Plenty was made out of Fox's decision to replace Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa with Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick for a Divisional Round playoff game this year.  Unfortunately for Brian Billick, he picked the wrong time to make a mental mistake with the entire country watching.  After Seattle's last ditch hail mary attempt was intercepted and the Falcons hung on for a victory, Billick said this:

"This win right here legitimizes the Seattle Seahawks as the number one seed and makes them the team to beat."

D'oh!  Of course Billick meant the Falcons, but yikes, bad timing to make that flub... especially right after being given a huge promotion by the network and calling a playoff game.  Daryl Johnston surely threw one of his weird looking jackets at the television in disgust.  It was reminiscent of this call from Chris Myers earlier this year.

However, it wasn't just that one sentence after the game as it was a rough afternoon for Billick overall, leading to comments like this from around Twitter:

Brian Billick said a lot of really weird stuff during last few minutes of Seahawks-Falcons game.

— Neil Best (@sportswatch) January 13, 2013

Brian Billick had a stroke somewhere in the last three minutes of that game. Only explanation

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) January 13, 2013

Brian Billick has no idea what he's talking about today. At all.

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) January 13, 2013

Perhaps Billick's mind was elsewhere today?  This may be the lasting memory of him as an announcer as he may be leaving the booth for a return to coaching with the Philadelphia Eagles.

UPDATE: Via @WorldofIsaac is video of another Billick brain freeze in the closing minutes.  In this clip, the analyst suggests Seattle should kick a field goal and then try an onside kick down 6 points with just 44 seconds left.  It was a rough Sunday for NFL analysts attempting basic math.  

CBS will broadcast the Super Bowl February 3rd, starting with pre-kick coverage (coin flip, National Anthem) at 6 PM, but you can start your day off with Super Bowl coverage before noon on the network. CBS will air seven hours of pregame coverage this year.

I have so many feelings about this column Dan Wetzel wrote I don’t even know where to start. Between that and what we posted earlier in the week about the dumbest question ESPN has ever asked, my head is about to explode. 

ESPN asked, “How much do you blame Jay Cutler for RG III’s injury?”

What they meant to ask was, “How much do you blame the backlash of Jay Cutler’s MCL sprain during the 2010 NFC Championship game and subsequent vilification for RG III’s injury?”

What they SHOULD have asked was, “How much do you blame the vicious jackholes comprised of both current and former NFL players in addition to media members lambasting Cutler for being a wimp for RG III’s injury?”

Do you need more Bob Costas in your life, baseball fans? Well, MLB Network has you covered. Starting on January 14th and continuing for five weeks until February 11th, MLB Network will air a classic baseball movie each Monday. Each one will be preceded by a half hour long interview between Costas and someone related to the film, typically the star or the director. discussing the evening's featured film.  Here's a list of shows this winter:

Check out Kenneth "The Manimal" Faried cursing on live TV in the above video around the :45 mark. It's great because it's totally "innocent" and out of shock, when he was told he had a monster 19 points and 19 rebounds in a win over the visiting Orlando Magic. He didn't know his exact stats for the game, as evidenced by his candid response.  A 19-19 game is not entirely atypical from one of the hardest-working, best-rebounding players in the NBA. He's only been in the assocation for a short while, but his non-stop motor is already very well renowned.  

With many more games like this surely on the horizon throughout the rest of his potentially illustrious career, let's just hope he's a little more cognizant of what he's saying on live TV.  But with that said, Faried is seriously awesome.

[H/T: Spin It]

Doc Emrick is one of our favorites here at AA, and his return to our collective consciousness is perhaps the best part about the end of the NHL Lockout. During the lockout, Rock Center with Brian Williams sent Emrick to Troy, Michigan to give play by play of a game, but not just any game: a 12 and under girls game between the St Clair Shores Saintes and the Troy Lady Sting.

If you were one of those girls, could you imagine the thrill of having a broadcasting legend like Emrick chatting with you before the game, and then calling your game? Imagine if Vin Scully provided play by play for your Little League game, or if Al Michaels did commentary on your peewee football game. It would be something you'd remember for the rest of your life, and it's really cool that Emrick took time out of his schedule to do this.

[Rock Center]

For many, the Rob Parker saga may seem like a trilogy; he arrived on the national scene with appearances on a variety of ESPN platforms while saying controversial things about stats and other topics, took controversy to new heights with "cornball" comments about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, and then was suspended for his Griffin comments and saw ESPN decline to renew his contract. Veni, stupidi, departi. Yet, just as the preceding isn't entirely a correct Latin translation, the Parker story is a little more complicated than that. It's worth exploring what led to Parker's comments and if they've really meant the end of his national prominence.

One of my favorite things about this website are the clips from all over the country of announcers that we'll never see on ESPN, but still sound genuinely excited about what they do.  Genuine excitement is perhaps the best way I can describe this string of highlights from a Hillsboro high school game in Nashville, Tennessee.  A half court buzzer beater and two monstrous jams produce uncontrolled screams that sound like the announcers are actually riding a roller coaster instead of calling a game.  I particularly enjoy the "Lord have mercy" and "MAN DOWN!  MAN DOWN!!" calls though.

H/T Brandon Chase

One of the most intriguing developments in conference realignment has been the breakaway of the "Catholic 7" Big East basketball schools.  While realignment has almost exclusively been focused on the television bounty of football, some of the best basketball schools in the country are close to forming a new elite league.  With the Big East's total transformation from lower-end BCS conference to mid-pack mid major and the departures of Louisville, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, etc. the premier basketball conference in America is no more.  The remaining basketball schools, dubbed the "Catholic 7," are ready to abandon a sinking ship.  And with good reason - Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova could form the core of one of the best basketball leagues in the country.

A basketball league with those schools as well as top programs like Butler, Xavier, Creighton, Dayton, and possibly VCU would be a prime acquisition for any of the major sports networks.  WIth the excitement of the new league and the inventory in depth and quality of major college basketball games, it could be one of the most attractive rights deals on the open market.  In fact, it could be more attractive and represent better value than what's left of Big East football.  Already, both Darren Rovell and Pete Thamel have reported Fox is talking to the breakaway schools.  Rovell has the number at potentially over $500 million dollars on a 12 year deal, which is incredible to think for a new basketball only league.  Thamel has the dollar figure pegged at around $3 million per year for the participating schools, which might put the value above $400 million for the total package.

But while Fox is the early name associated with the Catholic 7, the truth is that all four of the major sports players (Fox, ESPN, NBC, and CBS) could benefit from winning these television rights, either in bolstering an already strong position, entering a new market, or providing a much needed content boost.  With so many other leagues and sports locked up, it could be one of the most competitive negotiations the industry will see in the near future.  Let's look at the odds and where the new basketball conference could land as well as an attempt to get an official statement from each network on gauging their possible interest.

I'm almost ashamed to admit I was not one of the hundreds of thousands of people that decided to follow Miss Alabama/Miss College Football Katherine Webb on Twitter in the wake of this week's BCS National Championship Game.  Had I been one of the masses, I may have caught this tweet Webb sent Thursday that she quickly deleted about a photo shoot with Sports Illustrated:

Let's connect the dots here.  Why would Webb delete the tweet if she was merely shooting for a story on Alabama's National Championship and her instant celebrity?  SI's Swimsuit Issue is notoriously top secret about the exact details of their shoots and the magazine would be foolish not to try to capitalize on her instant national celebrity.  (Of course, she could have deleted it because of the extra "ed" at the end of "Blessed.")

A potential Katherine Webb appearance in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue makes the fallout from Brent Musburger's famous comments and apology from ESPN all the more puzzling.  The national controversy that emerged over comments about the beauty of a beauty pageant winner and professional model got way out of hand.  Brent Musburger admiring Katherine Webb was not Bob Costas opining on the gun culture in America.  Sports Illustrated, like ESPN, like the Today Show, like the websites that will publish ANYTHING with her name in the title, like everyone else in the media, will try to benefit as much as they possibly can from Katherine Webb's attractiveness and newfound fame.  We're all in this together.

[Speleb]