Jorge Sedano of Miami’s 790 The Ticket has your catch o’ the day:

Chargers wideout Chris Chambers making some sick grabs that may or may not have been digitally enhanced. I actually think not.

Went to the Maddenpalooza thing last night at the Rose Bowl. As I sit here today, I’m still wondering why the event was staged by now-faltering EA Sports. Was the evening designed to be a media event? Was it to move product? Was it to create a lively, fun environment for attendees?

From what I observed, that would be no, no and no.

(Need to lose some lbs., so I don’t cover up that one guy - see armpit)

I went early evening, and there was less than a thousand people milling around Slick Rick’s spacious abode at that time. Musicial artists Busta Rhymes and Good Charlotte played to about 200 people on one side of the stadium turf, while a tent full of Madden-loaded plasmas sat empty beyond the opposite endzone.

(How to create a fun, fan-friendly environment!)

But of course, as someone who occasionally attends UCLA football games which don’t include a certain Cardinal & Gold opponent, that hollow, placid environment is nothing new for the Rose Bowl. So I felt right at home.

(Busta Rhymes is in there …. somewhere)

Here on the westside of Los Angeles, I pass by EA Sports’ gleaming, half-empty HQs all the time. You wonder if last night’s flaccid activities are symptomatic of larger problems inside the company. Based on the sagging pre-sale of the company’s flagship product, perhaps they are.

(Guerrilla Marketing at Maddenpalooza?)

More coverage of the event from Mike Tunison at DEADSPIN, who actually had the audacity to *shudder* take a photo of Warren Sapp.

Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy went on a rampage today on KSPN-AM in L.A., calling David Falk a liar in the way the agent has represented the negotiations between Elton Brand and his team.

At dispute: Dunleavy claims Falk knew that Brand told the Clippers he would commit if they signed Baron Davis and offered him a contract worth $75M. Falk denies he knew of any dealings Brand had with Dunleavy personally until “the 11th hour” - after Brand’s new deal with Philly was done.

In an exasperated tone on 710am, Dunleavy said he knew otherwise, citing among other things, text messages he saw from Brand to Clippers players. The coach also intimated that Falk had “poisoned” Brand. Of course, a source close the situation told SbB all this was going to happen last Friday.

Coincidentally today, both Falk and Dunleavy were interviewed separately by Steve Mason and John Ireland on the ESPN radio outlet, and Falk first told the pair that he knew of no pre-emptive deal (verbal or otherwise) between Brand and the club that was predicated on a commitment from Davis (audio): “I never had a discussion with the Clippers about a different deal, I can’t say whether they had discussions with Elton. I never had one discussion with them about trying to package the thing up (with Davis and Brand).

“I learned at the 11th hour that Elton had hoped that Baron could be the mystery player, he likes Baron Davis, and they (Clippers) need a point guard, but no … with me, if there had been a deal, Elton would be in L.A. right now.”

The Dunleavy interview followed the Falk visit, and the Clippers coach emptied both barrels on Falk and Brand with some astonishingly candid comments. Read more…

Sports talk radio is the place where announcers and analysts take off the masks and tell us how they really feel about the sports they cover and the people playing them — because they really don’t think anyone is listening. Last month, Justin Gimelstob used a D.C. radio show to spew against Anna Kournikova. Now, we get Fox’s lead baseball and football announcer, Joe Buck, admitting to ESPN’s Colin Cowherd that he just doesn’t enjoy baseball as much as he used to.

AWFUL ANNOUNCING has the recorded audio, and is appropriately flabbergasted at the whole mess — because he’s right: this is why fans hate so much of the sports media right now.

Read more…

My first full weekend in Los Angeles will hopefully be a relatively quiet one. I’ve been traveling it seems non-stop the past three months. Still working on setting up shoots with three new SbB Girls. And making plans for the MLB All-Star game in NYC - I’ll be there live blogging throughout.

Gotten a couple dozen emails from people wanting more pics of SbB Girl Cora Skinner. I posted this one last night. Here’s another new one of her, with Melissa Smith, and Alex at ESPN Radio:

Speaking of hotties, SbB legend and UTEP basketball player Claudia Porras is wintering back in her home country of Bolivia. Here’s a new pic:

SbB Girl Charity Shea, who has her own show now on the cable net “The-N”, has several fan sites. The most prominent one has a photo background that looks awfully familiar!

The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS reports that New York Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh has proposed a bill to force New York sports franchises to charge less for games if those teams receive public funding for their stadiums.

(Seriously, some people just don’t deserve a discount)

Excerpt: “The legislation would require that 7% of a stadium’s seating be “affordable” to low- and moderate-income fans.”

This legislation comes right as the Yankees are trying to get $350M more in public funds to complete the construction of their new ballpark. What a coincidence!

Funny, I doubt that discount will apply to the guitar-shaped calamari.

I chuckled when I heard Javon Walker’s clunky version of his alleged assault and robbery. Now the Bellagio, which sports 2,000 cameras on the hotel property, is disputing Walker’s lawyer’s story. Read more…

We don’t watch a lot of daytime TV on weekdays, mainly because there’s very little sports programming of note. Actually, there’s none. So we’ve turned to sports radio over the years to get us through our posting day.

Every day we usually check in on Jim Rome, just to make sure we’ve got our sports blind spot covered. And of course, to get the latest Huntington Beach surf conditions.

One new show we’re all over now is from 10a-noon (ET) on WAXY-AM (790 The Ticket) in Miami. It features Kevin Rogers and Brandon Guzio. It’s on a local station but might as well be a national show, as the two rarely talk about the wasteland that South Florida sports has become. Great mix of personalities and extremely knowledgeable (so we don’t have to be).

Another good piece of sports radio news for us this week is that Scott Van Pelt is going to be a permanent, daily co-host with Mike Tirico on ESPN radio middays (1-3p ET). Additionally, Van Pelt will fly solo from 3-4p ET. Read more…

MLB HIRING POLICY DELAYING DODGERS DEAL W/TORRE: Many Dodgers fans are wondering why Joe Torre hasn’t been officially announced as their new skipper yet. But a couple of employment matters are putting things on hold.

Long-time Dodgers radio reporter A. Martinez was talking about the situation with John Ireland & Steve Mason on KSPN-AM’s “Big Show” on Wednesday.Martinez said that a possible snag in finishing the deal was Major League Baseball’s hiring policy, which requires teams to interview at least 1 minority candidate for any openings.

Mason joked to Martinez, “Then why don’t you apply?”

The Dodgers might be wanting to avoid the fate of Detroit Lions GM Matt Millen, who was fined by the NFL for his 2003 hire.That season, Millen had selected Steve Mariucci as his primary head coach target. He was so gung-ho about the Mooch that no other candidates were interviewed.

However, Matt’s quick choice went against league policy, which required a least one minority candidate to get the chance at the job. Millen was fined $200,000 for being so direct in his desires.

The Lions said they tried to interview minority applicants, but the five men they had in mind all turned them down. They declined because it seemed Mariucci was already a lock for the job.The Dodgers may now be facing a similar problem in their situation. It’ll be hard to look for prospects who already know there’s a slim-to-none chance of joining the team.

And it’s not just league formalities that are stifling the Torre deal. There’s also hiring concerns with the support staff:

The LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that Torre wants a voice in coaching staff decisions - namely, who the Blue Crew hire & how much they’ll get paid. Don Mattingly is expected to join Joe in the dugout if Torre agrees to a deal.Dodgers GM Ned Coletti has been mum about any progress or potholes. He’s only said that the team “has interest” in Torre, and refused to elaborate on the negotiations:

“I don’t ever classify anything as close or far. It’s either done or not done, and it’s not done.”

Maybe they can come to a “mutual decision”, like they did with Grady Little.

RED HOT SPORTS CHICK SET TO ENJOY RAVENS THREESOME: Anita Marks, a.k.a. The Red Hot Sports Chick, will be hosting not one, not two, but *three* Ravens-related radio roundtables this season:

She’ll be chatting it up on The Ray Lewis Show (Mon 6-8), The Willis McGahee Show (Thur 6-8) and The Big Show with J.O. starring the one and only Jonathan Ogden (Wed 6-8) - all on ESPN Radio 1300 in Baltimore.And if you can’t just get enough, you can see the RHSC in all her glory weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. So, get your spirits high just before they come crashing down during the following Nationals or Orioles game on MASN.

But don’t think Anita’s just a pretty face. The one-time Playboy poser is also quite the football phenom, having played quarterback for a women’s pro team in Miami.So, she could kick your sorry butt.

STOKKE STILL SHUNS ATTENTION WITH ESPN APPEARANCE: Allison Stokke, who has ridden a wave of internet popularity (which was started by WITH LEATHER and a certain SoCal sports blog), showed just how media shy she was Wednesday afternoon, as she guested in-studio with Steve Mason and John Ireland on KSPN-AM in Los Angeles.

The only mildly interesting part of the visit came when Stokke told Ireland that she’d been offered an acting part thanks to clamor created by her web-based fame. Stokke: “I don’t know what’s going to come of it. I highly doubt I can act.”

That’s more than we can say for Mason and Ireland, who somehow were able to convince Stokke that they were actually interested in her pole vaulting career for 30 minutes of airtime. But based on her body shots from the KSPN website, I guess a half-hour of disbelief suspension wasn’t so tough after all.