STARTING FIVE

1. Aqib To Leave

Free agent signing day launched yesterday! Golden Tate is now a Lion (so hear him ro-oar!). Jonathan Martin has moved from South Beach to the South Bay. Aqib Talib, last seen being taken out on a pick play in the AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos, is joining the Denver Broncos. So is Dallas Cowboy sack-master DeMarcus Ware. The Alicia Sacramones scooped up the Brady Quinns. Oh, and Darren Sharper just got charged for two more felony counts of rape. Is Darren Sharper the Yellow King?

2. New Frontiers

So ESPN announces that Brent Musburger is officially out as Mr. Saturday Night in college football and instead will be the lead voice on its fledgling SEC Network. Meanwhile, Rick Reilly announces that he’s going to stop typing for a living (because that’s hard) and just talk on camera (because that’s easy). I’m a huge fan of both men and am pleased that I’ve been able to have a beer or three with both of them.

As for Brent, this ONLY happens because ESPN wants to keep Chris Fowler happy –and, trust me, Chris, besides being very talented, has somewhat of a low boiling point. As for Riles, he has more than earned this sunset. Though, it is funny that the SI writer he has always claimed to revere, the legendary Dan Jenkins, is 84 years old and is about to release his “semi-memoirs.”

Hoping that Riles is only on a sabbatical…

3. Is the SI Cover Racist?

So, yes, I love this week’s SI cover, too. But there’s something very convenient about 1) forward on a Midwest team (check) 2) an all-time, top-ten prolific scorer (check) 3) team is having its best season (check) 4) uniform is a shade of blue (check) and 5) dude is a shade of white (Czech?). You’d never have seen this cover for, say, Hersey Hawkins, even though, like Doug McDermott, he scored more career points than Larry Bird and, also like McDermott, he scored almost all of them in the Missouri Valley Conference –the same one in which Bird’s Indiana State plays (yes, I know, Dougie is in the Big East this season).

Anyway, read the story because it’s by Luke Winn and no one is more passionate about covering his sport than Luke is.

4. Sins of the Father

I’ve never met Sarah Kustok, but she seems like a super person. A former DePaul basketball player, she is now a sideline reporter for the YES Network based in New York City. You may know her older brother, Zak, better. He was the starting quarterback at Northwestern.

Yesterday their father, Allan Kustok, was found guilty of murdering his wife of 34 years and their mother, Jeanie. The jury found Allan guilty of shooting her in the head while she slept in their bedroom in September of 2010. It’s been a difficult week for the children, as Sarah took the stand on Monday in her father’s defense while Zak’s wife, her sister-in-law, took the stand as a witness for the state.

You have to admire Sarah’s loyalty. She took the stand for 45 minutes and testified that she still speaks with her father several times per week, but never about the case. Sarah told the court that only after her mother’s death did she learn of her father’s multiple extra-marital affairs and that “I don’t condone it, I’m not okay with that, no, but it doesn’t change my opinion (that he is innocent.”

Of her deceased mother, to whom she used to also speak or text several times daily, Sarah said, “She was always a mother first, but she was also my very best friend.”

Heartbreaking.

5. An Hour With Bill Murray

Bill Murray talks to Charlie Rose. Does not wear a Peter Pan outfit. I’m in.

Reserves

Kobe Bryant is out for the year, but he hasn’t lost his ability to nail a shot. On the demolition the Lakers suffered at the hands of their co-tenants last week, Kobe said, “Now I know how it must feel to be a Clipper fans for all those years.”

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Molly Lambert at Grantland tells us that you shouldn’t have been disappointed in the “True Detective” finale. I don’t know why she published her email to Andy Greenwald, do you?