Every year, NBC airs a mini concert as a part of their Kickoff coverage. In the past there have been such acts as Britney Spears, Bon Jovi, P Diddy, Kelly Clarkson and Elton John, and this year's concert will be just as mind-blowing as those. Your two acts this year will be the dynamic duo of Tim McGraw and The Black Eyed Peas! Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette....

The Black Eyed Peas and Tim McGraw will jump-start the Steelers' season with a free concert at Point State Park on opening night, Sept. 10.

Details are being worked out about other acts and when the big names will go onstage, although the headliners will certainly be part of the live pre-game simulcast from 8 to 8:30 p.m. on NBC and NFL Network. Kickoff for the Steelers-Titans game at Heinz Field is scheduled for 8:30.

I'm sure there will be more acts announced, but you usually only get to see the main two acts on NBC anyway. This is the second concert that Pittsburgh will be hosting. In 2006, before the Steelers took on the Dolphins, Rascal Flatts and Martina McBride kicked off the game from Heinz Field, with Diddy and Cassie in Miami.

Free concert by Black Eyed Peas, McGraw to kick off Steelers' season (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

I've made the decision to go out into this brave world and watch the first NFL Sunday of the new season in the company of actual people. Groundbreaking, I know. I figured I would leave you a space to leave your thoughts on the game and the announcers though. If anything wacky goes down be sure to email me and hopefully I can grab the video later on tonight.

Also, don't forget that S2N will be back tonight for one of his legendary live-blogs. The game is the Colts and Bears and be sure to stop by and say hi. Here's your announcing schedule and enjoy the games everyone!

Cincinnati at Baltimore (CBS, 1pm)- Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon
N.Y. Jets at Miami (CBS, 1pm)- Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
Kansas City at New England (CBS, 1pm)- Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf
Houston at Pittsburgh (CBS, 1pm)- Gus Johnson and Randy Cross
Jacksonville at Tennessee (CBS, 1pm)- Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots
Detroit at Falcons (FOX, 1pm)- Matt Vasgersian, JC Pearson and Nischelle Turner
Seattle at Bills (FOX, 1pm)- Ron Pitts, Tony Boselli and Charissa Thompson
Tampa Bay at New Orleans (FOX, 1pm)- Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick
St. Louis at Philadelphia (FOX, 1pm)- Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa
Dallas at Cleveland (FOX, 4pm)- Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
Carolina at San Diego (FOX, 4pm)- Dick Stockton and Brian Baldinger
Arizona at San Francisco (FOX, 4pm)- Sam Rosen, Tim Ryan and Chris Meyers
Chicago at Indy (NBC, 8:15pm)- Al Michaels, John Madden and Andrea Kremer
Green Bay at Minnesota (ESPN, Monday- 7pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser
Denver at Oakland (ESPN, Monday- 10:15pm)- Mike Greenberg, Mike Golic and Mike Ditka

I know I started a frenzy amongst Country Music fans when I broke the news that Keith Urban was the headliner at this years NFL Kickoff concert, and made fun of him in the process, but he's not the only act involved. Add to him, Usher and the beautiful Natasha Bedingfield and you have a show of people I didn't know that they had released an album in the last five years that's sure to please!

"It's my dream to sing in New York," Bedingfield said. "I've never been able to stop traffic like this - I stop traffic in other ways." Bedingfield says she's tackling the job of learning the basics about American football. "It's a new sport for me," she said. "I'm used to rugby."

Usher also is stoked for his appearance at the first NFL Kickoff held in New York in six years. "I'll be looking for body-painted fans," he said. "It's going to be an eclectic performance. It'll be great."

Stars from NBC TV shows also are expected to appear at the event, which runs from 3 to 6:45 p.m. Before the music begins, the NFL will show a video on the Super Bowl champion Giants. The event will be shown live on the NFL Network.

The concert will be a warm-up for the opening game of the NFL season tonight at Giants Stadium, where Big Blue squares off against the Washington Redskins.

Cops are planning on a crowd of 30,000 to 60,000 people at the concert, sources said. Spectators are being allotted the entire length of Central Park South, all the way from Columbus Circle to Grand Army Plaza.

Wait, did the NY Post really use the word "stoked" in an article? Guess so. In all seriousness, all three are great musicians and Keith Urban's following is huge. Plus we get NBC TV Stars as well! With the likes of Chuck, Noah Wiley (ER is still on right?), K.I.T. from Knight Rider, anyone from the eight Law & Orders and Minka Kelly and Hayden Pantierre (you can scratch the previous four)....anything is possible!

Oh and...Yay! Football's back.

Traffic Jammin' Session (NY Post)

REMINDER: Live-Blog tonight!

Well we now know where ESPN's allegiance is. The Baseball HOF Ceremony was relegated to ESPN Classic, but the NFL one on Sunday will be broadcast on ESPN Uno. We even get Chris Berman back as host!

ESPN will present live coverage of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2008 induction ceremony Saturday, August 2, at 6 p.m. ET from Canton, Ohio. NFL Live’s Trey Wingo will host the three-hour primetime telecast with analyst Tom Jackson. ESPN’s Chris Berman, entering his 23rd year as host of Sunday NFL Countdown, will emcee the ceremony that honors the six members of this year’s class – Fred Dean, Darrell Green, Art Monk, Emmitt Thomas, Andre Tippett and Gary Zimmerman. The telecast – which will re-air Saturday night at 11 p.m. on ESPN Classic – will review each inductee’s career with speeches from the inductees and their presenters.

Correspondent Bob Holtzman will also provide reports for SportsCenter and other ESPN programs throughout the Hall of Fame weekend, including coverage of Sunday’s Redskins-Colts game.

Obviously as a Skins fan, it's going to be a great day for me, but when you add in the game the next night it's just an awesome weekend of all things Football. I should be around most of the weekend with vids if you want to stop by. Football is here people....let us rejoice!

(Via ESPN PR)

More music news folks. If you're like me, you've certainly enjoyed the past NFL Kickoff parties and you may have even attended one (I got to see Britney [above] live!). This year's Kickoff artist joins the list of such amazing acts as Ms. Spears, Bon Jovi, Enrique Iglesias, Aerosmith, Destiny's Child, Elton John, Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, Good Charlotte and Kelly Clarkson to name a few....

According to a few rumors and the latest issue of Sports Business Journal, the main artist at your NFL Kickoff Party is......


No silly, not Nicole Kidman. It's her husband.....yeah....that guy. His name is Keith Urban, and this isn't first time that the Kickoff Show has featured a Country singer. Just the first time that he/she has been the main performer during the show. The show will be sponsored by EA Sports and other acts will be named soon.