What Your Television Is Doing This Weekend

By Brian Powell
I usually kick off the weekend preview with football, but there’s a pretty big NBA event happening tonight. ESPN is dedicating its channels to college football this evening, so the NBA is not going to be on. So then, what is this “big event†you ask? Detroit’s prodigal announcer Gus Johnson gets to call a game for his hometown team.
In a rare and possibly unprecedented move, the Detroit Pistons are bothering another local announcer, in this case Gus from the Knicks, to fill in for their broadcaster who will be calling Michigan State’s bowl game tonight. Many of you probably remember some of Gus’ memorable calls from March Madness and how his energy shapes the game, but a call of his favorite team could make him lose his mind. If you have the NBA League Pass then the Pacers-Pistons is a must see.
--------------------
Now on to football. The biggest news of the week came when the NFL decided to allow a simulcast of the Patriots run at perfection on Saturday night. For the first time since Super Bowl I, both CBS and NBC will carry the NFL Network’s broadcast of the Pats-Giants game. Both networks will get the call of the game from Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth.
The big questions regarding the broadcast involve FOX not getting a piece of the action and advertising revenue that will be generated from the game. CBS and NBC have been scrambling to sell as much ad space as they can for the game, and the big winner would appear to be CBS. CNBC’s sports biz recently took a poll, and almost 40% of the respondents said they would choose to watch the game on CBS over NBC.
Speaking of NBC, they decided to flex their last game of the season, and swap a dreadful Chiefs-Jets matchup with Tennessee at Indy. With that move, most of the country will get both “win and they’re in” games Sunday night. FOX airs the Dallas-Washington game at 4:15pm (game moved back from 1pm) and NBC closes out the season with the Titans trying to punch their playoff ticket.
--------------------
We’re also now in the heart of the bowl season as seven games will be decided by the end of the weekend. ESPN has two games tonight (Champs and Emerald) and the NFL Network airs their annual coverage of the Texas Bowl. The Leader takes us through the rest of the weekend with three games on Saturday and one on Sunday and then the fun really starts.
All of the networks get involved on Monday and Tuesday as 12 games will be played over the two day period. ABC, CBS, FOX, and ESPN will all have multiple games and the NFL Network closes out their bowl season with the Insight Bowl next Saturday.
Happy New Year Everyone! Enjoy the Games!!!
↵