Bomani Jones was on ESPN's Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable yesterday (geez that's a pain to type in its entirety) to expand on his afternoon talk show repetoire.  After talking about the Miami Heat, Gonzalo Le Batard slips and jokingly (?) tells Bomani to "go to hell!"  Once again, it's Bomani's facial expressions that take this clip to another level.  Weirdly enough, the dynamic between these three actually works, at least compared to most of ESPN's other daytime programming.  I wouldn't mind seeing Gonzalo v Bomani become the next Skip vs Stephen A, or at the very least John Clayton vs Sean Salisbury...

Former UNC head coach Matt Doherty has recently found work as a college basketball analyst for ESPN. I didn't even realize he was doing work for the network until I heard him on the call for Kansas' upset loss to TCU earlier this season. This week he appeared on ESPNU's roundtable show "The Experts" and delivered a shot across the bow at Turner's star analyst - Charles Barkley.  Although Doherty doesn't call out Barkley by name, he says it's "turrible" that someone who doesn't call regular season college basketball covers tournament games and says it disrespects the event...

Tuesday, March 26

New York Rangers @ Philadelphia Flyers (NBCSN 7:30PM) Gord Miller, Pierre McGuire

Wednesday, March 27

Montreal Canadiens @ Boston Bruins (NBCSN 7PM) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire

Thursday, March 28

Los Angeles Kings @ St. Louis Blues (NHLN 8PM) Local Broadcast

Friday, March 29

Anaheim Ducks @ Chicago Blackhawks (NHLN 8:30PM) Local Broadcast

Saturday, March 30

Boston Bruins @ Philadelphia Flyers (NHLN 1PM) Local Broadcast
New York Rangers @ Montreal Canadiens (NHLN 7PM) Local Broadcast

Sunday, March 31

Chicago Blackhawks @ Detroit Red Wings (NBC 12:30PM) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire
Boston Bruins @ Buffalo Sabres (NBCSN 7:30PM) TBA

H/T Sammy!

This wonderful piece of footage comes our way via the ACC Network where announcer Mike Hogewood has a chair malfunction before a recent taping.  Thankfully, it didn't happen live on the air (as we've seen before) and it looks like Hogewood was able to dust himself off with some assistance. That was a hard fall though.  Just imagine how much worse the fall would have been had he been working for the Mountain West Network.  (I'll be here all week.)

This clip has nothing to do with announcing, but it's too perfect not to admire and share. During last night's Bruins game, assistant coach Geoff Ward unknowningly showed off his mad "toss my malfunctioning ear piece from behind, over the partition, and into someone's beer" skills. Somehow, it lands precisely in the drink of a fan behind the Bruins bench. We just found the new highlight event of the NHL's All Star Weekend. The look on the fan's face is priceless. Hopefully, the beer wasn't full. Also, Ward is definitely not someone I'd want to play beer pong with.

H/T Diehard Sport

If you've kept a sharp eye on ESPN's international soccer coverage over the past few years, then you've probably seen Rebecca Lowe on its Women's World Cup and UEFA Euro Cup studio programming. If you've lived in the UK over the past several years, then you've seen a lot of her.

American fans of the English Premier League should get used to seeing a lot more of Lowe as she's been hired by NBC to lead their studio coverage starting next year. This is a very good move. Rebecca is a very good presenter (the term used in the UK for host) and has good knowledge of the beautiful game.

Chicago native Jim Belushi was at Monday night's Blackhawks game, and during the second intermission, got distracted from his interview by a woman participating in the team's promotional "Shoot the Puck" experience (in heels, no less).

Why Jim Belushi has to be the mascot for Chicago sports escapes me. Belushi makes some crude jokes but attempts to disguise them as hockey tips (something about leaning over the stick), while CSN's Susannah Collins tries to steer him away from that kind of talk. It's not the first time an awkward encounter has occured during "Shoot the Puck." A fan once told former CSN reporter Sarah Kustok that he loved her... on air. Come to think of it, maybe that fan is who Belushi was trying to one up instead of Joe Namath. At least Belushi didn't try to kiss anyone.

H/T CSN Chicago

The 2013 MLB season is just around the corner.  This week as Opening Day draws near we'll break down each network that covers America's pastime including announcers, schedules, and quick facts about the coverage coming your way this season.  Next up, the network of the World Series, Fox.

Quick Hits

-This will be the 18th season of MLB on FOX; 14th consecutive World Series (16 total), Joe Buck and Tim McCarver have called all of them.
-FOX will air nationally exclusive games on 24 Saturdays, with 8 weeks in prime time
-Coverage of the All-Star Game, the ALCS and the World Series
-Fox's new deal with MLB will see them broadcast the World Series through 2021.

You win some, you lose some. The Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII, but because of an unlucky break, they won't get to celebrate that victory with a special Thursday night home opener on NBC in September. Baseball's Orioles play that night and it was announced last week that the NFL and MLB couldn't figure out a way to avoid a scheduling conflict for the season opener in the Charm City, thus forcing the Ravens to become the first defending champion to take their Week 1 show on the road since the Buccaneers were forced to begin their title defense in Philadelphia 10 years ago. 

Over the last decade, the Thursday night home opener has become a prize awarded to the reigning Super Bowl Champions. The team is given a national stage to celebrate their championship and begin the next season. Ravens fans have the right to be disappointed, but let's calm down. This is only a nine-year-old tradition, and your team still gets a semi-bye week following the opener. This isn't a good break, but it's hard to get too upset about a scheduling quirk when you've just won the Super Bowl.

Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods want to hold onto their trophies and they're willing to go to extreme lengths to protect them. Woods tweeted the latest ad for EA's PGA Tour '14, where he and Palmer are approached by various men that demand for the two golf legends to hand over their trophies. Woods and Palmer "battle" to protect their trophies before a surprise face shows up to assist - Lee Trevino. 

So, what's the point of Woods, Palmer and Trevino channeling their inner Bruce Lee? Evidently, it's to show off how you can battle the greats on the golf course when you play PGA Tour '14. If we're to believe the commercial, you'll also invite over 10 of your friends to watch you pretend to swing a golf club. 

We all hope that EA will include some sort of bonus mode in the game where you can actually duke it out alongside some of these legends, but that seems rather unlikely.