Major League Soccer to be Broadcast On Versus (Soon to be Named NBC Sports Network) In 2012!

I know this was announced on August 10th, but NBC is already promoting Major League Soccer by showing this clip during their Sunday Night Football broadcast on 8/21/2011:

Major League Soccer matches will primarily be shown on Versus (soon to be renamed NBC Sports Network) which already reaches double the households Fox Soccer Channel currently has access to. 41 matches per year will be broadcast on Versus, 4 on NBC.

ESPN will still show matches Nationally, as will Univision.

Fox Soccer's Major League Soccer broadcasts have always had an amateurish feel to me. Based on how Versus/NBC Sports promotes and the quality of their broadcasts of the National Hockey League and the Tour de France, this arrangement will be huge for Major League Soccer!

Details:

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/m-l-s-and-nbc-sports-announce-new-tv-deal/

Phil Simms-Hypocritical NFL Analyst!

Phil Simms, CBS NFL Football announcer, decided to confront Desmond Howard yesterday at the NFL Xperience exhibit in Dallas due to criticism Desmond had made earlier in the year about Mr.Simms' son Matt, a quarterback at the University of Tennessee. Apparently Mr. Howard had made the comments earlier in the season on ESPN College Gameday. Security had to step in so that Mr. Howard could continue with his appearance.

This is not the first time that Phil has been oversensitive about criticism his sons have received. In 2005 Steve Young criticized Phil's son Chris for his poor play with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Phil attacked him verbally a day later in a press conference.

Pretty amazing reading Desmond Howard's twitter stream on the incident. The best coverage of the altercation comes from the blog http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/. It includes Desmond's twitter feed.

Here is the article link: http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/cops-stop-phil-simms-attack-on-espns-howard-29469

Phil Simms and CBS released a statement about the incident:

UPDATE (2:44p PT): In response to today’s incident involving Desmond Howard, Phil Simms released the following statement to sportsbybrooks.com through CBS:
"Desmond and I were having a private conversation that became heated. But at no time was there ever a chance of any physical confrontation or that I felt the police officer assigned to me by the event planners for my appearance needed to separate the two of us."

Was this really the forum to air your grievances Phil? In addition, aren't you critical of NFL players' performance during your telecasts? I know we are talking about your sons, but criticism from analysts at big time college football programs and in the NFL is part of the deal. Thinking there are plenty of fathers and mothers of young men you have criticized who may have been upset, but didn't choose to verbally attack you in public.

Phil Simms should resign as an NFL analyst. Or CBS should fire him. Now that I think of it, maybe posting this is a bad idea. Oh well, what are the odds I will run into Phil Simms anyway...

Phil Simms at NFL Xperience. sportsbybrooks.com

Desmond Howard at NFL Xperience. sportsbybrooks.com