Yesterday about 2 p.m., I got the power back at the Fang’s Bites abode and after walking around the neighborhood, I saw that I was quite lucky in not getting any tree limbs falling on my house or any leaks in the basement. So while Hurricane Irene was quite deadly and caused major damage up and down the East Coast, I consider myself very lucky in being able to get through the storm without any major interruptions and I thank National Grid for getting the power back to my house within a day after being knocked offline.
Let’s do some linkage. Already a couple of major sports media stories breaking today.
First, Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that NBC has tapped Today show Executive Producer Jim Bell and former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol protégé as the Executive Producer of the 2012 London Olympics.
Tim Malloy at The Wrap says NBC feels Bell is uniquely qualified to helm the Olympics for the network.
Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Bell will continue to oversee the Today show while working on the Olympics.
The lovely Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press writes that NBC will show all Olympic events live in one platform or another.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is happy to see NBC airing events live.
In a related note, Meredith Galante of the Business Insider notes that the aforementioned former Emperor is selling his Colorado home for a huge pricetag.
And maybe this is why Ebersol is selling his house, Bill Carter and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the former Emperor is returning to NBC Sports as a senior adviser. You can’t make these things up.
Our other big sports media story involves the University of Kentucky revoking the school newspaper’s media credential for playing by its rules.
Scott Sloan of the Lexington Herald-Leader looks into why this occurred.
And from the Kentucky Kernel, the school newspaper’s managing editor Becca Clemons gives the publication’s response. This now is becoming a First Amendment issue and had the school’s Sports Information Department had handled this differently, this would not have blown up. Instead, the SID reacted poorly and this is the result.
To other stories now.
USA Today notes that there are a few changes coming to NFL Network including the hiring of Andrew Siciliano full-time and the shuffling of anchors for NFL Total Access.
Anthony Crupi at Adweek says advertisers are flocking to Fox’s UFC package knowing they can reach large numbers of young males.
To the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center and Jason Fry whose final column for the site provides sportswriters with the five changes in digital sports they need to look for in the very near future. Also, Jason has collected 19 of his National Sports Journalism Center columns into a eBook and it’s available for download at Amazon or at Smashwords. Jason has been a great resource here and I hope to let you know where he’ll be landing soon.
Cam Martin at SportsNewser says syndicated radio host Paul Finebaum will be writing a column for SI.com.
Glenn Davis in SportsGrid has the latest Alec Baldwin-John Krasinski Yankees-Red Sox rivalry New Era ad that premieres tonight. It’s very funny.
Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group looks at Big Ten Network’s programming schedule to reflect the new football season.
Brandon writes about the launch of Kansas State’s new KStateHD.TV.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch takes to TwitLonger to ask why ESPN’s new social media policy is not being applied equally.
David Whitely of AOL Sporting News wonders if airing the Little League World Series on TV is too much pressure on the kids.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the addition of Texas A&M to the SEC won’t add much value to its TV contracts.
Claire Atkinson of the New York Post writes that the US Tennis Association is considering charging viewers for watching the U.S. Open online.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wishes ESPN would lighten up.
David N. Dunkle of the Patriot-News (PA) writes a long-time Harrisville R&B radio station flips to ESPN Radio this week.
Mark Berman of the Roanoke (VA) Times says ESPN’s new contract with the ACC means more Virginia Tech sports on TV.
Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that former CNN/ESPN/YES/Fox Sports South host Fred Hickman has signed with a local TV station to become its sports director.
Susan Blaskovich of the Pegasus (TX) Times says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gets his chance to pick games on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press notes the passing of long-time Detroit Lions beat writer Tom “Killer” Kowalski.
The Ann Arbor News has reaction to Kowalski’s passing.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel looks at how WTMJ radio will handle conflicts between the Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers.
Bob has some interesting tidbits from the NFL Films America’s Game documentary on the 2010 Packers that airs next week.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business feels the number of documentaries released now focusing on the Cubs is bad timing.
Mike Imrem of the Chicago Daily Herald says he might be part of the problem in ESPN’s airing of the Little League World Series.
Josie Becker of LA Galaxy Confidential suggests that NBC use the ESPN model for hiring announcers for MLS instead of the Fox Soccer way of doing things.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says the MLB At Bat for iPhone and iPod Touch underwent a nice upgrade in time for the pennant races.
Brady Green at Awful Announcing enjoys Gus Johnson reenacting his famous Brandon Stokley call.
And I think that will do it for the links today.
