NBA TV will air a special 30-minute tribute to the career of Shaquille O’Neal titled NBA TV Presents: Looking Back at Shaq on June 8 at 7:30 p.m. (ET).

Hosted by Larry Smith and Dennis Scott, the special will re-live O’Neal’s 19 seasons in the NBA and his impact on all of pop culture, from hoops to Hollywood.

The National Hockey League announced a tender process Monday for international media rights to live NHL games throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The open bidding process will run from May 17 to June 8 and the foreign rights would run from 2011-12 through 2014-15 seasons.

According to the NHL, 26 percent of its players come from outside of North America. Since 2007, the NHL has staged more than 35 exhibition and regular season games in Europe attended by over 400,000 fans.

Are you someone who boos a lot at sporting events? Do you boo when your favorite team has the audacity to fall behind in the first inning? Or when a future Hall of Famer goes into a prolonged slump? If so, that’s all well and good according to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Gonzalez, who takes exception to columnists and TV announcers who chastise fans for booing at questionable times.

“Many media types I know hold the fans in contempt. It’s sad when, say, a cheese-heavy local baseball blogger thinks he knows it all but fails to see himself for what he is: a glorified stenographer with a bloated ego and a sweet gig. It’s the misguided elitism that rankles. Reporters don’t consume sports the same way fans do, and few of them have made much of an effort to understand your perspective….Boo whomever you like. Or don’t. It’s up to you. Just don’t let anyone dictate the terms of your passion. They aren’t you, and they shouldn’t pretend that they always know what’s right.”

Passively accepting the commentary of, say, Bob Costas is for lemmings from the Midwest, Gonzalez says.

“Context is important. Let’s not forget where all this supposedly unsavory conduct occurs. We don’t live in St. Paul, Minn., or St. Louis. The fans there are Stepford automatons, blinking and cheering and slobbering on cue. It’s frightening. Many of the people (in Philadelphia) take pride in being the opposite of the typical mindless water-and-sprout mutants filling seats in stadiums across the country. Philadelphians have long seen themselves as open, honest brokers – fans who will tell you exactly what they’re thinking instead of what you might want to hear.”

So in conclusion: Philadelphia fans can tell you what they’re thinking (even when you don’t want to hear it), but Philadelphia announcers cannot.

– Photo Los Angeles Times

Peter Vecsey offers up a heartbreaking column detailing the trials of former Detroit Pistons vice president of publicity Matt Dobek, former Boston Celtics assistant coach Clifford Ray, and former all star Connie Hawkins.

All three received unfair treatment from front offices hoping to save a few bucks. Dobek’s case was the most severe; he took his own life.

On Aug. 21, Matt Dobek, a strict Catholic and devout family man with a legion of faithful friends, hung himself in his family garage. It was a day before his mother’s birthday. He was deeply depressed at no longer being the Pistons’ vice president of publicity. In May, Pistons’ officials had abruptly fired him – fraudulently accusing him of leaking another employees’ pending firing – as well as three other staff members who had pledged allegiance to the franchise for a combined century-plus. Read more