Denver Post columnist and frequent ESPN commenter Woody Paige and host Jay Crawford are being sued by a woman who is claiming the two repeatedly sexually harassed her while she did makeup for the show “Cold Pizza”. The woman has also said she was fired because she complained about the two’s sexual advances to management.

Ragone said Paige, a columnist with The Denver Post, repeatedly made vulgar remarks about her appearance. Crawford, she said, made unwanted sexual advances, told her she only got the job because of her looks and contributed to a locker-room atmosphere by making disparaging remarks about another hair stylist.

You know when there are those certain franchises in sports that have a ton of veteran players who aren’t playing up to their bloated contracts anymore and need to just blow it up and rebuild? Well, that’s ESPN right now, and I’m not even basing it off of this recent issue (they could both be innocent for all I know). Get rid of Boo-Yah Center, Chris “I’m a shell of my former self” Berman, Paige’s tired act, Skip Bayless, loud mouth Stephen A. Smith and possibly the worst of them all when he’s really on his game, Sean Salisbury.

Seriously, what does that network bring to the table anymore? They’ve tried so hard to get “in your face” with sports coverage that I can’t even stomach to watch even 10 minutes of SportsCenter anymore. I’d keep Chris Mortensen, John Clayton (obviously not for looks), Peter Gammons, Mike Tirico, Michael Wilbon, maybe Tom Jackson and then start over.

Word out of Browns camp is that Brady Quinn has a chance to start this year, which raises the age old question: should rookie quarterbacks line up behind center or carry a clipboard? In my latest column for Bullz-Eye.com, I take a look at past examples like Peyton Manning, Daunte Culpepper and Tim Couch for answers.

With the ninth pick in the draft, the Chicago Bulls took forward Joakim Noah out of Florida. Is it just me or did Noah look like Weird Al Yankovic before he put the Bulls hat on? Anyway, even though he’s not expected to dominate at the next level offensively, Noah has a non-stop motor, will crash the boards and plays hard on every play. Kind of like how Ben Wallace played in Detroit before he stole $60 million from Chicago last year.

Noah was the third Gator selected in the top 10 of the draft, joining Al Horford (No. 3 to Atlanta) and Corey Brewer (No. 7 to Minnesota). I made the same remark in regard to Ohio State in the blog about Greg Oden, but what a year for Florida. A national championship in football, basketball and now three players go in the top 10 of the NBA draft. Can’t get much better than that.

With the second pick in the NBA draft, the Seattle Sonics selected Texas forward Kevin Durant. Even though Greg Oden was selected first overall by the Blazers, many believe Durant has the best chance to win Rookie of the Year honors.

Seattle is also expected to ship Ray Allen to Boston for the rights of Georgetown’s Jeff Green, who the Celtics took with the fifth overall pick. ESPN is reporting the deal is basically done – Green already did an interview commenting how excited he is to play with Durant – but nothing is final as of this point.

With the first overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Portland Trailblazers selected OSU center Greg Oden. Expected to be a defensive specialist at first, the thought by many analysts is that Oden will eventually win multiple championships for this franchise, but that’s always the idea when you take a player first overall isn’t it?

First the Buckeyes reached the NCAA National Championship in football, then again in basketball, and now have a player taken first overall in the NBA Draft. Albeit OSU lost in both of those championship games to Florida, but nevertheless, that’s a hell of a year.

ESPN.com has a story on its main page that the Blazers will select OSU center Greg Oden with the first overall pick in tonight’s NBA Draft. Oden’s agent, Mike Conley Sr., is saying different, however.

“We haven’t been told that,” Mike Conley, Sr. said late Wednesday night. “(ESPN) can have their opinion, but the Blazers haven’t told us anything.”

This is crazy talk, because ESPN would never jump the gun on a report right?

Kenny Rogers looked sharp in his seasonal debut, and the potent Detroit offense should feast on Millwood, so play the Tigers on the runline. The Detroit Tigers may have the hottest offense in baseball, and they get the call today with The Gambler vs. Kevin Millwood and the Texas Rangers.
The Tigers are scoring 6.1 runs per game overall this season, including 5.8 RPG at home and 5.8 RPG against right-handed starter. That is bad news for right-hander Millwood, who has a 7.31 ERA overall this year. Kenny Rogers went 6 innings without allowing an earned run in his first start this season, and he was surprisingly sharp vs. the Atlanta Braves. Rogers also has a 3.89 ERA overall vs. the Rangers since 1997, so we recommend a play on the Tigers on the runline today!

For free baseball picks and to listen to an hysterically funny and informative daily webcast please visit us atwww.madwinners.com
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The Daily Forecast just did an interesting debate on who would win a battle between a boxer and a MMA (or UFC) fighter. Paul Costanzo defended boxers while Drew Ellis made a case for UFC fighters. To read both arguments in their entirety, click the above links, but for the highlights, see below.

Costanzo’s main point was about boxers’ feet and their ability to potentially strike a MMA fighter when they’re loading up to attack. A boxer could keep everything in front of him while in an upright stance and exploit holes that a MMA fighter would leave while trying to use his assortment of moves.

Ellis objected to Constanzo assuming the MMA fighter wouldn’t be prepared for a boxer trying to exploit their weaknesses. His main point was once the MMA fighter gets a boxer to the ground, he could consistently strike from a position the boxer wouldn’t normally be in, and of course defeat him.

Of course this debate is all hypothetical, but it’s rather interesting. Personally, I think boxers are at a distinct disadvantage considering the amount of styles an MMA fighter uses. It would be like a construction worker showing to build a house with only a hammer and nails. However, give an experienced, prepared boxer like Floyd Mayweather Jr. time to train and it would be an interesting battle. And like Costanzo was arguing, a top boxer is going to find holes in an MMA’s style just based on the possibility a fighter like that may try to do too much in order to counter a boxers’ more conventional style.

After his recent one punch knockout of Jose Luis Castillo crowned him the world junior welterweight champion, British boxer Ricky Hatton’s ego apparently surpassed his brain size because now he wants a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr. Highly regarded as the best pound for pound boxer in the world, Mayweather said Tuesday that he’d, “sign to fight Hatton right now.”

This is clearly – and Mayweather’s manager Leonard Ellerbe alluded to it – a publicity scheme by Hatton. He can use Mayweather’s name to promote his own career, which helps even if he loses. And he knows the only way he’d coax Mayweather out of retirement is if he runs his mouth like this:

“There was more action in the four rounds of this fight (Hatton’s fight with Castillo) than Floyd showed in his entire career.”

Normally I would say Mayweather would pummel a boxer like Hatton, but have you ever watched British fighters? They flail around the ring in herky-jerky movements, throwing only when they see an opening and then backing out quickly in order to not take punches themselves. More conventional boxers like Mayweather usually get frustrated when fighting this kind of style and try to change their approach. That in turn only benefits guys like Hatton, but we’re talking about Floyd Mayweather here, a boxer who will likely keep his composure and wait until Hatton tires himself out. That is, if this fight ever happens in the first place.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the lawsuit defensive tackle Grady Jackson filed against the Falcons in March has been resolved. Atlanta restructured his contract, adding a year onto the three-year deal he got from the team last offseason, as well as roster bonuses for 2008 and 2009.

Jackson had filed the suit in late March of this year for invasion of privacy and defamation over the alleged release of his medical records pertaining to last offseason. Jackson claimed Atlanta leaked information that he had a bad heart, which supposedly scared off other teams from getting into a bidding war with the Falcons over his services.

Either way, this is just a little ray of sunshine in a massive cloudy offseason for the Falcons. Remember, Rod Coleman may miss the first four to six games of the season, so if this issue with Jackson wasn’t resolved, there would have been two gaping holes in Atlanta’s defensive line. And I mean, gaping holes.