Fang's Bites

Back With Monday Links

This past weekend was spent preparing for my sister’s baby shower and then grilling for those in attendance so I was very busy after posting last Friday’s megalinks. My apologies for not being able to blog as I wanted this past weekend, but I do appreciate your patience. Let’s get to the linkage as we have quite a few stories to provide today.

First, USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reports that Fox Sports will unveil their NFL announcing lineup today with a few revamps and reboots, but nothing new in their top three teams.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal notes that talks with potential suitors are heating up on the new Thursday Night Football package.

Dan Rafael of ESPN.com writes that boxer Manny Pacquaio’s next fight will be heading back to HBO after a one bout hiatus to Showtime.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that while the NFL lockout was ongoing, advertisers still continued to buy commercials on the networks showing their confidence that there would be a season.

Over to Kristi Dosh, the SportsBizMiss, in the Business of College Sports who looks at ESPN’s contract for the Longhorn Network.

Dan Fogarty of SportGrid notes that Stephen A. “A is for Anguish” Smith increased his vocal volume over Tiger Woods’ former caddie, Steve Williams jumping for joy over helping Adam Scott win over the weekend.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid has video of yesterday’s NASCAR Countdown pre-race show which was a complete mess.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels college football coaches who ban their team from tweeting are missing the point.

Jim Romanesko at the Poynter Institute has former Los Angeles Times NBA beat writer Mark Heisler writing about how he was laid off from the paper and how he was not too unhappy about it.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN saw its best overnight ratings of the season for Sunday Night Baseball thanks to another Yankees-Red Sox matchup.

Richard Lawler at Engadget says ESPN 3D is doubling its college football schedule from last year.

The Radio & TV Business Report has Westwood One Radio’s NFL announcing crews for this season.

Brian Straight of the Hartford Business Journal writes about the long-standing relationship between ESPN and Bristol, CT.

Joe Brescia from the New York Times speaks with new NFL Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Marshall Faulk.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is not a fan of YES’ Michael Kay.

Phil wants TNT to spill the beans on the Tiger Woods-Charles Barkley split. Like that will ever happen and who really cares?

The New York Daily News’ Gatecrasher tells us that Lifetime (a.k.a. The Network That Hates Men) has pulled the plug on a Serena Williams reality TV project.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette has the transcript and video of caddie Steve Williams’ interview with CBS’ David Feherty following Adam Scott’s win in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner looks at CBS/Showtime’s new reality show on the Army-Navy rivalry.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times feels ESPN’s Merril Hoge may have an agenda against Denver quarterback Tim Tebow.

Stephen F. Holder and Rick Stroud of the Times write that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may fall victim to more local blackouts this season.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business wishes the Bears would take care of their turf.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with Colorado Rockies analyst George Frazier.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this week’s sports calendar.

Tom reviews the incendiary comments Fox Sports Radio’s Tony Bruno made on his Twitter account Friday night as the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies had a full-scale brawl.

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle has Giants manager Bruce Bochy irate over Bruno’s tweet.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail looks at the Canadian sports media battle between giants Rogers and Bell.

Raju Mudhar from the Toronto Star previews Rogers’ entry into the sports magazine market.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says the NFL pregame shows are inundated with Hall of Famers.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

And SMW has more ratings news here.

Joe Favorito has a primer on keeping notes and how they could save you in the long run.

And that is all for today.

LA Laker Pau Gasol To Appear on Lifetime, The Network That Hates Men

In a true first, I’m posting a press release from Lifetime, The Network That Hates Men. Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol will make an appearance on a show fronted by model Heidi Klum. I’ve never heard of the show, but according to the press release that you’re about to read, it apparently does well.

Every time I’ve turned to Lifetime, I get a screen stating, “NO MEN ALLOWED TO WATCH THIS CHANNEL” and I switch away. I get this screen for Oxygen (except when Snapped is on) and whatever Oprah Winfrey calls her abortion of a channel.

Anyway, check out what Gasol will be doing tonight on Lifetime, The Network That Hates Men.

BASKETBALL PLAYER PAU GASOL OF THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS MAKES A GUEST APPEARANCE ON LIFETIME’S SERIOUSLY FUNNY KIDS HOSTED BY HEIDI KLUM ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8 AT 9PM ET/PT

Friday, February 7, 2011 – Tomorrow on an all-new episode of Seriously Funny Kids, Heidi Klum makes dreams come true when she surprises the ultimate Laker fan, a young boy named Tobey, with a meeting with his idol, Pau Gasol. Tobey goes on to give Pau some tips on how to improve his game.

In the same episode, Heidi tries to convince two kids she is a 6-year-old named Helga and also re-enacts a scene from Gone with the Wind with a pint-sized Rhett Butler. The episode, entitled “Laker Idol,” airs at 9pm ET/PT on Lifetime.

Then at 9:30pm ET/PT, in an episode entitled “Klumosauraus Rex,” host Heidi Klum talks to kids about poop, shows a little girl how to model with a dog cone around her head and gets a therapy session from a young boy.

ABOUT SERIOUSLY FUNNY KIDS

Seriously Funny Kids features supermodel and supermom Heidi Klum as she interacts with children to bring out the hilarious and often insightful things they say, giving viewers a fun and refreshing look into the unbelievable window of child development and how our future generation sees the world. Lifetime has ordered 20 half-hour episodes of the program.

The series premiered on Tuesday, February 1 and posted triple digit growth in multiple demographics versus their February 2010 time period averages.  Seriously Funny Kids averaged 582,000 Adults 18-49 viewers, up +97% compared to the February 2010 time period average.  It also averaged 554,000 Adults 25-54 viewers (+79%), 464,000 Women 18-49 viewers (+118%), 427,000 Women 25-54 viewers (+82%) and 1.1 million Total Viewers (+26%).  At 9:30, Seriously Funny Kids averaged 574,000 Adults 18-49 viewers (+97 vs. February 2010); 560,000 Adults 25-54 viewers (+85%), 460,000 Women 18-49 viewers (+117%); 429,000 Women 25-54 viewers (+86); and 1.1 million Total Viewers (+21%).

And there you have it.

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