What’s On In Sports, Tonight: February 22nd

This weekend, the purchase of NBC by Comcast will once again cross over into the world of sports. Golf Channel, the Comcast-owned network that covers, well, golf, will begin “producing” all golf events on NBC, starting with the Accenture Match Play Championships. The Championships, which began today, will feature Golf Channel on NBC branding when they jump to the broadcast network for the weekend, similar to ESPN on ABC. Will this really affect anyone? No. Is it still important? Yes. Moral of the story: watch the Match Play Championships at 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday on Golf Channel, and this weekend on NBC.

Oh, and because we’re talking about golf, here’s the obligatory mention of Tiger.

If golf isn’t your thing, find a basketball game. Really, not that hard.

Now on to the rest of the field:

6:30 p.m.

Big Ten Network- MBB: Wisconsin at Michigan.

7 p.m.

CBS College Sports- MBB: Tulsa at Marshall. ESPN- NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs. Dan Shulman (PbP), Jeff Van Gundy (Analyst) ESPN2- MBB: Temple at Duke. Rece Davis (PbP), Bob Knight (Analyst)READ MORE

For ZWR: The Phillies Starters As TMNT

ZWR posted a story earlier today with the Phillies Starting Rotation as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It’s, as most are from ZWR, a great and silly post, but it had me angrily tweeting about depriving us from a bitchin’ Photoshop.

So…happy birthday, or something.

DL529: Down The Jim Calhoun NCAA Violation Rabbit Hole (Wait, That Sounds Bad)

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We spend (almost) the entire show talking about the NCAA’s ruling to suspend Connecticut head men’s basketball coach for three Big East…next year…for his role in a series of major recruiting violations.

We also take a look at some of the national reporters and pundits. Read along with us, friends!

• Here’s the official ruling from the NCAA.

• Let’s start with Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports:

No postseason ban.

That’s honestly all that matters.

Sure, UConn coach and Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, he of two national championships, took a whack from the NCAA when the organization finally rendered its decision Tuesday afternoon, after a nearly two-year investigation.

Maybe a light slap on the wrist is a more appropriate term.

• Here’s ESPN’s Pat Forde:

On Tuesday, the NCAA Committee on Infractions knocked a chunk out of the Cult of the Head Coach by suspending Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun for three Big East games next basketball season. As penalties go, it’s not a haymaker — especially when you consider what all transpired at UConn in its recruitment and enrollment of formerREAD MORE

What’s On In Sports, Tonight: February 22nd.

Soccer! Who want’s some fresh, hot soccer?

It’s late February, and soccer is in full gear, everywhere except for the United States. Every other major league is in play, and, the major cups and tournaments have taken off. In the next 24 hours, Fox Deportes has the Copa Libertadores, Fox Soccer has the CONCACAF and UEFA Champions Leagues and ESPN Deportes has the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship. So, catch some soccer. Any of it, really.

Now on to the rest of the field:

7 p.m. CBS College Sports- WBB: Notre Dame at West Virginia. ESPN- MBB: Illinois at Ohio State. Brent Musburger (PbP), Dan Dakich (Analyst) ESPN2- MBB: Virginia Tech vs. Wake Forest. Mike Patrick (PbP) ESPNU- MBB: Mississippi at South Carolina. Rob Stone (PbP), Jason “Jay” Williams (Analyst)

7:30 p.m. Fox Deportes- Copa Libertadores: U. San Martin (Peru) vs. San Luis FC (Mexico) The Mtn.- WBB: Utah at TCU

8 p.m. Big 12 Network- MBB: Iowa State at Texas. Fox Soccer- CONCACAF Champions League: Quarterfinal 1st Leg: Columbus Crew vs. Real Salt Lake

8:30 p.m. Versus- NHL: New Jersey at Dallas.

9READ MORE

Jim Boeheim Thinks Being Tournament Tested Is “Bullshit”

I love Jim Boeheim. I want to hug the old curmudgeon sometimes. Eh, he’d probably just say it’s bullshit. From Tannenwald at Soft Pretzel Logic:

Reporter: You came up with an overtime win at home [against Rutgers on Saturday], and then a tough, tough game on the road here. Do games like this help you at this stage of the conference season?

Boeheim: I think that’s all [cow-based fertilizer], you know. All that stuff, it’s all [cow-based fertilizer]. We could play next week and get in the same game next week and lose. We could have ten of these in a row and win them, then get in a tournament and have one and you lose it. It’s all [cow-based fertilizer].

Tannenwald certainly transcribed this answer for a PG crowd. Make no mistake, the “bullshit” was flying from the acerbic coach last night.

Now, obviously Boeheim doesn’t believe it’s all bullshit. Surely, winning these close games is great now and gives the team a load of confidence, but it doesn’t mean a whole heap of anything come NCAA TournamentREAD MORE

DL528: Carmelo, All-Star Ratings, Bissinger v NBA Fans, Wahl v Blatter (v Simmons), Me v Me

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We talk about Carmelo going to the Knicks and wonder if the Dolans were reading Bleacher Report last week and saw the headline that had him going to the Lakers and thought “what…when did that happen?” which ultimately got a deal done in New York. Hey, it could happen. I mean, it’s entirely plausible they’d read B/R, so that’s a start.

I kid. They probably don’t even read. But is this a good trade for NY? Of course it is.

This trade seems to fit into the grand master plan that has NBA teams becoming good — and relevant — in the right markets again. That can, and will, help ratings as much as the product on the court. Of course, not everyone agrees. Enter Buzz Bissinger, who penned (typed?) a column for The Daily Beast ripping the NBA, claiming the league is losing popularity because white fans can’t root for black athletes.

I swear this wasn’t written eight years ago. Or in the 50′s.

My editor thinks I should write something about professional basketball.READ MORE

Carmelo Anthony & Why We Should Never Believe An Athlete When He Speaks

Our Call of the Day today actually comes from Sunday night’s NBA All-Star game, when TNT’s Craig Sager firebombed Carmelo Anthony on the West bench to ask about meetings he’s had with the Nets and the Knicks.

Carmelo was not the first player interviewed during the game, but most of the other conversations featured mostly softball questions like how great Ray Allen felt being in double-digit All-Star games. Yet, journalistic integrity being what it is, some people certainly felt it was Sager’s responsibility, during the All-Star game, to ask Anthony about his plans to leave Denver before the trade deadline this week.

Kobe Bryant — who with the help of Chris Paul hijacked the entire interview — didn’t much care for journalistic integrity during the All-Star Game. Anthony, it turns out, didn’t much care for telling Sager the truth in the one question he actually answered.

Here’s the transcript from the one question Carmelo was able to answer during the conversation with Sager:

“Alright. Tuesday the Nuggets have a game. Will you be in a Denver uniform for thatREAD MORE

Marv Albert Has Bieber Fever (A Mash-Up)

Marv Albert went star watching during the 2011 All-Star Game at Staples Center, but seemed most impressed by a young Canadian lad in the front row.

Yes, folks..Marv Albert has Bieber Fever. Enjoy.

What’s On In Sports, This Weekend: February 18th-20th

Normally, the big event of the third weekend of February would be either the NBA All-Star Game (Sunday, 7 p.m., TNT) or the Daytona 500 (Sunday, Noon, Fox). This year, however, NBC has thrown an event into the mix to make it more interesting.

The network has dubbed Sunday “Hockey Day In America,” an obvious interpretation of the name for their football coverage. The main broadcast network, in association with it’s new cable cousin, Versus, will present a total of five games on Sunday. The first games will begin at 12:30, and will feature one of three games: Washington Capitals at Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers or Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild. The second game on NBC will start at 3:30, and will be broadcast nationally, featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Chicago Blackhawks.

Mixing things up for the nightcap, Versus will nationally broadcast the Heritage Classic, the first outdoor game in Canada since 2003. The Montreal Canadiens will play the Calgary Flames at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, with the puck drop scheduledREAD MORE

DL527: Kevin Kaduk on Spring Training, Phillies Aces, Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Mets, More

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It’s officially Spring Training! With Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew!

!!!

We talk about the big talking points heading into Spring Training which, for the first time I can remember, do not include the American League East or steroids. It’s kind of amazing, actually.

That’s not to say the Yankees and Red Sox aren’t great and the Rays signing Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon, or the Orioles annual attempt to become relevant, aren’t big stories, but let’s face it, there are four major topics as camp opens. We take them in this order.

• The Phillies pitching staff. Are they as loved by national media members as they are by fans of the team? This actually includes an interesting conversation about tickets and how the Phillies are literally making money on top of money with all their sellouts. Can’t find a ticket? Go to StubHub, where the team and MLB get a cut of the markup. We also get into a pretty long debate that includes Cole Hamels and whether or not heREAD MORE