Reports of the fight that broke out between Georgetown and a team in China were widespread in the United States, but were quashed in China by government censors. Washington Post reporter Gene Wang, who was present at the game, writes, “Xinhua News Agency, China’s official news service, did not have an immediate account of the game, and although other prominent Chinese Web sites such as 163.com and sina.com posted stories, government censors shortly thereafter took them down.”

Here’s to the First Amendment in our country.

(H/T to GameOn)

Former NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody is the latest to join ESPN as an NFL analyst.

The 12-year veteran, who announced his retirement from the league Friday, will appear on SportsCenter, NFL Live, First Take and ESPNEWS.

“I’m grateful for all the support over the years from my family, my fans, and the league,” said Woody. “I’m excited to start the next phase of my career, moving from the NFL family to the ESPN family, and I feel blessed to continue to be a part of the game of football.”

Woody will make his ESPN debut next month.

Earlier this week, ESPN hired former coach Eric Mangini and ex-defensive end Hugh Douglas.

Former NFL veteran Hugh Douglas is joining ESPN as a studio analyst.

The former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year will provide analysis on SportsCenter, NFL Live, First Take and ESPNEWS.

Douglas makes his ESPN debut Monday, including an appearance on NFL Live at 4 p.m. ET.

“I am very excited about becoming a part of the ESPN family,” Douglas said. “I plan to approach my role with ESPN with the same tenacity and commitment that I had during my 10-year NFL career.”

Following his retirement in 2004, Douglas worked as a sports radio personality on Philadelphia’s WIP 610 Radio and served as an on-air reporter for Comcast SportsNet.

If you’re like me, you need to be given a damn good reason to take an interest in NASCAR. Well, how about one million reasons? For the second year in a row, DirecTV is running its NASCAR Head2Head Knockout fantasy racing game on ESPN.com, which pits 32 drivers against each other in a four-week contest to determine which one is still standing when the checkered flag drops. And if your bracket is perfect, it could be worth $1 million. If it’s not perfect — but simply better than everyone else’s — you’ll win a $45,000 truck.

Starting at Pocono and continuing through the three races at Watkins Glen, Michigan and Bristol, you’ll have a chance to pick a winner in 29 driver matchups. In week one, each correct answer in the 16 matchups will be worth 20 points with the eight potential wins in week 2 worth 40 points apiece. Then, the wins in week three will add 80 points per to your total. In the final week, you’ll rank your final four drivers according to order of finish, and if your top one comes out ahead, you’ll get 160 points. That means over the four weeks, the maximum number of points you could receive is 1,120.

If you collected that many points there’s a very good chance you’d be the champion with the first prize a full size truck valued at $45,000 from on the manufacturer of the winning driver of race four.

You could also be in line for the Perfect Bracket Prize, which would be worth up to $1 million. To be “perfect” you would not only need to nail a perfect score, but also predict the correct finishing position order for each of those final four drivers in the race at Bristol.

The Walt Disney Resort in Orlando will no longer serve as the home for “ESPN The Weekeend.”

Walt Disney World sports media director Darrell Fry made the announcement on the Disney Parks blog:

“In order to focus our efforts on ESPN’s growing year-round presence at Walt Disney World Resort, we have decided to no longer host ESPN The Weekend.

As you may know, the event was first created in 2004 in support of ESPN’s 25th anniversary and, along with ESPN Club, served as ESPN’s first significant presence here. While the event has continued for seven more successful years, our relationship with ESPN has evolved significantly and positively. This has resulted in new branding for the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, new opportunities for millions of athletes, coaches and fans, and hundreds of hours of ESPN programming, making our guests part of the show. In addition, the sports complex has become home to the ESPN Innovation Lab, which is the official development hub for ESPN’s 3D network.

Moving forward, our focus will be on creating events like the new ESPN RISE Girls Showcase and the ESPN RISE Games, which provide a stage for tens of thousands of athletes from around the country, and providing opportunities for guests to be part of events they’ve only before watched on television, such as the Home Depot College Football Awards and the Old Spice Classic.”

 

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.

Joe Rogan is returning to his roots.

The UFC color commentator will host the relaunch of NBC’s Fear Factor.

Rogan hosted the show during its first run from 2001 to 2006. NBC ordered eight episodes and production begins in August. If the ratings are strong, additional episodes could be ordered.

Eight new episodes of the show will be produced beginning next month and the series is expected to debut on NBC in September.

The show’s format will remain mostly the same except contestants will compete in pairs rather than as individuals.

Fox Sports Southwest will broadcast the Dallas Mavericks’ NBA championship parade live on Thursday.

The network’s coverage kicks off at 9:00 a.m. CT with a replay of Fox Sports Southwest’s Mavs Live NBA Finals Game 6 postgame show. Live parade coverage will follow at 10:00 a.m. CT.

Parade coverage will shift to KDFW Fox 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth and Fox Sports Southwest Plus at noon CT due to the Texas Rangers-New York Yankees game.

Fox Sports Southwest will replay the parade on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. CT.

ESPN New York 1050 host Jared Max revealed Thursday that he’s gay.

“Are we ready to have our sports information delivered by someone who’s gay? Well, you know what, we are gonna find out,” Max said. “Because for the last 16 years I’ve been living a free life among my close friends and family, and I’ve hidden behind what is a gargantuan-size secret here in the sports world. I am gay.”

The 37-year-old is the host of Maxed Out In The Morning. Max admitted to suffering through depression and suicidal thoughts while keeping his sexuality a secret.

“I don’t share this news with you today to get a reaction or to make news, of being a New York sportscaster working on an all-sports radio station,” Max said. “I do this today because it seems to me there’s never been a better time.”

College football fans should take note of what channel FX is on their cable system.

Starting this fall, FX will carry college football.

Fox Sports on FX will carry a minimum of 13 games from the Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA. The games will be produced by Fox Sports and air on Saturdays, during the day and in primetime.

”Sports programming is a key component that has been missing on FX for a while and we look forward to its return on our schedule,” FX President John Landgraf told Variety. ”This NCAA football package will feature some of the nation’s marquee schools and matchups, and it will be a great addition to our lineup. It will also provide an excellent promotional platform for our returning hit original series and primetime movies this fall.” Read more