What Your Television Is Doing This Weekend

By Brian Powell
Pro Football:
With much of the country watching the Patriots attempt to move to 15-0, there will almost certainly be another subplot that announcers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will be harping on during the game. There will probably be a ton of mentions about Bill Parcells’ decision to accept the position of Executive Vice President of Football Operations in Miami.
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Not only will the former Coach be a topic of discussion on CBS, but he’ll be the talk of his former employer ESPN. So much so that he’ll even show up for Monday Night Countdown before making his trip to Florida. It’s surprising that the coach will make a final appearance on the network he used to gain leverage on the Dolphins, but they’re probably just as intrigued to hear what he has to say as we are.
College Football
Bowl Season got underway last night with the Poinsettia Bowl, but there’s a five-pack of games this weekend. The New Orleans and Hawaii Bowls bracket a full slate of games on Saturday when the Papa Johns, New Mexico and Las Vegas Bowls will be played. None of the matchups are that intriguing, and last year’s Cinderella -- Boise State -- goes up against the Redskins-Vikings game Sunday night at 8PM.
Pro Basketball:
The NBA gets underway on ESPN tonight with the Bulls at Celtics (Dan Shulman-Hubie Brown) and the Clippers at Mavs (Dave Pasch-John Barry). ESPN’s top announcing team of Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy have off until Christmas Day when they’ll call the Suns-Lakers game at 5PM.
College Basketball
There are a ton of games to choose from on Saturday and it starts at noon with No. 4 Georgetown traveling to No. 2 Memphis. Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas have the game on ESPN and they will be followed by a day of top 25 matchups. No. 12 Tennessee at No. 24 Xavier is at 2pm on ESPN, No. 25 Indiana plays Texas Tech at 4:30 on ESPN2, and No. 5 Texas plays No. 10 Michigan State at 6:30 back on ESPN.
CBS didn’t get so lucky with their game. They’ll have No. 8 UCLA at Michigan, and that will likely be missed due to all of the good games on “The Worldwide Leader.†I have no idea why CBS always schedules Michigan, but they haven’t been good for years now. Seeing them get blown out every year by the likes of Duke just isn’t good television.
Have a great Holiday Weekend. Enjoy the games.
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