2026 Sports Media Thread

[RIPPA]

14 hours ago, dogwelder said:

Reading the Commanders subreddit and I either never heard or had completely forgotten the rumored flings Russini had with Commanders personnel when she worked in DC.

I only heard about the Russini and Britt McHenry got into a drunken brawl outside a restaurant because Sean McVay was fucking both of them at the same time (and they clearly found out) today 

[supremebve]

40 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I only heard about the Russini and Britt McHenry got into a drunken brawl outside a restaurant because Sean McVay was fucking both of them at the same time (and they clearly found out) today 

I just had a great idea for a prestige TV series.  

[Tabe]

16 hours ago, dogwelder said:

Reading the Commanders subreddit and I either never heard or had completely forgotten the rumored flings Russini had with Commanders personnel when she worked in DC.

Featuring a very spicy quote from the ex-wife of then-GM Scott McLaughlin that she has since retracted. 

Both people are married and denying anything fishy. Maybe they're telling the truth I know most people (myself included) would be very unhappy if their spouse was in these photographs acting in this fashion. 

[Tabe]

1 hour ago, supremebve said:

I just had a great idea for a prestige TV series.  

I just had a bad idea for a Showtime After Hours TV series. 

[supremebve]

4 hours ago, Tabe said:

I just had a bad idea for a Showtime After Hours TV series. 

I was thinking more of an HBO version of Friday Night Lights mixed with The Wire.  Put it in a city with multiple sports teams and focus on a few people from each team and the people who cover them.  

[hammerva]

There have been hundreds and hundreds of clips of Russini in the last day and frankly we should have probably seen the rumors coming.   The person we really should feel sorry for is her husband (or ex husband not even sure) because one of her gimmicks was always about how "average" or boring he is.  

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

She went on Stugotz back in February and watch the guys go from 'haha, wives hate their husbands! great joke!' to 'oh... wait she's not joking'

 

[Tabe]

12 hours ago, supremebve said:

I was thinking more of an HBO version of Friday Night Lights mixed with The Wire.  Put it in a city with multiple sports teams and focus on a few people from each team and the people who cover them.  

Yeah, you can probably guess that is not even close to what I was thinking of. 

[Tabe]

18 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

She went on Stugotz back in February and watch the guys go from 'haha, wives hate their husbands! great joke!' to 'oh... wait she's not joking'

 

The comments on that video make it sound like there's additional context that make this not quite so bad but it sure looks bad on the surface. 

[supremebve]

2 minutes ago, Tabe said:

Yeah, you can probably guess that is not even close to what I was thinking of. 

In my mind, there will definitely be parts that are extremely close to what you are thinking of.  A big part of Friday Night Lights was let's get as many overwhelmingly good looking people and put them in the same town.  Add a bunch of love triangles, and boom, you have gold.  If it was on HBO instead of NBC it would have been much more salacious.  

28 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

She went on Stugotz back in February and watch the guys go from 'haha, wives hate their husbands! great joke!' to 'oh... wait she's not joking'

 

I honestly feel uncomfortable when anyone who is in the public eye but is married to someone outside of the public decides to make their private life public.  None of this shit is anybody's business.  

[Gonzo]

23 hours ago, Tabe said:

I just had a bad idea for a Showtime After Hours TV series. 

Well, the Patriots are going to be on Hard Knocks.

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[odessasteps]

How often do you see a teams coach or front office chilling in a pool or hot tub with a reporter in a platonic way? 

[supremebve]

8 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

How often do you see a teams coach or front office chilling in a pool or hot tub with a reporter in a platonic way? 

Never, but if Adam Schefter and Sean Payton were hanging out at a pool on vacation, none of us would blink.  

[The Comedian]

I'm just waiting to see if the Birds call for a tampering investigation over Russini's constant "A.J. to the Patriots" talk...

[Zimbra]

43 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Never, but if Adam Schefter and Sean Payton were hanging out at a pool on vacation, none of us would blink.  

I think if Adam Schefter and Sean Payton went and reenacted a whole-ass cialis commercial in Sedona we probably would have some kind of conversation about it, actually.

[odessasteps]

 WI should say execs and talent getting together because they have the same agent/agency would not be surprising.

Edited April 9 by odessasteps

[Dolfan in NYC]

Updates ...

1. The story was shopped to various places before Murdoch took it.  The Post took it over TMZ.

2. :W Meme: A second picture has been released showing the lovebirds having a drink at a bar in Indianapolis during the draft

3. The pictures were apparently taken by a PI.  It's been widely speculated that Russini's husband hired them.

[RIPPA]

7 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Updates ...

1. The story was shopped to various places before Murdoch took it.  The Post took it over TMZ.

This part came from Front Office Sports. Here is the Awful Announcing recap of the story since my brain isn't function well enough to get the non-paywalled version to work

https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/mike-vrabel-dianna-russini-photos-shopped-around-tmz-new-york-post.html

Basically the photos were shopped as being about Vrabel without the photography knowing who Russini was. Reportedly - TMZ was still debating on making the deal when the Post swopped in and agreed to it first. (the unsaid/unclear part is if either TMZ or the Post knew it was Russini either - at least at time of offer)

[hammerva]

16 hours ago, odessasteps said:

How often do you see a teams coach or front office chilling in a pool or hot tub with a reporter in a platonic way? 

One of the more memorable pictures in Super Bowl history is the picture of Joe Namath sitting on a lawn chair near the pool  in Miami surrounded by reporters talking about Super Bowl III.  But even then the reporters weren't in their swim trunks and in the damn water.

[RIPPA]

Awful Announcing had - what I thought was a good equivalent - in using Jay Glazer working out with Aaron Rodgers and then getting all pissy when Rodgers wouldn't return his calls (I think the exact quote was "I thought we were friends")

(Honestly Jay Glazer could probably be used in a lot of situations and then - for all us old people - you have Ahmad Rashad's relationship with Michael Jordan)

[supremebve]

31 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Awful Announcing had - what I thought was a good equivalent - in using Jay Glazer working out with Aaron Rodgers and then getting all pissy when Rodgers wouldn't return his calls (I think the exact quote was "I thought we were friends")

(Honestly Jay Glazer could probably be used in a lot of situations and then - for all us old people - you have Ahmad Rashad's relationship with Michael Jordan)

When I said Schefter and Payton above, it was because they seem to be very good friends.  I obviously do not know if Russini and Vrabel are sleeping together, but her entire job is to build the kind of relationships that make people tell her things they won't tell anyone else.  I'd bet most people in those positions have someone on a team they socialize with.  I'm skeptical about both of their statements, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that they are legitimately friends.  

[Dolfan in NYC]

Twist!  The person who was selling the pictures of Dianna Russini & Mike Vrabel apparently did not know who Russini was.  

So... the PI was (probably) hired by Vrabel's wife. 

[RIPPA]

Well the latest update is that The Athletic/New York Times has unofficially suspended Russini while it conducts an investigation as apparently they aren't happy with the explanation she has provided in response to pictures (It seems more like in the vein of "Why the fuck are you vacationing with a current NFL head coach?")

She will not be reporting while the investigation is ongoing

[RIPPA]

It has also gotten big enough that "big" media outlets are finally acknowledging the story

Ex: ESPN story which currently sits on their front page

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48452785/nyt-scrutinizing-reporter-russini-vrabel-coverage-amid-photo-fallout

And its actually written by someone its not a shared story from the AP

EDIT - literally the last line of the ESPN story

Quote

Her contract is set to expire this summer.

Well we know how that's gonna go now