Fang's Bites

Some Sunday Sports Media Thoughts

I need to be posting more. I’ve been busy during the day and find myself trying to catch up on Viewing Picks at night and it’s been a losing proposition. I’ll do my best to update more often here in the coming weeks.

Let’s do some thoughts while I can. As usual, they come in bullet form.

• CBC’s Don Cherry, the King of Media Firestorms, has another one on his hands after he said CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada that female reporters should not be allowed access to locker rooms. Cherry was defending Chicago’s Duncan Keith who snapped at a female reporter in Vancouver last week. Keith has since apologized and said he was not singling out the woman in particular. However, it did not stop Cherry from advocating for women to be excluded. Ron MacLean’s reaction to Cherry’s diatribe is perfect.
  

  Courtesy Steve Faguy, Montreal Gazette

  While some may agree with Cherry, we’re past the point of banning people from the locker room. Jeff Blair at the Toronto Globe and Mail correctly points out that many sports have specific rooms for postgame interviews and some teams have separate changing areas that are off limits to all reporters.

  I’ve liked Don since he was a Bruins coach in the 1970′s and have always enjoyed his Coach’s Corner segments, but he’s managed to survive many controversies whether it’s been for previous comments about women, European players, environmentalists, writers or the Iraq War. While Cherry has stayed at CBC while analysts at other media outlets in the United States and Europe have been fired for less controversial remarks, Canada’s public broadcaster may be seeing the moment that provides the excuse to let “Grapes” go at the end of the season. Coach’s Corner is one of the highest rated segments in Canada and Cherry has become one of the most popular Canadians to the point he was listed in the Top Ten of CBC’s series “The Greatest Canadian” last decade.

  I can’t see Cherry apologizing for his remarks because he truly believes what he says. We’ll see if the story grows legs over the next week.

• The 2013 NFL Draft is over. I concentrated my viewing solely on the first round on Thursday night and on NFL Network. While it was the network to watch in 2012, something was a bit off this year. Rich Eisen and Mike Mayock were solid. However, it appeared Michael Irvin who normally is animated was muted. Steve Mariucci whom I always like also seemed off. The ratings for NFL Network on the first day was up 23% from last year, but I really can’t put my finger on what was different for its coverage this year.

  One aspect that was definitely missing was the tweeting of draft picks by ESPN insider Adam Schefter. Under orders not to “spoil” draft picks prior to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s announcement, the Draft was actually quite dull. And you add that to the fact that neither ESPN nor NFL Network showed any draft picks on the phone prior to their selections, you have productions that were not compelling at all.

  Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports did tip off picks and while some of his followers got angry at him for doing so, I thought his tweets added to the experience. However, he was in the minority. I’m hoping the NFL changes this policy next year.

• Bob Socci replaces Gil Santos as the Voice of the New England Patriots. Socci just joined the Pawtucket Red Sox this season and he’s been one of the college basketball announcers on CBS Sports Network as well as being the long-time voice of Navy football. He’ll team with Scott Zolak on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
• Got to hear Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle’s debut on WEEI. Her first Saturday afternoon show was yesterday on the station. While I missed it in real time, I had the chance to listen on its website. She’s the first woman to host a regular show on the station since Janet Prensky co-hosted a midday show with Glenn Ordway in the early 1990′s. Glad to hear her and I’m hoping it leads to bigger things for her in Boston.

That will do it for now.

A Monday Sports Media Notebook

Let’s get cracking on some fresh content on this Monday afternoon. Plenty of stuff to go over.

• Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch’s Monday column discusses Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed reporting on the Red Carpet at The Oscars and reviews Fox’s Daytona 500 coverage. 
• The man who started SportsGrid, ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams, the site has been sold to RotoExperts.
• I’m getting a lot of reaction to my post on whether Fox can find the proper role for Erin Andrews.
• Randolph May at Multichannel News talks about a case over Comcast’s refusal to move Tennis Channel off a dreaded sports tier.
• To Sports Business Daily where Richard E. Lapchick laments the lack of hiring diversity in the sports media.
• Overseas, ESPN is getting out of the UK television business, selling its channels to BT Group which beat it out for the rights to the English Premier League. ESPN will continue to maintain its digital UK assets and also kill ESPN Classic in Europe and Africa in separate decisions.
• USA Today’s Michael Hiestand feels Fox got off to a fast start with the overnight ratings for the Daytona 500.
• Hiestand also looks at the other sports overnight ratings from the weekend.
• David Lieberman at Deadline says News Corp.’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch (son of Rupert) says even with Fox Sports creating new all-sports cable channels, the company plans to be pennywise and not pound foolish over rights fees.
• In the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman talks with Golf Channel’s David Feherty about the season premiere of his weekly interview show.
• Bruce Allen at Boston Sports Media Watch looks at a preposterous argument put the forth by WEEI’s Gerry Callahan regarding the Daytona 500 and Danica Patrick.
• Bill Carter at the New York Times notes how NBC has had a precipitous fall into the ratings basement after starting off so well when Sunday Night Football was on.
• Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels the Federal lawsuit against Lance Armstrong wreaks of hypocrisy.
• From Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog reports that MASN’s Kristina Akra who was the Nationals’ on-field reporter is leaving the network. No word on where she’s going or who’s going to replace her.
• Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says David Feherty will reveal a different side of golfing legend Jack Nicklaus tonight.
• Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times says Fox didn’t do itself any favors during its Daytona 500 prerace coverage.
• The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron notes that a local sports anchor is leaving his station after more than 20 years of service.
• Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Cardinals fans will be able to see and listen to their team throughout Spring Training.
• Dusty Saunders in the Denver Post writes about a Rocky Mountain TV veteran who wants to return to his sports roots.
• Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the SoCal Sports Calendar for this week.
• Tom has the five things he learned from the weekend.
• Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail makes clear of his disdain for CBC’s Don Cherry.
• Paulsen of Sports Media Watch says opposite the Daytona 500, the NBA on ABC took a big ratings hit.
• To Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing who looks at what Joe Buck plans to do with the St. Louis Cardinals if he manages to get the team and Fox Sports Midwest to sign off on his idea.
• Michael Shamburger at The Big Lead says Katherine Webb is 1st Round talent.

Ok, I’m going to end the linkage/notebook there.

Bringing Out Some Wednesday Links For You

Time for some linkage in this mid-week and last day of the 2012 MLB regular season. Lots of things to get to.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand analyzes the new MLB TV deals with Fox and Turner.

Nate Davis of USA Today’s Game On blog previews tonight’s NFL Network “A Football Life” documentary.

John Ourand and David Broughton of Sports Business Journal report on this season’s local MLB TV ratings.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter has a Fox Sports executive being very bullish on soccer.

Alex Ben Block of the Reporter goes over the MLB contracts with Fox and Turner.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that the American Cable Association, which hates everything, is railing against the MLB TV deals.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News also delves into the new MLB deals.

Mike says Monday night’s Chicago Bears-Dallas Cowboys game garnered cable’s third biggest audience of the year.

Kristian Dyer at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog notes that Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones has apologized for an unintentional insensitive tweet responding to the paralyzed Eric LeGrand.

Spiracle Media through Storify harnessed some tweets from athletes who watched the extremely fascinating 30 for 30 documentary, “Broke” on ESPN.

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report anticipates Fox’s next move to create an all-sports cable channel.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at PGA.com’s video coverage of the Ryder Cup.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell explores the NFL financial advisory program in hopes of preventing athletes from going broke.

NFL referee Ed Hochuli is on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe explores the latest Arbitron ratings for the city’s sports radio stations.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the new MLB TV deals.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Week 6 college football TV schedule.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that ESPN’s and former DC sports reporter Lindsay Czarniak celebrated the Nationals on SportsCenter.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about the new MLB TV deals.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says last Saturday’s Texas-Oklahoma State game registered huge local ratings.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mark Dawidziak tells us that former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel will be joining a local TV station as a weekly contributor. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a local sports anchor will not face charges stemming from a domestic violence case.

Howie Magner of Milwaukee Magazine profiles Trenni Kusnierek, now of Comcast SportsNet New England, on her battle with depression.

Robert Feder of TimeOut Chicago writes that the Bulls have renewed their Spanish radio rights (scroll down).

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch has a full story on the Bulls’ renewal.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the new TV deals with Fox and Turner gives MLB plenty of stability into the next decade.

James Mirtle of the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that CBC’s Don Cherry is blasting the Maple Leafs for their treatment of one of their players.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Globe and Mail notes that the MLB Postseason will have teams from both small and big markets.

Cork Gaines at the Business Insider Sports Page has some memorable quotes from last night’s 30 for 30 “Broke” documentary.

John Daly at the Daly Planet explores the possibilities for the much discussed, but unconfirmed Fox Sports 1.

Joe Favorito says College Radio Day is a very good thing for aspiring broadcasters.

The legend of Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke is growing thanks to a new animated gif showing her warming up in the rain. This has nothing to do with sports media. Just me linking to Michelle Jenneke.

And that is all.

Ringing In Some Monday Linkage

Let’s do our Monday linkage today.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today writes that CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg will have a big “get” during halftime of Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament First Four game.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says MSG Network has a new show dedicated to the best and worst baseball trades and deals.

Mike says YES Network’s national feed will be seen by California cable subscribers for the first time.

Jason Del Ray of Advertising Age looks at SB Nation’s foray into producing original content for YouTube with former ESPN’ers Bomani Jones and Amy K. Nelson.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says the NCAA Tournament can be a sports marketer’s dream.

Kevin Wagstaff of Time Magazine says YouTube will be the official video player for NBCOlympics.com, however, don’t expect to see live Olympics on the video streaming service.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead spent a day following ESPN’s Jay Bilas at the Big East Tournament.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead wonders if NBC’s entrance into MLS will help to grow soccer in America.

Timothy Burke of Deadspin has the funny video of ESPN’s Dick Vitale being Dick Vitale during last night’s Bracketology show.

Ken Belson of the New York Times describes the Mets first-ever radio broadcast which included the late Howard Cosell as pregame host.

Michael O’Keefe of the New York Daily News talks with former ESPN’er Sean Salisbury who has been battling depression and hoping to make a TV comeback bid. The story never mentions Salisbury’s MTV2 gig with the Lingerie Football League.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post writes that TV continues to ignore athletes’ bad behavior.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the tip times for the FIRST FOUR and 2nd Round games of the NCAA Tournament.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that the voices of the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league affiliate get their call to the big club this week.

Bob Rossi in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says NBC will go all out for the NHL Playoffs this spring.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television and I find that I disagree with a couple of his points.

Richard Connelly of the Houston Press says the new Comcast SportsNet Houston plans to build studios that will allow for a Today Show-like atmosphere outdoors.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer is in talks to have a movie based on his interesting life.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says there wasn’t much anger directed at the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee this year from the TV analysts.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Dan McLaughlin returned to Fox Sports Midwest Sunday after a long suspension over his drunk driving arrests.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says Peyton Manning’s visit to the Mile High City gave the local media plenty to talk about over the weekend.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times had a chance to tour Jon Gruden’s offices as he prepared to host several incoming NFL quarterbacks for his ESPN shows this Spring.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about rebranding the conference.

Tom also has his sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the Canadian NHL clubs want some changes in CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Bruce also looks at the coverage of the death of Canadian skier Nik Zoricic over the weekend.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says when Don Cherry leaves Hockey Night in Canada, he will be sorely missed.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox lost a million viewers for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the previous year.

Paul Kennedy at SoccerAmerica feels NBC Sports Network did well in its MLS debut.

SoccerNation says NBC has tapped a well-known composer to produce its MLS theme music.

And that’s going to do it for now.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks Again

Linkage has been scarce around the site this week, but I should be able to get a good set of megalinks in today as we head into NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday. You deserve the links and I thank you for your patience around some server problems this week.

As usual, you can check the Weekend Viewing Picks for all weekend sports and entertainment recommendations.

Let’s get to the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today profiles ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi who got a big endorsement from Louisville’s Rick Pitino this week.

Erik Spanberg at Sports Business Journal looks at Major League Soccer hoping for big returns from its new contract with NBC Sports.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch explores NBC’s new approach to airing soccer and reviews ESPN’s new documentary on Magic Johnson.

Karen Hogan at Sports Video Group looks at ESPN’s innovative plans for MLS games this season.

Lindsay Flans of the Hollywood Reporter says A-List celebrities have caught Linsanity fever.

And the Reporter provides a seating chart of where celebrities sit at Madison Square Garden to get a glimpse of Jeremy Lin.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley feels the mid-major conferences sacrifice regular season integrity in exchange for TV exposure with their post-season tournaments.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is recovering after his alma mater, Northwestern, played its way out of the NCAA Tournament this week.

Joe Favorito says even in this day and age, the little guy can make a splash in sports marketing.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

SMW notes that NBC Sports will replace the departed Wimbledon with the Tour de France this summer.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says ESPN Films is suffering from an identity crisis.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC’s innovation in hockey production is now extending to the soccer pitch.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth isn’t a fan of speculation.

At Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog, Dan Devine says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made a gay joke at Bill Simmons’ expense with him present.

Erik Malinowski of Deadspin says Cuban has apologized for making that remark.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn looks at CBS/Turner’s plans for the NCAA Tournament.

Chad notes that a prodigal son is returning to WEEI this weekend.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen at SB Nation Boston says the Boston Herald will miss Patriots beat reporter Ian Rapoport as he departs for NFL Network.

George Cain at Sports of Boston compares and contrasts the two sports radio stations ratings.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says different generations watch sports differently.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch talks with ESPN High Grand Poobah of News Vince Doria.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with Magic Johnson about ESPN’s documentary on his HIV announcement 20 years ago.

Neil notes the opening of a new Broadway play on the rivalry between Magic and former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird.

Neil says it’s time for our annual search to find truTV for the NCAA Tournament.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after the “gang mentality” in football.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY notes that MSG Network is about to unveil a new baseball-centric show.

Chris Boyle at the Merrick (NY) Patch says two alumna of a local high school, now ESPN personalities, made a visit to their old stomping grounds.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that Buffalo Sabres games are back on MSG after a technical glitch prevented fans from seeing their games for two weeks.

Pete talks with Uncle Verne Lundquist of CBS who’s going into his 49th year of broadcasting.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times-Herald Record says a local man has been chosen to take part in this year’s MLB Fan Cave.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who says he’ll miss working with Ron Jaworski every Monday Night.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner speaks with tennis Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Chris Evert.

South

Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer says for the first time, viewers in the ACC footprint can see ESPN’s coverage of the ACC Tournament.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald likes watching the ESPN/ABC NBA studio show.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Comcast SportsNet Houston is getting ready for its fall launch.

And David expands on his column on CSN Houston in his blog.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has a few Sooner State sports media news and notes.

Midwest

Jeff Moss at Detroit Sports Rag has a field of 64 to decide the Worst Detroit Sports Media Personality.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says CBS and Turner are enjoying their NCAA Tournament partnership.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reviews the one week experiment of Joe Buck and Tim McKernan co-hosting a radio show that could turn into something bigger down the road.

Dan says don’t expect too many changes for this year’s NCAA Tournament coverage on CBS and Turner Sports.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times writes that if NCAA Tournament coverage ain’t broke, then CBS and Turner aren’t going to fix it.

John says Fox Sports San Diego is set to launch any day now, provided MLB approves the Padres’ deal to air games on the network.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the success of the CBS/Turner NCAA Tournament consortium surprised officials at both companies.

Jim says Peyton Manning’s former coach, Tony Dungy now of NBC, feels San Francisco would be a good fit for him.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Magic Johnson’s life-changing announcement, 20 years later.

Tom explores how Time Warner Cable will present LA Galaxy games while it’s still in the process of launching its new SoCal regional sports network.

Tom has a few items that didn’t make his weekly media column.

Percy Allen of the Seattle Times notes that ESPN will air next year’s Pac-12 Basketball Championship Game.

Canada

Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star says CBC’s Don Cherry and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke are acting like a couple of spoiled divas in their public spat.

And that’s going to do it for today. Enjoy your sports weekend.

Your Monday Linkage

Back to work for many of you. Let’s get some Monday links in.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today says the networks have missed a competitive Tiger Woods.

Tom Weir of USA Today adds that Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has pulled his Quicken Loans ads from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show over a budding controversy.

The independent Gannett Blog notes that all of USA Today’s sports staffers have been told to reapply for their jobs as part of a newsroom reorganization. Oh, that’s nice.

At Forbes, Douglas Alden Warshaw says Comcast is going all in on sports and chronicles how it survived the loss of NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol last year.

To Mashable where Sam Laird notes that ESPN is opening up its source code so developers can build apps around the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s sports information.

Michael Schottey at Bleacher Report says it’s time to end the archaic NFL blackout rules.

Nat Ives with Advertising Age writes that magazines like Sports Illustrated are finding at what price is best to bundle print and tablet subscriptions.

Also at AdAge, Brian Steinberg looks at NBC’s ad sales pitch for the London Olympics.

To Adweek where Anthony Crupi says car rental company Enterprise will ramp up a new March Madness spot for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group says MLB Network is gearing up for this week’s Cleveland-Arizona telecast which will feature nearly real-time audio from the field.

Double G Sports interviews Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle.

To Comcast SportsNet New England’s Tom Curran who says the Boston Globe treats the Red Sox and Patriots differently when it comes to their off-the-field business deals.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says it may take civil action to finally put an end to bounties in the NFL.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that the ratings for the final round of the Honda Classic were good.

From the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner writes that a U.S. Senator is seeking an end to NFL blackouts.

Kevin Callahan of the Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier-Post talks with ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about being booted out of the Monday Night Football booth.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says ESPN’s Bram Weinstein is forever grateful to former Georgetown coach John Thompson.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times writes that a new sports radio talk show premieres today.

Tom also reviews the weekend in sports television.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Green Bay Packers have changed flagship TV stations.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman says local MLB teams are cashing in on huge rights fees, except for the Cubs and White Sox.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cardinals have set their spring training radio schedule.

Dan says this week, Joe Buck is co-hosting a local radio show that could lead to a podcast or a nationally syndicated show.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes that quarterbacks help drive the NFL engine.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your sports calendar for this week.

Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle says NBC Sports Group will attempt to attract viewers to the 2013 America’s Cup.

Steve Ladurantaye of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Yahoo is considering a bid for the Canadian TV and online rights for the 2014/16 Olympics after two combined efforts by CBC/CTV were thrown by the International Olympic Committee for being too low.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail wonders if CBC will pay a price with the NHL for Don Cherry’s candor on Coach’s Corner.

Damien Cox of the Toronto Star says Cherry’s criticisms of Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke are getting out of hand.

Joseph Hall at the Star says Cherry remains at odds with Burke.

Sports Media Watch says Tiger Woods helped drive the Honda Classic’s overnight ratings to a 10 year high.

SMW says North Carolina-Duke gave ESPN its highest college basketball overnight ratings in 3 years despite a blowout.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL on NBC’s overnight ratings continue on a steady upward trend.

And we’ll end the links there for today. Enjoy the rest of your Monday.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks

Lots of things to get to today. Couldn’t do the links yesterday. Going to do a big megalink edition for you.

Let’s get cracking, but first, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks complete with a link to the busy College Basketball Viewing Picks which will be updated throughout the weekend.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Oscar-winner and ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham.

Sports Illustrated issued a statement standing by its feature story this week by George Dohrmann on UCLA’s troubles.

Yesterday, Captain Blowhard, a.k.a Bill Simmons of Grantland interviewed President Obama for his podcast. I haven’t listened to it nor read the transcript as I don’t want to be bothered. Dan Levy of Bleacher Report did and had some problems with it.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider’s Sports Page lists some writers who were most likely jealous over Simmons’ sitdown with the President.

Sports Business Daily says Captain Blowhard threw a hissy fit this week after Duke refused to issue a credential to one of Grantland’s writers for Saturday’s game against North Carolina.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable writes that NFL Today and Inside the NFL host James Brown will become a special correspondent for CBS News.

Gabriel Beltrone of Adweek writes that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is pitching Sprint phones.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to Super Bowl XLVI, NBC won the February sweeps, marking the third straight year that sports has steered the month.

Ryan Berenz of Channel Guide Magazine writes that NBC Sports Network will be all over a French bicycle race this month.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says while we know MLB will announce expanded Wild Card Playoff games today, we don’t know which network will air them.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com writes that the competition among mainstream sports websites is very intense.

Pam Modarelli-Hegner at Sports TV Jobs writes about the types of personalities and egos journalists encounter when interviewing athletes.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder writes in Puck Drunk Love about ESPN’s failure to cover the NHL.

In his regular site, Matt says CNBC’s Darren Rovell assigned his baby daughter several social networking accounts on her first day on earth.

Brady Green at AA has video of the Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia’s very funny impression of ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian that aired on Baseball Tonight.

John Daly at the Daly Planet looks at Showtime’s Inside NASCAR program taking the spring and summer off after one episode this week.

Barry Petchesky over at Deadspin notes that ESPN came up with another potentially racist headline for an Asian-American athlete.

Rachel Margolis at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with college basketball analyst Brooke Weisbrod who has a rather interesting day job that keeps her busy during the work week.

Joe Favorito says President Obama is courting sports fans through the Captain Blowhard podcast.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media reviews the new hockey movie, “Goon.”

Sports Media Watch has some of the ratings from last week’s sports action.

SMW says Jeremy Lin is helping to move the ratings needle for ABC and TNT.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says a San Diego sports anchor’s criticism of Danica Patrick shows that sexism still exists in sports.

Also in the National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos laments how social media has watered down traditional sports journalism.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan talks with ESPN’s college basketball analyst Doris Burke. High praise and I agree. Doris is one of the best.

Chad Finn of the Globe says despite having his original role reduced, Dale Arnold is remaining at WEEI.

Chad has some advice for rookie ESPN MLB analyst Terry Francona.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen writing in SB Nation Boston says Bill Simmons has had a meteoric rise to stardom.

Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says it was the Worcester Sharks’ radio voice who came up with the idea to have popular New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski spike a puck before a game last month.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks back at the 50th anniversary of one of the major milestones in sports that barely was covered by the media at the time.

Newsday’s Neil Best says two ESPN’ers will speak at their high school alma mater next week.

Neil says the Nets are not drawing well on YES.

Neil notes that CBS Sports Network utilizes a husband & wife team for its college hockey games.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick mocks the bracketologists handicapping the NCAA Tournament field.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NHL on NBC voice Mike Emrick.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says MSG Network continues to score with Knicks games.

Jerry reports that former WNBC-TV sports anchor Len Berman is back on TV in NYC.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air the America’s Cup next year.

Pete says YES is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NBC Sports Network is adding NHL games to its schedule for the playoff drive.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that a local service provider has snagged the rights to an incoming minor league hockey team.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes has the latest developments in Baltimore-Washington, DC sports media at Press Box.

South

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that a local sports anchor is recovering from a stroke he suffered last year.

David has a little more on the story in his blog.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with Fox Sports Oklahoma NBA studio analyst Stephen Howard.

Mel has more here with Stephen Howard.

Mel says NBA TV is marking the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game.

Midwest

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter says a movie script has been written about a deaf mute Reds player who changed the way umpires made calls.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wonders if another network will join Fox and TBS in airing the MLB Postseason this year.

Bob says ESPN still leads the way in cable subscriber fees, meaning how much cable and satellite providers are required to pay ESPN per subscriber.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Ed says a Big Ten Network profile of former Indiana University coach Bob Knight will mostly focus on his achievements and hardly touches on his tumultuous exit.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin notes NBA TV’s documentary on Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says not many Missourians will be able to see local teams in conference tournaments next week.

West

Dan Caesar of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that BYU is better off an a football independent rather than share money and TV time with other teams when it was part of the Mountain West.

John Maffei at the North County Times says local prep basketball games will be harder to find on local TV this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says who knew that product placement would be the big winner during Fox’s airing of the Daytona 500.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says CBS and MSG Network are considering buy the Dodgers in separate bids in order to get their TV rights.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at how the media covered (barely) Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game 50 years ago today.

Tom has some news and notes this week.

Canada

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says CBC premieres part two of the movie on Don Cherry’s life this weekend.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail can’t believe how well NHL Trade Deadline coverage does in the ratings.

Bruce says social media has changed sports reporting forever.

And that will do it. Enjoy your weekend.

Posting As Many Monday Links As I Can

Been busy again today, but I’ll try to post as many links here as possible. Don’t know if I can do a complete set, but I’ll see what I can do.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand hears from ESPN’s Brent Musburger who calls tonight’s BCS National Championship Game.

Tom Weir of USA Today says Tim Tebow mentions broke a Twitter record last night.

Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal says the winner of tonight’s BCS National Championship Game stands to cash in through licensing of its gear.

Eric Fisher and John Ourand of SBJ report that MLB has to make a decision very soon on an extra round of Wild Card playoff games and the TV network that would air them.

Sports Business Daily recaps the mixed reviews for Charles Barkley’s hosting of NBC’s Saturday Night Live this past weekend.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a lawsuit brought forth by basketball legends Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson over their likenesses used in video games now has the TV networks getting involved.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says LG Smartphone users will gain access to a new ESPN ScoreCenter app that will include exclusive HD video.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News has a quick blurb on ESPN gaining rights for the NYC Marathon.

At Adweek, Anthony Crupi looks at the NFL’s final regular season ratings for 2011.

Glen Davis of SportsGrid cannot believe the religious connotations behind last night’s ratings for Pittsburgh-Denver.

Dom Consentino of Deadspin says the NBC reporter arrested last month  on DUI charges after a party thrown by alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, tried to talk his way out of the arrest.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after Fox’s Charles Davis and NBC’s Mike Mayock for talking too much.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Saturday’s NFL Divisional playoff action will be split among two local radio stations.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says MSG Network will be throwing a local viewing party to drum up support in its dispute with Time Warner Cable.

Ken McMillan with the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about the NYC Marathon running to ESPN from NBC.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will begin airing a new live show modeled after NBC Sports Talk.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports TV.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that the Texans had their best local ratings since their inaugural game back in 2002.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says on Saturday, the Bengals did not do as well locally as its regular season games.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network will re-air two Giants-Packers games.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes that CBS stepped up for last night’s Pittsburgh-Denver game.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail continues to go after CBC’s Don Cherry.

Raju Mudhar from the Toronto Star says Toronto is not the only hockey hotbed around.

I’ll try to add more stuff later.

UPDATE, 5:50 p.m.: I’ll add some more links now.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that the top selling sports book of last year was not the ESPN book, but Tim Tebow’s autobiography.

Dave Zoren of the Delaware County Times notes that the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game did well on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Scott Sloan from the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader says a Kentucky-based high school sports TV and online provider has filed for bankruptcy.

At the Austin American-Statesman, Kirk Bohls says despite a lack of carriage agreements and viewers, ESPN remains committed to the Longhorn Network.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that legendary Dodgers voice Vin Scully finally gets his own bobblehead this season.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says theScore has signed a deal to pick up a whole host of college sports.

Sports Media Watch tells us that the Sugar Bowl had its worst ratings in 18 years.

Sports Media Watch says the Orange Bowl had its worst ratings in the BCS era.

The Waiting for Next Year blog notes that ESPN’s Erin Andrews will replace Scott Van Pelt as host of the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. That’s a huge upgrade.

Awful Announcing has the Broncos radio call of last night’s overtime win over the Steelers.

Joe Favorito wonders if MMA fighter Gina Carano is about to crossover to become a mainstream star.

The Sports Business Digest notes that the Lingerie Bowl will be played in Las Vegas.

NBC will partner with Panasonic to air the London Olympics in 3-D which only 145 people across the country can watch.

And that will do it for the links today.

Bringing Out The Wednesday Links

Ok, going to try to give you a full set of links today. Let’s get started.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his 2011 Media Awards. Very good list of people getting awards this year.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today writes that when all is said and done, the NFL’s TV ratings for this season will finish down compared to last season’s record highs.

The Nielsen Wire blog notes that the NFL almost had the entire Top 10 highest rated Single Telecast category to itself.

Sofia M. Fernandez of the Hollywood Reporter lists the 11 most triumphant, terrifying and bizarre moments in sports television.

Mike Reynolds at Broadcasting & Cable writes that four networks will air coverage of the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game on New Year’s Eve.

Mike adds that TNT got cable’s fourth-largest audience ever for an NBA regular season game with its airing of Celtics-Knicks on Christmas Day.

At Multichannel News, Mike says TNT also received good numbers for its Tuesday night NBA doubleheader.

Mike looks at NBC Sports Network’s first original programming project that airs just a half-hour after its launch on January 2.

SportsbyBrooks reports that even if college football analyst Craig James hadn’t run for U.S. Senate, ESPN would have likely dropped him in 2012.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says Shaquille O’Neal had his first real funny moment on TNT Tuesday night.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says an Ohio car dealer hopes to make some buzz if the Cleveland Browns not just beat, but shut out the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday.

Jamison Hedley of ESPN.com reports that the Cincinnati Bengals have avoided their 7th blackout of the season.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes about ESPN pulling First Take co-host Dana Jacobsen off the show and assigning her to other duties.

Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News says the attorney for embattled former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is shopping his client and his wife for a potential interview on a natioal network.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Times talks with Philadelphia Flyers TV analyst Rich Tocchet who will have two duties at the NHL Winter Classic.

Tom Jones of the now-Tampa Bay (no longer the St. Petersburg) Times gives his year in review in local and national sports media.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that one of its writers has won an Eclipse Award for Writing about horse racing.

Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News says the Spurs topped the local TV ratings on Monday.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers for 2011 in sports business and media.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune talks with CBS’ Verne Lundquist about Utah’s appearance in the Sun Bowl and other matters.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail has his top televised images of 2011.

Sports Media Watch has a look at the Top 20 Sports Media stories of the year, starting with #20-16, #15-11 and #10-6.

Awful Announcing looks at the Don Cherry Piano Desk.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin remembers writing a fan letter to ESPN and getting something in return.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media lists his People of the Year in Hockey Broadcasting for 2011.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN research finds that women don’t like the network’s debate shows. I can’t find any men who like them either.

And we’re done.

A Friday Evening Megalink Thing

Let’s give you some linkage on this Friday. Been a busy day. You deserve some links

The Weekend Viewing Picks provide your sports and entertainment TV watching. And now to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy debate whether networks should hire ex-coaches knowing full well they could make news and leave for another job.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute takes the Alleged Worldwide Leader to task for its failure to press the Bernie Fine/Syracuse story and holding a tape for eight years.

Alex Weprin of TVNewser writes that ESPN has hired Bloomberg News sports business reporter Michele Steele.

Over to Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk who has Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid angry at NFL Network for its portrayal of wide receiver DeSean Jackson after last night’s game with Seattle.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News discusses the viewership increase for Thursday Night Football.

Mike writes about the quintet of games that will open the NBA season on Christmas Day.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has an advance clip of a CNN Sunday interview with ESPN Vice President of News Vince Doria speaking about the handling of the Bernie Fine/Syracuse story.

Dan has a very strong promo for the return of the NBA.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid notes that on the Dan Patrick Show, TNT’s Charles Barkley had some fighting words for notorious sports self-promoter Skip Bayless.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that mobile truck operators are happy to have the NBA back in action.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says while the NBA Lockout has been settled, there’s still a battle that will continue for several years.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NFL ratings for Week 12 for ESPN’s Monday Night Football, NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing looks at the machinations behind a longer Thursday Night Football schedule.

East and Mid-Atlantic

At the Boston Globe, Chad Finn looks at how Twitter broke the Bobby Valentine-to-Boston story and he handicaps the race to replace Heidi Watney as NESN Red Sox reporter.

Howard Beck at the New York Times notes that current NBA players are returning slowly but surely to NBA TV which has been stuck showing games from the 1980′s and early 1990′s.

The New York Post’s Claire Atkinson reports that the NFL is looking for big bucks from NBC to renew the rights to Sunday Night Football.

The Post’s Phil Mushnick wants the networks to stop showing touchdown celebrations.

Brett Cyrgalis of the Post has five questions for ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler.

Newsday’s Neil Best bids adieu to WFAN’s Tracy Burgess who left the Boomer and Carton show today.

Neil looks at ESPN being a stepping stone for coaches who are looking for their next job.

Neil has a quickie review of the ESPN Films documentary on former quarterback Todd Marinovich.

And Neil notes that local football players aren’t making news on social networks, but the old fashioned way… on radio.

Bob’s Blitz has pictures of Tracy Burgess’ last day at WFAN.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Fox is trying to get the word out that it’s back in the college football business.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Chris Herren, the subject of ESPN Films’ Unguarded documentary, will be in town to talk about his battle with addiction.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest Baltimore/Washington DC sports media news in this week’s Press Box.

In the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg tells us what happened to local sports radio host John Riggins who’s been missing as of late.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports’ Gus Johnson and Charles Davis about calling back-to-back conference championship games on successive nights.

South

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle talks with NFL on Fox sideline analyst Tony Siragusa who will be part of the crew calling the Atlanta-Texans game on Sunday.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge who will call the annual Bedlam game.

Mel says Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster are pulling double duty this weekend.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Time Warner Cable will be busy with local high school football this weekend.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that the Detroit Lions have received more national media attention whether it’s deserved or not.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley has Fox’s Charles Davis talking about Wisconsin running Montee Ball’s Heisman Trophy chances.

Bob says NASCAR races will be airing on a different Milwaukee radio station next year.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman has his weekly winners and losers.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says it’s going to be a busy weekend for Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster on Fox.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says St. Louis University may be a rising college basketball program, but it hasn’t translated to more national exposure.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says local Cox subscribers will be able to see Time Warner Cable’s coverage of the state high school football championships this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the Pac-12 Championship won’t be the showcase that Fox had in mind.

Jim says the SEC Championship will have BCS National Championship Game implications like it always does.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Fox is doing its best to sell a less than stellar Pac-12 Championship Game matchup.

Tom has what didn’t make his column in his blog.

Tom says the new Los Angeles Dodgers radio flagship will hire former manager Kevin Kennedy as a postgame host.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail gleefully points out that Don Cherry’s Coach’s Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada is drawing lower ratings than in the past.

And that’s going to do it for our linkage tonight.

It’s Been Way Too Long Without Linkage

I appreciate you still visiting Fang’s Bites as I’ve been trying to keep the site updated for you. Linkage has been scarce since Sunday. Been busy helping my sister with her son and then I was out for most of the morning.

Time to provide you with some linkage.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Fox Sports will be using infra-red technology during the World Series.

The Nielsen Wire blog notes the MLB teams that topped their local markets in the TV ratings.

Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk looks at Bryant Gumbel’s controversial commentary about NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says while Gumbel’s “plantation overseer” comment is what’s driving controversy, it’s Stern himself who’s stirring the pot.

Robert Littal at Black Sports Online is uncomfortable with Gumbel’s commentary.

Lauren Schutte of the Hollywood Reporter has a look at Stephen Colbert’s mock ad on the NBA lockout.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable says the Big 12 Conference has chosen a company to help develop mobile apps for the iPhone and Android platforms.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN scored a key demographic win for Monday Night Football.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says low ratings for the MLB League Championship Series isn’t providing much hope for the World Series.

Anthony also looks at the breakdown of talks between the NFL and Time Warner Cable for the NFL Network.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid says while people are talking about Bryant Gumbel’s comments about NBA Commissioner David Stern, there’s another unflattering analogy about him floating around the internet today.

Joe Gisondi of the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center has some suggestions on how to write a proper lead and how to avoid writing clichés.

Brandon Costa from Sports Video Group says Fox Sports Midwest is trying to set itself apart among the outlets covering this year’s World Series.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the two Lone Star State businessmen behind the Texas Rangers.

To Pro Hockey Talk and Mike Halford who says the Winnipeg Jets are blown away by the local media coverage particularly today in Toronto as compared to when they were the Atlanta Thrashers.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the byes in NFL Week 7 are leaving Fox with scraps.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that Fox’s Joe Buck doesn’t care if you think he’s biased for one team or another.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that former DC NFL Team quarterback Joe Theismann isn’t in favor of John Beck starting this week over train wreck Rex Grossman. This is why Joe was such a bad analyst.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says ESPN on ABC correctly covered Dan Wheldon’s death and subsequent tribute on Sunday.

To the Houston Chronicle where Anna-Megan Raley shows us how Texans tight end Joel Dreessen took down an NFL Network analyst.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the Fox Sports crew is looking forward to airing its 14th World Series.

Mel notes that college football topped the local ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the local CBS affiliate won’t carry Carson Palmer’s Oakland Raiders debut on Sunday.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has some sports TV notes including the World Series ratings expectations.

Ed also compares the fates and fortunes of the Cubs and Cardinals as the World Series begins tonight.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that both Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are almost back at full strength after separate physical ailments.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that Fox won’t be displaying a live strike zone graphic as TBS did during its MLB Postseason coverage.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says like it or not, Don Cherry’s influence on Canadian hockey cannot be measured.

Sports Media Watch notes that CBS finally broke out of its NFL ratings losing streak in Week 5.

SMW says in NFL Week 5, Fox saw a ratings downtick.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that Versus/NBC Sports Network will begin airing Notre Dame hockey games this season.

And that will do it for links today.

Bringing Out The Tuesday Links

Let’s do some links for you now.

First, Sports Business Journal’s editorial team talked with ESPN and NFL executives on the decision to remove Hank Williams, Jr.’s open from Monday Night Football.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings from the weekend in sports television.

Mike Lopresti of USA Today writes about Turner Sports’ Ernie Johnson’s tough month.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that Hank Williams, Jr.’s new song rips ESPN, Fox News and everyone else in his path.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that several ex-NHL fighters plan a response to CBC’s Don Cherry who called them out last week.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona got the job done for Fox in Games 1 & 2 of the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter says ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between Chicago and Detroit is the network’s 2nd highest rated game of the year.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that the NBA’s national and local TV partners are now scrambling to find other programming in the wake of the cancellation of the 1st two weeks of the regular season.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says YES Network is not happy over Cablevision’s live iPad app.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi writes that ESPN/ABC and TNT will have to find a way to replace almost a billion dollars in ad revenue if the entire 2011-12 NBA season is lost.

Andrew McMains from Adweek looks at Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash spending the NBA lockout as a pitchman.

Media Life Magazine’s Toni Fitzgerald says the ALCS and NLCS helped to take a chunk out of the network ratings on Monday.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports says the Big East feels ESPN definitely had a hand in its current inner turmoil.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes a sign in Detroit that made fun of an ESPN NFL analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group both broadcasters and production companies know they’re going to take a hit with the NBA lockout.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell gets Twitter reaction from real people about the impact of the NBA lockout on their lives.

Richard Goldstein of the New York Times remembers the late ABC, CBS and Fox Sports director Joe Aceti who worked many of sports’ biggest events.

Newsday’s Neil Best feels Joe Buck’s voice is coming back.

Neil says Terry Francona shows potential if he wants to be a full-time TV analyst.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Week 7 college football TV schedule.

From the Washington Post, the DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg has an old picture of Tim Brant and former DC NFL team QB Joe Theismann from a 1980 media guide.

David Teel from the Newport News (VA) Daily Press has Virginia and Virginia Tech athletic officials refuting what Boston College’s athletic director said about ESPN influencing the ACC’s decision to add Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some local football TV ratings.

John Kiesewette of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals hit their season ratings low on Sunday.

John says Fox Sports Ohio will pick up a good number of Xavier basketball games this season.

Eric Lacy of the Detroit News says preliminary ratings show both the Tigers and Lions pulled big numbers on Monday.

Jo-Ann Barnas of the Detroit Free Press goes behind the scenes with ESPN’s Monday Night Football at Ford Field.

The Free Press has three questions for Fox Sports Detroit MLB analyst Rod Allen.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NBA broadcasters are officially on lockout watch.

Bob looks at the national numbers for the Green Bay-Atlanta Sunday Night Football game.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business hopes to have the NBA back by Christmas. Good luck.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog says NBA labor strife doesn’t help its local and national TV partners.

The Los Angeles Times notes that the USC Trojans have announced their basketball TV schedule.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog asks if Don Cherry went too far.

Sports Media Watch notes that Game 1 of the National League Championship Series hit its lowest ratings ever.

SMW has some various overnight ratings.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has the final numbers for the NHL opening night on Versus.

Steve also has last Friday’s ratings for the NHL’s Europe game on Versus.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the video of Joe Buck’s call of Texas’ walkoff win against Detroit in Game 2 of the ALCS on Monday.

And that’s where we’ll end things for today.

Bringing Out The Monday Links

With this being Columbus Day, it’s a holiday for some of you. Not for me, but for some. I hope you’re able to enjoy the day. Let’s do some links.

Sports Business Journal has a look at some of the important women in sports business.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona doesn’t see television in his future.

Reid Cherner of USA Today writes that overzealous NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus is clarifying his “I’m a Golden God”-like comment to “60 Minutes”.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says it’s a swing.. and a miss for Fox’s HD picture at the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter notes that Green Bay-Atlanta steered NBC to a big ratings win on Sunday.

Etan Vlessing at the Reporter writes that Don Cherry is out of step with CBC’s public position on head shots in the NHL.

Laura Martinez of Multichannel News reports that ESPN2 will air two episodes of a Spanish-language ESPN Deportes scripted series following a soccer doubleheader on Tuesday.

Daniel Frankel and Lucas Shaw of The Wrap tell us that ESPN and TNT could stand to lose a lot of revenue if the NBA doesn’t settle its lockout soon.

As the NBC gremlins force YouTube to take down the infamous hot dog thrown at Tiger Woods video, we note that it’s still up at SportsGrid as Dan Fogarty informs us.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing has video of Gus Johnson’s classic touchdown call from Saturday’s Texas A&M-Texas Tech game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with movie director Cameron Crowe on who was really the inspiration for movie character superagent Jerry Maguire. Last night, “60 Minutes” falsely said it was Drew Rosenhaus.

Pat Gordon of Cape Cod Online wishes Hank Williams, Jr. would go away.

Kevin Paul Dupont from the Boston Globe writes that Hank Williams, Jr. got it wrong by invoking Adolf Hitler when speaking of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Mark Blaudshun of the Globe has Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo saying ESPN was behind the Syracuse and Pittsburgh defections from the Big East to the ACC.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times says the college sports upheaval is also effecting mid-major conferences.

From the New York Daily News, Eric Barrow says ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge advises how you should tie a tie.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick seems to just get the notion that “You Can’t Predict Baseball.”

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Andrew Catalon who recently filled in on CBS for an NFL game. Andrew did a very good job, too.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio legend has retired.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says ESPN viewers will get multi-lingual coverage of the Pan American Games.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis wants to bring cell phone concessions to the Verizon Center.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says the Nationals’ TV ratings are looking up despite finishing dead last among all MLB teams in 2011.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans have signed a long-term extension with CBS Radio.

David says Texans voice Marc Vandermeer took yesterday’s loss to the Raiders quite hard.

Tim Twentyman of the Detroit News says Mike Tirico is able to drive his own car to call tonight’s Monday Night Football game instead of flying in ahead of time.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson who’s calling the NLCS on TBS.

Bob says the Brewers and Packers got a lot of national airtime on Sunday.

Bob has the local ratings for the Brewers and Packers.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business speaks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who gets to call a “home” game tonight.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that embattled announcer Dan McLaughlin has lost one of gigs in the wake of his second DUI arrest.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos QB Tim Tebow perked up an otherwise moribund sports weekend in the Rocky Mountain region.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says LA was not switched from Raiders-Texans yesterday to join the Chargers as it would have in the past.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s Ron MacLean chose to cover for Don Cherry rather than challenge his comments on fighting from last week.

The Toronto Star’s Raju Mudhar notes that Cherry is doing what he does best, stir the pot.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBA’s lockout strategy.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR race on ESPN had a slight ratings uptick.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media has a profile of Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame announcer Bob Miller.

Joe Favorito says UFC continues to steadily build its brand.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Bringing Back The Linkage

Even though I didn’t links on Wednesday, it feels I haven’t done them in ages. You’re owed a chunk of them. Here goes.

Nathan Vardi of Forbes reports that ESPN basketball writer Chris Sheridan is suing New York Post basketball chameleon Peter Vecsey for libel. Interesting. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

David B. Wilkerson at Marketwatch.com says ESPN is not worried about losing NFL programming.

At NPR, Frank Deford says there has to be a reason why ESPN didn’t bid hard for the Olympics.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter notes that Universal Sports has finally signed a long-awaited distribution deal with DirecTV.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable writes that last night’s Stanley Cup Final Game 7 won the night for NBC in key demographics.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports that CBS Sports Network picks up Comcast subscribers in three Southern markets.

Mike talks with Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Jim Corno about running the area’s various sports networks over the years.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek writes that NBCUniversal has signed a deal with comic book creator Stan Lee’s Guardian Media Entertainment to market the NHL’s Superhero franchise which to date, no one understands. I saw the Guardians unveiled during the NHL All-Star Game earlier this year and I had no idea what it was supposed to represent.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says Stanley Cup Final Game 7 finished rather well for NBC last night.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser has video of ESPN’s Michelle Beadle admitting on Live with Regis & Kelly that she’s watched internet porn.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has some videos from last night’s crazy riots in Vancouver that took place after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Now imagine if the Canucks had won!

Here’s today’s front page of the Vancouver Province showing what the story was last night.

The Vancouver Sun’s front page had what the story should have been.

This is the front page of the Boston Herald. I like this picture.

And the Brockton (MA) Enterprise with a classic front page.

Noah Davis at the Business Insider Sports Page says it’s obvious that tablets are the future of magazines.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Chinese tennis star Li Na has signed an endorsement deal with Mercedes Benz.

The Big Lead has tennis analyst John McEnroe calling for a Hard Knocks-type reality series to help market the sport.

All Access says the St. Louis Rams have signed a new deal to remain in their current flagship radio station.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant writes that Comcast SportsNet New England will air select Connecticut Sun WNBA games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks about CBS signing a new six year deal with the Big Ten for basketball.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced a new broadcast team for selected road games for next season.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog says local ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final were very good. They were certainly higher than the national number.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks about the NHL’s ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Jim says the U.S. Open at Congressional will be covered like a wool blanket this week.

Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks about the launch date for ESPN’s Longhorn Network.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has a couple of sports media notes.

Mike Finger of the Chronicle discusses the launch of the Longhorn Network plus its quest to get carried throughout the Lone Star State and beyond.

Michigan Live says the University of Detroit will name its basketball court after ESPN’s Dick Vitale. He coached there before going to the NBA and then to ESPN in 1979.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal notes that Cincinnati Bengals Dhani Jones gave NFL Network a list of the top NFL linebackers that includes himself.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says Cubs owner Ed Ricketts did not help himself by talking to the media this week.

Scott Dochterman in the Iowa City Gazette discusses CBS signing a new deal with the Big Ten for basketball.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Wimbledon finals can be seen in 3-D at various theaters around SoCal.

In another uniformed column, the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin feels Twitter is what ails everything in sports.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBC’s overnight ratings for the Stanley Cup Final Game 7.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the half hour overnight ratings breakdown of Game 7.

Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski explains how NBC got good ratings for Game 7 despite having a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup Final.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing can’t believe the wallpaper Don Cherry used as a suit for CBC’s Coach’s Corner last night.

SportsbyBrooks looks into yet another plagiarism charge against Denver Post columnist Woody Paige.

Chris Hadley at The Sports Tube remembers NBC’s failed Olympics Triplecast experiment for the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs feels sports radio in both Dallas and Miami failed by not having local programming immediately following the NBA Finals Game 6 to give fans opportunities to vent or celebrate.

We’ll leave it there for now.

Some Memorial Day Links

While I’m at work, I’ll do some linkage for you.

Let’s also keep the troops who have lost their lives fighting to keep our freedom safe in all of the wars on behalf of democracy. And keep the troops in mind who are currently on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let’s hope our men and women will come home safe and sound soon.

Let’s do the links.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter says Game 7 of the NHL Eastern Conference Final was the most watched third-round game in Versus’ history and the highest rated in 9 years.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Wheel of Fortune is teaming with Tennis Channel to do a “Tennis Week” on the game show.

Mike says with a new sports president in tow, Time Warner Cable is looking to step up its game.

Gregg Rosenthal at Pro Football Talk reflects on noted Sports Illustrated football writer Paul Zimmerman as he remains in poor health.

Damon Martin at Yahoo Sports says UFC is in the midst of negotiating a new TV contract. UFC has contracts with Spike and Versus.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the video of a meteorologist for the Fox TV station in the Twin Cities getting angry at sports fans who would rather watch the Champions League final over his update that broke into programming.

Dan notes that Skip Bayless was yelling again on ESPN2′s First Take.

Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal has this very good profile of NESN Red Sox voice Don Orsillo.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post says with two top executives resigning in a week, NBC Sports executives are wondering when will the next shoe drop.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel has ESPN’s Brent Musburger speculating that recent network college football analyst hire Urban Meyer may want to stay in TV rather than go back into coaching.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle remembers the late Texas Governor Bill Clements who had a big hand in the SMU payment scandal to college football players which was the subject of an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary last year.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the ESPN on ABC NBA announcing crew discussing the upcoming NBA Finals.

The big story today is the resignation of Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel. It broke about 9 this morning on the East Coast. Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that the timing of Tressel’s resignation is likely tied to a Sports Illustrated investigation that will be posted online today.

Herbie Teope of Kansas City Metro Sports gives us a personal remembrance of one of the people with whom he served.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes that the local NBC station is thrilled to be back on board with the Broncos.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at a new one man play based on the 1965 incident where San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal attacked Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro with a bat.

Tom also has your sports calendar for the week.

Vinay Menon from the Toronto Star profiles CBC’s Don Cherry.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the Stanley Cup Final should be a ratings hit in Canada.

Sports Media Watch notes that Game 6 of the NHL Eastern Conference Final did so well on Versus in Boston that it beat the American Idol finale on Fox.

New York Sports Space says MLB, and Bud Selig in particular, get an EPIC FAIL when it comes to social media.

Ok, that’s where I’ll end it.

It’s a Mid-Week Link Thing

Let’s do some links today. I hope to get some other things done today and some time down the road, I need to do some work.

We begin Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who gives us his March Media Power List. Some good names on it.

Some links from USA Today and lots of good ones at that. Sean Leahy notes that the Dallas Cowboys will be seen aplenty in primetime in the 2011 NFL regular season.

Sean notes that in addition to the Cowboys, the usual suspects like the Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Jets and others get multiple primetime games as well.

Michael Hiestand says while the primetime NFL schedule looks good on paper now, will the matchups really be attractive come fall?

Michael also looks at the ratings of selected events from the weekend.

Michael shares his thoughts on the NHL staying on NBC/Versus.

In what could be the first of several takeovers in Comcast/NBC markets, John Ourand at Sports Business Daily reports that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area will produce live sportscasts for the San Francisco NBC affiliate, KNTV.

Brian Lowry at Fox Sports says Sports Law & Order does not make for good television.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo feels the fact that the NFL has scheduled two meaningful games in the New York area and Washington on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 should show that the league is serious about ending the lockout before the season begins. I’ll mildly disagree as I’m sure the NFL had plans to have games scheduled there for quite some time, but we’ll see if the league follows through.

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk notes the five NFL teams that didn’t get scheduled for primetime.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans in the Indiana National Sports Journalism Center talks with investigative reporter Armen Keteyian about his return to Real Sports this month.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Marisa Guthrie has NBC Sports Group Emperor Dick Ebersol being extremely optimistic about the company’s new 10 year deal with the NHL.

Jon Lafayette at Broadcasting & Cable says with its new deal, NBC/Versus will get extra exclusivity from the NHL.

Jon says the $2 billion pricetag for the NHL shows that Comast is willing to spend money on sports.

Michael Malone of B&C has more details about Comcast SportsNet Bay Area taking over the live sportscasts for NBC’s KNTV.

Janon Fisher of Adweek says a New York woman is suing the Yankees for trademark infringement saying the team never paid her uncle to create what is now the iconic logo for the franchise.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid says a New York Daily News Mets beat writer did his best to come up with a creative lede to describe yet another loss by the team.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell asks does it really matter who is on the Madden NFL video game cover?

Bruce Allen from Boston Sports Media Watch takes a look at what the impact of a Comcast SportsNet New England/NBC partnership could mean for the New England region.

From the New York Times, Richard Sandomir says the NHL decided to remain loyal to the networks that stood by it when times were tough to find a television home.

Newsday’s Neil Best says ESPN Radio New York is undergoing yet another scheduling shuffle.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says poker’s time on TV might be over.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette gives praise to the NBC/Versus deal with the NHL.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record speculates on what the NFL schedule in New York would look like throughout the 2011 season provided the lockout is settled.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner takes a look at the NHL’s new contract with the NBC Sports Group.

Stephen Whyno of the Washington Times tells us what the NBC Sports Group/NHL deal means for fans.

An era in broadcasting is ending as long-time Voice of the North Carolina Tarheels Woody Durham announced his retirement today. Durham began broadcasting Carolina football and basketball in 1971 and ended this year in 2011 which means an amazing 40 year career. I used to pick up the games through various 50,000 watt AM radio stations from the Tarheels Radio Network. He was great to listen to and I loved his style of calling a game.

Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh News & Observer says Durham felt it was time to retire.

Briana Gorman from the Durham Herald-Sun writes that the news of Durham’s retirement came as a shock to some.

Ed Hardin of the Greensboro News & Record says Durham was a journalist and a friend.

Bob Sutton of the Gaston Gazette shares one particular memory about Woody Durham.

Alan Ford of the Gazette says Woody was there to call all of the big moments in Carolina basketball.

Aaron Keck at radio station WCHL in Chapel Hill, NC has reaction from those who worked with Durham over the years.

Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asks Woody’s son, Wes, an outstanding broadcaster in his own right and voice of Georgia Tech basketball and the Atlanta Falcons, on whether he would succeed his father.

Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham (AL) News feels ESPN’s Bob Knight should go one step farther after his apology on comments he made about Kentucky’s basketball program.

In fact, ESPN issued a short statement on Knight’s comments.

Then ESPN issued an apology attributed to Knight.

Eric Crawford at the Louisville Courier-Journal says Knight’s apology still doesn’t address inaccuracies in his original statements about Kentucky.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman has some various Windy City sports media news and notes.

Ed says the Chicago Bears did not receive the maximum number of primetime appearances.

Chip Scoggins from the Minneapolis Star Tribune says without Brett Favre, the Minnesota Vikings’ primetime appearances have been cut significantly.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times looks at the new NBC Sports Group/NHL deal.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News notes that the Pac 12 asked Fox for a lot of money and that is why the rights to the conference are currently on the open market.

David Shoalts of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the NHL wants to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix at all costs over its TV market. There’s been talk the Coyotes may have to Winnipeg, but nothing has been confirmed.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail writes that Don Cherry’s making light of concussions isn’t helping the situation.

The lovely Kat Hasenauer at SportsGirlKat (and she is lovely as I’ve met her in person) says blogging should not have a negative connotation. Very good post.

Sports Media Watch speaks with the Vice President of Content at NBA Digital.

SMW notes that NBC Sports Group is about to rebrand Versus very soon.

Let’s get Steve Lepore’s take on the NBC Sports Group new contract with the NHL in Puck The Media and he says it’s a win-win not just for both parties, but for fans too.

Steve also has the NHL Playoff weekend ratings for Versus.

The Canadian Sports Media blog has its observations on The Group and NHL getting back together.

The Big Lead talks about its first online NFL Pre-Draft special that will take place next Monday.

Dave Kohl in Major League Programs looks at sports radio ratings in various major markets.

Ok, I think I’m done for now.

Patriots Day Monday Linkage

With this being Patriots Day in Massachusetts and Maine, it’s time to give some links. It’s a day off for some in Massachusetts and Boston has the Marathon plus the 11 a.m. Red Sox game. Both of which are traditions I have come to enjoy.

Some interesting links today. We start with John Ourand and Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal who report that ESPN and the Big East Conference are talking contract extension a year before renewal talks were to begin.

John and David Broughton of the Sports Business Journal note that the Pittsburgh Penguins are on top of the local NHL TV ratings heap.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy crunches the NHL’s local TV numbers.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King in his Monday Morning Quarterback column has some interesting sports media notes. One, he talks with NFL Films President Steve Sabol about his treatment for a brain tumor. Steve is touched by the outreach of support from you.

Next, Peter talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden about several quarterback prospects and yes, there’s even a “this guy” quote.

Also, Peter takes NFL Network to task for making Bob Papa audition for the job he currently has.

And if you would rather see the entire MMQB column on one page instead of clicking through five pages, you can go here.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today speaks with TNT’s Reggie Miller about his former broadcast partner Doug Collins and his own front office aspirations.

Hiestands notes the very good overnight ratings for six of the eight NBA playoff games over the weekend.

Tom Weir of USA Today says Michael Strahan will get his first opportunity to guest host for Regis Philbin tomorrow on “Live with Regis & Kelly”.

USA Today and Tennis Channel have announced a new online feature that will run exclusively on USAToday.com.

ESPN has published the list of announcers and analysts who have endorsement deals. A couple of names noticeably absent are Chris Berman who has deals with Applebees and Nutrisystem and Chris Fowler who has one with Nike.

ESPN Executive Vice President for Production, Norby Williamson wrote the new endorsement guidelines and they were posted on ESPN’s Front Row.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter says the NBA Playoffs took ratings away from primetime on Sunday.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable advises you to enjoy the NBA while you can before the inevitable lockout occurs in the summer.

Tom Conroy of Media Life Magazine reviews the new “Sports Show with Norm Macdonald”.

Marc Watts of the new Sports PR Blog which is headed by Pro Sports Communications lists the top five NBA television analysts.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell gives us his observations about purposely staying away from Twitter for just under a week.

Darren has estimates of fan attendance at various spring college football games.

Craig Calcaterra from Hardball Talk has a picture of ESPN’s Wendi Nix trying to get some answers from Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington.

At Deadline, the mysterious Nikki Finke wonders if it’s time to end live sports TV coverage to prevent occasional swear words from slipping through the cracks. It doesn’t happen all of the time and sports fans won’t stand for delays.

Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe says Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown visited the NESN booth today and said other members of Congress are jealous of the Bay State’s sports teams.

From Claire Atkinson of the New York Post, there’s a power struggle between NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol and NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke over the bid for the 2014/2016 Olympics and don’t forget bids are due in a month in a half.

Also from the Post, Phil Mushnick is amazed that an MLB team used common sense.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals coach used a radio appearance to insult the venerable Madison Square Garden.

Dan says the Capitals’ TV ratings are far outpacing the Wizards’.

Doug Miles of the Tampa Bay Examiner wants to know why NBC dumped coverage of golf on Sunday in favor of the NHL.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend that was on sports television.

The Tennessean notes that ESPN has set the date and time for this year’s Music City Bowl.

In the Houston Chronicle, David Barron says he’s going to be away for a couple of weeks.

Tom Brew of the Indianapolis Star says Chris Denari, the TV voice of the Indiana Pacers, will finally get to call his first NBA Playoff game this week.

At Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman talks with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon about making a move back to the Windy City.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post loved the opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has the Southern California sports calendar for this week.

Randy Starkman of the Toronto Star does not like Canada’s public funding for CBC when Don Cherry makes fun of concussions.

Raju Mudhar of the Star talks with the new head of CBC Sports.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if TSN had not paid close scrutiny to an uncalled penalty, would a suspension have followed?

To the Canadian Sports Media Blog where it also tackles the controversial concussion comments by Don Cherry on Saturday.

Over to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media who says NBC did not get the job done by not producing a clear-cut replay during yesterday’s Washington Capitals-New York Rangers game during a goal review.

Steve also looks at the local ratings for this weekend’s NHL on NBC double dip.

Mocksession, headed up by the great Timothy Burke a.k.a. @bubbaprog, has a comparison of Bobby Valentine’s and Marv Albert’s very similar hairstyles. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Sports Media Watch says TNT’s NBA tripleheader really did well on Sunday.

And this is where we’ll end it for now.

To The Wednesday Links!

Doing the linkage now after being all over the place this morning and tomorrow will be much worse as I’ll be out of the office for most of the day so don’t expect too many posts on Thursday. But before that, I can provide the linkage for today.

We’ll begin with Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand who tweets that Fox and the Big 12 Conference are expected to officially announce a long term rights deal today.

There’s plenty of outrage over a column written by Pittsburgh sports personality John Steigerwald in the Washington (PA) Observer Reporter, about the San Francisco Giants fan who was beaten into a coma by two Los Angeles gang members outside Dodger Stadium. Steigerwald said by wearing a Giants uniform into an opposing team’s stadium, 42 year old fan Bryan Stow was basically asking to get beaten up. I can link you to plenty of blogs and articles calling out Steigerwald from here to eternity. I was also outraged on Twitter yesterday. Yeah, the guy feels it’s not smart for a fan of a visiting team and a grown man to wear a baseball uniform, o.k., that’s understandable, but to say that Stow was asking for a beating is horrific.

To begin with, Steigerwald originally spelled the victim’s name wrong as Snow, not Stow and the headline originally had “Outgrow” instead of “Outgrown”, but that was not Steigerwald’s fault, but it only compounded the error and hate-filled column. And as outrage grew, the  Again, I can link you to plenty of articles, but I’ll just do a couple here.

First, Art Spander at Real Clear Sports, a former San Francisco newspaperman and an outstanding one at that, has his response to Steigerwald.

Jerrod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans has a very good post on Steigerwald’s column.

At his own blog, Steigerwald attempts to defend his writing.

Again, plenty of reaction to Steigerwald. I don’t think the uproar is going to be dying down anytime soon.

The Big Lead breaks news on Josh Elliot’s replacement at ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Deadspin has apparently found the reason why former 49ers radio analyst Gary Plummer was fired from his job. Over a sexually charged podcast that had nothing to do with football, no less.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says a group of sports television analysts have formed their own business group and will take part in an online webcast previewing the NFL Draft.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch notes that ESPN is simplifying its NFL Draft coverage.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says some insurance salesmen are angry at New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s throwaway line in ESPN’s “The Brady 6″ documentary.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says golf and the NBA are particularly awash in foreign players.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News discusses ESPN’s big ratings for Sunday Night Baseball.

Mike Shields at Adweek says MSG Network will unveil a companion website for the New York Knicks run through the NBA Playoffs.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says while the NHL Playoffs begin tonight, media watchers are keeping a close eye on who wins the league’s US TV contract.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser notes that during its upfront presentation, truTV announced that it will keep up with its sports programming in the fall.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue model Kate Upton.

Tom Rotunno of CNBC notes that LeBron James has reclaimed the top spot in NBA jersey sales.

The Business Insider’s Sports Page notes that the new Editor-in-Chief of ESPN The Magazine might have been recruiting some new staffers via Twitter.

The always lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says sports topped the ratings in the Hub on Sunday.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union advises ESPN to put Baseball Tonight back in the studio on Sunday nights.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record talks with the radio host of Army football about the late football coach Homer Smith.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says it appears Capitals/Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is at war with the local ESPN Radio affiliate, owned by DC NFL Team owner Dan Snyder.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that it will be technical city galore at the Phone Booth in DC as four different networks will be at Verizon Center for the Capitals-New York Rangers NHL series.

Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News talks about the Big 12 TV deal.

Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal writes about tonight being Joe Tait’s last game as Voice of the Cleveland Cavs.

Mike Popovich of the Canton Repository speaks with several broadcasters on their memories of Joe Tait.

The Ohio Media Watch also looks at Tait’s last call as Cavs voice tonight.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says one Packers preseason game has been selected for national viewing in August.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says the Blackhawks need to some playoff success this season to build on last year’s championship.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune notes the new Editor-in-Chief of ESPN The Magazine is a Chicagoland native.

Blair Kerkhoff from the Kansas City Star says details have begun to leak out about the Fox/Big 12 TV deal.

Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times says CBS did not announce any alternative plans for two NFL preseason games in case of a lockout. It should be noted that ESPN and NBC did not either.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News says USC and Fox are trying to work out a deal on the school’s multimedia rights.

Daniel Brown from the San Jose Mercury News talks with former 49ers radio analyst Gary Plummer on why he thinks he lost his job.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail wants CBC’s Don Cherry to stick to the basics during the NHL Playoffs. Whatever, Bruce.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog says TSN Radio launched today.

Sports Media Watch notes that the NBA on TNT’s ratings remain strong.

The always hustling Steve Lepore at Puck The Media speaks with NHL Network Executive Producer Mark Preisler about the channel’s presentation of the game.

The Big Lead talks with ESPN’s NHL analyst Matthew Baranaby. That lucky dog, Barnaby.

Awful Announcing has part two of its interview with the great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated. In case you missed it, part one has plenty of good stuff too.

And that’s where we’ll leave things today.

Doing Some Monday Linkage

Let’s provide some links on this holiday for some of you. For others like me, I’m at work. But instead of reading my complaints about working on a holiday, I’ll put my energy into finding links for you.

Starting with the Sports Business Journal, Terry Lefton looks at how TNT’s Charles Barkley has become a very effective ad spokesman. Perhaps on a future Videos of the Week, I’ll post some of his more memorable commercials.

Also from SBJ, John Ourand speaks with former Washington Post sports media columnist Leonard Shapiro who has joined Comcast SportsNet’s Baltimore and Washington, DC websites.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Fox Sports didn’t come through in the final laps of the Daytona 500.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that CBC has reupped the polarizing Don Cherry for another season on Hockey Night in Canada.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News discusses how the Los Angeles Lakers’ deal with Time Warner has changed the regional sports network game.

Mike says starting this week, the synergy and rebranding of Golf Channel’s coverage with NBC begins.

David Goetzl of MediaPost notes the one year extension of Fox Soccer Channel’s current deal with MLS.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell caught up with New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokorov who actually did meet with Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony over the weekend.

Bobby Cassidy of Newsday lists his favorite Daytona 500 commercials.

Neil Best of Newsday wonders if Comcast is going to be tightening NBC’s pursestrings especially when it comes to the bidding for Olympic TV rights.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post hates everything today.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times reviews the sports weekend on TV.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says former Buck center Kent Benson recapped being punched by NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for a radio station interview.

I was interrupted and had to the leave the office for two hours. I’ll add more to this tonight.

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: Let’s give you some more links now.

Bryan Alexander of the Hollywood Reporter talks about this year’s Daytona 500 attracting its biggest audience in three years.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that TNT received cable’s second biggest audience ever for an NBA All-Star Game.

From Adweek, Mike Shields says VEVO, the music video website owned by Universal, Sony and Abu Dhabi Media, is going to be branching into sports.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser gets reaction from Turner Sports’ David Aldridge to the negative reaction to his CNN.com story about “Black Thanksgiving“.

At Pro Football Talk, Michael David Smith notes that ESPN’s Mike Ditka criticized the NFL’s proposed 18 game schedule.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have announced that Vin Scully will call the season opener on radio. Usually, Vin does not call games that are on national television as is the case of this year’s season opener. Vin usually calls both TV and radio at home and West Coast road games, provided they’re not on national TV.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes about the ratings for Daytona and the NBA All-Star Game.

At the Delaware County Times, Neal Zoren talks about a Philly news anchor who has made the transition to sports.

Shannon J. Owens at the Orlando Sentinel says the brother of ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson died over the weekend.

Also from the Sentinel, Hal Boedeker notes the ratings for the Daytona 500.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post discusses the CBS sitcom to be based on ESPN’s Mark Schlereth.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News recaps a horrific interview between TNT’s Craig Sager and the Antichrist.

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin is not happy that CBC renewed Don Cherry’s contract.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog reviews CBC’s production of the Heritage Classic.

Sports Media Watch talks about the Daytona 500′s ratings increase, but tempers it as well.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that Jeremy Roenick will be on Versus all this week.

Joe Favorito says the Washington Nationals are getting the most out of their mascots.

And we’ll end it there for the added links tonight.

Don Cherry Back At Hockey Night in Canada For At Least One More Year

I’m blogging from an anti-Asian bar in East Providence, RI. Just in from CBC. Don Cherry will return for at least one more season of Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC.

CBC ANNOUNCES RENEWAL OF DON CHERRY ON HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

Toronto, February 19, 2011—CBC today announced that hockey’s best-known personality has renewed his contract with Hockey Night in Canada through the 2011-2012 National Hockey League season.

“We’re delighted to announce that the venerable hockey icon Don Cherry has signed on for another season and will continue to provide hockey’s liveliest and sometimes provocative commentary,” says Kirstine Stewart, executive vice-president of CBC English Services. “Don has been a part of the CBC Hockey Night in Canada family since 1980, generating passion and debate among hockey fans everywhere. Hockey Night in Canada, with Don at the desk for its 59th season, will continue to bring the very best of hockey programming on all of its platforms to Canadians everywhere.”

Don will continue to team up with host and longtime partner Ron MacLean for the most-watched segment on Canadian sports television, Coach’s Corner, each Saturday and throughout the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We join millions of fans in congratulating Don on his new contract and wishing him continued success as the declarative voice of CBC’s definitive hockey broadcast,” says NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. “Don’s knowledge of the sport is exceeded only by his love for it and we are proud of his enduring connection with the game and the National Hockey League. He truly is one of a kind, and it is an honour to consider him a friend.”

The terms of Mr. Cherry’s contract were not disclosed.

That’s it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Day After Christmas Links

I hope your holiday went well for you and Santa brought you the presents you desired.

We’re back with linkage today. Let’s get to it on this snowy Sunday.

On the USA Olympic site, noted Olympics writer Alan Abrahamson remembers great Olympics filmmaker Bud Greenspan who died yesterday.

The films of Bud Greenspan made me a huge Olympics fan. He was able find to stories that we didn’t see during television coverage. In addition, his films are the quintessential history of the Olympics on film. If you’re able to see his Olympic films on Showtime, do so. His films will give you so much inside the games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Greenspan’s life. 

Mike Kupper of the Los Angeles Times has Greenspan’s obituary.

If I get motivated during this snowstorm, I’ll do some research on his films and post it here.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse looks at NBC’s plans in lieu of today’s postponement of the Minnesota-Philadelphia game.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser writes that former Cleveland Cavs coach Mike Brown becomes an ESPN analyst.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says CBS’ Bill Cowher needs to address the coaching rumors on the NFL Today. He actually did today.

Newsday’s Neil Best recaps New York Islanders owner Charles Wang’s appearance on Sirius XM’s NHL Radio.

Bill Brink from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes about the NHL Winter Classic and how the league, NBC and sponsors all got together to create a true alternative to college football on New Year’s Day. 

Bob Cohn of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says luck also plays a role in the NHL Winter Classic.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box about MASN’s setback in North Carolina.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says Thursday’s Penguins-Caps game did well on Thursday in DC.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says look for broadband to take more of a foothold in sports in 2011.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with the extremely talkative Joe Theismann of NFL Network.

Pete Alfano of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram looks at ESPN’s plans for making the city its Super Bowl headquarters.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron looks at Laura “Seabiscuit” Hillenbrand’s new book, on former Olympian and World War II vet Louis Zamperini.

And David finds a CBS documentary on Zamperini that aired during the 1998 Olympics. It’s powerful viewing and I really recommend you watch it.

Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun writes about CBC’s Don Cherry visiting Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Stephanie Wei at Wei Under Par notes that the PGA Tour and Sirius XM managed to eke out a deal before year’s end.

Sports Media Watch has its Holiday Weekend Ratings Predictions.

I’ll end it there. I have quotage to post.

Return Of The Linkage

I didn’t do links all weekend. It’s rare when that happens, but as I went to a Tweet Up of Red Sox fans at Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill in Boston on Saturday and then did a long day of posting on Sunday. Twelve posts in all! Sunday is turning out to be a very busy day on the blog with the NFL pregame show quotage and recapping Mad Men episodes.

Ok, let’s get to the linkage.

We begin with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who looks at TBS’ announcing assignments for the League Division Series.

Mike McCarthy of the nation’s newspaper talks with WNBA star Diana Taurasi who was one of the athletes who posed nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue.

USA Today’s Game On blog has the cover featuring Taurasi. Very impressive. Never saw her in that way.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that ad sales for Fox and TBS for the MLB Postseason are going well.

Nyay Bushan of the Reporter writes that India’s official broadcaster of the Commonwealth Games is helping to debut HDTV in the Asian sub-continent.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable reports that the Dan Patrick Show will be syndicated on TV across the country via Fox Sports Net affiliates starting later this month. 

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable says the MLB Postseason looks good for Fox Deportes as well.

From Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Tripp Mickle write about the NHL which is in a position of strength as it heads into the bidding for a new US TV contract.

John and Tripp handicap the NHL TV bidding among potentially interested parties.

John teams with Michael Smith on a feature chronicling how Raycom managed to stay in business with the new ACC rights deal and team up with ESPN in the process.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the marketing winner and loser in the Ryder Cup.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times mentions that actor Robert Wuhl who’s a big sports fan will be hosting a sports-oriented talk show for Westwood One starting in January.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says NBC misreported what was said on the golf course during the Ryder Cup.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette has the NHL Network regular season schedule. Many of those games will be produced by regional sports networks.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says CBS’ Phil Simms didn’t have the best of days during yesterday’s Baltimore-Pittsburgh game.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at TBS’ announcing crews for the MLB Postseason.

Glenn Garvin of the Miami Herald talks about ESPN’s Monday Night Football still being a ratings blockbuster.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News talks about the Dish Network/Fox dispute.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman discusses the ESPN on ABC production of Saturday’s Texas-Oklahoma game.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with Hall of Fame Reds voice Marty Brennaman who’s calling his first postseason action in 15 years.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says the Sunday Night Football game between the Bears and New York Giants was a big ratings winner locally.

Dale Bowman of the Chicago Sun-Times tells Cubs fans to savor Bob Brenly for as long as possible.

Tom Hoffarth in the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for SoCal.

Roy MacGregor of the Toronto Globe and Mail feels CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada is stuck in a time warp.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Globe and Mail says CBC has no plans on what to do with HNIC after Don Cherry retires.

The Big Lead has video of Tampa Bay Rays analyst Kevin Kennedy apparently dropping an “F” bomb.

Bob’s Blitz shows us how Fox Sports’ NFL sideline reporter Nischelle Turner got hit with an errant punt just after halftime of yesterday’s Seahawks-Rams game.

Bob also has a clip of FSN Big 12 football sideline reporter Jim Knox getting knocked down while following the Colorado Buffaloes mascot just before the game with Georgia.

This isn’t the first time Jim has gone viral as evidenced by this famous video from 2008.

Joe Favorito talks about the growth of the color pink in sports.

And we’ll end the links there. I’ve been working on this off and on since 10 a.m. I need to do some work.

Some Tuesday Night Linkage

Got busy plus shuffling between two offices prevented me from doing linkage. I’ll do it now as I try to find a cool place in my house to blog. The humidity is killing me tonight.

Anyway, let’s get to the links.

Jason Fry at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes that the New York Yankees are missing out on reaching a truly local audience.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that NBC’s audience for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday was quite good.

In his first column as FoxSports.com sports media critic, Variety’s Brian Lowry discusses how today’s NBA TV announcers don’t come close to matching the late Chick Hearn of the Los Angeles Lakers. 

CNBC’s Darren Rovell gets on the NBA for having just eight champions over the last 30 years while other leagues have spread the wealth around. 

Darren speaks with Sacramento Kings co-owner Joe Maloof about his ventures.

Darren says there won’t be an NBA free agent summit as had been promoted last week.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that FLO TV will provide all 64 of ESPN’s World Cup to AT&T Mobile TV subscribers.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says AT&T U-Verse subscribers will be able to get Univision’s World Cup coverage on demand and a multiview application.

Glen Dickson from Broadcasting & Cable reports that ESPN will be offering live multiplatform coverage of the World Cup. 

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final led NBC to a younger demographics win on Monday.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine writes that a sponsor could have its message seen for as many as five days during the MLB All-Star Game festivities.

Channel Guide Magazine has an online World Cup Viewing Guide.

Sarah Mahoney from the Mediapost Raw blog says ESPN is the most powerful brand in New England outranking several traditional regional brands like Dunkin’ Donuts, Samuel Adams and Ben & Jerry’s. 

The Boston Business Journal picks up a story from John Lombardo of sister publication, Sports Business Journal, that ad sales for the NBA Finals are outpacing last year’s. 

Jack Bell of the New York Times says there are a bunch of World Cup iPhone/iPod Touch apps available at the iTunes store.

Richard Sandomir of the Times says The Big Lead has been purchased by Fantasy Sports Ventures for a figure in the “low seven figures.” A piece of disclosure: Fang’s Bites is part of the Fantasy Sports Ventures network. If The Big Lead is worth in the “low seven figures,” Fang’s Bites certainly must be worth somewhere in the “low single figures.” Seriously, congratulations to Jason McIntyre who has been running The Big Lead since 2006. Jason’s become a friend and I’m glad to see a fellow blogger hit it big.

In a mild upset, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post actually praises YES for using restraint after Cleveland Indians pitcher David Huff was hit in the head by a line drive by Alex Rodriguez.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette and suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan notes that the NHL Stanley Cup Final is doing well for NBC.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that this is an exciting time to be a Philly sports fan.

Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun Sentinel says the Florida Marlins are selling unused tickets from Roy Halladay’s perfect game on Saturday for face value.

Randy Riggs from the Austin (TX) American-Statesman tells us that two early season Texas Longhorn games will be picked up by ABC. 

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman writes that the Blackhawks’ ratings are drifting close to rarefied Bears territory.

Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun Times says NBC affiliate WMAQ could not be happier with the Blackhawks’ ratings.

Austin Meek of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal says the annual Kansas-Kansas State football game will be moved to a Thursday night to accommodate Fox Sports Net.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your June sports calendar.

Tom wonders how Larry King managed to get the first national interview with potential free agent LeBron James.

And Tom says Dodgers voice Vin Scully is immortalized in a new song.

William Houston of Truth & Rumours says his former newspaper, the Toronto Globe and Mail will be outsourcing its copy editing to an Australian-owned entity and he also looks at the Stanley Cup Final ratings in both the US and Canada.

The Sports Media Watch says the overnight ratings for the Indianapolis 500 fell to a record low for the second year in a row.

SMW says the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 also hit its lowest overnight rating in a decade.

SMW notes that the NBA Western Conference Finals finished out on a down note.

SMW says the same thing happened with the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

SMW has some various news and notes.

And SMW has various stuff on some sports media personalities.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has a comparison of Stanley Cup Final postgame coverage betweeen Versus and NHL Network.

Steve looks inside NBC’s tremendous overnight rating for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Steve also has the media awards for this year’s inductions to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy has the video of Don Cherry being the Phantom of the Opera before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says the Washington Nationals are ratcheting up the marketing effort for Steven Strasburg when he finally makes his major league debut later this month.

EPL Talk has ESPN/ABC’s promo for the England vs. USA World Cup matchup.

That’s going to do it.

Some Memorial Day Linkage

On this holiday for those people aren’t working, I wish you the best Memorial Day possible and don’t forget to remember those who have given their lives in service to their country. For those of who worked the entire holiday weekend including myself, I hope you get some time off down the road. I won’t since I don’t take vacations or take days off, but that’s what I bargained for when I joined the family business. No time off. No vacations. No holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas, but those are the holidays I’d rather work.

Anyway, as I’m stuck at work, I’ll try to give you some linkage.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes about Comcast looking to take over the rights for the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets in 2012 from Fox Sports.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable writes that programmers are ready for 3-D TV, but do consumers want it?

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King says it looks good for NFL Matchup to return to TV in some form this coming season (scroll to #9). Thanks to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk for the link.

Bonnie D. Ford of ESPN.com writes about Tennis Channel’s Coriana Morariu and Martin Navratilova who not only share tennis as a bond, but something more serious.

NESN says it may experience some signal interruption today.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post writes that Time Warner Cable and Disney are locked in a fee battle over ESPN that could have subscribers missing out on football. 

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia will re-air Roy Halladay’s perfect game tonight.

Tim Lemke wishes Adidas would stop messing with the design of the soccer ball.

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

Chris Wadsworth of the Fort Myers (FL) News-Press says a local sports radio show has fallen by the wayside. 

Earl Austin, Jr. of the St. Louis American profiles a native who will be in charge of what you see during ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup. 

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says no matter what you think of Don Cherry, he’s always colorful.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your SoCal sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about Canadians deciding to play their hockey south of the border instead of at home.

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch says Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals did decently for TNT, but again fell short of last year’s ratings.

Steve Lepore in Puck The Media reviews NBC’s production of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Joe Favorito explores the value of stadium naming rights.

And ESPN Radio in Los Angeles is conducting a Sports Broadcasting Jobs Seminar this weekend.

Those are your links for today. 

Time For The Friday Not-so-Mega Links

Let’s give you the Friday megalinks while I can. Not as many links as the usual Friday, but the Memorial Day weekend has a lot to do with that. I’ll give you what I can.

Getting ready for the three day weekend and you can find the sports and the entertainment viewing for Saturday and Sunday right here.

On to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Michael McCarthy debate the pros and cons of holding Super Bowl XLVIII in New Jersey.

William Cooper of Sports Business Daily says the first ad promoting the US World Cup bid for the 2018 or 2022 games will air Saturday. 

Neil Hayes writing for NBC Sports.com says the Stanley Cup Finals could be a ratings boon for the NHL. Don’t forget NBC is a rightsholder for the NHL.

Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post announces that he’s leaving to join NFL Network and NFL.com full-time.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that sports apparel brand Crons is entering the nutrition game.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse says Danica Patrick may have lost some fans in IndyCar.

The Sports Media Watch says Thursday’s thrilling Game 5 between the Lakers and Suns got its highest ratings of the NBA Western Conference Finals, but they’re still down from last year.

SMW also has news and notes on various sports TV personalities.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media discovers that Dan Patrick will not host NBC’s coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals from the beginning.

Steve also has NHL Network’s coverage plans for the Stanley Cup Finals.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy tells NHL fans what they can do to help increase the ratings for the Stanley Cup Finals. 

World Cup Buzz critiques ESPN’s practice run for the World Cup.

World Cup Buzz shows us ESPN’s World Cup murals.

Deadspin has the video of YES reporter Kimberly Jones having her pork chop eaten by an overzealous and extremely creepy Yankees fan in Minnesota.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest asks if an outdoors cold weather Super Bowl makes sense.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe profiles ESPN/ABC main NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News wants the New Jersey Super Bowl talk to stop now.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post puts his vitriol aside for one day and remembers a former New York Football Giant who fought bravely for his country in Iwo Jima during World War II.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union wonders if ESPN/ABC should focus on Danica Patrick during this Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.

Peter Van Allen of the Philadelphia Business Journal says the Flyers have brought record ratings to the local Comcast SportsNet affiliate.  

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Nationals fans as well as baseball fans across the country will have their eyes focused on the Junior College World Series and potential 1st round draft pick Bryce Harper tonight.

Jim notes that it will be a hockey weekend on NBC.

South

Adam Fisher of the Naples (FL) Daily News says Dick Vitale was a big hit as the keynote speaker for a local event.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says all signs point to the Astros and Rockets leaving Fox Sports and signing with Comcast or another entity for their TV rights.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that soccer games can draw ratings as the numbers show us.

Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star wonders when the local blackouts of the Indianapolis 500 will end. 

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox Sports is putting out an all points bulletin for younger male viewers for NASCAR.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has CBC’s Don Cherry being bullish on the Flyers-Blackhawks Stanley Cup Finals.

Ed says the Blackhawks are the big winners in sports business this week.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin looks at ESPN/ABC’s coverage of this Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.

Dan Caesar in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals might be making changes to their TV and radio deals for next season.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News writes that BYU fans will be able to watch the women’s softball team in action this weekend on the ESPN family of networks.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune tells Padres fans that Dick Enberg prefers to call games straight down the middle.

To John Maffei of the North County Times who tells us that the Padres, Cox 4 and a local sports radio station have agreed to pull a spot that depended on bathroom humor.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that Danica Patrick may be losing her status as IndyCar sweetheart.

And Jim has some sports media news and notes today.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News speculates on where Erin Andrews may land after her ESPN contract expires later this year.

Tom also has his extensive media news and notes in his blog.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if CBC will broach the subject of match fixing during the World Cup. Dowbiggin apparently thinks every soccer game is fixed based on this extremely biased column.

TSN announces that TSN2 will carry an early afternoon NFL game during the regular season.

As mentioned, not as many links on this Friday as many writers took the weekend off. Can’t say I blame them.

Back with Thursday Linkage

Due to the clean up to from the Great Flood of 2010, I wasn’t able to give you linkage on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus I had to postpone the recording of this week’s edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast. Things are slowly getting back to normal, but I’m going to be applying for disaster relief as will many Rhode Islanders. I’ll let you know how that goes, but driving to work today was quite the experience as Route 95 was shut down. Hopefully by this time next week, we can get back to operating at 100%.

Let’s do some links for you.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that Augusta National will allow ESPN to air Tiger Woods’ first shot at The Masters next week, but not much after that unless he falls into the live coverage window at 4 p.m. ET.

Richard says 3-D will add a new dimension to The Masters.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says a select few got to see a preview of next week’s 3-D production of The Masters.

Alex Weprin of B&C writes that there will be more live streaming from The Masters.

Also from B&C, David Tanklefsky says ESPN will be unveiling plans for its 3-D network later this month.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek tells us that TNT will be using the star power to promote the 2010 NBA playoffs.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell asks how much will Indianapolis lose by having home team Butler play in the Final Four.

Darren looks at the new Nike contract signed by LeBron James.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says 11 NFL exhibition games will be aired nationally this summer.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner writes that long-time Wizards/Bullets analyst Phil Chenier will be honored before Friday’s game with the Bulls.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals get some national attention during NFL exhibition season.

John writes that a local radio station is picking up Notre Dame football games this season.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a long term deal is in the works between WGN Radio and the Blackhawks. 

Ed adds that WGN-TV will be airing back-to-back specials on the White Sox and Cubs this Sunday.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with former CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer about the expansion of the NCAA Tournament.

To the Los Angeles Daily News and Tom Hoffarth who reports that the Dodgers and flagship station KABC are about to announce a one year contract extension.

Tom says the Anaheim Angels’ flagship radio station has signed a deal to simulcast some 60 games on another area station to improve the team’s coverage.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, David Shoalts says NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is optimistic that he can garner big money in the next TV contract. Thanks to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media for the link.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star is amazed that curling continues to do well in the Canadian TV ratings.

In Truth & Rumours, William Houston says CBC’s biopic on Don Cherry rated well in Canada.

From the Sports Media Watch, we have some various news and notes.

I will say that SMW almost got me with his April Fool’s story this year. Almost. This year’s story was really good.

Speaking of April Fool’s, Joe Favorito remembers some of the best fake media stories on April 1.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball launches this year’s Autism Awareness Campaign across his Business of Sports Network as International Autism Awareness Month begins today. Please do what you can to donate to Autism Speaks to help in the treatment and prevention of autism. Maury not only has a son with autism, but I also have a friend who’s daughter has it. I’m happy to say that my niece is healthy, but it can happen to anyone so do what you can to give. Doesn’t have to be a lot. Every bit helps.

That does it for the links today.

The Friday Megalink Thing

Ok, it’s time for the Friday megalinks. Wasn’t able to do them last week and now it’s time to bring them to you while I can. There’s a new look here and I’m experimenting with the template and colors. Let me know what you think either via a comment here or through a quick e-mail. I like to hear your comments.

You can always check your Weekend Viewing Picks for sports and primetime TV.

Now to your links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with CBS’ Dick Enberg who will call his final NCAA Tournament game tomorrow before embarking on a new phase of his broadcasting career.

Also in USA Today, sports broadcasting historian David J. Halberstam looks at the large number of veteran play-by-play men, including Enberg, who continue to call their respective sports well into their 70′s and some into their 80′s

And USA Today’s version of Mike and Mike, Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy debate the value of expanding the NCAA Tournament from its current 65 teams.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says MLB is rebranding its Home Plate channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio to MLB Network Radio and will simulcast its programs at night.

Multichannel News looks at the life of former NBC Sports and ESPN President Chet Simmons who passed away Thursday at the age of 81.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel notes that Spike and UFC have put together a website for their Ultimate Fighter reality series which archives all ten seasons of the show.

Katy Bachman of Mediaweek looks at ESPN launching a New York-centric website.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the NCAA Tournament steered CBS to an overnight ratings victory on Thursday.

The Nielsen Wire blog notes that Louisville in basketball-crazy Kentucky is the top rated market for the NCAA Tournament through the first two rounds.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred says it’s important to see both sides of the story. 

The Sports Media Watch says Tiger Woods is shooting a new commercial.

Joe Favorito writes that the New York Jets made the right decision in participating in this season’s Hard Knocks program on HBO.

Gail Sideman in Sports Networker provides 5 proactive public relations tips for athletes to prevent them from getting into trouble.

Len Berman has his top five stories of the day.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe compares and contrasts the ESPN and Golf Channel interviews of Tiger Woods.

The New York Times speculates that HBO could be ending “Joe Buck Live” after three mostly lackluster shows.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post isn’t a fan of MLB Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig’s job on steriods.

Over to Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News who writes that the Jets are taking a stab at HBOs Hard Knocks after turning a request last year.

Writing in Baltimore’s Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest on the Charm City’s sports radio ratings wars and other media moves.

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams asks his readers which is the best sports radio talk show in DC?

South

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson looks at an upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Dolphins running back Ricky Williams.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel takes Florida football coach Urban Meyer to task for verbally attacking one of his colleagues this week.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has the latest ratings for the sports radio stations and they’re not good for the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

Ray Buck from the Fort Worth Star Telegram says the national media spotlight will be on Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington after last week’s admission that he took cocaine.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that CBS’ Jim Nantz returns to Houston to call the NCAA Tournament this weekend.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with a national women’s college basketball analyst about Oklahoma’s play in the ladies NCAA Tournament.

In his media notebook, Mel discusses the upcoming season of Hard Knocks and the recent Sports Emmy Award nominations.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press looks at former Michigan State star Mateen Cleaves who’s hoping to start a new career on TV.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the Fox Sports’ NFL analysts’ reaction to the new overtime rules.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman says WGN-AM has eliminated a long-running talk show in place of more Cubs programming.

Ed also has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin has a whole bunch of media stories in his Friday column.

To Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who writes about Verne Lundquist’s return to the Gateway City where it’s memorable for a very big reason.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says despite having two NCAA Tournament games in town last night, CBS beamed the games from Syracuse into the local market.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on a continued contract dispute between a local sports radio station and its morning show. 

And John Maffei of the North County Times says on-air auditions for potential replacements have turned out to be disastrous.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star explores why ESPN and Golf Channel accepted interviews with Tiger Woods and why CBS did not.

Jim looks at how CBS handled the first four days of the NCAA Tournament.

John Scheibe in the Los Angeles Times says upsets have not hurt CBS’ ratings for the NCAA Tournament.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes about the new social networking venture by new Angels TV voice and Friend of Fang’s Bites, Victor Rojas.

In his blog, Tom expands on Victor’s venture.

Tom also has his extensive media news and notes.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail previews the CBC mini-series on Don Cherry.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star is puzzled as to why the Blue Jays have yet to release their TV schedule.

In Truth & Rumours, William Houston says the Don Cherry movie is definitely worth watching.

And that will conclude the megalinks.

Our Back To The Work Week Links

Let’s do some linkage for you as many of us are back to work today.

Starting with the Sports Business Journal, we have the nominees for the publication’s 2010 Sports Business Awards.

On The DL’s Dan Levy breaks down CBS’ announcing teams and assignments in the Sporting Blog.

Greg Risling of the Associated Press says Erin Andrews’ stalker will be sentenced in court today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says CBS turned in a yeoman’s effort for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell goes inside the financial numbers for the NCAA Tournament.

Darren wonders if Duke’s athletic department lost money in the previous academic year.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated talks with CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus about what the return of Tiger Woods would mean for the network that covers it.

In her blog, Daryn Kagan tells us what she would ask Tiger Woods if she had the opportunity.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary on Reggie Miller with a jaded eye towards the New York Knicks.

Phil Mushnick from the New York Post goes after the Big East Tournament.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has some quotage from ESPNU’s “The Experts” who weighed in on Siena’s chances in the NCAA Tournament.

Pete has the NIT schedule complete with tip times and TV network.

And Pete notes that the perpetually angry Doug Gottlieb is on the Siena bandwagon.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Times Herald-Record tries to figure out which NCAA Tournament games will be aired in the New York metropolitan area.

And Ken lists the 10 NIT games that will be aired on ESPN2 and ESPNU this week.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says Universal Sports will be all over the Paralympics in Vancouver starting today.

And Jim says MASN will air the Nationals-Braves game tonight.

Israel Gutierrez from the Miami Herald feels the NCAA Tournament should stay at 65 teams and not have ESPN get involved.

Monte Hale, Jr. of the Tennessean writes that ESPN’s cameras will be catching the reaction of Middle Tennessee State during its NCAA Women’s Tournament Selection Show tonight.

James Jahnke from the Detroit Free Press says former Michigan State star Mateen Cleeves will join Fox Sports Detroit as an analyst for select Pistons games.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Marquette got a nod from CBS/Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis. 

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post is impressed by Bob Knight’s work on ESPN. 

Greg Hansen in the Arizona Daily Star says the Pac-10 Tournament on Fox Sports Net needs an infusion.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the SoCal sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says when Don Cherry denounces the NHL on head shots, it’s time to take notice.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says a beloved curling analyst has worked his last match.

Steve Lapore at Puck The Media says Don Cherry was clairvoyant in his Coach’s Corner segment on Sidney Crosby.

The great Midwest Sports Fans blog has a look some of the best Gus Johnson moments at the NCAA Tournament.

Rob Tornoe of Tornoe’s Cartoon News blog reports that former Rocky Mountain News sports cartoonist Drew Litton is now displaying his work at ESPN.com. You can see Drew’s first cartoon right here.

The Sports Media Watch says South Park will be the next to lampoon Tiger Woods.

That’s going to do it for the links today. 

Various Press Releases For Your Reading

Here are a couple of releases. They do not pertain to any one particular subject. They’re being posted for the good of the blog and for the good of you, my loyal readers. So, here is a press release from Fox Sports regarding last week’s incident at the Atlanta NASCAR race that led to probation for Carl Edwards.

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

DW on Keselowski/Edwards Incident: “You Don’t Race on ‘What Ifs’ – It’s Between Two Drivers and No One Got Hurt”

Larry McReynolds on Edwards Probation:

“There is No Way NASCAR Could Fine or Suspend Him”

Following an offseason where NASCAR announced its “Back to Basics” approach, Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 incident involving Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski was a reflection of stock car racing the way it used to be. Edwards admitted he intentionally wrecked Keselowski sending the 29 car airborne as payback for knocking Edwards earlier that day. The dust-up prompted NASCAR officials to place Edwards on probation for the next three Sprint Cup races. NASCAR on FOX analysts Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds offered their thoughts on the incident:

DW ON NASCAR ISSUING PROBATION TO CARL EDWARDS: “I expected Carl’s punishment to be exactly what he got. The obvious question now is ‘what does NASCAR tell Brad Keselowski?’ You don’t race on “what ifs.” The bottom line is two cars were involved, two drivers were involved and nobody got hurt. It set a precedent. NASCAR says ‘this is a little bit more than what we intended for.’ The other drivers have told him ‘You’re becoming known as Bad Brad, and sometimes if you are known as Bad Brad something bad might happen to you and it did.’ So, maybe now lesson learned.”

MCREYNOLDS: “There is no way NASCAR could fine or suspend Carl Edwards. In mid-January NASCAR can’t make an announcement that says, ‘Boys we are taking the gloves off, we are going to let you race’ and then suspend the guy. I applaud NASCAR for their decision. A year ago they would have sat Carl out for a race or two, but we have changed our thinking and the way this sport is going to be done. Retaliation has been going on for years. It’s just that over the last decade NASCAR has tightened the reigns.”

DW ON EDWARDS’ INTENTIONS: “One of the bigger issues is the fact that the car went airborne. Edwards’ intention was to give the car a little tap, send it through the grass and ruin Keselowski’s day. I don’t know if Carl was mad or not when he went back out on the race track but he probably looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘The guy that wrecked me is running 5th, has a chance to win this race and I’ve been in the garage for two and a half hours.’ All of a sudden I think Carl had flashbacks of Brad wrecking him last year in Talladega and had pent up aggression from the wreck earlier in the day.”

Next, Versus talks about what it will air this weekend.

AROUND THE TRACK, ON THE COURT AND THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS, VERSUS TO AIR NON-STOP SPORTS ACTION ON MARCH 13 AND 14

NEW YORK, N.Y. (March 10, 2010)-VERSUS, the fastest growing sports cable network in the country, will air an action-packed weekend of sports, beginning on Saturday, March 13, at 2 p.m. ET, with 60 minutes of pre-race qualifying coverage for the Sao Paulo Indy 300 race -  the 2010 season-opening IndyCar Series event. The network shifts into high-gear on Sunday, March 14, with three hours of live race coverage beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.  

In addition to the IndyCar qualifying coverage on Saturday, March 13, VERSUS will also televise the Men's and Women's Mountain West Conference (MWC) Championship basketball games live from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The Women's Final tips off at 4 p.m. ET and Men's coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET. Teams playing in the Championship round will be decided by the games played on Friday. 

On Sunday, March 14, beginning at 4 p.m. ET, VERSUS will air two hours of coverage of the Paris-Nice cycling race. VERSUS will begin with a recap of stages one through six and then join the peloton for the final stage of the race as they travel seventy-four miles and face three mountain climbs to determine the overall winner of the 2010 edition of the race.

VERSUS' March 13 and 14 schedule follows:

Saturday, March 13

Sao Paulo Indy 300 Qualifying – 2 p.m. ET

Women’s MWC Championship game – 4 p.m. ET

Men’s MWC Championship game – 6 p.m. ET

Sunday, March 14

Sao Paulo Indy 300 – 11:30 a.m. ET

Paris-Nice – 4 p.m. ET

CBC has announced that it will air a two night event involving a TV movie based on the life of Canadian icon Don Cherry.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY

A TWO-PART TELEVISION EVENT PREMIERES ON

MARCH 28 & 29 at 8 P.M. on CBC-TV

Premiering Sunday, March 28 and Monday, March 29 at 8 p.m. on CBC Television, KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY is a two-part, four-hour television event depicting the tumultuous and triumphant life journey of Canada’s most outspoken hockey icon, Don Cherry (played by Jared Keeso, I Love You Beth Cooper). 

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY tells of the career minor league defenseman’s journey from obscurity to becoming one of the most recognized faces in the country. It is the behind-the-scenes story of his professional and personal life with his young family and beloved late wife Rose, who became his lifelong confidante, supporter and stabilizing influence. From criss-crossing North America during his 16 years in the minor leagues, to facing both financial and family health crises, KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY unfolds as a distinctively Canadian human drama and love story.

Supporting cast includes Sarah Manninen (aka Albert Walker) as Rose Cherry, Ty Wood (The Haunting in Connecticut) as Tim Cherry and Paige Bannister (Something Beneath) as Cindy Cherry.

Love him or hate him, Don Cherry’s popularity in Canada cannot be denied.  For thirty years, hockey fans and media from across the country have tuned into CBC’S Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner to hear what “Grapes” is going to say. A towering figure in hockey, his sphere of influence extends past the traditional sports arena and in 2004, he was voted seventh in the CBC’s Greatest Canadian nation-wide contest.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY is the brainchild of Cherry’s son Tim Cherry, who is the writer and executive producer.  Directed by Jeff Woolnough, produced by Shawn Watson and executive produced by Laszlo Barna, Wayne Thompson and Jamie Brown. It is an E1 Entertainment, 5 for Fighting and Frantic Films production in association with CBC Television.

And ESPN will produce a theatrical film, its first and it will be based on the life of the late Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi starring Robert De Niro.

Robert De Niro to Play Vince Lombardi; Eric Roth to Finalize Script

Tribeca Productions Joins ESPN Films, Andell Entertainment and the NFL to Produce Film

Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro is attached to play legendary coach Vince Lombardi in the theatrical motion picture LOMBARDI being developed by ESPN Films, Andell Entertainment and the NFL. Additionally, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Good Shepherd) has come on board the project which will chronicle Lombardi during the years he transformed the Green Bay Packers from the worst team in the National Football League into five-time NFL champions

The producing group of ESPN Films, Andell Entertainment, the NFL and Chris Olsen will be joined by De Niro and Jane Rosenthal's Tribeca Productions. ESPN/Andell have Lombardi's life story rights through his estate and Vincent Lombardi, Jr. as well as the rights to the renowned sports book Instant Replay written by former Packer great Jerry Kramer and Dick Schaap.  

"Having an icon portray an icon on film is amazing, and with a writer as talented as Eric working on the script, the results could be magical for NFL fans," said Ron Semiao, senior vice president, ESPN Films - Motion Pictures.  

Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of Tribeca Productions and the Tribeca Film Festival, said, "We've had an extraordinary relationship with ESPN for five years through the Tribeca Film Festival, and now we're able to extend that association into production." 

"There are few actors who could accurately portray the fire, passion and grit of Lombardi and we're thrilled to have Robert De Niro on our team," said Charles Coplin, the NFL's vice president of programming. "With the addition of De Niro, Eric and Tribeca Productions, we have a deep bench to produce a film worthy of the legendary coach and American icon."

Current plans call for the film's release on the weekend between the AFC and NFC Conference Championships and the Super Bowl in 2012. CAA collaborates with ESPN Films on theatrical motion picture projects and represents De Niro, Roth and Rosenthal. Discussions are taking place with directors interested in the project.

Lombardi Story
The story's narrative arc spans from 1959 when Lombardi was given his first opportunity to be an NFL head coach, taking over the small-town Packers, then the worst team in the NFL, and runs through his transformation of a group of young, talented but undisciplined losers into five-time NFL champions.  Also, the story highlights the long-standing rivalry that existed between Lombardi and legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry both of whom were assistants on the New York Giants team that lost the 1958 NFL Championship game. Friendly but always competitive, Lombardi and Landry's coaching skills were undeniable, their personalities as unalike as possible. The story climaxes with the memorable Ice Bowl when their teams battled in temperatures that reached 13 degrees below zero. Lombardi achieved his desire of winning an unprecedented three consecutive NFL championships, a feat still not duplicated to this day. Lombardi's Packers also won the first two Super Bowls ever played. Since 1971, the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl champion has been named the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The inspirational, compelling story of Vince Lombardi is driven by a single overarching idea: the moral imperative of paying the price to be great.

ESPN Films
Part of the ESPN Content Development group, ESPN Films presents quality scripted and documentary film projects for television and theatrical release, including "30/30," a celebration of the last three decades of sports timed with ESPN's 30th anniversary. For more on ESPN Films: http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/media-kits/espn-films/  

Andell Entertainment
Andell Entertainment is a Los Angeles-based production company and a division of Andell Holdings, a private investment firm. "Lombardi," a co-production with ESPN and the National Football League, is currently in development. Other production credits include Universal Pictures' "State of Play" and "Safe Men," and Fox Searchlight's "Millions."

Tribeca Productions 
Headquartered in New York, Tribeca Productions was founded in 1988 by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal. Since its inception, Tribeca Productions has produced more than 25 films with a combined worldwide gross of more than 2 billion dollars. To date, their films have garnered several Academy Award nominations and countless critics awards.

Upcoming feature projects for Tribeca include Little Fockers for Universal Pictures (December 2010) and The Undomestic Goddess for Universal Pictures.  Tribeca's previous film productions include Public Enemies (2009), What Just Happened? (2008), The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro (2006), Rent (2005); House of D (2005); Meet the Fockers (2004); Stage Beauty (2004); About a Boy (2002); Analyze That (2002); Showtime (2002); Meet the Parents (2000); The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000); Analyze This (1999); Flawless (1999); the Academy Award(r)-nominated Wag the Dog (1997); Marvin's Room (1996); De Niro's directorial debut, A Bronx Tale (1993); The Night We Never Met (1993); Thunderheart (1992); Mistress (1992); and Night and the City (1992).

De Niro and Rosenthal are also co-producers of the theatrical musical We Will Rock You, based on the music of Queen. 

That will do it for this post.

Another Set of Friday Night Megalinks

I’m watching curling as we get ready to close the Olympics and get back to watching college basketball and prepare for baseball. To be honest, I never thought I would enjoy curling, but I’ve really gotten into the sport this year. Plus, it’s been on at some convenient times to watch so I’ll NBC some credit for scheduling curling live.

In the meantime, let’s provide you with some media linkage. As usual, you have your Weekend Viewing Picks which include college basketball viewing picks, Olympics viewing and English Premier League games.

To the links.

National

The Sports Business Daily/Sports Business Journal Winter Olympics site notes that NBC beat Fox’s American Idol for the second time on Thursday.

Eric Fisher of the SBD/SBJ says NBCOlympics.com and Yahoo! Sports are both claiming victory for online visitors.

The Nielsen ratings Wire blog says gold medal winners are not only on top of the podium, but also in online searches in both the US and Canada.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Michael McCarthy debate the validity of having NHL players in the Olympics.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred says he likes covering the Olympics for the education factor. 

Etan Vlessing of Hollywood Reporter writes that the Olympic ratings in Canada have been wiping out the competition.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN will use its Wide World of Sports complex in Florida as its testing lab for 3-D television.

Katy Bachman from Mediaweek says Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl isn’t a fan of NBC’s online Olympics strategy.

Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life Magazine writes that the Olympics lost some momentum on NBC on Wednesday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tiger Woods’ camp acknowledges the arranging of the now-famous photo of the golfer jogging just days before his apology last week.

In other Tiger news, Darren broke the story that Gatorade is the third sponsor to drop him.

Darren has a slideshow of the 25 Most Marketable Winter Olympians from Vancouver.

And Darren notes that the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game is the hottest ticket in Canada right now.

The Big Lead reports that the sports editor of the New York Daily News is leaving for a huge gig with ESPN.

The Sports Media Watch has a good interview with ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer about the migration of sports from ABC to the Mothership.

SMW also has an interview with ESPN Vice President of Communications Mike Soltys about the Tony Kornheiser suspension.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that the USA-Switzerland Olympic men’s hockey quarterfinal drew almost 6 million viewers on Wednesday afternoon.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports’ Puck Daddy says MSNBC got punked by a fake USA goalie Ryan Miller.

Sports Radio Interviews links you to a talk that Atlanta radio station, 790 The Zone conducted with ESPN’s Linda Cohn regarding Tony Kornheiser and Erin Andrews.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald reports that a WEEI producer has been suspended for sending vulgar text messages to rival sports station, WBZ-FM.

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe talks with NBC’s Al Michaels about his Miracle On Ice call.

The Worcester Telegram’s Bill Doyle writes about the new HBO documentary on Magic Johnson and Larry Bird that premieres next week.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says ESPN will take a different approach with the Olympics if it wins the rights for the 2014/2016 Games.

Lynn Zinser of the Times notes that NBC identified the wrong man as Joannie Rochette’s father during her short program during the ladies’ figure skating competition.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels the media has helped to make Alex Rodriguez a sympathetic figure. Another stretch by the old, tired media critic.

Phil Mushnick in the New Yok Post waxes poetic on NBC’s Mike Emrick.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in the Baltimore-centric Press Box that Joe Angel returns this season to become the main radio voice of the Orioles.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner speaks with an NBC Sports official about the increase in traffic for NBCOlympics.com.

Jim also speaks with NBC figure skating analyst Dick Button.

Tim Lemke tries to understand the complicated figure skating scoring system.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says South Florida is at the bottom of the Olympic TV ratings.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wishes ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike a happy 10th anniversary on the air.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has the radio ratings for January in the Metroplex.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle profiles a Texan who’s helping to produce the in-house radio feed at the Vancouver Olympics.

David says the Astros will have a record amount of games on Fox Sports Houston.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman has comments from NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local TV station is using its news anchors to do the late sports reports.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Fox Sports Ohio will air 145 Reds games this season. 

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some observations on NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says in just one day, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen became a Twitter sensation.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times feels the NHL has to do something to capitalize on the popularity of Olympic hockey on the networks of NBC.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at the Gateway City’s sports radio ratings.

Dan says the newest sports radio station in town has made a significant impact in just one short year. 

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News says despite the tape delays, the Olympic TV ratings in Salt Lake City have been among the highest in the nation.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner finally joins the chorus of Americans complaining about NBC’s tape delayed Olympics coverage.

John Maffei of the North County Times feels NBC made some bad decisions when it came to Olympic hockey.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the hardly-seen Universal Sports carved out a good niche for itself during the Olympics.

Jim has some various news and notes.

Jim Peltz of the Los Angeles Times says the Anaheim Angels have yet to name a replacement for TV play-by-play man Rory Markas who died during the offseason.

Diane Pucin of the Times looks at how people are discussing sports on Twitter and other social networks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the 2010 Dodgers TV schedule.

Tom says you can buy a new 3D TV at Sears.

Tom notes that the locally-based Universal Sports is churning out Olympics-centric programming.

Tom has his weekly news and notes.

Tom reviews the week in Olympics TV.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Canada’s athletes are producing compelling TV during the Olympics.

Chris is amazed at the ratings for the Olympics on CTV.

William Houston in Truth & Rumours has CBC’s Don Cherry predicting gold for Canada.

That’s going to conclude our links for Friday.