==A creative exchange of philosophies between NBC's Bob Costas and a few of the bigger bloggers over what he really thinks about their existence has taken a small life of its own, capped with the announcement Thursday morning that the next episode of HBO's "Costas Now" (April 29) will actually be a live special (not on the West Coast) focused on the media landscape.

"For example, the rise of internet bloggers and sports talk radio are topics you cannot ignore," said HBO executive producer Ross Greenburg. "What is their impact on sports and how news gets reported? We look forward to a comprehensive and opinionated evening of discussion."

Costas did a Q-and-A with Deadspin.com editor Will Leitch that allowed him to explain further his take on what the blogging industry has done to the media business, without trying to take an elitist approach. Leitch will likely be invited to join Costas in the live discussion next month.

Last Friday, on a post that said, "Bob Costas Thinks You're A Loser" on Deadspin.com and in one "Bob Costas Hates Bloggers" on The Big Lead, Costas' comments extracted from a Barry Jackson story in the Miami Herald focused on: "It's one thing if somebody just sets up a blog from their mother's basement in Albuquerque and they are who they are, and they're a pathetic get-a-life loser, but now that pathetic get-a-life loser can piggyback onto someone who actually has some level of professional accountability and they can be comment No. 17 on Dan Le Batard's column or Bernie Miklasz' column in St. Louis. That, in most cases, grants a forum to somebody who has no particular insight or responsibility. Most of it is a combination of ignorance or invective. It's just a high-tech place for idiots to do what they used to do on bar stools or in school yards, if they were school yard bullies, or on men's room walls in gas stations. That doesn't mean that anyone with half a brain should respect it.''

Costas actually tracked down Leitch and the followup on Deadspin Monday included him saying: "Some have inferred that I have this elitist view, and that I think only people who have been somehow "certified" have the right to comment on sports. It shouldn't be confused with somehow being superior. If you opened up anything to large numbers of participants, you'd find some real gems in there. But you'd have a lot of muck to sift through. I do think newspapers' comment boards need to have the same sort of standard they'd have for a letter to an editor. It's possible they just don't have the manpower for that, though. I do think I made a good point (in the Herald story), but it's only part of what I think."

What he thinks, he'll save for his own TV show.

==In a related story, our take on this silliness Mark Cuban has got going by banning bloggers from the Dallas Mavericks' locker room -- which affected the Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon and the L.A. Times' Andrew Kamenetzky after last Tuesday's Lakers-Mavs game -- screams out for a league ruling. By definition, bloggers are journalists, but what will sort them out in the long run is credibility. The league needs to form a policy as things continue to shake out. The NBA, which has always been ahead of the curve with new media, seem to be allowing Cuban to force everthing a step back -- and by his own definition, Cuban shouldn't be allowed in his own locker room, since he's one of the most prolific bloggers out there. The bottom line should be that each blogger is judged on an individual basis for admittance to a practice, press box or anywhere else.

==Mixed Martial Arts, which the aformentioned Cuban is a big fan of and recently blogged about the fact the Washington Post semi-retired columnist Leonard Shapiro is completely out of touch with the sport, will make its initial curious collision with CBS (brought to you by the entertainment division, not the sports division) with the first special Saturday, May 31 (9-to-11 p.m.), called "CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights."
It will feature "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler (above right) against Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith in a middleweight championship bout, and heavyweight Kimbo Slice, (above left) against an opponent to be determined. The event will originate from Newark, N.J.
This comes after reports that NBC and San Jose-based MMA promoter Strikeforce are close to making a year-long deal for a Saturday night 30-minute weekly program starting in April, airing at 2 a.m.

==Coinciding with a story published last week by the SportsBusiness Journal called "Taking Aim At Bristol," and how rival networks have been tired of the "perceived arrogance" of ESPN and all it does, ESPN.com ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber writes in her latest entry that she approves of the "crisp, clean hours" of recent "SportsCenter" episodes that has "remarkably few gimmicks, sponsored segments, cross-promotions or padding of any kind."

Maybe because ... there's more news to report?

Still, she was able to add she was turned off by the shameless promotion of "ESPN The Weekend" at Disney's Orlando themepark, and: "I don't understand how a sponsored segment called Coors Light Cold Hard Facts can feature anchors asking analysts to be fortune tellers on such questions as, "Are you convinced Brett Favre will stay retired?''

As for this perceived arrogance thing at ESPN ... Go back to when the Auto Club 500 over at Fontana had all those rain delays during qualifying late Saturday night, that fell into Sunday's race being finished on Monday. There was one "SportsCenter" anchor who said the decision to postpone the race on Saturday was announced "at 1:45 in the morning Eastern Time." Why does it matter that it was Eastern Time when the event was held in the West?

See how often an ESPN anchor does that and report back.

=="Late Show with David Letterman" says it has already booked Jose Canseco as a guest on Monday, March 31 -- the day before his new book, "Vindicated," is released in stores as a follow-up to "Juiced."

==NBC, which has this weekend's final two rounds of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship (Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.) can only hope to ride Tiger Woods' coattails for another event. At last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Woods rallied to win his seventh world-wide event in a row, NBC's final-round coverage had a 4.2 overnight rating and 9 share, a jump from 68 percent over last year.

==You've probably seen those commecials that Frank Caliendo does for the Dish Network, playing himself talking to a person he's immitating, like George Bush, Al Pacino, John Madden, Charles Barkley ... the first guy probably doesn't know (or care), the second guy is lame, and but the other two seem to be more than plugged in. Dish Network, according to Cablefax Daily and other media outlets, have asked a U.S. District Court for Colorado to declare its ad campaign free of violating " trademark or common law rights," after threats were made by representatives of Madden and Barkley over the commercials. Dish reportedly told the court that the commericals ID them as immitations.

==Thanks to Sports Illustrated for launching "The Vault" on its SI.com site -- free access to all the stories, photos, video and other material the magazine has published in its 50-plus years.

The launch Thursday co-incided with the NCAA Tournament and made it appear as if it can be the Internet's version of ESPN Classic. The home page had a 1970 SI cover from UCLA's Sidney Wicks that was the college basketball issue that year, and a list of related college basketball stories that included one written by Joe Jares, the former Daily News sports editor, about the Houston-UCLA rematch in March, 1968, that pit Elvin Hayes against Lew Alcindor.

In a story in the New York Times about the launch, Time Inc. executive vice president John Squires said: "We'll have to work our way up the search algorithms over time, but eventually, someone searches Johnny Unitas, and SI.com is going to pop up." A search engine allows readers to look for anything according to author, athlete, coach, team, sports, decade and year.

==Stephen A. Smith's ESPN contract is supposed to expire at the end of April, leading to speculation that he will surrender his radio show (both locally in New York and nationally on ESPN Radio) so that he can focus more on TV.

==ESPN's upcoming baseball schedule of note:
*ESPN has the second annual Civil Rights Game between the New York Mets and Chicago White Sox on Saturday at 2 p.m. from Memphis, the location of the National Civil Rights Museum, with Dan Shulman and Joe Morgan.

*ESPN2 has both Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26 games live at 3 a.m. (PDT) between Boston and Oakland in Japan, with Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips. Both games will re-air at 11 a.m. (PDT) later that day. Remember, the Red Sox then return to the states to face the Dodgers in a three-game exhibition series March 28, 29 and 30 before returning to the regular season games.

*ESPN has the "real" opener, with Atlanta visiting Washington at the Nationals' new park in D.C., Sunday at 5 pm. with Jon Miller, Joe Morgan and Peter Gammons.

*On the "other" opening day, Monday, March 31, the schedule includes:
ESPN, 10 a.m.: Toronto at New York Yankees, with Dan Shulman and John Kruk
ESPN2, 1 p.m.: Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs, with Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser
ESPN, 1 p.m. San Francisco at the Dodgers, with Dave O’Brien, Steve Phillips and Erin Andrews
ESPN2, 4 p.m.: Angels at Minnesota, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan
ESPN2, 7 p.m.: Houston at San Diego, with Sean McDonough, Orestes Destrade and Candy Maldonado

==More of the World Figure Skating Championships from Sweden, with Terry Gannon, Dick Button, Peggy Flemming, Peter Carruthers, Susie Wynne and Paul Wylie somehow all describing the action:
Today: 4:30 p.m., ESPN: Ladies' short program, free dance
Saturday, noon, Channel 7: Men's short program, ladies free skate
Sunday, 1:30 p.m., ESPN: Men's free program

==Coverage of the NCAA men's hockey championships start with the selection show, Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on ESPN2, hosted by Lowell Galindo and Bob Norton. The tournament begins March 28 with regional semifinals in Albany, N.Y., Worcester, Mass., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Madison, Wis. The Frozen Four airs April 10 & 12 live from Denver.

==Retired ABC college football broadcaster and Encino resident Keith Jackson will be the honoree at the L.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission's annual golf tournament at Riviera Country Club on May 12, the group announced. More info: (213) 236-2361.

==And finally:
We already know Phil Jackson hates the live in-game interviews. But he's gotta do 'em, says the NBA. So he's trying to make everyone around him even more uncomfortable as the season moves on. In one of his first live spots with TNT's Craig Sager, he commented on his wardrobe, trying to fluster him. Sunday, when ABC covered the Lakers' game in Houston, he tried to do the same with Michele Tafoya. She had a comeback for him:

Maybe if Phil could be as gracious as Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson were to KCAL Channel 9's John Ireland during last Tuesday's game in Dallas... find it at this link, where Jessica says she's hoping the Mavs win because "I just want him to be in a good mood tonight."
Let us know how that went after the Lakers won 102-100.