Checking around the net so you don’t have to, I have managed to find some more links this evening.
Starting off with the Barry Bonds Indictment coverage, the Sports Media Watch blog has a look at how the network evening newscasts reported the story. And Paulsen has his take on the comments Steven A. Smith made on ESPN’s SportsCenter. They had to be heard to be believed.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell is putting out an All-Points Bulletin for the person holding Bonds’ 762nd home run, who now has an expensive piece of sports memorabilia. And Rovell wonders about the other big story of the day, the agreement in principal between Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees for ten years. Darren correctly asks, what role did Goldman Sachs, a 40% owner in the YES Network have in these negotiations?
Before I continue, let me say ESPN was all over the Barry Bonds Indictments. As the news broke early in the 5 p.m. ET hour, ESPNews and SportsCenter could only get their legal analysts and reporters via the phone. Roger Cossack, Lester Munson, Baseball Tonight analyst Steve Phillips and newly hired Mark Fainaru-Wada, one of the reporters along with Lance Williams who covered Bonds and the BALCO scandal for the San Francisco Chronicle, were heard immediately. As SportsCenter continued in the 6 p.m. hour and news kept breaking, Terrence Moore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was brought in via the phone as well. All of the guests gave nuts and bolts answers on the indictments, but the strangest interview was Steven A. Smith. Why ESPN decided to go to him was not the best idea, but as he told anchor Chris McKendry, he said the case was all about race and he said there’s no coincidence that the Feds decided to go after Bonds following Mark McGwire’s retirement. I see no correlation at all, but that’s Smith for you. At 6:30 p.m., news broke that Alex Rodriguez had reached an agreement with the Yankees so coverage turned to that story, but overall, ESPN’s coverage was ok as they mostly used talking heads and the phone to get perspective. I give the coverage a B-.
Andrew Krukowski of TV Week has the sports TV ratings for the week ending November 11. Chris Pursell writes about Verizon DSL and Fios TV subscribers having extra access to NFL Network games online. And in his Pressbox blog, Pursell has the NFL Week 11 announcing team assignments.
Neil Best of Newsday blogs that ratings for the NHL on FSN New York and MSG continue to be on the rise. And Neil has more on the Verizon online access to NFL Network games.
Jake Grove of the Anderson (SC) Independent-Mail writes that ESPN will carry this Saturday’s Boston College/Clemson game in primetime.
Two things from CBS Sports. First is the NFL Week 11 preview including announcing team assignments for Sunday and next Thanksgiving weekend. Second is the college football preview of #1 LSU vs. #17 Mississippi which airs at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS.
ESPN tells us the features it will carry on Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL Matchup and Monday Night Countdown.
I’ll end the links for now. You’ll have your Friday megalinks tomorrow as usual.
