CBS, which won an Emmy in technical achievement for last year’s 3D coverage of the U.S. Open, is expanding its coverage to include all the HD matches played at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Labor Day weekend and finals weekend, as well as select matches from Louis Armstrong Stadium.

“With our additional cameras and enhanced camera positions, including low, court-level positions, viewers will feel like they’re actually on the court with some of the world’s greatest players,” said Harold Byrant, executive producer and vp production at CBS Sports.

The 3D telecasts will be available on DirecTV’s n3D and Comcast’s Xfinity 3D. The men’s and women’s finals will be streamed live in 3D on USOpen.org.

Meanwhile some people (and my hand is raised) think 3D technology is completely overrated and wildly unnecessary.

If I had to chose between no football or more slobbering by the media over Brett Favre, I think I would choose no football.

An excellent video montage of Brett Favre references from Monday morning.

I can’t take another August of Favre coverage. Please go away for good.

[H/T SportsGrid]

NBCUniversal has announced its coverage plans for the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, and it is extensive. Much like NBCU does with the Olympic games, a number of networks and platforms will be in place to cover the derby, including some channels not typically associated with sports.

All told, NBCU will present 14 1/2 hours of coverage leading up to the race Saturday afternoon.

Among the participating channels and shows:

On NBC, “Today,” Al Roker and Jenna Wolfe will be live from Churchill Downs Thursday, Friday and Saturday. “Today” will also run a number of segments focusing on the Derby. During the fourth hour, Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford will select a winner who makes the most interesting derby hat to send to the event.

Read more

In case you were wondering if sports writers could be objective observers who dispassionately covered LeBron James in the wake of “The Decision,” we get news that nine of these jackwagons left the best player on the second-best team in the Eastern Conference off their MVP ballots. Derrick Rose won the award going away, garnering 113 first place votes, while Dwight Howard of the Magic finished second. James, who was second in the league in scoring to Kevin Durant, averaging 26.7 PPG on 51 percent shooting, finished third — thanks largely to nine Mensa members who felt he wasn’t among the five most valuable players in the league.

Good job, fellas. You all grow up in Cleveland?

(H/T to Tom Ziller at SB Nation)

This weekend marks the 46th annual PBA Tournament of Champions with a record $1 million on the line. But the money isn’t the most exciting part of the event.

For the first time ever, it will be shown in high definition.

Who’s scheduled to appear? “Kelly Kulick, the first woman to ever win a PBA Tour event, will return to defend her title, along with Walter Ray Williams Jr., Jason Couch, Norm Duke, Pete Weber and many more.

Rob Stone and analyst Randy Pedersen will handle booth duty while Kimberly Pressler reports laneside.

Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

With the playoff teams decided, the NFL has released the schedule for Wild Card Weekend and for the Divisional Playoffs:

NFL Wild Card Weekend

Saturday, Jan. 8:

NBC: New Orleans at Seattle: 4:3o p.m. (ET) (Tom Hammond & Mike Mayock)

NBC: NY Jets at Indianapolis: 8:00 p.m. (ET) (Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth) Read more

ESPN anchor Will Selva has been suspended indefinitely for using a portion of Kevin Ding‘s column on ESPNNews according to AOL Fanhouse.

The Orange County Register reporter first made folks aware of the situation on his blog late Tuesday evening.

Below are statements from Selva and ESPN vice president of communications Josh Krulewitz. Read more

Your money shot:

Commissioner Goodell also determined that Favre was not candid in several respects during the investigation, resulting in a longer review and additional negative public attention for Favre, Sterger, and the NFL. The commissioner notified Favre that he has been fined $50,000 for his failure to cooperate with the investigation in a forthcoming manner. Commissioner Goodell stated to Favre that if he had found a violation of the league’s workplace conduct policies, he would have imposed a substantially higher level of discipline.

The entire statement is after the jump. Read more

The Cincinnati Bengals streak of 57 straight sellouts will come to an end on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

The Bengals announced on Thursday that they would be blacked out in home markets (Cincinnati, Dayton, and Lexington, Ky.) for the first time since Nov. 9, 2003.

It also means no Gus Johnson in case the Bills-Bengals comes down to the wire.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were able to avoid a blackout after requesting an extension from the league.

By the way, did you notice that Johnson had one of his best calls ever after speaking to SportsNewser?

I’m just saying.

Below are the broadcast teams for Week 11 of, “Where in the World is Gus Johnson?” Read more

In a shocking move, Anheuser Busch–one of the country’s largest advertisers–has filed suit against Major League Baseball, alleging that the league reneged on an agreement the two entities signed in April.

Essentially, the alcoholic beverage maker said it signed a deal in April to renew its deal as beer sponsor of MLB. It claims that MLB came back to them at a later date asking the deal to be renegotiated due to “a change in marketplace dynamics.”

In a statement provided to SportsNewser, a spokesperson for Major League Baseball seems to indicate that there is still more to this story that needs to be uncovered.

“Major League Baseball Properties hasn’t been served with the complaint and our lawyers have yet to review it. We don’t normally discuss active litigation however we have a different view of what has been reported.”

We will keep following the story. Stay tuned…