Ok, maybe "most bizarre goal ever" is an impossible statement to prove, but I can't remember such an important goal being so crazy.  Ok, I remember Patrick Kane's Stanley Cup Finals winning goal from last year, but that was nothing compared to the sequence of events that saw the Canucks defeat the Sharks in the WCF last night.  This Canucks goal by Kevin Bieksa is just downright strange.  Alex Edler tried a regular dump in behind the net around the glass.  Instead, the puck careened back towards the middle of the blue line and right to Bieksa.  With Sharks goalie Antti Niemi expecting the puck to come around to the other side of the ice, Bieksa sent an unsuspecting knuckling puck towards the net with everyone on the ice as oblivious as Mr. Magoo.  How's that for a relevant cultural reference?



I'm sure that's just the way Vancouver drew it up.  It's always amusing to hear announcers try and talk through a situation where they have absolutely no idea what happened.  I didn't see it live, but it seems like the VS announcers Dave Strader and Brian Engblom handled it fairly well.  Vancouver will now face the winner of Boston/Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Something tells me Gary Bettman isn't exactly rooting for Canucks/Lightning to give the NHL a ratings boost.  

After a week of excerpts, publicity, and hype, Those Guys Have All The Fun, the ESPN tell all book, is released today.  We published two excerpts already about Tony Kornheiser's departure from Monday Night Football and Bill Simmons with some sure-to-be controversial comments on life in Bristol.  Those Guys Have All The Fun is the most anticipated sports book of the year and probably the most anticipated sports media book of all the times.  The book is now on sale so you can read all the juicy excerpts and the story of how ESPN rose from a crazy idea nobody thought would succeed to the most powerful, successful entity in sports.  

I hope to post a review at the end of the week, but I'm only about halfway through the behemoth.  (I've done less reading in a semester of grad school.)  It's true that there are juicy, page-turning salacious details... but, the majority of the book is hearing from executives and insiders on the story of ESPN's growth as a network and a business.  You may think that this is a downer, but I've found those details to be very interesting and enlightening because of the characters and the conflict throughout the book.  Other younger fans may just be interested in the last decade and hearing from guys like Kornheiser, Simmons, and others.  Others may just try to find the sex and drug stories.  In truth, there's something for everyone in the book, you just have to find it if you're not interested in the entire 750 page narrative.

This is where you come in - leave your thoughts and comments on the ESPN book release below in this Open Thread.  If you've read any part of the book, this is your place to go for discussion, questions, and reaction.  Also, we've booked an interview with James Andrew Miller, one of the authors of Those Guys, for next week.  If there are questions that you'd like us to ask Miller, leave them below as well.  We will try to ask Miller some of our best reader questions in the interview next week.  Until then, happy reading!

ESPN's NBA studio host Stuart Scott asked analysts Magic Johnson, Michael Wilbon and Jon Barry to each give a "Bold Statement" right before the start of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.  To be honest, I wasn't able to focus on any of their commentary because I was blinded by the three shiny heads that filled my television screen...

Who's idea was it to execute the segment like that?  I didn't find it at all necessary to have all three of their waxed heads appearing on the screen in that fashion.  It was distracting. Instead of listening to their predictions, I chuckled.  I saw the word bold, but I also saw bald and well, my sense of humor took over.  Sometimes, because of segments like this, I think ESPN doesn't mind being parodied by programs like SportsDome.  Talk about setting yourself up to be made fun of.

Like I said, I didn't hear a word that any of the guys said when I was first watching, but, after a second viewing, I think it's safe to say that Johnson and Barry had no idea what their producer was looking for.  Their comments were WEAK.  The only thing weaker was the way that ESPN stole a page from TNT's Inside the NBA playbook by showing Johnson, Wilbon, Barry and Scott dressed in farmers gear.  I get that they want to loosen up the crew a bit, but they could have been a tad more original.  They blatantly copied TNT's schtick and that's just lame.  The ESPN crew isn't at all like the TNT crew and ESPN really should avoid venturing into areas that clearly don't suit the personalities of their talent. Is that too bold of a statement? Well, I'll let you decide.

Bob Bender writes about the sports media at Press Box Daily and is the Supervisor of Sports Production at Westwood One Radio.
 

Get ready for another story about an NBA personality and controversial interaction with Miami Heat fans.  Earlier today, we told you about Joakim Noah using a gay slur in a confrontation with a heckler, and now comes word that TNT will not use their outdoor set for Game 4 because of Charles Barkley getting into it with Heat fans.  Instead, Inside the NBA will take shelter in American Airlines Arena.  Here's a Youtube vid of Barkley giving Heat fans the double fingered salute after Game 3...



Evidently, Heat fans are a little miffed at Barkley dissing their team as whiny and picking the Bulls to defeat the Heat.  I can't blame TNT for wanting to move their studio show inside and away from fans chanting what sounds like "F&#$ you Chuck" at Barkley and going out on their airwaves.  Fans even threw towels at Barkley.  Seriously Miami?  That's weak.  First, you have to be begged to show up on time for games, and then you throw crap at Charles Barkley?  You have three of the best players in the Association on your team including two all-time greats, you're a heavy favorite to win a second NBA title... what's with all the anger and outrage?  Relax and go down to South Beach and realize every NBA fan wants what you have.  As it is Charles Barkley we're dealing with, he tries to get the last laugh as quoted in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel...

"You know those people can yell and scream but they don't have the hair on their (butt) to grab me," he said. "They don't have enough hair on their (butts) to walk up to me man to man and say, 'Let's do this.'

"All that yelling and screaming just makes me laugh, man."

Barkley found Sunday's scene amusing.

"They were telling me I suck," he said. "They were telling me I never won a championship. Like, 'Come on, give me something better than that, dude.'

"I always laugh at that statement, 'You didn't get a ring. 'I'm like, dude, you work at McDonald's. My life's a lot better than yours. You relax.'

At least make fun of his golf swing instead of his basketball ability, Heat fans.  If a scene like this happens at Game 4, here's hoping Barkley simply tells the Miami haters to FAN UP!!!!   

[South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Last month, Kobe Bryant was in the spotlight for uttering a gay slur on the bench in a Lakers home game against the Spurs.  I thought at the time that it was surprising that this kind of thing didn't happen more often, realizing the language that exists in pro sports and the amount of TV cameras all over the place.  Well, lo and behold, it happened again in the Eastern Conference Finals last night on TNT.  This time, it was Joakim Noah's turn to use a gay slur.  Here's the expletive-laden video...



Kobe was fined 100k, so I would expect Noah to be fined the same amount.  If David Stern does more or less, I'm sure there will be an outcry from somewhere.  If there is one difference in this situation though, Noah is directing his comments towards a (likely heckling and obnoxious) fan and not on the bench about a referee.  Does that make it more or less acceptable?  Probably not.  One thing though is that a month after Kobe's comments, Noah's slur comes in the midst of Phoenix Suns President Rick Welts coming out and publicly stating that he is gay as well as an ESPN Radio host in New York, Jared Max.  Slowly but surely, the tide is turning and sports is catching up to other parts of society in terms of awareness and acceptance.  Hopefully this is the last of these videos we have to see.
 

Monday May 23
Boston Red Sox @ Cleveland Indians (ESPN2 7PM) Sean McDonough, Aaron Boone, Rick Sutcliffe

Tuesday May 24

Cincinnati Reds @ Philadelphia Phillies (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alternate Game: Toronto @ NY Yankees
New York Mets @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 8PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
St. Louis Cardinals @ San Diego Padres (MLBN 10PM) Local Broadcast [Alternate Game: Florida @ San Francisco]

Wednesday May 25

Cincinnati Reds @ Philadelphia Phillies (ESPN 7PM) Dave O'Brien, Nomar Garciaparra

Thursday May 26

Boston Red Sox @ Detroit Tigers (MLBN 1PM) Local Broadcast [Alternate Game: Cincinnati @ Philadelphia]
New York Mets @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 2PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Arizona Diamondbacks @ Colorado Rockies (MLBN 8:30PM) TBA

Friday May 27

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 2PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Cincinnati Reds @ Atlanta Braves (MLBN 7:30PM) Local Broadcast [Alternate Game: San Francisco @ Milwaukee - 8PM]

Saturday May 28

Chicago White Sox @ Toronto Blue Jays (WGNA 1PM) Ken Harrelson, Steve Stone 
San Francisco Giants @ Milwaukee Brewers (MLBN 4PM) [Alternate Game: Cleveland @ Tampa Bay]
Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Mets (FOX 7PM) Joe Buck, Tim McCarver
Boston Red Sox @ Detroit Tigers (FOX 7PM) Dick Stockton, Mark Grace
Cincinnati Reds @ Atlanta Braves (FOX 7PM) Thom Brennaman, Eric Karros
Los Angeles Angels @ Minnesota Twins (FOX 7PM) Kenny Albert, Bert Blyleven
Kansas City Royals @ Texas Rangers (FOX 7PM) Jim LeFebvre, Tom Grieve
St. Louis Cardinals @ Colorado Rockies (FOX 7PM) Dan McLaughlin, George Frazier
Florida Marlins @ Los Angeles Dodgers (MLBN 10PM) [Alternate Game: NY Yankees @ Seattle]

Sunday May 29

Boston Red Sox @ Detroit Tigers (TBS 1PM) Brian Anderson, Dennis Eckersley
Pittsburgh Pirates @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 2PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Cincinnati Reds @ Atlanta Braves (ESPN2) Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine

H/T Sammy!

There's not much to like about MLB on FOX having exclusive rights over all the MLB games tonight, thus not allowing me to watch my favorite team's game on MLB.TV, but Jerry Seinfeld's intro was pretty good. I can get behind this.

Oohhhhh, did you see that Ahhrnold/Cheated sign? Low blow, man. Low blow.

  There are hundreds of things that can go wrong during a live broadcast but credit to the major sports outlets, we rarely see any of them. Today that was not the case as Doris Burke and the teleprompter square off in an awkward moment for the ages.

 

H/T to @sportspundits

Unfortunately for Burke though this viral clip is really not her fault as these segments are almost always taped and then played during the live broadcast. Lot of industry folks are coming to the defense of Burke as it's extremely likely that the clip played was a bad take that inexplicably got played instead of the good take that was subsequently taped.

It's a shame Burke will bear the brunt of a very rare production error. With this incident fresh on our minds, one wonders what protocol is for a mess-up of this magnitude. If I'm the man in charge I'd make the culprit handle NCAA softball duties for the rest of the spring in addition to a heartfelt apology.

I am sure she has thick skin though. Per her wikipedia page, she's the youngest of 8 children so I'd imagine in the scheme of things this isn't the worst thing. 

Sure, this has nothing to do with announcing, but we want to just take a second to pay a tribute to one of the AA staff's favorites - Randy "Macho Man" Savage.  As TMZ first reported, the WWF (not WWE) star died in a car accident yesterday at the age of 58.  Tributes have been pouring out all over the internet for the Macho Man and on Twitter because let's face it, he was one of the defining figures in the childhood of countless sports bloggers.  Our own Mike Vitiello has immortalized Savage with the Obama treatment.  Oooohhh Yeeeaaa!!!

 
Most people in their mid-20s grew up watching larger-than-life characters like Hulk Hogan and the Macho Man battle each other in the ring.  And while, hopefully, many of us have moved on, the charisma, talent, and athleticism of people like Randy Savage were a gateway into appreciating sports on a level past wins and losses.  From his feud with former friend Hulk Hogan, to his legendary matches with the likes of Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair, Savage was a wrestling legend.  Heck, one of my favorites as a kid was his match with the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII.  The ability of Savage to carry the Warrior to a wrestling classic would be like making Les Miles look good at clock management.  

But more than his in-ring prowess, the Macho Man will be remembered for his mouth.  His charisma, and downright craziness captivated many of my generation.  While he was a decent good guy, he was one of the first to be a cool villain you wanted to cheer for.  It also led to crossover appeal as a spokesman for Slim Jim...DIG IT!  So, while our main focus here at AA will always be on announcers and the sports media as a whole, we take a minute to remember some of the Macho Man's crazier moments.  OOOOOOHH YEAHHHHH!!!!

I think the Versus announcers have done a fairly decent job so far in the NHL Playoffs.  However, this epic geography fail by Brian Engblom does not stand out as some of the better work that Versus has done.  I mean, I guess I can understand confusing San Diego and San Jose, they do start with the same word and all.  Google Maps says they're only 460 miles apart!  It's not like he called them the Fresno or Chula Vista Sharks.  Maybe he was following the Padres game on his Blackberry?  Perhaps he was drinking one too many scotches in the booth?  Who knows.  I can't kill the guy for one simple misspeak, but it is a rather humorous clip to begin your weekend, especially considering the game was being played... in San Jose...



Stay classy, San Jose.   

H/T @SportPundits