Well, she was just 17,
You know what I mean,
And the way she looked was way beyond compare.
So how could I dance with another (ooh)
When I saw her standin’ there.
– The Beatles, I Saw Her Standing There

9. The courtship of Billy Donovan. While we don’t claim to be college hoops experts (and judging by our hoops brackets, you’d say the same), the media circus surrounding Florida coach Billy Donovan’s future in ‘The Swamp’ as a bit ridiculous. Sure, the media has thrown out some facts like his in-laws and other family members have moved to Florida, his mentor Rick Pitino is down the road from him should he take the Kentucky job and that the coach is dedicated to the Florida program to almost a fault, but it reeks of another case of the leverages.

All it takes is an agent who wants a raise for his client (and an increase in his commission) and a higher profile job and you got yourself some nice little attention and payday for Donovan.

8. MLB’s Mexican standoff. Major League Baseball and the owners of iN Demand (Comcast, et. al.) continue to race towards a deadline to see who blinks first. If you’re not up to speed, MLB has decided to exclusively air its content exclusively on DirecTV satellite systems for the next seven years at a pricetag of just over $700 million. Part of the deal includes DirecTV’s willingness to provide a new baseball-only channel on an appropriate channel tier. Congress decided to get involved (as noted above) and we’ve reached the point that millions of baseball fans will be shut out of games that happen to subscribe to cable rather than satellite.

(Updated: Comcast appears to have posted that they will NOT agree to any demands of MLB and are suggesting their subscribers head to MLB’s broadband package for their baseball fix.)

More after the jump »

News and notes on the eve of a new baseball season…

Toledo football player faces federal charges for point shaving (Detroit Free Press/USA Today) It’s been awhile since we had one of these in college sports. We guess the NCAA will just issue another pamphlet to its athletes on gambling, eh?

Scotland Yard to further review Woolmer death (Reuters) Remember kids — cricket is serious business.

Kobe lights up the nite, buries 53 on Rockets in loss (AP/Yahoo! Sports) He scored 50+ points for the fifth time in seven games. How many assists? A whopping two.

Carlos Guillen, Tigers agree on four-year extension (AP/ESPN) That’s $48 million over 4-years.

‘Thorpedo’-ed? Swimmer Thorpe tests for abnormal levels of two banned substances (AP/USA Today) Tests for swimmer Thorpe conducted six months before he retired show testosterone and luteinizing hormone. There’s just something about French labs, ain’t that right Floyd Landis?

Apple to Provide MLB Content Via iTunes (BizofBaseball)

Apple, Inc. announced Friday that it will be providing Major League Baseball video highlights for the 2007 season on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com), allowing access to games on the go.

Sale of Tribune, Cubs may be near (BizofBaseball)

From the great baseball business blog BizofBaseball –

The Biz of Baseball is hearing that if Zell lands Tribune he will sell look to sell the Cubs, and fairly quickly. To keep from creating controversy on the quick turn, he may sell to a cash heavy minority owner.

As for the other bidders, Eli Broad has had serious interest in owning an MLB franchise prior, most notably in his bids to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004. With that in mind, the LA billionaires not only are offering more for Tribune, but possible owners of longer tenure than if Zell lands Tribune.

Sources: Kentucky will offer Donovan $1M raise (ESPN.com)

Kentucky officials are prepared to offer Florida coach Billy Donovan an annual raise of more than $1 million when they offer him their coaching job next week after the Final Four in Atlanta.

Rogers has surgery to remove clot, repair arteries (AP/ESPN.com)

Kenny Rogers had surgery Friday to remove a blood clot from his left shoulder and repair arteries.  The Tigers pitcher likely will be sidelined for the first half of the season.

iN Demand and MLB Talks on Extra Innings “Serious” (BizofBaseball)
From BizofBaseball.com:

John Ourand and Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal are reporting via the Sports Business Daily that negotiations at the 11th hour between MLB and iN Demand to keep Extra Innings on cable are ongoing and both sides are now characterizing the talks as extremely serious.

Reportedly, MLB gives the odds of the deal occurring at 50-50 while cable representatives seem more pessimistic.

One of the key sticking points prior was matching the same number of households that DirecTV has signed on to do. iN Demand has said it will meet that provision via 80% of their digital households.

The sticking point now is the ownership equity component of The Baseball Channel. Recall that MLB has offered DirecTV a 20% ownership stake, but that is based on exclusivity. If iN Demand becomes a player, DirecTV's equity in ownership would need to be diluted.

The spotlight of the National League West for much of the season won’t be on the teams in the division as one might expect. It will be on one player: Barry Bonds.

Unless you live in the caves of Afghanistan running away from justice, you’ll know that Bonds is on a plodding chase to break Hank Aaron’s 755 home run record set just over 30 years ago this season. He sits at 734, 22 shy of surpassing the Atlanta Braves legend on the all-time list.

While he’ll be the focus for most of the season’s first-half, there’s some interesting things to keep an eye as we head into the 2007 campaign:

• The youthful Arizona DiamondBacks, bolstered by new acquisitions Doug Davis and Randy Johnson and the arrivals of youngsters Chris B. Young and Carlos Quentin, will be early challengers to the division crown and might come away with it.
• The new, tweaked version of the “Blake Street Bombers” that consists of Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins and Todd Helton will be a more competitive version than their 2006 brethren.
• A pitching-heavy Los Angeles Dodgers, in spacious Chavez Ravine, should mow down hitters with a solid quintet of starters (Derek Lowe, Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny, Randy Wolf and the interchangeable Brett Tomko).
• The San Diego Padres’ acquisitions of Marcus Giles and Kevin Kouzmanoff hope to pay off in an offense that lost slugger Mike Piazza.
• The $126 million Barry Zito is set to debut in the National League and hopes to steal the spotlight from the “other” Barry.

Without further ado, a peek at the National League West…

More after the jump »

Verducci: My day as an MLB umpire (SI.com)

Two years ago, SI writer Tom Verducci participated in the Toronto Blue Jays spring training camp and wrote about it.  This spring, Verducci took a stab at umpiring a Baltimore Orioles-Boston Red Sox contest.

Selig has ally in DirecTV deal — Stern (BizofBaseball)

Bud Selig, MLB commisioner, has an ally in his much-maligned deal with DirecTV — NBA commissioner David Stern.  Stern ridiculed Congress for holding a hearing on the deal this week.

The AP has a more in-depth story on the panel’s discussion.

Bank of America to sponsor Red Sox through 2015 (Reuters)

Bank of America Corp., the second-largest U.S. bank, on Friday said it extended its official sponsorship of the Boston Red Sox baseball team by eight years, through 2015.

Report: Texas’ Durant named player of the year (AP/Yahoo! Sports)

Kevin Durant of Texas was selected Friday as The Associated Press’ college basketball player of the year, the first freshman to receive the honor.

Purdue wide receiver stabbed in chest (AP/USA Today)

We guess what they really say is true — college is a training ground for the pros.

News and notes while rolling out of bed…

Rogers, Gagne to start MLB season on DL (AP/Yahoo! Sports) Rogers has a ‘tired arm’; Gagne needs innings.

Henin, Serena to meet in ‘Key’ finals (Reuters) Rivalry renews in Key Biscayne.

‘Just another day’ for female umpire (MLB.com)  We’re amazed that this isn’t a regular occurrence in 2007.

Browns confirm interest in Green (AP/ESPN) We bet this just thrills Cleveland fans and the other two suitors — Miami and Detroit.

Wings, Predators knotted up atop Western Division (SI.com) And down the stretch they come…

Phelps sets world record — again (AP/SI.com) Third day in a row swimmer sets world record in worlds.

Angels give RHP Shields $14.6M extension (AP)

Los Angeles Angels reliever Scot Shields agreed Thursday to a $14.6 million, three-year contract extension through 2010.  Shields, the Angels’ setup man, had agreed last month to a $3.4 million, one-year contract. The new deal adds salaries of $4.25 million in 2008, $5 million in 2009 and $5.35 million in 2010.

Report: A&M, Gillespie reach verbal agreement (ESPN News Services)

According to several media reports in Texas,  Texas A&M and head coach Billy Gillespie have reached a verbal agreement that should make him the highest paid coach in the Big 12 and keep him at the school.