A Few More Thursday Links

I wasn’t planning to do a Thursday afternoon update, but I saw a few stories that captured my fancy so here we are.

First, thanks to Jeff Bercovici of Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com Mixed Media blog for linking to my post on Tuesday sarcastically discussing Peter King’s manlove for Brett Favre in the wake of the World’s Longest Retirement Announcement. Bercovici writes that Sports Illustrated will publish a special commemorative issue devoted to Favre next week. You can expect an article or two from Peter. To be honest, I’ve tried to avoid the coverage of Favre’s retirement whether it be on ESPN or NFL Network. The news surfaced Tuesday and today, two days later, Favre holds a press conference? Is he going to announce next week that he’s moving to Hawaii or something to that effect? This is getting a bit out of hand. I know Favre was great for the NFL, but do we really have to drag this out? What is this? The Democratic Presidential race?

Neil Best of Newsday writes that Favre pulled a Tiki Barber reference in his press conference. Neil teamed with Katie Strang on a story on how the New York Rangers are really gouging fans by raising the roof on ticket prices for the playoffs. Neil has a bit more on this in his blog as well.

Did you have any idea that Suzy Kolber was pregnant? Well apparently she was since last summer. Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Suzy gave birth to a girl on Wednesday and will be a single mother.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes in his blog that all Mets games on SNY will be seen in HD.

In the New York Times, Richard Sandomir writes about YES analyst Bobby Mercer’s biopsy results.

Fiona Morgan of Independent Weekly in North Carolina wonders if MASN will ever be available on Time Warner cable systems in the Tobacco State.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner is happy that Fox is doing a full slate of MLB games this season. Ken Schott of the Schenectady Daily Gazette is too and even more so that the games are in High Def.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable magazine says all MLB games on Fox will be broadcast in HD as I told you earlier today. Grossman also writes that the NFL Network has hired a new Director of Communications.

Chris Reidy of the Boston Globe writes about a Boston ad agency that developed the campaign for ESPN’s Fantasy Baseball using soap opera stars interacting with baseball stars.

Gene Policinski of the First Amendment Center writes a column for the North County (NY) Gazette about the tighter control MLB is taking over images posted on websites.

A couple of posts from the Business of Sports Network. From the Biz of Baseball site, Maury Brown reports that baseball fans here in the States may see some Japanese promotional ideas this season. The thundersticks which were first seen in Japan are now a fixture here so why not? From the Biz of Basketball site, Bill Johnson writes that the Los Angeles Lakers easily dominated the ratings last weekend on ABC.

The Business Journal of Phoenix reports that the Suns are setting ratings records despite losing of late.

Comcast SportsNet New England is pulling an ad that made fun of the Massachusetts town of Athol. Pronounce it and you’ll know why.

Friend of Fang’s Bites, Busted Coverage, has been all over the resurfacing of internet sensation Allison Stokke and breaks the story that the University of California is now trying to cash in on the fact that she’s attending the Berkeley campus by selling her picture. I don’t believe that Allison is making any money off that venture or gave her permission for it, but that’s me.

And that is all.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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