==Keith Olbermann, bringing his "Worst Person in the World" concept to the NBC pregame show, made his debut Thursday with the "Worst Person in the NFL" segment -- and, predictably, brought more attention to himself by naming himself the "Worst" because of a commentary he did on Michael Vick back on Aug. 26 that needed to be reworded, although it's doubtful anyone now remembers it.
"How do you like that, a contrition right out of the box," said Bob Costas.
"So basically every week you're gonna do a commentary and then backtrack the next week," said Collinsworth, exposing Olbermann's scheme pretty quickly.

==Collinsworth had the other best line at halftime when, after listening to Barber blather on about something that was obvious to everyone, he said: "Unofficially, I have Peyton Manning 11 for 17 in first-half commercials."

==Along with adding an episode of "PTI" at the halftime break and tightening up its scorebox graphic, ESPN's most notable non-talent element enhancement will be something called "Player Tracker" that draws a line behind a player on a replay to show where he started and where he ended up on a play. For example, new analyst Ron Jaworski says it will be interesting to see how Baltimore safety Ed Reed bounces around at the line of scrimmage before a play, then gets involved in the tackle to end it, and have his route traced on the screen on how he got from Point A to Point B.
Jed Drake, ESPN's executive producer, doesn't want the media to oversell this element as he feels it did with the NASCAR "Draft Track" that shows colored streams to illustrate how air blows off the front and back of a race car.
"I want to put this into proper perspective," said Drake. "This will be a small piece of a very complex production. We have 50 elements going on at any different moment in a telecast. We don't want people to glom onto this because it's new and different. It's a small, interesting piece that will track players. It'll be used on a limited basis, not live, to help the announcers and make it more enjoyable for the viewers. When you see the players' routes on this roadmap, it's a path that your eye and brain may not remember or didn't see at first because of al lthe other motion. It eliminates all that other clutter."
OK, we're sold on it.

=="Inside the NFL" starts its 31st season on Wednesday, Sept. 12 (10 p.m.), with replays on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Collinsworth (in his 18th season on the show), Bob Costas, Dan Marino and Cris Carter continue as co-hosts, having been together since 2002. Comedian Lewis Black will also return with his rants that are worth the price of admission.

==The Onion, in all its glory:

Brady Quinn Leads Browns Into Post-Preseason

==While the L.A. market receives the Chicago-San Diego NFL game in the 1:15 p.m. window from Fox (along with 86 percent of the country), it must be noted that, head-to-head, the Raiders' home game against Detroit, which surely a majority of the L.A. viewers would like to receive, is only going to five percent of the country (Oakland and, uh, Detroit) with Matt Vasgersian on play-by-play, JC Pearson as the colorman and someone named Jennifer Hammond as the sideline reporter. Terry Donahue, who Fox hired to do some NFL games last year with Vasgersian, isn't even on this one. Wanna order NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV for that one?

==The NFL Network, if if 24/7 pro football isn't enough material, replays all four of the Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge high school football games played on Saturday, Sept. 1 in Canton, Ohio. The eight-hour block starts at 6 a.m. Saturday with Grove City (Ohio) vs. Buford (Ga.), followed by Long Beach Poly vs. Glenville (Cleveland, Ohio) at 8 a.m., Gateway (Monroeville, Penn.) vs. Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown, Ohio) at 11 a.m. and McKinley (Canton, Ohio) vs. Union (Tulsa, Oklahoma) at 1 p.m.
As for Herbstreit, the ESPN college football analyst who helped coordinate this two-day event in his home state, he began last weekend in Blacksburg, Va., for ESPN's "GameDay" season opener. Once that show ended at noon (EDT) Saturday, he took a private plane (provided by Disney) and flew across the country to Berkeley to do the Cal-Tennessee game at 5 p.m. (PDT).
"I did that telecast," Herbstreit relayed to the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, "then I went back to the airport, took a red-eye, landed (in Ohio) about 8 local (EDT), took a quick shower at a hotel and came right over" to be on the sidelines for the Cincinnati St. Xavier-Demantha, Md., high school game on Sunday.
"Man, I don't even know where I am right now," he told the reporter.
Herbstreit started the Challenge three years ago, inspired by his dad, Jim, of pitting Ohio's best high schools against national competitors.
"There are a lot of kids doing bad things in the world," Herbstreit said. "Kids that play high school football, they have to make a sacrifice, and I really respect that. I try to encourage kids who are younger to get involved with it, because it's a healthy way to learn a lot about the challenges in life."
This Saturday, Herbstreit stays in one spot. "College GameDay" orginates from Baton Rouge, La. (7 to 9 a.m. PDT) and then he'lll stick around to do the LSU-Virginia Tech game that night (6:15 p.m., ESPN, with Brent Musburger).

==Other teams in other places Saturday:
Dave Pasch and Andre Ware do Nebraska at Wake Forest (ESPN, 9 a.m.)Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire do Oregon at Michigan (Channel 7, 12:30 p.m.)Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge do Notre Dame at Penn State (ESPN, 3 p.m.)
Joel Meyers and Dave Lapham do TCU at Texas (FSN West, 4 p.m.)Dan Fouts and Tim Brant do South Florida at Auburn (ESPN2, 6 p.m.)

==Kelly Stouffer, the Colorado State grad and former Seattle Seahawks QB who'll call Saturday's UCLA-BYU game from the Rose Bowl for Versus (see today's Daily News story on this), has this to say about the contest:
"This match up is highlighted by the very structured approach that BYU uses on both sides of the ball versus the big advantage UCLA will have in overall speed and athleticism. UCLA's talented defense will look to be aggressive early, trying to force BYU's young quarterback Max Hall to prove he is ready to make quality decisions under pressure. BYU's new 3-4 defensive scheme is ultraconservative by design. If quarterback Ben Olson and the UCLA offense can't come up with the big play, can they drive the ball to get enough points? UCLA's big-play opportunities may come on special teams."
Again, for those who aren't sure where Versus is on their cable or dish systems, go to the Versus site and plug in your zip code. You'll find out its probably on a digital tier that requires and upgrade (and more cost) to the monthly bill.

==EchoStar's Dish Network added the Big Ten Network service Thursday to Channel 439, making it part of the package for those who subscribe to America's Top 100 and higher. Customers can preview the channel until early 2008 at which time it will be on the America's Top 100 Plus service within the eight states that are within Big Ten schools. DirecTV has the Big Ten Network on Channel 220, and offers up to five college football games on Saturday from Channels 218 to 223. Fox, which owns a 49 percent share of the network, was able to re-air a two-hour version of that game on Tuesday. BTN president Mark Silverman told the New York Times that he didn't know if that game would cause cable operators to change their position on not carrying the net based on all the new attention to it, but given that many other networks were asking the Big Ten Network for highlights of its exclusive coverage, "it goes to our point that there is a broad appeal for this type of programming. It justifies our contention that there is a demand for us.” Or, people waiting for the cable systems to add the network can just go to the dish. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that Unversity of Minnesota AD Joel Maturi cancelled Comcast and switched to DirecTV.

==A reminder that all Cal football games are on radio in Southern California on KMZT-AM (1260) and XSUR-AM (540). Also, 1260-AM does ACC and Big East games when they don't conflict with Cal. The schedule:
Thurs Sept 13: West Virginia vs Maryland 4:30pm
Thurs Sept 20: Texas A&M vs Miami 4:30pm
Fri Sept 28: West Virginia vs South Florida 4:45pm
Sat Sept 29: Alabama at Florida State TBA---may not air due to potential conflict with Cal
Sat Oct 6: Virginia Tech at Clemson TBA
Wed Oct 10: Navy at Pittsburgh 4:45pm
Thurs Oct 11: Florida State at Wake Forest 4:15pm
Fri Oct 19: Louisville at University of Connecticut TBA
Sat Oct 20: Miami at Florida State TBA---may not air due to conflict w/Cal
Thurs Oct 25: Boston College vs Virginia Tech 4:30pm
Thurs Nov 1: Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech 4:30pm
Thurs Nov 8: Louisville at West Virginia 4:30pm
Sat Nov 10: Florida State at Virginia Tech TBA---may not air due to conflict with Cal
Sat Nov 17: Boston College at Clemson TBA---may not air due to conflict with Cal
Sat Nov 24 Georgia at Georgia Tech TBA
Sat Dec 1: Pittsburgh at West Virginia TBA---may not air due to conflict with Cal.

==Check out the revamped KLAC-AM (570) All-Access Website , which launched Tuesday and tries to make it more of an interactive experience with the listeners.

==Josh Lewin and Eric Karros call the Dodgers' game at San Francisco on Saturday (12:55 p.m.) for Fox Channel 11, which goes to 31 percent of the country. The potential pitching matchup -- David Wells vs. Barry Zito -- has our attention. Most of the country (53 percent) will get Florida at Philadelphia (with former Marlins manager Joe Girardi in the broadcast booth) while the rest get Minnesota at Chicago.

==The Clippers announced their new radio guy is ... why would you expect them to feed us the information? The next time would be the first. Go to their website for the daper announcement they've made.

==ESPN's coverage of the Women's World Cup in China starts Monday (and runs through Sept. 30) with JP Dellacamera doing play-by-play (not Dave O'Brien?) and July Foudy, the former U.S. team captain, on analysis. Heather Mitts, a U.S. defender who is rehabbing a knee injury in L.A. and won't be with the squad, acts as a "team insider" for a studio show hosted by Rob Stone and including former U.S. coach Tony DiCicco. ESPN and ESPN2 will carry all 32 matches of the event. Our guess is the ESPN broadcasters will do most of the broadcasting off a TV feed from a studio in Bristol, Conn., before going out for quarterfinal, semis and title matches in China.

==The Sports Examiner, a daily blog created by Rich Perelman with Bruce Tenen as the senior writer, has changed format and go back to the audio, Jim Healy-style presentation that can be seen and heard on a new site, www.TheGoodSports.tv.
According to Perelman, the site is a project of Let’s Dance Media and is coordinated by long-time NBC announcer Charlie Jones. The show airs daily at 3 p.m. Monday through Friday with a weekend preview show on Saturday mornings.

==For those who missed it, the Club Caddy invention by David Jones was voted winner of the Golf Channel's first "Fore Inventors Only" reality show. The Club Caddy, which received 30 percent of the vote, is the gadget that seemed kind of pedestrian to us -- it looks like a giant clothes pin -- but enough people out there in TV land thought it was worthy of having made available to them so they could use it. The clip attaches to the club (most likely a wedge) so that when you're around the green, the club stands upright and you don't have to lay it down -- and then forget it after you walk off following the missed putts. Jones, a 55-year-old warehouse manager, said he's somehow already invested $40,000 on the thing. Comedian George Lopez, who co-hosted the live final episode of the show, said on the air when he saw the Club Caddy: “We invented that first. Only we connected it to a positive and negative and started our cars.”

==Bud Collins, recently discarded by NBC after 25 years, has not only landed a gig with ESPN but also with The Tennis Channel. The later announced its multi-year, on-air deal with the tennis historian/reporter at the U.S. Open media center, and employment begins immediately. “I’m extremely pleased to be joining the Tennis Channel, and look forward to being part of an exceptional team,” said Collins in a statement. “I’ve admired Tennis Channel’s pioneering innovations that have brought many areas and events of the game to the screen for the first time. It’s going to be a great new experience and fun for me.”
“What 52-week-a-year tennis producer wouldn’t be ecstatic to have someone of Bud’s pedigree on board collaborating with us in building tennis’ first true, TV-based multimedia brand?” said Larry Meyers, senior vice president and executive producer, Tennis Channel. “He communicates to fans at all levels – from casual sports viewers to the game’s most sophisticated enthusiasts.”

==Those with Time Warner Cable system may have noticed ESPNU pop onto the menu. With that, the channel that focuses on college sports doubled its household distribution to nearly 20 million homes; it launched with about three million homes in March, 2005. Not just the L.A./Bakersfield/San Diego/Desert areas added the channel. It was also added in New York and New Jersey on Aug. 21, and last week, it went to cities such as Charlotte, N.C.; New England, Cincinnati, Austin, Tex.; Dallas, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and West Virginia.

==ESPN somehow squeezes in the second game of the WNBA finals between Paul Westhead's Phoenix Mercury and Bill Lambeer's Detroit Shock at the Palace in Auburn Hills on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., with ESPN2 taking Game 3 at Phoenix on Tuesday (6 p.m.) and Game 4 on Thursday (5:30 p.m.). If needed, Game 5 goes to ESPN2 on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 1:30 p.m. Terry Gannon will continue to call the finals with Doris Burke and reporters Rebecca Lobo and Heather Cox. On the pregame, Linda Cohn hosts with imput from Nancy Lieberman and Carolyn Peck.
Meantime, check out the new blog on Yardbarker that Phoenix star Diana Taurasi has been posting up. She's definitely got game.

==SCVTV in Santa Clarita (Channel 20 on Time Warner and AT&T Cable) has the Moorpark-Hart high football game tonight (delayed) at 11 p.m. with Dave Caldwell and Tony Moskal. It replays Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

==With tee times moved up because of the threatning weather in Illinois, the PGA's live videostream coverage of the par 3 14th hole at the BMW Championships has been changed to 6:45 to 12:30 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. This is in addition to the Golf Channel's coverage today at 11 a.m. (replayed at 5:30 p.m.) and NBC taking over on the weekend at noon Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.

==Versus not only has a deathgrip on the NHL, but has announced an extention with World Extreme Cagefighting to do 15 more live events. Well spank me with a chainlinked fence.

==ESPN has broken the story on its own prime-time news magazine show. The name? E:60. Why? Because its a play on the concept of "360," telling a story from all angles. Get it now? It starts Tuesday Oct. 16 with an hour-long version at 4 p.m., which really doesn't make it prime time out here in the west, but that's what we live with. Not sure how or why it's different from the classy "Outside the Lines" show, but we know on thing: Bob Ley has nothing to do with this, so we're already a little skiddish about it. Jeremy Schaap, Lisa Salters, Tom Farrey, Rachel Nichols and Michael Smith are the crime-stoppers who'll serve as the reporters and hosts. Each episode will have an investigative report to go along with a feature piece and "cutting edge stories" (their words, not ours) on "innovations in the sports world." Reporters will also supposedly interact with fans by “blogging” their experiences in the field.
The series runs in spurts; first from Oct 16 to Nov. 6, then for five weeks in April, '08, then for six weeks starting in June '08, adding up to 15 one-hour original episodes a year.

==The weekly What Smokes and What Chokes, missing from today's website edition:
WHAT SMOKES
- KNBC Channel 4’s Fred Roggin explains the makeover to new twice-as-long “The Challenge” live postgame show that follows every NBC NFL Sunday night football telecast at approximately 8:30 p.m.: “Last year, it was a game show with a football element, but this year it’s a television show with a game component.” Expanding from a half-hour show that invited viewers to participate in a multiple-choice quiz show (where they answered online or by cellphone) to a full hour with “a lot of moving parts” will provide the real challenge for Roggin, who has added Petros Papadakis as a studio NFL analyst, Brooks Melchior (www.sportsbybrooks.com) as a contributor and increased the role of fantasy football guy Dish Adams. A live remote from the swanky P6 restaurant and lounge in Westlake Village will part of a “rapid fire” segment where a contestant can decide if it’s worth risking “meal or no meal” by going deeper into the questioning. “Last year we considered the show a success and expanding it makes sense because we can do more,” said Roggin.

-From Fox’s NFL doubleheader slate, the L.A. market receives Philadelphia at Green Bay (with Kenny Albert, Darryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa) at 10 a.m. followed by Chicago at San Diego (with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman) at 1 p.m. CBS has New England at the N.Y. Jets (with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms) at 10 a.m. before cutting away to the U.S. Open men’s final at 1 p.m.

- Even if it was the result of a technical glitch, the editors of the “USC Rewind” show airing this week on FSN Prime Ticket made a wise decision using the audio from the original TV call rather than the radio version to document the first-half highlights of the Trojans’ win over Idaho on Saturday. Barry Tompkins and Petros Papadakis, doing the game for FSN, picked up quickly on the missing-kicker formation tribute that USC paid to the late Mario Danelo on the Trojans’ first PAT, and they made the proper call. Meanwhile, the USC radio duo were initially confused, then actually chuckled about the fact that USC didn’t have its kicker on the field in time and were about to get a delay of game penalty. For some reason, they replayed that call on the post-game show in case anyone missed the gaff the first time live.

WHAT CHOKES

- In a sophomoric attempt to appeal to the YouTube.com crowd without making a mess of things, ESPN has decided to insert a fan-generated video element – “ESPN’s Rowdy Friends” -- into its “Monday Night Football” broadcast that basically enables anyone to make a fool of themselves in hopes of getting national air time. Fans are encouraged on ESPN.com to upload their videos “showing us your extreme passion for your favorite NFL team . . . and you just might see your video on Monday Night Football!” The first installment of this piece came on Aug. 27 and included a Cincinnati Bengals fan named “Lauren R.,” who said she “sent in” her video. Deadspin.com editor Will Leitch revealed that Lauren Ritter (her full name) is actually an ESPN production assistant.

==And finally:
Near the end of a WeAreSC.com blog entry about this, that and other things from days gone by in his broadcast career, Pete Arbogast responds apparently to something we pointed out in a previous entry where he gave Angels radio play-by-play man Rory Markas another backhanded compliment that only seemed to twist the knife a little more than usual.
Wrote Arbo:
"Someone said they saw or heard that someone else thought I was back stabbing Rory Markas in some previous blog. This could not be further from the truth.
"Let me say it so there's no confusion. I like Rory personally and professionally. I love that another local guy is doing so well in this business. He does a great job as voice of the Angels and USC men's basketball. I enjoy listening to him whenever I can. I always enjoy running into him at events. I wish him nothing but continued success in all of his jobs. Yes, I miss doing USC men's basketball games. Yes, I envy him his spot. I am doing absolutely nothing to try and get the job to be mine and not his (although at one time, when his contract was coming up, I did try to combine the two jobs -- this was several years ago) Otherwise, nothing. We are team mates here. Can I be any clearer about this?"
So everything's good ... except the time you tried to take his job a few years ago. That's clear enough, isn't it?
And what's this latest thing where Arbogast is now declaring on his little daily webcast that he's the "voice of USC baseball" even though no one's given him the job? Can he clear that one up as well?
This comedy gold just keeps writing itself.

Post script: A followup blog post on Sept. 5 Arbogast wrote that "without hearing the tapes," he gave his broadcast a "B" for the opener. "Solid, yet unremarkable." Go ahead, listen to the tapes again and then let someone else grade it.