Ok, let’s do your Friday megalinks. As usual, we look at the weekend viewing picks before we do our links.
Weekend Viewing Picks
Baseball dominates the viewing landscape this weekend. Yankees-Red Sox will be a major part of viewing on both Fox Saturday Baseball (3:55 p.m.) and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (8 p.m.). In addition, we have the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies at Cooperstown, NY on ESPN Classic on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. WGN will carry the Florida Marlins-Chicago Cubs game on Saturday at 1 p.m. and the White Sox at Detroit, Sunday afternoon at 1. TBS takes the Marlins-Cubs at 2 p.m. I should mention that Fox’s other game on Saturday will be the Braves-Phillies.
ESPN picks up the NASCAR Sprint Cup series with its first race on Sunday. The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard from Indianapolis Motor Speedway starts at 2 p.m. The night before, ESPN2 will have the Nationwide Series’ Kroger 200 from Indy at 8 p.m.
The IndyCar Series is in Canada for the Rexall Edmonton Indy, Saturday at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
The PGA Tour heads up north for the RBC Canadian Open. CBS has the weekend coverage starting at 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
The LPGA Tour is in France for the Evian Masters. Golf Channel will have same day coverage starting at 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Senior Open Championship is on ABC and again, it’s same day coverage starting Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 p.m.
CBS has its second Elite XC Mixed Martial Arts broadcast, Saturday night at 9.
Tennis fans can watch the U.S. Open series which continues this week with the Rogers Cup being played just outside Toronto and the EastWest Bank Classic in Los Angeles. ESPN2 has all night semifinal coverage from both tournaments Saturday starting at 8 p.m. Then on Sunday, ESPN2 has the Rogers Cup championship at 3 p.m. and the EastWest Bank Classic final at 5 p.m.
The Tour de France concludes its month-long endurance test. Versus has live coverage of Stage 20, Saturday morning at 8. Then on Sunday, the final stage, the procession into Paris, will be live on Versus at 7:30 a.m. and CBS has a complete wrap up of the race later in the day at 1 p.m.
Beach volleyball prepares for the Olympics as the #1 seeded men’s and women’s teams in the world play in the Long Beach Open on NBC. Both finals will be played at 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
Let’s get to your links.
National
Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN will be using a TV novice to star in live spots to promote its new live morning SportsCenter block.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Comcast SportsNet Northwest will celebrate roller derby next week.
East and Mid-Atlantic
David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the media coverage from Patriots Training Camp.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe talks with Fox Sports’ Tim McCarver about Yankees-Red Sox.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has a story on SNY becoming the official New York home of the Big East conference.
From the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman talks about how the Mets’ Billy Wagner is the latest athlete to have a problem with the media.
Over to Phil Mushnick of the New York Post who goes after New York Yankees radio voice John Sterling for making a miscall on a close play at the plate during Monday’s game against the Twins.
The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with YES’ Al Leiter about Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon re-igniting the Yanks-Sox rivalry. And Justin has five questions for New York Giants’ voice and new NFL Network play-by-play man Bob Papa.
To the Baltimore Sun and Ray Frager who says WMAR-TV is an adjustment period after long-time sports anchor Scott Garceau stopped doing nightly reports.
Jim Williams in the DC/Baltimore Examiner lists his best and worst sports announcers.
South
Paul Stelow of The State in South Carolina says current TV deals prevent any changes in the Bowl Championship Series for at least six years.
The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson has 15 things that would make his TV sports viewing a better experience.
Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Florida’s Tim Tebow is bound to be mentioned every day on ESPN’s College Football Live program.
David Barron in the Houston Chronicle discusses the local TV sports reports changing over to HDTV.
Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes about Dallas Cowboys radio analyst Babe Laufenberg having to overcome a speech impediment.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman laments the loss of sideline reporters on football broadcasts. Mel also has a look at the early college football matchups on TV. Mel has his viewing picks.
Midwest
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press profiles a local sports radio host who took an unorthodox path to his show.
Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald is happy for Sun-Times sportswriters Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley who have replaced Mike North on WSCR.
Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune has his five TV (and radio) picks for the weekend.
Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says there’s a potpourri of sports to watch this weekend.
West
Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says a Los Angeles sports radio station showed up in the local radio ratings, but a local station did not. And Jay has the ratings from the weekend.
From the North County Times, John Maffei says NBC will use eight outlets to air the Olympics.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that NASCAR fans don’t like the extra features ESPN throws at them.
Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says the Dallas Cowboys are a perfect candidate for reality TV. John Scheibe in the Sound and Vision column tells us that NASCAR has fit in very well at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at David Wallechinsky’s comprehensive book on the Summer Olympics. And in his media notes, Tom has an interview with Wallechinsky.
Canada
William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the CBC is still wondering what rules it will have to abide by for the Olympics in Communist China because they keep changing.
CBC has announced that world champion hurdler Perdita Felicien is joining its commentary team in Beijing.
Mediacaster magazine reports that Rogers Sportsnet will increase its schedule of Toronto Maple Leafs games.
Blogs
CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks inside the bidding finalists for the Chicago Cubs.
Joe Favorito says the Chicago Blackhawks have done a tremendous job in resurrecting its brand.
Awful Announcing has the video of a huge basebrawl between the Dayton Dragons and the Peoria Chiefs.
SportsbyBrooks looks at the Lowell Spinners’ plans to have a “Politically Incorrect” promotion night on Thursday.
The DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post continues its battle with the Redskins over video shot at Redskin Park.
That’s it for now.
