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…

Now I know why the LOS ANGELES TIMES didn’t lay off Diane Pucin. She has a terrific hustle piece today on one of the tragic offshoots of the success of the Fresno State football program. Although the team is wildly popular locally, if you’re under 18 and live in the Central Valley, you probably don’t own a thread of Bulldogs gear:

Membership in a large and notorious Central Valley gang called the Bulldogs. Beginning in the 1980s Fresno State’s fearsome mascot became a symbol of gang violence.  About two years ago, city officials and the police department began a public crackdown on the gang and even now grade school and high school students here can’t wear Fresno State gear to school.

Bulldogs Coach Pat Hill and Fresno Mayor Alan Autry obviously aren’t happy about the situation, but have deferred to local law enforcement in the matter. Autry, who was a teammate of Pete Carroll’s on the now-defunct University of Pacific football team, did though declare that the city and the university have “declared war to get that logo back.”

Have you noticed how little coverage Manny Ramirez’s disparaging comments about the Red Sox have gotten?

The reason: Ramirez is despised personally by most baseball reporters, which is one of the reasons his comments have been generally ignored. It’s also why he has absolutely zero shot at winning the National League MVP - as voted on by those same blackballing writers.

Ramirez is the sole reason I’ll be attending a Dodger playoff game for the first time in 10 years in Los Angeles this weekend, thanks to discounted tickets (use the code SbB010) from My Boy Barry. So obviously the people who pay baseball’s light bill don’t give a damn in Manny is an ass off-the-field.

Jon Solomon of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS has an embarrassingly puffy piece on ESPN’s College GameDay that reads like it was written in 1999. Lede:

Unusual but true fact about ESPN College GameDay: Lee Corso gestures with a pencil on TV to promote Dixon Ticonderoga, which is best known for its yellow No. 2 pencil. Corso is the company’s director of business development.

Hopefully the good folks residing in Estonia take Solomon’s B-News, since I’m guessing they’re the only respirating souls left in the solar system who haven’t already been leveled by Corso & Co.’s public relations pablum express.

Solomon does slip in an interesting tidbit from Kirk Herbstreit though, who still refuses to admit he was wrong in reporting the Les Miles-to-Michigan hire last season (thank goodness for that LSU media guide!). Read more…

Ever since the Miami Hurricanes lost to the Florida Gators last weekend, they’ve spent the majority of their time whining about everything.  Head coach Randy Shannon talked about how he didn’t appreciate Urban Meyer opting to kick a field goal in the last minute even though his team was already ahead 23-3, and former Cane Warren Sapp quickly followed that up by saying that Meyer was a “classless dirtbag.”

Not content with solely ripping on Meyer, Canes fans now have a new person to blame for their team sucking: Erin Andrews.

Read more…

Which would you rather do - go on an all-expenses paid trip to the Rose Bowl, or host a barbecue with Lee Corso and pals? Well, if you’re Nelva Deeke of Hubbell, Nebraska, you get grilling with the Gameday crew.

(Lee had his own suggestions on where to eat)

The SCOTTSBLUFF STAR-HERALD cooks up the story of Deeke’s decision to turn down a free fight to Pasadena just so she could share some corn on the cob with Chris Folwer and some cole slaw with Kirk Herbstreit.

Read more…

• Hideki Matsui, collector of wedding bets & even bigger collector of porn.

• Tim Tebow was able to tantalize Lee Corso & crew to come down and cover the Gators’ spring practice game.

• No bones about it, skeletons were discovered during digging for the London Olympics.

• A collegiate catfight may have been caused by couple of gals claiming an assistant coach.

Read more…

Lover of blogs everywhere, Barry Jackson of the MIAMI HERALD, does his best to bury the lead today in his sports media notes column by reporting on an interesting ESPN programming decision:

“Largely because of Tim Tebow’s popularity, ESPN will carry the Gators’ spring game at 1 p.m. April 12, with Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit on the call. A two-hour edition of College GameDay will precede it.“

Wow. That doesn’t sound like a great idea by the WWL. But we think we know the real reason why ESPN would make such a nonsensical decision. Read more…

The NEW YORK TIMES projects news that ESPN is looking to broaden its broadcasting brilliance to the big screen.

The Worldwide Leader is focused on collaborating with Walt Disney Studios and Creative Artists Agency to produce & distribute sports-themed theatrical releases in the next few years. And the network is already making cinematic strides by hiring 30 filmmakers to produce one-hour mini-movies, set to start showing on the small screen in September 2009.

As the bigwigs try to brainstorm for feature film ideas, Mike Bianchi of the ORLANDO SENTINEL proposes remaking a Disney family favorite - featuring the ESPN Primetime Players. Read more…

PLEASE OH PLEASE TAKE BROADCASTER CORSO INSTEAD! The free-for-all to find a new West Virginia football coach is on and the CHARLESTON (WV) DAILY MAIL has several candidates in the can - including Terry Bowden.

Bowden would appear to be the frontrunner, with the D-M reporting: “The WVU graduate told the Daily Mail in October he wanted to return to coaching next season and that he wanted to replace (Rich) Rodriguez if he had left for Alabama last year.“Bowden has been off the sidelines since 1999, when he was forced to resign at Auburn. The program had been in steady decline since he lead the Tigers to an 11-0 record in ‘93.

The son of FSU coach Bobby Bowden has since been an ABC analyst radio analyst (NEVER trust an official website!) and (what else?) motivational speaker. If WVU is looking to pluck someone from the airwaves, we’re actually rooting for them to take Lee Corso instead.

AT LEAST HERBSTREIT DIDN’T LET LES MESS BOTHER HIM: By now we all know about Kirk Herbstreit incorrectly reporting that Les Miles was going to take the Michigan job - and Miles publicly flogging him about the misguided reportage last Saturday.

Missing on a story happens to the best of them, but apparently Herbstreit is now hanging up his reporter’s hat, but not before throwing ESPN executives under the bus.CONSTRUDA has this from Herbstreit while guesting on WDFN-AM this week in Detroit: “I would much rather talk about what teams are doing on the field. One thing I can assure you, you will never see me gathering news and reporting information ever again.”

“Honestly, the best way to describe it is by the time Friday came around I had some information that trust me on this it was very accurate base on not a source but someone that was going to be involved in the situation.

“I made the mistake, I guess telling the ESPN bosses it and in doing that they are journalists and they said you’ve got an obligation to talk about that and go with it. You guys know, I as a former player really pride myself on my relationships with coaches and players and just not real comfortable in breaking stories, leave that up to Pat Forde and the others to do that stuff.“When they talked about that and really thought it over and over because it was going to happen they didn’t want to get beat on the story and they suggested that I go with it.”

We agree with Herbstreit on two fronts: ESPN executives deserve all the blame for the debacle - as do they for the weather in Bristol in February, the hiring of Jemele Hill, and the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage industry.And we also concur when it comes to him reporting news. Why risk providing provocative information that might make people want to tune in when you can make the same amount of money changing out Lee Corso’s bib five-times-a-GameDay?

SPEECHLESS - STEPHEN A-1 WORST SPORTS ANNOUNCER: It’s well-known how importantly Stephen A. Smith feels about the blogosphere. Now the internet masses have been led astray by the “untrained writers” once more.

WITH LEATHER shares the important results of an important poll offered up by AOL FANHOUSE, and Stephen is A-1 on top of the hot list.

Too bad for Screamin’ A, it’s recognition for being America’s Worst Sports Announcer. The blogger basher was able to beat out such cringe-inducing competition as Lee Corso, Shannon Sharpe, and in the tourney topper, Monday Night mouth Tony Kornheiser.