ESPN’s Trevor Matich noted that Univ. of Texas football coach Mack Brown is “not down on the Longhorn Network” despite his comments earlier this week, as Brown also mentioned the “good things that it provides.” Matich said, "They're in the second year now of a 20-year run, so they've made some adjustments as they've seen how it's affected the program." The net this year "restricted a little bit of the access of the cameras to meeting rooms so that they can just focus on football sometimes in certain sensitive meetings and it doesn't feel like a TV show so much." Matich noted Brown sees LHN "as a very positive long-term thing for the program," but the net and the football program "will need over the next couple of years to shake out the logistics” ("College Football Live," ESPN, 10/24).
HELP WANTED: THE BIG LEAD's Jason McIntyre cites sources as saying that ESPN "tried to hire Yahoo NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski to beef up its basketball reporting" after NBA writer Ric Bucher took a new position last month. A source said that Wojnarowski "decided to stay at Yahoo." Bucher also has a "new gig" as a radio host with KGMZ-FM in S.F. He said that "there's a chance he could return to ESPN as an independent contractor beginning January 1" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 10/24).
RE-RUN SEASON: ESPN.com's Dan Rafael noted HBO's "24/7" reality series will "yet again" feature boxers Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez "as they prepare for their fourth fight against each other" on Dec. 8. This year's show will be a "four-part series," and debuts Nov. 17 (ESPN.com, 10/24).
GAME BOY: USA TODAY's Brett Molina wrote 2K Sports' recent "NBA 2K13" release "continues to cement the series as one of the best sports video games available." The pace of the game "has picked up ... so expect more opportunities to push the fast break." Also, for the first time, voice controls "have been enabled for Kinect owners, allowing them to bark out plays to virtual teammates" (USA TODAY, 10/24).
