DL549: Well, At Least It Was Close

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Nick and I talk first about the NCAA Title game, the commentators, the Tweeters and recap a pretty lackluster finale. We do talk about Jim Nantz’s inexplicable “dog fight” reference during the game and I pat myself on the back for almost nailing the Nantz-ism that ended the game.

Then Jon Tannenwald joins the show to talk more about the game and talk about the legacy Butler has created for itself. We use Butler to talk about the leveling of the NCAA basketball playing field, and how in now way are the Bulldogs anything like the Green Bay Packers, despite NFL PR head Greg Aiello trying to convince us of that.

Oh, yeah, I do break down the studio show in “basketball math” terms. It might be more entertaining than the game was.

Congrats to UConn. Thanks for listening.

Running Numbers: Translating The Insane NFL TV Viewership Into “Unique Views”

We’ve all read release after release after release about just how good the ratings were for the NFL this season. Just how good, you ask? Well, according to CBS:

Through 17 weeks of the 2010 regular season (September 9, 2010-January 2, 2011), THE NFL ON CBS regular-season games were seen by an estimated 164.2 million viewers, 10% higher than NBC’s 149.8 million viewers, 1% higher than FOX’s 162.1 million viewers and 48% higher than ESPN’s 110.9 million.

Those cumulative numbers were based on total viewers (P2+) who watched at least six minutes of NFL game coverage. Add in record numbers for the playoffs (take it away, FOX):

Ratings climbed to astonishing levels as the [NFC Championship] game progressed, peaking at a 31.5/53 rating and 59.5 million viewers from 5:30 – 6:00 PM ET as the Packers punched their first ticket to a Super Bowl in 13 years. FOX Sports estimates that 80.3 million Americans saw at least part of Sunday’s game.

Let’s not forget NBC winning every Sunday night (and two weeknights) of the season, en route to recordREAD MORE

Could Barkley & The TNT Crew Working The NCAA Tourney Possibly Be A Bad Thing?

With college basketball kicking into full gear this week — helped by today’s marathon on ESPN — the news dropped at the Sports Media & Technology conference in NYC today brings smiles to many basketball fans:

Look out, March Madness. Charles Barkley is coming.

CBS and Turner executives confirmed Tuesday that the brash Hall of Famer and other big names from TNT’s NBA broadcasts would be part of their joint coverage of the NCAA tournament starting this season.

Expect Marv Albert to call some early round games and Barkley and Kenny Smith to offer analysis from the studio under the 14-year, $10.8 billion deal the two companies signed in April.

On its surface, this is a great announcement. Anytime Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Marv Albert are part of a basketball telecast, that telecast is almost assuredly going to be more entertaining than without them. But could there be some drawbacks? Let’s do a list of pro and con, shall we? (Note: we shall.)

PROS:

• Charles Barkley on the TV talking basketball is highly entertaining.

• Kenny Smith, who sometimes feelsREAD MORE

The “Cowherd” Response To Colin Cowherd Getting A CBS Sitcom Deal

I went spanning the globe, er, internet today and came across this. To Hollywood (Reporter):

A popular sports radio talk show host has sold his life story to CBS for a sitcom deal.

The [Colin] Cowherd script sold as a multi-camera comedy to CBS, with writers Bill Martin and Mike Schiff attached (Hank, Grounded For Life), as well as executive producers Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men).

Cowherd himself has a producer credit on the untitled project, which is at CBS TV Studios.

This is a terrible idea for CBS and it will ruin American television for the next 20 years. For the next…20 years…You can remember this one moment in time because for the next 20 years, American television is ruined. Just a terrible idea. Next 20 years, you read it here first, folks. Ruined.

I can see the emails now: “Oh, Colin Dan, the next 20 years? Do you know how much television Americans will have watched in the next 20 years and how insignificant this deal will be? Colin Dan, do you know this failed before when TVREAD MORE

Who Wants To See Mike & Mike Make Lame Jokes To Letterman About Favre’s Wiener? Nobody? Tough.

I’ve really tried hard to stay away from this Brett Favre penis story. When Daulerio’s living room is on the Today Show and Stephen A. Smith is writing that it’s none of our business because we all try to get a little action on the side, this story quickly shot beyond my pay grade. When I suggested last week that this would be Deadspin’s biggest traffic post ever, Daulerio told me he didn’t think so. Then his bloggy beard (respect) ended up on shows like The Insider and The View is talking about the story. I think I’ll end up being right.

So how long will this go? Is this a Tiger Woods situation where the NY Tabloids put the story on the back (or front) page for more than a month? Is there another croc to drop?

Reports indicate this may just be the, ahem, tip of the iceberg — I SAID ICEBERG — and this story is going to continue to grow and grow. PFT suggested yesterday that Jenn Sterger’s publicist may be using theREAD MORE

Fixing the U.S. Open (Suggestions for CBS, ESPN & USTA)

Now that another U.S. Open tennis tournament is in the books and yet another finals weekend was butchered by weather and television, it’s time to come up with a solution that doesn’t end up with multiple networks covering one final. When rain delayed the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic from Sunday until Monday, CBS and the U.S. Tennis Association announced it would begin the final no earlier than 4 p.m. Eastern. This has been the case for the previous two years when weather wreaked havoc with the schedule.

When another rain delay arrived one set into the match, CBS decided it was not going to have tennis butcher its primetime schedule and shuffled it to ESPN2 which is the U.S. Open’s partner on cable. This is somewhat understandable. CBS felt that tennis didn’t have enough ratings heat during a weeknight and decided to give up on the final.

So the match is running into the 10 p.m. hour in the East. On ESPN, a lightning delay, the same weather that caused the U.S. OpenREAD MORE

DL419: Shane Bacon on PGA, Bunkers. Plus: Strasburg, Robot Umps, More

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Shane Bacon joins the show to talk about the PGA and, specifically, to give some player insight into the Dustin Johnson ruling. We spend a good amount of time on that, but also focus quite a bit on the final round, from Nick Watney’s implosion  to Bubba Watson’s hazard to Martin Kaymer’s win and everything in between.

Nick and I then spend a lot of time on baseball, talking about the current standings before realizing that, holy crap, there’s still 45 games to go. With football starting, doesn’t it feel like it’s almost time for the playoffs?

Also, we tackle Stephen Strasburg’s comments about Bryce Harper (“If [Harper] wants to play here, he’s going to play here. If he doesn’t want to play here, then we don’t want him here.”) to talk about how ridiculous this whole charade is.

Harper left high school early to enroll in JC so he could start his pro baseball clock early. Now he’s going to SIT OUT A YEAR? Please. It’s all posturing. And Strasburg is great for callingREAD MORE

Call of the Day: PGA Explains Dustin Johnson’s Bunker Ruling

Click the image to watch Peter Kostis talk with Mark Wilson of the PGA

The PGA Championship had one of the most memorable endings of any golf tournament you’ll ever see. And thank goodness Dustin Johnson’s putt on the 72nd hole didn’t go in, or the PGA would have a monster controversy on its hands. Instead, Johnson missed his par putt and settled for bogey to create a three-way tie for the lead, headed to a playoff.

We learned after Johnson’s round, however, that his second shot was technically hit out of a bunker, despite the fact that there were people standing (and sitting) in the area when his ball landed, and while he took his shot. At first glance, it just looked like a sandy area of trampled ground and the “stupid rules of golf” were taking away the opportunity for Johnson to win the tournament. Let the media incredulity begin!

WATCH VIDEO OF MARK WILSON EXPLAIN THE RULE TO PETER KOSTIS.

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DL353: Breaking Down the Final Four…and more. That Rhymes…all the time(s).

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Nick and I are back, no worse for the wear. We break down each of the Final Four teams. In bullets:

• Why do we, and by we I mean I, hate Duke so much? There’s more in there than just them being white guys. Not much more, but more.

• We talk about why nobody picked Michigan State to go to the Final Four, yet everyone is talking about Izzo’s 6 of the last 12 Final Fours. Why didn’t we think of that three weeks ago? Someone, I think Whitlock, said that Izzo is the best basketball coach in the country at any level. Is that fair? Is it true? Or is he a great TOURNAMENT coach?

• We talk about Tennessee shooting too soon on their last possession in that game, and as Chris Littmann tweeted today, we disagree on the idea of ever shooting too soon when your team is losing. He thinks you take the lead as quickly as you can. I think, with a team like MSU doingREAD MORE

DL347: Brackets Brackets Brackets

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Brackets Brackets Brackets. It’s like Christmas day for everyone who sits at a desk all week. Nick and I peruse the bracket to talk about some of the top storylines, and Nick gives the ridiculous impression that he won’t be filling out a bracket this year.

Ridiculous. He should join our BRACKET CHALLENGE, which you can also join by clicking here. Lots of other blogs involved. Get in now before it fills up.

I then have the opportunity to talk with Kyle Whelliston of MidMajority.com to get some insight into the mid-majors who are dancing this year. Not only do we talk about the Butlers and the Woffords of the world, but we get into some of the theory about what makes a team a mid-major. The Mountain West is no longer a mid-major, but is the A-10? Is C-USA? Heck, with barely two teams in, is the Pac-10? We kid, about the last one, obviously, but there is a huge gray area surrounding The Mid Majority’s “red line” of demarcation for mid-major status.

WeREAD MORE