In his interviews with Gumbel, Battista seemed open to discussing anything from his cocaine habit to the best way to covertly take bets from a working NBA official. But when pressed on the issue of Donaghy fixing games, he becomes oddly cagey. To be fair, it is difficult to say "Tim fixed games" without actually saying that he fixed games.

Battista went to high school with Donaghy, lost touch when he became a full-time professional gambler, but then hooked up with him again after learning that Donaghy had a gambling problem. See, the thing is, everyone is in universal agreement that Donaghy was terrible at picking games ... unless they happened to be the games that he was working. Battista set up an amazing arrangement where he would serve as Donaghy's bookie, but Donaghy never had to pay out on losses—he was only rewarded for his wins. That seems like a guy who is pretty confident that his wins will win big. Which they did, about 80% of the time.

Battista's whole story is kind of convoluted and Swiss-cheese like (look for the re-runs to see the whole thing), so who really knows what the full truth is. But Battista is definitely trying to say something, if we could only decode what he's really getting at.

WINK!

Oh, and in a "interesting, if true" postscript—a "source" tells a local Boston TV station that Battista says he had 13 NBA referees in his stable and will soon write a tell-all book exposing the whole charade. Should I start holding my breath now or should we wait for fourth-party confirmation from the mailman?

HBO: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel - The Insider [HBO]
Ex-Referee Donaghy's Accomplice Says They Bet on Many Games [NY Times]
Source: Gambler claims 13 referees involved in NBA betting scandal [WHDH]

The Sports Fans Coalition has an actual working website now and in this day and age that make you legit. The have a blog and everything. Their stated agenda is spelled out, there's a few snazzy pictures, and links to tales of sports fan woe. (Dave Zirin, the author of this recent L.A. Times op-ed about the foolishness of a new Los Angeles football stadium, is on the SFC board of directors.) You can even join the group yourself, if you like—with or without donating your hard-earned money to them. That makes it easier to keep an eye on their dastardly plans.

Some people are still saying that they're in the pocket of satellite companies, but we'll reserve our judgment for now because Comcast sucks. We'll just keep an eye on them ourselves and see if they can actually accomplish what they set out to do—or decide to take a lot of Congresspeople out to lunch and sell you out. As long as I get my Soviet Socialist health care, I'm happy.

Sports Fans Coalition, Inc. [sportsfanscoalition.org]
Football in L.A. [LA Times]
New lobbying group targets old battle over TV sports coverage [The Hill]

In a brilliant little bit of counter programming—and fortuitous timing—last night's episode of "Let's Watch Fat People Suffer" featured American Hero" Derek Jeter trying to cheer up people who aren't skinny enough to date Victoria's Secret models. What a guy! I'm sure Philly fans will be totally respectful of his courageous stand against obesity and won't mock him at all for the unfortunate title of the show.

* * * * *

On a completely unrelated side note, I forgot how insufferable it is to be in New York City when the Yankees are in the World Series. It's about time the world took notice of this humble burg! This city has suffered so much since the Giants last won the Super Bowl, hasn't it?

The interview was ostensibly a commercial for James Toback's "Tyson" documentary, but there were some interesting moments—like when he told the story of his first fight, against a bully who killed one of his pet pigeons. (For real.) He choked up when talking about Cus D'Amato. He talked about not really regretting chewing Holyfield's ear off, and how his incredible rage made him such a great fighter....and a pretty lousy person.

In this clip, Tyson talks about the infamous Barbara Walters interview where Givens flat out called him an abusive husband while he sat there quietly saying nothing. You can imagine how that went over later that night. Mike claims she was just as abusive to him as he was to her—which is probably true—but her fists aren't lethal weapons.

Hard to believe those two kids couldn't work it out.

Oprah Talks to Former Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson [Oprah]

Well, it helps if you're Canadian, because then you can watch that happen on the new figure skating reality show Battle of the Blades. Yes, Fox tried this years ago and it failed miserably, because a) it's Fox and b) the "celebrities" included Dave Coulier and Jillian Barberie. That not exactly the recipe for a ratings juggernaut. But this time the Canucks have paired professional figure skaters with retired professional hockey players. Lifting a 90-pound woman over your head and twirling is a lot like winning the Stanley Cup!

And these aren't just any hockey players—they've rounded up some of the most bloodthirsty thugs they could find, including Tie Domi, Bob Probert and Claude Lemieux. Since most reality shows (and figure skating events) are easily spiced up by fist fights this idea can't miss, right?

Actually, the premiere did get some sweet ratings and Domi already got clocked in the face once. It's a sensation! Plus, also those people who fell in love with Jamie Sale seven years ago finally have a reason to live again.

Battle of the Blades: faceoff on figure skatesil [Globe and Mail]
Former NHLers treading on strange ice [National Post]
Battle of the Blades [CBC]

Noon:

Fresno State vs. Wisconsin (ESPN)
Central Michigan vs. Michigan State (ESPN2)
Troy vs. Florida (MSG, SEC Network and other regional providers)

3:30

Notre Dame vs. Michigan (ABC)
BYU vs. Tulane (ESPN2)
Houston vs. Okalhoma St. (MSG Plus and regional providers)

4:00

UCLA vs. Tennessee (ESPN)

7:00

Vandebilt vs. LSU (ESPNU)
South Carolina vs. Georgia (ESPN2)

8:00

USC vs. Ohio State (ESPN)

10:30

Utah vs. San Jose State (ESPNU)

Also on teevee today is the U.S. Open on CBS starting at noon and going into the night, the BMW Championship will be on NBC beginning at 3pm, and ABC is airing some NASCAR spectacle called the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at 8pm.

So there you go. Get your Rotel tomato/Velveeta cheese dip ready because there's some great games on the docket. It should be a long, very fun day.

There was nothing too revelatory or emotional in the two brief segments—except when it turned out that the Andrews parents were in the audience. Nothing says good television like Oprah asking a dad about what happened when his daughter called to tell him she had been personally violated. (Geez. Did you really have to bring out the dad?)

She didn't talk about the investigation, but she believes it was probably a stalker. She's nervous about being alone in hotel rooms (of course), but going back to work was the best thing she could do. Oprah reminded everyone that it could happen to them and that was that. Erin wasn't even as hard on the media (and the blogs) as she probably could have been—although she's obviously not thrilled with any of us right now. But that's why we invented Oprah, isn't it?

Erin Andrews' Online Video [Oprah.com]

Football is a tough sport. You're going to get injured. You're going to have aches and pains. You're probably never going to be playing at 100% of your health. But there is such a pervasive attitude that anyone who does sit out with any injury short of a broken bone is some kind of wimp, it makes any pronouncements about the NFL "looking out for" its players seem laughable.

It's all very subtle and non-threatening, but it's everywhere you look. The snide comments from assistant coaches. ("I don't talk to hurt guys.") Head coaches lecturing players about muscle strains. Trainers giving bucket hats to players receiving treatment, so that they're easily singled out for mockery. Everyone will say, we're just breaking balls. It's just good-natured ribbing, part of the camaraderie of training camp. But that stuff adds up and if you don't think it affects a player's mental state you're kidding yourself.

Later in the episode, there was a moment when the same coach who was teasing rookie Rey Maualuga about his bad shoulder, implores him to "don't be a jackass" and speak up if the injury is bothering him. But which of his coach's remarks do you think has the bigger impact? The constant shots at his manhood, how he's letting down his team, the direct implication that he needs to be on the field to secure his starting spot? Or the brief concern shown just seconds before he goes into a drill? He's long ago received the message.

Granted, a documentary doesn't show everything, but anyone who has been around a locker room (or even read our Softball Failures) knows what that culture of toughness is about. No matter what safety measures the league takes or the vast amount of medical training that goes into care for the walking wounded, it will never outweigh that subtle psychological game that tells athletes that injuries are for pussies.

Hard Knocks [HBO]

If this had been filmed back in say ... 2006, then you might have had something special. Right now, the most interesting subplot is a wide receiver with an idiotic name who is addicted to Twitter. Riveting stuff.

Plus, because the Bengals are on TV, they are going to be on their best behavior. This a teachable moment, and what management wants to teach the world is that Cincinnati is not Crazy Town.

"For the fans around the country who know us only by reports," the Cincinnati Bengals' owner said Tuesday, "it's a chance to set the record straight."

There are quite a few fans who would like the record to reflect that Mike Brown is a terrible owner, but that's another show. Oh, there might be some "Perfect Strangers" level hijinks if Chad "Johnson" decides to make good on his threat to move in with Carson Palmer, but that's harmless stuff. The NFL is not going to let HBO embarrass anyone, so unless Shayne Graham decides to murder a hobo the fireworks will likely be kept to a minimum.

Plus, it's all fake anyway.

Brown hopes 'Hard Knocks' changes minds [Lexington Herald Leader]
A.J. Smith calls 'Hard Knocks' fake [USA Today]
Cincinnati Bengals Training Camp on Hard Knocks [Esquire]
‘Hard Knocks' puts Bengals under a microscope [Cincy Inquirer]

Sports Business Journal takes a look at some of the other new shows in the pipeline, like "Shaq Vs.", and wonders why they're being made in the first place. The T.O. Show got more buzz than just about any mid-summer replacement could get and it wound up tied with a re-run of "Fresh Prince" for the 798th-highest-rated cable show of the week. Man, I would hate to see what 799 was.

These shows get some of the worst ratings imaginable and critics won't even be bothered to tell you how terrible they are. (The only one that seems to get any traction at all is "Hard Knocks.") Yet, networks executives can't wait to make more, because they are incredibly cheap to produce and don't require turning no-talent hairdos like Spencer and Heidi into celebrities. At least Warren Sapp used to be able to tackle people.

In other words, you get what you pay for and ... say it with me ... "in this economy" what else can you expect? But why do sports reality shows do so poorly in the first place. They appear to have a ready-made audience of devoted, talkative, spend-happy observers? (i.e., you guys.) Maybe it's because sports fans already have a huge slate of reality shows on their TV watching schedule. It's called "sports."

Low cost, not ratings power, keeps sports reality pipeline full [Sports Business Journal]

The movie tells the story of the Luis Resto-Billy Collins Jr. fight from 1983, when the journeyman Resto pummeled the undefeated Collins beyond recognition. Immediately after the fight, it was discovered that most of the padding had been taken out of Resto gloves. He and his trainer, Panama Lewis, spent two-and-a-half years in jail each, and were both banned from the sport for life. Less than a year after the fight, his career ruined and his life in shambles, Collins drove his car off a road and died.

The documentary focuses mainly on Resto, who got out of jail and then saw his life getting even worse. He never got his fighting license back and couldn't even get certified as a cornerman. His wife left him, his kids grew up without him, and he struggled along the bottom layer of the boxing game ever since. Throughout the course of the film, Resto—who had always denied any involvement with the glove tampering—comes to terms with his own role in the fateful fight, as he desperately reaches out for any lifeline that will pull his life back together.

In this early scene, he meets Panama for the first time since getting out of jail over 20 years earlier and confronts him about the gloves. Lewis also continues to deny any wrongdoing and promises that as soon as he gets back on his feet, he will help Resto out. In case, you hadn't noticed Lewis is covered in gold. Every finger on both hands, both his wrists and neck are swimming in jewelry. He's been back on his feet for a long time. Even though Lewis was banned as a cornerman he still makes money training top end fighters, while Resto spent ten years living in the basement of a gym.

Watching Lewis and Resto move through the shady underbelly of boxing, the whole movie is just a stunning reminder that boxing is run by some of the most corrupt and selfish people that walk the Earth. A boxing match between two well-matched contenders is a sight to behold, but it's hard to show any support for pugilism when you stop to think about what everyone involved had to do to get there. Or where they will end up, once they've outlived their usefulness. Rightly or wrongly, Lewis comes off as the consummate con-artist a man who casually threw away Collins' and then Resto's, lives in search of a big payday. The film is not entirely objective, but you don't have to know much about boxing to know that Lewis is not alone.

HBO: ASSAULT IN THE RING [Re-air schedule @ HBO.com]

The final toxicology reports, released this week, say that McNair's blood alcohol level was over the legal limit when he died. Of course, he wasn't driving—-he was asleep on his couch, so that fact is mostly irrelevant. (Though I guess it explains why he was sound asleep.) But just to make sure the Fox News audience got the picture, The Shepard, in his best serious voice and sans teleprompter, broke it down thusly:

It is not illegal to be drunk, it is illegal to drink and drive ... and it's certainly not illegal to sit there and do nothing while you wait for your girlfriend to come and shoot you to death.

So true. By the way, Florio was so professional and dignified that there's nothing funny or embarrassing to show you from his segment. Alas....

A blogger in a suit? Now I've seen everything!

Shepard Smith FOX News Report [Fox News]

This week began with Terrell Owens getting into a limo and bailing on the whole enterprise. This entire competition took maybe two weeks of actual real world time to film in the Bahamas, but apparently Owens couldn't fit that into his schedule, jetting off to Bills training camp halfway through production. Since he's been completely dogging it the entire time—and was actually kicked off once already—I guess he just assumed that he wouldn't be there that long. Plus, he's got to be sick of his partner Joanna Krupa, who is now off the show through no fault of her own. (Besides being incredibly annoying.)

So now that any possibility of controversy or drama (read: good television) has been eliminated, we can go on with the charade.

Game One of tonight's episode was a relay foot race, which they've already done before and is incredibly boring to watch. The athletic people did well, the non-athletic people (Jeff Kent) didn't. The end. Bode Miller and Paige Hemmis, realizing that they weren't going to win the foot race, tanked, hoping to save their energy for the next event. Unbeknownst to them, the next event was bowling, a sport scientifically designed for lazy people. Backfire?

Personally, I think they should just bring back Celebrity Bowling. Check out that list of celebrities. We're talking reasonably big time people here. (For the 1970s, that is.) Michael Douglas was on that show and this was back when he was still kind of edgy. OK, he was never edgy, but why can't we can't get legitimate TV stars with lots of time on their hands to participate in this kind of crap more often? Like Kiefer Sutherland wouldn't just OWN the obstacle course?

Anyway, the bowling lane was built over a swimming pool, yet somehow the game was not designed to force anyone to fall in and get wet, which just boggles the mind. Lisa Leslie/Baywatch Guy and Jeff Kent/Doritos Girl ended up in the final obstacle course run, just like last week, and Jeff and Ali lost, just like last week. (They were let back in, because T.O. quit.) So we're right back where we started and ABC wasted 59 minutes of perfectly good airtime.

Then, only then, underneath the final credits, does Kristi Leskinen appear in a bikini for the first time all series. Do they deliberately not want ratings? Why isn't she on water slides the entire episode? Sheesh.

Still better than the All-Star Game I think. I feel asleep during that.

The Superstars [ABC]

Most of last night's episode about the life of "Baseball Wives"—who may be true, but are not from Hollywood—could have easily been cut and pasted into a Lifetime Original. It was a perfectly non-confrontational look at the life of someone married to a professional athlete. There was talk of meet cutes, adorable proposal stories, cuddly kids, and rousing on-the-field successes. Plus, there was the tear-jerking dark times. Drugs. Kids with head diseases. They even discussed David Eckstein without using the word "gritty." Then things took an ugly turn, when some dude decided to spill the beans about players' "extra curricular" travel activities.

Nice job, narc. Not that Heidi Hamels or Jennie Daigle (neé Finch) have to worry about that. Even Laura Posada is the type of lady whose man always comes home on time. But when Derek Jeter is your husband's designated wingman, anything is possible.

If you'll recall, Robert Horry and Estella Warren were booted last week, which was perfect timing, because this week the contestants got to play basketball! I hope no one wanted to see Big Shot Rob show off his one marketable skill. But more on that later. First ... swimming!

Julio Iglesias Jr. is like a fish. He got stuck with the slowest swimming partner in Brandi Chastain, but motored past everyone in the 100-meter or so water dash to save second place for his team. Kristi Leskinen and Maksim Chmerkovskiy won this event easily, because they are the only team where at least one partner is not constantly tripping over their own feet. As long as they stick to contests that don't involve any real sports skill, there's no way they don't win this thing. So hey, let's play some hoops!

Remember, one person left actually gets paid to shoot basketballs for a living, so you would think said person would have a distinct advantage in a Rock-n-Jock style shoot-around. You know what happens when you assume?

Look, everyone picks on the WNBA, but ... can you really blame everyone? Lisa Leslie, former league MVP, clanged about 10 jumpshots in a minute and her team failed miserably in the only sport that any of these "superstars" actually plays. If they'd some how rigged up a downhill skiing contest and Bode Miller lost, wouldn't he be embarrassed too? This is not a good commercial for your fundamentally sound league.

(Tangent: Speaking of commericals, did you see the spots for "Dating In The Dark"? People go on literal blind dates, making out with strangers in a pitch-black room, in order to prove that everyone on Earth is a superficial a-hole. It's gold, Jerry.)

So Brandi and Julio won the day, and even started this weird kiss on the cheek ritual, because that's what the son of Julio Iglesias does. Terrell Owens and Bode Miller have mastered the obstacle course—and it really is a lame obstacle course—so their teams managed to stay alive. That left Lisa Leslie/David Chavret and Jeff Kent/Ali Landry in the final obstacle course relay. In the same way that the Lisa was not an advertisement for the WNBA's fundamentals, Jeff Kent is not advertisement for baseball's calisthenics regimen. He got smoked by a fake lifeguard and he and Ali ended up going home.

But I think they learned a lot about themselves and the power of Ali's sports bras.

The Superstars [ABC]