media Page 105 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A Bizarre Sexting Scandal Has Cost An ESPN Partner His Job
The executive who oversees Hearst's ESPN interest (Hearst is the publishing company that owns—the often forgotten!—20 percent of the network) has quit his job amid an odd horndoggery scandal....

"They Went For An Older Pope, OK": Mike Francesa Gave The Greatest Running Commentary On The New Pope
There are several Mike Francesa-on-the-pope videos floating around right now, but we highly suggest this one, courtesy of WFAN Audio. It's 15 minutes, yes, but it's well worth the listen....

ESPN Hires Ray Lewis
We knew this back in January, and now it's official: Ray Lewis is heading to ESPN. He'll join Trent Dilfer, Steve Young, and Stuart Scott for Monday night pre-game and post-game analysis. It's a big hire for ESPN, which will soon have enough ex-NFLers to fill out an alumni-game two-deep. ...

Spring Breakers Arrested On Camera For Being Spring Breakers: "Roll Tide!"
This just might might be the most unintentionally hilarious important newscast of the year. It was the top story this morning on WJHG, the NBC affiliate in Panama City, Fla., and it's easy to see why: The arrest of "dozens" of people for the dastardly crimes of being young underage drinking and havi...

ESPN News And NBA TV Both Aired Shows Two Weeks Ago That Had Zero Nielsen Viewers
Kate Aurthur took a look around the TV world to find shows that earned Nielsen's dreaded 0.0 rating—that's the fancy Nielsen metric that means nobody watched—from a random week in late February and early March. ...

Peter King Was All Curly Hair And Giant Glasses In 1978
From his days as a young ladykiller intern at the Cincinnati Enquirer. So young, so hopeful, so full of such lofty promise....

The United States Does Not Have An Official Language, No Matter What The MLB Network Tells You
The establishment of an official language has long been a political flashpoint. Though it was once a favored cause for Presidents of generally good repute, it's now mostly a topic invoked to effortlessly rile up nativists and a touchstone for people hell-bent on alienating furr-uh-nurrs. Ordinances ...

The Wizards Moved Broadcasters Off The Floor To Sell An Extra $1 Million Worth Of Seats
We noted over the weekend that the Wizards' broadcasters, both home and away, TV and radio, are no longer anywhere near the court. Gone from the scorer's table, where crews at virtually every other arena call the game from proximity, the TV crews now sit at the very tippy top of section 110. (They w...

Bill Simmons Calls The Bayless-Sherman <em>First Take</em> Meltdown "Awful And Embarrassing"
It's been a while, but Bill Simmons has finally weighed in on something ESPN. Naturally, it's about the show that sucks up the most oxygen in Bristol, First Take. ...

"I'm Better At Life Than You": Richard Sherman Craps All Over Skip Bayless On <em>First Take</em>
Embrace the debate, you guys! Here's a painfully awkward clip from today's edition of First Take in which Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who is not afraid to speak his mind, has some very unkind things to say about resident ESPN troll Skip Bayless....

Carl Crawford Says The Boston Media "Was The Worst Thing I've Ever Experienced In My Life"
Carl Crawford spent most of two miserable, injury-plagued, lucrative seasons in Boston. But he's a free man, having been shipped to L.A. when the Red Sox decided to blow up everything. He's fighting lingering effects from Tommy John surgery, and may not be ready for opening day, but at least he's fo...

Rob Parker's "Cornball Brother" Comment Is Still A Big Headache For ESPN
Well, actually, the Rob Parker cornball comment became a big headache for the CEO of ESPN's parent company, Disney. At a Disney shareholders meeting yesterday, one guy representing a conservative group, the National Center for Public Policy Research, used Parker's comment to demonstrate that ESPN is...

Life At <em>Sports Illustrated</em> Is About To Become Even More Difficult
Well, this isn't good. Sports Illustrated's parent company, Time Inc., is going to spin off from its very rich corporate overlord, Time Warner. Time Inc.'s 21 magazines—which include SI, Time, People and Entertainment Weekly—will be tossed aside into a new public company....

This Is What Happens When Newspaper Design Tries To Get Creative
Via Reddit and Bryan Armen Graham, the front of the C section of today's Mankato (Minn.) Free Press. That doesn't even look like a "G."...

Fox Sports 1, The ESPN "Alternative," Starts In August, And Regis Philbin Is Involved
"Fans are ready for an alternative to the establishment," reads the press release announcing the Aug. 17 launch of Fox Sports 1. That's how big ESPN is: In the sports world, Rupert Murdoch is considered the scrappy alternative....

One More Stupid Thing About That Stupid Rick Reilly Column
Sean gave Rick Reilly's column a thorough fisking earlier, but here's one more thing. Remember: The conceit is that these are Dennis Rodman's hypothetical reports from present-day global hot spots. Emphasis mine:...

Jim Valvano Gave His Moving ESPYs Speech 20 Years Ago Today
Jim Valvano's famous ESPYs speech was 20 years ago today. Valvano had bone cancer and it was unclear if he would even have the energy to appear at the ESPYs. This is what former ESPN executive John Lack said about it in Those Guys Have All The Fun:...

Keith Olbermann Wants To Work At ESPN Again; ESPN Responds By Swinging Its Dick Around
Keith Olbermann very badly wants to work for ESPN again. And today's New York Times story—written by Those Guys Have All the Fun co-author Jim Miller, who along with Richard Sandomir is working on a feature about ESPN for the paper—suggests that Olbermann is going to have a hell of a hard time findi...

Twitter Loves The Orlando Magic, Has Never Heard Of The Arizona Cardinals
The Wall Street Journal has helpfully assembled the sort of slow-news-month story that lets you forget that none of the four major sports (five, if you include college football) is playing many meaningful games at the moment. In it, the incomparably named Stu Woo compiled the Twitter follower counts...

Steve Buckhantz Couldn't Tell Whether That Game-Ending Shot Went In Because The Owners Moved Him To The Cheap Seats
We all had a good laugh when Washington Wizards play-by-play man Steve Buckhantz dusted off his patented "dagger!" call despite Trevor Ariza's (very nice looking) airball to end the Wizards' game on Wednesday night. The misplaced enthusiasm was funny but, as we noted at the time, you couldn't really...