Ok, with a lot going on today especially with Plaxico Burress, I’ll provide you with linkage. There’s a lot today.
Let’s start with Newsday’s Neil Best who tried to live blog Chris Russo on Sirius XM Radio today and quickly gave up. Neil then monitored WFAN, 1050 ESPN Radio and Sirius for talk of Plaxico. Neil discovered that alleged Plaxico accomplice, Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce talked with Sirius NFL Radio today. And Neil gets a transcript of Chris Russo’s diatribe about the Giants.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Plaxico’s agent and First Class Jerk, Drew Rosenhaus, sounded completely self-absorbed during a halftime interview on Monday Night Football.
Catching up on two days of posts from CNBC’s Darren Rovell. First, he wonders how Plax’s gunplay will affect his jersey sales. Going away from Plax, Darren tries to find the very first athlete to grace Sports Illustrated’s cover wearing Nike shoes. And Darren writes that Nike is also interested in finding her. Darren has 9 sports business predictions for 2009. And Darren says Black Friday led to good sales for sports leagues.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings from selected events from the weekend.
The Sports Media Watch says NFL ratings were down on Thanksgiving, but up on Sunday. And the SMW says college football ratings were also down for the most part during the holiday weekend.
Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the blackout has been lifted for Thursday’s Raiders-Chargers game which means the NFL Network broadcast will be seen in Southern California.
Ben Klayman of Reuters says there has been little to no progress made between the NFL Network and Big Cable.
Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Green Bay Packers rank first of all sports teams as far as branding is concerned. And Don reports that the Brewers also scored well this season.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ESPN brought its Monday Night Football road show into the heart of Texas for last night’s game.
The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn feels the Cowboys-Eagles game in Week 17 is prime for a flexing.
Caitlin Myers of the Morning News writes about ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic broadcasting live from a Dallas hospital this morning.
The International Olympic Committee has decided to end its long association with the European Broadcasting Union and seek bids from individual broadcasters in Europe. The EBU had been the official Olympics rightsholder for 75 broadcasters in 56 countries and been broadcasting the games since 1956.
The Sports Journalists’ Association blog in the United Kingdom says the IOC rejection of the EBU’s bid for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics could pave the way for Rupert Murdoch’s Sky network to gain the games. Murdoch has won the bid for the 2014 and 2016 games in Italy and Turkey.
And the London Times says the rejection of the EBU bid could have plenty of repercussions for the BBC.
Michelle Greppi of TV Week writes that NBC is offering Universal Sports to fill its affiliates’ digital HDTV subchannels.
Greg Johnson of the Los Angeles Times says NBC will re-air its documentary on the Paralympics this weekend.
Also from the Times, Helene Elliot reports that Hall of Fame NHL announcer Jiggs McDonald has made it out of Thailand after a civil uprising stranded him at Bangkok Airport.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette tells us that USA Hockey and the NHL Network have come together on a rights deal to cover the World Junior Championships.
Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star writes that the lack of a solid US network TV contract is leaving the NHL venerable in this global recession.
Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media blog has the video of NBC’s promo (voiced by Bob Costas at the end) for the NHL Winter Classic. It’s pretty good. Steve also has another round in his NHL Tournament of Announcers. And Steve has another video, this one shows the end of SportsChannel America’s term as the rightsholder of the NHL. The network, the precursor to Fox SportsNet, did a really bad job in broadcasting the NHL.
Actually, you have to think about some of the bad decisions by the NHL in regards to its US broadcasters over the years. It’s own syndication of the NHL in the late 1970’s when it lost its NBC contract. Going to SportsChannel America in the late 1980’s after a very successful run on ESPN. Moving from Fox to ABC/ESPN in the late 1990’s, then Versus in this decade, although Versus is gaining some momentum now.
Speaking about ESPN, the Hockeycaster blog says maybe it’s not so much of a stretch to think that the NHL could return to the Alleged Worldwide Leader down the line.
Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning News says ESPN’s John Kruk is basically a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy.
The Washington Post’s Leonard Shapiro gives out some holiday gifts and lumps of coal to members of the local and national media (and inexplicably gives praise to Pam Ward’s play-by-play).
David S. Cohen of Variety says Fox Sports will show the BCS Championship Game in 3-D in select theaters on January 8.
The Eye on Sports Media’s Christopher Byrne looks at the diversity of CBS Sports’ production crews just a few days after Tim Brando called out college football’s track record of hiring African-Americans as head coaches.
Larry Barnett of Multichannel News writes that NBC and MTV will combine to form an action sports alliance.
Linda Haugsted of Multichannel News says ESPN is among the top three cable channel favorites.
Claire Atkinson of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN finds a majority of its viewers are also online at the same time.
The Arizona Republic reports that long-time Valley sportscaster Tom Dillon who called Arizona State football and the Phoenix Cardinals has died.
William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says a true 360 degree angle replay may be coming to life on TV very soon.
