Sorry for not updating the blog this weekend. I have been only been able to give you viewing picks and I’ve basically had my weekend planned out for me as I’ve had to work both Saturday and Sunday (yes, I had to work on Easter Sunday). That’s what happens when you’re involved in a family-run business, you have to work on days you’d normally have off. This is why I’m a very bitter and angry person, but you don’t want to hear about that. You want links. I’m here to give them to you.
I’ll start with Saturday links and then go on to the Sunday links.
The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn talks about some of the best and worst announcing of the NCAA Tournament through Friday.
Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News says there are other things to watch besides the NCAA Tournament.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about a dispute about Belo Broadcasting and Charter Communications which has left viewers without the NCAA Tournament in HD.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette was busy covering the ECAC Hockey Tournament final in Albany so he did not have a column yesterday. I told him that I would give him a plug for his college hockey coverage, so you can always go to his Parting Schotts blog which always has updates on the sport and the sports media.
Let’s now move to the Sunday columns.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News gives praise to regional sports network SNY for the premiere of two shows. While he only gives it fleeting mention, Raissman should have given more prominence to the fact that the Daily News has a show on SNY and he appears on the network regularly. It stinks of a Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest. Raissman is quick to point out Conflicts of Interest. He should have declared his own before giving praise to SNY.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News has more about the new shows on SNY.
The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick wasn’t too happy over CBS’ choices during first round coverage of the NCAA Tournament.
Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says March Madness on Demand got off to a hot start on Thursday.
Howard Herman of the Berkshire (MA) Eagle chronicles his day at the CBS Broadcast Center taking in the NCAA Tournament.
Neil Best in today’s Newsday has a conversation with Bob Knight. In his blog, Neil talks about how Knight in just a short few stints on the Alleged Worldwide Leader has been more coherent than his partner, Digger Phelps who has been on ESPN for almost ten years. And Neil notes that there’s a reason why ESPN has been showing short clips for the NCAA Tournament highlights.
Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant says ESPN’s college basketball analysts go from Bradley Airport in Hartford to their hotels to ESPN and back again during the NCAA Tournament.
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes about ESPN televising the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about the ESPN family of networks televising all 63 games of the Women’s Tournament on one platform or another.
The Sports Media Watch has its weekly ratings predictions. And Paul Sen says ESPN/ABC is improving on its NBA coverage, but still has a ways to go.
Tom Hoffarth in his Farther Off the Wall blog picks up an Associated Press story which states that Communist China may censor Olympic broadcasters from showing live shots of Tienamien Square for fears it may bring back memories of the 1989 crackdown that killed hundreds of pro-democracy students and the recent Tibet crackdowns that killed many protestors.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the ESPN documentary Black Magic scored in the ratings.
The Chicago Tribune’s Olympic reporter Philip Hersh has a couple of good items in his Globetrotting blog. First, he mentions that because the International Skating Union is lax, he was able to watch the World Figure Skating Championships off the internet without paying a dime. And Hersh pays tribute to Doug Wilson who probably directed his last Figure Skating event for ESPN/ABC in a career that spans five decades.
Tom Perrotta writes in the New York Sun that FSN’s coverage of the Pacific Life Tournament needs a lot of improvement.
Al Norton of BostonNOW talks with NESN’s popular Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy. Lenny Megliola of the MetroWest (MA) Daily News says he’s not ready to watch a Red Sox game at 6 a.m.
And the lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald talks with the lovely Tina Cervasio about her departure from NESN.
That’s it for the weekend. I’ll have a quick recap of my thoughts on the first weekend of coverage of the NCAA Tournament on both TV and radio coming up.
