As news continues to trickle down the pipeline about Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter Susannah Collins' dismissal, the latest bit of news from the Chicago Tribune could set an ugly precedent for the future. According to the Tribune and reporter Robert Channick, a letter from Chicago Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz apparently played a role in Collins' dismissal.

The SEC Network is coming.  The conference released a trailer for the new ESPN backed channel today touting their championship pedigree and hardcore fanbase.  It'll be interesting to chart the SEC's success following in the footsteps of the Big Ten and Pac 12, but one thing's for sure - everyone is going to make a ton of money.  ESPN owns the network, but will split profits, and a lot of them, 50/50 with the conference.  

H/T Fang's Bites

Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday is unlike anything on American television.  Much like its counterparts across Europe, Soccer Saturday features a variety of analysts and on-site reporters that watch and offer commentary on games while they happen.  (Yes, it means you're basically watching people watch games.)  While the concept may seem ridiculous and pointless to some of you, it actually produces crazy television when everything is happening at once across England.  Take Saturday and the final day in the Championship.  It's almost impossible to explain everything that happened in the Championship, but this is a brief recap (more details here)...

-Hull City won promotion to the Premier League despite tying 2-2 with champions Cardiff City, who are also going to the EPL.
-Watford lost a chance at automatic promotion with a 2-1 loss to Leeds and will go into the playoffs.  Leicester reached the playoffs with their 3-2 over Nottingham Forest, who were also fighting for a playoff spot.
-Crystal Palace's victory over Peterborough combined with Barnsely's 2-2 draw with Huddersfield meant Peterborough were relegated to League One.

Watch and enjoy as Soccer Saturday's team tries to navigate all the action with screams and shouts and bits of madness in between.  The only thing missing is Chris Kamara counting players on the pitch.

This weekend word got out that LeBron James received 119 of a possible 120 MVP votes, falling just short of becoming the first unanimous MVP in league history.  Immediately, the conversation turned to who the joker was that "robbed" James of the honor and possibly could have watched this season thinking LeBron was not the best and most valuable player in the league.

Enter noted Miami Heat homer and ESPN personality Dan Le Batard.

While Tim Tebow isn't drawing a lot of -- or any -- attention from NFL (or even CFL) teams as a free-agent quarterback, he's certainly getting more than his fair share of attention from the media outlets that cover the NFL (and CFL). 

And so you have to start wondering if the world's most famous backup quarterback might eventually be forced to resort to a backup career plan by joining the media world. Such a move would make a lot of sense when you consider that Tebow has become the megastar he is today thanks mainly to that industry. 

Later today Fox Sports will officially announce the hiring of sports anchors Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole from TSN.  The popular SportsCentre anchor pairing will be making the move south across the border to be integral figures in Fox Sports One's nightly studio show, Fox Sports Live, that will be a direct competitor to the American version of SportsCenter on ESPN when the network launches in August.

News of Onrait and O'Toole's departure from TSN broke late Friday afternoon and all reports indicated Fox Sports One as their landing place.  While many American sports fans may be skeptical of the Canadian imports, the duo are as synonymous with the Canadian SportsCentre as the glory days of Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann were in the states.  Just how successful are Onrait and O'Toole?  This December excerpt from Toronto Life best captures their je ne sais quoi:

All Times Eastern

Beach Volleyball
Women's Grand Slam Gold Medal -- Universal Sports, 5 p.m. (same day coverage)

College Baseball
Maryland at Clemson -- ESPNU, 7 p.m.

College Football
College Football Live -- ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

Cycling
Giro d'Italia
Stage 3: Sorrento-Marina di Ascea -- beIN Sport, 9:30 a.m.

English Premier League
Sunderland vs. Stoke City -- ESPN2, 2:55 p.m.

Fox Sports has been on a spending spree of late. In the final quarter of 2012, it purchased a minority stake in YES to gain the righs to the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets and also bought Sports Time Ohio to reobtain the rights to the Cleveland Indians which is it lost in 2006. Fox also narrowly lost to Time Warner for the Los Angeles Dodgers media rights.

However, Fox is apparently not done in its spending and is looking for another East Coast MLB team for its expanding portfolio. The Boston Red Sox are firmly entrenched with NESN, the New York Mets are on Comcast/Time Warner's SNY plus the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals aren't leaving MASN. So the logical choice for Fox would be the Philadelphia Phillies. 

"Stay calm, and you'll all get out of this alive!"

You know you're getting old when you hear about an intriguing new venture like the SEC Network and your first thought is, "How much is this going to cost me?"

Welcome to my world. Creaky joints. A malingering sense of ennui that comes from growing up listening to grunge. Bitching about having an extra 80 cents tacked on to your cable every month.

Unfortunately, you do start sounding like your parents, too. As in, “What’s wrong with the college football you’ve already got?”

All Times Eastern

Australian Rules Football
West Coast Eagles vs. Western Bulldogs -- Fox Soccer Plus, 2:30 a.m.

College Baseball
South Florida at Notre Dame -- CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.
Georgia at Tennessee -- ESPNU, 1 p.m.
Kansas State at Texas -- Longhorn Network, 2 p.m.
Alabama at Mississippi State -- CBS Sports Network, 2:30 p.m.

College Football
Inside College Football: Spring Special -- CBS Sports Network, 9 p.m.

College Lacrosse
Ivy League Championship, Ithaca, NY
Yale vs. Princeton -- ESPNU, 11 a.m.

NCAA Lacrosse Championship Selection Special -- ESPNU, 9 p.m.