The second season of the hilarious IFC show "Z Rock" is underway, and the latest show has a cameo from AA favorite, Bonnie Bernstein. Bon Bon (the cute nickname I would call her if we were a couple) plays the love interest of lead singer Paulie Z, and has to protect him on their skating date....

So that's where she's been! I'm going to hide my jealously for the moment, and just thank the gods that she's still in the country. Hopefully she'll be back on NFL Live this Summer.

Well we're down to five candidates for Playboy's "Sexiest Sportscaster" Award for 2008, and I think those of you interested in this sort of thing will be pleased. And your five finalists are! Erin Andrews, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi and Molly Sullivan. From the Bunny (SFW) via Fanhouse....

Talk about tough choices. It’s time to pick America’s Sexiest Sportscaster out of these five skilled and stunning finalists.

There’s the lovely Erin Andrews of ESPN, perhaps best known for her NCAA basketball coverage. Andrews won Playboy’s Sexiest Sportscaster in 2008—can she repeat?

ESPN’s second finalist is the beautiful and talented Bonnie Bernstein, who’s been with the Worldwide Leader since 2006 and recently had stints with the network’s Sunday Night Baseball and SportsCenter shows.

Also making the cut is relative sportscasting newcomer Lauren Shehadi, who joined CBSSports.com just this past summer. Previously, she was a reporter for North Dakota’s KX News, where her skills and girl-next-door charm clearly caught the eye of the network giant. Apparently, Playboy voters agreed.

Fox Network’s rising star Charissa Thompson notched a berth in the last round of voting. When this knockout is not joking around with John Salley on the Best Damn Sports Show Period, she roams college football sidelines reporting for the Big Ten Network.

Rounding out this fab five is Molly Sullivan of the MountainWest Sports Network. This former North Carolina Tar Heel swimmer trained for the Olympics before an injury sent her in pursuit of a reporting career. She currently covers UNLV sports for MTN.

The winner will be announced on February 12th, and while I'm almost positive that Internet darling, Erin Andrews, will win the thing, I urge you to try and mix things up this year. Let's try and get someone else some press this year, how about Charissa Thompson?

Sexiest Sportscasters of 2009 Narrowed to 5, Erin Andrews Still Around (Fanhouse)
The Field's Down To Five, Who's The Hottest? (Playboy)

You've most undoubtedly read about Bonnie's comments comparing AAU players in America to Suicide Bombers in Palestine, but I hadn't seen the video anywhere so here it is. Bonnie is talking about incoming Arizona Freshman possibly skipping College and playing overseas when she goes into the analogy....

The worst part about the whole thing is not only the idiotic comparison, but the fact that she says, "I'm not making the comparison." Well yeah you are and you just did. Also, if you have to preface something by saying, "we live in a hyper-sensitive society", you should probably just not say what you're thinking.

Bonnie has since apologized and Fanhouse has the transcript...

"Hi, this is Bonnie Bernstein, and I'd just like to take a minute to apologize for making a connection this morning on Mike and Mike between Palestinians and the adults who influence the thinking of many young NBA prospects. I was a student athlete who was lucky enough to have part of my college expenses paid for by a scholarship, and so I've always embraced the importance of higher education.

That said, it upsets me greatly -- as I think you can tell, if you heard the interview -- when I hear about adults telling impressionable kids, 'Don't worry about school, your future is in the NBA.' These stories just lend credence to the notion one is often a product of his environment, and while I emphasized that twice during our discussion, in hindsight I realize it was simply a mistake to bring Palestine into the discussion at all, and for that, I apologize again.

Lesson learned: Religion and politics have no place on public airwaves at a sports network. That's definitely a credo I will live by from this point forward. Thanks and have a great day."

We can't even go a week now with stupid comments like this happening. How crazy is that? Just stop people...no religion, no race, and no gender talk. It will never come out good.

ESPN's Bonnie Bernstein Says Palestinian Kids Want to Be Suicide Bombers, Apologizes (Fanhouse)

Came across this interview with Suzy Kolber in the Kansas City Star, and I was wondering why she would talk to a random KC paper and not return my phone calls. 87 messages isn't a bad thing is it? Anywho, the writer (Jeffery Flanagan) posed the question of how awful and annoying sideline reporting hasn't gotten and I thought Suzss'ss answer was pretty interesting.

At some point in the last decade, sideline reporters lost their identity and seemed to concentrate more on fluffy pregame features that might as well have been presented from the studio or the booth rather than from the sideline.

But Suzy Kolber, who along with Michele Tafoya works the sidelines on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” said sideline reporters are slowly regaining their identity, at least at her network.

“I think you’re right that the trend went the other way for awhile,” Kolber told me by phone. “But I know here at ESPN our executives had a meeting about halfway through last season and the decision was made to try and redefine the role of sideline reporting to make it much more ‘in the moment.’

Umm did you? Because I haven't f'ing noticed.

“There’s going to be a change of philosophy to go back to what sideline reporting used to be, more about what’s going on on the sideline in terms of injuries or players interacting. We have access no one else does, so we have to be the eyes and the ears for the viewers.”- Kolber

Holy Shit! I can't believe they figured it out....it only took how long? Can you let me know when that happens please? I'd love to witness that first hand.

In all seriousness I never understood the job at all, and I don't think Producers did/do either. Sideline Reporters rarely ask hard questions and their pieces have became so cheesy and boring that they had to get the hottest women they could find just to keep people interested. I mean how hard would it be to give the coach or player a headset and a mic like they do in Soccer and save a few 100 thousand bucks a year in salary?

I also think Kolber, Bonnie Bernstein, and Erin Andrews' talents are wasted down on the sidelines and they could do just as good a job if not better than some of the male leads they have in place now. You can fire everyone else though.

Putting the ‘report’ back in sideline reporting (Kansas City Star)

Can't remember if I covered this or not, but Bonnie Bernstein is hosting NFL Live in the offseason and I couldn't be happier. I don't care if the analysts are Mark "Guiding Light" Schlereth and Sean Salisbury. I'm watching.

I'm watching even though their first segment was a 5-minute discussion on whether Training Camp fight were a good thing or not. I'm watching even though they had 7 reports from 'sprite' Rachel Nichols on basically nothing (although the Tank Johnson interview was good). I'm watching even if Sean Salisbury yells "FREEDOM!" when comparing an Eagles Training Camp fight to Braveheart (true story...I missed the video opportunity). And yes, I'm watching even if Bonnie calls Canton....Camden.

Yes, I'm watching because Bonnie is one of the best Sports Reporters period. Oh, and she's number two on my "Top 5" list. Probably more because of number two. Sorry....number one was kind of a lie.

P.S.- If anyone can guess number one (hint: she's also in sports and not Erin Andrews) I'll send you a Free Harold! t-shirt.

P.P.S.- I wouldn't be against ESPN firing Trey Wingo and hiring Bonnie full-time. In fact I'm starting an online petition now.

There are two Monday Night games on September 10th this year, and thus a backup team is needed. ESPN is tabbing it's resident gophers for the job and pairing them with an ex-coach and my muse.

The Leader plans to announce today that the team will consist of play-by-play Mike Greenberg, analysts Mike Golic and Mike Ditka and sideline reporter Bonnie Bernstein. They will make their debut on September 10th for the Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers game The game will be second in the double header on ESPN and will start around 10:15pm.

You can add "Backup MNF Team" to a Mike & Mike resume that includes cow milking, Arena Football, and the National Spelling Bee. Good times. Can't Football start already? And how about we just call Bonnie, Mike Bernstein to make it 4???

I was completely unaware of the fact that Bonnie Bernstein almost died back in early October coming back from the Red River Shootout. Well anyway(s) here's the story from Bonnie herself....

The pain in my leg first started last Tuesday. I figured I pulled a muscle in the gym, so I took some ibuprofen, iced it and blew it off. There were other collective symptoms -- leg fatigue, shortness of breath, dehydration-- that, had I known the signs, would have alerted me to something more serious. But things really came to a head this past Saturday, when I was in Dallas covering the Red River Shootout.

By the time the annual rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma ended and I did my post-game interviews, it was nearly 6:00 pm. I was scrambling to catch a 7:15 out of DFW (with no traffic, it’s at least a half hour drive)…but the challenge is, when you leave the Cotton Bowl, you’re smack dab in the middle of the mob scene that is the Texas State Fair. It’s a perfect place for one of those Snickers commercials… "Not goin’ anywhere for awhile?"

At 6:40 Monday morning, I went to see Dr. John Schneider, a physical therapist Phil Simms introduced me to last year when I was having trouble rehabbing a hamstring injury. He’s terrific, and I’ve dubbed him "The Miracle Man"… but for some reason, not only did inside of my thigh hurt even MORE Tuesday morning, but the front and the back of my left knee were now completely swollen. John told me to stay off it and if it didn’t feel better the next day, he’d send me to an orthopedist.

Schneider changed course Wednesday morning. He sent me to Lenox Hill Hospital to get a venal Doppler ultrasound. "I think you may have a blood clot," he told me. "If that’s the case, the blood supply to the rest of your leg is being cut off and that would explain the swelling in your knee."

That afternoon, the woman conducting the ultrasound explained what I was watching on the monitor next to me. "When I push the wand down on your leg, you should see your arteries come together. If they don’t, if a black hole comes between them, that’s a blood clot."

Not more than 10 seconds later, she pushed down on the most painful area of my leg. Nothing moved. There was a clot, clear as day. The medical diagnosis was deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

I was immediately sent to the emergency room, and within an hour, was getting a CAT scan. The doctors were worried the shortness of breath I had experienced was due to the clot in my leg breaking off and traveling into my lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. Shortly after I got back to my room, Dr. Bushra Mina, a pulmonary specialist, walked in with a calm, but stern look on his face. "You have two blood clots in your lungs. One in your left. One in your right. We need to get you on medication right away."

That actually made my heart hurt a little. My sweet sweet Bonnie (Awful GF...change the channel please)....what would I have done without you? When you interviewed Gary Williams after the 2002 NCAA Championship I told my roommate that I was to marry you.

Our lives have led different paths, but it doesn't mean that I don't still have feelings for you. Next time call me, and I'll rush to your side and feed you chicken soup until you are well enough to attack those sidelines with your trademark fervor again.

In all seriousness that's some scary stuff. You'll probably see a good bit of PSAs from Bonnie regarding the subject as she's now a Spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent DVT.

Bonnie's Diary (BonnieBernstein.com)
Bernstein Health Scare (USA Today)

Update: I missed that this actually took place all the way back in October. I mixed the diary entry with this comment from a USA Today article....

Bernstein has learned what might have led to her condition — frequent flying, using estrogen-based birth control, a family history of clots — and now elevates her legs flying. That doesn't always help: "I thought my leg was going to explode on the flight back from the Pro Bowl in Hawaii."