Another Friday, another edition of the Megalinks. Lots of media stories to get to, never enough time so let’s get to them and as always, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks.
The League Division Series are well underway. Both National League series are 2-0 with possibilities of sweeps on Saturday. The American League series resume tonight and then start again on Sunday. TBS has complete coverage of the LDS throughout the weekend. Tonight, the White Sox try to even their series with Tampa Bay at 6 then the Red Sox-Angels follow with Game 2 of their series at 9:37. On Saturday, both NL series are on tap as the locales change. First pitch for Game 3 of Phillies-Brewers is scheduled for 6:37 p.m., then Cubs-Dodgers is scheduled for 10:07. The schedule of games along with announcer assignments can be seen here.
Over to the NFL where Week 5 is highlighted by Washington-Philadelphia, Chicago-Detroit, New England-San Francisco, Cincinnati-Dallas and then Pittsburgh-Jacksonville in primetime. The entire schedule for Sunday along with announcing assignments, coverage maps, DirecTV channel assignments and satellite radio channels are in my NFL Viewing Picks.
College football has some intriguing matchups in conference play on Saturday. Ohio State-Wisconsin on ABC in primetime and Auburn-Vandy on ESPN are among your featured games. ESPN’s College Gameday continues its exclusive SEC tour by being live from the Vandy campus in Tennessee. College Football Viewing Picks have the nationally and regionally televised games.
The NHL begins the season with a doubleheader in Europe on both Saturday and Sunday. The New York Rangers play a pair of games in the Czech Republic at noon, both days, then 2.5 hours later, Ottawa and Pittsburgh square off in Stockholm, Sweden. CBC will have the opening day doubleheader on Saturday. Versus carries both games on Sunday.
NASCAR heads to Talladega for the Amp Energy 500. ABC has it Sunday at 2 p.m.
HBO’s Boxing After Dark has a tripleheader Saturday night at 10:05.
CBS has what could be its last Mixed Martial Arts Elite XC broadcast, Saturday night at 9.
For golf fans, the PGA Tour heads to the Turning Stone Resort Championship in New York for its first tournament of its Fall Swing. Golf Channel has coverage throughout the weekend at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. NBC has exclusive coverage of the LPGA World Championship, Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.
Now to the links.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand discusses ESPN’s excellent Sports Reporters program turning 20.
Christopher Byrne’s Eye on Sports Media blog has a good interview with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.
The Orbitcast blog says the NBA signed a new contract with XM Satellite Radio, but will still be heard on Sirius receivers.
Joe Favorito looks at the way the New Jersey Nets are tapping into different ethnic communities.
Maury Brown’s Biz of Baseball site looks inside the decrease in attendance for MLB this season.
Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable writes about ESPN rebranding its European channel from NASN to ESPN America.
East & Mid-Atlantic
David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the East Coast-West Coast feud between Gerry Callahan of the Boston Herald and TJ Simers of the Los Angeles Times.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe talks with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck about the MLB postseason.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says the financial crunch has claimed the radio voice of the Tornadoes.
Dan Lamonthe’s Red Sox Monster blog hates TBS’ coverage of the Red Sox-Angels series.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about the preparations of the MLB Network which launches on January 1 on many major cable and satellite systems.
Phil Mushnick in the New York Post feels TBS has gone overboard with the Frank TV plugs.
Justin Terranova of the Post talks with TBS’ Cal Ripken, Jr. about the MLB postseason and somehow, Cal’s name is misspelled halfway down the story. Justin has five questions for MSG’s NHL analyst Joe Micheletti about the Rangers’ trip to Europe.
Newsday’s Neil Best talks about SNY/TBS’ Ron Darling getting into shape and also discusses a potential war breaking out at WFAN. In his blog, Neil says he feels partly responsible for the war. Neil has an item that got bumped from his column concerning displaced NFL fans. Neil writes that Islanders fans are angry that their team was not on TV during exhibition season while the Rangers were on plenty of times.
The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman feels Yankees GM Brian Cashman still has a few things to learn about dealing with the media.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says Dan Patrick is having fun doing his nationally syndicated radio show.
Laura Nachman says Jody McDonald is back on the Philadelphia airwaves after recuperating from heart bypass surgery.
To Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun who writes that the Ravens did not resonate nationally during its Monday night game with the Steelers on ESPN. In his blog, Ray says Orioles TV voice Gary Thorne is returning to MASN for ne
xt season.
Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has his five sports picks for viewing.
South
Doug Nye of The State is enjoying TBS’ coverage of the MLB postseason.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says the Dolphins-Chargers game is close to being blacked out in the local area.
Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Bright House cable is launching its own sports channel.
Ted Fleming of the Tampa Bay Examiner is not a fan of TBS.
Jeff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal says ESPN’s College Gameday coming to Vanderbilt this weekend was a good choice.
Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says fans without cable or satellite are out of luck for the League Division Series.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News looks at the college football offerings in the Metroplex. Barry talks about two media conflicts at the Dallas Cowboys offices this week.
David Barron in the Houston Chronicle says the TV and radio broadcast teams are set for the Rockets.
Midwest
Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News says baseball is nice, but watching football is better.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that TBS’ crew caught the drama in the at-bat that turned yesterday’s Brewers-Phillies game into Philadelphia’s favor.
Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald has readers’ reaction to the city’s baseball announcers.
Mike Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with a local NASCAR radio announcer.
Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin is not happy with TBS’ late MLB playoff games.
Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the exile of talk show host Kevin Slaten ends on Monday.
The St. Louis Business Journal says the Blues will have 36 of its games aired in high definition.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News says tonight’s BYU-Utah State will be available on local TV.
The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner speaks with TBS’ Tony Gwynn about the Cubs-Dodgers series. Jay has the ratings from last weekend in San Diego.
John Maffei of the North County Times writes that Padres TV voice Matt Vasgergian would like to return next year, but at a reduced schedule.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star looks at The Sports Reporters’ 20th anniversary.
The Los Angeles Times’ Steve Springer says FSN Prime Ticket’s crew crossed the line in rooting for the Dodgers.
From the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth also analyzes the Sports Reporters turning 20. In his weekly column, Tom writes about Warren Sapp’s week as he multitasks between the NFL Network, Dancing with the Stars and Inside the NFL. Tom has the first part of his extensive media notes. And part 2 of the media notes can be seen here.
Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says Fox Sports’ Tony Siragusa plays the role of the everyman for the NFL “B” announcing team.
That’s going to do it.
