For those of you that had Sean Salisbury in the "Who will be fired because of Cris Carter's hiring" pool.....give yourself a hand. The former NFL QB has released a statement and so has the "Leader"....

Sean Salisbury: “I want to thank ESPN for 12 great years of talking football on TV and the radio. I have grown as much as I can at ESPN and decided to expand my horizons. I have created a brand and it’s time to expand into other opportunities in TV, radio, Internet, publishing, movies and public speaking, among others. My resume speaks for itself as a football analyst, and I believe I can talk all sports with the best of them.”

ESPN’s statement: “Sean Salisbury has made many contributions to our efforts for the past 12 years. We thank him and wish him all the best.”

Twelve years is a damn long time, and it definitely doesn't seem that long in regards to Salisbury. There is no official word on who's decision this was, but the Star Tribune is reporting that ESPN decided not to renew his contract. I personally couldn't stand him as an analyst and I knew few who could. Hopefully this mean that ESPN is switching up their style over substance positioning as of late. Jaws is obviously better than Theismann and Carter is definitely an improvement over Salisbury.

I fully expect Sean Salisbury to be on a Best Damn Sports type show in no time. Oh and please leave your ESPN Mobile Phone at the door on your way out for evidence.

Former Viking leaves ESPN (Star Tribune)

(Thanks to ML for the tip, via ESPN PR)

I don't even have words to describe how depressing this is, so I will just pass along what I've learned. FOX wants to give our friend Joe Buck a Late-Night Talk Show. Not only that, but they've already completed the pilot to pitch to FOX execs. According to sources close to the situation the idea recently came about when noodling on Jay Leno's retirement and Conan's move to the 11pm slot. There seems to be opportunity there to finally compete in the Late Night Arena for FOX's and their first and only choice was Buck.

Here's the info I could find on a Broadcasting and Cable......

Fox is considering a weekly, half-hour late-night show hosted by its lead sports personality. The network's entertainment division just quietly completed a pilot for the show in New York.

The format currently under consideration would include both interviews and comedy and be set in front of a small studio audience.

Yes, that's right.....comedy folks. From what I gather this won't even be a Sports-based show, FOX is making Joe Buck into the next Leno right before our eyes. I can't believe I didn't see this coming sooner.

If this does come to fruition, and you watch this show......you are dead to me. We need to destroy this monster before it even rears its ugly, unfunny, and smug head.

On the brightside, maybe this will get him out of the booth for good.

So the results are in, and in case you care there were a grand total of 3 National Writers/Talking Heads that chose the Bears to make it to the Super Bowl. Those writers were Tom Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News, Katherine Smith of the Tampa Tribune, and FOX Sports' Brian Balldinger.

Here are the results from the rest of the major publications and other notables (ESPN idiots).....

Athlon Colts-Panthers
ESPN The Mag Dolphins-Bears
Pro Football Weekly Panthers- Colts
Sporting News Steelers-Panthers (Umm, how did that work out for you?)
Street & Smiths Panthers-Broncos
John Clayton Colts-Seahawks
Len Pasquarelli Colts-Seahawks
Michael Smith Colts-Panthers
Sal Paolantonio Colts-Panthers
Scouts Inc. Broncos-Seahawks
Merril Hoge Bengals-Cowboys (Good call there Young Hater)
Tom Jackson Colts-Panthers
Joe Theismann Colts-Panthers
Mike Golic Colts-Panthers
Sean Salisbury Colts-Panthers
Mark Schlereth Patriots-Panthers
Awful Announcing Redskins-Redskins (Actually I picked the Colts and Seahawks....had the Bears losing to the 'Hawks in the Conference Championship)

Seriously ESPN.....could we get some variety here. Do you all just copy each others work? Don't answer that. Bill Simmons could not be reached for comment after a RedSox'esqe comeback to knock the Pats out of the playoffs. He will however be calling the Saint Marys-San Diego game on ESPNU tonight. If anyone gets ESPNU please email me if he cries.

(Seriously though....a free t-shirt and/or post to anyone who can send me a tape of his performance. I'll pay all shipping and for the tape.)