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Media
Notes II By George Stahl and Randy Williams NEW YORK (AQB)--Fox Sports Net hired Chris Spielman as a studio analyst for its NFL This Morning studio show (11 a.m. Sunday) for the rest of the season. Spielman appeared on the show last week and impressed the network's brass with his candor and sense of humor. Spielman
will work with host Chris Myers and fellow analysts Jackie
Slater and Marv Levy, giving the show a possibility of
three Hall of Famers. That deserves a "Wow." Also, Levy
coached Spielman in 1997 with Buffalo. Click to see AQB's review of last week's NFL This Morning as well as the rest of the NFL studio shows. Click to see AQB's NFL cheat sheet, your guide to Week 2 viewing.
While some fans may have complained about the later, post-Labor Day start to the NFL season, that didn't keep them from watching. Monday Night Football recorded its highest-rated opener in three years, ESPN's Sunday night ratings hurdled 35 percent, CBS' Sunday games increased 9 percent and Fox's were flat. However, Fox's Vikings-Falcons contest posted a 16.6 rating and 33 share, the top numbers in the overnight ratings among all shows on television last week. As for the pregame shows, Fox's NFL pregame was even at 3.4 and CBS' The NFL Today rose 12 percent to a 2.8 rating. On cable, ESPN's NFL Countdown was flat from a year ago, while Fox Sports Net's NFL This Morning opened to a nondescript 0.5 rating. The rating is the percentage of TV households in the nation tuned to a program, while the share is the percentage tuned to a program among those televisions on at the time. Click here to see AQB's review of last week's pregame shows or preview of this week's games.
NBC plans 16 1/2 hours of live coverage next weekend of the 33rd Ryder Cup from The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Dick Enberg and Johnny Miller anchor NBC's coverage from the 18th hole. Dan Hicks will be at the tower at the 11th hole with Bernard Gallacher, who captained the European victory at Rochester's Oak Hill in 1995. On-course reporters Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch and Mark Rolfing will patrol the grounds, while Jim Gray will follow captains Ben Crenshaw and Mark James. The network plans to use 12 videotape machines and more than 35 cameras, including three "rats patrol" camera units. The rats are small flatbed trucks with a camera platform mounted on a scissors jack. The big, large-lensed cameras can be raised or lowered wherever the truck is parked. Another
interesting camera will be mounted over the tee box on the sixth
hole. This will give viewers a direct overhead angle at the golfers
as they hit their shots. Europe will rely upon Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie and Andrew Coltart; Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez; Sweden's Jesper Parnevik and Jarmo Sandelin; Ireland's Padraig Harrington; Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke; England's Lee Westwood; and France's Jean Van de Velde.
CBS' day begins at 3 p.m. ET with College Football Today, with former Oklahoma University running back Spencer Tillman joining host Tim Brando. Click to see George's Saturday Selections or a complete schedule of September college football telecasts.
Click to see George's Saturday Selections or a complete schedule of September college football telecasts.
Throughout the evening, studio host Andre Aldridge and analyst Max Kellerman will preview the De la Hoya-Trinidad fight. ESPN2's Friday coverage includes live coverage of the weigh-in, live interviews and a look back at the Sept. 16, 1979, bout between Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns. ESPN boxing analyst Al Bernstein will be joined by Aldridge for live pre- and post-fight coverage Saturday and Sunday. Bernstein says the fight is too close to call but Atlas and Kellerman like De la Hoya by knockout and Papa takes Oscar in a ninth-round stoppage. De la Hoya will appear on Jim Rome's The Last Word on Fox Sports Net at 6:30 p.m. and midnight local time Friday. Rome hosts Spain's Sergio Garcia, who will compete in next weekend's Ryder Cup on Monday.
In weeks three and four, Gumbel, Simms and Keteyian will do Denver and Tampa Bay and the Jets at Denver, respectively. On the other side, Fox's Pat Summerall and John Madden announce the Washington Redskins at New York Giants to 32 percent of the nation; meanwhile, Dick Stockton and Matt Millen call the Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions contest to 20 percent of the country. Next week, Summerall and Madden go to Lambeau Field for the Vikings-Packers contest. On Fox NFL Sunday, Terry Bradshaw heads to Green Bay to chat with Packers quarterback Brett Favre following last week's emotional come-from-behind victory over the Oakland Raiders. Also, Giants running back LeShon Johnson talks about his road back to the NFL after battling cancer. At 8:15 p.m. Sunday, ESPN will televise the Vinny-less Jets' visit to Buffalo. Fox's Millen on Jets starting quarterback Rick Mirer, "The one thing that would scare me as a Jets fan about Rick Mirer is [Packers general manager] Ron Wolf does not get rid of good players." CBS' Simms has confidence in his old coach. "Bill Parcells will find new ways to play with a different quarterback. That's coaching. Parcells built the Jets offense around Vinny. So it doesn't matter if it's Rick Mirer or Tom Tupa, Parcells will adjust his offense accordingly. He'll adjust and so will the players." Randy Cross, from CBS' The NFL Today, is tired of hearing about Parcells and the Jets. "The Patriots have had more injuries the past two seasons in every key position than any team and have still made the playoffs, yet Pete Carroll is considered a wimp in New England. It's time to give him some credit." For
a complete listing of this weekend's broadcasting matchups, go to
AQB's Today's Lineup page. Also,
read the Guru's Crystal
Ball for a unique look at
"I'll
be stunned if Jacksonville doesn't play in the AFC Championship."
...ESPN
Classic will feature more than 30 straight hours of some of the
greatest games and teams in New York sports history Saturday
and Sunday, including Super Bowl III and game 7 of the 1970 NBA
Finals... ...NFL
MVP Terrell Davis will conduct weekly live audio chats with
sports fans at halftime of Monday Night Football this year on ESPN.com
and MNF.com. The first chat will be this Monday when Atlanta faces
Dallas.
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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CBS
opens its college football schedule Saturday with three games
featuring five top ten teams. At 3:30 p.m., Don Criqui and Mike
Mayock call
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