NBC is making its Sunday night NFL games available via online streaming at NBC.com and NFL.com. The network and league say this is "the first time complete NFL games will be widely available in the U.S. via live online streaming."

You won't get just a version of the TV game on your computer, however. Added features online include: alternative camera angles, picture-in-picture to watch other streams and access to on-demand highlights.

NBC referred to the online version of the games as "a one-year experiment." NBC's first Sunday Night Football Extra begins on a Thursday, with the league opener Sept. 4 between the Redskins and Giants.

# # #

I saw this item at Deadspin (be advised for some blue language in the comment section), but I'm sure it's all over the Web by now, given that it involves Erin Andrews and her bed. To summarize: Like many fans, she has a superstitious routine when she watches her Gators play football or basketball in order to ensure victory. But it's not a lucky hat or shirt. Andrews, according to Sporting News Today, said: "I have to be upstairs, sitting on my bed. My bed has to be totally cleared of the pillows, comforter and blanket. This began during Florida’s run to their second basketball national championship. The team was trailing Purdue, I was so nervous and upset, I kicked everything off my bed … and they started winning.”

Posted by Ray Frager at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

When it comes to TV viewing, my wife and I have somewhat divergent interests. As in she'll tell me, "You know I don't like watching that!" The "that" could cover a multitude of programming sins, from a showing of Caddyshack to an episode of Family Guy to Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show monologue to just about anything related to sports. On the other hand, she wishes I wouldn't go running from the room every time she pops in a DVD of something with British actors wearing period costumes and riding around in coaches.

So it was kind of surprising when she didn't lunge for the remote or the doorway when I was watching HBO's Costas Now last night. If you like baseball even a little bit, you had to enjoy this show, another "town hall" kind of program featuring a wide-ranging discussion of the sport. The room included a sparkling handful of Hall of Famers -- Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson, Dave Winfield.

In fact, the Hall of Fame was one topic worked over while Costas spoke with Winfield, Palmer and -- via remote hookup -- Pete Rose. Palmer favored Rose's inclusion in the Hall, but Winfield less so. Winfield was quite forceful in opposition to putting steroid-enhanced players into Cooperstown, while Palmer -- in that way he sometimes has of interrupting himself before completing a thought -- sounded more in favor of a balanced look at a player's career. Former Sun columnist and current Fox baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal explained some of the rationale for voters as they start to face the candidacy of suspected performance-enhanced players. Rose was asked his advice to Roger Clemens and said he would tell Clemens just to come clean, as Rose waited far too long to do. Overall, Rose's appearance just left me feeling sad.

No such sadness, however, attended the interview of Aaron and Mays. The latter displayed none of the bitterness that has accompanied some media appearances. Mays was quite gracious. And Aaron exuded the dignity and pride mixed with humility that makes one wish he was still statistically baseball's home run king.

A good chunk of the talk was about use of steroids or other drugs, past and present. And here is where my wife comes in. When the discussion turned to how major leaguers would take amphetamines to give them a boost during what can be a long season, say, a day game after a night game, she found no sympathy for pill-popping players. I didn't actually take notes, but her rant went something like this: "Aw, those poor guys. What do they do that makes them so tired? They sit around waiting to swing the bat? And they go to bat maybe four or five times? Aw, that's sooooooo tiring. And then they just stand around in the field until they have to pick up that little ball and throw it? Poor babies. It's not like they're playing football."

And so it went on. Next time she's watching some BBC-produced drama, maybe I'll offer my opinion of how I never knew what Emma Thompson saw in Kenneth Branagh. 

Posted by Ray Frager at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

... Anita Marks.

Starting today, to fill the void left by the end of John Riggins' radio talk show, MASN will simulcast Marks' ESPN 1300 program for another 90 minutes, going up to baseball programming at 6:30 p.m. Marks already was being aired 3 to 5 and her radio show goes up to 6:30 anyway, so it's sort of just like leaving the cameras on for another hour and a half.

MASN could end up filling the latter part of that slot in another manner, though. Come football season, Marks will have to leave her studio earlier because of co-hosting duties on evening Ravens shows.

Posted by Ray Frager at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                       

ESPN brings back College Football Live today at 3:30 p.m., and it's never going away.

OK, one should never say "never," but the network says Monday marks the beginning of a regular weekday, year-round College Football Live presence. And for such a momentous occasion, the host of the first two shows will be Brent Musburger before Rece Davis claims his anchor seat on Wednesday. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow appear on Monday's program.

The analyst rotation includes Todd Blackledge, Rod Gilmore, Bob Griese, Desmond Howard, Trevor Mattich, Mark May, Jesse Palmer and Andre Ware.

The show last aired in January.

With so much offseason to cover through the year, we can expect plenty of recruiting news -- which some people can't get enough of and some of us believe is contributing to the crumbling of Western Civilization.

Of course, we have to include a photo of Palmer from his stint as The Bachelor. What, you wanted Howard in his Heisman pose?

Posted by Ray Frager at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

Some of you might listen to Washington's all-sports station, WTEM (980 AM), which carries into a chunk of the Baltimore area. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder's Red Zebra Broadcasting this week announced programming changes at WTEM. Red Zebra will install ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike and Colin Cowherd shows in the morning, replacing syndicated programs, including Dan Patrick's.

The Doc Walker, John Thompson and Steve Czaban-Andy Pollin shows remain. The WTEM programming will be simulcast on three other Red Zebra stations in the Washington area. That means no more John Riggins show on those three stations, but Red Zebra says Riggins will appear on Redskins game day and Monday programming.

The changes take effect Monday.

# # #

And as for the pickup basketball update ...

A bravely foolish group of eight went dribbling out in the midday heat, inaugurating a new court. For some reason, however, the good folks of Howard County have some trouble figuring out the height of their rims. Two of the baskets were about 10 1/2 feet high, one was about 9 feet and a fourth about 8 feet. Oh, well, at least the playground kept Dead Man Walking's two grandsons occupied.

The group chose one of the extra tall baskets. Speaking of extra tall, no one close to 6 feet tall was there to oppose Z, but he graciously refused to simply post up. Shot of the day: a three-pointer that nearly put a hole in the backboard before dropping through for Stevie B. Gutting it out: B-Hop played on despite being under the weather and also guarded Z.

Posted by Ray Frager at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

NBC has announced its announcing and reporting teams for the Beijing Olympics on the network and other outlets, such as USA Network, CNBC and MSNBC. Here, mostly copy and pasted to avoid any twinges of carpal tunnel syndrome, is the list:

HOSTS: Bob Costas, Jim Lampley, Mary Carillo, Alex Flanagan, Matt Vagersian, Melissa Stark, Bill Patrick, Fred Roggin, Lindsay Czarniak. 

CORRESPONDENTS: Cris Collinsworth, Mary Carillo, Jimmy Roberts. 

GYMNASTICS: Al Trautwig, play-by-play; Elfi Schlegel, analyst; Tim Daggett, analyst; Andrea Joyce, reporter.

TRAMPOLINE GYMNASTICS: Al Trautwig, play-by-play; Elfi Schlegel, analyst; Tim Daggett, analyst.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS: Andrea Joyce, play-by-play; Elfi Schlegel, analyst.

TRACK AND FIELD: Tom Hammond, play-by-play; Lewis Johnson , analyst; Carol Lewis, analyst; Dwight Stones, analyst; Ato Boldin, analyst; Craig Masback, analyst; Ed Eyestone, analyst; Bob Neumeier, reporter.

RACE WALKING: Ron Vaccaro, play-by-play; Ed Eyestone, analyst; Carol Lewis, analyst.

SWIMMING: Dan Hicks, play-by-play; Rowdy Gaines, analyst; Andera Kremer, reporter.

OPEN WATER SWIMMING: Craig Hummer, play-by-play; Rowdy Gaines, analyst.

DIVING: Ted Robinson, play-by-play; Cynthia Potter, analyst; Bob Neumeier, reporter. Andrea Kremer, reporter.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Chris Marlowe, play-by-play; Karch Kiraly, analyst; Heather Cox, reporter.

INDOOR VOLLEYBALL: Paul Sunderland, play-by-play; Kevin Barnett, analyst.

CYCLING (Road/BMX/Mountain Bike): Pat Parnell, play-by-play; Craig Hummer, play-by-play; Kenan Harkin, analyst; Paul Sherwin, analyst; Marty Snider, reporter.

TRIATHLON: Craig Hummer, play-by-play; Siri Lindley, analyst; Marty Snider, reporter.

BASKETBALL: Mike Breen, play-by-play; Chris Carrino, play-by-play; Mike Crispino, play-by-play; Pete Pranica, play-by-play; Eric Collins, play-by-play; Teresa Edwards, analyst; Doug Collins, analyst; Ann Meyers, analyst; Bob Salmi, analyst; Craig Sager, reporter.

ROWING: Tim Ryan, play-by-play; Yaz Farooq, analyst.

CANOEING (Flat Water): Tim Ryan, play-by-play; Joe Jacobi, analyst.

CANOEING (White Water): Craig Hummer, play-by-play; Pat Parnell, play-by-play; Joe Jacobi, analyst.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: Craig Hummer, play-by-play; Heather Olson, analyst.

WRESTLING: Matt Devlin, play-by-play; Rulon Gardner, analyst.

WATER POLO: Bob Fitzgerald, play-by-play; Wolf Wigo, analyst.

BOXING: Bob Papa, play-by-play; Teddy Atlas, analyst; Jim Gray, reporter.

MODERN PENTATHLON: Ron Vaccaro, play-by-play; Rob Stull, analyst.

WEIGHTLIFTING: Pete Pranica, play-by-play; Shane Hamman, analyst.

EQUESTRIAN: Kenny Rice, play-by-play; Melanie Smith-Taylor, analyst.

SOFTBALL: Joe Castellano, play-by-play; Michele Smith, analyst.

SOCCER: JP Dellacamera, play-by-play; Glenn Davis, play-by-play; Adrian Healey, play-by-play; Steve Cangialosi, play-by-play; Marcelo Balboa, analyst; Brandi Chastain, analyst; Shep Messing, analyst; Lori Walker, analyst.

TENNIS: Barry MacKay, play-by-play; Jimmy Arias, analyst.

BASEBALL: Eric Collins, play-by-play; Joe Magrane, analyst.

HANDBALL: Andrew Catalon, play-by-play; Dawn Lewis, analyst.

TABLE TENNIS: Bill Clement, play-by-play; Sean O'Neill, analyst.

BADMINTON: Jim Kozimor, play-by-play; Steve Kearney, analyst; Bill Clement, analyst.

FENCING: Joe Castellano, play-by-play; Pete Pranica, play-by-play; Andrew Catalon, play-by-play; Mika'il Sankofa, analyst.

ARCHERY: Joe Castellano, play-by-play; Denise Parker, analyst.

SHOOTING: Bill Clement, play-by-play; Shari LeGate, analyst.

FIELD HOCKEY: Mike Corey, play-by-play; Nick Conway, analyst.

SPORTSDESK REPORTERS: Lester Holt, Peter Alexander, Eyee Hsu, Julie Foudy, Lindsay Czarniak, Alan Abrahamson, Lindsay Soto, Nancy Snyderman.

Posted by Ray Frager at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                       

Or maybe it's more like hate-love. He was never the fun guy, the enthusiasm guy like Dick Vitale or Bill Raftery, so Billy Packer didn't engender much affection from college basketball fans. So now that he's giving up college basketball commentary, many certainly are ready to celebrate as if their team just got a No. 3 seed in a weak regional.

For example, Barry Horn of The Dallas Morning News wrote: "As the years passed ... he grew overbearing, arrogant, condescending, dismissive and petulant. There is only so much anyone can take from a know-it-all uncle who humorlessly preaches he is the smartest man in the room. Most viewers have long had their fill of Packer."

From Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times: "Billy Packer had become old-school -- and not in the good way of paying attention to detail or studying hard before he would go on the air, but in the way of a crotchety old guy who chases neighborhood kids out of the yard. ... What stood out about Packer over the last few years was inability to project joy. He had one of the most recognizable voices in NCAA tournament history but never sounded as if he was having fun."

Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post noted Packer's flaws, but ultimately came down on the side of appreciating his body of work: "Nobody has been as good at explaining and analyzing a college basketball game. .. His very presence at a game lifted its importance and made it a bigger event than if someone else was calling it."

Over the years, I have heard from Maryland fans who sounded convinced that Packer had an anti-Terps bias, though I suspect you could probably find fans of plenty of teams just as convinced that Packer hated their schools, too. What Packer needed was what he had back in the days when he was paired with Al McGuire: Someone whose joie de vivre -- especially joie de hoops -- would balance Packer's informed, though dry analysis, which could, yes, devolve into the style of "a know-it-all uncle." You know, it might not have been so bad if CBS had decided to team Packer with his replacement, Clark Kellogg.

Photo by Getty Images 

Posted by Ray Frager at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

Though the TBS telecast of the Orioles-Red Sox game Sunday was blacked out here, TBS sent along some highlights of analyst Ron Darling's comments. Here's some of what he had to say about the Orioles:

On Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts' taking unusually short leads off of first base: “[Roberts] doesn’t get much of a lead  for a base stealer.  He really tries to time the pitcher.  He stays close to the bag so he’s assured of not getting picked off.  He tries to time it and get a walking lead.”

On the change of philosophy with the Orioles pitching staff with the addition of pitching coach Rick Kranitz: “When you have a coach like Leo Mazzone, it’s almost like having a celebrity pitching coach because he had all that fame with the great pitchers in Atlanta.  So when [Mazzone] came to Baltimore, he tried to use the same philosophy that he used in Atlanta.  What has happened with Rick Kranitz is he has decided to work with each pitcher individually and using each of their own strength.”

On the Orioles lineup: "When you look at the lineup of the Orioles, you see a lot of seventh- and second-place hitters.  They don’t have a really big bat in the lineup.  When you get down to the bottom of the lineup, you’ve got a veteran player like [Jay] Payton, who is an accomplished hitter, but you’ve also got [Guillermo] Quiroz and [Freddie] Bynum.  They are players that when you’re on your best day, those are the guys you should get out.”

On manager Dave Trembley comparing center fielder Adam Jones with former center fielder Eric Davis: “[That] is heady stuff.  It’s stuff that managers shouldn’t blurt out unless they believe it, because you never want to put young players in that position to try and be that great.  But [Jones] has improved his defense since spring training.  He’s become a real solid center fielder. ... They picture him as someone who is going to have a lot of power and drive in a lot of runs.”

Posted by Ray Frager at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

ESPN has changed its plans for the live weekday morning SportsCenter rotation that begins next month. Instead of starting at 6, the live shows will begin at 9. Until then, ESPN will rerun the latest SportsCenter from the night before, as it does now.

This means we won't be able to wake up to the smiling face of Linda Cohn, who had been scheduled to anchor the 6-9 block with Steve Berthiaume.

Guess I'll be sleeping in more often.

Posted by Ray Frager at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

Did anyone notice that Showtime yesterday announced its lineup for the network's new version of Inside the NFL?

It wasn't the best day to do so, because NBC has reunited Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann for its Football Night in America NFL Sunday night highlights/pre-game show. This, of course, is cause for much celebration. And here's Patrick's best line about it: "I will be doing the highlights for the red states and Keith will be doing the highlights for the blue states."

This can't be a full return of "The Big Show" from the halcyon days of their pairing on SportsCenter, but we'll take it. However, we can only expect so much of that bantering and on-air chemistry. After all, NBC's show still will be overseen by Bob Costas, and Cris Collinsworth and the analyst crew still need room to analyze.

But if it were me, I'd turn the whole show over to Patrick and Olbermann.

Meanwhile, Showtime has put together a team of James Brown, Phil Simms and Collinsworth for the CBS-NFL Films production of Inside the NFL. Each is among TV's best in his own right, but we'll have to see how they mesh. Having Brown is a big plus in that regard, because few hosts set up his colleagues as well.

You want to hear more about the Patrick-to-NBC move? Here are highlights of the Monday conference call as provided by NBC:

OLBERMANN ON WORKING WITH PATRICK: "The key ingredient we had working together was whatever you thought we were doing out there, the actual intent of the program was an attempt by him to crack me up or by me to crack him up. As long as we kept that undercurrent going, we knew it would be fairly entertaining for the audience."

PATRICK ON THE FOOTBALL NIGHT TEAM: "I wanted to work for Dick Ebersol; I wanted to work with Bob Costas; and then you combine that with working with Keith; I've got Collinsworth who is the best analyst in the business, so I was walking into a table that was already set. We'll have fun but we'll have fun because I know all of these people. I covered Collinsworth when he was a rookie for the Bengals."

OLBERMANN ON WORKING AGAIN WITH PATRICK: "I know he still gets this and I still get this, people say all the time that 'we wish we could see you guys working together.' As good as he is and as good as I am as opposed to as good as I think I am, when we work together, we're as good as any five people in the business, I think. That's the magic that is clearly not going to be created in any way, shape or form, it just happens. I feel very fortunate that Dan chose to do this and that Dick and Bob and everybody else signed off on it. It's very fortunate to get a second chance to make the proverbial first impression."

EBERSOL ON ADDING PATRICK: "This is one of the more pleasurable announcements that I've been able to make these last 19 years.

"Last year, we added one person and the show was a hell of a lot better than it was the first year. This year we're adding another and I suspect it will get even that much better."

PATRICK ON HIS HIATUS FROM TV: "I watch with a critical eye but I also watch with great admiration for those who can do it and do it well. So I didn't sit there and go 'I can do that better.' I had a harder time watching SportsCenter, I'll grant you that. You do that for so long, you do it for 18 years, and then it's kind of hard to watch. It's sort of like Brett Favre having to watch Aaron Rodgers with the Packers. Maybe that's what it is, I don't know. It's something along those lines."

PATRICK ON ORIGIN OF HIS MOVE TO NBC: "In talking to Bob Costas, Bob brought it up sort of off-the-cuff, and I said I'd love to approach Dick Ebersol about it, and he said 'Oh, I'll do that,' and then he did. I talked to Keith a couple times on and off and it happened pretty quickly. So here I am, ready to do some football with Keith and certainly with Bob and having Bob signing off on it was very important because I trusted his judgment being able to sort of handle this and be the conductor in there. I look forward to it. It brings me back certainly working with Keith. I've never had a better partner to work with and it should be fun."

EBERSOL ON PATRICK'S ROLE OUTSIDE FOOTBALL: "Dan's field is football and the Super Bowl in the years we have the Super Bowl. He also will be involved with us in the Olympics starting in Vancouver. We have not talked about doing anything beyond that principally because he's got a five day a week, three hour program and he has four children, and he'd like to be home on alternate Saturdays, so at this point we have not talked about anything more largely due to his family desires."

PATRICK ON ROLE AT VANCOUVER OLYMPICS:
PATRICK: "I like the two-man luge; Keith and I have done that before."
OLBERMANN: "You haven't seen Matt Lauer and Al Roker together on a luge? It's quite a site."
PATRICK: "I was hoping for Meredith Viera, but if Al Roker's available, I'll take him."

ON PATRICK'S AND OLBERMANN'S RELATIONSHIPS WITH ESPN:
PATRICK: "It had nothing to do with Keith burning bridges because Keith was still working with ESPN radio."
OLBERMANN: "I was still working with ESPN Radio after Dan left. I'm in fact the 'good one.'"
PATRICK: "It took 18 years, but Keith is the good one. He's the good son."

COSTAS ON OLBERMANN AND PATRICK: "I think it's a great idea because it reunites one of the great combinations ever in TV sports. I've been in favor of the idea ever since NBC Sports reacquired the NFL but we haven't been able to work it out until now."

Posted by Ray Frager at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
                       

You know how sports ratings news here often includes the information that Baltimore's numbers have been below the national average? Not this time. The rating for Saturday morning's Wimbledon women's final on WBAL ranked as fifth-highest among the nation's biggest TV markets. The 5.4 percent of the audience trailed only West Palm Beach, Fla. (6.8); Richmond, Va. (6.4); Norfolk, Va. (5.6); and St. Louis (5.5.)

                                                               Getty Images 

Posted by Ray Frager at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

After his radio comments about preferring to watch The Bachelorette over sports cast him in an unflattering light, Fox's Joe Buck let everyone know -- through The New York Times -- that he really is a sports fan.

“I do watch sports. How could I not? Just for self-preservation,” Buck told the Times.

And he loves baseball.

“To me, baseball is, in some ways, other than my family and wife, my life, and it always will be,” he said.

Posted by Ray Frager at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

Joe Buck was discussing baseball on Colin Cowherd's ESPN Radio show this week -- especially comparing it with the NFL -- and wasn't genuflecting before the altar of the emerald chessboard. Sure, he was probably kidding when he said he'd prefer to watch The Bachelorette over a baseball game, but it was not exactly the kind of attitude you might have expected from Fox's voice of baseball. Afterward, Skip Bayless laid into him pretty good on First Take. Scroll down and listen to the clips. (Go past the Bayless and listen to Buck first, then go back to Bayless.)

Posted by Ray Frager at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

Maybe Shaq can rap about what high ratings taste like.

With the month just ended, the six games of the NBA Finals finished as the top six highest-rated shows overall on TV for June, drawing from 13.4 million to 17.4 million viewers. In fact, eight of the top 10 shows for June were sports, with the Belmont Stakes coming in seventh and the Sunday  fourth round of the U.S. Open ninth. All but the golf were on ABC. NBC had the U.S. Open, as well as the two episodes of America's Got Talent that finished eighth and 10th.

Posted by Ray Frager at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)