Since the posts were sparse on Tuesday, I’ll give you some sports media thoughts here. All in bullet form as usual.
- I haven’t said much about ESPN’s handling of the Bernie Fine Syracuse story. I wanted to get some facts before commenting. I’m really distressed that ESPN held onto the tape of what was reportedly Fine’s wife telling accuser Bobby Davis that she knew of her husband’s transgressions. The fact that it held the tape dating back to 2003 makes the network look bad. While Vice President for news content, Vince Doria, said in ESPN’s public relations blog that it had no obligation to present it to the authorities, ESPN may have played an inadvertent role in allowing Fine to allegedly molest more children and it also looks like it was protecting an interest. ESPN may not have been doing so, but the implication is there.
- I’m hearing more and more that NESN is leaning towards Erin Hawksworth as the replacement for Heidi Watney as Red Sox field reporter. I’m not familiar with her work. She has worked in Boston for the local Fox affiliate from 2008-2010. She’s currently working for the Fox Seattle affiliate. Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle interviewed with NESN earlier this week. I still hold out hope that Jen will get the job. I also hope Courtney Fallon from WLNE in Providence gets an interview as well.
- Can you imagine five NBA games on Christmas Day? That appears to be the case. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times is reporting that TNT as under its contract with the league will get the season opener which will be Boston-New York at noon Eastern. Then ABC will have an afternoon doubleheader with ESPN getting a primetime double dip.
- On Thursday, the paperback edition of “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” will be released. There are 50 new pages of material. Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated recounts one new story from author James Andrew Miller involving SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm. And Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I will interview James in this week’s Sports Media Weekly Podcast about the additional material. I look forward to the new edition.
That’s going to complete the thoughts for tonight.
