Good morning.
Time for some links. First, a couple of links from the 38 Cliches blog. First, Dave O’Brien and Glenn Geffner worked the Toronto – Red Sox series over the weekend. For some reason, the Red Sox allowed Joe Castiglione to take the first series after the All Star Game off. So, LC chronicled the entire series which is synopsized here. I did listen to bits and pieces of their work. Dave was the lead throughout the series with Geffner taking the Jerry Trupiano role. I believe Dave did the best he could to engage in conversation with Goofner, but because the Goofster reads his info from his notecards, it’s hard for him to ad lib. O’Brien’s work at ESPN has helped him engage in conversation with his partner, but Goofie is just stiff and any attempts at humor come off as forced. And in today’s entry, LC notes that his blog received some visits from the Red Sox. LC, do you think that the Sox are listening to the complaints?
Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the weekend sports ratings including the ESPY’s which fell from last year.
Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner reminds readers that David Beckham is coming to the US to save the MLS, not soccer itself. Williams says soccer in the US is actually in good shape.
Neil Best in his Newsday blog notes that Nick Faldo of Golf Channel and CBS will be playing at the Open Championship at Carnoustie. It could be two days or four depending if Faldo makes the cut.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir looks at the WWE’s drug testing policy in the wake of Chris Benoit’s murder-suicide of he and his family. By the way, Benoit’s toxicology results will be known later today so we’ll find out if steroids were in his system at the time of his death.
In the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman says the Mets could be nicer to Ralph Kiner by giving him more broadcasting work. Kiner was honored by the Mets last Saturday by naming its new press box at Citi Field in his name.
Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says residents of the Steel City should not expect to see the Big Ten Network any time soon.
Tracy Turner of the Columbus Dispatch writes that the Big Ten Network and NFL Network are competing with BBC World (a competitor to CNN) to get space on the city’s cable system.
The Minnesota Vikings have announced their broadcast team for its exhibition games on TV.
Jeff Jones of the KPC Media Group in Indiana says he doesn’t watch ESPN as much as he used to.
The Big East Conference has announced its TV schedule for the upcoming season.
The Chicago Daily Southtown paper has an editorial taking ESPN to task for forgetting about the White Sox in a recent poll.
Gary West in today’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN is doing more harm than good these days.
The AOL Fanhouse sports blog reports that while Dan Patrick hasn’t been hosting his show since making his announcement that he’s leaving ESPN Radio, he is coming back for his final week of shows.
As I reported last night, Steve Goldstein becomes the Florida Panthers’ TV play-by-play voice. Barry Jackson and George Richards of the Miami Herald have the story. Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has his version of the story.
That’s it for now. Maybe an update later.
