It’s common for a telecast to start with a graphic showing the accolades of an analyst. It’s less common for that graphic to be superimposed right over the face of the play-by-play voice. But that’s what happened on SEC Network’s Friday Night Heights franchise this week. T
here, a graphic showing analyst Trinity Thomas’ extremely long list of accomplishments covered the face of colleague Bart Conner, who had quite the reaction trying to dodge that:
Funniest moment of Friday Night Heights goes to Bart Conner and his reaction to Trinity Thomas’ slew of accolades 💀
(🎥: SEC Network)#ncaagym pic.twitter.com/yTcwjVQ1Hn
— Gymnastics Now (@Gymnastics_Now) February 8, 2025
“You’ve done so many things there’s no room for me, even!” That’s well played there by Conner, who has his own incredible resume as a gymnast. And the way he kept trying to peer over or around the graphic made this very funny indeed, with Thomas trying her best not to completely crack up as well.
This is part of a massive expansion of gymnastics coverage by ESPN this season, which is featuring almost 100 hours of gymnastics coverage across linear platforms (plus more on streaming) this winter, the most in their history. And the SECN Friday Night Heights franchise goes beyond being a good pun; it’s a series that’s run since 2015, receiving a massive update in 2023, and will show a record seven tripleheaders this season. It also gets a further boost from the six-time NCAA champion Oklahoma Sooners (who won in both 2022 and 2023) joining the conference.
Gymnastics is one of many women’s collegiate sports (see also women’s basketball and volleyball) getting more network attention lately. And ESPN and its associated networks have been a big part of that, and that’s led to ESPN signing notable former athletes such as Thomas.
But they should make sure to leave room for their commentators when listing accomplishments.
