The folks at Next Media Animation have a certain way of crystalizing American sports stories the way nobody on this side of the Pacific is able to do.  Their latest target is the controversy gaining steam surrounding the Redskins changing their name.  It's always had that uncomfortable remnant of generational racism, but the NFL continues to stand by the name against a growing groundswell of public opinion to move in a new direction.  The Taiwanese animation perspective provides as good as an explanation as any I've seen as to why a change is in good order.

George Marshall is spinning in his grave over being captured by Taiwanese animation.  And that's probably a good thing.

[NMATV]

FOX Sports Detroit's Tigers Live post-game show was a little more lively than usual on Friday night, thanks to host Shannon Hogan and this Freudian slip.

Hogan, who was hosting Tigers Live alongside former Major Leaguer Craig Monroe, made the slip while recapping the Kansas City Royals' 7-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Alex Gordon was indeed hit by a b---err, pitch, before Billy Butler's RBI single drove him in for the game's first run. It wasn't the only problem Hogan had on the night. Earlier in the evening, she tweeted about her mic falling off on air.

That's a tough night for Hogan, who has been with FOX Sports Detroit since 2010. But cheer up, Shannon. After all, this whole "hit by bitch" thing has happened before:

[Video courtesy our own Brady Green]

Description: We're back for a rare weekend podcast and have the privilege of interviewing one of our favorite guests - the voice of the NBA Finals, Mike Breen. This year's championship series is the 8th Finals for ESPN's lead NBA announcer. AA chatted with Mike Saturday afternoon during an off day of the series before a pivotal Game 5 with the series tied at 2-2. Topics include...

-The flop of the Finals so far.
-Broadcast partner Jeff Van Gundy's future and what Breen is willing to do to keep him in the booth.
-How the broadcast team approaches interviews with Gregg Popovich.
-How his approach to announcing the Finals has changed over the years.
-Covering LeBron James and Tim Duncan and how both have evolved in the last decade.
-Dwyane Wade's Game 4 performance and legacy.
-Manu Ginobili needing to provide an emotional lift for the Spurs.
-What this series needs to truly become a classic.

All that and more on this special NBA Finals edition of the AA Podcast.

In case you've missed any of our podcasts, check out all of our interviews on iTunes or our AA Podcast RSS Page.  

Recent Podcasts:

AA Podcast 50: Jim Miller on ESPN layoffs

AA Podcast 49: NBC's Will Buxton on Monaco & F1

AA Podcast 48: Ed Olczyk on the Stanley Cup Playoffs

AA Podcast 47: Tom Verducci on MLB

AA Podcast 46: Dan Levy on sports media

All Times Eastern

College Baseball
College World Series, Omaha, NE
North Carolina State vs. North Carolina -- ESPN2, 3 p.m.
LSU vs. UCLA -- ESPN2, 8 p.m.

College World Series Postgame -- ESPNU, 11 p.m.

Cycling
Tour De Suisse
Day 9: Bad Ragaz to Flumserberg -- beIN Sport, 10:30 a.m.

FIFA Confederations Cup
Group A, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Mexico vs. Italy -- ESPN, 2:30 p.m./Univision/Univision Deportes, 2:50 p.m.

Group B, Recife, Brazil
Spain vs. Uruguay -- ESPN, 5:45 p.m./Univision Deportes, 5:50 p.m./Uni Más, 6 p.m.

Our long national nightmare is over. HBO and NFL Films have found their next victim subject for Hard Knocks, the Cincinnati Bengals. The last time the Bengals were on Hard Knocks, the then-Chad Ochocinco added the phrase "Child, please" to the national lexicon. And while Chad is no longer with the Bengals and fighting jail time, the team will be back on Hard Knocks. NFL Films cameras will tape training camp and the results will be featured on HBO later this summer.

Word began surfacing Friday night that the Bengals had given their blessing to be on the show again, however, the original tweet from Philadelphia Daily News columnist Paul Domowitch was deleted. But other NFL reporters began to latch on to the news. Bengals beat writer Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported the agreement and ESPN's NFL insider Adam Schefter tweeted out word today that he has confirmed the Bengals' return to Hard Knocks as well.

An official announcement from HBO and the NFL is expected within a couple of weeks. Last year's subject, the Miami Dolphins were mostly dull and made for some boring television. Asides from cutaways to Ryan Tannenhill's wife, Lauren, Hard Knocks in 2012 was relatively lackluster. Here's hoping the Bengals can provide some excitement and bring back some memorable moments for Hard Knocks.

[Cincinnati.com/Adam Schefter]

ESPN and NBC share the broadcast rights to the US Open.  On Friday night, during an evening replay of the day's action, ESPN2 re-aired some of NBC's coverage from the late afternoon window.  That coverage included this promo for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals airing on NBC Sports Network tonight.

So yes, as a function of sharing broadcast rights, ESPN ran a graphic advertising hockey on NBC Sports Network.  I think we all know the joke that's coming...

This is the most ESPN has cared about hockey in years!

H/T to the incomparable bubbaprog

It's a yearly tradition.  Chris Berman announcing golf's US Open.  It's a bizarre situation because ESPN knows they're going to get crushed year after year, and yet they persist in what may be the single most decried announcing assignment of the year.  Putting Chris Berman on US Open coverage is like putting Gary Busey on PBS NewsHour, it just shouldn't be done.  In terms of the reaction from fans, it'd be akin to putting Craig James on a Texas Tech telecast.  

And yet, every June, ESPN places Chris Berman on its Thursday and Friday coverage of the US Open.  Every June, golf fans around the country erupt in protest.  Every June, we round up tweets from those golf fans.  

As always these are Real Tweets from Real People...

Cougar Life is a dating web site for older women to find younger men. Last month, the site asked their members which baseball player they’d most like to score with, and NY Met David Wright came out on top (pun intended…or not).

A staff member in the Mets marketing department thought they could use this prestigious award (or something) to get Wright more All-Star votes. This year’s ASG game is at Citi Field, where the Mets play, so it would be a slap in the face if Wright could not start at 3B.

All Times Eastern

Arena Football
Jacksonville Sharks at Utah Blaze -- CBS Sports Network, 9 p.m.

Australian Rules Football
Fremantle Dockers vs. Brisbane Lions -- Fox Soccer Plus, 2:30 a.m.

Boxing
IBO Championship, South Africa
Kgole vs. Ramagole -- beIN Sport, 1:30 p.m.

Boxing After Dark, Dallas, TX
Mikey Garcia vs. Juan Manuel Lopez -- HBO, 10:45 p.m.

The Philadelphia Eagles signed fourth-round pick Matt Barkley to a four year contract on Thursday. After being projected to be a top ten (or better) pick if he left USC for the 2012 Draft, Barkley's stock plummeted after a disappointing senior season at USC. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the signing, with a little dig that the contract wasn't similar to the one Barkley would have signed a year ago. Barkley's response was full of snark and to the point...