My favorite part of the sport-by-sport rundown was the best calls ever. We'll get to that, but first my reactions to some of the top-5 rankings of play-by-play men and analysts.

• Dr. Z lists Al DeRogatis, whom I've never heard of, as his favorite NFL analyst ever, and John Madden, who may or may not have a crush on Brett Favre, as No. 2. This is where you just say, "It's Dr. Z. He knows more about football than every other NFL writer combined." And you move on.

• Dan Fouts appears in the top analysts for both the NFL and college football. And ya know what? I totally agree. Teaming Dennis Miller with him the Monday Night Football booth was like inviting Zach Hanson to jam with the E. Street Band.

• Tom Verducci lists Joe Torre as the fifth-best baseball analyst. Must've been back when he was a .500 manager for everyone but the Yanks.

• Marv Albert is the top NBA play-by-play man. Probably the strongest slam-dunk in the package.

• Howie Meeker is the top NHL analyst. Um, if you say so. I hate hockey.

• Dick Vitale is nowhere on the college basketball list. Not even an honorable mention. Wonder if they could've gotten away with this on ESPN.com. (Says here no.) Duke fans must be up in arms.

• Jon Wertheim wants to see Snoop Dogg in the booth for tennis broadcasts. Why not get Coolio and MC Hammer in there while you're at it?

And now for the best calls...

My favorite part of the piece is where each writer reflects on the greatest calls in their respective sports.

• For my money, nothing tops Human Jackhammer Gary Thorne's call of Don Mattingly's final home run as a Yankee, a solo shot that broke a tie in Game 2 of the electrifying 1995 ALDS against the Mariners. I was at the game, so I've heard Thorne's warning of "Hold on to the roof!" only on replay. He couldn't have been more accurate. Yankee Stadium went bananas. You'll recall that the game ended on a 15th-inning home run by Jim Leyritz in a steady downpour. Most fans brought umbrellas, and we needed them, as tons of beers came flying out from the upper deck in celebration. That doesn't exactly make sense to me, but if you catch a replay of the moment in Don Mattingly's Yankeeography on YES, you'll see just how much that place was jumping and how many beers were tossed into the air.

• Somehow — and I really can't believe this — Stewart Mandel did not list the call of Cal's miraculous 1982 kick return to beat Stanford as one of the best in college football history. Announcer Joe Starkey barely had any voice left when he yelled, "Oh my god, the most amazing, sensational, traumatic, heart rending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!" It was a homer call, for sure, but pure, genuine emotion. (Read about it here.) Till the day I die, I'll have no idea how Mandel went with Brent Musburger's call of Ricky Williams' NCAA record-breaking run: "Ricky cuts left ... hello record book!" What would have been even better is Dave Wannstedt's reaction to Ricky's phone call last week. "You're fucking doing what?!"

• Hard to argue with "The Giants win the pennant!" as the top baseball call, but I could listen to Jack Buck exclaiming, after Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series smash, "I don't believe what I just saw!" all day. It was as if he was telling us to enjoy this gift of shared baseball history. (Audio link in right column.)

• Also have a place in my heart for Al McGuire, who, in 1996, announced the Syracuse Orangemen's upset victory over Kansas in the Elite Eight as such: "Wow, what a win by the Orange!" I almost had a heart attack that day, the first time Syracuse had made the Final Four since my enrollment six years earlier. I videotaped the game and watched Jacque Vaughn's potential game-tying 3-pointer miss maybe 100 times.

And my pick for worst call ever...

• Chris Berman on Cal Ripken's home run on the night he broke Lou Gehrig's record. "OH MY GOODNESS, HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!!!" First, no one says, "Oh, my goodness," anymore. Second, that was the loudest call ever. If someone in the truck had to have been treated for a ruptured ear drum, I would not be surprised. Third, Ripken hit 17 home runs in 144 games in 1995. You're looking at about a 12% chance of him hitting one in that game. That is not the same as Cal running back a kickoff on 20 laterals against Stanford or Duke scoring a game-winner with the ball inbounded across the court with 2.1 seconds left. It was a big deal, but let's not lose out minds over it.

Other Sports Links:

• ESPN's Best Coaches of the Last 25 Years — I didn't see the show, so I don't know what reasons were given for ranking Dean Smith No. 1 and Mike Krzyzewski No. 3. Since 1979, when the list is supposed to have been relevant, Smith coached UNC to two national titles and six Final Fours. Duke, under Coach K during that time, won three national titles and went to 10 Final Fours. Basketball, to me, however, seems an easier sport to coach, than, say, football. I'm not saying you can always just roll the ball out, but if you've got a couple of horses, sometimes you can just let them run. For my money, Bill Walsh was the premier coaching mind, if only because he won consistently, even with almost a full turnover of talent, from Wendell Tyler to Roger Craig, from Dwight Clark to Jerry Rice. Montana was a constant, the leading passer for Walsh's final eight seasons, during which the 49ers averaged more than 10.5 wins per season and won three Super Bowl titles. Also of interest: two women's basketball coaches, Pat Summitt (5) and Geno Auriemma (12) rank ahead of baseball's top manager, Joe Torre (13).

• Yanks Offer Free Tickets to Active U.S. Military — I was checking out the Yankees' tickets specials for 2004, and one of them is Military Personnel Dates, which basically offers complimentary Tier reserved seats to anyone presenting an active military ID at the advance ticket windows. Nice gesture, King George, ruler of everything right with the game of baseball.

• Unit Could Be Yank By Saturday — The New York Post reports: "Many believe the Diamondbacks are posturing when they say there is no match with the Yankees — and that by Saturday they will take a package that includes Triple-A catcher Dioner Navarro, second baseman Robinson Cano and perhaps Scott Proctor and Brad Halsey." The Post you remember, also reported that John Kerry selected Dick Gephardt as his running mate. So take that with a grain of salt. I'd be perfectly happy if Randy Johnson stayed where he is, out of harm's way, as far as the Yankees were concerned. Though, during the brawl Saturday at Fenway, I may have said something to the effect of, "Screw these bitches. I'm sick of our guys getting hit every time they don't like something — a score, a lead in the standings, a guy stepping out of the batter's box when the ump allows him to. Let's get Randy Johnson right now."