The World Series is just around the corner and Fox has done something to make the coverage a bit more interesting. No, they have dictated that the umpires be replaced with androids, although after the screw-ups from Game Four of the ALCS, that might not be a bad suggestion. Fox Sports has added White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to the pre and post-game analysis.

Aside from being a World Series winner, Ozzie is a character. He's funny, audacious, occasionally inappropriate, but highly knowledgeable about baseball and entertaining. He won't hold back what he thinks and if you want to hear real inside baseball talk, that's what Ozzie will deliver.

As a Giants fan, I was completely bummed when Tiki Barber announced that he was going to retire at the end of the 2006 season. Heck, he's the best running back the team's ever had, and he was in the middle of his peak-performance years (he won't turn 32 until April). But Tiki had a vision; he knew he had a future in media, since he had been working on local TV, then Fox and Friends, even while he was playing. He figured it would be better to start that future now, rather than after a couple of more years of being pounded to a pulp by 300-pound linemen.

His future starts today, as NBC announced that they have signed Barber not only to work in the Football Night in America studio next season, but also work as a correspondent for Today, where he'll start in April. This isn't a surprise, given Barber's previous morning-show experience at the Fox News Channel. Not sure what Barber will report on, but I'm sure it won't just be sports-related issues. Could they be grooming him for hosting duties on the show's fourth hour? Who knows...

[via TV Week]

This past issue of USA Weekend offered up an interesting article on the type of people who watch the three versions of CSI and Law & Order. Being that each version of CSI and L&O are fairly unique, different categories of people can be defined for all six shows.

For instance, the article says that fans of the original CSI, which takes place in Las Vegas, are voyeurs who have a secret dark side and are attracted to mysterious types. If you watch Law & Order: Criminal Intent you are an analyst. The article defines the fan of CI as someone who grew up reading Sherlock Holmes novels. If you watch the original Law & Order you are a traditionalist who is probably a bit ticked off about Dennis Farina's replacement on the show.

Personally, I'm an analyst all of the way, with a little bit of the SVU protector. If you want to find out a little more about yourself you can view the complete article at this link.