40 Acres Sports

NCAA ejects reporter for liveblogging game. Sounds like yet another case of old people scared of the interwebs.

The Big 12 is going to televise games nationally on VERSUS. I believe they’ll still be available on FSN in local areas. (via)

Athlon Sports has Longhorns as preseason #2. Hope they’re right about breakout year for Charles.

paidContent.org is reporting that Yahoo may be about to acquire Rivals.com for up to $100 million. The guys running Orangebloods.com are saying it’s not a done deal yet, but it certainly looks like its just a matter of getting the final dollar amount ironed out between the two companies.

You’re reading it here first: Yahoo is close to making its biggest sports acquisition after, well, the Broadcast.com deal: the college sports network Rivals.com, paidContent.org has learned. The price could reach around $100 million, which some we’ve spoken to say is overpriced, and that’s why the traditional sports media buyers are sitting out on this one. One exec involved in online sports acquisitions told us $50-75 million would be more realistic given a model that can—and has been—replicated and described the reaction to what Rivals was asking—$100 million—as “sticker shock.”

For comparison, FIM paid $60 million for Scout Media in September 2005.

The new acquisition would be a boost to Yahoo Sports, which has been looking for ways to catch up to the juggernaut of ESPN.com and the surge from FoxSports.com. It has an already-existing deal with Rivals.com for sharing sports content; Rivals also supplies content to USAToday.com, AOL Sports, SportingNews.com, MSNBC.com and SI.com.

Rivals is an incredible network of websites for college sports fans, and an Orangebloods membership is a must have for any hardcore Longhorn fan. They’ve got great writers at both the national and school level and their recruiting coverage is second to none. It’s probably the best ten bucks I spend every month. Hopefully Yahoo is simply looking to improve their college sports coverage and won’t be changing too much with the sites.

Ricky Williams was on ESPN Radio’s Dan Patrick Show at the ned of last week and his interview with Dan and Keith Olbermann was incredible. Ricky sounds intelligent and introspective and I’m really rooting for him again to get that chance to prove people wrong in the NFL.

The first 15 minutes of audio is Ricky and the last 10 is Dan and Keith discussing it. Listen to the entire thing below:

It appears Ricky is finally comfortable being Ricky Williams and he’s found ways to deal with the celebrity and stress that comes with being an NFL superstar. Sounds like Dan and Keith were pretty impressed with him, and like them I hope Ricky is able to keep things together when the full pressure of the NFL comes back.

Update: Anybody else having issues with the Odeo player? If so use the player below:

CBS and the NCAA will be providing live streaming video of the NCAA Tournament for free online again this year. March Madness on Demand allows you to watch (relatively) high quality live video of the first three rounds of the tourney from your computer.

There’s a limited amount of free “VIP Passes” available that ensure you’ll be able to watch games no matter how busy the site gets. Everyone gets put into a waiting room before the video starts and VIP status makes that process move a little faster.

The service is subject to blackouts, which means this is likely not an option for catching Longhorn games in the Texas area. If your local CBS affiliate is airing the game you want to watch, you won’t be able to watch that game online. I’m not sure how they determine your location, but it asks you for your zip code when you log in so if you want a shot at watching the Texas games you might want to fib a little during registration.

Sign up now to be a lot less productive at work next month.

Ok, well obviously [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] is not yet named the Player of the Year in college basketball, but Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated is already saying that Durant should be. I agree with him 100%. And frankly, who are we to argue with Sports Illustrated? Let’s just give him the award now.

On a side note, it seems like there have been a lot of Longhorns on sports covers over the past year or so. I guess it is a good time to be an athlete down in Austin. So who will be the next Longhorn on a major cover? I will go with the easy choice, Colt McCoy.

Richard Justice is either joking or smoking something, he thinks A&M has passed Texas in football.

Mavs & Rockets games means no Horns basketball against Mizzou for fans in DFW & Houston areas.

Just a reminder that the US Army All-American Bowl will be on NBC today at noon. The game takes place in San Antonio at the Alamodome and features some of the best high school football players in the country.

This will be most Longhorn fans first opportunity to watch any of the 2007 football commits in action. Bevo Sports will have some thoughts on the game and possibly some video later this weekend. There will be 13 Texans on the West squad and the Longhorns have six commits and a few targets playing in the game. Here’s the guys to keep an eye on during the game:

Texas Commits

• Tray Allen, West #56
• Curtis Brown, West #3
• John Chiles, West #5
• Michael Huey, West #70
• Blaine Irby, West #19
• Andre Jones, West #89

Texas Targets

• Ron Brooks, West #81
• Joe McKnight, West #4
• Christian Scott, West #23

Others to Watch

• John Brantley, East #12
• Matt Simms, East #2