With a rainy day in Southern New England, it’s time to provide you with some media links. Lots of them on a Friday.
You can check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for the sports and entertainment programming suggestions.
Now to the links.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with NBC’s Al Michaels about calling his 8th Super Bowl and 2nd for NBC.
Mike Ozanian from Forbes says NFL TV rightsholders will be able to reap financial benefits while non-rightsholders end up holding the bag.
Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com says you can follow along the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter results in real time thanks to a new Facebook app.
Michael O’Connell from the Hollywood Reporter has a sneak peek at some of the Super Bowls ads.
Kelly McBride of the ESPN Poynter Review Project looks at why ESPN made so much of Tim Tebow.
Alex Klein at Romanesko looks into why the Yale Daily News sat on a story for several months and how it took the New York Times to report on former quarterback Patrick Witt’s alleged sexual assault on campus. You may remember that Witt was a candidate to become a Rhodes Scholar but then skipped his interview. Now we know why.
Todd Spangler at Multichannel News says ESPN will let viewers see additional highlights and material from the Winter X Games via the Shazam mobile app.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that NBC Sports Network goes into the NHL All-Star Weekend with increased ratings for the games.
Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily also has a story on the increased NHL ratings for NBC Sports Network.
Gabriel Beltrone from Adweek says Coke will have a Super Bowl microsite where its famous polar bears will react to the game and ads in real time.
David Gianatasio of Adweek writes one local Super Bowl spot will urge you to pee during its commercial.
E.J. Schultz at Advertising Age has Anheuser-Busch’s Super Bowl plans.
Matt Hardigree at Jalopnik says he’s solved the mystery behind the advertiser behind the Ferris Bueller-themed Super Bowl spot.
Adam Jacobi, the college football writer at CBSSports.com, who put the link to Onward State’s erroneous tweet about Joe Paterno’s death last Saturday has been fired. Jacobi says he understands the decision and has apologized to the Paterno family for his mistake.
Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says NBC will take a lighter approach for Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii.
Harry A. Jessell at TV NewsCheck notes that while the national TV ratings for the NFL are good, go inside the local numbers and they’re even better.
ESPN PR man Bill Hofheimer gives you an inside look at the network’s Super Bowl studios in Indianapolis.
Sports Media Watch says college basketball ratings are up on both ESPN and ESPN2.
SMW has some news and notes on some various people in the sports media.
Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing goes into some of the on-screen typos on TV this week.
Jeff Pearlman gets vindication from Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
Steven Crist from the Daily Racing Form feels returning the Breeders Cup to NBC can only help horse racing.
All Access says a Hartford, CT FM station has flipped to all-sports.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says NESN has selected the replacement for Heidi Watney on its Red Sox broadcasts.
Chad says of all of the local TV outlets, Comcast SportsNet New England will have the largest contingent covering the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
Johnny Diaz from the Globe says Boston DirecTV subscribers will see the Super Bowl after all.
Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with NBC’s Rodney Harrison about Super Bowl XLII and how some present New England Patriots still remaining from the game want revenge.
Stuart Elliot at the New York Times says some Super Bowl advertisers are returning buyers.
Richard Sandomir of the Times has Joe Namath’s reaction to the HBO/NFL Films documentary on his career that premieres tomorrow.
Richard adds that Namath is right now estranged from his former team, the New York Jets.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the Namath documentary for the most part is good.
Justin Terranova of the Post speaks with NBC NHL charlatan Pierre McGuire.
Mike Silva at Sports Media Watchdog wonders why Kim Jones left YES.
Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says a local sports talk show will broadcast live from the Super Bowl next week.
Pete talks with the host of that talk show who also wears other hats in the Albany market.
Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NYC residents will be able to hear the local and national radio calls of the Super Bowl next Sunday.
The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News notes the firing of a CBSSports.com writer for falsely reporting Joe Paterno’s death.
DCRTV’s Dave Hughes at Press Row has media notes from the Baltimore-DC area.
South
The Tallahassee (FL) Democrat writes that a local sports talk show host who left his former station this week will be back on the air at another station later this year.
Billy Cox of the Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune says ESPN’s Dick Vitale will be the subject of a profile produced by ….. ESPN!
Josh Bowe of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Fox Sports Southwest will stream Lone Star Conference football games and a highlight show over the internet.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks with a retiring local sports anchor who looks back at the 2011 Texans rather fondly.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman reviews the HBO/NFL Films documentary on Joe Namath.
Mel says ESPNU will be all over National Signing Day.
Midwest
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with former Bengal Artrell Hawkins who is now co-hosting Fox Sports Radio’s national morning show.
Jeff Moss of the Detroit Sports Rag looks into the new program director and on-air host of a local sports radio station.
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Wisconsin sports teams did well in the national TV ratings last year.
Dan McGrath of the Chicago News Cooperative notes the 20 year anniversary of sports talk radio in the Windy City.
Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says new Minnesota Twins radio voice Cory Provus has big shoes to fill.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Bob Costas about returning to host his familiar town hall format next week.
West
Thomas Harding of MLB.com says Root Sports Rocky Mountain’s Alana Rizzo is leaving the network’s Colorado Rockies broadcast team and heading for MLB Network.
John Maffei at the North County Times says HBO’s documentary on Joe Namath is on par with previous efforts.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star also reviews the documentary.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Kings radio analyst Daryl Evans and also lists his best/worst LA broadcast analysts.
Tom has more on Evans in his blog.
Canada
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says it’s time to play the NHL All-Star Game outdoors.
And that will do it.
