ESPN's Gomez survives Bonds; studs and duds

Now that it's no longer raining Barry Bonds 24/7/365, life will be a little more peaceful for ESPN's Pedro Gomez. AP

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Some men are irrevocably linked, be it Redford and Newman, Stockton and Malone or Manning and Leaf. Such is the fate of ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez.

"I have come to the realization that Barry Bonds' name will be in the first paragraph of my obituary," said Gomez, who chronicled the home run king over the past three seasons with the single-mindness of a Hollywood gumshoe. "I'm fine with it."

For years, Gomez has been ESPN's Dostoevsky, a man imprisoned by Bonds and his network's nightly fascination of him. But with Bonds seemingly without an employer this season, Gomez is free to breathe the air beyond San Francisco. He is now a general assignment reporter whose assignments will include the Euro 2008 soccer championships this June (Gomez will file reports in both English and Spanish for ESPN Domestic and ESPN International).

Gomez's last conversation with Bonds came in the clubhouse of AT&T Park during the final week of the 2007 season. "He was the most cordial he had been to me in three years," said Gomez. "I remember turning to someone and saying, 'That is absolutely the best conversation he has had with me in three years.' It was almost as though maybe he knew that was it."

The Phoenix-based Gomez says he still follows Bonds news closely and remains on alert -- just in case. "Anytime something Bonds-related comes up, ESPN immediately calls me to see what I can find out," he said. "It's always there. And I it get from everyone. During spring training, Mariners manager John McClaren asked me if they signed Bonds when he saw me. So did Bob Geren when I was at A's camp. AJ Pierzynski even dropped it on me at White Sox camp."

If Bonds ends up playing in 2008, Gomez said he thinks there would be a heavy burst of initial coverage from ESPN but nothing like the hostage crisis of years past. "We would probably do a 7-14 day burst and maybe the first three-game series on the road," he said. "But I've been told we will not do the daily coverage the way we once did."

Person of the Week

Tony Kornheiser, ESPN analyst: It was brief, less than five seconds, but Kornheiser admitted last week on Pardon The Interruption that he overreacted(which he did) in calling for the firing of Michigan women's basketball coach Kevin Borseth.

While the mea culpa didn't have the same intensity as his call for Borseth's head, Kornheiser gets big marks here for admitting, even mildly, that he erred. "After our initial segment, Tony himself said he thought he might have gone too far," said Erik Rydholm, the executive producer of PTI. "We were looking for an opportunity for him to comment again."

They Said It

"BING-go. BING-go. BING-go. If you didn't hear me, BING-gooooooooo!"
-- Doug Birdsong, Bucknell play-by-play announcer, after senior guard John Griffin hit a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to give the Bison an 87-86 triple-overtime win against Navy on March 5.

There's no doubt that some college announcers -- especially those from small schools where the broadcaster often works in the athletic department -- go into Gus Johnson mode in an effort to get their call on ESPN whenever sporting magic happens in front of them. While look-at-me broadcasting can be annoying at the national level, it's tolerable and occasionally hilarious when a local broadcaster, such as Birdsong, gets his or her moment in the sun. We heard you, Doug.

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