The playoffs aren't just a time for the teams to shine, what about the announcers!  That's what we're here to talk about at least.  With the Stanley Cup Playoffs now moving towards its latter stages, we take a look at 5 personalities we'd like to see featured more prominently on NBC's NHL coverage throughout the postseason and beyond...

Things couldn't be going much worse for MLB on Fox broadcasts this year. Heading into this past weekend's primetime contests, all six of the telecasts couldn't draw a 2.0 rating, and three of the six broadcasts all fell below 1.5. Two weekends ago, the slate of games highlighted by Reds-Phillies drew a pathetic 1.2 rating and 1.7 million viewers, down 37% and 42% from Red Sox-Phillies last year in primetime, and 54% and 59% from Red Sox-Yankees in 2011, also in primetime.

But coming out of the first weekend of primetime games, there's good news and bad news for MLB. In the good news department, the league drew 2.2 million viewers for a pretty middling slate of games. In the bad news department, MLB lost the head to head matchup with the NHL. Yeah, that's right: the NHL beat MLB, and it wasn't even close. Saturday night's Blackhawks-Red Wings Game 5 on NBC drew 2.9 million viewers, and picked up a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demo, compared to just 0.5 for MLB in the same demo.

And when you look at the preliminary overnight rating for the NHL (a 2.0), it looks more and more like MLB on Fox has once again failed to crack a 2.0 rating this season. Considering that this week featured matchups in primetime, that's really not a good sign. Perhaps the shuffling of games to Fox Sports 1 isn't an attempt to enhance the new network, but instead an opportunity to dump a franchise that is seeing its rating tank off of the main Fox mothership.

[TV by the Numbers, Sports Media Watch]

The Cleveland Indians concluded a four game weekend series in Boston which marked the homecoming of manager Terry Francona. As you're well aware, Francona won two World Championships as manager of the Red Sox. During his tenure in Boston, Francona became good friends with TV play-by-play man Don Orsillo of NESN. 

So when Orsillo had the first opportunity to say hello to Francona before last Friday's game, Francona pulled him into the Indians' dugout by the tie and tussled Donnie's perfectly coiffed hair. Luckily, NESN on-field reporter Jenny Dell had her trusty cell phone handy to record everything for posterity. The results are seen above. 

All Times Eastern

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

College Volleyball
AVCA Sand Championship, Gulf Shores, Alabama
Playoff -- CBS Sports Network, 8:30 p.m.

Golf
Big Break Academy: Muy Bien Maya -- Golf Channel, 7 p.m.
Golf's Greatest Rounds: 1971 U.S. Open -- Golf Channel, 8 p.m.

ESPN's John Clayton threw out the first pitch before Friday night's Rangers-Mariners game. While most of the attention after the game was focused on yet another blown call by the umpiring crew, ESPN released a hilarious training montage of Clayton's preparation for his first pitch.

Clayton, wearing a rainbow headband, performed various strength-related, football-style exercises, including pullups (with trainers lifting Clayton up) and bench presses (with an empty bar). Two things ended up coming to mind when watching the video: A) Clayton's arms more closely resemble pencils than arms, and B) there's no ponytail. Repeat: no ponytail.

After the jump, the video of Clayton's first pitch at the game.

This is one of the weirdest things I've seen in not just NASCAR, but in all sports: Sunday night's Coca Cola 600 was briefly delayed when a rope holding one of Fox's cameras snapped, injuring ten fans and damaging three cars.

What ended up happening was that the camera system, which was used during the Daytona 500 and last week's All-Star race, has three ropes controlling it and that the drive rope (which is what moves the camera) snapped for an unknown reason, causing it to fall to the track and cause all of the damage.

If you'll indulge me, I'd like to tell you a quick story. If not, the bottom of this post has the video you are looking for.

My senior year in high school, I befriended a relocated Japanese student. The reason I did so was because well....he's awesome. 

It didn't take too long for that opinion to spread. Almost every week for a year, I would receive invites to parties and they seemed to always include a strong request to bring my new friend. Why? Because he was awesome. So much so, that I think the trajectory of how much and how quickly he became beloved by the high school could have actually made him our Homecoming King (not that anybody really gives a shit now, but back then....sure), if he became more social a year earlier.

Happy Memorial Day!  What better way to celebrate this great holiday than a collection of some of the best sportscasting bloopers in television history.  Our friends at Huffington Post Sports put this mashup together with more than a few of our favorite clips.  From Boom Goes the Dynamite to announcers losing their voice to anchors getting hit with flying soccer balls to Chris Kamara and more.  

Enjoy your holiday and keep fighting like beavers, America!

All Times Eastern

College Baseball
NCAA Baseball Championship Selection Show -- ESPNU, noon
The Road to Omaha: NCAA Baseball Championship Preview -- ESPNU, 6 p.m.

College Lacrosse
NCAA Division I Championship, Philadelphia, PA
Syracuse vs. Duke -- ESPN, 1 p.m.

English Championship
Final
Crystal Palace vs. Watford -- beIN Sport, 9:55 a.m.

Remember last month, when Rays reporter Kelly Nash took a self portrait on Instagram and nearly got beaned by a home run ball in the process? Brewers reporter Sophia Minnaert didn't get nearly as lucky as Nash did, as on Saturday, she actually ended up getting hit by a ball while on camera.

Before the third inning on Saturday, Minnaert was giving the Fox Sports Wisconsin audience her report when she was hit in the right hand by a ball out of nowhere. Her mic went flying, and Minnaert looked stunned for a second before picking her mic back up and continuing her report., eventually getting some kudos for Milwaukee's commentary team in the booth

It's pretty amazing that Minnaert didn't get hurt, and I'm surprised we don't see this happen more often. Thankfully, everything worked out well for her.

[SportsGrid]