Wild Week ... From Hall of Fame to High Fives

So much happens with TV sports on any given week -- especially a week with a sporting event that draws more viewers than any program in cable history -- that even some important things can get overlooked.

Still, many of those things are worth noting. So here goes ...

-- That heavily watched program was the BCS Championship Game that drew 27.3 million viewers on Monday. While those numbers might be down from previous years, when all Bowl Championship Series games aired on broadcast TV, the bowl season was generally positive for ESPN. Yes, ratings were down for most games, but the big games drew well and ESPN remains in great position as the home for the games because of its ability to double dip, pulling in revenues from advertisers and from monthly cable subscribes. Best of all, ESPN's ability to commit to usually entertining pre-game programming, such as "College GameDay," better serves sports fans.

-- As usual, ESPN provided good coverage of the BCS Championship Game. Hall of Fame play-by-play man Brent Musburger promised to go about things in a more low key, even quiet, manner and that worked for about a half. He reverted to form in the second half, though, and the problems associated with that were compounded when he made mistakes and missed calls, including declaring one play a touchdown only to have the runner who was apparently on his way to the end zone pulled down from behind. That's a rookie mistake, calling action before it happens, that a veteran should not make.

-- Still, Musburger's election to the Hall of Fame this week was deserved. He has been the voice of sports for a generation, defining NFL and NCAA basketball for CBS Sports for years before rebuilding his career after moving to ESPN/ABC. He remains one of the best in the business, a Hall of Famer based on his body of work. He's no longer the person who should be doing the national championship-level games, though. Ironically, the Sportscaster of the Year honoree, Mike Tirico, handled the BCS Championship Game on radio and was strong. He deserved his honor as well. With his versatility ("Monday Night Football," golf and other sports), Tirico had a good year and consistently does his job without drawing an inordinate amount of attention to himself.

-- The most aggregious moment of the past few days was the combined action of "SportsCenter" anchors Hannah Storm and NFL reporter Adam Schefter. While on live TV, they found out that Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini has been relieved of their duties ... and they high-fived the fact that the news had broken while they were on air. It looked briefly like they were celebrating the fact that Mangini had been fired, and even though they corrected themselves just after it had happened, they should have been punished by ESPN for the action. Such instances or insinuations are an insult to viewers, and damaging that relationship is worse than any spat between two employees (such as the Ron Franklin-Jeannine Edwards blow up).