Fang’s Bites’ Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2010

Another year is over and another year is just beginning. It’s time to review the 12 biggest stories in sports media in the year of 2010 A.D. We had plenty of stories to choose from. Not every one made the cut. Some will receive honorable mentions. Others will be listed here. Sports media never sleeps and that’s been proven throughout the year. Let’s go through the list and there is plenty of stuff to review. I’ll go in reverse order from 12 and go to number 1.

12. Silly Carriage Disputes Prevent Fans From Watching NHL, MLB and Other Programming

The Versus/DirecTV dispute started in September 2009 and carried over until March of this year, causing NHL fans to lose almost five months of games. And while Versus had decent ratings during the first days of the dispute, the dispute caught up with the network and the loss of millions of subscribers eventually hurt. And it took six months for the channel to return to DirecTV at basically the same terms it had when it was dropped.

At the beginning of 2010, Fox and Time Warner Cable averted a dispute that would have meant the loss of the BCS and the NFC Championship in several major markets.

But the silliest dispute of the year was between Fox and Cablevision that lasted for two weeks and led to the loss of the National League Championship Series and NFL games in New York, New Jersey and parts of Philadelphia. When Fox’s local stations as well as a number of cable channels returned to Cablevision, it left a bitter taste in the mouths of the cable provider.

As we close out 2010, Versus’ sister network, Golf Channel is in danger of being pulled by DirecTV and you have the dispute between the Sinclair stations with Time Warner Cable so this Merry-Go-Round continues and it leaves viewers holding the bag. Basically, no one wins.

11. Passing of Broadcasting Legends

2010 meant the passing of several broadcasting legends including Chicago Cubs analyst Ron Santo, Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame announcer Dave Niehaus, Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell and original Monday Night Football analyst Don Meredith. The mourning of each man from all over the country, especially Harwell and Santo show how much impact they had on broadcasting. Harwell handled his death with dignity exuding class throughout his last interviews and final public appearances. The outpouring of love and affection for each man after their passing was truly touching.

10. The Rise of 3-D TV, But Virtually No Impact

ESPN launched ESPN 3D in 2010, and other networks aired events in 3-D such as The Masters, NASCAR, MLB, Hockey Night in Canada, the US Open, the World Cup and even an NFL preseason game. But reaction to 3-D has been cold to lukewarm. Sales of 3-D TV’s have fallen short of expectations as the TV industry has been surprised by the lack of enthusiasm by consumers.

And while programming for 3-D is certainly not close to filling a complete day, there was speculation whether ESPN would kill 3D if it didn’t take off. In my own informal poll on Twitter and on Facebook, there isn’t interest from consumers to buy a 3-D set. The cost is prohibitive and so are the glasses which are bulky and can only be used with the set you buy.

There are rumors that Toshiba is developing a 3-D set that won’t require glasses, but it wouldn’t be coming to the United States by mid-decade at the earliest. TV manufacturers may have made a huge miscalculation on 3-D.

9. Potential Free Agents Remain At Home

As we entered 2010, there was talk that it could be a year of upheaval for network free agents. But when it was all said and done and the dust cleared, the free agents decided that home was where the heart was.

It began in February with speculation that ESPN’s Chris Berman could leave the Mothership for a role with DirecTV or NFL Network. It never happened as Boomer signed a new contract in April to remain at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

At the end of March, lead Fox voice Joe Buck signed a new four year deal ensuring that he would call MLB and NFL games as long as both remain with the network.

Just before the current NFL season, Rich Eisen agreed to a four year deal of his own to remain at NFL Network, giving him expanded duties including hosting NFL GameDay Morning, his own podcast and continuing as main host for NFL Total Access.

But it appeared the most speculation was over Erin Andrews as her star rose earlier this year as she did “Dancing With the Stars” and finished third during the Spring 2010 season. Then we learned in July that Erin would indeed remain at ESPN with host duties during an expanded College Gameday.

In broadcasting, sometimes the best move is the one you don’t make. In the cases of Chris Berman, Joe Buck, Rich Eisen and Erin Andrews, staying put ends up being the right move.

8. Deadspin’s Continues To Influence the Sports Agenda

We saw Deadspin’s influence in 2009 when it went all Wu-Tang on ESPN. The influence got even bigger on two particular stories, the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger mess and the Rex Ryan foot fetish story.

Both stories forced the mainstream media to report on them. In the case of Favre’s alleged sexting to Sterger, it led to an NFL investigation into whether Favre violated league workplace conduct policies. Of course, the story came to, ahem, a head (sorry) when Favre was fined $50,000 for not cooperating with the league’s probe (sorry again). We’ll see if it leads to a lawsuit from Sterger (most likely) and where it leads.

For her part, Sterger might have been able to stem some of the negative reaction towards her had she used her now canceled show, The Daily Line, to at least make a one or two sentence statement about the situation. Instead, she said nothing and any buzz the show might have received went by the wayside.

As far as Rex Ryan is concerned, more foot fetish pictures of his wife have come out and we probably haven’t heard the end of this as we go into 2011.

7. ESPN’s 30 for 30

The series began last year and continued into 2010. While there were some misses (Jordan Rides the Bus, Four Days in October), there were many hits and successes for ESPN’s foray into the sports documentary genre. Films such as The Two Escobars, June 17, 1994, and the extremely poignant Once Brothers showed that when ESPN gets serious, it can put together some really compelling and excellent television. Bill Simmons wanted to prove that HBO did not have a monopoly in sports documentaries and he certainly has made ESPN a player. 30 for 30 has now become a successful brand for ESPN.

6. NBC’s Olympics Record Ratings Were Offset by Huge Financial Losses

For NBC, the Vancouver Winter Olympics that made Curling into a household sport for two weeks, had a great hockey tournament and gave Canada tremendous national pride, the Games were a mixed bag. While overall, Vancouver ended up being the 2nd most watched Olympic Games in history, it had to write down a loss of $225 million based on a larger rights fee and increased production costs.

The losses are being taken into account by the new owners of NBC, Comcast which will be dealing with the bidding for the 2014/2016 Olympics as well as ESPN, CBS/Turner and Fox who will join NBC at the table in Lausanne, Switzerland. Whether NBC can retain the rights in 2014/2016 and beyond is anyone’s guess.

5. ESPN’s World Cup Coverage

As with 30 for 30, ESPN’s understated and low key coverage of the World Cup led to high interest for the final between the Netherlands and Spain as a total of 24.3 million people watched on ABC and Univision this summer. Ian Darke became a star in the United States thanks to his World Cup calls and eventually became the signature voice for soccer on ESPN.

There were fears that ESPN might go over the top for its coverage of the World Cup, but it gave the event plenty of respect and gave a flavor of the enthusiasm for the games in South Africa. It gives hope if the Alleged Worldwide Leader gains the rights for the Olympics.

4. Women in Media Start Up Debate Once Again

I thought that the debate over female reporters in locker rooms had ended, but it all started once again when TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz was allegedly harassed by the New York Jets when she tried to interview Mark Sanchez. For her part, Ines really didn’t pursue the whole case, but it led to men being angry about women being allowed in locker rooms. It was a polarizing issue on the talk shows for a couple of weeks.

One other issue involving women was Tony Kornheiser’s comments about Hannah Storm’s attire on SportsCenter which has been a subject of debate over the last couple of years. ESPN suspended Mr. Tony for two weeks over his comments. It also led former CNN Sports and News anchor Daryn Kagan to blog about the issue as well.

Will this lead to other things in 2011? Good question.

3. NFL TV Record Ratings

Every week, I get press releases from each of the NFL TV partners and they keep going up. Records keep getting set. NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package had its highest ratings ever as did ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Week after week, the NFL’s ratings top everything whether it was primetime programming, NBA games and for the first time ever, the World Series head-to-head.

Based on these trends, one would have to think that Fox is in gear to see a viewership record for Super Bowl XLV as CBS did for Super XLIV in 2010.

2. CBS/Turner Gains Rights to NCAA Tournament

After broadcasting the NCAA Tournament all by its lonesome since 1991, CBS brought in a partner, Turner Sports to help do the heavy lifting. There was speculation that ESPN would take the tournament back, but in mid-April, there was surprising news that it was dropping out of the bidding leaving CBS/Turner all alone.

CBS had mentioned that it was losing money on the Tournament and a report surfaced that it tried to get ESPN to take the event off its hands, a request that was eventually turned down. CBS manages to keep the tournament and allow a cable partner to get involved.

And now to our number one sports media story:

1. Athletes Trying To Control Their Message and Doing It Badly

Since the dawning of social networking, athletes have tried to circumvent the normal channels of sending their message to the world, doing an end run around reporters. However, there’s no doubting the power of television to reach a mass audience. Two instances of athletes trying to use TV to their advantage and not coming off well were Tiger Woods and LeBron James.

In Tiger Woods’ case, he gave both ESPN and Golf Channel five minutes to interview him and Tom Rinaldi and Kelly Tilghman had to ask questions in rapid fire succession. While both Rinaldi and Tilghman were told they could ask any question, they did not really ask what happened to Woods on  the fateful night that changed his life. But since then, Woods has joined Twitter and tried to be more user-friendly.

But the ultimate failure was The Decision, 73 minutes of truly painful TV. All involved came off badly from ESPN to interviewer Jim Gray (who may have made $500,000 off his brutal questioning) to LeBron James who instantly became a villain. ESPN got plenty of viewers, but it led to negative reaction all around. James may wonder why no one is focusing on the donations to the Boys & Girls Club, but he made The Decision all about him by making a two minute announcement into a 73 minute egofest.

It’s safe to say that ESPN probably won’t do this type of program again.

Honorable Mentions:
Fox Sports Hires Mike Pereira As An NFL Rules Analyst
Fox Sports Gains Rights to Big Ten Football Championship Game
NBC Sports Renews Kentucky Derby for Five More Years
Jay Mariotti’s arrest and subsequent suspension and departure from Fanhouse

That concludes 2010. I hope you have a great 2011. It’s certainly going to be quite an interesting year for sports media as Comcast takes over NBC, the Olympics rights bidding, potential lockouts for the NBA and NFL, and the NHL rights bidding. Very interesting stuff coming up in the next 365 days.

Weekend Viewing Picks

Saturday, January 1 

College Basketball
West Virginia at Marquette – ESPN2, 11 a.m.
DePaul at Georgetown – Big East Network, 1 p.m.
New Mexico at Dayton – CBS College Sports, 1 p.m.
Notre Dame at Syracuse – ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.
Boston College at South Carolina – ESPNU, 5:30 p.m.
St. John’s at Providence – Big East Network, 7 p.m.
Wichita State at Bradley – ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.

College Football
Ticket City Bowl, Dallas, TX
Texas Tech vs. Northwestern – ESPNU, noon

Outback Bowl, Tampa, FL
Penn State vs. Florida – ABC, 1 p.m.

Capital One Bowl, Orlando, FL
Alabama vs. Michigan State – ESPN, 1 p.m.

Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, FL
Michigan vs. Mississippi State – ESPN2, 1:30 p.m.

Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
TCU vs. Wisconsin – ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, AZ
Oklahoma vs. UConn – ESPN, 8:30 p.m.

English Premier League
West Brom vs. Manchester United – ESPN2, 7:30 a.m.
Manchester City vs. Blackpool – Fox Soccer Channel, 10 a.m.
Liverpool vs. Bolon – Fox Soccer Plus, 10 a.m.
Birmingham City vs. Arsenal – Fox Soccer Channel, 12:30 p.m.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Fulham – Fox Soccer Channel, 2:30 p.m. (same day coverage)

Golf
Skills Challenge – NBC, 4 p.m.

NFL
Sounds of the Season – CBS, 5 p.m.

NHL
NHL Winter Classic, Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA
Washington at Pittsburgh – NBC/CBC, 8 p.m.

Toronto at Ottawa – CBC, 7 p.m. (in Ontario only)
Boston at Buffalo – NESN/MSG Buffalo, 7 p.m.
New Jersey at Carolina – MSG Plus/Fox Sports Carolina, 7 p.m.
New York Rangers at Tampa Bay – MSG Network/Sun Sports, 7:30 p.m.
San Jose at Los Angeles – Comcast SportsNet California/Fox Sports West, 9 p.m.
Calgary at Edmonton – CBC, 10 p.m. (joined in progress)

NHL on the Fly – NHL Network, 10 p.m.

Entertainment
Rose Parade 2011 Countdown – HGTV, 10:30 am.
The 122nd Annual Tournament of Roses Parade – ABC, 11 a.m.
Rose Parade 2011 – HGTV, 11 a.m.
Kelsey’s Essentials – Cooking Channel, 2:30 p.m.
National Lampoon’s Animal House – Cinemax, 8 p.m.
Great Performances: From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2011 – PBS, 8 p.m.
Primeval (season premiere) – BBC America, 9 p.m.
The Graham Norton Show – BBC America, 10 p.m.

Sunday, January 2

College Basketball
Rutgers at Villanova – ESPNU, 1 p.m.
Gonzaga at Wake Forest – Fox Sports Net, 1 p.m.
Penn State at Michigan – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
LSU at Virginia – Fox Sports Net, 5:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Illinois – Big Ten Network, 6 p.m.
Miami (OH) at Kansas – ESPNU, 6 p.m.
Miami (FL) at Duke – Fox Sports Net, 7:45 p.m.
Arizona at Oregon State – Fox Sports Net, 10 p.m.

English Premier League
Chelsea vs. Aston Villa – Fox Soccer Channel, 8:30 a.m.
Wigan Athletic vs. Newcastle – Fox Soccer Channel, 11 a.m.

Golf
Skills Challenge – NBC, 4 p.m.

2011 IIHF World U20 Championships
Quarterfinals, Buffalo, NY
Switzerland vs. Canada – TSN/NHL Network (US), 3:30 p.m.
Russia vs. Finland – NHL Network (US), 7:30 p.m./TSN, 8:30 p.m. (same day coverage)

NBA
Boston at Toronto – Comcast SportsNet New England, 6 p.m.
Houston at Portland – NBA TV, 9 p.m.

NFL Viewing Picks

NHL
Atlanta at Montreal – RDS/TSN/Fox Sports South, 1 p.m.
New York Rangers at Florida – MSG Network/Fox Sports Florida, 5 p.m.
Philadelphia at Detroit – NHL Network (Canada)/Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/Fox Sports Detroit, 5 p.m.
Columbus at Nashville – Fox Sports Ohio, 6 p.m.
Dallas at St. Louis – Fox Sports Southwest/Fox Sports Midwest, 6 p.m.
Phoenix at Minnesota – Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox Sports North, 6 p.m.
Chicago at Anaheim – WGN/KDOC, 8 p.m.
Vancouver at Colorado – Rogers Sportsnet Pacific/Altitude, 8 p.m.

NHL on the Fly – NHL Network, 10 p.m.

Entertainment
CBS News Sunday Morning – CBS, 9 a.m.
Giada at Home: Sunday Brunch – Food Network, 10 a.m.
Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee: Asian Banquet – Food Network, noon
60 Minutes – CBS, approximately 7:15 p.m.
CSI: Miami – CBS, approximately 8:15 p.m.
Rise of the Jellyfish – Discovery, 9 p.m.
Top Gear – History Channel, 10 p.m.
Night of the Hunt – National Geographic Channel, 10 p.m.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 17

All Times Eastern

Coverage Maps courtesy of the506.com

Blackouts: None

Fox NFL Sunday – Fox, noon
The NFL Today – CBS, noon

1 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Buffalo at New York Jets – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker
Cincinnati at Baltimore – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Miami at New England – Bill Macatee/Rich Gannon
Oakland at Kansas City – Spero Dedes/Randy Cross
Pittsburgh at Cleveland – Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

Fox Coverage Map
Carolina at Atlanta – Dick Stockton/Charles Davis/Jaime Magglio
Minnesota at Detroit – Ron Pitts/John Lynch/Jennifer Hammond
Tampa Bay at New Orleans – Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Charissa Thompson!!!

4:15 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Jacksonville at Houston – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
San Diego at Denver – Don Criqui/Steve Beuerlein
Tennessee at Indianapolis – Jim Nantz/Phil Simms


Fox Coverage Map
Arizona at San Francisco – Chris Myers/Jim Mora/Nischelle Turner
Chicago at Green Bay – Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
Dallas at Philadelphia – Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
New York Giants at Washington – Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan/Laura Okmin

7 p.m.
Football Night in America – NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights – NFL Network

8:20 p.m.
St. Louis at Seattle – NBC, Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer

midnight
NFL GameDay Final – NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Assignments
XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

NFL RedZone

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

College Basketball
Kentucky at Louisville – CBS, noon
Northwestern at Purdue – ESPN2, noon
College of Charleston at Tennessee – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Minnesota at Michigan State – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Florida at Xavier – ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Washington at UCLA – Fox Sports Net, 4 p.m.
Ohio State at Indiana – ESPN2, 6 p.m.
South Florida at UConn – ESPNU, 6 p.m.
Seton Hall at Cincinnati – ESPN2, 8 p.m.
Hawaii at Nevada – ESPNU, 8 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Gonzaga – ESPN2, 10 p.m.

College Football
Meineke Car Care Bowl, Charlotte, NC
Clemson vs. South Florida – ESPN, noon

Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX
Miami vs. Notre Dame – CBS, 2 p.m.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Atlanta, GA
Florida State vs. South Carolina – ESPN, 7:30 p.m.

2010 IIHF World U20 Championships
Group Play, Buffalo, NY
Canada vs. Sweden – TSN/NHL Network (US), 4 p.m.
USA vs. Switzerland – NHL Network (US)/TSN, 8 p.m.

NBA
New Orleans at Boston – Comcast SportsNet New England, 3 p.m.

NHL
Atlanta at New Jersey – Fox Sports South/MSG Network, 5 p.m.
Montreal at Florida – RDS/TSN/Fox Sports Florida, 5 p.m.
Nashville at Minnesota – Fox Sports Tennessee/Fox Sports North, 6 p.m.
New York Islanders at Detroit – MSG Plus/Fox Sports Detroit, 7 p.m.
Ottawa at Columbus – Rogers Sportsnet East/Fox Sports Ohio, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Anaheim – The Comcast Network/Fox Sports Prime Ticket, 8 p.m.
Vancouver at Dallas – Rogers Sportsnet Pacific/KTXA, 8 p.m.
Phoenix at St. Louis – Versus/TSN2, 8:30 p.m.
Colorado at Calagary – Altitude/Rogers Sportsnet West, 9 p.m.

NHL on the Fly – NHL Network, 10:30 p.m.
NHL Winter Classic Eve Special – Versus, 11 p.m.

Entertainment
Hollywood 411: The Year in Cheers and Jeers – TV Guide Channel, 8 p.m.
Live from Lincoln Center: New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve with Lang Lang – PBS, 8:30 p.m.
Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On – HBO, 9 p.m.
Tom Arnold: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It – Showtime, 9 p.m.
Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2011 – ABC, 10 p.m.
MTV’s New Year Bash 2011 – MTV/MTV2, 11 p.m.
New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin (always dangerous) – CNN, 11 p.m.
Watch What Happens Live: Andy’s New Year’s Party – Bravo, 11 p.m.
Live from Daryl’s House: A New Year’s Eve Special – WGN America, 11 p.m.
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2011 – ABC, 11:30 p.m.

23.7 Million People Watch Tuesday Night Football and NBC is Very Happy

We all know that Sunday Night Football was delayed until Tuesday due to the snow in the Northeast. The game between Minnesota and Philadelphia was a big hit on Tuesday with a 13.8 rating and a 23 share. That’s up 27% from last year’s Week 16 game between Dallas and Washington. An average of 23.7 million people watched on Tuesday which is up 25% from last year and it marks the 11th time this season that Sunday Night Football went over the 20 million viewer mark. Needless to say, the NFL is huge.

Your press release from NBC Sports.

23.7 MILLION WATCH VIKINGS-EAGLES ON TUESDAY EDITION OF “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”

Up 25% From Last Year’s Week 16 Game

11^th SNF Game This Season to Surpass 20 Million Viewers

SNF Defeated Nightly Competition Every Week So Far This Season (16 For 16)

NEW YORK – December 30, 2010 – The special Tuesday edition of  “Sunday Night Football” was the most-watched show on Tuesday, the 16^th straight week that primetime football on NBC defeated its nightly competition. The game, which was originally scheduled to be played on Sunday but was postponed by the NFL due to severe weather in Philadelphia, was up 25 percent over last year’s Week 16 game, according to official national data released today by The Nielsen Company. 

. 

• The game, in which the Minnesota Vikings upset the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-14, in the first NFL Tuesday game since 1946, was seen by 23.7 million viewers (8:07-11:22 p.m. ET), a gain of 25 percent over last year’s Week 16 game (Cowboys-Redskins, 19.0 million) and is the fifth most-watched SNF game this season and the sixth most-watched ever on “Sunday Night Football.”

• This marks the 11^th NBC primetime NFL game this season to surpass 20 million viewers, the most through 16 weeks in NBC’s five-year “Sunday Night Football” history. There is one game remaining.

NBC PRIMETIME GAMES WITH 20 MILLION OR MORE VIEWERS

(Through 16 weeks)

2010 – 11

 2009 – 7

2008 – 2

2007 – 1

2006 – 3

MOST WATCHED “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” GAMES:

1. 12/12/10, Eagles-Cowboys, 25.73 million (SNF Week 14)

2. 10/24/10, Vikings-Packers, 25.68 million (Favre Return to Lambeau II)

3. 9/12/10, Cowboys-Redskins, 25.3 million (SNF: Week 1)

4. 9/20/09, Giants-Cowboys, 24.8 million (Dallas Cowboys stadium debut)

5. 12/19/10, Packers-Patriots, 24.2 million (SNF Week 15)

6. 12/28/10, Vikings-Eagles, 23.7 million (Tuesday Night’s Game)

7. 11/21/10, Giants-Eagles, 23.2 million (SNF: Week 11)

T8. 09/19/10, Giants-Colts, 23.1 million (“Manning Bowl II”)

T8. 12/14/08, Giants-Cowboys, 23.1 million

10. 9/10/06, Colts-Giants, 22.6 million (Original “Manning Bowl”)

*The NFL Kickoff Opener on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010 between the Vikings and Saints generated an average viewership of 27.5 million people.

The 13.8/23 national rating for Tuesday’s game is 27 percent ahead of last year’s Week 16 SNF game (Cowboys-Redskins, 10.9/18).

DEFEATED ALL TUESDAY NIGHT COMPETITION: The Tuesday edition of “Sunday Night Football” defeated all Tuesday Night competition, the 16^th straight week that primetime NFL football on NBC out-rated all rival programming, on a night that included such original competition as CBS’s Kennedy Center Honors and encores of CBS’s NCIS, ABC’s Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, No Ordinary Family and Detroit 1-8-7, and Fox’s Glee.

SNF IS 16 FOR 16: With 23.7 million viewers, Tuesday’s edition of “Sunday Night Football” was the most-watched primetime show on Tuesday, the 16^th straight week this season that SNF defeated its competition (100 percent).  Last season, SNF was the most-watched Sunday night primetime broadcast in a record 15 of 16 (94 percent) weeks. In 2008, SNF won 13 of 16 (81 percent) Sunday nights after winning 11 of 16 in 2007 (69 percent) and nine of 16 in 2006 (56 percent).

Through the first 16 weeks of the NFL season, “Sunday Night Football” is averaging 22.0 million viewers, 2.4 million more than last year through this point of the season (19.6 million). 

SNF AVERAGE VIEWERSHIP THROUGH 16 WEEKS:

1. 2010, 21.9 million 

2. 2009, 19.6 million

3. 2006, 17.7 million

4. 2008, 16.7 million

5. 2007, 16.0 million

The 16-week average household rating of 13.1/21 is 11-percent higher than last year’s 11.8/19 and 27 percent ahead of 2008 (10.3/16) through the same point in the season.

TOP METERED MARKETS FOR VIKINGS-EAGLES:

1. Minneapolis, 38.4/57
2. Philadelphia, 36.3/53
3. New Orleans, 29.1/39
4. Norfolk, 22.9/35
5. Richmond, 21.8/35
6. Milwaukee, 19.9/31
7. Baltimore, 19.6/31
8. Las Vegas, 19.1/31
9. Atlanta, 18.2/27
10. Ft. Myers, 17.9/28

That is it.

MLB Network To Review 2010

If you want to avoid the bowl games or if the NHL Winter Classic is in a weather delay which is highly possible, MLB Network gives you some counterprogramming with various season reviews such as a look at the American League, National League, pitching, the season awards and other shows. Bob Costas will be a big part of it along with insider Tom Verducci. Other MLB Network personnel to take part include host Matt Vasgersian, Harold Reynolds and Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams.

Here’s the MLB Network announcement.

2010 MLB SEASON-IN-REVIEW SHOW FEATURED DURING MLB NETWORK’S NEW YEAR’S DAY PROGRAMMING

Prime 9 Marathon Begins December 31 at 11:00 p.m. ET

Secaucus, NJ, December 30, 2010 – As 2011 begins, MLB Network will recap the 2010 Major League Baseball season on New Year’s Day, Saturday, January 1, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET. MLB 2010: Year in Review will review the AL and NL regular seasons, the Postseason and World Series, as well as the 2010 MLB award winners and stat leaders. MLB Network’s Bob Costas and Tom Verducci will also provide analysis and commentary on the “Year of the Pitcher,” including the six no-hitters that were thrown and the emergence of Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg; the breakout rookie years of San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward; the retirements of 13-time All-Star Ken Griffey Jr. and World Champion managers Bobby Cox, Cito Gaston, Joe Torre and Lou Piniella; and the passing of Hall of Famers and baseball legends, including Bob Feller, Robin Roberts, George M. Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard. MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds, Mitch Williams and Matt Vasgersian will also reveal their “all MLB team,” selecting the top player at each position from the 2010 season.

Leading up to MLB 2010: Year in Review, MLB Network will air a marathon of MLB Productions’ Prime 9 beginning on Friday, December 31 at 11:00 p.m. ET through January 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET, ranking the all-time top nine in a variety of categories, including the best managers, bloopers, trades, centerfielders, and rotations.

And that will do it.

Inside The NFL Quotage For Week 17

Let’s bring you some quotage from this week’s edition of Inside the NFL on Showtime. Not all of you have the channel so this will be fresh to you.

NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FROM WEEK SEVENTEEN OF INSIDE THE NFL ON SHOWTIME®

NEW YORK (Dec. 29, 2010) – This week’s INSIDE THE NFL – premiered Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT – features a “surprise” sit-down interview with the Kansas City’s Matt Cassel, plus a discussion on the precedent set by re-scheduling the Sunday night Philadelphia-Minnesota game. NFL Insider Michael Lombardi reports on the latest NFL coaching changes.

Host James Brown anchors INSIDE THE NFL on SHOWTIME with All-Pro NFL greats Cris Collinsworth, Phil Simms and Warren Sapp serving as expert analysts.

INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films with new episodes airing on SHOWTIME every Wednesday during the NFL season through February 9, 2011. Pete Radovich serves as coordinating producer. The executive producers are Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports, and NFL Films President Steve Sabol.

Following are excerpts from the show:

On Philadelphia-Minnesota game being re-scheduled:

Collinsworth: I think the lawyers are sharpening their pencils as we speak. Let’s create a scenario. We are going to have the playoffs in New England. So now there is a forecast of 10 inches of snow on the day of the playoffs. So now you go to the National Football League, because before you just played the game. Now, you have to go and say, ‘Mr. Commissioner are we playing football today?’ The Commissioner says, ‘Yes we are. This is the Playoffs. We are going to play.’ Now someone drives off the road into a ditch. An unfortunate accident. A lawyer comes down and says, ‘Listen, you cancelled the game in Philadelphia because it wasn’t safe. These conditions are at least as bad as what they were in Philadelphia.’ Bingo, lawsuit against the League. There are just so many things that come up now with this issue. I don’t know where the line is going to be drawn.

Simms: There is a lot that comes into this. In a few years we are going to have the Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium in New York. What are you going to do if the forecast is bad that day? Are you going to cancel the Super Bowl? Cris played in arguably the worst game in history with weather. I know they thought about canceling, but they didn’t do it. I think he (Cris) is right. It’s like the NFL fine system. Once you start putting that number out there, everything that happens you have to make those fines accordingly. The same thing for these games. Once you start it, you have to live up to it in the future.

On Tim Tebow:

Simms: A little pet peeve, but nothing against him. But every time he completes a pass when you watch the games, ‘Who said he can’t throw the ball?’ They act like it’s an affront. The other one is, ‘Nobody wants to win more than him.’ Now look, there are a lot of guys in the NFL who really want to win. To me it’s just wrong to say things like that. The good thing about him, you can see he’s big and strong. He is a leader. I think the fact that he works so hard, and his personality at the practice facility, it will help players. I always believe, and most coaches we talk to, they want the quarterback to be the hardest worker. And there is no doubt he is a hard worker.

People ask me, ‘Do you think it can work?’ Let’s give it time. Why does it have to be such a rush? I need to see more.

Collinsworth: For 16 weeks he will have them lined up and fighting. They used to talk about wrestling drills at the University of Florida where they put him on the mat against all-comers. Bring’em on. You against Tim Tebow. They were throwing each other around…When the guy that’s talking in the offensive huddle has that kind of heart and he’s that kind of fighter, you have a chance every Sunday.

I’ll be off and on the blog today. A major situation at work is turning out to be not as major as thought so I could be free to do some linkage. We’ll see.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

Boxing
Best of 2010
Pacquaio vs. Margarito – HBO, 11 p.m.

College Basketball
Temple at Villanova – ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Oakland at Oral Roberts – Fox College Sports, 8 p.m.
Arizona at Oregon – Fox College Sports, 10 p.m.
Arizona State at Oregon State – Fox College Sports, 10:30 p.m.

College Football
Armed Forces Bowl, Dallas, TX
SMU vs. Army – ESPN, noon

Pinstripe Bowl, New York, NY
Kansas State vs. Syracuse – ESPN, 3:20 p.m.

Music City Bowl, Nashville, TN
Tennessee vs. North Carolina – ESPN, 6:40 p.m.

Holiday Bowl, San Diego, CA
Washington vs. Nebraska – ESPN, 10 p.m.

2010 IIHF World U20 Championships
Sweden vs. Czech Republic – TSN/NHL Network (US), 3 p.m.
Germany vs. United States – TSN/NHL Network (US), 7 p.m.

NBA
New York at Orlando – TNT, 7:15 p.m.
San Antonio at Dallas – TNT, 9:45 p.m.

Inside the NBA – TNT, midnight

NHL
Boston at Atlanta – NESN/SportSouth, 7 p.m.
Columbus at Toronto – Fox Sports Ohio/Leafs TV, 7 p.m.
Montreal at Tampa Bay – RDS/TSN (Montreal only)/Sun Sports, 7:30 p.m.
San Jose at Chicago – Comcast SportsNet California/Comcast SportsNet Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
Colorado at Edmonton – TSN/Altitude, 9:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Los Angeles – Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/Fox Sports West, 10:30 p.m.

NHL on the Fly – NHL Network, 9:30 p.m.
NHL Overtime – Versus, 11 p.m.

Entertainment
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown – ABC, 8 p.m.
World’s Dumbest Criminals – truTV, 9 p.m.
When Harvey Met Bob – BBC America, 9 p.m.
Top 20 Most Shocking: Practical Jokers Gone Wild – truTV, 10 p.m.
Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage – VH-1 Classic, 11 p.m.

BREAKING NEWS: ESPNews Anchor Suspended For Plagiarism

I briefly touched on this earlier today in the links, but this story kept building and finally came to a crescendo late this evening. ESPN has suspended ESPNews anchor Will Selva for taking the first paragraphs from Orange County Register writer Kevin Ding’s preview of a Los Angeles Lakers game and then using it as a lead-in for his own story, practically reading them verbatim.

Joe Bershad of Mediaite and SportsGrid had the video of Selva’s lead in and compares it to Ding’s column.

Ding himself reacts to the whole situation.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse broke the story on Selva’s suspension which is for an indefinite period of time.

Really good on Kevin Ding for speaking out. The problem is that this is more of a common practice than you think. I’ve worked with radio people who would read local newspaper articles verbatim and pass it off as regular Associated Press wire copy. I’m surprised more writers haven’t spoken out. Ding happened to be watching ESPNews and noticed that Selva was using his lede.

For his part, Selva has admitted lifting the paragraphs.

We’ll see what the ramifications of this story are over the next few days.

The Return of The Sports Media (But Not Weekly) Podcast

Yes, for one night and one night only, it’s the return of the podcast with Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and yours truly. For this podcast, Keith and I review the Year in Sports Media. It’s based on a list that I have yet to post here, but you’ll get an idea of the bigger sports media stories of 2010. Among the topics we discuss, the ratings increases for most sports including the NFL, NBA and NHL. We also talk about ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup. Keith brings up NBC’s record ratings for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and what it could mean for the network’s bidding for the 2014/2016 Games. We bring up the success of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series and our favorite films from the network.

We broach the subject of Deadspin’s increased influence on the sports agenda and Keith goes on a rant. And we opine on the attempt of athletes to control their own message. Does it work?

Then we go to the topic of 3-D TV and I go on a rant.

Overall, it’s an action-packed podcast. I’m not sure if it’ll go up on iTunes, but if it’s posted there, do a search for “Sports Media Journal” and I hope you’ll be able to find it there.

Of course, you can listen and download the podcast

Nice to do a podcast again with Keith. If things go well, we’ll be back in 2011, if not weekly, certainly on a more regular schedule.

NFL on Fox Announcing Assignments For Week 17

Since I gave you the NFL on CBS announcing assignments for Week 17, I might as well do so for Fox Sports as well. As I mentioned before, both CBS and Fox have a doubleheader in the final week of the season so all late games will start at 4:15 p.m. I wish the NFL would do this every week, not just in Week 17, but that’s me. Just like a Game 7 in the World Series, all hands are on deck and we have just about everyone in the Fox Sports stable working games this Sunday.

Tampa Bay Bucs at New Orleans Saints, Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick & Charissa Thompson, going to 70% of USA, 1:00PM

New Orleans Superdome – New Orleans, LA

MARKETS INCLUDE: Albuquerque, Austin, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Dayton, Denver, Fort Myers, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Tulsa, Washington, West Palm Beach

Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons, Dick Stockton, Charles Davis & Jaime Maggio, going to 11% of USA, 1:00PM

Georgia Dome – Atlanta, GA

MARKETS INCLUDE: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Raleigh

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions, Ron Pitts, John Lynch & Jennifer Hammond, going to 7% of USA, 1:00PM

Ford Field – Detroit, MI

MARKETS INCLUDE:

Detroit, Minneapolis

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman & Pam Oliver, going to 56% of USA, 4:15PM 

Lambeau Field – Green Bay, WI

MARKETS INCLUDE: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Detroit, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Greenville, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa

New York Giants at Washington Redskins, Sam Rosen, Tim Ryan & Laura Okmin, going to 18% of USA, 4:15PM

FedEx Field – Landover, MD

MARKETS INCLUDE: Boston, Buffalo, Hartford, Miami, New York, Norfolk, Providence, Richmond, Washington, West Palm Beach

Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles, Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston & Tony Siragusa, going to 14% of USA, 4:15PM

Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, PA

MARKETS INCLUDE: Albuquerque, Austin, Baltimore, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Tulsa

Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers, Chris Myers, Jim Mora & Nischelle Turner, going to 7% of USA, 4:15PM

Candlestick Park – San Francisco, CA

MARKETS INCLUDE: Phoenix, Sacramento, San Francisco

A few more posts coming up.

CBS’ Announcing Assignments For NFL Week 17

I’ll give you the CBS NFL press releases on Friday after I give you the NFL Viewing Picks sometime around 10 a.m. But I figured I would give you the announcing assignments because you want the information as fast as possible. So here are the announcers for the NFL on CBS on Sunday as it’s a doubleheader for the Tiffany Network.

1:00 PM, ET starts:

• Miami @ New England – Bill Macatee/Rich Gannon
• Buffalo @ N.Y. Jets – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker
• Cincinnati @ Baltimore – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
• Pittsburgh @ Cleveland – Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts
• Oakland @ Kansas City – Spero Dedes/Randy Cross

4:15 PM, ET starts:

• Tennessee @ Indianapolis – Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
• Jacksonville @ Houston – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
• San Diego @ Denver – Don Criqui/Steve Beuerlein

That will do it.

NBC Sports Previews the 2011 NHL Winter Classic

On Saturday, NBC Sports airs the NHL Winter Classic live from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. This is a dream matchup for NBC with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The two teams played last week to a stellar game and it’s hoped that result will be repeated on Saturday. Weather may be involved, but the window can extend into primetime if necessary.

Here’s the press release from NBC Sports. Its a long one.

SIDNEY CROSBY & ALEX OVECHKIN CLASH IN 2011 NHL WINTER CLASSIC FROM HEINZ FIELD ON NEW YEAR’S DAY ON NBC

CableCam Makes Winter Classic Debut; Game to be Streamed Live on NBCSports.com

“We don’t normally do games that have low-flying aircrafts, meteorologists and the threat of rain or snow that might affect the outcome of the game.” – NBC Sports’ Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick

“Now hockey owns New Year’s Day the way baseball owns the Fourth of July and football owns Thanksgiving.” – Boston Globe, January 2010

“It’s hard to find any network right now that covers a sport better than NBC covers hockey.” — St. Petersburg Times, April 2010

NEW YORK – Dec. 29, 2010 – Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the 2011 NHL Winter Classic from Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, on New Year’s Day airing live at 1 p.m. ET on NBC. The game will also be live streamed on NBCSports.com, a first for the Winter Classic.

Bob Costas will host NBC Sports’ coverage from Heinz Field and will be joined on site by Mike Milbury (studio analyst), Mike “Doc” Emrick (play-by-play), Eddie Olczyk (analyst), Pierre McGuire (inside-the-glass reporter), Darren Pang (inside-the glass-reporter), and The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore (meteorologist). Sam Flood, NBC Sports’ executive producer and the former captain of the Williams College hockey team, produces NBC Sports’ NHL coverage.

CableCam, a regular for NBC Sports’ “Sunday Night Football” coverage, will make its Winter Classic debut at Heinz Field. NBC Sports will have six more cameras at this game than it did for the Stanley Cup Final, including iso cameras on Crosby and Ovechkin. An airplane will again be used for aerial shots.

RECORD VIEWERSHIP: The three previous Winter Classics have averaged 4.0 million viewers. The 2009 game at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings was the most-watched NHL regular season game in almost 35 years. An average of 4.4 million Americans watched the Red Wings defeat the Blackhawks, 6-4, from Wrigley, the biggest regular-season NHL audience since Feb. 23, 1975 (5.4 million, Philadelphia-New York Rangers on NBC), according to Nielsen Media Research.

STREAMING: This year’s Winter Classic will be streamed live on NBCSports.com, a first for the event. The streaming will employ an HD player with full DVR controls that allows the user to pause, rewind and slow-mo Winter Classic action. The player will also feature four additional live online-only camera angles, including two “Star Cams” that will follow Crosby and Ovechkin wherever they are during the game. Also available for viewers will be CableCam and Goalie Cam, which originates from inside the net. Fans can access highlight clips, stats and a live chat with experts from NBCSports.com’s Pro Hockey Talk.

CONFERENCE CALL: NBC Sports conducted a media conference call on December 21 with Costas, Emrick, Olczyk, Milbury, and Flood. Following are highlights:

Costas on NBC Sports’ coverage approach: “The way we approach this at NBC Sports is that we want it to be a broadcast that appeals to knowledgeable, hard core hockey fans, but at the same time recognizes that this an event which draws in a lot of casual fans, who probably won’t watch much hockey outside of this game, maybe the Stanley Cup Final and Olympic hockey.

“You have to capture the atmospherics of it, some of the back-stories, something that will draw in the person that isn’t necessarily watching the NHL night in and night out, which is not unlike how we cover the Kentucky Derby. Those who know how to read a racing form enjoy our coverage. Those who don’t follow horseracing outside of the Triple Crown events enjoy it as well. That’s how we approach this event.”

Flood on the Winter Classic as an event: “The key word that Bob said right off the bat is ‘event.’ We cover it like an event. It’s much more than a hockey game and we want to celebrate it, celebrate the sport, celebrate the two stars in the game as well as both teams and the city of Pittsburgh.”

Emrick on the buzz around the game: “I can’t run into anybody around our sport that doesn’t tell me what they’re going to be doing on the afternoon of this game. Invariably, it’s watching it. Even players who are going to be playing in other games on New Year’s Day say that they’re going to be watching it, too.”

Olczyk on being a part of the Winter Classic: “It’s a great day for hockey…for the city of Pittsburgh and a great rivalry between Ovechkin and Crosby and the Capitals and the Penguins. To be a part of it is certainly a privilege.”

Milbury on the host cities: “I think they get incredibly excited. Each of the towns where these events have been held gets incredibly buzzed about it. I’ve been to the last three of these things and each one of them had their own qualities, but each one of them a ton of fun for everybody that is involved. There are a lot of games in the NHL season, some of them I don’t get too wired up about, but this one is well marked on my calendar.”

Costas on history of the event: “This has become an anticipated New Year’s Day event. At the first one, in Buffalo with Pittsburgh and the Sabres going at it, we benefited from the snow, that snow globe affect that people found so compelling, and also the overtime goal from Sidney Crosby to win it. Then we took it to the iconic baseball stadiums: first Wrigley and then Fenway. Now, although we are in a new stadium and a football stadium, Heinz Field, we have the matchup of Crosby and Ovechkin. Each of these games has had … something different to make it stand out.”

Emrick on the uniqueness of the Winter Classic: “We don’t normally do games that have low-flying aircrafts, meteorologists and the threat of rain or snow that might affect the outcome of the game.”

Costas on the first Winter Classic setting the stage: “It more than got us off on the right foot, it sent us off flying. Even though we got a surprisingly high rating for a regular-season hockey game, the buzz was beyond the rating. People were talking about it for a long time afterward and that’s hard to measure. You can’t measure precisely, but you can definitely feel it and sense it. Within one year, it wasn’t building towards something that had standing as a yearly event, it became that in the space of one day.”

Emrick on playing outdoors: “It’s also the joy of playing outdoors and any player you run into whether European or North American recounts tales about playing outdoors on frozen ponds. I know that sort of becomes a redundant poetry that we have every time at this time of year, but I think it’s also necessary to convey what this event is like in the lives of players and also those of us who are able to watch them on a regular basis when they play indoors.”

Milbury on playing outdoors: “There is a quote from Bobby Orr about this day being a celebration of hockey and that’s really what it is. For some of those who are old enough to remember skating on the ponds, it is a throwback kind of a game, but for many of the present players, they never played outdoors. This is almost old timers day for young people.” 

Costas on competing against bowl games: “The landscape has changed. Because the Winter Classic has worked out so well the first three years, it can more than hold it’s own.”

Emrick on the rivalry: “The one thing that we do have are two teams that really care about winning the game from one another. It’s about winning the contest. It’s about not really caring a lot about each other because there is quite a rivalry that goes back 20-25 years into the Mario Lemieux era between Washington and Pittsburgh.”

Flood on producing this year’s game: “We’re going to line up a lot like a normal football game. Doc and Eddie will be in the stands at the back of the lower section of seats so that they’ll be in the elements and experience the game as the players are, except they’re not going to be hit. Then we’ve got iso cameras, one for Sidney and one for Ovechkin, as well as a high camera in one of the end zone’s up on top of the scoreboard, which gets an incredible shot of downtown Pittsburgh that can then turn into the stadium and show the game.

“The important thing here is to show the game from a much wider perspective. It’s not a hockey game, it’s an event. Our goal is to capture how big it is and how different it is to have a multitude of people sitting in these stands and cheering for these two teams and, I’d imagine, a towel of a certain color waving in the stands. Things like that will make it different. There will be an extra six cameras than what we had for the Stanley Cup Final games. We really go all out to have as many cameras and machines to capture the total day.

“We’ve added a CableCam for the first time ever, which will capture some of the speed and also some of the scene. That’s the important thing, to let people know that there is something about this that is much more than a hockey game.

“CableCam is a camera used in football games that flies over the play so we can move it up and down, along the boards, move it up in the stands. Wherever we want to be to capture the event and capture some of the speed of hockey, which will be one of the fun things we get to do with it. We can follow a rush up ice and see what Ovechkin is doing as he brings the puck into the zone from an angle you haven’t seen before. We’ll do the same thing with Crosby. That should add something in addition to our normal iso cam.

“Once again we’ll have an airplane. That was a thrill in Buffalo doing the first replay in history of a goal from an airplane angle.”

I have a couple of releases from the NHL in regards to the Winter Classic and I’ll post those later.

TNT’s NBA Doubleheader Heads To Orlando and Dallas

For the last NBA doubleheader of 2010, TNT has exclusive intraconference matchups as the resurgent New York Knicks take on Orlando and we have a battle of Texas as San Antonio challenges Dallas in the Lone Star State.

Here’s the preview from Turner Sports.

TNT’s NBA Doubleheader Coverage Continues Thursday with Eastern and Western Conference Match-ups

TNT NBA Thursday continues on December 28 with Eastern and Western Conference match-ups beginning at 7 p.m. (ET). The first game will feature two teams in the East with Amar’e Stoudemire and the New York Knicks facing Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. Play-by-play announcer Marv Albert (play-by-play), Steve Kerr (analyst) and Mike Fratello (analyst) will be courtside with Craig Sager reporting. The second game of the night features a Texas showdown in the West as the San Antonio Spurs visit Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks at 9:30 p.m. (ET). Kevin Harlan will call the game alongside analyst Reggie Miller with David Aldridge reporting. Following the second game, Inside the NBA with Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Kenny Smith (analyst) and Chris Webber (analyst) will recap the night’s action.

Through 20 games, the NBA on TNT is averaging a 1.6 U.S. rating (+45%, 1.1 U.S. rating), 2,541,000 total viewers (+47%, 1,723,000 total viewers) and 1,873,000 households (+43%, 1,313,000 households) over last year’s corresponding coverage.  

Exclusive content, analysis from TNT announcers and replays of Inside the NBA are available on TNT OverTime on NBA.com. The broadband channel gives fans the inside scoop on players, coaches and storylines taking place around the league seven days a week.  Check out the NBA on TNT pages on Twitter (http://twitter.com/NBAonTNT) and Facebook  (www.facebook.com/nbaontnt) to see the latest NBA on TNT schedule, news updates and special features from TNT announcers.

NBA ON TNT NBA SCHEDULE:

Thu., December 30

7 p.m.                TNT NBA Tip-Off

Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Kenny Smith (analyst) and Chris Webber (analyst)

7:15 p.m.           New York Knicks @ Orlando Magic

Announcers: Marv Albert (play-by-play), Mike Fratello (analyst), Steve Kerr (analyst) and Craig Sager (reporter)

9:30 p.m.           San Antonio Spurs @ Dallas Mavericks

Announcers: Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Reggie Miller (analyst) and Cheryl Miller (reporter)

Post-game         Inside the NBA

Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Kenny Smith (analyst) and Chris Webber (analyst)

TNT NBA THURSDAY UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

Thu., January 6

8 p.m.                 TNT NBA Tip-Off

Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)

8:15 p.m.            Oklahoma City Thunder @ Dallas Mavericks 

Announcers: Marv Albert (play-by-play), Steve Kerr (analyst) and Craig Sager (reporter)

10:30 p.m.         Denver Nuggets @ Sacramento Kings

Announcers: Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Reggie Miller (analyst), Chris Webber (analyst) and David Aldridge (reporter)

Post-game          Inside the NBA

Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)

Source: Nielsen Media Research. Based on Live+SD. NBA Regular Season on TNT STD through 20 games. (10/26/2010-12/24/2010) vs. (10/27/2009-12/31/2009)

That will do it.

Some Quick Wednesday Linkage

Ok, this may turn out to be a busy day for me so I’m going to try to sneak some links in. You may see this in multiple parts so here goes.

We’ll begin with Tom Weir in USA Today’s Game On blog discussing Tucker Carlson of Fox News wanting Michael Vick executed?

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN is not anticipating too much of a ratings hit as it takes over the BCS from Fox this season.

Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the Monday Night Football finale was the most watched program on cable this year.

We continue with more links.

This is a shameless plug, but how many of these do I make in a year? Head on over to BallHyped and vote for me for Sports Blog of the Year. I have no shot to win, but make my results respectable. I greatly appreciate it. You can vote for as many as three so if you feel there’s another blog that’s just as deserving, vote for that one too.

Sports Business Daily says some weak matchups could hurt the BCS’ ratings on ESPN.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Sunday Night Football on Tuesday night did very well in the ratings.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the 2010 Monday Night Football finale helped ESPN to set a ratings record.

Mike says the Outdoor Channel is set to premiere some new series including four picked up from ESPN’s now-canceled Outdoors block.

From Fox Sports, Brian Lowry says in 2010, sports and sports media had their fill of scandal.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with the CEO of New Era about sponsoring the Pinstripe Bowl and its sponsorship deal with the NFL.

Darren talks about the Coors Light NFL coaches ads which end their run after this season. 

Jon Bershad of SportsGrid has Los Angeles sportswriter Kevin Ding accusing an ESPNews anchor of lifting his material verbatim. Uh oh.

We continue with SportsGrid’s Top Sports Media Gaffes of 2010 and #4 is the Karen Owen Duke Sex List. Who could forget that?

And #3 is Ines Sainz and the alleged harassment by the New York Jets.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talks about the weather which could wreak havoc on the NHL Winter Classic.

Also from the Times, George Vescey says while Mike Singletary is no longer coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the David Letterman sketch featuring a faux Singletary will continue.

Newsday’s Neil Best has Kenny Albert’s adventure getting from St. Louis to Newark, NJ in the midst of this weekend’s Great Blizzard.

Neil says his appearance along with three other sports media critics on SNY last week did respectively well in the sports cable ratings in New York.

I’ve been interrupted again. I’ve been trying to start the links up again since lunch time and I just can’t get it done. Too many starts and stops. I hope to finish up tonight.

NFL Network’s Schedule Through New Year’s Day and Beyond

Let’s provide the programming schedule for the NFL Network from today through next Tuesday, technically next year.

NFL NETWORK & NFL.COM PROGRAMMING NOTES (12/29 – 1/4)

NO HUDDLE: THE ROAD TO DALLAS PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ PREMIERES THURSDAY, DEC. 30 AT 8:00 PM ET

Top 10 New Year’s Day Marathon Begins at 6:00 AM ET

A Look at QB Tom Brady and the Patriots Sunday on NFL GameDay Morning at 9:00 AM ET

Colts WR Reggie Wayne, Rams DE Chris Long Featured Guests on ‘The Rich Eisen Podcast’ on NFL.com

‘The NFL Season’ Profiles Giants RB Brandon Jacobs

No Huddle: The Road to Dallas Premieres on Thursday, Dec. 30 at 8:00 PM ET

No Huddle: The Road to Dallas, a new weekly roundtable show in which NFL Network analysts discuss and debate the hot topics heading into the playoffs, premieres on Thursday, Dec. 30 at 8:00 PM ET on NFL Network. This week’s analysts include former NFL executive Michael Lombardi and Super Bowl winners Warren Sapp, Kurt Warner and Brian Billick, who will give their opinions on the following topics:

• Which teams will grab the final playoff spots?
• Why did Mike Singletary not succeed as head coach in San Francisco?
• Who will win the MVP award?

Below is a video link to a segment from Thursday’s show in which the analysts discuss the greatest rivalries in the league:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d81d49cae/No-Huddle-Best-NFL-rivalries?module=HP_video

No Huddle airs every Thursday throughout the playoffs at 8:00 PM ET featuring discussion, debate and answering fan questions via Twitter.

THIS WEEK ON NFL GAMEDAY MORNING: An Extensive Look at Tom Brady and the New England Patriots This Season

Sunday is NFL GameDay on NFL Network, starting at 9:00 AM ET with NFL GameDay Morning. Host Rich Eisen joins Steve Mariucci, Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin and Warren Sapp for the first and most comprehensive pregame show every Sunday.

With a 13-2 record and home-field advantage secured throughout the playoffs, the New England Patriots are once again on top in the AFC. Leading the Patriots is quarterback Tom Brady, who is having one of the greatest seasons of his career and has thrown an NFL-record 319 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. The NFL GameDay Morning crew will discuss the following Patriots-related topics:

• New England’s 26-game regular season home winning streak in games in which Tom Brady has started and finished
• Tom Brady as a leader and his place in the Top 100 NFL players of all-time
• New England head coach Bill Belichick’s decision-making and leadership
• How many Super Bowl rings will Tom Brady win?

Also, heading into the final week of the regular season, the crew previews all of the matchups with playoff implications, including Bears-Packers, Bengals-Ravens, Steelers-Browns and Rams-Seahawks. Plus, a look back at the best Sunday Sitdown moments from the 2010 season, including Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens, Vince Young and more.

• Jason La Canfora reports from Baltimore for Bengals-Ravens
• Michael Lombardi reports from Cleveland for Steelers-Browns
• Lindsay Soto reports from Detroit for Vikings-Lions
• Kara Henderson reports from Green Bay for Bears-Packers
• Albert Breer reports from FedEx Field for Giants-Redskins

Top 10 New Year’s Day Marathon on Saturday, Jan. 1 Begins at 6:00 AM ET

Bring in the New Year with a 13-hour marathon of the popular Top 10 series on Saturday, Jan. 1, starting at 6:00 AM ET. Spend New Year’s Day as former players and media personalities break down and debate an array of topics around the NFL, counting down from 10 to 1. Below is a complete schedule of the Top 10 marathon on NFL Network:

6:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Undrafted Players (HD)

7:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Things We Loved About the 2000s (HD)

8:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Overtime Finishes (HD)

9:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Gutsiest Calls (HD)

10:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Jersey Numbers (HD)

11:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Backup Quarterbacks (HD)

12 NOON – NFL’s Top 10: Shortest Players (HD)

1:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Lefty Quarterbacks (HD)

2:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Raiders (HD)

3:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Quarterbacks of the 80s (HD)

4:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Uniforms (HD)

5:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Revenge Games (HD)

6:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Pittsburgh Steelers (HD)

THIS WEEK ON AROUND THE LEAGUE and NFL TOTAL ACCESS: New Orleans’ Jonathan Vilma and Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman

­­­­­­­­­­­

Wednesday, December 29

Around the League:

• New Orleans’ Jonathan Vilma via Team Cam
• NFL Insider with Michael Lombardi

NFL Total Access:

• NFL Insider with Jason La Canfora

Thursday, December 30

Around the League:

• NFL Insider with Jason La Canfora

NFL Total Access:

• NFL Insider with Jason La Canfora

Friday, December 31

Around the League:

• Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman via Team Cam
• NFL Insider with Steve Wyche

NFL Total Access:

• NFL Insider with Steve Wyche

THIS WEEK ON PLAYBOOK

Wednesday 6:00 PM ET – Playbook with Sterling Sharpe, Mike Mayock and Solomon Wilcots:

• How did the Ravens beat the Browns to stay in the hunt for the AFC North crown?
• How this season matches up with the others in Tom Brady’s career

Thursday 6:00 PM ET – AFC Playbook with Sterling Sharpe, Brian Baldinger and Joe Theismann:

• Why the Colts will win the AFC South
• How can the Steelers clinch the AFC North and a first-round bye?

Friday at 6:00 PM ET – NFC Playbook with Sterling Sharpe, Brian Baldinger and Joe Theismann:

• Who will win the NFC Wild Card race?
• Why will the Rams win the NFC West?

Latest Episode of ‘The Rich Eisen Podcast’ Available on NFL.com and iTunes: Features Colts WR Reggie Wayne and Rams DE Chris Long, Plus Actors Jeff Garlin and Jon Hamm

With the playoffs right around the corner, ‘The Rich Eisen Podcast’ welcomes two players whose teams play in meaningful games this weekend. First up is Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, fresh off a win over the Oakland Raiders. With a “win-and-you’re-in” game against the Tennessee Titans this Sunday, Wayne discusses the roller coaster season the Colts have had thus far, one year removed from a loss in Super Bowl XLIV. Next up is St. Louis defensive end Chris Long, whose Rams could make the playoffs for the first time since 2004 with a win over the Seattle Seahawks in primetime. To top off the episode, Jeff Garlin of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Jon Hamm of Mad Men talk about their respective shows and favorite NFL teams.

For more information on ‘The Rich Eisen Podcast,’ please visit http://richeisen.nfl.com/ or go to iTunes to download the latest episode.

New Episode of ‘The NFL Season’ on NFL.com Profiles New York Giants RB Brandon Jacobs

The latest episode of ‘The NFL Season’ is now available on NFL.com. Listed at 6-4 and 264 pounds, New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs is widely regarded as one of the more physical running backs in the league. Yet even the sturdy Jacobs can grow weary near the end of a grueling NFL season. In order to stay healthy, Jacobs turns to a Japanese style of acupuncture to recover from each game. Watch the technique Jacobs uses in order to keep running at his best near the end of the season.

To watch the latest installment in the series, please visit http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-the-season/09000d5d81d45652/The-NFL-Season-Needling-back

Every week on NFL.com, a new webisode of ‘The NFL Season’ will premiere, opening a new window into professional football to which fans and observers are usually not privy. The characters that will emerge over the season will spread across a broad spectrum – from quarterbacks to coaches, general managers to scouts, beer vendors to executives. ‘The Season’ is a project that’s not so much the story of the 2010 NFL season, but the tale of an NFL season – an important distinction. While who wins and who loses, who starts and who fumbles are all part of the story, they’re more incidental to the greater purpose of the piece – to provide a single, all-encompassing biography of a season.

THIS WEEK ON NFL.COM

Thursday, December 30

• CHAT: Vic Carucci (1:00 PM ET)
• CHAT: Albert Breer (2:00 PM ET)

Sunday, January 2

• CHAT: Fantasy Live (10 AM ET)
• 11:30 AM ET – NFL Fantasy LIVE with Michelle Beisner, Michael Fabiano and Dave Dameshek delivers the most up to date information for your fantasy team to have a record-setting day

DAY-BY-DAY PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE (all times listed are ET)

Wednesday, December 29

4:00 PM – Around the League (HD) – LIVE

6:00 PM – Playbook (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – NFL Replay: New York Jets vs. Chicago Bears (HD)

9:15 PM – NFL Replay: New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons (HD)

10:30 PM – Sound FX: 2010, Week 16 (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

12 MIDNIGHT – Playbook (HD)

Thursday, December 30

12 NOON – Playbook (HD)

1:00 PM – NFL Replay: New York Jets vs. Chicago Bears (HD)

2:15 PM – NFL Replay: New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons (HD)

3:30 PM – Sound FX: 2010, Week 16 (HD)

4:00 PM – Around the League (HD) – LIVE

6:00 PM – Playbook: AFC (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – No Huddle: Road to Dallas (HD)

9:00 PM – Best of Sound FX: Bill Parcells (HD)

9:30 PM – Sound FX: 2010, Week 16 (HD)

10:00 PM – Playbook: AFC (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

Friday, December 31

12 NOON – Playbook: AFC (HD)

1:00 PM – Best of Sound FX: Tony Romo (HD)

1:30 PM – Best of Sound FX: Mike Holmgren (HD)

2:00 PM – Best of Sound FX: Bill Parcells (HD)

2:30 PM – Sound FX: 2010, Week 16 (HD)

3:00 PM – No Huddle: Road to Dallas (HD)

4:00 PM – Around the League (HD) – LIVE

6:00 PM – Playbook: NFC (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Lefty Quarterbacks (HD)

9:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Draft Class

10:00 PM – Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players: #40-31 (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

12 MIDNIGHT – Playbook: NFC (HD)

Saturday, January 1

6:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Undrafted Players (HD)

7:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Things We Loved About the 2000s (HD)

8:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Overtime Finishes (HD)

9:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Gutsiest Calls (HD)

10:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Jersey Numbers (HD)

11:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Backup Quarterbacks (HD)

12 NOON – NFL’s Top 10: Shortest Players (HD)

1:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Lefty Quarterbacks (HD)

2:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Raiders (HD)

3:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Quarterbacks of the 80s (HD)

4:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Uniforms (HD)

5:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Revenge Games (HD)

6:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Pittsburgh Steelers (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:30 PM – Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players: #40-31 (HD)

9:30 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Football Factories

10:30 PM – Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleader Swimsuit Special

11:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

Sunday, January 2

‘NFL GameDay’

9:00 AM – NFL GameDay Morning (HD)

1:00 PM – NFL GameDay StatZone (HD)

4:00 PM – NFL GameDay Scoreboard (HD)

7:30 PM – NFL GameDay Highlights (HD)

11:30 PM – NFL GameDay Overtime (HD)

12 MIDNIGHT – NFL GameDay Final (HD)

Monday, January 3

3:00 PM – NFL Replay Real-Time: 2010, Week 17 (HD)

4:00 PM – Around the League (HD) – LIVE

6:00 PM – Up to the Minute (HD)

6:30 PM – The Coaches Show (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:30 PM – TBD

10:00 PM – TBD

11:30 PM – The Coaches Show (HD)

12 MIDNIGHT – NFL Total Access (HD)

Tuesday, January 4

12 NOON – NFL Replay Real-Time: 2010, Week 17 (HD)

1:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Lefty Quarterbacks (HD)

2:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Draft Classes

3:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Football Factories

4:00 PM – Around the League (HD) – LIVE

6:00 PM – Playbook (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

Field Pass Block (8:00-11:00 PM ET)

8:00 PM – NFL Replay (HD)

9:15 PM – NFL Replay (HD)

10:30 PM – Best of Sound FX: Bill Belichick (HD)

That will do it.

NFL’s Ratings Once Again Tops Everywhere

I’ve run out of things to write about the NFL’s ratings every week. Just read the press release.

NFL GAMES TOP RATINGS IN 29 MARKETS

FOX National Telecast Most-Watched Show of the Week

Most-Watched Seasons:  ESPN’s Monday Night Football & NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football

The FOX national telecast (mostly Giants-Packers) was the most-watched show among all programs last week with 24.3 million viewers — the 16^th time in 16 weeks that an NFL game telecast has been television’s most-watched program. 

Saints-Falcons, the season finale of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, averaged 19.1 million viewers to rank as the most-watched cable program of 2010 and the third most-watched cable program of all-time.  The game also posted a 37.2 local rating in Atlanta – the highest local rating on record for a Falcons’ regular-season game.

With their final telecasts in Week 16, both cable networks televising NFL games completed record-setting seasons. ESPN’s Monday Night Football was the most-watched series on cable television in 2010, setting the cable viewership record with an average of 14.7 million viewers. NFL Network wrapped up its fifth season of Thursday Night Football with a record average of 5.7 million cable viewers.

Locally, NFL games top the ratings in NFL markets 90 percent of the time – the highest rate in history after 16 weeks. Following is the list of 29 NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Dec. 20-26:

Week of 12/20 – 12/26			HH	HH	RTG
Market	Game	Date	RTG	SHR	Rank
Minneapolis	Bears at Vikings	12/20/10	48.4	66	1
Pittsburgh	Panthers at Steelers	12/23/10	46.5	67	1
Chicago	Bears at Vikings	12/20/10	40.7	57	1
Milwaukee	Giants at Packers	12/26/10	40.2	68	1
Kansas City	Titans at Chiefs	12/26/10	39.0	69	1
Baltimore	Ravens at Browns	12/26/10	38.9	63	1
Boston	Patriots at Bills	12/26/10	36.6	63	1
Indianapolis	Colts at Raiders	12/26/10	36.1	61	1
Buffalo	Patriots at Bills	12/26/10	30.1	50	1
St. Louis	49ers at Rams	12/26/10	27.9	51	1
Jacksonville	Redskins at Jaguars	12/26/10	27.8	48	1
Cleveland	Ravens at Browns	12/26/10	26.8	48	1
San Diego	Chargers at Bengals	12/26/10	26.6	54	1
Nashville	Titans at Chiefs	12/26/10	24.8	42	1
Dallas	Cowboys at Cardinals	12/25/10	24.3	50	1
Detroit	Lions at Dolphins	12/26/10	22.6	43	1
Seattle	Seattle at Tampa Bay	12/26/10	21.2	47	1
Washington, DC	Redskins at Jaguars	12/26/10	21.0	42	1
New York	Jets at Bears	12/26/10	20.9	38	1
Phoenix	Cowboys at Cardinals	12/25/10	19.6	43	1
San Fran-Oakland	49ers at Rams	12/26/10	17.3	46	1
Denver	Texans at Broncos	12/26/10	14.4	34	1
Houston	Texans at Broncos	12/26/10	14.2	30	1
Atlanta	Giants at Packers	12/26/10	16.7	28	1
Charlotte	Giants at Packers	12/26/10	18.4	30	1
Cincinnati	Jets at Bears	12/26/10	16.6	31	1
New Orleans	Giants at Packers	12/26/10	23.3	36	1
Philadelphia	Giants at Packers	12/26/10	23.9	34	1
Tampa	Jets at Bears/ Giants at Packers (tied)	12/26/10	14.8	32/27	1

            

Source: NFL & The Nielsen Company

I’m trying to add more links, but I keep getting interrupted. Not sure if I can them done for you today.

Universal Sports Presents Nine Day Tribute To Filmmaker Bud Greenspan

Last night during the Minnesota Vikings-Philadelphia Eagles game, Bob Costas announced that NBC’s sister network, Universal Sports will air a nine day tribute to Olympic documentarian Bud Greenspan who passed away over the Christmas holidays. Greenspan made great films on the Olympics and also directed the official movies for the Games dating back to 1984 in Los Angeles. In his films, you can see where Greenspan could find stories other people could not and finding the athletes to tell their stories added insight to the event footage.

We have a press release from Universal Sports. For many of you, it’s the secondary digital channel on your NBC affiliate. For others, you may have it on your cable provider. I had for literally a month on DirecTV. I hope one day to get it back, but it won’t be in time for the Bud Greenspan tribute. Here’s the schedule of films you’ll see starting this weekend.

Universal Sports Presents “Nine Nights of Glory” – A Tribute to Iconic Olympic Filmmaker Bud Greenspan

Network To Air Nine Consecutive Nights of Greenspan’s Official Olympic Films Beginning this Saturday at 9pm ET

Westlake Village, CA – December 29, 2010 – Universal Sports will pay tribute to iconic Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan in the coming days with “Nine Nights of Glory.”  Beginning this Saturday, New Year’s Day at 9 p.m. ET, Universal Sports will air a different award-winning Greenspan Olympic film for nine consecutive nights.  The tribute comes days after the death of  Greenspan, who passed away on Christmas Day after a long fight with Parkinson’s disease.

“Bud Greenspan represented the spirit of the Olympics and his films captured the amazing accomplishments of Olympic athletes from all nations,” said David Sternberg, CEO of Universal Sports.  “We are honored to pay homage to such a distinguished filmmaker.  His passing is a major loss to the Olympic movement, but he will live on forever through the majesty of his documentary films.” 

Greenspan, instantly recognized by his trademark black-rimmed glasses on a shaved head, began his engagement with the Olympics after putting together a short film on U.S. Olympic weightlifter John Davis in 1948.  His passion for the Olympic Games sparked his filmmaking career and he became the official Olympic filmmaker in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics, a title he carried with him for seven more Olympics.  Greenspan, who won eight Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award, also received accolades as a recipient of the Olympic Order, which is the International Olympic Committee’s highest award, and in 2004 was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.

“Nine Nights of Glory” Television Schedule:

January 1, 2011	Los Angeles ‘84	9:00 PM ET
January 2, 2011	Calgary ‘88	9:00 PME T
January 3, 2011	Lillehammer ‘94	9:00 PM ET
January 4, 2011	Atlanta ‘96	9:00 PM ET
January 5, 2011	Nagano ‘98	9:00 PM ET
January 6, 2011	Sydney ‘00	9:00 PM ET
January 7, 2011	Salt Lake City ‘02	9:00 PM ET
January 8, 2011	Athens ‘04	9:00 PM ET
January 9, 2011	Torino ‘06	9:00 PM ET

If you have the opportunity to watch or DVR the documentaries, by all means do so. You’ll get hooked on Greenspan’s storytelling and his way of weaving a storyline together. His films were love letters to the Olympics. It’s one reason why I stop and watch the Olympics every two years.

The NFL’s Statement On Brett Favre

Well, since this was also a sports media story as well as an NFL story, we are presenting you with the complete statement from the National Football League in regards to the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger situation. It’s not the punishment or suspension that Sterger nor her lawyer are looking for. Favre will not be suspended, but he will be fined. The NFL says it could not determine if the schlong shots that were texted to Sterger were from Favre. This all stems from when both Favre and Sterger were with the New York Jets and she claimed she was harassed by the quarterback. Commissioner Roger Goodell says based on the evidence, he could not determine if Favre violated workplace conduct policies.

In addition, the league said any additional claims of alleged harassment by Favre of other female Jets employees could not be substantiated. So Favre won’t lose any playing time, and may play if physically able on Sunday. Sterger’s lawyers did not file a lawsuit yesterday which was the two year anniversary of the first alleged sexting incident. The New Jersey Statute of Limitations on sexual harassment claims is two years. That deadline has apparently passed, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, Sterger’s lawyers may be looking at another date to possibly file a lawsuit.

It’s all sticky, not to make a pun here. This is the statement in full from the National Football League. Thanks to the NFL public relations for sending this over.

NO VIOLATION OF LEAGUE POLICY ESTABLISHED IN FAVRE INVESTIGATION;

FAVRE FINED $50,000 FOR LACK OF COOPERATION

The NFL issued the following statement today regarding the Brett Favre-Jenn Sterger matter:

          

The NFL office conducted an investigation to determine whether Brett Favre’s interaction with New York Jets game-day employee Jenn Sterger in 2008 violated the NFL Personal Conduct Policy.

In reviewing the matter, the sole focus was on whether there was a violation of league policies regarding conduct in the workplace.  NFL policies do not extend to private conduct or make judgments about the appropriateness of personal relationships, except where that conduct or those relationships raise issues under the law or league policies.

The investigation included an analysis of publicly available reports; a series of interviews with knowledgeable individuals, including Sterger and Favre; a review of communications between the two furnished to our office; and independent forensic analysis of electronically stored material. The investigation was limited in several respects because the conduct occurred in 2008 but was not brought to our attention until this fall.  As a result, certain records and individuals were unavailable to the NFL.

The investigation also reviewed a second media report about allegations involving other women who worked at the Jets’ facility in 2008.  Misconduct by Favre regarding that claim was unable to be substantiated because individuals with potentially relevant information declined to be interviewed or otherwise cooperate with the investigation. In addition, our investigation took longer than might ordinarily have been the case due to difficulties in arranging to speak with certain key individuals, the time required to retrieve and review stored electronic records, and Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision to meet personally with both Favre and Sterger before making a decision. 

On the basis of the evidence currently available to him, Commissioner Goodell could not conclude that Favre violated league policies relating to workplace conduct. The forensic analysis could not establish that Favre sent the objectionable photographs to Sterger. The review found no evidence to contradict the statements of both Favre and Sterger that they never met in person, nor was there anything to suggest that Sterger engaged in any inappropriate conduct.

However, Commissioner Goodell also determined that Favre was not candid in several respects during the investigation, resulting in a longer review and additional negative public attention for Favre, Sterger, and the NFL. The commissioner notified Favre that he has been fined $50,000 for his failure to cooperate with the investigation in a forthcoming manner. Commissioner Goodell stated to Favre that if he had found a violation of the league’s workplace conduct policies, he would have imposed a substantially higher level of discipline.

In a memo to clubs today, Commissioner Goodell reminded them of the serious nature of this matter and stated that NFL policies make no excuses for improper or potentially unlawful conduct in the workplace. “Every member of every club’s staff should be able to work in an environment free of harassment or hostility, and one in which every employee is valued, respected, and given a full opportunity to contribute to the goals of the club and the NFL,” Commissioner Goodell said. “Our new training program on workplace conduct will help all of us to promote the right kind of environment for all employees and I intend to dedicate the fine I have imposed on Favre to help fund that training program.”

And that will do it. While I hope this is the end of this story, me thinks we haven’t heard the last for a while.

Sunday Night Football Wins On Tuesday

Overnight ratings show that the NFL once again won in primetime and this time on a Tuesday. The 15.2 rating was head and shoulders above the competition which was mostly repeats on the other networks except for the tedious Kennedy Center Honors on CBS. While the Minnesota Vikings-Philadelphia Eagles game was hardly a masterpiece, it certainly brought in the numbers for NBC.

TUESDAY EDITION OF “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” EARNS 15.2 OVERNIGHT; NO. 1 SHOW ON TUESDAY

Tops Last Year’s Week 16 Cowboys-Redskins Game by 31%

Minneapolis (38.4) and Philadelphia (36.3) Lead All Metered Markets

SNF Powers NBC to Another Nightly Win; 16^th Straight Week

Best Tuesday Primetime Rating on Any Network This Television Season

NEW YORK – December 29, 2010 – Last night’s special Tuesday edition of  “Sunday Night Football” was the top-rated show on Tuesday, the 16^th straight week that primetime football on NBC defeated its nightly competition. The game, which was originally supposed to be played on Sunday but was delayed by the NFL due to the severe weather in Philadelphia, led NBC to a convincing win on Tuesday night and was up 31 percent over last year’s Week 16 game, according to overnight data released today by the Nielsen Company.  The game, in which the Minnesota Vikings upset the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-14, in the first NFL Tuesday game since 1946, registered a 15.2 overnight rating and a 24 share (8:15-11:15 p.m. ET).

• The 15.2/24 overnight rating is an increase of 31 percent over last year’s Week 16 game that featured an NFC East matchup between the Cowboys and the Redskins, which delivered an overnight rating of 11.6/19.

• The rating peaked at a 16.5/28 from 11-11:15 p.m. ET.

• The 15.2 overnight ties last week’s Packers-Patriots game and Week 2’s Giants-Colts Manning Bowl II as the fifth-highest overnight for a “Sunday Night Football” game this season and the best Week 16 game in the five-year history of SNF.

“SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” WEEK 16 THROUGH THE YEARS:

1. 2010, Vikings-Eagles, 15.2/24 (Tuesday Night Game)

 2. 2008, Panthers-Giants, 12.9/21 – up 18 percent

3. 2006, Eagles-Cowboys, 12.5/29 – up 22 percent

4. 2009, Cowboys-Redskins, 11.6/19 – up 31 percent

5. 2007, Redskins-Vikings, 9.9/17 – up 54 percent

DEFEATED ALL TUESDAY NIGHT COMPETITION: Last night’s Tuesday edition of “Sunday Night Football” defeated all Tuesday Night competition, the 16^th straight week that primetime NFL football on NBC defeated its competition, on a night that included such original competition as CBS’s Kennedy Center Honors and encores of CBS’s NCIS, ABC’s Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, No Ordinary Family and Detroit 1-8-7, and Fox’s Glee.

• “Sunday Night Football” powered NBC to a Tuesday night win in primetime, with NBC’s 14.7/24 average from 8-11 p.m. ET more than doubling second-place CBS (7.1/11) and topping the combined results of CBS, Fox (3.1/5) and ABC (2.3/4).

• Tuesday’s edition of SNF delivered the highest Tuesday metered-market average for any network this season. The prior high was a 12.4 for ABC on November 23, the night of the “Dancing With the Stars” finale.

SNF IS 16 FOR 16: When the viewership is available tomorrow from Nielsen, “Sunday Night Football” is expected to be the most-watched Tuesday night show, the 16^th straight time this season that SNF defeated its nightly competition (every week this season). Last season, SNF was the most-watched Sunday night primetime broadcast in a record 15 of 16 (94 percent) weeks. In 2008, SNF won 13 of 16 (81 percent) Sunday nights after winning 11 of 16 in 2007 (69 percent) and nine of 16 in 2006 (56 percent). 

TOP METERED MARKETS FOR VIKINGS-EAGLES:

1. Minneapolis, 38.4/57
2. Philadelphia, 36.3/53
3. New Orleans, 29.1/39
4. Norfolk, 22.9/35
5. Richmond, 21.8/35
6. Milwaukee, 19.9/31
7. Baltimore, 19.6/31
8. Las Vegas, 19.1/31
9. Atlanta, 18.2/27
10. Ft. Myers, 17.9/28

That’s it. News on Brett Favre is breaking. That’s coming up.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

Boxing
Best of 2010
Marquez vs. Katsidis – HBO, midnight

College Basketball
St. John’s at West Virginia – Big East Network, 7 p.m.
Boston College at URI – Cox Sports, 7 p.m.
Georgetown at Notre Dame – ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Duke at North Carolina – ESPNU, 7 p.m.
LSU at Rice – CBS College Sports, 8 p.m.
Illinois at Iowa – Big Ten Network, 9 p.m.
Marquette at Vanderbilt – ESPN2, 9 p.m.
Texas-Arlington at Kansas – ESPNU, 9 p.m.
Mississippi State vs. St. Mary’s at Las Vegas, NV – ESPNU, 11 p.m.
Washington State at UCLA – Fox Sports Net, 11 p.m.

College Football
Military Bowl, Washington, DC
Maryland vs. East Carolina – ESPN, 2:30 p.m.

Texas Bowl, Houston, TX
Baylor vs. Illinois – ESPN, 6 p.m.

Alamo Bowl, San Antonio, TX
Arizona vs. Oklahoma State – ESPN, 9:15 p.m.

2011 IIHF World U20 Championships
Group Play, Buffalo, NY
Norway vs. Canada – TSN/NHL Network (US), 7:30 p.m.

NBA
Boston at Detroit – Comcast SportsNet New England, 7:30 p.m.
Utah at Los Angeles Clippers – NBA TV, 10:30 p.m.

NFL
Inside the NFL – Showtime, 9 p.m.

NHL
New York Rangers at New Jersey – MSG Network/MSG Plus 2, 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh at New York Islanders – FSN Pittsburgh/MSG Plus, 7 p.m.
Carolina at Ottawa – Fox Sports Carolinas/Rogers Sportsnet East, 7:30 p.m.
San Jose at Minnesota – Comcast SportsNet California/Fox Sports North, 8 p.m.
Detroit at Dallas – Fox Sports Detroit Plus/Fox Sports Southwest, 8:30 p.m.
Los Angeles at Phoenix – KCOP/Fox Sports Arizona Plus, 9 p.m.

NHL on the Fly – NHL Network, 10 p.m.
NHL Overtime, 11 p.m.

24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic – HBO, 10 p.m.

Entertainment
Extreme Couponing – TLC, 8 p.m.
Great Performances: Celebracion! – PBS, 9 p.m.
Katy Perry – E!, 10 p.m.
1,000 Ways to Die – Spike, 10 p.m.
Manswers – Spike, 10:30 p.m.

The Final Monday Night Football Game of 2011 Becomes Highest-Rated and Most Watched of Season for ESPN

It’s a long headline, but it’s part of the story here. ESPN ends on a high note as a compelling New Orleans-Atlanta game went right down to the wire with the Saints winning last night. The game received an 11.2 rating with 19.1 million viewers. Very impressive. This becomes the third largest audience in the history of cable TV. In addition, Monday Night Football becomes the most watched series on cable so far this season. Can’t argue with the numbers.

Here’s the press release from ESPN.

ESPN’s Highest-Rated and Most-Viewed Season of Monday Night Football

Most-Watched Series on Cable and 16 Biggest Cable Household Audiences of 2010;

Saints-Falcons MNF Finale is Cable’s No. 3 Audience All-Time and Most-Watched Cable Show of Year;

Highest-Rated and Most-Viewed Season for Monday Night Countdown

The 41st season of Monday Night Football was the highest-rated and most-viewed season since ESPN assumed sports television’s signature series in 2006. For the fifth straight year, MNF was again the most-watched series on cable television, drawing the calendar year’s 16 biggest cable household audiences, and the top 12 among viewers. For the second consecutive year, ESPN’s MNF averaged higher than a 10 rating and 14 million viewers for the season.

In five seasons on ESPN, Monday Night Football has registered the top 10 all-time biggest household audiences in cable history, four of which occurred this season.

ESPN’s 17 Monday Night Football telecasts in 2010 averaged a 10.5 rating (9.1 US rating), representing an average of 10,495,000 households (14,657,000 viewers – P2+), increases of 1%, 2% and 2%, respectively, vs. 2009 (10.4; 10,315,000 and 14,382,000), according to Nielsen.  Additionally, MNF ranks No. 2 among all regularly-scheduled Prime Time television programs this season among the coveted adults 18-49 demographic.

MNF ended on a very strong note with last night’s game – the New Orleans Saints’ 17-14 road victory over NFC South rival Atlanta – delivering a 13.0 rating (11.2 US rating), representing an average of 12,957,000 households (19,137,000 viewers – P2+).  The game ranks as the third-largest cable television audience all-time among both households and viewers, excluding breaking news. MNF led all the night’s programs (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers and all key male and adult demos, making ESPN the top network for the night in all categories. It marks the sixth time MNF won the night among households, and the fifth time for total viewers, among all networks this NFL season.

“ESPN’s Monday Night Football was another resounding success this season, further demonstrating why it remains cable’s most valuable television franchise and the signature property within our year-round multiplatform NFL coverage,” said John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, programming.

MNF on TV

ESPN’s highest-rated and most-viewed Monday Night Football game of 2010 was the New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons (Dec. 27), which topped all of cable television for the year with 12,957,000 households and 19,137,000 viewers based on a 13.0 rating. In five years, ESPN’s MNF occupies the top 10 spots on the list of cable’s biggest audiences ever among households – and nine of the top 10 among viewers – excluding breaking news.

Other highlights for the 2010 NFL season:

• ESPN’s MNF games rank as the 16 biggest audiences among households and the 12 biggest among total viewers for cable television in 2010;
• ESPN led all networks – cable or broadcast – in delivery of men 18-34, men 18-49, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49 every Monday in primetime this season (16 consecutive weeks); ESPN was also No. 1 in men 25-54 in 15 of 16 weeks, and No. 1 among adults 25-54 on 13 Mondays;
• Six times, ESPN won the night as the most-watched network among households, and five times for viewers – cable or broadcast – in Prime Time on Monday;

• Monday Night Countdown, ESPN’s 90-minute weekly MNF pre-game show, finished with an average 2.7 rating and 2,729,000 households (3,532,000 viewers), representing increases of 13% and 16%, respectively. This ranks as Countdown’s highest-rated and most-viewed season ever. Countdown also registered its two most-viewed shows ever.

ESPN Monday Night Football Season Averages (2006-10)

Year	Rating	Households (000s)	Viewers (000s)
2010	10.5	10.495	14.657
2009	10.4	10.315	14.382
2008	8.9	8.679	11.962
2007	8.6	8.277	11.230
2006	9.9	9.109	12.325

Most-Viewed Monday Night Football Games on ESPN (2006 – Present)

Rank	Date	Program	Viewers (000s)	HHs (000s)
1.	10/05/2009	Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings	21,839	15,136
2.	11/30/2009	New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints	21,402	14,872
3.	12/27/2010	New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons	19,137	12,957
4.	09/15/2008	Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys	18,608	12,953
5.	10/25/2010	New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys	17,953	12,948
6.	12/03/2007	New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens	17,522	12,529
7.	09/27/2010	Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears	17,454	12,482
8.	10/11/2010	Minnesota Vikings-New York Jets	17,313	12,454
9.	12/20/2010	Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings	17,094	11,573
10.	12/28/2009	Minnesota Vikings-Chicago Bears	17,006	11,899

Top 10 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Households):

Rank	Date	Program	Network	HHs (000s)
1.	10/05/2009	Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings	ESPN	15,136
2.	11/30/2009	New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints	ESPN	14,872
3.	12/27/2010	New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons	ESPN	12,957
4.	09/15/2008	Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys	ESPN	12,953
5.	10/25/2010	New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys	ESPN	12,948
6.	12/03/2007	New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens	ESPN	12,529
7.	09/27/2010	Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears	ESPN	12,482
8.	10/11/2010	Minnesota Vikings-New York Jets	ESPN	12,454
9.	12/28/2009	Minnesota Vikings-Chicago Bears	ESPN	11,899
10.	10/23/2006	New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys	ESPN	11,807

Top 10 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Viewers):

Rank	Date	Program	Network	Viewers (000s)
1.	10/05/2009	Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings	ESPN	21,839
2.	11/30/2009	New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints	ESPN	21,402
3.	12/27/2010	New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons	ESPN	19,137
4.	09/15/2008	Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys	ESPN	18,608
5.	10/25/2010	New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys	ESPN	17,953
6.	12/03/2007	New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens	ESPN	17,522
7.	09/27/2010	Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears	ESPN	17,454
8.	10/11/2010	Minnesota Vikings-New York Jets	ESPN	17,313
9.	08/17/2007	High School Musical 2	Disney	17,241
10.	12/20/2010	Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings	ESPN	17,094

Note: excluding breaking news; live + same day

2010 MNF games in bold

MNF Team to Call 2011 Discover Orange Bowl

ESPN’s Monday Night Football team of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski will return to the booth to call the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl between Pac 10 runner-up Stanford and ACC champion Virginia Tech. The Bowl Championship Series game will be played at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida on Monday, January 3, 2011, on ESPN and ESPN HD (simulcast on ESPN3.com) at 8:30 p.m. ET.

And what we have seen is just amazing numbers for cable. Tremendous stuff.

CBS Ends Its College Football Coverage With The 77th Annual Sun Bowl

On New Year’s Eve, CBS airs one of two bowls not being aired on the ESPN Family of Networks and that’s the Sun Bowl live from El Paso, TX. It will be the matchup between Notre Dame and Miami, two schools that once had an extremely bitter rivalry back in the 1980′s. Now, we have them playing in one of the non-BCS bowls.

Let’s take a look at the press release.

CBS SPORTS WRAPS UP 2010 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON WITH THE “SUN BOWL”

Notre Dame Takes on Miami (FL) on Friday, December 31

CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage of college football concludes on New Year’s Eve with the Sun Bowl on Friday, Dec. 31 (2:00-6:00 PM, ET). Notre Dame faces Miami (FL) in the 77th annual Sun Bowl, live on the CBS Television Network. This marks the 43^rd consecutive year CBS Sports broadcasts the match-up from El Paso, Texas.

CBS Sports’ lead college football announce team of Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson call the action from Sun Bowl Stadium. Tracy Wolfson serves as sideline reporter.  Craig Silver, CBS Sports’ coordinating producer of college football, produces and Steve Milton directs.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL TODAY, the Network’s pre-game, halftime and post-game studio show, will be broadcast live from New York City, with host Tim Brando and Spencer Tillman. Vin DeVito produces and Linda Malino directs. Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

More coming later.

I’ve Been Waiting All Day … For Tuesday Night?

This comes directly from NBC’s Sunday Night Football Twitter account so you know this isn’t Photoshopped. I have a feeling you’ll see this as part of the open and maybe even Faith Hill adding “Tuesday” for “Sunday” in the “I’ve Been Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” theme.

The suspense is killing me. Ok, it’s not, but I am wondering what the open will be like.

UPDATE, 3:10 p.m.: I should add that besides the regular crew of Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Andrea Kremer calling the game, NBC will have Bob Costas as host from the game site with Football Night in America analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison joining him in Philly. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King will also be on hand for any breaking news. 

Comedy Central & The Onion Form Multiplatform Partnership

Announced earlier this month, Comedy Central and comedy website, The Onion are forging a new partnership to launch what will be known as “The Onion Sports Network”. This will be an extension of the new show from The Onion that will launch on Comedy Central in January. We have the details of this partnership in the press release that you’ll see below.

COMEDY CENTRAL AND THE ONION ANNOUNCE MULTI-PLATFORM PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LAUNCH OF ONIONSPORTSNETWORK.COM

——– 

Site To Be Home To All New And Existing Onion Sports Content And Will Be The Digital Extension To The Onion And To COMEDY CENTRAL’s New Series “Onion SportsDome”

——–

OnionSportsNetwork.com Is The Online Destination For Sports News, Analysis, Arbitrary Rankings And Colorful Charts.

            NEW YORK – The Internet has given sports fans more options than ever to choose where they get their sports news.  Now, The Onion is making them all irrelevant.  “America’s Finest News Source,” The Onion, is teaming up with Comedy Central to launch OnionSportsNetwork.com, the number one online destination for sports news, analysis, arbitrary rankings, and colorful charts.  OnionSportsNetwork.com is the latest creative collaboration between the two premiere comedy brands and will be the digital extension for its new series “Onion SportsDome,” which debuts on COMEDY CENTRAL on January 11 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.  

            The ad-supported vertical expands on the popular Onion Sports franchise and the satirical network that surrounds it – the Onion Sports Network (OSN) – offering fans the opportunity to immerse themselves daily, and interact with, “Onion SportsDome” and the entire OSN world.  In addition to hosting all “SportsDome” clips, the site will feature regular topical sports editorials and columns, Web-only video exclusives, interactive features including user polls, quizzes and blogs, and direct integration with social networks, encouraging fan connectivity and community building around the “Onion SportsDome” on Facebook and Twitter. OnionSportsNetwork.com will also host Onion Sports archival content, meaning every single sports story, video and photo The Onion has ever produced, from “NFL Star Thanks Jesus After Successful Double Homicide” to “New York Marathon Winner Tests Positive For Performance-Enhancing Horse,” will be available in one place.

            OnionSportsNetwork.com adds another key vertical property to the COMEDY CENTRAL Digital portfolio which includes SouthParkStudios.com, TheDailyShow.com, ColbertNation.com, Jokes.com and Atom.com in additional to ComedyCentral.com.  This is The Onion’s first major digital extension to TheOnion.com, outside of its entertainment-focused sister Web site, The A.V. Club.  All traffic related to Onion Sports will be directed to the new site.

“With this site, we are taking the ‘SportsDome’ world and extending it beyond its Tuesday night time slot,” said Michael Greer, chief product officer at The Onion. “Building off The Onion’s unrivaled sports content and loyal fan base, we’re excited to offer daily interaction with the Onion Sports Network world.”

            “OnionSportsNetwork.com fits perfectly into the Comedy Central Digital portfolio,” said Steve Grimes, SVP, digital media, COMEDY CENTRAL.  “This is an ideal partnership – our fans are young men who are passionate about comedy and sports.  The new series, the Web site and all the social media extensions will give fans an immersive experience that only the Onion and Comedy Central could deliver.”

Users to the site will be treated to daily columns including “Fan On The Street,” which gives regular fans a chance to be as inflammatory as professional sports journalists, and “What To Watch For,” which sifts through the sports broadcasting sludge to tell you what games are worth your time.  Rotating features include “Fantasy Watch,” “Who’s Hot/Who’s Not,” “Prep Sports Watch,” “Team Of The Moment” and “Sports Superstitions,” among others.  In addition to refreshed daily content, the site will also include weekly and monthly topical news features from “Power Rankings,” a weekly look at the sports networks compulsive nature of ranking anything and everything; to “Photo Finish,” a photo illustration of current events; to the Onion Sports unique coverage of major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, the Masters or World Series.

And we’ll wrap it up with that.

College Basketball On ESPN’s Platforms Through Thursday

There are going to be plenty of college basketball games on ESPN’s platforms this week, except for the Mothership itself. Games will be aired mostly on ESPN2 and ESPNU with a few on ESPN3.com sprinkled in. Here’s the schedule.

College Hoops Present on ESPNU & ESPN2

The men’s college basketball season is in full swing this week as 2010 comes to a close. 

Highlights: 

• ESPNU features five games with three ranked teams – Providence at No. 5 Syracuse at 9 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 28, and top-ranked Duke at UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. followed by No. 3 Kansas at home against Texas-Arlington at 9 p.m., both Wednesday, Dec. 29;
• ESPN2’s schedule includes two top-20 matchups – a Big Ten tilt between No. 13 Minnesota at No. 24 Wisconsin Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. and BIG EAST opponents  No. 9 Georgetown at No. 20 Notre Dame Wednesday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m. A Big Five matchup features Temple at No. 8 Villanova Thursday, Dec. 30, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2;
• DePaul travels to Cincinnati Tuesday, Dec. 28, at 7 p.m. for an exclusive game on ESPN3.com.

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Tue, Dec 28	7 p.m.	No. 13 Minnesota at No. 24 Wisconsin	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	Fairfield at Florida (now canceled)	ESPNU
	7 p.m.	DePaul at Cincinnati	ESPN3.com
	9 p.m.	North Carolina vs. Rutgers (New York)	ESPN2
	9 p.m.	Providence at No. 5 Syracuse	ESPNU
	11 p.m.	Long Beach State at UC Santa Barbara	ESPNU
Wed, Dec 29	7 p.m.	No. 9 Georgetown at No. 15 Notre Dame	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	No. 1 Duke at UNC Greensboro	ESPNU
	9 p.m.	Marquette at Vanderbilt	ESPN2
	9 p.m.	Texas-Arlington at No. 3 Kansas	ESPNU
	11 p.m.	Mississippi State vs. St. Mary’s (CA) (Las Vegas)	ESPNU
Thu, Dec 30	7 p.m.	Temple at No. 8 Villanova	ESPN2

That’s it.

NFL Network’s Replay Games Plus NFL GameDay Final Quotes

Due to Tuesday Night Football, NFL Network has slid the NFL Replay games to a special time at 3 a.m. Wednesday in the East, midnight in the West. So it means you won’t be able to watch them “live” so to speak, but you’ll probably want to DVR them if you like watching the games again which have NFL Films footage and radio calls interspersed. Here are the games on NFL Replay that technically take place throughout Wednesday.

NFL Network’s Wednesday Morning “Field Pass” Schedule

Wednesday, December 29

NFL Replay airs at a later time on NFL Network due to the special Minnesota Vikings-Philadelphia Eagles game Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET on NBC. NFL Replay will begin at 3:00 AM ET/Midnight PT on Tuesday, Dec. 28.

• 3:00 AM ET/Midnight PT NFL Replay: Indianapolis Colts at Oakland Raiders (re-airs on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 1:00 PM ET)

Peyton Manning threw for 179 yards and three touchdowns in the Colts’ 31-26 victory over the Oakland Raiders to keep Indianapolis in playoff contention.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010122610/2010/REG16/colts@raiders

• 4:15 AM ET/1:15 AM PT NFL Replay: New York Giants at Green Bay Packers (re-airs on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 2:15 PM ET)

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 404 yards and four touchdowns as the Packers defeated the New York Giants 45-17 to remain in the playoff hunt.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010122611/2010/REG16/giants@packers

• 5:30 AM ET/2:30 AM PT Best of Sound FX: Tony Romo (re-airs on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 3:30 PM ET)

Best of the on-field sights and sounds of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

***NFL Total Access Pro Bowl Selection Show on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 7:00 PM ET

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowl rosters will be revealed on a special edition of NFL Total Access on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 7:00 PM ET on NFL Network. Fran Charles and Charles Davis are joined by new NFL Network analyst and seven-time Pro Bowl selection, Torry Holt to analyze and debate the players who will play in the 2011 Pro Bowl on Sunday, January 30 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii at 7:00 PM ET.

And here are the replay games for the normally scheduled times on Wednesday.

NFL Network’s Wednesday Night “Field Pass” Schedule

Wednesday, December 29

• 8:00 PM ET NFL Replay: New York Jets at Chicago Bears

Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler threw three touchdown passes and running back Matt Forte rushed for 113 yards as the Bears moved closer to securing a first-round bye in the playoffs with a 38-34 victory over the New York Jets.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010122600/2010/REG16/jets@bears

• 9:15 PM ET NFL Replay: New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees threw a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jimmy Graham with 3:24 left in the game to lead the Saints to a 17-14 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. With the win, the defending Super Bowl champions clinched a playoff berth.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010122700/2010/REG16/saints@falcons

• 10:30 PM ET Sound FX: Week 16

A compilation of the best sights and sounds from around the league from Week 16 including wired sound of Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Denver quarterback Tim Tebow.

NFL Replay offers an exclusive look at the previous week’s games in a condensed, 75-minute, high-octane format. With the use of bonus NFL Films and NFL Network footage, including never-before-seen camera angles and coaches’ commentary, combined with exclusive wired sound from the field, locker rooms and sidelines, viewers will experience the game like never before.

Both 75-minute NFL Replay programs are a part of the new ‘Field Pass’ block airing every Tuesday and Wednesday from 8:00-11:00 PM ET. ‘Field Pass’ takes fans inside the game like never before with exclusive NFL Films footage and sound. Following NFL Replay at 10:30 PM ET is Sound FX featuring a ‘best of’ theme highlighting an NFL great on Tuesday nights and a compilation of the sound from the previous Sunday’s games on Wednesday.

***No Huddle: The Road to Dallas Premieres Thursday, Dec. 30 at 8:00 PM ET

No Huddle: The Road to Dallas is a weekly roundtable show in which NFL Network analysts discuss and debate the hot topics in the NFL heading into the playoffs. The show airs every Thursday at 8:00 PM ET on NFL Network throughout the playoffs. This week’s analysts include former NFL executive Michael Lombardi and Super Bowl winners Warren Sapp, Kurt Warner and Brian Billick.

After the jump, you have the NFL GameDay Final quotes from Sunday evening.

Here’s that GameDay Final quotage.

Week 16 (12/26/10) – Quotable from

NFL GameDay Final on NFL Network

(Airs Sundays at 11:30 PM ET)

“When he comes back, everything seems to fall into place. He’s in a rhythm, he has a full grasp of this offense, and he knows all of the receivers’ tendencies. He’s the complete quarterback.”

– Deion Sanders on Packers QB Aaron Rodgers who threw for 404 yards and four touchdowns after sitting out a game with a concussion

“The Giants have been too inconsistent to get anything done in the playoffs, if they get there at all.”

– Steve Mariucci on the New York Giants after a 45-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers

“Defensively, that secondary is unbelievable. They can cover anyone.”

– Deion Sanders on the Green Bay Packers secondary that intercepted Eli Manning four times

  

“I’m speechless because it seems the Giants did the same thing a year ago. I don’t know if it’s because of the coaching style of Tom Coughlin and the way they practice that they fizzle out at the conclusion of the season, that they grow weary and they’re tired and exhausted. But they did the same thing [last year]. This is just who they are.”

– Deion Sanders on the New York Giants who have lost four of their last seven games

 “The Giants put it on a platter: four interceptions by Eli Manning and two fumbles by your starting running backs. You can’t win like that.”

– Deion Sanders on the New York Giants, who had six turnovers in a 45-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers

“If I have a minute left in the game and no timeouts, I don’t care what the situation is: give me Tom Brady.”

– Deion Sanders on who he would take as his starting QB: Tom Brady or Michael Vick

“He’s going to be in the discussion of greatest ever, not just MVP this year.”

– Steve Mariucci on New England QB Tom Brady, who has thrown an NFL-record 319 consecutive pass attempts without an interception

“For three and a half quarters [against the Philadelphia Eagles last week], the Giants dominated that game and played like Super Bowl champions. We didn’t see that today.”

– Steve Mariucci on the New York Giants in the last two games

“Ever since the bye week, Matt Forte has played a big part of this offense, especially on the ground.”

– Steve Mariucci on Bears RB Matt Forte, who rushed for 113 yards and one touchdown in 38-34 victory over the New York Jets

“Every now and then he’ll take chances. He trusts his arm, he thinks he can fit it in there most of the time, and every now and then he’ll get in trouble like this.”

– Steve Mariucci on Bears QB Jay Cutler throwing an interception returned for a touchdown

“Ever since the bye week, he is becoming better and better in their passing game with Mike Martz. They are a very dangerous team and a confident team right now.”

– Steve Mariucci on Chicago QB Jay Cutler and the Bears

“For the second straight year, they backed their way into the playoffs. They’re doing it once again and there’s no telling what can happen because this team has all of the intangibles to go deep into the playoffs.”

– Deion Sanders on the New York Jets who clinched a playoff berth despite a 38-34 loss to the Chicago Bears

  

“They are banged up like crazy but Peyton Manning is willing this team to victory.”

– Steve Mariucci on the Indianapolis Colts who can win the AFC South division with a victory next week

“I’m not riding with the Jacksonville Jaguars if ‘Pocket Hercules’ is not there. They need him. He is the heartbeat of that team.”

– Deion Sanders on Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew

    

“When you have quarterback issues, it’s very difficult for any coach anywhere to win, and they had quarterback issues all the way up to today.”

– Steve Mariucci on the San Francisco 49ers

“Forget his delivery and his arm action and his accuracy; he gets the job done.”

– Deion Sanders on Broncos QB Tim Tebow, who threw for 308 yards and a touchdown in a 24-23 victory over the Houston Texans

    

“They are two evenly matched teams. The difference a little bit is Drew Brees is becoming very one-dimensional now with the Saints. They’re not running the ball like they should, like Atlanta does with Michael Turner.”

– Steve Mariucci on the New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons matchup on Monday night

Steve Trout Reports from Philadelphia:

The Vikings spent the day watching football and watching movies. They’ll have a walk-through Monday at the Eagles’ practice facility. The Eagles sent their players home from the team hotel Sunday afternoon. They’ll bring them back Monday for a walk-through, and then check back into the hotel Monday night. The coaches are hard at work. In addition for preparing for the Vikings, they’ve got to keep their eye on the Cowboys next week. It’s all as Andy Reid would say “Going with the flow.” Or going with the snow.

***        Additional exclusive video clips from Sunday’s NFL GameDay are available on NFL.com.  Click on the video segments.  These videos include:

-       Let’s Go Primetime: Deion Sanders counts down the top 10 performances from Week 16.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-countdowns/09000d5d81d3be1c/Let-s-Go-Primetime?module=HP_video

-       Sunday Recap: Fran Charles, Steve Mariucci and Deion Sanders recap the biggest play from every Week 16 game.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81d3b931/Sunday-recap?module=HP_video

-       Week 16: RedZone Top 10: Scott Hanson looks back at the 10 best moments from Week 16 on NFL Network’s RedZone.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/09000d5d81d3ccec/RedZone-Top-10-Week-16?module=HP_video

-       And many more Week 16 game highlights and postgame video only on NFL.com

http://www.nfl.com/videos

That will do it for this post.

2011 Pro Bowl Rosters Announced Tonight on NFL Network

During a special edition of NFL Total Access on the NFL Network tonight, the entire rosters for the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl will be announced. You may recall that this season’s Pro Bowl will be played back in its usual home of Hawaii, a week before the Super Bowl. Fox will air it from Honolulu.

Here are the details from NFL Network.

2011 PRO BOWL ROSTERS UNVEILED TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28 AT 7:00 PM ET EXCLUSIVELY ON NFL NETWORK’S NFL TOTAL ACCESS SPECIAL

NEARLY 100 MILLION ALL-STAR VOTES CAST BY FANS

BRADY & VICK TOP VOTE-GETTERS

Teams to be Announced on Pro Bowl Selection Show December 28 on NFL Network

New England Patriots QB TOM BRADY received 1,877,079 votes to lead all NFL All-Stars in fan balloting for the 2011 Pro Bowl, the NFL announced today. Fan voting ended on Monday, December 20.

There was a record 98.59 million votes cast on NFL.com, on wireless phones and on Facebook. Fans cast 89.52 million votes on NFL.com, 8.50 million votes on their wireless phones and 570,000 votes on Facebook.

The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are based on the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third towards determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl.  NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on December 22-23.

The teams will be announced at 7:00 pm (ET) Tuesday, December 28 on a special NFL Total Access 2011 Pro Bowl Selection Show on NFL Network. 

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback MICHAEL VICK (1,522,437) leads all NFC All-Stars and ranks second overall, while Indianapolis Colts quarterback PEYTON MANNING (1,130,399 votes), San Diego Chargers quarterback PHILIP RIVERS (1,039,618 votes) and New Orleans Saints quarterback DREW BREES (971,731 votes) round out the top five.

The 2011 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 30, 2011 and televised live on FOX at 7:00 pm (ET) at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its all-star teams. It was the first professional sports league to offer online all-star voting in 1995.

Listed below are the top 10 offensive and defensive vote-getters, the top five rookie-vote getters, and the players with the most fan votes at each position:

NFL ALL-STAR TOP-TEN VOTE-GETTERS

Pos.	Name, Team	Votes
QB	Tom Brady, Patriots	1,877,079
QB	Michael Vick, Eagles	1,522,437
QB	Peyton Manning, Colts	1,130,399
QB	Philip Rivers, Chargers	1,039,618
QB	Drew Brees, Saints	971,731
RB	Adrian Peterson, Vikings	948,410
QB	Aaron Rodgers, Packers	900,544
RB	Arian Foster, Texans	710,166
RB	Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars	707,913
QB	Matt Ryan, Falcons	704,817

NFL ALL-STAR TOP FIVE ROOKIE VOTE-GETTERS

Pos.	Name, Team	Votes
DT	Ndamukong Suh, Lions	405,597
QB	Sam Bradford, Rams	305,721
C	Maurkice Pouncey, Steelers	246,443
TE	Rob Gronkowski, Patriots	205,948
RB	Jahvid Best, Lions	168,707

AFC LEADING VOTE-GETTERS BY POSITION

Pos.	Name, Team	Votes	Pos.	Name, Team	Votes
QB	Tom Brady, Patriots	1,877,079	DE	Dwight Freeney, Colts	501,021
RB	Arian Foster, Texans	710,166	DT	Haloti Ngata, Ravens	341,496
FB	Vonta Leach, Houston Texans	273,723	OLB	James Harrison, Steelers	411,600
WR	Andre Johnson, Texans	606,818	ILB	Ray Lewis, Ravens	412,827
TE	Antonio Gates, Chargers	588,245	CB	Nnamdi Asomugha, Raiders	326,658
T	Andrew Whitworth, Bengals	372,295	SS	Troy Polamalu, Steelers	530,155
G	Eric Steinbach, Browns	329,714	FS	Ed Reed, Ravens	312,885
C	Jeff Saturday, Colts	328,673	P	Sam Koch, Ravens	182,868
K	Josh Scobee, Jaguars	208,794	ST	Keyaron Fox, Steelers	121,057
KR	Joshua Cribbs, Browns	186,828

NFC LEADING VOTE-GETTERS BY POSITION

Pos.	Name, Team	Votes	Pos.	Name, Team	Votes
QB	Michael Vick, Eagles	1,522,437	DE	Julius Peppers, Bears	418,380
RB	Adrian Peterson, Vikings	948,410	DT	Ndamukong Suh, Lions	405,597
FB	Heath Evans, Saints	207,936	OLB	Clay Matthews, Packers	466,501
WR	Roddy White, Falcons	595,001	ILB	Brian Urlacher, Bears	314,584
TE	Tony Gonzalez, Falcons	458,527	CB	Charles Woodson, Packers	394,330
T	Chad Clifton, Packers	173,797	SS	LaRon Landry, Redskins	208,112
G	Josh Sitton, Packers	214,013	FS	Antrel Rolle, Giants	158,478
C	Shaun O’Hara, Giants	232,551	P	Ben Graham, Cardinals	196,658
K	David Akers, Eagles	228,353	ST	Heath Farwell, Vikings	162,553
KR	Devin Hester, Bears	239,641

That will do it.

CBS Says Ratings For Week 16 Regional NFL Coverage Was Way Up From 2009

Just received this press release on CBS’ ratings for its NFL regional coverage on Sunday and they were up almost 30% from regional coverage during Week 15 from last season. A lot of it might have had to do with the Sunday blizzard in the Northeast, but no matter, there were a lot of viewers. Here’s the CBS press release.

“THE NFL ON CBS” PRESENTS ITS HIGHEST-RATED SINGLEHEADER IN 12 YEARS

Singleheader Window Highlighted by N.Y. Jets-Chicago Bears Game Scores Rating/Share of 15.4/30 in Metered Markets for Week 16 

Highlighted by the N.Y. Jets-Chicago Bears game on Sunday, Dec. 26, THE NFL ON CBS scored the Network’s highest-rated singleheader window in 12 years as it garnered an average household rating/share in the metered markets of 15.4/30, up 29% from last year’s 11.9/24 in the singleheader window during Week 15. 

Other games featured during the window included Baltimore-Cleveland, Tennessee-Kansas City, New England-Buffalo, Indianapolis-Oakland, San Diego-Cincinnati and Houston-Denver. The previous highest-rated singleheader window for THE NFL ON CBS was a 14.3/28, highlighted by the Tennessee-Pittsburgh game (12/21/08).

Through 16 weeks of the 2010 NFL season, THE NFL ON CBS has an average household rating/share in the metered markets of 13.0/26, up 8% from last year’s 12.0/24. The Network’s NFL pre-game show, THE NFL TODAY, has a rating/share of 2.9/7, up 7% compared to last year’s 2.7/7 after 16 weeks.

Quite impressive.

Linkage Time

With the digging out from the Great Northeast Blizzard yesterday, plus having to finish some year-end work, I wasn’t able to provide linkage, but now with things slowly getting back to normal, it’s time to give you the sports media links once again.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports lllustrated lists his best and worst of sports media in 2010. 

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has a look at the TV ratings from the Christmas holiday weekend.

Michael writes that CBS’ Bill Cowher finally addressed coaching rumors surrounding himself during the NFL Today.

Sports Business Daily recaps the media and political reaction to the postponement of the Minnesota Vikings-Philadelphia Eagles game until tonight.

Over to my always lovely Twitter Trophy Wife, Amanda Rykoff at espnW, and she defends the NFL’s choice to put the St. Louis Rams-Seattle Seahawks matchup into primetime on NBC.

Marisa Guthrie at the Hollywood Reporter notes that ESPN/ABC gave the NBA its highest Christmas Day ratings ever.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that CBS and the FCC are still battling over Janet Jackson’s breasts from Super Bowl XXVIII in 2004. A quick aside, I was watching the Lingerie Bowl at halftime and switched back to the game just in time for the nip slip, but because I had my back turned, I missed the whole thing live until I read a statement by the NFL late in the third quarter and then I had to rewind my VCR to find the incident. Then I saw it.

John writing for sister publication, Multichannel News, says NFL Network is bringing in a new analyst tonight. 

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says 2010 became the most watched season for NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk notes that debate is still raging over the NFL’s postponement of the Minnesota-Philadelphia game which will be played tonight.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser notes that former Jim Rome radio show producer Travis Rodgers will host a national show of his own starting after the New Year.

Andrew Gauthier of SportsNewser’s sister site, TVSpy notes a Cincinnati sports anchor who started 2010 at one local station and is ending it at another. 

Because of the off and on posting schedule here due to the holidays, I’ll catch up with SportsGrid’s countdown of Top 10 Sports Media Gaffes of 2010.

I’ll refresh your memory with #10, ESPN’s Chris McKendry’s slip of the tongue.

Now let’s go to #9, the Dallas Morning News’ Tim Colishaw having to eat his words on an alleged “scoop”.

To #8 which is Jeremy Roenick crying on national TV.

SportsGrid says #7 is the Washington Post’s Mike Wise making up a tweet in an attempt to teach a lesson to reporters and bloggers, but only hurting himself.

The #6 sports media gaffe is Jay The Rat getting arrested.

And bringing us up to date is the #5 gaffe which is the whole Cam Newton mess. 

I’ll post SportsGrid’s other choices as they come along.

At Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Greg Wyshynski has posted a time lapse video of the NHL Winter Classic rink construction at Heinz Field. 

Brendan Wilhide from Sports Networker talks with the Director of Social Media for the San Francisco Giants.

Fanhouse notes that Jenn Sterger’s lawyer is once again complaining about the NFL’s investigation into Brett Favre’s alleged sexting.

Deadspin wonders where is the ESPN Ombudsman?

Wendy Parker writes that the late Olympic documentarian Bud Greenspan was always sure to include female athletes in his films.

John Powers of the Boston Globe says Greenspan managed to find stories that others missed.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Comcast is willing to bid for the 2014/2016 on behalf of NBC, but only for the right price. 

Newsday’s Neil Best gives his impressions on watching Jets coach Rex Ryan’s press conference up close.

Neil mourns the loss of Bud Greenspan and others who passed in 2010.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has a look at the NFL Week 17 TV schedule for New York’s Capital Region.

Laura Nachman notes that a Philly sportscaster is filling a halftime host role for the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says unseasonably warm temperatures are threatening the NHL Winter Classic on Saturday.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun feels CBS made the Ravens-Browns game rather laborious.

Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune writes about this guy, ESPN’s Jon Gruden returning to some familiar stomping grounds on New Year’s Day.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald says Heat-Lakers on Christmas Day drew better ratings in South Florida than Lions-Dolphins on Sunday. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle is sad over Bud Greenspan’s passing.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network’s Steve Mariucci made an emotional appeal to Brett Favre.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has part one of a three part series on the Year in Sports Business in the Windy City.

Ed also has some other sports business stories that caught his fancy.

At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar wonders how much TV had a role to play in postponing the Minnesota Vikings-Philadelphia Eagles game until tonight. A lot.

Dan writes that the Gateway City’s NBC affiliate is anticipating to score in the ratings on Sunday night as it carries its first Rams game of the season in primetime.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post provides his best in NFL and college football TV. 

Eric Frandsen of the Cache Valley (UT) Daily says Utah State basketball games can be heard worldwide this season.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times notes that with Christmas falling on Sunday next year, expect a full slate of Christmas Eve games.

Sam says NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew was looking forward to televising Minnesota-Philly in blizzard conditions.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says TSN has transformed the World Junior Hockey Championships into Must See TV. 

Russell Scibetti of The Business of Sports provides his top sports business stories of 2010.

Sports Media Watch notes ABC’s rise in ratings for its NBA Christmas Day doubleheader.

Joe Favorito has some book suggestions to close out 2010.

Joe says the NFL made the right call in postponing the Vikings-Eagles game. 

John Daly at The Daly Planet has a story on one of the most popular female drivers in NASCAR whom you probably never heard of.

Kartik Krishnaiyer at EPL Talk gives us a flavor of how the English Premier League is presented in his native India.

And I’ll end it there.