XXL: MUST-SEE TV

Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma, ABC, Saturday, 8 p.m.

Yet another massive Big 12 showdown Saturday night with BCS implications aplenty. Undefeated Texas Tech, currently No. 2 in the BCS standings, heads to Oklahoma to take on the No. 5 Sooners.

For the Red Raiders, a win would clinch their first Big 12 South title and keep their national title dreams alive. Meanwhile Oklahoma, whose only loss this season came to Texas on Oct. 11, hopes to keep the Big 12 title in their sights and muddy the BCS picture with a win at home over the Red Raiders. Vegas thinks the Sooners are going to pull it off, making them surprisingly comfortable seven-point faves. The over/under? A whopping 76.

Rest of the weekend’s college football action is below -- all games are on Saturday unless otherwise noted:

Fresno St. vs. San Jose St., ESPN2, Friday, 9:30 p.m.
Michigan vs. Ohio State, ABC, 12 p.m.
West Virginia vs. Louisville, ESPN, 12 p.m.
Yale vs. Harvard, Versus, 12 p.m.
Indiana vs. Purdue, ESPN2, 12 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M, ESPN Classic, 2 p.m
Syracuse vs. Notre Dame, NBC, 2:30 p.m.
Mississippi vs. LSU, CBS, 3:30 p.m.
Air Force vs. TCU, Versus, 3:30 p.m.
Michigan St. vs. Penn St. or Boston College vs. Wake Forest or Stanford vs. Cal, ABC (ESPN), 3:30 p.m.
Oregon St. vs. Arizona, Versus, 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati, ESPN2, 7:15 p.m.
Florida St. vs. Maryland, ESPN, 7:45 p.m.
Connecticut vs. South Florida, ESPN, Sunday, 8:15 p.m.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nike unveiled the Air Jordan signature line 23 years ago with the release of the Air Jordan 1. Despite its age, the power and influence of the Air Jordan signature line is stronger today than it has ever been. The Air Jordan 1 set the trend for the Air Jordan line by breaking NBA uniform rules for not having enough White in its design.

For each game that M.J. wore the now infamous Black and Red Air Jordan 1, Nike and M.J. were fined $5,000. Twenty three years later, the Black and Red Air Jordan 1 returns alongside two new colorways of the sneaker pioneer.

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you as devoted to the Dillon Panthers as myself, here's a friendly reminder about the upcoming episodes of Friday Night Lights and when they will air:

12/3 -- Ep. 309
12/10 -- Ep. 310
12/17 -- Ep. 311
1/7 -- Ep. 312
1/14 -- Ep. 313

So to review, like most TV shows, this one will take a break for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just a heads up so you don't wind up disappointed and watching DirecTV instructions and trailers on a loop next Wednesday. (Thanks to our PR contact Erica for the heads up on this.)

eBay is full of hidden gems, particularly when it comes to sports-related items. David Arnott brings you the best oddities.

On May 5, 1995, the Boston Celtics played their last game at the original Boston Garden. They were defeated by Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, and the Orlando Magic, 95-92, in an Eastern Conference playoff game. In a vintage performance recalling his glory days in Atlanta, Dominique Wilkins put up 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the losing effort. The fans didn't say goodbye to the old building, just yet, since the Bruins were to use it until September, but NBA basketball was done there.

And so time marched on, and the arena was no more. But it seems a lucky few came into possession of various pieces of the arena and have kept them for over a decade. Now, someone, allegedly a former player, is selling one of the Garden's backboards.

Read the rest of this entry »

We're looking for the best/worst of sports-related shirts from around the world to feature in this space. If you have a submission, send it to FirstCuts@sportingnews.com.

Manny Pacquiao will square off against Oscar de la Hoya in a welterweight bout on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. To commemorate the occasion, Jeepney put together this limited edition "Thrilla From Manila" tee to celebrate their favorite boxer -- Pac-Man, The Mexicutioner, The Detroyer, Pambansang Kamao. I'm sure Large will weigh in soon on the bout, but in the meantime all you get is my uneducated opinion that has nothing to do whatsoever with boxing. I like this shirt, and I want seventeen nicknames like boxers do.

17 years ago, Dee Brown single handedly made the Reebok Pump a legend. During the 1991 Slam Dunk Championship, Brown reached down to his Reebok Pumps, gave the tongues a couple of pumps for good measure, and proceeded to take home the Slam Dunk Championship, edging out Shawn Kemp with his now iconic no-look dunk.

To celebrate the opening of their Flash Pop-up Shop in NYC, Reebok recently released a Reebok Omni Lite in a reverse Dee Brown colorway. Instead of the iconic Black/White/Orange colorway that Dee Brown brought to millions of people that night, the Reverse Dee Brown features a White upper with Black and Orange accents.

Read the rest of this entry »

Three episodes into its highly publicized run on ESPN.com, the new web-series Mayne Street is charting the heavily trodden path of many bland sitcoms that have come before. The principal characters are a collection of network comedy archetypes straight out of central casting – the deadpan, above-it-all front man who plays by his own rules in a corrupt environment, the tough-talking female producer who is ever exasperated with the uncompromising male lead, the numb-nuts too-young executive who speaks in a frenetic Hollywood argot, the burned-out camera man who is, you know, righteous.

What’s new about Mayne Street is that it’s ESPN serving up this glop and that it’s four- and five-minute episodes on the internet rather than 22-minute episodes on the boob tube. Otherwise, you’ve got something here that, dripping with the bitter icing of irony required of such shows in the era of The Office, remains a very familiar slice of TV crap cake. For some reason, I’m reminded of the show, Becker. Maybe it’s because Kenny Mayne’s unwitting sarcastic man’s man ex-athlete routine makes me think of Ted Danson. Norm MacDonald, too -- there’s a heavy dose of Norm MacDonald in Mayne’s routine.

Mayne Street is a mock, behind-the-scenes look at the life of Kenny Mayne as he goes about his hilarious business of being a SportsCenter anchor. The first episode (above) plays it straight down the pike, and is the best of the three for capturing a scenario that anyone who has ever worked in television is overly familiar with.

Read the rest of this entry »

XXL: MUST-SEE TV

Pistons vs. Celtics, TNT, 8 p.m.
Lakers vs. Suns, TNT, 10:30 p.m.

Oh word. High-octane NBA smackdowns tonight that have an early season air of potential conference finals about them. Detroit is coming off big wins over the Cavs and the Lakers and suddenly that A.I. trade is looking nice. Meanwhile the Celtics keep doing how they do. An Eastern Conference Finals repeat between these two clubs certainly seems like a distinct possibility.

In the nightcap, Kobe and the Lakers, coming off a loss for the first time this season, head to Phoenix where Shaq awaits, the same Shaq who recently was rumored to be blabbing about a potential return to the purple and gold, adding fuel to the always smoldering fire whenever Diesel and Kobe lock horns.

EXTRA LARGE

Chattanooga vs. Memphis, ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.
Duke vs. Southern Illinois, ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Michigan vs. UCLA, ESPN2, 9 p.m.

Lot of marquee college basketball on the deuce tonight, starting with defending finalist No. 13 Memphis against Chattanooga in the first round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan. Then it’s onto the semis of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden, featuring No. 10 Duke versus Southern Illinois and No. 4 UCLA versus Michigan.

Read the rest of this entry »