Showtime Sports will produce a bonus episode of “A Season with Notre Dame Football” that covers the team’s New Year’s Day BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl game against Ohio State. The episode is scheduled to run Jan. 5 at 10:00pm ET/PT. Showtime has produced 13 episodes around the team this fall, with behind-the-scenes access to its games and players. Stone & Co. Entertainment’s Scott Stone, IMG’s Steve Mayer and Crazy Legs Productions' Tom Cappello and Jason Sciavicco are the series’ executive producers (John Ourand, Staff Writer).
WHAT A YEAR: In Tampa, Tom Jones reviews the year in sports media, writing the best change saw Harold Reynolds out as Fox' top MLB analyst in favor of John Smoltz. Jones: "The only bummer is that Fox also has kicked Tom Verducci out of the broadcast booth. No word on what Verducci might do next." Jones ranks NBC's Mike Emrick his best play-by-play announcer, followed by NBC's Al Michaels and Fox and NBC's Kenny Albert. Jones' best three analysts are ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy (NBA), NBC's Pierre Maguire (NHL) and NBC's Johnny Miller (golf). Jones gives his best reporter award to ESPN's Jeremy Schaap and names ESPN's Adam Schefter his Sports Media Personality of the year (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 12/29).
BALL DRILL: The National Lacrosse League and Fox Sports yesterday announced that more than 50 games in '16 will be live streamed on Fox Sports Go. The NLL will have its own branded channel within the digital platform. Fox Sports Go will launch the NLL channel on Jan. 1, the opening day of the season. The season-opening Georgia Swarm-Colorado Mammoth game will be the first game on the channel (Fox).
