TVSquad

Have you seen the annoying new ad campaign for the ESPN SportsCenter relaunch? If you watch even a half-hour of ESPN programming -- or like me, Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption -- you can't miss these commercials.

There's a young, 20-something guy named Steve running around with a bulky, scoreboard-like digital clock with a strap that hangs around his neck like he's a peanut vendor at a baseball game.

The ads show him going through his day -- working out at the gym, jogging -- while he's waiting for the launch of the new, 9-hour SportsCenter on August 11. The commercials are completely live, which I grant you is novel, but they are not funny, clever or up to the ESPN standard. I hate them. They're jarring, poorly done and, like I said, annoying. I guess some genius in marketing decided that any way to make the viewer remember that a new format is coming is good enough.

Here's a sample of Steve's work (don't say I didn't warn you!):

When I spoke to Keith Olbermann at the press tour a few weeks back, I mainly wanted to get his thoughts about the comments that Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier in the tour. Essentially, Wallace said that MSNBC isn't objective in its election coverage because they have commentators like Olbermann -- who are perceived to be "in the tank" for Barack Obama -- serve as anchors. Olbermann's remarks in response were pointed, to say the least.

But while I had Keith poised in front of my voice recorder, I wanted to ask him some questions about the origin of his Special Comments, how he thinks people determine their perception of each of the news networks, and what it will be like to sit down and do highlights with his old SportsCenter partner Dan Patrick on NBC's Football Night in America. The remainder of the interview is after the jump; we pick up with Olbermann talking about Wallace's "In the tank" line.

NBC's Football Night in America is something like too much of a good thing. The network seems intent on stuffing the Sunday night broadcast with everything but the kitchen sink.

When Tiki Barber retired from the New York Giants, he joined their broadcast. Same thing with Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then Keith Olbermann, a sports guy before becoming the host of MSNBC's Countdown, was inserted into the show. And that was on top of the three mainstays Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth and Peter King.

Now, you can add one more star to the constellation. Dan Patrick is joining Football Night in America. Patrick, formerly the main man at ESPN -- and Keith's longtime partner on Sports Center as well as Dan's radio show -- will be paired up with Olbermann again and will be slotted in as pre-game show's co-host.

There's no question that Patrick will be an asset. His 18 years at ESPN proved that, and I admired his maverick spirit when he bolted the comforts of Bristol, Connecticut and set up a new deal with his radio show.

I hope Hannah Storm enjoyed sleeping late since she's been off the CBS Early Show because her new gig will be on the AM shift once again. And she'll be back talking sports. ESPN is going to announce tomorrow that Hannah Storm will anchor a new, revamped SportsCenter morning edition. SportsCenter is already on every morning, so you have to assume that by adding Storm to the mix, the folks at Disney (ESPN's parent company) are looking to pump up the old format and maybe bring in some new viewers -- like maybe those who used to watch Hannah on CBS.

Of course, there's already two other competing morning shows on the ESPN family of channels, Mike & Mike in the Morning which stars Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, and First Take (formerly known as Cold Pizza) with Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson.

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

It's funny, when I was typing this out, I had a strong sense of deja vu. I had to keep on checking to see if this was the ratings from a month ago or the ratings for this week, but it is indeed correct. Monday Night RAW and SpongeBob often make the list, but shows like SportsCenter, The Santa Clause 2, I Love New York 2, and Tila Tequila threw me for a loop for a second there.

1. Monday Night Football (ESPN)

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

What's this, a football game in the top ten besides Monday Night Football? I don't know how the Packers/Cowboys game on NFL Network came in second this week. Was it a pivotal game or something? I don't really watch football. Monday Night RAW shows up again (still not sure why it's considered two different hours instead of one, two-hour show), along with weekly favorite SpongeBob. Tin Man got great ratings for Sci-Fi Channel.

1. Monday Night Football (ESPN)

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

1. Monday Night Football - New Orleans vs. Tennessee (ESPN)
2. High School Musical 2 (Disney)
3. Sky High (Disney)
4. Sky High (Disney)
5. College Football - Auburn vs. Florida (ESPN)
6. Rock of Love (VH-1)
7. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
8. WWE Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
9. High School Musical 2 (Disney)
10. SportsCenter - Mon (ESPN)

Keith Olbermann has a new gig.

Or should I say "another gig," as he'll still be host of MSNBC's Countdown. But he's going to add a co-hosting position on NBC's Football Night In America, the pre-game show that airs at 7pm on Sunday nights before the NFL game that NBC telecasts.

Olbermann has a long history in TV sports, having hosted ESPN's SportsCenter with Dan Patrick years ago (he was one of the models for the characters on Sports Night) and his own show on FOX Sports Network that was good but didn't last too long. This will be his first job in network sports in several years, other than what he does on Dan Patrick's radio show. Olbermann will join Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Jerome Bettis, and Tiki Barber, who started on NBC this morning.

[via TV Newser]

"Bush-bashing accidental liberal hero." "Keith the Impaler."

Those phrases were used to describe MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in a New York magazine profile of the cable talker who first earned fame as the wise cracking sports guy on ESPN's SportsCenter, which later inspired Aaron Sorkin's SportsNight.

The article -- which describes Olbermann as a "world class agitator" and "sworn enemy" of Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly -- says Olbermann appeals to liberals like radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh appeals to conservatives.

As a red-blooded American male who has trouble relating to his father, I watch a lot of sports. That means I also watch a lot of sports related television. PTI, Around the Horn, Inside the NFL, The Sports Reporters, NFL Live, NFL Prime Time, Sportscenter, and even Jim Rome is Burning (but only when my wife is out of earshot - for some reason the sound of Rome's voice makes my wife very angry. She doesn't follow sports; I think it's just a gut reaction to smugness.) Thanks to TiVo, I watch them all, fast-forwarding past all the topics that don't interest me.

1. Monday Night Football (ESPN)
2. The Santa Clause 2 - Monday, 8pm (Disney)
3. WWE Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
4. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
5. SportsCenter - Monday (ESPN)
6. SpongeBob SquarePants - Saturday, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
7. Fairly Odd Parents - Saturday, 10am (Nickelodeon)
8. Fairly Odd Parents - Sunday, 10:30am (Nickelodeon)
9. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sunday, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
10. The Santa Clause 2 - Monday, 10pm (Disney)

1. Monday Night Football (ESPN)
2. Flavor of Love 2 (VH-1)
3. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sat, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)
4. Sportscenter - Mon (ESPN)
5. WWE Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
6. Fairly Odd Parents - Sat, 10am (Nickelodeon)
7. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
8. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sat, 9am (Nickelodeon)
9. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sun, 9am (Nickelodeon)
10. SpongeBob SquarePants - Sun, 9:30am (Nickelodeon)

Okay sportsfans, you may have gone too far. Over the weekend, a couple in Biloxi, Mississippi named their newborn son ESPN Montana Real. That would be 'ESPN' after the sports network and 'Montana' after legendary football player, Joe Montana. Rusty and Leann Real are not the first parents to name their kid ESPN. There's an Espn Malachi McCall in Pampa, Texas; Espn Curiel in Corpus Christi, Texas; and Espn Blondeel in Michigan. Come on! That has to be funny for, like, five minutes. Right?!? By the way, the husband picked out the name.

Would you name your child after anything (a character, actor, show, network) on television? If so, what?

1. NFL Football - Steelers vs. Jaguars (ESPN)
2. WWE Monday Night RAW - 10pm (USA)
3. Nextel Racing (TNT)
4. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)
5. Sportscenter (ESPN)
6. Pirates of the Carribean (USA)
7. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (Disney)
8. Dog: The Family Speaks (A&E)
9. College Football - Wisconsin vs. Michigan (ESPN)
10. Nip/Tuck (FX)

Peter Gammons has been off the air since suffering a brain aneurysm last June, and boy do I miss him. Don't get me wrong; Gammons' substitutes on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball have done a good job. But he was one of the few people on that program and on Baseball Tonight that you could trust to give insightful analysis and insider information that wasn't full of bluster, catch-phrases, and smugness.

So this is good news: According to ESPN, Gammons will return to the channel on a part-time basis, starting Wednesday night. He'll appear from Fenway Park for both the 6 PM SportsCenter and the 7 PM edition of Baseball Tonight. He will be scheduled for further appearances as he becomes more comfortable. Good to see Peter back, especially considering it's been less than three months since his surgery.

[Thanks to Tim UF for the tip.]