LeBron James and the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in five games with their 97-87 win in Miami.  The Heat closed the game on a 16-0 run, including the last ten points from the most dramatic man in sports himself, LeBron James.  But, it was after the game was over that LeBron continued to make headlines.  A mere 307 days after one of the most ridiculous moments in sports history, LeBron James apologized for The Decision...

"I knew deep down in my heart, as much as I loved my teammates back in Cleveland and as much as I loved home, I knew it couldn’t do it by myself against that team,” James said.

“The way it panned out with all the friends and family and the fans back home, I apologize for the way it happened. I knew this opportunity was once in a lifetime. To be able to come down here and pair with two guys and this organization — in order for me to move on with my career, that team that we just defeated, we had to go through them."

Is this apology too late for many fans?  Absolutely.  I'm all for forgiveness, but excuse me if James' apology seems hollow...

Last week, we told you about a cricket commentator in Wales that was nailed by a ball that crashed into the commentary box.  Edward Bevan was definitely spooked by the entire episode.  Amazingly, a similar episode occurred stateside when a baseball smashed through a window at a Southern Illinois University Edwardsville game.  In case you were wondering, the team is 21-24 and plays in the Ohio Valley Conference.  Evidently, the university also has their own CougarNet... but many of you will likely be disappointed by the results.  Anyways, baseball announcer Joe Pott handles this ball-smashing-window situation with much more confidence and bravery than his Welsh counterpart.  He even laughs off the incident.  Maybe this act of heroism is why we won that little war all those years ago.  Cue the Jack Edwards Tea Party symphony and roll the footage!



[Deadspin]

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Bad news for fans of douchebags and hypocrites, your boy, Mariotti, just got charged with three felonies. Mariotti is charged with felony stalking, domestic abuse and assault charges after he confonted his ex-ladyfriend once again. These charges are another strike against Mariotti and further proof of his habitual "off the field" problems. If convicted, Jay faces 5 years in prison.

Even though the chances were already slim of Mariotti making a comeback, these new charges will definitely serve as the final "mute" of his TV career.


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For a cheap laugh it's always enjoyable to watch a real man scream like a girl. I'm sad to say that I've fallen victim to this before and sometimes even followed it up with a loud high pitched scream and blabbering, odd jibberish intermixed with swear words. Kenny Smith doesn't have that problem, and luckily avoided any damage to his image by taking this prank last night on TNT in stride.

 

A great idea and well executed. Unfortunately though Smith didn't flinch leaving, which definitely lessened the potency of this prank. Kudos to TNT for again having some fun with their studio broadcasts which has been a staple for them that NBA fans have grown accustomed to.

First thing's first... I'm the biggest Saints fan you will ever meet.  Seriously.  February 7, 2010 is the happiest day of my life.  As a diehard Saints fan, the Reggie Bush Era has been one of both incredible highs and deflating lows.  There has been a fair share of highlight reel plays like his breathtaking TD in the 2007 NFC Championship Game and his best game ever as a pro in the 2010 Divisional Game against the Cardinals.  However, there has also been way too many injuries and ineffective performances to justify his massive contract from being the #2 overall pick in the 2006 Draft.  

Reggie Bush's career in New Orleans is now at a crossroads.  The Saints can't pay a role player (a darn good one at that) $11.8 million in the last year of his contract, but he is still probably worth more to the Saints than any other team.  In recent weeks though, it appears that the stress with Reggie Bush's uncertain future has spilled over into misstep after misstep due to the terrifying athlete trap known as Twitter.  Reggie Bush is just the latest athlete to fall victim to the dark side of 140 character public statements.

First, there was his poorly timed and worded Tweet after the Saints traded back into the first round to select Alabama RB Mark Ingram...

reggie_bush It's been fun New Orleans.

Bush's Tweet was a Class A example of how an athlete should not use Twitter.  (Rashard Mendenhall's insane Tweets don't even deserve classification.)  This whiny, "woe is me" Tweet doesn't sell to fans, his fellow players, or his .  Furthermore, Ingram and Bush theoretically wouldn't even get the same touches in Sean Payton's offense.  Ingram fills the Pierre Thomas/Chris Ivory every down back role while Reggie Bush has become the prototypical "satellite" player as a runner, receiver, and returner.  The Ingram v Bush situation was downplayed through Saints coach Sean Payton and QB Drew Brees, but this only began his Twitter tailspin...

We've had our fair share of Gus Johnson news over the past few days, so we'd be remiss to not point out that Gus Johnson officially joined on at FOX Sports Media Group today. Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The voice renowned for March Madness buzzer-beaters is now the voice of fall’s gridiron glory and more as FOX Sports Media Group has named Gus Johnson lead play-by-play announcer for its college football coverage and men’s basketball on the Big Ten Network. He will team with FOX Sports football analyst Charles Davis to form the Group’s lead college football announce team. The announcement was made today by FOX Sports Executive Producer and Co-President & COO, FOX Sports Media Group, Eric Shanks.

This season, Johnson and Davis call Big 12, Conference USA and Pac-12 regular-season games on FX, as well as a pair of games for Big Ten Network, one of FOX’s two conference football championship games and the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic. In 2012, they’ll call FOX’s regular-season over-the-air broadcast schedule, culled primarily from the network’s recently completed rights agreement with the Pac-12, as well as the aforementioned postseason assignments. In addition, Johnson also continues as the lead play-by-play voice for college basketball on Big Ten Network, will call FOX’s Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament games come 2013 and select NFL on FOX broadcasts following the college football season this year.

Johnson, who dropped a patented Ahhhhh at his press conference, is undoubtedly happy with his decision to join FOX. While I can't help but think his name has peaked, he's now in a spot to be No. 1 at his station, which was simply not going to happen at CBS. Still, I feel like the Gus Johnson brand blew up with March Madness and probably could've only gotten bigger if he was given an opportunity to fulfill his dream and call the Final Four. That's unlikely to happen now, but only time will tell if his cult-like following will die down a little bit in the years to come.

For some more reading, check out Ben Koo's quality piece on Johnson's run with CBS and its inevitable end. Congrats to Johnson, and congrats to FOX for finally improving its announcing crew.

By now you've heard that Gus Johnson has indeed parted ways with CBS and will likely be touching down at Fox in the coming days. The bad news is that Johnson will no longer be the signature voice that captures and at times drives the riveting action of March Madness. There is no doubt that in 10 months we'll all fully feel the void of his absence as one of the best sporting events will revert back to a more reserved style of announcing without Johnson's unique voice. Heartbreak city. 

I thought Clark Kellogg did a great job summarizing Johnson's unique appeal when we spoke several months ago.

"His natural enthusiasm, and his uniqueness on how he combines his excitement and passion with terrific calls. I've heard this from countless people around the country as they love him doing NCAA games.

I think he's a tremendous fan, play by play guy, and that his rhythm is hand in glove the style for basketball. He has a nice understanding for pace, flow, his excitement rises as the game goes from possession to possession. He just has a really intuitive sense for calling basketball that appeals to fans and makes him a lot of fun to work with."

CBS has said goodbye to Johnson leaving a lot of people scratching their head, but really you could have seen this coming for ages. I actually thought about writing about Johnson's imperfect relationship with CBS and how it would effect his career going forward many times over but could never nail down exactly when his contract expired with CBS. I asked around and nobody knew, hence it was hard to gauge when we could see some type of decision/drama regarding Johnson. Seemingly out of nowhere this news came and went as his contract with CBS lapsed and there stood too many issues for him to come back to the network...

It looks like GusGate 2011 may be coming close to an official end.  Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News (who reported that Johnson may in fact stay at CBS late last week) is reporting that CBS did not match a contract offer from Fox and the favorite announcer of the blogosphere is heading to the network.  Here's the fateful Tweet...

nydnraiss CBS refuses to match. Gus officially out and headed to Fox. Source says "politics" also involved. 

This does end a few days of speculation, but the final news goes where Richard Deitsch's original report was headed all along.  Gus is done at CBS.  Gus is done announcing NCAA Tournament games.  He is heading to Fox and appears to be in line to be their #1 college sports announcer.  With the Big 10 Championship Game and Pac 12 coverage coming to the network, Gus is a big coup to immediately lift Fox's coverage of college sports.  Which, as you may remember, has a checkered history at best... ok, it was awful.

It appears that Gus' talents will also be used for Fox's NFL coverage, where he would be a welcome addition.  Look at the stable of NFL on Fox play by play men - Joe Buck, Kenny Albert, Thom Brennaman, Dick Stockton, Sam Rosen, Ron Pitts, Chris Rose, Chris Myers... it's below average, especially compared to CBS.  Gus Johnson should be #2 at worst.  Let's not get our hopes up that he will replace Joe Buck anytime soon, but we can at least dream of Gus calling the Super Bowl if there's now no chance at the Final Four.

Let's face it - Gus Johnson means much more to his fans and the blogosphere than he ever did to CBS.  CBS did not simply value Gus Johnson like others may have valued him, even though he was the face of their March Madness coverage to many viewers.  Remember, Gus Johnson was well down the list of NFL announcers, never doing marquee games that guys like Nantz, Gumbel, and others would broadcast.  Gus was usually stuck with games like Browns-Bills.  Even though he had a presence at the First Four alongside Nantz, Johnson wasn't a top guy at CBS in football or basketball.  As Richard Deitsch told AA last month...

Gus Johnson will never announce the Final Four in the current setup.  Nantz and CBS Sports president Sean McManus are very tight, and Nantz is considered the network's No. 1 sports voice.  I understand why the Gus lovers want him there but in the words of Drew Rosenhaus, next question.

Is that some of the "politics" that Raissman refers to?  Possibly.  Network execs and fans sitting at home are different kinds of people.  However, in Raissman's article, a few more details emerge...

A CBS source who wanted Johnson back said not only money, but politics was an issue. The source said some of CBS Sports' college hoops voices were not thrilled with Johnson's rise to March Madness' most popular voice.

Frankly, it's not a surprise to see Gus Johnson leave CBS in these circumstances.  (I'll let you connect the dots on just who might be upset with Gus' popularity.)  Perhaps the network execs at Fox were smart enough to realize Johnson's true value, with young fans especially, and offer him a number that CBS couldn't match... or an offer that CBS didn't want to match.  Viewers will now tune into Fox's college football and basketball and NFL broadcasts because of Gus Johnson.  It's a very wise move for Fox.  If Johnson gets some high profile NFL games, it may in fact be a better career move for him than staying at CBS, where the glass ceiling was going to keep him down for the foreseeable future.  

On the brink of elimination, the Detroit Red Wings completed a stunning 3rd period comeback last night in San Jose to extend the series. The Sharks badly outplayed the Wings for the majority of the night which made Detroit's three unanswered goals in the the third period that much more surprising. Game 6 will be Tuesday night at 8pm on Versus.

While the comeback was unexpected, former Sharks player Jeremy Roenick's scathing evisceration of Marleau was even more shocking. Marleau currently serves as an alternate captain for the Sharks and was a teammate of Roenick's in San Jose from 2007-2009.  In the video above, you can see Roenick not exactly sugarcoating his criticism of Marleau's play through 5 games of the series.