The NFL Network will kick off its Super Bowl coverage Sunday, airing 30-minute highlight shows of all 37 previous Super Bowls nonstop from 8 a.m. until 2:30 a.m.
And that's just the beginning:
NFL Total Access, the channel's SportsCenter if you will, broadcasts live from the media center beginning Monday in Houston, with special two-hour editions Wednesday through Saturday.
Rich Eisen, Terrell Davis and Kara Henderson will cover media day live on Tuesday with the NFC team at 10 a.m. and the AFC team at noon.
Point After: Sounds of Super Bowl, a one-hour highlight show of media day, will air at 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Live coverage of the Patriots coach Bill Belichick's news conference airs at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 30, followed by Panthers coach John Fox at 10:30.
Live coverage of commissioner Paul Tagliabue's news conference airs at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 30, followed by coverage of the Pro Football Hall of Fame news conference, where the 2004 inductees will be announced, at 1:30 p.m.
Good, but not good enough
Fox coverage of the NFC Championship Game between Carolina and Philadelphia scored a 23.2 household rating/35 share, and averaged 40.4-million viewers nationally, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The viewership is the highest in four years for the NFC Championship Game, more than last year's 38.7-million for the Bucs' win over the Eagles. But the Bucs rating was 3 percent higher at 23.8. The Bucs game also had a higher rating in the men 18-34 demographic, 20.9-18.
Kiss me
Does Joe Namath want to kiss Jeremy Schaap? We sure hope not. But at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on Outside the Lines (and on Sunday Conversation that night), Schaap will interview the former New York Jets quarterback and find out what was behind his surreal come-on to fellow ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber last month in a sideline interview during an NFL game.
The answer: booze! Namath, who told Kolber twice he wanted to kiss her, admits in the interview he was drunk (seriously?). He says he started drinking at 3 p.m. that day, and his performance was a wakeup call.
"Yes, of course, that was it," Namath says. "Absolutely. That never happened to me. I've never done that. I mean, absolutely. I can't believe it, and I didn't even see it, and I don't want to see it (a tape of the interview). That was the wakeup call."
He also tells Schaap he has enrolled in a center to help him beat his drinking problem.
"Jeremy, every time that something in my life has gone askew, alcohol has been involved," Namath says.
Indeed.
Brrrrrrr-eak from football
Winter X Games VIII from Aspen, Colo., will be televised Saturday through Tuesday, marking the first time the X Games have been featured live.
ABC Sports will carry the action Saturday (1-3 p.m.), and it continues each day on ESPN, including nightly 9-11 telecasts. ABC Sports and ESPN will combine for 15 hours of coverage, and ESPN2 will present nightly highlight programs for 19 total hours of Winter X Games programming.
If that's too much for you, then check out the Best of the Winter X Games VIII from 5-6 p.m. Feb. 7 on ABC.
The real deal
Not that LeBron James can't be seen almost every night on ESPN in one form or another, but he'll be on Sunshine at 7 p.m. Monday when he leads his Cavalier against Orlando.
Sunshine also will air the Miami-Notre Dame women's basketball game Wednesday as part of a new agreement with Miami featuring seven baseball and four women's basketball games this season.
