Being an expert in the services industry (or having watched some television about it), I've come to learn about the "soft launch." Hotels, bars, restaurants, and other highly trafficked places have an unveiling for friends and family members to get familiar with the demands and operations before doing it for real at a larger scale.

For the past several weeks, Gus Johnson and FX have essentially soft launched with a trifecta of nationally insignificant games. Many reading this may have not even realized that Johnson had debuted and it's hard to blame them given the not so potent lineup of Oklahoma vs. Tulsa, Oregon vs. Nevada, and USC vs. Syracuse. The average margin of victory through three games on FX has been over 33 points.

Meanwhile the juggernaut of ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPNU has flexed their dominance with some great games and anticipated matchups. To their credit, The Worldwide Leader does a damn good job. The likes of Mark May and Craig James can be repugnant, but with the plethora of big games, conference rights, and a cupboard full of talented folks, it equates to some of ESPN's best work being rooted in covering and promoting college football.

Competition has been sparse. The Big Ten Network, Versus, CBS, and NBC all have varying levels of a foothold, but no single major sport is more dominated in terms of coverage as ESPN and college football. Versus and NBC have a good thing going with the NHL, but most fans consume those broadcasts at a local level and hockey still lacks a true broad appeal to casual sports fans...

A very wild finish took place in tonight's Bethune-Cookman vs. Hampton college football game that was televised on ESPNU. (I promise that I only watched the final minutes, and because it was the only live football still on. Okay, it's still probably not a good enough excuse.)

Bethune-Cookman scored on a touchdown pass to go up 35-31 with under three minutes left in the game. However, the play extremely confused ESPNU play-by-play man, Mike Morgan:

"And... Incomplete... And INTERCEPTED... No... EDDIE POOLE? EDDIE POOLE?! EDDIE POOLE CAUGHT IT?! UNBELIEVABLE! HOW IN THE WORLD DID HE GRAB THIS ONE?!"

Here's video proof (I apologize for my crappy camera work):

And things got even crazier in the final seconds of the game. With four seconds remaining, and the score still 35-31, Hampton had a fourth down in the red zone. Hampton quarterback David Legree connected with wide receiver Isiah Thomas in the end zone for a touchdown as time expired. Or so it appeared at first. After a lengthy review, officials determined that Thomas did not maintain possession of the ball all the way to the ground. Incomplete pass; Bethune-Cookman wins.

As I watched the replays a few times while the review was taking place, I thought the touchdown call would be overturned, as ended up being the case. And color commentator, Jay Walker, kept pointing out how the pass may be ruled incomplete as well.

Morgan, however, felt otherwise. After many replays, Morgan said, "I don't think there's any way in the world they reverse this."

Video of this whole scene:

Not Morgan's finest moments as a broadcaster. Thankfully for him, I was probably the only one watching the game.

The snafus are back this week and unfortunately, Matt Hasselbeck is undergoing something of an identity crisis.  He thinks he's Trent Dilfer.  He wakes up in the morning and talks loudly in the mirror. He also holds a strange vendetta against game-managing quarterbacks.  It isn't all bad though, at least he doesn't have to stand in his brother's shadow like Tim Hasselbeck does.

Secondly, the NFL's website isn't the only one screwing things up for the league recently.  They must not have the harderst working spellchecker for the rundown.  Thanks to CaptTouchback for the screengrab...

The king of internet video and graphics, bubbaprog, picked up this awesome snafu from Fox in promoting their Sunday NFL coverage.  I'm not sure what a "Seakawk" is, but I pray to God it's an endangered species on the edge of extinction...


And finally, it's been a rough year for the Florida Marlins.  Nobody shows up to their games, their new logo is hideously ugly, their manager makes Joe Paterno look like a young whippersnapper, and they've been criticized for temporarily sending down frequent tweeter, Logan Morrison.  It looks like the Marlins still don't think too much of LoMo, as they don't even bother to spell his name right on the video board...


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

In case you missed it, Jenn Brown is in the early lead for the Pammies this week...

Thursday, September 22

Hampton at Bethune-Cookman (7:30PM ESPNU) Mike Morgan, Jay Walker
North Carolina State @ Cincinnati (8PM ESPN) Rece Davis, Craig James, Jesse Palmer, Jenn Brown

Friday, September 23

Central Florida @ Brigham Young (8PM ESPN) Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore

Saturday, September 24

Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh (Noon ABC) Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman, Urban Meyer, Quint Kessenich
North Carolina @ Georgia Tech (Noon ESPN) Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie
Cornell at Yale (12PM Versus)  Randy Moss, Ross Tucker, Carolyn Manno
Old Dominion at #7 Delaware (12PM Comcast Network/Cox 11 (VA)) Marc Zurnoff, Kevin Reilly
Eastern Michigan @ Penn State (Noon ESPN2)  Beth Mowins, Mike Bellotti
Central Michigan @ Michigan Stat e (Noon ESPNU) Pam Ward, Dan Hawkins
Louisiana-Monroe @ Iowa (Noon BTN) Kevin Kugler, Danan Hughes, Stacy Paetz
San Diego State @ Michigan (Noon BTN) Eric Collins, Chris Martin, Dionne Miller
SMU @ Memphis (Noon FSN)  Ron Thulin, JC Pearson, Jeremy Bloom
Georgia @ Mississippi (Noon SEC Net) Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Cara Capuano
Toledo @ Syracuse (Noon Big East Net) Mike Gleason, John Congemi, Eamon McAnaney
Liberty at #15 Lehigh (12:30PM SE-2 (PA)/FlamesSN/GamePlan/ESPN3) Mike Zambelli, Mike Yadush, Al Di Carlo/Mike Tilley, Ray Jones
Temple @ Maryland (12:30 ACC Net) Steve Martin, Dave Archer, Scott Przywansky
Alcorn State @ Texas Southern (1pm TSU Sports Network) Nick Strong, Lemont Williams, Kenny Borroughs
#17 Massachusetts at Boston College (1PM ESPN3) Dave Weekley, Rene Ingoglia
Bowling Green at Miami (OH) (1PM ESPN3) Dan Gutowsky, Rob Harley
Presbyterian at Furman (1PM CSS)   Chuck Hussion, Corey Stewart, David Cobb
Ohio at Rutgers (2PM ESPN3)  Jon Anik, Bob Chmeil
Army at Ball State (2PM ESPN3)    Michael Reghi, Adam Archuleta
Bacone College at UT-San Antonio (2PM Longhorn Network) Andrew Monaco, Ahmad Brooks
Tennessee State at Air Force (3PM The Mtn.) Todd Harris, Todd Christensen, Natalie Vickers
Arkansas @ Alabama (3:30 CBS) Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
Colorado @ Ohio State (3:30 ABC/ESPN2) Mike Patrick, Craig James
Oklahoma State @ Texas A&M (3:30 ABC/ESPN2) Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, Jeannine Edwards
Florida State @ Clemson (3:30 ESPN) Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
Kansas State @ Miami (3:30 ESPNU) Clay Matvick, Brian Griese,Allison Williams
California @ Washington ( 3:30 FSN) Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, Petros Papadakis
Tulane at Duke (3:30PM ESPN3)  Neil Solodnz, Je'Rod Cherry
UAB at East Carolina (3:30PM WITN (NC)) Patrick Kinas, Kevin Miller, Billy Weaver
UCLA at Oregon State (3:30PM PrimeTicket/FCS-Pacific) Bill Macdonald, J.J. Stokes, Amy Bender
#11 New Hampshire at #5 Richmond (3:30PM CSN-New England/Comcast Network)  Scott Graham, John Bunting
South Dakota @ Wisconsin (3:30 BTN) Tom Hart, Derek Rackley, Jay Wilson
Western Michigan @ Illinois (3:30 BTN) Wayne Larrivee, Jon Jansen, Lisa Byington
Weber State at Northern Colorado (3:30PM Altitude) Chris Marlowe, Scott Hastings
Virginia Tech @ Marshall (3:30 CBSSN)  Dave Ryan, Rich Rodriguez
New Mexico State at San Jose State (3:30PM ESPN3) Trey Bender, Jay Taylor
Southern Mississippi @ Virginia (3:30 ACC Net)  Rich Waltz, Keith Jones, Jenn Hildreth
Howard vs. Morgan State @East Rutherford, NJ (4PM ESPN3) Adam Amin, Jay Walker
Northwestern State at Nicholls State (4PM Southland TV/ESPN3) Randy McIlvoy, Shea Walker, Jane Slater
Middle Tennessee State at Troy (4:30PM CSS/CST/ESPN3) Joe Davis, Cole Cubelic, Erin Cofiell
Fresno State at Idaho (5PM WAC Network/Altitude2/ESPN3) Barry Tompkins, Joe Glenn
Idaho State at Northern Arizona (5:05PM Universityhouse/FCS-Pacific)  Mitch Strohman, Kevin Stephens, Marc Buckhout
Connecticut at Buffalo (7PM SNY/BH/GamePlan/ESPN3) Jim Barbar, John Gregory
Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida International (7PM ESPN3) Eric Kohler, Warrick Dunn
Lafayette at Stony Brook (7PM Lafayette Sports Network) Gary Laubach, Mike Joseph, John Leone
Florida @ Kentucky (7PM ESPN) Mark Jones, Ed Cunningham, Samantha Steele
Vanderbilt @ South Carolina (7PM ESPN2) Mark Neeley, Ray Bentley
Louisiana Tech @ Mississippi State (7:00 ESPNU) Rob Stone, Danny Kanell
North Dakota State @ Minnesota (7PM BTN) Matt Devlin, Glen Mason, Rebecca Haarlow
UTEP at #18 South Florida (7PM ESPN3) Kevin Corke, Doug Graber
Florida Atlantic at Auburn (7PM FSN-Regional/GamePlan/ESPN3) Bob Rathbun, Tim Couch, Kristina Akra
Rice @ Baylor (7PM FS Southwest) Joel Meyers, Gary Reasons, Jim Knox
Indiana at North Texas (7PM ESPN3) Shawn Kenney, Drew Henson
#12 James Madison at #6 William & Mary (7PM CSN-MidAtlantic/CSN-New England) Bob Picozzi, Scott Brunner
#4 Montana State at #21 Eastern Washington (7:05PM SWX/Max Media (MT)) Chris Byers, Mike Callaghan, A.J. Donatoni
Nevada @ Texas Tech (7PM FOX College Sports): Tom Helmer, Yogi Roth, Desmond Purnell
Nebraska @ Wyoming (7:30 VS) Paul Burmeister, Shaun King, Anthony Herron
Georgia State at Houston (8PM CSS/CSN-MidAtlantic+) Mike Morgan, Chuck Oliver, Craig Ackerman
Colorado State at Utah State (8PM KCSG (CO)/ESPN3) Pat White, Mychal Clanton
Central Arkansas at Arkansas State (8PM KATV (AR), KAIT (AR)/KNWA (AR)/ESPN3) Matt Stolz, Sean Tuchy, Doug Doggett
Louisiana State @ West Virginia (8PM ABC) Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews
Missouri @ Oklahoma (8PM FX) Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Tim Brewster
Tulsa @ Boise State (8:00 CBSSN) James Bates, Aaron Taylor, Brooke Collins
#23 Southern Utah at UNLV (9PM The Mtn.) Ari Wolfe, Blaine Fowler, Molly Sullivan
#10 Montana at Sacramento State (9:05PM KPAX (MT)) Dennis Patchin, John Edwards, Derek Buerkle
USC @ Arizona State (10:15 ESPN) Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore, Shelley Smith
Oregon @ Arizona (10:15 ESPN2) Carter Blackburn, Brock Huard

Pammy Standings after Week 3

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ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown is our Week 4 Pammy frontrunner with this beauty coming out of the half in tonight's Cincinnati/NC State game.  I actually give her credit for going through the rest of her sideline report completely ignoring the fact that she referred to Cincy's head coach as "Bitch Jones" on national television.  I'm actually shocked this doesn't happen more often to fellas named Butch.

Update: Good for Jenn Brown for tweeting about the above video after the game and taking it in stride.  Why not have a laugh about it and move on...

Thanks to wxmoose for the clip!

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Broadcast maps can be found here via The 506

Sunday, September 25

New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles (FOX 1PM) Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings (FOX 1PM) Dick Stockton, John Lynch
San Francisco 49ers @ Cincinnati Bengals (FOX 1PM) Ron Pitts, Jim Mora

Texans @ New Orleans Saints (CBS 1PM) Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills (CBS 1PM) Marv Albert, Rich Gannon
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Carolina Panthers (CBS 1PM) Spero Dedes, Steve Beuerlein
Miami Dolphins @ Cleveland Browns (CBS 1PM) Don Criqui, Randy Cross
Denver Broncos @ Tennessee Titans (CBS 1PM) Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker

New York Jets @ Oakland Raiders (CBS 4PM) Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers (CBS 4PM) Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
Baltimore Ravens @ St. Louis Rams (CBS 4PM) Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots

Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears (FOX 4:15PM) Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver
Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (FOX 4:15PM) Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick, Laura Okmin
Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks (FOX 4:15PM) Chris Myers, Tim Ryan

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianapolis Colts (NBC 8:20PM) Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya

Monday, September 26

Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys (ESPN 8:30PM) Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski, Suzy Kolber

H/T Sammy!

The NFL is currently untouchable as the top sport in America, but that doesn't mean the league always acts with integrity or is immune from being called out.  First of all, there's the authoritarian power of commish Roger Goodell - who gets to play judge, jury, and executioner with any NFL player.  The absolute power he holds is troubling.

Perhaps the most blatant headshaking behavior from the league deals with their gross hypocrisy on player safety.  The league went into an uproar over a flurry of illegal hits last year, trumpeting a self-righteous crusade in the name of player safety.  Then, it was revelaed that the league was profiting over the sale of pictues that depicted players suffering from those same illegal hits.  The same league that wants to protect players was pushing for an 18 game schedule that made a mockery of player safety.  The NFL has tried to have it both ways for years, but the latest example of this hypocrisy was perhaps the most jarring.

The following picture appeared on the NFL's website earlier today, promoting NFL Fantasy Football.  The picture shows Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles after he suffered a season ending knee injury.  

Are you kidding me?  Jamaal Charles suffered a SEASON ENDING INJURY.  Do you think it's "not too late" for him to "start again?"  Do you think he's concerned about his devastating injury ruining YOUR fantasy season?  This is a man's career and livelihood we're talking about, and yet, in their infinite wisdom, you can be damned sure NFL.com is going to find some way on God's green earth to take advantage of it.  Obviously, some NFL players on Twitter were not pleased with the picture...

League spokesman Greg Aiello can throw "fantasy football marketing" under the bus, and the NFL will likely go on as if nothing ever happened.  But, there's no denying that this appeared on the NFL's website and it is another example in what is becoming a disturbing trend.  Thankfully, the NFL eventually pulled the picture from its website, but the imprint of exploting a player's injury won't fade away so quickly.

[H/T Midwest Sports Fans]

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It's fitting that the morning after ESPN celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a Deportes themed MLB telecast that we now bring you a Spanish call from the NFL.  The following audio was featured as the Call of the Day in SI's Hot Clicks, but the credit truly goes to Sports Mashup for unearthing this awesome call.  The announcer you'll hear is Cardinals Spanish language announcer Gabriel Trujillo and the play is Larry Fitzgerald's 73 yard 4th quarter touchdown catch in the Cards' game at Washington last Sunday...

Pretty cool, eh?  I especially love the elongated "Touchdown!!!" like it's Andres Cantor or some of the great Spanish language soccer announcers.  Why can't that type of excitement and vocal skills be translated across sports and even languages?  This kind of passion and excitement is what we're crying out for from more announcers across sports.  How many people would rather listen to the dry stylings of Chris "bourbon on the rocks" Myers meandering his way through a broadcast sounding like William Shatner?  Anyone?...



[H/T Sports Mashup via Hot Clicks]

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I'll be honest, college realignment is perhaps the most difficult subject I have ever had to write about.  My Real Analysis class in college was easier to grasp and I once scored a 14/100 on a test there.  You can also tell why I never got that PhD in mathematics...  In trying to tackle the most recent realignment developments over at Crystal Ball Run, there was one element to the grand scheme of things I couldn't get past.

The big, bad, Longhorn Network.

Yes, that beeming burnt orange creation of the University of Texas and ESPN appears to be the reason why the plug was pulled on the latest round of realignment talks.  It seemed that Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech were going to finish off the Big XII and move on to the greener pastures of the Pac 12 as of 48 hours ago.  However, late Tuesday night, the Pac 12 and commissioner Larry Scott released a message saying the conference was not going to expand beyond 12 teams.  The key portion of the statement was this little nugget aimed squarely between the eyes of Texas:

While we have great respect for all of the institutions that have contacted us, and certain expansion proposals were financially attractive, we have a strong conference structure and culture of equality that we are committed to preserve. With new landmark TV agreements and plans to launch our innovative television networks, we are going to focus solely on these great assets, our strong heritage and the bright future in front of us.””

We've previously discussed the Pac 12's interesting idea of not only a national television network, but regional networks split between the teams as well.  Clearly, Texas didn't want to play that game as they dealt with leaving the Big XII for the Pac 12.  Texas and the Longhorn Network doesn't align with a "culture of equality" that exists in the Pac 12.  That culture of equality is non-existent in the Big XII, where the conference might as well be named Texas and the Little 9.

It may feel like the first Bush administration when this happened... but think back to a year ago when the Big XII was again teetering on the edge of existence.  In a compromise pulled out of the fire, the Big XII was pieced together with Elmer's glue and duct tape thanks to a conference model that allowed Texas the green light for the Longhorn Network. This meant the University of Texas would pull in much more dough than their Big XII rivals, which was already happening in unequal revenue splits.  A year ago, this was perfect for Texas - they got to play the Big XII savior card while also getting stupid rich.  Schools like Baylor, Mizzou, and Kansas could stay under Texas' wrath, but at least that would be better than the Mountain West.

However, the good will from the resurrection of the Big XII didn't last for long.  Andy Staples put it best in Sports Illustrated a couple months ago...

The buzzards took flight again this week because of an internal squabble among league members over The Longhorn Network, Texas' new 24-hour channel that will launch Aug. 26. What's interesting is that The Longhorn Network is one of the main reasons the Big 12 still exists. Now, the Big 12's existence seems threatened by The Longhorn Network. Quite a paradox, isn't it?

With the Longhorn Network becoming a reality this summer, the trigger fingers of antsy Big XII schools got itchy again.  Evidently, it must have kicked in that they had submitted to Texas being unquestioned lord and master of the world.  When the plans of the LN televising high school games and other details were being floated around this summer, Texas A&M showed their own SEC speed in bolting for the Southeastern Conference.  The Aggies left largely to get out of the shadow of Texas and, you guessed it, the Longhorn Network, which has been the key to any and everything involving realignment...

I love small school college football.  As a proud D-III alum, there's always been a bit of a romantic element for me about the type of clip you'll see below.  In the video, Emory and Henry is leading UVa-Wise in the closing seconds 30-27 and punting the ball away.

(That's the University of Virginia's College at Wise to be more specific.  It has been reported several places that both schools are from D-III, but only Emory and Henry is from D-III.  UVa-Wise is from the Mid South Conference of the NAIA, which is a separate organization of smaller universities.  As a small college guy, these details are important!)

UVa-Wise defensive back Marcus Bratton fields the punt and immediately attempts his own replay of DeSean Jackson's miraculous winning return against the Giants last year.  Bratton gets to the 40 yard line, stumbles, and then somehow accurately flings the ball underhanded to teammate Josh Wright in stride.  Wright then takes it to the house for the dramatic winning touchdown.  This play doesn't have the number of laterals as Trinity's incredible winning score against Millsaps from a couple years ago... but wow, this video below may be the single most amazing lateral I've ever seen!  

The best part about this clip is the appearances on ESPN and elsewhere that will be unforgettable for these kids.  From our perspective, the announcing is awesome.  The yelling and screaming is completely appropriate and it's hilarious to hear the analyst take over the play by play midway through the score.  The first play by play guy is just left to chuckle at his broadcast partner going bonkers.  It's the type of play every announcer dreams of, so why not live it up to the max and go Gus Johnson crazy!

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