I’ve been out of the office for most of the day as this week has been a bear for some reason. I’ll do some linkage and do as much as I can before being booted out for the day.
Mike McCarthy of the USA Today says the MLB All-Star Game on Fox received its lowest ratings ever.
Mike says Shaquille O’Neal has officially joined Turner Sports as an NBA studio analyst.
Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter also writes about Shaq joining Turner.
Etan Vlessing of the Reporter says Canadian French language network TVA Sports has signed a deal to become the official broadcaster of Montreal Impact MLS games.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says ratings for the 18-49 demographic for the MLB All-Star Game fell precipitously from last year.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch writes about Shaquille O’Neal shuffling to Turner Sports.
On this 5th anniversary of Twitter, SI lists its 100 must follow Sports Twitter accounts. I discount it because I wasn’t listed. I’m joking. Maybe. Maybe not.
SI’s Jon Wertheim writes about Twitter’s huge impact on sports.
Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal reports that an Under Armour executive died suddenly last night.
Brian Lowry from Fox Sports has some thoughts on how Fox handled the All-Star Game.
Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center provides a review of Showtime’s “The Franchise”.
Big news from the IU National Sports Journalism Center, the man who help found the center and also establish its journalism focus, Tim Franklin is leaving for Bloomberg News in Washington.
Ben Axelrod of SportsGrid has a funny video showing the BBC misidentifying and then interviewing the wrong writer.
Cam Martin at SportsNewser writes that Fox Sports President Eric Shanks has been named to the board of a sports statistics company.
Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group says Sony has extended its sponsorship of ESPN 3D which about 35 people across the country have access to.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell has 100 Twitter rules to live by. I admit, I don’t follow all of them which is probably why he doesn’t follow me. He used to.
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes about the city’s sports radio ratings.
Chad has a story on Shaquille O’Neal going to TNT.
Earlier this week, Newsday’s Neil Best reported that WFAN’s Mike Francesa was dropping his WNBC-TV Sunday night show effective immediately.
Neil says the show will have a new host, but keep the same name.
And Neil writes about Shaquille O’Neal heading to TNT.
David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun looks at the incredible shrinking TV sportscasts during the late local news.
David talks with former sports TV anchor Scott Garceau about whether Baltimore is as passionate about sports as other cities.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says All-Star Game viewership has hit its nadir.
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has video of Lindsay Czarniak’s emotional farewell to DC market.
Dan says the extremely bitter John Feinstein is changing radio stations.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that the Open Championship presents logistical challenges to ESPN.
Jim says DC and Baltimore pace the country in the ratings for the Women’s World Cup.
Jim notes that TNT’s NASCAR ratings are up this year.
John Kieswetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer talks about Fox Sports Ohio’s high school football schedule.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Suds City loves the long ball.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business shares his thoughts on the All-Star Game.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has parts one, two, three, four, five, six and an epilogue from his interview with CBS/Golf Channel golf analyst David Feherty.
Tom also talks with ESPN Women’s World Cup analysts Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy about having the 2011 USA team being compared to their 1999 champion squad.
The incredibly uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about Rogers Sportsnet looking to bring in additional talent and not fire its staff.
But then Toronto Sports Media reports that Rogers fired Calgary Flames voice Peter Loubardias.
The Canadian Sports media blog reacts to the Rogers move as well as looking at the Winnipeg Jets broadcast rights.
The Big Lead talks with The Extra 2% author and baseball writer extraordinaire Jonah Keri.
Joe Favorito says the sport that wins on the movie screen is NASCAR.
Sports Media Watch says the USA-France Women’s World Cup semifinal set another high mark for this year’s games.
SMW looks at the top 100 most viewed sporting events on broadcast and cable TV to the halfway point of 2011.
That will do it.
