The Sports Emmys just announced nominations for the big night in New York on May 6.

A highlight of the evening will be awarding the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ted Turner. Now there’s one speech  I won’t want to miss.

Remember people thought Turner was crazy when he decided to air Atlanta Braves games nationally on his WTBS Superstation? The move proved to be visionary, changing the entire path for sports on TV.

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus, who served on the committee, actually was surprised to hear Turner hadn’t won the honor previously.

“When his name was brought up, it was instantaneous,” McManus said. “Everyone went, ‘Of course.’ Look at what he’s done for the world of sports. It was a no brainer.”

As for the awards, here’s the link for the nominations. ESPN leads the way with 30, followed by Fox with 18 and HBO with 15. HBO’s 24/7 series had seven nominations.

As usual, there are flaws in the process. How can Ernie Johnson not be included among best studio analysts? Why is David Feherty in that category for Golf Channel? He’s an analyst, not a host.

No Al Michaels, Jim Nantz for outstanding play-by-play? No Charles Barkley for studio analyst?

And there’s more. Discuss.

In case you haven’t seen, this is a picture posted by Jim Kelly’s daughter, Erin, on Instagram.

It really tells you all you need to know about the love of a daughter, and the fear too, as her father awaits yet another surgery for cancer this week.

The pictures has gone viral, showing the immense power of social media. Hopefully, some of that positive energy will help Kelly win his fight.

Sometimes all you get is one shot in sports. That goes for in the booth too.

Brian Billick likely lost his gig as a NFL analyst for Fox Sports in part because he stumbled during the Seattle-Atlanta playoff game in Jan., 2013. The network has confirmed Jason McIntyre’s report in the Big Lead that the former Ravens coach won’t be back this fall.

“We simply decided to move in a different direction. We appreciate all of Brian’s contributions over the years at Fox,” said Fox spokesman Dan Bell.

Usually, multiple factors are involved, but don’t discount his shaky performance when Fox awarded him and Thom Brennaman a playoff game after the 2012 season. In the video, you can hear Billick commit a major gaffe, saying Seattle won the game. Atlanta did.

OK, that happens. However, Awful Announcing noted Billick was panned on Twitter throughout the entire game.

Newsday’s Neil Best tweet: “Brian Billick said a lot of really weird stuff during last few minutes of Seahawks-Falcons game.”

All the negative vibes made an impression on Fox. Tellingly, Billick-Brennaman were passed over for this year’s playoff assignment for Kevin Burkhardt-John Lynch. And now he’s out.

Look for Billick to expand his role with NFL Network.

Indeed, there’s nothing like a newspaper’s front page after a big victory. You can’t get the same feel with a display on a computer.

You have to love how the Dayton Daily News stuck it to The Ohio State University.

There was only one story that mattered in Fargo.

Many thanks to Steve Bennett from Sports-Casters for doing an extended interview on his podcast about my book, Babe Ruth’s Called Shot: The Myth and Mystery Behind Baseball’s Greatest Home Run.

Steve writes on his site:

Ed Sherman is making his fifth appearance on the podcast. Sherman stops by to chat about his new book, Babe Ruth’s Called Shot: The Myth and Mystery of Baseball’s Greatest Home Run. Sherman’s book was our book club book of the month for February and even into March for a couple of extra weeks. Sherman explains why he decided to write a book about this specific topic, talks about the challenge of writing about a story that happened 80 years ago, and describes reviewing the films that exist about the historic event. Sherman wouldn’t tip his hand as to what conclusion he has come to after writing the book but talks about the opinions of Tom Verducci, Keith Olbermann and Bob Costas.

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Meanwhile, on my weekly sports media podcast for SportingNews.com, Rayven Tirado and I discussed Chris Fowler’s move to ESPN’s lead play-by-play voice for college football and Rick Reilly’s decision to give up his ESPN.com column.

Hey, just because I signed on as a contributor didn’t mean you had to redecorate the entire house.

Oh, it wasn’t because of me? Never mind.

Awful Announcing actually debuted a new look today. And you’ll notice one thing that is missing.

Managing Editor Matt Yoder writes:

Immediately, you probably noticed one big change.  Our Mount Rushmore has gone the way of Tim McCarver and retired… at least until it resurfaces on a Fox Sports regional network.  The Mount Rushmore concept has been run so far into the ground in the sports world over the last month that we no longer felt comfortable prominently displaying it on our website.  To combine two overused idioms, Mount Rushmore jumped the shark.  Thanks, LeBron James.

Of course there is a real reason why you no longer see Mount Rushmore and why we have a fancy new slogan as well.  Since 2011, my goal with Awful Announcing as an editor of this site was to expand one of the pillars of the sports blogosphere to new horizons.  Brian Powell’s original version of Awful Announcing was one of the first sports blogs to matter and before I was a writer, AA 1.0 was one of my favorite websites to visit as a reader.  Since moving to Bloguin, AA 2.0 has looked to build upon that and not just “put announcers on notice” but cover the entire industry in an insightful, fair, and hopefully sometimes humorous way.  Whether this be through analysis, news, podcasts, social media, or any other medium, our goal is to provide the best coverage of the sports media every day.  Thankfully, the growth of this website over the last few years and your readership has validated that decision.  AA has set several traffic records over the last year and continues to reach new heights, so we thank all of you for your continued support.

I agree. Like the new look.

More to come, but here’s the official rundown from Fox Sports.

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Since 1996, MLB on FOX is one of the most successful franchises in sports television, built on a foundation of 40 Emmy Awards, unprecedented coverage, innovations, legendary voices and some of the best moments in sports history.  This season, MLB on FOX welcomes in a new era as the national Saturday home of the nation’s pastime with exciting new voices, a Los Angeles-based pregame show and a new nightly highlights program on FOX Sports 1, America’s new sports network.

FOX Sports lifts the curtain on 2014 by today announcing that Emmy Award-winning play-by-play broadcaster, Joe Buck, the voice of MLB on FOX since its inception, is joined by analysts Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci as the new lead game broadcast team for MLB on FOX.  The announcement was made by Eric Shanks, President, COO & Executive Producer, FOX Sports, and John Entz, Executive Vice President, Production & Executive Producer, FOX Sports.  Reporters Ken Rosenthal and Erin Andrews join the team throughout the regular season, All-Star Game and postseason, including the World Series.  FOX Sports stalwarts Kenny Albert and Thom Brennaman also are scheduled for play-by-play assignments this season.

“Replacing an icon is never easy, and there is no doubt Tim McCarver revolutionized televised baseball analysis,” Entz said. “We’re convinced that in teaming Joe with Harold and Tom, we’ve built a crew with an all new dynamic that is as fresh, informative, opinionated and very entertaining.  Each is extremely talented and brings a unique voice and role, and we look forward seeing this team’s chemistry develop throughout the season.”

In addition to unveiling its new lead broadcast team, the MLB on FOX pregame show returns to the FOX Network Studios in Los Angeles for the first time since the 2012 season, and precedes most Saturday telecasts on FOX Sports 1.  Kevin Burkhardt is set as the main MLB on FOX studio host during the regular and entire postseason alongside a rotation of analysts including Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, former Dodger great Eric Karros, World Series Champion Gabe Kapler and former Reds pitcher C.J. Nitkowski.  FOX SPORTS LIVE’S Ryan Field also hosts during the regular season.  The pregame show premieres Saturday, April 5 (12:30-1:00 PM ET) on FOX Sports 1.

“This year, with the addition of FOX Sports 1 to our coverage plans, we’re able to provide more baseball content than ever before, and we are extremely excited about the possibilities,” Entz added.

“We’ve enjoyed our terrific partnership with the MLB Network the last two seasons, but given our investment in FOX Sports 1 infrastructure over the last year, the time was right to bring our baseball studio coverage back in-house.”

Furthering its commitment to the national pastime, MLB on FOX’s expanded studio coverage this season also includes the introduction of MLB WHIPAROUND on FOX Sports 1, a baseball-specific show airing weeknights with quick-turnaround highlights of in-progress games, news and analysis, also live from Los Angeles. Field and FOX Sports veteran Chris Myers host individual editions, with one or two analysts from the Thomas, Karros, Kapler and Nitkowski roster.  MLB WHIPAROUND premieres Monday, March 31, and airs Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights from 10:00-11:00 PM ET and most *Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 AM ET (*airs at 10:00 PM ET on Wednesdays without prior programming conflict).

Buck (@Buck), winner of seven Emmy Awards for Outstanding Play-By-Play, has anchored FOX Sports’ national MLB coverage since its May 1996 debut, teaming with Hall of Famer Tim McCarver the last 17 seasons.  The pair also broadcast games with Bob Brenly, Al Leiter and Bret Boone.

Reynolds continues his role with the MLB Network, where he serves as a studio analyst and was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award in 2010 and 2011.  Prior to joining MLB Network, Reynolds served as a pregame and postgame analyst for TBS’ Sunday Afternoon MLB telecasts and the network’s coverage of the 2008 postseason.  During this time, Reynolds also appeared on New York Mets’ pregame and postgame coverage on SportsNet New York and served as a commentator for MLB.com.  From 1996 to 2006, he served as lead studio analyst for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight program, working on the network’s coverage of Sunday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game and postseason, including the World Series.

A two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award-winning second baseman during his 12-year career, Reynolds played with the Seattle Mariners from 1983-1992, Baltimore Orioles in 1993 and the then-California Angels in 1994.  He led the American League in stolen bases with 60 in 1987, in triples with 11 in 1988 and at-bats with 642 in 1990.  He is the only player other than the great Ricky Henderson to lead the AL in stolen bases during any season in the 1980s.  In 1991, Reynolds received the Roberto Clemente Award given annually to an MLB player selected for his character and charitable contributions to his community.

Already one of the top journalists to ever cover the game, Emmy Award-winner Tom Verducci begins his second season in the MLB on FOX game broadcast booth. He earned an Outstanding Sports Personality/Sports Reporter Emmy Award as a field reporter for TBS’ and MLB Network’s regular and postseason coverage, and In 2013, in addition to his role with MLB Network, worked 20 MLB on FOX national broadcasts before serving as a studio analyst for TBS’ coverage of the Division Series and American League Championship Series. Verducci began working as a field reporter for TBS in October 2008.  He also currently serves a senior baseball writer at Sports Illustrated where he contributes inside information and analysis for the magazine and SI.com.  Before joining Sports Illustrated, Verducci spent 10 years as a sports reporter for Newsday, serving as its national baseball columnist from 1990 to 1993.  With Joe Torre, Verducci co-authored “The Yankee Years,” a book published in 2009 that chronicled the New York Yankees’ dugout and organization.

One of the most talented young broadcasters in the country, Burkhardt (@kevinburkhardt) joined FOX Sports in July 2013, calling NFL games alongside analyst John Lynch and sideline reporter Erin Andrews. An immediate success, Burkhardt, along with Lynch and Andrews, earned a playoff assignment in his first season calling national NFL games. Prior to FOX, Burkhardt spent several seasons with SNY covering the New York Mets in a myriad of roles from on-field reporting to play-by-play and in studio hosting duties.

Recently elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year eligible, Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) is one of the game’s all-time top sluggers. A two-time AL MVP and five-time All-Star, he finished his 19-year career with a .301 average, 521 home runs and 1,704 RBI before announcing his retirement in February 2010. Thomas spent the bulk of his career with the Chicago White Sox, and following his playing days worked as a pre- and postgame studio analyst for Comcast SportsNet Chicago, also occasionally filling in on game broadcasts. Thomas also appeared as a guest analyst during TBS’ coverage of the 2007 MLB Playoffs.

Karros has been with FOX Sports since 2007, serving as an MLB on FOX game and studio analyst and has worked each of the network’s All-Star Games and World Series since his arrival. A 14-year MLB veteran, Karros spent 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he was named NL Rookie of the Year in 1992 and set franchise records for career home runs (270) and career home runs at Dodger Stadium (130).

Already a familiar face on FOX Sports 1, Kapler (@gabekapler) is a panelist on FOX SPORTS LIVE, FOX Sports 1’s signature nightly news, highlights and opinion show. Kapler played for seven different Major League teams, making his debut with the Detroit Tigers in 1998 and playing his final season in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays. Kapler won a World Series with the 2004 Red Sox, and was on the field when the squad snapped its 86-year title drought.

A first-round draft pick by the Cincinnati Reds, Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) played a decade in the Majors before spending an additional five years playing professionally overseas. After retiring from the game, the left-hander began his career in sports media, working as a writer, studio and radio host and color analyst. In 2013, he co-hosted “Eye on Baseball” for CBS Sports Radio, and also has served as an analyst for MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.

FOX Sports, MLB’s primary broadcast rights holder since 1996 and exclusive national broadcast partner since 2001, this year begins a new eight-year, multiplatform media rights agreement that adds national cable and digital coverage to its portfolio, doubling regular season exposures, mostly on Saturdays, from 26 to 52 combined on the FOX Broadcast Network and FOX Sports 1, with 20 Saturday doubleheaders, 10 exclusively on FOX Sports 1 and 10 split between FOX Sports 1 and the FOX Broadcast Network. For the first time ever, all regular season games, Division Series, League Championship Series, World Series games and the All-Star Game broadcast by FOX Sports are being streamed live via FOX Sports GO through participating video providers. Click here for the MLB on FOX schedule: http://foxs.pt/OHkT1X.

Steve Elkington probably should stay off Twitter for a while.

The veteran golfer is an active tweeter. However, he did one tweet too many when it came to Michael Sam at last week’s NFL Combine.

When Elkington started feeling the intense heat, he followed up by saying he was making a point about ESPN’s excessive coverage of Sam.

Right.

Even if that was Elkington’s intent, it was an incredibly poor way to do it.

Jason Sobel of GolfChannel.com had this to say about Elkington in a column:

I don’t know Steve Elkington personally. His long run of relevance as an elite professional golfer was dying down by the time I started covering the beat in 2004, so other than maybe a couple of long-forgotten news conference questions and recalling that he owned a beautiful swing and an ugly wardrobe, I really don’t know the man.

But therein lies the beauty – and, sometimes, ugliness – of social media.

Through outlets like Twitter, we are able to get to know people whom we otherwise wouldn’t. Unfiltered, unvarnished thoughts straight from the source. When it comes to golfers, many have employed social media as a tool to bring thousands of fans inside the ropes with them. I’ve learned that Ian Poulter has a sports-car fetish, Zach Johnson loves barbeque and Luke Donald has a much better sense of humor than what comes across in interviews.

I’ve also learned that Elkington is hateful, classless and in desperate need of attention.

Bob Harig of ESPN.com reports this isn’t the first time Elkington has come under fire for tweets.

Last year, Elkington came under criticism for Twitter comments made in the aftermath of a helicopter crash into a Glasgow pub.

“Helicopter crashes into Scottish pub. .. locals report no beer was spilt,” Elkington tweeted about the crash.

The accident resulted in several deaths.

Last summer, while playing in the British Senior Open in Southport, England, Elkington tweeted: “Things about Southport … fat tattooed guy, fat tattooed girl, trash, Pakistani robber guy, s**t food.”

He then later tried to explain by tweeting: “Couple caddies got rolled by some Pakkis, bad night for them.”

In the United Kingdom, to refer to someone from Pakistan as a “Pakki” is considered a racial slur. Elkington later apologized and was reprimanded by the European Tour.

Yep, time to take a break from Twitter, Steve.

David Scott of ESPN’s Front Row did a Q/A with Vince Doria about the backstory for last night’s news about Michael Sam.

Sam’s representatives wanted both ESPN and the New York Times to break the story. As a result it required some coordinating.

What was the arrangement with the New York Times?
In a conference call last week that included Howard, sports editor Jason Stallman of the New York Times, and me, we determined that both outlets would do their interviews (yesterday), and we would break the story simultaneously at 3 p.m. ET on Monday. That was the timetable Bragman wanted. I don’t think Jason nor I was terribly comfortable with holding the material for 24 hours – we knew other media had been chasing the story, and might decide to break it without an interview – but those were the parameters. We also were made aware that Howard had enlisted Cyd Ziegler and OutSports.com [Ziegler is co-founder of OutSports] to do a behind-the-decision piece on what was transpiring.

So, how did it come about that the story broke on Sunday night?
The interviews were scheduled to take place mid-day Sunday West Coast time at Howard’s home in Los Angeles. Chris Connelly would be there for us, along with lead producer Greg Amante and feature producer Sharon Matthews. Tim Hays, a coordinating producer in our Enterprise Unit (which produces our Outside the Lines pieces), would oversee production back in Bristol, preparing material for television, ESPN.com, ESPN Audio and other ESPN platforms.

On Sunday morning, Howard informed Jason and me that he feared the story might come out shortly. He had information about specific outlets that had knowledge of the story, and feared it might break at any time. It was mutually agreed upon that both ESPN and the Times would break the story at 8 p.m. on Sunday, with ESPN airing and publishing it on all our platforms. The time was a reasonable one for both entities to get their interviews, both text and video versions, and prepare them for air and publication. We had the usual concern, as any entity would, the story would break before we reported it. As it played out, no one broke the story in advance, and ESPN and the Times had exclusives at 8 p.m.