Tag Archives: ESPN

Von Pearson makes SportsCenter top 10, plus more video, photos, .gifs from practice

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — If you thought there was no way the hype surrounding Tennessee receiver Von Pearson could grow any larger, think again.

On Friday morning, after a mere four days of spring football, Pearson’s one-handed catch appeared on the SportsCenter top 10.

Pearson, 23, took a long route to college football through Feather River College in California. Subscribers can read my story about him in today’s News Sentinel.

Pearson has yet to appear in a Division I game, or even a scrimmage.

I asked receivers coach Zach Azzanni if he was afraid all this attention would go to his head.

“He’s not wired like that, oddly enough,” Azzanni said. “But I’ll guard against it. I’m pretty good at that.”

Check out two views of Pearson’s catch in our practice videos after the jump.

Continue reading →

Why did Mizzou get better ratings in Knoxville than St. Louis? World Series, or UT fans’ advance scouting

Michael Palardy kicks off in practice on Tuesday. (Photo by Evan Woodbery)

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Here’s something mildly interesting: Saturday night’s South Carolina-Missouri game got better television ratings in Knoxville than it did in St. Louis.

One HUGE caveat: There was a little bit of competition for TV viewers that night as the St. Louis Cardinals played the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

In any case, here are the top metered markets for the game, according to ESPN: Greenville, S.C. (13.3), Kansas City (11.0), Birmingham (10.8), Knoxville (8.7), Jacksonville (6.5), Charlotte (6.4), St. Louis (5.3), Nashville (5.2), Atlanta (4.9) and New Orleans (4.0).

Yeah, the South really likes college football.

But college football is also a strong regional play, too. The top markets for  the Penn State-Ohio State blowout on ABC were: Columbus (38.0), Dayton (19.5), Cleveland (16.9), Cincinnati (6.5), Pittsburgh (4.5), Ft. Myers (3.5), Philadelphia (3.2), Orlando (3.2), West Palm Beach (3.2), Detroit (3.1) and Jacksonville (3.0).

I have no idea about the Florida markets in there. Maybe Big 10 transplants? Big Urban Meyer fans?

OK, just because I find this stuff fascinating, one more. The UCLA-Oregon broadcast: Portland (18.3), Birmingham (7.9), Seattle (6.7), Los Angeles (5.6), Louisville (5.2), Las Vegas (4.4), Greenville (4.4), Knoxville (4.0), Jacksonville (3.7) and Norfolk (3.7).

You can pretty much count on Birmingham being in the top 10 in nearly every college broadcast.

This week’s TV ratings show that even out-of-region college games play well in the South

The Knoxville market didn’t crack into the top markets for two out-of-region college football games last week, but Birmingham, Ala., continued to solidify its reputation as a market that will watch football at any time involving any teams. Greenville, S.C., is another market that always does well.

The following numbers are from ESPN:

Ohio State-Northwestern on ABC
“…Led by Columbus with a 42.7 average rating. Dayton was second with a 24.0 followed by Cleveland (20.6), Cincinnati (11.0), Chicago (9.5), Detroit (7.9), Greenville (7.2), Birmingham (6.9), Richmond (6.3), Austin (5.6) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (5.6).

Washington-Stanford on ESPN
Seattle-Tacoma averaged a 14.2 rating, the highest-rated metered market for the game and the largest regular-season college football audience for an ESPN telecast in the market. Portland was second with a 7.1 rating followed by New Orleans (5.5), Birmingham (5.3), Oklahoma City (3.3), San Francisco (3.3), Salt Lake City (3.2), Greenville (2.7), Los Angeles (2.7) and Atlanta (2.6).

The full ESPN release.

Butch Jones to take spin through ESPN ‘car wash’ on Tuesday

Butch Jones, 2013 SEC Media Days

Butch Jones speaks at SEC Media Days (AP photo)

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Tennessee coach Butch Jones will be one of six SEC coaches to go through the ESPN “car wash” on Tuesday.

The car wash is a metaphor — we think — for the whirlwind of interviews that coaches go through for various shows while spending the day at the network’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters.

Jones will be joined by Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Florida’s Will Muschamp, South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops.

ESPN said the coaches could appear on College Football Live, SportsCenter, First Take and Highly Questionable on television, and SVP & Russillo, The Herd, Coach and Company and SportsCenter Tonight on radio. The coaches may also do ESPN.com chats or podcasts.

ESPN had exclusive access to coaches during last week’s SEC Media Days, so it’s unclear what might be asked just a few days later.

One festering argument leftover from last week might be the mini-feud between Malzahn and Bielema over fast-paced offenses.

Bielema believes fast-paced offenses increase the risk of player injuries; Malzahn was dismissive of that idea.

Here’s Jones’ complete schedule, provided by UT. Some of the segments will air or be published later.

11 a.m. — ESPN.com Chat – LIVE

11:25 a.m. — College GameDay

12:40 p.m. —  High Questionable (airing at 4 p.m. on ESPN2)

1:15 p.m. — Recruiting Nation

1:30 p.m. — Podcast – ESPNU CFB with Ivan Maisel

2 p.m. — College Football Live (airing at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN)

2:25 p.m. — CFB Insider with Travis Haney

2:40 p.m. — SportsCenter – LIVE on ESPNews

3:40 p.m. — Digital Media

SEC Media Days in review: Coaches in word clouds and other observations

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — After three days of talk — some enlightening, some mind-numbing, we took a day off to catch our breath and take stock of SEC Media Days 2013.

We decided one way — no, the only way — to fully understand the week was to put the coaches’ opening statements into artistic word clouds. Thus, the gallery above.

Other pertinent thoughts from the league’s kickoff event:

Continue reading →

An early look at ‘Book of Manning’ film that will debut Sept. 24 on ESPN

HOOVER, Alabama — ESPN released a trailer this week of the “Book of Manning,” a new documentary film that will feature Archie Manning and his sons Cooper, Peyton and Eli.

“A father-and-son story written into the pages of football folklore, it can be argued that no family has had more influence on a sport than the Mannings,” ESPN’s description of the film reads. “Narrated by actor John Goodman, The Book of Manning features revealing interviews with Archie, Olivia, Cooper, Peyton and Eli Manning along with other family members, friends, former teammates and coaches as well as never-before-seen photos and home movie footage of Archie and his sons.  Through it all, director Rory Karpf explores how a tragedy shaped the course of not only Archie’s life, but his family’s as well.”

The movie premieres on Sept. 24th at 8 p.m. on ESPN.