Watchdog

The NFL Network wisely has decided to take my advice and hire Bob Papa as its new play-by-play man, replacing Bryant Gumbel, who had held the job for the previous two seasons.

I don't know when the network is announcing this, but three people familiar with the situation said Wednesday that Papa would be the choice.

Other candidates are believed to have included Spero Dedes - like Papa a Fordham alum - and Tom Hammond, who was the presumed leading contender when Bryant first departed.

Papa, the Giants' radio play-by-play man, received national attention during the team's Super Bowl XLII run. He is a veteran broadcaster who has done extensive work outside New York, but having his calls replayed over playoff highlights introduced him to a wider audience. He also calls boxing for HBO.

The NFL Network games, primarily on Thursdays, will not conflict with his Giants or boxing duties.

Hiring Bryant, who hadn't done play-by-play in decades, was a risk that flopped. Hiring Papa, who called the most recent NFL game played, is a no-brainer that will be a hit.

I guess it's official now:

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Comcast) never, ever is going to stop torturing the NFL as punishment for keeping that Thursday-Saturday game package for itself rather than selling it to Comcast.

Or at least not until the NFL agrees to make "Sunday Ticket" available to Comcast and other cable companies.

Sigh.

Speaking of The New York Times (see post below), it offered a small story today on the fact the NFL Network's attempt to land Al Michaels as its play-by-play man had run into a dead end.

The story indirectly confirmed the 12th of my 52 posts on May 1, in which I reported Michaels was on the NFL Network's wish list, a scooplet that was greeted with skepticism in some quarters.

Michaels always was a longshot, because he enjoys his current lifestyle and adding a new gig was going to be a tough sell.

What now? I have nothing against Tom Hammond, a solid pro who would be a big improvement over Bryant Gumbel. But the NFL should consider a younger announcer with which it can grow and who can become its face and voice.

I hereby nominate someone whose name has been bandied about by NFL Net types and who would be an excellent choice: Bob Papa.

Click below to read the latest in the NFL Network vs. Comcast war, in which the NFL officially files a complaint with the FCC.

Fang's Bites predicted Tuesday that this news would cause me to develop gallstones. Really, it's more like lingering nausea, as if I had eaten bad cheese or something.

(The NFL makes many fair points here, in my opinion. But the entire cable industry thinks I'm the league's lapdog, so don't take my word for it.)

If Comcast would like to respond, I'll post that, too. Other than that, leave me out of it!

Time for another special feature tied to our anniversary gala. The first non-introductory post in WatchDog history was a 1,900-word transcript of my discussion/argument with NFL Network president Steve Bornstein at the NFL Network upfront. (Click below to read it.)

Afterward, my boss gently suggested shorter posts would be better in the future.

This year as part of his hazing to be inducted into the Newsday Giants beat writers club, I sent rookie Tom Rock to the upfront to listen to Bornstein for me. It's the sportswriter equivalent of having rookies carry your helmet and shoulder pads.

Here is a way-too-long transcript from T-Rock, just for old times' sake:

On the challenge of programming games on Thursday, perhaps a more competitive TV night: "When you have this kind of quality and content, I’d be worried if I was the competition more than I’d be worried about us.”

On being in 30 million something homes while NBC has 110 million: “First of all I have 43 million homes. That’s what Nielsen says. I’m not worried about those 43 million. Our biggest opportunity right now is to try to get the other 50 million homes.”

On recent complaint filed with FCC against Comcast and whether eventually the matter could end up in court: “We’re in court on another issue. This is a complaint for the FCC that is specific to how they’ve behaved against us. I don’t think it has anything to do with anti-trust. It is a complaint that the '92 Cable Law is not being followed where you can’t discriminate against a network that you don’t own versus one you do. We’re in the process of making that complaint, which is separate than being in court. With the FCC, if we don’t get satisfaction there, we’re done with that.”

What about the other court case with Comcast? “We’re going to know a timetable relatively soon but we’re back in New York State Court. I think that will take some time.”

What about the distribution challenges? What’s the next step for you guys? “I got 250 deals done, I got four more to go.” Who are those for? “The big guys. Time Warner, Charter, Cablevision, and obviously Comcast.”

How are talks going with Time Warner? “There is not any dialogue.”

What is the biggest struggle this year? “Editorially I’m very satisfied with what we’re putting out there. I don’t know if you paid attention to the presentation, but, and I know there are lies, damn lies and statistics, but the one thing that’s amazing to me is that our ratings are up double digits even though I lost eight million homes on Comcast and I went down in actual viewers, more eyeballs are watching. I’ve done this a couple of times before in my career. We’ve hit a place where people are satisfied with our product and they want more of it. Now, for me, it’s an issue of coming to economic and viable distribution deals with those four holdouts.”

Would you have done anything differently with the final game last year? “I like the outcome. You had one of the greatest scripts ever. I was so proud of those teams playing the game the way they played it. You could have easily understood the New York Giants not making a full effort. New England was going for an undefeated regular season which, you know, is an incredible accomplishment in any NFL, specifically today’s NFL. The fact that those guys played their hearts out really just, I don’t know what a better showcase could be not only for the NFL Network that we got our brand and our image out there, but for the NFL, for our sport. I’ve been with the NFL for four years and I’ve never been prouder than that day.”

Should something similar occur this year, would you be averse to a similar … “I hope we get somebody go undefeated. In this case it would be Dallas 15-0 or the Baltimore Ravens 15-0, going for the final knockout, I would be very happy with that.”

You would allow broadcasters to pick that up? “Hopefully we’ll have our deals done by then. But I’m an optimistic guy.”

It seems that NBC has a stronger schedule than ESPN. How do you see it? “I see that they got the schedules that they bargained for. We moved the Monday night schedule to Sunday night to accommodate the flexible scheduling. We couldn’t really accommodate it successfully with our fans and our clubs moving it from … it was easier to move the games from Sunday to Sunday night. I look at the MNF schedule as basically what was on Sunday nights since 1987.”

If the FCC rules against you (in Comcast complaint), if they’re giving their own businesses preferential treatments ahead of you, is that not actionable in court beyond the FCC? “I’m not a lawyer. Here’s what I know. At some point in our history with media we decided that vertical integration was OK, where you could own both content and the pipes going into the home. Once that decision was made, Congress enacted a law that protects from behavior, and that’s what we’re challenging. If you are asking about other legal remedies, I’m not contemplating any and I don’t know of any.”

The commissioner said giving up some equity might be something you consider. “And I might be the next Space Shuttle commander. We don’t rule out any options. It’s not particularly attractive to us.”

What are the odds that that would happen? “I work for the National Football League and odds are not something we discuss.”

In my Tuesday newspaper column I mentioned that Tom Hammond is no lock for the NFL Network play-by-play gig, and that the network might be looking for a bigger-name splash.

Well . . . I am told by a reliable spy that one name on the wish list for the job is as big a name as it gets in play-by-play: Al Michaels, who would have to add the Thursday night games to his existing NBC slate.

That would be interesting. It also would be a little depressing for Hammond, who had hoped to get the Sunday night job on NBC before Michaels defected from ESPN/ABC.

Michaels would be fine. So would Hammond.

But if you're the NFL Network why not go after a quality younger announcer and groom him/her as your own play-by-play voice?

Eternal thanks to Richard Deitsch for watching and analyzing the NFL Draft coverage so I didn't have to observe any more of it than was absolutely necessary to pretend to have a superficial opinion in my Tuesday newspaper column.

Here is a summary of Thursday night's NFL Network upfront from the venerable John Ourand of Sports Business Journal:

The message coming out of NFL Network's upfront presentation in N.Y. last night could be boiled down to this: NFL Network is not going away. From NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's comments during the event to NFL Net CEO Steve Bornstein's remarks afterwards, top execs said they would continue negotiating with four of the top five cable operators for better distribution.

Noting that the network has deals in place with more than 100 distributors, Bornstein said, "We only have four more to go," referencing Comcast (whom the network is battling in the courts), Time Warner (with whom Bornstein said he has had "no dialogue"), Charter and Cablevision.

For those of you interested in much, much more . . . feel free to check out this and this.

(UPDATE: Click below for an updated version of Ourand's story.)

I used to be as interested in the NFL Network vs. Big Cable war as any TV sports scribe in the nation.

Not anymore.

But click below if you want to read a news release from the NFL Network about the latest salvo.

The most interesting nugget in it is the NFL Network's assertion that when Comcast was bidding for the Thursday-Saturday package the NFL ended up keeping for itself, it wanted to alter the long-standing provision by which games always are available on free, over-the-air TV in the markets of the teams involved.

I should look into this further. But I won't.

Bodog, knowing I am a sucker for weird betting props, has sent a bunch related to the NFL schedule coming out Tuesday.

Click below to read them. Adults only, please.

One thought: Tom Hammond makes sense to be listed as a heavy favorite for Bryant Gumbel's old NFL Network gig, but Ian Eagle does not appear anywhere on the list, and birdies singing in my ear have told me nice things were being said about him around the NFL Net last year.

Hammond would be good. Ian might be even better.

The NFL Network and NFL.com will unveil the league's 2008 schedule today beginning at 2 p.m.

Or you could wait a few extra minutes and probably get it on Newsday.com.

Whatever works best for you.

Now that Bryant Gumbel officially is out as the NFL Network's play-by-play man, let us revisit what I wrote in December about a possible succession plan, just in case the network's president, Steve Bornstein, has not committed every WatchDog post to memory:

"Hello? Steve Bornstein? Perhaps if Gumbel realizes he's just not cut out for this particular line of work it would be a good idea to reach out to Mr. Hammond."

Four months later, it does appear Hammond is an early favorite for the job. He would not exactly be a risky, creative answer.

The guy is 63 - six months younger than Al Michaels, who got the NBC Sunday gig Hammond once coveted - and is predictably reliable. But after the NFL Net's dramatic swing and miss with Gumbel, there is nothing wrong with that at all.

Plus, Hammond knows and works well with Cris Collinsworth. Case closed.

Bryant Gumbel is out as the play-by-play man for the NFL Network.

Not exactly a shock, given his awful reviews over his first two seasons.

At least I got one of my sports media predictions for 2008 right, now that it looks like I messed up the one about Tony Kornheiser leaving "Monday Night Football."

Click below for the news release from NFL.com, which came out late on a Friday afternoon, which is Public Relations 101 for disseminating news that reflects less-than-favorably on the entity releasing the news.

Here is a fascinating look deep into the recent cuts at NFL Films from my old football beat pal Paul Domowitch of the Philly Daily News.

One of the charms of NFL Films is that people in Philly consider it a local treasure - it's in suburban Mount Laurel, N.J. - and get a little more emotional about it than New York would if it were just another cog in the media factory that is Big Town.

NFL Films, for decades perceived as one of the coolest places to work for people in the sports media world, recently had a round of layoffs in the wake of HBO cancelling "Inside the NFL."

I very much enjoy linking to news stories about the NFL Network vs. Big Cable dispute without actually reporting or writing such stories.

Increasingly, I'm coming around to the idea this Internet thing is not just a fad.

Speaking of John Ourand and the NFL Network (see post below), click below for an update from him on the latest development in the legal skirmish between the NFL and cable giant Comcast.

I've got a bunch of e-mails on this topic in my inbox, but I finally have joined 99 percent of my readers in being too sick of this topic to think about it anymore, let alone write about it.

No matter how much I whine about Arlen Specter (see post below) there is no getting around the fact the NFL increasingly is looking like the loser in its war with Big Cable - and now even a key satellite provider.

Check out this alarming (for the NFL) story by long-time SportsWatch/WatchDog supporter John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal (I posted the text because I'm not sure whether the link works for non-subscribers):

EchoStar is planning to move NFL Network to a less penetrated tier, a move the satellite operator is expected to complete this week, according to several well-placed sources. The move, which would take the network from the America's Top 100 package to America's Top 200, would cut NFL Network's distribution by another 4 million subscribers, putting the channel in front of just 31 million homes. One of the reasons EchoStar is making the move is because it was disappointed in the league's decision to give the season-ending Patriots-Giants game to national over-the-air broadcasters. NFL Manager of Corporate Communications Dan Masonson said, "We're aware of Dish's unfortunate decision, which is not in the best interest of its many subscribers who are football fans, especially this week with NFL Net's exclusive coverage of the scouting combine, featuring incoming college football players from all over the country." EchoStar did not respond by presstime.

I wrote an item Friday about the four writers who have covered every Super Bowl, but they are not the only ones to attend all 42.

I believe there is a photographer or two in that category, and another person with a perfect attendance record is NFL Films boss Steve Sabol. His experience with championship games dates all the way back to the 1962 NFL title game between the Giants and Packers, the teams' most recent playoff meeting until last month.

Here is Glauber's story about Roger Goodell, Arlen Specter and Spygate.

I read an article on this in another paper today that said Specter's motivation for getting involved in such trivial matters when the world has bigger problems is mysterious.

No it isn't. Sen. Specter (R-Pa.) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast, which has been at war with the NFL over stuff such as distribution of the NFL Network, access to "Sunday Ticket" and the NFL's decision a couple of years back not to sell Comcast its new Thursday-Saturday package.

(Oops. WatchDog strives to be apolitical. Sorry about that.)

Conspiracy theorists immediately were suspicious Friday when the NFL Network left Bill Belichick's final news conference before he could answer the last question, which was about a report in The New York Times that Sen. Arlen Specter wants to ask the commissioner about the destruction of the Spygate tapes.

A spokesman said the network left for a live interview with Tom Coughlin on the Media Center set, and Coughlin had a tight schedule because of his own news conference that followed Belichick's.

The spokesman said "there was no intent at all to censor any question, it was simply
juggling the top-rate guests NFL Network delivers hourly. "

Seth Palansky, who as the public relations man at the front lines of the NFL Network vs. Big Cable wars has been one of the sharpest (and most quotable) in the business, is leaving the league as of next week.

He is joining Harrah’s in Vegas as director of communications for the sports and entertainment division.

No, he’s not going to be involved in the sports book operation, something the NFL could not have prevented him from doing but which it might have found a tad awkward for a recent employee.

Anyway, if you’re a public relations person with deep knowledge of the cable industry, a high tolerance for banging your head against a wall and a willingness to live in L.A., the NFL has an opening.

Get your resume in today!

My profound apologies to the thousands of you out there who sat glued to MSNBC from 9 to 9:30 a.m. waiting to hear more from me on the NFL Network saga.

I got a call while on the train to the big city informing me that I had been cancelled because of some sort of ongoing news story in Pakistan.

Do these people know who they're dealing with! I know Keith Olbermann personally! I know Bernard McGuirk personally! (Does he still work there?)

Whatever. I'm back in the basement now and ready to get started on my Sunday column. Don't tell the Sunday editor that my original plan was to goof off on national TV and not work on his stuff until this afternoon.

Here is the legal version of my TV appearance this morning, straight from CNBC's Web site.

It gets stranger, though: Now I am scheduled to appear on MSNBC between 9 and 9:30 a.m. Friday.

And Fox Business Network invited me to be on today, but I was unable to do it.

Wow. I'm having fun riding this wave as desperate TV bookers look for help from the few Americans working this week.

On Wednesday morning, Jan. 2, I turn back into a print media pumpkin.

I'm back in the basement after wiping CNBC's makeup off my face.

I forgot to TiVo my laryngitis-marred appearance, so if anyone out there is twisted enough to have done so feel free to post it on YouTube. (If that's illegal, Darren Rovell can have CNBC's lawyers call you, not me!)

I have to write a newspaper column now. I wrote Friday that I'd be blogging on a limited basis through Jan. 2. I also wrote that a Dolphins upset of the Pats would have made for a much less eventful sports media/business news week.

The Phins didn't come through, so here we are. See ya later. Thanks for reading.

(Update: Rovell confirms it's illegal, so don't do it. Or do it and don't tell me.)

Sorry I didn't blog last night about the news the NFL will simulcast Pats-Giants on CBS and NBC.

I was busy writing a newspaper article about that. Here it is.

Still unresolved is how the league plans to address Ch. 9's understandable anger over having its broadcast exclusive in the New York market wiped out.

Also . . . DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon and other companies that do carry the NFL Network must be wondering whether they get some sort of rebate for that they've been paying to get games such as Saturday's.

I am scheduled to appear on CNBC at 10:50 a.m. to talk about all this. Feel free to watch if you are so inclined.

Also, I have been talking to Giants fans this week about the delicate matter of whether to sell their tickets for the game, and if so, whether it's OK to do so to Patriots fans.

I've got plenty of fans on my list who are not selling. If you are selling and are willing to talk about it, e-mail me at nbest@newsday.com and include a daytime phone number. Thank you.

Speaking of the NFL Network vs. Big Cable saga, about which I wrote an obnoxious item late in today's newspaper column . . .

For those of you interested in the Cowboys-Panthers tilt Saturday night who do not get the NFL Network, the free "look-ins" on NFL.com are a much-better-than-nothing alternative.

You'll have to put up with a couple of NFL Net ads and some idle studio chatter, but the site offers significant chunks of important game action in addition to real time stats and drive charts.

That's it for me for now. I have to write a Sunday newspaper column. Enjoy "Inside Villanova Basketball" with Jay Wright at 4:30 p.m. on SNY.

WatchDog is a full service blog. For example: Stuck for cool plans New Year's Eve?

Solved:

I learned at Sunday night's Giants game that the Insight Bowl in Tempe (Indiana vs. Oklahoma State!) on the NFL Network will feature a local flavor: Bob Papa on play-by-play, Kimberly Jones as the sideline reporter.

Jones also will work the Dec. 28 Texas Bowl on the NFL Network. It just doesn't get any better than TCU vs. Houston at this festive time of year.

The next night the NFL Net is scheduled to show Patriots-Giants to portions of America.

Alas, no Papa on that one. Bryant Gumbel will be at the mike, health permitting.

Frank Caliendo (playing Dr. Phil) took quite a shot at poor Bryant on Sunday's Fox pre-game. After noting Gumbel missed Thursday's telecast because of a sore throat, Caliendo said:

"So this week he sucked on a lozenge instead of sucking on my TV."

I hate to be the one to break this news to you if you haven't heard it yet, but Bryant Gumbel will NOT be calling Thursday night's Broncos-Texans tilt on the NFL Network.

Tom Hammond will fill in.

Speaking of the NFL Network, what about the possibility - suggested by several sports media columnist types around the nation - of offering the Dec. 29 Pats-Giants game as a free preview for non-NFL Network homes, or perhaps just putting it on NBC Sunday night.

"Zero chance,'' NFL Net spokesman Seth Palansky told USA Today.

Well, that's settled. Go Jets! Or Dolphins!

OK, I admit it:

I have a strong rooting interest in Sunday's Steelers-Pats game - not that I can actually see it, what with the Jets taking up space on Ch. 2 at that hour.

Please, please win it for me, Steelers.

I'll show up on the sideline in Foxboro to trip Moss on his way by if that will help.

Anything, ANYTHING to prevent me from having to write more about the NFL Network's distribution problems the week leading up to the Pats-Giants game Dec. 29.

Please. I'll even support your sponsors and, um, by a lot of steel and stuff.

I promised earlier I'd write about Verizon's broadband coverage of NFL Network games, seeing as how it was kind enough to set me up with a password Thursday night.

(I ended up missing much of the game because I couldn't pull my morbid curiosity away from the Knicks on TNT.)

The quality of the picture was excellent. It was far less so when I switched to a full screen, but that's standard for live video.

The service also offers a spiffy drive chart in which every advance of the ball is updated soon after it happens, allowing a fan to follow the progress of possessions as they unfold.

The featured gimmick is the ability to switch the view from the main TV shot to a sideline camera, an end zone camera, the cable-cam camera or a screen that shows all four shots at once.

The novelty of watching different angles is interesting for a while but wears off quickly. It turns out there's a reason networks have been paying directors for decades to make these decisions for us.

As for the "quad'' screen that has four angles at once, it was more disorienting than insightful.

Watching a player travel in four different directions at the same time was cool for a few minutes. Then I got dizzy. Maybe it's just because I'm old.

Verizon was nice enough to give me a temporary password to check out its broadband carriage of the NFL Network game Thursday night.

But it turned out to be a struggle running back and forth between the computer and the train wreck unfolding on TNT on my TV.

I didn't have room in the newspaper for all of the colorful quotes about Our Knicks from Marv, Sir Charles, etc., but I'll post them later.

As for Packers-Cowboys . . .

I thought play-by-play man Bryant Gumbel was significantly less bad than when I heard him last year. He's a smart guy and a smooth talker, so I would have been shocked if there were not at least some improvement.

But his understated delivery, unimpressive pipes and uninspiring grasp of terminology and pacing simply are not up to what we're used to from the No. 1 play-by-play men at the other networks.

It's understandable. They all have decades more experience than Gumbel does at the job. He was put into a difficult spot when the NFL hired him last year.

I'll do a separate post on Verizon's service later.

I'm too lazy to go back on my DVR and find it, so I'm going to take the word of Sports Business Daily on this:

Seems Mike Francesa said on WFAN this afternoon that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones cancelled a scheduled appearance on the station. Why? Apparently because Francesa and co-host Chris Russo have taken the side of cable operators against the NFL Network in their ongoing tiff.

The Daily quotes Francesa saying that Cowboys public relations man Rich Dalrymple “listens to the show, and he’s smart and he knows what we were saying, and he’s not going to put Jerry Jones in a position where he’s going to get argued with."

This job would be a lot more fun if I could do these blog posts all day and not continually get distracted by my actual job, which is writing a newspaper column, which I now will attempt to do once again.

Good night. Go Rutgers!

OK, one more NFL Network post, darn it:

For those without the channel in their homes, the obvious alternatives tonight are a sports bar or the home of a friend or relative who has it. I'm leaning toward the former.

Keep this in mind, though: The cost of the two pints of an adult beverage I likely would consume while watching said game will be more than the cost per subscriber for the NFL Network for an entire year (about $8.40).

(Reminder/disclaimer: Don't drink and drive!)

Comcast is the only cable company that carries the NFL Network. Its customers theoretically can order the sports tier on which the channel is found at the current discount price of $1.99 per month and then cancel it at their leisure.

I also have heard from several Comcast customers with high def that they have been getting the channel even without paying for the sports tier, an apparent loophole that violates the company's agreement with the NFL.

The game can be heard on WFAN, with Dick Enberg handling the call, as well as on Sirius Satellite Radio, which has the national feed and both teams' local stations.

Finally, NFL.com and NFL Mobile on Sprint will have live "look-ins" at 15 and 45 minutes after each hour as well as select action when a team is inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

OK. I'm done now. I have a newspaper column to write. Enjoy the ACC women's basketball preview show on FSNY at 3 p.m.