Celebrating that we got through the summer without any sunburn on our notebook (though the SPF 30 did smear the ink) with the Labor Day weekend edition of sports media notes:
* You might just think of Versus as that channel that carries the NHL, fishing, sports-related movies and other stuff you don't watch, but it is up to 23 college football games this season (four more than last year), starting with tomorrow's New Mexico-Texas Christian matchup at 6 p.m.
Versus also will carry the 125th edition of "The Game," Yale at Harvard on Nov. 22. It's a rivalry so fierce, spectators are required to check their trust funds at the gate.
* If you're looking for college football's best three-man crew, Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire are calling tomorrow's Southern California-Virginia game at 3:30 p.m. on ABC (channels 2, 7). A reminder for Terps fans who want to watch Maryland's opener against Delaware on TV: U are out of luck unless U somehow receive the lightly available ESPNU.
* Some final ratings numbers from the Beijing Olympics, as reported by Nielsen via NBC: The Games drew 214 million U.S. viewers, making it the most-watched event in American television history, topping the 1996 Atlanta Olympics by 5 million. The rest of the top five are also Olympics - 1994 Lillehammer, 2004 Athens and 1988 Seoul.
The average prime-time rating was 16.2, which is 8 percent more than Athens. Baltimore, buoyed by watching native son Michael Phelps, finished tied for sixth for highest ratings in U.S. markets. WBAL averaged 21.1 percent of the Baltimore audience across the 17 nights of prime-time coverage. The top 10:
Denver 23.1 Baltimore 21.1
Salt Lake City 23.1 Oklahoma City 21.1
Minneapolis 22.1 Nashville, Tenn. 21.0
Indianapolis 21.3 Columbus, Ohio 20.4
San Diego 21.3 Portland, Ore. 20.2
* There's just something about watching the U.S. Open tennis tournament on USA that I hope carries over to ESPN next year. I should call it a je ne sais quoi, which is French for "I dunno," given that I found myself yesterday afternoon transfixed by a women's match between an American I had never heard of and a Frenchwoman I had never heard of.
Watching them and hearing the informed commentary of Bill Macatee and Tracy Austin, I wished I didn't have to break away - especially before I could figure out why the American woman seemed to have a couple of slits cut out in the back of her shirt.
