By George Eichorn

The Detroit Monitor

copyright 09-04-2008

The blitz is on! The National Football League is back on television and the blitz of regular season, holiday, post-season action on network and cable television does not end until the Pro Bowl on February 8 in Honolulu. Here is our comprehensive Monitor preview of the NFL on TV and radio.

- Local TV: Fourteen of the 16 regular season Detroit Lions games could be televised by Fox affiliate WJBK-TV, channel 2, in Detroit. Fox owns rights to those 14 games starting with the home opener on September 14 versus Green Bay, at Ford Field. Of course, Lions fans would need to sell out the 62,000-seat stadium to lift the league’s blackout rule. Two Lions games — November 9 versus Jacksonville and November 27 against Tennessee — will appear on CBS affiliate, WWJ-TV, channel 62, should they sell out. Channel 2 will return its Lions live pregame show with sports director Dan Miller and reporters/analysts Jennifer Hammond, Tom Kowalski and Bob Wojnowski, prior to every Lions telecast.

- National TV: Fox returns with its exclusive National Football Conference (NFC) slate of games starting Sunday with the Lions at Atlanta, 1 p.m. and a doubleheader game at 4:15 p.m. Highlights include Seattle at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, NFC Wildcard and Divisional playoff games and the NFC Championship Game, January 18.

The No. 1 announcer team is Joe Buck-Troy Aikman with sideline reporter Pam Oliver. Other Fox talent: play-by-play guys Kenny Albert, Thom Brennaman, Tim Hasselbeck, Chris Myers, Ron Pitts, Chris Rose, Sam Rosen, Dick Stockton, Pat Summerall, Matt Vasgersian and analysts Brian Baldinger, Tony Boselli, Terry Donahue, Daryl Johnston, J.C. Pearson, Tim Ryan, Rod Woodson,

Other sideline reporters are Brian Giesenschlag, Mike Hall, Jennifer Hammond, Buck Lanford, Dawn Mitchell, Myers, Danyelle Sargent, Tony Siragusa, Drew Smith and Nischelle Turner. On its studio show, Fox gets Michael Strahan from the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, joining returnees Curt Menefee (host), Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson.

CBS returns for its American Football Conference (AFC) slate, starting September 7 at 1 p.m. Highlights include the Lions-Titans on Turkey Day, the AFC Wildcard and Divisional playoff games and the AFC Championship Game, January 18.

CBS announcing stable starts with the top team of Jim Nantz-Phil Simms. Also on play-by-play: Don Criqui, Ian Eagle, Dick Enberg, Greg Gumbel, Kevin Harlan, Detroit native Gus Johnson and Bill Macatee. Joining the analyst corps is Dan Fouts, who also works some CBS Southeastern Conference games. Others include Steve Beuerlein, Randy Cross, Dan Dierdorf, Rich Gannon, Steve Tasker, Solomon Wilcots. CBS studio host is James Brown, with Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino and contributor Charley Casserly.

NBC pays roughly $600 million annually for Sunday night games. They kick off the season on a Thursday, September 4, as the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants host the Washington Redskins at 7 p.m. Sunday night action starts September 7 with Chicago at Indianapolis, 8:15 p.m. No Lions games are currently scheduled on NBC Sundays but that can change under the NFL’s flexible, weeks 11-17 scheduling.

The big prize, Super Bowl XLIII, is on NBC come February 1, 2009, nearly three years to the day they were in Detroit for SBXL. Al Michaels and John Madden are back in the booth with Andrea Kremer and Peter King contributing from the sidelines. Studio host is Bob Costas with co-hosts Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick, the former ESPN fixture. Cris Collinsworth, Jerome (The Bus) Bettis and Tiki Barber analyze.

- National Cable: ESPN pays $1.1 billion annually for Monday night games (and no playoff games), the most by any network covering the NFL. ESPN opens September 8 with a doubleheader — Minnesota at Green Bay (7 p.m.) and Denver at Oakland (10:15 p.m.). Their coverage ends December 22 with Green Bay at Chicago. Ann Arbor’s Mike Tirico is back on the no. 1 announcing team with Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser. Last year’s no. 2 team was comprised of Mike Greenberg-Mike Golic-Mike Ditka. No Lions games are slated on Monday nights.

ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” (11 a.m.) and “Monday Night Countdown” (7 p.m.). There are Sunday expanded “SportsCenter” shows at 8 and 10 a.m. and Chris Berman (30th season) is opposite NBC’s Sunday night (7 p.m.) as SportsCenter anchor. ESPN hosts/analysts/reporters include Berman, Ditka, Cris Carter, newcomer Trent Dilfer, Greg Garber, Tom Jackson, Keyshawn Johnson, Mel Kiper, Jr., Suzy Kolber, Kenny Mayne, Chris Mortensen, Floyd Reese, Stuart Scott, Emmitt Smith, Michele Tafoya and Steve Young. Correspondents include Bob Holtzman, Rachel Nichols, Wendi Nix, Sal Paolantonio and Ed Werder.

The NFL Network, run by the league, televises eight games starting November 6 with Denver at Cleveland, 8:15 p.m. On Thanksgiving night, there’s Arizona at Philadelphia, same time. The lone Saturday date on the slate is December 20 with Baltimore at Dallas. Bob Papa, Giants radio announcer, replaces Bryant Gumbel as play-by-play voice alongside analyst Collinsworth.

NFL Network has a new Sunday two-hour pregame show, “NFL GameDay”, 10 a.m. to noon. This show competes with ESPN’s “NFL Countdown.” NFL Network pregame show talent includes former quarterback Warren Sapp and one-time runner Marshall Faulk.

Fox Sports Net has its “Pro Football Preview” on Friday nights. San Diego Chargers player Shawne Merriman contributes. Showtime has the old HBO favorite, “Inside the NFL” with CBS’ Brown and Simms, NBC’s Collinsworth, Fox’s Strahan and NFL Network‘s Sapp.

- Local Radio: Season 13 is underway for the Lions with Infinity Broadcasting and fifth on flagship station WXYT-FM 97.1 (The Ticket). Thirty-six stations comprise the Lions Radio Network. Games are simulcast on WXYT-AM if there are no Tigers or Red Wings conflicts. Dan Miller is back for his fourth season on play-by-play while Jim Brandstatter is in his 22nd year. Sideline reporter Tony Ortiz is in his 8th season. Mike Valenti, Doug Karsch and other on-air staff contribute.

WDFN-AM 1130 (The Fan) offers up select NFL broadcasts plus Lions and NFL insight from Tom Kowalski on various shows hosted by Mike Stone, Bob Wojnowski, Matt Shepard and Sean Baligian.

- National Radio: The NFL on Westwood One (CBS) opens with the Redskins-Giants September 4. Expected back from 2007 are Mike Alberts-Boomer Esiason-Jim Gray (Monday nights), Dick Enberg-Dennis Green-Bonnie Bernstein (Thursday nights), Don Criqui-John Dockery-Tommy Tighe (Saturday nights), Dave Sims-Bob Trumpy-Tighe (Sunday nights), Bill Rosinski-Dan Reeves and Harry Kalas-Jim Fassel-Tighe (Sunday afternoon doubleheaders). Detroit’s Mark Champion, Kevin Kiley and Rosinki-Reeves works Thanksgiving Day. Champion also subs for Kalas on select Sunday afternoon games.

Westwood has the entire slate of NFL Wildcard and Divisional playoff games plus the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.

The NFL on ESPN Radio provides affiliate stations with plenty of features, interviews, analysis and guest commentators from reporters John Clayton, Colin Cowherd, Jeremy Green and Ryan Russillo.

- Online: NBC simulcasts its games online. CBS’ pregame show will expand online. CBSSports.com debuted a 90-minute “Fantasy Football Today” at 11 a.m. Sundays. ESPN.com offers extensive NFL coverage with Clayton, Len Pasquarelli and a expert reporters on its ESPN Football Blog Network. Kevin Seifert covers the NFL North.

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