Medium Well
Sports media blog by The Sun's Ray Frager

• UM, not MU
  It's a local telecast, so you would expect the analyst on today's Maryland-American basketball game to know the name of the university in College Park. But during the Comcast SportsNet telecast, Ron Thompson at least twice referred to "Maryland University."
• Earlier nostalgia
  The start time for replays of historic games on WHFS and ESPN Radio 1300 I mentioned in today's column has been changed. The broadcasts will begin at 7 a.m. Christmas Day. I guess they figured everyone would be up early because of those visions of sugar plums.
• Hockey!
  Hard to believe, but the NHL led SportsCenter last night. All it took was a five-goal game by Minnesota's Marian Gaborik. Apparently, the team in Minnesota no longer is called the North Stars. And there's no more Quebec Nordiques? 
• Vitale out
  

  Dick Vitale had surgery today for ulcers on a vocal chord and will be off the air until February, ESPN announced. He is in his 29th year on the air and previously had never missed a game.

• Draw play
  

  Rich Gannon needs a little work on his telestrator accuracy. Working the Ravens game yesterday, Gannon would try to point out something, but just end up circling somebody's elbow or an open patch of grass. If he were still throwing NFL passes, he would have ended up with a few interceptions.

  Plus, someone needs to clue Gannon in that "athlete" and "athletic" have one fewer syllable than he seems to think.

• All Mitchell, all the time
  Want to have the Mitchell report read to you today? If you're an XM Satellite Radio subscriber, you're in the luck. On Channel 176, XM will broadcast a continuous reading of the report after its release today. Does that make up for being the satellite service without Howard Stern?
• There's your proof
  

  If you stuck with Sunday night's game -- and, of course, no one will blame you if you didn't -- you heard a blatant example of network bias against Baltimore. There it was, as clear as the misery on Brian Billick's face. John Madden said he didn't like crabcakes. What more proof do we need?

  # # #

  It's still not as good a highlight show as ESPN's PrimeTime was, but NBC's Football Night in America, despite its name, seems to be hitting its stride. The format of highlights followed by the "Players' Room" discussion works smoothly. We get just enough commentary in each dose of Tiki Barber, Jerome Bettis and Cris Collinsworth. And it's a joy to hear Keith Olbermann narrating highlights. It takes me back -- however briefly -- to the glory days of SportsCenter.

  My main complaint: Let's have more highlights of each game. PrimeTime was best at putting a game in context with a series of clips that showed how a drive came together or came apart, not just the big plays.

• Anybody out there?
  

  As tonight's Ravens game spiraled out of hand, Al Michaels already was digging deep in the second quarter. It wasn't even halftime when he allowed himself what he called a "stream of consciousness" by saying: "Baltimore hates Indianapolis, but Cleveland hates Baltimore. Then again, Joanie loves Chachi, and we love Paris in the springtime."

  By the time NBC went back to its studio crew for halftime, Bob Costas, Keith Olbermann and Cris Collinsworth could joke about how no one but some Colts fans was still with them. As they yukked it up, Olbermann said: "Good thing no one is watching."

• Charley says
  CBS' Charley Casserly got it right last week (about Steve McNair's surgery), so maybe he got it right again. On The NFL Today, Casserly said when official Phil McKinnely used "boy" in speaking to the Ravens Monday, what he said was: "Stop acting like boys."
• Honoring his memory
  

  For what it's worth: Yesterday, the studio analysts on CBS' The NFL Today all wore No. 21 buttons on their lapels in remembrance of the Redskins' Sean Taylor. Host James Brown did not. No one on the Fox or ESPN NFL preview shows wore them.

  # # #

  It was on Saturday, but it's worth mentioning a good line by Ian Eagle during CBS' Army-Navy game. After speaking of the Mids' Zerbin Singleton and his aspirations to be an astronaut right before he rushed for a chunk of yardage, Eagle said Singleton was "good in space."

   

• Playing favorites
  

  The Sports Business Journal, a publication read by many in the sports media industry, conducted a  poll of its readership, including asking them to name their favorite sportscasters. With about 2,300 respondents, here are some of the results:

  Favorite play-by-play: Al Michaels, squeaking past Joe Buck, 15.3 percent to 15.0.

  Favorite studio show host: Chris Berman (!) edging Bob Costas, 21.4-20.8.

  Favorite game analyst: Kirk Herbstreit on top (12.2), with John Madden second (10.9).

  Favorite (non-game-related) studio show: Pardon the Interruption, in a romp, with 37.9. Real Sports a distant second at 12.9.

  Favorite NFL studio show analyst: Terry Bradshaw (13.1) over a group bunched at about 9 percent (Cris Collinsworth, Tom Jackson, Howie Long).

  Favorite non-NFL studio show analyst: Charles Barkley (25.8), more than 10 points better than Peter Gammons and Herbstreit.

  And to disagree: Berman? Too loud, too corny, too much in general.  PTI is entertaining enough, but it doesn't make much sense to compare it to the excellent Real Sports. They're really not the same kind of show. Nothing against Bradshaw, but if I could listen to only one guy talk about the NFL, it would be Jackson.

   

   

• Inside info
  

  The things you learn on NFL pre-game shows ...

  On CBS, Charley Casserly said global warming was responsible for more touchbacks on kickoffs. Now, he wasn't being entirely serious when he mentioned Al Gore, but Casserly was making the point that the warm weather throughout much of the country during the fall meant kicks would fly farther.

  # # #

  During Fox's show, the question of Brian Billick's job security was put to Jimmy Johnson. As a former Super Bowl-winning coach, Johnson put a lot of stock in the Vince Lombardi trophy in Billick's resume, regardless that it was seven years ago. "He's got no quarterback there in Baltimore," Johnson said.

   

• Eye on Ian
  

  OK, maybe it's nitpicky. Or maybe it's a function of getting antsy watching the Ravens' offense.  But still ...

  Late in the second quarter, Ian Eagle said Kyle Boller had a "forgetful" first half. Now, Boller didn't perform that great, but it seemed he did remember to wear his helmet for each series. Obviously, Eagle meant to say "forgettable." 

• Pronounced mistake
  Did you notice Ian Eagle's fumble early in today's Ravens game? Eagle -- who usually doesn't make many mistakes -- called Haloti Ngata "nuh-gotta," instead of the correct "nah-tah." However, he either realized his mistake or someone speaking in Eagle's ear straightened him out, because he soon got it right.
• Give credit to WNST ...
  ... for posting a partial transcript of Aubrey Huff's appearance on a satellite radio show. That's showing good hustle. However, before you surf on over to read it on station owner Nestor Aparicio's blog, please be advised that the exchanges between Huff and the show's host are quite crude. As for the content, I'm reminded of what the late Jacqueline Susann once said about Philip Roth and Portnoy's Complaint: "He's a fine writer, but I would