Now that Don Imus has self-destructed, with a huge assist from CBS chairman Leslie Moonves, who waited to see which way the wind was blowing before firing him, Cowherd could be the most controversial national voice on commercial radio.

In just the past few days Cowherd has significantly pushed the envelope on "The Herd." On Friday, he patched in Jason Whitlock, the iconoclastic black sports columnist from the Kansas City Star, who called Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson "ambulance chasers who pick people's pockets and then run for cover."

Cowherd, who says he gets 100 pieces of hate mail a day, seemed totally in agreement, saying, "We're becoming Canada radio -- it will be softer and tamer and 'nice' radio" in the post-Imus era.

The day before, he totally put down the NBA: "It's been dead ever since Michael Jordan left." Adding ridicule to injury, he said a Sacramento Kings-Phoenix Suns game got a 1.0 rating -- worse than the NHL gets. "You could put those multicolored bars on the screen and get a 1.2," he added.

On another occasion, while sympathizing up to a point with the Rutgers women's basketball players -- the targets of Imus' "nappy-headed hos" remark -- Cowherd offered a blanket putdown of the sport. "It's my No. 1 rule in broadcasting," he said. "Never talk about women's basketball. Nothing good ever comes of it."

Yet he can praise, too. When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last week suspended the Titans' Pacman Jones for a year because of his multi-arrest record, Cowherd was so happy he probably did cartwheels in the studio.

In a column about national sports talkers a few months ago in this space, I awarded Cowherd a B-minus. I was wrong and have done my penance in Canossa.

The more I listen to Cowherd, the more I value his reasoning, candor, intelligence and distaste for political correctness. I don't take to his sleazier double entendres at times, but here's his new grade: A-plus.

You might remember Cowherd, 43, from his younger days when he was sports director of KVBC-TV (Channel 3) in Las Vegas. He later started "The Herd" as a morning drive show in Portland, Ore., and in 2004 was hired by ESPN and syndicated nationally. He's heard here on KBAD-AM (920) weekdays from 7 to 10 a.m.

Cowherd is quick and provocative, but enjoy him at your risk. Based on his track record and the post-Imus climate that now prevails, he may not be on ESPN forever.

Two years ago, after a remark one of his alcohol-producing sponsors didn't like, Cowherd had to fly from ESPN's Bristol, Conn., headquarters to Chicago, where he was called onto the carpet.

Just a fortnight ago he suggested his listeners should hit TheBigLead.com, a blogsite that has featured criticism of him. So many took him up on it that the site was knocked offline for four days. ESPN's ombudsman criticized him publicly for the apparent guerilla tactic, and a senior VP at ESPN instituted a policy against such moves in the future.

Cowherd is a younger, livelier Imus, minus the nastiness. But except for NASCAR, which he just doesn't get, Cowherd is a must-listen on the morning drive. If you call in, tell him to remember where he started.

• WINNERS, LOSERS -- Each year the networks wait with great anticipation for the NFL TV schedule to be released. When the league announced it last week, NBC was rejoicing, ESPN must have winced, CBS kind of shrugged and Fox was unhappy over losing two important Dallas Cowboys games to the NFL Network.

The NFL has its own ax to grind. It has begun to choose games for its in-house network that strategically help it in markets where it wants to exert pressure on cable operators to carry the network.

What I loved most was Michael Wilbon needling his partner, Tony Kornheiser, about ESPN's schedule on ESPN's own "Pardon the Interruption" show. (Kornheiser doubles as a commentator on ESPN's "Monday Night Football.")

"The NFL gave ESPN a bunch of (junior varsity) games featuring a lot of nonplayoff games for Monday night," Wilbon said. "Not a single trip to Chicago or New York or Indy. OK, Mr. Monday Night, what do you think of the schedule?"

Kornheiser gave a half-hearted reply. Silence would have been eloquent.

Bill Taaffe is a former award-winning TV-radio sports columnist for Sports Illustrated. His "Remote Control" column is published Tuesday. He can be reached at taaffe-reviewjournal@earthlink.net.