First, Andy Hutchins hops on (from what sounds like the back of a truck) to talk about the weekend. Andy is the weekend editor at The Sporting Blog — as well as writing a ton during the week — so we talk about the big storylines from Saturday and Sunday.

Andy feels the Celtics are the biggest story, so we briefly discuss that. We then talk about Rafael Nadal, and if at some point it becomes ridiculous when an athlete falls to the ground after winning what seemed like a pretty easy match. Come on, he won in three sets and was never challenged in either of them. Does that really warrant laying on the ground? Sure it was a culmination of triumph after a tough yet, but doesn’t it show just a little lack of respect for the opponent, and the moment?

Maybe that’s my biggest issue with it…the crowd was just politely applauding. It wasn’t an Oh My Gawd moment, so Nadal’s “I’m overwhelmed by my own greateness” moment seemed out of place.

That spins to talk about ESPN and the USMNT, where we talk at great length about Martin Tyler, John Harkes and the call of the match against Australia. The call fell flat, and perhaps it was because of the lack of energy in the stadium. Could this happen again or will a stadium that’s bigger and presumably louder help?

Also, are we concerned about Tyler calling the USA England match on US TV? Do we want our announcers to be homers?

More on this in Press Coverage later today.

We do talk briefly about game five of the Stanley Cup finals where it looks like I’m going to owe Kaduk some Tastykakes.

Thanks to Andy for hopping on last minute. We end with a talk about the pressure for the USMNT. I had the chance to ask Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard about that last week. We end with their thoughts. They are at the 26:00 mark.

Thanks for listening.

Two shows today. This is the first. We talk about the perfect game that wasn’t, but still could be. How long until we have robot umpires? We also talk about Ken Griffey Jr.’s retirement. More on that at TSB, including a look at his Top Ten moments. Plus, the Stanley Cup finals were totally overshadowed [...]

We start with some talk about the Flyers making it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but in no way do we gush like we have in the past about the Phillies. We’re unabashed bandwagon hoppers this year.

Oh, we’re having a mayoral bet with Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew. What should be ask for from Chicago? We’re putting up some TastyKakes. And for the record, , but do not expect them to do so.

PRINT’S NOT DEAD

We talk about the Dwayne Bowe story that’s circulating from ESPN the Magazine about a chicken in every pot, or in this case, a woman in every room. Should this get him in trouble with the team? Is his “bad judgement” as Nick put it the fact that he was a part of this or that he told the media about the clandestine situation that has been going on for FIFTY YEARS? And that’s our question: when did this start to become news? Hasn’t this kind of thing happened since professional sports began, but what wasn’t news decades ago — a secret kept by the media from the public for the players — is now front-page stuff.

And this story didn’t come from a gossip blog. This was testimony in a national magazine. We discuss the transition of the media going from being on the player’s side of this imaginary line to being on the public’s.

We also touch on the story from Friday on Deadspin about the woman who defecated in a trash can (due to, what she claims, were medical circumstances). Why is that on Deadspin? Because it happened at ESPN. Nick and I take both sides of the way Craggs handled the story.

We talk about NBA, NHL and MLB. But mostly we talk about how I want Phil Jackson’s huge chair.

Oh, and as per my post at Sporting News, what announcer would you want to do the commentary for a video game of your life? Must be alive and a sports broadcaster.

Leave in the comments.

We talk about my wife’s grandfather’s funeral. Have you ever heard Taps played by a uniformed man with a horn at a funeral, then watched two other soldiers fold up an American flag and hand it to someone you care about? It’s an amazingly powerful moment.

We ask two questions about sports today: would you rather see a short series with close games or a long series with blowouts that lead up to a competitive culmination? How much power does “game seven” have? Plus, if you’re a fan of a team, do you embrace bandwagon jumpers, especially if your sport is looking for fans?

Last, we tackle the Deadspin rumor about Bill Simmons new contract.

I love the “and more” tag at the end of headlines. But this show with Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy is seriously one big “and more”. I love talking with him — it’s the two guys from Jersey thing — no matter what we discuss. This time, it’s mostly about hockey, with very little heavy lifting for those not following the action. It’s actually a decent primer for those who may want to start paying attention now. So get on it and listen. You’ll sound smart if you say whatever he says.

We talk about the timing of having a kid in the next few days (him, not me) and what his schedule will be like. He likens himself to a player that knocks up his wife after the season. Something about a small window, but I didn’t probe. Wait…

We talk at length about the pending Winnipeg situation and get into the deep-roots of Wyshynski’s total anti-Canada stance. It’s amazing how much he hates Canada.

We also talk a lot about the playoffs, who will win, who the NHL wants to win (note: not the Canadian teams or, in my opinion, the Sharks) to help TV ratings and why so many players have been getting hurt this year.

Of all our recent shows, this felt the most to me like the listener was sitting in on a one-on-one conversation. I hope that’s a good thing.

Click here to listen

Hello faithful listeners. We’re back. We talk about some things today. Won’tcha come join us?

In today’s show, we talk about:
• The media horde during situations like the Virginia lacrosse murder
• Sports! Including hockey playoffs and the NBA. Well, it’s probably most about baseball, let’s be honest.
• TV! Namely a conversation using my Press Coverage column at TSB as a launching point about CNN asking viewers and readers to submit iReports, most egregiously during the investigation of the Times Square car bomb. How about this idea? Tell your fans to get the hell to Jersey, there’s a car that could explode.
• I forget to ask Nick if he has anything else and it turns out he has TWO things!

Good to be back. Click here to listen.

All apologies for the short recaps this week. Eh, be happy there’s a show at all, because frankly, I’m not. I just want this boy to show up already.

Anyway, We talk about three things today.

First, Nick and I discuss the NHL! We talk about why shootouts in sports are okay in certain instances, and then talk about how the Devils and Flyers are playing zero games on national TV when, as Nick points out, every other series has at least three games on national TV. Make sense? Does everyone hate these two teams that much?

COURT REPORT:

Neil Jacobs, a Washington, D.C. defense attorney and our legal analyst, joins the show to talk about Ben Roethlisberger’s situation. Would he, as a defense attorney, eat the prosecution alive with the circumstantial nature of this case, and is that why the prosecutor can’t do much more than come out with a presser talking about Ben being a bad guy and “if he were my son, I’d tell him to grow up.”

We also get some insight into the thinking of a defense lawyer in a situation like this. Do you want to know the truth? Is it harder to defend someone if you know they did it?

Continue reading and listen to the show.