Right when you thought Pete Carroll's Bowl Season was over, ESPN has to go and hire him to be an analyst for the BCS Championship Game. Carroll will appear on a few Sports Centers, College Gameday and of course the coverage of the Texas-Alabama showdown at the Rose Bowl. Via ESPN....

USC head coach Pete Carroll, who led the Trojans to seven consecutive Pac-10 titles and two National Championships, will join ESPN to provide analysis about the Citi BCS National Championship on the network’s SportsCenter and College GameDay Built by The Home Depot Jan. 6-7.

Carroll will offer his insight on the pressure of playing in a National Championship Game and at the Rose Bowl, as well as coaching against Texas coach Mack Brown in the 2006 National Championship game. Carroll joined USC in 2001 and holds a 97-19 record (83.6%), second highest among active coaches with more than five years at the position.

Carroll will appear on the ESPN set at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on the evening editions of SportsCenter Wednesday, Jan. 6; a special one-hour College GameDay Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m.; National Championship pre-game and halftime shows on ABC beginning at 8 p.m.; and for ESPN’s SportsCenter post-game coverage following the game.

I don't despise Carroll as much as some people, and his personality might work in adding something to the broadcast. We shall see.

Craig James is scheduled to call the Alamo Bowl on Saturday, but this time he'll be a part of the storyline. Craig James' son Adam plays for Texas Tech (who's playing in the Alamo Bowl against Michigan State), and recently suffered a concussion. Adam wanted to sit out a practice or two, but apparently Tech Coach Mike Leach did not taken kindly to that idea. He (allegedly) ordered a trainer to put Adam in an electrical closet, to which (surprisingly) Papa James did not take kindly to....

Sources told ESPN's Joe Schad that the Jameses felt Adam was treated inappropriately by Leach because he was unable to practice after a mild concussion. A source close to the James family told Schad that Leach directed a trainer to confine him to an equipment room for three hours and, days later, told a trainer to place James in an electrical closet. An attorney for Leach said that while James was secluded twice, the circumstances were not as portrayed by the James family.

"Mr. and Mrs. James took the step with great regret and after consideration and prayer to convey to the Texas Tech administration that their son had been subjected to actions and treatment not consistent with common sense rules for safety and health," the family said in a statement released on Monday.

Well then. Texas Tech has now suspended Leach for the Alamo Bowl and he could be facing even further action following an investigation. ESPN certainly protects their own, so I'd be worried if I were him.

Leach suspended after player complaint (ESPN)

Ah yes, what holiday season would be complete without a clip from Pam Ward to celebrate your New Year? Pammy thought she was throwing it to the studio for an update during the thrilling Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, but alas....she was still on live. Enjoy (from KSJ via Deadspin)!

The irony of all of this is that Ray Bentley went on a ten minute spiel about how professional was (when discussing females in Sports because of the female ref) earlier in the game. Too funny, and I a perfect video to end the decade with. Where would I be without you Pammy?

XOXO,
AA

You know I always say that if you're going to say something that a person or group would find offensive, it's best to not say it at all, but the uproar of the latest case of verbal diahhrea even has me rolling my eyes.

Paul Steigerwald is an announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and today he's under fire for making a joke about the Hobey Baker Award (Best College Hockey Player). See Baker quit the game of hockey to serve his country in WWI, but tragically crashed and died during a postwar flight in 1918. Steigerwald's boothmate Bob Errey made a point of saying that former Hobey Baker Award winner Mike Mottau went down hard, to which Paul chimed in and said, "Not as hard as Hobey Baker went down, though. He went down in a plane crash." Here's your video....

Yeah it was a little much, and the fact that the joke was made 91 years to the day that Baker died didn't help, but let's give Steigerwald a pass on this one. Afterall, it's Christmas right?

Video: Penguins announcer finds comedy in aviation fatalities (Puck Daddy)

A correct use of a middle finger during a broadcast can be hilarious, but when it comes from a little kid, it's f'ing awesome! This little Villanova fan has a message for you this holiday season....

Man they start them young in Philly don't they? I love how the dad almost knocked the kid in the head, but then remembered he was on television too. Too funny.

Oh how quickly good news can change. A cheer was heard from Baseball fans around the globe two weeks ago when Chip Caray was dropped by TBS, but the cheers specifically coming from Atlanta will now be changing to groans. Chip Caray is heading back to Atlanta to call Braves games on FOX Sports South and Sport South. Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution....

Three weeks after parting ways with Turner Sports, Cary's been hired as Braves play-by-play man on Fox Sports South and SportSouth, a person familiar with the situation said Monday. An announcement was expected by the end of the day.

Caray, 44-year-old scion of a famous broadcasting family, will replace Jon Sciambi, who left after the season to accept a full-time job at ESPN.

Caray will work more than 100 games on Fox Sports South and SportSouth with veteran Braves analyst Joe Simpson -- more than twice as many Braves games as Caray worked last year for the Turner-owned Peachtree station.

Sorry Braves fans, but you're stuck with him. Maybe time back with his old team will help Caray gain an understanding of how to do his job again.

Chip Caray is back as Braves broadcaster (AJC)