Relating back to a post earlier today (linked here), KSPN will announce Thursday that Dave Dameshek has been ... er .. reassigned from his afternoon weekday sports-talk role.
And he's going to be Internet-only from now until he gives up and leaves.
The station will announce that a daily, online "exclusive" podcast called "Dave Dameshek On Demand," between 30 minutes to an hour, will launch to "help lead the station's new media efforts."
The station says Dameshek's current podcasts rank among the best at the ESPN owned-and-operated stations.
So apparently Dameshek has found his niche. And it isn't sports-talk on the radio in L.A.
A station release that was obtained early will also say:
"In order to focus exclusively on 'Dave Dameshek On Demand,' Dameshek will be re-tasked from his daily on-air duties. A nationwide search is underway for his replacement. Night host Brian Long and Sr. Reporter Dave Denholm will be hosting afternoons until an announcement is made."
So, Dave's gone. But he's not gone.
And, if you read between the lines: Dameshek wouldn't give into a buy out of his $200,000 annual salary, so this is what he'll be relegated to do.

By Jimmy Golen
AP Sports Writer

Beach volleyball could be heading back to school.

An NCAA committee voted this month to add sand volleyball to a list of women's sports being considered for intercollegiate competition. The sport, known on the professional and Olympic levels as beach volleyball, could be under NCAA auspices as soon as 2009-10.

"It's a very exciting development, and it's certainly an acknowledgment that there's substantial growth in popularity in beach volleyball," said Leonard Armato, the commissioner of the domestic pro tour. "I think it's going to be an easy transition for the schools, and there's going to be lots of girls that want to play."

Although it spun off from the indoor game almost a century ago, beach volleyball didn't get competitive until after World War II, and it was first recognized as an Olympic sport in 1996. After the 2004 Games in Athens, when American women won the gold and bronze medals, the AVP recorded 48 percent growth in its fan base.

"I would imagine a similar spike, no pun intended, after the Beijing Games," Armato said. "Especially since we have the two gold medal favorites."

For college students, beach volleyball is more likely to conjure images of boozy spring break parties than cheering on their school. Colleges sometimes send their indoor, or "court volleyball," teams to beach-format events in the spring, but the informal events are more a way to spice up their practices than a hardcore competition.

"I know the student-athletes loved it," said Delaware volleyball coach Bonnie Kenny, who helped present the proposal to the NCAA's Committee on Women's Athletics. "It was a different aspect of training. And you were outside."

Eight months after agreeing to rearrange the lineup at all-sports KSPN-AM (710) -- with the center piece, putting newcomer Dave Dameshek (his Wikipedia bio) into the prime weekday drive-time spot -- station management is in the process of trying to buy the former "Jimmy Kimmel Live" staff writer out of his two-year contract that reportedly pays him $200,000 a calendar.

Dameshek himself has been telling people around town that, while he was on vacation and out of town last week from the newly renamed (since earlier this month) "Dameshek, Denholm and Long Show" from 4-to-8 p.m., he's been told to stay away this week while the exit negotiations continue.

Larry Gifford, the KSPN program director, said in an email today: "Dave has not been let go. He is on vacation this week. I'll have some news for you soon."

It's that delicious.

Source indicate the KSPN management has probably got an early indication of the latest Arbitron ratings, which come out today, that the afternoon slot has continued to do half the audience that Steve Mason and John Ireland drew before all the changes were made last November.

Management did a U-turn when it brought Ireland back two months ago after buying him out of his deal when changes were made. Mason and Ireland, currently in the 1-to-4 p.m. weekday slot, will probably remain there, according to sources, and the station will likely take a syndicated show from the ESPN Radio network, or hire someone to fill that spot for the rest of the summer.

Sources also say that if the station is unable to work a deal to have him go away, they'll bring Dameshek back -- but in a less desirable time slot. Wording in his contract must stipulate that he work that afternoon slot, thus drawing the larger salary.

The irony is that Dameshek delivered the show that he promised Gifford and station manager Bob Koontz -- it was him, a house band, occasional appearances by Kimmel and Bill Simmons, plus contributions from several in the studio. But Dameshek's approach -- which we termed "Adam Carolla Lite" -- just kinda rubbed many wrong from the start. As nice a guy as he might be, the show just didn't stick with us -- we rated him No. 1 in the bottom 5 of our 2008 Daily News Best and Worst of the L.A. Sports Talk Show Hosts. Dameshek emailed us later saying: "The thing that hurts most is you listened to the show, and you still had that opinion."

Getting back to one of our favorite book ideas -- Todd Gallagher's "Andy Roddick Beat Me With A Frying Pan," which we featured last October (click here) -- ESPN.com's Page 2 is doing a contest where the winner will actually get a chance to face the tennis star, while he competes using a frying pan.
Gallagher did that as a set-up for his book of "what if?" stunts, and actually beat Roddick (despite what the title of the book says). Gallagher, who said he'd been talking to various production companies about establishing a TV series, may have something in the works here. Finally.
Fans who want to compete have to submit a short clip of themselves reenacting a great highlight in sports history (why? sounds corny, but OK) and bonus points is if they can incorporate a frying pan into it (now it makes sense). Winner plays Roddick in December -- racket vs. pan.
To submit videos, click here.
Contest rules, click here.
An excerpt of Gallagher's book, click here.

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) -- Nine-hundred holes, 2,000 golf balls, four bottles of sunscreen -- Bill Evans and Craig Forney on Tuesday completed their grueling 50-day, cross-country golfing odyssey.

The buddies from Atlanta played 50 golf courses in 50 states in 50 days and ended the journey in the 50th state at the Kapolei Golf Course.

Besides their memories, they were left with a souvenir.

"I have a farmer's tan now," Forney said.

Evans, 51, and Forney, 40, began their trek (chronicled here) in Vermont on June 9. Joined by a support and film crew of five, they traveled by bus across 48 states, waking up early to tee off and ending each day with visits to cancer patients at local hospitals.

The pair said they've been wanting to do this for years but never had an opportunity to take 50 summer days off, until this summer.

The goal of their "50 in 50" adventure was to raise $1 million for cancer research -- $20,000 in each state. They weren't certain how much they raised.

"We didn't have someone close to us with cancer before the trip, but now we do," said Evans, an entrepreneur.

It just won't be the same, but news at the The Sporting News is all Internet, starting Wednesday morn.
They're calling it the launch of the first digital daily sports newspaper -- we thought that all the other newspapers that put their content on their website were ahead of the curve, no? -- with Sporting News Today. It's free to registered users every morning (sign up here)
A staff of 200 reporters and contributors are hard at work to crank this version up.
"We acquired Sporting News in 2006 because of the brand's rich heritage and belief that it can become the premiere news source for the die-hard sports fan," said Whitney Shaw, the Sporting News president. "We are convinced with these changes the new Sporting News will be the ultimate multi-media destination for serious sports fans."
Contributors include writers and editors from Sporting News' parent company, American City Business Journals, publisher of 41 major market business newspapers, NASCAR Scene, NASCAR Illustrated, Inside Lacrosse, SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily.
It is also employing a bunch of free-lancers, including John Feinstein and Will Leitch (late of Deadspin.com), said new editor in chief Jeff D'Alessio.
The newsprint version won't go away.
Starting Sept. 1, the magazine goes bi-weekly and will go 25 percent larger on better paper stock.
It's rethinking the business model, and that's all we can hope for at this point for a publication that was founded as the nation's first weekly sports paper in 1886.
Hope it works.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Go ahead, Yankees fans. Slather on that SPF 45 -- sunscreen is now legal in Yankee Stadium.

The baseball team has lifted a ban on plastic containers of sunscreen at their ballpark after deciding "not to be as stringent," team spokesman Jason Zillo said Tuesday.

Sports teams around the country started restricting what fans could bring into stadiums after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Yankees' Web site lists bans on backpacks, briefcases, coolers, large purses, laptop computers and video cameras. Bottles and cans also are on the forbidden list, but the sunscreen question is not specifically addressed.

The New York Post reported Tuesday that Yankees fans were hot and bothered over the weekend because of a crackdown on sunscreen.

The newspaper said security guards confiscated garbage bags full of the stuff at entrances to the stadium when the team played Saturday and Sunday day games in 90-plus weather.

Zillo said the Yankees have banned sunscreen containers larger than 3 ounces for several years but the restriction was eased in the last few days and sunscreen is now permitted.

"Our No. 1 priority is always going to be our fan safety," Zillo said. "That's why these policies were put in place in the first place."

Major League Baseball, which promotes skin-cancer prevention through its "Play Sun Smart" program, leaves security measures up to teams.

New York's other team, the Mets, allows sunscreen.

Sean Rachau, a spokesman for the Arizona Diamondbacks in sun-baked Phoenix, said that team has never banned sunscreen.

The Yankees' former policy banning sunscreen was similar to the air-travel restrictions enforced by the federal Transportation Security Administration. Under TSA rules, all liquids, gels and aerosols must be in 3-ounce or smaller containers.

So, what do you know about Big East football?
And what paper did you used to work for before they kicked you to the curb?
Answer those two with a reasonable response, and ESPN.com apparently could use you for their blog-centic website covering football.
Latest, up to the second, still smelling the ditto machine ink on the paper wet ESPN press release says that ESPN.com will launch a "football blog network" with "journalists hired" to launch it.
Take that you .... you ... non-journalistic bloggers.
There are 15 blogs in this network with daily coverage of pro and college -- and, says the play, "collectively, the best content from each divisional and conference blog will be aggregated daily into national blogs for both pro and college football."
So, it's a competition?
(That's my journalistic take on it ... what's your take, you ... you ....non-journalstic?)
These journalists names you're about to read have "more than 125 years of writing and reporting experience," says the relase. So if you do the math, that about 8 years apiece for these guys. Unless there's a Buzz Bissinger in the mix, bogarting most of that 125 for himself. These bloggers are also going to be "a specialized regional football reporter for ESPN television and radio programs, including College GameDay, SportsCenter, NFL Live, and College Football Live - beginning with ESPN's Camp Confidential series of segments" that started running Monday and go through August 3.
And like any good blog, ESPN.com has "also hired a talented staff of editors" to fix things up, guys who used to work at the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and National Journal.
Apparently, this is where laid off and take-the-buyout newspaper sports guys go to continue their life's work. At least there's a safety net there for someone. And, apparently, they get paid for it.

Here's the ESPN.com roster:

NFL:
NFC East: Matt Mosley - formerly of Dallas Morning News (previously authored Hashmarks blog on ESPN.com);
NFC West: Mike Sando - formerly of Tacoma News Tribune
NFC North : Kevin Seifert - formerly of Minneapolis Star-Tribune
NFC South: Pat Yasinkas - formerly of Charlotte Observer
AFC West: Bill Williamson - formerly of Denver Post
AFC North : James Walker - formerly of Columbus Dispatch
AFC South : Paul Kuharsky - formerly of The Tennessean
AFC East: Tim Graham - formerly of Palm Beach Post

College Football
ACC: Heather Dinich - formerly of Baltimore Sun;
Pac-10: Ted Miller - formerly of Seattle Post-Intelligencer;
Big 12: Tim Griffin - formerly of San Antonio Express-News;
Big Ten: Adam Rittenberg - formerly of Chicago Daily Herald;
SEC: Chris Low - formerly of The Tennessean and Rivals.com;
Big East: TBD;
Independents/additional conferences: Graham Watson - formerly of St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Dan Daniel, Marshall Hunt, John Kieran, Frank Lieb, Paul Gallico, Al Laney, Richards Vidmer, Shirley Povich, Ed Prell, George Strickler, Abe Kemp, Al Horwits, Ford Frick, John Drebinger, Harold Parrott, Red Smith, John R. Tunis and Jimmy Cannon.
I learned about those sportswriters from Jerome Holtzman.
I have still a first-edition copy of the book Holtzman compiled in 1974 called "No Cheering In The Press Box," where he recorded interviews and basically transcribed and edited them down into chapters of the book. All those names above were sportswriters who devoted their lives to sportswriting two generations previous to Holtzman's. He says in the editor's note, he had some 900,000 words of transcript that he was only able to use 10 percent of in the book.
He then thanks each one of them again.
And I'd like to thank Holtzman for that, again.
The Hall of Fame baseball writer from Chicago died Saturday, at 81. He wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times (1957-'80), then the Tribune ('81-'98), and for the last 10 years, he's been commission Bud Selig's self-appointed MLB historian -- the league's first.
He was also known for his run at The Sporting News, writing for the baseball bible for 30 years (including 1,000 consecutive issues). He wrote the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on baseball. He did the year-end summary of the sport for the Official Baseball Guide.
Holtzman's claim to fame in most things written about him was how he came up with the "save" statistic for relief pitchers in 1959. The league didn't get around to adopting it until 10 years later. Now, almost 50 years after it was created, the Angels' Francisco Rodriguez is on pace to break the all-time record for it.
Tributes from those around the league have poured in the last few days.
Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf: "Perhaps no one other person has done as much to promote the game of baseball to millions."
Selig: "As a baseball writer, columnist and historian for more than 50 years, Jerome Holtzman was a beloved figure and made an incredible impact on the game ... What I will miss most is not only the friendship, but the knowledge. He was a historian's historian. He was an unmatched resource for baseball. I will miss his counsel."
Chicago Cubs chairman Crane Kenney: "Jerome's contributions to the game of baseball were immense."
According to the AP obit, Holtzman began his career as a 17-year-old copy boy in 1942, and served two years in the Marine Corps during World War II before returning to journalism. He was assigned the baseball beat in 1957.
Holtzman also wrote six books, including his most recognized, "No Cheering in the Press Box."
He is survived by his wife, Marilyn; two daughters, Alice Barnett of California, and Janet Holtzman of Wilmette, Ill.; a son, Jack Merrill of Los Angeles; and five grandchildren.

==The Chicago Tribune obit (linked here)
==More Tribune remembrances (linked here)
==An MLB.com remembrance along with a video clip of his Hall of Fame induction (linked here).
==A Chicago Public Radio tribute (linked here)

Greg and Chrissy, sitting near the tee,
W-I-N-N-I-N-G.
First comes majors, then comes marriage, then comes the media, aiming to disparage.

How much more of this Norman-Evert honeymoon can be used as talking points during the final round of the British Open on our TV sets Sunday.
He, the golfer trying to become the oldest to ever win his sport's most majorist of events.
She, the 18-time women's tennis major champion, ranked No. 1 for a seven-year stretch at one point, still frisky after all these years.
Three weeks ago, they were married, after he cleaned up a messy divorce settlement that supposedly ran him more than $100 million.

By the way, just so we get it straight: Chrissy Evert, who once almost married Jimmy Connors, did marry John Lloyd, (a different tennis player) and Andy Mill (a skier), is now married to Mill's' former best friend Greg Norman, who has a daughter that may or may not still be dating Sergio Garcia, who was once romantically linked with Martina Hingis, who is too young to have ever played against Evert. And you think it's complicated to explain to someone how to keep score at a tennis match.

As the Shark and the Cougar go hand-in-hand down the fairway this weekend, we're trying to get our heart around how they'd rank in today's Sports Power Couple Rankings, now that they're official and he's back to contending for top dollar not just in building golf courses and selling cool shirts.

(UPDATE: It appears there was quick a bit of homewrecking on both their parts before their union was noticed as a legal bond. A story noted on Deadspin.com from News.com/au (linked here) quotes a new issue of Vogue quoting Evert as saying, yes, she and Norman split from their former spouse to be with each other).

Knowing this is a place A-Rod and Madonna will never been seen together - no matter how much it looked like she could hit a fastball in "A League Of Their Own" - we have tried to put two Top 10 lists together, one for the ages, and one more up to date:

Colombia's Camilo Villegas, aka "Spider-Man," has a different cool way of lining up a putt, which we've been able to see during this weekend's British Open, and expect to soon see on a green near us during our next round of slow-play golf, while someone tries to emulate his technique and pulls a groin. Or two.

This is only his first Open appearance, and his third year as a pro. A Bloomberg News story (linked here) says that the 26-year-old, named one of People magazine's Hottest Bachelors in 2006, prepped for the event during his flight from Atlanta to Manchester, England, "perusing US magazine's coverage of actress Angelina Jolie." He shot a 5-under-65 during the second round to find himself just two shots back of the leader.

Wonder what technique he used to read the magazine.

In Saturday's third round (linked here), he shot a ridiculous 79 and, at 10-over, probably has no chance.

Or, you could say he's just eight shots back of leader Greg Norman going into Sunday's final round and with the way the course has played, you can't rule anything out. Padraig Harrington came from six back a year ago to win it on the final day.

But then, from how we see it, considering his inexperience, Villegas is too far behind and really has no shot at it. Here's where we need ABC's Rick Reilly to tie it all together in his special way.

By ERIC OLSON
AP Sports Writer

OMAHA, Neb. -- Sandlot baseball, a slice of American life enjoyed for decades by boys from coast to coast, appears on the verge of extinction.

Many men over 40 remember those summer days when they headed to the park or vacant lot and played ball all day -- or until Mom sent word that it was time for dinner.

Nowadays, most neighborhood ball fields sit empty on summer afternoons, the idea of unsupervised play having gone the way of the rotary-dial phones kids once used to round up the fellas for a game.

The reasons for the sandlot's demise, baseball coaches and sociologists say, go back to the changing family structure, video games, parents' fear of crime, and the proliferation of organized and so-called "select" teams for more-talented kids.

Johnny Damon of the New York Yankees says the structured environment of select ball sacrifices the fun kids get from playing on their own.

"I think nowadays kids are getting so worn out playing baseball year-round that by the time they get to the high school level they're kind of tired of it, and tired of the politics of it, instead of just going out there and playing baseball," Damon said.

Dan Gould, director of Michigan State's Institute for the Study of Youth Sport, put it bluntly: "The end of the story is, the sandlots ain't coming back, as much as we would like them to."

I went combing through the thousands hundreds dozens of photos that ESPN has made available to the media on their secret media website -- sorry, can't give out the address ... yet -- and found two shots from Tuesday's ESPY Awards red carpet batch that had us trying to legitimately figure out ....

Who's that dude?

ESPN power forward Dana Jacobson? Correct. Maybe she didn't realize these photos were for publication.

Now, in the other corner, her tag-team partner:

That's Chyna, the former pro wrestler who once posed nude in Playboy. Looking, in all honestly, more fem than we remember a lot of shots of her from her head-banging days (see link here)....

Who'd win a fight between these two? Talk amongst yourselves...

More yammering on about the pros and cons of the new KABC "DodgerTalk" format with Ken Levine and Josh Suchon, from today's media column (linked here) after the previous blog leadin with Ross Porter and Fred Wallin (linked here):

==Any aspiring TV or movie writer has to have stumbled onto Levine's blog (linked here) to get into the mind of what it takes on a daily basis to have a creative outlet. Another must-read for those who want to know more about Levine's background is a book he wrote in 1993 entitled, "It's Gone!. No, Wait a Minute .: Talking My Way into the Big Leagues at 40," (find copies of it at the AbeBooks.com used book website at this link) where he chronicles not only his career detour from scripts to play-by-play, but also admits his passion for Dodgers baseball at age 8 when he father, listening to a Dodger broadcast on the radio just after the team moved from L.A., said there was "Vin Something" doing the call. "And I wanted to be Vin Something," Levine said.

Friday's media column is focused on the first half of the baseball season with Ken Levine and Josh Suchon co-hosting the post-game "DodgerTalk" for KABC-AM (790).
As an appetiser, I've asked two former "DodgerTalk" hosts to talk about their experience doing the gig in years past:

==Ross Porter, who hosted "DodgerTalk" before and after games for 14 seasons (1990 to 2003) spanning days at KABC, KXTA and KFWB while he was doing play-by-play, said from his experience:

"I thought it was very important to be honest with the fans. You lose your credibility if you are not honest with the listeners. I always tried to treat them with respect. Many were well-informed. Many were nervous about calling the show and going on the air so my approach was, 'There are no stupid questions. It's just you and me talking baseball. Let's have some fun.' Peter O'Malley never once interfered while I was the host, neither telling me what to say nor what not to say. Peter was the perfect boss."
Read as much between those lines as need be, considering it wasn't O'Malley who finally decided to end Porter's run as a Dodger broadcaster, but current ownership."
Ross currently does his radio vignettes, "Real Sports Heroes," that is heard regularily on KABC.

==Fred Wallin, another former "DodgerTalk" host (1988 and '89), adds these thoughts:

"I was fortunate having the opportunity. Of course, '88 was the miracle season and Stu Nahan and I had a ball as I stated on the air that Dodgers had no chance to win their division ahead of the Reds, little chance against the Mets, and only a minute shot against the A's. I was fortunate again that I was not living in Las Vegas.
"A couple of items do stand out: Only once did anyone at the station try to tell us what or what not to say. When the Dodgers were about to face the Mets, management asked us to go to every phone call with, 'Beat the Mets!' Stu told the powers: 'Over my dead body,' and I told management that we would lose all our credibility. Management backed down.
"One thing you do learn doing a program like Dodger Talk is the players only remember the negative things you say, never the positive. If you state 99 good things and one negative, that's the one the athletes will never forget. Kirk Gibson became upset when I mentioned he did not have the arm to play center field, even though I repeatedly commented that he was the glue that held the club together. Meanwhile, second baseman of sorts Steve Sax and outfielder Mike Marshall tried to get me fired, but KABC General Manager George Green stood behind me.
"Finally, when I left the station over a few bucks, the worst mistake anyone has ever made in this business, I received the nicest of notes from Peter O'Malley. It stated that I was the first host who ever was objective about his club and he appreciated that very much, because he realized I had been a Dodger fan since the age of five. Next week, Peter's dad, Walter, goes into the Hall of Fame and thousands of us will be with Peter in Cooperstown in spirit."
Fred currently does a show with John Woolard called "Sports Overnight America" for SportsByline, every Friday night 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. that is heard in about 50 stations including Las Vegas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. You can listen to the audio stream at www.sportsbyline.com.

==Also, Jon Weisman, the editor of the Dodger Thoughs blog, has a forum open for those who want to give their opinions about the current "DodgerTalk" format (at this link).

I've gone to the last ... I don't know how many of 'em ... ever since the ESPN ESPY Awards moved from New York to, one year in Las Vegas (which I also attended) and then to L.A. at the Kodak Theatre. This year, it for whatever reason moved to the new Nokia Theatre across from Staples Center.
I was a no-show. I prioritized.
I'd been to enough in the past to know that, while I may get a story out of it, I usually won't.
Last year, I went only to talk to Amanda Beard and Pat Summitt about their thoughts on women posing for men's magazines -- which turned into a he said, she said dueling columns with Jill Painter (I took the don't-do-it stance).
In 2006, it was a chance to take the digital camera on the red carpet and snap a few things that most don't get to see -- like "The Insider's" Pat O'Brien way too up close (linked here). That was the same year that host Lance Armstrong told some off-color jokes -- that were left in the edited telecast -- and really made me rethink my three hours spent there.
One year I went and all four tire covers were swiped off my car in the Hollywood and Highland garage. I told security. They seemed baffled. They have so many security cameras. And my hubcaps were hardly the high-end variety. (I think I went to Target and bought four new ones ... but couldn't put it on the expense account).
Years before, I had a sit-down with ESPN chief George Bodenheimer to talk about all the great things the ESPYS stood for, aside from self indulgence. The fundraising for the Jimmy V cancer research is commendable, but I tend to think ESPN hides behind that, or at least the celebrities and employees who attend, just so they can participate in a splashy awards show, dress up, pretend they're important, and get their egos stroked (or, as Petros Papadakis likes to say, it's a giant ball washing event).
Mine were clean. I had no need to attend.
And now, as they have, it's all taped and shown edited on Sunday, instead of live on Wednesday. That takes a lot of any news element out of it. And you have to sit through skits like the one above, where Justin "Jacques Le Coq Grande" Timberlake sings with Greg Oden on the piano.
Take 'em or leave 'em.
I have my ESPY memories already. And this year I didn't have to go to the dry cleaners after it was over.
So since I couldn't bring myself to be part of that cluster%$&@ mess last night, and I had nothing invested in the outcomes, I present the award for best written press release by an ESPN employee or staff member on July 16, 2008: