The SEC Network soon will be upon us. On Thursday, conference commissioner Mike Slive and ESPN president John Skipper announced a partnership that will launch in August 2014 and run for 20 years, making it the longest sports-rights contract in U.S. television.

Your move, Mr. Swofford.

An ACC Network has to be coming, right? You’ve got to think the league won’t want to fall too far behind on this cash grab.

Sports Business Daily reported in January that the league had hired a media group to explore the financial benefits of starting its own network. Last month’s signing of the grant of rights by all 15 ACC schools signals solidarity and should add clarity to the process.

So let’s assume it’ll happen. But what about content?

The SEC Network will televise three football games every Saturday and show more than 100 men’s basketball games. Excellent. But what about filling those weekdays in the summer?

That’s not easy. Here’s an actual TV listing for the Big Ten Network on Monday:

5:30 p.m. BTN LiveB1G: Indiana [TV-PG] Creation of one of the largest student-based entrepreneurial competitions, innovative medical treatments for veterans, and a program dedicated to ending world hunger.

Sporty! Hey, the ACC can do better, but the league needs to start brainstorming now. Here’s a potential lineup for the ACC Network during the dog days:

Read the rest of the column here.

GOOD MORNING, GANG. GOOD VILLAINS YESTERDAY. Really started to regret my Shooter McGavin pick once I saw some of the others. Here’s what we’re looking at today:

-The SEC Network will debut in August of 2014. Here are the details. The channel will show three football games every Saturday and more than 100 men’s basketball games.

-Berman has a nice story on Virginia Tech infielder Chad Pindor, who projects to go in the top five rounds of next month’s draft.

-VMI is among three schools being strongly considered for Southern Conference membership.

-NBA last night: The Nets forced a Game 7 with a win in Chicago, while the Warriors finished off the Nuggets in six.

-NBA tonight includes a quartet of Game 6s: Knicks-Celtics in Boston; Pacers-Hawks, Thunder-Rockets and Clippers-Grizzlies.

-The Caps beat the Rangers 3-1 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference series. Last night’s other winners: Senators, Blues, Red Wings.

-Jack Morris accuses Clay Buchholz of doctoring the ball in Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays. Buchholz denies it.

NAME THAT TUNE
I keep thinkin’ any minute you’ll be comin’ home honey
I aint seen nothin’ of you in a month of Sundays
Tell me [NAME OF SONG]
All you said was you had to get goin’
Oh but baby I wouldnt mind knowin’ just
[NAME OF SONG]

COMMENT FROM RICK H, YESTERDAY, 4:02 P.M.: “That should be a blog topic on a slow sports day – top 5 movies you like.”

We might want to try that today. Actually, how about we narrow the topic just a bit, to your top five movie villains. Here are mine off the top of my head:

-Ivan Drago
-Shooter McGavin
-Vincent Ludwig
-Staff Sergeant Barnes
-Clubber Lang

It’s not exactly a slow sports day — there are plenty of games being played — but not a ton of topics to sink into. An overview:

-Joe Posnanski, who I like very much, wrote a column arguing that perhaps MLB should go the English Premier League route and do away with the postseason. Billy Beane agrees with him; I don’t. How-ev-ah:

-I am strongly in favor of his underlying premise, which is that the regular season ought to mean as much as possible. I’d be all for even stronger advantages given to teams with the best records — in all sports. The new wildcard that was added last year did a nice job of that, but if baseball wanted to go further — say, giving the team with the best record a 1-0 lead to start the series — I’d consider backing that proposal.

-Celtics and Rockets force Game 6s with road victories over the Knicks and Thunder, respectively. Pacers win at home to put the Hawks on the brink of elimination.

-Pair of NBA Game 6s tonight: Nets-Bulls (8 p.m., TNT) and Nuggets-Warriors (10:30 p.m., TNT).

-First road victory in the NHL playoffs comes courtesy of the Sharks, who beat Vancouver 3-1. Boston and Pittsburgh held serve at home.

-The Caps finally get their series against New York underway in DC at 7:30 p.m. on CSN. Other games: Senators-Canadians, Kings-Blues and Red Wings-Ducks.

-Andy is actually taking a vacation. I did not know he did things like that.

-Former All-Pro offensive tackle Kyle Turley admits he’s had suicidal thoughts since retirement. “No one in my family has ever gone crazy and killed themselves or thought about that,” Turley said. “I have. It’s not a thought that is fleeting. It’s a thought that goes away when I’m on my medication, and the thought of doing a lot of crazy things as well and making unbelievable decisions.”

NAME THAT TUNE
Baby if you’re lookin’ for a good time
Let me take you to the C-O-U-N-T-R-Y
Now baby let’s go, holler if you’re with me
Hey Joe, come on, and teach us how to Diffie

SO I WROTE YESTERDAY ABOUT WHAT AN AWESOME NIGHT IT WOULD BE FOR TV WATCHIN’ and then I fell asleep at 8:45 p.m. At least I had a baseball game playing in my earbuds; maybe I should follow some of your leads and quit cable.

Nah, I’d die in October. Anyway, let’s get caught up:

-The point spread has been released for Virginia Tech’s opener. Bama favored by 22.

-Nuggets and Grizzlies were your NBA winners last night. Three Game 5s tonight — Celtics-Knicks, Hawks-Pacers and Rockets-Thunder.

-Blackhawks, Blues and Ducks all protected home ice in their Game 1s last night. Tonight’s games: Maple Leafs-Bruins (7 p.m., CNBC), Islanders-Penguins (7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network) and Sharks-Canucks (10:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network).

-Tim Tebow has been offered a job by an indoor team called the Omaha Beef. Had to double-check to make sure that wasn’t an Onion story. It’s not.

-Real Madrid won that UEFA Champions League semi 2-0. Bayern Munich and Barcelona square off in the other semi at 2:30 p.m. today on FX.

-Doughty sat down with UVa hoops coach Tony Bennett, who says the Cavs are in “a good spot” for next season.

-Xander Bogaerts, who played for the Salem Red Sox last year, is on the cover of the new issue of Baseball America.

-Virginia Tech baseball avoids a letdown by beating Radford 4-3.

-If you believe anything drivers say about the Gen-6 car — and really, how can you, given that they’ll be fined if they bash it — then you’ll be happy to know they’re all saying it’s great.

-Here are 10 things to know about Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

-Tim Hudson wins his 200th game and hits a home run in a win over the Nationals.

NAME THAT TUNE
Old-school today:

Outside I’m masquerading
Inside my hope is fading
Just a clown oh yeah
Since you put me down
My smile is my make up
I wear since my break up with you..

A BIG PART OF YESTERDAY’S DISCUSSION WAS HOW TV has made going to games less attractive than it once was.

Well, you’ve pretty much got your pick today.

-Like the NBA? A couple of Game 5s tonight with Warriors-Nuggets (8 p.m., TNT) and Grizzlies-Clippers (10:30 p.m., TNT).

-Hockey fan? The postseason is here. Wild-Blackhawks (8 p.m, NBC Sports Network), Kings-Blues (8 p.m., CNBC) and Red Wings-Ducks (10:30 p.m., NBC Sports).

-Baseball nut? How about a little Nats-Braves with Gio facing Hudson (7 p.m., MASN), Reds-Cadinals (8 p.m., MLB Network) or O’s-Mariners (10 p.m., MASN2).

-ESPN also will have a one-hour documentary on Bryce Harper at 9 p.m. You can see a clip here.

-Don’t want to wait until tonight? Hey, there’s a UEFA Champions League semifinal between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid at 2:30 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.

-With all the discussion about Jason Collins’ announcement that he was gay yesterday, a big question remains: Will he actually be playing in the NBA next season? ESPN’s Marc Stein talked to 14 NBA executives, and eight of them expressed doubt that he will have a job. It has nothing to do with his sexual orientation and everything to do with him being 34 and having averaged 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds last year.

-To me, Collins’ own words were the only ones you really needed to read on that topic, but I did like this quote from Terry Francona in a story on baseball’s reaction to Collins’ announcement. “You know what? I think it comes down to common sense,” Francona said. “Be nice and be respectful of other people. That’s kind of the most sensible answer.”

-Stephen Strasburg is being treated for forearm tightness. Not a big deal…yet.

NAME THAT TUNE
Bravely we hope
Against all hope
There is so much at stake
Seems our freedom’s up
Against the ropes
Does the crowd understand?
Is it East versus West
Or man against man?
Can any nation stand alone?

The rightfield side of Salem Memorial Ballpark late in Monday’s game.

FLIPPED ON THE TV AFTER GETTING BACK FROM THE BALLPARK on Saturday night and could not believe how small the crowd was at Richmond for the NASCAR race. I realize NASCAR’s attendance woes aren’t exactly a new topic, which is probably why I don’t see any stories about it floating around (there may be some I’m just missing), but wow…sparse.

NASCAR estimated 89,000 at the fall race in Richmond. We know how “reliable” those estimates always were. NASCAR did away with the crowd estimates this season; probably getting tired of everybody mocking them.

I think Richmond puts on a really good show (and produced another exciting finish Saturday, with Kevin Harvick winning a green-white-checkered scrum). That’s part of the reason they had 33 straight sellouts from 1992-2008. But this race marked the 10th straight non-sellout, and boy was it ever a non-sellout. For those who did see the race: If that track holds 91,000, how many people do you think were there? 35K? 40? (Note: see comments section. Sounds like I undersold it by quite a bit.)

Of course, having been to all the Salem Red Sox home games this year, I’ve gotten a first-hand look at how attendance isn’t just a NASCAR problem. Outside of the monkey rodeo and opening night, there have been some tiny crowds — way smaller than the paid figures of 1,300-1,400 or so. We’ll see if that picks up at all once school lets out, but through 12 home dates, the Sox have the lowest average attendance in the Carolina League at 2,217 per.

FREE-AGENT SIGNINGS
-Ex-Hokie Marcus Davis signs with the Giants as an undrafted free agent. Andy rounds up where the other nondrafted Hokies wound up here.

-The Jets have released Tim Tebow after drafting Geno Smith.

-Big weekend for Virginia Tech baseball, which took two of three from No. 5 UVa by sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader.

-It’s Derby week. We’ll get into the contenders a little later in the week.

-Tonight’s NBA playoffs slate: Bulls-Nets (7 p.m., TNT), Pacers-Hawks (7:30 p.m., NBA TV) and Thunder-Rockets (9:30 p.m., TNT). Oklahoma City’s title hopes were dealt a major blow when Russell Westbrook was lost for the rest of the postseason with a knee injury.

NAME THAT TUNE
She was sippin’ on Southern and singin’ Marshall Tucker
We were falling in love in the sweet heart of summer
She hopped right up into the cab of my truck and said
“Fire it up, let’s go get this thing stuck”

Sunday’s game between the Salem Red Sox and Lynchburg Hillcats was postponed by rain. It will be made up as part of a June 13 doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m.

After climbing over .500 for the first time during their homestand, the Sox (11-10) open a seven-game road trip at Wilmington on Monday.

EVERYBODY RAKES: With five Salem players enjoying multihit performances, the Red Sox jumped on Lynchburg early Saturday and breezed to a 7-2 victory in front of 3,414 at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

MUSCLING UP: Salem second baseman Sean Coyle homered for the third time in four games, continuing his sizzling start to the season. After entering the night as the Carolina League’s leader in slugging percentage (.720), the 5-foot-8, 175-pound Coyle finished 2 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Coyle missed several games over the past two weeks with a bone bruise in his right thumb. He tried to return April 17 but felt it flare up again.

“I came back probably a little bit prematurely,” said Coyle. “I just wanted to be back in the game.”

It’s not hard to see why. He’s batting .333 with six home runs – all solo shots – after his performance Saturday.

MORE CARRY: Coyle has hit several no-doubt homers this year — extra pop that perhaps can be attributed to the five pounds he added working out this winter.

“It definitely isn’t hurting, a little bit of the strength and some of the speed I put on this offseason,” he said. “But as far as the consistency of being able to barrel balls up, it really comes down to my swing and the adjustments I’ve made there. So I’d say it’s not so much lifting the weights as being in the cage has helped me out.”

EVEN HOTTER? The only player in the Sox lineup more scorching than Coyle is third baseman Garin Cecchini, who went 2 for 3 with a pair of triples, a walk and 3 RBI on Saturday.

Over his past nine games, Cecchini has reached base a whopping 26 times – 15 on hits and 11 on walks.

“He’s just a hitter,” Coyle said. “He’ll hit the ball to left. He’ll hit the ball to right. He’ll hit change-ups, curveballs, fastballs. He spits on close pitches for balls.
“He’s something special to watch every night at the plate.”

MOUND MASTERY: The Sox (11-10) got a solid spot start out of Michael McCarthy, who earned the win by striking out seven over five innings while allowing two runs on six hits.
Noe Ramirez and Nate Striz each tossed two scoreless frames to seal it.

ON DECK: The Sox close out the weeklong homestand by sending ace LHP Henry Owens (1-1, 1.71) to the mound at 4:05 p.m. today against Lynchburg RHP A.J. Holland (1-1, 4.12). – Aaron McFarling

MONKEYS TO THE RESCUE: The Salem Red Sox picked a good night to bring the monkey rodeo to town, because there wasn’t much else for the crowd of 3,676 to savor Friday as the home team fell to Lynchburg 6-3.

PRIMATE TIME: This marked the second straight year the Sox featured a show by Team Ghost Riders, a traveling outfit that features sheep dog-riding monkeys who herd goats in the outfield.

The gang performed briefly after the fourth and seventh innings before their main event after the final out.

QUIET BATS: Much of the crowd – the largest since opening night – stuck around for the monkeys, enduring tepid offense from the Red Sox (10-10) until a modest rally in the ninth.

Lynchburg pitchers David Peterson and James Hoyt combined to hold Salem to only three hits over the first eight innings as the road team won for the fourth consecutive time in this series.

TURNING POINT: Three straight extra-base hits from Fernando De Los Santos, Matt Weaver and Elmer Reyes leading off the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie and knocked Salem starter William Cuevas from the game.

Cuevas had been flawless the first time through the order, retiring nine in a row on only 21 pitches.

“He had five innings where he was using his fastball well, moving it around and getting a lot of quick outs,” Sox pitching coach Kevin Walker said. “His pitch count was really low through five and he deserved to go back out for that sixth. Sixth inning, he started leaving a couple pitches up with his fastball and didn’t really mix in any offspeed in that inning.”

SUDDEN IMPACT: It wasn’t the first time Cuevas had been stung by one rough inning. The Venezuelan right-hander entered with a 6.39 ERA, but seven of the nine earned runs he’d allowed had come on two swings – a three-run homer and a grand slam.

“It’s good for him to get into these situations,” Walker said. “This was a guy who was in Lowell last year, so it’s a jump for him. But he’s got the stuff to make this jump.”

STILL SCORCHING: Salem’s Garin Cecchini went 2 for 4 to raise his average to .361. He has 13 hits in his past eight games.

ON DECK: As the monkeys return for one more night, Salem sends RHP Michael McCarthy (0-0, 3.77) to the mound at 6:05 against Lynchburg RHP Navery Moore (1-2, 7.27). – Aaron McFarling

(Correction: An earlier headline on this blog said today was Thursday. It ain’t.)

Hope all the NFL draftees stayed off Twitter last night. Or else they got steady diet of this:

DRAFT: Here are the results of the first round of the NFL draft, with Eric Fisher going first overall. The first QB off the board was my guy E.J. Manuel, who went 16th overall to the Bills. A CBSSports.com analyst gives the pick an F; I didn’t see it that way, but he knows more about the NFL than I. Besides, at least it wasn’t an F-minus.

-Either way, go E.J. Really likeable guy, and a Virginian to boot.

-Andy has a look at the Hokies’ draft prospects for the later rounds, while Doug explores UVa’s future pros. Coverage of rounds two and three starts tonight at 6:30 on ESPN.

-I followed the draft via Twitter from the Red Sox press box last night, which was a pretty fun way to do it. None of the scout-speak, all of the jokes — at least from the people I follow. My favorite tweet was from @RickyMast “Looking forward to the upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 film ‘The 2013 NFL Draft: From That One Guy to Whoever That Next Guy Was’”

SPEAKING OF THE RED SOX, IT’S MONKEY RODEO NIGHT today and tomorrow at Salem Memorial Ballpark. The Sox are on a bit of a roll, too, having won five of six to move over .500 for the first time this season.

COMMITTED: The Hokies get a commitment from high school quarterback Tavon McMillian.

YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? English Field is the place to be this weekend, as No. 5 UVa visits the Hokies for a three-game series that begins at 5:30 tonight. Saturday’s game is at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s is at 1. Follow @bermanroanoke and @doughtysports for updates from our Tech and UVa writers who will be there this weekend.

STILL RISING: Vinton 16-year-old Michael McGuire finishes eighth at the K&N Pro Series East race in Richmond.

NBA: Miami, Memphis and Chicago were your winners last night. Tonight’s games are Knicks-Celtics (8 p.m., ESPN), Spurs-Lakers (10:30 p.m., ESPN) and Nuggets-Warriors (10:30 p.m., ESPN2).

NAME THAT TUNE
Make up your mind
Decide to walk with me
Around the lake tonight
Around the lake tonight
By my side
By my side
I’m not gonna lie
I’ll not be a gentleman
Behind the boathouse
I’ll show you my dark secret…