By NANCY ARMOUR
Associated Press Sports Columnist

With that little matter of the NBA draft finally out of the way, the Lakers can get back to what’s really important: Finding a way to keep Kobe Bryant happy.
Good luck.
Nothing the Lakers have done so far has worked. Bryant pouted and popped off when he had to share top billing — and the ball — with Shaq. Being The Man apparently wasn’t as much fun as he thought it was going to be, either, as evidenced by his trade demands this summer.
What, then, makes the Lakers think anything they do will make him happy?
No matter what move the team makes, it’s only a matter of time until Bryant throws his next tantrum, says he wants to be traded, takes it back and on and on. Unless they enjoy this dysfunction, it’s time for the Lakers to remind their superstar who runs the team.
And it’s not Kobe.

Unhappy as he is now, this is exactly what Bryant signed on for when he decided to stay with the Lakers three years ago.
Bryant gets blamed — unfairly — for driving Shaquille O’Neal out of Los Angeles. But their relationship had disintegrated to the point that team owner Jerry Buss could keep one or the other, not both.
It wasn’t much of a choice. Bryant has the most talent of anyone in the game today, was not quite 26 then and was about to become a free agent. O’Neal was 32, his body already beginning to break down.
But 7-footers aren’t easy to come by, let alone one who’s the lane-clogging, offense-disrupting, defense-challenging force O’Neal is. If the Lakers were going to win in the tough West, Bryant was going to have to carry the team — just as he’d always wanted.
“To be putting a team together, it’s fun,” he said then. “We understand the position we’re in, we understand the type of pressure we have and I have, and we’re sort of dug down in the trenches together.”
That’s the thing about trenches, though, they’re not real fun places to be. They’re filled with mud and muck, and there’s rarely an easy way out.
Sure enough, after slogging around for three years, Bryant has little to show besides some monster individual games. The Lakers stumbled into the playoffs this season, left quickly and are no closer to being a contender than the day Shaq left for South Beach.
“I thought this team had a great chance to do some upstart things,” coach Phil Jackson said Thursday night. “It fell through because of injuries. I think Kobe would be remiss if he didn’t understand that.”
Apparently he doesn’t. Or doesn’t care, because he’s said repeatedly he wants out.
But, really, where’s he going to go?
Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak aren’t stupid, for one thing. Not only is Bryant a rare talent, he’s one of the NBA’s most popular players. No way Buss and Kupchak are going to trade him.
And since he’s due $88.6 million over the next four years, with the option to opt out in two years, no team has the capital to swing a deal, either. Not without gutting itself and its future, at least.
“There seems to be no quality, no value at all, for what we expect for Kobe Bryant, and that’s understandable,” Jackson said. “Kobe’s got to respect what this team has to do, and we’re trying to work our way through this.”
The Lakers tried mightily to acquire Kevin Garnett — ironic, considering he’s the poster boy for suffering gracefully with a struggling team — but they didn’t have the players or the high draft picks to get it done. There’s also talk
of a deal for Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal.
The problem is, the Lakers aren’t looking for bit players. They need a big talent to placate Bryant, and that doesn’t come cheap or easy. After Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, they don’t have much to offer. Maybe Kwame
Brown, but he’s no longer the catch he was when Washington made him the No. 1 pick out of high school in 2001.
Say the Lakers could swing a deal for Garnett or O’Neal (Jermaine, not Shaq). They’d still need a veteran point guard and another post player.
“We thought we were one player short of being elite at one point,” Jackson said. “At this time, we might need a couple players. I’m not sure who they are. ... We’re really confident that we’re going to get this thing done — make strides to do the right thing.”
What’s right for the Lakers won’t necessarily be right for Bryant, though.
That’s the risk he took, however, and there’s only one person to blame.
Himself.

Nancy Armour is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to her at narmour@ap.org.

Posted by Tom at 12:20 AM | Permalink

(AP Photos/Ben Margot)

A male fan hopped the fence and ran out to greet Barry Bonds in left field Friday night before the San Francisco slugger calmly walked him into the custody of security personnel.
The fan came out over the short fence along the left-field line and scurried to Bonds in the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with Orlando Hudson batting. Bonds didn’t flinch, putting his arm around the man and walking him off the field.
The Giants have said they will beef up security during Bonds’ chase of Hank Aaron’s home run record of 755. The club did a trial run with metal detectors at some gates Friday leading up to All-Star game festivities next month.

See for yourself how it transpired:

Posted by Tom at 09:40 PM | Permalink

Expanding on today's media column in the Daily News:
(We interrupt this blog for a commercial break):
Bud Light presents…Real Men of Genius.
Real Men of Genius ...
Today we salute you, Mr. Unathletic Sports Talk Radio Guy.
Mr. Unathletic Sports Talk Radio Guy ...
You know everything there is to know about the world of sports. Except how to play them.
No coordination...
You talk sports for eight hours a day. Which is seven hours and 45 minutes more than anyone listens.
Is anybody out there?
Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t do, or teach, talk.
I’m really good at talking ...
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Mr. Unathletic Supporter. You may never make the company softball team, but you'll always be a hit with us.
Mr. Unathletic Sports Talk Radio Guy...
Bud Light Beer, Anheuser Busch, St. Louis, Missouri.

That's an actual Bud Light radio spot making the rounds on radio lately -- specifically on all-sports radio stations. Thank WFAN for fanning those flames.
WFAN in New York holds its 20th anniversary celebration this weekend with brining former original hosts back on the air, including Jim Lampley, Greg Gumbel, Steve Somers, Howie Rose and Art Shamsky. Since the station does audio streaming, you can hear on the WFAN website, Lampley's apperance from 3-to-4 p.m. Sunday PDT, as well as the rest of the lineup.
A brief history:
The all-sports format began for WFAN on July 1, 1987 at 3 p.m. on 1050-AM and already had been serving the New York Mets as their flagship station. Don Imus left WNBC to join WFAN in October, 1988, when the station moved to 660-AM, and the Knicks and Rangers joined at the same time. Chris Russo and Mike Francessa became an afternoon success after they teammed up on Sept. 5, 1989. The Jets came on in 1993, the Giants in 1999, and the Devils and Nets in 2004. From 1995 to 99, WFAN was the top-revenue generating radio station in the country.
Somers, aka the Schmoozer, could even have "Jerry from Queens" make a call to his show this weekend. That would be comedian Jerry Seinfeld, whose come onto the show several times over the years to co-host.
"I ran into Jerry one time at about 1:30 in the morning at a neighborhood grocery store in 1992," said Somers, who lives in Manhattan. "At the time, the comedy club, Catch a Rising Star, was nearby. It was a very hot July evening and I went to the store to get some ice cream. I saw two other people in there -- Seinfeld, and George Wallace, his good friend and another funny comedian. Jerry is actually looking for some cereal. I do a doubletake when I realized it was him. I finally took a business card out of my wallet and, hoping he knews the radio station, I said, 'Hey, I'm a fan and I wanted to say hello, I couldn’t resist, I work at WFAN ...' He looks at the card and, without making any eye contract, sayd, 'You're Steve Somers? I hear you all the time.' We've had a nice relationship ever since. He's a big Mets fans."
Actors Tony Roberts and Charles Grodin , comedians Steven Wright and Andrew Dice Clay and the late actor Bruno Kirby are, and were, other noteworthy callers to Somers' show, which has stayed in the 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. slot since 1995, after the station tried him out in the afternoons for five years but moved him back to where he was more at home.
More Q-and-A with Somers:

Q: What do you remember most about your days doing sports TV in L.A.?
A: "Stu Nahan was the sports director, and Bryant Gumbel was doing news, and I was there on the weekends as an anchor and weekdays as a reporter. They know me here in New York as 'The Schmoozer,' but I really got that from Stu. That's what we called him. I think Nahan and Gumbel loved the pieces I'd put together for the broadcasts. I was writing in a fun way about the issues going on in the toy department. We produced all the things we did ourselves back then.
"I keep in contact with a lot of people back there. My agent Steve Linett lives there. I also have who I call my gardian angel there, Ed O'Sullivan, in Newport Beach, who's 82 years old, a USC football season ticket holder who may have missed only four home games in 45 years. I couldn't have made it through all the business end of things without him. He helped me out a great deal when my dad died in 2003, and I think I talk to Ed now about once a week. And I also have a couple of cousins in Encino.
"I also did some sports-talk at Gene Autry's KMPC back then, but I left in '82 to go back to Sacramento and do TV. And from '84 to '87 I was out of work until we made contact with WFAN."

Q: What attracted you to move to New York to join this all-sports radio format?
A: "The station was trying to decide what to do with its overnight shift. It could repeat daytime programming, it could use syndicated programming, or I could do a live show -- which is what I begged them to do. I was hired back on my video resume.
"Radio here is very personal and intimate, and they adoped me right away Some people who've been hearing me the last 20 years say I kept them up through their night-time job, or through school. The people latch onto you like a member of their family.
"I thought New York was a sports town, and it really is. I was the first overnight guy and I was worried on one would call. But there were , and you can't get through at 2 a.m just as if it was 2 in the afternoon.
"I've become user-friendly. I’m famous for my monologues now and that was something I could always write, writing for the ear instead of the eye. I do humor, the light side of sports. I’ll find humor in everything and I'm looking to have a good time. Most others treat sports a little more seriously but they know I can do it when I have to.
"When I first got on the air, I said I was a 79-year-old from northern India, from the town of Simla. I said my father was a turbin maker and he wanted me to come here to be a cab driver. Now I guess some people think I'm 99 and still working.
"They once tried to move me to a 10-to-2 shift in the daytime, and I really missed the overnights, with my connection to the callers. That lasted five years, and now I'm back at nights."

Q: A native of the Bay Area and having traveled across the country do you consider yourself a New Yorker now?
A: "The author E.B. White once wrote about three kinds of New Yorkers. One is the native that provides the city with its continuity. Another is the commuter that provides it with its wrestlessness. I'm in the third category: The person who looks at New York as a destination and provides it with its passion. I always looked at New York as my goal. My objective was to come here and do Broadway at one time during my career. As a kid, I thought of New York as the biggest place to do anything with sports. I was wrestless coming from California but had the passion to continue my career there."

Q: What are your thoughts about not having Don Imus as the morning anchor for the station?
A: "We miss him, on every level. He certainly said something out of place and he apoligzed and those offended accepted it. We'd have liked to have seen him continue with improtant discussion about those issues. I think it's gone by the wayside now. There was so much publicity about all that. I'm the last to hear what's going on here. I just mind my own business and and hope I'm cointributing to the station."

==Speaking more about sports talk show guys ...
Don Barrett, the writer/creator of the Los Angeles radio insider website, LARadio.com, tossed out the question: "Is T.J. a Hypocrite?" It was in response to KLAC-AM (570) morning co-host T.J. Simers' point that he had a problem with blog writers who continue to make inroads in delivering sports opinion and news despite the fact that "most bloggers haven’t done as much writing in their lifetime as sports writers who worked at small papers and worked their way up, word after word after word they’ve written. It’s just experience. It’s practical. I’m not being nasty. It’s just a matter of how much experience you have.”
Barrett notes that, from the KLAC website, the L.A. Times columnist has also written for the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Rocky Mountain News and The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, was a sports editor for the Morristown (N.J.) Daily Record, the Beloit (Wis.) Daily News and the Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Press, and an assistant sports editor for the DeKalb (Illinois) Chronicle.
On our end, we agree with Simers, making some distinction that many of those who blog at newspaper sites are staff writers who do it on the side, so there's a better sense from the reader that their journalistic training -- a background in knowing what constitutes plagerism, libel, and other ethical behavior, not to mention experience gained in investigative reporting, use of sources, interviewing technique and generating credible stories -- has more depth than someone who has just stumbled upon a keyboard and generated witty opinions. In the end, they have to answer to themselves, not an editor, lawyer or someone with an experience in checks and balances. They often don't retract false accusations, have no problem with copyright infringements, and are left to their own devices when it comes to establishing some credibility. Their charm of acting as free speakers can also lead to their detrement.
Meanwhile, Barrett's take on Simer's rant:(It) seems a little thin since his own radio experience before taking over morning drive on a 5,000-watt heritage station in Los Angeles was doing a one-hour Sunday morning show with his daughter, who also had no prior radio experience. L.A. radio is filled with personalities who have come from the world of lawyering, sports and other professions. But why does he put down bloggers because they didn't take the nomadic journey of smaller markets to medium markets to eventually make it L.A.? Isn't this a tad hypocritical? You be the judge.
Simers discussed Barrett's opinion on Wednesday's show with co-host (and daughter) Tracy and Fred Roggin.
"I think the daughter and I proved you don't have to know anything or have any talent to do radio," said Simers.

==NBC's 37 hours of Wimbledon coverage starts Saturday with Ted Robinson, John McEnroe, Mary Carillo and Bud Collins, from noon to 3 p.m. (delayed) and Sunday (same time, with replays of matches from the week since there's no action that day). The network also presents taped coverage from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, expanding it to five hours (noon to 5 p.m.) Thursday July 5 and Friday July 6 for the women's and men's semifinals.
The women's final Saturday July 8 (6 to 11 a.m.) and the men's final Sunday July 9 (6 a.m. to noon) are live on KNBC-Channel 4.
McEnroe, on whether the sport is ready for a new rivalry: "I think any individual sport needs that and benefits from that. I think you see that happening to a large degree with Federer and Nadal. The women not as much because of health issues and people missing a lot of time, and also the difficult situation of the Williams sisters when they were the two best players in the world. They actually had to play each other. And that's just so weird. We kind of build the rivalry based upon this unbelievably bizarre situation. What are the odds of that happening, five billion to one? I don't think it ever happened in the history of any other sport. I can't think of any sport, where the number one and two players in the world were sisters.
"It was awkward for them to play each other. It is incredible, but it ended up being awkward. And that's too bad for our sport. We couldn't figure out how to deal with it. Subsequently, they weren't playing as much, and now I think the game has changed a lot. They have to market the game better and to know the players better because then there is a better chance that there will be an emotional response to what they are watching, and a better chance that you'll see rivalries."
Meanwhile, those following Wimbledon's early rounds on ESPN2 this week might have caught Dick Enberg calling the Tim Henman-Feliciano Lopez match that started Wednesday and ended Thursday with Cliff Drysdale. ESPN2 is trying to change up the annoucing pairs to break away from just play-by-play/analysts. Enberg and Drysdale, both known for play-by-play, were able to allow Drysdale to give more of his Wimbledon history (he's a two-time semifinalist and started playing there in 1962). Other mix-and-match teams have been Patrick McEnroe with Luke Jensen and Mary Carillo with Mary Joe Fernandez.
Just a reminder, while ESPN2 has the men's quarterfinals live on July 4 (5 to 7 a.m., and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), ESPN has its annual Hot Dog Eating contest coverage from Coney Island (9 a.m., repeated on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.).

==TV Week's Website also reports there was some miscommunication on why neither NBC nor ESPN was televising any of Wimbledon in high definition this year. It's coming next year, according to NBC.

==Video of Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard talking about her Playboy nakedness on a recent FSN "Best Damn Sports Show Period" is at this link ...

==TBS has a one-hour special annoucing the Major League Baseball All-Star rosters, on Sunday at 1 p.m. following the Atlanta-Florida telecast. Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., the recently selected Hall of Famers, are in the studio with Ernie Johnson for the announcement, and both say they think Barry Bonds deserves a spot on the NL roster, even if he's not voted in. " There has to be one guy from each team and there’s no question that he’s having the best year on his team," said Gwynn. "(The All-Star teams) are playing in his home park, so I think he deserves to be there. There is lots of controversy to Barry Bonds, but when you look at numbers and you look to see who would be the best representative for his club, I think it would be him. It’s even more of a special honor (to be an All-Star) when it’s your own park and I think he should experience that.” Adds Ripken: "Yes, there is a shadow that is hanging over the top of him, but when I think of Barry, I think of him as an All-Star player and sometimes you have to have those All-Stars that are considered ‘career All-Stars’ at the game because that’s what makes the All-Star Game so special. I don’t get so caught up in the suspicion and speculation, I’d like to assume that everything is on the up and up, and I’d like to see him at the All-Star Game myself.”

==The annual Sportscaster Camps of America, a cross behind a fantasy camp for sportscaster wannabes and a workshop for those who take it serious, is set for its 23rd year for July 11-15 in Long Beach. Approximately 50 campers aged from 13 to 53 have signed up to hear from former participants who'll share their experiences and knowledge, including former UCLA quarterback and current ABC college football analyst David Norrie. It may not be as glamorous as when the camp in its heyday had Ronald Reagan deliver the commencement address in 1990, and included such instructors as Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Roy Firestone, Jim Rome and Ernie Harwell, but what's the harm? Roy Englebrecht is still accepting applications at www.sportscastercamp.com.

==Bill Macatee anchors the 18th hole tower with Nick Faldo for this weekend's coverage of the PGA's Buick Open, in Michigan which will be without both Jim Nantz (in the booth) and Tiger Woods (on the course, since he's staying home to babysit). No. 3 ranked Jim Furyk is the highest-ranked golfer participating.

==Budding soap opera star Mark Schlereth will work with Mark Jones on the ESPN2 telecast of the Avengers' Arena Football League playoff game Monday (7 p.m.) against Utah at Staples Center.

==ESPN has decided to travel to Blackburg, Va., on the campus of Virginia Tech, which not too long ago was the scene of the tragic student killings, to do its first 2007 "College GameDay" show (Sept. 1, 7 a.m.) before its own telecast of the East Carolina-Virginia Tech game at 9 a.m.. Right after the show ends, studio analyst Kirk Herbstreit will fly to Berkeley to work that night's Tennessee-Cal game on ABC at 5 p.m. Mike Tirico, Todd Blackledge and Bill Curry will call the East Carolina-Virginia Tech game on ESPN.
Herbstreit will apparently work every Saturday Night ABC broadcast, with Brent Musburger, according to flight schedules and personnel moves announced by ESPN this week. The rest of the roster includes: Chris Fowler, Doug Flutie and Craig James on ESPN Thursday night games; Mark Jones, Bob Davie and Stacey Dales on a new ESPN2’s Saturday primetime games; Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone, who previously did ESPN Saturday afternoons, move to ESPN’s Friday package and Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham and Jack Arute will do ESPN2’s Saturday primetime window to call games on ABC. Also, Dave Pasch and Andre Ware (with Erin Andrews) will do ESPN Saturday afternoon games. Mike Gottfried, a longtime ESPN analyst, has been tossed over to the ESPNU primetime games with Dave Armstrong, and former Miami coach Larry Coker will do some ESPNU games.
Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire, with reporter Bonnie Bernstein, will stay on ABC's regional Saturday broadcasts, as will Dan Fouts, Tim Brant and reporter Todd Harris. Also, Mike Patrick, Blackledge and Holly Rowe have ESPN’s Saturday primetime games.

==Hooking the umpires up with microphones and showing live webcast of batting practice on both FoxSports.com and MLB.com are among the elements Fox plans to roll out for its coverage of the MLB All-Star game from San Francisco on July 10. Two hours of live batting practice may not seem to be anything special, but it’s enough to where Fox will have Chris Rose and Harold Reynolds, the former ESPN “Baseball Tonight” analyst and current MLB.com employee, hosting it for an internet telecast that starts at 2 p.m., prior to the 5 p.m. game telecast.

==Univision's Spanish-language broadcast of the U.S. victory over Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup was the third-most viewed Spanish-language sports telecast of all time: 5.3 million viewers according to Nielsen figures. Last summer's Mexico-Argentina match in the World Cup, and February's U.S.-Mexico meeting in Arizona had larger audiences.

==A six-part reality show focused on David Beckham's wife, Victoria, has been shortened to a single, one-hour special called "Victoria Beckham: Coming To America," set to air on July 16 on NBC. Reports are that Victoria Beckham's shooting time was limited because she and her children spent time in Europe watching her husband's playing career finish with Real Madrid, and she was only in the U.S. a couple of times -- once to throw out the first pitch at a Dodgers' game.

==In an event of biblical proportions, the Israel Baseball League has its first TV exposure on PBS, locally on KCET-Channel 28 (5 p.m.), with a taped season-opening game between the Modi'in Miracle, managed by Art Shamsky, and the Petach Tikva Pioneers, managed by Ken Holtzman with former Oak Park High shortstop Seth Binder.

==And finally, Jimmy Kimmel, on a conference call with media writers this week to promote the fact he’s co-hosting the upcoming ESPY Awards on ESPN with Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, couldn’t resist seeing how far he could push the line when fielding some kinda lame questions.
Such as this one:
Question: Do you get imput on the nominees? And how could some of your own prejudices come out on the show?
Answer: “Yes, the host gets to choose all the nominees, and I did choose them all. As far as prejudices, I’ve decided this year to let Mexicans participate. So everyone seems pretty exited around here.”

Posted by Tom at 02:33 AM | Permalink

The lead item in Friday's "What Smokes" part of the Daily News media column is this exclusive:
Dan Patrick, c’mon down? The price may be right in luring the ESPN/ABC personality and weekday ESPN Radio sports-talk host, who sources insist has been contacted by the producers of the legendary game show “The Price Is Right” and is on the short list of those who’ll be asked to take part in auditions to replace the retired Bob Barker, who recently ended his 35-year run. Patrick wouldn’t comment on the report except to say: “Len Barker was always one of my favorite pitchers.”
Other names tossed around in the media as Barker replacement contenders include Mark Steines, the “Entertainment Tonight” host and former sportscaster at KCAL Channel 9; B-list actors George Hamilton and John O’Hurley, and (the biggest challenger) Rosie O’Donnell, who claims she’s out of the running, as if she was ever in it.
In a direct swipe at “Stump the Schwab,” TV Guide recently named “The Price Is Right” as the “greatest game show of all time." And don’t think Patrick, who once upon a time replaced the legendary Tim Brando on the set of “SportsCenter,” doesn’t know what he’d be getting into with the plus-sized female 65-plus demographic.

Posted by Tom at 09:31 PM | Permalink

During the funeral services today for former relief pitcher Rod Beck, the former Grant High standout who died last Saturday at age 38, Dusty Baker recalled a time when Beck helped the Giants turn a major corner in their 1997 season.
Melissa Isaacson, who covered the service in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Chicago Tribune, wrote:
Baker recalled perhaps Beck’s most dramatic save — in a September game in 1997 at Candlestick Park against the Dodgers, a game that propelled the Giants to their first division title in nine years.
Beck came on to pitch in the 10th inning and gave up three singles to load the bases as fans showered him with boos.
“Before the game,” Baker said, “this little girl in the stands by the dugout says to me, ‘Dusty, whatever you do, don’t bring in Beck today.’ I smiled and nodded my head and I thought about that little girl when I was on the mound (in the 10th).
“I told Rod, ‘All the knowledge you have gathered in your life, you’d better use it right now in this situation or it
could have a traumatic effect.’ “
Beck then struck out Todd Zeile and got future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray to ground into a double play.
“The franchise turned the corner because of that,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. “It empowered us to finish the season and helped us cross that bridge of winning the division title.”
Baker said he last saw Beck when he led the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley last August.
“When I saw him in August, he said he had a staph infection and almost died,” Baker said. “This is tough,
this is real tough.
“Death has no age. Some don’t make it to 38, some way past. I’m just glad we had Shooter around for as long as we did.”

Posted by Tom at 08:27 PM | Permalink

By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A woman who worked on the set of the ESPN talk show “Cold Pizza” is suing the sports network, saying she was fired after complaining about sexual harassment by the show’s host Jay Crawford and regular panelist Woody Paige.
In the suit, makeup artist Rita Ragone said she was pinched and fondled by Paige and subjected to crude sexual comments by Crawford at the show’s studio in Manhattan.
Ragone said Paige once grabbed her backside so forcefully, she was “propelled forward and into the air.”
“It is not true,” Paige said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He declined further comment.
ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said the allegations were false. He declined to discuss the specific charges in the suit, which also named Paige and Crawford as defendants.
Soltys said Crawford was upset by the accusations and read a statement in which the TV host said he “vehemently” denied the allegations and looked forward to answering them in court.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, claims the harassment began almost immediately after Ragone was hired by a video production company in 2005 to do hair and makeup on the “Cold Pizza” set.
Ragone said Paige, a columnist with The Denver Post, repeatedly made vulgar remarks about her appearance. Crawford, she said, made unwanted sexual advances, told her she only got the job because of her looks and contributed to a locker-room atmosphere by making disparaging remarks about another hair stylist.
Ragone said the situation was exacerbated by a few female employees who didn’t seem to mind the atmosphere, including a stylist who gave the men lap dances.
“Ms. Ragone had never worked in such a vulgar or obscene environment,” her lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
Ragone said she raised complaints with managers at ESPN and her employer, Atlantic Video, only to be told to keep quiet. Ragone said a manager at Atlantic Video fired her last year after she refused to let the complaints drop.
Atlantic Video President Ed Milligan said the company, which also is being sued, would defend itself vigorously.
“This lawsuit is without merit,” he said in a statement read by a publicist.
ESPN retooled and renamed “Cold Pizza” in May, replacing it with “First Take,” a similar program also co-hosted by Crawford.
Last October, baseball analyst Harold Reynolds also sued ESPN, contending he was wrongly fired after a female intern complained about what he called a “brief and innocuous” hug.

Posted by Tom at 06:16 PM | Permalink

Shaq wants kids to lose weight. He says so on a reality TV show.
And he wants them to write more better, too. That's why he's decided to lift these two scared youngsters on his shoulder.
Championing his cause of childhood obesity, Shaquile O'Neal has another reason why you shouldn't be wolfing down Milk Duds while watching the "Kazaam" DVD.
A company called Mighty Milk says Shaq is fronting an essay writing contest where the winning kid will receive $25,000 to spend on all the bubble gum and soda he or she wants. (Not really; it's a donation to your school in your name, to fix things up on the playground.) The essay, "Be Mighty, Get Active" is supposed to be on what you'd do with that kind of cash to make you and your friends be more active -- start a jump-rope league, fix up a field ... you get creative.
The "Be Mighty, Get Active" contest info is at www.mightyfoodz.com. The first 500 entries get a signed Shaq backpack. And if you get hurt after receiving all this new athletic equipment, Shaq can probably hook you all up with some Icy Hot patches.

Posted by Tom at 12:26 PM | Permalink

An eight-year contract extension between the NBA and ABC/ESPN and TNT announced today will really give each broadcast entity more Internet content and global rights as the league that can't get enough ratings for its finals has the juice to keep expanding.
No where in the fine print does it require each entity to show more of Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria when they attend an NBA game. It's up to the digression of each network.
Here's how it breaks down:
TNT: 52 regular season games, on an exclusive basis, 48 of which will be part of doubleheaders generally on Thursday nights, as well as Opening Night and holidays (e.g. MLK Day); up to 52 playoff games featuring exclusive coverage of its conference semifinals games and one full conference finals series; exclusive presentations of All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday events; enhanced digital media opportunities, including streaming TNT NBA games on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms such as TNT OverTime, which includes replays of the Inside the NBA studio show; interactive online elements such as selected camera angles, statistic feeds and video to complement TNT’s game telecasts; exclusive broadband and other content, including highlights and studio shows, for digital platforms.
ABC: A minimum of 15 regular season games beginning on Christmas Day and continuing on Sunday afternoons starting in January; exclusivity for all regular season, playoff and finals broadcasts; best-of-seven finals broadcast in primetime.
ESPN: Up to 75 regular season games primarily on Wednesday and Friday nights; up to 29 playoff games featuring exclusive coverage of its conference semifinals games and one full conference finals series; exclusive presentations of the NBA Draft, Draft Lottery and NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, as well as the yearly NBA Pre-Draft Camp via ESPNU; enhanced digital media rights to have the NBA deliver content for 17 platforms, including: ABC; ABC HD; ESPN; ESPN HD; ESPN2; ESPN2 HD; ESPNEWS; ESPN Classic; ESPN Deportes; ESPN International; ESPN Radio; ESPN.com; ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile Publishing; ESPN Mobile TV; ESPNU; and ESPN podcasts; opportunities to stream ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 games on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms; expanded international rights for game and studio telecasts to Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, cruise lines and studio programming to Europe; extension of agreements covering ESPN Radio, ESPN Classic and ESPN Deportes.
NBA TV: 96 regular season games on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays; up to nine playoff games; enhanced package of digital media opportunities.
And here, for one more time, is a shot of Jessica Alba you won't see on ESPN, ABC or TNT. Probably:

Posted by Tom at 11:03 AM | Permalink

As the headline act in Sports Illustrated annual summer double issue of "Where are they now?", the Hanson Brothers from the cult classic "Slap Shot" have made the cover in a story Austin Murphy wrote with the headline, "Goons Forever."
The "real" Hanson brothers -- Jeff and Steve Carlson, plus Dave Hanson -- continue to make personal appearances at minor league hockey games. There is a third Carlson -- Jack -- who was originally going to be in the 1977 movie but the Edmonton Oilers called him up for the WHA playoffs that year and he wasn't able to do it. So, in fact, the Hanson brothers were originally the Carlson brothers, of real, old-time minor-league hockey fame. Steve Carlson played for the 1979-80 Kings, scoring 9 goals with 21 assists (and a meager 21 minutes in penalties) in 53 games -- his only taste of NHL hockey. He also ironically coached the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL, which the team in "Slap Shot" is modeled after, from from 1988-92.
Among the others who are featured in SI what's become one of our most anticipated issues each year:
=Boomer and Gunnar Esiason: The 14-year-old son of the former NFL and current CBS studio analyst was the poster child for cystic fibrosis.
=Chris Hinton: The former NFL player who's become a winemaker.
=Robert Porcher: The former Detroit Lions sack artist has become a restauranteur.
=Hakeem Olajuwon: The former Houston Rockets and Hall of Fame center is into real estate management.
=Mo Vaughn: The former big leaguer and Angels bust of a first baseman is transforming blighted developments into livable communities.
=Picabo Street: The downhill skiier is pushing for children's rights.
=Mario Mendoza: The name synonymous with mediocrity is well respected in his native country of Mexico

Posted by Tom at 02:49 PM | Permalink

Someone has to let Shaq and his overweight kids know that if they're in L.A. the new few weeks, they can gulp down a Macho soda at Del Taco and get a Dodgers collector cup in the process.
That's phat, as the kids would say.
There are only 281 Del Tacos around Southern California making this offer, so hop to it. This offer started Friday and runs until July 27.
The cups feature Derek Lowe, Russell Martin and Fernando Valenzuela, but you gotta order the Macho meal -- which is normally the $1.69 soft drink, then spend another 89 cents for the Dodger cup.
Wanna bet Brad Penny can't drink a Macho cup full of milk in 15 seconds?

Posted by Tom at 11:51 AM | Permalink

If you've got some room on the TiVo memory for another reality show this summer, try the one that the Sundance Channel has been running since April called "Big Ideas for a Small Planet," a 13-part documentary series that runs through next month and has an episode on sports airing Tuesday at 9 p.m. (check local listings: on DirecTV, it airs at 6 p.m. and again at 7:35 p.m.). The series is linked to another series called "The Green," which gets into the issues more indepth.
The channel-provided info on what Tuesday's episode is about:
The close relation between playing sports and being outdoors has led many athletes and everyday sports enthusiasts to a heightened awareness of environmental issues. “Sports” follows three people who are dedicated to keeping the planet safe for athletic pursuits, among them:
==Alison Gannett, a world champion free-skier (pictured at right) who has launched an international tour called "Save our Snow" to raise awareness about declining snow pack and educate the winter sports industry about simple, affordable solutions;
==Craig Calfee, who created a line of professional-level racing bikes made from bamboo (the company headquarters is in La Selva Beach, between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, just south of San Jose);
==Jason Salfi, co-founder of Comet Skateboards, which distributes a line of stylish skateboards made from bio-friendly materials (note the painter above) and manufactured in a solar-powered facility (based in Oakland).
==A video link on the Sundance Channel to some of these episodes is here.

Posted by Tom at 10:11 AM | Permalink

(Mel Evans/Associated Press)
Former NFL player Lional Dalton sits on the set as he rehearses his script before making a video at the NFL Player Development Broadcast Boot Camp in Mount Laurel, N.J.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- How do you make a 300-pound NFL lineman nervous? Ask him to trade his shoulder pads for a tie, put him behind an anchor’s desk and tell him he’s on the air.
This is a different kind of NFL training camp: Boot camp for players who want to become broadcasters after their playing days end.
For men whose lives have revolved around physical gifts and skills they have honed since boyhood — in some cases, they’ve have never had to apply for a job — the camp represents a taste of the real world, possibly
a hint of things to come.
“As a football player, you believe in yourself,” said Tim Hasselbeck, a backup quarterback for the New York Giants. “You think you’re qualified to be doing what you’re doing.”
Like the other players, Hasselbeck is fluent in football speak, like “cover-2 defense” and “seam route.” But broadcast terms like “b-roll” and “roll cue” aren’t often uttered in the huddle.
“I’m back in Pop Warner now,” said Hasselbeck, pictured here, right, waiving a pen, as he listens to former NFL quarterback and current ESPN "Monday Night Football" analyst Ron Jaworski laugh while making a point.
Hasselbeck, one of the smoother wannabe broadcasters, can take pointers from his wife, Elisabeth, who works in television as a host on ABC's “The View.”
The four-day camp this week at the NFL Films headquarters in Mount Laurel was a new effort by the NFL and the NFL Players Association to prepare players for the inevitable: life after football.
The average NFL career lasts only about four years. And even the superstars who stay in the league for a decade and rake in millions of dollars are usually done by sometime in their 30s.
“No matter how much money you make, you still have 50-plus years (after football),” said Michael Haynes, a Hall of Fame player who is now the league’s vice president of player development.

(Mel Evans/Associated Press)
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, center, sits with other current and past football players as they listen to CBS Sports broadcaster James Brown speak during the NFL Player Development Broadcast Boot Camp.

The broadcasting seminar is the latest of several league initiatives for helping players get ready for those years. The league also pays for college courses, offers seminars at top business schools and gets recent retirees
coaching opportunities in NFL Europa. It also arranges offseason internships for players in other businesses.
In many ways, broadcasting is a natural step for ex-athletes. The players know the sport. And they know the other people in the game (“the fraternity,” they call it), which means they might have better luck getting calls
returned than non-athletes.
And while there aren’t nearly as many jobs for broadcasters as there are for players, it is a growing field, thanks to the NFL’s own 24-hour television network and the round-the-clock NFL channel on Sirius satellite radio.
Broadcasting also offers athletes a chance to stay around the sport they love. That’s why Ike Reese, who says his playing career is probably finished after nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons, wants to get into broadcasting.
At broadcast boot camp, there’s one lesson he learned first: “It’s a lot harder than it looks.”
Like the other players at the camp, Reese studied film of a key play from a playoff game last year, making note of why an Indianapolis Colts receiver was wide open. That was the easy part.
Then, the players had to sit under the harsh TV lights and explain it to CBS studio anchor James Brown — one of the big-name broadcasters teaching at the camp. They had about a minute to make the key
points and stay in sync with the videos they were talking about while remembering to look at the camera at the right time, have scripted remarks but not sound like they were reading them.
At one point, Reese got so flustered he slapped a stack of papers against his forehead.
As long as football has been televised, there have been ex-players analyzing it on the air. Some of them — think Joe Montana — got jobs on the strength of their football credentials, but did not last long in the booth.
Brian Baldinger, who played offensive line for three teams in the 1980s and early 1990s, has become one of the best-regarded game analysts. He and other instructors stressed that preparation is the key to being a successful broadcaster.
Baldinger said he didn’t realize how much work it would take to succeed. As rough as some of the players were at the boot camp, at least they know the challenge they face.
Lional Dalton, a 300-pound defensive lineman who has had radio shows in Kansas City, Denver
and Baltimore and is now weighing whether to keep playing, struggled through his on-camera bit with Brown.
Afterward, he said he’ll probably stick with radio. He’d rather be heard than seen when talking about sports.
“I’m a huge sweater,” explained Dalton, who is known as a locker room cutup. “It’s always hot on stage.”

Posted by Tom at 01:48 AM | Permalink

Marc Altheim, the founder and commissioner of the Beach Tennis USA Tour, says its hard to give his hybrid sport a real label.
"It's a finesse sport," the 44-year-old said. "It's eloquent in its simplicity."
In November 2003, Altheim was vacationing in Aruba with his family. After a game of tennis at a local resort, he walked along the beach with his tennis racket in hand, and saw a large crowd around the beach volleyball nets. They were watching a game, but it wasn't beach volleyball; it was beach tennis.
The BTUSA, which will stage its second tournament/demonstration just south of the Santa Monica Pier today starting at 10 a.m., which we covered in today's Daily News column, is drawing thrill seekers by the minute as those rollerbladers, cyclists and skateboarders heading along the bike path stop to try to figure what's going at the beach volleyball courts just beyond the large parking lot off Barnard Way.
The hope is to have 16 men's and eight women's advanced teams ready to start play in the pro-side of the tournament, with amateurs registering up to the minute on the other side, trying to see if their skillset matches up to their idea of how tennis can be played with that pippin'-hot sand under your bare feet.
Introducing the sport to an athletic-minded Southern California crowd may seem the easy part, but the net results are mixed.
“L.A. will always have competition for your time, and the thinking of many around here is they don’t want to make a decision until tomorrow about what they’re going to do, so we try to be flexible in filling out the brackets,” said Alex Querna, the BTUSA executive director based in the organization’s offices at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach. “But once they find it’s an easy learning curve, they have fun regardless of their level of ability.”
Hoping to create as much buzz as an AVP's pro beach volleyball event, the BTUSA Tour parties on through Santa Barbara and Long Beach later next month before finishing up in New York on Labor Day weekend.
For a better feel about where it's come and where it's heading, here's more of a Q-and-A with Altheim:

Q: How would characterize the way last year's introduction event in Santa Monica played out?
A: "Santa Monica was the California debut. That stretch of beach is a perfect place for traffic. Santa Monica is a quintessential beach community known throughout the world. We made a little boo-boo by having it too early in the year, in April. A lot of beach-goers aren't there that early in the year, but it ended up being a good tournament with a high level of quality players. Most of them were former college players from USC or UCLA, or current tennis pros at various facilities. That's the kind of people this tends to attract, those who may have just missed out on playing on a pro tour, but tennis is still their first love. Singin Smith (the former pro beach volleyball star) was our MC and he'd seen the sport and was hitting the ball around with everyone. He thought it was a worthy venture, and that's a good thing for a guy of his stature. Steve Bellamy, then of the Tennis Channel, also came down and saw us, which led to a deal with them."

Q: Do you have problems explaining beach tennis to those who ask, or is the name enough of a clue about what's involved?
A: "The first question I always get is: Does the ball bounce? The typical disparraging, at least in my eyes, is the comparison to badminton. Maybe at the highest level of the game, but not from an elementary school gym level. There are a lot of diving and trick shots. It's just that we have a depressurized ball. Whether you play tennis or not, if you're a pro or not, to a person I can tell you no one says, 'What the heck is this?' They just love it and ask why someone hasn't done it before?
"We've had some critics, but we've been featured in tennis magazines, so that helps with credibility. The International Tennis Federation has been watching us from afar. Unbenownest to me, a similar-type sport has been going on in Italy, Germany and pockets of Europe for 20 years, but with a paddleball. The version I found in Aruba was much different. I really think we're a different sport, a cousin of tennis in a way the ITF can get behind us."

Q: Do beach volleyball players have a tougher time making the transition than tennis players?
A: "Maybe 20 percent of those who play it are non-tennis players, more beach volleyballers or surfers. I played beach volleyball and it's a much more difficult comparison. Our main component is a racquet. It's harder to teach a 7-year-old how to play beach volleyball. Beach tennis is a simple learning curve."

Q: What's the five-, 10- and 20-year plan for this?
A: "Beach volleyball really set a trail for us, and one day I'd like to see beach tennis in some sort of Beach Olympics, with sand soccer, beach wrestling, the whole carnival atmosphere.

Q: What's your background in getting this off the ground?
A: I majored in sports representation in college but ended up building homes for a non-profit homeless group before heaidng into lawschool and developing real estate in New York. I guess deep in my soul I always was idea-orientated and creative ... and a total beach bum.
"I watched enough ESPN2 and saw a need for content on the sports landscape. If you can show ping pong from 10 to 11 p.m. on a Thursday night, why not this? I felt there was a vaccuum for more content. And with this, it's been validated.
"My goal isn't to get rich off this. It's just to bring it to the U.S. and allow people to enjoy themselves. Maybe someday a Nike or Gatorade will see it and then the sky's the limit."

For more on the tour schedule (which has stops in Santa Barbara on July 14-15 and in Long Beach on July 28-29 to complete the West Coast Series), official rules and other FAQ, check out the Beach Tennis USA official website, which includes a video highlight package of the 2006 season.

Posted by Tom at 01:38 AM | Permalink

We've got plenty of reservations about just how much of a deal it's become to park your extra-wide seat and enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet of rubber wienies, watered-down Cokes and stale peanuts in the right-field Dodger Stadium seats that now for for $35.
But if you're gonna make a list of the 10 best places to see a baseball game in the major leagues ....
Josh Pahigian, who writes for ESPN's travel section of their website -- yes, one exists -- came up with a Top 10 list. And, after raving about what it's like at the top of Fenway Park's Green Monster, Wrigley Field's bleachers, AT&T Park's McCovey Cove and Petco Park's grassy knoll in center field, there came this at No. 10:
10. Dodger Stadium, Right Field Pavilion
Perhaps the Dodgers were following some counterintuitive logic when they decided to offer an all-you-can-eat ticket deal for their Right Field Pavilion. After all, this is L.A. — the land of sculpted bodies, vegetarians and late-to-arrive, early-to-leave rooters. The chances of seeing the Dodgers faithful eat their team out of house and home would seem less likely than, say, the heavy-eating fans of the Midwest, should one of their teams ever offer an unlimited bratwurst deal. Just the same, for the reasonable price of $35 fans who sit in the very seats where Kirk Gibson's legendary home run off Dennis Eckersley landed can enjoy as many Dodger Dogs, nachos, peanuts and sodas as they can swallow in nine innings.
That's all fine and dandy, but did he happen to mention the ridiculous bathroom situation down there?
The best part about this link is looking at the Top 10 Minor League Best-Seat choices, and seeing them in this photo essay. It makes you wonder why no one on the big-league level has figured this out yet.

Other links:
A recent posting on the la.foodblogging.com site about the pavilion experience;

Posted by Tom at 05:53 PM | Permalink

By ROB MAADDI
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA -- Mitch Williams was signing autographs before the Philadelphia Phillies played an interleague game last week when a young boy spotted the former reliever in the suite level.
“Dad, dad, who’s that guy?” the excited voice shouted. “Did he play for the Phillies?”
The father stared toward the pitcher once known as “Wild Thing,” and muttered a profanity under his breath. He shook his head and turned away before answering the child’s question.
“Well, son, that’s the bum who blew the ‘93 World Series for us. He broke our hearts,” said Ralph Venuto, a 37-year-old lifelong Phillies
fan.
Without hesitation, 6-year-old Matthew looked up at his pop and replied in typical Philly fashion: “He stinks!”
Fourteen years later, some still haven’t forgiven Williams for surrendering the game-ending homer to Joe Carter that gave the Toronto Blue Jays their second consecutive World Series title. It was an agonizing
defeat for a team — and a city — that’s too familiar with losing.
No franchise in any sport has lost more games than the futile Phillies. Now, they’re nearing an ignominious mark: 10,000 losses. Going into Friday night’s game at St. Louis, the Phillies were 10 shy of that unimaginable number.
It would take one loss every day for more than 27 years to reach 10,000. To make it worse, the Phillies have just one World Series championship (1980) in 125 years
“If you’ve been around that long, you’re going to have a couple losses,” reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard said, minimizing a milestone the current players would rather not discuss.
In a hard-core sports town with passionate fans starved for a championship — it’s been 24 years since the 76ers
captured the NBA title — a few of the faithful have chosen to embrace the moment and commemorate many years of misery.
One Web site, www.celebrate10000.com, offers long-suffering fans an opportunity to share stories and buy a T-shirt or pint glass stamped with the box score from the 10,000th loss. Site founder Charley Debow is a season-ticket holder who grew up in nearby Willow Grove.
“It’s not to throw mud in the Phillies’ faces,” the 28-year-old said. “It’s to show the city and the world that Phillies fans are a different breed. To go through all the losing and we still follow them. Every year when spring training comes, we forget about last year.”
Some fans want to celebrate with a parade on Broad Street, a tradition normally reserved for championship parties and the annual Mummers march on New Year’s Day, Philly’s version of Mardi Gras.
“I was 3 when the Sixers won, so I don’t remember it,” said Joe DiRenzi of South Philadelphia. “At the rate these teams are going, I might be 50 before somebody wins again. Might as well celebrate this. We’re the best at losing.”
Don’t expect the Phillies to go along with any wild plans. They won’t set off fireworks, flash “10,000” on their giant video screen or even acknowledge the dubious achievement. And, really, why should they?
“We don’t celebrate losing,” said Larry Shenk, vice president of public relations. “In my lifetime, the only team that celebrates losing is the Washington Generals when they play the Harlem Globetrotters.”

Shenk joined the team in 1964 — the year of the infamous collapse when the Phillies held a 6½-game lead with 12 to play only to blow the National League pennant by losing 10 straight.
A generation of fans remains haunted by the way that season ended. Old-timers still blame manager Gene Mauch for panicking and starting aces Jim Bunning and Chris Short seven times during the losing streak. Those who witnessed Cincinnati’s Chico Ruiz steal home with slugger Frank Robinson at the plate in the 1-0 loss that started the skid still have nightmares about that play.
“The Reds manager (Dick Sisler) said if Ruiz would’ve been thrown out, he should’ve just kept running back to the minors. Nobody did that with Robinson at the plate,” said Joe Cammarota, a fan since 1943.
Thrifty owners concerned more about the bottom line than winning it all have plagued the Phillies throughout the years. Even when they spent the big bucks, it didn’t always pan out. High-priced free agents often flopped in Philly. Die-hards still shudder when they hear the names of Lance Parrish, Gregg Jefferies and Danny Tartabull.
Sometimes rewarding their own All-Stars backfired. Lenny Dykstra ($25 million) and Darren Daulton
($18 million) signed huge contracts after helping the Phillies win the pennant in 1993. Neither played 100 games in any season afterward due to injuries.
Pat Burrell ($50 million) earned a hefty deal after a breakout year in 2002, but his inconsistent performance has made him a whipping boy for frustrated fans.
It’s not uncommon to see star players demand trades, either. Curt Schilling and Scott Rolen forced their way
out of Philadelphia and won championships elsewhere. Others like J.D. Drew — yes, he’s the guy who had batteries tossed at him from the stands — refused to come here.
There were plenty of foolish trades along the way, too. In 1917, pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander was sent to the Chicago Cubs after three consecutive 30-win seasons. Pitcher Ferguson Jenkins (1966) and second baseman Ryne Sandberg (1982) also had Hall of Fame careers after being traded to the Cubs. And, the still active Julio Franco was one of five players sent to the Cleveland Indians for Von Hayes a
quarter-century ago.
It was just an odd coincidence that pitcher Don Cardwell tossed a no-hitter just two days after he was traded to the Cubs in 1960. At least the Phillies got second baseman Tony Taylor in that deal.
Fans were thrilled when All-Star pitcher Freddy Garcia was acquired last December. But, Garcia has one win and a shoulder injury that may require season-ending surgery. By the way, he’s making $10 million this year.
Somehow the wrong brother always ended up in Philadelphia. Vince DiMaggio, Frank Torre, Ken Brett and Mike Maddux played for the Phillies. Joe DiMaggio, Joe Torre, George Brett and Greg Maddux never did.
Originally called the Philadelphia Quakers, the team’s name was changed to “Phillies” in 1890. Though they briefly used the alternate name “Blue Jays” in 1943-44, the Phillies are the oldest continuous one-nickname, one-city franchise in American professional sports.
The Quakers replaced the disbanded Worcester Worcesters and played their first game on May 1, 1883. Of course, they lost that one and finished 17-81 in their inaugural season.
In 1904, the Phillies lost 100 games for the first time. They would reach triple digits in defeats 12 times from 1921 to 1945. A 23-game losing streak in 1961 — the only year the Phillies lost 100 games since ‘45 — is the longest in baseball’s modern era.
It hasn’t always been losing and bad times, though. A close look at the numbers shows the Phillies actually have a winning record in two of the three centuries they’ve existed. They had a .518 winning percentage in the 1800s and entered this season at .508 in the 2000s. The 1900s were tough, with 1,290 more losses than wins.
Since moving to Veterans Stadium in 1971 and then to Citizens Bank Park in 2004, the Phillies have posted a winning record overall.
Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt, Chuck Klein, Richie Ashburn, Ed Delahanty, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts and
Bunning played in Philadelphia all or most of their careers.
And, the Phillies have the Phanatic, one of the more entertaining mascots around.
The Phillies captured the first of five NL pennants in 1915, but lost the World Series to Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox in five games. It took 35 years for the Phillies to return to the World Series only to get swept by the New York Yankees in 1950. Led by Ashburn,
Roberts, Del Ennis and other youngsters, the “Whiz Kids” were supposed to be no match
for the mighty Yankees. But the first three losses were each by one run, including a 1-0 margin in the series opener when relief specialist Jim Konstanty was called on to start.
“That was the toughest loss,” said Maje McDonnell, a coach on the ‘50 team. “We could’ve had them if we won that first game.”
The late 1970s were the glory days around here. Schmidt, Carlton, Greg Luzinski and Larry Bowa helped the Phillies win the NL East division three straight years from 1976-78. But they failed to win the pennant each time.
After adding Pete Rose in free agency and replacing manager Danny Ozark with the fiery Dallas Green in 1979, the Phillies finally won it all in
1980. A thrilling five-game NLCS against the Houston Astros featured several comebacks and four extra-inning contests. Still, the Phillies had enough left to beat the Kansas City Royals in six games in the World Series.
The image of Tug McGraw throwing his hands in the air and leaping off the mound after striking out Willie Wilson to clinch the championship is a permanent fixture in every fan’s mind.
When the Phillies lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the 1983 World Series, they were an aging team finishing a
fine run.
A stretch of losing followed with only one trip to the playoffs in the past 24 years. The Phillies came close the last two seasons, battling for an NL wild-card spot down the stretch before disappointing in the final weekend.
With young stars like Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels, this team could be contending for a while. If they don’t make the playoffs soon, fans will blame manager Charlie Manuel, perhaps the most ridiculed man in team history.
After all, booing is as much a part of Philadelphia as the Liberty Bell and cheesesteaks.

Posted by Tom at 04:33 PM | Permalink

Tipping the scales toward doing more good than bad in his new reality show, "Shaq's Big Challenge," as we wrote about in today's Daily News media column, Shaquille O'Neal receives his own reality check: How will he be the super-sized poster boy to get childhood obesity reforms rolling in the school systems?
At one point in the first episode (Tuesday, 9 p.m., KABC-Channel 7), O'Neal's former LSU coach Dale Brown eventually tells him: “This is going to be harder than those four NBA championships you own.”
At least they're on the same page. Shaq no longer does ads for Burger King or Nestles’ Crunch chocolate bars. The governor of Florida just appointed him to his Council of Physical Fitness.
Now it's time to see what he can do, with this show as a possible lauching pad for more dialogue and action.
The bottom line will be if O'Neal can maintain his own weight issues while all this transpires. During his run with the Lakers that ended in 2004, he was listed anywhere from 315 to 335 in the NBA guides at age 31, although speculation that it fluxuated much higher led to author and columnist Charlie Rosen referring to him as “The Big Gourmand.”
“Right now I’m at 335,” the 35-year-old O’Neal proclaimed, “and I plan on staying around this weight.”
If anyone knows what it's like to have someone always asking about weight issues, it's O'Neal. His first plan of attack in talking to these six kids on the show was to make a connection right away.
"Some of them said they went through a slight depression because they were being picked on a lot (in school), and being tall and looking kind of awkward (as a kid), I could tell them, ‘I know what you’re going through because it’s what I had to go through’,” he told reporters on a conference call to promote the show.
Consider what Shaq is dealing with here:
=Walter, 14, weighs 285 pounds (which is what O'Neal weighed when he entered the NBA in '92). He's a sensative loner who hides behind playing video games. He says his favorite food is a "pizza burrito."
=Kit, 14, weighs 263 and is sheltered by protective, emotional parents who may be more of a mess than she is.
=Kevin, 13, weighs 230 pounds. He's able to do the most pushups of anyone on the first episode: six.
=Chris, 11, weighs 206 pounds and comes from a Cuban household of overweight parents. Video of him playing baseball for his local Little League team is painful to watch.
=James, 11, weighs 182 pounds with a dream to become a professional wrestler. His meal of choice is a "fryburger" -- a hamburger with french fries on top of the patty.
=Ariel, 14, weighs 211 pounds and says she's an emotional eater which started after her parents split up when she was younger.

"We live in a society where it’s easy for a kid to become inactive,” Shaq, who is also the show’s co-executive producer, told a group of reporters on a conference call this week. “They get on their PlayStation, they get on their Wii, they just do the iPod and get on the computer. It’s easy to eat a bag a chips or watch TV. You can overcome what you put in your body. I think this show is a beautiful idea because childhood obesity is a disasterous epidemic."
Only six percent of schools have mandatory physical education programs, the show says (not specifying if that's just in the Miami area or nationwide). And the school boards have been telling O'Neal that it'll cost more to improve the school lunch system.
O'Neal and co-exective producer Rick Ringbakk are trying to find answers.
"I know they’re probably going to try to throw a money thing in my face, but Rick and myself have developed a way to where it’ll be minimum change," O'Neal said about his lunch plan. "You know we can get better lunches for almost the same price, maybe a penny or 10 cent more."
Adds Ringbakk: "This is an exciting week for us. We’ve been at it for basically the course of the entire school year, and we’re finally reaching a point where we’re seeing the final results of what we’ve been able to achieve in terms of school lunches, what we’ve been able to achieve in terms of ideas for wellness and physical education within the schools, and we’re seeing the culmination of these six kids. So we have all of this information and – that we’re taking to the governor (of Florida) and we feel like he’s of the very same mindset that Shaq and his team are that this needs to be a priority. So we’re excited about the opportunity to take this – what we’ve been doing on a small scale and see if it can go on a grand scale."
Again, scale is the operative word.
As a tie-in for the show, online health company Waterfront Media is launching a site, ShaqsFamilyChallenge.com.

==Following up more on the ESPN "My Wish" five-part series that begins on Sunday's "SportsCenter," Make-A-Wish CEO David Williams said that when ESPN started this program last year, donations and referrals to the organization's website jumped during the month of July, bigger than any one month of the year in 2006. "We've never had more positive response for anything else we've done," said Stephanie Druley, the senior coordinating producer of the series for ESPN.
"It was an easy decision to do it again." Druley said what athletes get chosen to participate are all up to the Make-A-Wish foundation; it's not up to ESPN to peg an athlete and then ask if anyone had a request in to meet that person just to get a piece done. "We had a lot of athletes respond to the series last year, but we don't pick them," she said. “Michelle was very anxious to want to do this and juggled her schedule a lot for it. And in the end, she gave Dani her jacket from the Olympics.” The piece that airs Wednesday on "SportsCenter" throughout the day featuring Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan and 10-year-old Dani Krause, who developed a brain tumor when she was 7 that prevented her from skating, was fun to watch, said host Chris Connelly, because "the affection Michelle showed was great. They had a conversation about fashion and Michelle really locked in to her as a human being. That was great to see."

==NBCSports.com combines with ESPN.com and MediaZone, a leading global online broadcaster, to return with "Wimbledon LIVE" on-demand coverage of the All England Lawn Tennis Club's annual event across the pond. The service lets viewers pick and choose what matches they'd prefer to watch, from Centre Court and Court 1 to the seven other outside courts. The hitch is that it's a subscription service: $24.95 for an all access pass, $4.99 a day or $7.99 for the semifinals and finals. Orders are taken at Wimbledon.org/live, NBCSports.com and ESPN.com. This year subscribers will also be able to download an Acrobat Reader version of the official programme available for sale only on the Wimbledon grounds in order to enhance their overall experience.

==ESPN2 has four matches of the 2007 U.S. Women's National Team "Send-off Series," leading up to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China Sept. 10-30. It starts with Saturday's match at 2 p.m. against Brazil in New Jersey, with JP Dellacamera doing play-by-play and Julie Foudy as the analyst, as well as former U.S. National team coach Tony DiCicco. The series ends with the Aug. 25 match against Finland at the Home Deput Center in Carson at 6:30 p.m.

==Sunday’s "Outside the Lines" (9:30 a.m. ESPN; noon ESPNEWS) gets into the 35th anniversary of Title IX and how the legislation changed college athletics. Reporter Steve Delsohn talks to NCAA president Myles Brand about how Title IX is often used as excuse when universities cut men's sports, when actually budgetary reasons are more the reality. And he gets some backing up. "When you start to make decisions about what to cut, you look at squad sizes, and you look at how you comply with Title IX. You didn’t do the cuts because of Title IX, but once you do them, then you have to do them in conformity with Title IX," says Rutgers athletic director Robert Mulcahy, who decided it was time to cut six teams at the end of the 2007 school year.
Also, CSTV has a week's worth of specials on the Title IX anniversary starting Monday with "Road To Respect: 25 years of the Womens' Tournament" (5:30 p.m.), on the women's basketball tournament; a Matthew Modine-narrated story on Danielle Green-Byrd, the former Notre Dame basketball player who fought in Iraq and had a life-changing combat injury (Tuesday, 5 p.m.); and the Honda-Broderick Cup presentation (Friday, 5 p.m.) given to the top female athlete in college sports.

==The first Spanish-language TV spot featuring a NASCAR driver has been airing, focused on Juan Pablo Montoya using his Sprint Nextel walkie-talkie phone to talk to his wife about getting a plumber over at his house while his pit crew is changing his tires during a stop in a race. Last year, the Columbian native became the first Formula One driver to join the Nextel Cup circuit on a fulltime basis, making him the most high-profile Latino athlete in the sport.

==The publicity-conscious folks at HBO want to make sure you catch the closing commentary Bryant Gumbel makes on the latest episode of "Real Sports" -- another slam on NFLPA chief Gene Upshaw: "Finally tonight a few words about that popular new game: all pile on the Upshaw. The Upshaw is of course, Gene Upshaw, the titular head of the NFL Players Association who has become, with good reason, the sports world’s most popular piñata. Rarely a day goes by now when you can’t find Upshaw’s name in your local newspaper, generally being verbally assailed by folks with legitimate grievances. A number of ex-NFL players find him cruel and callous, a variety of folks are taking exception to his definition of disability, medical people are questioning his seeming lack of regard for player safety, some veterans have filed suit claiming he’s denied them millions in licensing fees, Congress too wants some answers up on Capitol Hill. Now instead of being professional, Upshaw, in response to all this has adopted the turtle defense, choosing to explain himself to no one. At a time when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is rightly using an iron fist to upgrade the image of active players, the players’ union boss has become the leagues biggest embarrassment, even stooping to physical threats against one of his critics. As one whose low opinion of Gene Upshaw is a matter of record, I can’t say I’m surprised. History suggests you can only deceive so many for so long. One can only wonder when the active players will join the growing chorus of those crying out for new leadership. It is, after all, their union. It’d be nice to see them reclaim it before they become ex-players, and find out the hard way why so many are so outraged.”
Remember, Gumbel does play-by-play for the league-owned NFL Network. No conflict of interest here in exposing his beliefs here, is there?

==Rivals.com, the college sports news site, has been bought up by Yahoo in a deal that has taken more than a year to complete, but still isn't finished. Some industry sources have the purchase price at $98 million, according to the Sports Business Daily. Fox Interactive Media bought college sports news site Scout Media for $60 million in 2005.

==Barry Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron’s all-time record of 755 home runs is enough for XM Satellite Radio’s MLB Home Plate channel 175 to break into its regular programming every time Bonds gets a plate appearance from now until the record falls. When Bonds is five homers away, XM, which typically carries the home-team feed for each MLB game, intends to carry the feed of every Giants game from local San Francisco sports station KNBR-AM so fans can hear the San Francisco station’s coverage.

==The NFL Network's Bob Papa and Brian Baldinger have the call on World Bowl XV, the NFL Europa title game, Saturday at 10 a.m. (with a replay Sunday at 5 p.m. for those who can only watch pro football in that time slot believing Al Michaels and John Madden may magically appear on the screen). The competing teams? We've got ... let's see ... the Galaxy (not of L.A., but Frankfurt) against the Sea Devils (of Hamburg) in a battle of German supremacy. The defending champion Frankfort, playing at home, is trying to be the first franchise to win five World Bowls.

==The Golf Channel celebrates its 10th anniversary of existence covering the 2007 PGA Professional National Championship, with the final three rounds today-Sunday at 3:30 p.m. each day from Sunriver, Ore. Select players are to be wired for sound to interact with the Golf Channel's Brian Hammons and Curt Byrum as they broadcast the event with course reporters Donna Caponi-Byrnes, Jerry Foltz and Michael Breed.

==Mike Greenberg, who lost a bet and had to milk a cow live during the "Mike & Mike in the Morning" ESPN radio show Thursday morning (simulcast on ESPN2 for visual effect), will be part of the B-team with partner Mike Golic on the ESPN "Monday Night Football" opening double-header telecast on Sept. 10. ESPN's main team of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser (plus Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya) do the Baltimore-Cincinnati game at 4 p.m., with Greenberg and Golic, the main team on AFL games, being joined by Mike Ditka for the Arizona-San Francisco game at 7:15 p.m. with Bonnie Bernstein. Greenberg, the so-called metrosexual, had to milk the cow named Sox because he lost in the NCAA basketball bracket last April to Golic. ESPN, of course, has two-part video streaming of the event on ESPNRadio.com (and more at this link) that surely they'll still share with anyone interested.

==Presenters for the ESPY Awards show, co-hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and LeBron James, set to tape on Wednesday, July 11 and air on Sunday, July 15: From the entertainment side: Dane Cook, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kate Walsh and Jamie Lynn Sigler. From the athlete's side: Matt Leinart, Maria Sharapova, Michael Phelps, Peyton Manning and Vince Young. More, of course, to be announced later when it's more vogue to commit to such a thing. Those who have said they'll attend include Reggie Bush, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Andy Roddick, Annika Sorenstam, Tony Dungy and, according to the ESPN press release, Wayne Gretsky (sic). Online voting for the awards starts Monday on www.espys.tv.

==And finally ...
A reader of Deadspin.com came across this episode of Sesame Street where this blue-faced, comb-over muppet was announcing a cheese race. The guy sounded familiar. Too familiar. It was ESPN's Chris Berman.
It's nothing new. Just one of those classic moments you can't forget if you've seen it before.
Here, look at it yourself:

Among the comments left on the Deadspin entry:
"Do you think he tried hitting on Snuffleuffagus?"
"The biggest suprise here is that Berman wasn't chasing the cheese."
"Somewhat less entertaining was the next segment, when a Muppet Bob Ley served Big Bird with his Senate Committee Hearing subpoena."
"As the proud father of two awesome little kids, I will admit here for the first time ever: WE OWN THAT VIDEO. And the segment is about as disturbing as you think it is. The rest of the video has a young Katie Couric telling us how to share."
"More body hair: muppet Berman, or actual Berman?"

Posted by Tom at 12:49 AM | Permalink

By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Columnist
This is exactly the kind of encouragement parents holding second mortgages to pay for trainers and summer camps do not need:
For the second year running, USC basketball coach Tim Floyd offered a scholarship to an eighth-grader.
“Hmmm,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino mulled over the news. “I’m not good enough to evaluate
that far ahead. Someday, I might wish I was.”
The kid’s name is Ryan Boatright, he’s 14, 5-foot-10 and from Illinois, and still not sure which Aurora high school, East or West, he wants to attend. But he won’t have that problem with college. Ryan left
Floyd’s basketball summer camp at USC last weekend with a promise to return in 2011. It may or may not be part of a trend.
Floyd is barred by NCAA rules from discussing specific recruits, but he said Thursday, “I don’t want this portrayed as if we’re hovering over some eighth-grader by himself. Families are involved and they view the opportunity for a $188,000 scholarship as something important to them.”
And indeed, Mike Boatright, Ryan’s father, said about the offer, “It shocked me.”
Not long after, however, he told the same interviewer, “I’m tremendously concerned. It could get ugly as far as kids getting jealous. I also don’t want it to get to his head. I want him to stay humble.”

About the only thing the recruiting process and real life have left in common is this: When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. So before this goes any further, it’s worth noting that none of what happened — Floyd’s offer of a scholarship, Ryan’s pledge to USC — is binding.
Floyd promised he would make good on his offer — “I will not back out of any commitment that we make.” he said
— even though NCAA rules bar coaches from making “official contact” with a recruit before his junior year of high school.
A spokesman for the organization said Thursday that contact between coaches and players at the summer camps was not considered “official.” If that sounds too convenient, at least it still reflects the reality on the ground. NCAA officials know that the kids are no more likely to keep their promises than the coaches and schools are. One of the pioneers of the ultra-early commitments was a McDonald’s All-American named Taylor King who pledged to UCLA and is now set to go to Duke.
“We have a responsibility to get the best players we can find and know what the competition is doing,” Floyd said. “And when they target an eighth-grader ...
“In a perfect world,” he continued, “we’d all wait until spring signing date when these kids are high school seniors. But that’s just not the world that we live in in college basketball. Am I supposed to wait until Duke or Kentucky
offer, and then it’s OK?”
Similarly, just because Floyd made the same offer last year to then-14-year-old Dwayne Polee Jr., doesn’t mean the 6-6 high school freshman from Westchester still isn’t on other schools’ list. Or
that Boatright, who was reportedly being chased by DePaul, Indiana and a handful of other schools, will be at USC until he actually signs a national letter of intent.
“Four years is a long time,” Pitino said, “and way too often, it just doesn’t work out for either side.
“Unless he’s Greg Oden, where you know he’s going to be that good down the road, I’m not sure what’s in it for the school. For the kid, on the other hand, it could be great — unless the school backs out.”
And no coach wants his feet held to the fire. Pitino recalled a ninth-grader who committed to Louisville, but wasn’t a good fit by the time his freshman year of college rolled around. He recalled a similar case where Florida coach Billy Donovan, his one-time pupil, had to convince another kid that he’d found three players at the same position in the interim.
“The only thing it’s guaranteed to do,” Pitino said about the signing, “is generate a lot of publicity.”
Try telling that to all those parents already in debt up to their eyeballs. With dollar signs in their eyes and college scholarships supposedly being handed out at summer camps like consolation prizes, it’s only going to get more
expensive still. This is called free enterprise.
Developing athletic talent is not only cheaper, but a whole lot less chaotic when it’s run by the government, or by
powerful clubs, such as the soccer teams in Europe. There, talents are identified even earlier than 14, catalogued, sent to academies, signed, trained and delivered to pros a few years later at fixed costs.
When high school prospects were skipping college and pouring straight into the NBA with all the attendant problems, somebody proposed that solution to then-deputy commissioner Russ Granik. He chuckled, thought it over, then pointed out that was never going to be an option.
“It sounds great,” he said, “but there’s no chance people in this country would ever go for that.”

Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org

Posted by Tom at 09:43 PM | Permalink

The NCAA eased its restrictions on blogging and now says live updates from its events are permitted as long as they are limited to scores and time remaining, according to an Associated Press report Thursday.
The issue arose last week after a blogger for The Louisville Courier-Journal was ejected from an NCAA baseball tournament game for submitting live Internet updates during play.
Bennie Ivory, executive editor of The Courier-Journal, said the NCAA’s latest position was evidence that “they made a mistake ... It’s no clarification.
NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said blogger Brian Bennett was asked repeatedly not to blog play-by-play reports because it violated NCAA policy as a “live representation” of the game. Bennett provided in-game blog updates during Louisville’s super regional series against Oklahoma State that gave the score and a brief summary of game
action.
“Any reference to game action in a blog or other type of coverage could result in revocation of credentials,” the policy stated, according to a copy provided to The Associated Press.
In a statement released Wednesday, however, Williams said the NCAA had issued “incorrect information” that live updates of any kind were prohibited.
“In fact, in-game updates to include score and time remaining in competition are permissible by any media entity whether credentialed or not,” Williams