Penske material. Editor/Writer at @AwfulAnnouncing & @TheComeback; also @DaBearNecess (Bears/NFL) & @TheBlogfines (Cubs/MLB). #CSURams mclapp@thecomeback.com

Joined October 2008
4,331 Photos and videos
Absolutely awful. ❤️
Stacey King, beloved Chicago Bulls broadcaster, dead at 59 awfulannouncing.com/nba/stac…
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I just wanted the Bulls to get into the top 4. Would be thrilled with any of those guys.
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Matt Clapp retweeted
Awful Announcing, the leading voice for the latest sports media news, commentary, and analysis, is proud to partner with Yahoo Media Group on its new sports business hub, which is now live: sports.yahoo.com/sports-busi…
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Matt Clapp retweeted
Apr 30
Today, @awfulannouncing was announced as a new content partner of Yahoo Sports. This is a major milestone for the team at AA, and we cannot thank @ryanspoon and the @YahooSports team enough. This means a lot to me personally, given my long-standing relationship with Yahoo and Yahoo Sports. Yahoo was my first email address (still in use!). It was my first fantasy sports league as well. The history of Yahoo Sports is, in my opinion, often overlooked. We think of them as a major entity now, but that’s not always been the case. Yahoo Sports, in particular, has always been an innovator and an underdog, punching above its weight among larger media companies that are reinforced with major sports television rights and studio programming. Some of the highlights… - Before fantasy sports became a mainstream phenomenon, Yahoo proactively acquired a few fledgling online fantasy sports startups, whose technology catapulted them to some of the largest market shares in the industry. -Yahoo also made what was, at the time, one of the largest acquisitions in digital sports media when it acquired Rivals. Doing so saw them leap ahead of ESPN in the Comscore digital audience rankings, a point of pride for Yahoo and one of frustration for ESPN, and one that took nearly a decade for ESPN to flip back. -As more eyeballs shifted to mobile, Yahoo made the shrewd acquisition of Citizen Sports, giving it a larger foothold in mobile, as Citizen Sports' technology became the popular Yahoo Sports app (which is still my preferred scores app today). -In terms of people, the sports group had a knack for bringing in up-and-coming digital media executives, many of whom have gone on to more prominent roles within the company or elsewhere. Included in that group are Brian Grey, who would go on to become Bleacher Report’s CEO; Jamie Mottram, who would later launch For The Win; Jimmy Pitaro, now the President of ESPN, Shannon Terry, who went on to start 24/7 Sports and On3, Mike Kerns, who was the first major investor in Barstool Sports; as well as highly regarded executives like Dave Morgan, Eric Winter, Mark Pesavento, and others who are probably shaking their heads I didn’t include them! - But what really connected with people was the content. Yahoo had a really well-executed two-prong strategy of fun, smart, and conversational blog content that sat alongside outstanding original reporting and commentary. The Y! Sports Blogs is, to this day, the best corporate integration of sports blogging. The sport-specific blogs had an incredible roster, consistent content, and signaled the cultural apex of sports blogging. The real sports blog OGs can probably still name five of these defunct properties (feel free to comment if you can!) But old-school journalism and commentary were also key tenets, with the likes of Dan Wetzel, Charles Robinson, and Jeff Passan doing original reporting and commentary. Meanwhile, Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania popularized the concept of newsbreaking and played a pivotal role in increasing interest in the NBA beyond just the games. In terms of investigative written journalism, Yahoo Sports was right there with Sports Illustrated and ESPN, an incredible feat for a company that didn’t have any sports reporters not that long before. The Reggie Bush and Miami booster scandal still rings out as some of the better scoops of that era. - It was Yahoo who made sports media history when they became the first company to exclusively stream a NFL game back in 2015. Some of these milestones can be forgotten, especially given that the company went through a period of turmoil, mainly due to having four different CEOs in under one year, many of whom differed on whether Yahoo was a technology or media company. Verizon’s ownership helped in some areas, but some of the bold moves and risk-taking that the company was known for seemed to fall by the wayside. With new and stable ownership (Apollo Global Management) and leadership (Jim Lanzone) since 2021, the company, and Yahoo Sports in particular, has had a renaissance, reclaiming its former glory and, more importantly, its pesky underdog risk-taking roots. Ryan Spoon, who joined in 2022, spearheaded several initiatives, including a vertical-specific partnership approach with Ariel Halwani, The Athletic, and On3, a streaming partnership with F1, and the launch of popular new video and newsletter products like Yahoo Sports AM and Yahoo Sports Daily. It’s not hard to see that Yahoo has a growing appetite for making big bets in the digital sports category, something other large companies have been leaning away from due to rising TV rights fees and cord-cutting, squeezing budgets across many competitors. Yesterday, Jarrod Schwarz was named the new head of Yahoo Sports. I’m sure he’ll continue the great work Ryan and the rest of the team have done and I look forward to working with him. I’ve been working in this industry for nearly 20 years. Partnering with Yahoo has always been a goal. I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity for Awful Announcing, given the company’s rich history and bright future. sports.yahoo.com/sports-busi…
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Matt Clapp retweeted
Noah Eagle will call his first national NBA playoff game this evening for NBC My @awfulannouncing story on how he went from a "first-round draft pick" with a famous name to a bona fide broadcasting star in his own right: awfulannouncing.com/nbc/noah…
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About damn time.
BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls have dismissed executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley, sources tell ESPN.
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Matt Clapp retweeted
Chiney Ogwumike, Andraya Carter rip Geno Auriemma for ESPN interview, Dawn Staley interaction. Read more: bit.ly/3O7qXDX
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Matt Clapp retweeted
Apr 1
me trying to find the HDMI port on my TV
this is one of the best posters i’ve seen in a very long time btw
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Matt Clapp retweeted
Number of 80° days in March in Denver: 1972-2025: 7 days 2026: 8 days #COwx
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I love the NCAA Tournament and watch every game, but the first round is far and away tops for me. Constant action, chaos, potential upsets.
What's your favorite round of the NCAA Tournament? The first, w/ buffet of games upset potential? The sturdy allure of the S16 after three days off? The standalone nature of the E8, the last games played in arenas? The majesty and buildup of the F4, albeit with only two games?
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Incredible call lol
"HANGIN' WITH MR. COOPER! HE SLAMS IT DOWN!" - Ian Eagle on the Carson Cooper dunk🏀🔨🔥🎙️ #MarchMadness #NCAATournament
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Matt Clapp retweeted
"[Tiger Woods] did a breathalyzer test, blew triple zeroes. But when it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused. And so, he's been charged with DUI, with property damage, and refusal to submit to a lawful test... No one was injured."

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Isiah is such a sad hater.
Isiah Thomas: Bulls would still have 6 titles if Kevin Durant replaced Michael Jordan awfulannouncing.com/nba/isia…
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I've spent many years in all of them... liked Mountain the most. Just felt like the right balance of daytime and evening times. Not too early, not too late. Night games are amazing here on the West Coast, but the 9 a.m. starts for CFB and NCAAT can get a bit annoying.
Debating the best time zone for sports fans. I said Mountain...by far. Lots of blowback on that. Seems obvi.
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Plus, with NFL games in Europe, College GameDay, etc, those things start at 6 a.m. on the West Coast. Granted, it's not like 7 a.m. is much better. But NFL games in the 11/2/6 slots especially felt right in the Mountain time zone.
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My favorite March Madness studio moment ever. Clark Kellogg really takes it to another level.
Throwback to 2023 NCAA Tournament coverage... Charles Barkley said he used to shower in his uniform, leaving Clark Kellogg in hysterics. And the late, great Greg Gumbel couldn't believe it. Chuck: "But it's easier to do it that way." 🏀🤣#MarchMadness
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Yeah, but it’s hard to draw conclusions on that sample. Talking 12 games/year (among those seeds) in which they’re all huge underdogs… it’s hardly a surprise they all lost. It would be like if the 2025 Jets went 0-12 vs good teams. Not exactly earth-shattering. (Cont)
Well, this is not an encouraging trend for Cinderellas. ... The NCAA tournament went to 64 teams in 1985. Only 7 times have the 13-14-15 seeds all gone winless in the first round. It's now happened two years in a row (for the first time).
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A few of the games were very competitive. A 16-seed took the tournament’s overall top seed to the final minutes. But the NIL landscape probably has made things a bit more lopsided, & we also have more information to (more) properly seed teams than 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.
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We’ll need another 10 years of data to conclude Cinderellas are extremely rare or whatever. But is it more challenging than 20 years ago? Almost certainly. Just a reality of resources, how hard it is for smaller programs to have continuity, and the priorities of some recruits.
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