Fang's Bites

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/23 & 02/24/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Announcing Assignments courtesy of Eye on Sky and Air Sports

Saturday, February 22

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Lexington, KY — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
75 Years of NCAA March Madness: Top 10 Upsets — CBS, 1 p.m.
75 Years of NCAA March Madness: Top 10 Champs That Never Were — CBS, 1:30 p.m.
Inside College Basketball — CBS Sports Network, 6:30 p.m.
College GameDay live from Lexington, KY — ESPN, 8 p.m.
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

BracketBusters
Iona at Indiana State — ESPNU, 11 a.m. (Doug Sherman/Sean Harrington)
Pacific at Western Michigan — ESPN3, 1 p.m. (Dan Gutowsky/Nate Ross)
Canisius at Vermont — ESPN3, 1 p.m. (Ed Cohen/Rob Kennedy)
Eastern Kentucky at Valparaiso — ESPNU, 1 p.m. (Jim Barbar/Brooke Weisbrod)
Montana at Davidson — ESPNU, 3 p.m. (Ray Philpott/Paul Biancardi)
Northwestern State at Niagara — ESPN3, 3 p.m. (Mike Gleason/Daymeon Fishback)
Detroit at Wichita State — ESPN2, 4 p.m. (Dave Lamont/Darrin Horn)
Creighton at St. Mary’s — ESPN, 6 p.m. (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
South Dakota State at Murray State — ESPN2, 8 p.m. (Roxy Bernstein/Mark Adams)
Denver at Northern Iowa — ESPN3, 8 p.m. (Mike Couzens/Rich Zvosec)
Ohio at Belmont — ESPN2, 10 p.m. (Mike Crispino/Malcolm Huckaby)

noon
Seton Hall at Louisville — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)
Clemson at Maryland — ESPN2 (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams)

Women’s: Johnson C. Smith at Shaw — CBS Sports Network
Women’s: Akron at Kent State — STO (Mike Cairns/Jackie Windon)

1 p.m.
Southern Mississippi at Memphis — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Perry Clark/Jenn Hildreth)
Miami (FL) at Wake Forest — Fox Sports Net-regional (Carolinas/Detroit Plus/Florida/South/Tennessee/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus/NESN) (Rich Waltz/Eddie Fogler)

Women’s: Wisconsin at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (Lisa Byington/Shelley Till/Kara Lentz)
Women’s: Texas at Baylor — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox College Sports (Kris Radcliffe/Jim Haller)

1:30 p.m.
Texas Tech at Iowa State — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Stephen Howard)
Alabama at LSU — SEC Network (Joe Davis/Barry Booker)
Vanderbilt at Mississippi State — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Jon Sundvold)

2 p.m.
South Carolina at Georgia — CBS (Spero Dedes/Doug Gottlieb)
Virginia Commonwealth at Xavier — CBS Sports Network (Brad Johansen/Steve Wolf)
Oklahoma State at West Virginia — ESPN2 (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla)

Women’s: Syracuse at South Florida — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/LaChina Robinson)

3 p.m.
Washington State at Arizona — Fox Sports Net-national (Steve Physioc/Marques Johnson)

Women’s: Indiana at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Stephanie White)
Women’s: Iowa State at Kansas State — Fox Sports Midwest/Fox College Sports Pacific (Brian Smoller/Missy Heidrick)
Women’s: Oklahoma State at Oklahoma — Fox Sports-regional (Detroit Plus/North Plus/Oklahoma Plus/Southwest) (Mike Wolfe/Casey Kendrick)

4 p.m.
TCU at Kansas — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Reid Gettys)
Georgetown at Syracuse — CBS (Tim Brando/Bill Raftery)
George Washington at St. Joseph’s — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Mid-Atlantic Plus)/CSS/The Comcast Network (Scott Graham/Joe Lunardi)
William & Mary at George Mason — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia) (Al Koken/Ron Thompson)
North Carolina State at North Carolina — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke)
New Mexico at Colorado State — NBC Sports Network (Steve Schlanger/Stan Van Gundy)
Tennessee at Texas A&M — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

Women’s: Seton Hall at UConn — SNY

5 p.m.
Baylor at Oklahoma — ESPNU (Brad Sham/Bob Valvano)
Auburn at Mississippi — Fox Sports Net-regional (Detroit/Midwest/North/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Southwest/Sun Sports) (Dave Neal/Larry Conley)
Binghamton at New Hampshire — WBIN/Fox College Sports Central (Mike Murphy/Bob Lipman)
Santa Clara at Portland — WCC TV (Ari Wolfe/Brad Holland)

6 p.m.
Marquette at Villanova — ESPN2 (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Nevada at San Diego State — NBC Sports Network (Todd Harris/Blaine Fowler)
Cal at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network (JB Long/Lamar Hurd)

7 p.m.
Arkansas at Florida — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)

8 p.m.
UConn at DePaul — Big East Network (Lou Canellis/Sean Kearney)
Harvard at Yale — CBS Sports Network (Don Criqui/Alaa Abdelnaby)
Kansas State at Texas — Longhorn Network (Paul Sunderland/Bruce Bowen/Kaylee Hartung)
Stanford at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Ernie Kent)

8:30 p.m.
Weber State at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Pacific (Bob Carpenter/Mickey Michalec)

Women’s: Sacramento State at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona

9 p.m.
Missouri at Kentucky — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Samantha Ponder)
Providence at Rutgers — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh)

11 p.m.
Washington at Arizona State — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)

Sunday, February 24

noon
Pittsburgh at St. John’s — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/John Celestand)
Lehigh at Lafayette — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Chris Spatola)

1 p.m.
Illinois at Michigan — ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)

Women’s: Michigan at Penn State — Big Ten Network (Lisa Byington/Patricia Babcock-McGraw/Dave Leno)
Women’s: Purdue at Minnesota — ESPN2 (Jim Barbar/Maria Taylor)
Women’s: Texas Tech at Kansas — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Brenda VanLengen)
Women’s: Miami at Georgia Tech — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolinas/Detroit Plus/North Plus/Prime  Ticket/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic) (Mike Hogewood/Christy Winters-Scott)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: North Carolina State at North Carolina — ESPNU (Roy Philpott/LaChina Robinson)

2 p.m.
Boston College at Duke — ACC Network (Tim Brant/Cory Alexander)
Georgia Tech at Virginia — ACC Network (Tom Werme/Debbie Antonelli)
Cincinnati at Notre Dame — CBS (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)
LaSalle at URI — Comcas SportsNet Philadelphia/Cox Sports RI (Mike Mancuso/Chris DiSano)

Women’s: St. Bonaventure at George Washington — CBS Sports Network (John Sadak/Julianne Viani)
Women’s: Georgia at Mississippi — CSS/Comcast Sportsnet California (Matt Stewart/Joe Ciampi)
Women’s: Tennessee at Arkansas — SEC Network (Melissa Lee/Nell Fortner)

3 p.m.
Women’s: Iowa at Nebraska — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Stephanie White)
Women’s: Duke at Maryland — ESPN2 (Pam Ward/Carolyn Peck)
Women’s: Arizona at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network (Ann Schatz/Kyndra de St. Aubin)

3:30 p.m.
UCLA at USC — Fox Sports Net-national (Justin Kutcher/Marques Johnson/Steve Kerr)

Women’s: Notre Dame at DePaul — ESPNU (Lou Canellis/Brooke Weisbrod)

4 p.m.
Michigan State at Ohio State — CBS (Kevin Harlan/Clark Kellogg)

4:30 p.m.
Women’s: James Madison at Delaware — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/CSS/The Comcast Network (Al Koken/Pam Roecker)

5 p.m.
Women’s: Texas A&M at Vanderbilt — ESPN2 (Adam Amin/Swin Cash)
Women’s: USC at UCLA — Pac-12 Network (Anne Marie Anderson/Tammy Blackburn)
Women’s: Oregon State at Cal — Pac-12 Network (Bay Area/Oregon/Washington) (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

6 p.m.
Northwestern at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Dan Bonner)
Florida State at Virginia Tech — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

7 p.m.
Old Dominion at Hofstra — Comcast SportsNet (California/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest)/CSS/SNY/The Comcast Network (Joe Beninati/John Feinstein)

Women’s: Oregon at Stanford — Pac-12 Network (Jim Watson/Rose Gold-Onwude)

8 p.m.
LIU-Brooklyn at Wagner — ESPNU (Bob Picozzi/Derek Whittenburg)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/09 & 02/10/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Announcing Assignments Courtesy of Eye on Sky and Air Sports

Saturday, February 9

Pregame and Studio Shows
College GameDay live from South Bend, IN — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
75 Years of March Madness: Top 10 Coaches — CBS, 12:30 p.m.
Big Ten Tip-Off Show — Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Big Ten Game Break — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College GameDay live from South Bend, IN — ESPN, 8 p.m.
Big Ten Finale ’12-’13 — Big Ten Network, 9 p.m.
Inside College Basketball — CBS Sports Network, midnight
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

11 a.m.
Temple at Dayton — ESPNU (Jason Benetti/Bob Valvano)

noon
Georgetown at Rutgers — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)
Hofstra at North Carolina-Wilmington — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic Plus/New England)/CSS/MSG Network/The Comcast Network (Mike Gleason/Charlie Woollum)
Michigan at Wisconsin — ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)
Florida State at Wake Forest — ESPN2 (Carter Blackburn/Paul Biancardi)

Women’s: Nova Southeastern at Florida Southern — CBS Sports Network

1 p.m.
Mississippi at Missouri — CBS (Ian Eagle/Greg Anthony)
Akron at Miami (OH) — ESPNU (Adam Amin/Brooke Weisbrod)
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Carolinas/Detroit Plus/Florida/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Rich Waltz/Cory Alexander)
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at Tennessee-Martin — Fox Sports Midwest/Fox Sports South (Darren Kinnard/Kelly Burke)

1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Texas — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Reid Gettys)
Arkansas at Vanderbilt — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

2 p.m.
DePaul at Marquette — Big East Network (Quint Kessenich/John Celestand)
Delaware at George Mason — CBS Sports Network (Don Criqui/Marc Jackson)
Tulane at Houston — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Northwest)/The Comcast Network (Brett Dolan/Tom Penders)
North Carolina at Miami (FL) — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke/Jeannine Edwards)
St. Joseph’s at UMass — ESPN2 (Marc Kestecher/Stephen Bardo)

3 p.m.
South Florida at Villanova — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh)
Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox College Sports (Mitch Strohman/Dave Brown/Kara Hammer)

Women’s: Montana at North Dakota — Fox College Sports Central (Dan Hammer/Craig Stemen)
Women’s: West Virginia at Kansas — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/Brenda VanLengen)

4 p.m.
Texas Tech at Baylor — Big 12 Network (Brad Sham/Stephen Howard)
West Virginia at TCU — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Dan Hughes)
Memphis at Southern Mississippi — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Pete Gillen)
Northeastern at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England)/CSS/The Comcast Network
Kansas at Oklahoma — ESPN (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla/Holly Rowe)
Valparaiso at Cleveland State — ESPN2 (Mike Crispino/Darrin Horn)
Auburn at Kentucky — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Kara Lawson)
Pepperdine at Portland — WCC Network (Barry Tompkins/Dan Belluomini)

4:30 p.m.
Northwestern at Iowa — Big Ten Network (Justin Kutcher/Shon Morris)

5 p.m.
Texas A&M at Georgia — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)
Mississippi State at Florida — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Detroit Plus/Midwest/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Southwest/Wisconsin/Sun Sports) (Dave Neal/Larry Conley)
South Dakota State at Oakland — Fox Sports Detroit/Fox Sports North/Fox College Sports Atlantic (John Keating/Mateen Cleaves)

6 p.m.
Fresno State at San Jose State — CBS Sports Network (Andrew Catalon/Andrew Lappas/Lauren Gardner)
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Iowa State at Kansas State — ESPN2 (Mark Neely/Chris Piper)

Women’s: Cincinnati at Rutgers — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/Steffi Sorenson)

7 p.m.
Xavier at Duquense — A-10 Network (Bob McElligott/Tony White)
Michigan State at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Jim Jackson)
St. Bonaventure at URI — Cox Sports RI (Mike Mancuso/Chris DiSano)
Stanford at Arizona State — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)

7:30 p.m.
Missouri State at Wichita State — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest/Fox College Sports Central (Scott Warmann/Rich Zvosec)

8 p.m.
LSU at Alabama — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
Utah at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Jim Watson/Ernie Kent)

Women’s: San Diego State at Fresno State — CBS Sports Network (Rich Cellini/Tammy Blackburn)
Women’s: Baylor at Texas — Longhorn Network (Fran Harris/Debbie Antonelli/Kaylee Hartung)

9 p.m.
San Francisco at BYU — BYU TV (Dave McCann/Steve Cleveland/Robbie Bullough)
Louisville at Notre Dame — ESPN (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Samantha Ponder)Penn State at Nebraska — ESPNU (Dan Gutowsky/Sean Harrington)
Seattle at New Mexico State — Fox College Sports Pacific (Jeff Matthews/Glenn Cerny)
New Mexico at UNLV — NBC Sports Network (Paul Burmeister/Stan Van Gundy)

10 p.m.
Illinois State at Creighton — ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg/Mark Adams)
Washington State at UCLA — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Don MacLean)

11 p.m.
St. Mary’s at San Diego — ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein/Corey Williams)
Cal State-Fullerton at Cal-Riverside — Fox Sports Prime Ticket/Fox Sports San Diego/Fox College Sports Pacific (Just Alderson/Michael Cage/Kelli Tennant)

Sunday, February 10

11:30 a.m.
Women’s: North Carolina at Georgia Tech — ESPNU (Michele Smith/LaChina Robinson)

noon
UConn at Seton Hall — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/Bob Wenzel)

Women’s: Michigan at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Stephanie White)

1 p.m.
North Carolina State at Clemson — ACC Network (Steve Martin/Mike Gminski)
Virginia at Maryland — ACC Network (Tim Brant/Dan Bonner)
Indiana at Ohio State — CBS (Kevin Harlan/Clark Kellogg)
Tennessee at South Carolina — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit/Midwest/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Southwest/Sun Sports) (Dave Baker/Daymeon Fishback)

Women’s: Houston at Rice — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Central (Bob Rathbun/Debbie Antonelli)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: Georgia at LSU — ESPNU (Melissa Lee/Maria Taylor)

2 p.m.
Women’s: Minnesota at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Mike Wolf/Patricia Babcock-McGraw/Kara Lentz)
Women’s: Holy Cross at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Amy Lawrence)
Women’s: Butler at George Washington — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic)
Women’s: Florida State at Miami (FL) — CSS (Jason Solodkin/Robin Mueller)
Women’s: Michigan State at Penn State — ESPN2 (Adam Amin/Swin Cash)
Women’s: Mississippi State at Missouri — SEC Network (Cara Capuano/Nell Fortner)

3 p.m.
St. John’s at Syracuse — ESPN (Dave Pasch/Dan Dakich)

Women’s: Tulane at Tulsa — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/DanHughes)
Women’s: Oregon State at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Anne Marie Anderson/Tammy Blackburn)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: DePaul at UConn — ESPNU (Bob Picozzi/Brooke Weisbrod)

4 p.m.
Women’s: Ohio State at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (DanKelley/Shelley Till)
Women’s: Kentucky at Vanderbilt — ESPN2 (Pam Ward/Rosalyn Gold-Onwude)

4:30 p.m.
Women’s: Old Dominion at Drexel — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (Al Koken/Jody Lavin Patrick)

5 p.m.
Women’s: Oklahoma State at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Brenda VanLengen)
Women’s: Arizona State at Stanford — Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

6 p.m.
Illinois at Minnesota — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Eddie Johnson)
Duke at Boston College — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

7 p.m.
James Madison at Drexel — Comcast SportsNet (California/Mid-Atlantic/Philadelphia)/CSS
Cal at Arizona — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Matt Muehlebach)

8 p.m.
Drake at Evansville — ESPNU (Mitch Holthus/Mark Adams)
Washington at USC — Fox Sports Net-national (Steve Physioc/Corey Williams)

10 p.m.
Colorado at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (JB Long/Lamar Hurd)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/02 & 02/03/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Announcing Assignments courtesy of Eye on Sky and Air Sports

Saturday, February 2

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Bloomington, IN — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
Big Ten Tip-Off Show — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College GameDay live from Bloomington, IN — ESPN, 8 p.m.
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

11 a.m.
Cincinnati at Seton Hall — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh/Paul Calcaterra)

noon
Clemson at Boston College — ACC Network (Tim Brando/Cory Alexander)
Virginia Tech at North Carolina — ACC Network (Tim Brandt/Dan Bonner)
Hofstra at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (California/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)/CSS/MSG Network (John Castleberry/Charlie Woolum)
Syracuse at Pittsburgh — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Purdue at Northwestern — ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)

Women’s: Hartford at Boston University — NESN (Bill Schweizer/Billy Mecca/Jayme Parker)

12:30 p.m.
Women’s: Texas at TCU — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/Brenda VanLengen)

1 p.m.
Austin Peay at Murray State — ESPNU (Adam Amin/Brooke Weisbrod)

1:30 p.m.
West Virginia at Texas Tech — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Reid Gettys)
Auburn at Missouri — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Jon Sunvold)
Georgia at South Carolina — SEC Network (Dave Lamont/Kyle Macy)

2 p.m.
Tulsa at Memphis — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Pete Gillen/Gary Parrish)
Duke at Florida State — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke/Jeannine Edwards)
Notre Dame at DePaul — ESPN2 (John Saunders/LaPhonso Ellis)
Wake Forest at Maryland — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolinas/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Rich Waltz/Mike Gminski)
Dayton at Saint Louis — NBC Sports Network (Dave Strader/Mike Kaplan)

Women’s: UConn at St. John’s — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/LaChina Robinson)

2:30 p.m.
Colorado at Utah — Fox Sports Net-national (Steve Physioc/Corey Williams)

3 p.m.
Robert Morris at Long Island — ESPNU (Mike Corey/Bob Valvano)
Western Illinois at IUPUI — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Greg Rakestraw/Bob Lovell)

4 p.m.
Duquense at St. Bonaventure — A-10 Network (Kevin Sylvester/Brendan McDaniels)
Oklahoma State at Kansas — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Chris Piper)
Miami (FL) at North Carolina State — CBS (Spero Dedes/Bill Raftery)
St. John’s at Georgetown — CBS (Ian Eagle/Clark Kellogg)
URI at Butler — CBS Sports Network (Brad Johansen/John Griffin/Jon Rothstein)
George Mason at James Madison — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia) (Al Koken/Junior Burrough)
Tennessee at Arkansas — ESPN (Brent Musburger/Bob Knight)
Wichita State at Northern Iowa — ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg/Mark Adams)
Alabama at Vanderbilt — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

4:30 p.m.
Oregon at Cal — Fox Sports Net-national (Justin Kutcher/Marques Johnson/Laura McKeeman)

5 p.m.
Ohio at Akron — ESPNU (Dan Gutkowsky/Malcolm Huckaby)
Missouri-Kansas City at South Dakota State — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Tom Niemann/Brad Newitt)

5:30 p.m.
LSU at Mississippi State — Fox Sports Net-regional (Florida/Midwest Plus/North Plus/South/Southwest) (Dave Neal/Larry Conley)

6 p.m.
Temple at St. Joseph’s — CBS Sports Network (Tom McCarthy/Steve Lappas/Jeff Goodman)
Drexel at Northeastern — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Northwest)/CSS/The Comcast Network (Gary Tanguay/Jack Armstrong)
Kentucky at Texas A&M — ESPN (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
Kansas State at Oklahoma — ESPN2 (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla)
Columbia at Princeton — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Dalen Cuff)

7 p.m.
Ohio State at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Mississippi at Florida — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)

7:30 p.m.
Indiana State at Drake — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest (Scott Warmann/Kevin Lehman)

8 p.m.
Southern Mississippi at UAB — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Northwest)/The Comcast Network (Matt Stewart/Brian Oliver)
Baylor at Iowa State — ESPN2 (Mark Neely/Rich Zvosec)
TCU at Texas — Longhorn Network (Kevin Dunn/Bruce Bowen)
Nevada at New Mexico — NBC Sports Network (Steve Schlanger/Blaine Fowler)

Women’s: Baylor at Oklahoma State — Fox Sports Southwest Plus/Fox Sports Detroit Plus/Fox Sports North (Mike Wolfe/Casey Kendrick)

8:30 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Atlantic (David Garrett/Mickey Michaelec)

9 p.m.
Santa Clara at BYU — BYU TV (Dave McCann/Steve Cleveland/Robbie Bullough)
Michigan at Indiana — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Shannon Spake)
Arizona State at Washington — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)

10 p.m.
Arizona at Washington State — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Brevin Knight)

11 p.m.
Gonzaga at San Diego — ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein/Paul Biancardi/Paul Carcaterra)

Sunday, February 3

11 a.m.
Women’s: Dayton at Richmond — ESPNU (Melissa Lee/Christy Winters Scott)

noon
Providence at Villanova — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)

1 p.m.
Iowa at Minnesota — Big Ten Network (Brian Anderson/Eddie Johnson)

Women’s: Duke at North Carolina — ESPNU (Ray Philpott/LaChina Robinson)
Women’s: Oklahoma at West Virginia — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Brenda VanLengen)
Women’s: Georgia Tech at Virginia — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolinas/North Plus/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Mike Hogewood/Debbie Antonelli)
Women’s: Alabama at Florida — Fox Sports Florida Plus (Mick Hubert/Mark Wise)
Women’s: Washington at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

2 p.m.
South Florida at UConn — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/Ron Perry)
Marquette at Louisville — ESPN (Dan Shulman/Jay Bilas)

Women’s: Tennessee at Missouri — CSS  (Bernie Guenther/Robin Muller)
Women’s: Georgia at Kentucky — SEC Network (Cara Capuano/Nell Fortner)
Women’s: Miami (OH) at Northern Illinois — STO/Comcast SportsNet Chicago (Mike Cairns/Jackie Windon)

3 p.m.
Virginia at Georgia Tech — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)
Oregon State at Stanford — Pac-12 Network (Jim Watson/Don MacLean)

Women’s: UNC-Wilmington at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (Al Koken./Jody Lavin Patrick/Brian Jackson)
Women’s: Arkansas at Mississippi State — Fox Sports Net-national (Dave Neal/Maria Taylor)

3:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Shon Morris)

4 p.m.
Women’s: Stanford at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network (Ann Schatz/Kyndra de St. Aubin)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 12/29 & 12/30/12, All Times Eastern

Men’s schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, December 29

Studio Shows
ACC Basketball Pre Season Tip-Off Show — ACC Network, check your local listings
75 Years of March Madness: Behind the Mic — CBS, 2 p.m.
75 Years of March Madness: A Coach’s Perspective — CBS, 3 p.m.
Big Ten Finale ’12-’13 — Big Ten Network, 9 p.m.

Orange Bowl Classic, Sunrise, FL
Tulsa vs. Florida State — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic, 2 p.m.
Air Force vs. Florida — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic, 4:30 p.m.

noon
Santa Clara at Duke — ESPN2
Western Michigan at NC State — ESPNU

Women’s: Temple at Michigan State — Big Ten Network

1 p.m.
Presbyterian at South Carolina — CSS/Comcast Network/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Northwest)

2 p.m.
Loyola (Chicago) at DePaul — Big East Network
NC Central at Marquette — Big East Network
UNLV at North Carolina — ESPN2
Virginia Tech vs. BYU at Salt Lake City, UT — ESPNU
Rice at Texas — Longhorn Network
Hartford at Colorado — Pac-12 Network
Coppin State at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network (Arizona)

Women’s: Cal State-Northridege at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Net Oklahoma/Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox Sports Prime Ticket

2:15 p.m.
Auburn vs. Illinois at Chicago, IL — Big Ten Network

3 p.m.
Maine at Quinnipiac — NESN

4 p.m.
Kentucky at Louisville — CBS
Florida A&M at Georgia — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Houston/New England/Northwest)
Lafayette at Stanford — Pac-12 Network

Women’s: UConn at Stanford — ESPNU

4:30 p.m.
Chicago State at Ohio State — Big Ten Network

5 p.m.
Army at Texas A&M — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox College Sports Central

6 p.m.
Xavier at Tennessee — ESPNU
Idaho State vs. Washington State at Kennewick, WA — Pac-12 Network

7 p.m.
Alcorn State at Syracuse — Big East Network
George Mason at South Florida — Big East Network
Central Michigan at Michigan — Big Ten Network
Missouri-Kansas City at Kansas State — Fox Sports Midwest/Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox Sports West/Fox College Sports Pacific

7:30 p.m.
Washington at UConn — ESPN2

8 p.m.
Butler at Vanderbilt — ESPNU
Denver at Louisiana Tech — ESPN Plus
Ohio at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox College Sports Central
Towson at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network

10 p.m.
Cal-Santa Barbara at Cal State-Fullerton — ESPNU

10:30 p.m.
Harvard at Cal — Pac-12 Network

Sunday, December 30

1 p.m.
Wofford at Virginia — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Florida/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Southwest)/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN

Women’s: Marist at Kentucky — Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South Plus
Women’s: Rutgers at Tennessee — Fox Sports Arizona Plus/North/South/Wisconsin

2 p.m.
Women’s: Houston at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Southwest

3 p.m.
Women’s: North Dakota State at South Dakota State — Fox College Sports Central

4 p.m.
Alabama A&M at Mississippi State — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Northwest)
Mississippi Valley State at TCU — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports West/Fox College Sports Atlantic

6 p.m.
Tulane at Alabama — ESPNU
Northern Iowa at Wichita State — Fox Sports Midwest/Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox College Sports Central

7 p.m.
Dayton at USC — Pac-12 Network

8 p.m.
Loyola (MD) at Memphis — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 12/15 & 12/16/2012, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, December 15

Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival, Brooklyn, NY
Fordham vs. Princeton — YES, 2:30 p.m.
St. John’s vs. St. Francis — YES, 5 p.m.
Michigan vs. West Virginia — ESPN, 8 p.m.

Crossroads Classic, Indianapolis, IN
Butler vs. Indiana — CBS, 2 p.m.
Notre Dame vs. Purdue — ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.

noon
Western Carolina at Georgetown — Big East Network
North Carolina-Asheville at Ohio State — Big Ten Network
East Carolina at North Carolina — ESPNU
Akron at Detroit — Fox Sports Detroit/Fox College Sports Atlantic

12:30 p.m.
Lipscomb at Kentucky — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Midwest/North/San Diego/South/Southwest/Prime Ticket/Wisconsin)

2 p.m.
Savannah State at Marquette — Big East Network
Cincinnati vs. Marshall at Charleston, WV — CBS Sports Network
SMU at URI — Cox Sports RI
Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M at Oklahoma City, OK — ESPNU

2:30 p.m.
Big Four Classic, Des Moines, IA: Iowa vs. Northern Iowa — Big Ten Network
Louisville at Memphis — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Pacific

3 p.m.
Dartmouth at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network

4 p.m.
Alabama at VCU — CBS Sports Network

4:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Oregon — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Pacific

5 p.m.
Iona at Georgia — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Chicago/New England/Northwest)/SNY
Cal-Davis at Stanford — Pac-12 Network

6 p.m.
New Mexico State at New Mexico — CBS Sports Network

7 p.m.
Canisius at Syracuse — Big East Network
Belmont at Kansas — ESPNU
Cal-Riverside at USC — Pac-12 Network (Arizona/Bay Area/Los Angeles)
Jackson State at Washington — Pac-12 Network (Mountain/Oregon/Washington)

8 p.m.
Texas State at Texas — Longhorn Network

9 p.m.
BYU at Weber State — BYU TV
Kansas State vs. Gonzaga at Seattle, WA — ESPN2
Tuskegee at Michigan State — ESPNU
Utah State at Utah Valley — Fox College Sports Pacific
Prairie View A&M at UCLA — Pac-12 Network

10 p.m.
Florida at Arizona — ESPN

11 p.m.
Creighton at Cal — Pac-12 Network

Sunday, December 16

1 p.m.
North Carolina A&T at Seton Hall — Big East Network
New Hampshire at Boston College — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/North Plus/San Diego/South/Southwest Plus/Prime Ticket)/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus/NESN

2 p.m.
Women’s: Lipscomb at Georgia — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (California/New England)
Women’s: Tennessee at Texas — Fox Sports Net-national

3 p.m.
Women’s: Vanderbilt at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus/Fox Sports South Plus

4 p.m.
Delaware at Villanova — ESPNU
Central Arkansas at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Arizona/Fox Sports Southwest/Fox College Sports Pacific

6 p.m.
Eastern Kentucky at Illinois — ESPNU
McNeese State at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Arizona/Fox Sports Southwest/Fox College Sports Central

7 p.m.
Chicago State at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 12/01 & 12/02/2012, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, December 1

SEC/Big East Challenge
Mississippi State at Providence — ESPNU, noon
Rutgers at Mississippi — ESPNU, 2 p.m.
Alabama at Cincinnati — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Villanova at Vanderbilt — ESPNU, 6 p.m.

John Wooden Classic, Anaheim, CA
San Diego State vs. UCLA — ESPNU, 10 p.m.

noon
Nicholls State at Michigan State — Big Ten Network

women’s — Mississippi Valley State at Kansas State — Fox Sports Midwest

12:30 p.m.
Baylor at Kentucky — CBS

1 p.m.
Illinois at Louisville — Big East Network
Brown at New Hampshire — Fox College Sports Atlantic

2 p.m.
Miami (FL) at UMass — CBS Sports Network
Vermont at URI — Cox Sports RI
Delaware at Duke — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Florida/North Plus/San Diego/South/Prime Ticket)/Comcast SportsNet/NESN

2:15 p.m.
Xavier at Purdue — Big Ten Network

4 p.m.
Michigan at Bradley — ESPNU
Wisconsin-Green Bay at Virginia — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Florida/North Plus/San Diego/South/Wisconsin/Prime Ticket)/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN
Texas-Arlington at Texas — Longhorn Network

women’s — Georgetown at George Washington — Comcast SportsNet New England/Mid-Atlantic Plus

4:30 p.m.
Northern Kentucky at Iowa — Big Ten Network

6 p.m.
UAB at North Carolina — ESPNU

6:30 p.m.
Texas A&M at Houston — Fox Sports Net-national
Sam Houston State at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox College Sports Pacific
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Oregon — Pac-12 Network

7:30 p.m.
Coppin State at Indiana — Big Ten Network

8 p.m.
Arizona at Texas Tech — ESPNU

8:30 p.m.
Sacramento State at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network

10:30 p.m.
Portland at Washington State — Pac-12 Network

Sunday, December 2

BB&T Classic, Washington, DC
Manhattan vs. George Washington — MASN/Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Atlantic, noon
George Mason vs. Maryland — MASN/Fox Sports Net-national, 2:30 p.m.

noon
Clemson at South Carolina — ESPNU

1 p.m.
women’s — North Carolina at Tennessee — Fox Sports South

1:30 p.m.
women’s — Central Michigan at Purdue — Big Ten Network

2 p.m.
South Carolina Upstate at Kansas State — Fox Sports Midwest/North Plus/Prime Ticket/Fox College Sports Central

women’s — Xavier at Cincinnati — Fox Sports Ohio

3 p.m.
women’s — Marist at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Oklahoma
women’s — Houston at TCU — Fox Sports Southwest

4 p.m.
Cal at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network

4:30 p.m.
Valparaiso at Saint Louis — Fox Sports Midwest/Fox College Sports Central

5 p.m.
Denver at Stanford — Pac-12 Network

6 p.m.
women’s — Kentucky at Louisville — ESPNU

7 p.m.
Cal State-Fullerton at Washington — Pac-12 Network

SEC/Big East Challenge Highlights ESPN’s College Basketball Games This Weekend

With college football winding down, college basketball is revving up. Starting on Thursday, the ESPN Family of Networks will be all over the SEC/Big East Challenge that lasts through Saturday.

In addition, there will be plenty of interconference games involving the ACC, A-10, the Big Ten, Big 12, Ivy League, Pac-12 and other leagues.

We have the schedule of games involving all ESPN platforms and announcing assignments. Take a look at what’s in store for college basketball on the ESPN Family below. It’s all in black and white for you.

Check it out.

Men’s College Hoops: Schedule Includes 12 SEC/BIG EAST Challenge Games Thursday-Saturday

ESPN’s upcoming men’s college basketball schedule of 25 games from Thursday, Nov. 29, to Sunday, Dec. 2, is highlighted by all 12 games of the 2nd annual SEC/BIG EAST Challenge. The three-day event includes three top-eight teams: defending national champion No. 8 Kentucky at Notre Dame, last season’s BIG EAST regular-season champion No. 6 Syracuse at Arkansas and Marquette at No. 7 Florida in a showdown of each conference’s 2012 second place finishers. The BIG EAST won the inaugural Challenge eight games to four.

In addition, ESPNU will televise four games involving at least one ranked team Saturday, Dec. 1: No. 3 Michigan at Bradley at 4 p.m., No. 14 North Carolina against UAB at 6 p.m., No. 9 Arizona at Texas Tech at 8 p.m. and No. 23 San Diego State vs. UCLA in the Wooden Classic at 10 p.m.

Date	Time (ET)	Game / Commentators	Network
Thu, Nov 29	7 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: No. 8 Kentucky at Notre Dame Dan Shulman & Dick Vitale	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	New Hampshire at Connecticut Bob Picozzi & Tim Welsh	ESPN3 & BIG EAST Network
	7:30 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: South Carolina at St. John’s Mike Crispino & Kara Lawson	ESPNU
	9 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Marquette at No. 7 Florida Dave Pasch & Fran Fraschilla	ESPN2
	9:30 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Seton Hall at LSU Tom Hart & Bob Valvano	ESPNU
Fri, Nov 30	6:30 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Tennessee at No. 20 Georgetown TBD & Bob Knight	ESPN
	7 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Georgia at South Florida Rich Hollenberg & Carolyn Peck	ESPNU
	8:30 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: No. 6 Syracuse at Arkansas Dave O’Brien & Jimmy Dykes	ESPN
	9 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: DePaul at Auburn Doug Bell & Stephen Howard	ESPNU
Sat, Dec 1	Noon	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Mississippi State at Providence Mike Crispino & Kara Lawson	ESPNU
	1 p.m.	NJIT at St. John’s	ESPN3
	2 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Rutgers at Ole Miss Joe Davis & Joe Dean	ESPNU
	2 p.m.	Pennsylvania at Penn State Dave Leno & Nate Ross	ESPN3
	2 p.m.	No. 15 Oklahoma State at Virginia Tech Booker Corrigan & Cory Alexander	ESPN3
	3 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Alabama at No. 17 Cincinnati Jon Sciambi & LaPhonso Ellis	ESPN2
	3 p.m.	St. Joseph’s at No. 11 Creighton Cory Provus & Mac McCausland	ESPN3
	4 p.m.	No. 3 Michigan at Bradley Jim Barbar & Bruce Pearl	ESPNU
	5 p.m.	SEC/BIG EAST Challenge: Villanova at Vanderbilt Bob Picozzi & Len Elmore	ESPN2
	6 p.m.	UAB at No. 14 North Carolina Clay Matvick & Jay Williams	ESPNU
	7 p.m.	Detroit at Pittsburgh Tim Neverett & Mark Adams	ESPN3
	8 p.m.	No. 9 Arizona at Texas Tech Roxy Bernstein & Stephen Bardo	ESPNU
	10 p.m.	Wooden Classic: No. 23 San Diego State vs. UCLA (Anaheim) Dave Flemming & Sean Farnham	ESPNU
	TBD	UT Arlington at Texas Kevin Dunn, Reid Gettys & Kat Kelly	Longhorn Network
Sun, Dec 2	Noon	Clemson at South Carolina Dari Nowkhah & Dino Gaudio	ESPNU
	2 p.m.	Mercer at Florida State	ESPN3

That is it for this post.

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 11, 11/10/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live on board the USS San Diego — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
ACC Blitz — ACC Network, noon
BTN Football Postgame — Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 4 p.m.
The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 8:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 10 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 10 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Sunday)

noon
Louisville at Syracuse — ABC (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)
Miami at Virginia — ABC (Tom Hart/John Congemi)

Cincinnati at Temple — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

Purdue at Iowa — Big Ten Network (Josh Lewin/Chris Martin/J Leman)

Arkansas at South Carolina — CBS (Tim Brando/Steve Beuerlein/Marty Snider)

William & Mary at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)

Northwestern at Michigan — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Wisconsin at Indiana — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Niki Noto)
Army at Rutgers — ESPNU (Joe Beninati/Peter Najarian/George Smith)

Kansas at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WLVI/KICU (Joe Myers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
St. Francis (PA) at Monmouth — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy)
Southeast Missouri State at Eastern Illinois — Fox College Sports Pacific (Bob Belvin/Kevin Ingram)

Iowa State at Texas — Longhorn Network (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)/ABC (Iowa only) (Mark Neely/Ray Bentley)

Williams at Amherst — NESN (Tom Caron/Steve DeOssie/Katy Fitzpatrick)

Harvard at Penn — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Ross Tucker/Marshall Harris)

Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. (Mike Morgan/Chris Doering)
Missouri at Tennessee — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. (Dave Ware/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

Princeton at Yale — YES

12:30 p.m.
Georgia Tech at North Carolina — ACC Network

Colgate at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Todd Christensen/Evan Washburn)

1:30 p.m.
Colorado at Arizona — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)

3 p.m.
Oregon State at Stanford — Fox (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)
Wake Forest at NC State — Fox Sports Net (regional) (North Plus/South/Southwest Plus/Prime Ticket)/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN (Mike Hogewood/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)

Arizona State at USC — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

3:30 p.m.
Penn State at Nebraska — ABC/ESPN2 (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich)
West Virginia at Oklahoma State — ABC/ESPN2 (Dave Lamont/Kelly Stouffer)

Minnesota at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Derek Rackley/Jon Jansen)

Texas A&M at Missouri — CBS (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)

Maryland at Clemson — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)

Baylor at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Pacific/WLVI/WMCN/WDCA/KICU (Steve Physioc/JC Pearson/Laura McKeeman)
South Dakota State at North Dakota State — Fox College Sports Central (Brian Shawn/Lee Timmerman/Kevin Feeney)

Air Force at San Diego State — NBC Sports Network (Ari Wolfe/Blaine Fowler)

Portland State at Montana State — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

5 p.m.
Tulsa at Houston — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Aaron Talor/Lauren Gardner)

7 p.m.
Mississippi State at LSU — ESPN (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)
Georgia at Auburn — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Allison Williams)
Vanderbilt at Mississippi — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Angela Mallen)

Kansas State at TCU — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)
Southern Mississippi at SMU — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central (Ron Thulin/Dave Lapham/Desmond Purnell)
Central Florida at UTEP — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Mike Gleason/Ben Leber/Lesley McCaslin)

Louisiana Tech at Texas State — Longhorn Network (Dave Armstrong/Ray Bentley — 2 games in one day!)

Hawaii at Boise State — NBC Sports Network (Paul Bermeister/Rod Woodson)

8 p.m.
Notre Dame at Boston College — ABC (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)

10:15 p.m.
Idaho at BYU — ESPNU (Joe Davis/Jay Walker)

10:30 p.m.
Oregon at Cal — ESPN (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Samantha Steele)
UCLA at Washington State — ESPN2 (Adam Amin/Tom Luginbill/Shelley Smith)

Utah at Washington — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

ESPN’s College Football Games For Week 11 Including Announcing Assignments

ESPN has some showcase games this week including three undefeated teams having some big tests on the road. All of the games will be

Notre Dame is in the ABC primetime game for the second time in three weeks as the Fighting Irish head to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College.

Louisville heads to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse to face the Orangemen on ABC.

And Oregon faces Cal late Saturday night on ESPN.

In addition, College GameDay will be live on board the USS San Diego Museum Aircraft Carrier which means Kirk Herbstreit will be in San Diego in the morning and then fly across the country to Boston for the ND-BC game. He’s going to be one tired pup by the end of the night.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

Telecasts of Three Undefeated Teams on the Road: No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Notre Dame & No. 9 Louisville

ESPN’s college football schedule this week includes seven of the top 10 teams in the BCS Standings, highlighted by telecasts of undefeated No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 9 Louisville all on the road Saturday, Nov. 10.

• No. 3 Oregon at Pac-12 foe California at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
• No. 4 Notre Dame at Boston College on the ABC Saturday Night Football broadcast at 8 p.m.
• No. 9 Louisville at Syracuse at noon on ABC

In addition, ESPN and ESPN2 will each televise a Saturday 7 p.m. game involving SEC teams in the top seven of the BCS Standings: No. 7 LSU against No. 21 Mississippi State on ESPN and No. 5 Georgia at Auburn on ESPN2.

ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, Longhorn Network and ESPN Radio Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game / Commentators	Network
Wed, Nov 7	8 p.m.	Bowling Green at Ohio Mark Neely & Ray Bentley	ESPN2
Thu, Nov 8	7 p.m.	Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas State Joe Davis & Jay Walker	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	No. 10 Florida State at Virginia Tech Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Steele	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Fri, Nov 9	8 p.m.	Pittsburgh at Connecticut Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill	ESPN2
Sat, Nov 10	Noon	Miami (Fla.) at Virginia Tom Hart & John Congemi	ABC & ESPN3 *
		No. 9 Louisville at Syracuse Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Maria Taylor	ABC & ESPN3 *
	Noon	No. 24 Northwestern at Michigan Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Jenn Brown	ESPN & ESPN 3D
	Noon	Wisconsin at Indiana Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Niki Noto	ESPN2
	Noon	Army at No. 23 Rutgers Joe Beninati, Peter Najarian & George Smith	ESPNU
	Noon	Iowa State at No. 17 Texas LHN: Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards ABC: Mark Neely & Ray Bentley	Longhorn Network ABC in state of Iowa
	Noon	Missouri at Tennessee Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Cara Capuano	ESPN3 & SEC Network
	Noon	Louisiana-Lafayette at No. 6 Florida Mike Morgan & Chris Doering	ESPN3 & SEC Network
	Noon	Cincinnati at Temple Eamon McAnaney, David Diaz-Infante & Paul Carcaterra	ESPN3 * & BIG EAST Network
	Noon	St. Francis (Pa.) at Monmouth	ESPN3
	12:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech at North Carolina	ESPN3 * & ACC Network
	1 p.m.	Kent State at Miami (Ohio)	ESPN3
	1 p.m.	Florida Atlantic at Western Kentucky	ESPN3
	1 p.m.	Northern Iowa at South Dakota	ESPN3
	1:30 p.m.	Gardner-Webb at Charleston Southern	ESPN3
	1:30 p.m.	Chattanooga at Wofford	ESPN3
	2 p.m.	Youngstown State at Western Illinois	ESPN3
	3 p.m.	Wake Forest at NC State	ESPN3 *
	3 p.m.	Arizona State at No. 19 USC Rich Cellini, John Mackovic & Brett McMurphy	ESPN Radio
	3:30 p.m.	Penn State at No. 16 Nebraska Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman & Quint Kessenich	ABC & ESPN2 **
		West Virginia at Oklahoma State ABC: Dave Lamont & Kelly Stouffer Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad	ABC & ESPN2 ** & ESPN Radio
	3:30 p.m.	Maryland at No. 13 Clemson Anish Shroff & Dan Hawkins	ESPNU
	3:30 p.m.	Navy at Troy Dave Weekley & Forest Conoly	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Stony Brook at Liberty	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	San Jose State @ New Mexico State	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Baylor at No. 12 Oklahoma Marc Kestecher, Tom Ramsey & Ian Fitzsimmons	ESPN Radio
	7 p.m.	No. 21 Mississippi State at No. 7 LSU Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe	ESPN
	7 p.m.	No. 5 Georgia at Auburn Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Allison Williams	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	Vanderbilt at Ole Miss Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb & Angela Mallen	ESPNU
	7 p.m.	No. 20 Louisiana Tech at Texas State Dave Armstrong & Ray Bentley	Longhorn Network
	8 p.m.	No. 4 Notre Dame at Boston College Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Heather Cox	ABC
	10:15 p.m.	Idaho at BYU Joe Davis & Jay Walker	ESPNU
	10:30 p.m.	No. 3 Oregon at California Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Samantha Steele	ESPN
	10:30 p.m.	No. 18 UCLA at Washington State Adam Amin, Tom Luginbill & Shelley Smith	ESPN2

* Local blackout may apply
** Reverse mirror in which ESPN2 will regionalize two games on ABC to markets not receiving the telecast

That concludes this post.

The 2012-13 ESPN Family of Networks College Basketball Regular Season Schedule

Ready for some college hoops? ESPN is. It’s sent a 4,300-word press release which I edited down to 4,059 after taking out a few things.

Suffice to say that ESPN will present more than 1,450 games across its platforms, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, Longhorn Network as well as ESPN Regional Television-produced games for the Big East, Big 12, SEC Network and other syndicated networks.

First, I’ll provide the text of what ESPN is saying about its extensive schedule and then I’ll post the games after a jump break. Probably best to do that as you’ll be scrolling for a while. So here’s ESPN’s preview of the schedule, then we’ll post the non-conference and then the conference schedules.

Men’s College Basketball Schedule Tips Off with 350 Non-Conference Games

Full Season of More than 1,450 Matchups Tips Off with First Regular-Season Game from Europe; Champions Classic Doubleheader Anchors Nov 13 24-Hour Marathon; ESPN3 Provides 125 Exclusive Non-Conference Games

ESPN’s extensive coverage of the 2012-13 men’s college basketball season – more than 1,450 games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and Longhorn Network – will tip off with 350 regular-season nonconference games.

The season will begin with 12 games on Friday, Nov. 9 led by Michigan State vs. Connecticut in the Armed Forces Classic from the Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. It will mark the first regular-season men’s college basketball game from Europe. ESPN will also televise Maryland vs. defending National Champion Kentucky in the Barclays Center Classic from Brooklyn, N.Y. at 8:30 p.m.

For the second straight year, ESPN will showcase four of the all-time winningest programs in the Champions Classic doubleheader as part of the College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 13. The matchups from Atlanta will pit Michigan State vs. Kansas at 7 p.m. and Duke vs. Kentucky at 9 p.m. Kentucky holds an 11-8 all-time series lead against Duke but lost the last meeting between the programs 95-92 in 2001. Michigan State has won five the nine games against Kansas, including two victories in 2009.

Season highlights:

• The schedule consists of approximately 125 exclusive contests on ESPN3, a record for the platform. Later in the season, ESPN3 will offer more than 100 exclusive conference games as well as simulcasts of syndicated matchups, providing fans with nearly 750 live games on the network.
• All live telecasts of college basketball games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater as well as exclusive games on ESPN3 – ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network – will be available on computers at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.  WatchESPN is currently available in 40 million households nationwide to fans who receive their video subscription from Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV or Midcontinent Communications.
• For the fifth consecutive year, ESPN will celebrate the opening of the season with a marathon of coverage across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU with the College Hoops Tip-off Marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 13. This year’s marathon will include 11 men’s games over 24 consecutive hours on ESPN – plus a schedule of matchups across ESPN2 and ESPNU – beginning at midnight with West Virginia at Gonzaga in the Old Spice Classic.
• ESPN will provide college basketball fans with live coverage of at least one game every day but five from November 9 to March 10 (December 7, 13, 14, 24 and 26).
• Multiple marquee early season non-conference events return, including the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, SEC/BIG EAST Challenge, Jimmy V Classic, Maui Invitational, CBE Hall of Fame Classic, Puerto Rico Tip-Off, NIT Season Tip-Off, Charleston Classic, Old Spice Classic, DIRECTV Classic, Diamond Head Classic, BracketBusters, 2K Sports Classic, Legends Classic, Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off and Las Vegas Invitational.
• In addition, ESPN networks will cover two new events from the new Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, in Brooklyn, N.Y. The first annual Barclays Center Classic on Friday, Nov. 9: Morehead State vs. LIU Brooklyn at 5:45 p.m. on ESPN3 followed by Maryland vs. Kentucky at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN. The second event will pit West Virginia vs. Michigan in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival on Saturday, Dec. 15, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Top nonconference games:

• Indiana vs. Georgia in the Legends Classic on Monday, Nov. 19, at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU
• Mississippi State vs. North Carolina in the Maui Invitational on Monday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. on ESPN2
• Creighton vs. Wisconsin in the Las Vegas Invitational on Friday, Nov. 23, at 10 p.m. on ESPN2
• North Carolina at Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
• Ohio State at Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
• Kentucky at Notre Dame in the SEC/BIG EAST Challenge on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
• San Diego State vs. UCLA in the Wooden Classic from the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 10 p.m. on ESPNU
• Jimmy V Classic doubleheader on ESPN on Tuesday, Dec. 4: Texas vs. Georgetown at 7 p.m. and NC State vs. Connecticut at 9 p.m.
• Florida at Florida State on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
• UCLA vs. Texas in The Showcase from Reliant Stadium in Houston on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 5:15 p.m. on ESPN
• Florida at Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 15, at 10 p.m. on ESPN
• North Carolina at Texas on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 9 p.m., on ESPN2
• Baylor at Gonzaga on Friday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. on ESPN2
• Missouri at UCLA on Friday, Dec. 28, at 10 p.m. on ESPN2

Next, a jump break and then the extensive ESPN Family of Networks non-conference college basketball schedule which includes holiday tournaments, the various non-conference challenges as well as other games.

(continue reading…)

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 5, 09/29/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from East Lansing, MI — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
ACC Blitz — ACC Network, noon
College Football Countdown — ABC, 3 p.m.
BTN Football Gamebreak 2012 — Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
College Football Today — CBS, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 6;30 p.m.
SEC Tonight — CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.
The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, midnight
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Saturday)

noon
Buffalo at UConn — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

Indiana at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Chris Martin/Jon Janesen)

Stony Brook at Army — CBS Sports Network (Ben Holden/Randy Cross/Cadet Linc Bradham)

Penn State at Illinois — ESPN/ESPN3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Minnesota at Iowa — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Lewis Johnson)
NC State at Miami (Florida) — ESPNU (Tom Hart/John Congemi)
Ball State at Kent State — ESPN Plus/CSS (Michael Reghi/Doug Graber)

Baylor at West Virginia — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)
Missouri at Central Florida — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WLVI/KICU (Ron Thulin/Shaun King/Desmond Purnell)
Middle Tennessee State at Georgia Tech — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Mike Hogewood/Riley Skinner/Elizabeth Moreau)
Central Connecticut Stat at Sacred Heart — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy)
Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee-Martin — Fox College Sports Pacific (Kevin Ingram/Bob Belvin)

Penn at Dartmouth — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Ross Tucker/Carolyn Manno)

Arkansas at Texas A&M — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. kickoff (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

12:30 p.m.
Duke at Wake Forest — ACC Network

2 p.m.
Nevada at Texas State — Longhorn Network (Dave Armstrong/Kelly Stouffer)

3:15 p.m.
Marshall at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Derek Rackley/J Leman)

3:30 p.m.
Ohio State at Michigan State — ABC (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)

Tennessee at Georgia — CBS (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)
San Jose State at Navy — CBS Sports Network (Grant Boone/Todd Christensen/Sheehan Stanwick Burch)

Clemson at Boston College — ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)
Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati at Landover, MD — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)
URI at Bowling Green — ESPN3 (Greg Franke/Tom Cole)

Houston vs. Rice (at Reliant Stadium) — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic/WMCN/WDCA/KICU (Mike Morgan/JC Pearson/Laura McKeeman)
Idaho at North Carolina — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Paul Kennedy/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)
West Chester at California (PA) — Fox College Sports Pacific (Stan Savern/John Sanders)

Atlanta Football Classic
Florida A&M vs. Southern — NBC Sports Network (James Verrett/Anthony Herron/Rashan Ali)

Montana State at Southern Utah — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

4 p.m.
Arizona State at Cal — FX (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)

6 p.m.
Florida State at South Florida — ESPN (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich)

UCLA at Colorado — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

7 p.m.
Georgia State at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest)/CSS

South Carolina at Kentucky — ESPN2 (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)
Towson at LSU — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Allison Williams)

TCU at SMU — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic (Joel Myers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
Texas Tech at Iowa State — Fox College Sports Central (Mike Gleason/Dave Lapham/Lesley McCaslin)

Montana at Eastern Washington — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

7:50 p.m.
Texas at Oklahoma State — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)

8 p.m.
Wisconsin at Nebraska — ABC (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)

Louisville at Southern Mississippi — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Lauren Gardner)

9:15 p.m.
Mississippi at Alabama — ESPN (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Jessica Mendoza)

10 p.m.
Oregon State at Arizona — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

10:30 p.m.
Oregon vs. Washington State at Seattle, WA — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Shelley Smith)
Grambling State at Alabama A&M — ESPNU (Joe Davis/Jay Walker) (same night coverage)

ESPN’s College Football Games For Week 5 Including Announcing Assignments

Let’s look at the college football games ESPN will air this week. It all begins tonight with two games on the ESPN family, one on ESPNU and a Pac-12 game on ESPN.

Interesting week, ABC has just two games, one at 3:30 p.m. ET with Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Heather Cox in East Lansing, MI for the Ohio State-Michigan State. ABC’s primetime game will have Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe calling Wisconsin at Nebraska.

The other ESPN networks have lots of action including Mississippi at Alabama called by Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen and Shelley Smith Jessica Mendoza.

Let’s take a look at the games that ESPN’s networks will air this weekend.

Seven of Top Eight Teams across ESPN Networks; Five of Top Six in Prime Time on Saturday

ESPN’s college football schedule this week will include seven of the top eight teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. The lineup is highlighted by five of the top six in prime time across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU on Saturday, Sept. 29.

• An ESPN doubleheader kicks off with No. 4 Florida State at South Florida at 6 p.m. ET followed by No. 1 Alabama against SEC West rival Ole Miss at 9:15 p.m. ESPN Radio will also broadcast the Ole Miss at Alabama game.
• An ESPN2 doubleheader showcases SEC and Pac-12 conference contests beginning with No. 6 South Carolina at SEC East foe Kentucky at 7 p.m. followed by No. 2 Oregon versus Pac-12 North rival Washington State from Seattle at 10:30 p.m.
• ESPNU will televise No. 3 LSU against Towson at 7 p.m.

ESPN and ESPN Radio will combine to cover the other two of the top eight teams. The Thursday ESPN College Football Primetime matchup on September 27 will pit undefeated No. 8 Stanford at Washington at 9 p.m. ESPN Radio will broadcast No. 5 Georgia against Tennessee on Saturday, Sept. 29, at 3:30 p.m.

In addition, ABC will broadcast two Big Ten contests on Saturday, Sept. 29: unbeaten No. 14 Ohio State at one-loss No. 20 Michigan State at 3:30 p.m. and Wisconsin at No. 22 Nebraska in a showdown of 3-1 teams at 8 p.m.

ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, Longhorn Network and ESPN Radio Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game / Commentators	Network
Thu, Sep 27	7:30 p.m.	Morgan State at North Carolina A&T Joe Davis & Jay Walker	ESPNU
	9 p.m.	No. 8 Stanford at Washington ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Steele Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Shelley Smith	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Fri, Sep 28	8 p.m.	Hawaii at BYU Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill	ESPN
Sat, Sep 29	Noon	Penn State at Illinois Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Jenn Brown	ESPN & ESPN 3D
	Noon	Minnesota at Iowa Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Lewis Johnson	ESPN2
	Noon	NC State at Miami Tom Hart & John Congemi	ESPNU
	Noon	Arkansas at Texas A&M Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Cara Capuano	ESPN3 & SEC Network
	Noon	Buffalo at Connecticut Eamon McAnaney, David Diaz-Infante & Paul Carcaterra	ESPN3 * & BIG EAST Network
	Noon	Ball State at Kent State Michael Reghi & Doug Graber	ESPN3 *
	Noon	Middle Tennessee at Georgia Tech	ESPN3 * & RSN
	Noon	Central Connecticut at Sacred Heart	ESPN3
	12:30 p.m.	Duke at Wake Forest	ESPN3 * & ACC Network
	2 p.m.	Nevada at Texas State Dave Armstrong & Kelly Stouffer	Longhorn Network
	2 p.m.	Miami (Ohio) at Akron Dave Weekley & Rocky Boiman	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	No. 14 Ohio State at No. 20 Michigan State Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Heather Cox	ABC
	3:30 p.m.	No. 17 Clemson at Boston College Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Maria Taylor	ESPN2
	3:30 p.m.	Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati (from Landover, Md.) Anish Shroff & Dan Hawkins	ESPNU
	3:30 p.m.	Tennessee at No. 5 Georgia Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad	ESPN Radio
	3:30 p.m.	Louisiana Tech at Virginia John Sadak, John Gregory & Angela Mallen	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Ohio at Massachusetts Bob Picozzi & Rene Ingoglia	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Central Michigan at Northern Illinois Dan Gutowsky & Cory Chavous	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Rhode Island at Bowling Green Greg Franke & Tom Cole	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Idaho at North Carolina	ESPN3 * & RSN
	3:30 p.m.	Troy at South Alabama	ESPN3
	4 p.m.	Southeastern Louisiana at Lamar	ESPN3
	5 p.m.	North Texas at Florida Atlantic Shawn Kenney & John Bunting	ESPN3
	6 p.m.	No. 4 Florida State at South Florida Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman & Quint Kessenich	ESPN
	6 p.m.	Samford at Georgia Southern	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	No. 6 South Carolina at Kentucky Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	Towson at No. 3 LSU Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb & Allison Williams	ESPNU
	7 p.m.	Toledo at Western Michigan Jim Barbar & Ben Leber	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Western Kentucky at Arkansas State Rich Hollenberg & Stan Lewter	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Florida International at Louisiana-Lafayette Jonathan Yardley & Forrest Conoly	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Indiana State at Southern Illinois	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Missouri State at South Dakota State	ESPN3
	8 p.m.	Wisconsin at No. 22 Nebraska Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe	ABC
	8 p.m.	UNLV at Utah State Trey Bender & Jay Taylor	ESPN3
	9:15 p.m.	Ole Miss at No. 1 Alabama ESPN: Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Jessica Mendoza Radio: Dave Lamont, Tom Ramsey & Brett McMurphy	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	10:30 p.m.	No. 2 Oregon at Washington State (from Seattle) Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Shelley Smith	ESPN2
	10:30 p.m.	Grambling State at Alabama A&M Joe Davis & Jay Walker	ESPNU ***

* Local blackout may apply
*** Live on ESPN3 at 7 p.m. ET & same day delay on ESPNU

That will do it.

College Football Viewing Picks for 09/08/12, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from College Station, TX — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 2:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN/ESPN2, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 7 p.m.
SEC Tonight — CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.
Fox College Saturday — Fox, 7 p.m.
The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, 11 p.m.
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Sunday)

noon
Penn State at Virginia — ABC (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/George Smith)

NC State at UConn — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

New Hampshire at Minnesota — Big Ten Network (Matt Devlin/Glen Mason/J Leman)

Auburn at Mississippi State — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Central Florida at Ohio State — ESPN 2 (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Lewis Johnson)
Maryland at Temple — ESPNU (Tom Hart/John Congemi)

Miami at Kansas State — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)
Tulane at Tulsa — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic/WLVI/KICU (Rod Thulin/Shaun King/Desmond Purnell)

East Carolina at South Carolina — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

12:30 p.m.
Ball State at Clemson — ACC Network

3 p.m.
Weber State at BYU — BYU TV

North Carolina at Wake Forest — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Paul Kennedy/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)

Eastern Washington at Washington State — Pac 12 Network (Oregon & Washington) (Dwayne Ballen/Kelly Stouffer)
Sacramento State at Colorado — Pac 12 Network (Mountain) (Matt Smith/Jeremy Bloom)
Southern Utah at Cal — Pac 12 Network (National) (Rich Cellini/Gary Plummer/Erin Coscarelli)

3:30 p.m.
Air Force at Michigan — ABC/ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)
USC vs. Syracuse at East Rutherford, NJ — ABC/ESPN (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Shelley Smith)

Howard at Rutgers — Big East Network (Mike Corey/Rene Ingoglia)
Missouri State at Louisville — Big East Network

Iowa State at Iowa — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Chris Martin/Chuck Long/Jon Jansen)

South Florida at Nevada — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Lauren Gardner)

Florida at Texas A&M — ESPN (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)
Michigan State at Central Michigan — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)

Rice at Kansas — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WLVI/KICU/WDCA (Joel Meyers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
Carnegie Mellon at Allegheny College — Fox College Sports Atlantic (John Sanders/Ellis Cannon/Amanda McCall)

Purdue at Notre Dame — NBC (Tom Hammond/Mike Mayock/Alex Flanagan)
Delaware State at Delaware — NBC Sports Network (Todd Harris/Ross Tucker/Carolyn Manno)

Western Kentucky at Alabama — SEC Network (Mike Morgan/Chris Doering/Jill Montgomery)

4 p.m.
Wisconsin at Oregon State — FX (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)

6:30 p.m.
Fresno State at Oregon — Pac 12 Network (National) (Ted Robinson/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

7 p.m.
Washington at LSU — ESPN (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)
Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Allison Williams)

UTEP at Mississippi — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Bob Rathbun/Tim Couch/Elizabeth Moreau)
Western Carolina at Marshall — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Mike Gleason/Gary Reasons/Lesley McCaslin)
Grambling State at TCU — Fox Sports Southwest Plus/Fox College Sports Pacific (Mark Followill/JC Pearson/Emily Jones)

7:30 p.m.
Kent State at Kentucky — CSS (Matt Stewart/Cole Cubelic/Angela Mallen)

Nebraska at UCLA — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)

Army at San Diego State — NBC Sports Network (Paul Burmeister/Rod Woodson/Anthony Herron)

7:45 p.m.
Georgia at Missouri — ESPN2 (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Quint Kussenich)

8 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Derek Rackley/Lisa Byington)

Louisiana Tech at Houston — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Ron Zook/Evan Washburn)

New Mexico at Texas — Longhorn Network (Mark Neely/Ray Bentley/Kaylee Hartung)

10:30 p.m.
Illinois at Arizona State — ESPN (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Jessica Mendoza)

Duke at Stanford — Pac 12 Network (Bay Area) (Dave Flemming/Coy Wire/Brooke Olzendam)
Oklahoma State at Arizona — Pac 12 Network (National) (Kevin Calabro/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

A Rare Sunday Linkage Post!

I wanted to do a piece of site business before doing some rare Sunday linkage and rare linkage in general. Thanks to you, August was the best month ever as far as site visits are concerned. Whether it was due to you visiting over the Olympics schedules or wanting to see who Nicole Zaloumis was all about, Fang’s Bites had over 102,000 unique hits. While this is not in Deadspin or Big Lead range, both get way over 100,000 hits on a bad day, it’s a big deal for me. And this was even during a stretch when I couldn’t post due to the Office Move From Hell, so I thank you for visiting and returning during August. I hope you continue to visit during the fall months.

And because of that office move, I wasn’t able to do what is the bread and butter of this site, the links. I haven’t been able to provide them in several weeks. Let’s start September anew and provide good links to you as I used to.

Let’s begin.

One of the bigger stories from Saturday was the pre-emption in most of the country of the debut of the Fox College Saturday pregame show hosted by Erin Andrews, Joey Harrington and Eddie George. Because two Fox Saturday Baseball games ran long, it wiped out Erin’s Fox  debut. Only 10% of the country saw the pregame show in its entirety.

Media Rantz looks at why this happened.

Sports Media Watch says it wasn’t the start that Fox wanted in its first season of covering college football full-time.

Former USA Today sports media and business writer Mike McCarthy writes in his new $ports Biz USA site that Alabama coach Nick Saban came off as a jerk (what else is new?) in a halftime interview with ESPN’s Heather Cox.

Nicole Auerbach at USA Today at the Campus Rivalry blog asks readers about the debut of Samantha Steele on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Karl Taro Greenfeld at Bloomberg Businessweek takes a look at ESPN’s business model.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says the embattled Longhorn Network got a big pickup before yesterday’s Texas season opener.

Multichannel News reports that the Athletic Director of the University of California-Berkeley ceremoniously dumped her DirecTV subscription over the satellite provider’s refusal to pick up Pac-12 Network.

Adweek looks at an unexpected shakeup at ESPN The Magazine.

Christopher Heine of Adweek notes that the Mohegan Sun casino has pulled ads from Penn State’s Beaver Stadium.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi looks at this year’s crop of Nissan Heisman House spots that will air before each and every ABC Saturday Night Football game.

And Emma Bazilian of Adweek notes that USA Today is rolling out a new high school football magazine in 11 markets.

Dylan Murphy at SportsGrid noticed that ESPN’s Bottom Line obscured key sideline replays in two  college football games yesterday.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says DirecTV is slashing prices of its UFC pay per views.

That will do us for now. I may add more links later.

ESPN’s College Football Games For Week 1 Including Announcing Assignments

I already gave you the 2012 ESPN College Football regular season schedule earlier today. Now let’s take a look at the Week 1 schedule complete with announcing assignments.

ESPN’s college football slate begins Thursday with a doubleheader beginning with an SEC matchup between South Carolina and Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. ET, followed by an intriguing interconference game featuring Washington State and BYU at 10:15 p.m.

Of course, ESPN3 will have its share of season opening games on Thursday as well.

This weekend marks the debut of several new announcing teams for the ESPN Family including Joe Tessitore and Matt Millen calling a Saturday night game, Beth Mowins and Joey Galloway assigned to the ESPN2 noon ET game, Carter Blackburn joins Rod Gilmore on Friday nights, Bob Wischusen teamed with Danny Kanell on ABC Saturday afternoon games plus the reunion of Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman.

All the games are listed below for you. There are a lot of them.

2012 College Football Season Kicks off Thursday

ESPN will kick off the 2012 college football season with 46 games in five days across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, Longhorn Network and ESPN Radio as part of the fifth annualKickoff Week August 30 to September 3. The season will conclude with all five post-season Bowl Championship Series bowls, highlighted by the BCS National Championship Game Jan. 7, at 8:30 p.m. ET, on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio.

This season’s Labor Day weekend season kickoff celebration will showcase 16 teams in the Associated Press poll highlighted by eight of the top 10. The weekend coverage will conclude with Georgia Tech at No. 16 Virginia Tech in a Labor Day telecast Monday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Goal Line & WatchESPN
For the third consecutive season, the ESPN Goal Line network will offer unlimited live cut-ins and highlights from numerous top college football games every Saturday beginning at noon. Goal Line is currently available to Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast and Midcontinent Communications customers. The season will kick off with a special edition of Goal Line on Thursday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. ESPNU will simulcast Goal Line Thursday, Aug. 30 from 7 to 10:30 p.m.

Viewers can also watch live ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Goal Line game action online at WatchESPN.com or on smart phones and tablets through the WatchESPN app. The service – available to customers of Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV and Comcast Xfinity TV – gives fans the ability to watch ESPN’s live networks, no matter where they are.

Schedule highlights

• The season will kick off with ESPN doubleheader: No. 9 South Carolina at Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. followed by Washington State, led by new head coach Mike Leach, at BYU at 10:15 p.m.
• ESPN3 will offer exclusive coverage of 15 games and 25 games overall.
• Saturday Night Football on ABC, the first primetime weekly college football series on broadcast television, will kick off with No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 2 Alabama. The Cowboys Classic matchup from Dallas Cowboys stadium Arlington, Texas will begin at 8 p.m.
• ESPN’s weekly Friday night series will kick off with No. 24 Boise State at No. 13 Michigan State in a showdown between Mountain West and Big Ten teams at 8 p.m.

• Overall, the weekend will include 16 teams from the AP preseason poll. Additional teams include:

• No. 1 USC against Hawaii Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN Radio
• No. 3 LSU against North Texas Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. on ESPNU
• No. 5 Oregon against Arkansas State Saturday, Sept. 1, at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN
• No. 6 Georgia against Buffalo Saturday, Sept. 1, at noon on ESPN3 and the SEC Network
• No. 7 Florida State against Murray State Saturday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m. on ESPN3
• No. 9 South Carolina at Vanderbilt Thursday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. on ESPN
• No. 10 Arkansas against Jacksonville State Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. on ESPN3
• No. 14 Clemson vs. Auburn from Atlanta in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. on ESPN
• No. 15 Texas against Wyoming Saturday, Sept. 1, at 8 p.m. on Longhorn Network
• No. 16 Virginia Tech against Georgia Tech Monday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m. on ESPN
• No. 17 Nebraska against Southern Mississippi Saturday, Sept. 1, at 3:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN2
• No. 23 Florida against Bowling Green Saturday, Sept. 1, at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN
• No. 25 Louisville against Kentucky Sunday, Sept. 2, at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN

2012 Season
With the addition of games from the Mountain West Conference, ESPN will be the only network to televise home games from all 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and BYU. ESPN will also televise road games featuring Notre Dame, Navy and Army.

The 2012 college football season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television and ESPN GamePlan will total more than 450 regular-and post-season games, concluding with the entire Bowl Championship Series, highlighted by the National Championship Game, on ESPN. The schedule will include weekly Saturday night games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, weekly ESPN and ESPNU Thursday night contests and telecasts every Friday.

ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, Longhorn Network and ESPN Radio Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game/Commentators	Network
Thu, Aug 30	7 p.m.	No. 9 South Carolina at Vanderbilt Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Steele	ESPN
	7 p.m.	Central Florida at Akron Keith Morehouse & Jerod Cherry	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Eastern Michigan at Ball State Jim Barbar & Rocky Boiman	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Southeast Missouri State at Central Michigan Dan Gutowsky & Bob Chmeil	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	ESPN Goal Line simulcast	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	McNeese State at Middle Tennessee State	ESPN3
	7:30 p.m.	Massachusetts at Connecticut Bob Picozzi & David Diaz-Infante	ESPN3 * & BIG EAST Network
	8 p.m.	Sacramento State at New Mexico State	ESPN3 *
	8 p.m.	Southern Utah at Utah State	ESPN3 *
	9 p.m.	Eastern Washington at Idaho Trey Bender & Jay Taylor	ESPN3
	10:15 p.m.	Washington State at BYU Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Shannon Spake	ESPN
Fri, Aug 31	7 p.m.	Villanova at Temple Scott Graham, John Bunting & Cat Whitehill	ESPN3
	7:30 p.m.	Kickoff Game: NC State vs. Tennessee (Atlanta) ESPNU: Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Holly Rowe Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, and Joe Schad	ESPNU & ESPN Radio
	8 p.m.	No. 24 Boise State at No. 13 Michigan State Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill	ESPN
	8 p.m.	Wagner at Florida Atlantic Jared Schwartz & Forrest Conoly	ESPN3
Sat, Sep 1	Noon	Ohio at Penn State Dave Pasch, Brian Griese, Tom Rinaldi & Mark Schwartz	ESPN & ESPN 3D
	Noon	Northwestern at Syracuse Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Jenn Brown	ESPN2
	Noon	Western Michigan at Illinois Anish Shroff & Dan Hawkins	ESPNU
	Noon	Buffalo at No. 6 Georgia Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Cara Capuano	ESPN3 & SEC Network
	12:30 p.m.	Elon at North Carolina	ESPN3 * & ACC Network
	2 p.m.	Texas San Antonio at South Alabama Jonathon Yardley & Cole Cubilic	ESPN3
	3 p.m.	William & Mary at Maryland John Sadak, Cory Chavous & Beth McDade	ESPN3
	3 p.m.	Richmond at Virginia	ESPN3 * & ACC Network
	3:30 p.m.	Southern Mississippi at No. 17 Nebraska Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards	ABC & ESPN2 **
		Miami at Boston College Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Maria Taylor	ABC & ESPN2 **
	3:30 p.m.	Bowling Green at No. 23 Florida Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Jessica Mendoza	ESPN
	3:30 p.m.	Iowa vs. Northern Illinois (from Solider Field – Chicago) Tom Hart & John Congemi	ESPNU
	6 p.m.	Youngstown State at Pittsburgh Bob Picozzi, Ralph Freidgen & Rotina McCann	ESPN3
	6 p.m.	Murray State at No. 7 Florida State Shawn Kenney& Rene Ingoglia	ESPN3
	6:30 p.m.	Liberty at Wake Forest Ryan Rose & Stan Lewter	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Kickoff Game: No. 14 Clemson vs. Auburn (Atlanta) Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe	ESPN
	7 p.m.	North Texas at No. 3 LSU Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb & Allison Williams	ESPNU
	7 p.m.	Florida International at Duke Darren Goldwater, John Gregory & Angela Mallen	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Tennessee-Chattanooga at South Florida Dave Weekley, Warrick Dunn & Tiffany Greene	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Austin Peay at Western Kentucky Dan Gutowsky & Doug Graber	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Jackson State at Mississippi State	ESPN3 * & RSN
	7 p.m.	Central Arkansas at Mississippi	ESPN3 * & PPV
	7 p.m.	Jacksonville State at No. 10 Arkansas	ESPN3 * & PPV
	7 p.m.	Southeastern Louisiana at Missouri	ESPN3 * & PPV
	7:30 p.m.	Hawaii at No. 1 USC Rich Cellini, John Mackovic, and Brett McMurphy	ESPN Radio
	8 p.m.	Cowboys Classic: No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 2 Alabama (Arlington, Texas) Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Heather Cox	ABC & ESPN Radio
	8 p.m.	Wyoming at No. 15 Texas Mark Neely, Ray Bentle7 & Kaylee Hartung	Longhorn Network
	10:30 p.m.	Arkansas State at No. 5 Oregon Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Shelley Smith	ESPN
	10:30 p.m.	Toledo at Arizona Joe Davis & Mike Bellotti	ESPNU
Sun, Sep 2	Noon	MEAC/SWAC Challenge: Bethune-Cookman vs. Alabama State (from Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium – Orlando) Dave Lamont, Jay Walker & Paul Carcaterra	ESPN
	3:30 p.m.	Kentucky at No. 25 Louisville Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill	ESPN
Mon, Sep 3	8 p.m.	Georgia Tech at No. 16 Virginia Tech Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman & Quint Kessenich	ESPN

* Local blackout may apply
** Reverse mirror in which ESPN2 will regionalize two games on ABC to markets not receiving the telecast

There you have it.

ESPN, ESPN2 & Longhorn Network To Air Little Legue World Series Regional Games; Wait, Longhorn Network?

Three ESPN networks will air 34 Little League World Series Regional games starting on Friday. The networks utilized will be ESPN, ESPN2 and the Longhorn Network.

One can argue about ESPN exploiting children by airing the Little League World Series tournament, but the games seem to do well for the Family of Networks.

Longhorn Network which is hardly seen in Texas will have 12 Southwest Region games. ESPN and ESPN2 will have the 22 other games spread across the country.

We have the schedule plus the announcing assignments for all 34 regional games. Check it out.

ESPN, ESPN2 & Longhorn Network Combine to Televise 34 Little League World Series Regional Games

ESPN, ESPN2 and Longhorn Network will combine to televise 34 regional games of the 2012 Little League World Series. The regional games will lead into ESPN’s multiplatform coverage of the Little League World Series from Williamsport, Pa. Aug 16-26. ESPN’s total Little League World Series commitment is 75 Little League World Series games, including 32 from Williamsport and nine additional Little League World Series games across several divisions.

ESPN’s regional coverage will begin with 12 Southwest region games on Longhorn Network Aug. 3-6. ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise the remaining 22 regional games Aug. 7-12. All ESPN and ESPN2 games will also be available via ESPN3 and WatchESPN with most games available on ESPN Mobile TV.

Commentators
Former Major League pitcher Danny Graves will serve as a guest analyst for all Longhorn Network telecasts, working alongside play-by-play commentator Tommie Hart. In addition, former Major League catcher Paul Lo Duca will return for his second year of Little League coverage, working as an analyst for ESPN’s Bristol-based regional games with Karl Ravech. Here is the full list of commentator pairings (play-by-play/analyst): Tommie Hart/Danny Graves; Carter Blackburn/Kyle Peterson; Clay Matvick/Chris Singleton; Mark Neely/Aaron Boone; Karl Ravech/Paul Lo Duca.

Additional Little League World Series Games
In addition to the 34 regional games and the 32 Williamsport games, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise nine more World Series games – featuring seven championship games – across several divisions, including Big League Baseball, Big League Softball, Senior League Softball, Junior League Softball, Senior League Baseball, Junior League Baseball and Little League Softball.

Little League World Series in Williamsport
ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to present all 32 Little League World Series games from Williamsport, Pa., beginning Thursday, Aug. 16, and concluding with the World Series Championship game on ABC Sunday, Aug. 26. Full coverage details will be announced soon.

Little League World Series Regions/Locations
Great Lakes (Indianapolis, Ind.); Mid-Atlantic (Bristol, Conn.); Midwest (Indianapolis, Ind.); New England (Bristol, Conn); Northwest (San Bernardino, Calif.); Southeast (Warner Robins, Ga.); Southwest (Waco, Texas); West (San Bernardino, Calif.). For a list of all teams per region, visit LittleLeague.org.

ESPN’s Little League World Series Regional Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game / Commentators	Network(s)
Fri, Aug. 3	2 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool A: Mississippi vs. Arkansas Tommie Hart, Danny Graves	Longhorn Network
	6 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool A: Louisiana vs. New Mexico Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	9:30 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool B: Oklahoma vs. Texas East Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
Sat, Aug. 4	2 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool A: Arkansas vs. New Mexico Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	6 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool A: Mississippi vs. Louisiana Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	9:30 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool B: Colorado vs. Texas West Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
Sun, Aug. 5	2 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool B: Oklahoma vs. Colorado Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	6 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool B: Texas East vs. Texas West Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	9:30 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool A: Mississippi vs. New Mexico Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
Mon, Aug. 6	2 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool B: Oklahoma vs. Texas West Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	6 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool B: Colorado vs. Texas East Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
	9:30 p.m.	Southwest Region Pool A: Arkansas vs. Louisiana Hart, Graves	Longhorn Network
Tues, Aug. 7	5 p.m.	Southwest Regional Semifinal # 1 First Place Pool A vs. Second Place Pool B Hart, Graves	ESPN2, ESPN3, Watch ESPN
	8 p.m.	Southwest Regional Semifinal # 2 First Place Pool B vs. Second Place Pool A Hart, Graves	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
Wed, Aug. 8	11 a.m.	Great Lakes Regional Semifinal # 1 Carter Blackburn, Kyle Peterson	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	1 p.m.	Southeast Regional Semifinal #1 Clay Matvick, Chris Singleton	ESPN, ESPN3, WatchESPN
	2 p.m.	Great Lakes Regional Semifinal # 2 Blackburn, Peterson	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	6 p.m.	Southeast Regional Semifinal # 2 Matvick, Singleton	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
Thurs, Aug. 9	2 p.m.	Midwest Regional Semifinal # 1 Blackburn, Peterson	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	5 p.m.	Northwest Regional Semifinal # 1 Mark Neely, Aaron Boone	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	7 p.m.	Midwest Regional Semifinal # 2 Blackburn, Peterson	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	9 p.m.	Southwest Regional Final Hart, Graves	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	11 p.m.	Northwest Regional Semifinal # 2 Neely, Boone	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
Fri, Aug. 10	11 a.m.	Mid-Atlantic Regional Semifinal # 1 Karl Ravech, Paul Lo Duca	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	1 p.m.	Great Lakes Regional Final Blackburn, Peterson	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	3 p.m.	Mid-Atlantic Regional Semifinal # 2 Ravech, Lo Duca	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	5 p.m.	West Regional Semifinal # 1 Neely, Boone	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	7 p.m.	Southeast Regional Final Matvick, Singleton	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	9 p.m.	West Regional Semifinal # 2 Neely, Boone	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
Sat, Aug. 11	2 p.m.	Midwest Regional Final Blackburn, Peterson	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	4 p.m.	Northwest Regional Final Neely, Boone	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	6 p.m.	New England Regional Final Ravech, Lo Duca	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
	8 p.m.	West Regional Final Neely, Boone	ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN
Sun, Aug. 12	5 p.m.	Mid-Atlantic Regional Final Ravech, Lo Duca	ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN

Additional Little League World Series Coverage Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game / Commentators	Network(s)
Wed, Aug. 1	8 p.m.	Big League Baseball Final Matvick, Doug Glanville	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN
Wed, Aug. 8	4 p.m.	Big League Softball Final Cara Capuano, Michele Smith	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN
Sat, Aug. 11	12 p.m.	Sr. League Softball Final Pam Ward, Smith	ESPN, ESPN3, WatchESPN
Tues, Aug. 14	7 p.m.	Little League Softball Semifinal # 1 Ward, Smith, Holly Rowe	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN
	9:30 p.m.	Little League Softball Semifinal # 2 Ward, Smith, Rowe	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN
Wed, Aug. 15	10 p.m.	Little League Softball Final Ward, Smith, Rowe	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN
Sat, Aug. 18	11 a.m.	Junior League Baseball Final Blackburn, Ben McDonald	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN
	2 p.m.	Senior League Baseball Final Matvick, Glanville	ESPNU, ESPN3, WatchESPN
	5 p.m.	Junior League Softball Final Ward, Cheri Kempf	ESPN2, ESPN3, WatchESPN

That’s all.

Let’s Do Some Wednesday Linkage

Time for the links on this Wednesday. Let’s check out what we have.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about the Olympics, Jerry Sandusky and being short. That’s right.

Daniel Kaplan from the Sports Business Journal writes that the NFL will not sign a telecommunications partner this season and will see how the Wi-Fi experience goes at five stadiums before deciding.

Owen Gibson of the London (UK) Guardian reports that BBC has scored the rights to the Olympics through 2020.

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson blogs about the Beeb keeping the UK rights to the Olympics.

I have the BBC press release on the new Olympics contract.

Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly says ESPNU will have its own late night entertainment/talk show premiering in late August.

Also from EW, Dan Snierson says disgraced former Cincinnati Reds star Pete Rose will get his own TLC reality show. The question is, who doesn’t have a TLC reality show?

Brian Moran at Broadcasting & Cable says World Team Tennis will get live national coverage this weekend on Tennis Channel and the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life writes that ratings for the Home Run Derby were up while the All-Star Game took a hit.

The SportsCasters

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report wonders why SI passed on printing an excerpt of Posnanski’s book.

Ed notices that the promotional video for the Paterno book has been removed from YouTube.

Ed talks with an ESPN executive on the network now using its own cameras instead of relying on the BBC to cover the Open Championship.

Reinhardt Krause of Investor’s Business Daily look at how cable providers are finding ways to drive up sports rights fees.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center talks with Real Sports’ Frank Deford about his updated piece on marching band hazing at historically black colleges.

SportsGrid’s Eric Goldschein has video of Los Angeles Dodgers voice Vin Scully scolding the team for its failure to execute a rundown play.

Patrick Burns at Deadspin says the Joe Paterno story dominated ESPN’s news coverage last week.

Deadspin’s John Koblin notes that Sports Illustrated is beginning to use the photo sharing site, Instagram.

The London (UK) Mirror provides 100 bizarre facts about the Olympics.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN’s Paul Azinger about the Open Championship.

Brandon Marcello of the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger says the SEC Storied documentary series will produce a film on a former Mississippi State football coach.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that with the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, USA basketball vs. Brazil on ESPN drew very well locally.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer wonders what exactly will the new TLC Pete Rose reality show be about?

John says a local internet service provider will add ESPN3 in August.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times looks at ESPN paying the Rose Bowl $80 million per year starting in 2015.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a preview of tonight’s “The Franchise” episode on Showtime which will show the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton going under the knife.

Joe Flint of the Times has Comcast appealing to the government to butt out of its programming decisions i.e., Tennis Channel.

Sports Media Watch notes that TNT’s NASCAR season finale saw increased ratings.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Chinwe Nwadike at Chinwe’s Corner wonders why some in the media are angry at Fox’s Erin Andrews.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says the WWE has established a social media hub for investors.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has a screengrab of the Longhorn Network taking one final shot at Texas A&M before it leaves the Big 12 for good.

Jason Boog at Galleycat says an NBC Sports producer has published a children’s book on the Olympics.

That will do it for today.

Jonesing For Tuesday Linkage

Ok, maybe you’re not jonesing for the linkage, but at least you can read them at your leisure. Sometimes I think way too long about the title of the post and this is the case today. Anyway, let’s get to the links.

Joel Schectman of the Wall Street Journal reports that NBC and Google are preparing for possible hacking or denial of service attacks of online Olympic streams next month.

Lindsay Rubino at Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBC with U.S. Olympic Trials coverage in Track & Field, Swimming and Gymnastics won primetime on Sunday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says ESPN and ESPN2 are seeing huge ratings gains from Wimbledon.

Mike writes that NBC Sports Group has expanded its commitment to its Fight Night.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek says Fox Sports has sold out its ad inventory for the MLB All-Star Game.

Crupi says NBC scored with the U.S. Olympic Trials over the last week and a half.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost says if Sunday is any indication, NBC should do really well with the Olympics later this month.

George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter notes that BBC’s sports broadcasts of EURO 2012 and Wimbledon are leaving rival ITV in the ratings dust.

Nat Ives from Advertising Age notes that NBC and Sports Illustrated are teaming up for a monthly show.

Sam Marmudi of Marketwatch.com says NBC is getting ready for an Olympic takeover.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! writes that MLB’s antiquated blackout policy is hurting the sport.

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com says the media could be allowed to see the college football playoff selection process.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times writes that Erin Andrews is another example of ESPN losing another big name star.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks about why it’s important for Fox to have Erin Andrews make her debut next week at the MLB All-Star Game.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group says ESPN plans to change its production model of the X Games as it expands globally.

Darren Rovell bids farewell to CNBC.

At the ESPN PR Front Row blog, Mike Humes says the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest brings back memories for college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla.

Timothy Burke of Deadspin notes that Texas Rangers TV voice Dave Barnett who had a strange on-air moment last month, will be taking a medical leave for the rest of the season.

Andy Smith of the Providence Journal writes that almost a million people watched the America’s Cup World Series races on NBC over the weekend.

To Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, who looks at the on-going MLB TV rights negotiations. Some interesting news from Richard in the article.

Newsday’s Neil Best discusses MLB All-Star voting with Commissioner Bud Selig and Fox’s Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Bob’s Blitz has video of some of the WFAN gang with CBS Radio bigwigs ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange last week.

The Albany Times-Union’s Pete Dougherty says the PGA’s AT&T National on CBS set a six year ratings high.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record reports that NESN National is available to local Verizon Fios subscribers.

Ken says NBA TV is gearing up for Summer League games.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Bog has ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian predicting good things for the Nationals.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel recaps Erin Andrews’ appearance on the Dan Patrick Show today.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Samantha Steele of the Longhorn Network could be the beneficiary of Erin Andrews’ departure from ESPN.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks about Dave Barnett’s decision to take a medical leave from calling the Texas Rangers.

Gregg Tunnicliff of the Flint (MI) Journal talks with a long-time racing commentator.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has MLB Commissioner Bud Selig not having a problem with the sudden surge of fan voting from the Bay Area for the All-Star Game.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says the Pac-12 Network is set to launch in 40 million homes next month.

Michael Gehiken of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the eased NFL blackout rules probably won’t affect the Chargers this coming season.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news on the U.S. Olympic Trials and Baseball Night in America.

SMW notes that Wimbledon as an all-cable event is performing on par with last year.

Jason Lisk at The Big Lead is happy to note that ESPN blowhard Skip Bayless is wrong about racial profiling American white players in the NBA Draft.

Matt Yoder has some thoughts on ESPN’s EURO 2012 coverage.

Joe Favorito wonders if brands can make their Olympic sponsorship gambles pay off despite not having a name athlete to cling to.

And we’ll wrap up with Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth who looks back at WFAN’s 25 years in operation.

And we’re done.

Our Monday Linkage

Let’s do some links on a rainy Monday in Southern New England.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at NFL Network’s new morning show.

Michael says ESPN has not confirmed whether Chris Berman will call a Monday Night Football game on the opening weekend of the season.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that CBS is about 80% sold for the Super Bowl.

Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal says Pepsi has signed a deal to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes notes that the Miami Heat is on the verge of getting a huge deal with Fox Sports Florida.

Former ESPN First Take co-host Dana Jacobsen writes in her blog that she was molested as a child. Courageous for her to speak publicly about this.

Scott Roxborough and Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter note that yesterday’s Italy-England EURO 2012 Quarterfinal game became the highest-rated and most watched game of the tournament in Europe.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at ESPN going all in at Wimbledon.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age wonders now that LeBron James has won a championship, will he reach Michael Jordan levels in marketing?

Staci D. Kramer of paidContent says ESPN’s streaming of the NBA Finals drew a decent audience.

Ed Sherman from the Sherman Report writes that sportswriter Frank Deford will appear on tonight’s Colbert Report.

The Big Lead looks at alleged bias by the HBO Boxing crew from the Manny Pacquaio-Timothy Bradley fight.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing reviews the train wreck that was Charlie Sheen’s guest appearance on Fox Saturday.

Matt analyzes the moves by CBS and NBC to create their own sports radio networks.

Dylan Murphy at SportsGrid says a French soccer player cursed out a reporter after the team’s loss at EURO 2012 last week.

Also from SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty notes that Oprah Winfrey will interview LeBron James and the Miami Heat this weekend which has train wreck potential written all over it.

Evan Weiner at Examiner.com writes that the NFL has a long way to go to get a foothold in Europe.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with some of the people who have worked at WFAN during its past 25 years.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says college presidents’ pleas to pray for the Jerry Sandusky abuse victims ring hollow. Did Phil want them to go to Jerry Sandusky’s jail cell and shoot him dead?

And Phil goes after his favorite target, WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN Operations Manager Mark Chernoff about the nation’s oldest radio station turning 25.

Jerry says a 1010 WINS sports anchor wants to go after those who mispronounce “Wimbledon”.

Bob’s Blitz has the WFAN 25th Anniversary lineup for this Sunday.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says a New York-Penn League minor league baseball team won’t have a radio partner this year.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that ESPN will be providing a lot of tennis action over the next fortnight.

At Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks talks with Danica Patrick about her transition from IndyCar to NASCAR.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes about ESPN’s extensive Wimbledon coverage.

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

Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune says all of San Diego State’s football games will be seen on TV, the question is where?

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail suggests that the NHL expand Hockey Night in Canada to Sundays.

Raju Mudhar with the Toronto Star writes about technology and sports melding together.

At Frontstretch, Amy Henderson writes that TV is actually hurting NASCAR and turning fans off.

Back to Paul M. Banks at the Sports Bank and he has video of ESPN’s Jenn Brown taking batting practice at the College World Series.

MediaRantz reviews WFAN at 25.

MediaRantz says noted Florida sports radio bad boy Dan Sileo could be headed to the new CBS Sports Radio.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says NBC’s shuffle of the NHL Draft wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Sports Media Watch says the NBA Finals’ ratings were down from last year.

SMW writes that MLB on Fox took a hit opposite the U.S. Open.

But SMW says this past weekend, MLB on Fox did significantly better.

Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo’s The Dagger blog writes that ESPN expects to replace analyst Hubert Davis with Jalen Rose on College GameDay.

Paul Magno at Yahoo says boxing may return to network TV as Oscar de la Hoya tries to bring a fight to CBS.

Kris Hughes at Rant Sports asks if Time Warner Cable could purchase the Longhorn Network from ESPN?

Gaslamp Ball talks with the head of Fox Sports San Diego.

And that will do us for today.

Guest Column: Announcer Moves and League-owned College Networks

We continue with the guest columns. This one comes from reader Corneilus Green. Three columns in one for you.

Sports Broadcasting Talent Moves

The summer is definitely heating up with the speculation of who is staying or who is going to new networks.

Michelle Beadle is the most high profile talent to leave ESPN (which was mostly expected) and she gets to do more at NBC. It was definitely a shocker that Michelle Bonner left ESPN and the same for Dana Jacobson.

Scott Van Pelt whom I would have preferred leave for NBC/Comcast, remained at ESPN which is good for him, however, his radio partner, Ryen Russillo is near the end of this contract and who knows where he might go.

Doug Gottlieb, whose contract is up in September, could have a contract offer from CBS Sports according to SportsbyBrooks. Whatever CBS offers to Gottlieb has to be astronomical for him to leave the Worldwide Leader, though I think he should go if the opportunity was presented.

I feel Erin Andrews will stay at ESPN. Her stock has fallen since a few years ago and thus does not have value to another network should she still want to cover sports.

The lowest profile re-signing was John Buccigross. Buccigross stayed at ESPN mainly because he would the #1 voice for NCAA Frozen Four replacing Gary Thorne. Buccigross is one of the few at ESPN along with Linda Cohn and Steve Levy who trumpet hockey, which is amazing because as we know, it gives little to no coverage to the sport.

Had Buccigross not stayed with ESPN, it was expected that NHL Network would have offered him the chance to be its main anchor and be the face of the network. It will be interesting to see where all the sports talent lands.

NBA TV and MLB Network should utilize field reporters who can report from the various team’s headquarters instead relying on the insiders and the writers on the dot-com side.

I will be watching to see who the Pac-12 Network hires in addition to Summer Sanders, Ronnie Lott, and Rick Neuheisel. I would like for the Pac-12 Network to hire Tom Ramsey. I miss hearing him call college football. I fully expect Fox to elevate Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, and Petros Papadakis as the main team for college football on FX, also make Gus Johnson its main voice for the Pac-12 on Fox and move Steve Physioc to part-time on Pac-12 football and become the main voice for college basketball for the Big Ten Network.

Fox should replace Kevin Frazier with Fran Charles on as college football studio host and also add another analyst to Marcus Allen.

Never has there been more interest in sports media and who’s staying or who’s going. This year has unofficially been the year of the media rights deals and sports talent moves. Do not expect that to change during the summer.

SEC Network

An SEC Network could become reality in 2014. The SEC has called this Project X. It’s one of a number of things that has come up during the renegotiation the conference’s media rights deals with CBS and ESPN. With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, it opened the league to an increase of its media rights fees.

An SEC Network was close to starting in 2009 but ESPN threw a boatload of money at the conference not to start one. It appears that the SEC added two schools just for the sake of addition. The conference was already recruiting Texas and Missouri which wanted more money though they should have gone to the Big Ten had an offer been extended to both, but they were wishy-washy while Nebraska was jumping to the Big Ten without any hesitation. Texas A&M kicked and screamed its way to the SEC, but I’ll save that for another day.

The SEC is close to agreeing to an increase its TV rights fees, but the holdup has been CBS. The Tiffany Network has balked at paying more because its game inventory will not change. CBS is justified in balking. Mizzou and Texas A&M do not have the same attraction as Nebraska.

ESPN, which has been trying to establish a monopoly on televised college athletics, will most likely try to buy CBS’ slate of SEC games if CBS does not change its stance. CBS should hold out to the very end and get more doubleheaders and more night games to justify paying more for SEC games.

It’s being speculated that ESPN will partner with the SEC to establish an SEC Network. This would be likely picked up within a year on all the cable, digital cable, and satellite companies in the conference’s footprint because of the league’s popularity. The SEC has a bigger footprint than all of the conferences and the most rabid fan bases.

An SEC Network would most likely be modeled after the Big Ten Network. Many observers thought the SEC should have started its own network instead of allowing ESPN to talk them out of it by dangling more money. This makes Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany look a lot smarter than SEC head honcho Mike Slive in that perspective.

If the conference agrees to establish a TV network, this would put more cash in the SEC membership’s coffers, surpassing the Big Ten in revenue. The conference has enjoyed six consecutive years of a school wining the BCS National Championship Game.

It’s high time the SEC gets its own network. In my opinion, NBC/Comcast would be a better equity partner for the league in establishing an SEC Network than ESPN.

 

Pac-12 Network

The Pac-12 Network was the crown jewel when it came to the historic media rights deal between the conference and ESPN/Fox. Even more historic was the creation of seven networks, the main Pac-12 Network and seven regional channels.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has proved himself to be a power broker in college athletics and he has grown the conference into a financial power. In addition, his experience in negotiating TV contracts brought four digital cable companies as partners to carry the networks when he announced their formation.

While this all sounds good in theory, the hard part will be trying to convince all of the cable and satellite companies to carry all seven networks. Most likely all will carry the main Pac-12 network, but not the other six. Thus, the challenge of starting a sports channel and ensuring most of the country can watch it.

The Mtn. went dark on May 31 because it could not get distribution beyond DirecTV and various smaller cable providers in the West. Longhorn Network is having difficulty gaining carriage in Texas.

Time Warner Cable will have a tough time convincing cable and satellite companies to pick up its two new regional networks it is starting with the Los Angeles Lakers. As reported by John Ourand from the Sports Business Journal, Time Warner is charging companies $3.95/subscriber fee. That’s insane.

DirecTV President and CEO Mike White said that the satellite provider will not carry the Longhorn Network. Another statement could potentially spell bad news for the Pac-12 Network. White said DirecTV will most likely not carry all seven Pac-12 Networks. If you’re Larry Scott, you should be concerned. It appears DirecTV will only carry the main network and not the regional channels. Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse are probably thinking the same thing.

While Larry Scott’s thinking was out of the box, it could be a bad move for now. The Big Ten Network has been largely successful, but it was just one network. The Pac-12 Networks will have major challenges in gaining carriage. As a U-verse customer, I would like to be able to watch all of the networks from their inception. The question is: Can the Pac-12 convince every digital and satellite company to carry all seven networks? Good luck, Larry Scott.

Corneilus Green resides in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Currently unemployed, but Corneilus is a sports enthusiast who once had a dream of being a sports broadcaster and commentator. He still might do it.

Thanks to Corneilus for the column. More guest columns will published throughout the week.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/30/sports/sp-tvcol30

Let’s Get Some Linkage Out

I’ve accumulated a lot of links. They’re slowing down my browser so let’s clear them so I can let my computer get back some memory. Lots of stuff going on.

Let’s start with ESPN stuff as it dominated the news today with its network upfront presentation to advertisers and also confirmed personnel moves.

First, Sports Media Watch talks about Scott Van Pelt reupping with ESPN.

The ESPN Front Row blog has a Q&A podcast with Van Pelt in which he explains why he decided to remain with the Bristolians.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today recaps today’s ESPN upfront presentation in New York.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that with Michelle Beadle leaving ESPN, the network is now focusing on keeping Erin Andrews in the fold.

The Hollywood Reporter goes over some ESPN upfront news including its plans to bring back the 30 for 30 documentary series.

Stuart Levin from Variety also has a story on the new set of 30 for 30 docs.

Jeannie Poggi of Advertising Age also reviews ESPN’s upfronts.

Alex Weprin from TVNewser says ESPN and ABC News will co-produce an interview series to be fronted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts.

Mike Shields from Adweek says ESPN.com will now partner to sell ads.

ESPN’s Vice President of College Sports Programming, Burke Magnus responds to a Dan Wetzel/Yahoo Sports article on the new ACC TV contract.

Chad Scott at ChuckOliver.net explains how third tier media rights work in college sports.

Andy Fixmer and Alex Sherman at Bloomberg report on how ESPN may expand its WatchESPN app to Apple TV platforms.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says CBS is ready to take the coveted 18-49 ratings title from perennial winner Fox with the airing of Super Bowl XLVII next season.

The great SportsbyBrooks tweets that Erik Kuselias’ move to NBC Sports Network from Golf Channel’s Morning Drive is being considered a demotion by network higher-ups. I had a feeling this was the case. Do you consider this tweet inane, Mike Francesa?

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report enjoyed watching Survival Sunday on the Fox Sports platforms, but wondered why the most important English Premier League game was on another network.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has four different calls of the same moment when Manchester City won the EPL title on Sunday.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal writes about a now-defunct Twitter account that got under the skin of several sports network executives.

Earlier today, WFAN’s Mike Francesa

If you want to see Mike’s veins popping out during this rant, you can see it here on the YES Network website.

And while Francesa seemingly hates Twitter, Media Rantz points out that Francesa has an app where he does something similar to Twitter.

Bruce Jenkins from Sports Illustrated says Tennis Channel failed to serve the WTA Tour’s Madrid Open like it did with the ATP’s side of the same tournament.

Phil Allaway at Front Stretch looks at ESPN’s coverage of this past weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Race.

BBC Sport has announced it will have 24 live HD streams dedicated to the Olympics this summer.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBCUniversal has set the Olympics programming lineup for Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News notes that a Federal Appeals Court has upheld an FCC ruling that Time Warner Cable did not discriminate against MASN when it refused to put the regional sports network on its North Carolina systems.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the college conference realignment game won’t be settled for at least another decade.

Matt Boutwell of Maine Sports Media looks at a case I wrote about three years ago, about the mysterious tweeter, BrianAdExec.

NESN goes behind the scenes with Jenny Dell and the network’s production team on what goes on during a typical Red Sox gameday.

Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post has SNY’s president talking about the regional sports network’s plans to air UConn Women’s basketball next season.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with NBC Sports’ Mike Emrick about calling his old team, the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

In the New York Times, Jay Schreiber talks about the last time the Devils and the New York Rangers met in the Eastern Conference Final and how he had to monitor the series without smartphones back then.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on ESPN’s plans to bring back 30 for 30.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY writes that MSG Network will provide of wraparound coverage of the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says YES Network will air a Yankeeography on David Wells this week.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that MSG Network will begin airing the WNBA’s New York Liberty starting this weekend.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says two local global conglomerates including Comcast expect to make some big money from the London Olympics.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com Sports goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s MLS production.

Jeff Barker from the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles and the Washington Nationals are waiting word from MLB on a decision on how much MASN should pay the Nats.

Over to Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog who writes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is making a change in its DC NFL team beat reporter.

Dan talks about former Post columnist Howard Bryant ranting against Washington Nationals ownership.

Mike Finger at the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network may offer more Texas football games in another attempt to get carriage from state cable providers.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT set another local ratings record.

In Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks goes over some hate mail.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune writes that Utahans should be able to see the Running Utes thanks to wider distribution of the Pac-12 Networks than the soon-to-be defunct the mtn.

Tuesday night, KNBC-TV did a story on the busy postseason in Los Angeles, but aired the wrong graphic for the Kings and showed the Sacramento Kings instead of the LA Kings. C’mon, man!

Martin Miller of the Los Angeles Times says ESPN upfront presentation showed the network was ready for some football.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media is telling everyone that a New York Rangers-Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final might not mean boffo ratings as some NHL observers are saying.

Jay Koot of Busted Coverage is disgusted by Erik Kuselias’ engagement to Morning Drive news reader Holly Sonders.

And that’s where we’ll end the links tonight.

ESPN Networks All Over The NCAA Division I Softball Championship

In its increased commitment to the NCAA, the ESPN Family of Networks will have extensive coverage of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship including every game of the Women’s College World Series.

There will be coverage of up to 62 games from the regionals to the Super Regional games, all the way to the Women’s College World Series held again at Oklahoma City, OK. This will be the 12th year that the ESPN Family will carry all of the games of the WCWS.

Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza will be the main team for the Softball Championship and they’ll be assigned to the Louisville, KY Super Regional and then go to the Women’s College World Series.

The whole enchilada begins this Friday with coverage of eight games on ESPN2, ESPN3 and the Longhorn Network (that’s right) and continuing throughout the weekend.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

ESPN Provides Extensive Coverage of NCAA Division I Softball Championship

Every Women’s College World Series Contest for 12^th Straight Year

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 will combine as the coverage home to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship with up to 62 games Friday, May 18 to Wednesday, June 6. The lineup will include telecasts of every Women’s College World Series (WCWS) contest for the 12^th straight event and every game from all eight Super Regional sites for the fifth straight year. Coverage begins with games from three Regional sites.

As mentioned on ESPNU’s 2012 NCAA Division I Softball Championship Selection Show, action begins Friday, May 18 with six telecasts from three sites -– Louisville, Ky.; College Station, Texas; Tucson, Ariz. ESPN3 will simulcast every Regional, Super Regional and WCWS game aired on ESPN networks.

SEC teams earned the most bids this year by conference with nine, followed closely by the Pac-12 with eight. The Pac-12 has won 23 of 29 NCAA Division I Softball Championships. The last non-Pac-12 school to win a title was Michigan in 2005. This year’s No. 1 seed, California, has the most consecutive championship appearances with 26, behind only Fresno State with 30.

2012 ESPN Highlights:

• More than 125 hours of NCAA Division I Softball Championship game action as well as studio hours surrounding the games with highlights, expert analysis and press conferences after Super Regionals.
• For the first time, the Longhorn Network will also offer exclusive games from a Regionals series, televising all games involving No. 8 Texas from the Austin, Texas Regional site, beginning Friday, May 19 at 5:30 ET.
• Super Regionals and WCWS games will include the expert opinion and experience from six U.S. Olympic Gold Medalists, one of which was a three-time NCAA Champion. All 11 analysts are former All-Americans and six played for teams that were seeded in this year’s Championship:
  • ESPN Softball Analysts at Super Regionals: Leah Amico (Arizona), Garland Cooper (Northwestern), Jennie Finch (Arizona), Amanda Freed (UCLA), Cheri Kemp (Missouri Western), Jessica Mendoza (Stanford), Amanda Scarborough (Texas A&M) and Michele Smith (Oklahoma State)
  • ESPN Softball Analysts in Studio: Charlotte Morgan (Alabama) and Stacey Nuveman (UCLA)
  • As part of ESPN’s celebration of 40 years of Title IX, espnW.com will give fans inside access on a team’s road to the WCWS with features, photos and player blogs from six of the top-25 programs.
  • ESPN International will provide the WCWS in 178 countries and territories on ESPN Australia, ESPN Africa, ESPN Caribbean, ESPN Europe, ESPN Israel, ESPN Latin America, ESPN Middle East, ESPN Pacific Rim and ESPN Brazil.
  • In 2012, the ESPN networks will air over 400 hours of NCAA Spring Championships coverage, increasing more than 30 hours from 2011. As part of ESPN’s extended rights agreement with the NCAA, spring championship programming highlights seven sports over eight weeks: Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s Volleyball, Baseball and Softball. For the first time, ESPN networks will also air the Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field and Women’s Lacrosse Championships.

NCAA Division I Softball Championship – Regionals
(Schedule subject to change)

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup (location)	Regional Game	Network
Friday, May 18	4:30 p.m.	Kentucky vs. Michigan (Louisville, KY) Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game1	ESPN2/ESPN3
	5 p.m.	Texas State vs. LSU (College Station, TX) Cara Capuano and Cheri Kempf	Game 1	ESPN3
	5 p.m.	Northwestern vs. No. 6 Texas (Austin, TX) TBD	Game 2	Longhorn Network
	5:30 p.m.	Notre Dame vs. Hawaii (Tucson, AZ) Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 1	ESPNU/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Valparaiso vs. No. 15 Louisville (Louisville, KY) Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game 2	ESPN2/ESPN3
	8 p.m.	Bethune-Cookman vs. No. 8 Texas A&M (College Station, TX) Cara Capuano and Cheri Kempf	Game 2	ESPN3
	8 p.m.	North Dakota State vs. No. 13 Arizona (Tucson, AZ) Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 2	ESPNU/ESPN3
Saturday, May 19	1 p.m.	Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner (Louisville, KY) Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game 3	ESPN/ESPN3
	2 p.m.	Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner (College Station, TX)	Game 3	ESPN3
	3:30  p.m.	Game 1 loser vs. Game  2 loser (Louisville, KY) Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game 4	ESPN/ESPN3
	5 p.m.	Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser (College Station, TX) Cara Capuano and Cheri Kempf	Game 4	ESPN3
	6 p.m.	Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser (Louisville, KY) Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game 5	ESPN/ESPN3
	6 p.m.	Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner (Tucson, AZ) Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 3	ESPNU/ESPN3
	8 p.m.	Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser (College Station, TX)	Game 5	ESPN3
	8:30 p.m.	Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser (Tucson, AZ) Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 4	ESPNU/ESPN3
	11 p.m.	Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser (Tucson, AZ) Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 5	ESPNU/ESPN3
Sunday, May 20	1 p.m.	Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner (Louisville, KY) Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game 6	ESPN2/ESPN3
	2 p.m.	Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner (College Station, TX) Cara Capuano and Cheri Kempf	Game 6	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (Louisville, KY)* Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza	Game 7	ESPN2/ESPN3
	4:30 p.m.	Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (College Station, TX)* Cara Capuano and Cheri Kempf	Game 7	ESPN3
	5:30 p.m.	Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner (Tucson, AZ) Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 6	ESPNU/ESPN3
	8 p.m.	Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (Tucson, AZ) * Pam Ward and Michele Smith	Game 7	ESPNU/ESPN3

NCAA Division I Softball Championship – Super Regionals

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup (Location)	Game	Network
Thu, May 24	8 p.m.	TBD (Site 1)	Game 1	ESPN2/ESPN3
	10 p.m.	TBD (Site 2)	Game 1	ESPN2/ESPN3
Fri, May 25	2 p.m.	TBD (Site 5)	Game 1	ESPNU/ESPN3
	4:30 p.m.	TBD (Site 1)	Game 2	ESPNU/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	TBD (Site 1) *	Game 3	ESPN or ESPN2/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	TBD (Site 3)	Game 1	ESPNU/ESPN3
	9 p.m.	TBD (Site 2)	Game 2	ESPN or ESPNU/ESPN3
	9 p.m.	TBD (Site 4)	Game 1	ESPNU/ESPN3
	11:30 p.m.	TBD (Site 2)*	Game 3	ESPNU/ESPN3
Sat, May 26	noon	TBD (Site 5)	Game 2	ESPN/ESPN3
	noon	TBD (Site 6)	Game 1	ESPNU/ESPN3
	2:30 PM	TBD (Site 5) *	Game 3	ESPN/ESPN3
	2:30 PM	TBD (Site 3)	Game 2	ESPNU/ESPN3
	5 p.m.	TBD (Site 4)	Game 2	ESPN/ESPN3
	5 p.m.	TBD (Site 3) *	Game 3	ESPNU/ESPN3
	7:30 PM	TBD (Site 4) *	Game 3	ESPN/ESPN3
	7:30 PM	TBD (Site 7)	Game 1	ESPNU/ESPN3
	10 p.m.	TBD (Site 8)	Game 1	ESPN2/ESPN3
Sun, May 27	1 p.m.	TBD (Site 6)	Game 2	ESPN/ESPN3
	3:30 PM	TBD (Site 6) *	Game 3	ESPN/ESPN3
	3:30 PM	TBD (Site 7)	Game 3	ESPNU/ESPN3
	6 p.m.	TBD (Site 7) *	Game 3	ESPNU/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	TBD (Site 8)	Game 2	ESPN2/ESPN3
	9:30 PM	TBD (Site 8) *	Game 3	ESPN2/ESPN3

NCAA Women’s College World Series, (Oklahoma City, Okla.)

Date	Time	Game	Network
Wed, May 30	2 p.m.	WCWS Press Conferences	ESPNU
	4 p.m.	WCWS Press Conferences	ESPNU
Thu, May 31	Noon	WCWS Pre-Game Show	ESPNU
	1 p.m.	Game 1	ESPN2/ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Game 2	ESPN2/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Game 3	ESPN2/ESPN3
	9:30 p.m.	Game 4	ESPN2/ESPN3
	11:30 p.m.	WCWS Post-Game Show	ESPNU
Fri, June 1	7 p.m.	Game 5	ESPN2/ESPN3
	9:30 p.m.	Game 6	ESPN2/ESPN3
Sat, June 2	noon	Game 7	ESPN2/ESPN3
	2:30 p.m.	Game 8	ESPN2/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Game 9	ESPN/ESPN3
	9:30 p.m.	Game 10	ESPN/ESPN3
Sun, June 3	1 p.m.	Game 11	ESPN/ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	Game 12	ESPN/ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Game 13*	ESPNU/ESPN3
	9:30 p.m.	Game 14*	ESPNU/ESPN3
Mon, June 4	8 p.m.	Championship – Game 1	ESPN2/ESPN3
	10:30 p.m.	WCWS Post-Game Show	ESPNU
Tue, June 5	7:30 p.m.	WCWS Pre-Game Show	ESPNU
	8 p.m.	Championship – Game 2	ESPN2/ESPN3
	10:30 p.m.	WCWS Post-Game Show	ESPNU
Wed, June 6	7:30 p.m.	WCWS Pre-Game Show	ESPNU
	8 p.m.	Championship – Game 3*	ESPN/ESPN3
	10:30 p.m.	WCWS Post-Game Show	ESPNU

ESPN3 will carry every game; direct links to exclusive games included
* denotes “if necessary” game

That’s going to do it.

Quick Monday Linkage

Don’t have much time today. I’ll do a few links for you here while I can.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg saying he wouldn’t be surprised if Kentucky lost in the Final Four this weekend.

Mr. College Football, Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports, remembers his former colleague at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Furman Bisher.

Tim Wood at the Bleacher Report announces some new hirings. BR has been on a hiring binge lately.

ESPN2 aired the Jets/Tim Tebow press conference today with a twist. Can you believe showing Skippy Bayless on his laptop, live tweeting the event? Yes indeed. Very bad television.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid notes that a SiriusXM Radio host decided to use his satellite radio show to criticize the Miami Heat for the famous picture of the entire team wearing hoodies in support of Trayvon Martin.

Doug Farrar at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says Fox Sports is considering using suspended New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton as an analyst this season.

To Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk who says don’t expect the NFL to give the public a partial 2012 regular season schedule release this week.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal catches up with CBS Sports Network/Dial Global Radio announcer Dave Ryan who’s calling the NCAA Women’s Tournament on radio this week.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group notes that Longhorn Network uses fiber optics rather than satellite trucks to transmit game action from University of Texas campus back to its broadcast facility.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says a NCAA Tournament overrun helped CBS win the Sunday night primetime ratings.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age says the NFL and Nike are hyping their new partnership which both companies say will revolutionize the league’s apparel.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tiger Woods’ win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend might have helped his popularity.

Yesterday, we learned that legendary boxing writer and historian Bert Sugar died at the age of 75. Sugar was one of the most popular figures covering the sweet science. But in addition to covering boxing, Sugar wrote about baseball and was good at it. When I hosted a one-hour radio sports show in Groton, CT, Bert gave me one of the best interviews I ever had. He was witty, funny, brilliant and put everything into its proper perspective. And he sent me a book that he had written about boxing. One of the nicest men in the sports media you’ll ever have the chance to meet. And unfortunately, he’s gone.

Tim Smith of the New York Daily News says Sugar had been suffering from lung cancer, but typical of Bert, he kept it quiet from most of his friends.

Dan Rafael of ESPN.com says Bert will be missed.

Michael Woods of ESPN New York has an appreciation of Sugar.

Bob Velin of USA Today also has an obituary for Sugar.

Gary Mihoces of USA Today says Sugar was definitely a colorful character.

Lem Satterfield of The Ring, the digital home of Ring Magazine where Sugar once worked, has reaction to his death.

Promoter Jackie Kallen in Boxing Insider bids farewell to her friend.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun has a couple of memories of Bert Sugar.

I’ll do some more linkage tonight.

Some Rare Saturday Links

It’s been a long time since I was able to provide Saturday linkage. Many times, it’s due to the fact I try to sleep in or my weekend was planned for me behind my back and I have to play chauffeur. Anyway, I’m able to provide some links and since I did not do the megalinks on Friday, I’ll give you this as a replacement, although the number of stories won’t equal Friday’s usual amount.

We begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who mentions that NFL Network came close to firing Warren Sapp after he tweeted that former New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey “snitched” about the team’s bounties to the NFL officials.

Can you believe Bob Costas turned 60 this week??!! Well, he did. MLB Network’s senior editorial director Elliot Kalb who has worked with Bob at NBC writes this tribute.

From the Poynter Institute, ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry looks at why ESPN expunged a Mark Cuban gay joke from a Bill Simmons Grantland podcast.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says smartphones and tablets helped to drive a large percentage of traffic for March Madness Live online.

Mike Reynolds from Mulitchannel News writes that the NCAA Tournament saw a ratings decline from the year before for the first night of the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says a veteran cable TV programming exec has been promoted within the ranks of NBC Sports.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred mourns the passing of former Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher.

Eric Goldschein from SportsGrid has video of the Kazakhstan national anthem being played for a medalist of a shooting competition in Kuwait. Problem was that it was the version written for the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and not the real Kazakhstan national anthem. That’s funny.

Sports Video Group offers a review of the March Madness Live iPad app.

Busted Coverage says a Spokane, WA local sports anchor unwittingly decided to crack on Lesley Visser’s face.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the harsh punishments handed down by the NFL to the New Orleans Saints over Bountygate were likely tied to concussion lawsuits.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe speaks with CBS/Turner’s NCAA Tournament East Regional crew of Uncle Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery and Lesley Visser.

Chad has a few more things with Verne and Bill that didn’t make the column.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at MLB Network producing and staffing a pregame show for Fox Saturday Baseball.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the local CBS affiliate has been taping its late newscast for nights it follows NCAA Tournament action.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that the WFAN Mets Radio Network is not big at all.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest in Baltimore-DC sports media in Press Box.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News talks with Texas A&M’s athletic director about entering the SEC and why the Longhorn Network led to the school’s departure from the Big 12.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Texans radio voice Marc Vandermeer is leaving his radio talk show to focus squarely on the NFL team.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about Fox and MLB Network collaborating on a pregame show.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager who loves his job and picking out loud clothes for every game.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes about San Diego’s sports radio shuffles.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has a story on the Brothers Waltrip who are laughing it up at Fox.

Tom has more with Darrell and Michael Waltrip in his blog.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN is seeing a ratings surge for its studio shows thanks to a busy NFL offseason.

SMW says viewership is up for the NCAA Women’s Tournament on ESPN2.

Steve Lepore has a suggestion for ESPN on how to make the NCAA Hockey Tournament more TV friendly.

Joe Favorito looks at how NFL news broke this week.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing notes that Around the Horn host Tony Reali apparently had an on-the-job injury this week.

I’m going to end the Saturday links there.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 02/04 & 02/05/2012, All Times Eastern

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

Saturday, February 4

College GameDay live from Columbia, MO — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m./ESPN, 8 p.m.

11 a.m.
South Florida at Georgetown — ESPNU

noon
LaSalle at St. Joseph – A-10 Network: CSS/The Comcast Network
Seton Hall at UConn — Big East Network: Bright House/MASN/SNY
Syracuse at St. John’s — ESPN
Detroit at Butler — ESPN2

1 p.m.
Virginia at Florida State — ACC Network
Wake Forest at North Carolina State — ACC Network
Marquette at Notre Dame — CBS
Vanderbilt at Florida — CBS
Boston College at Georgia Tech — ESPNU
Xavier at Memphis — Fox Sports Net (national)

Women’s: St. Joseph’s at Richmond — CBS Sports Network

1:30 p.m.
Baylor at Oklahoma State — Big 12 Network
Arkansas at LSU — SEC Network

2 p.m.
Delaware at James Madison — CSS/The Comcast Network
Ohio State at Wisconsin — ESPN
Temple at URI — ESPN2

Women’s: Providence at Villanova — Big East Network: Comcast SportsNet New England/SNY

3 p.m.
Penn State at Iowa — ESPNU
Arizona at Stanford — Fox Sports Net (national)

Women’s: San Diego State at TCU — CBS Sports Network

4 p.m.
Rutgers at Louisville — Big East Network: Bright House/MASN/SNY
Texas A&M at Kansas State — Big 12 Network
Clemson at Virginia Tech — Fox Sports Net: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus/Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South/NESN
New Mexico at Boise State — NBC Sports Network
Auburn at Mississippi State — SEC Network
UNLV at Wyoming — the mtn.

5 p.m.
Air Force at Colorado State — CBS Sports Network
Old Dominion at George Mason — ESPNU
UCLA at Washington State — Fox College Sports Atlantic/Root Sports Northwest
Creighton at Northern Iowa — Fox College Sports Central/Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest

Women’s: Central Florida at Memphis — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
Kentucky at South Carolina — ESPN
Iowa at Oklahoma — ESPN2

7 p.m.
DePaul at Cincinnati — Big East Network: Bright House/MASN/SNY
Indiana at Purdue — Big Ten Network
Northeastern at VCU — Comcast SportsNet New England/CSS/The Comcast Network
Richmond at Duquense — ESPNU
Texas Tech at Texas — Longhorn Network

Women’s: Wyoming at UNLV — the mtn.

8 p.m.
Mississippi at Alabama — ESPN2
South Alabama at Western Kentucky — Fox College Sports Atlantic
Georgia at Tennessee — Fox Sports Net: Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Southwest

8:30 p.m.
Portland State at Northern Arizona — Fox College Sports Pacific

9 p.m.
Kansas at Missouri — ESPN
Cal-Santa Barbara at Cal State-Fullerton — ESPNU
Oregon at Cal — Fox College Sports Central/Root Sports Northwest

10 p.m.
BYU at Portland — BYU TV
Indiana State at Wichita State — ESPN2
TCU at San Diego State — the mtn.

11 p.m.
USC at Washington — Fox Sports Net (national)

Sunday, February 5

11 a.m.
Women’s: Dayton at Xavier — ESPNU

noon
West Virginia at Providence — Big East Network: Altitude/Bright House/Cox Sports RI/Cox Sports Television/CSS/MASN/SNY

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

1 p.m.
Minnesota at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Michigan at Michigan State — CBS

Women’s: DePaul at Notre Dame — ESPNU
Women’s: Wake Forest at Boston College — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports South/NESN

2 p.m.
Villanova at Pittsburgh — ESPN

Women’s: Missouri at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Net (national)
Women’s: Auburn at Tennessee — SEC Network

3 p.m.
Northwestern at Illinois — Big Ten Network
Miami (FL) at Duke — ESPNU

Women’s: Georgia at Alabama — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Florida/SportSouth

4 p.m.
Women’s: Washington at USC — Fox Sports Net (national)

Posting As Many Monday Links As I Can

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’ll try to add more stuff later.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that will do it for the links today.

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 01/07 & 01/08/2012, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, January 7

11 a.m.
College GameDay — ESPNU
Florida at Tennessee — ESPN2

noon
Virginia Tech at Wake Forest — ACC Network
Georgetown at West Virginia — Big East Network/Cox Sports Television/MASN/SNY
Duke at Georgia Tech — ESPNU
Xavier at Fordham — Fox College Sports Atlantic/Fox Sports Ohio/YES

1 p.m.
Nebraska at Illinois — Big Ten Network

1:30 p.m.
Baylor at Texas Tech — Big 12 Network
Missouri at Kansas State — Big 12 Network
Auburn at Vanderbilt — SEC Network
Mississippi at LSU — SEC Network

2 p.m.
St. John’s at Cincinnati — Big East Network/MSG Network/Fox Sports Ohio/MASN
Kansas at Oklahoma — ESPNU
Washington at Utah — Fox Sports Net (national)

women’s: Michigan State at Penn State — CBS

2:30 p.m.
Boston College at North Carolina — ACC Network

3 p.m.
Ohio State at Iowa — Big Ten Network

women’s: Wagner at Monmouth — Fox College Sports Atlantic

4 p.m.
Marquette at Syracuse — Big East Network/MASN/SNY
Iowa State at Texas A&M — Big 12 Network
Florida State at Clemson — ESPN2
Notre Dame at Louisville — ESPNU
South Carolina at Kentucky — SEC Network

women’s: UConn at Notre Dame — CBS

5 p.m.
Troy at Western Kentucky — Fox College Sports Atlantic

women’s: Ohio State at Michigan — Big Ten Network

6 p.m.
Seton Hall at Providence — Big East Network/Cox Sports RI/MASN/SNY
San Francisco at BYU — BYU TV
Miami (FL) at Virginia — ESPNU
Fresno State at Idaho — WAC Sports Network

women’s: UCLA at Arizona — Fox Sports Net (national)

7 p.m.
Richmond at URI — CBS Sports Network
Alabama at Georgia — Fox Sports Net (regional)
Oklahoma State at Texas — Longhorn Network

8 p.m.
UConn at Rutgers — Big East Network/MASN/SNY
Murray State at Austin Peay — ESPNU
South Dakota State at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Central

9 p.m.
Memphis at UAB — CBS Sports Network
Mississippi State at Arkansas — CSS
Nevada at Utah State — WAC Sports Network

10:30 p.m.
Arizona State at UCLA — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Arizona/Fox Sports West

Sunday, January 8

noon
DePaul at Villanova — Big East Network
Indiana at Penn State — Big Ten Network

1 p.m.
women’s: Maryland at North Carolina — Fox Sports Net (regional)
women’s: Memphis at UTEP — Fox Sports Net (national)

1:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Michigan — CBS

women’s: Louisville at St. John’s — ESPNU

2 p.m.
UMass at LaSalle — A-10 Network/Comcast SportsNet New England/The Comcast Network

women’s: Northwestern at Indiana — Big Ten Network

3 p.m.
women’s: Oklahoma at Texas A&M — Fox Sports Net (national)

3:30 p.m.
women’s: Tennessee at Arkansas — ESPNU
women’s: Mississippi State at Kentucky — Fox Sports Net (regional)

4 p.m.
women’s: Nebraska at Iowa — Big Ten Network

5:30 p.m.
Arizona at USC — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
Purdue at Minnesota — Big Ten Network
Maryland at NC State — ESPNU

7:30 p.m.
Cal at Oregon — Fox Sports Net (national)

The Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2011

Time for the Fang’s Bites Sports Media Year in Review. The year isn’t big enough for a Top Ten, but it is big enough for a Big Dozen. Let’s get to the list and we’ll count down from 12 and also have some Honorable Mentions.

12. ESPN The Book

One of the most anticipated books of the year for the sports media was “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” co-authored by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Some of the more salacious and sensational stories were leaked and released before its publication. But when all was said and done, the tome was more of a detailed history lesson of how ESPN was created and rose to become the biggest content provider in sports media. The book became a New York Times best seller and is being made into a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox.

11. ESPN vs. NBC

The battle lines have already been drawn between the two networks, but with owner, Comcast, merging its cable sports properties of Versus, Golf Channel and the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates under the NBC Sports Group, the Peacock is positioning itself to become a major competitor to ESPN. NBC Sports has already obtained Major League Soccer and horse racing, increased NHL content, announced an Olympic presence and will create a Sunday NFL pregame show for Versus which will be rebranded this weekend.

ESPN is not sitting back aggressively expanding its college sports portfolio and keeping Monday Night Football.

With MLB, NASCAR and the BCS up for bid in 2012, NBC Sports could be strengthened with more content for its cable properties or ESPN could continue its monolithic path to World Domination.

10. UFC Signs With Fox

Mixed Martial Arts went mainstream with the Ultimate Fighting Championships signing an 8 year, multi-million dollar contract with Fox. The first UFC bout on Fox in November didn’t last very long, but it did do well in the key male demographics. Starting in January, UFC programming will be seen on various Fox platforms including FX and Fuel. Both sides expect to reap huge benefits and I would not doubt to see UFC get big bids for its second network contract in eight years.

9. Long-time Executives Leave Their Respective Networks

Just before NBC Sports was about to present its bid for the Olympics, Emperor Dick Ebersol resigned over a contract dispute. While observers thought it would leave NBC Sports vulnerable, it still won the rights for four Olympiads and kept Sunday Night Football. While he may have clashed with the new Comcast administration, Ebersol’s legacy on the network over two decades cannot be diminished. He is still working for NBC as a consultant on Sunday Night Football and will assist on the 2012 London Olympics.

HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg resigned in July after being with the network for 33 years. Under his tenure, Greenburg increased HBO’s commitment to documentaries and created the successful 24/7 reality series, not just focusing on the network’s signature sport of boxing, but reaching out to NASCAR and the NHL. Greenburg is now producing content for both NBC Sports and the NHL.

And George Bodenheimer announced late this year that he would leave as President and become Chairman of the Alleged Worldwide Leader. He’ll be succeeded by Vice President of Content John Skipper. Bodenheimer steered ESPN into high definition and helped to create ESPN 3D. Plus, he was able to make Monday Night Football into a cable series after 35 years as a network TV mainstay. Bodenheimer, who I’ve jokingly labeled the ESPN Dictator will no longer be in a day-to-day role with ESPN.

8. NBA/NFL Lockout Coverage

Two sports leagues stressed out their fans by making them wait out negotiations over collective bargaining agreements with their players. Instead of anticipating the draft or schedule releases, coverage over labor talks dominated sports media. As negotiations dragged on, reporters were camped out waiting for the latest news which came out as quickly as toothpaste being pushed out of a tube.

NFL Network and ESPN went wall-to-wall with non-stop coverage as a deal neared. The same for NBA TV.

Both leagues finally hashed out agreements and brought labor peace. Eventually, the NFL only lost a preseason game after a ten year CBA with its union. The NBA wasn’t as lucky as almost two months of its schedule was lost and it had to proceed with a reduced 66 game schedule.

7. ESPN/Univision Lose the World Cup to Fox/Telemundo

Honestly, who saw this coming? ESPN’s signature global sports event has been the World Cup. It’s been carrying the event since 1994. Univision’s history with the World Cup dates back to 1978. Both networks have been known for carrying the World’s biggest soccer games. However, that will change in 2015 when Fox and Telemundo take over the English and Spanish language US rights respectively  for two Men’s and Women’s World Cups through 2022.

ESPN and Univision were simply outbid by Fox and NBC, the owner of Telemundo. One could argue that the World Cup whose ratings have been steadily going up became a desired property thanks to ESPN’s and Univision’s coverage.

ESPN and Univision get one more World Cup to bid farewell to FIFA and that will be in Rio in 2014.

6. NBC Sports Group Keeps The NHL

Fending off a spirited bid by ESPN, NBC signed a 10 year deal to keep the NHL in the fold in a combined network and cable bid. After pledging to increase games on cable and also give fans national access to all postseason games on its platforms, NBC Sports Group was able to keep the NHL rights. Now the NHL has a permanent place to call its home and NBC has firmly committed to hockey which pleases the sport’s fans to no end.

And please, let’s not mention that ESPN would be better for the NHL.

5. ESPN’s Influence on College Sports including The Longhorn Network

It’s amazing to see how much inventory ESPN has collected in college sports. Not only has it signed the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC, several non-BCS conferences and a few individual schools to long-term contracts, it also has created the Longhorn Network for the University of Texas. The whole concept of the Longhorn Network has led to massive upheaval among the BCS conferences with Texas A&M leaving the Big 12 and heading to the SEC, the Big East’s Pittsburgh and Syracuse leaving for the ACC and other schools wanting to leave their leagues for bigger exposure and more ESPN cash.

And not only does ESPN have a hand in these chess games (despite massive denials), it has to cover all of this leading to conflicts of interest. And while ESPN pays megabucks for the NFL, its roots are firmly entrenched in college sports as we have seen with its new contract with the NCAA to air several championships.

ESPN also owns a whole host of bowl games and college basketball tournaments all of which are needed inventory for programming. By owning the games, ESPN doesn’t have to pay a rights fee. Crowds aren’t needed because ESPN makes money once the ads are sold and fees are paid by the cable and satellite providers.

ESPN’s influence in college sports will be a story that will followed for several years to come.

4. #freebruce

This story became a story thanks to SportsbyBrooks and social networking. Without these two combinations, an ESPN internal suspension might not have been noticed, reported and scrutinized. This all began with then-ESPN.com college football writer Bruce Feldman co-authored a book with former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach. In the book, Leach alleged that then-ESPN college football analyst Craig James had a hand in his firing from the school over treatment of James’ son.

Feldman says he informed his bosses that he was writing a book with Leach and got their blessing. When the book was released, ESPN suspended Feldman. It was there that blogs and social networking got involved. SportsbyBrooks reported that Feldman was suspended. ESPN denied it. Other college football writers who follow Feldman on Twitter noticed he wasn’t tweeting. The story boomeranged on ESPN. It didn’t end until Feldman left ESPN for CBS Sports.

But this whole story made observers wonder why ESPN chose to hang its hat with James.

3. CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC Renew the NFL at a Hefty Price

Starting in 2014, the NFL will receive an estimated $5 billion in rights fees from its TV partners. That’s a huge increase from the current amount from the four networks. In addition, all of the current packages will remain with the current networks so there will be no upheaval as in the past three NFL TV contracts.

All of the networks except for ESPN have signed on for 9 years. ESPN reupped for 8. ESPN looks like it will enter the postseason with a Wild Card Playoff game. NBC gains a Thanksgiving Night game, a Divisional Playoff game and more flex scheduling. CBS and Fox also get some flex scheduling to boost their ratings.

And with CBS, Fox and NBC paying on the average of $1 billion each, the NFL has fattened its war chest. Expect another partner for a Thursday Night Football package to be announced sometime in 2012.

The NFL is the ratings king and the money is proof.

2. NBC Keeps the Olympics at a Hefty Price

There were indications before the bidding for the 2014/16 Olympics that NBC was vulnerable (see #9 above). Long-time NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol had left. ESPN and Fox showed indications that they wanted to take the Games away from NBC which had been broadcasting the Olympics since 1988. It looked like the International Olympic Committee was poised go with another TV partner. But when all was said and done, NBC had ponied up $4.38 billion for four Olympiads from 2014 through 2020 and the Olympics were firmly under the NBCUniversal umbrella.

What happened? ESPN bid for only one set of Olympics, 2014/16 and Fox made two separate bids and came close at $3.4 billion. However, when it came time to step up, NBC did and kept the Games in a very spirited bid to the IOC.

After losing money on the 2010 Winter Olympics, NBC’s parent company, Comcast claims it will be profitable on the four set of Games. That remains to be seen.

1. Penn State/Syracuse Media Coverage

Scandal once again dominated the sports media. However, in the case of Penn State, it wasn’t sports writers who uncovered the alleged molestation of young boys by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Taking the lead in the coverage was the Harrisburg Patriot-News and in particular, crime reporter Sarah Ganim. Also, Penn State’s student newspaper, the Daily Collegian didn’t sit tight either reporting the story. The national media finally caught up and Bob Costas’ interview of Sandusky on NBC’s Rock Center raised eyebrows. And while ESPN tried its best to report the story, it was way behind. The Sandusky scandal will continue as it goes to trial and it won’t be going away any time soon.

As for the Syracuse story on the alleged molestations by former Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine, ESPN had a tape of Fine’s wife, Laurie, talking to one of the accusers. The problem was, it was 8 years old and ESPN gave the appearance that it sat on the story. While network bosses tried to explain their decision, some accused ESPN of not giving what they had to the police. No matter of the explanations, ESPN’s role in this story will be debated and whatever it says won’t be enough for some critics.

There were lessons learned in the reporting of both scandals. We learned that local reporters on the ground will always have an advantage over national correspondents. And we learned that while ESPN has a good stable of reporters, it can’t be everywhere.

Honorable mentions:

• ESPN Fires Ron Franklin
• CBS/Turner 1st Partnership on the NCAA Tournament is Successful
• NFL Films Founder Ed Sabol Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• ESPN Nabs Wimbledon from NBC
• Los Angeles Lakers Sign Long-Term Deal to Create a Regional Sports Network With Time Warner Cable
• Los Angeles Dodgers Fight with Fox Over Media Rights
• Gus Johnson Leaves CBS for Fox
• Women’s World Cup Scores For ESPN
• Hank Williams, Jr. Pulled From Monday Night Football
• Matthew Barnaby Loses ESPN Gig

Coming up before the year is over, Best and Worsts in Sports Broadcasting in 2011 and Predictions for 2012.

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 12/31/11 & 01/01/12, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports on TV

Saturday, December 31, 2011

noon
St. John’s at UConn — Big East Network (SNY/MASN)
Louisville at Kentucky — CBS
Virginia Tech at Oklahoma State — ESPN2
Austin Peay at Morehead State — ESPNU
South Carolina Upstate at South Carolina — Fox College Sports Central/SportSouth
Boston University at Quinnipiac — NESN

1 p.m.
Iowa at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network

2 p.m.
Providence at Georgetown — ESPN2
Yale at Florida –ESPNU
Florida International at Western Kentucky — Fox College Sports Atlantic
Samford at Maryland — Fox Sports Net (regional)
Rice at Texas — Longhorn Network

Women’s: Arizona at Arizona State — Fox Sports Net

3 p.m.
Michigan State at Nebraska — Big Ten Network

4 p.m.
Illinois at Purdue — ESPN2
North Dakota at Kansas — ESPNU

5:30 p.m.
Arizona State at Arizona — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Arizona

6 p.m.
San Diego at BYU — BYU TV
Ohio State at Indiana — ESPN2
Creighton at Wichita State — ESPNU
Oregon State at Washington State — Fox College Sports Atlantic/Root Sports Northwest
USC at Stanford — Fox College Sports Pacific (CSS/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/Fox Sports West)
Saint Louis at New Mexico — the mtn.

7 p.m.
Tulsa at TCU — CBS Sports Network

8 p.m.
Gonzaga at Xavier — ESPN2

10 p.m.
Oregon at Washington — ESPN2

Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year!!!

noon
Rutgers at South Florida — Big East Network (Altitude/MASN/SNY)

1 p.m.
Villanova at Marquette — ESPNU

3 p.m.
Monmouth at North Carolina — ESPNU
Illinois State at Southern Illinois — Fox College Sports Central (Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus/Fox Sports Midwest)

4 p.m.
Minnesota at Michigan — Big Ten Network

5 p.m.
Syracuse at DePaul — Big East Network (Altitude/Cox Sports Television/CSS/MASN/SNY)
Penn at Duke — ESPNU

7 p.m.
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh — Big East Network (Altitude 2/CSS/Fox Sports Ohio/MASN/MSG Network/Root Sports Pittsburgh)
Penn State at Northwestern — ESPNU

9 p.m.
Evansville at Northern Iowa — ESPNU

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.