There has long been rumblings that ESPN was looking to pump new life into ESPN Classic and ESPNews. While ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN digital properties continue to grow and thrive, Classic and News have not kept pace and at times lost some of its audience share.

Pop quiz: What channel is ESPN Classic? Do you know if you even get the channel? Not the easiest question.

Hoping to rejuvenate Classic, ESPN has reached a syndication deal to broadcast the acclaimed series Friday Night Lights. 

"ESPN Classic has picked up the repeats of the five-season series, which has been lauded for its realistic depictions of football, family and life in the heartland. After a Season 1 marathon on Thursday and Friday, the episodes will be shown on Thursday nights beginning July 21. They will also be broadcast on the Longhorn Network, an ESPN channel for Texas sports that starts in late August."

It's a very shrewd move by ESPN, as most of ESPN Classic's programming is irrelevant. Sports fans hardly even know when a classic game featuring their favorite teams is actually airing. The channel is relegated away from the rest of ESPN networks by most cable providers, is not in HD in many households, and features programming that has low awareness and only small niche audiences.

Friday Night Lights, however, brings programming to the table that has a cult audience from its run on NBC and DirecTV. Also, a very well known brand via the book and movie, and a reputation for being one of the better shows on television that never achieved ratings success. Its penetration with sports fans is even pretty marginal, as the show was almost cancelled a couple of times before being rescued via an innovative partnership between DirecTV and NBC. 

Along the way, fans of the show bemoaned the lack of interest as Friday Night Lights was championed by many to be one of the best shows on television. Now, similar to shows like The Wire, Seinfeld and The Sopranos, syndication gives those who missed out a second chance to catch the series while also attracting diehards who are clamoring for a second showing.

I am in the first boat as I've watched a handful of episodes and have enjoyed the series, but never made the commitment to put it in the rotation. Dramatic football, life in the heartland and Explosions In The Sky? Sounds good to me.

ESPN kicked off the series by airing the first two episodes tonight on ESPN with a graphic promoting the full launch on ESPN Classic. Great timing with no other sporting events in play besides an All-Star game that many have decided to shun.

It's a bit interesting to see ESPN working with NBC on this syndication agreement because they've been butting heads trying to acquire sporting rights, but the deal made too much sense to both sides. It will be interesting to see how much pop ESPN will get for adding Friday Night Lights and if similar programming begins to get mixed into ESPN Classic. How about Hang Time or Two A Days?

I'm going to break some news this morning.  Are you ready for it?  You might want to sit down, because this news will shock you.  In fact, it may be the most surprising sports story of 2011.  Here it goes...

Chris Berman annoys everybody.

Well, almost everybody.  Steve Levy is evidently still drinking the Kool-Aid.  I'll give you a moment to collect yourself.  You see, like most of these ginned up All-Star "festivities," the novelty of the Home Run contest has worn thin over the years.  Kinda like a certain loudmouthed announcer that anchored the coverage tonight - Chris Berman.  I tried to watch the competition on the DVR, but only got through about 2 back, backs before I had to shut it down and watch The Pick, The Pawn, and The Polish, resisting the urge to pour hot wax in my ears and download The Herd podcast.  Thankfully though, we had many Good Samaritans that suffered through the Home Run Derby at various times and spoke up on their feelings towards the one and only Chris Berman.  

You see, the MLB All-Star Game and preceding Home Run Derby is like Christmas in July for Awful Announcing.  The MLB All-Star break is normally the deadest period of the sporting calendar... but we get Chris Berman and Buck/McCarver on back to back nights!!  What could be better?  (Or worse.)    We chronicled your responses during the US Open on Chris Berman's subpar play by play skills, but one would think that the Home Run Derby would cater more to Berman's hideous schtick.  At least he gets to use his catchphrases and nicknames ad nauseum, right?    

The only fitting way to analyze Berman's "performance" in the Home Run Derby is to turn it over to you.  As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People...

Our final matchup of the 1st Round of the Joe Morgan Memorial pits two champions of awfulness in two very different fields.  One, Colin Cowherd, may be the single most disgusting human being in the sports media.  Yet, despite all of the reprehensible nonsense Cowherd has spewed over the years, he remains somehow untouchable by ESPN.  Meanwhile, Cowherd's opponent has somewhat of a birthright to replace Joe Morgan on AA's Mt. Rushmore.  Bobby Valentine certainly hasn't distinguished himself after teaming with Orel Hersheiser on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. But, is his awfulness enough to overcome the vile Cowherd?  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for all the Round 1 results and 2nd Round matchups!  Let's see how they stack up!

Colin Cowherd vs. Bobby Valentine

Colin Cowherd

Fact File: Host of ESPN Radio's The Herd and co-host of SportsNation on ESPN2

Why He's Here: When polled last month, nearly 85% of respondents said that ESPN should end its relationship with Colin Cowherd.  His stereotyping and pontificating are legendary for all the wrong reasons.  Very few in the sports media get away with offensive and flat out wrong statements like Cowherd has the ability to do.  Cowherd likes to pander to intellectual elites and openly mock large portions of his audience.  Thankfully, CBS passed on a sitcom pilot based on the life of Cowherd.

Links:

Cowherd Shuts Down The Big Lead Just To Be A Douche
Cowherd's Ignorant and Insensitive Take On Sean Taylor's Death
Cowherd's Race Bating Includes Ridiculous Comments Towards John Wall
Cowherd Thinks Mark Mangino Was A Jerk Because He's Fat
Cowherd Almost Got A Sitcom On CBS 
Cowherd Tells The Unemployed It's Your Own Fault 

 

Bobby Valentine

Fact File: ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst

Why He's Here: ESPN finally pulled the plug on Joe Morgan in the Sunday Night booth and in stepped Orel Hershiser and the former Mets manager.  However, Valentine hasn't gotten a lot of love from fans in less than a year in the spotlight.  In fact, some are even saying they wish they had Morgan back.  Yipes.  Is there anything worse that can ever be said about an announcer?

Links:

Bobby V Joins Sunday Night Baseball
Apparently Bobby V and Marv Albert Use The Same Hair Care Product
Bobby V...Public Safety Avenger??
Bobby V Said Something He Didn't Mean To Say

Vote!

Colin Cowherd d. Bobby Valentine 88.47% - 11.53%

After a week of awfulness, botches, screwups, homerism, puns, screaming, and shouting, the Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament reaches its final day of Round 1 matchups.  Yesterday was perhaps the most interesting day yet as Stephen A. Smith narrowly defeated Stu Scott by a handful of votes and John Sterling knocked out 2010 Worst Announcer of the Year Matt Millen.  And, we've saved two of the tournament favorites for the final day.  Up first is everyone's least favorite star announcer, Joe Buck, facing off against his Fox underling and former host of the Best Damn Sports Show Period, Chris Rose.  The winner of this matchup and the winner of Cowherd/Valentine will be our final entrants into the 16 person 2nd Round draw.  Who's your all-star of awfulness?  

Joe Buck vs Chris Rose



Joe Buck

Fact File: Fox's #1 play by play man for NFL and MLB.  Has announced several World Series and Super Bowls.

Why He's Here: Joe Buck has quickly risen to the top of the most disliked sports announcers.  His dry, monotone style doesn't quite fit in with an age where Gus Johnson and Kevin Harlan are two of the more popular sports announcers in the business.  Beyond that though, Joe Buck has a certain air of smugness towards his announcing duties, even admitting in the past that he isn't that big of a sports fan.  His attempted and failed late night career told sports fans that he had bigger and better things to do than announce the biggest games in sports.

Links:

Joe Buck Doesn't Enjoy Baseball Anymore
Real Tweets From Real People - Joe Buck
It's Time For Fox To Sit Joe Buck
The Artie Lange Interview

Chris Rose

Fact File: NFL on Fox play by play and Fox Sports studio host

Why He's Here: Chris Rose had a decent run on FSN's Best Damn Sports Show Period.  Yes, the show was only good for about a year, but Rose had his moments.  His run as a play by play man... not so much.  Rose is far from the worst play by play man, but that's about the best thing you can say.  His work as a serious studio host and reporter has also been widely criticized.

Links:

Chris Rose singing
Chris Rose & Torry Holt is a magical duo
People Don't Seem To Like This Chris Rose Guy
Chris Rose and "Jeets"

Results:

Joe Buck d. Chris Rose 72.53% - 27.47%
 

When ESPN cut ties with Joe Morgan, there was some concern that there would be a debilitating decline in content around these parts. Thankfully, Bobby Valentine has performed admirably in filling Morgan's shoes. 

Tonight, during the home run derby - a holiday usually reserved for Chris Berman vitriol - Valentine attempted to stress how tiring it is for the derby participants to try and hit home runs on every swing. However, as usually is the case for Valentine, it didn't come out as he intended [video via Richard Deitsch]:

"Fag [out]" is in the Dictionary, and means to tire, so there's technically nothing 'wrong' with what Valentine said. But there's precedence suggesting that it's probably a poor choice of words.

And, supposedly, it's not even what Valentine meant to say (and his grimace right after saying it may indicate as much). SI's Richard Deitsch reached out to ESPN and Valentine apologized for it: 

"I meant to say fatigued and it came out wrong. I'm truly sorry for my mistake."

Interestingly enough, this could've been one of the few times Valentine said exactly what he was thinking, but acted as if it wasn't in order to cover up his usage of a word that might leave a negative impression. 

 

ESPN is suing my alma mater over the university's refusal to turn over emails during their recent investigation of the Ohio State football program. If you recall, Jim Tressel was fired/retired/removed by the university after coming to the realization that their 5 game self imposed suspension (extended from a laughable 2 game suspension) would not be enough punishment for the NCAA.

Under relentless media pressure, Tressel was shown the door for not forwarding emails that told of NCAA infractions involving illegal benefits. Not only did he not forward those emails through the proper channels, he actually reached out to Pryor's mentor, Ted Sarniak, a businessman from Pryor's hometown.

Sarniak's mentorship or involvement with Pryor has always been something of a mystery with many believing it's an inappropriate and unnecessary relationship for the richest guy in town to befriend a high school star athlete. 

ESPN wanted to probe into the relationship and found it curious that Tressel would contact Sarniak about the brewing scandal, but was denied a copy of the email by Ohio State citing FERPA, a law that protects student privacy. 

ESPN's full brief can be found here in which they assert that the emails in question should not fall under FERPA. They're asking for the emails to be turned over and for Ohio State to pay for their legal fees.

We actually have someone on AA's staff who is currently studying for the bar who might be a better person to get into the legal specifics. It's not really clear who has the inside track on this case and what Ohio State's response will be.

Even before this recent scandal, Ohio State fans along with fans of other power programs have always conjured up the belief that ESPN has some type of agenda against the program. With so many pundits and hours of coverage, there is always something to grasp at to build the case that there is some type of conspiracy against the program.

This sentiment gained a lot of traction as Ohio State found itself in the news cycle and subject to months of investigative reporting that turned up a myriad of additional illegal benefits but little else that tied directly to the athletic department and coaching staff. The most common gripe is that months were spent on this story while schools who have actually been hit with stiffer allegations by the NCAA or the media (Oregon, UNC, Auburn) have seemed to produce a fraction of coverage and investigative reports.

Matt Yoder commented when this story first broke that ESPN's Mark May went so far as to ridiculously propose a conspiracy theory in favor of the Big Ten and against the SEC.  Now, with this lawsuit, you have to wonder if the largest sports media company in the world and the 2nd largest athletic department have changed their facebook status from "In A Relationship" to "It's Complicated".

It remains to be seen if there is anything juicy in that email or who has the law on their side. The thing to consider here that these two entities work together closely and quite frankly need each other. College Gameday needs approval to film on campus, the Big Ten needs Ohio State's support to extend television deals with ESPN, and both rely heavily on each other in many facets.

With the Ohio State scandal winding down, is it really wise on a PR level for the grossly profitable ESPN to be suing a public university for legal fees? Beating a dead horse or are they carrying the flag for investigative journalism? 

Either way, it will be extremely interesting to see how these entities co-exist going forward with this lawsuit being filed.

With the one year anniversary of The Decision festering through the sports world, Jim Gray made an appearance (audio at the link) on the Dan Patrick radio show to talk about his brainchild.  A year later, and The Decision's lingering, distinctive, disgusting odor still circles throughout the sports world... and Jim Gray still wants to claim the credit for it.  From his namedropping of Steven Spielberg's partners to being surprised by the criticism, (really?  REALLY?) to not wanting a mulligan on the inane questions he asked LeBron before the actual decision, Gray comes off as a man very content with his role in the circus that was The Decision.  The quotage comes from Sports Radio Interviews...

How the idea came about:

“I was with my wife and I think it was game two of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and I was sitting in the stands and walked down at halftime to say hello to Maverick Carter, who was sitting in the front row with Ari Emanuel. We just got to talking and David Geffen, one of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s and Steven Spielberg’s partners was sitting with him as well and we just got to talking and I said to Maverick it’s going to be an interesting summer and I would like to do the first interview with LeBron when he decides on his team. He said you know we can think about that, that’s not a bad idea. I had a history with LeBron. Interviewed him when he was in high school, did his first game when he played against the Sacramento Kings, was there the night that Gordon Gund won the lottery for the Cleveland Cavaliers, interviewed him on the night of the Draft and so on and so forth. I had known LeBron for some time so he said he would consider that. Then I said better yet why don’t we announce his decision live on television and go buy an hour of air time on a network and just explain it to all the fans at one time where he is deciding to go. Ari jumped in and said that’s a brilliant idea. Maverick said ‘you think so? Can you put this together?’ Ari said we gotta do this. Maverick said we can give a lot of money to charity and it just kinda went from there. That’s how it started, just kept in touch every once in awhile texting Maverick throughout the course of whatever it was, the next three or four weeks, and it became The Decision.”

What criticism has surprised him the most since The Decision:

“Just that there is so much of it. This after all was just a television show. I think what had probably happened is that everybody in New York and New Jersey were hoping it was the Nets and Knicks. He had meetings with them and the folks in Los Angeles, the folks in Chicago, and the people back in Cleveland, everybody had their hopes up. When he finally decided on Miami all the people in all those other cities were disappointed because they all wanted him to play there. There’s only one place you can play at a time. I think it just got built into such a thing where there was a letdown in all these other cities. I’m surprised that it still gets the attention that it gets. I’m surprised at the reaction when you go to certain cities and he does to play in certain cities and they’re booing. A lot of those cities didn’t even have a chance to get him. I don’t think that anybody could’ve foreseen what has gone on. Did you foresee this?”

Would like a mulligan?

“Mulligan in terms of what I would have asked? (Host: Yeah. Anything.) I probably would’ve asked LeBron to explain why we were at the Boys and Girls Club because to the audience, in looking back at the tape, we never said why we were there.”

Whether or not he would do the show all over again:

“Would I do the show again? (Host: Yeah.) Yes. We’d all make it better.”

Gray just advanced to the second round of our Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament to place a new face on AA's Mount Rushmore, and this interview just gives his critics more ammunition.  I think he may have won a few more votes for the next round.  Check AA on Wednesday to see who he faces in the second round.  

One Year Later Jim Gray Would Do The Decision All Over Again - Sports Radio Interviews
 

Monday July 11

2011 State Farm Home Run Derby (ESPN 8PM) Chris Berman, John Kruk, Nomar Garciaparra - Chase Field Phoenix, AZ

Tuesday July 12

All-Star Game:  American League @ National League (FOX 8PM) Joe Buck, Tim McCarver - Chase Field Phoenix, AZ 

Thursday July 14

New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Cleveland @ Baltimore]

Friday July 15

Florida Marlins @ Chicago Cubs (WGNA 2PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: NY Yankees @ Toronto]

Saturday July 16

Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Mets (FOX 4PM) Kenny Albert, Mark Grace
Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays (FOX 4PM) Dick Stockton, Tim McCarver
Chicago White Sox @ Detroit Tigers (FOX 4PM) Josh Lewin, Rod Allen
Los Angeles Angels @ Oakland Athletics (FOX 4PM) Matt Vasgersian, Eric Karros
St. Louis Cardinals @ Cincinnati Reds (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Washington @ Atlanta]

Sunday July 17

Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Mets (TBS 1PM) Brian Anderson, Dennis Eckersley
Chicago White Sox @ Detroit Tigers (WGNA 1PM) Ken Harrelson, Steve Stone
Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays (ESPN 8PM) Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine

H/T Sammy! 

no comments

Cubs games on WGN pioneered the modern style of televising a baseball game.  WGN Director Arne Harris was famous for his production of televised baseball and incorporating crowd shots into the broadcast.  Often times, in Wrigleyville, that includes pretty ladies.  He had this to say once about televising baseball:

"Baseball is a director's sport," Harris once said. "You can do so much between when the ball's not in play--shooting the pretty girls, shooting the kids, the dugout stuff."

Harris passed away in 2001, but his legacy lives on.  I can't think of any baseball broadcast (or any stadium sport) that doesn't include crowd shots that may or may not coincidentally have attractive females in the picture.  It's no mystery - guys watch sports, guys like looking at attractive women.  In case you didn't notice this phenomenon watching sports, WGN's Dave Campbell (filling in for analyst Bob Brenly) and Len Kasper let you in on this secret of broadcasting sports last night at a game in Pittsburgh.  From SportsGrid...



By the way, our friends at SportsGrid have made a sleek redesign and added another friend of AA, Tim Burke of @bubbaprog and Mocksession fame to their full-time staff as video editor.  Check out the site and congrats to both on the announcement.
 

This may be my favorite matchup of Round 1.  Two titans of Awful Announcing come together as reigning, defending, Most Awful Announcer of the Year Matt Millen takes on the one and only John Sterling.  Millen has come back to TV as a legitimate analyst after his disaster with the Detroit Lions.  At least he's still clearly a resident of planet earth... something I'm not certain of with THHHHEEEEEE Yankees play by play man (seriously, just look at that picture).  Remember, polls are open until the next matchups go up tomorrow.  Then on Wednesday, we'll have the full recap of Round 1 and the Round 2 draw as well as our first Round 2 matchup.  

Matt Millen vs John Sterling



Matt Millen 

Fact File: ESPN college football game analyst, studio analyst for Monday Night Football, and elsewhere on ESPN

Why He's Here: The former Detroit Lions GM used to be one of the best announcers in the NFL over a decade ago.  However, his stint as one of the worst GMs in sports has ruined his credibility as an analyst.  For some reason though, ESPN decided to put him on nearly every football game and studio show on the network.  Since returning to the booth and the studio, all of his questionable opinions and takes have been magnified.  Also, there was his memorable pairing with Joe Theismann in the NFL Network Thursday Night booth, which was one of the worst analyst combos in history.  Millen was named AA's #1 Worst Announcer of 2010 by the readers.

Links:

#1 Worst Announcer of the Year (2010)
Real Tweets From Real People - Millen & Theismann
Matt Millen thinks Randy Moss should be a coach?
Ethnic slurs and awkward apologies

John Sterling

Fact File: New York Yankees play by play man

Why He's Here: Sterling is one of those rare announcers that has become a caricature of himself.  His Bermanesque homerun calls can be painful even for the most ardent of Yankee fans.  They wouldn't be so bad if Sterling didn't routinely botch even the simplest of commentary.  His trademark "Yankees win, THHHEEEE YANKEEEEES WIIIINNN" call is the anthem of the seventh circle of hell for baseball fans outside New York.

Links:

Derek Jeter's 5,000th hit?
John Sterling Is Utterly Confused
John Sterling Being John Sterling
The Sterling Shake

Results:

John Sterling d. Matt Millen 58.69% - 41.31%