Ok, as I was out for most of the day in Connecticut, I’ll do the megalinks while I can as I have to head back into the office again tomorrow.
The Weekend Viewing Picks have plenty to choose from as the NFL season kicks off in earnest on Sunday. College football has some early intriguing matchups on Saturday. MLB heads into the home stretch and the US Open tries to ramp up towards a conclusion plus NASCAR is in Richmond on Saturday.
The NFL regular season is here and we have a whole slate of games on Sunday. Fox has the doubleheader with Washington at the Giants being its featured late game. Early games on CBS and Fox include Jacksonville at Indianapolis and Minnesota with Brett Favre playing my Cleveland Browns. Then Sunday Night Football has Chicago at Green Bay. You can check out the entire Sunday schedule plus announcing assignments, the links to NFL distribution maps and other recommendations in my NFL Viewing Picks.
In the college ranks, two of the tastier matchups are Notre Dame at Michigan on ABC and USC at Ohio State on ESPN. Other good games include UCLA at Tennessee on ESPN and Purdue and Oregon on FSN. Your College Football Viewing Picks have the national games in full.
To baseball, Fox has three games on Saturday highlighted by the Mets-Phillies. MLB Network airs the Dodgers-Giants on Saturday night as does TBS on Sunday afternoon. Mets-Phillies is also your Sunday night game on ESPN.
NASCAR is in Richmond for the Sprint Cup Series on ABC, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The US Open was sent into the spin cycle thanks to the rains that postponed play from Thursday night to Friday. Now the schedule has been turned on its head. It all leads to a Monday finish and I have the revised broadcast schedules right through the Monday men’s final right here.
To see the full picks including English Premier League games and primetime picks, go see the Weekend Viewing Picks.
Now to your links.
National
The Sports Business Daily’s Erik Swanson conducted a media writer and blogger roundtable about the NFL broadcasting and it included Neil Best of Newsday, Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Dan Levy of On The DL, Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead and your humble blogger. Some good topics were broached.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand conducts an NFL TV quiz.
As we head into a new NFL season, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has a primer on the lineup changes for each network and there are quite a few.
Richard talks with new Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden.
Some stories from CNBC’s Darren Rovell. First he talks with the NFL’s Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto.
Darren notes that Michael Jordan has become the very first $1 billion athlete.
And Darren says it didn’t take long for extreme fighter Kimbo Slice to return to the spotlight.
Joe Favorito takes the time to remember those lost in 9/11.
Nellie Andreeva of the Hollywood Reporter says TBS has renewed the sports-themed “My Boys” for a fourth season.
John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that the AT&T U-Verse picks up the NFL Network’s RedZone in time for Week 1.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the war of words between Cablevision and Tennis Channels is escalating.
Mike reports that CBS College Sports is teaming up with a high school sports website to cover high school football games.
John Consoli of Mediaweek says DirecTV will be peppering different ads throughout Fox’s NFL games this Sunday.
Also from Mediaweek, Anthony Crupi writes that the NFL will be offering full replays of blacked out games in their local markets on its website for 72 hours after the game is played.
The Sports Media Watch says the NFL season opener scored well for NBC on Thursday.
SMW says ESPN2 is crowing about its US Open ratings.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says MLB Network airs a new behind the scenes show on Sunday.
The Big Lead has Erin Andrews quotage from her appearance on a man hating show on Friday.
Deadspin says former ESPN blowhard Sean Salisbury is out of another job.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has the thoughts of Dan Marino and the other CBS NFL analysts about Tom Brady’s return to the Patriots.
Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch bids farewell to ESPN Radio’s Boston affiliate which is leading to rumors that ESPN will announce a new and stronger station to accompany its new website which launches Monday.
The Two Cents from Beantown blog has anoth
er edition of its show where it dishes on Derek Jeter and Richard Seymour’s departure from the Patriots.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with Patriots radio voice Gil Santos about calling his 33rd NFL season.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times goes into the NFL replaying blacked out games on its website.
Richard is not a fan of Pam Shriver’s crowd reports during ESPN2’s coverage of the US Open. I disagree with this. I like Pam.
Neil Best of Newsday writes that despite network announcing upheaval, the NFL remains the sports ratings king.
Neil notes that Mets announcer Howie Rose teams with former Mets announcer Tim McCarver on Fox.
Neil says Tennis Channel is using MSG Network’s new high school sports channel in its latest salvo against Cablevision.
Neil tells us that WFAN’s Mike Francesa has a new simulcast on YES this Sunday.
Our man Neil has CBS’ Phil Simms giving Jets fans some advice on rookie QB Mark Sanchez.
Neil talks with Bonnie Bernstein about her new radio gig.
Our last link from Neil tonight. He says the US Open TV schedule is a mess.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News has lost his mind.
Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union has the NFL TV analysts dishing on the area’s teams.
Pete has the NFL TV schedule for the Capital Region.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that the NHL Network will carry 10 exhibition games this month.
Mike Waters of the Syracuse Post-Standard says the Orangemen will be on TV aplenty during Big East hoops season.
Laura Nachman notes that Bob Costas will be in Philadelphia for a reception for the release of Mitch Albom’s new book.
Laura also has the Eagles Radio Network pregame show announcing lineup.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner has video of Tennis Channel’s Jimmy Connors talking with ESPN/CBS’ John McEnroe.
Steven Goff of the Washington Post says the October 10 World Cup Qualifier between the US and Honduras may not be seen on US TV at all.
South
Alexis Stevens of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says breakout tennis star Melanie Oudin will be making more TV appearances soon.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says Jon Gruden has the potential to be a great analyst.
The St. Petersburg Times’ Tom Jones talks with Fox Sports’ Kenny Albert who calls the Cowboys-Bucs game this Sunday.
Etan Horowitz of the Orlando Sentinel says there are gadgets for your TV or cell phone that can help the displaced fan keep track of his/her favorite NFL team.
Roger Clarkson of the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald writes that Georgia fans had better be ready to see their team play at night more thanks to the new SEC contract with ESPN.
Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks with Fox’s Tony Siragusa about the Cowboys.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says it doesn’t appear the NFL Network will be on Time Warner Cable this season.
Barry has the monthly sports radio ratings report.
Barry writes that those with DirecTV won’t be seeing the Texas-Wyoming game as Versus is still not on the satellite provider’s system.
Barry has Sean Salisbury’s take on his departure.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has CBS’ Jim Nantz looking forward to calling the Jets-Texans game on Sunday.
Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman writes that Spike will be in town to air a UFC card next week.
Mel has CBS’ SEC analyst Gary Danielson taking a shot at Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops over the return of QB Sam Bradford. Really?
Midwest
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals gave HBO’s Hard Knocks good ratings compared to last season’s edition with the Dallas Cowboys.
Joe Reedy of the Enquirer says an extension helped the Bengals avoid a blackout this Sunday.
Michael Zuidema in the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Fox rookie NFL analyst Trent Green about Lions rookie QB Matt Stafford.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with Brewers announcer Brian Anderson about his rather strange high ranking in a recent Wall Street Journal story.
In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed
Sherman has his winners and losers.
To the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Dan Caesar who writes that the local CBS TV affiliate continues to de-emphasize sports.
Dan tells us that the next two Missouri football games move to pay per view.
Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star writes about the continuing NFL Network/Time Warner Cable dispute.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News feels BYU is in trouble after ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit sang their praises.
Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic says the NFC Champion Cardinals managed to avoid a blackout on Sunday.
David Hattfield of Inside Tuscon Business explains how Fox Sports Arizona managed to get back into airing University of Arizona football and basketball.
Over to Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune who tells us that Fox switched games at the last minute to give fans a chance to see Brett Favre on Sunday.
John Maffei of the North County Times feels Jon Gruden is just right for Monday Night Football.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says USC QB’s both past and present will be in the TV spotlight this weekend.
Jim writes that Melanie Oudin’s run at the US Open gave ESPN2 a ratings boost.
The great Diane Pucin (and fellow tennis fan) of the Los Angeles Times also talks about Melanie being a TV darling for ESPN2.
Diane says rain forced CBS to dig deep into its vaults during Friday’s coverage of the Open.
Joe Flint of the Times’ Company Town blog talks with NFL Network Czar Steve Bornstein.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News goes into bizarro world which includes the horrific Mark Whicker column in the Orange County Register this week. And thanks to Tom for linking to my post on the aforementioned Whicker story.
Tom goes over Lou Holtz’s pep talk for Ohio State that was seen Thursday on ESPN.
In his column, Tom talks about ESPN’s 3-D experiment for the USC-Ohio State game.
Tom has more on the 3-D experiment and a lot of other stuff in his media notes.
Tom also goes over the week in blogging.
Joe Kukura writing for KNTV in San Francisco says the Raiders have an extension until 5 p.m. local time on Saturday to prevent a blackout on Monday night.
Canada
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has a look at the ratings in Canada from last weekend.
Chris chronicles an on-air fight that was seen on Rogers Sportsnet and heard on sports radio in Toronto on Thursday.
Tom Tebbutt of the Toronto Globe and Mail feels CBS has too much say in the US Open scheduling.
The Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin talks with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen who bemoans the lack of hockey on the Alleged Worldwide Leader.
Rogers Sportsnet has signed to be the Canadian home of the NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package.
And that is going to do it for Super Sized edition of the megalinks.
