WON'T YOU BE MY CELLMATE?

K-Mac: Less of a danger to this community

NBA, NHL, Spring Training, March Madness.

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All of the above have combined to make your regular contributors too damn busy to, uh, contribute.

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But because madness isn't just confined to March, we must lose a little sleep posting this so you can lose a little sleep thinking about it.

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What the hell is with these guys anyway?

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From KUTV.com

Former ESPN Producer Arrested In Salt Lake City... Again

SALT LAKE CITY - A veteran freelance sports producer who worked for ESPN was again arrested in Utah this week for violating the terms of his release -- prior to a trial on child pornography charges.

Kevin Stewart McMahan, 50, was arrested last June at the Salt Lake City International Airport after authorities reportedly found several images of child pornography inside of his luggage. Officials searched his bag after a screener spotted a lighter inside.

Authorities then had his checked bags pulled off the airplane and allegedly found nearly 50 DVDs and videos on his laptop computer of juvenile boys performing sexual acts. Also reportedly found were hundreds of explicit photographs of young boys being molested.

At that time, he was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on numerous counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and drug possession.

In the days after, a judge agreed to release McMahan as long as he complied with a series of demands. One stipulated that he could not use a computer until at least his trial was completed.

On Monday, McMahan was re-arrested after admitting to some computer use. He was taken into custody and was later determined by a judge to be a danger to the community.

McMahan will next appear in court on May 1 to face the original charges from last summer.

McMahan has not worked for ESPN since his intitial arrest, according to ESPN managers.

Just plain sad.

BARRON BEHIND BARS BULLETIN

Don't look so down, Dan. That guy in Cell Block B says he'll be gentle with you.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Freelance CBS technician gets 10 years in Lauderdale child sex sting
By Joel Marino Sun-Sentinel.com

SOUTH FLORIDA - A former CBS technician accused last year of attempting to make arrangements to film himself having sex with a child was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Miami federal court today, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Daniel Barron, 56, was also sentenced to 15 years of supervised release, the department said.Barron, a freelance technical manager from New Jersey, was in Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 29 covering a Miami Dolphins game for CBS-TV.

He was arrested that weekend in an online predator sting operation handled by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, the department said. For the sting, a Sheriff's Office detective entered an Internet chat room titled "Open minded parents" and posed as a father with a young daughter. Barron approached the undercover investigator in the chat room and arranged for the "father" to deliver him his 11-year-old daughter, authorities said. Barron used his CBS-owned laptop to conduct the dialogue,according to an arrest report.

Barron drove to a parking lot in the 1300 block of Southeast 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale, where he thought he would meet the girl and her father, police said. He was arrested. St. Lucie investigators coordinated with Fort Lauderdale police, the Broward Sheriff's Office and U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make the arrest.

A Fort Pierce grand jury indicted Barron on charges of coercing and attempting to engage in sexual activity with a person under 18 years of age on Oct. 25.

He had been held in a St. Lucie county jail until his trial.

15 years of supervised probation sounds like he's going to be a tech manager again one day.

If he makes it through those first 10 years, that is.

Production Dilemma #12 & 35

Let's return to a subject touched on a few months ago: what to do when some idiot runs on the field/court or does something from the stands that interferes with the game.

One argument calls for the talent to vaguely state what is or has happened but not to show it for fear that giving camera time to the culprit(s) glorifies that act and gives the idiots the attention they want.

The other side would prefer showing the person, with emphasis on what happens to them once they're caught (& beaten up by security), in the hopes of causing embarrassment and deterring future incidents.

On Thursday (2/28), ESPN went out of their way to expose a disgruntled fan who threw a water bottle on the court near the end of USC's victory at Arizona.

By the way, great job by the tape op (or producer) for instantly spotting the bottle being thrown in the background of the reverse free throw shot.

Using the telestrator, analyst Jay Bilas almost circled the correct person.

Thanks to Breitbart.tv via SbB

Soccer Coverage Has Balls, Lacks Kick

Here's a portion of an email we received regarding coverage of the East Asian Cup soccer tournament:

Don't know about where you live, but around here all the Asian kids are really smart. My kid does real well in school because he cheats off of them on all the tests.

I think a whole lot of the smart Asians moved away from their country [sic] and now only the dumb ones are left to work in sports TV.

Check out this soccer game. There must of been one hell of a collision, but every camera damn guy went with the damn ball. Meanwhile the director keeps cutting to the back of a coach's head for a reaction. What, we're supposed to see his hair stand up on end or something?

Damn morons have no replay worth a damn. I get madder and madder every time they show another replay. I think maybe they got one right, but no. They don't. Another moron follows the ball.

Thanks to Fan IQ

Tough to argue with his point.

That was China vs. Japan, by the way. The goal keeper for China kicked the Japanese player in the chest.

These guys hold grudges for centuries, don't they?

Best Ever? Worst Ever? We're Torn.

Normally in the male dominated worlds of sports and television, seeing a group of college girls wrestling with each other would be considered a good thing.

If this happens at a hockey game, so much the better. A lot of babes attend college hockey games.

But when the women rolling all over each other aren't in the stands but on the ice, things begin to change just a bit.

And when all the players on the ice go at it simultaneously, it becomes more "Slap Shot" than "Stripes".

Finally, when it's a one camera webcast and the poor cam op doesn't know which altercation to shoot, it kind of comes out looking like this:

Thanks to Fan IQ

We'll give the camera guy a break because it's hard to focus on your job when your testicles have jumped up into your stomach.

Those are the women of North Dakota State and Minnesota State, everybody.

Feel free to contact the lady of your choice via her MySpace page.

Hey, Knight, What's Up?

To the list of sports figures who have been less than friendly with TV crew members before becoming their colleagues, add Bobby Knight.

Knight's decision to join ESPN beginning March 12 is actually less surprising than any of those pictured with him above. Paul O'Neill and Kirk Gibson were downright surly toward camera operators, A-2s and stage managers during their playing days. Dave Winfield merely acted as if anyone associated with TV was completely beneath him.

But when their playing days were over and they became what they had once resented, things changed.

Well, Gibson didn't change much actually when he worked on Tigers games for FSN.

But suddenly O'Neill stopped sneering at the cameras and started smiling for them. Who knew he could smile? A YES Network paycheck did the trick.

Winfield changed his tune while stumbling through his taped on-cameras during his stint with FOX on the 1996 World Series. Each night as his takes numbered anywhere from the teens to the thirties, FOX crew members who had experienced his dugout behavior when he played, kidded Winfield that he was no All-Star in this field.

On the night of the thirty takes, the kidding stopped and the crew got downright pissed. Winfield repeatedly apologized, swore this take would be the one, before tripping over his tongue yet again. His career at FOX was short lived.

And what of Reggie? Nobody forgot about Reggie during his time working games for KTLA (Angels) and ESPN.

Nobody ever forgets Reggie. Even if you can't hear him.

The clip has no audio but if you couldn't read his lips, dear Reggie said "Get that camera off me or I'll f**king rip it off..."

Strange comment from somebody who always wanted the camera on him, huh?

Great guy, that Reggie.

And now here's Bobby Knight in a position to work with some of the very people he treated with disrespect over the years. He will encounter far fewer of them than he could have, because he will work from ESPN's Bristol studios rather than at game sites. Chances are though, someone involved with his inexcusable blow up at Jeremy Schaap still roams the ESPN campus and hasn't forgotten.

Need another reminder? How about walking out unprovoked during a taping and leaving the producers with no content:

Thanks to felixnightowl

Welcome to our little world, Bobby.

You'll feel at home soon. Sometimes we're not too nice either.

Oh, My Nose!

Everyone and their Uncle Blogger has posted this photo because it's one of the all time greats.


But what is flying up from the impact point? Sweat? Air from the ball? The whites of his eye? What?

What does any of this have to do with sports TV?

Well, every time we see the photo, we can't help but think of this:



And a football on TV fits in here!

Maybe someday we'll post the "Mom always said, "'Don't play ball in the house'" scene.