Media notes, the stuff that's not good enough

==It was a somewhat subdued and sheepish Joe Morgan , not with the usual self-importance and speaking with confidence who, on the most recent ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" telecast between St. Louis and Atlanta, was forced to admit to a personal story of something that didn't happen.
During the Sunday, July 15 ESPN telecast of the Philadelphia Phillies' 10,000th franchise loss to St. Louis, Morgan told the tale of how he, making his major-league debut with the Houston Astros at the end of the 1964 season, had an extra-inning RBI single to beat the Phillies during their self-implosion when they blew a 6 1/2-game lead with 12 games left by losing 10 in a row. Morgan said that Phillies manager Gene Mauch was so incensed that he told his team that the should feel ashamed to lose to a guy who looked like a Little Leaguer.
Great yarn. Except it wasn't quite accurate.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post went on an unusual-for-him rant about it in the July 20 edition of the paper, calling it part of the 'self-mutilation of ESPN" that Morgan is a "fellow whose wisdom is often laced with convoluted, confounding and contradictory nonsense." True, but this time, there was evidence to back it up.
The Phillies played Cincinnati, Atlanta and St. Louis during the losing streak of '64; Houston wasn't one of the opponents.
Morgan did get an extra-base hit to be the Phillies -- at the end of the 1963 season, on Sept. 22, the day after his major-league debut.
Mushnick also said the story about Morgan beating the '64 Phillies appeared in the Baseball Digest in 2000.
So, in the top of the fourth inning of this most recent Sunday game, play-by-play man Jon Miller tried to gracefully bring up the story again to allow Morgan to fix it.
"I've been thinking about this all week," Miller said. "Last Sunday, when the Phillies lost their 10,000th game ... you recalled a story about Gene Mauch, manager of that ballclub, and getting a base hit to win a game when you were just a raw rookie, and after the fact, Mauch was so upset he said, 'You guys let a guy that looked like a Little Leaguer beat you.'"
So far, Miller is really stretching to get to the point.
"So, uh," Miller continued, "but you're telling me now, although the story is correct, you did beat them with your first major-league hit, you had the year misplace on that."
How diplomatic was that? The story isn't correct, first off.
"Well, it was 1963, instead of '64," Morgan admitted in a douer tone of voice. "I didn't realize I'd been in the big leagues that long ... I was 19 (in '63) ... I think so."
Now he's not sure how old he was or when he made his major-league debut?
"So anyway, we got that straight," said Miller. "You got your first hit in '63. ... and while you did not beat them ... well, you got the hit to beat them, it just wasn't your first hit in that 10-game losing streak in '64 ... you went into the big-leagues to stay in '65."
"Correct," said Morgan.
You sure?
We're not even sure now if Miller believes what he just helped Morgan correct, or if he just confused everyone even more.
And don't think any of this was missed on the website forum FireJoeMorgan.com.
Welcome Jon and Joe into your homes this Sunday night when the Angels face Detroit from Angels Stadium. And set the TiVo for your own replay of Morgan's yarns from yesteryear.

==Despite rumors that NBC would drop its NHL pregame show with the departure of Brett Hull, the network said Thursday that Mike Milbury, a former player, coach and front-office man, will be the new studio analyst, and instead of originating from Rockefeller Plaza with Bill Clement and Ray Ferraro as it has the last two seasons, it'll be live at the game-site location and hosted by Pierre McGuire instead. The network didn't say whether Clement or Ferraro would be back, but you gotta assume they'll either be reassigned to game coverage or be dropped completely. "Mike is sometimes controversial, usually quotable and always interesting," said NHL producer Sam Flood. "As an ex player, coach and GM, he brings a hat trick of perspective to his new role as a broadcaster. And taking the studio show inside the arena provides an immediacy and big event feel, while shining an even bigger spotlight on the 'Game of the Week.'" Milbury, who played for the Boston Bruins and was later the team's coach before working in the N.Y. Islanders front office, had a stint as an NHL studio analys twith ESPN in 1994-95. NBC and the NHL recently announced an extension of their revenue sharing partnership through the 2007-08 that includes a flexible scheduling "Game of the Week" component.

==Billing it as the first team championship to be contested in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in Sept., 2005, ESPN has the 2007 ArenaBowl XXI at the New Orleans Arena pitting Columbus against San Jose at noon Sunday with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. Jay Rothman, ESPN senior coordinating producer for remote production, who also produces "Monday Night Football" and was at contest last fall when the Louisiana Superdome reopened, said the coverage will include highlights of the ongoing recovery in the area.

==After three weeks of The Golf Channel's "Fore Inventors Only" reality show, the 103 contestants invited on from the more than 1,000 who auditioned have been cut down to 38, including Granada Hills' Darren Newberry (The Trunk Chair), Los Angeles' Matthew Louie (The Chipinator), Redondo Beach's Andre Von Heerden (Load and Explode) and Toluca Lake's Matt Baird, with Montrose's John Haggar (The Tour Axis).
A bit more explanation on the inventions:
Trunk Chair is a portable chair that can be placed on the back of a truck or a car so golfers can change their shoes easier before and after a round. A general manager of an automotive superstore, Newberry has invested $2,000 thus far on his invention
Chipinator is a 2’ x 2’ box with a hole in the middle to chip into. A motor is at the bottom of the box that returns the ball back to the golfer. A medic in the United States Army, Louie has invested $11,000 thus far on his invention.
Load and Explode, is a swing training device that golfers strap to themselves restricting sway and trains hip pivoting. A computer systems consultant, Von Heerden has invested $10,000 thus far.
The Tour Axis is vest with two small bags that attach under the armpit. The concept is to keep the bags tucked under each arm through the practice swing to achieve a repeatable motion, replace the practice drill many golfers utilize where they place a headcover or golf towel under their arms.
Field testing of these inventions starts with the Tuesday, July 31 episode, where a group of golfers who've been on previous Golf Channel shows such as "Big Break" provide feedback to the panelists -- PGA Tour pro Fulton Allem, renowned golf instructor Bill Harmon and Golf for Women Senior Editor Stina Sternberg -- who then narrow the field to 10 semifinalists. It all leads up to the live season finale on Sept. 4 when viewers vote on the winner, who gets shelf space at golf retailer Golfsmith for one year; a fully-developed infomercial and $50,000 worth of commercial and promotional air time on the Golf Channel.

==Brent Musburger will host ESPN’s coverage from Indianapolis of the Nextel Cup Brickyard 400 on Sunday (10 a.m.), while Dr. Jerry Punch will do play-by-play for the race, joined with analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree. Pit reporters are Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Suzy Kolber will add some flair as host NASCAR Countdown, joined by analyst (and former NBA player) Brad Daugherty in the ESPN Pit Studio.

==DirecTV's continuing coverage of the Championship Gaming Series has taken us to the Region I finals between the Chicago Chimera and Carolina Core, which take place Monday at 7 p.m. from Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach and carried on Channel 101.
So Sunday, CBS has the 2007 World Series of Video Games (9 to 10 a.m.), from the event taped in late June in Louisville, Ky. It's the first of four hour-long shows CBS will broadcast under its CBS Sports banner. CSTV’s Greg Amsinger calls the action.

==Reader Justin Cazana, of Knoxville, Tenn., wrote to say about the Versus' coverage of the Tour de France:
"How can Versus be considered a big player in the world of network sportscasts when they won't do a live show on the major doping scandal at the Tour de France? Both the Tuesday and Wednesday favorites to win the race were kicked off the tour for doping. Yet at 8 pm, for Versus's prime time (taped) coverage, they ran the same song and dance with a ticker at the bottom of the screen stating that it was pre-recorded and that rider so & so had been booted. I know they have very little time between shows ending and getting things ready for the next morning, but with experience like Al Trautwig and Phil Liggett they should be able to do a full hour with nothing but a microphone and camera."

==As "The Simpsons Movie" hits theaters today, The Sports Business Daily did a look back at how sports was integrated into the show through its previous 18 seasons. Here's the best they've come up with:
-- "Homer at the Bat," season three, when Mr. Burns makes a $1 million bet with his arch-rival, Aristotle Amadopolis, that the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team will defeat the team from the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. To ensure victory, Burns hires some ringers as plant employees -- Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., Steve Sax, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, Don Mattingly, Ozzie Smith, Wade Boggs and Mike Scioscia. In a reference to the Yankees’ no facial hair and haircut policy, Burns keeps telling Mattingly, “Get a haircut!”
-- "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" in season three has former boxer Joe Frazier making a cameo at Moe's Tavern. Frazier is also in "Homer's Paternity Coot" in season 17.
--"Homer Defined" in season three includes Lakers star Magic Johnson, who calls Homer to congratulate him for accidentally saving two nuclear power plants from a meltdown. Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn is also in the episode.
-- "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," in season five, had former heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney as the "official greeter" for Mr. Burns casino.
-- "Homie the Clown" in season six had former NFL star Johnny Unitas doing an informercial for Krusty the Clown's Lady Krusty Mustache Removal System.
-- "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield," in season seven, has golfer Tom Kite trying to help Homer with his golf game. Kite tells Homer, “You don’t want to over think” the game. Homer responds: “Not an issue.”
-- "The Homer They Fall," in season eight has boxing ringside announcer Michael Buffer introducing a title bout between Homer and Dreaderick Tatum (a parody of Mike Tyson) with the "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" announcement.
-- "You Only Move Twice," in season eight, where Homer receives the Denver Broncos as a gift from his former boss. Homer said he actually wanted to own the Dallas Cowboys. “This will get you a little closer to that dream of yours. It’s not the Dallas Cowboys, but it’s a start," the note reads. Says Marge: “I think owning the Denver Broncos is pretty good.” Homer: “You just don’t understand football, Marge.”
-- "Bart Star," in season nine, is where Homer is a football coach who replaces Bart with a more talented quarterback. Roy Firestone and Joe Namath appear.
-- "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday," in season 10, is when Homer and friends make a trip to Miami for the Super Bowl and find out the tickets they have are counterfeit. They end up in Rupert Murdoch's skybox. Fox's Pat Summerall and John Madden appear, as does Troy Aikman, Rosey Grier and Dan Marino.

==James Brown, CBS' NFL studio anchor and college basketball play-by-play man, hosts his own "JB Awards" (Saturday, 11 a.m. to noon), which took place last April at the NFL Players Gala in Washington D.C., which benefitted the Special Olympics. The background: Each NFL team nominated a player who had an exceptional story for his commitment to achieve excellence off the field through building better communities and stronger families. Brown picked 10 of them to give his "Award" to, and the recipients include Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk and Denver Broncos safety John Lynch.

==And finally, from the end of an ESPN press release:
Recently, Mac Weakley of Carlsbad caught a 25-pound largemouth bass that broke the 75-year-old record of 22 pounds, 4 ounces. Unfortunately, after snapping a few photos of the accomplishment, he released the bass, never submitting it for world-record consideration. Saturday at 4:30 a.m. on ESPN2, ESPN Outdoors host Mark Zona and Weakley will travel to Lake Dixon in Escondido to find that fish again and to discuss the would-be record catch.
Give our regards to the big-assed bass if you happen to snatch him up again.

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For some reason, the "What Smokes" and "What Chokes" notes that appear in the Daily News newspaper edition aren't making it onto the website.
So here it is again for those who request it:

WHAT SMOKES
-- Touching on more than just the evolution of gay athletes from Dave Kopay to Esera Tualolo and John Amechi, the new book “The Outsports Revolution: Truth and Myth in the World of Gay Sports,” by Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler Jr. (Alyson Books, $19.95, 304 pages) takes both a serious and humor tone in sizing up what the place is of gay and lesbian athletes and athletics in today’s society. Buzinski, the former sports editor of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and Ziegler, a UCLA grad who sat in for the vacationing D’Marco Farr this week on KSPN-AM (710), are the co-creators of Outsports.com who’ve been trying to debunk myths about gays in sports for years. In a chapter on the history of gays in sports, it also addresses the gossip from 2003 from the New York Post that that Sandy Koufax was aided by author Jane Leavy in hiding his sexual preference when she wrote a book on him. That led to Koufax severing his ties with the Dodgers (then owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp., which also owns the Post). “Whether Koufax is or is not gay was never the point,” Buzinski and Ziegler write. “What is instructive is that the mere printing of an unnamed gossip item was enough for him to publicly dissociate himself from the Dodgers . . . and caused many in the media to accuse the Post of irresponsible rumor mongering. . . . If he is in fact a homosexual, then his reaction was that of a 67-year-old man who has lived in the closet his whole life, which evokes feeling of both pity and sympathy.” The authors also compile a list of those who they’ve decided are the “bad guys” – John Rocker, Tim Hardaway, Jeremy Schokey, Matt Millen, Ozzie Guillen among others – and the “good guys” – Paul Tagliabue, Kiki Vandeweghe, Bobby Valentine and Sean Salisbury, to name a few – who’ve made public statements about gays.

-- If the first week of ESPN’s new “College Football Live” half-hour daily show is any indication, expect plenty of exposure for USC’s program. Coach Pete Carroll did a live interview on Thursday’s edition from the Pac-10 media day, members of the Trojan marching band made an appearance Tuesday and there’s been plenty of debate about the team’s No. 1 ranking by most preseason magazines, polls and network commentators. It may be at an awkward time in the day (noon to 12:30 p.m.), sandwiched between “Outside the Lines” and “NFL Live,” but it has 10 repeats daily on ESPNU, most of them in the overnight hours.

WHAT CHOKES

-- Even with some high-profile inductees like Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., ESPN will relegate all eight hours of coverage from Sunday’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony to its ESPN Classic channel, beginning at 9 a.m. Live ceremony coverage runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with Brian Kenny and Tim Kurkjian, and is followed with a replay of the Sept. 6, 1995 game when Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record in Baltimore against the Angels (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.) and a replay of the Aug. 6, 1999 game when Gwynn got his 3,000th hit for San Diego in Montreal (2:30 to 4 p.m.).