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The Swinging Bunt

Good-bye CBS, hello ESPN?  The New York Times has reported that the next year’s NCAA Tournament could be the last televised by CBS.  The parties are in the 7^th of an 11-year… $6 BILLION deal.  The wild thing is that the NCAA has the option to terminate the deal after 2010 and are likely to do so to see is ESPN might offer even more money!  As critical as I like to be about ESPN, I think March Madness is an event perfectly tailored for the World Wide Leader.  They would easily be able to show the maximum 4 games all at once during that the first Thursday and Friday of the tourney on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, and, who knows maybe… ESPN Deportes.  And who wouldn’t love to hear more Dicky V and Dan Schulman, two gents who don’t broadcast at all for CBS, unlike colleagues Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery, and Len Elmore.  By the way, even though this year’s tourney is still on CBS, long-time color analyst Billy Packer, who has announced every Final 4 since 1975, will not be this season and has been replaced by Clark Kellogg… gotta wonder what he’s up to nowadays… hmmm…

He’s Baaaaack!  That’s right, former O’s fan favorite and Nederlands hero, Sidney Ponson, is back with a chance to make the majors again!  We all know why… the big leagues have the best buffets and hottest babes out there.  Without wearing an MLB uniform, he’s just… well, a fat dude.  The Kansas City Royals are the ones giving him another shot with a 1-year minor league deal; I guess Motley Crue, or any other 80’s metal band for that matter, isn’t stopping within a 250 mile radius of Kauffman Stadium.

The Steelers and St. Patty’s Day.  Yesterday it was announced by President Obama that Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney has been appointed as Ambassador to Ireland.  It might be a stretch, but this is another reason for me to not really like St. Patrick’s Day.  If Valentine’s Day is known as a ‘Hallmark Holiday,’ then we should refer to St. Patty’s as a ‘Budweiser Holiday.’  And for the record, CMS Producer, Glenn Clark, is way less fun at 6am after drinking green beer on Harford Road all night…  Those damned leprechauns must’ve roofied the Wonderboy.

Larry and Magic?  As I mentioned a few days ago, watching the NCAA tournament on TV is phenomenal even during timeouts.  However, M&M is rolling out quite the peculiar advertisement this year.  Below is a still screen shot of an upcoming commercial featuring Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as, you guessed it, M&M’s.  The candy is trying to capitalize on the 30 year anniversary of their 1979 NCAA Title Game, which is still the highest rated college basketball game of all-time.  The major problem here is that Larry is Celtic green and Magic, Laker gold.  The way I remember the highlights, Larry Bird wore powder blue at Indiana State and Ervin ‘Magic’ Johnson’s Michigan State team colors are green and white… to me, while they score points for creativity, the spot is also kind’ve dumb, too.

Scanning the Blogosphere

Deadspin’s Will Leitch takes a look at Morgan State’s Head Coach Todd Bozeman and former O’s manager Davey Johnson in his ‘Ten Humans of the Week.’

With Leather, while not having anything to do with sports has a photo of Mercedes’ newest pimped out ride… an all chrome $490K sports car, wow.  And actually, another ‘wow’; I promise to never use the phrase “pimped out ride” ever again.

CMS Video of the Day

If you’re an Orioles fan who has watched countless at bats by these gentlemen: Brian Roberts, Melvin Mora, Nick Markakis, Kevin Millar, Eddie Murray, Dan Ford, Brady Anderson, Mike Devereaux, BJ Surhoff, Rick Dempsey, Rich Dauer, Al Bumbry, Gary Roenicke, John Lownestein, Cal Ripken Jr.

This video’s for you.  A kid does a very nice job accurately replicating the batting styles of the above O’s.

The Morning’s Final Thought

I mentioned above my desire for the NCAA Tournament to move to ESPN… well it’s really just because I can get to see more of my future wife… Mrs. Erin Andrews-Bonetti.