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NBA TV's new overlords at Turner Sports have a brilliant little plan to boost interest in the network's regular season offerings: by letting fans choose which Tuesday evening game will be televised, writes Awful Announcing.

Teams play almost every Tuesday, and without national TV coverage (ESPN has Wednesday and Friday, TNT takes Thursday) most fans are left to local coverage, League Pass, or whatever game NBA TV picked in August. Simply allowing better choices during the season (as ABC has been want to do for its Sunday broadcasts) is a good step forward -- giving fans a say pushes it over the top.

AA's Brian Powell exacts fears the "Fan Night" will turn into Celtics central ... and that's a fair point. Hopefully New York will come through, though: the Knicks aren't on national TV once this year, and I think we're all interested to see what Mike D'Antoni can do with that roster. Vote Knicks '08-09!

In Chris Bosh's latest video dispatch, he discusses the awesomeness of appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show (in an episode which will air today) with his fellow Olympians. But clearly, Dwight Howard was affected a bit more by the entire experience.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh (he's the smart Bengals wide receiver) gets points for frankness, although, unfortunately, that doesn't do much to change the sorry state of Cincinnati's offense. It's all very confusing, really, since this group has been routinely been one of the most explosive unit's in the league in three of the last four seasons.

Following yesterday's totally uninspiring effort against the Ravens, Houshmazilly lost it:

"We just suck on offense right now. That's terrible. We can't move the ball. We can't get a first down. We can't run. We can't throw. The defense played great, and we just didn't play good on offense, bottom line."

A quick look at the numbers confirms that the Bengals offense was indeed sucky. Carson Palmer finished 10 of 25 for 99 yards and a pick, and Chris Perry, allegedly the key to this offense, managed just 37 yards on 18 carries.

As for Houshmandzadeh's contention that "the defense played great," I can only assume he was being a smart-ass since that outfit allowed the Ravens to rush for 229 yards, including a 38-yard Joe Flacco touchdown scamper. And that's rookie Joe Flacco, who was making his first NFL start and runs like he's wearing cement moon boots.

I understand why Cincy's front office cut ties with Rudi Johnson and Willie Anderson (to save a few buck) but they could've used both of them yesterday. Luckily, Chris Henry made an immediate impact: he didn't register a catch despite being on the game-day roster, which is what happens when you're serving a league-mandated suspension.

No, the picture above is not the way officers dressed at the ECU game, but judging by the reaction of some, you can bet they wish they were.

Well, maybe the officers assigned to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium were celebrating. It's just that they have a different way of expressing the joy of East Carolina's big 24-3 win over West Virginia. The fans wanted to, and did, rush the field and the police dealt with people (watch the lower right corner).



There were plenty of reports from fans, witnesses and those pesky ESPN cameras to suggest this was not isolated.

ECU Police Chief Scott Shelton said university officers are interviewing witnesses and analyzing photos and videotapes. The complaints are varied and include assertions that officers punched a fan and threw another to the ground. Shelton said, "Preliminary investigation indicates excessive force was used in an incident of most concern by complainants."

The police chief also says that the officers were supposed to only be visible and try to deter fans and students from running out on the field. If that didn't work, they were supposed to fall back and just try to keep it from getting out of hand. Officers from the State Highway Patrol, City of Greenville, Pitt County Sheriff's Department, the City of Kinston, and Lenoir County were also helping with security.

As for the officers that were shown beating a person on the ground. It's denials all around.

Pitt County Sheriff Mac Manning said that though his deputies were staffing the game in brown uniforms, it was not one of his men caught on tape.

"As far as what happened, or if there was excessive force used, I have no idea," Manning said. "My supervisor at the game saw the video, and what he had seen did not involve a Pitt County deputy."

Of course not. It was a different shade of brown. Or perhaps it was someone dressed as a Pitt County officer trying to make them look bad.

Some more videos after the jump.

Missed us over the weekend? Yeah, we missed you too.

FanHouse Minute is your 60-second rundown of the top five headlines that you didn't get to see. Check back here every Monday morning for the latest.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his face-mask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's our new feature, Studs and Duds:

Here's Week 1 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Michael Turner, RB ATL (220 yards, 2 TDs): I guess this would be one way to introduce yourself as a starter. On a new coast that is as far from the initials "LDT" as possible, Turner ran all over a Detroit Lions defense that would have been out-hustled by a Madame Tussuad's exhibition. Breaking one for 66 yards, Turner looked like the second coming of the Dirty Bird in Atlanta.

LaMarr Woodley, OLB PIT (2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception): I guess it would be fair to give this award to the entire Steelers defense, but the second-year man out of Michigan sure had a pretty salty line. A funny fact about Lamarr -- while at Michigan, T-shirts were sold that said, "Guns don't kill people, LaMarr Woodley kills people." The Houston Texans will testify to that.

FanHouse's Tom Ziller argues his ranking of the top 50 players in the NBA.

Rasheed Wallace is not underrated (whatever that means) -- he actually pulled as many MVP votes (one) as Paul Pierce last season. But 'Sheed is vastly misunderstood. We think of 'Sheed's baseline jumper, his three-ball ... his barking at the refs. But Wallace's best value over the past decade has been as a defensive anchor.

Ben Wallace received most of the credit for Detroit's defensive resurgence in the early part of the this millennium, and Tayshaun Prince gets plenty of dap as well. But in the absence of Big Ben, 'Sheed has ably filled in the gap in the frontcourt. Wallace quietly blocks a good number of shots (he's the 50th best shot-blocker of all time), hits the boards hard, and doesn't foul much.

It's weird with Detroit -- and this sullies the good names of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton, too: dishing out credit for the Pistons' long run of defensive excellence is boggling exercise. Again, Prince seems to get much of the credit these days; that's fine, Tay is a fine defender. But don't we owe Wallace some deference here?

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is one of the smartest players in NFL history, a passer who can recognize what the defense is doing and make the correct decision in an instant.

But in Sunday night's loss to the Bears, he often looked out of sync and frustrated -- like a guy who missed all of training camp and the preseason and was desperately trying to catch up. Or, as Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye put it, according to the Chicago Tribune:

"Today you could see how confused Peyton was," Ogunleye said. "He didn't know what the hell was going on."

You can't often say that Manning "doesn't know what the hell is going on" on the football field, but last night you could. Of course, it speaks well for Manning that even his bad games aren't very bad -- he finished 30-of-49 for 257 yards, with a touchdown and no turnovers.

For one game, though, the Bears' defense looked great, and the Colts' offense looked anything but.

The College Football Songbook is a weekly feature in which we'll be making as much fun as humanly possible of the most embarrassing moments in college football. Through words, music, and related video we'll leave a lasting memory implanted on the brains of the vanquished that they are not soon to forget.

Ugh! I couldn't side step this one again. The show goes on, even when it's your team.



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Photo Credits:

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walktheplank.org
mywedding.com
daylife.com
pediment.com
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oceantreasures.org
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NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Detroit Free-Press. Pistons owner William Davidson has some harsh words about the NBA's officiating system. Dude's been talking to Sheed too much.

2. Indy Cornrows. Basketball is burgeoning in Indonesia, where they love some Danny Granger.

3. Hoops Addict. Shane Battier is the most Floor Burniest player in the NBA. Huzzah!

4. Ball in Europe. Looking at the future of the silver medalist Spanish national team.

5. ClipperBlog. Considering L.A.'s perimeter defense in 2008-09.

6. OC Register. Only Kobe could set a date on which he'll announce which date he'll have surgery on his pinky.