Seriously, the editors at the New York Daily News and New York Post must be about 5-years-old. The balls jokes ceased to be funny about four months ago.

Of course, the Post editors were giggling when they came up with this one.

The Boston Herald threw objectivity out the window.

There is a new series worthy of your attention.

“Away Games” debuts tonight on the World Channel at 9 p.m. The first installment examines the rivalry in cricket between India and Pakistan, and how it impacts the high tensions between the two countries.

I did a Q/A with producer Ken Shulman.

How do you describe the series?

Away Games is a travel series that uses sport as a lens to view lives, conflicts, and cultures about the globe. For us, sport is a bridge—a common language that makes distant lives and cultures intelligible.

What was your inspiration for doing it?

I’ve been a journalist for nearly 30 years. I’ve filed stories from refugee camps, from particle accelerators, even from scaffolding of the Sistine Chapel. But no matter where I went, and no matter who I was with, the talk eventually came round wound to sport. It’s the one thing humans do that includes everyone—boy, girl, rich, poor, educated, illiterate. I started to ask myself whether there was something we could do with this universal appeal, something beyond selling beer and T-shirts. And I happen to love beer and T-shirts.

How does cricket impact India and Pakistan?

Cricket is the world’s second most popular sport, behind soccer. It is played in every former British colony, with the notable exception of the U.S. In colonial times, when the British ruled India, cricket was originally restricted to whites. When the game opened up, Indians played to show that they were just as good as the British. Since independence and partition in 1947, India and Pakistan play to show they’re better—than each other.

Why is it important for these stories to be told?

It’s not so much important that these stories be told. It’s important that they be understood. And sport is a superb vehicle to help readers and viewers understand. These are stories about human rights, about social justice, about racism and the clash of cultures. When we approach them from a sport angle, we give our audience a foothold. They have something in common with the people they’re watching. And they’ll take an interest in them.

What is the future for this project? 

Our project is twofold. We want to produce our first two seasons of films—24 films in all, including episodes about amputee soccer in Sierra Leone, skateboarding on an apache reservation in Arizona, and Japan’s annual national high school baseball tournament. The second part of Away Games is our educational program. I lecture at colleges and tutor at my local high school. And I’ve seen how sport is a great way to get students to engage. We are currently preparing our first two learning modules about India and Pakistan for selected high schools in the U.S.

Where can viewers see the debut?

Our pilot, “The Greatest Rivalry in all of Sport” premieres Tuesday 12 May at 9pm EST (6 & 8pm PST) on World Channel. There will be several rebroadcasts. Check your local cable provider for listings. Or use this tool to locate World Channel in your area: http://worldchannel.org/schedule/localize/

As is often the case, I was out of writing range Friday when someone sent me a text saying ESPN is severing ties with Bill Simmons.

However, there will be plenty to say about this story in the upcoming days and months. For now, I figured I would do a round-up of what already is being said.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times drops the blockbuster scoop.

Skipper said that ESPN would maintain its commitment to Grantland without Simmons. Eventually, it would seem, other Grantland employees would join Simmons in any new venture. The site’s publisher, David Cho, announced earlier this week that he was leaving, though there is no indication that was related to Simmons’s departure.

“It long ago went from being a Bill Simmons site to one that can stand on its own,” Skipper said of Grantland. “Bill’s done an excellent job for us on Grantland, and we have an outstanding staff. Bill’s contributions have been fantastic, including his own column. I hope we’ll have a friendly discussion about the transition.”

“This is not personal,” added Skipper, who is considered Simmons’s friend and staunch supporter. “It’s business.”

James Andrew Miller writing for Vanity Fair offers an inside account of the break-up.

Problems and tensions were clear to many throughout 2014. Then all hell broke loose in the fall when, at the height of the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal, Simmons called N.F.L. commissioner Roger Goodell a liar during a segment on his podcast. ESPN suspended him.

The suspension was supposed to include a two-week dock in pay, but when he looked at his paychecks afterward, Simmons could hardly help noticing that the checks were for the usual amount. He interpreted this as ESPN holding out an olive branch; the public censure had been just for show, Simmons thought; there was no financial penalty after all.

That might have smoothed things out between Simmons and management—but on December 19, Simmons opened his pay envelope and was not pleased. Two weeks’ worth of salary wasn’t there: “Merry Christmas, Mr. Simmons—here’s your lump of coal.” Simmons had had enough. The chances of him staying at ESPN from that point onward became less and less probable.

Jason McIntyre of Big Lead writes ESPN balked at paying Simmons $6 million per year.

Bill Simmons and ESPN waged intense contract discussions over the last few weeks, and this became the sticking point on Bristol’s end: It’s difficult to justify paying Bill Simmons $6+ million a year for the revenue he was driving.

And ultimately, that’s what the contract talks boiled down to: Simmons is the most powerful member in sports media, an innovator with the most popular podcast in sports, a vanity website, the “original blogger” who carved out a niche as the Boston Sports Guy and smoothly transitioned to being a creator of the Emmy-award winning 30-for-30 series, but … were any of those ventures generating significant revenue?

Dan Levy, a fine new addition to Awful Announcing, speculates on where Simmons goes from here.

If John Skipper no longer wants to be in the Bill Simmons business, there will certainly be no shortage of offers for The Sports Guy’s services this summer. Simmons should hold a ball to find his next employer. He could dance with each of them deep into the night and then fall in love with his Cinderella—if only he can find her.

No matter how he decides where to go, we must prepare ourselves for the Summer of Bill—I hope there’s frolf—with a list of the 33 (!) places Simmons could possibly land for his next gig, ranked in order from least to most likely.

Richard Deitsch of SI.com with more speculation on Simmons’ next move.

The possible suitors for Simmons include other traditional media companies, such as Fox Sports where one of Simmons’ longtime friends and admirers, Jamie Horowitz, just took a job as the president of Fox Sports National Networks. Horowitz will oversee programming, marketing and scheduling for Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 and supervise management and development of original programming.

(In September 2013, Simmons told SI.com: “Fox Sports 1 talked a big game before they launched and deserved a little ribbing. Remember, they were posing for magazine covers, trying to steal ESPN people, bragging about having ‘fun’ and taking veiled shots at us. Meanwhile, the NBA previews I did with Jalen [Rose] for Grantland Channel would be their highest-rated show right now. Why are we even talking about them, Deitsch? When they can come up with a show that can out-rate me and Jalen wearing the same clothes for six straight hours on YouTube, get back to me.”)

Turner Sports has the rights to the NBA, which is Simmons’ bailiwick, and a big digital property in Bleacher Report. “It’s premature to discuss at this time,” said a Turner Sports spokesperson on Friday.

Paul Fahri of the Washington Post got this insight from John Ourand.

It’s unlikely that Simmons will be without work for long, said John Ourand, who covers sports media for SportsBusiness Journal. ESPN’s national rival, Fox Sports, is a potential destination, Ourand said, especially because it recently hired a former ESPN and NBC executive, Jamie Horowitz, who is a friend of Simmons. But there are others: Turner Sports has NBA rights, and NBC could benefit from the younger, male audience that knows Simmons.

Ourand expects Simmons to stretch beyond sports. Noting Simmons’s friendship with talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, he said: “I suspect his next move will have a real entertainment beat to it. I’d be surprised if it’s pure sports.” (Simmons briefly worked as a writer on Kimmel’s late-night show in 2003-2004 before returning to ESPN full-time.)

Kelly McBride of Poynter says Bill Simmons and ESPN will be just fine.

Simmons will do fine. He has 3.6 million Twitter followers. He could start his own small empire or he could get scooped by another sports media organization willing to give him a long leash.  And ESPN will be fine without him. Under the right editor, Grantland could mature into The Atlantic of the sports world. 

Richard Bilton of Digiday thinks the future for Grantland is murky without Simmons.

“It doesn’t look good for Grantland,” said Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, who said that losing Simmons could make it harder for Grantland to continue attracting big-name writers. “Grantland, lightly ESPN-branded, is a distant priority to them, and probably a vanity thing to keep Bill Simmons affordable and on payroll. Now that they don’t have that burden, I question whether or not they will even want to keep it alive.”

An excerpt from my latest Chicago Tribune column:

********

The Chicago Sky has come under fire for replacing what had been the only women announcers pairing in the WNBA with two men who reportedly will receive higher salaries.

The situation flared up when the Sky hired Eric Collins on play-by-play and Stephen Bardo as analyst for its new broadcast team. They replace Lisa Byington (play-by-play) and Brooke Weisbrod (analyst), who had called Sky games the last two seasons.

Weisbrod questioned the team’s priorities.

“By removing two women (from the broadcast team), what kind of message are you sending?” Weisbrod said. “You have young women fans who watch the Sky, and it has become their normal to see two women call the games. Now what? That message completely missed (the Sky).

Kathy Kudravi, the chair of the Association for Women in Sports Media, echoed that sentiment.

“Teams have every right to change their announcer lineups to suit their needs,” Kudravi said in an email. “However, it is unfortunate the Sky chose to move from a unique position in the league.”

CEO Adam Fox said he is “disappointed” with how the Sky is being portrayed in the wake of this decision. He cited the team’s history of women in high-profile roles: Margaret Stender was its first president; and Pokie Chatman is the current general manager and coach.

However, Fox also stressed gender can’t be the ruling factor in the Sky’s personnel decisions.

“We are an organization that has a long record of diversity and inclusion,” Fox said. “When you’re doing things this way, you have to make sure you bring in the best people you can. We have to do that regardless if the person is a man or woman.”

Old high school classmate, Bob Kravitz, who broke the Deflategate story and writes for WTHR.com, calls out various members of the Boston media in wake of the Wells Report.

I expect a lack of professionalism from fanboi bloggers who dubiously claimed knowledge of the identity of my source, who came after me in the most personal manner imaginable.

I expect that from sports-talk radio, which can often be designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. One sports talk clown, Scott Zolak, the former Patriots backup quarterback, trolled me constantly on Twitter, which made me wonder if he was still on the team’s payroll. (Maybe he is; I have no idea. All I know is, I haven’t heard word one from him in recent hours).

Here’s what disappoints me most, though: The media. Specifically the New England media, the mainstream media. While some of them were wholly professional – the Globe’s Ben Volin comes immediately to mind – I was amazed at the way many of these toadies refused to consider the remote possibility that there was something to my initial report, despite the fact the Patriots have run afoul of the rules once before. They dismissed it like a minor nuisance.

The people who disappointed me most were the folks at The Globe’s website, Boston.com. They are renowned pom-pom wearers, so it wasn’t a surprise. But I was struck at the enthusiasm they displayed while carrying the Patriots’ water. It shocks me that a great newspaper like the Boston Globe would employ such rank amateurs and cheerleaders. Sad.

Ryan Glasspiegel of Big Lead questions whether reporters actually need to cover big events. Can’t say I agree here, but here’s Glasspiegel.

What’s less clear is what so many outlets — and not just the ones whose reporters were denied access — had to gain from sending so many people to cover this boxing match. Of the hundreds of stories that were written, whose were unforgettable? Dan Wetzel had a characteristically great column, but it’s unclear to what extent it mattered that he was in the arena for it; Drew Magary’spiece on Mayweather’s cowardliness was at least as good as anything else I read about the fight, and that was done from the East Coast.

The National Sports Journalism Center’s Michael Bradley believes sports journalism lost with Rachel Nichols and Michelle Beadle being denied credentials to the big fight.

The decisions to deny Nichols and Beadle their credentials is just another step toward the inevitable acid test that media will have to pass in order to gain access to cover just about anything in the future. As outlets proliferate for teams, leagues, schools, conferences and players to provide their highly-varnished sides of the story, there will be less reason for those who stage and play the games to deal with anybody with the temerity to report and comment on the truth.

Ken Lang of Awful Announcing has an interview with Robert Lipsyte about his tenure as ESPN’s ombudsman.

I saw the job as being ESPN’s window washer, that the goal was transparency, that the audience would understand why it made the decisions or didn’t make the decisions, and that I would have access to everybody, that I would blog every week. I would be on the shows that I was writing about, talking to the hosts and I would be kind of an ESPN presence. That’s not how it turned out.

And get this, Lipsyte is launching his own blog.

Dave Anderson of the New York Times has a terrific column on his stories about covering big fights.

Sitting next to me was Tom Johnson, a Times foreign correspondent based in Kenya. During the early rounds, whenever I completed a paragraph or two on my Olivetti portable, Tom would lean over and dictate it to the telephone room in New York while I kept writing.

When Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round to regain the heavyweight title, I wrote a quick lead and then dictated it while Tom hurried to the fighters’ postfight news conferences. As I wrote my final lead and then dictated it, Tom wrote his story, then dictated it.

For one big fight on one big night, the telephone had replaced the telegrapher’s dots and dashes and the Teletype machine.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of Jack Warhop earning his slice of baseball history.

On May 6, 1915, Warhop became forever known as the pitcher who gave up Babe Ruth’s first Major League home run.

Ruth, a 20-year old pitcher for the Red Sox, connected in the third inning of a Yankees-Red Sox game in the Polo Grounds. It wouldn’t be his last.

Ruth’s subsequent homers received much more fanfare and one in particular, “The Called Shot,” was the subject of a very fine book (not-so-subtle plug).

However, Ian Denomme of Yahoo! Sports notes that Ruth’s first homer went largely unnoticed in the newspapers. There will be much more of a fuss for Kris Bryant’s first homer.

The New York Times reported Ruth homered with “no apparent effort.” The writer Damon Runyon, covering baseball for the New York American, gave his take: “Ruth knocked the slant out of one of Jack Warhop’s underhanded subterfuges.” 

Subterfuges? Yes, they don’t write like that anymore.

There is class and then there is this.

Last night, Ernie Johnson didn’t just bring down the house at the Sports Emmys. He had the audience reaching for their tissues. Seemed like everyone had something in their eyes after seeing this incredibly gracious gesture.

Michelle Beadle weighed in on her perspective of what happened via TwitLonger. Some excerpts:

I have to believe that my outspoken stance had something to do with my credential being pulled for the fight. Either that, or the world’s most uncanny coincidence occurred resulting in pulled credentials for at least 3 other members of the media (who also happened to speak out about DV.) The timing was interesting. First I was credentialed. Then I wasn’t. People have tried to dismiss the entire ordeal as a misunderstanding, but emails from network executives say otherwise. It turns out my access was reinstated late Friday night, but to no one’s knowledge. And by then, it was too late. After a week of various national figures bloviating about the greatness of Mayweather, from his prowess in the ring, to his life packed with cars, cash and opulence, I’d had enough. Those that pulled my credential were actually doing me a favor. I was given a pass to leave an event that already had me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable in my career choice.

And.

My employers, ESPN and HBO have not once asked me to ‘keep quiet.’ I feel strongly about holding people accountable for their actions. I don’t want to ‘get over it,’ or ‘let it go.’ And yes, I’m aware that there are bad people across all sports that may not get the same coverage. But I’ve seen so many changes in not just what’s being reported, but in the reactions from the public. People are fed up. A lot, not all, but a lot of fans are tired of rooting for horrible human beings, who are allowed to continue to be horrible, so long as they’re winning. My voice is what I have, and I will continue to use it as best I can.