Brian Milne was in the middle of this scrum and talked about it on Podcast 71.

What’s it like to kayak at McCovey Cove during an All Star Game? Why would Bruce Bochy leave Tim Lincecum in for 148 pitches? And what do you do when an All Star Game is bereft of a true hero?

Brian and I explored these and other issues on the most sports-bereft day of the year – the day after the Major League Baseball All Star Game.

Here’s a link to the Detroit Free Press article about Brian kayaking in McCovey cove during the 2007 All Star Game.

Podcast can be played under the YouTube clip.

Jerry Buss’ kids are either not communicating very well or, more likely, not getting along. By flipchip / LasVegasVegas.com [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Just one week ago, Andy, Luke and I debated whether Mike Brown was right for the job. Andy was fed up. I wasn’t too pleased. But the prevailing thought was that with time, they’d mold themselves into at least a solid playoff squad. How could they not with a roster that chalk-full of stars?

The next day, Brown was fired. Lakers ownership decided that Brown couldn’t be the one to get them to the promised land. The ensuing hiring was even more salacious than the early-season firing. Phil Jackson, who dates Jeanie Buss, was not pleased with how ownership — namely Jeanie’s brother Jim and General Manager Mitch Kupchak — moved forward at midnight on Sunday night with a late-night phone call.

Brian and I talked about the man the Lakers went with instead — Mike D’Antoni — and whether D’Antoni was a better choice than Phil Jackson and a number of other coaches that may or may not have been in the mix. We even compared D’Antoni to other coaches already in the league.

Brian also brought a breakdown of what an 8-team FBS playoff would look like if it started tomorrow. We talked about how great the 20-team FCS playoff system is and it’s movement to 24 teams starting next year.

Milne has been to Flagstaff for a Cal Poly football game at Northern Arizona in the past and gave some insight on the dome, Flagstaff’s elevation, and the fact that Cal Poly football has never beaten an Arizona team before.

What we wish our studio looked like…

Brian Milne is many things. He is a former reporter and web editor for the Tribune, covering Cal Poly sports during the middle of the last decade. He has written for three top-1,000 websites. And, more recently, Milne is the founder of BallHyped.com — a sports-blog clearinghouse of sorts where popular posts simmer to the top of the sports-blogosphere stew.

I talked to Brian at first about sports in general and we quickly got into one of his favorite topics — media coverage of sports and the current state of the national and local media, including print media and blogs. We discussed the positives and negatives of some popular blogs and also where the Central Coast fits into the sports saturation scale (the scale, in case you were wondering, goes from Boris Navatchkov to Tim Tebow).

Probably a more accurate depiction of what our studio looks like. Photo courtesy of Collectie SPAARNESTAD PHOTO/Wiel van der Randen, via Nationaal Archief., via Wikimedia Commons

Recently Milne announced that BallHyped.net, a content-producing spinoff of BallHyped.com, will be sharing 100% of its ad revenue with its writers, which is a unique concept in the world of sports-blogsmanship.

Milne also discussed his first Dodger game, what is was like to have a grandfather who was a sports reporter, and how us Californians might be a little more relaxed about our sports fansmanship than the rest of the country.

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