Last night was the debut of NFL Network's newest announcing team - Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock.  Given the embarrassing failures of the league's own network to provide a coherent, insightful... hell, even an average broadcasting team for Thursday Night Football, expectations were high the new team could turn the page.  And even though I couldn't watch the game (thanks Time Warner Cable!), it appears Nessler and Mayock delivered, which I kinda predicted in May.  #Humblebrag.  

Take a look at Real Tweets From Real People from one year and one day ago for the Millen/Theismann disaster and compare it to this year's overwhelmingly positive version.  It's amazing what two interesting, competent, entertaining announcers can do for a broadcast!

QF2G  @awfulannouncing @richeisen @SI_PeterKing nessler and mayock are a great announcing duo, pity they're only around for Thursday games.
marcp13  @awfulannouncing holy crap, Mayock is solid!
matt_08  @awfulannouncing took them six years to get it right. better late than never.
reddiePhysical  @awfulannouncing Mayock is the finest color analyst we have in football today.
ConnorKiesel  @awfulannouncing non-awful announcing on TNF?!? Dare I say good announcing? This is a first.
skytalkertv  Brad Nessler >>>>>> Jim Nantz >>>>>>>> Mike Tirico >>>> Joe Buck @awfulannouncing
CaptTouchback  Mike Mayock is to Matt Millen as 2005 Carson Palmer is to 2011 Carson Palmer. #NotEvenClose (cc: @awfulannouncing)
ThisGivenSunday  If Mayock and Nessler keep saying intelligent things, @myoder84 will have to start a new blog. #AwfulNiceAnnouncing

AdamSchein  Mike Mayock is so damn good. And to think, last year we were suffering with millen and theisman. Great job NFLN.
patnash  very enjoyable broadcast so far I think. This kills the Bob Papa, Theisman, Millen connection..... #AnythingBeatsThat
Josh_D_Manning  I really love Mike Mayock as the new commentator analysis on Thursday Night Football. Way better than Matt Millen and Joe Theismann.
robertneely  NFL Network cutting loose Theismann and Millen in favor of Mayock is a huge leap forward #makingthursdaynightfootballwatchable
FauxJohnMadden  "I really miss Joe Theismann and Matt Millen on these Thursday Night Football games." - Literally nobody
RealAdvanced  Brad Nessler/Mike Mayock, thank you NFL Network... felt sorry for Bob Papa bc he was decent, but Millen & Theismann= all-time horrible
RaidersBlog  Most enjoyable NFL broadcast I can remember. I haven't rolled my eyes at the announcers once.

mepucin  Hearing Mayock, Nessler call game as if they were old buds immersed in NFL for years, great job NFL Network, Eager for next week.
Curtis_Crabtree  Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock killing it on this broadcast tonight. Really refreshing. Focus on the game in front of them and good insight.
TheMontyShow  Mayock and Nessler have been very good tonight...enjoying their call @nflnetwork
BlogAndTackle  After several years of trying to find the right combo, NFL Net has good one in Nessler-Mayock. Both are solid pros who mesh well.
EdogPoker  Thank you NFL network for Nessler and Mayock announcing team. I would rather watch dancing with the stars then listen to Bryant Gumbel.
RossTuckerNFL  Also like that Mayock calls Brad Nessler "Ness". Pretty sure he just made that nickname up.
firejimcaldwell  Mayock & Nessler might be the best broadcast team I've heard on an NFL game in a long time. 

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I'll just say that this may be the greatest announcing moment in the history of the microphone.  It comes from Marist High School's 31-28 victory over St. Patrick in Chicago back in early October, but the clip has just surfaced on Youtube.  Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the announcer, but I can say it's the most dramatic call of a field goal you will ever hear.  For starters, the announcer intros the kicker and holder in much the same way as Phil Davison, candidate for STARK COUNTY TREASURER.  The intensity throughout is worthy of Mike Singletary.  Thankfully, for humanity, Marist wins the game on this field goal as time expires, eliciting a reaction like that of winning the Super Bowl several hundred times over.  And the grand finale is simply the piece de resistance.  PYROTECHNICS!!!

I now know what I'm shouting when anything good happens the rest of my life.  PYROTECHNICS!!!!

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Thursday Night Football games are back, which means so is Mike Mayock's lisp. We apologize for the tardy posting (Chargers/Raiders are currently in progress on NFLN), but we should have these up on Wednesdays or mid-afternoon Thursdays henceforth. Forgive us.

Here are your broadcast maps courtesy of The 506.

Thursday, November 10

Oakland Raiders @ San Diego Chargers (NFLN 8:20PM) Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan

Sunday, November 13 - FOX Doubleheader

New Orleans Saints @ Atlanta Falcons (FOX 1PM) Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
Arizona Cardinals @ Philadelphia Eagles (FOX 1PM) Dick Stockton, John Lynch, Jennifer Hale
Washington Redskins @ Miami Dolphins (FOX 1PM) Chris Myers, Tim Ryan
St. Louis Rams @ Cleveland Browns (FOX 1PM) Ron Pitts, Jim Mora

Buffalo Bills @ Dallas Cowboys (CBS 1PM) Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Tennessee Titans @ Carolina Panthers (CBS 1PM) Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots
Houston Texans @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (CBS 1PM) Marv Albert, Rich Gannon
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Indianapolis Colts (CBS 1PM) Spero Dedes, Steve Beuerlein
Denver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs (CBS 1PM) Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati Bengals (CBS 1PM) Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts

Baltimore Ravens @ Seattle Seahawks (CBS 4PM) Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf

New York Giants @ San Francisco 49ers (FOX 4:15PM) Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver
Detroit Lions @ Chicago Bears (FOX 4:15PM) Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick, Laura Okmin

New England Patriots @ New York Jets (NBC 8:20PM) Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya

Monday, November 14

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers (ESPN 8:30PM) Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski

H/T Sammy!

Funny or Die has done it again with one of the most outstanding videos on the internet this year.  Burgeoning comedic star Mike Tyson plays presidential candidate Herman Cain in this mock campaign ad.  Seriously, Iron Mike may have a career ahead of him in the field.  He's certainly got the history of saying ridiculous things, starred in the Hangover, and even played a role in Charlie Sheen's roast.  (Ironically, it looks like what Tyson needs most in this video is to hit the gym!)  There's got to be an SNL hosting gig or at the very least a buddy comedy with Will Ferrell or Vince Vaughn in his future.  The hat/sunglasses combo, fake mustache, and glasses actually has me convinced that this is Herman Cain!  Aside from the lisp that is...

Now we just need to find a sports personality to play forgetful Rick Perry.  Tim McCarver, perhaps?

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In this week's Straight Outta Stockton awards we had not one, not two, but three separate ties in the voting.  Ironically, somehow the quotes that tied for second place both related to Dan Fouts.  Phil Simms maintains a slight lead over Brian Billick with Mike Tirico and Dick Stockton also picking up points.  The envelope, please...

T9) "Soon the Buccaneers are going to think about using their timeouts on defense." - Dick Stockton (via BloggerJustinF) after TB called TO

T9) "I know these Packers fans are from California because they have shirts on." -Brian Billick (via bjo109)

T9) "no challenge flag yet...." - Joe Buck (via the506) as Belichick throws the red flag out on screen.

8) "You never know what you're gonna find in one of those ovens" - Joe Buck #wtf#ovensarepredictable (via TheZaharaDesert and bonus pts for the hashtag)

T6) "It's hard to score from inside the one." - Phil Simms (via csolomon15)

T6) "Ricky brought in to give Ray Rice a blow from time to time." - Al Michaels (via briguy17) Ricky Williams?  Blow?  Bwahaha.

5) "Picking up 1 yard... or 9 I should say!" - Dick Stockton (via AA)

4) "If you are converting 3rd down at 53%, you have over a 50% chance of getting a 1st down." - Brian Billick (via TheLoadedOne)

T2) "Dan Fouts fumbled the game away for Chargers." - Bob Griese (via sa9273) just off by a few years.

T2) "Another great defensive stand by the Browns." - Dan Fouts (via SchmanthonyP) as the Texans kick a field goal to make it 27-3 Houston

1) "The Eagles with two touchdowns in less than a half minute, and we're all even at 10." - Mike Tirico (via everyone watching the game) Um, Mike? The Eagles only scored 10 points.

Week 9 Top 5 -

1) Phil Simms 28.5 pts

2) Brian Billick 27 pts

3) Mike Tirico 19 pts

4) Dick Stockton 15 pts

5) Chris Berman 14 pts

Others receiving votes - Jon Gruden 12 pts, Scott Hanson 10 pts, Jim Nantz 10, Cris Collinsworth 9 pts, Rich Gannon 9 pts, Dan Fouts 8.5 pts, Bob Griese 8.5 pts, Troy Aikman 8 pts, Dan Patrick 7 pts, Jim Mora 6 pts, Daryl Johnston 5 pts, Tim Ryan 5 pts, Al Michaels 4.5, Joe Buck 4 pts, Warren Moon 3 pts, Terry Bradshaw 3 pts, Thom Brennaman 2 pts, Tony Siragusa 1 pt, Dan Dierdorf 1 pt.

The Full Week 10 NFL Announcing Schedule will be coming soon, where you can find the dates and times of games and all the announcing pairings as well.  Then, make sure you check back every Sunday when the fun begins for another week Straight Outta Stockton!

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You have to turn the volume up a bit, but below is the entire press conference from the Penn State Board of Trustees tonight.  I can't imagine a better job done by vice-chairman John Surma in answering the questions and a more insensitive reaction by some of the "journalists" in the room.  It's unknown at this time who was reacting in what way, whether they were students, or other details so it's unfair to blanketly blame everyone in the room.  However, the scenes of reporters angrily shouting questions at Surma in light of this week shows zero perspective regarding the entirety of the scandal.  It's tough to truly grasp what that full perspective is exactly, but the following is a microcosm of how the fallout is evolving.

H/T PSUcomRadio via Deadspin

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It's hard to recall a sports scandal so encapturing as what has happened at Penn State with Joe Paterno's demise, perhaps the OJ Simpson case was the last time a sports scandal reached these heights as a national story.

There are literally dozens of stories that branch off from the sordid details surrounding Jerry Sandusy, Penn State's reaction, and Joe Paterno's final days as the head coach of Penn State. One of those stories is a pretty poor job by the media to cover the breaking news when the decision was made to oust Paterno.

We'll start with the Big Ten Network, who already took flack from multiple media pundits as they seemed to bury the Sandusky/Paterno story for a pretty extensive amount of time. 

Their defense made some level of sense (they're not a 24 hour news organization) but that didn't really quell the head-scratching. As the story intensified through today, BTN mobilized, but during and after the news of Paterno's firing the below picture is what you found on Big Ten Network.

BTN never cut away from various replays of recent games. The scroll stayed in effect and hours later during commercial breaks, someone in studio did pass on the news to viewers. Again though, BTN was never able to rally any type of live coverage. 

The news was certainly unexpected as things came together quickly, but this is the biggest story in the conference's history and let's be real here.... BTN is no small operation. It seems as if absolutely nobody was on call at their headquarters in Chicago or in State College to cover the ousting of the conference's most revered figure. I would think that given how this thing was spiralling, there should have been a better contingency plan in place if something were to happen. Obviously there wasn't. 

Matt already shared this clip, but here is a better version from CNN's coverage where for about 90 minutes we had this completely out of touch anchor fumble covering Paterno's firing.

I actually flipped to CNN thinking they would be a bit more prepared, but from the 20 seconds I was on the channel and what was said on twitter, CNN really struggled to cover the story adequately.

ESPN had some strong points. Guests were rotated in and out and Steve Levy and hell even Stuart Scott did a pretty solid job. What had most people miffed was that ESPN had absolutely no cameras providing footage of a pending borderline riot that was beginning to take root. In fact, ESPN didn't even get a camera to the press conference. At that press conference (VIDEO here), there were a bevy of unprofessional questions being asked in an unprofessional manner. That's not on ESPN, but bears mentioning given we're bagging on traditional media here. 

As pictures, video, and on the ground coverage proliferated Twitter, ESPN seemed to not be able to surround the story. A media truck was flipped, Paterno made an appearance outside of his house, some students were getting confronted by the police, others were peacefully assembling.

Most of this information was fed to the public by feeds of other networks, after the fact, or via twitter. In fact, multiple times ESPN's coverage would contradict itself as they would report there had been arrests while later on a reporter would claim that there had not been any arrests.

To be fair, this story took off quickly and without much notice. There were multiple places that needed feet on the ground for coverage. ESPN did rally respectable coverage on multiple fronts but that coverage never had live video, was often stale, and was mostly reliant on other outlet's video feeds. There was very little real time visual storytelling to accompany the commentary, and that persisted for hours. 

I do sympathize with the challenge they were faced with. No easy task by any means.

However, given this is ESPN and one of the largest stories in recent memory, the lack of live reports was noticeable considering other media outlets were having success covering the story.  ESPN had Tom Rinaldi at a peaceful rally on the other side of town while they could only muster taped footage from the major hot spots.

Below are some tweets that caught our eye broken down by channel. Overall, the coverage of the unfortunate news was suffice and comprehensive, but severely lacking in some areas. ESPN's inability to get video of the actual press conference stood out.  At times there were certainly newsworthy events popping up, but they were never broadcasted live on the leader.  Yes, it was tough circumstances, but there were several areas these networks could have done better.  I'm not alone as evidenced below...

Joe Paterno is out at Penn State.  President Spanier is gone.  We've seen one of the most bizarre, maddening press conferences in the history of the microphone.  CNN is currently on the ground in State College with the university on the verge of mass riots.  It's the culmination of perhaps the most disturbing story ever associated with college athletics.  But the truth is this story is about much more than Joe Paterno or football.  This story is about a monster that used a charity and his position to rape and abuse young children and the failures of everyone involved along the way to not put an end to it sooner.  It's a heartbreaking story, a maddening scene tonight, and one that will still be evolving as the days go on.

CNN has expertly covered the live distressing scene in Happy Valley, but allow the following video to add a brief moment of levity to the seriousness of tonight.  CNN anchor Isha Sesay asks a guest, "Do you know when the next college football game with the Nitt-a-ny Lions is to take place?"

Penn State hosts Nebraska Saturday at Noon on ESPN.

H/T @recordsANDradio

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Clearly, Tom Rinaldi has Ohio State on the brain.  After all, why else would he be in Pennsylvania today, reporting on the Penn State scandal, and proceed to reference Ohio State twice!  Some might excuse this as a silly mistake, and one slip up I can understand.  But two in the course of 30 seconds?  Clearly, this shows ESPN's anti-Ohio State bias!  (At least to the rabid Bucknuts that drove Kirk Herbstreit out of Columbus.)  After all, ESPN consistently led the charge to bring down Coach Sweater Vest earlier this season.  But of course, it's insane to compare the situations of Penn State and Ohio State... or Penn State to anything in college athletics.  And yet, it's clear Tom Rinaldi wishes he were on campus in the Buckeye State instead of anywhere near Penn State.  If Tom Rinaldi is this conflicted, I can't imagine what Urban Meyer must be going through now as the future head coach of Ohio St. or Penn St... depending on who you ask.

[via Deadspin]

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