There has been much discussion about the effect of DONALD TRUMP on the media (and it’s vast) but BRYAN CURTIS of THE RINGER wrote about an interesting wrinkle: the influence of sports talk radio on Trump and the electorate. Sports, like every other spark of American life at this point, is not immune from sectarian head-butting and battle between the visceral and the intellectual, and the old school and the new age. Trump, like a radio host, positioned himself as the only truthful voice for his audience and communicated in easily digestible ways. WASHINGTON POST columnist DAN STEINBERG sees parallels, too, in the controversy over the REDSKINS team name. When BOB COSTAS used his NBC platform to call for a name-change, Steinberg writes, it came off to Washington fans as “a know-it-all elitist dictating for the simple masses what is right and what is wrong.” Trump spoke the language, talking to the beleaguered fan that had grown wary of the front office. It's certainly an interesting analog for the new president-elect. And perhaps we can take some value from the way points are made on sports talk radio to learn how to discuss the more important issues in our lives and how to listen… A new chess world champion might be crowned soon, if he can finish off an upset... Thanksgiving and its televised feast of football games is nearly here. For so long, it was PAT SUMMERALL and JOHN MADDEN in our living rooms, serving up the color to our day. It’s just hard to look at a turducken the same with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman breaking off a leg. Buck and Aikman don't quite match the homespun appeal of Madden and Summerall, who used to hold their own huge Thanksgiving banquets… On that note, some housecleaning: SportsREDEF won’t be publishing Thursday or Friday. Enjoy your turkey and your pie. Happy THANKSGIVING. We’ll be back MONDAY.