Sunday morning, former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed away at 85 years old, just months after the abuse scandal at the university ended his coaching career.  Discerning Paterno's ultimate legacy and weighing his remarkable career with its unfortunate ending can wait for another day, right now the Paterno family and Penn State campus should be supported with thoughts and prayers.  

In the end, Paterno's passing was another sad chapter in what has been one of the saddest sports stories of all-time at Penn State.  It was hard to not see Paterno's passing coming soon as his life was Penn State football.  Many comparisons have been drawn to Bear Bryant, who died just a month after retiring.  Back in 2008, announcer Brent Musburger, an admitted close friend of Paterno, foreshadowed the events that transpired.  

But in yet another unfortunate series of events, Paterno's death was erroneously reported on Saturday night - first by PSU site Onward State, then by CBS Sports, and by other subsequent entities.  These reports of Paterno's death were then denied less than 15 minutes later by a Paterno family spokesman and the story took several dramatic turns.  Both Jay and Scott Paterno took to Twitter to tell the world that their father was still indeed alive.  CBS tried to retreat from their original post as quickly as possible.  The managing editor of Onward State apologized and resigned.  And people were furious, confused, upset, and amazed at how the death of Joe Paterno could be wrongly reported and spread across the world.  From the media perspective, it was a shocking development...

To the delight of everyone outside of Durham, North Carolina the Blue Devils went down in thrilling fashion to Florida State on a buzzer beating three by Michael Scarn Snaer. The loss was especially brutal for Duke fans because it snapped their 45-game home winning streak after it looked like Austin Rivers' late basket would force overtime at Cameron Indoor.

What I enjoyed most about the call is not Mike Patrick's vanilla "GOT IT" yelp but rather the normally calm Len Elmore being pushed to the brink of passion as he repeatedly yelled "OHHhhhh OHHHhhhhh" over Patrick. That man loves college basketball, literally. The win by the unranked and up-and-down Seminoles was shocking but less so after they demolished North Carolina by over four touchdowns recently. It's wild that this is the same team that struggled to put up 41 points earlier this season in a loss against Harvard. The loss was Duke's first of the ACC season and they now share the top spot at 4-1 with the surging Seminoles.

Showtime Boxing held a card Friday night and invited onto the broadcast team former judge Chuck Giampa as a ringside analyst to add insights from a judge's perspective.  I can imagine the role being something similar to that of Harold Lederman at HBO.  Before one of last night's fights, Showtime Boxing host Al Bernstein introduces Giampa as a man with many years of experience as an esteemed ringside judge, scoring 132 championship fights.  Unfortunately, that ringside experience didn't exactly crossover to the television side.

As Al Bernstein throws it to Chuck Giampa for what exactly he'll do throughout the fight, Giampa freezes like he's about to be hit with a Joe Frazier left hook.  Chuck is able to get out, "Thanks Al, tonight I will be taking you inside the mind of a judge..." before stopping dead in his tracks.  He then tries to begin again by repeating himself and then giving up entirely and uttering the most despondent "shit" ever heard on a sportscast.  The segment comes to a close with an arena shot and Bernstein trying to pick up the pieces after the disaster.  I do hope Chuck Giampa recovers and has a solid career in television, but this is right up there amongst the worst television debuts in the history of sports.  

Somewhere, the Shockmaster feels pity for Chuck Giampa...

Thanks to Tim Starks at The Queensbury Rules at Bloguin for the tip!

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With the UFC's signing of a TV deal with FOX last fall, there were promises of changes to their production structure as well. Last night was the debut of one of those changes: a second announce team for the lower rung cards on Fuel TV and FX. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan are still the primary team for the pay per view and Fox events (including all prelims), but the shows taking place on FX and Fuel would have a new annouce team: Jon Anik, formerly of ESPN, and UFC fighter Kenny Florian. The pair made their debut during last night's show on FX, and they were generally very good.

Anik, who was a studio host for ESPN's MMA Live before joining the UFC in the fall, made his live play by play debut during last night's event and was solid. He called all the in-Octagon action very cleanly, rarely slipped up, and was good on post-fight interviews. Florian, who's had experience calling fights for the UFC before, was his usual self, which is knowledgeable and a little loud at times. The two didn't have a lot of chemistry, and there were a couple periods of dead air, but that will take care of itself in time. Anik also seemed a tad bland on his play by play, refusing to show much emotion with his calls, and treating a generic mid-fight takedown the same as he would a fight-ending punch.

The show also featured pre and post fight shows on Fuel, with the pre-fight show going on between prelim fights, and the post-fight show coming on after the main FX card ended. Those shows were hosted by Fox's Jay Glazer, whom I'm sure you all know from his appearances on Fox NFL Sunday, and UFC fighter Stephan Bonnar. Glazer was his usual self, but seemed to have some nerves going with his delivery. Bonnar is a little wooden, but adds a unique perspective to commentary with his bluntness and good sense of humor. Bonnar has experience commentating as well with the WEC (former UFC sister promotion) and also on MMA Live appearances with Anik. During the pre and post-fight shows, there were also backstage interviews and newsy-type segments with MMA reporter Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com. Helwani hosts The MMA Hour radio show/podcast every week and is a natural with the mic. He's also been doing interviews for his site after shows for years and knows exactly what he's doing. It's a welcome addition to the team and Helwani is slowly being phased into more UFC programming.  In fact, Helwani is a member of the UFC Tonight show that recently debuted on Fuel.

Overall, the new announcing team did a good job. Goldberg and Rogan have their quirks, and it was weird to watch a show without either commentating, but it was a nice breath of fresh air for the company. I'd like to see Helwani do his backstage thing during PPV events as well because I thought that was a good break from the nonstop video packages and plugs that usually inhabit these types of shows.

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Tiki Barber will be on your televisions again this weekend.  Well, not all of your televisions.  Actually, only those of you that get the regional sports network SNY and choose to watch a local studio show.  Only a few short years ago, it wouldn't be a surprise for Tiki Barber to be a major force on TV this week of the NFL Conference Championship games.  Heck, at this point a few years ago, Barber was on the track to media stardom as a part of the Today Show.  But, several wrong turns later, Barber has found himself in the TV version of Purgatory.  Here's the news from Fang's Bites:

"Starting this weekend, Tiki Barber joins New York regional sports network SNY for its Giants playoff coverage. Barber who was a running back for the Football Giants and then an analyst for NBC’s Football Night in America as well as a correspondent for the Today Show, has not been seen on TV regularly since 2010 when the Peacock quietly dropped him after reports surfaced that he had an affair with a network intern.

Barber will be part of SNY’s Big Blue Live program that will air after the NFC Championship goes off the air. He’ll join hosts Chris Carlin and Gary Apple as well as fellow analyst Shaun O’Hara."

Yes, it's been a long time since Barber was the toast of the media as one of the rising stars on televsion.  Let's document the fall from grace, shall we?  First, there was that messy divorce from his pregnant wife while he was having an affair with an NBC intern.  Then there was getting kicked off the Today Show.  Oh yeah, and there was also that silly notion of a comeback to the NFL before the start of this season.  There's also the overwhelming reality that Barber just wasn't good on television. It was almost like Tiki was so hyped, so destined for stardom, that he was doomed to fail against the expectations set for him by so many in the sports media.  Sure, you might find it difficult as well to be a part of the 4th hour of the Today Show, currently masquerading as the 7th Circle of Hell featuring Kathie Lee Gifford as one of the gatekeepers.  But, Barber never succeeded in making a connection to any audience, whether they were sports, general interest, or anywhere in between.

So after repeatedly being kicked down the ladder of relevance, Tiki Barber is now clinging to life support by being a studio analyst on a second tier regional sports network in the New York area.  Unless a drastic reversal of fortunes reveals itself very soon, Barber is looking squarely at being one of the biggest athlete-turned-media flops in TV history.

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Earlier this month, it was announced that Jim Rome would be taking his talents to wherever the CBS Sports Network studios may be.  His ESPN2 show Rome Is Burning had been moved from the mothership to the deuce and had subsequently been lost in the shuffle amongst new shows like Numbers Never Lie and Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable and the stalwart that is SportsNation.  With Rome going to CBS Sports Network as their highest profile talent acquisition and doing work with CBS and Showtime, it left a hole in ESPN2's afternoon lineup. 

Instead of trying something new or giving one of their many talented people at the network a chance at a half hour daytime show, ESPN has taken the easy way out by expanding The Best Of Mike & Mike from half an hour to an hour long show.  (You can decide for yourself whether an hour of Mike & Mike's best is practical or not.)  Here's the complete ESPN2 afternoon lineup with timeslot changes for a couple shows...

2-3: Best Of Mike & Mike
3-3:30: NASCAR NOW
3:30-4: Best Of First Take
4-4:30: Numbers Never Lie
4:30-5: Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable

*All times Eastern

ESPN says ratings for Mike & Mike In The Morning increased 17% in 2011, so perhaps that's their motivation for showering more Greeny and Golic on the masses.  That's impressive, and as easy as it is to poke fun at Greeny & Golic for their stereotypical jock/nerd perspectives and overdone schtick, there are a lot less likeable people on television.  Their morning radio show is solid, but an hour long replay in the afternoon just seems uninspiring.  It's not like families are huddled around the television for Stone Cold Lead Pipe Locks or yet another MVP song.  Another uninspiring choice is 4.5 hours of Skip Bayless yelling "FIRE!  FIRE!  FIRE!" just to get attention.  

ESPN has literally about 789,000 potential possibilities for interesting shows that could have replaced Rome Is Burning that could seek to improve the quality of programming on the network or at least provide something fresh.  That's why, love or hate Dan Le Batard, at least his show looks and sounds different than what you see on ESPN2 for 9.5 hours of Mike & Mike and Skip Bayless.  It's ESPN trying to do something outside the box.  That's why Numbers Never Lie has been a disappointment, it's the same old formulaic debate/discussion show with different window dressing.  What about a half hour college basketball daily show?  What about a show that looks at subjects that aren't talked about on SportsCenter everyday?  What about bringing back an in-depth interview series like Up Close and giving an anchor a chance to spread his or her wings?  What about expanding the excellent work of Outside The Lines?  ESPN could even bring back Stump The Schwab!!  Whatever the case, the self-proclamied Worldwide Leader in sports should be able to give us something beyond reruns.  

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This Sunday, Fox airs a live English soccer game on national network television before the NFC Championship Game at 10:30 AM ET between Arsenal and Manchester United.  Given the ratings success of taped games on network TV, it was only a matter of time until Fox shifted live games from Fox Soccer onto the main network channel.  Back in November, we urged Fox to add more live games to their already planned Super Bowl day coverage and Sunday's tilt may be the beginning of just that.

Sunday's broadcast also features the debut of studio host Rob Stone, who has moved over from ESPN to be the face of Fox's soccer coverage as they work towards World Cup 2018.  Joining Rob Stone in the studio will be outspoken analyst Eric Wynalda and... CNN's Piers Morgan?!?  Piers?  Morgan?  Sure, it sounds like a cheap, pathetic ploy for ratings that sounds ridiculous, but Morgan has been in the Fox Soccer studio before and was actually good.  Piers is an Arsenal supporter and his biting comments in the Fox Soccer studio after Arsenal's 8-2 defeat against Man Utd earlier this season showed that he definitely knew what he was talking about and could relate that knowledge in a compelling way.  It may seem like a slap in the face to soccer fans and another facepalm from Fox, but Piers Morgan is legit.  And, he has personality, which is what Fox Soccer has sorely lacked in the past.  This is no hollow Rush Limbaugh trainwreck in waiting.

But it was recent comments from Fox's other analyst Eric Wynalda that have made waves in the soccer community.  Wynalda gave a revealing talk at the NSCAA convention in Kansas City that put MLS's struggles into context while EPL games get attractive network TV time.  Taped Premier League games have demolished MLS in ratings.  As MLS moves into a new contract with NBC, it's a pivotal time for the league as international soccer and the EPL continues to gain a larger foothold on American TV.  The reality isn't lost on former American international Wynalda, who ripped the league, its ratings, and its schedule...

This may be the most random and awkward graphical slip up I've ever seen.  Why "slut" is located where the number period should be is, well, just weird... and amazing.  This isn't one of those "gee I guess I held down the r key too long" or maybe I put the wrong picture with the wrong name.  No, this was much more sinister (and hilarious) then that...

The Big Ten's depth and power as a basketball conference has been underrated for too long and they have eight teams projected in the tournament field this year according to resident bracketologist Joe Lunardi.  So what that two of them happen to be Illinois?  (via aREEanneuh)

See if you can catch this snafu from a recent local telecast of a Nashville Predators game sent in by reader Michael Hackney...

What game was it that Syracuse lost this season?  I'm struggling to remember... perhaps because they are still unbeaten... at least according to everyone but ESPN.  *Stays as far away from ESPN-Syracuse-Bernie Fine joke as possible.*

The secret behind Kobe Bryant's recent scoring binge?  Clearly the shuffling by new head coach Mike Brown by putting Pau Gasol at point guard.  He's at least twice as quick as Derek Fisher, it's a smart move.  I wonder why Mike Brown never put Big Z at point in Cleveland, maybe then LeBron would have stayed (h/t cowboycalebman)...

And finally via num1devilsfan, yea... this might not have been the best picture choice for ESPN Mobile to commemorate the 49ers classic victory over the Saints in the Divisional Playoffs.  

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

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In the first quarter Thursday night's Mavericks-Jazz game, Al Jefferson was fouled by Delonte West.  Of course, if that was all that happened, this clip wouldn't be worth sharing with you.  Instead, what we have may be an all-time AA classic.  There are several random elements of awesomeness in this clip.  First, Jefferson catches Delonte after using a head fake in the paint like he's a feather.  Delonte then randomly throws out the Superman pose while on the shoulder of Al Jefferson.  Maybe he picked that up after moving furniture in the offseason.  But it's the commentary from the notably excited Kevin Harlan that has to be heard to be believed.  

As if Harlan screaming "OH, THAT'S RIGHT!!  LIFT THAT BAG OF POTATOES IF YOU HAVE TO INSIDE!!" wasn't enough, during the replay he shouts "RIDE 'EM COWBOY!!" as if there could be no possible innuendo behind that whatsoever.  Clearly, Kevin Harlan had about eighteen cups of coffee, a Red Bull, and a Five Hour Energy before stepping behind the mic tonight.  But I suppose that's what has always made him one of my favorite announcers.  Time will tell if "LIFT THAT BAG OF POTATOES" takes off like Harlan's other famous calls...   

H/T Crossover Chronicles

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Wednesday, Barcleona beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal.  Real took the lead early through Cristiano Ronaldo, but goals from Carlos Puyol and Eric Abidal lifted Barca to yet another win over their rivals for the Spanish throne.  While these two Spanish Cup games may not have the importance in the grand scheme of things that their league fixture will on April 22 or a potential Champions League series, it's always newsworthy when Barcelona plays Real Madrid.  And it's always a sunny day in AA country whenever Ray Hudson and Gol TV is there to commentate on it.  Earlier this week, we found Ray describing Barcelona wizard Lionel Messi as "brilliance on steroids."  Here's even more British brilliance from Ray Hudson with all three goals from Wednesday's game...

0-1 Ronaldo...

"That's got to be down to Pinto, the flyin ponytail here let's his hair down badly.  A wonderful spank on the run.  He knows the goal posts ain't movin, man.  Again lovely set away, he's got space and with that sort of energy and vision he probably wishes this field was twice as long, he'd still get the same result.  Dodgy goalkeeping."

1-1 Puyol...

"Captain Tarzan comes swinging on his vine again... it's a great ball driven in from the corner kick and it looks like it's Pique that's going to get it, but Captain Tarzan Puyol comes alongside and says, "what if he doesn't get there?"...  It's going to be mine, and he gets rewarded for it.  His focus is locked and it's a dynamic header burrowed in with plenty of knuckles and plenty of meat and potatoes behind it from a man that is the iconic face of Barcelona."

2-1 Abidal...

"It's a type of goal for Barcelona fans that causes your soul to bang on your ribcages to get out.  It's absolutely magisterial!!  The ball from Lionel Messi to set up of all people king Eric Abidal and he is absolutely impeccable with his finish!  This is an astonishing go ahead goal from the LEAST LIKELY of Barca players!  There's nothing lucky about it, it's pure genius from Lionel Messi and Eric Abidal is as cool as a killer.  He is onto this like Dracula onto a plate of liver!!"

The second leg of the quarterfinal happens this Sunday.  Let's hope Ray Hudson will be there too.

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