Ohio St. to ESPN: You are lying

The real target of the investigation

((ht: dispatch.com))
((ht: espn.com))

This is an interesting little battle here. ESPN.com's Pat Forde posted a story on the 4-letter website Wednesday stating that Ohio State was notified via letter last week that the NCAA is still investigating them and they could be facing more allegations or more problems.

However, Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch told the Columbus Dispatch that no such thing has happened.

Lynch does say they received a letter from investigators, but only pertaining to procedural matters leading into their appearance Friday in front of the Committee on Infractions.

You can read that part of the story from Dispatch.com RIGHT HERE

Interestingly, the Pat Forde story quotes Lynch telling him essentially the same thing. But yet the headline and first paragraph seem to state otherwise. What it does say is stuff that we already knew, that they could still investigate the variety of investigative stories by the Dispatch, ESPN and other media outlets about problems that they brought to light.

It also quotes Lynch telling another ESPN reporter "We will not be able to discuss details of our active investigation with the NCAA until the matter has been resolved." Duh....It's not resolved Pat. It may be resolved on Friday, but it isn't today.

You can read Forde's story RIGHT HERE

We don't know the genesis of Forde's story, and quite honestly, after reading it, we still don't know why that is a headline. Of course they (Ohio State) are still under investigation, and they should be. You are under investigation until the Committee has handed down a decision. That's how such things work. There are no new allegations here. No revelations.

The BIGGER question is, after getting heat for being slow on the Ohio State story, why the "Worldwide Leader" hasn't devoted any time or resources to the "Alabama/T-Town Menswear" story? They did do a brief mention when it 1st came up, but haven't followed it up. They haven't done an "Outside the Lines" it hasn't been mentioned at all.

That story is remarkably similar to this one, yet its been left to bloggers such as Clay Travis at OutKicktheCoverage and Brooks at SportsbyBrooks to do the heavy lifting on it.

Just our two cents.

Mike Leach Keeps Talking, Torches ESPN & Craig James

One of the reason we love Mike Leach is because his filter is non-existent. Wednesday morning Leach was a guest on Steve Czeban's show on Yahoo sports radio selling his book "Swing Your Sword." Once again Leach went off on the 4-letter and Craig James.

Click on the link below to hear it.
http://www.yahoosportsradio.com/shows/mike-leach-with-the-czabe-4844/

Leach feels he's not coaching right now because he believes he was a victim of a national smear campaign and that the 4-letter and Craig James were involved.

Those of us in the OSG HQ would love to see Leach back on the sidelines and watch his offense work again. Hey North Carolina has an opening.

The "Longhorn Network"...business deal or NCAA violation?

The Longhorn Network Logo

((ht: collegefootballtalk.com))
((ht: mysanantonio.com))

We wondered the other day about reports Texas A&M was having meetings with their Board of Regents regarding the University of Texas's foray into cable programming with the "Longhorn Network".

Now we have a better idea why.

For those of you new to the story, Texas has a 20-year, $300 million deal in place with ESPN to create their own cable network. And our friends, the pillars of journalistic integrity, at ESPN are trying to come up with ways to program said network. It won't have a lot of Texas football, because most of those games are on the "Mothership" or ABC. It won't have a lot of basketball games, because the Big 12/10 has a deal with Fox Sports for that.

So they've come up with, what appears to be a plan. And that plan is to televise Texas High School sports. And the question the folks at A&M, and now the rest of us want to know: Is that not an NCAA violation? It sure seems like a recruiting advantage.

Gary Blair, the women's basketball coach at A&M tells the San Antonio Express News "If Brittney Griner was coming out of high school today and all of a sudden they decided to televise 8 of her home games, don't you think that would put Texas a leg up in recruiting".

A very good question.

Read the entire story from MySanAntonio.com RIGHT HERE

Even more eyebrow raising after our pal Brooks at Sports by Brooks transcribed a radio interview with ESPN Programming VP Dave Brown, who coincidentally will run the new network, done by an Austin, Texas radio station.

In that interview, Brown talked at length about bringing High School games to the network that featured players the Longhorns would be recruiting. Hence, the questions begin. Is the network to help Texas make money or exploit a recruiting advantage?

Read the entire Sports by Brooks story (it's revealing) RIGHT HERE

There are several questions here that we hope are being brought to the attention of the thus-far very quiet NCAA. Yeah, we get the network needs programming. It's hard to program a 24-hour network if you don't have a lot of original programming. We work in the TV business ourselves, we get that.

What we don't get is why this would be allowed. Sure, they are certainly within their rights to do a TV Network. If the 4-letter is willing to pay $300 million for some Longhorn love, they are entitled to do just that. But they need to play by the rules. The same rules everyone else is supposed to.

There is a lot of concern that this will be new ground. That this will set the precedent for the other "Mega-Schools" to do the same thing. And it probably will. If Texas can get that kind of money, think about what, say, Alabama could get. Not only will they get paid, if the precedent is set, they'd get a built in recruiting tool that most of the rest of the conference wouldn't.

Let's hope A&M speaks "Loudly" to the NCAA about this. Especially since Oklahoma, who's also currently in their conference is about to do something similar. The only good thing is having two networks like that so close to each other is they'll cannibalize themselves for programming.

Listen to Matthew McConaughey sound like Darth Vader in the Death Star promo:

Poynter Review passes buck on ESPN vs. Feldman vs. Sports Internet Community

((ht: espn))

Bruce Feldman

For those of you following the late-last week internet phenomenon of #FreeBruce, otherwise known as Bruce Feldman, we now have, aside from the "Official" ESPN response that Feldman was never suspended, an "Ombudsman" of sorts response.

We'll qualify ourselves a bit by saying we may have been a bit presumptuous in our previous story on this topic, which you can read RIGHT HERE. 

But we do stand by what we said.

Now, our friends at the 4-letter, have decided to empower the fine folks at the Poynter Institute to handle their questions of journalistic integrity. And for those unfamiliar with the Poynter Institute, that is exactly what they do. They are the ultimate "Think-tank" for anything journalistic. And they are very, very good at it.

Kelly McBride of the Poynter Review Project took a look at the handling of the Feldman issue and the 4-letters handling of Mike Leach in general, the results were interesting if you are into such things.

You can read the full explanation RIGHT HERE

Among the items she raises: She was less than complimentary of ESPN's vetting process and handling of the Feldman issue. She believes them when they say Feldman wasn't suspended,  he just needed to "Lay low". If he didn't lose any pay, then yeah, you've got an argument, but it still sounds like semantics.

She chastises our pal Brooks at Sports by Brooks for being incorrect. Though we don't have her insight or details, it appears on the surface, he wasn't totally wrong either. The question seems to be more the use of the words "Suspended Indefinitely". 

She also is very harsh on ESPN for their handling of the Mike Leach versus Adam and Craig James story. And that we 100% agree with. And that is the root of this whole problem. It appears they took sides with the James's in it, and that under any circumstance, is wrong.

And she mentions that Feldman is not without fault. And she's right. While we have the utmost respect for Feldman and what he does. He should have been more proactive with his concerns over what Leach said in his book about his employer. Right or wrong, there is no way they or any other employer would have looked at that and not questioned him.

The issue of reporters co-authoring books with people they cover is touched on as well. And there really shouldn't be much debate here, as much as the paycheck is nice to have, you can't do it. By the nature of teaming up, you lose some of your objectivity. And it opens you up to having it questioned. Doing a book yourself about a subject...that's a little different.

For his part, she mentions that Feldman is petrified of coming out of hiding, fearing he is not going to be able to move forward from this. And he's not wrong. Though in a perfect world he should be able to move forward, he's now going to be questioned about it and looked at differently. 

We, for what it is worth, agree with a lot of what McBride says here. This story got a bit ahead of itself. One big problem, which she touched on, but didn't elaborate is that there is a growing mistrust in both the internet/blogging community and the Sports Journalist community over what the 4-letter does. They seem to want things both ways when it comes to covering sports and to be an objective journalist, you just can't be "Entertainment" and "Journalistic" at the same time. And they want to be the ones controlling the message. It doesn't work like that.

The Leach story is the perfect example of this mistrust and they've done nothing to change that belief since then. That is why so many outlets immediately assumed the Feldman story was what we thought it was. And the lack of a response from the 4-letter just made it worse. 

There is a balance the folks in Bristol need to find and while sometimes they do it, sometimes they don't and when they don't, it tends to get really ugly, really fast. 

Think about this:

Free Bruce Feldman: This is insane

Bruce Feldman/Courtesy: brucefeldman.com

((ht: sportsbybrooks))

We don't even know where to begin here. Quite honestly, we don't know Bruce Feldman--now suspended ESPN College Football writer, but we've long been admirers of his work here at both the satellite HQ and Home Base in Atlanta.

His work has been impeccable, detailed, well-written and informative and occasionally a source for stories. But apparently, it won't be now.

Our pal Brooks, at Sports by Brooks has detailed how the allegedly good people of the 4-letter word (ESPN) have suspended Feldman for something they apparently gave him permission to do.

Yes, he was indefinitely suspended from the Bristol mafia for co-authoring Mike Leach's tell-all book about his time coaching at Texas Tech.

In that book, Leach took some pointed shots at ESPN analyst Craig James over the issue that lead to Leach's firing, something most all sports blogs have documented quite vividly.

You can read an excerpt RIGHT HERE

The story on Leach's firing RIGHT HERE

According to Brooks's report, the higher ups who suspended Feldman, gave him permission to write. Something they now appear to say, is the cause of his suspension.

Read the story from Sports By Brooks RIGHT HERE

We've made no secret over our disdain for the ham-handed attempt at Journalistic integrity the folks at the 4-letter say they practice. It's something convenient to them mostly if it helps the cause of self-promotion only.

Though we haven't read Leach's book, we've seen excerpts, and there doesn't seem to be anything punishable in it. Of course we are in the midst of reading the ESPN book and if that is an indication, the only thing we could think of is they are alleging he helped Leach take a shot at a current employee.

But that is a load of crap. We are happy to see that Sports Writers and Sports Blogs around the country are upset and speaking out about this. It's one of the most popular hashtags on Twitter as we write this. We'll happily add ourselves to the list of Sports outlets pissed off about what's happened.

Not that the 4-letter will do anything about it, they can't unsuspend Feldman now, cat's out of the bag. But it's what's right. We all know the 4-letter would like to put us all out of business and be the only global voice for Sports worldwide. And while we get the idea of being number one, it doesn't mean you have to be a 2-faced, dishonest, disloyal bunch of greedy corporate schmucks, which is exactly how they are coming across.

Here's Feldman appearing on the EA Sports show pimping his recruiting book?

Lockout Professionals: Funny stuff

((ht: espn))

Ok. We have to admit, as much as we don't care for the over-the-top collective pat on the back that the ESPY's are, they do occasionally do some funny stuff.

Perhaps one of the funniest, and most pointed skits of the night, a commercial for "Lockout Professionals" starring the currently locked out Kevin Love and Blake Griffin.

Yes, it is funny enough to share with everyone else.

Thanks ESPN:

DEVELOPING: If you believe Drew Rosenhaus, T.O. is coming back

Rosenhaus (left) and T.O.

I know that's a loaded question, but...

The noted sports agent told the Four Letter today that Cincinnati WR Terrell Owens' knee injury is "no big deal." Why am I not surprised Rosenhaus said that.

"All the retirement talk is nonsense," Rosenhaus told the Four Letter. "There's been no discussion about that, and this injury is not a big deal."

Rosenhaus also told the Four Letter that famous surgeon Dr. James Andrews "repaired the old injury" completely, and that T.O. is "many months into recovery and doing fantastic."

My gut reaction - Rosenhaus is trying to deflect - as he's always done - the heat off of his client. Isn't that what agents are supposed to do?

I'll believe T.O. is coming back when he suits up and takes the field. Until then, being the former athlete I am, I'm assuming he's done. He doesn't bounce back like he used to.

More later...

Who Knew Mike Napoli Was Italian...???

For those of you who play fantasy baseball, some of you may have picked up Mitch Moreland for a late-round flyer...

He has had his moments of success, but has proven to be more of a bench guy in his rookie year... but with him sitting today, the HQ found out something that never played into draft status...

Moreland won't start Sunday's game against Twins lefty Francisco Liriano, the Rangers official site reports.

Spin: With the news Sunday that C/1B/Italian Mike Napoli has been added to the DL, it's possible that Moreland will get a start or two more against lefties than he otherwise would have. Sunday, however, is not that kind of day.

But what if Napoli isn't Italian...? Would that make an impact on whether or not he gets started over at ESPN.com...???

Jus' axin'...

Doris Burke's Bad Take Rolled Anyway

((HT: ESPN/NBA/nbavideosnow))

The HQ will readily admit that we've all flubbed our lines every now and again before we got our stand-up right. Most of the time we're editing our own material so it would have been our fault if something aired wrong...

Last night, during the end of our "night out on the town," TBH was witness to an abnormality on network television- the tape cued to the wrong portion of the Doris Burke stand-up describing what she wanted to describe in the Dallas-Oklahoma City series.

Here's how it ran on the four-letter... no edits...


Someone ((or someones)) in the TV truck were, probably, in serious trouble last night in the post meeting... and we can guarantee that folks in Bristol weren't happy about the on-air technical gaffe, either...

The history of SportsCenter: The Olbermann era

Olbermann and Dan Patrick/Courtesy: newsrealblog.com

((ht: gq.com))

I wonder how many of us Sports fans will be buying this book. The book in question "Behind the Rise of SportsCenter". An un-mitigating look behind the TV show, that love 'em or hate 'em helped put ESPN on the map.

GQ magazine has an excerpt from the book and for those of us who were around to witness the explosion on TV, it gives a quick, behind the scenes look at apparently one of most polarizing figures in the history of ESPN, Keith Olbermann.

Read the excerpt from GQ.com RIGHT HERE

Some revelations in there. Like many of you, we read the Olbermann/Dan Patrick penned book "The Big Show" and, well, it didn't come across like this.

We know a few people who work up north at the 4-letter and they love the experience. It's something we contemplated doing at various points in our professional career. We are definitely now, glad that never happened.

For the sake of the many talented people that work there, we hope the atmosphere of "Not developing" someone who could become bigger than the show is disappointing. Our experience in TV tells us that you need breakout stars to be memorable, to make yourself standout. And while yeah, we get the fact that the 4-letter has pretty much killed off most of the competition for now, eventually someone will come after you.

And yes, we know they have the rights to almost every sport in existence.

And this is one of the spots that made this promotion famous:

Barnaby Busted In Buffalo ((UPDATED))

((HT: WIVB-TV Buffalo))

This doesn't look good for the future of one of the better pests in the NHL for his burgeoning media career...

Matthew Barnaby was arrested Friday night and charged with second degree criminal contempt, harassment, second degree criminal trespass, and second degree criminal mischief. Police say after leaving the location, he made angry phone calls, and Barnaby has also been charged with aggravated harassment via a cell phone.

That's a lot of print... and the second degree charges mean that the act wasn't premeditated...

Amherst ((NY)) Police responded to a location during the dinner hour and found "serious damage to property." The location is being kept private to protect two female victims, who police say were not injured.

Barnaby is set to be arraigned Saturday morning in Amherst Town Court.

Here's the early returns from Buffalo...

Former Sabre arrested for domestic violence: wivb.com

PM UPDATED: Gene Warner in the Buffalo News says Barnaby pleaded not guilty to all five charges...

"Mr. Barnaby, it goes without question that you [must] completely stay away from anyone involved in this matter," Amherst Town Justice Mark Farrell told him in court. Farrell also issued "no-contact" orders against Barnaby's estranged wife and the other adult present when the incident occurred Friday night. That other adult is believed to be a friend of the alleged victim in the case and not another family member.

He was released on his own recognizance. Law enforcement types in Amherst admit that there were no injuries from what went down...

More when we know more...

Pac 12 gets sick amount of money for TV rights

A Pac 12 logo

((ht: san jose mercury news/nytimes.com))

**UPDATED**12:25pm Tuesday--

According to the New York Times, we undercounted in the story below. (We always sucked at math anyway)

The Bell weather of all things newspaper reports the deal is closer to $3 billion than $2.7 for 12 years. But hey, what's a couple mill amongst the billionaire club anyway?

The New York Times story is RIGHT HERE

The league will also apparently create its own network, one they'll have complete ownership of. However the premium games (football and basketball), they'll still rotate between ESPN and FOX.

And yes, the numbers here are still obscene. They dwarf the NHL and are pretty close to...if not are better than the NBA and Major League Baseball deals...

----------------ORIGINAL STORY------------------

The TV rights thing for college sports...is officially crossed into obscene territory.

According to multiple reports, the Pac 12 (former Pac 10) has gotten their TV deal. And it's for a lot of money. Several billion worth of a lot of money. About $2.7 billion to be more specific.

That works out to $225 million a year or about $19 million for each school. (No, I'm not that good at math, I can read stories and punch numbers into a calculator though)

And...get this. Fox and ESPN are sharing the rights.

We don't know exactly how that will play out yet. Partially because commissioner Larry Scott hasn't laid out the details of the deal yet. But we do know that this is the biggest rights deal in College Football history. Bar none. And it scares us to think that the SEC is now being dwarfed by this.

The Pac 12/10 is currently meeting in Phoenix and an announcement is scheduled sometime today. We'll update the details of this story then.

Ist Round Draft Review: Craziness and...(yawn!)

Well, we can't say this years version of the NFL Draft (according to the Jolly Roger--possibly the last draft ever), was too dull. It was more a problem with the broadcast I was forced to watch due to having Time Warner Cable (no NFL Network).

There were certainly some surprises (Atlanta Falcons) and some head scratchers (Minnesota Vikings) and despite their being an alleged moratorium on transactions, quite a few trades.

With that in mind let's look and see how things went and offer our opinion (for what its worth--we don't claim to be experts):

First--The Broadcast: As we mentioned earlier, due to our cable company, we were forced to watch our friends at the 4-letter (ESPN). It wasn't good. From the blowhard inaneness of Chris Berman to the happy gushings of Jon Gruden and Mel Kiper's hair, it wasn't fun. Sure, technically it was great, there productions always are.

But we have a hard time digesting Berman at pretty much anything. His act and hipness went away in the early '90's, yet he gets carted out for all the high profile events. Time to change. There are plenty of guys (see: Tirico, Mike) who are much better suited to carry/shepherd this type of coverage.

As for Gruden, we love him on games and enjoy the pre-draft stuff with the QB's, but was there a player he didn't gush and rave about last night? Did anyone make a bad pick in his eyes? Well, at least when he remembered which team was picking anyway. We won't get into Kiper, we've never understood the fascination with him and probably never will.

THE DRAFT:


1. Carolina: Cam Newton QB. We get this and don't dispute it. It's a total "All-in" scenario. Newton could be a star with the right people around him, we just wonder if the Panthers are that team. He's going to have to learn awfully fast. Grade: A-

2. Denver: Von Miller LB. A no-brainer. At least he should be. If he plays half as well as he tested in workouts, he'll be a beast. And right now there is no "D" in Denver. Grade: A

3. Buffalo: Marcel Darius DT. The supposed best D-line guy out there. At times dominated while at Alabama. Again, a need pick by the Bills who many thought might draft a QB. Can you say "Smokescreen?". Grade: B+

4. Cincinnati: A.J Green WR. We are pretty sure this is another no-brainer. We covered Green, we've spoken to him. We know him. He should be a star...if the Bengals can find someone to get the ball to him. All the hype about him being a freak...is true. Grade: A

5. Arizona: Patrick Peterson CB. Another freak. Some questioned this pick based on need, but if Peterson is as good as he was at LSU, he'll make a great pro. Grade: B

6. Atlanta: Via Trade w/Cleveland. Julio Jones WR. Possibly the best athlete in the draft. Not so sure about football player though.  The Falcons gave up a lot to get him as a compliment to Roddy White. He better be good...and healthy. Grade: B-

7. San Francisco: Aldon Smith DE. There were a lot of better players out there for a team with a lot of holes. Smith underachieved in College, though the 'Niners do need defensive help. Grade: C

8. Tennessee: Jake Locker QB. Good, not great QB. Offensive Coordinator Chris Palmer apparently swore by Locker which is why he went here. Not convinced he's a franchise QB, but I don't think any of this years QB's with the possible exception of Newton are. Grade: C-


9. Dallas: Tyron Smith OT. We guess they felt they needed line help. They project Smith as a LT, even though he wasn't an LT at USC. Lots of needs for Cowboys, particularly on D. Not a horrible pick, but a question mark. Grade: C


10. Jacksonville: Blaine Gabbert QB. Another question mark. We don't think Gabbert will be nearly as good as most everyone else does. He wasn't at Missouri. David Garrard isn't great, but Gabbert isn't an upgrade. The Jags need "D" help...badly and Gabbert doesn't play "D". Grade: D


11. Houston: J.J Watt DE. There were better defensive guys out there, but we guess the Texans liked the work ethic. Yeah, they need defensive help, badly. This is a "Jury still out" pick. Grade: C+


12. Minnesota: Christian Ponder QB. Huh? We say that, but we also think he's a better prospect than Gabbert, if he stays healthy. We know the Vikes need a QB after selling their soul for Brett Favre the past 2 years. Maybe they know something nobody else does. Grade: C


13. Detroit: Nick Fairley DT. Yikes! How'd he fall this far? Fairley and Ndamukong Suh on the same front. Scary. Really scary. We like this pick. A lot. Grade: A


14. St.Louis: Robert Quinn DE. Not a bad choice here. The Rams D was pretty good, they should be better with Quinn, a guy who had to sit out last year because of contact with an agent. Grade: B


15. Miami: Michael Pouncey G/C. Not sure about this one either. Was less impressed by the "Other" Pouncey twin. He really struggled replacing his brother at Center last year at UF. Though we do realize the 'Fins need "O" line help. Grade: B-


16. Washington: Ryan Kerrigan DE. They traded down to get this pick. And yes, they need help just about everywhere so a DE makes some sense. Kerrigan was really productive in college. And they got an extra pick by trading down too. Not bad. Grade: B+


17. New England: Nate Solder OT. A need pick in some respects because we think Belichick wants to rebuild the "O" line despite them being really good last year. They needed some defense help though, which makes this a bit of a question. Grade: C+


18. San Diego: Cory Liuget DE. Hmmmm. The Chargers had a pretty good "D" line last year. There were some better players available. We don't get this, but we don't have to. Grade: C-


19. NY Giants: Prince Amukamara CB. Wonder how shocked they were to see the Prince sitting here at this pick? You can never have enough "D" and the Giants didn't have a huge, glaring need. Grade: B


20. Tampa Bay: Adrian Clayborn DE. They are going to be really good, really soon. They needed a stout "D" lineman and got one with Clayborn. Grade: A-


21. Cleveland: Phil Taylor DT. They traded down with Atlanta and got this and 4 other picks for it. Taylor will help on D, but that isn't where the Browns need help. We'll see what else they have in store, jury is out on this one. Grade: B-


22. Indianapolis: Anthony Castonzo OT. A need pick. The aging "O" line showed some cracks last season and for the Colts its all about protecting Peyton. They need "D" as well, but you can't argue with this pick. Grade: B


23. Philadelphia: Danny Watkins OL. Interesting. Not so sure about this one. The Eagles had some other needs they could have addressed here. Grade: C+


24. New Orleans: Cameron Jordan DE. A need because they had pass rush issues last year. In light of what they did 4 picks later, not a bad move. Grade: B


25. Seattle: James Carpenter T: Hmmm. Don't get this one. Seahawks do need help on this side of the ball, but there were better picks here for a team with holes. Grade: C


26. Kansas City: Jonathan Baldwin WR. Good pick. They need a playmaker to compliment Dwayne Bowe and Jamaal Charles. This is another up and coming team. Grade: B


27. Baltimore: Jimmy Smith CB. OK. We don't know how he climbed the draft boards, but he did. This is a need area for the Ravens. There were some other needs they could have filled here though. Grade: B-


28. New Orleans: Mark Ingram RB. Lucky bastards. Thought he would've been gone by this pick. Emmitt Smith clone who should solve the Saints RB issue for years to come. Grade: A+


29. Chicago: Gabe Carimi OT. A good need pick...maybe. Wisconsin players don't seem to excel in the pros. But the Bears need help at this position. Grade: B+


30. New York Jets: Muhammed Wilkierson DT. Good pick for this team. The Jets are going to be real, real physical and this guy will help that. Grade: B

31. Pittsburgh: Cameron Heyward DE. Again a good pick for this system. Great athlete who should fit in really well in Dick LeBeau's defense. Yikes. Grade: A-

32. Green Bay: Derrick Sherrod OT. A need pick because the Pack struggled running the ball. Not much to say, but the Pack did what they needed to in this slot. Grade: B+

Your NFL Strike Update: TV Makes Plans (Rich vs. Rich--Day 15)

Arthur Blank, Roger Goodell and others/Courtesy: d.orlando ledbetter-ajc.com

It's Monday, so it's time for our weekly series known as the Battle of the really, really rich or what they prefer to call it: The NFL Lockout.

In today's episode, we hear from the TV Networks who are trying to cover their collective hiney's in case they don't have NFL Football as a programming option this fall. Oh, advertisers are making plans as well.

CBS, FOX, NBC and ESPN are all sweating a bit heavily these days for fear their "Golden Goose" will not be laying any eggs.

Some cable networks are already contemplating alternate programming. Fox, at least has baseball until November, but none have any programming to fill gaps after that.

Read more from the Wall Street Journal RIGHT HERE

One other tidbit. The owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blank decided to chime in yesterday. Why? We don't know.

Blank, who is a genuinely good person who means well, sometimes wades into or does things he probably shouldn't. And in this case, he shouldn't have. He again states the leagues case that "The NFLPA walked away from a deal that was more than fair." 


We give you a link to that letter courtesy of the Falcons website RIGHT HERE

While we have the utmost respect for Mr. Blank, having dealt with him for years, in this case--just stop. Please don't pander to the fans.

Our friends at ProFootballTalk provide a good summary of where we are and where we are going RIGHT HERE

Among the interesting points brought out here, the April 6th "Class Action" lawsuit is probably the next time anything significant happens here.

The other notable development is a "Grass Roots" push to have the players and owners meet, sans attorney's.

As for the players, they really don't have much to add either. Again, there has been more rhetoric, talking about the league not being willing to talk. Quite honestly, nothing new with these guys.

--Sigh-- We pretty much are resigned to the fact this is going to get resolved in a courtroom. We still think this is quite possibly the stupidest argument in the history of Sports. As much as we'd like to think one side is right and honorable and doing the right thing, we fully realize---they aren't.

It's going to be incredibly tough for 2 egotistical, narcissistic groups to sit in the same room and agree on anything. We realize that. We just hope that both sides stop trying to convince the fans that they are on the fans side. They aren't.

In the meantime, because we laugh at the thought of a strike with Replacement players, we give you the real Replacements:

An Anchor, His Analyst, And A Cell Phone

That was NOT on vibrate...

The HQ guesses the P90X that Gottlieb has been doing has gotten to his head...
((HT: ESPN/DuaneLongReport1/ABC15 Phoenix))


The HQ also thinks David Lloyd had the right idea...

The 4-Letter's Mike Patrick Has NC State Wolfpack Fans Howling

Wednesday night during a forgettable NIT broadcast on the 4-letter, the subject of job openings in men's college basketball. Mike Patrick and his analyst Dan Dakich discussed. Then Patrick gave an opinion of the ACC openings that NC State fans took offense to.

Judge for yourself. (Thanks Youtube.com)



Those of us at the OSG HQ give Mike Patrick the benefit of the doubt as a tough-n-cheek comment that was meant to include Georgia Tech. Yellow Jacket fans aren't raising hell but Wolfpack fans are showing their fangs. How dare Mike Patrick disrespect NC State like that.

NC State is in a tough situation in men's basketball but not an impossible one. Last I checked their are two NCAA Championship banners hanging from the RBC Center.

Chalk this up as "if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all."

Photo Courtesy: ESPN

Phil Simms doesn't appear to like Desmond Howard

Phil Simms/courtesy: tvguide.com

And in fact, Mr. Simms, the elder, threatened to hit Howard, a college football analyst for ESPN. Simms, CBS's NFL analyst was ticked off at Howard for criticizing his son Matt on the air.

Seriously. According to Howard's Twitter account, police had to step in. Simms however, denied that part of it, though didn't deny the two had a heated coversation.

Desmond Howard/courtesy: daylife.com

For his part, Simms denies the threats of violence, but doesn't deny getting pissed off...or that the two argued.

More from DallasNews.com RIGHT HERE

Richard Dietsch of SI.com got a Simms's statement in a CBS Press release:

"Desmond and I were having a private conversation that became heated. But at no time was there ever a chance of any physical confrontation, or that I felt the police officer assigned to me by the event planners for my appearance needed to separate the two of us."


While we try and stifle our laughter over this boys-will-be boys issue, it does raise a few questions. Friend of OSG Sports Gil Tyree often talks on his radio show, SportsTalk at the PositivePub (Mondays at 1pm www.voicamericasports.com--We are guests on the show), about analysts being critical of kids not realizing the implications of their statements. In this case, we think, Simms is a rather pissed off dad.

It's not like they'd do this....would they?

Dana Jacobson Pays Her OSU-Michigan Debt

((HT: ESPN))

Every year, "First Take" anchors Jay Crawford ((the tOSU alum)) and Jacobson ((the Michigan alum)) have a running bet on their football game.

Jacobson lost... again...
And had to pay up...

Ron Franklin Sues ESPN For Wrongful Termination

((HT: TheYoungTurks))

Former ESPN announcer Ron Franklin has sued the network over his firing in the Jeannine Edwards incident in Atlanta during Chick-Fil-A bowl week.

The wrongful termination lawsuit filed in Texas state district court claims ESPN had no grounds for dismissing him. The suit says Franklin exchanged "contentious words" with a colleague who repeatedly interrupted a private conversation before the pair worked at the Chick-fil-A Bowl without incident.

Sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards has said Franklin called her "sweet baby" and chased that with an "Alpha-Hotel" proper noun when she reportedly didn't like the first predicate noun Franklin used. Franklin apologized, was pulled off the Fiesta Bowl and then fired.

An ESPN spokesman ((probably Josh Krulewicz)) said the network "is confident that the action we took was appropriate."

Franklin had worked for ESPN since 1987.

Here's the Young Turks discussion on the firing in the first place...


The HQ remembers that Franklin apologized to the network, but not to Edwards directly... part of the reason he got fired...

And the HQ doesn't see how this will work in Franklin's behalf...
At all...

Texas + ESPN= Crapload of $$$$$$$$$$

The University of Texas has reached a 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN for the long-thought-about "Longhorn Sports Network"- like television network.

A news conference to formally announce the contract was scheduled for this afternoon. University spokesman Don Hale was able to confirm the contract details and dollars.

The deal includes Texas' licensing and marketing partner IMG, with more than 80 percent of revenue set to go to the university.

George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN Inc. and ABC Sports, called the network in a standard release "a testament to the school's remarkable, tradition-rich success and widespread, devoted fan base."

Here's coverage from our friends at KXAN-TV in Austin...

Texas reaches 20-year, $300M ESPN deal: kxan.com