SPORTS COUCH POTATO

Gammons jumps ESPN ship, signs as MLB Network analyst

MLB Network made the biggest free-agent splash at baseball's Winter Meetings Tuesday when it signed longtime ESPN stalwart Peter Gammons to a multi-year deal. Gammons had been with ESPN for 20 years.

Gammons also signed a separate deal with NESN, the cable home of the Boston Red Sox.

"After 40 years covering baseball, the opportunity to move on to MLB Network is a great and daunting opportunity,"  Gammons said. "My journalistic life has revolved around baseball, and to be involved with people whose network is devoted to baseball, and baseball only, is something I look forward to with excitement. We all wish pitchers and catchers reported tomorrow. One of the greatest things about baseball is that it is held to a higher standard than any other sport, which holds those of us who care about it to a higher standard. I hope I can contribute to that standard."

In 2006, Gammons was stricken by an aneurysm but eventually returned to ESPN. He was a regular on "Sunday Night Baseball" and "Baseball Tonight" but in recent years had been supplanted by Buster Olnet as the network's lead baseball analyst.

Gammons is in the baseball Hall of Fame for his many years as a Boston Globe reporter and columnist and his 20 years at ESPN.

ESPN needs to do right thing and give Phillips the boot

There's got to be something in the water at ESPN. Testosterone, maybe? What is it about working in Bristol, Conn., that brings out the worst in guys?

Allegations of sexual misconduct have dogged the Worldwide Leader for years. Mike Tirico, Harold Reynolds, Sean Salisbury and now Steve Phillips are among the network faces who have each had to deal with messy accusations about their treatment of female co-workers.

This week's revelations about Phillips' scandalous "Fatal Attraction" affair with 22-year-old production assistant Brooke Hundley makes us wonder how the baseball analyst and former New York Mets general manager can keep his job.

Our condolences go out to Phillips' wife (and mother of his four boys) Marni, who's had to endure the horrific embarrassment of her husband's indiscretion and the bizarre, desperate and downright scary behavior of his mistress. (You can read all the sordid details here.)

Phillips was suspended for a week but it's to believe he hasn't already been asked to clear out his cubicle. Here's hoping ESPN does the right thing and shows him the door.

UPDATE: Phillips was fired Sunday by ESPN. Hundley has also been terminated. A representative for Phillips said he "is voluntarily admitting himself to an inpatient treatment facility to address his personal issues, and informed ESPN of his plans Friday."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/26/steve-phillips-fired-by-e_n_333458.html

ESPN platforms put full-court press on college hoops

If you think ESPN is omnipresent on the college gridiron — and it is — contemplate its reach on the basketball court: The Worldwide Leader will broadcast about 1,100 college hoops games this season over its multiple platforms.

Things get going in earnest on Nov. 9 with the annual 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. Then comes the College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon on Nov. 16 with games scheduled every two hours starting at 6 a.m. ET.

This is the first year of a 15-year agreement with the SEC featuring every conference home game not on  a broadcast network to be televised on an ESPN platform. It is also the first season of a new agreement with the WAC, with games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPU.

For the ninth straight year ESPN will show the NCAA tournament's opening-round game from Dayton, Ohio.

The network's platforms include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ABC, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television and ESPN Full Court.

Record audience watches Favre pick old team apart

ESPN's "Monday Night Football" telecast of Brett Favre's epic performance for the Minnesota Vikings against his former Green Bay Packer team landed the biggest audience in cable television history.

The 15.3 rating was the largest in ESPN's 30-year existence. According to Nielsen Media Research, the game — won by the Vikings 30-23 — was on in 15.1 million households, and 21.8 million viewers watched.

In the Twin Cities, the game produced a combined rating of 58.3 on both ESPN and KSTP, StarTribune.com reported. That means 1.009 million households tuned in, a stunning number given there are slightly more than 1.7 million households in the market area.

KSTP, the local ABC affiliate which carried a simulcast of ESPN's telecast, had a 40.8 rating and ESPN had a 17.5 rating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market.