The NFL schedule was released yesterday in another man-made holliday in the well-known conspiracy perpetrated by Hallmark/NFL.  Seriously, I'm all for NFL hollidays, but "Schedule Day" falls somewhere between "Preseason Finale" and "OTA Day."  Anyways, the most intriguing part of the schedule is seeing the quality of the primetime games for Sunday, Monday, and now Thursday night. Even though Sunday night and NBC has the best of the primetime packages, their is still something to say about being on the showcase that is Monday Night Football... except for maybe last year.

Even as the schedule for MNF was released last year, we knew it looked like a down year for one of the most well-known franchises in sports.  And midway through last year, those fears were fully realized.  Did the NFL try to compensate for last year's, at times, brutal MNF schedule?  Let's check it out to see what the leaner, meaner MNF team will be tackling in 2012.

Week 1: Cincinnati Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens 
Week 1: San Diego Chargers @ Oakland Raiders 
Week 2: Denver Broncos @ Atlanta Falcons 
Week 3: Green Bay Packers @ Seattle Seahawks 
Week 4: Chicago Bears @ Dallas Cowboys 
Week 5: Houston Texans @ New York Jets 
Week 6: Denver Broncos @ San Diego Chargers 
Week 7: Detroit Lions @ Chicago Bears 
Week 8: San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals 
Week 9: Philadelphia Eagles @ New Orleans Saints 
Week 10: Kansas City Chiefs @ Pittsburgh Steelers 
Week 11: Chicago Bears @ San Francisco 49ers 
Week 12: Carolina Panthers @ Philadelphia Eagles 
Week 13: New York Giants @ Washington Redskins 
Week 14: Houston Texans @ New England Patriots 
Week 15: New York Jets @ Tennessee Titans 
Week 16: Atlanta Falcons @ Detroit Lions

A disturbing trend unfortunately continues in this year's MNF schedule.  Two years ago in 2010 there were 13 games featuring division rivals.  Last year, that number was reduced to 9 divisional games. This year, there are only 6 games between teams from the same division.  Not only does that heighten the risk of pitting two teams against each other who are out of the playoff picture, but it takes away the chance to showcase many of the league's best rivalries.  Consider also that 2 of the 6 divisional games take place in the Week 1 doubleheader and 3 of the 6 involve the wretched NFC and AFC West.

To be honest, none of the other games really stand out as ones we can say with certainty will be "must see" although we're finally spared Jets/Dolphins for the 13th straight year.  Only 4 games include two playoff teams from last season.  Of course, with the amount of turnover year-to-year in the playoffs, that could be a good thing for ESPN and MNF.

Naturally, ESPN's two favorite teams, Denver and the Jets are both featured twice.  There's also a myriad of other teams featured twice (Lions, Eagles, Chargers, Falcons, 49ers, Bears, and Texans), many of them up-and-coming contenders.

The best quarterback matchups look to be Peyton Manning vs. Matt Ryan (Week 2) or Philip Rivers (Week 6) and Mike Vick vs. Drew Brees (Week 9) or Cam Newton (Week 12)m but none of these matchups feature two elite quarterbacks going against each other.  Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady only appear once.  Bears @ Cowboys in Week 4 pits two marquee franchises, but two mercurial quarterbacks against each other.  Also, the last 4 Super Bowl champions (Giants, Packers, Saints, Steelers) and consistent contenders (Ravens, Patriots) each appear only once.

Thankfully, things couldn't get much worse than last season when fans were treated to such gems as San Diego @ Jacksonville (sorry Blythe) and St. Louis @ Seattle late in the season.  And of course, the inability to flex games like NBC leaves the MNF schedule in the hands of the football gods.  In fact, behind Sunday nights on NBC and Thursday nights on the league-owned NFL Network, MNF might be 3rd best.

[ESPN]

The best slate of games in the NFL calendar are reserved for the bright network lights of Sunday Night Football.  A couple of new elements this year include a Wednesday night kickoff instead of Thursday night (something about a Presidential election or something) and a new Thanksgiving night game on NBC featuring the New York Rexs Sanchezs Tebows against the New England Patriots in a rivalry quickly becoming as tiring as Yanks/Sox.  All the teams you would expect lead the league with three appearances - Giants, Cowboys, Patriots, Steelers and Packers.

As for the games, there's not even an inkling of a weak one on the calendar.  In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see the majority of the flex games from Week 11 onward (excluding the Thursday night Thanksgiving) maintained.  I'm most looking forward to what could be two interconference shootouts - Packers at Texans in Week 6 and Drew Brees and the Saints at Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Week 8.  

Wed. Sept. 5 NFL Kickoff Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants

Sun. Sept. 9 Week 1 Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

Sun. Sept. 16 Week 2 Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers

Sun. Sept. 23 Week 3 New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens

Sun. Sept. 30 Week 4 New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles

Sun. Oct. 7 Week 5 San Diego Chargers at New Orleans Saints

Sun. Oct. 14 Week 6 Green Bay Packers at Houston Texans

Sun. Oct. 21 Week 7 Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Sun. Oct. 28 Week 8 New Orleans Saints at Denver Broncos

Sun. Nov. 4 Week 9 Dallas Cowboys at Atlanta Falcons

Sun. Nov. 11 Week 10 Houston Texans at Chicago Bears

*Sun. Nov. 18 Week 11 Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

Thurs. Nov. 22 Week 12 New England Patriots at New York Jets

*Sun. Nov. 25 Week 12 Green Bay Packers at New York Giants

*Sun. Dec. 2 Week 13 Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys

*Sun. Dec. 9 Week 14 Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers

*Sun. Dec. 16 Week 15 San Francisco 49ers at New England Patriots

*Sun. Dec. 23 Week 16 San Diego Chargers at New York Jets

*Sun. Dec. 30 Week 17 TBA

H/T Sammy!

For the first time, the NFL will see almost a full season of primetime Thursday Night Football.  Every week but weeks 1, 16, and 17 will feature a Thursday night game.  NFL Network's package extends from 8 games to 13 games in Weeks 2-15, excluding Week 12 when the Thanksgiving Night game moves to NBC.  

After whispers of the league putting up extra Thursday night games for sale to the networks, they decided to keep broadcasts in house for one reason - to make holdout cable companies get NFL Network.  No team appears twice on Thursday Night football and 26 of the league's 32 teams will appear on NFL Network.  For the first time, each NFL team will appear in primetime and each team will play a Thursday night game... in the interest of fairness and carriage of course.  The mission is simple - expand demand for NFL Network as much as possible.  Here's the schedule...

Week 2: Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers

Week 3: New York Giants at Carolina Panthers

Week 4: Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens

Week 5: Arizona Cardinals at St. Louis Rams

Week 6: Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans

Week 7: Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers

Week 8: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings

Week 9: Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers

Week 10: Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 11: Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills

Week 13: New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons

Week 14: Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders

Week 15: Cincinnati Bengals at Philadelphia Eagles

The Thursday Night calendar is heavy on divisional matchups with 9 out of the 13 matchups being rivalry games.  In addition, teams that don't make primetime appearances on NBC or ESPN get their turn here. (That means you Cleveland!)  While there are a few clunkers (Bucs at Vikings?!  Colts/Jags?!?), the TNF schedule isn't that bad considering its "Island of Misfit Toys" nature.  Bears/Packers and Giants/Panthers should both be great early-season contests and Saints/Falcons should go a long way in deciding the NFC South.  But best of all, NFL Network returns a competent announce team with Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock in the booth for another season.

H/T Sammy! 

We've tried our best to keep you updated on the latest news regarding NBC's plans for their Olympic coverage.  Already AA has told you about NBC Sports' plans to air record coverage of Olympic events from London and U.S. Olympic Trials this year.  And, unfortunately, we've also told you about Ryan Seacrest being involved in NBC's primetime coverage.  

Maybe then, we were due some good news in terms of broadcasting talent that would be heading to merry old England.  Buried amidst the controversy last week of paying NBA players during the Olympics, current 76ers head coach Doug Collins let slip that he'll once again broadcast the Summer Games with NBC.

"They are going to pay me to go and to broadcast the games for NBC," Collins said Friday night. "It's going to be great."

Of course Doug Collins is no stranger to the broadcast booth, often thought of as one of the best in the business when he worked for NBC and Turner over the last couple of decades.  And now that Collins has been back in the coaching world, his perspective will certainly be insightful.  

In the 2008 games, Collins formed a terrific team with Mike Breen to chronicle the Redeem Team's quest for gold.  Also, Collins provides a bit of a unique perspective as a member of the infamous 1972 U.S. Olympic team that was hosed by the evil Russians.  Let's hope the evil Brits don't try to pull off a similar scheme... and that the likes of Reggie Miller won't be filling out NBC's basketball announcing crew.

[Philly.com]

The NHL's ratings for games on NBC this weekend weren't just "up" from last year, they were WAY up.

Sunday's Penguins-Flyers game got a 2.3 overnight rating, and was up 77% from last year's game in the timeslot. It was the highest rating for a Stanley Cup quarterfinals game since April of 2001, and was the highest for a non-Stanley Cup Final playoff game since a 2002 Western Conference Final game between the Avalanche and Red Wings.

The 2-1 Capitals victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins drew a 1.5 overnight rating, up 36% from last year's comparable game between the Red Wings and Coyotes. I think you can solely attribute that to the rabid Boston market, who has absolutely fallen in love with the Bruins since last year's Stanley Cup run and has been eating up everything they've been putting out.

And then, there is the Predators-Red Wings game. There was no "comparable" game last year, due to NBC only airing two games last year as opposed to three this year. The 1.5 rating drawn by this game was up 36% on the regular season (non-Winter Classic and non-Thanksgiving) average.

There's also some news on NBC Sports Network ratings. While we don't have detailed numbers, the first two days of the playoffs on NBC Sports are up 22% from last year's ratings, drawing 600,000 viewers this season in comparison to 490,000 viewers last season.

This is incredible news for the NHL. The playoffs this year have been awesome, and we're still in the first round. This year's playoffs feature traditional markets, like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, and Boston, as well as some less conventional markets, like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami. It actually looks like Gary Bettman's initiative to "grow the game" is working pretty well, as Phoenix sold out both of its two home games thus far, and the Florida Panthers came ridiculously close to selling out both games as well. It looks like things are finally turning around for the NHL.

[h/t: Fang's Bites]

What did you accomplish in your life when you were 24?  Maybe some of us in our mid-twenties are lucky to get a stable job or adjust to life in the real world after leaving the blur that is college.  (Me, I'm 26 and I get to do such substantial work as investigate sarcastic announcers and dissect botched handshakes.)  Well, Sara Ganim of the Patriot-News has accomplished at 24 what only a few writers and reporters have ever done - win a Pulitzer.  Ganim was announced as the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting yesterday thanks to her work from the front on the Jerry Sandusky investigtaion at Penn State.  As told by the Patriot-News...

The Pulitzer Prize board lauded Ganim and the newspaper for “courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.” 

It’s the first Pulitzer Prize for the news organization, which was founded in 1854. 

In March 2011, Ganim broke the news that Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse. 

“This is definitely a win for the whole newsroom, for everyone standing here,” said Ganim, surrounded by Patriot-News staff shortly after the awards were announced. 

“But more importantly it’s a win for everyone in every newsroom just like ours all across the country because, better than any award, the most rewarding thing in this whole process has been people telling me that this story and our coverage has changed their mind about local reporting.”

Nobody is more deserving of the honor than Ganim, who ran circles around national media with infinitely more resources in the Sandusky story.  She has owned the biggest sports and crime story of 2011 since the beginning.  And, as Ganim says, the honor is more about her own reporting work.  It stands as a testament to the power that still rests with local media and local investigative work.  Hopefully Ganim's honor and success in the Sandusky story inspires more reporters around the country at all levels of media to put forth the same effort and award winning work.

Sara Ganim, Patriot-News staff awarded Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Jerry Sandusky case - Patriot-News

The NFL is releasing their 2012 schedule later tonight, and how are ESPN and NFL Network going to celebrate this momentous event that happens every year and largely signifies nothing? With a THREE HOUR SPECIAL starting at 7PM, of course. The ESPN news comes courtesy of a tweet from Adam Schefter.

 

A three-hour NFL Schedule Release Special on ESPN at 7 EST Tuesday night.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 16, 2012

I really, REALLY don't understand how the reveal of a schedule (which we already know who is playing whom, just not at which dates) is worth a three hour broadcast. I don't see how ESPN or NFL Network is going to milk a three hour broadcast out of essentially saying "that's a tough stretch that they have right there" for 32 teams.  

Then again, both networks willl have 18 different talking heads blabbing nonstop about which team is a dark horse playoff contender because they have an easy schedule, and which playoff team from 2011 is in dire straits because they have a tough schedule.... before the 2012 Draft or training camp even starts.

The NFL is the only sport where the schedule is scrutinized so closely. As a baseball fan, on schedule release day, I look at who my team is playing in interleague matchups, when the ten game homestand over the summer is, and how bad the team got screwed with west coast road trips. It's maybe a two minute process. Hell, it's the same when I look at my NFL team's schedule. It's not as if you can even do analysis about the games, considering that the draft, minicamps, and training camps haven't even happened yet. Is it even worth it looking into these two networks competing over who can analyze something five months in advance the best?

The sad part about this is that people will watch, because this country has an NFL fetish that can't be satisfied under any circumstance. It's become a twelve month sport, mainly due to ESPN and their gargantuan coverage of the league. Credit the NFL, they've managed to turn something as mundane as the schedule release into a national event. When I'm watching the hockey and basketball playoffs in May, or regular season MLB games, the last thing I want to hear about is the non-news that happened with NFL players heading into camp. Yet... it is always there, everywhere you look. Did you hear Tim Tebow was attended a Yankees game...

The video of New Jersey Nets play by play man Ian Eagle hammering broadcast partner Mike Fratello on the air during the 4th quarter of Saturday's New Jersey-Boston game became a viral smash Monday.  The unbelievable nature of the video with Eagle calling Fratello "patronizing" and the awkward, uncomfortable nature of it all quickly made its way through the interwebs.  In spite of the seemingly tense audio, a YES Network spokesman brushed the incident off to USA Today's Michael McCarthy as "all good-natured kidding."  But what about the announcer at the center of this story?  Eagle himself spoke on the matter to Bob Raissman of the NY Daily News and said it was all a joke.  Here's the word from the Bird...

“People believe this is real? That Mike and I would go off on each other on the air?” Eagle asked Monday over the telephone. “Who in a serious fight would ever use the term gobbledygook?”

Admittedly, gobbledygook is a peculiar choice of words in any circumstance.  The tone of the entire clip was rather serious, but Eagle claims it was nothing more than "busting each other's chops" and those outside the local Nets audience merely weren't in on the sarcastic humor...

“Every bit of that was a put-on. Not 40%. Not 70%. It was 100% busting each other’s chops,” Eagle said. “We do it every game. What happens sometimes is the local audience knows what we’re up to, but when something like this goes viral the unfortunate part is the familiarity goes out the window. There are people who just don’t get it, they’re not in on the joke. . . . Sarcasm is hard to comprehend, especially when you can’t see the broadcasters.”

“And that’s when you know you can go to that level of taking your relationship off the air onto the air and having fun with it,” Eagle said. “It’s unfortunate that in today’s world they can take a little snippet of a broadcast and make some grand opinions.”

So both Eagle and YES say that it was all a misunderstanding and a clever bit of deadpan humor that bloggers and other national media just didn't understand.  

While that's a good story, and it's nice that Eagle addressed what happened, I'm not buying it...

Vida Blue is one of the most accomplished pitchers of all-time.  He won the 1971 AL Cy Young and MVP awards, was a six time All Star, three time World Series champion, and became the first pitcher to start an All Star Game for both the American and National Leagues.  He also has one of the greatest names in human history.  Blue currently does work as a studio analyst for CSN Bay Area for Giants games.  After Sunday's game against the Pirates, which Pittsburgh won 4-1, we turn to Vida Blue for analysis of the game and how difficult it is to sweep a team.  He tries to compliment a young "Pirates" team, but it's not as easy as you would think...

Who's ready for some Yanks and Sox!!!

Monday April 16

Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees (ESPN 7PM) Sean McDonough, Aaron Boone, Rick Sutcliffe

Tuesday April 17

Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox (MLBN 7PM) Bob Costas, Jim Kaat [Alt: Twins @ Yankees ]

Philadelphia Phillies @ San Francisco Giants (MLBN 10PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Indians @ Mariners]

Wednesday April 18

Chicago Cubs @ Miami Marlins (WGNA 7PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly

Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox (ESPN2 7PM) Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra

Thursday April 19

Chicago Cubs @ Miami Marlins (MLBN/WGNA 12:30PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Dodgers @ Brewers 1PM]

Texas Rangers @ Detroit Tigers (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast  [Alt: Twins @ Yankees]

Cleveland Indians @ Seattle Mariners (MLBN 10PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Athletics @ Angels]

Friday April 20

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (MLBN 3PM) Matt Vasgersian, John Smoltz [Alt: Reds @ Cubs 2:15PM]

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Houston Astros (MLBN 8PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Rockies @ Brewers]

Chicago White Sox @ Seattle Mariners (WGNA 10PM) Ken Harrelson, Steve Stone

Saturday April 21

Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 1PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (FOX 4PM) Joe Buck, Tim McCarver

Chicago White Sox @ Seattle Mariners (FOX 4PM) Kenny Albert, Eric Karros

Baltimore Orioles @ Los Angeles Angels (MLBN 9PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Indians @ Athletics] 

Sunday April 22

Texas Rangers @ Detroit Tigers (TBS 1:05PM) Ernie Johnson, John Smoltz, David Wells

Cincinnati Reds @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 2:10PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (ESPN 8PM) Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Terry Francona

H/T Sammy!