Larry Brown Sports

Friday was Michelle Beadle‘s last day at ESPN before she moves over to a new job with NBC Sports and Access Hollywood. The day marked not only the end of her time on “SportsNation,” but potentially the end of a longstanding feud with co-worker Erin Andrews.

The rivalry between the ESPN personalities apparently was brought public by the ESPN Book (I never read it) in which Beadle, answering questions in an interview, admitted she watched the Erin Andrews peephole video.

She was pressed about that and more during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday after Dan slyly introduced the subject by asking if Andrews attended Beadle’s going away party (she did).

“All I did was answer questions that I was asked,” Beadle said of her comments to the ESPN Book. “If being honest was the problem, then I’m sorry for that. All I did was say I saw the video. Apparently you’re not supposed to say that.”

Beadle says she was called in to talk to her ESPN bosses about the interview, but she’s never discussed it with Andrews.

Read The Rest of the Story…

Back in November we informed you of the sitcom CBS purchased the rights to a show based on the life of Colin Cowherd. Yes, we were as stunned as you were to hear they were making a show based on this guy. We were in even more shock when we learned that Damon Wayans was cast as the Cowherd role. Outside of the obvious skin color difference, it’s a perfect match.

Apparently the folks doing the casting at CBS also thought Eliza Dushku fit the Michelle Beadle role well because she was also hired. Dushku wrote on her Facebook Wednesday “It is with insanest excitement & awesomeness I get to finally fill you guys in: I’ve JUST landed a new CBS comedy pilot w/ my comic idol Mr. Damon Wayans! Stay tuned, there is a serious happy dance occurring at the moment ;)”

After the announcement was made, Dushku and Beadle exchanged tweets. Beadle, Cowherd’s co-host on ESPN’s Sports Nation show, said to Dushku “I’ve got to get you some black & silver Spurs gear!” Dushku responded by showing her fan loyalty, saying “Just threw up in my mouth, twice! Boston girl, Beadle: C’s, BoSox & Pats!”

The good news is Dushku seems like a fairly savvy sports fan, so that should help her in her role. But seriously, it really doesn’t matter too much because I can’t imagine this show gets picked up and lasts very long. I know, famous last words.

Thanks to Ben Maller for the heads up.

I’m not going to lie, I was starting to develop a thing for Michelle Beadle. It took me a while to get on board, but I was definitely getting there.  She may not be the hottest sports media talent going (see Kristina Akra and Jenn Brown), but she does a better job of making me think she knows her stuff and cares about sports.  That has to give her at least one point, right?  If you can ignore how annoying Colin Cowherd is, you actually start to enjoy watching Beadle.

Anyway, it turns out none of that matters at the moment because Michelle is off the market.  One of The Big Lead’s readers did some top-notch investigative journalism — using what else but Twitter — and figured out that Beadle and Barnaby were at the same youth hockey tournament in Buffalo on Monday.  The tournament was for Barnaby’s son.

In case the Twitter connection isn’t enough for you, Beadle admitted to the Big Lead that the two are dating, have been for six months, and ESPN has known about it since last Fall.  If that’s the case, they’ve done a great job of keeping their business under wraps for quite some time.  I think I speak for a lot of people when I say good for you, Matt Barnaby — you found yourself an attractive girl who actually likes and is knowledgeable about sports. They’re out there, but very difficult to find.