Sports Media

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ronnie Lott and J.T. Snow helped put up a wall, Marshawn Lynch cleared space with a sledgehammer and the Pac-12 got started building the studios for its new television network.

The conference held the groundbreaking for the Pac-12 networks in downtown San Francisco on Monday, about six months before it will hit the air with a national cable television network, six regional networks and a digital network.

NEW YORK -- Without much fanfare, soccer will take another big step into the American mainstream this weekend when Manchester United's game at Arsenal becomes the first English Premier League match to be televised live by a U.S. over-the-air network.

"To do this 10 years ago, had we put to the affiliates that we wanted to take the time to show a soccer game, we would have been either laughed at or it would have been a violent and an immediate rebellion,"' said Fox Sports Chairman David Hill, who is putting the match on his main network.

Sports fans love or hate columnist Rick Reilly, depending on the week or his topic.

Back in March, the Sports Illustrated wag said Jimmer Fredette would never survive in the NBA.

He vowed to pay $5,000 to the Cougar great's favorite charity if he started even five games during his rookie season.

LOS ANGELES -- Chris Herren was a highly touted basketball player when he was young. But his time at Boston College, Fresno State and the Boston Celtics became tainted by a decade-long addiction to cocaine, OxyContin and heroin.

"The tough times that my family went through, my children went through, I went through, it became a family illness," Herren says.

It began back before bowl games mattered and has riled fans coast to coast ever since. It's been analyzed in dissertations and villainized in letters no newspaper would print. Instead of simply surviving, it's thrived.

So say "Happy 75th Anniversary" to The Associated Press' college football poll. Lou Holtz just did -- and like more than a few other members of the coaching fraternity, he's been nursing a grudge against the poll for years.

ST. LOUIS -- Dick Ebersol, who announced his resignation Thursday from NBC after running its sports division for 22 years and also being very influential on its entertainment side, leaves a legacy that the network's lead on-air personality says is immense.

PHILADELPHIA -- One of the things that binds us to sports is our fascination with the statistics they generate.

Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Cal Ripken Jr.'s 2,632 consecutive games played. Wilt Chamberlain's monster 100-point and 55-rebound games. Jerry Rice's 197 touchdown receptions. Archie Moore's 131 knockout victories. Those numbers are as familiar to fans as the dates of loved ones' birthdays.