Behind the Broadcast: Catalon gets his shot in NFL booth Sunday

PHOTOGRAPHER: Ken Schott

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Andrew Catalon’s sportscasting career just keeps getting better and better.

Already having broadcast from the Olympics for NBC and U.S. Open in 3D and the Masters for CBS, Catalon can add another prime assignment to his resume.

Catalon, the weekend sports

anchor and sports reporter at NBC13 (WNYT), will call Sunday’s NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals at 1 p.m. Bills fans in the Capital Region can rejoice because they will be able to watch the game without needing DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket. CBS6 (WRGB) will televise the game at 1 p.m. The New York Jets, who have been on CBS6 the past two weeks, are on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”

Catalon will join analyst and former Bills wide receiver Steve Tasker on the broadcast.

“It’s a great honor, and I’m really excited to do the game with Steve Tasker,” Catalon said. “Now, with the Bills at 3-0, it’s a great storyline going into Cincinnati.”

Unless Bills fans have DirecTV or went to a sports bar with the NFL Sunday Ticket, they didn’t get to see Buffalo’s thrilling 34-31 victory over the New England Patriots last Sunday. Instead, Capital Region viewers saw the New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game at 4 p.m.

Having broadcast two U.S. Opens and the Masters last April for CBS helped get Catalon in the door for a shot at calling an NFL game for the network. It was also a plus that he called four Cleveland Browns preseason games in August for a Cleveland TV station.

“I’ve developed a relationship with [CBS],” Catalon said. “Certainly, for me, doing those Browns games this summer was a huge help for me just to get the reps and get the experience. It just kind of came together.”

When the NFL schedule came out earlier in the year, no one could have envisioned that the Bills would be off to a 3-0 start.

“I think it’s great,” Catalon said. “It’s certainly good for me, in the sense that the Bills are one of the teams everyone’s talking about right now. They had a huge win against the Patriots. The people in our area who are Bills fans will be excited, just as excited as I am.”

Catalon has been preparing for Sunday’s broadcast for a couple of weeks.

“I’ve been able to get a really good head start on my charts,” Catalon said. “I’ve also been able to watch every one of their games, so it’s been helpful to go over all of their games and all of their plays and see the style for each team.”

NFL

Sunday

CBS6 and CBS6 HD — Buffalo at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. (Andrew Catalon/Steve Tasker); New England at Oakland, 4:15 p.m. (Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots).

FOX23 and FOX23 HD — N.Y. Giants at Arizona, 4 p.m. (Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa).

NBC13 and NBC13 HD — N.Y. Jets at Baltimore, 8:20 p.m. (Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya).

Monday

ESPN and ESPN HD — Indianapolis at Tampa Bay, 8:30 p.m. (Mike Tirico/Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski).

College Football

Today

Time Warner Cable Sports-3 and TWCS-3 HD — Rutgers at Syracuse, noon (Mike Gleason/John Congemi/Eamon McAnaney); Alfred St. at St. John Fisher, 4 p.m. (announcers TBA); Hawaii at Louisiana Tech,

7 p.m. (Trey Bender/Jay Taylor).

CBS6 and CBS6 HD — Air Force at Navy, noon (Ian Eagle/Randy Cross); Auburn at South Carolina, 3:30 p.m. (Spero Dedes/Steve Beuerlein/Otis Livingston); Alabama at Florida, 8 p.m. (Verne Lundquis/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson).

ESPN and ESPN HD — Texas A&M vs. Arkansas, noon (Dave Pasch/Chris Spielman and Urban Meyer/Shelley Smith); Georgia Tech at North Carolina State,

3:30 p.m. (Mike Patrick/Craig James); Notre Dame at Purdue, 8 p.m. (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe).

ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD — Northwestern at Illinois, noon (Beth Mowins/Mike Bellotti); Clemson at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m. (Mark Jones/Ed Cunningham/Quint Kessenich); Mississippi at Fresno State, 9:15 p.m. (Carter Blackburn/Brock Huard).

MSG and MSG HD — Kentucky at LSU, noon (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano).

MSG Plus and MSG Plus HD — Robert Morris at Monmouth, noon (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy/John Schmeelk); Arizona at Southern California, 3:30 p.m. (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis); Washington at Utah, 7 p.m. (Ron Thulin/JC Pearson/Jeremy Bloom); UCLA at Stanford, 10:30 p.m. (Joel Meyers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox).

ESPNU and ESPNU HD — Penn State at Indiana, noon (Clay Matvick/Brian Griese/Allison Williams); Bethune-Cookman at Miami, 3:30 p.m. (Adam Amin/Dan Hawkins); Duke at Florida International, 7 p.m. (Rob Stone/Danny Kanell).

Big Ten Network and BTN HD — Minnesota at Michigan, noon (Eric Collins/Chris Martin/Dionne Miller).

CBS Network and CBSN HD — Tulane at Army, noon (Gary Thorne/Tim Brant); Southern Methodist at Texas Christian, 3:30 p.m. (Dave Ryan/Rich Rodriguez/Kaylee Hartung); North Carolina at East Carolina, 8 p.m. (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Brooke Collins).

ESPN3.com — Toledo at Temple, noon (Michael Reghi/Doug Graber); Mississippi State at Georgia, noon (announcers TBA); Cincinnati at Miami (Ohio), 1 p.m. (Jim Barbar/John Gregory); Baylor at Kansas State, 3:30 p.m. (Bob Wischusen/Bob Davie); Northern Illinois at Central Michigan, 3:30 p.m. (Dan Gutowsky/Bob Chmeil); Idaho at Virginia, 3:30 p.m. (Shawn Kenney/Rob Harley); Bowling Green at West Virginia, 3:30 p.m. (Rob King/John Thornton); Marshall at Louisville, 3:30 p.m. (announcers TBA); Towson at Maryland, 3:30 p.m. (announcers TBA); Arkansas State at Western Kentucky, 4 p.m. (announcers TBA); Memphis at Middle Tennessee State, 7 p.m. (announcers TBA); Florida Atlantic at Louisiana-Lafayette, 7 p.m. (announcers TBA);

MY4 and MY4 HD — Wake Forest at Boston College, 12:30 p.m. (Steve Martin/Dave Neal/Scott Pryzwansky).

Time Warner Cable Sports-1 — Buffalo at Tennessee, 12:30 p.m. (Matt Stewart/Chris Doering).

Versus and Versus HD — Nevada at

Boise State, 2:30 p.m. (Paul Burmeister/Shaun King/Anthony Herron).

ABC10 and ABC10 HD — Michigan State at Ohio State, 3:30 p.m. (Sean McDonough/Matt Millen/Heather Cox); Nebraska at Wisconsin, 8 p.m. (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Erin Andrews).

SNY and SNY HD — Western Michigan at Connecticut, 3:30 p.m. (Bob Picozzi/John Bunting).

FOX College Sports Pacific — Washington State at Colorado, 3:30 p.m. (Steve Physioc/Yogi Roth/Desmond Purnell); Oregon State at Arizona State, 10:30 p.m. (Tom Leander/Adam Archuletta/Mark McClune).

FOX College Sports Atlantic — Penn at Dartmouth, 6 p.m. (Eric Frede/Steve DiOssie/Katy Fitzpatrick).

Thursday

ESPNU and ESPNU HD — Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. (Anish Shroff/Jay Walker).

CBS Network and CBSN HD — Colorado School of Mines at Colorado State-Pueblo, 8 p.m. (announcers TBA).

ESPN and ESPN HD — California at Oregon, 9 p.m. (Rece Davis/Craig James and Jesse Palmer/Jenn Brown).

Friday

ESPN and ESPN HD — Boise State at Fresno State, 9 p.m. (Joe Tessitore/Rod Gilmore).

Parting shots

The Major League Baseball playoffs continue this weekend, with most games on TBS and TBS HD. Today’s games — Arizona-Milwaukee at 2 p.m., St. Louis-Philadelphia at 5. and Detroit-N.Y. Yankees at 8:30 — will be on TBS and TBS HD. The Tampa Bay-Texas game will be on TNT and TNT HD at 7. On Sunday, TBS and TBS HD has Arizona-Milwaukee at 4:30, St. Louis-Philadelphia at 8:30. . . .

The NHL season begins Thursday with a double-header on Versus and Versus HD. The Boston Bruins

raise their Stanley Cup banner when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at 7. The nightcap features the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Vancouver Canucks, who lost to the Bruins in the final, at 10. Glens Falls native Dave Strader will call that game. . . .

NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip will join his brother, Darrell, in the broadcast booth for FOX Sports’ NASCAR coverage next season, it was announced Thursday. The Waltrips, along with Chris Myers, will be in the “Hollywood Hotel” for the prerace show. FOX also announced that former crew chief Jeff Hammond will move from the booth to the pits. . . .

NBC13 sports director Rodger Wyland turns 50 on Monday.