Espn

Wrapping up another week's sports media notes while wondering why I don't hear Allan Sherman's "God Bless You, Jerry Mendelbaum" along with other seasonal favorites on the radio: Didn't it seem a bit odd Wednesday while ESPN was reporting the twists and turns of Bill Parcells' apparent return to the NFL that we didn't actually see Parcells himself? After all, he does work for ESPN. It speaks to the way some sports figures end up moving between being part of the media and the subject of media reports.

Coming tomorrow Commissioner Roger Goodell has warned that NFL teams will be held accountable if their players' conduct strays into criminal behavior, and this year's draft will provide early answers on which teams were listening. Data When: Tomorrow and Sunday Ravens' first pick: No. 29 TV: Tomorrow, ESPN, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; ESPN2, 8 p.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, ESPN, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Ready for some football? As the NFL season begins, here's a breakdown of The Sun's preview lineup as well as a list of the Week 1 television games: Today: The NFL 2007 special section breaks down the Ravens' chances to be among the AFC's elite four teams. [Section N] Tomorrow: A new weekly section, Ravens Weekend, debuts with a look at the Ravens' offense. Monday: Gameday returns with a preview of the Ravens' opener. Tonight Saints@Colts, 8:30 p.m., chs. 11, 4 Superstars make opener at RCA Dome must-see TV. PG 8C Sunday Steelers@Browns, 1 p.m., Ch. 13 Eagles@Packers, 1 p.m., Ch. 45 Dolphins@Redskins, 1 p.m., Ch. 9 Bears@Chargers, 4:15 p.m., chs. 45, 5 Giants@Cowboys, 8:15 p.m., chs. 11, 4 Monday Ravens@Bengals, 7 p.m., ESPN, Ch. 13 Cardinals@49ers, 10:15 p.m., ESPN

NEW YORK-- --Here's the sad truth about playing in the National Invitation Tournament: No matter how well your team does, you'll never thrust your finger in the air and shout, "We're No. 1!" You'll never shout, "We're No. 2!" either. Nos. 3 through 20 are pretty much out of the question, too. No, even if you win the NIT championship - as the West Virginia Mountaineers did by beating the Clemson Tigers before 12,000 empty seats a few days ago at Madison Square Garden - your number will be much higher, like something you'd pull at the MVA when you go for new tags.

The accepted wise-guy response for the guy who missed either the memo that the Beatles broke up or the one declaring tie-dyed shirts and Afro hairstyles out of style is, "Hey, pal, the '60s are that way."For a couple of hours tomorrow, during ESPN's "SportsCenter of the Decade, 1960s" (7: 30 p.m.), Chris Berman is taking that long, strange trip back to the days of free love, Peter, Paul and Mary, and the days when pitchers in both leagues actually had to swing a bat."We had a growing of the country, figuratively and literally, and sports was a part of it," Berman said yesterday.

There is nothing simpler in television, or cheaper to make, than the standard interview show, where one person sits in one chair and talks to another person in another chair, with three cameras filming the action. Done properly, and with the right guests and a good interrogator, it can produce riveting programming.Yet, for all its simplicity, the interview show has largely gone the way of the dinosaur. In late night, Bob Costas left the splendid "Later" show that he started a few years ago, and it became an entertainment program, with a little sizzle, and a lot less substance.

Final call: Keith Jackson, shown with Fiesta Bowl partner Bob Griese, put down the mike for good last night after 32 years with ABC.The good news for tomorrow night is that Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann will be doing sports highlights at 11 p.m. again.The bad news is that they'll be opposite each other, as Olbermann's new venture on Fox Sports Net's "Fox Sports News" (seen locally on Home Team Sports) begins this evening, while Patrick remains on ESPN's "SportsCenter."In the short term, Olbermann, who reportedly signed a deal with Fox worth $1 million a year, will play David to ESPN's Goliath, what with the latter's huge advantage in name recognition and availability in homes.

Travis Pastrana sits on his living room sofa. At 15, he looks fresh-faced and happy. He radiates a kind of calm sweetness. But don't be deceived. Pastrana, of Annapolis, is not your normal 15-year-old.A couple of weeks ago, in fact, he was so far over the edge that he was even judged too extreme for ESPN's X Games. The X stands for Extreme, but when Pastrana took off on his 125cc yellow Suzuki and landed in San Francisco Bay, it was too much for ESPN producers."I was just happy," Pastrana said of his plunge after winning the gold medal in the first freestyle Moto X competition.

More than 40 years later, Hank Goldberg remembers the pained expression on his father's face the day he told him he wanted to buy a car. Not so coincidentally, it was also the day Goldberg told his old man he had been introduced to horse racing.Goldberg, a racing analyst for ESPN, was drawn to the sport as a teen-ager by a friend whose uncle worked at Monmouth Park, and he hit a $450 double on his first trip to the track.Goldberg's father was a sports columnist, and when he told his dad that he wanted to get a set of wheels, the father naturally asked where he had gotten the money.

A smoldering argument between baseball and ESPN that cost a national audience the chance to see the game in which Cal Ripken ended his consecutive-games streak last season has intensified, with baseball seeking to get out of its contract with the all-sports channel.In a letter dated April 21, Paul Beeston, Major League Baseball's chief operating officer, informed ESPN that MLB will seek to end its regular-season deal at the end of this season because ESPN is looking to pre-empt Sunday night telecasts for NFL games.

Baseball Ex-National Acta receives 3-year deal to manage Indians Manny Acta, fired as the Washington Nationals manager in July after 2 1/2 seasons, was hired as manager Sunday by the Cleveland Indians, who gave him a three-year contract with a club option for 2013. Acta is the first Cleveland manager hired from outside the organization since John McNamara in 1990. The Indians chose Acta, 40, over two other known finalists: Triple-A manager Torey Lovullo and former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who might have eliminated himself from consideration when he arrived at his second interview last week and conceded that he not done his homework on Cleveland or the American League and wasn't sure he wanted the job. The club had planned to interview Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly and Los Angeles Angels bench coach Ron Roenicke this week.

Brewers@Indians 7 p.m. [ESPN] It's either a cost-cutting measure (ESPN was already in Cleveland for Sunday night's game) or it's really just a light schedule in interleague play, but the Cleveland Indians are the national game two nights in a row - and they stink this season.

7 p.m. [NFL Network, ESPN] The NFL Network makes the official unveiling of the regular-season schedule for 2009, but ESPN will be jumping right in like Ray Lewis on a gang tackle - because nothing having to do with the NFL can exist without being analyzed until the issue is pounded into the ground as if it were under Albert Haynesworth's cleats.

4 p.m. [ESPN] Mike Tirico hosts and the ESPN signage will be popping up, but otherwise it's the CBS version of golf's revered championship - with Jim Nantz, Nick Faldo, Verne Lundquist and the gang. Oops, I'm sorry. "Gang" is an inappropriate word to use in any reference to what's happening at Augusta National. Somebody might just snatch away my pimento-and-cheese sandwich.

1 Going for two: Maryland goes for a Tobacco Road Twosome by trying to upset Duke after knocking off Carolina (9 p.m., ESPN). Forget last time: The score is 0-0. 2 Crowded at top: It's a bunched quartet at the top of the Big East, and Marquette aims to keep it that way against Connecticut (7 p.m., ESPN). 3 Catch that Tiger: The Golf Channel carries the Accenture Match Play Championships starting at 2 p.m. Any idea who's playing? 4 Assume: the position: The Sixers are battling to maintain playoff position (vs. Washington, 7 p.m., Comcast SportsNet, CN8)

1 Why wait?: Against Kansas (9 p.m., ESPN), Oklahoma could have become the latest No. 1 team to lose after getting the ranking, but instead the Sooners lost Saturday while still No. 2. 2 The new 1: With the top three teams having lost in the past week, No. 4 Pittsburgh should move up to the top spot when the new men's poll comes out this afternoon. Check it out at baltimoresun.com/sports . 3 Hoya, oya: Remember when things looked bright for Georgetown? The Hoyas need to beat No. 7 Louisville (7 p.m., ESPN)

1 Change strategy: So now Maryland knows the big lead thing doesn't work in an Atlantic Coast Conference game. The Terps just need to keep it close against Florida State (noon, chs. 54, 5). 2 Orange you watching?: No. 12 Notre Dame is at No. 8 Syracuse (noon, ESPN). With the Irish's Luke Harangody playing so well, he should change his name to Harangoody. 3 ACC-citing: Two great matchups involving ACC teams: No. 13 Georgetown at No. 3 Duke (1:30 p.m., chs. 13, 9) and No. 2 Wake Forest at No. 10 Clemson (3:30 p.m., chs. 2, 7)

NFL PrimeTime 8:30 p.m. [ESPN] Find out what you saw when you watched the four playoff games, courtesy of ESPN's NFL College of Cardinals. This show is followed by a two-hour SportsCenter just on the playoffs. When it comes to the NFL, anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

1 This is it: This has to be a win, right? The Wizards host the NBA's only team with a worse record, the Thunder (7 p.m., Comcast SportsNet). 2 Under the hood: If it's cold at the Meineke Car Care Bowl (North Carolina-West Virginia, 1 p.m., ESPN), do you wear a muffler? 3 Difference is U: And if you cost your team the game in the Champs Sports Bowl (Florida State- Wisconsin, 4:30 p.m., ESPN), does that make you the Champs chump? 4 Spicy game: One more: When you make a big hit in the Emerald Bowl (California-Miami, 8 p.m., ESPN)

On Christmas, the NBA gives the gift of basketball - five games broadcast nationally on ESPN, ABC and TNT, the first of which is a yuletide plum, pitting Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic against the Chris Paul-led New Orleans Hornets. The Magic battled an injury bug in the early going, but that hasn't stopped them from winning 13 of their first 17 games. After a breakthrough 2007-2008 season, a relatively slow 9-6 start has everyone in New Orleans asking why. (Noon, ESPN) The second game of ABC's doubleheader is a clash of two teams who met in last season's NBA Finals and whom many pick to lock horns in June when Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics take on Pau Gasol and the Los Angeles Lakers.