Let’s give you a few press releases to mull over on this late night Thursday.
First, NBA TV has brought in Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl to be part of its NBA Draft coverage next week.
NBA TV and NBA.com to Deliver Extensive Multiplatform Coverage of the 2009 NBA Draft
Tennessee Volunteers Head Coach Bruce Pearl will join NBA TV for network’s Draft night coverage
NBA TV and NBA.com will provide fans with all-access coverage leading up to, and continuing throughout, the 2009 NBA Draft, which will be held at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Thursday, June 25th. For the first time Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl will join NBA TV’s draft night coverage to provide a unique perspective on the NBA Draft Preview Show at 6 p.m. ET and the 2009 NBA Draft Recap at Midnight ET. In addition, Pearl will provide blogs on NBA.com entitled “Pearl’s Gems” with his insight on the NBA Draft and prospects.
The NBA Draft coverage will be fully integrated with multiplatform content on NBA TV and NBA.com, with unprecedented opportunities for fans to interact with the NBA TV analysts, voice their opinions and access detailed information about each draft selection.
In addition to pre and post-draft analysis, an expert panel of announcers including host Rick Kamla, analysts Kenny Smith, Steve Smith and Pearl will provide Instant Analysis of key draft selections that will be available exclusively on NBA.com. NBA Insider David Aldridge will be on-hand for NBA TV and NBA.com with breaking news updates about trades. In addition, reporter Craig Sager will be on hand at Madison Square Garden in New York City to interview players moments after they are selected in the draft via the Virtual Green Room, streamed on NBA.com. NBA Assistant Director of Scouting Ryan Blake will be in New York to provide scouting reports and draft analysis of international players throughout the night.
“The level of interactivity and depth of our 2009 Draft coverage is unprecedented as we deliver broad professional analysis and exclusive content generated by players and fans across our TV, Internet and Wireless platforms” said Bryan Perez, SVP and GM of NBA Digital. “We are thrilled to add Bruce Pearl to our industry leading analyst team as he brings great energy and insight having coached against many of the draft prospects on a collegiate level.”
NBA TV will offer original studio programming leading up to the NBA Draft including:
· Division Preview Shows (Thursday, June 18, 8 – 11 p.m. ET): Host Rick Kamla and analysts Mike Fratello and Ryan Blake will break down each division, team by team, to analyze each team’s biggest needs and possible draft strategies. Each team segment will be available on NBA.com.
· NBA GameTime: Prospect Park (Monday, June 22, 7 p.m. ET): Host Andre Aldridge and analyst and Ryan Blake will take a detailed look at the NBA Draft prospects from across the country and around the world.
· NBA GameTime: Coming Attractions (Tuesday, June 23, 7 p.m. ET): Host Rick Kamla, analyst Steve Smith, NBA Insider David Aldridge and Ryan Blake review the NBA.com mock drafts to anticipate possible selections for the 2009 NBA Draft.
· NBA GameTime: Interactive Draft Room (Wednesday, June 24, 7 p.m. ET): Host Andre Aldridge and NBA Insider David Aldridge will interact with fans during a live webcast on NBA.com from 4 – 5 p.m. ET. The show will use interactive platforms including NBA.com Fan Forums and NBA TV’s Twitter account to generate fan content, questions and comments related to the draft. The Interactive Draft Room will air on television at 7 p.m. ET.
· Division Review Shows Friday, June 26, 7 – 10 p.m. ET): Host Rick Kamla and NBA Insider David Aldridge break down each division, team by team, to assess the impact of the draft on the team. Each team segment will also be available on NBA.com.
NBA.com will also offer additional exclusive content including: player blogs from draft prospects Blake Griffin, Tyler Hansborough and Stephen Curry; an exclusive interview with DKV Joventut player Ricky Rubio from Spain; live press conferences of the top draft selections; live draft trade chart to track team trades; prospect profiles and highlights; photo galleries, polls and fan reaction via NBA.com’s Fan Voice forums.
ESPN says ratings for the College World Series are up from last year. Is this something to crow about? I guess.
ESPN NCAA Men’s College World Series Telecasts Posting Significant Audience Increases; Coverage Continues
ESPN’s 30th consecutive season of NCAA Men’s College World Series coverage is posting significant audience increases over last year. Through the first eight games, ESPN is averaging 1,278,000 total viewers, 976,000 households and a 1.0 rating, marking increases of 34% (vs. 955,000), 30% (vs. 750,000) and 25% (vs. 0.8), respectively, over 2008.ESPN2 is averaging 897,000 total viewers and 689,000 households for increases of 5% (vs. 853,000) and 4% (vs. 664,000), respectively, over last year. The network is averaging a 0.7 rating, the same as last season through this point.ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN360.com’s complete coverage of the Men’s College World Series from Omaha, Neb. will continue tonight and conclude with the best-of-three Championship Series Monday, June 22 to Wednesday, June 24. Every game will be offered in high definition on ESPN HD or ESPN2 HD.Commentator teams include Mike Patrick or Sean McDonough with analyst Orel Hershiser and reporter Erin Andrews; Karl Ravech or McDonough with analyst Robin Ventura and reporter Kyle Peterson.
Date
Time (ET)
Network
Game
Matchup
Commentators
Thu., 6/18
7 p.m.
ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com
10
North Carolina vs. Arizona State
McDonough, Ventura and Peterson
Fri., 6/19
2 p.m.
ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com
11
LSU vs. Arkansas
Patrick, Hershiser and Peterson
Fri., 6/19
7 p.m.
ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com
12
Texas vs. Winner Game 10
McDonough, Ventura and Peterson
Sat., 6/20
2 p.m.
ESPN HD / ESPN360.com
13
If necessary
Patrick, Hershiser and Andrews
Sat., 6/20
7 p.m.
ESPN HD / ESPN360.com
14
If necessary
McDonough, Ventura and Peterson
Mon., 6/22
7 p.m.
ESPN HD / ESPN360.com
1
Series Final
Patrick, Hershiser, Ventura, Andrews and Peterson
Tue., 6/23
7 p.m.
ESPN HD / ESPN360.com
2
Series Final
Patrick, Hershiser, Ventura, Andrews and Peterson
Wed., 6/24
7 p.m.
ESPN HD / ESPN360.com
3 *
Series Final
Patrick, Hershiser, Ventura, Andrews and Peterson
* If necessary
CNBC’s Darren Rovell hosts a special on the golf industry live from the U.S. Open Friday night.
CNBC TO BROADCAST LIVE SPECIAL "CNBC REPORTS: LIVE FROM THE U.S. OPEN" ON FRIDAY, JUNE 19th AT 8PM ET
Live Special Hosted by CNBC's Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., June 18, 2009-Live from Bethpage State Park, the home of this year's U.S. Open, CNBC's Sports Business Reporter, Darren Rovell, will speak with the biggest power players in the game to discuss the state of the golf industry from sponsoring tournaments to the golf retail business.
On Friday, June 19th at 8PM ET, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will broadcast a live special, "CNBC Reports: Live From the U.S. Open," hosted by CNBC's Darren Rovell and focusing on the business of golf during one of the most challenging times the industry has ever faced.
The one-hour program will feature interviews with PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem, Veteran American golfer Kenny Perry as well as a rare interview with Mark Steinberg, IMG's Senior Corporate Vice President and Global Managing Director of Golf and agent to Tiger Woods.
Tennis.com has an interview with NBC/BBC Sport Wimbledon analyst John McEnroe about Roger Federer’s chances to win at the All-England Tennis and Croquet Club.
JOHN McENROE BREAKS DOWN ROGER FEDERER’S CHANCES TO WIN WIMBLEDON
Exclusive Interview by Peter Bodo at www.TENNIS.com
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 17, 2009 – “It’s amazing to look at Wimbledon and see it’s all brown at the baseline, and there’s nothing but green up around the net. I never thought I would see the day, after playing against Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Boris Becker, the three biggest servers I ever saw, when two guys would be playing the Wimbledon final from the baseline.”
So says the always outspoken John McEnroe in an exclusive interview with TENNIS Magazine senior editor Peter Bodo who caught up with McEnroe, a spokesman for prostate cancer awareness, while he was filming a public service announcement on behalf of pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline.
The interview is at: (http://tennis.com/features/general/features.aspx?id=177914).
McEnroe, also challenges the rest of the field to change their game this year and not play Federer’s game.
“Roger hasn’t had to change anything at Wimbledon,” explained McEnroe. “Over the past five, six years he only been serving and volleying 10-15 percent of the time. Winning five straight Wimbledons and getting to the final in the sixth is level of success that’s hard to argue with, but that’s all the more reason for some of the other guys to maybe make some attempt to be more or at least reasonably aggressive on grass. Let’s face it, they have no business trying to stay back with the guy – they may hit a few good shots but they’re certainly not going to beat Roger.”
And National Geographic Channel has a documentary on Hitler’s attempts to develop a stealth fighter during World War II.
HITLER’S STEALTH FIGHTER
Sunday, June 28 at 9PM ET/PT
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/hitler-s-stealth-fighter-3942/Overview
UNITED KINGDOM: A blueprint of the Horten Ho 229 flying wing fighter/bomber. (Photo credit © Arthur Bentely / Flying Wing Films)
For more than half a century, little was known about this mysterious aircraft, called the Horten 229. Now, with an elite team of Northrop Grumman aeronautical engineers, National Geographic Channel (NGC) works from the original plans and prototype to reconstruct a full-scale replica of the jet to determine if it had stealth capabilities. If proven, it would confirm that Hitler was on the verge of introducing a stealth jet fighter into the battle with Allies, long before the United States began developing stealth technology in the 1970s. The implications could have been monumental, especially in light of the Nazis’ parallel progress in developing atomic capabilities.
RIDGECREST, CALIFORNIA: A full scale replica of the Ho 229 bomber made with materials available in the 1940s at prefilght. (Photo credit © Linda Reynolds / Flying Wing Films)
VIDEO EXCERPTS
Video “Nazi Stealth Aircraft” – An elite team of stealth aircraft modelers are taking on a mysterious project: Hitler’s secret stealth fighter:
Video “Advanced Design” – Engineered long before its time, the Horten 2-29 was the product of two brothers’ desire for vengeance:
EXTRA VIDEOS
Video: Archival scenes of Adolf Hitler and stealth fighter airplanes from World War II:
Video: See rare archival footage of Northrop Grumman’s test flights of their early flying wing prototype:
At the program website for Hitler’s Stealth Fighter, the following is available:
- A complete Photo Gallery with downloadable wallpapers
- A timeline with History of Stealth Planes
- A Fact Sheet about the Horten 229
As usual, fascinating stuff from National Geographic.
One more press release post coming up.
