Do You Believe In... Cartoon Rabbits?

By the way, I'd be remiss if I didn't say anything about this story. Al Michaels gets traded... for a cartoon rabbit? Funky story, to say the least...

In the rich tradition of goofy sports trades, eminent sportscaster Al Michaels has been traded for a rabbit. Not even a real rabbit -- a cartoon rabbit.

The Walt Disney Co., owner of ESPN and ABC, said Thursday it dealt the veteran ABC broadcaster to NBC Universal for rights to highlights from a broad range of NBC Sports coverage, promotions for ESPN's "Monday Night Football" -- and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Michaels, an announcer for ABC's "Monday Night Football" for 20 years, had asked to be released from his Disney contract after disagreeing with network producers about the direction the broadcast would take when it moves to ESPN in September, ESPN officials said in a conference call Wednesday.

"Oswald" is a 1927 cartoon series of 26 episodes created by Walt Disney and distributed by Universal, which owned all rights to the character, Disney said in a statement. The loss of Oswald prompted the Disney empire founder to create Mickey Mouse, the company said.

I wonder how this negotiation went between Disney and NBC Universal. I also wonder if this will create issues between Mickey and Disney when Mickey's contract comes up for renewal. And maybe the WB is considering trading the rights to Bugs Bunny for CBS' CSI franchise.

Seriously, I'm wondering what Disney wants to do with the rabbit. And what other cartoon characters are languishing in corporate vaults out there, waiting to be traded for sportscasters?