Shooting from the Lip/Monday edition

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Worst idea
Once upon a time, the NFL preseason was no big deal. You had the first game -- the Hall of Fame Game -- and maybe a nationally televised game here and there. Fans got to watch the hometown team play its four games, and that was about it. By the time the regular season rolled around, you had had just enough of the appetizer to leave you hungry for the regular season.

These days it seems like you've already had a hearty main course before the real season starts. By the end of the preseason, ESPN will have shown four games. Fox will have shown three. NBC and CBS will have shown two each. That's 11 games, plus three additional Bucs games shown locally, making 14 games that have been available to local fans. The list doesn't include a slew of games available to those who get the NFL Network.

That's too many. You could simply change the channel, but you have to question whether the NFL is oversaturating the market and lessening enthusiasm for the start of the regular season. TV ratings in the preseason and regular season suggest other­wise. Put football on TV in August or December and any time between, and people watch. Still, wouldn't it be nice if the networks didn't show so many games that don't count so we could save our fervor for the ones that do?

Best idea
Last week, Sports Illustrated declared its issue "Brett Favre-free.'' The magazine put sprinter Usain Bolt on the cover, but in the upper-left corner was a purple and yellow No. 4 with a line through it. Inside, the magazine wrote a short story about the battle for the Vikings’ backup quarterback job but did not mention Favre. It was a funny idea even if it was a little dig at the national media, including one of its own. Sports Illustrated senior NFL writer Peter King supposedly has a close working relationship with Favre.

Speaking of Favre, many are now pointing out that Fox has hit the jackpot in the past few weeks with two of the more intriguing names in the game -- Favre and Eagles quarterback Michael Vick -- joining NFC teams. Fox shows NFC games, and the two QBs could give the network a ratings boost.

Biggest complaint
Former Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson is no stranger to controversy, and Reggie, apparently, believes controversy has no statute of limitations. He went on a Miami radio station last week to complain about the ESPN movie about the Yankees' 1977 season, The Bronx Is Burning, which came out two years ago.
Jackson said he was never consulted by the filmmakers and that much of the film was a lie. He added that he considered suing ESPN.

"It was the most embarrassing portrayal I've ever had in my life,'' Jackson said. "I was humiliated. Um, sickening. I can't think of any more. … I can't, I can't respond. I was sick to my stomach.''

Best Q&A
Gators quarterback Tim Tebow gave a rather lengthy Q&A to the New York Times last week. (You can read the entire interview here.) He discussed topics including football and his decision to return to Florida (credited in part to Patriots coach Bill Belichik, who convinced him to do what he wanted to do), but the most interesting exchange revealed that Tebow won't exactly be burning the midnight oil in the library in the fall. Check it out:
Q. How close are you to graduation?
A. I'm going to graduate in December.
Q. A light semester coming up, I assume?
A. Yeah.
Q. Ballroom dancing, like Matt Leinart?
A. (laughs) Easier.
Q. What do you have?
A. I guess the class that I would have is senior seminar. It's one hour and one credit. It's on Tuesday afternoons, and we have practice. I'm going to work around that with the professors. I'm going to do whatever my counselor sets up. I'm a football player this semester.
Q. The year that Matt Ryan, Colt Brennan and Dennis Dixon were seniors, all of them barely took classes. I realized what an advantage that is.
A. I'm really looking forward to that. I'll be in here just like a coach. I'll be in every game-plan meeting. I love that. I love being around everything.
Q. What's your GPA?
A. 3.72 in family, youth and community Service.

Best quote
Speaking of Florida's Tim Tebow, add New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica to the list of those who worship at the Church of Tebow and the Gators. On Sunday's Sports Reporters, Lupica called Tebow among the greatest players in college football history.

"With all due respect to (Oklahoma QB) Sam Bradford and (Texas QB) Colt McCoy,'' Lupica said, "there have been a lot of Sam Bradfords and Colt McCoys. There has never been anybody … like Tebow.''

Lupica wasn't done.

"I think that they can win again,'' Lupica said of Florida. "I think Florida has the best football coach, either pro or college, working today in Urban Meyer. If they win three (national titles) in four years, they take their place with the greatest teams ever.''

Best guest
Starting Tuesday, ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale will begin a regular weekly appearance on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning. The show can be heard locally on 1040-AM and seen on either ESPN2 or ESPNews from 6 to  10 a.m. Vitale is scheduled to be on around 7:30. Vitale was recently chosen to be honored at the first John Wooden Pyramid of Success Awards, which celebrate athletes, executives, community leaders and others who make significant differences in their communities. The honorees also include Celtics forward Paul Pierce, McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner and the late Rod Smith, who founded an NCAA-sanctioned summer amateur basketball league in Southern California. The awards banquet is Sept. 12 in Los Angeles.

Three best things on TV over the weekend
1. The debut of the four-part HBO boxing series 24/7, which is counting down to the Sept. 19 fight between Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez. The first episode featured this classic line from the 39-0 Mayweather: "All 39 had a game plan. All 39 came up short.''’
2. CBS's coverage of the Barclays golf tournament. Tiger Woods being in the running helped, but CBS didn't turn the broadcast into the "Tiger Woods Show,'' something that would’ve been easy to do and something that would've ruined the broadcast seeing as how Heath Slocum won.
3. CBS's coverage of Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the U.S. Open. The highlight was a highly entertaining skills competition for charity that included Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and actor Will Ferrell.

Changes at Football Night in America

NBC's Football Night in America, the show before the Sunday night game, will have a major change this season. Host Bob Costas is moving out of the New York studio and going on location to the game of the week. In a conference call with national media, NBC Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol said the plan is to allow game announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth to join Costas in a discussion that will include "big news of the week, the news of the day, and if there are other major developments in the world of sports -- I stress major -- they'll get into that.''

With the show coming almost entirely from the studio in the past, some of the focus on the Sunday night game was lost. That should change with Costas on location.

"I think it's obvious that when you're at the scene of an event, you get a whole different feel,'' Costas said. "You get to be part of the atmosphere. You're talking about a specific event. And it isn't just any game; it is always one of the biggest and very often the obvious biggest marquee game of that particular Sunday.''

The rest of the show, which will include Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Peter King and new additions Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison, still will come from the New York studio and include highlights from earlier games. Ebersol said highlights and news of the day will be a large focus of the show. The goal, it seems, is a better mix of covering what has happened and getting fans ready for what is about to happen.

"I think it's going to do tremendous things for the studio,'' Collinsworth said of Costas going on location. "We’ll handle a lot of the preliminary news of the day at the game site. It will allow the studio to really focus in on what happened that day in the games, because certainly that is enough of a challenge. I really like the changes. I think this is going to make the entire broadcast from 7 p.m. until midnight streamlined and efficient and a lot of fun to be a part of.''

Live chat with Tom Jones

Tom Jones talked about the Bucs, the Rays and even Little League during a live chat. Read the complete transcript here.

Shooting from the Lip/Monday edition

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Bucs coverage
If any of you were worried about the Bucs this season, Ch. 8's pregame show Saturday put those fears to rest. After watching it, we should all be convinced that Byron Leftwich is going to be great, Michael Clayton is going to stay healthy and catch 80 passes, and the team is going to be just fine.

As far as the broadcast of the game against the Jaguars, Chris Myers and John Lynch were a bit better than in the Titans game the previous week, though Myers promoted quarterbacks coach Greg Olson to offensive coordinator at the end of the game, something that might have come as a surprise to Jeff Jagodzinski, the actual coordinator. When Lynch doesn't rush through his thoughts, he offers astute analysis and should be a good addition to Fox's broadcasts this season. His best moment was to point out that the Bucs might have been wise to play second-string defensive backs with the first unit seeing as how starter Tanard Jackson is suspended for the regular season's first four games and starter Aqib Talib could be suspended.

The only nit was that the broadcast occasionally lost focus, letting the paint-by-numbers production get in the way of covering the game. Example: On Jacksonville's last drive, the Bucs were called for a critical roughing-the-passer penalty. Instead of showing the replay of that, viewers had to sit through the "KFC highlight of the game'' or some such thing, which was Josh Freeman's TD run in the third quarter. Only after Myers -- who knew what fans at home were screaming at the screen -- said something about wanting to see the replay of the roughing call did the production team show it.

Best call
During Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game on Fox, analyst Tim McCarver jumped on New York pitcher A.J. Burnett for not concentrating on the batter and worrying about Boston's Dustin Pedroia, who was on second base with two outs, by faking a pickoff throw. "Where’s Dustin Pedroia going?'' McCarver said disgustedly.

Next pitch: Kevin Youkilis hit a three-run homer.

Worst use of a reporter
The Rays-Rangers game Saturday was delayed briefly in the bottom of the ninth when Rangers leftfielder Marlon Byrd, who had homered just minutes earlier to tie the score, complained about some sort of harassment from the stands. The umpires even gathered with security and pointed at the crowd. Why wasn't Rays sideline reporter Todd Kalas dispatched to find out what was going on? What's the point of having such a reporter if he's not going to be used to check out such things? It's puzzling how little the Rays television broadcasts use Kalas. They might go innings without checking in with him.

Best coverage
You could take two kids playing Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and I'll watch it if it's on HBO's Boxing After Dark, which remains the most compelling sports-event coverage on television. No coverage offers more access or better analysis. Saturday night's broadcast crew was Bob Papa, Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis, and they had their usual outstanding night. The best moments came after the main event, when Paulie Malignaggi, who had lost a controversial decision to Juan Diaz, exploded with an uncensored tirade that only a cable network such as HBO could show. Kellerman handled it brilliantly, allowing Malignaggi to vent and then later explaining why Diaz won, even though Kellerman agreed Malignaggi got a raw deal.

The coverage also offered the best line of the weekend. Midway through the fight, Malignaggi's trunks started to fall off, and Papa said, "Boxing After Dark … and the moon is coming out.''

Most controversial moment
ESPN's Buck Showalter didn't make any friends in these parts on Saturday's Baseball Tonight. Showalter has a plan to revamp the major-league schedule so division opponents aren't playing each other so many times. Showalter's plan is to make the majors one big league. Every team plays each other six times -- three at home, three on the road. And there are four seven-team divisions. But to make it work, two teams would have to be eliminated. For his exercise, Showalter decided the teams to kill would be the Rays and Marlins.

"They have spring training anyway,'' Showalter said. Ouch.

Best and worst week
It was a strong weekend of features on ESPN, highlighted by Outside the Lines' piece Sunday on the 20th anniversary of Pete Rose's ban from baseball for gambling, Rachel Nichols' Sunday Conversation with LeBron James and a Jemele Hill SportsCenter piece on former Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 draft who is out of football because of injuries and a drug problem. Hill, did a masterful job drawing out Rogers during the interview.

It was a good comeback by Hill, whose week didn't start off well. On ESPN2's First Take, while talking about Brett Favre, Hill suggested Packers fans give him the "Duracell treatment,'' meaning they should throw batteries at Favre when he returns to Lambeau Field with the Vikings this season. Moments later she said, "I was just saying the battery thing tongue in cheek. I was just kidding about that. I don't want them to beat up Brett Favre.''

Of course, she was kidding. Still, she has to know better than to even joke about that. That's just another example of how broadcasters can get in trouble when trying to be funny or cute. Hill doesn't need to say things like that. She's not like Skip Bayless or those shouting heads on Around the Horn, who seem to think that the louder they talk and the more outrageous they are, the more right they are. Hill makes interesting, intelligent points and is one of the network's most watchable personalities without doing schtick.

Most disgusting coverage
I refuse to watch ESPN/ABC's Little League World Series coverage. No one can convince me that putting 12-year-old kids on television in pressure-packed games is a good idea. For every winning team and home-run hero is a losing team and the pitcher who gave up that home run. They're just kids.

What's even more disgusting is listening to the announcers talk about how pure this all is, how this is what sports is all about, kids playing the game for the joy of it. If it is pure and how the game is meant to be, it wouldn't involve television cameras and postgame interviews.

Three things I'm tired of
1. Jim Rice. He criticizes the modern-day player even though he was considered one of the biggest horse's rears when he played.
2. Preseason NFL games. We're only halfway done?
3. Shaving cream pies. Enough, already!

Former Buc John Lynch officially joins Fox

John Lynch, the former Bucs safety and nine-time Pro Bowler, officially joined Fox's broadcasting team for the 2009 NFL season. Lynch called two games for Fox last season and it was expected he would return on a full-time basis this season. Fox made the official announcement Monday morning.

Lynch, who played for the Bucs from 1993 to 2003 and the Broncos from 2004 to 2007, will be teamed with play-by-play announcer Ron Pitts. His first regular-season game will be Sept. 13 when the Seahawks host the Rams. Lynch is calling preseason games for the Bucs.

Fox also announced the addition of two other game analysts to their broadcasts -- former NFL quarterback Trent Green and Charles Davis, who previously called college bowl games for Fox.

Here are Fox's pairings for the 2009 season:

* Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver
* Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
* Dick Stockton, Charles Davis
* Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick
* Sam Rosen, Tim Ryan
* Ron Pitts, John Lynch

Fox announced that the team of Albert, Johnston and Siragusa will call the Bucs' regular-season opener when they host the Cowboys on Sept. 13.

Analysts from last season who were not included in Fox's release for the 2009 pairings including Brian Baldinger, J.C. Pearson and Tony Boselli.

The Sunday pregame show -- Fox NFL Sunday -- will have the same crew with host Curt Menefee, analysts Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan, insider Jay Glazer and comedic prognosticator Frank Caliendo.

Q&A with Rays announcer Dewayne Staats on calling a no-hitter

On July 23, Rays television announcer Dewayne Staats called Mark Buehrle's perfect game against the Rays. On Sunday, he called the game in which the Rays' James Shields carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning before it was broken up. Being the Rays announcer, he followed the baseball tradition of not saying the actual word "no-hitter'' during Shields' bid. He did, however, use the words "perfect game'' during Buehrle's attempt. On Monday, Staats talked about the proper protocol for calling a no-hitter.

How many no-hitters have you called?
Five. I called Ken Forsch's no-hitter (in 1979) and Nolan Ryan's record-breaking fifth (in 1981). Both of those were at the Astrodome when I called games for Houston. Then I called Jim Abbott's (in 1993) when I was with the Yankees. Then Derek Lowe's against the Rays (in 2002) and then Buehrle's. And I've called a lot of close calls.

What's it like?
It's fun to paint the picture in every way you can short of saying, "He has a no-hitter.''

So your policy is not to say "no-hitter'' if it's a pitcher for the team you broadcast?
Yes. I won't mention it when it's the team I call. Baseball is full of superstitions. I don't necessarily take them seriously, but it is fun to play with and it's part of the culture of the game. So I'll play with that.

Have you ever accidently jinxed it by saying someone had a "no-hitter?''
I haven't. But Gene Elston (Staats'  former partner in Houston) was not a real superstitious guy that way. And he would reference it. But it's a long-standing tradition that you don't. Then it becomes a fun game when you say, "There have been five hits in the game and the Rays have them all.'' Or you say, "The Royals have had three baserunners and they all came on walks'' and things like that. I try to periodically say things like that. I try to recount it just to try to give people notice. When (former Rays pitcher) Tony Saunders had a no-hitter in the seventh, I remember I said, "Hey, you might want to call your friends because there's something special going on.'' But I never said, "no-hitter.''

In the Buehrle game, you did say he had a "perfect game.''
I did mention a couple of times and that's the license that a local guy has. I like Buehrle. He's one of the good guys. But, hey, there's no secret that most people who tune into our games would prefer to see the Rays win. And me included. I think I have to have credibility so I'll try to maintain that. But I still want to see the Rays win. So if I can bring whatever "power'' there are to break it up, I'll do it (laughs).

How did you feel as that game went along and Buehrle was getting closer?
I will admit that I was rooting for him, especially in the ninth. The White Sox were way ahead. You don't want to see your team lose, but it's pretty special, especially when you're talking about a perfect game.

Do you start thinking ahead on what you're going to say if a guy gets a no-hitter?
That thought will occur to you. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to think of anything, but I just let it come. The moment kind of dictates it. With Buehrle, I just wanted to get out of the way and let the moment soak in visually. At some point I made the reference that "Buehrle is one of the good guys and today he's the best.'' That just came to me. And he is a good guy and he really was the best that day. I'm always concerned that if you think about something you're going to say, you're probably going to mess it up.

Shooting from the Lip/Aug. 3

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Most interesting coverage
The last two innings of Sunday's Rays game wasn't much fun for Tampa Bay fans, but it was pleasing to listen to Rays TV announcers Dewayne Staats and Kevin Kennedy call James Shields' bid for a no-hitter. Staats, following baseball’s long-standing tradition, never used the word "no-hitter,'' instead saying things like, "there have been five hits in the game, all by the Rays'' and "there's something special going on.''

When Kansas City's John Buck broke up the no-hitter with a blooper to right to lead off the eighth, Kennedy did exactly what a good analyst does -- he got inside the mind of the fan sitting at home. Most probably wondered if rightfielder Gabe Gross should have dived in hopes of keeping Shields' no-hitter alive. But Kennedy pointed out it was a 0-0 game in the heat of a pennant race. If Gross had dived and missed, Buck would've had at least a triple. "Gabe made the right play,'' Kennedy said.

Staats and Kennedy got even better as the inning went on and the Rays imploded. Both were quick to criticize awful defensive plays by catcher Dioner Navarro and shortstop Jason Bartlett. And they did it without excuses or sugar-coating.

Best feature
HBO Sports' Assault in the Ring, which made its debut Saturday night, is sobering, disturbing, heartbreaking and, at the same time, brilliantly written, directed and produced. Boxing agent-turned-film maker Eric Drath's 90-minute documentary looks back at a 1983 boxing match between down-and-out fighter Luis Resto and up-and-comer Billy Collins, Jr. and its aftermath. Resto gave Collins a savage beating as he won an unanimous decision, but it was later discovered that much of the padding in Resto's gloves had been removed. Within a few years, Resto and his trainer were in prison and Collins was dead from a car accident that some believe was really a suicide.

There are several twists, turns and surprises along the way as Drath goes on a journey to discover what happened that night and who was responsible. To list the plot twists here would be to spoil the viewing experience. So I'll say just this as strong as I can: watch this documentary. It is on throughout the month.

Best analyst
Mentioning Fox baseball analyst Eric Karros is becoming a weekly exercise because he points out the nuances even if it makes a player look bad. Take Saturday's Rays-Royals game when he criticized Kansas City pitcher Bruce Chen for not backing up third base on a play and then took it a step further by pointing out that leftfielder David DeJesus should have been backing up the play, too.

"What's he got to do out there besides be a spectator?'' Karros said. You have to love that kind of honesty. Earlier in the game, Tampa Bay’s Pat Burrell popped up and jogged to first. When the ball dropped between the centerfielder and the second baseman, Burrell suddenly started sprinting to second and was thrown out easily.

"It's one thing to not hustle,'' Karros said during several replays of Burrell jogging to first. "He's frustrated, I understand that. But the problem is you compound it by trying to make it up and get into second base. ... Better to be on first and not hustle than to hustle on the second part and be sitting in the dugout.''

Check it out
Rays third baseman Evan Longoria will be featured on Tuesday's E:60, (7 p.m., ESPN). Jeremy Schaap reported the story, which focuses on Longoria's mental approach to the game.

"If I make an error in the field or if I swing at a pitch in the dirt at the plate and I really feel like I've lost control of either my emotions or the at-bat, that’s when I step out,'' Longoria told Schaap. "I always look at the top of the leftfield foul pole.''

Longoria also revealed he was not surprised that he was undrafted out of high school.
"I wasn't good,'' he said. "I mean I knew the game, I enjoyed playing the game, but as far as ability and talent, I wasn't a professional player at that time.''

Best point
Here's a pretty good quote from Mike Golic on his ESPN radio show Mike and Mike in the Morning: "Is it not so much the steroids anymore but the person that is associated with it, and if he's a well-liked person then it's not okay, but we will look past it. But if you are disliked then you get ridden a little bit. … It's not so much the crime anymore, but who committed the crime''

He couldn’t be more right. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez are seen as villains, mostly because they have come off as arrogant and defiant. But look at how fans have judged players such as Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, Manny Ramirez and, so far, David Ortiz, who are considered "good guys.'' But, you know, the moment they took a pill or injected a needle in their rear end, they were no different than Bonds and Clemens and the like.

Skimpiest coverage
The quality of Women's British Open television coverage was fine. It was the quantity that was the problem. A major championship and yet ABC showed only 90 minutes on Saturday and only two hours on Sunday. Meantime, ABC showed three hours of the X Games on Saturday and another three on Sunday. This isn't meant to point a finger at ABC. If there's an audience for any sporting event, a network will clear out all day and half the night to show it. But if there isn't an audience, you get 90 minutes one day and two hours the next.

Just wondering
If Brett Favre had made his decision to retire six months ago, do you think he would've been offered the Monday Night Football job instead of former Bucs coach Jon Gruden?

Best decision
ESPN has lifted its ban on New York Post reporters appearing on its network. The decision came nine days after Post writers were banned by ESPN, which was upset that the paper had posted photos from the infamous Erin Andrews' peephole video. This was the right call by ESPN to reinstate the Post writers who had nothing to do with the decision to run the Andrews' photos.

Saddest news
The Padres reportedly have released pitcher Mark Prior, the former Cubs sensation who, for a spell there, looked like he was on his way to becoming one of baseball's all-time greats. He went 18-6 in 2003, but his arm and shoulder eventually just gave out. He's only 28 and appears to have reached a sad end to his career. And Prior could be the first witness called for those who make a case for pitch counts. Back in 2003, Prior routinely threw 120, 130 pitches late in the season and in the playoffs as the Cubs made a run toward the World Series.

Prior is now the second player drafted in the top three of 2001 draft who doesn't have a job with a major-league organization. The Twins took catcher Joe Mauer with the first pick and that has worked out extremely well. The Cubs then took Prior and, with the third pick, the Rays took Dewon Brazelton, who is now pitching for the Camden Riversharks of an independent league and hasn't pitched in the majors since 2006.