NBC Runs A Different Pledge Of Allegiance...

((HT: Golf Channel on NBC/USGA/youtube))

There are a few things you really shouldn't do as part of a patriotic broadcast element that's your open for the last round of a golf major...

Like leave out words from the Pledge of Allegiance...

Twice...


Dan Hicks got to read the following on-air apology...
"It was our intent to begin our coverage of this U.S. Open championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being here in our nation's capital for the third time. Regrettably, a portion of the pledge of allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it."

Broadcast fail... and the HQ wonders what, if anything, will happen to the producer that let this fly...

More if there's more...

BREAKING: NBC Gets A New Four-Five Ringed Circus Deal

NBC/Universal has come out on top for the next four open winter and summer competitions defeating both ESPN and Fox for the bids on Sochi, Rio, 2018, and 2020...

"I think we had a compelling presentation and we hope they felt the same way. The rest is business," longtime Olympics NBC host Bob Costas said after the Comcast/NBCU presentation earlier in the day to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Bob Fernandez in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The other two networks thought that the absence of Dick Ebersol may hurt the Peacock's bid, but it didn't in the long run...

From Brian D Fischer's Twitter feed...

So NBC/Comcast will pay $6 billion for the Olympics over 10 years (2010-20). By comparison, NFL was supposed to get $4billion in 2011 alone.

ESPN just sent out one of those congratulatory e-mails:
From The Big Lead...

“We made a disciplined bid that would have brought tremendous value to the Olympics and would have been profitable for our company. To go any further would not have made good business sense for us. We wish to congratulate the IOC on a fair and transparent process, and we offer our best wishes to Comcast/NBC. We put our best foot forward with a compelling offer that included the enthusiastic participation of all of The Walt Disney Company’s considerable assets.”

NBC Sports Chief Dick Ebersol Resigns

[HT: AP, Sports Business Daily]

Chalk this up as really bad timing. The next round of Olympic negotiations is set to begin and the top executive of the "Network of the Olympics" has stepped down.

NBC Sports Group Chairman Dick Ebersol resigned from the peacock network. International Olympic Committee executive board member Richard Carrior, who negotiates the U.S. television rights, said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts confirmed that.

The Associated Press citing a person with knowledge that what caused Ebersol's resignation was a contract dispute.

Here's Richard Sandomir and Bill Carter's New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/sports/dick-ebersol-resigns-from-nbc-sports.html?_r=1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nyt%2Frss%2FSports+%28NYT+%3E+Sports%29&utm_content=Twitter&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimessports

The Olympic auction for U.S. television rights begins next week with NBC, ESPN/ABC and Fox expected to compete. Could the Olympic Rings be on the verge of leaving the peacock network?

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:

PFT + Peacock= ????????

((HT: Florio))

Mainstreaming, probably...

Interesting, definitely...

Florio is going in to a partnership with the Peacock...

Here's his release...

My original plan for Sunday night was to: (1) procrastinate writing my SportingNews.com column for a couple of hours; (2) fill in some of the procrastination time by playing a little NHL ‘09; (3) eventually bang out the column with a mail-it-in-mindset (they actually turn out better that way); and (4) after finishing the thing up, think about how to handle Monday’s announcement that PFT will be partnering with NBC.

But then the cat has wiggled its way out of the bag sooner than expected. Our pal Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times broke the news earlier tonight. NBC has in turn ‘fessed up to the collaboration

So we figure we should probably acknowledge it right here.
Drum roll, please.
We’ll soon be entering into a wide-ranging partnership with the Peacock people.
So will anything change? No, nothing will change.
Let me repeat that. Nothing will change.

If you still don’t believe me, here’s how NBC Sports & Olympics Chairman Dick Ebersol explained it to Farmer: “The sites that are most successful are the ones that have the most unique voices, and I think Mike definitely has one of the most unique voices,” Ebersol said. “I can’t think of another pro football website that has the unique following in such large numbers that Mike does. I’d be a fool if I tried to change that.”

Actually, that’s not completely accurate. Some things will change. But the content, the tone, the attitude, the subject matter, and the overall philosophy of the site will not change — in the short term or in the long term.

The changes will be, in our view, improvements. For one, the “Suitable Nodes” will be forever banished from PFT Planet.

And, frankly, that was one of the major factors for us. The feeling of helplessness and abject despair that arose when the site froze up on the first day of free agency caused us to commence aggressive efforts to find a permanent solution to the technical challenges created by an ongoing crush of new traffic. The best solution was to partner with an established media company — and of the various possible partners NBC provided the perfect fit.

Also, the appearance of the site will be tweaked a bit, preserving its present look and feel while adopting a slightly more mainstream layout. (Cue the “change it back, you bastard” e-mails.)

Finally, for those of you who complain that we have too many ads on the page, the PFT-on-NBC project will feature only two total ad units per page

As of this posting, the Rumor Mill has a whopping fourteen ad units.

Of course, we’ll now be getting complaints from the folks who prefer more ads.
And we’ve learned over the years that, no matter what we do, someone will complain. Most of the complainers will adapt to the changes, especially if the changes are made with good intentions and if the content doesn’t change.

So some of you likely are still asking, “Will the content change?”

One more time: No, it won’t.

((And then he posts a segment from "The Office" where the "Did I stutter?" quote came up in a meeting...))

Those of us at OSG HQ wish Florio the best and hope it's financially worth it for the former lawyer-turned blog artiste...

We just hope he doesn't bang his head against the wall from a lot of back seat driving from 30 Rock...

Dungy, Harrison Join The Peacock

Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison's Super Bowl TV auditions during NBC's Super Bowl coverage this past February paid off. Both will getting full time gigs on the Peacock's Football Night In America Sunday Night pre game show. The NBC television network announced both would join the show.

Of course that means also that the Bus is leaving the show. Jerome Bettis confirmed Tuesday he would not be returning to the show.

On a media call Wednesday, Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports and Executive Producer, “NBC Sunday Night Football" said.

“Over the past few years I’ve enjoyed getting to know Tony through numerous production meetings and his work on our Super Bowl coverage, and have been impressed by the way he handled himself not only as a coach and communicator but more so as a human being What I learned is that in addition to his obvious Super Bowl credentials, Tony is a gifted storyteller. That was confirmed by his outstanding work on our Super Bowl studio show."

“Rodney is someone we’ve had our eye on. He is a strong communicator and personality, and our initial thoughts about him were confirmed when he did a terrific job for us at the Super Bowl. We have no doubt that Rodney will be as hard-hitting with his opinions as he was with his body on the football field."

“To paraphrase one of his teammates, ‘Rodney was born for the camera.’”

Those of us at the OSG HQ like the moves. The "Bus" sputtered way to often and was in over his head with Chris Collinsworth and Tiki Barber. Dungy is solid and Harrison wasn't bad either. All Football Night In America needs is a Don Cherry type and no Keith Olbermann doesn't qualify.



Photo Courtesy: NBC Sports.com