I’m watching NESN’s coverage of the Red Sox Rolling Rally through redsox.com. There are other ways to watch it, either through Boston’s 5ABC, WBZ TV or Channel 7, but they’re all taking the interviews from NESN why not just watch NESN, it’s just easier. But MLB.com has decided to pick up coverage from New England Cable News.
Time for some links.
First, the final ratings for the World Series are in and while they are higher than last year’s St. Louis-Detroit series, they are still the second lowest of all time as noted by the Sports Media Watch blog. And also from the Sports Media Watch, we get the weekend TV ratings.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings of selected events from the weekend including the Breeders’ Cup on ESPN which sank lower than last year.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News also has a story on the World Series ratings.
As the NBA is set to begin another forgettable season, David DuPree of USA Today gives us the ten games to watch. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about the digital platforms to watch NBA games.
Sandomir also writes about First Class Jerk Scott Boras hijacking Game 4 of the World Series with his news about Alex Rodriguez. Neil Best of Newsday talks with the person credited with breaking the Bores-Us/A-Fraud story, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says he’ll miss having Alex Rodriguez around.
In his blog, Neil Best writes that ESPN1050 in New York is saying it broke the story that Joe Girardi would be the next Yankees manager.
Turning to the Big Ten Network, there’s a lot of fallout regarding the channel picking up the Ohio State-Wisconsin this Saturday. George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal calls this a mistake. The Cleveland Plain Dealer says after this week, Ohio State will be seen on ABC for its remaining two games. Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch says because Time Warner Cable has still not piocked up the Big Ten Network, Buckeyes fans will have to go to a friend’s house or to their local sports bar to see the game. Adam Mertz of the Capital (WI) Times reports that the Mount Horeb Telephone Company is adding BTN this week in time for the OSU-Wisconsin game. Michael Poppy also of the Capital Times writes that many Wisconsin fans are angry over not being able to see the game. Mark Tupper of the Bloomington (IL) Pentagraph says BTN is still in a stalemate with the major cable companies. John Bohnenkamp of the Burlington Hawk Eye writes that Mediacom is not close to adding BTN to its lineup.
While the Ohio State-Wisconsin game will not be seen by a wide audience, the Oregon-Arizona State game will. Bud Withers of the Seattle Times says ESPN, FSN and the Pac 10 all came in to make sure the contest will be seen by a West Coast audience. The Pac 10 says the game will be seen on FSN on its Arizona, Northwest and West channels and nationally on ESPN. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News explains the Pac 10 TV situation for this Saturday.
University of South Carolina fans are happy that the Gamecocks’ next two games are going to be on ESPN/ESPN2.
Keith Sargeant of the Ashbury Park (NJ) Press says because this Saturday’s Rutgers-UConn game will be on ESPNU, many Scarlet Knights fans won’t be able to see it.
Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that the Bulls are moving back to ESPN 1000 after being away for a year.
Tom Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Magic fans won’t be able to see 14 of the first 18 games because Bright House Networks has not reached an agreement with FSN Florida as it has the rights to 35 games this season.
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to get your free taco today between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
