What’s On In Sports, Tonight: March 15th

Tonight is the beginning. The NCAA Tournament begins with one-half of the First Four games being played in Dayton, Ohio. The NIT kicks off with six games of the ESPN family of networks. And the MLS season kicks-off in Seattle, which will host the Galaxy.

If you can’t find truTV on your television (Come on, this is the 21st century. Is it really that hard?), I would recommend the MLS action, featuring the superstars of the Galaxy and the passionate fan base of Seattle. Coverage begins at 9 p.m. on ESPN, with the British accent of Adrian Healey being complemented by Julie Foudy & John Harkes.

Now on to the rest of the field:

6:30 p.m.

truTV- NCAA Tournament First Four- UNC-Ashville vs. Arkansas-Little Rock.

7 p.m.

ESPN- NIT: Harvard vs. Oklahoma State. Mark Jones (PbP), Fran Fraschilla (Analyst) ESPNU- NIT: Costal Carolina at Alabama. Carter Blackburn (PbP), Laphonso Ellis (Analyst) ESPN2- NIT: Dayton at College of Charlestown. Brad Nessler (PbP), Jimmy Dykes (Analyst)

7:30 p.m.

Versus- NHL: Carolina Hurricanes at Buffalo Sabres.

8 p.m.

CBS College Sports- WBB: Davenport vs. Northwestern (Iowa)

9 p.m.

ESPN2- NIT:READ MORE

DL538: Bias, Chalk and Why I Already Hate My Bracket

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Nick and I run through the bracket and I basically have chalk. And I hate myself for it. Nick has a few more upsets than me. Listen along and don’t forget to join in on the bracket challenge at With Leather. (or follow this line of direction from Zerkle: If you’re hard-up for a bracket pool, join ours. The link is here and the password is “dukesucks”.)

You can’t not beat me.

Before our bracket breakdown we also talk about John Feinstein’s WashPost column ripping the NCAA committee for, well, everything. The lesson here: get better, ACC, so the writers in your area don’t put out columns that rip the selection committee for having a secret agenda, thus exposing the writer’s own secret agenda.

Madness!

What’s On In Sports, Tonight: March 14th

The homer in me would recommend tonight’s Grapefruit League game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Rivalry, two of the largest payrolls in baseball, blah, blah, blah.

But this is supposed to be the Game of the Night, and meaningless Spring Training games cannot qualify. Besides, there is a more interesting contest on TV this evening: Heat vs. Spurs.

Miami, after dropping those five-straight games, still clings to a three game lead over Orlando in the Southeastern Division. San Antonio, meanwhile, leads the league with 54 wins. The Spurs beat the Heat by 30 points during that streak, so that adds a little subplot to this game.

The Miami Heat host the San Antonio Spurs at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown will call the game for tWWL.

Now on to the rest of the field:

7 p.m. ESPN2- MLB: New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox.

8 p.m. ESPN- NBA: San Antonio Spurs at Miami Heat. Mike Tirico (PbP), Hubie Brown (Analyst) Versus- NHL: San Jose Sharks at Chicago Blackhawks

10:30 p.m. ESPN- NBA:READ MORE

DL537: Brackets, Networks, Announcers, Barkley, Bilas, Vitale, GUS, More

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What else today? Brackets!

This show is basically in two parts — the first part with Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com’s college hoops blog Soft Pretzel Logic and the second part with Nick — talking all about the brackets and the media coverage, including what announcers will be calling games on what networks, how we think Charles Barkley will and won’t fit into the telecast, Jay Bilas ostensibly lobbying to get himself on the NCAA Selection Committee, Dick Vitale’s annual rant for those who didn’t get in, Gus Johnson as an indie rock band and a whole lot more.

We get a little bit into the brackets and what we think could be some good matchups — including the Temple Penn State game that is a big deal around here and the balance of watching games live and still trying to catch the other games you care about on TV, something Nick will have to face on Thursday and Saturday in DC.

We also talk about whether you should fill out a bracket that’s chalk,READ MORE

What’s On In Sports, Tonight: March 10th.

The Great Dan Shanoff filmed this video of what it’s like to rush the court. If you’ve been there, it’s probably nothing spectacular. If you haven’t been there, like me, it makes you kind of want to do it.

Either way, many a court will be stormed this weekend, which, for all intensive purposes, starts tonight. Instead of picking a game of the night, I invite you to peruse the listings and pick one. I personally will be watching the (untelevised) BU-Northeastern men’s hockey game in person, and then the Big East Championship on ESPN.

This weekend is one of the two best weekends of the year. Make the most of it.

Now on to the rest of the field:

7 p.m.

ESPN- Big East MBB: Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame. Sean McDonough (PbP), Jay Bilas & Bill Raftery (Analysts) ESPN2- ACC MBB: NC State vs. Maryland. Mike Patrick (PbP), Len Elmore (Analyst) TNT- NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at Miami Heat. MLB Network- MLB: New York Yankees at Philadelphia Phillies.

7:30 p.m.

Big Ten Network- Big Ten MBB: Indiana vs. Penn State. CBSREAD MORE

DL536: Where Jim Burr, Tim Higgins, Earl Walton & Cowardly Big East Make Me Curse…A Lot

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(THERE IS CURSING IN TODAY’S SHOW. A LOT OF IT.)

Forget impartiality. Today’s show is hot fire directed at the old, out of touch, terrible officials employed by the Big East and the cowardly way the conference handled the screwjob given to Rutgers at the end of their Big East Tournament game against St. John’s yesterday afternoon.

Would Rutgers have won the game? Maybe not, but 1.6 seconds is an eternity in basketball and the refs just quit doing their jobs and got protected by the conference office. This could be a REALLY LONG rant, but just listen. Oh, and if you don’t think the Big East is cowardly for their decision to not do anything, consider them cowardly for how they scrubbed down the AP story on their own website.

Here’s the AP story in full at ESPN. Here’s the version the Big East put up. Yeah…that tells you everything.

An absolute joke.

We must credit the job ESPN did in handling this story. Someone got it right, and the network pulled no punchingREAD MORE

What’s On In Sports, Tonight: March 9th

Fail.

Now on to the rest of the field:

7 p.m.

ESPN- MBB: South Florida at Cincinnati. Sean McDonough (PbP), Jay Bilas & Bill Raftery (PbP) ESPN2- MBB: Robert Morris vs. Long Island. Jon Sciambi (PbP), Laphonso Ellis (Analyst) ESPNU- College Lacrosse: Manhattan at Johns Hopkins. Mike Corey (PbP), Quint Kessenich (Analyst)

7:30 p.m.

Fox Deportes- Copa Libertadores: Guarani (Paraguay) vs. Estudiantes de La Plata (Argentina). The Mtn.- WBB: Mountain West Championship 2nd Round. Versus- NHL: Chicago Blackhawks at Tampa Bay Lightning.

8 p.m.

NBA TV- NBA: New York Knicks at Memphis Grizzlies.

9 p.m.

ESPN- MBB: Marquette at West Virginia. ean McDonough (PbP), Jay Bilas & Bill Raftery (PbP) ESPN2- MBB: Montana vs. Northern Colorado. Roxy Bernstein (PbP), Miles Simon (Analyst)

10 p.m.

The Mtn.- WBB: Wyoming vs. TBD.

Thursday Daytime

12 p.m.

ESPN- MBB: Pittsburgh vs. TBD. Dave Pasch (PbP), Doris Burke & Fran Fraschilla (Analysts)

12:30 p.m.

ESPN2- MBB: Kansas vs. TBD. Brent Musburger (PbP), Bob Knight (Analyst)

1 p.m.

CBS College Sports- MBB: UAB vs. ECU. Roger Twibell (PbP), Wally Szczerbiak (Analyst) GolTV- Europa League: Braga vs. Liverpool.

2 p.m.

ESPN- MBB: Syracuse vs. TBD.  Dave Pasch (PbP), Doris Burke &READ MORE

DL535: Joke Referees, Villanova’s Madness, Tressel’s Cheating & Tiki’s TV Failure

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We have four topics today and while Jim Tressel is taking over every show in the world, we decided to start with actual sports first, then get into that whole cheating mess.

• First, Robin Van Persie called the referee that gave him a double yellow in Arsenal’s farewell Champions League match “a joke.” He actually said, “It’s just a joke. He’s been bad all evening. He’s been a joke all evening, whistling against us. I don’t know why he’s here tonight. I think it’s a joke.”

What happens to RVP, or his teammates who sarcastically tweets about how good a job the ref did? Sir Alex was slapped for questioning an EPL referee, but what does UEFA do about it? And how great is it when athletes just don’t care and say what they want? It’s really great.

• Next, we rip on Villanova. A lot. We also talk about ESPN putting the Big East women’s final on the mothership while the Big East men’s first round was on ESPNU. What do youREAD MORE

What’s On In Sports, Tonight: March 8th

Welcome to championship week, ladies and gentlemen. To build off of something Dan and Nick discussed on yesterday’s show, these next two weeks are some of the best of the year. Hundreds of teams enter this gauntlet, only 16 will remain after next weekend.

Tonight’s slate of games is a bit weak, but hey, it’s early. The big guys haven’t come out to play. No matter what, this weekend will be much better. My personal pick for the evening is on ESPN3: the Ivy League game between Princeton and Pennsylvania, which will decide if Harvard will make the tournament. I hope they do, because we most certainly don’t want to anger our future overlords.

If you don’t like that, well, it’s championship week. Pick a game, any game. There are plenty.

Now on to the rest of the field:

7 p.m.

CBS College Sports- MBB: St. Joseph’s vs. George Washington. ESPN- WBB: Notre Dame vs. Connecticut. Beth Mowins (PbP), Rebecca Lobo (Analyst) ESPN2- MBB: Arkansas-Little Rock vs. North Texas. Rob Stone (PbP), Mark Adams (Analyst) ESPNU- MBB: South Florida vs.READ MORE

DL534: Jonah Keri Has A New Book On Baseball, Tampa Bay Rays, Finance & Jews

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You’ve heard of the movie The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh? Well, if Jonah Keri’s new book The Extra 2% – How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First is ever made into a movie, they can call it The Gefilte Fish That Saved Tampa.

Yep, this book is as much about the Tribe as it is the Rays. As Keri explains during our conversation, despite the title, it’s not Moneyball (I think he’s contractually obligated to distance himself from that comparison as much as possible.) This is a story about how a bunch of financial guys (read: JEWS) took their money-making logic and translated it into baseball, getting their team from worst to “first” — we debate that notion, considering the Rays finished second in 2008 to a team lovingly referred to as the Philadelphia Phillies. The idea of “first” is still there, as the Rays did win their division and the pennant with a payroll somewhere around 1/5th of what teams in their own division wereREAD MORE