Post by prossman on Dec 20, 2008 7:25:41 GMT -7
DMN: Horn: Dallas Cowboys an NFL Network favorite
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Dallas Cowboys an NFL Network favorite
Channel can count on good ratings from Saturday's game with Ravens
04:20 AM CST on Saturday, December 20, 2008
• E-mail
About the NFL Network and tonight's Cowboys-Ravens game at Texas Stadium:
I NFL Network is in 37 percent of television homes in America. That's about 42 million homes. That's not quite what the league had in mind when it launched the network back in 2003. ESPN is in about 98 million homes.
II Baseball's MLB Network launches Jan. 1 in 50 million homes.
III The Cowboys-Ravens matchup concludes NFLN's third season of game coverage. The league hoped adding games would pressure cable companies into carrying the network on a basic digital cable tier. Big cable companies, like Time Warner in Dallas and Charter in Fort Worth, as well as Comcast, haven't budged.
IV The cable companies have been unwilling to play ball with the NFL in part because they have been frozen out of the NFL's Sunday Ticket package, which belongs exclusively to satellite competitor DirecTV. And when Comcast lost its bid for the Thursday night package that the NFL kept for itself, that didn't soothe any hard feelings. Let's just say that the lawyers are making lots of money here. Looks like the courts will be the final arbiters.
V Bob Papa, Deion Sanders and Marshall Faulk will call Cowboys-Ravens for NFLN. It will be simulcast on KDAF (Ch. 33). Papa is new to the broadcast this year. He replaced Bryant Gumbel, who stumbled through two seasons of play-by-play work. Papa, the radio voice of the New York Giants, has received rave reviews and is really good.
VI Still, Papa's biggest plus is that he isn't Gumbel.
VII Sanders and Faulk are primarily NFL Network studio analysts. They are working the game because Cris Collinsworth, the first-string game analyst, has a prior commitment to one of his other employers – NBC.
VIII Despite the Ravens' presence in the game, Baltimore's team is almost an afterthought in today's NFLN lineup. Cowboys programming begins at 5 a.m. with five straight hours of America's Game episodes that highlight America's Team's five Super Bowl championships. The network will essentially be dedicated to the Cowboys until after the postgame show some time around midnight. There's even a 30-minute special on Barry Switzer scheduled.
IX Last season's Cowboys-Packers game remains far and away the most-watched show ever on NFLN. It attracted 10 million viewers. The Cowboys-Panthers game later in 2007 is No. 2 at 4.8 million viewers. The Chargers-Raiders earlier this season set an all-time low with 1.9 million. Expect tonight's game to be the new No. 2. Think of the matchup as the NFL's early Christmas present to itself.
X Both NFLN and KDAF plan to show the post-game farewell to Texas Stadium, which is scheduled to last 50 minutes. KDAF, which will have its biggest audience ever, plans to go commercial-free for at least 30 minutes.
Sham's top memories
Brad Sham first joined the Cowboys radio broadcast in 1976 as a color commentator alongside Verne Lundquist. He slipped into the play-by-play seat in 1984 when Lundquist left to work full-time at CBS. Sham will emcee tonight's postgame in-stadium Cowboys farewell to Texas Stadium.
Here's his most vivid memories of the stadium:
I Cowboys 35, Redskins 34 in the final game of the 1979 regular season: "The winner of the game clinched the division, and, as it turned out, the loser was out of the playoffs. It was the best football game I have ever seen. The Redskins were up by six points late in the game and had the ball. It was third down and short yardage. They pitch the ball to John Riggins. He tried to come around right end, and Larry Cole, who sees the play coming, drops him for a loss. They punt. Roger Staubach comes in and throws a touchdown pass to Tony Hill, and the Cowboys win the game and the division. Verne was on a network assignment, so I'm doing the play-by-play, and Charlie Waters is the analyst. All during the fourth quarter, he is yelling, 'You gotta believe, you gotta believe.' It was classic radio."
II It wasn't a game: "It was a pep rally. It was mid-week before the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco for the 1992 season. The Cowboys opened the doors and invited people to the stadium. Something like 35,000 or 40,000 people showed up for no game, but it was electric. The pure emotion from the fans mixed with how genuinely overwhelmed the players were proved to be a magical experience."
III Ring of Honor ceremonies: "I have loved all of them. Those are the times the gladiators shed their armor, and we get to see them as humans. I've been to all of them starting with Bob Lilly in 1975. I guess I am kind of a nostalgic sap. With all the great players returning, I think Saturday night might surpass them."
Worldwide leader in sports
Sports Business Journal this week released its list of the "50 Most Influential People in Sports Business for 2008."
George Bodenheimer, who calls the shots at ESPN, was No. 1. That's no surprise. He was also top-ranked in 2005 and 2006 before sliding to No. 4 last year. And no, ESPN doesn't own Sports Business Journal – yet. Bodenheimer vaulted back to No. 1 primarily because his company wrested the BCS away from Fox for $500 million beginning in 2011.
Of the top 10 spots in the poll, four were held by network sports bosses. NBC's thingy Ebersol was No. 5, Fox's David Hill was No. 7, and CBS' Sean McManus was No. 8. Last year's No. 1, Brian Roberts, chairman of Comcast, was nowhere to be found, but he was replaced by Comcast vice president David Cohen, who's No. 10.
No. 2 on the list was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. That's two places ahead of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban showed up at No. 35. That was way behind NBA commissioner David Stern, who was No. 3.
By the way, baseball commissioner Bud Selig was No. 6, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was No. 13. Rangers and Stars owner Tom Hicks didn't rank.
High school football update
Fox Sports Southwest has both Class 5A title games today from Houston's Reliant Stadium. Kevin Eschenfelder and Shea Walker work the Division II title game between Katy and Wylie at 2 p.m. Craig Way and Walker will call the Division I championship between Fort Bend Hightower and Allen at 7 p.m. Way will host a studio show between games.
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Dallas Cowboys an NFL Network favorite
Channel can count on good ratings from Saturday's game with Ravens
04:20 AM CST on Saturday, December 20, 2008
About the NFL Network and tonight's Cowboys-Ravens game at Texas Stadium:
I NFL Network is in 37 percent of television homes in America. That's about 42 million homes. That's not quite what the league had in mind when it launched the network back in 2003. ESPN is in about 98 million homes.
II Baseball's MLB Network launches Jan. 1 in 50 million homes.
III The Cowboys-Ravens matchup concludes NFLN's third season of game coverage. The league hoped adding games would pressure cable companies into carrying the network on a basic digital cable tier. Big cable companies, like Time Warner in Dallas and Charter in Fort Worth, as well as Comcast, haven't budged.
IV The cable companies have been unwilling to play ball with the NFL in part because they have been frozen out of the NFL's Sunday Ticket package, which belongs exclusively to satellite competitor DirecTV. And when Comcast lost its bid for the Thursday night package that the NFL kept for itself, that didn't soothe any hard feelings. Let's just say that the lawyers are making lots of money here. Looks like the courts will be the final arbiters.
V Bob Papa, Deion Sanders and Marshall Faulk will call Cowboys-Ravens for NFLN. It will be simulcast on KDAF (Ch. 33). Papa is new to the broadcast this year. He replaced Bryant Gumbel, who stumbled through two seasons of play-by-play work. Papa, the radio voice of the New York Giants, has received rave reviews and is really good.
VI Still, Papa's biggest plus is that he isn't Gumbel.
VII Sanders and Faulk are primarily NFL Network studio analysts. They are working the game because Cris Collinsworth, the first-string game analyst, has a prior commitment to one of his other employers – NBC.
VIII Despite the Ravens' presence in the game, Baltimore's team is almost an afterthought in today's NFLN lineup. Cowboys programming begins at 5 a.m. with five straight hours of America's Game episodes that highlight America's Team's five Super Bowl championships. The network will essentially be dedicated to the Cowboys until after the postgame show some time around midnight. There's even a 30-minute special on Barry Switzer scheduled.
IX Last season's Cowboys-Packers game remains far and away the most-watched show ever on NFLN. It attracted 10 million viewers. The Cowboys-Panthers game later in 2007 is No. 2 at 4.8 million viewers. The Chargers-Raiders earlier this season set an all-time low with 1.9 million. Expect tonight's game to be the new No. 2. Think of the matchup as the NFL's early Christmas present to itself.
X Both NFLN and KDAF plan to show the post-game farewell to Texas Stadium, which is scheduled to last 50 minutes. KDAF, which will have its biggest audience ever, plans to go commercial-free for at least 30 minutes.
Sham's top memories
Brad Sham first joined the Cowboys radio broadcast in 1976 as a color commentator alongside Verne Lundquist. He slipped into the play-by-play seat in 1984 when Lundquist left to work full-time at CBS. Sham will emcee tonight's postgame in-stadium Cowboys farewell to Texas Stadium.
Here's his most vivid memories of the stadium:
I Cowboys 35, Redskins 34 in the final game of the 1979 regular season: "The winner of the game clinched the division, and, as it turned out, the loser was out of the playoffs. It was the best football game I have ever seen. The Redskins were up by six points late in the game and had the ball. It was third down and short yardage. They pitch the ball to John Riggins. He tried to come around right end, and Larry Cole, who sees the play coming, drops him for a loss. They punt. Roger Staubach comes in and throws a touchdown pass to Tony Hill, and the Cowboys win the game and the division. Verne was on a network assignment, so I'm doing the play-by-play, and Charlie Waters is the analyst. All during the fourth quarter, he is yelling, 'You gotta believe, you gotta believe.' It was classic radio."
II It wasn't a game: "It was a pep rally. It was mid-week before the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco for the 1992 season. The Cowboys opened the doors and invited people to the stadium. Something like 35,000 or 40,000 people showed up for no game, but it was electric. The pure emotion from the fans mixed with how genuinely overwhelmed the players were proved to be a magical experience."
III Ring of Honor ceremonies: "I have loved all of them. Those are the times the gladiators shed their armor, and we get to see them as humans. I've been to all of them starting with Bob Lilly in 1975. I guess I am kind of a nostalgic sap. With all the great players returning, I think Saturday night might surpass them."
Worldwide leader in sports
Sports Business Journal this week released its list of the "50 Most Influential People in Sports Business for 2008."
George Bodenheimer, who calls the shots at ESPN, was No. 1. That's no surprise. He was also top-ranked in 2005 and 2006 before sliding to No. 4 last year. And no, ESPN doesn't own Sports Business Journal – yet. Bodenheimer vaulted back to No. 1 primarily because his company wrested the BCS away from Fox for $500 million beginning in 2011.
Of the top 10 spots in the poll, four were held by network sports bosses. NBC's thingy Ebersol was No. 5, Fox's David Hill was No. 7, and CBS' Sean McManus was No. 8. Last year's No. 1, Brian Roberts, chairman of Comcast, was nowhere to be found, but he was replaced by Comcast vice president David Cohen, who's No. 10.
No. 2 on the list was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. That's two places ahead of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban showed up at No. 35. That was way behind NBA commissioner David Stern, who was No. 3.
By the way, baseball commissioner Bud Selig was No. 6, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was No. 13. Rangers and Stars owner Tom Hicks didn't rank.
High school football update
Fox Sports Southwest has both Class 5A title games today from Houston's Reliant Stadium. Kevin Eschenfelder and Shea Walker work the Division II title game between Katy and Wylie at 2 p.m. Craig Way and Walker will call the Division I championship between Fort Bend Hightower and Allen at 7 p.m. Way will host a studio show between games.
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