For the third straight year, NBC will air an hour-long WrestleMania special.

WrestleMania: The World Premiere airs Saturday, Aug. 13 at 9 p.m. ET, and feature highlights from WrestleMania XXVII this past April.

The highly anticipated pay-per-view event in front of 71,617 fans at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta marked the WrestleMania return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and featured a main event between John Cena and The Miz for the WWE Championship.

Reigning NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks threw out the first pitch over the weekend at a Rangers game and acquitted himself quite well. He didn’t groove one down the middle like President Bush in the 2001 World Series, but he definitely looked better than the Wizards’ John Wall, whose recent first-pitch effort at a Nationals game left a bomb crater in front of the pitcher’s mound.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was in midseason form Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings in New Orleans.

Prior to their meetings on Tuesday, the NFL asked all 32 head coaches to meet with the media during a one-hour breakfast. Care to take a guess as to who skipped the breakfast?

“Sorry I overslept this morning,” Belichick told the Boston Herald. When the surly coach was told he missed a good breakfast, Belichick responded by saying, “One thing they can do is feed us. Do I look under nourished?” Read more

Athletes are not known for their wonderful public speaking abilities. They aren’t unintelligent – most of them, anyway – it’s just that they’ve been taught to think roboticly about things like effort, workrate, and desire, so the inevitable soundbites are cliches focusing on those themes.

But every now and again, an athlete surprises reporters with smart, thoughtful commentary. Landon Donovan jumps to mind. So does Charles Barkley.

Apparently, we can add Deion Branch to the list. Read more

After LeBron James and Chris Bosh arrived in Miami, ABC/ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy was the first to hop on the bandwagon, predicting more than 72 wins for the Heat and a chance at topping the Lakers’ 33-game winning streak.

“They will break the single-season win record [of 72]. And I think they have a legit shot at the Lakers’ 33-game [winning] streak [in 1971-72], as well. And only the Lakers have even a remote shot at beating them in a playoff series. They will never lose two games in a row this year. They have put together a much better roster than anybody could ever have expected. There is now no good way to defend them. They are unguardable. They are indefensible. They are just too good and have added so much shooting and are so versatile that they will score at will.” Read more

And here comes the fallout from George Dohrmann‘s Sports Illustrated story.

ESPN is looking into Mel Kiper’s relationship with NFL agent Gary Wichard as described by Josh Luchs in this week’s SI cover story on agent tampering in college football.

In the article, Luchs claims Kiper worked with Wichard in order to persuade potential clients by using his NFL draft rankings as incentive for players to sign.

(No wonder those draft ranking arguments with Todd McShay are always so heated).

“Conversations with players, which are occasionally facilitated by agents, are a valuable way to get to know the players,” Kiper responded in a statement. “These conversations have never compromised my integrity, and my 32-year record supports that.”

Luchs stood by his claim of Kiper’s involvement on Mike and Mike in the Morning on Wednesday.

“What Mel did do in these situations, whether he realizes it or not, he allowed himself to be used in the recruiting process,” Luchs said.

This will likely be the first of many folks to publicly deny the allegations described in Dohrmann’s story.

Stay tuned.

Remember when I said that folks in Detroit really don’t like Matt Millen?

Well, they really don’t like him.

As we get closer to Saturday’s Michigan-Michigan State game in Ann Arbor, the Michigan residents are becoming more hostile with the fact that the former Detroit Lions president and CEO is working the game with Sean McDonough.

Sports talk show host and The Detroit News columnist Terry Foster has led a online campaign this week against Millen and ABC/ESPN.

“Call 888-549-3776 ext 3. Tell ESPN and ABC your thoughts on Matt Millen doing the Michigan-Michigan State game,” Foster wrote on his Facebook page.

Enough people have voiced their opinion to ABC/ESPN that the network issued an e-mail statement to Tom Leyden, a sports anchor at WXYZ in Detroit.

“Matt brings a strong knowledge of the game, decades of experience and a great ability to communicate his insights to sports fans,” the e-mail read. “He and Sean McDonough are one of our top commentator teams and as a result, are assigned to one of the very best matchups each week.”

Foster followed up with a blog post on Thursday saying it was time to bring back the “Fire Millen” chants at Saturday’s game:

I’ve heard from some people who want to boycott the game, but we should not let ABC run us off. This is our game and it means too much to our community. We simply must allow these outsiders know what they are doing is not cool. It’s time for ABC and ESPN to get the message. Repeat after me. FIRE MILLEN!

They do know there’s a football game between two Top 25 teams happening, right?

Tiger Woods delivered his first public statement today from PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida and addressed the recent scandal surrounding his personal life that forced him to take a leave of absence from professional golf. “For all that I have done, I am so sorry,” Woods said. “I have a lot to atone for”

Woods denied that there were any episodes of domestic violence in his marriage and said part of his recovery will involve a return to Buddhism, which “teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security.” Woods faith was the subject of a controversy involving FNC anchor Brit Hume last month.

Woods gave some rationale for his decision not to take questions: “I understand people have questions. I understand the press wants me — wants to ask me for the details and the times I was unfaithful… Please know that as far as I’m concerned every one of these questions and answers is a matter between Elin and me.”

He also took the opportunity to criticize the way he had been treated by the press: “My behavior doesn’t make it right for the media to follow my 2 1/2-year-old daughter to school and report the school’s location. They staked out my wife and they pursued my mom. Whatever my wrongdoings, for the sake of my family, please leave my wife and kids alone.”

Only two pool cameras were present. It appears the feed from the main camera was lost during the statement and the secondary feed, which showed Woods’ mother and other family members, had to be used for the conclusion.

> 11:30am: While the cable networks continue coverage, the broadcast nets did limited analysis. NBC, with Matt Lauer anchoring from Vancouver with analysis from NBC Sports’ Jimmy Roberts, wrapped up at 11:21. ABC was next to wrap up at 11:22, as George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts analyzed the remarks with entertainment reporter Chris Connelly. CBS, with Katie Couric and CBS golf analyst David Feherty, from the site of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, wrapped up at 11:23. And FOX coverage, anchored by Rick Folbaum with analysis from FOX Sports’ Chris Rose wrapped up at 11:23.

More notes after the jump…

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