With Gus Johnson out as the radio voice of the New York Knicks, the NFL is the only place to get your weekly fix of the energetic broadcaster.

Johnson and Steve Tasker will call the Cincinnati vs. Atlanta game on Sunday, leaving many to imagine what the pregame conversation would be like between Gus, Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens.

To be a fly on the wall for that one …

Below are the broadcast teams for Week 7 of, “Where In The World is Gus Johnson?” Read more

The fallout from the weekend’s spate of brutal hits continues to hit newspapers around the country. The New York Post‘s Steve Serby offers another outraged column, while The New York Times William C. Rhoden suggests a 30-yard penalty for vicious hits.

Good idea, expect it won’t fix anything.

Former New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison – who delivered big hits that earned him the reputation as a dirty player – spoke with his NBC colleague Peter King about what will actually motivates a player.

“You didn’t get my attention when you fined me five grand, 10 grand, 15 grand,” Harrison said. “You got my attention when I got suspended… You have to suspend these guys. These guys are making millions of dollars. The NFL [has to say], ‘We’re going to really protect our players. We’re going to suspend these guys, not one game, but possibly two or more games.’”

Suspensions speak. Fines, not so much.

Our personal favorite suggestion was offered up by this idea from Reuters correspondent Simon Evans:

Starting on Oct. 25, Time Warner Cable customers will be able to watch their favorite ESPN channels on their computers at no additional cost.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will be available through a new authenticated service that verifies the viewer is a Time Warner Cable customer.

As part of ESPN’s plan to shift to “TV Everywhere,” there will be fewer videos available on ESPN.com for non-Time Warner customers.

“We believe this ‘TV Everywhere’ model is going to be what the industry at large is going to pursue,” said John Kosner, general manager of digital media at ESPN. “We’re going to make similar deals with lots of distributors.”

Last month, Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner reached a new deal to keep their channels on the cable giant. As part of the deal, ESPN3.com would also be made available to Time Warner Cable customers.

Verizon’s FiOS customers will also gain online access to the ESPN Networks in the upcoming months.

If you’re a DirecTV customer like me, this has to sting a little bit, but not enough to consider switching back to cable.

Bob Griese and his son, Brian, will both work the Minnesota-Purdue football game on Saturday for ESPN2.

The father-son duo will form a three-man booth with play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch.

Brian Griese, a former Pro Bowl quarterback with a handful of NFL teams, retired from the league in 2009 and decided to follow his father to the broadcasting booth.

Earlier in the season, Brian worked his first game at the University of Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to a share of the national championship as a starter and won the Rose Bowl MVP in 1998.

The fact that Brian followed in his father’s footsteps was unexpected from his father. “I told my three sons, ‘Don’t plan on doing what I did, playing NFL football,” Bob said. “And pick a college for an education, not its football program. If you want to play football, you can walk on.’”

This has the opportunity to be a very cool thing or a very annoying thing, depending on how much the Grieses presence takes away from Pasch calling the action on the field.

Either way, it’s worth tuning in for five minutes.

And here comes the fallout from George Dohrmann‘s Sports Illustrated story.

ESPN is looking into Mel Kiper’s relationship with NFL agent Gary Wichard as described by Josh Luchs in this week’s SI cover story on agent tampering in college football.

In the article, Luchs claims Kiper worked with Wichard in order to persuade potential clients by using his NFL draft rankings as incentive for players to sign.

(No wonder those draft ranking arguments with Todd McShay are always so heated).

“Conversations with players, which are occasionally facilitated by agents, are a valuable way to get to know the players,” Kiper responded in a statement. “These conversations have never compromised my integrity, and my 32-year record supports that.”

Luchs stood by his claim of Kiper’s involvement on Mike and Mike in the Morning on Wednesday.

“What Mel did do in these situations, whether he realizes it or not, he allowed himself to be used in the recruiting process,” Luchs said.

This will likely be the first of many folks to publicly deny the allegations described in Dohrmann’s story.

Stay tuned.

Two journalists who cared more about Michigan-Michigan State and less about who called the game were Jemele Hill of ESPN and Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated.

Deitsch, a 2009 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, made a bet with Hill, a proud Michigan State alum, on the outcome of this past Saturday’s contest:

Given our dueling loyalties today, I’m proposing a wager:

If Michigan State beats Michigan, I have to send out a TwitPic from an iconic New York City location, holding up a sign (or someone else holding it) that reads:

JEMELE HILL AND ESPN RULE.

If Michigan wins, you take your talents to South Beach and TwitPic a sign from an iconic Miami location that reads:

RICHARD DEITSCH AND SI RULE.

You game?

Hill was game, and so were the Spartans, cruising to an easy 34-17 victory over Denard Robinson and the Wolverines.

As you can see above, Deitsch was a man of his word, snapping a photo of his sign in front of the legendary Radio City Music Hall.

Sure, Spiderman can shoot webs out of hands, but can he body check the bad guys? Well, there may be some new superheroes in town that do just that.

The National Hockey League and comic-book legend Stan Lee announced today that they are creating a media company which will launch a new superhero franchise targeting tween boys, The Guardian Project.

The Guardian Project will feature 30 “guardians,” each representing an NHL team. The NHL says the content will “organically and authentically incorporates various NHL elements but is not set in the world of hockey.”

Guardian Media Entertainment is the new company which will oversee the project, which is slated launch in January 2011.

“I’ve always believed that every great plan starts with a great story,¨said Lee in a statement.” In the creation of GME and its unique and unprecedented relationship with the NHL, I truly believe we have the perfect combination from which to launch 30 new superheroes and excite young fans around the globe.”

The 30 “Guardian” characters will be revealed during the 2011 NHL All Star Game January 30.

More information is in the press release after the jump.

Read more

Mike Hewitt has a new trophy for his mantle: Barclays Shot of the Season Award for 2010. The Getty Images photog caught Darren Bent’s shot deflecting off a beach ball and into Pepe Reina’s goal.

“I remember driving up to Sunderland from my home in Brighton hoping for something dramatic – the beach ball certainly made the trip worthwhile!” he said.

Bradley Ormesher won Barclays Photographer of the Season 2010. Some of his shots are after the jump. Read more

Fresh off their first playoff birth since 1999, the Texas Rangers have agreed to a 20-year contract extension with Fox Sports Southwest beginning in 2015.

The deal is reportedly worth $1.6 billion and is among the most lucrative in Major League Baseball for a team without their own regional sports network.

USA Today first reported the deal was worth $3 billion, but a Fox spokesman said that amount was “wildly inflated.”

The Rangers current deal is worth roughly $45 million a year, compared to $80 million a year as part of the extension.

Welcome to the 21st century, Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption.

The two ESPN shows made their high definition debuts on Monday after moving from their standard definition Atlantic Video studio home of over eight years.

“We have loved our relationship with Washington-based Atlantic Studios, but we really have, for a time, wanted more space and the ability of changing the look of the show,” Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption producer Erik Rydholm told the Washington Examiner. “I mean both “PTI” — which started in 2001 — and “Around the Horn” — that came a year after — have really not had a makeover or for that matter we have not made the transition to high definition. So really the time to change is here.”

The show looks stunning in HD (The orange just glows from Tony Kornheiser) and is a much needed makeover.

How close were the two shows packing up in Washington and moving to Los Angeles?

“We wanted a state-of-the-art facility and, for a time, we considered moving to the ESPN Los Angeles studios that are located in the LA Live complex across the street from the Staples Center,” Rydholm said. “But then we got a break and we will be moving into the Washington offices and studios of ABC and taking over the a newly renovated space that once was home to “Nightline.”