2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Semifinal Schedule

After taking seven games to finally put down the inferior Buffalo Sabres, the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves facing the same team in this year's Conference Semifinals as they did in last year's Conference Semifinals, the Boston Bruins. Last year was great and all, but since that time, both teams have gotten better. Tim Thomas has been absolutely ridiculous season, and if I am being honest, the Bruins are the team I least wanted to face in the playoffs. After what was league-wide one of the greatest first rounds ever, we move on to the 2nd round where each conference has the 1 seed, 2 seed, 3 seed, and 5 seed still alive and competing for Lord Stanley's Cup. Without further ado, here is this year's Conference Semifinal schedule. (all times ET)

Eastern Conference Semifinals

#5 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. #1 Washington Capitals

Game 1: April 29: Lightning @ Capitals 7:00 (Versus) (TSN)
Game 2: May 1: Lightning @ Capitals 7:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC)
Game 3: May 3: Capitals @ Lightning 6:30 (Versus) (TSN)
Game 4: May 4: Capitals @ Lightning 7:00 (TSN)
Game 5: May 7: Lightning @ Capitals 12:30 (NBC) (TSN)
Game 6: May 9: Capitals @ Lightning TBD (Versus) (TSN)
Game 7: May 11: Lightning @ Capitals TBD (Versus) (TSN)

#3 Boston Bruins vs. #2 Philadelphia Flyers

Game 1: April 30: Bruins @ Flyers 3:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Bob Cole and Garry Galley, SR: Elliotte Friedman)
Game 2: May 2: Bruins @ Flyers 7:30 (Versus) (TSN)
Game 3: May 4: Flyers @ Bruins 7:00 (Versus) (CBC - Bob Cole and Garry Galley, SR Elliotte Friedman)
Game 4: May 6: Flyers @ Bruins 8:00 (Versus - JIP) (CBC - Bob Cole and Garry Galley, SR: Elliotte Friedman)
Game 5: May 8: Bruins @ Flyers 3:00 (NBC) (CBC - Bob Cole and Garry Galley, SR: Elliotte Friedman)
Game 6: May 10: Flyers @ Bruins TBD (Versus) (CBC - Bob Cole and Garry Galley, SR: Elliotte Friedman)
Game 7: May 12: Bruins @ Flyers TBD (Versus) (CBC - Bob Cole and Garry Galley, SR: Elliotte Friedman)

Western Conference Semifinals

#5 Nashville Predators vs. #1 Vancouver Canucks

Game 1: April 28: Predators @ Canucks 9:00 (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)
Game 2: April 30: Predators @ Canucks 9:00 (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)
Game 3: May 3: Canucks @ Predators TBD (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)
Game 4: May 5: Canucks @ Predators TBD (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)
Game 5: May 7: Predators @ Canucks 8:00 (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)
Game 6: May 9: Canucks @ Predators TBD (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)
Game 7: May 11: Predators @ Canucks TBD (Versus) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake)

#3 Detroit Red Wings vs. #2 San Jose Sharks

Game 1: April 29: Red Wings @ Sharks 10:00 (Versus) (TSN)
Game 2: May 1: Red Wings @ Sharks 3:00 (NBC - Dave Strader and Joe Micheletti, ItG: Darren Pang) (TSN)
Game 3: May 4: Sharks @ Red Wings 8:00 (Versus - JIP) (TSN)
Game 4: May 6: Sharks @ Red Wings 7:00 (Versus) (TSN)
Game 5: May 8: Red Wings @ Sharks 8:00 (Versus) (TSN)
Game 6: May 10: Sharks @ Red Wings TBD (Versus) (TSN)
Game 7: May 12: Red Wings @ Sharks TBD (Versus) (TSN)

ESPN Announces 2011 BCS Bowl Game Announcers

It's the 2010 season, but the BCS Bowl games are played in 2011, so they technically get labeled as such. Besides, in hindsight, these games always get referred to in the years they are played, not the season from which the match-ups came from. Anyway, enough about semantics and onto your ESPN BCS Bowl Game announcers. The question of who will replace a crew consisting of Thom Brennaman, Dick Stockton, and Charles Davis has finally been revealed!

2011 Rose Bowl and 2011 BCS National Championship Game: Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit
2011 Sugar Bowl: Brad Nessler and Todd Blackledge
2011 Fiesta Bowl: Sean McDonough and Matt Millen
2011 Orange Bowl: Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden

"This Guy" is now going to be a college football player! Huzzah!

All kidding aside, while Musburger/Herbstreit, Nessler/Blackledge, and McDonough/Millen were to be expected, I am curious as to why ESPN would go with the MNF rew for the Orange Bowl instead of sticking Franklin/Cunningham on it or the dreaded DavieJones Locker. That being said, and even though it is with Matt Millen, it is good to see Sean McDonough finally calling a BCS game. He is quite possibly the best announcer play-by-play announcer ESPN has and it is good to see him working the big games he deserves. Now if only he could get a better partner than Matt Millen.....

NFL Week 9 Schedule

There are good things and bad things about going to college in rural PA where I get 3 affiliates that carry football games, KYW out of Philadelphia, WYOU out of Scranton, and WOLF out of Wilkes-Barre. There are weeks like last week where the 2 CBS affiliates, KYW and WYOU, show different games and thus I get 4 regional broadcasts instead of the normal 3. Then there are weeks like this where because I don't get WTFX out of Philadelphia, weeks like this week can happen where the only 1:00 ET time game I get is........(wait for it, wait for it)...........Jets vs. Lions. Bleh. At least that game has got Gus Johnson........(games I get are in bold)

Map of who gets what Fox game.

Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings 1:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa)
New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers 1:00 (Fox - Dick Stockton and Charles Davis)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons 1:00 (Fox - Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick)
Chicago Bears vs. Buffalo Bills (game to be played in Toronto) 1:00 (Fox - Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan)

New York Giants vs. Seattle Seahawks 4:05 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)

Map of who gets what CBS early game.

Miami Dolphins vs. Baltimore Ravens 1:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
San Diego Chargers vs. Houston Texans 1:00 (CBS - Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts)
New York Jets vs. Detroit Lions 1:00 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker)
New England Patriots vs. Cleveland Browns 1:00 (CBS - Bill Macatee and Rich Gannon)

Map of who gets what CBS late game.

Indianapolis Colts vs. Philadelphia Eagles 4:15 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders 4:15 (CBS - Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots)

Sunday Night Football

Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers 8:20 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth)

Monday Night Football

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals 8:30 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

2010 CBS March Madness Announcers Revealed

While exact games and locations obviously will not be known until after Selection Sunday, CBS sent out a press release today announcing their 8 announce pairings for this year's NCAA Tournament. And to keep you on the edge of your seat, there are two surprises. For starters, an announcer that we all thought retired from college basketball is not actually retired just yet and, alas, the epic pairing of WenzelJack is no more! So without further ado, here are your 8 announce teams for CBS' coverage of the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament!

Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg
Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas
Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
Gus Johnson and Len Elmore
Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner
Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel
Tim Brando and Mike Gminski
Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel

Both changes garner an "ugh" from me. As much as I love Dick Enberg, keeping up with basketball was the first thing to go with age and there is no sign of him ever coming back. Sadly, he is likely to do nothing but embarrass himself this year. The only game he did with CBS all year was the Arch Madness title game and now he is going to call big tournament games? With the slow senility that Enberg is descending into, this has trainwreck written all over it.

The other change, is the removal of the Jack from WenzelJack. Now it's WenzelDedes. Or something. As horrible a color commentator as Wenzel is, I always sort of enjoyed Bolerjack's work. He was clearly passionate about the game and was very excitable, though being stuck with a horrible analyst did him no favor. Now we've got the very dull Spero Dedes with Bob Wenzel. Kill me now.

Your 2009 ESPN College Football Announcers

It's July 9 and thus seems a little early, but alas, ESPN has announced their pairings for the 2009 NFL college football season and I must say, there are some surprise changes that I was not expecting, such as the demotion of Mike Patrick from the prime time games and Sean McDonough's new announce partner, Matt Millen! Here are your pairings via Awful Announcing.

Saturday Night Football (on ABC)- Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Lisa Salters
ESPN College Football Primetime (Saturday)- Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Erin Andrews
ESPN2 College Football Primetime (Saturday)- Mark Jones and Bob Davie
ESPNU SEC Saturday primetime- Eric Collins and Brock Huard
ESPN College Football Primetime (Thursday)- Chris Fowler, Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews
ABC Saturday Afternoon- Sean McDonough, Matt Millen and Holly Rowe
ABC Saturday Afternoon- Mike Patrick, Craig James and Heather Cox
ABC or ESPN Saturday Afternoon- Ron Franklin and Ed Cunningham
ESPN College Football (Saturday afternoons)- Dave Pasch, Bob Griese and Chris Spielman
ESPN2 College Football (Saturday afternoon)- Pam Ward and Ray Bentley
ESPNU Saturday noon- Clay Matvick and David Diaz-Infante
ESPNU Saturday afternoon- Todd Harris and Charles Arbuckle
ESPNU late Saturday- Carter Blackburn and TBD
ESPN and ESPN2 Fridays and select ABC Saturdays- Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore
ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 Saturdays and select Fridays- Terry Gannon and David Norrie
ESPN and ESPN2 midweek games- Rece Davis, Mark May, Lou Holtz and Rob Stone
ESPNU Thursday- Charlie Neal and Jay Walker
ESPN Radio games- Bill Rosinski, Dennis Franchione and Joe Schad
SEC Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games)- Dave Neal, Andre Ware and Cara Capuano
BIG EAST Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games)- Mike Gleason, John Congemi and Quint Kessinich
ESPN Regional Television MAC Syndication- Michael Reghi and Doug Chapman

WOW! Brad Nessler to the 2nd best game of the week and look at what happened to Mike Patrick, the secondary ABC afternoon primetime game. HOLY COW! Meanwhile I can't help to feel bad for Dave Pasch. First he is with Andre Ware, and now he is in a trio with Bob Griese and Chris Spielman. Actually scratch that, I think I feel worse for Griese. A decent analyst and he ends up with clowns like Paul Maguire and now Chris Spielman.

Completely unrelated to this, but in random news about me that you might be interested in, you can now follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/FireAndyReidNow