Dubiously, we move forward
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:
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.
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.”