• A sad way to start the baseball week: Phillies announcer Harry Kalas & former Tigers pitcher Mark Fidrych both pass away on the same day.

• But it was nice to see Brian Bosworth help save an Oklahoman’s life.

• Wedding bells have rung for a couple of tennis stars: Andy Roddick ties the knot with Brooklyn Decker, while Roger Federer marries his manager.

• Padres pitcher Heath Bell is p.o.’ed about ESPN’s overwhelming coverage of all things Yankees, Mets & Red Sox.

• That stinks: Dwight Howard has a passion for passing gas.

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• The best reason to buy EA Sports’ next college football video game? The addition of the other EA: Erin Andrews.

• John Madden lays down his last “BOOM!”, decides to call it quits.

• The NBA Playoff pairings are finally set. (All just a formality before the inevitable Kobe-LeBron finals?)

• Speaking of, the Celtics may have to spend their postseason without the services of Kevin Garnett.

• Shaq’s Barber Shop is now open for business! First reluctant customer: Suns teammate Louis Amundson.

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Every July, millions of video game players flock to their local Best Buys, Circuit Citys, Gamestops, or wherever they buy their games to get their hands on the newest version of EA Sports’ NCAA Football. I know it’s an annual tradition for me. Still, with the economy rather shaky these days, the folks at EA realize that there’s a possibility sales may dip this year as some people might not want to drop $50 on a game right now, so they know they have to do something to make this year’s version even more appealing.

Yes, once again EA has turned to the other EA to help get the job done. Joining Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso in this year’s game will be sideline reporter Erin Andrews. Read more…

As somebody who grew up playing Madden just like the rest of you, one of the things I always found annoying about the game was how the classic teams never had the player’s actual names.  Now I would play with the 85 Bears more often than any other team, and although I knew that RB #34 was Walter Payton, it still would have been nice to see his actual name on there.

It would seem that I’m not the only one who feels this way.  Apparently the players who were on those teams would have enjoyed seeing their names on the screen as well while watching their grandsons play.   After all, there’s a nice chunk of change to be made from those licensing rights, and it shouldn’t just be divided amongst the current players in the NFL.   And now, thanks to a U.S. Federal jury, it won’t be.

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The NFL and the NFLPA (the union) have done little to promote players until recently, creating a Q Rating gap between current players and retired ones.  The NFL wanted to promote teams over players to keep loyalties (and cash flow) strong.

On the other hand, the NFLPA, under the guidance of the recently-passed Gene Upshaw, didn’t give a damn about anyone that wasn’t currently filling the union’s coffers.

(Brett Favre, trying to have it both ways)

Showing that some things haven’t changed, a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of some 2,000 former NFL players to claim royalties from likenesses and near-likenesses on all kinds of licensing deals (like with EA Sports for Madden) when the NFLPA allegedly cut them out of the deals to protect their active players/dues-payers.

It’s quite the ingenious scheme, really: don’t promote the retired players at all because the gains would supposedly be marginal and then claim that you don’t owe those men a damned thing because they aren’t marketable now.  If only the NFLPA could have wrapped them up in bonds, double-insured them, and sold them to Lehman Brothers, too…

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While most people spent their morning trying to figure out what the Brett Favre trade to the Jets will mean for both teams, there are also quite a lot of people wondering about something far more important. You see, we’re only a few short days away from the release of EA Sports’ latest incarnation of the Madden football game. You may have heard about who EA has chosen to adorn the cover of this year’s version of the game, Brett Favre.

So when the Favre trade was announced this morning, it sent gamers with too much time on their hands into a tizzy. What are they going to do about the Madden cover!? Brett’s wearing a Packers uniform, but he’s a Jet now! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!

Well everybody can relax, because before the trade even went down EA Sports President Peter Moore already made it clear on his blog:

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What can Brown do for you? If you’re a video game producer, he can sue your billion-dollar butt for using his likeness without his permission.

BLOOMBERG’s Patricia Hurtado reports that Jim Brown has recently filed a lawsuit against Sony & Electronic Arts. The Hall of Fame NFL running back (and star of “I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka!“) is taking the two companies to court, complaining that they’ve based a video game character on him without legally asking. Read more…

BUSTED COVERAGE has video evidence that gamers do occasionally get an opportunity to look at real-life actual females.

At this year’s E3, the video game industry’s biggest tradeshow and conference, EA Sports called on the services of LPGA star, Natalie Gulbis to demonstrate the latest addition to the Tiger Woods franchise of golf games on Nintendo Wii. Along with her Wiimote, Gulbis brought along with her, quite possibly the shortest skirt she owns.

UEFA Euro 2008, the latest recycling of code base from EA Sports, is your typical soccer game. (In fact, it’s basically FIFA ‘08 with a few minor additions and new players.) However, the nationalistic aspect has been played up. You can fight for the opportunity to captain your country’s team. You get to see your flag fly high when you play.

You also even get to hear your country’s anthem play before your matches. Unless, of course, you’re from Northern Ireland. Instead of hearing “God Save the Queen“, Northern Ireland’s anthem as a constituent country of the United Kingdom, players of Northern Ireland will hear “The Soldier’s Song“. That would be the anthem of the Republic of Ireland. Oops.

(You don’t want this fellow to rise from the dead, EA Sports, to put his boot in your arse; he was just ornery enough to do it)

No big deal, though, right? It’s not like Northern Ireland has been at the center of a bloody ethnocentric war between Unionists and Nationalists for generations that could be inflamed in the slightest by seeing Northern Ireland’s proud sports warriors vow to play for the Republic of Ireland in song. Thank goodness, right?
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As long as hockey is still sort-of on the minds of the sporting public (thanks to some spectacular Stanley Cup games between the Pens & Red Wings), EA Sports figured the time was right to announce the cover boy for their upcoming “NHL 09″ game.

And the winner is: Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

Casual sports fans outside of southern Alberta may not know much about Dion, but they’re sure to know his current gal pal:

Alluring actress Elisha Cuthbert.

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