TV Guide Sports Report

ESPN held its upfront presentation Tuesday morning at the Nokia Theater in New York. Anchors Scott Van Pelt and Steve Levy hosted the event as a mock SportsCenter episode. The 80-minute presentation was light on programming announcements, but the biggest news was the addition of a block of live SportsCenters from 6 am to 3 pm/ET, beginning Monday, Aug. 11. A new web site, SportsCenter.com, will also debut in August. It was also confirmed that The Early Show's Hannah Storm will be one of the new anchors for this block. In other SportsCenter news, a 1 am/ET edition produced live in Los Angeles, will premiere on April 9, 2009.

Other new programming includes ESPN Homecoming, an profile/interview show with Rick Reilly, who the network poached from Sports Illustrated last fall.

Features reporter, deadpan "comedian" and Dancing With the Stars vet Kenny Mayne will host a new humor show for espn.com called Mayne Street.

ESPN will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2009 with "30 For 30," a series of sports-themed documentaries. The first, premiering Sept. 7, 2009, will be directed by Spike Lee.

ESPN and the Tennis Channel have won the cable rights to the U.S. Open starting next year and running through 2014. The two networks take over from USA, which has held the rights since 1984.

For ESPN (which will air the tennis matches on ESPN2), the U.S. Open acquisition gives the network at least a taste of all four tennis majors.

CBS remains the home of the broadcast rights to the U.S. Open.

The Tennis Channel, just five years old, will sublicense about 60 of the 160 cable hours of coverage from ESPN. With the U.S. Open deal in hand, the Tennis Channel now has several rounds of each of the tennis majors as well. Two years ago it had no majors on its schedule.

The two networks will also share coverage of the U.S. Open Series, which includes nine ATP Tour and WTA Tour events. —J.R. Whalen

Hannah Storm, who left CBS' floundering Early Show last fall, is returning to her sports roots. According to Sports Illustrated's web site, Storm will anchor a new live morning edition of SportsCenter. The 45-year-old Storm worked for NBC Sports from 1992-2002, anchoring coverage from the Olympics, the NBA and Wimbledon, among other events.

ESPN is expected to formally announce the news at tomorrow's upfront presentation in New York.

The NBA and NHL playoffs are moving ahead briskly. Baseball and NASCAR seasons are starting to heat up. There's also tennis, golf, the Triple Crown, soccer, etc., competing for your attention. So you might be forgiven for not knowing that the Arena Football League is in season.

Currently in Week 11 of its 22nd year, the AFL is hoping to break out of the clutter with a special "Live Wired" presentation tonight on ESPN2. The Philadelphia Soul are hosting the Georgia Force in a game that will have very little play-by-play/analysis (May 12, 8 pm/ET). Instead, Ray Bentley will "narrate the game" and conduct some interviews, but leave most of the audio to players, coaches and referees who will be wearing microphones.

The high-scoring, American Gladiators-esque league has weekly Monday night games on ESPN2. Corporate sibling ABC will air Arena Bowl XXII on Sunday, July 27.

The WNBA’s 12th season gets underway next weekend, and the league is eager to attract new fans and change perceptions of women's hoops. A new marketing campaign, “Expect Great,” launches during tonight's Celtics/Cavaliers NBA playoff game (7 pm/ET, ESPN). In a series of ads that are clearly aimed at men, three top players — the Detroit Shock’s Cheryl Ford, the Indiana Fever’s Tamika Catchings and celebrated rookie Candace Parker of the L.A. Sparks — repeat the criticisms they’ve heard. The complaints are clearly contradicted by simultaneous game clips.

In Ford’s spot, the four-time WNBA All-Star says: "Let's be honest, your rec league team would smoke us chicks without working up a sweat. I'm afraid of contact, so you can post me up all day long. Plus, the lane will be open, because no girl is gonna take a charge. We want no part of your rec league team. Believe that." Then the screen goes dark and the words "She wouldn't say that. Would You?" appear.

Ford and Parker’s spots premiere tonight, while Catchings’ debuts on Sunday during ABC’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs.

The Dallas Cowboys have been drafted by HBO as the subject of this summer's Hard Knocks reality series. Per the network's press release: "The five-episode cinema verité series will focus on the daily lives and routines of players and coaches as the Dallas Cowboys, an organization steeped in championship tradition, prepare for the 2008 NFL season in the ultra-competitive NFC East."

"America's Team" was previously featured in Knocks' second season, in 2002. After a five-year hiatus the show returned last summer with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Dallas Cowboys premieres Wednesday, Aug. 6 at 10 pm/ET.

The NHL's playoffs have reached the final four stage. The conference finals begin Thursday in Detroit when the Red Wings host the Dallas Stars (May 8, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus) in the west. The Eastern Conference will be a Keystone State battle, getting underway Friday when the Philadelphia Flyers travel to the Pittsburgh Penguins (May 9, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus). The full TV schedule:

Eastern Conference Finals
Game 1: Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Friday, May 9, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Game 2: Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Sunday, May 11, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Game 3: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
Tuesday, May 13, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Game 4: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
Thursday, May 15, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Game 5: Philadelphia at Pittsburgh*
Sunday, May 18, 3 pm/ET, NBC

Game 6: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia*
Tuesday, May 20, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Game 7: Philadelphia at Pittsburgh*
Thursday, May 22, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Western Conference Finals
Game 1: Dallas at Detroit
Thursday, May 8, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus

Game 2: Dallas at Detroit
Saturday, May 10, 7pm/ET, Versus

Game 3: Detroit at Dallas
Monday, May 12, 8 pm/ET, Versus

Game 4: Detroit at Dallas
Wednesday, May 14, 8 pm/ET, Versus

Game 5: Dallas at Detroit*
Saturday, May 17, 1:30 pm/ET, NBC

Game 6: Detroit at Dallas*
Monday, May 19, 8 pm/ET, Versus

Game 7: Dallas at Detroit*
Wednesday, May 21, 7:30 pm/ET, Versus


*if necessary

NBC will announce next week that it wants $3 million for a 30-second spot during the 2009 Super Bowl, the Wall Street Journal reports. Though spots have gone for $3 mil in the past — typically in a desperate dash for one of the final vacancies — this is the first time that barrier has been cracked as a starting point.

Coming off of the most-watched Super Bowl ever — this year, 97.4 million watched the Gi'nts upset the Pats — $3 mil marks a 10 percent bump, about double the usual increase. — Matt Mitovich

Bud Greenspan has made a career of turning the camera on athletes, but tonight ESPN takes a look at the acclaimed sports documentarian himself. Bud Greenspan: At the Heart of the Games (Tuesday, May 6, 9 pm/ET, ESPN2) chronicles a career best known for the inspiring-without-being-too-schmalzy Sixteen Days of Glory Olympic-recap films.

“When we talk about Olympic filmmaking, if there’s a Mount Rushmore, Bud’s head is the only one on it," says NBC's longtime Olympic host Bob Costas, who gives one of many testimonials in the film. Also interviewed are gymnast Mary Lou Retton, figure skater Brian Boitano and speed skater Bonnie Blair, all of whom were featured in Greenspan films.

Greenspan and his army of filmmakers exhaustively trail an athlete, finding a way to gain intimate access, even within the mayhem of an Olympic venue. “One of Bud’s great skills, and he does it in victory and in defeat, is putting it into perspective without overdramatizing things," says Dave Moorcroft, whose agonizing run at the 1984 Los Angeles Games was touchingly told by Greenspan. (The world-record holder in the 5000-meter run at the time, Moorcroft was fighting injury in the finals of that event as he valiantly fought to avoid being lapped by the race leaders.)

The man ESPN's Rick Reilly calls "Kojak with a great eye," is now 81 and still making movies, but his legacy is already secure. Says U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth, who ran the Los Angeles organizing committee in '84: “He’s done a service for the Olympic movement that he’ll never be properly thanked for, because… the brand 'Olympics' is what Bud has made for the world.”

The second round of the NBA Playoffs is already underway, but one first round series has yet to be decided. The top-seeded Boston Celtics, who posted a league-best 66-16 record in the regular season, will host the Atlanta Hawks (just 37-45, the worst record of a playoff team) in an win-or-go-home Game 7 on Sunday (May 4, 1 pm/ET, ABC)…

Over in the NHL the New York Rangers have their backs up against the boards in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins hold a 3-1 second-round series lead. Game 5 gets underway at 2 pm/ET on NBC. Thursday's Game 4 (a 3-0 Rangers win) drew 1.18 million viewers to Versus, the network's most-watched NHL telecast ever (and third-most watched telecast overall).

Of the near-record 459 horses nominated in January for Triple Crown consideration, only 20 get to dig their hooves into the Churchill Downs dirt for Saturday’s 134th Kentucky Derby (May 3, 5 pm/ET, NBC). This year's Run for the Roses includes a thusfar underachieving crop of three-year-olds, with undefeated Florida Derby winner Big Brown looming largest. “He clearly has fewer blemishes than any other horse going into the race,” says NBC analyst Bob Neumeier, “but he still has his own questions.” Such as only having run three races in his lifetime — a historical Derby no-no’s. (Though Curlin fared well last spring in that role: Third in Derby, first in Preakness, second in Belmont, on his way to Horse of the Year.)

More helpful to handicappers like Neumeier is that Big Brown’s pre-Louisville resume does not include races on the game’s perplexing new synthetic-surfaced tracks, on which fellow top contenders Pyro (trained by Curlin’s Steve Asmussen) and Colonel John ran their last preps. “We say anything can happen in the Derby and that’s what makes it interesting and fun, but you’re really throwing a dart at a board when you have to factor in the synthetic tracks. In a game where there’s already a lot of guesswork, it multiplies the guesswork about 10-fold.”

Breaking from the far outside in post 20, Big Brown has the services of Kent Desormeaux, the only active jockey with multiple Derby wins (on Real Quiet in 1998 and Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000). Among top trainers, Todd Pletcher (with Monba and Cowboy Cal) and Asmussen (with Pyro and Z Fortune) both have multiple shots at their elusive first trip to racing’s most-coveted winner’s circle, with Pletcher having saddled a record 19 Derby horses previously without seeing a winner. “Pletcher’s always dangerous,” Neumeier says. “If he’s not the best in the game then he’s in the top three.”

And if last year’s headline-making female was Queen Elizabeth at her first Derby, this year’s can be found in a different kind of royal box---post No. 5 in the starting gate. That’s where Eight Belles is slotted as the first filly to take on the boys since 1999. (Only three fillies have ever won.)

Here’s a look at the entire expected field for the “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” (post time 6:04 pm/ET): 1) Cool Coal Man 20-1 (morning line); 2) Tale of Ekati 15-1; 3) Anak Nakal 30-1; 4) Court Vision 20-1; 5) Eight Belles 20-1; 6) Z Fortune 15-1; 7) Big Truck 50-1; 8) Visionaire 20-1; 9) Pyro 6-1; 10) Colonel John 4-1; 11) Z Humor 30-1; 12) Smooth Air 20-1; Bob Black Jack 20-1; 14) Monba 15-1; 15) Adriano 30-1; 16) Denis of Cork 20-1; 17) Cowboy Cal 20-1; 18) Recapturetheglory 20-1; 19) Gayego 15-1; 20) Big Brown 3-1. —Roger Leister

NCAA spring sports are winding down, but first CBS has a round-up of all the winter championships. CBS Sports Presents Championships of the NCAA recaps post-season competition in fencing, ice hockey, indoor track & field, rifle, skiing, swimming & diving and wrestling (May 3, 1 pm/ET).

In other collegiate action, Penn State and Pepperdine will play for the NCAA men's volleyball title on Saturday (May 3, 7 pm/ET, ESPN2).

Lacrosse's regular season is almost over and ESPNU has No. 5 Johns Hopkins at No. 16 Loyola (MD) on Saturday (May 3, 1 pm/ET). Then on Sunday the network has the NCAA Division I championship selection show (May 4, 9 pm/ET). Division II and III brackets are announced at 7:30 pm/ET on CBS College Sports Network,

At Monday's Sports Emmys, HBO led all networks, taking eight trophies. Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel was honored along with its Ghosts of Flatbush documentary and the network's boxing coverage.

ESPN scored seven total Emmys (including three for ESPN.com) and Fox picked up five Emmys. CBS and NBC won three statues apiece.

It was a big night for NBC's football coverage. Sunday Night Football's Al Michaels won best play-by-play honors and his boothmate John Madden took top analyst honors. Football Night in America co-host Cris Collinsworth was named best studio analyst. James Brown won best studio host for CBS' The NFL Today.

Other Emmys went to Fox's Fiesta Bowl coverage along with NASCAR on Fox. ESPN's College GameDay won best weekly studio show, and TNT's Inside the NBA snared the Emmy for best daily studio show. —J.R. Whalen

ESPN newsmagazine E:60 offers a heartrending tribute to distance runner Ryan Shay tonight (April 29, 7 pm/ET). Shay collapsed and died on Nov. 3, less than six miles into the U.S. Olympic team trials in the marathon in New York’s Central Park.

Shay, who was just 28, was an NCAA track champion at Notre Dame and won five national titles in road racing, including the 2003 marathon championship. He was an intense competitor known for his fitness and dedication to training, making his death as astonishing as it was tragic. The New York City medical examiner’s office reported in March that he died as the result of an irregular heartbeat related to an enlarged and scarred heart.

In the E:60 piece, Shay’s widow, Alicia, says she saw him at the four-and-a-half-mile mark and that “he was just relaxed, he had a look of calmness and comfort on his face.... He just kinda had his eyes fixed straight forward.” Shay’s father, Joe, wonders if his son knew something was wrong and kept it to himself. “I hope he didn’t gamble with his life,” he says.

Alicia Shay, herself an elite distance runner who ranked fifth in the United States last year in the 10,000-meter run, continues to train for a berth on the Olympic team. She will run the 10,000 at the U.S. track and field trials on June 27 in Eugene, Oregon, in what is sure to be an emotional evening. “I’m tired,” she tells ESPN's Lisa Salters, choking up. “I’m exhausted from just trying to move on.”

Other E:60 segments tonight include an update on troubled former boxer Mike Tyson and a report on the cloning of racehorses.

Bob Costas hosts a special live, 90-minute town hall-style edition of Costas Now in front of a studio audience in New York Tuesday night on HBO (April 29, 10 pm/ET).

Costas and a panel of guests will discuss the state of the "sports media landscape," including the rise and influence of the Internet and sports bloggers, and how the issue of race impacts the sports world.

The panel includes Fox Sports broadcaster Joe Buck, ESPN analyst Cris Carter and Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley. — J.R. Whalen