Here are various releases that have come in and I’ll just post them. Let’s get this done.
First, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco will appear on Late Show with David Letterman tonight.
CINCINNATI BENGALS WIDE RECEIVER CHAD OCHOCINCO TO PRESENT THE TOP TEN LIST ON CBS’s “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN,” THURSDAY, OCT. 29
NEW YORK, Oct. 28 – Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco will present the Top Ten List on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Thursday, Oct. 29 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Ochocinco’s memoir, Ocho Cinco: What Football and Life Have Thrown My Way, which he co-wrote with sports writer Jason Cole, was released Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Also visiting the LATE SHOW on Thursday, Oct. 29 are actor Tom Hanks and alternative music stars Weezer, who will be performing the first of two consecutive nights on the broadcast. The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Matt Roberts, Jude Brennan, Maria Pope and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.
Official CBS Web site: http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/
ESPN2 will air the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championship on Sunday.
Tennis: WTA Sony Ericsson Championship Live Sunday
The top women’s tennis player in the world for 2009 will be crowned live on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com Sunday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m., culminating the eight-player, round-robin Sony Ericsson Championship in Doha, Qatar. Cliff Drysdale and Pam Shriver will call the action, which will pit the champions of the two fields of four players each currently competing.
Four of the eight players have been No.1 in their career, three are Grand Slam champions, and four have been to at least one major final. Two of the field made their Top 10 debuts this season and are at the championships for the first time:
- the White group (the competitors have been divided into two groups named for the colors of the Qatari flag) comprises No. 1 seed Dinara Safina, No. 4 seed Caroline Wozniacki, No. 6 seed Victoria Azarenka and No. 8 seed Jelena Jankovic.
- the Maroon Group is made up of No. 2 seed Serena Williams, No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova (the only player who arrives on a winning streak after her triumph at Beijing), No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva and No. 7 seed Venus Williams.
CBC announces the latest couple iced from Battle of the Blades.
JODEYNE HIGGINS AND KEN DANEYKO ARE THE NEXT TO BE ICED ON CBC-TV’s BATTLE OF THE BLADES
Christine Hough-Sweeney and Tie Domi back for another week
Jodeyne Higgins and Ken Daneyko, after a heartfelt and soulful performance, were the fourth pair iced, as the results were revealed during tonight’s broadcast on BATTLE OF THE BLADES. Christine Hough-Sweeney and Tie Domi are the fourth pair to be saved, joining the three remaining pairs for a chance to win $100,000 for the charity of their choice.
The two pairs with the fewest votes in the fourth week of competition were Higgins and Daneyko, who skated to James Brown’s I Got You, and Hough-Sweeney and Domi, who performed
their routine to Robin Thicke’s Superman. Both pairs performed again before regular judges Sandra Bezic, Dick Button and guest judge Lanny McDonald for a final chance to remain on the show. McDonald is renowned for his years with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames.For their efforts, Higgins and Daneyko’s Canadian charity, Foundation Fighting Blindness, will receive a $25,000 donation. Foundation Fighting Blindness is a national charity organization that funds research into the causes, treatments and ultimately the cure for all retinal disease. Its annual Ride for Sight event is Canada’s largest motorcycle charity fundraiser in support of the Foundation.
The four pairs returning to compete on Sunday, November 1 are: Shae-Lynn Bourne and Claude Lemieux, Marie-France Dubreuil and Stéphane Richer, Christine Hough-Sweeney and Tie Domi, Jamie Salé and Craig Simpson. All will perform to songs inspired by movies and musicals.
Olympic gold medalist and figure skating champion Kristi Yamaguchi and her husband Bret Hedican, who won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, will reside as guest judges for the fifth week of BATTLE OF THE BLADES, Sunday, November 1 and Monday, November 2. Yamaguchi and Hedican will draw from their knowledge of both sports to provide a combined score alongside regular judges Bezic and Button. All four will also determine who of the bottom two ranking pairs—as determined by viewer votes—gets iced on Monday’s skate-off show.
Viewers can learn more about the competitors at www.cbc.ca/battle, the official online portal for the series and the source for everything about BATTLE OF THE BLADES. In addition to videos and behind-the-scene photos, the site offers viewers the opportunity to become fans of their favourite pair and track each participant’s activity as they strive to be the final pair remaining at the end of the series.
BATTLE OF THE BLADES is the brainchild of Kevin Albrecht with development by Sandra Bezic. BATTLE OF THE BLADES executive producers are John Brunton, Barbara Bowlby and Kevin Albrecht. It is produced by Insight Productions in association with CBC Television.
This what ESPN is airing for motorsports on its various networks.
Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABCNASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live from Talladega on ABC
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup only has four races to go and this weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races on NASCAR’s longest track, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, for 500 miles on Sunday, Nov. 1. ESPN’s live, flag-to-flag coverage of the AMP Energy 500 airs on ABC beginning with NASCAR Countdown at noon ET. The race’s green flag is at 1:19 p.m.
Dr. Jerry Punch will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.
Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty, co-owner of a winning team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham in the ESPN pit studio.
Evernham, LaJoie, Craven on NASCAR Now Roundtable
NASCAR on ESPN analysts Ray Evernham, Randy LaJoie and Ricky Craven will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program on Monday, Nov. 2, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.
Mike Massaro hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing Tuesday through Thursday of this week at 5 p.m., and Saturday at 1 a.m. (late Friday night). Massaro will be joined by LaJoie for the one-hour weekend edition that airs Sunday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. The weekend wrap-up edition airs at 10 p.m. Sunday. Nicole Manske and Marty Smith will report from the speedway for both programs.
NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Bestwick and Manske and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include NASCAR Insiders Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Boris Said, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie, and ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton. The NASCAR on ESPN team event coverage team of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Spake and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now.
Countdown to 1 Continues in NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series continues its Countdown to 1 playoffs as the series visits The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. ESPN2 will air qualifying and eliminations action from the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, with qualifying airing Saturday, Oct. 31, at 11 p.m. ET. Eliminations action airs Sunday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m., with a re-air Monday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m. on ESPN Classic.
As the next-to-last event that will decide the season’s NHRA Full Throttle world championships, plenty is at stake in Las Vegas. Every run will be important because a slip at this point could be worse than snake eyes at the other Strip’s craps tables. The venue is the same as in the spring, but the weather may be different, making for high drama at an event where previous world champions have been crowned.
Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould, Dave Rieff and John Kernan report from the pits. Rieff and Dunn host NHRA RaceDay on Sunday at 11 a.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.
The Big Ten Network goes over the championships it will air in November.
Big Ten Fall Championships to Air on Big Ten Network in November
Coverage to include cross country, field hockey and men’s soccer
CHICAGO – The Big Ten Network will once again provide coverage of all three Big Ten fall championships, including live broadcasts during the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament and Big Ten Men’s Soccer Tournament and delayed coverage of the Big Ten Cross Country Championships.
The Big Ten Network will be in East Lansing for the semifinals and final of the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament. The games will air live at 12 PM and 2 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 6, as will the final on Sunday, Nov. 8, at Noon ET. Four Big Ten teams appear in national polls, including No. 8 Michigan State, which just clinched its first outright Big Ten Championship, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 18 Indiana and No. 20 Northwestern. Iowa has won the last three Big Ten Field Hockey Tournaments despite not holding the top seed in any of those events.
The Big Ten Network also will televise live the semifinals and finals of the Big Ten Men’s Soccer Tournament, hosted by Indiana University. Semifinal coverage will air live at 2 PM and 4:30 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 13. The final will be carried live at 2 PM ET on Sunday, Nov. 15. Northwestern currently leads all Big Ten teams at No. 12 nationally, while Michigan State will be out to defend its 2008 title.
In addition, the network will offer delayed coverage at 1 PM ET on Sunday, Nov. 15, of the Big Ten Cross Country Championships, which take place on Sunday, Nov. 1, and will be hosted by Penn State University. The Big Ten has two men’s teams ranked in the top 20, No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 18 Indiana. On the women’s side, five Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 25, paced by No. 13 Illinois. The Badgers will be looking for their 11th straight conference title on the men’s side, while the Golden Gophers will be aiming for their third straight conference crown on the women’s side.
Entering this week’s action, the Big Ten has multiple teams ranked among the top 20 nationally in fall sports, including in men’s cross country (No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 18 Indiana), women’s cross country (No. 13 Illinois, No. 15 Minnesota, No. 18 Penn
State), field hockey (No. 8 Michigan State, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 18 Indiana and No. 20 Northwestern), football (No. 4 Iowa, No. 12 Penn State and No. 17 Ohio State), men’s soccer (No. 12 Northwestern), women’s soccer (No. 15 Ohio State) and volleyball (No. 1 Penn State, No. 6 Illinois, No. 7 Minnesota and No. 13 Michigan).Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament
Friday, Nov. 6 at Michigan State 12:00pm ET Semifinal #1 (LIVE)
Friday, Nov. 6 at Michigan State 2:00pm ET Semifinal #2 (LIVE)
Sunday, Nov. 8 at Michigan State 12:00pm ET Championship Game (LIVE)
Big Ten Men’s Soccer Championship
Friday, Nov. 13 at Indiana 2:00pm ET Semifinal #1 (LIVE)
Friday, Nov. 13 at Indiana 4:30pm ET Semifinal #2 (LIVE)
Sunday, Nov. 15 at Indiana 2:00pm ET Championship Game (LIVE)
Big Ten Cross Country Championship
Sunday, Nov. 1 at Penn State 10:45am ET Championship (Delay: 11/15, 1 PM ET)
Yardbarker and FoxSports.com have deepened their commitment to each other.
FOXSPORTS.COM ON MSN & YARDBARKER REACH SALES & CONTENT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT
FOXSports.com on MSN, the third most-visited sports Web site with approximately 14.5 million average monthly users and Yardbarker, the largest network of sports blogs on the web, have reached a multi-year sales and content agreement, it was announced today by Jeff Husvar, Senior Vice President & General Manager of FOXSports.com on MSN.
FOXSports.com on MSN is working with Yardbarker to collaborate on ad sales efforts and represent inventory across the Yardbarker Network and give Yardbarker the ability to leverage a large national sales team.
The new agreement also deepens the content partnership currently in-place between FOXSports.com on MSN and Yardbarker. FOXSports.com on MSN now has access to the Yardbarker’s unique voices and its array of independent blog content, athlete blogs and a variety of content that complements FOXSports.com on MSN’s big event coverage. The agreement also includes headline distribution across FOXSports.com on MSN and the Yardbarker Network, as well as editorial cooperation around event coverage.
“This agreement gives FOXSports.com on MSN access to Yardbarker’s unique content and younger demographic, which really helps us broaden our reach,” said Husvar. “It also allows us to build a wider selection of sales packages to better meet the needs of and attract a wider variety of advertisers.”
“We are thrilled to be partnering with FoxSports.com and MSN,” said Yardbarker CEO Peter Vlastelica. “The talented bloggers in the Yardbarker Network deserve a larger audience and better access to premium advertisers, and this partnership will bring them both. Sports media is shifting toward conversation and authenticity, and its’ a credit to FoxSports.com on MSN that they’ve identified this partnership as an opportunity to move their business in that direction.”
In addition to Yardbarker content integration across FOXSports.com on MSN, Yardbarker content will receive promotion across the MSN network from time to time, while FOXSports.com on MSN content and Microsoft’s Bing search engine will be integrated across the Yardbarker Network.
That’ll do us for now.
