Well, the morning of NFL regular season opener is like Christmas. You’ve been waiting all night to unwrap the presents and you’re high in anticipation. And when the kickoff occurs, it’s like getting that toy or game you’ve been wanting for months. It’s like that with the NFL. The Super Bowl ends, then there’s the anticipation for the season to begin. The waiting is over and the games begin for real tonight.
And the NFL has made the season opener a very good matchup involving the Super Bowl defending champions which is a very good thing. Tonight’s Minnesota Vikings-New Orleans Saints game should do quite well in the ratings. So let’s go to the linkage which has a lot of NFL slants which is understandable.
The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated provides all of the pregame and game announcing crews for all of the NFL TV partners.
Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand says NBC and DirecTV have teamed up to produce Sunday Night Football promos sponsored by NFL Sunday Ticket.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says new Fox Sports NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira will be on TV to help fans understand the league’s regulations.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says the NFL will provide a delayed webcast for markets where local games have been blacked out.
Mike says Dan Hampton who apologized for comments about Hurricane Katrina in last week’s Pro Football Weekly show will have to make another apology for another wild analogy in the same program.
The Nielsen Wire blog notes the Dallas Cowboys are still America’s most popular NFL team.
Georg Szalai in the Hollywood Reporter says while an NFL lockout looms next season, the league’s TV partners won’t lose much financially even though they’ll still be paying rights fees if games aren’t played.
Milton Kent of Fanhouse writes local blackouts blot the record of NFL Commish Roger Goodell.
Milton says Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Joe Montana told Dan Patrick that the movie Rudy was not very accurate. I’ve always doubted the validity of some of the events in that overrated movie.
Noah Davis of SportsNewser recaps a CBS Sports NFL Today conference call from Wednesday.
Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says despite high interest from consumers, not many people are running out to buy 3-D TV sets. The price is too high and the glasses are a hindrance.
Todd says ESPN will showcase its 3-D programming next week to help sell more TV sets.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at Mr. America, Tim Tebow, creating his own social networking empire. I think we have a new glossary term, but Tim Tebow is not in the sports media.
Darren writes about a $300 pair of athletic shoes.
Andrea Kremer of NBC Sports writes for the Today show that women can get into football too.
Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo’s Cagewriter blog says Mixed Martial Arts fans have trouble seeing some events on TV.
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that CBS’ NFL “A” announcing team spends plenty of time calling Patriots games.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says HBO’s Hard Knocks helped to transform the attitude surrounding the New York Jets.
John Martin of the Times wonders if 3-D TV can be used as a training tool for tennis players.
Neil Best sighting! Neil Best sighting! Newsday’s Neil Best also looks at the season finale of Hard Knocks.
To Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says MSG+ has hired Butch Goring to replace Billy Jaffe on Islanders game broadcasts.
The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog writes that all regular season Capitals and Wizards games will be aired in HD on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.
Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times tells Tampa Bay Bucs fans how they can watch Sunday’s blacked out game.
The Tampa Tribune’s Ira Kaufman talks with Bucs’ cornerback Ronde Barber who remembers the last time the team was blacked out on TV locally.
Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel says a local man beat the Inside the NFL crew to win a visit to the show’s set and NFL Films headquarters in New Jersey.
Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes that former Saints coach Jim Mora, Sr. will join a local NBC affiliate’s pregame show in anticipation of today’s season opener.
David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has the weekly football shows and appearances on local radio for the season.
Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman recaps the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson’s appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bearcats’ home opener on Saturday will be seen on local over the air TV.
John talks with Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham who’s starting his 25th season in the broadcast booth.
John has more with Dave in his blog.
John says Fox Sports Ohio may not show the entire pregame ceremony honoring Pete Rose on Sunday.
John Fay of the Enquirer says former Reds announcer George Grande will return to Fox Sports Ohio this month to call 7 games.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks with the editor of the latest SB Nation local site.
Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says Vikings-Saints is true primetime drama.
Over to Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who writes that NFL TV analysts like the progress of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the NFL games on TV in SoCal this week.
Tom says today is the 45th anniversary of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game for the Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs.
Sports Media Watch notes that the PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank Championship sank in the ratings from last year.
SMW says Labor Day Weekend didn’t bring viewers to the U.S. Open on CBS.
SMW has various ratings news and notes.
SMW says ESPN saw a slight increase for last Sunday’s NASCAR race.
For some reason, Chris Berman is sporting a porn mustache.
Joe Favorito notes that Mercedes Benz is getting high brand activation in New York City.
Plenty of linkage on this Thursday. Enjoy the NFL season opener.
