==Back to the launch of ESPN's "E:60" on Tuesday:
A conference call with reporters Thursday morning revealed that the show had cameramen present the other day when the body of former Notre Dame legend George Gipp was exhumed from a Michigan cemetary for DNA reasons. The family did not say why it took place, but ESPN decided it had to disclose its participation in the event with a statement:
"The body of George Gipp was exhumed from a Michigan cemetery on Oct. 4, to follow up on a claim by two people that they may be related to the Notre Dame legend. A DNA sample was taken, and Gipp was reburied on the same day ... Rick Frueh, whose grandmother was one of Gipp's sisters, and who authorized the exhumation said today, in a statemen: “The disinterment of the body of George Gipp is of personal and private interest to our family. Please respect our wishes to keep this matter private.” ESPN cameras were present at the exhumation, and E:60, the network’s new magazine show, will chronicle the story in the coming weeks."

==Without much warning, Versus launched a six-part series Wednesday called "South Sydney Story," which focuses on the Australian National Rugby League team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, that actor Russell Crowe and another Aussie businessman bought in hopes of bring it back to its glory days.
"If you can imagine the city of New York owning the Yankees and letting the team fall into disrepair, you can start to understand the magnitude of what Russell and Peter were up against to rejuvenate the club," said Marc Fein, Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for Versus.
In May 2006, Crowe and his team purchased majority ownership of the South Sydney Rabbitohs through a public referendum that needed 75 percent of the member votes.
The first two episodes aired Wednesday, but they replay Sunday (1 and 1:30 p.m.) leading into episode three on Oct. 17. The series runs through Nov. 7, with the final game of the season.

==It's come to Charles: TBS says it will include Charles Barkley in its NLCS coverage pre- and post-game show Sunday from Colorado. Barkley, who's worked with Ernie Johnson on the TNT NBA studio shows, joins Cal Ripken, Frank Thomas and Ron Darling.
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==In addition to Fox's coverage of the Cleveland-Boston ALCS, FoxSports.com on MSN and MLB.com will co-produce live pre- and postgame shows, using Fox's Chris Myers, Harold Reynolds of MLB.com and Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com. The 30-minute webcasts are shot from inside each stadium before and after Fox TVs pre- and postgame shows.

==Straight from Thursday's edition of the Onion sports:

Piniella: 'Oh, First To Three Wins'

==Televised football this weekend:
The NFL:
Sunday:
==10 a.m.: Washington at Green Bay with Kenny Albert and Troy Aikman, Channel 11 (up against Philadelphia-NY Jets, St. Louis-Baltimore and Minnesota-Chicago in this window)
==10 a.m.: Cincinnati at Kansas City with Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon, Channel 2 (up against Miami-Cleveland, Houston-Jacksonville and Tennessee-Tampa Bay)
==1:15 p.m.: Oakland at San Diego with Dick Enberg and Randy Cross, Channel 2 (again, New England at Dallas only on DirecTV or a bar)
==5:15 p.m.: New Orleans at Seattle, with Al Michaels and John Madden, Channel 4
Monday:
==5:30 p.m.: N.Y. Giants at Atlanta, with Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser, ESPN (with Jimmy Kimmel scheduled for a third-quarter guest appearance)

Colleges:
Saturday:
The locals:
==12:30 p.m.: Arizona at No. 10 USC, with Dan Fouts and Tim Brandt, Channel 7

The rest of the nation (with AP rankings):
Tonight:
==5 p.m.: No. 16 Hawaii at San Jose State with Sean McDonough and Chris Speilman on ESPN
Saturday:
==7 a.m.: ESPN College GameDay originates from Norman, Okla., prior to the Missouri-Oklahoma contest.
==9 a.m.: Georgia Tech at Miami with Dave Pasch and Andre Ware, ESPN
==9 a.m.: No. 18 Illinois at Iowa with Pam Ward and Ray Bentley, ESPN2
==9 a.m.: Central Florida at No. 5 South Florida with Clay Matvick and Larry Coker
==9 a.m.: Purdue at Michigan, with Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis and Charissa Thompson on the Big Ten Network (also doing: Kent State at No. 3 Ohio State and Minnesota at Northwestern in that time slot)
==9:30 a.m.: No. 23 Texas at Iowa State with Bill Land and Dave Lapham, FSN West
==12:30 p.m.: No. 4 Boston College at Notre Dame with Tom Hammond and Pat Haden, Channel 4
==12:30 p.m.: No. 17 Kentucky at No. 1 LSU with Verne Lunduqist and Gary Danielson on Channel 2
==12:30 p.m.: No. 19 Wisconsin at Penn State with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire, ESPN (No. 7 South Carolina at North Carolina and Texas A&M at Texas Tech are other regional games in this window on PPV)
==3 p.m. : No. 24 Georgia at Vanderbilt with Terry Gannon and David Norrie on ESPN2
==3:30 p.m.: No. 11 Missouri at No. 6 Oklahoma with Joel Meyers and Gary Reasons on FSN West
==4 p.m.: Oregon State at No. 2 Cal with Ted Robinson and Kelly Stouffer on Versus
==4 p.m.: Louisville at No. 15 Cincinnati wtih Dave Armstrong and Mike Gottfried, ESPNU
==4 p.m.: Indiana at Michigan State with Wayne Larrivee and Chris Martin, Big Ten Network
==5 p.m.: No college football on ABC because of NASCAR, so Herbstreit gets the night off
==4:45 p.m.: No. 22 Auburn at Arkansas with Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge, ESPN
==5:15 p.m.: Colorado at Kansas State with Mark Jones and Bob Davie, ESPN2
==7:15 p.m.: Washington at No. 14 Arizona State with Barry Tompkins and Petros Papadakis on FSN West
Sunday:
==5 p.m.: Nevada at Boise State with Eric Collins and Bill Curry, ESPN

==Another angle from the Onion Sports, which you can read while watching the Chargers-Raiders game:

Patriots Stunned By Mere 17-Point Victory

==When it came time for the CBS "NFL Today" crew to make their picks of last Sunday's games, Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason were emphatic about Seattle beating injury depleted and visiting Pittsburgh. Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher took Pittsburgh. "You know what, you had a chance for a little journalistic integrity ... pick the right team.," said Esiason. "But you just had to stick with (the Steelers).” Said Cowher: “Watch the game! It’s played on the field, not up here in New York.” The Steelers won 21-0.

==The NFL Network replays last Sunday's Baltimore-San Francisco game Saturday at 5 p.m., but with a "Mike'd Up" twist. There were 10 players and coaches miked, and 12 additional cameras used to create a one-hour special that uses the audio gathered from on the field, the coaches' booth, the sidelines and the locker room. “You get to experience the game on the field, on the sideline and in the coaches’ booth the way the players and coaches do,” said NFL Films President Steve Sabol, who coordinated the project. “It is an unfiltered look into the heart of the game. You hear the planning and you feel the passion.”

==The NFL has appointed Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as the new chairman of the NFL Network Committee, which acts as the executive board of the league’s year-round television service. And what do you know: The Cowboys appear twice on the NFL Network this season -- Thursday, Nov. 29 vs. Green Bay and Saturday, Dec. 22 at Carolina.
"My immediate and primary objective is to ensure broad distribution of NFL Network to our millions of fans across the land,” said Jones in a statement. “Today there are more options than ever before for consumers in terms of choosing a television provider. Satellite companies like DirecTV and Dish Network and telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T offer NFL Network on broad packages without extra costs to consumers. Those fans whose access to NFL Network is still being blocked by their cable provider will have both the opportunity and the incentive to switch providers if cable continues to deny customers the programming they want.”
Joining Jones on the NFL Network Committee are Denver Broncos President and CEO Pat Bowlen, New England Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, St. Louis Rams owner/vice chairman Stan Kroenke and Carolina Panthers president Mark Richardson.

==ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber warns in her latest inner-Bristol critique of the operations behind what gets out there that "This is perhaps the longest column I will write in this space, and probably the most quixotic." Schreiber's rant is focused how news cycles are now opinion cycles and how fans, coaches and athletes "are sick and tired of being subjected to a relentless media onslaught of opinion that is simultaneously overheated and half-baked." Most notably, Schreiber takes ESPN.com columnist Gregg Easterbrook to task for his opinions on the Bill Belichick controversy over getting caught spying. "Easterbrook is entitled to his opinion, to his logic, to his analogies, however strained I think they are, but what is not OK is cloaking opinion in the camouflage of reporting," she wrote. After allowing Easterbrook to explain his side, Schreiber continued: "My attitude is that you get the proof, or at least sources whose reliability you are willing to characterize and vouch for, before you publish. Until then, you keep your rumor-based speculations to yourself. After interviewing ESPN executive VP of production Norby Williamson on his thoughts about opinion-injected news, and the launch of a new "E:60" news magazine show that begins Tuesday, Schreiber concludes: "That puts the burden back on viewers and readers, who can vote with their remotes and clicks. My vote on opinion-driven journalism is in. If anyone thinks the point of this column is that we should all be nicer, that is not it. I hope ESPN hits the issues hard with reporting. Let opinion, however heated, arise from that."
USA Today media columnists Michael Hiestand and Michael McCarthy debate the merits of her assertions in today's editions.

== "Sports Action Team," a half-hour improv comedy about a hapless local TV sportscasting team that debuted last season after NBC's Sunday Night Football and followed Fred Roggins' "The Challenge," is still running on KNBC Channel 4. Just not at a time where you'd normally look. Try 12:35 a.m. early Monday/late Sunday, after the late news and a relay of some movie reviews. It's also available on HD Net, Mark Cuban's channel found on most dish and cable networks. For those who remember, "Sports Action Team" is like a cross between "The Office" and "Sportscenter," and includes real athletes who get caught up in the buffoonery of the group. The episode this week includes Cincinnati Bengals' Eric Steinback, Randy Moss, Jennie Finch and Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon.

==On Baron Davis' new blog on Yardbarker.com, the former UCLA star is holding a contest to see what everyone out there wants him to do with his beard. Not shave it off, but shave a design into it.

==HBO replays Manny Pacquiao's unanimous decision over Marco Antonio Barrera on Saturday at 11 p.m., followed by a "Boxing After Dark" matchup between Houston's Juan Diaz and Coachella's Julio Diaz from Chicago, called by Bob Papa, Larry Merchant and Lennox Lewis.

==NBC has coverage of the LPGA's Samsung World Championship from Bighorn in Palm Desert, Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., with Dan Hicks, Dottie Pepper, Mark Rolfing, Jane Crafter and Kay Cockerill.

==Tiger Woods has already bailed out of the made-for-TV "Grand Slam of Golf" event set for Bermuda. Usually, the four major winners play against each other. Instead, Masters champ Zach Johnson, U.S. Open champ Angel Cabrera and British Open champ Padraig Harrington will be joined by Jim Furyk, the world's No 2 ranked player. TNT has the event for the 25th year from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday and 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, with Verne Lundquist, Bobby Clampett, Billy Kratzert and Jim Huber.

==Fox says Amanda Beard will join the FSN "Best Damn Sports Show Period" as a correspondent, which includes a trip to the Super Bowl for the network's coverage. "I always dreamed of working in television and the one show that was top of my list was BDSSP,” said Beard in a statement that she might think twice about repeating. “All the guys have treated me as a friend over the years when I was a guest, now I get to join them in expanding the show's audience and putting my personal touches on the Best Damn Sports Show Period on TV!”

==ESPNU has 3 1/2 hours of Midnight Madness coverage starting at 4 p.m. today, going to Davidson, Georgetown, Memphis and Southern Illinois to start the college basketball season.

==The TV highlights from Versus' coverage of USC-Stanford last Saturday:
Play-by-play man Ron Thulin, after Stanford's Mark Bradford pulls in the pass to tie the score at 23-23: "Touchdown, USC!"
Analyst Kelly Stouffer, as Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh is telling his team to kick the PAT: "Jim Harbaugh is going to go for the tie right here."

==And finally:
USC radio far-so-self-important play-by-play man Pete Arbogast gives himself too much credit (?)/blame (!) for the Trojans' loss to Stanford last Saturday. His Oct. 8 blog on WeAreSC.com reveals this confession:
By the way, I take full responsibility of the loss myself. The Hawaiian shirt that I wore was worn by me out in public at a kids soccer game Saturday morning. Rule is that no one except me is to see the shirt prior to unveiling in the press box (if and when that is needed). The shirt had lost its magic, and therefore was no longer usable, but I used it anyway, and you saw what happened. Gotta be extra careful with those pesky superstitions.
At any rate, as soon as the game ended, I took it off and threw it into the empty stands below. Good riddance.
And thanks for littering.

==And the real final word, catch this add on a Toyota dealership in Norman, Okla., taking a script of a nutty Oklahoma State coach and turning it into an inventive sales pitch: