ESPN

ESPN's Brent Musburger didn't seem to understand why people would criticize him for wishing Joe Mixon well in the NFL ... and lashed out at his critics LIVE during the Sugar Bowl.

It all started in the 2nd quarter, when Musburger -- who was announcing the game -- said he hopes Mixon makes the most of his 2nd chance and goes on to have a career in the NFL.

Social media went crazy asking how Brent can support a guy who brutalized a woman ... which led to Brent's very agitated response live in the 3rd quarter.

As for Mixon, he led Oklahoma to a victory over Auburn ... despite chants from the crowd of, "He Hits Women."

We reached out to ESPN for comment and got this statement:

"We have covered this sensitive and important topic aggressively across our entities and will continue to do so. The initial discussion during the game telecast was an attempt to put everything into context and should have also included the impact on the young woman."

"Brent followed up in the second half because he wanted to reiterate and clarify how strongly he felt about the horrific actions captured on the recently released video."

Skip Bayless just left ESPN -- but he still lives on in Bristol -- courtesy of his new employer, FS1, which just put up a handful of billboards trolling the mothership right in the center of ESPN country.

Of course, Skip recently ended his 23 year run on ESPN and is about to launch his new show, "Undisputed," on FS1 ... which debuts next week.

Which is why it's probably no coincidence that a couple of billboards just went up on a main road near ESPN headquarters -- where ESPN staffers will undoubtedly notice them.

By the way, the ads happen to show an image of Skip freeing a bird from its cage.

The sports community is reeling from the sudden, shocking death of ESPN's John Saunders -- and Wednesday night, Ahmad Rashad explained why he was so loved.

"I did know him personally. He was a wonderful, beautiful man."

NFL legend Tony Gonzalez also talked about the broadcaster -- saying, "He was part of my childhood."

"It's a sad day."

Beloved ESPN host John Saunders has passed away unexpectedly at 61 ... this according to ESPN.

The details surrounding Saunders' death are unclear -- but officials tell us he died in New York and there is NO suspicion of foul play.

Saunders joined ESPN in 1986 and went on to co-host "NFL Primetime." He also anchored "SportsCenter."

ESPN tweeted, "We are heartbroken to report longtime ESPN personality John Saunders has died. He was 61."

Adam Schefter tweeted, "Sickened and saddened to hear of loss of our colleague and friend, John Saunders. What a nice man. What a great man."

Saunders is survived by wife, Wanda, and daughters, Aleah and Jenna.

Story developing ...

What's the budget like when Jon Gruden and his wife go shopping on Rodeo Drive? Depends who you ask ...

Check out this funny moment when Gruden's wife, Cindy, told us she doesn't keep score when hittin' the shops in Bev Hills. Clearly, Jon does.

BTW, Gruden is reportedly the highest paid on-air personality at ESPN -- with one insider claiming he rakes in roughly $6 MILLION per year!!!

Team USA soccer goddess Christen Press says she LOVES the way her nude pics turned out in ESPN's Body Issue -- but says her bun-bearing days are over ... even if Playboy calls.

11:32 AM PT -- A rep for ESPN tells TMZ Sports, "As the show progressed, we felt Bomani had made his point and had openly discussed why he was wearing the shirt, and we wanted to keep the focus to the topics of the day."

A cover-up at ESPN ... well, more a like a partial cover-up ... when Bomani Jones was asked to cover up his t-shirt that had the word, "Caucasians" printed across the chest.

The shirt is mocking the Cleveland Indians logo -- which many people find offensive. The shirt also flips the script by replacing the image of Chief Wahoo with a blonde white guy with the dollar symbol poking out from the back of his head.

Sources tell us, "ESPN freaked out" and asked Jones to cover up his shirt. We're told midway through the show, BJ slightly compromised and partially zipped up the front of his hoodie ... hiding part of the image.

2:58 PM PT -- Andrews released a statement thanking the Nashville court personnel and jury for their service. She also said, "I've been honored by all the support from victims around the world. Their outreach has helped me be able to stand up and hold accountable those whose job it is to protect everyone's safety, security and privacy."

2:50 PM PT -- Lawyers, jurors and Andrews herself have been invited to speak to the media. Press conference streaming above.

Erin Andrews just won big in her lawsuit against Marriott ... to the tune of $55 million.

The jury divided the responsibility for paying the award ... pervert Michael Barrett must pay just over $28 mil, and the hotel is on the hook for nearly $27 million.

Erin was asking for $75 million, but this is a clear victory on her part. She may never see a penny from Barrett, but she'll be able to enforce the judgment against the hotel.

The jury deliberated for 6 hours before reaching a unanimous verdict.

After the jury was dismissed, some of the jurors hugged Erin and one asked for her autograph.

Erin sued a Nashville Marriott for the stalking incident in which Barrett, secretly videotaped Erin in her hotel room. She claims the hotel was negligent by giving Barrett a room next to hers, at his request.

Barrett already pled guilty to interstate stalking and served 2 years in prison.

Hope Solo should be suspended from the U.S. Women's soccer team IMMEDIATELY ... in the wake of the allegations stemming from her domestic violence arrest ... so says ESPN's Keith Olbermann.

K.O. went off on Solo -- and the honchos at Team USA women's soccer ... essentially saying it's a DISGRACE that no one in the organization has taken any action against the goalie.

In fact, Olbermann says Team USA coach Jill Ellis and and U.S. soccer president Sunil Gulati are the "worst possible role models."

As we previously reported, Solo allegedly TRASHED police officers during her 2014 domestic violence arrest ... calling one cop a "bitch" and telling him she'd "kick his ass" if she wasn't in handcuffs.

Jay Z might be the GREATEST fantasy football player alive ... so says ESPN's Matthew Berry ... who says the rap mogul might have more inside information than anyone else in the fantasy game.

FYI -- Berry is a fantasy football god ... one of the top FF experts in the world. In fact, he's been invited to Jay's live draft for the past 3 seasons in a row.

So, why does Hova have such an advantage?

"He knows EVERYONE in the league. There's no one he can't text to get info," Berry says.

The clip is great -- Berry also lists the ballers that Jay has invited into his ultra-exclusive league.

The rise of "Stat Boy" continues -- Tony Reali has just been called up to NYC where the host of ESPN's "Around the Horn" will now be featured on "Good Morning America."

Reali -- who started off as the research guy on "Pardon the Interruption" -- has signed a new gig to cover social media on "GMA."

To accommodate his new job, "Around the Horn" will move from from Washington D.C. to NYC ... where it will be taped in a new studio close to the "GMA" building.

During last night's game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Chicago Bulls, ESPN's Jon Barry either dropped a very causal F-bomb or ... well, we really don't have another option.

As Grizzlies center Marc Gasol drained a midrange jumper, Barry remarked, "four f**king jumpers he's knocked down."

It's possible Barry said something else (one site postulated he was trying to say "flat-footed" jumpers), but it's clear he got a little tongue-tied.

Darren Sharper is in BIG trouble in the Big Easy -- A New Orleans judge just issued a warrant for Sharper's arrest for allegedly raping 2 women.

New Orleans Sex Crimes detectives claim there's strong evidence Sharper and an acquaintance raped 2 women on Sept. 23. The rapes allegedly occurred in an apartment.

If convicted, Sharper will get life in prison with hard labor ... with no possibility of parole.

The New Orleans Saints safety faces a mound of legal problems. The L.A. County D.A. has charged him with 2 counts of rape by use of drugs, 4 counts of furnishing of a controlled substance and 1 count of possession of a controlled substance -- all felonies.

And there are rape investigations underway in Arizona, Florida and Nevada.

Darren Sharper is getting screwed by the L.A. District Attorney ... so says the NFL star's lawyer who claims prosecutors are unfairly trying to destroy his image 140-characters at a time.

Sharper's lawyer, Blair Berk, filed documents blasting the D.A. for an attempted "Trial by Twitter Feed."

In her scathing attack on the D.A., Berk unloads on prosecutors -- claiming they've "embarked on an orchestrated press campaign, through it's paid publicists, to smear Mr. Sharper in the media."

Berk says the D.A. has "intentionally [distributed] highly inflammatory and prejudicial, false, misleading and/or un-adjudicated evidence in this case, clearly intended to destroy Mr. Sharper's presumption of innocence and ability to get a fair trial without even a shred of evidence having ever been properly been admitted in a court of law."

Berk says the D.A. blew off Sharper's camp and ignored his request to present his side of the story before blasting out a statement to the media via the D.A.'s twitter account.

Darren Sharper has just been BANNED from all nightclubs and bars PLUS he's not allowed to be alone with any new women ... so ruled a judge who just announced the terms of Sharper's bail in his L.A. rape case.

The former New Orleans Saints superstar -- sporting a grey suit with no tie -- just appeared in L.A. County Superior Court and plead NOT GUILTY to allegations he drugged and raped two women in L.A.

The judge set Sharper's bail to $1 million and set a series of strict terms, which were actually proposed by Sharper's lawyer:

-- Sharper is to remain in L.A. County
-- Sharper was ordered to surrender his passport
-- Sharper must stay away from nightclubs or bars or any other establishments where alcohol is the primary item for sale.
-- Sharper may NOT be alone with any female he did not know prior to October 30, 2013.

During the hearing, prosecutors claimed they have evidence which shows Sharper had gone through 70 pills of Ambien in 65 days.

FYI -- prosecutors allege Sharper would use Ambien to spike the drinks of his victims.

He's due back in court on April 15.

Well, Michael Sam ... here's what you're up against.

Former NFL coach-turned-ESPN analyst Herm Edwards went on the air last night and declared that Sam's sexual orientation is considered "baggage" and coaches will have to decide if they want it in their locker rooms.

"He's a player that has issues," Edwards said referring to Sam's sexual orientation ... "Off the field issues."

He continued, "The thing you talk about in your organization with the G.M. and obivously the owner is, 'Can we handle this guy?' Can we handle the media that's gonna come along with this situation?"