On the Air
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
February 11, 2005

The "NFL Pro Bowl" will practically be another Eagles' game as ten birds are on the NFC team - David Akers, Brian Dawkins, Michael Lewis, Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens, Ike Reese, Lito Sheppard, Tra Thomas, Jeremiah Trotter, and Brian Westbrook.

 

Owens won’t play, but expect plenty of shots of him on the sideline.

 

There will be microphones attached to several players, including NFC starting quarterback Donovan McNabb.  From what we learned about the huddle on Sunday, too bad he didn’t have a microphone then.

 

This will be the first time in three years that Andy Reid won’t lead the NFC squad, since the Eagles finally won the conference.  This year’s NFC coach will be Jim Mora Jr. of the Atlanta Falcons. 

 

The game will take place in Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.  Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, and Paul Maguire will be in the booth.  Suzy Kolber and ABC’s Michele Tafoya will be the sideline reporters.

 

Not surprisingly, the "Super Bowl" got enormous ratings in Philadelphia. It had a 56 rating/77 share. Each rating point equals almost 29,000 households.  With over 86 million viewers nationwide, it was the highest rated show in the history of the Fox network - take that Simon Cowell.

 

For those masochists who couldn't get enough of the Super Bowl, the NFL Network showed the highlights of the game during its "Game of the Week" show Wednesday.  The NFL Films production was narrated by Phillies' announcer Scott Graham, who along with fellow Phillies' announcer Harry Kalas is doing work for NFL Films. 

 

Former Phillies’ manager Larry Bowa will join ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight.”  He will be reunited with his former player John Kruk who joined the program last season.

 

Two former Sixers, Daryl Dawkins and Dana Barros will be auditioning for a position as an NBA analyst on the next edition of “Dream Job” on ESPN next Sunday at 10 p.m.   Fellow former NBA players Dee Brown, Matt Bullard, J.R. Reid, and Gerald Wilkins will also compete for the one-year ESPN contract.  Stuart Scott returns as the host.

 

Former Eagle Bobby Taylor’s house was featured on MTV’s “Cribs.”
 
Congratulations to "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," which is celebrating its 10th anniversary on HBO. Check out the segments with Gumbel. While some people have costume changes, he has glasses changes. I counted at least three different pairs of glasses during the last show.
 
For the first time in its existence, Comcast SportsNet's web site got over one million page views in January. 
 

WIP 610-AM’s Angelo Cataldi said his television show on Comcast SportsNet is not returning in the fall after eight years on the air. Cataldi said he might be involved if his old cable show “The Great Sports Debate” returns.

 

With reports that there is interest in a movie about “The Wing Bowl,” starring Adam Sandler (?!) as Angelo Cataldi, here are some other casting suggestions: Sarah Jessica Parker as Rhea Hughes, Michael Keaton as Al Morganti, Goran Visnjic (Dr. Kovac from “ER”) as Keith Jones, Cedric the Entertainer as Eric Gregg, John Goodman as Bill “El Wingador” Simmons, Lucy Liu as Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas, and Kathy Griffin as the annoying suburban sports-media columnist