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Media
Notes II By George Stahl and Randy Williams NEW YORK (AQB)--For some football fans, Sundays just got an hour longer. That's because MSNBC will simulcast radio personality Mike Francesa's weekly The NFL Now radio show from 9-10 a.m. ET every Sunday during the football season. The cable network, though, will only broadcast the first hour of the three-hour radio program. The show previews each NFL game that weekend and includes interviews and injury updates. Click here to read AQB's review of an NFL Now broadcast from last season. MSNBC will simulcast The NFL Now, which begins Sept. 12, from the same studios where Don Imus' Imus in the Morning program is shot. In fact, Terry Irving, executive producer of Imus on MSNBC, also will produce Francesa's program. Aaah, Imus and Francesa - it doesn't get better-looking than that.
Fox finishes its NFL preseason campaign when the Dallas Cowboys host the Denver Broncos at 8 p.m. ET Sunday. Pat Summerall and John Madden call the action while the Fox NFL Sunday crew of Terry Bradshaw, James Brown, Howie Long and Cris Collinsworth host pregame and halftime segments. "Denver is a very interesting team," Madden said in a statement this week. "Not only did they lose their offensive leader in John Elway, but also their defensive leader in Steve Atwater. Also, I'm not sure Bubby Brister is going to make it through a full season as the team's quarterback. "However, they still have the best running back and offensive line in football and a solid defense, so they are still the team to beat in the AFC. Also, I like what I've seen so far in Brian Griese. He's very smart, makes good decisions and looks like he'll be ready to step in and play. "As far as Dallas goes, their biggest problem is that they don't have enough quality defensive players." Madden said this is the best time to watch preseason games. "If you're looking to get a read on a team, this is the weekend to watch. Especially in the first half. The team's performance in the first half and who is starting is the best indicator of where a team is and what players are going to make the team."
NBC has lit the flame on its Olympics site - nbcolympics.com. The site, a joint venture with Quokka Sports, received its first test this week with the World Track and Field championships. Nbcolympics.com will provide the latest news and updates from the Sydney games in September 2000. That's good news for sports fans because the 15-hour time difference will force NBC and its cable networks to show many events hours later on tape delay. "It's an opportunity to learn more and not just stop at where we made the choice because we only had 170 hours," NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol said this week. As if 170 hours weren't enough, NBC's cable outfits - MSNBC and CNBC - are expected to show 270 more hours for a total of 440 hours of coverage. Ebersol told USA Today this week that the network expects to at least break-even on Sydney and make a profit on the other four Olympics. NBC spent $3.55 billion for the rights to the next five Olympics through 2008. In 1996, the peacock network earned $70 million on its rights fee of $456 million for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, which averaged a 21.6 prime-time rating. Ebersol told USA Today that he sees an 18-19 prime-time rating in Sydney. NBC averaged a 17.5 rating for Seoul in 1988 and 17.1 for Barcelona in 1992. NBC's Olympic web site will be able to show video highlights for the games but, like all other television stations, only after NBC's daily coverage ends at 2 a.m. ET No other Internet site will be allowed to carry video highlights of Olympic events, although still pictures are permitted. The site also will feature about 30-40 Olympians, who will discuss their experiences at the Olympics. Among those who have already committed to the project are swimmer Amy Van Dyken, track stars Michael Johnson and Dan O'Brien, and gymnast Dominique Moceanu.
Earlier this week, Glanville described his new role. "Guys like Randy and Craig, who were players, see the game differently than coaches. I was a coach. I see the things others don't see, that's why I've asked for a separate viewing room when we're not on the air. I don't want to hear about what everyone else is seeing. I just want to see what I'm seeing. Hopefully that way, everyone will have a little different viewpoint on the game."
By the way, Olbermann had this to say about the Pete Rose coverage this week. "Pete Rose's round of 10th banishment anniversary interviews has been the greatest display of tap-dancing since Gregory Hines' last national tour."
Rome, who seems to save his best stuff anymore for when the guest is not on the set, stuck in his two cents at the end of the show. "If he would own up to his mistakes and ask for some help, MLB would take Pete back in two seconds flat. But Pete has never admitted to any wrongdoing or shown any remorse, and it doesn't appear that he will anytime soon. Bottom line, Pete, you're fighting a losing battle. … You have to come clean, Pete, or your never going to get back in."
Brad Nessler handled the play-by-play with analysts Dan Fouts and Dean Blevins. Amazingly, Fouts will travel after the game to the Meadowlands in time for Miami-Ohio State at 2:30 p.m....
The network has added two Major League Baseball games to its schedule: Tuesday, Aug. 31, and Tuesday, Sept. 21. Teams and times will be selected later. Also, starting Sept. 15, ESPN and ESPN2 will each present Wednesday Night Baseball doubleheaders at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. This is the second straight year that four games per night have been offered to baseball fans in September. Finally, ESPN will televise any playoff-deciding games on the final day of the regular season - Sunday, Oct. 3 - as well as any playoff games the following day should any of the division or wild card races end in a tie. ESPN also will televise six to 12 Division Series playoff games, beginning Oct. 5. Of course, Sunday Night Baseball ends on ESPN after Labor Day weekend. Sports Illustrated this week presents its 1999 NFL Preview, which includes Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman's Super Bowl XXXIV prediction of Jacksonville beating Minnesota, 27-20. However, the real good stuff includes Dr. Z's all-century team; SI matching seven future stars with seven Hall of Famers, such as introducing Ricky Williams to Jim Brown; Peter King's history of the NFL's rise to prominence; and his roundtable discussion with Lions Vice Chairman Bill Ford Jr., Packers general manager Ron Wolf, Denver coach Mike Shanahan, Fox Sports president David Hill, NFL union chief Gene Upshaw, commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Minnesota wideout Cris Carter. Meanwhile, The Sporting News this week unveils its list of the top 100 active NFL players. Any guesses as to who's No. 1? Click here to find out.
“I
can’t predict the future but I gave my commitment and my word, and
my word is one thing I’m going to stick to ... times are going to
be hard, to be tough, but you go through these times and I gave
them (the Dolphins) my word.”
ABC will broadcast the Little League World Series championship game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The winner of the U.S. championship game, which was suspended Thursday night because of rain, will play the team from Osaka, Japan. Terry Gannon, Harold Reynolds and Dave Ryan are the announcers. (Hmm? No Jim Palmer? Another sign of ABC budget-crunching?) ABC will have 13 cameras and numerous microphones to broadcast the event. ... ...The U.S. Open starts Monday on USA Network. Coverage during the week is from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. ET and 7:30-11 p.m. ET Monday-Friday.... ....CNNSI.com introduced an amazing site called all-time baseball stats, which contains all-time baseball rosters and team statistics from 1876 to the present. ...ESPN received The Arena Bowl's annual Founders' Award in appreciation of its coverage of the sport before last Saturday's Arena Bowl on ABC. ... ...Fox Sports Net’s weekly sports magazine show, Goin' Deep, examines the five quarterbacks selected in the first round of this year’s draft. Also on the show, host Chris Myers interviews Pete Sampras and correspondent Ron Pitts examines the Cleveland Browns and their faithful fans. ... ...In anticipation of a close pennant race between the Braves and the Mets, TBS has changed its schedule to include the Atlanta Braves at New York Mets game at 7:05 p.m. Sept 30. ... ...CBS' lead NFL announcing team of Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms recently shared a square on the game show Hollywood Squares. Those episodes are expected to air during the week of Sept. 20. ... ...ESPN Classic replays three classic college football games Saturday - Notre Dame at Miami from Nov. 25, 1989 (noon); Oklahoma at Nebraska from Nov. 21, 1987 (2 p.m.); and Alabama at Auburn from Nov. 18, 1995 (4 p.m.). The Notre Dame-Miami game features more than 30 future NFL draft picks. ... ...With the exception of a four-hour classic wrestling block (huh?), ESPN Classic will devote much of Saturday night and Sunday to more than 12 classic U.S. Open tennis matches since 1980. ... ...Despite a boring 27-12 win by Green Bay, ABC's Monday Night Football rating fell only 4 percent to 9.1 from the comparable year-ago telecast. ... ...The Braves-Cardinals series this weekend will be shown on three different national networks: TBS Friday, Fox Saturday and ESPN Sunday. For more details and a complete list of televised sporting events this weekend, check out ArmchairQB.com's Today's Lineup. |
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Nice
touch: NFL Today host Jim Nantz jokingly forced new CBS
studio analyst Jerry Glanville to sign a contract at halftime of
the Kansas City-Jacksonvile game Thursday. The former Falcon and
Oiler coach reportedly was able to leave Fox for CBS because he
never actually signed the Fox contract.
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