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Alycia's hearing moves up
NBC and MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. Work Together
Hagin set to join Mets' radio team
CineSport Debuts On CBS Stations
Analyze this: Is Knight suited to be on television?
Clemson Announces 2008 Baseball Radio Broadcast Schedule & Announcers
Inside the Super Bowl booth with Aikman and Buck
The long run is over for ‘Inside the NFL’
Profile of Merle Harmon
NBA on TNT Posting HH Ratings Increases
Action Sports reportedly sold
Former broadcaster, NFL star Maas gets probation on gun, drug charges
YES! CONE BACK ON NETWORK
Royals announce 142-game FSN schedule
Dickie V Is Back, Baby
Cubs announce TV schedule
FiOS1 Produces Live Broadcast
Charlotte TV news anchor leaving for ministry
Ex-Tigers broadcaster in jail

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Dan Gross: Alycia's hearing moves up
Philadelphia Daily News

GREAT NEWS for any local TV stations looking for a late-February sweeps story. Alycia Lane will now face a criminal hearing in Manhattan on Feb. 25, not April 3 as previously scheduled, a spokeswoman at the Manhattan district attorney's office confirmed yesterday.

No reason was given as to why the hearing was moved up six weeks. Lane faces one felony count of assault with intent to injure an officer. The embattled anchorbabe was given the April 3 date at her Dec. 16 arraignment in New York where she was jailed after being arrested at 2 a.m. for allegedly assaulting a female NYPD officer during a road-rage incident in which she tried taking pictures with her iPhone, which was confiscated as evidence.

Lane's attorney, David Smith, has professed that his client never hit anyone, and never called the officer a "f---ing dyke," as the officer states in Lane's arrest report. Lane's arrest was first reported here. The anchor went on a three-week vacation before being fired by the station on New Year's Day.

CBS 3 didn't announce that she had been released from her contract until Jan. 7. Last week we reported that Lane had filed court papers against CBS 3 in Philadelphia asking for documents related to her firing and her personnel file. Lane's court action, called a praecipe to issue writ of summons, is typically a precursor to a lawsuit.
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NBC and MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. Work Together to Offer NBC's Chinese and Korean Language Coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
Marketwire.com

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - February 6, 2008) - NBC and MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., a privately held, multi-ethnic, radio, print and television operator, today announced an exclusive agreement to co-produce NBC's Chinese and Korean language coverage of the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. MultiCultural Broadcasting will work closely with NBC Olympics to produce the first-ever, Chinese and Korean language coverage in the United States. NBC Universal will distribute this coverage domestically through participating cable, satellite and telco distribution partners.

"NBC was seeking to expand our foreign language coverage within the United States of the Beijing Olympic Games and were attracted by MultiCultural Broadcasting's experience distributing media to America's Chinese and Korean communities," said Gary Zenkel, President of NBC Olympics. NBC, which owns the exclusive U.S. media rights for the Olympics through the 2012 Olympic Games in London, has also been supplementing its extensive English language coverage in the United States withSpanish language broadcasts on Telemundo.

"We are very excited about working with NBC to provide Olympic coverage in Chinese and Korean since these programs will allow Chinese and Korean Americans in the United States to watch appealing Olympic sports, such as Table Tennis for our Chinese American audience and Tae Kwon Do for Korean Americans, in their native languages," said Arthur Liu, President of MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. "MultiCultural Broadcasting and NBC plan to focus heavily on team sports, such as basketball, soccer, volleyball and baseball games, which appeal to Chinese and Korean American viewers and listeners in the U.S."

As a part of this agreement, MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. will co-produce with NBC Olympics daily Beijing Olympics highlights shows in Korean and in both the Mandarin and Cantonese languages for distribution on MultiCultural's O&O and affiliated television stations, and Asian channels, which include Sino Television and SBS, in the United States. Additionally,MRBI has been licensed the exclusive terrestrial and satellite radio rights to broadcast the Beijing Games in the Chinese and Korean languages within the United States.

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Hagin set to join Mets' radio team
BY ADAM RUBIN, NY Daily News

Wayne Hagin is expected to be announced next week as Tom McCarthy's successor as Mets radio voice alongside Howie Rose. Hagin has called games for the Rockies and Cardinals. He once got himself in trouble for implying Colorado first baseman Todd Helton used steroids.
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CBS RADIO has placed some new content technology on it sites, courtesy of CINESPORT (cinesport.com). This custom feed of sports video highlights is updated daily and delivered daily to your station web site. The NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, NCAA, and more. AP does not have this! Even stations with broadcast rights don't have this.

The CINESPORT feed and player are customized to your local content needs, skinned with your station logo, and updated automatically each day. And, it's a revenue source for radio. Check it out at www.wfan.com, or at cinesport.com. It's distributed by FIGMEDIA1 President BILL FIGENSHU at (570) 595-2444, or fig@figmedia1.com.

Analyze this: Is Knight suited to be on television?
By Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY

He's as famous as anybody in his sport, famously opinionated and suddenly out of work. So will any TV network sign on Bob Knight as some sort of analyst?

"He'd be great in the media, but it isn't something he's spent a lot of time thinking about," says agent Sandy Montag, who represents Knight and various top sportscasters. "He's not looking to do anything specific right now, just take some time hunting and fishing and see what happens."

CBS' Billy Packer calls Knight "the most brilliant clinician in the sport of basketball that's ever been" and at the "top of the list" of people he'd like to hear explain games — "but I don't know if that translates to TV."

Generally, TV rookies make their debut in studio shows and not at games, where TV work can be more complicated.

But Packer suggests Knight couldn't just be plopped down in a studio: "I think he'd be frustrated.

People are looking for tricky sound bites in studios. And to say something cute and say it two or three times, because the show is going into different markets. He'd walk out. He'd say, 'I'm not going to pretend I'm laughing for the third time.' "

But TNT NBA announcer Marv Albert sees Knight, alongside Charles Barkley in TNT's studio, as promising: "Could you find a better combination?"

ESPN's Dick Vitale, who returns on-air on Wednesday night's Duke-North Carolina game after being out for throat surgery, says Knight would be "absolutely terrific on TV —phenomenal!" But Vitale, who's close to Knight, says potential TV work "has never even come up" in conversations with him — "but as long as he doesn't take my job, I'll endorse him for anything!"

TNT and CBS each indicated Tuesday that they aren't now looking for any on-air additions for basketball. Said ESPN's Mike Soltys, "We'd always be interested in talking to someone of Coach Knight's stature."

Lots more Marv
TNT will formally announce today that Marv Albert will call its NBA games until 2016. Says Albert, 64, gamely: "64 is the new 63."

The eight-year extension means Albert, whose other jobs include calling Monday night NFL games on national radio and 50 New Jersey Nets games on regional TV, will have a broadcasting career spanning at least 52 years: Albert made his debut on-air, filling in for the late, great MartyGlickman, on a handful of New York Knicks local radio games in 1964.

Albert, who says he never thought about leaving Turner, says the possibility of being involved in TBS' new baseball coverage was discussed. But, he says, "I value my free time now more than ever."

Higher education
ESPNU and CSTV will combine to produce 13 hours of coverage today on college football's national signing day. And the NFL Network will air its first show ever — at 8 p.m. ET — on high schoolers committing to where they'll play.

Although "people think you can never go any deeper," CSTV executive Tim Pernetti says CSTV will offer something different: A high school junior— receiver Josh Adams, from Cambridge, Mass. — announcing his college even before he's played his senior season.

ESPNU producer Shawn Murphy expects ESPNU will have at least five players — two at ESPN Zone restaurants — announcing live on-air. And ESPNU can draw on highlights of about 200 players, he says, mainly from players' own homemade recruiting videos.

While the two channels jockey to get live player announcements exclusively, Pernetti says more players "are getting smarter about TV and try to arrange local TV coverage" — which any network can pick up. ESPNU and CSTV will carry live coverage of star quarterback Terrell Pryor of Jeannette, Pa., announcing where he'll matriculate.

On tap:
ABC/ESPN's new lead soccer game announcing team —JP Dellacamera and analyst JohnHarkes— makes its debut Wednesday night on ESPN2's Mexico-USA game (9 ET). They will replace Dave O'Brien, who continues calling ESPN baseball and college basketball, and analyst Eric Wynalda— who, Soltys says, will not return to ESPN. … ESPN's Kenny Mayne, in his upcoming book, An Incomplete & Inaccurate History of Sport, recalls being at the classic 2006 Texas-Southern California Rose Bowl game the night before he'd cha-cha his way to last place in ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Leaving at halftime to "be rested for my big dance performance," he writes, "was the worst decision in the history of sports." No, cha-chas have driven men to do much worse. … CBS' David Letterman wonders: "Is it too early for me to start hitting on Gisele Bundchen?"
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Clemson Announces 2008 Baseball Radio Broadcast Schedule & Announcers
CSTV.com

Clemson, SC - Clemson Tiger Sports Network announced Wednesday that it will broadcast 36 regular-season baseball games, while the other 20 regular-season games will be broadcast by WCCP (104.9 FM) out of Clemson. Clemson Tiger Sports Network will broadcast the 30 ACC regular-season games along with the four games against South Carolina and both games against Georgia. The network will also carry all postseason contests. The other 20 regular-season games will be carried by WCCP.

Clemson also released the radio announcers for Tiger baseball on Wednesday. Don Munson will be the play-by-play announcer on all 36 Clemson Tiger Sports Network broadcasts. Munson is in his fifth year calling Tiger baseball games.

Color commentator Bob Mahony, who has been a part of Clemson baseball broadcasts for the past 20 seasons, will call the road game at South Carolina on March 1, the home game against Georgia on April 2, and the road game at South Carolina on April 9 along with home ACC series against N.C. State (March 21-23), North Carolina (April 11-13), and Virginia Tech (April 25-27). Mahony will also be on the air during Clemson's three-game series at Maryland (March 28-30) and Georgia Tech (May 9-11).

The other 18 Clemson Tiger Sports Network broadcasts will feature Dan Scott as color commentator, which includes road ACC series at Wake Forest (March 7-9), Miami (FL) (April 4-6), and Duke (April 18-20) along with home ACC series against Boston College (March 14-16) and Florida State (May 3-5). He will call the March 2 home game against South Carolina, April 1 road game at Georgia, and April 16 home game against South Carolina as well.

The other 20 regular-season games that will not be carried by Clemson Tiger Sports Network will be broadcast exclusively by Scott and WCCP (104.9 FM) out of Clemson. Its schedule includes games against Central Florida (3), Mercer (3), College of Charleston (2), Elon (2), Furman (2), North Carolina-Greensboro (2), Western Carolina (2), Coastal Carolina (1), High Point (1), Presbyterian (1), and Wofford (1). Therefore, Scott will be a part of 38 broadcasts during the regular season.

Munson and Scott will team up for all of the Tigers' postseason games on Clemson Tiger Sports Network. The broadcasts will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of each contest, and they will have comments and strategies from Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett. The games are subject to be tape-delayed based on schedule conflicts with Tiger basketball games.
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Inside the Super Bowl booth with Aikman and Buck
By Mike Nahrstedt, Sporting News

Troy Aikman isn't happy.

It's 3 hours before kickoff and the telestrator for FOX Sports' broadcast of Super Bowl 42 is kaput.

A telestrator is to a game analyst what a hammer is to a carpenter. It's a tool Aikman uses to great effect in any broadcast, and suddenly it isn't available for the biggest game of the year.

Another telestrator is brought in, but it doesn't work, either. "That Fisher-Price telestrator y'all brought up is outstanding," he says, sarcasm dripping as he speaks via headset to someone in the FOX production truck outside the stadium.

Game producer Richie Zyontz and director Artie Kempner aren't happy, either, but they're biting their lips to keep their frustration inside. It's a serious glitch in the production, but the only evident one leading into the telecast. As a commercial plays in the break before Jordin Sparks sings the national anthem, Joe Buck asks Aikman, "If I collapse right now, can you handle it?" Aikman replies, "I can do my job, and I'm sure Schwalbe can do yours."

Dave Schwalbe, standing to Buck's left, is part of the team in the FOX booth that helps Buck deliver play-by-play and Aikman provide analysis better than any duo in the game. Schwalbe is the spotter, which means that when New England's Stephen Gostkowski kicks off to start the game, Schwalbe's finger is pointing firmly to the name of return man Domenik Hixon on a poster-sized flip card that has the name and number of every player on each team. Buck knows his football and often doesn't even look at the card, but if he had needed to, he could have followed Schwalbe's finger to Hixon's name.
After Brandon Jacobs is stopped for a 1-yard loss late in the Giants' first drive, Buck sees one tackler and says, "Hobbs was there," then glances at the flip card and says without a pause, "and he had help from Adalius Thomas."

Moments later, Lawrence Tynes kicks a field goal for New York. FOX goes to commercial, which just happens to be a Diet Pepsi ad in which Aikman and Buck appear. One monitor among half a dozen in front of them shows what the viewers see -- the others are for live action and replays -- and that's the one everyone gathers around to watch.

Then it's back to work as the Giants kick off. Laurence Maroney fields the kick and has a nice return. To the left of Schwalbe is Ed Sfida, the booth's statistician who holds up a dry-erase board with a "43" on it. "A return of 43 yards," Buck says. On every play, Sfida does the math and scribbles the appropriate numbers -- yards gained, punt and return distances, whatever the case might be.
Sfida also hands notes to Buck or Aikman. When the second quarter begins with each team having had the ball only once, a screen graphic shows that the two combined possessions in the first quarter is a Super Bowl record. Buck, using a note from Sfida, adds that there were 10 possessions in the first quarter in last year's Super Bowl.

Talk back live
On the first play of the second quarter, Maroney scores a touchdown to put the Patriots on top. Even before Buck has finished announcing the score, Aikman has punched his "talk back" button -- an off-air line directly to Zyontz in the production command center -- to discuss the upcoming replay. After allowing the cheering to fill several seconds, Aikman breaks down the touchdown as it is shown again.
Aikman uses the talk back button a lot, usually the moment a play ends, if not before. He is in constant contact with Zyontz regarding replays -- sometimes being told what's coming, sometimes telling Zyontz what he wants to see. Aikman's almost instantaneous recognition of what happened and communication with the truck allow FOX to show revealing replays quickly.

Zyontz is in Buck's ear, too. "Pro Bowl, Joe, Pro Bowl," he says. Standing behind Buck, stage manager Fran Morison hands Buck a half sheet of paper with a promo for FOX's broadcast of the Pro Bowl. Buck reads it, one of many he weaves into the play-by-play over the course of the broadcast.

"Does it feel warm in here to you?" Aikman asks during a break, already having removed his blue suit coat.

"I think it's stuffy in the whole stadium," Buck replies, still wearing his gray one.

"Ask Ben if he has a fan," Aikman says.

"Yes," says Ben Altopp, an audio technician who also is a jack-of-all-trades once the broadcast begins. He sets a box fan near Aikman's feet.

After a quick three-and-out on New England's second possession, Buck says, smiling, "You see who gets the fan." Altopp gets the hint. Moments later, a fan is positioned at Buck's feet.

Midway through the second quarter, Zyontz wants a booth shot -- a chance for viewers to see Aikman and Buck rather than just hear them. The lights go on and Morison moves Aikman's and Buck's chairs -- which have scarcely been used because they stand most of the time -- and clears everyone out of the way. The announcers hit their marks in front of a backdrop, but Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is sacked twice in succession and the drive is over before they can squeeze the booth shot in.
They do the shot after the next commercial, and before long it's halftime. Both announcers make quick runs to the bathroom, then come back to watch Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

When the Patriots get the ball to start the third quarter, the Giants hold and force a punt. But Buck sees something and alerts the truck: "Did you see (Chase) Blackburn running off the field on that punt? I think they had 12 men on the field. That would've given New England the ball."

Zyontz checks and sure enough, one of the 27 FOX cameramen caught Blackburn hustling off the field late. Aikman and Buck view live feeds of Patriots coach Bill Belichick talking to referee Mike Carey. "He's gonna challenge it," Zyontz says. Meanwhile, Aikman tinkers with the such-as-it-is telestrator and manages to scratch a short yellow arrow pointing to Blackburn, barely on the field. By the time FOX is back from commercial, Buck and Aikman are ready to explain the challenge viewers had no idea was coming and successfully predict the result -- a penalty being called against the Giants. "I have to admit, I nailed it," Buck says to those in the booth.

During breaks, Aikman and Buck refer to the personal cheat sheets they've created for the game. They are basically depth charts for each team, with meticulously scribbled notes on each and every player -- stats, records and so on. Aikman developed the system and gave it to Buck, who enlarged it for his purposes.

Aikman can't touch on every note in the course of a game, but they're there when he needs them. When Buck mentions the New England defense midway through the third quarter, he says, "When would you ever think a Bill Belichick-coached defense would be overlooked?" It is straight from a note he had added to the sheet and highlighted the night before.

Crunch time
Early in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning throws the go-ahead touchdown pass to David Tyree. "Think anybody's watching?" Buck asks Aikman after FOX goes to break.

"Nah," Aikman replies.

As the game rushes toward its dramatic conclusion, Aikman and Buck are on their feet, leaning forward on the table in front of their monitors. They describe the Patriots taking the lead on a late Randy Moss touchdown, then the Giants retaking the lead on a Plaxico Burress score and holding on as Brady throws incomplete on fourth-and-20. When the final second ticks off after a Manning kneel-down, Schwalbe and Morison -- Giants fans both -- leap and hug each other.

"Good job, man," Buck says to Aikman, shaking his hand.

And 3 minutes after a final shot in the booth, Aikman and Buck are gone, off to celebrate a successful broadcast. Even with a Fisher-Price telestrator.

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The long run is over for ‘Inside the NFL’
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN, Kansas City Star

The incredible run is over. After 31 years on HBO, T “Inside the NFL” wrapped up its final weekly show on the cable channel on Wednesday night.

Len Dawson, who was there at the start in 1978 and remained on “Inside the NFL” for more than two decades, also was flown in by HBO to tape a segment for the final show.

“It’s surprising in a way that it’s the last show on HBO because I thought it was very popular,” Dawson said by phone earlier Wednesday. “They let me know last weekend and asked me to keep the whole thing quiet because not many people knew it was coming to an end. I was shocked at first.

“But then when you think about it, I’m sure it’s just the right business decision (for HBO). When we started, this was really the first weekly show where you could see highlights of the games. But now, by the time the show comes out Wednesday, people have seen all the highlights on NFL Network or ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPN12 or whatever.”

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said of the show, “It has been a terrific franchise. But the television landscape has changed quite a bit over the last 30 years, and we have to recognize the realities of the business. I’m not sure we had one competitor when the show launched in 1978.”

Now, however, competitors abound, starting with the NFL Network, which is all football, seven days a week.

“The weekly highlights of games, the staple of ‘Inside the NFL,’ will continue through NFL Films,” said Dan Masonson, NFL manager of corporate communications. “And we look forward to finding a new partner, a new outlet this fall.”

Don’t be surprised if that outlet is the NFL Network.

As for Dawson, he has been left to reminisce this week.

“I haven’t been with the show for a while,” he said, “but it’s still a little like when your career comes to an end. You just look back and try to hang on to the memories. It was a big part of my life.”

Pro football tops
A Harris Interactive survey revealed recently what we already know: Pro football rules in this country.
Pro football was the favorite among 30 percent of those sports fans surveyed. Baseball was second at 15 percent, and college football was third at 12 percent.

In the last 23 years, however, baseball’s popularity in this annual survey has dropped 8 percent.

Tennis dropped, too, in the last 23 years, from 5 percent to 1 percent.
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Profile of Merle Harmon
By Scott Benjamin
Highly-regarded play-by-play sportscaster Merle Harmon said he believes that there was “a lot of crossover” between the audience for the Sunday New York Jets games on Musicradio77 WABC and the listeners that tuned in regularly to hear the Beatles’ latest hit and afternoon air personality Dan Ingram’s humorous ad-libs.

“The people that listened to WABC during the week had an interest in rock stars, and at that time there was no bigger rock star than [Jets quarterback] Joe Namath,” said Merle, who was the voice of the Jets on WABC from 1964 through 1970 and continued to do their games for another two years on WOR.

Broadway Joe generated a wave of publicity when he was signed in 1965 for a then unheard of sum of $427,000, making him the biggest bonus baby of that era.

Three years later, while WABC was climbing in the ratings in FUN CITY after eliminating some cumbersome network commitments, the Jets, likewise, were on their way to the only Super Bowl title in their history.

“The reports were that Joe was shocked that they offered that much money,” Merle said in a Jan. 5, 2008 phone interview with Musicradio77.com from his home in Arlington, Tex.

He said that players told him that all of the sudden they were getting $10,000 raises after only receiving $2,000 or $1,000 previously.

“Sonny Werblin had put the Jets and the AFL (American Football League) beyond what Major League Baseball had offered,” Merle said referring, to the Jets co-owner who had been called “the star-maker” during his tenure as the vice president of Music Corporation of America.

The New York Times has reported that, among other things, he negotiated one of the early contracts for legendary NBC “Tonight” show host Johnny Carson and developed a clothing line with him that earned millions of dollars for both men.

Sonny became a co-owner of the Jets with Leon Hess in 1963 and stayed with the team until just before the 1968 Super Bowl championship season when, apparently due to the massive attention he was getting, Hess bought him out for $1.2 million on a share that had been valued at $250,000 just five years earlier, according to The New York Times.

“Sportswriters were flabbergasted,” Merle said of the salary that Broadway Joe received after completing his career at the University of Alabama.

“That was the story of the year,” he said. “It was about twice what the highest pro sports salary had been.”

“There were advertisements with Joe in the New York City newspapers even before he had played a game for the Jets,” Merle said.

Fox Sports columnist Mark Kriegel, who wrote an acclaimed 2004 biography on Joe Namath, said that the pro football Hall of Fame inductee became such a commercial spokesman in the 1960’s and 1970’s that he set an example for National Basketball Association superstar Michael Jordan, who had similar success in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Merle recalled that in 1970, the last year that WABC carried the Jets, he did interviews along with Roger Smith, the husband of actress Ann Margaret, outside a theater in New York City immediately before the premier of the feature film C.C. Ryder, which starred Broadway Joe and Ann.

He said the crowd of people outside the theater was so massive that he and Roger almost were knocked off a riser platform where they were standing.

Broadway Joe was considered a part of the youth movement of the late 1960’s and the Jets 16-7 victory over the Baltimore Colts on Jan. 12, 1969 in Super Bowl III at the Orange Bowl in Miami is still considered one of the most memorable games in pro football history and the exclamation point that the AFL was on a par with the established National Football League (NFL).

“They had lots of money to throw around,” Merle said of the owners in the upstart league, which had begun play in 1960.

“They had more money than many of the NFL owners,” he said of the AFL owners, a group that included the Kansas City Chiefs’ Lamar Hunt, the son of an oil tycoon.

All of the original AFL teams, plus such additions as the Miami Dolphins (1966) and Cincinnati Bengals (1968) merged with the NFL in 1970.

“Sonny Werblin and Al Davis were against the merger,” Merle said, making reference to the long-time Oakland Raiders managing general partner. “They thought that they could beat the NFL.”

In contrast, the American Basketball Association would only put four of its teams into the National Basketball Association six years later when those leagues merged.

In his 1998 autobiography, Stories (with Sam Blair, Reid Productions, 144 pages), Merle wrote that WABC sportscaster Howard Cosell, who became a friend, called him in 1964 and told him to clear his schedule from commitments to the then-Milwaukee Braves of Major League Baseball and to University of Wisconsin football games to become the play-by-play announcer for the Jets games, which the station had just acquired.

Merle stated that he had turned down a chance earlier that same day to become the voice of the famed Green Bay Packers, who were then the best team in the NFL under Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi.

He wrote that he was surprised that not only was he able to clear his schedule, but that his boss encouraged him to take the position because the exposure might make it easier to attract national clients along Madison Avenue for the Braves’ baseball broadcasts.

Merle said in the phone interview that he is not sure why WABC acquired the games, since it was already establishing itself as the most listened to Top 40 station in the country and was selling out most of its commercial time slots.

The station had carried the New York Mets games in the early 1960’s, starting a little more than a year after it became a Top 40 station. However, its regular sports programming largely surrounded Howard Cosell’s local and network sports commentaries.

However, Merle said that the station benefited from the association after Broadway Joe arrived and the Jets began their eventual march to the Super Bowl, which generated much attention even though some observers thought the Sunday afternoon broadcasts might hurt WABC because they interrupted the popular music programming.

The station was noted for listeners who tuned in for short periods of time because the number one song was played every 60 minutes.

“WABC had so much commercial time sold that you could hardly breath,” Merle said. “There were times when it was difficult to get a Jets promo on the air.

“However, the station was helped because Sonny Werblin knew how to attract attention,” he said.

“When I went to the 1964 World Series between the Yankees and the Cardinals, I saw a sign on a building near the subway platform by Yankee Stadium that said,’
‘Congratulations to the Yankees from the New York Jets,’” Merle recalled. “Even though the football Giants played in Yankee Stadium, Sonny was making a statement about attracting publicity wherever there were people that might notice the Jets.”

Merle said that shortly after agreeing to become the play-by-play announcer, he met with Wally Schwartz, then the general manager of WABC, who invited him to a sales meeting.

At that session, Merle, who had attended sales and marketing meetings for years with stations carrying the then Kansas City Athletics and the then Milwaukee Braves, offered to help WABC attract sponsors.

After the meeting ended, Larry Wynn, who was considered to be the best account executive at the station at that time, spoke to him and arranged for Merle to accompany him on a meeting with an advertising agency for Midas Muffler, which became a Jets sponsor.

“We were sold out for the pre-game, all four quarters and the post game,” he said. “During the game, if you were a sponsor, you had to buy a full quarter of the game.”

“The Jets eventually wanted WABC to build a network of stations,” Merle said. “But WABC said we are a network with our strong signal.”

At night the station reportedly reached 39 states and some foreign countries.

Merle recalled being in Nebraska to broadcast a basketball game and he was able to hear WABC “loud and clear.”

“WABC wanted to sell the commercials that related to their immediate audience in New York City,” he said. “If you sold to a sponsor that was only based in New York, it wasn’t going to be of any interest to the person listening in Hartford, Conn.”

During the 1964-’65 seasons, his analyst was pro football Hall of Famer Otto Graham, who also was serving at the time as the head coach at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

“He was so intelligent that he probably could have played three or four different positions,” Merle said of the noted quarterback, who guided his teams to the championship game in each of the 10 seasons that he was in pro football.

After Otto was hired as the coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, then New York Daily News sports columnist Dick Young served as the color commentator during the 1966-’67 seasons as the Jets started to show promise that they could eventually capture the AFL title.

Merle said, ironically, Howard Cosell hired Dick, although years later they became enemies.

Former ABC Sports Senior Vice President Jim Spence wrote in his 1988 autobiography, Up Close And Personal, that in his later years no sports writer angered Howard Cosell more than Dick Young.

“Dick had some of the funniest columns I ever read,” said Merle, who indicated that he enjoyed his interaction with the longtime columnist, who, according to Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated, should have received a Pulitzer Prize for his work.

“He provided anecdotes about the players,” Merle said of Dick. “He knew a lot about the players. He had a quick mind and was very glib.”

“Dick would ask questions in interview that no one else would think of,” Merle added.

Sam DeLuca - who had played six years in the AFL, including 1964-’66 with the Jets before suffering a severe knee injury – became the analyst in 1968 and continued with Merle through the 1972 season.

Merle wrote in Stories that Sam was always well-prepared as he wrote pages of notes on both teams before each week’s game.

He stated that the former offensive lineman quickly learned that given the time constraints of the broadcast that only a fraction of those notes could be used.

“Sam watched the whole field,” Merle said.

“What I saw a lot with former players when they started as color commentators was that they would watch their position and not see the whole field,” he said. “I would tell them to analyze all parts of the game.”

Merle said that although football moves at a more rapid pace than baseball, which he broadcast for many years, announcers need to allow for pauses over the air.

“You can talk the audience to death,” he said. “At the game, people want to have a second or two after a great play to talk about that with the person sitting next to them.”

“It’s the same way on radio,” Merle added. “After you describe a great play, the person listening to the game wants to discuss it briefly with the people they are with.”

The Jets, under Coach Weeb Ewbank, had gone 8-5-1 in 1967, finishing one game behind the first-place Houston Oilers in the AFL’s Eastern Division.

“I thought that they had a chance,” Merle said regarding the possibility of the Jets winning the Super Bowl that season.

“What impressed me about that year’s team was the dedication of the players,” he said.

Broadway Joe, who was known for hanging out with Frank Sinatra and other members of the Rat Pack and dating some of the most attractive women in New York City and Miami, emerged as one of pro football’s premier quarterbacks.

“I don’t think Joe ever got enough credit for what he did on the field,” Merle said. “He could read defenses better than any quarterback that I’ve seen.”

He said that even though Broadway Joe was then considered a playboy, he believed that one day he would become a devoted father.

“He loved his family,” Merle said regarding his recollections of Broadway Joe during his years with the New York Jets.

Mark Kriegel wrote in his biography of Broadway Joe that after getting divorced from his wife he became a devoted single father who would take his two daughters regularly to soccer practices near their home in Florida.

Merle recalled that when he and Broadway Joe were assigned to work an NFL game in Detroit for NBC in the late 1980’s, the first thing Joe did when he saw him at the hotel registration desk was show him a photograph from his wallet of his older daughter, who was then a pre-schooler.

During the 1968 season Merle and Sam picked up some additional listeners late in the game Nov. 17 when the Jets appeared to have a clinched a victory over the arch rival Oakland Raiders on the west coast. Both teams entered the game with 7-2 records.

In what became known as the Heidi Game, the Jets led 32-29 with 65 seconds remaining when NBC Television, which was carrying the game, cut to “Heidi,” a film based on the classic children’s story. Timex, the sponsor, had bought commercial time for 7 to 9 p.m. eastern.

However, over the final minute of play the Raiders scored 14 points to win the game, 43-32.

Jeff Long wrote in his 2003 book on the AFL, Going Long, that the more “resourceful” Jets fans in the New York City area immediately switched to WABC to hear Merle and Sam’s call of the final 65 seconds of action.

The game has been voted the 10th most memorable football game of the 20th century and has been the topic of several stories through the years, including one in T.V. Guide.

Merle said that after Coach Weeb Ewbank did his post-game interviews his wife reportedly called him in Oakland and congratulated him on the victory because she had just watched the television coverage and presumed that the Jets had held on for a victory.

WABC also had a huge audience on Dec. 29, 1968, when the Jets, who had finished the regular season 11-3, and the Raiders, who were the defending league champions, had a rematch in the AFL Championship Game at Shea Stadium, which, surprisingly, was not sold out.

“We had started having sell outs in 1966,” Merle recalled. “I was shocked that they didn’t sell out for what was then the biggest game in the team’s history.”

Due to the local blackout rule for local television, which was only lifted in the event of a sell out, the only electronic media play-by-play in the New York City area was the broadcast on WABC.

“I thought they should have sold the commercials for double the rate that day,” Merle said with a laugh.

The Jets prevailed 27-23 and immediately following the post game show, WABC air personality Chuck Leonard played “We’re A Winner,” by the Impressions, which was the station’s number 91 hit for 1968, to celebrate the Jets triumph.

Two weeks later they stunned the world, by defeating the Colts, who were 17-point favorites.

“When the Jets left the hotel in Ft. Lauderdale that day, they knew that they were going to win,” Merle said.

He said that Jerry Kramer, the noted offensive lineman of the Green Bay Packers, who had won the Super Bowl the previous two years, said that he was amazed by the Jets preparation in the days leading up to the game at the Orange Bowl.

“He was surprised that Namath was out at the pool speaking with sports writers.,” Merle said. “With the Packers the previous two years, they were so confined during the days before the game.”

“They were loose and confident before they even took the field,” said Merle, who called the game on WABC with Sam.

A record album narrated by Merle with some of the calls that he and Sam made during that 1968 season was made a short time later and is now available on compact disc at eBay.

Merle said his work on the Jets games for Musicradio77 “opened a lot of doors” over the ensuing years as he did network sports for NBC and other media outlets.

He had worked as the play by play announcer for ABC on its Major League Baseball package in 1965, when his analyst was Jackie Robinson, and other assignments through the 1960’s.

Merle said that he maintained a friendship with Howard Cosell, who died in 1995.

Howard did the Jets pre-game shows and by 1970 saw his career reach a much higher level after he became a commentator for ABC’s Monday Night Football, which was the first regular sports package to air in prime time.

“Howard came to the level of Joe Namath as far as recognition,” Merle said.

“I saw Howard in his office at ABC, and I saw some of the hate mail that he got,” Merle said. “It really bothered him. Deep down, even though he knew that he was controversial, he wanted everyone to like him.”

Merle, who has been rated by baseball broadcasting historian Curt Smith as the 32nd best announcer in the history of that sport, did Texas Rangers games from 1982 through 1989 and retired from sportscasting in 1996.

As a businessman, his Fan Fair sports clothing concept, which began with one store in Milwaukee in 1977 grew to 140 outlets by the time he sold the business in 1996, according to his autobiography.

He currently does a small number of speaking engagements each year on such topics as sports, business and life.

Merle said that he believes that ESPN, which began operations in 1979, has changed the sports media landscape.

The New York Times, for example, reported in December 2007 that the all-sports network and Internet competitors, such as Yahoo, have lured away top sports writers, such as Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated, to work on their web sites and broadcasts, causing such prominent newspaper sports sections as The Washington Post and New York Times to no longer necessarily be the ultimate destination for talented sportswriters.

“What impresses me are the people that have been with ESPN from the early days,” Merle said. “There was talk in the first year and the second year that they might not make it because it was a new concept and there wasn’t much of a cable audience.”

“I could do play-by-play for ESPN, but I couldn’t do the studio shows that they have,” he added. “Their announcers have a very good rapport with the audience and sometimes they’re not reading from a script, but are winging it.”

Merle has fond memories of the Jets 1968 season.

“It’s hard to believe that we’re coming up on the 39th anniversary of that Super Bowl,” he said a week before that milestone arrived.

“They were not a dominant team and they didn’t become a dynasty, but very few championship teams fit those categories,” Merle added. “But that was the point that the AFL topped the NFL. That war between the two leagues in the 1960’s was fun to watch.”
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The NBA telecasts on TNT are delivering double-digit ratings increases in household viewership and in key viewer demographics for the first half of the season, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Through 31 games, TNT’s NBA telecasts are averaging 1.19 million households, up 12 percent over last season. In the adults 18-49 demo, the telecasts are averaging 791,000 viewers, up 19 percent over last season. Male viewers 18-49 are up 21 percent, to 580,000. Among adults 25-54, viewership is up 22 percent to 732,000, with a similar percentage increase among men 25-54. Younger viewership is also up significantly, with adults 18-34 up 20 percent to 446,000 viewers; and men 18-34 up 26 percent to 346,000.

TNT will coverage the NBA All-Star Game and that weekend’s festivities and events exclusively. The T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and Youth Jam will be telecast on Friday, Feb. 15 at 9 p.m. TNT will televise the NBA skills competition, three-point shootout, and slam dunk competition beginning at 8 p.m. on on Saturday, Feb. 16. The NBA All-Star Game will be televised on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 8:30 p.m.

State Farm, Haier, Playstation and Foot Locker, are other presenting sponsors of the All-Star weekend telecasts.

TNT will also televise at 11 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 17, following the All-Star game, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2008 presented by Old Spice.
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Action Sports reportedly sold
Knoxville News

A Knoxville-area collegiate sports marketing firm reportedly is being acquired by a pair of competitors, continuing a trend of consolidation within the business of promoting college sports.

Learfield Sports and ISP Sports are teaming up to buy Action Sports Media of Alcoa, the industry publication SportsBusiness Journal reported Monday.

According to the SportsBusiness Journal, most of Action Sports' clients have been notified of the acquisition. A representative of the University of Mississippi's athletic department, which recently bought out the remaining portion of an Action Sports contract to sell advertisements on the football stadium video board, confirmed that Learfield/ISP had sent the university notice of the change.

Action Sports CEO Gordon Whitener would not comment on the acquisition, and executives from both Learfield and ISP did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Action Sports owns the rights to sell advertising and other promotions at 10 universities and 22 collegiate venues across the country. ISP, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., holds advertising, promotional and broadcast rights at 47 schools and athletic conferences. Learfield, based in Jefferson City, Mo., represents 40 schools and conferences.

The reported acquisition follows a push last year by global sports powerhouse IMG into college athletics. The company first bought Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Co., a trademark licensing business that represents nearly 200 schools, conferences and other collegiate properties.

In November, IMG bought Host Communications, the media-rights holder for University of Tennessee athletics and other schools and conferences, for $74.3 million, creating a dominant company in the collegiate sports marketing field.

With the reported acquisition by Learfield and ISP, it's unclear what will happen to the other parts of Action Sports' business. The company also owns a 50 percent stake in two local sports talk radio stations, runs a college sports-themed social networking Web site, sells a software application for sound management at sporting events and publishes high school football magazines in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Action Sports is the majority owner of the Big Orange Army fan club, but club founder David Jamison said he is in the process of buying back the company from Action Sports.

Jamison said he is working with a California investment group to expand the Big Orange Army's model to other colleges and professional sports teams.

"The sports marketing thing is changing for Action," Jamison said. "Action's been great with us. They did everything they said they were going to do."
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Former broadcaster, NFL star Maas gets probation on gun, drug charges
Canadian Press
PEKIN, Ill. - Former NFL lineman Bill Maas and his girlfriend will serve two years of probation for gun and drug charges under a plea agreement.

Maas, 45, and Sarah J. Murphy, 27, both of Lee's Summit, Mo., agreed to fines, plus community service and drug treatment programs in their home state, instead of jail time in Illinois, the (Peoria) Journal Star reported. The agreement was worked out Monday, Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz told the paper.

Maas, also a former Fox Sports analyst, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful use of a weapon, while prosecutors dropped two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Murphy pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance and a second count was dropped.

Illinois State Police said they found a bag of cocaine, a bag of Ecstasy tablets and a loaded .22-calibre revolver after they stopped Maas' Hummer during a roadside safety check July 6 in East Peoria.
Maas must complete 100 hours of community service, while Murphy will have to complete 30 hours.

Both were fined US$1,000 and will have to pay other fines and costs.

Umholtz said that he might reinstate the original charges if the two fail to comply with the probation terms.

Successful completion of the probation means Maas will be able to keep his job as a personality on TV hunting shows, which requires him to handle firearms, Umholtz said.
"We wanted to allow this defendant to remain employed," he said. "We always have an interest in defendants remaining employed."

In September, Maas was detained at Kansas City International Airport after federal screeners found a 9 mm handgun in his carry-on bag. The weapon was confiscated and Mass was questioned and released.

Maas was rookie of the year with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1984 and played with them until 1992. He later played for the Green Bay Packers before working as a Fox NFL analyst from 1996 to 2006.

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YES! CONE BACK ON NETWORK
NY Post

David Cone officially returned to the YankeesNew York Yankees organization yesterday as a member of the YES Network.

The Post's Joel Sherman first reported the possibility of the former hurler returning to YES last week. Cone, 45, will fill the gaps at the Yankees' network left by Joe Girardi and David Justice.

Girardi left to become the Yankees' manager. Justice decided to take a step back after allegations in the Mitchell Report said he was involved in steroid and HGH use. Justice also said he needed to work on rebuilding his home that was destroyed in the Southern California wildfires.

Cone, who was on the Players' Association negotiating team during the 1994-95 strike when management proposed drug testing, expressed regret about the steroid era.

"Certainly in retrospect, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Certainly I share some of that blame as being involved with the players' association at that time," Cone said yesterday. "It's something I'm not proud of. It's humbling. It's embarrassing."

Cone plans to do between 50 and 75 appearances as a booth and studio analyst. He wants to believe the allegations against Clemens aren't true.

"We played on championship teams together. It affects our era," Cone said. "And certainly I'm in a position to want to defend that era. But at the same time I understand how people may look back a little differently depending on how history is going to be written on this particular issue."

Another question mark at YES is the health of color analyst Bobby Murcer, who continues to recover from brain-tumor surgery. Murcer worked some games last year, but how often he will be available this season is still up in the air.
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Harrelson extended through 2011
Chicago Tribune

You can put it on the board, yessss! Ken "Hawk" Harrelson will remain in the White Sox television booth through at least 2011 after signing a three-year extension.This season will be Harrelson's 23rd as a Sox broadcaster and his 19th in a row. He has teamed with former Sox and Cub outfielder Darrin
Jackson for the last nine years.The deal keeps the 66-year-old Harrelson, who has been nominated for the broadcasters’ wing in the Baseball Hall of Fame, behind the mike for both Comcast and WGN-Ch. 9 broadcasts.

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Royals announce 142-game FSN schedule
Topeka Capital-Journal

The Kansas City Royals and Fox Sports Net announced Wednesday the 142-game television schedule for the 2008 season. The regular season broadcasts start at 12:05 p.m. April 2 at Detroit.

All three games of the home-opening series against the New York Yankees, April 8-10, will be on FSN.

Ryan Lefebvre will provide the play-by-play call on all telecasts, with Paul Splittorff serving as analyst for the majority of the games. Most telecasts will feature a pre-game and postgame show, hosted by Joel Goldberg.

The TV schedule features 66 road games and 74 games from Kauffman Stadium. Two exhibition games from Surprise, Ariz., are on FSN — March 20 vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers and March 24 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Both games start at 8:05 p.m.

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Dickie V Is Back, Baby
AP
Dick Vitale's first "Welcome Back" came well before the start of the Duke-North Carolina game.

College basketball's signature analyst-ambassador arrived at the Smith Center on Wednesday about five hours before he was to return to the air after two months away while he underwent and recovered from throat surgery.

And Vitale couldn't believe the reception he received.

As he turned the corner toward the media entrance, Vitale was suddenly in the middle of the North Carolina students already in line to get the prime seats for the game against their archrival.

"Dickie V. Dickie V."

The students, who have been known for changing his nickname to "Dukie V." on occasion because of some perceptions that he favors the "other" school in the rivalry, were genuinely excited to see the man who coined so many phrases that have become part of the lexicon of college basketball.

"Get a T-O, baby."

"This game's an M&Mer."

"You're a P-T-Per."

"Shoot the rock."

The more the students cheered and chanted, the closer Vitale got to crying and eventually the tears streamed down his face. And tipoff for the ESPN telecast between No. 2 Duke and No. 3 North Carolina was still hours away.

"This is unbelievable. It's been like this since Dec. 5 when I found out about the lesions in my throat," said Vitale, a man who admits he's emotional most of the time anyway. "The phone calls, the notes and letters, the gift baskets. How lucky can a man be? On Dec. 5 I never thought I'd be here again."
It's hard to imagine college basketball without Vitale. His coaching career never brought him this kind of attention. His broadcasting career started in 1979 and he's been with ESPN ever since.

Hardly a broadcast journalism example for diction and decorum, Vitale has left his feelings out there for almost three decades and the last two months let him know his unique style was appreciated and missed.

At 5:20, Vitale had to tape an interview that would be played during SportsCenter. When the red light went on he was answering with enthusiasm and his voice was echoing around an empty Smith Center.
The cameramen and technicians were sitting in the first few rows of the lower level and as Vitale's voice started booming, the smiles and nods started. Dickie V. was back.

When the interview ended, one fan up on the course level screamed "Dickie V." and started bowing from the waist with his arms extended.

One of the hardest parts of his first day back was that Vitale couldn't accommodate local TV radio stations for brief pregame interviews, a staple of his pre-surgery days.

"I feel so bad I can't talk to them all but it's doctor's order," he said.

Every turndown, instead of being greeted with a head shake or a grumble, was met with a handshake and a welcome.

"I feel like I'm 12 years old again. When you're laying in a hospital bed you feel 68," he said using his age. "I want to be 12."

Vitale bumped into Tim Brando, who was doing the play-by-play for Raycom, which was also broadcasting the game. After a hug and some small talk, Brando told Vitale about a concoction he used to help his voice during games after nodules were found on his vocal chords five years ago.

"You take ginger root and slice it like a potato, mix it with warm water and ... ," was all Brando, who did his first game for ESPN with Vitale next to him in January 1985, got out.

"Please tell that to Lorraine," Vitale said referring to his wife. "I can't remember all that."
When he sat eating his pregame meal and drinking plenty of water (another doctor's order that left him worrying about where the closest men's room was from the midcourt broadcast position), Vitale admitted the last time he was this anxious before a game was when he was coaching at the University of Detroit.

"We had won 20 straight and were playing Marquette in Milwaukee and needed to win the game to make sure we got an invitation to the NCAA tournament that at that time was just 32 teams," he said.

"This is my Super Bowl. This is a very special moment in my career and my life."
And it was smooth at the start.

Following one more "welcome back" from play-by-play partner Mike Patrick, Vitale — in a strong voice that showed he has been doing his exercises such as singing children songs — again expressed his joy at being able to do what he loves. Then, it was time to analyze the game.

After Duke beat North Carolina, 89-78, Vitale walked across the court with a huge smile on his face and summed the day up as only he can:

"It was awesome, baby."
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Cubs announce TV schedule
The Daily Herald

The Cubs on Wednesday announced their regular season television broadcast schedule. For the first time, all 162 games will be available in high-definition in the Chicago area.

WGN will televise the Cubs' March 31 season opener vs. Milwaukee, while Comcast SportsNet will televise its first game on April 2, the club's second game of the campaign.

Cubs games have been televised by WGN since 1948 and by WCIU since 2000. This will be Comcast SportsNet's fourth season televising the Cubs.

Len Kasper and Bob Brenly return for their fourth season in the Cubs' broadcast booth. The duo was recognized following the 2006 season with a local Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence On Camera: Programming, Play-by-Play.

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Network puts on good show in stunning Super Bowl upset
Pro Football Weekly

Thoughts on Super Bowl TV coverage:

Fox presented an epic Super Bowl with a thoroughly professional, credible broadcast that — like the game — got better as it went along.

Even as tension built, there was no breathlessness or hyperbole from play-by-play man Joe Buck, who deftly described the final minutes.

Buck didn’t make any glaring errors, and smartly suggested the Patriots might throw deep down the middle to TE Ben Watson. Within a minute after that, New England did just that, and the Giants committed a penalty against Watson in the endzone.

Buck often failed to identify who made the tackle or who was defending on pass plays in the first half.

And early in the game, Buck left us hanging by saying, “Two players down for the Patriots,” but not identifying them before a commercial break.

But Buck became more detailed in his call in the second half and did his best work in the game’s defining moments.

Several times, Fox analyst Troy Aikman noticed what viewers might have missed, or couldn’t see before replays. On an incomplete deep pass to Giants WR Plaxico Burress, Aikman noted WR Amani Toomer was open and would have gained 18 yards or so. He observed that before Giants WLB Kawika Mitchell’s sack against Patriots QB Tom Brady, Mitchell faked as if he planned to drop into pass coverage, fooling Brady.

Aikman adeptly explained how the Giants used blitzes to harass Brady and how they weren’t challenging Patriots WR Wes Welker enough at the line of scrimmage, and alertly noted the Giants decided to double-team Welker instead of Randy Moss on Moss’ late touchdown.

Aikman asserted that just because Moss was being double-covered earlier, the Patriots couldn’t use that as an excuse for not getting him the ball for most of the game because other opponents had used that strategy. “They can find ways to get him the ball,” Aikman said. But he should have elaborated.
Unlike CBS, Fox doesn’t superimpose stats for quarterbacks after passing plays or running backs after rushing attempts. Fox could have done a better job updating stats for the playmakers.

But Fox scored with several super-slow-motion replays, including David Tyree’s remarkable catch late in the game, and a couple of timely replays of Peyton Manning’s reactions to plays by brother Eli.

At times, it was difficult to distinguish Fox’s pregame show from something you might see on E! Network. Eager to appeal to a wider audience, Fox promised more entertainment and less hardcore football talk.

And the imbalance was particularly striking from 3:30 to 5:10 p.m. EST, when entertainment segments dominated, and scantily clad weathercaster Jillian Reynolds felt compelled to ask Victoria Secret models what makes NFL players sexy.

In Fox’s defense, the musical performances, comedy bits from Frank Caliendo and a segment on the production of Super Bowl commercials added pizzazz and flavor to the four-hour pregame. But Ryan Seacrest’s red carpet interviews offered few amusing or entertaining moments, and generally became a tedious exercise of asking celebs for predictions.

“How historical would it be if the Patriots win?” was the best question Seacrest could offer commissioner Roger Goodell. (Pretty darn historical, I’m guessing.) Seacrest oddly opted to close that interview with “thanks, man.”

Biggest-name guests on the red carpet: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Nick Lachey and Paula Abdul.

Fox continued to show little respect for the 1972 Dolphins. “The Steelers, 49ers, Cowboys and Bears were actually better teams,” Jimmy Johnson said.

And Terry Bradshaw took issue with some ’72 Dolphins openly hoping to remain the only unbeaten NFL team in history. “You shouldn’t be so selfish about it,” Bradshaw said. “I want to shut that bunch up.”

After Johnson suggested it wouldn’t have helped the Patriots if they indeed taped the Rams’ walk-through the day before the 2002 Super Bowl (as the Boston Herald reported), Fox host Curt Menefee said to Johnson: “You and Bill Belichick are (friends). You’re not just covering for him?” Johnson obviously said no.

Dumbest pregame segment: Fox having New York and Boston sports fans insult each other’s cities during a staged argument on a neighborhood street.

Most ridiculous comment of Super Bowl week: After Burress predicted a 23-17 New York win, ESPN’s
Emmitt Smith said, “His prediction will get him double coverage.” Burress got doubled a lot, but not because of what he said. (Smith said after the game that “The Patriots’ strength got debacled.” Ugh.)

Best question of the week: NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, on players taping media day with video cameras: “Who would want to watch THAT again?”

Media at its intrusive worst: To the New York Post, which not only joined other paparazzi by camping out in front of Brady’s apartment the week after the conference championships, but also called doctors’ offices in the Manhattan building that Brady visited. After dialing up a podiatrist and a chiropractor, the Post called a hair-restoration treatment center, asked if Brady was there, got a “no comment” and reported it, because, apparently, the public absolutely must know.

Fox’s bonus Super Bowl-viewing facts: 13 percent of adults hold Super Bowl parties; 15 percent order take-out on game day; and antacid sales rise 25 percent the day after the game.

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FiOS1, Verizon's Local TV Channel, Produces Live Broadcast, With George Mason Tipping Off Against Delaware in Men's Division 1 NCAA College Basketball
CNNMoney.com

Verizon's FiOS1 local TV channel will produce its first live broadcast on Feb. 20 when it telecasts the Division 1 NCAA men's college basketball game between the George Mason University Patriots and the University of Delaware Blue Hens. Coverage of the game, at the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University, begins at 9 p.m. FiOS1, Verizon's first local TV channel in the United States, already televises local professional and college sports.

"Verizon's FiOS1 is committed to delivering content that touches lives and shows our commitment to communities," said Michelle Webb, executive producer and general manager of FiOS1. "We're proud to bring our customers live coverage of a critical matchup, as George Mason University