Watchdog

Happy 20th anniversary to ESPN's "Sports Reporters."

The show came after the late, great "Sportswriters on TV," featuring a bunch of grouchy Chicago scribes, but ESPN's version was pioneering in its own right.

I was going to mention this in the Sunday newspaper, but I didn't have room. So read USA Today's take on it instead.

ESPN told me I can't legally post the cool video of the opening episode - hosted by Gary Thorne! - that was distributed to media.

So here is a link to Awful Announcing's post that includes it. Let the Bristol Stompers complain to them if they want.

That's it for me today.

Happy Birthday to Christian Peter (36), Gwen Stefani (39), Patrick Flatley (45), Tommy Lee (46), Dennis Eckersley (54), Al Sharpton (54), Dave Winfield (57), Chubby Checker (67) and Jean Ratelle (68).

I made a crack in a post earlier today about never having heard of ESPN's Keith Law, which I haven't.

Yo, I can't pay attention to everything on this beat!

But then I learned Mr. Law was born and raised in Nesconset. Which means it's my bad, and I need to study up on this fellow.

I started here and eventually learned Mr. Law is considerably more interesting than me.

That includes the facts he went to Harvard and became an assistant GM for the Blue Jays. He's also a "bookworm and food critic," according to his personal blog.

Then again, Jon Daniels went to Cornell and is THE GM of the Rangers. Hah! Take that, Law.

One more thing . . . ESPN will announce today that Matthew Barnaby will succeed Barry Melrose as its NHL studio analyst, a development The Buffalo News reported last month.

Barnaby will debut on SportsCenter Oct. 8 and usually appear on the show Wednesdays and Thursdays during the regular season.

Melrose will be a tough act to follow as the face of the sport on ESPN, which no longer actually carries the NHL's games.

Barnaby should rip Melrose after the Tampa Bay Lightning's opener, then shove Steve Levy into a wall . . . just to establish that there is as a new sheriff in town.

I never have heard of Keith Law, but he finished first in this ranking of 50 media types' accuracy in making preseason baseball picks.

I have heard of Mike Greenberg. He finished last.

Both Law and Greenberg are from ESPN, as are a ridonkulous 23 people overall on the list.

Former Newsday baseball scribes Jon Heyman and Tom Verducci finished second and 35th, respectively. Current Newsday baseball scribe Ken Davidoff finished 30th.

Here's another thing I missed over the weekend: Joe Theismann talking about what has become of "Monday Night Football" in general and about Tony Kornheiser in particular.

I'm starting to get the sense Theismann has not completely gotten over being replaced on the show.

ESPN sometimes is accused of messing with the educational process by scheduling college basketball games at weird times.

Has such criticism caused ESPN to become bashful or gun-shy? Um, no.

The Bristol Stompers announced Wednesday that they would celebrate the start of the season Nov. 18 with 23 consecutive hours of college hoops.

The festivities will include nine games, beginning at midnight Eastern Time with UMass at Memphis, then Fresno State at St. Mary’s at 2 a.m. and Idaho State at Hawaii at 4 a.m.

The final game will be Kentucky at North Carolina at 9 p.m.

Stan Verrett, the official SportsCenter anchor of WatchDog Nation, admitted on the late show last night that he never had heard of the game "Duck, Duck, Goose" until Friday.

(Canadian Football Leaguers were playing it as part of an end zone celebration.)

Sure, that's shocking, but I admire Stan's honesty and was inspired to admit to my own tale of a childhood standard that I never had heard of until well into adulthood:

S'mores? Was unaware of their existence until Mrs. WatchDog introduced them to me in my mid-30s.

Feel free to share your own inexplicably lost piece of childhood. Catching fireflies? Eating the middle out of Oreos first? Playing Spin the Bottle . . . or, um, Doctor? Disliking spinach?

You didn't really think I'd leave you for the weekend with that Tiki Barber post below, did you?

No siree. Instead, here is some amusing video of the pre-ESPN Stu Scott via Deadspin.

You have to feel for Stu and Sarah Palin and everyone else who left a video trail during the bad hair days of the 1980s. (Stu's hair is fine, but there are other people not as fortunate in this clip.)

That's the beauty of being a print reporter. You can read embarrassing stuff I wrote in my 20s, but I dare you to find video evidence of my days with hair. Maybe I had a mullet. Who knows?

OK, I'm really done now.

Enjoy the Tony Danza "CenterStage" on YES at 10 p.m. Sunday.

Matthew Barnaby evidently is headed to Bristol to replace Barry Melrose as ESPN's lead studio analyst for the NHL.

Barnaby, whose name came up early in the discussion, is a fine choice. But he should go with the mullet look to ease viewers' transition from Melrose.

Ideally, I should rewrite ESPN's news release about its plans for the final game at Yankee Stadium in my own words.

But after all that Mike Francesa transcription and answering 113 questions in my live chat, I don't feel like it.

So click below for the entire release, including the news that pre-game ceremonies will start on ESPN2 before the telecast switches to ESPN at 8 p.m.

Planned booth guests include Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra.

Much of America figures to be watching Cowboys-Packers on NBC, but New York will tune in, right?

Oh, and by the way, Newsday and Newsday.com will be covering this event thoroughly as well, featuring our own strong cast of journalism characters.

ESPN said Monday night's Eagles-Cowboys tilt attracted the largest audience in cable TV history - an average of 18.6 million people.

That surpassed the 17.5 million that watched last season's Patriots-Ravens game. Monday's thriller was watched by 13.3 percent of homes that have ESPN, the third-highest rating in ESPN history after a Bears-Vikings game in 1987 (14.4) and a Lions-Dolphins game in 1994 (14.2).

Bob Ley's sitdown with John McCain debuted on the 9 a.m. SportsCenter this morning, but I keep forgetting to watch at that hour and thus did not see it.

ESPN did send excerpts, and if you click below you can read them. Sen. McCain discusses boxing, among other things. He and Ley spoke Sunday before a NASCAR race, presumably friendly territory for a Republican - even in New Hampshire.

Let's get this out of the way right now, WatchDog Nation: The blog will remain strictly apolitical during these emotional weeks in the Presidential campaign.

I learned my lesson in 2004, when the Giants press room was split down the middle between blue and red, and things got heated at times.

I'm pretty sure football writers are more conservative than their counterparts in most other sports, except NASCAR, which probably makes football press rooms look like a 1968 convention of Students for a Democratic Society.

But I digress.

For a guy who attended a fancy pants Northeastern college crawling with liberals in the early days of what is now known as political correctness, I always have had a tin ear for p.c. controversies.

From Imus to Allianz, I'm just not that easily offended. Sorry.

Anyway, I don't know if Tony Kornheiser's possibly offensive wisecrack Monday night - for which he apologized - will have legs.

I hope not. But as usual, I have no idea.

For the second week in a row, I am following the strategy of loading up on posts late Sunday afternoon, when no one is reading this stuff, to compensate for the fact I will be too busy doing other things to post Monday, when many more people read this stuff.

Brilliant!

I'll leave you with the wit and wisdom of Terrell Owens, in a snippet ESPN sent from a delusional interview with Suzy Kolber in which he discusses his relationship with Donovan McNabb::

“I think there may have been a little jealousy, as the fact that sometimes I took a little bit of the limelight off them. You got 60 odd thousand people -- however many the Linc holds -- you got the whole stadium in there (chanting), ‘TO, TO, TO, TO.’ He (McNabb) was supposed to be the guy. I think there’s a lot of things that Donovan has been confronted with since being in Philly. … Over all those years, he’s had a chip on his shoulder. And for them to kind of shift the love, so to speak, to me it was almost like I was ‘the man’ in the city. … I wasn’t trying to come in there and steal anybody’s limelight. I was happy at the fact that I could share it. We could have done some great things.”

It's potpourri Sunday in my newspaper column, with Troy Aikman predicting a 6-0 start for the Giants, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit continuing to affect sports TV programming, John Sterling safe in the Yankees radio booth, Mike Fratello headed to Marv Albert's side on YES and Allianz suffering the sins of its grandfathers.

If Oswald looks a lot like Mickey Mouse, it's no accident. Walt Disney turned the rabbit into a mouse when he lost the rights to Oswald. It took Disney nearly 80 years to get him back, in a 2006 deal for Al Michaels.

I wrote a mini-review of Linda Cohn's new book, "Cohn-Head" in my Friday newspaper column.

Click below for quotes from Coram's own that didn't make it into the paper.

Alas, I spoke to Linda on the phone, not thinking to ask her out on a date, as Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio did.

Mr. Daulerio is more open than his predecessor, Will Leitch, to working with p.r. types and actually interviewing people, which can be both good and bad. In this case, it's a little of both.

Parents should be advised this link contains R-rated language, as well as an unfortunate turn of events toward the end, in which after wondering why Cohn would write about something as personal as her divorce, A.J. shares something even more personal about himself. Oy.

Thursday morning ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" poked fun at ESPN dubbing the Ohio State-USC game "The Collision at the Coliseum" by trying to come up with a more creative nickname for a lesser matchup.

They chose Stony Brook at Maine, which henceforth will be named "The Battle for the Butter."

I don't know what that means. But they had me at "Stony Brook."

Haven't you heard that the future of newspapers rests on hyper-local coverage?

In her latest ESPN.com column, Le Anne Schreiber complains about the Worldwide Leader's incessant cross-promotion.

In it an ESPN exec counters that viewers are annoyed because critics have told them to be annoyed.

So it's my fault!

How did Mike Francesa land an hour-long, in-studio chat with Linda Cohn Wednesday, given the fact ESPN generally bans its people from appearing on WFAN because it is a rival of 1050 ESPN?

The Bristol Stompers do allow occasional exceptions to the rule, and in this case allowed Cohn to do it because of she is a former WFAN staffer and former co-worker of Francesa, plus as a favor to her as she promotes her new book, "Cohn-Head."

My Tuesday column includes an item on Cris Carter in which he talks about his move from HBO to ESPN and his long-time aspirations for a TV career.

Click below to read quotes from my sitdown with him last month that I couldn't fit in the newspaper.

ESPN's Stuart Scott built a name early in his career on using pop culture words and references most of his viewers didn't get. He did it again on the Monday night SportsCenter, with a twist, in referencing the fact the Packers' Aaron Rodgers failed during his first Lambeau Leap to get his rear end over the wall.

Instead of calling it a rear end, Stu called it something that sounded like "tusskiss," evidently an attempt at the Yiddish "tuchis."

I give Scott an A for effort, and I'm guessing his knowledge of Yiddish is superior to Tony Kornheiser's knowledge of hip hop and rap.

ESPN has made a big deal about its live SportsCenters from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

But just after 3 o'clock Monday it had a chance to present some important live news in the form of a news conference featuring the H.C. of the NEP regarding the health - or lack thereof - of his starting quarterback.

Instead, ESPN went with "Around the Horn" and left Bill Belichick to ESPNEWS. Why?

Said an ESPN spokesman: "We had the news, which was no different than what had been widely speculated on -- serious knee injury, operation, out for season -- on Bottom Line as soon as we had it just prior to press conference, so those viewers were served. We carried the presser live on ESPNEWS, which is our live afternoon platform for breaking news after 3 p.m. (when live SportsCenter ends), where we intend to put most press conferences. But will still be a case-by-case judgment."

Before beginning my vacation two weeks ago, I attended an ESPN breakfast, spoke to a bunch of people there about the new-look "Monday Night Football" and wrote a column on that subject.

At last, it will see the light of day in the Sunday newspaper. Or you could read it at Newsday.com here.

Either way. Just patronize our advertisers, please. And tell them who sent you.

Here is an open letter to listeners from Jody McDonald via loyal reader Jim Burns. Get well soon, Jody Mac.

"To the hundreds of my fans and friends who have attempted to call me, and the thousands that have attempted to e-mail me, I thank you all very much. As you have probably heard by now, I needed to have quadruple bypass surgery. The procedure to this point has been a success. I now start the process of healing and getting better. This was way too close of a call, and will serve as a wake-up call for me. I am hoping to be back, talking Phils' pennant race, Eagles' good September start, and all things Philly sports before you know it. Thanks for the support you have shown my show during my absence, and I would appreciate it if you continue in that vein. I would love to reply to everyone individually, but I am just not up to the task. But know, your concern makes the fight I am fighting a little easier every day. Talk to you soon..."

Jody Mac

I wrote an article about ESPN's new-look "Monday Night Football" that will appear in the newspaper sometime next month, but I have been offering sneak previews, such as last week's post in which producer Jay Rothman had the following prediction for the number of booth guests this season: zero.

Here is an interesting quote from analyst Ron Jaworski regarding last season's approach, which featured booth guests and two sideline reporters:

“Many times, from my perspective, it was hard to get a flow for the game. I’m the guy delivering the X’s and O’s, why a play didn’t work, or why it did. It’s hard to go four or five plays and not get a word in because we’re on the sideline or with a booth guest, then pick it up from there and bring everyone up to speed.

“I’ll be honest, that was difficult to do. Now it’s going to be focused on the three of us in the booth, on the game, which is what people have told us they want.’’

Barack Obama played basketball with and talked to Stuart Scott of ESPN last week in North Carolina, an interview that will debut on the 6 p.m. Monday SportsCenter.

Obama has a chance to become the best basketball player in the history of the U.S. Presidency, although let's face it: Lincoln was just born too soon.

Click below for excerpts, in which Obama talks about Dr. J. and beer-swilling, cutesy Cubs fans.

Tony Kornheiser will not be working the final MNF preseason game in San Diego Monday night, but before you nice people start sending me e-mails wondering whether he has been ousted from the booth, it's only because of a relatively minor surgical procedure.

(Well, minor for me, since I'm not the one undergoing it.)

Lynbrook Tony is due back for the regular-season opener. Given the fact Monday's game is in San Diego and Kornheiser is not a fan of planes, I'm guessing he's not broken up about missing it.

Sorry for the blogging lull. I've been busy.

I read Tom Coughlin's new book while trying to figure out how to file my Cablevision expenses. Finished the book. Still haven't figured out how to file the expenses.

I had several interesting conversations Tuesday with ESPN personnel about their plans for a new-look "Monday Night Football," most of which I will be sharing in a future, interesting newspaper article.

But here's a snippet that might even be newsworthy: When I asked producer Jay Rothman for his best guess about the number of booth guests this season, now that Brett Favre will be unavailable for the opener at Lambeau, he said, "Zero."

Then he added, "We may pull something off the eve of the election, but if we do we’ll do so at halftime."

Umm . . . the election? Was he referring to the President of the United States, perhaps?

"I don't know," Rothman said.

Umm . . . where is the game the night before the election?

Rothman: "Washington, D.C."

ESPN's Mike Tirico planned to take his entire family to Shea Stadium Tuesday night for his final visit to the ballpark of a youth spent in Whitestone, Queens. Tirico lives in Michigan, and his children had never been to Shea before.

(By the way, the lead NFL play-by-play voices for ESPN, NBC, CBS and the NFL Network all grew up in the New York area. Joe Buck didn't.)

How many Mets games would Tirico attend each year?

"Oh, my gosh, we'd go to about 20 a summer. When I was in eighth, ninth, 10th grade, my buddies and I would go to Main Street (Flushing) and go the one stop to Shea in the early '80s. They were awful, oh my God, they were unwatchable.

"My later grandfather, Tony Fiordalisi, was one of the security force at Shea as a second job. He worked the Mets dugout for many years and then worked the visiting clubhouse. As my grandfather was getting older, Mr. Doubleday and Mr. Wilpon, when they were in the owners' seats off the dugout, they made sure my grandfather had a job inside so we wouldn't have to sit outside in his 60s during rain delays and stuff like that.

"I met people like Jim Leyland and some others through going to the game and waiting for my grandfather and going home with him."

Knowing he would be in town for Monday night's Browns-Giants game, Tirico took his family to Yankee Stadium Friday, but his "little Shea goodbye'' Tuesday meant more.

Here is my Tuesday newspaper column, in which I discuss the East Coast vs. West Coast wars when it comes Olympics coverage on NBC and MLB coverage on ESPN.

Here is the Le Anne Schreiber column for ESPN.com that inspired it all.

And here is the Web site for "let it out: the movie," which is described in a secondary item in the column.

If you are checking here to read fresh blog posts on Tuesday, I thank you sincerely for doing so. But you won't find any. Check back Wednesday. I think I have another live chat scheduled.

Thanks. Enjoy "Gorge Games" on MSG Plus at 4 p.m. I have no clue what that is about.

The new 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. SportsCenter marathon is underway!

And what did Hannah Storm open the first show with? Brett Favre! Noooooo!

It turned out she might have been kidding, though, because the first actual highlight shown was the men's 4x100-meter swimming relay from Beijing, in which Storm's husband, Dan Hicks, went all Gus Johnson on us during the frantic final seconds.

Anyway, enjoy the next five hours and 50 minutes of SportsCenter. They'll all do it again tomorrow!

Here is my Sunday newspaper column, in which I look at how Brett Favre held the national sports news media hostage - ESPN in particular - during the five weeks from his first public "itch" until the Jets finally scratched it.

ESPN and Favre were accomplices in the nuttiness, which mostly has subsided now. The New York media will take it from here, thank you.

The column also includes an item on the new, expanded SportsCenter debuting Monday.

Welcome back to sports, Hannah Storm!

Former Giant Tim Hasselbeck - who famously described the team's level of annoyance with Jeremy Shockey in a radio interview during Super Bowl week - has joined ESPN as its newest NFL analyst, leaving Sean Salisbury, Michael Irvin and me as the only living people ever associated with pro football who are not currently working as analysts for the network.

I attended a seminar for players aspiring to be broadcasters at NFL Films last year, and Hasselbeck clearly was a keeper with excellent potential on TV.

He told me it helps that his wife is on TV regularly and can help him improve.

As a New York-area sportswriter, it is my God-given right to ignore auto racing. But I don't, because Newsday values each and every one of its readers, no matter how obscure his or her sporting preferences.

Thus:

On Thursday, ESPN/ABC announced it would continue televising the Indianapolis 500 through 2012, as well as four other IRL races, on ABC.

The same day, Versus got involved in the sport in a big way, agreeing to televise at least 13 races a year for the next 10 years!

By the end of that deal, won't we all be getting around via jet packs or something?

(Don't forget, auto racing enthusiasts: It's NASCAR month at the Final Score blog!)

Sorry not to have posted in a while, but I have been carefully reviewing the ABC/ESPN and TNT schedules for the 2008-09 season that were released today and counting the number of Knicks games to be featured.

After adding it all up, the total is as follows: zero.

The Knicks could earn their way onto the ABC/ESPN slate via flexible scheduling. Last season the Hornets started with two ESPN dates and ended up having three on ESPN and two on ABC.

The Celtics are scheduled for 16 ABC/ESPN appearances, followed by the Lakers, Cavs, Suns and Spurs with 15 apiece.

TNT has the Cavs, Lakers and Suns 10 times apiece, and the Celts nine.

That's it for me today. Enjoy the Brett Favre saga. Or not.