Fang's Bites

The Thursday Linkage All Tied Up In A Nice Red Bow

Let’s do the Thursday linkage and there are a few stories to get to.

First, this broke late last night, Joe Flint at the Los Angeles Times confirmed that the number two man at NBC Sports, Ken Schanzer is following his boss Dick Ebersol and leaving the company.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal also writes about Schanzer’s departure from NBC Sports.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today talks with Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton who will be hosting a show on MSG Network this summer.

Reid Cherner at USA Today has the first ad in the Women’s Tennis Association’s new campaign “Strong is Beautiful”.

Etan Vlessing at the Hollywood Reporter writes about CTV/TSN getting figure skating back for ten years after having it on CBC previously.

Husna Haq of the Christian Science Monitor looks at the tome, “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN.”

My podcast partner, Southern New England media mogul Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal reviews the ESPN book.

Lev Grossman of Time also reviews the book.

And Robert Siegel of NPR’s All Things Considered interviews ESPN book co-author James Andrew Miller.

For a longer interview, you can hear the latest Sports Media Weekly podcast with Jim Miller right here.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser has video of memorial services for Chicago TV sports anchor Daryl Hawks who died while covering the Bulls-Atlanta Hawks series.

Over to SportsGrid where Dan Fogarty notes that South Park skewered the NCAA in last night’s episode.

We have a press release from Hannah Storm’s production company about her new documentary that will be part of ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a report on the man who bought 49% of the Mets.

Richard Sandomir and Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times report on the new minority owner of the New York Mets.

The Buffalo News says Buffalo Sabres TV voices Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale will work a reduced schedule next season.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that KFC is now the official fried chicken of the DC NFL Team.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the three bids for the US TV rights for the 2014/16 Olympics.

Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel writes that ESPN Radio is organizing a relief drive throughout the SEC to help Alabama tornado victims.

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the voice of the Cleveland Browns, WKYC-TV sports anchor Jim Donovan will be undergoing a procedure to battle leukemia. He’ll also take a leave of absence from his TV work for a while. Jim has been battling leukemia for ten years.

WKYC also provides video of Jim making the announcement that he’ll be leaving for the time being.

Jim has been in the Cleveland area since 1985 and became the voice of the Browns when the team returned to the NFL in 1999. He and Doug Dieken have formed a very good broadcast team and I hope he’ll be back when the NFL season gets underway, whenever that is.

The Nebraska State Paper says the Cornhuskers game against Iowa will be seen on ABC the day after Thanksgiving.

Awful Announcing has video of Dan Patrick and ESPN book author Jim Miller going back and forth on various subjects.

I’ll leave it there for now.

A Fall-like Saturday Morning Linkfest

I got up this morning and saw it was 47 degrees in Rhode Island. It’s cold. The temps are warming up now, but this feels like mid-October.

Let’s do your links.

Newsday’s Neil Best thought it was funny that SportsCenter anchor Stan Verrett didn’t know “Duck, Duck, Goose”. Neil also previews what YES will show in its pregame for the Yankee Stadium farewell.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball talks about the first reversal under the Instant Replay system. Maury also looks at ESPN’s and MLB.com’s coverage of the farewell to Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union doesn’t like the way Fox is treating baseball as it heads to the postseason. Judging from the announcing assignments from last week and today, I have to agree.

Over to the great Sox & Dawgs blog which has this great picture of NESN’s Heidi Watney and the Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin together.

I’m smitten looking at the both of them.

Anyway, the point of linking to Sox & Dawgs was the fact that Ian of the blog has the video of NESN’s Dennis Eckersley correctly ripping Red Sox pitcher Bartolo Colon for refusing to pitch out of the bullpen.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions. Paul Sen also notes that the ratings for MLB on Fox are in a downward spiral. And some more bad news for Fox. The SMW says Fox was the only network to experience a downturn in Week 2 of the NFL while all of the league’s other partners were up.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News does not feel a lot of people are logging on to watch Sunday Night Football Extra on NFL.com and NBCSports.com, but I disagree.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News mentions that members of the Oakland Raiderettes squad will be in town for an appearance.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record has the NFL games that will be seen in the local area on Sunday. And Ken lists the college games available in the Hudson Valley on TV today.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette who’s not just a media writer for the paper, remembers the late Cornell, RPI and Union hockey coach Ned Harkness who passed away Friday. A side note, Ned almost came to my alma mater, the University of Rhode Island to start a hockey program in the 1970′s, but was later turned down by the school. It would have been nice to have a major hockey program at URI in a state that is known as a hotbed for high school hockey.

Ken is a fan of the NHL Live radio program that is simulcast on XM Satellite Radio (and soon to join Sirius!) and the NHL Network.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says Matthew Barnaby looks forward to joining ESPN to be its NHL analyst.

Joe Favorito likes the way the Women’s Tennis Association is bringing fans closer to its players through virtual video games.

Speaking of the WTA, the Women’s Tennis Blog says the Sony Ericsson Tour will offer live streaming video of 21 tournaments on its website starting next season. This is a good thing.

The next link from the Women’s Tennis Blog has nothing to do with sports media, but because I like Jelena Jankovic, I’m linking to it. Apparently, Jelena fell in love at the Summer Olympics in Communist China.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News says FSN will launch a year long awareness campaign on diversity.

Apparently former CBS Sports host Pat O’Brien has left the celebrity gossip show, The Insider. This time for good.

That’s going to do it. I hope to have a recap for the second episode of The Amazing Race Asia sometime this weekend.

Some Tuesday Links

I have to head to a jobsite soon so I’ll provide as many links that I can before I have to leave.

ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber says some ESPN personalities have learned a hard lesson about crossing the line of good taste. She cites the Jemele Hill and Bonnie Bernstein incidents as examples.

This link comes courtesy of the 38Cliches blog, Andrew Ryan of the Boston Globe has a story on Red Sox radio announcers Joe Castiglione and Dave O’Brien.

Two stories from Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. First is on Billy Packer leaving CBS Sports. And Richard writes about the brief four year period when Major League Baseball had two All-Star Games per season.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand with a special Tuesday column says Billy Packer is upbeat now that his broadcasting career is over.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein also checks in on the Billy Packer story.

The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with Billy Packer.

Newsday’s Neil Best also writes about Billy Packer’s thoughts on leaving CBS Sports. In his blog, Neil has comments from Packer’s colleagues and friends. Neil feels as far as being a TV personality, ESPN’s Rick Reilly is a very good writer.

And in that blog entry, Neil links to Awful Announcing which feels Reilly’s comments about the racial makeup of last night’s Home Run Derby were annoying.

Two things from the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman. The first story has Fox’s Tim McCarver stating that Yankee Stadium will be the real star of the All-Star Game. And Raissman talks to McCarver’s partner, Joe Buck who won’t change his broadcast style despite the backlash over his comments that he prefers watching “The Bachelorette” over baseball.

Terry Foster from the Detroit News says Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delaney is relieved now that the Comcast squabble is over.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal talks about a new program premiering Wednesday on the Big Ten Network.

Mark Tupper of the Decatur (IL) Herald & Review discusses a Big Ten Network reality program that will follow Illinois football coach Ron Zook.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth looks into Ashley Harkleroad’s nude layout in this month’s Playboy.

The Sports Media Watch has the final weekend TV ratings. And the SMW has a look inside the ratings for the first half of the MLB season on ESPN and Fox.

That’s going to do it for now.

Thursday Links

I have to be at a jobsite today so I’m going to give you the links and primetime & late night viewing picks.

Awful Announcing has the news of Milwaukee Brewers radio voice Bob Uecker’s yacht being damaged by a freighter yesterday. No one was on board the yacht at the time of the accident.

Newsday’s Neil Best says NBC Sports and Notre Dame University are about to announce an extension of their college football TV contract. More from Neil later in the blog.

David Mayo of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press thinks Euro 2008 has been boring. I disagree, but that’s Mayo’s opinion.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post asks several “wouldn’t it be nice” questions regarding the sports media.

Geoffrey Fowler, Stacy Meichtry and Matthew Futterman combine for an article in the Wall Street Journal about the conflict between TV broadcasters (including NBC) and Olympic organizers regarding censorship issues in Communist China.

Melissa J. Perenson of PC World talks about the thousands of hours of steaming online coverage of the Summer Olympics from Communist China.

Phillip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune says it’s a good thing NBC purchased a stake in World Championship Sports Network.

Neil Best of Newsday writes that when NBC takes over WCSN tonight, it will show the U.S. Gymnastics trials live.

NBC Sports begins its coverage of the U.S. Olympic Trials in earnest this weekend.

Charles Elmore of the Palm Beach Post says golf TV ratings are likely to take a hit without Tiger Woods.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the networks will now learn how big the “Tiger Effect” will be this summer.

CBS Sports previews its coverage of the Travelers Championship.

Matt Egan of Fox Business News says the PGA Tour will definitely feel the loss of Tiger Woods.

Chuck Caree of the Wilmington (NC) Star News says it’s time for Time Warner Cable to add MASN.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Times talks about the new global ad campaign being conducted by the Women’s Tennis Association.

The PGA of America and Golf Channel are teaming up on a series of one hour specials in and around the PGA Championship, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf and other events.

Brian Cook of the AOL Fanhouse blog says while people are happy that the Big Ten Network and Comcast are about to sign a deal, he cautions people to look at the fine print.

This link comes courtesy of Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch. Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix looks at why some mainstream media types are so angry at (or jealous of) bloggers.

That does it for now.

Maria Sharapova vs. Bethanie Mattek

Today at the French Open, it’s going to be one of the more intriguing matchups. It may not be a close match as Maria Sharapova is expected to win, but it’s intriguing because of the fashion. You may remember back in September during the US Open where Bethanie Mattek was seen wearing some outrageous outfits including a leopard-skin outfit and then one which showed so much cleavage that a ballboy could not stop gazing at her.

The match is expected to be played at 2:15 p.m. ET weather permitting. It has been raining in Paris today and some matches may have been pushed back due to the weather.

But if you’re at work and need to see what I’m talking about, you can go to ESPN360 for live, streaming coverage or other backdoor sites.

For good measure, I give you the infamous cleavage shot.

UPDATE – Due to weather and darkness, the match between Maria and Bethanie was suspended with Sharapova ahead, 6-2, 2-3. The match will resume at 5 a.m. ET on the Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel.com.

The Return of Your Humble Blogger and Some Links Too

My apologies for not updating the blog on Tuesday. This computer thing is getting out of hand. Yes, I’ll be getting a new computer. Yes, it will be soon. Yes, once I have the computer, the blogging schedule will be back to normal. Just bear with me. I should be back and blogging regularly next week. Just know that when I’m away from this site, I feel rather strange. But I will say that I’ve been doing other things like watching TV or catching up on my DVD’s. And Hell’s Kitchen has been really good this season.

Time to give you some links while I can.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about CBS entering the Mixed Martial Arts forum this Saturday. Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune calls MMA, “human cockfighting”.

Also from the Tribune, Fred Mitchell talks with former Chicago White Sox and current FSN Dodger analyst Steve Lyons who’s still bitter over his firing by Fox Sports over a remark made in the ALCS two years ago.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says HBO is going to make a movie out of the book “Game of Shadows”, the tome that brought BALCO and its connection to Barry Bonds and other atheletes to light.

Newsday’s Neil Best transcribes some of the best (or worst depending on your opinion) of Yankees radio announcer John Sterling from the Memorial Day weekend. Neil tells his readers to not leave a movie theater when the credits start rolling.

Some ratings news from the Sports Media Watch. First, the ratings for the first two Stanley Cup Finals games on Versus were the highest for an NHL game on the network. Next, the Indy 500 outrated the Coca Cola 600 in the overnights, but NASCAR eventually overtook open wheel racing in the overall ratings. And the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals did well for ABC/ESPN over the weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says locally, the Indy 500 drew more viewers than the Coke 600.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the NBA has set the schedule for the Finals.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says the Pistons outrated the Red Wings in Detroit during the first two times the teams conflicted over the weekend. They will conflict again tonight.

The Baltimore Sun’s Ray Frager says Baseball Tonight’s John Kruk will become a game analyst for the Women’s College World Series. The Daily Oklahoman has more on Kruk and the other ESPN announcers who will call the WCWS.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell doesn’t think that hot tennis chick Ashley Harkleroad’s decision to pose nude in Playboy was a good one from a marketing point of view.

The Steel City is talking about sports radio talk show host Mark Madden who has been fired from his ESPN Radio 1250 show for remarks made about Senator Edward Kennedy. Ryan Wilson of the AOL Fanhouse blog says Madden’s remarks were dumber than usual for a guy who’s been living on borrowed time with ESPN.

Kevin Roderick of the LA Observed blog writes about an ESPN.com reporter who’s in hot water for writing a blog entry about Kobe Bryant’s wife.

Larry Stewart of the Los Angeles Times has some anecdotes from Jim Nantz’s book.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says the Tampa Bay Rays are finally garnering some national media attention.

Michael Futch of the Fayetteville (NC) Observer laments TBS not carrying the Braves this year.

Scott Rabalais of The Advocate (LA) says the Southeastern Conference has to decide whether to continue syndicating its football games with Raycom or start up a TV channel like the

Jon Show of the Sports Business Journal writes that the LPGA is in negotiations with potential TV partners to broadcast its tournaments for the next five years.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune talks with Bay Area natives Ted Robinson and Bob Fitzgerald who will work for NBC during the Olympics in Communist China. And Dave profiles a former TV reporter who has directed a documentary on Barry Bonds.

Good friend, LC over at the 38 Cliches blog wonders who will be with Joe Castiglione in the Red Sox radio booth in Seattle for tonight’s game.

It’s been a while since we’ve had an Erin Andrews story and Walt Belcher of the Tampa Tribune gives us one as Erin covers the National Spelling Bee for both ESPN and ABC this week.

That will do it for now. I’ll have the Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

Memorial Day Monday Links

I’m at the office right now so I’ll do some linkage for you. I hope you’re enjoying your holiday and you remember those who served for our country to keep us safe for democracy. Whether you agree or disagree about the cause for this current war, remember those who are serving us while we’re at home and keep them in mind as you have your cookout or gathering today.

I’m going to have another NFL opening for you next Sunday. You can pretty much deduce which one it’s going to be, but you’ll have to wait until then to see which one it’s going to be.

But let’s do some links now. Newsday’s Neil Best has an article today. He has Mets analyst Keith Hernandez ripping former teammate Gary Carter for openly lobbying for the Mets manager position on Sirius Satellite Radio last week.

Shahnaz Mahmud of Adweek says the four major sports leagues are moving towards controlling their own content.

The Sports Media Watch says Versus really scored with Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News writes that NBC is really rooting for the Penguins to tie the Stanley Cup Finals tonight.

Chris Bradford of the Beaver County (PA) Times writes that NBC’s NHL voice Mike Emrick began his career covering hockey for the Times.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says CBC hockey play-by-play man Bob Cole is showing that reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times gives his Two Cents on the sporting weekend on TV.

Eric Benderoff of the Chicago Tribune profiles a reporter who keeps track of baseball games for a number of clients including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, CBS Sports.com, the Associated Press and other media outlets.

Joe Lapointe of the New York Times writes about former Phillies pitcher Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams who has transformed himself from World Series goat to fan favorite as a TV analyst and sports radio talk show host.

Jake Trotter of The Oklahoman writes that it’s hard to predict kickoff times for Oklahoma football games in the fall because of the Big 12′s TV contracts with ABC, FSN and ESPN.

Because of my computer problems, I could not do the Friday megalinks as usual, but I will still link over to David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch who has some leftovers from the John Tomase affair and some other stuff.

Jay Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald writes that the Celtics’ Kevin Garnett has scored in an ad for Verizon Fios internet and TV service.

I’m a litte late on this, but Sirius Satellite Radio is picking up coverage of the Formula 1 racing circuit. It started this past weekend.

Apparently ESPN is in Omaha, Nebraska doing some prep shots for the College World Series next month.

Milan Simonich of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that when ESPN got involved in the National Spelling Bee, it became a major event.

And lastly, this has nothing to do with the sports media, but the story gives me an excuse to post this picture. This is Ashley Harkleroad. She lost yesterday to Serena Williams in straight sets at the French Open. She has revealed that she has posed nude for the August edition of Playboy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

That will do it for today. If I can get my computer at home to work, I’ll have an evening update.

Day of the Thursday Links

I was trying to be creative but with my brain fried already this morning, that’s the best I could do. Sorry.

Let’s just do the links.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says CBS Sports’ Nick Faldo is gaining on NBC’s Johnny Miller as most entertaining golf analyst on TV. Doyle also touches on the Bruins as the team begins its playoff series with Montreal tonight.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with the extremely hot Alona Bondarenko about her K-Swiss ad.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says that CBS Sports’ David Feherty will be the subject of his media column tomorrow.

Peter Kerasotis of the News-Press of Florida says ESPN should tone itself down on The Masters. Look, to all these media critics who think Chris Berman is going to be on the broadcast or that viewers will see all of the regular bells and whistles from ESPN, CBS will be producing the broadcast today and tomorrow and the only ESPN staffer on site will be Mike Tirico. The broadcast will not be any different than it was when USA Network carried The Masters. These writers should get it out of their heads that ESPN is taking over or is producing the broadcast.

Jerry Potter of USA Today says The Masters’ strategy of moving to ESPN was to make the tournament global.

Mick Elliot of the Tampa Bay Tribune says Augusta National is comfortable going to ESPN.

Steven Uhles of the Augusta (GA) Chronicle saw the first ever broadcast of The Masters’ Par 3 Contest from inside the ESPN production trailer.

Jonathan Heeter of the Macon (GA) Telegraph has what you won’t hear during ESPN’s telecast of The Masters.

Adam Van Brinner of the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald says ESPN has to tread lightly at the Masters this week.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News writes that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area suffered through an overlap between the A’s and Sharks and missed much of the first period of Game 1 of its playoff game.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC Sports did not televise Game 1 of the Ottawa-Pittsburgh series in HD last night.

The Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox will be placed on NESNplus while the Bruins will be on the main NESN channel.

Newsday’s Neil Best asked CBS why it did not send its studio crew to the Final Four last week and basically got the brushoff. And Neil says ratings for the NCAA Women’s Tournament were up for ESPN.

Langston Wertz, Jr. of the Charlotte Observer says CBS is putting NCAA Tournament games on too late.

Wally Hall of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette talks with ESPN college basketball analyst Jimmy Dykes.

Also from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Rick Kushman says broadcasting the Olympics from Communist China will be a moral dilemna for NBC.

That’s it for this morning. Back later.

Our Friday Night Links

Time to give you some links this evening.

Neil Best of Newsday reports that Stephen A. Smith will end his ESPN Radio show next Thursday. Neil says that Earl “The Pearl” Monroe will join Mike Breen and Walt “Clyde” Frazier on Knicks game broadcasts. And one blog post from earlier this week, Neil says Fox 5 in New York has named a new weekend sports anchor.

Over to Los Angeles and Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News. He writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda will be involved in “The Bachelor”?????

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the new K-Swiss ad made him stop and stare. It made me do the same. I’m still staring at it. The With Leather blog thinks its Alona Bondarenko. Darren says the woman in the ad also resembles Anna Kournikova, but then determined it was Bondarenko. Although if you go to the K-Swiss website, both Anna and Alona are represented.

The Sports Media Watch says NASCAR outrated two of the NCAA Elite Eight games last weekend. And the SMW says some big name writers are being bought out from their respective newspapers and the one of the big names ends with Kornheiser.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes in his blog that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic received its highest hockey ratings ever this week. Brian Eckert of the Washington (DC) Business Journal says the Capitals-Lightning game on Thursday received the highest ratings on local cable in 11 years.

NBC Sports talks about the Chicago-Detroit matchup for its final NHL Game of the Week this season.

Mel Bracht of the Oklahoman has a quick Q and A with CBS’ Billy Packer about the Final Four. CBS Sports says college basketball analyst Billy Packer will be recognized for his work by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Beth Schepens of the Wall Street Journal talks with ESPN’s Dick Vitale about his fashion.

Deadspin says a man posed as a lower tier ESPN college basketball analyst to pick up teenaged girls. Creepy.

Greg Johnson says CBS is doing all it can to share the NCAA Tournament online.

ESPN has a Women’s Final Four fact sheet.

Jon Cooper writing for MLB.com has a story about TBS’ debut of its national package of games this Sunday.

Derek Clarkston of the Kodiak Daily Mirror in Alaska writes that Mariners fans in the Last Frontier State will not see the entire package of 150 games from FSN Northwest.

The Business Journal of Arizona reports that 86 Diamondbacks games will be shown in High Definition.

Tony Paige writing in his blog for Multichannel News says he’ll try to avoid watching NBC Universal’s coverage of the Olympics in Communist China.

A couple of things from the Orbitcast blog on satellite radio. XM will carry spring college football games starting Saturday. And XM will have complete coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs starting Wednesday.

That’s it. I’ll be back on Saturday with more links.

Time for the Tuesday Update

Kind of slow on this Tuesday afternoon, but I still try to find links for you because you’re a loyal visitor.

Well, CNBC’s Darren Rovell is officially smitten with Ana Ivanovic. He has another post on her, this one on her sponsor on the WTA Tour. And in case you’re skeptical about Ana’s beauty (you really shouldn’t be by now), Darren has put together a slideshow of some of her best pics.

Jeff Bell of the Business First of Columbus paper has Ohio State University Athletic Director Geoff Smith telling fans to find another way to watch his school’s first two games. Smith is skeptical of the Big Ten Network reaching an agreement with cable companies before Thursday’s launch.

Iowans will be able to see the University of Iowa’s season opener on Mediacom cable this weekend. It will be on ESPNU.

A while back, I reported on ESPN being made available at gas pumps so it can reach the disenfranchised viewer. Well, the device called “Gas Station TV” will use Hughes Network Systems (the first owner of DirecTV) to send signals to the pump.

Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about an era coming to end in September, the Braves on TBS. I have truly enjoyed watching the Braves on TBS, but the channel will be showing MLB games on Sundays next season rather than just one team as it has for three decades. In addition, TBS will begin a promotional pitch for the MLB postseason which will be airing for the first time this year. Bon Jovi will be featured as part of that pitch.

Over at ESPN.com, Gregg Easterbrook has his TMQ column and today, he gives his NFC preview plus he gets on colleges that schedule cupcakes for out-of-conference games.

That’s it for now. I’ll have the Viewing Picks coming up.

Monday Update

I have to start out by saying the US Open has got to work with rightsholders CBS and whomever will hold the cable contract next year (USA Network, Tennis Channel, ESPN) to allow live streaming of its matches. Right now, trying to find streams from other rightsholders has been quite difficult. EuroSport from Spain and its regular English feed are available if you know where to look, but the commentary in Spanish is non-stop and is giving me a headache. USOpen.org only has highlights for the time being. It may stream a match or two sometime during this year’s tournament, but not at the current time.

Let’s go to the links. With this being the first day of the US Open, CNBC’s Darren Rovell finally admits that Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic is his current fav far outpacing Maria Sharapova. Rovell sits down with Ivanovic for an interview as well.

The recent stretch for the Boston Red Sox and their fans has been good. Going 6-1 for the first 7 games of a 10 game road trip is more than what the Doctor ordered. But the bad thing has been Glenn Geffner in the booth for all 7 games. First in Tampa Bay, he shrieked like a woman when a mouse, rat, skunk or whatever it was crawled near him last Tuesday. Then he went to Chicago where he was on hand for the entire White Sox massacre this past weekend. And it was at US Cellular Field where he continued to butcher his broadcasts and continued to give many a Red Sox fan ulcers. All of the links come from the 38 Cliches blog which does a great job in keeping up with the Goofster. Here’s hoping Dave O’Brien returns to do the Yankees series starting tomorrow.

Going to the Big Ten Network links, Adam Smeltz of the Centre (PA) Daily Times’ Centre Squawker blog says there has been an increased interest in D & E Communications in State College since it announced it would be picking up the BTN in time for the Thursday launch. Frank Rigas of the Sheboygan (WI) Press says chances of seeing BTN in his town are remote at best. Bob Wolfey in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says BTN is making a big play to get on basic cable.

Darrell Dickson of the Utah Daily Herald says the mtn. is going to be making a big marketing push asking fans of the Mountain West to call DirecTV and the cable companies demanding the channel gets carriage. Good luck.

Remember Philadelphia local news anchor Alycia Lane? When I restarted this blog in May, the story of her e-mailing her own bikini pics to NFL Network host Rich Eisen became fodder. Well, Alycia apparently has begun an affair with New York local news anchor Chris Wragge. Why do we care? Because Chris is married to former Playboy playmate Victoria Silvstedt and Chris was spotted walking out of Alycia’s house while Victoria is in Europe. Now unless there’s a smoking gun, this proves nothing, but it allows me to mention Alycia again. And I still want to see those bikini pics!

That’s it for now. Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

Friday/Saturday Late Night/Early Morning Update

With the Michael Vick late breaking news, I figured I would give you some links that have come in since I last updated the blog in the afternoon.

First, CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that Vick not only was suspended indefinitely by the NFL after his guilty plea was revealed today, but was also dropped by Nike. The letter from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to Vick informing him of the suspension can be seen here. And you can read the entire plea here. We’ll keep an eye on the sentencing on Monday.

Rovell was quite busy today. In anticipation of the US Open, Darren did a quick tale of the tape between the current It girl in tennis, Maria Sharapova vs. the one he thinks will be the next It girl, Ana Ivanovic. And Rovell has a post that proves that he has crush on Ivanovic (I’m kidding, Darren!). If you look at the pic that he put of Ivanovic in his blog, you’ll see why he feels she’s the most beautiful athlete in the world. I’m more partial to Maria, but I can’t argue with his statement on Ivanovic. And Ana’s website picks up on the Rovell coverage.

The Sports Media Watch blog has picked up on the fact that NBC will air the New Year’s Day NHL Ice Bowl outdoor game between Pittsburgh and Buffalo. It will be on opposite the Cotton Bowl on Fox, the Capitol One Bowl on ABC, the Outback Bowl on ESPN and the Gator Bowl on CBS. It’s certainly counter-programming against college football, but it’s going to be crushed in the ratings. Mark my words.

NFL games will be available online outside the US for a very steep price. Yahoo will be the streaming home for NFL games to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and Africa. DirecTV will have games online for subscribers to NFL Sunday Ticket’s Superfan program.

That’s it for now. I’ll have some Saturday morning links and the Weekend Viewing Picks on Saturday, when else? LOL.

Some Tributes to Hot Chicks in Tennis

After I went to Darren Ravell’s Sports Business blog at CNBC.com and saw his entry on Ana Ivanoic, I noticed there was a link to a video tribute to her. And then I noticed there were various video tributes to other female tennis players. Let’s check out a few:

This video has a montage of players including Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova, Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Maria Sharapova, Nicole Vaidisova, Tatiana Golovin, Alexandra Wozniak and Martina Hingis.

This person lists his/her favs this way:

7.Martina Hingis
6.Maria Kirilenko
5.Nicole Vaidisova
4.Daniela Hantuchova
3.Ana Ivanovic
2.Anna Kournikova
1.Maria Sharapova

And here’s the video. I wish KT Tunstall wasn’t used as the background, but it’s not my video.

This person likes Hantuchova.

And here’s one for Nicole Vaidisova.

I did a search on YouTube for Maria Sharapova and there are 2,380 results. Unbelievable. But this is one of my favorites. Maria swearing at the umpire at the Australian Open.

And here’s her photo shoot for the SI Swimsuit Issue.

That is all.