When ESPN hired former Jets and Browns head coach as an NFL analyst, there was a collective "huh" from sports fandom.  Mangini was widely known as one of the least personable and least liked individuals in all of pro football.  Headlines like "How to Lose Friends and Irritate People" doesn't exactly scream "likable television star."

But then a funny thing happened - over the last couple years Mangini actually developed into a venerable analyst at ESPN.  With the small batallion of NFL analysts available in Bristol, it's very easy to get lost in the shuffle (how ya doin, Jerry Rice, Damien Woody, Matt Light, etc.).  Nevertheless, once he got comfortable in front of the TV cameras, he blossomed into a straight-talking sensible voice in a world often filled with cacophonous noise.  

Now, Mangini is leaving ESPN to return to coaching as an offensive consultant with the San Francisco 49ers.  From Cam Inman of the Mercury News...

Nobody likes the media anymore. Sports media. Hard-news media. You name it. They're the bad guys, trying to sell stories in sensational and immoral fashion, rather than in the good old days when Walter Cronkite could just tell us "that's the way it is" and we'd all respond by saying, "You stay classy, Ron Burgundy." Or something like that. 

But let's remember that the media is supposed to serve the people, and what the people want is what the people get. So when we are disgusted by the fact a study has found that the public is more likely to embrace a confident sports pundit than an accurate one, we should stop to consider that the sports media world we're watching is actually sort of a reflection of ourselves. 

On Saturday, the Raiders fired their Public Relations Director, Zak Gilbert, who had been with the team for just one year. Specifically, owner Mark Davis fired him.

To the surprise of nobody in the sports media industry but to the disappointment of everybody, Pro Football Weekly announced Friday that it was shutting down after nearly half a century in business. 

The Pacers and their fans have been begrudging the national media for a lack of coverage and respect against LeBron James and what's left of the Big 3 in Miami.  Another round of ammo was given to that argument by ESPN, who declared on the eve of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals that Indiana was playing for their first trip to the NBA Finals.  This of course is not correct.  The Indiana Pacers were definitely in the 2000 NBA Finals.  I remember.  I watched it.  There's even a Wikipedia article dedicated to it.

You'd think ESPN would remember the 2000 NBA Finals, after all, the Lakers were playing in them too.

H/T JakeLaue

Sigourney McCleaf is a reporter for PHL 17 in Philadelphia.  After Sunday's game on the postgame show, she was reading a note from a fan about Cliff Lee's 1600th strikeout.  While that was difficult enough to say, McCleaf tried to laugh it off as saying it was a tongue tie... except what came out of her mouth was "tongue twat."  How 'bout that for a double play!  A funny local sportscasting blooper for sure, but let's hope for McCleaf's sake she has no Sports Nutz videos hiding on YouTube somewhere...

H/T HyperVocal

If you live outside New York and don't have the MLB out-of-market pay per view packages, you may not be familiar with Kevin Burkhardt. He's been the on-field reporter for SNY on New York Mets broadcasts for the last seven seasons, Burkhardt has also filled-in for Mets TV voice Gary Cohen in calling games. In addition to his Mets work, Burkhardt has hosted various studio shows for SNY after being an anchor and host for New York's WFAN.

All Times Eastern

Australian Rules Football
West Coast Eagles vs. Richmond Tigers -- Fox Soccer Plus, 5:30 a.m.

College Baseball
NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament
Regionals

Columbia Regional, Columbia, SC
Elimination Game
South Carolina vs. Liberty -- ESPNU, 1 p.m.

Nashville Regional, Nashville, TN
Elimination Game
Vanderbilt vs. Georgia Tech -- ESPNU, 7 p.m.

Eugene Regional, Eugene, OR
Elimination Game
Rice vs. Oregon -- ESPN3, 9 p.m./ESPNU, approximately 10 p.m. (joined in progress)

ESPN Bases Loaded -- ESPNU, 6 p.m. & 10 p.m.

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

This is real and it's spectacular twitter.com/LAKings/status…

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 2, 2013

Even though the Los Angeles Kings are the defending Stanley Cup champs, they still get no love from any editor, publisher, online outlet, TV anchor, or news organization.  This poll from Yahoo is just the latest example of someone botching the Kings' name and/or logo.  At least the Kings Twitter account can keep its sense of humor about it all.  Heck, Yahoo even pointed out another KTLA error involving the Kings on Saturday.  I tell you, this franchise just gets no respect, no regard at all.

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The LA Kings get Steve Nash

The LA Kings are moving to Seattle!

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Ed Note: This article appears courtesy our friends at The Outside Corner.

During Sunday's 5 PM edition of MLB Tonight, MLB Network will be airing a feature on Jeff Allison, the 16th overall pick in the 2003 MLB Draft by the (then) Florida Marlins. Going into the 2004 season, he was the third best prospect in Florida's organization, and the 44th best prospect in all of baseball. But he didn't pitch at all in 2004 and was placed on the restricted list due to a substance abuse problem. He also didn't pitch at all in 2006 or 2007 due to his addiction to heroin and Oxycontin, overdosing twice and nearly dying.

Allison has been sober since December of 2006, and the highlight of his pro career came in 2008, when he made the high-A Florida State League All-Star team at age 24. The Marlins released Allison after the 2011 season, and he's currently working as a public speaker, warning kids about the dangers of drug use.