Bill Simmons has been trying to get on PTI for years, and now it finally appears that it will become a reality. Simmons has a book coming out and as a part of his tour, he'll be appearing on PTI next Tuesday. On top of that, he'll be appearing on Sports Nation, The Colbert Report, and joining Mike Breen and Hubie Brown during their call of the Bulls-Celtics game on October 30th....

Monday, Oct. 26th: Washington, D.C. - ESPN Zone (11:30pm)
Tuesday, Oct. 27th: Philadelphia - Borders (6pm)
Wed., Oct. 28th: New York - Professor Thoms' (7pm)
Thursday, Oct. 29th: New York - Borders (Noon)
Friday, Oct. 30th: Boston - Barnes & Noble (12:30pm)
Friday, Oct. 30th: Boston - Hurricane O'Reilly's (4pm)
Monday, Nov. 2nd: Chicago - ESPN Zone (5:30pm)
Tuesday, Nov. 3rd: Phoenix - Barnes & Noble (7pm)
Thursday, Nov. 5th: San Francisco - Borders (7pm)
Friday, Nov. 6th: San Diego - Borders (7pm)
Saturday, Nov. 7th: Las Vegas - ESPN Zone (4pm)
Monday, Nov. 9th: Los Angeles - ESPN Zone (TBA)
Friday, Nov. 13th: Anaheim - ESPN Zone (4pm)
Tuesday, Nov. 17th: Seattle - Sport Restaurant & Bar (7pm)
Thursday, Nov. 19th: Beaverton, Ore. - Borders (7pm)
Friday, Nov. 20th: Denver - Tattered Cover LoDo (5pm)

• Tuesday, Oct. 27th: "PTI"
• Wednesday, Oct. 28th: "SportsNation"
• Thursday, Oct. 29th: "Morning Joe" (6-9 a.m. on MSNBC) and "The Colbert Report" (11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central)
• Friday, Oct. 30th: Bill will join the announcing team during ESPN's broadcast of the Bulls-Celtics game (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)

There are still rumblings that Simmons is leaving ESPN when his contract is up, and if he does, at least he'll be going out with a bang.

If you've been reading blogs for awhile, you almost certainly know about the crazy yet genius Free Darko. Well Adidas has also recognized the site's brilliance, and has decided to use some of Bethlehem Shoals' illustrations that he used in "The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac", and turn them into a commercial. Here's a look at the Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose spots....

Yes, that was Chali 2na from the Jurassic 5, doing the voiceover. And yes that was awesome. Congrats Free Darko!


Some of Where We've Been (Free Darko)

I've made no secret that the first crush of my life was Alyssa Milano, and today comes the wonderful news that she's writing a book about her "experiences" in and around Major League Baseball. There's no word if she will be addressing all of her past relationships with some of the players, but if she does, the book will apparently also be much more than that. From Harper Collins via The Sporting Blog....

As it turned out, the Dodgers were just the beginning. More than simply a book about the Dodgers, Safe at Home offers a view from the bleachers unlike any other, as Alyssa gives a fan's perspective on the heart-ache, headache, and joy that make every baseball season worth following. From arguing about the importance of baseball history to appreciating the quiet months of the off-season to criticizing Major League Baseball's response to the steroid scandal, Alyssa intertwines her thoughts about the game with stories from her life, bringing an intelligent, wry, and entertaining female voice to the world of baseball writing.

Throughout all the shifts in Alyssa's life—the madness of growing up a child star, having to navigate life's most awkward phases in front of the cameras—baseball has been her one constant, a distraction that was always welcome. Whether you're already a fan or you need some convincing, Safe at Home makes a compelling case for why baseball is and always will be America's game. The end result is a unique and unexpected book that is equal parts memoir, manifesto, and love letter to our national pastime.

Well that sounds exciting, doesn't it? I personally think she would sell more copies if she addressed her dating of MLB players, but whatever works for her.

Yes, Even Alyssa Milano Is Writing A Book (The Sporting Blog)
Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic (Harper Collins)

Happily ensconced in L.A. until he decides to hang it up for good (seriously, don't expect any blame for the Dodgers to fall anywhere but the McCourts, and in most cases, rightfully so), Joe Torre has decided to put his former team, the one he won four world championships with, on blast.

The New York Post paid for a copy of a book he co-wrote with SI's Tom Verducci (my bet is that Torre talked into a tape recorder and Verducci assembled the narrative into something approaching literary form) called "The Yankee Years." Apparent highlights:

• Alex Rodriguez is known as "A-Fraud" among his own teammates, and has an unhealthy obsession with Derek Jeter (justifying every parody blog post and joke made on that matter)
  
• Team doctors told George Steinbrenner that Torre had cancer before they told Torre
• Brian Cashman sold the manager down the river, not telling the ownership that Torre wanted a two-year deal to remain as manager

Plenty to snack on for the Yankee Haters among us (myself included), but let's just say that the upcoming season will determine how much attention is actually paid to this -- if the Yanks' off-season spending works in their favor while Torre manages to scrounge out another NL West title (and don't front, Manny Ramirez will go back to L.A. because they're the only ones who are serious about signing him), no one will remember this book much.

I love when athletes hold certain grudges against harmless media people. It's even funnier when that person is the crazy, and usually random, Lou Holtz. Ex-NFLer Jason Peter has a bit of a grudge against Lou and he's pulling no punches in his new book. From the South Bend Tribune via The Wiz of Odds....

Twelve years after he last paced the Notre Dame sideline, former Irish coach Lou Holtz still tends to inspire strong feelings in the people whose lives he crossed, even momentarily.

That list certainly includes former University of Nebraska football star turned author Jason Peter, who saves some of the strongest profanity-laced vitriol in his new book "Hero of the Underground," for Holtz.

"I still wouldn't turn down the opportunity to spit in Lou Holtz's (bleeping) face," Peter writes in the book, which hit bookshelves on July 8. "Each Saturday in the fall when Holtz makes his jovial, dumb ... remarks on ESPN, I hope he knows that there's at least one family on the other side of the screen, the Peter family, that knows what a -- -- -- he really is."

The reason for the grudge stems from Lou Holtz not ever calling Peter's brother after the ND recruit suffered a broken neck in a freak pool accident. The bother, Damien, even attended Notre Dame and was ignored by coaches and teammates. He recovered and then transfered to Nebraska. Everything turned out good for Damien, but that doesn't mean that Jason is okay with it....

"My fingers start to tense up and I get that feeling through my body, even after all these years have passed, when I see him on TV," Jason Peter said in a phone interview Thursday. "When I hear people talking about him, something goes off in my head. I carry so much anger over that and I don't know what it would take or if there's anything that can be done to make it OK.

"Out of the entire book, with all the stories that are in there, all the different phases of my life, the toughest chapter for me to write and for me to read is the part about Damian breaking his neck and the fact that Holtz never called him."

That's some hate right there. I also really wonder what (blank)(blank)(blank) actually is. If anyone has any guesses feel free to leave them in the comments, but I'm going with "Stupid Dummy Head".

Author scorns Holtz (South Bend Tribune)
Reporters' Notebooks (The Wizard of Odds)

ESPN's Kenny Mayne has a new book out with a very long title and he's going through all avenues to make sure you hear about it. The book is exactly what you think it would be. Kind of loopy, funny in parts, and whips through just about every single Sport you can think of (Wiffle Ball anyone?). And while I'd recommend the book to anyone who enjoys Mayne's work and the lighter side of Sports, I'd rather take a look at one key medium that Kenny and his publishers are targeting. Blogs.

Mayne has already had interviews posted on Deadspin, Fanhouse, and With Leather (who I'd link but the site is mysteriously down) and it wasn't that long ago that I got the following email via his publisher....

Dear Blogger Person:

I have written a book. It has a hard cover and can be used as a coaster.

It also has words and pictures and illustrations and everything you'd ever want in a book, including page numbers.

The title leads some to believe it is about sports but you're smarter than that. The key chapter is about how Starbucks keeps charging me too much for my Americanos.

Please read for yourself and blog and blog and blog some more.
If you’d like a free copy, just reply to this email with your mailing address.

Regards,

Kenny

Free stuff is definitely a perk of this "job", so I of course took him/them up on the offer. The book came a day later and even included a Kenny Mayne autographed Baseball Card!

The only reason I bring this up (it's not to review the book because the above sites did that better than I could), but to note how genius of an idea this was. Do you know how much free press he got from sending a free book to and interviewing with those sites above alone? Millions and millions of views. Here's the real point I'm trying to make. Blogs are so easy to impress these days that it's just stupid to try and fight them.

Take Rick Reilly and Mark Cuban. Reilly is preparing for TV work on ESPN and he's most certainly going to be hammered by this site and others as soon as he's on-air. Cuban lost a ton of respect with the younger generation for not understanding a growing medium in the Sports world. Both of those individuals and Kenny Mayne have shticks that they portray in public (hell everyone does), but only Mayne's is one that I can enjoy. Reilly and Cuban's acts just seem old at this point.

This might partly be because he sent me a free book, but it's more so because he doesn't take himself nearly as seriously as the other two. Hell even if I hated the book it's still free press.

An Incomplete and Inaccurate History of Sport: . . . and Other Random Thoughts from Childhood to Fatherhood (Amazon.com)