Yesterday, I just wasn’t in the mood to blog after putting up a few press releases. It’s time to do some blogging now because it’s important that you get linkage and fresh material as much as possible. Don’t want to be dormant for too long. By the way, whatever happened to Awful Announcing? It’s like Brian Powell suddenly disappeared.
Anyway, some big things tonight for your sports viewing including the Major League debut of Stephen Strasburg for the Washington Nationals. It’s so big that MLB Network will air what would have been a meaningless game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. And MLB Network is sending the big guns, Bob Costas, John Smoltz and Jim Kaat to call the game. While Strasburg has had plenty of hype going into this game, he’s been living up to it thus far. Locally, Pittsburgh will have the game on FSN Pittsburgh and DC will see it on MASN2. Game time is 7 p.m. East/4 p.m. West.
And there’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Change of venue as the series shifts East to the TD Garden in Boston as the Lakers and Celtics square off. The series is tied at 1 apiece. ABC has the game starting at 9 p.m. East and 6 p.m. West. There is a pregame show starting at 8:30 p.m., but Stuart Scott is hosting so watch at your own risk.
Let’s do your links.
Sports Business Daily says ABC received a final rating of 9.2 for NBA Finals Game 2 and over 15 and a half million viewers.
The SBD says Yahoo! has signed soccer star David Beckham as an international spokesman.
Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal says NASCAR has given up on creating a “NASCAR Wives” reality show.
Michael Hiestand from USA Today has the ratings from various weekend events.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the TV math doesn’t add up for expansion by either the Big 10 or Pac 10.
Darren says tonight’s debut for Stephen Strasburg is worth a lot of money for the Washington Nationals.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his Sports Media Power Rankings for May.
At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times notices there’s media apathy towards women’s sports.
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports has a great column on how the Big 12 by teaming up with the Big 10 and Pac 10 to reject a college football playoff in 2008, is now on the verge of being cannibalized by both conferences.
Rick Kissel of Variety notes that sports performed well in the TV ratings on Sunday.
Jon Lafayette from Broadcasting & Cable says the NHL is getting hot on TV at the right time.
Jon talks with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman about his TV partners, NHL Network and his league’s TV ratings.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Univision has scored various platform deals just as the World Cup is set to get underway.
Lucia Moses of Mediaweek says Sports Illustrated has lured away a once-rising star at Conde Nast publications to become the first woman to head sales at the magazine.
Katy Bachman also of Mediaweek writes that Nielsen is planning to launch a new service during the World Cup using BlackBerry devices as mobile diaries.
Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says the NHL’s ratings surge continues into the Stanley Cup Final.
The New York Post’s Michael Starr breaks news that SNY is in talks with 2 TV stations to take over their nightly sports reports.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that ESPN and Univision are hoping to tap into increased interest in the World Cup.
Richard adds last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes garnered some its lowest ratings ever.
Over to Bob Raissman at the New York Daily News who enjoys former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy’s commentary on ESPN/ABC.
Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record reports that a New York-Penn League minor league baseball team will get a new radio announcer when its season begins later this month.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says MASN2 will expand its Nationals pregame show to an hour tonight for the Stephen Strasburg debut.
Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business writes that Chicago is helping to drive the NHL’s increased ratings.
Ed adds the White Sox will honor Hawk Harrelson for his 25 years of service as a broadcaster.
The Chicago Tribune notes that after a window was damaged at its facilities, WGN Radio decided to re-do it with a Blackhawks logo.
Phil Rosenthal of the Tribune writes that Stanley Cup Final Game 5 was not only a win for the Blackhawks, but also for the local ratings.
Chris Jenkins from the San Diego Union-Tribune talks with former UCLA voice Dick Enberg about his friend, John Wooden.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Wooden’s final book is being moved to a July publication date.
Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times notes that ratings for live sports events continue to rise.
William Houston at Truth & Rumours says a Toronto sports radio reporter was suspended for doing his job.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail also writes about the reporter’s suspension.
The Sports Media Watch notes that despite not having big names in the French Open women’s final, NBC still garnered decent ratings.
SMW says the ratings for the final round of the Memorial Tournament on CBS were down from last year, but still decent.
SMW has various ratings news and notes.
And SMW says Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Versus actually fell from last year.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC and CBC’s ratings are up for the Stanley Cup Final from last year.
Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has found the Stanley Cup Champions winning gear.
And we’re done. Back later.
