At the highest levels of football, running back is a position long held almost exclusively by African-Americans. Naturally, then, on the rare occasions a white star emerges at the position, it inevitably turns into a hot-button racial issue, with questions usually taking the general form of “Why aren’t there more white running backs?” The white running back of the moment is Toby Gerhart, a Stanford product who has an outside shot at getting selected in tonight’s first round of the NFL draft. The debate on race’s possible role in Gerhart’s public perception was enough for Sean Hannity to invite former NFL running back/CBS football analyst Spencer Tillman and sports pundit/loud person Stephen A. Smith on his show to debate whether race is hurting Gerhart’s draft stock. Smith didn’t think so, Tillman was worried it was. Video below.

Television punditry is a wicked game of power and prestige, but one’s sphere of influence has been historically difficult to measure. But not anymore! Thanks to the our friends at TVEyes, we now know exactly how many times one’s name gets mentioned on air. So who’s getting the most mentions this week? Well, using the mix of magic and math that is the Mediaite Power Grid Here are the top 25 TV pundits of the week.

Meet Stephen A. Smith, former ESPN personality and sports shouter, current FOX social commentator, and… ‘the black Glenn Beck‘? Today on Fox Sports, Smith published a column about the Gilbert Arenas gun situation that was decidedly Glenn-esque.

Conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh is part of a team of investors that may buy the NFL franchise St. Louis Rams, and since the news broke the story has taken on a life of its own.

Active players and the head of the NFL Players union are speaking out against the move, and cable news networks across the board are debating the possibility. But when push comes to shove, is all the uproar just hype?

CNN consistently bills themselves as the “news” network, with Fox News on the right and MSNBC on the left.

But could they be looking to shore up their stable of opinion-makers?

We’ve written earlier about the rotating sidekicks on Morning Meeting Dylan Ratigan (the various “Mikas” to Dylan’s “Joe,” if you will), which began on last Monday’s premiere episode with former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. We were told by MSNBC he wouldn’t be the everyday sidekick, but has since appeared prominently this week as well. [...]