Shooting from the lip/Feb. 8 Super Bowl edition

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Super Bowl coverage
If you already didn't know it was the Super Bowl, you wouldn't have known it was the Super Bowl listening to the call of CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Nantz and Simms treated Sunday like a football game, which, after all, is what it was.

It's likely that more than half of the projected 100 million viewers were not avid or even casual football fans, and the easy mistake broadcasters can make is to dummy down the call of the game. But those who aren't football fans aren't really interested in the actual call of the game, are they?

Nantz and Simms played it straight and, seeing as how they're among the best in the business, that was more than good enough for the football fans. The direction and production were top-notch, there were no gaffes, and the pregame and halftime studio shows were solid, although a little loud at times. Overall, not as well done as the job NBC did last season, but still pretty good. It sometime lacked that feel of a "big event'' but it's better to error on the side of understatement than creating too much hype.

Best commercials
The best commercial of the Super Bowl was, hands down, the Snickers ad featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda playing pickup football. Hey, any commercial that has  White saying, "That's not what your girlfriend said'' is an instant classic in my book. Other commercials I liked: Monster.com with the violin-playing beaver, the Hyundai ad with a 50-year-old Brett Favre debating retirement and the Megan Fox Motorola commercial. And while it was funny, wasn't it strange to see Jay Leno doing a commercial promoting the Late Show with David Letterman, especially with Leno set to return opposite Letterman? Also, while it was more self-serving than it let on, it still was cool that Miller High Life used its ad to feature small businesses.

Worst commercials
Budweiser had a bad day with the house made of Bud Light and plane-crash survivors who would rather drink beer than find a way off the island. Doritos missed the mark with the stupid ad about the man who faked his own death so he could be in a casket full of Doritos and an equally silly ad with a man being shocked by his dog's collar. Maybe it's me, but funerals and people being shocked by electric dog collars don't seem all that funny. And the Dockers commercial with the men walking around with no pants wasn't funny. It was gross. Finally, Boost Mobile managed a major coup by reuniting some of the 1985 Bears for a takeoff on the old Super Bowl Shuffle and they couldn't come up with anything better than what they came up with?

Most talked-about commercial
For all the fuss over the Tim Tebow commercial with his mom sponsored by Focus on the Family, it turned out to be pretty innocuous.

Halftime show
Whether you liked the halftime show obviously depended on whether you like The Who. Since The Who is part of m-m-my generation, count me as a fan of the show as they plowed through a medley of some of their greatest hits. It didn't rival past Super Bowl halftime shows such as U2, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Prince, whose 2007 show remains the gold standard. Still, we all should be glad that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey didn’t die before they grew old.

Best point
The gang on the Sports Reporters points out that Emmitt Smith, elected Saturday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, might remain the NFL's leading rusher forever. It seems like all records are made to be broken, but the NFL has changed so much that Smith's record of 18,355 yards might never be broken. These days, teams like to alternate between two featured running backs and would rather throw the ball than run it anyway. And these days it seems as if even the top running backs have a short shelf life.
Think about it. San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, the leading active rusher, has 12,490 yards. He's already 30 years old and looks to be running out of steam. Even if he averages 1,800 yards a year for the next three years (and he has only reached that number once in his career -- in 2006) he would still be 465 yards short of Smith. The Titans' Chris Johnson has 3,234 in his first two seasons, meaning he still needs more than 15,000 yards. Only three players in all of history -- Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders -- have rushed for even 15,000 yards.

Best story
The Penguins ran out of steam and blew a two-goal third-period lead to the Capitals in a 5-4 overtime loss on NBC's NHL Game of the Week on Sunday afternoon. That was no surprise considering the Penguins' bizarre trip to Washington. The Penguins played an afternoon game in Montreal on Saturday but couldn't fly to Washington because of the blizzard that dumped 32 inches of snow on the nation’s capital. In fact, NBC analyst Ed Olczyk never did make it to the game.

So the Penguins flew to Newark, N.J., on Saturday night, then took a bus to Washington. They arrived at their hotel at 2:30 a.m., and the puck was dropped at noon. You have to wonder if the game would have been postponed were it not a highly anticipated showdown between Alex Ovechkin's Caps and Sidney Crosby's Pens scheduled for NBC. Washington's Verizon Center is available tonight, and neither the Capitals nor Penguins play again until Wednesday. The game could have been moved to tonight.

The NHL's stance is if fans can get to the game without risking their safety, the show will go on.
The Penguins' trip did produce one neat story that NBC told. Because of the hasty travel arrangements, the Penguins went several hours without eating. During the late-night bus ride through the snow-covered Northeast, the Penguins found the only place that was open and could serve them dinner: Burger King.

Three thumbs up
1. Good call by NFL Network to remove Warren Sapp from its Super Bowl coverage the day after he was charged when police said he choked a woman early Saturday morning. Even if he is proved innocent, the network couldn't risk having him on Sunday.
2. Excellent interview by CBS's Bill Cowher with imprisoned receiver Plaxico Burress during the Super Bowl preview show, though I could've done without Cowher telling Burress that no one was pulling for him more than he was. It was especially interesting that Cowher was the coach in Pittsburgh when the Steelers didn't make a strong effort to re-sign Burress in 2005.
3. After the Burress interview, the CBS panelists offered their thoughts, mostly saying they hoped Burress was back on the right track. But it was refreshing to see Boomer Esiason say he had "mixed emotions'' about the interview and that Burress' prison sentence on gun-possession charges was not the only time Burress had off-the-field issues.

Three thumbs down
1. Illinois basketball fans rushed the court after the Illini’s upset of Michigan State on Saturday night. Come on, your team is 16-8 and you rush the court after beating the fifth-ranked team in the country, a team that had already lost four times before Saturday and was coming off a loss?
2. Geez, what has happened with UCLA basketball? The Bruins lost by 14 at home to Cal on Saturday and dropped to 11-12 on the season.
3. Pretty shady of Florida State to wait until Sunday -- Super Bowl Sunday -- to announce it was vacating 12 football victories and a 2007 men’s track national championship in an academic cheating scandal.

Dick Vitale talks USF basketball

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale offers up his thoughts on USF's basketball program following the Bulls' 72-64 upset on the road against No. 7 Georgetown on Wednesday.

What are your thoughts on USF’s victory against Georgetown?
It's a statement victory for (coach) Stan Heath and that program. To go on the road at Georgetown right after Georgetown dominated Duke (last Saturday) and go toe-to-toe and beat Georgetown is very, very impressive. And you just know that (Georgetown coach) John Thompson III had his team ready to play. It wasn't like USF caught Georgetown off guard. They came in with a reputation after being Seton Hall and Pittsburgh. But a victory like this really gives a program some respect.

What does a victory like this mean for the program?
Well, now the road gets tough for USF. Now they're going to get everybody's best hit. Now the work starts. You're not going to catch anyone by surprise now. Look, I was a coach. I know how these things work. Every coach in the Big East is posting the game story in the locker room and telling his team to watch out for South Florida. Now they have to be ready to play every time out.

How has Stan Heath done as coach?
He's turned the corner now. What a great hire by (athletic director) Doug Woolard. But let's not get too carried away here. Let's be honest, USF's work is just starting. If I'm Stan Heath, this morning I'm going into Doug Woolard's office and telling him, "We need to upgrade everything. We need better facilities. We need to improve everything. If we're going to compete with the Georgetowns and Syracuses and Connecticuts and Villanovas and so on, we need major upgrades on our facilities.' You're just not going to compete in a conference like the Big East without it. Stan Heath has one of the toughest jobs in the country.

Didn't you once call the USF job the toughest in the country?
I did. Look, you’re in the best conference in the nation. From top to bottom, the Big East is the best conference in the country. For every big-time player out there, maybe -- maybe -- you get one and Syracuse is getting two, UConn is getting two. It's a tough sell to get kids to come to USF.

Why?
Say you're a star high school player. Well, when Duke comes in to recruit you and North Carolina, you are like in awe of those programs. But if I'm USF, I have to preach and preach and preach just to get you to lift your head off the table. USF just doesn't have the tradition yet. And basketball still is not treated like football in the state of Florida. It was great when the Gators and Billy Donovan won back-to-back national titles, but even after that, football is still on another level here in Florida.

What are your thoughts on Dominique Jones?
I just tweeted on Twitter that he's the hottest player in the country right now. Not only is he scoring, but he's leading them to wins. To put up 140 points in the last four games against Big East competition is incredible. You're playing heavyweights. This is the Big East! In all four games, almost every time USF needed a big basket, every time they were in a tough situation, he was the one scoring. It's one thing to score a lot of points. It's another to score when you're team needs a basket.

Did you see this coming from him?
No way, not at this level. I saw a lot of potential there, but to score like this? No one saw that coming. He understands quality shots more than the quantity of shots. Anybody can just come down and shoot, but Dominique Jones understands the value of each possession and he takes quality shots.

Can this team finish in the top eight of the Big East? Can it make the NCAA Tournament?
I don't know yet. It still isn't going to be easy. Let's not be under any false illusions here. They've had a couple of nice wins, but it's just a couple of wins, you know? They're going to get (big man Gus) Gilchrist back here soon (from injury) and that will help. They're doing some good things, but now they have to continue to play like that and maybe even player better because they're not a sleeper anymore. Dominique Jones has a target on him now and people will be ready to play South Florida from now on. But it's great to see USF winning big games.

Shooting from the lip/Feb. 1

Looking back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports ...

Best idea
One of the most enjoyable annual events has become the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s "Hockey Day in Canada,'' which was covered Saturday on the NHL Network. The all-day event celebrates what hockey means to Canadians and has become practically a national holiday in the Great White North. This year's event was based in Stratford, Ontario, home of former Lightning player Tim Taylor, who was featured prominently in the broadcast. Besides showing three games featuring the six Canadian NHL teams, CBC aired interviews and features from all across Canada -- from little towns to big cities, from frozen ponds to state-of-the-art arenas, from youth and senior leagues to the NHL. CBC showed that hockey is more than a sport to Canadians. It's a way of life, something that unites Canadians of all ages, religions, classes and races. And every year, it dawns on me that someone in the United States should start such a day. Of course, Americans don't have the same passion for hockey, but they do have a passion for football and baseball.

How about "Football Day in America?'' ESPN, or even one of the major networks, could carve out a fall day in October or November and anchor its coverage with three games -- high school, college and NFL. Between games, the network could run features from places where football is practically a religion, such as Texas, western Pennsylvania and southern Georgia.

I'm not even Canadian and I could feel the sense of national pride Canadians must have felt Saturday during "Hockey Day in Canada.'' It would be great for Americans to have that same feeling watching something like "Football Day in America.''

Best subject
Thumbs up to CBS. NBC and the Golf Channel started their golf coverage earlier this year by avoiding talk about Tiger Woods, but CBS hit the subject head on. Minutes into its first coverage of the year Saturday from Torrey Pines, hosts Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo discussed Woods' absence from the PGA Tour, when he might return and what kind of player he will be when he does. Faldo said what has long been known in the golf world but is rarely uttered on the air: Woods is rather thin-skinned.

"He's very sensitive to even just criticism,'' Faldo said. "No, more than criticism, even just comments. I think this is going to play a very important factor for him because he now has to get back on the golf course and be comfortable with himself with so much going on.''

Neither Nantz or Faldo said anything earth-shattering, but give them credit for at least talking about Woods.

More interesting golf coverage
Not only did CBS address the Tiger Woods controversy, it asked Phil Mickelson about fellow player Scott McCarron accusing him of cheating by using a wedge that was grandfathered in for a PGA Tour rule change that went into effect this year. Mickelson responded by saying he felt "slandered'' by McCarron and hinted he could seek legal action. One other thing about CBS's coverage: In its opening, it showed several stars -- Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim -- but it did not use a shot of Woods.

Best line
Mitch Albom, on ESPN's Sports Reporters on Sunday: "One lousy pass may be all Brett Favre might think about for months. The question is, can he live with the world thinking about it forever?''

Best feature
Kelly Naqi's piece about former Carolina Panthers wide receiver  Rae Carruth's disabled son on ESPN’s Outside the Lines on Sunday drew tears, inspiration and outrage. Carruth is serving prison time for hiring someone to kill the woman who was pregnant with his child in November 1999. The woman died, but the child, a boy, was saved with an emergency Caesarean section. However, the boy, now 10, was born with cerebral palsy because of a lack of oxygen at the time of his birth, a result of the shooting. The piece was powerful, showing the worst of mankind and the best, in the boy's maternal grandmother, who is optimistically raising the child, and the child, who is working hard to walk and communicate.

Best interview
ABC's Magic Johnson talking to Lakers coach Phil Jackson during the network's NBA coverage Sunday. It wasn't that Magic asked great questions (although he did a better job than usual), but that Jackson gave great answers. After all this time -- 19 seasons as a coach and 10 NBA titles -- Jackson said that what continues to drive him is helping players mature and develop, and watching teams grow and improve as the season progresses.

Thought of the day
Last week I had a chance to chat with former Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who wrapped up his first season with ESPN on Sunday at the Pro Bowl. Gruden has signed a multiyear extension with ESPN, and though it's possible he had no intention of revealing to me what he really wants to do next, I got the feeling that Gruden is in no hurry to return to coaching. That's not to say he won’t coach again. Bet the mortgage that he will. It's just that he seems content for the time being and really isn't thinking about when or where he might coach again.

Best comparison
On Sunday's ESPN Sports Reporters, New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica pulled out an interesting name when talking about Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his apparent struggle to become an NFL quarterback, especially after Tebow struggled in Saturday's Senior Bowl. Lupica compared Tebow to former basketball player Christian Laettner. While at Duke in the early 1990s, Laettner often looked like one of the best college players ever. And though he played 13 seasons in the NBA, averaged 12 points a game and made an All-Star team, Laettner never turned into the NBA star many thought he could be.

Now, most seem to doubt that Tebow will be a star quarterback in the NFL and will have to either switch positions or become a hybrid wildcat formation player.

Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, while reacting to Lupica’s comments, said, "You want Tim Tebow to make it because he has this attitude of 'I'll just outwork everybody.' But everybody is working hard in the NFL. It often isn't enough to just have that college attitude.''

Best documentary
NBC's Truth in Motion: The U.S. Ski Team's Road to Vancouver was a cool behind-the-curtain look that showed how frightening Olympic skiing can be and how close the competition is to make the team. The best moments were of Sarah Schleper, who returned to skiing after a two-year absence because of injury and having a baby that wasn't planned.

Q & A with Jon Gruden

Former Bucs coach Jon Gruden wraps up his first season in the broadcast booth Sunday night with ESPN as the network airs the Pro Bowl. After being fired by the Bucs a year ago, Gruden briefly joined the NFL Network and then signed on to become an analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Gruden earned rave reviews for his broadcast work and, after signing a multiyear contract extension in November, seems committed to broadcasting for at least another year. He still makes his home in Tampa and just opened a new football office where he studies game film, draws up plays and meets with other former and future coaches. While unpacking boxes in his new office, Gruden spent a few minutes to talk about his first season in the booth, when he might return to coaching and even the joy of buying lemonade.

So how was the first year in broadcast booth for you?
You know what, I really enjoyed it. I had a good time. I have a long way to go before I'm really any good at it, but the guys I'm working with -- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, producer Jay Rothman and everyone else -- really helped me.

Was it harder than you thought it would be, or easier, or about what you expected?
It is a little harder than I thought. There are some technical things that you just have to experience before you can get used to it, like people talking in your ear and using the talk-back button and using the telestrator. And then there's working in a three-man booth that you just have to get used to so you know when to talk and when to shut up.

How hard was knowing when to talk and when to shut up?
I took a few shots in the ribs (from Jaworski) when I went up to Bristol (Conn.) and did practice games and during the preseason games. But all that comes with experience. You just learn to be straight-forward. You want to be able to analyze the play concisely and you don't want to overdo it. A big thing is not talking when the quarterback is over center. And after a big play, let the crowd tell the story. We all became more comfortable as the season went along and, hopefully, we were in a rhythm by the end of the season.

Is broadcasting fulfilling? Does it fill the void left by coaching?
Obviously, I miss coaching. It's all I've done most of my life. I definitely had some withdrawal after I was fired. But fortunately, this came along and it was a great opportunity. And I do enjoy it. I enjoy seeing which two teams we have next and focusing on those two teams and not really looking to become an expert on the whole league. You have your two teams, you learn their X's and O's. You get a chance to see these guys in the meeting rooms and I had the opportunity, for instance, to meet Drew Brees and sit down with him as he prepared for the game, and it was really, really interesting for me.

Most people thought you would do the broadcast thing for maybe a year, if that long, and then you would go back into coaching. But then midway through the season, you signed a contract extension with ESPN. Why?
I really put a lot of time into this broadcasting thing. I look at Monday Night Football as the premier broadcasting job in football. I look at it that highly. I want to take the proper time to see if actually any good at it. I just made a major career change going from coaching to broadcasting and I just don't want to jump around right away. I want make a commitment and see if I'm any good at this.

Well, you got a lot of rave reviews for your work. Some people have said you could do this for a long time and become another John Madden. Have you considered that?
I don't know. I just want to be as good as I can be. You can't compare anybody to John Madden. He was one of a kind. We're both former Raiders coaches so I guess I have that going for me (laughs). But that's about it for now. Listen, I just want to invest some real time in this and then I'll see how it plays out.

Would you watch replays of the broadcasts?
The neat thing about this job is you get a lot of analysis from the people traveling around doing the games with you and you get a lot of feedback. (Producer) Jay Rothman has these meetings and they (replay) everything you do -- all the telestrators you did, all the things you said. And if you did something wrong, you certainly hear about it. People say I was a tough guy to play for, but I'm telling you, man, these people can be tough to work for, too. But it's all about teaching and learning and just trying to get better and these people are the best in the business.

How did you think you did?
I did okay. I felt like I got better as the season went along, which was important to me. By the end of the season -- the 49ers-Cardinals game and the Bears-Vikings over the last few weeks -- I felt much better about my overall performance. Before that, I thought I was good in spurts. But I would go back a lot of time and think, "Aw, I wish I could've said that here or communicated that a little better.' I still feel like I have a long way to go.

Would you get nervous before a broadcast?
The first few games, yeah, I was really nervous, especially when they showed me the graphic of how many countries and people are watching. And they make it very clear, in case you didn't know, that it is live. If you do something as little as cough and sneeze and don’t mute it out, you're not going last too long. I used to get real nervous doing these cut-in things before the game. I'm not real good at memorizing stuff like that. I like to prepare for a game and then react to what just happened. But we would do these cut-in things before the game and just as I was about to talk, you know whose voice I would hear in the headset? Keyshawn Johnson! It took everything I could do not to start laughing as he was yelling at me.

As the season went along, did you miss coaching less?
Well, you still miss it. The thing I miss is the teaching and being around players. I miss that part of the relationship -- teaching players and seeing improvement and watching the team get better and better. That's what I loved most about coaching. But broadcasting helped. Being at a game every Monday night helped and we had a good schedule with meaningful games, so it was nice to be a part of something like that.

Broadcasting is a full-time job, but it's not like coaching. Did your quality of life improve?
Absolutely. I guess the way to put it is I got my life a little more organized. I re-committed myself to a lot of things, mostly my family. I got to see one of my sons play high school football every Friday night. I got to coach another son's middle-school flag-football team. I was able to start going to church again, which was hard for me when I was coaching on Sundays. Now I don't get up at 3:17 in the morning. And now I enjoy the little things, like going to the grocery store and being able to buy the kind of lemonade I like. Or going to the mall and picking out a shirt. My wife was buying all my shirts when I was coaching so I like now being able to pick out my own shirts (laughs). And I was able to re-connect with some old friends and make new friends. When you're coaching, you don't have a lot of friends. Just acquaintances, professional relationships. So now I'm able to have a somewhat normal life again.

Could you understand some of the things Urban Meyer was going through when he talked about retiring and taking a leave?
Oh yeah. But everyone is different. There's a lot of self-induced pressure. Everyone handles it differently, but I can see how one would get into a situation like Urban. Hopefully, he'll figure it out and get himself healthy.

Seems like every time a coaching job comes open -- the Redskins, Notre Dame, Tennessee and so on -- your name comes up. Is it good that people think of you immediately or does it bother you?
Well, there are always going to be rumors and speculation to a certain degree and I understand that and I accept that. So that’s why I've tried to be as open and honest as soon as I can to say I'm doing now what I want to be doing by working on Monday Night Football.

So you don't have a timetable for how much longer you want to broadcast or if and when you might return to coaching?
I really don't. I love football. I love coaching. But I'm fortunate right now to be involved in football and doing something I love and right now I'm just committed to improving as best I can as a broadcaster.

Before you go, what are your thoughts on the Super Bowl?
Well, if you go back to the ESPN The Magazine before the season, you'll see I picked the Saints to go to the Super Bowl. So I'm strutting like a peacock these days. I'm good friends with (Saints coach) Sean Payton and (Colts offensive coordinator) Tom Moore. And I love these two quarterbacks. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, they're like CEOs, you know what I mean? They run their offenses. I think it's going to be a four-quarter game. Both of these guys are like The Terminator. They just keep coming. Nobody is going to lose this game. One of them is just going to run out of time.

Shooting from the lip/Jan. 25 edition

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best coverage
Here's what we knew going into Sunday's AFC Championship: Peyton Manning was trying to get to his second Super Bowl by beating the upstart New York Jets. Here's what we knew going into Sunday's NFC Championship: 40-year-old Brett Favre was going against a Saints team that never had been to the Super Bowl. Both CBS and Fox could’ve beaten those stories to death. Neither did, and that's what made Sunday's broadcasts so enjoyable.

Both took the simple approach. The networks let the teams be the stars and let the games carry the broadcasts. Just because they were huge games with the winners going to the Super Bowl didn't mean they were more than just, well, a couple of football games. Despite covering important games, the networks didn't overdo it. CBS's Jim Nantz and Phil Simms were steady and professional as always. Fox's Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were steady and entertaining as always. And this will seem like a back-handed compliment, but it's a sincere one: Both broadcast teams never get in the way of the game. They know that people aren't there to watch or listen to them. People tune in for the game, and all four realize that the stars are on the field and not in the broadcast booth. They realize their job to enhance the experience, not overwhelm it. The best broadcasters in the game know that less is better -- a lesson Nantz, Simms, Buck and Aikman proved Sunday that they learned long ago.

Pregame approaches
Interesting that CBS and Fox took different approaches with their NFL pregame shows Sunday. Fox's crew went on the road to New Orleans, while CBS produced its show from its regular New York studios. In the end, there was no difference. In fact, if anything, the crowd at the Superdome was a bit of a distraction, but not so much that it affected Fox's show. It was also refreshing that both studio shows decided to ditch their cornball jokes and immature trash talk and stick to football. That made for much better shows.

Biggest nonstory
Who knows what to make of this whole Urban Meyer thing? The Florida coach retired. Then unretired. Then he said he is taking a leave of absence that, when it's all said and done, won't look like a leave at all. He's still recruiting. He still plans on coaching in the spring. What has changed other than Meyer making a few announcements that turned out to be much ado about nothing?

What Meyer does is his business, but does anyone remember his daughter, Nikki, reportedly saying "I finally get my dad back'' when Meyer originally announced he was stepping down? Miami Herald columnist Israel Gutierrez remembered. On Sunday's Sports Reporters on ESPN, Gutierrez said, "Urban Meyer now says he won't miss next season. He won't even miss spring practice. Apparently, Nikki Meyer will never get her dad back.''

Rare misstep
First, let me say I'm a big fan of Sun Sports' Paul Kennedy. Between working as a pregame/intermission host and sideline reporter for both the Lightning and Magic, Kennedy is working and/or traveling pretty much every day from October through April. It's a wonder the guy can even keep his eyes open let alone do the fabulous work that he does -- and it is fabulous and professional at the highest level.

But having said all that, Kennedy might owe former Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina an apology. During an intermission spot Saturday night, Kennedy asked partner Chris Dingman if Kubina, now with the Thrashers, "broke the code'' by leveling Lightning star Marty St. Louis with a check. The implication was Kubina went after a smaller star from another team. Kennedy compounded the implication by asking Dingman if the Lightning needed to go after Kubina.

The problem was the hit was simply an accidental collision. The official called a penalty on Kubina for interference, but Kubina wasn't "targeting'' St. Louis. Even St. Louis agreed it was an accident and went as far as to say, perhaps, he should've been penalized for interference. Regardless, those who have followed Kubina's career -- and certainly Kennedy has seen him as much as anyone -- know that Kubina is a physical player, but he's not a dirty one without honor. To ask if Kubina broke a code was unfair to Kubina. It was also a little disappointing that Dingman seemed to follow Kennedy's lead instead of recognizing the hit wasn't intentional or that Kubina is not the type of player to go head-hunting, especially one he was teammates with for six years.

But to reiterate, if I started my own sports network, one of my first moves would be to hire Paul Kennedy.

Best radio color man
Man, I could listen to Phil Esposito all day and night. The Lightning's radio color man isn't polished, occasionally talks when he shouldn't be talking, yells out words that aren't even words and you get the feeling that he starts preparing for the game a minute before he goes on air. But he's outspoken and honest. He doesn't seem to have a filter between his head and mouth -- and I mean that in a good way. And because we're so used to him in these parts it's easy to forget that he is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. So when he talks, he's credible.

Most compelling line
You have to wonder if former baseball slugger Mark McGwire did more harm than good with his admission that he took steroids. Sure, he admitted it, though all he did was tell us something we already knew. But his insistence that it had nothing to do with his ability to hit homers comes off as absurd. Curtis Wenzlaff, a trainer who supplied steroids to McGwire, gave an exclusive interview Sunday to ESPN's Outside the Lines and when asked how McGwire might have benefitted from the specific doses he was taking, he had a chilling answer:

"If Paris Hilton were to take that array, she could run over Dick Butkus.''

Best rant
Plenty have taken shots at Mark McGwire for his I-did-steroids-but-they-didn't-help-me-hit-homers mea culpa, but no one took a sledgehammer to him quite like Bryant Gumbel in the latest HBO's Real Sports episode. Gumbel offers the most fearless sports commentary on television, and his latest rant had more bite than normal. Gumbel had a message for others who are thinking about admitting steroid use and used McGwire's disclosure as how not to do it.

"If and when you're ready to come clean, don't insult us with talk of how much of what you did was God-given and how much was chemically induced. Let us figure that out, okay?'' Gumble said. "And don't play us for idiots. Spare us the lies about talking 'roids for health reasons. We're all grown-ups. You took stuff for the same reason most of us break or bend rules. You thought you could get away with it. And you did.''

Best observation
Warren Sapp is really, really good as an analyst on NFL Network. And he had one of the best lines of the weekend when talking about what it takes to win in the NFL.

"Defense doesn't win championships,'' Sapp said. "It just gives you a chance. Offense has to win it for you.''

Shooting from the lip/Jan. 18

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best debate
What fun it was to watch Fox studio analysts Jimmy Johnson and Terry Bradshaw debate the Vikings tacking on a late score in Sunday’s victory against the Cowboys. The Vikings led 27-3 with two minutes left and had fourth and 3 on the Cowboys 11. The Vikings ran a play-action play that resulted in Brett Favre's fourth touchdown pass. The play so angered the Cowboys that linebacker Keith Brooking confronted the Vikings on their sideline, calling the play "totally classless and disrespectful.''

It was especially interesting to listen to Johnson for two reasons. One, he's a former Cowboys coach, but, two, he was infamous for running up the score when he coached, especially at the University of Miami. Johnson's take was simple: If you don’t want the opponent to run up the score, then stop them. "This is professional football!'' Johnson said while defending the Vikings.

Bradshaw said it was a case of running up the score and showed a lack of respect. "If I was playing … I would not have done that,''Bradshaw said.

Worst interview
Shame on Fox sideline reporter Chris Myers. Maybe if he wasn't slobbering all over Brett Favre during a postgame interview, he could’ve remembered why he was there in the first place -- to be a journalist. How could he not ask about Favre's controversial touchdown pass with two minutes left? Hey, maybe Favre would've had a good explanation for the Vikings piling it on. Maybe he would've apologized for it or defended it. But it's a question that must be asked and Myers dropped the ball. You get the feeling it didn't even cross his mind to ask and, if that's the case, that's inexcusable.

Worst conflict
How in the world can CBS let NFL announcer Jim Nantz do a television commercial with Colts quarterback Peyton Manning? The two are in an ad for Sony televisions. Nantz calls games in which Manning plays and will call next weekend's AFC Championship Game in which Manning will play. Why should we trust anything Nantz has to say about Manning ever again? Even if Nantz has every right to defend Manning after a play, why should we believe him after assuming the two hung out together and socialized during a commercial shoot? It's a blatant conflict that CBS shouldn't have allowed and Nantz shouldn't have agreed to do.

Best coverage
Perhaps you didn't notice because you were busy watching the Cowboys and Vikings, but the NHL on NBC's Game of the Week made its debut Sunday and it picked up where it left off last season -- among the best sports coverage on television. The thrilling five-minute overtime between the Red Wings and Blackhawks -- which did not have one whistle but did have plenty of breakaways, two-on-ones and even a three-on-one in the final six seconds -- was breathtaking. Play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick's call in the extra session captured the excitement perfectly and should be played in every university sports broadcasting class in the world. Emrick's work was enthusiastic and rose to the level of what was taking place on the ice. That's how you call a game, folks.

Biggest gap
It's startling just how wide the gap is between Fox's top NFL broadcasting team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and the No. 2 crew of Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa. Buck and Aikman, who called Sunday's Cowboys-Vikings game, are among the best on TV, a notch behind ESPN's Monday night crew (Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski) and two notches below NBC's best-in-the-biz duo of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.

But Fox’s No. 2 crew, which called Saturday's Cardinals-Saints game, is average at best. Don't blame Albert, who calls a solid and professional game. It's the analysis of Johnston and Siragusa, whose remarks are too often after-the-play second-guessing and scratch-the-surface opinion. Contrast that to CBS, whose second crew of Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf might be as good if not better than their top crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.

Worst Dierdorf moment
While I'm a fan of CBS's Dan Dierdorf, I didn't quite follow his line of thinking when he defended Colts coach Jim Caldwell in the final stages of Indianapolis' victory Saturday against Baltimore. Caldwell rested starters in the next-to-last game against the Jets, a loss that cost Indy a shot at a perfect season. Caldwell said the goal was not to have a perfect season, but to win the Super Bowl. As Saturday's game drew to a close, Dierdorf said, "Jim Caldwell can put everything to rest about the New York Jets game. It is now finally, totally in the rearview mirror! Non-issue! Non-story! Resting worked.''

Hold on a second. Caldwell's goal, we are led to believe, was not to just win one playoff game, but the whole shebang. It will be in the rearview mirror when the season is over and the Colts are holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Until then, it's clearly a major story line, especially now that the Colts will play the Jets.

Most boring game
Sometimes a team is just so good that it ruins the entire sport. Right now, that's the case with UConn and women's college basketball. The Huskies have won 56 straight. Not only don't they lose, they don't even come close to losing. They beat No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday by 24 points. Earlier this season, they beat No. 2 Stanford by 12, the closest game they've had this season. ESPN's Dick Vitale and Doris Burke handled the color on Saturday’s UConn-Notre Dame game and while they both said that coaching across the country is getting better and the talent pool is getting deeper, right now UConn women are too good for the sport's own good.

Worst conversation
ESPN's Outside the Lines is one of TV’s best shows, but the conversation Sunday got so out of whack that even one of the interview subjects questioned the point of the story. The piece was about college football coaches recently dismissed for allegedly abusing players, in particular USF's Jim Leavitt, Kansas' Mark Mangino and Texas Tech's Mike Leach. Yet the conversation was about whether these coaches were fired because their schools no longer wanted to pay them.

As viewers at home were probably scratching their heads, ESPN's Bob Davie, a member of the OTL panel, thankfully said, "It seems kind of odd to me that this whole conversation is what the contract was, what the school has to pay and what was the coach’s win-loss record at the end.''

Shooting from the lip/Jan. 14

If you're a diehard sports fan who follows his local teams, where is the one place you would hate to call home this morning? It would have to be Detroit, wouldn't it? Not because the weather is crummy right now (cloudy with a high of 34 today) or that it's a bad town (because it's actually a fine town with great people). It's just that rooting for Detroit sports teams these days is like rooting for the sun not to come up. You can root all you want, but it's an exercise in futility. So here's a look at the best and worst places to be a sports fan at this very moment.

Worst place to live as a sports fan right now
Detroit
Heading into Thursday night, neither the Red Wings nor Pistons were playoff teams. The Red Wings, one of the NHL's elite teams over the past 15 years, were shockingly a point out of a playoff spot, while a recent 13-game losing streak has sunk the Pistons to near the bottom of the NBA's Eastern Conference. The last time the Pistons and Red Wings missed the playoffs in the same year was the 1982-83 season. And, heck, even the Lions made the NFL playoffs in both 1982 and 1983. So you have the Red Wings struggling and the Pistons floundering. Then you have the Lions, who did show signs of life this season, but they still have won only three of their past 38 games and two of their past 31. Then throw in the Tigers, who last season became the first team since 1901 to blow a three-game division lead with four games to play. Many in Detroit can't even find solace in Michigan football. The Wolverines are coming off their worst two-year stretch (8-16) since 1962-63.

Other cities who have it rough these days
Boston
It seems crazy to have Boston on this list, but hear me out. The teams in Beantown are still very good, just not great and certainly not up to the level Boston fans have grown accustomed to in recent years. The Patriots dynasty appears over. Do you realize the Pats, who were beaten soundly in the first round of the NFL playoffs, haven't won a postseason game since Jan. 20, 2008? Meantime, the Red Sox were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs last year and the Celtics did something they almost never do -- they lost a Game 7 at home, to the Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals. That leaves the Bruins, who were supposed to be gearing up for a Stanley Cup run but find themselves in the middle of the playoff pack, well out of the division lead.

Tampa Bay
Let's face it, things aren't all that hot around here. The Bucs are awful, the Lightning continues to flop around just outside of a playoff spot and even the Rays were a bit of a disappointment last season. And the local college football team is coming out of a messy scandal.

Green Bay
The good folks have nothing in Green Bay but the Packers, so you assume last week's loss to the Cardinals tastes like moldy cheese. Now they are spending half their time bellyaching about last week's officiating and the other half realizing they have to watch Brett Favre play for the Vikings this weekend.

Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh was named the No. 1 sports city in America by the Sporting News only three months ago. As of this moment, it is home to the defending Super Bowl and Stanley Cup champs. So why is it on the list? Well, the Steelers missed the playoffs, and the Penguins have lost eight of 12. Plus, the Pirates are pretty much a lost cause, aren't they?

Best place to be a sports fan today
Phoenix
Who would've ever thought Phoenix would be the place to be for a sports fan? For years, the Cardinals were a joke, having made the NFL playoffs only once since moving to Phoenix in 1988 until last season. Then came last year's improbable Super Bowl run and now they are coming off a thrilling first-round playoff victory against the Packers. Meantime, the financially troubled Coyotes were supposed to be a disaster this season, but instead find themselves among the leaders in the NHL's Western Conference. The NBA's Suns are 10 games over .500.

Other cities who have it good these days
Dallas
For the first time in years, the Cowboys look like they have a team that matches their arrogance. They look as good as any to win the whole thing. Meantime, the NBA's Mavericks lead their division, and those in Big D who are fans of the University of Texas can brag about having the No. 2 college football team in the country and the No. 1 men's college basketball team.

New York
True, the Giants had a horrible season, but the Jets have a playoff win, the Knicks are showing signs of life in the NBA (and LeBron James could be on his way) and the Rangers are doing fine under John Tortorella. But none of that is that big of a deal. The Yankees are the World Series champs and that's all that really matters in New York.

Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Does any sport mean more to a town than college football does to Tuscaloosa? The answer is no.

Los Angeles
The Lakers have the best record in the NBA, the NHL's Kings are surprisingly good and there are rumors they are going to acquire Atlanta superstar Ilya Kovalchuk. The Dodgers were a playoff team as were the Angels right down the road.

Media matters
ESPN will air 14 NASCAR Spring Cup races in 2010, including nine of the 10 races in the Chase. ABC will air three prime-time Saturday night races. ABC/ESPN's 17-race coverage begins with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25 and concludes with the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead on Nov. 21. In the past, ABC has carried the bulk of the ABC/ESPN NASCAR races. "Last year's performance showed us that ESPN provides the best home for NASCAR,'' said ESPN exec VP/content John Skipper. All NASCAR Sprint Cup race telecasts on the ESPN networks will continue to be preceded by NASCAR Countdown. … Golf Week is reporting that Golf Channel has not renewed the contracts of studio host/reporter Iain Page and reporter Adam Barr. … Appearing on Showtime's Inside the NFL, Junior Seau, who retired this week, said he would like to go into broadcasting full time next season.

Three things that popped into my head
1. It doesn't seem fair that the Cardinals and Ravens have to play Saturday after playing last Sunday when their opponents (Saints, Colts) will have two weeks off.
2. So the Raiders give Lane Kiffin an NFL job when he's 31. The University of Tennessee throws him a lifeline when he tanks out in Oakland. Now USC brings him in to follow one of the most successful coaches in college history. And, oh, Vols fans are upset. Why such a fuss over a guy who has a career record of 12-21?
3. If you had a choice between hiring Lane Kiffin or Skip Holtz, who would you take? I'd suggest USF did better than USC.

Shooting from the lip/Jan. 11 edition

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Worst decision
Only one of the 12 coaches in this season's NFL playoffs was a head coach in college. Many were assistants at the college level, but only Indianapolis' Jim Caldwell, who coached Wake Forest from 1993 to 2000, was a head coach. When you think about it, not that many highly successful college coaches go on to have NFL success. Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Tom Coughlin and Bobby Ross are recent examples, but we're going back nearly 15 years now. In fact, Caldwell didn’t even have an impressive college career (26-63) and he spent nine years as an NFL assistant after Wake Forest before becoming the Colts coach.

This all comes up now because of the rumors that Pete Carroll is going to leave Southern Cal to go to the Seahawks. On Sunday's Sports Reporters on ESPN, New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica had two names for Carroll to think about: Steve Spurrier and a basketball version -- Rick Pitino, who left a sweet gig at Kentucky to go the Celtics and ended up going back to college ball with Louisville.
Here are some more names for Carroll to think about: Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino, Butch Davis, Dennis Erickson and Mike Riley.

"Pete Carroll is very nice guy,'' Lupica said. "He built a very good program in the short run at (USC). He was a mediocre professional football coach before. I believe he'll return to being a mediocre professional football coach.''

Others, however, disagree. "He's a terrific coach,'' CBS NFL Today analyst Boomer Esiason said. "He's definitely prepared for this. He's learned from his past experiences at the Patriots and Jets. This is a terrific move by the Seahawks.''

Worst broadcast
Of the weekend's four NFL games, the worst broadcast was Jets-Bengals on NBC. That shouldn't have been a surprise. NBC normally covers one game a week, and its top crew was in Dallas for the Eagles-Cowboys game. The Jets-Bengals game had a broadcast crew slapped together specifically for that one game with Tom Hammond calling play-by-play, and Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann handling analysis.
For starters, Theismann talked way too much, as expected. New York Times sports media critic Richard Sandomir actually timed Theismann. According to Sandomir, Theismann spoke 149 times during the game, taking up 28 minutes, 31 seconds of airtime. Gibbs spoke 83 times for just over 15 minutes. When Gibbs did speak, he made one of the worst mistakes a broadcaster can make. He didn't give enough respect to the viewer, almost to the point that he acted as if he was explaining the game to those who were watching a football game for the first time. He also pointed out things that a broadcaster would point out in a season opener as opposed to a playoff game. While it might have been the first game he was calling in a while, it wasn't the first game we were watching this season. The thing is, Gibbs is a sharp guy and can communicate. Perhaps we can chalk up his performance Sunday to a little rust and a lot of Theismann.

Meantime, NBC dropped the ball when a second-quarter Jets field goal was wiped out by back-to-back penalties. Viewers were left guessing what the first penalty was because NBC didn't show the referee giving the signal and it never explained what we missed. And, with the score 14-7 at the time, it was a crucial penalty.

Best stepping up
Kudos to Sun Sports for picking up MSG's feed of Sunday's conclusion of the Lightning-Devils game. The game started on Friday, but a power outage forced the last 29 minutes, 12 seconds to be played Sunday. Sun Sports also forked over a portion of MSG's production costs, which were about $40,000. And, hey, any time you get a chance to listen to Mike Emrick, the NBC and Devils announcer, it's a pleasure. As far as Friday's delay, it's hard to criticize Sun Sports. Who, after all, could ever be prepared for a two-hour delay in the middle of a hockey game? However, it was one of the rare occasions the Lightning did not have a sideline reporter and that decision turned out to bite Sun Sports.

Best line
In recent weeks, we've seen college football coaches -- USF's Jim Leavitt, Texas Tech's Mike Leach and Kansas' Mark Mangino -- lose their jobs for allegedly mistreating players. Some seem to think that a little slap to the face is no big deal, that it’s just a little motivation tactic and certainly not worth a coach losing his job. Wrong, says CBS college football analyst Gary Danielson.

"I hear coaches say … (they're) in the business of making men better men in the future,'' Danielson recently told Sports Illustrated's Dan Patrick. "No. You're not. You're in the business of coaching. I'm in the business of raising my son.''

Best distraction
As I was watching the Ravens blow out the Patriots in the first quarter Sunday, I made the mistake of flipping channels during a commercial. I stumbled across TV Land just as Jack Nicholson was taking the witness stand in A Few Good Men. Needless to say, I missed the rest of the first quarter of Ravens-Patriots. Sorry, but when you turn on that movie at that point you are required to watch the rest of it even if a playoff football game is on, aren't you?

Worst strategy
It turned out not to matter, but when the Ravens took a 33-14 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter Sunday, they went for two in hopes of going up by 21 points. CBS analyst Phil Simms agreed with the move even though kicking would've put them up by 20 points and forced New England to score three touchdowns to win. The Ravens' two-point try was unsuccessful, meaning they remained up by 19. So New England could've tied the game with two touchdowns, two two-point conversions and a field goal. In fact, with just over seven minutes left, the Patriots tried (unsuccessfully) a field goal that would've pulled them to within 16.

Best interview
ESPN's Outside the Lines had an interview with Leini Tonga, the fiance of late Bengals receiver Chris Henry. Tonga was driving a pickup truck when Henry either jumped or fell out from the back Dec. 17 and died from injuries suffered in the fall. Reporter John Barr conducted the interview with appropriate tact and respect, and those who watched the piece likely came out with a better impression of Henry.

Before the accident, the general public perception of Henry was that he was a bad guy. Even Henry, who was arrested five times while with the Bengals, admitted before his death that he had made some wrong choices. But there was more to the story, and OTL pointed out that Henry was helping family and friends who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina, and that Henry had been trouble-free the final year and a half of his life.

Best point
Even if you don't like the Ravens and linebacker Ray Lewis, you couldn't help but notice and enjoy his genuine enthusiasm in an interview after the Ravens defeated the Patriots in Sunday's wild-card game.

"After listening to him,'' CBS studio analyst Shannon Sharpe said, "I'm out of breath.''

Then CBS analyst Bill Cowher said something that certainly will make Patriots fans wince … because Cowher is correct: "The New England Patriots lack a leader like that. That was the difference on that field (Sunday).''

Three things that popped into my head
1. Watching how hard the Lightning’s Marty St. Louis works, how much he cares and how talented he is, I find it hard to believe Team Canada doesn't have a spot for him on its Olympic team.
2. What does it say about USF’s football program that we aren't hearing any assistants emerging as serious candidates to replace the recently fired Jim Leavitt?
3. Is Tiger Woods ever going to emerge from seclusion?

Shooting from the lip/Jan. 4 edition

Looking back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports ...

Best coverage
The NHL's Winter Classic has become one of the year's most entertaining sporting events, and NBC's coverage keeps getting better. The New Year's Day coverage from Fenway Park was NBC's best effort yet in the outdoor game's three years. It made the game truly special, though the only difference between it and every other regular-season game is the absence of a roof. NBC and the NHL celebrated the sport, the teams involved and host city Boston. Pregame and intermissions are usually times for fans to take bathroom breaks and load up on refreshments, but Friday, those moments were as entertaining as the hockey.

The game itself was just average until the Bruins scored late in the third and then in overtime for the victory, but the entire broadcast was carried by the outstanding announcing of Mike Emrick, Ed Olczyk and Darren Pang. The highlight came after the game when USA Hockey used an innovative way to unveil its Olympic team: It had kids on the ice wearing the jerseys of the players selected. The jersey of the final player announced was worn by a big kid: Bruins goalie Tim Thomas skated on to the ice wearing his Olympic jersey.

Best line
"The same athletic director who hired Bobby Knight to coach his basketball team has now fired Mike Leach from coaching his football team. So let's drop any talk of a minimum moral standard at Texas Tech.''
— Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, on ESPN's Sports Reporters on Sunday, talking about Leach being fired after being accused of mistreating a player who had a concussion.

Most critical remarks
During Fox's coverage of the Sugar Bowl on Friday, analyst Brian Billick said he was a fan of Gators quarterback Tim Tebow as a person and as a college quarterback. As an NFL quarterback? Not so much. Billick said Tebow "has lots of work to do'' if he wants to make it as a quarterback on Sundays.
Billick told the New York Times that he has spoken to five NFL teams and none has Tebow rated as a first-round draft pick.

"He scares me,'' Billick told the New York Times. "You love the kid. If there is a fair God above, (Tebow will) have a successful NFL career. I don't know how you take a kid in the first round who you are going to have to change absolutely everything he does, his drop, his delivery.''

Biggest conflict
Controversy surrounded the NFL's decision to move Sunday’s Jets-Bengals game from afternoon to prime time. Depending on the outcome of some games Sunday afternoon, it was possible the Bengals would have had nothing to play for and could have rested their starters, though the game still would have meant something to the Jets and other teams that needed the Bengals to win. Conspiracy theorists thought it was the NFL's way of helping the Jets so the league could get a New York team in the playoffs. That seems far-fetched. And really, any team that depends on other teams to make the playoffs has nothing but itself to blame. That being said, the NFL does need to be more cognizant of how scheduling changes such as Sunday's could alter the playoff picture.

Best interview
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed questions during halftime of the CBS game between the Steelers and Dolphins about teams resting players when playoff spots are still on the line.

"I think the integrity of our game is the most important thing we do,'' Goodell said. "We want our players to play and our teams to win. I think we have to do more structurally to incent people to win and to play. I don't blame the coaches in Indianapolis for what they did (resting starters the weekend before against the Jets). I understand exactly what they did, but we've got to create that incentive.''

What can the NFL do?

"Well, we're considering a lot of different things,'' Goodell said. "We've talked with our competition committee. We've talked with John Madden's (NFL) committee. …  I don’t think you can punish people for not playing. The other thing that has to happen is, you have to make it clear to the public that you're not going to be playing somebody, just like we do with our injury reports.''

Worst audio
Poor CBS. Postgame interviews with coaches are almost always meaningless and rarely reveal anything. But CBS had the biggest postgame coach interview in recent memory, and we didn't initially hear it. After Florida State's victory over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl on Friday, CBS had the first interview with Bobby Bowden immediately after he coached his final game. And the microphone of reporter Tracy Wolfson went dead just as Bowden was talking about his emotions upon ending his legendary career.
CBS rallied to get another microphone, and even that one cut out a couple of times as Bowden spoke for the second time to Wolfson. It was a case of bad luck for CBS, but you just know everyone in the production truck was pulling their hair out, as were viewers.

Most controversial decision
The Colts' decision to pull their starters in what ended up being their first loss, Dec. 27 to the Jets, still was a hot topic as analysts argued whether Indy should have gone for a perfect season.

"They cheated us out of a chance of watching this team go for the missing piece, which was the perfect season,'' the NFL Network's Warren Sapp said. "There are only 10 players in the locker room who don't have a ring. Go for perfection.''

Ultimately, the end of the day, it hardly matters what I or you or even Sapp thinks. But did you see the look on Peyton Manning's face? Or the body language of his teammates, who appeared angry watching their perfect season end? The NFL Network's Marshall Faulk brought up the best point of all: "How do you not take it to your locker room and ask the players, 'What do you think?' At the end of the day, those are the guys that are winning the game.''

Three things that popped into my head
1. With Ohio State beating Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Penn State beating LSU in the Capital One Bowl and Wisconsin beating Miami in the Champs Sports Bowl, maybe the Big Ten was a better conference than most thought. Let's see how Iowa does against Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Tuesday.
2. After the way Florida destroyed Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, no one with the Bearcats should be whining about how they didn't get a shot at the national championship. You get the feeling that if Florida and Cincy played 10 times, the Gators would win in blowouts 10 times.
3. Fox does a heck of a job covering almost everything except college football. It just seems weird that some of the biggest games of the season are on a network that doesn't cover college football regularly.

Shooting from the lip/Dec. 28

Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best coverage
Regardless of what one thinks of ESPN -- and the network does have its detractors -- no one can deny how well it covers a big story. Its execution of the developments surrounding Gators football coach Urban Meyer throughout the weekend was unrivaled and to be respected by all.

As soon as word broke Saturday night that Meyer was resigning, ESPN went into fifth gear. ESPNews' nonstop coverage, featuring analysis and interviews from all corners of college football, was must-see TV, as was SportsCenter throughout the weekend. While the media had to make due Saturday night with a  statement from Meyer released by the school, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit was talking to Meyer, then relaying that conversation on the air. On Sunday, it was ESPN's Chris Mortensen who first broke the story that Meyer was not resigning but taking a leave of absence.

More outstanding commentary could be seen before and after Meyer's news conference Sunday. The weekend again proved that if there is a major breaking story, sports fans' first instinct should be, and usually is, turning on ESPN.

Best analysis
Here's why Lightning analyst Bobby "The Chief'' Taylor is so good: With the Lightning leading Atlanta 4-2 late in the third period Saturday night, Taylor warned that Tampa Bay couldn't afford to make any of those cute, fancy passes near the Atlanta blue line. Sure enough, within seconds, the Lightning's Marty St. Louis turned the puck over at the Atlanta blue line with a soft pass, and the result was a Thrashers goal.

"That's exactly what I was talking about!'' Taylor said. And he was exactly right. Any analyst can tell you what just happened. The good ones tell you something before it happens.

Best show
Each year, HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel does a year-in-review show. Last year was an example of how not to do it as Gumbel and his correspondents spent a nauseating hour patting themselves on the back and talking about how good the show is and how important they are. This year, they did it the right way. They simply reviewed their stories, showed highlights and let viewers see for themselves just how good the show is.

Real Sports is a little full of itself, which is probably what allows it to shoot so high and be so consistently good. However, it's more enjoyable when the show simply lets the outstanding work speak for itself.

Best walk down memory lane
Remember that show Greatest Sports Legends? The syndicated half-hour show aired from 1973 to 1993, usually on a Saturday afternoon, and featured, well, the greatest legends in sports with a review of their careers and insightful interviews usually conducted while the athletes were doing something active, such as shooting baskets or playing catch. Over the weekend, a "best-of'' show aired, bringing back memories of hosts such as Tom Seaver, George Plimpton, Ken Howard and Jayne Kennedy and countless athletes, including memorable episodes about Pele, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The most interesting bit of the retrospective was an emotional Kennedy revealing how Celtics star Bill Russell, who had refused to do the show for years, agreed to an interview with her because he felt it was important for Kennedy to succeed in broadcasting.

Strongest comment

"Brett Favre is infected. He's infected with a disease, and a lot of superstars get this disease. They have so many accolades and are idolized, they start to think they are bigger than the team, are more important than any one individual, including the head coach.''
-- Jimmy Johnson, Fox NFL analyst, talking about the Vikings quarterback's disagreement with coach Brad Childress over coming out of a game last week.

Best sport
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy had some provocative comments about the NBA playing games on Christmas Day. He suggested that the league take a holiday break because people should be doing other things on Christmas instead of watching sports. And Van Gundy has a point. No one feels sorry for millionaire athletes working over the holidays, but think of all the front-office folks, arena workers and media people who have to work on Christmas because the NBA is playing.

But having said all that, it's actually smart business by the NBA to play on Christmas. The NHL shuts down Dec. 24 and 25, there is only one college bowl game, and the NFL doesn't play unless Christmas falls on a Sunday. (There was one NFL game Friday night.)

So it's a perfect opportunity for the NBA to get some of the exposure it misses out on in the fall because sports fans are engrossed in pro and college football. The day is loaded with marquee match-ups, and I must admit that after the presents were opened Friday, I spent much of the day checking in and out on the five NBA games that were televised. It's hard to argue with Van Gundy, but just like football on Thanksgiving, the NBA on Christmas is becoming a tradition.

Best point
The last we saw, Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was being cheered in the Bronx, while former major-leaguers such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens continue to be vilified. Isn't it funny that we have actual proof that A-Rod cheated, and yet A-Rod's use of performance-enhancing drugs seems to be, as ESPN Sports Reporters' host John Saunders said, "forgotten and forgiven.''

Saunders had the most interesting comments of the show, adding: "The faces of the steroid era continue to be Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa. Why? Because voluntary or not, their careers are over -- careers that seemed automatic for the Hall of Fame now destined to be punished. So why does A-Rod receive a pass? Because he's still playing. He's still giving fans reasons to cheer. The moral of this story is if you’re going to cheat, do it while you can still produce.''

Three things that popped into my head
1. So Urban Meyer was the Gators coach yesterday and he is the coach today and thinks he will be the coach tomorrow and next season. So, what exactly happened over the weekend?
2. You know, he doesn’t get the attention he used to get, but CBS's Dan Dierdorf is still a darn good broadcaster.
3. Hey, two weeks in a row and no mention of Tiger Woods.