In what is becoming a dangeous trend for MLB on Fox, Baseball Night in America once again lost the ratings battle to the NHL on NBC. Fox's MLB coverage, headlined by the Red Sox and Yankees, drew 3.27 million viewers while NBC's Bruins-Penguins matchup drew 3.43 million. Both games drew a 2.5 overnight rating, which was actually a high point for MLB on Fox so far this season.

There were strong emotions on display during Sunday's Canada-U.S. women's soccer friendly, and those emotions boiled over when Canadian-born striker Sydney Leroux scored the match's final goal in stoppage time to give the U.S. a 3-0 lead. Leroux followed that goal with a celebration that involved shushing the crowd and pointing to the U.S. crest on her jersey, and that caused plenty of Canadian fans and media members to react strongly. One of the most notable reactions came from former Canadian men's national team goalie Craig Forrest, who was serving as Sportsnet's colour analyst for the match. Here's how he reacted to Leroux's goal and celebration:

Here's a transcription of Forrest's comments after the goal and Leroux's celebration. "Oh, she's really full of class, isn't she? You can have her! YOU CAN HAVE HER!" Play-by-play man Gerry Dobson then adds "That's called rubbing it in," and Forrest breaks back in with "Are you kidding me! Every step of the way! That's way too American for me. And she got a yellow card. That's more like it. You know what she is, the word class...classless."  

What's interesting is that Forrest's comments proved to be a key factor in the subsequent firestorm that erupted on Twitter and elsewhere. As ProSoccerTalk's Richard Farley writes, those comments encouraged a lot of the angry Canadian responses and also outraged a lot of Americans (once word of them spread across the border: ESPN had their own feed of the game and Leroux's goal, which didn't involve any such comments):

On the surface, Sportsnet’s remarks lazily play into an insensitive trope – the stereotype of the brash American – but said in the context of a 3-0 loss, as boos rained down on Leroux from a near-capacity BMO crowd, the comment carried none of the levity usually associated with the innocent jibes that often target Americans. It was bitter. It was ugly. It was reactionary and slightly venomous. The missive was a xenophobic response to a source of legitimate frustration, one with which U.S. fans could otherwise empathize. ...

Meanwhile, the Leroux debate heated up even further Monday with her sending out a tweet accusing Canadian fans of racist chants, something that can lead to severe FIFA sanctions or bans. U.S. Soccer later said she wasn't referring to Sunday's game, but there's still likely going to be a long and messy investigation into that. Even before that, though, it's worth critically examining Forrest's comments. Are they what you'd expect from a former national team athlete turned broadcaster, or did he cross a line? Should Sportsnet ask for a higher standard of professionalism from Forrest, or do Canadian fans want an unabashedly home team perspective and thoughts on American players' class or lack thereof? There should be plenty of debates around this one, and the Leroux situation's just getting started. Just wait until she and the rest of the American team head to Canada in 2015 for the Women's World Cup...

Bernardo LaPollo attended Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game in the Bronx.  So did 48,783 other people.  But Bernardo LaPollo was the only one who claims to have been born in 1901.  That predates all of the Yankees' 27 World Series victories and coincides with the founding of the franchise as the Baltimore Orioles.  LaPollo also has the claim of shaking hands with both Babe Ruth and Derek Jeter.

LaPollo isn't like those other lame 111 year olds just waiting for their time to finally expire - he's out taking on the world.  Look at this guy!  He puts Bob Costas and his boyish charm to shame with how well he's beat Father Time into submission.  LaPollo doesn't look a day over 60 and may be in better physical condition than half the Yankees bullpen.

Now, in the wake of his newfound publicity, there are folks trying to rain on LaPollo's parade disputing his age and saying he was born in 1910 instead of 1901.  This would ONLY MAKE HIM 102 YEARS OLD!!!!  Are you kidding me?!?!  For this guy to be walking around the Yankee Stadium field and being closer to suiting up than Alex Rodriguez would be an accomplishment for anyone over 75.  I don't care if he's 102, 111, or anywhere in between - this modern day Methuselah has found the proverbial fountain of youth.  And, he gives a very coherent, interesting interview as witnessed with Fox's Ken Rosenthal.

Best of all, I think we just found our new frontrunner to replace Tim McCarver!

H/T Hot Clicks

If you're a fan of Awful Announcing (let's cut the formalities, of course you are, why else would you be here?), you'll be overjoyed to learn that we've come up with a way to make you aware the second a new piece of content is posted on our blog.  Bloguin has teamed up with Notice Software to bring push notifications via the Alert Rocket app for every new post.  It's as easy as spelling S-T-R-I-K-E.  Here's how...

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When ESPN hired former Jets and Browns head coach as an NFL analyst, there was a collective "huh" from sports fandom.  Mangini was widely known as one of the least personable and least liked individuals in all of pro football.  Headlines like "How to Lose Friends and Irritate People" doesn't exactly scream "likable television star."

But then a funny thing happened - over the last couple years Mangini actually developed into a venerable analyst at ESPN.  With the small batallion of NFL analysts available in Bristol, it's very easy to get lost in the shuffle (how ya doin, Jerry Rice, Damien Woody, Matt Light, etc.).  Nevertheless, once he got comfortable in front of the TV cameras, he blossomed into a straight-talking sensible voice in a world often filled with cacophonous noise.  

Now, Mangini is leaving ESPN to return to coaching as an offensive consultant with the San Francisco 49ers.  From Cam Inman of the Mercury News...

Nobody likes the media anymore. Sports media. Hard-news media. You name it. They're the bad guys, trying to sell stories in sensational and immoral fashion, rather than in the good old days when Walter Cronkite could just tell us "that's the way it is" and we'd all respond by saying, "You stay classy, Ron Burgundy." Or something like that. 

But let's remember that the media is supposed to serve the people, and what the people want is what the people get. So when we are disgusted by the fact a study has found that the public is more likely to embrace a confident sports pundit than an accurate one, we should stop to consider that the sports media world we're watching is actually sort of a reflection of ourselves. 

On Saturday, the Raiders fired their Public Relations Director, Zak Gilbert, who had been with the team for just one year. Specifically, owner Mark Davis fired him.

To the surprise of nobody in the sports media industry but to the disappointment of everybody, Pro Football Weekly announced Friday that it was shutting down after nearly half a century in business. 

The Pacers and their fans have been begrudging the national media for a lack of coverage and respect against LeBron James and what's left of the Big 3 in Miami.  Another round of ammo was given to that argument by ESPN, who declared on the eve of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals that Indiana was playing for their first trip to the NBA Finals.  This of course is not correct.  The Indiana Pacers were definitely in the 2000 NBA Finals.  I remember.  I watched it.  There's even a Wikipedia article dedicated to it.

You'd think ESPN would remember the 2000 NBA Finals, after all, the Lakers were playing in them too.

H/T JakeLaue

Sigourney McCleaf is a reporter for PHL 17 in Philadelphia.  After Sunday's game on the postgame show, she was reading a note from a fan about Cliff Lee's 1600th strikeout.  While that was difficult enough to say, McCleaf tried to laugh it off as saying it was a tongue tie... except what came out of her mouth was "tongue twat."  How 'bout that for a double play!  A funny local sportscasting blooper for sure, but let's hope for McCleaf's sake she has no Sports Nutz videos hiding on YouTube somewhere...

H/T HyperVocal