Source

'Monday Night Football' gets competition from NFC

By Sam Farmer

December 12, 2010, 9:05 p.m.

Move over Baltimore-Houston, you've got company.

For the first time in five years, the NFL has relocated a game. That means Giants at Vikings — a game that was supposed to be played Sunday at the now snow-damaged Metrodome — will be played Monday night at Ford Field in Detroit.

That also means a pivotal NFC game will be in direct competition for viewership with the Ravens at Texans "Monday Night Football" game on ESPN. Giants-Vikings is scheduled to kick off at 4:20 p.m. PST (it will be aired on DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket, Channel 710), 70 minutes before Ravens-Texans.

ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer, while first expressing concern about the people affected by the storm and the Metrodome situation, called the adjustment "a very rare circumstance" and "we still have what we feel is a very compelling matchup."

Hofheimer said ESPN's ratings are on par with last season's, which were up about 20% from those of 2008.

Whereas Houston (5-7) would need all sorts of help to reach the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, the Ravens (8-4) are still very much alive — even after losing control of their fate in the division by falling to Pittsburgh at home.

The Ravens have been struggling on offense, scoring a combined 27 points over the last two games after averaging 28.7 in their previous six.

Ravens receiver Derrick Mason told the Ravens' official website: "I'll get crucified for this one, but all the people that we've got on offense, we're not a good offense at times; we're really not …

"If we were a good offense, we'd be moving the ball up and down the field, especially with the people that we have and the quarterback we have. I have a lot of confidence in our personnel, but we're just not a good offense at times."

That offense could look a bit better against the Texans, who have the league's worst pass defense, allowing an average of 287.4 yards passing per game.

The passing game will be a focus in Giants-Vikings, too, but for a different reason. Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre is nursing a sprained right shoulder and, according to NFL Network, has told teammates that he won't be able to play. That would end his NFL-record streak of 297 consecutive starts.

"It really hasn't crossed my mind this week that I've got to get out there to keep the streak going," Favre told reporters last week. "I think the most important streak right now is we've won two in a row."

The Vikings (5-7) would be very hard pressed to make the playoffs, but the Giants are in the thick of the NFC East race. Quarterback Eli Manning has never beaten the Vikings, losing all four of his starts against them.

The Giants play three of their final four games on the road, with their only home game coming Sunday against Philadelphia.

sam.famer@latimes.com

Source

Fox Sports predicted Metrodome collapse and got exclusive footage

By Hart Van Denburg, Mon., Dec. 13 2010 @ 10:15AM

​The amazing video of the Metrodome bubble groaning under the weight of Saturday's blizzard, and finally bursting and deflating, was the result of a hunch by Fox Sports, and an on-the-scene tip.

Fox lead NFL game producer Richie Zyontz tells USA Today his crews knew what they were looking for when they set up an inside camera pointing at the field. They were aware of the dome's failures in the past, and a local videotape operator heard from a friend on the maintenance crew Saturday evening that there were problems.

They set up the camera feed Saturday. When they showed up at the production truck Sunday, they saw they'd made a smart bet.

"We knew what we were looking for," Richie Zyontz. "This was specifically for the roof collapsing."

He was happy no one was hurt in the mayhem.

Source

Leaving Metrodome cameras on pays off for Fox Sports

By Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY

Before leaving its routine NFL game setup at Minneapolis' Metrodome Saturday, the Fox crew did something different: It left a camera on to continuously shoot the roof.

"It was already leaking," NFL lead game producer Richie Zyontz said Sunday. "But we heard that's happened here before. They were heating up the dome to furnace levels to melt the snow."

But Zyontz said Fox videotape operator Randy Carr heard from a Metrodome staffer "this was a real problem." With a camera and mikes left on overnight, Zyontz says, "We knew what we were looking for. This was specifically for that roof collapsing."

Which it did early Sunday morning, causing the New York Giants-Minnesota Vikings game — which was supposed to go to 49% of the USA as Fox's most widely distributed game Sunday — to be moved to Monday (7:20 p.m. ET).

Losing that game, fueled by hype over whether injured Vikings quarterback Brett Favre would keep his consecutive-game streak alive, was a big loss for Fox. Because ESPN's Monday Night Football is contractually protected, the Giants-Vikings game will air only in the New York, Twin Cites, Rochester, Minn., and Mankato, Minn., TV markets — totaling less than 10% of the USA.

At least Fox got exclusive shots that, as NFL studio host Curt Menefee put it, looked like "something directed by James Cameron" — which quickly became Google's most searched footage. With Fox technical director Colby Bourgeois having hooked a videotape machine to the stadium camera, the Fox crew Sunday saw what it had but didn't consider airing it before the NFL pregame show. Says Fox's Dan Bell, "It's once-in-a-life footage, so obviously we were going to save it for our own show."

On tap: NBA TV, says NBA Digital vice president Albert Vertino, will announce Monday a show, True NBA, premiering Thursday (7 p.m. ET), that will be the channel's first magazine-style program. Hosted by CNN's John King, the first episode includes segments about ex-NBA player Chris Dudley's unsuccessful run for the Oregon governorship and a look at the late Manute Bol. The pilot show is meant to become a quarterly series. Says Vertino, "I hope we have a second show." ... ESPN, spokesman Mike Soltys says, will announce Monday it will have year-long Year of the Quarterback specials and series, premiering with a Kick Off Special on Tuesday and more shows leading into the NFL draft. ... ESPN, coordinating producer Phil Orlins says, will announce Monday that the Miami Heat-New York Knicks game Friday (7 p.m. ET) will be the first 3-D national NBA game telecast. It will include ESPN's first use of a rolling 3-D cable cam since it launched its 3-D channel in June. ... Erik Kuselias leaves ESPN for Golf Channel's first live morning show —Morning Drive— that premieres Jan. 3.

Spice rack: Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, in CBS' NFL studio Sunday, said he had done nothing wrong in his college career and "felt loved" at Saturday's award show. Well, that settles that. ... CBS' Boomer Esiason says Washington Redskins bust Albert Haynesworth "could be the biggest embarrassment ever to put on an NFL uniform." But coaches often think they can turn around head cases. Like CBS' Bill Cowher, who says he'd give Haynesworth "a base contract, no up-front money" because he can be a dominant player. ... After days of tributes to Don Meredith, the original Monday Night Football star who died last week, Fox's Terry Bradshaw offered a live tribute. Noting Meredith's "Southern drawl and his good-ol' boy sense of humor" opened TV opportunities for "a guy like me," Bradshaw sang Willie Nelson's The Party's Over — which Meredith crooned on-air to signal games had been decided. Sounds odd, but Bradshaw — whose album Terry Bradshaw Sings Christmas Songs for the Whole Family isn't for everybody — hit the right notes for the occasion.

The best game no one will see (outside of New York and Minneapolis)

While ESPN (8:30 p.m. ET) has a decent game Monday in Baltimore-Houston, Fox's New York Giants-Minnesota has all the buzz.

That game, which Fox can air only in the two teams' local markets, was moved to Detroit after a roof cave-in at the Vikings' stadium. The postponement, says ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson, is "a disadvantage to both teams, just sitting around waiting to play a game." And, notes ESPN's Tom Jackson, it creates a short week for the Giants for their divisional showdown with Philadelphia Sunday.

And forget about Brett Favre's consecutive game streak. NFL Network's Steve Mariucci, who is close to Favre and speaks to him often, said Sunday, "I don't think he could have played today. I think it would be a miracle if he plays Monday." Said Fox's Terry Bradshaw: "If he can't play today, he can't play tomorrow."

Source

Metrodome's Roof Not 1st To Come Down

Pontiac Silverdome Collapsed 25 Years Ago

POSTED: Monday, December 13, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Snow pouring through a tear in the roof of Minneapolis' Metrodome last weekend made for dramatic video, but it wasn't the first time there's been a collapse in a stadium or practice facility.

On Sunday, heavy snow caused the inflatable roof of the Metrodome to collapse. The whole thing was caught on tape by Fox Sports. No one was hurt.

But it wasn't the first time the Vikings' stadium was deflated by the weather. It's happened at least five times before, snow tears in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

Twenty-five years ago, a similar avalanche in a similar stadium — the Pontiac Silverdome, built by the same general contractor — could have killed many people if it had occurred seven hours later, during a basketball game.

A 250-foot addition to the bleachers at Husky Stadium at the University of Washington collapsed into twisted steel in seconds in February 1987. Workers were able to escape and the addition was completed in time for football that fall.

No one was injured also the 20-ton Jumbotron scoreboard at Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo fell to the ice of the hockey rink in 1996. Pictured is the arena during the 1998 NHL draft.

In 2008, Arizona State University's $8.4 million indoor practice facility was damaged by storms. No one was hurt, but school officials estimated the damage at $1 million.

In 2009, winds of nearly tornado strength ripped into the roof of the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility in Irving, Texas. Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis broke his back and 11 others were injured. Pictured: Cowboys at training camp.