Let’s get to the Friday megalinks. I want to get this done and leave my Friday free so I can rest up for the drive to NYC for the Blogs With Balls conference tomorrow. Don’t expect any blog posts, but I will be Tweeting from there so if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll get some impressions and perhaps a pic or two. I’ll be there with a few of the bloggers that have been linked here regularly so be on the lookout for that all day tomorrow.
As usual, let’s do the Weekend Viewing Picks.
The NHL Stanley Cup Finals will conclude tonight with Game 7 of Pittsburgh and Detroit at the Joe. CBC and NBC will have coverage starting at 8. NHL Network has a pregame at 6. CBC’s Scotiabank Hockey Tonight will start at 7:30. Following the game CBC.ca has a postgame show and NHL Network has theirs at 11 p.m. or immediately following the trophy ceremony.
Game 5 of the NBA Finals is on Sunday at 8. ABC has the game from Orlando as the Lakers try to close out the Magic.
Interleague baseball returns this weekend. Fox has three games on Saturday at 4 p.m. including Mets-Yankees. ESPN has Cleveland hosting St. Louis Sunday night at 8 and TBS also has Mets-Yankees on Sunday afternoon. For the Fox and ESPN schedules, click here. WGN will have the Cubs hosting Minnesota, Sunday at 2.
ESPN and ESPN2 have extensive and exclusive coverage of the College World Series this weekend from Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE. Four games over the weekend will be played starting Saturday at 2 on ESPN.
For NASCAR, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Michigan for the LifeLock 400. TNT has that Sunday at 2 p.m.
Golf is busy as well. Golf Channel and CBS combine for weekend coverage of the St. Jude Classic.
Golf Channel also has the LPGA Championship, the second major on the tour, Saturday and Sunday at 4.
Soccer fans will be particularly interested in the Confederations Cup which will be hosted by South Africa, the site of the 2010 World Cup. Two games kick off the event on Sunday, host South Africa vs. Iraq and New Zealand vs. Spain.
Mixed Martial Arts fans have UFC 99 to watch this Saturday on PPV at 3 p.m.
Check out the entire Weekend Viewing Picks here.
To the links.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Fox Sports’ NFL insder Jay Glazer about his love for mixed martial arts.
The Game On! blog from USA Today looks at the Rose Bowl moving from ABC to ESPN starting in 2011.
Ray Frager of the Sports Media Journal says a three man booth at the NBA Finals is too much.
The Sports Media Watch wonders how high can the ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals reach? SMW says Game 4 of the NBA Finals did well in the overnight ratings last night.
Jon Weisman of Variety says ABC has set the lineup for the new edition of The Superstars which premieres later this month.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes ABC scored in the ratings with the NBA Finals on Thursday.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that after a slow start, NESN’s ratings for Red Sox baseball are rising to their normal high levels.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Bill Doyle says NESN’s Don Orsillo has had to deal with an ever-changing analyst lineup due to Jerry Remy’s absence.
Newsday’s Neil Best gives his impressions of today’s WFAN morning show simulcast on SNY. Neil says WFAN made some personnel moves for football season. Neil talks about Showtime making famed MMA fighter Gina Carano a headliner for its upcoming Strikeforce card. Neil also talks with Joe Buck about his upcoming HBO show.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that even the Mets and Yankees announcers are getting involved in the Subway City rivalry.
A week’s vacation has not softened Phil Mushnick’s hate in the New York Post today.
The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Andy North about next weekend’s U.S. Open.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks to the person behind local sports talk show.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette has some baseball TV news and notes.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the LPGA Championship’s new home will be the perfect place to hold that event starting next year.
Jim looks forward to watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight.
I’ll have the rest of the Megalinks tonight.
