Media:Jimmy Kimmel Makes Joe Theismann the Butt of MNF Jokes (Kornheiser Laughs): He also said Theismann is "watching from his living room with steam coming out of his ears" and "I thought Tony had him fired." Tony Kornheiser seemed to find the jokes funny, but Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski clearly felt uncomfortable. Honestly, I thought it came across as a little mean-spirited.
Boston FOX Broadcasters May or May Not Love America: mean, just look at this -- they are talking right through the national anthem at a baseball game. An American League Championship Series game, no less. Where is the tact? Where is the love for this very nation? The nerves on these guys, I tell ya.
Brandon Lloyd Implies Troy Aikman Is Gay: In case there's any doubt that the "speculating" refers to sexual orientation, the hosts erased that doubt by bringing up rumors that Jeff Garcia is gay, to which Lloyd responded, "No, man, Garcia's not gay, he's my homeboy."
MLB:
The Debriefing: The Rockies are the Anti-Patriots: You know what's great about the Rockies? If any team over the last five years has had the right to dip into the the infinitely annoying "We wanted to prove all the haters wrong," well, it would be the them. And oddly enough when a team does that, whether it's a conference championship or a league championship, it's usually a team that actually was expected to get there.
Don Mattingly Doesn't Want Joe Torre's Job: I don't doubt Donnie Baseball's sincerity, but is this career suicide? If Torre comes back, you have to figure he won't just sign a one-year deal, which means that Mattingly's managing career (at least in the Big Apple) would be postponed indefinitely.
A-Rod and Boras Retreat to California: "We're going through reams of information now and looking at the baseball side, the economic aide, the future of his family and what their goals are, putting all that into the landscape of what decision he's going to make," Boras said.
Gilbert Still Wants to Save Barry's 756th: He's upping the ante ... by offering to give Marc Ecko Barry's 715th home run ball to top Babe Ruth.
NCAA Football:
The Nebraska Bloodbath Begins: AD Steve Pederson Fired: Pederson was the genius behind cutting Frank Solich loose, dumping the option attack that had been Nebraska's bread and butter since the 1950s, and hiring a failed NFL coach whose players nearly revolted in his final year in Oakland.
This Week In Schadenfreude: Yes, ND fans call BC "Fredo" without irony. Meanwhile, the student section resorted to a "Backup College" chant on Saturday. This is what ND is reduced to: adopting the snobbish "we'll be your boss" cheers of a Northwestern or Harvard as they watch their team flail towards 3-9.
NFL:Falcons Owner Arthur Blank on Michael Vick: 'I Don't Feel Any Responsibility At All': If what Blank means is that only Vick is ultimately responsible for Vick's actions, he's obviously right. But that's not the same thing as saying that Blank should take no responsibility at all. Blank fostered an environment in which Vick clearly came to believe that there would be no consequences at all for his actions. That doesn't make Blank responsible for Vick's crimes, but it doesn't make him blameless, either.
Roger Goodell Wants to Make Fans Irrelevant: He claims that he loves loud enthusiastic crowds, but wonders whether it is a bad thing when visiting offenses suffer when they have difficulties communicating in loud stadiums. He and the competition committee are studying various solutions to crowd noise, including the radio receiver one.
NBA:
Jalen Rose Buys Fab Five Billboard: I lived 20 miles from Michigan's campus in 1991, and I loved the Fab Five. So it makes me a little sad that Rose acknowledges that if he had put the billboard up in Ann Arbor, it wouldn't be so widely celebrated. But Rose seems to think Webber is blameless in what the Fab Five has become -- a symbol of what's wrong with college sports -- and there he's wrong.
The Christies Fire Back: if you're starved for NBA content you might as well read Doug Christie vs. his comments section. I wonder, though, if he realizes he's shooting himself in the foot. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that controversy drives traffic.
Finally, Artest Sorry for Brawl: Not only has Artest made contrite, he's sat down with his former Pacers bosses.
