The entire World is watching the Michael Jackson Memorial Service today, and rightfully so. While the songs have been giving me goosebumps all afternoon, the story that has made me laugh the most, is the one Magic Johnson told about MJ and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Here are Magic and Kobe sharing their memories of the "King of Pop"....

The tribute at home plate in Baseball has only been done twice. Once with Babe Ruth, and once with Jack Buck in St. Louis. Well this weekend it will be done a third time with legendary Phils' announcer, Harry Kalas' casket being displayed at Citizens Park Field. From ESPN via SbB....

The casket containing the body of Hall of Fame Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas will be on view beginning at 8:45 a.m. ET Saturday at home plate at Citizens Bank Park.

Fans will be able to file past Kalas' casket and pay their respects for about four hours, after which there will be a memorial service.

Kalas died Monday after collapsing in the broadcast booth before the Phillies' 9-8 victory over the Washington Nationals. He was 73.

It will be the second time a baseball figure will be honored this way at a major league ballpark since Aug. 17, 1948, when Babe Ruth's casket was on view at Yankee Stadium.

The Phillies organization, which decided to honor Kalas in this historic way, will fly the team's flag at half-staff. Gates will open at 8 a.m. ET.

Just an amazing gesture for a man that defined an entire city. Everyone should stop by and pay their respects to a great individual and broadcaster. Good on ya, Phillies.

Kalas’ Casket to be On Display at Phillies’ Ballpark (Sports by Brooks)
Kalas' casket to be on view in ballpark (ESPN)

Just a terrible, terrible day for Phillies' fans and Baseball fans in general. Harry Kalas was pronounced dead this afternoon at the age of 73 years old. Via the Daily News....

Harry Kalas, the Phillies' Hall of Fame announcer, died at 1:20 p.m. today, the Phillies announced.

Mr. Kalas collapsed in the press box at Nationals Stadium in Washington at about 12:30 p.m. and was rushed to George Washington University Medial Center.

The cause of the death was not announced. Today's game against the Nationals will be played, but the team will not visit the White House tomorrow.

"We lost Harry today," David Montgomery, the team president, said. "We lost our voice."

I spent a year in Philly after graduating College, and I immediately felt an attachment to Harry Kalas when listening to games. Philly fans are harsh on many players and personalities, but once you're in you're in their hearts forever. Kalas was one of those individuals, and was the voice of not only a Baseball team and city, but all of Baseball. The only fitting tribute I can give to Kalas is by posting his call of the final out of last year's World Series. You will be missed, Harry....

Yesterday, it was a NASCAR commercial with drivers talking about accidents immediately after reporting on Nick Adenhart's passing, and today it's this. Via NQTC....


I'm not even going to comment on that one.

Pick "A" For Awful Taste (Not Qualified To Comment)

Man this is depressing. The man who is responsible for the song "One Shining Moment" making it onto CBS' airwaves all the way back in 1987, has passed away today. CBS released the following statement about TV Exec, Doug Towey, who at the time of "OSM's" inclusion in the tournament was a Creative Director at the network....

Longtime network television executive for CBS Sports, Doug Towey, passed away Wednesday morning after a long illness.

Among the many highlights of Towey’s Emmy Award-winning career in television was his direct role in making the song “One Shining Moment” the iconic hallmark anthem of college basketball and CBS Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship each March. Folk singer David Barrett penned the song in 1986 and gave it to his high school friend CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent, and then Sports Illustrated staff writer, Armen Keteyian. Keteyian passed it along to Towey who planned to use it to accompany the Network’s closing highlights of Super Bowl XXI in January 1987. But due to long-running interviews the song never made it to air. A couple of months later, Towey was looking for a way to bring CBS Sports’ NCAA Tournament coverage to a close and decided to use it. “One Shining Moment” made its Final Four debut on March 30, 1987, following Keith Smart’s baseline jumper in the final seconds that gave Indiana a 74-73 victory over Syracuse.

Throughout his over 34-year network television career Towey played a role in the broadcast of virtually every major sporting event in the world including several Olympic Games, Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals, NCAA Championships and Final Fours, the Masters®, PGA Championships, U.S. Open Tennis Championships, as well as many other events.

What better send off could we give Towey, than playing that very first "One Shining Moment" from 1987? Wait until 1:45....I get goosebumps every time....

Man, there are low things that people say all the time, but this one might actually take the prize. Radio Host, Mike Valenti of the “Valenti & Foster Show” on WXYT-FM in Detroit, made a joke about a capsized boat and apologized for the comments today. Via MLive....

Valenti read two comments from listeners about college basketball and one about baseball, then a joke about a capsized boat in Lake St. Clair. The hosts laughed, and crumpling paper could be heard.

Valenti declined to comment to the Free Press. But on the air, he said: “I just offer you my sincerest apologies. It was completely ridiculous to put it on the air, and again, it comes to me. The only thing I can promise you as my listeners, it won’t happen again. Otherwise, I’ll tell you right now, I don’t deserve to be around.” Debbie Kenyon, the station’s market manager, said: “We fully agree that the comment was absolutely inappropriate.”

Asked if Valenti would face further discipline, Kenyon said: “I think I’ve said enough. We’ve addressed the issue with Mike the way we feel is best. The on-air apology is pretty big. We don’t do that very often.”

Wow. Not only are you making a joke about people who are presumably dead at sea, but you're doing so in the market of one of the players. That's the height of idiocy and just downright despicable.

Radio host apologizes for 'reprehensible' comments about Lions' Corey Smith (M Live)

Not that many local announcers ever make it to national stardom, but there are some whose names you may not know, but their voices are unmistakeable. Johnny "Red" Kerr was one of those people, and after a long bout with Prostate Cancer, he passed away at the age of 76. Via the Associated Press....

Johnny "Red" Kerr, the former Chicago Bulls coach who spent more than three decades as a broadcaster for the team, died Thursday. He was 76.

Kerr died at his home after a battle with prostate cancer, Bulls spokesman Tim Hallam said.

"His name was synonymous with basketball, both here in Chicago, and throughout the entire NBA," Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. "Those that were fortunate enough to have known Johnny were touched by both his tremendous compassion for people, and his lifelong passion for the game of basketball. We will miss him greatly."

Kerr's death is a double blow for the Bulls, following the death also Thursday of Norm Van Lier, one of the most popular players in Bulls history. Van Lier was 61.

"We're deeply saddened by the whole course of events today," Hallam said.

Man, just a tough day for Chicago. In honor of Kerr, here is part of the halftime presentation in honor of the broadcaster that took place on February 10th....

So first, the beleaguered Knick is sued, accused of sexually harassing his male limo driver, and now something much more depressing and violent happens in his life: the mother of his son and her daughter were found dead in Chicago.

Nova Henry, 24, and her infant daughter, Ava, were found at about 6 p.m. in the 0-99 block of West 15th Street, police said. Officers found Henry's 3-year-old son -- Curry's, according to the source -- in the Burnham Station apartment unharmed.

Henry's mother found her daughter and granddaughter in the apartment, officials said.

A source close to Curry -- a married father of four -- said the basketball player maintains that he is not the father of Ava Henry.

Court records show that Nova Henry filed two separate petitions to establish parentage in November 2005 and September 2008.

The source said that Curry is very active in his son's life.

A man who identified himself as Henry's uncle said she had been having domestic problems with a boyfriend, but police would not comment. The uncle also said that Nova Henry's grandmother's funeral took place Saturday.

Chicago has not always sat well with Curry -- he was robbed there back during his time as a Bull. The only good news to report out of this is that Curry's son is all right -- but if the NY Daily News is to be believed, he witnessed the whole ugly scene. Oof.

Sad news to pass along this morning, as North Carolina State women's hoops coach Kay Yow died this morning from her second bout with breast cancer.

Yow started her college coaching career at Elon back in the 70s, and then moved to NC State in 1975, coaching not only women's hoops but volleyball and softball as well. She was hired by the AD in order to help the university comply with the sweeping changes mandated by Title IX, but then became so much more than that to the school and her sport.

Her achievements are about as good as you can get without grabbing a title in your sport: more than 700 games won in a long career, coaching the U.S. women's team to a gold medal in 1988, and a trip to the Final Four in 1998 -- all of this made her one of only a few women's hoops coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Throughout, she fought against cancer in the late 80s, and became a spokesperson for the cause of battling the disease, much like her counterpart in the 80s, Jim Valvano.

Yow was another symbol of the power of women's sports, obscured by Pat Summitt sometimes in the mainstream eye, but valuable all the same. She was 66 years old.

Sad news to report from the fighting world, as they're reacting to the death of Justin Eilers in what appears to have been a domestic disturbance gone wrong over the holiday season.

An autopsy conducted Friday released the cause of death as a single gunshot wound to the chest. The bullet reportedly punctured Eilers’ lung before exiting his body, said Monte Cox, Eiler's longtime manager.

Cox said Eilers had gathered with relatives for the holidays, but tensions escalated with an ex-girlfriend, also in attendance. Eilers was asked to leave the residence, but was said to have refused and began throwing dishes and other objects in protest. The home’s owner was then said to have pulled a gun on Eilers and shot him in the chest after a brief verbal confrontation.

Eilers’ ex-girlfriend, mother, and young son were said to have been in the room at the time of the shooting.

The Canyon County (ID) sheriff's department arrested James Robert Malec, who may be Eilers' mother's boyfriend on second-degree murder charges. Eilers moved between WEC, UFC, and EliteXC in his fighting career after playing football in college. His death is the third tragedy to hit MMA in the past few months. Justin Levens was found dead along with his girlfriend in an apparent murder-suicide last week and Evan Tanner disappeared in the desert back in September.

Eilers Shot Dead [Sherdog]

The Baseball community lost a good one yesterday as Braves announcer, and son of the legendary Harry Caray, Skip Caray passed away Sunday afternoon....

ATLANTA -- The Braves family lost one of its most beloved members on Sunday, when Skip Caray passed away at his Atlanta-area home.

Caray, who would have celebrated his 69th birthday on Aug. 12, went to take a nap Sunday afternoon and didn't awaken. He is survived by his wife, Paula, two sons, Chip and Josh, two daughters, Shayelyn and Cindy, and seven grandchildren.

"Our baseball community has lost a legend today," said Braves president John Schuerholz. "The Braves family and Braves fans everywhere will sadly miss him. Our thoughts are with his wife Paula and his children."

"I'm just in shock," Chip [Caray] said. "I know he wasn't feeling good, but this was unexpected. He hung the moon for me. I got to talk to him [on Saturday], and the last thing I got to say to him was, 'I love you.'"

I grew up watching Braves games on TBS and he was always one of the guys I enjoyed listening to. While it's always sad to lose someone of Skip's stature and talent, it's good to know that he went peacefully and that his son got to say he loved him.

Baseball mourns loss of Skip Caray (MLB)

Longtime broadcaster Jim McKay passed away today at the old age of 86, and while you never want to have to write posts like this the Broadcasting Hall of Famer did live a long and productive life. McKay spent most of his years as host of ABC's Wide World of Sports, but is mainly remembered for his gripping coverage of the kidnapping and deaths of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Games. The coverage of that event was exhaustive and if you've ever seen any of the documentaries his quote of, "They're all gone" probably still rings in your ears.

Not only did McKay do a lot of great things around the World covering the Olympics and various Sports for ABC, he also was a huge help to the State of Maryland. He helped the Horse Racing community of the State and because my dad worked at many of the courses I had the chance to meet Jim on a couple of different occasions. He was always pleasant and even though it's a sad day for everyone in Sports his quiet death at least came from natural causes and took place at his home in Monkton, MD.

Here are some quotes from people in the industry about the man and his life....

"He had a remarkable career and a remarkable life, hardly a day goes by when someone doesn't come up to me and say how much they admired my father."- Sean McManus, McKay's son and the president of CBS News and Sports.

"There are no superlatives that can adequately honor Jim McKay. He meant so much to so many people. He was a founding father of sports television, one of the most respected commentators in the history of broadcasting and journalism."- George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports.

"He was truly the most respected and admired sportscaster of his generation and defined how the stories of sports can and should be covered. While we all know what an absolute titan he was in his chosen field, I will always remember him as an extraordinary human being guided by a strong moral compass."- Dick Ebersol

"He brought a reporter's eye, a literate touch, and above all a personal humanity to every assignment. He had a combination of qualities seldom seen in the history of the medium, not just sports."- Bob Costas

"His enthusiasm permeated every event he covered and thus always made it far more interesting. I always thought of him as a favorite teacher."- Al Michaels

Here are a couple other well stated pieces....

Sports Broadcast Titan Jim McKay Passes (Sox and Dawgs)
Legendary Sportscaster Jim McKay Dies at 86 (Fanhouse)

Following the heels of the widely successful (sarcasm folks) look into Sports Media, Bob Costas is going to host another panel, but this time on the state of Horse Racing. This time the panel is going to take place before NBC kicks of it's coverage of the Preakness this Saturday.

Fresh off his sports media roundtable on blogs for HBO, Bob Costas will kick off the network's coverage of the Preakness Stakes (Saturday, 4:30-6:30 p.m. ET) with a panel discussion on the filly's catastrophic breakdown and other controversies surrounding Thoroughbred horse racing, says producer Sam Flood.

Among the guests: Churchill Downs veterinarian Larry Bramlage; Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones; NBC analyst Gary Stevens; and New York Times columnist William Rhoden, who blasted the sport of kings as "only a couple of steps removed from animal fighting."

I guess NBC feels it should take the time to address Eight Belles after all of the controversy surrounding the coverage of Eight Belles collapse, and that's probably a good decision. The panel seems qualified and even on both sides to address the issue of airing the animal's death and it should be a good discussion.

Costas panel to dissect horse racing's dark side (USA Today)

In other Horse Racing news, HBO's Real Sports debuted this past Monday with an extremely detailed and informative look into the Sport. I pulled the clip for everyone to view, but I have to warn you ahead of time that it's extremely depressing and graphic. It was a trainwreck type situation for me in that I never wanted to see these images, but I couldn't look away. There are parts that detail how the horses are destroyed and the process that some individuals go through to save them.

In true Real Sports fashion it's a great story, but again very very very graphic and depressing. Choose whether you want to watch it wisely.....

A good number of people chimed in after the Derby in regards to Eight Belles and I wanted to share my thoughts in this spot. Overall, I thought NBC's coverage of the Derby was pretty good throughout the afternoon. Sure the Billy Bush stuff was a little dumb, and just like I did with FOX I question their use of the word "star", but overall I thought the network's coverage balanced both the fun of the Derby and the coverage of the race itself. Sadly, everything today boils down to how NBC handled the death of the second place finisher Eight Belles.

The question that everyone seems to be asking today is whether the horse's collapse and subsequent death should have been televised and covered more closely. NY Times' writer Richard Sandomir even went so far as to say that NBC wasn't prepared to cover the death and was scrambling to get anything to air. Having only eight cameras solely focused on specific horses (none on Eight Belles) might have aided in that line of thinking, but in the end I think we're all better off. According to NBC Producer Sam Flood's interview with USA Today the horse was "writhing" and the injury was "gruesome". If things were happening they way Flood described them then there's not a chance I would have ever wanted to see that. The reality is that families and children watch the Derby with regularity (I grew up watching it every year) and NBC made the correct call. I thought the varying emotions of those in the winner's circle and the reporting on Eight Belles provided enough of a story.

When death is involved, whether it be animal or human, I think we're all better off just getting reports from the people on-site rather than seeing the images on the screen. Of course that's just one man's opinion, feel free to leave yours in the comments.

(posted by One More Dying Quail)

Though I became a Red Sox fan in 1988, I don't remember ever watching John Marzano play baseball.

Kevin Romine? Yep. Randy Kutcher? Absolutely. Ed Romero? Vaguely. I can recall any number of players from those days, but Marzano? Marzano remains a mystery to me.

I do recall seeing his name pop up years later, after he had left the Red Sox, missed a couple of years, and resurfaced with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. He finally retired in 1998 and jumped on the path followed by so many former major leaguers, becoming an analyst for the Philadelphia Phillies and cohosting a morning show for Major League Baseball.

Why mention Marzano again, now, after all those years of nothing? Because the 45-year-old was found dead at his home on Saturday. The AP did not immediately note a cause of death, but later reported that he had fallen down a flight of stairs.

I may not remember Marzano, but his passing is still sad. It's always upsetting when the names and faces of your youth start to fade away.

UPDATE: Bugs & Cranks tracked down a nice tribute video that appeared on Comcast SportsNet last night. It provides great insight into Marzano's personality, both on and off the field.

Saw this over at The Realests and it cracked me the hell up. The Daily News is running a Tournament preview like every other paper, but I think their capsule on San Diego tops them all....

FUN FACT: Power forward Rob Jones, a 6-5, 230-pound freshman, turned down football offers from such traditional powers as Notre Dame, Miami and Oregon to pursue a basketball career. He is the grandson of Jim Jones, the leader of the Jonestown jungle compound where more than 900 people were killed in 1978 in a mass murder/suicide.

Mass suicide is always fun and 900+ people dying just makes me giddy!

Define "Fun Fact" For Me.... (The Realests)

(posted by OMDQ)

A news story sat on my desktop all day today, minimized, while I wrote about other stuff and tried to figure out the best way to write about it.

It took awhile, but the answer finally came to me:

Sometimes, there are no words - especially when the suggested topic is a 28-year-old husband and father of two who is dead only because his own body failed him.

Because to write about something like that would require an attempt to make some sense of it, and in this case, I don't think that is possible.

Rest in peace, Justin Skaggs.

For some reason, I still remember when Josh Hancock pitched for the Boston Red Sox.

He made his major league debut for the team in September 2002, a late-season call-up for a team that disappointed its fans by missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Given the unimpressive nature of his stat line that year (0-1, 3.68 in three games) it's hard to see why he was so memorable. The only thing I can come up with is that as a homegrown Sox pitching prospect, his reputation was hyped up to a point beyond his talent level at the time, and I eagerly drank the Kool-Aid (I listened to a lot of WEEI at the time).

Hancock's trade to Philadelphia three months later was perplexing: wasn't this a kid who was supposed to become a key member of the pitching staff in 2003 and beyond? Didn't they get the wrong Giambi in return?

Hancock slid from Boston to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Cincinnati, and (finally) Cincinnati to St. Louis, where he became a key member of the Cardinals team that won the World Series. He appeared in 62 games, one of four different relievers on the team to do so, helping pick up the slack from a starting rotation that only featured three starters with more than 100 innings pitched.

I was sad to see the news on ESPN this morning that the 29-year-old pitcher had been killed in a car accident in St. Louis earlier in the day. Details are sparse right now, but a statement is expected from the team and St. Louis Police Department at 3 o'clock Central time that should shed more light on the situation.

Hancock is the second active Cardinal to pass away in mid-season in the last five years. Pitcher Darryl Kile died in his Chicago hotel room in 2002; the cause of death was later attributed to an almost complete blockage in his coronary artery.

I hope everyone's thoughts are with Josh Hancock's family and the St. Louis Cardinals. The team's Sunday night game against the Chicago Cubs has been postponed.

(One relatively minor thing that really bothers me: Yahoo! Sports doesn't have the foresight to alter the text that appears on the bottom of every news article in cases like this. It reads, "Use what you learned in this article to dominate at Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball '07". The inclusion is mildy amusing in some cases, such as when the accompanying article has nothing to do with baseball, but it's not appropriate for it to be there now.)