I’m going to do this in two parts as I have several things to do at work. At least you can go through some links at first while I do some paperwork.
As usual, it’s the Weekend Viewing Picks.
Well, thanks to the miracle comeback by the Red Sox last night, Game 6 of the American League Championship Series takes place at Tropicana Field Saturday at 8:07 p.m. on TBS. If the Red Sox can win with an injured Josh Beckett over the Rays on Saturday, then Game 7 would be on Sunday in St. Petersburg also at 8:07 p.m.
For college football, ABC has Texas-Missouri in primetime and sister network ESPN will have its College Gameday show live from Austin, TX in the morning. Those who have the Raycom SEC syndicated Game of the Week can see Vanderbilt-Georgia at 12:30 p.m. That game can also be seen on ESPN’s Gameplan PPV package. The College Football Viewing Picks have the national schedule.
Over to the NFL, CBS has the doubleheader with Indianapolis at Green Bay being the featured game. The Sunday Night game on NBC has Seattle at Tampa Bay, but the significance of that game is that John Madden won’t be in the booth as he gets an extremely rare week off. Cris Collinsworth travels to Tampa to call the game with Al Michaels. The NFL Viewing Picks have all of your games on Sunday.
Other events this weekend include a boxing pay per view event from Atlantic City as Kelly Pavlik fights the venerable Bernard Hopkins in a light heavyweight bout. HBO PPV has it at 9 p.m.
NASCAR is in Tennessee for the TUMS QuikPak 500 and ABC will carry that on Sunday afternoon at 1:30.
The PGA Tour is on the cusp of Silly Season as something called the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas takes place over the weekend. Golf Channel has that at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The LPGA Tour is in Hawaii for the Kapalua Classic and Golf Channel has coverage of that tournament at 8:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
The NHL is in full swing and you can check out the schedules for this weekend over at NHL.com.
Now let’s do your links.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Michael McCarthy debate whether it’s time for NBC’s John Madden to retire.
The Sports Media Watch says the National League Championship Series will finish as the lowest rated LCS in broadcast television history.
A few links from CNBC’s Darren Rovell. First, he talks about why the NFL doesn’t have the locker room champagne celebrations that MLB does. Darren says as expected, the Dallas Cowboys dominate jersey sales. And Darren looks for signs that ticket buying is slowing down in the financial crunch.
Joe Favorito discusses how one rotisserie play website is actually putting its money where its mouth is.
The Eye on Sports Media blog says the ACC’s announcement of its men’s basketball TV schedule is a bit deceptive.
Maury Brown’s Biz of Baseball blog tells us that the Tribune Company may retain a larger ownership stake in the Cubs than originally thought due to the current financial crunch.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell talks with Comcast SportsNet’s Donny Marshall about his expanded role on Celtics road games.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with a local native who works for ESPN and had to follow the Barry Bonds circus last year.
The Sox & Dawgs blog has the funny video of TBS imposing Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith into the Fenway Park crowd last night. And Sox & Dawgs also has TBS’ Harold Reynolds finally admitting he was out some 19 years later.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir reports that CBS College Sports is laying off 30 employees as it refocuses its programming.
To the New York Post where WFAN-hater Phil Mushnick goes after Mike Francesa for cutting off his co-host wannabes.
The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman about the tumultuous week for the Dallas Cowboys and what it means for the New York Football Giants. And Justin has five questions for XM’s Rob Dibble.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News criticizes everything baseball today.
Newsday’s Neil Best says while Fox and TBS could have used a New York team in the MLB postseason, the #1 market in the US still likes to watch its baseball. Neil has a story from Fox Sports’ Ed Goren about Tim McCarver from the 1991 World Series. And Neil has more on New York watching baseball just to see the Red Sox lose.
A couple of things from Laura Nachman’s Philadelphia TV and radio blog. First, she mentions that the National League Championship Series cleaned up in the ratings on Wednesday. And she introduces Philly to a new sports anchor on the local Fox affiliate.
Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has a bunch of news and notes in his Friday column.
The DC Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd about his show being pre-empted two days a week in DC.
Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says don’t really believe that Fox is really disappointed about the Dodgers losing the NLCS.
South
Doug Nye of The State remembers listening to LSU football on the radio as a kid.
Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel wonders how the NFL TV scheduling gets done.
Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks with new ESPN NBA analyst Magic Johnson about the Dallas Mavericks.
In the Houston Chronicle, David Barron writes about a new film on Texas A&M’s 12th Man tradition that premieres on Fox Sports Houston this weekend.
Now to Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News. Barry has the list of nominees for the Lone Star Emmy Awards. Barry also has the NFL TV schedule for Dallas-Fort Worth.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks about the new NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder’s radio voice working solo this season. Mel writes that the Thunder will drop a delay in the radio broadcast so fans inside the arena can follow the action. And Mel has his media news and notes today.
Ok, that’s Part I. I’ll have Part II of the links coming up later.
