The Dan Patrick Show won our award for best sports show of 2011 as voted on by our readers, but it almost came to a tragic end on Thursday.  With Dan Patrick taking the week after the Super Bowl off due to a knee operation, the show has had guest hosts in Patrick's seat throughout the week to join the Danettes.  On Thursday and Friday, Bonnie Bernstein served in the guest host role.  Watch as she almost burns the studio down after laying a piece of paper on a burning candle.  Even though there's no sound to the clip, you can see Bernstein's hilarious reaction that surely would have got past ESPN's censors. 

So it was Bonnie Bernstein that started the fire!  Of course!  

Seriously though, before her last two guest hosting stints on Dan Patrick's radio show, I had no idea where Bonnie Bernstein went.  I actually thought she was still with ESPN and had merely gotten lost in the galaxy of reporters at the network, but she left Bristol in the last couple years.  I always thought she was one of the top sideline reporters in the industry, so I was surprised to discover that.  She's been really enjoyable to listen to subbing for Dan Patrick, so maybe it won't be too long before a major network picks her up again in some capacity... as long as they keep her safely away from candles.

(via HiMyNameIsSeton)

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ESPN’s tagline is the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” but this week, the network has come under fire as a Tweeter exposed a little known issue in the “contact us” page on ESPN’s website that specifically asked if someone wanted to complain about a female commentator on their website.

Now, the first question you probably would ask yourself is “well did they have a complaint tab about disliking male commentators” option? And the answer to that is somewhat. Because, as you see below, ESPN has the options laid out as to “Compliment” or “Complain” and then featured another drop down box to included the words “Commentator/Announcer”

So why the need for a “Commentator- dislike female commentator” option on the drop down menu in the first place?  It's one thing to dislike a female commentator, it's another to do so solely on the basis of her gender.

Turns out, this option has been available for over 10 years on the ESPN site but was only recently brought to light when @msois saw the option, took a screen shot of it, and sent it to ESPN female anchors to ask if they knew the option existed.

To ESPN’s credit, they almost immediately removed the option as soon as the story was brought to their attention stating:

“We apologize for the mistake on the viewer response form template. We’ve been an industry leader for more than 30 years and are extremely proud of the leadership role we continue to play in providing high-profile opportunities and assignments for female commentators — from SportsCenter anchors to play-by-play announcers, analysts, reporters and more. We appreciate that this matter was brought to our attention and it was addressed and deleted immediately.”

Upon first hearing about the story, to be honest, I wasn’t shocked. Being a female in a male dominated field like sports comes with some excess baggage and you frankly know what you are going to get.

You will either be the pin up sports girl who reads from a cuecard or you can be the girl with the looks and knowledge and just take a little grief here and there from your male sports counterparts. But it’s the Linda Cohns and Robin Roberts of the world that paved the way and dealt with real sexism as to why this option on ESPN’s website even existed in the first place. The blame lies in all of us, both internally at ESPN and externally that this stayed on the website for so long.

Sure, it’s sexist in this day and age to see something like this, but give credit where credit is due - ESPN immediately removed the option as soon at it was brought to their attention and you can bet that every single item is being closely examined as we speak for more instances like this.

Which is exactly how we all get better as a society. Become aware, address it and move on. Bravo to ESPN for handling this brief PR nightmare as professionally as they could and immediately addressing and apologizing for the decade old issue. Hopefully in the future, female commentators will only be judged solely on their announcing ability.

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Hopefully we'll be able to bring you weekend college basketball schedules up through the tournament.  For the games that don't have announcers, we do have the time and network for which you can find the games this weekend.  Kentucky plays Vandy in this week's primetime ESPN showcase while CBS has national games on both Saturday and Sunday.

Friday February 10

Iona @ Loyola-Maryland (ESPNU 7PM) Doug Sherman, Tim O’Toole

Mercer @ Kennesaw State  (CSS 7PM)

Milwaukee @ Detroit  (ESPN3 7PM)

Green Bay @ Wright State (ESPNU 9PM) Jim Barbar, David Kaplan

Saturday February 11

Butler @ Cleveland State (ESPN2 11AM) Jon Sciambi, TBA

Ball State @ Kent State (ESPNU 11AM) Adam Amin, Brooke Weisbrod

Louisville @ West Virginia (ESPN Noon) Dave Pasch, Doris Burke

James Madison @ Towson (Comcast Noon)

IPFW @ Oakland-Mi (FS Detroit Noon)

DePaul @ Notre Dame (Big East Net Noon)

Connecticut @ Syracuse (CBS 1PM) Verne Lundquist, Clark Kellogg

UALR @ Middle Tennessee (ESPN2 1PM) TBA, Mark Adams

Nebraska @ Penn State (ESPNU 1PM) Mark Brown, Tim McCormick

Dayton @ Fordham (YES 1PM)

Miami @ Florida State (ACC Net 1PM)

Virginia @ North Carolina (ACC Net 1PM)

Baylor @ Missouri (Big 12 Net 1:30)

South Carolina @ Arkansas (SEC Net 1:30)

Georgia @ Mississippi State (SEC  Net 1:30)

Kansas State @ Texas (ESPN 2PM) Mark Jones, Fran Fraschilla

Utah @ Arizona (FSN 2PM)

VCU @ Old Dominion (Comcast 2PM)

Navy @ Army (CBSSN 2:30PM)

New Mexico State @ Utah State (ESPN2 3PM) Dave Flemming, Miles Simon

Cincinnati @ Marquette (ESPNU 3PM) Beth Mowins, Tim Welsh

Wyoming @ New Mexico (mtn 3PM)

Maryland @ Duke (ESPN 4PM) Mike Patrick, Len Elmore

California @ UCLA (FSN 4PM)

San Diego State @ UNLV (NBCSN 4PM)

Clemson @ Wake Forest (ACC Net 4PM)

Oklahoma State @ Kansas (Big 12 Net 4PM)

Texas A&M @ Iowa State (Big 12 Net4PM)

Tennessee @ Florida (SEC Net 4PM)

Duquesne @ St. Bonaventure (A-10 Net 4PM)

South Florida @ Providence (ESPN3 4PM) TBA, Steven Binder

Wichita State @ Creighton (ESPN2 5PM)TBA, Stephen Bardo

George Washington @ Richmond (ESPNU5PM) Justin Kutcher, Dickey Simpkins

Washington State @ Oregon (OSN 5PM)

Michigan State @ Ohio State (ESPN 6PM) Dave O'Brien, Dan Dakich

Pepperdine @ Brigham Young (FS West 6PM)

UALR @ Middle Tennessee (ESPN3 6PM)

Colorado @ Arizona State (FS Arizona 6:30PM)

Alabama @ Louisiana State (ESPN2 7PM) Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes

Harvard @ Princeton (ESPNU 7PM) Mike Crispino, Bob Valvano

Auburn @ Mississipppi (SEC Net 7PM)

George Mason @ UNC-Wilmington (MASN 7PM)

Lafayette @ Bucknell (LSN 7PM)

East Carolina @ Marshall (WSAZ 7PM)

Northeastern @ William & Mary (ESPN3 7PM)

UAB @ Memphis  (CSS 8PM)

Illinois State @ Northern Iowa (CSN Chicago 8PM)

Colorado State @ Texas Christian (mtn 8:30PM)

Austin Peay @ Murray State (ESPN3 8:30) Dan Gutowsky, Nate Ross

Kentucky @ Vanderbilt (ESPN 9PM) Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, Erin Andrews

Xavier @ Temple (ESPN2 9PM) TBA, LaPhonso Ellis

Boise State @ Air Force (CBSSN 9PM)

San Francisco @ San Diego (CSN California 9PM)

UC-Riverside @ UC-Santa Barbara (PrimeTicket 10:30PM)

Santa Clara @ St. Mary's (CSN California 11PM)

Fresno State @ Hawaii (Oceanic 11:59PM)

Sunday February 12

Stony Brook @ Vermont (CBSSN Noon)

Pittsburgh @ Seton Hall (Big East Net Noon)

Illinois @ Michigan (CBS 1PM) Kevin Harlan, Bill Raftery

St. John's @ Georgetown (ESPN 1PM) Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla

Green Bay @ Detroit (FS Detroit 1PM)

Fairfield @ Loyola-Maryland (ESPN3 2PM)

Washington @ Oregon State (FSN 5:30)

Boston College @ Virginia Tech (ESPNU 6PM) Jon Sciambi, Hubert Davis

Northwestern @ Purdue (BTN 6PM)

Stanford @ USC (FSN 7:30PM)

Evansville @ Drake (ESPNU 8PM) Mitch Holthus, David Kaplan

H/T Sammy!

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On second thought this isn't that exciting, but as a guy who likes to see how the sausage is made I found these shots from SportsCenter to be pretty interesting.

There are certain programs and segments that have so many old clips used for just one piece, they've left me curious as to just how those clips are pulled to get exactly what they want into a segment.

Most often this occurs while watching something like NFL Films Presents where they somehow have 25 different clips of Brett Favre talking to a teammate on the sideline during 10 different games of him being mic'd up spanning his entire career and having that stuff intermixed with game footage and past interviews he's done.

The thought of how the likes of NFL Films and ESPN store, index, sort, and pull all of these clips on a daily basis blows my mind. What I found out watching this segment is that:

- The aisles were filled with some type of cassette storage. Pretty sure that it's not VHS but a specialized storage device similar to what I've seen when interning at an IT datacenter for Time inc.

- The footage within the aisles showed that at least a portion of this vault/warehouse were sorted by player as they showed sections titled "Marino" and "Manning." From there it looked like clips were indexed by chronological order.

- If we're to believe the narrator of this segment, this old guy walks the building grabbing tapes and throwing them into what amounts to a shopping cart.

- Skip Bayless has already racked up a huge amount of late fees as he's checked out all of the Tebow footage they have and hasn't been heard from since. He's also taken all the Elway footage and is threatening to destroy it all unless the Broncos sign Tebow to an extension and name him a starter until 2030. 

If you had a backpack and 15 minutes and could grab anything you wanted, what would it be? I am guessing with so much of the newer and more famous stuff online, you'd probably look for older obscure stuff perhaps.

I'd go with the episode of "The Life" that featured how Mark Mulder and other A's lived like a bunch of college students in a big house, an Outside The Lines Episode that highlighted the euphoric atmosphere surrounding the 2006 Ohio State vs. Michigan game, and maybe grab some reels of old "This Is SportsCenter" commercials.

How about you?

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Last week I pummeled ESPN on how they've utterly failed to capitalize on the college recruiting subscription business. While we can be known as an "Anti ESPN" blog we generally give them props when they're deserved. With that in mind, I find myself somewhat floored by the Bobby Fischer-esque chess game they're playing as the ACC will now submissively sign an extension with ESPN that will run through 2026.

At first glance, it looks like the ACC is coming out a winner and in many ways they are. They added Pitt and Syracuse, which triggered the ability to renegotiate with ESPN. The rumored extension will close the gap on television revenue per school comparative to schools from other BCS conferences. From SBJ:

"Under the new terms that are being negotiated, each of the ACC’s 14 schools can expect at least $14 million to $15 million a year, sources said, depending on how negotiations between the conference and ESPN conclude.

That would help the ACC close a fairly significant annual revenue gap with other major conferences. The Pac-12 and Big Ten each are distributing close to $21 million per school a year. The SEC’s deal provides $17 million per school, and the Big 12’s schoolseach average $15 million."

Currently ACC schools get about $13 million a year but as CBS pointed out, there is also an increase in travel budget as the league expands. More importantly, barring further expansion or something unforeseen, the ACC is about tapped out in terms of television monetization and are locked into their current deal until 2026, fourteen years from now. To put that in perspective, 14 years ago Roger Maris still held the single season Home Run record and Bill Clinton was giving us a very finite explanation of what constituted as sex.

What makes it worse for the ACC is that generally speaking the short term and long term outlook for sports media rights and in particular college sports rights are very bullish with Fox and NBC ready to pounce on anything ESPN doesn't retain. Unlike the Pac 12 and the Big Ten, who have or will soon have their own networks, the ACC won't have another avenue to raise their television revenue. The Big Ten and Pac 12 have shrewdly allowed themselves the opportunity to control their own destiny as their networks can ramp up carriage fees, distribution, and advertising revenue over time.

Rewinding back here is the play by play of ESPN's chess game...

In a list that featured names like Manny Ramirez and Ben Roethlisberger last year, Forbes debuted their most disliked in sports  list with the top five including Michael Vick, Tiger Woods, Plaxico Burress, Ndamukong Suh and Kris Humphries.

Forbes stated the the poll is conducted by “Nielsen and partner E-Poll Market Research, measuring public attitudes toward pro athletes. Players named on the list were those that scored the most responses from people describing them as athletes they dislike, dislike somewhat, or dislike a lot.”

While the mainstream sports fan still has an enourmous amount of hatred towards Michael Vick and Tiger Woods for their previous “indiscretions," it’s surprising that both Humphries and Burress made the list, much less the top five.

As most of you are aware, Kris Humphries is famous for his 36 second long marriage to Kim Kardashian that will surely end up as a messy divorce broadcasted over E!. As much as I want to say the guy deserves to be on this list, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure he was a little jerky in the “Kourtney and Kim Take New York” series, but he’s never committed a crime, hurt any animals or stomped on anyone while laying on the ground. His guilt comes from an ill-fated marriage.

Plaxico Burress is another one I don’t understand in being ranked so high. His extremely long prison sentance came at a result of idiotically shooting himself in the leg. Not anyone else. Himself.

Ndamukong Suh makes the list just a year after he topped the “most liked” list. Suh primarily experienced this downward swing in popularity due to his stomping of a Green Bay Packers offensive lineman while he laid on the field. Most recently, he was involved in a car crash that injured others in the vehicle. It was later reported that Suh attempted to force his passengers to lie about why they got into the crash. His hard hitting nature that was once celebrated now just seems like cocky cheap shots.

Lebron James, Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez and Kurt Busch made the bottom half of the top ten list. Certainly, the Decision still haunts LeBron as does A-Rod's steroid abuse and Kobe's troubles in Eagle, CO.

So what does this say about the mainstream American fan? Well clearly, we like to hold grudges even if no one else is harmed. But it also proves that it doesn’t take a criminal offense for sports fans to dislike an athlete even if your performance on the field of play is elite above all others. Just avoid shooting yourself in the leg, doing situps in your driveway, or marrying a Kardashian.

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Movie star and Wrestlemania headliner Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stopped by SportsCenter for a live interview this morning with John Buccigross.  The Rock was there to promote his new movie Journey 2, which is released this weekend.  In addition to his movie career though, The Rock is stepping back into the squared circle to main event Wrestlemania 28 in his hometown of Miami against John "Cena Sucks" Cena.  I guess not everyone can have an awesome nickname like The Rock.  

Buccigross references one of The Rock's millions (AND MILLIONS) of catchphrases by asking about his cooking and The Rock goes into a fancy BS answer.  In fact, he admits as such by casually saying "that's bullshit" and laughing.  

The best part of this happening though is The Rock taking about 2.7 seconds before realizing that he in fact said "bullshit" live on SportsCenter.  The reaction of he and Buccigross is priceless...

On the ESPN Casual Swearing Scale, this still ranks behind both Jaws and Lee Corso.

[Twitvid via BeerMeABeer]

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It must have been a long walk for Will Ferrell to get from North Platte, NE to New Orleans, LA.  After appearing in a secretive Super Bowl Sunday ad for Old Milwaukee, Will Ferrell made another random sports related appearance in New Orleans.  Ferrell is actually shooting a movie in the city and he visited New Orleans Arena to introduce the starting lineups for Wednesday night's Bulls-Hornets game... to predictably hilarious results.

Ferrell took a dig at each of the Bulls players during their introductions and then followed with strange/epic compliments for the home team.  It doesn't beat the starting lineup intros for Jordan's Bulls back in the day (maybe the greatest thing in all of sports), but it's a close second...

Bulls

Carlos Boozer: "He still lives with his mother."

Luol Deng: "He collects rare birds and has a pet dolphin named Chachi."

Joakim Noah: "He's a Scorpio and a horrible dancer."

Ronnie Brewer: "He once ate 20 hot dogs in an hour."

Derrick Rose: "His favorite movie is The Notebook."

Hornets

Gustavo Ayon: "He doesn't speak a lick of English, but we still love him!"

Trevor Ariza: "He still loves to listen to Bell Biv DeVoe."

Emeka Okafor: "6'10" from Connecticut where he majored in econ but minored in loooove."

Marco Belinelli: "from Italy, ironically he hates Italian food."

Jarrett Jack: "After basketball, his dream is to become a rodeo clown!"

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One of sports greatest rivalries had one of its most dramatic endings tonight. An Austin Rivers cold blooded buzzer-beating three decided the Duke/North Carolina game at the Dean Dome as the Blue Devils won 85-84. Rivers' three completed an improbable meltdown by UNC comeback by Duke as they finished the game on a 13-2 run. Rivers finished his fantastic night with 29 points and a shot that will go down in Blue Devil lore. The win was a crucial one as well for the ACC standings as it knotted up Duke, North Carolina and Florida State at 7-2 heading to the stretch of the season.

Frankly, I'm kind of shocked at how relatively tame Vitale's call of the three was. Don't get me wrong, he was excited, but I expected tables to be flipped over and even more hysteria if Duke ever defeated North Carolina in that fashion. Also, I have to give credit to Jay Bilas, a Duke alum, for being professional during the end of that game.

Duke and UNC meet again in Durham on March 3rd which is finale of both their ACC seasons. I'd think it's a safe bet Vitale will be there as well.

UPDATE: Here are Duke and UNC's radio calls of the buzzer-beater.

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Congratulations are in order for Woody Paige. Today he won for the 400th time on Around the Horn. Yes, I think this does mean that some extremely unfortunate intern probably was assigned with the unenviable task of tallying the wins of the various talking heads that have populated the show since its debut back in 2002. Woody's 400th win was celebrated with copious amounts of silly string, his daughter and a pie in the face. Here's the raucous celebration video Around the Horn put together for the occasion.

If for whatever reason this sparked an interest in Around the Horn's history for you, I recommend visiting their wikipedia page. There you can find career results, winning percentages and highlights from notable episodes.  All the stats could just be made up for all I know but it's wild that someone apparently has been keeping track.

Personally, I've always kind of enjoyed Woody on Around the Horn. So, congratulations to him for being on Stat Boy's good side for the 400 time.

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