It’s raining here in Southern New England and with a washout expected for the entire weekend, why not give you the megalinks so you can peruse any time while you look for something to keep you busy.
You can check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for the major sporting events of the weekend and it contains the College Football Viewing Picks, NFL Viewing Picks and primetime viewing picks as well. In addition, you can check the ALCS/NLCS schedule for games over spanning over the next few days.
Let’s do the links.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that the networks are going high-tech for their MLB Postseason coverage.
Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable writes that HBO Sports is expanding its 24/7 brand to NASCAR.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the League Championship Series is filled with big market teams.
Mike adds that the Chicago Blackhawks set a ratings records on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek reports that out-of-home viewing of the League Division Series for TBS spiked last week.
Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered to talk about the scheduling of MLB Postseason games.
Sports Business Daily has the final sports ratings for the week ending October 11.
Robert Seidman from TV by the Numbers says no matter who’s in this year’s World Series, it’ll draw a much better rating for Fox than last year’s.
Josh Alper from Pro Football Talk says Jacksonville will be blacked out again this week as the Jaguars failed to sell out in time.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the new Richmond minor league baseball team did not choose his network’s name submission.
Vanessa Voltolina of FolioMag.com says ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue has boosted ESPN.com Insider subscriptions.
Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says the most viewed MLB games on Fox involved either the Red Sox or Yankees.
Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media tries to explain the NFL Broadcast Rules.
The Sports Media Watch says Game 1 of the NLCS got off to a good start on TBS.
Joe Favorito talks how the military is an excellent brand for sports.
TV Technology looks at ESPN’s new Innovation Lab.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with CBS’ Phil Simms who tells Patriots fans to be patient.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette praises MLB and Fox for pushing back the start times of the ALCS.
Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant discusses ESPNU covering Midnight Madness at 9 schools including UConn tonight.
Neil Best of Newsday talks with Fox’s Tim McCarver about how catchers make for good managers.
Neil has a few more sports media tidbits.
Neil has a classic moment from Celebrity Jeopardy where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar forgets his great line from “Airplane!”
Neil reviews ESPN’s upcoming “30 for 30” documentary, “Who Killed The USFL?”
Neil has the video of 30 Rock’s “Tennis Night in America”.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post gets on the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for seeing racism where they see fit.
Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News seems to take glee in the bad weather expected for the first two games of Yankees-Angels ALCS.
Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union says a media basketball practice at the University of Albany earlier this week looked rather ugly.
Pete points out that Chip Caray is overmatched calling the NLCS on TBS.
Pete writes that the 1989 Bay Area Earthquake during the World Series helped to establish ESPN’s journalism reputation.
Rick Scarcella of the Reading (PA) Eagle writes that ESPN/ABC football analyst Matt Millen gets a homecoming to Penn State this weekend.
Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that the Orioles actually outrate the Nationals in the DC market.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN college basketball analyst Adrian Branch about tonight’s Midnight Madness coverage.
West
Scott D. Pierce from the Deseret (UT) News says the Mountain West’s efforts to bolster its schedule are hurt by its TV contracts with the mtn. and Versus.
Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden who will always have a soft spot for the Stadium formerly known as San Diego Jack Murphy.
John Maffei in the North County Times says Gruden has become a good addition to ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
The Los Angeles Times’ Diane Pucin critiqued TBS’ presentation of NLCS Game 1.
In her regular Friday column, Diane asks baseball announcers to avoid using cliches.
Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News gets the particulars on what TBS is using to air the NLCS.
Tom reports that the Dodgers will have billboards with the updated NLCS score placed throughout SoCal.
Tom looks at the ESPN documentary on the USFL that airs on Tuesday.
Tom has more on the documentary in his extensive media notes.
Tom has Dennis Eckersley’s comments on TBS regarding Randy Wolf not being ready to pinch run during last night’s NLCS Game 1.
Midwest
John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says Miami’s (OH) hockey team gets some games aired on local cable TV this season.
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local minor league hockey team gets a boost by picking up an FM all-sports station.
Fang’s Bites fave Trenni Kusnierek of MLB Network writes a blog post for OnMilwaukee about life on the road.
Bob Wolfley from the Milwuakee Journal Sentinel says the Brewers got lower ratings this season.
Tim Cary from the ChicagoNow blog talks with another Fang’s Bites fave, Charissa Thompson of Big Ten Network and Fox Sports about the injury that is keeping her off the sidelines.
Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Dish Network subscribers in the Gateway City won’t be able to watch almost half of the Blues’ remaining games due to dispute with Fox Sports Midwest.
Dan adds that Joe Buck is grateful over Peyton Manning’s mention of him on NBC last Sunday.
South
Dallas Morning News NHL beat writer Michael Heika says Dish Network is also in a dispute with Fox Sports Southwest over 20 Stars games.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle points out that ESPN has replaced its Big 12 Big Monday announcing crew.
Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN’s Lee Corso has for the most part, come back from the stroke that debilitated him earlier this year.
Mel writes about ESPN putting Bob Knight on Big Monday.
Canada
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail goes inside the CFL on TSN booth.
Chris Zelkovich’s blog at the Toronto Star is misbehaving for me, but the two top stories on the blog are the ones I want you to read.
And that will do it for the megalinks.
