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Wednesday 9:00am ET....Today's News....College Pick 'Em

  • ESPNU To Air Record 10 Hours Of National Signing Day Coverage
  • Devils Minority Partner Looking To Sell His Stake In The Team
  • Roof Panel Breaks Off At Wrigley Field During Chicago Blizzard
  • Blizzard Forces Weekday Afternoon Tipoff For Baylor-Oklahoma

ESPNU To Air A Record 10 Hours Of National Signing Day Coverage

ESPN's coverage of National Signing Day is headlined by a record 10 hours on ESPNU starting at 9:00am ET, with a simulcast on ESPN3.com. Rece Davis and Lowell Galindo will host the "ESPNU National Signing Day Special," with former Miami football coach Randy Shannon and former Florida coach Urban Meyer joining the net's roster of analysts. ESPN reporters will be on campuses nationwide, and there will be interviews with as many as 20 coaches. "SportsCenter" and ESPNews will offer live look-ins and updates (ESPN).

CBS College Sports' coverage runs from 10:00am-1:00pm, with another four hours starting at 3:00pm. Hosts Adam Zucker and Molly Qerim "will be joined in studio by recruiting expert Tom Lemming and former college coaches Rich Rodriguez and Phil Fulmer" (NORTH COUNTY TIMES, 1/28). Meanwhile, due to the blizzard hitting its HQs in Chicago, the Big Ten Network has postponed its "Football Signing Day Special" to 11:00pm ET tomorrow, with a re-air of the show at 11:00am Friday (BTN).

Devils Minority Partner Looking To Sell His Stake In The Team

Devils co-Owner Michael Gilfillan, a "minority partner in the franchise for more than a decade and a key figure in the development of the Prudential Center, is looking to sell his stake in the team." Devils Chair & Managing Partner Jeff Vanderbeek yesterday in a statement confirmed that Gilfillan, President of Brick City Hockey, has "retained Baltimore investment bank Moag & Co. to explore the sale of his share" (NJ.com, 2/1).

Vanderbeek said he has no "desire to sell the team," and anticipates "maintaining a controlling interest" (N.Y. POST, 2/2). A source indicated that Vanderbeek is "considering buying out part or all Brick City’s share and that the day-to-day operations of the hockey club and Prudential Center will not be impacted" (Bergen RECORD, 2/2).

Roof Panel Breaks Off At Wrigley Field During Chicago Blizzard

A portion of the roof blew off at Wrigley Field last night. Cubs Dir of Media Relations Peter Chase said that a fiberboard roof panel above the press box was "damaged by extreme winds accompanying the blizzard" in the region. He added that the team is "working with the city to monitor the situation and to ensure there aren't any public safety issues." North Clark and West Addison streets remained closed last night, and a "security guard will remain on site to monitor the situation" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/2).

Blizzard Forces Weekday Afternoon Tipoff For Baylor-Oklahoma

Oklahoma will host Baylor today in a men's basketball game in "what has to be among the first weekday tipoffs in the 35-year history of the Lloyd Noble Center." The game, postponed from last night due to the blizzard in the region, will begin at 2:00pm CT. Admission is free, and it will be "interesting to see what kind of crowd turns out." The game will not be televised, but it will be streamed live on OU's official athletic site, SoonerSports.com (TULSA WORLD, 2/2).

Stephen A. Smith Returning To ESPN As Radio Host, Web Columnist

Commentator Stephen A. Smith is returning to ESPN as a local radio host and ESPN.com columnist. Starting this week, he will host a pair of weekday local radio shows: one on ESPN 1050 N.Y. from 7:00-9:00pm ET and another on ESPN 710 L.A. from 6:00-8:00pm PT. Smith also will cover NBA All-Star events and the Finals on ESPN Radio, and he will contribute regularly as a featured columnist on ESPNLA.com and ESPNNY.com (ESPN).

Mediacom To Sponsor Playing Surfaces At Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Learfield Sports' Hawkeye Sports Properties and Mediacom have agreed to an expansion of their current marketing partnership that includes sponsorship of the competition surfaces at the Univ. of Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The playing floor will become Mediacom Court, effective with tonight's Michigan State-Iowa men's basketball game. The deal extends to women's basketball, women's volleyball and wrestling and it includes sponsorship of the Mediacom Outdoor Club premium area at Kinnick Stadium (Hawkeye Sports Properties).

Houston City Council To Vote On Infrastructure Near Dynamo Stadium

The Houston City Council today is expected to vote on the rebate package and a final agreement with Harris County "over the creation of a tax zone that will facilitate public investment in infrastructure improvements" around the MLS Dynamo's new stadium. Houston Chief Development Officer Andy Icken said that if the council approves the two measures, the Dynamo are "expected to begin construction with the goal of finishing the stadium by April 2012, in time for that year's season" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/1).

SBD, SBJ Opens Annual Super Bowl Pick 'em Contest

With the Packers and Steelers set to meet in North Texas for Super Bowl XLV on February 6, SportsBusiness Daily's and SportsBusiness Journal's annual Super Bowl pick ‘em contest is open. Test your prognostication skills against those of your fellow subscribers. Those who best predict the game’s outcome will receive an award perhaps second only to the Vince Lombardi Trophy itself – recognition of your feat in the Morning Buzz, The Daily and SportsBusiness Journal! To enter, fill out the fields on the pick 'em page, providing your name, company, winning team, score and MVP.

In addition to your Super Bowl picks, we are again asking this year for your choice of which advertiser will win the top spot in USA Today's Ad Meter the Monday following the big game. Enter the winning brand in the field provided.

Speed Reads....

Conway signs deal to race for Andretti Autosport
The NBC Sports Group today is expected to announce a series of personnel changes in light of the recently completed Comcast-NBC Universal merger (THE DAILY).

Moroso Investment Partners has "closed the transaction" on purchasing Memphis Motorsports Park from Dover Motorsports for $2M. Moroso also owns Palm Beach Int'l Raceway (AP, 2/1).

IndyCar driver Mike Conway has signed a deal with Andretti Autosport to "replace Tony Kanaan on Michael Andretti's four-car team" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/2).

Qantas has announced a deal in which Australian F1 driver Mark Webber will become the "latest 'ambassador' for the airline" (SMH.com.au, 2/2).

Quick Hits....

"I am one of the leaders of the pack on playing in the fall. I've got 31 right even with me as far as the owners are concerned. We want to be playing in the fall" – Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, during his Super Bowl XLV press conference, on the league's CBA talks with the NFLPA (ESPNDALLAS.com, 2/1).

"We've had the ability to go to 22 games, had we wanted to as owners without anybody's approval. We haven't done that without the approval of players. Certainly, we want players to buy into what we do on a going-forward basis" – Jerry Jones, on the league wanting to expand the regular-season schedule to 18 games (NYTIMES.com, 2/1).

"There is no more respected owner in the game of football. It's just about family. The way they run an organization is the way it should be run" – Steelers S Ryan Clark, on the Rooney family's ownership of the team (N.Y. POST, 2/2).

"One of my big challenges coming into this job is to get people to understand that, in terms of that mission, the collegiate athletic model is in fact in very good shape" – NCAA President Mark Emmert (Omaha WORLD-HERALD, 2/2).

Twitter Me This....

Best Buy CMO Barry Judge: “Speaking at ANA conf next wk. Time slot between Al Gore & David Stern. That's intimidating. Topic, ‘Anatomy of a Super Bowl Ad.’ Thoughts?.”

NFL Senior VP/PR Greg Aiello: “If union commits to invest as much time and resources in negotiations as it has in litigation, a new agreement could well be reached by 3/4.”

LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe: “Great news about Ian Thorpe's comeback for London 2012. Our trip to the Olympic Park at the end of last year may have tipped the balance!”

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman: “Tell you who would make great politician: AEG's Tim Leiweke: great public speaker, dealmaker and leader.”

Atlanta Constitution’s Chris Vivlamore: “Thrashers will announce a crowd of 11,176. Cut that in half and it might be accurate.”

If you see a tweet we won’t want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

Today's Events....

The WNBA will celebrate the 25th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day by having its players, coaches, and team officials conduct clinics and workshops across the U.S. for women and young girls.

Back Pages....

The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sports covers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:

N.Y. Post
N.Y. Daily News
Newsday
Philadelphia Daily News
Boston Herald

Final Jeopardy!

Last night’s "Final Jeopardy!" category was "20th Century Leaders."

"In 1950, two years after his murder, some of his ashes were enshrined at the Self-Realization Fellowship in L.A."

Laugh Track....

Eagles WR DeSean Jackson appeared on TBS’ "Lopez Tonight" last night where they discussed his game-winning punt return against the Giants. Jackson said he was "one of the fastest" players in the NFL. While showing a replay of the return, one of the key blocks was delivered by an Eagles player and Jackson said "he knocked himself out" making the block "and came back into the game." Host George Lopez: "And came back into the game. I like that." Jackson talked about attending the same high school as rapper Snoop Dogg and being friends with him, but Lopez said, "You really can’t hug though because you don’t want to fail a drug test" ("Lopez Tonight," TBS, 2/1).

MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: "The storm of the century is going to hit here tonight. But you think about it, the century? We’re 2011 so how can it be the storm of the century? It’s more like the leader in the clubhouse. … I heard the mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, talking about the storm of the century and he said as a matter of fact, we’re probably going to have to wait until spring, right around Easter, before we locate all the Mini Coopers. … We’ve had a lot of snow here in New York City and another major storm coming all across the United States. We’ve had 18 feet of snow here in New York City. They’ve had snow in Texas, they’ve had snow from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. Wait until next month when we get hit with the frogs and the locusts. … They had so much snow in Chicago they had to use a lot of salt ... and now the city has hypertension. But so much snow in Chicago, earlier today guess what? Oprah gave everyone a snow plow. … Two million people in the streets all around Egypt demanding that Hosni Mubarak step down. It’s the angriest mob I’ve seen since the ‘Fire Dave’ rally about a year ago. They say Mubarak is being ignored by his staff and is being supported by a handful of sycophantic lunatics and…no, wait a minute. That’s me. … Now the Egyptian crowds that are protesting and rioting, they have turned against the United States. Boy, didn’t see that coming. … The good news is Hosni Mubarak may step down. The bad news is he’s going to be replaced by his idiot son, Hosni W. Mubarak. … (Charlie Sheen) is taking his rehab at the house and they gave him one of those porn star patches that he wears. That will help him wean himself off the porn stars" ("Late Show," CBS, 2/1).

NBC’s Jay Leno: "We are so lucky here in California because the rest of the country is just in such a huge deep freeze. In fact, people in New York were shivering so much, everybody’s talking like they were in the movie ‘The King’s Speech.’ … Here in California, in his state of the state address Governor Jerry Brown compared the situation in California to that of Egypt. Ridiculous because in Egypt they speak more English then they do here. … Things are not looking good for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Today, he cancelled his Super Bowl party. … The Cleveland Cavaliers have now lost 21 games in a row. You know what I think the problem is: They have a cavalier attitude. … The big show business rumor was that Charlie Sheen has checked into a rehab facility called Promises in Malibu. That is not true. He’s not at Promises. He’s at a new place called Vague Assurances. … It turns out Charlie Sheen is doing his rehab at home. I guess the facility in Colombia was not available. … This home school rehab Charlie is getting is a new kind of therapy. His counselors will teach him you don’t need drugs and alcohol to enjoy whores. … Astronomers announced that exactly eight years from today the asteroid called 2002NT7 has a 1 in 200,000 chance of hitting the Earth. About the same chance Sarah Palin has of being president. … The African nation of Malawi is now planning to make breaking wind a crime. Passing gas is a crime in Malawi. More bad news for Taco Bell. … The Geezer Bandit has struck again. This is an elderly gentleman – they think he’s in his 70’s, maybe 80’s – has robbed 13 banks in 18 months. It’s unbelievable. Police say do not attempt to apprehend him. They say he is armed and extremely incontinent" ("The Tonight Show," NBC, 2/1).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

Last night’s Top Ten list was "Top Ten Things You Don’t Know About Mitt Romney" and was read on-stage by Mitt Romney ("Late Show," CBS, 2/1).

10) "Mitt is short for Mitt-thew."
9) "I can’t begin my day until I’ve read the Washington Post and Kim Kardashian’s tweets."
8) "I’m the guy in the photo that comes with your picture frame."
7) "I spent 6 months in a Mexican prison for selling black market pillow pets."
6) "Do I smell as good as I look? No!"
5) "In high school I was voted ‘Mittiest.’”
4) "I got into politics for the piles and piles of paperwork."
3) "Look for my best-selling biography, ‘They Call Me Baba Romney.’”
2) "I have absolutely no idea where my birth certificate is.
1) "Oprah is my half-sister."

Final Jeopardy....

"Who was Gandhi?"