Florida could have actually used Tim Tebow last night in the Sugar Bowl as they got smashed by Louisville.  It's hard to remember, but Tebow was once one of the great college football players in history with a Heisman Trophy and two national championships before he became a human debate pinata.  He was there in New Orleans to watch the Gators defeat in person, and wouldn't you just know it that ESPN's cameras caught him on the sidelines!  Imagine that!  What a coincidence.

ESPN cameras also caught professional tearjerker Tom Rinaldi sharing this tender moment with Tebow.  The poignant imagery is certainly a fitting reflection of ESPN's enormous love affair with the perhaps-soon-to-be-former Jets quarterback.  All we're missing here is an emotional Tom Rinaldi essay on Tom Rinaldi sharing a moment with Tim Tebow.

(video remix via lafeiner & Jimmy Traina)

Morning SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm returned to television New Year's Day after missing three weeks on the air because of a terrifying home gas grill explosion.  Storm broadcasted the Rose Bowl parade on ABC sporting a bandage on her hand from the incident, which also severely burned her face, neck, and chest.  The AP account of the freak accident is really quite scary:

After Clemson upset LSU in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year's Eve, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was thrilled. His team trailed by double digits in the fourth quarter, didn't lead all game, and had lost during the regular season to the two best teams it had played (Florida State and South Carolina). So when Tajh Boyd started a drive at the Clemson 20 with 1:39 left and got the Tigers within field goal range for Chandler Catanzaro, who nailed the game-winner wtih no time left, Swinney was obvious elated with the win. He was so elated in fact, that after shaking hands with LSU coach Les Miles, Swinney turned to ESPN reporter Jeannine Edwards for his pregame interview... and lifted her up in a bearhug while Edwards laughed like a schoolgirl.

Swinney and the Tigers owe a debt of gratitude for Miles and his clock management before Boyd's game-winning drive, but it's a big win for the Clemson program, and a disappointing end to the 2012 season for LSU. As for Swinney's reaction to Edwards after the game, there has to be a happy medium between he and David Shaw running away from Heather Cox.

[via Larry Brown Sports]

New Year's night, a nasty exchange took place between two of the nation's top NFL insiders - Mike Florio of NBC and Pro Football Talk and Jason La Canfora of CBS.  It all started when La Canfora reported fired Eagles coach Andy Reid would interview Wednesday with the Arizona Cardinals for their head coach opening.  Florio published his own article on Reid linking to reports by Albert Breer and Ian Rapoport that said Reid would interview Thursday.

Now, whether or not Andy Reid interviews Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday night, or Thursday morning is of little significance in the grand scheme of things.  Nevertheless, this slight discrepancy in reporting set ablaze a simmering feud between the two insiders.  Florio felt the need to explain things in his PFT article and on Twitter, and thereby in the process, have a go at La Canfora.  He reasoned the team was leaking Thursday to outlets while Reid's agent Bob Lamonte was leaking Wednesday (to La Canfora) to try to get a leg up for his client...

The above clip comes to us from an early season college basketball game between Dartmouth and Bucknell in late November.  Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be of any significant note, but just listen to how the Bucknell announcer (his name is Doug Birdsong) describes a routine lay in by former Patriot League player of the year Mike Muscala early in the second half.  Listen... then slowly back away from the computer and run for safety.

Ratings for the NBC Sports Network have tanked without the NHL. Over the last month, the top-rated programs on the network have consistently been outdoors shows, with hunting and fishing features taking up 14 of the top 20 highest rated timeslots this month. There were just two programs that drew over 200,000 viewers: bonus coverage of the 49ers-Patriots game on December 16th (1.2 million viewers) and a live boxing card on December 8th (216,000).  To put that in perspective, ESPN2's coverage of the Crossfit Games gets 200,000 viewers.

NBCSN's studio shows have been even worse for the network than their lackluster slate of live events without the NHL. No studio show in December drew 100,000 viewers, and the Dan Patrick Show has consistently finished with under 50,000 viewers for their top airings... which is the hour-long "Best Of" episode in the afternoon. The Lights hasn't been able to crack 30,000 viewers, while NBC Sports Talk hasn't broke 50,000 viewers for an episode while falling as low as 24,000 viewers. Pro Football Talk and NFL Turning Point have done better for the network, regularly drawing over 50,000 viewers but just one airing of either show finished in the top 20 for the week in the month of December.

Despite having the NBC promotional machine behind it, NBC Sports Network had a rough 2012. If it weren't for their coverage of Olympic events in August, I'd wonder just how bad the cumulative ratings for the year are. I'm sure that the brass at NBC would love to wipe the slate clean of the remnants of the Outdoor Life Network and start fresh with a schedule loaded with live events and original programming, but that's proving much more difficult than originally imagined.

The peacock is in a tough place right now. If they want more people to start taking them seriously as a destination network, they need to transition away from the outdoors shows. However, in doing that, they're losing their consistently highest-rated programs, and could run the risk of falling further into the abyss.

[Sports Media Watch]

After Stanford's 20-14 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin, ESPN's Heather Cox failed in her attempt to get the obligatory sideline interview with the winning coach, David Shaw.

Shaw, however, was not exactly cooperative, trying to walk away multiple times before giving her the boilerplate answer - something along the lines of keeping the winning tradition alive - as he was whisked away by a staff member to the trophy presentation.

You can hear Cox say, "are you kidding?" as Brent Musberger tries to explain away the miscommunication. 

Surely Cox knows that next time she should just body check anyone getting in her way to get the full interview like Holly Rowe. 

Regardless, Shaw should probably know better than to walk away from an interview with ESPN and Cox should know the mic is always hot.

[H/T to the hundreds of you to alerted us on Twitter]

Although I can't quite figure out why, celebrity diving shows seem to be the new trendy reality television genre.  ABC will be launching their own version later this year while Fox debuts a celebrity diving competition January 9th.  The list of participants have been released, and they include former Allen Wranglers wide receiver Terrell Owens.  Here's the full list of participants including J Woww, two former Baywatch stars, and a who's who of random celebrity potpourri...

America rang in 2013 in style... by watching Jenny McCarthy deliver one of the most epic live action performances caught on national television.  McCarthy was all over the place, which left us wondering at home whether or not she got into some of Diane Sawyer's secret stash from Election Night.  She creepily stalked a Justin Bieber cardboard cutout (McCarthy is 40 and the Biebs is 18 so no worries, it would TOTALLY be legal!), basically pleaded to be taken away in handcuffs by frightened policemen, and made out with a sailor who had a little bit of something on his upper lip.  Needless to say, herpes has never been so widely discussed on New Year's Eve.  Ah yes, the wholesome spirit of Dick Clark is alive and well!  

But maybe the best part of Jenny McCarthy's New Year's Eve was seeing everyone on Twitter so worried about her wellbeing... or making jokes about the shock and awe of the situation.  After last night's performance, surely a reality television show has to be in McCarthy's future.  The train wreck potential of that would make Honey Boo Boo look like Antiques Roadshow.  Give credit to Jenny McCarthy for totally overshadowing and outdoing whatever that little apocalpyse scare could throw our way.  

As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People...

Raise your hand if you had Bengals-Texans relegated to the early afternoon Saturday slot for the second year running.  Everyone?  Good.  Also of note though is the very talented Dan Hicks getting the opportunity to call an NFL playoff game in place of Tom Hammond.  It's a solid choice from NBC as Hicks is one of the most underappreciated play by play guys in the industry.

Saturday, January 5

Cincinnati Bengals @ Houston Texans [NBC 4:30PM] Dan Hicks, Mike Mayock & Alex Flanagan

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers [NBC 8PM] Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth & Michele Tafoya

Sunday, January 6

Indianapolis Colts @ Baltimore Ravens [CBS 1PM] Jim Nantz, Phil Simms

Seattle Seahawks @ Washington Redskins [FOX 4:30PM] Joe Buck, Troy Aikman Pam Oliver, & Erin Andrews  

H/T Sammy!