Fang's Bites

Quickie Tuesday Night Update

Here we go. Let’s do some links tonight.

The Sports Media Watch has your TV ratings from the weekend. And we have some idle notes for you from Paulsen.

Laura Nachman reports that Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia will have live coverage of the Congressional Steroids Hearings.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that people actually watched the Pro Bowl on Sunday. And Hoffarth has info on this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue with Marisa Miller on the cover.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the HBO documentary on Joe Louis is excellent.

Justin Terranova writes in the NYP TV Sports blog that pariah John Rocker will be a guest on CBS’ Early Show on Wednesday.

Jim Williams in the DC/Baltimore Examiner reports that CBS is changing CSTV’s name. And here’s the announcement from CBS Sports.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week says GSN airs the 6th season of the World Poker Tour starting March 24.

Deadspin says it appears that Versus has axed Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog writes that ESPN is actually ok with the Chris Berman videos on YouTube.

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow.

Late Tuesday Night Update

A few things for you tonight.

Sad news to report. Legendary Canadian announcer Don Chevrier who did work on ABC’s and NBC’s Olympics coverage as well as being the first Toronto Blue Jays TV announcer has passed away at the age of 69. William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail remembers his work. Peter James of the CanWest News Service also has a story on Chevrier’s passing. CBC Sports also remembers Chevrier. Alex J. Walling of TSN.ca has a nice column on Chevrier. I’m surprised there’s no mention of Chevrier on NBC Sports.com.

The Sports Media Watch quotes from a Sports Business Daily story which states that ratings for the NHL on Versus and various Regional Sports Networks are up as compared to last season.

From Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer, we find that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is denying a story from Fox Sports sideline reporter Pam Oliver that he felt his days with the Eagles are numbered. Pam stands by her story.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News blogs in Farther Off the Wall about Pete Rose’s appearance on Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller on Wednesday. And Hoffarth writes that KSPN host Steve Mason will do a live show Wednesday from a Veterans Affairs Hospital to bring some holiday cheer to vets who are being treated during the Christmas season.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says USA Network won the cable primetime ratings for last week riding WWE Raw over ESPN’s Monday Night Football and its matchup involving the lowly Atlanta Falcons.

Steve Kash of the Terre Haute (IN) Tribune Star says the Big Ten Network dispute has left many fans in the lurch.

The Portland (OR) Business Journal reports on FSN Northwest picking up 20 Portland Beavers minor league baseball games and five Portland Timbers soccer matches.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com reports that DirecTV will pick up Tennis Channel in HD when it launches on New Year’s Eve.

I don’t know if this will apply here, but with the Australian Open starting up next month, The Australian reports that the tournament will launch a broadband channel on its website. It would be nice since ESPN2 hardly covers the Open even though it owns the rights. It has outsourced some coverage to Tennis Channel.

And I know you’re starving for news about Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane. Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer who seems to be leading the reporting on Lane says she’s been taken off the air indefinitely following her weekend arrest and calling a police officer “a dyke”. Karen Heller of the Inquirer says while Lane is gorgeous, she doesn’t seem to have much common sense. Finally, Laura Nachman has the Alycia “Time-Lane”.

That will do it for tonight. See you tomorrow.

Late Wednesday Night Links

I’ll give you a few links here. Just finished watching the latest edition of Ninja Warrior on G4 in which two Americans who qualified for the Sasuke tournament this past summer got to compete. Unfortunately, they could not advance past the first stage, falling into the muddy water at the Jumping Spider. They tried hard and they can take solace that 98 of the 100 participants failed to advance to the 2nd stage and the two that did advance to the next stage could not get past the Salmon Ladder. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can get a full explanation of this at the Wiki site. It’s pretty accurate.

To some links now.

Neil Best of Newsday tells us that Madison Square Garden prevented Knicks play-by-play man Gus Johnson from appearing on Steven A. Smith’s ESPN Radio program to comment on the Stephon Marbury situation. Neil also reviews Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller.

From TV Week, Chris Pursell reports that the NHL Network adds some programming through 20 American Hockey League games. And in his Pressbox blog, Chris writes that the NFL Network has two big games this season.

In news that could have a big effect on the cable industry, Linda Moss of Multichannel News reports that an arbitrator has ruled that an Ohio cable provider should be paying FSN Ohio less money for carriage because the channel lost the rights to the Cleveland Indians. Also from Multichannel, Linda Haugsted tells us that the NFL Network has begun using former 49er QB Joe Montana in a campaign to promote its eight game schedule.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable magazine cites a Motorola study which states football fans prefer to watch games on HDTV rather than going to the games.

The Orbitcast satellite radio blog says XM Satellite Radio will be the sponsor for NHL All Star fan balloting.

Two things from the corporate offices of ESPN. First, we get a press release on the plans to cover the MLS Cup which airs Sunday on ABC. And here are plans for the “multi-platform” coverage for Ohio State-Michigan including classic games on ESPN Classic.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at one of the first sports talk shows in the country that helped to shape how sports radio is done today, the Sports Huddle with Eddie Andelman, Mark Witkin and Jim Witkin which started in Boston back in the early 1970′s and airs today in a different incarnation.

The NFL says the Cowboys-Giants game on Fox this past Sunday was the most watched program of the week.

COWBOYS-GIANTS ON FOX MOST-WATCHED SHOW OF WEEK

NFL Games Account for 5 of 6 Most-Watched Shows of TV Season

NFL Games Top Ratings in 25 NFL Markets

Sunday’s FOX doubleheader game featuring the Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants was viewed by 25.1 million fans, ranking as the most-watched program of the week on television and posting a 15 percent larger audience than the week’s No. 2 show (CSI, 21.9 million viewers).

Since the NFL season kicked off on Sept. 6, NFL games account for five of the six most-watched programs on television:

Most-Watched Shows on TV, Sept. 6-Nov. 11, 2007

NFL games topped the local ratings in 25 of 30 NFL markets last week (Nov. 5-11).

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the turnaround of Alex Rodriguez to negotiate a new contract with the New York Yankees is a slap in the face to baseball uberskunk Scott Boras.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News wonders why the Sharks don’t like playing on TV.

Staying in the Bay Area, Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune has some suggestions on how to improve the ratings for the final NASCAR Nextel Cup race this Sunday. Del Grande is wrong that the race will air on NBC, it airs on ABC. NBC no longer has the NASCAR rights.

Awful Announcing quotes an interview Sports Business Daily conducted with CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus in which he talks extensively about the NFL, the NFL Network and flex scheduling. Good stuff.

That’s going to do it for tonight. I’m going to bed. Back with more tomorrow.

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.

Your Thursday Linkage

I’ve been away from the office for most of the day and then I had to get some stuff done. Now that I’m done with what I’ve had to do, I can give you some links.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette profiles Boston Herald Red Sox beat reporter Rob Bradford who has made a name for himself through writing a book and numerous radio and TV appearances.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has his weekly media columns. He says ESPN will use the skycam during the Kansas-Oklahoma State game on ABC this Saturday. Bracht gives us some tidbits for his TV notebook. Finally, Bracht gives his viewing picks for the weekend.

Joe Theismann continues to be a bitter little hedgehog about his canning from Monday Night Football (but I can’t say I blame him). Neil Best of Newsday blogs that Theismann gave his assessment of the ESPN crew to Fox Sports Radio. And Best talks about College Gameday originating from the Williams-Amherst game this Saturday.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog about Football Night in America turning off the lights on Sunday. And Hoffarth reviews the debut of Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller on Versus. Finally, he talks about the flex scheduling for Sunday Night Football.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner talks about Noisegate at the Hoosier Dome and CBS’ role/non-role in it.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes in his blog that FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket will air an interview with new LA Dodger manager Joe Torre conducted by Charley Steiner all this week.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball site has more on the FSN Northwest rights agreement with the Seattle Mariners. John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more on the 12 year agreement between the Mariners and FSN.

Laura Nachman from her own media news website has a story on the Philadelphia Phillies surveying fans on its broadcast team.

Mark Zuckerman writes in the Washington Times that Bob Carpenter has been brought back by the Washington Nationals to be their TV voice, two months after being told he was being dropped.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that even though NBC dropped the Bears from Sunday Night Football, CBS and Fox are more than happy to pick them up.

ESPN tells us the features that will be carried on Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown.

Marc Hansen of the Des Moines Register talks with former KCCI-TV sports director Heidi Soliday who appears to have been forced out of the station (she’s not saying it, but I am).

Dave Vest of the Arizona Republic writes that the PGA Tour’s FBR Open is willing to share the spotlight with the Super Bowl in February.

Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel says the Magic’s move to put 35 games on FSN without the channel getting an agreement first with Bright House Cable smacks of greed.

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Saturday’s Penn State-Temple game will not be available to Comcast subscribers because the game is on ESPNU.

Ken Burger of the Charleston (SC) Post-Courier writes that ESPN’s Bob Davie is willing to be negative towards South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier when no one else is.

The Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier has a story on the Big Ten Network’s analysts for women’s college basketball. Jeff Rabjons of the Indianapolis Star says a former Indiana Miss Basketball will be one of the main studio analysts for BTN. Linda Haugsted of Multichannel News writes that legislation to force cable companies to put the Big Ten and NFL Networks on Ohio cable TV has died.

Ted Hearn of Multichannel News reports that Comcast has given the FCC the reason why it hasn’t put the NFL Network on basic cable. An editoral in the Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent calls for the state legislature to quickly consider its bill for the NFL and Big Ten Networks.

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Comcast SportsNet will try to give the viewer the full experience of being at a Blackhawks home game. Tom Alexander of the Chicago Sports Review gives praise to Blackhawks President Rocky Wirtz for quickly putting together a package of home games for fans.

Robert Feder also of the Sun-Times says Dan Patrick has picked up a Chicago affiliate and is on pace to be syndicated 100 radio stations by January.

That will be it for now. I might have an update tonight. Primetime Viewing Picks are next.

Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller

The show is barebones. No real opening. Versus just threw it to Dennis standing on a stage. He did a 10 minute monologue. In my opinion, most of it bombed. There were the usual obscure references like one to the Grand Wizard mentioned in a story about the Fabulous Moolah’s death.

But as weak as his headlines were, Miller’s strength is his rant and he went on one against sports owners who rape fans for food, throwback jerseys and ticket prices. His rant which included a bleeped out “fuck” went four minutes.

We only saw Dennis standing on a stage and we heard bits of laughter so we had to assume he’s in front of a live studio audience. Miller’s best line was about the New York Jets saying, “If you want to pay tribute to the Jets, how about the team winning a game once every five weeks?”

He then introduced his first guest, Curt Schilling who was live via satellite from his 38 Studios offices in Maynard, MA. We didn’t discover that Miller is in a studio in Santa Barbara, CA some 16 minutes into the show. The interview was typical Miller, taking the opportunity to give and take with Schilling. This went two quick segments. They talked about his signing of a new contract today and remaining with the Red Sox. And they promoted Curt’s 38 Studios company. It was ok. Curt rolled with the punches. The segment was practically over as soon as it started.

Following a commerical break, Dennis answered some viewer questions including one from hack Jay Leno. This segment also included Dennis’ second bleeped “fuck”. Not a very strong segment as Dennis answered questions on steroids use, the BCS, boxing vs. MMA and a mock question from Leno.

Al Michaels from NBC and Miller’s former partner on Monday Night Football came on and there was more give and take. While Miller did bomb on MNF during his two seasons, you can tell Al genuinely likes Miller and it’s the reason why he agreed to be on the first show. Al is a very good storyteller and a good guest. He was also appearing via the satellite from his home in LA. Michaels said he was playing hurt with a cold and he was wearing a Google baseball cap, sunglasses, a scarf and a jacket. He looked he was in the witness protection program. This led Miller to his best line of the night, “Little do people know Al has been legally blind for all these years.” The two talked NFL and this was definitely the best segment of the night. Even with a cold, Al can banter with the best of them.

Miller’s next guest was sports handicapper Brandon Lang appearing from Las Vegas. He picked winners against the spread on certain NFL games this weekend.

The final segment was called “Photo Finish” where Miller did headlines just like he did back on Saturday Night Live, his old HBO show and syndicated talk show. This was much funnier than the monologue, but there were some bombs as well.

Overall, the show was uneven and choppy. I’m sure it will get better. Versus had better hope so. My grade, C-.

Some Tuesday Evening Links

I’ll give you some links tonight.

First, I’ll send you to Awful Announcing which has a clip of ESPN’s Mike Tirico ragging on NBC’s “Universal is Green” campaign that started on Football Night in America. Yes, the gimmick was silly. Yes, the Ravens-Steelers game was a blowout, but there’s no need to rag on another network, Mike. Classless. Very classless.

This story should get more play. Alan Kreda in his Playbook blog at Conde Nast Portfolio says the NFL Network is looking to expand its schedule of 8 regular season games as well pick up college football regular season games. Chris Yandek of Chicago Sports Review talks with NFL Network host Rich Eisen.

CBS Sports says 66.4 million viewers watched part or all of the Patriots-Colts game on Sunday.

The Denver Post reports the NFL has moved the Denver-Chicago game on November 25 from a 1 p.m. ET start to 4:15 p.m.

ESPN’s Barry Melrose has apologized for remarks made about Newark, NJ and the new Prudential Center. And Jeffrey C. Mays of the Newark Star-Ledger has more on the story.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at Under Armour who’s CEO sold off a lot of stock just days before the price fell under $50 for the first time in four months today.

From the Sports Media Watch blog, we find that NBA TV is going to be moving to the digital basic tier of Time Warner Cable.

USA Today picks up a story from Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press about the debut of Dennis Miller’s new show on Versus tonight.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that CBC Sports has moved back the start times of two CFL semifinal playoff games this Sunday so not to conflict with Remembrance Day services. And Houston says Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean got on his soapbox with Colin Campbell of the NHL.

Dave Wadell of the Windsor Sun has former Hockey Night in Canada Executive Producer Ralph Mellanby critical of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman about TV exposure in the US.

Dennis Miller’s show is about to come on. I may have a review of it later on.

Some Tuesday PM Links

Let’s give you an afternoon update. First, let me thank Neil Best of Newsday for putting Fang’s Bites on his Blogroll. It’s much appreciated. Neil has been prolific since starting his Watchdog blog back in May which is about when I re-launched this site after being dormant for two years. Since then, this blog has grown as has Neil’s so it’s nice to get recognition from one of the best sports media writers in the country (and that’s not blowing smoke).

We start with Neil who writes that the final ratings are in for Patriots-Colts and it amounted to a 20.1 rating translating to over 30 million viewers. That means the game hooked casual fans of the NFL. For CBS, it has the two highest rated games of the season, Pats-Colts and Pats-Cowboys which garnered 29.1 million viewers. Best also has a preview of one of the stories on tonight’s E:60 magazine which airs on ESPN tonight at 7.

And if you want a full rundown of the stories on E:60 tonight, here’s the press release from ESPN.

Mike Reynolds writes in his Multichannel News blog that if the Patriots are 15-0 going into their last game against the Giants, the NFL can use it as leverage against the cable companies. You see, the Patriots-Giants game is scheduled for a Saturday night in Week 17 …. on the NFL Network.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner regurgitates a press release from Versus on the premiere of Dennis Miller’s new show. As much as I have grown tired of Miller (I saw him open for Louie Anderson at a nightclub at Misquamicut Beach in RI in the late 1980′s), I will take a gander at this show tonight.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes in his Four DVRs, no waiting blog about the joke Keith Olbermann made at the expense of the Texans-Raiders game on Football Night in America.

More reason to hate ESPN. Yesterday, we told you about the behemoth teaming up with Microsoft to provide content to Xbox Live. Now, it’s hooked up with ticket broker StubHub to provide tickets to fans through the ESPN.com website. StubHub will be integrated all throughout the website. Great.

Although I’ll give praise to ESPN when it does something good and College Gameday will be on site for its first Division III game. Steven Dravis of the Berkshire (MA) Eagle reports Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso will host the show from the site of the Amherst-Williams game this Saturday. The show marks the 150th edition in its history.

Usually, I won’t link to news about local sports anchors, but here’s one that caught my eye. The first female sports director on a local TV station, Heidi Soliday has been let go by KCCI of Des Moines, IA. She had been with the station for 31 years. According to reports, she had not been on the station in recent weeks leading to speculation that she was no longer employed there.

Continuing in Iowa, the Big Ten Network has picked up another small cable company, this one is called Long Lines. Dave Dreeszen of the Sioux City Journal has the story.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post says a contest held by WUSA TV in DC to choose the top Washington Redskin legend is flawed.

Adrian Peterson, the Hollywood Writers’ Strike and a peace offering to Patriots fans are among the items touched upon in Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback.

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about Comcast SportsNet’s plans to air what he calls the “Magnificent 7″ home Blackhawks games starting next Sunday. Carol Slezak writes in the Sun-Times that the plans by new Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz got off to a good start by allowing home broadcasts.

That will do it.

If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Linkage

I’m trying to do some links, but you know when you have an employee who talks to you and won’t shut up? That’s what I have in my office. He comes over to me and I can never get any work done, but he’s a good worker. But he won’t shut up. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get any work done with him around. Whenever he’s out of the office, I have peace and can get things done. But right now, I’m trying to get the links out while I can.

New York Daily News Bob Raissman writes that New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan has a future on TV because he can weasel with the best of them.

The Sports Media Watch blog looks at the weekend ratings.

My employee is finally leaving. It look one hour for me to get those two links. Of course, it takes you less than 30 seconds to read the above.

Ok, let’s get to the rest of your links today. Michael McCarthy of USA Today has a story on NFL owners urging fans to dump their cable service in favor of satellite to get the NFL Network. And Michael Hiestand of the Nation’s Newspaper looks at the ratings of selected weekend events.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Pats-Colts game set a TV ratings record, but that number also includes the Houston ratings for the Texans-Raiders game. The Boston Globe looks at the national numbers as well as the ratings for Boston and Indianapolis. Greg Gatlin of the Boston Herald says the ratings for the Patriots-Colts in Beantown beat out the Academy Awards as well as the first five games of the American League Championship Series. Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the game was a ratings winner. Wayne Friedman of the Media Daily News writes that Pats-Colts pulled “American Idol”-like ratings. Clay Travis of CBSSports.com says the game should have been televised in primetime, not Sunday afternoon.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune says Jim Nantz should have challenged Phil Simms when he was analyzing a replay during Pats-Colts. That has been the knock on Nantz, that while he’s a good play-by-play man, he doesn’t challenge his analysts whether they be Simms, Billy Packer or Nick Faldo. I do agree with that. Nantz is non-controversial and doesn’t want to stir things up. Al Michaels, Dick Stockton and Joe Buck do challenge their analysts when necessary which is why they’re among the best play-by-play men.

Another story from Del Grande about KNTV-NBC 11 sports director Raj Mathai being one of the beneficiaries of the San Francisco Giants moving to the station.

Judy Battista of the New York Times writes that the NFL has cleared the Indianapolis Colts of pumping in extra noise in the Hoosier Dome on Sunday saying it was the sound came from CBS’ production truck.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune says the Bears-Seattle game originally scheduled for primetime on November 18 has been banished to the afternoon slot. Alan Pergament and Gene Warner of the Buffalo News write that NBC’s John Madden had a role in moving the Patriots-Bills into Sunday Night Football.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel seems to be only sports media writer not to have a story on the Patriots-Colts ratings. He talks with Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman about Brett Favre and the Packers’ 7-1 record.

The Houston Chronicle picks up a wire story about the Texas State Legislature considering the cable vs. NFL Network dispute. And from Illinois, there’s a story from the Peoria Star-Journal about a state legislator who wants an arbitrator to settle the dispute that prevents the NFL and Big Ten Networks from being on cable.

Another story from Alan Pergament from the Buffalo News. He talks about a new sports channel from Time Warner that will launch later this month.

Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail says Thursday’s Louisville-West Virginia game on ESPN is going to be shown in three movie theaters in West Virginia and three in Louisville. This is nothing new to us in New England. NESN and Showcase Cinemas have put HD feeds of Red Sox games in their theaters.

Etan Horowitz of the Orlando Sentinel has an enterprise story on the Bright House Cable/FSN dispute that has fans locked out from 35 Orlando Magic games.

From the Baltimore Sun’s “The Flip Side” column comes this look at the Dan Patrick-Rick Reilly trade of barbs.

John Smyntek of the Detroit Free Press says sports radio station WDFN has fired its local morning show in favor of carrying syndicated fare from Fox Sports Radio.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that viewers are complaining about the Big Ten Network’s production of the Wisconsin-Ohio State game.

Kelly McGettigan from TV Guide has a story on the premiere of Dennis Miller’s new show on Versus.

Rhiannon Potkey of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that the lack of exposure for the BYU Cougars due to the Mountain West Conference’s TV contracts with Versus and the mtn. have hurt the school.

After my employee left, I was able to give you these links in a short amount of time. See how things work out? Anyway, let’s end this for now. I’ll be back later.

Tuesday Night Update

As the Red Sox are in danger of falling behind in the ALCS, 3 games to 1, I’ll do an update now.

Neil Best of Newsday blogs that WFAN’s Mike Francesca has made the claim that he was a potential candidate to be on Monday Night Football during the time Dennis Miller was selected to join the broadcast. And Best reports that Major League Baseball has lost a lawsuit attempting to control the content that appears on independent fantasy websites.

Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch site looks at the ratings in Boston for Sunday’s Patriots-Cowboys game.

Once again, ESPN’s Monday Night Football topped the cable ratings last week. Game 4 of the Indians-Yankees ALDS finished second. And overall, TBS won the primetime cable ratings. The Sporting News picks up an Associated Press story stating that TBS is still happy with its postseason deal with Major League Baseball.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle reports that some Comcast customers missed the last few innings of Game 4 of the NLCS because of a scheduled channel switch with FX. Nice going, Comcast. Barron also reports that Jeff Van Gundy will stay with ESPN/ABC as an NBA analyst.

Kirk Bohls of the Austin (TX) American-Statesman is not happy his Yankees are out of the playoffs.

Among the things Gregg Easterbrook is writing about in his Tuesday Morning Quarterback are not kicking to Devin Hester, squash cultivation, all-Christmas radio in October (most likely a Clear Channel station … yup!), the hypocrisy of the NFL and expensive hotels.

The ESPN family of networks will carry “more than 1,050 men’s college basketball games” this season. That’s a lot.

Marise Strauss of Media in Canada says both CBC and TSN have scored in the ratings for their hockey broadcasts.

So in lieu of not having TBS Hot Corner to write about, I give you this update. Enjoy.

Wednesday Afternoon Update or the ESPN Ombudsman is in a Bad Mood

Let’s start this update with ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber’s latest piece which has come out today. Already the blogosphere is busy dissecting it.

Schreiber goes after ESPN.com Page 2 columnist Gregg Easterbrook for what she feels is slanted reporting of rumor as fact in the Bill Belichick Cameragate scandal. In addition, she says viewers may mistake the number of opinions in this story and the Mike Gundy screamfest as actual fact. And she says ESPN fed off the Donovan McNabb controversy which began on HBO’s Real Sports. Schreiber says too often, ESPN reporters fall into the same trap, giving opinions rather than report, sometimes ending with erroneous results.

This is Schreiber’s longest piece and a very thought provoking one. I think this is her best column in her short tenure as Ombudsman.

Let’s get to some other links. SI’s Richard Deitsch says despite some record ratings for fellow Time Warner corporate partner TBS, the network did get skewered by the critics for its coverage of the League Division Series.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks into Agent Scott Boras’ claim that Alex Rodriguez would be worth $500 million to the YES Network over the next ten years. Rovell correctly calls the figure “fuzzy”.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball site says MLB and TBS changed the times of the National League Championship Series to later starts in part to appeal to the West Coast fans of the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks to Fox’s Joe Buck about his late night show pilot.

The Baltimore Sun’s Ray Frager writes in his Medium Well blog that Dennis Miller joins the rarely seen Versus next month. I guess I missed this and probably you did as well, Versus is moving 100 of its employees from Connecticut to Philadelphia according to Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post says NFL studio analysts sometimes overstate the obvious and he adds at the bottom of his column that Post colleagues Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser are risking overexposure with the Pardon the Interruption halftime segment on Monday Night Football.

Neil Best in his Newsday blog has been mostly quiet this afternoon, but he did have an entry regarding Suzyn Waldman of the Yankees broadcast team.

That’s it for now. Primetime Viewing Picks next.

A Massive Friday Update

Here’s an update for you. Don’t forget I’ll have College Football Viewing Picks, NFL Viewing Picks, NFL Picks for Week 5, Primetime Viewing Picks and Weekend Viewing Picks coming up throughout the day so keep refreshing the site or subscribe through RSS.

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch breaks news that the very solid Eric Frede is no longer the host of Bruins broadcasts on NESN and the younger Kathryn Tappen will take his place. As Scott says, it’s a very odd move.

Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News has posted his media notes in the Farther Off the Wall blog. Among his notes, an expanded interview with Dan Patrick and a nice picture of Big Ten Network sideline reporter Charissa Thompson whom you may have seen on FSN.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin in his weekly media news and notes column says the scheduling by TBS and MLB for the League Division Series is hurting baseball. We get this every year from a media columnist but I don’t see it with the record setting attendance and TV ratings across the country. You’d think the sport was about to disappear with every similar column that is published every year for the past twenty years. I’ve seen nary an article criticizing the NBA for putting the Finals on at 9 p.m. ET and having the games end close to midnight on the East Coast.

SI’s Richard Deitsch has his Media Power Rankings for September.

The Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan talks with Royals TV analyst Paul Splitorff who says he may not want to work a full season when Fox Sports Net Midwest takes over the team’s broadcasts next year. FSN plans to do 140 games.

Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website says MASN is looking to do selected Nationals and Orioles games in HD next season. Swann adds that TBS is not in HD on Dish Network. And Stephen Silver of E-Gear says TBS HD is not available in Phoenix. Keith Reed in the Boston Globe says customers of Verizon Fios and some Comcast customers can’t see the games in HD. Bruno Matarazzo, Jr. of the Salem (MA) News says some Red Sox fans are shut out of TBS because they don’t have cable or satellite.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says TBS is getting good ratings for Day 1 of the League Division Series. And MLB says the first day average was higher than last year when ESPN and Fox covered the LDS. John Dempsey of Variety also reports on the higher ratings for the LDS this year.

Sean Duncan of the Times-Mail of Indiana says TBS’ coverage has hooked him back into baseball this year. Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Daily Herald writes that Cubs fans feel TBS is pro-Diamondbacks. And the Daily Herald says WGN Radio is trying to sync its audio with TBS’ video so fans can listen to Pat Hughes and Ron Santo without any delays. Ted Cox of the Daily Herald can’t stand TBS’ coverage. The Cleveland Plain Dealer talks with Alyssa Milano who as you know participates in TBS Hot Corner online coverage and has a blog on the site.

Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant reports that local Giants and Jets fans won’t be able to see the Battle of New York as WFSB-TV will carry the Browns-Patriots game instead.

The Detroit Free Press says fans of Michigan and Michigan State are getting hit this weekend as the Big Ten Network picks up their games this weekend and the largest cable provider in the state, Comcast still has not resolved its dispute with the channel. From the Citizens Voice in Pennsylvania, an editorial says Comcast needs competition so it won’t hold viewers hostage. Beth Hudson of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with BTN lead analyst Charles Davis about Penn State.

Marc Katz of the Dayton (OH) Daily News says he’s happy to hear Dan Patrick on the radio again.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports the NHL Network has picked up its first cable carriage deal in the US with Time Warner Cable. NHL Network had been previously in Canada only.

NBC Sports gives us excerpts of its weekly media conference call with John Madden and Cris Collinsworth. Both talk about Brett Favre as Chicago-Green Bay will be the Sunday Night Football game this week.

ESPN provides the features that will air on Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown. I see one potential disaster with the cast of “Dirty Sexy Money”. And the Alleged Worldwide Leader boasts that it had the best viewing third quarter ever for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNews.

Versus has announced a new weekly show with Dennis Miller. If he didn’t work on Monday Night Football, what does Versus think that he’ll work now? Variety’s Josef Adalian has more on this show.

I found more links than I expected. I’ll have Primetime Viewing Links later.