Fang's Bites

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.

Turner Sports Statement On The NBA Lockout

With the cancellation of the first two weeks of the regular season and the loss of 18 nationally televised games on ESPN, NBA TV and TNT, the NBA’s TV partners will now have to look for replacement programming. As we noted yesterday, ABC, ESPN and TNT will lose ad revenue in the wake of its highest rated postseason in the spring.

Turner Sports has issued a statement on the cancellation of six games on TNT in the first two weeks of the regular season:

Turner Sports NBA Lockout Statement:
Like NBA fans our hope is that a favorable resolution is reached for both sides. We believe in the strength of the NBA brand and hope for an outcome that preserves as much of the 2011-12 season as possible.

Right now, Turner is in a holding pattern. Being the operator of NBA TV and producing games for TNT, this is a big hit. We’ll see how long this goes and what type of hit the NBA takes in losing games for possibly the entire 2011-12 season.

BREAKING NEWS: NBA Cancels 1st Two Weeks of 2011-12 Regular Season

Just announced by NBA Commissioner David Stern, the league has canceled the first two weeks of the regular season after it could not reach an agreement with the NBA Players Association. The two sides had been negotiating throughout the weekend but according to CNBC’s Darren Rovell, are still far apart.

This marks the second time the NBA has canceled regular season games. Back in 1998-99, the NBA lost half of its season due to a lockout that lasted into January.

Stern is threatening to cut more games the longer the impasse between the league and the players union continues.

The league has issued the following statement:

“Like all NBA fans, we’re disappointed the season will not start on time. We remain hopeful this will get resolved quickly.”

Players Association President Derek Fisher says:

“I continue to believe that we’ve been more than fair and reasonable in our approach.

“We’ve been more than fair and reasonable. To be here at this point is disappointing, but this is what we anticipated.

“This is not just about dollars and cents for players. It’s about a system for our guys to operate under.”

The cancellation particularly effects league TV partners ESPN, NBA TV and TNT as all three had previously announced their schedules.

Here are the nationally televised games that have been lost thus far.

GAMES LOST TO THE LOCKOUT

ESPN

NBA TV

TNT

We’ll hear more on Tuesday and I’ll link to the stories as they come in.

Friday Megalinks Or The Return of Linkage

Due to being at jobsites for the last few days, I haven’t been able post links like I’ve wanted to. I apologize for that. I have tried to be diligent in updating as much as I can.

I have quite a bit to catch up with. I may be a blogging machine as I have to post a lot of things today. Plus, I to get ready to head to New York tomorrow for Blogs with Balls 4 so I’m going to be quite busy. Let’s get to the linkage.

But first, there’s always the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment planning.

National

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal writes that ESPN will do everything it can to head off NBC/Versus at the pass.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch asks if sports broadcasting and politics should mix?

Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press says the Big 12′s TV contracts helped to keep the conference together for now.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog notes that among various TV programming, sports in primetime continues to do well.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy talks with CBS/WFAN/Westwood One’s Boomer Esiason on how the NFL should investigate the Dallas Cowboys’ medical staff for clearing Tony Romo to play last Sunday.

Mike says ESPN is denying any responsibility for the recent college football chaos and says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have anything to do with it. I think Texas A&M, Missouri and other Big 12 schools would beg to differ.

Bob Velin of USA Today writes that CBS’ 48 Hours Mystery program will investigate the mysterious and unsettling death of boxer Arturo Gatti.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand of USA Today debate whether schools or TV wield the power in college sports.

John Taylor of College Football Talk writes that Brett Favre gets his first taste of being an analyst next week for CSS.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that the FCC has ruled that Cablevision-owned MSG Network cannot withhold its HD signal to other cable providers violating program-access rules.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that YES received its second highest rating ever for the American League East Division clinching game this week.

Mike says Golf Channel and NBC Sports are teaming up for a promotion to give a lucky viewer of “The Big Break” a chance to win a trip to see Notre Dame play in Ireland next year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says the NFL has pulled an ad for its fantasy football product which used a picture of Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles after he was injured last week.

David Lieberman of Deadline reports that Time Warner Cable is planning to offer a low cost tier that will not include ESPN in the lineup.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown calling Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones something else.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the sixth and perhaps final installment of New Era’s Yankees-Red Sox Alec Baldwin-John Kraskinski ads. They have been quite good. This latest one may have taken it a bit too far.

Also from SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty reviews the ESPN Films documentary “Catching Hell”, on Steve Bartman and the 2003 Chicago Cubs.

Sports Media Watch talks with the crew of ESPN’s College GameDay.

SMW says despite being on tape delay, Fox drew a decent audience for its first English Premier League game on Sunday.

SMW notes that the ratings for CBS’ 2nd game of its NFL doubleheader dropped from last year.

SMW says the NBA lockout has forced the cancellation of the start of training camp and over 40 preseason games.

And SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito looks at one imaginative marketing campaign that helped Eye Black this week.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews “Moneyball.”

Darren has some interesting facts on sports participation in America.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group looks at how CBS Sports Network was able to bring the Tim Brando Show into a TV simulcast from his base in Shreveport, LA.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has this week’s network TV on-screen typos.

Ben Koo from AA says tomorrow is when Gus Johnson and FX get their real grand opening in college football.

At The Stir, Maressa Brown feels ESPN’s Erin Andrews is unqualified to demonstrate CrossFit.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that WEEI’s Glenn Ordway has suffered a rather severe pay cut due to lower ratings for his afternoon drive show.

At SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at a busy week in local sports media news.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Dale Arnold is pleased to be back with NESN after leaving in 2007.

Lang Whitaker and Ian Lovett of the New York Times give us an inside look at DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel and NFL Network’s RedZone.

John Jeansonne of Newsday reviews ESPN Films’ documentary on transgendered tennis player Renee Richards.

Newsday’s Neil Best says fans seem to be buying into the New York Islanders’ future.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post has news that some Time Warner Cable subscribers have been waiting for, that the company appears to be close to a carriage agreement with NFL Network.

Phil Mushnick at the Post can’t stand ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Justin Terranova of the Post says last month’s Russian plane crash that killed 44 members of the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl really hit home for MSG Network analyst Joe Micheletti.

And Justin has five questions for Joe.

Lou Lumenick of the Post says “Moneyball” is one of the best baseball movies of all-time.

I’ll break my self-imposed embargo on the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman for a week for this story on the Yankees’ radio rights which are in flux and so are the fates of broadcasters John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that MSG Network has named Steve Cangialosi to replace Mike “Doc” Emrick on New Jersey Devils games.

And Pete talks with Steve about his new gig.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is not a fan of a new local sports talk show host.

Ken notes that NBC Sports is extending its “Summer at Saratoga” series for at least two more years.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has announced its Capitals and Wizards schedules.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the college football conference merry-go-round could have some legal ramifications.

Jim says the ratings for the NFL in both Baltimore and Washington were very strong.

South

In the Miami Herald, Joseph Goodman notes the irony of ESPN possibly saving college football from massive chaos.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel catches up with ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer.

Jeff Sentell of the Birmingham (AL) News says ESPN is not ponying up to air high school games from the region.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that an Astros broadcaster is celebrating 25 years with the club.

David asks readers if they find the idea of the Longhorn Network offensive.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says an Oklahoma State wide receiver will be profiled on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Midwest

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says Cleveland MLB team radio voice Mike Hegan is leaving he broadcast after this season.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Reds voice Marty Brennaman can’t campaign on-air for his former partner Joe Nuxhall for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award.

Micahel Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press wonders why the DirecTV/NBC series “Friday Night Lights” didn’t do better in the ratings.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says actor Brad Pitt saw “Moneyball” as a compelling story.

Bob says the Green Bay Packers will be showcased aplenty in the late afternoon window on both CBS and Fox this season.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship failed to draw viewers away from the NFL on Sunday.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with WMAQ-TV sports anchor Paula Ferris.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders why Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been missing of late.

Kevin Haskin of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes that CBS Sports Network was in town to air an NCAA Division II football game this week.

West

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Big Ten Network won’t allow the local Cox system to pick up Saturday’s San Diego State-Michigan game on a one-time only basis.

The North County Times’ John Maffei writes that unless fans can find a sports bar, they’ll have to listen to San Diego State on the radio.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star says it’s too bad Southern California couldn’t see the end of the exciting Oakland-Buffalo game due to silly NFL rules.

Jim says HBO will replay last Saturday’s controversial Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says a bankruptcy court has given the Dodgers permission to change their flagship radio station for next season.

Tom says the NFL secondary market rule needs to be changed.

Tom also has a few notes that he couldn’t get into his Friday column.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News looks at the Pac-12′s decision to stand pat, TV’s role in the whole thing and where BYU may be headed.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s P.J. Stock is regretting his initial comments on Wade Belak’s death.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog is not so fast to forgive P.J.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that CBC has made some additions to its Hockey Night in Canada crew.

And there you have it for your links today.

The Recovering After Irene Links

Yesterday at 8:30 a.m., I lost power at my house and as of this post, I still don’t have it. The northern part of my town has power, but I live in the southern part and there’s nothing. That’s not good. And RI did not get hit that hard by Irene so I don’t know how we could lose power for so long. Anyway, it appears that my office never lost electricity as the clocks appear to be on time so I’m blogging from work. Hopefully, I won’t be without power for that long.

Here are your links.

Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal writes that UPS and MillerCoors are looking to become very aggressive sponsors of college sports.

Eric Fisher of SBJ says a new site has launched to cover digital fan marketing.

Terry Lefton of SBJ speaks with a sports marketer who believes stadium naming rights work.

Mimi Turner of the Hollywood Reporter says the BBC will air every hour of every single event at the 2012 London Olympics. That’s quite ambitious.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says with Hurricane Irene out of the way, New York can focus on the U.S. Open for the next two weeks.

Mike says Tennis Channel will reach 50 million homes for the Open.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride from the Poynter Institute says there’s nothing wrong with ESPN airing the Little League World Series to which I ask her, are you crazy?

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says reporting on suicides and speculating why they happen as in the case of former Baltimore Orioles pitcher and broadcaster Mike Flanagan demonstrate the need for due diligence by news organizations.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says a short two days after Vin Scully announced his return to the Dodgers, so did Spanish voice Jaime Jarrin.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that Houston Texan RB Arian Foster is not a fan of ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowhack. Really, who is?

Zombie Journalism has a problem with ESPN’s social networking policy that bans its reporters from breaking news on Twitter.

TMZ reports that wrestler Ric Flair is contemplating a lawsuit against Captain Blowhard-led Grantland.com for a long article on him that was published last week.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir speaks with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck about his ailing voice.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick decides that he’s a man of the people, which probably couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with CBS college football host Tim Brando about his radio show being aired on CBS Sports Network.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks at the weekend in sports television including a poor local broadcast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason games.

Sean Pendergast in the Houston Press says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have enough content to be successful.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s Chris Spielman picks Wisconsin to win the Big Ten title.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar writes that Missouri’s new football analyst has a football background, but also one in intelligence. As in CIA. Yup.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post is amazed at the media controversy swirling around Broncos third-string quarterback Tim Tebow.

Andrew Malcolm from the Los Angeles Times says ESPN has warned golf analyst Paul Azinger over his tweet criticizing President Obama.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News speaks with Olympic swimmer Janet Evans who turned 40 on Sunday. Wow.

Tom writes about Dodgers Spanish broadcaster Jaime Jarrin’s return for next year.

Tom also has your sports calendar for this week.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says the lockout doesn’t seem to be effecting the NBA.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail advises us not to look for Rogers Sportsnet to wrest the CFL rights away from TSN in the next bidding.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog says the Maple Leafs are close to hiring a new announcer.

Sox & Dawgs has a look at the UConn Radio Network for the 2011-12 season.

Mike Shields at DigiDay notes that ESPN’s College GameDay will really sink its teeth into social networking this season.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing is critical of the ESPN Ombudsman for letting ESPN off the hook for airing the Little League World Series.

Joe Favorito feels the World Fire and Police Games taking place in New York are brand and activation opportunities for potential sponsors.

And lastly, here’s a video I made last night driving down the main road of my town showing how dark it was. Definitely no fun without power.

That’s all. Back later.

The Friday Night Megalinks

I’ve been to Newton, MA and back, South Kingstown, RI and back and all over my hometown of North Kingstown, RI and all of this today. It’s time to do the megalinks and get them all done in one sitting.

There’s the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment programming.

National

Sports Business Daily goes over the UFC/Fox agreement that will put four live MMA events on network TV and plenty of ancillary programming on Fox’s cable networks.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that Fox Sports Media Group El Presidente Por Vida David Hill has done an about face on airing Mixed Martial Arts.

Sergio Non of USA Today writes that UFC will revamp its shows when they move from Spike and Versus to Fox’s networks.

Sergio has those who will take part in the first UFC on Fox card in November.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that the success of the UFC on Fox all depends on whether the sport can have a breakout star.

Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! says UFC President Dana White couldn’t be happier in making this deal with Fox.

Also from Yahoo!, Kevin Iole says it will be the fighters who will benefit the most from the new UFC on Fox contract.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser has Spike announcing that the new season of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter will be the last on its airwaves, naturally.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek looks into the particulars of the UFC on Fox deal.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that the Fox contract gives UFC some instant mainstream credibility.

There will be more UFC on Fox stories sprinkled throughout the megalinks. Let’s move on to other stories now.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman wonders if Showtime’s “The Franchise” is bringing down the San Francisco Giants this season.

Georg Szalai of the Reporter reports that Comcast has withdrawn a lawsuit against DirecTV over an ad campaign for NFL Sunday Ticket.

David Goetzl of MediaPost notes that DirecTV plans to expand its fantasy offerings for NFL Sunday Ticket.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at Versus/NBC Sports Network’s new exclusive NHL night in the first year of its new 10 year contract with the league.

Andrew McMains of Adweek looks at a new inspiring web video produced for the US Olympic Committee.

All Access says the ESPN Radio affiliate in Minnesota’s Twin Cities has chosen the hosts for its midday show.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy explores which teams won and lost in the new NHL TV schedules.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser writes that former voice of the North Carolina Tar Heels, Woody Durham, will be honored for his contributions to college football.

The Big Lead wonders if Jay Bilas is the most respected voice at ESPN.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid investigates how former 2 Live Crew leader Luther Campbell managed to appear to appear on the Dan Patrick Show and the Colin Cowherd Show at the same time.

And Tim presents the Atlanta Braves’ Shake Cam and how it can make fans a bit too excited.

Sports Media Watch says the U-20 World Cup is scoring for Galavision.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has a look at some interesting sports media typos.

Matt shows us how the Baseball Tonight crew had trouble demonstrating its new touchscreen.

Joe Favorito looks at what’s new with professional lacrosse.

Patrick Stafford of Smart Company in Australia speaks with the owner of Footytips.com about how he sold his site to ESPN.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says the limited classic programming on NBA TV during the current league lockout can only take the channel so far.

Sox & Dawgs has the video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy wearing chicken hats in the booth.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes on how regional sports networks have increasing power and money to be a game changer for some professional teams.

Richard looks at the UFC on Fox deal that puts Mixed Martial Arts into the mainstream.

Dan Levin from the Times has a good story on how some athletes in Communist China are trying to buck their archaic system.

Mark DeCambre of the New York Post notes that the new Meadowlands Stadium now will have a sponsor when the new NFL season begins.

Justin Terranova in the Post looks at how Fordham University was a training ground for several NYC announcers.

Justin has five questions for SNY Jets analyst Anthony Becht.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes about Fox signing UFC for seven years.

Pete says local sports anchor Andrew Catalon’s call of tonight’s Browns-Lions game will be seen on NFL Network this weekend.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio station will air a full high school football schedule.

Ken says the NBC Sports Group is increasing its commitment to horse racing this fall.

And Ken writes that a new local sports radio talk show will be debuting soon.

To Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record who says the New York Rangers will be featured extensively on the national NHL TV schedules.

Crossing Broad has the audio of Philadelphia’s sports radio station WIP announcement that it’s taking over WYSP’s FM frequency killing off a heritage rock station.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News says ‘YSP staffers were melancholy about CBS Radio’s announcement killing off the station.

Jeff Wolfe of the Delaware County Times writes about WIP’s displacement of WYSP just as the rocker’s ratings were increasing.

Mike White in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says two local high school games hit the ESPN family of networks this fall.

Shelly Anderson of the Post-Gazette says the Penguins TV announcing crew will return for another season.

In the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik explains where Ravens fans can find the team on TV and radio.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that the Ravens did extremely well in the ratings in both Baltimore and Washington, DC in their NFL preseason opener.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with DC NFL Team radio voice Larry Michael.

And Jim writes that the Washington Capitals will have plenty of appearances on NBC/Versus (NBC Sports Network).

Mike Madden in the Washington City Paper says the local sports anchor is becoming a thing of the past.

Keith Loria of the Fairfax (VA) Times says native Lindsay Czarniak is about to make her debut on ESPN.

South

The Charleston (WV) Gazette notes that Root Sports Pittsburgh will carry some West Virginia and Marshall programming.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Bob Griese will be joining the Miami Dolphins radio broadcast team replacing the late Jim Mandich.

Andy Kent of the Miami Dolphins website has Griese’s thoughts about joining the broadcast team and also sharing thoughts about Mandich.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has some thoughts on the UFC/Fox deal, the Little League World Series on TV and CBS’ production of the PGA Championship.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says Yahoo! Sports does a better job of investigating college sports than the NCAA.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that Saturday’s US National Gymnastics championships get a network primetime slot.

Mike Finger and Brent Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News says the Longhorn Network hasn’t given up on airing high school football games in one form or another.

The Daily Oklahoman’s Mel Bracht looks at UFC getting a big payday from Fox.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with NBC’s Cris Collinsworth who’s going into his third season as Sunday Night Football analyst.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal now knows why DirecTV was so willing to give him a free subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket after learning that the service will be offered to Sony Playstation 3 owners.

The Grand Rapids (MI) Press’ Michael Zuidema notes that a Big Ten Network analyst feels Nebraska is a perfect fit for the conference.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is amazed at ESPN’s ever-expanding army of NFL analysts and mountain of NFL programming.

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

Scott Dochterman in the Iowa City Gazette says NFL Network has picked up Mediacom for cable subscribers in the Hawkeye State.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says it’s not known which network will air the October 15th contest between BYU and Oregon State.

Dick Harmon of the Deseret (UT) News speaks with BYUtv’s Executive Director in a lengthy interview. Part I of which is here. Read Part II here.

Larry Bohannan at the Desert (CA) Sun says there’s evidence of not much live golf shown in a PGA Tour telecast.

John Maffei of the North County Times weighs the pros and cons of airing the Little League World Series.

In the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle looks at the contrasting opinions that John and Patrick McEnroe had on the state of American tennis on HBO’s Real Sports this week.

Jim explores the UFC on Fox deal.

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times says Fox paid a pretty penny to get UFC into the fold.

Meg James of the Times also writes about the UFC on Fox deal.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says when it came down to it, Fox didn’t have much of a choice but to sign UFC.

Tom says one sidebar to the UFC on Fox deal is the fact that Fox Sports Radio will also air MMA events.

Tom writes that former Dodgers radio voice Ross Porter has found his latest gig, calling high school sports online.

Canada

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin feels TSN Radio isn’t getting the job done.

The Winnipeg Free Press notes that the Jets will get 22 games aired on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

And the number of links today are hearken back to the first two years of this blog. Lots of links. That’s it.

Let’s Do Some Thursday Linkage

Today is going to be a busy day with the UFC on Fox press conference and the NHL TV schedule announcement. I figure now would be a good time to linkage and I hope I don’t get interrupted here at work.

The big news that broke late yesterday was DirecTV announcing that it would offer its NFL Sunday Ticket package to Sony Playstation 3 platforms. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that the package will be offered to both non and current DirecTV subscribers.

In Sony’s official Playstation 3 blog, Philip Rosenberg explains what Playstation fans will see with the NFL Sunday Ticket offering.

Kari Lipschutz of Adweek tells us what this move means for Playstation owners.

CBS Radio continues to kill off its heritage rock stations and flip them to FM sports. It killed off rock stations in Boston and Cleveland in favor of new FM sports stations. Today’s it’s Philadelphia’s turn as long-time rocker WYSP will go by the wayside for a simulcast of WIP which was the 2nd station in the country after WFAN to go all-sports. All Access says the flip to sports will occur after Labor Day.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News has the full details of the format change.

The Crossing Broad blog provides its reaction to the move.

The 700 Level analyzes what this all means for the Philly sports fan.

Back to Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds writes that the University of Hawaii will launch its own regional sports network on Friday, beating the Longhorn Network’s launch by a week.

Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com says a big payday for the Big East’s TV contract could lead to major changes in the conference.

The LPGA has announced that it’s hired long-time Golf Channel anchor Kraig Kann as its chief communications officer.

Bob Cook at Forbes.com detests ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group says the New York Jets will add a 1st and 10 line to its in-house game productions.

At SportsGrid, Timothy Burke has the audio of USA Today’s Danny Sheridan backing off a promise to name the money provider in the Cam Newton scandal and then he attacked bloggers. Not a good way to go, Danny.

To CNBC’s Darren Rovell who wonders why the NFL Players Association settled for as little as it did with the NFL.

At the Business of College Sports, the SportsBizMiss, Kristi Dosh goes over why the SEC did not formally invite Texas A&M to join its conference.

Tim Walker of the Independent in the UK explores the launch of ESPN.com’s Grantland and praises the site.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says former WEEI personality Pete Sheppard resumes his duties at Patriots.com next month.

Joe Drape at the New York Times says NBC Sports will air horse racing from the Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky in October.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has a look at the ACC Network schedule.

Laura Nachman notes that Vince Papale won’t be hosting Eagles Confidential this season.

Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that Root Sports will change its night for high school football programming where it can show most of it live.

Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wants to know who should be added to the Miami Dolphins radio broadcast team.

Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes that the Grizzlies will be changing radio stations when the NBA returns from lockout.

B.J. Bethel of the Dayton Daily News says ESPN is part of the problem with college football.

James Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press says Lions fans won’t be heckling Matt Millen as he’s been taken off ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown show.

The Holland (MI) Sentinel reports that Fox Sports Detroit will increase its high school football coverage this fall.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network will air the 2010 Packers edition of America’s Game the night before the NFL regular season opener.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business notes that a new book on the late Walter Payton will be published in October.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reviews an HBO Real Sports segment comparing and contrasting the Brothers McEnroe’s opinions on how to revive American tennis.

Tom talks with two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Danielle Kang.

Gary Lycan of the Orange County Register writes about the New York Jets being heard on Southern California radio this season.

Sports Media Watch notes that the first preseason Monday Night Football game received lower ratings from last year’s opener.

SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito wonders if the NBA’s D-League can benefit from the NBA lockout.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing looks at ESPN’s reluctance to cover the Miami payment scandal that was uncovered by Yahoo! Sports this week.

Scott Christ at Bad Left Hook takes a look at boxing’s TV ratings this year to date.

I’m going to end the links there. It’s going to be a busy day here. Keep your RSS and Twitter feeds updated. The posts could get fast and furious this afternoon.

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.

A Quiet Wednesday Linkfest

Was out of the office again earlier today so I’m getting to these rather late. Let’s look at what we have today.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says the new CBS Sports/Showtime documentary on this year’s Army-Navy football game will have touches of reality TV.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal and ESPN bloviator Skippy Bayless are throwing insults at each other.

At the Hollywood Reporter, Carolyn Giardina and Adrian Pennington report that at least 10 Olympic venues in London are expected to get the 3-D TV treatment. About 16 people in the US will be able to watch that.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN will make its news feeds available to the Pulse mobile app.

Gregg Rosenthal at Pro Football Talk cites a Phil Mushnick report that the man who helped ruin the Cleveland Browns, Eric Manmoron Mangini will be an ESPN NFL analyst this season.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggan of the St. Petersburg Times previews the ESPN Films documentary on the real-life Rocky Balboa who got his shot at the championship.

Lauren Indvik of Mashable looks at how Sports Illustrated is on top of digital technology by publishing a tablet edition of its magazine.

In SportsNewser, Marcus Vanderberg talks with Bomani Jones about the end of his morning show at The Score on Sirius Satellite Radio in Canada.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser tells us to get ready for the NASCAR-themed drama “Tits in the Pits”. You can’t make this shit up.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Merril Hoge took to Twitter to say that Tim Tebow isn’t going to be a good NFL quarterback.

Former Boston Sports Media Watch blogger David Scott writes in ESPN’s Front Row about the Alleged Worldwide Leader breaking ground on a new building and pledging to create an additional 200-800 new jobs in Connecticut over the next five years.

Kristi Dosh, the SportsBizMiss, of the Business of College Sports tries to predict the future and creates four potential BCS “Superconferences” out of the remains of the Big 12 and the Big East.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that video game manufacturer EA Sports could stand to lose one billion dollars if a lawsuit by college athletes goes against it.

Darren talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about the league’s upcoming regional sports networks.

And Darren looks at a new venture that could bring fans closer to their favorite athletes by consolidating social media and personal websites into one site.

John Talty of the International Business Times writes that the NBA lockout won’t be much of a drain on the economy, only to the league’s fans.

Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal writes about the Big East Conference looking forward to a potential huge media rights payday in two years.

Kevin says Big East Commissioner John Marinatto is denying reports that the conference may have to drop a few schools in order to get big TV money.

Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant says the next TV negotiations for the Big East will be the league’s most important in its history.

Mara Lee of the Courant talks about ESPN’s planned expansion in Connecticut.

JC Reindl of the Day of New London (CT) writes that Connecticut came up with plenty of tax breaks so ESPN could expand its Bristol headquarters.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times writes that despite conventional wisdom, the Big East is a big player in college sports.

Lenn Robbins of the New York Post says a lucrative TV contract will ensure the Big East’s success in the long term.

Sean Daly of the Post says NBC is really going after ESPN with its rebranding of Versus.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the winner of SNY’s Kidcaster contest got to call a Mets home run last night.

Neil says ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is now downplaying reports that overzealous Ohio State fans forced him to move from his native Columbus to Tennessee.

Neil writes that there appears to be a cease fire between WFAN’s Mike Francesa and the New York Jets.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says two local radio stations will pick up Compass Media’s NFL schedule this fall.

Ken says this month’s US Open tennis coverage will be divided among three networks again.

And Ken has the preliminary Westwood One Radio NFL schedule for the first six weeks of the season.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner says the NFL and the league’s Players Association may not be done negotiating yet.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes previews from Sports Illustrated’s Peter King and ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd on the DC NFL Team.

Bridget Cary of the Miami Herald says ESPN Deportes Radio is changing stations to get a better signal in South Florida.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local ratings from the weekend.

Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman says the Longhorn Network has made Texas untouchable to other BCS conferences.

Jim Thomas of the Canton (OH) Repository profiles local native Dan Dierdorf on his second career as an NFL analyst.

Shane Hoover of the Repository notes that the NFL continues to find new fans via social and new media.

Steve Ballard of the Indianapolis Star notes that Sunday’s Brickyard 400 scored for ESPN.

David Brauer of MinnPost says the Twin Cities’ ESPN Radio affiliate is pulling Colin Cowherd and inserting a local talk show in his place.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says it’s not known if the NHL’s marriage to Versus will pay off in the long run.

To the Biz of Baseball and Maury Brown who reports that one section of Ohio that was hit with blackouts of the Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburgh Pirates won’t be blacked out anymore.

Larry Brown Sports has former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach sticking up for suspended ESPN.com writer Bruce Feldman on Fox Sports Radio last night.

The Days of Y’Orr Boston Bruins blog notes the creation of a new Jack Edwards soundboard. It’s tremendous.

Kissing Suzy Kolber notes that ESPN’s sponsored segments are getting a bit out of hand.

Melina Travis of Pro Sports Communications talks about the power of sports documentaries.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead wonders if the Big East has any juice with fans.

Awful Announcing kicks around some ideas for the next batch of ESPN Films documentaries.

We have a lot of links today. That’s good for you. I’ll be back later tonight.

Unveiling The Wednesday Links For You

On Tuesday, I did the links in the evening, but today, the linkage is coming out early. Let’s get to them.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Fox plans to use its college football sideline reporter more as an analyst on the field, rather than give injury updates.

To the Wall Street Journal where Sam Schechner and Alexandra Berzon write about poker programming falling off TV due to the recent Fed crackdown of offsite gambling sites.

The Sports Biz Miss, Kristi Dosh, writes in Forbes that the settlement of the NFL lockout does not bode well for the NBA players in their dispute with the league.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that former Access Hollywood and Insider host (and Betsy admirer) Pat O’Brien returns to CBS as the host of a new poker series. Pat used to be NBA, MLB and Olympics host for CBS Sports a long, long time ago. I think he’s better known now for his entertainment work than his sports career.

Cam writes that BBC Sport has posted a rather extensive online viewing guide for the 2012 London Olympics.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable has Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban being bullish on cable saying it’s the best way to distribute video rather than the internet.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says Universal Sports, which is now available on DirecTV, is airing “One Year To Go” programming as we’re now a year away from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Ki Mae Heussner from Adweek says ESPN’s Erin Andrews was among those taking part in an event hosted by Marie Claire magazine.

Tim Nudd at Adweek looks at the State of MLS as it hits its All-Star Game tonight.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of the controversial ending between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates in the 19th inning.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group notes that ESPN.com has reworked its video player to stream 720p clips.

At Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog, Jay Busbee has ESPN’s NASCAR crew telling Dale Earnhardt, Jr. that it’s time to be a man.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN is all over football right now even though baseball is approaching one of its busier times of the season.

Awful Announcing is now at the finals of its Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament. Finalists might surprise you.

All Access says ESPN Deportes Radio has picked up another affiliate, this time in South Florida.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times the victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme are now focusing on the Mets ownership and what they knew of Madoff’s shenanigans and when they knew it.

Tom Spousta of the Times notes that Texas’ rivals in the Big 12 are seeing more than burnt orange in regards to the Longhorn Network.

Pete Tobey at the Glen Falls (NY) Post-Star says local native Dave Strader is leaving his Phoenix Coyotes post to work for the NHL on NBC/Versus.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says CBS Radio is making a hard charge at the Pittsburgh Pirates rights as Clear Channel tries to hold onto them.

Fox Sports Southwest has formally announced that Friday nights will be devoted to high school football programming.

Brent Zwerneman at the Houston Chronicle notes that the Big 12 has called a meeting on what to do about the Longhorn Network.

Steve Watkins of the Cincinnati Business Courier says Fox Sports Ohio is offering some online features as a companion to its Reds game broadcasts.

Robert Feder at TimeOut Chicago says NBC Chicago has hired the replacement for the late Daryl Hawks on its sports staff.

Vahe Gregorian at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Big 12 hierarchy is feeling that the issues surrounding Longhorn Network can be fixed.

Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star says a switching error caused the Royals-Red Sox extra inning game to go off the air on Fox Sports Kansas City late Monday night and a streetball program to go on briefly its place.

Chris Dufrense of the Los Angeles Times says Pac-12 schools remain euphoric about their $3 billion media rights contract with ESPN and Fox, but there are still some issues that hang over the conference.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News caught up with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and spoke with him about several issues facing the league.

Robert Collias of the Maui (HI) News reports that NBC golf analyst Mark Rolfing is sounding off after being dropped as the Executive Director of a PGA Tour stop.

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Rogers Sportsnet has purchased Setanta Sports Canada and will rebrand the channel under the Sportsnet name.

Erik Spanberg from Scene Daily has ESPN being hopeful that the upward trend on NASCAR’s TV ratings continue as it takes over the Sprint Cup schedule for the rest of the season.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

The Business Insider Sports Page has its suggestions as who should be cause in the ESPN Book movie.

And I’m done with the links for now.

Some Tuesday Night Links

Today was just too busy as I was in between two offices and had to run errands for most of the day. I apologize for not bringing these links earlier, but I do have time now so let’s get to them.

Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that the NCAA is now looking into the viability of the Longhorn Network.

John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal says despite the lockout, ad sales for NFL games on the league’s TV partners are going very well.

Wayne Friedman at MediaPost notes that the best place for marketers to reach young males is the NFL and advertisers are very happy the lockout is done.

Mike Fleming at Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has apparently optioned a script for a movie version of the James Arthur Miller/Tom Shales book, “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World At ESPN.”

Jon Lafayette from Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL’s TV partners could not be happier to see the end of the lockout.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News tells us that NASCAR.com’s free Sprint Cup online app will be used to showcase three Nationwide Series races for the first time.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine advises marketers that it’s not early to think about next year’s NFL Draft to reach potential clients.

Jason Fry at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center gives five good tips on Twitter as the service turns five years old.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach was denied a press credential at the Big 12 Media Days on Monday.

The Big Lead speaks with HBO Sports documentary writer Aaron Cohen about his latest project, the Derek Jeter 3K project.

Gracie Blackburn of ESPN Front Row looks at the SEC football coaches going through what’s known as the ESPN “Car Wash”.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group writes about TV production trucks ready to head to NFL stadiums now that the lockout is over.

The great Darren Rovell of CNBC notes that the fans never really counted in the NFL lockout.

Yesterday, a lot of blogs and sites embedded this video from the Evolution of Dance guy like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. First, I hate the Evolution of Dance guy. I never liked his videos. I never thought they were good or funny. Then ESPN hired him to make a video of Evolution of Football Dances. I watched it for 20 seconds before I tried to rip the screen off my laptop. If you’re a fan, fine. Leave me out of it. The Evolution of Dance guy (whom I can’t bring to call by name) needs to fall off a cliff.

Eric Rueb of Rhode Island Central says WPRI-TV, a station where I used to work, recreated moments of a local golf tournament and represented them as fact, a clear journalism ethics violation. I embed the offending video below.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the NFL has now set the preseason schedule in stone and has given NBC a new game to air in the wake of losing the Hall of Fame Game.

To Eric Deggans at the St. Petersburg Times says the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers TV contract might be a harbinger of things to come for the team.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Conference USA has announced its TV schedule for this football season.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the NCAA will meet next month to discuss the Longhorn Network and other institutional-backed TV channels airing high school football games.

Mike Finger of the Chronicle says the Longhorn Network was a big topic of discussion at the Big 12 Media Days.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that MLB Network will air a Reds-centric documentary this weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NFL Network will show a documentary honoring NFL Films founder Ed Sabol as he enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame next week.

Dave Strader, outgoing TV voice of the Phoenix Coyotes, tells the fans that he’s leaving for NBC/Versus.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has a happy final update on Vin Scully’s Star on the Walk of Fame.

Scott Collins at the Los Angeles Times says the networks and marketers are pleased as punch to get the NFL back.

Sajid Farooq of NBC Bay Area says the San Francisco 49ers have signed an extension with their current radio flagship station.

Jon Gudel of the Elk Grove (CA) Citizen notes that ESPN will be in town to air a local high school football game in the fall.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that CTV has announced some of its announcer lineup for next year’s 2012 London Summer Olympics.

Sports Media Watch looks at some ratings news and notes.

Paddock Talk explores ESPN’s return to NASCAR with the Brickyard 400 this Sunday.

And that’s going to wrap up our linkage for this evening. Thanks for your patience.

The Complete Friday Megalinks

Friday’s have become maddening. I was out of the office earlier today and expect to be out again later, but I’m doing the Megalinks early so I can be done with them and be free for other stuff tonight.

As always, check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for the sports and entertaining programming.

National

We’ll begin with Andy Staples from Sports Illustrated who writes that the Longhorn Network has suddenly created a big problem for Big 12 Conference schools not named “Texas.”

Gavin J. Blair of the Hollywood Reporter says one of Japan’s networks will begin airing women’s soccer in the wake of the country’s win in the Women’s World Cup last week.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Network will celebrate Baseball Hall of Fame Weekend with a marathon of Halls of Fame specials.

Jessica Shambora of Fortune says ESPN succeeds where other cable channels don’t.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes that NFL Players Association Executive DeMaurice Smith snuck up on ESPN reporters George Smith and Chris Mortensen during a live shot on Thursday.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser has former Howard Stern Show castmember Artie Lange confirming that he’s in talks to do a Fox Sports Radio show.

Karen Hogan of the Sports Video Group mentions that ESPN Films will premiere a new documentary on famed Georgia running back Herschel Walker in September.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us that he’s going to sing the national anthem before a selected MLB game next month.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media waxes poetic about Mike Emrick’s departure as Voice of the New Jersey Devils.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has the site’s next matchup in its Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament, Joe Buck vs. Jim Gray. That’s a tough choice.

Ryan Yoder from AA says ESPN is taking a chance on airing live poker.

Joe Favorito asks who really benefits from the World Cup?

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs has a review of the week in sports media.

Dom Cosentino of Deadspin notes that San Francisco Giants announcer Jon Miller is still bitter about his firing by ESPN.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with Sunday Night Baseball analyst Bobby Valentine about his first year in the broadcast booth.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks with Mike Emrick about his decision to leave the New Jersey Devils.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that the Derek Jeter 3,000 hit chase has put a famous memorabilia company into the spotlight one again.

Neil talks about New Jersey announcers departing their teams after long runs.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post admits that he loves to hate WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Justin Terranova of the Post writes about Hall of Fame announcer Mike Emrick leaving the New Jersey Devils after 21 seasons.

Justin has five questions for ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with an NBC Sports executive about how its summer horse racing series from Saratoga came to fruition.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that one Baltimore TV station is cutting back on its sports coverage.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg revels in an on-air argument on one of the local sports radio stations in the DC Sports Bog.

South

At the Houston Chronicle, Brent Zwerneman writes that Texas A&M officials are very concerned about the Longhorn Network and what it means for the future of the Big 12 Conference.

The Chronicle’s David Barron has statements from Big 12 Commissioner Don Beebe and Longhorn Network owner ESPN about the conference’s temporary cease-and-desist order on airing high school football games and a Texas conference game.

David says the Longhorn Network saga could make for good reality TV.

David says while Longhorn Network is prevented from airing high school football for now, Fox Sports Southwest will have an NFL Red Zone Channel-like high school football block on Friday nights.

Suzanne Halliburton of the Austin Statesman-American says Longhorn Network programming is currently in limbo.

From the Daily Oklahoman, Mel Bracht writes that ESPN will document the Oklahoma football program as it prepares for the 2011 campaign.

Midwest

John Erardi of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that ESPN’s Barry Larkin is coming back to the Queen’s City this Sunday.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that a local TV sports director is back on the job after corrective neck surgery.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has this week’s winners and losers.

Roman Augustoviz says WNBA star Maya Moore will give viewers an inside look at the WNBA All-Star Game tomorrow.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times says there’s too much money being left on the table for an extended NFL lockout.

Bill Shakin of the Los Angeles Times writes that court documents show MLB was very skeptical of how Fox’s money for an extended rights deal could have helped the Dodgers remain competitive.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Minnesota Twins analyst Bert Blyeven credits Dodgers voice Vin Scully for helping him to become a Hall of Fame pitcher.

Jeff Faraudo of the San Jose Mercury Times reports that ESPN Deportes now has an affiliate in the Bay Area.

Jon Wilner of the Mercury Times tries to handicap what will happen next with the Pac-12 Network.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail looks at Bryant Gumbel’s closing comments on the US Women’s soccer team on HBO’s Real Sports.

And that’s going to do it. Stay cool on this scorcher of a day.

Cranking Out Some Mid-Week Linkage

Time for some Wednesday links. Let’s get to them.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his reaction to the ESPN Ombudsman column on the Bruce Feldman suspension or non-suspension depending on whom you choose to believe.

Sports Business Daily looks at the media reaction to the death of Myra Kraft, the wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Mrs. Kraft had cancer and died this morning at the age of 68.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at why the NBA an entire regular season TV schedule in the wake of its lockout.

Gavin J. Blair of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Women’s World Cup Final got huge ratings in Japan even with the game starting at 3:45 a.m. in Tokyo.

At Broadcasting & Cable, R. Thomas Umstead writes that HBO has set a premiere date for its new documentary on Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

R. Thomas Umstead has an article in Multichannel News talking about the NBA going all in with full TV schedules for ESPN and TNT despite an ongoing lockout.

In Radio Ink, Chadd Scott speaks with Atlanta sports radio duo Chuck and Chernoff about moving to a new timeslot.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine looks at the drop in viewership for the ESPY’s.

Over to Timothy Burke at SportsGrid who notes that while ESPN is now embracing Twitter, it still doesn’t understand the service.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says MLB isn’t happy over the use of the Giants logo in an alternative weekly newspaper ad.

Cam Martin of SportsNewer notes that CBS’ Lesley Visser will be marrying for the second time this weekend. Her previous marriage to Dick Stockton ended in divorce last year following 28 years together.

To Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing who tries to determine when ESPN lost its journalistic integrity.

Stuart Elliot of the New York Times writes that McDonald’s will be walking a fine line with its sponsorship of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union breaks news that the Versus brand will be retired by the end of the year.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that NBC begins airing its horse racing series, “Summer at Saratoga” this weekend.

At the Allentown (PA) Morning Call, Keith Groller agrees with HBO’s Bryant Gumbel commentary on the US Women’s Soccer team.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg has video of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Chick Hernandez losing it on the air after co-anchor Julie Donaldson made a funny.

Dan says the Washington Wizards’ JaVale McGee is having a Twitter fashion feud with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that the Magic’s Dwight Howard must feel slighted as the NBA’s TV networks fawn over Florida’s other team.

Don Kausler, Jr. of the Birmingham (AL) News says the University of Alabama is part of Fox Sports Net’s early SEC football schedule.

The University of Texas’ official sports site interviewed ESPN’s Stephanie Druley who’s in charge of getting the Longhorn Network off the ground.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday topped the local ratings on Sunday.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says it’s a good thing the Bulls’ schedule is backloaded with marquee games in case the NBA lockout is settled midway through the 2011-12 season.

From the Arizona Republic, Jim Gintonio writes that Phoenix Coyotes TV voice Dave Strader is leaving to take a full-time position with NBC/Versus. Thanks to Steve Lepore of Puck The Media for the link.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wasn’t sure exactly when Lesley Visser divorced ex-husband Dick Stockton. If you were with me in March, you’ll remember this story from Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post in which Lesley mentions her divorce.

The Los Angeles Times’ TJ Simers talks with Angels analyst Mark Gubicza about his daughter who’s 2 years removed from having brain surgery to end seizures.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says a local sports talk morning drive host understands why he’s losing his show as his station undergoes a format change.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that the format change means one reporter is leaving for TSN Radio.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some suggestions for CTV as it counts down to one year until the 2012 Olympics in London.

Andrew Bucholtz at The Good Point looks at ESPN’s struggle with ethics in the wake of the Bruce Feldman suspension or non-suspension. I have some quotes in the story.

To The Daly Planet where John Daly leaves clues on a potential new TV partner for NASCAR.

Wendy Parker at Extracurriculars says it’s time to take off the kid gloves when it comes to women’s sports.

Sox & Dawgs looks at a new movie focusing on former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

That is where we’ll end the linkage for today.

A Full Tuesday Linkfest! Finally!

For the last week, I haven’t been able to do a full set of links. Work has been crazy, but I hope to give one today. It’s either going to the other office or heading out with the boss to various work sites or head to meetings, but today should be calmer.

I’ve started a series on People You Should Follow on Twitter in response to Sports Illustrated’s list published last week. Part 1 was posted Monday night and Part 2 came out Tuesday night. Look for more installments throughout the week.

Let’s get started.

First, ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute writes about the ESPN/Bruce Feldman suspension/non-suspension and for some reason, doesn’t do full due diligence on the story.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing does an excellent point-by-point takedown of the Ombudsman’s acceptance of ESPN’s company line on the Feldman suspension.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has graphic evidence of ESPN Radio Hack Colon Cowherd being a complete idiot.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand notes that ESPN is about to fully embrace Twitter and social media.

In the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh has a fascinating post on which sports turn a profit for BCS schools and which ones don’t.

Mike Reynolds from Mulitchannel News writes about the Women’s World Cup Final resonating with viewers.

Mike says a marketing firm is looking to package two pre-World Cup Western Hemisphere qualifying tournaments to networks.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek looks at Ross Greenburg’s departure from HBO Sports.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine goes inside the Women’s World Cup’s stellar ratings.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry writes about the marriage between sports and Twitter.

Vinnie Iyer of AOL Sporting News has HBO being optimistic that a new edition of Hard Knocks will be filmed this summer. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.

Jonathan Wall of Yahoo’s Devil Ball blog critiques ESPN’s coverage of the Open Championship.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is suing sports apparel manufacturer Champion for dropping him from endorsements after his tweets about Osama bin Laden last month.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe delves into the Boston Celtics buying a large stake into Comcast SportsNet New England.

Roger Catlin at the Hartford Courant says ESPN came out as the real winner of the Women’s World Cup Final.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says ESPN produced a fair and compelling Women’s World Cup Final broadcast.

Richard Huff at the New York Daily News looks at ESPN premiering a Spanish language-edition of E:60.

Michael Blaustein of the New York Post writes that ESPN’s miniature cameras at the World Series of Poker are giving competitors an interesting advantage.

At Fishbowl New York, Jerry Barmash reports that Len Berman is dropping his sports reports on a local radio station and will be replaced by the same man who replaced him at WNBC-TV.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Open Championship final round ratings.

Evan Weiner at the New Jersey Newsroom wonders what the UK phone hacking scandal could mean for News Corp.’s sports partners here in the US.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that NFL Today host James Brown didn’t like how DC NFL team coach Mike Shanahan handled QB Donovan McNabb.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the ratings for the Women’s World Cup Final.

Travis Sawchik of the Charleston (SC) Post & Courier says lucrative TV contracts have helped to make college football a big business.

Candace Carlisle of the Dallas Business Journal says Fox Sports Southwest has hired a veteran writer from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to beef up its online coverage.

Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle says Texas A&M Regents are concerned over Texas’ Longhorn Network and what it means for the future of the Big 12 Conference.

Ryan Sharp of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Big 12 Conference schools can’t be too happy over the Longhorn Network’s airing of Texas high school football games.

Steven Matthews of the Dayton Daily News says the Western & Southern Open will have plenty of new looks including extensive TV exposure this summer.

Tim Prahl of the Muskego (WI) Patch talks with former MLB Network reporter Trenni Kusnierek about returning home to Milwaukee to co-host a radio show.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes two games scheduled for the Chicago Bulls that may never get played.

Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera says the University of Colorado is in a unique position where it can sell the TV rights to its games this season.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times goes over some of the changes in the proposed NFL collective bargaining agreement including a new TV package.

Steve Zeitchik of the Times looks at Ross Greenburg leaving HBO.

Elizabeth Salaam of the San Diego Reader says a recent Facebook poll wasn’t kind to Padres TV voice Dick Enberg.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some thoughts on various topics.

Sports Media Watch has some news and notes.

And we have some more news and notes from SMW.

Joe Favorito looks at who will benefit when the NFL lockout finally comes to an end.

And there is your full set of links.

Bringing You Sunday Linkage

I’m at work again, but I’m trying to cope by flicking on the Watch ESPN for the Women’s World Cup game against Brazil. I’ll give you what linkage I can find today.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Turner Sports has reportedly hired Shaquille O’Neal for its NBA coverage. Still no official comment from Turner.

John Eggerton of Multichannel News reports on an FCC Enforcement Bureau recommendation to an administrative law judge about carriage for Tennis Channel.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel recaps YES’ special postgame show on Yankees shortshop Derek Jeter after he achieved baseball immortality on Saturday.

Mike writes that YES saw a ratings season high for the Jeter 3,000th hit game.

From Advertising Age, Brian Steinberg asks if Wimbledon is willing to put its matches all under one TV roof, will other sporting events follow its lead?

Yahoo Sports’ Michael Silver talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen about how the channel is handling the lockout.

Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead wonders if the LPGA should be selling sex to help market its stars.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has issued a statement about berating a caller with a gay slur late last month.

Marcus points out that CNN is no longer into sports.

Jesse Sawyer from the Avon (CT) Patch notes that ESPN’s Kenny Mayne will be hosting a football skills clinic this week. Before ESPN, Kenny was the starting quarterback at UNLV. The story also reveals that Kenny is moving back to Seattle, WA where he lived before hitting it big with ESPN.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the transcripts of both the radio and TV calls of the Jeter 3,000th hit.

Neil talks about a new era of TV coming into Wimbledon for next year.

George Vescey of the New York Times says the best way to view the Tour de France is from your TV.

Karen Crouse of the Times talks with an LPGA Tour rookie Ryan O’Toole who prepared for life on the tour through Golf Channel’s Big Break reality show.

Brent Briggeman of the Colorado Springs Gazette also spoke with O’Toole about her time on Big Break.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says ESPN2 will have the replay of today’s dramatic USA-Brazil Women’s World Cup game which had a lot of twists and turns.

Adam Sichko of the Albany (NY) Business Review notes that a local company will help produce live horse racing from nearby Saratoga for NBC.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks about Showtime getting into the sports reality TV realm with the new MLB TV series, “The Franchise”.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN’s Nomar Garciaparra about the Home Run Derby.

From the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn discusses the Longhorn Network making some on-air hires.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle tries to reassure readers about the availability of the Longhorn Network.

Kevin Benz at Culture Map Houston wonders if ESPN is making the Longhorn Network all about ESPN instead of University of Texas sports.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Bengals talks with ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden about the NFL lockout.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says TBS and MLB Network analyst John Smoltz still has a dream to be a professional golfer.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Fox’s Joe Buck about his recovery from an ailment that affected his voice. And many of you have either tweeted or e-mailed me about this and have noticed how he has sounded since the Super Bowl. Dan’s story pretty much explains what happened.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Joe Buck didn’t mince words when it came to the Dodgers ownership debacle.

That’s going to do it for today.

Bringing Out Some Saturday Linkage

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

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson used a gay slur to berate a caller on a Sirius XM radio show last week.

At The Grio, Marcus looks at the legacy of the train wreck that’s known as “The Decision” a year later.

According to The Wrap, ESPN Classic will become the home of the recently wrapped “Friday Night Lights” series.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the record viewership for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.

At the Buffalo News, Greg Connors reviews HBO’s documentary on Curt Flood.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner has written a FAQ on the NBA and NFL lockouts.

From the Baltimore Sun, Matt Vensel writes that a local sports radio talk show host is on the streets looking for a new gig.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals voice Joe Beninati and John Feinstein will call Kastles World Team Tennis matches this summer.

The St. Petersburg Times tells readers not to expect the NFL Network on Bright House cable systems anytime soon.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn says the incident from Thursday’s Oakland-Texas game where a fan died trying to catch a ball tossed into the stands by Josh Hamilton was greatly mishandled by both of the networks covering the contest.

Andrew Ferraro of the Houston Chronicle writes that an exhibition NHL game scheduled for Reliant Stadium in September has been canceled and Fox Sports Southwest is now looking for another way to get the Dallas Stars into the Houston market.

Berry Tremel at the Daily Oklahoman says the Longhorn Network taking a Big 12 Conference game from Fox Sports Net is opening a can of worms for fans.

Rick Noland from the Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram says we should forget about celebrating any anniversary of “The Decision.”

Steve Watkins of the Cincinnati Business Courier says the ratings for the Reds on Fox Sports Ohio are up significantly from last season.

Dave Lubach of the Sheboygan (WI) Press recaps an appearance by CBS/Golf Channel personality David Feherty at a charity golf event.

Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Fox Sports North will be airing a Minnesota Wild reality show over the next few months.

Tavis Govindjie of the Marin (CA) Independent Journal gives us this profile of a Comcast SportsNet Bay Area graphic designer.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Oakland A’s TV voices Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse have come under fire for being insensitive during the incident in Arlington that killed a fan. In their defense, they did not know how far the fan fell nor did they know his condition. It’s easy to sit here and criticize, but at the time, they did not know how serious the situation was.

Cam Inman of the Oakland Tribune talks with former ABC/CBS/NBC NFL analyst John Madden about the lockout and the Madden NFL ’11 video game.

The Hamilton Spectator in Canada notes that some recently found CFL footage discovered in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame has been digitized and put online.

Derek Zona of SB Nation ranks all of the NHL TV broadcasters from top to bottom.

Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest didn’t think the Bob Costas-Al Michaels mashup for last night’s Mets-Giants game was anything special. I disagree.

Dave Kohl in Major League Programs explains why ESPN went all in for its Wimbledon bid.

World Cup Buzz says ESPN is doing the Women’s World Cup right this year.

EPL Talk has the US TV schedules for the English Premier League “friendlies” that will take place this month.

Quite a few links today which is good to see after working into the wee hours of this morning on the Megalinks. I’ll be back tomorrow with more linkage.

Trying To Squeeze In Wednesday Links

I couldn’t get to the Tuesday links as it got quite busy at work and at night, my boss gave me so many things to do that I didn’t finish until late. I’m trying to squeeze in some linkage here for you while I can.

From USA Today, J. Michael Falgoust talks about what the NBA and its players are doing during the lockout and how it all affects NBA TV’s programming.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Bob Costas and Al Michaels teaming up to call a baseball game for MLB Network this week.

The lovely Kristi Dosh at Forbes says an NFL labor settlement would definitely help the NBA owners in its labor dispute.

Kristi adds that the NFL players are under the gun to resolve the lockout.

Brian Clapp at TV Sports Jobs says the NBA lockout is giving the NHL an opportunity to have a stage all by itself.

At SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty notes that during Michelle Beadle’s ESPN podcast, Linda Cohn could not understand why anyone could think the acquitted Casey Anthony is hot.

Mike Barnes at the Hollywood Reporter notes that Pyeongyang, South Korea will be the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Marisa Guthrie at the Reporter writes that ESPN is hopeful in adding analyst John McEnroe to its Wimbledon coverage next year.

R. Thomas Umstead with Multichannel News looks at HBO and MLB Productions co-producing a new documentary focusing Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says the new Longhorn Network will air two Texas football games this fall.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that Fox is planning to use the MLB All-Star Game next week to hype its new X-Factor show starring Simon Cowell.

Alan Abrahamson at USA Olympics Committee site says one man was the deciding factor in bringing the Olympics to South Korea again.

ESPN Front Row’s Sheldon Spencer talks with network executive John Wildhack about bringing the full Wimbledon tournament to the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Joe Yerdon of the great Pro Hockey Talk site notes that Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke is angry at a local columnist for criticizing him for taking a trip to Afghanistan to visit Canadian troops.

CNBC Darren Rovell says Nathan’s gets a lot of out of its sponsorship of the annual Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Darren notes that former UConn men’s basketball star Kemba Walker has signed a lucrative shoe contract with Under Armour.

Darren also talks with Walker and an Under Armour exec about the new deal.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times explains why the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club chose to take Wimbledon away from NBC and hightail it to ESPN.

Newsday’s Neil Best says ESPN has made the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest into Must See TV.

Neil also has the breakdown of which innings Bob Costas and Al Michaels will call on Friday on MLB Network for the New York Mets-San Francisco Giants game.

Jessica DiNapoli of the Southampton (NY) Patch report that incoming New York Knicks radio announcer Spero Dedes was arrested for driving while intoxicated over the holiday weekend.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at ESPN’s winning bid for Wimbledon.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says a veteran local sports personality returns to the radio later this month.

Kyle Swenson of Clevescene notes that the Cleveland baseball team-owned STO may be up for sale.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has Bob Costas talking about baseball on the radio.

Bob also talks about ESPN breaking NBC’s serve on Wimbledon.

Scott Collins of the Los Angeles Times has a story on the local public television station making due without PBS and notes that former ESPN host Roy Firestone will be hosting a show there.

At the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin says TSN will be looking into violence in sports.

I’ll hold it there for now. I’ll add more links later.

A Few 4th of July Links

Let’s provide some linkage on this 4th of July holiday. I hope you’re having a great day wherever you are.

Aaron Couch of the Hollywood Reporter writes about ESPN taking over the Wimbledon TV contract after a 43 year association with NBC.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC wanted to use Versus as part of its Wimbledon coverage.

Diane Pucin from the Los Angeles Times notes that NBC pledged to end the Wimbledon tape delays by 2014, apparently not soon enough for All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is not a fan of ESPN2′s tennis crew.

Back to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times and he has a good background story on how Fox has played a role in the whole Los Angeles Dodgers-Frank McCourt ownership debacle.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner speaks with Versus’ Paul Sherwin about the Tour de France.

Ron Morris of The State wishes ESPN would cut down the time in-between innings at the College World Series.

Brandon Marcello of the Shreveport (LA) Times speaks with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive about the state of the conference and the league’s TV contracts.

Bob Ray Sanders of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram looks at how Fox Sports Southwest has teamed with an organization to help troubled teens.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says comedy and sports can be mixed.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says an e-mail exchange with a reader over soccer bordered on racism.

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

The extremely uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says TSN and Rogers Sportsnet failed to get the job done on NHL Free Agent Frenzy on Friday and at the bottom, he writes “hot rumour of the weekend is ESPN snatching rights from NBC for next year’s (Wimbledon).” It’s not rumor, Bruce!

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that talented CBC Hockey Night in Canada Radio Jeff Marek is leaving and heading to Rogers Sportsnet. I have enjoyed listening to Jeff on HNIC Radio over the years on Sirius Satellite Radio. He will be missed on the show.

On this day of the Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest, Luke O’Brien looks at the Competitive Eating Champion-in-Exile, Kobayashi.

Mike Silva’s NY Baseball Digest speaks with ESPN Radio New York’s Brandon Tierney who’s heading out West.

Joe Favorito looks at the collateral damage from the NBA and NFL lockouts.

Awful Announcing says Jon Sciambi drew the short stick in having to call the Harlem Globetrotters on ESPN.

The Ringside Report speaks with former CNN Sports anchor Fred Hickman about his friend, the late Nick Charles.

That will do it.

Bringing Out Some Saturday Links

I started to do the Megalinks last night, but I fell asleep at my computer while doing them. I was out for most of the Friday so it prevented me from sitting down and pounding out the linkage yesterday. I’ll do it now to get you going for the 4th of July weekend. There’s a lot of sports happening so the Weekend Viewing Picks provides you with the programming that you may want to watch.

Let’s do the linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with multiple network tennis analyst John McEnroe on how to spice up tennis’ ratings.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that an extended NBA lockout will hurt TV partners ESPN and TNT.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk didn’t like Jon Gruden’s gushing over former Ohio State quarterback Tyrelle Pryor during ESPN’s QB Camp.

Brooks Peck of Yahoo’s Dirty Tackle blog notes that ESPN.com lifted some of his fictitious quotes over Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi.

At Baseball Digest, Jerry Milani profiles MSG Network’s and Friend of Fang’s Bites Tina Cervasio.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that a Southern California radio host’s firing from the Anaheim Angels was racially motivated.

Dave Levy from SportsGrid looks at the future of the Pac-12 Conference.

Adam Watson of Yahoo’s The PostGame talks with Renée Herlocker who will be the sideline reporter for the Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes that TSN wants to bring CFL viewers even closer to the game.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group says distributing Wimbledon in 3-D to movie theaters shows the need for one standard for the format.

Beth Healy of the Boston Globe writes that the newspaper’s parent company, the New York Times has sold part of its 17% stake in the Red Sox for a sizable profit.

Taryn Luna of the Globe says watering holes in the vicinity of the TD Garden are worried about losing business in the wake of the NBA lockout.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that sports radio talk in New York actually turns 90 years old today.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has Lindsay Czarniak saying when she’ll be moving to ESPN and what her duties for the Alleged Worldwide Leader will be.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune notes that the Big Ten Network came to fruition thanks to an ESPN lowball bid back in 2004.

And Jessica Guyin and Dawn C. Chmielski of the Los Angeles Times look at Google’s potential bid to buy Hulu which has NFL Films videos.

Sports Media Watch has news and notes on some media personalities.

SMW notes that Nike has re-signed Michael Vick.

I’m going to end it there.

Some Quick Thursday Links

Trying to squeeze linkage in while I can. This won’t be a full set of links. I will do the megalinks tomorrow, but today will be a quickie links day.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today reports that the ratings for the USA-North Korea game in the Women’s World Cup drew decently for ESPN.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says industry analysts expect 3-D TV sales to be very slow this year, but eventually ramp up by mid-decade.

Edmund Lee of Advertising Age talks with the publisher and co-founder of The Awl, Bill Cho, who’s leaving to go to join Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions explains why the sales of TV’s in the 3rd dimension are tanking.

David Goetzl from MediaPost says NBC Sports is raising its profile for the Tour de France which begins this weekend.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says David Tyree’s anti-gay stance brings some strong challenges for journalists.

This story has been burning up the sports blogosphere since Wednesday afternoon. A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says Hollywood movie producers are thinking of making a movie from the tome, “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside The World of ESPN”.

Alexandra Kuczynski-Brown of SportsGrid says the BBC has developed a product that will reduce the grunting and shrieking at Centre Court in Wimbledon.

Andy Blesser at Beet TV talks about the Watch ESPN mobile app.

Brandon Costa of the Sports Video Group discusses ESPN 3D going live from Wimbledon this week.

Dave Nagle of ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with ESPN2′s Chris Evert on her return to TV at SW19 for the fortnight.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at what lies ahead of NBA Communist China Sympathizer David Stern as the lockout is now in full effect.

Kurt Helin of NBC’s Pro Basketball Talk has the organizers of last year’s “The Decision” starring LeBron James and his talents, surprised by the backlash against the made-for-TV event. Really? C’mon, man.

All Access reports that personalities from Philadelphia’s sports radio WIP will guest host Comcast SportsNet’s Daily News Live starting next week.

The Around the Rings blog says BBC Sport has been named as the UK rightsholder for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir writes about General Electric’s increased sponsorship of the Olympics.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders why NBC did not air today’s Maria Sharapova-Sabine Lisicki Wimbledon semifinal match live.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the MLB Network live game schedule for July.

The Centre Daily (PA) Times previews tonight’s ESPN presentation of Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

From Capitol File magazine, ESPN’s Erin Andrews answers a few questions.

KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa says a local cable company will pick up 16 extra Minnesota Twins games ending a dispute with Fox Sports North.

Jay Heater of the Idaho State Journal says a Pocatello radio station is changing its affiliation from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews tonight’s ESPN program with Penn State’s JoePa and Duke’s Coach K.

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area notes that Bob Costas and Al Michaels will make a guest appearance on its local broadcast of July 8th’s New York Mets-San Francisco Giants game. The pair will call most of the game on MLB Network, but will slide over to CSN Bay Area for a half inning.

The Maui News says NBC golf reporter Mark Rolfing will no longer be the organizer for a PGA Tour event.

Marty McGee of the Daily Racing Form talks with NBC’s horse racing reporter Donna Brothers.

Noel Murray at the A.V. Club looks at the ESPN book.

The Football Girl is not a fan of a full NFL Thursday Night Football schedule.

Stars Entertainment speaks with Tennis Channel anchor Angela Sun. The story mentions that she worked for ESPN, but I have never seen her on ESPN. Yahoo, yes. Tennis Channel, yes. ESPN? No. I’ve never seen her there. Maybe you have.

Sports Media Watch notes that the U.S. Open’s ratings were down for all four rounds.

SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

And SMW has some news and notes on some coming attractions.

Barry Janoff from The Big Lead speaks with prolific reality TV producer Mark Burnett.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs reviews the latest in sports media.

And I found more links than I thought and that’s a bonus for you. Back later tonight.

The Fifth Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Time for another mailbag and let’s answer the sports media questions that have landed in the Fang’s Bites inbox over the last week or so. Thanks to all who sent e-mails and left comments. I’ll do my best to answer as best as I can. And don’t forget, I have two $50 Nike.com gift cards. If I can get one other piece of swag to give way, I’ll make an announcement. The recipients will be chosen at random and be e-mailed.

Disclaimer as to where the cards came from and what promotion they’re associated with:

• The Sprite Spark Parks Project is a multi-year commitment to build and restore play environments where teens, families and neighbors can get outside and be active. The big idea: play, be active, be inspired and have fun. The campaign began several weeks ago where people had the opportunity to nominate their courts and we now need your vote to determine which parks will get the funding. If you want one of those refurbished courts to be accessible for your child, all you have to do is head to The Sprite Facebook Page and VOTE!
• The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company.  The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.
• Entrants must be located in the US or Canada only.

Now to your questions:

What does (Dick Ebersol’s resignation) mean for NBC’s production of the 2012 Olympics? Is it likely to be different, with less tape delay and non-live events? And what does this mean for NBC’s long term Olympic prospects? Does this basically hand the rights to ESPN? – Shep H.

Hi Shep. Ebersol’s resignation won’t mean much change for NBC next year. With London five hours ahead of New York, primetime will still mean tape delays. It’ll also mean continued holding of glamor events (gymnastics, swimming, track & field) for evening viewing. While Ebersol’s resignation hurts NBC, many of his disciples are still working there and if it wins the bid for 2014/16, expect many of his old producers and directors to remain. While the bid became more wide open, NBCUniversal still is the favorite. This does not mean ESPN automatically gets the rights.

If you’re an executive at an ABC affiliate, would you be disappointed that ESPN won’t allow you to carry one game of the Western Conference Finals (most notably Game 3 on Saturday night in which ABC has to show “Spider-Man 3″ instead) and would you be even more disappointed if the Los Angeles Lakers were in the Western Finals instead of the Dallas Mavericks? – Jimmy D.

Thanks, Jimmy. Yes, this is a bone of contention among ABC affiliates losing sports. Over the years, ABC has lost Monday Night Football, NASCAR, the Open Championship, the Rose Bowl and college basketball. I know ESPN has the philosophy that the difference between cable and broadcast is close to nil, but you do have a broadcast network that is used to carrying sports programming. If I’m an ABC affiliate general manager, I would be very angry about losing NBA Conference Final programming and bring this up at the next affiliates meeting. But with ESPN being a cash cow for Disney, there’s not much the local stations can do. I would not be surprised to see ABC lose even more sports programming down the line.

I love your blog and read it every day!  Here is my question—How do you think the current NFL Lockout and the looming NBA lockout will affect how the networks cover sports?

Obviously CBS, NBA and FOX use the NFL to promote other prime time programs and they are on the hook for the rights fees unless there is a court decision that forces the NFL to return the money. – Benjamin G.

Appreciate the kind words, Benjamin. If the NFL lockout extends to the fall, CBS, NBC and Fox will have huge holes to fill on Sundays. ESPN is in a better position as it can slot college football games into Sunday and possibly even Mondays. NBC says it will put game shows in Sunday Night Football’s slot for the first couple of weeks. CBS and Fox have not announced what they will do. All of the networks continue to sell ads.

As far as the NBA is concerned, TNT can plug in dramas on Thursdays and ESPN can plug college basketball or poker into the lost NBA slots. And yes, the networks are on the hook for the rights fees. They’ve already paid the NFL. Not sure about the NBA.

Hey Ken I just want to know with this new espn book out will those so called journalist’s actually take responsibility for the actions they do like in the real news world? I find it hard to believe that in todays world those guys are not punished for their irresponsible journalism. – Ari

I’m not sure what example of irresponsible journalism you’re talking about. If you’re talking about the sexual activities, those who have been caught have either been fired or suspended. I really can’t speak about anything else because I need a better example of what you’re talking about.

What do you think was behind Gus Johnson’s departure from CBS? His ego? The ego of other CBS announcers who were jealous of the attention that he received? Or was it just plain money? – Jeff H.

Thanks, Jeff. I think Gus knew that he wasn’t going to supplant Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, Ian Eagle and Kevin Harlan at CBS. He got a very good offer to be the number one guy calling college football and basketball at Fox plus more money. It’s tough to leave the network that made you, but there’s always a chance that Gus could return to CBS down the line. That story about people at CBS being jealous was probably planted by Gus’ people. I find it hard to believe that Jim Nantz or anyone at CBS was jealous of Gus, but you never know.

Do you see the new NBC Sports Group trying to nab the cable TV rights to either Wimbledon or the French Open to air on Versus (and hopefully not take away anything from Tennis Channel) to complement their NBC network coverage? I can see NBC going after, say, Wimbledon on cable (Versus taking over for ESPN2) and unifying the daytime coverage with NBC network, where they can do a reverse mirror sort of thing between NBC and Versus to show one single live feed that bounces between NBC and Versus differently in each timezone (ex: 10am to 1pm local time is the NBC window, so at 10am ET, Eastern Time viewers are told to switch from NBC to Versus for the next 3 hours and then come back, 1 hour later the Central Time viewers do the same, and so on, with Versus airing some alternate program during the NBC blackout, and viewers essentially not missing any important live action but still having to watch on NBC). – Jason B.

Hi Jason. With Wimbledon, the U.S. and Australian Opens locked into long-term deals over the last few years, the first Grand Slam that would be up for bid would be the French Open, however, that  deal with Tennis Channel could last until 2016. Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australia are locked solidly with ESPN2 for quite some time. I’m not a fan of NBC’s tennis coverage live or delayed so I’m not sure if I want to see a combined NBC Sports Group effort on the French or Wimbledon.

Hey, love the blog, but on to my question. With the NBC Sports Group losing out on the PAC-12 to Fox/ESPN, what other deals are up soon that they can go gung-ho for? I know MLB isn’t up for another two years, same with the Big East, but they’d likely remain on ESPN, as all the group really has is sublicensed Mountain West games and the NHL, which is great, but not big time like the PAC-12 is. Also, one other question, I love Gus Johnson and his style, I think it’ll fit well at Fox, do you think it was a good move for that? Then, who will CBS get to fill Gus’s slot in both the NFL and March Madness? Thanks again for the info! – P.J.

Other than the Olympics, which properties (MLB, MLS, conference USA, etc.) are up up for bidding in the next 2 years and which have a chance to turn hands? – Chaz B.

Since Chaz and P.J. have similar questions, I’ll kill two birds with one stone.

As far as college, the Big East are up, but they aren’t up until 2013. ESPN wants to renew the rights, but the Big East seeing how the Pac-12 did, is being smart and will probably allow for open bidding.

2013 – 2015 is what I call Sports Rights Armageddon as MLB, NASCAR, NBA and NFL being a cycle of possible upheaval. MLB will go first as negotiations start next year. ESPN will probably want to get the MLB postseason back after losing the games to TBS. I think Fox will want to get into the NBA game and who knows what will happen with the NFL?

P.J. as far as who will take Gus Johnson’s place, Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News reported Marv Albert is a candidate and I wouldn’t mind that at all. Ian Eagle or Kevin Harlan would be good choices for promotion for the NCAA Tournament.

For regionally distributed games like the MLB on FOX , do local affiliates that do not have local ties to a game, like KTTV in L.A. this weekend, do the affiliates get to chose what game they show or does FOX select the game for them? – Ben F.

Ben, in some cases, it falls under the MLB territorial rules which are just too tedious to explain. If a region like Las Vegas falls under a team’s territory (and claimed by five teams, by the way), then it could get the Dodgers, Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants or Padres depending on which team is on Fox. In Connecticut, the Fox station usually chooses the Yankees over the Red Sox if both teams are playing games on the network, despite the fact that most of the Constitution State has been deemed Red Sox territory. I hope that answers your question. I hate MLB territorial rules and so does Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball.

Hi, Ken!

I appreciate all the hard work you do on maintaining your blog. It’s a valuable took for me to keep up in what’s going on or coming up in my industry.

I did notice that the majority of information and news you provide focus on personalities and ratings. Do you plan on or know of someone who plans on doing more features or profiles on behind the camera personnel like producers, directors and/or technical staff? I’m always interested in what a motivates a producer or director to do the type of show they create and how they got to their status in the business. – Andre’

You might want to check out Sports Video Group which has a mixture of ratings, technical and other articles that might be of interest to you. Unfortunately, the mainstream media usually focuses on sports personalities with a few behind-the-scenes articles thrown in.

With the advent of watching  sports on HD Television’s and mobile media devices  with Sport season subscriptions that are almost cheaper than attending a single game  how our  teams adapting  to less and less fans at the stadium?  Also what are they telling their advertisers? – Robert D.

Good question, Robert. Stadiums knowing that fans can watch the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV or NFL Red Zone on cable are now trying to enhance the gameday experience. They’re adding TV’s to selected seats, all you can eat promotions and wifi. They’re doing everything except for discounting ticket prices, although some MLB teams are doing that now. I think you’ll see more teams adding to the gameday experience to attract fans, but to be honest, it’s all about winning. Put a winning team on the field, people will come. Produce like the Pittsburgh Pirates and it doesn’t matter how many features you offer.

With the end of the Premier League Season what did you think of the coverage of the Premier League and other leagues around Europe this season by Fox, ESPN, GOL TV?  What do you think that Fox and ESPN could do better to add to the coverage next season?   Who is your Premier League Announcer of the Year?   What would you credit more to the growth of the game here in the States from where it was 15 years ago to now between TV coverage by Fox, ESPN, and GOL TV where you can watch 50 or so games a week with digital cable or the growth of the Internet where a fan interested in soccer could finally go to get results and opinions that were previously next to impossible to get before the internet.

Thanks for all of you hard work it’s really appreciated! – CFTV

Thanks for the kind words, CFTV. Both Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN2 have improved their presentation of the English Premier League by leaps and bounds. I like how ESPN2 no longer uses the world feed and has Ian Darke and Steven McManaman for EPL games. Fox Soccer Channel now has to step up its game and should no longer use the world feed announcers. Martin Tyler is perfect for EPL games and does a great job. But I like Ian Darke and his colorful descriptions.

I’d like to see Bob Ley involved in EPL studio shows seeing how much he loves the game.

I like how Fox Soccer Channel is using the NFL on Fox studio for EPL and Champions League, but the look of the games still has a long way to go.

Any news on if there is going to be any other telecast outlets for the Canadian Football League in the US ? While its nice to have the one game on NFLN for part of the season, three other games are not available over the air all season long at this time in the US as far as I am aware, and none at all once the NFL preseason starts and even into September. The old arrangement of having the regional sports net providing an outlet was okay, but what about Versus ? They have lots of available time slots throughout the CFL season,and would be perfect. With the NFL likely not playing until perhaps October or November we really could use all CFL games being telecast nationally across the US this summer and autumn, as well as in future years and seasons. – MaytheHorseBeWithYou

It appears the NFL Network will carry CFL games once again, but not any of the playoff games, unless there’s a lockout, of course.

What is the latest on the United States Football League (USFL) starting play in February 2012 ? Not much can be found about this anywhere, so I assume at this point it is a no-go. I wonder if the NFL lockout carries into September and beyond, will the USFL starting be a possibility; or is the window for getting things going 9 months from now closed ? I suspect a 2013 start is more possible, but still not probable. – Lefty

Hi Lefty. Your guess is as good as mine.

That’s it. Thanks for your questions. I will contact the winners of the gift cards by e-mail.

A Few Saturday Links

Today with family and relatives in town for a wedding, time is very scarce for blogging, but I have a few minutes so I’ll do as many links as I can.

The hockey world is still reeling from Derek Boogaard’s death last night. While he was an enforcer, reading stories and tweets shows you how much he was loved by teammates, fans and writers. The best article I can link you to is from Michael Russo from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune who became Boogaard’s friend when he was at the Minnesota Wild. Reporters are always told to not become too close to their subjects, but in some cases, it can’t be helped and here’s a case where Russo is able to give us some very emotional thoughts on Boogaard.

Our other big story comes from Buffalo and involves ESPN and TSN NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby who was arrested last night on multiple domestic violence charges involving two women. T.J. Pignataro of the Buffalo News says Barnaby faces arraignment this morning.

The Big Lead has video of an Albany (NY) news anchor laughing hysterically at a member of Colorado Rockies ground crew getting stuck underneath the tarp during a rain delay.

The Sports Video Group notes that TNT is on pace to get the best NBA postseason TV ratings in cable TV history.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Fox Saturday Baseball is heading for primetime tonight.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner writes that the NHL Conference Finals begin tonight.

Jim says there will be plenty of baseball to watch this weekend on both the national and local levels.

Stuart Korfhage in the St. Augustine (FL) Record goes inside the NBC Sports production truck during the Players Championship.

Barry Jackson from the Miami Herald says Dan LeBatard will have his own ESPN2 daytime show starting in the fall.

Ty Tagami and Christian Boone of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution report that it will take at least couple of weeks to determine the cause of death for Chicago sports anchor Daryl Hawks who was in town to cover the Bulls-Hawks series.

Daniel Paulling in the Birmingham (AL) News says ESPN.com really blew it in its insider posts regarding the death of an Alabama offensive lineman.

The Dallas Morning News discusses a new reality series produced by Fox Sports Southwest on a new college football program.

Jim Benson at the Bloomington (IN) Pentagraph is happy to have TNT airing the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Indianapolis Business Journal notes the Indiana Pacers’ TV ratings are up even as attendance is going down.

Andrew Blankstein from the Los Angeles Times has Jay Mariotti’s lawyer calling the charges against his client “lies”.

Ferd Lewis at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says the WAC would be willing to play on Sundays during the NFL lockout if ESPN asked.

Sox & Dawgs has the latest commercial by New Era involving 30 Rock’s Alec Baldwin and The Office’s John Krasinski.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says Comcast SportsNet Bay Area set record ratings for Game 7 of the San Jose Sharks-Detroit Red Wings series.

I’ll give Steve the final word on the Matthew Barnaby situation.

We’ll end it there for now.

Bringing Out The Monday Linkage

This weekend was a very lost weekend for me and for you on the blog as I was unable to do anything either Saturday and Sunday. I attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday in Massachusetts and that took most of the day, then I went to a sports bar that night to see the Manny Pacquaio-Sugar Shane Mosley fight and I’m glad I did not have to pay a cover as Mosley just did not do anything. I fought to stay awake as the fight was very boring.

And on Mother’s Day, I had several errands to run so the blog was very quiet. I was happy nothing broke because I would not have been able to do anything. But we’re back today and let’s get cracking on some overdue linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says ESPN/ABC’s NBA analysts were very down on the Los Angeles Lakers’ effort in their series-ending loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Sports Business Daily has Screamin’ Gus Johnson calling reports of his departure from CBS “premature.”

SBD notes that the NBA Playoffs did very well in the weekend overnight ratings.

SBD also looks at the NFL possibly working under different rules from last year if the lockout is lifted.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that Golf Channel is giving CBS’ David Feherty his own primetime show.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Pacquaio-Mosley fight will most likely lead to more boxing pay per view events.

Mike goes inside the new Pac-12 Conference media rights deals.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about the league and its media rights deal with Comcast/NBC.

Diego Vasquez at Media Life Magazine writes on how sponsors can get true brand activation at the Preakness Stakes.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser has video of what Oracle is doing to make the viewing of this year’s America’s Cup more enjoyable to fans at home.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid reviews the silly Captain Blowhard-Keith Olbermann renewal of their Twitter feud over the weekend.

That wasn’t the only Twitter feud this weekend, supermodel Chrissy Teigen and Jay Mohr had one also. Very silly these Twitter fights.

At Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Greg Wyshynski looks at whether Versus’ Jeremy Roenick crossed the line or was being candid when he said San Jose’s Patrick Marleau was “gutless” following the team’s surprising loss to Detroit last night.

At ESPN Front Row, PR specialist Josh Krulewitz speaks with Hannah Storm on sports and Mother’s Day.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says Animal Kingdom owner Bill Irwin’s candor during NBC’s Kentucky Derby broadcast enlightened an otherwise technical glitch-filled broadcast.

Jonathan Bombulie of The Citizens’ (PA) Voice notes that ESPN’s E:60 newsmagazine will profile the young fan of a minor league hockey team, who has been battling a debilitating disease.

Mark Brown from the Baltimore Sports Report talks with legendary Maryland Terrapins voice Johnny Holliday about Gary Williams’ retirement.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the local ESPN Radio affiliate had egg on its face for reporting a false rumor on Maryland’s coaching situation.

Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times has ESPN’s Herman Edwards giving some advice to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on enduring the filming of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” as the Bucs are a candidate for the series this summer, provided there is a season.

Rodney Page of the Times has a look at the weekend in sports TV.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel says the Pac-12 came out smelling like a rose in its new TV deals.

Bud Withers of the Daily Oklahoman notes that the Pac-12 can no longer be considered a college sports doormat.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Bulls radio voice Chuck Swirsky.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post writes that fans got to see the Lakers’ fatal flaws yesterday.

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

Steve Gress from the Corvallis (OR) Gazette-Times says Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott definitely delivered for the league.

Eric Degerman of the Tri-City (WA) Herald says MLB Network has a nightly tribute to the late Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has the ratings for the Fan 590 and TSN 1050 in April.

Raju Mudhar in the Toronto Globe and Mail says the city’s courtship of the NFL through the Ford family has one glaring omission.

Paul Kennedy at Soccer America feels ESPN2′s MLS soccer highlights last Saturday did the league a great disservice.

Daniel Feuerstein at MLS Talk has his thoughts on Fox Soccer Channel’s inaugural Soccer Night in America broadcast.

Sports Media Watch notes that the camera operator is the anonymous person who is a big part of the sports broadcast you watch.

SMW says Bulls-Hawks has been a big draw for TNT.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for Night 23 of the NHL Playoffs.

Joe Favorito says boxing and horse racing are taking baby steps in getting back into the national conscience.

The Big Lead says ESPN’s Erin Andrews was among the beautiful people attending the Kentucky Derby and why not as Erin is a beautiful person.

And I’ll end the links there.

Some Friday Night Links

I’m not going to go crazy with a full set of links, but some that are topical. I was all over the place today and could not do the megalinks and I’m not in the mood to gather a full set tonight. It usually takes over two hours to do the megalinks so I’ll do some national and regional links.

Sean Leahy of USA Today notes that the ratings for the first round of the NFL Draft were down double digits from last year.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand of USA Today debate who’s the real NFL Draft Guru.

Jeff Pearlman feels one of the more dramatic moments on ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage on Thursday was more exploitation than real.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter notes that ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage on Thursday beat The Office on NBC.

Kevin Iole at Yahoo talks about how CBS became a major part of the Manny Pacquaio-Sugar Shane Mosley fight.

From Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says the NBC Sports Group set ratings records for its NHL Playoffs 1st round coverage.

Mike says NBA TV received its highest ratings ever on Wednesday.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says stronger competition from the networks led to lower ratings for the NFL Draft this year.

From Every Day Should Be Saturday, Spencer Hall has this funny post on whether the late sportswriter Grantland Rice could ever work for the Captain Blowhard-led website, Grantland.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has deleted his Twitter account over harassment from Ohio State fans.

Jason Dachman of the Sports Video Group says NBC and Versus have become a one stop shopping for the NHL.

Sports Media Watch says the overnight ratings for the Lakers-Hornets series-clinching game finished lower than last year’s comparable game, but still was strong.

Puck The Media has Versus’ complete game ratings for the entire 1st round of the NHL Playoffs.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing reviews ESPN’s 1st night of NFL Draft coverage.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe speaks with NESN’s Jack Edwards.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the best of his blog in his sports media column.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says YES’ Michael Kay isn’t getting the job done.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says there was no mention of the “L” word during the NFL Draft (and no, I’m talking about the Showtime TV series).

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com looks at Daniel Snyder’s attempted lawsuit against the Washington City Paper.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at ESPN celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC’s Wide World of Sports.

David Neal of the Miami Herald says the late Jim Mandich was giving of himself whether it was as a player or as a broadcaster later in life.

Joe Rose of WQAM writes in his South Florida Sun-Sentinel blog about how much he misses his friend, Jim Mandich.

Tom Jones in the St. Petersburg Times has a Friday version of his sports media column.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press feels ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft goes on too long.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer would like to hear radio coverage of NASCAR in the Queen’s City.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a look at the local sports radio ratings.

And Dan has a breakdown of the ratings.

Iowa Tube Talk notes that Versus’ website is now part of NBCSports.com.

John Maffei from the North County Times says it appears the San Diego Padres have a rights deal in principle with Fox Sports Net for the next 15 seasons.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star wonders how ESPN would have covered the Royal Wedding.

Jim says New York Jets coach Rex Ryan is making the media rounds.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says Major League Baseball cannot approve the Dodgers’ deal with Fox Sports Net because Jamie McCourt has not signed off on it.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News says a panel discussion on sportscasting careers will be moderated by a Hall of Fame announcer next month.

Tom says Fox’s role in the Los Angeles Dodgers and in the McCourt ownership mess goes way back.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if Winnipeg will get left at the altar in its bid to get an NHL team.

That’s going to do it.

The Thursday Linkage, Finally

Finally getting to some linkage. Had some work to do first and of course, that takes precedence. Lots of stuff to get to.

First from John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily, he reports that Monday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya is leaving ESPN and most likely heading to NBC in an unspecified capacity.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today reports that ESPN.com has announced the name and roster for Captain Blowhard’s new sports and pop culture website. Kill me mow.

Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter says Fox has tapped a new man to lead Fuel TV.

At Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says the NBA Playoffs on TNT are scoring in the ratings and with affluent viewers as well.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel notes that Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia scored record ratings for Game 7 of the Buffalo-Flyers series.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that TNT’s highest ratings in the playoffs are for teams from the two biggest markets.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life tells us that both the NBA and NHL are seeing red hot ratings for their postseasons.

Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal wonders what if ESPN covered the Royal Wedding.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN Front Row talks with members of ESPN’s NFL blogging network on their approach to covering this year’s NFL Draft.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy goes over what ESPN was offering the NHL before NBC/Versus came and topped it.

We have the transcript of CNBC’s Darren Rovell interviewing embattled Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt about Major League Baseball taking operation of the team.

Andy Fixmer and Beth Jinks of Bloomberg recap McCourt’s appearance on Bloomberg Television.

At the Biz of Baseball, the great Maury Brown has McCourt blasting MLB for meddling after Fox agreed to give him a $30 million advance as part of a 20 year media rights deal.

Back to Bloomberg, Laurel Brubaker Calkins writes that Golf Channel officials are denying any knowledge of a Ponzi scheme run by an indicted financier who paid money to the network for sponsorships.

Cam Martin of Sports Newser writes that a new play on the late Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell, authored by Mitch Albom, will premiere tonight in the Motor City.

Cork Gaines of the Business Insider’s Sports Page reviews two nights of ESPN SportsCenter and breaks down how it covers sports news.

Emerson College Journalism Professor Mark Luccese writing in Boston.com discusses the surplus of sports coverage in Beantown.

98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston had an interview with NESN’s Jack Edwards in which he discusses the Canadiens, diving and a few other things.

Kirk Minihane of WEEI.com is not a fan of Jack Edwards.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times says Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum now has a new name.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter isn’t too happy over a new book written about him.

Jerry Bossert of the New York Daily News looks at the new voice of the Triple Crown on NBC.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the TV schedule for the 2nd round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Pete also has the NBA Playoff schedule through this weekend.

Bob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Post-Tribune says the Pittsburgh Penguins have signed a new deal with Root Sports keeping the team on the network for at least 18 more season.

John Feinstein takes out his computer keyboard and proceeds to hit DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder over his head with it.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the NBA’s ratings winning streak continues into the postsesaon.

Jim says NFL Draft coverage has turned into a marathon.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Comcast SportsNet ended its NBA and NHL postseason coverage with a bang.

Derrick Gold from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman refuted statements made by Houston Astros radio announcer Milo Hamilton.

Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal says extended NBA and NFL lockouts would have adverse effects on the local economy and advertising market.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen about this week’s Draft coverage.

Fight Hype says ESPN.com boxing reporter Dan Rafael could be moving to HBO in a much different capacity.

Joe Favorito says US sports teams need to get on the ball with social media in a way that their European counterparts have totally embraced.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs has a look at various local sports radio ratings.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Doling Out Tuesday Linkage

Got to work early so I figure that I’ll do linkage early and then do some what I have to do at the office.

Let’s begin with a look at some of the ratings from the weekend via USA Today’s Michael Hiestand.

Michael notes that the Cam Newton saga at the NFL Draft could bring viewers to the table for ESPN and NFL Network despite ongoing lockout drama.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Fox’s Howie Long blasted the NFL Scouting Combine in a taping of a Big Lead/The Experts Network Draft Special. Disclaimer: Fang’s Bites is a member of Big Lead Sports, but is an independently owned and operated blog.

A couple of interesting op-ed pieces today. First, NFL Commish Roger Goodell in the Wall Street Journal claims the end of the league as we know it if there’s no collective bargaining agreement with the players.

Next in the Washington Post, Washington DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder explains why he’s suing the Washington City  Paper and it certainly doesn’t help his argument.

If you want to help the Washington City Paper in its fight against Snyder, go here and lend your support.

To the Sports Business Journal and John Ourand who says ESPN’s new endorsement guidelines are just a small ointment to a bigger problem.

John writes that NBA Draft prospect Jimmer Fredette has authorized a production company to follow him for a potential documentary on his experience leading up to the Draft.

Daniel Kaplan from the SBJ says NFL teams and sponsors are getting ready for the NFL Draft.

And Terry Lefton at the SBJ notes that Michael Vick’s image is at the point where he can endorse products again.

Tom Van Riper at Forbes is in favor of Major League Baseball expanding its playoffs.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago garnered record ratings for Canucks-Blackhawks Game 6 on Sunday.

Mike Reyolds at Mulitchannel News says NESN received its third highest ever ratings for a Boston Bruins playoff game on Saturday.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has ESPN/ABC’s Mark Jackson calling out ESPN The Magazine for publishing an anonymous NBA player’s column.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says despite first round ousters, the Knicks and Rangers drew very good TV ratings in New York.

Also from SportsNewser, Cam Martin notes that a documentary on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick is in the works.

And Alex Weprin of SportsNewser talks with ESPN personality Stephen A. (A is for Angry) Smith.

Bill Mann of Marketwatch.com says the NBC/Versus deal with the NHL will have a ripple effect in Canada.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group looks at NFL Network’s production preparation for the NFL Draft.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says all Judge Susan Nelson did in overturning the NFL lockout was to lead to massive confusion among the league and the players.

The Boston Globe notes that local athletic shoe company, Saucony is launching a new ad campaign that will air on ESPN and other sports networks starting this week.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch profiles local resident and ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Draft programming for both ESPN and NFL Network.

Pete says the New York Knicks delivered killer ratings for both ABC and MSG Network.

Pete has the updated NBA Playoffs TV schedule.

From the New Jersey Press, David P. Willis looks at the new Cablevision iPad app which allows subscribers to watch TV programs on their Apple tablets.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner wonders why politicians aren’t speaking out against the NFL lockout.

Zach Berman from the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger has five questions for NFL Network Draft guru Mike Mayock.

Mike Jensen from the Philadelphia Inquirer profiles native Mike Mayock of NFL Network.

Joseph Santoliquito of the Marple Newtown (PA) Patch profiles Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia host Michael Barkann who is a longtime resident of the community.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that former DC NFL Team executive Vinny Cerrato will now co-host a nightly radio show in Baltimore.

The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal reports that the local ESPN Radio affiliate will pick up high school football games this fall.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that TNT’s Mike Fratello got the job done during last night’s Denver-Oklahoma City NBA playoff game.

Bill Haisten from the Tulsa (OK) World says local native Dari Nowkhah of ESPN almost quit TV for teaching until a sudden call from Bristol, CT came his way.

Jamie Samuelsen in the Detroit Free Press says Matt Millen should expect a less-than-warm welcome to Ford Field when he makes his first return there with the Monday Night Football crew this fall.

Robert Snell of the Free Press says NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk owes the IRS a big chunk of change.

Cole Manbeck of the Manhattan (KS) Mercury says Kansas State is expecting a huge cash payment from the new Fox/Big 12 TV deal.

Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Journal-Review says baseball fans in town are fed up of being blacked out of six teams that claim the market as their territory.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog goes after Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail for not doing his homework.

Sports Media Watch notes that NBA ratings in Boston and Chicago are way up from last year.

SMW also looks at the local NHL ratings in various markets.

And SMW has some more NHL ratings for us.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for nights 9 and 10 of the NHL Playoffs on Versus.

And I think we’re done now. Back to work now.

Thursday’s Links Are Here … Finally

Been doing some work and also keeping an eye on the Detroit-Yankees game online. It’s been a joy watching games online. It has been a lifesaver when I’ve been at work bogged down with stuff in the office. And MLB.TV is free for Apple iOS users via the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

Anyway, let’s do some links.

John Ourand at the Sports Business Daily mentions that ESPN has filed suit in court his week against Conference USA for not bargaining its TV rights in good faith and awarding them to Fox instead.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid is calling MLB’s “Always Epic” ad campaign an “Epic Fail”. I have yet to figure out what the ad with San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson is all about.

However, SportsGrid’s Glenn Davis is amused at the new SportsCenter ad also featuring Brian Wilson.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN’s Front Row talks about the launch of the corporate blog.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News explains why ESPN is not included in the Time Warner Cable iPad app.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek notes that MSG Network has reupped with the MLS’ New York Red Bulls for another three years.

Kunur Patel at Advertising Age says a sponsor is coming through to allow Apple devices to have free access to MLB.TV for a month.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the NFL’s TV partners could stand to be the biggest loser of any prolonged lockout.

Alex Weprin at SportsNewser notes that SB Nation has launched a new baseball-only blogging site.

At TVNewser, Chris Ariens says ESPN was among those honored for a prestigious Peabody Award for its 30 for 30 documentary series. HBO also received a Peabody for Magic & Bird.

The Boston Herald’s Jessica Heslam notes that two local sports radio stations brought in good ad revenue from last year.

Brian Stelter of the New York Times discusses ESPN’s Josh Elliot’s move to Good Morning America.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that YES and DirecTV’s agreement runs out on Friday if a new carriage accord is not reached soon.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union also writes about the YES/DirecTV deadline.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that a local radio station is bumping the Yankees on Saturday in favor of the Final Four^®? What happened to Most Favored Nation status for baseball on the radio?

Ken says a local NBC sports anchor is heading to Augusta to call The Masters^® on DirecTV.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record talks about MSG Network bringing the New York Red Bulls back into the fold.

Cindy Boren at the Washington Post’s Early Lead blog says a federal appeals court ruled against the DC NFL Team stating it must provide captions of all song lyrics and text public service announcements at the Stadium formerly known as Jack Kent Cooke for its hearing-impaired fans.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that it’s MLB Opening Day not only for the sport and its fans, but for TV as well.

Kristi E. Swartz, Larry Hartstein and Alexis Stevens of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution report on former Hawks star, current vice president and TV analyst Dominique Wilkins getting attacked by a former NBA referee following his broadcast spot last night.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Fox’s MLB analysts are bullish on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ed Sherman with Crain’s Chicago Business says the early start of the MLB season means a busy time at Wrigley Field and the Park formerly known as Comiskey.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with announcers, young and old, local and national, about what Dodgers voice Vin Scully means to them.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose has apologized for getting arrested earlier this month on DUI charges.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore finds the tentative Stanley Cup Finals TV schedule for NBC/Versus.

The NFL Chick pays tribute to women in sportscasting.

Cee Angi at Aerys Sports’ Essence of Baseball site gets on the MLB Fan Cave for reaching to the lowest common denominator.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs likes seeing MLB Opening Day and the Final Four finally separated.

And that’s where we’ll end the links for today.

Bringing Out the Wednesday Links

Ok, let’s do the Wednesday linkage. Quite a few things to get to.

We begin with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal who when we last saw him during the World Series last October, was wearing a bowtie despite his protests to management. Well, we find that Ken will continue wearing a bowtie this season, but rather willingly and for a very good cause.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Hardball Talk applauds Ken for making this true fashion statement.

Now back to Ken, he writes at FoxSports.com that Major League Baseball has to do more to promote its game to a very tech-savvy fandom.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has a few sports media observations in the Game On! blog.

Also in USA Today’s Game On! Steve Coogan writes that Jennifer Hudson is out from CBS’ One Shining Moment NCAA Tournament final montage.

One more from Game On! Mike McCarthy reviews Charles Barkley’s comments on truTV. It was a joke, people.

I had no idea that the former bassist for Guns ‘N Roses, Jane Addiction and Velvet Revolver, Duff McKagan had his own column at ESPN.com. Well, this is a very touching and well-written column on the late Seattle Mariners voice Dave Niehaus.

ESPN’s corporate blog, Front Row, has now launched and has been churning out pictures since midnight to show “A Day in the Life” at its various offices around the world. I have to say it’s quite fascinating. The pictures will continue to be published until late tonight.

Marisa Guthrie and Lindsay Powers at the Hollywood Reporter discuss ESPN’s Josh Elliot moving to ABC’s Good Morning America replacing the always lovely Juju Chang.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes about ESPN’s latest pickup for Baseball Tonight.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says ESPN Films will air a documentary on Jack Nicklaus’ iconic 1986 win at The Masters^®.

The great Ryan Ballengee of NBC’s Pro Golf Talk says The Masters^® iPad app will stream all four days of live TV golf coverage next week. That is very cool.

Jack Neff of Advertising Age says Vaseline Men will be unveiling an ad campaign for the NFL Draft.

In Mediaweek, Anthony Crupi says ad buyers are looking for alternatives as the NFL lockout goes longer.

Doron Levin at Fortune notes that Cadillac has quietly returned to sponsoring golf tournaments.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell examines whether the Chicago Cubs made the right call for their public address announcer.

Darren looks at the MLB Fan Cave that has two men watching every single regular season and playoff game this year.

And Darren goes inside the numbers of college football.

All Access says a Muncie, IN radio station is dropping ESPN in favor of Fox Sports Radio.

All Access also discusses Trenni Kusnierek joining a Milwaukee radio station full-time.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News writes about ESPN’s Josh Elliot leaving SportsCenter to move to Good Morning America.

Newsday’s Neil Best takes a look at Yankees and Mets ticket prices on the resale market.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union looks at former Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer joining ESPN.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Fox’s Tim McCarver thoughts on the Mets and Yankees.

Conor Orr at the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says ESPN’s Jay Bilas is a man of many talents.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Times notes that Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready to cover the Phillies this season.

Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post is amused with a new Pimlico Raceway ad that acknowledges the infield debauchery during the Preakness Stakes.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that ESPN will be airing a prestigious high school basketball tournament live from the DC area.

Brandon Marcello of the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger says Mississippi State University now has the announcers who will replace legendary voice Jack Cristil who retired after the basketball season.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman discusses ESPN shaking up its Sunday Night Baseball announcers and adding a new twist to Baseball Tonight.

Doug Zaleski of the Muncie (IN) Star Press notes that a Ball State-Indiana football matchup could end up on ESPN on Labor Day weekend.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox Sports Wisconsin will add some bells and whistles to its Brewers game productions.

Jon Nyatawa of the Omaha (NE) World-Journal says the Kansas City Royals won’t be heard on local radio this season.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post looks at FSN Rocky Mountain changing its name as of Friday.

Lya Wodraska in the Salt Lake Tribune says the University of Utah is open to moving its football games to Sunday in case of an NFL lockout.

Scott D. Pierce of the Tribune looks at FSN Rocky Mountain’s change of name.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says FX’s plans to carry college football this fall might be part of a larger scheme to increase subscriber fees.

Mike DiGiovanna from the Times says while Fox Sports tested a new overhead camera during last night’s Dodgers-Angels exhibition game, players were concerned that it might be too intrusive.

Mark Hester from The Oregonian notes that ESPN is chock full of spring college football games.

Gretchen Holzang of the Portland Business Journal writes about FSN Northwest’s rebranding on Friday.

To the Toronto Globe and Mail where Bruce Dowbiggin talks with Rogers Sportsnet Blue Jays analyst Greg Zaun.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox hit a ratings low for the first time this season.

The Big Lead critiques CBS/Turner’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament.

And we’ll end it there today.

NFL Network’s Rich Eisen Talks With Colts Center Jeff Saturday About Lockout

On tonight’s NFL Network’s NFL Total Access, host Rich Eisen spoke extensively with Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday about the lockout. Saturday is also an NFL Players Association Executive Committee member. Saturday’s on NFL Network as a guest analyst for the first part of this week. We have the full interview transcript, but we’ll have to do a jump break because the interview is quite long. We have details about the interview first, then the actual transcript.

NFL Network’s Rich Eisen 1-on-1 Interview with Colts Center Jeff Saturday on NFL Total Access

Monday, March 28, 2011

NFL Network host Rich Eisen sat down Colts Center and NFL Players Association Executive Committee member Jeff Saturday for a 1-on-1 interview on the state of the CBA negotiations. Saturday is serving a guest analyst on NFL Total Access Monday, March 28 – Wednesday, March 30.

The following is a transcription of the interview in its entirety. Part I aired tonight on NFL Total Access at 7:00 PM ET. Part II of the interview will be on NFL Network’s NFL Total Access Tuesday, March 29 at 7:00 PM ET.

Excerpts from the interview can also be viewed by visiting the following links on NFL.com:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d81efcc44/Why-the-union-decertified

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d81efcaf9/Saturday-on-talk-with-Goodell

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d81efca93/Saturday-on-rookies-who-attend-draft

NFL Total Access airs Monday-Friday at 7:00 PM ET with re-airs at 11:00 PM ET.

And now the jump.

(continue reading…)

Some Tuesday Linkage

Not sure how much I’ll be able to get done today so I’ll do as many links as I can. I expect to get interrupted in the middle so don’t be surprised if there are just a few links here.

Brian Lowry at Fox Sports says you’re now in control of what you watch at the NCAA Tournament.

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated says you had better get used to the NCAA Tournament’s FIRST FOUR^® from now on.

Paul Bond of the Hollywood Reporter looks at the effects of an NFL lockout on TV both in terms of ratings and ad revenue.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age tries to see where the ad dollars would go if the NFL lockout went long.

Diane Mermigas of MediaPost writes that the NFL lockout could mean a boom in alternative programming.

To All Things Digital where Peter Kafka has ESPN scoffing at reports of cord cutting.

At Women’s Wear Daily, we find that ESPN The Magazine will be doing an all-encompassing “Style” issue. There was the “Body” issue. Now there’s the “Style” issue. (scroll down)

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has ESPN’s Jay Bilas harping on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee’s makeup.

Glenn has video of David Letterman busting on CBS/Turner’s Charles Barkley.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Versus scored with the Mountain West Championship Game on Saturday.

Diego Vasquez from Media Life discovers why the NCAA Tournament is red hot this year.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says beloved Indiana Pacers radio analyst Bob “Slick” Leonard is recovering from a heart attack.

Greg Bishop of the New York Times talks with CBS’ Gus Johnson about his popularity especially during March Madness.

The Times put together some of Gus’ best calls from both the NCAA Tournament and from his time with MSG Network.

Richard Sandomir of the Times looks at the Brave New World with CBS and Turner airing the NCAA Tournament.

Newsday’s Neil Best says fans who are used to submitting their NCAA Tournament brackets for online contests can still do so at least for this year.

Neil adds that CBS/Turner would rather have you submit your brackets starting on Tuesday instead of Thursday.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the College Basketball Invitational Tournament TV schedule.

Pete says truTV won’t be in HD in time for the NCAA Tournament in the Capital Region.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record looks at Marist College’s schedule in the NCAA Women’s Tournament on the ESPN family of networks.

Conor Orr of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says CBS College Sports is tapping Rutgers coach Mike Rice as a guest analyst.

Evan Weiner from the New Jersey Newsroom asks where’s the fan outrage with the NFL lockout?

Mke Vorkunov of NJ Newsroom goes behind the scenes with ESPN at the Big East Tournament.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post says sports teams and leagues are now in the business of making their own news.

Dan Steinberg of the WaPo’s DC Sports Bog explains why the local NFL team forced the Post to take its name off the paper’s blogs.

And Dan writes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will be using DC NFL team QB Donovan McNabb as an NCAA Tournament analyst this week.

Chuck Carlton from the Dallas Morning News says Fox and the Big 12 are close to a lucrative cable rights contract.

Jake Trotter of the Daily Oklahoman writes that the new Big 12 deal would triple the value of its current contract with Fox Sports.

Kyle Nagel of the Dayton Daily News discusses truTV’s role in the NCAA Tournament.

Chris Easterling of the Massillon (OH) Independent says the local airwaves are filled with sports radio talk shows.

Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press says ESPN is filming the Michigan high school basketball team that is coping with the death of one of its players.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says truTV will be in HD on one local cable system.

Bob says another major cable provider might add truTV in HD as well.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says it’s no coincidence that the NCAA sent Purdue and Notre Dame to Chicago to help Tournament ticket sales.

David Hanners of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes that NBA referee Bill Spooner is suing an Associated Press reporter for tweeting about alleged makeup calls during a game involving the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL’s TV partners, particular the over the air networks, might have big programming holes to fill in case of a lockout.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News says a big Big 12 rights deal might bode well for Pac 12 football.

Matt Sarzyniak who does the great Matt’s College Sports on TV site, looks at the Big 12 and Fox getting together for some big money.

Paulsen of Sports Media Watch notes that the ratings for the NBA on ABC went down due to not showcasing one of the league’s Big 3 on Sunday.

SMW says the NHL on NBC was also down from a year ago.

And SMW says the NCAA Tournament Selection Show sunk to an all-time low.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing has the video of when the Perpetually Angry Doug Gottlieb’s phone went off live on SportsCenter.

Emmett Jones from Sports Business Digest says MLB Network has picked up a major cable provider.

And that will do it for now. Got the entire set of links in. I’m happy.