For seven years, about the only thing to watch on Spike TV, other than Seagal straight-to-DVD movies, is UFC. Seriously, UFC Unleashed is on like every five minutes; along with seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, and preliminary fights before UFC events. But that is now about to change.

UFC is taking its talents to Fox, and the FX Network, which is essentially basic cable HBO. No complaints here, they have terrific programming.

That deal included four live specials, two seasons per year of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, “Unleashed” – a compilation of one hour shows airing old fights, the important “Countdown” specials aired several times per week that build up the major pay-per-view events and other special programming. Shows like “Unleashed” and “The Best of Pride Fighting Championship” were cornerstones to Spike’s programming and as recently as two years ago, UFC programming often took up half of the network’s prime-time hours in a given week.

But will Spike be okay without UFC to bolster its programming? Well, probably not. Even with diminished ratings it’s still the only draw for the network.

UFC live events on Spike averaged a 1.7 rating from the inception of live specials in 2005 through 2009. But numbers declined to a 1.26 average in 2010. The three events so far this year have rebounded to a 1.37.

“TUF” has been a mixed bag. The late 2010 season featuring coaches Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck was among the highest rated in its history. But even with the company’s biggest drawing card, Brock Lesnar, coaching against Junior Dos Santos in the spring 2011 season, it was the lowest-rated season in the history of the show.

“Unleashed,” a one-hour taped show, had declined more dramatically as the novelty of UFC programming wore off, dropping from an 0.8 average in the early days to an 0.4 this year. As numbers declined, so did Spike’s prime-time average, falling from a top-15 network to where it frequently struggles to crack the top 25. Over the past two years, the number of prime-time hours devoted to UFC has greatly decreased.

Whatever, just get rid of Tito Ortiz and let’s get this thing rolling!

(slams head into wall, stumbles backwards, falls over coffee table)

Update: The worldwide leader in sports is now reporting it, I guess it’s official.

Additional programming on FX, Fuel TV and Fox Sports Net launches in January. FX will host 32 live fight events a year on Friday nights, including six UFC cards and a complete revamp of the promotion’s instrumental reality program “The Ultimate Fighter,” which finishes its run on Spike TV with Season 14 starting in September.

Sounds terrific! Now I can tell the women that won’t date me that I am staying home for work!

Scum-of-the-earth former Steeler and potential suicide victim Terry Bradshaw joined the insufferable Joe Buck, and his life partner Troy Aikman in the Fox booth to call the Steelers/Eagles game and let’s just say it wasn’t quite as bad as Dennis Miller on MNF. Oh, and Vick looked like dog shit, too. Andy Reid must have walked off the field and taken his van straight to Geno’s for some comfort cheese-steaks.

Among the musings by Bradshaw that deserve some mention;

He hates the new rules about kickoffs; and so does Aikman (me too);

He announced that he was jet-lagged and then referred to Hawaii as being outside of the U.S.;

He described himself as “emotional” this evening;

He referred to Lions first round draft pick and currently injured “runningback Nick Fairley;”

He called Joe Buck’s raspy voice, (Buck was fighting a cold) “sexy,” and then made a gay joke to Aikman; and

Bradshaw called the Bar exam more difficult then the NFL rule book (I think he meant the other way around).

Oh, Terry, don’t ever change. Especially your everyman dome pate.

In a summer that has already included the dismissal of the scarlet vest, and the sanctioning of the only professional football team currently in Los Angeles, we have now been treated to the story of mini-Madoff super-booster Nevin Shapiro, currently serving a score of hard-time for his own $930 million ponzi scheme. It involves many famous former ‘Canes, 73 players overall, including Vince Wilfork, Devin Hester, Kellen Winslow II, Andre Johnson, Jonathan Vilma, and many, many others. In addition to providing players with things every college kid dreams of; free food, booze, and sex, Shapiro then turned around and closed them on joining his Axcess Sports agency. Not bad.

It turns out that even when ESPN purportedly does something right, in this case the excellent “30 for 30″ documentary series, documenting the incredible run by “The U” in the 1980s and into the early 2000′s, there was still one more chapter to be written. One by a emotionally wounded 5’5″ inmate, who hopefully has enough cigarettes and phone time to keep him an anal virgin.

An incredible report by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! sports lays out the dets and the best reason to go to the U to play football:

Shapiro said he violated NCAA rules with the knowledge or direct participation of at least six coaches – Clint Hurtt, Jeff Stoutland and Aubrey Hill on the football staff, and Frank Haith, Jake Morton and Jorge Fernandez on the basketball staff. Multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports Shapiro also violated NCAA rules with football assistant Joe Pannunzio, although the booster refused to answer any questions about that relationship. Shapiro also named assistant football equipment manager Sean Allen as someone who engaged in rulebreaking, and equipment managers Ralph Nogueras and Joey Corey as witnesses to some of his impropriety.

God, when I visited colleges all we did was take some crappy tour of the dorms, while overzealous parents asked about the cafeteria and classes being offered:

Visits to strip clubs and night clubs were the most consistent staple of Shapiro’s relationship with players, dating back to 2002 and running nearly up to his incarceration in April of 2010. One of Shapiro’s bodyguards said his security detail had a consistent routine in place that it repeated several times a week: travel to a nightclub or strip club prior to Shapiro; make the club security aware that the booster would be arriving with a large group; secure Shapiro’s VIP area; and be on hand to whisk the booster and his contingent of players past any lines and into the privacy of their own area, where Shapiro would often spend thousands of dollars per night on bottles of liquor and champagne.

Say what? Duplicity from the coaches? I hope somebody alerted Coach Tressel before he leaves Browns practice.

Frankly, Tressel looked the other way on a couple cars and some tattoos and got a trophy; while Shapiro ran up enormous bar/hooker tabs and didn’t get squat. Basically, Buckeyes come cheaper, and get more bang for your buck. Nice going, Shapiro!

The University of Miami, come for the weather, stay for the freebies and hookers.

God bless the New York Jets. One season after their priceless turn on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” the Jets entered the abbreviated NFL preseason as if the cameras never stopped rolling. First, there was Rex. Then there was Plax. Then Rex again. Now, Mark Sanchez is taking his turn at dishing out some crazy, this time about the near-benching he suffered at the hands of his old coach, ole’ Rexual:

“I wanted to fight him [Jets' coach Rex Ryan],” Sanchez says in the current issue of GQ magazine, which features the New York Jets‘ star on the cover. “I was really mad.”

No matter how this baby ends, it’s going to be a great season.

First, let’s give Sanchez a brief “atta boy” for standing up to his coaches. That takes balls. Especially when you’re a career 70.2 passer. Now, for the facts.

Last year, Sanchez was handed the keys to the Jets offense — all he had to do was find a way to not screw it up. With a revitalized running game and a receiving core that was three to four targets deep, this should not have been a problem. It was. Needless to say, the 2010 Jets bore the resemblance of so many Baltimore teams that Rex helped oversee before he came to New York. And I bet Trent Dilfer would’ve traded the offensive talent he had in 2000 for Sanchez’s 2010 supporting class.

See Mark, if the Jets really didn’t believe in you, they’d bring in a veteran quarterback who didn’t hit his prime in the last century. Maybe they’d find an offensive coordinator who’d actually challenge you to throw the ball beyond eight yards. They haven’t, and probably won’t. They’ve hitched their wagon to your golden arm and six-pack abs. So, keep your mouth shut, your shirt on, and get to work. After this season Rex and co. will probably still be around. If you can’t improve upon that TD/INT ratio, you won’t.

The Deuce tends to play fast and loose with stories; leading our overzealous reporters to report on news that may not actually be true; like when I tell people that I have had sex with a woman; or that I am potty trained.

Today I come bearing better news that much like the NFLPA and the NFL owners, Zuffa and Golden Glory are in negotiations to bring Alistair Overeem to the UFC, to promptly pop the bubble of hype around the former Strikeforce heavyweight champion.

Fuel our anticipation and false hope, ESPN:

Bas Boon, who represents Overeem through Dutch management firm Golden Glory, clarified to ESPN.com that the 31-year-old fighter is currently “in a negotiation period with Zuffa.” Boon declined to discuss details, though sources familiar with the arrangement between Overeem and Strikeforce explained the fighter is bound to exclusive and separate 120-day negotiation and matching periods with the Las Vegas-based promoter.

Zuffa, through a representative, declined to comment on Overeem’s contractual status.

during a pre-fight interview for UFC on VS 5, Mr. Clean spokes model Dana White said that the UFC would love to add Overeem, but that Golden Glory (sounds like the production company my ex works for out in the Valley, she does DP, and I don’t mean baseball) would have to play by UFC’s rules. UFC doesn’t want to pay tribute to GG to use their fighters; they prefer to pay the fighters directly. GG counters that they handle promotion; marketing for the fights; and provide a buffer to ensure that international fighters get their proper attention, and protection, when they fight in the U.S. GG also promotes fights for Fedor Emelianenko.

Taking advantage of immigrants in one of the things America does best, so why should that change now? Also, don’t hold your breath waiting for Dana White to cave. He’s like a bald, blunt, and far less appealing Ronald Reagan. Okay, bad comparison GO WRITE YOUR OWN POST! (pops coin into Peep Show booth).