In Buffalo, Alan Pergament writes ESPN's Sean McDonough and Jon Gruden "added to the entertainment" during Monday's controversial Bills-Seahawks game. McDonough "did his homework on all the Bills and Seahawks in the game, was on top of the controversy at the end of the first half and became the first play-by-man to use the word 'scintillating' in recent memory." Gruden, the "much-criticized analyst," played referee at "key points of the game [and] did a better job than any analyst this season explaining the Bills offensive formations" (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/9).
THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL: In Boston, Chad Finn writes HBO "didn’t have to plunge deep into a reservoir of reasons and justifications" for cancelling Bill Simmons' "Any Given Wednesday" show "just 4.5 months and 17 episodes into its existence." In the "vicious bottom-line world of television, the program’s scarcity of viewers ... was a valid enough business reason." Simmons, an "innovative and staggeringly successful sports writer, podcaster, and ideas person, remained an unproven and unpolished television presence." Simmons is "not a comedian" like Bill Maher, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah and "other polished hosts of humorous cable television programs." He "never had the reps" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/9).
GIVE ME MORE! FS K.C. Royals broadcaster Joel Goldberg will "lend his voice to college basketball and minor league hockey" this season. Univ. of Missouri-K.C. yesterday announced a seven-game TV package that will pair Goldberg with Neil Harwell on the men's basketball crew. Goldberg will also "handle play-by-play duties" for the ECHL Missouri Mavericks for all eight of the team's Friday home games (K.C. STAR, 11/9).
