Pass the SpaghettiOs, please

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at weekend of televised sports ...

Some weekends in sports just aren't that good. It's like dinner. You can't eat a juicy steak every night. Some nights, Hamburger Helper or SpaghettiOs is all there is.

This was a Chef Boyardee weekend. (I know Campbell's makes SpaghettiOs ... you get my point.) Anyway, I tried to watch TV this weekend, but every time I did, I just couldn't find anything worth watching, especially with the Rays doing the "turn back the clock'' thing. But instead of actually wearing uniforms from five years ago, they just decided to play like they did five years ago. Golf interest is taking a breather a week before the British Open and Tiger Woods isn't playing. The next best tennis match won't be until Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal meet in the U.S. Open final in early September. NASCAR is becoming boring with Kyle Busch winning every week in a race with 230 cautions. The Brett Favre story is already maddening. And, finally, the Rays' losing streak just put a damper on everything.

Ah, that's it. The Rays. The Rays' losing streak ruined the weekend. And that's the point. The Rays have made this summer fun in Tampa Bay. They don't have to win the division or even win the wild card to make the rest of the summer worth watching. Just keep it close. Just win enough to play meaningful games in September. Just stay in the race. Or least hang around until football season starts.

Goal of the day
Rays TV pointed out that heading into Sunday's game at Cleveland, the Rays were averaging 4.6 runs a game, which was the exact  number of runs per game the Rays averaged through the All-Star break last season when they were 34-53. And that's not enough, according to Rays TV analyst Joe Magrane.

"I think to consistently be successful in the second half,'' Magrane said, "they're going to have to average about five-and-a-half runs scored … to really have any chance to go into the postseason.''

The Rays seem to have the "half'' part down. Now about the other five runs per game …

Best player
Not to beat the Rays while they're down, but geez, you just have to keep bringing up the amazing season being turned in by former Ray Josh Hamilton. He has 95 RBIs at the All-Star break. You can't help but wonder how he would look batting fourth and playing rightfield for the Rays.

Hope of the weekend
Oh, don't give up on the Rays just yet. ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips gave his second-half predictions and still picked the Rays to win the American League wild card.

Biggest rumor
I guess we have to talk about Brett Favre. Word on the street -- actually, the words coming out of the mouth of ESPN football insider John Clayton -- is the Bucs are one of three teams in the running for not-quite-yet-former NFL quarterback. Well, that's if the Favre does play another season and the Packers decide to trade him. Clayton said the leading contenders to acquire Favre in a trade are the Bucs, Ravens and Dolphins. Clayton said two other teams -- the Jets and Panthers -- have been crossed off the list. Meantime, radio announcer Bill Michaels, from WTMJ in Milwaukee, said not all of Wisconsin is as fired up as you might think about a possible Favre return. Michaels told ESPN, "Brett has used up a lot of good will in this state.''

Two things I'm tired of
1. Guys getting hit in the face with shaving cream during a post-game television interview after a "walk-off'' homer or "walk-off''’ single or whatever.
2. The term "walk-off.''’ Seemed like baseball did okay for about 100 years without that phrase.

Badly timed show
This Week in Baseball  caught a bad break. It was one week too late on the Rays bandwagon. Saturday's show was dedicated to the Rays, who were in the midst of a seven-game-and-counting losing streak.

Best feature
ESPN's Outside the Lines had a strong feature on how some NBA referees might be getting a little too chummy with players and coaches. Though a little weak on identifying sources and exact people involved, the show claimed a referee once asked Michael Jordan for a pair of game-worn shoes, that another referee would bring cookies to a particular coach, that asking for autographs is routine and that many coaches have cellphone numbers for officials. Several former respected referees -- Jake O’Donnell, Mike Mathis and Hue Hollins -- were outspoken in their disgust of the behavior of current referees. The NBA recently hired Ronald L. Johnson, a two-star general who recently retired from active duty, to investigate and oversee the NBA's officiating program.

Biggest missed story
Paula Creamer, below, shoots a 60, and we didn't see it? ESPN2 covered three days of the LPGA's four-day Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic . And yet the one day they don't show was the best day to see it.

Most misplaced point
Bill Rhoden of the New York Times is one of the finest sports columnists in the country and often brings solid points to ESPN's Sports Reporters. But his "parting shot'' on Sunday's show, while well meant, was a bit misplaced. He criticized the Rooney Family, owners of the Steelers, for owning dog tracks. Rhoden's stance on dog and horse racing is well known. He thinks it should be abolished, and I agree with that. However, Rhoden compared the Rooney's involvement in dog racing to Michael Vick's involvement in dog fighting and then criticized the NFL for "two-faced justice at its worst'' because the Rooneys have not been reprimanded. While dog racing might ultimately be cruel to many dogs, there's a big difference between dog racing and dog fighting. For example, one is legal and the other isn't.

Best quote
"The greatest athlete I've ever seen.''
-- Wayne Gretzky, who wasn't a bad little athlete himself, talking about Tiger Woods during Saturday's coverage of the American Century (celebrity golf) championship on NBC.

Funniest line
Bob Ryan, Boston Globe columnist, on ESPN's Sports Reporters: "I'm shocked — shocked! A doping scandal at the Tour de France? Next thing you’re going to tell me is Brett Favre is coming back.''

The greatest tennis match ever

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best event and coverage
If you didn’t watch Sunday's Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal then you missed the greatest tennis match ever. That's right. Better than the old Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe epics at Wimbledon. Better than Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi showdowns. Better than anything Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl or Rod Laver was involved in. Better than last year's Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal.

"This was the greatest match I've ever seen,'' NBC analyst John McEnroe said. Sunday's match had two rain delays. Breakfast at Wimbledon? "Dinner at Wimbledon,'' McEnroe said.

The rain delays only added to the drama. What put the match over the top was that these are, by far, the two best players in the world. Nadal was trying to unseat Federer not only as the king of Wimbledon but as the top player on the planet. Throw in an improbable comeback by Federer, two tiebreaks and a 9-7 finish in the fifth and you have the best match ever. At moments like these, networks and announcers tend to ruin it by wringing as much drama out of the event as they can. The best tactic is to get out of the way and let the play speak for itself. And that's what NBC did.

Except for a lone postmatch misstep by McEnroe (more on that in a moment), NBC didn't get in the way with bells, whistles, unnecessary tricks or foot-in-mouth comments. Announcer Ted Robinson was understated, had a near-perfect day and established himself as the best tennis play-by-play announcer with lines like this: "They don’t just bring out the best in each other, they bring out Superman in each other.'' McEnroe didn't go overboard until after the match. NBC's weekend at Wimbledon, including Mary Carillo with Robinson in the women’s final on Saturday? An A-minus.

Biggest missed story
The biggest jaw-dropping story of the weekend was former tennis player Andrea Jaeger's claim that she lost the 1983 Wimbledon final on purpose to Martina Navratilova. Now, my money would've been on nine-time champ Martina anyway. But Jaeger is an Anglican Dominican nun and I don't doubt her story, which, if true, means Navratilova was one cold cucumber who cared more about winning than anything .
NBC needed to do more with this story, and it certainly had time Sunday with two rain delays.

Worst analyst
Josh Hamilton is one of the most amazing stories in sports. From No. 1 pick by the Rays to crack addict to, as of Sunday, a major-league All-Star. Even Hamilton said Sunday, "I should be dead or in jail right now.''

So out of this  incredible story, what was it Cal Ripken wanted to know during TBS's erratic All-Star Selection Show on Sunday? He wanted to know why Hamilton didn't have a good daytime batting average! Even Ripken's broadcast partners seemed dumbfounded by such an asinine question. As if Ripken hadn't done enough to sabotage an already lame show, he later used a PG-13 word that begins with  "P'' and means the same as "angry.'' He did realize, didn’t he, that this was a Sunday afternoon celebration of America's pastime and that kids were watching, right?

Best analogy
Going into Sunday’s game, the Rays were an astounding 31-6 at home since April 22. (And now, they’re 32-6.) That prompted this good line from  Rays TV announcer Joe Magrane: "That's absolutely unheard of. That's almost like a college basketball homecourt advantage.''

Most awkward moment
Someone please tell me NBC tennis analyst John McEnroe did not ask Roger Federer for "a hug'' after Sunday's Wimbledon final. McEnroe is a solid analyst. In fact, he's one of the best around. But every now and then he does something like that and makes you cringe.

Just mentioning
During the Williams sisters' Wimbledon final, there were no commercials featuring either Venus or Serena . (They were in one ad with about a dozen other  players promoting tennis, but no "real'' ads.) There were a couple of Roger Federer commercials. And a Maria Sharapova commercial was shown twice. But none with Venus or Serena. Isn't that odd?

Best debut
Former best-closer-in-baseball Dennis Eckersley had a solid debut on TBS’s All-Star Selection Show and would be a welcome addition to the network’s postseason coverage.

The devil made him do it
The Rays were featured on Sunday morning's Outside the Lines on ESPN. The piece included interviews with Times baseball writer Marc Topkin and TV analyst Joe Magrane. The feature didn't add anything Rays fans don't already know, but it was a good piece for the rest of the country to catch up to Tampa Bay baseball. One nit: Fill-in host George Smith called the team the "DEVIL Rays.'' Not a big deal, but, geez, there has been a ton of publicity about the name change and it was changed like eight months ago.

Best point
Detroit Free-Press columnist Mitch Albom sounds like a Rays believer. On ESPN's Sports Reporters Sunday, Albom said, "Right now, where they sit, if they play .500 ball the rest of the year … they (get) 92 wins. You figure that's probably going to get you in as a wild-card team. And they don't look like a team that's just going to play .500 baseball.''

The only point one might argue is whether 92 victories is good enough for a wild card. Since the wild card came into play in 1995, three teams have won 93 (the 2005 Indians, '03 Mariners and '02 Red Sox) and did not win the wild card. But on the other 10 occasions, 92 victories were enough.

Best interview
So what does a network do when it televises golf and has no Tiger Woods? It shows Tiger anyway. CBS scored a nice coup Sunday by showing an exclusive interview with Woods as he recuperates from knee surgery. Verne Lundquist and Nick Faldo handled the interview well, asking all the pertinent questions. An excellent question by Faldo revealed that Woods doesn't really know when he will return.
Faldo: "Tiger, you're planning on taking six months off, I believe. At the moment I've heard you say you are having great difficulty walking; how are you planning on getting the golf game back into sync ready for next season''
Woods: "As of right now, I don't know. Right now I just hope I can get up out of bed and go to the bathroom. Little things like that are a challenge. For me to actually think about playing golf, that is so far away, I'm just looking forward to actually walking again and putting weight on this leg for the first time. That is still a ways off.''

Rays vs. Red Sox -- BEST series ever!

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best series
Sports loves hyperbole and the present. Every time we see a great performance -- Tiger at the U.S. Open, Matt Garza's one-hitter, Evan Longoria's first three months -- we all tend to label it as "best ever'' as if nothing great ever happened in sports before last week. Everything is "the worst'' that,' the "greatest'' this.

Yet this is not hyperbole: The Rays open a three-game series Monday night against the Red Sox in what is the biggest series in franchise history. Those who can tell the difference between a ball and a bat know that the pennant race doesn't start until the kids are back in school. Still, for the first time, games at this "late'' date actually have a little bit of meaning in Tampa Bay. If nothing else, the Rays  have caught some national attention, including Sunday's Sports Reporters on ESPN, which talked about the best teams in baseball. Here's a rundown of one exchange.
Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: "Both of those fans in Tampa are saying when are you going to talk about the Rays? …The greatest and most important series in the history of that franchise is going to take place at the Trop. And the Rays are for real.''
Howard Bryant, ESPN: "They are for real, but the thing you got to wonder about them is -- is it now? They've got the talent. You just don't start from 10 straight years of 90 losses and then you go out and win the whole thing unless you're the '69 Mets.''
Michael Kay, YES Network: "You cannot say they're for real yet because young players in a pennant race for the first time (might get rattled). Also, you got a closer, Troy Percival, who has been hurt already. He's 38 years old. It has been a long time since he has had to close big games. I want to see how they react in August.''

ESPN analyst Peter Gammons, on Baseball Tonight, put it best: "This is tremendous for the game.''

Nothing is going to be decided in this series even if the Rays sweep or get swept. But isn’t it fun to at least have a reason to watch?

Best coverage
From the pregame ceremonies to the game itself to the halftime analysis to the trophy presentation to a wrapup of an amazing few weeks, ABC's Euro 2008 soccer coverage was about as close to perfect as a television sports broadcast can get. There was not one weak link in the coverage, and the best part of all was the game color provided by Andy Gray. In my unofficial rankings, he has surpassed golf's Johnny Miller, tennis' John McEnroe and boxing's Max Kellerman as my favorite analyst in sports. Anyway we can teach this guy American football and get him on Monday Night Football?

Biggest rip job
Rays announcer Dewayne Staats took out a sledgehammer and whacked Major League Baseball over the head during Friday's broadcast after the league reduced the suspension of Boston's Coco Crisp and upheld the suspension of Aki Iwamura for their roles in the big brawl at Fenway Park. Staats had the guts to say what everyone thinks, but no one ever says for fear of getting in trouble. And you know what? He was right.

"What happened is, in this case, the Red Sox retain their Most Favorite Nation status in the eyes of Major League Baseball,'' said Staats, just warming up. "That's just very clear -- that the message sent out of all of that to every other team in baseball, with the exception of the Yankees, would be you just better not mess with the Red Sox or the Yankees or don't defend yourself against those two teams because if you do, Major League Baseball doesn't like it. That's just not right.''

He wasn't done: "Well it confirms what everybody says anyway: that they really care about the Red Sox and Yankees, and the rest of the clubs exist for their pleasure.'' ... Youza!

Biggest whiners
Anyone else sick and tired about hearing Red Sox and Yankees apologists whine about injuries? Hey, the Rays have been hit, too. At times this season they've been without their ace (Scott Kazmir), their closer (Troy Percival), their top slugger from a year ago (Carlos Pena), as well as key players, such as Cliff Floyd, Dioner Navarro and Al Reyes. And let's not forget Rocco Baldelli. But no one nationally talks about it. You know why? The Rays don't whine about it.

Worst circus
NBC and ESPN combined to make a mess of Saturday's Wimbledon and U.S. Women's Open golf coverage. The Open was supposed to start at 3 p.m. , but NBC, which had been showing Wimbledon, said it would stay until the conclusion of the Rafael Nadal-Nicolas Kiefer match, which had completed only one set at 3, or until play was called by darkness, which was expected to be around 4:30 .
NBC didn't  announce it, but ESPN had the Open with NBC's announcers. Suddenly, at 3:30, NBC scrapped what it had told viewers and switched to golf. It told viewers to tune to ESPN2 for the rest of the day's Wimbledon coverage. That meant ESPN2 broke away from an exciting five-set match between Mikhail Youzhny and Radek Stepanek to take care of the Nadal fans who switched over to watch the end of his easy three-set victory. Meantime, ESPN stayed with golf for another 10 minutes then showed the last inning of what was supposed to be on anyway -- a taped replay of a USA softball game. Know how I solved the problem? Switched to Fox and watched baseball.

Best praise
What in the name of Jacques Demers is going on here? Not only did the Rays get mentioned on ESPN's Sports Reporters on Sunday, so did the Lightning. Host John Saunders, in his parting shot, talked about new Lightning coach Barry Melrose: "What will make Melrose a success again in coaching is what made him great in TV: incredible knowledge and confidence wrapped up in a never-take-things-too-seriously attitude.''

Best executive praise
On ESPN's Baseball Tonight, analyst Steve Phillips named the Rays' Andrew Friedman the best GM of the first half of the season, mostly for his trade that sent Delmon Young to the Twins for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett. As you might remember, I critized that trade at the time it was made and then again about five or six weeks ago. I'm not ready to give up the fight only three months into the season, but I am have second thoughts about my second-guessing.

Most tired story lines
Is it possible for the Fox baseball pregame show to go just one show without talking about the Mets and Yankees? There are other teams, you know. On Saturday, they had not one, but two separate segments on Yankees slugger Jason Giambi. They did, however, mention the Rays as "insider'' Ken Rosenthal said Tampa Bay and the Brewers are interested in Indians lefty pitcher C.C. Sabathia.

"You don't normally hear about the low-revenue Rays and Brewers being buyers at the deadline,'' Rosenthal said. "But this year they're both solidly in the mix for Sabathia. Both have the prospects to get such a deal done. Both can take on the rest of his $9-million salary. And both are willing to take draft picks if they lose Sabathia as a free agent.''

ESPN's Jemele Hill talks to AOL about her suspension

Perhaps you heard that ESPN recently suspended writer Jemele Hill for a line she wrote in a column about why a Detroit Pistons fan could not root for the Boston Celtics. Hill wrote that "cheering for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim.''

She is off suspension now and talked about the column and her suspension in an excellent interview with AOL Fanhouse's Michael David Smith, author of one of the best sports blog in the business. Here's the link.

Here's what else is going on ...

* Barry Melrose will be named coach of the Lightning on Tuesday. Catch 47 will show the news conference live at 11 a.m. Also, Melrose is the scheduled guest on Tuesday night's Sports Connection on Bay News 9 at 11 p.m. Look for No. 1 pick Steve Stamkos to be on the Sports Connection on Thursday.

* My TV show, The Press Box (Catch 47 at 6:30, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.), will talk about the Melrose hiring and the new Lightning ownership, as well as what's new with the Rays and Bucs. Guests this week include Times writer Joe Smith, Catch 47's Roxanne Wilder and Whitney Johnson -- the man, the myth and the legend from WDAE 620-AM.

* Neil Best, who writes a must-read sports media column for Newsday, had the big stunner of the weekend, writing that New York's famed Mike & the Mad Dog radio show might have seen its last day. Check out the first story and then the follow-up on Monday.

* HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel returns with a new show Tuesday at 10 p.m. This episode has four new features:
-- A look inside the Chinese sports school system.
-- The fight to keep softball as an Olympic sport.
-- A profile of British cyclist David Millar.
-- Looking at the billion-dollar business of horse breeding.

Tiger's absence means dark days for PGA

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Biggest elephant in the room
A half-hour into its Saturday broadcast of the Travelers Championship, CBS dedicated about 10 minutes to the stunning news that Tiger Woods will miss the rest of the year with knee surgery. CBS didn't look back at what already has happened but smartly looked forward to what this all could mean to the PGA Tour and to Woods himself.

But you don't need 10 minutes to know what this means for the tour: It's disastrous. Golf addicts will continue to watch, but the casual fan won't. TV ratings prove that. And whose fault is that? The networks and the PGA Tour. They have only themselves to blame. True, no other golfers have stood up to seriously challenge Woods, but it's not as if Woods wins every time he plays. Still, when Tiger plays, it's all Tiger all the time. The networks show his every shot, his every walk up the fairway, his every move, often at the expense of other golfers. When you put all your eggs in Tiger's basket, you shouldn't be surprised that few care when Tiger isn't around. Now it's too late to sell the fans on other talented and charismatic golfers. Want an example? Rocco Mediate is 45 years old and has been on the tour for 22 years, and it was only last week that we learned how great of a guy he is.

This is going to be a long year for the PGA Tour.

Best point
Speaking of Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate, the Detroit Free Press' Mitch Albom made a point that needed to be made on Sunday’s Sports Reporters on ESPN: "The one thing I worry about with this injury thing with Tiger is that you diminish what Rocco Mediate did. This was an amazing thing, and I don't think Rocco Mediate deserves to be remembered as, 'Oh, well, if Tiger were healthy, he would've blown you out of the water.' ''

Worst trend
Anyone who regularly reads this blog or my newspaper column knows I'm a big fan of Rays TV announcers Dewayne Staats and Joe Magrane. I would rank them among the best in all of baseball, and Rays games (even when the Rays were really bad) have always been entertaining to watch because of those two. The Rays' success this season has been even more enjoyable because of how Staats and Magrane call a game. I wouldn't trade them for any other crew in baseball.

But having said all that, recently the two have fallen into the bad habit of jumping on umpires, especially regarding balls and strikes. Now and then is fine, and granted, based on replays, the two usually are right. Still, too much bellyaching starts to wear on the viewer. And while calls might be missed, it doesn't appear as if the Rays alone are getting a raw deal by umpires. Bad umpiring usually goes both ways. Wednesday against the Cubs, the two ripped into home-plate ump Kerwin Danley for not ringing up a Cubs batter then the very next half inning completely ignored it when Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano raised a stink on the mound for not getting two close pitches to go his way. By complaining as vigorously as Staats and Magrane have in recent weeks, they come off a bit whiny, and both of them are too good to ever be thought of that way.

Biggest rip job
Fox baseball pregame analyst Kevin Kennedy earned his paycheck Saturday, laying into new Mets manager Jerry Manuel. Essentially, Kennedy said Manuel didn't have the back of fired manager Willie Randolph. He pointed to Manuel, who was Randolph's bench coach, talking about the things he would've done differently and would do differently now that he has taken over. As far as Manuel's grand plans, Kennedy said, "What good does that do Willie Randolph now? … Jerry Manuel didn't handle it the right way.''

Shilling for Schilling
During Saturday's baseball Game of the Week on Fox, announcer Thom Brennaman had some powerful words regarding Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who is out for the season with shoulder surgery and might retire.

"I've never seen a more fearless performer in any sport in my life,'' Brennaman said, "than Curt Schilling was in that 2001 year.''

That's the season Schilling went 22-6 in the regular season for the Diamondbacks then pitched six postseason games, going 4-0 while allowing six earned runs in 481/3 innings. So is Schilling a Hall of Famer? Well, consider this: Schilling won only 216 regular-season games with a 3.46 ERA. Bert Blyleven is not in the Hall and he won 287 games with a 3.31 ERA. Orel Hershiser won 204 games with a 3.48 ERA, and he's not in the Hall, either. Schilling's postseason numbers might push him over the top. He went 11-2 with a 2.23 in the postseason and won three championships. Still, Blyleven went 5-1 in the postseason with a 2.47 ERA and has two rings. Hershiser was 8-3 in the postseason with a 2.59 ERA and pretty much single-handedly willed the Dodgers to the 1988 World Series title, winning the NLCS and World Series MVPs.

One more thought when you're comparing postseason numbers: Schilling had the benefit of an extra round in the playoffs, something Blyleven and Hershiser never had. Throw out Schilling's first-round playoff numbers and he was 7-2 in the postseason. In fact, if it weren't  for the wild card, the 2004 Red Sox might not have even made the playoffs -- and the whole bloody sock game wouldn't have happened.
This isn't as much an argument against Schilling as it is for Blyleven and Hershiser. If one gets in, all three should get in.

Saddest stat
Just pointing it out: Two more horses were euthanized after being injured  Saturday at Churchill Downs. But, don't worry, fans assure us there's nothing wrong with horse racing.

Favorite analysts of the weekend
Andy Gray: ESPN soccer announcer makes Euro 2008 worth watching. I could listen to him reading a phone book and be entertained.
Bela Karolyi: Not slick or stylish, but refreshingly candid and himself analyzing women's gymnastics on NBC Sunday night.
Ian Baker-Finch: CBS golf analyst doesn't rely on shtick or gimmicks. He just calls what he sees, and that's good enough.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Why did Willie Randolph lose his job as Mets manager? Partly because the Mets payroll is loaded with supposed stars who aren't really stars. Carlos Beltran might be the most overrated so-called "superstar'' in baseball. Bottom line is the Mets just aren't as good as the Mets think they are.
2. Watch out for the Yankees. They play 23 of their next 35 at Yankee Stadium, and of their 12 road games, nine are against the Pirates, Mets and Blue Jays.
3. Dang, that Rays' loss Sunday hurt. Losing two  of three to the Astros took some zip out of sweeping the Cubs, didn't it?

WDAE's Duemig arrested for suspicion of DUI

Update: 6:10 p.m.

Steve Duemig, arrested on suspicion of DUI early Sunday morning, addressed the incident on his WDAE radio show at 3 p.m. Here is a sampling of some of his comments:

* "This is a very difficult situation and I will face it like a man.''
* "It was an unfortunate situation I was involved with on Sunday morning. ... I will face it and go from there and let the legal system take its course. ... I was literally in the driveway of my home.''
* "I apologize for putting the station on turd watch. ... It's not fun. I apologize to the station for putting us on a negative view.''
* "There are a lot of haters out there that will have a field day. That's expected. When you're the top dog, they come after you. They're going to attack. I can accept that. It's not fun going through it. This is not a prepared statement. This is from the heart.''
* "Many, many, many, many, many more make the decision to drive home than don't. And you can consider yourself very fortunate if you've never been pulled over.''
* "I apologize. I will accept the hate. I hope you don't use hypocrite (to call me.) I don't go after athletes who have been charged because it can happen to anyong.
* "I want to thank the station for supporting me. It has been very, very comforting to have some of the big, big hitters in this company saying, 'We'll get through it.' ''

WDAE-AM sports talk show host Steve Duemig was arrested early Sunday morning near the Feather Sound area in St. Petersburg on suspicion of driving under the influence. Duemig, also known as the "Big Dawg,'' hosts what is probably the most popular sports talk radio show in the Tampa Bay area.

Reached Monday afternoon, Duemig had no comment other than to say he would address the arrest on his radio show, which begins at 3 p.m.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's department report, Duemig was pulled over in his white Lexus at 1:39 a.m. Sunday morning. He was booked at 3:11 a.m. and released at 10:15 a.m. No other details were available.

Too much Tiger

Looking back at the weekend in televised sports ...

Worst golf announcer of the weekend
NBC's Dan Hicks is married to ESPN's Hannah Storm. But by the way he was gushing Saturday as lead announcer of the U.S. Open, he sounded like a man ready to leave Storm for Tiger Woods. Woods' third-round charge had some thrilling moments, but when you add up the scorecard, he still only shot 1-under par 70 for the day. Listening to Hicks, however, one might have thought Tiger played the most brilliant round of golf that had ever been played. It was obvious that NBC so baaaaadly wanted Woods to do well, and that's understandable. The lower Woods shoots, the higher the TV ratings. But did Hicks need to make it so obvious?

Hicks spent Saturday ignoring the other golfers and stories and, sadly, added nothing to what we were witnessing with Woods. Even if you think Woods was having a remarkable round, Hicks added little to the moment other than to say Woods was having a remarkable round. We could see that. We already knew that. Give us perspective. Give us a call to remember. Give us something. And if you don't have anything, that's fine. Be quiet, and the let the sights and sounds tell the story. Instead, Hicks talked. He talked a lot. He just didn't say anything.

Hicks was a little better Sunday but not enough to wash the bad taste of Saturday out of our mouths. The thing that was so disappointing is Hicks is better -- much better -- than he showed over the weekend.

Best golf announcer
Johnny Miller was the opposite of Dan Hicks over the weekend. Everything that came out of his mouth was good stuff. As it always is. I could fill this whole page every week with Miller's brilliance, but here are just a few of the highlights:
• On Stuart Appleby blowing up in the third round: "He has not done well in majors for no particular reason, and it's sort of showing up today. Maybe his insides and majors don't necessarily like each other.''
• On watching Tiger Woods wince because is knee injury: "It makes you sick to your stomach.''
• On the slowness of a particular green: "This is about as fast as cold maple syrup.''
• On Rocco Mediate staying in the hunt: "Rocco Mediate is dodging more bullets than Indiana Jones.''
• On Phil Mickelson hitting shot after shot on the par-5, No. 13 on Saturday: "This is like Six Flags. You don't see many snowmen (an eight) at the beach.'' In Hicks' best moment, he added: "He's got to be hoping for a snowman!'' Hicks was right. Lefty took a nine.

Most underused golf announcer
NBC added a nice touch, bringing in Golf World magazine's Tim Rosaforte to act as an "insider,'' telling a few behind-the-scenes stories. The only problem was it barely used him. In the future, more Rosaforte, please. Also, NBC has the best announcer in the business (Bob Costas) and barely used him, as well. It's like having A-Rod on your team and using him only to pinch hit.

Best coverage
I'm not even a soccer fan, and yet I'm glued to ESPN's coverage of Euro 2008. The coverage has been outstanding, and the studio show is as good as any studio show, thanks to analysts Julie Foudy, Andy Gray and, best of all, Tommy Smyth. The reason it all works so well is ESPN is not "dummying down'' the coverage. Everything is geared for the soccer aficionado, and that's exactly the right approach. Compare that to, say, CBS's recent coverage of mixed martial arts, which spent too much time teaching the sport to viewers. Listen, viewers are smart. They'll catch up. Sports aren't rocket science. ESPN is smart enough to treat the sports they cover and the fans who love those sports with respect.

Biggest nonbeliever
Someone show Fox baseball pregame host Jeanne Zelasko the latest major-league standings. Or maybe she just hasn't bought into the Rays just yet. During Saturday's show, Zelasko asked analyst Rob Dibble if Reds slugger Ken Griffey could end up with the Cubs. Here's the exchange:
Dibble: "I see maybe the Tampa Bay Rays. I've heard the owners really want him down there in Tampa Bay. He has a home in Orlando. I think the Rays would be a better fit.''
Zelasko: "He’s going to go to a noncontender?''
Dibble, setting her straight: "No! The Rays are a contender! And he could put butts in the seat.''
Zelasko: "Point taken.''

Best analyst
What a pleasure it was to listen to Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy working Fox's Game of the Week, although we could've done without partner Thom Brennaman. (By the way, Remy earns extra bonus points in these parts for, on air back in New England, criticizing Boston's Coco Crisp the night he charged Rays pitcher James Shields.) Remy is quick, knows his stuff, has a sense of humor. It was nice to hear him instead of, oh, let's say Tim McCarver for a change.

Best shoutout
On ESPN's Baseball Tonight, insider Tim Kurk­jian, talking about Rays pitcher Matt Garza, said, "A scout told me last year that this is a young John Smoltz.''

Most interesting poll
The NBA has a serious problem. This Tim Donaghy/officials fixing games stuff is not going away. Donaghy, the NBA ref who admitted to gambling on games, accused that a playoff game in 2002 wasn't on the up-and-up. Who knows if the allegations are true. The problem for the NBA is the public thinks they might be true. ESPN conducted a poll over the week asking viewers, "Do you believe Tim Donaghy's allegations that two referees conspired to ensure a 2002 playoff series went seven games?''
Of the first 12,817 responses, 76 percent said yes.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Can we please officially ban the phrase "Tiger is on the prowl'' from all future golf telecasts?
2. Whether he was right or not, maybe ripping into an umpire wasn't the smartest thing Rays pitcher Scott Kazmir has ever done.
3. If you're an NHL team with an opening for a head coach, why wouldn't you at least talk to John Tortorella? The Senators, Maple Leafs and Sharks -- all of whom didn't talk to Tortorella and hired other coaches -- combined don't have as many Stanley Cups as Tortorella in the past 40 years.

Charlie Jones passes away

Long-time sports broadcaster Charlie Jones passed away Thursday at the age of 77. He's best remembered for his work with old American Football League, as well as the NFL, but he also covered baseball, golf, tennis, the Olympics (mostly track-and-field) and soccer. He also called games for the Reds and the Rockies.

While he worked recently for ABC/ESPN, Jones spent most of his career calling events for NBC, particulary the bitter football rivalries in the AFC West involving games between the Raiders, Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos. Over the years, his broadcast partners included Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Merlin Olsen and Jimmy Cefelo.

Personally, I think his shining moment came in 1987. At that time, Jones was the voice of the Fiesta Bowl. But when Penn State and Miami agreed to play in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship, there was talk that Jones and partners Cefalo and Griese would be pulled from the game and another broadcast team would be brought in. NBC correctly decided to keep Jones and his partners on the game. Jones brilliantly called Penn State's 14-10 upset of the Hurricanes.

In 1997, Jones was award the Pro Footbal Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics released a statement that said:
"All of us at NBC are saddened at the passing of one of the great pioneers of NBC Sports. His work in particular on the NFL, golf and the Olympics left a lasting legacy.''

Remembering Jim McKay

Shooting from the lip
A look back at the weekend in televised sports ...

Saddest news
How poetic we all learned Saturday afternoon that legendary ABC sportscaster Jim McKay had passed away. For many, he will always be known as the face and the voice of the Olympics and for breaking the tragic news that "They're all gone'' during the hostage takeover at the 1972 Munich Games. But for anyone in their mid 30s and older, McKay was best remembered for coming into our homes on Saturday afternoons with these magical words:

Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition. This is ABC's Wide World of Sports.

A show like Wide World of Sports probably would not work today. Back then, you had a handful of stations. Watching McKay at a tree-cutting competition or a soapbox derby was better than the other choices on the few other stations. These days, there are hundreds of stations, and the sports fan is more likely to watch mainstream sports such as baseball or football, which can be found at almost any time during the weekends.

And that's sad, really, because no matter how silly the sport, how outrageous the competition, Wide World of Sports was riveting and, I'm positive, a favorite childhood memory for most people old enough to recall the show. And all of the credit goes to McKay. He took every event and every athlete seriously. Somehow watching ice-skaters jumping over a bunch of barrels didn't seem that goofy as long as McKay was calling the action. Along the way, dumb kids like me who didn't care about anything other than sports and what was for dinner learned a few things about life in some faraway place.

Of all the tributes paid to McKay over the weekend -- and all of the them on all networks were splendid -- the best line might have come from Al Michaels: "He was the greatest tour guide who ever lived.''

A suggestion for ABC/ESPN and a wonderful wait to pay tribute to McKay: Take this summer and use ESPN Classic to show reruns of Wide World of Sports. On Saturday afternoons, of course.

Most superfluous
NBC commentator John McEnroe must have been taking happy pills over the weekend because he was handing out compliments as if they were going to become illegal by Sunday night. When the recently retired Justine Henin appeared for the women's French Open trophy ceremony, McEnroe said, "Probably the most talented player I've ever seen … the most talented female player in the history of the sport.''
Wow. Really? Better than Martina Navratilova? Steffi Graf? Chris Evert?

Then, after Rafael Nadal destroyed Roger Federer (the result wasn't a surprise, but the score of 6-1, 6-3, 6-0  sure was), McEnroe got caught up in the emotion of the moment and called Nadal the greatest claycourt player ever. He said this even though he interviewed Bjorn Borg moments later. But give McEnroe a bit of credit. Most athletes-turned-commentators like to brag about how great things were in the "good old days'' when they played. (Right, Joe Morgan?) In their time, everything was better, tougher, greater. McEnroe, however, is always the first to praise today's athlete.

Oh, interesting side note that came out of NBC's French Open coverage that was a shocker: McEnroe and Borg never played each other on clay. Isn't that hard to believe?

Best backing of the Rays
Fox's baseball pregame show broke down the Rays-Red Sox brawl of last week. Analysts Kevin Kennedy and Eric Karros came down on the side of the Rays. They credited Rays pitcher James Shields for throwing at Coco Crisp's legs instead of his head, and both said Crisp should've run to first base instead of charging the mound.

Best debut
Former Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly made a smashing debut for ABC/ESPN over the weekend, popping up at the Belmont to give his 10 reasons why it was good for Big Brown to win the Triple Crown. His best was No. 5: "That name — Big Brown. I love that name. It's not one of those fancy-schmancy names. … It's just, 'Uh, well, uh, he's big. And, uh, he's brown. How 'bout Big Brown?' ''

Best boxer
Now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has retired from boxing for the moment (and I say moment because it would not be shocking to see him return to the ring at some point), who is America's top fighter? HBO Boxing's Max Kellerman weighed in Saturday night: "Kelly Pavlik is poised to become the focal point of American boxing,'' Kellerman said.

Moments later, Pavlik TKO'd Gary Lockett in Round 3 to keep his WBC and WBO middleweight titles.
Not an action-packed night of boxing for HBO. In the other big fight, Juan Manuel Lopez knocked out Daniel Ponce De Leon in the first round to win a junior featherweight world title. The whole night consisted of less than four rounds of boxing.

Best insight
Rays color analyst Joe Magrane, talking about second baseman Aki Iwamura after a nice play Saturday:
"I said after seeing him in spring training that I thought he would make a better second baseman than a third baseman, and he already is that.''

Best hustle
Nice work by the Rays TV crew to pick up on the Matt Garza-Dioner Navarro dustup on Sunday afternoon. One minor nit was analyst Joe Magrane immediately swept it under the rug, essentially saying it was no big and that stuff happens all the time. True, it isn't unusual for emotions to run high between teammates during a long season. And it probably was no big deal. But maybe -- just maybe -- it was a big deal. Maybe there is a problem beyond pitch selection. It might have been more prudent for Magrane to not decide so quickly that it was just the boys being boys.

Best line
What in the world happened to Big Brown on Saturday? Not only did he not win the Triple Crown after trainer Rick Dutrow guaranteed victory, but he pulled up and finished last. New York Times horse racing writer Joe Drape had the best line on ESPN's Outside the Lines:
"What we saw is when you taunt the racing gods, they not only smite you, they humiliate you.''

Most unwatchable sports
Sorry, but the two College World Series -- baseball and softball -- have become unwatchable. They score too many runs in baseball and not enough in softball. Two things might make it better. Eliminate the aluminum bats in baseball and move the pitcher's mound back about 5 feet in softball.

Best preview
Sports fans should already be getting excited for next week's U.S. Open golf tournament. Tiger Woods returns and, for the first time, the third and fourth rounds will be in prime time because the tournament is in California. Now all we need is a showdown between Woods and Phil Mickleson.

"(Mickelson) needs to stop being the Sam Snead of the United States Open,'' Mike Lupica said on ESPN's Sports Reporters. "He needs to stop racking up second-place finishes. This is a tournament that he has to be considered at least a favorite more than Tiger because Tiger hasn't played.''
Don’t bet on it: I’m picking Tiger to finish ahead of Phil.

HBO's summer sports film festival

No one makes better sports documentaries than the folks over at HBO. Starting Tuesday, June 3 and running each Tuesday throughout the summer, HBO will show its best sports documentaries at 7 p.m. Here is the summer schedule.

June 3: Barbaro. The story of the thoroughbred who captured America's imagination in 2006.

June 10: Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. The inspiring story of the women who became legends: Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly and the rest of the 1999 World Cup team.

June 17: Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team. My favorite of the HBO documentaries looks at, perhaps, the greatest moment in sports history.

June 24: Joe Louis: America's Hero ... Betrayed. (Note: the story of one of the all-time boxing greats will air at 6:15 p.m.)

July 1: Hitler's Pawn. Tells the remarkable story of Margaret Lambert, a Jewish athlete training to compete for the German Olympic team in the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin.

July 8: Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games. Looking at the controversial 1968 Mexico City Olympics when U.S. track medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos staged their famous protest.

July 15: Mantle. A biography of the great Yankees centerfielder on the same day as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

July 22: The UCLA Dynasty. Tracing the incredible success of the UCLA men's basketball team under John Wooden which captured 10 national titles in 12 seasons from 1964 to 1975.

July 29: A City on Fire: The Story of the '68 Detroit Tigers. Revisiting a baseball team and a season that hepled heal a shattered city during one of the most explosing eras in American history.

Aug. 5: Michigan vs. Ohio State: The Rivalry. Looking back at college football's best rivalry.

MMA on network TV is b-a-d

Shooting from the lip
Looking back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports ...

Ever been in a bar or at a ball game when a fight breaks out? At first, you think, "Cool, a fight.'' And you watch excitedly. But then you see people actually connect with punches, and you see blood and people getting hurt, and then you think, "Geez, I really wish I hadn't seen that.'' It's jarring, upsetting, the kind of image that sticks in your head when you close your eyes at night.

That's how it felt watching the big debut of mixed martial arts on network television Saturday night with CBS's EliteXC, featuring the downright terrifying Kimbo Slice. At the risk of sounding like a sissy, one thought kept running through my head: This stuff shouldn't be on regular old television.

Despite having the feel of professional wrestling with some stage names (The New York Bad A--, for example) and way-over-the-top announcing and analysis, it's nauseatingly real. The punches were real. The pools of blood that stained the mat were real. It comes off as way more barbaric than boxing, though MMA people will tell you it's safer because MMA fighters don't take constant punches to the head for 12 rounds. Still, it's disturbing and likely here to stay. The viewership, particularly among men ages 18-34, was strong, especially for a Saturday night. Nearly 25,000 responded to an ESPN poll, and two-thirds of them favored MMA being on television. But it's hard to imagine that the network that once used Saturday nights to make us laugh with Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett now makes us look through the cracks of our fingers as Kimbo punches a guy so hard that he bursts his opponent’s cauliflower ear and sends blood streaming down his face.

CBS will surely show more Saturday night MMA fights. Lots of people will watch. I won’t be one of them.

Most technical coverage
NBC's Stanley Cup playoff coverage has been outstanding … if you're totally into hockey. Mike Emrick is as good as it gets as an announcer, and analysts Pierre Maguire, Ed Olczyk and Mike Milbury know their stuff. But the game coverage is just too technical and all about the moment at hand. What's Detroit doing well? What's Pittsburgh doing wrong? How do you stop Sidney Crosby? What's this coach thinking? What's that coach saying?

This isn't Canada. NBC needs to give us more of the human element, give us more of what the players are like away from the ice. Tell us about where Pavel Datsyuk grew up. Tell us what kind of music Crosby likes. Tell us stories during the intermissions that make us like a particular player. Or dislike him. Instead, it's all about the hockey, and it has been pretty much proved that hockey isn't popular enough to use the sport itself as the selling point.

Best hockey moments
NBC did have a couple of entertaining moments during Saturday's Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final. Pierre Maguire, who gives the network a bang for its buck from between the benches, asked Detroit's Kris Draper during the intermission about his ongoing verbal battle with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.
Draper laughed and then said, "It’s been a pretty good one. A lot of that stuff would probably be beeped out on NBC, but it’s a lot of fun.''
Mike Emrick's best line came when a player could've been called for a penalty but was not: "There is tolerance, there is leniency -- everything we always want in traffic court but don't get.''

Best team
The Rays are a real baseball team. How do we know this? They were mentioned several times during Fox's national Game of the Week broadcast Saturday, as well as being the subject of a segment on ESPN's Sports Reporters on Sunday morning. Hey, that's big-time.

First, during Fox's pregame show, analyst Kevin Kennedy was asked if the Rays and Marlins would be playing baseball in October. Kennedy said, "I don't think either one will, but I have a lot of respect for what both clubs have done. The Rays have been absolutely outstanding.'' During the Mets-Dodgers game, analyst Tim McCarver said, "How about the pitching they've been getting? You could understand with the young talent (that) their regulars would come along. But the pitching they've been getting?''

Then on Sports Reporters, it was good news, bad news (but mostly good news). The good news was what Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan said: "Absolutely, they are for real. They can contend in the American League East.'' ESPN's Howard Bryant, however, threw a little cold water on the talk of the Rays: "But, but, but … they are drawing 10,000.''

Best feature
Fox's baseball pregame show provided a unique and amusing way to tell the story of the first two months of the baseball season. Arizona teammates Eric Byrnes, Conor Jackson and Orlando Hudson did a 1970's police-detective show parody called Byrning Heat that came off looking like the Brock Landers scenes from Boogie Nights. That's meant as a compliment. Byrnes played Brock Storm. Jackson was Chazz Lightning. And Hudson stole the show by playing O-Dawg. It might have been the best thing on TV all weekend.

Best call
When Rays slugger Cliff Floyd led off the bottom of the ninth with the score tied at 1 against the White Sox on Friday night, he hit a ball that seemed like it took five minutes to get out of the park. But if you were listening on the radio, Rays announcer Dave Wills provided an exhilarating call that filled the time dramatically and beautifully:
"Swing and a drive! Deep right-centerfield. … Get outta here! It's (long pause) gone! Rays win! Rays win! Rays win! Cliff Floyd! Cliff Floyd will lead a team meeting at home plate.''

Favorite line
Mike Lupica, on ESPN's Sports Reporters, speaking a gospel that I believe in:
"Now Rick Dutrow, Big Brown’s trainer, is even second-guessing the way Smarty Jones' handlers got him ready for the Belmont. How do we get Dutrow to talk less and Big Brown to talk more''

Three things that popped into my head over the weekend
1. Fox's NASCAR coverage for the season came to an end Sunday at Dover, Del., and that's too bad. Fox covers NASCAR better than anyone.
2. Why do we have to wait until Thursday for the start of the NBA Finals? I'm ready now.
3. The French Open wasn't on Sunday because of the telethon on Ch. 8. Did anyone miss it?

All-Children's Telethon bumps French Open, LPGA on Sunday

Hey, tennis fans. If your plan was to spend Sunday afternoon watching the French Open on Channel 8, you're likely out of luck. The French Open and the LPGA's Ginn Tribute will not be seen Sunday because of Channel 8's annual All-Children's Hospital Telethon. The telethon runs from Saturday night at 8:30 to Sunday evening at 6:30.

A spokesman from NBC told Two Cents on Thursday that the network approached Channel 38 about picking up the tennis and golf, but nothing has been worked out, and likely won't be. The telethon also means that Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final will not be seen on Channel 8 Saturday night, but Channel 38 is picking up NBC's coverage of the Red Wings and Penguins.

Before you get all riled up, save it. The All-Children's Telethon has been on Channel 8 for 25 years, and it's an important cause, certainly more important than a tennis match or golf tournament or any sporting event. So if you're going to complain about it, take it somewhere else. Channel 8 is doing the right thing.

What's up, Doc? Mike Emrick honored by Hall of Fame

The Hockey Hall of Fame announced Thursday that Mike "Doc'' Emrick will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. Emrick is pretty much the American voice of hockey, having called games on all the major networks, as well as primarily the Flyers and Devils over the past 30 years. Actually, I'm surprised Emrick is being honored this year. I would've sworn he had won this award years ago.
Here are my picks for the top five hockey announcers on television:
1. Sam Rosen, MSG (Rangers). Still the gold standard.
2. Bob Cole, CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. Some think he has slipped in recent years, but still feels like a special game when he's calling it. Expected to retire before next season, but here's hoping he still calls games now and then.
3. Rick Peckham, Sun Sports (Lightning). The locals know how professional this guy is. A class act off the ice, too.
4. Mike Emrick, MSG (Devils), Versus, NBC. Sounds like he's having the time of his life every second he is calling a game.
5. Jim Hughson, CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. Usually calls the second game of the Saturday night doubleheader and is expected to take over for Cole on the prime-time game.

Announcers say the dumbest things

It happens practically every baseball game. Runners on base. A pitch in the dirt. The catcher blocks it. And the announcers say, "What a great play by (catcher's name) blocking that ball. That's the type of thing that doesn't show up in the box score, but what a play.''

Enough already. Isn't that the catcher's job? Look, the mailman delivers mail. The butcher cuts meat. Catchers block pitches in the dirt. Do they say that every time a shortstop fields a grounder or a leftfielder catches a fly ball? The catcher is supposed to block the ball, and heck, half the time it's a lucky bounce anyway. Here are five other stock phrases by announcer that drive me batty:

* When a basketball players dives for a loose ball: "Look at that hustle!'' Hey, if I'm paying 50 bucks to sit in the upper deck, a guy better be diving for balls. Isn't this, too, part of his job? In fact, if he doesn't dive for a loose ball, I'm ticked.

* Anytime white players in any sport are described as "scrappy,'' while black players who work just as hard are described as "gifted.''

* "These two teams really don't like one another.'' You mean there are teams out there that do like one another?

* When a hitter hits a blooper to the opposite field: "What a great piece of hitting!'' Why? Because he swung late or otherwise swung the bat like he was supposed to? Know what a "great piece of hitting'' is? Sitting on a fastball and hitting it into the third deck.

* "You won't meet a nicer young man.'' Listen, unless Gandhi comes back to life and joins the Red Sox as a closer or something, let's retire that phrase, shall we?

Number of the day

1,981. That's how many homers the entire American League is on pace to hit this season as of Monday afternoon. Hmm, not saying baseball's new drug policy has players watching themselves, but if you throw out the strike-shortened 1994 season, this could be the first time since 1992 that the American League has not hit at least 2,000 homers. In fact, from 1993 to 2007, the American League averaged 2,471 homers a season -- 490 more than what the league is on pace to hit this season. Only one AL player -- the White Sox's Carlos Quentin -- is on pace to hit at least 40 homers. In the American League, at least two players have hit 40 homers every year, again skipping the 1994 season, since 1990.

E: Rays TV

Rays TV dropped the ball tonight because it took its eyes off the ball. The big story going into tonight's game was Josh Hamilton playing his first game at Tropicana Field. Obviously, when the Rays drafted him in 1999, we all thought Hamilton would be wearing a Rays uniform when he made his Trop debut. Then when he went through his well-chronicled drug problems, it seemed terribly unlikely he would ever play in the majors at all. But he survived, cleaned himself up and arrived in town Monday leading the majors in RBIs. What a story.

The interesting part about tonight was seeing what kind of reaction he was going to get from the Rays fans. In fact, Hamilton even asked in a Marc Topkin story Sunday if he was going to get booed. But as Hamilton was walking from the on-deck circle to the batter's box and his name was being announced, Rays TV was showing a slo-mo replay of Scott Kazmir's delivery while analyst Joe Magrane was talking about Kazmir.

That couldn't have waited? Instead of seeing shots of the crowd, hearing the crowd and seeing Hamilton's reaction, we saw a replay of Kazmir. For the record, Hamilton got a nice ovation. It would've been nice if we had seen it.

Shooting from the lip

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best event
Just a couple of years ago, it seemed the Indianapolis 500 had lost its mojo, that it was no longer the special event it was back in the glory days of the 1970s. But, welcome back, big fella. The event matters once again and give ABC partial credit for that. The network's coverage Sunday was a blue-ribbon effort. Despite eight cautions that chewed up 69 laps and the early exits of marquee names such as Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan, the four hours zipped by because of a tightly  paced, well-directed, well-produced and focalized show. Here are some of the highlights:
* Listening to anything said by analyst Eddie Cheever Jr., who was succinct and honest — the two best qualities of any good analyst.
* Eavesdropping on Patrick's radio conversation with her crew, saying, "I can't do anything. I am sooooooo slow. I am damn slow.''
* Interviews with Patrick and Kanaan after their crashes. Patrick, who was spun out in the pit by Ryan Briscoe and unsuccessfully tried talk to him later, angrily said, "Probably best I didn't get down there anyway.’’ Kanaan crashed with Sara Fisher in part because he was given no room to maneuver by teammate Marco Andretti. When told Andretti said he was sorry over the radio, Kanaan said. "He'd better be. That was a very stupid move.''
* ABC followed that story well, telling Andretti exactly what Kanaan said and not letting him get away without asking him about it. Andretti: "Stupid? I don't know about stupid. Last minute, maybe. I had an awesome run on him. Maybe I dive-bombed him too late. I don't know. I'll have to look at the tape. If so, I completely apologize.''
* Then ABC caught up with an emotional Fisher in another riveting interview.
This is the type of stuff race fans eat up. Heck, it's the type of stuff everyone eats up. ABC kept its eye on the ball, so to speak, all day, never missed giving viewers exactly what we were looking for next. With a first-rate broadcasting crew executing the thorough game plan, the result was as good of a sports event coverage as we've seen this year.

Most ordinary coverage
Versus didn't do anything special or different for its Stanley Cup finals broadcast Saturday night. That's not necessarily bad because Versus does a slightly-better-than adequate job of covering the NHL. It's just that it felt like an ordinary game, not the finals. No bells. No whistles. It just didn't feel special, not like the final should. Well, Versus did add one thing — Mark Messier joined the studio show and was solid. In fact, Mess had the line of the night when, after the Red Wings beat the Penguins 4-0, he said, "(The Penguins) have to get emotionally involved.'' He's right. Not only did Versus act as if it was just another game, so did Pittsburgh.

Strongest statement
On Fox's baseball pregame show, analyst Kevin Kennedy said, "Mike (Piazza) is the greatest offensive catcher of all-time.''

I almost jumped into the screen, ready to make an argument for Yogi Berra, but it's hard to disagree. Berra drove in almost 100 more runs (1,430 to 1,335), but Piazza had a higher average (.308 to .285), more homers (427 to 358), a better slugging percentage (.545 to .483) and a better on-base percentage (.377 to .348). Yeah, you have to go with Piazza.

Best courage
Speaking of Fox baseball, I had always been ambivalent about  pregame show host Jeanne Zelasko, but it would be completely unfair to judge her on anything she has done the past year or so because of what she has gone through. Check out this nice update by Larry Stewart of the L.A. Times.

Her father, Stanley, died of a heart attack at age 71 on the day her son started kindergarten in August. In December, she learned she had thyroid cancer. Over the next few months, she underwent surgery and radiation; her sister had a brain aneurysm; her nephew developed a spinal problem that might require risky surgery ; and her California home was threatened by wildfire. The good news is she is cancer-free.

Considering all this, not only do you root for someone like that, but you think back and realize what an amazing job she has done enthusiastically talking about pennant chases and trades and free agents when baseball surely must have been the last thing on her mind.

Best baseball analysts
Two men are setting themselves apart as analysts on national baseball broadcasts — Fox's Mark Grace and TBS’s Ron Darling. Both are more entertaining and less wordy than the two men often credited for being tops in the game right now — Fox’s Tim McCarver and ESPN’s Joe Morgan. Give me Grace and Darling over those two any day.

Three things that popped into my head
1. Regardless of what commissioner Gary Bettman said about being locked into dates, he should’ve figured out some way to make sure the Red Wings weren't playing at the same times as the Pistons last Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.
2. If the WNBA's plan is to attract more traditional NBA fans (read: men), why not wait until the NBA playoffs are over to start its season? I realize the games aren't on at the same time, but after watching the intensity of the NBA playoffs, isn't it hard to enjoy regular-season basketball of any kind?
3. Anyone who even thinks of booing Josh Hamilton this week at the Trop is an idiot. In fact, there's something wrong if you don't stand on your feet while applauding.

Shooting from the lip

A look back at the weekend in televised sports ...

Best coverage
Two weeks after NBC glossed over the death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby, the network recovered with an outstanding examination of horse safety during Saturday's Preakness preview. Bob Costas, at his absolute best in such moments, led a thought-provoking roundtable with veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage, former jockey Gary Stevens, Eight Belles owner Larry Jones and New York Times columnist Bill Rhoden, a critic of horse racing.

The part that remains troubling is Bramlage said that he found nothing in the post-mortem examination of Eight Belles that suggested she was predisposed to the injuries and that there is no proof anything is wrong with racing 2- and 3-year-olds. Stevens said jockey Gabriel Saez did nothing wrong. Jones said Eight Belles was never given steroids or painkillers in his care. The bottom line is, once again, nothing could have been done to prevent her death, and it's all chalked up to, "Well, that's just what happens sometimes.'' And that's not good enough. It's not good enough for opponents of horse racing and, most of all, it shouldn't be good enough for those who love horse racing.

After the Kentuck Derby and after Barbaro's death, I called for horse racing to be abolished. We all know that is never going to happen. There's too much money in it. But perhaps Eight Belles' death will lead the sport to re-examine itself. It has started and needs to continue studying breeding, racetrack surfaces, the use of painkillers and steroids. Most of all, it has become clear that the sport needs a national governing body. And don't just talk about changes. Don't say you're "looking at it.'' Do something.

The outrage for those of us bothered that horses are dying for the sake of money and sport is that it appears we are the ones leading the charge. Shouldn't it be the lovers of horse racing carrying the torch? Instead of shrugging shoulders, lashing out at those who want something done and saying, "Hey, stuff happens,'' those in the industry must step up to improve conditions for the horses they love. A national governing body would be a good start.

Longest show
While NBC should be praised for dedicating a good chunk of its Preakness preview show to Eight Belles and horse safety, the show was too long. Two hours of preview. That's approximately one minute of preview for every second of the race. That's a little much. The show was so long that it had not one, but two features on Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow.

Just a few years ago, Dutrow was a lost soul, mixed up in drugs, homeless and responsible for a daughter whose mother was murdered over drugs. "When I was at the stables, it's where I belonged,'' Dutrow said in the piece. "Whenever I'm (away from there), it's when I get myself in trouble.''

But instead of digging into the depths of Dutrow's problems, many questions were left unanswered. What kind of drugs are we talking about? How did he get the money to pay for them? Whom did he turn to for help? How did he go exactly from a homeless drug addict to trainer of the best horse many of us have seen in years? It would've been a fascinating story if NBC had bothered to tell it.

Number of the weekend
30. Times the Baseball Tonight crew said the name "DEVIL Rays'' during highlights of Saturday's Rays-Cardinals game. The crew members did it to poke fun at getting an equally fun letter from Rays president Matt Silverman telling them they were fined a $1 for every time they said "Devil.'' The crew promised to donate $30 to the Rays fund.

Strangest story
Did ESPN really do a long feature on women’s roller derby? Shown on Sunday morning's SportsCenter and then again Sunday night, the Outside the Lines-produced segment featured new roller derby stars such as Misfit Maiden, Savage Animal, Miss Print and Honey Homicide. Hey, I'm all for fun and games. I even admit that I used to watch and like studio wrestling as a kid. But here's my beef: the network barely covers the NHL and pretty much ignores mixed-martial arts, and yet it has time to feature a sport that isn't even a sport? What made the story off-kilter is it took roller derby a little too seriously — the tongue wasn't planted firmly enough in the cheek.

Best quote
When the Outside the Lines crew wasn't wasting our time with a silly roller derby piece, they were working on an interesting story about possible political ramifications at the Beijing Olympics. On Sunday's show, NBA star LeBron James made it known that he plans to speak out about China's abysmal human rights record during the Olympics, and that he hoped the American basketball team had a "gameplan on how to attack the situation.''

Some would say politics and sports do not mix, although I'm sure Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and the late Jackie Robinson might disagree with that. Michael Jordan and Tigers Woods have been criticized for not taking a more active role in political and social causes. However, part of what makes this country great is not only the right to speak out, but the right to not speak out.

But those who wish to speak their minds, particularly at the Olympics, should not be discouraged. The most valid point to come out of the discussion on OTL came from Lake Forest College anthropology of sports professor Holly Swyers, who said: "Sports is where we teach values. It makes a potent field for making a political statement. We teach kids from a very young age the idea of a level playing field and playing fair in sports.''

Best use of Congress
Ever since Congress started digging into baseball's steroid mess and Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter began looking into the Patriots and Spygate, you hear a lot of comments like this: "Doesn't Congress have enough to worry about without getting involved in sports? How about lowering gas prices? How about figuring out how to get us out of Iraq?''

But New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica made a valid point on ESPN's Sports Reporters by pointing out that Congress' involvement in sports has been worthwhile.

Lupica: "I always love it when (people say) 'Congress has more important things to worry about than sports.' Now this usually comes from people who have no idea what kinds of hearings Congress is holding when it isn't holding hearings about professional sports. ... For all the times the hearings cross the clown line, the fact is they serve a tremendous purpose, especially in the area of testing.''

Best event coverage
The production crew of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball turned in an A-plus performance during the Yankees-Mets game, showing several replays of a Carlos Delgado shot that hit the foul pole, but was ruled a foul ball. The video and aftermath even uncovered two other controversies: that the entire foul pole is not painted yellow and that the foul pole at Yankee Stadium might not even be in the right location.

One nit: cameras showed reporters -- I assume they were from the New York papers -- talking to a fan next to the foul pole. ESPN send a camera out to show where the ball hit the foul pole, but why didn't ESPN send out sideline reporter Peter Gammons to talk to the fan as well? Might have made for a fun few moments.

The production also was razor-sharp in other moments: showing how the Yankees executed a rundown and how the third base umpire lined himself up to make sure a runner on third tagged up at the right time on a fly ball. Good stuff.

Pats Spygate start with the Bucs?

Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh (that's him in the photo) gives his first television interview Friday night when he appears on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbe