Southwest Airlines customers will soon be able to watch their favorite baseball team 30,000 feet in the air.

Row 44 Inc., Southwest’s in-flight broadband Internet provider, signed a deal with Major League Baseball that will allow the airline giant to stream audio and video broadcasts to passengers’ Wi-Fi enabled devices.

“Major League Baseball is such a part of the fabric of America — and has always been more than a professional sports organization,” said Howard Lefkowitz, Row 44′s chief commercial officer. “It is an honor that they’ve chosen to undertake this innovation with Row 44 — becoming the first sports league to offer in-flight live streaming video of its games. This partnership is the first in a series that underscore Row 44′s commitment to creating a unique broadband entertainment experience for our airline partners and their customers.”

Southwest is slated to have their entire fleet wired by 2013.

Longtime New Haven Register sports columnist Dave Solomon died Saturday evening around 7 p.m. in a one-car accident on I-91 in Connecticut. Solomon was returning from covering a UConn football practice when his car skidded off the road and hit a tree near Cromwell. Police are investigating the cause of the accident. Colleagues of Solomon, 59, recalled a long and distinguished career as a prominent voice in Connecticut sports.

“He was a true professional, but he’s like the best friend you have, too,” said Register sports editor Sean Barker said. “He was my confidant. I talked to him every single day, about stories, about the paper, everything. We had a couple of battles, but it was like family. He never let it last long.”

Solomon’s ability to move on has found immortality on YouTube. After Providence College’s Ryan Gomes, from Waterbury, lit up UConn in January 2004, Solomon asked Jim Calhoun, “Recruiting is hardly an exact science, but what does Gomes do that blows you away now that maybe no one saw?”

Solomon never said how did you miss on Gomes and never meant anything like that. He was talking about Gomes’ improvement. After he famously carpet f-bombed the XL Center, Calhoun came to this realization. He called and apologized to Solomon the next day. Solomon’s reaction? Calhoun didn’t need to apologize.

Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant wrote,

“As a columnist, he stood his ground without histrionics. I admit there were a few times when I felt, wow, if I wrote black, Solomon would write white. And if I wrote white, he would write black. When I told him this once, he said, “I wasn’t aware you were wrong that many times.”

And then he smiled.

Barker said condolences from sportswriters poured in from around the country.

Tweets and messages came from across the sports world Sunday. Some of the most prominent names in sports journalism offered their condolences: Jack Curry, Andy Katz, Dick Vitale, Peter King, Les Carpenter, Adrian Wojnarowski, Seth Davis and many others.

They are household names to sports fans.

They all knew Dave. They all respected him. And they all liked him. A lot.

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.

The NFL isn’t the only sport having a wonderful season in terms of television ratings. NBA broadcasts on TNT are are through the roof as well.

Sports Media Watch (via Turner Sports) reports, “Through 18 telecasts, TNT is averaging a 1.6 U.S. rating and 2.589 million viewers for NBA coverage, up 33 percent in ratings and 43 percent in viewership from last year (1.2, 1.813 mil), and up 60 percent and 71 percent, respectively, from 2008-09 (1.0, 1.518 mil).

The Miami Heat-Boston Celtics match on opening night and the Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers game were the two most-watched regular season telecasts since 1996. LeBron James is the new Michael Jordan, at least when it comes to television ratings. (And Charles Barkley is the new Charles Barkley.)

ESPN’s Michelle Beadle is learning the hard way that Michael Vick has a loyal fanbase.

The SportsNation co-host has been vocal on Twitter regarding the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback comments about wanting another dog.

“Vick wants a dog,” Beadle tweeted on Thursday. “He should NEVER be allowed that gift again.Talking about it on show today. Be ready, mouthbreathers!”

Beadle followed it up with, “And because now I’m REALLY fired up..remember what he did the last time he had a dog. TDs don’t get u a pass.” Along with her tweet was a photo of one of the dogs Vick abused. Beadle stood by her stance on Thursday’s episode of SportsNation. Read more

In all seriousness, this should be fun. Goo luck, Bill.

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

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Courtesy of New York Yankee’s beat writer Mark Feinsand. Happy weekend, world.