Whether he gets the team or not, Rush Limbaugh’s bid to become part-owner of the St. Louis Rams is already the gift that keeps on giving. Several NFL players, the NFL Players Association, and even MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann have had their say on the potential buy-in by the taciturn-challenged talk radio blabber guy, but now at this hour other voices are elbowing each other to be heard.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on Monday not surprisingly came out against the notion of Rush owning an NFL team. But Limbaugh also got a surprising ally in Stephen A. Smith. Key quote from the cheesy-doodled one: Black players who say they wouldn’t play for a Limbaugh-owned team “are lying through their stinking teeth.”

Meanwhile, even Rush himself chimed in on the controversy. Read more…

Stephen A. Smith is filling in middays this week on ESPN Radio’s affiliate in Philadelpha, as he noted on Twitter today.

(Can Stephen A. Draw An Audience Without ESPN Distribution?)

He also pointed out that he’ll have news on his full-time career plans “in days.”

Career crossroads time for Smith, who wasn’t able to establish an audience despite the second-to-none vehicle that is ESPN-TV and ESPN Radio.  If he’s going to remain a nationally-known personality, the success of this next gig, which I’m assuming is national in scope, will be critical to the future of his career.

If this next venture fails, I’m guessing he’ll be a local Philly on-air personality for the balance of his media career. Not there’s anything wrong with that.

• Richard Jefferson got cold feet and decided to ditch his beautiful bride-to-be. Too bad the new Spur neglected to inform his wedding guests.

• What’s better than $1 beers at the ballpark? How about $1 beers at the ballpark with a buxom Playboy “Hot Housewife” model?

• A British tennis coach is caught doing a little drive-by wanking near a group of 14-year-old girls.

• Nice to see Erin Andrews, Heather Graham & Kristin Cavallieri all share the same fashion sense.

• Hard to tell what looked weaker last night - President Obama’s first pitch, or the NL All-Stars’ overall play.

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We suppose that we can forgive Dana Jacobson this minor transgression, but it’s hilarious nonetheless. During ESPN’s “First Take” this morning, Jacobson referred to college basketball analyst Stephen Bardo thusly: “St. Louis is considered one of America’s greatest sports towns, but is it the best? Skip and Stephen A. will debate that, coming up next.” No, Stephen A. Smith has not returned to ESPN (he left the network on May 1 when his contract was not renewed). Don’t panic.

It was just an on-air flub. As AWFUL ANNOUNCING points out, “First Take” has been shuffling co-hosts with Skip Bayless since the departure of the Cheesy Doodled One. Bardo was teamed with Bayless today, his first name obviously overwhelming Jacobson with a wave of nostalgia (or she was hung over. Choose one). Video following the jump. Read more…

• A sad way to start the baseball week: Phillies announcer Harry Kalas & former Tigers pitcher Mark Fidrych both pass away on the same day.

• But it was nice to see Brian Bosworth help save an Oklahoman’s life.

• Wedding bells have rung for a couple of tennis stars: Andy Roddick ties the knot with Brooklyn Decker, while Roger Federer marries his manager.

• Padres pitcher Heath Bell is p.o.’ed about ESPN’s overwhelming coverage of all things Yankees, Mets & Red Sox.

• That stinks: Dwight Howard has a passion for passing gas.

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Stephen A. Smith will be gone completely from ESPN at the end of the NBA playoffs.

(S.A.S. enjoying being inside the ropes while he can)

THE BIG LEAD has the scoop:

Within the last month, a source says that ESPN and (Stephen A.) Smith went to the negotiating table and couldn’t reach an agreement. Apparently, ESPN’s offer was considerably lower than Smith’s previous contracts - which were multi-media faceted - and Smith passed. He was then offered the decision to work through the remainder of his contract, or walk away and still get paid, and a source says Smith decided to work.

99.9% of you probably had the same initial reax as me: Good riddance!

But after thinking about it, I was a little sad.

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• For those of you Tucson TV viewers who had their Super Bowl interrupted by a schlong, Comcast would like to pay you $10 for your troubles.

(The young lady on the right was smiling about seeing something just as long as Larry Fitzgerald’s go-ahead TD reception)

• Kobe Bryant helps the Lakers knock off the Knicks with an MSG-record 61 point performance.

• Marquette basketball coach Buzz Williams feels stung by an innocent media question.

• Manny Ramirez says no thanks to the Dodgers’ $25 million offer.

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ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith caused quite an uproar on Monday when he said that Chris Bosh could be traded before the NBA’s deadline on February 19th because not only are the Raptors a putrid 19-30, but because Bosh had already told the Raptors there was no way he was staying in Toronto after his contract expired next season. You can see the video of Smith’s report here. Now what Smith didn’t do is say who his sources for Bosh’s admission to the team were. Maybe it was the cheese doodles?

Now as you’d expect, the Raptors weren’t very happy about Smith’s report, seeing as how they were proclaiming that Bosh had never said anything of the sort to the team, and they weren’t about to trade the centerpiece of their franchise. Now Bosh himself is coming out and saying that he’s never told the team he plans on leaving after next season, and basically that Smith is making the whole thing up.

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As The Duke was so kind to inform us all of this morning in the Speed Read, Adam “Pacman” Jones was cut by the Dallas Cowboys yesterday after a story on ESPN talked about his supposed involvement in a shooting outside an suburban Atlanta strip club back in June 2007.

According to the story, while no charges were ever filed against Pacman or anybody else for the shooting, an informant told police that it had been ordered by Jones. Apparently he’d been in some kind of altercation with one of the men that was shot at. Well, as you can easily figure out, Pacman isn’t exactly thrilled with ESPN right now for running the story that cost him his job. So now he needs to find a new way to make money to pay for all these lawyers to keep him out of prison, and the only way to do that would be to sue ESPN.

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At least according to Charles Barkley.

I’ve actually personally sworn off posting about Barkley and/or LeBron James in the remaining millenia, but I was so bemused by media reporting of Barkley’s recent comments on Dan Patrick’s radio show that I had to chime in.

(Smith at - where else? - a Cavs game)

Barkley last Wednesday said that James needed to “shut the hell up” when it came to his future NBA team destination in 2010. Of, course, I couldn’t care less about that. The fun part is what Barkley said about Stephen A. Smith right in the middle of his comment about James - and I suppose it illustrates just how far S.A.S. has fallen off the sports media map. Read more…