As co-host of ESPN‘s daily SportsNation show Michelle Beadle is a delight to watch. She’s part goofy, part nerdy and full on funny and hot sports chick. She doesn’t seem stuck up, does stuff like eat hot dogs on camera, throws great first pitches and balances it all enough to make regular guys feel like they got a chance with her, and it’s all helping raise her profile.

Her star at the network and beyond keeps growing and the latest example of that is her appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. Read the full story

I didn’t know about it but apparently ESPN lifts their family-friendly Disney standards for their late-night programming. Case in point was last night’s Sportscenter from Los Angeles featuring Neil Everett and Stan Verrett. Everett was a doing a tease of the stories coming up after the break, including one about former Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen. In one of the clips Clausen flashed a hang loose sign after a score, but Everett thought he might have been throwing up “The Shocker.” I know this because he asked on-air. Read the full story

Tony Kornheiser’s suspension by ESPN for comments he made about Hannah Storm (and Chris Berman) give cause for us to look at the network’s suspension policy. I can’t follow their logic. Cussing on the air is bad sometimes, and ripping people via Twitter will get your tweets suspended for a couple of weeks. Referencing Hitler gets you paddled, making a racial Freudian slip with Martin Luther King’s name on Martin Luther King Day garners an aw shucks apology. Look at the following examples and see if you can make sense of ESPN’s disciplinary policies. Read the full story

ESPN has suspended Bill Simmons‘ use of Twitter after the Sports Guy used the social networking site to blast ESPN partner radio station WEEI in Boston. The Huffington Post has screencaps of the tweets where Simmons refers to WEEI hosts as washed up athletes, fat, and deceitful scumbags. Read the full story

By now everybody’s heard. ESPN denied the Steve Phillips banging a chick on the side story when Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio called to inquire. Then the story turned out to be true so Daulerio called to ask ESPN about a few other rumors and by “called” I mean he posted them on Deadspin. Caught in the collateral damage were Erik “I’m a lawyer” Kuselias and Katie “Who am I and who gives a damn?” Lacey.. Read the full story

The 2009 ESPN ESPY awards show airs July 19, and will be hosted by Samuel Jackson. I wanted ESPN to give Norm McDonald another shot at hosting the event, but after his first performance as the MC I was basically asking for a Team USA over Spain sized miracle.

Last year I got loose in the ESPN the Magazine ESPY Style Studios and got to interview some of the nominees. Here are some of the people I’ll have a shot at talking to if I go back this year. Read the full story

• The Dallas Cowboys released Adam “Pacman” Jones following allegations that Jones set-up a shooting

The Dallas Cowboys have parted ways with trouble-magnet Adam “Pacman” Jones after an ESPN report on Jones’ involvement in an Atlanta shooting. The allegations stem from a shooting outside of a strip club in 2007, and police say the case remains open even though they’re not investigating the incident anymore.

Jones spoke to the Dallas News’ Cowboys blog about being cut, and the chance of him filing a lawsuit against ESPN. Read the full story