With the end of football season and the Pammies more than six months away, we're moving our Friday staple, This Week in Screengrab Snafus, to Saturdays to make sure you start your weekend the right way... and to help cope with the fact that it'll be six more months until the return of Gary Danielson.

Via CHeller37 comes this conference affiliation fail from the mothership.  Don't you think Ohio State and Michigan and the Big Ten has suffered enough at the hands of the SEC already?  I know the SEC is being paid zillions of dollars by ESPN... maybe that's why we never hear about the Big Ten's superiority in basketball...

Poor Terry Collins wishes this was his first year as Mets manager (h/t metfan425)

And finally, well, this is just the best snafu ever from kcaldwell1224.  Just count how many spelling errors there are on this local weather report.  Simply amazing.

That was your week in Screengrab Snafus, next time be careful out there!

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In their quest to add a never-ending supply of "big names" to their online footprint, ESPN.com has added former NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to their online sports coverage.

Abdul-Jabbar, who is a US Global Cultural Ambassador, recently started the Skyhook Foundation, which essentially is a program that lets athletes, filmmakers, and other luminaries teach children about important American figures.

As far as I can tell though, Abdul-Jabbar's writing experience consists of more historical nonfiction pieces, including a children's book about African-American inventors, a book entitled "Black Profiles in Courage" and a quasi-autobiography about Harlem's Renaissance. 

So based on all that, it'll be interesting to see what kind of articles he writes for the company, which will be posted on a bi-weekly basis. At any rate, I'd assume that if he does write about more racial and social topics, they'd be much more tactful than some other less fortunate recent examples. I'd like to see what exactly Abdul-Jabbar has to offer the company, but I'm not sure that ESPN would have any interest in his writing if he wasn't a famous athlete.

[h/t: ESPN]

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We can't blame ESPN for this one. The Associated Press, supposedly the purveyor of all that is good in breaking news, jumped onto the Ryan Braun appeal bandwagon pretty quickly....but got the news completely wrong.

This screenshot of the AP website, snapped on Twitter by @jennyedelston, shows that the AP's initial report was that Braun's suspension had been upheld. This created quite a hellstorm among baseball fans, who saw the AP tweet at nearly the same time that Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel had reported that Braun had won his appeal and that his suspension was overturned.

What could have happened here was that the AP heard that the "appeal was upheld", and misinterpreted things to say that the suspension was upheld instead of the appeal. It's rare to see the AP make a mistake, especially one where they completely got the newsbite wrong, but this shows it can happen to anyone.

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Yesterday we told you about some controversial statements made by Texas Senate candidate and former ESPNer Craig James.  Whether you suppport James's views on civil unions, his increasingly polarizing statements will make a future career in broadcasting, especailly back at ESPN, almost impossible.  At least, that's what fans of college football are hoping.1:05 PM Now, we also find out that Craig James is, upon all of his other "qualities" is nothing more than a bandwagon front-runner.  James's latest political ad focuses not on The Pony's own campaign, but shills for Republican GOP candidate Rick Santorum.  Why?  Is it because James and Santorum have developed a conservative bromance?  Maybe.  The more likely answer?  Santorum has nearly a 30-point lead in the Texas primary polls.

Give Craig James credit, the Houston Chronicle has the candidate all the way up to 7% from the 4% he was polling.  Hopefully James will continue to stick around in politics even after he loses his maiden race.  It's almost more fun to point and laugh at James the politician than James the announcer.

[Politico]

Check out this clip from last night's Alabama-Arkansas hoops game in Fayetteville. Alabama's Levi Randolph is trying to grab a loose ball, and in the process, he throws a pretty vicious flying shoulder block at ESPN's Jimmy Dykes. Dykes goes down, Randolph doesn't get the ball, and ESPN gets a monitor destroyed. A job well done all-around. Thankfully, neither Dykes nor Randolph was seriously injured during the play.

Take note of Brad Nessler continuing to commentate after his partner just got leveled. "Jimmy just took a charge...you alright, partner?" Fantastic. Alabama would go on to win the game 79-68 to smash another nail into Arkansas' NCAA tournament hopes. The freshman Randolph would finish with four points in 32 minutes for the Crimson Tide and Dykes showed a big "valentine" to take that bump.

[h/t: AL.com, bmaze]

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Andrew Perloff is an NFL writer for Sports Illustrated, but you may also know him as "McLovin" on the Dan Patrick Show.  Of the four Danettes on the show, McLovin by far gets the most razzing for his "Against the Grain" antics.  On today's show for instance, Perloff was dressed in a full basketball uniform as he'll be a part of the prestigious International Elite team that plays the Harlem Globetrotters in Bridgeport, CT tonight.  The International Elite is basically a new, fancy name for the Washington Generals... or Washington Wizards, I can't remember which.

As Perloff sits in The Box (think Big Brother's Diary Room... God, did I just make a Big Brother reference?  Have I no shame?), he tries to spin a red, white, and blue ball on his finger.  The result is actually more impressive than spinning a ball as it bounces off the wall and breaks his $400 glasses.  As a glasses wearing individual, I can tell you the dangers of mixing sports and spectacles is indeed no laughing matter.  On the bright side though, this may be the most impressive basketball related play McLovin makes today.

(Gif via bubbaprog)

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Troy Aikman, who with Joe Buck forms FOX's #1 broadcast team, thinks the NFL's reign of sports dominance might soon be coming to an end.  At a panel discussion in Los Angeles this is what he had to say about what he believes is the NFL's future.

“I believe, and this is my opinion, that at some point football is not going to be the No. 1 sport. You talk about the ebbs and flows of what’s popular and what’s not. At some point, the TV ratings are not going to be there.”

Much of Aikman's concern deals with the very troubling frequency of concussions and other serious injuries that are direct results of playing football. While there is no doubt that these are very troubling facts, I really have my doubts that audiences will stop tuning in to watch the NFL because of that. I think everyone knows that they are watching a collision sport and there can be serious ramifications.

Aikman had this to say regarding the NFL schedule stretching out to now more frequently include Thursdays and Saturdays.

“At one time, watching football was an event. Monday Night Football was a big event. Now you get football Sunday, you get it Monday, you get it Thursday and, late in the year, you get it on Saturday.

This puzzles me how Aikman somehow sees more NFL coverage as a negative. The NFL is a huge event every time it's on. It will still dominate Sundays and Mondays and I think it's very likely there will be great ratings for the games not on those days as well. There's plenty of games to go around and Sundays are still going be the day where a large segment of the population will still lounge around and watch football for the entirety of the day.

The last three Super Bowls were the most watched events in the history of American television. I think that's a strong indicator that the NFL's popularity is showing zero sign of waning at the moment. Also, the insane popularity of fantasy football has all of a sudden made that Thursday night game between the Seahawks and Bills must watch TV for a much wider audience.

Friday February 24

Loyola-MD @ Rider (ESPN2 7PM)  Doug Sherman, Dereck Whittenburg

Butler @ Valparaiso (ESPNU 7PM)  Jim Barbar, David Kaplan

Columbia at Yale (YES 7 PM) Chris Shearn, Tim Capstraw

North Florida @ Jacksonville (CSS 7PM) Matt Stewart, Sonny Smith

Pennsylvania @ Harvard (ESPN3 7PM) Dave Weekley, John Celestand

Marquette @ West Virginia (ESPN 7PM) Bob Wischusen, Bill Raftery

Fairfield @ Iona, (ESPNU 9PM) Justin Kutcher, Tim O'Toole

Idaho @ Utah State (KMYU 9PM) Mychal Clayton, Brooks Hansen

Saturday February 25

Robert Morris @ Quinnipiac (ESPNU 11AM) Justin Kutcher, Ron Thompson

Vanderbilt @ 1 Kentucky (CBS Noon) Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel

Notre Dame @ St. John's (ESPN2 Noon) Dave Pasch, Doris Burke

Northeastern @ Delaware (Comcast Noon)

Virginia Tech @ 4 Duke (ESPN3/ACC Net Noon)

St. Francis (PA) @ Sacred Heart (NEC Net/MSG Noon)

Boston College @ Wake Forest (ACC Net/ESPN3 1PM)

LaSalle @ Fordham (YES 1PM)

Iowa State @ Kansas State (Big12 Net/ESPN3 1:30PM) Mitch Holthus, Jon Sundvold

Oklahoma @ 14 Baylor (Big12 Net/ESPN3 1:30PM)

Louisiana State @ Mississippi (SEC Net/ESPN3 1:30PM)

Drake @ 19 Wichita State (MVCNet/ESPN3 1:30PM) Tom Ackerman, Mac McCausland

Villanova @ 8 Georgetown (CBS 2PM) Spero Dedes, Bob Wenzel

UCLA @ Arizona (CBS 2PM) Brian Anderson, Dan Bonner

Texas A&M @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2 2PM) TBA, Fran Fraschilla

Boise State @ Wyoming (mtn 2PM)

Detroit @ Youngstown State (Horizon League Network 2PM)

St. Louis @ Rhode Island (A10 Net 2PM) Tom McCarthy, Steve Wolf, Jason Knapp

Green Bay @ UIC (TWC-Milwaukee 2PM) Daron Sutton, Adrian Tigert

Winthrop @ UNC-Asheville (WMYA 2PM)

Providence @ DePaul (ESPN3 2PM) Lou Canellis, Mike Kelley

North Carolina State @ Clemson (ACC Net/ESPN3 2:30)

Holy Cross @ Colgate (TWC-Syracuse 2PM) Steve Flamisch, Danny Liedka

Maryland @ Georgia Tech (ACC Net/ESPN3 2:30)

Charleston @ Citadel (SoCon Network 3PM) Darren Goldwater, Dean Keener

Missouri @ Kansas (CBS 4PM) Verne Lundquist, Clark Kellogg

North Carolina @ Virginia (ESPN 4PM) Mike Patrick, Len Elmore

Creighton @ Indiana State (ESPN2 4PM) Roxy Bernstein, Stephen Bardo

Memphis @ Marshall (FSN 4PM)

Air Force @ 20 UNLV (NBCSN 4PM)

Lafayette @ American (CBSSN 4PM)

Drexel @ Old Dominion (Comcast 4PM)

Arkansas @ Auburn (SEC Net/ESPN3 4PM)

Florida @ Georgia (SEC Net/ESPN3 4PM)

Texas @ Texas Tech (Big12 Net/ESPN3 4PM)

Hawaii @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN+ 4PM)

Milwaukee @ Loyola-IL (WYIN 4PM) Jordan Bernfield, Jeff Dickerson

UNC-Wilmington @ Hofstra (FIOS-Long Island 4PM)

Florida Gulf Coast @ East Tennessee State (ESPN3 4PM)

Ball State @ Eastern Michigan (BSSL 4PM) Jerry Peirson, Vince Welch

Rutgers @ Seton Hall (ESPNU 5PM) Adam Amin, Tim Welsh

Mississippi State @ Alabama (ESPN 6PM) Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes

George Mason @ VCU (6PM ESPN2)

Portland @ Brigham Young (BYU TV 6PM) Dave McCann, Steve Cleveland

Massachusetts @ Dayton, (CBSSN 6PM) TBA, Steve Lappas

Purdue @ 13 Michigan (BTN 6PM)

Kent State @ Bowling Green (STO 6PM) Ty Linder, Steve Mix

Middle Tennessee @ Western Kentucky (Sun Belt Net 6PM) Joe Davis, Dave Odom

Temple @ St. Joseph's (ESPNU 7PM) Mike Crispino, Bob Valvano

New Mexico @ Texas Christian (mtn 7PM)

Gonzaga @ San Diego (KHQ/4SD 7PM) Steve Quis, Jim Brogan

Campbell @ Liberty (Big South Net 7PM) Matt Hogue, Nate Ross

Pennsylvania @ Harvard (ESPN3 7PM) Dave Weekley, John Celestand

Richmond @ Xavier (ESPN2 8PM) Bob Picozzi, LaPhonso Ellis 

Nebraska @ Michigan State (BTN 8PM)

USC @ Arizona State (FSN  8PM)

Tennessee @ South Carolina (SEC Net/ESPN3 8PM)

Washington @ Washington State (ROOT NW 8PM)

Rice @ Southern Mississippi (CSS 8PM) Craig Ackerman, Matt Bullard

Tulsa @ Tulane (CST 8PM)

IPFW @ UMKC (KSMO 8PM)

Stanford @ Utah (CSN-Bay Area 8:30PM)

Oakland @ South Dakota (Midco Net 8:30PM)

Murray State @ Tennessee Tech (Racer Net/ESPN3 8:30PM) Jeff Waters, Dave Winder

Syracuse @ Connecticut (ESPN 9PM) Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, Erin Andrews

Northwestern @ Penn State (ESPNU 9PM) Jim Barbar, David Kaplan

San Jose State @ New Mexico State (Aggie Vision/ESPN3 9PM) Glen Cerny, Jeff Matthews

Colorado State @ San Diego State (mtn 10PM)

Nevada @ Fresno State (WAC Net 10PM)

Cal State-Northridge @ UC-Irvine (PrimeTicket 10:30PM)

Cal Poly @ UC-Santa Barbara (ESPNU 11PM) Mark Neely, Mark Adams

Santa Clara @ Loyola Marymount (CSN Bay Area/FS West 11PM)

St. Mary's @ San Francisco (CSN-Cal 11PM) 

Sunday February 26

Maine @ Stony Brook (CBSSN Noon)

Cincinnati @ South Florida (Big East Net Noon)

Indiana @ Minnesota (ESPN 1PM) Dave O'Brien, Dan Dakich

Pittsburgh @ Louisville (CBS 2PM) Ian Eagle, TBD

Northern Illinois @ Central Michigan (STO 2PM)

Canisius @ Siena  (TWC-NY 2PM)

Fairfield @ Rider (ESPN3 3:30)

Wisconsin @ Ohio State (CBS 4PM) Tim Brando, Mike Gminski

California @ Colorado (FSN 5:30PM)

Florida State @ Miami (ESPNU 6PM) Jon Sciambi, Hubert Davis, Allison Williams

Iowa @ Illinois (BTN 6PM)

Oregon @ Oregon State (FSN 7:30PM) Kevin Calabro, Marques Johnson

Akron @ Ohio (ESPNU 8PM) Dan Gutowsky, Mark Adams

H/T Sammy & Daniel!

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Former ESPN announcer Craig James is in the news again, and unsurprisingly for those who have followed his previous controversial escapades, he's riling people up. However, this one has nothing to do with his son, Mike Leach, gifts taken at SMU or Google bombs, but rather his nascent political campaign for a Senate seat (which remains very, very nascent). Perhaps in an effort to overcome his poor polling numbers, James made some very controversial statements about homosexuality in a debate Wednesday, blasting former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert (an opponent for the Senate seat) for marching in a gay pride parade and saying that homosexuality is a choice, and one that will be punished by God. The most interesting element of these comments by James might be what they mean for his chances of ever returning as a sports commentator (spoiler alert: they probably won't help). Here are the highlights of what he said:

JAMES: I think right now in this country, our moral fiber is sliding down a slope that is going to be hard to stop if we don’t stand up with leaders who don’t go ride in gay parades. I can assure you I will never ride in a gay parade. And I hear what you’re saying, Tom, but leaders – our kids out there people need to see examples."

MODERATOR: Do you think people choose to be gay?

JAMES: I think it’s a choice, I do.

MODERATOR: It’s not in the genes?

JAMES: I think that you have to make that choice. But in that case right there, they are going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions. We should not give benefits to those civil unions."

Regardless of your personal opinion on James or his stances here, we can probably agree that this doesn't bode well for his chances of working at ESPN or another major network again if he loses his Senate bid. (As Scott Stinson of The National Post pointed out, it's also interesting that James is saying more controversial things now that he's entered politics, the reverse of the typical pattern.)

James was already hated by many college football fans for his role in taking down Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, as well as his frequently-bland brand of analysis, but fans' dislike of a particular announcer isn't necessarily high on Bristol's priority list. (If it was, James likely would have been ditched long before he left to run for Senate.) Protests by aggreived groups appear to be much more of a consideration, though, as evidenced by recent events like the firing of editor Anthony Federico over a headline many viewed as racist and offensive. If James returns to ESPN, it likely won't just be college football fans who protest, and that may be enough to convince them or any other network to go with a less-controversial (and likely better) analyst instead.

[ThinkProgress, via Richard Deitsch]

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In this week's podcast we're joined by Kenny "The Jet" Smith from TNT's Inside the NBA. Along with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, and now Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny has been part of one of the most successful studio shows in sports. The NBA on TNT crew will also work the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row as well. Kenny chats with AA about covering both events as well as...

-What it's been like working with Shaq
-How Shaq has fit in with the chemistry on set
-The biggest surprise of the NBA season outside Jeremy Lin
-Whether or not the dunk contest needs stars to succeed
-The All Star experience from the broadcaster's perspective
-The transition from covering the NBA to covering the NCAA Tournament

In case you've missed any of our podcasts, check out all of our interviews on iTunes.