It’s Wednesday. The All-Star Game is over, thank goodness. I stayed up to watch every single pitch and out until 1:30 a.m. ET. What could have been another embarrassing tie ended up with the American League winning 4-3.
Now that the Mid-Summer Classic is over, we can now focus on the Open Championship which begins tomorrow. Later tonight, I’ll post the sites where you can watch live streaming coverage while at work.
And once the Open Championship is finished on Sunday, our next focus in the sporting world will be on the Summer Olympics in Communist China and that is a theme in today’s links.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at the NBC announcing assignments for the Olympics.
Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has the complete list of announcers and analysts for the Olympics.
In the Houston Chronicle, David Barron hails fellow Chronicle soccer columnist Glenn Davis who will be part of the NBC Olympics soccer announcing team.
From the Hollywood Reporter, Paul J. Gough says NBC went with experience and plenty of medal winners for its Olympic announcing team.
Chris Preimesberger of eWeek has a technical article on NBC’s ambitious plans to bring the Olympics online and to your cell phone.
Michael Learmonth of Silicon Valley Insider says while NBC is putting the Olympics online, it’s not sharing the Games with its Hulu video site.
Digital Home Canada laments the fact that NBC’s online coverage of the Olympics won’t be made available to Canadians.
However, Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter reports that CBC will offer 1,500 hours of online coverage of the Olympics.
CBC Sports announces that its entire 282 hours of TV coverage of the Olympics will be broadcast in HD. TSN says its 150 hours of coverage of the Beijing Olympics will also be in HD.
Rob Longley of the Vancouver Sun says CBC’s cameras will be able to take live shots of Tienamen Square.
Newsday’s Neil Best who seems to be grumpy now that his vacation is over says there won’t be any surprises when NBC formally announces the announcing assignments today. Neil also applauds the NFL Network decision to name New York Giants radio announcer Bob Papa as its announcer on Thursday and Saturday Night Football. And this is a first as far as I know. Neil will take part in a live chat today at 1 p.m. ET. In his special Wednesday column, Neil says Fox Sports had an up and down All-Star Game. In his blog, Neil takes Fox to task for waiting until the 11th inning to pay tribute to the late Bobby Murcer.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Mariano Rivera had the defining moments of the All-Star Game on Fox.
From the Chicago Tribune, Ameet Sachdev writes that a Cubs-only cable channel is a distinct possibility when the team’s rights with Comcast SportsNet expire in 2019.
MLB says Fox and TBS Sports are collaborating on a massive pitch for the playoffs.
Awful Announcing says Howard Stern Wack Packer High Pitch Eric solicited ESPN’s Erin Andrews to appear on the Stern show.
The Sports Media Watch says ESPN drew great ratings for the Home Run Derby.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says the Home Run Derby is the highest rated show of the year to date on cable.
Bob Smizik from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the local ESPN Radio affiliate dropped the All-Star Game in the bottom of the 10th inning and never went back.
Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recaps MLB Walking Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday.
Surely by now, you’re aware of the New York Daily News taking Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon’s statements about finishing the All-Star Game out of context. The Sox & Dawgs blog takes the New York media to task for overblowing Papelbon’s comments. And Sox & Dawgs says the sensationalism put Papelbon’s wife at risk.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Josh Hamilton will start getting endorsements. Darren also talks with MLB’s Executive Vice President of Business Operations on the launch of the MLB Network.
Joe Favorito says Vitamin Water hit a big marketing home run during All-Star Game weekend.
The 38Cliches blog links to an interview with former Red Sox announcing hack Glenn Geffner.
Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post writes that Billy Packer has had more than just “One Shining Moment”. And Michael Wilbon of the Post says Packer was a pro’s pro on TV.
In his Over the Top blog, Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes about Bob Papa taking the NFL Network play-by-play gig. Also from the Star, Aaron Barnhart says the NFL Network went with the safe route when it should have selected ESPN’s Pam Ward.
Bruce Allen from the Boston Spor
ts Media Watch says WEEI has officially announced that former Boston Herald writers Rob Bradford and Michael Felger are joining the company to report for the radio station’s website.
Michael Buteau of Bloomberg writes that without Tiger Woods, the Open Championship will have lower ratings and a wide open field.
Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune looks forward to the next NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on NBC.
The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams asks if Baltimore wants a minor league hockey team.
Tim Lemke from the Washington Times writes that two rival MMA pay per view events take place this Saturday.
Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine says NASCAR has rebounded in the ratings, but not in ad revenue.
A lot of links today. I’ll have more stuff later.
