It's rare that Charles Barkley doesn't have something to say, but following his December 31st arrest in Arizona, he decided to refrain from any comment on the matter. That was until this weekend, when the TNT analyst finally broke his silence at a celebrity Golf tournament of all places. Speaking to The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida), Barkley called the arrest a "mistake" and "100 percent" his fault, and even shared his thoughts on Michael Phelps....

"Clearly, I made a mistake drinking and driving. And I'm getting penalized for that, and rightfully so,'' Barkley said.

"Drinking and driving is a very serious thing. It was stupid, and it was 100 percent my fault,'' added Barkley, who said his return to the TV booth is up to TNT.

Barkley also offered an opinion on the ongoing situation with Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps.

Phelps, who won eight gold medals at Beijing, has been assailed for a photo of him smoking marijuana with a bong pipe at a student party while visiting the University of South Carolina.

"I don't think he's the worst person in the world. Everybody's a hypocrite right now,'' Barkley said. "He made a mistake. He said he was sorry.

"I guess they want us to take him out back and shoot him,'' Barkley said. "He made a mistake and I wish him nothing but the best.''

Obviously nothing has changed in regards to Barkley's current problems, but I seriously hope that when he comes back on-air that he isn't a different commentator. I think a Pre-DUI Barkley would have probably made a comparison to the reaction of a black athlete being busted for marijuana, and without Barkley providing that, you can see that not that many people have even acknowledged the double standard in this instance.

With that said, Sports Business Journal's John Ourand, has just released the news that Barkley will be returning to TNT following the All-Star break....

TNT plans to bring Charles Barkley back to its “Inside the NBA” studio show soon after Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, though the network has not picked a specific date.

The decision ends rumors that TNT would bring Barkley back for the coming weekend’s All-Star Game telecasts. Rather, Turner Sports President David Levy said he would make a decision “right after the All-Star Game.”

“He is going to continue to remain on a leave of absence through the All-Star Game. He will not be part of our All-Star Weekend festivities,” Levy said.

“It wasn’t a hard decision for me to give him some time off to get his legal matters straight and to get his personal life in order,” Levy said. “The question is, when is the right time to bring him back? There is no magic answer to that. It’s just a gut feel.”

I'll keep you posted on a date, and plans of Barkley's first on-air comments on the network.

Barkley Returns, Teams With Bean And Bryant for Charity Golf Event (The Ledger)
TNT to bring back Barkley following All-Star telecast (Sports Business Journal - $)

I know this isn't news, and that both of these guys are just looking for attention, but there's something so lame about this video that it intrigues me. TMZ (Via With Leather) caught Michael Phelps and Warren Sapp, horsing around at a pool in South Beach, and decided that a video of said event was necessary to share with the world....

Oh man! You see that?!?! He gave him a half a lap pool lead....AND HE STILL BEAT THAT AZZ! That right there is talent my friends. My irrational hate for Michael Phelps aside though, is there anything lamer than trying to impress people with your talent, and no one there really even gives a crap? I mean even chicks are giving him "pity applause" at this point.

Attention Whores Whore For Attention (With Leather)
Warren Sapp Races Michael Phelps (TMZ)

I have no idea why Michael Phelps keeps showing up at random Basketball games across the country, but I guess if I had a free pass to go to every event, I'd be doing it as well. Lot of games this week, but very few of them are on national television. Both TNT and ESPN have the week off, but here are your NBA TV games for the next seven days....

Monday, December 29thd

Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons (NBATV, 7:30pm)- George Blaha, Greg Kelser
Toronto Raptors at Golden State Warriors (NBATV, 10:30pm)- Bob Fitzgerald, Jim Barnett

Tuesday, December 30th

Fan Night Matchup: Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat (NBA TV, 7:30pm)- Eric Reid, Tony Fiorentino

Wednesday, December 31st

Denver Nuggets at Toronto Raptors (NBA TV, 7pm)- Matt Devlin, Leo Rautins

Friday, January 2nd

Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks (NBA TV, 8:30pm)- Mike Breen, Walt Frazier

Saturday, January 3rd

Philadelphia 76ers at San Antonio Spurs (NBA TV, 8:30pm)- Bill Land, Sean Elliott

Sunday, January 4th

Boston Celtics at New York Knicks (NBA TV, 6pm)- Mike Breen, Walt Frazier

There's almost little to no way that NBC will lose the rights to the Olympics, but with Time Warner by their side, CBS will attempt to make that a reality when the Games' right are up on the block. NBC's contract will be over following the 2012 Summer Games, and a slew of networks will be vying for the 2014 Winter Olympics, and 2016 Summer Games (possibly held in Chicago). Via USA Today....

CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. executives have discussed joining forces to bid on rights to televise the Olympics in 2014 and 2016, turning that competition into an even greater clash of media titans.

TV empires headed by incumbent NBC, Fox and ABC-ESPN have all said they expect to bid for the the U.S. rights. Because of the economy, the International Olympic Committee has said it was prepared to postpone the negotiations until after the 2016 host city was named next October.

If CBS works with Time Warner, competition could be televised on CBS plus popular cable networks TBS and TNT. Time Warner also owns CNN, CNN Headline News, Turner Movie Classics and the Cartoon Network.

The CBS-Turner talks, confirmed by both sides this week to The Associated Press, were only preliminary. No decision has been made about going forward with a bid, said Shirley Powell, a Turner Networks spokeswoman.

Sean McManus, CBS Sports president, said that while the Olympics were undeniably attractive, there's a danger in thinking the success of Beijing — keyed by Michael Phelps' eight gold medals and the attractive setting — would necessarily carry over.

I personally believe that last sentence is the key to this whole thing. Phelps probably has one, maybe two games left in him, and to pay for the rights would almost be like rolling the dice. If the 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Chicago, and Michael Phelps is still competing, then the numbers would almost surely pass those of Beijing. If the Games are in Tokyo or Madrid, and Phelps isn't in the pool, whoever purchased the Olympiad package will be stuck with a Summer much like the Athens Games in 2004.

CBS, Time Warner execs discuss Olympics TV bid (USA Today)

Guitar Hero has sparked a virtual movement (no pun intended) in the video game world and in promoting their latest release, World Tour, they've turned to athletes A-Rod, Tony Hawk, Michael Phelps and Kobe Bryant, for their first campaign.

Paying tribute to the famous lip- and guitar-syncing scene that appeared in the popular film “Risky Business,” each ad will highlight different celebrities jamming on instruments from Guitar Hero World Tour to the song “Old Time Rock and Roll,” performed by Bob Seger. The first commercial, which debuts today, features Kobe Bryant rocking the mic, Alex Rodriguez and Michael Phelps dancing while ripping it up on the exhilarating new guitars, and Tony Hawk sliding in on a skateboard to play the drums. The new commercials are an extension of the “Risky Business” inspired Guitar Hero ads starring American Idol season seven-winner David Cook and runner-up David Archuletta that aired during the American Idol season finale on May 21, 2008.

While it's a very good ad, I just can't stand Michael Phelps anymore. His presence almost ruins the entire thing for me. Still though, while the franchise certainly needs no help, ads like this certainly won't hurt it.

Guitar Hero World Tour Ad (Activision)

Dan Le Batard has a myriad of awkward interviews under his belt, but this one might head right to the top of the list. The Miami radio host had Michael Phelps on yesterday, and after asking a few uncomfortable questions, the swimmer decided to cut the interview off. Well the fun didn't stop there. Phelps forgot to hang up the phone and was heard calling Le Batard an idiot. Via Sports by Brooks....

Sadly, the bewildered Phelps then went into “that’s my story and I’m sticking to it” mode, offering up more pap about how he loved to get the word out about swimming and help people.

To which Le Batard responded, “Do you go into the nightclub with these Kellogg’s products and just drop them on the floor with your face on them?”

That’s when Phelps had had enough, saying, “Sorry, I think we’re going to head to the next interview. Thank you very much for your time.”

After the interview, Phelps accidentally didn’t hang up the phone for a moment, saying to his handlers about the interview and Le Batard, “I didn’t say nothing. That guy was a idiot, that was ridiculous.”

Here's the interview in its entirety but near the 3 minute mark is when it gets interesting....

Too funny. The dial tone at the end was just awesome. I don't think I'm alone here, but the sooner Phelps' fifteen minutes are up....the better.

Please, Don’t Ask Michael Phelps to Tell The Truth (Sports by Brooks)

Journalists worldwide are giving their final opinions on the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and I thought I'd chime in as well. NBC's broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Games brought on varying emotions throughout the two weeks for everyone, both good and bad. People across the Country seemed to be both happy and mad at the network's coverage at various times throughout the two week span and my feelings probably don't differ from all of theirs all that much.

I personally enjoyed many aspects of the coverage and after bashing them, and NBC, for just about the whole Summer, I was certainly impressed at times with the end product. The majority of the announcers were very knowledgeable of the Sports they covered and every host and reporter appeared genuinely interested in the country of China and topics they covered. Cris Collinsworth said last night that these Games provided a great place for the World to forget about its problems for two weeks, and I couldn't agree more.

With that said, there were mulitple frustrating elements of NBC's programming that infuriated viewers in the U.S. and across the globe. In the States, everywhere but the East Coast suffered by not being able to see live events and even those in the East were "blacked out" of monumental and record breaking performances. Let's delve into this a bit more with the good, the bad and the ugly of the broadcast and then I'll give you some announcing winners and losers.
_________________________

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:

The Good- Sheer Numbers and The FOBs

Given that these Games were across the World from us in Beijing, I think that NBC did an admirable job of getting at least some of the contests to us live (well at least for us East Coasters). I don't even remember watching the past two Summer Olympics (Athens and Australia) because barely any of the event were aired as they took place and the change this year was certainly welcomed. It obviously wasn't perfect, but for Gymnastics and Swimming at least they seemed to get it right. I personally thought that 3600 hours of coverage was an insane undertaking but for the most part, they pulled it off in the end.

Bob Costas and his FOB's were also a "good" for the Peacock during these Olympics. I truly enjoyed the excitement of Bela Karolyi and the heartfelt love for his Sport. Collinsworth and Carillo didn't really give us anything groundbreaking but both filled a lot of the downtime with at least somewhat interesting stories. Costas himself pulled no punches in delivering controversial pieces himself and his interview with George W. Bush was surprisingly eye-opening. I don't think anyone else has gotten more out of the Leader of the Free World in eight years.

Obviously numbers don't lie and through sixteen days of coverage over 211 million people tuned in. That makes the 2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, the most viewed event in U.S. television history. Even though there are no other programs considered "events" other than the Olympics within the ratings system (not even the Super Bowl), that's a heck of a lot of people.

The Bad- Online and Post Phelps Coverage

It's hard to find fault in a network that aired events live online for free and gave of us one of the most awesome performances we've ever seen, but I'm going to try. There are reports that NBC's online content only made a quarter of the ad revenue that March Madness did and that's pretty mind blowing given the number of people that signed in online. The network actually decided against airing certain events on the platform (I.E.- Usain Bolt) and in turn hurt the final product that it put out there for customers and even advertisers.

(Now my personal relationship with NBC Universal's Piracy Department aside) It was more than frustrating that they billed NBCOlympics.com as the go to site for every live event, when that certainly wasn't even close to being true. They also didn't even make their videos available for embedding and promotion on other sites (not just blogs). They seemingly ruined their chances at a big payday and record numbers online with that move alone.

As far as post-Phelps coverage, the absence of one individual illustrated exactly how he alone gave NBC the boost they needed in the ratings. After Phelps left the pool, NBC only surpassed the ratings of the Sydney Olympics on one night out of seven. The Games in total were 7% higher than those in 2000 and that percentage is all Phelps.

The Ugly: "Live Events"

I think we've beat this one into the ground but the live/delayed coverage across the country was reprehensible. I still don't understand how if Swimming and Gymnastics started at 10/11pm on the East Coast that they couldn't be aired live in West Coast primetime, but I'm not a TV exec. It's completely unrealistic to think that someone could go through an entire day/night and not hear or see a result. When you're also not airing the most important events live online just to save them for TV....you're going to piss a good number of people off.

There's absolutely no way they can do this again in London, but it wouldn't surprise me.
__________________________


Announcing Winners and Losers:

Winners-

Bob Costas (see above)
Ato Bolden (Track and Field)- Provided great insight to running events for a rookie
Bela Karyoli (FOB)- "BEAUTIFUL!!!!"
Dan Hicks (Swimming)- The call of the 4x100 Free Relay will be replayed for decades
Tim Ryan (Rowing and Canoeing)- A vet of the Games but continues to impress
Mike Breen (Basketball)- Solidifying himself as the second voice of the NBA after Marv.
Doug Collins (Basketball)- When not talking about himself, he's one of the best analysts out there (I still can't stand him though)
Bob Papa (Boxing)- Anybody who can work well with (and understand) Teddy Atlas is a winner in my book
Andrew Catalon (Handball)- I didn't know this until recently but Handball is exciting as hell. So are the announcers.
Bill Clement(Various)- He called events from Shooting to Table Tennis and was even sideline reporter for Badminton. He was solid throughout.
Kirch Kiraly (Beach Volleyball)- Exactly what an ex-athlete analyst should sound like covering his/her Sport.

Losers-

Cynthia Potter (Diving)- MSMers applauded her but I couldn't stand her. She was negativity personified and coming from me....that's saying something.
Rowdy Gaines (Swimming)- The Doug Collins of Swimming
Eric Collins (Baseball)- Just downright boring
Craig Sager (Basketball)- Outside of talking about Hooters the sideline reporter was dreadful. He ruined results from events for West Coasters and even said that if the U.S. beat Argentina they'd "play finalist China on Sunday".
Andrea Kremer (Swimming)- "How does it feel to win ______ swimming race?" was all she ever asked
Shane Hamman (Weightlifting)- Actual Quote: "What a huge amount of weight! We're talking a refrigerator, not just a regular refrigerator, but like a big one!"
Al Trautwig (Gymnastics)- Just terrible and the hyperbole was off the charts. He was even quoted as saying this at one point...."The Olympics begin with footprints in the sky." (Blech!)
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There you have it. Overall the Olympics were ultimately just what they've always been, a nice distraction. They come at the perfect time during the Sports Calendar, and some of the physical performances amaze you, but are you really starting the four year countdown right now? Didn't think so. Outside of the live event issues and not utilizing the Internet content correctly, the Games were a success for NBC because they made money.

In the end the bottom line is all that really matters. Who cares if they screw an entire half of the country, right? Right???

Hop on that back with 0.2% body fat, grab onto those giant condor-like wings arms and ride....RIDE....young Michael Phelps to ratings gold, NBC! The Peacock has issued a press release today telling the world that they have signed on to air next year's Swimming World Championships. Oh, and next year's U.S. National Championship.

Wait.....there's more? My fault. Make that the National Championships for the next three years!

On the heels of the most memorable Olympic swimming competition in history, in which Michael Phelps won an unprecedented eight gold medals, NBC Sports, in cooperation with USA Swimming, today announced an agreement for the most significant U.S. television package in the history of the sport. NBC Sports and Universal Sports will broadcast the 2009 World Swimming Championships from Rome and the 2009 USA Swimming National Championships (which will serve to qualify the U.S. team for the 2009 Worlds), as well as the National Championships in 2010 and 2011. The agreement is the first major announcement for the sport of swimming since the remarkable Beijing Olympic swimming competition that saw 20 new world records in the 32 morning finals. NBC already holds the broadcast rights to the 2012 U.S. Olympics Swimming Trials and 2012 London Olympic Games. The announcement was made today by Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics and Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director, USA Swimming.

Michael Phelps, who has long stated a goal of getting more exposure for the sport of swimming, said: "I've said for a long time that my most important goal was to leave swimming better than I found it and this move to network coverage on NBC of our major championships is a dream come true and a big step in that direction."

Again, I don't know how a Sport that doesn't really have a "season" can succeed in something other than a record breaking Olympics, but I guess anything is possible. The one benefit that the Championships have though, is that they take place in the barren Sports months of July and August.

Update: Ooooh lookie what else NBC has made available to you Swimfans. Via Sports Business Daily....

"Michael Phelps: Greatest Olympic Champion … The Inside Story" and a general Beijing Games highlight DVD, each for $19.99, and an Opening Ceremony two-volume DVD for $29.99 (NBCU). NBC's "Today" show promoted the Phelps DVD heavily earlier in the week, airing spots for it heading into and out of commercial breaks

(Via NBC PR)

The Sporting Blog came across this hilarious video of BBC reporter Steve Parry walking around with a cardboard cutout of Michael Phelps. Watch as people go crazy thinking he's actually Phelps himself....

That whole scene reminded me of the New Era commercial where everyone thinks the dude in the airport is David Ortiz. Parry does say he feels like a "fraud" but tell me you wouldn't try the same thing just to see what it was like. Too funny.

China Is Going Crazy For Tall, White People (The Sporting Blog)

I'm still not sure exactly how NBC is tabulating these ratings, but either way, they were huge for Phelps' run at eight on Saturday night. Not only did it crush any other Sport the network has aired, it was the highest Saturday rating since Empty Nest debuted back in 1990. Via Yahoo....

The telecast averaged 31.1 million U.S. viewers, NBC's biggest audience for a Saturday night program since an episode of "The Golden Girls" spinoff "Empty Nest" drew 31.4 million viewers in February 1990, according to Nielsen Media Research data cited by the network.

It was the culmination of an especially dramatic day of Olympic competition, which also saw Phelps' U.S. teammate Dara Torres, 41, lose the women's 50-meter freestyle by a 1/100th of a second to 24-year-old Britta Steffen of Germany. Torres, the oldest U.S. swimmer, ended up with three silver medals.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt grabbed gold in the 100-meter dash after the reigning world champion Tyson Gay of the United States, who suffered a hamstring injury six weeks ago, was eliminated in the semi-finals.

But the dramatic story arc of Phelps, who came away with gold medals in all eight events he competed in, has been the biggest draw for NBC's Olympic coverage.

The network has averaged 30 million viewers in prime time -- on par with the numbers tuning in for "American Idol" -- since the games opened on August 15, and Saturday night's audience peaked at 40 million viewers in the half hour during which the men's 400-meter medley was held.

Through nine days, 191 million viewers have tuned in to at least one six-minute bloc of the Beijing Games on NBC and its various sister cable networks -- 14 million more than for the Athens Games and 5 million more than the Atlanta Games over the same period, NBC said.

First of all, that's just an insanely large amount of people. To put things into comparison, last year's Super Bowl pulled a 43.2 and the only American Idol to ever beat that figure was the Season Two finale (Ruben Studdard won).

Second, 31.4 million people watched Empty Nest?!?! I never knew the Golden Girls spinoff was that popular. RIP Estelle Getty.

Phelps' Olympic feat lifts NBC to 18-year record (Yahoo)

I think Michael Phelps owes Jason Lezak his career after the relay performances he put in for Team USA. Just an amazing performance by all four members of the team and with it, Michael Phelps sets the record for most gold medals in one Olympics with a grand total of eight. Let's relive the moment....

I really tried to hate Swimming about halfway through all of the events. People were setting records almost every single race and the events just seemed to drag on. But in the end, when you have competitors finishing within one one hundredth of each other, and a record that seemed impossible to match and surpass, it was just an awesome week or so for the Sport and the Olympics.

I'm happy to have witnessed history and the way the history went down is truly amazing. More videos to come.

(+1,000 to NBC for using the band Muse during the intro. I was ready to punch a wall when "Assassins" "Knights....." came on.)

It only took me a good seventeen hours to get the clip from last night, but I thought we could use it as an open thread for his record breaking attempt from last night. I had been complaining all last night that I was sick of swimming and sick of Phelps (I'm sure a lot of you felt the same), but I yelled in unison with everyone when he passed Cavic at the last second. The kid is like Tiger Woods, you just don't talk trash to him.

Here's the replay of last night's thrilling win in the 100 Meter Fly and I'll be sure to have tonight's video, win or lose, up much quicker....

I'm also looking for Usain Bolt's insane record of 9.69 secs in the 100 meter final, but in the meantime feel free to leave your thoughts and predictions in the comments. I'll see you early tomorrow morning with the result of the 4x100 Medley.

Frame By Frame Finish (Sports Illustrated)

(P.S.- If this, or any of the Olympic vids get taken down, be sure to let me know. There are ways around NBC's nazi-like approach to taking down vids.)

I know I promised less Ocho Cinco on the site, but the guy sure knows how to get my attention. In this brief interview Chad talks first about how if he has problems with Carson Palmer he just beats him up (Palmer goes for the headlock), but the real fun is at the end. Listen as Chad claims to know some people who could take down Phelps in the water, and yes....85 is one of them....

Don't laugh! Stop laughing at Chad! Chad swam in Middle School and will beat your Champion, America!!! In all honesty the guy is about 99% annoying at this point, but lately that 1% is coming out. Also, does ESPN just interview him everyday now? It really wouldn't surprise me.

Okay so this was long in the works, and created quite some time ago, but I still found it pretty wild. Visa had a spot reserved in the first commercial block after the 200 Meter Butterfly, so when Michael Phelps earned his 10th career gold medal they were ready to congratulate him on his achievement....

Man, Morgan Freeman could sell me just about anything. Thank goodness he's okay after that car crash because that ad would have given me even more chills if he hadn't. The crazy part of the whole story surrounding the ad though comes from Phelps' agent. According to Sports Business Daily, Octagon's Peter Carlisle thought this whole spot up back in 2006 at the Pan-Pacific Championships! Now that's a good agent.