Highlights of the chatter from the NFL studio shows, as provided by the networks:

CBS' "insider" Charley Casserly on the Giants' Plaxico Burress: "Look for the suspension to be reduced to one week, which means he’ll miss the game next week against the Seattle Seahawks.  However, he has a bigger problem.  Two restraining orders were issued against him in the last three months.  Even though both were dismissed, he failed to report this to the league, which he has to do.  The league is now looking into possible discipline or   counseling for him for this failure in violation of the personal conduct policy."

ESPN's Cris Carter on Brett Favre's receivers with the Jets: “Brett Favre. Playmakers. Laverneus Coles would be the third-best receiver on Green Bay.”  (Coles caught eight passes, including three for touchdowns, on Sunday.)

ESPN's Tom Jackson on the Broncos' Jay Cutler: “Cutler is going to be the best in the game. He brings something to the party that you don’t have. That’s the best arm and accuracy in the game. In the end he’s going to be a better passer than anybody in this league.”

Fox's Howie Long on his former teammate, Matt Millen: “The record is what the record is and the proof is in the pudding. I will never, never apologize for standing up for him.  Matt Millen has jumped into some fracases with me that he shouldn’t have jumped into and I appreciated it all of the time and I will never apologize for standing up for him.”

NBC's Cris Collinsworth on the Cowboys:  "The Cowboys have to understand who their best players are, and it's not their skill position players, it is that offensive line. And for Marion Barber to only get eight touches, Felix Jones to get zero carries in this game is just a huge mistake. But you just go right down the list of the star players: Jason Campbell outplayed Tony Romo; Clinton Portis outplayed Marion Barber; Santana Moss outplayed T.O.; and everyone outplayed Terrence Newman."

NBC's Dan Patrick on the Cardinals' defense:  "The guys in the Wrangler commercial play better defense."

Posted by Ray Frager at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

Because CBS apparently doesn't have enough people on the set for The NFL Today, New England's Richard Seymour will join the crew Sunday while the Patriots have a bye weekend.

# # #

Here are Cal Ripken Jr.'s picks for baseball's major awards (as passed along by TBS):

AL MVP: Justin Morneau, Twins

NL MVP: Ryan Howard, Phillies

AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee, Indians

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, Giants

AL Rookie of the Year: Evan Longoria, Rays

NL Rookie of the Year: Geovany Soto, Cubs

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Rays

NL Manager of the Year: Lou Piniella, Cubs

And here's some of what Ripken had to say on a conference call this week (according to highlights from TBS):

On the young Rays players having to adapt to postseason play:  “The Rays knew what their pitching staff was all about and they all came together.  The addition of Longoria put an offensive punch in their lineup and they are a good, solid defensive team all the way around.  Joe Maddon has done a wonderful job of keeping perspective for a young team and veterans like [Troy] Percival keep things loose.  They’ve met a lot of big series and a lot of challenges down the stretch, it is a whole new world in the playoffs.  There is no way you can tell someone who’s going into the playoffs for the first time what it feels like, you can compare those big series in Fenway and Yankee Stadium a little bit, but they are going to have to find out on their own.”

On the Yankees missing the postseason for the first time since 1993:  “I wonder how Derek Jeter feels.  You play the game to be in the postseason and the World Series and [missing the playoffs] is a new experience for Derek.  A bad year [for him] is losing in the first round of the postseason.  It is strange not having the Yankees in the conversation.”

On the parity of the postseason teams:  “Any team can beat any other team, especially in that short best out-of-five series. When you get in there and you’re asked as an analyst to lay down your pick, and the expectation is that as an analyst you know what you’re talking about and you can choose who is going to win, I think it’s extremely difficult. It is balanced.  It’s about capturing the hot pitcher and playing really well at the right time.  It is pretty balanced; it’s hard to choose.”

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You know what they say about everybody having an opinion ...

Here is a sampling of what was said in Sunday's NFL studio shows, thanks to highlights provided by the networks:

ESPN's Mike Ditka on the Vikings' quarterback switch: “This is a case of panic. Whether the decision came from the coach, the owner, the general manager, I don’t care where it came from. You’ve lost this kid ]Tarvaris Jackson] right now for the rest of the year. You come in and tell someone that you have the job for the rest of the year and then bench him. It makes no sense at all. You can’t say now, 'Come on now, Tarvaris, come back and play.' ”

CBS' Shannon Sharpe on the Bengals: You can sum up Cincinnati’s problems in one of two ways. Look at a guy like Willie Anderson, a 12-year veteran and you release him. A model citizen.  And you bring back Chris Henry who is constantly in trouble time after time after time again. Yes, they have problems.  Yes, Carson [Palmer] is frustrated.  But a lot of the things that are going on in Cincinnati is self-inflicted."

CBS' Bill Cowher on Broncos coach Mike Shanahan's decision to go for a two-point conversion in Week 2: "Mike Shanahan's call was really an indictment against his defense. San Diego had scored on every possession in the second half of that game.  So this wasn’t his confidence in the offense.  To me, it was the lack of confidence that he had in his defense."

Fox's Terry Bradshaw on the Cardinals' Matt Leinart: “I’m most disappointed in Matt Leinart. I believe he should be starting, but he has acted like a quarterback diva. He’s acting like he’s the star, like he earned that right. He got beat out, and I’m disappointed in him for getting beat out. I think the Cardinals are sending him a message. Get in that study room and be the professional we expect you to be or I think Arizona will move on and get another new quarterback.”

Fox's Michael Strahan on the blown call by referee Ed Hochuli in Week 2: "As a player, if you mess up, they cut you and get rid of you. They don’t mess around and say, ‘Maybe next week you’ll get it right.’ I think with Ed, it was a big screw-up and Norv Turner’s job is in jeopardy because of it. It may be time to go. He’s a great official, but you don’t want to hear that human error cost you a game as a player.” 

NBC's Keith Olbermann on the Bengals: "Not to say things are bad in Bengal land, but earlier today Cris [Collinsworth] was claiming he spent his entire career with the Tampa Bay Bandits."

NBC's Tiki Barber on Rams coach Scott Linehan: "I said last week he had three weeks -- two weeks and I'm calling Jim Fassel.  He's out. It's ugly."

Posted by Ray Frager at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

CBS is sending Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein to call the Ravens-Browns game. I'm waiting for Gus Johnson -- he makes everything seem more exciting.

# # # 

CBS passed along the thoughts of Bill Cowher and Phil Simms on Sunday's Eagles-Steelers game.

COWHER:

It’s going to be very important for Pittsburgh to get off to a quick start on the road against Philadelphia.  The one thing they don’t want to do is get in a situation where they have to throw the ball to catch up because (defensive coordinator) Jim Johnson will bring exotic blitzes.  When you take Willie Parker out of the game because of the score, you’re taking away one of your strengths. (On Philadelphia:) A big key for Philadelphia is going to be first and second downs.  Pittsburgh does a very good job on third down by confusing and bringing different pressures.  Third down and long is what they feast off. (On Ben Roethlisberger:) Ben Roethlisberger and Donovan McNabb are two of the top five quarterbacks in the league the way they are playing right now.  After these first two weeks, the conditions he played in last week, and having a sore shoulder, Ben is a tremendous competitor and will be there on Sunday afternoon.  He has played very, very strong these past two weeks… (On McNabb:): Donovan McNabb looks like the Donovan McNabb of a few years ago.  His body looks strong.  He’s breaking tackles.  He’s a very hard guy to bring down.  That is the Donovan McNabb of old.  He looks like he has a little bit of a smirk on his face.  He is running around and looks like he is having fun playing football.  I was very impressed with the whole Philadelphia Eagles football team on Monday night.

SIMMS

I want to see how the Steelers block the Philadelphia Eagles defense. The Steelers have looked good the first two weeks.  Of course, I’m not disparaging either team. but it was the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns, who are not noted to really pressure the quarterback at a high level. I also want to see Philadelphia coming off Monday night’s emotional and tremendous effort against the Cowboys. Can they match that this week? It’s always a tough thing for teams to do, but teams that do it are usually the elite top five or six in the NFL.  I, along with the people of Philadelphia, and the people that cover the NFL, have second-guessed Donovan McNabb. He’s healthy and he has a decent supporting cast.  We can see there is greatness in him.  But we are all too quick to judge. It is the "moving on to the next quarterback syndrome" -- just because he’s been here too long and we need the next guy.  It happens in every NFL city.   Well, you know ,let’s just sit back, wait and re-evaluate this and really make sure what we’re doing is the right thing.  I don’t care who the Eagles draft and what they do. They could have the next star. I’m not saying they don’t. But I know this – he physically won’t be as capable as Donovan McNabb.

# # #

It has been a couple of weeks, but here's a Friday pickup basketball report:

Minnesota Matt has returned to the court, swatting away many a shot. Thus far, however, he is opting to go without the accompanying, Mutombo-esque finger wag. His teammates, the two Stevies and Dead Man Walking, fed him in the post, but DMW took enough ill-advised shots to torpedo his team. The Scranton Flash did his usual slashing, B-Hop hit his usual turnarounds, Pesky Andy cut his usual back-door paths and Maryland Matt left his old man his usual flat-footed self on defense.

Besides hitting one game-winning shot, Stevie B's appearance was notable for a couple of other things. It was one of his final Fridays, because he soon is leaving for California. And though he has yet to move to Los Angeles, Stevie B already has taken to referring to the freeways with the El Lay vernacular that puts "the" in front of the number. As in, "I'll just take the 405 or maybe the 101 ..."

Posted by Ray Frager at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

In becoming cable TV's most-watched show ever with 18.6 million viewers, Monday's Eagles-Cowboys game on ESPN surpassed last year's Ravens-Patriots Monday night game, which drew 17.5 million.

Monday's audience heard Tony Kornheiser make a joke that he later had to apologize for. After ESPN played a bit of the Spanish game broadcast, Kornheiser, making fun of his lack of knowledge of the language, said: "I took high school Spanish, and that either means 'Nobody is going to touch him' or 'Could you pick up my dry cleaning in the morning?' "

Some could construe that as indulging in the stereotype of Latinos having subservient jobs. Later on, without mentioning specifically what he'd said earlier, Kornheiser apologized. And as far as ESPN is concerned, that's the end of it. No kind of action is planned, the network said.

Over at Salon.com, King Kaufman made the point that, though he didn't find Kornheiser's comment offensive, Steve Lyons lost his job with Fox for a similarly non-offensive offense.

From chatter I hear and read, I know lots of people don't like Kornheiser on Monday Night Football and would like to see this as an excuse to get him bounced from the games. I happen to enjoy him on MNF (and even more so on PTI), and agree with ESPN that his apology was enough.

# # #

The new Fox 1370 Sports this week announced it will broadcast every Washington Wizards game. The announcement didn't include any expression of regret about how the station now can't talk about the Wizards with the freedom it would have had by not being a part of the team's radio network.

 

Posted by Ray Frager at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)
                       

I've always been a fan of ESPN's Linda Cohn, so I was eager to read her new book, Cohn-Head. Let's give her credit for how open she has been about herself in the book -- about growing up with a volatile mother and passive father, about her stumbles in her career, about what turned out to be the break-up of her marriage. However, Cohn ends up sounding whiny, and a lot of the ESPN material just isn't that compelling.

She does pass along one anecdote -- on herself -- that I found amusing. A memo came down from ESPN management about dressing professionally in the office, and it mentioned not wearing thongs. Cohn was annoyed at that in particular and asked how anyone would even know. It was then pointed out to her that the thongs in question were the footwear otherwise known as flip-flops.

Meanwhile, as part of the publicity for the book, Cohn agreed to meet with Deadspin.com's A.J. Daulerio. He chronicles their "date" here. Before you click: raw language warning and I suggest you stop reading after he and Cohn bid goodbye and before a tale of gastrointestinal distress. 

Posted by Ray Frager at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

Now, that's not exactly what Brian Billick said from his analyst seat during Sunday's Redskins-Saints game, but it's essentially what he was saying when given the chance to second-guess some coaching decisions.

"If what you did worked, it's a good decision. If what you did didn't work, it's a bad decision," he said. Later on, in the same vein, he offered: "When you run it and it doesn't work, then maybe something else should have been run."

Was that his implicit critique of the criticism he received during his years as Ravens coach?

As the game ended, Fox play-by-play man Dick Stockton asked Billick about how he is enjoying the perspective from the broadcast booth rather than on the sideline.

"It's exciting," Billick said. "It's thrilling. But after the game, I'm going to feel better than either of these two coaches."

# # #

During NBC's Football Night in America, highlights of the Chiefs-Raiders game included a shot of a marriage proposal in the stands in Kansas City. Keith Olbermann narrated: "Yes, I'll marry you, but I won't go to another Chiefs game."

# # #

Some of what was being said on Sunday's NFL studio shows, according to highlights provided by the networks:

CBS' Boomer Esiason on the Titans' Vince Young: "He did win a national championship in college. All you have to do is look back last year at Eli Manning who was being booed off the field and somehow found a way to lead his team to the Super Bowl and win the MVP. He has to get more mature, there’s no question about that.  Understand, he's lost the locker room. It's now all about rehabilitation for Vince Young. That's a big thing to overcome where he's at right now." 

Fox's Terry Bradshaw to Young: " You have to find a spot in your life that you say to yourself, am I going to allow these fans to dictate my future and force me to quit because I can’t deal with this?  I tell you what, clean that house out, get rid of all your friends that are telling you how great you are. Keep your momma, but get rid of everybody else. Surround yourself with your football family, get up in there with those veterans, listen to that head coach and get centered on playing football.  Never give up on a dream, never!  This has been your dream, this is God’s gift to you and my young man, my friend, all of us know, you can do this and we are rooting for you.”

Fox's Michael Strahan on whether Tom Brady's injury opened up the division: “The AFC East was opened up six months ago in the Super Bowl. The Patriots were exposed. If you put pressure on the quarterback, you can beat anybody. The Patriots were exposed in the Super Bowl. Indianapolis was exposed in the playoffs by San Diego and Chicago used that formula to beat them last week.  The AFC is wide open, not just because Brady’s down, it’s just been proven.”

ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson on the Patriots: “Instead of wrapping up the division in November, they will do it in December. Matt Cassel comes in at quarterback. Things don’t change much. They’ll still get the football to the playmakers and that’s the key. And the defense will play; they are still intact.”

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I meant to mention this sooner, but, well, I'm getting older and things slip my mind. During Sunday's NFL Today, the network unfortunately slipped in a segment that was essentially an infomercial for its new ESPN Zone-style restaurant in Foxborough, Mass. CBS, let's keep the ads running during commercial time, OK?

# # #

Let's welcome back the fine blog by my colleague Kevin Van Valkenburg. But please note how he dozed off while watching the Ravens on TV. Here at Medium Well, my commitment to you, dear readers, is I never fall asleep while watching the Ravens. Except maybe if it's a 4:15 kickoff. Or I've loaded up on a lot of snacks. Other than that, though, it's eyes glued!

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If I were an offensive lineman, I would want Kevin Harlan calling my games. During today's Ravens game on CBS, he repeatedly mentioned blocks by the linemen. Often, you only hear their names when they get called for penalties.

*Harlan gave a tweak to partner Rich Gannon when the analyst was talking about Chad Johnson's approach when he doesn't get the ball as the game goes on. "His demeanor goes right down the toilet," Gannon said. "That's well-put," Harlan responded.

*One of the other alert things Harlan does is note the number of players in the secondary. He exclaimed, "Six defensive backs! Seven defensive backs!" when the Ravens put in different packages.

*One of the telling replays displayed just how the Ravens mixed things up on defense. It showed defensive end/linebacker Terrell Suggs lined up outside on receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

Posted by Ray Frager at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                       

Whenever I hear sports broadcasters talk about having more freedom because they aren't associated with the teams they are covering -- as in today's column -- it reminds me of politics. It's like the whole Washington "outsider" thing. Nobody wants to be seen as connected to the Washington structure, even as they campaign to run the thing.

In somewhat the same way, broadcasters say they can be more honest because they have no business relationship with the Orioles or Ravens. No, they can be -- in the slogan of ESPN 1300 --  "uncensored" (which can only lead us to believe the station was "censored" when it carried the Ravens).

Maybe there is something to this. Jon Miller's departure from Baltimore would be held up as Exhibit A. On the other hand, no one who listens to Joe Angel call the Orioles on the radio should believe he's talking about the games through a rose-colored microphone. On the whole, as I said in a post the other day, no station in town logically would turn down the chance to carry one of our two major pro teams. So this whole "freedom" tag could be just a matter of spin.

And that takes us right back to politics.

Posted by Ray Frager at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

According to highlights of a conference call this week, here's what CBS' Dan Marino and Bill Cowher said about Ravens rookie quarterback Joe Flacco:

Cowher: "It is going to be imperative for the Ravens to get a lead or at least keep it close.  It’s a situation where Cincinnati is going to try and make Joe Flacco beat them. … I can see Cincinnati putting eight or nine people in the box. … It’s going to be a situation for Baltimore where the first half of this game is going to be very important for them to keep it close and not make this a passing game for Flacco."

Marino: "As far as young quarterbacks are concerned, the kid is going to be in a real tough situation.  If you look at the history of this league with guys stepping in and playing in their first game, I don’t remember anybody being successful in that situation ever.  As time goes on, I’m sure he’ll get more comfortable with it.  I played against Peyton Manning a couple of times early in his rookie year, and you could see as the year went on he got a lot better.  But in the beginning, he was bad.  You could tell he didn’t have that experience.  This kid is really going to be in a tough spot."

Posted by Ray Frager at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

A few folks have asked, in the wake of the news that WVIE will become a Fox Sports Radio affiliate starting Monday, about what happens to the Fox programming on WBAL. The station will continue to carry the Fox shows -- which run late at night and on the weekends -- through the end of the year, WBAL executive Jeff Beauchamp said. Beyond that, he said, station management hasn't decided anything yet.

WNST also runs Fox Sports programming at night, when its signal is weak. Station owner Nestor Aparicio said WNST will continue to carry the Fox shows. 

Posted by Ray Frager at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                       

Here's the scheduled weekday talk show lineup:

6-9 a.m.: Steve Czaban

9 a.m.-noon: Craig Shemon and James Washington

noon-3 p.m.: Jim Rome

3-6 p.m.: Jerry Coleman

6-7 p.m.: Local show TBA

7 p.m. on: Fox programming

Some notes:

*This initial lineup includes just four hours of local talk. WNST is all local from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. ESPN 1300 generally has 6 1/2 hours of local talk each weekday. 

*1370 AM is 50,000 watts during the day, and its GM says the signal covers the entire Baltimore market, to the Eastern Shore and south of Washington into Virginia. At night, it powers down to 7,700, though that is still stronger than the signals for ESPN 1300 and WNST.

*GM Bob Pettit counts not being a flagship station for any of the major local teams as a plus: "It gives our hosts a little more freedom." Coleman echoes: "We're going to be a station that doesn't wave the pompoms. Now I won't have to worry about [team] management calling the station about something I said."

And I'm sure they mean that. But I'm also sure WVIE wouldn't refuse to carry Ravens or Orioles games, either.

Posted by Ray Frager at 10:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                       

WNST has announced that Brian Billick will have a monthly talk show on the station. Billick Live will air on the first Wednesday of each month. The former Ravens coach is now a full-fledged member of the media -- a radio talk host and a Fox NFL analyst.

                                                                                     Baltimore Sun photo: Gene Sweeney Jr.

Posted by Ray Frager at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

Baltimore is getting a new all-sports radio station starting Monday. WVIE (1370 AM), which broadcasts at 50,000 watts during the day, will go on the air at 6 a.m. as a Fox Sports affiliate, general manager Bob Pettit said.

The station has hired Jerry Coleman, formerly of WBAL, as its sports director and talk-show host. WVIE, to be known as Fox 1370 Sports Radio, plans other local programming, but the majority of its shows will be from Fox.

The station, the former WLG, has been running syndicated news talk shows.

More on this later.

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Update: Credit where it's due. I didn't check dcrtv.com until after I filed this, but the Web site -- which breaks lots of Washington-Baltimore broadcasting news -- also reported this today.

Posted by Ray Frager at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)