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

If you live outside New York and don't have the MLB out-of-market pay per view packages, you may not be familiar with Kevin Burkhardt. He's been the on-field reporter for SNY on New York Mets broadcasts for the last seven seasons, Burkhardt has also filled-in for Mets TV voice Gary Cohen in calling games. In addition to his Mets work, Burkhardt has hosted various studio shows for SNY after being an anchor and host for New York's WFAN.

All Times Eastern

Australian Rules Football
West Coast Eagles vs. Richmond Tigers -- Fox Soccer Plus, 5:30 a.m.

College Baseball
NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament
Regionals

Columbia Regional, Columbia, SC
Elimination Game
South Carolina vs. Liberty -- ESPNU, 1 p.m.

Nashville Regional, Nashville, TN
Elimination Game
Vanderbilt vs. Georgia Tech -- ESPNU, 7 p.m.

Eugene Regional, Eugene, OR
Elimination Game
Rice vs. Oregon -- ESPN3, 9 p.m./ESPNU, approximately 10 p.m. (joined in progress)

ESPN Bases Loaded -- ESPNU, 6 p.m. & 10 p.m.

College Football
College Football Live -- ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

This is real and it's spectacular twitter.com/LAKings/status…

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 2, 2013

Even though the Los Angeles Kings are the defending Stanley Cup champs, they still get no love from any editor, publisher, online outlet, TV anchor, or news organization.  This poll from Yahoo is just the latest example of someone botching the Kings' name and/or logo.  At least the Kings Twitter account can keep its sense of humor about it all.  Heck, Yahoo even pointed out another KTLA error involving the Kings on Saturday.  I tell you, this franchise just gets no respect, no regard at all.

PREVIOUSLY:

The LA Kings get Steve Nash

The LA Kings are moving to Seattle!

NBC's LA station thinks their hockey team is the Sacramento Kings

Ed Note: This article appears courtesy our friends at The Outside Corner.

During Sunday's 5 PM edition of MLB Tonight, MLB Network will be airing a feature on Jeff Allison, the 16th overall pick in the 2003 MLB Draft by the (then) Florida Marlins. Going into the 2004 season, he was the third best prospect in Florida's organization, and the 44th best prospect in all of baseball. But he didn't pitch at all in 2004 and was placed on the restricted list due to a substance abuse problem. He also didn't pitch at all in 2006 or 2007 due to his addiction to heroin and Oxycontin, overdosing twice and nearly dying.

Allison has been sober since December of 2006, and the highlight of his pro career came in 2008, when he made the high-A Florida State League All-Star team at age 24. The Marlins released Allison after the 2011 season, and he's currently working as a public speaker, warning kids about the dangers of drug use.

All Times Eastern

College Baseball
NCAA Division I Tournament
Regionals

Tallahassee Regional, Tallahassee, FL
Alabama vs. Troy -- ESPNU, noon

Manhattan Regional, Manhattan, KS
Arkansas vs. Bryant -- ESPNU, 4 p.m.

Nashville Regional, Nashville, TN
Vanderbilt vs. Illinois/Georgia Tech -- ESPNU, 8 p.m.

Fullerton Regional, Fullerton, CA
Cal State-Fullerton vs. Columbia/Arizona State -- ESPNU, 11 p.m.

ESPN Bases Loaded -- ESPNU, 3 p.m. & 7 p.m.

College Rugby
Collegiate Sevens Championship -- NBC Sports Network, 2 p.m./NBC, 4 p.m.

The trend of post-game interviewers getting assaulted after a walkoff win continued on Friday night in San Diego. After Jesus Guzman delivered a walkoff single to give the Padres a 4-3, 17 inning win over the Blue Jays, it was time for the post-game interview. Padres dugout reporter Kelly Crull stood with Guzman for the interview when Everth Cabrera took the long route around the field with the Gatorade bucket.

One issue arose, though: Guzman moved too soon, and Crull caught on to their game and attempted to flee. Guzman proceeded to hold Crull in a light hug, and both got the bath from Cabrera. Give Crull credit for taking it in stride and carrying on her interview with Guzman like she wasn't dripping wet. It's actually the second time this week she's gotten showered, though Wednesday's red Gatorade shower on her cream colored outfit was probably a lot more irritating. After the game, Crull tweeted that she needed new clothes. For her sake, I hope the Padres don't have another walkoff win for a few weeks.

It's always interesting to see how broadcasters and networks have evolved over time, and some recently-found footage gives us an excellent opportunity to do that. Back before Gus Johnson and Mike Mayock were household names, the two paired up to call the CFL's 1994 Grey Cup game on ESPN2, and the footage of that broadcast was uploaded to YouTube earlier this year. Throughout the broadcast, you can see some of the elements that both would be come to be known for, including Johnson's trademark exuberance and enthusiastic descriptions of particular plays and Mayock's football knowledge and penchant for relaying information on specific play designs or one-on-one battles. However, both have changed substantially since then, as has the network they were broadcasting for: ESPN2's 1994 Noisemeter and massive on-screen graphics would seem very out of place at the Worldwide Leader today. Here's the complete clip of the game:

Today we get news that the second Barber twin will be trying his hand in television. Ronde Barber who retired this year after 16 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is reportedly headed to Fox Sports. His brother Tiki had a stint at NBC on Football Night in America, the Today Show and a host on MSNBC during the 2008 Olympics. Instead of trying to become the next Matt Lauer like Tiki, Ronde appears to be staying in his expert field of football.

According to The Big Lead, Barber will be an NFL analyst for Fox. His role has not been defined, but his agent told TBL, “Ronde is excited to be joining the network.” Expect to see Ronde analyze games for the NFL on Fox, appear on Fox Sports 1 and perhaps a few other Fox platforms. 

Ronde does have experience being in the media as he and his brother Tiki co-hosted a show for Sirius NFL Radio. We will find out soon whether he will form a new NFL on Fox announcing team or be solely a studio analyst. 

UPDATE: Awful Announcing has learned that Barber will be a game analyst for the NFL on Fox.

[The Big Lead]