= Tonya Harding or Jan Brady?

It's been a tough year for Bay Area sports PR flaks. In June, 49ers PR impresario Kirk Reynolds was fired (technically, "resigned") following the release of a video he created that was deemed racist, sexist and only mildly amusing. The video was shown during training camp as part of diversity training ("paging Captain Irony"), to jokingly teach players how to better interact with the media. It lampooned Mayor Gavin Newsom, featured gratuitous female nudity, and a toothy performance by former 49ers trainer George Chung. And, surprisingly enough, over half the 49ers squad chose to skip the diversity training this past season.

This past week, the Bay Area was rocked by another sports scandal, this one involving a PR Assistant with the Golden State Warriors. Eric Govan, #3 in the media relations department, was apparently #1 when it came to racial insensitivity. Govan inadvertantly forwarded on an email titled "Ghetto Prom" to his media list, apologizing sixteen minutes later, getting fired hours later. While not exactly on par with the Vikings' "pleasure cruise" or the Mohammed cartoon strip debacle, forwarding of photos depicting minorities with accompanying disparaging remarks is a "no-no" in the NBA. Even Isiah Thomas took some time out from sexually harrassing female executives to reprimand Govan. But fear not for the young Govan, he has already lined up employment as a European soccer hooligan...

You know when the end of the Armstrong-Crow uber-celebrity romance tops your Google News page, that it is a slow news day. Thousands could die in a sinking vessel in the Red Sea, Iran could be testing nuclear weapons, and Grandpa Munster could pass on to the great coffin in the sky, but all of that pales in comparison to the ripple effect we shall feel from America's most annoying couple breaking up. Armstrong told her he had to get "out of this town & out of LA" (OK, a Beth Hart song, but pretend Crow sang it), and Crow told him where he can shove his little yellow wristband. I will assume being in the celebrity spotlight probably contributed to this breakup, because I doubt Crow would cite something such as "Armstrong was spending too much time with his kids." Anyone notice anything in common between Lance Armstrong's picture and Sammy Sosa's picture? No, I'm not implying anything. I don't need(le) to...

And finally, following in the footsteps of Nick & Jessica, Christopher Knight (aka Peter Brady) & Adrianne Curry and Flava Flav & His Oversized Clock...Barry Bonds is in negotiations to star in his own reality show on ESPN. The show, which is tentatively scheduled to air on Tuesdays, will be an all-access, fly-on-the-wall look at the Life of Bonds. The questions are already rolling in...will it show Barry applying cream/clear? Will it show Barry scuffling with teammates in the dugout? Will it show Barry evading paying taxes? Will there be interviews with Barry's alleged mistress? In all likelihood, the show will be a whole lotta this and not too much of this because ESPN is a total this when it comes to Barry coverage. What's next...a reality show for this guy?