Fang's Bites

Mike Mayock’s 2012 Mock NFL Draft

This was unveiled on NFL.com in the afternoon and then shown on NFL Network this evening. We have it here for your perusal.

This is Mike Mayock’s Mock Draft for 2012. Everyone knows the first two picks. Those are locks. Here’s what else Mike has for you in his prognostications for the Draft.

That’s it.

NBC Sports Group Boasts About 33 Sports Emmy Award Nominations

Overall, the NBC Sports Group has the second highest amount of Sports Emmy Award nominations after ESPN’s 52. Combined with NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Versus (now NBC Sports Network) and NBCSports.com, the Group has a whole slew of nominations.

Some of the more notable nominations include Studio Host (Bob Costas & Dan Patrick), Play-by-Play (Al Michaels & Mike Emrick), Game Analyst (Cris Collinsworth), Game Analyst (Mike Mayock), Sports Reporter (Michele Tafoya & Pierre McGuire), Live Sports Special (NHL Stanley Cup Final on both NBC/Versus), Live Sports Series (Sunday Night Football), Playoff Coverage (NFL Wild Card Saturday) and Weekly Studio Show (Football Night in America).

So as you can see, the Group has been nominated in several major categories. We have the NBC Sports Group press release crowing about its nominations.

NBC SPORTS GROUP GARNERS 33 SPORTS EMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

Total Nominations for NBC Sports Group Up from Last Year
NBC Leads All Broadcast Networks with 23 Nominations
Sunday Night Football & Football Night in America Nominated for Outstanding Live Sports Series & Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly
NBC/VERSUS* Nominated for Outstanding Live Sports Special for 2011 Stanley Cup Final
On-Air Personalities Costas, Michaels, Emrick, Collinsworth, Mayock, Patrick, Tafoya & McGuire Nominated
Bob Costas’ Halftime Essays Nominated for Dick Schaap Writing Award

NEW YORK – March 20, 2012 – The NBC Sports Group received 33 total Sports Emmy Award nominations for 2011, the first year it produced programming as a single sports media company. The 33 nominations received by NBC Sports Group is the second-highest number of nominations for any sports media company or network. NBC led all broadcast networks with 23 nominations. The announcement was made today by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The winners will be announced by the Academy on Monday, April 30.

Highlights of NBC Sports Group’s nominations include:

• Once again, Sunday Night Football on NBC was nominated for Outstanding Live Sports Series.
• Football Night in America was nominated for the second consecutive year for Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly.
• NBC’s NFL Wild Card Saturday received its first nomination for Outstanding Playoff Coverage.
• For the first time as a joint production team, NBC/VERSUS* was rewarded with a nomination for Outstanding Live Sports Special for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
• Golf Channel was nominated for Outstanding Live Event Turnaround for Inside the PGA Tour.
• The newly created show, NFL Turning Point, which debuted on VERSUS* in the fall of 2010, received the nomination for Outstanding Edited Sports Series/Anthology in its premiere season.
• NBCSports.com was again nominated for Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming for its live stream platform, Sunday Night Football Extra.
• Along with co-writer Aaron Cohen, Bob Costas, a 22-time Emmy Award winner, who is again nominated for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Host, was nominated for the Dick Schaap Writing Award for his halftime essays on Sunday Night Football.
• Nominations in individual talent categories:

o Bob Costas (Studio Host)
o Al Michaels (Play-by-Play)
o Mike Emrick (Play-by-Play)
o Cris Collinsworth (Event Analyst)
o Mike Mayock (Event Analyst)
o Dan Patrick (Studio Host)
o Michele Tafoya (Reporter)
o Pierre McGuire (Reporter)

*VERSUS was rebranded NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012.

“I am incredibly proud that the NBC Sports Group has earned an impressive 33 nominations for the work done in our first year together as a company,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group. “Aligning our assets to produce the highest-quality programming across our national broadcast, cable and digital platforms has clearly made a difference.”

All of the national platforms of NBC Sports Group — NBC Sports, VERSUS*, Golf Channel and NBCSports.com — received a nomination. Most notably, NBC, VERSUS* and NBCSports.com received 16 nominations related to NFL coverage, and NBC/VERSUS* received four nominations for its coverage of the NHL. Golf Channel earned two nominations and NBCSports.com was honored with one.

The complete list of NBC Sports Group nominations are as follows:

• Outstanding Live Sports Special: 2011 Stanley Cup Final (NBC/VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Live Sports Series: Sunday Night Football
• Outstanding Live Event Turnaround: 2011 Track & Field World Championships
• Outstanding Live Event Turnaround: 2011 Tour de France (VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Live Event Turnaround: The USA Pro Cycling Challenge (VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Live Event Turnaround: Inside the PGA Tour (Golf Channel)
• Outstanding Playoff Coverage: NFL Wild Card Saturday
• Outstanding Edited Sports Series/Anthology: NFL Turning Point (VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Edited Sports Series/Anthology: World of Adventure Sports
• Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly: Football Night in America
• Outstanding Short Feature: Football Night in America – “The Greatest Gift”
• Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming: Sunday Night Football Extra (NBCSports.com)
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Host: Bob Costas
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Host: Dan Patrick
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play: Al Michaels
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play: Mike Emrick (NBC/VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Event Analyst: Cris Collinsworth
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Event Analyst: Mike Mayock
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Reporter: Michele Tafoya
• Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Reporter: Pierre McGuire (NBC/VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Technical Team Remote: US Open Championship (Golf Channel/NBC)
• Outstanding Camera Work: 2011 Ford Ironman World Championship
• Dick Schaap Writing Award: NBC Sunday Night Football – Bob Costas Essays
• Dick Schaap Writing Award: The Kentucky Derby
• Outstanding Graphic Design: Sunday Night Football
• Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction: Sunday Night Football
• George Wensel Technical Achievement Award: America’s Cup Highlight Show – Live Line (VERSUS*)
• Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement – Episodic:
  • NFL Kickoff
  • 2011 Stanley Cup Final – No Words

A complete list of nominees is available here.

*VERSUS was rebranded NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012.

That’s all for this post. One more Sports Emmy-related post tonight.

33rd Annual Sports Emmy Nominations Announced

We have the nominations, all 170 in 33 different categories, for the 33rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards. They just came out today. There are some surprises like massive hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire nominated in the Sports Reporter category and for some really strange reason, Skippy Bayless of ESPN2′s First Take was nominated for Best Studio Analyst. What analysis does he do besides yelling and having massive manlove for Tim Tebow?

There are some of the usual suspects are nominated, Bob Costas for Best Studio Host, Al Michaels in Play-by-Play, Cris Collinsworth for both Studio and Game Analyst.

Some of the nominations I agree with include Mike Mayock for Best Game Analyst, College GameDay and Football Night in America as Best Studio Shows and all of the movies in the Sports Documentary category. Sports documentaries were strong this year and I have trouble picking one although Catching Hell, the ESPN Films effort on Steve Bartman and the Chicago Cubs might be the weakest of the bunch, but the doc was still very good.

Ok, get ready to scroll, the entire list is below. We do need a page break so the list of nominees will after the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences press releases.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES ANNOUNCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 33^RD ANNUAL SPORTS EMMY® AWARDS

Winners to be Honored During the April 30^th Ceremony At Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jack Whitaker to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

New York, NY – March 20, 2012 – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) today announced the nominees for the 33^rd Annual Sports Emmy® Awards.

More than 170 nominees were announced in 33 categories including outstanding live sports special, live series, sports documentary, studio show, promotional announcements, play-by-play personality and studio analyst.  The Awards will be given out at the prestigious Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center located in the Time Warner Center on April 30^th, 2012 in New York City.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports will go to the Sports Commentator and Essayist, Jack Whitaker.

“This is an outstanding year for the sports community and for The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences,” said Malachy Wienges, Chairman, NATAS. “The entries received in this year’s Sports Emmys resulted in a record 175 nominees, illustrating the quality of these entries.  We are also honoring Jack Whitaker with our Lifetime Achievement Award.  I had the pleasure of working with Jack for eighteen years at CBS, and Jack is a sports icon and a class act.”

In addition to Jack Whitaker, many of the today’s leading sports broadcasters, personalities and television professionals will be in attendance as presenters at the event.

The networks of ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC, ESPN 3D & espn.com) lead the nomination totals with 55, the NBC Sports Group (NBC, Versus, Golf Channel & nbcsports.com) garnered 32, CBS (CBS, Showtime, CBSSports.com) entries received 26 nominations, while Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, NBA.com & truTV) have 22.

A complete list of all nominees is attached below.

33^rd Annual Sports Emmy Award Nominations by Network Group

ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC, ESPN 3D, espn.com) – 55
NBC Sports Group (NBC, Versus, Golf Channel, nbcsports.com) – 32
CBS (CBS, Showtime, CBSSports.com) – 26
Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, NBA.com, truTV) – 22
HBO Sports – 19
FOX Sports Media Group (FOX, SPEED) – 16
NFL Network – 12
MLB Network – 8
DIRECTV – 2
MLB Advanced Media (MLB.com, MLBAM) – 2
NFL.com – 2
NCAA.com – 1
PGA.com – 1

33^rd Annual Sports Emmy Award Nominations by Network

ESPN – 36
NBC – 22
HBO Sports – 19
CBS – 15
FOX – 15
TNT – 15
ESPN2 – 14
NFL NETWORK – 12
SHOWTIME – 10
MLB NETWORK – 8
VERSUS – 7  
TBS – 3
ABC – 2   
DIRECTV – 2
ESPN 3D – 2
GOLF CHANNEL – 2
NBA TV – 2
NFL.COM – 2
CBSSPORTS.COM – 1
ESPN.COM – 1
MLB.COM – 1
MLBAM – 1
NBA.COM – 1
NBCSPORTS.COM – 1
NCAA.COM – 1
PGA.COM – 1
SPEED – 1
truTV – 1

BREAKDOWN OF MULTIPLE PROGRAM/SERIES NOMINATIONS

Program/Nominations/Network

24/7: 8 -  HBO
E: 60: 7 – ESPN2
A Game of Honor: 5 – Showtime/CBSSports.com
MLB on FOX: 5 – FOX
NASCAR on FOX: 5 – FOX
NBA on TNT: 4 – TNT
NBC Sunday Night Football: 4 – NBC
FIFA Women’s World Cup: 3 – ESPN/ESPN2
Outside the Lines: 3 – ESPN
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: 3 – HBO
SportsCenter: 3 – ESPN
The Army/Navy Game: 3 – CBS
The Franchise: 3 – Showtime
Winter X Games 15: 3 – ESPN/ESPN3D
2011 Open Championship: 2 – ESPN
2011 Stanley Cup Final: 2 – NBC/Versus
ESPN Monday Night Football: 2 – ESPN
Football Night in America: 2 – NBC
Grand Slam Tennis on ESPN: 2 – ESPN2
Inside the NBA on TNT: 2 – TNT
Joplin: City of Hope: 2 – ESPN2
McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice: 2 – HBO
MLB Tonight: 2 – MLB Network
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: 2 – CBS/TBS/TNT/truTV
NFL Films Presents: 2 – NFL Network
NFL GameDay Morning: 2 – NFL Network
NFL on FOX: 2 – FOX
Sports Science: 2 – ESPN/ESPN.com
Sunday NFL Countdown: 2 – ESPN
Unguarded: 2 – ESPN

And after the page break, all of the nominees for the 33rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards which will be handed out April 30 in New York City.

(continue reading…)

Posting As Many Monday Links As I Can

Been busy again today, but I’ll try to post as many links here as possible. Don’t know if I can do a complete set, but I’ll see what I can do.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand hears from ESPN’s Brent Musburger who calls tonight’s BCS National Championship Game.

Tom Weir of USA Today says Tim Tebow mentions broke a Twitter record last night.

Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal says the winner of tonight’s BCS National Championship Game stands to cash in through licensing of its gear.

Eric Fisher and John Ourand of SBJ report that MLB has to make a decision very soon on an extra round of Wild Card playoff games and the TV network that would air them.

Sports Business Daily recaps the mixed reviews for Charles Barkley’s hosting of NBC’s Saturday Night Live this past weekend.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a lawsuit brought forth by basketball legends Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson over their likenesses used in video games now has the TV networks getting involved.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says LG Smartphone users will gain access to a new ESPN ScoreCenter app that will include exclusive HD video.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News has a quick blurb on ESPN gaining rights for the NYC Marathon.

At Adweek, Anthony Crupi looks at the NFL’s final regular season ratings for 2011.

Glen Davis of SportsGrid cannot believe the religious connotations behind last night’s ratings for Pittsburgh-Denver.

Dom Consentino of Deadspin says the NBC reporter arrested last month  on DUI charges after a party thrown by alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, tried to talk his way out of the arrest.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after Fox’s Charles Davis and NBC’s Mike Mayock for talking too much.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Saturday’s NFL Divisional playoff action will be split among two local radio stations.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says MSG Network will be throwing a local viewing party to drum up support in its dispute with Time Warner Cable.

Ken McMillan with the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about the NYC Marathon running to ESPN from NBC.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will begin airing a new live show modeled after NBC Sports Talk.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports TV.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that the Texans had their best local ratings since their inaugural game back in 2002.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says on Saturday, the Bengals did not do as well locally as its regular season games.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network will re-air two Giants-Packers games.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes that CBS stepped up for last night’s Pittsburgh-Denver game.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail continues to go after CBC’s Don Cherry.

Raju Mudhar from the Toronto Star says Toronto is not the only hockey hotbed around.

I’ll try to add more stuff later.

UPDATE, 5:50 p.m.: I’ll add some more links now.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that the top selling sports book of last year was not the ESPN book, but Tim Tebow’s autobiography.

Dave Zoren of the Delaware County Times notes that the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game did well on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Scott Sloan from the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader says a Kentucky-based high school sports TV and online provider has filed for bankruptcy.

At the Austin American-Statesman, Kirk Bohls says despite a lack of carriage agreements and viewers, ESPN remains committed to the Longhorn Network.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that legendary Dodgers voice Vin Scully finally gets his own bobblehead this season.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says theScore has signed a deal to pick up a whole host of college sports.

Sports Media Watch tells us that the Sugar Bowl had its worst ratings in 18 years.

Sports Media Watch says the Orange Bowl had its worst ratings in the BCS era.

The Waiting for Next Year blog notes that ESPN’s Erin Andrews will replace Scott Van Pelt as host of the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. That’s a huge upgrade.

Awful Announcing has the Broncos radio call of last night’s overtime win over the Steelers.

Joe Favorito wonders if MMA fighter Gina Carano is about to crossover to become a mainstream star.

The Sports Business Digest notes that the Lingerie Bowl will be played in Las Vegas.

NBC will partner with Panasonic to air the London Olympics in 3-D which only 145 people across the country can watch.

And that will do it for the links today.

Some Quick Sunday Links

I’m going to provide a few links for you since they’ve been lacking here over the last few days.

We begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deistch who talked with ESPN’s Brent Musburger who will call Monday’s BCS National Championship Game.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks with ESPN’s Chris Fowler about the BCS National Championship Game.

Lang Whitaker from GQ talks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews in advance of Monday’s BCS National Championship.

Brian Lowry at Variety writes that as sports rights fees become more expensive, expect cable to take over for network TV and pass on the cost to consumers.

Mike Ozanian at Forbes reports that Fox Sports is giving individual teams equity stakes in its regional sports networks to prevent them from taking offers from competitors.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says this season’s NFL’s TV ratings were off slightly from last year.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy notes that Pittsburgh Steelers QB Roethlisburger is blaming ESPN for overhyping Denver QB Tim Tebow.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today says the Orange Bowl on ESPN drew its lowest BCS TV ratings ever.

CJ Fogler of SportsGrid has videos of TNT paying tribute to the late Jim Huber this week.

Tom Lorenzo from SportsGrid has the video from last night’s Saturday Night Live’s Charles Barkley Post Game Translation App. Sharp-eyed viewers may notice Hazel Mae making an appearance.

Charles Apple of The American Copy Editors Society feels ESPN should be more careful in its on-screen graphics.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that CBS/Turner has signed Northwestern Mutual to be the exclusive insurance sponsor of the NCAA Tournament.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin did some investigating and found that salsa music played during last week’s Sunday Night Football game came directly from the NBC truck.

Dave Kindred at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center laments the death of the newspaper sports column.

Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times provides his 2012 sports media predictions in the National Sports Journalism Center.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says LSU coach Les Miles stands to get millions if he wins the BCS National Championship.

Ken Belson of the New York Times says ESPN has obtained the rights to the New York City Marathon and pledges to show it live across the country, something NBC’s Universal Sports could not do.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post feels the New York Jets coaching staff is just plain insensitive.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette informs readers what MSG Network is airing today as its dispute with Time Warner Cable continues.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union says what a lot of people tweeted yesterday, that Mike Mayock talked too much during yesterday’s Cincinnati-Houston game.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says YES will air a handful of Fordham basketball games.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News says the Bills will have a new flagship radio station for next season.

T.J. Pignataro of the News says the Sabres TV ratings have suffered since Time Warner Cable removed MSG Buffalo from its lineup.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner warns you that your cable bill will go up this year and sports will be to blame.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that Comcast’s distribution deal with Disney, ESPN in particular, shows that the company is thinking about the long-term.

Mike McGovern of the Reading (PA) Eagle pays tribute to the late Jim Huber.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says Nationals TV voice Bob Carpenter will return in 2012.

The Huntington (WV) Dispatch feels ESPN needs a geography and history lesson about West Virginia.

David Knox from the Birmingham (AL) News talks with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit about the BCS National Championship Game.

Dave Walker at the New Orleans Times-Picayune profiles LSU radio voice Jim Hawthorne.

Nakia Hogan of the Times-Picayune talks with an ESPN executive who denies the network has undue influence over college sports.

Berry Tramel of the Daily Oklahoman delves into Oklahoma University’s deal with Fox Sports to air sports on two of its regional sports networks.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Packers increased their TV ratings this season.

Bob says Milwaukee did not necessarily rate well for Monday Night Football.

The Chicago Tribune picks up a Variety story that Fox Sports wants to develop original programming that would air after live events.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says the Disney family is interested in buying the Dodgers.

Joshua Myers of the Seattle Times says the MLS’ Sounders have found an analyst for its games, but is still missing a play-by-play man.

Lehia Apana from the Maui (HI) News says Golf Channel’s coverage of this year’s Tournament of Champions has a few new wrinkles.

Sports Media Watch says despite strong numbers, last night’s Detroit-New Orleans drew the NFL’s lowest ratings for a Wild Card Playoff in three years.

SMW says Cincinnati-Houston suffered a precipitous ratings drop from last year’s Saints-Seahawks game.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing reviews Gus Johnson’s first year as top college football man for Fox.

In the Sports Media Watchdog, Mike Silva speculates on who should replace WFAN’s Mike Francesa if he leaves in 2014.

And that will conclude the links for today.

The 5th Annual Fang’s Bites NFL TV Awards

Time to hand out the 5th edition of the Fang’s Bites NFL TV Awards. On Christmas Day, I provided the list of nominees for this year’s edition. Now, with the regular season over, let’s hand out the hardware for the 2011-12 campaign.

Best Play-by-Play: The Nominees are Marv Albert, CBS; Ian Eagle, CBS; Al Michaels, NBC; Brad Nessler, NFL Network; Sam Rosen, Fox; and Mike Tirico, ESPN. The winner is Marv Albert, CBS. After leaving Westwood One Radio in 2010, Marv returned to the NFL almost a year later to the day and made it a triumphant one. Teamed with Rich Gannon, Marv joined an already deep bench at CBS Sports and made its corps even better. Usually assigned to the 4th best game of the day, Marv can make it sound exciting. Already one of the best ever broadcasters in basketball, Marv has shown that he still has it in football as well. Here’s hoping Marv gets some better games next season.

Best Game Analyst: The Nominees are Brian Billick, Fox; Cris Collinsworth, NBC; Dan Fouts, CBS; Mike Mayock, NFL Network; and Phil Simms, CBS. And the winner is Mike Mayock, NFL Network. He won Best Game Analyst in the 2010 College Football TV Awards and now, becomes the first person to win the award in the same category for two different awards. Mayock should have been appointed as the Thursday Night Football analyst after Cris Collinsworth left, but NFL Network went in a bad direction for the previous two seasons. Mike spots trends, is able to first guess rather than second guess and makes what had been a total train wreck in 2009 & 2010, a totally enjoyable listen.

Best Sunday Morning Pre-Game Show: The Nominees are Fox NFL Sunday, Fox; NFL GameDay Morning, NFL Network; and The NFL Today, CBS. This year’s winner is The NFL Today on CBS. Hosted by the great James Brown, the NFL Today may be ratings-challenged in comparison to Fox NFL Sunday, but it’s not due to the quality of the show. Yes, there are silly gimmicks like promotional crossovers for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or the horrible Halloween abortion fronted by Kris Jenkins, but when the show goes into football with Bill Cowher or breaking down quarterback play with Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason, or having Charley Casserley discuss league issues, it’s very good. And it’s why I’ll name The NFL Today as Best Sunday Morning Pre-Game Show.

Best Studio Show, Daily or Weekly: Our nominees in this category are Inside the NFL, Showtime; NFL Live, ESPN; NFL Matchup, ESPN; NFL Total Access, NFL Network; and Playbook, NFL Network. The deserving winner is NFL Matchup, ESPN. This show was in danger of falling by the wayside after the 2009 season, but after getting a sponsor and ownership of the show squared away, the show returned to ESPN’s Sunday morning lineup and fans were the better for it. With Sal Paolantonio hosting and Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge, the show breaks down plays and film like no other.

Best Highlights: The Nominees are NFL GameDay Final, NFL Network; NFL Primetime, ESPN; and SportsCenter 7:30 p.m. Sunday, ESPN. And our winner here is NFL GameDay Final on NFL Network. While the NFL TV partners have to buy access to highlights for a price, NFL Network doesn’t have that problem. It can take what it wants and run clips for however long it desires. NFL GameDay Final’s highlights are a reflection of that. The show has suffered since Rich Eisen left, but the highlights are still the same and game segments can run as long as 4 minutes. If you haven’t watched a game, the best way to find what happened is to watch NFL GameDay Final. One of the best wrap up shows around.

Best Studio Host: The nominees are James Brown, CBS/Showtime; Curt Menefee, Fox; Dan Patrick, NBC; and Andrew Siciliano, DirecTV. Our winner is Dan Patrick, NBC. Dan has been the studio host of NBC’s Football Night in America since 2008. He’s gone from sharing the highlights with his former ESPN co-hort Keith Olbermann to now doing them all himself and he does them very smoothly. In addition, he had to break in two analysts who had little to no experience in TV and has helped guide Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison into two very strongly opinionated personalities. Dan will have a role on NBC’s Olympic coverage this year and based on his performance on Football Night in America over the last few years, he should do very well.

Best Studio Analyst: The nominees are Bill Cowher, CBS; Tony Dungy, NBC; Marshall Faulk, NFL Network; Howie Long, Fox; Steve Mariucci, NFL Network; and Michael Strahan, Fox. And completing the NBC perfecta, we go with Tony Dungy, NBC. Tony doesn’t yell, he doesn’t pound the table and he doesn’t dress outlandishly. All Tony does is give you opinions, provide excellent breakdowns and can show a little humor too. He’s grown to be one of the better studio analysts on TV without having to resort to gimmicks. His weekly appearances on the Dan Patrick Show are also quite enjoyable. Tony Dungy deserves the award this year.

Most Valuable Network: Our nominees for this category are Fox, NBC, and NFL Network. And the winner of the MVN for the 2011-12 season is NFL Network. For greatly improving its Thursday Night Football presentation both in the booth and in its production, plus seeing its best ratings ever for the package, we give the award to NFL Network. The higher ratings had everything to do with the wider distribution for the network, however, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable still remain holdouts. But without the two providers, NFL Network saw its best numbers ever for Thursday Night Football. NFL Network is the surprise winner this year.

Best NFL Insider: The nominees are John Clayton, ESPN; Mike Florio, NBC, Jay Glazer, Fox, Jason La Canfora, NFL Network; and Adam Schefter, ESPN. I’ll go with Adam Schefter of ESPN. While all of the insiders can each claim victories of breaking stories over one another, the one who seems to have been consistent all season has been Adam Schefter. I wanted to go with John Clayton and his ponytail, but I’ll give this to Schefter.

Best Announcing Team: The nominees are Marv Albert/Rich Gannon, CBS; Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts, CBS; Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth, NBC; Jim Nantz/Phil Simms, CBS; Brad Nessler/Mike Mayock, NFL Network; and Sam Rosen/Brian Billick, Fox. And the winner of this award are “The Bird” and “The Beard”, Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts of CBS. They’ve worked together for two seasons and sound as if they’ve been doing it for six. They have great chemistry, good humor and know their roles. They rarely step on each other and make each game quite enjoyable. Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts of CBS are your winners of Best Announcing Team for this season.

Most Improved Presentation: Just two nominees for this category and they are Inside the NFL, Showtime and Thursday Night Football, NFL Network. The winner is Thursday Night Football, NFL Network. This has gone from being one of the worst produced and worst called packages to one of the best. After NFL Network jettisoned Matt Millen and Joe Theismann, Mike Mayock was brought in to replace them. And while Bob Papa was unfairly shown the door, Brad Nessler came in and clicked immediately with Mayock. And the problems that had plagued TNF in the past, late replays, garbled audio and all around bad production have gone as well. Replays are sharp, the picture seems much better than in the past and overall, the games have been quite enjoyable to watch. Thursday Night Football wins the award this season.

Best Game Coverage: The nominees are Monday Night Football, ESPN; NFL on Fox, Fox; Sunday Night Football, NBC; and Thursday Night Football, NFL Network. The winner is the NFL on Fox. Fox Sports’ announcers are a weak bunch, but their production people are among the best in sports. The HD quality is good, the replays are done well, I love when X-Mo is used to slow down a play to the point where I can see single blades of grass fly off the field. Fox does a great job on the NFL and the viewer is the beneficiary.

Rookie of the Year: The nominees are Jaime Maggio, Fox; Chad Pennington, Fox; and NFL Turning Point, Versus/NBC Sports Network. Our winner is Chad Pennington. I’ve been quite impressed with his work with Sam Rosen. Chad majored in Communications at Marshall knowing that he wanted to be in TV after his football career. Deciding to sit this season out to heal injuries, Pennington threw himself into TV with the same dedication of his playing days. He’s come off as well-spoken, well-informed and is becoming a very good analyst.

Best Debut: Only one nominee and I didn’t put this out originally. This goes to NFL Turning Point on Versus/NBC Sports Network. This show uses NFL Films footage plus takes advantage of wiring players for sound. What you have is a high quality show with lots of great football footage. This is not just a highlights show, this brings you inside the game, shows you the plays that turned a game around and explains how it happened. Very well produced by NFL Films.

Best Return to the NFL: Two nominees: Marv Albert, CBS and Melissa Stark, NFL Network. Nice to have both Marv and Melissa back, but Melissa’s return has been a part-time one. Marv’s is full-time so we’ll give this to Marv Albert of CBS Sports.

Best Move: The nominees are the Debut of NFL Turning Point, Versus; NFL Signing Long-Term TV Contracts with CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC; and Replacing Matt Millen and Joe Theismann with Mike Mayock, NFL Network. It has to be the NFL signing long-term TV contracts with all of its partners. The NFL gets about $5 billion per year starting in 2014. All of the networks keep their rights, divide three Super Bowls among CBS, Fox and NBC and ESPN gets into the postseason fray. Plus you’ll be able watch NFL games on your tablet soon. What’s better than that?

From the bests, we now move to the worsts.

Worst Play-by-Play: Our nominees are Thom Brennaman, Fox; Joe Buck, Fox; Bill Macatee, CBS; Ron Pitts, Fox; and Dick Stockton, Fox. This year’s award goes to Dick Stockton of Fox Sports. I hate giving this award to Dick as he’s had a great career calling MLB, NBA, NCAA, NFL and the Olympics, but the slippage over the last three years is too big to ignore. He’s miscalled plays, mixed up players and even forgot what city he’s in. Yes, it happens to everyone, but this is consistently occurring every week. He takes this award by a narrow margin over Thom Brennaman.

Worst Game Analyst: The nominees are Steve Beuerlein, CBS; Randy Cross, CBS; and Jim Mora, Jr., formerly of Fox. We go with Randy Cross. He’s only called a handful of games, but here’s a guy who was once the number two analyst at CBS and NBC, but he’s been exiled to the “F” or “G” games with Don Criqui. I honestly don’t know what he’s seeing on the field anymore.

Worst Studio Host: Your nominees are Chris Berman, ESPN and Stuart Scott, ESPN. And your runaway winner this season is Chris Berman. He used to be a must-see when ESPN started airing the NFL as host of Sunday NFL Countdown and NFL Primetime, but he’s now a mere caricature of himself. The “whoop!” or “He! Could! Go! All! The! Way!” or “Nobody circles the wagons … Like! The Buffalo Bills!” act is very tired. It’s time to bring Trey Wingo or Suzy Kolber or even Stuart Scott to the table to replace him. Chris should be put to pasture now.

Worst Studio Analyst: The nominees are Tedy Bruschi, ESPN; Cris Carter, ESPN; Michael Irvin, NFL Network; Eric Mangini, ESPN; and Shannon Sharpe, CBS. This is my Cleveland Browns bias showing but this goes to Eric Manmoron Mangini of ESPN. There are those who love the way Mangini breaks down plays on NFL Live and other ESPN studio shows, but I don’t see it. Perhaps I can separate my hatred for Mangini over his coaching of the Browns in 20 years, but right now, I can’t see him doing this for long.

Worst Studio Show: Your nominees are Monday Night Countdown, ESPN; NFL 32, ESPN; Sunday NFL Countdown, ESPN. This is a clean ESPN sweep in this category and we go with NFL 32. This is supposed to be a comprehensive look at all 32 NFL teams with highlights, tweets and snark thrown in. This is an abortion. I hope ESPN goes back to the drawing board and revamps this show. It needs it. The debut of the show looked as if it was thrown together at the last minute. The show hasn’t improved much since.

Worst Move: Original nominees were Bob Costas’ Halftime Commentary on Sunday Night Football, NBC; Removing Rich Eisen from NFL Total Access; and Putting Michael Irvin on Thursday Night Football Pregame, NFL Network. I add one more nominee, ESPN’s rotation of sideline reporters for Monday Night Football. And that is your winner. There was no consistency on the sideline for MNF. This year, it was either Suzy Kolber, Sal Paolantonio, Ed Werder, Rachel Nichols and then the strange cameo of John Sutcliffe (more on that later). While ESPN has de-emphasized the sideline reporter on the NFL coverage the last couple of seasons, it still needs a reporter in case of an injury or a development. It’s best if you have the same person every week. Suzy is good or if not, Sal Pal or even Rachel Nichols. Anyone. Just don’t rotate.

Worst Debut: John Sutcliffe, ESPN. A popular personality on ESPN Deportes and Monday Night Football sideline reporter on that network since 2006, the Mothership brought him over to make his English language debut for the Week 15 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers. The game was between two 10-3 teams and it so happened it was also the night that the lights went out at Candlestick Park. While that event could not be foreseen, it was obvious that being on the big stage for ESPN overwhelmed Sutcliffe. He was nervous, he came off unprepared and ESPN stopped using him after a shaky report just after halftime. ESPN PR people have told me that John is one of the most professional people at ESPN Deportes and I don’t doubt that. But that was the wrong game to make his debut.

And that concludes this year’s NFL TV Awards.

Providing The Friday Megalinks

Let’s get to the megalinks today. Lots to get to including some interesting news that is breaking today.

First, the Weekend Viewing Picks are back after a week’s absence. Check out what sports and entertainment viewing recommendations I’ve made.

Now to the links.

National

Developing today is a story out of Boston that CBC and NBC NHL analyst Mike Milbury allegedly assaulted a 12 year old boy during a youth hockey game last week. WCVB in Boston has broken the story and we’ll what develops. Milbury has been charged by police, but still worked on Versus this week.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says expect more reality TV like HBO’s 24/7 in sports.

Jen Floyd Engel from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes for Fox Sports that Craig James’ US Senate run should be music to college football fans who have had to endure his analysis on ESPN.

In a related note, Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that James is taking leave from ESPN due to his run.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says the NFL, the TV networks and the fans are all winners in the latest 9 year rights deal.

Richard says as he becomes more popular, it’s only natural to see more media coverage of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Pac-12 Networks about to take operation next year, has secured headquarters in San Francisco.

John Eggerton of B&C says the American Cable Association is sounding the alarm bell on the new NFL TV deals.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that AT&T U-Verse customers in Connecticut will see MSG Network and its companion networks in HD starting in January just after Verizon Fios picked them up as well.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at some of the negatives of the new NFL TV deals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us to prepare for DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket in cars. Yes, cars.

Leave it to Deadspin. Tommy Craggs has video of a young Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports appearing in an edition of HBO’s Real Sex from the 1990′s. Hilarious.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing breaks down the new NFL TV deals.

In the wee hours of this morning, I wrote some thoughts on the NFL TV deals and HBO’s 24/7 season premiere among other things.

Sports Media Watch says new NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal will not join Turner Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament in March.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore wonders what’s up with a new program listing for NHL Network.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe feels five NBA games on Christmas Day are too many.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times mulls over the numbers in the new NFL TV deals.

Richard reviews the upcoming Army-Navy documentary produced by CBS Sports/Showtime.

George Vescey has written his last “Sports of the Times” column for the New York Times.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New Yorkers will not see New England-Denver on CBS this Sunday.

Neil notes that TNT’s Charles Barkley now endorses Weight Watchers.

Neil looks at Jeff Van Gundy’s frequent flyer mileage as he works two NBA games on Christmas Day.

New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick says NFL TV analysts give Tim Tebow way too much credit.

Justin Terranova of the Post has ESPN/ABC announcer Sean McDonough complaining about too many bowl games.

Terranova has five questions for NFL Today analyst Shannon Sharpe.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at one local radio station’s move to dump the New York Mets in favor of the Boston Red Sox.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette likes the new edition of HBO’s 24/7 Flyers/Rangers.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says there’s nothing like the NFL as a ratings draw.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has the latest sports media news from the Baltimore-Washington, DC area.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that John Riggins has ended his daily sports talk show in favor of a new outdoors career.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the Nationals could see a hefty increase in their rights fee from MASN.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks with NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock who will call Saturday’s Dallas-Tampa Bay game with Brad Nessler.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some quotes from Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmy Johnson.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from TNT’s Charles Barkley on the two Los Angeles NBA teams.

Mel has TNT’s NBA analysts discussing the Oklahoma City Thunder’s chances this season.

Mel notes that ESPN/ABC’s Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy will be quite busy on Christmas Day.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer looks into the sudden quitting of one local sports talk show host this week.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Fox Sports Detroit NBA analyst Greg Kelser about the Pistons.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that CBS’ Dan Dierdorf gets to call a rare “home” game on Sunday.

West

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Chargers have avoided a blackout for Sunday night’s game against the Ravens.

John Maffei of the North County Times says Louisiana Tech is happy to finally to have some exposure on the ESPN mothership after being relegated to ESPNU 9 times this season.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that the Los Angeles Clippers are no longer a media laughingstock.

Jim looks into the new NFL TV deals.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with former DC NFL team QB Mark Rypien and his daughter Angela, who’s now one in the Lingerie Football League.

Tom talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley.

Tom has a few more hits that didn’t make his Barkley column.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews the season premiere of HBO’s 24/7.

And that’s going to do it.

Thursday Night Football Premieres This …. Thursday!

Yes, Thursday Night Football’s sixth season kicks off on NFL Network this week with another 8 game schedule. It begins with a tasty AFC West matchup between old American Football League rivals Oakland and San Diego at the Stadium Formerly Known as Jack Murphy. In addition, it marks the debut of the new Thursday Night Football announcing team of Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock. Alex Flanagan returns to roam the sidelines.

Rich Eisen is back as the host of Thursday Night Kickoff pregame, Pre-Kick, halftime and postgame shows from the game sites. He’ll be joined by an expanded cast of analysts as well as a studio presence from Los Angeles hosted by Kara Henderson.

We have the particulars of the game that will be aired this Thursday on NFL Network.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011 — 8:00 PM ET
OAKLAND RAIDERS AT SAN DIEGO CHARGERS ON NFL NETWORK

Mike Mayock and Brad Nessler Make Thursday Night Football Debut
Deion Sanders Sit Down Interview with San Diego Quarterback Philip Rivers on Thursday Night Football Kickoff Pregame Show at 6:00 PM ET
Michael Irvin joins Thursday Night Football Pregame, Halftime and Postgame On-Location Team

MIKE MAYOCK’S KEY MATCHUP:

“What intrigues me the most is the matchup between the two quarterbacks.

I was at the Denver-Oakland game on Sunday. As the game went on, Carson Palmer got more comfortable. You could see him drive the football. I am intrigued to watch him develop. The Raiders have staked an awful lot of their future on Carson Palmer being a very good quarterback. As the game went on, I liked what I saw.

As far as San Diego, I have watched a lot of tape on Philip Rivers and their offense. I felt that they have been a half-beat off most of the year [before watching Green Bay tape]. The turnovers have been the killer for San Diego so far this year.

As we roll into this huge AFC West matchup on Thursday Night Football, it’s the quarterbacks in this division that ultimately will determine the winner. We have three teams at 4-4.  I just can’t wait to watch Carson Palmer to see if he can get back to where he was 4-5 years ago and Philip Rivers to see if he can get back to where he was last year.”

–   Thursday Night Football game analyst MIKE MAYOCK

PREGAME SHOW 1-ON-1 INTERVIEW:

• DEION SANDERS sits down for an interview with San Diego quarterback PHILIP RIVERS during Thursday Night Football Kickoff at 6:00 PM ET.

TEAMS:	RAIDERS (4-4)	CHARGERS (4-4)
ANNOUNCERS	Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Mike Mayock (game analyst); Alex Flanagan (sideline)
PREGAME (6:00 PM ET)	Thursday Night Kickoff In San Diego: Rich Eisen, Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, Stacey Dales, Alex Flanagan In Los Angeles: Kara Henderson, Kurt Warner, Sterling Sharpe, Jay Glazer
PRE-KICK (8:00 PM ET)	Pre-Kick Show Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan, Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Kurt Warner, Sterling Sharpe, Jay Glazer, Stacey Dales
HALFTIME	Halftime Show Rich Eisen, Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, Stacey Dales, Alex Flanagan
POSTGAME	Postgame Show Rich Eisen, Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, Stacey Dales, Alex Flanagan NFL Total Access Postgame Show In-studio: Andrew Siciliano, Kara Henderson, Jamie Dukes, Willie McGinest, Kurt Warner Game Site: Stacey Dales, Steve Wyche
WHERE TO WATCH	DirecTV – Channel 212 (SD/HD), DISH Network – 154 (SD/HD) Verizon FIOS – Channel 88 (SD) 588 (HD), AT&T U-Verse – Channel 630 (SD) 1630 (HD)Check your local cable listingsNFL.com LIVE – live “look-ins” at select moments of game NFL Mobile Live on Verizon Wireless
LOCAL OTA SIMULCAST*	CBS Channel 5 (KPIX)	FOX Channel 5 (KSWB)

Thursday Night Football

NFL Network begins its sixth year airing the Thursday Night Football primetime package. Presenting eight games in the key stretch of the 2011 season as teams fight for playoff berths and seeding.

In the 2011 debut of Thursday Night Football NFL Network travels to San Diego, CA where the Oakland Raiders (4-4) travel south to take on the division rivals San Diego Chargers (4-4). Quarterbacks CARSON PALMER of the Raiders and PHILIP RIVERS of the Chargers meet for the fourth time as starting quarterbacks and have brought out the best in each other, combining for more than 1,900 yards, 16 touchdown passes and only four interceptions in the three previous matchups (Palmer with Cincinnati).

This season marks the debut of new Thursday Night Football broadcast booth duo, BRAD NESSLER and MIKE MAYOCK. Veteran play-by-play voice, Nessler will serve as the play-by-play announcer and Mayock, in his seventh year with NFL Network, will serve as the game analyst and Alex Flanagan returns for her second season as the sideline reporter.

RICH EISEN hosts NFL Network’s Thursday Night Kickoff, Pre-kick Show, Halftime Show and the Postgame Show from the stadium. Eisen, a two-time Sports Emmy nominee in the Studio Host category, is joined by fellow Sports Emmy nominee STEVE MARIUCCI, a former NFL head coach with the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions who also served as Brett Favre’s quarterback coach in Green Bay; 2011 NFL Hall of Fame inductee MARSHALL FAULK, who won a Super Bowl XXXIV ring with the Rams, earned 2000 NFL MVP honors and three Offensive Player of the Year awards (1999-2001); 2011 NFL Hall of Fame inductee DEION SANDERS, a two-time Super Bowl winner who was 1994 Defensive Player of the Year and an eight-time Pro Bowler who holds the NFL record with 19 career return touchdowns; and making his Thursday Night Football debut, Hall of Famer and third-year NFL Network analyst MICHAEL IRVIN.

Additional coverage will be provided from NFL Network studios in Los Angeles with host KARA HENDERSON and analysts KURT WARNER, two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP quarterback; STERLING SHARPE, five-time Pro Bowl selection; and JAY GLAZER, NFL insider and senior writer for FOXSports.com.

NFL.com LIVE/Thursday Night Football at 8:00 PM ET features live “look-ins” of Raiders-Chargers, game highlights and instant analysis from NFL Network talent. From the NFL Network studios in Los Angeles, PAUL BURMEISTER, KURT WARNER, JAMIE DUKES, and BUCKY BROOKS provide expert analysis, commentary and fantasy information. STACEY DALES and STEVE WYCHE provide live reports from the stadium, while Brooks contributes ‘Instant Playbook’ analysis of key plays and drives from the exclusive perspective of the coaching tape immediately after the most important moments.

Following the game, hosts Henderson and ANDREW SICILIANO are joined by analysts WILLIE MCGINEST, Warner and Dukes on a postgame edition of NFL Total Access.

That will do it.

A Few Sunday Links

Let’s provide some linkage on this NFL Sunday.

Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com writes that the SEC plans to reopen its humungous media rights contract with ESPN soon after its admission of Missouri into the conference is made official.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has video of ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit losing his concentration as an earthquake hit Oklahoma last night.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that the Sportsman Channel will provide an outdoor programming block for ESPN International in Africa, the ANZAC region and the Middle East.

Chris Greenburg of the Huffington Post has videos of some of the sports topics that the late Andy Rooney discussed on “60 Minutes”.

Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald says UFC’s Dana White couldn’t be happier to bring MMA to Fox.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick can’t stand football being played outside of Saturday or Sunday.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about hosting Sunday Night Football at the game sites.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Soccer’s General Manager about bringing the World Cup into the Fox Sports Media Group.

Coley Harvey of the Orlando Sentinel tells us that this Saturday’s Miami-Florida State game will be an ESPN on ABC affair.

Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News says the Spurs will be showing some classic games to fill time during the NBA Lockout.

Mike Brudenell of the Detroit Free Press writes about Red Wings analyst Mickey Redmond being honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame next week.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel speaks with outgoing Brewers announcer Corey Provus about his new gig in Minnesota.

Bob also talks with new Thursday Night Football analyst Mike Mayock about the Green Bay Packers.

Harry Plumer of the Columbia Missourian talks with Fox Sports Net’s Jim Knox about the art of sideline reporting.

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News writes about BYU using its resources and media relationships to ensure that its game against Oregon State would be televised.

Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes that ESPN is changing the way the World Series of Poker is seen and produced.

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic recounts some of the sports topics the late Andy Rooney explored on 60 Minutes and in other arenas.

Lindsay Schnell of The Oregonian writes that the Oregon Ducks will be part of an ESPN College GameDay telecast once again this season.

Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette wonders if CBC will get shutout from the NHL in the next round of Canadian media bidding.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star talks with former NESN and MLB Network host Hazel Mae about her return to Canada and her old Rogers Sportsnet stomping grounds.

Sports Media Watch says CBS hit a season ratings high for its NFL national window in Week 8.

SMW says Fox continues to see a rise in ratings for the NFL.

SMW says college football on ABC did very well last week.

SMW notes that the SEC on CBS did not do well last week.

SMW says Notre Dame football hit a ratings low last Saturday.

SMW has some various college and pro football ratings news and notes.

And SMW has World Series ratings dating back to 1972.

We are now complete with the links for today.

Highlights of Thursday Night Football Announcing Conference Call

After it was announced that Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock would the new Thursday Night Football announcing team starting this season, NFL Network held a conference call with the two men and Mark Quenzel, the Senior Vice President of Programming and Production. We have a transcript for you can you can start reading now.

An interview with:

MARK QUENZEL
BRAD NESSLER
MIKE MAYOCK

BRENNA WEBB: Thank you for joining us this morning on NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football conference call.  We sent out a release earlier this morning regarding our new booth team.  If you didn’t get that, please let me know.  Before we open it up to questions, I’d like to introduce NFL Networks senior vice president of programming and production, Mark Quenzel, to talk about our new announcing team for Thursday Night Football.

MARK QUENZEL: I’ll be brief because Brad and Mike are really the stars of the call.  All I’d say is obviously we’re thrilled to have Brad and Mike join us in the Thursday Night Football booth.  Thursday Night Football is one of the primetime NFL packages.  It’s a destination for football fans every Thursday.

I think it’s unique in the respect that it’s also the first game of the week, which factors a lot into what we say and how we say it beyond the game that’s in front of us.  But I think that Brad and Mike will bring an energy, in?depth knowledge and perspective to football fans.

I think it will be a very entertaining broadcast.  I’m looking forward to November 10th in San Diego for our first game.

Just a minute on Brad and on Mike.  Obviously, I’ve known Brad and I’ve worked with Brad for years and years at ESPN.  I think he is one of the premier play?by?play announcers in all of sports.  I’ve always been impressed with his work on multiple sports but certainly on football.

He knows the game.  He knows the NFL.  And I think it’s important that he has the unique ability, which I’ve seen many times, to bring viewers the important information that they need for the game that’s in front of them, to talk about that, while at the same time integrating sort of a global view of the season, of the league, where we are, what it all means.  I think for the first game of the week that’s a big deal.

Also one thing I’ve always been impressed with Brad is that as the stage becomes bigger and the moment becomes bigger, in those big moments, that’s when I think Brad has always been at his best.  I think you’ve seen it in National Championship games, college National Championship games, and a number of bowl games.

Brad has that ability to, I like to call it fourth gear.  He can put it in fourth gear, and I think that’s a big thing when you’re doing a primetime game.

For Mike, I’m not telling you anything you don’t know.  Mike really is a rising star in sports broadcasting. Just his incredible knowledge and the precise analysis were on display again last week during our coverage of the draft.

I’m excited.  I think Mike is unique in that he knows.  He breaks down.  He knows the players and the teams from the inside out.  He breaks them down.  Many analysts can tell you what happened.  Football fans and particularly fans of NFL Network really want to know why, and that’s Mike’s wheelhouse.  That’s where he excels.

I think he also does it in a way that is direct, candid, he doesn’t pull any punches, and I think our fans have shown that they respect that.

So I’ll sum it up by saying, as I started in the beginning, we’re excited.  We think that Thursday Night Football is a premier property, and we’ve got two premier guys doing it.

BRENNA WEBB: Right now I’ll turn it over to our new play?by?play voice, Brad Nessler.  Brad, why don’t you tell us what you’re looking forward to joining our new Thursday Night Football team?

BRAD NESSLER: I think excitement’s the keyword.  We’ve used it several times.  It was in the release and Mark talked about it.  And, Mark, I appreciate the kind words you had for me.

I think it’s not that often that at a certain stage in your career that something comes along that gives you that rush of excitement.  I love that feeling.

When Mark was talking about when games get big, things seem to get bigger and we can make them bigger than life at times.  Overall, all games are good, but some are a lot better than others.

I think there is a quality in some people that you can make an average game sound good, a good game sound great.  The great games take care of themselves.  You don’t have to have big moments.  The games just take care of it.

But that rush of excitement, I have that right now.  This is a new challenge for me.  I couldn’t be happier to be working with Mike.  We’ll be awful busy guys in November, both of us, I know that.

But Mike and I have known each other a long time and actually worked a few games together back in the day.  And I’m really looking forward to it because everybody uses the term “rising star” with Mike.  I think he’s always been a star, but it’s just that people are letting him do his thing now.

Not only is he obviously a great talent evaluator with all of that, with the draft and the X’s and O’s of the other shows he brings, but he’s worked with a friend of mine, Tom Hammond, not only on NFL games but on Notre Dame games, and I get a chance to watch those games before my night games on Saturday.  I know how good of a game analyst he is.

He adds a new partner to my list, and I’ve had some great ones over the years.  I expect him to be exactly like that.  I can’t wait to start working with him, and I can’t wait for the opening game.  We just have to get the games together and get the owners and players together, and get through the OTA’s and free agency and signing the draft choices in mini camps and training camps and then get on with it.

I expect that to happen, and I couldn’t be more excited about the new challenge that lies ahead for us.

BRENNA WEBB: Now, Mike, why don’t you tell us what you’re looking forward to.  You’ve already tackled Notre Dame football and our draft coverage with NFL Network.  Why don’t you tell us a little bit what you’re looking forward to your next step with Thursday Night Football games?

MIKE MAYOCK: Thanks, Brad.  It’s funny Brad said we worked together years ago.  It was probably 1993 somewhere around there.  If I remember his sideline reporter, Adrien Karsten had some kind of personal emergency, and I had to go in and do the sideline for he and Gary Danielson.  That’s how long a period of time.

I’ve had an unbelievable respect for the way Brad goes about his business.  I’m talking about before you can get to the game, the knowledge, the work ethic.  Then once the game starts, he’s phenomenal.  So I can’t wait to work with Brad Nessler.  I can’t wait to work with the whole team.

I tell you what, for me, it’s been kind of a surreal timeframe.  If you told me ten months ago that I’d be calling Notre Dame games on NBC, followed by an NFL playoff game on NBC, followed by the NFL Network offering me this NFL package, I don’t know.  I would probably inquire as to your hallucinogenic of choice and figuring that that stuff wasn’t going to happen for me.

I start with a really fundamental approach.  My belief is this:  Football’s the greatest game on the earth, especially on television.  And if you respect the game, I believe the viewer will appreciate the telecast.

I promise you Brad and I respect the game.  We’ll bring you a football telecast that answers all the questions you’re looking for.  I’m excited to become a part of the NFL Network Thursday night team.

When we get Oakland at San Diego on November 10th, I promise you Brad and I and the entire team will be ready to go.  Thank you.

BRENNA WEBB: Thanks Mike, Brad and Mark for your words.  Now we’ll open it up to questions.  Please identify who you’re directing your question to, and we’ll get this going.

Q.  Mark, I was wondering if you could briefly comment on who else was in the mix and why ultimately you went with Brad for this job?

MARK QUENZEL: We considered a number of people.  I don’t want to go candidly into a lot of detail as to who they were.  But the point is when you’re looking at a broadcast team, and the key is team, it’s a combination.  It’s two guys.

You have to make sure that they can each be individually talented.  You have to believe they’re compatible, they work together and they’ll make each other better.

Once we decided that Mike was really the guy that was the best for us on the analyst side, we looked around and it was clear to me that Brad, with all his experience and all the things I mentioned earlier, gave this team the best chance to succeed.

So I’m very excited.  I think they’ll be a great combination.  But I emphasize it really is about the combination.

Q.  Mike, we’ve got the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium this October. Our fifth international series game. What do you think about the growth of the NFL in the UK and also the players to look out for on the Bears and Bucs?

MIKE MAYOCK: I’m always amazed, and I probably shouldn’t be, that no matter where you go or who you talk to, they want to talk NFL football.  Obviously the commissioner and the NFL are interested in growing the game internationally.

I think what you’re going to see with Chicago and Tampa Bay, number one, is quarterback play at a very high level.  One of the guys I’ve been most impressed with is Josh Freeman.  Without Josh Freeman, this Tampa Bay team doesn’t go from where it was two years ago to a team with playoff credentials.  Even though they didn’t make it a year ago, they have playoff credentials.  It really comes down, I believe, to the quarterback position in the NFL.

This kid’s exciting.  He’s a star of the future.  You look at Chicago, and if I’m going to be honest about it, I didn’t think their offensive line was good enough to get them into the playoffs last year.  I didn’t think they could protect Jay Cutler.

And Jay Cutler is another one of those exciting young quarterbacks.  Sometimes he throws the ball more than he should.  But if they get that offensive line stabilized, and they drafted an offensive lineman in the first round this year in Dave Carimi, and if they get that stabilized, there is no telling how good this team can be.

So I think what you’ve got are two playoff quality teams with two emerging quarterbacks.  And I think the people will have a great time watching them play.

Q.  Mike, I wondered if there was any consideration for a three?man booth instead of a two.  I prefer two and you have done it different ways.  Then, Mike, how does preparing for a telecast, though you’ve done a great job with the preseason games, how is preparing for that kind of telecast different from doing playbook or path to the draft?  What do you have to do differently?

MARK QUENZEL: I’ll jump on the three?man booth question.  I’ve been involved in both situations, both here and at ESPN where they have a three?man booth as well.  I think it can work either way.

I think I prefer a two?man booth.  I think the dynamic we have between Brad and Mike lends itself to a two?man booth.  So I’ve seen them work both ways, but I prefer a two?man booth, and I think we’ve got an excellent two?man booth right now.

MIKE MAYOCK: The way I look at things is I love talking football.  It doesn’t matter if I’m at my table or down the street with buddies.  It doesn’t matter where we are.  And I love doing the studio shows, the playbooks and the path to the draft.

But for me there is nothing like doing a live game.  When you’re talking to the coaches and meeting with the coaches and players and watching the tape, you get there and you smell the grass and you get there three or four hours early.  It is the closest thing I can experience to when I played.

You’re getting pumped up and there is a build?up and a crescendo that comes to live games that is unlike anything else I’ve experienced other than playing in one of them.

So my favorite thing in broadcasting, and, Quenzel, I don’t want you to hear this, but my favorite thing, I can’t believe they pay me to do live games.  It’s mind boggling.

My father was a coach for 40 years and he calls me Jesse James without a gun.  He says you’re stealing, son, and he’s right.  That is the way I feel about it.

I’m blessed just to be able to talk about the game for a living.  But to do NFL games and Notre Dame games, are you kidding me?  It’s just unbelievable.

MARK QUENZEL: Mike, I’m glad I’m on the call.  I was just reading my notes that says we’re paying you.  I’ll have to find that out.

MIKE MAYOCK: I signed the contract.  That’s the only way I can say it.

MARK QUENZEL: Right (laughing).

Q.  About your opening game, Raiders and Chargers, it really seems like the AFC West has evolved in the last couple of years.  For so long it was the Chargers, and then three pretty wobbly teams.  Now you have the Chiefs making the playoffs and the Raiders running the table of the NFC West, Chargers are a little unpredictable.  Maybe they’re turning things around in Denver.  I wonder if you could speak to the rise, again, of the AFC West?

BRAD NESSLER: I’ll jump in because I did the Chargers and the Chiefs opener last year, which I remember before that game talking to Norv.  He said this is my best team.  I said can I quote you on that?  And he said, absolutely.

The problem has always been they get slow out of the gates.  And I don’t think on that rainy night at Arrowhead they were expecting to go home with a loss.  But that also set the table for Todd Haley and the Chiefs to have a much better year than a lot of people thought they were going to have.

It’s a new coaching system again for the Raiders.  But the Raiders have got to find a way to win outside the division.  If they he could have done that last year, they would have had a great season.

So you’re right.  Denver’s got to be a question mark.  They’ve got John Fox in there now and that will change their defensive scheme of things, I’m sure.

But, yeah, it’s wide open.  It’s not just the Chargers and the sisters of the poor anymore.  Anybody could win that if they could not only do as well as the Raiders did within the division, but go outside and win on the road and win outside their own division.

MIKE MAYOCK: I think that San Diego has got to come out of the gate quicker than they historically have.  One thing I’ll give you on San Diego, number one offense, number one defense, and horrible on special teams a year ago.  They went out and hired one of the guys that I consider to be one of the top special teams coaches that I’ve ever been around.  His name is Rich Bisaccia from Tampa Bay.

No matter how good or bad Tampa Bay was their special teams were always among the best.  So look for their special teams to finally be special.

Oakland and Kansas City, I loved watching them on tape last year because they both became really physical teams and they ran the football.  With Kansas City and Scott Pioli and what they’re doing and how they’re drafting, this is a physical team.  They’re going to throw the football better this year.

They drafted John Baldwin from Pitt who is a little bit of a diva.  But what wide receiver in the NFL isn’t?  He’s going to make plays because outside the numbers and in the red zone and in the end zone because of his height, weight and speed.

And I’m excited about Denver.  It’s a wide open decision like Brad said.  Denver’s going with the four?three.  They’ve got the best edge rusher in the draft in Von Miller.  They drafted heavily on the defensive side of the ball.

I think it’s really important for San Diego to get out of the gate quickly again this year, because you can’t just expect you’ll make playoffs by winning the last seven or eight in a row.

Q.  I hate to take a right turn with this, but I have to ask you a draft question.  Obviously the draft was different and there was no free agent activity at the end of the draft.  I wonder how that changed the 7th round, if at all, changed the dynamic of the 7th round?  And you might not have your draft in front of you.  But were there 7th rounders that stood out to you as a great value pick in that spot?

MIKE MAYOCK: I’ve heard a lot of talk about the 7th round being drafted differently.  I’m not sure I buy into it.  What you’re trying to get in the 7th round is you’re trying to control a guy that you think other teams may have value or interest in so you don’t have to go out and compete with them in the undrafted college free agency market.

So from my perspective I don’t really believe they looked at it a whole lot different.  It’s the same thing to me, control the guy.  And there are always seventh round guys.  Lee Ziemba was a four?year starter at tackle from Auburn.  Jeremy Beal was a starting defensive end from Denver.  I mean, you can go down the list and look at different guys that appeal to me for different reasons in every round.

And the most interesting thing is bottom line I saw more recruiting of late draftable kids than ever before.  It was almost like colleges recruiting high school kids.  They were burning up the phone lines talking to these kids, knowing they wouldn’t be able to once the 7th round ended.

So the last several months they’ve been recruiting these kids trying to get them to have the best possible feel for their opportunity so that whenever the CBA finally gets done, they’re hoping to be able to sign their college free agent of choice.

Q.  So stuff they typically do at the end of the draft when they make those recruiting calls and head coaches make those calls they were doing during the draft?

MIKE MAYOCK: They were doing it for the three months leading up.  They were actively recruiting kids and telling them how much they loved them and how much of an opportunity they would have and during the draft itself they were loving them up again.

So it’s a battle to get these kids.  And with the uncertainty of the CBA, it’s just kind of intensified this year.

Q.  What do you expect your schedule to be like with ESPN next fall?

BRAD NESSLER: It’s not going to change any.  It’s going to be very hectic for about a five?week stretch, basically.  And we knew that when we talked about all of this, and I talked about it with my bosses at now both networks or all three if you want to talk ESPN, ABC and NFL Network.

Obviously, there is going to be a point when I’m doing a game on Thursday night, I’m going to be missing my practice of the home team of the college game that I have to do.  Luckily there’s only going to be roughly about a four?week overlap because the first game is November 10th, and then the second one, and then Thanksgiving.  And I have a Thanksgiving all the time anyway, and then I have a game the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Then the following week is championship week in college football.  And I could be doing the ACC Championship.  I could be doing a west coast game, whatever.  So from that Thursday I’ll miss a day of practice too.

I have to give up a little on one end, but I guess my two middle names are going to be time management.

I know Mike’s going to have the same thing going on with Notre Dame for a couple of week stretch.  It will be very hectic.

Q.  Brad, as someone who has been in the business for a long time, I’m not sure the last time you had to do, for lack of a better word, a tryout.  So what was that like for you doing a practice game with Mike?  Were you nervous?  It’s obviously a big gig, but you’re probably someone who hasn’t had to do anything like this in a lock time.

MARK QUENZEL: Let me jump in there.  Brad did not do a tryout with Mike.  And the reason is, I said upfront, Brad and I worked together for so many years.  I know what Brad does, what he brings to the table and where the strengths are.  I think when we’re done doing a couple with Mike, it was as much to understand what would work with Mike as anything else.

So at that point I felt like I had enough information in my knowledge of Brad over the years allowed us to go in and say we know what’s going on, and we know what we’re looking for.  And Brad was the best thing for us.

Q.  That was Mark, correct?

MARK QUENZEL: This is Mark.

Q.  So Brad and Mike have not had any kind of practice run at this point.

MIKE MAYOCK: Not since 1993.

BRAD NESSLER: Richard, I will answer your question partially.  The last time I did what would be considered an audition game was 22 years ago.

Q.    I just wanted to follow up on Richard’s question for Brad.  Brad, with having two games in three days, have you ever had a challenge like that in preparation prior in your prior broadcasting career?

BRAD NESSLER: Yeah, I have.  In fact, it happened last year.  It was either Thanksgiving weekend or the first weekend in December.  I don’t ever want to do that again, and I pretty much told my bosses that we did Oregon?Oregon State on a Friday night and we did USC?Notre Dame on a Saturday night.  That was not an easy booth.

It can be done, but you don’t want to make a habit of it.  But at least having a day and a half in between is a lot different than literally doing two games in 21 hours or whatever it was.

MARK QUENZEL: I think the only thing I’d add to that is one of the things with the history of Brad and obviously from Mike, is they both could be classified as workaholics.  They study and study and study some more.  So I’m comfortable.

It was obviously one of the things that we talked about, and I know the ESPN guys talked about.  I think we were comfortable with Brad, as was ESPN in doing this, because we know that Brad will be prepared.  He’ll make sure he’s prepared.

Q.  Mike, I was wondering if you’d bear with me for a couple player questions.  You mentioned Josh Freeman, a guy that I’m writing about, is a rising star. Couple of other guys.  One, Eric Berry.  You mentioned how well the Chiefs have been drafting.  Can you just talk about Berry how good you think he could be, and also Brandon Pettigrew the tight end with the Lions.

MIKE MAYOCK: Sure, a thumbnail on each of them.  Freeman is a guy that when he came out of Kansas State, I saw him play his freshman year in a bowl game we had done at NFL Network.  I remember the first time I saw him in practice and I turned around and it was either Charles Davis or Paul Burmeister.  The first time I saw him throw the ball in practice I said, wow, that’s a first rounder right there.  If everything else checks out, that is who he is.

Then you meet the kid and he’s an articulate kid that cares about the game.  In today’s NFL at the quarterback position, if you don’t have football IQ and a work ethic, you don’t have a chance no matter how talented you are.

So he’s one of the bright young guys in the business.  He reminds me a lot of Joe Flacco.  The two of them together are dynamic, tall, big framed guys with the whole future in front of them of unbelievable football.

As far as Berry, when he came out I thought he and Earl Thomas were the two best safeties in the draft a couple years ago. Berry is a physical, tough kid that has the ability to play man or zone, which is an attractive skill set for safeties.

In today’s NFL, my belief is ?? everybody says you can’t have enough good corners. Well, I think you can’t have enough good defensive backs. Because if you have a safety that can play in the middle of the field, drop down on the slot, play in the box, that is something special.

The Chiefs have that in Berry, and they utilize him very well. He’s got another rookie they drafted in the fifth round out of Ole Miss. The same year they paired him with. Talking about an exciting young safety tandem, then Kansas City has it.

Finally, Pettigrew coming out of Oklahoma State, again, an excellent player. Won a bowl game we did at NFL Network. I did it with Sterling Sharpe. He’s an old school, in?line tight end.

He can block.  He’s not just a positional guy, a tough guy when he’s an in?line tight end.  He’s also gifted enough to split them out and run vertically.

Where he excels is intermediate and short stuff.  He can use that big body to post?up linebackers and safeties, another up and coming young star in the league.

BRENNA WEBB: Thank you, everyone, especially Mark, Brad and Mike for the call today.  Our season of Thursday Night Football begins Thursday November 10th with the Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers, the game at 8:00 Eastern.

That will do it. I have a few more releases to post. Bear with me.

Some Thursday Links

Ok starting the linkage off late again today, but I hope get a full set in before leaving work later.

Sports Business Daily notes some shuffling of personnel with the NFL TV partners.

Preston Bounds of Sports Business Daily talks about Brad Nessler saying his college football schedule with ESPN/ABC won’t be affected by his new gig with NFL Network.

Sports Business Daily discusses the machinations behind the ESPN-owned Longhorn Network.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today has some of the ratings from the weekend.

At Variety, Cynthia Littleton talks about ABC Studios developing a sitcom based on a book written by ESPN Radio morning drive co-host Mike Greenburg.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News notes that ESPN has been honored for its World Cup programming.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek says NBCUniversal’s networks are all over the promotion of the Kentucky Derby.

Wayne Friedman at MediaPost notes that Time Warner saw additional ad revenues in the 1st quarter of this year thanks to the NCAA  Tournament.

Wayne says Fox is reporting good ad revenues from the NFL in its fiscal year 2nd quarter.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has the video of a cameraman getting a little too close to the action before Game 3 of the Vancouver-Nashville game.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center notes that sports journalism is greatly lacking in diversity.

Kristi Dosh of the Business of College Sports has an excellent look at the TV contracts for all of the BCS conferences.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times notes that embattled Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is blaming MLB Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig for his financial troubles. Way to help your cause, Frank.

Newsday’s Neil Best says former NFL Network play-by-play man Bob Papa is taking the high road.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that thoroughbred racing from Saratoga Race Course is heading back to national television after a year’s absence.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable will air some local high school baseball.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that Matt Millen had a feeling he was going to be blown out of the NFL Network booth.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner feels the big Pac-12 contracts with ESPN and Fox could lead the Big East to a huge windfall.

Barry Horn in the Dallas Morning News says the Mavericks saw their biggest ratings in more than 2 years.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Pawtucket Red Sox and Cincinnati Bearcats voice Dan Hoard will become the voice of the Bengals this season.

John goes into some of the reasons why Brad Johansen will no longer be the voice of the Bengals.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at Mike Mayock becoming the new analyst for NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes that WGN will have a special on Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

Paola Boivin from the Arizona Republic takes a look at the Pac-12 media rights agreements and what it means for member schools.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times writes about Brad Nessler coming in to call NFL Network Thursday Night Football.

SportsbyBrooks profiles the US Assistant Attorney General whose looking into the BCS.

Sports Media Watch notes that in Boston this week, the Bruins beat the Celtics in the ratings, but not head-to-head.

SMW says Lakers losses are leading to lofty ratings.

Steve Lepore, the hardest working blogger in the business, says NBC saw a double digit ratings jump last Sunday.

Steve also has the ratings for Night 21 of the NHL Playoffs.

Awful Announcing notes that announcers Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza understandably went a little goofy as the Angels-Red Sox game went form Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

Keggs ‘n Eggs notes the irony of Urban Meyer’s daughter complaining about him working for ESPN as he was supposed to spend retirement from Florida with his family.

I’ll end the links there. Finally finish these at 9:50 p.m. Thursday. Lots of things to do on the blog.

NFL Network Announcing Teams Since 2006

The upheaval in the NFL Network Thursday Night Football booth has been well documented. Now that Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock are officially the new announcing team, we look at the people NFL Network have assembled over the years. Let’s hope that this team can remain in place through the end of the current NFL TV contract.

2006 – Bryant Gumbel/Cris Collinsworth
2007 – Bryant Gumbel/Cris Collinsworth
2008 – Bob Papa/Cris Collinsworth
2009 – Bob Papa/Matt Millen
2010 – Bob Papa/Matt Millen/Joe Theismann/Alex Flanagan
2011 – Brad Nessler/Mike Mayock/Alex Flanagan (I’ll say Alex returns this year)

So you can see there has been hardly any consistency in the booth with changes coming practically every year but 2006-07. Here’s hoping that this year’s version of Thursday Night Football will work for NFL Network. I’m rooting for Brad and Mike.

It’s Official: NFL Network Confirms Brad Nessler & Mike Mayock Will Call Thursday Night Football

I sent an e-mail to NFL Network seeking confirmation of Richard Deitsch’s story in SI.com about Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock coming into the Thursday Night Football booth, but when you get a press release, you can’t get better confirmation than that. Also, the NFL posted the story at its website so this is a big deal.

As mentioned in my previous post, Brad will continue to call college football games on ESPN and ABC. Mike will continue as NFL Draft guru and panelist for various shows on NFL Network as well as be the analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC.

Here’s the official press release from NFL Network and the National Football League.

NFL NETWORK NAMES MIKE MAYOCK AND BRAD NESSLER NEW ANNOUNCING TEAM FOR THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAMES

Highly regarded NFL analyst Mike Mayock will be joined by veteran television play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler in the booth on NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football games for the 2011 season, NFL Network Senior Vice President of Production and Programming Mark Quenzel announced today.

The new team of Mayock and Nessler will call NFL Network’s eight primetime games.  Mayock continues to serve as NFL Network’s top NFL Draft analyst while adding his X-and-Os expertise on additional shows for the network.  Nessler joins the Thursday Night Football booth while continuing to call primetime college football and basketball games on ESPN and ABC.

“Mike Mayock’s in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the game and his no-nonsense analytical style has made him a rising star in the business.  He is regarded by many as the best NFL Draft analyst in the business and he will be excellent on our NFL games,” said Quenzel.  “Brad Nessler is one of the premier play-by-play announcers on television. Teaming them on Thursday nights will be entertaining and informative for our fans.”

“My favorite aspect of this industry is to do live games. You are able to get up close to the coaches and players and the environment is electric, said Mayock.  “To have the opportunity to call NFL games in primetime on NFL Network is like a dream come true.”

“The NFL has always been a big part of my life and my career.  To join NFL Network and the great team they’ve assembled is an honor,” said Nessler. “Primetime football on Thursday nights is an event.  It’s an exciting new challenge and I can’t wait to be part of it all.”

Mike Mayock has been an analyst on NFL Network for the past seven years.  He has recently been called “incomparable” among NFL Draft television analysts.  In addition to the NFL Draft, Mayock provides analysis on NFL Total Access, Path to the Draft, Playbook and other NFL Network specials.  He is also the game analyst on NBC’s Notre Dame college football games on Saturdays and called the NFC Wild Card Playoff game for NBC last season.  Mayock has been NFL Network’s analyst on Senior Bowls in addition to Insight and Texas Bowl games.

A 10^th-round pick in the 1981 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mayock played for the New York Giants from 1982-83.  He is a member of the Boston College Hall of Fame, where he starred in football and baseball and received a communications degree.

Brad Nessler will continue to serve as a play-by-play voice for college football and basketball games on ESPN and ABC.  Last year he called one of the Monday Night Football games on the opening weekend of the NFL season for ESPN. Nessler also called a MNF game in 2006 and has been on ESPN since 1992.  Nessler previously called NFL games on radio for the Atlanta Falcons (1982-1988) and Minnesota Vikings (1988-89).

Nessler’s been calling major college football games for nearly 20 years. He is currently the voice of ESPN’s ‘Saturday Night Football’ game slate. He has called more than 50 college bowl games including the Bowl Championship Series title game in 2001 and 2005. Nessler also called the BCS Sugar Bowl game on January 1 that featured Ohio State’s win over Arkansas this year.

Bob Papa will continue to be a valuable member of NFL Network’s team.  He will continue to contribute reports on NFL Network’s Sunday NFL GameDay shows as well as have roles on additional NFL Network programming.  Joe Theismann will return to NFL Network’s Playbook and other specials.

NFL Network will begin its sixth season of eight primetime Thursday Night Football games on November 10 when the Oakland Raiders visit the San Diego Chargers.

NFL Network 2011 Thursday Night Football Schedule

Week 10: Thursday, November 10 at 8:00 PM ET
Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers

Week 11: Thursday, November 17 at 8:00 PM ET
New York Jets at Denver Broncos

Week 12: Thursday, November 24 at 8:00 PM ET
San Francisco 49ers at Baltimore Ravens (Thanksgiving)

Week 13: Thursday, December 1 at 8:00 PM ET
Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks

Week 14: Thursday, December 8 at 8:00 PM ET
Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 15: Thursday, December 15 at 8:00 PM ET
Jacksonville Jaguars at Atlanta Falcons

Week 15: Saturday, December 17 at 8:00 PM ET
Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 16: Thursday, December 22 at 8:00 PM ET
Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts

NFL Network has announced that Nessler and Mayock will be introduced to the media in a conference call later this morning. More coming up as soon as I get it.

BREAKING NEWS: Brad Nessler & Mike Mayock Are Your New Thursday Night Football Team

Well, this is certainly a surprise. The last we heard about the NFL Network Thursday Night Football team was that Mike Mayock would replace Joe Theismann and Matt Millen and he would be teamed with either incumbent play-by-play man Bob Papa or Gus Johnson. Well, Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has learned that Mayock is indeed coming into the booth for NFL Network and he’ll be joined by ESPN’s Brad Nessler!

This came totally out of left field. NFL Network is not commenting on the matter. (UPDATE: Now NFL Network has commented with this press release.)

Nessler has called NFL games before, having called the Monday Night Football late night opening season doubleheader game in 2006 and 2010. Before that, he did NFL regional games for CBS in 1990 and 1991. Since 1992, he’s been with ESPN/ABC assigned to college football and basketball. His partner for the last couple of years on college football has been Todd Blackledge. He’s a very good play-by-play man and would probably be in line to replace Brent Musburger when he retires. Richard says Nessler would most likely remain at ESPN to call college football.

Mayock did a very good job in his return to the booth last season as the analyst for Notre Dame football on NBC and also did analysis for one NFL Wild Card playoff game back in January. He should shine in the Thursday Night Football booth.

This continues the upheaval for NFL Network since obtaining the Thursday Night Football package. Let’s hope this booth of Nessler and Mayock, if true, can remain in place for a while.

Mike Mayock’s Last Mock Draft for 2011

Tonight, Mike Mayock had his own NFL Network special and provided his final mock draft for this year before the selections take place on Thursday night. Here’s his picks for the 1st round.

NFL NETWORK DRAFT EXPERT MIKE MAYOCK UNVEILS 2011 MOCK DRAFT

NFL Network draft expert Mike Mayock unveiled his 2011 mock draft tonight on the first ever Mike Mayock’s 2011 Mock Draft special. Below is Mayock’s mock draft and a link to a story on NFL.com.

MIKE MAYOCK’S 2011 MOCK DRAFT

1.    Carolina Panthers                   Cam Newton               QB       Auburn

2.    Denver Broncos                      Von Miller                    LB        Texas A&M

3.    Buffalo Bills                             Marcell Dareus           DT       Alabama

4.    Cincinnati Bengals                  A.J. Green                  WR      Georgia

5.    Arizona Cardinals                    Patrick Peterson         CB       LSU

6.    Cleveland Browns                   Julio Jones                  WR      Alabama

7.    San Francisco 49ers               Blaine Gabbert            QB       Missouri

8.    Tennessee Titans                    Nick Fairley                 DT       Auburn

9.    Dallas Cowboys                      Tyron Smith                OT       USC

10.  Washington Redskins             Prince Amukamara    CB       Nebraska

11.  Houston Texans                      Robert Quinn              DE       UNC

12.  Minnesota Vikings                   Aldon Smith                DE       Missouri

13.  Detroit Lions                           Anthony Castonzo      OL       Boston College

14.  St. Louis Rams                       Corey Liuget               DT       Illinois

15.  Miami Dolphins                       Mike Pouncey             OL       Florida

16.  Jacksonville Jaguars              Ryan Kerrigan             DE       Purdue

17.  New England Patriots             Cameron Jordan         DE       California

18.  San Diego Chargers               J.J. Watt                      DE       Wisconsin

19.  New York Giants                    Mark Ingram               RB       Alabama

20.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers         Da’Quan Bowers        DE       Clemson

21.  Kansas City Chiefs                 Danny Watkins           OL       Baylor

22.  Indianapolis Colts                   Nate Solder                 OL       Colorado

23.  Philadelphia Eagles                 Gabe Carimi               OL       Wisconsin

24.  New Orleans Saints                Phil Taylor                   DT       Baylor

25.  Seattle Seahawks                   Marvin Austin              DT       UNC

26.  Baltimore Ravens                   Jimmy Smith              CB       Colorado

27.  Atlanta Falcons                       Adrian Clayborn          DE       Iowa

28.  ***(Patriots trade pick)            Jake Locker                QB       Washington

29.  Chicago Bears                        Jonathan Baldwin       WR      Pittsburgh

30.  New York Jets                        Akeem Ayers              LB        UCLA

31.  Pittsburgh Steelers                  Aaron Williams            CB       Texas

32.  ***(Packers trade pick)           Andy Dalton                QB       TCU

*** Mayock expects a team will trade into this spot to select a quarterback.

To view Mayock’s mock draft as well as his comments on each selection, visit NFL.com:

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2011/mock-drafts/mike-mayock/60103

NFL Network/NFL.com’s live coverage of the three-day 2011 NFL Draft kicks off with Path to the Draft on Thursday, April 28 at 11:00 AM ET, followed by Total Access Pre-Draft Show 1:00 PM ET, providing full coverage from coast-to-coast with reports and analysis from Radio City Music Hall in New York, NFL Network studios in Los Angeles, and team facilities.

For the second year, NFL Network provides primetime coverage of the NFL Draft live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City, beginning on Thursday, April 28 at 8:00 PM ET with round 1. Rounds 2 and 3 airs Friday, April 29 at 6:00 PM ET, with rounds 4-7 on Saturday, April 30 at 12 NOON ET.

And we are done.

Doling Out Tuesday Linkage

Got to work early so I figure that I’ll do linkage early and then do some what I have to do at the office.

Let’s begin with a look at some of the ratings from the weekend via USA Today’s Michael Hiestand.

Michael notes that the Cam Newton saga at the NFL Draft could bring viewers to the table for ESPN and NFL Network despite ongoing lockout drama.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Fox’s Howie Long blasted the NFL Scouting Combine in a taping of a Big Lead/The Experts Network Draft Special. Disclaimer: Fang’s Bites is a member of Big Lead Sports, but is an independently owned and operated blog.

A couple of interesting op-ed pieces today. First, NFL Commish Roger Goodell in the Wall Street Journal claims the end of the league as we know it if there’s no collective bargaining agreement with the players.

Next in the Washington Post, Washington DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder explains why he’s suing the Washington City  Paper and it certainly doesn’t help his argument.

If you want to help the Washington City Paper in its fight against Snyder, go here and lend your support.

To the Sports Business Journal and John Ourand who says ESPN’s new endorsement guidelines are just a small ointment to a bigger problem.

John writes that NBA Draft prospect Jimmer Fredette has authorized a production company to follow him for a potential documentary on his experience leading up to the Draft.

Daniel Kaplan from the SBJ says NFL teams and sponsors are getting ready for the NFL Draft.

And Terry Lefton at the SBJ notes that Michael Vick’s image is at the point where he can endorse products again.

Tom Van Riper at Forbes is in favor of Major League Baseball expanding its playoffs.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago garnered record ratings for Canucks-Blackhawks Game 6 on Sunday.

Mike Reyolds at Mulitchannel News says NESN received its third highest ever ratings for a Boston Bruins playoff game on Saturday.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has ESPN/ABC’s Mark Jackson calling out ESPN The Magazine for publishing an anonymous NBA player’s column.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says despite first round ousters, the Knicks and Rangers drew very good TV ratings in New York.

Also from SportsNewser, Cam Martin notes that a documentary on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick is in the works.

And Alex Weprin of SportsNewser talks with ESPN personality Stephen A. (A is for Angry) Smith.

Bill Mann of Marketwatch.com says the NBC/Versus deal with the NHL will have a ripple effect in Canada.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group looks at NFL Network’s production preparation for the NFL Draft.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says all Judge Susan Nelson did in overturning the NFL lockout was to lead to massive confusion among the league and the players.

The Boston Globe notes that local athletic shoe company, Saucony is launching a new ad campaign that will air on ESPN and other sports networks starting this week.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch profiles local resident and ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Draft programming for both ESPN and NFL Network.

Pete says the New York Knicks delivered killer ratings for both ABC and MSG Network.

Pete has the updated NBA Playoffs TV schedule.

From the New Jersey Press, David P. Willis looks at the new Cablevision iPad app which allows subscribers to watch TV programs on their Apple tablets.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner wonders why politicians aren’t speaking out against the NFL lockout.

Zach Berman from the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger has five questions for NFL Network Draft guru Mike Mayock.

Mike Jensen from the Philadelphia Inquirer profiles native Mike Mayock of NFL Network.

Joseph Santoliquito of the Marple Newtown (PA) Patch profiles Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia host Michael Barkann who is a longtime resident of the community.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that former DC NFL Team executive Vinny Cerrato will now co-host a nightly radio show in Baltimore.

The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal reports that the local ESPN Radio affiliate will pick up high school football games this fall.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that TNT’s Mike Fratello got the job done during last night’s Denver-Oklahoma City NBA playoff game.

Bill Haisten from the Tulsa (OK) World says local native Dari Nowkhah of ESPN almost quit TV for teaching until a sudden call from Bristol, CT came his way.

Jamie Samuelsen in the Detroit Free Press says Matt Millen should expect a less-than-warm welcome to Ford Field when he makes his first return there with the Monday Night Football crew this fall.

Robert Snell of the Free Press says NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk owes the IRS a big chunk of change.

Cole Manbeck of the Manhattan (KS) Mercury says Kansas State is expecting a huge cash payment from the new Fox/Big 12 TV deal.

Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Journal-Review says baseball fans in town are fed up of being blacked out of six teams that claim the market as their territory.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog goes after Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail for not doing his homework.

Sports Media Watch notes that NBA ratings in Boston and Chicago are way up from last year.

SMW also looks at the local NHL ratings in various markets.

And SMW has some more NHL ratings for us.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for nights 9 and 10 of the NHL Playoffs on Versus.

And I think we’re done now. Back to work now.

Let’s Do Some Friday Megalinkage

Last week, I could not do the megalinks as I was traveling in between two offices. Yesterday, I seemed to get that out of the way so it appears that I’m free to do the megalinks today. I hope I can give you a full set.

As usual, there’s a full set of Weekend Viewing Picks for sports and primetime programming. You can take them or leave them. Choose wisely.

Now to the linkage.

National

At USA Today, Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy debate ESPN’s new endorsement policy. New guidelines on ESPN reporters and anchors endorsing products were issued this week.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center applauds the new ESPN policy.

Jessica E. Vascellaro and Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal report that Comcast wants to become a bigger player in cable sports through its NBC division.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek says NBC Universal’s new CEO wants to make Versus a true challenger to ESPN.

Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal notes that the NHL’s ratings on Versus are making gains as the playoffs begin.

A story from Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated grabbed a lot of buzz yesterday. Richard reports that NFL Network’s Draft guru Mike Mayock would replace analysts Joe Theismann and Matt Millen in the Thursday Night Football booth and Gus Johnson might replace play-by-play man Bob Papa.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says having both the Knicks and Rangers in the postseason should raise the profile of MSG Network this Spring.

ESPN’s Front Row blog looks at the network’s preparation for the NBA Playoffs.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose returns from his suspension this Saturday.

CNBC’s Tom Rotunno says interest in the New York Knicks in the NBA Playoffs is driving the secondary ticket market.

All Access notes that a San Francisco country station has flipped to FM sports talk.

Alan Bastable of Golf Magazine talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo about last Sunday’s exciting final round of The Masters^®.

To the Biz of Baseball where the great Maury Brown says MLB’s revenues have grown significantly from 1995 through 2010.

Bob’s Blitz has the video of Comcast SportsNet New England’s Joe Haggerty pushing a Canadiens fan out of camera range during a live shot after last night’s Habs-Bruins game.

The Crossing Broad blog isn’t a fan of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia superimposing ads behind the goal during the Sabres-Flyers series. I noticed Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic doing this too during the Rangers-Caps game on Wednesday.

The great Steve Lepore from Puck The Media likes NHL Network’s pregame efforts for the playoffs, but notes they could do better.

Sports Media Watch says Versus had good ratings for the opening night of the NHL Playoffs.

SMW tells us that Versus hit an all-time viewing high for the 2010-11 NHL regular season.

SMW says NBC had a mixed bag for its NHL regular season viewership.

SMW writes that ESPN will update its graphics and opening theme for the NBA playoffs.

Elie Mystal from Above the Law rips ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson for his thoughts of the Barry Bonds trial. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Joe Favorito explains why he’s no longer writing for The Huffington Post. I’ve been hearing strange dealings going on there since it started a relationship with AOL earlier this year.

Brian Packey at Awful Announcing says the voices of the Sacramento Kings gave a tearful goodbye as they signed off following what could be their last game in California’s capital.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs talks about MLB celebrating Jackie Robinson Day today.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes on how 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich scored a big coup by getting Charlie Sheen on their station after his Boston show earlier this week.

Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with Boston Bruins radio voice Dave Goucher.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times discusses the new endorsement guidelines for ESPN personalities.

Stuart Elliot from the Times says ESPN and MasterCard are teaming up to produce a series on soccer that will be show in Latin America.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post continues his vitriol against everybody and everything in sports television.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for MSG New York Rangers analyst Joe Micheletti.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with MSG Rangers voice Sam Rosen.

Pete says the Rangers’ playoff opener on Wednesday scored well for MSG Plus.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Versus and NHL Network will air the IIHF World Hockey Championships.

Laura Nachman notes that a local sports radio personality will jumping on board with Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia for a midday gig.

Peter Van Allen of the Philadelphia Business Journal writes that Saturday is going to be a big day for the Delaware Valley sports fan.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the Capitals got big ratings in their playoff opener.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also talks about the record ratings for the Caps.

Jim says with higher expectations for the Nationals, MASN’s ratings for the DC MLB team should rise with them.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times rightfully criticizes Pittsburgh personality John Steigerwald for his horrific column on Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who was beaten into a coma by two Los Angeles Dodgers fans earlier this month.

Barry Jackson from the Miami Herald says by ESPN/ABC choosing the 76ers-Heat series over Knicks-Celtics proves the drawing power of LeBron James & Co.

In the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, ESPN’s Rachel Nichols pays tribute to a former boss.

Steve Gorten from the Sun-Sentinel says ESPNU will air three videos produced by the Miami Hurricanes’ website.

Nate Allen from the Helena (AR) Daily World says ESPN is in town for the Arkansas spring football game.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that Hall of Fame Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton will be speaking about his colorful career at Texas A&M.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says a new era in Oklahoma Sooners broadcasting begins on Saturday.

Midwest

Nice to have George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal in the megalinks again. He says fans without a rooting interest will have plenty of choices to watch in the NBA Playoffs starting tomorrow.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer discusses a new book on the 1961 pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds.

John says several well-known Cincinnati and national personalities were on hand last night to roast a local restaurant legend.

And John writes that from here on end, the Reds will be seen in high definition on Fox Sports Ohio.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press notes that a local lawyer by day also serves as  minor league baseball team’s radio analyst by night.

The Indianapolis Star notes that last Sunday’s IndyCar race on Versus barely registered in the ratings opposite The Masters^®.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has some Windy City broadcast news and notes.

Ed says Notre Dame and Northwestern plan to meet on the gridiron again.

And Ed has this week’s winners and losers in sports business and media.

Will Buss of the Belleville (IL) News-Democrat says Fox Sports Midwest and AT&T U-Verse are haggling over 17 St. Louis Cardinals games.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says despite not making the playoffs, the St. Louis Blues still set a ratings record for Fox Sports Midwest.

Sam Mellinger at the Kansas City Star says with a new rights deal in hand, the Big 12 became a big money player.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that San Diego State University is concerned that the Mountain West Conference is falling behind in national TV exposure.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the national NBA television analysts like the Lakers’ chances to repeat as champs this year.

In his notebook, Jim says The Masters^® drew in the viewers.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at how quickly Kobe Bryant’s homophobic slur transcended sports.

Jon Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News looks at the bidders for the Pac 12 TV rights.

George Schroeder with the Eugene (OR) Register-Guard says the Pac 12 is going to get rich very quickly thanks to some TV network.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says a throwaway radio comment had Winnipeg laying down the welcome mat for the Phoenix Coyotes.

And we will end the megalinks there.

Versus Airs Notre Dame Spring Football Game

Spring football has become a big deal for college football rightsholders, ESPN in particular. The NBC Sports Group is now taking part as Versus will air the 82^nd annual Notre Dame Blue-Gold game. It’ll mark the first time the game has ever been televised. And NBC’s Notre Dame Football announcing team, Tom Hammond and Mike Mayock will be on hand to call the game for Versus on Saturday. Instead of Alex Flanagan on the sidelines, Versus will have former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King on the field. We have your details below.

82ND ANNUAL NOTRE DAME BLUE-GOLD SPRING FOOTBALL GAME TO AIR ON VERSUS APRIL 16 AT 2 P.M. ET

Spring Scrimmage will Air for the First Time to a National TV Audience

NEW YORK (April 14, 2011) — Notre Dame’s 82nd Annual Blue-Gold spring football game will air on VERSUS on Saturday, April 16, at 2 p.m. ET, marking the first time that the Fighting Irish’s traditional spring scrimmage game will be televised nationally. VERSUS will have unprecedented access both on and off the field.

NBC Sports’ Notre Dame Football commentators Tom Hammond (play-by-play announcer) and Mike Mayock (analyst) will call the action from the booth with former NFL quarterback Shaun King serving as sideline reporter. The game will be produced by NBC Sports’ Notre Dame Football producer Rob Hyland.

HYLAND: “Our goal is to introduce viewers to the 2011 Notre Dame Football team by providing an enhanced television experience by utilizing microphones and isolated cameras on Head Coach Brian Kelly as well as select star players. We want to cover everything the die-hard football fan would want to see and learn about this year’s program.”

Hammond is one of sports broadcasting’s most-respected and versatile talents having called many events, including horse racing, track & field, NBA and Olympics coverage, for NBC Sports. Mayock received critical acclaim last year for his first season as NBC Sports’ Notre Dame Football analyst. He also worked with Hammond to call NBC’s NFL Wild Card game earlier this year between the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks. Mayock is the NFL Network’s leading college football and NFL Draft analyst. King was a former NFL quarterback, most notably for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as a Heisman Trophy candidate while at Tulane University.

I have plenty of more press releases coming up so keep your feeds updated.

NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football Announcing Teams

Here’s how NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football announcing teams have looked since 2006:

2006 – Bryant Gumbel/Cris Collinsworth
2007 – Bryant Gumbel/Cris Collinsworth
2008 – Bob Papa/Cris Collinsworth
2009 – Bob Papa/Matt Millen
2010 – Bob Papa/Matt Millen/Joe Theismann/Alex Flanagan
2011 – Gus Johnson/Mike Mayock (speculated, not confirmed)

You can see there hasn’t been much consistency for NFL Network and even its production crew has turned over a couple of times in the process. To say NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football has been a work in progress would be an understatement, but it needs some consistency and a team that can be its signature as Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth have been for NBC’s Sunday Night Football in the last two seasons.

DEVELOPING: Mike Mayock In At Thursday Night Football; Possibly Gus Johnson Too

This is what happens when I’m out of the office, news breaks and I need someone to point me in the right direction. Coming from the great Richard Deitsch at Sports Illustrated, NFL Network has apparently decided to do away with the Joe Theismann/Matt Millen analyst combo and chucked them in favor of one of the best analysts in football, Mike Mayock. I asked NFL Network’s PR department for confirmation, but was given an “NFL Network declines comment” response.

In the meantime, this would be most excellent news if this is true. Mayock has been with NFL Network from its inception as its Draft guru. He has surpassed Mel Kiper, Jr. and Todd McShay as the go-to guy for draft information.

And last year, Mayock received good notice for his work on NBC’s Notre Dame football broadcasts forming a very good team with Tom Hammond. In addition, the two worked one of NBC’s NFL Wild Card playoff games in January and again, Mayock received mostly positive reviews for his work.

If this is true, it would mean the end of a failed experiment in using two analysts on Thursday Night Football, a booth that has been retooled, reshaped and reworked since NFL Network got the package in 2006.

And Richard reports that NFL Network is also considering NFL on CBS voice Gus Johnson to replace Bob Papa. Now there was nothing wrong with Papa’s work on Thursday Night Football. He was always prepared and he meshed well with Cris Collinsworth in his first season on TNF, but then was saddled with Matt Millen in 2009 and then Theismann and Millen in 2010. Papa is a very good play-by-play man and deserves another network shot if indeed, NFL Network goes in another direction. I would have liked to have heard Papa and Mayock work together in 2011, but that appears not to be the case.

We’ll continue to monitor what has become a very interesting story.