I know, a three day weekend and you’re dragging. I’m aware that you’re feeling this way, but it’s never fun to go back to work after a three day holiday. But we’re back and it’s time for linkage.
Yesterday’s Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal match at Wimbledon took my concentration so I did not want to link or miss a single moment. I will say that after not watching NBC’s coverage throughout the fortnight, I went to a backdoor site to watch the BBC and it was much better. No commercials and less talk. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Wimbledon online and not having to deal with the silly restrictions that NBC has placed on the tournament, not showing live tennis and preventing ESPN from airing matches until NBC was finished with its coverage. Not the way to present this tournament which deserves so much better.
Let’s get to your links and some leftovers from yesterday before heading into today’s stuff.
Neil Best of Newsday has the transcript of some of John McEnroe’s comments during yesterday’s Gentlemen’s Final at Wimbledon. Also, Neil has Bud Collins’ thoughts on the Federer-Nadal final. And Neil has the transcript from the interview Verne Lundquist and Nick Faldo conducted with Tiger Woods during CBS’ coverage of the AT&T National.
The Sports Media Watch says Saturday’s Ladies Final at Wimbledon between Venus and Serena Williams gave NBC its best Breakfast at Wimbledon ratings for the women since 2005.
Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley (NY) Times Herald-Record says tennis got a big boost from the finals at Wimbledon on both Saturday and Sunday.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News won’t bash John McEnroe for his gushing during the post-match interviews with Federer and Nadal.
Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times writes in his Two Cents blog that the Wimbledon men’s final is the greatest tennis match he’s ever seen.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says the Federer-Nadal match on NBC was a masterpiece for the ages.
Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his Media Power Rankings for the just-completed month of June.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today has the new Showtime Inside the NFL lineup and the picks by CBS Sports for the panel may surprise you.
Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post talks about one long-time Inside the NFL panelist who won’t be returning.
Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says Inside the NFL will have three permanent panelists and one rotating analyst.
R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that CBS Sports has tapped three veteran announcers for Inside the NFL.
Jon Lafayette of TV Week has two stories for us today. One is on the fresh faces on Inside the NFL. Jon’s other story is on NBC’s research effort on Olympic viewers as an attempt to show advertisers their real bang for their buck.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC will attempt to track Olympic viewers who watch the Olympics through its various platforms.
David Bauder of the Associated Press also writes a story on NBC’s tracking of how people are watching the Olympics, whether it be online or through the traditional televised method.
Greg Johnson of the Los Angeles Times tells us that digital technology will play a major role in how we watch the Olympics.
Brent Gardner-Smith of the Aspen (CO) Daily News writes that the media is preparing for anything to happen at the Olympics in Communist China.
Samuel Chamberlain of Editor & Publisher says newsroom cutbacks and possible restrictions by the Communist goverment will affect coverage of the Summer Olympics.
Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal writes that the Bowl Championship Series has hired IMG Sports Media to negotiate its next set of TV contracts. Fox Sports has the contract through 2010. Another story from the SBJ, Daniel Kaplan and John Ourand write that ESPN is seeking to extend its deal to carry Monday Night Football through 2018 as part of the talks to bring the NFL Network to ESPN Classic.
Ted Hearn of Multichannel writes that the NFL and Comcast are seeking a mediator to resolve their dispute over the NFL Network.
Congratulations to CBS Sports’ Dan Dierdorf, already a Pro Football Hall of Famer, who will receive the Pete Rozelle Radio-TV Award for contributions in the broadcast booth.
The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick writes that YES struck gold when it caught a picture of a ball perched on top of Yankee Stadium’s left field wall after Johnny Damon crashed into the wall.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if the pre-nuptial agreement between Alex and soon-to-be ex-wife Cynthia Rodriguez is valid.
Steve Warden of the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette facetiously writes about the days before ESPN and HDTV.
Kyle Nagel of the Dayton (OH) Daily News urges us to give Joe Buck a break for his anti-baseball comments on ESPN Radio. No.
Chris Langrill of the Idaho Statesman talks with new Boise State football and basketball announcer Bob Behler who comes over from the University of Massachusetts (I’m sure David Scott is sad over this).
Bob Hertzel of the Times West Virginian writes about the Mountaineer Sports Network which broadcasts West Virginia University’s football and basketball games dating back to the 1940’s.
There you have for it today.
