Monday April 11

Orlando Magic @ Philadelphia 76ers (NBA TV 7PM) Local Broadcast - Wells Fargo Arena, Philadelphia, PA
Oklahoma City Thunder @ Sacramento Kings (NBA TV 10:30PM) Local Broadcast - Power Balance Pavilion, Sacramento, CA

Tuesday April 12

Chicago Bulls @ New York Knicks (TNT 8PM) Marv Albert, Mike Fratello - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
San Antonio Spurs @ Los Angeles Lakers (TNT 10:30PM) Kevin Harlan, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller- Staples Center Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday April 13

New Orleans Hornets @ Dallas Mavericks (ESPN 8PM) Dave Pasch, Hubie Brown - American Airlines Center Dallas, TX 
Memphis Grizzlies @ Los Angeles Clippers (ESPN 10:30PM) Terry Gannon, Mark Jackson - Staples Center Los Angeles, CA

Earlier today we told you about Joe Buck's performance for the ages for Yankees/Red Sox this weekend.  Well, Yankees play by play man John Sterling is anything but dispassionate and boring.  Sterling's trademarks include his "Yankees win, theeeeeeeee Yankees win" call at the end of a Yankee victory and his unique home run calls.  Love him or hate him, at least he doesn't sound like he has one foot in the grave ala the Buckster.  Sterling's newest entry with Canadian Russell Martin is perhaps one of his most... well... interesting.  Qu'est-ce que c'est???  Huge H/T to @LevityNYC for the clip!



In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a Yankees fan dating back to the days of Paul O'Neill (don't worry, I get a good share of hate for it), and part of me loves Sterling's bizarre schtick, but I'm aware that scores of baseball fans (in New York too) can't stand the man's announcing.  Let us know what you think about John Sterling's eccentric excitability.  Would you rather have your home announcer sound more like Sterling or Buck... or neither?  Leave us a comment below!

The corpse of Joe Buck announced yesterday's Red Sox/Yankees tilt at Fenway Park.  As disinterested as Joe Buck usually sounds, apparently the game on Saturday took Joe to another level of dry, monotone, "I'd rather be on vacation in Tripoli right now" announcing that we've grown accustomed to hearing.  First, a shoutout to our pal Jimmy Traina of SI's Hot Clicks for this video of Joe's riveting home run call...



Wow.  That was special.  In case you need more proof of Buck seemingly being in a coma as Traina suggested, here's another home run call from yesterday's game.  It seems like we should give Joe a bit of a break this time though as SI's Richard Deitsch Tweeted that Buck had a virus.  Nevertheless, Twitter blew up and Joe Buck was a trending topic for his morbid commentary.  I want to feel sorry for him in this case, but Joe Buck has earned his reputation of emotionless commentary.  If he appeared to cared at all when announcing games the rest of the time, perhaps fans would be more understanding (Marv Albert had a virus during the NCAA Tournament and fans didn't destroy him if I recall).  Instead, Fox's play by play man traditionally sounds like he'd rather be cleaning manure out of a barn than announcing a baseball game.  As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People...

FakeJeter Joe Buck does the MLB On FOX broadcast with a loaded revolver on the desk, and just stares at it during commercials.
ryangiglio Honestly, I'm watching yesterday's Yankees Red Sox game, knowing the outcome, just to hear Joe Buck not give a sh*t.
tcostello I officially switched from Chicago trends to New York trends. Fortunately the hatred of Joe Buck apparently transcends geography.
NotCoachTito But seriously I do want to send my condolences to Joe Buck, who apparently passed away before today's broadcast.
scottnyhc Joe Buck should commentate funerals. Fox needs to fire this emotionless prick.
OriginalNixster #liespeopletell "I love listening to Joe Buck when he calls an MLB/NFL game!"
Swiftdidit Joe Buck sounds like the old man from pawn stars...
mlobikis1 Joe Buck doesn't act like he's "been there before," he acts like he's been there too many time and is bored to tears by it.

NYMoot One of the few things that Yankees and Red Sox fans can agree on is that Joe Buck is an awful announcer
Zach_Russell If it's between watching Angel Cabrera win the Masters and watching Joe Buck call a game, I'll take watching a puppy being runover by an SUV
bruce_arthur Joe Buck makes Jim Nantz sound like Gus Johnson.
InTheCitty Just now learning that Joe Buck is awful? Where have you been the last decade? Would rather listen to one of Craig Sager's suits call a game
YankeesBones Joe Buck, "Yankees win, i'm going home now to hang myself, oh well" #joebucksucks
c_lauer I didn't think it was possible, but Joe Buck sounded even more disinterested in the broadcast than he usually does. #redsox
buckweaver Virus only a symptom, not the root. RT @richarddeitsch: Fox Sports: Joe Buck has a virus. That's why his voice sounds a little off today.
sportsguy33: Joe Buck just flat-lined during a home run call. I think it's time for an intervention.

bigpaulyb @awfulannouncing Joe just seems bored to me....perhaps having a mid-life crisis a bit early at 42.
kensing45 @awfulannouncing Question is why does FOX keep him as #1 guy if TWO sports? Seems pretty universally reviled
JasonOlmstead27 Joe buck is making me more depressed than the #redsox are.
_mistermet How bad is Joe Buck? Hes so bad, I willingly turned on John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman's broadcast to avoid falling into deep depression.
LivedHere2Long Fox should hire Artie Langue for MLB broadcasts and bring him out like smelling salts at specific moments to wake up Joe Buck.
ThisIsSan_Diego One nice thing about being a fan of a small-market team is that you won't have to hear Joe Buckbutcher your games. #JoeBuck #sucks
bigleaguestew: Can we get IBMs Watson people to build a A/I version of Vin Scully to replace Joe Buck?

 

St. John's announced yesterday that their head coach, Steve Lavin, is battling the early stages of prostate cancer.  Lavin just completed his first year at St. John's after serving several seasons as an ESPN analyst.  This year, Lavin led the Red Storm to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002.  Here's more details from ESPN...

"My family feels fortunate that through annual health exams, we detected my condition at an early stage," the 46-year-old Lavin said in a statement released by the school. "This past fall I didn't want to distract our team, but with the season behind us, we are now working with medical experts and taking the proper steps to tackle this health challenge head on."

The former UCLA coach was hired by St. John's in April 2010 after seven years as a college basketball analyst for ESPN.

"We are pleased that through early detection we determined Coach Lavin's condition as a relatively low-grade cancer, and one that could wait for treatment until the conclusion of the basketball season," said Jonathan Schiff, a board-certified urologist in private practice in New York City. "We have spoken to Steve and his family about his options, and will proceed with a course of treatment shortly."

"I expect a complete cure of Coach Lavin's condition and we anticipate a seamless continuation of his coaching duties."

Lavin was a great announcer in the studio and in the broadcast booth.  His pairing with Brent Musburger as Lavinburger was one of the top announcing tandems in college sports during their time together.  Now that he's back in coaching, Lavin has successfully turned St. John's back into a contender.  We wish Steve Lavin all the best in thoughts and prayers as he battles prostate cancer.

Steve Lavin takes on prostate cancer - ESPN

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]