This is 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: 402.25 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 307.75
TIME DEVOTED TO INDIVIDUAL SPORTS
NFL: 140 minutes (45.6%) (last week: 41.3%)
NBA: 83.25 (27.1%) (last week: 17.9%)
SportsCenter staples*: 35.75 (11.6%) (last week: 9.6%)
College football: 16.25 (5.3%) (last week: 21.3%)
Other sports: 13.75 (4.5%) (last week: 4.4%)
MLB: 9.25 (3%) (last week: 3.7%)
College basketball: 9.25 (3%) (last week: 1.6%)
NHL: 0.25 (0.1%) (last week: 0.2%)
Golf: 0 (0%) (last week: 1.1%)
NASCAR: 0 (0%) (last week: 6.4%)
*-Includes things like the "Top 10," "Encore," "What 2 Watch 4," etc.
MOST-COVERED TEAMS BY SPORT
New England Patriots (NFL): 39.75 (12.9%)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA): 34 (11%)
Texas A&M Aggies (college football): 11.5 (3.7%)
Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB): 3 (1%)
Indiana Hoosiers (college basketball): 0.75 (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 Dec. 7-13:
Tom Brady: 64
Carmelo Anthony: 58
Kobe Bryant: 50
Robert Griffin III: 43
Peyton Manning: 39
Juan Manuel Marquez: 30
Manny Pacquiao: 26
Kirk Cousins: 23
LeBron James: 22
Dwight Howard: 22
Johnny Manziel: 20
Josh Brent: 20
Rajon Rondo: 19
Mike D'Antoni: 16
Ben Roethlisberger: 16
CUMULATIVE STATISTICS: Jan. 7-Dec. 13
Total time: 21,670.5 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 16,334.75
NFL: 3,601.75 (22.1%)
NBA: 3,085.25 minutes (18.9%)
MLB: 2,908.75 (17.8%)
SportsCenter staples: 2,150.75 (13.2%)
Other: 1,796.5 (11%)
College football: 1,173.75 (7.2%)
College basketball: 1,141 (7%)
NHL: 459 (2.8%)
Notes
Rick Reilly continues to issue factually incorrect dad jokes: SportsCenter serving as the de facto MNF postgame show has mostly worked, minus the Rick Reilly open mic night segments. This week, on whether Tom Brady is worthy of the MVP,
"The Patriots have better Decembers than Tiffany's."
First off, that's not even the actual name of the company. Second, its fourth quarter earnings were down in 2011. Get it together, man.
Darren Rovell stopped by to answer the Johnny Football questions no one was asking: After Johnny Manziel won the Heisman, ESPN brought on Darren Rovell for a lengthy phone interview about the business implications of Manziel's accomplishment. It was an opportunity to ask interesting questions about impact a Heisman has on university donations, jersey sales, and overall enthusiasm for a program. Instead, almost all of Rovell's three-plus minutes were spent on who has the rights to the Johnny Football trademark.
The NHL drought continues: Steve Levy was able to sneak in a 15-second NHL lockout update at the end of Monday's broadcast, good enough to keep the NHL from being shut out in coverage yet again. From June 15 (the week after the Stanley Cup final) through Dec. 13, hockey has received 18 total minutes of coverage on the SportsCenter, which amounts to 0.2 percent.