What’s on Tap: ESPN Will Attempt to Honor 21 Again

By Brian Powell
Each Monday morning, Brian posts a recap of the weekend’s broadcasts, along with a “MNF” recap on Tuesday mornings as well as a weekend preview every Friday.
What to Watch For While You’re Watching:
-- The NFL will most surely focus most of their attention on the untimely passing of Sean Taylor and rightfully so. ESPN will have a feature on the Redskins’ safety, and hopefully this time they get it right. I’m sure FOX and CBS will follow suit. ESPN will also feature a bevy of other “entertaining” features on their Sunday Countdown program. Some to look for include Kenny Mayne and his flute, a feature on Jags’ QB David Garrard, and 10-year old Jason Krause wondering why people kick to Devin Hester, while we wonder why a 10-year-old is on our television.
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-- Looking further ahead, you’re not gonna want to miss Monday Night Countdown as the Patriots offensive line will take ESPN on a shopping trip. I can’t make this stuff up. No word on whether or not they’ll be buying a new designer cowboy hat for Tom Brady.
-- College football heads into Championship Week with a lot on the line. The most important being a shot at the National Championship for West Virginia and Missouri. You’ll have to choose between the two as they start at approximately the same time. Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge will be calling the Pitt-WVU game at 7:45 on ESPN and Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, and Chris Spielman will be on the Mizzou-Oklahoma game at 8:00 on ABC. Spielman is a new edition to that crew and will hopefully not throw off what’s been an above average pairing all year long.
-- Army and Navy also renew their 100+ year rivalry on CBS at noon on Saturday. The game will be called by a pair of NFL guys with Ian Eagle and NFL Today’s Boomer Esiason as the analyst. The duo has called the game in previous years and usually does a pretty stellar job.
-- Finally, ESPN has a pair of NBA games airing tonight. The Boston Celtics, fresh off their absolute destruction of the Knicks, travel to Miami in the early game with Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy on the call. The late game features the Lakers in Utah taking on the Jazz with Dan Shulman and Hubie Brown in the booth.
Grab a Seat, Adult Beverage and Watch These:
NCAA Football:
-- Navy vs. Army, Noon on CBS
-- ACC Championship: Va. Tech vs. BC, 1:00 on ABC
-- SEC Championship: LSU vs. Tennessee, 4:00 on CBS
-- UCLA vs. USC, 4:30 on ABC
-- Pitt vs. WVU, 7:45 on ESPN
-- Big XII Championship: Mizzou vs. Oklahoma, 8:00 on ABC
-- Washington vs Hawaii, 11:30 on ESPN2
NCAA Basketball:
-- UNC at Kentucky, Saturday at 2:00 on ESPN2
-- Kansas at USC, Sunday at 2:00 on FOX SportsNet
-- Texas as UCLA, Sunday at 8:00 on FOX SportsNet
NFL:
-- Jaguars vs. Colts, 1:00 on CBS
-- Lions vs. Vikings, 1:00 on FOX
-- Browns vs. Cardinals, 4:05 on CBS
-- Giants vs. Bears, 4:15 on FOX
-- Bengals vs. Steelers, 8:15 on NBC
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Read more of Brian Powell’s work at Awful Announcing, which is updated daily with tons of sports media goodness.
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