Ok, I was out of the office all day and I’m also getting ready for the 4th of July. Tomorrow, I’m pulling double duty. Not only am I doing the Friday megalinks for here and the Boston Sports Media Watch, but I’ll also be gathering some morning links for the BSMW. Keep it here for your regular Friday features including Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks and the Weekend Viewing Picks. During the holiday weekend, I’ll have Videos of the Week which will begin to look at past Olympic games coverage, but I may not have Saturday or Sunday links. I’ll play that by ear.
But I can provide you with some links now. Let’s get to them.
From USA Today, Michael Hiestand has a special Thursday column and he focuses on the new book written by ESPN SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn which apparently doesn’t pull any punches.
Newsday Neil Best talks about a new MLB.com production which pokes holes in the theory that Abner Doubleday invented baseball.
Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes about a gaggle of hosts auditioning for Mark Madden’s old position at 1250 ESPN. That includes Andy Gresh, formerly of the Score in Providence. This would be a high profile gig for Gresh if he gets it. Gresh is from the Pittsburgh area and Smizik says that his appearance earlier this week went well according to both listeners and station management. We’ll see if Gresh who’s been busy at ESPN Radio during the weekends can add a big feather to his cap
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News blogs about the Dodgers’ annual 4th of July show at the Hollywood Bowl this week.
The Sports Media Watch has a few ratings news and notes.
Larry Barrett of Multichannel News says ESPN sports programming including the NBA Finals and the U.S. Open resulted in the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s most viewed second quarter in history. R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says NBC Sports is launching four new Olympic sports channels which will launch in August.
Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says President George W. Bush confirming that he will attend the Summer Olympic opening ceremonies in Communist China is good news for NBC Sports and its advertisers. Also from the Reporter, Steven Zeitchik writes that tennis on TV is reaching a critical point.
Nathan Allen of the Northwest Morning (AK) News profiles CBS Sports producer Jim Rikhoff who overses the network’s production of the LPGA’s P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship this weekend.
Kristin Tangel of the East Brunswick (NJ) Sentinel writes about former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Larry Burnett who has co-authored a book with Los Angeles Sparks star Lisa Leslie.
John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News feels FSN’s new series, Baseball’s Golden Age, falls short.
E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic writes about FSN Arizona’s salute to men and women serving overseas during Friday’s Diamondbacks’ game against the San Diego Padres.
If you’ve been watching Wimbledon online through ESPN360 or the Tennis Channel, you will have noticed they both picked up the BBC’s coverage. Paul Davies of BBC Sport answers viewers’ questions about the network’s Wimbledon coverage.
New dad Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch calls out Boston Globe writer Kevin Cullen who did a hatchet job on the Red Sox’ Manny Ramirez.
I think that’s going to do it for now. I’ll be back tomorrow for the 4th of July megalinks.
