July 2007 Archives

It was back in late May when we had the heads-up on the dirt on the Boycott Barry movement behind a group that's trying to make a visible stand against Barry Bonds' existence with their latest protest at Shea Stadium during a Giants-Mets game.
Tuesday, as the official BoycottBarry.com Website spells out, the protest moves back to Dodger Stadium, where in the past, ballpark security weren't shy about ejecting any fans wearing the Boycott Barry T-shirts or the Bonds red blindfolds. On Saturday, Aug. 4, the boycott moves to Petco Park when the Giants face the Padres in San Diego.
"Given Barry's home run situation, the timing could not be better (at Dodger Stadium)," said Daniel Kramer, the group's co-founder and the son of Robin Kramer, who is the chief of staff for L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Damage control runs in the family.
Since Bonds says he gets off on the booing that happens all the time at Dodger Stadium, the point of the protest will be the silent treatment. Let's see what it takes to get an entire 50,000-plus fans to shut up.
The Bonds blindfolds will also be distributed -- you're not supposed to watch him bat, but put the mask on instead.
Each game will be televised on FSN Prime Ticket, so if you're home, you can also protest by hitting the mute button. Except all that will do is silence Vin Scully.

Read more in the Daily News in the coming days about what's going in the protest, and what's happened to this group in the past.
T-shirts and hats ($15 each), stickers ($2) and blindfolds ($3) can be ordered on the site beforehand.
Probably wouldn't hurt to buy an extra-small one in case Bob Costas shows up.

The other day, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a column by Furman Bisher that wasn't all that complementary about the call the Dodgers' Vin Scully made on Hank Aaron's 715th home run back in 1974.
Fact is, ol' Furman has decided Scully's call was rather "irksome."
See if you can figure out where he's coming from:

You know — a term frequently used as punctutation by athletes who didn’t major in grammar — I’d never heard this thing until the other day, all these years since it was spoken in 1974. And no reason I should have, for I was at the Braves game that night, not listening to a broadcast from Los Angeles.
The Dodgers were in town, and Vin Scully was doing the game on his West Coast network. Henry Aaron had just hit his 715th home run, and old Atlanta Stadium was in hysterics, when Scully, putting his touch on the event, spoke into his microphone, “A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep South for breaking the home run record of an all-time baseball idol.”
Beg pardon? I don’t know what I’d have thought at the moment, for I’d have been too swept up in the event. Aaron had passed Babe Ruth. The most unbreakable record in baseball had been broken in our own precinct. Hank Aaron had broken it, and he was getting a standing ovation, and why not, I should ask? And why should it not happen in the South?
My god, this was 1974. Yes, this was the South, but there was something about the way Scully said it that made your hackles rise. We’d thought we had that pretty well worked out, and we’d had all winter to get ready for it. Aaron had hit No. 713 off Jerry Reuss the September before, and No. 714 off Jack Billingham on opening day in Cincinnati. No. 715 couldn’t be far removed.
So the human eruption came. People danced, cried out in delight, jumped and did wild things. A couple of young fellows leaped from the stands and joined up with Aaron around second base, then disappeared into the billowing crowd. (One of them is a lawyer in Atlanta today.) Neither of them had the color of Aaron’s skin on their mind, nor did any of us in that pit of glorious insanity.
Scully wasn’t sitting in a studio in Los Angeles. He was there in the middle of it in Atlanta Stadium, and it’s not as if he’d never been South before. His wife is a Southerner, from the county seat of my hometown. If this had been in the Bronx would he have announced, “A Harlemite is getting a standing ovation in New York City!”
Nah, they don’t pick cotton in New York, draw well water, milk the cow, or perform other such agricultural chores. I can tell you I have. I’ve done it all. It makes you sweat, but it doesn’t make you any different, no matter what your color. No doubt, Aaron had absorbed a ton of junk from the stands who had more than Ruth’s record on their mind.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds says his problem with Bob Costas has to do with his reporting, not the broadcaster’s height.
Bonds called Costas a “little midget man who knows (nothing) about baseball” following this week’s broadcast of HBO’s “Costas Now.”
“My reaction stemmed from my feelings about Costas’ statements during a broadcast,” Bonds said in a journal entry posted on his Web site. “The comment I made about him was off the cuff, and my problem with Costas is not with his height, but with his irresponsible journalism. If my choice of words offended anyone, that was not my
intent.”
Costas believes the San Francisco Giants star has used performance-enhancing drugs and said he viewed Bonds’ accomplishments as "inauthentic."
“I take great offense to those statements, especially coming from someone who is supposed to have journalistic integrity and not make blanket reckless accusations,” Bonds said in his journal entry.

The original blog entry we had on Thursday is here.
The Costas response to it is in Friday's blog media notes here.

NEW YORK (AP)-- The Maggie Dixon Classic has found a permanent home at Madison Square Garden, and her brother thinks that’s a perfect place to honor the late Army women’s basketball coach out of Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks.
“The Garden approached us last year, but we felt that the first one should be at West Point,” Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon said. “The next one should be at Madison Square Garden since that’s where all of basketball starts.”
The second annual Maggie Dixon Classic will be played Dec. 8 at the Garden with a women’s basketball doubleheader featuring Rutgers, Duke, Pitt and Army. It is the first women’s doubleheader there since 1981, when Rutgers, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion and Cheyney State took part.
Maggie Dixon, a North Hollywood native, died April 6, 2006 of arrhythmia, probably caused by an enlarged heart. Her death came three weeks after her first season as a head coach, a performance that won the admiration of the academy and all of college basketball.
“With the addition of these games to our schedule, we are proud to commemorate and celebrate Maggie’s passion for the sport,” said Joel Fisher, senior vice president, MSG Sports Properties.
National runner-up Rutgers will face Army in one game and Duke will meet Pitt in the other.
“I don’t think you could have picked four better teams with the tradition of their programs,” Dixon said. “The hope is to make this the premier women’s basketball event.”
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said the Classic is special because of Dixon.
“She embodied all that is good about this profession,” Stringer said.
First-year Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie was happy her team was part of the event.
“Maggie set such a high standard in all that she did,” she said.
The inaugural Maggie Dixon classic was held at West Point last season — a men’s and women’s doubleheader. Pitt’s men’s team beat Western Michigan and Ohio State routed Army. The highlight was a ceremony between games in which Maggie Dixon’s parents, sister Julie Dixon-Silva and Jamie Dixon were presented with a ring commemorating the 2005-06 Patriot League championship. Banners honoring that title and Maggie’s selection as conference coach of the year were unfurled at Christl Arena.
Jamie Dixon said he wouldn’t be able to attend the games at the Garden this year, but his parents and sister will be there.

This just in from ESPN's prodigious public relations department (and we're not making any of this up)!!!!

Los Angeles has been chosen as one of America's 30 leading sports cities! And ESPNEWS is gonna say so, on the air, for everyone (who has ESPNEWS) to hear!!!!

In another attempt to fill non-news during the slow summer months, ESPNEWS has announced it will feature 30 of the "leading U.S. sports cities" as part of a six-week city-by-city series starting Monday, July 9 ....
Oh, wait. So it's already started? Have we missed L.A.?
They're going in alphabetical order. So Los Angeles, thank goodness gracious, has its day on Monday, July 30!
(By the way, Anaheim had its day on July 9 ... That's Anaheim, not of Los Angeles, but of Anaheim. Probably no one watched).
So here's how to plan your Monday: The Hotlist (noon to 3 p.m.), the Pregame (4-5 p.m.) and the Gametime (5-7 p.m.) will have a "unique and customized" segment on L.A. during each of those shows!
Will it be something on Beckham! Kobe! Nomar! The turtle races every Thursday night at Brennans in Venice?
“City by City will take fans down memory lane to relive some of the biggest moments in each city’s sports history,” said Barry Sacks, senior coordinating producer, ESPN Studio Production, in a published statement that we have not doctored one bit.
Wow. L.A., one of the top 30. Still hard to believe.
Albuquerque can't say it. Nor can we spell it without spell check.

The Vick days of summer can lead to slim pickings when it's time to much about anything to throw out there, sports media-wise. We're wise enough to understand this, and relegate these news, notes and other press release material to the blog version, after you've exhausted all there is to see with the Daily News media column and notebook:

==ESPN added San Francisco-Florida games from AT&T Park tonight (7 p.m.) and Saturday (6 p.m.), using the broadcast team of Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser and Steve Phillips onl both games. Saturday's Fox regional window -- 12:55 p.m. to 3 p.m. -- precludes them from cutting into Barry Bonds' at-bats on that day. Southern California's market will see the Angels hosting Detroit on Saturday at 12:55 p.m. with Kenny Albert and Eric Karros (going to 45 percent of the country). Atlanta-Arizona goes to 48 percent, and San Diego-Houston to the other six percent.
Meanwhile, TBS.com announced it would offer free, live streaming of every Bonds at-bat leading up to No. 756, which could come at Dodger Stadium in a three-game series that starts Tuesday. That video stream will also be simulcast on MLB.com and CNN.com.

==Meanwhile, Bob Costas had his own retort to Bonds calling him "that little midget man" who dared suggest the Giants' super-sized slugger did something "inauthentic" while chasing the single-season home-run record. On HBO's "Costas Now," Costas brought on Curt Schilling as well as Patrick Arnold, credited with creating THG, or "the clear," which Bonds admitted to using, saying he thought it was flaxseed oil.
To reporters Thursday, Costas said: “As anyone can plainly see, I’m 5 (feet) 6 1/2 and a strapping 150. And unlike some people, I came by all of it naturally.”
Costas said he had a relatively good relationship with Bonds before.
“I’m one of the few people that he’s granted extended sit-down interviews to,” Costas said in quotes that appeared in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch. “I think anybody who knows my style through the years, whether it’s this or any other story, I’m not reluctant to express an opinion. But I’m not a pot-shot guy. I don’t deal in malicious stuff or
personal attacks. If I’m going to express an opinion, its going to be well-founded. This show was not about my opinion, it was about interviewing people and trying to get information. If I’m going to do (the report), it’s going to be done in a fair and even-handed way and it will go where the story leads. And where this story leads, inescapably, is the conclusion — with ever-more evidence and perspective — that, well, Barry Bonds was always a great ballplayer. (But) his late-career performances and the records he has set as a result are inauthentic.”
Costas said he also found it interesting that Bonds accused him of knowing little about baseball.
“When people have no credible argument, they resort to nonsense,” Costas said.
“I’d be happy to have a conversation with him either privately, one-on-one, or offer him an extended amount of time on the air for an interview that would be completely fair and comprehensive. I don’t want to debate him, I want to do my job.”

Read on ...

LONDON, England (AP) -- Mike Mangold flies Boeing 767s out of LAX for work. For fun, he prefers to fly a Zivko Edge 540 around aerial obstacle courses at speeds of up to 248.5 mph as part of the Red Bull Air Race World Series.
“It’s two different jobs,” Mangold said Thursday ahead of this Sunday’s race, the first in London. “Flying the 767 is a
management job getting people safely from A to B. When you fly these things, it’s fun.”
The pilots face off in a series of one-on-one matches judged on speed and precision in a knockout format that leads to a final showdown.
This means each stage-winner will have won four races where the slightest error might not just be the difference between winning and losing, but life and death.
“The whole thing is dangerous,” the 55-year-old Mangold said. “You’re flying over water, there’s no place
to land, you’re a couple of meters over the surface, fast turning with a lot of Gs.”

Reports of Barry Bonds' semi-meltdown before Wednesday night's Giants-Braves game, relating to a story on Bob Costas' "Costas Now" HBO series that gave former BALCO chemist Patrick Arnold a forum to discuss the future home-run king's steroid use, were both amusing and disturbing from our perspective.
"You mean that little midget man who absolutely knows jack about baseball, who never played the game before?" Bonds, who didn't play Wedneday, responded when asked about Costas' show, which had Arnold talk about Bonds' use of the substance he thought was flaxseed oil during his 2001 single-season home-run performance of 73 dingers.
"You can tell Bob Costas what I called him."
Not that we can't appreciate the subtle jab Bonds gave to the diminutive sportcaster. But trying to kill the messenger is a perfect example of what Bonds has been doing througout his career.
If only we had that on tape in an episode of "Bonds on Bonds."
Meanwhile, ESPN's "town meeting" on Wednesday in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, a poll conducted on ESPN.com asking the question -- “Do you want Barry Bonds to break the home run record?” -- produced 53 percent of responses saying "No," with 26 percent "Yes" and 21 percent "Don't Care."
As for Bonds' relationship with the media, former teammate Kirk Reuter said on the show: "The media would love to write bad stuff about him. I saw on a number of occasions everybody wanted to talk to him (after games). Well, he didn't want to talk every day. I think he got a bad rap because he'd tell them to get lost."
The show also included what was called the first public audio play of Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, talking about the “undetectable… stuff” he said he gave Bonds in 2003: “Everything that I’ve been doing at this point, it’s all undetectable… See the stuff I have, we created it, and you can’t buy it anywhere else… But you can take it the day of (the test), pee, and it comes up perfect.”
Lance Williams, the San Francisco Chronicle reporter who co-wrote the "Shadows" book that included leaked grand jury testimony, said on the show: “The press coverage of Barry right now is surprisingly positive, given these bizarre circumstances. Step back for a minute. He’s under jury investigation. His trainer’s in prison… It’s really an odd time, and yet quite a bit of the coverage is pretty upbeat.”

And, in an odd way, if you want to put Bonds into perspective with all else going on in sports this week:

Barry Bonds Home-Run Scandal Somehow Becomes Feel-Good Sports Story Of Summer

Ever since Notre Dame hijacked NBC into becoming its official programmer of all things Irish many years ago, we've been bouncing ideas off those behind the scenes at USC about launching their own TV network sometime down the road -- filling it with interview shows, classic games, live coverage of sporting events that a Fox Sports Net or other cable channel might be interested in but would have value to those supporters and alums of the school.
It seemed to make too much sense.
In a 500-plus channel universe, how could the Cardinal and Gold Channel not launch?
But then you see all the trouble networks like The Tennis Channel, The NFL Network, The Big Ten Network, etc., have in trying to get on with any success, being pushed to premium-tier channel packages ... Cable operators fight for customers in keeping their monthly rates down, while the networks try to wedge as much per-customer subscription fees to finance their programming. It's an ugly battle that plays out too often.
Instead, USC has done not just the next best thing, but probably has jumped ahead of the curve in taking the technology that's available and making it as useful as having a cable TV channel.
The university officially announced today that TrojanTV All-Access, a multimedia internet service that'll be available on USCTrojans.com will debut on Aug. 1.
It'll have live games, a library of classic games (some football contests going back to the 1930s), a daily talk show, other original programming, a coaches show ....
“This is a monumental, cutting-edge undertaking for us,” said USC athletic director Mike Garrett in a statment about the release. “We are extremely excited to be in the vanguard of this unique presentation of our athletics program, supported by our internet partner CSTV.com. We will be showing USC sports in a way nobody has ever shown their sports, with an almost TV station-like feel to it.
"The internet has become so video-based and TrojanTV All-Access reflects this trend. Trojan fans around the world will be able to watch most of our events live and we’ll take them behind the scenes like never before.”
All 19 of USC's men's and women's sports will be covered, with an emphasis on football and basketball. This means nearly all USC home sporting event will be shown live, with a pre- and post-game show.
If a game is on network or cable TV, it will be replayed almost immediately after it's over.
It comes with a price: $99.95 a year, or about five times what you'd spend on these ladies Brazlian bikini undergarments at this website. (Note, they also have a white ladies thong for the same price ... We aim to find you the best bargains in all that is USC).
You can also pay $9.95 a month for the same stuff if that $100 price tag frightens you away.
Stuff that's already free on USCTrojans.com will stay that way.
For more info, check out the website. And stop staring.

The ESPN tallywankers are calling its telecast of the Galaxy-Chelsea exhibition on Saturday, where David Beckham happened to play for the last dozen or so minutes, the most-viewed Major Soccer League telecast on either ESPN or ESPN2. Imagine if it was truely an MLS contest, and not one that just involved an MLS team.
Some 947,000 million homes, based on a 1.0 rating, was the final count that TV types like to suck on and analyze.
A 1.0 rating in cable land is probably just a little more than what an NHL game would bring. Or probably in the range of the Hot Dog Eating Contest, if you need the proper context.
The Sports Business Daily also notes that "MLS Primetime Thursday" telecasts on ESPN2 have averaged 0.2 Nielsen rating this season. To date on ESPN, MLB telecasts have averaged a 1.5 through 41 games and NASCAR Busch Series races have averaged a 1.5 rating through 15 races, while the NBA averaged a 1.1 Nielsen rating for 71 regular-season telecasts
ESPN says Beckham's debut was also the most-viewed and highest-rated program of the night on ad-supported cable networks among Men 18-49 and 25-54. The original overnight rating was a 1.2.
The previous best was 681,000 homes with a 1.0 rating for D.C. United vs. San Jose on April 4, 1996, the first MLS match in history.
Beck's game was also the most-viewed U.S. soccer national team match (excluding FIFA World Cup tournament) on ESPN or ESPN2. Previously, the most-viewed was a 0.9 rating for the Oct. 3, 1997, World Cup qualifying match between Jamaica and the U.S. on ESPN.
The next ESPN2 telecast of the Galaxy is Thursday, Aug. 9 at D.C. United.
So now we have a starting point to see where Beckham's TV appeal will go from here over the next five years. Or perhaps beyond?

If you missed Monday night's "Late Show With David Letterman," when comedian Drew Carey appeared to announce that he'd just accepted the new host role for "The Price is Right" -- sorry, Dan Patrick -- Letterman got into Carey's new-found passion for the Galaxy and why he considers himself a huge kickball fan all of the sudden.
And if there was anyone in the MLS marketing deparment looking for a celebrity spokesman for the sport and helping it come mainstream, the Drewmeister may be just as valuable as Beckham.
You may recall Carey was one of the celebs that Bonnie Bernstein tried to interview during Saturday's ESPN telecast of the Galaxy-Chelsea contest at Home Depot Center, and Carey was plenty distracted while trying to accomodate her inane questions as the game was going on because he was afraid he'd miss a goal -- something Bernstein didn't have such a problem with when talking to Jennifer Love Hewitt or Arnold Schwarzenegger, who were more interested in sucking the air out of the telecast.
Maybe this won't be the tagline the MLS would like to use if employing Carey and his new "Power of 10" TV cred, but consider when Letterman asked about the arrival of David Beckham, Carey responded: "Beckham is great. He's good looking. I'm gay for him. Yeah.
"He put his foot into his shoe to lace it up and the crowd went crazy. I'm wondering, 'Are they watching the same game?' I look up at the screen and he's stretching and bending over and the women behind him are all, 'Wooooo.'
"David Beckham is going to be good for soccer. Once you see a live game at that level, you're going to be hooked."
Can you see the promos now:
ADMIT IT: YOU'RE GAY FOR BECKS? IT'S OK. WE ALL ARE.
Carey's passion for the sport really came thought, as he talked about how he became a soccer fan, especially with the Galaxy, where he's been a season-seat holder for four years:"I'm from Cleveland and I can't root for other teams in L.A. I can't root for the Lakers, I can't root for the Dodgers ... I could, I guess, but I just wouldn't. If you're from Cleveland, you don't want to root for any other team. That'd be the day I be caught dead with a Lakers jersey going 'Whooooo!' They would crucify me back home.
"I missed going to sporting events (while living in L.A.) and Cleveland didn't have a soccer team, so I went to the Home Depot Center to see a Galaxy game and had such a good time, it was so fun live. Soccer's almost like my favorite sport right now. ...
"If you just watch your kids playing soccer, or high school or whatever you've seen growing up, you really haven't seen a game. When I saw live my first MLS game, and then my first international game, if you're from Cleveland, you have to have some action and you can't believe how violetn and rough and tumble professional soccer is. I mean, these guys really go at each other. Ninety percent of the time when you see these guys lying on the ground holding their knee, they're really holding their knee. Only about 10 percent of the time are they taking a dive."
Carey talked about seeing the World Cup in Germany last year, along with matches in Scotland and Latin America.
And talking about the World Cup:
"It's like we've been lied to about the Super Bowl being a big game once you've been to a World Cup. It's like three Super Bowls a day for two weeks, then ona day until the thing ends."
And about why some are turned off by soccer because of low scoring:
"But you can have a 2-0 baseball game and it's exciting, or a 14-0 football game and it's exciting ... that's two times a team scores. It's about the 'almosts.' How they almost scored. Once you get to know the game and rules and se ehow close they get and the near misses, you're on the edge of your seat all the time. In soccer, because there's no stops and you can't get up to go get a hot dog or go to the bathroom, the first year I was watching a game, I'd get up to get a Coke or hot dog and I'd miss a goal. When I got back from the World Cup and watched an NFL preseason game, I was bored to tears. And if Michael Vick is quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons this fall, I'm not watching any NFL."
The later statement drew a large applause, by the way (note to Roger Goodell).

Just a reminder that the latest class of inductees into The Shrine of the Eternals -- Yogi Berra, Jim Brosnan and Bill James -- takes place Sunday (2 p.m.) at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the Pasadena Central Library (285 E. Walnut Street), which is the highlight event of the year for the Baseball Reliquary.
In the vote for the 2007 class, James (35 percent) had the greatest support of the voters among 50 candidates, followed by Berra (34 percent) and Brosnan (31 percent). Casey Stengel (30 percent) and Bill Buckner (29 percent) just missed inclusion.
The Baseball Abstract author James expects to be in attendance; former Yankees catcher and Cooperstown Hall of Famer Berra won't be able to attend because of a perfious charity commitment and
former big-league pitcher and author Brosnan also won't be there because of health concerns.
For more info on the event, go to this link.
Baseball Reliquary executive director Terry Cannon can be contacted at this email address.
For a column that Paul Oberjuerge did on Bill James, which includes a Q-and-A, go to this link.
For a Washington Post review of Brosnan's famous book, The Long Season, go to this link. And another at ESPN.com is at this link.

ESPN announced it will add the San Francisco Giants' home game against Atlanta on Monday (7 p.m.) as part of a doubleheader on ESPN2. Dave O'Brien, Rick Sutcliffe and Erin Andrews is the motely trio sent to AT&T Park to pretent to be interested in reporting on Bonds' pursuit of 756 career homers. The game will be preceeded by Boston-Cleveland (Gary Thorne, Orel Hershiser and Steve Phillips) at 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, ESPN will conduct a 90-minute baseball "town meeting" on Wednesday at 3 p.m. from San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theatre near the Golden Gate Bridge that'll replace the usual SportsCenter in that spot. The topic will be "Beyond 756" aimed at a discussion about Bonds' legacy and how his breaking the all-time home run record will impact the future of baseball.
Pretty heavy stuff. Which is why Bob Ley will be the moderator.

With all-Beckham, all-the-time coverage of his maybe debut with the Galaxy on Saturday night at Home Depot Center -- ESPN sure hopes he's there, based on all the money its spending on covering it and having him on the cover of its magazine, a week after Sports Illustrated did the same -- it's interesting how perhaps the snappiest piece of commentary about L.A.'s newest sports thing comes from a fake political news pontificator, who in a very round about way has already made a connection between the lad and our steroid problem.
On Wednesday's edition of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," host Steven Colbert named Davey Beckham his "Alpha Dog of the Week," saying:
"I've had Beckham fever ever since he was at Man U and Posh toured with the Spice Girls. There will never be another act manufactured for focus groups half as good as them. But now, thanks to a $250 million contract with the L.A. Galaxy, Becks has crossed the pond and is marking America as his territory. There has been a media onslaught ever since the Becks have arrived on American soil. So you can imagine the feverish excitement when, at his first practice, Beckham ... stretched, and then sat out due to an ankle injury. He's listed as day to day at this point.
"It takes alpha-sized man crumpets to drum up that much coverage and cash and not do the one thing that is theoritically interesting about you.
"And bravo, Becks, for establishing a firm place among the big dogs of the American sports elite, like Barry Bonds, who sat out a whole series against the Cubs this week due to swollen ankles. You know what I hear is great for bringing that swelling down? Steroids."

We head forward, after today's Daily News media column and notes, with more to ponder, even non-Beckham related:

==More a Q-and-A with ESPN's Tom McNeeley (the coordinating producer for Saturday's Galaxy-Chelsea telecast), and analysts Eric Wynalda and Tommy Smyth:

Question: How big is this game for those who know little to nothing about soccer, and how will this draw them to the TV versus what the hardcore fans may want to see?
Answer by Wynalda (pictured): There are very few people who transcent their sports. You've seen it in the U.S. with a Jordan. This parallels more with what Gretzky went though, even though I wouldn't put Beckham on the same caliber with his ability toward the game. The amount of interest since the announcement came in January has been an ongoing clock. Now we start to gauge who'll be intested? Soccer moms, or someone who watches football and baseball but his wife is rearranging her schedule to watch this? We don't know yet. We can't answer that until after this match and then sort it out in a month or so.
Answer by McNeeley: We need to find the proper mix of soccer and entertainment here. The way young people watch TV now while online makes the ESPN360 coverage a great option to have. I know there's a perception that maybe ESPN hasn't done as much soccer that we're looked at through a magnifying glass, but during the World Cup we had a great run.
Answer more by Wynalda: The ESPN model is to service the fan everywhere at all levels. I don't feel the ESPN360 is any kind of disservice. It's just a different way to get into Beckham's world. In England, tabloids pay 250 million pounds just to know what he's eating for breakfast. This gives fans access to what he's doing at all times. I'm not saying we sneak into his house and watch him shower, but really, it's a helluva lot worse what they're doing across the ocean to him. It's all new for us. I applaud ESPN for putting the money into this and giving fans a serious look at him as opposed to sweepig it under the rug.
Answer by Smyth (pictured): I've watched soccer evolve and you don't get anywhere without taking chances. Kids today are born with a Playstation in their crib. If you're going to get kids involved you have to give them something to look at. In our sport, changes comes differently. We suggested two people do a game in the booth, and it was strange. Then we popped a clock and score graphic on the scrren, and that's now very common. What ESPN is doing is reacting to the public and what it wants. We'll cover it for everyone, from the hardcore fan to the soccer mom who just wants to look at Beckham and thinks he's hot. We have all aspects covered. Sometimes, it seems to the traditionalists that we've gone too far the other way, but at the end of the day, it's football, and it's soccer, and it's entertainment.

Q: What do you compare Saturday's coverage to in terms of anything else you've covered at ESPN?
A from McNeeley: I've been lucky to produce a lot of NHL and Little League World Series and NBA. The toughest thing about soccer is there isn't a lot of natural stops for commercial breaks. To me, you can't compare this to anything. You can compare the hype to a Monday Night Football game or a post-season NBA game.

Q: What are the contingency plans if Beckham doesn't play Saturday:
A from McNeeley: We'd direct the audience to join our ESPN360.com coverage to see shots of Beckham on the sidelines, warming up, perhaps going into the game in the second half, which we'll keep remind the audience. There are so many subtexts attached to this game that there's enough to talk about. We'll just be ready to juggle things as they go along. We do have a lot of exceptional other players to cover.

==Galaxy director of media relations Patrick Donnelly said there are about 400 media credentials issued for Saturday's game at Home Depot Center, more than four times the usual allotment. The HDC press box only accomodates 40 people, so there is a buildout extension that will fit another 100, plus a second media overflow booth on the concourse level overlooking section 138 on the southeast corner that’ll take 150 more. A media tent outside the stadium that will be used for post-game interviews will also televise the game to credentialed reporters who only need to follow the game without in-game coverage.

==As part of ESPN's coverage of Beckham's debut, long-time L.A.-based statistician Doug Mann said that, while working from the production truck, he will keep a tally of every Beckham touch, passes attempted and passes completed, to be used as needed by the broadcasters or in graphic form.

==Of the 12 games ESPN2 has left on its MLS regular-season schedule, the Galaxy have five scheduled Thursday night appearances: at D.C. United (Aug. 9), two against Chivas USA (Aug. 23, which Beckham may miss because of a commitment to his England national team, and Sept. 13), at Kansas City (Sept. 27) and home against the New York Red Bulls (Oct. 18). ESPN is negotiating with the MLS to carry (not exclusively) the Aug. 5 Galaxy game at Toronto, which will mark Beckham's MLS debut. FSN West willl also have that game, in addition to Aug 12 at New England (4 p.m.); Aug. 25 at Colorado (4 p.m.); Sept. 16 vs. Houston (5 p.m.); Sept. 19 at Salt Lake (6 p.m.); Sept. 23 vs. Dallas (5p.m.); Sept. 30 at Columbus (2 p.m., delayed); Oct. 7 at Houston (noon) and Oct. 21 at Chicago (noon).

==Fox Soccer Channel will start a new 13-episode weekly magazine show, "David Beckham's Soccer USA," premiering Wednesday at 6 p.m. A company called 19 Entertainment Production, in association with the MLS and Soccer Untied Marketing will pull the shows together, using Simon Fuller as one of the executive producers. “David Beckham’s arrival is a tremendous milestone in U.S. soccer history, and Fox Soccer Channel is intent on covering his impact on the game from every possible angle,” said David Sternberg, executive vice president and general manager of Fox Soccer Channel. “David Beckham’s Soccer USA will provide an insider’s look at his performance with the Los Angeles Galaxy, as well as complement Fox Soccer Channel’s exclusive match coverage each week on MLS Saturday on FSC.”

Read on...

By THIERRY BOINET
Associated Press Writer

ABONDANCE, France -- Muddy slopes, slushy peaks, unused lifts — this town in the French Alps is living out the nightmare of many a ski resort in a century scientists say is doomed to keep getting warmer.
The city council of Abondance — its name a cruel reminder of the generous snowfall it once enjoyed — voted 9-6 last month to shut down the ski station that has been its economic raison d’etre for more than 40 years. The reason: not enough snow.
Abondance is the French Alps’ first ski station to fall apparent victim to global warming. It will almost certainly not be the last.

The Thursday, Sept. 20 game between Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks and Birmingham of Van Nuys is the only appearance a local team will make on ESPN-ESPN2-ESPNU's package of at least 14 live high school football games this fall.
That game, on ESPN2 at 8 p.m., is in week 4 of the schedule that runs from Aug. 25 to Oct. 19. The other game of note for San Fernando Valley fans is Friday, Oct. 12 when Cherry Creek, Colo., faces Grandview, Colo., on ESPNU. Jack Elway, the son of former Granada Hills High star (and Denver Broncos star) John Elway, is the Cherry Creek quarterback.
The entire schedule:
Sat., Aug. 25: Booker T. Washington (Fla.) vs. Summerville (S.C.), 9 a.m., ESPN
Sat., Aug 25: First Coast (Fla.) vs. Berkeley (S.C.), 1 p.m., ESPNU
Fri., Sept. 7: Wichita East (Kan.) vs. Dodge City (Kan.), 5 p.m., ESPNU
Fri., Sept. 14: Yough (Pa.) vs. Jeannette (Pa.), 5 p.m., ESPNU
Sat., Sept. 15: Miami Northwestern (Fla.) vs. Carroll (Texas), 4 p.m., ESPNU
Thu., Sept. 20: Sherman Oaks Notre Dame vs. Birmingham, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Fri., Sept. 21: McDonogh #35 (La.) vs. St. Augustine (La.), 5 p.m., ESPNU
Fri., Sept. 28: North Bergen (N.J.) vs. St. Peter’s (N.J.), 5 p.m., ESPNU
Thu., Oct. 4: Daphne (Ala.) vs. Foley (Ala.), 6 p.m., ESPNU
Fri., Oct. 5: Parkway North (Mo.) vs. Parkway West (Mo.), 5 p.m., ESPNU
Thu., Oct. 11: Poway vs. Torrey Pines, TBD, ESPNU
Fri., Oct. 12: Cherry Creek (Colo.) vs. Grandview (Colo.), TBD, ESPNU
Thu., Oct. 18: Cy-Fair (Texas) vs. Cypress Falls (Texas), 7 p.m., ESPN2
Fri., Oct. 19: Clovis (N.M.) vs. Artesia (N.M.), 7 p.m., ESPNU

He won't be making his scheduled appearance Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium against his former team, the Phillies, because of a shoulder injury, but Randy Wolf gets some TV time this week in the latest edition of FSN Prime Ticket's "Beyond the Bigs" series:

Among the highlights of the show focused on the former El Camino Real High and Pepperdine standout, which includes interviews with him, his mother and his brother (MLB umpire Jim):

From West Hills Little League coach Scott Drotin, on Wolf's focus in between games: "He wasn't just there to watch the game. He was studying the game."
Drotin also talks about Wolf's objection to a pre-game warm up called 'the Phatom Infield' where the coach hit an invisible ball and his team pantomined the play.
"Randy does things the right way. He wants things done the right way. Even though he was 11, 12, 13 years old, when he was on the field, he wanted it to be like a pro game."

From Mike Maio, Wolf's coach at ECR: "He made everyone around him better. He made me better. I learned how much a kid could want to play and be successful."

From Geoff Zahn, the former Dodgers and Angels left-hander and Wolf's pitching coach at Pepperdine, about how they bonded during his freshman season: "His senior year (of high school), his father passed away and I had the same deal after my freshman year at Michigan. There was a bond there and I was able to say, 'Randy I know what you're going through' and I think we got pretty close that way."

There's even this quote from Pepperdine economics professor Bob Sexton, on Wolf's transformation from student to player: "He was a different person when he crossed that line. He was the most vicious competitor you could find."

The show debuts after tonight's Dodgers-Phillies game (10:30 p.m.) and repeats Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:30 p.m., Saturday at 10 p.m., July 23 at 8:30 p.m., July 24 at 10:30 p.m., July 27 at 1 p.m. and July 30 at 9:30 p.m.

Stop asking Matt Leinart about Paris Hilton. Jeez.
Ask him instead about Max, his pet bulldog, and Hunter, a German Shepherd, who's he'd rather train to become his latest sleeping buddies.
"I have tried to sleep with Max a few times," Leinart admits in the health and fitness issue of Animal Fair magazine, where he's on the cover. "He'll lay right next to the bed the whole time, but he snores badly. Hunter is too young. Once he is fully trained, he'll be in the house."
No matter how hard the article's author tried to steer him clear of his bedding habits, the conversation always seemed to come back to female companionship.
Asked if he was looking for a perfect breed of woman, which breed of dog she would be, Leinart said:
"It can't be a Poodle because those dogs look too high maintenance. It would have to be a Golden Retriever. they're pretty easy to get along with."
So what woman comes to mind when you're thinking of a Golden Retriever?
"I'd say supermodel Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady's girlfriend," said Leinart. "Yeah, a little jealous of him."

While the celebrities and athletes playing in this weekend's American Century Championship golf tournament at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev., will be the main attraction, NBC will suppliment its coverage during Saturday's 1 to 3 p.m. broadcast with a 30-minute special devoted to the recent Angora Fire that burned 3,100 acres from June 24 to July 2 and destroyed 254 homes in its first day.
“We have the national platform,” said Gary Quinn, NBC director of business development. “The thing that we
are going to try and do is tell the story that Tahoe is back open for business. The recovery process is slowly starting, and we want to be a part of that."
During the network's broadcast Saturday and Sunday (noon to 3 p.m.), a toll-free phone number (800-732-3100) will be shown in a crawl at the bottom of the street for those who want to donate to the recovery fund. There is also a website set up -- www.helptahoe.com -- to make contributions.
NBC had actually considered cancelingcoverage of this year’s Tahoe event, but Quinn said the local businesses were "adamant" about showing the nation that they were on their feet and ready for tourists again.

Sorry this got up so late today... some technical difficulties.
But you need more sports media notes, and by Barry, we'll give 'em to you, after having plowed through Friday's newspaper version of the Daily News media column:

== Vin Scully, expanding on what he'd do if he had to call Barry Bonds' somewhat tainted 755th or 756th home run this weekend when the Dodgers face the Giants in San Francisco, is a fan of doing more with less. Meaning, the less he does to describe that kind of moment and the more he lets the crowd do it for him, the viewer/listener benefits the most.
"Why scream over the roar of the crowd?" Scully said. "One of the longest lapses in radio history was on the Jack Benny show years ago in those sweet, naive days. Benny had this reputation, of course, of being a cheapskate, and in this scene, he's walking down the street and he's being held up. The robber says, 'Your money or your life.' There's a long pause, and the robber asks again, 'Well?" And Benny says, 'I'm thinking, I'm thinking...' I believe it was the longest continuous laugh in radio history.
"When Hank Aaron hit his (715th in Atlanta), and after I described Bill Buckner climbing the wall after it, I didn't say anything. It was the longest continuous roar of a crowd without another comment. It was planned, even a little. I did finally say something to the effect that it was a great moment for baseball, for Georgia and for the country, where a black man in the deep South was being honored, but I was thinking socially. There'd be none of that with this Bonds home run."

We now interrupt this blog for a former ESPN "This is SportsCenter" commercial:

Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly rattled off the top five worst career moves during his last appearance on Dan Patrick's ESPN Radio show Tuesday:
5. Shelly Long leaves "Cheers"
4. Katie Couric leaves the "Today" show for "CBS Evening News"
3. Michael Jordan tries baseball
2. Richard Raskind tries life as a woman, Renee Richards
1. Dan Patrick leaves ESPN after 18 years.
"Give it time to fail," Keith Olbermann responded when told of Patrick's standing.
There were reports that Patrick was up for the Don Imus' old spot in the mornings at WFAN in New York, but that seems to have been quited down with the announcement Thursday that something called The Content Factory in Chicago has signed him up, as we also reported in today's Daily News.
Patrick's Wikipedia entry has also been tampered with people with too much time on their hands, adding things such as Patrick was leaving his wife to run off with Jenna Jaimson.

Read on if you must ...

BC-SOC--APNewsAlert:
LOS ANGELES -- British soccer star David Beckham has arrived in Los Angeles to start his career with a U.S. soccer team.

That was the bulletin the Associated Press sent out at 8:18 p.m. PDT, signaling that Beckham's plane hat arrived at LAX from London.
That's the kind alert the wire service saves for events of great magnitude. So already, the major news source this country relies on has gone overboard.
And right now, ESPN is showing video of his arrival to flashing cameras.
I need a Kleenex.

By JANIE McCAULEY
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Zito had a forgettable first half.
The San Francisco Giants’ $126 million man out of Pierce College and USC performed little like someone with the richest contract ever for a pitcher — and he knows it. He’s as dissatisfied and perplexed by his poor results as anybody and ready to redeem himself after the All-Star break.
“I like where I’m at right now. Every day’s a learning experience,” said Zito, he of a 6-9 record (having lost his last four decisions) and 4.90 ERA -- and a $10 million salary for this season. “I definitely expect more out of myself. The fans do and should and ownership should. I look forward to just being back to where I should be and having a strong second half.”
The left-hander has an impressive career record in the second half, too: 59-27 with a 3.26 ERA in 108 starts during his first seven big league seasons with the Oakland Athletics. San Francisco hopes that trend will continue, beginning with his next start against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.
But it will come after the team has decided to skip him entirely against the Dodgers in this weekend's series, and then pitch the second game of the series in Chicago.
“I know that’s his track record,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s why we think things will get better in the second half, and we have to get better. Barry has to relax a little more. I think he’s put
added pressure on himself with his numbers not being where he wants.”

We thought about traipsing around on the red carpet at the ESPY Awards in Hollywood again Wednesday, as we did a year ago. But there was the sweatiness, the loud crowd, the egos ... and we hadn't even seen Chris Berman yet.
It just wasn't worth the hassle. Besides, this best-of collection from what the Associated Press was able to capture for the show that was taped to air Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN came up much better:

Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard did not disrobe. She didn't have to with this get up. Honestly, the photos don't do her justice. In person, she has the most piercing blue eyes, and about as dark a tan as you'd ever want to see on anyone that just doesn't show up here.
So here's one more for good measure:

Read on ....

Fox's bean-counters report that Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game shows the L.A. market with an 8.5 rating and 15 share on the overnights, which didn't make the top 10 of markets monitored but was right in line with the 8.4/15 national numbers reported.
St. Louis had the highest city rating (18.9). Home-market San Francisco (14.5) would have been higher if Nielsen rated local sports bars.
Although Fox's ratings Tuesday drooped from the 9.3/16 a year ago, the spin is that it was the highest-rated show on any network since May 29. Fox also isn't shy to say that the exhibition did better than the 6.2/11 marks for ABC's NBA Finals.
L.A.'s rating is a nine-percent drop for a year ago.
Fox has done the MLB All-Star game since 1997, when it had an 11.8 rating and 21 share.
The '07 game now ranks as the second-lowest overnight for a Fox All-Star game, after the 9.8/16 in 2005.
And as for whether Fox would talk much about the BALCO case as it related to Barry Bonds, play-by-play man Joe Buck and Tim McCarver started a discussion in the fourth inning that went on for several minutes. "The public has realized that they’re going to have to tolerate a certain level of suspicion when it comes to sports -- all sports, not just baseball -- about what’s going on with performance-enhancing drugs. Not everybody loves Barry Bonds, but fans do want to come out and watch him play as attendance is up around baseball, even with the steroids and the HGH and everything that is swirling around this game.”

"Let's be honest," Jimmy Kimmel was saying the other day. "All awards shows are silly. We give so much credence to Oscars and stuff like that. The Golden Globes, where you find out bike messengers from Latfia are doing the voting. At least with the ESPYs -- and there are still some opinions there -- it's based on physical achievements. Acting and singing and that stuff, a competition doesn't seem to fit into those things. It's just weird inherently to say, Who's the best musician? When did music become a sport? At least these are sports and you feel comfortable handing a trophy to someone."
By the time Kimmel is finished co-hosting tonight's ESPY's telecast for ESPN -- it won't air until Sunday night at 6 p.m., after it's been edited down and perhaps censored -- he may have a better opinion about just how really silly these awards are as well.
A brief Q-and-A that Kimmel had with some media writers when discussing how he'll handle the immense responsiblities given to him by the Disney family of networks, and how he can use it as a prop for his own needs on the "Jimmy Kimmel Live Show" that'll no doubt find some fodder from this show taking place just across the street from his show on Hollywood and Highland.

Q: Does Uncle Frank or Cousin Sal have any roles on the ESPY show?
A: Sal, definitely. We won't tell Uncle Frank until hours before it happens, because then it's just a thousand questions and it gets even more confusing if he has advanced notice.

Q: Do you become geeky around athletes?
A: One of the ways you realize you're old is when the players you idolize are younger than you. There's something wrong with that. Like, for me, I liked Mike Piazza and then I realized he was a year younger than me. That seemed odd. I'm just sticking to the Steve Garveys and Magic Johnsons and Tom Seavers of my youth, and I'll just admire the other guys.

Q: What kind of athletic prowess do you possess?
A: I wasn't much of an athlete, but my best sport was whiffle ball. People scoff at that. When I was a kid, I liked the Dodgers and my best friend, Cleto (Escobedo), who's now my band leader, loved the Reds. So when we played against each other, we had to do all the batting stances. I'd go through the Dodgers lineup with Lopes or Sax and Russell and Garvey and Cey. He'd do all the Reds of the '70s.
I loved baseball as a kid. I was also a big Lakers fan. My all-time favorite team was the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV, where I attended one magical year.
My athletic prowess is limited, but the greatest moment I had was hitting a home run in the Major League Baseball celebrity softball game on ESPN a couple of years ago. I've played that clip no less than 1,000 times on my show.

Q: As part of your monologue, do you plan to do any jokes about LeBron James, like how the Cavaliers got swept by the Spurs?
A: Definitely. Just don't tell him.

Q: Do you hope Paris Hilton shows up to the ESPYs?
A: I'd give her $100,000 myself if she comes. She's the greatest gift to comedy one could ever receive. I'm guessing she learned her lesson at the MTV Movie awards.

Q: Do you and LeBron plan any musical numbers?
A: Yes, LeBron and I are going to sing "Ebony and Ivory."

Note: Kimmel has LeBron James scheduled as a guest on his own "Jimmy Kimmel Live" tonight at 12:05 a.m. (technically, Thursday).

The cover released of the new issue of Sports Illustrated that hits newsstands starting Wednesday:

Minutes before Dan Patrick was to announce his future on his own radio show, ESPN's press-release churning machine issued an email Monday to confirm that he was leaving the company by "mutual agreement" to pursue "new interests outside of ESPN."

Patrick's last show for ESPN Radio (heard on KSPN-AM 710 in Los Angeles from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) will be Aug. 17. He'll spend his final week (Aug. 13-17) looking back at memorable moments from his radio show with special guests.

Patrick, who has been with ESPN for the last 18 years, has been considering other career moves -- such as hosting "The Price Is Right," although he says that's now a dead issue . He insists he's got nothing immediately lined up when his ESPN days end.

In a statement issued by ESPN, Patrick said: “I’ve spent a third of my life at ESPN. All my children were born while I was employed here. I feel privileged to have had this opportunity and I have extremely mixed emotions about leaving. With that said, I told ESPN that I believe it’s time for me to try something different, something that will also be challenging and rewarding. While I’m not sure what that will be, I am grateful to ESPN for its willingness to allow me to pursue new endeavors.”

Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production, also had a quote in the statement, but it didn't interest us much.

Patrick has hosted a show on ESPN Radio since 1999 with infrequent appearances lately as a "SportsCenter" anchor, which he did regularily starting in 1989. He was also writting the "Outtakes" column for ESPN The Magazine.

On Monday's radio show, waiting for the hour when Keith Olbermann joined him, Patrick said: "I was started to take (the job) for granted, and I didn't think it was fair. (ESPN executives) tried to talk me out of it several times. If there was any anomosity, I'd not be doing this show any more after this one today. It was time to move on. I hope to be doing radio again somewhere, but TV-wise, I'm not sure."

He said last week that he had a "life-changing announcement," but it continued to be delayed. Patrick said he took time off to reconsider but after that, "I felt it was time to move on. Thanks for the patience and understanding."

Clippers star Elton Brand wants to be a Hollywood player. Maybe enough so that he can afford courtsside seats at Lakers game.
Brand is co-producer of the new movie, "Rescue Dawn," which came out today. The movie, inspired by a true story (as they say), stars Christian Bale as a Navy pilot shot down over Laos at the start of the Vietnam War and later escaped a POW camp. The movie comes from director Werner Herzog from his own documentary, "Little Dieter Needs to Fly."
Gibraltar Films, which Brand co-founded, made the film for $10 million. Brand spent a month on location in Thailand durng the shoot.
In a Q-and-A with Associated Press movie writer Christy Lemire, Brand (pictured here with his wife Shahara at the Toronto Film Festival debut of the movie in 2006) explained his new branding of a Hollywood player:

Whether or not we're under suspicion of paragraph-enhancing drugs, we've got plenty of extra clear-minded and cream-cured notes from today's Daily News media column and even more notes to spill over into blogland:

==ESPN already has announced plans to go completely overboard in covering David Beckham's first MLS appearance, which won't really be an MLS appearance, as the Galaxy face Chelsea of the English Premier League at the Home Depot Center on July 21 at 6 p.m. Even ESPN's own press release calls it the "most expansive initiative ever for a single U.S. domestic soccer event." Dave O’Brien unfortunately has the call, with analysts Eric Wynalda and Tommy Smyth, and sideline reporter Allen Hopkins. Rob Stone will host a 30-minute pre-match show with analyst Julie Foudy from the Home Depot Center. The game will have 19 cameras, including something they'll call a Beckham Cam: Isolated on his every move, and able to view extensively on ESPN360.com. A "Celebrity Cam" will go into the stands to find people of note, including Reggie Bush, who has been roped into an ad campaign by Adidas with Beckham.

==Dan Patrick's "life-changing announcement," which he promised his ESPN Radio listeners would come Tuesday, then pushed it to Thursday and now says it won't come until Monday at the earliest since he's taking a siesta, may have already been revealed on the blog of KLAC-AM (570)'s Joe McDonnell. Responding on the air to our report last week that he'd been asked to audition for "The Price Is Right," Patrick said: "They called and wanted to know if I wanted to audition. I said, 'No, I don't want to audition.'' Patrick's first official life-changing announcement, of course, was when he altered his name from Dan Pugh before joining CNN in 1983.

==Eric Karros , who despite setting the L.A. Dodgers' career home run record during his 13 seasons never made it to an All_Star Game, joins Jeanie Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy on Fox's pre-game show at the All-Star Game in San Francisco, and Angels play-by-play man Jose Mota will be one of two on-field reporters. KSPN-AM (710) has both the MLB Home Run Derby (Monday, 5 p.m.) and the MLB All-Star Game (Tuesday, 5 p.m.) XM Satellite Radio also has both on Channel 176, as well as the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday. MLB Home Plate host Holden Kushner will be on a kayak in McCovey Cove during the Home Run Derby as well.

==NBC has expanded its deal with The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club to continue televising Wimbledon through 2011, it announced Thursday. This is the 39th consecutive year NBC has done Wimbledon, and apparently the last with Bud Collins as its contributor. Collins, the Boston Globe tennis writer, has had his position basically phased out as post-match interviewer and commentator. The 78-year-old has been doing the last 35 Wimbledon tournaments for NBC. The network has the women's finals Saturday and men's finals Sunday starting at 6 a.m.
Today's Wimbledon coverage on ESPN2 started an hour early (3 a.m. to 9 a.m.) tol include extra matches – all four men’s quarterfinals and a women’s semifinal, compared to the original schedule of simply one men’s semifinal.

==Not that you were supposed to notice, but one of the judges in Wednesday's world hot dog eating contest was a 31-year-old account executive from Queens named James Lamarre. Why does it matter? He redeemed 2,500 rewards points from his ESPN Total Access Visa card so he could do it.

== ESPN's sports auction Jimmy V Foundation fundraiser that goes in conjunction with the ESPY Awards can be access through this ebay link: http://stores.ebay.com/ESPN-Auctions. During ESPN Radio's network programming on Wednesday, KSPN-AM (710) will reveal different auction items each hour. For more info: Go to this ESPN Network link or this KSPN-AM (710) link. Donations can also be made directly to the Jimmy V Foundation at this link.

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- Bob Cramer inked several star athletes to lucrative endorsement deals in nearly a decade as a marketing executive for Mastercard International Inc. But he might be best known for walking away from a deal with Barry Bonds.
In 2005, the credit card company called off negotiations with the San Francisco Giants slugger when it became clear that Bonds wouldn’t soon extricate himself from a burgeoning scandal involving his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
“That sealed the deal,” Cramer said.
Bonds might be destined for baseball immortality as he closes in on Hank Aaron’s career home run record, but he has never been a popular pitch man. Perhaps it’s a prickly personality that drives his Madison Avenue toxicity. Or the steroid rumors he can’t seem to shake. Or the ongoing federal criminal investigation into the truthfulness of his grand jury testimony. Or all of the above.
“It should be one of the most celebrated endorsement deals of all time,” said Cramer, now president of the sports marketing firm Genesco Sports Enterprises. “But whether he’s guilty or not, no one is going to attach themselves to
him now.”