I got up early this morning (not that you care) and it now enables me to do some links for you. Some good stuff out today.
First USA Today’s Mike McCarthy, we learn that Joe Theismann claims he has not been told about any changes to the NFL Network Thursday Night Football booth. Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reported earlier this week that Mike Mayock is replacing Theismann and Matt Millen. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser for the link.
Back to Marcus at SportsNewser, he tells us that the Los Angeles Times is explaining why it chose to print the homophobic slur Kobe Bryant used against a referee in an NBA game this week.
CNBC’s Brian Beers has three cities to where the Sacramento Kings should relocate and they don’t include Los Angeles.
Kathleen E. McLaughlin of Global Post says an economic summit in Communist China led officials to ban several TV channels including Golf Channel.
There’s a controversy brewing in Philadelphia over a she said/she said story that was originally posted in the Naked Philadelphian blog where Sarah Madson, the wife of Phillies pitcher Ryan Madson was quoted as saying she hates Phillies fans and they’re rude and she won’t live in the city in the offseason. Deadspin picked up the story and the story boomeranged from there.
But Kyle Scott from the Crossing Broad blog did some investigating and found that the writer of the post, Laura Goldman has a rather checkered past. While Mrs. Madson has not denied the quote, the Phillies issued a statement that Goldman never identified herself as a reporter, nor did she record the conversation with Madson. For her part, Goldman said she did identify herself not just once but several times.
Kyle has written a post for CBS Philadelphia on the whole matter and again, he questions Goldman’s credibility. The whole question on bloggers and ethics is coming up again. I’m not sure about Goldman’s actual credentials based on her rather shady past, but there is a standard to uphold on approaching a potential interviewee. If she did identify herself as a reporter, that’s one thing, but according to people who attended the event, there was no notebook or tape recorder and there is a claim that Goldman cornered Madson and would not let her go. This story is apparently not going away any time soon.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the NBA’s TV partners are looking forward to high ratings for the postseason.
Mike says Comcast SportsNet Chicago saw record ratings for the Bulls during the regular season.
Mike writes that the NHL on Versus saw increased viewership for the first night of the postseason.
Thomas Umstead of Multichannel writes that NBA.com is going to provide increased coverage for the NBA Playoffs.
Chris Tribbey of Home Media magazine says 3-D TV’s future depends on sports programming.
At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch takes a look at the Bruins and Celtics playoff TV coverage.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times takes a look at MSG Network Knicks analyst Walt Frazier’s extensive wardrobe.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post reports that Bob Papa and Gus Johnson are “neck-and-neck” for the NFL Network Thursday Night Football gig.
The Gaston (NC) Gazette reports that the local Fox Sports Radio affiliate has picked up the rights to the Charlotte 49ers basketball and football broadcasts.
Chris Bahn of Arkansas Sports 360 notes that the University of Arkansas is reaping the benefits of ESPN choosing its spring football game to air today.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes that the Fox/Big 12 deal could look frugal down the road and Barry also talks with CBS’ Bill Macatee about his infamous Tiger Woods interview at The Masters last week.
Speaking of that interview, the Golf Channel’s Bradel Chamblee takes Tiger to task for being smug with Macatee.
Nathan Olivarez-Giles of the Los Angeles Times writes extensively on the success of NBA.com’s video streams and how it looks to make a mark in social media.
Nathaniel Popper of the Times reports on the Fed’s crackdown on three online poker websites on Friday.
Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says while ESPN reported on the FBI’s shutdown of the poker betting websites, it did not mention the money it took in from each site for advertising.
The Hawaii Reporter says the NBC Sports Group will be covering a rowing and canoeing event at the islands next month.
Sports Media Watch notes the NBA on TNT wrapped up its most viewed regular season.
SMW says the same goes for the NBA on ESPN.
SMW says ABC had its highest-rated and most viewed season for the NBA as well.
Joe Favorito says Vancouver has untapped potential for the NHL and MLS.
And we are now done for the day. If there’s any breaking news, I’ll be here to cover it.
