indianapolis to Bloomington is virtually deserted as darkness begins to descend over the lush, green countryside. The temperature is in the 50s, and the sky is overcast after three straight days of damp weather. The picturesque Midwestern landscape is immaculate, but equally alluring are the distinctive basketball hoops found among the farms and family homes along Route 37. Hoops are everywhere — on barns, rooftops, telephone poles, even next to power transformers.”

I remember getting lost in a forest trying to find where Hillman was living in a townhouse.

I wrote: “After finding the correct street, the quickest way to locate an Indiana basketball player’s residence is to ask a young fan. Shooting baskets by himself on a court not far away was a 12-year-old.

“Do you know where Joe Hillman lives?”

“Sure,” the youngster says.

Those were the days.

Joe Lycett was voted off after telling the Faithful he was desperate to become a Traitor, admitting afterwards ‘I’ve done this to myself’

Banished Faithful Joe Lycett was so desperate for a green cloak that after being voted out of The Celebrity Traitors he called for a rule change allowing dumped players to return as baddies.

His exit last night came after he loudly proclaimed he wanted to be recruited into the turret – which didn’t happen – but nobody believed him when he truthfully announced his disappointment the next morning.

“I’d like to motivate the Traitors to find an unknown clause in the contract that can bring back a Faithful that’s been banished to recruit because I’m there if they want me,” he laughed.

The comedian, 38, received 11 of the 14 votes after what seemed like a big slip-up at the round table in which he said that if he went, the Traitors would need to recruit again. Afterwards he acknowledged that he only had himself to blame. “I sort of didn’t play being a Faithful or a Traitor right. I tried to straddle both, and I was being greedy and I was rightly punished for it.

“I’m a silly billy – it was a combination of me begging for recruitment and then the Faithful being thick as mince. I concede I’ve done this very much to myself, but I was too hungry to be recruited. And you know, if being passionate is a crime, then banish me from the castle.”

Joe, who was instrumental in exposing Richard E Grant as a Traitor by asking him what he was on the first day, said the experience of being kept separate from friends and family during filming had been enjoyable. Asked to explain what he’d learned about himself by taking part in the game, he said: “The word that comes to mind for this whole experience is gratitude. It’s made me really grateful for my life. I’m really grateful that I am in a position that I get to experience this, because I’m famous enough to be in the mix. I loved having my phone taken away from me, and I’m really grateful for the fact that I have a lovely life to miss.”

Admitting that the game was sometimes “infuriating”, but also “joyous and thrilling”, Joe said he thinks the most likely winner is Romesh Ranganathan. “I think Romesh is a front runner,” he said. “I think he’s kind of unreadable but may get heat just on that basis. Then I think there could be a real curve ball, like Jerry or Joanne, someone who’s playing it in a way that’s out there.”

But he said it was hard to stick to strategies when you were inside the castle. “I’ve gone to Round Tables not knowing who I was going to vote for, and I don’t know who’s a Traitor – any of them could win at this stage.”

Miranda Hart formed such a close bond with Joe during their time filming together that she wept when he left – having refused to put his name on her slate and writing Ross instead. During the programme she explained: “Three or four years ago, due to illness, I thought that I might not ever have a gentle walk around a park again. Now I find myself on a Scottish Highland wheelbarrowing along a very large head. It’s really exciting.”

Miranda, 53, has been suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome for many years, which she believes was caused by having Lyme disease as a teenager. Having recently recovered enough to sign up for the programme, she has joined in with the missions wholeheartedly. In last night’s effort she grew tired carrying the statue parts at one point so swapped to transport a giant head in a wheelbarrow towards the plinth where it could be erected on top of its body, earning money for the prize pot. The current fund stands at £46,000, after the players successfully constructed five out of the six statues.

The comedy star tearfully told James Acaster that having fun outside with Joe had made her feel the happiest she’d felt in a long time. “I can’t believe how emotional I’m getting,” she said, as the floodgates opened. “Connection and laughter and joy are bigger than this game and to meet someone and to just play and laugh, it’s all us humans need.”

The good news is that she is proving so popular in the castle that many fans are calling for a return of her BBC sitcom Miranda, which last aired with a Christmas special in 2015. Another suggestion is that she stars in a different show. “A Miranda detective series like Jonathan Creek would be… such fun!” one fan said.

Joe felt that he would miss her too. “Miranda is someone that I’ve met briefly in the past and I’ve always loved. I’m really pleased that I got a chance to play with her, do some sort of an improv, essentially, and kind of mess about. I got very close with her.”

He said that – against his expectations – he’d got on well with everyone. “I really, really liked them all – and didn’t expect to when I saw the lineup. I thought, well, there’s going to be some people I’m going to find difficult, or are divas or whatever. And the reality was completely different.”

Joe’s high point came right at the start when he asked the question that sparked Richard E Grant’s astonishing outburst. The comic said he was glad he hadn’t been persuaded to ignore it. “I know lots of people tried to steer me away from it, but I was like, there’s no game around that, he absolutely meant it when he said it to me. God knows what was going through his head. It was an absolutely superb, classic, Richard E. Grant way of responding to this game. It’s one of the most iconic performances I’ve ever seen.”

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Spotify on Thursday said it renewed its deal with Joe Rogan, who leads the audio company’s most popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Rogan’s podcast, which has 18 million followers on Spotify, has been the company’s top podcast since 2020. The terms of the multiyear licensing deal were not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported the deal had an estimated earn out of $250 million.

“The partnership with Spotify has been an amazing fit, and they’re incredible to work with,” Rogan said in a statement. “I’m extremely happy and excited to continue with them for years to come.”

Rogan first entered into an exclusive multiyear podcast deal with Spotify in 2020 in a deal said to be worth $100 million. The partnership was key to driving podcast audiences to Spotify, which at the time was mostly known for as a streaming music service.

In 2024, the company extended its partnership for “The Joe Rogan Experience” to be distributed on other platforms, which has continued in its current deal. Rogan’s show was ranked as the top podcast last year on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts.

“Joe has built something incredibly enduring, and his show continues to resonate with a massive global audience because there’s simply nothing else like it,” said Jordan Newman, head of content partnerships at Spotify in a statement.

“The Joe Rogan Experience” has run into controversy, spurring a Spotify boycott in 2022 led by Neil Young over concerns that Rogan and his guests were spreading misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Rogan also received criticism over how he used the N-word on past episodes of his show, which he later apologized for.

After the backlash, Spotify posted its content moderation rules and said it would add content advisory labels on COVID-related podcasts. Rogan also said he would do a better job of balancing different perspectives.

Young later returned to Spotify in 2024.

In a new memoir, Joe Manganiello is getting candid about the condition that nearly killed him and the measures he took in search of healing.

The upcoming book, “Bloodlines,” which hits bookstores and online retailers Oct. 13, follows Manganiello’s career in Hollywood from “True Blood” werewolf to “Magic Mike” hunk, his seven-year marriage and subsequent divorce from “Modern Family” star Sofía Vergara and his battle with a mystery autoimmune condition that he says nearly killed him.

The 2010s were off to a stellar start for Manganiello. He was landing notable parts in buzzy projects and fell in love with television’s Colombian Jessica Rabbit, but shortly after the couple said “I do,” the actor’s rise abruptly switched course because of health issues that left doctors stumped.

Adam Rodriguez, onstage from left, Kevin Nash, Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello in “Magic Mike.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

“I was getting sicker and sicker,” he told People. Manganiello detailed debilitating abdominal pain, fevers, rashes, headaches, fatigue and ulcers in his digestive tract that caused bleeding and led to countless colonoscopies. In 2016, he was rolled into an emergency “major organ amputation” in which doctors removed a portion of his intestines and sent him home 60 pounds lighter than his normal weight, with a colostomy bag in tow.

“It happened to me, and it’s the truth, and I have all the scars to prove it,” Manganiello told the outlet. Doctors attempted to treat the actor with prescriptions used for patients with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, but nothing worked. An autoimmune disease seemed to be the culprit, he said, but such “conditions are a dumping ground for things [doctors] don’t understand. They start running you through this gauntlet of drugs.”

Manganiello said that, as a result of the illness, his marriage fell apart, he gave away his gun to protect himself from suicidal impulses, and he took in an itty-bitty Chihuahua named Bubbles.

He also started to pursue alternative treatment, which included a trip to Cuba, where he licked the pituitary gland in a goat’s skull, an esoteric ritual used to attempt a factory reset on a person’s immune system. When that didn’t cure him, he turned to a Santa Monica shaman who believed generational trauma caused the actor’s ailments.

“Whatever chains there were to the past suffering of my ancestors, they were completely broken,” he said. “There’s not an ounce of fear in me about moving forward with my life.”

Manganiello revealed he’s since had reconstructive surgery on his digestive tract and is seemingly cured.

“I can’t believe I’m alive,” he said. “I feel like I was reborn.”