Long road lies ahead for new NBC Sports Network

Attention sports fans! A new 24/7 sports network is debuting this afternoon. The NBC Sports Network, which was formerly known as Versus, is set to launch today. The network was set to launch at 3 p.m. following the NHL Winter Classic hockey match between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers on NBC, but that match has been pushed back two hours due to weather conditions. There is no word on whether or not the network will launch at 3 p.m. as expected or wait until following the game. The network was supposed to begin with a recap show of the Winter Classic. 

The start of a new 24/7 sports network is really quite a big deal as ESPN, which started in 1979 with one network and has expanded to many since then, has basically owned the landscape. There are other successful sports programming networks like the NFL Network and MLB Network, but they’re dedicated to one specific sport as their names imply. NBC Sports Network knows that it’s a long road ahead and for the time being there really is no way to compete with ESPN, but they hope to be strict competitors in the future. NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus says that the NBC Sport Network is on a five-year plan to start out slowly and gain viewers by hopefully attracting big time sports leagues.

ESPN launched in 1979, most of which you can learn about indepthly through James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ great 2010 book “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN,” and didn’t have any big time sports at the time, but grew slowly, but surely over the years. Now over 32 years later, ESPN is the king of televised sports and there doesn’t seem to be anything that can compete with it. 

This is where NBC Sports Network really has a tough task ahead of it. In 1979 there wasn’t any competition to deal with as far as sports cable programming so ESPN could take its time to build. That opportunity might not exist in 2012, especially with most sports viewers opting for the behemoth ESPN for their sports news. 

The fact that the NBC Sports Network doesn’t have any big time sports upon its launch, and doesn’t look like they will for the first couple to few years is also a big negative in its corner. The network doesn’t have live game coverage of the NFL, NBA or MLB or even other popular sports like NASCAR. ESPN has all of those, as well as a few other networks. The biggest attraction that the NBC Sports Network has is the NHL. Other sports that the network will carry in its first year include college football, basketball and hockey (though many of the college football and basketball games aren’t noteworthy), Major League Soccer (a clear fringe sport), the IndyCar Series (struggling in ratings and will only get worse now that Danica Patrick has left for NASCAR), the Tour de France (good luck) and the Olympics (possibly the network’s saving grace in 2012). 

Hockey via the NHL is going to be the network’s biggest draw throughout its first year and probably further into its run. In 2012 alone the network will air 90 regular season games and a whopping 50 playoff games. This week alone the network will air four games, including the San Jose Sharks at the Vancouver Canucks tonight on its first night of programming. The one thing really going for this startup network is that for the first few years it’ll probably be a hockey fan’s dream, as the sport has been almost completely neglected by other networks.

Other programming that will be spread throughout the network’s debut week includes original shows like “NFL Turning Point,” “NHL 36,” “NHL Overtime” and “SportsBiz: Game On,” as well as coverage of the motorsport Dakar Rally, snowboarding, skiing and assorted fishing programming. The network will also debut new original documentaries like “Cold War on Ice: Summit Series ‘72” and “NBC Sports: A Storied Journey.” 

The biggest original debut for the network will come at 5 p.m. on Monday (if it’s not affected by the time change of the Winter Classic) when it debuts its “NBC SportsTalk” Monday through Friday weekday show that will basically be the network’s answer to ESPN’s “SportsCenter”(note the lack of space between both titles). “NBC SportsTalk” (it’s already evident they should shorten it to just ‘SportsTalk’) is supposedly going to be more conversational than “SportsCenter.” It should be interesting to see how the show compares and does against “SportsCenter” as it airs at the same time as the early evening “SportsCenter” telecast.  

Hockey and the other fringe sports might keep the network afloat, but they certainly won’t bring in big ratings. The network will have to be a big player in the negotiating rights for the NFL, MLB, NBA or even NASCAR when those packages become available in the next few years. The NBC Sports Network might have actually hurt itself somewhat from the get go as they plan on cutting back on some of the old Versus fare like bullriding and MMA. The cutting of MMA is one that might especially hurt, as it’s a sport that’s clearly growing in popularity in the country. 

The biggest break for the NBC Sports Network is that it’s launching in a year in which NBC’s broadcasting the London Summer Olympics. The network will likely carry much of NBC’s Olympics slate, as in the past the network has spread its programming over its other networks like USA, which don’t typically show sports programming. The London Olympics should really boost the network’s ratings in its first year on the air. 

As for the on-air talent the network is adding mostly new faces to the forefront, but will also make use of some of its already well-known commentators like Bob Costas and Dan Patrick. The fresh faces look might be a risky start for the network, as bigger names headlining the programming could have lead to a bigger viewership right from the start. 

More sports programming on television is something that’s always going to be a plus for sports fans and it wouldn’t hurt for ESPN to have some competition, but the NBC Sports Network will definitely have a long haul ahead of them without a big sports league and their competition being so huge. However, if they get off to a decent start, in a few years they might be a pretty big player in sports television. Though, that’s a pretty good-sized if.

10 Best Games or Sporting Events I Watched This Year

10. PGA Championship: Rookie Keegan Bradley wins the PGA















9. Braves/Pirates 19 inning game: Braves beat Pirates in 19 innings on likely the worst missed call of 2011














8. The Masters: Charl Schwartzel wins on thrilling final day














7. Super Bowl: Injury plagued Green Bay Packers beat Pittsburgh Steelers














6. Japan beats U.S. in Women's World Cup on Penalty Kicks













5. Dallas Mavericks comeback in game 2 of NBA Finals to beat Miami heat

4. Rookie Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500 in just his second career start

3. Dan Wheldon wins the Indy 500 when rookie and probably winner J.R. Hildebrand wrecks in final turn












2. Game 6 of World Series: Back and forth game ends on extra innings walkoff by St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese












1. NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead-Miami where Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards duke it out for the closest championship in NASCAR history

Leaning on Tebow's Everlasting Arm

Y’all remember in May when that crazy old Christian radio dude Harold Camping said that he had a mathematical equation that told him the rapture would occur and the world would come to an end on May 21. Then when that didn’t happen he said that his math was wrong and he was off by five months and the rapture would actually occur on October 21. And, then when that didn’t happen he said that it actually had happened, but the ones of us who were left behind had not been taken up to our savior’s home in the sky.

Well, I believe Harold Camping was right. Now, I know it might sound crazy, but hear me out. I believe that Camping was in fact telling the truth after the first wrong prediction when he said he was off by five months and I too believe him when he said that the rapture did in fact happen on October 21.

Why? Because two days after that a returned Jesus Christ inhabited the body of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and the lowly Broncos beat the Miami Dolphins. They would lose the next week to the Detroit Lions, but then they would embark on a six-game winning streak that could only be referred to as miraculous.

Sure, the Mighty Tebows lost pretty handedly to the New England Patriots on Sunday, but they had to because people were catching on and you don’t want anybody jumping on the Jesus bandwagon because they all think they’re going to Hell.

Don’t bandwagoners suck, y’all?

But, here’s the plan between now and the beginning of February. Tebow is going to continue leading the Broncos to victories. He’ll first win the AFC West division, he’ll then beat whoever he has to in the first few rounds of the playoffs and then he’ll take the Super Bowl by storm putting on the greatest show the football world has ever seen, which will include saving Madonna at halftime and then when that clock strikes all zeroes and the Broncos have won the Super Bowl and Tebow the MVP all of the Tebow believers will pile on Tebow’s shoulder pads and ride that highway to the sky, while all of us non-believers will die in a fiery blood storm that will include getting stomped by Ndamukong Suh, hit in the head by James Harrison and forced to listen to Rex Ryan press conferences for all eternity. For all of us who will face this damnation I can only hope that Tebow will have mercy on our souls.       

My 2011-2012 NBA Season Predictions

 Western Conference

Northwest:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Portland Trail Blazers
3. Utah Jazz
4. Denver Nuggets
5. Minnesota Timberwolves

Pacific:

1. Los Angeles Clippers
2. Los Angeles Lakers
3. Phoenix Suns
4. Sacramento Kings
5. Golden State Warriors

Southwest:

1. Dallas Mavericks
2. Memphis Grizzlies
3. San Antonio Spurs
4. Houston Rockets
5. New Orleans Hornets

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic:

1. New York Knicks
2. Boston Celtics
3. New Jersey Nets
4. Philadelphia 76ers
5. Toronto Raptors

Central:

1. Chicago Bulls
2. Indiana Pacers
3. Milwaukee Bucks
4. Detroit Pistons
5. Cleveland Cavaliers

Southeast:

1. Miami Heat
2. Atlanta Hawks
3. Orlando Magic
4. Washington Wizards
5. Charlotte Bobcats

Western Playoffs: 1. Thuder 2. Mavericks 3. Clippers 4. Lakers 5. Grizzlies 6. Spurs 7. Blazers 8. Suns

Eastern Playoffs: 1. Heat 2. Bulls 3. Knicks 4. Celtics 5. Hawks 6. Magic 7. Pacers 8. Bucks

Peyton Manning not worthy of MVP votes

There are some people out there, experts included, who believe that Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning might receive a few MVP  votes when writers vote for the award following the end of the NFL season. Manning, of course, has been injured and hasn’t played a single down this year, but his loss for the Colts has led to 13 straight losses and the high probability of going 0-16. Manning not playing this year has proved more than ever how valuable he is and MVP does stand for Most Valuable Player. There is also no rule stating that a player must actually play to receive votes or even win the award. I wouldn’t be shocked if he received a vote or two or even more myself, but I do think even receiving one MVP vote would be wrong.

I think many, many decades ago when writers came up with the term Most Valuable Player that they truly meant that term to mean the Best Player of the Year, which most times is probably the case anyway. However, I think that sometimes, and this year is the case, that people seem to take the word ‘valuable’ in the award’s title way too seriously. We all know that Manning is incredibly valuable to the Colts, but Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is having an all-time great year at his position and other NFL players are having fantastic years as well. So, let’s end the ridiculous talk about Peyton Manning as MVP.  

Momma's Don't Let Your Babies Root for the Cowboys

This is to the tune of Waylon & Willie's country music classic "Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" ... it probably could have been better, but I didn't have too much time to perfect it. 

Momma's Don't Let Your Babies Root for the Cowboys

Cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to trust.
You pick ‘em to win the division and then they’ll go bust.
Lonestar on their helmets and overrated QBs,
And each night you curse Romo’s name.
If you always root for them, and you don't die young,
You’ll prob'ly switch to the Saints.

Mamas, don't let your babies root for the Cowboys.
Don't let 'em bet on ‘em because they all suck.
Let 'em root for the Packers and Niners and Broncs.
Mamas don't let your babies root for the Cowboys.
'Cos they'll never win games and they don’t have brains.
Even they don’t give a fuck.

Cowboys like throwing interceptions and giving up touchdowns,
Icing their own kickers and losing to teams that play right.
Them that don't know them won't like them and them that do,
Sometimes will wish that they didn’t
They’re just wrong, and indifferent but their pride won't let them,
Do things to win the game tonight.

Mamas, don't let your babies root for the Cowboys.
Don't let 'em bet on ‘em because they all suck.
Make 'em root for the Texans and Dolphins and Buccs.
Mamas don't let your babies root for the Cowboys.
'Cos they'll never win games and they don’t have brains.
Even they don’t give a fuck.

Why I Hope the Lakers Don't Acquire Both Dwight Howard & Chris Paul ...

Reports came out late last night that the Los Angeles Lakers are pursuing the possibility of acquiring both all star center Dwight Howard and all star point guard Chris Paul via trade and they are willing to trade anybody and everybody that isn’t Kobe Bryant. 

Howard and Paul will be the two biggest free agents after the next season and because the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Hornets both don’t want the possibility of their stars leaving via free agency without anything in return there is a great chance that both could be moved before this season starts on Christmas. 

Acquiring both Howard and Paul would of course be a huge move for the Lakers and probably would make them the favorite this season, but I’m 100 percent against the Lakers doing this.

Why?

Because I’m sick of what appears to be the new movement in the NBA for a handful of teams to create “super teams.”

The Miami Heat started this before last season with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and now it seems every team with the means and money wants to model themselves in the same fashion.  

Some people say “super teams” are great for the NBA. I, frankly, don’t understand how that can possibly be the case. If you create even just a handful of “super teams” or maybe not even that many you are basically going to have a league for a few years where those “super teams” will be the only teams capable of winning a championship and all other teams will basically be screwed. Multiple teams creating “super teams” dilutes the NBA and for that reason it’s obviously a bad thing for the sport.  

My 2011 NASCAR Recap: The Best & Worst of the Season

2011 was certainly one of the more interesting years in recent NASCAR history. Here is my little recap of the season with the best and worst moments and drivers of the year. 1) sorry that it’s over a week late 2) I would’ve loved to have gone more in-depth on it, but just don’t have the time.

Best Driver:
Tony Stewart- It’s certainly debatable whether or not Tony Stewart actually had the best all around year in NASCAR, but what’s not debatable is that he showed he was the sport’s best driver during the 10-race playoff. That was simply put the greatest driving I’ve ever seen in 10 years as a NASCAR fan.


Best Achievement:
Tony Stewart winning career third championship after winning five of the 10 playoff races. Stewart didn’t win a single race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season. His Chase performance will certainly go down as one of the greatest moments in NASCAR history.

Most Disappointing Driver:
Denny Hamlin- Denny Hamlin knocked on the door big time in 2010 and looked like he was primed to take the championship last year from Jimmie Johnson. He didn’t, but he certainly looked like he might be the biggest contender coming into the season. Despite making the Chase for the Championship he struggled for much of the season, winning only one race in the spring at Texas.

Best Crew Chief:
Bob Osborne- More often than not the best crew chief of the year will be the crew chief of the driver considered to have been the best driver, but not this year. Bob Osborne, the crew chief for Carl Edwards, was maybe the biggest reason why Edwards was the main contender from the start of the season to the finish. Edwards was the sport’s most consistent driver all year and the two have a great chemistry.

Best Season by a Non-Chase Driver:  
Kasey Kahne- This basically means you’re only the 13th best driver of the year, so congratulations to Kasey Kahne for being the best of the worst. If Kahne had been in the chase he would’ve scored very high as the last 10 races of the season were probably his best stretch that included a win at Phoenix to snap a long winless drought. Kahne likely won’t have any more droughts of that size again, as he goes to Hendrick Motorsports next season and will have the best equipment in the business.


Biggest Turnaround:
Brad Keselowski- I expected big things from Brad Keselowski in 2010 in his first full season in the Sprint Cup series. What we got from him in 2010 was a huge disappointment. In 2011, he was a different driver, winning three races at Pocono, Kansas and Bristol all after breaking his ankle in a horrific practice crash at Road Atlanta.

Worst Drop-off:
Denny Hamlin- See ‘biggest disappointment’

Worst Debut:
Andy Lally- This is really by default, just like the rookie of the year award he earned by being the only rookie of the year candidate. Lally is a very talented road course Gran-Am driver who had never had experience in NASCAR before. I’m pretty sure he just ran the full season this year as a favor to owner Kevin Buckland. Next year he returns to Grand-Am racing where he should once again be a star.

Driver to Watch for 2012:
Carl Edwards- This is basically my pick for who I think will win the championship in 2012. For the second year in a row I’m choosing Edwards. I was just off by a tiebreaker this year, so maybe next year will be the year.

Best Rising Star:
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. & Austin Dillon- this one is so close that I had to give it a tie between 2011 Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Camping World truck series champion Austin Dillon. I expect very big things out of these two going forward.

Best Race & Wildest Race:
Homestead- It looked all year like the best race of the season was going to be the first race of the season the Daytona 500, but it turned out to be the very last race of the season at Homestead thanks to the greatest championship fight in NASCAR history between eventual winner Tony Stewart and runner-up Carl Edwards.

Best Finish:
Daytona 500- It’s the biggest race of the season and it was the debut of the new tandem style racing at the restrictor plate tracks. On a final restart you basically had David Gilliland pushing Carl Edwards toward the win and Bobby Labonte pushing Trevor Bayne, in just his second career Sprint Cup race, toward the win. Bayne was the winner and many called it the biggest shock in NASCAR history. He was certainly the most improbable Daytona 500 winner in NASCAR history.

Best Fight:
Richard Childress vs. Kyle Busch- The best fight in NASCAR this year was actually one that wasn’t even captured on camera. Kyle Busch while driving in a truck series race got into a little bumping incident with Childress driver Joey Coulter, which in turned really pissed off owner Childress who reportedly took off his watch in the garage, handed it to his grandson/driver Austin Dillon and went to beating on Kyle Busch’s head with his fist. Everybody was pretty much in agreement that Busch deserved it.

Biggest Jerk:
Kyle Busch- Kyle Busch really should have a hold on this honor every year, but believe it or not Carl Edwards was my winner of this honor in 2010 and Kyle’s older brother Kurt could’ve easily won it or shared it with him this year. The incident in the second to last truck race of the season in which Kyle Busch intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday under caution leading to his suspension from the fall Texas Nationwide and Sprint Cup races is the final straw that officially gave Kyle the honor.

Best NASCAR Decision:
Parking Kyle Busch at Texas for Nationwide & Sprint Cup races after intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday in truck series. It was way past due for NASCAR to try to straighten this punk out.

Worst NASCAR Decision:
NASCAR not finding a way to do away with the tandem racing at Daytona & Talladega which effectively turned four of the most exciting races of the year into less exciting races … but they were still pretty exciting.

Worst Wreck:
David Reutimann at Watkins Glen- still hoping that someday NASCARs will stay on all four wheels during every wreck. Reutimann is very lucky to have walked away from this one. David Ragan also had an extremely hard hit during the wreck.

Best Rivalry:
Tony Stewart vs. Carl Edwards- For most of the season the best rivalry was Kevin Harvick vs. Kyle Busch, but that all changed during the final 10 races of the season.

Best Moment:
Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500- If you want a storybook ending to the biggest event in the sport, this was it. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid.

Biggest Bonehead Moment:
David Ragan switching lanes on final restart of Daytona 500- We won’t ever know if Ragan would’ve won the Daytona 500 for sure and he did sort of redeem himself by winning his first career race at the Daytona July race, but that was the moment that could forever have us remembering David Ragan as a driver who didn’t win the sport’s biggest race.

Worst Performance:
Jeff Gordon during the Chase- Jeff Gordon had a great regular season winning three races at Phoenix, Pocono and Atlanta and looked like he was maybe the guy to beat going into the Chase … just one problem, he forgot to show up in the Chase. A potential fifth championship quickly turned into an eighth place finish on the season.

Most Embarrassing Moment/Most Unsportsmanlike Moment:
Paul Menard’s intentional wreck at Richmond to help teammate Kevin Harvick win … I lost all respect for Paul Menard at Richmond win he did that to help Kevin Harvick gain insurmountable lead on race leader and probable winner Jeff Gordon leading to Harvick’s win.

Best Silly Season Move:
Clint Bowyer to Michael Waltrip Racing- This was the biggest NASCAR move going into next season. Clint Bowyer is a huge pickup for Michael Waltrip Racing as he instantly becomes the face of that team. However, while it’s a huge move for Waltrip, I’m not sure it is for Bowyer who probably would’ve been better off staying with Richard Childress Racing.

Best Soundbite:
Boris Said at Watkins Glen about Greg Biffle – This is an honor that didn’t appear on my 2010 NASCAR recap last year, but just had to add it this year thanks to Boris Said. It’s the funniest driver postrace interview I’ve ever heard, bar none.

Biggest Surprise:
Regan Smith winning at Darlington – This might be the most arguable one of my entire recap, because most would say it’s Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500, but it’s not. You could teach a monkey to drive a car to victory at Daytona because the style of racing. But, Regan Smith had to earn his first career victory at Darlington with some hard driving to hold off Carl Edwards and a great call by his crew chief on pit road to put him out front on a late race caution.

Best Resurgence:
Jeff Gordon- Jeff Gordon’s 2011 season was probably the biggest up and down season of the year (note that I said up and down, if I had said down and up that’d be Tony Stewart). Fantastic regular season, atrocious playoffs. However, his three wins at Phoenix, Pocono and Atlanta were among the most dominant and best driven races of the year, especially the final laps at Atlanta where he held off teammate Jimmie Johnson ... those laps were the best of the season as far as sheer driving talent goes.

Worst Moment: 

This was not a NASCAR moment, but a motorsports moment and it's the day we lost the great Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in the IndyCar season finale.

Why the BCS Might Not Be So Bad ...

I'm a fan of playoff systems (and am just playing devil's advocate here as I'm not a fan of the BCS system), but the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl as the sixth seed (worst in the NFC), the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series as the worst team to make the playoffs, Tony Stewart the 10th place driving during the regular season winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with a hot chase, Virginia Commonwealth making the Final Four when they shouldn't have even made the NCAA tournament to begin with and the Dallas Mavericks winning the NBA title as the third seed in a tough Western Conference could mean that the BCS System is the most accurate system. 

None of these teams mentioned were the best in their leagues or even close to it and all had success and all but VCU have championships. They all got hot and rode it to the end and that makes you really have to sit back and ask yourself is that really a better way to determine a champion than the BCS system. 

If the BCS championship game were to be decided today it would be a rematch between LSU and Alabama and that is the right choice, at least in my opinion, because those two teams are clearly the two best teams in college football this season. 

If things go the way they are supposed to in sports the two best teams in each sport would match up against each other for the championship. In a playoff system that doesn’t always happen, in fact it probably happens less than more, but the BCS system is typically pretty accurate as it is this year. 

Again, I’m not a fan of the BCS system and would prefer to see a playoff installed in college football, but in a year where seemingly every champion came from the back of the pack to win it’s got to make you think.