The long wait for late Cubs broadcaster Ron Santo is finally over as the 3rd baseman was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Golden Era committee.  Santo, who retired after the 1974 season, was perhaps one of the most integral parts of the Cubs franchise for almost 50 years as a player and broadcaster.  As a player, Santo was a member of the memorable 1969 team that came close to breaking the Cubs World Series drought... if not for that damn black cat.

Here's the details from Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago...

It took 32 years, but former Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday with at least 75 percent of the vote from the Golden Era committee.

Santo was the only player elected. He received 15 of 16 votes. Jim Kaat received 10 votes, while Gil Hodges and Minnie Minoso received nine each.

Upon his induction, Santo, who died just over a year ago at age 70, will be the 47th Hall of Famer to have played for the Chicago Cubs.

After an illustrious 15-year major league career and 21 years as a broadcaster on Cubs radio, Santo succumbed to bladder cancer and pneumonia on Dec. 3, 2010.

The long wait for induction into the Hall of Fame had been maddening for Santo and his family. Santo was passed over by the veterans committee in 2003, 2005 and 2008. After that committee, comprised of current Hall of Famers, failed to elect anyone for eight consecutive years, the Hall of Fame changed the election rules.

The Golden Era committee was comprised of 16 individuals, including Hall of Fame players, baseball executives and veteran baseball reporters. Seventy-five percent of the 16 votes was needed for induction (12 or more).

It was as a beloved broadcaster where Santo connected with new generations of Cubs fans.  Yes, Santo was never the most polished announcer, often mistaking game situations or not even coming close to opposing players' names.  Still, it was his sheer enthusiasm for the Cubbies that bled through every broadcast as evidenced by this clip...

When the Cubs succeeded, the joy in Santo's voice came through the radio, just as his disapointment did when the team fell short.  In fact, his most memorable broadcasting moment might have been this Brant Brown drop that cost the team a shot at the playoffs.

And even though Santo unfortunately passed away before making the Hall, the bittersweet recognition is better late than never.  Thankfully, the Cubs were able to show Ron Santo how much he meant to the franchise when his number was retired by the team, which Santo called his "Hall of Fame" moment.  And even though Santo may not be around to see it, baseball as a whole has finally given him the recognition he so richly deserves.

[ESPN Chicago]

The final BCS standings were released last night and it will be a rematch in the BCS National Championship Game as #1 LSU plays #2 Alabama.  #3 Oklahoma State fell just short in the final tally and now has to settle for a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.  All around the country, college football fans are either happy the system selected two best teams... or infuriated with rage that the sport gave us a national championship rematch.  And really, no matter whether you're in the pro-rematch or anti-rematch camp, the fact that there even is a debate about who belongs in the title game is the inherent failing of the BCS and the greatest insult to people who give a damn about college football.

I'm going to warn you now, I detest the BCS more than anything else in sports.  Craig James might as well be Gandhi in comparison.  The corruption, the inequality, the greed... everything about this putrid system is the antithesis to what sports should be about.  I'll gladly listen to Pam Ward and Matt Millen announce every single game for the rest of time if it means we can get a real I-A playoff.  The whole mystique around the BCS and college football is the regular season actually meaning something.  You've heard it before from proponents of the current B*S system (henceforth, I refuse to dignify it with a "C" for the word "championship").  The regular season is the playoff.  EVERY GAME COUNTS!  Hell, that's even the official Twitter handle of the B*S.  You can tweet them at @EveryGameCounts and ask them why that first Alabama/LSU game doesn't actually count.

It shouldn't be news to anyone that the B*S is a broken system.  It is a pure cash grab by the major conferences, bowl games, and everyone involved in college football.  There are no real excuses why there shouldn't be a playoff.  Division I-AA has a playoff.  Division II has a playoff.  Division III has a playoff.  In fact, Division III has a 32 team tournament.  32 teams!  And we can't even get 8 in a I-A playoff?!?  You don't think those kids from UW-Whitewater and Mount Union and Wabash don't have academics to deal with?  They are the ones that actually have to work a 9-5 job and need those degrees coming out of college.  

Come to think of it, most every sport known to humankind decides their champion through action that takes place in the theater of competition.  Not by general banter.  Not by computers.  Not by ESPN analysts advocates that want to politick for a certain team or conference.

The fact that there isn't a playoff in I-A football is simply because of greed, money, and corruption.  You saw it last year when suspended Ohio State players were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl.  You saw it this year when B*S bowls passed by higher-ranked teams in favor of schools they think will fill their stadiums and allow them to pocket more cash.  That's why Michigan gets the payday of a B*S bowl instead of Michigan State, who won their B1G division, and hello, BEAT MICHIGAN EARLIER THIS SEASON!  That's why Notre Dame has a seat at the table and Boise State doesn't.  That's why all the non B*S schools are held out of the big games by the collusion of the bowls and the elite schools of the power conferences.  

Money is also what ESPN's seedy role in college football realignment and their B*S advocacy is all about too.  Their influence is a huge factor as well.  The SEC has proven their worth time and again on the field.  They've earned every benefit of the doubt, but the influence of ESPN and CBS certainly doesn't hurt.  How much did it help Alabama that the leader carried the rematch conversation for the last month?  In no other sport do the words of analysts actually influence and mean something tangible.  Would you want to live in a world where Skip Bayless' unending love of Tim Tebow had an impact on the Broncos being selected to play in the NFL postseason.  Horrifying, isn't it.

It's no way to determine a champion, but boy it makes everyone richer from universitiy presidents and athletic departments to television networks and the bowls themselves.  Apparently, not even T. Boone Pickens himself has enough money to sway the level of corruption that runs deep with everyone sitting at the B*S table.

And let's not go down the road of saying a playoff would ruin college football.  Does a playoff hurt the NFL regular season?  Tell me what would you rather debate - whether or not LSU should play Oklahoma State or Alabama based on statistics and the dreaded "eye test" to determine the "two best teams" or would you rather talk about whether or not Wisconsin could win on the road at Oregon in a first round playoff game?  How about Clemson looking for an upset at Alabama or Boise State getting a shot against LSU?  I'd much rather debate about the games than have the debates decide the game.

But this season more than any other is the greatest failing of the B*S, and we've all fallen for it.  We've fallen for it because fans and pundits everywhere are entrenched in the Alabama vs Oklahoma State debate and we just can't resist a good sports debate.  (Why else do you think there are 4,286 PTI spinoffs?)  Don't you see that's what the B*S wants???  They want us talking, debating, discussing.  They want the air time.  They want the Twitter convos.  They want the endless hours of television coverage.  

But in truth, nobody can say they know Alabama is better than Oklahoma State or vice versa.  It's all guesswork.  And I'm sorry, but the national championship of college football is too important to be decided by guesswork.  And believe it or not, there were actually people on either side of the day trying to use tragedies like the Tuscaloosa tornado and the Oklahoma State plane crash as arguments for and against their choices.  What kind of madness produces that kind of complete detachment from reality?  It's just one of the many reasons why this is the worst year yet of the B*S system...

The regular season is over and before we start to talk about the latest BCS controversy, the Pammies are one system that has been proven to be working this season.  Much like LSU, Craig James is on top where he belongs but there's still places in the Top 5 up for grabs.  Here are your Week 14 nominees...

1) "We are being booed and we arent even in the game" - Mike Patrick, maybe your being booed because Craig James is in the booth and you're awful. (via jleimer)

2) "The whole complexity of this game could've been different." - Craig James (via tomatpsu). Complexion, the word is complexion.

3) "There's back shoulder throws, and then there's back rear-end throws." - Gary Danielson (via ak482)

4) "Mele Kalikimaka! That's a bad Santa. We'll ignore him as much as we can." - Carter Blackburn (via DanielOrmsby)

5) "Larry Fedora better get a rain coat, because a thunderstorm is heading his way." - Craig James There's lightning in gatorade coolers? (via glokkenspx)

6) "3rd and long for Chase Keenum." - Mike Patrick (via bloggerjustinf)

7) "Every time after Rosario makes a good play, they tell him to make another one." - Charles Davis (via sctvman)

8) "Wilson...making chicken salad out of a broken play..." - Gus Johnson (via ChrisMcSharpe)

9) "The first, inaugural Big 12 Champions." - Tim Brewster (via Aaron_Torres) at the Big Ten Championship Game. 

10) "You are the inaugural Pac 10, err, Big 10 Championship game champions!" - Kevin Frazier (via DPMilGaya).  Ohh Fox...

11) ''Game of centimeters? How about decimeters?'' - Charles Davis (via FreddiePhysical).  Centimeters are actually smaller than decimeters.  This is why we need to convert to the metric system.

12) "The quarterback is a tough position."- Gary Danielson (via sharapovasthigh)

13) "Johnson had him faked out but there was no way Southern Miss was going to be faked out" - Craig James (via bjo109)

 14) "If there's a crack in the dam, water usually finds it." - Gary Danielson (via ziggy78) working his voodoo magic.

15) "We're really getting close to kickoff at the SEC championship game." - Tim Brando It's 2:17. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. (via NHSportsHP)

Vote For Your Week 14 Pammy Nominees! (vote for up to five)

The winners will come Wednesday morning.  The check back later this week for the full college football bowl games announcing schedule.

Craig James, who may or may not be leaving the broadcast booth at the end of the season for a political run, came under fire last week for his mind-boggling AP ballot.  Most notably was his selection of 10-1 Boise State as the 24th best team in the country amongst other irregularities.  This week, we have his full ballot from the folks at PollSpeak, and it appears Craig James must have heard everyone lambasting his ballot.  He moved Boise State up this week... to 23rd.  Here's the full Craig James ballot...

Those votes in red are highilgihted as "extreme votes" of which Craig James has the most of any voter.  So far, he is the "Bad Voter" of Week 14.  How appropriate.  Elsewhere in the ballot of Craig James...

*In the Alabama vs Oklahoma State debate for #2, James rates Alabama behind their SEC counterparts ahead LSU and ahead of the Pokes.  I was pretty well settled in the Oklahoma State camp, but seeing Craig James vote Alabama #2 cements that feeling.

*James has two loss Arkansas as the 4th ranked team in the country and two loss USC 5th.  11-1 Stanford, who beat USC and is ranked 4th in the AP Poll, is ranked 8th by James.

*James is only one of four voters to have Big East champion West Virginia unranked and only one of three voters to rank the Missouri Tigers.  Just two of seven teams that James has ranked higher or lower than any other AP voter.  One or two may be understandable, but seven?  At least he maintained some sort of objectivity, SMU isn't in his Top 25 after all.

*But certainly the biggest discrepancy in the ballot of Craig James is the Boise State Broncos.  He ranks the Broncos a full six spots behind any other voter (Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ranks them 17th, the next lowest ranking is 14th).  James ranks Boise State behind teams like 9-3 Baylor, 9-3 Penn State, 9-3 Nebraska, and two teams from Conference USA - Southern Miss and Houston.  

Nobody with a working brain who has watched one second of college football this season would argue Boise State, who lost one game to TCU on a field goal in the final seconds, who defeated SEC East champion Georgia, is only the 23rd best team in the country.  And this is an "expert" "analyst" ESPN employs?  This man is paid to watch and analyze college football!  What vendetta does he hold against the good people of Boise?  Did they not offer his son a scholarship?  Does he not enjoy trick plays?  Does he hate the color blue???  Maybe it will be a good thing if James leaves college football behind for politics, at least he won't be running in Idaho. 

One thing is for certain though.  It's a good thing the AP ballot counts for nothing in determining a national champion.

Packers/Giants is on Fox in your national window at 4 ET as Lions/Saints gets the NBC Flex Game tonight in favor of Colts/Pats.  Leave us your SOS comments throughout the day's games with all the broadcasting quotes from your most and least favorite NFL announcers.  Check the open thread comments, our Twitter timeline, and the #SOSAA Twitter hashtag for all the best Dickies quotes.  You can also check the announcing schedule at the top left of the homepage in our current schedules section.  

We're back and so are the Pammies!  Craig James is on his way to the Pammies crown just as LSU is on their way to the national title game regardless of what happens in the SEC title game.  Can Oklahoma State beat OU and make a big enough impression on human voters?  That's the storyline to watch on this Championship Saturday.  This is the last week of the Pam Ward Chronicles before the bowls so leave us all the best and worst quotes throughout the day!

Welcome to this week's edition of Screengrab Snafus!  Some players age and go with different looks as they move into post-retirement media careers.  I have to say, Antonio Pierce looks a lot different than he did in his playing days.  I kinda like the new look though.  (H/T Carl Chenier)

Elsewhere, it's a wonder Georgia Tech lost in their rivarly game with Georgia last Saturday, what with their 190 First Downs in the first half.  They didn't even post those kind of stats against Cumberland College! (via crainey1984 and bonus points if you get that reference!)

TheKliNG15 tweeted us this screengrab from college hoops.  Thank goodness the leader didn't try to spell Billikens...

Then again, maybe that person was at the keyboard in taking a look at ESPN.com's college basketball contributors.  Who's controlling ESPN's academic standards, John Calipari?  At least this guy could spell college!  (H/T Nathan Kotisso)

From Paul Braverman comes this screengrab of ESPN's listing of the highest winning percentages amongst current FBS coaches.  I tell ya, that Greg Patterson gets no respect for what he's done to build the TCU program...

And finally, from reader Greg Franklin comes this WaPo headline about the tumultuous week in Jacksonville.  It's a wonder the Jags fired coach Jack Del Rio with such a great record...

That was your week in Screengrab Snafus, next time be careful out there!

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More Thursday night NFL football maybe coming as early as next year per Roger Goodell in a recent podcast with Peter King. The NFL has made some noise and actually initiated discussions with networks to sell this additional package with Versus and Turner Sports believed to be the front runners.

Additional games to any network is already a big deal but would be a game changer to the likes of Versus or TNT. But just as quickly as the possibility of eight more Thursday games arose, Goodell nipped it in the bud, essentially giving all the networks the equivalent of cable programming blue balls. Below was the somewhat under the radar story of how those discussions were put on pause...

“I was shocked,” said one network executive. “I really thought that would be the next deal that they would do.”

"NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell squashed that idea Sept. 8, during a press call announcing the league’s $15.2 billion extension with ESPN. Goodell said that rather than coming before the NFL extends its broadcast deals with CBS, Fox and NBC, any new eight-game package still was a long way from reality.

“It’s not likely that we would do it in the next year,” Goodell said. “We’re going to continue our discussions with our current partners and evaluate aspects of our new labor agreement as part of that."

I had the opinion at the time that the NFL definitely wanted to squeeze money out of their network partners first, but also saw some value in waiting a bit as market conditions were likely to increase with continued upwards movement in ratings and ad sales.

Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden "stimulates" the Straight Outta Stockton awards this week with his performance from the Saints blowout victory over the Giants in primetime.  Also exploding onto the scene this week is Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham with a couple gems.  The envelope, please...

10) "Right cheek, left cheek, control all the way through." -Brian Billick (via poundthehole)

9) "When he gets possession there, he doesn't have possession." - Chad Pennington (via bjo109)

8) "Ndamukong Suh is like Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls" - Keyshawn Johnson (via LobShots)

7) "Hardly anything wrong can go bad." - Phil Simms (via AA)

6) "I want to measure the large intestine of andy dalton because this kids got guts like ive never seen" - Dave Lapham (via rossmallaley)

5) "This is an incestuous night" - Mike Mayock (via TheLoadedOne)

4) "The 53 yard touchdown run by Beanie Wells leads to the 22 yard field goal." -Terry Bradshaw (via sctvman)

3) "I don't wanna sound like a cheerleader up here but way to go Brees! That's awesome!" - Jon Gruden (via ConnorKiesel)

2) "If he completes the pass in the endzone, it'll be a touchdown" - Dave Lapham (via kcurr0408)

1)  "Every day Brees comes to work, Payton stimulates him." - Jon Gruden (via CaptTouchback)

Week 12 Top 5 -

1) Dick Stockton 54 pts

2) Phil Simms 45.5 pts

3) Jon Gruden 44 pts

4) Brian Billick 33 pts

5) Mike Tirico 28 pts

Others receiving votes - Chris Berman 15 pts, Dave Lapham 14 pts, Dan Dierdorf 13 pts, Joe Buck 11 pts, Cris Collinsworth 11 pts, Terry Bradshaw 10 pts, Scott Hanson 10 pts, Jim Nantz 10, Rich Gannon 9 pts, Dan Fouts 8.5 pts, Bob Griese 8.5 pts, Troy Aikman 8 pts, Dan Patrick 7 pts, Mike Mayock 6 pts, Jim Mora 6 pts, Daryl Johnston 5 pts, Tim Ryan 5 pts, Al Michaels 4.5, Bob Costas 4 pts, Warren Moon 3 pts, Marv Albert 3 pts, Keyshawn Johnson 3 pts, Chad Pennington 2 pts, Thom Brennaman 2 pts, Tony Siragusa 1 pt, Ron Jaworski 1 pt.

You can check out the Week 13 NFL announcing schedule here.

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Like late in most basketball games that find themselves between nail biter and blowout, the final minute of the North Carolina-Wisconsin game Wednesday night involved a lot of trips to the free throw line and timeouts. After UNC went up 10 near the end, the final minute-oh-three took nearly 20 minutes of real time and long enough to force me to turn my attention elsewhere. Then, Musburger lured me back in with this excited call of a Ben Brust buzzer beater:

Oh, Wisconsin didn't win it or tie it there? You mean all that for a shot that cut a six-point loss in half? Look, half court buzzer beaters are hard to make and rare to see, no doubt, but I have a problem with Musburger making it seem like it was for all the Tostitos. And then Musburger goes on to suggest Wisconsin should have the next day off from practice! It was like Musburger was in deep and covered the spread with that three. "Nevermind that 42-29 rebounding difference or all the other missed shots that led to a three-point loss, take tomorrow off, Wisconsin." No, and I want you to take a look at this, Brent.