Back before I came to college, I never slept in on Sundays. There was always something to do at 11, so I would wake up and watch ESPN for as long as I could before some chore, my homework, or getting ready to go somewhere got in the way. When the latter was the situation, I usually stopped at 10:30, right after the worst show to ever be shown on ESPN: The Sports Reporters. I would watch every week, expecting SportsCenter, but instead getting slapped in the face with the farce known as The Sports Reporters would invade my mind and I would torture myself by flipping to ESPN2's (Remember when it was espn2 and people thought it was more modern because of the lower case letters and was referred to as "The Deuce"? Well, Digital Cable in Syracuse does too, and for some reason, they still have the lower case letters. I'm always thrown off by it the first time I watch TV after I get home. I don't think I can get used to it.) terrible outdoor programming, getting annoyed by it, forgetting that SportsCenter wasn't on, flipping back to ESPN and being disappointed again. It tortured my mind and ruined many Sundays when I was in Syracuse).

        I usually don't wake up that early now that I'm in college, but this Sunday I did, and boy was I disappointed at 10:20AM, which is when I woke up and turned on ESPN expecting some Final Four analysis, NBA highlights, even some coverage of the journey to Cleveland (someone tell Drew Carey to shut up or else go fight Jim Rome about soccer again in LA). But instead, I was thrown John Saunders, John Feinstein, Mike Lupica, and Bob Ryan live from Atlanta. I'll clear one thing up right now: I like Ryan and Lupica, because they work in tough media markets and they speak with "heavy accents" and they write well. But The Sports Reporters changes everything for me. Here is my scouting report of this Sunday's show's gang of Bilos:

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: Great writer, no doubt about that. One problem: he rambles a lot at the end of sentences. Ryan is not a TV guy, and he kind of spoils his own writing with his appearances. I do enjoy his TV work sometimes, but he can't mumble when he mentions these strange moments at the end of his sentences. Otherwise, I love the guy. Hey, one time he perfectly predicted the score of a Mavericks game for the final question of PTI's Big Finish and got mentioned in the Big Finish again the next day. That's how you know he's good.

Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: I love the guy, but he is ruining himself with this show. Lupica definitely can get info from anyone, like his column two days after the Knicks-Nuggets brawl in December, where he basically wrote his open letter to the commissioner calling for Isiah (who was never supposed to receive that contract extension until the Knicks CLINCHED a playoff spot. Jim Dolan lied to the world...on MSG...with Al Trautwig's combover telling him to try to be dramatic...for the sake of MSG. What a joke.) to be suspended because Nuggets coaches saw Isiah tell Carmelo not to go into the lane. I saw the fight and believed that it was Isiah's fault, but Lupica makes the argument really well.