Yesterday, I learned about Tebowing. I thought it was kind of clever, but maybe that was because the bar was set insanely low by the whole planking movement. I'll give myself a pat on the back for not going on a tangent there.

To me, things in this vein usually has its entertainment value, but erodes quickly.

At first it's a chuckle. Maybe you dig into it a bit more. If you feel like being "that guy" (as in the guy who likes to show off that they're ahead of the curve even if it means you bought a Sega Dreamcast), you send it to people and banter about it in the office, with friends, or on social networks.

But inevitably whatever "coolness" these internet memes have wears off, except for maybe Icing as there is good schadenfreude value there, plus it inevitably leads to drinking.

Usually though, the death kiss of these memes, is the exultation of them by mainstream media. While not really the actual nail in the coffin per se, the fact is that usually within days of being embraced by mainstream media, your Mom or Aunt will then email or worse, write on your Facebook wall, with something like this:

"Hey Honey...... I saw this and thought of you. Totally something you and your friends would do! Have you done it yet? Also be sure to get a flu shot and if you can please call me as I am having problems working the DVR again."

And just like that... you're over it. You're off the bandwagon. Anyone who jumps on after you left is totally uncool. 

While Tebowing certainly has some juice left, in this digital age and the amount of attention it has received, we're on borrowed time here folks. Relish the moment now before you inevitably have to do a house call to check the DVR settings.

Below is what we saw on just 30 minutes of ESPN today...

Here's your announcing schedule for the week with other games listed as well...

Fr. 10/28
Brigham Young vs. TCU @Arlington, TX, ESPN/ESPN3 (8:00 PM) - Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore, Samantha Steele
Sa. 10/29
No. 11 Michigan State at No. 14 Nebraska, ESPN/ESPN3 (12:00 PM) - Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman, Urban Meyer, Quint Kessenich
Missouri at No. 16 Texas A&M, FX (12:00 PM) - Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Tim Brewster
Purdue at No. 18 Michigan, ESPN2/ESPN3 (12:00 PM) - Beth Mowins, Mike Bellotti, Shelley Smith
North Carolina State at Florida State, ESPNU (12:00 PM) - Rob Stone, Danny Kanell
Northwestern at Indiana, BTN (12:00 PM) - Tom Hart, Derek Rackley, Lisa Byington
Syracuse at Louisville, Big East Network/ESPN3/GamePlan (12:00 PM) - Mike Gleason, John Congemi, Eamon McAnaney
Rhode Island at #11 New Hampshire, CSN-MidAtlantic+/CSN-New England (12:00 PM) - Gary Tanguay, Andy Gresh, Greg Dickerson
Yale at Columbia, YES (12:00 PM) - Chris Shearn, Ross Tucker, Jack Ford
UAB at Marshall, CSS/CSN-Chicago/WSAZ (WV) (12:00 PM) - Mike Morgan, Chuck Oliver, Craig Ackerman
#10 James Madison at #16 Old Dominion, CSN-MidAtlantic  (12:00 PM) - Bob Picozzi, Antonio Freeman, Brian Jackson
Central Michigan at Akron, MAC Network/ESPN3/GamePlan (12:00 PM) - Michael Reghi, Doug Graber
#6 Lehigh at Colgate, CBS Sports Network (12:00 PM) - Dave Ryan, Rich Rodriguez
Drake at Marist,  (12:00 PM) -
Sacred Heart at Robert Morris,  (12:00 PM) -
Central Connecticut State at St. Francis (PA),  (12:00 PM)
Albany at Wagner, FCS-Pacific/TWC-Albany/ESPN3/GamePlan (12:00 PM) - Paul Dottino, Steve Levy, John Schmeelk
No. 10 Arkansas at Vanderbilt, SEC Network (National)/ESPN3/GamePlan (12:21 PM) - Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Cara Capuano
No. 12 Virginia Tech at Duke, ACC Network (National)/ESPN3/GamePlan (12:30 PM) - Tim Brant, Dave Archer, Scott Pryzwansky
Georgia State at UT-San Antonio, Longhorn Network (1:30 PM) - Andrew Monaco, Ahmad Brooks
Eastern Kentucky at Murray State,  (2:00 PM) -
Air Force at New Mexico, The Mtn. (2:00 PM) - Bill Doleman, Jay Leeuwenberg, Toby Christensen
Furman at Chattanooga,  (2:00 PM) -
Bethune-Cookman at North Carolina Central,  (2:00 PM) -
North Carolina A&T at Norfolk State,  (2:00 PM) -
Hampton at Savannah State,  (2:00 PM) -
Dayton at Valparaiso,  (2:00 PM) -
Ball State at Western Michigan,  (2:00 PM) -
Idaho State at #4 Montana State, Max Media of Montana (2:00 PM) - Chris Byers, Mike Callaghan, A.J. Donatoni
Washington State at No. 7 Oregon, FSN-National (3:00 PM) - Joel Meyers, Brian Baldinger, Jim Knox
Boston College at Maryland, ACC Network (Regional)/ESPN3/GamePlan (3:00 PM) - Rich Waltz, Keith Jones, Jenn Hildreth
Weber State at #8 Montana, Montana News Network (3:00 PM) - Dennis Patchin, Bob Hermes, Derek Buerkle
UC Davis at Southern Utah, KMYU (UT) (3:00 PM) - Mychal Clanton, Jordan Buscarini
#1 Georgia Southern at #5 Appalachian State, SoCon Network/ESPN3 (3:00 PM) - Darren Goldwater, Doug Chapman
Texas Southern at Mississippi Valley State,  (3:00 PM) -
Lamar at #7 Sam Houston State,  (3:00 PM) -
Western Carolina at Samford,  (3:00 PM) -
South Dakota State at Missouri State, Mediacom (MO) (3:00 PM) - Don West, Mike McClure
Baylor at No. 3 Oklahoma State, ABC or ESPN2 or GamePlan/ESPN3 (3:30 PM) - Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie, Jeannine Edwards
No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Kansas State, ESPN/ESPN3 (3:30 PM) - Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, Heather Cox
Illinois at No. 19 Penn State, ABC or ESPN2/ESPN3 (3:30 PM) - Carter Blackburn, Brock Huard, Lisa Salters
No. 22 Georgia vs. Florida @Jacksonville, FL, CBS (3:30 PM) - Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
No. 25 West Virginia at Rutgers, ABC or GamePlan/ESPN3 (3:30 PM) - Mark Neely, Ray Bentley
Illinois State at Southern Illinois, CSN-Chicago/WSIU (IL) (3:30 PM) - Kurt Pegler, Boomer Grigsby/Scott Warmann, Darren Kinnard
Navy at Notre Dame, NBC (3:30 PM) - Tom Hammond, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan
Iowa at Minnesota, BTN (3:30 PM) - Eric Collins, Chris Martin, Dionne Miller
Tulane at East Carolina, WITN (NC) (3:30 PM) - Patrick Kinas, Kevin Miller, Billy Weaver
Wake Forest at North Carolina, ESPNU (3:30 PM) - Pam Ward, Dan Hawkins
Buffalo at Miami (OH), SportsTime Ohio/ESPN3/GamePlan (3:30 PM) - Matt Underwood, Frank Stams
SMU at Tulsa, FSN-Regional (3:30 PM) - Ron Thulin, JC Pearson, Jeremy Bloom
#12 Maine at Villanova,  (3:30 PM) -
Fordham at Army, CBS Sports Network (3:30 PM) - Gary Thorne, Randy Cross, James Garrison
Alabama A&M vs. #22 Alabama State @Birmingham, AL, ESPN3 (3:30 PM) - Adam Amin, Jay Walker
Grambling State at Arkansas-Pine Bluff,  (3:30 PM) -
Presbyterian at #24 Liberty, MASN (3:30 PM) - Mike Tilley, Ray Jones
Western Kentucky at Louisiana-Monroe,  (3:30 PM) -
#25 North Dakota at Northern Colorado,  (3:30 PM) -
#19 Tennessee Tech at #13 Jacksonville State,  (4:00 PM) -
Northwestern State at Texas State,  (4:00 PM) -
Memphis at Central Florida, CSS/BH (4:00 PM) - David Baumann, Mark Royals, Jeff Radcliffe
San Jose State at Louisiana Tech,  (4:00 PM) -
#2 Northern Iowa at #3 North Dakota State, FCS-Central/KXJB (ND)/NBC-North Dakota (4:00 PM) - Dan Hammer, Lee Timmermann, Kevin Feeney, Jamal Spencer
McNeese State at Stephen F. Austin, Southland Network/ESPN3/GamePlan (4:00 PM) - Randy McIlvoy, Shea Walker, Jane Slater
Coastal Carolina at Stony Brook, ESPN3 (4:00 PM) - Matt Hogue, James Buford
Portland State at Eastern Washington, SWX/CSN-Northwest (4:05 PM) - Greg Heister, Bill Ames
Henderson State at South Alabama,  (5:00 PM) -
Hawai'i at Idaho, Oceanic PPV/Altitude/MASN/ESPN3/GamePlan (5:00 PM) - Trey Bender, Jay Taylor
Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay,  (5:00 PM) -
#17 Jackson State vs. Prairie View A&M @Shreveport, LA,  (5:00 PM) -
Dartmouth at #23 Harvard, FCS-Atlantic (6:00 PM) - Eric Frede, Steve DeOssie, Katy Fitzpatrick
Bucknell at Lafayette, Lafayette Sports Network (6:00 PM) - Gary Laubach, Mike Joseph, John Leone
Colorado State at UNLV, The Mtn. (6:00 PM) - Ari Wolfe, Blaine Fowler, Molly Sullivan
Colorado at No. 21 Arizona State, FSN-Arizona/Root-Rocky Mountain/FCS-Pacific (6:30 PM) - Tom Leander, Adam Archuleta, Jody Jackson
Alcorn State at Southern University,  (6:30 PM) -
Iowa State at No. 20 Texas Tech, FSN-National (7:00 PM) - Bill Land, Gary Reasons, Desmond Purnell
Mississippi at No. 23 Auburn, ESPNU (7:00 PM) - Clay Matvick, Brian Griese, Allison Williams
Kansas at No. 24 Texas, Longhorn Network/Jayhawk Sports Network (7:00 PM) - Dave Lamont, Tim Brown, Samantha Steele/Gary Bender, Rich Baldinger
California at UCLA, PrimeTicket (7:00 PM) - Bill McDonald, J.J. Stokes, Chris McGee
Mississippi State at Kentucky, SEC Network (Regional)/ESPN3/GamePlan (7:00 PM) - Bob Rathbun, Tim Couch, Kristina Akra
#20 Delaware at #14 Towson, Comcast Network (7:00 PM) - Mike Corey, Kevin Reilly
North Texas at Arkansas State,  (7:00 PM) -
Southeastern Louisiana at Central Arkansas,  (7:00 PM) -
No. 13 South Carolina at Tennessee, ESPN2/ESPN3 (7:15 PM) - Mark Jones, Ed Cunningham, Jessica Mendoza
Louisiana-Lafayette at Middle Tennessee, CSS/CST/ESPN3/GamePlan (7:30 PM) - Joe Davis, Cole Cubelic, Erin Cofiell
Southeast Missouri State at Tennessee-Martin,  (7:30 PM) -
No. 5 Clemson at Georgia Tech, ABC or GamePlan/ESPN3 (8:00 PM) - Mike Patrick, Craig James
No. 6 Stanford at Southern California, ABC or GamePlan/ESPN3 (8:00 PM) - Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews
No. 15 Wisconsin at Ohio State, ESPN/ESPN3 (8:00 PM) - Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
Nevada at New Mexico State, WAC Network/ESPN3/GamePlan (8:00 PM) - Barry Tompkins, Joe Glenn
Oregon State at Utah, KJZZ (UT)/Root-Northwest (8:00 PM) - Steve Brown, Mike Norseth, David Long
Southern Mississippi at UTEP, CBS Sports Network (8:00 PM) - James Bates, Aaron Taylor, Brooke Collins
#15 South Dakota at Cal Poly, KSBY (CA) (9:05 PM) - Andrew Masuda, Bill Halter, Kathy Kuretich
Northern Arizona at Sacramento State,  (9:05 PM) -
Wyoming at San Diego State, The Mtn. (10:00 PM) - Todd Harris, Todd Christensen, Jenny Cavnar
Arizona at Washington, FSN-National (10:30 PM) - Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, Petros Papadakis

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Perhaps that Fox alert was a tad premature as the Cardinals defeated the Rangers in an epic World Series Game 6 last night.  The events produced some great snafus as well.  ESPN had in their boxscore the fact that Jake Westbrook won the game for the Rangers last night.  That Busch Stadium bullpen phone must be haunted...

According to Sports Illustrated, the Cards forced a decisive Game 6 last night.  Hey, it was so great, why not do it again?

From Mookie at Stupid Sideline Reporters comes this snafu from the midweek League Cup action.  Amazingly, Chelsea was heading into extra time against BOTH Everton and Blackburn!

Can you see what's wrong with this screengrab from Arkansas/Ole Miss...

And finally, congrats to the newest member of the Deadspin fam, Tim Burke, who captured this screengrab at Mocksession of Iowa facing a 1st & Goal... from their own 20.

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

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What an awesome game that was.

A game, a series, and a moment to be remembered and celebrated no doubt. 

To the surprise of many, Joe Buck gave the moment a nice touch by giving the walk-off home run a call that paid tribute to his dad's call in a World Series game with similar circumstances almost 20 years ago to the day. Some didn't like the call, but most seemed to think the beleaguered Buck rose to the occasion for this historic baseball moment.

The blogosphere and Twitter exploded with glee as baseball had a crescendo moment in what has been a postseason that has been played under the ominous cloud cover of terrible television ratings and in particular the continued aging of the baseball's post season audience. This postseason, MLB's average viewer is reported to be somewhere around 53-55 years old and has been the subject of endless banter on sports radio as that number has continued to climb at an alarming rate over the last decade. The bottom line, older people continue to watch the World Series but younger people haven't tuned in to keep the stat at a healthy median age.

Enter David Freese's home run which popped up on endless websites including this one. You can find articles just like ours in addition to the Sporting News, Larry Brown Sports, Sports Grid, Cards Diaspora, Big Lead Sports, Midwest Sports Fans and thousands of other publishers as well as social network accounts.  With the general web and many of these sites in particular skewing towards a younger audience (well below median age of the World Series viewer), you would think that hundreds of thousands if not millions of people sharing this moment across the web would be a good thing.

Major League Baseball doesn't agree.

MLB Advanced Media stepped in with their ridiculous policy to not only make the clip only viewable on MLB.com (no embedding although they recently started making some non-baseball clips embeddable after substantial grumblings from the web), but also relentlessly working to rip the clip down wherever spotted. The end result is COUNTLESS articles, links, tweets, etc pointing to places without the highlight people want to see. 

Within hours, the clip is already hard to find unless you intuitively make the journey to mlb.com where you'll get a healthy dose of advertising and help pad their stats.

That's not a bad thing really though. It's their clip, they're making money, and you can't argue with that right? 

I hate to be that smart-ass who goes on these preachy rants, but this is incredibly moronic.

The bump MLB gets in terms of revenue and measurable benefits by the added traffic is just a drop in the bucket for them. Let's say that perhaps they get a half million plays of the video and they're able to make a $5 cpm, meaning $250,000 in ad revenue. Let's say just getting a lot more new visitors to the site is worth something too (because it is) and maybe you put a price-tag on that "marketing" value at some other sexy amount. Very respectable, but still that PALES in comparison at the opportunity spoiled of tapping into a younger audience with that clip.

This is a sport that should be DESPERATELY courting younger people to become interested in the sport. Those within sports media circles talk about this at length and nobody really seems to have a good idea or prediction on how and when MLB's aging and declining audience problem will bottom out. It's believed to be a serious long term problem by most and not just a decade long "fad"...

It might not be the popular opinion, but I thought Joe Buck called a phenomenal Game 6. Sure enough, Game 6 itself was better than phenomenal, but Joe Buck did a fine job (mostly by not detracting too much from the game's significance). Buck capped the game off in walk off style, too -- by paying homage to his father, the late Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck, by calmly saluting the viewers with the same, "We will see you tomorrow night" call, which is considered by many as one of the best in all of baseball.

Sticklers on time and days be damned, in 1991 while calling Kirby Pucket's Game 6 walk off home run that forced Game 7 of the World Series, Jack Buck probably couldn't conceive the notion that 'tomorrow night,' 20 years later, his son would, in a similarly thrilling game, with similar consequences, honor one of his calls. Well, Joe Buck did, with the old man watching from upstairs, and it was perfectly fitting if you ask me.

Here's Jack Buck's call 20 years ago yesterday:

20 years and a day later, like father like son, here is Joe Buck's call of David Freese's Game 6 walk off home run that forced Game 7 of the World Series:

 

Tender moment right there.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to call my dad and tell him I love him.

UPDATE: To be clear, I'm well aware that Buck likes to pay tribute to his father with "we'll see you tomorrow night" (or "later tonight" in the 2004 ALCS) whenever he can. I don't see anything wrong with that - in fact, it's kind of nice. But I thought tonight's was particularly cool because of the similar circumstances, almost exactly 20 years later. 

[videos via Jimmy Traina]

Game 6 of the World Series is tonight and to commemorate the occasion, we're doing a running diary for the evening.  What that will entail is basically a smorgasbord of AA's best features - quotes from Joe Buck and Tim McCarver (ala the Pammies), your tweets on the broadcast (ala Real Tweets from Real People), and some interspersed commentary in between.  Just refresh the page throughout the game for a continual dialogue and leave a comment below or tweet us your thoughts/quotes.  Enjoy the game... and try to enjoy the announcing!

Top 1st

"the count is 1-1. That's a little low and now it's 3-1" - Joe Buck (via spadilly)

"And now Michael Young takes a ball.... in for a strike." - Joe Buck (via MagnaCarterLive)

merfster1 It's not amazing that leadoff hitters that walk tend to score, McCarver. Does he know anything about baseball? @awfulannouncing

Bottom 1st

"The Cardinals are hoping to have the intention to get Pujols up there without intentionally walking." - Tim McCarver (via AA)

Lance Berkman homers to make it 2-1 Cards in the bottom of the first.  Joe Buck actually seemed excited for the occasion (for his relative standards)... but I'm sure a large portion of the audience may interpret it as Cardinals homerism...

"The best way to eliminate gray is to keep hitting them like Berkman just hit them … or hit it." - Tim McCarver (via TravHaney)

courtgolf @awfulannouncing most people who talk like Timmy would be institutionalized and tested for dimentia

Top 2nd

Tim refers to Bill Mazeroski's 9th inning Game 7 home run in 1960 as "the shot heard round Pittsburgh."  What a majestic way to describe one of the greatest moments in baseball history. 

Smedindy @awfulannouncing "A good bunt, but not for an American League pitcher". Like a NL pitcher has exemptions for bad bunts?

Speertime23 Tim McCarver makes me want rip my ears off @awfulannouncing

That's a little harsh isn't it?  Ear ripping territory is usually only reserved for Craig James.

Bottom 2nd

There's something so beautiful about Tim McCarver saying "JAI-MAY" Garcia.  In other news, Kinsler doubles into left center to tie the game at 2-2 in the second.  Already Boggs is warming up in the bullpen for the Cards.  Get Ken Rosenthal on the other end of that bullpen phone!!

"you've heard that expression 2nd time thru the lineup; this is the 2nd time the Rangers have faced Jaime Garcia." - Tim McCarver (via JimMcKaysaidso)

At least Joe threw in a little excitement in throwing to commercial...

Top 3rd

Tim actually makes a good point about Carpenter pitching Game 7 of the World Series reflecting on Ken Rosenthal's short report.  See, we're not negative all the time!  

"Chris Carpenter is the unofficial official starting pitcher for tomorrow night."- Tim McCarver (via sjwest86)

On second thought...

eeberlew71 @awfulannouncing 'it was successful because they got to the line of scrimmage and snapped the ball.' Craig James never fails to amaze.

Sorry it was a short inning... had to get in a Craig James quote somewhere tonight!

(Click READ MORE to enjoy all the fun after the jump!)

Ed Note: This article written by Allen Kenney first appeared on Bloguin.com's college football blog Crystal Ball Run.  AA has been quite critical of Poynter's missed opportunities as ESPN ombud and their newest installment on ESPN's role in realignment is no different.  The following article puts their latest effort in the context of ESPN as a larger corporate entity heavily involved with college realignment.  As in the picture above from ESPN.com, if ESPN can hype their own conflicts of interest while promoting Poynter's viewpoint of ESPN "staying loyal to its audience" and Longhorn Network in one stroke, serious questions need to be asked of the ombudsman's role. (-MY)

The Poynter Institute, currently serving as ESPN’s ombudsman, yesterday released its analysis of the World Wide Leader’s role in reshaping the landscape of college athletics and the effect on its news coverage, a critique hotly anticipated by passionate sports fans and media wonks.

As one would expect when dealing with such complicated subject matter, Kelly McBride’s report is broad and winding, touching on a number of moving parts involved in realignment. Early on in the 2,300-word article, however, she lays out the heart of the matter:

“After interviewing executives who negotiate these growing contracts for ESPN, key officials of athletic conferences, NCAA officials and outside analysts, this much is clear: ESPN is acting like the big business it is, strategically locking up its market whenever it makes financial sense. Could that be a problem for the network's credibility as its reporters independently gather information about schools and conferences? Yes.”

In other words, one side of ESPN’s house - the business side seeking to maximize its profits through broadcasting relationships with colleges and the conferences - is creating a problem for the news side charged with practicing objective journalism. So, here comes a lesson in ethics and reporting in the face of a glaring conflict of interest, right?

Not exactly.

Before delving into the journalistic bugaboos presented by realignment, McBride takes great pains to not only rehash the events that led up to the current situations, but to assess ESPN’s involvement. McBride seemingly goes above and beyond the call of duty in attempting to absolve ESPN of blame in all the conference-swapping and bitter break-ups witnessed in the last two years.

Rightfully so. The truth is that while ESPN gives bitter fans a convenient bogeyman when their favorite team ends up on the short end of the realignment stick, ESPN’s role in the neverending realignment drama wouldn’t exist if the universities themselves weren’t tripping over themselves to mine every dollar possible out of college athletics. ESPN may act as a catalyst in realignment, but as McBride notes:

“The increasingly huge amounts of money the network spends on college rights are a primary driver of the domino effect in conference realignment. Is that inappropriate? Only if you think ESPN should be responsible for preserving the traditional values of collegiate athletics.

We'd suggest there should be a lot of other defenders of student athletes in line to do this work before ESPN, starting with college presidents.” 

So, in some way, shape or fashion, ESPN is helping fuel realignment. I think we can all agree on that to some degree. Not really news, but it’s great that we’re on the same page.

Now about that credibility issue you mentioned...

Last week's games sucked? Well, this week's slate is even worse on the surface, save for the Patriots/Steelers, which is of course being announced by friends Jim Nantz and co. FOX's top crew, with Thom Brennaman filling in for Joe Buck, will be in Toronto for the Redskins/Bills, exactly where that game needs to be.

Personally, I'll be getting my Tebowing on, hoping the Lions don't lose a 3rd straight vs. Denver and leave a really bad taste in the mouth heading into the bye.

Speaking of byes: Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders, New York Jets, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are all on one this week.

Your broadcast maps can be found here via The 506.

Sunday, October 30

Miami Dolphins @ New York Giants (CBS 1PM) Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf

Indianapolis Colts @ Tennessee Titans (CBS 1PM) Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Houston Texans (CBS 1PM) Marv Albert, Rich Gannon

Minnesota Vikings @ Carolina Panthers (FOX 1PM) Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa

Arizona Cardinals @ Baltimore Ravens (FOX 1PM) Sam Rosen, Brian Billick, Laura Okmin

New Orleans Saints @ St. Louis Rams (FOX 1PM) Chris Myers, Tim Ryan, Jennifer Hale

Washington Redskins v. Buffalo Bills - @ Toronto (FOX 4PM) Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver

Detroit Lions @ Denver Broncos (FOX 4PM) Dick Stockton, John Lynch, Jaime Maggio

New England Patriots @ Pittsburgh Steelers (CBS 4:15) Jim Nantz, Phil Simms

Cleveland Browns @ San Francisco 49ers (CBS 4:15) Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts

Cincinnati Bengals @ Seattle Seahawks (CBS 4:15) Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker

Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles (NBC 8:20PM) Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya

Monday, October 31

San Diego Chargers @ Kansas City Chiefs (ESPN 8:30PM) Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski

[screenshot via Sportsgrid]

Dick Stockton needs to pick up his game for the awards that bear his name!  This week, Dick was shut out in the Straight Outta Stockton awards as nine out of our top ten go to NFL analysts.  Jon Gruden, Rich Gannon, and Troy Aikman take the top three slots for Week 7 while Phil Simms and Brian Billick squirt to the top of the Dickies standings.  This Simms/Billick battle may be the AA equivalent of Manning/Brady.  Should be fun to watch throughout the rest of the season.  The envelope please...

10) Ron Pitts: You're old school. 
Jim Mora: I don't know what I am. (Sighing) I'm a broadcaster right now. (via JohnLewisSports)

9) "We welcome those of you who watched the Packers." - Thom Brennaman (via JimWilliamsOnAir) introing an out of market audience to the GB/MIN game.

8) "What you want to do here is run as much time off the clock, so you can run out the clock" - Warren Moon (via Real_DWM)

7) "This is their version of the no-huddle. I know they're huddling up." - Brian Billick (via jfishSOTW)

6) "Grab him by the waist and get into position" - Jim Mora (via steve5643)

5) "He's coming out blind, seeing a bunch of stuff." - Brian Billick (via TheisJeff)

4) "It looks like they may throw the ball here." Phil Simms (via MikeMarciano33) when the Jets go 5 wide...

3) "Minnesota doesn't need a touchdown here. all they have to do is move the ball and score a touchdown." - Troy Aikman (via bjo109)

2) Marv Albert: "Rich have you played overseas?"
Rich Gannon: "Yes, I have played in Mexico." (via deisner17)

1) "Watch him squirt through this hole and unload on contact." - Jon Gruden (via ThisisERV)

Week 7 Top 5 -

1) Brian Billick 19 pts

2) Phil Simms 16 pts

3) Jon Gruden 12 pts

4) Scott Hanson 10 pts

5) Rich Gannon 9 pts

Others receiving votes - Chris Berman 8 pts, Troy Aikman 8 pts, Cris Collinsworth 7 pts, Jim Mora 6 pts, Daryl Johnston 5 pts, Dick Stockton 4 pts, Warren Moon 3 pts, Thom Brennaman 2 pts, Tony Siragusa 1 pt.

The Full Week 8 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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Tonight's World Series Game 6 has been postponed, forcing many sports fans to have to settle for UConn vs Pitt football on ESPN with Mark May & Lou Holtz in the booth.  A great night for us and the Pammies... or a night to see if there's an NHL game on (darn, nothing but bull riding on Versus tonight).  Game 6 has been moved to Thursday and a possible Game 7 would be played Friday night.  

Maybe you would have been watching bull riding regardless.  Unfortunately for MLB, the ratings news has been fairly grim as expected for this Cardinals-Rangers World Series.  According to Sports Media Watch, the 2011 World Series is the third lowest rated of all-time through five games.  They also had these interesting statistics:

"The 8.8 rating is tied as the lowest ever for Game 5 of the World Series, and the ninth-lowest for any World Series game. The Texas Rangers have now played in ten of the sixteen lowest rated World Series games of all time.

Over the past four seasons (dating back to 2008), only five of 21 World Series games have drawn a double-digit rating (24%). The World Series’ percentage trails that of other sports, including the NBA Finals (29%), NCAA Men’s Final Four (33%), and Bowl Championship Series (45%).

To put that in perspective, 220 of the previous 224 World Series games hit double-digits (98%)."

It's amazing to consider that drop.  Suddenly, in the last four seasons, only a quarter of World Series games have reached double digit ratings.  The very informative tvsportsratings Twitter page reports WS numbers are down 4% from last year's Giants/Rangers series as well.

MLB can cling to actually beating Sunday Night Football in the ratings this week.  However, the Saints annihilated the Colts in one of the worst blowouts ever seen on national television, 62-7.  That's as hollow of a "victory" in the ratings as I can imagine.  To put it into further perspective, more people watched Two And A Half Men (the one without Charlie Sheen) and Dancing With The Stars than Game 5 of the World Series.

It's too bad for baseball that this year's World Series has been unable to draw television numbers and the sport still flounders without the Yanks or Sawx in the World Series.  I suppose that's what MLB asks for though in constructing their sport to heavily favor those teams and allowing them to dominate the national baseball discussion.  

This World Series has actually been very entertaining so far.  Games 1 & 2 were decided by a run with Game 2 featuring a thrilling 9th inning Texas comeback.  Albert Pujols had maybe the greatest World Series Game ever in Game 3, and Texas has battled back in Games 4 & 5.  

Baseball's ratings have been struggling for some time... but why?  What say you?  Is it because the sport focuses too much on the big market teams and the Yanks & Sox?  Is it because baseball isn't doing enough to market the games to young fans?  Or, is it maybe because the World Series needs a drastic television makeover from Fox and a deliverance from Joe Buck and Tim McCarver?  Comment it out and let us know what you think!

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