Sports Media

ESPN bald talking head Scott Van Pelt's afternoon radio show isn't particularly interesting, insightful or amusing, but Monday it was all of that when Van Pelt nearly "choked on his own vomit" after learning baseball commissioner Bud Selig made an $18.5 million salary in 2007. His nearly six-minute rant about Selig's pay earned him a suspension from the show and the devotion of many die-hard baseball fans who wondered the same thing Van Pelt said.

Quick to hire deposed Cubs skipper Dusty Baker over the winter, ESPN was just as swift to cut ties with the former three-time NL Manager of the Year Thursday, canning him after only one-hour on the job.

ESPN has told NFL analyst Michael Irvin that they will no longer need his services. Irvin, who worked for ESPN since 2003, didn't seem too disappointed in the network's choice. The former Dallas Cowboy mourned the decision with a three-day binge that included drugs, sex and more drugs, which was the same way he celebrated getting the job three years ago.

WGN radio's Andy Masur--who's spent the last five years covering for Cubs play-by-play man Pat Hughes' late-game, half-inning breaks--is leaving the station for greener pastures in San Diego, where he will work Padres' radio broadcasts.

Last month, Guillen found himself embroiled in controversy when he called Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti a "fag." This time, however, his putdown will be encouraged.

Few columnists can transition from music and culture to sports, but few writers are like Chuck Klosterman. Perhaps best known for his monthly column in Esquire, Klosterman has also made a name for himself as a senior writer at Spin magazine and as author of three books. Klosterman has recently begun writing regularly for ESPN.

A daily baseball columnist for ESPN.com, Rob Neyer has written five books, including his Big Book of Baseball Blunders, which hits shelves this month. The Heckler talked with Neyer about Chicago's GMs and his World Series predictions.