Ok. After hardly doing links this week, it’s time to make up for it today. And I hope to finish this during the day. Let’s get to it.
First, the Weekend Viewing Picks.
College Football has good matchups this weekend including USC at Washington on ABC, Michiga State at Notre Dame on NBC, and Texas Tech at Texas in primetime on ABC. ESPN College Gameday is in Austin, TX to preview the Aggies-Longhorns game. The College Football Viewing Picks in full are right here.
To the NFL where we have some intriguing games in Week 2. CBS has the doubleheader this week and a good early game with the Patriots at the Jets especially in the wake of coach Rex Ryan’s trash talking. The showcase late game for CBS will be Pittsburgh at Chicago. For Fox, it’s regional coverage and New Orleans at the Eagles will be called by Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver. On Sunday night, it’s the regular season debut of the new Cowboys Stadium on NBC with the Giants and the Cowboys facing off. The entire Sunday schedule along with announcer assignments, DirecTV channels, satellite radio channels and anything else I wanted to add are in the NFL Viewing Picks.
For baseball, Cubs-Cards and Angels-Rangers will be featured on the national networks this weekend. You can see what’s being covered in Baseball Viewing This Weekend.
Other programming notes of interest include Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Miguel Marquez on HBO pay per view called by Jim Lampley, Emanuel Steward and boxing charlatan Max Kellerman and UFC 103 on pay per view.
NASCAR is in New Hampshire for the Sprint Cup Series on ABC at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Weekend Viewing Picks in full not only have your sports picks, but primetime viewing as well.
Let’s get to your links.
National
Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes about Fox Sports unveiling new programming online and from what I hear, some nudity in the weekly “Cubed” series.
Sports Business Daily looks into the beginning of Fox Sports’ online initiative and the nudity on “Cubed”.
Brian Helfrich of SBD writes about Fox Sports not only cutting out the nudity in “Cubed” but also cutting down the web show from 16 minutes to under 2.
Eric Fisher in Sports Business Daily writes that the NFL has brought increased traffic to various sports news websites.
Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated reviews the Week 1 performances of several new NFL TV analysts.
The Nielsen ratings Wire blog says the early returns show ratings success for both college and pro football.
Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says ESPN, Fox and NBC all saw ratings jumps for their first offerings of the NFL regular season.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that the Cubs are feeling the effects of the recession.
Darren looks at how MillerCoors is getting notice for its brand at the new Cowboys Stadium.
Nick Saint of the Silicon Valley Insider notes that CBS Sports will stream its entire 15 game SEC football schedule online.
Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog reports that DirecTV and Versus are talking to bring the sports channel back, but it appears it won’t be in time for the NHL season openers.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News also writes about the DirecTV/Versus negotiations.
R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says Spike is seeing excellent ratings for “The Ultimate Fighter” season premiere.
Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable says Bright House Sports will be picking up a slate of SEC games thanks to a new deal with ESPN Regional Television.
Ben Grossman of B&C writes that CBS is back in the Mixed Martial Arts business signing a deal to air Strikeforce bouts starting in November.
Steve Schwankert of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the NFL is expanding its broadcasts into Communist China and in democratic Taiwan.
Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine writes about a successful opening to the NFL season on the league’s TV partners.
Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media notes that ESPN is already releasing the opener to next year’s college football season.
Chris has the video of former Detroit Tigers voice Ernie Harwell saying thanks to his fans. Ernie was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and there has been a huge outpouring of support from all over baseball for Ernie.
The Big Lead talks with ESPN.com college football reporter Joe Schad.
The Sports Media Watch looks at the ratings of the recently completed US Open.
SMW tells us that of the NFL TV partners, only CBS saw a decrease in ratings for Week 1.
Here’s the first edition of a podcast I did with Sports Media Journal’s Keith Thibeault.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes about some of the latest developments in new media in Boston.
Amanda Bruno of the Batter-up with Bruno blog notes that the Boston Globe has made a new hire to cover the Red Sox.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with Ron Jaworski of ESPN’s Monday Night Football about the Patriots’ performance against the Bills.
Newsday’s Neil Best writes that YES is not producing a postgame for the entire Yankees schedule.
Neil writes a feature on Newsday’s owner, Cablevision, increasing its commitment to high school sports.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that CBS’ Phil Simms seems to be the only one not jumping on the Jets’ bandwagon.
Phil Mushnick in the New York Post rips the NFL replay rule.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with ESPN Radio’s Freddie Coleman who got his sports radio start in New York’s Capital Region.
Pete also has five questions with Freddie.
In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com talks with WNST’s Nestor “Nasty” Apricio.
South
To the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson says the Dolphins are excited about having their home opener on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
Gary Smits in the Florida Times-Union says the DirecTV/Versus dispute is preventing Florida State fans from seeing Saturday’s game against BYU.
Jeff Caplan in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that NBC will be ready to cover the punts and the now-infamous video board at the new Cowboys Stadium.
Ray Buck of the Star-Telegram says NBC will showcase the new stadium this weekend.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Michael Irvin will be all over the place on Sunday and Monday.
Barry writes that a local sports radio station will talk with former President George W. Bush next week.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says College Gameday is back in Texas on Saturday.
In his blog, David looks at the football segments on local radio this weekend.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says a Fox Sports Net college football analyst can feel Oklahoma University QB Sam Bradford’s pain.
Midwest
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press feels there are too many retired NFL players on his television.
Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that you won’t be seeing the Packers on HBO’s Hard Knocks.
Bob Wolfley in the Journal Sentinel says Milwaukee viewers will see up to 8 Minnesota Vikings games with former Packer Brett Favre this season.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers.
In the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin, Paul Christian writes about the return of MMA to CBS.
Paul says a popular Twin Cities sports radio show makes a local appearance this weekend.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Joe Buck’s second HBO show has been retooled.
Dan writes that the ratings for the Rams’ season opener were up from last year.
Tom Timmerman of the Post-Dispatch reports that the Big 12 Conference is looking to expand its TV footprint similar to what the SEC did this year.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News feels ESPN’s Bob Griese is a BCS lackey.
Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the US Open fireworks helped to prepare CBS’ Dick Enberg for the new NFL season.
Jay says Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton returns to the local airwaves in October.
John Maffei of the North County Times pays tribute to a colleague who recently passed away.
Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star writes that football brings in the ratings.
Jim says the new Cowboys Stadium gets a real public Open House this Sunday.
Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times says fans are truly ready for some football.
Tom Hoffarth in the Los Angeles Daily News says don’t count out newspapers yet.
As usual, Tom has his extensive media notes in his blog.
And that’s going to conclude this edition of the megalinks.
