This weekend, Troy Aikman finds himself in position to critique the man whose critiques helped make him a Hall of Famer.

The analyst on Fox's No. 1 NFL broadcast team -- working with play-by-play man Joe Buck and sideline reporter Pam Oliver -- Aikman will be in San Diego to call Sunday's Bears-Chargers season opener at Qualcomm Stadium.

For the first time since the former great Dallas Cowboys quarterback retired from football and joined Fox in 2001, he'll call a game involving Norv Turner, the man Aikman says "had a tremendous impact on my career."

Turner, the Chargers' new head coach, served as the Cowboys' offensive coordinator in the early 1990s, helping transform Aikman from talented prospect into Hall of Fame quarterback. Aikman earned his first two Super Bowl rings during Turner's final two seasons with the team, 1992 and '93.

And while both Turner and Aikman have been around the coaching and TV block since then, Aikman has never had to review his former mentor during a game.

"I only know Norv as anoffensive coordinator," Aikman said. "Those three years he spent with me in Dallas were the three best years of my career. Obviously, I'm biased about his abilities.

"This is clearly the best team he has had to coach, so offensively they're going to continue to be good. But this is his last opportunity to show what he can do as a head coach.

"And I guess as a friend, I hope he does very well."

Will that friendship reflect in Aikman's commentary Sunday?

"When people ask me if I can be critical of Norv, I just laugh," Aikman said. "That was the most-asked question when I got into broadcasting: Can I be critical of people I played with or for?

"I will be honest and accurate. I will give the viewers good, solid commentary, no matter who is playing or coaching."

That said, Aikman is picking the Chargers to win the AFC.

"I just think that team is so talented in so many key areas," Aikman said.

In the NFC, Aikman likes the Eagles.

"Philadelphia is hard to bet against," he said. "I think Dallas will be pretty good. In the NFC overall, it's pretty easy to go with Chicago."

More NFL

Seemingly every network has a piece of the NFL. Following is a brief rundown on where to find what:

• CBS -- In its 48th NFL season, the network has rights to Sunday day games involving visiting AFC teams. That means 11 Chargers games are on CBS. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are the lead announcing team.

Other crews include Greg Gumbel-Dan Dierdorf, Dick Enberg-Randy Cross, Kevin Harlan-Rich Gannon, Ian Eagle-Solomon Wilcotts, Gus Johnson-Steve Tasker and Don Criqui-Steve Beuerlein.

The cast of the pregame show includes host James Brown and analysts Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe. Ex-Steelers coach Bill Cowher joins the cast this season.

• Fox -- Televising NFL games since 1994, the network has Sunday day games involving visiting teams from the NFC. In addition to Buck and Aikman, Fox's crews are Kenny Albert-Daryl Johnston, Dick Stockton-Brian Baldinger, Sam Rosen-Tim Ryan, Matt Vasgersian-JC Pearson and Ron Pitts-Tony Boselli. Tony Siragusa works the sideline for Albert and Johnston.

Fox will air the Lions-Chargers game on Dec. 16.

Curt Menefee hosts the pregame show that returns to Fox's Los Angeles studios. The cast also includes Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson, with Barry Switzer joining this season.

• NBC -- The network is the home to Sunday night games, with Al Michaels and John Madden returning in the broadcast booth and Andrea Kremer working the sidelines. NBC has two Chargers games: Sept. 16 at New England and Nov. 11 at home against the Colts. Bob Costas returns to host the pregame show. He's joined by Keith Olbermann, Tiki Barber, Cris Collinsworth and Jerome Bettis.

• ESPN -- In its second season of "Monday Night Football," the network brings back announcers Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser. Joe Theismann is gone, replaced by Ron Jaworski.

ESPN kicks off the season Monday with a doubleheader: Ravens-Bengals at 4 p.m. and Cardinals-49ers at 7:15 p.m. The Chargers have one ESPN game: Dec. 24 at home against the Broncos.

• The NFL Network -- Available to Cox Cable customers with the sports tier, the network has eight late-season games -- five on Thursday and three on Saturday. Bryant Gumbel and Collinsworth are the announcers. The Chargers do not have a game on this network.

• Postseason -- NBC has a wild-card doubleheader on Jan. 5 while CBS and Fox have wild-card games on Jan. 6. CBS and Fox have divisional playoff games on Jan 12 and 13. The AFC and NFC Championship games are Jan. 20 on CBS and Fox. Fox has Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3.

No Aztecs TV

Hey, that sure is some great TV deal San Diego State has.

The Mountain West Conference has nine football teams, and eight are on TV Saturday. The ninth team, San Diego State, isn't.

And the Aztecs play a good Pac-10 foe, Washington State, in Seattle.

I have no problem with the Brigham Young-UCLA game on Versus, the Texas Christian-Texas game on FSN, California-Colorado State on CSTV or Air Force-Utah on the mtn.

But who outside of the immediate areas is going to watch Utah State-Wyoming on Versus, Wisconsin-Nevada Las Vegas on Versus and New Mexico State-New Mexico on the mtn.? The Mountain West Conference has a horrible TV deal with the mtn.

TV coverage is dictated by the home team's conference. Saturday's SDSU-WSU game falls to the Pac-10, which didn't deem it worthy of coverage.

So Aztecs fans will have to be content with listening to the radio team of Ted Leitner and Lee Hamilton on KOGO (600), the school's new flagship station.

This is your basic fire-and-gasoline pairing. I'll be listening when the Aztecs kick off at 4 p.m. to hear what happens in the booth as well as on the field.

Craig Elsten will serve as the pregame, halftime and postgame host for Aztecs football on KOGO.

Local notes

• With Vasgersian off to call an NFL game Sunday for Fox -- Lions-Raiders, which will be seen in 5 percent of the country -- Steve Quis and Mark Grant will work the Padres' three-game series in Colorado this weekend for Channel 4.

• Josh Lewin, the Chargers' radio play-by-play man, has a couple of easy travel weeks. Saturday, he'll work the Dodgers-Giants TV game in San Francisco for Fox, then jet to San Diego for Sunday's Bears-Chargers game in Qualcomm Stadium. Next week, he'll call the Yankees-Red Sox game in Fenway Park for Fox. He won't even have to change hotels, as the Chargers meet the Patriots in New England the next day.

• Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn will work Sunday's Nationals-Braves game on TBS with Chip Caray. Gwynn and Caray will be paired on the TBS coverage of National League postseason games.

• Ben Maller is the new weekday overnight guy at Fox Sports Radio. "The Third Shift," as the show is called, runs from 11 p.m.-3 a.m. and can be heard on XX Sports Radio 1090 after Padres postgame shows. Maller, who works with former Poway resident Karen Kay, worked at the old XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego and does a nice job of keeping a late-night show moving and not getting bogged down with bad callers.

Soccer in the spotlight

The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off Sunday and runs through the end of the month.

ESPN and ESPN2 will carry all 32 matches live from China.

The big problem with live coverage from China, however, is that most matches start before the average person is out of bed -- at 1:55 and 4:55 a.m. And the U.S. team draws the early slot for its first two games -- Tuesday against North Korea and next Friday against Sweden. The third U.S. match in pool play is scheduled for Sept. 18 at 4:55 a.m. against Nigeria.

JP Dellacamera and former U.S. national team captain Julie Foudy will call the U.S. games.

Adrian Healy and Ohio State women's coach Lori Walker are the second ESPN play-by-play team.

Around the dial

• After a seven-year absence, NASCAR Nextel Cup racing returns to ABC on Saturday night with the broadcast of the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at 4 p.m. ABC's announcing crew includes play-by-play man Dr. Jerry Punch and analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree.

• NBA TV and ESPN Classic will have live coverage of the 2007 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony from Springfield, Mass., at 4:30 p.m. today. Before the ceremony, NBA TV will have a 60-minute special "Phil Jackson: NBA Maverick," chronicling the career of the current Lakers coach, who will be inducted. That show starts at 3:30 p.m. Other Hall of Fame inductees are North Carolina coach Roy Williams, four-time WNBA championship coach Van Chancellor, late NBA referee Mendy Rudolph, international coaches Pedro Ferrandiz and Mirko Novosel and the 1966 NCAA champion Texas Western Miners.

• The Golf Channel will have 26 hours of coverage from the Solheim Cup, the women's team match-play competition between the United States and Europe. Play starts at 11 p.m. Thursday and Friday from Sweden and runs 10 consecutive hours. There will be six hours of coverage starting at 1 a.m. next Sunday. Brian Hammons and Dottie Pepper anchor the network's coverage.

- John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.