Unless you live under the same rock as author Buzz Bissinger, then you already know all about HBO’s Costas Now last night, which was a 90 minute live program attempting to examine various aspects of sports media. The program was broken up into five segments, but for our purposes, the one that mattered most was “The Internet.” We’d hope it would be an intellectual discourse about blogs and their place currently, and moving forward, in the sports media landscape. Instead, what we got was a deranged Buzz Bissinger losing his mind on Deadspin’s Will Leitch, and on blogging in general.

But before we get to that, here is the intro to the segment, which features Leitch, FireJoeMorgan’s Michael Schur and WaPo/ESPN’s Michael Wilbon:

What you just saw were pretty much the only worthwhile points that any bloggers were able to  make during this segment, because once they went to the live set, it was Bissinger gone wild time.

Here is most of the live segment, and you should be warned, this clip contains strong language, none of which -- ironically enough -- comes from the one blogger on the panel:

Thoughts from myself, Spencer Hall and Dan Shanoff after the jump.

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So Mike D'Antoni may still be around, for now, but not so for his brother in first-round failure. Today, the Mavs closed the book on the Avery Johnson era, i.e. they fired his ass. The easy answer? The Mavs' playoff failings. But there's some behind-the-scenes drama that probably contributed, or at least foreshadowed, the split.

From the Dallas Morning News:

A source confirmed that Monday's practice imbroglio was sparked by Howard's attendance at his own birthday party hours after the team's Game 4 loss to the New Orleans Hornets. Howard passed out fliers in the locker room inviting teammates to celebrate his 28th birthday bash at a Dallas nightclub in the wake of the team going down 3-1.

Johnson confronted his team about the party Monday – the source said only a few of the players attended – and canceled practice, prompting the players to practice on their own without the supervision of the coaching staff.

That's two nebulous strikes against Howard in the past week, both of which were bad for public perception of Howard and his team. But really, Johnson would rather make a point about uprightness and image than practice? Isn't that blatantly ignoring the mission of the team: To get out of a 3-1 hole? If he's thinking "you messed up, so I'll slack, too," well, that's not leadership. Maybe Avery lost the Mavs a while ago, but this practice episode wasn't a mutiny—it was the captain abandoning his post. Excuse me: a li'l general abandoning ship.

Randy Moss, smoothie tycoon and erstwhile NFL wide receiver, is getting into NASCAR as the owner of a new racing team, Moss Motorsports. Being West Virginia to the bones, Moss' involvement in this should not surprise you: Randy comes from NASCAR territory and has a history of being involved in automotive adventures.


Randy Moss models his new racing team's flame-retardant coveralls.

Welcome your new NASCAR overlord, Left Turn fans.

"We don't have all of the details in place just yet, but I am very excited about Moss Motorsports becoming a part of NASCAR," he said. "I am by nature a very competitive person and this is an outlet for me to compete at another level.

Tony Stewart and Randy Moss on one race team: it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Now if we can just get Joe Buck to cover NASCAR and the "disgusting display" of Moss mooning the crowd when Stewart wins the 2012 Daytona 500 in the "Straight Cash, Homey" car, we'll be set for life. Make that happen FOX: you have the power.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a basketball dilettante at best, and I’m also a Philly guy, so you’ll have to excuse me for a moment if I thought the big story of the playoffs last night was not the Suns or the Mavericks or the imminent demise of Mike D’Antoni, but the ridiculously illmatic mohawk sported by Samuel Dalembert at the Palace.

The mohawk has been making its presence felt the last few years in the NBA, with Damon Jones, Deshawn Stevenson, Andray Blatche, and Josh Smith among the perpetrators. But with all due respect, them guys were all sporting faux-hawks at best. None of them, you know, completely committed to the moment. Or to put it another way, and also to cite rule #1 of The Mohawk Handbook – “You got to grow the ‘fro for the ‘hawk to show.”

And that’s where the Haitian Sensation did it proud. Sammy D went all Clubber Lang with his ‘hawk last night, and to my mind that demands respect, even if it’s utility as an inspirational tool was ultimately non-existent. And if you didn’t see it, the picture below doesn’t do it justice, cause holms had some nice “SD3” patterns going on the sides too. Even in massive defeat, his ill-rating was completely off the charts.

New York Rangers enfant terrible Sean Avery was rushed to the hospital last night around 3:00 a.m. and was unconscious and not breathing at the time, according to the New York Daily News. He remains in intensive care at St. Vincent's hospital this afternoon.



Avery had just lost game three of the Rangers' playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Avery is known for, among other things, dating Elisha Cuthbert, face-guarding Martin Brodeur of the Red Wings to a ridiculous degree, and being associated with a Manhattan brothel called Maison L'Amour.

28-year-old men rarely just pull up with cardiac trouble. Whatever this is, it's very, very troubling. Oh, and even though he is a hockey player, he'll be out for the final game against the Penguins. Even they have their limits.

Update: Troubling is right: Avery is out with a lacerated spleen, and though he'll miss the rest of the playoffs, he will recover.