Culture

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college/2008/07/big-ten-and-not.html Three media deals that affect college football have come down over the past two weeks, concluding with yesterday’s announcement by XM Radio that more SEC teams have signed up to have their play-by-play put on the satellite network. The first two deals, however, carry more weight: Notre Dame has a new five-year agreement (through 2015) with longtime television partner NBA. And the Big Ten and Comcast finally found a way to sleep in the same bed with the 2-year-old Big Ten Network. This all has led to much speculation, of course, including some here. It also has led to a great belief, including by Matt Hayes of Sporting News, that the next big deal coming down the pike will be the creation of the SEC Network. Contends Hayes: CBS has a new college network of its own -- it purchased CSTV last November -- but FOX's experience with the Big Ten Network (it owns 49 percent of the operations) and understanding of what it takes to run the show will drive the price of the SEC contract to record figures. CBS is desperate to keep the SEC, just like CBS was desperate to keep the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and forked over an unfathomable $6 billion to do it. Now CBS sees the SEC is flirting with FOX, which is drunk off the success of its BCS bowl package and badly wants games in the regular season. This, boys and girls, is what we call capitalism. The SEC has the supply and will demand millions upon millions for it. Eventually, someone has to pay for that fat contract one way or the other. All quite possible, by the way. But it’s not that easy. First -- and always remember this -- the SEC is a league that is often guided by tradition. For example, the league has often refused to abandon the Sugar Bowl despite a slew of media relations disasters and (of course) the aging of the Louisiana Superdome. Were it not for the SEC, the Sugar Bowl would be out of the BCS already. In terms of TV, the league has a long-standing deal with Jefferson-Pilot. Jimmy Rayburn has been the lead syndications rights holder for two decades. That doesn’t figure to change, although there is growing speculation that a growing player in the Southeastern TV syndication game is ISP Sports. (ISP, run by Ben Sutton, has acquired multi-media rights of nearly four dozen properties, and that number is growing. And now ISP is wants to branch out.) No question Fox could -- and might -- drive up the numbers if it decides to go after the SEC. If the network is going to continue to be the network of the BCS, at some point it has to do more with college football’s regular season, don’t you think? And there’s nothing the SEC would like better than to entertain a second suitor for rights. And in the end, CBS will come back and pony up more money and the SEC will say, “We love CBS and we like playing ball with people we’re familiar with.” orlando sentinel 7/3/08

http://www.scoresreport.com/2008/07/03/mr-optimism-and-mr-pessimism-break-down-the-nfc-teams/ Before the 2007 NFL Playoffs, Mr. Optimism and Mr. Pessimism gave their thoughts on the 12 postseason teams and their chances of winning the Super Bowl. The duo is back again to give their insightful analysis, this time offering their opinion on all 16 NFC teams with training camps ready to fire up across the country. If it weren’t already obvious by their names, Mr. Optimism likes to find the positive in every team. He likes to stroke the fire of… well… optimism, and provide hope to your favorite team and their chances of winning in 2008. Mr. Pessimism is that guy you want to round house kick in the face because no matter what you say about a team, he’s always there to put a negative spin on things. Mr. Pessimism can easily find faults in every team and has no problem making it known that both you and your team are going to choke on applesauce this season. Neither is very good on their own, but together they form one of the greatest duos in the history of sports analysis. This week they take a look at the NFC teams – next week they scout the teams in the AFC. the scores report 7/3/08

http://www.sunherald.com/newsupdates/story/663221.html Retired quarterback Brett Favre responded quickly to an ESPN report about a possible return to play for the Green Bay Packers by saying, "It's all rumor." When queried about a possible media firestorm, Favre text messaged, "No reason for it." sunherald 7/3/08

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJ4dh7TkvXFMpdKZU9rITbou7jtwD91LUEHO0 GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Brett Favre is considering coming out retirement, according to an ESPN report. ESPN's Chris Mortensen said Wednesday a Green Bay Packers source told him the 38-year-old Favre told coach Mike McCarthy in the past two weeks that he has the itch to play. The Packers' former quarterback retired March 6 after a 17-year career. Cornerback Al Harris said on ESPN's NFL Live that Favre also made similar comments to him. "I know he has the itch to come back and play," Harris said. "If he will or not, I don't know." The Packers had planned to use Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback for the upcoming season. "Aaron is our quarterback," Harris said. "Brett's retired. But if he wanted to come back, there would be some guys who wouldn't mind it. I would welcome him back with open arms." AP 7/2/08