You have to love the unpredictability of live morning television. more ›

Look out, Derrick Rose! more ›

Chicago Bears kick return specialist Devin Hester partnered with some Chicago area comedians to make a video with ESPN's Kenny Mayne. more ›

Your correspondent ended up watching a hell of a lot of sports related television in the past month. And this short video pretty much nails his impression of the commentary surrounding sporting events. more ›

Two - Walter Payton and Michael Jordan - are locks. Who will join them? more ›

The U.S. Women's Soccer Team, fresh off their late win against Brazil, face off against France in the World Cup semi-finals. more ›

We'd never thought there'd be something about Jay Mariotti we couldn't joke about but now there is one, when he allegedly took things a few steps too far in a suspected domestic abuse incident with his girlfriend in Los Angeles last weekend. And now the punishments are rolling in. Mariotti, a regular guest on ESPN's "Around The Horn," hasn't appeared on the World Wide Leader all week and it seems there are no plans to include him this week, either. Perhaps more importantly, Mariotti was suspended from his job as writer/blogger/blowhard over at AOL Fanhouse. 's Richard Deitsch also tweeted out the following statement from AOL: "We are continuing to gather all the facts. In the meantime, we have suspended Jay Mariotti and are not featuring any new work from him." In related news, Deadspin talked to the guy who reported the incident to police and have his account of what happened. more ›

In 1993, Michael Jordan stunned the world when he walked away from basketball at the height of his popularity. He had just won his third straight title with the Bulls and was the most famous person on earth following the Dream Team's triumphant gold medal run at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Even more stunning was his retirement endeavor. MJ gave up the charter planes and ritzy hotels of the NBA lifestyle for the long bus rides and small town accommodations known all too well to minor league baseball players. Jordan joined the Birmingham Barons, the White Sox Double A minor league affiliate, to give his baseball dreams a go. In his one season, Jordan appeared in 127 games and batted .202 with 3 home runs, 51 RBIs and 30 stolen bases in 436 at-bats -- not exactly major league material. more ›

While details are still being hammered out, it looks like LeBron James will reportedly take to the airwaves on ESPN to announce where he'll sign for the 2010-2011 season (and beyond) in a one-hour special tomorrow night. It seems in line with the kind of sensationalist coverage ESPN is becoming known for. After all, this is a network that's known for televising the press conferences where 17- and 18-year-old kids announce what colleges they'll play football for. Why should the biggest basketball player on the planet be any different? That said, it seems rather egomaniacal to set aside a whole hour on a major network just to announce where you plan to play basketball and isn't exactly worthy of a player who has zero championships. Say what you will about Jordan, his borderline psychotic competitive edge, and his equally intense grudge holding, he needed only a two-word press release to announce the biggest out-of-retirement comeback of all time. And spare us the "Oh, it's for charity" angle. This is ego-driven, pure and simple. more ›

With contradicting media reports flying all over the place helter-skelter and speculation about whether or not there was a Free Agent Summit over the weekend, we're finally getting down to business in the biggest NBA free agent class ever. In just a hair over 10 hours - at 11:01 p.m. Chicago time - teams will be free to contact NBA free agents, including LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, and Dirk Nowitzki (plus several others). While no contracts can be signed until July 8, there will still be plenty of action. All eyes will be on Ohio where LeBron James will entertain reps from just about every team that has the cash to woo the (still title-less) superstar. Both the Knicks and the Nets are expected to meet with him on Thursday. As for the Bulls, there's no timetable for their visit yet, but a report from ESPN today claims the Bulls' delegation will include everyone at the top of the organization: Jerry Reinsdorf as well as coach Tom Thibodeau, general manager Gar Forman, and executive vice president John Paxson (who would do well to wear those three championship rings he won with the Bulls). In case you wanted more speculation and fuel for the rumor-mill fire, ESPN sat down Bill Simmons and Dan LeBatard with Pardon the Interruption's Tony Kornheiser and (Chicago's own) Michael Wilbon for a half-hour of discussion on potential player destinations. While somewhat entertaining, though, the show, like everything else, is pure speculation. more ›

While ESPN was all about promoting their Tiger Woods interview this weekend, they also sat down with Michael Jordan to talk about his purchase of the Charlotte Bobcats and a few more things. more ›

Ah, Bill Simmons aka ESPN's The Sports Guy. To know him is to either love him or hate him. To those that love him, his constant pop-culture riffs and irreverent takes on today's athletes make him seem like one of us: a fan. To those that would rather see him deleted from ESPN's archives, he's a Boston sports homer whose schtick has long since worn thin. Us? We love the guy. While his writing occasionally comes across as just a tad too jokey (sometimes undermining some good points), we can dismiss his homerism - at least he's honest and upfront about it - he's producing an entertaining podcast, he's doesn't suffer for a lack of passion, and he definitely knows sports, particularly basketball. more ›

The FBI arrested a Westmont man Friday at O'Hare International Airport for allegedly videotaping an ESPN anchor in two hotel rooms, according to Chicago Breaking News. Michael David Barrett, 48, faces interstate stalking charges for producing nude videos of ESPN personality Erin Andrews (Andrews is not named in the FBI release but is identified as "an on-air personality with ESPN"). The videos - which lit up the sports blogosphere back in the summer - were obtained through "altering peepholes," the report said. According to The Australian, the eyepieces were "shortened" and then "hacksawed" to see into the victim's room. more ›

Yesterday, we mentioned our local papers honoring Michael Jordan on his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame (being televised this afternoon by ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) along with other greats John Stockton, David Robinson, Vivian Stringer, and Jerry Sloan. But, for Chicago, it's mostly about His Royal Airness. And ESPN has the perfect Friday distraction for you in the form of this collection of 23 videos celebrating his biggest moments [via GB]. more ›

We all know how iconic the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off is for the city of Chicago. The exploits of the potential felon truant student and his pals is a comedy we'll always remember, especially given the recent death of John Hughes. But...is everything the trio did in a day really possible? One of our favorite sports columnists, ESPN's Bill Simmons aka The Sports Guy, posed that very question in his most recent mailbag. more ›

A few days ago, we mentioned ESPN had produced a documentary on the infamous Steve Bartman for their "30 For 30" series and readers seemed to share the same exasperation we felt when reading the news: just let it die already. Anyone who blames Bartman for the Cubs falling apart in the 2003 NLCS didn't watch the 2003 NLCS. And now it seems the Cubs players involved in that playoff series feel the same as we all do. more ›

Almost six years later and the bespectacled, headphoned pariah of Cubs baseball (though unfairly so) will once again be trudged up courtesy of ESPN. The World Wide Leader is in the midst of putting together its "30 for 30" campaign, featuring 30 sports-related documentaries to celebrate the network's 30 years on air. And one of those documentaries will focus on the beleaguered Bartman. The doc was written and directed by Alex Gibney who earned accolades for his Oscar-nominated doc "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." NBC 5 reports, "The sports channel said that Gibney’s documentary will attempt to answer the question: Can Bartman ever forgive Chicago?" A more salient question would be: can Chicago ever forgive Alex Gonzalez for having a lead glove and Moises Alou for a bit of over-reacting? more ›

Coach Ditka, who graced the ESPN booth for one of their opening weekend Monday Night Football games, will not be in the booth this year. Instead, ESPN is using former star QB Steve Young. Still, as ProFootballTalk was kind enough to share, Ditka had at least one memorable moment in his time in the ESPN booth. more ›

Since its announcement in February, Chicago sports fans have been awaiting today's launch of ESPNChicago -- the sports network's first city-specific website. Why start with Chicago? While it made sense for HuffingtonPost to choose the Second City as its first local site, given the city's steep political history and well-known shenanigans, Chicago is perhaps not quite so obvious a choice for ESPN. Sure, we may think we're the best sports city in the land -- what other city's fans will sit through a blizzard on baseball's Opening Day or fill an arena to watch a 13-69 basketball team? But we can hear the objections from Boston and New York all the way here in the Middle West. more ›

He may be known as "Sweet Lou" to Cubs fans, but Lou Piniella sure doesn't feel that way towards EPSN's baseball analyst Steve Phillips after his recent comments on Chet Coppack's radio show. Appearing on ESPN 1000 with Coppack, Phillips accused the Cubs skipper of lacking patience with Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome last season. more ›

Wow, ESPN really likes us. Following the lead of The Huffington Post, who started up the now-(in)famous ChuffPo, ESPN is launching a Chicago-centric site appropriately called ESPNChicago. Great! More ways to hear about the Cubs' curse and the Bears inability to find a decent quarterback. The site - the first city-specific site from ESPN - will launch in April and, for the time being, the address redirects to the ESPN 1000 AM site, more ›

Well, that was interesting. It seems the Cubs won't be dealing for Padres ace Jake Peavy after all. With the Padres having set a Thursday deadline for the trade, Cubs GM Jim Hendry didn't pull the trigger, telling ESPN, "Kevin [Towers, San Diego GM] and I had a lot of very healthy, very honest discussions. But at the end of the day, we had to do what was best for the organization. I just felt like when I weighed the total value of the talent going out against the economics of what was coming in, it was in the best interests of our organization not to make this deal." With the Peavy deal now done for, the Cubs will instead focus on landing a much-needed left-handed bat. Names that have been floated include Milton Bradley, Raul Ibanez and Bobby Abreu. more ›

If you watched ESPN's Monday Night Football last night, you've seen Chris Berman talk to Senators McCain and Obama, but it's worth a gander if only to hear Obama diss the NCAA's BCS system. [via Awful Announcing] more ›

We're just hours away from the Cubs opening their playoff series with the Dodgers. On ESPN's SportsCenter, "writer"/personality Rick Reilly had some fun toying with Cubs fans' emotions and the Cubs streak of "curses." Like Bill Simmons, we think curses are nothing more than gimmicks used to rile up fans and sell papers and books, but it's worth a look, if only for the historical aspect. The piece seems to be tongue-in-cheek and, well, we guess our posting of it means it worked. more ›

Tomorrow night, the Eagles and Bears meet at Soldier Field in what is sure to be a hard-hitting affair (7:15 p.m. kickoff on NBC 5). And if you're as big a football fan as several of us (even those of us who didn't grow up here), it's hard to forget that legendary playoff match-up between the Eagles and Bears now and forever known as "The Fog Bowl." ESPN certainly remembers and tomorrow morning on Sunday NFL Countdown, they'll feature an entire segment on the game. But, thanks to the power of the internet, we can share it with you now so you don't have to worry about missing it while sleeping off that hangover from watching tonight's big Illinois game against Penn State (7 p.m. on ABC 7). [via the incomparable Awful Announcing] more ›

Yesterday, ESPN nixed an interview with presidential candidate Barack Obama. The interview was to take place with Bill Simmons, ESPN.com's most popular columnist, for his weekly podcast. It was the second time in recent weeks that ESPN has canceled an interview with Obama. The sports and politics blogosphere is abuzz with conspiracy theories, mainly pertaining to the fact that ESPN President George Bodenheimer donated $1,000 to the McCain campaign. more ›

We're not sure than the 2008 White Sox will be any more tolerable to watch than last year's team, but they'll no doubt be easier to listen to -- at least on the radio. That's because Steve Stone will be replacing Chris Singleton alongside Ed Farmer, the team announced on Tuesday. more ›

Brett Favre is retiring after 17 seasons, 16 with the Packers. He says he's too mentally tired to return, but that physically, he's fine, which is why discussions of his possible non-retirement abound. [ESPN, Trib] more ›

This is not a lie – we rock at Scrabble. We even played Scrabble using French words once; kind of a pretentious pursuit, but fun nonetheless. Here in Chicago, you can still get your Scrabble on even if you don’t own the game; lots of bars and coffee shops have Scrabble and other board games on their shelves, available for play. And in our opinion, there is no better way to impress a girl on a date than whipping her ass in Scrabble (or Connect Four, or Battleship). more ›

Last week the English Premier League announced its intention to play some regular season matches abroad. In previous years, international club teams have found financial success by coming to the United States to play some pre- and post-season friendlies with other international powerhouse clubs or local Major League Soccer clubs. more ›