Fang's Bites

Fox Sports Announces 2012-13 College Football Schedule

Over the last hour or so, it’s been all-Pac-12, all the time. Let’s break that up with this post on the complete Fox Sports college football schedule for 2012-13. It will be filled with national matchups featuring the Big 12, Conference USA and Pac-12 including regional games on the Fox Sports Net affiliates from the ACC, Big East, Big Sky, SEC, Southland and WAC. Also, the Fox Sports-run Big Ten Network will air games involving teams from the Big Ten Conference.

Overall, the Fox Sports Media Group will carry 135 games across its various platforms, Fox Sports, FX, Fox Sports Net and the Big Ten Network.

This marks the first year of Fox Sports airing games across the Fox network in primetime on Saturday nights. Most of its schedule will involve the Pac-12. Let’s go to the Fox press release. And there will be a jump break to provide the entire schedule.

FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP TO TELEVISE OVER 165 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES IN 2012

Hawai’i at USC Kicks-Off FOX Sports’ Inaugural College Football
Broadcast Schedule on Sept. 1 in Primetime
Pac-12, Big Ten and Cotton Bowl Classic Titles Settled on FOX

New York, NY – FOX Sports Media Group’s college football coverage kicks into high gear with more than 165 games airing nationally across FOX, FX, FOX Sports Networks (FSN), Big Ten Network (BTN) and FOX College Sports. The master schedule features teams from the Pac-12, Big 12,  Conference USA and Big Ten (on BTN), as well as regional match-ups from the ACC, SEC, Big East, Big Sky, WAC and Southland Conferences.

Week 1 action begins Saturday, Sept. 1 with seven exciting match-ups highlighted by the debut of FOX Sports’ first-ever regular-season over-the-air college football package. The schedule culminates with coverage of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, Big Ten Football Championship Game and Cotton Bowl Classic all airing in primetime on FOX.

All eyes will be on Los Angeles Saturday, Sept. 1 (7:30 PM ET) as FOX Sports kicks off 13 consecutive weeks of regular-season action, including 12 prime time games and seven doubleheaders.  Expected Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Barkley begins his quest to lead potential preseason #1 USC to a national title when the Trojans host Hawai’i in the Coliseum. First-year head coach Jim Mora takes the field Saturday, Sept. 8 (7:30 PM ET) when his UCLA Bruins host top 25 contender Nebraska Cornhuskers from the storied Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Barkley & Co. are back on FOX Week 3 when the Trojans travel to Stanford on Saturday, Sept. 15 (7:30 PM ET) to take on the nationally-ranked Cardinal.

Bob Stoops and his perennial top 10 Oklahoma Sooners are also featured Week 1 when they head to El Paso, TX for a Saturday, Sept. 1 (10:30 PM ET) showdown with UTEP on FSN. Other exciting match-ups include the battle of Colorado when Colorado St. takes on the Buffaloes from Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Saturday, Sept. 1 (4:00 PM ET) and the Wisconsin Badgers look to build on last year’s Rose Bowl season when they travel to Oregon St. on Saturday, Sept. 8 (4:00 PM ET) for a match-up against the Beavers on FX. These games headline doubleheader coverage on FX for the first five weeks of the season.

Coming off its most successful season yet, with record ratings and 16 games featuring a top 25-ranked team, BTN airs 15 Big Ten games during the first three weekends of the 2012 season, including the debut of the Urban Meyer era at Ohio State and the return of defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin Badgers. Overall, BTN televises over 40 football games this fall, again ensuring that all Big Ten home football games are televised nationally.

Additionally, FOX Sports boasts exclusive coverage of college football’s Pac-12 Conference Football Championship Game on Friday, November 30 (8:00 PM ET) followed by the Big Ten Conference Football Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 1 (8:00 PM ET) from Indianapolis.  FOX Sports wraps up its 2012-13 campaign with an exciting Big 12/SEC match-up in the Cotton Bowl Classic live from Cowboys Stadium on Friday, Jan. 4 (8:00 PM ET).

And after this jump break, the entire Fox Sports Media Group college football schedule. Look out.

(continue reading…)

ESPN Adds A Whole Slew of Games To Its 2012 College Football Schedule

This came into the Fang’s Bites inbox last week, but due to my family commitments, I couldn’t post it until now. This is from ESPN regarding its 2012 college football schedule. This adds 68 games to an already extensive schedule. These include contests from the Big East, Big Ten, Mid-American, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC.

Some of the contests include Texas A&M’s first-ever game as a member of the Southeastern Conference. There will also be 8 Big Ten home games in the first three weeks of the 2012 season.

In addition, ESPN will air Penn State at Ohio marking the debut of new Nittany Lion coach Bill O’Brien, marking the first time that Joe Paterno will not be overseeing the PSU program dating back to 1966.

Here’s what ESPN is saying about its schedule.

Sixty-Eight College Football Games Added to ESPN’s 2012 Schedule

ESPN continues to build its extensive 2012 college football schedule, adding 68 games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. The matchups involve home games from the SEC, Big Ten, BIG EAST, Mid-American, Sun Belt and Western Athletic conferences. The announcement also includes the MEAC/SWAC Challenge and six ESPNU Thursday night telecasts from the two prominent HBCU (Historically Black College/University) leagues.

In the first three weeks, ESPN will televise games from all 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences plus BYU, Notre Dame and Navy. Additional selections, including home games from the SEC, Pac-12 and Big 12, will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Every game will also be available via WatchESPN, which delivers live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 on PCs, smartphones and tablets to fans who receive ESPN’s linear networks as part of their video subscription from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Verizon FiOS TV.

Highlights:

• Five additional season-kickoff games on Thursday, Aug. 30: the opening night will be highlighted by an ESPN doubleheader beginning with South Carolina at Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. ET followed by the previously announced Washington State at BYU game at 10:15 p.m. ESPNU will televise Texas A&M’s first game as a member of the Southeastern Conference when the Aggies visit defending Western Athletic Conference champion Louisiana Tech at 7:30 p.m.
• Eight home Big Ten Conference games in the first three weeks of the season, highlighted by a 3:30 p.m. game on ABC and ESPN2 each Saturday: Southern Mississippi at Nebraska (Sept. 1), Air Force at Michigan (Sept. 8) and Navy at Penn State (Sept. 15).
• Including two previously announced games, ESPN networks will cover the debut of eight head coaches with their new team in the first weekend: Tim Beckman (Illinois), Terry Bowden (Akron), Paul Chryst (Pittsburgh), Ellis Johnson (Southern Miss), Bill O’Brien (Penn State) and Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M); previously announced games include Larry Fedora (North Carolina against Elon Saturday, Sept. 1, at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN3) and Mike Leach (Washington State at BYU Thursday, Aug. 30, at 10:15 p.m. on ESPN).
• ESPN’s telecast of Penn State against Ohio (Saturday, Sept. 1, at noon) will mark the debut of Nittany Lions head coach Bill O’Brien, the school’s first new head coach in 46 years.
• Three defending conference champions in the opening weekend: Louisiana Tech (WAC), Northern Illinois (MAC) and Southern Mississippi (Conference USA).
• ESPNU will televise three games involving Big Ten teams on the first two Saturdays of the season, including a doubleheader from the state of Illinois on September 1: Western Michigan at Illinois at noon followed by Iowa vs. Northern Illinois from Chicago’s Soldier Field at 3:30 p.m. ESPNU will also televise Michigan State at Central Michigan on September 8 at 3:30 p.m.
• Multiple games involving teams ranked in a preseason College Football Live preseason top 25 poll.

ESPN will provide the most extensive multiplatform college football coverage with more than 450 regular-season and postseason games, concluding with the Discover BCS National Championship, across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN Radio, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile, ESPN GamePlan and ESPN Goal Line. In addition to game action, ESPN will deliver news, analysis, features and highlights across College GameDay, College Football Live and multiple other television shows as well as ESPN.com, ESPN Radio and ESPN The Magazine.

Newly Announced ESPN 2012 College Football Telecasts (additional selections will be announced later):

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Thu, Aug 30	7 p.m.	South Carolina at Vanderbilt	ESPN
	7 p.m.	Central Florida at Akron	ESPN3*
	7 p.m.	Eastern Michigan at Ball State	ESPN3*
	7:30 p.m.	Texas A&M vs. Louisiana Tech (from Independence Stadium – Shreveport, LA)	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	Massachusetts at Connecticut	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Local Package
Fri, Aug 31	TBD	Villanova at Temple	ESPN3*
Sat, Sep 1	Noon	Ohio at Penn State	ESPN
	Noon	Northwestern at Syracuse	ESPN2
	Noon	Western Michigan at Illinois	ESPNU
	3:30 p.m.	Southern Mississippi at No. 17 Nebraska	ABC & ESPN2**
	3:30 p.m.	Iowa vs. Northern Illinois (from Solider Field – Chicago)	ESPNU
	6 p.m.	Youngstown State at Pittsburgh	ESPN3*
	7 p.m.	Tennessee-Chattanooga at South Florida	ESPN3*
Sun, Sep 2	Noon	MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented by Disney: Bethune-Cookman vs. Alabama State (from Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium – Orlando)	ESPN
Sat, Sep 8	Noon	Central Florida at No. 20 Ohio State	ESPN2
	Noon	Maryland at Temple	ESPNU
	Noon	NC State at Connecticut	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Network
	3:30 p.m.	Air Force at No. 10 Michigan	ABC & ESPN2**
	3:30 p.m.	No. 12 Michigan State at Central Michigan	ESPNU
	3:30 p.m.	Indiana at Massachusetts	ESPN3*
	3:30 p.m.	Howard at Rutgers	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Local Package
	7 p.m.	Memphis at Arkansas State	ESPN3*
	7 p.m.	Louisiana-Lafayette at Troy	ESPN3*
	TBD	Texas Tech at Texas State	TBD
Thu, Sep 13	7:30 p.m.	Mississippi Valley State at Southern	ESPNU
Sat, Sep 15	Noon	California at No. 20 Ohio State	ABC
	Noon	Arkansas State at No. 17 Nebraska	ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
	Noon	No. 19 Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh	ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
	3:30 p.m.	Navy at Penn State	ABC & ESPN2**
	3:30 p.m.	North Carolina at Louisville	ABC & ESPN2**
	7 p.m.	Rice at Louisiana Tech	ESPN3*
	7 p.m.	Delaware State at Cincinnati	ESPN3*
	7 p.m.	Mississippi State at Troy	ESPN3*
	8 p.m.	Colorado State at San Jose State	ESPN3*
Wed, Sep 19	7 p.m.	Kent State at Buffalo	ESPNU
Thu, Sep 20	7:30 p.m.	Arkansas Pine Bluff at Alabama State	ESPNU
Sat, Sep 22	Noon	Massachusetts at Miami (OH)	ESPN3 & MAC Game of the Week
	2 p.m.	Connecticut at Western Michigan	ESPN3*
	3:30 p.m.	Gardner-Webb at Pittsburgh	ESPN3*
	4:30 pm	South Florida at Ball State	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Louisville at Florida International	ESPNU or ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Southern Mississippi at Western Kentucky	ESPN3*
	8 p.m.	New Mexico at New Mexico State	ESPN3*
	TBD	Kansas at Northern Illinois	ESPNU or ESPN3
Thu, Sep 27	7:30 p.m.	Morgan State at North Carolina A&T	ESPNU
Sat, Sep 29	Noon	Buffalo at Connecticut	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Network
	Noon	Ball State at Kent State	ESPN3 & MAC Game of the Week
	8 p.m.	UNLV at Utah State	ESPN3*
	TBD	Nevada at Texas State	TBD
Sat, Oct 6	Noon	Buffalo at Ohio	ESPN3 & MAC Game of the Week
	7 p.m.	UNLV at Louisiana Tech	ESPN3 & WAC Syndication
Sat, Oct 13	4 p.m.	Utah State at San Jose State	ESPN3 & WAC Syndication
Thu, Oct 18	7:30 p.m.	Hampton at NC Central	ESPNU
Sat, Oct 20	Noon	Northern Illinois at Akron	ESPN3 & MAC Game of the Week
	1 p.m.	Army at Eastern Michigan	ESPN3*
	3:30 pm	Pittsburgh at Buffalo	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Idaho at Louisiana Tech	ESPN3 & WAC Syndication
	TBD	Cincinnati at Toledo	ESPNU or ESPN3
Thu, Oct 25	7:30 p.m.	Delaware State at Morgan State	ESPNU
Sat, Oct 27	Noon	Northern Illinois at Western Michigan	ESPN3 & MAC Game of the Week
	3:30 pm	Kent State at Rutgers	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Local Package
Sat, Nov 3	4 p.m.	Texas-San Antonio at Louisiana Tech	ESPN3 & WAC Syndication
	TBD	Western Michigan at Central Michigan	ESPN3*
Sat, Nov 10	3:30 p.m.	Navy at Troy	ESPN3*
Sat, Nov 17	Noon	Rutgers at Cincinnati	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Network
	Noon	Kent State at Bowling Green	ESPN3 & MAC Game of the Week
Thu, Nov 22	4 p.m.	Tuskegee at Alabama State	ESPNU
Sat, Nov 24	3 p.m.	Idaho at Utah State	ESPN3 & WAC Syndication

* ESPN3 exclusive game
** Reverse mirror in which ESPN2 will regionalize two games on ABC to markets not receiving the telecasts

More college football stuff coming up.

A Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts Trifecta

Let’s provide you with three thoughts on this Tuesday. You know the drill.

• After learning that her contract was expiring, leading to speculation that she was about to leave, seemingly leaving, then indeed she was leaving, we finally got the official wordfrom NBCUniversal that Michelle Beadle was joining the company.It’s a good move for her. She’ll still have a hand in sports with a show on NBC Sports Network and appear on big events like the Olympics, NFL Kickoff, the Triple Crown and down the road, the Super Bowl. In addition, Michelle will be the New York-based correspondent for Access Hollywood. If you read the NBC press release, you’ll notice that there was plenty of mentions of her past entertainment work as well as her sports resumé.I know I said sports wasn’t in Beadle’s future and I was partly right in my thoughts. It will be interesting to see if her NBC Sports Network show will be weekly or monthly. I think the show won’t be a daily series, but you never know. Michelle will be a guest on an upcoming edition of Sports Media Weekly with Keith Thibault and I and we’ll be asking her what her role at NBC Sports will be. And I’m sure she’ll continue to be a Friend of Fang’s Bites.
• Before NBC’s Beadle announcement, the big news on Monday was the surprising development that ESPN had removed Pam Wardfrom its college football coverage. Since 2000, Ward had a weekly assignment starting with noon ET Big Ten games on ESPN2. While there’s no arguing that she was a trailblazer, becoming the first woman to regularly call football on a major television network, there was certainly no argument that she was polarizing among viewers.The original Awful Announcing site under original editor, Brian Powell named its Worst College Football Announcing Awards, The Pammies, after Ward. While some media writers like Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star were squarely in her corner, your humble blogger found Ward’s play calling to be sorely lacking. For four years running, she was the “winner” of Worst Play-by-Play in my annual College Football TV Awards and had it named after her last year. Even with her not calling college football this year, the award will still be named in her dishonor.

  Beth Mowins is the lone female on ESPN still calling college football and I think she’s much better than Ward.

• And another Monday development, CBS announced that it was sublicensinga package of ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 basketball games from ESPN. It’s something CBS had to do to continue airing marquee conference matchups during the regular season. While CBS dominates the college basketball postseason, it’s ESPN that carries the load of the regular with new contracts in tow with the three aforementioned conferences. It’s kind of like doing business with the Devil, but knowing you have to do it in order to survive. While that analogy is certainly a stretch, it’s not too far off as ESPN is the 800 lb. gorilla that has most, if not all the bananas in its possession.Let’s not cry for CBS here, it has contracts of its own with the Big East, Big Ten and SEC, but it needed a sublicense agreement with the Alleged Worldwide Leader to continue to air a diversified college basketball portfolio. I wonder if we’ll see similar arrangements for other sports with ESPN down the line.

We’re done for now.

A Few More Overdue Sports Media Thoughts

I’ll do a common theme in this particular sports media thoughts post. This will deal with college sports. The thoughts will be in bullet forms, of course.

• With the Big 12 about to sign the next Mega Millions TV deal, it leaves just the Big East’s media rights in doubt. We know the ACC will extend its current deal with ESPN with the expansion of two more teams. The fact that ESPN and Fox have locked up long term deals with most of the BCS conferences leaves other mpnetworks fighting for scraps.

  NBC signed with the Colonial Athletic Association and Ivy League. CBS Sports Network inked a deal with the Mountain West.

  The Big East is still in play and NBC has been targeting the conference since last summer when it left a big deal from ESPN on the table causing major upheaval with Syracuse and Pittsburgh fleeing for the ACC and West Virginia packing its bags for Big 12.

  ESPN has long-term deals with the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and can pretty much cherry pick its football and basketball schedules to its liking.

  And with many deals not expiring until well into the next decade, any rival network will have a long wait to get into the major college sports game.

• The resignation of Big East Commissioner John Marinatto hardly comes as a surprise. As mentioned, the league is in a state of flux as the football and basketball schools are wondering which side has more power. And as a new media rights deal is on the horizon, it remains to be seen if the conference can ever match the glory years of the 1980′s in both influence and money.
• The Pac-12 Networks announce the first three members of the on-air team later today. We know former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel will be an analyst, but any other names are just speculation. It will be interesting to see who joins from here on end.

That’s all.

Dropping A Few Tuesday Links

Let’s provide a few links here. Don’t think I can do a full set, but I’ll try.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand says MLB and Sirius XM have come to terms on streaming audio of live baseball games and will eventually be able to provide both home and away feeds starting next month.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age reports NBC is seeking close to $1 million per 30-second spot for its first-ever Thanksgiving Night NFL game.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today notes that the NFL has signed Tide as its official laundry detergent.

Marlen Garcia at USA Today’s Campus Rivalry blog writes that ESPN is interested in hiring former Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg as an analyst.

Bryan Armen Graham of Sports Illustrated talks with rapper Nas about ESPN using one of his songs for the NFL Draft and Jeremy Lin.

Ed Sherman says the latest ESPN promo featuring a man named Michael Jordan has gone viral.

Todd Spangler at Multichannel News reports that Microsoft is bringing both ESPN and CBS Interactive as advertisers to its Xbox 360 platform.

Tim Baysinger of Multichannel says Fox Sports Media Group will air fights from Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Most of them will be on Fox Deportes.

Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk says the NFL has reminded teams not to leak their draft picks before Commish Roger Goodell makes the official announcement on ESPN and NFL Network.

Mike Florio of PFT says you won’t see Warren Sapp on NFL Network during the draft.

Florio looks at some potential ESPN-on-ESPN crime between reporter John Barr and analyst Bill Polian.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that the NBA’s TV partners are on pace for another ratings record.

John Plunkett of the London (UK) Guardian looks at a new landmark radio deal with the English Premier League that an upstart British company could sublicense to the States.

MediaRantz says the NFL Network completely ignored the Mickey Loomis-New Orleans Saints eavesdropping story that was first reported by ESPN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says notorious cheating website AshleyMadison.com will reportedly pay a woman $1 million for schtupping Tim Tebow.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the dying art of the newspaper sports cartoon.

Gary Myers of the New York Daily News says the Saints are vehemently denying ESPN’s reports that GM Mickey Loomis eavesdropped on gameday radio transmissions.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union has ESPN’s Big Ten Football primetime schedule.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes a local record rating for Sunday’s Game 6 of the Bruins-Capitals OT game.

The Dallas Morning News reports on a domestic dispute that turned ugly between NFL Network’s Deion Sanders and his estranged wife. Deion tweeted what happened as the drama unfolded.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that Sunday’s Thunder-Lakers game on ABC set a local ratings record.

Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that it appears that Time Warner Cable may not pick up Fox Sports San Diego at all shutting out Padres fans this season.

Steve Donohue of Fierce Cable reports on one TV industry giant telling a Senate committee that ESPN and other cable TV companies should not be allowed to sell their programming directly to viewers.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing notes that Captain Blowhard is bitterly whining once again about not getting a Grantland writer credentialed.

Ryan Yoder of AA says ESPN is swinging the axe over a critique questioning its relationship with the Poynter Review Project.

Matt Yoder of AA notes that Jose Canseco has apparently deleted his Twitter account. Good riddance, Steroids Boy.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox saw a drop in its overnight ratings for the Kansas Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

SMW says the NBA’s TV partners do well when they carry the Miami Heat.

Beau Denison of Sports Page Magazine asks of boxing fans if they should be angry at HBO and Top Rank promoters for the way they handle the Sweet Science.

San Diego Padres fan blog Gaslamp Ball says if Time Warner Cable won’t pick up Fox Sports San Diego, then why should Friar fans keep the cable provider?

And we’re going to leave it there for today.

2012 Big Ten Primetime Football Games

These grids comes courtesy of Matt’s College Sports. This is the schedule of primetime football games in the Big Ten Conference this season. The regular season games will be on either ABC, Big Ten Network, ESPN or ESPN2.

As it was last year, the Big Ten Conference Championship Game will air on Fox and be called by Gus Johnson and Charles Davis.

Here’s the schedule.

Network Telecasts

Game	Network	Time
Notre Dame at Michigan St.		Saturday 9/15 8:00 PM
Wisconsin at Nebraska	or or	Saturday 9/29 8:00 PM
Nebraska at Ohio St.	or or	Saturday 10/6 8:00 PM
Michigan at Nebraska	or or	Saturday 10/27 8:00 PM
Big Ten Championship (at Indianapolis, IN)		Saturday 12/1 TBA

National Cable Telecasts

Game	Network	Time
Boise St. at Michigan St.		Friday 8/31 8:00 PM
Ohio St. at Penn St.	or	Saturday 10/27 6:00 PM

Regional Telecasts

Game	Network	Time
Indiana St. at Indiana		Saturday 9/1 8:00 PM
Vanderbilt at Northwestern		Saturday 9/8 8:00 PM
Ball St. at Indiana		Saturday 9/15 8:00 PM
Utah St. at Wisconsin		Saturday 9/15 8:00 PM
Louisiana Tech at Illinois		Saturday 9/22 8:00 PM
Syracuse at Minnesota		Saturday 9/22 8:00 PM
Ohio St. at Indiana		Saturday 10/13 8:00 PM
Penn St. at Iowa		Saturday 10/20 8:00 PM

That’s it.

Grinding Out The Monday Linkage

Let’s go for some linkage now.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN and NFL Network have agreed not to show prospects on the phone spoiling the suspense of the NFL Draft.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN and NFL Network as they prepare for their NFL Draft coverage later this week.

Congrats to Jimmy Traina at SI for 10 years of Hot Clicks. The site has been very good to Fang’s Bites since first linking here in 2008.

Patrick Stiegman of ESPN.com writes a guest editorial in Sports Business Journal responding to another guest editorial from last month criticizing the network’s journalism ethics.

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com says the Big Ten Conference will have a lot of say at the next BCS meetings thanks to its TV network.

In the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman talks with NBC Sports Network programming chief Jon Miller about the channel’s lowly ratings at its outset.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos gives praise to MLB’s social media efforts.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Time Warner Cable has added ESPN and several other sports networks to its mobile and tablet apps.

Sam Laird at Mashable says ESPN is launching a social campaign to determine where the next College GameDay promo will be shot.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that the NHL’s TV ratings are red hot.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing says it appears that the Atlanta Falcons have turned down HBO to go on Hard Knocks this season.

At Pro Sports Communications, Martine Charles stresses that in a crisis, hiding from the media is the worst thing to do.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy wonders if parity in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs could hurt the TV ratings in the long run.

The Connecticut Post says ESPN SportsCenter anchor Sara Walsh will host a business breakfast meeting next month.

Tanzina Vega at the New York Times notes that Jeep has become a USA Basketball sponsor in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post labels Yankees radio voice John Sterling a fraud. Wow.

The New York Post points out that Tennis Channel’s Mayleen Ramey is the new host of SNY’s Beer Money quiz show.

Dr. Doom & Gloom at the New York Daily News says the growing feud between the Giants and Jets is the main reason why Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning was pulled from ESPN Radio NY which is the Jets flagship radio station.

Richard Huff at the Daily News speaks with MLB Network’s Sam Ryan.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union feels Fox’s coverage of Philip Humber’s perfect game on Saturday was flawed.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News says be prepared for an online Olympic smorgasboard.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that MASN’s Kristina Akra has been doused with Gatorade by the victorious Nationals again. This is three times by my count. In fact, here’s the video of Kristina getting doused with the bucket by Rick Ankiel and Chad Tracy. Good angle from behind the Nats dugout.

Guyism notes the first two Gatorade baths.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN NFL Draft analyst Bill Polian about former Baylor QB Robert Griffin III.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times looks back at the weekend in sports TV.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says a local sports anchor who’s been taking heat for his reporting of the Magic’s Dwight Howard story this season responded to criticisms.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle links us to his appearance on NPR over the weekend.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says a new BCS Championship system will be bandied about this week and get a lot of interest from the networks.

Dan Whitney of the Cherokee (IA) Chronicle Times says thanks to NBC’s blanket coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, he’s a fan of hockey again.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post notes the increasing coverage of the NFL Draft.

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

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin says the ratings show that Blue Jays fans are being patient with the team.

Sports Media Watch says NBA TV will produce its own playoff telecasts which is a departure from the last few years.

SMW says Fox garnered good overnight numbers for its Saturday Baseball broadcast thanks to Philip Humber’s perfect game and the Yankees stunning comeback against the Red Sox.

And SMW says the NHL on NBC drew very good ratings over the weekend.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says a Western Conference Semifinal featuring Nashville and Phoenix may not be as disastrous as some observers think.

Joe Favorito has his weekly sports business roundup.

A.T. Faust III at AppAdvice says ESPN’s iPad website fails to take advantage of the tablet’s strengths.

Bike World News says Fox Sports Net will pick up the Tour of Utah cycling race again this year.

And that’s going to do us for today.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 03/10 & 03/11/12, All Times Eastern

Men’s schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, March 10

College GameDay — ESPN, noon

Men’s

ACC Tournament, Atlanta, GA
Semifinals
North Carolina State vs. North Carolina — ACC Network/ESPN, 1 p.m.
Florida State vs. Duke — ACC Network/ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

America East Championship, Stony Brook, NY
Vermont at Stony Brook — ESPN, 11 a.m.

Atlantic 10 Tournament, Atlantic City, NJ
Semifinals
UMass vs. St. Bonaventure — CBS Sports Network, 1 p.m.
Dayton vs. St. Louis — CBS Sports Network, 3:30 p.m.

Big East Championship, New York, NY
Cincinnati vs. Louisville — ESPN/ESPN 3D, 9 p.m.

Big Ten Tournament, Indianapolis, IN
Semifinals
Michigan State vs. Wisconsin — CBS, 1 p.m.
Michigan vs. Ohio State — CBS, 3:30 p.m.

Big 12 Championship, Kansas City, MO
Baylor vs. Missouri — ESPN, 6 p.m.

Big West Championship, Anaheim, CA
Long Beach State vs. UC-Santa Barbara — ESPN2, 10 p.m.

Conference USA Championship, Memphis, TN
Marshall vs. Memphis — CBS, 11:30 a.m.

MAC Championship, Cleveland, OH
Akron vs. Ohio — ESPN2, 8 p.m.

MEAC Championship, Winston-Salem, NC
Bethune-Cookman vs. Norfolk State — ESPN2, 1 p.m.

Mountain West Championship, Las Vegas, NV
San Diego State vs. New Mexico — NBC Sports Network, 7 p.m.

Pac-12 Championship, Los Angeles, CA
Arizona vs. Colorado — CBS, 6 p.m.

SEC Tournament, New Orleans, LA
Semifinals
Kentucky vs. Florida — ABC, 1 p.m.
Vanderbilt vs. Mississippi — ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Southland Championship, Katy, TX
Lamar vs. McNeese State — ESPN2, 3 p.m.

SWAC Championship, Garland, TX
Mississippi Valley State vs. Texas Southern — ESPNU, 8 p.m.

WAC Championship, Las Vegas, NV
New Mexico State vs. Louisiana Tech — ESPN2, midnight

Women’s

Big South Tournament, High Point, NC
Liberty vs. Charleston Southern — SportSouth, 1:30 p.m.
High Point vs. Radford — SportSouth, 4 p.m.

Big 12 Championship, Kansas City, MO
Baylor vs. Texas A&M — Fox Sports Net, noon

CAA Tournament, Upper Marlboro, MD
Semifinals
Delaware vs. UNC-Wilmington — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic Plus/New England), CSS, The Comcast Network, noon
James Madison vs. Drexel — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic Plus/New England), CSS, The Comcast Network, 2:30 p.m.

Conference USA Championship, Memphis, TN
UTEP vs. Tulane — CBS Sports Network, 8 p.m.

MAC Championship, Cleveland, OH
Central Michigan vs Eastern Michigan — STO, 1 p.m.

MEAC Championship, Winston-Salem, NC
Howard vs. Hampton — ESPNU, 4 p.m.

Missouri Valley Tournament, St. Charles, MO
Semifinals
Missouri State vs. Creighton — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest, 2:30 p.m.
Drake vs. Wichita State — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest, 5 p.m.

Mountain West Championship, Las Vegas, NV
San Diego State vs. New Mexico — NBC Sports Network, 4 p.m.

Pac-12 Championship, Los Angeles, CA
Stanford vs. Cal — Fox Sports Net, 2:30 p.m.

WAC Championship, Las Vegas, NV
Louisiana Tech vs. Fresno State WAC Sports Network, 6 p.m.

Sunday, March 11

Men’s

College GameDay — ESPN2, 11 a.m./ESPN, noon
Bracketology — ESPN, 3 p.m.

ACC Championship, Atlanta, GA
North Carolina vs. Florida State — ACC Network/ESPN, 1 p.m.

Atlantic 10 Championship, Atlantic City, NJ
St. Bonaventure vs. Xavier — CBS, 1 p.m.

Big Ten Championship, Indianapolis, IN
Michigan State vs. Ohio State — CBS, 3:30 p.m.

SEC Championship, New Orleans, LA
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt — ABC, 1 p.m.

NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show — CBS, 6 p.m.
Bracketology — ESPN, 7 p.m.
NCAA Hardcore Brackets — truTV, 7 p.m.
Bracket Breakdown — CBS Sports Network, 8 p.m.
Crunch Time — ESPNU, 8 p.m.
Duke ’91 & ’92: Back to Back — truTV, 8 p.m.
Bracketology — ESPN2, 9 p.m.
NIT Selection Show — ESPNU, 9 p.m.
Tournament Countdown: The Experts — ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.

Women’s

Big South Championship, High Point, NC
Liberty vs. High Point — SportSouth, 4 p.m.

CAA Championship, Upper Marlboro, MD
Delaware vs. Drexel — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)/CSS, 12:30 p.m.

Horizon League Championship
Green Bay vs. Detroit — ESPNU, 1 p.m.

Missouri Valley Championship, St. Charles, MO
Creighton vs. Drake — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest, 3 p.m.

Northeast Championship, Fairfield, CT
Monmouth at Sacred Heart — ESPNU, 3 p.m.

Championship Week Conference Tournament TV Schedules

Ok, let’s provide the college basketball tournament conference tournament schedules plus TV networks that will air the games.

You’ll see each of the games included in the Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks, but this is also a one stop shopping post for you as well.

Bookmark this and I’ll also update this as the days progress. All times are Eastern.

ACC TOURNAMENT, PHILIPS ARENA, ATLANTA, GA

First Round — Thursday, March 8

#8 Maryland vs. #9 Wake Forest– ACC Network/ESPNU, noon
#5 North Carolina State vs. #12 Boston College — ACC Network/ESPNU, 2:30 p.m.
#7 Clemson vs. #10 Virginia Tech — ACC Network/ESPNU, 7 p.m.
#6 Miami (FL) vs. #11 Georgia Tech — ACC Network/ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Friday, March 9

#1 North Carolina vs. #8 Maryland — ACC Network/ESPN2, noon
#4 Virginia vs. #5 North Carolina State — ACC Network/ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.
#2 Duke vs. # 10 Virginia Tech — ACC Network/ESPN2, 7 p.m.
#3 Florida State vs. #6 Miami (FL) — ACC Network/ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Saturday, March 10

#1 North Carolina vs. #5 North Carolina State — ACC Network/ESPN, 1 p.m.
#2 Duke vs #3 Florida State — ACC Network/ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

Championship — Sunday, March 11

#1 North Carolina vs. #3 Florida State — ACC Network/ESPN, 1 p.m.

AMERICA EAST CHAMPIONSHIP, STONY BROOK ARENA, STONY BROOK, NY

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#2 Vermont at #1 Stony Brook — ESPN2, 11 a.m.

ATLANTIC 10 TOURNAMENT, BOARDWALK HALL, ATLANTIC CITY, NJ

First Round — Tuesday, March 6

#9 Duquense at #8 UMass– Atlantic10.com, 7 p.m.
#12 Charlotte at #5 St. Joseph’s — Atlantic10.com, 7 p.m.
#10 Richmond at #7 LaSalle — Atlantic10.com, 7 p.m.
#11 George Washington at #6 Dayton — Atlantic10.com, 7 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Friday, March 9

#1 Temple vs. #8 UMass — A10 Network, noon
#4 St. Bonaventure vs. #5 St. Joseph’s– A10 Network, 2:30 p.m.
#2 St. Louis vs. #7 LaSalle — A10 Network, 6:30 p.m.
#3 Xavier vs. #6 Dayton — A10 Network, 9 p.m.

Semifinals — Saturday, March 10

#8 UMass vs. #4 St. Bonaventure — CBS Sports Network, 1 p.m.
#2 St. Louis vs. #3 Dayton — CBS Sports Network, 3:30 p.m.

Championship — Sunday, March 11

#3 Xavier vs. #4 St. Bonaventure — CBS, 1 p.m.

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY

First Round — Tuesday, March 6

#16 DePaul vs. #9 UConn — ESPN2, noon
#13 Pittsburgh vs. #12 St. John — ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.
#15 Providence vs. #10 Seton Hall — ESPNU, 7 p.m.
#14 Villanova vs. #11 Rutgers — ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.

Second Round — Wednesday, March 7

#8 West Virginia vs. #9 UConn — ESPN, noon
#5 Georgetown vs. #13 Pittsburgh — ESPN, 2:30 p.m.
#7 Louisville vs. #10 Seton Hall — ESPN, 7 p.m.
#6 South Florida vs. #14 Villanova — ESPN, 9:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#1 Syracuse vs. #9 UConn — ESPN, noon
#4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Georgetown — ESPN, 2:30 p.m.
#2 Marquette vs. #7 Louisville — ESPN, 7 p.m.
#3 Notre Dame vs. #6 South Florida — ESPN, 9:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#1 Syracuse vs. #4 Cincinnati — ESPN, 7 p.m.
#7 Louisville vs. #3 Notre Dame — ESPN, 9:30 p.m.

Championship, Saturday, March 10

#4 Cincinnati vs. #7 Louisville — ESPN, 9 p.m.

BIG SKY TOURNAMENT, DAHLBERG ARENA, MISSOULA, MONTANA

Semifinals — Tuesday, March 6

#2 Weber State vs. #3 Portland State — Altitude, 7:30 p.m.
#1 Montana vs. #4 Eastern Washington — Altitude, 10 p.m.

Championship — Wednesday, March 7

#2 Weber State vs. #1 Montana — ESPN2, 9 p.m.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT, BANKERS LIFE FIELDHOUSE, INDIANAPOLIS, IN

First Round — Thursday, March 8

#8 Iowa vs. #9 Illinois — Big Ten Network, 11:30 a.m.
#5 Indiana vs. #12 Penn State — Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
#7 Northwestern vs. #10 Minnesota — ESPN2, 7 p.m.
#6 Purdue vs. #11 Nebraska — ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Friday, March 9

#1 Michigan State vs. #8 Iowa — ESPN, noon
#4 Wisconsin vs. #5 Indiana — ESPN, 2:30 p.m.
#2 Michigan vs. #10 Minnesota — Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.
#3 Ohio State vs. #6 Purdue — Big Ten Network, 9:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Saturday, March 10

#1Michigan State vs. #4 Wisconsin — CBS, 1:30 p.m.
#2 Michigan vs. #3 Ohio State — CBS, 4 p.m.

Championship — Sunday, March 11

#1 Michigan State vs. #3 Ohio State — CBS, 3:30 p.m.

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT, SPRINT CENTER, KANSAS CITY, MO

First Round — Wednesday, March 7

#8 Oklahoma vs. #9 Texas A&M — Big 12 Network, 7 p.m.
#7 Oklahoma State vs. #10 Texas Tech — Big 12 Network, 9:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#4 Baylor vs. #5 Kansas State — ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.
#1 Kansas vs. #9 Texas A&M — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
#2 Missouri vs. #7 Oklahoma State– Big 12 Network, 7 p.m.
#3 Iowa State vs. #6 Texas — Big 12 Network, 9:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#4 Baylor vs. #1 Kansas — Big 12 Network/ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.
#2 Missouri vs. #6 Texas — Big 12 Network/ESPNU, 10 p.m.

Championship, Saturday, March 10

#4 Baylor vs. #2 Missouri — ESPN, 6 p.m.

BIG WEST TOURNAMENT, HONDA CENTER, ANAHEIM, CA

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#3 UC-Santa Barbara vs. #6 Pacific — Big West.TV, 3 p.m.
#2 Cal State Fullerton vs. #7 UC-Irvine — Big West.TV, 5:30 p.m.
#1 Long Beach State vs. #8 UC-Davis — Big West.TV, 9 p.m.
#4 Cal Poly vs. No. 5 UC-Riverside — Big West.TV, 11:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#1 Long Beach State vs. #7 UC-Irvine — ESPN3.com, 9:30 p.m.
#3 UC-Santa Barbara vs. #4 Cal Poly — ESPNU, midnight

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#1 Long Beach State vs. #3 UC-Santa Barbara — ESPN2, 10 p.m.

COLONIAL ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, RICHMOND COLISEUM, RICHMOND, VA

Championship — Monday, March 5

Drexel vs. VCU — ESPN, 7 p.m.

CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT, FEDEX FORUM, MEMPHIS, TN

First Round — Wednesday, March 7

#7 Rice vs. #10 East Carolina — CSS, 1 p.m.
#6 Marshall vs. #11 SMU — CSS, 3:30 p.m.
#8 UTEP vs. #9 Houston — CSS, 7:30 p.m.
#5 UAB vs. #12 Tulane – CSS, 10 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#2 Southern Mississippi vs. #10 East Carolina — CBS Sports Network, 1 p.m.
#3 Tulsa vs. #6 Marshall– CBS Sports Network, 3:30 p.m.
#1 Memphis vs. #8 UTEP– CBS Sports Network, 7:30 p.m.
#4 Central Florida vs. #5 UAB– CBS Sports Network, 10 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#2 Southern Mississippi vs. #6 Marshall — CBS Sports Network, 4 p.m.
#1 Memphis vs. #4 Central Florida — CBS Sports Network, 6:30 p.m.

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#6 Marshall vs. #1 Memphis — CBS, 11:30 a.m.

HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP, ATHLETICS-RECREATION CENTER, VALPARAISO, IN

Championship — Tuesday, March 6

Detroit at Valparaiso — ESPN, 9 p.m.

METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, MASSMUTUAL CENTER, SPRINGFIELD, MA

Championship — Monday, March 5

#2 Fairfield vs. #4 Loyola (MD) — ESPN2, 7 p.m.

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, QUICKEN LOANS ARENA, CLEVELAND, OH

Second Round — Wednesday, March 7

#12 Northern Illinois vs. #8 Western Michigan — STO, 7 p.m.
#11 Central Michigan vs. #7 Toledo — STO, 9:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#4 Kent State vs. #8 Western Michigan — STO, 7 p.m.
#3 Ohio vs. #11 Central Michigan — STO, 9:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#1 Akron vs. #4 Kent State — STO, 7 p.m.
#2 Buffalo vs. #3 Ohio — STO, 9:30 p.m.

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#1 Akron vs. #3 Ohio — ESPN2, 8 p.m.

MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, JOEL COLISEUM, WINSTON-SALEM, NC

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#4 Bethune-Cookman vs. #2 Norfolk State — ESPNU, 1 p.m.

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, THOMAS & MACK CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#1 San Diego State vs. Boise State — the mtn., 3 p.m.
#4 Colorado State vs. #5 TCU — the mtn., 5:30 p.m.
#2 New Mexico vs. #7 Air Force — the mtn., 9 p.m.
#3 UNLV vs. #6 Wyoming — the mtn., 11:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#1 San Diego State vs. #4 Colorado State — CBS Sports Network, 9 p.m.
#2 New Mexico vs. #3 UNLV — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#1 San Diego State vs. #2 New Mexico — NBC Sports Network, 7 p.m.

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, WELLNESS CENTER, BROOKLYN, NY

Championship — Wednesday, March 7

#3 Robert Morris vs. #1 LIU — ESPN2, 7 p.m.

PAC-12 TOURNAMENT, STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA

First Round — Wednesday, March 7

#8 Washington State vs. #9 Oregon State — Fox Sports Net, 3 p.m.
#5 UCLA vs. #12 USC — Fox Sports Net, 5:30 p.m.
#7 Stanford vs. #10 Arizona State — Fox Sports Net, 9 p.m.
#6 Colorado vs. #11 Utah — Fox Sports Net, 11:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 8

#1 Washington vs. #9 Oregon State — Fox Sports Net, 3 p.m.
#4 Arizona vs. #12 UCLA — Fox Sports Net, 5:30 p.m.
#2 Cal vs. #7 Stanford — Fox Sports Net, 9 p.m.
#3 Oregon vs. #6 Colorado — Fox Sports Net, 11:30 p.m.

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#9 Oregon State vs. #4 Arizona — Fox Sports Net, 9 p.m.
#2 Cal vs. #6 Colorado — Fox Sports Net, 11:30 p.m.

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#4 Arizona vs. #6 Colorado — CBS, 6 p.m.

PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP, SOJKA PAVILION, LEWISBERG, PA

Championship — Wednesday, March 7

#1 Bucknell vs. #2 Lehigh — CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, NEW ORLEANS ARENA, NEW ORLEANS, LA

First Round — Thursday, March 8

#8 LSU vs. #9 Arkansas — SEC Network, 1 p.m.
#5 Alabama vs. #12 South Carolina — SEC Network, 3:30 p.m.
#7 Mississippi vs. #10 Auburn — SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.
#6 Mississippi State vs. #11 Georgia — SEC Network, 10 p.m.

Quarterfinals — Friday, March 9

#1 Kentucky vs. #8 LSU — SEC Network, 1 p.m.
#4 Florida vs. #5 Alabama — SEC Network, 3:30 p.m.
#2 Tennessee vs. #7 Mississippi — SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.
#3 Vanderbilt vs. #11 Georgia — SEC Network, 10 p.m.

Semifinals — Saturday, March 10

#1 Kentucky vs. #4 Florida — ABC, 1 p.m.
#7 Mississippi vs. #3 Vanderbilt — ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Championship — Sunday, March 11

#1 Kentucky vs. #3 Vanderbilt — ABC, 1 p.m.

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, U.S. CELLULAR CENTER, ASHEVILLE, NC

Championship — Monday, March 5

Davidson vs. Western Carolina — ESPN2, 9 p.m.

SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, LEONARD E. MERRILL CENTER, KATY, TX

Semifinals — Thursday, March 8

#2 Stephen F. Austin vs. #3 Lamar — Southland TV, 7 p.m.
#1 Texas-Arlington vs. #4 McNeese State — Southland TV, 9:30 p.m.

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#3 Lamar vs. #4 McNeese State — ESPN2, 3 p.m.

SOUTHWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, THE SPECIAL EVENTS CENTER, GARLAND, TX

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#1 Mississippi Valley State vs. #2 Texas Southern — ESPNU, 8 p.m.

SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT, SIOUX FALLS ARENA, SIOUX FALLS, SD

Semifinals — Monday, March 5

#1 Oral Roberts vs. #4 Western Illinois — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Detroit, 7 p.m.
#2 South Dakota State vs. #6 Southern Utah — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Detroit, 9:30 p.m

Championship — Tuesday, March 6

#4 Western Illinois vs. #2 South Dakota State — ESPN2, 9 p.m.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, THE SUMMIT ARENA, HOT SPRINGS, AR

Semifinals — Monday, March 5

#5 North Texas State vs. #9 Arkansas State — CSS/Cox Sports Television, 7 p.m.
#3 Denver vs. #7 Western Kentucky — CSS, 9:30 p.m.

Championship — Tuesday, March 6

#5 North Texas State vs. #7 Western Kentucky — ESPN2, 7 p.m.

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, ORLEANS ARENA, LAS VEGAS, NV

Semifinals — Friday, March 9

#6 Hawaii vs. #2 New Mexico State — WAC Sports Network, 9 p.m.
#1 Nevada vs. #5 Louisiana Tech — WAC Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.

Championship — Saturday, March 10

#2 New Mexico State vs. #5 Louisiana Tech — ESPN2, 11:59 p.m.

WEST COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP, ORLEANS ARENA, LAS VEGAS, NV

Championship — Monday, March 5

#1 St. Mary’s vs. #2 Gonzaga — ESPN, 9 p.m.

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/18 & 02/19/2011, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports on TV

Saturday, February 18

College GameDay live from Ann Arbor, Michigan — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m./ESPN, 8 p.m.

BracketBusters
Drexel at Cleveland State — ESPNU, 11 a.m.
Wichita State at Davidson — ESPN2, noon
Buffalo at South Dakota State — ESPNU, 1 p.m.
Akron at Oral Roberts — ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Drake at New Mexico State — ESPNU, 3 p.m.
Nevada at Iona — ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Old Dominion at Missouri State — ESPNU, 5 p.m.
St. Mary’s at Murray State — ESPN, 6 p.m.
UNC-Asheville at Ohio — ESPN3, 7 p.m.
Texas-Arlington at Weber State — ESPN3, 8 p.m.
Long Beach State at Creighton — ESPN2, 10 p.m.

11:30 a.m.
Bryant at St. Francis (NY) — Fox College Sports Atlantic/MSG Network

noon
Louisville at DePaul — Big East Network: Cox Sports Television/CSS/MASN/SNY
Marquette at UConn — ESPN

1 p.m.
Florida State at North Carolina State — ACC Network
Maryland at Virginia — ACC Network
UCLA at St. John’s — CBS
UNLV at New Mexico — CBS
UTEP at Memphis — Fox Sports Net (national)
Wake Forest at Miami (FL) — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports South/NESN

Women’s: Boise State at TCU — the mtn.

1:30 p.m.
Kansas State at Baylor — Big 12 Network
Oklahoma at Iowa State — Big 12 Network
LSU at South Carolina — SEC Network
Tennessee at Alabama — SEC Network

2 p.m.
Duquense at Temple — A-10 Network: CSS/The Comcast Network
Missouri at Texas A&M — ESPN

Women’s: Marquette at Syracuse — Big East Network: MASN/SNY
Women’s: Xavier at St. Bonaventure — CBS Sports Network

2:30 p.m.
Women’s:  Bryant at St. Francis (PA) — Fox College Sports Atlantic

3 p.m.
Arizona at Washington — Fox Sports Net (national)
Georgia Tech at Virgina Tech — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports South/NESN/Sun Sports

Women’s: South Carolina at Alabama — SEC Network

4 p.m.
Seton Hall at Cincinnati — Big East Network: Fox Sports Ohio/MASN/SNY
Texas at Oklahoma State — Big 12 Network
Lafayette at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network
St. Joseph’s at George Washington — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
Clemson at North Carolina — ESPN
San Diego State at Air Force — NBC Sports Network
Mississippi at Kentucky — SEC Network
TCU at Boise State — the mtn.

5 p.m.
Illinois at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Colorado at Utah — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
LaSalle at UMass — CBS Sports Network
Florida at Arkansas — ESPN2

Women’s: Western Kentucky at South Alabama — Fox College Sports Central

6:30 p.m.
Women’s: New Mexico at UNLV — the mtn.

7 p.m.
Georgetown at Providence — Big East Network: Cox Sports RI/Cox Sports Television/MASN/SNY
Northwestern at Minnesota — Big Ten Network
BYU at Santa Clara — ESPNU

Women’s: Texas at Kansas State — Fox Sports Net (national)

8 p.m.
Texas Tech at Kansas — Big 12 Network
Dayton at Xavier — CBS Sports Network
Western Kentucky at South Alabama — Fox College Sports Atlantic
Mississippi State at Auburn — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Southwest

9 p.m.
Ohio State at Michigan — ESPN
Notre Dame at Villanova — ESPNU
Wyoming at Colorado State — the mtn.

Sunday, February 19

noon
Women’s: Michigan at Indiana — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Maryland-Baltimore County at Hartford — CBS Sports Network
Women’s: Georgia State at George Mason — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/CSS

1 p.m.
Michigan State at Purdue — CBS
Syracuse at Rutgers — ESPN
Vanderbilt at Georgia — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Southwest/Sun Sports

Women’s: Rice at SMU — Fox Sports Net (national)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: North Carolina State at North Carolina — ESPNU

2 p.m.
Women’s: Wisconsin at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Tennessee at Mississippi — SEC Network

3 p.m.
Women’s: VCU at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus
Women’s: Duke at Maryland — ESPN2
Women’s: UCLA at USC — Fox Sports Net (national)
Women’s: South Carolina at Alabama — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: Georgia at Florida — ESPN2
Women’s: Florida State at Miami — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports South/NESN/Sun Sports

4 p.m.
Penn State at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network

5 p.m.
Women’s: Purdue at Michigan State — ESPN2
Women’s: Washington at Arizona — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
Indiana at Iowa — Big Ten Network
Duke at Boston College — ESPNU

7 p.m.
South Florida at Pittsburgh — ESPN2
Oregon at Stanford — Fox Sports Net (national)

Some Tuesday Links

Don’t have time to provide a full set of links today so I’ll give you what I’ve culled thus far. Some good stuff here.

Some stories from this week’s Sports Business Journal.

First, John Ourand reports that ESPN and MLB could butt heads over TV Everywhere streaming rights. ESPN has its model. MLB has its silly subscription model. We’ll see where it ends.

SBJ’s Liz Mullen talks with Fox NFL Sunday’s Michael Strahan about the transition from his playing career to a broadcasting career and goes inside his day on the Fox set during NFL season.

Liz chronicles the NFL Broadcast Boot Camp held every year to give players a taste of being in front of the camera.

And SBJ lists some of the current players and coaches who could make a go at broadcasting when they decide to leave the field.

One story that bears watching. Last week, the FCC opened a review on the antiquated NFL blackout rules and Todd Shields of Bloomberg has a story on it.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wrote about the FCC blackout review as well.

Gary Holmes at MediaPost looks at how the NFL continues to be a ratings draw over a 40 year span.

Tennis Channel announced on its Facebook page that it’s back on Verizon Fios systems.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News has a story on the new Tennis Channel/Verizon agreement.

John Eggerton of Multichannel says Tennis Channel wants the FCC to force Comcast to adhere to an Administrative Law Judge ruling stating the cable provider has to offer the network to its subscribers as an equal to its own Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman talks with NASCAR head honcho Brian France about the future of the sport on TV and how ESPN needs to improve its presentation.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a throwaway line from the Baltimore Ravens’ Terrell Suggs on Sunday Night Football back in November is now the subject of a nasty trademark dispute.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has details on the budding feud between UFC’s Dana White and ESPN over a report on Outside the Lines that looked at fighter pay.

Timothy Burke’s Mocksession site has a funny error from ESPN promoting tonight’s Big Ten basketball game.

Nate Smeltz at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog provides an inside look at how a game becomes SportsCenter highlight.

Shirley Brady at Brandchannel previews some of the Super Bowl ads that will air during the Big Game.

Sports TV Jobs looks at the Ten Worst Moments in Sports TV history.

At Boston Sports Media Watch, former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor/reporter Jackie Pepper chronicles her rise from covering sports in a very small market to Boston, the 7th largest in the country.

Newsday’s Neil Best tweeted that Josh Lewin of the Lisping Lewins is a candidate to join the New York Mets radio booth.

Neil says WFAN’s Mike Francesa has a new name for his show.

Neil says Giants-Packers topped the ratings on Sunday.

Back to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who looks at Fox Sports’ NFL Rules analyst Mike Pereira making a rare disagreement over a call during Sunday’s Giants-Packers game.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes a local sports reporter has been suspended for making an obscene gesture on the air.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says it appears the Ravens set a viewing record for Sunday’s game against the Texans.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams joins a local radio station as an analyst.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans-Baltimore game set a local ratings record.

David says a local TV station made a tasteless report on the Detroit Pistons’ emergency landing on Monday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the ratings for the Giants-Packers playoff game.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times says new TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal is enjoying his new role on TV.

Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star says the International Olympic Committee has thrown out the joint bid by Bell Media/CBC for the 2014/2016 Games.

Mike Silva in his Sports Media Watchdog introduces Mets fans to Josh Lewin.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that NBC got a decent rating for the NHL last Saturday.

That’s going to do it.

Time For Some Thursday Links

Let’s give you some linkage on this Thursday.

We begin with Fox NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira who doesn’t mince words on ESPN’s Jon Gruden.

Bob’s Blitz reacts to Pereira’s strong post.

Jill Goldsmith of Variety says the clock is ticking for MSG Network and Time Warner Cable to hash out a new carriage agreement.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football experienced close to a double digit percentage ratings drop this season.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says nothing delivers the ratings like football whether it be college or the NFL.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos says coaches and leagues regulating how their players use Twitter is still up for debate.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that ABC 20/20 anchor Chris Cuomo is a fan of ESPN Monday Night Countdown’s “C’mon, Man” segment.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes says the Seattle Mariners could see a huge media rights increase in the very near future.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with the venerable TV play-by-play man of the Boston Celtics, Mike Gorman.

Chad notes that the Boston sports radio wars are getting a bit tighter in the ratings.

Johnny Diaz of the Globe writes that local businesses including Celtics rightsholder Comcast SportsNet New England are glad to have the team back in action.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News looks at ESPN’s New Year’s Eve programming featuring two daredevil death-defying and record-breaking jump attempts.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette gives us his top 5 sports media stories of the year.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes about Mike Pereira’s column on Jon Gruden.

John Hopkins of the Towanda (NY) News offers to take a vow of abstinence from ESPN for a year.

Tim Pinaccio of CSNPhilly.com talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about HBO’s 24/7 series.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald says a local sports radio station is juggling its on-air lineup.

Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel says CBS Sports Network will be all-Tim Tebow from Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser notes that Auburn coach Gene Chizik will be returning to the BCS Championship Game this season, as an ESPN analyst.

At the Detroit News, Angelique S. Chegelis looks at the new partnership between the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences that would pit the conference’s football teams in interconference matchups in the first three weeks of the season. Games would benefit both conferences’ TV networks.

Tom Couzens at the Sacramento Bee gives a primer to Kings fans looking for the team’s games on satellite providers.

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if CBC can remain in the sports business.

Tommy Craggs of Deadspin looks into the Skip Baylessification of ESPN.

Kevin McCauley of SB Nation says now that charges against him have been dropped, Mike Milbury will return to NBC for the NHL Winter Classic.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Versus will utilize its NHL top analyst Eddie Olcyzk to help call its inaugural college hockey telecast this week.

Sports Media Watch continues its countdown of the Top 20 Sports Media stories of the year. Here are #5 — 2. And you have the #1 story of the year.

And that will conclude the links for now. I figured I would get them done early for a change.

The 5th Annual Fang’s Bites College Football TV Awards

It’s time for me to bring back the annual College Football TV Awards. I’ve been wanting to write this for a while. Because of my schedule over the last week, I have not been able to bring it to you until now. Thanks for your patience.

Let’s get this started.

The College GameDay Award for Best Pregame Show — Yes, College GameDay. There was integration between the ESPN primetime game and College GameDay again this year. There were just a handful of times when GameDay went to a non-ESPN game (LSU-Alabama, SEC Championship), but the show remains the same, a cultural phenomenon that seems to get bigger with each passing year. It’s still the best pregame show on television today. The signs which have been a big part of the show, seemed to grab more of the spotlight this season with the #occupygameday movement from the Dan Patrick Show and other creative signs (1, 2, 3) that slipped through the security guards at various sites. Chris Fowler remains one of the best hosts on TV, Desmond Howard has improved yearly, Kirk Herbstreit is still one of the best analysts in the sport, however, Lee Corso’s slippage after his stroke is very evident with slurred speech. Still, his headgear segment is one of the most anticipated moments on college football Saturdays. The show is still going strong.

The Keith Jackson Award for Best Play-by-Play — Joe Tessitore, ESPN/ABC. Assigned mostly to Friday nights, Joe Tessitore had the fortune to call many barnburners this season. It was as if the Law of Gus Johnson was transferred to Joe Tess. And in each of the games, Joe stepped up. The season began with a crazy 50-48 game between Baylor and TCU and continued all the way to end. During one crazy weekend, he called upsets of Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on successive nights for ESPN and ABC respectively. Joe did an excellent job throughout the season and here’s hoping he gets some Saturday primetime slots for ESPN/ABC next season.

Honorable mentions — Brad Nessler (ESPN/ABC), Gus Johnson (Fox/FX), Tom Hammond (NBC)

The Frank Broyles Award for Best Game Analyst — Charles Davis, Fox/FX. Back on college football with Gus Johnson as his new partner, Charles really had a chance to shine. Teamed previously with Thom Brennaman during Fox’s failed BCS years, Davis was weighed down by an announcer who really didn’t give him an opportunity to speak other than to agree with him. With Gus, Charles was able to spot trends, correctly predict plays ahead of time and showed some humor. Next season, Gus and Charles will call games on the Fox mothership. Here’s looking forward to some fun games in 2012.

Honorable mentions — Todd Blackledge (ESPN/ABC), Gary Danielson (CBS), Randy Cross (CBS Sports Network), Mike Mayock (NBC)

Best Overall Announcing Team — Gus Johnson/Charles Davis (Fox/FX). They didn’t have that many great games this season, the Big Ten Championship Game was probably their best of the year. However, Gus and Charles formed one of the best announcing teams in just their first season together. I was impressed how quickly they jelled and how well they worked off each other. Watching them was an enjoyable experience this season.

Honorable mentions — Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge (ESPN/ABC), Joe Tessitore/Rod Gilmore (ESPN), Tom Hammond/Mike Mayock (NBC)

The Jim Lampley Award For Best Studio Host — John Saunders, ESPN on ABC. He was hurt for much of the season due to a horrific fall, but when he came back in November, it was as if he did not miss a beat. While ESPN had various hosts such as Scott Van Pelt take John’s place, it was rather obvious that the ESPN on ABC college football studio missed Saunders. He’s really an Old Reliable in the studio chair during college football on ABC. John gets this award for this season.

Honorable Mentions — Rece Davis (ESPN), Liam McHugh (NBC/Versus)

Best Studio Analyst — Spencer Tillman, CBS. The co-host of CBS’ studio with Tim Brando, Spencer goes an excellent job breaking down the highlights and also providing strong opinions about the BCS and a potential playoff system. Spencer’s not afraid to give an opinion and has formed a very good team with Tim Brando and is also willing to share when CBS provides with him with a guest such as Archie Manning or Tony Barnhart.

Honorable Mentions — Jesse Palmer (ESPN on ABC), Doug Flutie (NBC/Versus), Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN)

The Jack Arute Award for Sideline Reporting — Holly Rowe, ESPN/ABC. Sideline reporting is a thankless job. There’s the brief injury updates, the halftime interview of coaches, plus the discovery of little tidbits to pass along all without intruding on the action of the game. Holly does all of this rather well and hardly gets noticed. Well, I’m recognizing the job she does. One of the best reporters on TV, period, Holly is very good at gathering information and doesn’t unnecessarily call attention to herself.

Honorable mentions — Alex Flanagan (NBC), Heather Cox (ESPN/ABC)

Most Valuable Network — Fox. Fox, you say? Yes, Fox. It only had two games this season, but they were big ones, the inaugural Pac-12 and Big Ten Conference Championship Games. While the Pac-12 Championship was nothing to write home about, Fox had a great Big Ten Championship. Both games drew pretty decent ratings for Fox and both had Gus Johnson on the call. While the Pac-12 production was choppy, the Big Ten’s was much better. Fox has decided to invest in college football the right way in its second foray into the sport and I think it will do much better this time around.

Honorable Mention — SEC on CBS

Best Overall Coverage — CBS. For one game each week, CBS provides excellent coverage of the SEC. The network has given each game a Big Event feel and it showed especially during LSU-Alabama in primetime. CBS does a very good job on the SEC and you can tell the network enjoys having the conference as a partner.

Honorable Mention — ESPN

Best Move — CBS moving LSU-Alabama to a primetime slot after making a four way trade with ESPN, CBS Sports Network and Versus in exchange for future considerations. The result was huge ratings for “The Game of the Century.”

The Pam Ward Award for Worst Play-by-Play — Craig Bolerjack, Fox Sports Net. I am not a fan of Bolerjack and he depends too much on clichés. He seems to be in love with his own voice and unnecessarily cranks up the volume just to prove that he has good pipes. I’m actually surprised myself that I didn’t give Pam Ward the award again this year, but Bolerjack takes it this season.

Dishonorable Mention — Pam Ward (ESPNU)

Worst Game or Studio Analyst — Matt Millen, ESPN/ABC. The man has no credibility. He comes off as a bad evaluator of talent and he talks too much. Sean McDonough deserves a much better partner.

Worst Move — Creation of the Longhorn Network, ESPN. Forget about the bad precedent it sets and it being a conflict of interest, what the channel set off was another huge round of conference upheaval. It led Texas A&M to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, TCU to leave the Big East for the Big 12, and then indirectly, Syracuse and West Virginia to leave the Big East for the ACC and then the Big East picking up seemingly every single school not in the East. The Longhorn Network was a bad idea to begin with and major cable providers in the Lone Star State have yet to be convinced of its viability. Texas will receive a huge financial windfall while other schools that don’t have a network will not. Because the NCAA is so weak, it won’t force Texas to end its relationship with ESPN.

Worst Slippage — Verne Lundquist, CBS. Uncle Verne still remains one of the best announcers around, but he continues on a downward spiral. He’s been having more missed calls including wrong names and there was this call of an interception that wasn’t during the LSU-Alabama game.

Once an announcer starts slipping, it’s hard to get it back. Here’s hoping that Verne has a much better season in 2012.

Most Bizarre Moment — Lee Corso’s F Bomb on College GameDay in Houston. Here’s the entire segment from beginning to end. Oh my.

Of course, it led to an apology shortly afterwards.

Honorable Mention — Lee Corso firing off guns again at the Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl.

And that will do it for another season of college football.

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 14, 12/03/11, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

College GameDay live from the SEC Championship, Atlanta, GA — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.

ACC Championship, Charlotte, NC
Virginia Tech vs. Clemson — ESPN/ESPN 3D, 8 p.m.

Big Ten Championship, Indianapolis, IN
Wisconsin vs. Michigan State — Fox, 8 p.m.

Conference USA Championship, Houston, TX
Southern Mississippi at Houston — ABC, noon

SEC Championship, Atlanta, GA
LSU vs. Georgia — CBS, 4 p.m.

noon
UConn at Cincinnati — ESPN
Syracuse at Pittsburgh — ESPN

12:30 p.m.
Iowa State at Kansas State — Fox Sports Net (national)

2 p.m.
Wyoming at Colorado State — the mtn.

2:30 p.m.
UNLV at TCU — Versus

3:30 p.m.
Texas at Baylor — ABC

4 p.m.
Idaho at Nevada — WAC Sports Network

6 p.m.
New Mexico at Boise State — the mtn.

7:30 p.m.
BYU at Hawaii — ESPN2

8 p.m.
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State — ABC

Fresno State at San Diego State — CBS Sports Network

Fox Sports Gets Ready For College Football Conference Championship Weekend

Fox Sports gets some college football to make for a busy weekend. The Pac-12 Championship airs on Friday night from Eugene, Oregon as the UCLA Bruins take on the Oregon Ducks in the first-ever championship game for the Pac-12. Then there’s the inaugural Big Ten Championship on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis between Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster will have the call of both games. Fox Sports will utilize Kevin Frazier and Marcus Allen in the Los Angeles Fox Sports studios. They’ll be joined by John Lynch on Friday and Dhani Jones on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Johnson, Davis, Brewster, Lynch and Jones joined Fox Sports President Eric Shanks for a media conference call to speak about the upcoming games.

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

FOX Sports Presents College Football Championship Weekend
UCLA Battles Oregon For Pac-12 Football Championship Friday at 7:30 PM ET
Wisconsin vs. Michigan State For Big Ten Football Championship Saturday at 7:30 PM ET

FOX SPORTS COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS AIR FRIDAY & SATURDAY – Championship weekend on FOX Sports is here! Earlier today, the FOX Sports Media Group conducted a conference call to preview Championship weekend on FOX where the network proudly presents exclusive coverage of the Pac-12 Conference Football Championship game between UCLA and Oregon on Friday, Dec. 2 (7:30 PM ET) and the Big Ten Conference Football Championship game between Wisconsin and Michigan State on Saturday, Dec. 3 (7:30 PM ET).  FOX Sports Co-President and Executive Producer Eric Shanks, was joined by FOX Sports college football announcer Gus Johnson and analysts Charles Davis, John Lynch & Dhani Jones to preview both championship telecasts.

Below are highlights transcribed from the preview conference call.

Lynch on Rick Neuheisel coaching his final game after being fired by UCLA: “Rick Neuheisel is handling it in as professional a manner as you can. After practice, I heard him talking about going, ‘deep, deep, deep’ in their playbook. Rick has nothing to lose. I’ve been in those situations both in college and in pros. Players are out of their comfort zones and you can’t blame it on the old coach anymore, it’s on you. What you put out there is going to be on film and you’re playing for your job next year. Some kids are playing for scholarships. Neuheisel has been in a tight situation where he knew that unless he moved the needle on the program, his job was on the line. Now, he takes the gloves off and can coach aggressively.”

Johnson on UCLA storylines:  “We have great stories, we have great leading men. UCLA deciding to part ways with Rick Neuheisel gives us a great story. Now, we get to see if coach Neuheisel can wrench out one last stand with his guys. Are they going to come and play real hard for him?”

Lynch on what it’s like to be such a large underdog, like UCLA:  “I was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early-90’s and they called us the “Yucks,” not the Bucs. People say, ‘a 31-point underdog, how could it ever happen?’ How did my alma mater, Stanford, and Jim Harbaugh in his first year go down to the Coliseum and knock off USC when they were at a 41-point underdog? Is it possible? Absolutely. Players know that and coaches are selling it. I’ve been there before. The pressure is off you because you aren’t supposed to win.”

Davis on Pac-12 Football Championship Game being played at the home stadium of the team with the best conference record: “The Pac-12 is not a driving conference, yet it’s one of the most perfectly modeled travel conferences. By comparison, the SEC is a driving conference. You can pretty much get where you need to get to by hopping in the car and that’s not easily done in the Pac-12. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and his conference did a great job in deciding early on to put it at home sites because atmosphere is what makes a championship game too. We’ll have that championship feel on Friday night. And remember, the team that’s hosting has earned that opportunity.”

Johnson on Oregon storylines:  “For Oregon, you have a man like Chip Kelly who came from New Hampshire and in four years has done incredible things in leading this program to become one of the top-10 in the country. He has a unique style of play. Everything is fast, uptempo and precise.”

Johnson on calling back-to-back championship college football games: “It’ll be fun. This is an exciting time of year. We’re honored to be the team that broadcasts these two back-to-back championships during their inaugural seasons on FOX Sports. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for all of those years was wonderful, sometimes calling four games in one day but doing back-to-back college football games is a totally different animal. Especially when you consider that these two conferences are two of the great conferences in the history of college football. There have been times this year and in the past where I’ve done a college football game on a Saturday and an NFL game on a Sunday. That happened to me this year with Iowa St.-Texas. Charles and I did that game and then we got in a car and drove to Kansas City and did Chiefs-Vikings. I think those kinds of experiences give you more traction than doing college basketball.”

Davis on what Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson needs to do to be successful on Saturday: “For Wilson in this game he just needs to continue to be who he is. I would not be surprised if they put a little bit more on him in the throwing game, especially early in this game to start things off.”

Davis previews Wisconsin vs. Michigan State:  “It wouldn’t surprise me if both teams come out with some wrinkles. We are going to get some things that we have not seen. We know who they are and these two teams fit perfectly in terms of style to make it a fight. Both teams are very tough on defense, run the football on offense, with big offensive lines, quarterbacks that don’t make mistakes but know how to make winning plays when the game is on the line. The only difference this year is that Michigan State hasn’t run the ball as well as Wisconsin has. That’s the glaring stat that jumps out at you.”

Jones & Davis react to Wisconsin running back Montee Ball’s season and a lack of Heisman recognition:
Jones:  “He’s having a fantastic season. Sometimes Big Ten players don’t get as much recognition. I think there is a lot of focus on other conferences. For this championship game he will be able to show a lot of his skills on a national platform which gives him more visibility and at the end of the day, your contention for those awards [Heisman trophy, etc.] rest on people seeing what you’ve done.  As he starts to gain interest within the league later down the line, that’s going to be a part of it because they know he’s a capable running back that can score touchdowns.”

Davis: “If you look at the Wisconsin website for most of the season, the Heisman Trophy campaign was for Russell Wilson, not Montee Ball. He’s having a season as good as a running back can have as we have seen in recent years. When you start using the name Barry Sanders in the same sentence with a young man, you know he’s having that kind of season, but I think those back-to-back losses for Wisconsin in the last second, blew him and Russell Wilson off of the Heisman grid because there were so many other candidates and they just got over looked.”

BIG TEN NETWORK PROVIDES EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME BEGINNING FRIDAY – The Big Ten Network’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Big Ten’s inaugural football conference championship (#B1GFCG) begins Friday, as the Michigan State Spartans prepare to take on the Wisconsin Badgers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Coverage kicks off at 4:00 PM ET as Mike Hall hosts live coverage of the press conferences for Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema as well as key players from both teams. Rick Pizzo and analysts Derek Rackley and Tim Doyle host a new episode of The Pulse at 6:30 PM ET. At 7:00 PM ET, BTN replays the epic Oct. 22 matchup between the two teams when Michigan State upset Wisconsin, 37-31. The win dashed Wisconsin’s national title hopes and propelled Michigan State into the conference championship race. At 9:00 PM ET, Dave Revsine, Hall, Howard Griffith, Gerry DiNardo and Glen Mason host a full 60-minute preview on a special edition of the Big Ten Football Report from Lucas Oil Stadium. They are joined on the set by Bielema and Dantonio.

On Saturday, Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith and Mason are live at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Championship Pregame Show Saturday at 6:30 PM ET. Pizzo will join the BTN team in Indianapolis to provide viewers with arrival interviews and a behind the scenes glimpse at the championship game.  Immediately following the championship game on FOX, Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith and Mason will return for complete postgame coverage, analysis and interviews with coaches and players.

That will do it.

Fox Sports College Football Games For Week 14

Fox has two conference championship games on consecutive nights, the Pac-12 Championship and Big Ten Championship, Friday and Saturday. Fox Sports Net also has one game and that will end Fox’s college football coverage for the season.

Overall, it’s been great having Gus Johnson calling college football, although the quality of games weren’t great, quite a few were blowouts. Still, the Big Ten Championship has the potential to be quite good.

We have the schedule of games for you right here.

College Football on FOX Advance Programming
December 2 & 3
All times Eastern unless otherwise indicated

DATE	TIME	GAME	OUTLET	Announcers
Friday, Dec. 2	8:00 PM	UCLA at Oregon (Pac-12 Championship)	FOX	Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Tim Brewster
Saturday, Dec. 3	12:30 PM	Iowa State at Kansas State	FSN	Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis
Saturday, Dec. 3	8:00 PM	Wisconsin vs. Michigan State (B1G Championship, Indianapolis, IN)	FOX	Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Tim Brewster

That concludes this post.

ESPN Family of Networks College Basketball Games For Week 4

ESPN’s college basketball schedule is ramping up and this week, it’ll have two interconference challenges, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in the early part of this week and then the Big East/SEC Challenge in the second half.

You want the skinny on the college basketball games for this week? Of course you do. Let’s take a look at the schedule for this week’s contests on the ESPN networks.

Three Matchups between Top Nine Teams, Plus No. 1 Kentucky

ESPN’s men’s college basketball schedule this week will be highlighted by three telecasts between teams in the top nine of the ESPN/USA Today poll.

Two of the games are from the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge – a 12-game two-day event featuring top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner’s Cup – and will be on ESPN and ESPN3: No 4 Duke at No. 2 Ohio State on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 9:30 p.m. and No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 9:30 p.m.

The third contest between two top nine teams is from the inaugural BIG EAST/SEC Challenge, a three-day event matching 12 teams from each of the premier conferences: No 9 Florida at No. 3 Syracuse on Friday, Dec. 2, at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN3. In addition, ESPN2 will televise St. John’s at No. 1 Kentucky as part of the BIG EAST/SEC Challenge on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m.

Date	Time (ET)	Game/Commentators	Network
Tue, Nov 29	7 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: No. 15 Michigan at Virginia Mark Jones & Fran Fraschilla	ESPN2/ESPN3
	7:15 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Northwestern at Georgia Tech Rob Stone and Drew Barry	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Illinois at Maryland Dave Pasch & Doris Burke	ESPN/ESPN3
	9 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Miami at Purdue Bob Wischusen & Stephen Bardo	ESPN2/ESPN3
	9:15 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Clemson at Iowa Adam Amin & LaPhonso Ellis	ESPNU
	9:30 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: No. 4 Duke at No. 2 Ohio State Dan Shulman & Dick Vitale	ESPN/ESPN3
Wed, Nov 30	7:15 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Indiana at NC State Mike Patrick & Len Elmore	ESPN2/ESPN3
	7:15 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Penn State at Boston College Sean McDonough & Tim Welsh	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Florida State at Michigan State Mike Tirico & Dan Dakich	ESPN/ESPN3
	9:15 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Virginia Tech at Minnesota Dave O’Brien & Bob Knight	ESPN2/ESPN3
	9:15 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: Wake Forest at Nebraska Mitch Holtus & Miles Simon	ESPNU
	9:30 p.m.	Big Ten/ACC Challenge: No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 5 North Carolina Brent Musburger, Jay Bilas & Doris Burke	ESPN/ESPN3
	11:15 p.m.	Notre Dame at No. 18 Gonzaga Dave Fleming & Sean Farnham	ESPN2/ESPN3
Thu, Dec 1	7 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: Providence at South Carolina Dari Nowkhah & Dino Gaudio	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: St. John’s at No. 1 Kentucky Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale & Shannon Spake	ESPN2/ESPN3
	9 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: Mississippi at DePaul Adam Amin & Dickey Simpkins	ESPNU
	9:30 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: Georgetown at No. 12 Alabama Mike Breen & Fran Fraschilla	ESPN2/ESPN3
Fri, Dec 2	6:30 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: No. 9 Florida at No. 3 Syracuse Mike Tirico & Jay Bilas	ESPN/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: Cincinnati at Georgia Clay Matvick & Kara Lawson	ESPNU
	8:30 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: No. 19 Vanderbilt at No. 6 Louisville Dave O’Brien & Jimmy Dykes	ESPN/ESPN3
	9 p.m.	BIG EAST/SEC Challenge: Auburn at Seton Hall Mike Crispino & Tim Welsh	ESPNU

That will do it.

Some Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

While I’m away from a computer this morning, I provide these thoughts to you so you have some fresh material here. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend.

As usual, I’ll go in bullet form.

• We’re three games into NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football schedule and the duo of Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock have already made my list of favorite announcing teams. After five years of juggling announcers, NFL Network may have finally found some stability in the broadcast booth. And the problems that plagued its production: missed replays, coming out of replays late and graphics that made no sense seemed to have disappeared. If NFL Network gets an expanded schedule next season, I look forward to hearing Nessler and Mayock on more games.
• With the NBA Lockout seemingly settled, the big beneficiary would be ESPN/ABC as the league’s new Opening Day would be Christmas, December 25. The networks would divide three games on that day. Also, TNT which has desperately missed the NBA on Thursday nights will be happy to have doubleheaders again. While I’m not an NBA watcher, I could get behind a 66 game schedule and a Christmas Opening Day every year. This is something the NBA should seriously consider, but it won’t.
• With the college football conference championship games coming up this weekend, I’ll be interested to see how Fox handles the Pac-12 and Big Ten Championships on successive nights with the same announcing crew of Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster. While Fox’s last foray into college football with the BCS was next to disastrous, at least this trio has worked an entire season on FX. I feel Fox should have assigned two crews, but I know the network wants to gain as much mileage from having Gus call both games. Still, flying from Eugene, OR to Indianapolis overnight is not going to be much fun.
• As NESN is considering candidates to replace Heidi Watney as its Red Sox field reporter, I can tell you that an early favorite, Molly Sullivan, sideline reporter for the mtn., is no longer in the running. I’ve heard NESN felt she wasn’t right for the job. Plus Molly said on Twitter that she’s comfortable with her current gig and staying in Las Vegas where she currently lives.
• I hear NESN is considering Jen Royle of 105.7 FM in Baltimore. Good article on her Sunday by Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle. Jen was back in New England to do another guest stint on WEEI. Once again, she killed co-hosting with Kirk Minehane. I don’t know if Jen is a top candidate on NESN, but as I’ve said in the past, she should be.

  Another person NESN should consider if it already hasn’t is Courtney Fallon of WLNE in Providence. Just on the job for three months, Courtney has already made an impression here. She would be good on NESN. And if it doesn’t want to hire her for the Red Sox reporter’s job, the network should at least consider her for its NESN Daily show.

• I’ve seen just a few episodes, but Brian Kenny seems to have found a signature show in Clubhouse Confidential on MLB Network. Now if only Brian could find that boxing gig to go with his baseball assignments.
• Speaking of MLB Network, I miss Trenni Kusnierek. I know she’s happy co-hosting a sports show on WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee.

And we’re done. Enjoy your Monday

Fox Sports All Over Inaugural Pac-12 & Big Ten Championships

Next weekend, Fox Sports will air the inaugural Pac-12 and Big Ten Football Championships and both games will be called by the same broadcast team on successive nights. The College Football on FX team Gus Johnson, Charles Johnson and sideline analyst Tim Brewster will first call the Pac-12 Championship on either the campus of Stanford or Oregon on Friday, December 2 at 8 p.m. East/5 p.m. West.

Then the next night, Saturday, December 3, the crew flies to Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium for the first-ever Big Ten Football Championship at 8 p.m.

The studio will be manned by College Football on Fox host Kevin Frazier with analyst Marcus Allen. They’ll be joined by guest analysts for both games, NFL on Fox’s John Lynch and Dhani Jones.

The Big Ten Network which is co-owned by the Big Ten Conference and Fox Sports will offer extensive pre and postgame coverage of the Big Ten Championship.

We have the full details of the games from Fox Sports.

FOX SPORTS AIRS INAUGURAL PAC-12 & BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES ON PRIME TIME STAGE

Lead Broadcast Team – Johnson, Davis & Brewster – Call Both Games; Former Stanford & Michigan Standouts John Lynch and Dhani Jones Added
Big Ten Network Complements FOX Coverage

Two legendary conferences. Two historic nights. One exclusive network.

For the first time in their long, storied histories, two of America’s premier collegiate athletic conferences, the Pac-12 and the Big Ten, present their inaugural football championship games, live and in prime time on FOX. First up is the PAC-12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME on Friday, Dec. 2 (8:00 PM ET-conclusion), followed by the BIG TEN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME on Saturday, Dec. 3 (8:00 PM ET-conclusion). Both games are preceded at 7:30 PM ET by live on-site pregame shows, while the Big Ten game is complemented by extensive coverage from the Big Ten Network (BTN).

Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and sideline analyst Tim Brewster, FOX Sports’ lead college football broadcast team, call the action both nights, despite the games likely being separated by over 2000 miles.

FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL host Kevin Frazier, Heisman Trophy winning analyst Marcus Allen and Brewster anchor the pregame coverage, each night with a special guest analyst by their side. NFL on FOX analyst John Lynch, a former Stanford University All-American and All-Pac-10 safety, joins Frazier, Allen and Brewster on-set during the Pac-12 Championship pregame and postgame shows. On Saturday, former University of Michigan and three-time All-Big Ten linebacker Dhani Jones takes over as guest analyst for the Big Ten Championship coverage. After pregame duties conclude, Lynch and Jones, both former NFL standouts, join Coach Brewster on the sidelines to provide in-game analysis. Jones was a key member on the Wolverines 1997 National Championship Team. FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL rules analyst Mike Pereira is also available each game to offer perspective on rules interpretation and controversial plays live from his FOX command center in Los Angeles.

 

The Big Ten Network (BTN) is scheduled to carry more than five hours of pre and postgame coverage of the BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME live from Chicago and Indianapolis over two days. Leading up to kick-off, BTN airs the Big Ten Football Championship team press conferences on Friday, Dec. 2 (4:00-5:00 PM ET). Later, BIG TEN FOOTBALL REPORT: CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW airs (9:00-10:00 PM ET) with Mike Hall, Rosevelt Colvin and Tony Banks. The show features live reports from Lucas Oil Stadium with Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, Howard Griffith and Glen Mason. Game day coverage begins with BTN LIVE (11:00 AM-Noon ET) with Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith and Mason live from Big Ten Fan Fest. The same four are back just hours before kick-off with BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP PREGAME (6:30-7:30 PM ET) leading right into FOX Sports’ pregame coverage, and postgame with extensive analysis and highlights on the BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP POSTGAME. BTN also provides reports from Indy during the network’s basketball coverage on Saturday afternoon.

Brad Zagar produces the Pac-12 Football Championship Game for FOX Sports. Doug Freeman directs. Loy Maxon produces the Pac-12 Championship pregame and postgame shows. FOX College Football Coordinating Producer Chuck McDonald produces the Big Ten Football Championship Game.  Rich Dewey directs. The Big Ten Championship pregame and postgame shows are produced by Don Bui. Roy Hamilton serves as Coordinating Pregame and Postgame Producer.

David Hill, Eric Shanks and Doug Sellars are the Executive Producers of FOX Sports.

That will do it.

Back For Monday’s Linkage

After not being able to provide linkage for a few days, let’s get back to it. I probably won’t be able to do the links as I have to undergo a medical procedure. Nothing serious. I should be back on Wednesday.

Let’s do your links.

Sports Business Daily looks over the reviews of ESPN’s handling of Penn State’s first game since the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke.

Tripp Mickle and John Ourand at Sports Business Journal say YouTube is now entering the sports media rights landscape.

Tripp says Versus will air over 30 hours of action sports programming as NBC Sports retakes ownership of the Dew Tour

Jason Belzer and Darren Heitner of Collegiate Sports Advisors write in Sports Business Journal that colleges and universities should not force a social media blackout on their student-athletes.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says the NFL pregame show analysts either praised or criticized Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson depending on their former positions.

Mike writes Saturday’s Nebraska-Penn State game got higher ratings for ESPN.

Ben Grossman at Broadcasting & Cable says a quick knockout in Fox’s airing of its first UFC bout wasn’t as bad as originally thought.

At Yahoo! Sports, Maggie Hendricks reviews Fox’s first production of a UFC card.

Dave Meltzer of Yahoo says UFC on Fox delivered a ratings punch.

At Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Greg Wyshynski tells us what the NHL’s hiring of Ross Greenburg, formerly of HBO Sports, will mean for the league.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Saturday’s Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez might have set up a big payday for the Pacman to fight Floyd Mayweather on pay per view next year.

Mike says NFL Network received the most viewers ever for a Thursday Night Football season opener.

Michael O’Connell of the Hollywood Reporter says Sunday Night Football won the ratings for NBC.

The Reporter notes that several advertisers have pulled their ads from upcoming Penn State football games on ESPN’s networks.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says sports continues to draw viewers on what normally are dead Saturday nights.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says Gus Johnson was being Gus when USC pulled off a fake punt during its game against Washington on Saturday.

Sports Video Group says NBC will air the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials later this year.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has what former Penn State coach Joe Paterno should have said last week.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at UFC on Fox’s preliminary ratings.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post feels it’s hard to love college football.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Week 11 NFL TV schedule for the Capital Region.

Pete says Time Warner Cable will carry all local high school football regional playoff games.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that Versus and HDNet will combine for a Thanksgiving holiday college basketball tournament.

Deborah Ann Tripoldi of the Nutley (NJ) Sun writes that Friend of Fang’s Bites Tina Cervasio was inducted into a local Hall of Fame.

Laura Nachman says a Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia reporter is now engaged.

The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News has the remarks of ESPN’s Jon Ritchie about accused child molester Jerry Sandusky. Ritchie grew up near Penn State.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun is still not a fan of CBS’ Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf especially when they call Ravens games.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with an official with NCAA.com about the streaming of over 20 championships.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says ESPN got the job done for Nebraska-Penn State on Saturday.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Texans fans wanting to watch yesterday’s game against the Bucs in the Rio Grande Valley of the Lone Star State were SOL.

Fang’s Bites welcomes back Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News as we have not linked to him in a very long time. Jerry reports on a sudden switch on the local CBS affiliate that left Cowboys fans angry.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that the ESPN on ABC crew assigned to Texas Tech-Oklahoma State had plenty of time to fill.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football open for tonight’s Packers-Vikings game will honor the military.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the Big Ten Conference has removed Joe Paterno’s name from its championship trophy.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a lengthy conversation with embattled Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin about his two drunken driving arrests.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with a local news anchor who would like to return to his old sports roots.

Sad story out of Reno, NV as KTVN sports anchor JK Metzker died Sunday after being hit by a car. He leaves behind a wife and three sons.

Chris Murray of the Reno Gazette-Journal rememebers Metzker as a friend outside of the newsroom.

Lenita Powers of the Gazette-Journal says Metzker was loved in the local market.

Powers writes that KTVN canceled its newscasts on Sunday to grieve over Metzker’s death.

KTVN meteorologist Mike Alger says Metzker was a true friend.

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

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says UFC isn’t leaving the sports landscape anytime soon.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says it’s time for the NHL to have a Red Zone Channel. I agree.

Sports Media Watch says NBA TV will premiere a new roundtable discussion program as the 2011-12 season looks more in doubt.

SMW says ABC’s Saturday Night Football received a record ratings low opposite LSU-Alabama on CBS.

The Big Lead has NBC’s Al Michaels talking the Penn State story with Sirius XM’s Howard Stern.

And we’ll leave it there. Lots of links for you to digest today.

ESPN’s College Basketball Announcing Teams

We have the ESPN college basketball announcing teams for the 2011-12 season. Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale will be the top announcing team. Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery return to call Big East games on Big Mondays. Brent Musburger and Bob Knight are back to do the Big 12 portion of Big Monday.

Coming over from the NBA as it’s still in lockout are Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Tirico. Tirico will call Big Ten games on Tuesday nights with Dan Dakich. Breen and Van Gundy will call selected games in November and could be assigned to more games if the lockout extends to December and beyond.

For ESPNU’s new Sunday Night ACC Basketball series, Jon Sciambi will be teamed with Hubert Davis and sideline reporter Allison Williams.

We have your press release from ESPN below.

ESPN 2011-12 Men’s College Basketball Commentators

ESPN’s 2011-12 men’s college basketball game and studio telecasts – the most extensive in network history with more than 1,450 games – will include the return of top commentators, including Basketball Hall of Famers Dick Vitale and Bob Knight, and the addition of several announcers.

Hall of Famers:

• Dick Vitale, entering his 33rd season with ESPN, will work top games from various conferences and the weekly Saturday Primetime Presented by DIRECTV series, primarily with Dan Shulman.
• Bob Knight will call the weekly Big Monday Big 12 game with Brent Musburger and reporter Holly Rowe as well as various non-conference games.

Sampling of Returning Analysts and Announcer Teams:

• Jay Bilas, entering his 17th season with ESPN, will work ESPN’s Big Monday BIG EAST telecasts with Sean McDonough and veteran analyst Bill Raftery, top games across various days, select Saturday Primetime telecasts, and the weekly Saturday College GameDay show.
• Fran Fraschilla, entering his 10th season with ESPN, will primarily work Big 12 and BIG EAST telecasts and provide studio analysis.
• Sean Farnham, who joined ESPN last year, will work games across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU from various conferences, including West Coast and Big 12.
• Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes will return to work SEC telecasts as part of ESPN’s Super Tuesday series and on Saturdays.
• Carter Blackburn and LaPhonso Ellis will pair up for a third season to work ESPNU’s Wednesday night action, primarily involving the BIG EAST.

New to College Hoops this Season:

• Mike Tirico, One of ESPN’s versatile commentators and the voice of Monday Night Football will work the weekly Big Ten Super Tuesday game with second-year analyst Dan Dakich.
• Mike Breen, Primary voice of ESPN’s NBA game telecasts will call select non-conference games in November. He will begin with Duke’s first two games of the season as head coach Mike Krzyzewski attempts to tie the Division I men’s all-time wins record on November 11 (Belmont at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU) and November 12 (Presbyterian at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU). He will work with analyst Doris Burke on both telecasts.
• Jeff Van Gundy, ESPN’s lead NBA game analyst will work select non-conference games in November, including Rhode Island at Texas in the Legends Classic with Breen on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN3.

Double-Duty Analysts Who Work Men’s and Women’s Games:

• Doris Burke, a top analyst on ESPN’s women’s and men’s coverage, will work on Thursday and Saturday BIG EAST telecasts.
• Kara Lawson, a leading voice of ESPN’s women’s college basketball coverage, will begin her second season working men’s games, primarily on SEC Network telecasts as well as select contests across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

New Sunday Night Basketball Telecast:

• Game and studio analyst Hubert Davis will work ESPNU’s new weekly Sunday Night ACC Basketball series (at 6 p.m. beginning January 8^thJon Sciambi and reporter Allison Williams.

College GameDay and Studio Analysts:

• Rece Davis will return to host College GameDay with analysts Digger Phelps, Bilas and Hubert Davis. The two-hour weekly Saturday show will air on ESPNU at 10 a.m. and continue at 11 a.m. on ESPN. A one-hour evening edition leading into the Saturday Primetime game will begin at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
• Analysts making regular studio appearances throughout the season on ESPN and ESPN2 include Stephen Bardo, Adrian Branch, Dakich, Hubert Davis, Dykes, LaPhonso Ellis, Farnham, Fraschilla, Doug Gottlieb, Andy Katz, Phelps, Miles Simon, Dereck Whittenburg and Jay Williams.
• Dari Nowkhah or Anish Shroff will host ESPNU’s studio coverage with Branch, Dino Gaudio or Miles Simon. In addition, ESPN Regional Television will produce studio shows for games on the SEC Network (host Nowkhah with Barry Booker or Kyle Macy) and Big 12 Network (host Doug Bell with Bryndon Manzer).

Commentators appearing in regular weekly ESPN and ESPN2 time slots — Big Monday, Super Tuesday, Wednesday Night Hoops and Thursday Night Showcase– plus Saturdays throughout the season (conference assignments can vary):

Various Days

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPN or ESPN2	Select Games	Dan Shulman	Dick Vitale

Monday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPN	BIG EAST (Big Monday)	Sean McDonough	Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery
ESPN	Big 12 (Big Monday)	Brent Musburger	Bob Knight	Holly Rowe
ESPNU	Big 12	Dave Flemming	Sean Farnham

Tuesday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPN	Big Ten (Super Tuesday)	Mike Tirico	Dan Dakich
ESPN	SEC (Super Tuesday)	Brad Nessler	Jimmy Dykes
ESPN2	Various Conferences	Jon Sciambi	Doug Gottlieb
ESPNU	ACC	Rob Stone	Jay Williams
ESPNU	SEC	Dari Nowkhah	Dino Gaudio

Wednesday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPN or ESPN2	ACC (Wednesday Night Hoops)	Dan Shulman	Dick Vitale or Jay Bilas
ESPN or ESPN2	BIG EAST(Wednesday Night Hoops)	Bob Wischusen	Fran Fraschilla, Doug Gottlieb or LaPhonso Ellis
ESPN or ESPN2	Big 12 (Wednesday Night Hoops)	Jon Sciambi	Fran Fraschilla, Doug Gottlieb or Sean Farnham
ESPNU	Big 12	Mitch Holthus	Miles Simon
ESPNU	BIG EAST	Carter Blackburn	LaPhonso Ellis

Thursday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPN or ESPN2	ACC (Thursday Night Showcase)	Mike Patrick	Len Elmore	Jeannine Edwards
ESPN or ESPN2	Big Ten (Thursday Night Showcase)	Dave O’Brien	Stephen Bardo
ESPN or ESPN2	SEC (Thursday Night Showcase)	Rece Davis or Brad Nessler	Hubert Davis, Jimmy Dykes or Kara Lawson
ESPN2	West Coast (Thursday Night Showcase)	Dave Flemming	Sean Farnham or Miles Simon
ESPNU	Various	Anish Shroff	Adrian Branch

Friday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPNU	MAAC	Doug Sherman	Tim O’Toole
ESPNU	Horizon	Jim Barbar	David Kaplan

Saturday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPN	Saturday Primetime	Dan Shulman	Dick Vitale
ESPN or ESPN2	BIG EAST	Dave Pasch	Doris Burke
ESPN or ESPN2	Big Ten	Dave O’Brien	Dan Dakich
ESPN or ESPN2	Big 12	Mark Jones	Fran Fraschilla
ESPN or ESPN2	ACC	Mike Patrick	Len Elmore
ESPN or ESPN2	SEC	Brad Nessler	Jimmy Dykes
ESPNU	BIG EAST	Beth Mowins	Tim Welsh
ESPNU	Various	Mike Crispino	Bob Valvano
ESPNU	Various	Adam Amin	Brooke Weisbrod
ESPNU	Various	Justin Kutcher	Dickey Simpkins

Sunday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPNU	ACC Sunday Night Basketball	Jon Sciambi	Hubert Davis	Allison Williams
ESPNU	Missouri Valley	Mitch Holthus	David Kaplan

In addition to regular assignments on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, ESPN Regional Television will produce and syndicate an extensive schedule of games from the SEC, BIG EAST and Big 12:

SEC Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
Wednesday and Saturday	Carter Blackburn, Clay Matvick or Dave Neal	Kara Lawson or Joe Dean, Jr.

Big 12 Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
Saturday and select weekdays	Dave Armstrong, Mitch Holthus or Brad Sham	Reid Gettys, Jon Sunvold or Stephen Howard

BIG EAST Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
Saturday and select Sundays	Mike Gleason	Bob Wenzel

That will do it.

Shoveling Through The Monday Links

Let’s do some links on this Monday. Some good stuff to get to.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that CBS’ Bill Cowher may make broadcasting a true second career after shooting down another coaching rumor.

At Fox Sports, Brian Lowry feels for the most part, Fox got the job done during the World Series.

Sports Business Journal has a very good roundtable featuring sports public relations pros discussing the in’s and out’s of their jobs and the increasing importance of social media.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that NFL Network is close to selling out its ads for Thursday Night Football which begins in a couple of weeks.

Interesting story from the hotel industry. Orly Ripmaster of Hotel News Now says room occupancy has jumped over 35% for Sunday Night Football games at the expense of Monday Night Football.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine says the World Series started out with a whimper, but ended with a ratings bang.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has video of Fox NFL Sunday’s Jimmy Johnson preferring death over taking Tiki Barber or Terrell Owens.

David Waldstein of the New York Times reports that the Yankees have opted to stay with WCBS-AM for one more season and thus John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman will return as well.

Someone check Phil Mushnick’s temperature. The New York Post media writer actually gives praise to an ESPN analyst today.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that Time Warner Cable will air three local high school football championship games.

Pete has the TWC local college basketball schedule.

And Pete has the TWC local college hockey schedule.

Bob Frye of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says TV and technology are cutting into the younger generation’s time in the great outdoors.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun feels former Ravens coach Brian Billick got the job done in the Fox booth for yesterday’s Arizona-Baltimore game.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes the media reaction to the DC NFL Team’s bad performance against Buffalo.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks at the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes Bill Cowher’s comments that he’s staying in TV for now.

David says Jags-Texans rated well locally.

This next set of links is on the passing of former Oklahoma and Oklahoma State radio voice Bob Barry, Sr. who passed away at the age of 80 on Sunday. Barry was not only the broadcaster for both the Sooners and Cowboys in a career than spanned 50 years, but also the sports director of KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City for 42 where he worked with his son, Barry, Jr. Barry retired just after last season and his death was shock to those who knew him.

Andy Rieger of the Norman (OK) Transcript has Barry’s obituary.

Clay Horning of the Transcript says you can’t measure Barry’s success.

John Klein of the Tulsa World says Barry was one of the good guys.

Berry Tramel of the Daily Oklahoman says Barry was part of the Sooner tradition.

Berry has highlights of Bob Barry, Sr.’s legendary 50 year career.

Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman was truly a nice man.

John Rohe of the Oklahoman says Barry was one of the rare people who got to work both sides of the Bedlam rivalry game.

And at KFOR-TV, the station has this tribute.

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter wonders why he can’t hear Ohio State football games in the local area.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has Bob Costas’ salute to the Gateway City.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post talks about Joe Buck’s plagiarized call in Game 6 of the World Series.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes that Fox has more than a vested interest in the Dodgers bankruptcy case.

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

Jimmy Bramlett of LAist tries to understand the phenomenon that is ESPN’s College GameDay.

David Shoalts in the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that a classic hockey movie gets a DVD release this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail wonders if the NHL can pick up the NBA’s slack.

Raju Mudhar in the Toronto Star notes that the Bills are finding ways to make their games in the Great White North profitable.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the regional schedule for Hockey Night in Canada in November.

Steve Lepore from Puck The Media says Versus did well with last week’s Buffalo-Tampa Bay game.

Steve has the national NHL TV schedules for this week.

Jon Bois of SB Nation feels NBC is doing Sunday Night Football the right way.

That’s going to do it for this set of links.

ESPN Announces 2011-12 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Schedule

This in from ESPN, its schedule for Big Ten men’s basketball. For the first time, ESPNU will air Big Ten Conference games. Overall, the ESPN family will get 36 conference games. ESPN will mostly air the games on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday schedule on its various platforms. Among the highlights of the schedule, ESPN gets Nebraska’s first Big Ten Conference game in which the Cornhuskers host Wisconsin from Lincoln on December 27.

ESPN’s Big Ten schedule culminates with four conference tournament games in March during its Championship Week coverage. So let’s take a look at what the ESPN family of networks will air when in the press release below.

ESPN’s Big Ten Conference Men’s College Basketball Television Schedule

ESPN and the Big Ten Conference announced its 2011-12 men’s college basketball television schedule for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com. ESPN3.com will provide a simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 telecast. For the first time, ESPNU will televise a regular schedule of Big Ten conference basketball games.

Overall, the networks will combine to televise 36 conference games in addition to an extensive schedule of non-conference action (schedule to be announced). Additional highlights:

• An ESPN or ESPN2 Big Ten telecast every Tuesday from Dec. 27 to Feb. 28 as part of the popular Super Tuesday lineup
• A Big Ten game every Thursday on ESPN or ESPN2 and select Thursdays on ESPNU from Jan. 5 to March 1
• New conference member Nebraska’s first Big Ten intra-conference game, a showdown against Wisconsin Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com
• Exclusive coverage of multiple Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament games, including Games 3 and 4 on ESPN2 and Games 5 and 6 on ESPN.
• Two wildcard selections on the final Sundays of the season Feb. 26 and March 4.

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com 2011-12 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Schedule
Dates, times and television listings subject to change

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Tue, Dec 27	9 p.m.	Wisconsin at Nebraska	ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sat, Dec 31	4 p.m.	Illinois at Purdue	ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
	6 p.m.	Ohio State at Indiana	ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sun, Jan 1	7 p.m.	Penn State at Northwestern	ESPNU
Tue, Jan 3	7 p.m.	Michigan State at Wisconsin	ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Thu, Jan 5	9 p.m.	Michigan at Indiana	ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Tue, Jan 10	9 p.m.	Ohio State at Illinois	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Jan 12	7 p.m.	Wisconsin at Purdue	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Tue, Jan 17	7 p.m.	Michigan State at Michigan	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Jan 19	9 p.m.	Illinois at Penn State	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sat, Jan 21	Noon	Purdue at Michigan State	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Tue, Jan 24	7 p.m.	Michigan at Purdue	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Jan 26	7 p.m.	Nebraska at Iowa	ESPNU
	9 p.m.	Indiana at Wisconsin	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sat, Jan 28	2 p.m.	Purdue at Northwestern	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Tue, Jan 31	7 p.m.	Michigan State at Illinois	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Feb 2	7 p.m.	Nebraska at Northwestern	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sat, Feb 4	2 p.m.	Ohio State at Wisconsin	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
	3 p.m.	Penn State at Iowa	ESPNU
Tue, Feb 7	9 p.m.	Purdue at Ohio State	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Feb 9	7 p.m.	Wisconsin at Minnesota	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
	9 p.m.	Iowa at Northwestern	ESPNU
Sat, Feb 11	1 p.m.	Nebraska at Penn State	ESPNU
	6 p.m.	Michigan State at Ohio State	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Tue, Feb 14	9 p.m.	Ohio State at Minnesota	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Feb 16	7 p.m.	Wisconsin at Michigan State	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN.com
	9 p.m.	Iowa at Penn State	ESPNU
Sat, Feb 18	9 p.m.	Ohio State at Michigan	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Tue, Feb 21	7 p.m.	Illinois at Ohio State	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Thu, Feb 23	9 p.m.	Wisconsin at Iowa	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sat, Feb 25	9 p.m.	Northwestern at Penn State	ESPNU
Sun, Feb 26	1 p.m.	Wildcard – TBD	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Tue, Feb 28	7 p.m.	Michigan State at Indiana	ESPN / ESPN3.com
Wed, Feb 29	9 p.m.	Iowa at Nebraska	ESPNU
Thu, Mar 1	7 p.m.	Michigan at Illinois	ESPN or ESPN2 / ESPN3.com
Sun, Mar 4	1 p.m.	Wildcard – TBD	ESPN / ESPN3.com

 

That is all.

Sirius XM Signs Contracts With 11 College Conferences For Live Sports Action

Through its contracts with IMG College and Learfield Sports, Sirius XM will be able to bring subscribers exclusive game broadcasts featuring some of the nation’s biggest conferences including the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, SEC, Pac-12 and WAC. The contracts will not only include football and basketball games, but also coaches shows.

In addition, the contracts allow Sirius XM to air the conference postseason games from football as well as basketball tournaments.

In the opening week of the college football season, Sirius XM boasts that it will have games involving all of the AP’s Top 25 teams. That’s interesting. We have the press release from Sirius XM.

SiriusXM Inks Agreement to Continue as Leader in College Sports Audio

Multi-year broadcasting agreement with IMG College and Learfield Sports gives SiriusXM listeners college football, basketball, baseball, hockey and more from 11 conferences
SiriusXM offers more live college play-by-play than any other broadcaster

NEW YORK – August 29, 2011 – Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI), Learfield Sports and IMG College announced today a multi-year broadcasting agreement that will make live play-by-play broadcasts from 11 conferences available to SiriusXM listeners across the country.

Throughout the 2011-12 season and beyond SiriusXM will broadcast live college football and men’s basketball from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Pac 12 and Army, as well as men’s basketball from Xavier, Gonzaga and teams from several mid-major conferences.  In addition, SiriusXM will air live select game broadcasts during the athletic season that includes women’s basketball, baseball, hockey and other sports.

SiriusXM listeners will also get access to post-season football and basketball games involving ACC, Big East and Big Ten teams and post-season basketball from the Missouri Valley, Sun Belt and West Coast conferences.

In addition, weekly shows hosted by football and basketball coaches from many programs around the country will air throughout their respective seasons on SiriusXM College Sports Nation, channel 91, SiriusXM’s 24-hour college sports channel.  Subscribers will hear weekly shows hosted by the nation’s top college football coaches including Oklahoma’s Sooner Sports Talk with Bob Stoops, Ducks Tailgate Tuesday with Oregon coach Chip Kelly, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher Call In Show, Wisconsin’s Badger Sports Talk with Bret Bielema, Nebraska’s Bo Pelini Show, Missouri’s Tiger Talk with Gary Pinkel and many others.  College basketball coaches’ shows, including those from North Carolina, Kansas, Ohio State, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Indiana and others, will begin airing this fall.

On college football’s opening week, Sep. 1-5, SiriusXM will air 59 college football games, featuring every team in the current Associated Press Top 25 poll.  For a schedule of upcoming games on SiriusXM and channel assignments, visit www.siriusxm.com/collegesports.

SiriusXM is the leading broadcaster of live college sporting events. SiriusXM now offers play by play from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Pac 12, SEC, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Missouri Valley, and Western Athletic conferences, plus Notre Dame and others.

“IMG College is pleased to bring dozens of our collegiate partners’ games to SiriusXM, which has become a prime destination for college sports fans to get game broadcasts, news, information and coaches’ shows,” said Joe Potter, SVP Media Operations for IMG College. “With 172 million college sports fans coast-to-coast, SiriusXM College Sports Nation is a vital part of the fan experience.

“We’re thrilled to continue our long-standing partnership with SiriusXM,” said Learfield’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Andy Rawlings. “This is certainly great news for our school partners, who can extend their brands so that fans everywhere may follow their favorite teams as the game action unfolds.”

“We’re very pleased to work with both Learfield Sports and IMG College and their extensive portfolios of colleges and universities to provide fans with the most comprehensive college sports coverage available,” said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s President and Chief Content Officer. “With our unparalleled schedule of live games all year round, coaches’ shows and the daily talk and analysis on our SiriusXM College Sports Nation channel, college sports fans will have exceptional access to their favorite team from anywhere in the country.”

Access to some play-by-play broadcasts may require a subscription to the Sirius Premier or XM Premier (formerly known as “The Best of XM” and “The Best of Sirius”) programming packages.

And that’s all.

The Recovering After Irene Links

Yesterday at 8:30 a.m., I lost power at my house and as of this post, I still don’t have it. The northern part of my town has power, but I live in the southern part and there’s nothing. That’s not good. And RI did not get hit that hard by Irene so I don’t know how we could lose power for so long. Anyway, it appears that my office never lost electricity as the clocks appear to be on time so I’m blogging from work. Hopefully, I won’t be without power for that long.

Here are your links.

Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal writes that UPS and MillerCoors are looking to become very aggressive sponsors of college sports.

Eric Fisher of SBJ says a new site has launched to cover digital fan marketing.

Terry Lefton of SBJ speaks with a sports marketer who believes stadium naming rights work.

Mimi Turner of the Hollywood Reporter says the BBC will air every hour of every single event at the 2012 London Olympics. That’s quite ambitious.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says with Hurricane Irene out of the way, New York can focus on the U.S. Open for the next two weeks.

Mike says Tennis Channel will reach 50 million homes for the Open.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride from the Poynter Institute says there’s nothing wrong with ESPN airing the Little League World Series to which I ask her, are you crazy?

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says reporting on suicides and speculating why they happen as in the case of former Baltimore Orioles pitcher and broadcaster Mike Flanagan demonstrate the need for due diligence by news organizations.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says a short two days after Vin Scully announced his return to the Dodgers, so did Spanish voice Jaime Jarrin.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that Houston Texan RB Arian Foster is not a fan of ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowhack. Really, who is?

Zombie Journalism has a problem with ESPN’s social networking policy that bans its reporters from breaking news on Twitter.

TMZ reports that wrestler Ric Flair is contemplating a lawsuit against Captain Blowhard-led Grantland.com for a long article on him that was published last week.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir speaks with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck about his ailing voice.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick decides that he’s a man of the people, which probably couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with CBS college football host Tim Brando about his radio show being aired on CBS Sports Network.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks at the weekend in sports television including a poor local broadcast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason games.

Sean Pendergast in the Houston Press says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have enough content to be successful.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s Chris Spielman picks Wisconsin to win the Big Ten title.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar writes that Missouri’s new football analyst has a football background, but also one in intelligence. As in CIA. Yup.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post is amazed at the media controversy swirling around Broncos third-string quarterback Tim Tebow.

Andrew Malcolm from the Los Angeles Times says ESPN has warned golf analyst Paul Azinger over his tweet criticizing President Obama.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News speaks with Olympic swimmer Janet Evans who turned 40 on Sunday. Wow.

Tom writes about Dodgers Spanish broadcaster Jaime Jarrin’s return for next year.

Tom also has your sports calendar for this week.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says the lockout doesn’t seem to be effecting the NBA.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail advises us not to look for Rogers Sportsnet to wrest the CFL rights away from TSN in the next bidding.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog says the Maple Leafs are close to hiring a new announcer.

Sox & Dawgs has a look at the UConn Radio Network for the 2011-12 season.

Mike Shields at DigiDay notes that ESPN’s College GameDay will really sink its teeth into social networking this season.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing is critical of the ESPN Ombudsman for letting ESPN off the hook for airing the Little League World Series.

Joe Favorito feels the World Fire and Police Games taking place in New York are brand and activation opportunities for potential sponsors.

And lastly, here’s a video I made last night driving down the main road of my town showing how dark it was. Definitely no fun without power.

That’s all. Back later.

Fox Sports Announces 2011-12 College Football Schedule

This has been a rather hellish day as I’ve been to two jobsites and tomorrow will probably be the same so blogging will be sparse. Gah!

Anyway, here’s a press release from Fox Sports announcing its college football schedule on Fox, FX, Fox Sports Net and Fox College Sports. I admit I haven’t proofread this so let’s read this together.

FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP ANNOUNCES 2011-2012 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

More Than 200 Premier Match-Ups Featured Nationally and Regionally Across FX, FOX Sports Networks and FOX College Sports
Coverage Culminates with Pac-12 Championship, Big Ten Championship and Cotton Bowl Classic Airing in Prime-Time on FOX

New York, NY – FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG) announces its 2011-2012 college football schedule featuring more than 200 match-ups with Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA teams across FX, FOX Sports Networks (FSN) and FOX College Sports as well as regional match-ups from the ACC, SEC, Big East and Southland Conferences. FSMG’s college football schedule culminates with coverage of the inaugural Pac-12 Championship, Big Ten Championship and Cotton Bowl Classic airing in prime-time on FOX.  The schedule was unveiled today by FSMG Co-President and COO Eric Shanks.

FX, Fox Networks Group’s basic cable network available in more than 99 million homes, kicks-off its inaugural FOX College Football game of the week schedule with the USA Today Coaches’ Poll preseason No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners hosting the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in Norman, OK on Saturday, September 3 at 8:00 PM ET.  The Sooners are also featured on FX’s coverage September 24 against the Missouri Tigers and again on November 26 against the Iowa State Cyclones.  Other FOX College Football games that are scheduled include a September 10 match-up between the Nevada Wolf Pack and Oregon Ducks and a September 17 battle featuring the USC Trojans hosting the Syracuse Orange.

College football coverage on FSN, reaching more than 85 million homes through two dozen owned and affiliated regional sports networks, begins with the Mississippi State Bulldogs traveling to Memphis to take on the Tigers on Thursday, September 1 at 8:00 PM ET. Additional schedule highlights include Missouri hosting Miami (OH) September 3, Iowa State hosting in-state rival Iowa September 10 and Oklahoma State traveling to Tulsa September 17.  On November 26, the annual Missouri-Kansas Border Showdown from Arrowhead Stadium kicks-off at noon ET followed by Texas Tech meeting Baylor at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 3:30 PM ET and UCLA taking on rival USC at 10:00 PM ET.

Confirmed games on FOX College Sports include Oklahoma State hosting Louisiana Lafayette on September 3, Kansas hosting Northern Illinois on September 10 and Kansas State at home against Kent State on September 17.

The rest of the schedule will be announced as the season progresses, usually 12 or six days before the game.

Additionally, FOX Sports boasts exclusive coverage of college football’s inaugural Pac-12 Conference Championship Game on Friday, December 2 followed by the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, December 3 from Indianapolis. FOX Sports wraps up its outstanding college football season with coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic at Cowboys Stadium on Friday, January 6.

Veteran announcer Gus Johnson (play-by-play), former University of Tennessee defensive back Charles Davis (analyst) and former University of Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster (sideline analyst) call the FOX College Football games of the week on FX.

FSN’s announcing teams for Big 12 games in 2011 feature Joel Meyers (play-by-play), former Colorado quarterback Joel Klatt (analyst) and Jim Knox (sideline reporter), as well as Bill Land (play-by-play) teaming with former Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Dave Lapham (analyst) and Emily Jones (sideline reporter).

Steve Physioc (play-by-play), former University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Yogi Roth (analyst) and Desmond Purnell (sideline analyst) call games on FOX College Sports.  (See FOX College Football broadcast teams press release at http://tinyurl.com/3wjto9p)

Following is a list of scheduled games on the 2011 FOX Sports Media Group college football schedule:

2011 FOX Sports Media Group College Football Schedule
(All times listed are Eastern)

Thursday, September 1
8:00 PM, Mississippi State at Memphis, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, September 3
12:00 PM, Miami (OH) at Missouri, Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, UCLA at Houston, C-USA — FSN
7:00 PM, Louisiana Lafayette at Oklahoma State, Big 12 — FCS
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Tulsa at Oklahoma, Big 12 — FX
10:00 PM, Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss, C-USA — FSN

Sunday, September 4
7:30 PM, SMU at Texas A&M, Big 12 — FSN

Saturday, September 10
12:00 PM, Iowa at Iowa St., Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, Virginia Tech at East Carolina, C-USA — FSN
3:30 PM,  FX Game of the Week: Nevada at Oregon, Pac-12 — FX
7:00 PM, UTEP at SMU, C-USA — FSN
7:00 PM, Northern Illinois at Kansas, Big 12 — FCS

Saturday, September 17
1:30 PM, Colorado St. vs. Colorado (from Invesco Field), Pac-12 — FSN
7:00 PM, Kent State at Kansas State, Big 12 — FCS
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Syracuse at USC, Pac-12 — FX
10:00 PM, Oklahoma St. at Tulsa, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, September 24
12:00 PM, SMU at Memphis, C-USA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Missouri at Oklahoma, Big 12 — FX

Saturday, October 1
Big 12 – 2 games*
Pac-12 – 3 games*

3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
4:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM,  FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN

Saturday, October 8
12:00 PM, Mississippi State at UAB, C-USA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, Big 12 — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, Big 12 — FX
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 –FSN

Saturday, October 15
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (UCF at SMU)

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM or 7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Saturday, October 22
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (Tulsa at Rice)
Pac-12 – 2 games*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN

Thursday, October 27
8:00 PM, Rice at Houston, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, October 29
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (SMU at Tulsa)
Pac-12 – 2 games*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN

Saturday, November 5
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (UTEP at Rice)
Pac-12 – 1 game*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Saturday, November 12
Big 12 – 1 game*
C-USA – 2 (Marshall at Tulsa, Navy at SMU)
Pac-12 – 1 game*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Thursday, November 17
8:00 PM, Marshall at Memphis, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, November 19
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 2 (SMU at Houston, UCF at East Carolina)

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Friday, November 25
12:00 PM, Houston at Tulsa, C-USA == FSN
3:30 PM, Colorado at Utah, Pac-12 — FSN

Saturday, November 26
12:00 PM, Missouri vs. Kansas (at Arrowhead Stadium), Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, Texas Tech vs. Baylor (at Cowboys Stadium), Big 12 — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Iowa St. at Oklahoma, Big 12 — FX
10:00 PM, UCLA at USC, Pac-12 — FSN
TBA, Rice at SMU, C-USA — FSN

Friday, December 2
8:00 PM, Pac-12 Championship Game, Pac-12 — FOX

Saturday, December 3
12:00 PM, Conference USA Championship Game, C-USA — TBA
12:30 PM, Iowa St. at Kansas St., Big 12 — FSN
8:00 PM, Big Ten Championship Game, Big Ten — FOX

Friday, January 6
8:00 PM, Cotton Bowl Classic (at Cowboys Stadium), Big 12/SEC — FOX

*Teams, networks and times TBD

And we’re done for now.

Going For Some Monday Linkage

Let’s do the linkage on this busy Monday where it appears the NFL will be back this week as the league and the NFL Players Association appear to have come together on a collective bargaining agreement that would last 10 years with no opt-out. We’re just waiting official word on everything.

I’ll provide linkage until I get the joint press release from the NFL and NFL Players Association.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that TV analysts are predicting the first few weeks of the NFL year will be extreme chaos.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the NFL’s TV partners are ready to broadcast football.

Awful Announcing is down to the Final Four of its Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament.

In SportsNewser, Cam Martin has the official trailer for “Haywire” starring MMA babe Gina Carano. Yes, starring. And you won’t believe the cast of stars in the film.

Joe Favorito says with this being the 25th anniversary of the downfall of the USFL, it’s time for a league to explore playing spring football again.

To SportsGrid where Timothy Burke condenses this morning’s five hours of media overgushing on Brett Favre into 60 seconds. I hate Brett Favre.

Canadian sports network TSN provides 12 reasons for Canada to watch the 2012 Olympics.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the fantasy football business is hoping for a quick recovery now that the lockout is over.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post hates Yankees voice John Sterling.

Neal Zoren from the Delaware County Times notes a Comcast SportsNet Philly reporter will be taking part in a celebrity bicycle race.

In the Washington Post’s Reliable Source column, it looks at Lindsay Czarniak planning a move to ESPN and a wedding at the same time.

From the Centreville (VA) Patch, Mary C. Stachyra talks with Lindsay about leaving the DC area and working at ESPN.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times chronicles an on-air argument between Tampa Bay Rays TV broadcasters DeWayne Staats and Brian Anderson.

Mike Herndon of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says the Longhorn Network has thrown a monkey wrench into the Big 12′s wheels.

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network isn’t worth the time or the trouble.

David Barron of the Chronicle provides some thoughts on the departure of Ross Greenburg from HBO Sports and a few other news and notes.

Jeff Potrykus from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the media has given its picks for Big Ten division champs. Leaders and Legends. Are you serious?

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has a new appreciation for the Park formerly known as New Comiskey 20 years after it opened.

The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star says Time Warner Cable will put Big Ten Network on its standard service tier after the channel threatened to play hardball with Cornhusker games in the wake of originally being put on a digital sports tier.

Blair Kirkhoff of the Kansas City Star has Texas coach Mack “Big Daddy” Brown hopeful that the Longhorn Network can air state high school football games.

Andrew Logue of the Des Moines (IA) Register writes that the Longhorn Network has many Big 12 schools concerned about the conference’s future.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says HBO’s Bryant Gumbel’s commentary on the US Women’s soccer team certainly gave him some food for thought.

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News says ex-Brigham Young players are ecstatic about the school’s new contract with ESPN.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBS/Golf Channel analyst David Feherty is now the face of golf. Big, big, big stretch.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star tries to make sense of the ESPN suspension/non-suspension of Bruce Feldman.

And that will do it for our links today. The players have unanimously ratified the NFL collective bargaining agreement meaning we have football once again. Thank goodness.

And I’ll be off Twitter, Facebook and Google + for the foreseeable future so this is where you’ll have to come to get the latest from me.

Bringing Back The Linkage

Even though I didn’t links on Wednesday, it feels I haven’t done them in ages. You’re owed a chunk of them. Here goes.

Nathan Vardi of Forbes reports that ESPN basketball writer Chris Sheridan is suing New York Post basketball chameleon Peter Vecsey for libel. Interesting. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

David B. Wilkerson at Marketwatch.com says ESPN is not worried about losing NFL programming.

At NPR, Frank Deford says there has to be a reason why ESPN didn’t bid hard for the Olympics.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter notes that Universal Sports has finally signed a long-awaited distribution deal with DirecTV.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable writes that last night’s Stanley Cup Final Game 7 won the night for NBC in key demographics.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports that CBS Sports Network picks up Comcast subscribers in three Southern markets.

Mike talks with Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Jim Corno about running the area’s various sports networks over the years.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek writes that NBCUniversal has signed a deal with comic book creator Stan Lee’s Guardian Media Entertainment to market the NHL’s Superhero franchise which to date, no one understands. I saw the Guardians unveiled during the NHL All-Star Game earlier this year and I had no idea what it was supposed to represent.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says Stanley Cup Final Game 7 finished rather well for NBC last night.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser has video of ESPN’s Michelle Beadle admitting on Live with Regis & Kelly that she’s watched internet porn.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has some videos from last night’s crazy riots in Vancouver that took place after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Now imagine if the Canucks had won!

Here’s today’s front page of the Vancouver Province showing what the story was last night.

The Vancouver Sun’s front page had what the story should have been.

This is the front page of the Boston Herald. I like this picture.

And the Brockton (MA) Enterprise with a classic front page.

Noah Davis at the Business Insider Sports Page says it’s obvious that tablets are the future of magazines.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Chinese tennis star Li Na has signed an endorsement deal with Mercedes Benz.

The Big Lead has tennis analyst John McEnroe calling for a Hard Knocks-type reality series to help market the sport.

All Access says the St. Louis Rams have signed a new deal to remain in their current flagship radio station.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant writes that Comcast SportsNet New England will air select Connecticut Sun WNBA games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks about CBS signing a new six year deal with the Big Ten for basketball.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced a new broadcast team for selected road games for next season.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog says local ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final were very good. They were certainly higher than the national number.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks about the NHL’s ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Jim says the U.S. Open at Congressional will be covered like a wool blanket this week.

Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks about the launch date for ESPN’s Longhorn Network.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has a couple of sports media notes.

Mike Finger of the Chronicle discusses the launch of the Longhorn Network plus its quest to get carried throughout the Lone Star State and beyond.

Michigan Live says the University of Detroit will name its basketball court after ESPN’s Dick Vitale. He coached there before going to the NBA and then to ESPN in 1979.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal notes that Cincinnati Bengals Dhani Jones gave NFL Network a list of the top NFL linebackers that includes himself.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says Cubs owner Ed Ricketts did not help himself by talking to the media this week.

Scott Dochterman in the Iowa City Gazette discusses CBS signing a new deal with the Big Ten for basketball.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Wimbledon finals can be seen in 3-D at various theaters around SoCal.

In another uniformed column, the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin feels Twitter is what ails everything in sports.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBC’s overnight ratings for the Stanley Cup Final Game 7.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the half hour overnight ratings breakdown of Game 7.

Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski explains how NBC got good ratings for Game 7 despite having a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup Final.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing can’t believe the wallpaper Don Cherry used as a suit for CBC’s Coach’s Corner last night.

SportsbyBrooks looks into yet another plagiarism charge against Denver Post columnist Woody Paige.

Chris Hadley at The Sports Tube remembers NBC’s failed Olympics Triplecast experiment for the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs feels sports radio in both Dallas and Miami failed by not having local programming immediately following the NBA Finals Game 6 to give fans opportunities to vent or celebrate.

We’ll leave it there for now.

CBS Sports Renews Agreement With Big Ten For Basketball Games

CBS Sports sent this announcement about a new agreement with the Big Ten Conference for basketball games. It starts with the upcoming season and will last through the 2016-17 season, so it’s a six year agreement. This includes the semifinals and finals of the Big Ten Tournament which CBS has had the rights to since its inception in 1998. Overall, there will be at least 24 appearances by Big Ten teams on CBS. This agreement also includes women’s games. We have the press release.

CBS SPORTS AGREES TO MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH BIG TEN CONFERENCE

CBS Television Network to Broadcast Conference’s Basketball Games Through 2016-17 Season

CBS Sports has agreed to a multi-year agreement with the Big Ten Conference extending its broadcast rights to the conference’s basketball games through the 2016-17 season. The announcement was made today by Mike Aresco, Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports and James E. Delany, Big Ten Commissioner.

“We are delighted to extend our Big Ten basketball agreement, which has been a cornerstone of our regular-season NCAA basketball coverage,” said Aresco. “We have an outstanding and longstanding relationship with the Big Ten and Commissioner Jim Delany, and look forward to many more seasons of broadcasting the rivalries, pageantry and high quality competition of the Big Ten.”

“The Big Ten Conference is happy to announce an extension to our CBS Sports agreement,” said Delany. “CBS has been a great partner and has provided outstanding exposure for the Big Ten since 1991, giving our coaches and student-athletes opportunities to compete on the national stage. We love having CBS Sports involved in our regular-season and tournament coverage with our championship game leading into the NCAA Selection Show.”

The agreement, beginning with the 2011-12 season, calls for a minimum of 24 appearances by teams from the Big Ten, including three Big Ten wildcard weekends. CBS Sports will continue to broadcast the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinal and championship games. Additional appearances by various women’s teams from the conference also will be featured.

There you have it.

Back to the Linkage Grind Edition

Ok, now that the Olympics bidding is over until the next round sometime later this decade, I can focus on other sports media stories and there are quite a few of them now.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that embattled cyclist Lance Armstrong has taken down his anti-60 Minutes website stating its report on his alleged PED use has been debunked.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Game 4 of the NBA Finals scored a primetime win for ABC on Tuesday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks about ESPN signing a new deal with the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says ESPN is ready to convert to a full HD format.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Captain Blowhard is trying to save the internet from a certain type of advertising. Nice of him to appoint himself as our savoir.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the NBA Finals are on pace to become the most watched in seven years.

Bill Simmons’ Grantland site finally had its official launch yesterday. Already people are assessing it including Nicholas Jackson of Atlantic Monthly.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead has his first impressions.

Tim Carmody of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University wonders if Simmons’ mix of sports and pop culture will work.

Tommy Craggs at Deadspin tells us why Grantland Rice for whom Simmons’ site is named, was really overrated.

Deadspin runs an excerpt from former New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte’s new book in which he recalls an encounter with an overtalkative Bob Costas.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes that this week’s successful Olympic bid was key for the new NBC/Comcast.

The Nielsen Wire blog has a look at the top NHL players in name recognition.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser has TNT’s Charles Barkley ripping Miami Heat fans.

Cam says the Denver Post’s Woody Paige has apologized to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal for lifting quotes from an ESPN story he wrote.

Corey Nachman of the Business Insider Sports Page has his 100 Best Venues in Sports.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the video of a Brazilian writer typing away on a small laptop while showing a bit more of himself than he realized.

And Dan says Steven A. “A is for Allude” Smith hinted on ESPN Radio that something is up with LeBron James, but won’t say exactly what.

Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner gives some examples from the ESPN book that he feels evidence how NBC’s Sunday Night Football is superior to Monday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a strange endorsement story involving the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez.

ESPN PR pro Bill Hofheimer helps to unveil the new Monday Night Football logo that will be seen when the NFL starts playing again.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that NBC now has to follow through on promises to show the Olympics live.

Brian Stelter of the Times reports that UFC is in talks with Comcast to buy its G4 gaming channel.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that ESPN has added 7 more Big Ten games to its ESPN/ESPN2/ABC college football schedule.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable airs some local high school lacrosse finals this weekend.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will air 10 WNBA games this season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that there’s something brewing between writer John Feinstein and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Iliana Limon at the Orlando Sentinel writes that Central Florida along with Conference USA have announced their TV schedules.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News reports that the SEC and ESPN are ready to re-evaluate their 15 year deal which now looks antiquated when it was signed in 2009.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the NBA is gaining increased interest in the area thanks to the Thunder.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says you can design a special bowtie for Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that would benefit Dhani Jones’ Bow Tie Cause Initiative.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel notes that outgoing ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson cites Rick Pitino was his best coach.

Yesterday was Tom Hoffarth’s birthday. Happy Belated Birthday, Tom.

Joe Flint at the Los Angeles Times says keeping the Olympics was top priority for NBC and Comcast.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury Times has some thoughts on ESPN’s new contract with the West Coast Conference.

Lisa K. Anderson in the Sandy (OR) Post writes about a local woman who’s hosting a reality show for Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

Dan Robson of the Toronto Star says CBC has signed a five year deal with the International Skating Union for figure skating, speedskating and other events.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN will air BBC’s coverage of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

Joe Caporoso of Gunaxin asks Erin Andrews or Michelle Beadle?

Cosby Sweaters looks at how Olympic viewing will change with Comcast in charge of NBC.

We have a new sports media blog, The Sports Tube, headed by Chris Hadley. He looks at the Olympic bidding.

Sports Media Watch notes the ratings for Games 2 & 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final are down from last year.

Joe Favorito wonders if any New York sports teams or events will take advantage of the Congressman Anthony Weiner mess.

That’s going to do it for now.