We're thankful to @bubbaprog for letting us know AA got this mention below on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night (no big deal)...

 

Olbermann reunited with his old partner in crime, Dan Patrick, to talk about what they expected in the movie version of the book, "Those Guys Have All The Fun."

While a lot of folks have had fun trying to cast the movie, I think the more interesting question is what portion of ESPN's history will the movie cover. Ryan took a stab at some possibilities which led to the Olbermann shout out. Dan Patrick commented that he's hearing the movie will focus on the mid 90's so it looks like the movie will be more focused on characters and individuals and not the uphill battle ESPN had to fight in its infancy to survive. 

How that book transitions into a movie is the million dollar question. If you've read the book, you can see the challenge at hand. Being a Hollywood expert having watched lots of movies and every episode of Entourage, here is how I'd do it (call my people so I can get EP credit).

The movie starts in 1987 and ends sometimes in 1994. 1987 is a good starting place because 2 of the 9 major steps in ESPN's rise happened that year. You can mention the buzz around the America's Cup coverage while management preps for the intense NFL bidding process. A narrator (Dan Patrick? Bob Ley?) can then guide you back to how other meetings could have caused ESPN to stumble early on. You can do quick flashbacks to the first 3 steps of ESPN's history which were all business orientated. In fact, with quick setups and cutaways you can even add some important steps like getting NCAA tournament games and Budweiser signing on as the first sponsor. Really, all of those stories just need a quick setup from a narrator and maybe 20 seconds in the flashback. You could cover a lot more ground going this route and add a lot of context.

I think the logical end point is 1994 with the start of the This Is SportsCenter commercials. The real meat of the movie outlines 2 main stories. 1) The business side where there were some very shrewd decisions but a revolving door of ownership and management. 2) John Walsh's impact on the company and the rising star of many of the ESPN personalities as well as the development of a frat house like culture.  Of course, Olbermann, Patrick, and the Big Show would play a central role.

The infamous launch party of ESPN2 would serve as the beginning of the end as the company culture has drifted a bit off course from it's scrappy and humble roots. From there you close out the movie with the various tensions between on air personalities and their managers and end the film with the "This Is Sportscenter commercials." For each commercial shoot you could add an epilogue for that individual and how their future with the company played out.

What are your thoughts on this approach? How would you go about not sacrificing cinematic ambition in favor of commercial appeal?

There may be no better follows on Twitter as a sports fan right now than the major NFL reporters.  Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Jay Glazer of Fox, Jason La Canfora of NFL Network, and even Pro Football Talk are always dishing out stories, news, and rumors, trying to beat the competition, especially during the mad rush of this past week.  The race for these reporters to get the story first is almost as interesting as the actual stories themselves, with Glazer tweeting a shot at his ESPN rivals yesterday.  

Well, in the midst of the craziest and shortest offseason in NFL history, ESPN's John Clayton finally got in the Twitter act yesterday.  One day and 71 Tweets later and Clayton has already amassed 134,000 followers faster than you can say Darren Roveil.  Something tells me that John still hasn't quite grasped the nuances of Twitter completely yet though.  Take a look at Clayton's Twitter page.  This is an actual picture as of 7:30 ET.


Wow.   At least it is an original background.  Clayton's Twitter account is just as newsworthy as the other top NFL reporters, but my word.  Is there not one intern in Bristol that can dress up his Twitter page just a little bit?  It gets better when you look at Clayton's profile on Tweetdeck.  Again, an actual screengrab...

Phenomenal.  This is probably way more funny to me than it really is, but I absolutely love this Twitter anomaly.  Then again, maybe the Professor is all outsmarting us and the small picture and graininess could just all be a reason to obscure us from seeing that famed pony tail...

Thanks to Chuck Anderson for the tip.
 

Sure, this has nothing to do with sports media, but who said we ever had to live within those rules all the time, right?  This version of Real Tweets From Real People was sparked by my 11,000th viewing of one of my all-time favorite movies, The Boondock Saints.  ("What were you gonna do, laugh the last three to death... FUNNY MAN?!")  The response last night on Twitter with your favorite rewatchable movie selections was awesome.  So why not dedicate Real Tweets to those favorite movies to start watching halfway through on cable or flip on Netflix when the sports options are running low.  And while you're at it, check out Ryan's movie doppelganger choices for the upcoming ESPN book movie project.  Don't worry, we're not turning into Grantland... yet.  After the jump and as always, these are Real Tweets From Real People...

The Pac 12 Networks announcement is absolutely huge. There are some obvious takeaways, but if you really dive deep into the implications this will have on the sports media world, the signifigance of the development begins to blow your mind. Many things will change in media and in college football because of this.

If you missed the announcement, the Pac 12 is launching a national network similar to the Big Ten Network. Here is where it gets interesting though. The Pac 12 will also launch 6 regional networks as well.  From College Football Talk:

"Will be broadcast through four cable operators: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, COX Communications and Bright House Networks.

The four cable operators will broadcast a total of 850 sporting events — 350 events nationally and 500 events regionally — including every football game and every men’s basketball game that isn’t carried by the Pac-12′s other media rights conglomerates, ESPN and FOX.

The six regional networks are Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Southern California, Arizona and Mountain. This means that fans from all 12 Pac-12 institutions will have an opportunity to watch every football and men’s basketball game of their school provided they have the network. The six regional networks will also broadcast other Olympic (i.e. non-revenue generating) sports and academic programming."

Some further details from the LA Times:

"There are no plans in place with distributors such as DirectTV or Dish Network, though Scott said he hoped to eventually add satellite and telephone companies to the deal.

The four distributors who are onboard with the conference can reach about 48 million viewers."
 

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This is about the strangest story I've seen in the 10 months I've been on board Awful Announcing.  The Florida International University football program is perhaps best known for this massive brawl against the crosstown Miami Hurricanes a few years ago.  FIU's athletic department is also notable for their recent ridiculous Isaiah Thomas coaching hire.  Well, the university is back in the news once again for a strange reason.  The (FI) U has made another publicity seeking, head scratching move.  I can't believe I'm typing these words, but the school has hired former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez as their football play by play man for the upcoming season.  You can't make this stuff up.  From NBC Miami...

The controversial former local news anchor with a flair for the overdramatic that landed him on CNN is reportedly lending his voice to Florida International University football games this fall.

FIU's athletic department confirmed Sanchez will be in the radio booth during games this season, but did not release how much he will be paid or for how long he will call games.

Sanchez was fired by CNN in October after some controversial comments he made about The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his employer.

When I want a play by play man for my favorite university, the first group of people that come to mind are former cable TV news hosts.  Were Keith Olbermann, Eliot Spitzer, and Larry King not available?!?!  Did Glenn Beck demand too much money?

Seriously, is this a joke?  Rick Sanchez?!?  The same Rick Sanchez that was fired from CNN because of his belief in the vast Jewish media conspiracy theory?  I'm not saying he'll be terrible, but never, ever, ever have I thought to myself... "Wow, you know who would make a great football announcer... RICK SANCHEZ!"  Evidently, he's a big supporter of the university and has played some football before.  Best of luck to him, but I never even thought Sanchez was good in his job as a cable newsman, let alone his potential as a football announcer.  Just watch this hilarious Youtube montage of some of his more facepalm worthy moments from CNN...



At the very least, we should have plenty of great, new material for the Pammies this Fall.  Who wants to be our FIU correspondent...

[NBC Miami]
 

A couple of days back, the author of the ESPN book, Jim Miller, tweeted that Bruce Feldman would be back covering college football during the Pac 12 media days. He also hinted that there was still some things going on behind the scenes (do tell!). 

Given Miller's bevvy of sources, we're inclined to think he's in the know about either Feldman's contract ending or possible severance discussions. There is no other real explanation for Feldman potentially leaving ESPN in the middle of the college football season. In fact, I doubt his contract would even expire mid season, so there is still some major questions about what's really going on behind the scenes.

Regardless, we did get our first look at Feldman as he did some video talking Pac 12. Still with no tweet or comment about the matter from Feldman nor anything to go on other than ESPN's side of the story, we're still very skeptical. It's interesting to see ESPN leaving comments enabled on the article page containing the video, most referencing Feldman's extended absence.

Feldman seemed to crack grin in the first few seconds of the video almost acknowledging this was kind of awkward to reappear with no formal comment on the matter. Here is our take on what was going on behind the scenes.

Click on image for better view

 

We're trying to dig further into what Miller was insinuating in his tweet about Feldman's future as it remains to be seen if he's truly free or just being supervised out in the yard. Either way, his last couple of weeks have been reminiscent of another great guy locked up for all the wrong reasons.

One of the biggest sports stories of the summer was the release of the best seller "Those Guys Have All the Fun," more commonly known as The ESPN Book.  Jim Miller's book was met with near-universal acclaim (read our review here and our podcast with Jim here), so it was no surprise that a deal was reached this week to turn the blockbuster book into a blockbuster movie. Of course, there's only one small problem with "Those Guys" translating to the silver screen... it's 745 pages long!  The book is so chalk full of stories and details it could fill an entire trilogy, let alone a single movie.

So, unless The ESPN Book: The Movie is going to be some Gone With The Wind style epic, the movie's plot is going to have to focus on one main character from the book.  After all, there's only so much you can fit into a two hour movie while maintaining your "dramatic license."  But, there are so many interesting and pivotal characters in the book that the potential movie could go in many different directions.  And while it's fun to think about the possible casting of the movie (like our friends at SportsGrid have done very well already), let's take a look at five very different movies that could actually be made from "Those Guys."

(1) ESPN: The Beginning 
Movie Doppelganger: The Social Network

The first potential movie is predictably the easiest, focusing on ESPN's beginnings.  The plot line would resemble The Social Network to examine how an empire was built from humble/dumpy Bristol, CT.  The main characters would obviously be ESPN's co-founders, Bill and Scott Rasmussen.  One, a failed employee of the then New England Whalers and another, the bumbling son who's along for the ride until he's forced out of the company he founded.

The other main character would be Stu Evey from Getty Oil, a larger-than-life figure in the book who represents the financial investment that got ESPN off the ground... not to mention the source of some of the wilder anecdotes from the book.  The movie could crescendo as ESPN slowly becomes legitimate throughout the 80's while taking plenty of time to detail the sex and drugs that weren't as big a part of the book as first thought.  I'd love to see this movie made just for the ability to dramatize the struggle of building the "leader" from scratch.

(2) The Big Show: The Movie
Movie Doppelganger: Wedding Crashers (or any other buddy comedy, really)

Undoubtedly one of the easier choices for a main storyline to the ESPN Movie would be following the rise and fall of The Big Show and its stars, Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick.  This movie would focus on ESPN's rise from legitimacy to national phenom while charting the growth of SportsCenter throughout the 90's.  And while all of our other ESPN favorites will be there in the background (Berman, Ley, Steiner, Scott, Vitale, etc.), the main focus would be on the Olbermann/Patrick duo, who took SportsCenter to new heights as a mainstream cultural hit.

Of course, the movie wouldn't be all fun and slapstick from the two buddies.  We could also see the troubled relationship between Olbermann and those around him and how ESPN struggled with its newfound power and influence.  This particular movie could end with the sad stories of first Olbermann's departure, followed by Patrick's a few years later.  A perfect blend of knee-slapping humor and tear-jerking sadness!  While Wedding Crashers isn't an exact parallel, any buddy comedy with a hint of real-life drama would suffice as a template.

Voting is currently ongoing for the Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament Final between Craig James and Joe Buck.  To mark the occasion, we turned to the AA Staff to get some of their takes on who to vote for in the final.  Vote as often as you'd like until the final poll closes Friday night at midnight, but take a moment to read over our thoughts on who should take that final spot on Awful Announcing's Mount Rushmore and tell us whether you agree or disagree.  Is it #TeamBuck or #TeamJames?  

Ben Koo: As much as I want to knock that grin off of James' smug face, I have to go with Joe Buck here. As a sports fan James is much easier to avoid given he's limited to college football and just one of dozens of key personalities covering the sport for ESPN. It's easy to hate him for his slimy tactics over the years and his generally poor efforts as an announcer, but he's much easier to avoid than Buck and is probably on his way out at ESPN regardless. The guy certainly deserved to be fired and banished for his despicable actions in regards to Leach but from an on air quality perspective, there are dozens of folks at ESPN who are worse than James, and more than a handful covering college football. He's a smarmy scumbag but I don't want that to blur my judgement in terms of who is the worst announcer.

Every Time Fox bids on new programming, I shudder at the thought of Joe Buck tainting more things I like to watch. World Series TV ratings have been cut in half since Fox took over. A lot of that is not on Joe Buck but there is little doubt that his style and lack of flair doesn't do much to bring in and retain casual fans. On the NFL side, I never thought he was that terrible until this year when that Vikings game got moved to Monday Night and was competing with Monday Night Football. Every time I flipped to Buck's Fox broadcast, I realized how much better ESPN's Monday Night crew and production was than Fox's.

From top to bottom, Fox's well of talent is drier than a Mormon bachelor party. If Buck wasn't the top guy for both MLB and NFL, than maybe I'd hate him less for his blandness. The infamous talk show debacle didn't help and what does it say that there wasn't really any sympathy for Buck after Artie Lange ambushed him. He is somebody I don't enjoy watching, doesn't add anything to broadcasts, rubs me the wrong way, and is someone I wouldn't even want to grab a beer with. Given it took quite an effort to get Morgan off of ESPN, let's buckle in here against Joe Buck. Your outrage wants James gone but logic says Buck is worthy of the crown.

Ryan Yoder: At first, I wasn't sure Craig James belonged in the upper echolon of awfulness like that walking caricature (Berman), that smug, race-bating douchebag (Cowherd) or the condescending bore (Joe Buck).  Let's face it, Buck is terrible and there's no way he should be broadcasting events like the Super Bowl and World Series, let alone for multiple years.  People may argue Buck isn't all that bad, but really, he is.  Buck's tired act (the "wish I wasn't here" attitude, the lame jokes, the smugness) brings down the quality of the telecast so much that it ruins the special feel of the most special events on the calendar.  You don't have to be as excited as Gus Johnson or Kevin Harlan to make a game feel special, Pat Summerall proved that.  Buck falls far short...

But... even if Craig James's Cinderella run has been boosted by #FreeBruce, I think he's the right choice to go on AA's Mt. Rushmore.  Not only is James a terrible analyst, he's a terrible human being and a symbol of ESPN's corruption and lack of transparency.  His smug face on ESPN's Mt. Rushmore would represent how far ESPN has fallen in the eyes of many.  The fact that Craig James continues to be employed and worshiped by ESPN as an ex-jock, while honest journalists like Bruce Feldman are kicked to the curb, makes me sick.  My only request is James' picture include a 10-gallon cowboy hat, representing his Texans for a More Texan America/Using My Influence To Save My Pathetic Excuse For A Son/Hiding The Truth agenda.

  By now you're aware that Jerry Meals made terrible call to end a 19 inning thriller between the Braves and the Pirates. Meals would later admit he likely blew the call and went out on a limb somewhat on a hunch. Sometimes at 1 AM, I made bad decisions and assumptions myself.

A couple weeks back, the Sports Grid brought on Timothy Burke aka, Bubbaprog, as their in house video jockey. Definitely a smart move as he was quickly able to upload and post videos of both the Pirates and Braves reactions to a brutally bad call.

Pirates broadcast - Anguish and Outrage

 

Braves broadcast- Guilt and Bewilderment

  

It's definitely interesting to see the reaction in both broadcasts booths. It was a bad call that was only compounded by the fact it ended the game, was in an extra innings classic, and that Pirates fandom is at it's heighest point since the Clinton administration.

Enter this as exhibit 86,329 of why MLB should stop being stubborn and implement instant replay. 

ESPN is diving head-first into yet another new area of programming.  Defending Pammy champion Chris Spielman will be the host of "Rise Up," a series that will focus on high schools in need being given new athletic facilities.  In addition, ESPN is teaming up with country megastar Kenny Chesney for an original theme song for the series.  Here are some details from Hollywood Reporter...

Hosted by ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman and DIY television personality Deanne Bell (PBS’ Design Squad), Rise Up gives needy high schools’ athletic facilities a makeover. The franchise bowed with a backdoor pilot last fall at New Orleans’ McMain Secondary High School. ESPN is currently in production on new installments in Boston, Seattle, Chicago and Wellston, Ohio, while executives hope to expand the series to six yearly installments in 2012.

Rise Up comes at a time when the recession has sapped funding for public education making sports and extracurricular activities particularly vulnerable. ESPN enlists local businesses to donate materials and man-hours so that the renovation project is a community effort. Each hour is bookended by the surprise announcement that the school has been chosen and the final reveal of the shiny new athletic facilities.

It may sound a little sappy, but this is a great idea.  I dig more of Kenny's island stuff, but as long as he produces something more like "I Go Back" and less like "Boys of Fall" it should be decent (there's the country music analysis you've all been desperately waiting for at AA...).  ESPN usually hasn't succeeded when they've strayed too far from the reservation in terms of televising sports, but "Rise Up" may be different.  Chris Spielman may seem like a random choice, but this could be a great move for him.  Spielman has had to battle adversity in his own life, losing his NFL career to a neck injury and tragically losing his wife Stefanie to breast cancer and can definitely fill a motivating/inspirational role for the series.  (The Stefanie Spielman Fund has raised over 8.5 million dollars for breast cancer research, by the way.)  Also, this won't be Chris Spielman's first hosting gig as he hosted an ESPNU reality series in 2006, Summer House... which I honestly never knew existed before yesterday.  

As for the new series, ESPN can draw in new viewers that would rather watch Extreme Makeover than NFL Live and wouldn't normally tune in to ESPN.  I can't imagine the numbers for this series will be huge, but it can easily find a viewing niche.  At the very least, a few high schools will get some much needed help.  There are so many schools in need around the country and good on ESPN for being proactive in involving communities to help these schools.  Hopefully, the program inspires other communities to do the same with their local school's athletic facilities.  The series debuts September 13th.