As the rain continues to fall in the Northeast and the sun remains behind the clouds for one more day, I’ll provide some links for you. Trying to finish work before doing links and I’d like to provide these earlier, but sometimes, it can’t be helped. Anyway, here are the sports business and media stories that have been written today.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand isn’t too excited about ESPN’s fall lineup.
Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says the networks are a bit nervous not certain about the NFL season.
Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk says Tony Kornheiser’s comments about a former Washington Post colleague Sally Jenkins could get him in hot water with his bosses again.
However, Dan Steinberg of the Post’s DC Sports Bog says Jenkins is not even offended by the comments and even goes to bat for Mr. Tony. So there’s no war here.
Your turn, Mike?
Rob Brunner at Entertainment Weekly has apparently broken the embargo by the publisher of “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World at ESPN” and revealed some juicy bits that weren’t in the first excerpt made public by GQ earlier this week.
Andrew Gauthier of TV Spy says a Buffalo TV station remembered Chicago sports anchor Daryl Hawks who died last week covering the Bulls in Atlanta. Hawks was a native of Buffalo.
Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN Deportes will be offering some new programming in the fall.
Emma Bazilian at Adweek says Disney is prepared to step up in its bid to wrest Olympic TV rights away from NBC.
Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life recaps the ESPN Upfront presentation from Tuesday.
At ESPN Front Row, producer Jason Romano talks with Bob Ley about how he came up with the “ESPN Car Wash” moniker.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell finds that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is well liked by marketers.
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says Game 2 of the Bruins-Lightning NHL Eastern Conference Final set a huge local rating for Versus last night.
Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston paid a visit to NFL Films.
Newsday’s Neil Best asks ESPN’s Vice President of Content John Skipper about the new book written by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.
Greg Bishop from the New York Times talks with a classy Gus Johnson who’s looking forward to working with Fox and doesn’t close the door on returning to CBS down the road.
Howard Beck at the Times talks with a sports media consultant to athletes about how LeBron James and Dwayne Wade handle their pre and postgame interviews.
Also from the Times, Melissa Hoppert looks at the NBC Sports Group’s coverage of this weekend’s Preakness Stakes from Pimlico.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union compiles the French Open TV schedule for you.
Scott Levin of Buffalo’s WGRZ-TV says Matthew Barnaby’s domestic violence case has been delayed
At the Washington Post, Mike Wise talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley who says it’s no big deal having gay teammates because he’s played with gay teammates.
Dustin Long at the Virginian-Pilot reports on the ESPN split screen that will be employed during commercial breaks on NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase races.
Scott Rabalais of the Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate says ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town for LSU’s season opener about Oregon in September.
Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN’s NBA analysts had high praise for Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki.
Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has some sports media news.
Ed says the Bulls’ introduction during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals took TNT’s Marv Albert and Steve Kerr back to the team’s glory days with Michael Jordan.
Robert Feder of Time Out Chicago says WMAQ-TV plans to replace the late Daryl Hawks, but does not have a timetable at this point.
NBC Chicago says the Bulls will give the Hawks family an autographed game ball from Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks, the same game he was supposed to cover the night of his death.
Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Cleveland still carries a torch for LeBron James judging from the TV ratings.
Steve Carp of the Review-Journal writes that a Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez is getting closer to reality as it needs a TV partner now.
Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times writes that the networks are telling advertisers that they’re confident that the NFL season will be played, but behind closed doors, they’re saying something different.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has Dan Patrick expressing regret about the backstabbing at ESPN.
Jack Humphreville from City Watch LA writes that bankruptcy may be the best option for Dodgers owner Frank McCourt as he awaits approval of his huge TV rights megadeal with Fox Sports.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Blue Jays announcer Alan Ashby can work well on TV and on radio, a rarity among broadcasters.
Deadspin notes that not only did CBS pass on the Colon Cowhack sitcom, but also the Mark Schlereth one as well.
A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says the new ESPN book certainly won’t mend any fences between Michelle Beadle and Erin Andrews.
Sports Media Watch says ESPN is seeing a ratings uptick for MLB.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final viewership numbers for Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Final for Versus.
Joe Favorito says maybe it’s time baseball teams look to market rain delays.
Ok. I’m still absorbing what Michelle Beadle said about Erin Andrews. I’m not judging. Just absorbing. That is all.
