==What's the bigger TV event this weekend: The NBA All-Star Game or the Daytona 500? Before we sneak off to the L.A. Open Nissan Open Northern Trust Open at Riviera, we considered the answers to that question, knowing full well that the UCLA-USC basketball game Sunday night would have more importance to this area:
On Tuesday's edition of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," Tony Kornheiser started to take the side of the NBA exhibition as the event to look more forward to because "I like to see extemporaneous play, free-flowing play that you get from the All-Star game ... but given the All-Star game counts for nothing, Daytona is (NASCAR's) Super Bowl, so you gotta say Daytona."
Added Michael Wilbon: "It's Daytona. And you won't watch one minute of it, will you Tony?"
Kornheiser: "I'll watch an hour."
Probably an hour more than we will.

So first, we cover all we care to with the NBA exhibition to get it out of the way:
TNT's coverage begins tonight (6 p.m.) with the Rookie Challenge (Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley courtside) that'll include the Lakers' Jordan Farmar. Saturday's festivities (5 p.m.) has the shooting contest, skills challenge, three-poitn shootout and dunk competition. Finally, Marv Albert, Doug Collins and Reggie Miller are on the game call for Sunday's 5 p.m. tipoff.

The forward-thinking NBA's online component is the real interesting twist to this, especially since TNT recently worked a deal with the league to take over all its internet responsibilities starting next year.
NBA.com will have a link to "TNT OverTime All-Star Access" that has live streaming of the events Saturday night as well as Sunday's game. A "Fan's Choice Poll" will let the audience at home pick the players that the cameras follow and isolate on during the game.
Andre Aldridge and Michael Bivins host the webcasting. Additional camera angles offered online include the robo-cam (attached to the backboard), scoreboard camera, cable cam (the one that moves overhead) and a mosiac view (a simultaneous look at all the angles live).
The other online element is allowing fans to have the final vote in the dunk contest at NBA.com or texting.

==This just in from Onion Sports concerning non-All Star participant Shaquille O'Neal:

==Something even more interesting about the All-Star weekend TV stuff: NBA TV will have four hours of live coverage today devoted to the "NBA Cares Day of Service" project, where 24 All-Stars (including Kobe Bryant, we're told, but maybe not) and more than 2,500 volunteers help rebuild homes in the still-ravaged areas of New Orleans. There are 10 project sites to cover, including home builds, schools and playgrounds. NBA TV coverage begins at 10:30 a.m.

==And, for those who need the info, Bodog.com has made Dwight Howard the 2/1 favorite over Gerald Green (13/5) and Jamario Moon (3/1) to win the dunk contest. Go to these YouTube.com links for Howard, Green, Moon and Rudy Gay to see them start the campaign for votes. To date, Gay's video has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.8 million times.

==More Bodog.com odds: Kobe Bryant is 5/1 to win the All-Star game MVP award (as is Allen Iverson, behind local favorite Chris Paul at 9/2). Last we heard, Kobe won't even be there.
And in the updated odds to win the NBA title, the Celtics (1/1) have a slight edge over the Lakers (14/5). The Clippers (500/1) are at least ahead of the Miami Heat (800/1).

==Which leads into this story:

==Also: Kareem Abdul Jabbar goes on the air live with 570-AM's Petros and Money today from 4-to-5 p.m. at Savannah Restraunt in Burbank (3400 W. Olive) if you're looking for some signed basketballs.

==As for the Daytona 500:
Plenty of nostalga with the 50th running of the race -- maybe they'll do like the Grammys, and have current drivers sing duets with drivers from the past....
Kyle and Richard Petty, you're up:
If you're having trouble keeping up with the Fox coverage of this event Sunday (10 a.m.), FoxSports.com has set up a virtual Q&A session with analysts
Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds answering questions as they pop up on their computers. But here's the deal: The answers are recorded. With a software called Synthetic Interviews, all three laid down some tracks that give a concise explanation to hundreds of potential questions that may arise. So the contest now becomes: Stump the experts!
"While not every possible question can be anticipated, items featured can be refreshed and updated based on demand," says the Fox release on the virtual sessions.

==Another element of the Fox telecast is a new "gopher cam" -- they're four small, stationary high-definition point-of-view cameras buried underneath the asphalt track surface, inches below the yellow line at each of the four track turns. This is the first time that a sub-track surface camera is HD caliber, and they include high-quality condenser mikes to pick up the audio/video experience.
“Television’s never-ending goal is to bring the viewer as close to the action as possible,” said Fox Sports chairman David Hill said in a release. “We’ve had great past success with Catcher-Cam and Diamond-Cam in our MLB coverage and Grass Cam and Wall-Cam in NASCAR on Fox broadcasts. However, Gopher Cam, and forgive us for having some fun with the name, is different. The pictures are phenomenal, and the audio that the mikes provide is mean and loud."
Just as long as there's no colorful, virtual wind graphic following the camera as it raises and lowers back into the ground. If the camera sees its shadow, we'll know there are six more hours of coverage.
And watch that camera poking up underneath Ashley Judd's skirt.

==Also, for this race, DirecTV will offer a free preview of its "Hotpass" component, which allows viewers to check out the camera shot from one of four drivers in the race plus 13 live audio driver/pit feeds (on Channels 790 to 799). Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick are featured Sunday. The season pass is an extra $5 charge on the bill for eight months. Starting this year, every race is available in both standard and high-def on DirecTV. More info: www.directv.com/hotpass.

==ESPN2 starts with the Nationwide Series Camping World 300 from Daytona on Saturday at 9 a.m.

==CBS has the usual suspects -- Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo (18th tower, where perhaps then can see the players tee off from way down below), Peter Oosterhuis (17th), Gary McCord (on the par 3 16th), Ian Baker-Finch (15th), and David Feherty and Peter Kostis roaming the course -- at Riviera for the network coverage of the Northern Trust PGA event on Saturday (noon to 3 p.m.) and Sunday (noon to 3:30 p.m.), while the Golf Channel picks up second-round coverage today (noon-to-3 p.m., replayed at 6 p.m.) Pretty much the entire crew had this flu bug that's been going around, catching up to it at the AT&T Pro-Am from Pebble Beach -- which again produced some of the most breattaking nature shots you'd see this side of the National Geographic Channel. No way to play there an extra weekend?
Tiger Woods will be enjoying this weekend's broadcast from his home in Orlando waiting for the WGC-CA Championship in Miami, where he'll be defending his title on NBC as CBS diverts to March Madness and returns for the Masters on April 10-13 (a week after doing the final round of the Kraft Nabisco LPGA Championship on April 6.)

==On that note:

==Not sure if he's got the juice to "burn" on anything, but Keyshawn Johnson (not Jim Gray) is the guest host on Monday's "Jim Rome Is Burning" (in honor of President's Day).

==NHL coverage on Versus also benefits from the post-All Star Game flex scheduling, although it’s not publicized nearly as much as NBC does with its same coverage of the league. As a result, Versus has replaced the New Jersey-Carolina game on Feb. 26 with Minnesota-Washington (4 p.m.) “We decided to take advantage of our flexible scheduling to showcase two teams who are both among the leaders in their respective conference as well as highlight one of the most exciting players in the NHL in Alexander Ovechkin, who also leads the league in points and goals,” said Marc Fein, Versus’ executive VP of programming and production. “We always want to present the best possible product to our viewers and the night of February 26 presented us with the perfect opportunity to do just that.”

==Ted Robinson and Marques Johnson do the national FSN call (airing on FSN Prime Ticket) of Sunday's UCLA-USC game from the Galen Center (7 p.m.), with Michael Eaves on the sidelines. After the game, Linsday Soto, Don MacLean, Michael Cage and Patrick O'Neal do a half-hour post-game show. ... Brent Musburger and Steve Lavin do the Stanford-Arizona regional game (shown here) for ABC on Saturday (12:30 p.m., Channel 7). Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews are at Michigan State-Indiana (ESPN, 6 p.m.)

==Gil Stratton, the veteran L.A. sportscaster who once hosted a Saturday afternoon Santa Anita feature race for Channel 2 from 1955 until the early ‘70s, will be honored at the race track Sunday with an allowance race named in his honor video tributes throughout the day. "I had the distinct pleasure of growing up admiring Gil and later on, working with him on various broadcasts here at Santa Anita," said Santa Anita director of broadcasting Amy Zimmerman said in a Santa Anita press release. “We will honor Gil not only on in-house television, but also on HRTV It's hard to quantify just how much Gil has meant to the horseracing business over the years here in Southern California. To be able to recognize his impact and once again showcase his talent is truly an honor for all of us here at Santa Anita.” Stratton’s career in sportscasting goes back to when he was named sports director at KNXT in the mid ‘50s.

==CBSSports.com, which last week did a deal with Facebook.com to increase its Internet presence during March Madness, has decided that all 63 games of the men's basketball tournament will now be available. Up through last year, the online service only had streaming for the first 56 games and blacked out matchups in TV markets where the games were carried by local affiliates. CBSSports.com/MarchMadness had nearly 1.4 millon users last year and found that there was very little problems having both Internet users compete with TV viewers -- since the preference of choice was always to see them on TV first, and computer second. The Wall Street Journal recently said CBS sold $10 million in ads related to the digital side of the tournament, so it made more sense to put as many games on it as possible.

==Another Onion Sports news flash:

==Thinking it will make a difference, 'cause things like this usually do, CBS announced this week that its College Sports Television network (CSTV) will change its name to CBS College Sports Network starting in March. CBS acquired CSTV in January 2006, and last month announced more integration between it and CBS Sports. CSTV.com and its 215 official college sites should benefit most from the switch, since CSTV is not a cable channel that's easy to find nor a destination spot for many viewers.
The first tangible evidence thta CBS is serious about making the new CSTV even more part of the family: Billy Packer will be the analyst on CSTV's coverage of No. 1 Memphis vs. Tulsa on Wednesday, Feb. 27 (6 p.m.) on CSTV, working with Carter Blackburn.

==Rotoworld.com, the fantasy sports provider for NBCSports.com, won the award for Best Fantasy Online Service (co-winner with Yahoo Sports), Best Unique Contest, Best Fantasy Draft Kit and Best Fantasy Magazine at this week's Fantasy Sports Trade Association awards banquet in Denver. The Fantasy Sports Writers Association also picked Rotoworld.com's Gregg Rosenthal as the 2007 Fantasy Football Writer of the Year.
Yup, there's a whole other fantasy world going on there we don't even care know about.

==Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward (with Harold Lederman as the unofficial scorer) do Saturday's Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor middleweight bout from Las Vegas (6 p.m.) for HBO Pay-Per-View (at the suggested retail price of $49.95).

==And finally,
The final headline of the day by Onion Sports:

==And if that's not enough (and don't you think it should be):
ESPN reminds us (with plenty of time to prepare) that the 2008 Bassmaster Classic from Greenville, S.C. gets the Super Bowl treatment Feb. 22-24, as "every minute of the excitement" will be on ESPN2, ESPN Rradio and www.bassmaster.com. ESPN2 has 11 hours of programming over three days, plus two more hours of show on Feb. 28, anchored by Tommy Sanders. The "Mike & Mike" show also move their crew to the local marina for a live broadcast -- with Erik Kuselias co-hosting with Mike Golic, 'cause Greenie wouldn't get any where near a live worm.
Of course, ESPN360.com will also have live online coverage of the daily weigh-ins. Of the fish, not Golic.
And international networks ESPN Atlantic (sub-Sahara Africa), ESPN Israel, ESPN Pac Rim (Australia/New Zealand) and ESPN2 Caribbean will air the event -- that's 75 countries and more than 5.6 million households.
Pass the fish 'n' chips, matey.