I'm not a fan of reality TV.

I don't watch "Survivor," no matter if they're at Fiji, the Arctic or the moon.

I tried watching "American Idol," but the judges are the stars, not the performers.

You won't catch me tuning in to "The Amazing Race," "The Apprentice," "Fear Factor," "Hitched or Ditched," "America's Next Top Model" or "Project Runway."

I have tuned in to "Dancing with the Stars" to catch an athlete.

But one reality show has piqued my interest, obviously because it involves sports.

The MLB Network debuts its first original series Sunday, a reality program called "The Pen," which follows members of the Philadelphia Phillies in their bullpen.

Narrated by former Phillies reliever Mitch Williams, "The Pen" follows members of the Philadelphia bullpen from the end of the 2008 World Series up to the All-Star Game.

The series features Phillies relievers Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, J.C. Romero, Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey, Chad Durbin, Gary Majewski, Jack Taschner, J.A. Happ and Chan Ho Park and bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer.

Cameras follow the players everywhere -- from fishing trips to youth baseball games to the White House.

Cameras and microphones were installed in the bullpen and the MLB Network was granted unprecedented access.

MLB Network producer Danny Fields, a former college catcher, even suited up as a catcher with a camera attached to his mask to get footage during spring training.

"We've never had such continued open access to one team's players during spring training and the regular season," said David Gavant, executive in charge of production for MLB Productions. "Our goal was to shed light on the pressure-filled lives these players live on the field and how they unwind off the field."

The first installment of the show airs at 5 p.m. Sunday and at either 6 or 5:30 p.m. Sundays through the conclusion on July 26.

College World Series

It's a great week for college baseball fans with ESPN and ESPN2 carrying every game of the College World Series from Omaha, Neb.

The feature game for local fans is at 11 a.m. Sunday on ESPN with Arizona State playing North Carolina. Former Fallbrook High star Mike Leake is slated to pitch for the Sun Devils. Leake was a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds (eighth overall) on Tuesday in the baseball draft. He will face Dustin Ackley of North Carolina, who was taken second in the draft by the Seattle Mariners.

Mike Patrick, Sean McDonough and Karl Ravech are the play-by-play announcers with Orel Hershiser and Robin Ventura the analysts.

Erin Andrews and Kyle Peterson will roam the stadium as reporters.

Action runs through June 24 in the eight-team, double-elimination event.

More baseball

- The Padres, in cooperation with Cox Communications, will present 43 of the team's road games on the big screen at the Park in the Park at Petco Park. All elements of the park will remain open, including the opportunity to bring leashed dogs into the area. Picnic Hill, the youth baseball field and the children's tot lot will all be open. All the normal concession stands will be open for Friday and Saturday games. The event launches Friday for the Padres' 7:05 p.m. game with the Angels in Anaheim.

- Harold Reynolds was clearly the star of the MLB Network's presentation of the baseball draft. Still, as much as I love baseball, its draft doesn't play well on TV. It's too long, there is too much time between picks and people don't know the players.

Soccer time

ESPN and ESPN2 will carry 16 matches from the 2009 Confederations Cup from South African cities Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein.

The eight-team event is basically a World Cup 2010 test run, but there are reasons to tune in.

The tournament features the World Cup host, the World Cup holder and the six confederation champions.

Group A is South Africa, Spain, Iraq and New Zealand.

Group B is the U.S., Italy, Brazil and Egypt.

Any tournament featuring Spain, Italy and Brazil is worth watching. U.S. fans get to see their team against top-notch opponents.

The U.S. plays Italy at 11:25 a.m. Monday on ESPN and Brazil at 6:55 a.m. on Thursday on ESPN2.

The tournament runs from Sunday through June 28. The semifinals are June 20-21 with the third-place game and championship on June 28.

ESPN will use all its best soccer announcers -- JP Dellacamera and John Harkes, Derek Rose and Tommy Smyth, as well as Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe -- on the telecasts. Rece Davis and Alexi Lalas will be in the studio.

Ratings game

- CBS' final-round coverage of the PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament last Sunday -- with Tiger Woods overcoming a four-stroke deficit to beat Jim Furyk -- scored a 3.6 rating with a 9 share of the audience, up 100 percent over last year when Ernie Els won and Woods was third. Is there any question about Woods' drawing power?

- Game 3 of the NBA finals between the Lakers and Magic on ABC was the most viewed show on TV Tuesday night with an 8.6 rating and 14.196 million viewers. Game 2 did an 8.2 rating with 10.3 million viewers. Game 1 did a 7.8 rating with 10.1 million viewers. All three games have been the most viewed programs this month.

- ABC posted a 5.0 rating for last Saturday's coverage of the Belmont Stakes. That's up 43 percent from 2007 and 32 percent from 2006, but down 47 percent from last year when there was a Tripe Crown candidate.

- Fox averaged 8.5 million viewers for its portion of the NASCAR Car Sprint Cup this season.

NFL notes

- Adam Schefter will join ESPN as an NFL correspondent. Schefter, who had worked for the NFL Network since 2004, will appear on all of ESPN's NFL platforms. Prior to joining the NFL Network, he covered the Denver Broncos for 15 years for the Denver Post.

- Jason La Canfora, longtime Redskins beat writer for The Washington Post, will join the NFL Network.

- The NFL has invited 24 current or former players to its "Broadcast Boot Camp" that runs from June 22-25 at the NFL Films headquarters in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. The program is designed to introduce the players to the broadcast business. Among those invited are La'Roi Glover, Antwaan Randle El, Andrew Walter, Priest Holmes, Maurice Jones-Drew, Joe Jurevicius and Matt Light.

- Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. chose ESPN's Chris Berman as his presenter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony on Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio.

Around the dial

- Boxing fans can catch the Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey welterweight title bout at 7:35 p.m. Saturday live from Madison Square Garden on a free HBO weekend. Cotto is 33-1 with 27 KOs. Clottey is 35-2 with 20 KOs. HBO has postponed the June 20 Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye heavyweight title bout, but will return with a doubleheader on June 27.

- The Golf Channel is the only place to catch this weekend's LPGA Championship, the second women's major of the season. Brian Hammons and Dottie Pepper are the lead broadcast team. They will be joined by Tom Abbott, Kay Cockerill, Beth Daniel, Donna Caponi and Rich Lerner. Play continues at 9:30 a.m. Friday, and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is a prime-time repeat at 4 p.m. Friday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

John Maffei's Tube Talk column appears every Friday. He can be reached at 760-740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.