Outside of some random discussions on CNBC, CNN and MSNBC, Sports Business rarely comes up in today's news. Well Versus is planning on changing that with a new show called "The $ports Take", which will debut at the end of August. Via Sports Business Daily ($)....

Versus is launching a weekly sports business show called "The $ports Take," hosted by sports consultant Rick Horrow. Career Sports & Entertainment (CS&E), Atlanta, is producing the show, which debuts August 25 at 6:30pm ET. The show will run on Tuesday nights. The first episode features an interview with Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones and a tour of his new stadium. Future shows will include interviews with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NBA Commissioner David Stern, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France and PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka. CS&E President of Media & Marketing Mark Lazarus said, "We're excited to bring sports junkies a new perspective on the sports they already love."

I'm sure a lot of people won't find this line of programming interesting, but for there is a small sect of diehard Sports' fans, that love anything involving the business of Sports. Hearing about television deals, free agency and collective bargaining agreements, has always been something I've been drawn to, so I'm definitely going to give the show a chance.

I've seen some crazy attempts at getting advertising into broadcasts, but this one might actually take the cake. Broad Street Hockey noticed a funny thing on the boards behind the goal, during the Rangers game last night on MSG, and it couldn't be more humorous and distracting. Here is a screenshot....



Now I'm not one to deny a company from making money, but when it comes at the expense of the viewers, that's when I take issue. It's one thing to have something like that behind a batter during a Baseball game, but it just doesn't look right sitting behind a goal. Hopefully the decide against using it in the future, but I seriously doubt that if it's bringing in money.

Eat Fresh? (Broad Street Hockey)

This news came down yesterday, and I chose to pass on it because the day was already pretty ESPN heavy, but today is a different day (and a slow one at that). ESPN is reportedly in discussion with cable carriers about offering an ESPNU for ESPN Classic trade. Via John Ourand at SBJ....

Executives in Bristol are set to allow cable and satellite distributors to swap ESPN’s classic sports channel for its college network, ESPNU, which they hope presents a newer, hipper alternative to Classic’s staid, dated programming.

As part of the offer, ESPN also is looking for added distribution for its Spanish-language channel, ESPN Deportes, and its broadband network, ESPN360.

An interesting wrinkle to ESPN’s proposal would allow operators to move ESPN Classic to a sports tier, where it would be ESPN’s first channel to reside on the traditionally low-penetrated mantle.

Right now, ESPN Classic is in more than 63 million homes, typically on analog and digital basic tiers.

By contrast, ESPNU is in about 25 million homes, mainly on digital basic tiers, and ESPN Deportes is in fewer than 5 million homes. ESPN360 has not yet been able to reach carriage deals with the top cable operators, though it has reached broadband agreements with Verizon and AT&T.

Though ESPN executives have spent the last several weeks pitching this plan to cable operators, talks are expected to heat up this week as the cable industry gathers for its annual trade show in Washington, D.C.

What a great idea. I'm one of the few people that probably buy the entire Sports package from Comcast (keep your boos to a minimum), and to this day, I've yet to receive ESPNU. At the present time, I get four different FOX Sports channels, Gol TV, The Tennis Channel and Horse Racing TV, but no ESPNU. I pray that my cable carrier takes them up on this deal, and post haste.

ESPN to offer Classic-for-ESPNU swap (Sports Business Journal)

While newspapers like the Detroit Free Press are just now figuring out the worthiness of the Internet, ESPN has been championing the Sports media charge to the tubes. Over the past few years, the "Leader" has actually been the "Leader" in finding new ways to get games and news to the masses. They've redone their online content, including revamping the already genius ESPN360, and have made videos on the website easily accessible.

Well today comes even more news (and rumors) that Disney is expanding it's visibility on the Internet. They have apparently been looking into NBC's Hulu as a host for its content, but it looks like plain old Youtube could be the place to find full ABC/ESPN episodes in the future. Here's info on both moves....

Via the WaPo: "Disney (NYSE: DIS) and YouTube are in the final stages of negotiations to put clips from ESPN, ABC and other Disney assets on YouTube, according to sources familiar with the situation. The two companies would share revenue, with Disney controlling the ad inventory; YouTube and Google could get some inventory to sell. As important, YouTube would refer back to ESPN.com, ABC.com and the other Disney sites. Disney declined comment; a YouTube spokesman said the company does not comment on rumor or speculation.

In addition, the two are discussing a full-episode deal?a multi-year pay-for-play deal that would put ABC and some other Disney programming on YouTube instead of NBC Universal-News Corp joint venture Hulu. I am told these discussions have gone as high as Disney CEO Bob Iger and Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt but that they are not as far along as the short-form deal?or as advanced as Disney's negotiations with Hulu."

Via DVice: "Do you Hulu? Apparently, ABC and ESPN want to Hulu. According to inside sources, Disney is in serious negotiations with Hulu to carry ABC, and less likely, ESPN and some Disney Channel content. It should be noted that Hulu is partially owned by NBC/Universal, DVICE's parent company, and Mickey owns ABC and ESPN.

The speculation implies that Disney wants a longer commitment from NBC to Hulu. Disney/ABC probably doesn't want to get onboard without knowing that NBC isn't about to jump ship. ABC will also want to maintain the player on its own website."

It actually amazes me that ESPN doesn't have a channel on Youtube already. The thinking for the longest time was that if people are looking for content on Youtube, they aren't looking for it on our site. We now know that is false, in fact, it's completely the opposite. Videos on other sites actually drive content back to your website.

AA is a fine example, certainly on a smaller scale, of that line of thinking. It's always better to show someone, rather than tell them about it.

ABC, ESPN coming to Hulu? (DVice)
Disney Finalizing Deal For Clips On YouTube; Full-Episode Talks Ongoing; Could Hulu Lose Out? (Washington Post)

Darren Rovell at Sports Biz, came across this humorous yet rather odd advertisement from M&Ms candy, which features two candies decorated as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The ad is supposed to be a commemoration of sorts for the 30th anniversary of their famous tournament clash, but there's one problem....they used their NBA colors....



In all fairness, no one would probably recognize Magic in MSU green or Bird in Indiana State light blue, but still....that should have been their direction. Plus the Magic M&M doesn't even really look like him. Good try though.

Inaccurate Ad Of The Week (CNBC: Sports Biz)

(P.S.- Be sure to check out Darren's interview "On The DL" when you get a chance.)

This isn't making that much news, but it's probably important to talk about given all of the deals ESPN has struck lately. The NCAA has the option of getting out of its 11-year deal with CBS, following the 2010 Tournament, and the "Leader" could be lurking in the shadows. CBS President, Sean McManus, thinks a move is unlikely though. Via the NY Times....

Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and CBS Sports, said that he had had informal talks with the N.C.A.A. about an extension. “We have a pretty good track record of renewing all our deals well before they expire,” he said by phone Monday.

CBS does not want to see the tournament leave. “It fits perfectly into our schedule, and it’s become one of the signature sports,” McManus said. “So I’d rather not anticipate life at CBS Sports without it.”

A CBS Sports without the tournament, he said, would mean less regular-season basketball. Why ladle out the soup if you can’t serve the entrees — and receive about $1 million for a 30-second ad in the championship game?

Greg Shaheen, the N.C.A.A. senior vice president for basketball and business strategies, praised the N.C.A.A.’s relationship with CBS and said that “our interests are how to best create a continuing long-term relationship that benefits our membership.” He said there was “not much to discuss” on the opt-out.

Sure it's a longshot, but that's what people were saying about the BCS a few years ago. These are crazy economic times, but ESPN is playing with Monopoly money and it wouldn't shock me if they put a little bit of pressure on CBS.

N.C.A.A. Can Opt Out of Deal With CBS After 2010 (NY Times)

The two were walking on thin ice for a few months, but today the NFL and Westwood One agreed to keep their relationship going. The new two-year agreement will have Westwood One covering 57 games next year, which also includes both Championship games, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. Here's the WWO press release....

Westwood One and the National Football League (NFL) announced today a new two-year agreement for Westwood One to continue as the exclusive network radio partner of the NFL.

Westwood One has been an NFL network radio partner for more than four decades and the exclusive network radio partner since 1987.

Westwood One will continue to broadcast all national regular season and postseason NFL games, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, the NFL Playoffs, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl. In addition, Westwood One’s NFL broadcasts will now be streamed online as part of Field Pass on NFL.com.

As the exclusive radio partner of the NFL, the Westwood One 2009 NFL broadcast schedule features 57 national games, including: the Hall of Fame game, Opening Kickoff game, 17 Monday Night games, including one doubleheader, 16 Sunday Night games, eight Thursday and Saturday Night games (including Thanksgiving Night), Thanksgiving Day doubleheader, 12 Postseason games, including the NFL Playoffs, the AFC and NFC Championship Games, the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida. Westwood One also delivers specialty programs, including: The NFL Today, NFL Preview, NFL Insider, NFL Sunday, and NFL Fantasy Football Forecast.

Good for both sides in working something out, and while the money hasn't been released, Sports Business Daily is reporting that the deal is near the $30 million mark and is all guaranteed money. Something ESPN Radio and Sporting News Radio couldn't provide.

Don't Turn The Dial (Sports Business Daily - $)

Two of the more interesting angles that the MLB Network has to deal with, were discussed today by network Pres and CEO, Tony Petitti. Petitti went on Bloomberg News yesterday and addressed not only the plans for covering live games, and how the network learned from the NFL Network, but more importantly how a channel which is owned by Major League Baseball can be critical of the Commissioner and league itself.

Here's the clip....

It's amazing to me just how more successful the MLB Network is when compared to the NFL Network. Obviously the MLB-N had the benefit of learning from the NFL-N, but you would think that the NFL-N could do so in-turn now. In fact, there's word today that with the loss of a deal with Comcast, the NFL could lose almost 2 million viewers (more on that a bit later today). They just simply can't let that happen, if they want to survive.

ESPN Radio has been poking and prodding its way into a ton of local radio markets over the past few years, and now that they've developed somewhat of a stronghold, it appears it might come at a cost. Sports by Brooks is reporting, that Top 30 markets featuring ESPN's shows might soon have to be upwards of $100K for rights....

A source told me that ESPN is planning to charge some non-ESPN owned and operated sports radio stations fees to carry its radio network programming. For big markets (Top 30), the annual charge to stations is as high as $100,000.

Even in good economical times, that move is a serious horse pill to ingest for local sports talk radio stations.

My reaction, as a former sports radio program director and on-air personality for 16 years (including on ESPN radio affiliates), is that very, very few (if any) Top 30 markets would pay a six-figure sum to air ESPN network programming.

Most, if not all of those stations make their money on local sports talk shows and play-by-play ad sales. Revenue from ESPN’s national properties is usually negligible - as most of its shows have struggled in the ratings against large market, local shows. (I know, not in every case.) Perhaps local stations could make money on ESPN Radio’s play-by-play properties, but not enough to make up that $100K rights fee in any scenario.

Whether or not ESPN actually IS going to ask for that kind of money is really irrelevant. The $100K gives local stations something that their own programming doesn't, and that's the simple business model of "out sourcing". Obviously there are a lot of other factors that go into rights deals like this, but in the end, $100K might be a small price to pay instead of the headache that comes with managing talent and programming on a day-to-day basis. Still though, local hosts make a heck of a lot less than $100K, so for a lot of markets it probably wouldn't make sense.

ESPN Radio is definitely not a market standard, but their current business model definitely could make sense on a case-by-case basis.

ESPN Radio Wants $100,000 From Local Affiliates (Sports by Brooks)

The United Football League is trying it's best to get the word out. They've got a handful of recognizable coaches (Jim Fassell, Jim Haslett), have teams in large markets (San Fran, NY, Las Vegas), and now have a TV deal. Versus will air a weekly game for the four-team league, and the first contest will air on October 8th. Via UFL PR....

The United Football League announced that VERSUS, a national sports network in more than 75 million homes, will air the League’s “Premiere” season beginning in October 2009. VERSUS will air live weekly games beginning on Thursday, October 8, and continuing through the Championship Game scheduled to air Thanksgiving weekend. Each live telecast will be approximately three hours and all games will be produced and available in HD. The complete schedule will be announced this summer.

In its “Premiere” year, the UFL will host teams in Las Vegas, New York, Orlando and San Francisco. There are also plans to play additional games in Hartford and Los Angeles. The season will conclude with a Championship Game tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas. On Wednesday, the UFL will announce its four coaches at a press conference in San Francisco. League officials are in final negotiations with various stadiums and these agreements will be announced as they are completed.

“We are excited to be the television home of the UFL in its “Premiere” season,” said Marc Fein, Executive Vice President of Programming, Production and Business Operations for VERSUS. “The UFL has put together a great management team and sound plan and we are looking forward to the opportunity to expose these games to a national audience each week.”

I still don't quite understand how a league of just four teams plans to succeed, especially when games are played at the same time as the NFL and NCAA, but I guess anything is possible.

Vitamin Water's ads have been hit and miss. I enjoyed the Lebron courtroom one, but couldn't stand the Super Bowl dancing spot. Well their latest effort is back in the good category. They got former Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino and former Duke player Christian Laettner to recreate the famous 1992 East Regional game between the two teams. Via RTC....

Hahaha....Pitino said asshole! Well it's bleeped out, but still funny. Good stuff.

Pitino and Laettner Together Again (RTC)

If you took any business classes in College, you've certainly heard the mantra that the woman is the decision maker in the household. But the world of advertising is ever-evolving, and ESPN is now saying that the adage might no longer be true. Ed Erhardt, President of ESPN/ABC Sports Customer Sales and Marketing, conducted an interview with Media Post, and says there's been a shift towards targeting men....

For years, advertisers that targeted women believed they played a "head of household" role and made the majority of purchasing decisions for the family. But ESPN's Ed Erhardt says that cause-and-effect relationship is changing.

Men are becoming more involved in making household spending choices--perhaps because of the economy--and that could increasingly open doors for ESPN with its male audience.

"Most of the research now shows it is a dual decision," says Erhardt, president of ESPN/ABC Sports customer sales and marketing. "A guy is very much involved in that, so I think there's a change in the male consumer--there's a change in the economy and we like our position based upon that going forward."

In ESPN's case, Erhardt says large packaged goods companies (Kraft and Johnson & Johnson, for example) along with travel advertisers and other traditional female-oriented marketers are shifting dollars in an attempt to reach men.

Very interesting. You could certainly see this coming with all of the "Men's" products that have come out in the past few years. I personally always thought that the woman as the "decider" line of thinking was a little off base, because years ago women were mainly homemakers. As the business environment changes, and roles in the household become equal between men and women, so do the target audiences of ads.

ESPN's Erhardt: Men Changing, Advertisers Reacting (Media Post)

Okay, "secretly" might not be the right word, but they certainly didn't make it widely known. Jerry Jones (Chairman of NFL Network Committee) and Bob Kraft (Chairman of the NFL Broadcasting Committee) headed to Philly yesterday, to the home of Comcast, to seemingly talk about the on-going feud between the NFL Network and the cable company. Via the Philly Daily News....

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Patriots owner Bob Kraft were at the Comcast Center yesterday for a meeting.

Was their presence related to the dispute between the NFL Network and Comcast over Comcast charging cable customers a premium for the channel? Probably, because Kraft chairs the NFL Broadcasting Committee and Jones the NFL Network Committee.

Comcast declined to comment and an NFL spokesman said he was unaware of the meeting.

While Jones and Kraft walked through the building, a Comcast employee asked Jones if he planned to get rid of Terrell Owens. Jones smiled and dodged the question.

While the reason for the visit isn't exactly known, I'm inclined to believe that the above explanation is by far the most likely scenario. It's seriously in the best interest of the League to get this whole thing figured out, because as it sits right now, people across the country are still having trouble finding the network on their channel guide.

NFL owners meet with Comcast (Philly Daily News)

I would be pretty bitter if too if I were the Jets, but this might not be the best way to honor the great Brett Favre. If you head over to Jets.com, you can buy any Favre merchandise for 50% off! Via Watchdog....



Yes! Now I can get that pink Favre jersey tee that I always wanted, and I don't have to pay $18!!! Sweeeeet.

Celebrate The Historic Career Of #4 (Jets Shop)

Sorry for the delay in posting today. I'm a bit under the weather and it's going to be slow going today. Anyway, I found this press release from ESPN very interesting, especially on the heels of Scott Van Pelt's recent suspension. Apparently ESPN has apparently agreed to hook up with Major League Baseball to promote MLB.TV. Via ESPN...

MLB.com and ESPN Digital Media announced today that they are teaming to bring fans an all-access premium content pass to baseball that includes MLB.TV Premium’s unmatched live baseball streaming schedule and ESPN Insider’s distinctive, award-winning content. Beginning February 17, fans can purchase both of the leading premium content services together for a single, discounted price.

For an annual membership fee of $129.95, fans receive:

* MLB.TV Premium: Unlimited access to live and on-demand streams of every regular season game, 100 select Spring Training games and the first two rounds of the World Baseball Classic from MLB.com in 2009 (blackout and other restrictions apply). Among the features coming to MLB.TV Premium in 2009 are: proprietary speed detection allowing a hi-definition quality picture on any screen; live game DVR functionality; live game picture-in-picture capabilities; multi-game viewing options; home and away feeds for every available game; live game radio option; and real-time player tracker alerts for live at-bat look-ins.

* ESPN Insider: Among the most successful premium content services online, ESPN Insider delivers the best in predictive analytical content including exclusive professional level scouting information and the best in draft coverage from ESPN Scouts Inc., Buster Olney’s award-winning blog, and the latest buzz on athletes and teams in Rumor Central. In addition, Insider features exclusive video (including on-demand episodes of Baseball Tonight, Pardon The Interruption, Around the Horn and more), access to ESPN The Magazine through a regularly-updated digital edition, Insider-only chats with athletes and celebrities, special access to ESPN Radio and first-look offerings from ESPN.

ESPN was probably not very thrilled when an employee bashed the commish of Major League Baseball, on the eve of this announcement. I still think a suspension was too much, but we can sort of understand the reasoning behind it.

Here's the audio in case you missed it....

So yeah, that whole thing about ESPN having their own High School from earlier....is completely untrue. According to ESPN, the Associated Press ran the story without getting a comment from them, and in turn, completely distorted the whole thing. Via CNBC....

Today, the New York Post had a story about the New York City Department of Education teaming up with ESPN to create a school called the Business of Sports School or BOSS. The high school, the paper said was "part of a push to create 21st-century versions of what are rapidly becomeing out-of-date vocational or trade schools."

I actually saw the story first on Awful Announcing and found out that the Associated Press had picked up on the story. Surprised that there was no comment from ESPN, I corresponded with spokesman Mike Soltys who sent this to me via e-mail.

"Reports suggesting ESPN is launching a high school are overstated," Soltys said, via e-mail. "ESPN the Magazine has made a non-financial commitment to help develop a curriculum, in addition to providing other volunteer-based support."

Thanks for the credit and thanks for clearing that up, Darren. It really did seem too good to be true, and very odd that the Post ran with it without doing some fact checking first. What's that you say? AA did that too??? Well I'm a blog, I can get away with that sort of thing.

The real story is that the school is a Career and Technical Education school, and that ESPN the Mag will be helping it out with curiculum, internships, speakers and the like. You can read more about B.O.S.S. through the link below if you're interested....

THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS SCHOOL (NYC.gov)

ESPN Says Sponsored School Story Is Overblown (CNBC: Sports Biz)
Introducing ESPN "The High School" (Awful Announcing)

I really thought that ESPN had a shot at stealing away the English Premier League, but that wasn't the case late Tuesday night. The satellite company, BSkyB, outbid ESPN and Setanta, and in the process picked up four of the six EPL live match packages. Via Reuters....

Britain's dominant pay-TV group BSkyB (BSY.L) won the right to show four of the six packages of English Premier League live soccer matches for the three years starting in 2010, the league said late on Tuesday.

BSkyB, which has lured over 9 million subscribers with its sport and movie offering, currently has the right to show four of the six packages. Privately owned Setanta shows the remainder.

Under that agreement, which ends in August 2010, BSkyB pays 1.3 billion pounds ($1.85 billion) to show the matches over the three years. Setanta paid 392 million pounds for two packages.

In a statement, the league said there would be a second round of bidding for the remaining two packages in "due course." It did not disclose any financial terms.

There's obviously still a chance that the American network could snag the final two packages, but with Setanta still looming, it's probably not likely. You Soccer fans now only have the 2010 World Cup to look forward to on the "Leader".

BSkyB wins 4 of 6 Premier League rights packages (Reuters)

Not sure if you've been watching much ESPN this week, but if you have, you may have noticed a new set of songs being played during highlights. Those tunes are from Bruce Springsteen's new album, and in what's becoming a growing trend, music companies are coming to ESPN asking for the network's help. Via Sports Business Daily....

Columbia Records, Springsteen’s label, initiated contact with ESPN about how it could incorporate the Boss’ music from the new CD into football highlights leading up to the Super Bowl. “This all kind of came about nicely,” ESPN Dir of Music Kevin Wilson said. “We were talking about the idea that Bruce was a possibility and then they reached out.” With Springsteen already slated to perform at halftime of Sunday’s game, the combination of the two seemed natural. Wilson: “They talked to us also about the interest for us to maybe include some of his catalog songs and we brought the concept back to production. They thought it was a great idea. Between us and Sony (Columbia's parent company), they helped get the deal done with Bruce.”

Wilson said the network does not “have a specific genre in mind” in regards to using music but admits there are “certain sounds that seem to fit sports better than others.” “We usually reach out and say, ‘We’re just looking for a couple acts and a handful of songs … to bed our [programming with],’” Wilson said. “Then see what they come back with or we have ideas on our own.” Deals with music labels can include the use of one band’s music or access to a larger library of music, but ESPN Coordinating Dir of Music Claude Mitchell said instead of specific labels, it is “what we can provide to our shows that’s the key in what we look for.” “We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve been able to find good ways to bring value to our label partners and the artists. At the same time, we’re getting good artists we want to be on the network to work with our sports and shows,” Mitchell said.

Makes sense on both ends, and if it gets us to here new stuff and not the old elevator music that ESPN has used in the past, I'm all for it. It's odd to think that record companies would now be approaching ESPN instead of MTV, but that's what happens when you turn into a reality show channel.

ESPN Diving Into Using Music With Content (Sports Business Daily - $)

You never wish bad things on people, even the ones you can't stand, and especially when it comes to financial endeavors. Two of Joe Buck's aptly named J Buck's restaurants are reportedly closing their doors in Missouri and the original in downtown St. Louis could be next. Via Sports by Brooks....

The J. Buck’s restaurants at West County Center in Des Peres, Mo., and in Springfield, Mo., closed last week, and the O’Fallon, Mo., location might soon be taking on another name. The downtown and Clayton locations of J. Buck’s continue to operate under new ownership. In October, Bodley Buck LLC, a new company formed by investors including broadcasters and siblings Joe and Julie Buck, announced it would take over two J. Buck’s locations, in Clayton and downtown St. Louis.

The Bucks had not previously invested in the restaurants.

Now if this was his broadcasting career and/or talk show, I might be a little more giddy, but when it comes to matters of the wallet....I feel for the guy. Hopefully the others can survive, and one day when this is all said and done, I can have a beer with the man. I've heard he's fun to hang out with!

Joe Buck’s Restaurant Doesn’t Care About Profits (Sports by Brooks)

S2N broke the news to you in the post below, but I just wanted to delve a little deeper into this very interesting Monday in the Sports Blog World. Jay Mariotti has said for months, following his departure from print media, that he was looking to start up a blog. I think a lot of people thought that he was being snarky and sarcastic, but apparently that wasn't the case. Jay Mariotti is your newest writer at Fanhouse. Seriously.

He already has his first column up, titled "Sunnier Times in New Mainstream Media" (See what he did there? So clever!), so let's take a look at some of the highlights, shall we?

Expect me to zealously comment on national issues while spanning the country and world to cover events. Sometimes, my pieces will appear via video, so you get to know me even better than the guy who schools Woody Paige every day on ESPN. The difference is, the column won't go through the 20th-century, ink-and-newsprint monkey grind where you hope the truck driver doesn't stop at Dunkin' Donuts and the delivery boy doesn't hit your dog on the ass. The column simply will go from my computer to an editor to you.

I'm working for a company, AOL, that attracted 54 million unique visitors to its programming content sites in November and ranks fourth in traffic among Internet news sites. As established writers keep moving Web-ward, it will cause consternation among a few members of the sports blogosphere, some of whom think they own the Internet when, as everyone knows, Bill Kurtis owns the Internet. I've never bought into this "mainstream media vs. bloggers" blood war because, in my mind, we're all writers. The best young writers provide compelling takes on sports. The losers wake up each day and attack (choose your ESPN target), an approach that can't attract much audience beyond a few neurotic souls in sports media. Now hear this: I'm a bit too busy to hate bloggers or, really, anyone but terrorists and certain Illinois politicians. I just think they should be writing about Steve Smith, not Stephen A. Smith.

Well then. I'm not one to tell a company like AOL, who has been through the ringer numerous times and has always come out on the other side, how to run their business. AND, I'm not one to use the phrase "jump the shark", because it has "jumped the shark". BUUUUUT....I do wish you good luck with your recent hire.

Why? Well because they've gone out and hired one of the most despised men on the Internet, are attempting to take one of the sole reasons bloggers became popular, and turn him into one its stars. It's so mind blowing that I can barely even think right now. This is beyond meta. Hell, Jay Mariotti is one of the reasons that this blog has done so well in its under three year existence.

Sure, on the surface it looks like I wake up every morning, try and find something to make fun of ESPN about, and then watch as the hits roll in. But it's much deeper than that. People like Mariotti, and throughout print media, started to get lazy and make the World of Sports about them and not the players or the game. Blogs were started by intelligent young writers looking to provide a better outlet, "Watchdogs" for the "Watchdogs" were formed to come up with a new checks and balances system, and then people like Mariotti cringed, fought back and groaned.

Now he's "one of us", and that my friends is the very definition of irony.

Sunnier Times In New Mainstream Media (Fanhouse)