Tough day today.
Indeed it is. The NFL is dealing with the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide of his girlfriend that leaves a beautiful three month old girl without parents and the Kansas City Chiefs wondering how they will acknowledge him. ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown acknowledged Kasandra Perkins, Belcher’s girlfriend with a graphic at the beginning of its show today as well as later during the program. Tom Jackson asked viewers to remember her as well. In addition, ESPN has shelved its scheduled comedic segment with Frank Caliendo. In a newsletter to subscribers, Caliendo said his scheduled segment which was to lampoon Bob Ley and Outside the Lines “wouldn’t fit the tone of this week’s show. Instead, it will air next week, Sunday, December 9.
The bit has nothing to do with the Chiefs or Kansas City, but they decided that a planned “comedy” segment just didn’t seem like a good thing to do.”
We’ll see if Fox follows suit with Rob Riggle’s segment and how CBS and Fox handle the story.
Ok, moving on, what about blackouts this week?
We have three this week. Buffalo’s game against Jacksonville won’t be seen in Western New York. It appears the rest of Buffalo’s home games are in danger of being blacked out also.
San Diego and Los Angeles won’t see the Super Chargers’ game vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. It marks the 8th blackout of the Chargers in the last 22 home games.
And fans in the Bay Area won’t be watching the Oakland Raiders taking on the Cleveland Browns. It marks the first Raiders blackout in their last ten home games.
What are your Games of the Week?
For CBS, I’ll select Indianapolis at Detroit (Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts) as Andrew Luck’s initial tour of the NFL continues, and the second Pittsburgh at Baltimore game (Jim Nantz/Phil Simms) in the late window.
With Fox, I’ll go with Seattle at Chicago (Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Jaime Maggio) and San Francisco at St. Louis (Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa), both games in the early window.
Why didn’t NBC and the NFL flex out Philadelphia at Dallas (Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya) tonight?
Yeah, record-wise it’s not the most attractive matchup, but NBC likes the ratings for the Cowpokes. Kind of strange that the only flex this season occurred in Week 11 for CBS when Indianapolis at New England was moved from 1 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. There won’t be any flexes for Weeks 14 and 15, but in Week 16, look for San Diego at the New York Jets to be sent out of the primetime slot in favor of another game (Giants-Ravens, Cincinnati-Pittsburgh or San Francisco-Seattle). Unless we learn that Tim Tebow is starting that game, expect Chargers-Jets to be jettisoned from primetime.
Ok, some good food for thought. Anything else?
We could see the return of Gus Johnson to the NFL this month. Waiting to confirm. I’ll let you know. Other than that, nothing else for today. Do your best to enjoy your Sunday and hug your loved ones.
