ABC is really hurting without the benefit of the Miami Heat on their airwaves. This past weekend, ratings for the Spurs-Warriors and Knicks-Pacers games suffered sharp declines. Sunday's San Antonio-Golden State matchup drew a 3.4 rating and 5.3 million viewers, down 29% in ratings and 30% in viewers from last year's Heat-Pacers game and 36% and 40% from 2011's Lakers-Mavericks matchup. The Knicks and Pacers didn't fare any better on Saturday evening, drawing similar marks of a 3.5 rating and 5.3 million viewers, down 29% and 35% from Heat-Celtcs in 2011 (with no comparable game last year).

If you've been online in the last 24 hours, you've likely seen the news somewhere that goofy Toronto mayor Rob Ford is embroiled in a crack cocaine scandal.  Individuals are in the process of trying to sell the video of Toronto's mayor smoking crack, but Gawker and the Toronto Star have balked at the high asking price.  However, both publications have put out articles reporting to have seen the video, and confidently identifying Ford in it.

But there is one detail buried in the Gawker story that has a connection to the sports world.  Almost as a throwaway in the Ford schadenfreude, this tidbit is mentioned that links a "prominent hockey analyst" to the Toronto celebrity drug ring:

Last week, we examined how your cable and satellite bills will pay for Major League Baseball’s billion-dollar TV deals. Now let’s look at what that means for the teams themselves. How does baseball distribute your money?

We know that MLB’s new national TV contracts with ESPN, Fox, and Turner will more than double the amount of money each team received from those three networks. Where the previous contract paid teams an average of $25.53 million each per year, next year’s contract will pay teams an average of $51.67 million per year. Having an additional $26 million on hand seems useful.

Now lets take a look at the local TV deals. Much of this data was compiled by Wendy Thurm of Fangraphs, with some data from around the web filling in the gaps. Some of the numbers are rough estimates, with escalators in place for the New York Yankees (4%) and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2.5%).

NBC hockey announcer Doc Emrick is one of the best in the business.  In fact, if you go by the preferred metric around here, he is the best play by play man in sports.  One of the elements of Doc's announcing that makes him a Hall of Famer is his wide range of vocabulary use.  NBC smartly paid tribute to Doc's oral aptitude by releasing a remarkable list of all the different words Emrick used to describe the action of the puck during Game 1 of the Red Wings-Blackhawks series.  In all, Doc used over 90 (!!!) different descriptors during one hockey game...

How awesome are Green Bay Packers fans? Awesome enough to have their own reality show on cable. TBS announced at its Upfront in New York this week that it is developing an unscripted program featuring cheeseheads that will -- fittingly -- be called "Cheeseheads."

Word actually emerged last December that Packers fans were auditioning for a reality pilot, and now we have more clarity on that. And it's pretty legit. Helping develop the series is Jason Carbone, who according to CNBC has produced reality programs such as The Real World and The Bachelor.

One of the better moments captured by NFL Films this last fall was Chiefs safety Eric Berry's skittish reaction to seeing a horse on the field. As you can see below, Berry's full attention is on the horse (named Warpaint) and not the game itself.

All Times Eastern

Australian Rules Football
Essendon Bombers vs. Brisbane Lions -- Fox Soccer Plus, 11:30 p.m.

College Baseball
Illinois at Minnesota -- Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
Indiana at Ohio State -- Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
Notre Dame at Cincinnati -- CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.
West Virginia at Oklahoma State -- Fox College Sports Atlantic, 7:30 p.m.
Texas at TCU -- Fox College Sports Central, 7:30 p.m.
St. Mary's at BYU -- BYU TV, 8 p.m.
Clemson at Florida State -- ESPNU, 8 p.m.
Cal-Irvine at Cal State-Fullerton -- ESPNU, 11 p.m.

College Softball
NCAA Division I Tournament
Austin Regional, Austin, TX
Army vs. Texas -- Longhorn Network, 7 p.m.

College Station Regional, College Station, TX
Arizona vs. Baylor -- ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.
Penn vs. Texas A&M -- ESPN2. 6 p.m.

Tempe Regional, Tempe, AZ
San Diego State vs. Georgia -- ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.
San Jose State vs. Arizona State -- ESPNU, 6 p.m.

Starting in 2015, the U.S. Open will become an all-cable affair. CBS' association with the event dating back to 1968 will end in 2014. ESPN announced the contract earlier today and SBJ's John Ourand reports that the deal is worth than $770 million for 11 years, meaning that the U.S. Open will remain on the ESPN family of networks well into the next decade. 

Ed Note: The following appears courtesy our friends at Crystal Ball Run.

Bill O'Brien was focused on the future when the NCAA handed down harsh sanctions against his new football program last summer. He was short and upset after he suffered his first coaching loss in Penn State's season opener. On Wednesday he was livid and noticeably annoyed as a result of a Sports Illustrated story he referred to as a character assassination against his boss, Penn State Athletics Director David Joyner.

On Tuesday Sports Illustrated teased an investigative story asking the question "Do athletics still have too much power at Penn State?" The report authored by senior writer David Epstein digs in to Penn State's handling of medical care available to football players by suggesting changes in the school's medical staffing were perplexing to many others tied to the Penn State football family and that the changes made result in inadequate and sometimes flawed medical treatment.

O'Brien vehemently disagrees with that concept, and he let everyone know that on Wednesday.

First it was the First Take fartgate saga, now via Guyism comes this random workout video featuring... a guy sitting on the john in the background.  Yes it is hilarious that a workout video includes a guy peacefully sitting on the toilet taking care of his business, but let's imagine all the steps that would lead to "Burnout Challenge - HiitLean #11" including this.  Filming, editing, post-production, and publishing all miraculously allowed this to be a gift to the internet masses.

Lost in all the hilarity of this video - we should also salute the fella bold and brave enough to leave the door to the throne open while a workout video was being filmed. That's a man who just doesn't care and is proud of it.  Well done.

[Guyism]