I'd like to see networks adapt these 10 changes in '06

                    

	ESPN probably wishes it had many more Dick Vitales to put on the air. John Biever/SI
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The year isn't 300 hours old and already seismic events have taken place in sports television:

Sportscaster-turned-Nijinsky wannabe Kenny Mayne is no longer Dancing with the Stars.

Stephen A. Smith will be cha-cha-cha-ed into a late-night slot (11 p.m.), on ESPN2, beginning Jan. 30.

And Bode Miller told CBS' 60 Minutes that skiing isn't easy while you're wasted.

What does that tell me about sports television in 2006? It tells me I've spent too much time in front of the tube. But such obsession will provide manna for those in TV land. Here are my 10 suggestions to sports broadcasters for a happy and profitable 2006:

1. Don't tell us announcers impact ratings: My colleague Peter King has long argued intelligently on this topic. Once and for all: No sports announcer makes an impact on ratings. Not John Madden. Not Al Michaels. Not Dick Vitale. (Which, if you think about it, makes it stunning the salaries they command and demand, no?). An announcer certainly has a major impact on those watching, but not on bringing eyeballs in. Which leads us to....

2. NBC should not be seduced into putting Cris Collinsworth in the booth: Collinsworth is everything a viewer could want in a studio analyst: opinionated, honest, occasionally thought-provoking. To team him up with Madden in an effort to create a so-called dream broadcasting booth is fool's gold. It hurts your studio show and forces Collinsworth to leave his comfort zone. Here's a free piece of advice for the folks at 30 Rock. If Tom Hammond is indeed gone from contention for the Sunday night football play-by-play job (as I've read in nearly every publication short of the Pan African News Agency), why not hire one of the NFL's best radio voices, such as Merrill Reese of the Eagles or Howard David, who was terrific on Westwood One and now works in Miami. You'll get a terrific broadcaster for less money.

3. ESPN should create a female version of The Sports Reporters: Perhaps you've noticed the growing number of sports writers-turned-talking-heads that fill ESPN's various networks. Here's what I don't see on the shows featuring competitive banter: Women. With a dreamy dual revenue stream (advertising and monthly subscription fees) and more money than the principality of Monaco, ESPN can afford to take a flyer on shows that may need some time to find an audience. Thus, why not develop a half-hour show featuring both ESPN and female sports journalists from around the country debating the sports issues of the week? Talent isn't an issue. There are hundreds of women in various mediums who provide sports content on a daily basis. Allow me to channel my inner-Joe Namath here: I guarantee such a show will get better ratings than ESPN Hollywood. Why? Because men will actually tune in, for starters.

4. NBC should immediate flood the zone with promotion for the Turin Games: The silence you just heard is the buzz emanating for the upcoming Winter Olympics. The Couric Network has had a slow rollout when it comes to its Olympic plans, though you'll be hearing much more from NBC in the near future. An announcement on Olympic talent could come this week. And the network recently launched NBCOlympics.com, which promises the cool cyber-experience of watching video of the top five finishers (and all U.S. athletes) in events such as figure skating and skiing the day after those competitions are completed.

But with no ready-made television superstar heading into Turin (I'd bet even money that eight out of 10 Americans would not recognize Bode Miller or Daron Rahlves on the street), the TV public is going to need a major primer on the likes of Lindsey Kildow, Chad Hedrick and Catherine Raney. So unleash the hounds, Mr. Ebersol. As the the Lord of the rings in this country, NBC controls the volume on the hype of an Olympic Games.

5. The Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) needs to copy the ESPN playbook: For those of us who live and die by the fortunes of Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Steven Gerrard, the Fox Soccer Channel is an oasis amid the soccer-empty cable universe. Call me an Anglophile, but life is brilliant when I can watch the third round of the FA Cup between Burton Albion and Manchester United from the privacy of my flat.

FSC is one of the few networks that offers a sporting perspective from abroad (Full marks to the U.K.-based Sky Sports News and the Fox Sports World Report, which is produced in Canada but focuses on world soccer). The coverage is generally so good on FSC that I'm even willing to tolerate announcer Max Bretos, whose overwrought play-by-play is at least accompanied by genuine passion. What I'd like to see now is for FSC to follow up its pledge to develop some interesting new programming outside of the engaging Fox Football Friday. Why not adopt the ESPN playbook and develop a 30-minute weekly Sports Reporters/PTI show featuring U.S. soccer journalists debating and dissecting issues on world and American soccer? No game fuels more passion than the beautiful game, and you could probably get soccer journos on the cheap.