ESPN

I was listening to Colin Cowherd’s “The Herd” on my local ESPNRadio affiliate while I drove to work this morning. Colin was talking about the fact that the vast majority of cable companies are not carrying the NFLNetwork. Apparently the Rutgers bowl game is going to be on the NFLN and that means that most of New York and New Jersey viewers will not get the game. He said that he thinks ESPN (the television network) should be worried about the NFLNetwork penetrating basic cable because it represents more competition for viewers. I completely disagree.

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Los Angeles’ TimeWarner cable — previously known as Adelphia — is rotten. It is quite possibly the worst cable company in America. Two years ago they dropped the ESPN Gameplan, so there was no way for me to watch the Gators unless I hauled my butt over to Westwood to catch them at the UGA bar on the UCLA campus or drove way, way the hell down to Tony P’s in Marina Del Rey. The cable at my home was spotty — when it was alive at all — for almost all of August, and the internet connection was down more often than it was up. When they decided to drop the NFL Network at the start of football season this year, it was the straw that broke this camel’s back. I switched to satellite. DirecTV, baby. It rocks. If you are a football fan, you must switch. I’m telling you. I don’t say this lightly. I am getting every single NFL game every weekend. I can watch every college game I want. I’m getting all the premium stations — HBO, CineMAX, Showtime, etc. — plus about three times more channels than I ever got with cable. I didn’t even have to pay for the dish or the receivers or the installation! And I’m saving $80/mo! Don’t be a slave to crappy cable! Switch now!

And now for some random Sunday afternoon NFL thoughts:

• Okay. the new ref uniforms look lame. I don’t hate them, but … they just don’t seem right.
• One word about the Vikings’ cheerleaders: Whoa.
• Kudos to FOX for using the Jane’s Addiction classic “Jane Says” during a commercial comeback.
• Chicago @ Minnesota = Rex Grossman @ Brad Johnson = UF @ FSU. Awesome.
• Has FOX always had the down and distance arrows in the color of the team with possession? Very cool.
• Peter from the Family Guy just rules.
• Peyton Manning is apparently in every single commercial on television. The thing is, I can’t complain. He’s funny.
• I dig the Steve Young Samsung commercial. “Watch the safety blitz!” heh.
• I also dig the Circuit City commercial with the wife saying, “I promise to only watch football on Sunday. And Saturday. And Monday. And sometimes Thursday.”
• What is up with the crazy robots on FOX? They’ve been doing it for years, and I just don’t get it.
• NFL player jerseys must be made of some sort of 22nd century kevlar carbon titanium NASA fabric. If someone grabbed one of my shirts like that it would rip instantaneously. Those things stretch like nobody’s business. I watched seven college games yesterday (not including highlights) and saw at least five jerseys and one pair of pants shredded to pieces. Does the NCAA disallow the use of space-age garment technology?
• THE TOSS SWEEP NEVER WORKS! Why do coaches insist on calling this ridiculous play on short yardage downs? You’re throwing the ball backwards!
• There are 8 minutes left in the Cardinals / Rams game, I can’t stand Kurt Warner, the Cardinals are down by nine, and I’m rooting for them.
  Update: Bulger just fumbled the handoff at the two-minute warning. Ha!
  Update 2: And now Warner fumbled. Pathetic.
• “Football Night in America” is a tragically poor name for a highlight show. And just who is Bob Costas blackmailing to continually get on television? The guy seriously takes everything with too large a pinch of melodrama. One of the reasons we love Madden so much is because he knows — just like we do — that football is really a silly game. Sure, it’s life and death and the players are gods amongst men and it’s a multi-billion dollar industry and America’s passion … but you have to just love the absurdity of it all, like John does. Chill out, Bob. (Note: At least he’s got Collinswoth and Bettis as some sort of comic relief.)
• When Bobbo was interviewing Carson Palmer, the subtitle under the Bengals QB read “Pittsburgh”. The subtitle underneath Costas was “30 Rock”. Is this some sort of attempt to make NBC’s NY studios cool? It doesn’t work.
• I cannot wait to see the Saints and the Falcons tomorrow night.
• WTF? Bucs’ QB Chris Simms just had his spleen removed?! What the hell happened? How was this not mentioned until a half hour into the late game?!
• With about three minutes left in the game, Al said that next week’s contest at Cincy would be a real “litmus test” for the Patriots. Apparently getting crushed on your own field by a team that’s had your number five out of the last six times you’ve played isn’t a test.
• James Brown noted that Carson Palmer had a “plethora” of weapons at his disposal. Go, JB.

There’s an excellent excerpt from ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Game on the ESPN site right now. It’s the story of how the BCS was born and the history of the college football polling system. Go read it!

I’ve seen SportsCenter nine times tonight and we lose every time.

It’s the most
Wonderful time
Of the year … !

Doh! I tossed an airball this morning. I was listening to The Tony Kornheiser Show on ESPN radio on my way to work. Tony was asking if one of the actors from the old TV show Gunsmoke was still alive.

I remembered that one of my previous bosses, Kelly, created a site where you could bet on when “famous” personalities were going to die. I called ESPN (1-888-SAY-ESPN) and, miraculously, got on national radio with Tony K! I said I was “Dave from LA” and that he should visit deadpool.com to get his answer.

Unfortunately I was wrong. The correct URL for Kelly’s site is stiffs.com, not deadpool.com.

I had already arrived at my office so I didn’t even get to hear myself on the air, but I’m going to guess Tony ripped on me when he went to deadpool.com and found some lame Sept. 11 retribution site. Oh well.

I listened to ESPN radio for about a half-hour around lunch today. The guest was the Rams’ D’Marco Farr. He spoke very eloquently.

In case you’re wondering … D’Marco Farr is a complete moron.

<singing>
It’s the most
wonderful time
of the year …
</singing>

And now … from ESPN.com’s Bowl Projections page … the list of Funny Bowl Names:
The GMAC Bowl … The Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl … The Sega Sports Las Vegas Bowl … The Seattle Bowl … The Galleryfurniture.com Bowl … The Culligan Holiday Bowl … The Sylvania Alamo Bowl … The Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl … The Insight.com Bowl … and … The Wells Fargo Sun Bowl!

Chris Fowler:

It’ll be nice in Gainesville, site of College GameDay for the sixth time. I’m not that hopeful, but it might be nice to watch a close game for a change. Far be it from me to whine about the amazing gig we GameDay guys have. But the score of the last two games we’ve witnessed have been 124-17 combined. We haven’t had a game decided by fewer than ten since UCLA’s win over Alabama. That was in August.

You can find a ton of cool Gator merchandise at the Teamstore@ESPN.com. They should reconsider their “You May Also Like” section, though. It currently matches your selection geographically and that just doesn’t make sense. I don’t think many Florida fans are going to be interested in FSU or Miami gear!

Also check out the current contests at ESPN for chances to win a spot on GameDay, tickets to the Rose Bowl, and other great prizes.

2001-02 Bowl Schedule

The Gamecocks face the Gators in what might be the biggest game in school history. If South Carolina wins and Florida beats Tennessee on Dec. 1, the Gamecocks will become the first team other than the Gators or Volunteers to win the SEC East Championship.

ESPN announced on Monday that it will nationally televise Florida’s game at South Carolina on Saturday, November 10th. Kickoff has been moved to 7:45 pm ET
This is the third time this season that Florida has appeared on a national ESPN telecast (ESPN2 vs. Marshall and ESPN vs. Auburn) and the sixth time in nine games this season that the Gators have appeared on a national telecast. With this announcement, every Florida game this season, except for the UL-Monroe game on Sept. 8, will be a network telecast. CBS Sports has already announced that the Nov. 17th game vs. Florida State (8:00 pm ET) in Gainesville and the Dec. 1st contest vs. Tennessee (4:30 pm ET) in Gainesville will appear on national television.

ESPN announced on Monday afternoon that it will televise the Florida- Auburn game from Auburn at 7:45 pm ET on Saturday, Oct. 13th.