Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports media:

Kevin Merida discusses his plans for ESPN’s The Undefeated with Richard Deitsch.

RD: What is your vision about what this site should be?

KM: The Undefeated should be vibrant, soulful, smart, cool. And brave. Not predictable, not ideological, and never boring. The subject material is certainly there. Sports/race/culture is a rich mix that will keep on giving. We talk about The Undefeated as a site. But I see it as more than ‘a site,’ which is really a desktop concept in a mobile age of sharing content and discussing it online. We want to do the work that people will talk about and remember and share with their friends—long form, short form, provocative, engaging commentary, visually driven journalism, revelatory reporting, and all the rest. But ultimately we want to cultivate and grow an audience, an Undefeated community. So I could see us doing an Undefeated lecture series in which athletes talk about the things they rarely get asked about, like love, anger, leadership. You may see an Undefeated music video. We want to be digitally innovative, and to engage people not only on The Undefeated’s site, but wherever they are.

Bill Simmons did an interview with President Obama for GQ. President laments that Simmons is no longer with Grantland.

Brandon Marshall thinks the media has too much access.

The quality of play may be down, but NFL ratings continue to soar.

Ken Fang of Awful Announcing has a favorable review of Joe Buck’s new interview show, which debuted this week.

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt is standing up for the Big 12.

Donovan McNabb is no longer with Fox Sports.

Michael Bradley explains why he told a college sophomore to steer clear of sports media.

Why TV sports ratings are more important than attendance at games.

A podcast with soccer announcer Andres Cantor.