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... which college football games your favorite (or least favorite) ESPN announcers were calling this weekend, here's the list:
Friday
7 p.m. ESPN Classic Temple at Army Eric Collins and Shaun King
8 p.m. ESPN SMU at Rice Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore
noon ESPN No. 17 Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina (from Charlotte) Dave Pasch and Andre Ware
noon ESPN2 Syracuse at Northwestern Pam Ward and Ray Bentley
3:30 p.m. ABC No. 3 USC at Virginia Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Stacey Dales
3:30 p.m. ESPN2 Utah at Michigan Terry Gannon, David Norrie and Jeanine Edwards
5 p.m. ESPN Appalachian State at No. 7 LSU Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone
6:45 p.m. ESPN2 Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech Bob Wischusen and Brock Huard
8 p.m. ABC No. 24 Alabama vs. No. 9 Clemson (from Atlanta) Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters and Erin Andrews
8:30 p.m. ESPN No. 20 Illinois vs. No. 6 Missouri (from St. Louis) Mark Jones, Bob Davie and Todd Harris
Sunday
2 p.m. ESPN2 Jackson State vs. Hampton Charlie Neal, Jay Walker and Quint Kessenich
3:30 p.m. ESPN Kentucky at Louisville Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore
4 p.m. ESPN Fresno State at Rutgers Dave Pasch, Andre Ware and Rob Stone
8 p.m. ESPN No. 18 Tennessee at UCLA Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe
Baltimore, which had been among the top five markets for Olympic prime-time ratings through the first half of the Games, finished in a tie for sixth. Hey, Michael Phelps can't also run track and play volleyball. A look at the top 10:
1. Denver 23.1
1. Salt Lake City 23.1
3. Minneapolis 22.1
4. Indianapolis 21.3
4. San Diego 21.3
6. Baltimore 21.1
6. Oklahoma City 21.1
8. Nashville, Tenn. 21.0
9. Columbus, Ohio 20.4
10. Portland, Ore. 20.2
The final average overall rating was 16.2, or 27.7 million viewers. That's up 8 percent in rating and 13 percent in viewers over Athens four years ago. NBC promises final numbers for total viewers today, but it says the 211 million viewers who watched the Games through Saturday already have made it the most-viewed event ever in U.S. television, surpassing the 1996 Atlanta Olympics' 209 million.
Of course, that's not a completely fair comparison. Nobody ever tried running very special episodes of Blossom for 17 straight nights.
ESPN will be paying the Southeastern Conference $2.25 billion over 15 years ($150 million a year) for rights to the stuff CBS isn't already paying the SEC $55 million a year for, SportsBusiness Journal reports.
The deal, which apparently will be announced today, would begin next fall and would most likely preclude the conference from launching its own sports channel like the Big Ten Network.
After yesterday's anniversary detour, we're back to the numbers I know you're dying to read.
Through Sunday, Baltimore had dropped to fourth among the nation's TV markets in average Olympic prime-time ratings after having been first during the first week of the Games. The top five: Denver (24.6), Salt Lake City (24.4), Minneapolis (24.3), Baltimore (23.2) and San Diego (23.2). Denver's interest is high because of its proximity to the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs.
Through Saturday, WBAL had averaged 23.8 percent of the audience during prime-time Olympics. Since then, with no Michael Phelps swimming, the numbers Sunday through Tuesday have been 19.9, 20.0 and 20.9.
I take a break from reporting ratings numbers and breathless remarks of sportscasters to observe an anniversary. It’s just a personal anniversary, and I don’t necessarily expect it to resonate across even my narrow readership here. So, with that warning, perhaps you want to jump on over to see what Pete has to say about the Orioles or read the latest dispatch Maese or Kevin have sent from Beijing.
Still with me?
Today marks a year since I nearly died.
To be a bit more descriptive, I did sort of die, but the four times my heart stopped, it got jolted back, kind of a cardiac version of what native Baltimoreans are given to call a “hot shot” when it refers to cars.
(An aside: I might repeat some of the material from a piece I wrote for the Sunday newspaper last year, but that was 10 months ago and I barely remember it, much less expect anyone else to.)
(An aside to the first aside: Because of space limitations, I had to cut about six paragraphs from that newspaper piece. It sort of reminded me of the often-played Jim Valvano “Never give up” speech, when his ruminations on life as cancer numbered his days were briefly interrupted by a broadcast worker signaling him to hurry and wrap it up.)
To be even more descriptive – and I warned you right at the top this would be highly self-indulgent – a case of pneumonia somehow produced an irregular heartbeat, which was somehow worsened by a medication I was given. My heart stopped three times in the hospital and once in the ambulance on the way from Carroll County Hospital to Johns Hopkins. But I was brought back by the staff at Carroll’s Cardiac ICU and by the Hopkins EMTs.
The problem was quickly diagnosed at Hopkins, and I will never forget the words cardiologist Dr. David Thiemann told me a year ago: “This is not going to kill you. Something else will kill you, but not this.”
Smart aleck. (Heart aleck?)
Any thanks I give the people who cared for me can’t be enough – the Carroll CICU staff, the EMTs and the wonderful doctors and other professionals at Hopkins. Especially the nurses.
And speaking of the nurses, one in particular put me on the road to recovery quickly. It was the day after I’d gotten to Hopkins, and as I laid there in my bed, I noticed my hands were shaking. I asked her if that were normal. Without even rolling her eyes, she told me in her German accent: “After what you’ve been through, anyone would have that.” She paused, then added: “Unless you just don’t give a s---.”
Apparently, there is no inoculation for smart aleck-ism at Hopkins.
It was almost two weeks and three surgeries before I could leave Hopkins. Among the operations I needed was a chest procedure to clear fluids related to the pneumonia. I mention this just so I can relate what, in my weakened state, I thought was a hilarious joke I told the doctors who would perform the operation: “I heard they have a special area where you chest surgeons can put your cars. It’s called Thoracic Park.”
I also left with a defibrillator in my chest. I’m not sure whether it’s the same model as Dick Cheney’s, but you probably wouldn’t want to go bird hunting with me.
In the year since, the defibrillator has not ever switched on. I’m feeling fine, thank you very much for asking. I hop aboard a treadmill a few times a week and have been back playing weekly basketball since the spring. In fact, two days ago, I continued my unbeaten streak against my 19-year-old son in one-on-one. (Thank goodness he has no outside shot.)I have been accused of playing “the death card” at the office – a charge I not only don’t deny, but also revel in. Just yesterday, I suggested a nice cake to mark my anniversary today. “How long you going to keep up with the death card?” was one response. “For a long, long time,” I replied.
Hey, I might as well do that in The Sun’s Sports department, because at home, I can’t get out of anything by clutching my chest a la Fred Sanford. “I almost died, you know,” I occasionally tell my wife. “Whatever,” she’ll say. “Bring the laundry basket down to the basement.”
Life is back to normal. I don’t know that I’ve become, say, more reflective. As my kids know, I have pretty much been a mushball forever. So if I choked up a little while carrying a grandson on my shoulders heading up the Ocean City Boardwalk earlier this month, that’s just me remembering doing the same for my daughter and son. And if I feel a tug at my heart – don’t worry, it’s the metaphorical one -- when I look around from my desk at The Sun and no longer see the many familiar faces who have left the paper, then that’s just what anyone would feel at the loss of colleagues who became friends.
I haven’t become a better person, I’m afraid. And as you can certainly tell, I haven’t even become a better writer.
While cutting the grass today, I was mulling over what grand wisdom this piece could impart. Afterward, as I walked into the living room, I saw that our dachshund had left a present on the floor. There’s your insight, I thought as I scooped it. A year later, it’s the same, old poop, but at least I’m still around to pick it up.
To put Saturday night's peak Olympic ratings into perspective: The 37.2 rating for the quarter-hour when Michael Phelps was swimming was the fourth-highest quarter-hour rating and second-highest share in Baltimore in the past year. Here are the top five quarter-hour peaks:
Show Rating Share
Super Bowl 50.3 67
Olympics (Wed.) 40.1 53
NFC championship 38.5 49
Olympics (Sat.) 37.2 59
Olympics (Wed.) 37.0 49
(On Wednesday, Phelps swam in two finals.)
As always, thanks to the Ratings Diva, Kouri Cataldo of WBAL.
Did Saturday night's Ravens game affect viewing of the Olympics? Maybe a bit. WBAL drew 22.4 percent of Baltimore's audience for NBC's prime-time coverage, the show when Michael Phelps swam for his eighth gold, Heading into the weekend, it had been averaging about 3 points higher. The Ravens-Vikings on WMAR got 7.3. And for the record: The Orioles on WJZ got 1.8 and the Ravens simulcast on MASN2 got 0.1.
During the quarter-hour when Phelps actually swam, WBAL's rating zoomed to 37.2, with a 59 share, meaning nearly 60 percent of all televisions in use were tuned to the Olympics.
Sunday night's Olympics, the first without Phelps competing at all since the opening ceremony, dropped to 19.9, the second-lowest of the Games for WBAL, behind only Wednesday's 19.6. On Wednesday, Phelps did not swim in any finals.
... as in, lots of people are checking out what's going on in China.
We pause to allow the groans to subside.
NBC reports that, through the first eight days of the Olympics, the Games are on pace to be the most-viewed ever. Ratings show 185 million total viewers on NBC and its other networks carrying the Olympics. Through Friday, NBC's prime-time telecasts were averaging an audience of 30 million. (That's close to what the highest-rated episodes of American Idol drew last season.)
The 185 million total is 5 million ahead of the first eight days for the most-watched Olympics -- Atlanta.
Also, using Total Audience Measurement Index, NBC says 101.1 million people on Thursday watched the Olympics either on TV or via NBCOlympics.com. The highest TAMi so far was last Sunday's 113 million.
# # #
According to highlights provided by NBC, here is some of what the network's commentators said during coverage of Michael Phelps' last race and eighth gold medal of these Games:
Rowdy Gaines: "The sport of swimming will never be the same. The name Michael Phelps will be synonymous with perfection."
Gaines on what relay swimmer Brendan Hansen said to Debbie Phelps: "Mrs. Phelps, I promise you, I'll be ready for that relay Sunday."
Dan Hicks' call of Phelps' final victory: "Eight-for-eight. And in the 112-year history of the modern Olympic Games, more than 100,000 athletes have competed, in Summer and Winter Games, only one has won eight gold medals in a single Olympics. That is the kind of feat that just may never be surpassed and certainly one of the greatest feats of sports history."
Costas: In case you're not aware, Mr. and Mrs. America, I'd like to introduce you to Michael Phelps. He's a pretty good swimmer. He's had a pretty good Olympic Games. You don't even appear winded. You did exactly and fully what you came here to do. We got the immediate reaction with Andrea Kremer afterwards. A few more minutes for it to sink in, any perspective at all?
Phelps: (Pause) No.
Costas: (Laughter) There it is.
Phelps: I'm still at a loss for words. This was everything that I wanted to do, and everything I dreamed of. And it's an amazing feeling. I do want to say that it wouldn't have been possible without the help from my teammates. They were a huge help to my success.
Costas: Let's tick them off here. As in, not make them angry, we don't want to tick them off, we want to tick off their names here. In the 4x100 free, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and of course Jason Lezak with the epic last leg. In the 4x200 free, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay, and just now Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Lezak again, that's three of the eight.
Phelps: I guess starting off from the 400 free relay, you guys saw our reaction and how emotional and excited we were. And then the 800 free, we wanted to break seven minutes, and we went out and broke seven minutes. Tonight we wanted to end on a good note. Those relays are ours. The 400 medley relay is ours, and we wanted to keep it in our country, and we wanted to keep the world record. It was a good race. We went out there, and we put four swims and broke the world record and had one of the best times we've had all week.
Costas: You're aware, I guess, because Andrea mentioned it to you and we showed it for a moment earlier, that in your hometown of Baltimore where the Ravens played a preseason game tonight against the Vikings, the fans stayed around after the game ended. They showed it on the big screen and they went nuts.
Phelps: I was actually talking about that with my teammates this morning, with Peirsol and Brendan and Lezak this morning. I was like, this is going to be live at Ravens stadium after the game. Almost 70,000 people screaming. It's cool. I'm excited to go home. I can't wait to see a football game. That's one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to when I get home.
Costas: Ian Thorpe was in the house. You're a bit like Michael Jordan in this respect. Jordan would extract motivation from any situation. He would even somehow identify a perceived slight from an intended complement. So, whether it's Thorpe or it's Cavic or whether it was Alain Bernard earlier, if it's there, if it's something real or imaginary that can get under your skin, you'll use it.
Phelps: Oh, yeah. I said yesterday I welcome any comments. All they do is fire me up, and all they do for America is fire us up. Before the relay we were fired up, and that made just made us more fired up and fueled us even more to get ready to swim. I always welcome it, and I love when people say that somebody can't do something because you want to go out there and prove it that much more.
Costas: It was actually reasonable what Thorpe said, because if I've got it right, he wasn't so much saying it's impossible. He was saying it's highly unlikely because there are so many variables including the three that are relay events.
Phelps: I guess everything had to go perfect. We had to have a great last leg in the 4x100 free. I had to win by 0.01 in the 100 fly. It's a little bit of everything. Everything had to fall perfectly into place, and I was able to have probably the best week of my life.
Costas: Somebody told me about an hour ago that this week on Facebook ...
Phelps: Oh, my gosh, it's crazy.
Costas: You've gone by Michael Jordan, Manchester United, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. But it doesn't stop there. You've gone by the Jonas Brothers, you've gone by Miley Cirus you've gone by Justin Timberlake. You swept the board.
Phelps: I checked it one day and I checked it two days later, and I had like 2,800 in one day, and then I went back on two days later and had like 7,600 friend requests. I can't accept anymore, but I have those sitting in my box.
Costas: And, of course, you consider them all close personal friends, and you'll respond to them all in due time.
Phelps: Of course, of course.
Costas: Also, you got Will Smith by the way. You moved past Will Smith, at least for the time being.
Phelps: It's cool. I'm having fun. That's all I've wanted to do.
Associated Press photos
Through five nights of prime-time Olympic coverage, Baltimore still has the highest ratings. Here is the top 10, according to Nielsen numbers passed along by WBAL:
1. Baltimore 25.2
2. Denver 25.0
3. Minneapolis 24.9
4. San Diego 24.9
5. Salt Lake City 24.7
6. Nashville, Tenn. 24.2
7. West Palm Beach, Fla. 23.5
8. Indianapolis 23.5
9. Oklahoma City 23.3
10. Columbus, Ohio 22.6
Maybe it's the way Cris Collinsworth has become Debbie Phelps' new best buddy.
In any case, Baltimore's interest in Debbie's son has driven local ratings to the top of the chart. Viewership of NBC's Olympics coverage on WBAL has been the highest-rated among the nation's top 55 markets. Through the first four nights, Channel 11 averaged 24 percent of the Baltimore market. The national rating was 17.1.
Overall, NBC averaged 30.4 million viewers for the first four nights in prime time, more than 5 million more than the corresponding nights from Athens in 2004. That average is about 1 million shy of the American Idol finale from May.
With the Orioles and Nationals playing Saturday night at 7 and the Ravens at 7:30, MASN had to do a bit of shuffling to include the football game. That means the Orioles won't be shown on either MASN channel in the Baltimore market Saturday. The Orioles will air only on WJZ/Channel 13. The Nationals are on MASN and the Ravens on MASN2 (as well as WMAR/Channel 2).
In the Washington area, the Nats are on WDCA/Channel 20, the Orioles on MASN2 and the Ravens on MASN.
Before the women's 400-meter freestyle final, NBC gave us a titillating report about French swimmer Laure Manaudou and a supposed love triangle involving a member of the Italian men's swim team and one of the other women in the race, Italy's Federica Pelligrini. Hot stuff. Except when the report was over, Rowdy Gaines said Manaudou had no chance to win the race. And she didn't come close, fading to last place after leading the early stages of a race that Katie Hoff nearly won.
Agence France-Presse
Saturday night's rating for NBC's Olympic coverage in Baltimore was 22.3 percent of the market. That ranked first among the nation's top 55 TV markets. With Michael Phelps swimming every night through Saturday, we should expect to continue ranking at or near the top.
# # #
Hands down, the most annoying commercial during the Games so far has been the constantly repeating Maryland Lottery ad with the fat guy on the balance beam.
My wife likes it, though. She says the guy reminds her of me.
# # #
I've probably mentioned it before, but one of the great graphic innovations for swimming is the line that shows where a competitor is in relation to world-record time. That ranks right up with the yellow first-down line in football.
Let the first Olympic notes be positive:
*As NBC signed off after coverage of the opening ceremony Friday night, it put up a message dedicating the broadcast to and honoring the memory of the great Jim McKay. It was only a fitting tribute to the man known as "Mr. Olympics."
*Though having commentators call some of the action from studios in New York instead of in China isn't the best arrangement, give NBC credit for at least telling viewers that's what is going on.
DirecTV will be moving MASN and MASN2 into consecutive channel positions -- MASN to 640 (Aug. 27) and MASN2 to 641 (Aug. 13). This is an entirely logical move that I wish Comcast could figure out a way to do. Yes, I know MASN2 is just a part-time channel, so that's why it pops up on one of the C-SPAN channels. Still, the DirecTV approach is consumer-friendly.
DirecTV has done the same sort of thing for its customers during the Olympics, putting the channels with Olympic programming -- except NBC -- at 750 through 756.
# # #
Friday basketball update: another good turnout of eight, with five games. Stevie G. was hot from three-point range. Somehow, the wind wasn't blowing whenever he shot. It even got a little heated because of some physical play. There seemed to be some disagreement about whether the offense or defense should be calling the fouls. The Scranton Flash and Shutterbug each hit the blacktop a few times. So did Mr. Jones, who went down for a loose ball, but got called for traveling when he stood back up. It's Dead Man Walking's opinion that no one who goes to the ground for a loose ball should ever be called for traveling, even if he proceeds to stick the ball under his shirt and parade around the court saying he's Angelina Jolie carrying twins.
Also of note: Stevie B. provided comic relief as the object of taunts about a coming blind date with a young woman who works in some church capacity, then earning her the Stevie G.-bestowed title of "The Priestess."
Associated Press
Tonight at 9 and repeated tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet presents My Life 365: Art Monk in advance of the former Redskins receiver's entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow. Comcast SportsNet spent seven days with Monk to film the special. "Call to Canton" segments will continue on the network's SportsNite programs through Sunday night, as Comcast SportsNet celebrates the Hall of Fame entries of Redskins greats Monk and Darrell Green.
# # #
I wasn't sure I should even mention it, but here goes: Erin Andrews, object of the Fanboy Nation's lust, has been flagged in this column for being supposedly inappropriate in the Cubs clubhouse. The story is floating from blog to blog, complete with pictures of her wearing the allegedly provocative outfit that probably wouldn't be seen as outrageous anywhere outside of Taliban headquarters. It just seems silly to me. Her biggest sins? She's attractive, friendly and doesn't dress in a burlap sack.
# # #
Friday basketball report: A healthy turnout of nine was pleasantly surprised to find Howard County's fine workers had adjusted the heights of the hoops. They looked only
a few inches over 10 feet.
It was a big day for B-Hop, helped along by a couple of games going against the matador defense of Dead Man Walking. We could say B-Hop had his scoring explosion while his girlfriend watched, but she was actually using her time more productively and studying a textbook in the shade of a pavilion.
The Scranton Flash and Shutterbug renewed their matchup, and both benefited from the generous rims at the new court. Maryland Matt found an old guy besides his father to drive past, zipping away from Z's long reach for several baskets. Z, Pesky Andy and Mr. Jones didn't win a game until they were untethered from the dead weight that is DMW.
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