Storm has been tapped to co-anchor a new morning edition of SportsCenter, with two extended SportsCenter programs to follow hers. That's a lot space to fill with Titletown segments.

Interestingly, the revamped SportsCenters will compete against the ESPN2 morning block of Mike & Mike In the Morning and First Take. Storm is expected to start sometime in the next couple of months.

Yowza. What a tall task to stick her with out of the gate. However can you wrestle viewers away from the prepossessing spectacle of Greenberg & Golic? She had better start coming up with some good jarring catch phrases. Might I suggest "BAH-BLAW! HERE COMES THE STORM!"?

You see, this is what's going to continue to happen while Baby Boomers control the pursestrings. If you don't think we're a couple years away from the LeBron James MedicAlert Bracelet NBA Finals MVP Award. And, inevitably, the Mitchell-Jerden Funeral Home MLB All-Star Game. Though, by then, they'll probably scratch and claw for the Crystal Cryogenics 500.

Pac Man Jones May Make It Rain, But Rip Makes It Hurricane! [King Of Cartoons]

Jackson has generally be considered a reasonable counteragent to Berman on NFL GameDay — many say it's the only program in which they legitimately enjoy Boomer — but Jackson's had some troubles of his own. His two most famous missteps were not speaking up during Rush Limbaugh's bizarre comments on Donovan McNabb, and saying that Bill Belichick was hated by his players right before the Patriots went on their massive run. But any feud with Belichick, that's not gonna get you in too much trouble with the public.

From? LOUISVILLE!

So, Do you like the Tom Jackson? Do you not like the Tom Jackson? Let us know.

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It's buried in the press release, but not in our hearts: The lovely Erin Andrews will also be on hand for the prestigious event. Hey, why should Little Leaguers have all the fun?

ESPN's live telecast (simulcast on ESPN360.com) is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., ET. ESPN360.com will provide coverage of the quarterfinal rounds from 2:00-5:30 p.m., ET on Thursday, May 29 on ESPN 360.com. ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews will be a correspondent for both the ABC and ESPN broadcasts.

Where exactly the "sidelines" are marked at a spelling bee is unclear, but they'll figure it out. Here's what I imagine the first interview will be like:

ANDREWS: "Kevin, you were knocked out on the word 'ubiquitous,' which you spelled 'b-r-e-a-s-t-s.' What happened?"
KEVIN: (Blushes) "Well, I ..." (faints).

That would be only slightly more embarrassing than this.

Tom Bergeron Hosts The 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee [The Futon Critic]

It appears that Farther Off The Wall caught wind of a circulated e-mail from ESPN Fan Zone, asking them about the macabre situation of an entire sports entertainment entity dying:

ESPN is always looking to better understand the emotional connection you, the fans, have with our brand. One great way to get at how much you love something is to imagine it's gone. So play along with us here:

Imagine that ESPN has passed away and you've been asked to deliver a eulogy at its funeral.

Click on the link below to submit your eulogy. Explain your relationship with ESPN, why you will miss it, your best memories of it, and perhaps its cause of death.

The wake will be hosted by the Around The Horn panelists, who will then argue about how ESPN's death really puts things in perspective.

Did You Have ESPN In The Death Pool? [Farther Off The Wall]

Most journalists we've talked to dream of moments like this; you have a guy you know is lying to you, lies to you to your face and then you NAIL him as he scurries away. Everyone else, you know, regular people, think reporter Tom Farrey trapped Tejada and purposely embarrassed him on camera. (In uniform, no less!)

Frankly, we tend to veer toward the latter camp, despite, you know, being ostensibly (theoretically?) a journalist. As Shakedownsports puts it:

E:60's ambush of Miguel Tejada was flat out wrong. It was television at its lowest point. Pure exploitation in order to get ratings. What did Tejada do to deserve being lured into a studio and left bare in front of a camera on live tape-delayed TV? This isn't "To Catch a Predator." Nobody can think to themselves that the guy on camera deserved what he got. Nobody can think ESPN was helping out it's viewers by calling attention to Tejada's real age. It was simply entrapment. Tom Ferry tricked Tejada into lying and then he had the brazeness to keep yelling questions as Tejada left the room.

It is telling that Tejada took tougher questioning about his age than he ever has about steroids.

The online idolatry of her — not seen since Anna Kournikova's cyberspace heyday — runs along the lines of Wayne and Garth, from Wayne's World, saying if she "were a president, she'd be Babe-braham Lincoln."

Yes. Nailed it.

What's even more notable is Andrews own admission that Kirk Herbstreit has a "Timberlake-like" following with college kids. She even says that while she was a spritely co-ed and wannabe sports reporter at the University of Florida, she got a little overwhelmed in the presence of Herbstreit's seductive aura: "My camera didn't work the first time I got a photo with Kirk Herbstreit and, oh my gosh, I'm freaking out..."

All should heretofore bow to the panty-dropping power of Kirk Herbstreit. He's a golden god in a gray-tinted world full of Fowlers and Corsos.

YouTube Clips Can't Tell The Story Of Erin Andrews [USA Today]

Well, the trial of Harold Reynolds Vs. ESPN, scheduled for SOMETIME, finally settled last night. Terms were not disclosed, but Harold had originally sued for $5 million.

"This was a matter of principle," Reynolds, who now works for MLB.com, said in a statement. "I stood on principle and didn't waver. My goals were met. Now I can put this behind me and concentrate on the game I love."

ESPN said it stood by its decision to dismiss Reynolds. It said in a statement that the settlement was "economically compelling to ESPN," amounting to a "fraction of his demands and less than what it would have cost to litigate the case."

When we spoke to Reynolds last year, he reiterated the "principle" stand and expressed frustration that the process was taking so long. Now he can go back to working for MLB.com, and we can go back to listening to Eric Young on "Baseball Tonight." And we miss out on what would have been a rather amazing trial. Alas.

Reynolds And ESPN Settle Lawsuit [New York Times]
Our Interview With Harold Reynolds [Deadspin]

No word from Simmons yet — we contacted him, but it's the West Coast, and we doubt he's awake yet — but ESPN's explanation makes little sense.

But ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz told us: "It's absolutely not an issue about any one candidate. Our position is that when they're down to the final two candidates, we'll look for options to interview each accordingly. Fans don't expect political coverage on our air. We did Kerry and Bush on ESPN. Separate one-on-ones that were sports related."

We're not quite sure we agree with Rush & Malloy on this, who make a big show of pointing out that George Bodenheimer gave $1,000 to John McCain. After all, John Papanek gave to Obama, and Bodenheimer also donated $1,000 to now-Obama supporter Chris Dodd.

We think it's more a matter of pulling rank. Some online guy is gonna have Sen. Obama as a guest on his PODCAST? What the hell's a podcast? Better to wait until Stu Scott can talk to him about Carolina hoops after the convention. Why waste the access on a podcast?

That's our theory, anyway. As Rush & Malloy quote a source:

"They landed the hottest politician in 50 years, and they couldn't even see the interview through? This is insanity."

If you'll excuse him, Bill Simmons will now set himself on fire.

Barack Obama Is Game, ESPN Isn't [New York Daily News]

Boggs is one of several Hall of Famers who will be guesting on "Baseball Tonight" throughout the season. As much as we look forward to Ozzie Smith's appearance, we do hope they invite Jim Rice, just to be mean.

The highlight of Boggs appearance was the pleasant reminder of just weird Boggs was. The guy knew exactly how many balls he'd lined foul into the right field stands. The level of obsession it requires to be a professional athlete is terrifying sometimes.

Boggs On "Baseball Tonight" [The Sports Hernia]

Whatever she's yelled to Tebow, it clearly worked. He is transfixed and eager to answer her inquiries.

Here's another photo from Busted Coverage that clearly shows that Andrews has Tebow standing at rapt attention. She is a captivating interviewer.

Erin Andrews Makes Tim Tebow Blush, Touch Pecs [Busted Coverage]

Still, it was strange to hear Jim Nantz on ESPN; imagine Stephen A. Smith on CBS, and you get a feel for the disconnect. (See, now there's an announcing team we'd enjoy!) But yes: When you watched Mike Tirico stare into the camera and wax rhapsodic about the glories of Augusta, it was plainly obvious why Berman wasn't asked to hang around for the first couple of days.

Anyway, there's more coverage this afternoon, though the tournament started, like, three hours ago. A bunch of people we don't know are teeing off. We must wait six more hours for the dulcet tones of Mike Tirico; if only ESPN had some sort of way to alert me how long it was until their coverage starts.

(Photo via Jason Sobel's blog.)

Now, he's basically trolling around Tampa, willing to talk to horny ladies like the one seen above while making odd hand gestures.

But this Sunday, he'll be back talking about baseball. On April 13, he'll appear on Baseball Tonight as a guest analyst, part of an ongoing "Hall of Fame" series.

For some reason, Wade just doesn't seem like he'll be up to the task at hand; the years of torment, boozing and horn-dogging have completely zapped him of the ability to articulate anything above twiddling his fingers, answering yes or no questions or belching. (Ed. Note: We know the feeling.)

Hopefully, he'll be wearing that shirt during the broadcast.

Baseball Tonight To Feature Hall of Fame Analysts [Awful Announcing]

(Photo courtesy of Local Hotties)

Generally speaking, we think Le Batard is more prone to discuss matters of race in sport than most of his colleagues, something we find commendable. But we kind of agree with Bilas here: We're really not sure what Le Batard's point is supposed to be. If Michael Beasley were white? If Tyler Hansbrough were black? Where you going with this?

That said, Bilas is awfully short fused here; the man's pretty serious for a guy who was in a Dolph Lundgren movie.

First up: ESPN's Kenny Mayne.

—-—-—-—-—-—-

What made Suzy Kolber's baby?

Kenny Mayne contemplates this question as we sit across from each other a tiny table in the library at the Regency hotel on 61st and Park in Manhattan. He repeats it out loud — slowly — lets it simmer, smirks, then tries to think of the best way to answer it without saying anything too offensive.

"What made the baby?" he repeats, making sure he got the question right.

Yes. What. The Kolber tot is a milkshake baby. So where did it come from?

"That is public knowledge, right?" he asks.

I say, yes, but then I'm not sure. I mean, she's not married, there doesn't appear to be a man in her life, and, as I explain to Mayne, there have long been questions about her sexuality and whether or not she's a lesbian.

Mayne smirks again, the patented Kenny Mayne smirk. He chooses his answer carefully since Kolber is a friend of his and he's seen pictures of the baby and then reminds himself (and me) out loud that he still has to get the baby a present.

"I think Suzy's devotion to her child and wanting to be a mother is what made the baby." Proud of his answer, he smiles.

The reason I'm sitting here in this fancy hotel, at this tiny table, talking to Kenny Mayne is because Kenny Mayne is writing a book. Or has written a book. It's called "An Incomplete & Inaccurate History of Sport," and it hits bookstores April 22. We set up this interview the day before; he agreed to meet and said he'd be wearing blue. He was. The book is comprised of short little chapters outlining everything from tackle football to orienteering, with some factual elements, generously sprinkled with bone-dry, here's-what-I-think riffs that may or may not have anything to do with the chapter titles. There are pictures and crude illustrations by his young daughters.

Bottom line: if you love Kenny Mayne, you'll love the book. If you don't like Kenny Mayne, you'll hate it. If you have no idea who Kenny Mayne is, the book will be as enjoyable to read as an Icelandic car insurance policy.

Here is some information gleaned from our two-hour conversation:

• This is a fancy-ass hotel he's staying at, and Kenny Mayne seemingly knows every single person who works there. We pause a few times during the interview so he can acknowledge busboys, waiters, hostesses and various other hotel employees. Others spotted at the hotel in the lobby? Diane Sawyer. Colin Powell. Oh, and the black piano-playing dude from Melinda and Melinda who ended up boinking Chole Sevigny. (Ed. Note: That would be Chiwetel Ejiofor, and he's actually pretty awesome.)

• He was paid a little under six figures to do "Dancing With The Stars."

• He read his Media Approval Rating and was impressed at how well thought out the comments were.

• He read one-quarter of "God Save The Fan" in the bookstore. (Ed. Note: Buy it, dick.)

• He has recently re-upped his contract with ESPN — but he won't be doing SportsCenter this time around.

• He jokingly asked for a signing bonus during the negotiations. He did not get it.

• He owns a 2.5 percent share of a 4-year-old racehorse.

• When there are important, real world stories to be done on ESPN, Bob Ley is called in. That's what happened on 9/11. Mayne says "Yeah, they call in the general." Bob Ley is "the general."

• He has a weird accent that sounds vaguely Canadian.

• He has a notebook of quips that he's used on SportsCenter.

• Snoop Dogg blurbs his book, but he's never smoked herb with him even though he's had plenty of opportunities.

• He loves Pearl Jam and is attending their concert on June 27 with Neil Everett.

• He has not seen "Two Girls One Cup." After I explain to him in graphic detail of what it is, he simply says, with a wide-eyed expression, "Ah, I don't know if I'd want to see that..."

• He admits that "Who's Now" was not his "favorite thing ESPN has ever done."

I tell him that sometimes he seemed bored doing SportsCenter, and ask him if that was done intentionally.
"That was actually a criticism of one of the [ESPN] bosses. That doing something in a deadpan way may come across like that," he says." But I don't think I'm bored, I just think it's funnier if I don't laugh at my own joke, ring the bell, or announce, 'Okay, I'm going to say something funny now.'" And he is a funny guy. He considers himself a creative, cerebral-type guy, who has aspirations of being Christopher Guest, more than being a glorified sports news reader.

Mayne hedges a little bit when asked about his future with ESPN by saying that he plans on fulfilling his contract the next two years, but he does envision a life outside of the WWL.

"If I had my druthers, I'd not work and just make independent films," he says. "But I like the position I'm in with ESPN right now and the security so we're not quite there yet." (He does not come off pretentious when he says this. However, it is noted, that when typed out, it does appear pretentious. I assure you it's not.)

But what about the environment at ESPN? The big, corporate overlord seems like it would be creatively stifling, especially with those inter-office memos. He's evasive — except about the memos.

"Yeah, I'd like to know who your sources are on that. They seem to get to you guys rather quickly. It's probably somewhat amusing to the rank-and-file employees to see our inter-office memos posted five minutes after they're distributed. I can understand how our bosses wouldn't like it. Norby probably doesn't love it."

Now, onto more pertinent matters: Salisbury. Mayne says he was completely thrown off-guard when they let Salisbury go, but he does offer that the timing of Cris Carter hopping on board almost as soon as NFL Live went under, may suggest that ESPN brass new Carter would be available. He said he had no knowledge of Salisbury's firing prior to when it happened and had only heard about some of his, um, "problems" from what he read online and in the paper. (Mayne is not a big drinker and says he hasn't been drunk in seven years. This is probably why he didn't hang out with Salisbury very much. We have two Cokes at the hotel, which cost $13.01. Told you it was a fancy hotel.)

"I thought Sean did a great job when he was there. I also thought Sterling Sharpe did a great job when he was there. I liked Michael Irvin when he was there and then, of course, they replaced him with Emmitt Smith..."

Right. Emmitt. What do you think of Emmitt, Kenny?

"I think he's a great dancer. Great guy. I think he's getting a lot better on television..."

Loosely translated and interpreted: As a current employee of ESPN, Emmitt Smith is a great dancer.

We get back to the book for a little bit. One section that stands out is when Mayne talks about one of his many Rock N' Jock softball appearances. He talks glowingly about being on a team with a teenage Jessica Biel. In the span of 50 words in the book, he mentions this fact at least three times. I imply that he didn't hide his attraction to her that well.

"Well, I think I also said that she could be my niece...she was 18, 19 at the time."

Right, but did you have a boner?

"She was a young, attractive lass. I think it's okay, when she's an, uh, older person that you could mention something like that in the book."

Right, but what if she grew up to be a beast? Would you mention it then?

"No. Then it wouldn't be bragging rights. She was a good contributor to our team."

Translation: boner.

Throughout the conversation, it's obvious that the on-camera Kenny Mayne is remarkably close to his real-life persona: self-effacing, weird-thinking, droll. Outside of a couple of "shits" and one "give a fuck" he doesn't curse. He's in that rarified air of the sports entertainment industry of, essentially, being paid to be himself. He's well aware of what this interview would entail ("You're trying to get me to say something "saucy" about my co-workers"), but chose to participate anyway. He is hopeful that the book does well, and he's more than willing to do anything possible to ensure that it does sell well. He says the publisher has earmarked 40-50 thousand as a success and he's frustrated by how low the number is. "I want to sell a million. And all the publishers were kind of patronizing me, saying, yeah, good luck with that. And it is weird trying to sell this book, because I have no agent, no publicist. I could conceivably just stick it on the shelf and just not care — but wouldn't you rather succeed but not succeed?"

Go ahead. Help him succeed

This is The Masters, after all, and it is Very Serious. In an odd way, we kind of wish Berman were broadcasting The Masters; his signature brio and bluster might take the tournament down a notch. If Chris Berman is broadcasting your event, you can't be that fancy.

Not that The Masters isn't hip with the new technology; check out their hi-LARIOUS new official blogger.

We do miss Gary McCord, though we only know that because we play the Tiger Woods video game.

ESPN Experiencing The Slippery Slopes At Augusta [Washington Post]

Police say that Joel Brodsky was wandering around Indian Hills High School, his 10-year-old son in tow, on March 26th with his hair slicked back, wearing gray pants and an untucked dress shirt, and carrying a New York Giants helmet supposedly autographed by Eli Manning when he happened upon a pack of boys in the hallway who were on break from an SAT prep course. Brodsky introduced himself to the lads as Mark Adams, chatted them up for a bit, and then promised all of them college scholarships if they could set him up with a "16 or 17-year-old girl for sex", according to reports.

The students, annoyed and alarmed by the fake Mark Adams' creepy proposition, alerted authorities who eventually tracked Brodsky down and arrested him on child endangerment charges.

Now, imagine you're Joel Brodsky: old, horny, trapped in an unremarkable life that doesn't satisfy your wanton desires. It's time to transform yourself into someone new, someone different, someone important...like Mark Adams!

And why Mark Adams? It seems Adams is not just a 15th-tier college basketball analyst on ESPN — he's also an aspiring Tony Robbins, who even has his own EnthusiAdams corporate motivational courses:

So, Why Mark Adams? Simply because Mark is not just another motivational speaker with a canned message. He takes the extra time to 'scout' your team and become a part of your coaching staff. He prepares just like he did as a championship coach to assist your team to win your next championship. Mark is a winner and his ENTHUSIADAMS will be contagious!

So, you see, kids: Brodsky failed at securing a date with an underage girl for one reason and one reason alone — he lacked the proper amount of enthusiadams.

Cops Say School Intruder Was Looking For Sex [NorthJersey.com]
Mark Adams! [EnthusiAdams]

"There's some good journalism, and some really horrible crap on [the Web] from guys holding down the couch springs in their mother's basement that have never been in a lockerroom but are pining on this and that. And this gives them cache, and then they're being quoted? What? This guy is in his underwear. They could us a Greyhound bus full of editors and it still wouldn't help them. So this is the 'new style of journalism' we gotta learn?

Seriously: We don't even have the energy to summon much outrage here. But if you were wondering the quality of comedy and original insight you'll be getting from Reilly when he joins ESPN in June, this should give you a rather solid clue.

More On Reilly ... Oh, Really? Yes, Reilly [Farther Off The Wall]

"That's it," Chad said, which startled Kenny. He then attempted a follow-up question which also went nowhere. Again, Kenny tries to sign-off gracefully and, again, Chad doesn't go away.

The whole interview starts to derail about the 1:10 mark.

Bengals' Johnson: 'I Plan To Show Up' [Fanhouse]

You know how, the other day, we told you that you could comment on Mariotti's columns in the Chicago Sun-Times. Well, Jay has put the kibosh on that.

Earlier this week, the tough-guy columnist asked management to remove reader comments from its Web site. So if you want to rip Mariotti for ripping Jim Hendry in his Thursday column, you're out of luck. Kind of. A few readers slammed Mariotti at the bottom of a Greg Couch column Thursday.

You know, people love to ask us, in a snickering way, what we think of Stephen A. Smith's blog. Honestly, we think it's great; it takes real cojones to be a national television presence like Smith and not be afraid of open comments. The guy can take it. The guy has balls. No matter what your thoughts about him, you have to respect him for that.

Jay Mariotti, as if this was possibly in doubt, does not. He's a very sensitive boy.

Silence Is Golden [Chicago Tribune] (second item)

But that's beside the point. Do you like the Steve Phillips? Do you not like the Steve Phillips?

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Appearances like this give Obama a useful pipeline to white working-class voters. It actually reminds me of a half-cocked theory I've been toying with, which is that younger, edgier sports chatter—most prominently on ESPN, but also on talk-radio stations across the country—seems to be injecting elements of African-American culture into white working-class minds, and in a pretty favorable light. (Who doesn't love Stuart Scott?)

(Emphasis ours.)

As you would probably suspect, the writer (the otherwise awesome Noam Scheiber) watched as commenters gave a collective, "Uh ... we can think of a few people."

Whatever your thoughts about Scott's most famous Deadspin moment, we always found the more indicative Stu Scott moment to be his adminition to fans for booing athletes. We do, to be clear, like everybody, wish Stu all the best in his current health battle. But we're voting on approval ratings here.

So: Do you like the Stuart Scott? Do you not like the Stuart Scott? Lemme know.

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They even have a video about the whole thing. Who says that Vitale has lost his dignity in the endless chase for more schtick? Not us!

Not So Awesome Baby [FanIQ]

We've been surprised how much we've enjoyed Knight on the network's studio analyst crew, but he's all calm and reasonable and stuff. This will not do. Antwonomous suggests an expletive-ridden rant on Rece Davis, but we'd prefer a sudden chokehold on Digger Phelps. It's only a matter of time, really.

Hey, Rece: Don't call him "Hey, Knight." Though it'd be cool if you did.

Bobby Knight: The Calm Before The Storm [Antwonomous]

The story's a solid read, particularly its dissection of a recent powerpoint memo about the network that argues that sports leagues rarely benefit from associations with ESPN nearly as much as Bristol does. But we hat we found most amazing was how taken aback, downright befuddled, ESPN suits remain when people criticize the network. Seriously, still.

Even though Disney bought the company in 1995, longtime company employees kept a chip on their shoulder, truly believing that they were the little guy who had to work harder than their competitors. Even today, many of these executives genuinely seem surprised and hurt by much of the criticism. For example, some ESPN executives could not understand why NBC's Fred Gaudelli and Andrea Kremer publicly belittled ESPN's "Monday Night Football" production in February. They were especially stung that the criticism came from former colleagues.



Today, as the unquestioned leader in sports media, ESPN executives slowly are getting used to some of the criticism and are trying to figure out how to operate as the big, established company, rather than the up-and-comer. "We have become successful by following an astoundingly simply principle: serve fans," Skipper said. "Criticism is one of the prices you pay for success at this level."

It's a fascinating read, and we'd say about 75 percent of what ESPN says in there is eminently reasonable. And about 90 percent of what their critics say is reasonable as well. We're not sure how the math works out there.

Taking Aim At Bristol [Sports Business Journal]

Whatever your thoughts on Vitale — and while working during ESPN Bracketology yesterday, we actually had to turn down our television set when Vitale was on so we could concentrate — it did seem strange not having him be a part of college basketball during his surgery. Though bringing him back for Duke-UNC seemed almost cruel; it's like they were trying to get him to blow out his voice right then and there, all over again.

Anyway, Vitale won't get to broadcast any tourney games once again this year, but we've all gotten used to that. It's probably for the best, actually, whether you like Vitale or not. Duke can only play so many games, after all.

So: Do you like the Dick Vitale? Do you not like the Dick Vitale?

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BTW……I co-hosted the Steve Harvey Morning Show today with the morning crew. It’s Freedom Friday, so, unfortunately, I had to give it to Nephew Tommy a little bit, who completely underestimated my skills with the slow jamz (Starship, Lady (Whispers), Adore and Call Me (Prince), Just to be close (Lionel Richie), etc.

Shame on the brother! But I’m not going to hold it against him too much.

When ya don’t know,…ya don’t know. (smile!!!)

[stephenablog.typepad.com]

According to Women's Wear Daily, ESPN has hired a style director and will begin crediting fashion designers.

"People want to know what athletes are wearing to and from the ballpark," said Steven Binder, vice president of magazine sales. "ESPN should be doing this."

Wait, they do? That can't be it, can it?

Oh:

It's also a great opportunity to tap into those fashion ad dollars, although the current economic climate might make that more difficult. Binder said the magazine is also seriously considering putting on an event in Milan during the spring shows.

An ESPN runway show in Milan! Heavens: Our brain just imploded.

Athletes Can Dress Up [WWD] (second item_

Maya Moore, the Connecticut women's hoops guard who had been heavily recruited by rival Tennessee, apparently received the Bristol tour on request of Huskies coach Geno Auriemma. After choosing Connecticut, Tennessee coach Pat Summitt complained, saying the tour was an unfair benefit. The NCAA may be looking into it.

Tennessee also happened to be courting Moore at the time, but lost the star recruit to the school up north(east). So the Lady Vols sent a complaint to the SEC, who then complained to the NCAA.

UConn officials said they haven't received any notice of penalties, while the NCAA has refused comment. But the Worldwide Leader has responded by changing their tour request policies.

We find it difficult to blame either ESPN or UConn for this; those on-set visits to WBIR in Knoxville just don't have the same pizzazz as watching people apply makeup to Neil Everett. Hell, we'd sign a letter of intent for considerably less.

ESPN Tours Can Lead To NCAA Violations [Sports By Brooks]

The irony of all this aside, I'm very interested to know which Bobby Knight we're going to get here. Because this has the potential to be very interesting indeed. Despite all of his bluster and reputation for candor, Knight was never actually critical of opposing players or coaches; at least in public. Unless they were Dale Brown or Jim Boeheim. So my guess is that what we're going to see from Knight on ESPN is a lot of polite criticism, endless telestrator breakdowns, and a few war stories. And that would be a shame.

Because what we could get from him would be rants on how no one plays good defense anymore, how the game has been ruined by the shot clock and the three-point line, how coaches have become television personalities instead of teachers, and how all five UCLA starters travel every time they touch the ball.

San Francisco Bay Area residents may remember Brad Duggan, who coached City College of San Francisco for several years (Indiana center Dean Garrett played there) and had a brief broadcasting career with KTVU-TV. Duggan was a hard-nosed, old-school coach in the Knight mold, and was never afraid to embarrass a player or coach on the air for lack of fundamentals. If a team played horseshit defense or a coach didn't know what he was doing, Duggan wasn't afraid to point it out — he was the anti-Dickie V, I guess one could say — and it was glorious to watch. I can only imagine what he would say about Eddie Sutton at USF.

That's the kind of Knight that would have me glued to the TV, but alas, I don't think that's what we're going to get. We're probably going to see a kinder, gentler Bobby Knight ... old and dottering, perhaps even in danger of taking a tumble al la John Wooden. Why, when you see him with Greenberg and Golic this morning, he may even be petting a kitten. I hope he proves me wrong, but I think he's just going to be a big pussy.

UPDATE: Mike & Mike segment just ended. So far, I'm right.

Send A Question To Bob Knight! [ESPN]

Yes, the show that Salisbury once hosted (and also Carmen Electra, Bill Nye and the Sklar brothers) is returning to ESPN this June.

ESPN has made BattleBots an offer: BattleBots will hold a Collegiate BattleBots Championship, featuring robots built by students enrolled in institutions of Higher Education. The Collegiate BattleBots competition will air as a series on ESPNU and ESPN2. This competition will be open to Colleges and Universities, and Student Teams who are enrolled in institutions of Higher Education. This will be a middleweight (120 pound) competition as governed under the current BattleBots rule set — But, BattleBots is allowing an additional 40 pounds to be added as bonus weight, thus making the total weight 160 pounds! So get creative.

That's just mean: That's like firing Stuart Scott and then bringing back "Teammates." We are sorry, Sean.

(But seriously, though: "Battlebots" rules. We can't wait.)

ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions [BattleBots]

The highlight of Mike Patrick's broadcasting career, and what will appear on his epitaph we suspect, is his insane random Britney Spears mention during the Alabama-Georgia game last year. We still aren't sure what was going on with that, and frankly, no human explanation would satisfy us. We just prefer to imagine him sitting around thinking about Britney, all the time, with the subconscious bubbling up at just the wrong times.

But hey, Mike Patrick: It's great to have you with us here tonight.

So let us know: Do you like the Mike Patrick? Do you not like the Mike Patrick?

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We are proud to bring you the official application test to become an ESPN intern. It's in six sections, right here:

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According to someone who received it, ESPN Human Relations gives you only one hour to complete the test, to the point that the HR person will require you to send it back to them within an hour of you receiving it.

We're not sure how we'd do on this — are college students really expected to know when the last season of the ABA was? — but we encourage you all to test yourselves. You, too, could have the opportunity to tousle John Clayton's hair.

ESPN Intern Test

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(UPDATE: We've received conflicting information that this test might not be inherently for interns, but mainly for "temporary production assistants." That is, the people who cut highlights. Either way. fun. And HARD.)

(SECOND UPDATE: OK, now general consensus is that it's a "researcher application." That makes sense.)

So Cornell won the Ivy League, and ESPN wanted video of the clinching game from WBNG-TV in Binghamton. They were a little push about it. Meet Brendan O'Reilly, a guy unlikely to host "SportsCenter" any time soon, who wrote an open letter to ESPN.

Yes, we are happy to share the video from Cornell clinching their Ivy League title. Hope you don't mind if we go ahead and worry about our show first though. I know everyone loves the Sportscenter, with the zany commercials and all, but we're going to go ahead and edit our stuff first. We're selfish that way.

Oh, when you run our video on all your shows, please find a font size roughly one pixel in height to show that it was shot by WBNG. We want people that have 60 inch monitors to have to squint to read it. That's the goal. So in conclusion, it was just fantastic bending over backwards to get you video. It really was.

Remember the old days, when people were afraid to criticize ESPN out of fear of The Empire? Isn't it better now? You have to admit it, it is. We bet ESPN, deep down, would have to admit it too.

Dear ESPN [WBNG]

Anyway, Wingo hasn't made too many appearances on this site, and his most famous cameo was in the background of the Dana Jacobson vodka photo. We can't imagine what that night must have been like for him. Someday, maybe we'll all know the story. If we dare.

So: Do you like the Trey Wingo? Do you not like the Trey Wingo? Let us know.

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No, no they don't. When you consider that "Greatest Highlight" has been on every "SportsCenter" for a month, it would be a rather resounding failure for it not to show up somewhere. In our view, this is the same reason "Who's Now?" was the top searched term of 2007. We've discussed this before, but it warrants repeating:

ESPN is a corporation. As a corporation, their goal is to grow and make money. There is no crime in this; this is not an art project. But as most sports fans can tell you, even those of us who grow exhausted of the "Greatest Highlight" and "Who's Now" antics watch ESPN all the time. There is no viable competitor; if you're a sports fan who doesn't watch ESPN, you're really not much of a sports fan.

ESPN knows this. They know they have you; you aren't going anywhere. Because of this, they do not need to cater to you. To grow, they must bring in new viewers, people who are more casual sports fans, people who are more drawn in by the shiny objects of "controversy" and Dick Vitale. They're the ones who might think, hey ... I AM curious about how the world of sports intersects with the world of Hollywood! They are the new viewers; they are the people who discovered Nirvana way too late and ruined everything. (Note: We are one of these people, at least when it comes to Nirvana.) They are exactly the type of people who keep Chris Berman in our faces every night. And they're exactly the type of people who love the "Greatest Highlight;" people who, really, don't actually like sports that much.

So that's why, in our humble opinion, "Greatest Highlight" is the most searched term on ESPN.com. That, or the world is fucking collapsing all around us. Could be that.

"Greatest Highlight" Leads February Searches [ESPN]

We know, it's pretty much the exact opposite of college football season right now, but Lee Corso himself is timeless. We hope to someday see him put on the headdress of Chief Illiniwek during an Illini prediction at some point; we doubt he knows much about the whole "controversy."

But let us know: Do you like the Lee Corso? Do you not like the Lee Corso? Vote, people!

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Maybe Derek Anderson was advised not to sign anything until he became a free agent; ergo, he rejected the Cleveland Browns' contract, and it became a story. Once midnight finally struck, Anderson looked at the offer and became overcome with emotion. "Oh, wow, a multi-year deal!" And that was the next story.

See folks, ESPN's on top of this story, from beginning to end. And you thought they were just conflicting headlines on their front page, which were seen in unison this morning perhaps as early as 10:45 a.m. when twoeightnine pointed it out to me, and as late as 11:25 a.m. Sheesh, give them a little credit, people.

Report: Anderson Gets Multiyear Deal From Browns [ESPN]

Aside: After I typed this up, I soon realized I was wearing a fleece emblazoned with the ESPN logo. While I'm not too worried, I am beginning to feel some tingling in my chest area. Probably just temporary.

From an interview with Ft. Wayne Observed:

"What's on the horizon? I would love to work with the NFL; that has always been my dream. I worked in Indianapolis and the year after I left, the Colts won the Super Bowl. So I rooted against them last season against New England just for spite. But then I see Tony Dungy's face, and it's really all about him. And I see him and I can't root against them."

And from Wikipedia:

After spending years as a blonde, Manske dyed her hair back to its natural brunette color in time for the September 16, 2007 edition of the The Speed Report. She is also a big fan of the National Football League's Green Bay Packers.

Now that's a resume! Suck it, Condoleeza Rice!

NicoleManske.com
NASCAR's Finest: Former Miss Teen USA Semifinalist And Budding TV Star Nicole Manske [The Big Lead]
The Nicole Manske Interview [Ft. Wayne Observed]

Knight will be on hand for ESPN's wall-to-wall coverage of the major conference championships and continue through the NCAA title game - including working on ESPN's on-site set at the Final Four. He'll appear on pregame and postgame shows and on SportsCenter, says ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys, "and all the things we do tied to men's basketball."

All very well, but will this be the real Bobby Knight? Is he going to give his true opinion about Drexel's shitty-ass, gimmicky zone defense, or the way that Wake Forest doesn't run its offense worth a damn? Because he wouldn't last a week, but it would be fun.

Bob Knight Joining ESPN Studio Team [USA Today]