This young lad is Patrick Patterson, one of the most prized high school senior basketball players in the country. He’s a beastly power forward expected to have an immediate impact on the college scene. Last week, he called a press conference to announce that he would attend the University of Kentucky. Hearts in Florida - his second choice - were broken. It appears some hearts at ESPN were aching as well.

ESPN tried to get a hoop scoop on Patrick Patterson’s college choice. The cable network offered to televise the player’s announcement if he would reveal the choice a half hour before the 3:45 p.m. news conference.

That way, ESPN gets a scoop to put on a crawl at the bottom of the screen, while Patterson gets national exposure.

“Thank you, but no thank you,” the player’s mother, Tywanna Patterson, said she told ESPN. “This is what he wanted to do. More personal and at the high school … .

“This is not about show. It’s about family.”

So that’s how they do it. Bery, berry interesting. So would this ’scoop’ have gone to Andy Katz? Or would they have thrown someone else a bone? Doug Gottleib, perhaps? Joe Lunardi? Kind of makes you wonder if ESPN is going to cut the same deal with, say, Brett Favre when he is set to retire?

Let’s Make a Deal (2nd item) (Lexington Herald-Leader)
Patrick Patterson Press Conference Live Blog (A Sea of Blue)