ESPN officially unveiled the SEC Network today and as you can already tell, Bristol's footprints are going to be firmly entrenched with the conference.  The SEC has dominated the college football landscape for the past several years and is in line for a huge cash influx in launching their own network, following in the footsteps of the Big Ten and the Pac 12.  But while the Big Ten Network has Fox as a partner and the Pac 12 is independently owned, the SEC Network has hitched its wagon to ESPN and Bristol machine is firmly promoting this as an ESPN network.  Here are the three major takeaways from today's announcement:

Atlanta Falcons cornerback Asante Samuel was taking his turn going through the Bristol Car Wash today, appearing on a multitude of ESPN programs.  When he reached the SportsCenter stop, things got awkward.  Anchor Chris McKendry brought a quote from Samuel to his attention regarding Jason Collins and gay players coming out.  While Samuel's original quote doesn't necessarily cause warning sirens to go off, it's a bit clumsy.  His sentiment is basically that Collins' sexuality should be kept to himself, which is a viewpoint that doesn't really take into account the fact that Collins feeling the need to keep his sexuality a secret is the problem to begin with.

Given the chance to expound upon it only led to more confusion and head-scratching.  Video via Ride the Pine...

Gus Johnson returned to Fox's soccer coverage Wednesday (albeit on FX for some reason) for the Champions League semi second leg between Barcelona and Bayern Munich.  It was Johnson's first soccer telecast in almost two months.  Before the game I wrote it was the beginning of the most important stretch for Fox in their hopes of transforming Johnson into America's voice for soccer.  Later this month Johnson will announce both the FA Cup Final and the Champions League Final and he will need to be ready for primetime by then.

After two months away, Fox and Johnson needed to show soccer fans signs of improvement and some rays of hope that the long-term vision of the network is worthwhile.  If not, Fox and Johnson risk losing the trust of soccer fans moving forward as the network takes over World Cup rights.  Unfortunately, there was little for Fox to be optimistic about as Johnson again struggled with the basics including player identification and pronounciations.  Who would have ever thought we'd see the words "Gus Johnson" and "boring" in the same tweet.  Usually Twitter angst is saved for the likes of Chris Berman and Tim McCarver but yesterday it was an internet cult favorite in the unyielding crosshairs.  As always these are Real Tweets from Real People...

As the Chicago Bulls are battling with the Brooklyn Nets in their first round playoff series, whispers are growing into a full blown debate regarding whether or not Bulls PG Derrick Rose needs to come back after missing a year with a devastating injury. As other Bulls players play with injuries and Rose has been "medically cleared" the pressure is mounting for Rose to return to the court even though he's clearly not ready in his own mind.

Now, in some kind of publicity ploy, CBS Radio Chicago is trying to stir up fans' angst by having them write "open letters" to Derrick Rose to use on their airwaves. What, you thought they were actually going to send these letters in sacks of mail to Rose's house?

Vancouver's Green Men are some of the most famous hockey fans in the world.  Their entertaining antics the past few seasons have drawn attention on both sides of the border as the Canucks have made multiple deep runs in the postseason.  But two men are not fans of the Vancouver Green Men and their playful banter - Sharks announcers Drew Remenda and Randy Hahn.

During last night's Sharks-Canucks playoff game, the visiting announcers had a super cool, super original way to make fun of them... by basically throwing every insult blockheaded people throw at bloggers.  Via Puck Daddy...

In the Canadian sports media spectrum, TSN is the funny guy and CBC is the classy guy. Proof of that came again on Wednesday night as "Hockey Night in Canada" launched into its NHL playoff coverage with a well-produced video montage juxtaposing history with modernity. 

"The Who" certainly doesn't hurt, either. If that doesn't give you goosebumps or make you at least a little fired up for hockey, nothing will.

[The Pens Blog]

All Times Eastern

College Baseball
Florida at LSU -- ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.

College Baseball Live -- ESPNU, 6:30 p.m.

College Football
College Football Live -- ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

College Lacrosse
Big East Tournament, Philadelphia, PA
Semifinals
Notre Dame vs. Syracuse -- ESPNU, 4:30 p.m.
Georgetown vs. Villanova -- ESPNU, 10:30 p.m. (same day coverage)

ECAC Tournament, Geneva, NY
Semifinals
Denver vs. Fairfield -- Fuel/Fox Sports Net, 5 p.m.
Loyola (MD) vs. Ohio State -- Fuel/Fox Sports Net, 8 p.m.

College Softball
Texas Tech at Baylor -- ESPN, 8 p.m.

Hal McCoy is the Cincinnati Reds beat writer for the Dayton Daily News.  He has been honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame and is the longest tenured beat writer in Major League Baseball.  McCoy is also legally blind and can't drive to games on his own.  Earlier this year, McCoy put the equivalent of a Help Wanted Ad on his Dayton Daily News blog because his driver for the last five years to Reds home games was no longer able to do the job for health reasons of his own.  McCoy offered a free seat in the press box alongside him and gas money for the gig.

The Hall of Famer got 437 offers to drive him to Reds games and chose an Air Force vet who lost his wife in 2011 for the job, Ray Snedegar.  Last night MLB Tonight had a fantastic profile on McCoy and his relationship with his new driver.  It's one of the better feel-good stories you will see this year.

Wednesday, May 1

G1 -Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins (CNBC 7PM) Rick Peckham, Joe Micheletti
G1 - New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins (NBCSN 7:30PM) Kenny Albert, Pierre McGuire
G1 - San Jose Sharks @ Vancouver Canucks, (NBCSN 10:30PM) Randy Hahn, Drew Remenda (Comcast-CA)

Thursday, May 2

G1 - Ottawa Senators @ Montreal Canadiens (CNBC 7PM) Bob Cole, Garry Galley (CBC)
G1 - New York Rangers @ Washington Capitals (NBCSN 7:30PM) Mike Emrick, Pierre McGuire
G2 - Los Angeles Kings @ St. Louis Blues (CNBC 9:30PM) Dave Strader, Brian Engblom
G2 - Detroit Red Wings @Anaheim Ducks (NBCSN 10PM) John Forslund, Daryl Reaugh

Friday, May 3

G2 - New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins (NBCSN 7PM) Kenny Albert, Pierre McGuire
G2 - Ottawa Senators @ Montreal Canadiens (CNBC 7PM) Bob Cole, Garry Galley (CBC)
G2 - Minnesota Wild @ Chicago Blackhawks (NBCSN 9:30PM) Dave Strader, Brian Engblom
G2 - San Jose Sharks @ Vancouver Canucks (CNBC 10PM) Randy Hahn, Drew Remenda (Comcast-CA)

Saturday, May 4

G2 - New York Rangers @ Washington Capitals (NBC 12:30PM) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire
G2 -Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins (CNBC 7PM) Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson (CBC)
G3 -Anaheim Ducks @ Detroit Red Wings (NBCSN 7:30PM) Rick Peckham, Joe Micheletti
G3 - St. Louis Blues @ Los Angeles Kings (NBCSN 10PM) John Forslund, Daryl Reaugh

Sunday, May 5

G3 - Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders (NBC Noon) Dave Strader, Daryl Reaugh
G3 - Chicago Blackhawks @ Minnesota Wild (NBC 3PM) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire
G3 - Montreal Canadiens @ Ottawa Senators (NBCSN 7PM) Bob Cole, Garry Galley (CBC)
G3 - Vancouver Canucks @ San Jose Sharks (NBCSN 10PM) Randy Hahn, Drew Remenda (Comcast-CA)

H/T Sammy!

The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the most-watched teams in America. While the previous sentence might sound like some form of nonsensical gloating you might hear from a sports fan, it's actually pretty accurate according to a recent article from Sports Business Daily. 

The report states that prior to their final few games of 2013 the Penguins were on pace to post the highest regional ratings of any American MLB, NBA or NHL team since 2002. The Penguins were averaging an incredible 12.56 Nielsen rating in Pittsburgh on Root Sports, a number that's the highest of any United States NHL club on record.