One of the nice parts of being a sports blogger is that you can work from your parent’s basement home, and you can do all your writing in your underwear if you like. It’s great, I’m naked right now.

Other jobs in sports media tend to require a lot of travel, which if you have a family, can be pretty rough on you. One person who’s had enough of all the wandering around the country is Michele Tafoya. Tafoya works for ESPN as a sideline reporter on Monday Night Football and the NBA, while doing a weekly gig with Mike Tirico on ESPN Radio. Well, Michelle has decided she’d rather spend more time with her husband and son than interviewing Doc Rivers about his halftime adjustments, which is why she’s dropping her NBA assignment.

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• INSIDE THE BILLS finds the Buffalo NFL team trying to figure out how to properly pay respects to the late Tim Russert.

• WITH LEATHER gets a kick out of this kid’s kickboxing knockout.

• GOING FIVE HOLE cools off by writing about ice hockey in the Middle East.

• BIG LEAGUE STEW gets their feathers ruffled, as angry Mets fans plan on sending owner Fred Wilpon some chickens.

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Game 7 is no longer necessary. In laying out the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics are now your 2008 NBA champions.

And when the game clock finally flashed 0:00, no one got more caught up in the moment than Kevin Garnett.

(Judging by where KG is puckering up, no wonder the Celtic logo’s smirking)

Oh, no doubt it was also a special night for Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Doc Rivers, Brian Scalabrine and the rest of the Celtics team & fans. And Pierce should be expecting a new endorsement deal from Gatorade:

(Doc Rivers gets a bath. Shouldn’t the Celtics be drinking green Gatorade?)

But it was KG who was the most emotional once the title was theirs.

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It’s difficult to decide what’s the hardest to believe from Thursday night:

• Kobe Bryant had no baskets in the first 2 quarters.

• The Lakers still managed to be up by 18 at the half.

• The Celtics went on to win the game anyway.

(We must protect this Eddie House!)

After building a 21-point 1st quarter lead - the biggest in NBA Finals history - it certainly appeared that the Lake Show was back in business, brutally beating Boston & well on their way to setting this series even.

Bu what looked to be a Game 4 blowout soon evolved into a classic choke performance worthy of the finest oral actresses this side of the San Fernando Valley. Read more…

• Michael David Smith of AOL FANHOUSE tells Buzz Bissinger to make room for Michele Tafoya on the DEADSPIN bash-wagon.

• Meanwhile, MR. SUNSHINE berates Bob Costas in the same show for his snide opinions on sports radio.

• VIKINGS BLOG notes that after his arrest for assault, lineman Darrion Scott won’t likely be asked back to the Metrodome. But we bet Carl Eller would still want him around.

• The BOSTON HERALD reveals yet another woman claiming that Roger Clemens tried to start something - this time, it’s the ex-wife of wrestler Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake.

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Good luck to JT tonight - but we do have a soft spot for Priscilla Presley.

(SbB Girl Cecilia’s brush with a former NBA great - Vinny, Keystone Light?)

• Taking a fond look back at last weekend’s Panama City excursion.

• Phil Jackson puts the moves on Michele Tafoya.

• The owners of the Indiana Pacers supposedly want to give Larry the Bird.

• Reggie Jackson is going, going, gone from the Yanks’ spring training dugout.

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It was a rough Sunday for the Lakers, who became the 22nd-straight victim of the Houston Rockets, and lost their lead atop the NBA’s Western Conference. But, as Ryne Nelson of ODENIZED reports, Phil Jackson was able to find a little ray of sunshine, as cameras caught the coach committing a cutesy conversation with an ESPN sideline reporter. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Erin Andrews.

FAN IQ comes across Michele Tafoya, who was recently removed from “Monday Night Football“, at Sunday’s game, trying to track down Jackson for a quick soundbite. As Michele asked the coach about game adjustments, Phil quickly adjusted his reply into some sweet talk (video after the jump): Read more…

As the NFL Combine gets into full swing, practices are also starting up for some indoor football squads. And one female sports reporter is getting an in-depth look of the lesser-known leagues - by suiting up with a team.

The COLUMBUS (GA) LEDGER-ENQUIRER has the story on Rachel Baribeau, a reporter for local radio station WEAM 1580, who’s been banging with the big boys out on the practice field. Read more…

No crosstown trips necessary for USC football fans - for now.

• In case you didn’t know, Roger Clemens was in Washington today.

• Those crazy Chris Berman clips have been booted off YouTube.

• Is Michael Wilbon swiping NBA All-Star ideas from bloggers?

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Hat tips to Michael David Smith at the AOL FANHOUSE for finding this USA TODAY piece by its sports media columnist, Michael Heistrand, in which NBC’s Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Andrea Kremer and producer Fred Gaudelli take shots at ESPN for cutting back the roles of sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya on Monday Night Football next year.

It’s worth noting that both Kremer and Gaudelli worked for ESPN before heading to NBC, but they take the Four-Letter to task — Kremer saying that the network’s demotion of Kolber and Tafoya sets back women, with Gaudelli adding that it’s more proof of ESPN being better with studio programs than live sporting events.

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