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.

Posted by Tom at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

I didn’t like seeing Ruth’s record go, but I liked the idea of it settling on Atlanta, and had taken on the project of collaborating with Aaron on his life story. Beyond that, times had been hard on Aaron. He had gone through divorce, split from his family, his ears burning with the bellowing of dissenters, and the frequent target of every kind of nut case on the planet.
“I’ll tell you this much,” he said once at the height of his pursuit, “this kind of abuse isn’t going to stop me. The more they push me, the more I want the record. All I want is to be treated like a human being.”
There’s a certain authenticity in Aaron’s home-run production not found in Bonds’. Aaron’s were evenly distributed over the years; eight times he hit 40 or more, 47 his highest. Bonds never reached the 40s until his eighth season in the majors, then it was eight seasons later that he erupted into the soaring number of 73. Never close before, never close since. Aaron led the league in a column more important to his team, runs batted in, four times, 2,297 the record for a career.
All these years have passed and Aaron finds himself firmly seated at a similar popularity level as Babe Ruth when his record was under assault, though for reasons of differing nature. It’s not the home runs as much as it is the genuine respect for the man. The Babe had his record in his own time. The Hammer has the record for all time, as most of us see it. Don’t know how Vin Scully will address it if and when it happens that Barry Bonds passes the record, no more than I can imagine whatever brought him to to say what he said when it happened in Atlanta in 1974.
I do know it’s keeping a lot of us up past our bedtime while the Braves carry the fight to the West Coast.

Posted by Tom at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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.

Posted by Tom at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Tom at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Tom at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 ...

==It was a somewhat subdued and sheepish Joe Morgan , not with the usual self-importance and speaking with confidence who, on the most recent ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" telecast between St. Louis and Atlanta, was forced to admit to a personal story of something that didn't happen.
During the Sunday, July 15 ESPN telecast of the Philadelphia Phillies' 10,000th franchise loss to St. Louis, Morgan told the tale of how he, making his major-league debut with the Houston Astros at the end of the 1964 season, had an extra-inning RBI single to beat the Phillies during their self-implosion when they blew a 6 1/2-game lead with 12 games left by losing 10 in a row. Morgan said that Phillies manager Gene Mauch was so incensed that he told his team that the should feel ashamed to lose to a guy who looked like a Little Leaguer.
Great yarn. Except it wasn't quite accurate.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post went on an unusual-for-him rant about it in the July 20 edition of the paper, calling it part of the 'self-mutilation of ESPN" that Morgan is a "fellow whose wisdom is often laced with convoluted, confounding and contradictory nonsense." True, but this time, there was evidence to back it up.
The Phillies played Cincinnati, Atlanta and St. Louis during the losing streak of '64; Houston wasn't one of the opponents.
Morgan did get an extra-base hit to be the Phillies -- at the end of the 1963 season, on Sept. 22, the day after his major-league debut.
Mushnick also said the story about Morgan beating the '64 Phillies appeared in the Baseball Digest in 2000.
So, in the top of the fourth inning of this most recent Sunday game, play-by-play man Jon Miller tried to gracefully bring up the story again to allow Morgan to fix it.
"I've been thinking about this all week," Miller said. "Last Sunday, when the Phillies lost their 10,000th game ... you recalled a story about Gene Mauch, manager of that ballclub, and getting a base hit to win a game when you were just a raw rookie, and after the fact, Mauch was so upset he said, 'You guys let a guy that looked like a Little Leaguer beat you.'"
So far, Miller is really stretching to get to the point.
"So, uh," Miller continued, "but you're telling me now, although the story is correct, you did beat them with your first major-league hit, you had the year misplace on that."
How diplomatic was that? The story isn't correct, first off.
"Well, it was 1963, instead of '64," Morgan admitted in a douer tone of voice. "I didn't realize I'd been in the big leagues that long ... I was 19 (in '63) ... I think so."
Now he's not sure how old he was or when he made his major-league debut?
"So anyway, we got that straight," said Miller. "You got your first hit in '63. ... and while you did not beat them ... well, you got the hit to beat them, it just wasn't your first hit in that 10-game losing streak in '64 ... you went into the big-leagues to stay in '65."
"Correct," said Morgan.
You sure?
We're not even sure now if Miller believes what he just helped Morgan correct, or if he just confused everyone even more.
And don't think any of this was missed on the website forum FireJoeMorgan.com.
Welcome Jon and Joe into your homes this Sunday night when the Angels face Detroit from Angels Stadium. And set the TiVo for your own replay of Morgan's yarns from yesteryear.

==Despite rumors that NBC would drop its NHL pregame show with the departure of Brett Hull, the network said Thursday that Mike Milbury, a former player, coach and front-office man, will be the new studio analyst, and instead of originating from Rockefeller Plaza with Bill Clement and Ray Ferraro as it has the last two seasons, it'll be live at the game-site location and hosted by Pierre McGuire instead. The network didn't say whether Clement or Ferraro would be back, but you gotta assume they'll either be reassigned to game coverage or be dropped completely. "Mike is sometimes controversial, usually quotable and always interesting," said NHL producer Sam Flood. "As an ex player, coach and GM, he brings a hat trick of perspective to his new role as a broadcaster. And taking the studio show inside the arena provides an immediacy and big event feel, while shining an even bigger spotlight on the 'Game of the Week.'" Milbury, who played for the Boston Bruins and was later the team's coach before working in the N.Y. Islanders front office, had a stint as an NHL studio analys twith ESPN in 1994-95. NBC and the NHL recently announced an extension of their revenue sharing partnership through the 2007-08 that includes a flexible scheduling "Game of the Week" component.

==Billing it as the first team championship to be contested in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in Sept., 2005, ESPN has the 2007 ArenaBowl XXI at the New Orleans Arena pitting Columbus against San Jose at noon Sunday with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. Jay Rothman, ESPN senior coordinating producer for remote production, who also produces "Monday Night Football" and was at contest last fall when the Louisiana Superdome reopened, said the coverage will include highlights of the ongoing recovery in the area.

==After three weeks of The Golf Channel's "Fore Inventors Only" reality show, the 103 contestants invited on from the more than 1,000 who auditioned have been cut down to 38, including Granada Hills' Darren Newberry (The Trunk Chair), Los Angeles' Matthew Louie (The Chipinator), Redondo Beach's Andre Von Heerden (Load and Explode) and Toluca Lake's Matt Baird, with Montrose's John Haggar (The Tour Axis).
A bit more explanation on the inventions:
Trunk Chair is a portable chair that can be placed on the back of a truck or a car so golfers can change their shoes easier before and after a round. A general manager of an automotive superstore, Newberry has invested $2,000 thus far on his invention
Chipinator is a 2’ x 2’ box with a hole in the middle to chip into. A motor is at the bottom of the box that returns the ball back to the golfer. A medic in the United States Army, Louie has invested $11,000 thus far on his invention.
Load and Explode, is a swing training device that golfers strap to themselves restricting sway and trains hip pivoting. A computer systems consultant, Von Heerden has invested $10,000 thus far.
The Tour Axis is vest with two small bags that attach under the armpit. The concept is to keep the bags tucked under each arm through the practice swing to achieve a repeatable motion, replace the practice drill many golfers utilize where they place a headcover or golf towel under their arms.
Field testing of these inventions starts with the Tuesday, July 31 episode, where a group of golfers who've been on previous Golf Channel shows such as "Big Break" provide feedback to the panelists -- PGA Tour pro Fulton Allem, renowned golf instructor Bill Harmon and Golf for Women Senior Editor Stina Sternberg -- who then narrow the field to 10 semifinalists. It all leads up to the live season finale on Sept. 4 when viewers vote on the winner, who gets shelf space at golf retailer Golfsmith for one year; a fully-developed infomercial and $50,000 worth of commercial and promotional air time on the Golf Channel.

==Brent Musburger will host ESPN’s coverage from Indianapolis of the Nextel Cup Brickyard 400 on Sunday (10 a.m.), while Dr. Jerry Punch will do play-by-play for the race, joined with analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree. Pit reporters are Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Suzy Kolber will add some flair as host NASCAR Countdown, joined by analyst (and former NBA player) Brad Daugherty in the ESPN Pit Studio.

==DirecTV's continuing coverage of the Championship Gaming Series has taken us to the Region I finals between the Chicago Chimera and Carolina Core, which take place Monday at 7 p.m. from Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach and carried on Channel 101.
So Sunday, CBS has the 2007 World Series of Video Games (9 to 10 a.m.), from the event taped in late June in Louisville, Ky. It's the first of four hour-long shows CBS will broadcast under its CBS Sports banner. CSTV’s Greg Amsinger calls the action.

==Reader Justin Cazana, of Knoxville, Tenn., wrote to say about the Versus' coverage of the Tour de France:
"How can Versus be considered a big player in the world of network sportscasts when they won't do a live show on the major doping scandal at the Tour de France? Both the Tuesday and Wednesday favorites to win the race were kicked off the tour for doping. Yet at 8 pm, for Versus's prime time (taped) coverage, they ran the same song and dance with a ticker at the bottom of the screen stating that it was pre-recorded and that rider so & so had been booted. I know they have very little time between shows ending and getting things ready for the next morning, but with experience like Al Trautwig and Phil Liggett they should be able to do a full hour with nothing but a microphone and camera."

==As "The Simpsons Movie" hits theaters today, The Sports Business Daily did a look back at how sports was integrated into the show through its previous 18 seasons. Here's the best they've come up with:
-- "Homer at the Bat," season three, when Mr. Burns makes a $1 million bet with his arch-rival, Aristotle Amadopolis, that the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team will defeat the team from the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. To ensure victory, Burns hires some ringers as plant employees -- Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., Steve Sax, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, Don Mattingly, Ozzie Smith, Wade Boggs and Mike Scioscia. In a reference to the Yankees’ no facial hair and haircut policy, Burns keeps telling Mattingly, “Get a haircut!”
-- "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" in season three has former boxer Joe Frazier making a cameo at Moe's Tavern. Frazier is also in "Homer's Paternity Coot" in season 17.
--"Homer Defined" in season three includes Lakers star Magic Johnson, who calls Homer to congratulate him for accidentally saving two nuclear power plants from a meltdown. Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn is also in the episode.
-- "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," in season five, had former heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney as the "official greeter" for Mr. Burns casino.
-- "Homie the Clown" in season six had former NFL star Johnny Unitas doing an informercial for Krusty the Clown's Lady Krusty Mustache Removal System.
-- "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield," in season seven, has golfer Tom Kite trying to help Homer with his golf game. Kite tells Homer, “You don’t want to over think” the game. Homer responds: “Not an issue.”
-- "The Homer They Fall," in season eight has boxing ringside announcer Michael Buffer introducing a title bout between Homer and Dreaderick Tatum (a parody of Mike Tyson) with the "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" announcement.
-- "You Only Move Twice," in season eight, where Homer receives the Denver Broncos as a gift from his former boss. Homer said he actually wanted to own the Dallas Cowboys. “This will get you a little closer to that dream of yours. It’s not the Dallas Cowboys, but it’s a start," the note reads. Says Marge: “I think owning the Denver Broncos is pretty good.” Homer: “You just don’t understand football, Marge.”
-- "Bart Star," in season nine, is where Homer is a football coach who replaces Bart with a more talented quarterback. Roy Firestone and Joe Namath appear.
-- "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday," in season 10, is when Homer and friends make a trip to Miami for the Super Bowl and find out the tickets they have are counterfeit. They end up in Rupert Murdoch's skybox. Fox's Pat Summerall and John Madden appear, as does Troy Aikman, Rosey Grier and Dan Marino.

==James Brown, CBS' NFL studio anchor and college basketball play-by-play man, hosts his own "JB Awards" (Saturday, 11 a.m. to noon), which took place last April at the NFL Players Gala in Washington D.C., which benefitted the Special Olympics. The background: Each NFL team nominated a player who had an exceptional story for his commitment to achieve excellence off the field through building better communities and stronger families. Brown picked 10 of them to give his "Award" to, and the recipients include Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk and Denver Broncos safety John Lynch.

==And finally, from the end of an ESPN press release:
Recently, Mac Weakley of Carlsbad caught a 25-pound largemouth bass that broke the 75-year-old record of 22 pounds, 4 ounces. Unfortunately, after snapping a few photos of the accomplishment, he released the bass, never submitting it for world-record consideration. Saturday at 4:30 a.m. on ESPN2, ESPN Outdoors host Mark Zona and Weakley will travel to Lake Dixon in Escondido to find that fish again and to discuss the would-be record catch.
Give our regards to the big-assed bass if you happen to snatch him up again.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

For some reason, the "What Smokes" and "What Chokes" notes that appear in the Daily News newspaper edition aren't making it onto the website.
So here it is again for those who request it:

WHAT SMOKES
-- Touching on more than just the evolution of gay athletes from Dave Kopay to Esera Tualolo and John Amechi, the new book “The Outsports Revolution: Truth and Myth in the World of Gay Sports,” by Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler Jr. (Alyson Books, $19.95, 304 pages) takes both a serious and humor tone in sizing up what the place is of gay and lesbian athletes and athletics in today’s society. Buzinski, the former sports editor of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and Ziegler, a UCLA grad who sat in for the vacationing D’Marco Farr this week on KSPN-AM (710), are the co-creators of Outsports.com who’ve been trying to debunk myths about gays in sports for years. In a chapter on the history of gays in sports, it also addresses the gossip from 2003 from the New York Post that that Sandy Koufax was aided by author Jane Leavy in hiding his sexual preference when she wrote a book on him. That led to Koufax severing his ties with the Dodgers (then owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp., which also owns the Post). “Whether Koufax is or is not gay was never the point,” Buzinski and Ziegler write. “What is instructive is that the mere printing of an unnamed gossip item was enough for him to publicly dissociate himself from the Dodgers . . . and caused many in the media to accuse the Post of irresponsible rumor mongering. . . . If he is in fact a homosexual, then his reaction was that of a 67-year-old man who has lived in the closet his whole life, which evokes feeling of both pity and sympathy.” The authors also compile a list of those who they’ve decided are the “bad guys” – John Rocker, Tim Hardaway, Jeremy Schokey, Matt Millen, Ozzie Guillen among others – and the “good guys” – Paul Tagliabue, Kiki Vandeweghe, Bobby Valentine and Sean Salisbury, to name a few – who’ve made public statements about gays.

-- If the first week of ESPN’s new “College Football Live” half-hour daily show is any indication, expect plenty of exposure for USC’s program. Coach Pete Carroll did a live interview on Thursday’s edition from the Pac-10 media day, members of the Trojan marching band made an appearance Tuesday and there’s been plenty of debate about the team’s No. 1 ranking by most preseason magazines, polls and network commentators. It may be at an awkward time in the day (noon to 12:30 p.m.), sandwiched between “Outside the Lines” and “NFL Live,” but it has 10 repeats daily on ESPNU, most of them in the overnight hours.

WHAT CHOKES

-- Even with some high-profile inductees like Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., ESPN will relegate all eight hours of coverage from Sunday’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony to its ESPN Classic channel, beginning at 9 a.m. Live ceremony coverage runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with Brian Kenny and Tim Kurkjian, and is followed with a replay of the Sept. 6, 1995 game when Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record in Baltimore against the Angels (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.) and a replay of the Aug. 6, 1999 game when Gwynn got his 3,000th hit for San Diego in Montreal (2:30 to 4 p.m.).

Posted by Tom at 12:16 AM | Permalink

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.”

Posted by Tom at 04:32 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Tom at 11:29 AM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tom at 01:48 PM | Permalink

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?

Posted by Tom at 01:05 PM | Permalink

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).

Posted by Tom at 10:43 AM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tom at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Tom at 05:45 PM | Permalink

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...

==More Q-and-A with Dan Patrick, who says he won't return to his ESPN Radio show until Aug. 13, then to his final five shows before leaving to start his own syndicated network:
Q: Are you allowed to talk about your new job before you officially leave your old one?
A: I'm just trying to be fair and not say things out of context, because there's so many tenticals attached to it. I'm just trying to follow protocal. The Content Factor will help me syndicate, going out and marketing it and drawing interest and seeing how it plays out. I told them I'd take care of the radio part and they take care of selling it and making sure someone's listening. The template is in place. I'm impressed with them and their radio experience.
I do what to go out on my own, but I wasn't ready to do what Olbermann or Kilborn or Eisen or Myers did. Having a family (with four kids) affects that. So I'm making a decision that seems only based on me but really on my wife and family.
ESPN has been unbelievably great about all this. They've been fair, and up front and honest. That's been the fortunate part.

Q: So this departure has nothing to do with a mid-life crisis?
A: I've already bought the '65 and '66 Corvette, so my mid-life crisis was a long time ago. This was more an epiphany, a realization ... is this all that's left of my career? So maybe a feeling of morality. What else do I want to do? I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Q: Any thoughts of joining the Sporting News Radio Network, headed up by your brother, Bill?
A: I wasn't interested in getting in with another brand name right off the bat. I appreciate what they have, but ... If I fall flat on my face, maybe he'll return my call. I really felt like I was apart of the lineup on KSPN in Los Angeles. Larry Gifford (the program director) did a good job bringing in so many different personalities, and USC football. It's a tough address to give up. Everyone there did a great job embracing my show and making me feel as I was part of the local radio station, which is hard to do. It takes the other hosts to be on board and not make me feel like a necessary evil. That happens at some affiliates. I could interview someone like Ricky Williams, and the other local hosts wouldn't address it because they wanted that interivew. That never happened (at 710-AM). You need good synergy and Gifford make it work seamlessly.

Q: Does working at ESPN for that long give you a claustrophobic feeling, that your whole identity is defined by one company and you'll never be able to break free of that?
A: You really deal in a vaccuum at ESPN. There's nothing wrong with working there, but after 18 years, it was a lot of the same. I still had people come up to me and say, 'You're the SportsCenter dude.' I wanted to establish something different. Olbermann may be at MSNBC for years, but he'll still be identified as a SportsCenter guy. And people will always ask, 'Why are you leaving?' I'm leaving for all the right reasons. That's what people asked me when I stopped doing SportsCenter and went to radio. 'What happened?' they'd ask. 'Nothing, I just wanted to do something else.' It wasn't like I was slipping out the back door. I used to have this fear that I'd get fired at ESPN, so I'd work these crazy hours. In a three-year period, I did radio and TV, and I'd take an hour and a half nap after the radio show and then do the 11 p.m SportsCenter. I'd be in at 10:30 a.m. and out by midnight. It was crazy, but I felt I needed to do what they asked or I'd be digging ditches somewhere, laying cable for ESPN. That fear is over. I kind of compare it bungie jumping. I did that once in New Zealand. I'm waiting for the slack to take affect and get back up to the bridge now that I've jumped. And maybe I won't hear any more from friends who call and ask, 'Dude, you OK? You sure?' It's as if they want to talk me down from the ledge. They feel the same way: No one leaves ESPN. At least no one who's sane. Maybe I'm a little deranged after 18 years. Maybe that's all that happened. But it's a good feeling to walk out on my own terms with the respect of management.

==Cliff Drysdale, Patrick McEnroe (pictured) and Pam Shriver are part of ESPN2's coverage of the ATP's Countrywide Classic from UCLA, with today's quarterfinals (1:30 p.m.), Saturday's semifinals (11:30 a.m.) and Sunday's final (2 p.m.). The Tennis Channel also has coverage today (5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. with singles and doubles quarterfinals), Saturday (from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. with singles and doubles semifinals) and Sunday) from 5 to 7 p.m. with doubles finals).
Meanwhile, the Tennis Channel has announced deals in place to do more than 100 hours from the upcoming U.S. Open and the 2008 Wimbledon championships. The deal with Wimbledon also has access to Wimbledon's library of classic matches and other historic video.

==In a somewhat rare occurance, neither FSN West nor FSN Prime Ticket has an Angels or Dodgers game this weekend. KCOP Channel 13 has all three Angels games in Minnesota today through Sunday, with Jose Mota and Mark Gubicza. KCAL Channel 9 has the Dodgers-Mets tonight and Sunday, while KTTV Channel 11 has the Fox regional coverage Saturday at 12:55 p.m., with Matt Vasgersian and Tim McCarver on the call (going to 56 percent of the country). Meanwhile, Fox reporter/writer Ken Rosenthal has some thoughts about preposterious Gary Sheffield's latest accusations heard on the current edition of HBO's "Real Sports," where he accuses Yankees manager Joe Torre of giving preferential treatment to white players over blacks, and that it's the media that keeps fueling his irratic popping off by giving him a public forum.

==As long as we're all feeling real good about Hank Aaron these days as sort of the anti-Bonds publicity drives toward his breaking the all-time home run record, ESPN2 will premiere a one-hour show called "ESPN Remembers: The Long Winter of Henry Aaron" on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The documentary, which NBC aired originally in October 1973 (Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record in April, 1974) with Tom Brokaw, will have new material from Brokaw and recent interviews with Aaron, Bonds and Dusty Baker (Aaron's former teammate, Bonds' former manager and ESPN analyst).
Says Brokaw (pictured) of the original story and how it developed: “We did think he was going to break the record (in 1973 when Brokaw and crew were following Aaron) and we were hoping for that, but then it turned out to be a much more important documentary because (he was stuck on 713 home runs after the season, just one short of tying the record) we renamed it "The Long Winter of Henry Aaron." And he kept from us at the beginning the kind of hateful mail he was getting. Then, when we began to look into that, we realized that there was a bigger storyline...America needed to know what he was going through at that time."
Meanwhile, ESPN will commit to providing live cut-ins (or short turn-around highlights) of Bonds' at bats when he goes for homers No. 754, 755 and 756. It can't do such when Fox is televising a game on a Saturday afternoon.

== HBO's "Costas Now" returns Tuesday (10 p.m.) with baseball as the topic on the table. MLB commissioner Bud Selig is scheduled to appear, and Bob Costas has an interview with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Ozzie Smith and comedian Chris Rock joins Costas in the roundtable segment. One of the features will focus on the Cannon St. All-Stars from Charleston, SC. In 1955, seven years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, this group of youngsters was banned from playing in a little league tournament because of the color of their skin.

==Don Barrett on LARadio.com is using deductive reasoning to report that the Dodgers have no choice but to stay at KWFB-AM (980) for their radio flagship needs for the next five years, despite the fact the station doesn't always act as if it's really all that interested in keeping the team around and interrupting its ability to report news and traffic. The current KWFB-Dodgers deal runs out at the end of this season. KSPN-AM (710) and KLAC-AM (570) are also said to be interested, but conflicts with USC football at the former (a deal was just extended through 2011) and with the Lakers on the later would preclude the Dodgers from wanting to play second-class citizen and be relegated to an alternate station during the overlapping September and (possibly) October schedules. The Angels won't be a factor in the KSPN dealings since team owner Arte Moreno is expected to move the team to his own (currently Spanish-language affiliate) 830-AM.

== Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman, Emanuel Steward and Harold Lederman are on the HBO PPV broadcast ($49.95) of Saturday's Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright fight from Las Vegas, starting at 6 p.m. ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" host Brian Kenny, ESPN.com senior boxing writer Dan Rafael and the always talkative Stephen A. Smith will have today's weigh-in (live on ESPNEWS, 2 p.m.) and Rafael will have ESPN’s "Unofficial Scorecard” round-by-round scoring for Saturday’s 8 p.m. "SportsCenter" (depending on when the fight starts) and ESPNEWS. Both channels will also have post-fight interviews and press-conference coverage.

== Additional coverage of the British Open on CBSSportsLine.com today from 2 a.m. until 11 a.m. includes live streaming, webcasts from holes 16, 17 and 18; and a course flyover from all 18 holes to check them all out.
The Open Championship on ABC will include the debut of “TrackMan” technology, which will be used on the sixth and 10th holes, to graphically demonstrate ball speed, carry distance and trajectory. Additionally, ESPN will provide daily Open Championship highlights on ESPN.com and ESPN-branded wireless platforms. ESPN.com and ESPN wireless will have daily highlights.
With ABC's coverage on TV, the debut of "TrackMan" technology on the sixth and 10th holes are supposed to show ball speed with a graphic.

==Although most Ultimate Fighting Champions are a pay-per-view affair, Spike TV announced it will have the UFC 75 event, featuring a unification bout between Quintin “Rampage” Jackson and Pride fighter Dan “Hollywood” Henderson on Sept. 8 at 9 p.m. (delayed) from London. Last April, Spike TV drew 2.8 million viewers when it carried UFC 70 from Manchester, England (again, delayed on the West Coast). That was a bigger audience in the men 18-34 demographic than Fox’s coverage of NASCAR and ESPN’s NBA playoff game going head-to-head, as well as Fox’s coverage of the Yankees-Red Sox earlier that day.

==The Golf Channel, which has exclusive coverage of the PGA’s U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, has brought back its Aimpoint on-screen graphic that shows the putting line at select holes during its telecast through Sunday. Brian Hammons and Curt Byrum are the main broadcasters.

==This is TNT's final weekend of the season with the NASCAR package, as it carries the Nextel Cup event from Chicago on Sunday (1 to 4:30 p.m.). ESPN picks up the series on July 29 for the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the network's first Cup event since 2000. ESPN and ABC will do the last 17 races of the '07 season, including all 10 "Chase' events on ABC.

==DirecTV shot some new TV spots for its "NFL Sunday Ticket" that begin play this week, featuring the Manning family -- Archie, Peyton, Eli and mother Olivia -- with Matt Leinart. The ads, shot in Chattanooga, Tenn., features Eli and Peyton coming home to find their parents have seemed to adopt Leinart into their family, with Archie serving as his quarterback tutor. The current issue of Sports Illustrated (July 23, page 28) pretty much covers behind the sceens at the shoot.

==ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language version of ESPN, is the only place in the states to watch Pan American Games coverage from Brazil, and that includes the U.S. baseball team facing Cuba in today's gold-medal match at 9:20 a.m. Pepperdine righthander Brett Hunter makes the start for the U.S. team. In women's beach volleyball, Brooke Niles-Hanson (Calabasas High) and Angie Akers have advanced to the quarterfinals.

==The Big Ten Network announced it will use Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis as its main play-by-play/analyst team this season, taking the pair that was on Fox's coverage of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship game.

==Shaun White's participating in the vert ramp should be the focus of NBC's coverage of the latest AST Dew Tour event this weekend in Cleveland. White's competition is supposed to go live (delayed on the West Coast) from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. USA Network adds late-night coverage of the BMX dirt competition tonight and Saturday (midnight to 1 a.m.)

==And finally, The Sports Business Daily picked up this nugget off TVGuide.com: The producers of NBC’s "Friday Night Lights" are trying to get Rosie O'Donnell to play the role of a high school soccer coach six or seven episodes into the new season who is really angry about all of the school's resources going to football. We weren't even sure this series was picked up for the fall. Maybe the best way to Rosie fully on board is telling her Donald Trump will come in for a cameo as the school's athletic director.

Posted by Tom at 01:27 AM | Permalink

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.

At 3,051 feet, this station between Mont Blanc and Lake Leman falls in the altitude range climate scientists say has seen the most dramatic drop in snowfall in recent generations.
The Alps as a whole, which pull in about 70 million tourists every year primarily for winter sports (as seen here in this file photo of the region), are “particularly sensitive” to climate change, according to a study last winter by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
It calls climate change a serious threat to Alpine ski resorts and the regional economies that depend on them. The most recent World Cup ski circuit was badly hit by a lack of snow, with several races in the Alps — even at high altitudes — called off.
In Switzerland, melting permafrost has forced several companies to take technical measures to ensure their stations don’t fall off the mountain.
Last week, a commercial court in Lyon put the Transmontagne company, which operates mid-altitude resorts in France, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia, under bankruptcy protection for the next six months. Warming weather is seen as a key reason for its financial woes.
Abondance’s troubles are alarming towns in the surrounding valleys. Homeowners fear a crash in housing prices.
Neighboring La Chappelle-d’Abondance is considering changing its name to dissociate itself from the shutting station.
Abondance Mayor Serge Cettour-Meunier fears that the closure of his station is the start of a troubling trend.
“Skiing is again becoming a sport for the rich,” since only elite high-altitude resorts will have sufficient snowfall, he said.
The $3.03 million annual economy of his town and its 1,300 residents depend on winter sports. Last year, the lifts sustained a loss of $882,000.
“The town can no longer pay,” he said.
Gerald Giraud of the Snow Study Center of Meteo-France at Grenoble said altitudes of 2,950-4,900 feet are where “global warming will pose the greatest problems.”
Even taking into account irregular weather cycles, snowfall levels fell 25.2 inches on average between 1960 and
2007 across the French Alps, he said.
His center noted a rise in average temperature of 2.7-3.3 degrees over the Alpine ranges since the early 1980s.
The OECD report said warming in the Alps in recent years has been roughly three times the global average.
For geographic and geological reasons, Germany is likely to suffer the most from climate change, while Switzerland is the least at risk, the report said. Austria and Italy are slightly more sensitive than average, while France has average risk, based on climate studies and projections.
The report studied only the Alps but noted that its implications extend “to other mountain systems which may face
similar ... challenges, for example in North America, Australia and New Zealand.”
Skiers who once frequented Abondance are likely to head to larger, higher stations elsewhere in the French Alps. But even some large, high stations in Switzerland have already resorted to artificial snow in recent years.
For smaller stations like Abondance, snow-sprayers are not a viable option since they require a minimal snow cover, and the high temperatures melt any snow fast.
Longer term, the warming in the Alps could provide a boost to less-charted places like the mountains above Sochi, the Russian city on the Black Sea that is hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Investors are not ready to write off Alpine ski resorts yet, noting how unpredictable weather-dependent investments are.
“We remain calm, one shouldn’t overstate the phenomenon,” said Georges Gay-Lancernin, of Credit Agricole de Haute Savoie, one of the chief banks financing France’s mountain economy.
Nevertheless, small stations are having increasing difficulty finding investors.
Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, at 2,952 feet sought public funding to upgrade one of its lifts. The improved lift, ready
for the 2006-07 season, didn’t budge all winter because there was not enough snow.
In Abondance, where snow fell only 20 days last year, town officials have been seeking private buyers for the station for several years. Transmontagne and Remy Loisirs expressed interest, but never followed through, the mayor said.
The regional council for the Haute Savoie region refused the mayor’s request for aid, deeming the station no longer profitable.
The news of the closure has hit hard in this town that has revolved around the ski station since 1964. Sporting good stores and restaurants specializing in local cheese dominate the town’s main street.
“The mayor made a courageous, realistic and calm decision,” said retired dairy farmer Andre Gagneux.
Restaurant owner Marie-Jane Teninge, 61, disagreed.
“I am skeptical about global warming. It’s just a matter of cycles,” she said, adding that she was ready to pay more taxes to keep the station open.
Jean-Charles Simiand, president of the French national union for ski lifts and cable cars, noted that the lifts are
used for hikers and mountain bikers in summer, but that the activity accounts for just 3 percent of overall lift revenues.
“The mid-altitude stations must adapt,” he said. “Diversification of the economy is possible, but so far no one has found an activity that can substitute for skiing.”

Posted by Tom at 06:03 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Tom at 11:21 AM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tom at 11:10 AM | Permalink

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."

Posted by Tom at 05:35 PM | Permalink

Posted by Tom at 08:04 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Tom at 05:09 PM | Permalink

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 ...

== KSPN-AM (710) says it has extended its agreement to be the flagship station of USC football and basketball through 2010-11. The current deal, signed in April, 2006, ran through 2008-09.

==Along the lines of "Acceptable TV," the sketch-comedy show that Jack Black was the executive producer on and aired on VH1, The Speed Channel will try a show ca