When last we met, Roger Clemens was the most important defendent, the NBA ended but continued to dominate, and Rick Reilly continued to lift his own material. What would this week bring?
Total time: 392 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 290.25
TIME DEVOTED TO INDIVIDUAL SPORTS
MLB: 87.75 (30.2%) (last week: 19.9%)
SportsCenter staples (things like the "Top 10," "Encore," "What 2 Watch 4," etc.): 41.5 (14.3%) (last week: 10.1%)
College football: 36.75 (12.7%) (last week: 0.5%)
NBA: 33.75 minutes (11.6%) (last week: 47.1%)
Soccer: 29 (10%) (last week: 2.1%)
Tennis: 22.5 (7.8%)
College Baseball: 12.75 (4.4%) (last week: 3.4%)
Other sports: 11.5 (4%) (last week: 0.6%)
NASCAR: 6.5 (2.2%) (last week: 2.8%)
Golf: 3.25 (1.1%) (last week: 10.9%)
NFL: 2.75 (1%) (last week: 2.5%)
NHL: 2.25 (0.8%) (last week: 0.1%)
College basketball: 0 (0%) (last week: 0%)
MOST-COVERED TEAMS BY SPORT
New York Yankees (MLB): 14.25 minutes (4.9%)
Penn State Nittany Lions (college football): 11.25 (3.9%)
Miami Heat (NBA): 10.75 (3.7%)
New Orleans Saints (NFL): 2.75 (1%)
Washington Capitals (NHL): 0.5 (0.2%)
MOST-MENTIONED SPORTS FIGURES
Rather than break down the amount of time a specific athlete or figure was covered, we counted how frequently names were mentioned in the transcripts from the week. The 15 most-mentioned sports people for June 22-28:
LeBron James: 28
Anthony Davis: 27
R.A. Dickey: 23
Rafael Nadal: 23
Novak Djokovic: 23
Josh Hamilton: 21
Jerry Sandusky: 20
Mike Trout: 19
Kevin Youkilis: 18
Andy Pettitte: 18
Michael Phelps: 16
The Decision: 15
Jim Thome: 14
Bryce Harper: 14
Thomas Robinson: 13
CUMULATIVE STATISTICS: JAN. 7-JUNE 28
Total time: 11281.5 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 8503.25
NBA: 2,505.5 minutes (29.5%)
SportsCenter staples: 1,192.5 (14%)
NFL: 1,134.5 (13.3%)
MLB: 1199 (14.1%)
College basketball: 1035 (12.2%)
Other: 810.5 (9.5%)
NHL: 443.75 (5.2%)
College football: 182.75 (2.2%)
Notes
ESPN waited until the verdict to talk about Jerry Sandusky: When the verdict came down, ESPN had Jeremy Schaap on the scene, and legal expert Roger Cossack did a terrific job breaking down the trial and what lies ahead for the former Penn State defensive coordinator. But including the 11.25 minutes the network spent this week, the Sandusky trial was covered for all of 13 minutes, across 21 SportsCenterepisodes, over the last month. Hell, they spent more time on the NHL in that span of time.
ESPN on ESPN: In this crazy college football landscape, whither the Rose Bowl? Will it host a national semifinal every year, part of a rotation à la golf majors, or will it be ignored altogether? We don't know those answers just yet, but SportsCenter made sure to answer the one question no one was asking: Yes, the Rose Bowl would remain on ESPN.
Outside The Lines did a fantastic story on a Kiev soccer team during WWII: Here's the link. "Defending Kiev" is a 20-minute reminder that ESPN doesn't always need to loosen up the 30 For 30 pursestrings to make incredible documentaries.