There’s a lot of news today so let’s get to the links right away.
First, the Boston Herald apologized today for the erroneous story John Tomase wrote just before Super Bowl XLI that former Patriots employee Matt Walsh taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough the day before Super Bowl XXXVI.
Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the history of this story and wonders if the Herald’s apology goes far enough.
David Scott from BSMW does a great job in recapping Tuesday’s events including Tom Brady’s interview on WEEI in which he castigates ESPN.
The Sox & Dawgs blog has a couple of items including an entry stating that the Herald and Tomase need to be held accountable. And the blog has video of Patriots owner Robert Kraft stating he’s happy with the apology.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell has the transcript of the Kraft interview.
Newsday’s Neil Best also looks at the story and notes Tom Brady’s comments about the Giants and Jets in the WEEI interview.
Let’s move from Spygate to ESPN’s live SportsCenter block in the mornings.
Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated looks at the ESPN upfront presentation to advertisers in New York.
Shahnaz Mahmud of Adweek and John Consoli of Mediaweek combine on a story saying that ESPN is trying to broaden its appeal with the live SportsCenter in the mornings.
I’ve never separated Neil Best links, but I have to today. First, Neil has comments from Hannah Storm about her move to ESPN. And Neil has some stuff from ESPN’s John Skipper about going with 9 live hours of SportsCenter.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also has a short story on the ESPN SportsCenter morning block.
Richard also confirms what Neil Best wrote earlier this month, that the NFL Network was interested in having Al Michaels call Thursday Night games, but he has apparently turned down their offer. And Neil also has a suggestion to the NFL Network on who should call the games.
Roger Van Der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer writes that the NFL Network and Time Warner Cable are no closer to an agreement than last month. And Van Der Horst says MASN and Time Warner are also locked at an impasse.
Mike Lucas of the Capital Times writes that NFL Films is putting together a new series on teams that fell short of winning the Super Bowl.
You want more news? Of course you do. From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg reports that Tony Kornheiser is leaving the paper having accepted a buyout last night. That link came courtesy of Deadspin and Neil Best.
As you can see, this is a busy day. And this is a rare day when I have the USA Today media column buried midway in the links. Michael McCarthy says blog hater Bob Costas will host another roundtable discussion, this one on NBC during the Preakness Stakes about the pitfalls of horse racing.
And another post from Neil Best, this one on HBO’s segment on the slaughter of some horses that was outlined on Real Sports on Monday. By the way, I owe you a real time review of Real Sports and that will come later in the week.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Versus’ ratings are on the rise.
The Sports Media Watch says the NHL’s ratings on Versus shows that people are indeed watching the playoffs. The SMW has the final weekend ratings. And the blog says the NBA Playoffs have steered TNT to its second straight victory in the Cable Primetime ratings.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NBA Commish David Stern is not a fan of the pregame histrionics at various arenas.
Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has a preview of this week’s Sports Illustrated.
Awful Announcing has the video of Erin Andrews’ interview on “The Big Idea” with Donny Deustch on CNBC. Erin looks rather lovely.
That’s it for now. A busy day. If anything else breaks, I’ll let you know.
