Joe Thomas made a name for himself in the fishing community on Draft Day last year when the lineman decided to skip the selection festivities and head out on his boat to catch a few. Well it seems like that and the popularity he's gained in Cleveland has lead to his own fishing show....

Recall if you will that this 6-foot-6, 315-pound mass of football player literally hung a ''Gone Fishin' '' sign on NFL Draft day in 2007 when he was the No. 3 pick so that he could cast some lines with his father. He has taken that love of the outdoors and parlayed it into a co-hosting gig on Outdoors Ohio with D'Arcy Egan & Joe Thomas.

''It's great. I get paid to do two hobbies,'' Thomas said, laughing. ''It's a lot of fun, and I know that people who grew up fishing wish it was something that they could do with their life. It has been a lot of fun getting involved in that part of fishing in front of the camera and learning a little bit more about that, but also going out and having fun.''

No matter whose idea it was, it proved a shrewd move pairing Thomas with Egan, a fixture as the outdoors writer for the Plain Dealer. It gives the show more celebrity cachet and, during the offseason, keeps at least one member of the Browns in the public eye.

Thomas said that so far they have filmed half of their next season, which was interrupted by Browns organized team activities the past few weeks, and will resume this weekend. He said he's having fun now, but Thomas was noncommittal when asked if he would pursue broadcasting when he retires.

''Maybe; we'll see down the road,'' he said with a smile.

Whether you enjoyed CBS' first attempt at an MMA broadcast or not you can't argue with the numbers. The Elite XC fight that aired Saturday night on the network beat out the Stanley Cup Finals in most major markets and just about every other program on in the same time slot. Not all the numbers are in but Variety and the L.A. Times are reporting a windfall for the "Eye"...

Variety- According to preliminary Nielsen estimates that will be finalized Tuesday, CBS led the two-hour block from 9 to 11 p.m. in adults 18-49 (1.9 rating/6 share) -- a 36% improvement over what the network averaged with its crime programming on the night during the recently concluded 2007-08 season.

But it was in younger and male demos that the fights hit a bull's-eye: Among adults 18-34, the event's 1.9 rating more than doubled the Eye's season average (0.9), while in men 18-34, it more than tripled the net's average (2.6 vs. 0.7).

Times- The first mixed martial arts event shown in prime time on a major network was a big hit for KCBS-TV Channel 2.

The Saturday night tape-delayed Elite Extreme Combat event from Newark, N.J., came in with a local overnight rating of 4.7 and a 9 share. The rating peaked at 7.2 the final 15 minutes.

By comparison, a Stanley Cup final hockey game shown earlier in the evening on KNBC-TV Channel 4 averaged just a 1.3 local rating and a 3 share.

About a month ago I told you about a joint venture that Applebees and TBS were going to try during Sundy afternoon games. The plan was to air 30-second spots during each game with Chip Caray and Mitch Williams chatting about different topics during the commercial. I admittedly haven't been watching much TBS Baseball as of late, but I finally caught one today during the Phils-Marlins game. Enjoy!

I mentioned this TNT outro on Friday, and thanks to Av from Bears Necessity we've got the video. Here's Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park for TNT's close of the 2007-2008 Basketball Season....

It always amazes me when sober people purposely get kicked out of Sporting Events for just acting dumb, but this story is worth sharing. Red Wings fan Zach Smith got kicked out of Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena just after the National Anthem for throwing an octopus on the ice. Well young Zachary had a plan....

Then he got tossed. Security guards threw him out. "You're outta here," Smith said they told him. "Come back in and you get arrested." But Smith and his two friends from metro Detroit, who asked not to be identified, had a plan.

They had bought an extra ticket in anticipation of his booting. That's an extra $300 from a scalper. And Smith was wearing a regular T-shirt, instead of Red Wings gear, when he threw the octopus. Outside, he quickly threw on a Red Wings sweater and walked back into Gate 3.

"I feel great," Smith said as he roamed around the arena. "I'm not nervous. Anything with an adrenaline rush, I love it."

I wish I could tell you above anything else that I knew what I was talking about but I have no idea if these MMA fights were good, bad, or indifferent. I watched the whole CBS broadcast and I thought it was flat out awesome.