The Boys Are Back in Town

Before diving into the Cowboys/Broncos game from this past weekend, I have 3 comments on the Olympics I need to get off my chest:

• First a shout out of congratulations to Walter Dix. As someone who also spent many, many hours almost killing myself on the Mike Long track, I take immense pride in a fellow Nole coming up so huge on the largest stage in the world. Congrats Walter, good luck in the 200. Even Alachua county is rooting for you this time.
• Second, I am happy to report that despite hours of brainwashing by Al Trautwig and Tim Daggett I feel even stronger than ever that all judged events have no place in the Olympics. The ridiculousness that is endured on a nightly basis where no one can understand or explain why one competitor wins over another is absolutely ludicrous. Add in that whole tie-break fiasco and I most certainly won’t be counting the days until the next gymnastics meet. Since when would it be so bad that two competitors who performed equally well both get gold?
  • Can you imagine if this was applied to other sports? Like track? “Well, it looks like the two Jamaicans have tied for second in the women’s 100 here at the Bird’s Nest. And the judges have awarded the silver to Kerron Stewart for having a quicker start out of the blocks and maintaining better form over the first 50 meters.”
• Finally, did you see that coach for U.S. Pole Vaulter Jenn Stuczynski, after she won the silver? I won’t recap it here (this does a great job of summarizing both the incident and my reaction to it). Two points though:
  • Think what you will about gymnastics or diving (as I clearly do), you have to give the coaches a ton of credit. No matter how bad of a belly flop or face plant is performed by one of the athletes; the coaches are always there with a hug, high-five and words of encouragement. There is no underestimating how important that is to these athletes.
  • Jenn, since clearly your coach won’t say it, let me just say: congratulations. Fantastic job. There is no shame in losing to the greatest athlete of all time in your event (who set a world record during the event). You did a great job. When you come to your senses and ditch whats-his-name, try giving Dennis Nobles a call. As for coach, well let me just say I hope he finds some enjoyment from his time in Beijing. After that performance I can’t imagine a lot of world class athletes will be beating down his door.

Whew I feel better. Ok, on to the game.

With less than a week until my fantasy draft I find myself having a hard time watching football games without constantly looking at it from the fantasy perspective. With that in mind, I decided to review the game from the fantasy point of view.

Quarterback

Broncos – In case you haven’t noticed (and you probably haven’t), Jay Cutler is having a great pre-season. He started off against the Cowboys with 12 straight completions and finished 16 of 20 for 178 yards and a touchdown. Yes, this was against everyone’s Super Bowl favorite Cowboys defense. He picked them apart. While he may not be in the top tier of quarterbacks, with the Broncos weak schedule, he has to be a strong consideration for a spot start in case of injury or bye week. Especially after the first two weeks when he gets Brandon Marshall back.

Cowboys – I’m not sure if Tony confused ‘pre-season’ with ‘post-season’ but Romo didn’t look real sharp. While there was absolutely no pressure from the Bronco defense (shocking, I know), Tony still didn’t do much. He ended the day 6 of 9 for 33 yards. Part of this was the clock eating drives of the Broncos early in the game but clearly he had no luck going downfield in his couple drives (long of 10 yards). I know he is a top four fantasy quarterback, but I think fantasy owners are going to need to be willing to suck up a few dreadful weeks to get those outstanding weeks.

Running Back

Broncos – You got me. Seriously, I got nothing. I can’t even tell you who to talk about, let alone how they are going to do. Andre Hall and Selvin Young are both getting equal time with the first team and both look equally good. Based on his stats last year you would lean toward Young, but given his history of injuries and Mike Shanahan’s love of screwing fantasy running back owners, I don’t think either of these guys have upside worthy of wasting a high draft pick oh him. If someone gambles on Young way-too-early in the draft I might pick up Hall late (do you really need that second defense?) and stash him on the bench to see how many carries he gets those first few weeks. Don’t forget everyone’s summer crush Ryan Torain will be back just in time to ruin someone’s fantasy playoff performance and there is also Anthony Alridge who should get some of those valuable swing passes and sweeps each game.

Cowboys – Marion Barber is a consensus late first round pick. Call me as conservative as Bill O’Reilly but I tend to want my first round picks to be the clear number one on their teams. The more I have seen both Hard Knocks and the Cowboys play the more and more convinced I am that Felix Jones is going to be the scourge of all Barber owners. Jones is going to get carries and passes this season. Remember Duce Staley? Brian Westbrook’s rookie year, Duce had over 1500 yards from scrimmage. The following year he had 845. You think Jerry Jones will keep his fellow Arkansas alum off the field as much as Westbrook that rookie year? Sure Marion will get the majority of the goal line carries which helps his value but don’t say I didn’t warn you when he is right back sharing time with Felix Jones.

Wide Receiver

Broncos – In case you didn’t get the subtle hints from my training camp time, Brandon Marshall is going to see a lot of balls coming his way this year (Cowboy game: 6 catches, 59 yards and 1 touchdown in less than two quarters). If the Broncos can find another threat during Marshall’s suspension that will keep teams from focusing on him, Marshall should have a big year. On the other side, Eddie Royal has been one of the breakout stars of Bronco camp and the Cowboy game (2 receptions for 67 yards) and has the inside track to playing opposite Marshall all year. He better play well, as for the rest of his career I will be comparing Eddie to DeSean Jackson – a similar player with better collegiate career who the Broncos passed on for Eddie. DeSean had 6 catches for 70 yards in Philly’s game against the Panthers on Friday. Just sayin.

Cowboys – T.O. is….T.O. He had a relatively quiet night against the Broncos (3 catches, 20 yards) but by this point we know what we are getting from T.O. As long as Romo has as much time as he did against the Broncos, Owens will have a big year. It would be helpful if the Cowboys could find a partner for him to take some of the attention but I don’t think Patrick Crayton (big, fat goose-egg on the catches) is striking fear in the hearts of too many defensive coordinators. Miles Austin had the biggest play – a 37 yard touchdown pass from Brad Johnson but then got injured and can’t really be considered a fantasy option until he takes Crayton’s job.

Tight End

Broncos – To me this is the most interesting position for the Broncos. The fantasy experts love Tony Scheffler and I’m not sure why. Yes, he has finished the last two seasons on fire but throughout camp and the two pre-season games he seems to be the Broncos third tight end. First is Daniel Graham, primarily for his blocking ability, though he still had 24 catches last year. Second has been Nate Jackson, who actually has more rececptions than Scheffler so far this year. In fact, Scheffler didn’t really start getting lots of balls until Jackson hit the IR last year. If Jackson is a better blocker than Scheffler than won’t he get the majority of snaps when the Broncos are keeping run and pass options open (like, for example – inside the 5 yard line)? If Scheffler screams “PASSS” to the other defense, doesn’t that limit his effectiveness and fantasy value? I am no fantasy expert, what do I know. I just think when I am looking for a tight end I would rather have a clear number one like Heath Miller or Alge Crumpler, who are rated below Scheffler.

Cowboys – Speaking of clear number ones, the Cowboys have Jason Witten. While he didn’t do much against the Broncos (zero catches), Romo’s vacation buddy is clearly one of the top five tight ends in the game (is it getting monotonous saying that every Cowboy offensive player didn’t do much? Sorry, you should have seen the game – yawn). Interestingly, the break out player of the game for the Cowboys was Rodney Hannah who had 4 catches for 52 yards. I have no idea how the Cowboys would fit him in, but he looked darn good – big and quick.

Defense

Broncos – If you are seriously considering drafting the Broncos defense after their performance last season, you need more help than I could ever provide. Despite, the Cowboys struggles, you need to remember that the Broncos defensive line is young, suspect and ineffective; their linebackers are unproven and the secondary is a combination of new or unhealthy. Other than that they are really solid.

Cowboys – Much like everyone else on ‘America’s Team’ the Cowboys defense is heavily hyped. Not that allowing the Broncos to march up and down the field, putting no pressure on the quarterback and giving up fourteen points in a quarter will change the hype. But I would think at a minimum it has to give someone drafting the Cowboys defense a moment’s pause.

Kickers

Does it really matter? All kickers are pretty much the same. Argue with me only if you spent a draft pick on Mason Crosby a year ago knowing that he would be the highest scoring kicker in the league.

Having said that, Matt ‘Brian Griese’ Prater hasn’t exactly been a model of consistency so far this season.

Actually, strike that, he has missed the first field goal of both games so far, he has been very consistent.

NBC’s Unconscionable East Coast Bias

I try to be tactful and respectful when leveling criticism at those who deserve it. Today, however that goes out the window. If someone screws up something that only occurs every four years, then I am allowed a once-every-four-years disrespectful moment.

NBC Sports is run by a bunch of lying, self-important morons.

How else to explain the inexplicable decision to tape delay all Olympic events for both mountain and pacific time zones yet present them as if they were live?

To be fair, let’s return to my comment above and break down each element of the name-calling and why it is appropriate in this context:

Lying – Every time I see that little ‘Live’ in the corner of my screen and hear an announcer talk about showing us some event live I get a little more insulted. Late, late last night, I had the surreal experience of having msnbc.com’s homepage up on my computer trumpeting the U.S. women taking gold and silver in the gymnastics all-around while at the same time my TV sat in the background with the ‘live’ telecast of the floor exercise – the final and deciding event. Needless to say I didn’t exactly hold my breath on each of Nastia Liuken’s tumbling passes.

NOTE: Am I the only one that finds her dad just a little bit creepy? I’m afraid that the next time we see them he will be applying sunscreen in unmentionable places.

Self-Important – If it wasn’t bad enough that we have a graphic to tell us that something we are watching is live when it isn’t, then it gets worse every time one of NBC’s announcers open their mouths. Bob Costas, Dan Hicks and Al Trautwig seem to be contractually obligated to remind us 437 times every hour how fantastic it is that NBC has been able to bring us these medal events live from Beijing. I am sure that the athletes are absolutely thrilled to have the most important moment of their lives before lunch, because that is so common for sporting events. Oh, and did I mention that for roughly half the country all of this patting on the back by NBC announcers, is completely and totally untrue?

Morons – What is most amazing about this fiasco is that there seem to be very simple remedies to the situation, yet NBC execs aren’t smart enough to figure them out or decided it would be easier to just insult half of the country:

1 – Change the graphic – If something is not live; quit telling us it is live. Put up a ‘Previously Recorded’ or just take away the graphic completely if you want to maintain the illusion with a little more subtlety.

2 – Interrupt for live events – Would it really kill us to interrupt the 8-hour old beach volleyball or synchronized diving tape to show a live event? One of Michael Phelps’ races take less time than a commercial break, we couldn’t bounce away from diving long enough to show it really, honestly live and then go back?

Of course there is one good reason to not show these events live – good old fashioned greed. If the marquee events of the night are completed earlier, then you might turn off their 47 hours of coverage you don’t care about. By making you stay up to midnight to see the one or two events you actually care about, NBC is forcing the other 4 hours of coverage down your throat first.

But what if it backfires? What if instead of sitting through more diving, we all turn away and then come in only for the events we care about? Last night, I got caught up on Generation Kill on-demand (a phenomenal show by the way) and only checked in on the Olympics to watch Phelps. I happened to finish the most recent episode just as gymnastics was hitting the final rotation so I could have the experience described above. It was 11:45 MT by the way. I am sure the parents of all the little girls dreaming of becoming the next Nastia were thrilled to keep their daughters up to midnight.

You can even take this further by checking the results first and then deciding whether to tune in or not. One of your beloved Americans chokes? Why waste time watching that. Find out what happens and go watch something else. Heck, if you spend any time on a computer or flip channels you are probably going to find out anyway. In just the first week I have already found out several of the swimming and gymnastics results before seeing a moment of footage. Some of them coming with the results posted on ESPN.com (an occupational hazard) as well as the results running during other programs (Monday Night Football for example). Thankfully the best moment of the games so far – the 4×100 fresstyle relay – I was able to enjoy completely innocently because I happened to be at my parents’ house which is the technological equivalent of 1993.

So will NBC learn or change their bone-headed approach? Probably not. The Olympics come once every four years; they know we are going to turn in. They can screw with us as much as they want and know we will simply say ‘thank you sir, may I have another’. Well, not me. I am done with spending my evening watching their coverage except for the few moments I want to see (the 100 takes less than 10 seconds to run).  If maybe a few more of us in the mountains or on Pacific coast take this approach they will get it through their thick ‘New York–is-the-center-of-the-universe’ minds.

Thankfully in just over a week we can go back to completely ignoring NBC Sports outside of 3 hours every Sunday night.

You will get no complaints from me if they decide to tape delay Notre Dame games.

Tape Delays until 1 am sound about right.

Olympic Ring-around-the-Rosies

We are back this week with another roundtable where we bring 4 different viewpoints together and discuss some random topic and I get to tell the others why they are wrong.

Our topics today?

What is your favorite Olympic sport? What is your least favorite?

I know the Olympics are still a few weeks away but with football starting (and some vacation coming for me – woo hoo!), we are having our own opening ceremonies right here.

So, folks, take it away, Ladies First:

Mrs. S.D: I think my least favorite doesn’t even truly qualify as a sport, or maybe I don’t consider it one. Rock, Paper, Scissors…. seriously??! That’s a sport now?? As much as poker is a sport. Stop showing it on ESPN!! You’re wasting my treadmill time. 

While it isn’t officially recognized during the Olympics, someone decided it would be a good idea to hold the world championships of Rock, Paper, Scissors in China there by piggy-backing on the oldest and most sacred of competitive games. World championships! That means there had to be not only are national and state qualifiers, but probably regional ones as well, like Dodge Ball!  Go balls deep! 

I find it insulting that not only did someone decide that throwing hand signals is anything beyond what you do to determine designated driver or change the cat’s litter box, but that it somehow qualifies as SPORT.  If I’m a sprinter or swimmer or any other athlete that has to train and push themselves to the physical brink just to try to qualify to be and beat the best in the world, I’m a little pissed off.  Heck I’m pissed off now and I can’t run more than 3 miles at a time.Giving it a cute name like Ro Sham Bo does not help it’s case. 

If people don’t consider cheerleading a sport with all it’s coordination, strength and endurance (yes I’m defending a sisterhood here), then there’s absolutely no way anyone can count R-S-P as one either. 

So that’s my least favorite, and for my fave I’ll admit that yes, I’m a total cliche, but it is still gymnastics.  I am a girl after all; one who remembers and idolized Mary lou Retton and went back to the school library week after week trying to check out the book on Nadia Comaneci. Yes I’m aware any points I scored with you for being a free-thinking (and I like to think moderately knowledgable) chic who likes sports just went out the window, but that’s the risk I’m willing to take to own up to what I consider the most captivating competition.  You have the traditional good girl-bad girl dynamic Carly Patterson (or any of the U.S. women really) vs. Svetlana Khorkina; pure drama!  And not the made up kind like on Gossip Girl.  The old fashioned cold war kind.  Love it.

All the flips on the mat, and the grips on the uneven bars, or the landings off the vault….love them all!!!  Go Team U.S.A. Beat those commie tarts!

[S.D.’s Take: So the Missus went off the reservation a little here but if Turner can hype up the ArenaBowl last time, then the Missus is free to take on the ‘ArenaBowl of Olympic sports’. Although as a former professional Ro-Sham-bo’er I am a little hurt by her lack of appreciation for the intricacies of the skill. Poker is actually a very good comparison, as Ro-Sham-Bo’ers must always remember to play their opponent, not their hand. Plus the opportunity to act out the Sylvester Stallone’s classic Over-The-Top can’t be understated. I also know that gymnastics is one of the marquee events of the Olympics and will be shoved down our throats by NBC with nightly primetime broadcasts but I just don’t get into it. I personally think that sports should be decided by athletes – not judges. But as a former cheerleader, clearly the Missus is fine with Paula Adbul deciding whether she is a winner or ‘first loser’.]

Jules: Let me start by saying I love the Olympics!  Growing up in B.F. Iowa, the Olympics were a major event that broke up the monotony that was my childhood.  There was no sport I wouldn’t watch.  But as a result I have lots of biases.  I admit I tend to like the female oriented glamour sports of the Olympics like women’s gymnastics and figure skating.  Beyond that though I love it when the Olympics focuses on athletes who bust their ass for years with no glamour, no money, no groupies, no Wheaties just to be great at what they love to do.  My choices of fave/least fave might not necessarily reflect this bias but that is why I will be raising a glass of Tsingtao in tribute whenever an “Up Close and Personal” segment appears.  Rest in peace, Jim McKay, you will be missed!

Favorite Olympics – Winter

Least Favorite Olympics – Summer

And I liked it better when they were in the same year so you could totally embrace your Olympic spirit for one full year. 

Favorite Summer Olympic Sports

3) Table Tennis – has to be in my top 3. China is favored to sweep the gold here and I wouldn’t live in beautiful Colorado without my Table Tennis background.  Did I mention I recently found old Hawkeye Table Tennis BF on LinkedIn?  Gotta love technology.

2) Synchronized Swimming – some might mock this sport.  I understand.  But seriously how do those girls stay so sparklicious in the water?!?  And I love an Olympic sport where the biggest drug concern is cyanide laced lip gloss!

1) Swimming – OK this one I actually really love for the right reasons.  Those poor American swimmers nearly died in a tornado in Omaha at the trials – and what could be worse than dying in Nebraska. Oh wait – living in Nebraska (ba-dum-cha)! Beyond that these are amazing athletes with minimal fame or groupies unless you are Michael Phelps.  And who doesn’t love the sight of a swimmer fresh out of the pool, glistening in the Beijing sun and smog!  Particularly partial to the butterfly strokers – have you ever tried that?  Seriously thought I was going to die!  Props to my sister for her brief competitive butterfly career before she decided it was better to drink beer. 

Least Favorite (or is it Most Hated?) Summer Olympic Sports

3) Archery – 2 reasons.  First in my one archery experience I got a piece of feather stuck in my finger and it hurt.  Secondly Gina Davis – you have got to be kidding me!  I’ll take a good game of bar darts instead.

2) Tennis – Admittedly a ‘real’ sport unlike some of the other easier choices to mock (if anyone else picks rhythmic gymnastics or trampoline I will be so disappointed!) but how is Olympic tennis any different than all the other tennis events – same people, same rivalries….yawn.  It is full of hot athletes which I totally respect but wouldn’t the tennis fans rather watch a more famed tennis event like the US Open held in NYC aka the center of the Jules universe?

1) Steeplechase – I know my bias indicates I should like this sport but this one just annoys me.  Why would you want to be involved in a sport that required you to jump in a puddle of water and ruin your shoes?  And then they attempt to penalize the one smart guy, favorite Ezekiel Kemboi from Kenya for avoiding the puddles. And this year we’ve finally added women’s steeplechase.  Did my fellow females campaign for this?  Seriously?!?  Let the record reflect that when I go on my walk tomorrow morning I will be steering my cute purple and teal Nikes around all of the puddles I see!  

[S.D. – Let’s start with that last sentence? Come on. It has been 95 degrees in Denver for the last month. The only puddles on the sidewalks were left by that Golden Retriever further up the road. I don’t know where to begin with putting synchronized swimming on favorite sports and a track event on least favorite. While the steeplechase does appear a bit contrived, Jules clearly has never run through the woods in which a tree has fallen across the trail and a small stream must be navigated and it can’t be underestimated how nice that little splash down feels on a blazing hot day on the track. I am good with swimming but anyone who legitimately watches and enjoys synchronized swimming? Well, I am suddenly feeling better about my habit of watching old football games that I know the ending of.] 

Turner:  First off, I find it very cheesy that they are starting the Olympics on 08-08-08.  I’m very confused though because I’m sure they did that for a reason but is it really 08-08-08 everywhere or will it be 08-09-08 in China but they made it 08-08-08 in the US?  If they did that so we could have a cool start date, then that is greatness.  Build everything around the US of A.  Go Red, White and Blue!

Let’s start with the easiest one, and one of them that is the least covered.  Team Handball.  If you haven’t seen this sport, it is greatness.  Water Polo on Land, flying through the air, zinging the ball at 80 mph.  If you haven’t seen or watched it, it is quite exciting and I’m quite positive tickets are still available for every match.  I remember being one of about 3 people in the stands at the US Olympic Festival in 1988 watching this great sport.  Luckily the greatness of the internet will allow me to watch every match of this years tournament, the only downside is that the US team is so bad, they are trying to get into the games by 2040.  The best part here is that Denmark is favored to win, love the Danish Dominance.

Turner’s Top 3:

1 - Team Handball

2 - Trampoline – you have to check this out.  Fascinating and the one sport that I think you are most likely to die at (unless you get drunk during archery / pistols)

3 - 50 Meter Freestyle Swimming – love things that only take 20+ seconds, allows me to hold my attention.   Very sad we won’t have Gary Hall Jr. though.

Table Tennis – LOVE it and the only time in 4 years we get to watch it.

 Now to least favorite:

This is tough because least favorite Olympic sport is one of my favorite overall sports.  Tennis.  I HATE the fact that we had to make an Olympic sport out of something that could just be held at the beach of Key Biscayne during an average week.  Calling this an Olympic sport is just dumb.  Roger Federer / Rafael Nadal, they can play each other every week if they wanted to.  This shouldn’t be something that needs to have people come together every 4 years to determine who is the best.  We can wait for the Legg Mason classic in Washington D.C. a week later to figure that out.

Most of my other hatred of Olympic sports really comes not from the actual hatred but the over commercialization / televising of it.  At least now with the internet and 500 cable channels, we have options but I can only watch Track / Field, Gymnastics, Swimming and Diving for so long before I get bored.  Show me some variety, I sure wish ESPN was covering, I’d be guaranteed to see my Team Handball at 2 am.

Turner’s Olympic Predictions:  Phelps will NOT win 7 gold medals.  He will only win 5 golds and 2 silvers.  Ian Crocker will beat him in the 100 Butterfly and the US won’t win the relay.

[S.D.’s Take: I can’t disagree with Team Handball. As a youngster with an Olympic obsession and a realistic understanding of my athletic limitations, I always said that I wanted to join Team Handball, since no other Americans play, I figured I would be a shoe-in. Little did I know you need to be like six-feet five-inches tall and eastern European. Although I can not condone Trampoline and how does 50-meter swimming get the nod and no love for the track?  Shame on Turner.

Turner, much like most of the most beautiful co-eds at Florida State, apparently doesn’t realize the greatness of track and field.(NOTE: This is the first time that ‘Turner’ and ‘beautiful co-eds from Florida State’ have been used in the same sentence without “is a borderline stalker of”, “could never have” or “joined Mile High Club solo, thinking of” separating them).

I also agree with Tennis. I want my Olympics to be full of real Olympic sports. Well, real Olympic sports and women’s beach volleyball.]

SD: I wish I could come up with some obscure sport that no one cars about but this is too easy. As you may have guessed, my favorite event is in track and field. Yes, for me the Olympics begin and end with the 100 meter dash. I mean how can you really care more about sports in which young girls robbed of their childhood are arbitrarily rated by a bunch of eastern Europeans? Or an NBA All-Star team getting schooled by a whole team of Manu Ginobilis? Or guys in tights hugging each other and trying to get the other one on the floor? Or a bunch of freaks using new suits to swim faster than anyone ever has? And don’t get me started on Dara Torres. Sometimes the word ‘unbelievable’ should be used literally and pessimistically.

No the beauty of the 100 yard dash is its simplicity. There is no strategy it is just run…as fast as possible…for as long as you can. That’s it. It is something we can all relate to. We have all been trying to figure who is the fastest in the neighborhood since we learned to run. At least at my elementary school, the most important event of field day was the dash. Speed was and always will be king.

Sure I am a little biased as I used to know Linford Christie (100-meter Olympic Gold Medalist 1992) – one of my favorite personal name dropping stories – and have my boy Walter Dix (the man who almost single-handedly has provided every great moment in FSU sports in the last 3 years) competing this year. But there is nothing better than the 30-seconds just prior to the race and the 10 seconds of the race.

On the flip side is Rhythmic Gymnastics and Synchronized Swimming. These ridiculous wastes of time are everything that the 100 is not. They are decided by a bunch of people in a way that no one can understand. Subjective? Who knows? Recognizing subjectivity would require understanding how these sports are scored.

Raise your hand if you have ever gone out in the backyard with your friends to see who can twirl their ribbon the best? Or the last time you were at the pool, you and your girlfriends got together and tried to spin together perfectly while treading water?

NOTE: if you just raised your hand. Put it down. Now. Look around. Make sure no one saw you and quietly slap yourself a couple times.

While the winner of the 100-yard dash is quite simply ‘The fastest man/woman in the world’ what could you call the winner of Rhythmic Gymnastics? ‘The best ribbon twirler in the world’? That isn’t quite impressive. What about the winners of synchronized swimming (and don’t get me started on individual synchronized swimming)? ‘The most synchronized water dancers in the world’?

Thankfully, NBC is smart enough to realize there are about 4 people that care about these sports – who are often too busy at Michael’s to watch sports – and have hopefully banished any coverage to some mid-morning, mid-week slot on the Bravo network.