A six-pack of media notes on a Wednesday:
Former Heat All Star forward Jimmy Butler’s first game at Kaseya Center, after forcing his way out of Miami, drew a fairly balanced mix of cheers and boos when he was introduced with the Golden State Warriors starters on Tuesday.
Butler was subsequently jeered by some Heat fans when he had the ball.
That reaction was the subject of discussion on ESPN’s studio shows Wednesday morning.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks couldn’t understand the thinking of the segment of Heat fans who stood and cheered for him after he forced his way out of Miami this season and trolled the team by shooting video of himself playing dominoes in the Heat locker room while the team was playing a game in Houston.
“I was embarrassed last night,” Marks said on ‘Get Up’ with Mike Greenberg. “I was embarrassed watching that and looking at what the Heat fans did. To give a man who quit on you a standing ovation, he quit on them in the middle of the year because he didn’t get paid by the Miami Heat.
“I know he took you to two NBA Finals and everything he did great for you. But to give that man a standing ovation, even 50 percent of them, that bothered me dearly. It really did.
“I would have done the video tribute [as the Heat did]… It was almost like fair weathered fans who were like, ‘it’s OK. He quit on you in the middle of the year. He went to Golden State, got his money, got his $111 million.’
“And this is what they’re left with. Before tonight, the Miami Heat were a nondescript, vanilla team with no identity. You saw Jimmy Butler finally bring out the identity, whether it be with Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware, the two bigs, whether the ability to shoot the ball. They couldn’t make a basket in their last 10 games. That kind of irked me last night.”
Gary Danielson, college football’s longest tenured TV analyst, will retire after one more season as CBS’ lead college football analyst, the network announced Wednesday.
In a surprise, Charles Davis – CBS’ No. 2 NFL analyst – will succeed Danielson in 2026. And former Houston Texans star J.J. Watt is replacing Davis on CBS’ No. 2 NFL team, effective immediately.
Danielson and play-by-play partner Brad Nessler were a staple on marquee Southeastern Conference games for many years before CBS lost the SEC to ABC/ESPN and replaced it with Big Ten games last season. This will be Danielson’s 36th year calling college games and 20th on CBS. He previously worked at ABC.
“I have had the greatest seat in the house for 36 years and have loved every minute of it,” said Danielson. “I have discussed the timing of this moment with CBS Sports leadership over the past few years and we felt it was important I remained with the team during our transition to the Big Ten. As we enter our second full season of Big Ten football and my 20th at CBS Sports, the timing just feels right. I have so much respect for Charles Davis as both a person and an analyst. He is going to shine in this role.”
CBS Sports president David Berson called Danielson “one of the greatest college football analysts ever.”
As for the selection of Davis to replace him, Berson said: “For the past two decades Charles has been among the best analysts across the NFL and college football. He’s well known to fans, from calling college football national championships, to NFL playoff games, to the voice of Madden NFL.”
Meanwhile, Watt has taken a meteoric step in his young broadcasting career, claiming a coveted spot on the No. 2 team, alongside Eagle.
Watt worked as a CBS studio analyst the last two seasons and was in the booth for only one game, paired with Eagle and CBS’ Nate Burleson on a Kansas City-Pittsburgh game on Netflix on Christmas.
Watt got the job over CBS’ No. 3 through 5 game analysts – Trent Green, Tiki Barber, Jason McCourty and Adam Archuleta.
Tommy Hutton, the Marlins’ longest tenured and most popular announcer, will miss the opening home stand because of an upper respiratory illness that he hasn’t been able to shake.
Rod Allen will replace him alongside new TV voice Kyle Sielaff for the Marlins’ first two series, including Thursday’s opener against Pittsburgh (4:05 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Florida).
Hutton, Allen, Jeff Nelson and Gaby Sanchez will alternate as game analysts for a third consecutive season. FanDuel will carry all 162 games.
For the second time in a year, the Marlins and FanDuel are offering games for no charge, albeit for a limited period of time.
FanDuel and the Marlins have partnered to offer viewers a 30-day extended free trial of the FanDuel Sports Network streaming service. Fans can click here and enter the promo code MARLINS30 to take advantage of the offer. The extended free trial sign-up period runs through April 30.
FanDuel Sports Network also lowered the Season Pass streaming subscription price to $99.99. That packages includes all 162 games.
Quick stuff: The Marlins will take their studio show out of Fort Lauderdale for road games this season, with Kelly Saco hosting most of the road shows and Craig Minervini most of the home pre and post-game shows..
Besides Sielaff, AJ Ramos and Craig Mish are new additions on FanDuel coverage; both will have studio roles for some games…
New Marlins radio voice Jack McMullen, who has a strong voice and a bright future in the business, will work with various partners on game coverage on WINZ-940: Allen, Saco, Sanchez, Nelson, AJ Ramos and Minervini. Of that group, only Minervini will handle some play-by-play during his games with McMullen.
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 2:26 PM.
