I wondered if anyone would make this comment...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:College football show a big hit
July 24, 2007
By Dave Weekley
For The Charleston Gazette

http://wvgazette.com/section/Sports/Dave.../200707244

AFTER WATCHING Monday afternoon’s debut of the new “College Football Live,” my only question for ESPN is — what took you so long?

The 30-minute show that will air weekdays at 3:30 p.m. throughout the college football season had a little bit of everything for the college football fan — but not too much. The show was fast-paced with a live shot from ACC media day, an in-studio visit from Rutgers tailback Ray Rice and a satellite interview with LSU’s Les Miles.

The show, featuring Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, moved quickly and didn’t suffer from the bloat that Saturday “GameDay” sometimes experiences due to its additional length.

For all of his faults, Corso seems perfectly suited for this quicker format — somebody has to create a buzz to attract viewers. The show had barely started before Corso was hammering the Big Ten for not adding Missouri. Moments later, Corso was climbing back on the Florida State bandwagon (there’s a stunner, it’s his alma mater), rattling off his Heisman hopeful halfbacks (no Steve Slaton?) and claiming (again) that Steve Spurrier would never win an SEC title at South Carolina.

Welcome back, Lee — we missed you. I may not agree with most of the things Corso says, but I’ve got to admit — the guy’s entertaining.

Today’s edition of “College Football Live” will have the Southern Cal band and interviews with Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and Boise State’s Ian Johnson.

ESPN has been getting plenty of criticism in recent weeks (see the current issue of Newsweek), but “College Football Live” looks like a keeper.

This and that

Former Virginia Cavaliers voice Warren Swain emerged from among more than 100 candidates to be officially named Friday as the new radio play-by-play voice of the Ohio Bobcats.

Swain, 60, takes over for Marshall grad Derek Scott, who left Ohio after nine years for a position with Action Sports Media in South Carolina. Swain, who has also made stops at Iowa State, Creighton, Oregon and most recently Drake, is quite familiar with Ohio football coach Frank Solich — Swain was the voice of the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1996-2002, including five seasons in which Solich served as Nebraska’s head coach.

There’s also been a shakeup in the broadcast booth of the syndicated Lincoln Financial SEC football package (WSAZ’s digital channel My Z locally), as analyst Dave Rowe is retiring after a dozen years due to complications from rotator cuff surgery in April.
Rowe was a defensive standout on Joe Paterno’s first Penn State team in 1966 and spent 13 years in the NFL. The SEC football syndicated package will continue having three Daves in the booth (including play-by-play man Dave Neal and field reporter Dave Baker). David Archer, who will continue his duties on the Atlanta Falcons radio network, where he shares the booth with former Marshall voice Wes Durham, will replace Rowe.

Just my opinion, but it looks as if the new Big Ten Network has really made some solid moves in terms of their on-air talent hires. The Big Ten Network announced last Wednesday that its lead announce team will be Thom Brennaman and analyst Charles Davis, last heard calling the 2007 BCS title game and Fiesta Bowl for Fox (which owns 49 percent of the new BTN).

Working a season of Big Ten games will give viewers a chance to become more comfortable with Brennaman and Davis before the pair returns to its higher-profile BCS Bowl assignments for Fox. Viewers should also adjust quickly to BTN’s new studio team of Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and former Illinois fullback Howard Griffith. Revsine and DiNardo were outstanding together on ESPN Radio’s “College GameDay” and have a strong on-air chemistry that should easily transfer to television.

WVU isn’t the only school in the Big East looking to replace a veteran sports information director like Shelly Poe. At South Florida, John Gerdes is leaving the Bulls after a 20-year run to become athletic director at St. Pete Catholic High School. Gerdes’ departure at South Florida comes just weeks after the Bulls’ hoops SID Scott Kuykendall left USF for an assistant athletic director post at Marquette, where he will handle basketball media duties.

HBO Sports rolls out a new edition of “Costas Now” at 10 tonight. With Barry Bonds’ chase of the home run record dominating the headlines, baseball commissioner Bud Selig is scheduled to appear, and Costas has put together a potentially entertaining roundtable segment with Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, Mets manager Willie Randolph and comedian Chris Rock.

Tonight’s show also includes a look back at the 1955 Little Leaguers from Charleston, S.C., who were banned from local tournaments because of the color of their skin — seven years after Jackie Robinson broke the Major League color barrier.

Tony Dungy, coach of the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, makes his first visit to “Late Show with David Letterman” tonight. Dungy has been getting a strong response nationally to his recently released memoir, “Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices & Priorities of a Winning Life.”

He said it

It’s funny about individuals who possess real talent, they never truly burn their bridges — take Keith Olbermann, for example.

A decade after he bolted ESPN for a failed attempt at a startup sports news wrap for Fox Sports Net, Olbermann was reportedly offered Dan Partick’s soon-to-be open midday slot on ESPN Radio (he declined the job). Olbermann left Fox three years later after his show was canceled and he was replaced as the host of the network’s World Series coverage.

Sports Business Journal reports that Olbermann was back on the lot at Fox last week in Los Angeles for the first time since leaving that network to read for a part in a future episode of “The Simpsons.”

Olbermann’s career has rebounded nicely with MSNBC’s “Countdown” and he will serve as co-host for NBC’s Sunday Night “Football Night in America” next month. And as for those “bridges” he supposedly burns when he leaves jobs, Olbermann jokingly says it’s worse than that — he not only burns bridges, but the bodies of water they cross.

“If you burn a bridge, you can possibly build a new bridge,” he told Letterman earlier this month in an appearance with Patrick. “But if there’s no river any more, that’s a lot of trouble.”

To contact freelance writer Dave Weekley, send e-mail to weekley@yahoo.com.

If I'm not mistaken, Corso left both Slaton and Brohm out of his position lists for Heisman hopefuls. That's not just an oversight or poor analysis, that's a direct attack on the Big East as everyone, and I mean everyone, has them both tagged as very likely to sit at the ceremony. What's his motivation here?

That just means one of 'em will win it.

Like I said, Corso is always wrong.

Here's the Newsweek article that rips ESPN a new one (including RIPPING comments from folks affiliated with ESPN!)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19734725/site/newsweek/

Believe the "Who's Now?" series is when ESPN finally "Jumped the Shark".

This is nothing new. Anyone with half a brain knew all this years ago. There are NO journalists any longer. They're all marketing personnel or cheerleaders.