The Sweep: A Practice-Squad Quarterback Is the Next Bachelor, ESPN Kills the Ticker for Good, Jim Nantz Finally Answers Andrew Marchand, and Emmanuel Acho Apologises to the Wrong Curry

Friday's column is lighter than Thursday's, which led with a death. One item below is a criminal case and is written that way. The rest is television. Eight items, newest first.

November 13: ABC names a Washington practice-squad quarterback as the next Bachelor

The show's account posted it on Friday morning: "Meet Sam Hartman, your new Bachelor." Hartman is 27, played at Wake Forest and Notre Dame, signed with Washington after going undrafted in 2024 and, per Awful Announcing's Matt Yoder, has not appeared in an NFL game. The season premieres on March 21. The precedent is the show's own host. Jesse Palmer did it in 2004 as a Giants backup, and general manager Ernie Accorsi said at the time: "I would have been much happier if he was studying tape the last six weeks instead of getting involved with this thing." Palmer was cut before the 2005 season. Hartman's team beat the Giants on Thursday night without him. Our call: a practice-squad quarterback's best career move in years, and nobody at the team will say that out loud.

November 13: ESPN takes the BottomLine off every live game

Newsday reported it and Awful Announcing relayed it: the ticker is now gone from live action across ESPN's networks. It started in August with regular-season college football on seven channels, when a spokesperson told Front Office Sports the change made for a "cleaner presentation that keeps the focus where it belongs—on the field." College basketball tipped off without it on November 2 and that is now policy. The crawl survives on studio shows, at halftime, and in weather delays. Football gets score updates at set points each quarter. The people complaining are complaining about a memory. The phone in your hand beat the ticker a decade ago. Our call: correct, late, and a rare case of a network giving screen back.

November 13: Jim Nantz, on Andrew Marchand: "He's never had a good thing to say about me, ever"

Marchand, of The Athletic, said on his podcast last month that "Nantz doesn't make his analyst better," and posted on October 29 that Phil Simms, Tony Romo and now J.J. Watt had all gone backwards beside him: "There is a trend with Jim Nantz' partners." Nantz answered on The Big O Podcast with Glenn Ordway. On Watt: "I could not be more impressed by the job he is doing and the chemistry that we have together." On Marchand, the line above, followed by the assurance that he has "no axe to grind." A man with no axe to grind does not usually know the critic's full record. Watt took the lead chair after CBS put Romo on leave following an arrest last summer; the network and Romo parted in October. Our call: Marchand's pattern is three analysts long and Nantz's rebuttal was about Marchand. Neither of those is evidence about Watt, who has had half a season.

November 13: Gilbert Arenas hires Mark Geragos; federal trial moved to February 16

A court filing from last month shows Judge Mark Scarsi approved Arenas's motion to substitute counsel, Awful Announcing's Brendon Kleen reported. The new lawyer is Mark J. Geragos. Arenas was arrested in July 2025 and faces three federal charges in the Central District of California: conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, operating one, and making a false statement to investigators. The indictment alleges high-stakes poker games at his home in Encino. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $50,000 bond. The trial is now set for February 16, 2027; Geragos's office told the outlet the date moved for scheduling reasons and declined to discuss the case. One co-defendant withdrew a guilty plea after the judge rejected his deal, according to LA Mag. These are charges, not findings. Arenas continues to host his show, Gil's Arena, which is his right, and which sponsors will have to think about before February.

November 12: Emmanuel Acho apologises, to Stephen Curry

Yesterday's column had Curry's video asking podcasters to leave his wife out of their headlines after she kissed a co-star in a Roku film, Second Chance Holiday. Nick Young and Arenas had already said sorry. Acho did it properly on his own show and on X: "I'm sorry, @StephenCurry30, not 'my bad' not, 'that's on me.'" It was unqualified, which is rare. It was also addressed to the husband. Yoder noticed, and he is right: the person discussed was Ayesha Curry, an actress doing her job. Our call: a good apology delivered to the wrong address, which rather proves Curry's original point.

November 11: Donovan Mitchell on Charles Barkley: "Who gives a f*ck?"

Barkley said it on ESPN with Cleveland at 5-6: "Man, the Cavs suck." He had picked them to win the title a year ago. After Wednesday's 115-107 win at Madison Square Garden, Mitchell was told about it by Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor and laughed. "Chuck ain't here. If Chuck said we were the defending champs and made positive comments, what's that going to do for us?" Then, more politely: "I have nothing but respect for those guys." Cleveland played in the conference finals last spring. Our call: eleven games is too few for "suck," and Mitchell's answer was better television than the take.

November 12: Bloomberg says Bill Simmons has dropped ChatGPT

We have not read Bloomberg's article, which is behind a paywall; this is Awful Announcing's account of it. Ashley Carman reported that The Ringer, owned by Spotify, quietly ended a sponsorship under which ChatGPT prompts were built into segments on Simmons's podcast and the fantasy football show. Listeners objected, loudly. Simmons told Bloomberg, in the relayed version, that he would sooner be early than late on new things and that the team learned quickly the segments did not fit. The same report cites PodScribe data that OpenAI and Anthropic together spent more than $13 million on podcast ads in three months. Our call: the audience did the editing here. An ad read is tolerated. An ad that writes part of the show is a different product, and listeners could tell.

November 12: Al Michaels's voice catches during a tribute to Dan Hicks

Just after halftime of Giants-Commanders on Prime Video, Michaels read a tribute to the NBC broadcaster, who died on Wednesday at 64. "He was genial. He was compassionate. He was great company, had a world-class sense of humor." Then: "On this very rough day for so many of us, we send our love to Hannah and your three daughters." Awful Announcing's Tyler Lauletta reported that his voice cracked on Hannah Storm's name. Michaels has read a great many of these. No judgment line on this one.

What we are not running, and why

Stephen A. Smith "feels presidential." He interviewed the president and said afterwards that he belonged there. The interview itself is political news we do not adjudicate, and a broadcaster's review of his own performance is not an item.

The outrage over Jameis Winston's hard count. A former player on ESPN wants him cut and the morning shows spent a day on it. Our NFL desk has the football argument, which is that the chant cost five yards. A second item here would be the clip again.

Robert Griffin III and the Baylor job. One report of an interview, which we did not open. If Baylor confirms it, it is a college football story.

Kirk Herbstreit's opinion of a fantasy series, and two radio hosts and a burp. Both are real. Neither is about anything.

Rex Ryan. No development since the charges we reported on Wednesday, and we still have no court date from a local outlet.

Anything further on Ayesha Curry's film. Three apologies are in. The fourth podcaster has not spoken in anything we read, and chasing him would be doing the thing Curry asked people to stop doing.