Time for some linkage on this Tuesday.
I did listen to the debut of Andy Gresh on Sirius XM Radio last night. It was good. Gresh knows how to generate calls and get people to talk. I listened from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. and he had a good interview with former Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart in regards to Rickey Henderson’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was typical Gresh and he was able to get some good stories from Stewart on Rickey. Overall, I’d give Greshie a B plus for his debut. If you want more info on the show, you can head to the official website which launched yesterday.
On to the linkage.
Mike McCarthy of USA Today looks at the ratings of selected weekend events.
The Sports Media Watch says the ratings for the Arizona-Carolina NFL playoff game were down from last year. The SMW writes the ratings for the Eagles-Giants game were also down despite having the #1 and #4 media markets. But the ratings for San Diego-Pittsburgh were the highest of the weekend, but were also down from last year. The SMW has some random ratings news. Finally, the blog says T-Mobile has pulled its ads featuring Charles Barkley.
Newsday’s Neil Best does not give Giants unofficial spokesman Antonio Pierce a pass for not talking to reporters on Sunday and Monday, and speaking only to WFAN which is a paid appearance. Neil says it’s only fair to call out Pierce because he himself appointed himself as team spokesman. Neil has posted video of one of the reasons why older Giants fans don’t like attending games in person.
Bill Hutchinson of the New York Daily News writes that Fox Sports’ Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Tim McCarver all received illegal U.S. Marshal escorts to the 2007 World Series in Boston and Super Bowl XLII in Tampa thanks to a Fox staffer who was also a U.S. Marshal. The Smoking Gun has the Report of Investigation into the matter.
Also from the Daily News, Bob Raissman says Fox got the short ratings straw by drawing the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with the outgoing commissioner of the National Lacrosse League. Darren asks for your vote on the greatest TV product. Darren says it’s a good thing that Jim Rice got elected to the Hall of Fame. And Darren writes that FIFA may need a new information technology sponsor for the 2010 World Cup in the wake of Satyam’s economic troubles.
Keith Groller of the Allentown Morning News says Donovan McNabb’s phone antics during the Eagles-Giants game were subject of debates.
Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun talks about some changes in local sports radio. And Ray talks with host Rob Long about why he changed stations.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Cleveland sports radio station WKNR has made a change to its lineup.
Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune was not enthused over Mike North’s and Dan Jiggetts’ debut on Comcast SportsNet on Monday.
Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has a quick sports business round-up. Ed wonders if the Washington Redskins cutting 20 positions is going to be a trend around the NFL.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Eagles-Giants playoff game was the most watched of the four NFL playoff games locally (scroll down).
Billy Packer and Bob Knight are teaming up for five shows on Fox Sports Net to analyze the NCAA Tournament from the Wynn Las Vegas casino.
Walt Belcher of the Tampa Tribune writes that CBS will have another Super Bowl Commercials special at the end of the month broadcast from Randall James Stadium.
SJ Munoz of the York (NE) News-Times says there was a time when ESPN was actually known for giving sports news.
The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn feels the Super Bowl is ratings-proof no matter which teams are participating. Barry handicaps the Dallas Cowboys radio rights sweepstakes.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says Vin Scully has been named as Best Sportscaster of All-Time.
Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has the entire list of Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time.
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times says Washington-Oregon will not be on FSN this week.
Starr Begley of the Maui (HI) News goes behind the scenes of Golf Channel’s production of the Mercedes-Benz Championship last weekend.
Michael Dav
id Smith of AOL Fanhouse is not enamored with NBC’s hiring of Matt Millen for the Super Bowl.
Steve Lepore in the Puck The Media blog says the Anaheim Ducks have ended their ice level camera broadcasts on Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket. Steve has the final three of the NHL Tournament of Announcers after clearing up some shenanigans with the Jack Edwards-Sam Rosen vote. And Steve has a look at the NHL if it were on The CW.
And I’ll end the links here for now.
