Well, I just finished watching Sarah Palin speak at the Republican National Convention. Since this is not a political blog, I won’t give my opinion here, but it was quite fascinating to hear her speak. That’s all I’ll say. Just to let you know, I gave Barack Obama my undivided attention as well so don’t think I’m one-sided here. I’m Switzerland.
Anyway, let’s give you some links now.
Newsday’s Neil Best who never stops covering the Mike & the Mad Dog beat even though they’ve splitten up, says both Mike Francesa and Chris Russo will previewing the NFL season for their respective companies on Thursday. And Neil writes about the Tennis Channel’s attempts to gain wider distribution.
Thanks to Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News for the following link, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Hoffer has an appreciation for the long-time Voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully.
And Tom who is against the use of maple bats because of the danger they pose, looks at one particular bat that shattered during the Dodgers-D’Backs game on Sunday.
Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says MLB Advanced Media is putting its MLB.TV up for purchase on a per day basis for the rest of the season.
Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal talks with NFL Commish Roger Goodell about a host of issues including TV coverage and live internet streaming.
The San Francisco Chronicle looks at the state of NFL TV coverage this season.
One complaint about CBS’ NFL coverage was that all games were not shown in HD. Over the last three seasons, CBS would air two to three games a week in crystal clear high definition. Well, Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog tells us that CBS Sports will produce all of its games this season in HD, but you won’t necessarily see them in high def. Hoo boy.
Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post likes the back-to-basics approach ESPN is taking with Monday Night Football.
Rick Bentley of the Fresno Bee notes that NBC Sports will have the first game of the NFL regular season and the very last game of the NFL postseason.
And Paul Farhi of the Post writes that the Republicans are fearful that Thursday night’s NFL season opener between the Washington Redskins and the New York Football Giants could cut into John McCain’s acceptance speech.
It’s not as earthshattering as its 15 year deal with the SEC, but on Wednesday, ESPN signed a long-term deal with the WAC to show football, basketball and women’s sports. That is a big blow to the Mountain West Conference which has been struggling for exposure since starting up the mtn. I’ll have details of the contract in a separate post.
Mark Harden of the Denver Business Journal says FSN Rocky Mountain received great ratings for the annual Colorado-Colorado State game last Sunday.
Kim Shugart of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register reports that the Senior Bowl, currently shown by the NFL Network, will be played at night for the first time coming in January.
We may be into Week 2 of the college football season, but it’s never too early to think about college basketball. The Big Ten has announced its conference TV schedule.
Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says now that it has signed the major cable companies to deals, the Big Ten Network can now focus on improving its programming.
The Sports Media Watch brings us the final wekend ratings, a bit later than usual. And the SMW says the US Open is not doing any favors for USA Network.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that a local sports anchor has given his notice.
After losing Fang’s Bites favs Tina Cervasio and Hazel Mae, NESN has done the right thing and signed Bruins studio host Kathryn Tappen to a contract extension.
Friend of Fang’s Bites, Steve Michaels over at the the Sox & Dawgs blog feels WEEI’s “contest” to find the next great blogger is bogus and so do I. This smells of similar stunts like the “audition” that led to Bob Neumeier’s hiring to co-host middays with Dale Arnold and the “sit-in” that gave us Mike Adams. I’m not endorsing this contest, but if you feel so motivated to enter, you can go here. Don’t worry, I’m not going to Rick Roll you.
Daisy Whitney of TV Week writes that despite Yahoo winning the internet wars over the Olympics, a new study shows that Olympic viewers flocked to NBCOlympics.com.
The Orbitcast satellite radio blog says former tennis star Monica Seles will host a five week show on Sirius starting Thursday on Sirius Stars, channel 102.
Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun answers the question of WBAL radio’s affiliation with Fox Sports Radio now that newcomer WVIE becomes a full-time FSR affiliate.
The Phoenix Coyotes have announced their TV schedule.
The Detroit Red Wings have announced their TV schedule as well.
The lovely Tracey Myers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the Dallas Stars will have most of their games carried on FSN Southwest.
The Detroit Free Press says all of the Detroit Pistons’ games will be shown on TV, but just three on over the air television.
A lot of links. That will do it for now.
