The Incomparable Mariano Rivera

Lat night, Mariano Rivera recorded his 500th career save--and his first RBI. Rivera, who insists he still has plenty of gas left in the tank, joins Trevor Hoffman on the exclusive list of closers to notch 500 saves. And to think the Yankees signed him for an astonishingly low $3,000 and, back in 1996, even considered trading him. Amazing. Actually, now that I think about it, everything about Mariano is amazing. Here he is talking to ESPN about his career. 

PTI Down Under

God help me, but I had no idea ESPN's influence reached all the way down to Australia. The network really is ruining sports the world over, one sophomoric program at a time. Take this clip below, for instance. In it, Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut volunteers five good minutes to the Australian PTI, 300 seconds of his life he will never, ever get back. Bogut, an Aussie, chats with co-hosts "Slammin" Sam Kekovich, a former Australian Rules Football star and current spokesman for Meat and Livestock Australia, and Russell Barwick, who is, clearly, an idiot. During the segment, Kekovich, a man with some serious, unresolved issues with women, becomes increasingly obsessed with Bogut's sex life, specifically how many women Bogut has waiting for him in his hotel rooms and how he manages to steer clear of pesky sexual harassment and sexual assault charges from predatory American women. Barwick, meanwhile, asks Bogut who he thinks will win the World Series, or "whatever the NBA Finals are called." By the end, I'm not sure which host is a bigger tool, just like the original PTI, minus the accents and the regular use of the word "mate," of course.  

Enjoy.   

(Via NBA Mate)

Miller, Morgan and Pray for Rain

Just when I thought we'd finally put an end to Joe Morgan, he's back. This time with a vengeance. Like a killer in a teen slasher movie, Morgan just won't die. Regrettably, it appears Morgan will continue to broadcast ESPN's Sunday night baseball games with John Miller, just as he has for the past 19 years. 

As if this starling fact alone won't haunt baseball fans well into Monday mornings at least through the month of October, the news gets even scarier. Much, much scarier. 

Via RAB, ESPN is also ready to announce that joining Miller and Morgan in the booth this season will be Steve Phillips, the former Mets general manager whose grasp of the game makes fellow "analyst" John Kruk look like Bill James in comparison.  

Yes, this Steve Phillips. And, yes, that Steve Phillips, too.

The good news? Baseball Hall of Fame writer Peter Gammons will take Phillips's spot in the ESPN studio, which isn't particularly comforting given what the worldwide leader plans on putting baseball fans through every Sunday night this season. 

I guess there's always the radio, or the MLB Network, which seems to be the only thing in the world likely to benefit from ESPN's eyes-averting decision. 

TrueHoops Nation

Henry Abbot's wonderful site TrueHoop, which is hosted by the worldwide leader, has brought into their influence an impressive cadre of previously established and independent basketball blogs from around the country to offer unique perspectives on every team in the National Basketball Association, from Toronto to Portland.  

The goal of the TrueHoop network, according to Abbot, is "to find and foster excellence in online basketball writing." I'm all for that, even if I wasn't invited to the party. 

Here's Abbot explaining how the network, which is basically an aggregated basketball blog, is going to work:

Put those talented new voices together with the stuff every sports fan wants to know about their team day in and day out, and I believe you have something that will prove to be must-read. To savvy fans in many markets, those kinds of blogs are already must-read. And they have tremendous promise to get even better over the following years.

[...] The nuts and bolts of the TrueHoop Network are quite simple. In a nutshell: Bloggers maintain their own sites, which they run as they see fit (even with their own ads they sell, if they'd like). They agree to carry some ESPN stuff on their blogs (like that video player), and to generally be responsible. And ESPN.com promotes the blogs' work and content.

The good folks over at Knickerblogger get the honor of covering the team for what I can only assume will be a much wider audience. I trust they'll continue to run their fantastic "7 Seconds or Mess" webisodes, which I steal from, both on the blog and in my personal life, all the time.

Sam I Am

Pending verification of his eligibility, Samuel Louis Charles, aka Bigsam112, won ESPN's Streak for the Cash game last night, when the Steelers came roaring back late against the Cowboys. Charles, who hails from North Miami Beach, Florida, picked 25 straight wins in the contest, dating back to October 23, when he picked the Rays over the Phillies in the second game of the World Series. 

Last night's pick earned Sam a cool million, and he's still in a position to pick up another $10,000, if his streak holds up as the longest overall before the game ends on December 31.

We Are All Bigsam112

Unbeknownst to me, ESPN has been running an online contest, Streak for the Cash, for fans who think they can pick 25 straight winners from a pool of network-sanctioned matchups. The first person to do so before December 31, 2008 wins a cool million dollars. 

Say what you will about ESPN, but this is an idea I can get behind. I wish I had known about the contest earlier, though, because one participant-- known only as Bigsam112-- is one pick away from a nice pre-Christmas stocking stuffer. 

Bigsam112 has picked 24 in a row, including, for my money, his gutsiest call, the Dolphins over the Broncos, in Denver, at the beginning of November. Most recently, Bigsam112, who started off losing five in a row before his current hot streak, correctly picked the Buccaneers over the Saints for his 24th consecutive winner. He is the third contestant to reach 24, according to the ESPN.com, but, as of this writing, has yet to make his potential million-dollar pick.

I don't know about you, but I'm rooting for the sports geek. I'd love to see him take one from the Worldwide Leader.