NFL TV Maps for Pittsburgh/Youngstown/Wheeling Areas for Week 7

Fox has the doubleheader this week and at 1pm all local affiliates (including Youngstown) will show Minnesota @ Pittsburgh with Kenny Albert, Moose, and Goose. That is to say the Browns game hosting Green Bay will NOT be on in the Youngstown market. Time will tell if WKBN will also make that shift in priority when the Steelers and Browns are on at the same time on CBS later in the season. All local CBS affiliates are scheduled to wait until 4:05pm to show the Jets @ Oakland with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf. And all local Fox affiliates are scheduled to show Chicago @ Cincinnati at 4:15pm with Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan. Of course the NFL Red Zone Channel will do its live whip around the league on Sunday afternoon. The Sunday Night game on NBC is Arizona @ the Giants with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth and the Monday Night game on ESPN is Philadelphia @ Washington with Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden. As usual this info courtesy of the506.com and subject to revision. Enjoy the games!

NFL TV Maps for Pittsburgh/Youngstown/Wheeling Areas for Week 6

CBS has the doubleheader this week and there is uniformity in both broadcast windows for the tri-state area. At 1pm will be Cleveland @ Pittsburgh with Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots and at 4:15pm it will be Tennessee @ New England with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. The local Fox map is more fractured with Youngstown and Wheeling showing a 1pm contest of the Giants @ New Orleans with Thom Brennaman (substituting for Joe Buck working the ALCS) and Troy Aikman. However Pittsburgh is contractually obligated to not show a game opposite a Steelers home game and will therefore wait until the 4:05pm window to show Philadelphia @ Oakland with Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan. Of course the NFL Red Zone channel will be doing the usual continuous whip around the league Sunday afternoon. The Sunday Night game is Chicago @ Atlanta with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth and the Monday Night game is Denver @ San Diego with Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden. As always this info courtesy of the506.com and subject to change. Enjoy the games!

NFL TV Maps for Pittsburgh/Youngstown/Wheeling for Week 5

Its a divided map for the most part with CBS having the doubleheader. At 1pm Pittsburgh and Wheeling will get Pittsburgh @ Detroit with Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts while Youngstown will get Cleveland @ Buffalo with Don Criqui and Randy Cross. Fox Wheeling will show a 1pm game; Minnesota @ St. Louis with Chris Meyers and Charles Davis but both Pittsburgh and Youngstown will wait till 4:05pm (thus avoiding the Steelers and Browns games) to show Atlanta @ San Francisco with Kenny Albert Moose & Goose. There is uniformity at 4:15pm on CBS as all local affiliates (along with the vast majority of the country) showing New England @ Denver with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. Of course, anyone that has the NFL Redzone Channel can use that all afternoon to catch the continuous whip around the league to the most compelling action at that moment with some highlights sprinkled in during slow points. The Sunday Night game on NBC is Indianapolis @ Tennessee with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth and the Monday Night game on ESPN is the New York Jets @ Miami with Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworksi, and Jon Gruden. As usual this info courtesy of the506.com and subject to change. Enjoy the games!

***UPDATE*** One update affecting the tri-state area as Fox Wheeling is now planning to show Washington @ Carolina with Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick.

Braylon Edwards Accused in Night Club Assault

The alleged incident took place early this morning in Cleveland:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/10/a_cleveland_man_accuses_browns.html

Generally speaking this would not be a huge deal. Its a simple assault, a heat of the moment thing, if it ever makes it to court I assume he would pay a fine and that would be that. But its not like Braylon had a lot of fans left in Cleveland. He drops passes, has acted petulent in the past, and for what its worth he went to Michigan. If its a matter of an argument between him and the guy that saved the Cavaliers franchise and is the first time Cleveland sports has had an unquestioned mega star of a sport since Jim Brown in Lebron James, Edwards might as well seek help from the feds getting into the witness protection program. This needless argument was to say the least a dumb move on his part. And obviously not exactly what the 0-4 Browns needed right now.

NFL TV Coverage Maps for Pittsburgh/Youngstown/Wheeling Markets for Week 4

All local markets will get a 1pm CBS game. Pittsburgh will carry Baltimore @ New England with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms while Youngstown and Wheeling will carry Cincinnati @ Cleveland with Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon. As for Fox in the 1pm window Pittsburgh and Youngstown are slated to show Seattle @ Indianapolis with Dick Stockton and Charles Davis while Wheeling has Tampa Bay @ Washington with Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan. I wouldn’t be shocked if this map changes with the primary early game of Giants/Chiefs being on the map for most of Pennsylvania east of Pittsburgh. There is unanimity in the 4:15 window on Fox as the vast majority of the country will get Dallas @ Denver with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. The entire country is getting this game save the St. Louis and San Francisco primary and secondary markets, and blackouts until 7pm in New Orleans and Miami opposite those teams playing at 4:05pm at home on CBS. Of course, those who have the channel on their satellite or cable package can avail themselves of the NFL Red Zone channel all day for a continuous live whip around the country to the most compelling action of the moment. The Sunday Night game on NBC is San Diego @ Pittsburgh with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth and the Monday Night game is Green Bay @ Minnesota with Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden. As always this info is courtesy of the506.com and subject to revision. Enjoy the games!

Busy Sports News Day In Cleveland

As the Indians announced the firing of manager Eric Wedge and the Browns announce that Derek Anderson will be the starting quarterback this coming Sunday against the Bengals.

I am in favor of the removal of Wedge, though I find it interesting that they would announce it now while allowing him to continue to manage the final handful of games remaining through Sunday. I guess they want to be able to begin a public search for a replacement without it appearing unseemly. At any rate, its time for a change. Actually, I think it was a season ago but it certainly is now. The Indians are in full rebuilding mode after July’s activity. Also, to be quite frank, I was not massively impressed with Wedge’s managerial skill. There were any number of times just in the odd game that I would catch in person or on TV that he made tactical blunders, didn’t handle a controversial umpiring decision, etc very well. It will be interesting to see who the Indians tab to replace Wedge. I fully assume it’ll be a lower cost hire, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. All high profile managers got their start somewhere, after all.

As for the Browns and Mangini’s decision to go with Anderson I frankly disagree. Brady Quinn was a 1st round draft choice a couple years ago and he is the future of the franchise. This team is going to lose more than they win irregardless of quarterback; why not play your future and let him gain experience? I would not have pulled him from the Baltimore game last Sunday for the same reason. Of course what this tells you is that Mangini is not sold on Quinn and might look to go with DA or a totally different option long term. Going with Anderson could be defensible though the Browns would not be able to get a 1st round pick in trade for Quinn they could get something to rebuild with. But going a 3rd route would mean completely starting from scratch. And while this team hasn’t looked very good so far they could get better as the season progresses. For what it is worth the 3 teams they have played so far are all undefeated, which is to say, they are a combined 6-0 against teams other than the Browns. I say stick with Quinn and let him go through growing pains with the rest of the team.

Week 3 NFL Coverage Maps for Pittsburgh/Youngstown/Wheeling Markets

Fox has just one game again this week, and viewers in Pittsburgh and Wheeling will get Atlanta @ New England at 1pm with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Viewers of Fox in Youngstown will wait until 4:05pm to get New Orleans @ Buffalo with Ron Pitts and Jon Lynch. The CBS map is more monolithic with all area markets getting Cleveland @ Baltimore at 1pm with Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker while at 4:15pm getting Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. Again I should remind Pittsburgh viewers that KDKA will pull out of the early game around 4:13pm even if it has not ended to do the mid-games commercial break and then the start of the Steelers game. And any football fan that gets the NFL Red Zone channel on their TV system has that available for a constant whip around the league with live game feeds and occassional highlights during slow moments from 1pm straight thru the end of the late games commercial free. The Sunday Night game on NBC is Indianapolis @ Arizona and the Monday Night game on ESPN is Carolina @ Dallas. As always this info courtesy of the506.com and subject to change. Enjoy the games!

***UPDATE*** No changes to the local broadcast maps that I can see, but there are two local blackouts this week, one affecting the Toledo area. The Lions and Raiders will both be blacked out locally after failing to sell out.

Potential MLB/NFL Scheduling Snafu

Monday October 5th is when Major League Baseball would hold any necessary one game playoffs to complete its postseason field. One of the few potential ties is for the American League Central, where Minnesota would host Detroit should they tie. That particular day’s Monday Night Football game is Green Bay @ Brett Favre:

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2009/09/nfl-tells-mlb-that-favre-is-more.html

Less than perfect options here. I fully understand why the NFL would not want to move their game. Its a marquee matchup this year and I’m sure Fox is looking forward to having the actual Favre return to Green Bay. Also, no one will know for sure that this matchup will happen until the MLB regular season ends the prior day. So, they could play the baseball game at 11am CDT that day with the football to follow. But what if the baseball goes 15 innings? Do you set a drop dead time and suspend the game if it reaches that time? One thing to do that with a regular season game, but a 1 game playoff? I would say the only rational option would be to wait until Tuesday to contest the playoff. That means possibly messing a tad with the normal flow of the American League Division Series but its the best option. Short of either the Tigers or Twins having the good sense to decide this in 162 games of course.

NFL Week 2 TV Schedule for Pittsburgh/Youngstown/Wheeling Markets

Its a divided map this week with a CBS doubleheader and both the Steelers and Browns in the late window. All local markets will get a 1pm game on Fox accordingly with Pittsburgh and Youngstown getting New Orleans @ Philadelphia with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Wheeling however is slated to get St. Louis @ Washington with Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan. On CBS at 1pm Pittsburgh will show New England @ NY Jets with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf. However, it should be noted that KDKA would pull out of this game at around 4:13pm for the mid-game commercial and then kickoff of the Steeler game. Both Youngstown and Wheeling are scheduled to show Cincinnati @ Green Bay with Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon. At 4:15 Wheeling will join Pittsburgh in showing Pittsburgh @ Chicago with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms while Youngstown shows Cleveland @ Denver with Bill Macatee and Steve Beurlein. It should also be noted for Comcast digital sports tier subscribers, DirecTV Sunday Ticker Super Fan subscribers, and any other lucky souls out there that the NFL Red Zone Channel will be on-air from 1-8pm doing a constant whip around the league looking in at whatever game from around the NFL is most compelling at that time. Buckeyenewshawk enjoyed it last week and indeed believes it could be more addictive than crack and sex combined. Anyhow, the Sunday Night game on all NBC affiliates is NY Giants @ Dallas and the Monday Night game on ESPN is Indianapolis @ Miami. As always this information provided by the506.com and subject to revision. Enjoy the games!

NFL Season Off To Great Start

A number of thrilling finishes and we are only 1/17 of the way through the season. It started last Thursday night with the Steelers overtime win over the Titans. Pittsburgh was poised to win in regulation before the Titans forced a fumble from Hines Ward at the 5 yard line. Some were saying at the time that Ward should’ve fallen down as soon as he caught it so the Steelers could run the clock down and then kick a field goal, but I disagree. I like getting the touchdown and not leaving it in the kicker’s hands (or foot I guess). Also, the Titans had their timeouts left so they could’ve used them and forced a FG with about 40 seconds left on 4th down, and then tried to drive the field themselves.

Sunday afternoon saw a number of strong finishes, none whackier than Denver’s miracle win at Cincinnati. After holding the Bengals scoreless for over 59 minutes Denver yielded a touchdown with 38 seconds left (it took forever for the officials to notice the clock ran down to 20 and reset it) to trail 7-6. Then a deep pass was deflected by a Bengal defender into the arms of Brandon Stokley for an 87 yard score. If Alcoa still presented “Fantastic Finishes” during the 2 minute warning that clip would definitely make the rotation. Almost as whacky was the 4th quarter of the night game at Lambeau. Fake punt on 4th & 11 leading? Letting a receiver beat you deep in the final 90 seconds while leading? And of course both Monday Night games. I for one agreed with the Buffalo return man bringing the ball out of the end zone. By so doing he had succeeded in running the clock down to 2 minutes, thus meaning the Patriots would burn that free timeout on the change of possession stoppage. Just don’t fight for every yard like that, which is to say, just don’t fumble the ball. I wasn’t awake for the night game, but the Chargers scored with about 17 seconds left to win.

Hopefully the remaining 16 games are as good!