Erin Andrews Stalking Suspect Caught

Surprise, surprise.  Guess you owe someone (see: me) an apology.

I was glad to wake up this morning and find out that the real perpetrator of the inexcusable, unforgiveable and super-duper creepy Erin Andrews peephole video deal has been caught.  His name? 

Michael David Barrett of Westmont, Ill.

Maybe now it makes sense that he's been laying low since the Cubs dealt him to the Padres in 2007.  It would explain why Carlos Zambrano beat the crap out of him in the dugout -- and then in the clubhouse.  I guess this is what you resort to when those checks from Jim Hendry quit coming to your mailbox.

Oh wait, we're not talking about that Michael Barrett?  My bad.

Time to move on with our lives.  (P.S.  I'm liking the EA with glasses look.  Cute librarian-ish.  I'm a fan)

Boston Is The Sports City Of The 2000s, I Can Live With That. But Dallas? The 90s. Eh.

Sometimes I wish BFeldt found time out of his busy schedule to write a post here once in a while, because he makes some great points via his Twitter account.  In today's tweet, @BFeldt questions ESPN's search skills in finding the sports city of this decade.

"Boston wins best sports decade because of hair? Give me a break ESPN, how hard did you look for that advantage"

Answer: They looked down the hall, waved at Peter Gammons and penned up something real quickly.

So, who deserves it?  Well, I'll leave the door for Mr. Feldt to return to TBDS and let him throw down his two cents.  I'm more bothered why Chicago didn't get the sports city of the 1990s.

The argument for champion Dallas?

The Cowboys captured three Super Bowls, the Stars took the Cup in 1999 and the Rangers even won three division titles. But the Mavs were mostly a bad joke.

The argument for Chicago?

I thought you'd never ask.

The six championships by the Chicago Bulls trump the city of Dallas' accomplishments all by themselves.  In the two seasons in which they didn't have the G.O.A.T. full-time, they still made the playoffs.  Let's add some individual numbers with Michael Jordan's five MVPs and countless points scored, rebounds grabbed, steals snatched and assists dished.

In 1993 the White Sox won the AL West and the Cubs won the Wild Card in 1998.  However, individual accomplishments drove fans (and media attention) to the ballpark.  Sammy Sosa hit 332 homers in the 1990s, including 66 in '98 to win the MVP and help save baseball.  Frank Thomas hit at least .305 in every year except one in the decade and hit 301 jacks in the decade.  If not for The Big Hurt and his efforts, there would not be a team on the South Side.  The Blackhawks made 8 playoff appearances in the 90s, including a Stanley Cup appearance.

The biggest joke of the decade in Chicago was the mismanagement of the Bears, who still found a way to make three playoff appearances in spite of the McCaskey family and Dave Wannstedt.

Apparently, the Cowboys, Lakers, Dodgers, Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots don't get enough coverage on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNNews, ESPNClassic or ESPN The Ocho.  I guess that's why they've launched a hyperlocal site for Boston and will do so for Dallas and Los Angeles before the year is up.

Is ESPN Killing The Sports Page?

ESPN is killing off the local sports page.  There, I said it.  Someone had to say it.

When ESPN launched its Chicago site in the spring, it was met with mixed emotions.  It starts with good intentions as the site features a bunch of Chicago content that I wouldn't usually be able to catch on SportsCenter.  On the other hand, the launch just up-and-stole the all-important readers and the one thing that is apparently more important than readers: Ad revenue.

So, while newspaper honchos spent all that energy fighting bloggers and trying to figure out how non-newspaper people are running the newspaper industry, ESPN comes through the back door, takes what it wants and makes you like it.

The World Wide Leader in sports will be launching ESPNBoston.com in September, along with hyperlocal sites in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York in the coming future.

Which, of course begs the following question.

Don't we have ESPNBostodallangelyork already in the form of good ol' ESPN?

It won't be long until ESPN is pillaging your village and taking your women swaggerjackin' your favorite writers from your local paper.

Buck Showalter's Crazy Realignment

A brief outline:

• Four divisions, seven teams
• DH for all
• Bye-bye to both of Florida's teams
• Each team plays each other once in three game sets; one at home and the other on the road
• Four division winners are guaranteed playoff spots. Wild cards are questionable
  

Analysis:

This is probably why Buck Showalter is no longer managing a major league baseball team. This is the most batsh*t crazy idea since -- maybe ever.

He abolishes the two leagues while implementing the designated hitter for all. I'll get to the DH in a moment, but these division races are somewhat of a joke.

This idea feeds into the idea of more ESPN slurping of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry as it sends the Cubs and Cardinals into separate divisions. Why? There's no explanation. Had he done it for the Yanks & Sawks, there would have been an addendum with a full explanation.

Seriously, if Showalter had the idea of breaking up the Red Sox and Yankees cross his mind, he would have likely been fired on the spot and escorted away by bulky men in black suits and banished from baseball like his name was Pete Rose. There would be mob rule outside of the studios in Bristol, Conn., and my hope is that Chris Berman is used as a sacrificial lamb to appease the angered masses.

As for the DH, my feelings have been made clear for quite some time: Anyone who likes the designated hitter is foolish. These are the same people who complain about players unable to perform the game's fundamentals. Guess what, part of those fundamentals that you learn starting in Little League are hitting and bunting.

I've said it once, I'll say it again: "Having someone hit for the pitcher is like having someone take Shaq's free throws for him."

I agree that 18 times for some of these division rivals is way too much. But seeing some of the best rivalries in baseball only six times in a year is a drastic cut for no damn reason.

Among baseball's biggest problems, realignment should be the least of Bud Selig's concerns. And while a NFL-like realignment seems like a really intriguing idea in principal, Showalter leaves out a very important aspect of the game.

The NBA has two conferences. So does the NFL. If baseball has no conferences, how do we select two finalists?

H/T: MLB Daily Dish

ESPN's West Side Experiment Is Working Quite Well

These days, it's really easy to bash ESPN. I've had trouble finding things I liked about the four-letter sports news media giant other than Baseball Tonight, Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter, Jay Bilas' college hoops analysis, Dave O'Brien's baseball play-by-play and fights between Mel Kiper and Todd McShay.

But two things have really started to put the World Wide Leader back into my good graces: SportsCenter Live! and SportsCenter L.A.

SC Live! was a long time coming. Mothers, wives, sisters and girlfriends have ragged on men for years about their following of the morning highlight show because "you're watching the same show over and over again." And they were right ... and still, we watched. But now, each live edition of SportsCenter provides a fresh take on last night's news ... even if it is the same group of highlights. Hosts come in and break news, shift the coverage of stories and have even added different top plays.

My favorite part of the live show is when it gets a phone call from one of last night's headline makers. That, and it keeps me away from having to watch or listen to Mike & Mike In The Morning.

And in an attempt to rule the west coast sports scene, ESPN opened a studio in Los Angeles. Having a presence in the land of low rider's, Dr. Dre and Hollywood gives the WWL more credibility as it covers pro teams such as the Dodgers and Lakers along with USC football and UCLA basketball.

Yet, I feel as if the biggest winner of this whole ordeal is me.

I have found myself watching SportsCenter's late edition every day this week. And while it's target audience is its west coast viewership, the late-night highlight reel attracts people like me: College kids who do not sleep.

So, what's next for ESPN? Permanent College Football GameDay sets in Florida, Texas and California? Or how about a real College Basketball GameDay hub in South Bend, Ind., for Digger Phelps. How about a return to Carbondale?

OK, I officially asked for too much.

If Illinois wins a contest and nobody cares about it, does it really happen?

ESPN has caught a lot of crap from me because of its own stupid gimmicks.

Did anyone out there think Who's Now? was a great idea. I still don't know who won it, and even though I have all the technology in the world at my fingertips and some time to burn, I don't care to find out.

So when the World Wide Leader pegged Illinois as the Mount Rushmore of Sports, I had mixed feelings. This Chicago native is pleased to get some Midwest love from the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network. And I guess that whole ESPNchicago.com idea might try to soften the blow of not seeing any Chicago highlights unless it involves Derrick Rose breaking Andre Miller's ankles.

Either way, Illinois ... technically Chicago ... is the winner. I guess this constitutes why southern Illinoisans think Chicago should be its own state.

Michael Jordan: The Greatest Basketball Player Of All Time has only been south of I-80 to take his son to U of I.

Walter Payton: The Greatest Football Player Of All Time starred for the Chicago Bears.

Ernie Banks: The Greatest Shortstop Of All Time now that A-Rod's an admitted PEDphile starred on the North Side of Chicago. Did you know Illinois is split between Cardinals and Cubs fans? Half of the state can't be happy with this.

Mike Ditka: Look at that mug up top. That's the mug of a mountain right there.

So there you have it sports fans, the Mount Rushmore of Chicago ... er ... Illinois ... Sports!

Reason #6972 why ESPN sucks...

...Chris Berman.

Seriously, who does he think he is?

I understand that he has worked at The World Wide Leader since the inception of time, and I'm sure Hines Ward knows where to get some "duex, duex, duex" but c'mon. I like how another reporter said "the rest of us are over here."

Kudos to you.

But seriously, what a dick!

Super Bowl XLIII: Chris Berman's Own Private Media Day [Deadspin]

Breaking news broken up thanks to ESPN editors

An update to the earlier ridicule of ESPN as it reported a Jermaine Dye for Homer Bailey deal at 11:30 CT.

It's 1 a.m. and a good job of editing as that part was edited out of its pre-recorded overnight SC.

Apparently someone's reading this blog.

Maybe.

Breaking? Jermaine Dye to the Reds

ESPN's SportsCenter just reported that the Chicago White Sox have traded right fielder Jermaine Dye to the Cincinnati Reds for pitcher Homer Bailey.

Um, not so fast my friend.

There's no news of that on ESPN's front page or anywhere on their site, for that matter. Nothing on either the White Sox's or Reds' web pages. That's of 11:31 CT, of course.

Reds GM Walt Jocketty is already denying the Winter Meetings' first big rumor.

"Wrong. It's not even close," Jockety said. "We haven't had any discussions with the White Sox since before Thanksgiving."

Postmarked at 9:46 CT from Mark Sheldon.

The Chicago Tribune's Mark Gonzalez's sources (postmarked at 11:25 CT.)also are denying a done deal.

Meanwhile, ESPN is going to replay this edition of SportsCenter that says Dye-for-Bailey is, in fact, a done deal all night long until SC Live airs.

I hope the World Wide Leader learns its lesson. These taped Sports Center's will not fly!

ESPN commenter named valedictorian of summer school

See this is why people are (or at least should be) losing respect for ESPN.

"Game ball goes to Scola. In a losing effort he was easily the best player on the floor." -- haze1205

28 points and 11 rebounds is fine and dandy, but Luis Scola isn't even considered the best player on the court when he's the only player on it.

I'm not sure who to blame more: the commenter, who seems ready to put Luis Scola into the debate of greatest Olympian ever or ESPN, who decided to make this a featured comment.

That's like saying Jason Marquis is a better pitcher than Fergie Jenkins because Marquis won a World Series with the Cardinals while Jenkins was unable to do so with the Cubs (and other teams).

That's just stupid. People like that should really have their computers (and the porn that's on them) seized.

ESPN Featured Comment Of The Week [Deadspin]