USA TODAY's Christine Brennan writes "it's time" for ESPN's Brent Musburger to leave the broadcast booth after his comments during the Allstate Sugar Bowl about Oklahoma RB Joe Mixon's '14 assault on a female student. Musburger "used to know exactly the right thing to say at the right time," but he was "embarrassingly out of his element." He "addressed a vital 21st century issue the only way he could, with a 1950's answer." The outrage to his initial comments on social media was "so overwhelming that he came back in the third quarter to give it another try." Brennan: "Musburger's combative tone was stunning. He made it crystal clear: this was all about protecting the young man, not the young lady" (USA TODAY, 1/5).
GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT: Fox Sports Exec VP/Research, League Operations & Strategy Mike Mulvihill yesterday tweeted that there were 10,869 nationally televised sports events in '16. That figure is up from 10,072 last year. The figure was 7,346 in '12 -- prior to the launch of several newer cable nets like FS1 -- and up from 3,144 in '04. The figure was 3,339 in '96 (TWITTER.com, 1/4).
CAPITAL GANG: In DC, Dan Steinberg reported MASN Nationals broadcasters Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo are "both expected to sign multiyear deals" to remain with the RSN. The two-year deals with a network option for a third is a "departure from the shorter deals under which they had previously worked." Santangelo said that he had "received a lengthier and more lucrative offer" from another NL franchise this offseason (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 1/4).
LOOKING FOR LAUGHS: Comedy Central will air "four half-hour sports comedy specials" from the creators of Barstool Sports the week leading up to Super Bowl LI. "The Barstool Rundown: Live from Houston" will debut Jan. 30 at midnight and feature Dave Portnoy, Kevin Clancy and Dan Katz. This marks the trio's "first foray into long-form TV" (VARIETY.com, 1/4). Barstool Sports earlier this week debuted a new daily show on SiriusXM.
