For a time I worked at now-defunct KMPC-AM in Los Angeles, which was an all sports outlet in Los Angeles that also served as the USC football and basketball flagship. Former Cleveland Brown and L.A. Raider nose tackle (and Saved By The Bell cast member!) Bob Golic co-hosted the pm drive show on the station with Chris Myers, and I often filled in on the show, appearing on-air with Golic.

It was kinda cool working with Bob, considering I grew up in a Notre Dame family (dad, brother, cousins are alums). I remember well watching him outwit Earl Campbell and the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl as middle linebacker of the 1978 national champion Fighting Irish.

Even before I worked with him, I always thought Golic had the potential to be a solid sports talk guy, like his brother Mike. But at KMPC, Bob never really seemed to bring the daily intensity needed for the job. I often thought to myself during that time that perhaps Golic’s weight was a factor. Bob was huge, and always seemed to be tired, on and off-air. So I was happy to recently see that Golic, who has since located back to the Cleveland area, has dropped 140 pounds in eight months! The local media is all over the story, both print and electronic (scroll down).

The best part? Unlike his brother Mike, who looks like he lost about 25 lbs for a Nutrisystem endorsement by eating sawdust cereal for a week (and then gaining it all back?), Bob apparently dropped the lbs on his own. (So we’re spared the on-air, slow-motion horseplay with sansabelted Dan Marino.) Read more…

Michael David Smith of FANHOUSE has the find of the day - the latest scene involving ESPN’s Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg on the soap opera “Guiding Light.”

We’re not sure how we missed this, but late last week Charlie Weis weighed in on the Dana Jacobson’s roast remarks and let us really know why ESPN took action against her.

Weis: “I was both personally and professionally offended by her comments. And if the situation were reversed, and that were me saying them, two things would have happened. I would have been the lead story on SportsCenter, and I would have been fired.” Read more…

• EVERY DAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY makes an offer, as Kirk Herbstreit’s house is for sale.

• YAHOO SPORTS’ Kelly Dwyer passes along this fun list of NBA bench warmers who have more bling than Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley & Karl Malone combined.

• DEADSPIN is quite relieved that the WNBA won’t be going on strike.

• SPORTS COLUMN gets over the hump with a camel who’s better at picking NFL games than Mike Golic.

• Speaking of predictions, ARMCHAIR GM determines how the Super Bowl will be played out - through the magic of Tecmo Bowl.

Read more…

Michael David Smith of AOL Fanhouse watched Dana Jacobson’s return to ESPN’s morning show “First Take” and reports that she seemed slightly miffed at how her rant was reported. With the emphasis on slightly.

“I want to once again say how truly sorry I am for my poor choices and bad judgment,” Jacobson said. “I’ve taken responsibility for what I did say and do, and realize it was wrong. … I have already learned a lot.”

Although Jacobson didn’t get into the details of what she said at the roast, the way she emphasized the words “what I did say” seemed to be a subtle suggestion that some of the reports that have come out in the past two weeks overstated exactly what Jacobson said. Read more…

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE, via THE BIG LEAD, reports today “Sources have confirmed that (Dana) Jacobson, a co-host of ‘First Take’ on ESPN2, currently is serving a one-week suspension because of her behavior at a Jan. 11 roast for ESPN Radio personalities Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic at Atlantic City, N.J.

(Jacobson with Jamie Mottram in happier times)

“While declining to confirm Jacobson had been suspended, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said, ‘Her actions and comments were inappropriate and we’ve dealt with it.‘”

Dealt with it how? By getting her better material? That was the only problem we had with her alleged comments, which were, though foul, somewhat less than original.

Read more…

UPDATE: Amateur Video from Mike & Mike Roast featuring Ditka d*ck joke fun!

UPDATE: Jacobson’s apology to the Catholic League.

UPDATE: Jacobson suspended by ESPN for a week.

UPDATE: Jacobson complains about off-air treatment by network.

ORIGINAL POST:

We seemed to have missed all the fun at the Mike & Mike Celebrity Roast Friday night. Or maybe we didn’t miss that much.

AWFUL ANNOUNCING tips us off to Scott Cronick of the PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY, who chronicled the tribute to the Worldwide Leader’s own radio hams, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic.

Cronick sums up the evening’s escapades by concluding, “The problem with this roast, unlike a Comedy Central or Friar’s Club roast, was that there weren’t enough comedians. Instead, the stage was mostly filled with athletes and ESPN personalities. Not comedians. And it showed.”

Some of the “highlights”:

Read more…

We were reading in the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION today about our Georgia Bulldogs and their recent, remarkable recruiting success when we ran across this line in Carter Strickland’s piece: “Maybe the Bulldogs aren’t as hot as Notre Dame, which has the top recruiting class in 2008 despite an abysmal 3-9 season.”

Notre Dame has the top recruiting class in the country? Apparently all those kids missed the recent “Mythbusters” episode on the school’s football program (ok, we made that up).

Just to make sure Strickland’s assertion wasn’t island-bound, we tracked down an opinion in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED from the top recruiting expert in the country, CSTV’s Tom Lemming.

Read more…

• AOL FANHOUSE rages on about Mike Golic’s admission that he used steroids, but knew he was wrong to do so:

• Speaking of the Golden Domers, Clay Travis of CBS SPORTSLINE has the pluck of the Irish, as he puts together Notre Dame’s 2008 schedule.• CBS DALLAS reports that Kobe Bryant was all set to be shipped off to Detroit this week, except for one thing - he didn’t want to go.

• PART MULE is tickled pink that while the rest of the NFL is green with envy at New England, the Patriots are green with energy conservation:

• MOTTRAM STATION takes a look at how the Nationals’ new stadium is coming along.• STORMING THE FLOOR finds John Calipari giving credit where credit is due - to a junior college coach who heavily influenced the Memphis main man.

STUFFED-CRUST COACHES FACE OFF IN A HEART-POUNDER: BIG TEN TAILGATE is polite to point out that this weekend college football’s most esteemed lardasses, Kansas Coach Mark Mangino and Toledo Coach Tom Amstutz, will be playing sideline seesaw during the Jayhawks-Rockets matchup in Lawrence, KS (if only we weren’t going to USC-Nebraska!).

Last year EDSBS noted that Amstutz was named spokesperson for “Get Fit Toledo!” by the mayor (we hope he had the same lighting and photoshop experts for his promotional posters as Mike Golic and John Kruk).We’re guessing Mangino is involved in a similar program in Kansas. The only difference being one second-word vowel difference.