Being out of the office certainly kills any momentum for blogging and I’ve been out for most of the morning and trying to catch up ever since. Let’s get some linkage in as tonight will be busy for me as I do the Friday morning features the night before.
The big story for today, Hall of Fame hockey voice Mike “Doc” Emrick announcing he’s leaving the New Jersey Devils and focusing on calling national NHL games for NBC/Versus. We have several links.
First, Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy gives his thoughts on Doc’s departure from the Devils.
Joe Yerdon of Pro Hockey Talk writes that Doc will work full-time for NBC/Versus in hopes of cutting down his travel schedule.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says Doc is a true friend of hockey.
Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union notes that NBC/Versus now has two full-time play-by-play announcers for the NHL.
On to other links. Stuart Levine of Variety speaks with ESPN Executive Vice President of Content John Skipper who says the Alleged Worldwide Leader is in a buying mode for events.
To Ben Kercheval of College Football Talk who says ESPN’s Longhorn Network may have committed an NCAA violation.
In the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred says sports newsrooms are usually the last to break down racial and gender barriers.
Marcus Vanderberg says the NBA 2K12 video game has gone massively retro for its covers.
Dave Levy of SportsGrid says an academic study of bloggers vs. sports journalism was published with plenty of hidden agendas.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick has scored another endorsement deal.
From ESPN Front Row, Taylor Henriques looks at the very first intern hired at ESPN who’s now working in the network’s public relations department.
Also at Front Row, Bill Hofheimer goes behind-the-scenes at the shoot for this season’s Monday Night Football open once again featuring Hank Williams, Jr.
At Deadspin, Tommy Craggs got his hands on the ESPN Editorial and Advertising Guidelines. Quite interesting.
To Tech Crunch and Leena Rao who tells us that there’s a new mobile app that allows anyone to become a sports reporter.
Over to the Boston Globe and character assassin Dan Shaughnessy who thinks after five years, Twitter is just a fad (scroll down to the paragraph starting with “Pardon me if I sound like Larry King ….”). Shaughnessy or as all of New England calls him, “CHB” is a hack. Thanks to Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page for the link.
To Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who writes that the Open Championship’s ratings fell for the third year in a row.
Richard goes over the ESPN Ombudsman’s critique of how ESPN handled the Bruce Feldman affair.
Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NHL fans will have to wait until next month to find out the national TV schedules.
At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that ESPN’s Michael Wilbon has fired back at Wizards star JaVale McGee in round 2 of their Twitter fashion feud.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the planned high school football broadcasts on Longhorn Network are off for now pending talks with the NCAA and the Big 12 Conference.
Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star Telegram suggests that Texas A&M launch its own sports channel instead of whine about the Longhorn Network.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says there’s no need to cancel the NFL Hall of Fame Game just yet.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News is angry at San Diego Padres fans who want Dick Enberg out from calling their games because he’s not a homer.
Jeff Blair of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Dave Van Horne may be known as the voice of the Florida Marlins, but he was Voice of the Montreal Expos long before that. Dave is going to be inducted into the Broadcasters Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend.
Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press reports that TSN has won the rights to air the Jets games this coming season. Thanks to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media for the link.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN will air coverage of the Rugby World Cup later this year.
Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.
Awful Announcing continues its Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament and today’s matchup is Colin Cowherd vs. Skip Bayless. Oh that’s a tough one.
I’ll end it there.
