Fang's Bites

Doing The Wednesday Links

Let’s provide some mid-week linkage for you.

Sports Business Daily recaps how ESPN’s SportsCenter handled NBA highlights on what should have been the Opening Night of the regular season.

SBD also looks at Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt’s agreement to sell the team at auction.

Paul Thomasch with Reuters says MLB is looking to hit the motherlode in a new round of negotiations for network TV partners.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today talks with SEC on CBS analyst Gary Danielson on LSU-Alabama.

Steve Wieberg and Steve Berkowitz of USA Today explore ESPN’s role in the realignment in college sports.

Tom Weir of USA Today says ESPN’s Jenn Brown tweeted about her experience being locked in a hotel bathroom today.

In Outkick The Coverage, Clay Travis looks into the conflicts regarding CBS’ Tony Barnhart’s reporting of Missouri to the Southeastern Conference.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch delved into ESPN’s coverage of Tim Tebow and found it bordering on the excessive.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter says singer Cee Lo “Eff You” Green will be performing on the NHL float during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. Of course, the NHL and NBC are partners as well. Green also is a judge on NBC’s “The Voice” so there’s synergy all around here.

Georg Szalai of the Reporter has Comcast’s CEO saying Telemundo’s reported $600 million deal for the World Cup will be profitable for the company.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that an appeals court has again thrown out the FCC fine against CBS for airing Janet Jackson’s nipple during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine says cable had a ratings downturn in October led by ESPN’s Monday Night Football and TBS’ MLB Postseason coverage.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin notes that ESPN’s Erin Andrews had a little problem with a math concept with LSU coach Les Miles.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says ESPN.com’s comment section went haywire thanks to those writing about Tim Tebow.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Fox will buy the Dodgers again.

Darren tells us that secondary ticket prices for Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game are reaching astronomical levels.

In the Boston Globe, Bruins beat reporter Fluto Shinzawa writes about being a foodie when he travels on the road with the team.

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times looks at the Third Circuit Appeals court throwing out the FCC fine against CBS.

Mike Tanier of the Times says NFL TV analysts now have to find ways to stand out above the crowd even if it means being confrontational.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette looks at NBC Sports Network’s college hockey schedule.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Week 10 College Football TV schedule.

Pete also has the Week 9 NFL TV schedule.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Seton Hall basketball will air on ESPN Radio New York this season.

Laura Nachman says Sunday Night Football featuring the Philadelphia Eagles won primetime for NBC.

David Salter in the Patriot-News (PA) writes about the progression and in some cases, regression of women covering sports.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says Rob Dibble can’t let his 2010 firing from MASN go without firing another shot.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that the first part of the Big East’s expansion is complete. Now comes the next step.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News says the ESPN Films documentary on the Alabama-Auburn rivalry is top notch.

Dennis Pillion of Al.com notes that ESPN will go inside the Alabama football program leading up to its big game against LSU on Saturday.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that DirecTV has come to terms with another local station group.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable will air four local high school football games.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the NFL is about to release the Green Bay Packers championship DVD package.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business writes that Comcast SportsNet is trying to survive without the Bulls.

Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal notes that Air Force is happy to be playing on “an easy to find” TV channel this week and possibly be moving to the Big East where games are also easily found.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the Week 10 NFL TV schedule for SoCal.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times wonders if media rivals Fox and Time Warner would put forth a bid to buy the Dodgers.

Sports Media Watch has a look at the Week 8 NFL overnight ratings. First, CBS. Then Fox. To Sunday Night Football. And finally, Monday Night Football.

And SMW notes that ESPN is filling programming holes left by the NBA lockout.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the national college hockey TV schedule.

Joe Favorito says the baseball season may be over, but the sport continues to keep its brand active in the offseason.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing feels ESPN’s presentation of the MLB Gold Glove Awards did not need to be watched.

And that will do us for now.

Putting Together A Few Thursday Links

I’ll give you some linkage. Won’t be able to give you a whole set, but I’ll give you what I can as I have to do the Friday features, Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks, College Football Viewing Picks, NFL Viewing Picks and Weekend Viewing Picks tonight. I won’t be able to blog extensively on Friday as I’ll be away from my computer, but I will have my iPad to post any important press releases and breaking news as necessary.

But for now, this is what we have.

Sports Business Daily notes the lower ratings for Fox for World Series Game 1 on Wednesday, but more importantly, it won the night for the network.

SBD also looks at the media fallout from Bryant Gumbel’s comments on HBO’s Real Sports earlier this week in regards to NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today wonders if the 2011 World Series is on track to become the lowest rated World Series ever.

The Big Lead notes that Fox’s Tim McCarver knew how to spell S-T-R-I-K-E, but didn’t know how many letters there were.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Fox won the night in the 18-49 demographic thanks to the World Series.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says Fox’s HD picture of World Series Game 1 was much improved from the American League Championship Series.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the NHL has signed a rights deal to have all of its games streamed in Scandinavia. This is after ESPN America lost the rights to air NHL games across Europe.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that the NFL is the king of the TV ratings heap.

Dan Shanoff writes a guest column for CNBC’s Darren Rovell about the NFL’s new Venture Capital fund.

The U.S. Open and the United States Tennis Association are looking to add another day to the tournament and ending it on a Monday. CBS is considering the change.

Brandon Costa from Sports Video Group notes that NBC is putting the infrastructure in place to ensure a smooth brand transition from Versus to NBC Sports Network.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call can’t believe Two and a Half Men actually beat the NFL in the ratings thus far.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Fox is concerned about winning the night, not low ratings projections for the World Series.

The Orlando Sentinel has a primer on how fans can watch tonight’s Central Florida-UAB game.

From the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn writes that local ratings for the World Series were not as good as St. Louis’.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that E:60 did a piece on a local woman whose husband had to work on her after a bicycle accident.

George Hesselberg at the Wisconsin State Journal notes that outgoing MLB Commissioner Bud Selig got a sweetheart deal from the University of Wisconsin to use an office to write his memoirs and so he can also watch MLB Network which is usually not available on campus.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Game 1 of the World Series ended too quickly for Fox’s liking.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the US TV bidding for the 2018/’22 World Cups.

Tom has your football schedule for the weekend complete with pictures of his new sweetheart, ESPN’s Jenn Brown.

Sports Media Watch has the final ratings of this year’s League Championship Series.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Versus got low viewership for Colorado-Toronto on Monday.

Steve has some ideas for NHL Overtime on Versus.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has video of Joe Buck apologizing to America before last night’s World Series Game 1. Joe Buck is such as a jerk.

I have to end it there. I keep getting interrupted and I can’t anything done. Back later.

Cranking Out Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday linkage for you.

MLB Postseason starts up really in earnest with four games on Saturday. College Football in full swing and the NFL completes its first month of games on Sunday. Your Weekend Viewing Picks have everything you need to know in sports and primetime programming.

To the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Fox Sports’ NASCAR coverage will be known for having the Brothers Waltrip next year.

Mike Reynolds of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Turner Sports will be all over the League Division Series for the first four days of the MLB Postseason.

Adweek has a graphic showing how much time we spend on watching football.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that TBS and Fox should see good ratings for the MLB Postseason based on an exciting final night of the season on Wednesday.

Nelli Andreeva of Deadline reports that ESPN is developing an ABC sitcom based on Boston sports fans. That’s going to go over well.

Bill Hofheimer in ESPN’s Front Row blog talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden about calling a “home game” this Monday.

Jim Romanesko of the Poynter Institute looks at the despicable reaction of Buffalo Bills fans to a column written by a female sportswriter at the Albany Times Union.

Bob’s Blitz has video of WFAN’s Mike Francesa attempting to add on the air.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group looks at ESPN placing microphones on various players and coaches during the WNBA Finals.

Brandon chronicles a wild Wednesday night at MLB Network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the advantages or lack of thereof having a bigger payroll in MLB.

The Sports Biz Miss Kristi Dosh tells us that despite not making the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox still get a share of the postseason pie.

The Sports Media Watch looks at how the tumultuous Final Night of the MLB season led to a ratings bonanza for ESPN.

SMW says for the MLB season, ESPN’s ratings went up slightly.

SMW says TBS’ ratings for the MLB regular season were flat compared with last year.

Joe Favorito looks at how Dick Vitale has made himself into a viable brand.

The Daly Planet delves into the changes with the Fox Sports NASCAR crew.

The Influencer Economy has a look into Blogs with Balls 4 and the future of sports media.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn at the Boston Globe (this is the last day I’ll be able to link to Chad as his columns go behind the dreaded paywall starting October 1) writes about NESN viewers unable to see analyst Dennis Eckersley on the last day of the season.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy shares some blame in the Red Sox collapse.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS’ Brian Anderson who steps into the network’s lead spot for the MLB Postseason.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post has five questions for NBC Football Night in America analyst Rodney Harrison.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a new local sports talk show host isn’t spending any time discussing any local topics.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about local radio stations picking up MLB League Division Series games.

To the New Jersey Newsroom where Evan Weiner says the college conference shuffle is making fans roll their collective eyes.

In the Allentown (PA) Morning Call, Keith Groller writes that MLB will have a hard act to follow in the postseason after a compelling final night of the regular season.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet will be all over the Phillies in the MLB Postseason.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes that sections of the Baltimore Sun’s sports website will go behind the dreaded paywall.

South

The Florida Times-Union reports that the Jacksonville Jaguars have avoided a blackout for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints.

To the St. Petersburg Times where Tom Jones says Sun Sports got big ratings for the Tampa Bay Rays’ march to the playoffs this week.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that MLB Network was all over the twists and turns from the final night of the regular season.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has his news and notes.

Midewest

John Kieswetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a local CBS affiliate will provide halftime highlights during Bengals games at Paul Brown Stadium.

John writes that Saturday’s Cincinnati-Miami game will be seen live online and on local TV on tape delay.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Tigers TV voice Mario Impemba about the team’s chances of advancing in the MLB Postseason.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel speaks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson about getting the top gig for TBS for the playoffs.

Bob has a couple of quotes from CBS’ Phil Simms about Sunday’s Denver-Green Bay game.

To Crain’s Chicago Business and Ed Sherman who writes that Nebraska’s addition to the conference can only help the Big Ten Network.

Ed has his winners and losers in sports media and business.

In the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin, Paul Christian talks with former Minnesota coach Tim Brewster who’s now patrolling the sidelines for Gus Johnson and FX’s college football game of the week.

Jennifer Mann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been arrested on DUI charges for the second time this year.

Dan Caesar of the Post-Dispatch writes that Fox Sports Midwest has suspended McLaughlin indefinitely.

West

Bill Center in the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres expect to bring back its TV booth, but no word on the team’s radio announcers or new TV contract for next season.

The Union-Tribune says Sunday’s Chargers game against the Dolphins will be blacked out.

John Maffei of the North County Times says the Padres hope to have a new TV deal (with Fox Sports Net) in place by the New Year.

At the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle writes that Wednesday’s MLB season finale was Must See TV.

Jim says despite being on a losing team, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp is in the center of the MVP debate among TV analysts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Jenn Brown’s endorsement deal with GNC.

Tom says Bill Macdonald’s full-time days with Fox Sports West are over.

Tom looks at TBS’ coverage of the MLB Postseason.

Tom wonders why the NFL pulled back the 1st half Thursday Night Football package from the table.

Canada

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin says MLB got a shot in the arm on Wednesday.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog writes that TSN has locked up curling on TV in Canada through the end of the decade.

And that’s going to do it. I may have a few more links later tonight.

Doing Some Quick Wednesday Linkage

Lots of stuff going on here and it’s prevented me from providing links. I’ll do some now while I can.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek reports that the NFL has put the kybosh on a new Thursday Night Football package until next season.

Michael Smith and John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal report that with Pittsburgh and Syracuse joining the ACC, ESPN and the conference are reopening negotiations on the TV contract that took effect just this month.

In Media Bistro, Marcus Vanderberg has part one of his interview with embattled writer Jay “The Rat” Mariotti.

And Marcus has part two of his talk with Jay The Rat in Fishbowl LA.

Over to Michael Hiestand of USA Today who writes that a family medical emergency is preventing Ernie Johnson, Jr. from participating in this year’s MLB Postseason for TBS.

Michael looks at the ratings from some of this past weekend’s events.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today tells us about the athletes who will pose nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue.

Erik Malinowski of Wired magazine profiles the great Timothy Burke of the Mocksession site and SportsGrid.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown is now a paid endorser for GNC products.

Deadspin’s A.J. Daulerio is amazed at how Steve Bartman has managed to remain anonymous since his fateful failed attempt to catch a foul ball during Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has video of a Dallas TV sports anchor creating the word “shart” on live TV.

The aforementioned Timothy Burke in SportsGrid has video from Germany of a reporter inadvertently trying to out Chelsea soccer star Didier Drogba.

At espnW, Sarah Spain writes about attending this week’s espnW: Women + Sports Summit which had a plethora of superstars from both media and sports.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football hit its biggest audience of the season in NFL Week 3.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell (and now officially a Friend of Fang’s Bites) writes that the toning shoe market could take a substantial hit after the Feds settled a case with Reebok on one its shoe claims.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders if this is the last season for the Yankees on WCBS-AM.

Neil says SNY’s Mets announcers were critical of the team for taking out shortstop Jose Reyes after the first inning of today’s game against the Reds.

Neil says Ron Darling closed out a TBS media conference call with a line that only he picked up.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union says the Capital Region’s NFL fans should all be happy with the TV schedule this week.

Pete has this week’s college football TV schedule.

Crossing Broad has a new Philadelphia media feud for us to follow.

In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog says ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon weren’t too enthused by London Fletcher’s pregame speech before the Washington-Dallas Monday Night Football game.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans did well in the local ratings again.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman writes that Oklahoma State has decided against going for pay per view for one of its games next month.

Mel notes that college football topped the local ratings last weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says TBS and MLB have yet to announce a time for the Brewers League Division Series game on Saturday.

Bob says Brewers voice Brian Anderson will call the Yankees LDS series for TBS starting on Friday.

Bill Novak of the Capital (WI) Times writes that ESPN’s College GameDay has chosen its location on the Wisconsin to broadcast for this Saturday’s show.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at TBS’ announcers for the League Division Series and manages to misspell “Orsillo”

Sports Media Watch says last Sunday’s NASCAR race had better ratings than last year, but not up as it should be.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the number of games each NHL team will have televised locally.

Joe Favorito talks about how sports can be a uniter, not a divider.

Over to Yahoo’s Big League Stew where Duk has some thoughts on the ESPN Films Steve Bartman doc.

From Obsessed with Sports, we have a pic thanks to Sarah Spain of Friend of Fang’s Bites Michelle Beadle sucking rattlesnake venom from Linda Cohn at the aforementioned espnW summit. I believe this really happened.

And that will do it for today.

Quick Tuesday Linkage

I’ll provide a few links now, then as I’m watching Catching Hell on ESPN, I’ll attempt a few more links to complete the set.

Earlier today, I wrote a recap of Blogs with Balls 4. Check it out.

One of the stars of BWB4 was Bomani Jones of BomaniJones.com. He wrote why he feels there’s a lack of black representation in the sports blogosphere.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that Turner Sports’ Ernie Johnson, Jr. will miss the MLB Postseason due to a pressing medical emergency with his son.

To Sports Business Journal and Fred Dreier who speaks with a few NHL players to get their takes on the league’s marketing and new TV contract.

John Lombardo of SBJ writes that the Phoenix Suns will hire a social media sideline reporter to track what’s trending among fans during the game.

Daniel Kaplan from SBJ reports that the NFL plans to keep its London regular season game on its schedule for the next few years.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says that the concept for DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel and NFL RedZone was based on a soccer channel in Italy.

Midwest Sports Fans has the video of NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes practically sexually harassing host Lindsay Soto live on NFL Total Access.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that MillerCoors is suing the New England Patriots alleging the team reneged on an exclusive deal.

John Eggerton of Multichannel News says an FCC judge has thrown out a supplemental filing by Comcast in response to Tennis Channel’s complaint against the cable provider.

John writes that Time Warner Cable wants the FCC to allow a rule to lapse that calls for regional sports network programming as “must-carry” on cable systems.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the local Super Bowl logo for when the Big Game is played at the New Meadowlands in 2014.

Neil reviews the ESPN Films documentary on Steve Bartman that airs tonight.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY talks with the new New Jersey Devils voice Steve Cangialosi.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Barry Melrose will be joining NHL Network.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record looks at TBS’ MLB Postseason announcing teams that won’t include Ernie Johnson, Jr.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and CBS’ Boomer Esiason are on Maryland football’s placards. Both are Maryland alums. How about Tina Cervasio and Bonnie Bernstein too?

This will disappoint many fanboys. Busted Coverage has discovered that ESPN’s Jenn Brown is engaged.

I’ll leave it there for now. More linkage tonight.

ESPN’s College Football Announcing Teams For 2011

With so many college football games not just on Saturdays, but on Thursdays, Fridays and sometimes even Tuesdays, ESPN needs a lot of announcing teams on its networks. You have 22 announcing teams that span ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN 3D, ESPN Radio, ESPN Regional Television, Big East Network and SEC Network. That’s a lot of networks to fill and ESPN has managed to do it with contracts with the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, BYU, C-USA, MAC, Pac-12, SEC and the WAC. There aren’t too many changes. The main team remains Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Erin Andrews for Saturday Night Football on ABC.

Poor analysts Craig James and Matt Millen return. James calls two games a week, Thursday Nights on ESPN with Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer and Jenn Brown and again on ABC with Mike Patrick. Millen will be teamed again with Sean McDonough on the main ABC Saturday afternoon game.

Former Florida coach Urban Meyer works games for the first time and will be teamed with Dave Pasch and Chris Spielman for ESPN Saturday afternoon contests. Analysts Ed Cunningham and Brian Griese will be given primetime slots on ESPN2 and ESPNU, respectively. And Beth Mowins will work the ESPN2 early afternoon games with Mike Belotti. Got it now? There will be a test later.

Let’s take a look at how the teams shape up this year.

ESPN 2011 College Football Commentator Assignments

What’s New: Urban Meyer on Saturday afternoons; Cunningham & Griese in prime-time roles; Mowins & Bellotti on ESPN2 noon; Hawkins Joins; and Wischusen & Davie on ABC afternoon

Returning: Musburger & Kirk Herbstreit on ABC Saturday Night Football; Brad Nessler & Todd Blackledge on ESPN Saturday in prime time; Davis, James, Palmer & Brown on Thursdays; and McDonough & Millen on ABC Saturday afternoons

The addition of two-time BCS National Championship coach Urban Meyer and several returning commentators in new roles highlight the lineup of announcer pairings for college football game telecasts across ESPN platforms. Meyer, who resigned from Florida at the conclusion of last season, will work Saturday noon ET games on ESPN with commentator Dave Pasch and analyst Chris Spielman. In addition to calling ESPN’s University of Texas spring game together, Meyer was an assistant coach at Ohio State when Spielman was a player.

In addition, former Colorado and Boise State head coach Dan Hawkins has joined ESPN and will serve as the analyst on ESPNU’s Saturday afternoon telecast with returning announcer Pam Ward. Hawkins compiled an overall record of 112-61-1 at the two programs, including four consecutive Western Athletic Conference titles in his five years at Boise State.

Highlights of new assignments:

• ESPN2 and ESPNU Saturday prime-time telecasts will include analysts in new roles.
• Ed Cunningham, who called ABC afternoon games last year, will partner with Mark Jones for ESPN2’s weekly telecast.
• Brian Griese will move from ESPN2’s Saturday noon game to ESPNU’s evening game with returning announcer Clay Matvick. Allison Williams will serve as reporter.
• Beth Mowins will assume the role of play-by-play on ESPN2’s Saturday noon telecast with analyst Mike Bellotti, who worked primarily ESPN and ABC West Coast games last year.
• Analyst Bob Davie will move from ESPN2 Saturday night games to ABC Saturday afternoon telecasts with Bob Wischusen, who worked Saturday noon games on ESPN2 last year.
• Former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell, entering his second year with ESPN, will join announcer Rob Stone on ESPNU Saturday noon telecasts. Kanell worked with Pam Ward on ESPNU’s Saturday afternoon. game last year.

The assignments of returning commentator pairings includes Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit calling the Saturday Night Football series on ABC, broadcast television’s only weekly primetime game (8 p.m.), for their sixth consecutive year. Erin Andrews will report from the sidelines of the broadcast for her second season. The weekly Saturday ESPN College Football Primetime telecast will pair leading play-by-play voice Brad Nessler with analyst Todd Blackledge and reporter Holly Rowe.
Additional highlights:

• For the second straight year, game and studio host Rece Davis will call the Thursday ESPN College Football Primetime series with analysts Craig James and Jesse Palmer, and reporter Jenn Brown.
• Commentator Sean McDonough and analyst Matt Millen will team up for a third season to work the marquee Saturday afternoon telecasts on ABC.
• Analyst Brock Huard and commentator Carter Blackburn will continue to work ESPN and ABC Saturday games, primarily featuring West Coast sites.
• ESPN Friday night telecasts will be called by Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore for the fourth year.
• Announcer Bill Rosinski, analyst David Norrie and reporter Joe Schad will work ESPN Radio’s weekly Saturday broadcast.

ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN 3D and ESPN Regional Television Game Pairings

Note: Additional commentators will contribute throughout the season.

Game Telecast	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
Saturday Night Football (on ABC)	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	Erin Andrews
ESPN College Football Primetime (Saturday)	Brad Nessler	Todd Blackledge	Holly Rowe
ESPN2 College Football Primetime (Saturday)	Mark Jones	Ed Cunningham
ESPNU SEC Saturday Prime Time	Clay Matvick	Brian Griese	Allison Williams
ESPN College Football Primetime (Thursday)	Rece Davis	Craig James and Jesse Palmer	Jenn Brown
ABC Saturday Afternoon	Sean McDonough	Matt Millen	Heather Cox
ESPN College Football (Saturday afternoon)	Dave Pasch	Chris Spielman and Urban Meyer
ESPN2 College Football (Saturday afternoon)	Beth Mowins	Mike Bellotti
ABC Saturday Afternoon	Mike Patrick	Craig James
ABC Saturday Afternoon	Bob Wischusen	Bob Davie
ABC or ESPN Saturdays (primarily West Coast)	Carter Blackburn	Brock Huard
ESPNU Saturday Afternoon	Rob Stone	Danny Kanell
ESPNU Saturday Afternoon	Pam Ward	Dan Hawkins
ESPN and ESPN2 Friday	Joe Tessitore	Rod Gilmore
ESPNU Thursday	Anish Shroff	Jay Walker
ESPNU late Saturday (WAC)	Adam Amin	David Diaz-Infante
ESPNU late Saturday (HBCU)	Adam Amin	Jay Walker
ESPN 3D (Saturday)	Joe Tessitore	Tim Brown
ESPN Radio	Bill Rosinski	David Norrie	Joe Schad
SEC Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games)	Dave Neal	Andre Ware	Cara Capuano
BIG EAST Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games)	Mike Gleason	John Congemi	Eamon McAnaney
ESPN Regional Television MAC Syndication	Michael Reghi	Doug Chapman

** Additional reporters to be used include Jeannine Edwards, Quint Kessenich, Shelley Smith and Tom Rinaldi

The 2011 college football season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN 3D, ESPN3.com, ESPN Radio, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television and ESPN GamePlan will total more than 400 regular-and post-season games, concluding with the entire Bowl Championship Series, including the National Championship, on ESPN. The schedule will include weekly Saturday night games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, weekly ESPN and ESPNU Thursday night contests and telecasts every Friday and select Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

There you go.

Jenn Sterger Takes Shots At ESPN For Hiring Hot Blonds

Ever since this whole Brett Favre sexting incident, Jenn Sterger has been trying to find her niche. Her show at Versus was canceled. Then she’s been doing various freelance gigs plus an interview with Good Morning, America, but really hasn’t found that signature role that she call her own.

Then I happen to find through Twitter that she presented a video on BroBible and in the process, fired shots at ESPN for hiring hot blond chicks. And Jenn Sterger then takes a shot at Jenn Brown. Do you find it ironic that hot chick Jenn Sterger is taking shots at ESPN for hiring hot chicks? Is this the pot calling the kettle black? As they used to say on the old Batman show, “What do we have here?” Watch the video and see what you think.

And Jenn Sterger’s delivery is so bad that you have to turn up your speakers to understand the jokes. In this type of feature, you have to have a voice to carry the jokes and she speaks so softly that any humor is lost. I originally had no problem with Jenn Sterger when people took shots at her for getting gigs at Sports Illustrated and I want to like her, but it’s tough. This video doesn’t help. It makes her look petty.

Jenn Brown Announces She’s Replacing Erin Andrews At the College World Series.

This happening today. In a tweet this morning, ESPN sexpot Jenn Brown announced that she’ll be working the College World Series in Omaha, NE next month. This gig was previously Erin Andrews’. In fact, Erin had worked the event for quite some time. This will mark the first year that Jenn will be on the sidelines or dugout for the event.

It’s a bit of a surprise, but then again, maybe not. The other announcers for the College World Series have yet to be announced.

Saturday’s Links

You’re linkage once again so let’s provide some now. I am putting together a Videos of Week for Sunday morning so look for that if you get up around 8 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow.

ESPN Ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer writes his last column in his role of overseer and apologizes for his lack of writing.

Nellie Andreeva of Deadline.com reports that CBS is picking up two sitcoms based on two ESPN personalities, one extremely annoying, the other not so much.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable writes that DirecTV wants to settle a dispute with Northwest Broadcasting that is keeping several local channels off the satellite provider and preventing subscribers from possibly seeing the Super Bowl.

Milton Kent from Fanhouse says ESPN’s Stuart Scott will undergo chemotherapy after having cancerous tissue removed. Our best to Stuart.

Milton says Fox’s Terry Bradshaw will be tickled pink if he gets to hand the Super Bowl Trophy to his old team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Lucia Moses from Mediaweek says after a two year absence, Sports Illustrated is bringing back its Super Bowl party in Dallas.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog looks into the factors that are causing the NFL’s TV ratings to increase at an astounding rate.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine says Comcast has a long road ahead to pull NBC out of its current doldrums.

One quick aside. You may have noticed that as of yesterday, I recommended a non-sports NBC program in the Weekend Viewing Picks for the first time in about a year. Now that Jeff Zucker is gone from running the network into the ground, I have ended my primetime and late night boycott of NBC. I had only put NBC sports programs in the Viewing Picks since the Conan debacle last year. If I feel an NBC program is worthy of being recommended, I will place it in the Picks. Right now, absolutely none of NBC’s primetime lineup (The Cape? A Minute To Win It? Perfect Couples? What the hell are those?) appeals to me. We’ll see if the upcoming programs are of any quality. For now, baby steps for NBC. And no, please don’t sell me on “Friday Night Lights”. That has no appeal to me whatsoever.

Back to the links.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says there is plenty of buzz over the Super Bowl ads again this year.

E.J. Schultz of Advertising Age says Snickers is hoping comedienne Roseanne will do in this year’s Super Bowl what Betty White did for the candy bar in last year’s Super Bowl ad. I’ll be honest. Everyone loves Betty White. Roseanne doesn’t have that same appeal.

Ken Wheaton of Ad Age has one of the two silly Go Daddy.com Super Bowl ads.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that the NHL is not only seeing higher TV ratings, but is also seeing more revenue from corporate sponsorships.

Tanya Irwin of MediaPost’s Marketing Daily notes that the NFL is teaming up with Visa to produce an exclusive Twitter feed for the Super Bowl.

One story that surfaced earlier this week and I wasn’t able to get to it. This comes from Allan Brettman of The Oregonian who points out the conflict of interest of ESPN’s Erin Andrews endorsing Reebok after reporting in the BCS about some problems about Nike shoes.

Katie Thomas of the New York Times now picks up the story and further explores the problems this brings.

Don’t forget last year when ESPN’s Jenn Brown was going to be the spokesperson for Icehouse beer and after Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch pointed out the conflict of interest, the deal was nixed.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes that Fox’s Terry Bradshaw will be excited if he hands the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Green Bay Packers.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Midwest radio powerhouse KMOX is expanding its sports coverage.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the Best and Worst of SoCal’s analysts.

Tom has his extensive media notes.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid provides the very funny postmatch comments by Li Na after the Australian Open women’s final.

Sports Media Watch notes that NASCAR will have later start times for its late season races.

Steve Lepore of Puck the Media has the ten most watched and least watched NHL games on Versus thus far this season.

We’ll end it there for now.

Our NFL Sunday Week 1 Links

With this being the first NFL Sunday of the season, let’s do some linkage.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News notes that with a new NFL season starting, NFL Network’s RedZone has quadrupled its affiliate base from last season.

Mike writes that America is truly a football nation.

The Associated Press reports that CBS NFL Today analyst Shannon Sharpe is the subject of a temporary restraining order 

Chris Berman tells Business Week’s Diane Brady how he almost left ESPN. 

A few links to Pro Football Talk today. First, Mike Florio says record ratings for the NFL season opener should be a warning sign to the Players Association. 

Michael David Smith of PFT notes that the New York Giants won’t be doing Hard Knocks next season or any season.

Michael has video of Dan Hampton apologizing for comments he made on last week’s edition of Pro Football Weekly.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse notes that Fox Sports will go all HD for the NFL meaning you’ll see it in letterbox format if you still have an old school standard def set. 

Wayne Friedman of Mediapost suggests it’s time to abolish the silly NFL blackout rules.

Dr. Gloom and Doom of the New York Post isn’t thrilled about a new NFL season on TV.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says Giants coach Tom Coughlin will be under a heavier media spotlight this season.

Neil Best sighting! Neil Best sighting! From Newsday, we have the best of Neil Best’s blogging from the week. One of these days, we’ll get more from Neil through that dreaded paywall.

Puck The Media’s Steve Lepore writes in SB Nation NY that the Giants will reign supreme in the New York area despite increased buzz on the Jets.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the Australian Open will remain in the ESPN fold for a while.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says the New York Football Giants have bumped the Mets off WFAN today.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News handicaps the NFL on TV this season.

At the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams says the Baltimore Ravens will have a home for its live postgame show … on the web.

Jim goes behind the scenes with NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew.

Alan Binder of the Tuscaloosa (AL) News looks at the huge crowd that turned up Saturday for ESPN’s College Gameday. 

Barry Horn talks with Al Michaels about his 25th season in calling primetime football.

I haven’t linked to Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News in ages. Here’s a story from Jerry about 3-D TV.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN on ABC’s Sean McDonough and Matt Millen did their homework on the Sooners. 

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has one NFL TV analyst feeling the marriage of Bears QB Jay Cutler and offensive coordinator Mike Martz is a bad fit.

Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star Tribune talks with ESPN’s Jenn Brown, not just once, but twice. 

Chad Cripe of the Idaho Statesman says ESPN College Gameday analyst Lee Corso caused an uproar yesterday when he said the show would be visiting Boise in two weeks. ESPN spokesman Mike Humes tweeted me that the site is in consideration.

By the way, Mike announced that this week’s College Gameday will originate from Auburn.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Mike Florio expanding his Pro Football Talk empire.

Matt James of the Fresno Bee says HDTV is beginning to lure people away from the stadium. 

Sports Media Watch has its Weekend Ratings Predictions.

SMW has a few news and notes.

Chris Bryne of Eye on Sports Media was puzzled over a Fox Sports Net college football production.

The great Robert Littal of Black Sports Online notes that the New York Jets apparently made a reporter from Mexico’s TV Azteca (Ines Sainz), cry in the locker room.

Robert follows that up with Sainz tweeting about her experience.

That will do it for us today. Expect NFL pregame quotage later.

Doing Our Tuesday Links

Let’s get some linkage done while I can.

Starting with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who looks at the arrest of Jay “The Rat” Mariotti over the weekend and ESPN’s Jenn Brown endorsing Icehouse Beer.

Rich Rovito of the Business Journal of Milwaukee reports that ESPN has apparently put the kybosh on Brown’s endorsement contract.

Richard tweets that he is not responsible for ESPN nixing the deal. 

Nando Di Fino of the Wall Street Journal looks at the lack of reporters rushing to Mariotti’s defense following last weekend’s arrest on domestic assault charges.

John Ourand from the Sports Business Journal notes that NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol was spotted at Golf Channel headquarters in Orlando leading to speculation that Comcast will tap the Emperor to lead its sports division when it takes over NBC.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry looks at the ESPN/Time Warner Cable dispute. 

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that FoxSoccer.com is expanding its broadband subscription service.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says DirecTV will be offering its Sunday NFL Ticket to non-subscribers on broadband.

John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable says MASN has picked up a carriage agreement in North Carolina, but it’s still not the one it really wants.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine looks at the very good overnight ratings for Sunday’s Vikings-49ers preseason NFL game on NBC.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times says the Mariotti arrest, the Tiger Woods divorce and Jason Whitlock’s LeBron James-like announcement on leaving the Kansas City Star shows the sports media today is in a state of flux.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has the ratings for selected events from the weekend.

Nick Bromberg of Yahoo! Sports advises the IndyCar Series to break away from Versus. 

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says a company matching athletes for simple internet ad campaign is doing quite well.

Darren notes that Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has made about $3 million for the team in the games he pitched.

Mike Hale of the New York Times reviews tonight’s 30 for 30 offering on Michael Jordan’s trek through minor league baseball.

Richard Sandomir of the Times says MLB is searching for the person or persons responsible for leaking classified financial data for several teams. 

Bob Raissman at the New York Daily News feel that it’s about time YES jumped on the Roger Clemens steroids bandwagon.

In SB Nation New York, broadcasting historian David Halberstam lists the top 25 sportscasters in New York.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the WNBA playoffs TV schedule for this week and beyond.

Pete says the ESPN networks will be all over the FIBA World Championships from Turkey.

Laura Nachman says the Philadelphia CBS affiliate is promoting a former Eagle to back up sports anchor.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg looks at the battle of two former DC NFL teammates, Joe Theismann and John Riggins discussing current QB Donovan McNabb.

Mark Story in the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader writes about former Kentucky quarterback and tremendous Cleveland Browns bust Tim Couch becoming an analyst for Fox Sports Net this fall.

Sarah Lundy at the Orlando Sentinel reports that ESPN and Bright House cable are negotiating a new carriage deal.

Mike Bianchi of the Sentinel says now that Tiger Woods divorce from Elin Nordegren is final, sports journalism will never be the same. Thanks to Gail Sideman of the public relations firm, Publiside for the link.

Dave George at the Palm Beach Post says ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is happy to be talking college football.

In the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn has a few thoughts on the Cowboys-Chargers game production from last week.

The Morning News says Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee is brandishing ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd, “a liar”.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron says ESPN’s Craig James and CBS College Sports’ Mike Leach are talking a lot, but not about each other as a lawsuit looms.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has his sports media notebook.

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox has picked up a Reds game for national consumption next month.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business notes that Jay Mariotti’s arrest is driving traffic to various blogs.

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a Big East TV Network could generate significant revenue for the conference.

Warren Gerds of the Green Bay Press Gazette says Aaron Taylor will get increased duties at CBS College Sports this season. 

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Derrick Gold says Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin took a two game leave after a DUI arrest last week.

Dave Noreiga of KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, UT says BYU leaving the Mountain West Conference and becoming an independent hinges on ESPN. 

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an extensive review of tonight’s 30 for 30 documentary.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says last Friday’s Blue Jays game against the Red Sox topped the ratings in Canada. 

Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal says the Oilers have a new play-by-play man.

In the Biz of Baseball, Maury Brown wonders who’s responsible for leaking financial data from several MLB teams.

Maury says a new study shows that independent blogs are the least trusted media sources among sports organizations.

Pete Toms in the Biz of Baseball looks at the importance of Regional Sports Networks to baseball.

Ben Koo of Koo’s Corner examines what happened to sports blogging social media site Ballhype which collapsed this week. A bit of disclosure, Fang’s Bites was a member of Ballhype and I really appreciated the boost it gave me when I joined three years ago.

Deadspin notes that Tiger Woods is back in the media’s good graces again.

A.J Daulerio at Deadspin looks inside the Jay Mariotti arrest.

SportsbyBrooks says Fanhouse has yet to turn off the comments on Mariotti’s archives.

And we’re finished here.

Back to the Linkage Grind

On a very rainy Sunday in the Northeast, let’s give you linkage which you have been sorely missing over the last few days. As you might know, I’ve been at a wedding and got back late on Saturday. I did provide some fresh material while I was gone and I thank Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina for including Fang’s Bites in his A.M. Hot Clicks on Thursday and Friday.

Let’s do the linkage.

A strange story came out of Los Angeles on Saturday and it’s very disturbing. ESPN and Fanhouse blowhard Jay Mariotti, best known as Jay The Rat to Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, was arrested Saturday and eventually released on $50,000 bail following an alleged domestic assault incident involving his girlfriend. Of course, ESPN has no comment, but I would not expect the organization to talk at this point.

According to SportsbyBrooks, this incident could be the death knell for Mariotti’s career at ESPN which was about to take off.

SBB also notes that prior to this alleged incident, Mariotti had been a noted critic of athletes who commit domestic abuse. 

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch tweets that Fanhouse’s editors will continue to monitor the story. We’ll also keep an eye on this story. There are several Mariotti detractors who are privately crowing about this.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says MSG Network’s high school sports channel is expected to go high-def by next year.

Mike also looks at the new carriage agreement between the NFL Network and the National Cable Television Cooperative which could bring the channel to Cablevision, Charter and Suddenlink systems.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred says sometimes the best stories suddenly appear out of thin air.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says this year’s ratings declines should not affect talks between the PGA Tour and its network TV partners, CBS and NBC.

Over to the New York Daily News where Bob Raissman feels Jets holdout Darrelle Revis could find himself on TV should he not sign a contract before the new regular season starts.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is making another preposterous argument.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wonders if ESPN’s Jenn Brown should be endorsing beer.

Press Box notes that the Baltimore Ravens have made an agreement to air their regular season programming on both WBAL Plus and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the Ravens returning to Comcast SportsNet.

Jim talks with Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis about the possibility of forming his own regional sports network.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has a few tidbits from ESPN College Gameday analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

Sarah Talalay from the South Florida Sun Sentinel says the Miami Dolphins are bringing the nightlife experience to fans at whatever its stadium is called this week.

Iliana Limon of the Orlando Sentinel says Conference USA learned from the Mountain West’s mistakes and have plenty of freedom in new rights deals with CBS College Sports and ESPN.

We move to the Dallas Morning News and Barry Horn who talks with former Cowboys coach and current Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmy Johnson about his Survivor experience.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says College Gameday co-horts Herbstreit and Lee Corso agree on which teams will play in the Big 12 Championship.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that ESPN2 among other networks are showing old footage to show the Queen City’s skyline.

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune says filmmaker Ken Burns will take a hard look at the steroids era when he premiere’s his addition to “Baseball” this fall.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at Peyton Manning’s pursuit of Brett Favre’s records as projected by the Indianapolis Star.

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar notes that some local viewers will be able to watch SEC Network games.

Dan writes that a Post-Dispatch colleague no longer has a sports radio talk show gig.

Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times looks at the return of Vin Scully to the Dodgers booth next season.

Steve Friess of LA Weekly has a lengthy story about the late Mike Penner, the Los Angeles Times sports writer who became Christine Daniels and later committed suicide.

Steve also looks at what happened to Daniels’ blog and why the records no longer appear at the Times.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball also has a story on Scully’s return. 

The Sports Media Watch notes that MLB actually beat preseason NFL head-to-head.

SMW has its weekend ratings predictions.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says CBC will air 10 AHL games taking the place of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors which received low ratings.

Over at SB Nation NY, Steve ranks New York’s color analysts.

Joe Favorito says the New York Yankees may be defending MLB champs, but they were really big champions in the local community this past week.

And we’ll end there for now.