Rob Dibble is known as somewhat of a loose cannon.  As a player, he was a Nasty Boy and even tried to fight his own manager, rather unsuccessfully if memory serves me correctly.  As a media personality, he has had the same hard edge to him, gaining experience mainly as a panelist on the dying days of The Best Damn Sports Show Period among other places.  He then moved on to the Washington Nationals booth as an analyst.  Somewhat unsurprisingly, his days in the booth came to an end due to controversial comments he made about young ace Stephen Strasburg.  Dibble was fired last September.  Now, Dibs is coming out with his side of the story and why he was fired, well, why he isn't announcing with the team anymore.  From DC Sports Bog...

“Listen, it’s their team, they acted in their own interests,” he told FoxSports.com columnist Mark Kriegel. “And I’m gonna tell you something that I’ve never told anybody before. It was basically Strasburg’s father [who] e-mailed the owner and basically was offended by what I said.

“Now remember, I said that on my own radio show on another network, and his father e-mailed the owner and the owner wanted me out of there. so that’s the bottom line. So that should end it. I want Stephen to go on, never have my name brought up and have a great career. I had a great career, I had fun, had a great seven years, and it’s sad for me that people still associate me with him. There should be no association with him.”

“First of all, I never got fired,” Dibble told Kriegel. “I’m still being paid by MASN. You know, a lot of the bloggers got that wrong, but I let ‘em keep it wrong.”

Well then.  Dan Steinberg's piece goes on with more quotes from a less than apologetic Dibble.  I'm no fan of Rob Dibble's, but if this is indeed why he got fired, or whatever... it smells of an overprotective father charging the field to argue with the Little League umpire.  Does a million dollar athlete and next big thing in baseball really need his dad to protect him from Rob Dibble?  Probably not.  This story reminds me of Mark Cuban's quotes from yesterday - unless you spin for the team that employs you, expect to be out of a job... just ask Steve Stone.  Then again, Dibble's attitude in dropping this info doesn't put him in a great light either.  Seeing as how it involves the Natinals organization, it's appropriate that nobody wins.

Rob Dibble says e-mail from Strasburg's dad ended his MASN tenure - DC Sports Bog

Mark Cuban has a history of being, let's say, outspoken.  This time, he took his attention to reporters and the sports media.  There's no questioning Cubes' success as a businessman and a forward thinker.  This time, he may be showing his crazy Hank Scorpio world domination side.  He had some very interesting comments on everything from journalists seeking page views instead of real journalism to ESPN and the protection of their image to his ability to sway the best journalists to write for the Dallas Mavericks website.  The video and quote below come from Sports by Brooks.  Have a listen and see what you think...



"You can't name one single person maybe outside of Bill Simmons that feels secure in their job on the sportswriting side of things."

"The bigger point that everybody’s missing is that, they’re saying, ‘well, we’re not going to go to the Mavs website,’ trust me, if I wanted to hire you or Adrian Wojnarowski or Marc Stein and just let them go and do their thing and have them (do it) from the Mavs’ own website, I can easily do it and have just as much impact."

Brooks successfully pokes several holes in Cuban's comments.  The most outrageous is certainly his proposition that he can have as much "impact" with big name journalists writing for the Mavs and spinning news for the franchise.  There's a name for that - state run television.  Check this quote pulled from The Big Lead...

"By competing with them as an information source, can we preempt their negativity with information that does a better job of selling the Mavs?  By leaving them out of the locker room and organization, do we reduce their ability to have a negative impact on players?"

The Big Lead breaks this incredibly optimistic and somewhat narcissistic notion down nicely as well.  If Mark Cuban threw a blank check a big-time journalist's way, it would be tough to turn down, but even if that happened, someone else from the free press would step up to keep guys like Mark Cuban honest.  Although the old way of journalism and sports media is shifting, it's hard to see someone like Adam Schefter wanting to be the mouthpiece of the Seahawks organization or Tim Kurkjan selling the nation on this year being the one that the Pirates turn things around.  Besides, even if Mark Cuban bought up all the sports journalists in the country, it wouldn't completely accomplish his goal... that's why we have sports blogs. 

Mark Cuban On Journalism: You Know He's Right - Sports by Brooks 

It's Masters week, and that means a few things - the biggest golf tournament of the year, the dawn of Spring, and one of the best and most recognizable themes in all of sports.  That got the gears spinning in my sometimey working brain as to where the iconic Augusta theme ranks among the best in sports on television.  So, here are the Top 10 current themes for sporting events on American television.  Sorry to our Hockey Night in Canada fans or holdouts for the classic NBA on NBC theme.  This list is about as subjective as you can get, so leave us a comment below on your personal favorite theme!

10) Wimbledon (NBC)
-The Wimbledon theme is one of the most unique out there and its longevity has seen it as a Summer mainstay.  Anything with a trumpet fanfare has to be a winner, right?

9) NBA on TNT
-You know a theme is good when you can hear it night after night after night for two months straight and it doesn't get old.  The NBA Playoffs, coming soon!





8) CBS College Football
-Believe it or not, this theme goes back to at least 1987.  Thankfully, CBS has stuck with it for over two decades and for good reason.  Thankfully, they haven't devolved their theme into becoming a mindless SEC chant.

Now, for the most important news of the day...Doug Gottlieb hated the ending of There Will Be Blood. Yes, that means the millkshake scene and the final epic confrontation between Eli and Daniel Plainview were not up to Gottlieb's standards. I'll admit I'm biased here, There Will Be Blood might be my favorite movie of all-time AND Doug Gottlieb might be the single most annoying person on ESPN these days (LOTS of competition)... BUT how could he like the rest of Blood and hate the ending?!? I understand that Blood was kind of unique, and had a somewhat slow pace to it that probably lost some people... but the ending might be the most satisfying to a movie I can remember!  Oh well, college basketball season is over. That means Gottlieb is hopefully off our TV's for months, and that to me is a satisfying ending to this college basketball season.
 

Everyone knew it was coming and Jim Nantz delivered ... thrice. As time was expiring in yesterday's musty, musty National Championship game between Butler and UConn, Nantz (most likely) licked his lips, stuck out his chest, and brayed what he has probably practiced literally thousands of times since Saturday's semis: And the Huskies are the top dog in 2011!

But he wasn't done. No, he sure fooled us. Here we were trying to guess which pun Nantz would use and he goes ahead and drops THREE on us. Yes, three dog puns to wrap things up. Seconds after the first (spliced in the video below), Nantz basically reminded us that the two team mascots were dogs and that he was going to send it to commercial with another doggy pun: "Everyone talked about the dog fight coming in, right? Huskies and Bulldogs... [Kerr humors him as viewers groan, knowing exactly what's coming next] Well, one thing was very clear here tonight in Houston ... Connecticut wins best in show!"

It's just a shame Nantz didn't make a doggy style or bitch reference. With the cuss words CBS mics picked up during the game, I don't think it would've been a big deal for Nantz to get a little graphic. After all, he did drop his second Jersey Shore reference of the tournament last night when he said neither team was "getting it in." (Okay, that's not what he was talking about, but he did mention The Situation during the Elite Eight in Newark, New Jersey.)

As for the announcing in general, well, in a game that reminded me (and even others) of Sandy Lyle lettin' it rain, it was more excruciating to listen to Nantz than usual. We could've used some contrived excitement from the announcer, but can you think of anyone CBS could've used instead ... yeah, I can't either ... hmm ...

[huge fist bump to Bubbaprog for the specially requested video]

Jim Nantz started the game as he'll likely finish it: with a pun of some sort. It's time to settle the madness. CBS also started the end to this madness with the wrong camera angle at the beginning of the game, leaving the center court logo upside down to viewers. Not exactly synonymous, but reminds me of Rick Vaughn's attempt to shoot a Right Guard commercial. We'll check back in after the game with an inevitable Jim Nantz post.

[image via Instant Replay]

With the MLB season now fully underway, here is your national schedule for the coming week.  Fans should enjoy seeing a small variety of teams on national television before the Sawx and the Yanks continue their quest for world domination.  Oh, wait, you mean the Yankees and Red Sox are only on national television a collective ten times this week?  And they have a series against each other this weekend?  Wow... I thought they would really go under the radar this season...

Monday April 4

Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees (ESPN 7PM) Sean McDonough, Aaron Boone, Rick Sutcliffe - Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY

Tuesday April 5

Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast - Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY

Wednesday April 6

Pittsburgh Pirates @ St. Louis Cardinals (MLBN 1:30PM) Local Broadcast - Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees (ESPN2 7PM) Dave O'Brien, Nomar Garciaparra - Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY

Thursday April 7

Boston Red Sox @ Cleveland Indians (MLBN Noon) Local Broadcast - Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH

Detroit Tigers @ Baltimore Orioles (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast - Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

Friday April 8

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (MLBN 2PM) Bob Costas, Jim Kaat - Fenway Park Boston, MA

Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves (MLBN 7:30PM) Local Broadcast - Turner Field, Atlanta, GA

Saturday April 9

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (FOX 1PM) Joe Buck, Tim McCarver - Fenway Park Boston, MA

Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves (FOX 1PM) TBA - Turner Field, Atlanta, GA

Chicago Cubs @ Milwaukee Brewers (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast - Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI

Sunday April 10

Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves (TBS 1:30PM) Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, John Smoltz - Turner Field, Atlanta, GA

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (ESPN 8PM) Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine - Fenway Park Boston, MA
 

Jim Nantz has his own tradition unlike any other, and that is saying the absolute most cringeworthy pun or sappy thing at the conclusion of the National Championship game. It's very obvious that Nantz has his call of the final seconds scripted depending on the outcome of the game. Here's a sampling of some of them.

1. Arizona won it all in 1997 led by star Miles Simon. For this we got the double dipping of "A Milestone victory for Arizona!" from Nantz and than Billy Packer compounded the moment with the epically cheesy "Simon says Championship" line. Enjoy it here.

2. Michigan State in 2000 gave us the "you can leave it to Cleaves" line. Yeesh.

3. UNC's 2005 Championship was a banner game for Nantz. First he blessed us with this one..."It began in March, ended in April and it belongs to May." This was a reference to UNC star player Sean May. In that same game we also got the "there is a new dean in college basketball" line which is of course a reference to past UNC coach, Dean Smith.

There's been many more of course, but you get the point. Instead of dreading this inevitable moment, I thought we might make it more interesting by possibly predicting and assigning odds on the line Nantz will gag us with this year because we are all degenerate gamblers at heart. Let me first warn you that these ARE TERRIBLE AND AWFUL. I FEEL GREAT SHAME FOR EVEN THINKING THESE. Read on if you want my predictions of what we will be hearing about Tuesday morning.

It's a big week in the Association as we get closer to playoff time.  Here's the national TV schedule along with announcing assignments.  NBATV has six games to choose from, ESPN and ABC each have a doubleheader, and TNT has their usual Thursday night showcase.  The week is spotlighted by some great matchups including Celtics/Bulls, Celtics/Heat, and Thunder/Lakers... and Bobcats/Cavs of course.  

Tuesday April 5

Charlotte Bobcats @ Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA TV 7PM) Local Broadcast - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

Utah Jazz @ Los Angeles Lakers (NBA TV 10:30PM) Ernie Johnson, Kevin McHale, Chris Webber - Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday April 6

Milwaukee Bucks @ Miami Heat (ESPN 8PM) Mark Jones, Hubie Brown - American Airlines Arena Miami, FL

Los Angeles Lakers @ Golden State Warriors (ESPN 10:30PM) Dan Shulman, Mark Jackson - The Oracle Oakland, CA

Thursday April 7

Boston Celtics @ Chicago Bulls (TNT 8PM) Marv Albert, Mike Fratello – United Center, Chicago IL

Portland Trail Blazers @ Utah Jazz (TNT 10:30PM) Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller – Energysolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT

Friday April 8

Phoenix Suns @ New Orleans Hornets (NBA TV 8PM) Local Broadcast - New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA

Saturday April 9

Utah Jazz @ San Antonio Spurs (NBA TV 8:30PM) Local Broadcast - AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

Sunday April 10

Chicago Bulls @ Orlando Magic (ABC 1PM) Dave Pasch, Hubie Brown - Amway Arena Orlando, FL

Boston Celtics @ Miami Heat (ABC 3:30PM) Mike Breen, Mark Jackson - American Airlines Arena Miami, FL

New York Knicks @ Indiana Pacers (NBA TV, 7PM) Local Broadcast - Conseco Field House, Indianapolis, IN

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Los Angeles Lakers (NBA TV 10:30PM) Local Broadcast - Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

H/T Sammy!

Last week, we learned that ESPN's Jalen Rose had been retroactively arrested for a DUI earlier in the month of March. Rose faces a court date later this month. Interestingly, we first heard about the news from a local television station in Detroit, WDIV, who beat ESPN at what would seem to be their own story. The response from ESPN after news of the arrest broke was fairly swift - Rose was pulled off ESPN television.  It is this decision by ESPN and the fallout from their overall response to Jalen Rose's arrest that is cause for discussion, analysis, and major questions for the folks at Bristol.  ESPN's practical monopoly over the sports world puts them in a position where the most criticism, analysis, and questioning exists.  In the case of Jalen Rose, there are plenty of questions to be asked of the Bristol machine.  After the jump, check out the entire story and ESPN's response to those unanswered questions we asked the network.

*Jalen Rose: Fab 5 producer + ESPN analyst

-Here's where Rose was first thrust into the monster that is ESPN promotion.  The family of networks heavily hyped ESPN's Fab Five documentary.  The doc scored for ESPN in the ratings department as the highest rated under the 30 for 30 umbrella... surely it was helped by a cavalcade of hosts and analysts proclaiming that it was among the best documentaries the network had produced.  While it was well done, the Fab Five program was also one of the most unbalanced ESPN documentaries under the acclaimed 30 for 30 label.  Perhaps that should be no surprise though - Fab Five member and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose was an executive producer for the project.  Rose made himself a further part of the story with his incendiary comments about African American basketball players at Duke as "Uncle Toms."  It was a controversial remark, even in the context of the documentary, yet it became more hype and more debate fodder.  The networks seized on that comment to create more publicity for Rose and the documentary and fill their hours of debate and discussion shows.

*The DUI arrest

-As the dust settled from the documentary controversy, we learned of Rose's DUI arrest.  Except, as pointed out here at AA, the timeline was all disjointed.  The public first learned of Rose's arrest weeks after the incident initially happened on March 11th.  ESPN, so often out in front of these stories, was beaten to the punch by a local TV station.  The initial response from ESPN was brief.  In one of the first ESPN.com articles about the story, a spokesman merely said the network was "looking into it."  ESPN then made the decision to pull Rose from appearing on television until the case could be sorted out.  Or did they... an ESPN spokesman had this to say in a decidedly vague response to the situation...

“Jalen has accepted full responsibility for his actions. Both parties are taking this very seriously, and as a result, we’ve agreed that he will not be on our air while he addresses this situation.”