Fang's Bites

Continuing The Friday Megalinks

Before I was interrupted and called away from the office, I was in the midst of doing the Friday Megalinks and was on a roll. Unfortunately, I had to stop where I was. Well, I have time now and I’ll finish what I started.

I’ll see if I can add to the National and Eastern links.

National

NBC’s Bob Neumeier has been hospitalized in Lexington, KY after collapsing during NBC’s production of the Kentucky Oaks on Bravo today.

With the Kentucky Derby coming up, CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks horses. Darren also talks with the lovely Danica Patrick.

Joe Favorito says companies that donate equipment for certain causes is one of the best methods of branding.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says CBS College Sports will be Tweeting at the same time it’s airing certain events.

Over at Puck The Media, James writes of his horror stories trying to find Versus during his travels across the USA.

The Associated Press says ESPN and ABC will be using a new Rob Thomas song for its NBA package.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe reports that NESN Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy has flown home from Tampa after contracting symptoms that kept him out of the booth earlier this spring. Remy missed several games during Spring Training and also missed last night’s game. Buck Martinez is filling in for him for the series.

Dan Lamonthe of the acclaimed Red Sox Monster blog will make an appearance on WEEI and Comcast SportsNet come Saturday morning.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that Michael Strahan is becoming more of a TV personality rather than remaining an ex-football player. Neil writes that SNY has debuted its closed captioning during tonight’s Mets-Phillies game.

Stu Hackel from the New York Times says NHL officials are hiding under their desks, not commenting over Versus’ refusal to air the end of the Devils-Hurricanes Game 7 after its coverage of the Rangers-Capitals game.

A Pittsburgh sports radio host was told to stay home over fears he has the Swine Flu.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Post says the NHL is happy over its TV ratings and visits to its website for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that NBC loves broadcasting the Kentucky Derby.

South

Bob Molinaro of the Virginian-Pilot feels the hype for the Kentucky Derby is too much.

Joseph Person of The State says the University of South Carolina is looking for a new basketball and baseball play-by-play man.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald writes that Dolphin Stadium is about to get a new name and I can already hear the jokes.

Andrew Adler of the Louisville Courier-Journal says NBC is now marketing the Kentucky Derby to women.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton is in a new “This is SportsCenter” promo.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News writes that Mavs fans will have to put up with TNT and ESPN if they want to watch their team in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Barry looks forward to watching Game 7 of the Celtics-Bull series on Saturday.

Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle says a former Rockets TV analyst has passed away.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says former Oklahoma City Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo has praise for his replacement. Mel has his weekly sports media notebook.

Midwest

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says Fox Sports Ohio has a reason to love the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News waxes poetic about Gillette’s sponsorship of various sports.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press is worried about ESPN’s Chicago-centric website.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Brewers have extended their TV deal with Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business talks with WGN-TV’s sports production chief Bob Vorwald. Ed says White Sox TV analyst Steve Stone would like to continue to work on sports radio station WSCR. Ed also talks with Steve.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that a local cheerleading team having various disabilities will be featured on the Big Ten Network this weekend.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the newest sports radio station in the market is last among the three in the ratings. Dan has the local sports radio numbers from the last ratings period.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says local blackouts of the Anaheim Ducks are only hurting the NHL, not helping it.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says KLAA Lakers analyst Dean Merrill also has a higher calling. Jim also goes over ESPN’s and NBC’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes about his experience calling a minor league baseball game for the first time this week. Tom has more thoughts on how he did in his blog. Tom talks with Jim Rome as he was about to watch the horse he owns race at Hollywood Park. Tom reviews the week in blogging.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times writes that two of the University of Washington’s first three football games have been picked up by national TV.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says there’s potential for another black eye for hockey with a possible NBC switch away from the Pittsburgh-Washington game on Saturday. Chris writes that TSN will actually air the CFL Draft for the first time on Saturday.

And we’re done.

Wednesday Into Thursday Linkage

Because I was at a jobsite today, I was not able to provide links so I’ll catch up on them now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Steven A. Smith who is leaving ESPN this week. Michael writes that Tweeting by TV announcers is gaining momentum.

Bill Griffith writing for Sports Illustrated gives his grades to ESPN and NFL Network for the Draft.

Ben Klayman of Reuters says Red Sox owner John Henry is making an offer to buy the Boston Globe.

Over to Newsday’s Neil Best who breaks news that NBC is unlikely to renew Jerome Bettis on Football Night in America. Neil says if Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Washington NHL Playoff game goes beyond one overtime, NBC will shuffle it over to Versus to make way for the Kentucky Derby. Neil says on Tuesday, the Yankees barely beat the Rangers in the ratings. Neil says the Baltimore Sun has parted ways with excellent sports media writer Ray Frager, a regular Fang’s Bites link and I certainly hope Ray finds work very soon. He is an excellent reporter and I have come to enjoy his columns. We exchanged e-mails back in February and he will be missed in the Friday megalinks.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says lost in the reporting on Under Armour’s earnings yesterday was the fact that its shoe sales are climbing fast up the charts. Darren reviews the reasoning behind the price reduction for selected Yankee Stadium premium seats. Darren says it’s one thing for Jenny Craig to own a horse running in the Kentucky Derby, but she might want to change his name. Darren says Wells Fargo was shamed into taking Wachovia’s name off of this week’s PGA Tour stop.

Tom Hererra of the AOL Fanhouse blog talks with the ravishing Erin Andrews.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is not feeling the love for Versus and I totally agree with him.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says MLB Network will air the first round of this year’s MLB Draft. Ken also talked to local elementary school students today about his job.

Mike Kerwick of the Bergen (NJ) Record profiles ESPNews anchor Mike Yam who takes care of his grandmother when he’s not in Bristol, CT.

Laura Nachman says Wednesday was the last day for one Philly sports anchor.

Ron Musselman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says FSN Pittsburgh is taking some heat for back-to-back in-game blackouts last week.

Scott Brown of the Pittsburth Post-Tribune writes that Thursday could be the final day for the NFL Network on Comcast systems across the country.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has the TV schedule for the Capitals-Penguins NHL Playoff series.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says NBC will stay with Caps-Penguins in the local markets even if the game cuts into the Kentucky Derby.

Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times says former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Grudin was comfortable in front of the cameras during the NFL Draft.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News notes that TNT’s Charles Barkley is not a fan of the Mavericks. Barry says in the series clincher with San Antonio, the ratings for the Mavs finally hit paydirt.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News was amused by TNT’s Spurs edition of “Gone Fishin’”.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that after Clear Channel’s bloodletting of a local sports radio station, it replaced all but one local program with Fox Sports Radio.

Speaking of the Clear Channel bloodletting, Dave Kohl of the Major League Programs blog goes into some of its other sports radio stations that let go of staff this week. Clear Channel means we’re clearing staff.

George James Malik of Michigan Live says Fox Sports Detroit will have up to four games of the Red Wings-Anaheim Ducks series.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says the NFL Draft’s ratings were solid.

WTMJ in Milwaukee talks with MLB Network’s and Fang’s Bites fav Trenni Kusnierek. Thanks to LC over at the 38 Cliches blog for that link.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with TNT’s Doug Collins who almost became coach of the Bulls before this season.

Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star says CBS/TNT’s Kevin Harlan returns to the Chiefs to call two exhibition games this summer. He was the radio voice of the Chiefs from the mid-1980′s to early 1990′s.

Samuel McKewon of the Nebraska State Paper reports that former ESPN and CBS College Sports college football analyst Trev Alberts has become the Athletic Director of Nebraska-Omaha despite not having any administrative experience.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News did play-by-play for an inning of minor league baseball today. Really. And Tom links us over to a press release on the whole thing. And Tom talks of his experience calling the game. I can’t wait to get a hold of the .mp3 file that Tom will post on Friday.

Ted Green of the Los Angeles Times writes a blasphemous blog post calling out Vin Scully?

Richard Guzman of Los Angeles Downtown News reports that Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket will get some new digs.

Chris Zelkovich from the Toronto Star says fans actually found the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts games online when its flagship radio station could not air some games due to various conflicts. Chris says thanks to having the Calgary Flames on its air, TSN’s ratings were up while CBC’s were down.

Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says May is a good month for boxing on Pay Per View.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that TNT’s NBA ratings are solid gold.

Mike says the Chicago Blackhawks gave Comcast SportsNet Chicago its highest rated NHL game.

Kevin Downey from Media Life Magazine says TNT is seeing its best ratings ever for the first round of the NBA Playoffs while ESPN’s are sluggish.

The Sports Media Watch says the NHL Playoffs did not score for NBC last weekend. SMW says the NFL Draft’s ratings were flat with last year. Paulsen notes that Yankees-Red Sox are still a ratings draw. And SMW has some news and notes on various media personalities.

I will end it there. Good night now. Oh actually, I have one more press release to give you. I’ll say good night later.

Black Friday Megalinks, Part II

Ok, time for part two of the Friday Megalinks. We’ll pick up where we left off.

Friday Megalinks/Saturday Links

Here’s the deal. When I’m in the home office, I don’t have internet access. When I don’t have internet access, I can’t post an update. Then when I have to drive into Boston at 2 p.m., I get home late. Then when I get a call to pick up someone at the train station, I don’t get back home to blog until late. So I’ll have to combine the megalinks with the Saturday morning links.

I’ll provide you with the Weekend Viewing Picks.

College Football goes into its rivalry games as the Big Ten regular season ends on Saturday and we have a bunch of great matchups. This includes the feature game of the night, Texas Tech at Oklahoma where ESPN’s College Gameday will broadcast live and ABC will showcase in primetime. Other games of note include Michigan at Ohio State on ABC at noon, Yale at Harvard on Versus also at noon, Stanford at Cal on ABC at 3:30 p.m., and Ole Miss at LSU on CBS also at 3:30 p.m. The College Football Viewing Picks contains your national TV schedule.

Over to the NFL, Fox has the doubleheader, but CBS has two intriguing early games with the AFC East-leading New York Jets heading into Tennessee to take on the undefeated Titans. And the New England Patriots try to avoid the season sweep at the hands of the Dolphins. For the late games, the Giants at Arizona on Fox will be seen in most of the country on Fox. In primetime, NBC has Indy-San Diego. You can check out the viewing schedule, announcing assignments, coverage maps, satellite TV and radio channel assignments and anything else I left out in the NFL Viewing Picks.

Other action this weekend includes another edition of HBO’s World Championship Boxing in which Ricky Hatton defends his IBO Jr. Welterweight title against Paul Malinaggi. HBO has it at 10 on Saturday night.

Annika Sorenstam failed to make the final 16 of the LPGA’s ADT Championship and Golf Channel and NBC will have to do without her unless she makes a visit to the broadcast booth on Saturday and Sunday. Golf Channel has Saturday’s action starting at 2 p.m. and NBC has Sunday’s action starting at 3 p.m. Sunday. This was Annika’s final LPGA event as she announced her retirement earlier this year.

The MLS Cup will be played on Sunday with the Columbus Crew taking on the New York Red Bulls for the title. ABC has it 3:30 p.m.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention CFL’s Grey Cup which will be aired on TSN and Versus Sunday at 6 p.m.

Let’s go to your links now.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that not even Executive Privilige will be able to change the BCS for now.

Guest blogging for CNBC’s Darren Rovell, Jim Zissler of the Inside Sports & Entertainment Group tells us what a Super Bowl would do economically for New Orleans. Friend of Fang’s Bites Joe Favorito blogs for Darren and talks about former 49er and Jet Ronnie Lott helping current players give back to the community. Joe has a good article on UFC going into the collectibles market.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN is beginning to charge to watch video on the web (you may have to register, but it’s worth the read). David also writes that Versus is going to make a concerted effort to keep the NHL.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable writes about HBO using Facebook to promote its De La Hoya-Pacquiao 24/7 series.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that Comcast SportsNet Northwest has picked up another cable carriagle deal.

And Mike says Golf Channel will air a three part special with Tiger Woods conducting a clinic for a group of amateur players.

Elaine Wong of Brandweek says the NFL will kick off online voting this weekend for an ad that will air during the Super Bowl.

Puck the Media has another installment in its NHL Tournament of Announcers.

The Sports Media Watch has a look at the primetime ratings for Week 11 in the National Football League. And the SMW has some ratings news and notes.

The Big Lead talks with ESPN’s Outside the Lines host (and an original SportsCenter anchor) Bob Ley.

Now let’s move across the country from West to East this time.

West

Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says FSN’s DeMarco Farr still sees some drama in today’s Apple Cup despite one win between Washington and Washington State.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says the Stanford-Cal game will be aired in boring Standard Definition on ABC.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth says NFL Commish Roger Goodell surprised a few fans by returning their calls after they complained about not being able to watch NFL Network. And Tom has some media notes in his blog. Tom reviews the week in blogging on his own accord and on others.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times notices that Dick Vitale’s latest book is short on Pac 10 references.

Robert Rector of the Pasadena Times says ESPN’s purchase of the BCS means the start of a lot of changes on TV.

Scott Reid of the Orange County Register says the total price for ESPN to get the BCS TV rights shows that the property is actually undervalued.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has some mixed feelings on the BCS move to ESPN in 2011.

The North County Times’ John Maffei says with a below .500 record, the San Diego Chargers are certainly not primetime darlings this season.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says this Sunday night amounts to a home game for NBC’s Al Michaels. Jay also looks at the ratings from last weekend in San Diego.

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News says BYU-Utah will mark the mtn.’s first HD telecast.

Midwest

Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star says Ian Eagle has been very busy calling NFL games for CBS Sports and Westwood One Radio.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says St. Louis University will have 13 men’s basketball games on TV this season, but not all of them will be available locally. And Dan reports that a local sports radio talk show has been suspended for allegedly breaching his contract.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes it did not take long for former Pro Bowl Safety John Lynch to find a job after retiring from the NFL.

I should have picked this up when it first was published last week, but better late than never. Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that Twins radio broadcaster John Gordon has reupped with the team for two more years.

Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune has the Weekend Viewing Picks for Chicagoans.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley writes that ESPN’s Dick Vitale is trying to tone down after losing his voice last season.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says the BCS did a money grab to put its games on ESPN.

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News says when the dust settles, it’ll be the fans who will shell out to watch the BCS on ESPN.

South

Mel Bracht of the Oklahoman says ESPN’s Hubie Brown was looking forward to seeing the OKC Thunder on Friday. Mel has a look inside the numbers on College Gameday which will be in Norman. And Mel has some media news and notes. And in his blog, Mel talks with ESPN’s Jay Bilas and has some items that did not make his column.

Now to add some Texas flavor to the megalinks.

Starting with David Barron of the Houston Chronicle, he says ESPN/ABC’s Craig James has more than a vested interest in the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN has gobbled up another big event just before Thanksgiving.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News writes that the Spurs are the highest-rated NBA team on TV thus far in the young season.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News delves into why Cowboys running back Marion Barber gives the media the silent treatment. In his blog, Barry says Deion Sanders of the NFL Network gets high grades, but gets low grades for being a friend of Terrell Owens.

Eric Crawford of the Louisville Courier-Journal feels ESPN is getting too big.

Now for some Florida flavor in the links.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel looks at a Sun Sports behind the scenes documentary on what it takes to stage a University of Florida football game.

To the St. Petersburg Times where Tom Jones talks with former Rays TV analyst Joe Magrane who’s joined the MLB Network.

Mike DiRocco of the Florida Times-Union talks with CBS’ Gary Danielson about Florida’s Tim Tebow.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles are happy to be on the road for Sunday’s game against the Ravens. And Jim says Maryland basketball and football are on the viewing menu this weekend.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has a look at how the sagging economy is affecting sports especially with the LPGA. And Tim says Michigan’s upset over UCLA in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament on Thursday gave a shot in the arm to the auto industry.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun writes that the BCS going to ESPN is leaving out a large segment of fans who don’t have cable.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the Comcast-NFL Network dispute could be heading for trial.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says ESPN is buying up everything and with tongue firmly in cheek, the Laff-A-Lympics. If never saw the Laff-A-Lympics, here’s the opening.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels the NFL should address the gambling issue out in the open. Bob must have placed a bet on the Chargers-Steelers game.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick rails against the Personal Seat License and tries to tie them in with flexing games.

The Post’s Mike Puma has five questions for ESPN/ABC’s Craig James.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reviews the new four DVD set of the late, great ABC SportsNight series.

Newsday’s Neil Best mentions that Chris Russo was out for two days from his Sirius XM show and was replaced on Friday with Friend of Fang’s Bites Andy Gresh.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that long-time Patriots radio voice Gil Santos plans to be on the job for the foreseeable future.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe says Yale-Harvard gets some national exposure on Saturday.

Canada

William Houston Toronto Globe and Mail says the economy has forced Canadian newspapers to cut back on sending reporters to the CFL’s Grey Cup this weekend.

Jennifer Wells of the Globe and Mail says while all of the TV ads are sold out for the Grey Cup, the CFL needs to do a better job in branding.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says TSN will try to have all of the angles covered for its first Grey Cup telecast.

And that’s going to do it.

Tuesday Links

Ok, no fooling around. I’ll be live blogging the ESPN/BCS conference call at noon ET so let me provide some linkage now.

A couple of things from USA Today. Reid Cherner goes to NFL Films headquarters in New Jersey and talks with President Steve Sabol.

And USA Today’s great Game On! blog is following the 23 hour ESPN college basketball marathon. Someone has to and Reid Cherner and Tom Weir have been writing since midnight.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has a look at the ratings of selected events.

Boston Sports Media Watch links to a story from Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald regarding a WEEI part-time update anchor who was charged with motor vehicle homicide and driving under the influence stemming from a fatal car crash over the weekend.

A couple of things from Newsday. First, Neil Best writes that Giants QB Eli Manning’s no-nonsense style with the media fits him perfectly. Neil also expands on his column in his blog. Neil links to this story in which the New York Times has shut down its quarterly “Play” sports magazine. Every once in a while, I would link to stories from there and Will Leitch contributed to the publication before he left Deadspin. It was a very good magazine.

Over to Newsday NFL writer and frequent Fang’s Bites visitor Bob Glauber who links to a story over at Bob’s Blitz, the great blog headed by Bob Mantz. Bob’s Blitz is reporting that Jets QB Brett Favre is leaning towards a return to the team next season. If you remember two Sundays ago, Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw predicted Favre would announce his retirement before the end of this season. We’ll see who’s correct.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman feels MSG Network’s Kelly Tripucka is now lockstep with the channel’s directives.

Blogging for CNBC’s Darren Rovell, the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Sarah Talalay writes that NASCAR teams are now cutting back in big ways due to the sagging economy.

The Bergen (NJ) Daily Record says 1050 ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay will be live from Jets camp today.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says the only one good thing about last night’s Browns-Bills game was the announcing team.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Eagles’ radio broadcasters Merrill Reese and Mike Quick did not sugarcoat the team’s tie with the Bengals.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says this Thursday’s Steelers-Bengals game will be available in a limited area as the NFL Network will be airing the contest.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson writing in Pro Football Weekly says the NFL primetime schedule remains static for the next few weeks.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that pregame predictions about the Packers turned out to be very wrong.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times talks about Fox refusing to match the ESPN offer for the BCS.
The Sports Media Watch says NASCAR’s final race of the season finished down in the ratings compared to last year. And the SMW has a look at some big names including Dallas Mavericks and HDNet owner Mark Cuban who’s charged with insider trading.

Steve Lepore of the Puck The Media blog goes after Versus for an in-game interview that marred a scoring play during the Toronto-Bruins game last night. Steve also has another round of his NHL Tournament of Announcers (JP Dellacamera vs. Joe Beninati). I’m voting for Joe for his connection to the Providence Bruins. And Steve wonders what’s next for former Tampa Bay Lightning coach Barry Melrose (apparently not Versus).

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal says NESN’s Dennis Eckersley has signed a new deal with the network to remain as a studio analyst.

Mark Harden of the Denver Business Journal says the Colorado Rockies and FSN Rocky Mountain have signed a deal to keep the cable channel the exclusive home of the team through 2025.

David Bauder of the Asssociated Press says ESPN is bringing back the motorcycle daredevils on New Year’s Eve.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says CBS College Sports has picked up several up several distribution deals.

Kelly Johnson of the Sacramento Business Journal says the Maloof Brothers have signed with reality TV producer Mark Burnett to create a reality show based on the Kings.

Golf Channel tells us that it’s bringing ESPN’s Scott Walker to its on-air team.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says TSN misfired during the CFL playoffs.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail wishes Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would speak out about hockey in the way US President-elect Barack Obama spoke out about college football.

That’s it until noon time.

Links on Veterans Day Or This is My 2,400th Post

You’re not counting, but I am and this is the 2,400th post of this blog.

It comes on Veterans Day where we salute those who have served and the fine men and women who are currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts around the world. I thank you for all you have done to keep us safe from harm and to continue to keep the world safe for democracy. We cannot understate our appreciation.

Now let’s get to your links.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with former ABC Monday Night Football voice Frank Gifford who has written a book on what the NFL has termed, “The Greatest Game Ever”, the 1958 Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. Neil has a little more about his column in his blog.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir writes about NBC moving its digital line of scrimmage marker to try to prove its point that Eli Manning did not go beyond it thus avoiding a penalty during a key stretch during Sunday night’s Giants-Eagles game.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman enjoyed listening to Al Michaels and John Madden debate whether Manning crossed the line of scrimmage.

One aside. I love watching Betty Nguyen on CNN. She’s in Atlanta today anchoring CNN Newsroom while Heidi Collins is on the USS Intrepid in New York.

Keith Groller of the Allentown Morning Call says not even John Madden could agree with Eagles coach Andy Reid’s decisions.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says fans of every NFL team feel the national media does not respect them.

David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News says ESPN2 will pick up the Phillies season opening game on April 5.

Doug Moe of the Wisconsin State Journal profiles a pair of free-lancers who do work for ESPN on various projects.

Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer writes that North Carolina fans will have a dilemma on Saturday as the football and basketball teams will be playing at about the same time.

Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press says NASCAR fans are still baffled as to why ABC cut off the last 34 laps of the race in Phoenix to go to America’s Funniest Home Videos.

The Birmingham (AL) News rips ABC for its NASCAR cutaway.

David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel says this proves that NASCAR is not a big player in sports.

Rich Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal previews an E:60 story on a local boy who plays sports on one leg.

The Daily Toreador, Texas Tech’s student newspaper, has the police report for the week. Scroll down to November 8 and you’ll see that ESPN is reporting that various items including a banner and microphones were stolen from the Tech-Oklahoma State game.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail has various hockey analysts lobbying for a shorter regular season and looks at the ratings for the first CFL Saturday playoff games.

Here we go. The very first webisode of ESPN.com’s “Mayne Street” starring Kenny Mayne with a special guest appearance from Scott Van Pelt.

Ok, it’s nothing special, but seeing Scott Van Pelt blow up? That’s funny.

I have to post some breaking news. I’ll cut this a bit short. I’ll have more later.

Friday Night Megalinks. Again.

I can’t believe how busy at work I’ve been over the last month. One of these weeks, I’ll be back doing the Megalink thing during the day. And now that I’ve watched another episode of South of Nowhere, I’m ready to provide you with massive linkage. But before we do that, I give you the Weekend Viewing Picks.

For the first time this season, ESPN’s College Gameday goes to a site that is not an ABC or ESPN family of networks game. Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and a cast of thousands will broadcast live from the Alabama-LSU game in Baton Rouge, LA that be broadcast live on CBS later in the day. Other games of interest include Penn State at Iowa on ABC and Cal at USC, also on ABC. The College Football Viewing Picks has the entire national TV schedule.

In the NFL, some of the more intriguing matchups including the undefeated Tennessee Titans taking on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, Green Bay at Minnesota, Buffalo at New England, Indianapolis at Pittsburgh, then the Giants at Philly in primetime on Sunday. The NFL Viewing Picks not only has the schedule for Sunday, but CBS and Fox coverage maps, DirecTV, Sirius and XM channel assignments.

As for your other viewing this weekend, there’s the NASCAR Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on ABC this Sunday at 3:45 p.m.

There’s a great matchup in boxing’s light heavyweight division as Joe Calzaghe takes on Roy Jones, Jr. on HBO Pay Per View Saturday night at 9.

As the PGA Tour limps to the finish of its season, the Children’s Miracle Network Classic takes place at Disney World on the Golf Channel throughout the weekend.

The women’s tennis season ends with the WTA Championships finals in Qatar on ESPN2, Sunday at noon.

Now to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that Barack Obama’s win on Tuesday is a big boost to Oregon State’s men’s basketball coach Craig Robinson who happens to be the President-elect’s brother-in-law.

Deadspin is being threatened by the overseas deployed boyfriend of the fired New England Patriots cheerleader.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notices that President-elect Obama wears certain sportswear.

Joe Favorito says the Million Dollar Arm promotion may help baseball’s quest to get back into the Olympics.

From Puck the Media, Steve Lepore has a very good tribute to the best hockey broadcaster bar none, Mike Emrick, who is being deservedly inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News talks about the ratings for Saturday primetime college football on ABC and ESPN.

Steve McClellan of Adweek writes that Cars.com has purchased a 60 second spot on the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year.

Tom Lowry of BusinessWeek says the University of Texas plans to launch its own cable all-sports channel.

One of my favorite actresses on one of my all-time favorite shows, 24, the lovely Reiko Aylesworth is expected to join my other all-time favorite show, Lost. By the way, Lost returns January 21, 2009 with a 2 hour premiere.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe says a feature by ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge on local eating establishments during games has become a big hit.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with NESN and CBC analyst Mike Milbury who no longer doubts the ability of Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that NBC Sports’ documentary on the Paralympics really tugs at the heartstrings.

Over to the New York Post where Phil Mushnick goes after ESPN and the Big Ten Network.

Justin Terranova of the Post talks with Fox Sports NFL analyst Daryl Johnston and NFL Today analyst Bill Cowher about the Jets’ short turnaround on Sunday. And Justin has five questions for CBS’ college football analyst Gary Danielson about Alabama-LSU.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman feels Roy Jones, Jr. is aiming to return to HBO as an analyst. Do we really care?

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union enjoyed watching the Denver-Cleveland game on the NFL Network, but feels bad the rest of the country did not.

Jim Williams of the DC Examiner says NBC Sports’ presentation of the Paralympics and college football are the highlights of the viewing weekend.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald lists some of his annoyances with network football coverage both college and pro.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel says Magic fans are losing out with the Bright House-Fox Sports Florida dispute.

In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ray Buck wonders if Monday Night Football has become irrelevant.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that Brent Musberger is back in the Lone Star State for the third time in four weeks.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News likes Bob Papa over Bryant Gumbel on the NFL Network, but prefers Cowboys’ voice Brad Sham over both of them. Barry says the West Coast won’t see Oklahoma State-Texas Tech Saturday night.

Jerry Garcia in the San Antonio Express-News says President-elect Obama will need a second term to fix the BCS mess.

In the Daily Oklahoman, Mel Bracht talks with ESPN/ABC sideline reporter Lisa Salters. In his media notebook, Mel writes about how Fox switched away from the Green Bay-Tennessee game that was going into overtime. And Mel says not all of Oklahoma’s cable systems are paying up to show Thunder games.

Midwest

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News says the NFL Network is still failing to reach a wide audience.

Michael Zuidema in the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local radio sports reporter is getting ready for the annual high school football championships.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says former Brewers voice Matt Vasgersian could not pass up the opportunity to join the new MLB Network.

The Chicago Tribune lists the games you should watch this weekend.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that the NFL Network can’t come to an agreement with Charter Communications.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the new format in the World Series of Poker will force ESPN to scramble in a quick turnaround to show the finals. And Dan writes that Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols filmed a “This is SportsCenter” promo.

West

Tyler Lockman of the Arizona Republic has Monday Night Football staffers telling college students that the Cardinals-49ers game will be a tough sell to get ratings.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says there’s a lot of interest in the Padres TV job. And Jay has the ratings from last weekend.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes about the search to replace Matt Vasgersian as Padres play-by-play man.

To the Ventura County Star and Jim Carlisle who writes about NBC’s Paralympics documentary.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times says the West Coast is being neglected by ABC/ESPN for Saturday night’s Oklahoma State-Texas Tech game.

Philip Hersh of the Times strongly recommends you watch the NBC Paralympics documentary on Sunday.

From the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth says the fans are the losers in the Big Cable vs. NFL Network stalemate. Tom has some media news and notes in his blog.

Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer talks with former Sonics guard Gary Payton who’s having fun being a TV analyst.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says a local sports talk show host brought up race when mentioning President-elect Obama.

Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post reports that Versus will pick up TSN’s broadcast of the CFL Grey Cup later this month.

And that will do it for the megalinks today.

Thursday Links or Catching Up from Last Night

Last night, I was so tired that I didn’t even bother to crack open the laptop and just watched “The American Experience” on my local PBS channel. Since there was no NHL or MLB and NFL Network was doing its usual “NFL Replay” programming, I decided that I would go to bed early and not bother blogging. Sometimes, taking a break from everything is the best way to recharge the batteries.

Let’s give you some links.

First, Neil Best of Newsday writes that Chris Russo’s Sirius XM radio show is now available online at Sirius.com. Neil marks the 20th anniversary of WFAN moving from 1050 AM to its current location of 660 AM and thus, making the station a 50,000 watt powerhouse. And Neil finds it weird that the New York Islanders don’t have a pregame show on MSG+.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders with the financial crunch, will there be a team that declares bankruptcy?

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the history of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes in his blog that a local reporter gets some national exposure on ESPNews covering the Phillies-Dodgers NLCS.

Jim Williams of the DC Examiner helps you in finding the League Championship Series on TV.

Catching up with the Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth. This story caused some ripples in the sports blogosphere yesterday. Tim McCarver in the Philadelphia Inquirer lashing out at Manny Ramirez wearing out his welcome in Boston. And Tom has Fox Sports’ Eric Karros agreeing with McCarver. Tom has comments from former American League umpire and wrestler Ken Kaiser on Fox Sports Radio explaining the controversial out call on Jason Varitek’s tag on Reggie Willits during Game 4 of the ALDS on Monday. Tom reviews “The Express”, the movie on the late Ernie Davis. In his blog, Tom has the video of E:60′s report on the homeless basketball league that aired on this week’s program.

A few things from Maury Brown’s great Biz of Baseball blog. Maury reports that the ratings for the League Division Series were down 27% from last season, but they still steered TBS to a cable primetime ratings win. Interesting sports business story from Maury, MLB Properties is now updating its hologram on products to prevent counterfeiting. And Maury reviews Tim McCarver’s comments about Manny Ramirez. Here are the comments Maury refers to (courtesy ESPN’s Outside the Lines).

Mike Flaherty of Variety also delves into the LDS ratings drop on TBS.

The Sports Media Watch says the MLB on Fox set a ratings low for the second straight year. And the blog notes that college football beat all other sports offerings last Saturday.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the College Gameday crew will spend half of its show inside the Cotton Bowl then the other half inside this Saturday for the Red River Shootout.

Christopher Byrne’s Eye on Sports Media blog notices that the time of college football games are shorter this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says there’s a change in plans for the NFL Week 6 on TV in the Capital Region.

DC Native James Brown of CBS Sports held a chat with Washingtonpost.com readers today.

Bryan Chu of the San Antonio Express-News has comments from NFL Commish Roger Goodell about a few topics including the NFL Network.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says the Marist women’s basketball team could have an appearance on ESPN in February.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has comments from former Marquette and current Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean from Fox Sports Radio.

The Wichita (KS) Eagle says both the Wichita State and Kansas sports programs will showcase their sports on a local cable outlet.

Bill Shea of Crain’s Detroit Business writes that FSN Detroit has signed a major sponsorship deal with locally owned Belle Tire.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews Matt Devlin’s performance on his first night as Raptors TV voice.

Jonathan Huntington of the Edmonton Sun says TSN has been successful in convincing the Canadian Football League to move its playoff games to Saturdays in an attempt to increase ratings.

Canada’s Rogers Sportsnet looks back at 10 years of operation. And Sportsnet has a timeline from its birth to now.

Scott Radley of the Hamilton Spectator talks to the head of Rogers Sportsnet.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine talks with the president of a research group on the impact of televised sports.

That’s going to do it for now.

Thursday Stuffage

This is how to run a phone company. As promised, Verizon restored my internet access and I’m back online.

I still don’t have my line 2 back on my phone, but at least I talked to the assistant to Broadview Networks’ vice president who contacted me last night. I do hope I can get it back sometime today. I will continue to update you on this. I’m still not happy with Broadview and I will continue to recommend that you not use this company. It will take a long time for this company to regain my trust.

And on this anniversary of 9/11, let us not forget what happened. So many people died on that Tuesday morning and let us make sure that we remember the day and not allow the memory to fade. And while the memorial taking place at the Twin Towers site goes on, we also remember what happened at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. I certainly hope you find a way to remember the 9/11 today and actually, every day.

Let’s go on to your links.

First, David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel correctly asks why do we not see the national anthem on TV? The networks request that the anthem be played before games go on the air so they can add more ad time and do their opens. Let’s put the anthem back on TV where it belongs.

At 2 p.m. ET, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will participate in a live chat on NFL.com. If I’m not too busy this afternoon, I’ll try to monitor it and try to provide some notes on it here.

Neil Best of Newsday looks at the possibility of Allianz buying naming rights for the new Giants-Jets stadium.

The Sports Media Watch has a look at the ratings for the U.S. Open women’s final. The SMW provides the ratings for various local markets for the NFL.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says FSN Wisconsin has set its schedule for the Bucks.

Tucker Echols of the Washington Business Journal reports that the Capitals are increasing their HDTV broadcasts to 50 this season.

The Washington Business Journal picks up a story from John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal talking about the poor ratings for the Nationals on MASN.

Jeffrey Flanagan from the Kansas City Star writes that the Chiefs are confident that their home opener this Sunday will not be blacked out.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) Times notices that CBS prefers winning SEC teams to be on its air.

Pat Dooley of the Gainesville (FL) Sun talks with CBS SEC studio host Tim Brando.

Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union has ESPN’s Erin Andrews defending herself from accusations that she’s pro-Florida as she’s an alum.

Adam Rose of the Los Angeles Times talks with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.

The Log Cabin (AR) Democrat says Fox College Sports has signed an agreement to carry Southland Conference football games.

Zach Baker of the Tiffin (OH) Advertiser-Tribune profiles ESPN’s John Buccigross who is from the local area.

Mark McCarter of the Huntsville (AL) Times says NASCAR drivers are angry at ESPN for airing a testy exchange between Tony Stewart and his pit crew.

Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal Reporter says TV ratings for NASCAR have fallen during the summer months.

The Daly Planet NASCAR blog calls for ESPN to take Dr. Jerry Punch off play-by-play and replace him with someone else.

From one of my Canadian readers, Noah Manly, he tells me that the Big Ten Network has gained approval to be distributed by one of the largest cable providers in Canada. Noah tells me, “Clearly this deal is incredibly insignificant in the big picture, but interesting as it could signal further international distribution down the line (and obviously great for underserved Canadian college sports fans).” Thanks to Noah for passing that along.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the CFL is considering revamping its replay system.

Ben Fenton of the Financial Times talks about ESPN throwing its hat into the ring for the rights to the English Premier League.

That’s all for now. I’m glad to be back online.

An Experimental Thursday

You may have been noticing different looks for the blog over the last 12 hours or so. I’m experimenting with various templates to see how they look. The current look now is what I have settled upon for now, but there may be one or two more different templates I may try out, so if you see a different template later on, that’s the reason. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I think this template is a leading candidate for now. I prefer my blogroll to the left for some reason and I like having a lot of space for you to read the entries instead of being squeezed. Anyway, I promise you this won’t take long. I may even go back to the previous one that had been here for over a year. Let me know how you like this layout.

I want to remind you that I have a contest. I’m giving away the Olympics Opening Ceremonies DVD from NBC. I do have one winner and I need a second. The questions once again: What was the the highest rated night of this year’s Olympics and what was the final rating? And this year’s Olympics set a record for overall viewing in US history, what was the previous record? You can find the answers here at Fang’s Bites if you click on the “Olympics” label. And you can e-mail the answers to kzfone@gmail.com. First right answer claims the second and final Olympics Opening Ceremonies DVD.

Let’s start with The State in Columbia, SC in which Seth Emerson has five questions for ESPN’s Erin Andrews. Nice pic of Erin in that story too.

Maurice Patton of the Tennessean says college football is not just relegated to Saturdays anymore thanks to ESPN’s success with Thursday night games.

Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant says Comcast appears to be on its way to adding ESPNU which would be in time for UConn fans to see their football team in action twice this season.

Joe Nocera of the New York Times blogs that with the Big Ten Network picking up carriage deals on big cable, the conference sort of won its battle.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that NBC Sports is trying to figure out how to distribute the ball for the crammed Football Night in America crew.

Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says tonight’s Steelers exhibition game has been moved up a half hour so as not to conflict with the Democratic Convention.

Vlada Gelman of TV Week talks about the NFL Network entering the Sunday morning pre-game fray.

Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star wonders how much NFL coverage is too much.

The Boston Herald picks up a story from the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson about the changes in each NFL TV partner’s lineup for this season.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has comments from NFL Films’ Steve Sabol about Brett Favre.

Westwood One Radio has announced its college football schedule.

ESPN has announced the sites and locations for College Gameday during basketball season plus its Saturday night games starting in January.

Andy Plesser of Beet TV says NBCOlympics.com will keep most, if not all, of its video content available on its website until the end of the year.

Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle says NBC did not mess up its coverage of the Olympics.

Michael McCarthy of USA Today visited the video center which MLB will use for its replays of controversial home run calls.

Jack Curry of the New York Times explains how instant replay will work in MLB.

Tim Arango of the New York Times says Major League Baseball will use blogging as part of its postseason advertising campaign.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that the mtn. debuted on DirecTV last night.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune writes about Jay Mariotti leaving the crosstown Sun-Times. And Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch found one throwaway line in that story that could be distressing to Boston fans.

TSN will air a Labour Day CFL doubleheader on Monday.

That’s it for now.

Friday Megalinks

My apologies for not posting after my Thursday entry. I was called away to the home office which has only one dial-up internet connection and could not post to the blog. And then I was at the Reality Fan Forum last night helping to update the Big Brother Head of Household competition so blogging last night was quite difficult. But I’m here now and I’m giving you the Friday megalinks without delay.

As always, it’s the Weekend Viewing Picks.

This weekend is like the calm before the storm as next weekend, the Olympics in Communist China begin and the PGA Championship will be underway. This weekend, it’s quiet.

Now that the Trading Deadline is over, MLB settles in for the late summer pennant races. The NFL starts to kick off the 2008 season with the Hall of Fame Weekend including the induction ceremonies and the annual exhibition season start. The U.S. men’s basketball team has another pre-Olympic warm up and the LPGA is in the UK for the Women’s Open Championship.

Starting off with baseball, Fox Saturday baseball has regional coverage with the Yankees hosting the Angels, Milwaukee at Atlanta and the White Sox with Ken Griffey, Jr. taking on Kansas City at 3:55 p.m. The regional splits and announcing assignments are here. On Sunday, TBS has the Angels-Yankees at 1 p.m. WGN carries the Cubs hosting the Pirates at 2 p.m. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball pits the Phillies against the Cardinals at 8 p.m.

The NFL’s Hall of Fame Weekend starts exhibition season. The induction ceremonies are on Saturday and both ESPN and NFL Network have live coverage of the Class of 2008 going into the Hall. ESPN’s coverage will be anchored by Trey Wingo and Tom Jackson. NFL Network will have Rich Eisen and Michael Irvin. ESPN’s and NFL Network’s coverage begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The following night, NBC has the annual Hall of Fame Game between the Washington Redskins and Indianapolis Colts at 8 p.m. Al Michaels and John Madden begin the Super Bowl season for NBC Sports on Sunday night.

NASCAR is in the Poconos for the Pennsylvannia 500, Sunday. ESPN has the race starting at 2 p.m.

Formula 1′s Hungarian Grand Prix will be on Speed, Sunday morning at 7:30.

The Women’s Open Championship at the Sunningdale Country Club in Berkshire will be broadcast on ABC, Saturday on tape at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday on tape at 1.

The PGA Tour has two tournaments, the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Ohio. CBS has coverage over the weekend at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Then Golf Channel has the Legends Reno -Tahoe Open throughout the weekend at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday as well. Michelle Wie will try to make the cut and most likely will not.

Team USA gears up for the Olympic basketball tournament with a game against Russia in Shanghai. ESPN 2 has the game early Saturday morning at 3.

Both HBO and Showtime have boxing title bouts Saturday night. HBO’s Boxing After Dark has Zab Judah and Joshua Clottey fighting for the vacant IBF welterweight title. Bob Papa, Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis will have the call. During the Boxing After Dark program, HBO will also show the replay of the July 26 welterweight fight between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito that Margarito won in an 11 round TKO. Boxing After Dark starts at 9:30 p.m.

Showtime Championship Boxing has Dimitri Kirilov defending his IBF Junior Bantamweight title against Vic Darchinyan. Showtime’s coverage begins at 9 p.m.

The U.S. Open Series continues with the finals of two tournaments. The ATP’s Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and the WTA’s Rogers Cup have their championships on Sunday and ESPN2 will have both matches starting at 3 p.m.

Let’s now head to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy writes about the possible destinations (MLB Network) for former NESN anchor Hazel Mae.

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders why the owners of Big Brown are running him at the Haskell Invitational this weekend.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at Peter Gammons going ballistic on Manny Ramirez on ESPN890 radio yesterday.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that YES’ and WFAN’s Kimberly Jones was considered for the Giants radio pre-game show host position.

In the New York Post, Phil Mushnick wishes ESPN would not adopt replay for the Little League World Series.

The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with TBS’ Buck Martinez about the Angels-Yankees series this weekend. And Justin has five questions for SNY’s Keith Hernandez.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the composite NFL exhibition TV schedule.

A few things from Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record. First, he writes that WFAN will air regular Olympic updates plus some programming and 1050 ESPN will also have nightly programming from Communist China as well. Ken says WFAN will pick up some Westwood One Sunday afternoon NFL games. And Ken writes that no New York area radio stations have yet to pick up Westwood One’s college football doubleheaders.

From the Baltimore Sun, Ray Frager reminds us that the Ravens have split their exhibition games between two TV stations this summer.

In the DC/Baltimore Examiner, Jim Williams updates Redskins fans on the options they have in listening to the games.

Midwest

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal talks about ESPN and NFL Network battling for viewers for the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) says a local sports anchor will be heading to Communist China to cover the Olympics.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that former Bear Dan “Manster” Hampton will join sports radio station WSCR. Teddy also has his weekend viewing picks.

Ted Cox from the Chicago Daily Herald also has a story on Hampton joining WSCR.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star looks at a long time TV sports anchor who is celebrating five years on the radio.

South

The State’s Gerald Davis talks with a resident who has hooked up with SPEED as a production assistant.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says the sports radio battle between WQAM and the Ticket is heating up.

Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel talks about ESPN’s Trey Wingo hosting the NFL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies this weekend.

Jim Reeves of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that Dallas Cowboys radio Brad Sham will be seen in Oliver Stone’s movie about President George W. Bush.

Over to the Daily Oklahoman where Mel Bracht has a story on the Cowboys appearing on HBO’s Hard Knocks for the second time. Mel writes about the winner of the radio rights to Oklahoma City’s NBA franchise. Mel writes for the Olympics, Cox Communications will be bundling various channels for the Olympics. In his notebook, Mel talks about the Oklahoma Sooners. Here are Mel’s viewing picks.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that former Canucks coach Marc Crawford is joining CBC as a game analyst.

Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star remembers former CFL wide receiver and long-time TV analyst Leif Pattersen.

The Canadian Press says CBC is setting the bar high for its last Olympics in at least six years.

West

In the Deseret (UT) Morning News, Scott D. Pierce writes about Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann reuniting for NBC’s Football Night in America.

Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune says NBC is serving up an Olympics feast. Jay has the weekend ratings for San Diego from last week.

John Maffei of the North County Times finds it strange that the new San Diego Fox affiliate won’t have a regularly scheduled sportscast.

Blogs

Deadspin talks with columnist Mike Nadel who criticized ESPN’s Erin Andrews for wearing a skimpy outfit while covering Wednesday’s Cubs-Brewers game.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Inside the Cubs blog shows what Erin was wearing on Wednesday.

Awful Announcing shows us the Manny Ramirez SportsCenter ad that will never air again.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog says CBS Sports has hired a new Coordinating Producer.

That’s all.

Some Thursday Links

Well, I’ll give you a few links now. I should be finishing up paperwork, but I’ll take a break from it for the time being.

Starting with a link courtesy of Neil Best of Newsday and The Big Lead blog, the Peoria (IL) Star-Journal picks up a story from Mike Nadel, covering last night’s Chicago Cubs-Milwaukee Brewers game, noticed that ESPN’s Erin Andrews was getting cuddly with various players and wore a skimpy outfit. Also from the Peoria Journal-Star, Comcast SportsNet Chicago will have a documentary called “On the Road with Ryno” starring former Cubs second basement Ryne Sandberg.

Speaking of Neil, he mentions that ESPN is ready to go live with its SportsCenter morning block on August 11 and days like today’s MLB Trading Deadline are perfect for the live shows.

Tiki at Pink Hat Hell has some more comments from Red Sox fans who don’t quite get the whole Manny being Manny thing.

ESPN will have extensive coverage of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies this Saturday.

Rhiannon Potkey of the Ventura County Star writes about ESPN’s NFL Live show airing live from the Cowboys’ training camp.

As we get closer to college football season, the Capital (WI) Times’ Mike Lucas profiles ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit who charazcterizes himself as a “blue collar analyst”.

ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg talks with Big Ten Conference Commish Jim Delaney about a bunch of topics including the Big Ten Network.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says ESPN is making deals with various college football fans sites to broaden its appeal.

Mike Szostak of the Providence Journal talks about three Rhode Island natives who will be taking part in the Olympics including WJAR-TV reporter Harry Cicma.

The lovely Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says NBC News will be reaping the benefits of the Olympics on the parent network.

Renay San Miguel of the E-Commerce Times writes about the NFL finally getting into the digital game.

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Brewers are a hit at the box office and in the TV ratings.

The Vancouver Sun reports that former Canucks coach Marc Crawford returns to CBC to be an analyst for Hockey Night in Canada. He was an analyst for the network in the 1998-99 season.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about the passing of former CFL wide receiver and long-time TV analyst Leif Patterson. TSN also mourns Patterson who joined the network in 1986.

Continuing on the CFL, Jonathan Huntington of the Edmonton Sun writes that former CBC analyst Ron Lancaster is now doing games on the radio.

That’s it for now.

A Thursday Night Linkage

Due to the fact I was at the emergency room for my fall last night, then all over the place today, I was not able to provide linkage. I can now provide you with links so let’s get to them.

A few things from Neil Best of Newsday. First, he mentions that Long Island’s News 12 cable channel has signed broadcasting legend Bob Wolff for two more years. Neil writes that WFAN beat 1050 ESPN Radio in the ratings in the spring book.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says an athlete’s name on a restaurant doesn’t always guarantee success.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post says the jury is still out on the new WTEM.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his blog that KSPN has reassigned one of its hosts from his afternoon drive show to a daily podcast.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union looks at the release of ABC/ESPN’s college football schedule.

Darren Epps of the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes that SEC Commish Mike Slive will make a formal decision in early fall about the new conference TV contract.

Phil Dailey and Dave Southorn of the Idaho Press report that the WAC has not finalized a new TV contract with ESPN as has been previously reported.

The Kansas City Star reports the Big 12 has released its men’s basketball conference schedule including various games on ESPN and CBS.

The Topeka Capital-Journal says all of Kansas’ men’s basketball games can be seen on TV nationwide.

Eric Young of the San Francisco Business Times reports that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area plans to move to bigger confines next year.

Willie Barns of MLB.com says This Week in Baseball focuses on the Hall of Fame weekend.

Joe Frisaro of MLB.com says ratings for Florida Marlins games on FSN Florida and Sun Sports are up compared to last year.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says SNY delivered its best ratings for the Mets on July 23.

Good friend Steve over at the Sox & Dawgs blog says Friday night will be a Red Sox Game Night at participating Showcase Cinemas all over New England.

Franklin Kanin of the Falmouth (MA) Bulletin profiles Eric Frede who freelances for NESN.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News tells us that Universal HD will present Olympic-themed programming leading up to the Olympics in August.

Eric Ransom writing for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks about Dale Jarrett entering the ESPN booth for its second NASCAR season.

Jonathan Huntington of the Edmonton Sun reports that ratings for the CFL on TSN are up compared to when the CFL was shared by TSN and CBC.

That’s it for tonight. Don’t forget Friday megalinks tomorrow.

A Sunday Link Thing

After a few glitches involving my computer, I think I’m ready to bring you some links this morning.

Starting off with Neil Best of Newsday, he writes a column about father and son broadcasters, Joe Castiglione, voice of the Red Sox, and his son, Duke Castiglione who works for Fox 5 in New York. And tell Neil that you totally enjoyed this column. In his blog, Neil has reader e-mails denouncing the Personal Seat License plan in the new Giants/Jets stadium.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the Giants and Jets are shaking down fans with the Personal Seat Licences for the new stadium.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman has Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw backing down from his retirement talk from earlier this year.

Looking lovely as always, Daryn Kagan has the inspirational story of a blind mountain climber who uses adversity as a metaphor to succeed in life.

Albert Breer and Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News team up on a fascincating story on former Cowboys wide receiver and CBS NFL analsyt Frank Clarke who disappeared from the spotlight to become a nanny.

In his Olympics notebook, David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ratings for the Diving and Gymnastics trials did well locally (scroll down).

Mulichannel News reports on two long-time ESPN employees moving up the corporate ladder.

Dick Scanlon of the Lakeland (FL) Ledger writes that the NFL is facing reality with the NFL Network.

Josh Kendall of the Macon (GA) Telegraph says the Southeastern Conference is in a position of strength as it approaches a new round of TV negotiations.

Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun talks about the second season of a University of Maryland football reality series that is believed to be the first of its kind.

Michael Learmonth of the Silicon Valley Insider site has several ways you can watch the Euro 2008 final today in case you’re not in front of a TV.

Dave Weekley of the Charlestown (WV) Gazette-Mail writes that Hulu.com offers plenty of sports gems.

Bob Buttitta of the Ventura County Star writes that the Johnny Miller apology over comments he made at the U.S. Open over Rocco Mediate shows that the nation has become oversensitive.

John Pye of the Associated Press writes that the Tennis Channel’s Justin Gimelstob has apologized for disparaging comments made about Anna Kournikova.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog watched George Carlin on the very first Saturday Night Live program and noted the first joke he made was about sports.

Mike Tankersley of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser writes about FSN’s new series on Baseball’s Golden Age.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) goes behind-the-scenes of a FSN Detroit telecast of the Tigers.

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times says Chicago is getting attention from ESPN usually reserved for Boston or New York.

Mike DiMauro of the Bleacher Report wishes TSN would get its act in gear and syndicate its CFL games to the United States.

Dave Donofrio of the Concord (NH) Monitor says the NASCAR TV package allows the sport to market itself overseas.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says give credit to ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike for beating WSCR’s Mike North in the ratings fair and square.

The AfterEllen site wonders if Maria Sharapova and 10,000 B.C. star Camilla Belle are more than BFF.

That’s going to do it. I’ll have the Week Ahead posted sometime this evening.

Our Friday Megalinks

Time for our Friday megalinks. Before we get to the links, we look at the weekend viewing.

Weekend Viewing Picks

This weekend is quite busy for the sports calendar. There’s interleague play in baseball as the natural rivalries come into play in New York, Chicago, Washington-Baltimore, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Wimbledon goes into its first weekend of its traditional fortnight, but without many favorites like Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick. Euro 2008 concludes on Sunday. The U.S. Olympic trials in several sports will take place over the weekend and the U.S. Women’s Open is being played in Minnesota.

The Yankees-Mets and Cubs-White Sox will be the focus of the national attention this weekend. Fox will carry both matchups as part of its regional Game of the Week coverage on Saturday. TBS has the fourth game of the Subway Series (Yanks-Mets) on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ESPN will carry Cubs-White Sox Sunday night at 8 p.m.

ESPN2 and NBC will combine for live and same day coverage of Wimbledon on Saturday starting at 8 a.m. NBC will pick up its coverage from SW19 at noon, then ESPN2 returns at 3 p.m. until the day’s conclusion of play. On the traditional vacant Sunday, NBC will have a review of the week’s play at noon.

The Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain can be seen on ABC at 2:30 p.m.

NBC has coverage of the U.S. Olympic track & field trials this weekend in primetime on both Saturday and Sunday. The swimming trials will also be in primetime on Sunday.

The U.S. Women’s Open will be on NBC as well. Dan Hicks who normally teams with Johnny Miller won’t be at the Open, covering swimming instead. Johnny will be joined by Mark Rolfing in the 18th tower. This will be the last U.S. Open for Annika Sorenstam as she leaves the LPGA Tour after this season. NBC has 3rd and final round coverage at 3 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

The PGA Tour heads to Michigan for the Buick Open. CBS has coverage throughout the weekend at 3 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday.

For those who enjoy the Indy Car Series, the stop is in Richmond, VA for the SunTrust Indy Challenge. ESPN has it at 8 p.m. Saturday.

NASCAR’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series are in Loudon, NH. The Camping World RV Sales 200 will be on ESPN2 on ABC, Saturday at 3 p.m. TNT has the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 starting at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The WBC Lightweight title is on the line Saturday as David Diaz defends his belt against Manny Pacquaio in Las Vegas. HBO Pay Per View has the bout Saturday night at 9.

The complete listings for the weekend can be seen over at USA Today.

Now let’s get to your links.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch writes that Comcast SportsNet’s Laura Behnke is changing coasts, leaving the New England area to head for a new job in San Francisco.

The Boston Globe’s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell talks with Rhode Island’s own Alan Bestwick who will be working the NASCAR Nationwide race for ABC this Saturday.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says WFAN’s Boomer and Carton took at a cheap shot at a Mets pitcher. Justin Terranova of the Post talks with YES’ David Cone about this weekend’s Subway Series. And Justin has five questions for ESPN/MSG Network NBA voice Mike Breen.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says Mets fans won’t be able to enjoy Ron Darling this Sunday as he’ll be part of the locally blacked out TBS telecast of the Yankees-Mets.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about the agony of Personal Seat Licenses being sold in the new Giants/Jets stadium. In his blog, Neil says the middle class is the loser in the PSL sale. And Neil has a letter from the Giants to season ticket holders explaining the PSL’s. Finally, Neil writes that PSL’s are proving unpopular with Big Blue Nation.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local sports radio talk show will hit the road starting next month.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has a bunch of sports media news and notes leading off with the Big Ten Network’s agreement with Comcast.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner writes that the Ravens will have to move their summer exhibition games from the NBC affiliate to the ABC affiliate during the Olympics. And Jim reports that starting tonight, the Washington Nationals will have Spanish language radio broadcasts. In his Watch This blog, Williams says CN8′s Lynn Doyle wants more women to love NASCAR like she does.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald feels ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft improved this year.

Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel lists his Top Ten Favorite Summer Sports Movies.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says former Red Sox and Astros announcer Jerry Trupiano will be in town this weekend. And David reports that the Houston Rockets have a new radio play-by-play man.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram raves about FSN’s Baseball Golden Age series which premieres next month.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says Texas Rangers TV analyst Tom Grieve is happy to be back in the booth after being treated for prostate cancer. Mel also has some questions for Grieve about the Rangers. In his notebook, Mel has some various media news and notes. And Mel has his weekend viewing picks.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Bucks’ trade before the NBA Draft got ESPN’s coverage off to a rousing start.

Michael Ziudema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes about a local TV sports anchor who has received an award for hockey coverage.

Teddy Greenstein talks with Fox Sports’ Thom Brennaman about his dad’s comments about Cubs fans earlier this year. Teddy has his weekend viewing picks.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune talks with the NBC Sports golf crew about the U.S. Women’s Open which is being played in Minnesota this weekend.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says lightning problems asides, ESPN has done a very good job in airing the Euro 2008 tournament.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner writes that the Padres’ flagship radio station is not treating the team with kid gloves. Jay has the ratings from last weekend.

John Maffei of the North County Times says an ESPN-NFL Network deal could broaden the channel’s subscriber base.

John Scheibe of the Los Angeles Times writes in the Sound and Vision column that there will be plenty of backup generators to prevent a technical glitch at the Euro 2008 final on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth says the three cuts in coverage during Wednesday’s Germany-Turkey game at Euro 2008 gave viewers a shock. And Tom’s media notes seem even longer than normal which is a good thing.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s proposed all-amateur sports channel may not get approved by regulators. And Houston talks about the new era in Canada as TSN will air all 77 games of the Canadian Football League on cable.

Alison Korn of the Toronto Sun says CBC is hoping some high profile athletes in the booth will help the ratings for the Olympics.

Kent Gilchrist of the Vancouver Province scolds TSN for not hyping the CFL a bit more.

Blogs

CNBC’s Darren Rovell laments the loss of some potential nicknames during the NBA Draft.

David J. Warner of the AOL Fanhouse blog and Awful Announcing both get on ESPN for not sending announcers to Euro 2008 as the BBC did.

The Big Lead grades ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.

SportsbyBrooks notes that newspaper sports departments are shrinking and lack in diversity.

That will do it.

Thursday Night and More Links

After being at a jobsite for the afternoon and spending time away from a computer in the early evening, it’s time to provide some links now.

Neil Best of Newsday will be listening to WFAN’s Mike Francesa on Friday just in case he goes off like Chris Russo did on Monday. And Neil has video of ESPN/ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy criticizing New York Knick coach Isiah Thomas on SNY.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has an update on the Tiger Woods apple core story.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott is fed up of listening to whining Yankees radio announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

The 38 Cliches blog says it appears that former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano may have a reunion in Houston this weekend.

Deadspin’s Will Leitch is getting melancholy as he approaches his day as editor of the website.

Bob Kimball of USA Today talks with Andy Gray who has garnered rave reviews in his work during Euro 2008 for ESPN.

The following link comes from Awful Announcing. Graham Smith of the Daily Mail in London says the BBC is thinking of suing UEFA for the outage during the Germany-Turkey game that left viewers scrambling to the radio or the internet.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that ESPN may use its Axis virtual replays on other sports. It has been used extensively during Euro 2008.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that the NFL and ESPN are offering to conduct a white space test using unlicensed devices during actual football games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says ESPN turned into NBA TV during the NBA Draft tonight.

Julianne Smolinski of TV Week writes that ESPN has promoted two of its long-time employees of its communications department.

Ron Judd writes in his Olympics insider blog at the Seattle Times is fed up of NBC tape delaying events on the West Coast.

Chad Haynie of the Bleacher Report writes that the future of TV rights of the Southeastern Conference will be interesting to watch.

Matt Hayes of the Sporting News says the SEC TV rights will be a battle between CBS and Fox.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that the Big Ten Network’s next target is Time Warner Cable now that a deal with Comcast is in place.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune reports that BTN will follow Illinois football coach Ron Zook for its second season of “The Journey”.

Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel says a winning bidder can have ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike broadcast their syndicated morning show from his/her house.

The Boston Herald’s Inside Track girls bid adieu for now to Hazel Mae who leaves NESN after Friday.

Eric Wilbur of the Boston Sports Blog at Boston.com complains that NESN is force feeding interviews and promotions during Red Sox home games and I have to agree with this.

Amy Derjue posts in the Boston Daily blog that Roush Fenway Racing Day at Fenway Park and on NESN the other night was too much.

The Canadian Press has a story about TSN taking over the entire CFL TV contract tonight after sharing it with CBC.

And that’s going to do it for tonight.

Back to the Grind Links

I was enjoying my weekend, but it’s back to the grind today as I was at a jobsite earlier today and it’s the reason why these links are coming late. But I’m here and time to give you the Monday linkage.

Also wanted to mention the passing of George Carlin who was a great influence on me in my younger days. The man was comic genius and was prolific in writing material. His HBO specials were great and he was always on top of his game. George was also a sports fan and his comparison of baseball and football was classic. Of course, who could not forget the Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. He will definitely be missed. His website was not kept up to date, but you can certainly visit to see some of his past material

Let’s start with Phil Mushnick of the New York Post who takes some glee in seeing the networks suffer without Tiger Woods.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that listeners to WFAN’s Mike & the Mad Dog program were certainly up in arms over the news that the duo might split up. Neil notes that Mike & the Mad Dog are older than the internet. Neil writes that WFAN host-in-exile Sid Rosenberg is hosting an online chat on his website.

This next link comes courtesy of Neil. Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated looks at the 20th anniversary of my favorite baseball movie, Bull Durham by projecting what happened to Crash Davis and Annie Savoy.

The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has some thoughts on the sports TV weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage plans (scroll down).

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein writes that WSCR’s Mike North is off the air for now and might not come back.

The Orbitcast blog says XM Satellite Radio has taken its MLB “Bobble Yourself” campaign to Facebook.

NBC will allow you to download your favorite Olympics event to your computer and you can watch at your convenience.

David Wilkerson of Marketwatch.com reports that ABC and ESPN will make selected programs available online at Veoh.com.

Westwood One Radio will have coverage of the College World Series championship series between Georgia and Fresno State starting tonight. Former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano will be involved in the coverage.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the major shoe companies have yet to sign one of the potential NBA 1st round draft picks.

John Doyle of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that ESPN’s decision to air the Euro 2008 soccer tournament was revolutionary.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about ESPN’s multi-platform coverage of Wimbledon.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says TSN is gambling on a TV rookie to be one of the analysts for CFL games.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter reports that IMG Sports Media will take over distribution of Fox Sports International programming.

That’s going to do it for now.

The Friday Megalinks, Finally

Ok, so this is way after 9 p.m., but at least I’m here doing the links on a Friday night for you. As usual, we preview the weekend viewing.

Weekend Viewing Picks

This is one of those lazy weekends where there are a lot of events, but not a lot of buzz as we have baseball, boxing, the College World Series, motorsports, Olympic trials and soccer.

Interleague play continues as MLB heads into the first day of summer. WGN has the Crosstown Rivalry on Saturday between the White Sox and Cubs at 1 p.m. Fox will split the country Saturday between the Cardinals-Red Sox and Indians-Dodgers at 3:55 p.m. On Sunday, TBS covers the Cards-Red Sox at 1:30 p.m. and ESPN’s Sunday night game will be the White Sox-Cubs at 8 p.m.

The College World Series in Omaha, NE will have two games on Saturday and ESPN has both of them. Georgia and Stanford starts at 1 p.m. Then in primetime, Fresno State takes on North Carolina at 7 p.m.

The Euro 2008 soccer tournament will have its last two semifinalists after this weekend. On Saturday, the Netherlands takes on Russia (ABC) and on Sunday, Spain and World Cup Champion Italy square off (ESPN). Both games will be on the air at 2:30 p.m.

The U.S. Olympic trials are underway and NBC will have coverage of Diving and Gymnastics this weekend. The Diving trials will be seen on both Saturday (3:30 p.m.) and Sunday (3 p.m.). And since NBC will show a heavy menu of Gymastics at the Olympics in Communist China, it will have extensive coverage of the men’s finals (Saturday at 4:30 p.m.) and the women’s finals (Sunday in primetime at 7 p.m.) which should include the 16 year old sensation Shawn Johnson.

The PGA Tour without Tiger Woods, limps into Cromwell, CT and the Travelers Championship. CBS has third and final round coverage at 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Plenty of racing this weekend. The NASCAR Nationwide Series is in Milwaukee for something called the Camping World RV Rental 250. ESPN2 has it Saturday in primetime at 8:30. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Infineon Raceway in California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Sunday afternoon at 5.

The Indy Car Racing League has the Iowa Corn Indy 250 (who comes up with these names?) which ABC will carry Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Fox will have same day coverage of the Formula 1 French Grand Prix, Sunday at 1.

Boxing fans have their choice of watching bouts either on Showtime, Saturday night at 9 or on HBO’s Boxing After Dark at 10.

Now to your links.

National

We have some late breaking news. Sam Schechner, Matthew Futterman and Merissa Marr of the Wall Street Journal report that the NFL and ESPN are talking about a joint venture which would combine the NFL Network and ESPN Classic. Stay tuned.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week says the talks between the two parties are quite serious.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that NBC will have gymnastics legend Bela Karolyi with Bob Costas during this weekend’s U.S. Gymastics Olympics Trials.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the coverage of the Celtics celebration this week.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe previews ESPN2′s coverage of Wimbledon which begins on Monday.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes in his Friday column that tennis has a chance to grab summer viewers now that Tiger Woods is not playing golf. From his blog, Neil expands on the Friday column and talks about ESPN2′s revamped tennis scoreboard that will debut at Wimbledon. Neil has the ESPN press release which outlines the new ESPN SportsCenter morning anchor lineup which begins in August. And Neil writes that NBC’s Johnny Miller has apologized for comments made about U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC Sports is remaining loyal to Notre Dame despite poor ratings last season.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick feels SNY’s announcers looked the other way as former Mets manager Willie Randolph was enabling his team’s lazy play. Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for SNY’s Darryl Strawberry. And Justin talks with ESPN2′s Patrick McEnroe about Wimbledon.

Ken McMillan of the Times Herald-Record says WCBS-AM sports anchor Kevin Connors is heading for the Worldwide Leader.

Laura Nachman writes that Philadelphia’s Fox 29 let go of its sports director shortly after he returned from a car accident.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says the real winners of the U.S. Open were NBC and Callaway Golf.

South

Doug Nye of The State says the U.S. Open 18 hole playoff on Monday gave viewers a moment to remember.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald says ESPN is revamping its lineup for the NBA Draft next week.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel says we’re truly in the Dog Days of Summer.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Bela Karolyi is a natural for TV.

Mac Engel writes in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that sportscasting legend Pat Summerall has been in the hospital this week.

Over to the Daily Oklahoman where Mel Bracht tells us that ESPN SportsCenter anchor Jon Anderson has a new gig for ABC. In his notebook, Mel talks about NBC extending its deal to televise Notre Dame football games through the 2015 season. And here are Mel’s weekend viewing picks.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal says local viewers did watch the NBA Finals.

Brian Vanochten of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press discusses the Big Ten Network-Comcast deal struck late Thursday afternoon.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein also talks about the BTN-Comcast agreement. And Greenstein writes about the NBC Sports-Notre Dame five year contract extension. Teddy adds that Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti blasts his fellow newspaper colleagues and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen in an interview that aired Friday night. And Teddy has his weekend viewing picks.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says a former local sports anchor has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. And Judd reports that Minnesota Vikings safety Darren Sharper is one of 20 current players who attended the NFL broadcasting boot camp.

Paul Christian writes in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin that the pressure is on Charter Communications to come up with a deal with the Big Ten Network now that Comcast is in the fold.

Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star says Comcast viewers will be able to watch the Big Ten Network on expanded basic for eight months, but beyond that is anyone’s guess.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says ABC’s cameras caught too much of the Celtics’ swearing on Tuesday night.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the PGA Tour’s TV partners will definitely suffer from Tiger Woods’ absence. And here are the ratings in San Diego last week.

John Maffei from the North County Times says the U.S. Olympic Trials begin in earnest this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star feels the networks will be hurting with Tiger Woods’ absence.

Greg Johnson and Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says the talks between ESPN and the NFL could finally resolve the league’s battle with the major cable operators. John Scheibe writes that NBC is joining forces with the online World Championship Sports Network to show more Olympic sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News also writes about NBC and WCSN combining forces. And here are Tom’s extensive media notes in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News wonders if Notre Dame football is must see TV anymore.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail outlines CBC’s plans for its contest to replace Hockey Night in Canada’s theme which went to CTV last week.

The Canwest News Service says Canadians are being asked to put their best foot forward in the CBC contest.

CBC says the winner will receive $100,000.

Marija Dukic of Media in Canada says TSN is ready to pick up the entire CFL package that was once shared with CBC.

Media Publications

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter discusses the ESPN early morning SportsCenter lineup.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that Euro 2008 is pulling decent ratings for ESPN2 and its online service, ESPN360. Reynolds adds that Fox Sports Net will air a 13 part series on Baseball’s Golden Age.

Blogs

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes. And the SMW looks at the good and bad of ESPN/ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Michelle Wie will ever live up to her endorsements.

Awful Announcing has the network announcing assignments for baseball this weekend.

Joe Favorito says the Women’s Tennis Association is conducting a major rebranding campaign.

That’s going to do it for now. I have a lot of catching up to do. Later.

Your Tuesday Night Links

Let’s give you a few links this evening.

Starting with some breaking news, Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog who reports that ESPN has suspended Jamele Hill for her stupid comments in an anti-Celtics column which made references to Hitler and the Cold War. The Big Lead says the suspension will force Hill off TV and .com for an unspecified amount of time.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette, he writes that the Monday afternoon 18 hole playoff at the U.S. Open rated well for both ESPN and NBC.

Michael Learmonth of Silicon Valley Insider tells us that NBC Sports.com and USOpen.com received record traffic for streaming online coverage of the 18 hole playoff on Monday.

From the Sports Media Watch, we find that the NBA Finals are not doing as well as expected in the ratings, but ABC has been winning each night that the games are on. SMW reports that TNT’s second NASCAR race of the season was the most watched program on cable last week. And we have the final weekend ratings.

ESPN says the U.S. Open playoff was the most watched golf program on cable ever.

Broadcasting & Cable tells us about some promotions at CBS Sports.

Rick Kissel of Variety says the NBA Finals steered ABC to a primetime win last week and stopped Fox’s winning streak.

From Bloodhorse.com, we find that ESPN will have seven horse racing programs this summer.

DirecTV says it will provide interactive coverage of ESPN2′s airing of Wimbledon later this month.

The Editor & Publisher website reports that the bombastic Jay Mariotti has re-signed with the Chicago Sun-Times through 2011.

Scott Sonner of the Associated Press writes that NBC Sports is trying to make Brett Favre keep a commitment to the Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe, NV next month. Favre is trying to back out.

Charles Campbell of The Tyee.com blog chronicles how CBC lost the Hockey Theme to CTV.

TSN prepares to exclusively televise the CFL in the first year of a five year contract with the league.

My battery on my computer is running down so I’ll end this for now. See you on Wednesday.

Our Regular Friday Megalinks

Let’s do our weekly Friday megalinks for today.

We begin as always with Michael Hiestand of USA Today. He writes about ESPN’s hiring of Bob Knight, MMA coming to CBS and the son of one of the famous Hanson Brothers (Slap Shot) not realizing his dad’s fame until he was 13.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated also talks about Bob Knight’s hiring by ESPN.

We’ll do our links from East to West.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe talks with NESN’s Don Orsillo about coming off another championship season for the Red Sox.

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch discusses the potential for more buyouts of Boston Globe sports staffers.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about the ESPN hiring of Bob Knight.

From the New York Daily News, Bill Madden writes that doctors have found a spot on YES analyst Bobby Mercer’s brain that could signify a recurrence of a cancerous tumor that was found in December 2006. Bob Raissman says baseball needs Bobby. I send Bobby my best and hope that he can fully recover again.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says while last Saturday’s Klitschko-Ibragimov fight was boring, Wladimir Klitschko was actually being smart. Justin Terranova talks with MSG Network’s Dave Maloney and FSNY’s Billy Jaffe about next week’s home-and-home series between the Rangers and Islanders. Terranova says a biopsy is scheduled for Monday for YES’ Bobby Mercer. And Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Peter Gammons.

Neil Best of Newsday talks with Will Ferrell about his new movie, Semi-Pro which opens today. In his blog, Neil says the movie “Slap Shot” helped to make “Semi-Pro” possible. Also, Neil says ESPN’s Outside the Lines will look at steroid “enablers” in baseball.

The Baltimore Sun’s Ray Frager says Sean Salisbury feels free after he left ESPN earlier this week. And in his Medium Well blog, Frager has a couple of items that didn’t make his column.

South

Ron Morris of The State wants ESPN’s Dick Vitale to stop lobbying for South Carolina to hire Bob Knight. Doug Nye has his weekly TV notes. And Nye says Braves fans will have to get used to watching the games on different outlets this season.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says South Florida will have two more sports radio stations starting Monday.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel talks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews who will be busy in March.

The Oklahoman really doesn’t belong in the South region, but I’ll put it here for now. Mel Bracht has a bunch of stories today. First, he writes about Sean Salisbury’s departure from ESPN. Next, Mel has a story on Bob Knight doing work for ESPN in March. In his notebook, Mel talks about ESPN extending its deal with the Big 12 conference. Finally, Mel has his weekend viewing picks.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks with ESPN/ABC NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy about the Dallas Mavericks.

Midwest

George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says the entire nation will get a glance of the new look Cleveland Cavaliers this Sunday on ABC.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talks about Bob Knight on ESPN. Kevin Pang of the Tribune has a story on Cubs TV announcer Len Kasper who has another talent besides talking.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says basketball bracketology has become a full-time profession.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that FSN North announcers will call the Minnesota-Alaska Anchorage games this weekend off a monitor. And Judd has the ratings for the Minneapolis-St. Paul market from last weekend.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says ESPN traded one ex-Viking for another this week.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that there’s speculation that former Royal Joe Randa did not the secondary analyst job on FSN because he’s too candid.

West

In the Deseret (UT) Morning News, Scott D. Pierce says Utah coach Jim Boylen is entertaining to watch on the sidelines.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner says the radio and TV voices of the Padres are gearing up for the baseball season. And Jay has the ratings for San Diego from last week.

John Maffei of the North County Times says there will be plenty of college and high school basketball on TV and radio this weekend.

From the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle says TV feels an obligation to tell compelling stories during Black History Month.

The Los Angeles Times’ Christine Daniels says basketball will be the viewing mainstays for this weekend.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News talks about how FBI agents might have decided to go after Roger Clemens.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the last of his Best and Worst lists and his one focuses on play-by-play announcers, plus he profiles Rory Markas who calls USC basketball and Angels baseball games. And in his Farther Off the Wall blog, Hoffarth has his weekly extensive media notes.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says a Blue Jays game amounts to a three hour informercial for the team.

William Houston from the Toronto Globe and Mail says Canadian Football League officials feel like they’re being treated as second class citizens in its new TV contract as the Grey Cup will be aired on TSN on cable instead over the air CTV while the NFL is on CTV.

I’ll have an update later today.

Here Are The Tuesday Links

The links are up late as I had to be in another location this morning and someone came to my office. I hate when routines are thrown off, but I give you the links now.

Neil Best of Newsday chronicles his time spent Sunday at NBC with the Football Night in America studio crew. In his blog, Best follows up his column with some comments made by NBC’s Tiki Barber about his former teammate, Giants QB Eli Manning. Best tells us that CSTV cut corners for its broadcast of last Saturday’s Cornell-Boston University game at Madison Square Garden. And Best links to an article done by College Hockey News about CSTV.

From the Sports Media Watch blog, Paulsen has a couple of entries including one on the ratings of the college football games during the Thanksgiving Day weekend. And the other is on the record overnight ratings for Sunday Night Football.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings for some of the weekend sporting events.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says the biggest game of the NFC is this Thursday on the NFL Network, but won’t be seen in most homes.

In the Los Angeles Times, Larry Stewart in the Morning Briefing goes over a few things like Sunday’s Eagles-Pats game and a faux pas committed by CBS’ Steve Beuerlein.

For those who have Sirius Satellite Radio and are fans of NASCAR, the Orbitcast blog has the schedule for live broadcasts during Champions Week.

Jessica Kerman of the Anderson (IN) Herald-Bulletin writes that an Indiana legislator wants the NFL Network and the cable companies to cut a deal. Kerman writes incorrectly that the NFL Network is owned by ESPN. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) writes in the Milwaukee Small Business Times that the FCC should get involved in the NFL Network-cable dispute. Dennis Grall of the Escanaba (MI) says the NFL Network dispute has even hit the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Sinead Carew of Reuters says NFL Network games will be made available on Sprint cell phones. Nick Dettman in the Michigan City (IN) News-Dispatch says the NFL Network dispute is going nowhere. Darnell Mayberry of the Daily Oklahoman says the Green Bay-Dallas game will be the best game no one ever sees. Mike Copeland in the Waco (TX) Tribune-Herald says local fans are scrambling to see Thursday’s Packers-Cowboys game. And Evan Mohl of the Killeen (TX) Daily Herald writes that local cable won’t be picking up the NFL Network in time for Thursday’s game.

LaMond Pope of the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette says there’s little progress in getting the Big Ten Network on state cable systems. Also in the Journal Gazette, Mark Schultz says Comcast is greedy by shutting out its subscribers from the Big Ten Network.

Continuing on with another sports channel-cable dispute, the Orlando Sentinel says in an editorial that Bright House cable and Fox Sports Net Florida should resolve its battle.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that FSN Ohio and Sports Time Ohio have expressed interest in airing the Cleveland Arena Football League team’s games.

The Daily Oklahoman notes that the ratings for the annual Bedlam rivalry game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were down again.

Eric Fisher of the Business First of Buffalo newspaper says the NHL has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless to put highlights on its cell phones for a monthly fee.

In his Baltimore Sun blog, columnist David Steele is saddened by the speculation of sports radio talk show hosts in regards to the tragic Sean Taylor story.

CBS Sports will air a one hour special on some celebrity ski event that only those participating care about.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the Grey Cup on CBC drew big ratings despite having small markets teams. CBC Sports says 3.3 million people watched part or all of the Grey Cup.

We’ve always been intrigued by Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane ever since she wrote that saucy e-mail to NFL Network host Rich Eisen that was intercepted by his wife, Suzy Shuster. She had been going out with WCBS news anchor Chris Wragge. Now she’s apparently going out with Friend of Howard Stern, Chris Booker, morning DJ for Q102. I’m still hoping someone leaks those swimsuit pics she sent to Rich back in May.

Those are the links for now.

Additional Monday Links

Here are some more links today.

The Sports Media Watch looks into the Packers-Cowboys game on Thursday which be available in at most, 35 million cable and satellite households. Bill Ordine of the Baltimore Sun blogs that it will be hard to find the game this Thursday. The Consumerist blog on cable TV says Comcast is fighting back against the NFL Network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the betting favorites in both the NFL and college football went down this weekend.

Laura Nachman has some observations on NBC’s production of the Eagles-Patriots game last night.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says Sunday Night Football on NBC had its best ever overnight rating. And zap2it also says the Eagles-Pats game gave NBC the win over CBS in the ratings last night. And NBC has put out a press release on the overnight ratings as well.

Dave Goetzl of the Media Daily News looks at NBC’s flex options for the upcoming weeks of Sunday Night Football.

Rob Amen of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes that the Monday Night Football theme is as synonymous with the broadcast as Howard Cosell.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes that CBC had a good sendoff for its last Grey Cup. William Houston in the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s last CFL broadcast was worthy of its 55 year history.

ESPN lets us know that there will be a roast of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in Atlantic City on January 11.

That’s it for now. I’ll have the Amazing Race Ep. 4 recap later tonight. Primetime Viewing Picks coming up.

Some Sunday Morning Links

I hope you haven’t been caught in those ridiculous shopping lines this week. I’ve been doing yard work so I don’t have to go. Anyway, let’s do some links.

The Sports Media Watch blog gives the weekend TV ratings predictions.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is in a bad mood again calling the NFL greedy by putting big games on the NFL Network.

One bad thing about the New York Daily News’ web redesign, they don’t allow for a single page option and another, when I try to give you a link to the print page, it doesn’t give me the entire column. That is something the Daily News has to rectify and they’re certainly not servicing the readers. While Bob Raissman complains about the NFL Network being greedy and not serving the fans, his parent company should do something about serving the visitors to the website.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News adds to the line of writers saying the fans lose out in the NFL Network dispute and he’s right.

Mark Maske of the Washington Post says the NFL Network is “Can’t See TV”.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says it’s a risk putting Patriots blowouts in primetime.

Jennifer Thomas of the Centre (PA) Daily Times gives a comparison of cable vs. satellite in the Big Ten Network battle. Niki Kelly and Benjamin Lanka of the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette write that the state legislature may tackle a bill requiring state mediation to get the NFL and Big Ten Networks on cable if the FCC fails to do so.

James Day of the Salem (OR) Statesman Journal writes about Comcast SportsNet not being totally available in Oregon either on non-Comcast systems or satellite TV.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star reviews what was said during College Gameday and the ABC broadcast of the Missouri-Kansas Border War yesterday. And Melodee Hall Blobaum looks at the crowd gathered during the College Gameday broadcast.

Elizabeth Jensen reviews a new series from Sundance Channel called “Nimrod Nation” which grew from ESPN’s 2004 campaign called “Without Sports, Who Would Root for the Nimrods?” Aaron Barnhardt of the KC Star also gives his review. Here’s a review from Michael Giltz of the New York Daily News. And one from Rob Owen in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Steve Wiseman of The State newspaper in South Carolina says the official Bowl Championship Series website allows for dissenting opinions of the format.

In Canada, it’s the biggest football game of the year, the CFL Grey Cup and it also marks the last game for CBC after 55 years as a TV partner. Next year, CTV/TSN will take over the contract. The Canadian Press says today, CBC will celebrate its long partnership.

That’s it. Enjoy your Sunday.

It’s a Black Friday Megalink Day

Let’s start by saying it’s already been a crazy start to Black Friday in Massachusetts. For some strange reason, the Wrentham Mall Outlets decided to open at 12:01 a.m. today and at 4 a.m., traffic was stalled on Route 495. Really. All of the lanes going both ways were stopped. Why? For a couple of years, I went when the stores opened at 6 a.m., but now with the stores opening earlier and earlier, I’ve decided going online is much easier and warmer. Why do this? Why go to the stores to look for that one laptop that was made in China and will probably be recalled within a month? Why?

Ok, forget Black Friday shopping and let’s go to the links for today.

We always start our Friday megalinks with Michael Hiestand of USA Today and today is no exception. He has an article today about ESPN360 offering a smörgåsbord (do you like the accents?) of events online. And here’s the sporting viewing menu from the Nation’s Newspaper.

The Sports Media Watch blog has the ratings of NFL Thanksgiving Day games over the last ten years. And Paulsen looks at the ratings of all of the NFL Network’s games last season.

Awful Announcing has the clip of Skip Bayless yelling at Steven A. Smith during ESPN’s SportsCenter this week. It has to be seen to be believed.

Let’s go East to West today.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe writes about the Patriots-Giants game on December 29 which could have the Pats playing for a 16-0 record, being aired on the NFL Network and not being available to a wide audience.

John Molori of the Boston Sports Media Watch talks with Bryant Gumbel about his work on the NFL Network and on HBO’s Real Sports.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post didn’t like the synergy of Fox promoting the Die Hard 4 DVD on its Fox NFL pregame show yesterday. This is nothing new, they’ve done this every week, promoting a movie release, DVD release or a video game release. Also from the New York Post, Justin Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy. Terranova says next week’s Packers-Cowboys game will be the best game you won’t see as it will be on the NFL Network.

Neil Best of Newsday says the NHL Network is happy to be on cable, on a sports tier unlike the NFL Network. In his blog, Best says WFAN’s Boomer Esiason and Craig Carlton were on the air today to apparently establish their authoritah. And Neil says even though there were three NFL blowouts yesterday, we still should be thankful for having football in the first place.

Laura Nachman talks with the NBC football crew about the Iggles.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says it’s hard to pick a side in the NFL Network vs. cable dispute.

In The State, Doug Nye writes about a documentary focusing the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry. He also gives his Best Bet for the weekend which is naturally, the South Carolina-Clemson game.

Over to the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson writes about what else? The NFL Network not being made available to most of the country.

In the Orlando Sentinel, Dave Darling translates some of the backhanded compliments heard on sports broadcasts.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says it’s very fortunate for the NFL Network how its schedule worked out.

Up to the Chicago Tribune where Ed Sherman gives his weekend TV picks.

Joanne C. Gerstner of the Detroit News talks about FSN Detroit’s plans to cover the high school football championships this weekend.

Bob Wolfley in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel critiques Fox’s coverage of the Packers-Lions game yesterday.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that a change in the state high school championships is not only better for the schools, but also better for TV viewers.

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says fans will want to listen to the BYU-Utah game rather than watch it on TV.

Zach West in the Daily Oklahoman writes that Oklahoma University hopes to continue its Spanish language football broadcasts. Also from the Oklahoman, Mel Bracht talks to FSN Southwest’s Emily Jones who’s surprised at the expectation of OU fans.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner says the NFL Network’s lack of reach leaves fans in the lurch. And here’s Posner’s news and notes column. Posner gives a transcript of a mini-debate done by NBC’s John Madden and Tiki Barber about what was wrong with the Chargers. And here are the last weekend’s ratings for sports on TV in San Diego. I must say, San Diegans are so classy (no sarcasm, just an Anchorman reference).

The North County Times’ John Maffei says sports radio station XTRA needs XTRA power for its signal and shows.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star says don’t expect to see the NFL Network on Time Warner Cable anytime soon.

Christine Daniels of the Los Angeles Times has her weekly Sound and Vision column and she writes that the Lakers-Celtics game tonight will be delayed an hour on KCAL (why?).

The LA Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth has his annual Dubious Dozen media list for 2007.

William Houston in the Toronto Globe and Mail looks at the final broadcast of the CFL on CBC this Sunday. This Sunday’s Grey Cup marks the end of 55 years of the CFL on CBC Sports.

And Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says CBC will have plenty of cameras to cover the Grey Cup.

There you have it for now. I’m leaving early today so I’ll have a Friday update tonight. But before I leave, I’ll give you Primetime Viewing Picks and College Football Viewing Picks. NFL Viewing Picks, my NFL Picks for Week 12 and Weekend Viewing Picks will come up during the evening update.

Some Additional Tuesday Links

Let’s give you some more links today.

More reason to hate ESPN. They plan a huge New Year’s Eve special complete with motorcycle jumps, truck flips, fiery explosions, musical acts and plenty of hype. This will run for three hours so ESPN can mark the New Year on both coasts. I can’t make this up.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune writes that Bay Area TV stations are preparing their slate of legal analysts for Barry Bonds coverage next month.

Buffalo Business First reports that Western New York has a regional sports network to finally call its own since the demise of the Empire Sports Network.

Neil Best of Newsday posted in his blog that WFAN’s Craig Carton made an anti-Newark, NJ remark during the Boomer and Carton in the Morning Show today. This is the second anti-Newark remark in a month after ESPN’s Barry Melrose had to apologize for making one on ESPN.com.

Larry Dobrow writes in Advertising Age magazine that ESPN SportsCenter is no longer “Must See TV”. I agree.

Darren Rovell of CNBC writes that the stronger Canadian dollar is helping the Toronto Blue Jays’ bottom line.

Peter Schwartz of Forbes magazine looks at the Top 20 Most Valuable College Football Teams and included on that list is Notre Dame for its contract with NBC. You can look at the rankings through this slideshow.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says New York Jets fans are among the lowest of the low. It comes in the wake of the New York Times story I linked to last night in which the Jets fans conduct their own halftime show in Gate D of the Giants Stadium concourse.

Ted Hearn of Multichannel News reports that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is appealing to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin not to get involved in the NFL Network vs. cable dispute. And Linda Haugsted of Multichannel News writes that the NFL Network has the support of two North Carolina legislators in attempts to get the channel on cable systems in the Tobacco State. Fortune magazine talks with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts about the NFL Network among other topics.

In the wake of the Writers strike and the news writers at CBS calling to strike, there’s actually some good news out of Hollywood. Dave McNary of Variety reports that the Directors Guild of America has come to an agreement with the networks for news, sports and other operations.

The NFL says there will be no change in the Sunday Night Football game for Week 13, December 2, but there will be one change for the Fox doubleheader game:

The final Week 13 NFL schedule was announced today with the originally scheduled Cincinnati at Pittsburgh Sunday night game on NBC remaining in place. The only game time change is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints game on Sunday, December 2 moving from 1:00 PM ET to 4:15 PM ET on FOX.

CBS Sports’ Charley Casserly explains why Dallas and Detroit get the traditional Thanksgiving Day games.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post notices the migration of reporters leaving the print world for TV.

Rick Bird of the Cincinnati Post says a local TV station will air a series of interviews with the late Red pitcher and announcer Joe Nuxhall starting next Monday.

Elliot Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times would like to nominate the Big Ten Network’s and FSN’s Charissa Thompson to be in Playboy’s Sexiest Sportscaster poll (scroll down).

William Houston in the Toronto Globe and Mail laments the absence of big market teams in the CFL Grey Cup which will be CBC’s last for at least the next five years.

There you have it. Plenty of links for today. Primetime Viewing Picks coming up.

The Saturday Links

I’ve been out and about today so I’ve been away from a computer for much of the day. Time to give you some linkage now.

From the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn says Fox is not happy only having 8 Dallas Cowboys games to broadcast this season. CBS got the Pats-Cowboys game, plus the NFL Network has cherrypicked two games starting with the Cowboys-Packers.

The San Antonio Express-News’ Jerry Garcia gives praise to HBO’s “The Rivalry” documentary.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says while St. Louis University has a nationally known basketball coach in Rick Majerus, it has yet to translate to more games on TV.

Ed Sherman in the Chicago Tribune writes that the Blackhawks are entering a new era by allowing home games to be televised.

Jeff Richgels of the Capital (WI) Times reports that an assisted living center in Madison got DISH Network to get the channel, only to find that DISH didn’t have a deal to send BTN to commercial accounts. That’s horrible. It should have informed the assisted living center about this.

David Barron in today’s Houston Chronicle writes about a Houston resident who plays a key role in the final moments of ESPN’s College Gameday. Matthew Sprague of the Berkshire (MA) Eagle looks at College Gameday coming to Williamstown for the first time.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC is going into its final round of CFL playoffs with its head help up high. This is the final year for CBC Sports’ partnership with the Canadian Football League, a relationship that dates back to 1952. Next season, the CFL will be solely on CTV and its cable partner, TSN.

Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette writes about ESPN’s Barry Melrose making derogatory remarks about the new Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

That’s it for now. NFL Picks for Week 10 coming up later.

Friday Night Update

I’ve been having too much fun with Hulu. I’ve been watching Arrested Development, Season 1 all over again. That’s another candidate for Videos of the Week. Anyway, let me give you some links tonight before I decide to watch some late night TV.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth reports in his Farther Off the Wall blog that there’s some housecleaning at ESPN Radio 710.

The Orbitcast blog on satellite radio says XM Satellite Radio will continue to cover baseball’s Hot Stove on its MLB Home Plate channel.

SI’s Richard Deitsch talks with Dennis Miller about his Sports Unfiltered show.

Kate McGinty of the Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent says the Big Ten Network disputes with Time Warner and Charter Communications will keep over half of the University of Wisconsin’s men’s basketball games off local TV’s. The Des Moines Register reports that the athletic director for the University of Iowa is pessimistic that the Big Ten Network will have an agreement with Mediacom in the near future. Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star says former Missouri-Kansas City head coach Rich Zvosek is now working for BTN.

Joe Nocera of the New York Times’ Business section suggests the NFL Network drop its price in order for it to be picked up by the major cable providers. Mark McGuire of the Albany (NY) Times-Union laments that the NFL Network isn’t available so fans could watch what could be a history-making game, the Pats-Giants in Week 17.

Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser says ESPN’s College Gameday crew (except Lee Corso) wouldn’t mind making a trip to Hawaii.

A Connecticut TV station has reached an agreement with ESPN to rebroadcast UConn-Cincinnati on Sunday as it will be on ESPNU, a channel most of the Constitution State does not receive.

Austin Meek of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes about former Kansas State play-by-play man Greg Sharpe who will be the voice of the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the rest of the season, filling in for Jim Rose who resigned for health reasons.

Jesse Kohl and Kara Nicholson write in the Media in Canada website about the final playoff run for the CFL on CBC.

Those are your links for tonight. I can already see some stories posted for Saturday so I’ll stop now and give you those stories tomorrow morning.

Monday Afternoon Update

Lots of stuff to give you.

First, Michael Vick has agreed to a plea agreement and possible prison time. The Feds had recommended he serve 18 – 36 months in a Federal penitentiary, but Vick’s attorneys wanted that reduced to under a year. According to CNN, he’s expected to plead guilty at U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia next Monday. CNBC’s Darren Rovell explores the recent popularity of Vick in both Google hits and eBay sales despite the negative stories regarding his alleged involvement in dogfighting.

The Sports Media Watch blog looks at the overnight weekend ratings for the sporting weekend. MLB on Fox dropped for the 8th week in a row despite having the Yankees back on the schedule.

And thanks to Sports Media Watch, we find from the New York Times that Keith Olbermann will host a special Sunday primetime edition of his MSNBC program, Countdown on parent network NBC just before the Philadelphia Eagles-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL exhibition game next week. I don’t find that to be necessarily a good lead-in. Will Countdown be more sports oriented that night? I do like watching Countdown on MSNBC every once in a while, but having Keith pontificate on politics before the NFL? I don’t know if that will work. I know NBC is trying to reintroduce Keith to sports audience, but that can be done another way. Here’s the press release from NBC Universal.

DirecTV will offer some 300 hours of the US Open later this month from USA Network including interactive features and multiple channels. They did this last year, but the satellite pay service is devoting five channels to the Grand Slam tennis event.

In the San Jose Mercury News, John Ryan’s blog, The Morning Buzz, looks into the claims of DirecTV which offers the NFL Sunday Ticket pay for view package.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reports in his blog, “Four DVR’s, no waiting” that today was a tough opening day for the city’s 4th sports radio station. And Barron says Jim Rome will broadcast live from Houston tomorrow.

PGA Tour.com has relaunched its website in time for its “playoff” run which no one understands.

CBC Sports czar Scott Moore is apologizing profusely for cutting away from the Saskatchewan-Edmonton CFL game Saturday night only allowing residents in Saskatchewan and those who had online access to watch the rest of the broadcast. The CBC aired the game to the entire nation from the point when it cut away earlier this morning.

That’s it. I’ll give you the viewing picks in a few.

Your Tuesday Links

Tuesdays are never fun as it’s still early in the workweek and the weekend is not in sight. But still, there are links to get to.

Sports Media Watch says WWE President Vince McMahon had to “return from the dead” on USA last night to announce the tragic death of wrestler Chris Benoit and his family.

From Boston Sports Media Watch, Dave Scott has an update on Gerry Callahan who’s been away from WEEI since having throat surgery in April. Scott criticizes parent company Entercom for not coming clean about Callahan’s status. In addition, Scott speculates that Callahan and morning show co-host John Dennis may not return when their contracts expire in a few weeks.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the TV ratings for the sports weekend.

Jim Williams of the Baltimore/DC Examiner says there was high comedy on Fox during the Yankees-Giants game on Saturday.

Neil Best of Newsday has a recap of the NFL Broadcasters Boot Camp.

For some reason, there’s debate in Philadelphia over legendary Phillies announcer Harry Kalas. Philadelphia Magazine quoted an unnamed sports analyst stating that Kalas has lost his fastball. Bill Conlin counters saying Kalas at age 71 should not be criticized and allowed to retire on his own terms.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says Mets announcers Gary Cohen and Ron Darling didn’t go far enough in criticizing Paul Lo Duca in his tantrum that got him ejected from the Mets-A’s game on Saturday.

Richard Sandomir in the New York Times says corporate America is not on board in the Barry Bonds home run record chase.

Very sad day for those of us who love to watch the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Kobayashi may be out with a jaw injury. The contest is not the same without Kobayashi.

Now Congress may be getting involved in the Big Ten Network-Comcast dispute. Forbes Magazine reports that Michigan Congressman John Dingall is “concerned” about fans’ access to games they once saw for free. Dingall’s committee oversees telecommunications. “Concerned” usually means hearings are on the horizon. Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press has another story on the matter. Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen has written a letter to Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany responding to the Commish’s request for an apology. Steve Warden in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette says the extra cost for the Big Ten Network may not be worth it.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter ranks #2 in a poll to determine the top sports star. Of course, Tiger Woods is #1.

Jay Hart of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says the upcoming ESPN mini-series “The Bronx is Burning” is confusing.

John Smallwood in the Philadelphia Inquirer says US Soccer dropped the ball by giving the rights of the Gold Cup to Fox Soccer Channel which is on cable TV digital sports tiers. But the game was on Univision which is available throughout the US.

There are stories about the ESPY’s and its silly nominations for the even sillier self-serving award show. I’m not going to link to them. If the ESPY’s mean something to you, then Google them and you can read the stories yourself. I don’t care and I wish the ESPY’s would go away.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail has his take on the Louisville Courier-Journal reporter who was ejected from covering a college baseball Super Regional game for live blogging.

David Barron in today’s Houston Chronicle has the story of the passing of J. Fred Duckett, the former public address announcer for the Astros and Rice University. Old school fans will remember his famous introduction of Jose Croooooooooooooz in the early 1980′s.

The CBC starts its final year of coverage of the Canadian Football League, but it’s not going to wallow in self-pity. And CBC is moving forward preparing for coverage of the FIFA Under 20 World Cup.

Those are your links for now. I’ll be back later with more links.

Tuesday Afternoon Update

A few more links for you today.

Media Life Magazine looks into the ratings for the U.S. Open. Writer Toni Fitzgerald says the ratings are of note because they beat even the NBA Finals.

Mediaweek has a story on ESPN.com reaching out its tentacles to include video gaming on its site.

Mediaweek also reports on the Alleged Worldwide Leader beginning its extensive Wimbledon coverage next week.

ESPN President George Bodenheimer was in Des Moines, IA today and the Des Moines Register got his comments on the Big Ten Network. Bodenheimer was diplomatic and you can tell from the story that he doesn’t want to anger a network partner.

As I look to keep this entry from being all about ESPN, I manage to find a story on Red Sox fans in Connecticut having trouble seeing their team on cable.

The Big Ten Network has announced its schedule for the first three weeks of the college football season. As many as four games will be carried at once. While DirecTV, Buckeye Cable and a few smaller operators have signed up the Big Ten Network, Comcast still remains a holdout. Just less than three months to go before the season starts and I don’t think the impasse will be eased anytime soon.

TSN in Canada has announced its schedule of 50 CFL games, some of which will be available in the United States. And for good measure, here’s the last schedule for the CFL on CBC as the free portion goes to CTV next year.

William Houston in the Toronto Globe and Mail has more on Brett Hull leaving NBC. Apparently Hull took a job with the Dallas Stars preventing him from commenting on games for the network, but still, you can be assured that NBC is happy to see him leave.

The lovely Tina Cervasio (pictured with Don Orsillo) of NESN has posted a blog entry on Boston.com about her preparation for last Friday when the San Francisco Giants and Barry Bonds came to town.

If you’re a gearhead, then you knew this was bound to happen. TNT will have Kyle Petty provide analysis from inside his car, however, it will be while the race is under caution at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 this Sunday.

I’ll have primetime viewing choices coming up soon.