Watchdog

Just to be nice, I waited a minute into my conversation with Mike Tirico Friday before asking him about the status of his "Monday Night Football" partner, Jon Gruden, who has been and will be linked to assorted coaching jobs.

"Call Jon, he's a big boy, " Tirico said, good-naturedly, considering how often he has addressed the subject.

"In all honesty, I've said...

There is no more incendiary figure in sports media than Skip Bayless, about whom Charles Barkley memorably told Dan Patrick last year, "I hate Skip Bayless more than any person in the world."

Most people do not get quite that worked up about ESPN's "First Take" agitator, but Barkley hardly is alone in his vocal disapproval of Bayless, among whose biggest claims to fame...

ESPN has added Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons to its NBA studio show this season, its latest attempt to replicate the chemistry that has made TNT’s version a huge, long-running hit.

The Bristol Stompers’ newcomers are not shy about the task ahead of them.

“Looking forward to the opportunity to compete with the best,’’ Rose said. “It is no different than us discussing what is going to happen...

UPDATE TO ITEM BELOW: NEVER MIND!

Much of the nation’s attention has been riveted on the New York area for the better part of a week, and thanks to a coincidental bit of television programming that will continue into Sunday morning in a different form.

For the first time since 1993, the New York City Marathon will be televised nationally, shining a new spotlight on the city and its controversial...

For the first time since he started coaching at Columbia in 1978, Seth Greenberg is a man without a team.

“It’s going to be an adjustment, no doubt about it,’’ said Greenberg, whom Virginia Tech fired as its coach in April. “For 35 years I’ve had a team. For my oldest daughter, she’s always had a team. For 28 years, my wife had a team. It’s a transition period, for sure.’’

But as much...

ESPN's latest "30 for 30" entry, "Benji," has its TV premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday. You should watch it! Here's what I wrote about it six months ago:

"Benji," the centerpiece of ESPN’s contribution to the Tribeca Film Festival, packs the emotional punch you would expect of a story about the death of a high school basketball star that rocked Chicago in 1984.

Directors...

Next up in ESPN's consistently compelling "30 for 30" documentary series: "9.79*," which premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday. In it Daniel Gordon looks back at the men's 100-meter final at the Seoul Games of 1988, and the subsequent stripping of Ben Johnson's gold medal and world record. The film includes interviews with Johnson, Carl Lewis and their fellow finalists that year. Stick...

Here are the results of our latest NFL poll. Keep in mind they are about as scientific as those breakfast muffin crumbs that fell into your keyboard. Which network has the best NFL pre-game show?

39% -- FOX

21% -- ESPN

16% -- CBS

15% -- NFL Network

  8% -- NBC...

Charley Steiner was on a conference call Thursday morning to promote ESPN's upcoming 50,000th episode of "SportsCenter" when he got to reminiscing about his roles in two of the show's most famous commercials:

One that ended with him uttering the infamous line, "Follow me to freedom!" and another in which he was traded from SportsCenter to "Melrose Place" in exchange...

I try to schedule vacations for late August to avoid the NFL preseason, which mostly works well, thank you. The downside is I end up having to catch up on the flurry of big football TV news ahead of Week 1.

Let’s do so together, shall we?

Fox will unveil a new designated pregame show “comedic prognosticator’’ when Rob Riggle – formerly of “21 Jump Street’’ and “The Daily Show” and currently...