Dino Costa has jumped the shark... And that's too bad.

Any sports fan subscribed to Sirius/XM radio has likely heard of Dino Costa, who came to Mad Dog radio from Denver back in October of 2009.

I sure did.

For the past five years, on my 40 plus mile drive from office to home in the evening, I switch my Sirius stations between only four channel's. Channel 120(ESPN Radio), 122(Rivals Radio - F'baum!), 123(Mad Dog Radio - circa 2008, after SNR) and 124(NFL Network).

Let's face it, ESPN evening Radio is only good when there's an actual game on. Otherwise, you're just listening to Brian Kenny, regularly preempted by their regular SportsCenter television program, empathizing how a blind person must feel sitting on the couch.

Paul Finebaum on Rivals Radio 122 is fantastic, but it's a college sports network... or should I say an SEC Conference station. But he still cracks me up and can argue better than anyone on the radio.

The NFL Network is packed with great content and hosts, but it's basically just seasonal.

Then you have Chanel 123; Mad Dog radio. Perfectly, and commercially situated for diversity. Mad Dog has always been a great and knowledgeable radio personality. But the problem was, and remains, that his real love is Baseball and Tennis. The channel had room to dominate the Sirius/XM sports airwaves year round, and they helped propel that potential when they brought in Dino Costa.

Dino was a great change of pace for sports talk radio. His opinionated arrogance was adored by everyone who listened. Leaving political correctness at the 7-PM door probably netted a few more dolphins in that guilty pleasured fishnet he dragged than he wanted to, but it worked... well, for the first few months anyway.

A strange thing happened after Dino experienced a little nationally broadcast success. Mere months after getting his cake and eating it, his ego exploded to unhealthy proportions. All of a sudden Dino wasn't just Dino Costa, the great sports talk radio host with enormous potential; he was Dino Costa the great self-aggrandizing, "who's better than me" jackass who thought he could run against God in the next Supreme Being elections, and actually win.

If you listen to Dino, and chances are you don't much anymore, he'll tell you how great he is. Hour after hour, save maybe twenty minutes of his show, he'll tell you what a Schmuck Chris Russo is and how he, and only he knows what's what in the world. How he shouldn't have to work the days and times he signed his contract for, because he's better than that. Because he's better than the '95-'96 Bulls, the '85 Bears, and Rocky Balboa combined. This is endless redundant banter, run in circles so many times is dizzying.

He seriously thinks he deserves the drive time spot on Sirius/XM Mad Dog, and has nothing but vitriol to spew for any member of Mad Dog radio outside of himself, as well as ownership and management. Does anybody really want to listen to Dino talk about Dino for four hours in the morning?

He's not even a sports talk radio personality at this point. Other than giving scores once an hour like a lazy, pouting sportscaster, He's just a Dino Costa talk radio personality that bitches and moans about how shitty his life is for having a job he could only have dreamt of, and then having to deal with the people who gave him the best opportunity of his life.

Dino even has the balls to say that people actually subscribe to Sirius/XM radio for him. For him of all people. Howard Stern was and is the biggest reason people subscribe, and that isn't even arguable.

Dino could have been great. He wont be though, because he'll never be able to get over himself. And because of that, he's limited himself. He will never be able to express his radically different view on sports like the greatness that is Colin Cowherd. He'll never be as quick-witted and intelligent an arguer as Paul Finebaum, as knowledgeable as most of the NFL Network guys, as listenable as Scott Van Pelt or Doug Gottlieb, or, and this will kill him the most, as popular as Chris "Mad Dog" Russo.

Dino has transformed himself from a rear breath of insane but intelligent fresh air, to a mere cog in the Sirius/XM's machine, and to likely finding himself back on some irrelevant AM terrestrial radio station.

And that's too bad.

A Quick Baseball Rant

Do you know how you can tell Baseball is game and not a sport? And an irrelevant game at that? When it's played during the afternoon of a week day.

Every day there are up to half a dozen "games" being played throughout the day when anyone not retired or a housewife are either at work or in school. What other sport can get away with that shit? When was the last time Monday night Football was played on a Wednesday afternoon?

Baseball is slow, methodical and lame, and I don't understand the appeal of it at all. I don't know why people living at the speed of the 2000's willingly sit down to watch something so stuck in the 1800's, that it might as well be played on a prairie somewhere, with a little house as a backdrop. These arrogant bastards won't even play in the rain.

You know how we can make baseball a little more entertaining? Allow players to hip-check and fight; I'd love to see Jeter or A-Rod go into the penalty box for half an inning for throwing down with Big Papi. Have the season start in October and end in March, and only play in the cold snowy cities of the north. Throw a bull onto the field, or one of those crazy people chasing geese. Something. Anything to keep my attention.

Land mines might be going too far, but I'd watch every game... even if it was played on a weekday afternoon.

Brad Stevens - The new head coach of...

Imagine you're Brad Stevens. The 34 year old coach of the Butler Bulldogs. You've only been a head coach for four years, yet you just made back-to-back runs in the NCAA Tournament, to the National championship game no less. You are spotlighted everywhere, via any possible means of communication - including this blog that nobody reads. You are the face of the Mid-Major David to the NCAA Goliath's. Beloved and adorned by anyone who's ever watched an NCAA basketball game.

So now what?

You're Indiana born and bred. Graduate of a small Indiana college, now coaching another Indiana school in Butler University. So where do you go from here? How loyal to the state of Indiana are you? Or to Butler for that matter?

Butler was a great launching pad for your career, and I'm sure you're roots are deep there, but your pocket? I'm not so sure. Do you stay on at Butler for a decent "Please, please, please don't leave us" pay raise, or do you strike while the iron's hot and snatch up one of the many job offers that will, or no doubt already have, come your way?

And it's not exactly the worst time to be the hot ticket item in the basketball coaching world.

The NCAA has some head coaching jobs available for immediate hire. Teams like N.C. State, UNLV, Miami and Missouri. Win or lose tonight, it's likely Jim Calhoun's last game at UConn. How sweet a job would that be? Taking over a two time NCAA Championship school (Three time champs if you lose tonight. How's that for irony?) in arguably the best, deepest and most televised conference in the country.

Here's a spin; If Lakers coach Phil Jackson does indeed retire after this season, as has been speculated, there's a good chance Duke's Coach K will jump at the opportunity he regretfully turned down in 2005, leaving one of the most prestigious coaching jobs left vacant for Brad Stevens to saddle up and ride straight down tobacco road glory.

But why stop at the NCAA level? The Miami Heat would love to get Pat Riley back on the sideline, but nobody actually believe's that will happen. Trade rumors of Erik Spoelstra being shown the door are probably a bit over-rated, but Stevens has had the kind of success and recent popularity to possibly nudge the Miami brass into reconsidering their decision to keep him. It's not like it would be a huge risk, what with James, Wade and Bosh all basically being capable of coaching themselves. Isn't that what their doing now?

But realistically, the Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings are almost certain to be looking for a new head coaches in approximately six more games. Three more teams with absolutely nothing to lose by taking a chance on Stevens.

So, does Brad Stevens take advantage of this truly once in a lifetime opportunity to coach a big time university, with final four potential every year, or upgrade to the NBA where every head coaching job is interim anyway? Or does he stay at home and risk the chance that his Butler team never makes it back to the final four - or worse - the sweet sixteen ever again, and is slowly forgotten, slipping deep down the depths on the head coaching waiting list?

Hearing Crickets?

India beats Sri Lanka to win 2011 cricket World Cup.

Yep, that's about enough of that...