Dan Patrick Leaves ESPN

Peace out Danny Boy. I actually really like Dan Patrick and grew up with him as the face of ESPN's SportsCenter, which he was probably the best anchor. Even though his radio show sometimes gets boring, I know that if I am by a radio and he is on I will undoubtedly listen. I have to say, though, I am kind of glad he is leaving. Not for the fact that ESPN will be better without him, they will not, but he will definitely be better without them.

NEW YORK (AP) - Dan Patrick is leaving ESPN after 18 years, insisting there is no acrimony but saying he was beginning to take his job for granted. The former SportsCenter anchor announced his decision on his radio show Monday and said his final show will be Aug. 17. Patrick said he hoped to continue working in radio but wasn't sure if he would do any more television.

Billy Donovan is a Punk!

Well we now have a new member of the "flip-flop club." This, of course, is the one and only two-time NCAA basketball champion coach of the Florida Gators (maybe) Billy Donovan. Three days ago Donovan signed a five-year $27.5 million contract with the NBA's Orlando Magic and now says he wants to get out of that contract to go back to coach the Gators. The Magic can either let him do this or not and make him pay a substantial fine.

So, who can trust Donovan at this point? The Orlando Magic? No. The Florida Gators? No. The NBA, NCAA, or the recruits coming to Florida University? No, no, and no. So why are we letting Donovan get away with this?

Earlier this year and the second half of last year we scrutinized several coaches throughout collegiate and professional sports for backing out of contracts and making controversial moves to different teams. For example, when Nick Saban went to Alabama football from the Miami Dolphins (after he said he wouldn't of course) there were many people ready to call him "Nick Satan." Other notables include Billy Gillispie going from Texas A&M to Kentucky basketball.

We can't let Donovan off the hook here. Today, on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN, Dan talked about this and wasn't nearly as heated up as he was on the other coaches. Why does Donovan get a pass? I don't care if he is having second thoughts and a change of heart about his decision. If you have these second thoughts don't sign a contract with a different team a screw two organizations and a lot of young basketball players.

This move by Donovan shows that he has no class and that he doesn't even know what he really wants. I am also extremely disappointed in the sports media coverage on this topic because they are letting Donovan get away with this without the scrutinization they have given to other coaches that have done the exact same thing. WELCOME TO THE FLIP-FLOP CLUB BILLY YOU PUNK!!!

Ugly scene in Utah due to classless fans

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz on Memorial Day evening (not quite the "Memorial Day Miracle" by Sean Elliot). This pushes the series back to San Antonio with the Spurs a chance to close out the series with their 3-1 lead.

Towards the end of the game, when the Spurs had put the game out of reach for the Jazz, within a one minute span both Derek Fisher and coach Jerry Sloan were ejected for excessive technical fouls. Obviously everyone for the Jazz was frustrated, but in particular were the Utah Jazz fans. Throughout the entire game the Jazz's fans were anything but classy.

Early in the first half, you could hear (on the ESPN broadcast) a fan was yelling offensive obscenities through a microphone at Spurs' players who were shooting free throws. The fans were also on the officials the entire game, yelling "refs, you suck!" at every chance they got. However, nothing compared to how livid they were at the end of the game. As the Spurs were walking off the court, the Utah fans started throwing debris onto the court that was directed at them and the refs. You could see debris being thrown at the Spurs as they were walking through the tunnels and off the court. Greg Popovich actually had to run back onto the court to grab Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili off the court as they were set to do post-game interviews with ESPN and San Antonio radio stations, according to ESPN's Michelle Tafoya.

Way to go Utah. I know that the Jazz are all you have up there, so I understand what die hard fans you guys are because I am from San Antonio and the Spurs are all we have, but you don't need to be classless. Show support for your team by appaulding them for their effort (which I believe was great) and don't "booo" the game and act like maniacs by throwing objects at players and refs.... that is ridiculous. By the way, the Jazz fans sure do have a lot of diversity amound themselves, as you can see by some of these pictures.

Images courtesy: Getty Images

Preakness "Pre-Game" Over NHL Overtime

On Saturday, NBC decided to cut off an exciting NHL conference final game in overtime between Ottawa and Buffalo, which ended up being the deciding game in the series to go the Stanley Cup Finals, to go to coverage of the "pre-game" of the second leg of the horse racing Triple Crown, "The Preakness." The "pre-game!!!!!" Nothing against horse racing (I do think it is exciting) and I know the ratings of the horse race are obviously, but sadly, going to be higher than the NHL game(5.5 million for Preakness and 1.1 million for NHL of NBC). However, they cut the NHL game off for us to see the excitement of jockeys siting on couches, horses eating out of troughs, and amazing interviews with elite and elderly horse owners; what could be better?

Now, I realize hockey isn't the most popular sport, especially here in the U.S., but are the networks (notably ESPN and NBC) literally trying to kill it and stab it in the back. I will admit that I am not the biggest hockey fan by any means, but I just don't understand what is going on with these major sports networks. ESPN would rather play NCAA women's softball, bowling, poker, darts, and a ridiculous minor league baseball game (just because Roger Clemans was going to pitch circa 60 pitches) than broadcasting one of the top four U.S. sport's playoff games. Way to go NBC, I would've much rather watched a four foot man's dietary reigement than one of the most exciting things in sports, overtime playoff hockey. Thanks again.