College football should dominate your TV time this afternoon, meaning TiVo is the perfect device to capture, save and review later the specials that are coming up on Evel Knievel, thanks to ESPN Classic.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, ESPN Classic will rotate two shows in honor of the daredevil who died Friday at the age of 69.
"The Impossible Jump" (10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.) is a half-hour show that focuses on Mike Metzger's attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace, which Knievel attempted in 1967 and ended in a spectacular rubbery crash. Included in this show is plenty of footage from Knievel's Caesar's Place jump and interviews with the daredevil.
"Touch of Evel" (10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m.) is another half-hour documentary on his life, where friends and family talk about him, and his jumps at Snake River Canyon and Wembley Stadium are replayed.
Seems you gotta go out to the video store if you want to find the George Hamilton 1971 movie, "Evel Knievel," which is how most of us Baby Boomers really got to know him and consider him the real X Games athlete.
==A poll on AOL Sports poll (in cahoots with AwfulAnnouncing.com) sure to displease Stephen A. It's to determine the "Worst Sports Announcer" (in a bracket that puts Smith up against Sal Masekela).
== The weekend football TV guide: The NFL:
Sunday: 10 a.m.: Seattle at Philadelphia with Kenny Albert, Darryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa, Channel 11 (as opposed to the other Fox offering of Detroit-Minnesota, San Francisco-Carolina and Atlanta-St. Louis) 10 a.m.: San Diego at Kansas City with Dick Enberg and Randy Cross, Channel 2 (as opposed to CBS' other offering of the best game of the day -- Jacksonville-Indianapolis with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms -- as well as N.Y. Jets-Miami, Houston-Tennessee and Buffalo-Washington) 1 p.m.: N.Y. Giants at Chicago with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, Channel 11 (up against Fox's other offering of Tampa Bay-New Orleans and CBS carrying Cleveland-Arizona and Denver-Oakland) 5:15 p.m.: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh with Al Michaels and John Madden, Channel 4
Monday: 5:30 p.m.: New England at Baltimore with Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser, ESPN. The network says former Miami coach Don Shula will also be a guest in the booth.
Colleges (with BCS rankings): The locals:
Saturday: 1:30 p.m.: UCLA at No. 8 USC, with Terry Gannon, David Norrie (pictured) and Jeannine Edwards, Channel 7
FSN Prime Ticket has a one-hour pregame show starting at 12:30 p.m. and a post-game show starting at 5 p.m., with Lindsay Soto, Petros Papadakis, Rodney Peete, Danny Farmer, James Washington and Jeremy Hogue, plus reporters John Jackson and Michael Eaves.
Nationally: Tonight: 5 p.m.: Fresno State at New Mexico State with Eric Collins, Bill Curry and Dave Ryan, ESPNU.
Saturday: 7 a.m.: ESPN College GameDay is in San Antonio for the Big 12 Championship. 8 a.m.: Miami (Ohio) vs. Central Michigan in the MAC championship in Detroit, with Pam Ward and Ray Bentley, ESPN2 9 a.m.: Army vs. Navy with Ian Eagle, Boomer Esiason and Sam Ryan, Channel 2 9 a.m.: Tulsa at Central Florida in the Conference USA championship with Dave Pasch, Andre Ware and Erin Andrews, ESPN 10 a.m.: No. 6 Virginia Tech vs. No. 11 Boston College in the ACC championship in Jacksonville, Fla., with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Bonnie Bernstein, Channel 7 11 a.m.: Virginia Union at Tuskegee in the Pioneer Bowl, with Charlie Neal and Charles Arbuckle, ESPNU 1:30 p.m.: Oregon State at No. 17 Oregon with Dan Fouts and Tim Brandt, ESPN2 4 p.m.: Cal at Stanford with Ted Robinson, Kelly Stouffer and Lewis Johnson, Versus 4:45 p.m.: Pittsburgh at No. 2 West Virginia with Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge, ESPN 5 p.m.: No. 1 Missouri vs. No. 9 Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship from San Antonio, with Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Lisa Salters, Channel 7 5 p.m.: Arizona at No. 13 Arizona State with Mark Jones, Bob Davie and Stacey Dales, ESPN2 8:30 p.m.: Washington at No. 12 Hawaii with Ron Franlin, Ed Cunningham and Jack Arute, ESPN2
Sunday: 5 p.m.: BCS selection show, with Chris Rose, Charles Davis, Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson, Channel 11. They've also got Chris "Jub Jub" Myers, Thom Brennaman, etc., at locations throughout the country, but pay special attention to reporter Charissa Thompson,who will be on the University of Hawaii campus.
==College football notes:
-CSTV will reair last week's Arkansas triple OT victory over previous No. 1 LSU today (5 p.m.).
-ESPN says last Thursday's game beteen USC and Arizona State did a 3.4 rating (3.27 million homes) which is the network's biggest for a Thansgiving game since 1993 (Texas A&M-Texas). It also reported that the ESPN2 Boise State-Hawaii game on Nov. 23 did a 2.8 rating, the best of the 14 Friday night college football games on ESPN or ESPN2 this season. And ABC's prime-time coverage of Kansas-Missouri on Nov. 24 did a 7.0 overnight mark, the best in 2007 for Saturday Night Football.
==NBC announced this week it will stick with its scheduled Indianapolis-Baltimore game in Week 14 (Dec. 9), and the only change on the NFL's master schedule is Pittsburgh-New England (on CBS) moving from the 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. window.
==NBC also says it did a 15.6 overnight rating and 24 share for last Sunday's New England-Philadelphia game, the best in Sunday Night Football's short history and most watched prime-time game since Pittsburgh-Indianapolis on ABC's Monday Night Football in 2005 (15.8/24). The rating peaked at a 17.3 from 8 to 8:30 p.m. during the fourth quarter. Boston (39.5/55) and Philadelphia (35.4/50) did the best rating; L.A. came in at 12.9/21.
==NBC’s Bob Costas said it on “Football Night in America,” doing the highlights of the Cincinnati-Tennessee game when the Bengals’ Chad Johnson caught a 10-yard TD pass and celebrated by taking over the camera in the back of the end zone and pretending to shoot game action: “Someone’s got to tell him this is his worst nightmare. When he’s behind the camera, that means he can’t be in front of the camera.” A great retort. Except that it was, of course, caught live for the viewers by several of the other TV cameras around the stadium.
==HBO's "Costas Now" returns Tuesday (10 p.m.) with a show that looks back at the year in sports and includes a roundtable with Charles Barkley and John McEnroe.
==CBS NFL analyst Steve Beuerlein says it was all a joke that just got on the air by mistake as the network's media relations crew tried to explain why the former Notre Dame quarterback doing the network's Tennessee-Cincinnati regional telecast last Sunday referred to Titans running back LenDale White as a "USC thug" coming out of a commercial break. The game wasn't seen in the L.A. market -- we had Oakland at Kansas City instead in that 10 a.m. slot -- but those with DirecTV's "NFL Sunday Ticket" might have caught it. In the game, the Titans' White was given a personal foul after he kneed the Bengals' Marvin White near the end of the first half. Back from a short commercial break, Beuerlein could be heard saying, "USC thugs, man," as cameras showed White sitting on the bench. White played for USC, as did Titans coach Jeff Fisher. Beuerlein, born in Hollywood and a star at Anaheim's Servite High before going to Notre Dame -- then playing two seasons for the Raiders while they were in L.A. -- was joking with play-by-play man Bill Macatee, a Valley resident who knows more than most about USC football and is an avid fan of the program.
"Steve being a Notre Dame guy and like any two friends who have those allegiances would do, they kid each other about Notre Dame and USC all the time,'' CBS spokesperson LeslieAnn Wade said. "Certainly Steve wishes it wasn't on the air and so does CBS.''
We wish we heard it.
Macatee and Beuerlein are on CBS' regional coverage of Denver-Oakland on Sunday.
==And what do we make of what came from the mouth of "NFL Today general manager/professor" Charley Casserly on CBS' pregame show? After a discussion with James Brown about the record pace of kickoff returns for TDs, Casserly had the rest of us scratching our toupees when he went on about how touchbacks are also at an all-time high. Only 79 percent of kickoffs are being returned, Casserly said, and a change in the rule using the K ball means the balls are getting more often and get softer. And ...
"And believe it or not, global warming comes into it," Casserly said. "Al Gore can’t even take credit. When it’s warmer weather, the ball goes farther than in colder weather. All across the fall of the north this year we’ve had warm weather, therefore global warming is causing more touchbacks.”
Tell it to a polar bear clinging to his life on the edge of a melting iceberg.
==Ted Robinson and Marques Johnson have their own crosstown mess to deal with Sunday. Robinson, the newly installed main voice on Pac-10 basketball for Fox Sports Net, will be with Johnson to do the 11 a.m. game between USC and Kansas from the Galen Center for FSN Prime Ticket, then jet across town to call the 5 p.m. game at Pauley Pavilion between UCLA and Texas. In between, Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini do the Arizona-Texas A&M came for FSN West at 3 p.m.
==ESPN Classic (as well as ESPN360.com) carries the NASCAR annual awards banquet live tonight at 6 p.m. (reaired at 9 p.m. on ESPN). For extra incentive, Kelly Clarkson will sing sometime before dessert and after snarky opening remarks by David Spade, said to be a "long-time fan of NASCAR, having served as Grand Marshal in 2006 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and as the Honorary Mayor at Darlington Raceway in 2003," according to ESPN publicity researchers.
==Versus and the Tennis Channel have the U.S.-Russia Davis Cup finals starting today in Portland. As the Camarillo doubles team of Mike and Bob Bryan join Andy Roddick and James Blake in representing the U.S., Versus has all the matches live starting at 1 p.m. today with Bill Patrick (play-by-play), Jimmy Arias (analyst) and Leif Shras (reporter), with the Tennis Channel replaying it at 7 p.m. each night.
==HBO says it had started production on a documentary on the life of former heavyweight champion Joe Louis called "America's Hero ... Betrayed" that focuses on how he survived despite many setbacks. Those who were interviewed about him include his son, Joe Barrow, Jr.; former President Jimmy Carter; poet Maya Angelou; comedians Jerry Lewis and Dick Gregory and writer Gay Talese. The documentary debuts on Feb. 23 during Black History Month.
==Vin Scully, who turned 80 years old Thursday, will most likely never agree to have a bobblehead made of himself and given away at Dodger Stadium, which is what the team did for Tommy Lasorda when he turned 80 durng the season.
==A funeral service in Chicago is set for Saturday for former KSPN 710-AM program director Ray Kalusa, who died last Wednesday from a heart attack en route to see his mother on Thanksgiving in Las Vegas. He was 49.
==The second annual "You Make The Call Contest" -- allowing a listener of 710-AM to call the second-half opening kickoff of Saturday's USC-UCLA game from the Coliseum on Saturday that'll air on the station, if Pete Arbogast allows it, comes down to three finalists. Voting continues on the 710 website and the winner is announced live on Steve Mason's show between 1 and 4 p.m. today. The finalists: Cecil Treadway, Scott DeFalco and Eric Stover. Last year's winner called the second-half kickoff of the USC-Notre Dame contest, and if memory served us, the kick went out of bounds, no runback, and the series started at the 35 yard line.
==For the record, ESPN's Erin Andrews has won Playboy.com's "America's Sexiest Sportscaster" vote, with the Playboy press release indicating that the "leggy, lovely sideline reporter" lured nearly 40 percent of the more than 50,000 votes cast. FSN reporter/anchor Lindsay Soto was second, with Krista Voda, a NASCAR reporter for Speed Channel, finishing third. So does it mean Andrews will be invited by the company to do whatever demeaning thing they'll ask of her in the future? SI.com did a quick chat with her, and Andrews' response: "It's nice that people voted for me, but I haven't thought too much about it. I have two big football games to prepare for this week." Yeah, prepping for Thursday's meaingless Rutgers-Louisville game, followed by Saturday's Conference USA title game must be pretty taxing in the grand scheme of who's going to the BCS.
==And finally:
The much-discussed Steve Mason Soulja Boy Remix dance video to celebrate his new 710-AM show:
Mason has said this week the goal is one million hits on YouTube. Don't stop believin'.
When Mason came on the air Monday in his new time slot, he didn't allow listeners to read between the lines. Saying he was laying it out all for the audience because “you guys aren’t stupid,” Mason explained why he was no longer doing the drive-time spot with John Ireland, his partner there the last four years: “This solo show was not my idea and wasn’t my choice . . . if given my choice, I’d be working with John, but my bosses didn’t give me that choice.” As for whether he was told of the changes before they were announced two weeks ago, Mason admitted: “Yes, I did know shortly before and it was awful. I was torn up about it. . . I’m sure my bosses are cringing at this whole conversation, but I have a new contract and they can’t do anything about it. That’s officially the story. John’s a great guy and this has obviously put a strain our friendship, but it’s business and I’m moving forward and intend to have a great show every day.” As for the additional departure of midday host Kevin Kiley, whose spot Mason is now filling, Mason added: “(Management) gave him a lot of money to go away. That would be the correct answer."
And as of today, Mason is still working for the company.
Stephen A. Smith Q-and-A Part 7: "I'm trying to bring some realness"
==On whether he'd rather be labeled more a journalist than an entertainer or commentator:
"I wouldn’t say more. What I would say is that, part of me comes with every part that I do. Even if I’m entertaining you, I’m entertaining you doing journalism because I’m researching my information, cultivating sources and resources, doin gall those things journalists do. I've always said my school of journalism was the Winston Salem Journal. These guys -- the entire white staff embraced me from day one and taught me the business and cared about me. They taught me the business from the ground up made sure I understood the rules and regulations and integrity that came with it. I wasn’t the greatest writer or reporter no matter what anyone wants to say, but they knew I tried and I was going to be pretty damn good and they believed in me before I believed in myself. Those are the people I love dearly and always remember."
== On what his goals might be for the next five years:
"As far fetched as that may be, I’ve always aspired to be a reporter for '60 Minutes.' I’ve always loved that stuff. Like 'Real Sports.' But now I have a taste of the hosting bug, if there's the right opportunity, right channel, right muscle behind it, right time slot, all that stuff, I'd definitely want to do it. The sky is the limit. I don’t limit myself anymore. I’m happy career wise. I’m as happy as I've been in quite a while. I feel I’m pacing myself more now and cognizant of spreading myself too thin. ESPN magazine and ESPN.com want me to write for them, and I may do that rather than five columns a week. I’m monitoring those things. USA Today could be in the future.
"It’s beautiful (that) I don’t know because the possibilities are endless. That’s what it’s all about. What’s what you dream about and that’s position I'm in right now.
"One of the biggest goals is to be the best radio host I could possibly be. I have a national platform right now. It's only an hour. I don’t think that’s enough. I think it needs to be more. I don't want four hours. I'm reluctant to do three hours. But I could do three hours and two of them could be national."
==On final thoughts about how people view him:
"I only know one way to be and that’s real. I don’t know how to get in front of the mike. If I’m doing a commercial with Carmello Anthony and everyone loves it, you’re trying to act. But in front of a mike, I don't flinch. I don't back up. That's who I am. That’s just not going to change about me.
"I’ll give you a perspective. That’s my job. If I’m a black man and I’m one of the few black men hosting his own show, why do you need me if I’m not giving you my perspective? It makes no sense. ... You listen to black folks call up (and say), 'He’s got a point.' Why? Because they know I’m telling the truth. I’m trying to bring some truth and realness to the airwaves. Not to say it was non existent, but it was one sided. What I try is in talking to Colin Cowherd, to Jim Rome, to Mike Tirico ... it's not about if you agree or disagree, let me give you this perspective. Listen to me. Hear me. You can have whatever opinion you want to have but hear it. That’s what it’s all about.
"Even if you jump to a conclusion, you believe what you believe, why does that stop you from listening? Who told you you can’t learn from someone else? Listen, as a 40 year old man, even though I pride myself on possession of some degree of intelligence, the fact of the matter is that white folks, just like black folks, educated me. Listen, I want to hear what you have to say and what your presepctive is and why you feel that way because -- guess what? -- that’s how you learn.
"I grew up in a neighbood where I still have friends who don’t like being around white people. That’s a damn shame. Makes no sense. ... I think we live in a socity that tries to compartmentalize, section off, segreate people. I think that’s a mistake. Let’s all get together. Let’s talk. Every day. About whatever it is on your mind. And even you have a viewpoint I totally disagree with, I want you to feel free to express yourself (but) I ain’t gonna listen to no stupidness. Not if it don’t make sense and it’s stupid. I got no patience for that. But if you make sense, even if I disagree, I’m able to say I can understand how you feel that way.
"One of my favorite calls is one that says, 'Steven A. I gotta call you to the carpet about something.' I love that. I’m like, 'Really? What? Clearly you are challenging what I’ve said.' See, I know what I’ve said. So my whole point is I’m usually ready for any kind of response you had in disagreement because I considered that before I said what I had to say. I’m ready. If you make a valid point, you got me. But guess what, I’m not resenting you, I’m grateful. Because that makes me smarter and I’ll come back more intelligent than I was the day before. And I learned that extensively on my show 'Quite Frankly' as much as anything else. Because I listen to people tell their stories.
"I do believe if you're not making yourself better, you're moving backward. There's nothing worse than stagnancy. If you’re moving backward, you know it. If you’re stagnant, you’re moving backward, but you don’t know it. It’s worse, see what I’m saying? At some point you’re moving backward and you’re going to stop yourself because you’re tired of falling."
Stephen A. Smith Q-and-A Part 6: "I've always had thick skin"
==On reports that he used to write columns on his Blackberry for the Inquirer:
"No, that’s total fabrication. I wrote my column on a Blackberry one time, at the (2004) NBA draft, I was on vacation (from the newspaper). But while I was doing the draft for ESPN, Jameer Nelson from St. Joes, who at the latest was supposed to get drafted by Cleveland at No. 11, fell to No. 20 with Orlando. It’ s a big story in Philadelphia. I called my boss Jim Jenks and said, 'I only have my Blackberry but I can write a column because I can’t write on a big computer on the desk since I’m on national television and don’t know when cameras coming to me. This is the big story, do you need it?' It was only time every done that. But everywhere I look, everybody writes (I used to do colmns on my Blackberry).
"It’s funny until you realize that stuff behind what people say, what a disgrace it was writing on your Blackberry… woah, I was on vacation, I did it one time as a favor to my boss while I on the set. And (criticism) by the same people that write this stuff are the same people who see me in the press box and never once ask me what happened. Ever. They just assume (I wrote) columns on the Blackberry. Again, its depressing when people accuse so many of us without knowing the facts. What shocks me is they don’t ask. Come up to me and ask me and I’ll tell you.
"It’s an unwillingness to know because of personal agendas, someone has an axe to grind or they don’t like you or whatever, the opportunity to say what they want to say. But the one thing you learn and develop is thick skin. The thing that’s dangerous about me is I’ve always had thick skin. Now that I’m in this business, it’s even thicker. So it just doesn’t bother me. And not only that, but I could hurt these people anytime I want with retaliation, but I won't do it. It’s not my style. I don’t want to hurt anybody. I’m in a blessed position. I’m doing very well and why hurt someone else and their credibility. You’d just wish that someone would recognize: Listen, we’re all supposed to be family. I challenge anyone to come to talk to me about when I talk about my collegues in a negative fashion. Doesn’t happen. Just doesn’t happen."
==On other misconceptions people may have of him:
"The fact I’m always bombastic ... people who know me, know better. I pride myself on being cool and having a little style. .. I do get a little loud on the airwaves sometimes, there’s no question about that, and I do need to tone it down. Sometimes I don’t even know how loud I sound. That’s something I’m working on, literally. I don’t want to be straining my vocal chords.
"The perception is that I’m this TV guy … all that stuff. My foundations are rooted in newspapers. It doesn’t matter where I go from here, I know where I come from and there’s a level of respect I’m always going to have for my colelgues and the people of my profession and I’m not going to violate that.'
==On the story that he came out to the USC-UCLA game two years ago with bodyguards:
"Here’s what happened. Anytime you’re at a live event of that magnitude -- and we were out there tailgatging among thousands of people -- if you're ESPN talent, ESPN has security for you. (Up in the press box), the newspaper folks are up there. … I had to run to the bathroom, so I said 'I’m going up there.' (The security guys said), 'We have to come with you.' I was like, 'all right.' I understaood what people are saying. I didn’t know they were behind me up in the press box when I got out of the elevator.
"My problem wasn’t the story was wrong, but it was only half right. There’s another side to it. They never asked. I was in the press box for an hour, mingling, talking to guys I usually see (and) nobody asked. They just assumed and wrote it.
"It drives you nuts. It would drive me considerably less nuts if I was just a public figure. But more times than not, I’m sitting next to these people in the press box writing. My contemporaries. Why would they not ask me? You just realize when people talk jealousy and everything, what other excuse could you possibly have? Or it’s not, 'I won’t talk to you.' What do you want to know? It’s ridiculous. You just look at people and say, 'I guess you just really wanted to write this."
Stephen A. Smith Q-and-A Part 5: "(Quite Frankly) content was good"
==On creating a dialogue on radio versus having to talk in sound bites on TV, where you can sound more like a character than a person and give off the wrong impression:
"That’s true, but my response is also, I’m not familiar with it because I never went on TV and acted. When you see me on 'NBA Shootaround,' you’re getting me. That’s how I feel. What I will say is, you're ampted up and fired up. The camera’s rolling and the red eye’s on and you know millions are looking at you and -- all right, I’ve got 45 seconds to make this point. It’s almost like that marathon runner. If you’re jogging or beathing heavy and trying to pace yourself, and all of the sudden you look at the finish line, there it is, whatever you got left in you, you do it. That’s television. In radio, you sit back and (are) cruising, you got all the time in the world, time to make a point. Television, they’re in my ear.
"When you’re bombastic, and I don’t do it on purpose -- I take that back, when I’m talking about Kwame Brown I might do that on purpose, when I’m talking about Slava Medvedenko, I might do it on purpose -– but outside of that, it’s really not on purpose. With television there’s an urgency of the moment. In radio, you feel like you've got time to explain. Let me have a converstion. Let me rap to y’all. But on television, no conversation. I make my point and make sure I deliver it in a fashion where it will resonate and stick to you like glue. And I have 30 seconds to do it.:
==On what happened with his long-form TV show, "Quite Frankly," which started in Aug, 2005 and ended in January 2007:
"It was a tremendous experience. But I’ll never do it again under the same conditions. The pros I learned (was how) to be a host. Everyone says I’m a pretty damn good interviewer, and I learned that I am. It was what people didn’t see. For a long time, I was the warmup act, talking to the audicne. You never saw the Q and A I did after the show once we went off the air, staying up to an hour every day taking questions from a live studio audience. They didn’t want to see my humor.
"I knew that I was pretty good because ... when people criticized my show, they said, 'I can’t stand him.' They never said anything about my show. You read up. That let me know that my content was what it was all about. I told ‘em from day 1, you can tell me right now you can get Jerry Springer’s ratings if I be Jerry Springer, and I’m going to pass it up. I knew from the forcity of African Americans in my position, that I had to quote-unquote represent. What I meant by that was make sure the content was something respectable and people in the profession – Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, it didn’t matter – they’d look at my show and say, 'That’s a decent show. That’s a good show. We can respect that.'
"(Former ESPN executive producer) Mark Shapiro is the one who gave me the opportunity and he paged me on my Blackberry when I was in Greece for the Olympics, he said 'It’s time for you to have your own show.' That’s how it all started. Never asked for it. Never pursued it. Been covering the NBA, was looking to venture out into the NFL and boxing and all that stuff, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would host my own show. Mark Shapiro made it happen. He put big-time advertising and marketing behind it. I was promoted everywhere in a consistent time slot and I knew the show would be successful even though it was on ESPN2 instead of the main channel. I knew it had a legitamite shot at success.
"When (Shapiro) left I knew that task was going to be daunting. Anytime you have somebody that’s new, and wants their own vision ... John Skipper is a great man and incredibly generious to me. But the mistake I made it that he wanted to move it to late night and he asked me what I thought and I completely supported that, thinking I’d be on in prime time in the West, not realizing everyone has live events in that time. So I got pushed out. And people would say to me every single day: 'I love your show, I just can’t find it. … when are you coming back on?' I had people thinking I was only on once a week. It got to the point where I could only watch myself on Tivo, and even then it would cut it off. It was crazy.
"What I learned was I bit more off than I could chew because I was hosting my own radio show at the time, writing a column, and I did a discredit to myself by spreading myself so thin because it almost killed me physically."
Stephen A. Smith Q-and-A Part 4: "I am a catalyst"
== On the fact that the worst thing that anyone could ever write about him is that he got his facts wrong:
"Absolutely. They could say that all they want. People are going to attack. And again, this is one of those situations where color comes into effect. We all know the world that we live in and it’s extremely difficult for an African American to get a plethora of opportunities. You don’t see African American radio hosts all over the place. You certainly don’t see a bunch of African Americans in my position on television. There is no way on earth I’d be in this place if I didn’t have my facts straight. ...
"Have I made mistakes? Sure, but if I made mistakes it’s because a source told me the mistake. I’m on TV every day and the one thing I will say -- and I’ve said this on TV before but it hasn’t been printed -- is I don’t care what anybody says. Go back to my roots on television and my work in newspapers. Go back to my work on radio. And I assure you better than 95 percent of the time, my information is correct. Nobody can doubt it. It’s there. On tape or airwaves or written words in the archives. I stand by my work and my integrity and my name are first and foremost, which is one of the reasons why I’m fighting the Inquirer. My name, you put it out there and I dn’t deseve that and I will fight anyone who does that."
==On whether its disappointing that race ever gets into an argument about things he says or does, or things he chooses to talk about:
"It is disappointing at times. One of the things I love about radio -- I didn’t always like it, I happen to love it now -- is it exerts a level of energy and drainage from me that no other thing does. When you’re talking, you’re catching your breath and thinking, 'I gotta get into the gym and build up my wind.' But I would say that -- and my mother always said this about me -- I always viewed myself as a catalyst for change. I’m one of those people who, the way my mother and father raised me, I’ve never looked a white folks and said, “You’re white, you’re wrong, you’re white, you’re evil, you’re white, you’re … this (or that).” And I’ve never looked at black people and said, “You’re black, so you’re good and you’re honest and …”
"People are people. Content of character is judged on a case by case basis. I think the important thing to remember for me as a voice, what I always try to do is create the dialogue. That’s extremely important to me …
"I had a story of a guy who calls my radio show by the name of Howie who’s in his 70s, who took offense to a position I took in the Michael Vick situation. I said, 'You listen to my show not just for sports but because you want to hear me. That means you want to hear my thoughts, how I feel, how I come to my conclusions from the enviroment from which I come from. Right?' He said, 'Absolutely.' Well, then how can you tell me I’m wrong? That’s where I’m coming from. This is what I believe based on what I know. Now if you feel that I’m wrong, explain to me why. Don’t be offended. Because that’s like me being offended from where you’re from.
"I don’t think racism is a problem any more. Obviously, it’s still an issue. But it’s not nearly the problem that people make it out to be. I think the lack of dialogue is what the problem is. You have white folks that are scared to say stuff to black America because they’re petrified about how black America will act. You have black America that’s overly sensitive, but righteously so because of the level of deception sometimes that’s beamed in their direction. And the combination of the two are like oil and water. It doesn’t provoke any kind of communication. And it leaves us all stagnant and stuck in a rut and unwilling to venture out and go forward.
"What I like to do is I like to make sure no matter who you are or what you are, if you have something that makes sense, that’s intelligent to say, you can call my show and, even if I disagree with you, I’m going to say, 'I respect your opinion, I understand where you come from, here’s how I look at it.' Or 'Here is why you have people in a different society, a different culture and different backgrounds, here's why they feel differently.'
"Sports is basically an escape from the real world. And in some ways it’s a microsm of society that you can use to touch on a varity of different things. And if you don’t take advantage of that opportunity, you have no business being on radio. It’s a waste of time. Because it’s the one thing (where) you call up, they can’t see who you are, you’re not giving your last name, you have no fear, therefore you’re allowed to express yourself. And it’s important we take advantage of that opportunity. For me, that’s the best part of being on radio.
"You’ve got to be fearless. Somebody’s got to put themselves on Front Street. In order to create dialogue, someone has to be a catalyst. The callers might be able to hide but the catalyst can’t hide. He has to willing to be front and center and stand in the eye of the storm and say, I’m promoting this dialogue. I pride myself in that. I told my bosses once I’d go interview the KKK if they let me -- if they promosed not to do me harm. Tell me when to show up. I’ll show up. I’m not scared. It’s important to be able to talk about anything and be willing to understand other people. Even if you disagree, if you understand them, what that will likely eliminate is the volitile approach to that. All right, I disagree, but you can make the hatred (be) gone if you’re willing to listen and understand where they’re coming from."
==On his situation with the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"I am not working there. I can not talk extensively about that because that’s a legal matter. The position they’ve taken is entirely contradictory to what my position is and what I believe we agreed upon. I will say I’m happy to be working at ESPN. I’m proud of the years I had at the Inquirer and the leadership that helped elevate me with 8 different promotions over 13 ½ year period. I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the opportunity they gave me. Other than that, I know of the agreement we had and I intend to make sure I fulfill it or for someone to give me an explanation as to why that was other than fabricating some bogus stuff about me.
==On if he considers going back to newspapers, or whether it's a dying industry:
"I don't believe that. All the newspaper industry has to do is connect itself better with the internet and guess what? People will read the newsaper on the internet, not rely so much on the paper copy and get with the internet age more so than it has. The foundation of the newspaper business... should never die. We shoud do all we can possible to make sure it lives in perpetuity because it’s extremely important with everything. It keeps radio and television on their ps and qs.
"And when you look at the internet business, what’s dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses. I respect the journalism industry, and the fact of the matter is ...someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts. More important are the level of ethics and integrity that comes along with the quote-unqoute profession hasn’t been firmly established and entrenched in the minds of those who’ve been given that license.
"Therefore, there’s a total disregard, a level of wrecklessness that ends up being a domino effect. And the people who suffer are the common viewers out there and, more importantly, those in the industry who haven’t been fortunate to get a radio or television deal and only rely on the written word. And now they’ve been sabotaged. Not because of me. Or like me. But because of the industry or the world has allowed the average joe to resemble a professional without any credentials whatsoever."
==On how the media has portrayed him, pro and con:
"Sports Illustrated and the New York Times did pieces on me that were incredibly fair. I had no problems with it. I understand I’m a polarizing figure in that I know everyone’s not going to love you. I always aspired to be a general sprots columnist and knew what came with that terrotiry: Being front and center, in your face and come at you like a Mack truck. Because of that, everyone wasn’t going to be fond of that approach. My mentality has always been growing up and seeing people, seeing if they’re being reserved or holding back their thoughs or opinions or whatever. I always just wanted people to give it to me.
"That’s why when people compared me to Howard Cosell, it was an honor, but at the same time highly inappropriate. I wasn’t nearly as intelligent as him. My background wasn’t as extensive as his way, certainly couldn’t articulate as well as he could, and still can’t, but I had a level of admiration for him because everytime I looked at him, he had the believeability factor down pat. You knew when he spoke he meant exactly what he said. And that falls in line with my personality.
"I’m the guy who got in trouble in the fifth grade because I told my teacher the truth and went home and got my butt whipped and put in punishment because I refused to lie. I’ve always been that kind of person. When people consider me polarizing, and they come at me, that never bothers me. What bothers me is some of the little stigmas, like the ‘Screamin’ A.’ thing. I detest that.
"I deal with it. It’s not to say I don’t scream. But it’s not al lthe time. The people who labeled me that, let's look at their intent behind it. What were they trying to say. All right, well he’s bombastic, he’s demonstrative. How about the fact I’ve been a journalist for 14 years. How about as a beat writer covering the NBA, I broke one story after another and usually had my way with opposing beat writers. I was extrememly successful as a journalist -- which means you had to think, do your reporting, back up your facts … but that takes a back seat to my bombastic or occasional demonstrative ways. And what bothers me about it -- the people who labeled me that are the ones you see screaming on television. Now, if we’re all in it together, then I’m not offended. It’s like, 'OK, fine.'
"The Skip Baylesses of the world –- who I love, he’s a friend of mine, contrary to popular belief (and pictured above, right, with Smith on the left)–- these people scream. They go off. They’re in your face. But I’m 'Screamin’ A'? It makes me wonder why. And it makes me say, 'What’s the intent behind it?'
"So when I go on the air and bring up stuff like race or what have you, I know how I was raised – I’m the first person to call a black person out just like I’ll call anybody else out. It doesn’t matter. But what I do is point out the unfairness in how stuff is portrayed and deciminated to the masses.
"You call me Screamin’ A. What do you mean by that? It doesn’t offend me that it’s 'Screamin’ A' ... it rhymes. (But) I’ll never ask. This is journalism 101 – I’ve had people write about me, I’m in a press box, sitting right next to you. You say nothing to me. And I turn around the next day and something is written about me. Where I’m from as a journalist, if I’ve got something to say about you, and you are right there, I’m going to walk up to you and talk to you and tell you that I’m going to write about you. I’m not going hide and duck and weave. That happens constantly to me now. And I will openly acknowledge that’s the one and probably only thing about my success that has hurt.
"The radio (work) has been successful. Televison has obviously been successful. But my roots are grounded in newspapers. I didn’t cheat the industry. I busted my tail to get to where I was and then ventured out and capitalized off other opportunities. But I never forgot where I came from and what the newspaper industry means to all of us. Every day a radio host that says before he goes on the air that he doesn’t read the newspaper is a liar. We all do. You’d think that listening to some of these folks talk about me like I wasn’t part of the newspaper family, that hurts. It was like when I had my TV show, who did I bring on? Newspaper writers. I made sure to make sure the world recognizes talented reporting to our information culture. You would think people would appreciate it and remember it and unfortunately I don’t get that impression. I have my friends in the industry and never have to worry. With my mouth and my contacts I can respond in any way at any time. I choose not to. But I open acknowledge that it hurts."
Stephen A. Smith Q-and-A Part 1: Looking at things "in a new perspective"
Following up on today's Daily News column on Stephen A. Smith, we present a wide-range Q-and-A with the polarizing ESPN TV and radio personality with the first of seven blog entries:
==On what it's like getting work done in L.A. this week:
"I’m an East Coast guy. When you think about it, New York City is truely a city that never sleeps. One of my favorite routes to take in Manahattan coming from Queens or Harlem is driving into midtown and taking this turn and coming down 7th Avenue toward Times Square, the lights are everywhere. It’s a big city, keeps you awake. The only thing that can replace that is warm weather, sunshine and palm trees. See what I mean? When I think about L.A., coming here to cover the NBA for so many years, so many friends, some high school buddies out here that I hadn’t seen for 15 years who couldn’t believe they saw me on ESPN ... and the Lakers are the Lakers, growing up admiring Showtime with Magic Johnson. So L.A. is just a different feel and just as exciting. And I’m jealous of it. Everyone here is a little less stressed.
"I do think folks out West are a bit more laid back than the hustle and bustle of the East Coast. ... That’s just how it is. And I grew up in that kind of environment so I’m accustomed to it.
"I just turned 40 and now I look at things with a new perspective. I think about people less stressed, they seem more relaxed, and if you have a get-up and go about yourself, you can capitalize on that in this kind of environment. You’ll make it happen because it’s in your nature but you’re not going to forcefeed matters (like being) on the East Coast because things aren’t that pressurized. That adds to the level of enjoyment. Don’t care if it’s the women, or just individuals, people just feel less stressed."
==On whether less stressed people react better to consuming sports information rather than the harsh pace of East Coast sports fans:
"There’s a reason most people wouldn’t appreciate, but I do as a newspaper guy, that’s my foundation. We’re three hours ahead. We have to know things faster. We can’t sit back and take it in and then come out eloquting an opinion. When I go cover a game, I’m on deadline. It exists on the West Coast, but being three hours ahead, it’s our job to get the information out quicker. So it puts you in a luxurious position to be able to step back here and listen to a pouporie of thoughs and opinions beause you have more time. And that helps."
The transcript of a letter sent to those registered with the USC Alumni Association, on behalf of athletic director Mike Garrett, on the topic of the school's lease agreement with the Coliseum:
November 28, 2007
It gives me no pleasure to write a letter of this kind, but there are issues facing our university which you need to understand. The University of Southern California has been negotiating diligently for months, trying to renew USC's lease with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and trying to get guarantees that USC's football team and fans can enjoy home games in a completely renovated and improved stadium.
Unfortunately, talks are at an impasse, and right now we have no lease for the Coliseum next year. As a precaution, USC has negotiated a lease with the Rose Bowl to ensure that we have an acceptable stadium in which to play our home football games for the foreseeable future. But this arrangement is not what we want. We want our football program to remain at the Coliseum. And we want the Coliseum Commission-our "landlords" who manage the stadium-to begin the long overdue rehabilitation of the Coliseum.
You all know the many things which need attention:
Complete replacement of concession facilities to afford modern food and beverage services like those offered at all major stadiums.
Replacement of, and additions to, the currently inadequate restroom facilities.
All new, state-of-the-art video and score boards.
Replacement of the grossly inadequate sound system.
Improved access through renovated and replaced stairs, elevators and escalators.
Repair of crumbling concrete stairs, walkways and infrastructure.
Replacement of all seats.
Reconfiguration of entry gates in order to move fans in and out of the stadium safely and efficiently.
This is not just about people's comfort and enjoyment; it's about the long-term viability of the structure. It's old and worn out. And it is not being used to its fullest potential by the wider community.
USC has been waiting-I believe patiently-ten years for the Commission to do this, but they have not taken the necessary steps, and they will not promise to do so anytime soon. For a decade the nine-member Coliseum Commission has hoped to attract an NFL franchise to the stadium. Their plan has been that the NFL would pay for renovations. There was a clear message from the NFL last summer stating that "notwithstanding all of our best efforts to identify a mutually acceptable solution, we have determined that the Coliseum renovation project, as currently contemplated, would create significant economic risks for the NFL such that we are not prepared to move forward with the project at this time."
The Coliseum Commission asked USC to submit a proposal. So we did. We made to them what I think is an amazing offer. USC offered to spend $100 million to repair and improve the stadium on a ten-year plan, phasing in renovations each year. In return, we requested a master lease that would allow us to play football in the Coliseum for many years. We asked to participate in making decisions regarding the Coliseum and to be given opportunities that would allow us to offset our outlay of money by controlling more of the stadium's revenues. And we'd help make sure the Coliseum has a full life all year round, with entertainment and sporting events, both large and small, not just the six home games for the USC football team.
But the Coliseum Commission rejected our offer.
Our team deserves a great stadium. So do our fans. So do the people of Los Angeles.
The Coliseum Commission is made up of representatives from the city, the county, and the state. They need to know how you feel about this. I believe that our voices will be heard if we work through our elected officials. I urge you to e-mail, fax, or phone the appropriate official asking them to:
Let USC direct and fund the Coliseum's refurbishment in partnership with the city, the county, and the state.
Let USC, in collaboration with the Coliseum Commission, determine and perform vital repairs while ensuring steady income to offset expenses and upkeep.
Let USC be more than a tenant. (USC already brings in 60 percent of the Commission's revenue and that has been the only steady tenant for 80 years! ) We seek to be a key player in the preservation and enhancement of this great civic treasure and historic landmark. Remind them that for 80 years USC has stayed while other teams have gone, and that our home games spark spending in the neighborhood each fall to the tune of approximately $5 million. And that, in total, USC contributes $4 billion to the local economy each year.
If you'd like to join me in taking action, click here for the names of the people to contact.
Your support and commitment to the University of Southern California is invaluable. Together, let's continue to work hard to keep the USC football program in our beloved Coliseum.
Thank you for caring about this issue and for expressing your concerns.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Garrett '67
Director of Athletics
University of Southern California
More NFL Net fallout over holding Packers-Cowboys hostage
Greed vs. Greed -- aka, the NFL Network vs. the Cable Operators -- has come down to more of a battle of Arrogance vs. Self Preservation as Thursday's live (and exclusive TV) coverage of 10-1 Green Bay and 10-1 Dallas clicks closer.
The NFL Network wasn't relevant until it decided last year to start showing live regular season games. It then tried to force cable companies to pay an extra 70 cents per month per subscriber to carry their channel. Cable companies, already under pressure from customers to keep rates down as they continue to print money, have stood firm against it, trying to wedge it onto a pay tier with other such channels that aren't in high demand but cost too much to just force onto unwilling participants.
Dallas Cowboys owner/visionary/hostage negotiator Jerry Jones was just installed by commissioner Roger Goodell as the chairman of the TV committee -- and Jones' strong-arm response to those who complain they can't see his team play Thursday: Switch from cable to satellite dish.
"Millions of people won't see this game unless they switch to satellite," Jones said. "Most of our fans have the opportunity to switch. Get off Time Warner and go see the ball game."
The 35 million homes (out of about 111 million) who do have access to the NFL Network are those mostly with either DirecTV or the Dish Network. He's right, but he may not understand the realistic downside to that with consumers who have little option but to pay for cable over a dish.
You're going to read and hear more about the pros and con-jobs each side is trying to spin as the season progresses down to the finale when the NFL Network has New England's final game -- and possible attempt to finish with an undefeated record. Some legislators think they can look good by trying to pass bills; others are trying to push the FCC into making a ruling. It's all nonsense.
Meanwhile, here's some clips we've enjoyed of recent stories written about the situation this week to help you make a better judgement about who to be most upset with here:
Those stressing out over missing Thursday's Packers-Cowboys matchup -- the first between two 10-1 NFL teams since 1990 -- have some alternatives to consider just becaue the NFL Network is holding it hostage on its inaccessable channel.
DirecTV Channel 212 or Dish Network Channel 154 seem to have no problem carrying it over your standard cable systems.
Dick Enberg and Dennis Green will be doing Thursday’s game for Westwood One radio, and can be heard in this market -- just figured out, by the way -- on KTLA-AM (1150), since the Kings have the night off. Lancaster's KAVL-AM (610) (or listen to the audio stream on its website link here) and San Diego-based XX Sports 1090-AM which doesn't seem to have audio streaming, will also have it.
And the NFL Network announced today that for the first time, the game Thursday will be "featured" on NFL.com Live, a live broadband version with originally produced video that's also available on NFL Mobile on Sprint to view from cellphones.
It's not really game coverage, per se, but "live look-ins" at 15 and 45 minues past each other as well as "select action in the red zone." Derrin Horton, Jamie Dukes and Rod Woodson host the show from the NFL Network studios in Culver City.
"Our coverage complements the complete game telecast on NFL Network and will showcase everything NFL Network has to offer,” said Brian Rolapp, the NFL Senior VP of digital media, in a press release.
Fans of the Packers and Cowboys in their home markets don't have to worry about finding the NFL Network for this one. The games goes out over WFRV-Channel 5, the CBS affiliate in Green Bay, as well as WISN-Channel 12, the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee. In Dallas, it'll be on over-the-air on KDFI-Channel 27.
Read on for more emotional outbursts in the Midwest about the lack of the NFL Network:
By RACHEL COHEN
AP Sports Writer
Chuck Woehler doesn't understand the intricacies of the feud between the NFL Network and the big cable companies, nor does he care to. All he knows is he won't be able to watch his beloved Dallas Cowboys from his San Antonio home as he can every other week — and he faults the NFL for that.
Football fans will feel the impact of the wrangling like never before when two teams with 10-1 records and huge national appeal face off Thursday night on a channel available in fewer than 40 percent of the country's households.
For the many who haven't closely followed the traded barbs about sports tiers, FCC regulations and cease-and-desist letters, the issue is simply that they want to watch a game and can't. How they react — and who they blame — will test each side's conviction that its strategy will prevail.
The potential repercussions are especially powerful because the Cowboys and Packers boast large regional, even national fan bases.
For viewers outside Texas and Wisconsin who don't subscribe to satellite TV or one of the smaller cable providers that carry the network, their plight won't be unprecedented. On a Sunday afternoon, even the biggest of matchups might not be on free TV in some areas because of conflicts with local teams' games. Small pockets of the country didn't get two highly anticipated meetings of undefeated squads earlier this season: the New England Patriots' showdowns with the Cowboys and the Indianapolis Colts.
But in places like San Antonio and Madison, Wis., the ability to watch the Cowboys or Packers is assumed to be as natural as the sun rising every morning.
NFL Network games are simulcast on free TV in the teams' home markets, so fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Milwaukee and Green Bay areas are all set. That leaves an estimated 4 million viewers in other parts of the states who don't get the channel.
Like Woehler, many of those deprived Cowboys and Packers loyalists directed their ire at the NFL.
"It annoys me," said Teresa Werhane of DeForest, Wis., north of Madison. "This is a huge game. Whose decision was it to put it on the NFL Network? That seems pretty stupid to me. It's really going to (expletive) off a lot of fans in the long run."
She was considering calling a friend with a satellite, even though they haven't seen each other in months. There's always a bar, though she has to work Friday morning.
Some other fans don't enjoy such options. Mike Martel owns several nursing homes in the San Antonio area, where a standard Sunday activity is gathering in the common room to watch the Cowboys. Because the homes get basic cable, residents won't see Thursday's game.
"We think it's because of the greed of the NFL," Martel said.
Dawn Harrod of Wausau, Wis., is worried about her 95-year-old mother, an avid Packers fan who will miss the game.
The Packers should be on local TV, Harrod said. If not, she wouldn't be willing to pay Charter, her cable company, more to get the NFL Network.
"They should provide it," she said of Charter. "We pay enough already."
NFL Network officials are encouraging fans to switch from providers that don't offer the channel to those that do. They think enough defections will pressure the major cable companies into concessions.
A full-page ad in the sports section of Monday's Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald blared, "You won't get Green Bay vs. Dallas on Charter." The ad offered the NFL Network and more than 100 other channels for $29.99 a month through Dish Network.
Wausau is about 100 miles from Green Bay.
At Satellite Country, which installs Dish and DirecTV systems in Austin, Texas, the recent spurt of calls from customers wanting to sign up to get the NFL Network has been unmistakable.
"Everybody's noticed it," said Bergen Miele, who works in sales.
Other fans bristled at the notion of changing providers just because of the NFL Network.
"I'm not going to buy satellite to catch one game or two games a week," said Timothy Smith, a Cowboys fan in San Antonio.
At Fatso's, the sports bar where he is a manager, "the phone has been ringing nonstop" in recent days as people ask whether the game will be on there.
The issue of whose homes get the NFL Network and whose don't was a topic of conversation during a staff meeting this week at Woehler's place of employment, St. Thomas Episcopal Church. As priest, Woehler has offers from a couple of parishioners to come over to watch the game.
Consternation about the NFL Network's lack of availability could resurface the last week of the season if the Patriots stand one win from a 16-0 record heading into their meeting with the New York Giants.
Fans in the Boston area will get the game on free TV, but not those in other parts of New England.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the chairman of the league's NFL Network committee, sounded giddy earlier this month discussing the appeal of Packers-Cowboys and Patriots-Giants. He was confident that airing the high-profile matchups on the channel wouldn't backfire on the league.
While nobody could have predicted Dallas and Green Bay would be battling for home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs, Jones said, the fact both teams are so widely popular contributed to the decision to place the game on the channel.
"It's no accident that two of the eight games are Cowboys games," he said of this season's NFL Network slate.
Last year, only three of the eight contests featured two squads with winning records. The best matchup was probably the 6-5 Cincinnati Bengals against the 9-2 Baltimore Ravens.
Jones used the example of the huge numbers of Cowboys fans in Austin and San Antonio as evidence the big cable companies should carry the channel.
"I don't think fans mind us allocating resources to build" the network, Jones said.
Associated Press writers Robert Imrie in Wausau, Wis., Chris Jenkins in Green Bay, Wis., and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan, the former Crespi High standout and 2006 NLCS MVP when he was pitching for St. Louis, says his new eatery, Soup's Sports Grill, is in the process of a soft opening (it served its first meal on Nov. 17) but it plans a much bigger grand opening party sometime soon.
At the site of the former Wienery next to Paoli's (21028 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills), Jeff and wife Dana have set up a place with 11 high-def flat panel TV sets for sports viewing, and he's installed more than 20 music speakers arranged in six listening zones that offer "everything from crisp, clear play-by-play to old time baseball classics," he writes on the restaurant's website.
In talking about opening his restaurant, Suppan seemed most pumped up about the fact groups could come in and hold parties at his place, including a roof-top deck that has authentic seats from the old Busch Stadium installed.
And as a tribute to the former occupant of the location, the Soup's Grill menu includes The Wienery's Hot Dog, a Vienna grilled on a toasted bun.
Soup's Grill is open 11 a.m. to midnight every day. More info: 818.884.6005
The Watersmeet school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which takes care of educating the local youth from kindergarden through 12th grade, calls its sports teams the Nimrods.
A Nimrod, for those nimrods out there who don't know, is a Biblical reference to a hunter. Watersmeet is a small hamlet known for its outdoorsmen, hunters and fishermen who enjoy the local forests, rivers and lakes.
It's become, in fact, Nimrod Nation.
Brett Morgen, who produced and directed documentaries such as "On the Ropes" and "The Kid Stays in the Picture," also directed commercials featuring the Nimrod Nation for ESPN. It got him more in tune with what goes on in Watersmeet beyond its love for its local school's athletic programs.
The result is an eight-part series called "Nimrod Nation" that the Sundance Channel will begin airing tonight at 9 p.m. with Episode 1 and 9:30 p.m. with Episode 2. Two episodes air each Monday night through Dec. 17.
“Nimrod Nation” starts during the 2005-2006 season of Watersmeet’s high school basketball team. Watersmeet has its own issues to deal with. There's tension between the Anglo population and the Native Americans who live on the Potawatomi Iand Lac du Flambeau indian reservations near by. It has drug and alcohol abuse, and teenage pregancy problems.
“Though the main focus of ‘Nimrod Nation’ is on the high school basketball team, the series provides a riveting narrative that delves deeply into issues of identity and culture," said Laura Michalchyshyn, the executive VP and GM of programming for the Sundance Channel, “Watersmeet, like many towns, is anything but typical, and Brett has created an objective and compelling portrait.”
Here's a YouTube.com 1:30 clip introduction:
Another clip below that's also on YouTube featuring the Zelinski brothers came with this comment from someone who viewed it: "I knew this crap would happen when this show came out. They put the extreme retarded people in the show, and made it look like we are all like that. F you Sundance channel."
Here's the lineup for the series from a Sundance Channel release:
Tonight: Episode 1: The school year begins for the Watersmeet Nimrods, who won the 2005 District Finals in the team’s best season ever. Coach George Peterson III is also the principal of Watersmeet Township School. The team’s star members include senior guard George Peterson IV, the coach’s son. Center Nathan Vestich is student council president. Junior center Brian Aimsback is a Native American. The season opener pits the Nimrods against a tough opponent, the Bessemer High School Speedboys.
Episode 2: The uneasy nature of relations between Watersmeet’s white and Native American communities is highlighted when Aimsback and Peterson reach the same career milestone of 1,000 points. But basketball is not the only subject stirring up local passions: word is out that a large housing development has been proposed for Bond Falls Park, a scenic wilderness area that is a popular spot for fishing, cookouts and other activities. Determined to save the land for future generations, ardent outdoorsman Jeff Zelinski begins a petition drive against the Bond Falls development.
Monday, December 3:
Episode 3: Motivational speaker Karl Randall visits Watersmeet Township School to talk to students about smoking, drinking, drugs and sex, and offers his own cautionary tale of teenage drinking and driving. Meanwhile, George and Suzanne Zelinski have taken in Suzanne’s pregnant niece, Anna, a studious high school junior emerging from a rocky period in her life. As the Nimrods prepare to take on the undefeated Forest Park-Crystal Falls Trojans, pressure mounts on Brian, whose once-mighty shooting average has declined since he and cheerleader Hope Yablonski began dating. Episode 4: Student council president Vestich heads up the planning for Homecoming Week activities, including dress-up days. A critical game against Ewen-Trout Creek turns ugly in the fourth quarter as players become physically aggressive, and Nathan’s excellent showing is overshadowed by personal fouls in the game’s closing minutes. After a Bessemer student threatens to retaliate against Nathan, Coach Peterson takes extra steps to ensure that the Nimrods’ upcoming match against the Bessemer Speedboys stays clean.
Monday, December 10: Episode 5: Drama teacher Suzanne Zelinski tries to inject the arts into the school’s extracurricular programs as she mounts a musical production, “Toys-R-Alive.” Some Nimrod players join the cast, but rehearsals hit a bump when the athletes are claimed by basketball practice. Parent-teacher conference day brings some discussion about the tension between school sports and academic work. Sloppy playing by the Nimrods gives Coach Peterson cause for worry as the team nears the end of the regular season. Episode 6: Coach Peterson delivers an emotional speech on Senior Night, bidding farewell to six graduating players, including Nathan and George IV. Only one of the team’s star players, Brian, will be returning the Nimrods next season. Watersmeet citizens and businesses get into the spirit of March Madness, and college coaches begin making inquiries about some Nimrod players. Bolstered by their 18-2 record, the Nimrods head into the first game of the post-season and face one of their fiercest rivals.
Monday, December 17: Episode 7: As the Nimrods advance to the District Finals, Coach Peterson brings in former NCAA basketball coach Norman Ellwood for expert advice and strategizing – and to help get slacking center Nathan to perform up to his potential. While Nathan acknowledges the need to shape up, Brian is eager to redeem himself after a poor showing against Bessemer. Encouraged by his grandmother, Wanda, and his girlfriend Hope, Brian meets with a Chippewa tribal member about returning to one of his earliest loves, traditional Native dancing. Episode 8: Nimrod fans are nervous but hopeful as their team gets ready to play the No. 1 Forest Park-Crystal Falls’ Trojans in the Regional semifinals. Taking the court against the fast and formidable Trojans, the Nimrods are challenged not only to keep up, but also to keep their cool. With the snow melting and the basketball post-season winding down, it is time to turn to spring outdoor traditions.
The series will be available for download on iTunes on the Tuesday after they air.
The annual sports media Dubious Dozen comes out Friday, but before that, we have some media minutia to get on the books before the cranberry sauce gets all over 'em:
==First, if we had video entries for the Dubious Dozen -- and I think we've landed on an idea for next year -- FSN sideline idiot Jim Knox would have made it from this "story" he did at the Kansas-Kansas State game:
==This weekend's football viewing:
The NFL
Thursday: 9:30 a.m.: Green Bay at Detroit, with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, Channel 11
During Fox's pregame show at 8:30 a.m., 200 meters of the Armed Services will be in the L.A. studio -- personnel from the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, the Marine base in Camp Pendleton, Edwards Air Force Base, Miramar Marine air station and the Ventura County Naval Base. 1 p.m.: N.Y. Jets at Dallas, with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, Channel 2 5:15 p.m.: Indianapolis at Atlanta with Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth, NFL Network (and again, for those who don't receive it, don't worry. The score will be in the paper the next day) Sunday: 10 a.m.: Minnesota at N.Y. Giants, with Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa, Channel 11 (instead of New Orleans-Carolina, Seattle-St. Louis and Washington-Tampa Bay on Fox) 10 a.m.: Oakland at Kansas City with Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots, Channel 2 (instead of Tennessee-Cincinnati, Buffalo-Jacksonville and Houston-Cleveland on CBS). 1 p.m.: Baltimore at San Diego with Dick Enberg and Randy Cross, Channel 2 (up against Denver-Chicago on CBS and San Francisco-Arizona on Fox) 5:15 p.m.: Philadelphia at New England with Al Michaels and John Madden, Channel 4 (NBC's original game on its schedule; this isn't a flex pick off someone else's roster) Monday: 5:30 p.m.: Miami at Pittsburgh with Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Ron Jaworski and no flex schedule to bail ESPN out of this one.
Colleges
The local teams, with BCS rankings:
Thursday:5 p.m.: No. 11 USC at No. 6 Arizona State, with Chris Fowler, Doug Flutie and Craig James (with Dubious Dozen entry Erin Andrews), ESPN (repeats at 11:30 p.m.) In between, ESPN has USC's basketball team facing the University of San Diego at the Anaheim Classic at 9 p.m.
Saturday:12:30 p.m.: No. 9 Oregon at UCLA with Dan Fouts and Tim Brandt, Channel 7
The rest of the country: Friday: 8 a.m.: Central Michigan at Akron, with Matt Devlin and Doug Chapman, ESPNU (it's 11 a.m. local time, pretty early for two schools begging for TV time, but this is what they settled for, even if it's on the less-viewed ESPN network of all) 9 a.m.: Nebraska at Colorado with Dave Lamont and David Norrie, Channel 7 10:30 a.m.: 1-AA Playoffs: Delaware State at Delaware with Dave Ryan and Jim Donnan, ESPN 11:30 a.m.: Arkansas at No. 1 LSU with Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson, Channel 2 11:30 a.m.: Toledo at Bowling Green with Sam Gore and David Diaz-Infante, ESPNU 12:30 p.m.: No. 13 Texas at Texas A&M with Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham and Jack Arute, Channel 7 6 p.m.: No. 19 Boise State at No. 15 Hawaii with Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman, ESPN2
Saturday: 7 a.m.: ESPN College GameDay is in Kansas City for the Missouri-Kansas game. 9 a.m.: Miami at No. 14 Boston College with Pam Ward and Ray Bentley, ESPN 9 a.m.: No. 8 Virginia Tech at No. 16 Virginia with Dave Pasch, Andre Ware and Erin Andrews, ESPN2 9 a.m.: 1-AA Playoffs: Fordham at Massachusetts with Clay Matvick, Larry Coker, ESPNU 10:30 a.m.: No. 18 Tennessee at Kentucky with Craig Bolerjack and Steve Beurelein, Channel 2 11 a.m.: Utah at No. 25 BYU with James Bates and Todd Christensen, Versus 11 a.m.: Grambling vs. Southern in the Bayou Classic, with Bob Papa, Don McPherson, Lewis Johnson and Derrin Horton, Channel 4
(Note: at 10:30 a.m., NBC has a half-hour special, "Every Man a Tiger: The Eddie Robinson Story," narrated by actor Andre Braugher, that tells the story of the late Grambling coach and includes former players Doug Williams, Willie Davis and James Harris. 12:30 p.m.: No. 7 Georgia at Georgia Tech with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Bonnie Bernstein, ESPN (also in this window on PPV: No. 20 Connecticut at No. 3 West Virginia) or ESPN may show Kansas State at Fresno State with Eric Collins and James Hasty. 12:30 p.m.: Notre Dame at Stanford with Dave Lamont and Ed Cunningham, ESPN2 12:30 p.m.: Oklahoma State at No. 10 Oklahoma with Bill Land and Gary Reasons, FSN West 12:30 p.m.: Duke at North Carolina with Doug Bell and Jay Walker, ESPNU 2 p.m.: Florida State at No. 12 Florida with Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson, Channel 2 4 p.m.: No. 22 Clemson at South Carolina with Gary Thorne and Bob Davie, ESPN2 4 p.m.: Washington State at Washington with Barry Tompkins, Petros Papadakis and Jim Watson, FSN West 4:15 p.m.: No. 24 Cincinnati at Syracuse with Dave Armstrong and Mike Gottfried, ESPNU 5 p.m.: No. 4 Missouri vs. No. 2 Kansas with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit, Channel 7 5 p.m.: Alabama at Auburn with Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge, ESPN
Not scheduled: No. 5 Ohio State (regular season over), No. 16 Virginia, No. 17 Illinois (regular season over), No. 21 Wisconsin (regular season over), No. 23 South Florida.
==Versus carries the Stanford-Cal game on Dec. 1 -- a warning, if you don't have access to the network and still want to see the game. Before that, on Saturday at 3 p.m., the network has a one-hour special called "The Play," looking back at the mult-lateral event 25 years later. Versus says the show marks the first time that John Elway (the Stanford quarter who thought he had the game wrapped up), Kevin Moen (the Cal player who scored it), Joe Starkey (the Cal radio announcer) and Gary Tyrrell (the Stanford trombine player knocked down by Moen) have talked about the play together.
(ESPN Classic replayed the game on Tuesday, Nov. 20 -- the actual anniversary -- but without much warning. Sorry)
==And finally, According to www.Mike-Greenberg.com, which is "The official site for Mike Greenberg: ESPN Personality and Best-Selling Author" and where we verify all that it Greenberg when we hear any rumors about him (rather than snopes.com, which can be pretty lax), Greenie is definitely onboard to get the gigs now that departed ESPN Personallity Dan Patrick would have turned down. ESPN partner ABC, which once included Kenny Mayne on "Dancing With the Stars," has given Greenberg the host role of a game show called "Duel," where, according to the network press release, contestants "embrace shrewdness and manipulation to win" a head-to-head contest of trying to "react quickly under pressure and outsmart their opponents using strategy and deception, intellect and skill." One of 20 contestants is guaranteed to win a $1.5 millon jackpot. It's kinda like "Who Wants To Be A Millionare" meets "World Series of Poker." It starts Monday, Dec. 17 (8 p.m.) and runs over six nights to the final on Sunday, Dec. 23 (8 p.m.). And no where on the show will Mike Golic pop in to discuss his use of steroids. "'Am I happy to be hosting a new game show on ABC?” Greenberg said in a press release. “You bet your life.”
The Dodgers, in their 50 years living in these parts, have never had a float in the Rose Parade.
They've decided that this Jan. 1, it's time to get their act together. The unveiled what the thing will look like today.
Here are the particulars for it (using our best Bob Eubanks voice):
==Aside from popcorn and peanuts, blue ribbon irises and scissored blue stattice will be the central color of the Dodger blue float, along with white mums and red carnations. Gold and yellow roses with accents of white dendrobium and lavender and white cattleya orchids will also be on the contraption floating down Colorado Blvd.
== That's a 35-foot tall Dodger player popping out of the top
== Organist Nancy Bea Hefley will be playing
== Tommy Lasorda, Vin Scully, Jamie Jarrin, Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Garvey, Carl Erskine, Don Newcombe, Wes Parker, Nomar Garciaparra and James Loney will be along for the ride.
== Roger Owens, the Peanut Guy, will be on the float as well (maybe tossing goobers to the spectators)?
== Special guests on the float include Billy DeLury (the former traveling secretary and current special assistant to the Dodger broadcasts, having been an employee for 58 years), Kathy Robinson Young (Jackie Robinson's niece and a Pasadena resident) and Ann Meyers Drysdale (Don's widow).
Fans interested in volunteering to decorate the Dodger float can get more information at www.fawwdecoration.com. Dodger fans can enter to win a seat on the float, purchase seats in the Dodger Grandstand on the Rose Parade route and purchase limited edition Rose Parade merchandise now at www.dodgers.com/anniversary.
One word of caution:
Festival Arts Floats, which is doing the float for the Dodgers, says that one of the materials used on this float will be peanuts, so those with peanut allergies should avoid volunteering here.
The column in today's Daily News that takes the original idea of putting together a roster of Southern California athletes and follows through on it:
Whoever decides next to take on the challenge of assigning a roster number to a single Southern California sports person through the years - nailing down the one whose identity it helped create, had the greatest credentials or just happened to be lucky enough no one else of importance did those digits - needs to know going in there are some occupational hazards.
The number of waking hours spent going over and over each individual list won't add up. A uniform number that suddenly pops into your head out of nowhere at the most inopportune time will continue to distract you from whatever else you're doing. And no matter how hard you try, Nos. 60 to 69 won't get any better.
But there are a number of reasons why this was worth the effort, from appropos 00 of Benoit Benjamin, through Jimmie Reese's 50, all the way to the one and only 99, Wayne Gretzky.
In the end, we came to these numeric conclusions, based on our research and your feedback:
1111111111111111111111
Greatest competition over one number: Nos.11, 20, 23, 30, 31, 34 and 42 created very intense debate. Cases could easily have been made for any one star over another.
But without question, No. 32 carries more star power in a star-driven town: Two Basketball Hall of Famers, a Baseball Hall of Famer, a College Football Hall of Famer (and Heisman Trophy winner) and a Pro Football Hall of Famer (also a Heisman winner).
Our eventual choice of Magic Johnson over Sandy Koufax, Bill Walton, O.J. Simpson and Marcus Allen had more to do with the spell Magic cast over the city, and still does, during a career that impacted more lives than he could have imagined.
In 1979, the Lakers gave him No. 32 - the same number he wore for the Everett (Mich.) Vikings - because the No. 33 he wore at Michigan State was already taken by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
By the time he put the basketball down as a player in 1996, he had become a Hall of Famer, AIDS activist, entrepreneur, part-team owner and L.A. mayoral candidate. He owned the city - and if you count up his number of fitness centers, coffee shops, movie theaters, burger joints and TGIFridays around town, that might be more literal than figurative.
They've built a statue for him outside Staples Center (where he never played, but is always seen sitting next to Dyan Cannon). And, if you happen to have a 24-Hour Fitness membership, drop by the facility at the Sherman Oaks Galleria and you might see him on the abs machine.
Koufax's dominance over baseball from 1960-66 was more an extension of Kennedy's Camelot in the White House. But it was a comet that came and went, showing only brief brilliance. Many sport his No. 32 jersey at Dodger Stadium today the same way Yankees fans wear No. 5 or No. 7.
Walton took No. 33 at Helix High in honor of Lew Alcindor, but knew he couldn't get it when he arrived at UCLA in 1971.
"That's the number Coach Wooden gave me," Walton said. "You know, coach never started anything by saying, `What do you guys want to do today?"'
In an era in which no dunking was allowed, Walton became as graceful a big man as the game has ever known. His performance in college alone was enough to get him in the hoop Hall, and he ended up among the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, wearing No. 32 for the Clippers when they moved to L.A.
Simpson had only two years to make a name for himself in Southern California with No. 32 at USC. What he did after that, we can't recall.
And then there's Allen, another USC Heisman winner who couldn't break through this list with either his college number (33) or with his L.A. Raiders number, despite a Hall of Fame career on both ends.
Along with Simpson and Allen, another Heisman winner, Mike Garrett of USC, lost out with his number, 20, to the Kings' Luc Robitaille.
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Worst competition over one number: If you've got someone better than Tom Niedenfuer (
College football should dominate your TV time this afternoon, meaning TiVo is the perfect device to capture, save and review later the specials that are coming up on Evel Knievel, thanks to ESPN Classic.
