Dan Snyder's New Year's Rockin Eve?

Ever since I heard the news Tuesday morning, I've been dumbfounded, trying to figure out what it all means. Why is Dan Snyder buying Dick Clark Productions? Sure, the Johnny Rockets purchase was odd, but chain restaurants are profitable. But other than maybe getting the rights to show American Bandstand highlights at Johnny Rockets, what does Snyder want with the Golden Globe Awards or Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve? And then it hit me earlier tonight--it's all about Larry Michael.

The whole Triple X ESPN Radio thing hasn't worked out very well for Snyder, mostly because people don't like to listen to static (not to mention needing an occasional break of 24-hour a day, 365 day a year breathless Redskin coverage). Snyder needs to find some more opportunities for his radio guys, so ... are you ready for Larry Michael's New Year's Rockin Eve? Come on, we all know Dan Snyder--would you really be surprised to find Redskins play-by-play guy Larry Michael out in Times Square this year breathlessly interviewing a guy celebrating the new year in a Redskins ski cap?

And that's not all. Up until his stroke a couple years ago, Dick Clark would stand backstage at the Golden Globes and interview winners as they left the stage. Last year, that job fell to Maria Menounos, who memorably asked the actress who plays Ugly Betty, "What do you say to all those people who didn't want you to play Ugly Betty?" leading America Ferrara to respond "Who were they?" and making everyone watching uncomfortable. Well, forget Maria--this sounds like a job for Redskins beat reporter Bram Weinstein!

Wait, there's more. The last two years, Jimmy Kimmel has hosted the American Music Awards, but John Riggins is pretty funny--he can take over (and maybe they can get Sandra Day O'Connor for a cameo). And I believe I read that Snyder now also owns the rights to the old "TV Bloopers" shows. Are Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen the perfect avuncular hosts for a revival of that program or what? This is all starting to make sense....

Does Peter Angelos read this blog?

I'm thinking probably not. But perhaps someone at MASN came across it. Because to my pleasant surprise Tuesday night, MASN decided to stop identifying the Orioles by "O's" on the Nationals broadcasts. Yes, up in the scorebox (which featured a new graphical look tonight) the two teams playing tonight in Baltimore were identified as "WSH" and "BAL," just as they should--not "WSH" and "O's" as they were last month, which seemed to indicate that Peter Angelos thought the Orioles were the home team even on the Nats' TV broadcast. (Over on the Orioles' broadcast, they were using "O's" to identify the Orioles, and that's fine--just don't bring that over to the Washington side.)

Some might nitpick and say that the Nationals should be identified with "Nats" on the scorebox and graphics, but I don't really care. I have no problem with being identified by "WSH"--I believe that's how Comcast Sports Net identifies the Capitals and Wizards on their broadcasts. I just didn't like that an out-of-town team was being identified on Washington's broadcasts as if they were they were the home team, and I guess the message got through. And the Nats got an easy victory too--what a great night!