I’m watching curling as we get ready to close the Olympics and get back to watching college basketball and prepare for baseball. To be honest, I never thought I would enjoy curling, but I’ve really gotten into the sport this year. Plus, it’s been on at some convenient times to watch so I’ll NBC some credit for scheduling curling live.
In the meantime, let’s provide you with some media linkage. As usual, you have your Weekend Viewing Picks which include college basketball viewing picks, Olympics viewing and English Premier League games.
To the links.
National
The Sports Business Daily/Sports Business Journal Winter Olympics site notes that NBC beat Fox’s American Idol for the second time on Thursday.
Eric Fisher of the SBD/SBJ says NBCOlympics.com and Yahoo! Sports are both claiming victory for online visitors.
The Nielsen ratings Wire blog says gold medal winners are not only on top of the podium, but also in online searches in both the US and Canada.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Michael McCarthy debate the validity of having NHL players in the Olympics.
Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred says he likes covering the Olympics for the education factor.
Etan Vlessing of Hollywood Reporter writes that the Olympic ratings in Canada have been wiping out the competition.
Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN will use its Wide World of Sports complex in Florida as its testing lab for 3-D television.
Katy Bachman from Mediaweek says Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl isn’t a fan of NBC’s online Olympics strategy.
Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life Magazine writes that the Olympics lost some momentum on NBC on Wednesday.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tiger Woods’ camp acknowledges the arranging of the now-famous photo of the golfer jogging just days before his apology last week.
In other Tiger news, Darren broke the story that Gatorade is the third sponsor to drop him.
Darren has a slideshow of the 25 Most Marketable Winter Olympians from Vancouver.
And Darren notes that the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game is the hottest ticket in Canada right now.
The Big Lead reports that the sports editor of the New York Daily News is leaving for a huge gig with ESPN.
The Sports Media Watch has a good interview with ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer about the migration of sports from ABC to the Mothership.
SMW also has an interview with ESPN Vice President of Communications Mike Soltys about the Tony Kornheiser suspension.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that the USA-Switzerland Olympic men’s hockey quarterfinal drew almost 6 million viewers on Wednesday afternoon.
Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports’ Puck Daddy says MSNBC got punked by a fake USA goalie Ryan Miller.
Sports Radio Interviews links you to a talk that Atlanta radio station, 790 The Zone conducted with ESPN’s Linda Cohn regarding Tony Kornheiser and Erin Andrews.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald reports that a WEEI producer has been suspended for sending vulgar text messages to rival sports station, WBZ-FM.
Chad Finn from the Boston Globe talks with NBC’s Al Michaels about his Miracle On Ice call.
The Worcester Telegram’s Bill Doyle writes about the new HBO documentary on Magic Johnson and Larry Bird that premieres next week.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says ESPN will take a different approach with the Olympics if it wins the rights for the 2014/2016 Games.
Lynn Zinser of the Times notes that NBC identified the wrong man as Joannie Rochette’s father during her short program during the ladies’ figure skating competition.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels the media has helped to make Alex Rodriguez a sympathetic figure. Another stretch by the old, tired media critic.
Phil Mushnick in the New Yok Post waxes poetic on NBC’s Mike Emrick.
Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in the Baltimore-centric Press Box that Joe Angel returns this season to become the main radio voice of the Orioles.
Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner speaks with an NBC Sports official about the increase in traffic for NBCOlympics.com.
Jim also speaks with NBC figure skating analyst Dick Button.
Tim Lemke tries to understand the complicated figure skating scoring system.
South
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says South Florida is at the bottom of the Olympic TV ratings.
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wishes ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike a happy 10th anniversary on the air.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has the radio ratings for January in the Metroplex.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle profiles a Texan who’s helping to produce the in-house radio feed at the Vancouver Olympics.
David says the Astros will have a record amount of games on Fox Sports Houston.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman has comments from NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock.
Midwest
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local TV station is using its news anchors to do the late sports reports.
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Fox Sports Ohio will air 145 Reds games this season.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some observations on NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.
Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says in just one day, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen became a Twitter sensation.
Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times feels the NHL has to do something to capitalize on the popularity of Olympic hockey on the networks of NBC.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at the Gateway City’s sports radio ratings.
Dan says the newest sports radio station in town has made a significant impact in just one short year.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News says despite the tape delays, the Olympic TV ratings in Salt Lake City have been among the highest in the nation.
The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner finally joins the chorus of Americans complaining about NBC’s tape delayed Olympics coverage.
John Maffei of the North County Times feels NBC made some bad decisions when it came to Olympic hockey.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the hardly-seen Universal Sports carved out a good niche for itself during the Olympics.
Jim has some various news and notes.
Jim Peltz of the Los Angeles Times says the Anaheim Angels have yet to name a replacement for TV play-by-play man Rory Markas who died during the offseason.
Diane Pucin of the Times looks at how people are discussing sports on Twitter and other social networks.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the 2010 Dodgers TV schedule.
Tom says you can buy a new 3D TV at Sears.
Tom notes that the locally-based Universal Sports is churning out Olympics-centric programming.
Tom has his weekly news and notes.
Tom reviews the week in Olympics TV.
Canada
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Canada’s athletes are producing compelling TV during the Olympics.
Chris is amazed at the ratings for the Olympics on CTV.
William Houston in Truth & Rumours has CBC’s Don Cherry predicting gold for Canada.
That’s going to conclude our links for Friday.
