Whether it’s been BCS games or baseball playoffs, we’ve often complained about FOX TV overproducing sporting events. Not to say that I or many others don’t have short attention spans, but it seems to me that along with showing you sports, FOX’s goal is to give you A.D.D. if you don’t already have it. This sentiment goes hand-in-hand with my often used mantra that less is more. Maybe FOX has finally learned that lesson given what happened in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night.

The Phillies were up 3-0 early and cruising until the controversy in the 4th. After a Johnny Damon flyout and a walk to Teixeira, A-Rod sliced a ball down the right field line, just inside the foul pole. In a Jeffrey Maier moment, the ball hit a FOX TV camera that was poking out over the fence (you can see it in the image above). The umpires later ruled the ball was on its way out so they awarded Alex Rodriguez with a two-run home run to make it 3-2 Phillies. The TV camera and the subsequent ruling seemed to have cost the Phillies a run. Even if the ball were heading out, there’s no reason why a camera should be sticking out over the fence onto the field. Sure it’s a million-to-one shot, but it happened, and FOX looks bad because of it. Maybe they realize now that it’s not about how many cameras you have (and at the least, to make sure they’re not interfering with the play), but about not screwing up the action. That home run by A-Rod snapped his slump and sparked the Yankees offense. They can thank FOX and the umpires for it.

UPDATE: The hit was ruled a home run because the ground rules had been agreed upon prior to the game and they said if a ball hit a camera it would be a homer.

Rex Ryan has talked more than his share of crap since becoming the head coach of the Jets. The “big old joker” had a war of words with Dolphins LB Channing Crowder in the offseason that ignited more hatred between the Jets and Dolphins. Suffice it to say, he’s not letting up in the second matchup between the teams. When asked about the Dolphins being without cornerback Will Allen, Ryan showed no sympathy saying “boo hoo hoo”, while referencing his own team’s injuries. Joey Porter was unhappy with Ryan’s response and here’s what Rex said in return:

“I don’t feel sorry for them losing Will Allen. Obviously, I don’t like it for any player to be hurt, but if they’re looking for sympathy because Will Allen is out of the game, well, we’ve got Kris Jenkins out, and we’ve got Leon Washington out for the season, two guys that are Pro Bowl players.

“No disrespect to Will Allen, but I don’t think he’s going to make a Pro Bowl anytime soon. He’s a decent player, but whatever.”

The good thing about guys like Ryan is that he speaks his mind and doesn’t mix his words. I’d much rather have guys who are truthful than guys who lie and mislead. So what if he has a big mouth? He takes the blame when his team doesn’t perform well and he does nothing but express confidence in his boys. Plus, he’s right — injuries are a big part of the game and everyone has them. The only thing else I could ask for is a steel cage match between Rex and either Crowder or Porter. Maybe Porter since Crowder’s too hurt to play in this one. Now that would be one hell of a match.

So I received my copy of SI in the mail Friday and finally got to dig into the excerpts of Andre Agassi’s book with more detail than reading the shocking headline that “he did Meth!!!” Needless to say, the excerpts were quite intriguing and accomplished their job of whetting the appetite for the book. One of the cool stories from the book was mentioned by Shutdown Corner and it’s the anecdote of Andre Agassi beating Jim Brown as a 9-year-old kid. Here’s the meat of the tale:

After asking the 9-year-old some questions about his skills (Agassi told him he never loses) and getting warned by the club owner not to take the bet, Brown and Mike Agassi agreed that they’d set the amount after he and Andre played two sets. After dropping two straight sets by a score of 3-6, Brown politely declined the 10K wager and offered $500 for the third. He lost, 6-2.

Now the question I have is if Brown later realized that the Andre Agassi who was number one in the world was the same 9-year-old kid that beat him years before. Think about this — Jim Brown is one of the best football players of all-time, not to mention one of the best lacrosse players ever. And he was beaten by a 9-year-old! Goes to show you how talented Agassi was.

Since the theme from Agassi’s book seems to be how much he (and many other youngsters pushed by their parents) hated tennis, I would like to know whether or not he’s proud of his accomplishments in the sport. After all, there’s no way to say that all the hard work didn’t pay off — he has gone down in history as one of the greats in the game.

Outside of the brilliant pitching of Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia (add Rivera to the list?), the biggest topic of the MLB postseason has been the horrendous umpiring. Things started with Phil Cuzzi’s blown call on a Joe Mauer leadoff double against the Yankees in the ALDS. Then C.B. Bucknor blew a few calls in favor of the Angels against the Red Sox at first base in the ALDS. After that, the umps blew about three calls in Game 4 of the ALCS between the Yankees and Angels. Considering the egregious nature of these calls and the indisputable evidence from the instant replay we saw on TV, you figure the logical step would be to allow the umpires the opportunity to review their call when they make such a bad **** up. But not under Chief Selig’s watch:

“I’ve talked to a lot baseball people about this recently — that includes on the field and executives,” said Selig, explaining his position at length. “Believe me, they have a lot of trepidation about expanding it. [Angels manager] Mike Scioscia put it very well: The umpires get it right 99 percent of the time.

“Times change, but I’m still in favor of keeping the human element as a part of it, and I’m also very concerned about pace. I think there are other ways we can make corrections. During the offseason we’ll review everything. I’ve made my position clear, and by the way, I think it’s the position of most people in baseball. You have to be very careful when you tamper with a sport.”

Dude, we’re not saying get rid of the human element and have pitch tracker call balls and strikes, we’re just saying take the freaking five minutes to let the umpires see how badly they effed up with the Joe Mauer call or when Mike Napoli tagged out both Yankees at third base. That would go a long way towards preserving the purity of the game. Wait a sec, did I say purity? This is Selig we’re talking about. Why would I expect anything different? Still, MLB has to do something to correct this issue.

Both Reggie Bush and Maurice Jones-Drew are taking some heat for comments they made this week. Funny, aren’t the two always grouped together? Anyway, Bush responded to a question on The Monty Show on Sporting News Radio as to whether or not the 6-0 Saints could go undefeated. His answer was what you would expect: “Yes. I do think we have the players, we have the chemistry, we have the heart and dedication, we have the coaching staff, we have the players.” Not that anyone outside of the ‘72 Dolphins and sorta the ‘07 Patriots have a clue what it takes, but what’s wrong with Reggie’s comments? Why shouldn’t he have confidence in his team and expect them to win all their games?

On a related note, Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew was asked who he thought the best team in the league was. His answer was exactly what I would expect: “I think the Jaguars are. We have a lot of young guys who are starting to get their feet under them. You guys expect me to say anybody else? That’s a very honest answer. I’m a fan of the Jaguars. I’m one of those fans, regardless of what the team does, I still love them. Each week, I think they’re going to be awesome.” Players should take pride and have confidence in their team. Why shouldn’t they believe in themselves and their teammates? I don’t see anything wrong with either player’s answer. In fact, if they’d answered with anything other than “no comment,” I’d probably have been disappointed.

Also, our friends at National Football Post are running a contest where they’re flying out fans to the Chargers/Eagles game in San Diego and providing hotel accommodations and game tickets. Go here to register.

We’ve already established that Tim Donaghy is a crooked person who bet on NBA games that he officiated and fixed. Since he’s already been to jail to serve his time and the league never backed him up, he’s out for payback in the worst way possible: he’s written a book about the officiating corruption in the league that names names and cites specific examples. Although the book doesn’t have a publisher currently, excerpts have reached Deadspin and they’re here for our perusal.

First, here are some of the facts. We’ve already recognized that Donaghy was perfect at moving the spread and delivering. Additionally, one of the games we pinpointed as one he fixed even was mentioned in his excerpt. He even said the reason the free throw disparity favored the Knicks so greatly was that one of the officials was super friendly with Isiah Thomas. Makes sense. Anyway, more on the specifics from the book.

Donaghy specifically states that stars got preferential treatment and that lesser-known players like Raja Bell, who was a defensive stopper, got fouls called against him so he couldn’t shut down the stars as well. He also says that Allen Iverson was given a tough time by referees after he criticized Steve Javie. Donaghy specifically names referees and what their motivation was. The strongest charge was against Dick Bavetta, whom Donaghy called a company man that manipulated games and playoff series including the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Kings. Tim also said that referee Tommy Nunez did everything he could to fix the Suns/Spurs ‘07 Western Conference playoff series in favor of San Antonio. The Spurs of course went on to win the NBA Finals.

More Tim Donaghy on LBS:
Tim Donaghy’s Bookies Were Only Mob Wanna-Be’s
Games Fixed by Tim Donaghy
Tim Donaghy Was Beat Up in Prison