The lineup of NFL play-by-play men/hosts/analysts includes Kenny Albert, James Brown, Ian Eagle, Ron Jaworski and Dick Vermeil. Mr. Enthusiasm, Gus Johnson, also will work with the campers, perhaps instructing them how not to get sick to your stomach when a guy's ear explodes on live television.
And speaking of mixed martial arts, WJZ's Saturday night telecast of CBS' debut MMA program, starring Kimbo Slice and the Amazing Technicolor Ear, drew the 14th-highest ratings among the nation's 54 metered TV markets. During the 9-to-11 portion of the show, 4.4 percent of the Baltimore audience was watching, compared with a 2.7 national average.
However, we weren't nearly as interested in hockey. On Wednesday, the deciding game of the Stanley Cup Finals earned the highest national rating for a Game 6 in 13 years - a 4.0, about double last year's Game 6 (Edmonton Oilers-Carolina Hurricanes). On WBAL, the rating was 2.7. The top 10 markets included the hockey hotbeds you might expect - the home cities of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings and the likes of Buffalo and Minneapolis - but Fort Myers, Fla., also made the list. Why is that? An NBC spokesman informed that the Fort Myers area is home to many former Michigan residents.
