I know Fox Sports has tried to revamp their website multiple times, but for some reason it never works. The layout looks too 80s, the scores update really slow and there's little to no video. Well Fox is going to try and change that yet again, and in the process they're going to make Tony Siragusa an Internet superstar! Via Media Week....

While most of Hill’s ideas are currently in the development stage, he is already touting one show he wants to produce for FoxSports.com, involving former NFL star Tony Siragusa, who is a sideline reporter on Fox’s Sunday NFL telecasts. A 12-year NFL veteran, Siragusa, nicknamed “The Goose,” has the type of boisterous personality that Hill thinks will stir up football fans. “Tony Siragusa will become an Internet star,” predicts Hill.

But Siragusa is not the only on-air personality Hill wants in heavy rotation on Fox-Sports.com. “We have some good people floating around here,” he says. “There are no rules for the Internet. The possibilities are endless.”

Hill is pondering the production of an online show with his Fox NFL Sunday studio team of Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson. “Their preproduction meetings could be taped and shown,” Hill says. “They are hilarious.”

He could also team up on-air commentator Daryl Johnson, a former Dallas Cowboys running back, nicknamed Moose, with Siragusa the Goose. And Hill says former Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, currently a commentator on Fox Sports game telecasts, is also in his sights to do some type of show online (even though Billick does not have a nickname ending in “oose”). FoxSports.com currently offers about four hours of original video per day, a scale that Hill hopes to dramatically expand.

Once his on-air talent is entrenched on the FoxSports site, Hill plans to slot promotional spots on each of the Fox Sports TV telecasts to alert viewers of the online programming and drive them to the site. Hill says he hopes to also beef up the fantasy sports area and “down the road” wants to offer more video coverage of sports at every level, including high school.

The "Hill" that the article is referring to the same one that brought you all of the band shots during Fox's Bowl coverage, so I don't know if these are good ideas or not. Siragusa is certainly entertaining, but I'm not sure if people will take time out of their day to watch him on an Internet television show.

Fox Sports Rushes the Web (Media Week)

I honestly don't know what a network like FOX sees in Michael Strahan as a comedian, but the former NFLer is all set to star in his own sitcom next fall. "Brothers" will start out on Fridays at 8pm, and will feature Strahan as a former NFL player (surprise!) called back home to help out his family. Wanna learn more? Of course you do. Via Newsday....

"Starring Michael Strahan (“FOX NFL Sunday”) and Daryl “Chill” Mitchell (“Ed,” “Veronica’s Closet”), BROTHERS is a new half-hour comedy about a former NFL hot shot who learns that even though you can always go home again, the trip back might be tougher than you think. MIKE TRAINOR (Strahan) seemingly has it all – he’s a good-looking, wealthy and recently retired NFL player living the high-life in New York City, but he’s about to get sidelined. When Mike gets a phone call from his MOM (CCH Pounder, “The Shield”) who orders him home to Houston, he quickly realizes the more his life has changed, the more his family has stayed the same. His brother CHILL (Daryl “Chill” Mitchell), whose life was altered drastically after a car accident left him in a wheelchair, is struggling to keep his restaurant afloat with the help of his loudmouth associate, ROSCOE (Colton Dunn, “MADtv”). The dynamics between Mike and Chill are the same as when they were kids, and their sibling rivalry hasn’t lessened with age. If they can stop their bickering, put aside their differences and learn to be teammates, the brothers might just turn out to be each other’s biggest asset. Wedged between Mike and Chill are their parents. Their father, whom everyone refers to as COACH (Carl Weathers, “Rocky”), is the local high school football coach and the conservative, opinionated alpha male of his clan. Coach thinks he runs the show, but really it’s Mom who calls the shots. Saucy, stern and a schemer, she is the mastermind of the family. And when she learns that Mike’s business manager took off with all his money, she orchestrates a plan to keep Mike in Houston, save Chill’s restaurant and bring the family back together under one roof again – all without anyone realizing what she’s up to. Mom’s plan helps Mike realize that his family – however dysfunctional they may be – is the only family he’s got. And although he may not have a penny to his name, as long as he’s surrounded by people who love him, he’ll always be a rich man."

Wow. That sounds like a.....umm....winner. Not only is the plot ridiculous, but the show is already pretty much damned by being slated for a Friday. Good luck with that one though, FOX.

Strahan....as Fox Sitcom Star (Newsday)

I watched exactly zero of the Great American Race yesterday, so I subsquently missed the debut of FOX's Digger and Friends, but lucky for me (and you!) Sox and Dawgs recorded the cartoon! I give you the first episode of "Digger and Friends"....

The Adventures of Digger and Friends Episode 1
by beisbolct

I guess it's not that bad, but if I was a NASCAR fan and I had to watch that nonsense while waiting for the race to start, I'd probably curse that damn gopher.

The Adventures of Digger and Friends: Episode 1 (Sox and Dawgs)

I don't know what we should blame for this trend (Laff-A-Lympics? Pro Stars?), but FOX has made a habit on depending on cheesy cartoons during games. First it was Slider, the goofy baseball with a face that told you about certain pitches. Next it was Cletus, the hip-hop inspired robot. And now it's Digger, the annoying gopher that pops up from the track during races.

Digger first appeared last year during NASCAR coverage, but this year they're giving him a little bit more airtime. To the tune of his own pre-race show! Via Sports Media Watch....

FOX has announced that Digger, an animated gopher that serves as the "alter-ego to FOX’s Gopher Cam," will be the subject of a series of vignettes that will air prior to the network's NASCAR telecasts this season.

The two-minute vignettes will be entitled "The Adventures of Digger & Friends", and will feature Digger, "his girlfriend Annie, best friend Marbles, Gramps and arch-nemesis Lumpy Wheels." The series' theme song will be sung by country star Keith Urban, who says of the theme: "I just hope that Digger likes it."

The series makes its debut during the NASCAR on FOX pre-race show prior to this Sunday's Daytona 500.

Digger and his associates will also "appear throughout NASCAR on FOX broadcasts as animated wipes, billboards and bugs," akin to what the network did with its robots during NHL coverage in the 1990s.

FOX hopes to use Digger & Friends to cultivate future fans. The network notes that "roughly a third of the FOX NASCAR audience" is made up of homes with children.

Are we positive that David Hill of FOX is qualified to run a network? I mean, between the band shots and now the cartoons, I almost picture him as Tom Hanks in "Big". A cartoon about a gopher before a NASCAR race? You think the names they call Jeff Gordon are bad? Wait until a kid down South gets caught watching this by some bully.

'Digger and Friends' to precede NASCAR telecasts (Sports Media Watch)

I don't know how you could possibly think that there was nothing wrong in using the nation's resources to get an escort to and from a sporting event, but that's exactly what FOX analyst is claiming today. Neil Best transcribed a brief interview with Aikman, and here's what was said....

“No, no. I just got knowledge of the whole thing today, as a matter of fact, and whatever has been reported. We show up outside of our hotel, we’re told what cars to get in and we go. When the game’s over, we’re directed as to where our cars that are taking us to the airport or back to the hotel and we get in those vehicles and we go.

“None of us certainly had any idea that anything was going on that shouldn’t have been going on or that there were people involved with escorts that were supposed to be doing other jobs or anything like that. That was news to me.”

This was at the tail end of a Fox conference call to preview the NFC Championship Game. After Aikman answered, Michael Strahan interjected (good-naturedly, I think):

“Neil! You mean to tell me, Neil Best, you got on here and asked that question? All these years of knowing you and that’s all you got, a damn police escort?’’

Oh Michael! You crazy guy. Actually now that I think about it, not knowing who is driving you right before you're going on air is definitely a possibility. I think the attention needs to be diverted away from Aikman, Buck and McCarver in this matter, and directed to the brass at FOX Sports.

Fox' Troy Aikman was unaware of escort impropriety (Watchdog)

I hesitated to use the term "mainstream" in the title because one of these articles comes from the Huffington Post, but two reporters in the past day have come out and ask for FOX to remove Joe Buck from the NFC Championship Game. Stephen Kaus from HuffPo was first, but has been followed today by Matt Nadu at NBC in Philadelphia.

NBC Philly: "But, like the hard economic times that have devastated this country, Buck has crippled not only our wallets by using taxpayer money for a game day Federal Marshall escort but he's also taken away some of our seemingly undying spirits.

Philadelphia can only take so much.

Buck lacks that certain something when he broadcasts a sporting event. He can't quite put the, what's the word, ah, life into anything. In fact, it feels like he makes his living draining the life of all who are forced to listen to him. Taxpayers you might want to work a little harder this week because a certain someone has another game to attend on Sunday."

Huffington Post: "Where, exactly, was Joe Buck while his father Jack was urging St Louis Cardinal fans to "go crazy folks" when the Redbirds won a playoff game* or telling a national radio audience that "I don't believe what I just saw" after Kurt Gibson's 1988 world Series blast off of the Eck?**

Was he reading a book? He is bloodless! And now it comes out that Buck and Aikman have been improperly escorted to gamers by U.S. Marshals.

Although I appreciate Brent Musburger's work these days on the NBA and college football, it was a liberating day in 1990 when CBS removed his stranglehold on its sports programming.

Please Fox, get rid of Buck. And you don't have to look far for an NFL replacement. Marv's son, who kept stats for his dad at a New York Rangers game when he was six years old, is right there in your stable."

My favorite part about anything with Buck these days is that people almost write about him with complete shock. Like it's new that he comes across not caring about the game his covering. It's been like that with him for yearrrrrs, but I guess it's good that people are noticing rather than kissing his "lifeless" ass.

What the Buck? Let's Stop This Now (NBC Philly)
Kenny Albert Should Replace Joe Buck as Fox's No. 1 NFL Voice Before We Are All in a Coma (Huffington Post)

So here it is. I really regretted putting this together halfway through, and I can't believe there's an entire second part tomorrow, but I know my role. Enjoy Favre's first interview since announcing his desire to comeback.

This whole thing is just exhausting isn't it? I can't even figure out who knows what, who said what, and who wants what. I don't even know whether I'm sick of it or not. Of course I am, but the level of this "comeback" is almost unprecedented enough to make it interesting. Just crazy on so many levels.

There's been a lot of this going around on networks lately. You take a Hall of Famer/Former Champion, throw him into the coverage and turn the segment into a brief interview. ESPN's Friday Night Fights has done it, Baseball Tonight has done it and now FOX is looking to do it for the All Star Game. With just one small difference, they're going to bring multiple HOF guest analysts....

In its most-lavish hype and coverage for baseball's All-Star Game, Fox's coverage might bring in six or seven Hall of Famers to each call an inning with announcers Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. Said Fox spokesman Dan Bell Sunday: "That's something we're considering."

For the final All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, Fox also plans to ask each player, manager and coach to wear a microphone — they can decline — and plans a midtown Manhattan parade passing by NBC and CBS. Taped coverage will air on Fox's lead-in to the game. Fox also plans to use new Diamond Cams offering high-def and wider views. But those tiny cameras, placed in the field itself, so far haven't been able to pan or tilt. That would be fun. "We think that's a cool idea," says Bell. "That might not be too far away."

This would probably be extremely annoying if not for the fact that the more random people talk the less we have to hear from Buck and McCarver. I salute you FOX in you mission to completely drown those to out!

Fox mulls big MLB All-Star game plan (USA Today)

It was just a year ago that we were saying the exact same thing about another Giant in Tiki Barber, and apparently it's now a right of passage to talk trash about your teammates before entering the TV World. Newly hired FOX Analyst Michael Strahan had this to say about ex-teammate and current Giant, Jeremy Schockey....

"I don't think you gain much by keeping a guy around. Regardless of how well he plays for you, there's always that tension, and that's one thing you can't have if you're expected to go back and repeat."

Strahan added Shockey might do his job well, but that doesn't mean he would be happy.

"You don't need that out of one of your leaders," the recently retired defensive end said. "So I think the best thing for them and for Shockey is if they have the opportunity, let him go."

That's the kind of thing Fox will be looking for from Strahan, who signed a four-year deal believed to be worth about $2.3 million a year after fielding offers from other networks.

I'm not saying it's not refreshing to have honesty in the Sports Television world, but you might want to wait at least until the start of the season before bashing your former team. We saw how unaccepted Tiki Barber became before last year and it would be a shame for the same thing to happen to Strahan (even if he is right).

Neil Best also has this tidbit to share as well in the article....

"It's a one-way contract, so the players, you have no rights," he said. "They can come in and say, 'You suck, get out of here,' but I can't walk into the team and say, 'You know, this team really sucks. I want to go somewhere else."'

Eventually Johnson cut him off, saying, "Michael, that is bull," and argued bonuses amount to guarantees. Soon the entire cast was arguing, with Strahan and Terry Bradshaw trading barbs about their respective divorces while Fox Sports president Ed Goren beamed.

"Save it for the show!" Fox Sports chairman David Hill shouted.

Greaaaaaaaat. They're already yelling at each other. If only Caliendo was there as Madden to moderate. Ugh.

Strahan: Giants should dump Shockey (Newsday)

You know it's bad when a show like Family Guy busts on you and now a Pop Culture site like Best Week Ever takes you on as well. Here is Tim McCarver from this past weekend comparing Philadelphia Phillies coach Charlie Manuel to Civil War Generals....

ICYMI: Tim McCarver is F-ing Insane

I don't even know what to say to that. "Think about how underestimated the Southern Generals were"?!?!?! What in the hell does that even mean? I'm so confused right now and my head hurts.

Tim McCarver Compares Phillies Manager To Confederate Civil War Generals, Deepens Our Understanding Of Baseball (Best Week Ever)

FOX has done it for the MLB All Star Game and the Super Bowl, but now NBC is going to copy the practice for the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby this May. They'll also have a host comparable to Ryan Seacrest....

NBC Sports will add a half hour of coverage at the beginning of its traditional start of the Kentucky Derby telecast, featuring a Red Carpet Show presented by Head and Shoulders.

The Red Carpet Show will be hosted by Billy Bush of the NBC Universal-owned syndicated Hollywood magazine show Access Hollywood. The Red Carpet show will be part of the new Access at the Derby half hour, hosted by Bush, and will air at 4 p.m. on May 3. Bush will go behind-the-scenes at Derby parties, interview celebrities and show fashions. The Red Carpet Show will offer glimpses of celebrities arriving at Churchill Downs, site of the race.

I don't watch Access Hollywood but I've heard Billy Bush on the radio before and he's not THAT bad. Also, the Derby's Red Carpet will only be a half an hour long, so it won't be exactly like the 5 hour overkill of the Super Bowl one.

NBC Sports Adding to Derby Telecast (Media Week)

I really didn't think that FOX's red carpet was all THAT bad during the Super Bowl. Sure there was absolutely no stars walking it (unless you count House, and I do) but how else were they going to fill 15 hours of coverage? Well if you missed the Red Carpet experience the first go around, you'll get a second chance.

Yankee Stadium will get a very special tribute in its final season when the All-Star game is played in the Bronx in July. But the game-day festivities will kick off with a red-carpet parade in Midtown Manhattan broadcast live on Fox 5 before the game on July 15, the FOX network announced.

FOX Sports and Best Damn Sports Show Period host Chris Rose will anchor the parade.

All-Stars, Hall-of-Famers and celebrities will enter the 2,000 foot red carpet at the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue and journey up to Central Park. The parade route will be completely closed-off to traffic in honor of this event.

Yay celebrities! One request though FOX.....please get The Moment of Truth involved somehow. You could ask athletes if they took steroids, if Tony LaRussa is a drunk, and even find out if Joe Buck is actually a robot. Just think about it.

All-Star Parade in New York to Air on FOX (My Fox NY)
Fox Red Carpet to Torment Viewers Again (The Big Lead)

I know you probably REALLY want me to stop talking about this, but when a woman calls an ex-NFL QB a "girlie man"....I'm going to post about it. FOX's Laura Ingraham went on a rant about Brett Favre this past Friday that puts Sal Pal's piece to shame....

"All these years, and I didn't know there was a woman quarterback in the NFL. ...

"Brett Favre...we're watching this in the studio, obviously retiring from the NFL, great quarterback, handsome 38-year-old man, he gets up there and he does this press conference that was frankly one of the most embarrassing things I have ever seen."

"That's a great message for young boys. 'Get up there and act like a girl and start blubbering like a baby."

Then, in her best impersonation of a crying toddler with its favorite toy taken away, she wah-wah-wah's while uttering in a mocking tone, "It's about me, it was never about me, but it is about me, bla, bla, bla" before returning to her regular voice and stating, "I could not believe what I was seeing."

That's right guys, it's NOT okay to cry, and you WANT a woman like Laura Ingraham in your life! Seriously.....I can't even put the words together to say how irresponsible and downright stupid that message is. Cheese and rice.

Conservative Talk Show Host Laura Ingraham Is Officially On The Packers Nation Hit List (100% Injury Rate)

I'm not even talking about the fans watching on television that got dragged around by FOX and NASCAR but the fans who actually went to the race and got there early for the festivities were completely screwed.

Get this. Not only was the race delayed three times due to rain, crashes, and Michael Waltrip leaking oil onto the track, but NASCAR officials told fans at 10pm that the race was going off at Midnight. It didn't but fans had to wait until Midnight (PST) to get the final word.....

By the time they completed 87 laps and had to stop again at 6:11 p.m. -- this time for more than four hours -- race officials had issued seven cautions because of bad weather or debris on the track.

The race was scheduled to resume at 11 p.m., and only a handful of fans remained in the stands huddled under ponchos or makeshift shelters crafted out of plastic sheets. NASCAR officials finally decided just before 11 p.m. to postpone the race until this morning.

Those officials should be grateful that the day's casualty list was limited to dented sheet metal, sheared off bolts and shredded rubber.

That list could easily have included broken bones and battered bodies.

Okay, that's a little over the top, but I can understand the frustration. And mind you.....that's West Coast time. All in all fans at the track could have ultimately waited over 12 hours as NASCAR and FOX strung fans along.

You can't ulimately say if FOX was involved or if this was entirely NASCAR's decision, but with the Oscars happening on ABC it really seemed like they were trying to get people to stick around and watch the race. Just a horrible decision in regards to fans and it's drivers to try and finish one race.

I think Larry Brown sums it up best....."FOX had the viewers by the balls if you’re a NASCAR fan. If you made the choice to commit to watching the race, you hung around the extra two hours. And what’d they tell you on your local FOX channel? Sit around and watch our post-Oscars coverage in the meantime."

NASCAR Crapped on Race Fans Sunday (Larry Brown Sports)
Decision to go ahead with auto race is all wet (LA Times)
NASCAR's Debacle in Cali (The Sporting Blog)

Ah the list is long isn't it? The Glow Puck, Slider, and that damn Robot are just a few of the network's missses. Well add NASCAR's Gopher Cam to the ever-growing list. Via SBD...

Fox has installed four small, stationary HD POV cameras, called "Gopher Cams," underneath the track at Daytona Int'l Speedway for the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday. The Gopher Cams mark the first time a sub-track surface camera will be HD quality and have been placed at each of the track's four turns.

I guess it isn't the worst of ideas but if that damn gopher pops up multiple times during Sunday's Daytona 500, I think you might here a few grumblings from the gear heads.

(Source: Sports Business Daily)

This is just one of many mistakes in the pantheon of FOX's coverage of this Bowl Season. The Announcing team for the Orange Bowl (sans Alvarez) was great, but the production team needs to go back to the drawing board. We've already seen the band about a million times.....how about that transition from halftime to second half?

Oh no.....somebody in the Band is down! Not your Bread and Butter FOX!!! Look I understand the problem with coming up with a new announcing team every single night for three nights, but this was unspeakable. FOX waits an entire year to bring us the BCS Bowl Games and if you're not up in arms after the last two posts I feel sorry for you as a Sports Fan.

How do things like this happen when you have an entire year to plan? It makes zero sense to me. FOX saw how bad last year went and they made it worse(productionally speaking.....and yes I know that's not a word). Please fix whatever you have to before the BCS Championship Game or you're going to be hammered by the masses.

Wow....where do you even start with this traveshamockery? How about I give you the Math and then we'll go to the videos. I noted that the Fiesta Bowl featured 58 individual shots of the respective team's bands yesterday, and most people (including myself) were amazed. There's so many more shots you could go to right? Well that was nothing. With the help of some of AA's favorite readers we tracked the total for the Orange Bowl and the numbers are staggering.....

Pregame 5 (Both Teams)

1st Half

Kansas 34
VT 16
First Half Total = 55

2nd Half

Kansas 37
VT 18
Second Half Total= 55

Grand Total of Only Band Shots = 110

One Hundred and Ten people. 110?!?!?! One hundred and ten specific shots devoted to each team's individual bands. Not the mascots, the players, the announcers or coaches.....the bands. Every single positive yardage play by the offense they went to a shot. Every single great defensive play the went to the shot. Every single.....end of the quarter they went to, um nothing???

What is she doing? I have no idea, but you had shots like that for about 50% of your entire broadcast. I think this quote from Fox Sports Head David Hill back in 2006 (Via reader Will) might have something to do with all of this......

Fox Sports head David Hill, at a meeting Monday with Fox affiliates, said Fox won't try "to reinvent the wheel" when it inherits each BCS game except the Rose Bowl, which will remain on ABC. Then he brought out the UNLV band to play what will be Fox's college football theme music and announced, "I love the bands."

Yeah you do. Yeah you f'ing do David. More on the announcing team and other nonsense tomorrow.

Fox pegs Thom Brennaman as BCS voice (USA Today)