==It's been reported on ProFootballTalk.com that Joe Theismann's run at ESPN is over. The site quotes an ESPN spokesman as delivering the official word: "We have reached a settlement with Joe Theismann to end his association with ESPN. We thank Joe for his many years of work for us and wish him well." Theismann was bumped from the "Monday Night Football" booth after last season, but not fired. He had been with ESPN for more than three decades. ESPN also quietly replaced Theismann with Seth Wickersham on the expert picks page of ESPN.com. Under the exit deal, Theismann is free to work immediately with any other media company.

==The Onion headline of the week:

NHL Giving It Another Try Despite Advice Of Friends, Family

==For those who sit and wonder about such things, ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor John Buccigross wrote on his blog that he thinks the network will get back in the business of doing live NHL games next season. "NHL players want it, the NHL wants it and ESPN wants it. NBC and Versus somewhat hold the cards however, so we will have to wait and see; but my guess is yes. ESPN will have a piece of the pie."

==And for others who wonder what the British papers are making out of the Kings and Ducks visiting London to start the NHL season:
The Daily Mail had the only story we could find among the other majors. It was mostly an overview of the season, and no one had commented on it. Searching the Daily Telegraph’s website for NHL stories, the first the pops up as for relevance and time is on the 2005 lockout. Same at the London Times.
In addition to the staples of football, rugby and cricket, The Guardian has links to chess, motor sports, triathon, even U.S. sports … nothing about hockey.
It’s definitely not the same response the U.S. had when England’s David Beckham came over to play soccer here. For what that means, the London Times reported Thursday that Beckham made a 12-hour flight back to England to be with his father, Ted, who Wednesday night suffered a heart attack.

==To clarify D’Marco Farr’s departure from KSPN-AM (710) last week: Station management had informed him that it wasn’t going to renew his contract to continue as the afternoon weekday host with Kevin Kiley. So as a 90-day window for negotiations started – which effectively would have mean a three-month lame-duck status for Farr -- the 36-year-old former St. Louis Rams defensive end announced it was his decision to out of the rest of the deal as soon as possible so he could pursue this delusional dream of trying to compete again in the NFL after a six-year absence and spin it that way.
KSPN may also move Steven A. Smith's nationally syndicated one-hour show, currently from noon to 1 p.m., into the 7 to 8 p.m. slot once baseball's playoffs end and expand the Kiley show from noon to 3 p.m.

==In addition to the news that Dan Patrick will replace the "Roggin and Simers Squared" show from 6 to 9 a.m. weekday mornings on KLAC-AM (570) starting Monday, Ross Porter's new radio feature, "Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter" -- the title, of course, to differentiate it with a Bud Light commercial -- also starts Monday at 5:25 p.m. on the station. It runs in the same spot Monday through Thursday and at 4:25 p.m. on Fridays during football season.
The 90-second vinnettes sponsored by American Airlines will feature, as Porter says, "men and women who have achieved a certain level of excellence in sports and feel responsible for making a positive difference in the community and giving back."
The first week of programs focus on Mike Scioscia, Pete Carroll, Tiger Woods, Vin Scully and Ann Meyers Drysdale. Porter says KLAC will hold contests to have listeners submit names of worthy candidates, and winners will receive tickets to an L.A. sporting event, supplied by the sponsor.
"My wife, Lin, who came up with the concept, and I are doing the writing," said the former Dodgers' play-by-play man and KNBC Channel 4 sportscaster. "I have written the commercials and we own the show. Beginning in 2008, the plan is to expand to other markets across the U.S."
Porter is also setting up a website for the show called RealSportsHeroes.com.

==This weekend's football telecasts:
In the NFL Sunday:
10 a.m.: St. Louis at Dallas with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Channel 11
10 a.m.: Oakland at Miami with Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker on Channel 2
1:15 p.m.: Kansas City at San Diego with Dick Enberg and Randy Cross on Channel 2 (CBS has decided to give L.A. this game rather than the Denver at Indianapolis contest at the same time where it has sent Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
5:15 p.m.: Philadelphia at New York Giants with Al Michaels and John Madden on Channel 4

On local college football Saturday:
3:30 p.m.: UCLA at Oregon State with Barry Tompkins and Petros Papadakis on FSN West
5 p.m.: USC at Washington with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit on Channel 7

The best of the rest:
9 a.m.: Notre Dame at Purdue with Dave Pasch and Andre Ware on ESPN
9 a.m.: LSU at Tulane with Pam Ward and Ray Bentley on ESPN2
9 a.m.: Penn State at Illinois with Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis and Charissa Thompson on the Big Ten Network
10:30 a.m.: Oklahoma at Colorado with Joel Meyers and Dave Lapham on FSN West
12:30 p.m.: Cal at Oregon with Dan Fouts and Tim Brandt on Channel 7 (one of four regional games in this network window, including Clemson at Georgia Tech, Kansas State at Texas and Maryland at Rutgers)
12:30 p.m.: Michigan State at Wisconsin with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire on ESPN
2 p.m.: Alabama at Florida State with Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson on Channel 2 (which is another case of CBS using its six-day rule and changing the start time, continuing to upset fans in that region, according to the AwfulAnnouncing.com blog.)
5 p.m.: Auburn at Florida with Mike Patrick pondering Brittney Spears' next career move and Todd Blackledge on ESPN
5 p.m.: Ohio State at Michigan with Mark Jones and Bob Davie on ESPN2
7 p.m.: Cincinnati at San Diego State with Joe Beninati and Glenn Parker on Versus

And don't overlook:
Tonight at 5 p.m.: West Virginia at South Florida with Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman (a battle of two unbeaten and top 20 ranked Big East teams) on ESPN2.

==Best item in this week's Pete Arbogast blog on WeAreSC.com "Today after the show, I’m heading to Palm Springs to speak to the 39th annual Dairy, Deli, Bakery Council gathering. They are making me play golf (for the first time in this millennium) prior to the speech. I plan to talk about ethics in sports (and journalism), from youth sports to the big time."
Wait ....
Wait ...
Hold on ... my sides are still splitting. There's Thanksgiving pie coming out of my nose.
What's more hilarious, that a Dairy, Deli and Bakery Council exists, or Arbo (formerly Pete Hernandez of L.A. radio traffic reporting fame) speaking about ethics in sports and journalism (as he's mocking Walt Harris' Stanford team for a) trying a field goal and then b) getting it blocked against USC last season)?

==Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young will go on CBS' "60 Minutes" -- and up against NBC's "Sunday Night Football" -- with an interview explaining how losing the 2005 Heisman Trophy to Reggie Bush has made him a better player, pushing him to prove himself more in the NFL. The interview with Scott Pelley airs from 7 to 9 p.m. on KCBS-Channel 2. No doubt, a sneak preview will be shown on CBS' "NFL Today" show Sunday morning.
“I was angry about that situation, not bringing it back,” says Young of the Heisman. “And I wanted to show the world that I was the real Heisman Trophy winner. But on paper, Reggie Bush is the Heisman Trophy winner. Not taking nothing from him, he knows he's a phenomenal athlete."
Here's an excerpt at this link.

==A very interesting piece in last week's Sports Illustrated about how ESPN's "Monday Night Football" sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is actually fed a word or phrase each Monday by KSPN-AM (710) midday hosts Steve Mason and John Ireland for her to work into a live report. What a cool idea. And the story sounds vaguely familiar, but we can't be certain it's accurate.
Regardless, Tafoya ended an 0-for-2007 streak and got the word in for the first time in three games, ending her report before the opening kickoff on how Tennessee's LenDale White was going up against former USC teammate Reggie Bush and New Orleans: "Mike, I guess we'll see which former Trojan deserves a beignet after tonight's game." At which point play by play man Mike Tirico replied: "Oooh, very good, a little Bourbon Street reference."
Actually, Mason and Ireland gave her a choice of four words to get into the game: jambalaya, gumbo, etoufee and beignet. You don't have to be a French student to know those are what Mason and Ireland referred to the four food groups of New Orleans cuisine. Nor do you have to be a dog or cat to benefit from the latest $100 donation Mason and/or Ireland will make to the Humane Society for Tafoya's participation. Thanks for playing.

==In his Sept. 26 edition of LARadio.com, editor Don Barrett offers this "open email" to Angels owner Arte Moreno, whose team will be heard exclusively on his own 830-AM KLAA based in the city of Orange, starting next season:
"Your station covers a wide area of Orange County and the Southern part of Los Angeles County with its 50,000 watt signal during the day and its 20,000 watts at night. We know that you’ve gone through a lot of time and expense to expand the Angels beyond its previous territory when you fought to rename the team as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Please accept this suggestion that in order to reach out and expand the fan base for your team, we need to have some help in hearing the games north of KLAA’s current nighttime signal. That is, many of us who live in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, and San Gabriel Valleys, as well as other sections of L.A. county will have challenges getting a consistent signal to hear the Angels during the season.
"Here’s a thought: What about an fm station to help assure a clean signal for Angel broadcasts throughout all of Los Angeles County? Whotta treat it would be to hear Rory Markas and the Angels loud and clear on an fm signal that covers the area from the Santa Clarita Valley all the way down the coast through both Los Angeles and Orange Counties!"
Sorry, makes too much sense.

==It reminds us that the latest rumor/innuendo/speculation on the Dodgers' radio deal for next season: Still nothing to announce. KSPN made its pitch (then bowed out), and KFWB left its $5 million a season offer and then pulled it (after paying $8 million over five years). The team's latest opition may be to buy the time on KABC-AM (790) and keep the ad revenue for itself. It'll have to, since no radio sales staff will have the time now to get the ball rolling on sponsors for the 2008 season by wining and dining clients at a game.

==NBC will adjust its schedule to accomodate for 16 hours of coverage Saturday and Sunday for the Presidents Cup from Montreal this weekend. The 10 hours Saturday covers the foursomes and four-ball matches (starting at 5 a.m.) and Sunday's six hours (starting at 9 a.m.) has the 12 singles matches.
Producer Tommy Roy will oversee 27 hours of live event coverage between NBC and TNT.
"We cover match play differently than stroke play," says Roy. "For example, when we go to a match, we stay with it. You can't jump around from player-to-player and hole-to-hole as you would in a stroke play event."
TNT continues its coverage today of the four-ball matches from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Also, PGATOUR.com has videostreaming at the 7th and 13th holes during all four rounds.

==Don't think 10-year-old Jason Krause isn't soaking in all the extra pub since he started doing reports for ESPN's NFL pregame show. His angle for Sunday's appearance? What else, the Bears' QB controversy, and what he learned about how coach Lovie Smith and Rex Grossman handled themselves.

==Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, Lennox Lewis and Harold Lederman will be in Atlantic City, N.J., when HBO covers Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik and Andre Berto vs. David Estrada live Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
An HBO publicist asked Lampley if he could summarize the fight. Here is the actual filibuster Lampley gave that was forwarded to media writers across the country who had the spare time to read through it (and if you watch Saturday's broadcast, see how much Lampley uses this verbatim):
“The middleweight championship bout between champion Jermain Taylor and challenger Kelly Pavlik is a fight that harkens back to the days of boxing's broadest popularity, for easily identifiable reasons-- two American stars, both unbeaten, both from blue collar cities, both with entertaining hit-and-get-hit styles, the winner to emerge as undisputed ruler of one of the sport's most glamorous divisions. Poetically, it is the challenger who enters riding a tide of surging popularity and support, and the champion who must fight off mounting criticism for recent disappointing performances. In a year already rich with fight of the year candidates-- Miguel Cotto's bloody 11th-round TKO of Zab Judah before a record Madison Square Garden crowd, Paul Williams' sizzling upset of Antonio Margarito for a welterweight belt, Israel Vasquez' violent revenge knockout of Rafael Marquez for the 122-pound crown-- here comes the next likely entrant."
Think Lamps is done? Hardly ... Next, a lesson in Boxing 101 as he knows it:
"Stung by the ridicule which followed his less-than-inspiring victories over Kassim Ouma and Corey Spinks, Little Rock's Jermain Taylor repaired to an isolated training camp in the Pocono Mountains with legendary trainer Emanuel Steward to prepare for Pavlik, the first time Taylor has observed the monastic traditions that nurtured the careers of fighters like Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis. After the difficult technical challenges of fighting world-class defenders like Bernard Hopkins (two decision victories for Taylor), Winky Wright (a controversial draw), and most recently Spinks (an easy decision for Taylor in a low-contact matchup), the champion has his first opportunity in years to let his hands go against a willing
partner, and he is promising it will make all the difference."
The sweat glistens from Lampley's keyboard as he moves to the other side of the ring ....
“Pavlik brings his working class style from Youngstown, Ohio to the spotlight of Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, looking to duplicate the stunning success of his 7th-round knockout win over Colombia's Edison Miranda four months ago. Miranda had been the division's flavor of the month after a series of punching power displays, but Pavlik backed him up from the opening bell, stole his vaunted thunder in the first three rounds, then provided his own fireworks with a brace of spectacular right crosses, uppercuts and big left hooks. The immediate response was a rush to judgment-- having easily disposed of Miranda, Pavlik was poised to do the same to Taylor. But the ongoing reappraisal is a recognition of the sport's most indelible truism-- that styles make fights-- and Pavlik's entertaining, free-swinging style may be just what the doctor ordered for Taylor."
He's not just showing off now, he's trying to get three bills through the House of Representatives at this point before the midnight deadline ...
"So will Pavlik barge through Taylor just as he did with the heavily-favored Miranda, bringing a fresh new American face to the sport's middleweight marquee? Or will Taylor's faster hands find the target which has been so elusive against more defensively-oriented opponents, rejuvenating the career of the still-unbeaten Everlast coverboy? The boxing world finds out, live on HBO, September 29 in Atlantic City.”
Bravo! Tied up very nicely. Think that'll fit in a 30-second commercial?

==Showtime, which is staging one of those free preview weekends from Friday to Monday, offers some boxing of its own to those curious. A card from Arco Arena in Sacramento (Saturday, 10 p.m., delayed) includes WBC light heavyweight champ Chad Daswon against Epifanio Mendoza. Earlier in the day (2 p.m.), the network will are "Elite XC: Uprising," the mixed martial arts show taped last week in Hawaii and including Robbie Lawler's victory over Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specialist Murilo Rua for the middleweight title.

==XM Radio (8.2 million subscribers) has expanded from six to nine NHL channels so it can offer ever game for the league this season (in the contential U.S.). Games now appear on XM channels 204-209 and 237-239. The Kings-Ducks openers from London on Saturday and Sunday airs on channel 205. XM is in its third year carrying the NHL and has a deal through 2015. More info: http://www.xmradio.com/nhl.

==ESPN Home Entertainment is already pushing the 3-disc DVD set of its recent miniseries, "The Bronx is Burning," which went on sale Tuesday. The network reports that on ESPNShop.com, they pre-sold 800 copies. ESPN also got former Yankees Graig Nettles and Mickey Rivers to help promote it with autograph signings in the New York area.

==While ESPN generates garbage on one end, it also reports:
"X Games Environmentality (XGE) delivered an impressive 84 percent recycling rate at X Games 13, held August 2-5 at the Home Depot Center and Staples Center. These results indicate that progressive waste minimization and resource conservation initiatives implemented throughout the planning and execution of the event have created a new standard for environmental excellence in action sporting events. These accomplishments were achieved in part through an innovative composting program designed to capture and divert organic materials from the landfill. Spectators and staff alike were encouraged to participate in this program by composting paper and food products. The staff catering area has excelled in this effort through the use of compostable service products such as cups made from corn based PLA plastic; plates, bowls and to-go containers made from bagasse, a sugarcane by-product; utensils made from potato starch; and napkins made from recycled content paper.
"Products like these ensured that a majority of diners' discards could be composted. In addition, kitchen grease generated by the staff catering kitchen was recycled into biodiesel and more than 3,500 pounds of surplus food and catering supplies were donated to a Los Angeles area food bank.
"In a continued effort to raise awareness about ways to combat climate change, XGE introduced X Rider, an initiative that rewarded spectators who carpooled four or more to a car or used LA Metro to get to The Home Depot Center. Additionally, XGE planted 5,000 trees in the Tahoe National Forest to assist with reforestation efforts following the devastating Bassetts Fire that destroyed 2,000 acres of forestland."
X Games will remain trashing Los Angeles through 2009.

==Even with the U.S. team was KO’d from the Women's World Cup in a brutal loss against Brazil on Thursday morning, ESPN2 will have the squad in its third-place game against Norway for 90 minutes of more analysis early Sunday at 1:55 a.m. (tune in after LeBron James hosts "Saturday Night Live"), leading into the title game (Brazil-Germany) at 4:55 a.m., with JP Dellacamera and Julie Foudy on the call.

==The eighth edition of the Golf Channel's "Big Break" comes from the brutal conditions this summer at Mesquite, Nevada (think 120-degree days), and offers the biggest reward in the series history -- an exemption at a 2008 PGA Tour event, the $3.5 million Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico in late February (as the website link her asks, how do you say 'Funk' in Spanish?). In the past, the best a women's competitor could do in this is an LPGA Tour exemption, and the men could get a spot in a Nationwide Tour event. The 12-week series starts Tuesday at 7 p.m. There's also a new scoring system: Each show has some challenges that allow the players to earn points that will be used to determine who makes the cut. Players who fail to make the cut will go to an elimination challenge before they're finally cut from the show.

==Finally, why Vin Scully must never leave the broadcast booth:
During Sunday's telecast of the Dodgers' game in Arizona, Scully brought up the usual "On This Day" in Dodger history blurb before the start of the inning.
On Sept. 22, 1978, the Dodgers' Lee Lacy hit a pinch-hit homer to beat San Diego 5-3. "Now let's get back to this one." Once the inning resumed, Scully had more background on that story: A week earlier, on Sept. 15, Dodgers first base coach Jim Gilliam suffered a massive brain hemorrage and went into a coma. Before Lacy's at bat, Scully said Dodgers third base coach Preston Gomez went to Lacy in the on-deck circle and said, "Hit one for Gilliam." And Lacy did, off the Padres' Rollie Fingers, a future Hall of Famer. Gilliam later passed away after the Dodgers clinched the NL pennant, just before the World Series started.
We happened to tune in later, on Sunday's radio broadcast, where Charley Steiner had the same "Day in History" moment. He relayed the anniversary of Lacy hitting the home run and added: "And soon after that, Junior Gilliam suffered a brain hemorrage." He and Rick Monday then went into a discussion about Gilliam later died, how the World Series had this dark cloud hanging over it, etc...
No mention of the Gomez story, or Fingers ... and Monday was on that team.
And the note that Gilliam "soon after" had the medical emergency wasn't accurate.