Press releases keep coming in so I’ll post a few for you in lieu of an evening update.
This one from Fox announces that former Bucs and Broncos linebacker John Lynch will be joining the network’s on-air NFL staff.
FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES
Nine-Time Pro Bowler John Lynch Joins NFL on FOX as Game Analyst
Bradshaw Sits Down with NFL MVP Candidate Kurt Warner on FOX NFL SUNDAY
NINE-TIME PRO BOWLER JOHN LYNCH JOINS THE NFL ON FOX AS GAME ANALYST — FOX Sports’ lineup of Super Bowl winning analysts just got deeper as nine-time Pro Bowl safety John Lynch joins the NFL on FOX as a game analyst for the remainder of the 2008 season. The addition of Lynch raises FOX Sports’ collective total of Super Bowl rings to 16, more than any other network that covers the NFL. Lynch, who makes his debut this Sunday in Jacksonville as the Jaguars host the Vikings, will work in a two-man booth with Chris Rose. Selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft from Stanford University, Lynch played his first 11 years with Tampa Bay before signing with the Broncos as a free agent on March 23, 2004. His nine Pro Bowl selections at the safety position during his 15-year NFL career rank second in league history. Lynch was a key member of Tampa Bay’s 2002 team that won Super Bowl XXXVII.
NFL ON FOX WEEK 12: EAST VS. WEST MEETS IN 1ST PLACE SHOWDOWN – The New York Giants and the Arizona Cardinals highlight the second half of FOX’s doubleheader on Sunday, Nov. 23. Returning to the site of their Super Bowl triumph, Eli Manning and the Giants enter University of Phoenix Stadium to face Kurt Warner and the Cardinals in a matchup of first-place teams. At 1:00 PM ET, Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys look to get back into the playoff picture as they host the San Francisco 49ers. In Baltimore, the Ravens face their second straight NFC East opponent when they welcome Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles to M&T Bank Stadium. Meanwhile, the Bears battle the Rams in St. Louis. It will be a battle of ground games in Jacksonville as Adrian Peterson and the Vikings meet Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jaguars. Also at 1:00 PM ET, the Tampa Bay Bucs travel to Detroit to take on the Lions. NFC South rivals meet at 4:00 PM ET when Jake Delhomme and the Panthers go to Atlanta to face Matt Ryan and the Falcons. Also, the Seahawks welcome Clinton Portis and the Redskins to the Emerald City.
Coverage begins at 12:00 PM ET with FOX NFL SUNDAY. In this week’s show, Bradshaw sits down with Cardinals QB and NFL MVP candidate Kurt Warner and WR’s Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston and asks if this year’s Arizona team is the next great show on turf.
During postgame coverage of early matchups and halftime of the late games, BCS on FOX lead game analyst Charles Davis joins FOX NFL SUNDAY to exclusively unveil the latest BCS college football standings and look ahead to next week’s most pivotal games.
JOHNSTON: CARDINALS “D” MIGHT BE THE ANSWER TO GIANTS “O” – NFL on FOX analyst Daryl Johnston points to two important factors heading into Sunday’s Giants @ Cardinals game which he will call alongside Kenny Albert & Tony Siragusa. “The biggest key to the game is if Arizona’s defensive line can play the way they did against Dallas’ offensive line back in Week 6. The Giants have such a good offensive line; they’ve been together for so long and have a chemistry you can only develop over time. The second is, how does New York’s secondary handle the Cardinals wide receivers? After explosive performances from Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald last week, t
he Cardinals offense can match up against anybody.”
NBC previews this Sunday’s Colts-Chargers game in primetime.
PEYTON MANNING AND THE RESURGENT COLTS FACE LT AND THE CHARGERS ON “NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”NEW YORK – Nov. 19, 2008 – "NBC Sunday Night Football," in its third season as the NFL's premier primetime package, heads to San Diego as LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers (4-6) look to keep their playoff hopes alive as they host Peyton Manning and the resurgent Colts (6-4) winners of three straight. Al Michaels (play-by-play), John Madden (analyst) and Andrea Kremer (sideline reporter) call the action. Coverage on NBC begins at 7 p.m. ET with "Football Night in America," with Bob Costas (host), Cris Collinsworth (co-host) Keith Olbermann (co-host), Dan Patrick (co-host), Jerome Bettis (analyst), Tiki Barber (analyst) and Peter King (reporter).
CRIS COLLINSWORTH ON THE MATCHUP: "If there's one team that has Manning's number it's San Diego. They're sort of his achilles heel. Since Ron Rivera took over as defensive coordinator, San Diego is a markedly better football team. This is the one team, no matter what you say, always beats the Colts. But you wonder without Shawne Merriman and the defense not being the same if this is the year that changes."
CRIS COLLINSWORTH ON THE COLTS, WINNERS OF THREE STRAIGHT: "I said a couple of weeks ago that the Colts could get on a roll and go on a long winning streak and I still believe they have a big run in them."
JEROME BETTIS ON THE CHARGERS: "It's an old cliché that it's a must win game but this really is a must win game for the Chargers or their playoff chances are over."
TIKI BARBER ON THE CHARGERS: "I wish I could put my finger on what's wrong with them. One of the big reasons is that their defense is not the same without Shawne Merriman reeking havoc. And L.T. is not the same player he was."
COLTS-CHARGERS IN PRIMETIME: The Colts are making their third 2008 appearance on NBC "Sunday Night Football." In the first week of the season, the Colts lost to the Chicago Bears 29-13 and defeated the Patriots 18-15 in Week 9. They are now 6-3 overall since the NFL's premier primetime package moved to NBC in 2006. This marks the Colts 10th "NBC SNF" appearance, the most for any franchise. The Chargers are making their second SNF appearance in 2008. They beat the Patriots 30-10 in Week 6 and are now 5-1 overall on NBC SNF.
COLTS VS. CHARGERS: This is the 25th meeting between these two franchises with the Chargers holding a 14-8 series lead. The Chargers have won the last three contests including a 28-24 win in the AFC Divisional Playoffs last season.
RATINGS INCREASE FOR SNF: Last Sunday's Cowboys-Redskins generated the second highest SNF rating and viewership of the season with an 11.6/18 and 19.3 million viewers. SNF is seeing season to date ratings gains over last year in both household rating (10.3/16 vs. 10.0/16, up three percent) and viewers (16.7 million vs. 16.0 million, up four percent).
And NBC says Notre Dame is back on its air this Saturday.
BOWL ELIGIBLE NOTRE DAME HOSTS SYRACUSE SATURDAY, 2:30 PM ET ON NBCNEW YORK – Nov. 19, 2008 – NBC Sports, in its 18th season as the broadcast home of Notre Dame home football games, presents live HD coverage of the Fighting Irish (6-4) hosting the Syracuse Orangemen (2-8) Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET, ND's last home game of the season. Coverage begins on NBCSports.com at 2 p.m. ET with the "Vonage Notre Dame Countdown to Kickoff" (see details below). The Irish are coming off a 27-21 road victory over Navy which made them bowl eligible. Syracuse fell to Connecticut 39-14 and then fired head coach Greg Robinson.
Tom Hammond (play-by-play) and Pat Haden (analyst) team up for their ninth season together as the voices of Notre Dame on NBC joined by sideline reporter Alex Flanagan, who is also a reporter for the NFL Network.
ND VS. SYRACUSE: Notre Dame and Syracuse will meet for the sixth time in history with the Irish leading the all-time series, 3-2, including capturing the last meeting at home, 34-10, in 2005. Notre Dame also took the other matchup inside Notre Dame Stadium, 17-15, in 1961.
RATINGS SHOW INCREASE: Through the first five home games of the season, Notre Dame on NBC has earned a 2.3 rating and a 5 share, a 15 percent increase over 2007. Ratings are also up significantly in the key demos (Men 18-49, + 27%; Men 25-54, +33%).
ESPN will once again show the manlove for Jets QB Brett Favre on Sunday NFL Countdown.
Sunday NFL Countdown — Features on Brett Favre, Arizona Cardinals and Dolphins’ Joey PorterThis week’s edition of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown (11 a.m.) will offer a trio of intriguing features:
- Greg Garber will report on how 39-year old “graybeard” Brett Favre displays his emotions and the effect it’s having on his new teammates with the AFC East-leading New York Jets.
- Rachel Nichols travels to Arizona to examine how Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin and the Cardinals – the top team in the NFC West — were affected by the violent helmet-to-helmet collision Boldin suffered earlier this season.
- On the verge of a key matchup between the Dolphins and Patriots, Countdown analyst Keyshawn Johnson sits down for a one-on-one interview with Miami linebacker Joey Porter, who leads the NFL in sacks.
And here is what ESPN’s Outside the Lines is covering this Sunday.
Two-Topic Outside the Lines Sunday: University of Buffalo’s Anti-Discrimination Vote; Vanderbilt’s Cultural ChangeSunday’s Outside the Lines (9 a.m. ESPN, noon ESPNEWS) will feature two topics — a look at how a University of Buffalo anti-discrimination vote in 1958 left it bowl-less, and an examination of how Vanderbilt’s cultural change among student-athletes has led to winning ways.
University of Buffalo’s Anti-Discrimination
On the 50th anniversary of the University of Buffalo’s best football season, Outside the Lines looks at the 8-1 team which won the Lambert Cup as the best small school in the Eastern U.S., and earned an invitation to the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Fla., its first and only bowl bid in 102 years of football. However, when it was discovered that a rule instituted by the Orlando High School Athletic Association, which held the lease to the field, prohibited interracial events — Buffalo had two African-American players on the team – the Bulls voted unanimously to reject the bowl bid. ESPN.com’s Eric Neel reports. Excerpts:
“I went to the store to get a newspaper; I discover my picture on the front page along with Mike Wilson and the article suggesting that Mike and I would not be able to play… It was dumb people making dumb decisions. How can you dislike someone because the way they look?” — Willie Evans, one of the two African-American players on the team
”In unison, we all stood up and looked at each other and said that we aren’t going anywhere without our brothers, without Willie and Mike.” — Joe Oliverio, Buffalo quarterback
Vanderbilt Built Success with Student-Athletes Cultural Change
With a reputation for academic excellence but a football team that hadn’t had a winning season in more than 25 years, Outside the Lines will look at how Vanderbilt administrators changed the athletic culture and encouraged student-athletes to get more involved in the university’s every day life. Since disbanding the athletic department and placing it under the university’s student life department in 2003, success in sports has followed the football team started this season with five straight wins for the first time since 1943, the basketball team has made two Sweet 16 appearances, the women’s bowling team won the 2007 national championship, and the baseball program, which had not had a winning season from 1998-2003, was ranked No. 1 nationally and has had many top picks in the MLB Draft, including the Tampa Bay Rays’ David Price. George Smith reports. Excerpts:
“Your mind has a chance to go everywhere and think, oh boy, I’m out of a job, we’re out of a program, we may be out of an athletic department, so I had no clue what was going on.” — Tim Corbin, baseball coach who joined Vanderbilt’s staff in 2002
“We could go to a study session and we weren’t perceived like, ‘Oh well, you’re an athlete, we’re not going to take you seriously.’ It was, ‘You have something to bring to the table, and we feel like you’re on equal footing with everyone else.” — Jensen Lewis, sophomore when the announcement was made in 2003, now a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians
And this release coming in just under the wire. Fox Sports Net and Fox College Sports combine to present the Paradise Jam, one of college basketball’s first tournaments of the season.
FOX COLLEGE SPORTS AND FOX SPORTS NET TO TELEVISE 2008 PARADISE JAM
Great College Hoops Action Featured in Annual Holiday Tourney
New York & Los Angeles – Before there can be March Madness, there are the holiday tournaments. FCS and FSN team up to present LIVE television coverage of the 2008 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. Starting Friday, Nov. 21 in beautiful St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the 9th annual Paradise Jam will feature eight Division I men’s basketball teams competing for preseason supremacy.
FCS offers live telecasts of the semifinals while FSN national provides live coverage of the championship and consolation game from the University of the Virgin Islands’ Sports and Fitness Center. FCS tips-off the action with two semifinal matchups on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM ET. FSN joins the fray with coverage of the consolation and championship game on Monday, Nov. 24 at 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM ET. Dan McLaughlin calls play-by-play and Larry Conley provides the analysis.
Led by four 2008 Men’s NCAA Tournament qualifiers Wisconsin—Connecticut—Miami—San Diego, basketball fans can look forward to an impressive field taking the court at the University of the Virgin Islands’ Sports and Fitness Center. Valparaiso—Southern Miss—La Salle—Iona round out the eight-team field, enhancing the Paradise Jam’s reputation as one of the most competitive early season tournaments.
“The Paradise Jam is one of the best preseason tournaments in the country and once again, Fox College Sports is proud to be the home for this prestigious event,” said FCS Director Max Casanova. “With the addition of Fox Sports Net’s national coverage, our commitment to the tournament has reached new heights.”
That’s it. If anything breaks tonight, I’ll be back with an update, but barring anything major, that should do it until Thursday.
