It is incumbent on CBS to replay its Thanksgiving pregame NFL studio piece on late Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry on Sunday. Not on "NFL Today" again, but on "60 Minutes", which brings a much bigger audience.
To sum up: Henry died last December after falling from a moving vehicle in Charlotte, N.C. Although he wasn't a registered organ donor, his mom, Carolyn Henry Glaspy, made the decision to donate his organs.
Recipients included Donna Arnold (pancreas and kidney), James Benton (liver), Thomas Elliot (lungs) and Brian Polk (kidney). Earlier this month, CBS brought the four together to meet Glaspy, who had good reason for her actions.
"For him to live on," she said of her son. "I mean, he brought me new family. I don't know them, but it's a new family."
Back in the studio after the segment concluded, host James Brown lost his battle to hold back the tears. Dan Marino, Bill Cowher and Shannon Sharpe were speechless as they teared up. It was left to Boomer Esiason, the father of a son who suffers from cystic fibrosis and may someday need a transplant, to sum up and allow the show to move on.
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PACQUIAO pay-per-view: Cha-ching
HBO announced earlier this week that early returns show that the Nov. 13 Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito headliner at Cowboys Stadium drew 1.15 million buys and grossed $64 million.
That's not quite the 1.4 million buys that promoter Bob Arum predicted, but it's plenty good. The usual split after expenses between the cable providers and the promoter is 50-50. After pocketing a couple of million dollars for his promotional company, Top Rank, Arum will turn over the bulk of his share to Pacquiao, the victorious headliner. That would leave relative crumbs ($2 million to $3 million) for Margarito, who fought gamely if not expertly in their 154-pound world title match.
It was Pacquiao's third million-plus buy fight, but only the second he carried for the pay-per-view business. Oscar De La Hoya was the headliner in his first. Here's rundown of Pacquiao's pay-per-view clout the last three years.
Opponent . . . ............Year . . . Buys . . ....... Avg . . . SRP Revenue
Juan Manuel Marquez...2008...407,000........$50.45...$20.5 million
David Diaz................2008....206,000........$44.95....$9.3 million
Oscar De La Hoya........2008.....1.25 million...$55.95...$69.9 million
Ricky Hatton.............2009.......800,000......$50.45.....$40.4 million
Miguel Cotto..............2009.....1.2 million....$55.95......$67.1 million
Joshua Clottey............2010......700,000......$50.45......$35.3 million
Antonio Margarito.......2010......1.15 million...$54.95.....$64 million
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TALKING baseball
My Ford Frick ballot has been filled out and sent back to baseball's Hall of Fame, which will announce the 2011 winner for career excellence in broadcasting Feb. 1. All I can report is that the Rangers' Eric Nadel will have at least one first-place vote from the 20-member panel.
Last year's winner, Jon Miller, late of ESPN TV's Sunday Night Baseball, has turned down an opportunity to stay with ESPN on the radio side. He says he will concentrate on his duties as the lead broadcaster for the World Series champion San Francisco Giants.
If Turner doesn't hire Miller to work next year's postseason for TBS, there is something wrong at its Atlanta headquarters.
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