UPDATE: ESPN Senior Director of Communications Bill Hofheimer email to SbB on Gruden extension announcement: “Jon is committed to MNF for multiple years and his decision to sign this extension is a clear indication of that. He will not be seeking any coaching positions for the foreseeable future. We expect to have him here at ESPN for a long time.”

Key part there are the words “forseeable future.” How long that is, no telling.

ESPN announced this morning that Jon Gruden has signed a multi-year extension with the network to continue with Monday Night Football will also adding college broadcast duties.

Gruden will appear on ESPN’s NFL Draft and Super Bowl week coverage, among other platforms, and he will call the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl in South Florida on January 31, 2010. Gruden will serve as an analyst for ESPN Radio’s 2010 Rose Bowl and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title game broadcasts, where he will team with Tirico, and he will be part of SportsCenter coverage leading up to the ESPN on ABC telecasts of both games.

The material news is that Gruden will now branch out to the NFL Draft and college football. I’m sure putting Gruden on those ESPN radio games will help the ESPN sales department sell national ad spots for those games, but for the broadcast’s sake, I would’ve preferred a guy who has done college all season. Todd Blackledge, Jesse Palmer and Craig James would’ve be better, with  Todd McShay as third wheel.

The news of the contract extension is fine and good, but if an NFL team wants Gruden as its coach bad enough, you know it’ll figure out a way to buy Gruden out of his ESPN deal. Read more…

You’ve got to hand it to Mike Tirico; he’s a true professional. Even when attacked by a ravenous mosquito, he never loses focus on the job at hand. That insect is sucking the very lifeblood from the ESPN broadcaster; perhaps even siphoning off a microscopic percentage of his considerable talent … hey, there’s a lot about the culicidae family of insects that science has yet to understand.

But Tirico never flinches. Video of this shocking attack following the jump. Read more…

It seems to be part of our human DNA to create competing professional football leagues to the NFL. But those always seem to end up in the same place; as fossils in the Wasn’t-That-A-Quaint-Idea Museum of Natural History (not open on Sundays). Is the nascent United Football league also destined for the archeologist’s brush? Their dusty, inanimate ancestors, the USFL, WFL, WLAF, XFL and Arena League, would seem to indicate yes.

(Only the girl on the far right seems to notice that there’s a game going on)

Consider the Florida Tuskers, which are the top UFL team so far, with a 3-0 record and the league’s top-rated passer and team offense. They’ve got an OK place to play (the Citrus Bowl), name coaches (head coach Jim Haslett, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, receivers coach Ike Hilliard) and even some roster names which fans can hang their hats on (Brooks Bollinger, Tatum Bell, Michael Pittman).

But is that enough? Enjoy the photo above, featuring Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer posing with some high school cheerleaders on Thursday, and keep in mind that it’s being taken, apparently, as the game is being played. Also, look at all the comfortable elbow room stands (the league is averaging 10,978 per game so far — just over 11,000 attended the Tuskers game). Doesn’t look good. Read more…

Outsports.com breaks down sports media like no other, and has an update on one of its most prolific members of the homoerotic comment Hall of Fame: Jon Gruden.

(Dude.)

Before we get to Gruden’s performance last night, let’s do a little fact-checking first. Or in Gruden’s case, make that ab-checking - as Tampa Bay coach in 2002:

The meeting was brief, the request bizarre. Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden didn’t ask [quarterback] Rob Johnson to throw a pass or even set foot on the football field. A stack of videotapes told Gruden everything he needed to know. Well, almost everything.

“He asked me to lift my shirt to see my abs,” said Johnson, 29. “He’s just crazy like that. He wanted to see how hard I’ve worked.”

“I’ll be the first to say I like this guy,” said Gruden. “I see something in this guy.”

Rob. Johnson.

Can’t say Gruden had a lot of company on that one.

Now onto the coach’s performance in the two way mirrored darkly lit booth last night…

Read more…

If you don’t already listen to Bill Simmons‘ podcast, we recommend doing so (if you’ve got the 50 minutes a day to spare, anyway). As chic as it is to hate Simmons, he’s one of the best sports podcasters in the business, and engages his (high-profile) guests as well as anybody. Credit where it’s due and all.

His latest guest yesterday was ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser, and as two neurotic writers are so often wont to do, they spoke frequently about their own fears. For Kornheiser, it’s flying. And while TK wouldn’t explicitly cite it as a reason for his departure from the show, it does sound like his departure was awfully good for his mental well-being.

Read more…

• He hasn’t even thrown a pass yet, but Jets QB Mark Sanchez is already cementing his status as a Big Apple sex symbol with a GQ photo spread:

And Hilary Rhoda, the bikini-clad babe sharing the snapshot spotlight, is also apparently Mark’s new main squeeze.

• Tony Kornheiser gives up his “Monday Night Football” gig, so ESPN tabs Jon Gruden as his replacement. It should be fun, considering what the ex-Bucs coach has said in the past about the Worldwide Leader.

• Will recent sex scandals cause Australian rugby to ban its cheerleaders?

• The Pepsi Center double-books a Nuggets-Lakers playoff game & WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” on the same night. Of course, Vince McMahon is going to have lots of fun with this Denver Debacle.

• Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger is hoping her boyfriend, Formula One star Lewis Hamilton, will soon race with her to the wedding altar.

Read more…

• Tony Kornheiser has called it quits with his “Monday Night Football” gig. In his place will be ex-Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden.

• And we’re sure Chucky will get along great with his new employer, since he’s had so many nice things to say about the Worldwide Leader before.

• Hedo Turkoglu’s heroics help the Orlando Magic curse the Celtics to no title repeat this year.

• Padraig Harrington is now taking golf tips from “Happy Gilmore“.

• In response to the Matthew Johns group sex scandal, some are calling for the banishment of cheerleaders from Australian pro rugby matches.

Read more…

It was troubling when ESPN assimilated Bobby Knight last year, but one thought buoyed my spirits through those dark and troubling times: At least the Worldwide Leader will never get Jon Gruden. The (now former) Tampa Bay Bucs coach would never turn to the dark side; he despises everything that ESPN stands for. How wrong I was (shakes head sadly).

Fame is a cruel mistress, and if you’re not careful, you can find yourself becoming the thing you hate most. Gruden may think that we’ve forgotten his little skirmishes with ESPN in the past, but no, the Intertubes never forget. Chucky’s history with the WWL has been tempestuous at best, and I’ve got the quotes to prove it. Shall we begin? Read more…

Tony Kornheiser’s three years in the booth at Monday Night Football have been pretty uneventful.  Some people liked him and his humor in the booth, while others would rather have had a real football mind instead of the guy who was supposed to appeal to the common man.  Personally I didn’t really care because when I’m watching football I’m not paying attention to the announcers as mush as I am my fantasy team.

Still, while I was never a huge fan of Kornheiser in the booth, I did think he was a lot better after Ron Jaworski replaced Joe Theismann.  Of course none of that matters anymore because once Tony saw that this season’s MNF schedule included a few trips to the west coast and that he’d have to get in a plane more than usual, he decided he’d had enough.  Now he’ll be replaced by former Raiders and Buccaneers coach, and horror movie star, Jon Gruden.

Read more…

• Gorgeous Aussie golfer Anna Rawson is your newest Go Daddy Girl.

• Japan wins its second World Baseball Classic. Konnichiwa, bitches!

• If it’s not coaches molesting their younger players, it’s the coaches’ wives doing the dirty deed.

• Buy some vodka, get a free ticket to a Phoenix Coyotes game.

• Can the Raptors’ Chris Bosh beat the rap of being a deadbeat dad?

Read more…