During an interview with Lee Hawkins of the Wall Street Journal, NBA commissioner David Stern called Billy Corben's 30 for 30 documentary Broke mildly racist. 

Actually, it's a lot of money for any socioeconomic group. So it wouldn't be fair to think about the image of a poor black kid from the ghetto. That isn't the prototype. The prototype is pretty sophisticated kids who've been guiding their way to get here.

Because so many of them are African American, I viewed the entire story as mildly racist.

This is about part for the course for Stern at this point, and it's more than a little ironic considering his implementation of an NBA dress code that could also be described as mildly racist.

There is a recurring segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live called "Mean Tweets",  where celebrities read mean tweets that people have written them. It's a pretty hilarious segment, and with the NBA Finals currently ongoing, Kimmel broke out an NBA edition. Perhaps the best one was "Bill Simmons looks like the kind of guy who will watch you sleeping" while Simmons stares at the camera nodding in a very, very creepy manner. Other broadcasting personalities featured include Bob Costas, Shaq, and Greg Anthony. This is definitely worth a watch, and it puts a nice little spotlight on the sheer ridiculousness that celebrities and athletes have to deal with on a daily basis on Twitter.

Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals between the Kings and Blackhawks on Saturday night drew a 2.9 overnight rating, the best ever for a Conference Final on NBC. Once again, the NHL managed to top MLB in primetime, with the Kings-Blackhawks game picking up 3.32 million viewers, a 2.9 overnight rating,  and a 1.1 overnight rating in the 18-49 demo, while Fox's slate of MLB games drew 3.21 million viewers and a 0.7 overnight rating in the 18-49 demo. (UPDATE: MLB actually outrated the NHL in total overnight rating 3.2 to 2.9).

The Western Conference Final was slightly down compared to Game 1 of the Bruins-Penguins Eastern Conference Final last Saturday, which drew 3.43 million viewers and a 1.2 in the 18-49 demo. Once again, MLB's viewership and ratings were flat compared to last week for a slate that was highlighted by the Angels-Red Sox in the northeast and west coast and the Reds-Cardinals in the midwest and south. 

NBC televises the single best sports product on television - Sunday Night Football.  It's the most watched, the most respected, the best announced, the best produced, and even presents the best studio coverage.  It's the pinnacle of live sports television.  

That's why it's so perplexing the same network also continues to botch live coverage of sporting events that takes viewers around the country to a time and place where you had to get up out of your chair and turn a dial to adjust the volume on your television sets.

The #NBCFail hashtag was one of the biggest stories of the London Olympics last Summer when NBC decided against showing many events live, preserving them for their primetime broadcast window instead.  NBC was ripped from coast to coast for their inability and unwillingness to show events live on television in an information age that not only demands it, but necessitates it.  NBC did offer events live through online streaming, but buffering problems were rampant and premier streams were often unbearable to watch.

During the most climactic moments of this year's French Open, NBC's controversial live events policy once again reared its ugly head as the network couldn't figure out whether they wanted to commit to showing live sports or Al Roker.  The peacock disregarded showing Friday morning French Open coverage live to the entire country in a confusing, confounding series of events that left scores of tennis fans holding the bucket for Matt Lauer and company once again.

Here is an amazing clip from Sunday's Dodgers-Braves game where comedian and voice actor Hank Azaria announces the Dodgers starting lineup as three different characters from The Simpsons.  Azaria seamlessly rolls through Moe, Apu, and Chief Wiggum just like you would hear them in Springfield, even throwing in Moe the Bartender's attempted pronounciation of Yasiel Puig's name.  (If only he could have thrown in a "Seymour Butts" reference too.)

There's a few things that bug me about this clip though - A) The TOTAL lack of fan reaction to the brilliance on display.  Are there that few people there at Dodger Stadium or are they just totally oblivious to classic television characters coming alive before their eyes?  B) The tense string music can probably be saved for the Miami Heat's pregame introduction.  And C) Police Chief "Wiggins?"  C'mon Dodgers PA guy.  Hopefully next time Hank Azaria takes the field he gets more respect than Frank Grimes.

[MLB.com]

All Times Eastern

During the Conference Finals it was Justin Bieber's leather shirt and chains that captivated... and terrified the nation.  Tonight during Game 2 of the NBA Finals, CBS's Shannon Sharpe takes the award for loudest and most thought provoking outfit with this bright pink suit and purple bowtie.  The obvious question is why don't we see this on The NFL Today?

At least we know if there's a power outage at some point during Game 3 the broadcast will be in good hands.

Or not.

[via cjzero]

Teams are getting more and more creative with marketing opportunities to draw fans in during the offseason now, aren't they?  Get your tickets now while they're still available, this is one event Flyers fans will be sure not to miss!  Nothing like competitive defecation to build excitement for next season.

[@NHLFlyers]

On Thursday, Deadspin rehashed the mostly non-sexual yet still bizarre relationship between Steve Phillips and Brooke Hundley that brought about massive changes (on the surface at least) at ESPN.

Phillips, a baseball analyst, and Hundley, a production assistant, had an odd, yet grossly inappropriate relationship that ended both their careers at the WWL.

They met during the 2009 All-Star game in St. Louis and shared a kiss in a hotel lobby. As John Koblin at Deadspin recaps:

All Times Eastern

College Baseball
NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament
Super Regionals

Chapel Hill Super Regional, Chapel Hill, NC
Game 2: South Carolina vs. North Carolina -- ESPN, 1 p.m.

Tallahassee Super Regional, Tallahassee, FL
Game 2: Florida State vs. Indiana -- ESPNU, 1 p.m.

Nashville Super Regional, Nashville, TN
Game 2: Vanderbilt vs. Louisville -- ESPN, 4 p.m.

Raleigh Super Regional, Raleigh, NC
Game 2: Rice vs. North Carolina State -- ESPNU, 4 p.m.

Baton Rouge Super Regional, Baton Rouge, LA
Game 3: Oklahoma vs. LSU -- ESPN2, 7 p.m. (if necessary)

Charlottesville Super Regional, Charlottesville, VA
Game 2: Virginia vs. Mississippi State -- ESPNU, 7 p.m.

Corvallis Super Regional, Corvallis, OR
Game 2: Oregon State vs. Kansas State -- ESPNU, 10 p.m.

Fullerton Super Regional, Fullerton, CA
Game 3: UCLA vs. Cal State-Fullerton -- ESPN2, 10  p.m. (if necessary)