If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts. . .

Baseball Widow knew that readership was up, but this is ridiculous. . .

Just last week Baseball Widow posted a diatribe about the shortcomings of sports announcers, and the next day ESPN had the Baseball Tonight Crew calling the Yanks/D-Rays game. In the same post, I referred to TBS's problem-child, Erin Andrews.

Well, call the dog and spit in the fire, 'cause Ms. Andrews is outta here! Here are some highlights from a post-firing interview:

Q: Why do you think that Turner chose not to bring you back?

A: Because they were going in another direction. . .

(B-Widow running commentary: Uh, yeah, they decided to go in a direction that didn't suck.)

A (continued): . . .it doesn't surprise me that they wanted someone with more baseball knowledge. . .

(B-Widow: No, Erin, all they wanted was someone with some baseball knowledge--any baseball knowledge at all would do. Quick: How many outs in a half-inning? How many strikes and you're out? How many letters in "out"?)

Q: What was your relationship with the local fan base?

A: . . . There were the doubters out there but I think that anyone who watched the studio show enough realized how much I knew about sports. I hope.

(B-Widow: You know it's bad when Erin herself hopes that she knows something about sports.)

Q: What was your most embarrassing moment onscreen at Turner?

A:. . . I couldn't see the Teleprompter straight, and I sent it back "Don Simpson" and "Joe Sutton."

(B-Widow: 'Cause you have to see the Teleprompter to correctly identify your co-workers, what with the Braves constantly changing their announcers and all.)

Marc Fein will replace Erin. Although Baseball Widow would have preferred the return of Beau Estes, she's sure he'll do a "Fein" job.