This a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week.
Total time: 497.75 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 378.25
TIME DEVOTED TO INDIVIDUAL SPORTS
NFL: 156.75 minutes (41.4%) (last week: 31.3%)
College football: 82 (21.7%) (last week: 28.6%)
NBA: 63.75 (16.9%) (last week: 11.4%)
SportsCenter staples*: 37.75 (10%) (last week: 11.6%)
Other sports: 23.5 (6.2%) (last week: 1.7%)
NASCAR: 6.5 (1.7%) (last week: 2.5%)
College basketball: 4 (1.1%) (last week: 2.1%)
MLB: 3.75 (1%) (last week: 10.8%)
NHL: 0.25 (0.1%) (last week: 0.4%)
Golf: 0 (0%) (last week: 0%)
*-Includes things like the "Top 10," "Encore," "What 2 Watch 4," etc.
MOST-COVERED TEAMS BY SPORT
Philadelphia Eagles (NFL): 35 (9.3%)
Alabama Crimson Tide (college football): 32.5 (8.6%)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA): 12.5 (3.3%)
Indiana Hoosiers (college basketball): 2.5 (0.7%)
New York Yankees (MLB): 1 (0.3%)
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 Nov. 2-Nov. 8.
Andrew Luck: 57
Michael Vick: 38
James Harden: 36
Peyton Manning: 35
Kobe Bryant: 31
Drew Brees: 30
Kevin Durant: 27
A.J. McCarron: 27
Chuck Pagano 21
Dwight Howard: 20
Carmelo Anthony: 19
Collin Klein: 18
LeBron James: 17
Dwyane Wade: 16
Matt Ryan: 16
Barack Obama: 7
Mitt Romney: 6
CUMULATIVE STATISTICS: Jan. 7-Nov. 8
Total time: 19,553.75 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 14,728.25
NFL: 2,990 (20.3%)
MLB: 2,859.25 (19.4%)
NBA: 2,801.5 minutes (19%)
SportsCenter staples: 1,983.75 (13.5%)
Other: 1,725.25 (11.7%)
College basketball: 1067.5 (7.3%)
College football: 844 (5.7%)
NHL: 457 (3.1%)
Notes
The circle of life in Philadelphia: The Eagles were blown out by the Saints on Monday night, so you know what that means: time to chronicle every misstep the franchise has taken over the past few years. Almost all of the 35 minutes allotted to the Eagles assumed Andy Reid would be fired, Michael Vick would never start for the team again, this is the greatest failure in the history of football, etc.
There are lots of teams that fail, but the Eagles' "dream team" narrative is a year out of date. This season's edition might be underperforming, but it's not as if this is a trendy Super Bowl pick crashing and burning. But if a team can't be hyped up, ESPN knows there's just as much juice in tearing it down.
ESPN gets political: For a sports network, a presidential election meant lots of stupid wordplay. Think along the lines of "Andy Reid probably isn't going to be getting four more years!" followed by a collective, not-entirely-sarcastic sigh. In addition, SportsCenter re-aired pointless Chris Berman interviews with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Finally, on election night, ESPN broke in to announce Obama's reelection. Stick to sports?