Welcome to Traina Thoughts, and thanks for starting this with me.

Twenty-plus years covering the sports media business means watching it rebuild itself more than once. It became clear that old models would keep fading as fans demanded something more direct, less filtered, and less controlled by whoever happened to own the broadcast rights that year. That shift hasn’t slowed and, if anything, it’s accelerating. There’s never been a more interesting time to sit down and break down how all of this actually works.

That’s exactly what this show is for.

Traina Thoughts digs into the deals, the power plays, and the personalities shaping what fans see and how they see it, both in New York and across the wider sports media landscape. Some weeks that means the business behind the biggest names in the game. Other weeks it means the shifts happening industry-wide that fans don’t hear about until it’s already ruined a broadcast.

After two decades watching this world from the inside, I’m excited to finally bring that perspective directly to the people who care about it most: the fans.

Full episodes will live in this feed and on YouTube. Glad to have you along for it.

- Jimmy

Welcome to New York, New York, glad to have you here from the start.

I started paying close attention to how fans connect with sports a while back, watching the shift away from appointment listening and toward feeds, clips, and shows fans literally carry with them wherever they go. I realized quickly this wasn’t a passing trend. This is where this was all headed, and it convinced me that the next great sports show wouldn’t look, sound, or show up like the ones before it.

New York, New York is built on that idea. Every day, we’ll break down the storylines that actually matter across this great city’s teams, with the depth fans want and the pace that matches how they actually live their fandom now — not on a rigid schedule, but when they want it. New York fans are as loyal as they come. That loyalty deserves a show built to keep up with them instead of asking them to wait around.

I think this is that show, and I’m excited to build it with you from the ground up.

You can find full episodes here on Substack, and also on YouTube.

Let’s get started.

- JJ

Welcome, and thanks for being here on day one.

For a long time, sports media lived in silos: radio was radio, TV was TV, and each one waited its turn to react to what just happened on the field.

But fans don’t experience a game in silos. They experience it all at once, reacting in real time, texting their groupchat and sending clips around before the broadcast even cuts to commercial. The fans have moved on, so it’s time the medium caught up.

That’s what The Sal Licata Show is built to do. This isn’t radio with a camera pointed at it, and it isn’t a highlight show chopped into clips. This will be live reaction, real analysis, and unfiltered opinion, all in one place, built for the way fans actually watch the game today. Twenty years in this city taught me what New York fans want out of a show: honesty, energy, and someone who takes it as personally as they do.

I’m excited to finally build that in a format that matches the moment instead of working against it.

Full episodes will be live in this feed and you can find them on YouTube, too. Thanks again for being here — let’s get into it.

- Sal

Sports can change in a millisecond, or the time it takes for a curveball to break, OG to tip-in a game-winner, or a Hail Mary to land. Miss a minute, and you miss the moment everyone else is already talking about. Underscore is built to break down the key moments when they happen, and forecast the decisions, trades, and moves that will come next.