What better way to start 2012 on the right foot than with another awkward apology from an ESPN personality!  Evidently, Mike Ditka wasn't watching fellow ESPN contemporary Matt Millen during the 2010 NFL Draft.  Then, Matt Millen had to awkwardly come back on air with his tail between his legs to apologize for calling Ron Jaworski a "polack."  Yesterday, during ESPN's morning SportsCenter, Mike Ditka said something to the effect of Colts QB Dan Orlovsky having "a good polack name."  If you want to get nitpicky about it, I suppose Ditka didn't call Orlovsky a "polack" but you can bet that's still one of the hundreds of words that will cause ESPN's PC siren to go off any time it's said on the airwaves.  As for Ditka's apology, I'll give it an 8.5 on the Lee Corso Apology Scale.  Happy New Year from Bristol HR! 

(via Ride The Pine)

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The holidays are the busiest time of year in the English Premier League calendar and a great time for soccer fans. Sunday, Sunderland upset English Premier League leaders Manchester City 1-0 on an injury time goal in the dying seconds from South Korean striker Ji Dong-Won. Even though there is a hint of offside in Ji's goal, it may prove to be one of the most dramatic moments of the season with a huge impact on the title race. City remains tied with Manchester United at the top of the table, who also suffered a huge upset this weekend against relegation strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

American soccer fans will be very familiar with Martin Tyler as the lead announcer at the 2010 World Cup for ESPN and from his work on the FIFA video games.  While Ian Darke has gained cult status in the USA and become our voice for soccer, Tyler is the more notable name around the world.  Nevertheless, they are simply both brilliant commentators.  And while Martin Tyler may not bring the consistent excitement to his commentary like Ian Darke, but he certainly does in the big moments as shown below.  Here is his call of Ji's gamewinner against Manchester City on Sky Sports in England, an early frontrunner for our favorite clips of 2012...

(h/t themib)

Happy second day of 2012 everyone!  Hope your new year is off to a rockin' start.  Today is your de facto New Year's Day in the sports world with nobody wanting to compete with the NFL on Sunday.  There'ss no shortage of sports on television today as most of the country is taking a holiday.  Today is traditionally all about college football and here's your bowl lineup with announcers...

Noon- TicketCity Bowl: Houston vs. Penn State [ESPNU/ ESPN3] Clay Matvick, Danny Kanell, Allison Williams

1 PM- Outback Bowl: Georgia vs. Michigan State [ABC] Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters

1 PM- Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. South Carolina [ESPN/ ESPN3] Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich

1 PM- TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Florida vs. Ohio State [ESPN2/ ESPN3] Mike Patrick, Craig James Ed Cunningham, Jeannine Edwards

5 PM- Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio: Wisconsin vs. Oregon [ESPN/ ESPN3] Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews

8:30 PM- Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Stanford [ESPN/ ESPN3] Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, Heather Cox

The premier games will obviously be the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl.  Although Baylor and Washington lit up the scoreboard at the Alamo Bowl, Oklahoma State and Stanford going head to head may be the most compelling matchup of the entire bowl season (yes, including the national title game rematch).  The afternoon lineup is rather bland to be quite honest, but at least there's no Craig James!!  Yippee!!  2012 is already better than 2011!

Elsewhere, Doc Emrick and Ed Olczyk announce the premier NHL regular season game on the calendar, the Winter Classic on NBC.  The game start has been moved from 1 pm to 3 pm ET because of weather conditions...

3 PM - NHL Winter Classic: Flyers vs Rangers [NBC] Mike Emrick, Ed Olczyk

And if that still isn't your thing, there's a full slate of NBA games on tonight with the NBA League Pass free preview still in effect.  Premier League games and college basketball games also dot the schedule today if you're interested and NBC Sports Network launches as well.  Or, I suppose you could be waiting for the season premiere of The Bachelor. *shudders*

Whatever you're watching today, leave us your comments on the Open Thread or tweet us with the best announcing quotes throughout the day.  Who knows, maybe we'll have a special all encompassing Day After New Year's Day Pammies edition.  The possibilities are there with Matt Millen tonight and Jon Gruden making his annual bowl game cameo.  Enjoy!

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The Outdoor Life Network has come a long way since its beginning in 1995.  From televising fishing shows and the Tour de France as the signature series, to becoming Versus in 2006 and acquiring the NHL as its flagship sport, to now becoming the NBC Sports Network at 4:00 PM ET today.  The official name change happens five months and a day after plans for the launch of NBC Sports Network were officially announced thanks to the Comcast/NBC deal.  

The relaunch was supposed to begin with a Winter Classic postgame show, but with the hockey game being moved from 1:00 to 3:00 because of weather conditions, Versus becomes NBC Sports Network with a (presumably special) edition of NBC Sports Talk.  In the evening, NBC Sports will broadcast a hockey documentary Cold War on Ice: Summit Series ’72 followed by Canucks/Sharks.

As for what programming lies ahead for NBC Sports Network, the Philadelphia Inquirer has a nice compilation of all the live events that will be offered on the new channel...

That lineup should worry NBC execs because it's not exactly the NFL and the NBA.  However, there's enough of a live sports portfolio to at least get off the ground.  The Olympics (and all of the trials that go along with it) will be a huge boost in this first year with the 2012 summer games in London.  NBC is also putting a lot of stock in MLS numbers growing in the same way NHL numbers have risen in their time on Versus/NBC.  Soccer is a growing television power, but MLS has not received the same impressive ratings that international soccer and the EPL have experienced.  NBC Sports President of Programming Jon Miller says the network will also get away from the inane, amateurish programming that held Versus back as told to TV Guide...

"When we took over Versus, there was a lot of programming on the network that we didn't think was consistent with what NBC Sports was about," Miller says. "And so the first thing we did was we jettisoned some properties like Wacked Out Sports and T. Ocho and Sports Soup."

In place of T. Ocho and Jenn Sterger (pour one out today in memory of all those crazy Versus shows) will be heavyweights like Bob Costas, who will bring Costas Tonight monthly and town hall meetings quarterly to the network.  As they were in 2011, NBC will be a major player in any major rights deal that appears on the horizon to load up on live sports programming moving forward.  As much as ESPN's debate shows infuriate viewers, give new President John Skipper credit for going all in acquiring live sports rights.  NBC will be under pressure to get NFL games, make a move for the next MLB contract, or another fashionable sports property.  For now, the NHL will have to carry the mail for NBC.

For as much flak as Versus got for nobody being able to find the channel, NBC Sports Network will launch in 75 million households today.  That's about 3/4 the households that ESPN and ESPN2 are in, so it's not like NBC is beginning this venture from scratch.  But, according to USA Today, less than half of television viewers had heard of Versus.  Yikes.  The NBC/Comcast machine will have to try to change that statistic quickly in the first year.

You can bet the folks in Bristol will also be watching the NBC Sports Network debut closely.  For sports fans generally, this is a good day because competition breeds quality.  NBC stepping up to challenge ESPN will push both networks to be better.  Whichever way the competition breaks, it'll be fascinating to see just how much of a challenge NBC Sports Network can provide ESPN in 2012 and beyond.  Here's the NBC Sports promo for the network's rebirth...

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It's a new year and the last week of Straight Outta Stockton for this NFL season.  College football cedes the spotlight to the pros today with plenty of playoff implications on the last Sunday of the season.  You can check the comments below in the SOS open thread and our Twitter timeline for all submissions.  You can also tweet us by using the hashtag #SOSAA to send in quotes.  Then, we'll be back on Tuesdays with 15-20 nominees and you'll vote on our Top 10 for the week.  SOS winners will be announced Thursdays with the final standings.  Barring something outrageous from Brian Billick or Phil Simms, it looks like Dick Stockton will be our inaugural champion.  Below you can find the links to last week's Top 10 and up to the second standings along with this week's NFL announcing schedule with broadcast maps.  Happy New Year!

Week 16 Dickies Winners & Standings

Week 17 NFL Announcing Schedule (and playoff scenarios)

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In the last moments of 2011, Wagner's Kenny Ortiz produced the best buzzer beater of the year... and maybe the most incredible shot to win a game I have ever seen!  Wagner was tied with Santa Clara 62-62.  With time running out, Ortiz rebounds his teammate's miss that clanks off the side of the backboard.  Falling out of bounds as the horn sounds, Ortiz shoots a rainbow over the backboard and somehow in for the gamewinner.

While the unbelievable shot is one thing, the other amazing element of this clip is the Santa Clara analyst screaming in psychotic denial that the shot should not count.  At least I hope it's the Santa Clara analyst due to the tremendous broadcast journalism on display.  This is one of the best blatant homer slash crazy person announcing rants you will ever hear, including swearing at the referees off mic, but loud enough for it to be picked up over the air...

Here's the glorious transcript:

"No, that's no good!  That's no good!  That's easy!  No, no no no, that's no good!  No good!"

(The refs count the basket)

"NOOOO!!!  NOOOOO!!!"

(the analyst continues his rant presumably off mic)

"That's behind the basket!  That's behind the basket!  That's bullshit!"

No, that was awesome, and the perfect clip to end 2011 in style.

[h/t Adam Amin]

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Chauncey Billups has been starting beside Chris Paul for the Clippers thus far this season (two games), but did not start on Friday night vs. the Bulls due to a sore groin. That didn't stop PA announcer David Courtney from introducing the veteran glue guy anyway: 

Courtney must have put in a lot of time practicing the Clippers intros for the home opener and, when Billups was a relatively late scratch, he didn't want to let all that practice go to waste. "Shooot, I haven't practiced anything for Mo Williams. What am I going to do? Ah, I got it. I'll do the Billups' intro I've practiced hours on end as if he is starting and then I'll just correct myself by nonchalantly saying Mo Williams' name after. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'll do. Phew." No, that's probably not what happened. But Poor Mo Williams.

image via Harry How / Getty; video via Youtube/NBA

H/T: Gifulmination

One of the better enhancements to football production over the last decade, the skycam has been a great way to get fans closer to the game. I've always wondered, though, if one hovering behind the play would ever interfere with a game. My money was on a blocked punt, but tonight we witnessed what was a dangerous close call as the skycam came crashing down, and extremely close to the Iowa huddle, causing a full three minute delay before heading into commercial break. See for yourself below:

Oddly, the player almost hit in what would have been something out of a Final Destination movie was Marvin McNutt, who was a catch away from tying the Iowa receptions record. Talk about a message from above.

ESPN then reeled the camera off of the field in a moment that likely led to thousands of employees of Radio Shack crying:

h/t: LBS Twitpic

Our video shows about a three minute delay, but the delay extended about another two minutes as the officials looked to clear the field of any remaining cables.

Obviously, one of the four guiding cables for the skycam broke or became inoperable leading to the crash and the subsequent messy effort to get the camera off the field. It was a funny moment as picking up the pieces here isn't exactly under anyone's job title -- a lot of people struggled to figure out what to do as the camera was dragged across the field like a dead animal.

All in all, this capped a somewhat poor day of production for the game. ESPN lost audio during a post game interview and kept showing Iowa's retiring Norm Parker, who was unfortunately behind a partition in the press box. A nice gesture, but somewhat odd given you couldn't really see him.

The game wrapped up with Iowa failing to move the chains and Oklahoma getting a cheap touchdown to cover the spread. 

While it's newsworthy and entertaining that this occurred, this was within feet to becoming a major accident. You also have to wonder if the possible cable snapping may have hurt people when it lost slack over the crowd. Hopefully not.

At the end of the day, a huge sigh of relief for Iowa fans as well as people who bet Oklahoma. If you're curious as to how the skycam works, we found this video which further implicates the likeliness that a cable snapped off of skycam.

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We are finishing 2011 with a literal bang!  AA has always been about giving fans a voice in who or what they give a thumbs up or down to for covering sports.  For the last week, our readers have voted on our year end Pyrotechnics Awards for the best and worst in sports media.  After four days of voting in eight categories, we can now reveal your choices for the winners!  Without further adieu, the envelope please...

Wost Play By Play Person Of 2011

5. Dick Stockton - 6.35%
4. Hawk Harrelson - 8.19% 
3. Pam Ward - 15.87%
2. Joe Buck - 19.26%

WINNER: Chris Berman - 19.56%

While most associate Berman's schtick with the studio and NFL Countdown, he still makes play by play appearances for the leader calling various baseball games, the Home Run Derby, and US Open golf coverage.  In fact, it was Berman who struggled with the concept of a walkoff win earlier this year.  To beat out Joe Buck and Pam Ward is certainly quite the acheivement for a rumblin, bumblin, stumblin part timer.

Best Play By Play Person Of 2011

5. Ian Darke - 8.8%
4. Vin Scully - 10.21%
3. Al Michaels - 10.28%
2. Mike Emrick - 15.01%

WINNER: Gus Johnson - 22.04%

It should come as no surprise that the blogosphere's favorite announcer takes home another award from AA readers.  You voted him as the best announcer of 2010 last year, and this year he takes home the top play by play prize.  What better way to commemorate Gus' last year of being the voice for March Madness and his CBS -> Fox switch.  I actually thought on the basis of 2011 alone, Dan Shulman (who finished 6th) deserved the award for the great work he did across a number of platforms.  Namely, relating the death of Osama Bin Laden to an audience of millions like a true pro.

Ken Rosenthal published a report yesterday mentioning that ESPN columnist and occasional on-air personality Keith Law had interviewed to become the scouting director for the Houston Astros under new GM Jeff Luhnow, the former scouting director for the St Louis Cardinals.

Law has stated in the past that if he were to take a front office job and leave the media world, he'd like to enter a situation where the organization was completely starting over. With Luhnow's entrance in Houston, as well as new owner Jim Crane's purchase of the team and the shift to the AL West, this seems to be an ideal situation for Law.

If Law is indeed offered the job, his blend of sabermetric and scouting knowledge would be beneficial to a Houston organization that has suffered through years of awful draft classes with former GM Ed Wade, enabled by former owner Drayton McClane's refusal to go over slot on draft choices.  Houston's potential gain would be ESPN's loss.

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