MONDAY NEWS AND NOTES

--MC Hammer, Little MC Hammer, and Big Ben Roethlisberger took in No Doubt at Tiger Woods' Las Vegas event. The charmed life of a Super Bowl QB continues. [Deadspin]

--Breaking news: Tony Kornheiser is leaving Monday Night Football, and will be replaced by Chucky Gruden. [The Big Lead]

--The Buccos score 10 in the the 7th inning en route to an 11-4 win over Colorado on Sunday. It was their first 10-run inning since an August 2003 game against the Cardinals and just two off the franchise record of 12, set in 1892 and 1894, which I believe is the last time the Pirates were competitive. [PG]

--Sergei Gonchar is optimistic about playing in Monday night's Game One. I'm optimistic about his optimism. [PG]

--Gorzo is back, and Tyler Yates is headed to the DL. No word yet on a planned sequel to the middle finger bobblehead. [Trib]

--Bob Smizik says the Pirates should say no to signing 16-year-old Miguel Angel Sano, who is reportedly seeking $4 million. [Bob Smizik Blog]

--Sporting News QB rankings: Brees 3rd, Palmer 4th, Roethlisberger 5th. Don't get me started. [The Sporting News]

--And in ESPN's fantasy ratings, Ben ranks 13th among QBs and 81st overall. Enter me in that league. [ESPN.com]

--The fact that this is a contract year will go a long way towards the Steelers' decision on Willie Parker, writes James Walker. [ESPN AFC North Blog]

--Andrew Hawkins, a WR from Johnstown who played college ball at Toledo, will be competing on the new Spike TV reality show 4th and Long, hosted by Michael Irvin. [UTRockets.com]

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That Didn't Last Long

One this year's more intriguing stories, "The Great Byung-Hyun Kim Experiment", didn't last long, as he was bought out by the Pirates for the bargain price of $300,000.

Kim's sparkling spring line including 5 innnings pitched, 5 HR allowed, and a 14.40 ERA. Given one more chance to not impress the team yesterday, Kim said he was ill and got permission to leave McKechnie Field. What a gamer.

Besides Kim, the Pirates made a fleury of moves yesterday:

--Nate McLouth was named as the starting CF, but Nyjer Morgan will stick around as a backup.

--Jaret Wright, aka Turd Ferguson, was released.

--The contracts of IF Luis Rivas and utilityman Doug Mientkiewicz were purchased from AAA Indianapolis, which means pitcher Jonah Bayliss will have the opportunity to watch Pacer games on a regular basis.

--They released reliever Juan Perez.

--Acquired reliever Tyler Yates from the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Todd Redmond.

--Kevin Thompson, Elmer Dessens and Casey Fossum were also sent to Indy.

--Designated infielder Josh Wilson for assignment and reassigned infielder Jorge Velandia to minor-league camp.

--Relievers Sean Burnett, Phil Dumatrait, Franquelis Osoria, Evan Meek, Hector Carrasco and Masumi Kuwata are battling for three spots. Osoria and Dumatrait are believed to be locks.

Just a few days left until Ian Snell and John Smoltz face off in Atlanta on Monday. Can you feel the excitement building? Me neither.

Pirates acquire Yates from Atlanta, buy out Kim [PG]

Spring Training: Pirates set to buy out Kim [PG]