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Media
Notes By George Stahl NEW YORK (AQB)--No Rae Carruth. No Steve Mohammad. That's the early line on this week's 7 1/2 hours of NFL pregame shows Sunday. It seems that none of the seven shows can squeeze two minutes to examine one of these two stories. But don't worry, nearly every show will have a feature on Tampa Bay rookie quarterback Shaun King. I'm sure those pieces will be as hard-hitting as getting smacked in the face with a feather. Hey, it's hard being a propaganda machine for the NFL. As Gerry Callahan of the Boston Herald wrote this week, "The networks pay the NFL more than $17 billion, but clearly it's not enough. Bending over is part of the deal." But, really, who's the one getting screwed? Click here for a preview of what's going to be on every pregame show.
Well, if ESPN's NFL Countdown won't do any real news, that means its expanded Outside the Lines series will have to pick up the slack. ESPN announced Thursday that it will present 12 one-hour monthly Outside the Lines programs. Also, beginning April 2, the network will add a 30-minute weekly Sunday morning edition. Bob Ley will continue to host all the shows. A time for the Sunday show has not been decided but Norby Williamson, ESPN's assistant managing editor and director of news, said it will probably be between 9-11 a.m. ET on Sundays. The Sunday morning single-topic shows will often focus on the week's major news in sports, featuring live interviews, in-depth features and expert analysis. Ley said the Sunday morning show will be like ABC's Nightline, but for sports. The last Outside The Lines for this year will be Sports Behind Bars at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The first one next year will be Athlete of the 21st Century: Bigger, Faster and Stronger at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14. Charles S. Dutton, who served nearly a decade in prison for manslaughter, weapons possession and assault before becoming an actor, will host the show about sports behind bars from the site of his incarceration, the Metropolitan Transitional Services Center in Baltimore.
Segments include:
Year-end Shows Following Outside The Lines on Wednesday, ESPN begins its review of 1999 at 8 p.m. Wednesday with SportsCenter Remembers: Legends of Our Time, which will profile those sports legends who died this year. Jimmy Roberts hosts the one-hour show that will look back at the lives of, among others, Wilt Chamberlain, Walter Payton, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Payne Stewart, Joe DiMaggio, Kim Perrot, Pee Wee Reese and Greg Moore. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN presents SportsCenter's Games of the Year, hosted by Kenny Mayne and Linda Cohn. The games, selected by a poll of ESPN.com users and the show's producers, include the U.S. Women's National Team win over China in the women's World Cup; UConn's 77-74 upset over Duke in the NCAA title game; Alabama's 40-39 overtime upset over Florida, ending the Gators' 30 home-game winning streak; Dallas Stars' three-overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres; games five and six of the National League Championship Series between the Braves and Mets; and the Jazz/Kings NBA playoff series, including the Kings overtime win in Game 3, Stockton's last minute shot to seal Utah's win in Game 4 and Utah's overtime series-clinching victory in Game 5. Finally, at 8:30 p.m. Dec. 24, ESPN will show the Best of SportsCenter, a 90-minute special that will review the year that was in sports. Dan Patrick and Stuart Scott host.
At 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPN will televise the awarding of the 65th Heisman Trophy, expected to go to Wisconsin tailback Ron Dayne. But the news this week was who wasn't invited to the party in New York Saturday night - Florida State receiver and Dilliard's shoplifter Peter Warrick. CNN's Trev Alberts and Fox Sports Net's Kellen Winslow said they have no problems with Warrick's absence. "In 1993, when I won the Butkus Award, I wasn't the best linebacker that year," Alberts said. "Derrick Brooks got hurt and missed games, but I played the entire season and won. It's the same rationale with Peter Warrick: he missed games. It's not as much the stealing incident as it's he missed games ...You can't win if you don't play ...I agree with the committee not inviting him." Winslow said, "If Peter Warrick had missed two games because of an injury and not due to his suspension, he would've been a close runner-up in the Heisman vote and certainly invited to the ceremony in New York. The Heisman people decided that the best way to not deal with it, is to not address it. But clearly, Peter Warrick is the best college football player in the country this year." In addition to the Heisman show, hosted by Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN Classic will air a "Heisman Heroes" mini-marathon from 1:30-6 p.m. Saturday. The half-hour shows, hosted by Beano Cook, will feature Larry Kelley, John Lattner, Howard Cassady, Jay Berwanger, Paul Hornung, Steve Spurrier, Pete Dawkins, Archie Griffin and George Rogers.
Like it did with the All-Madden team a few years ago, CBS will create its own all-star team molded in the likeness of its lead NFL game analyst. Phil Simms and his partner Greg Gumbel will announce the first 1999 Phil Simms All-Iron Team at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 25 from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Fifteen players and one coach will be selected to represent the inaugural team. The Iron Men Awards honor players who meet or exceed the following qualifications: the player must be a starter or significant contributor to his team, the player must be a tough guy and team leader, and the player must be an asset to his community. All 31 NFL teams nominated two Iron Men players and an alternate. "There are so many excellent players that fans don't know about," Simms said in a statement this week. "We spend too much time glorifying people with the football - quarterbacks, running backs and receivers. The Iron Men Team takes it a step farther and finds some of the hidden gems in the NFL." Also on the show, Armen Keteyian visits with Walter Payton's brother, Eddie; CBS News correspondent Bill Geist will look at what makes an Iron Men Team member; and David Letterman will provide a Top Ten List on "Why you are not going to win a Phil Simms Iron Man Award." (On the list: You sustained a season-ending injury during the coin toss.)
Fox Sports Net continues Gonzaga's tour of the Pac 10 at 10:30 p.m. Monday, when the Bulldogs visit Washington. Barry Tompkins and George Raveling will call the action.
On CBS' new college basketball contract, Packer said, "The NCAA needs to understand that men's college basketball accounts for more than 90% of its total revenue. Therefore it needs to have special attention given to it and should be run as a separate division within the NCAA. The money should be used to clarify what is a college player, which should be separate from what is a professional player. "The American population is sick and tired of where professional sports are going. There is a tremendous opportunity for intercollegiate athletics to provide an avenue where sports fans can have a real role model, people that represent what they'd like their sons and daughters to be, instead of trying to emulate what they have moved towards which is to be another division of professional sports."
Other media notes from around the country Friday.
Martzke writes, "NBC's Enberg and his agent, Ed Hookstratten, denied a report Thursday that Enberg has agreed on a contract with CBS to be teamed with Dan Dierdorf on the network's No. 2 team next season. "Verne Lundquist would become CBS' lead announcer on college football, replacing Sean McDonough, whose contract wasn't renewed." Click here to read more of Martzke's column.
Mushnick writes, "While CBS is naturally attracted to stylish Enberg, his career is clearly in the wind-down stage. At 43, McDonough, on the other hand, not only has many good years coming, he's the rarest of sports television commodities: He's a practicing, highly credible journalist, unafraid to speak measured but hard truths to his audiences." Click here to read more of Mushnick's column.
"I didn't think it would come to this,'' McDonough told Baker after talking with CBS Sports chief Sean McManus in New York. ``It's hard to accept when you're told you're doing a terrific job, you like the people and you want to stay. But others have 3-4-year deals, my contract is up and it's like musical chairs: I'm the one left standing when the music stops.'' Click here to read more of Baker's column.
Kent writes, "Indeed, the man widely credited for putting professional football on the map with his play in the 1958 championship game against the New York Giants has a remarkable list of records and accomplishments, most of which get loving treatment in the 60-minute film." Click here to read more of Kent's column.
Kroner writes, "In the case of tonight's (7 p.m.) feature on Willie Mays, it seems the network has gone too far -- focusing too much on Mays' problems (real and perceived) and not enough on what earned him the No. 8 spot on ESPN's list of the top North American athletes of the century." Click here to read more of Kroner's column.
Shapiro writes, "The network gets to keep a property that it simply could not afford to lose, no matter what the price. According to Bodenheimer, ESPN (with 77 million homes) still will turn a profit, and ESPN2 will benefit greatly from 44 more games a year that likely will allow the network to add millions more subscribers to its current base of 67 million." Click here to read more of Shapiro's column.
"One of the biggest problems today in college athletics, football and basketball, is we have too many kids in school that don't want to be there, have not prepared to be there, could care less about being there," Vitale said. "I say why can't we have a league, say basketball, where a kid learns a vocation during the day and plays in a rookie league--if that's what he wants." Click here to read more of Jackson's column. For more details and a complete list of televised sporting events for this weekend, check out ArmchairQB.com's Today's Lineup. |
CBS
will replay its greatest sports moments in a one-hour show at 8
p.m. Thursday. Jim Nantz and Greg Gumbel will host the special,
which will include a reunion of the first NFL pregame show, The
NFL Today, with Brent Musburger, Phyllis George and Irv Cross.
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