Fang's Bites

Live from Bloomberg Headquarters, Part 1

Here at Bloomberg headquarters in New York City and finding some interesting info about its new MLB fantasy product. It will allow you to marry your league from ESPN.com, Yahoo, CBSSports.com, etc. and you can change your roster from the Bloomberg program and post it to your fantasy league.

It also gives you a way to analyze players, project their statistics and find the best player for your league. In addition, statistics are updated in real time from the Bloomberg/MLB.com website. This is definitely a gamechanger.

More later.

Live From New York, It’s Bloomberg Sports

Your humble blogger is at Bloomberg headquarters in New York City today for the launch of a sports data program for MLB.com. Can’t say much about it right now, but suffice to say it’s going to be quite interesting.

I’ll blog and hopefully be able to take pictures with my iPhone. If I can’t, you’ll certainly get a written description.

Keep your RSS and Twitter feeds updated.

Peter Gammons Talks About Joining MLB Network

On Wednesday at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Indianapolis, Peter Gammons joined MLB Network head honcho Tony Petitti and MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman in a media conference call to announce his joining the channel as well as MLB.com full-time. On Tuesday, we learned that Peter was leaving ESPN after 20 years and joining MLB Network/MLB.com and NESN.

Here are highlights of that conference call. If I find audio and/or video, I’ll add it here.

quotes from peter gammons, tony petitti & bob bowman on gammons joining mlb network & MLB.com

December 9, 2009 – MLB Network held a conference call Wednesday afternoon with Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons, MLB Network president & CEO Tony Petitti and chief executive officer of MLB Advanced Media Bob Bowman to discuss Gammons’ new roles with MLB Network & MLB.com. It was announced Tuesday, December 8 that Gammons would join MLB Network and MLB.com as an on-air and online analyst. As part of a multi-year deal, Gammons will offer analysis and commentary on MLB Network for breaking news and special events like the Trade Deadline, First-Year Player Draft, Winter Meetings and Postseason. Gammons will also serve as a signature and regularly featured writer for MLB.com’s new columnist initiative, writing commentary on breaking news and posting several articles online each week.

Gammons was honored as the recipient of the 2005 J.G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing during the 2005 Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. Gammons was voted the National Sportswriter of the Year for 1989, 1990 and 1993 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and was awarded an honorary Poynter Fellow from Yale University.

Highlights from the call include:

Tony Petitti

On working with Gammons

There’s no doubt that one of the most important relationships viewers have with our network is through the talent. To add Peter to a list that already includes Bob Costas, Harold Reynolds, Al Leiter, Barry Larkin among many, it’s just a really important step for us. Peter will provide great insight and one thing that he’ll do that I think is sort of unique is not only will he offer commentary on what’s going on in the game on an everyday basis, but also, he’ll generate content for us with programming ideas, much like we said last year with Bob Costas. We’ll be able to develop programs for Peter; he’ll have ideas for shows and segments. The great advantage we have with being 24/7, 365, is that we’ve got a great outlet for all his expertise.

Having a deep, talented team is really crucial, because that’s where our talent comes from. The fact that we’ve put together a really good team initially makes it more attractive for people like Peter and, for some, to see what we’ve accomplished in our first year makes it a little bit easier now to recruit, now that people have seen the shows.

Bob Bowman

On working with Gammons & MLB Network

We’re equally excited about trying to leverage and utilize Peter’s unique talents between us and the network.

Adding someone like Peter who understands the game and can write about it … we think it’s very exciting because the written word is not dead, no matter what [others] may say. We hope to give it even more life, and we think we will, with the hiring of Peter Gammons.

Peter Gammons

On projects he’ll do with MLB Network & MLB.com

I just see so many different directions that I can go with this. The opportunities, selfishly, are boundless. What the network has done in a very short period of time frankly has astounded me. It is so good. I have a lot of friends who work there and love it and the combination of the writing and the network, to me, lets me move on to another stage in my career after 40 years in the newspaper, magazine and television industry. I almost feel that this merges all three together and … I have tremendous confidence and respect for the people with whom I’ll be working.

Some of the writing forum fascinates and really excites me. And I think that there’s so much, because the network is all baseball, and … to be a voice for the game and to be able to come up with ideas and projects that I want to do, it’s really exciting to me.

On what attracted him to working with MLB Network

As a viewer, one thing that I’ve really understood in the year is the passion the network has for the game I love so much and I think that’s very important. There’s no superficiality. There’s a clear passion for baseball and presenting baseball to the fans and I think it’s been done not only with that degree of passion but with objectivity. As a viewer, when I started watching it when it began, the question was “how objective will it be?” and it’s very evident to me that the network has encouraged full objectivity and allowed the people on-air to be exactly who they are.

This is a tremendous opportunity at this time in my life – a little more freedom of time, a little more freedom of opportunity. There are still other things beyond this in terms of book-writing that I want to try to launch into the next five years. I have really been tremendously impressed and swept away by the concepts that were brought to me.

On maintaining objectivity in his reporting for MLB Network & MLB.com

It’s been made very clear to me that that’s the way it is. Tony and Bob know me and they know I’ve thought it out a lot over time about where are conflicts – and there are essential conflicts in almost everything we do today in any form of media – but I am who I am and I’d like to think that after 40 years in the media business that people accept me and that I’m going to have, I hope, the same integrity that I’ve always had.

On how journalists work across multimedia platforms

It makes me very happy to see people get the opportunity to go into television from newspapers or go into other forms of media. … It’s really fun to grow with the medium and yet I still never really felt that it’s that much different than what I did with the Boston Globe in 1972.

Certainly this was the biggest news of the Winter Meetings.

BREAKING NEWS: Peter Gammons Joins MLB Network and MLB.com

Peter Gammons leaves ESPN and picks up two outlets. In addition to working for NESN which will be his home base, Peter also will work for MLB Network. The story leaked just a few short hours after we learned that Peter was leaving ESPN, his place of employment for 20 years. He now joins MLB Network which has amassed a really good stable of baseball reporters including Tom Verducci, Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal. That’s a Murderer’s Row of insiders that ESPN will be hard pressed to match. While ESPN has Buster Olney, Peter Pascarelli, Tim Kurkjian and Jayson Stark among others, MLB Network has really stepped up.

In addition, Peter will write for MLB.com. We have the official announcement from MLB Network.

Hall of Fame Baseball Writer Peter Gammons Joins MLB Network and MLB.com as On-Air and Online Analyst

Gammons to Serve as an Analyst on MLB Network Studio and Feature Programming

Gammons to be a Signature and Regularly Featured Writer in

MLB.com’s New Sports Columnist Initiative

Secaucus, NJ and New York, NY, December 8, 2009 – MLB Network and MLB Advanced Media today announced that Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons has joined MLB Network and MLB.com as an on-air and online analyst. As part of a multi-year deal, Gammons will offer analysis and commentary on MLB Network for breaking news and special events like the Trade Deadline, First-Year Player Draft, Winter Meetings and Postseason. Gammons will also serve as a signature and regularly featured writer for MLB.com’s new columnist initiative, writing commentary on breaking news and posting several articles online each week.

During the 2009-2010 offseason, Gammons will appear on Hot Stove, MLB Network’s nightly offseason studio show featuring updates and analysis of the moves all 30 clubs are making and planning in preparation for the upcoming season. He will also contribute to MLB Network’s Spring Training program 30 Clubs in 30 Days and do studio work on short documentary-style pieces and other select programming. Gammons will also be a regular analyst on MLB Tonight, MLB Network’s signature nightly studio show.

Also today, NESN announced that Gammons has entered into a multi-year agreement to join the network in January 2010 to serve as a studio analyst and reporter.

“It’s hard to imagine a reporter who is more deeply associated with a sport than Peter is with Major League Baseball,” said Tony Petitti, President and Chief Executive Officer of MLB Network. “Having Peter associated with MLB Network is an incredible opportunity and another great step for MLB Network as we head into our second year on January 1.”

“Peter is one of the best known baseball observers and his illustrious 40-year career has included coverage of some of the most important moments in baseball history,” said Dinn Mann, executive vice president and editor-in-chief of MLB.com. “We are thrilled he will be the anchor of our soon-to-be-launched daily columnist website that will include this country’s best baseball writers.”

“After 40 years covering baseball, the opportunity to move on to MLB Network is a great and daunting opportunity,” said Gammons. “My journalistic life has revolved around baseball, and to be involved with people whose network is devoted to baseball, and baseball only, is something I look forward to with excitement. We all wish pitchers and catchers reported tomorrow. One of the greatest things about baseball is that it is held to a higher standard than any other sport, which holds those of us who care about it to a higher standard. I hope I can contribute to that standard.”

“For generations, baseball has been the writers’ sport, from John Updike to Roger Angell to Tom Boswell,” said Gammons. “To be afforded the opportunity by MLB.com to write about breaking news, inside information, issues, players, people, history and the perspective of the game’s place in society from Jackie Robinson to our current generation of socially-conscious players like Torii Hunter, Carlos Pena, and C.C. Sabathia is a forum that makes this next chapter of my journalistic life exciting and rewarding.”

Gammons was honored as the recipient of the 2005 J.G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing during the 2005 Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. Gammons was voted the National Sportswriter of the Year for 1989, 1990 and 1993 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and was awarded an honorary Poynter Fellow from Yale University.

Gammons most recently served as a baseball analyst for ESPN from 1988 through 2009 as well as a writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. He began his career as a reporter for the Boston Globe in 1969 and wrote a weekly Sunday baseball column for many years. He has also worked for Sports Illustrated covering the National Hockey League, college basketball and Major League Baseball (1976-78, 1986-90). He has also served as a contributor to Baseball America. In 1984, Gammons wrote the critically acclaimed book Beyond the Sixth Game, a look at free agency.

Gammons joins MLB Network’s roster of on-air talent, including studio hosts Bob Costas, Matt Vasgersian, Victor Rojas, Greg Amsinger and Matt Yallof, studio analysts Sean Casey, John Hart, Barry Larkin, Al Leiter, Joe Magrane, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Billy Ripken and Mitch Williams, reporters Trenni Kusnierek and Hazel Mae, and baseball insiders Jon Heyman, Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal.

Good stuff. Been quite the busy day for us who cover the sports media.

Late Night Links … Again

After getting a late start to blogging today and not being able to provide links during the day, I thought maybe I can take the night off from blogging. WRONG! Things are breaking tonight. It’s hard to decide where to begin, but let’s go with the New York Times.

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Tim Arango chronicle how the Comcast/NBC deal was made and how it all began back in July.

To the West Coast where we discover that legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg is going back to baseball to San Diego Padres games in 2010.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune breaks the news that Enberg will be the main TV voice for the team.

John Maffei from the North County Times says Enberg will call as many as 125 games for the Padres.

This means that Enberg will cut the French Open from his schedule for next year while keeping Wimbledon and the U.S. Open which he calls for ESPN2 and CBS respectively.

To Chicago where WBBM-TV, the Windy City’s CBS affiliate is doing something rather radical for its low-rated morning daypart. Phil Rosenthal of the Tribune reports that the station is picking up Mike North and Dan Jiggetts from Comcast SportsNet and placing their show in the timeslot where the morning news is currently.

Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun-Times also writes about WBBM’s move to bring North and Jiggetts over from Comcast SportsNet.

And Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business chimes in with a story of his own on North moving from cable to over the air TV.

To Washington, DC and our nation’s capital, Jennifer Harper of the Washington Times writes that the paper is reorganizing and laying off 40% of its workforce.

Times’ sports business writer Tim Lemke tweets that this likely means the entire sports department will be cut.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with a former Nike insider about the Tiger Woods apology.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News tries to make sense of the mainstream media’s reporting of the Tiger Woods apology.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union looks at the ratings for ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

And Pete updates this week’s college football schedule.

Laura Nachman says a former Philly TV and radio personality is disbanding his Tiger Woods fansite.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News crunches some of the NFL ratings numbers from Week 12.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN The Magazine is giving love to Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant.

The Los Angeles Times has a special section devoted to the work of the late Mike Penner.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes that the long-time head of a city sports radio station moves to the TV side.

William Houston at Truth & Rumours also writes about the TV/radio shakeup and the Tiger Woods story.

Rick Kissell from Variety looks at ESPN’s ratings for Monday Night Football.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says football gave ESPN the monthly cable win for November.

Lucia Moses of Mediaweek says Sports Illustrated is set to unveil in 2010 an electronic reader that can expand on its magazine.

The Sports Media Watch has the weekend overnight ratings.

SMW says Monday’s Patriots-Saints game just barely missed breaking a cable ratings record.

And SMW notes that the UFL Championship Game didn’t do all that well on Versus.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media has decided to leave a blog network.

Chris adds that Tiger Woods should have learned a lesson on privacy.

The Cycle blog says it’s time to leave Tiger alone.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball writes that MLB.com is looking for stats stringers for 2010.

Dave Kohl of the Major League Programs blog looks at radio and TV media rights.

That’s going to be it for us tonight. I will post two press releases and go to bed.

Baseball-Related Press Releases

We continue to clear the Fang’s Bites inbox of press releases from yesterday and actually, I have one today that will fit this theme.

This is from Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia which says the Phillies helped to set another ratings record for the network.

PHILLIES’ RECORD RATINGS STREAK CONTINUES ON COMCAST SPORTSNET

Seven Consecutive Years of Audience Increases; 2009 Ratings Jump 25% over 2008 Season

Comcast SportsNet’s Phillies Coverage Continues With Postseason Analysis

PHILADELPHIA – (October 5, 2009) – Comcast SportsNet, the region’s leading source for local sports coverage, delivered a 25% increase in Phillies ratings over the 2008 World Championship season, the network’s seventh consecutive season of Phillies ratings growth.

During the 2009 season, the Phillies scored a 7.14 average rating (212,000 HH) for live game action, a 25% increase over last season’s 5.7 rating. Fans tuned into Comcast SportsNet’s Phillies Postgame Live in record numbers; the program averaged a 3.1 rating (92,000 HH), a 15% increase over the 2008 season. Comcast SportsNet’s Phillies ratings have climbed 113% since 2002, when the Phillies delivered a 3.35 household rating.

Throughout the Phillies 2009 postseason run, Comcast SportsNet will provide extended Phillies coverage, including Phillies Pregame Live and Phillies Postgame Live for every Phillies post season game featuring highlights, exclusive interviews with players and managers, plus insider analysis with former Phillies pitcher Ricky Bottalico and other special guests. In addition to special playoff editions of Daily News Live and SportsNite, Comcast SportsNet will air Race2Repeat, a 30-minute program airing at 10:30 p.m. on any Phillies off day.

Throughout the Phillies post season, CSNPhilly.com will cover the team both at home and on the road with exclusive reports from John Finger. Each week, Finger will have game previews, post-game recaps, weekly chats and his blog Finger Food.

Comcast SportsNet’s game-day coverage of the Phillies-Rockies series begins on Wednesday at 2 p.m. with Phillies Pregame Live. The schedule for the first three games of the Phillies-Rockies series is below.

Wednesday, October 7

2 p.m. Phillies Pregame Live

5 p.m. Daily News Live

5:30 p.m. Phillies Postgame Live

6:30 p.m. SportsNite

10 p.m. SportsNite

11:30 p.m. Phillies Postgame Live replay

1 a.m. SportsRise

Thursday, October 8

2 p.m. Phillies Pregame Live

5 p.m. Daily News Live

5:30 p.m. Phillies Postgame Live (Simulcast on Comcast SportsNet and The Comcast Network)

6:30 p.m. Flyers Pregame Live

7 p.m. Flyers vs. Pittsburgh

9:30 p.m. Flyers Postgame Live

10 p.m. SportsNite

11:30 p.m. Phillies Postgame Live Replay

Saturday, October 10

6 p.m. SportsNite

6:30 p.m. Flyers Pregame Live

7 p.m. Flyers vs. Anaheim

9 p.m. Phillies Pregame Live (airing exclusively on The Comcast Network)

9:30 p.m. Flyers Postgame Live

10 p.m. SportsNite

12: 30 a.m. Phillies Postgame Live

1:30 a.m. SportsRise

Coming today, MLB Network has an interesting program on one of the more infamous incidents in baseball history.

MLB Network to air MLB Network Remembers: Incident at Candlestick with Bob Costas on Tuesday, October 6 at 9:30 p.m. ET

MLB Network on Tuesday, October 6, at 9:30 p.m. ET will air MLB Network Remembers: Incident at Candlestick, narrated by Bob Costas, about the fight between San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Johnny Roseboro on August 22, 1965 at San Francisco‘s Candlestick Park.

The show includes rarely seen archival footage of this fight and the subsequent fallout. Early in the game, Marichal had thrown several pitches close to the head of former Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills. As the game moved to the third inning and with Marichal at the plate, Roseboro’s throw back to the mound grazed Marichal’s ear. An argument ensued and Marichal hit Roseboro’s head with his bat. Marichal was ejected, suspended and fined. The show features new interviews with Marichal, who rarely has spoken of this event, former Giants center fielder and Hall of Famer Willie Mays, Roseboro’s widow, Barbara Fouch Roseboro, former Giants second baseman Tito Fuentes, Wills and former Dodgers outfielder Lou Johnson.

And MLB.com will offer multiple camera angles for TBS Hot Corner and Fox Sports.com during the MLB postseason.

MLB.COM, TURNER SPORTS AND FOX SPORTS GIVE FANS LIVE USER-CONTROLLED VIEWS FOR EVERY MLB POSTSEASON GAME

Collaboration expands TBS HotCorner and FOX Feeds action and introduces mobile video

NEW YORK, October 6, 2009 – Postseason.TV, a live interactive online viewing experience delivered by MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, in partnership with MLB Postseason national television rightsholders, Turner Sports and FOX Sports, will debut on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, when the Division Series begins on TBS. Postseason.TV will be accessible from MLB.com, FoxSports.com on MSN and MLB.com/TBSHotCorner.

The subscription product provides fans the ability to customize their online viewing experience by offering up to 10 different stationary camera angles from every MLB Postseason game, blackout free. Postseason.TV delivers a complementary way for viewers to engage with the Division Series and National League Championship Series broadcasts on TBS and the American League Championship Series and World Series on FOX, while, for the first time, offering a complete package of live Postseason action for a one-time fee of $9.95.

Subscribers to PostSeason.TV can choose to watch one of the available camera angles or up to any four different angles simultaneously in the multi-view option. In addition, TBS HotCorner and FOX Feeds will provide access to in-game video highlights, real-time statistics and play-by-play and social media integration through a live Twitter feed.

Fans also will have the opportunity to make Postseason.TV portable as MLB.com At Bat 2009, the award-winning application built exclusively for iPhone™ and iPod® touch, will provide mobile access to the same live camera angles as well as the quad mode option.

Good stuff.

Some Late Thursday Night/Early Friday Morning Linkage

I’ll give some linkage tonight before I sleep.

Newsday’s Neil Best reports that CBS Sports reporter Sam Ryan is giving up her gig as sports anchor at WCBS-TV in New York to focus on her national duties.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says there will be a lot of pressure on Michael Vick to say the right thing during his Friday press conference to announce his signing with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Darren wonders how many NFL blackouts there will be this season.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says Golf Channel will leave coverage of the Solheim Cup for two hours next Friday due to PGA Tour commitments.

The great Keith Thibeault of the Sports Media Journal continues his series of interview with NFL play-by-play men and the latest talk is with legendary New Orleans Saints voice Jim Henderson.

Ray Frager writing for the SMJ has some inside stuff on the first season of HBO’s Hard Knocks which focused on the Baltimore Ravens.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times notes that a big tenant is signing up to lease space near the Nationals ball park.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says one cable provider is pulling the plug on running Hard Knocks because of the language. I just shake my head. It’s HBO, not ESPN.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times writes that the Clippers are changing radio stations for next season.

Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says Roku is becoming a content provider player by nabbing the MLB.TV subscription package.

The Sports Media Watch says the Phillies set another ratings record for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Steve Lepore at Puck the Media looks for clues at the Versus schedule by checking at the Columbus Blue Jackets TV grid.

The 38 Cliches blog notes that WEEI’s Dale Arnold was in the Red Sox radio booth on Wednesday but he wasn’t there to call the game.

The great Amanda Bruno of Batter-up with Bruno caught an addition error on MLB.com on Thursday.

Sumner Widoes of Sports Fan Live wraps up his extensive interview with ESPN’s Kenny Mayne.

That will include the late night linkage. Get ready for the regular Friday features. Lots of stuff coming.

MLB Network Covers the Trade Deadline Plus One More Thing

As a virus and a worm get spread on Twitter, I’ll give you a post where I feel it’s at least somewhat safe.

One press release from MLB Network and another from MLB.com.

MLB Network says it will devote all day Friday to the Trading Deadline.

MLB NETWORK TO AIR 15 HOURS OF LIVE TRADE DEADLINE COVERAGE FRIDAY, JULY 31

Coverage to include historical features narrated by MLB Network’s Bob Costas

July 28, 2009 – MLB Network today announced its coverage plans for the Major League trade deadline on Friday, July 31 with MLB Tonight: Trade Deadline Special. Beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Friday, MLB Network will go live from Studio 3 in its Secaucus, New Jersey headquarters and remain on-air until MLB Tonight is off the air, totaling approximately 15 hours of live coverage.

MLB Network hosts Greg Amsinger, Victor Rojas and Matt Vasgersian will alternate hosting duties with analysis from MLB Network’s John Hart, Jon Heyman, Joe Magrane, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci and Mitch Williams. MLB Scouting Bureau Director Frank Marcos and MLB.com senior writer Jonathan Mayo will also join to discuss projected club line-ups and starting rotations, free agents in 2009 and 2010, and what Minor Leaguers may soon become household names. MLB Network reporter Hazel Mae, who is traveling with the Toronto Blue Jays tracking updates on pitcher Roy Halladay through Friday, and MLB Network Baseball Insider Ken Rosenthal will check in throughout the day offering updates and predictions.

MLB Network’s Bob Costas will narrate six editions of “MLB Network Remembers,” looking back at significant trades in Major League Baseball history, including Hall of Famer Lou Brock’s trade to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964. Other editions highlight David Cone’s trade to the New York Yankees, Mark McGwire’s trade to the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Boston Red Sox trading for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek in 1997.

“The Major League trade deadline generates tremendous interest from baseball fans and we knew it would be important to provide expanded coverage on Friday and throughout this week,” said Tony Petitti, President and CEO of MLB Network. “We’re looking forward to using all of our resources to give fans the latest updates on each club’s trade activity and predict how these trades can affect the second half of the season.”

Friday’s coverage will also include live streaming on MLB.com from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET, use of MLB Network Ballpark Cameras at U.S. Cellular Field, PETCO Park and Busch Stadium for interviews with club managers and players, and graphics with a trade-specific ticker highlighting information about clubs’ trade deadline history.

And the New York Yankees became the first team in MLB to have one million registered users.

NEW YORK YANKEES BECOME THE FIRST MLB CLUB TO REACH ONE MILLION REGISTERED USERS

NEW YORK, July 28, 2009 – MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, announced today that the New York Yankees this month became the first of the 30 Major League Clubs to surpass one million registered users for free newsletters and alerts, including exclusive ticketing opportunities, via its official Web site, www.Yankees.com.

“We are proud to reach a milestone that is representative of the passion and commitment Yankees fans have demonstrated for generations,” said Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost. “Yankees fans from every corner of the globe, including fans from each of the 50 United States, have embraced the exclusive online benefits delivered to their inbox.”

With free registration of a valid email address, Yankees fans can personalize their subscriptions to any of a number of direct communications to stay connected with the Club, including the Yankees Insider newsletter, a weekly source for exclusive inside-the-clubhouse stories, the latest ticketing opportunities, prospect scouting reports, discounts on authentic Yankees merchandise, photo galleries, video highlights and Yankees trivia.

Some of the other free newsletter and alert subscription options for Yankees fans to have delivered directly to their inbox include breaking news alerts, postgame alerts, ticket alerts and shop and memorabilia auction information. In addition, the Yankees offer a Spanish-language weekly newsletter. All newsletters are available in an HTML format with photos, graphics and features unavailable in the plain text format.

There you go.

A Few Sunday Links

Well, with the entire fam getting together for the first time since Christmas time, I won’t be around much today so I’m trying to sneak a blog post in.

Just a reminder that there is some breaking news on the Boston sports radio front and head to the Fang’s Bites page at Boston Sports Media Watch.

Starting with Neil Best of Newsday (and those webmasters have got to get an RSS feed going for his blog), he writes that SNY’s announcers have had to deal with a pretty bad Mets team this season.

Neil writes that last week was a bad week in the sports media.

Neil did a podcast interview with the Fanhouse’s Ryan Wilson.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times spent some time with former broadcaster Tony Kubek who’s being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today.

Richard says the Hall often has to undergo scavenger hunts to find items related to their inductees.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that Kubek is deserving to go into the Hall. I’ll agree with that.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick gets on the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs for something, my eyes glazed over.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says Versus is close to finalizing a pretty decent college football schedule.

John Steigerwald writing in the Tarentum Valley (PA) Dispatch wonders what if the Ben Roethlisberger story is true.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the Baseball Hall of Fame ceremonies and soccer are among the highlights for viewing this weekend.

Jim talks with the ESPN NASCAR announcing team about today’s Brickyard 400.

The Greensboro (NC) News-Record talks with ACC Commissioner John Swofford in advance of the conference Media Days.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks about the backlash over the Erin Andrews and Ben Roethlisberger stories for ESPN.

George Robinson of the Clarksville (TN) Leaf Chronicle says African American athletes will wonder if they will get the same protection from ESPN after what the network did for Ben Roethlisberger last week.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News says Cowboys WR Patrick Clayton is an unlikely media star for ESPN.

Mark J. Konkol of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the investors into the now-defunct Windy City internet sports radio station are now suing the owner based on his alleged faulty business practices.

Todd A. Mayes of the Los Angeles Canyon News feels ESPN’s coverage of the Open Championship was under par.

Artie Gigantino from the San Francisco Examiner is sickened by the whole Erin Andrews affair.

Nick Peters of the Sacramento Bee profiles former Bee writer Nick Peters who goes into the Sportswriters Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame today.

USA Today picks up an AP story about former Kansas City Chiefs RB Priest Holmes who is now going into a second career as a broadcaster.

Joe Favorito writes about Nathan’s building its brand thanks to the annual Competitive Eating contest.

The Sports Media Watch looks at who could be the successor to Erin Andrews. The SMW has its weekend ratings predictions.

Ray Frager in the Sports Media Journal has one of the more reasonable takes on the Erin Andrews saga.

The Rookies blog noticed that Shaun Phillips was actually looking for the Erin Andrews tape. Not smart. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

No matter what you think of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann’s politics, one cannot dispute his love for baseball. He’s in Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame ceremonies today and he’s writing about his experience in his MLB.com blog.

That’s going to do it for now.

Two Baseball Press Releases

I have two baseball-related press releases for you. One is the very first from Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, a channel I cannot watch on DirecTV, but that’s neither here nor there.

This touts the record ratings the network received for Tuesday night’s extra-inning win over the Chicago Cubs.

Tuesday Night’s Phillies Win Delivers Highest Phillies Rating Ever on the Network

Extra-Innings Thriller is Most-Watched Program in Philadelphia Tuesday

PHILADELPHIA- (July 22, 2009) – Tuesday night’s Phillies – Cubs game on Comcast SportsNet delivered a record-breaking 10.6 rating (315,000 households). The Phils’ extra-innings win marks the highest rated Phillies game in Comcast SportsNet’s 12-year history, breaking the previous mark of a 10.5 rating set on September 27, 2007, when the Phillies played the Atlanta Braves.

Tuesday night’s game peaked at a 15.9 rating (472,000 households) at 10 p.m. and was the most watched program in the Philadelphia market throughout the day. This season the Phillies are averaging a 6.3 rating, a 21% increase over the same time period last year.

After the game, Phillies Postgame Live delivered a 6.6 rating (196,000 households), marking it the highest rated postgame show of the season.

Comcast SportsNet has delivered six consecutive seasons of Phillies ratings growth prior to the start of this season.

And the iPhone/iPod Touch now can watch every MLB game thanks to the updated At Bat app.

iPHONE & iPOD TOUCH TO STREAM ALL MLB GAMES LIVE WITH AT BAT 2009

NEW YORK, June 22, 2009 – MLB.com At Bat™ 2009, the top-selling sports App in the App Store, is adding more live video and will stream every regular season Major League Baseball game exclusively for MLB.TV subscribers, effective immediately. This unprecedented distribution of an online streaming video product provides eligible subscribers access to live feeds of every out-of-market game on the iPhone™ and iPod® touch, as well as their computers.

MLB.TV and MLB.TV Premium subscribers can now access live MLB games in high quality video over either a Wi-Fi connection or the carrier network as part of the At Bat 2009 App. Leveraging standards-based https streaming technology, enabled by the iPhone OS 3.0 update, the MLB.com App includes controls to give users the ability to pause a game or rewind the action. Additionally, adaptive bitrate technology is constantly working automatically to give users the highest quality video stream their network connection can support.

MLB.com will continue to make up to two games per day, the At Bat.TV Games of the Day, available for all At Bat 2009 App subscribers, subject to blackout restrictions. The MLB.com At Bat™ 2009 App also offers live audio broadcasts without blackout restrictions, a continuously updated scoreboard, MLB.com Gameday™ functionality, real-time video highlights and Condensed Games, a short-form video recap of every payoff pitch from every game.

The MLB.com At Bat™ App for the 2009 MLB season, including the entire postseason, is available for a one-time fee of $9.99 from the App Store on iPhone™ and iPod^® touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

One more release post and that’s it.

One All-Star Game Press Release and One Link

Rarely do I combine press releases and links, but I’ll do it for one time only.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about Fox Sports Joe Buck and Tim McCarver combining for their record 11th All-Star Game together. That’s a lot.

And don’t forget you can vote for the All-Star Game MVP tonight.

FAN VOTING FOR TED WILLIAMS MVP LAUNCHES TONIGHT ON MLB.COM

Record-setting All-Star Game online voting concludes with Ted Williams MVP Award

ST. LOUIS, July 14, 2009 – Following a combined 292.1 million online votes cast during the balloting for the elected starters and the All-Star Game Final Vote, MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, will once again provide a worldwide baseball audience the annual opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award at the 80^th All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis tonight via the 2009 All-Star Game MVP Vote.

Beginning in the sixth inning of tonight’s Midsummer Classic, fans may cast their votes for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award online exclusively at MLB.com. The voting will continue until the MVP is announced immediately following the conclusion of the game.

The MLB.com fan vote will count for 20 percent of the total with the other 80 percent coming on location at Busch Stadium from the All-Star Game’s three broadcast rightsholders: FOX Sports, ESPN Radio and MLB International as well as the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Immediately following the conclusion of the All-Star Game, the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player will receive the Arch Ward Trophy, which was first presented in 1962 as a tribute to Ward, the founder of the All-Star Game in 1933. Some recent winners of the award include J.D. Drew, Ichiro Suzuki, Michael Young, Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano.

I’m done. It’s been a crazy two days as I’ve been following stories for both this site and my Boston Sports Media Watch page. Crazy stuff, but it makes the day go faster. See you later.

Posting Press Releases Before Bedtime

After watching a completely boring Home Run Derby tonight in which I fell asleep in the easy chair, it’s time to post some press releases before I shut off the lights and go to bed.

I’ll begin with this release from MLB which states Walking Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig holds a Town Hall on Tuesday.

COMMISSIONER SELIG TO HOLD TOWN HALL CHAT ON MLB.COM

ST. LOUIS, July 13, 2009 — Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig once again will host an online Town Hall Meeting exclusively on MLB.com from Major League Baseball All-Star FanFest in St. Louis tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14 at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

A live video stream of the interactive chat session with baseball fans will be carried on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball. A transcript of the dialogue, as well as an archived replay of the chat, also will be available.

The Commissioner will make brief opening remarks and then answer e-mailed questions from fans. Fans may submit their questions for the Commissioner via e-mail to allstarchat@website.mlb.com now.

Commissioner Selig will respond to fans’ questions in front of a live audience, including members of the media in St. Louis to cover the 80th All-Star Game tomorrow at Busch Stadium.

Sirius XM will have live coverage of the Open Championship this week.

BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP AIRS NATIONWIDE ON SIRIUS XM RADIO

Comprehensive coverage from The Ailsa Course in Turnberry, Scotland airs July 16-19

SIRIUS XM will provide more than 45 hours of live on-course play-by-play Thursday through Sunday

NEW YORK – July 13, 2009 – SIRIUS XM Radio announced today that it will air the 138th British Open Championship live nationwide this Thursday, July 16, through Sunday, July 19, on XM channel 146 and on SIRIUS channel 209 with the “Best of XM” programming package.

SIRIUS XM will provide listeners with live hole-by-hole coverage of the Open Championship from The Ailsa Course in Turnberry, Scotland as well as live updates and analysis from SIRIUS XM’s T.J. Rives, Brian Katrek, Bob Stevens and Earl Forcey.

Live coverage will start Thursday and Friday at 3:00 am ET and Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 am ET and will continue until the conclusion of each day’s play. On-course coverage will be immediately followed by a two-hour wrap-up of the day’s action on Open Championship Replay, hosted live by T.J. Rives and Bob Stevens, which will include highlights, analysis and interviews with players. Following Open Championship Replay, SIRIUS XM will rebroadcast the day’s play-by-play during afternoon drive time and evening hours until live coverage begins the next morning.

In all, listeners will have access to more than 45 hours of live play-by-play from Thursday through Sunday plus comprehensive replays that will cover all the day’s highlights and the performances of the tournament leaders.

The Open Championship is the oldest, and to many the most prestigious, of golf’s four major championships. This will be the third championship hosted at The Ailsa Course, the last being won by Nick Price in 1994. Defending champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, winner of the last two Open Championships, comes to Turnberry this week looking to take home the Claret Jug for the third straight time.

Golf fans will also hear daily talk and analysis by SIRIUS XM’s lineup of expert hosts leading up to tournament coverage.

Playing Thru hosted by T.J. Rives will air live Monday through Wednesday (8:00 – 10:00 am ET), followed by Making the Turn with Peter Kessler (10:00 – 11:00 am ET).

Tuesday morning (7:00 am ET), PGA TOUR member Chris DiMarco and broadcaster Greg Warmoth will host a new edition of their weekly talk show, oPINionated. DiMarco, who was the runner-up in 2006 British Open at Hoylake, will share his thoughts on the Open Championship and the players competing in this year’s event. oPINionated replays several times throughout the week.

On Wednesday (2:00 pm ET), Rives and Stevens will host the hour-long Open Championship Preview Show, giving listeners all the latest news and updates from Scotland plus a look at the championship field teeing off the following morning.

For more information on SIRIUS XM’s golf coverage, visit www.xmradio.com/pgatour.

While most of the world’s elite golfers are in Scotland for the Open Championship, those left behind in the States will take part in what used to be known as the Greater Milwaukee Open.

GOLF CHANNEL LIVE TOURNAMENT COVERAGE

July 13 – 19, 2009

U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee

Dates: 7/16 – 7/19

Venue: Brown Deer Park Golf Course, Milwaukee, Wis.

Airtimes (Eastern):

Thursday 4-7 p.m. (Live) / 1-4 a.m. (Replay) Friday 4-7 p.m. (Live) / 1-4: a.m. (Replay) Saturday 4-7 p.m. (Live) / 1-4 a.m. (Replay) Sunday 4-7 p.m. (Live) / 1-4 a.m. (Replay)

GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:

Jerry Foltz (Play by Play)

Curt Byrum (Analyst)

Mark Lye (Tower)

Billy Ray Brown (Tower)

Dottie Pepper (On Course)

Scott Walker (Interviews)

Broadcast Notes: Mutual of Omaha Putting Line powered by Aimpoint, the graphics technology that predicts the break of a putt and suggests where a player must aim to hole out, will be used during the telecast on holes No. 16 and 18 at Brown Deer Park Golf Course.

Congratulations to TNT’s Doug Collins and the New York Post’s Peter Vescey for being named as the recipients of this year’s Curt Gowdy Media Award by the Basketball Hall of Fame.

DOUG COLLINS and PETER VECSEY

NAMED RECIPIENTS OF PRESTIGIOUS

CURT GOWDY MEDIA AWARDS for 2009

Basketball Hall of Fame to Honor Legendary NBA and Olympic TV Commentator and longtime Pro Basketball Reporter and Columnist at 2009 Enshrinement Ceremonies, September 10-11.

SPRINGFIELD, MA – (July 13, 2009) – Doug Collins, the highly respected player and coach who is now the lead commentator for Turner Sports (TNT) and for NBC Sports’ coverage of basketball at the Olympic Games and Peter Vecsey, the longtime pro basketball writer for the New York Post have been selected to receive the 2009 Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during Enshrinement festivities scheduled for September 10-11, 2009 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Gowdy Media Award is named in honor of the legendary sports broadcaster and former Basketball Hall of Fame President, the late Curt Gowdy. This prestigious award is presented annually to members of the print and electronic media whose longtime efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.

“The Gowdy Media Award is an honor that is very proudly presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in memory of the late Curt Gowdy, one of the legendary figures of sports media,” said John L. Doleva, Hall of Fame President & CEO. “Doug Collins and Peter Vecsey have dedicated much of their professional careers to report on the game of basketball while they entertain and educate millions of fans, readers and television viewers around the world. The Basketball Hall of Fame is very proud to recognize their extraordinary efforts.”

Former NCAA, NBA and Olympic player and NBA coach Doug Collins, the 2009 honoree for the Electronic Media, is widely recognized as the consummate NBA television color analyst. Collins brings a unique perspective and experience to the booth for Turner Sports broadcasts on TNT, providing insight from both the player’s and coach’s perspective. Following a very successful career as a player after being selected as the number one pick in the 1973 NBA Draft, Collins moved to the coaching ranks where he led the Chicago Bulls (1986-89), Detroit Pistons (1995-98) and Washington Wizards (2001-03).

In 1989, Collins first joined the Turner Sports family as its NBA color commentator.

After leaving to pursue further coaching opportunities, he returned to Turner Sports in 2003. Collins is TNT’s lead analyst for both the NBA All-Star Game and the NBA Conference Finals.

In addition, Collins was the lead analyst for NBC, for which he called four NBA Finals and three Olympic Games. Overall, for the better part of the past two decades, Collins has been a mainstay in the television coverage of the NBA, providing viewers with expert analysis and anecdotes from his experiences from the bench and on the court.

Collins, a graduate of Illinois State University, was also a member of the 1972 Olympic team, which lost the gold medal to Russia with a controversial call after Collins hit two free throws to give the US an apparent victory. He and his wife Kathy have two children, son Chris and daughter Kelly.

Peter Vecsey, The 2009 Print award winner, is a longtime resident of New York who has spent the majority of his life in that great basketball city which recognizes him as one of the most prominent sports writers to ever cover the sport of pro basketball. A native of Queens, NY, Vecsey attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School, and upon graduating in 1961, enrolled at Hofstra University. After graduating from Hofstra, Vecsey enlisted in the Armed Forces during the most intense period of the Viet Nam war and became a sergeant with the U.S. Army’s Green Beret Special Forces Unit from 1965 to 1967.

Vecsey currently writes his NBA column for the New York Post, providing insight to his many readers as he frequently breaks news of blockbuster trade details and the ‘behind the scenes’ information that pro basketball fans around the world crave on a daily basis. Vecsey has built a lifetime of valuable relationships and trustworthy sources who frequently provide him with access to confidential and newsworthy information. Vecsey is widely known for his open criticism of team executives, players and coaches, a sportswriting tactic that stirs up controversy. Vecsey has written his “Hoop du Jour” NBA column for the Post from 1976 through 1989, then covered the NBA for USA Today from October 1990 through September 1993 before returning to his New York roots at the Post.

While Vecsey is widely known for his news-breaking and reporting in print, he is no stranger to the television screen. During the 1987-88 season, he hosted a syndicated television show that highlighted the NBA with analyst and former New York Knicks coach and Hall of Famer Hubie Brown. In 1985 and 1986, he hosted a one-hour NBA talk show with Lee Zeidman on SportsChannel New York. Vecsey also worked as an “NBA Insider” on TNT, joining Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith in the award-winning studio show, as well as serving as one of “The Insiders” on NBC Sports’ pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of the game via “NBA Showtime,” where he regularly broke news stories and provided insight with player features, pregame reports, locker room gossip and sideline reporting.

Sportswriting runs in the Vecsey family, as Peter’s brother George Vecsey writes The Sports of the Times column for the The New York Times. Peter resides on Long Island with his wife, Joan, and their two children, Taylor and Joseph.

Previous Curt Gowdy Media Award Winners

Year Print Electronic

1990 Dick Herbert Curt Gowdy

1991 Dave Dorr Marty Glickman

1992 Sam Goldaper Chick Hearn

1993 Leonard Lewin Johnny Most

1994 Leonard Koppett Cawood Ledford

1995 Bob Hammel Dick Enberg

1996 Bob Hentzen Billy Packer

1997 Bob Ryan Marv Albert

1998 Larry Donald/Dick Weiss Dick Vitale

1999 Smith Barrier Bob Costas

2000 Dave Kindred Hubie Brown

2001 Curry Kirkpatrick Dick Stockton

2002 Jim O’Connell Jim Nantz

2003 Sid Hartman Hot Rod Hundley

2004 Phil Jasner Max Falkenstien

2005 Jack McCallum Bill Campbell

2006 Mark Heisler Bill Raftery

2007 Malcolm Moran Al McCoy

2008 David DuPree Bob Wolff

HBO will remember the late Arturo Gatti with a look back at the epic trilogy with Irish Mickey Ward this weekend.

HBO SPORTS TO COMMEMORATE THE CAREER OF ARTURO GATTI WITH SPECIAL REPLAY OF ONE OF BOXING’S ALL-TIME GREAT TRILOGIES

ARTURO GATTI VS. MICKY WARD I, II & III JULY 17 AND JULY 18

After televising 21 of Arturo Gatti’s riveting portfolio of professional prizefights from 1995 to 2007, HBO Sports will commemorate the career of former two-time world champion Arturo Gatti, with a special presentation of his classic trilogy when ARTURO GATTI VS. MICKY WARD I, II & III is seen FRIDAY, JULY 17 (9:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO2 and Saturday, July 18 (10:15 a.m. ET/PT) on the main HBO service. The three fights will air consecutively on both days.

Arturo Gatti, 37, was found dead Saturday in Brazil.

Regarded by boxing historians as one of the great trilogies in boxing history, the three-fight series between the two junior welterweights featured no belts or championships on the line, but included 30 total rounds of non-stop action, remarkable displays of will and fortitude and unparalleled sportsmanship. The series began on May 18, 2002 in Uncasville, Conn. as an HBO “Boxing After Dark^®” presentation with Ward staging a surprising upset victory in an all-out battle. USA Today praised the fight, saying “the ninth round is one of the greatest action-filled [moments] in history.” The two met again on Nov. 23, 2002 in Atlantic City on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” and Gatti bounced back with a unanimous decision victory. The epic series concluded with another brilliant effort by both fighters on HBO on June 7, 2003 in Atlantic City, with Gatti scoring a unanimous decision victory.

A Montreal native, Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs) fought out of Jersey City, NJ and was one of boxing’s brightest stars during his exciting career. Ward, now 43, long known for his dogged determination and ring workmanship, hails from Lowell, MA and retired as an active fighter after the three showdowns with Gatti. Ward later trained his former opponent in the closing chapter of Gatti’s professional career.

Can you believe that ESPN.com’s web series Mayne Street is ending its current run with tomorrow’s webisode? Say it isn’t so?

Mayne Street Finale: Kenny Races against Time

Forget about Twitter. In the finale of the current run of ESPN.com’s original scripted series Mayne Street (debuts Tuesdays at 9 a.m.), Kenny discovers breaking news the old-fashioned way – through interviews. But, how is he going to get the golden footage back to the studio?

In Mayne Street, Mayne stars as himself in a fictionalized version of life at a sports television network. His reoccurring foils revolve largely around his fictional production crew, as well as other ESPN personalities. Mayne Street joins a lineup of video that is among the most popular online. ESPN.com captures nearly 50 percent of the total minutes spent by users viewing online sports video. In April, ESPN.com was No. 1 in the sports category with 72.3 million total streams, 59 percent more than the closest competitor for the month.

Finally, here’s what ESPN is covering for motorsports this week.

Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC

NASCAR Nationwide Series in Prime Time from St. Louis

The NASCAR Nationwide Series races in prime time on Saturday night as it makes its only appearance of the season at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. ESPN2 will have a live, high definition telecast of the 250-lap race on Saturday, July 18 beginning at 9 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC.

Also this weekend, live coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying airs Saturday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2, while coverage of final practice airs Friday, July 17, at 9 p.m.

Marty Reid will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro.

NASCAR Journalist Guests on NASCAR Now Roundtable

One of the most widely-read journalists regularly covering NASCAR racing will be a guest panelist on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program airing Monday, July 20, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Joining host Mike Massaro will be Associated Press motorsports writer Jenna Fryer, whose writing appears in hundreds of publications on a weekly basis, and Ryan McGee of ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com.

Nicole Manske hosts half-hour episode of NASCAR Now airing Tuesday through Friday of this week at 5 p.m. NASCAR Now originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include NASCAR Insiders Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Boris Said, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie, and ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton. The NASCAR on ESPN team event coverage team of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Spake and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now.

Inaugural Brickyard 400 Kicks Off NASCAR Week on ESPN Classic

The 1994 Brickyard 400 is regarded as one of the most important events in NASCAR’s 60-year history, and NASCAR fans will have an opportunity to go back in time and watch history in the making as ESPN Classic presents highlights of the watershed event on Monday, July 20, at 6 p.m. ET.

The presentation kicks four consecutive nights of past Brickyard 400 telecasts on ESPN Classic, helping get fans ready for the 2009 edition airing Sunday, July 26, at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Jeff Gordon won the inaugural race in 1994, the first stock car race ever held on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Also this week on ESPN Classic, the ESPN signature series SportsCentury featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr. airs Wednesday, July 15, at 8 a.m.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing from Seattle on ESPN2

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series continues its western swing at Pacific Raceways near Seattle this weekend, and ESPN2 will air qualifying and eliminations action on a same-day basis. Qualifying from the NHRA Northwest Nationals airs Saturday, July 18, at 7 p.m. ET, with eliminations airing Sunday at 9 p.m. Finals coverage re-airs Monday, July 20, at 2 p.m. on ESPN Classic.

In one of the tour’s most breathtaking environments, Pacific Raceways is surrounded by towering Douglas fir trees and parked in the shadow of majestic Mount Rainier. The trees add more than beauty at the middle stop on the Western Swing: They emit tons of power-enhancing oxygen to feed the appetites of the high-horsepower machines, resulting in prime performances.

Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff report from the pits. Rieff and Dunn host NHRA RaceDay on Sunday at 11 a.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.

Other NHRA programming airing on ESPN Networks this week includes the 2003 Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals from Joliet, Ill., airing Monday, July 20, at 1 p.m. on ESPN Classic, following the noon presentation of an hour of NHRA Lucas Oil Sportsman Series action from Topeka, Kansas.

Traxxas TORC Series Action on ESPN2 Sunday

Action from the Traxxas TORC Series returns to ESPN2 on Sunday, July 19, at 11:30 a.m. ET with highlights from the series event held in Bark River, Mich. The premier short-course racing series with the top stars in off-road racing, this exciting form of door-to-door action will appear on both ESPN2 and ABC this season.

The 2009 season features eight total rounds of racing. ESPN2 will air five rounds with three to appear on ABC, including a live telecast on ABC of the Crandon 40^th Anniversary of Off-Road Racing. Marty Reid, lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN on ABC’s coverage of the Indianapolis 500 and selected NASCAR races, will call all of the Traxxas TORC Truck Series events on ESPN2 and ABC. Joining Reid will be long-time extreme sports announcer Tes Sewell and former Miss USA Kimberly Pressler as pit reporter.

Red Bull X Fighters Return to ABC on Sunday

The Red Bull X Fighters international freestyle motocross tour returns to ABC on Sunday, July 19, at 1:30 p.m. ET. Highlights from an event at the Fort Worth (TX) Stockyards will be featured in the one-hour program.

The World Tour became the sport’s undisputed number one event last year. Taking the sport to the ultimate level and combining it with creative orchestration at iconic locations, the tour staged spectacular contests in the bull fighting arenas of Mexico City and Madrid, the stone quarry of Wuppertal in Germany, the Sambadrom parade ground in Rio de Janeiro, a rodeo arena in Texas and a gigantic historic stadium in Warsaw.

That’s it. Good night.

Baseball This Weekend & All-Star Game Releases`

Let’s go over the games you’ll see nationwide this weekend, the last before the All-Star Break. Also, I’ll put in a couple of All-Star Game press releases for you in this post.

As always, we start with Fox Sports and the network is only covering two games this weekend.

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

FOX SATURDAY BASEBALL GAME OF THE WEEK

Leads Into All-Star Week with Yanks/Angels & Cards/Cubs

Karros: Are The Yankees Fundamentally Sound?

MLB ON FOX WEEK 14: FIRST HALF WRAPS UP – Before the excitement of the 80^th MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 14 (8:00 PM ET), The FOX SATURDAY BASEBALL GAME OF THE WEEK presents its final weekend of the first half with two exciting battles on Saturday, July 11 (4:00 PM). It’s a matchup of bi-coastal rivals as Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees travel to Southern California to visit Vladimir Guerrero and the Angels. Also, long-time NL Central rivals meet as Derrek Lee and the Cubs host leading All-Star vote getter Albert Pujols and the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. This week, the pregame show originates live from Angel Stadium in Anaheim with host Chris Rose. Once game action begins, Rose joins the game crew of Dick Stockton and Eric Karros as a field reporter. For instant updates during the week and games from the entire MLB on FOX crew, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MLBONFOX.

New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels, Dick Stockton & Eric Karros, going to 71% of USA

Angel Stadium – Anaheim, CA

MARKETS INCLUDE: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Raleigh, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Washington, West Palm Beach

St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, Joe Buck, Tim McCarver & Ken Rosenthal, going to 28% of USA

Wrigley Field – Chicago, IL

MARKETS INCLUDE: Austin, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Knoxville, Louisville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, St. Louis, Tulsa

KARROS: FUNDAMENTALS PLAY KEY ROLE IN YANKEES/ANGELS SERIES – One team that has consistently challenged the New York Yankees in recent years has been the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The two squads again battle it out this Saturday with MLB on FOX game analyst Eric Karros in the booth alongside Dick Stockton. Karros has a theory on why the Angels always seem to have the Yankees number: “If you’re not a team that is completely fundamentally sound, you will have trouble with the Angels and I wouldn’t say that fundamentals have always been the strength of Yankee teams in the last few years,” said Karros. “Fundamentals are one place where there is some vulnerability for the Yankees.”

ROSENTHAL: PHILLIES NEED TO CAPITALIZE ON CHANCE TO SEIZE NL EAST – After sweeping the Mets 3-0 over the weekend and heading into a six-game home stand against the Reds and Pirates, MLB on FOX’s Ken Rosenthal sees a great opportunity for the defending champs heading into the All-Star break. “The Phillies are getting really interesting now. At 43-38, they’re 4.5 games up on the Mets, 4 up on Atlanta and 2 on the Marlins. Jimmy Rollins is getting hot, and as he goes, the Phillies go. They really have a chance here to put some distance at least between themselves and the Mets. I still wouldn’t rule out the Marlins or Braves in this position but once the Phillies get Raul Ibanez back and if they can add a starting pitcher and/or reliever like Pedro Martinez or Roy Halladay, they’re going to be quite formidable.”

ESPN has a busy weekend covering a lot of the All-Star Weekend festivities plus Sunday Night Baseball at Wrigley Field.

All-Star Futures Game
(Sunday, July 12) at 2 p.m. ET
(ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV)
Commentators: Gary Thorne, Rick Sutcliffe, Peter Gammons and Erin Andrews

Home Run Derby
(Monday, July 13) at 8 p.m. ET
(ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV)
Commentators: Chris Berman, Joe Morgan, Steve Phillips and Erin Andrews

Legends and Celebrity Softball Game
(Monday, July 13) after the Derby
(ESPN2, ESPN2 HD; also available live on ESPN360.com Sunday, July 12 at 5 p.m. ET)
Commentators: Gary Thorne, Rick Sutcliffe and Erin Andrews

MLB All-Star Game
(Tuesday, July 14) at 7:35 p.m. ET
(ESPN Radio; 8 p.m. ET on ESPN Deportes Radio)
ESPN Radio commentators: Dan Shulman, Dave Campbell, Marc Kestecher (on-site host) and reporters Peter Pascarelli and John Rooney
ESPN Deportes Radio commentators: Eduardo Ortega, Juan Marichal, Renato Bermudez and reporter Jose Francisco Rivera

TBS has the Dodgers taking on Milwaukee Sunday afternoon.

L.A. Dodgers Battle the Milwaukee Brewers at 2 p.m. ET on “Sunday MLB on TBS”

“Sunday MLB on TBS” will feature a National League match-up on Sunday, July 12^th at 2 p.m. ET with NL All-Star reserve Orlando Hudson and the Los Angeles Dodgers visiting NL All-Star starter Ryan Braun and the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to take the mound against Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers. Chip Caray (play-by-play) and Buck Martinez (analyst) will call the action from the broadcast booth.

Sunday MLB on TBS includes match-ups on TBS every Sunday afternoon throughout the regular season. In October TBS will once again provide exclusive coverage of the Division Series and the National League Championship Series (NLCS).

TBS has broadcast MLB coverage for more than 30 years serving as the exclusive home of the MLB Division Series (DS) and one League Championship Series (LCS) since 2007 and home of Atlanta Braves coverage from 1977 to 2007.

SUNDAY MLB ON TBS SCHEDULE:

Sun., July 12

2 p.m. Los Angeles Dodgers @ Milwaukee Brewers

Announcers: Chip Caray (play-by-play) and Buck Martinez (analyst)

SUNDAY MLB ON TBS UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

Sun., July 19

2 p.m. Detroit Tigers @ New York Yankees

Announcers: Chip Caray (play-by-play) and Ron Darling (analyst)

Sun., July 26

1:30 p.m. St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies

Announcers: Chip Caray (play-by-play) and Ron Darling (analyst)

You know this already, but I’ll post it anyway. Brandon Inge and Shane Victorino are your last players voted into the All-Star Game.

VICTORINO, INGE WIN RECORD-BREAKING

ALL-STAR GAME FINAL VOTE RACES

Fans of Tigers, Phillies help first-time All-Stars earn St. Louis spots

NEW YORK, July 9, 2009 – Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino and Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge were chosen by fans as the winners of the 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote in record-shattering voting exclusively on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and the individual Club sites.

Baseball fans supported the 10 candidates named by All-Star managers Joe Maddon and Charlie Manuel in unprecedented fashion by casting a record 68.6 million votes since the program commenced on Sunday, July 5 at 2:00 p.m. (EDT). This year’s record number of votes represents an increase of 43.5 percent from the previous mark of 47.8 million set in 2008. Since its inception in 2002, the All-Star Game Final Vote has now recorded nearly 200 million votes.

The National League winner, Victorino, received the highest total number of votes ever, surpassing Evan Longoria’s nine million in 2008, and led all vote-getters with 15.6 million en route to becoming the second Phillies player to win the balloting (Bobby Abreu, 2004). He was followed by Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants, Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals.

On the American League ballot, Inge became the first Detroit player to win the All-Star Game Final Vote by holding off Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers to claim the final spot on the All-Star roster with a final tally of 11.8 million votes, the most ever for an American League player. Inge and Kinsler were followed by Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays; and Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Previous winners of the All-Star Game Final Vote are: Evan Longoria (AL, 2008); Corey Hart (NL, 2008), Hideki Okajima (AL, 2007); Chris Young (NL, 2007); A.J. Pierzynski (AL, 2006); Nomar Garciaparra (NL, 2006); Scott Podsednik (AL, 2005); Roy Oswalt (NL, 2005); Hideki Matsui (AL, 2004); Bobby Abreu (NL, 2004); Jason Varitek (AL, 2003); Geoff Jenkins (NL, 2003); Johnny Damon (AL, 2002); and Andruw Jones (NL, 2002).

And you may not know Sheryl Crow and Sara Evans are among the artists singing for MLB at the All-Star Game. I love Sheryl Crow.

SHERYL CROW, DAVID COOK, GINUWINE, SARA EVANS AND NIKKO SMITH TO PERFORM AT 2009 ALL-STAR WEEK IN ST. LOUIS

Missouri Native Crow to Perform U.S. National Anthem at All-Star Game on FOX Following Free All-Star Charity Concert Earlier in Week

Missouri Native Sara Evans to Perform “God Bless America” During 7^th Inning Stretch

David Cook and Nikko Smith to Perform Prior to State Farm^® Home Run Derby;

Ginuwine to Perform Prior to XM All-Star Futures Game

Major League Baseball today announced the All-Star lineup of musicians that will perform during the MLB All-Star Game, the Home Run Derby and other events during All-Star Week in St. Louis next week.

Nine-time Grammy award-winner and Missouri native Sheryl Crow, who will be fresh off headlining the free MLB All-Star Charity Concert under the Gateway Arch, will perform the U.S. National Anthem as part of the special pre-game ceremony prior to the 2009 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 14 at Busch Stadium, which will be broadcast on FOX beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. United States President Barack Obama along with former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter will appear in an unprecedented video address as part of the special pre-game ceremony honoring the 30 “All-Stars Among Us,” men and women who are being recognized by Major League Baseball and PEOPLE magazine for their selfless acts of giving and service to their communities. Following the video, President Obama will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Later in the game, country music sensation Sara Evans — also a Missouri native — will perform “God Bless America” during the 7^th inning stretch. The 80^th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, with pre-game ceremonies beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised in more than 200 countries and territories by Major League Baseball International. ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage, while MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage.

On Monday, July 13, rock singer/songwriter and 2008 America Idol season winner David Cook will perform two songs with his band prior to the start of the Home Run Derby at Busch Stadium. Prior to Cook’s performance, Nikko Smith — singer/songwriter and 2005 American Idol finalist, and son of St. Louis Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith — will perform the U.S. National Anthem. Smith performed the U.S. National Anthem prior to Game 4 of the 2006 World Series at Busch Stadium. The Home Run Derby will be televised live on ESPN at 8:00 p.m. ET.

On Sunday, July 11, multi-Platinum selling R&B Artist Ginuwine will perform the U.S. National Anthem prior to the 11^th annual All-Star Futures Game. The game will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET and can be viewed live on ESPN2, ESPN2 HD and MLB.TV. XM will provide satellite radio play-by-play coverage of the All-Star Futures Game on XM 175 in addition to its other comprehensive live coverage from St. Louis.

The All-Star musical performances will come on the heels of the MLB All-Star Charity Concert featuring Sheryl Crow with special guest Elvis Costello under the iconic Gateway Arch on Saturday, July 12. The concert, which will be free to fans, is the culmination of a day-long celebration of baseball history and will feature a $1 million donation by Major League Baseball to Stand Up To Cancer. The concert will be streamed live on MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, and fans watching the live stream will be encouraged to donate to Stand Up To Cancer.

Free-spirited, fearless and fierce, Sheryl Crow has garnered nine Grammys, performed duets with musical luminaries such as Sting and Mick Jagger, released seven studio albums which sold more than 35 million records worldwide, and launched her very own clothing line Bootheel Trading Co. is a cancer survivor and passionate humanitarian and has performed for President Obama. From humble beginnings as a jingle and back-up singer, Crow has reached the pinnacle of professional solo success. Crow explores both personal and global issues on her most recent LP, Detours (produced by Bill Bottrell, who last worked with Crow on her 1993 debut, the seven-times platinum Tuesday Night Music Club).

Sara Evans is recognized as one of the most successful artists of her generation with accolades including the Academy of Country Music‘s Female Vocalist of the Year and the Country Music Association’s Video of the Year for “Born to Fly.” Evans has been celebrated as one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” and was the first-ever country artist to join the celebrity cast of Dancing With The Stars. In 2007 she released Greatest Hits, celebrating a decade long career and over five million career sales featuring hits including “Born to Fly,” “I Could Not Ask For More,” “Suds In The Bucket,” “A Real Fine Place to Start,” and “As If.” A member of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet for three consecutive years, in 2008 she was honored with the prestigious ARC Crystal Cross Award for her charitable contributions. Listen for Sara’s first single from her sixth studio project, “Feels Just Like A Love Song” released this month. www.saraevans.com

Award winning singer Ginuwine just earned a #1 CD, A Man’s Thoughts on the Billboard Chart released by St. Louis‘ own Notifi Records. The new disc features the Top 10 Single, “Last Chance.” No stranger to stardom, Ginuwine first emerged on the music scene in 1996 with the multi-platinum disc The Bachelor and the daring debut single, “Pony.” His second disc, 100% Ginuwine. Featuring the hits “So Anxious,” “What’s So Different,” “Same Ol’ G” (which was also showcased on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack in 1998) and “None of Ur Friends Business scored double platinum. 100% Ginuwine was awarded Best R&B/Soul Album at the 2000 Soul Train Awards. He’s a multiple American Music Award Nominee.

Nikko Smith, eldest son of Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith and St. Louis native, skyrocketed to fame in 2005 when he cracked the TopTen on the hit reality show American Idol. It was here where he dazzled the judges and his fans with his signature modern-day renditions of classics by Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. The following summer he toured with his fellow finalists including Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice on what ultimately became one of the highest grossing tours of the year. His debut album REVOLUTION dropped in 2008 and features the destined to be hit singles “Revolution” and “3 AM”.

And that does it for Baseball This Weekend.

A Thursday Link Thing

Let’s do some links for the day.

We start with some stories about yesterday’s announcement about the U.S. Olympic Network.

Meg James of the Los Angeles Times looks at the new U.S. Olympic Network that is scheduled to launch next year.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that the U.S. Olympic Committee felt it had to keep pace with other league-owned channels.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner has the USOC feeling that the new channel’s time has come.

Former LA Times writer, Alan Abrahamson, writing for Universal Sports says there are a lot of questions surrounding USON.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says USON could be a potential rival for Universal Sports.

Matthew Futterman from the Wall Street Journal says NBC Sports has to be looking over its shoulder at USON.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes that NBC Sports isn’t commenting about USON.

Steve Donahue of the Contentinople blog has USON partner Comcast saying the new channel will not hurt NBC directly.

Philip Hersh and Kathy Bergen of the Chicago Tribune write that the International Olympic Committee’s disapproval of USON might hurt the US’ bid to have the 2016 Summer Games in Chicago.

Eddie Pells of the Associated Press says the USOC is surprised at the IOC’s complaints about USON.

Brian Gomez from the Colorado Springs Gazette that the USOC is not concerned about the IOC’s disapproval.

Now to other stories

CNBC’s Darren Rovell previews what you’ll see on his latest special, “Inside Track: Refueling The Business of NASCAR”. It airs tonight on CNBC at 9.

Darren wonders if the tape of Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James will ever be released.

Darren says Kazakhstan is getting a boost from a company that is sponsoring Lance Armstrong’s team in the Tour de France.

Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Daily says Versus.com saw a huge traffic boost thanks to its streaming of the Tour de France.

Kristina Petersen of the Wall Street Journal reports that the Mountain West Conference has signed the Bowl Championship Series agreement with ESPN.

Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake City Tribune feels the MWC should not have signed off.

Glen Dickston of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN will unveil “Ball Track” for the All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday.

Sports Illustrated picks up an AP story about the 20th anniversary of the Celebrity Golf Championship on NBC.

Mark Newman of MLB.com writes that the debut of the in-market streaming of the Yankees was a big success.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says a local sports talk show will be taking the day off tomorrow and replaced with national programming.

Patrick Cloohan of the McKeesport (PA) Daily News reports that Stan Savran, a fixture on FSN Pittsburgh for 18 years, will be leaving the channel on Monday.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the preliminary lineup when news/talk radio station WJFK flips to sports later this month.

In the Chicago Tribune, radio personality Steve Dahl remembers his role behind the infamous Disco Demolition Night at the old Comiskey Park some 30 years ago.

Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun-Times says ESPN Deportes Radio is looking for a Windy City outlet (scroll down).

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business feels sorry for Cleveland.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN is ranking the Brewers as fourth best odds to land Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says ESPN is bored this summer.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Tom Hoffarth talks about ESPN picking up English Premier League rights in the Irish Republic.

EPL Talk has surmised which English Premier Games will be seen on US television starting in August.

The Sports Media Watch says the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR race on the 4th of July did not do TNT any favors. And the SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

The Big Lead has a review of last night’s E! True Hollywood Stories on Baseball Wives.

Joe Favorito says sports and entertainment entities must use the right mix in targeting the youngest audience.

The Sports Media Journal’s latest podcast has Southeastern New England media mogul Keith Thibeault talking with a TV sports anchor from one of the smallest markets in the country.

I think that’s going to do it for now. Back later.

Two More All-Star Game-Centric Press Releases Plus Comments

We continue to clear the Fang’s Bites inbox of press releases and there are two more regarding the All-Star next Tuesday.

Let’s go to the latest on the All-Star Game Final Vote.

TOO CLOSE TO CALL: INGE GRABS SLIM LEAD, SANDOVAL HANGS ON 2009 ALL-STAR GAME FINAL VOTE NEARS DRAMATIC FINISH

NEW YORK, July 8, 2009 – Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers has replaced Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers atop the American League ballot heading into the final 24 hours of the 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote on MLB.com and the individual Club sites. Over the last few hours, Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants has again re-taken the lead in the National League over Shane Victorino, but only after the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder jumped in front last night.

Sandoval and Victorino are separated by just two percentage points and the voting is so close that this race for the final roster spot on the 2009 National League All-Star Team has already seen at least five different lead changes. Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks continues to surge in third place as he is followed in the standings by Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals.

Inge surpassed Kinsler last night and continues to hold a slim lead of only nine percent entering these final 24 hours of balloting for the American League All-Star Team’s final roster spot. Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays and Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays have accumulated more than two million votes each.

With one day left to determine the winners, balloting remains ahead of last year’s record pace as 34.3 million votes have been cast. After a final early morning update tomorrow, the winners will be announced shortly after the conclusion of the balloting at 4 p.m. (EDT).

Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones and fans can send the word “Vote” to 1122 to receive the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot. Standard text rates apply. In Canada, fans should text the word “Vote” to 88555.

We have highlights of a conference call Fox Sports conducted with its announcing crew and MLB Walking Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig.

SELIG, GOREN, BUCK & McCARVER PREVIEW MIDSUMMER CLASSIC – MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, FOX Sports President Ed Goren along with MLB on FOX’s Emmy Award-winning broadcast team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver participated in a press call to preview coverage of Major League Baseball’s 80^th All-Star Game from Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Tuesday, July 14 (8:00 PM ET.)

Selected highlights are transcribed below.

Ed Goren on the production logistics in having President Obama at Busch Stadium to throw out the first pitch: “We went through this during the post-9/11 World Series at Yankee Stadium with President Bush. His presence affects the set up a bit, makes it similar to a Super Bowl in terms of security. The Secret Service will lock down the facility before the game and there may be some limitations of camera movement and certainly involves a lot more communication, but its not a big deal. It will be seamless to the viewer and trust me, it’s well worth it.”

Joe Buck on whether he likes the format of playing for home-field advantage format: “Tim and I are on record saying this has made the best All-Star Game of the four major sports even better. Before the format change, you would see the starters for one maybe two at bats and then they would be on their way to the airport. Now its completely different. We sit in with the managers and talk about how they’re going to manage and win the ball game, not just to get everyone in. Now personally, I love to see them go a step further. We were awfully close to a frightening situation last year at Yankee Stadium. Great ballgame but as it turned out we were maybe one out away from having JD Drew pitch in the ballgame. I’m glad they ended up adding another pitcher and a 33rd person on each roster but I’d love to see the starters start the game and see, for example, Tim Lincecum pitch five innings and see a real baseball game.”

Tim McCarver on his time in St. Louis and its baseball tradition: “I played in St. Louis from 1959-1969 and again in 1973 and 1974 and was fortunate to be on teams that were very successful so you would get no argument from me in saying St. Louis was and still is the best baseball town in America. My experience there was nothing but terrific. With Joe living in St. Louis and me going back, from a personal standpoint, this game is very special for both of us.”

Bud Selig on whether he thinks the format of playing for home-field advantage works: “A lot of people think that the 2002 tie really drove the change in format. We had been talking about this for at least a year before. I remember as kid watching Ted Williams break his elbow in the first inning of the 1950 All-Star Game in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. He played the whole game. But later the All-Star Game had lost its desire. Since the format change, the games have been played with remarkable intensity. It isn’t like we had a brilliant recipe for how we decided how to award home-field advantage before. One year the AL got it, the next the NL got it. Do I think playing for home-field advantage is good? You bet I do. Frankly, the events over the last six years have really made me feel stronger about this.”

And to ESPN’s plans for the Home Run Derby on Monday as well as the other festivities of All-Star Weekend.

ESPN to Debut “Ball Track” During Home Run Derby

80^th MLB All-Star Game Live on ESPN Radio

ESPN’s extensive Major League Baseball All-Star coverage from Busch Stadium – home of the St. Louis Cardinals – will be highlighted by the 2009 Home Run Derby Monday, July 13, at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local time) exclusively on ESPN HD.

The Derby will also be available live via ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN International. Scheduled participants include St Louis’ Albert Pujols, who leads the Majors with 31 home runs, Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder, San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez and Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard (2006 winner). A.L. participants will be determined.

This year’s event will include the debut of “Ball Track” technology, which uses Doppler radar to track the ball off the bat and provide the following information:

• Real-time distance the ball is traveling (from the point of impact to the final resting point);
• The path of the ball, or arch, as it travels through the air;
• Projection by using the path of the ball (in mid-flight, using a changing color pattern) whether the hit will be a home run.

Information will be presented using an on-screen graphic and will be stored for reference throughout the telecast. ESPN has displayed home run distances in the past, but this is the first time the information will be presented in real time.

Chris Berman will host the event, joined on the field by analysts Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips and reporter Erin Andrews. ESPN will utilize 20 cameras to capture the excitement of the Derby, including the use of “Ultra Mo,” a replay device recapping action at 1,000 frames per second. This is ESPN’s 12^th consecutive year of live Derby coverage and 17^th straight year overall. The Derby is traditionally one of ESPN’s highest-rated summer programs.

A special edition of Baseball Tonight, with host Karl Ravech, analysts John Kruk, Eduardo Perez and Chris Singleton, and reporters Peter Gammons and Tim Kurkjian, will be televised at 7 p.m.

ESPN Radio’s Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell will describe the Derby, with on-field reports from Peter Pascarelli. For the third consecutive year, ESPN360.com will provide a live simulcast of the event. For the first time, ESPN Mobile TV will also provide a live simulcast.

Ernesto Jerez will call the Derby for ESPN Deportes with analyst Candy Maldonado and on-field reporters Guillermo Celis and Carolina Guillén. ESPN Deportes’ Beisbol Esta Noche, with host Fernando Alvarez and analyst Eduardo Perez – plus reports by Guillén and Carlos Baerga from St. Louis – will preview the event at 7:30 p.m.

ESPN has been airing a marketing campaign – “Who will own the night?” – leading up to the Home Run Derby.

2009 Legends and Celebrity Softball Game

Immediately following the Home Run Derby on Monday, July 13, ESPN and ESPN HD will present the 2009 Legends and Celebrity Softball Game. Gary Thorne will call the game with analyst Rick Sutcliffe and reporter Erin Andrews. In addition to Monday’s ESPN telecast (July 13), fans will have an opportunity to see the game live via ESPN360.com on Sunday, July 12, at 4 p.m.

Legends will include Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Bruce Sutter, both former Cardinals, Dave Winfield (ESPN analyst), Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage and Ernie Banks; Cardinals legends Lee Smith, Vince Coleman and Whitey Herzog; plus Tommy John and Fred Lynn. Celebrities scheduled to participate include Ashanti (Grammy Award-winning artist), Carl Edwards (NASCAR driver), Jenna Fischer (The Office), Ginuwine (R&B artist), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Shawn Johnson (Olympic champion), Nelly (Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter), Billy Bob Thornton (actor) and more.

ESPN Radio Mike & Mike in the Morning co-hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic will also participate. Mike & Mike will originate from St. Louis’ downtown Keener Plaza (Mon.-Tues., 6-10 a.m.), which was the site of the Cardinals’ and Rams’ championship victory parties and has a view of the Gateway Arch.

All-Star Futures Game

The networks’ All-Star coverage will begin with the 2009 All-Star Futures Game Sunday, July 13, at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN2, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV. Gary Thorne will call the game with analysts Rick Sutcliffe and Peter Gammons and reporter Erin Andrews. ESPN Deportes will also televise the Futures Game live, with Ernesto Jerez (play-by-play), analyst Candy Maldonado and reporter Guillermo Celis.

80^th MLB All-Star Game on ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes Radio

ESPN Radio (7:45 p.m.) and ESPN Deportes Radio (8 p.m.) will broadcast the 80^th All-Star Game, Tuesday, July 14. ESPN Radio’s Dan Shulman will call the game with analyst Dave Campbell, with Marc Kestecher serving as on-site host. Peter Pascarelli and John Rooney, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals, will serve as on-field reporters. Shulman and Campbell have worked the All-Star Game and Derby together for eighth consecutive seasons. ESPN Radio will broadcast All-Star Specials Monday, June 13, and Tuesday, June 14, from 4- 8 p.m. with co-hosts Orestes Destrade and Jon Seibel.

Eduardo Ortega will call the game for ESPN Deportes Radio with Hall of Famer Juan Marichal and analyst Renato Bermudez. Jose Francisco Rivera will serve as on-field reporter.

ESPN International

ESPN International will offer live coverage of the All-Star Game and Futures Game on its networks serving Latin America (South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean), Africa, the Middle East and New Zealand. Coverage of the Derby on Monday at 8 p.m. will also be available in these regions, plus Australia. ESPN AMERICA, the only European network dedicated to North American sports, will broadcast the All-Star Game, Futures Game and Home Run Derby to 43 countries throughout Europe.

SportsCenter & Baseball Tonight All-Star Coverage

The 6 p.m. SportsCenter on Monday and Tuesday will present live batting practice reports and previews from the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, respectively, while the late-night SportsCenters will provide live post-Derby and post-game analysis and interviews. Chris Berman will anchor the post All-Star game SportsCenter, with Karl Ravech anchoring all other SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight coverage. Analysts will include Peter Gammons, John Kruk, Tim Kurkjian, Eduardo Perez, Steve Phillips and Chris Singleton. Baseball Tonight will provide highlights, news and information related to the Derby Monday, July 13, at midnight (9 p.m. PT) and the All-Star Game Tuesday, July 14, at 1 a.m. (10 p.m. PT).

ESPNEWS

ESPNEWS will provide live coverage of Monday’s All-Star Game press conference (11 a.m.) and Home Run Derby press conference (1:15 p.m.), along with the post-Derby press conference. On Tuesday, ESPNEWS will cover the pre- and post-game press conferences.

ESPN.com, ESPNDeportes.com, ESPN The Magazine and ESPNTheMag.com will also provide All-Star coverage.

ESPN.com

ESPN.com’s MLB All-Star Game index page will include:

• New content daily July 9-14 featuring retrospective pieces on the All-Star Gamenews and analysis, and scouting reports; through the years,
• Reports by Jerry Crasnick, Jason Grey, Eric Karabell, Keith Law, Rob Neyer, Peter Pascarelli and Jayson Stark;
• Real-time coverage via a live All-Star blog and Twitter feed with contributions from ESPN writers and editors on site;
• Play-by-play home run tracker during the Derby;
• Live GameCast during the All-Star Game;
• SportsNation polls;
• Baseball Today podcast with hosts Karabell and Pascarelli;
• Coverage of the Derby and All-Star Game on a special Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page featuring Baseball Tonight Minute video;
• “Off Base” video pieces from Jim Caple in St. Louis;
• “SweetSpot” blog by Neyer, who will be blogging during the Derby and All-Star Game;
• Photo galleries and more.

ESPN Mobile Web

All-Star coverage across the ESPN Mobile Web and MVP application will allow users to follow the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game live directly on their mobile device via GameCast and a blog. An All-Star Hot Corner feature will provide interactive chats and polls.

ESPN Alerts will provide subscribers with in-progress and final result updates from the Futures Game, Home Run Derby and All-Star Game.

That will conclude our work for Wednesday.

Your Tuesday Press Releases

We have a bunch of press releases to post tonight. It’s not going to be a scrollfest, but enough to make this a good sized post.

Starting with NESN which will air a commercial-free special a week from this Saturday on Jim Rice’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

NESN TO PREMIERE JIM RICE: THE JOURNEY TO COOPERSTOWN ON SATURDAY, JULY 18 AT 9 PM

Original NESN Entertainment (ONE) Special to air Commercial Free

BOSTON, MA – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, will premiere Jim Rice: The Journey to Cooperstown on Saturday, July 18 at 9:00 PM. This Original NESN Entertainment special will recount Rice’s passage from a segregated small town high school team to the daunting left field role at Fenway Park during the tumultuous 1970’s in Boston. Former teammates including, Ellis Burks, Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman, Fred Lynn, Jerry Remy and Carl Yastrzemski share anecdotes and stories from his remarkable career.

Earlier this month, NESN cameras accompanied Jim to his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina where Rice introduces viewers to the people and places which shaped him as a ballplayer, and how they influenced his career with the Red Sox.

“Along with Red Sox fans everywhere, we are very excited that Jim is receiving the recognition he richly deserves as one of baseball’s all-time greats,” said Joel Feld, NESN’s executive vice president of programming and executive producer. “Jim humbly allowed us to follow him back to his hometown in South Carolina to document where he grew up and to meet many of the people that helped make him into the extraordinary player and person that he is today.”

Jim Rice was one of the most feared sluggers in all of baseball in the late 70’s and 80’s while playing leftfield for the Boston Red Sox. He was an 8-time All-Star and was voted the American League MVP in 1978. Since retiring in 1989, Rice has served in several roles in the Red Sox organization including the team’s hitting coach from 1995 to 2000 and since 2003 he has served as a studio analyst on NESN. In January 2009, Rice was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 15^th and final year of eligibility.

Here’s an update on the MLB All-Star Final Vote.

LEAD CHANGES HIGHLIGHT DAY TWO OF ALL-STAR GAME SPRINT FINAL VOTE

Sandoval and Kinsler re-gain top spots in tight races after briefly losing them overnight

NEW YORK, July 7, 2009 – Both races in this year’s All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote saw lead changes last night after day one frontrunners Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants and Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers fell behind Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies and Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers, respectively. At the 48-hour mark, Sandoval and Kinsler have each re-gained those leads with balloting ahead of last year’s record pace as 22.2 million votes have been cast exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites.

While Sandoval and Victorino swapped the top spot on the ballot last night, Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers each have garnered nearly two million votes and are looming in this very close race for the final roster spot on the 2009 National League All-Star Team. They are followed by Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals.

Over in the American League, Inge eclipsed Kinsler for first place last night before the Rangers second baseman re-gained the lead earlier today. Overall, Kinsler, Inge and Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim each have tallied more than two million votes while Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays and Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays are in position to make a run.

The eighth annual All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot commenced exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites at 2 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday and will continue until the voting concludes at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 9, 2009.

Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones and fans can send the word “Vote” to 1122 to receive the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot. Standard text rates apply. In Canada, fans should text the word “Vote” to 88555.

Here is your schedule of tournaments that will be aired on the Golf Channel this week.

GOLF CHANNEL TOURNAMENT COVERAGE

July 6 – July 12, 2009

John Deere Classic

Dates: 7/9 – 7/12

Venue: TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill.

Airtimes (Eastern):

Thursday 3 – 6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Replay)

Friday 3 – 6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Replay)

GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:

Rich Lerner (Play by Play)

Peter Oosterhuis (Analyst)

Bobby Clampett (Tower)

Mark Lye (Tower)

Matt Gogel (On Course)

Scott Walker (Interviews)

Broadcast Notes: Thursday – Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET, PGA TOUR Primetime will re-air the opening rounds of the John Deere Classic with special bonus coverage not seen during the live telecast…

3M Championship

Dates: 7/10 – 7/12

Venue: TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minn.

Airtimes (Eastern):

Friday 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. (Live)

Saturday 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. (Live)

Sunday 7 – 9:30 p.m. (Live)

GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:

Brian Hammons (Play by Play)

Frank Nobilo (Analyst)

John Mahaffey (Tower)

David Marr (On Course)

Donna Caponi-Byrnes (On Course)

Ford Wayne Gretzky Charity Classic presented by Samsung

Dates: 7/9 – 7/12

Venue: The Georgian Club, Georgian Bay, Canada/ Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay, Georgian Bay, Canada

Airtimes (Eastern):

Thursday 1 – 3 p.m. (Live)

Friday 1 – 3 p.m. (Live)

Saturday 1 – 4 p.m. (Live)

Sunday 1 – 4 p.m. (Live)

GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:

Jerry Foltz (Play by Play)

Curt Byrum (Analyst)

Jason Buha (On Course)

John Maginnes (On Course)

Adam Barr (Interviews)

The Barclays Scottish Open

Dates: 7/9 – 7/12

Venue: Loch Lomond, Glasgow, Scotland

Airtimes (Eastern):

Thursday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Live)

Friday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Live)

Saturday 9:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. (Live) / 9:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Prime Replay)

Sunday 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 (Live) / 9:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Prime Replay)

Tennis.com says it was the destination for fans during Wimbledon. I’ll have to take the site’s at its word.

TENNIS.COM DRAWS MORE THAN ONE MILLION

UNIQUE USERS FOR WIMBLEDON

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 7, 2009 – They may play on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon in “classic tennis whites,” but when fans want the news, they turn to the Internet. For the second consecutive Grand Slam tournament, TENNIS.com, the world’s leading tennis website, attracted more than one million unique visitors and over 11 million page views.

TENNIS.com’s increased traffic during the Wimbledon fortnight represented a 34% increase in page impressions and 25% increase in unique visitors from last year. The 2009 French Open, which is one day longer than Wimbledon, garnered a record 1.1 million unique visitors to TENNIS.com this year.

The same growth was evident during the classic final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. The match attracted 104,022 unique users and 994,250 page views. Last year’s showdown between Federer and Rafael Nadal recorded 83,234 unique users and 643,171 page views.

“The extraordinary growth of TENNIS.com is something we’re very proud of, and a testament to the quality and quantity of our reporting,” said James Martin, Editor of TENNIS.com. “Amid our competitors, we’re the first to post on breaking news and big match results. Tennis fans know that if they want to stay on top of the game, TENNIS.com is the best place to go.”

Here are just a few examples of TENNIS.com delivering breaking news from Wimbledon first.

Friday, June 19: Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon

• TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 2:14 pm (as it happened)
• No other major sports website (ESPN.com, ESPN.com’s tennis page, SI.com, Yahoo! Sports’ tennis page, or FoxSports.com) has the story mentioned through 2:16 pm
• At 2:21 pm, ESPN.com reports the story on their main page and tennis page and offers a link
• Yahoo! Sports tennis still had no report at 2:22 pm

Wednesday, June 24: Maria Sharapova eliminated in second round of Wimbledon

• TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 10:23 am (as it happened)
• ESPN.com’s tennis page did not break this until after 10:35 am – by 10:41 am, it was posted

Thursday, June 25: Lleyton Hewitt beats No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in the 2nd round

• TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 10:44 am (as it happened)
• Yahoo mentioned the result at 10:46 am, but only as a small lead
• ESPN.com’s tennis page did not break the story until 10:49 am

Saturday, June 27: Melanie Oudin beats No. 6 Jelena Jankovic in the third round of Wimbledon.

• TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 10:08 am (as it happened)
• Yahoo! Sports’ tennis page and ESPN.com’s tennis page do not have the result at 10:18 am and 10:19 am, respectively

“From our in-depth blogs and viewpoints to our instruction, gear, and fitness coverage, TENNIS.com is one-stop shopping for the tennis enthusiast. Our message board community has grown by leaps and bounds, a reflection of the passion of our fans. And you can follow us through Twitter and Facebook,” explained Martin. “All in all, we offer an unsurpassed tennis experience.”

And National Geographic Channel has a fascinating special about living on the moon airing on the day before the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission landing.

NAKED SCIENCE: LIVING ON THE MOON

Sunday, July 19 at 9PM ET/PT

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked-science/4253/Overview

The day before the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11, NGC presents Living on the Moon. Man has always dreamed of living on the moon, and now a team of NASA scientists is proving that dream could be achieved in our lifetime. We take viewers inside Constellation, the space program’s plan to establish a human outpost on the moon by 2020. Take a closer look at the plans under way, from upgraded space suits to housing modules and moon vehicles, and examine the challenges ahead, such as finding water, making oxygen, growing food and protecting residents from deadly radiation. Then, using 3-D animation, we’ll visualize how the remarkable outpost will take shape.

CGI: Astronaut with moon dust. (Credit: © National Geographic Channel)

Video “Moon Water” – Maybe the moon has water. Maybe the moon has lots of water. How on earth will we get to it?

Video “Moon Colony” – Humans are colonizers, and the moon is ripe for populating. But how? And who?

As usual, I look forward to seeing NatGeo’s documentaries. They’re always fun to watch.

Monday’s Press Release Action

We have quite a few releases for you. Let’s give you stuff from CBS Sports first.

It says ratings for the AT&T National won by Tiger Woods jumped by over 200% from last year when Tiger was out due to knee surgery.

CBS Sports’ final-round coverage of the PGA TOUR’s AT&T NATIONAL, which saw host Tiger Woods win his tournament with a birdie at the 16^th hole and pars at 17 and 18 to beat Hunter Mahan by a stroke, on Sunday, July 5 (3:00-6:30 PM, ET) scored an overnight household rating/share of 4.6/11, up +207% from last year’s 1.5/3 in the metered markets.

Sunday’s 4.6/11 was the highest rating for a PGA TOUR event (non-major) on CBS Sports since a 4.6/9 for the final round of the BUICK INVITATIONAL (1/27/08) and the highest rating for the final round of the AT&T NATIONAL since the inaugural event in 2007.

Sunday’s final-round rating peaked at a 6.3/14 from 6:00-6:30 PM, ET.

CBS Sports’ third-round coverage of the AT&T NATIONAL on Saturday, July 4 (3:00-6:00 PM, ET) earned an overnight household rating/share of 2.6/7, up +100% from last year’s third round 1.3/3 in the metered markets.

Saturday’s 2.6/7 was the highest-rated third round for this event.

The Late Show with David Letterman will have Wimbledon Ladies Champion Serena Williams as guest tonight.

2009 WIMBLEDON WOMEN’S SINGLES AND DOUBLES TENNIS CHAMPION SERENA WILLIAMS TO VISIT CBS’ “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN,” MONDAY, JULY 6

NEW YORK, July 6 — 2009 Wimbledon women’s singles and doubles tennis champion Serena Williams talks about her victories when she visits the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Monday, July 6 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. On Saturday, Serena defeated her sister, Venus, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the women’s singles final to capture her third Wimbledon title and 11th major championship. Later that afternoon, Serena and Venus teamed up to win their fourth Wimbledon women’s doubles title and ninth Grand Slam doubles title as a duo, defeating Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Also featured on tonight’s LATE SHOW will be an interview with actress Hayden Panettiere, a special Top Ten List presented by Optimus Prime from “Transformers,” and a performance by musical guests Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Maria Pope, Jude Brennan and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.

Official CBS Web site: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/

And here’s what Serena told Dave about grunting and other things.

2009 WIMBLEDON WOMEN’S SINGLES AND DOUBLES CHAMPION SERENA WILLIAMS TALKS TOURNAMENTS AND GRUNTING AND INDULGES IN AN IMPROMPTU TENNIS PRACTICE WITH LETTERMAN WHEN SHE VISITS CBS’ “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN,” MONDAY, JULY 6

Serena Williams talks about tournaments and grunting and indulges in some tennis practice with Letterman, when she visited the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Monday, July 6 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Letterman asked Williams, who defeated her sister, Venus, in the women’s singles final and then teamed up with her to take the doubles title that after her victory in the women’s singles final, beating her sister, Venus, “Do you really want to go play doubles after you win the singles?” Williams said, “Absolutely, because, I mean, when I won the singles, I had to beat Venus in the finals in order to win. So last year, she actually beat me in the final and she won, so last year, I was so excited to get on the doubles court because I wanted to win a title. I didn’t want to go home without anything. And so this year when I won, I was actually more excited to go out and play doubles because, more than anything, I wanted Venus to win, to leave with something.”

After a torn quad muscle in Williams’ knee kept her from playing for a year, Letterman wondered, “Were there times when you thought, ‘you know what, this may be – this may be it?’” Williams confessed, “Of course – I mean, when you’re down and out after surgery, it’s like you feel like there is no comeback and there is no way back, but it’s always very important to never give up, guys.”

Letterman asked Williams if she’s looking forward to playing the U.S. Open, and Williams said, “Yeah, I do. I was just coming in today over the bridge and saw the stadium over there and had so many wonderful memories, and I automatically thought, I thought, ‘Wow, I want to get out of this car and just go over there and start training,’ so that’s my next goal is to win the Open ‘cause that’s like what I really want to do.”

Letterman asked Williams about the grunting noises she makes while playing, and “is it mostly younger women who make noise when they hit the tennis ball or is it men and women now? She thinks “it’s definitely more the ladies thing.” Letterman wondered, “Now why is that? Is that something they are taught when they’re learning to play the game?” Williams revealed, “When I was younger growing up, I used to watch Monica Seles and she’s like the first person that I know that really used to grunt really loud and really hard, so that’s kind of how I modeled my grunt after? Yeah, because you have to have role models when it comes to grunting…” Letterman asked, “Can it be distracting to somebody who doesn’t typically make much noise to have an opponent who is making noise?” Williams laughed, “I often wonder that, I often wonder…I’m thinking like we were playing just recently in the finals and Venus and I were grunting really loud in the doubles and the other girls weren’t doing anything, and after the point, I was thinking, ‘Wow, that was pretty loud, was that distracting for them?’ So, like I said, I’ll often wonder.” Williams also revealed that grunting “advanced in everything, like if I play golf, I grunt, if I’m playing soccer and I kick the ball, I grunt…” Letterman had Williams laughing when he joked, “What about at breakfast? ‘…Need some coffee here – ugh! How about some more eggs – ugh!” After the interview, Letterman and Williams indulged in an impromptu tennis practice, taking turns hitting tennis balls into the balcony of the Ed Sullivan Theater.

CBS will re-air a 1963 Wonderful World of Golf segment between Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead this Sunday.

From the archives of Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf comes a classic 1963 match-up between 23-year-old Jack Nicklaus and legendary Sam Snead, then 50 years old and the owner of a PGA TOUR-record 81 wins. Filmed at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey, CA, the 18-hole stroke play competition pitted current and future greatness in Snead and Nicklaus, who was the reigning U.S. Open champion.

The match was filmed on February 24 and came down to the final hole. It hasn’t been rebroadcast in any manner since 1963, until now. NICKLAUS VS. SNEAD REVISITED will be aired by CBS Sports on Sunday, July 12, at 2 p.m. ET. Produced by PGA TOUR Productions and digitally re-mastered to high definition, the one-hour special will feature an exclusive interview with Nicklaus regarding the match and his fondness for Pebble Beach, swing tips from both Nicklaus and Snead, mini-features on the two contestants as well as the golf course, and interviews with writers, television producers and fans who were in attendance. The airing of NICKLAUS VS. SNEAD REVISITED leads into CBS Sports’ final-round telecast of the John Deere Classic, Sunday, July 12, 2009 from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

The following day, Golf Channel will run a documentary on the famous 1977 duel between Nicklaus and Tom Watson in the Open Championship.

Re-Live the Nicklaus-Watson Battle at Turnberry in GOLF CHANNEL Special

ORLANDO, Fla., July 6, 2009 – One of the most memorable showdowns in major championship history took place at the 1977 Open Championship at Turnberry, when Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson engaged in a historic 36-hole battle for the Claret Jug that became known as “The Duel in the Sun.”

When the 2009 Open Championship returns to Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland, next week, GOLF CHANNEL will chronicle the story of the duo’s epic battle in a special presentation, Duel in the Sun, airing Monday, July 13 at 9 p.m. ET. The half-hour special includes tournament footage from the original broadcast and features recent interviews with Nicklaus and Watson, third-round leader Roger Maltbie, 1977 U.S. Open Champion and third-place finisher Hubert Green, and several award-winning journalists.

Duel in the Sun will document the Nicklaus-Watson pairing in the final round at the 1977 Open Championship, where they separated themselves from the field. Watson, going for his second major of the year, birdied the 71^st hole on Sunday to take the lead for the first time, ultimately finishing one shot ahead of Nicklaus at 12-under-par. Green, who finished 11 strokes back of Watson at 1-under-par, was the only other player to break par for the tournament.

Duel in the Sun will re-air Monday, July 13 at 9:30 p.m. ET and Tuesday, July 14 (Monday night) at midnight ET.

We get an update from MLB.com on the voting for the last roster spots for the 80th All-Star Game.

Races start with Sandoval and Kinsler narrowly leading as voting enters second day

NEW YORK, July 6, 2009 –Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants and Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers are the clubhouse leaders after the opening 24 hours of online fan voting in the 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote, held exclusively on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and the individual Club sites.

Sandoval currently owns a very small lead over the other four players on the ballot for the final roster spot on the 2009 National League All-Star Team, followed closely by Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies; Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals.

On the American League side, Kinsler leads the very close race among the five candidates for the final roster spot, followed by Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers; Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays; and Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The eighth annual All-Star Game Final Vote ballot commenced exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites at 2 p.m. (EDT) yesterday and will continue until the voting concludes at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 9, 2009.

Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones and fans can send the word “Vote” to 1122 to receive the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot. Standard text rates apply. In Canada, fans should text the word “Vote” to 88555.

The All-Star Game Final Vote program has seen nearly 140 million votes cast since its inception in 2002, including last year’s record-setting total when fans chose Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Corey Hart of the Milwaukee Brewers. Previous winners of the All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote are: Hideki Okajima (AL, 2007); Chris Young (NL, 2007); A.J. Pierzynski (AL, 2006); Nomar Garciaparra (NL, 2006); Scott Podsednik (AL, 2005); Roy Oswalt (NL, 2005); Hideki Matsui (AL, 2004); Bobby Abreu (NL, 2004); Jason Varitek (AL, 2003); Geoff Jenkins (NL, 2003); Johnny Damon (AL, 2002); and Andruw Jones (NL, 2002).

Fox Sports and MLB Advanced Media team up for an online pregame show from the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

FOXSPORTS.COM ON MSN & MLBAM REPRISE

MLB ALL-STAR BATTING PRACTICE SHOW

Live Show from St. Louis Begins All-Star Coverage at 4:30 ET

Digital ASG Plans Include Second Screen In-Game Camera Experience

New York & Los Angeles – So, it’s All-Star Tuesday and you can’t wait to get home from work to watch the Midsummer Classic. You find yourself daydreaming about being in St. Louis, watching the game’s best hitters take batting practice, launching ball after ball into the Missouri sky. Well, once again, with a click of your mouse, FOXSports.com on MSN and Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) can transport you there.

FOXSports.com on MSN and MLBAM, for the third consecutive year, partner to co-produce the MLB ALL-STAR BATTING PRACTICE SHOW, live on Tuesday, July 14 at 4:30 PM ET from Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis, home of the 80^th MLB All-Star Game. FOX Sports’ Chris Rose hosts, while MLB Network’s Royce Clayton provides analysis. FOX’ Ken Rosenthal reports and conducts interviews from the batting cage. Fans can access the show by logging onto www.mlb.com or www.foxsports.com.

Once the hour-long program concludes at 5:30 PM ET, the show’s multiple cameras remain live in fixed positions, providing ambient background audio and video as preparations for the pre-game ceremonies and game continue. At 8:00 PM ET, when FOX Sports begins its live national coverage of the MLB ALL-STAR GAME PREGAME SHOW, the same cameras that were used during the batting practice show are once again manned and provide a second-screen, viewer-pick-the-angle, online experience. As many as five camera angles are expected to be available.

The show’s production infrastructure is supported by MLBAM’s Mediaplayer ’09, with cameras provided by FOX Sports. Pre-produced features and packages, including game highlights, are planned, but are only viewable via the set’s camera stream.

And here’s what ESPN will cover for Motorsports this week.

Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC

NASCAR Nationwide Series on ESPN in Prime Time from Chicagoland

The NASCAR Nationwide Series races in prime time on Friday night as it makes its only appearance of the season at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. ESPN will have a live, high definition telecast of the race on Friday, July 10, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC. The race re-airs Saturday, July 11, at 2:30 a.m. on ESPN2 and again at 1 p.m. on ESPN Classic.

Also this weekend, live coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying airs Friday at 3 p.m. on ESPN2, while coverage of final practice airs Thursday, July 9, at 7 p.m.

Dr. Jerry Punch will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake, with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.

Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by Wallace and Brad Daugherty, owner of a winning team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in the ESPN pit studio.

Craven, Said, Blount on NASCAR Now Roundtable

ESPN NASCAR analysts Ricky Craven and Boris Said and ESPN.com reporter Terry Blount will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program airing Monday, July 13, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Nicole Manske hosts half-hour episode of NASCAR Now airing Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at 5 p.m. and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Manske also hosts the one-hour weekend edition that airs Saturday, July 11, at 10 a.m. with a preview of that night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway. Said will join Manske on the set, while Mike Massaro and Marty Smith will report from the track.

NASCAR Now originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include NASCAR Insiders Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Boris Said, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie, and ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton. The NASCAR on ESPN team event coverage team of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Spake and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing from Denver on ESPN2

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series travels to Bandimere Speedway near Denver this weekend, and ESPN2 will air qualifying and eliminations action on a same-day basis. Qualifying from the Mile-High NHRA Nationals airs Saturday, July 11, at 8 p.m. ET, with eliminations airing Sunday at 7 p.m. Finals coverage re-airs Monday, July 13, at 2 p.m. on ESPN Classic.

The second half of the season kicks off with the first of three consecutive weekends of racing and one of its greatest challenges. Teams travel high and deep into the Rocky Mountains to more than 5,800 feet, where the altitude affects everything from engine tune-ups to aerodynamics. Crews must make changes to established power-making combinations and battle lack of downforce to tackle the environs. The event is testament to the skill and adaptability of the racers.

Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff report from the pits. Rieff and Dunn host NHRA RaceDay on Sunday at 11 a.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.

Other NHRA programming airing on ESPN Networks this week includes the 2003 NHRA Nationals from Brainerd, Minn., airing Monday, July 13, at noon on ESPN Classic. Following at 1 p.m. is an hour of NHRA Sportsman Series action from Atlanta Dragway.

IndyCar Series Races at Toronto Live on ABC

After a one-year absence, one of North America’s famous racing venues returns to action this weekend as the IndyCar Series races in Toronto on the famed Exhibition Place street circuit. ABC will have live coverage of the event on Sunday, July 12, at 1 p.m. ET.

The CART/Champ Car Series raced at Toronto for 22 years, starting in 1986, before the event took a year off last year when open wheel racing unified.

Marty Reid will call the race for ESPN on ABC’s coverage with analysis by former IndyCar Series star Scott Goodyear. Reporting from the pits will be Jack Arute, Brienne Pedigo and Vince Welch.

Pro Pulling League Action Airs Sunday on ESPN2

The Pro Pulling League, which features modified trucks, tractors and other vehicles, will be in action for more than two hours on Sunday, July 12, in five half-hour program beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2.

The programs will feature highlights from events held in Wheatland, Mo., and Henry, Ill. The league is sanctioned by the American Tractor Pulling Association.

And those are the releases for tonight.

Sunday’s Press Releases

A couple of releases today. Nice to have on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This one is from MLB.com regarding the All-Star Game Final Vote. The All-Star teams for the National and American Leagues were announced today.

2009 ALL-STAR GAME SPRINT FINAL VOTE AVAILABLE ONLY ON MLB.COM

Online balloting for final player on each All-Star Team continues through July 9

NEW YORK, July 5, 2009 – American and National League All-Star Team managers Joe Maddon and Charlie Manuel, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, have announced the candidates for the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote to be held exclusively on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and the individual Club Web sites.

Fans began casting votes for the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote on MLB.com and the Club sites immediately following today’s Major League Baseball All-Star Selection Show presented by Pepsi on TBS and can continue until balloting concludes at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 9. The winners, as chosen exclusively by online fan voting totals, will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter. Last year’s program saw a record 47.8 million votes.

The five candidates for the final roster spot on the 2009 American League All-Star Team are: Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers; Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers; Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays; and Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays.

On the National League side, the five players on the ballot for the final roster spot are: Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals; Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants; and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones and fans can send the word “Vote” to 1122 to receive the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot. Standard text rates apply. In Canada, fans should text the word “Vote” to 88555.

The All-Star Game Final Vote program has seen nearly 140 million votes cast since its inception in 2002, including last year’s record-setting total when fans chose Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Corey Hart of the Milwaukee Brewers. Previous winners of the All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote are: Hideki Okajima (AL, 2007); Chris Young (NL, 2007); A.J. Pierzynski (AL, 2006); Nomar Garciaparra (NL, 2006); Scott Podsednik (AL, 2005); Roy Oswalt (NL, 2005); Hideki Matsui (AL, 2004); Bobby Abreu (NL, 2004); Jason Varitek (AL, 2003); Geoff Jenkins (NL, 2003); Johnny Damon (AL, 2002); and Andruw Jones (NL, 2002).

Last week, MLB.com announced record totals of 223.5 million votes and 17.8 million ballots for the 16 starting position players via the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Online Ballot, which concluded on July 2.

The 80th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8:00 p.m. (EDT)/7:00 p.m. (CDT).

The fine people at Turner Sports are some of the most efficient in sports television. When a program is finished, a press release is churned out almost immediately. A NASCAR race is finished at 5 p.m., the release is ready by 6 p.m. In this case, the release for the MLB All-Star Game Selection Show on TBS is out, just mere hours after it aired.

Notes from TBS’ Exclusive Coverage of the MLB All-Star Selection Show – July 5, 2009

Quote of the Day:

“First base is where we have all the big hitters. (Albert) Pujols was the fan favorite and he ran away with the (fan voting). I picked Ryan Howard from my team because I felt like I wanted him to go. I couldn’t by pass Prince Fielder and (Adrian) Gonzalez definitely deserves to be there. I think that was the toughest position because we overloaded it at first base.”

– Phillies and Natinal League All-Star manager Charlie Manuel on the toughest position to fill on the NL roster

TBS Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Dennis Eckersley, Cal Ripken and David Wells

American League All-Stars

C – Joe Mauer (Twins)*, Victor Martinez (Indians)

1B – Mark Teixeira (Yankees)*, Justin Morneau (Twins), Kevin Youkilis (Red Sox)

2B – Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox)*, Aaron Hill (Blue Jays)

SS – Derek Jeter (Yankees)*, Jason Bartlett (Rays)

3B – Evan Longoria (Rays)*, Michael Young (Rangers)

OF – Jason Bay (Red Sox)*, Josh Hamilton (Rangers)*, Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners)*, Carl Crawford (Rays), Curtis Granderson (Tigers), Torii Hunter (Twins), Adam Jones (Orioles), Ben Zobrist (Rays)

P – Andrew Bailey (A’s), Josh Beckett (Red Sox), Mark Buerhle (White Sox), Brian Fuentes (Angels), Zack Greinke (Royals), Roy Halladay (Blue Jays), Felix Hernandez (Mariners), Edwin Jackson (Tigers), Joe Nathan (Twins), Jonathan Papelbon (Red Sox), Mariano Rivera (Yankees), Justin Verlander (Tigers), Tim Wakefield (Red Sox)

National League All-Stars

C – Yadier Molina (Cardinals)*, Brian McCann (Braves)

1B – Albert Pujols (Cardinals)*, Prince Fielder (Brewers), Adrian Gonzalez (Padres), Ryan Howard (Phillies)

2B – Chase Utley (Phillies)*, Orlando Hudson (Dodgers), Freddy Sanchez (Pirates)

SS – Hanley Ramirez (Marlins)*, Miguel Tejada (Astros)

3B – David Wright (Mets)*, Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals)

OF – Carlos Beltran (Mets)*, Ryan Braun (Brewers)*, Raul Ibañez (Phillies)*, Brad Hawpe (Rockies), Hunter Pence (Astros), Justin Upton (Diamondbacks)

P – Heath Bell (Padres), Chad Billingsley (Dodgers), Jonathan Broxton (Dodgers), Matt Cain (Giants), Francisco Cordero (Reds), Ryan Franklin (Cardinals), Dan Haren (Diamondbacks), Josh Johnson (Marlins), Ted Lilly (Cubs), Tim Lincecum (Giants), Jason Marquis (Rockies), Francisco Rodriguez (Mets), Johan Santana (Mets)

*Fan elected starter

Wells on Yankees shortstop and ten-time All-Star Derek Jeter: “(Jeter) is a phenom at shortstop. I was lucky in my career to have Cal Ripken and Tony Fernandez play behind me. When I went to New York and had this young kid (Jeter) play behind me after I played with Ripken, I didn’t miss a beat. This guy knows how to play the hitters and he positions himself well up the middle or in the hole and he makes these great plays.”

Ripken on Twins catcher and 2009 All-Star starter Joe Mauer: “The thing about Joe (Mauer) is that he makes it look easy all the way around and he’s always under control with the bat. He doesn’t seem to get fooled by a pitch, he waits a long time and he’s a batting champion. Don’t underestimate his power. I think as he plays the game longer, he’s got a chance to be a home run chance as well.”

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria joined the TBS studio show via satellite to discuss his first selection to the MLB All-Star team.

Longoria on if he has experienced the ‘sophomore slump’: “At the beginning of the year, I was really hot and got off to a good start. That was good for me after hearing about the ‘sophomore slump’ and how it’s tougher your second time around the league. I was excited to get off to that good of a start but I’ve noticed that teams are doing a lot more and changing up their plan when I come up to the plate and it’s been tough. I’ve had to make those adjustments and that’s fun for me to try and stay with them and keep enjoying being out there.”

Longoria on the difference between this season and last season for the Rays: “Last year, we manufactured a lot of runs and (played) a lot of small ball. Late in the year we had a lot of big hits in big situations. This year, after playing in the postseason under the bright lights in front of all the fans, the games that you play on a normal basis become a little easier to play. I think a years-worth of experience and being in the postseason relaxed a lot of our hitters and allows them to play our game.”

Ripken on Marlins shortstop two-time All-Star Hanley Ramirez: “When scouts describe someone as a five-tool player, I get so tired of it because it seems like a gimmick. (Hanley Ramirez) has all the tools. The only flaw in his game is that he makes some errors at shortstop because he takes a lot of chances. But he keeps getting better and better. He’s the kind of guy you want to start a franchise with.”

Wells on Cardinals first baseman and NL All-Star starter Albert Pujols: “Albert Pujols doesn’t seem like he has any holes. He’s very intimidating; he stands up there, waits for his pitch and goes after it. So you can’t make a mistake with Albert Pujols.”

Eckersley on Mets third baseman and four-time All-Star David Wright: “I love the way (David Wright) plays the game. He plays the game hard, he’s a good offensive player and this year, he’s the last man standing with the Mets. He’s been a steady player and I love the way he’s gone about it.”

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley joined the TBS studio show via satellite after learning of his selection to the MLB All-Star team.

Utley on what player did he look up to when he was growing up: “There were a bunch of guys that I looked up to. Once I got to high school and I started developing a little bit, I was a huge (White Sox DH) Jim Thome fan. He was a guy that I really enjoyed watching. He’d hit the ball a mile and I’d try to intimidate that but it didn’t work out as well. He was the guy that I looked up to.”

Utley on teammate Raul Ibanez who made the All-Star Game for the first time in his career: “I’m so excited for Raul and he’s done an outstanding job for us this year. He plays great defense and he’s swinging the bat extremely well. He’s been a huge part of our success this season. He’s been banged up a little bit the last few weeks so hopefully he can come back soon and represent the National League (in the All-Star Game). He’s a guy who has been around a while and worked so hard and to make his first All-Star Game is pretty special.”

Eckersley on Giants pitcher and two-time All-Star Tim Lincecum: “I thought I had long moss (hair)…check out this kid’s moss. It’s down to his shoulders. They call him the “Freak”, last year’s Cy Young Award winner and this guy has got it all. He might be the best pitcher in the National League.”

Ripken on Mets pitcher and four-time All-Star Johan Santana: “(Johan Santana) is the most reliable starter. You know what you’re going to get (with him). His changeup comes out looking exactly like his fastball and he’ll use it anytime in any count. He attacks the strike zone with his changeup.”

Philadelphia Phillies manager and National League All-Star manager Charlie Manuel joined the TBS studio show to discuss making the final All-Star selections.

Manuel on the toughest position to fill on the NL All-Star roster: “First base is where we have all the big hitters. (Albert) Pujols was the fan favorite and he ran away with the (fan voting). I picked Ryan Howard from my team because I felt like I wanted him to go. I couldn’t by pass Prince Fielder and (Adrian) Gonzalez definitely deserves to be there. I think that was the toughest position because we overloaded it at first base.”

Manuel on struggling Phillies starter Cole Hamels: “Coming out of spring training, Cole (Hamels) had problems with his elbow. He also had a short winter and he pitched more for us last year than he’s used to. He’s learning how to pitch a full season at the Major League level. His velocity and his stuff is there but I think he’s had control issues.”

Ripken on Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield who was named to his first All-Star Game: “I loved facing Tim Wakefield because he could get into a softball stance when the ball gets up there. A knuckleballer has difficulty controlling the strike zone because he doesn’t know where (the ball) is going to go. Wakefield has done a remarkable job throughout his career at figuring out how to make adjustments and pitch in the strike zone. (It’s) well deserved and I’m really glad that he’s at the All-Star Game.”

Eckersley on Yankees pitcher and ten-time All-Star Mariano Rivera: “This guy is the classiest guy in the game. (He’s the) ‘Iceman” with no emotion, no pointing at people, no pointing to the sky. He’s about (post-game) handshakes, getting into the game and getting out. This guy is too cool for school.”

Ripken on Orioles outfielder and first-time All-Star Adam Jones: “(Adam Jones is) going to be a great player. He plays centerfield like (former Oriole) Paul Blair. He plays really shallow and if you hit one over his head, you have to earn it.”

Eckersley on Rays infielder and first-time All-Star Ben Zobrist: “(Ben Zobrist is) the biggest surprise of the year, no doubt about it”

Rays manager and American League All-Star manager Joe Maddon joined the TBS studio show to discuss his role in selecting the remaining American League All-Stars.

Maddon on picking first time All Stars Red Sox veteran Tim Wakefield and Athletics rookie Andrew Bailey: “With (Tim) Wakefield, I’ve been a fan of his for many years and he’s having a great season. It’s about time he got elected to an All-Star Game and I was happy to do that. With Andrew Bailey, he had to pick somebody from Oakland and we had played him earlier this season. He’s got electric stuff and he’s very aggressive in the strike zone. He throws strikes and he’s done a great job for the A’s this year.”

Maddon on Tigers pitcher Edwin Jackson who he managed in Tampa: “I’m happy for Edwin (Jackson), he was a big part of what he did last year. He’s a tremendous young talent. We knew that at any time, he could turn into this type of pitcher.”

And here’s another release from Turner Sports, quotage from TNT’s coverage of the NASCAR race at Daytona last night.

Notes from TNT’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coverage – Saturday, July 04, 2009

For the first time ever, TNT’s Wide Open Coverage featured no missed laps of green flag racing during the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.

TNT’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series concludes on Saturday, July 11 from Chicagoland Speedway. NASCAR on TNT Live! begins at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by Countdown to Green at 7:30 p.m. ET. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing begins at 8 p.m. ET.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“I don’t know if I was real proud of that but I don’t know what else I could have I done there. I went where I had to go and he went where he had to go. You just hate seeing a guy who’s been up front all day, especially a guy that helped me the whole race, get wrecked like that. I don’t like winning them like that.”

– No. 14 Tony Stewart on winning in the final lap after a collision with No. 18 Kyle Busch

NASCAR on TNT Live! from Daytona International Speedway

Marc Fein (host), Larry McReynolds (analyst) and Kyle Petty (analyst)

Petty on the gravity of racing at Daytona International Speedway: “It’s Daytona and that’s all that needs to be said. Churchill Downs, Indianapolis Raceway for open wheel racing, Boston Garden where the Celtics used to play, so many sports arenas. This is the Holy Grail, this is the Mecca of stock car racing. It’s not the 500 (in February), but it’s still the Daytona 400 and it’s still Daytona.”

McReynolds on NASCAR’s substance abuse policy: “I support (NASCAR) very, very much being very aggressive with the substance abuse policy. Our athletes, they do not have a baseball bat, a football or basketball, they have 3,550 pound race cars with over 800 horsepower driving off in the corners at over 200 miles per hour. And right here driving at 55 miles per hour where there are crew members out there on pit road. I think NASCAR has to be as aggressive as any sport out there with their substance abuse policy.”

Petty on the recent court case involving driver Jeremy Mayfield who challenged NASCAR banning him after a drug test: “We are independent contractors and that’s why Jeremy (Mayfield) is fighting so hard. If I believe I’m innocent on anything I’m going to fight for it, and that’s why Jeremy Mayfield is fighting so hard. So you’ve got to give him kudos and you’ve got to give NASCAR credit for standing up and fighting for their substance abuse policy. We’re going to have a better policy in the sport when this is all said and done, the loopholes will be closed. I’m not a legal scholar, I’m not a doctor and I can’t address any of those issues, and I’m not going to. As Larry said, this is not striking out, this is not missing a free throw, this is not missing an extra point. This is a life and death sport and there is not room in this sport for any substance that impairs your ability to drive.”

Legendary driver and current NASCAR owner Richard Petty joined the TNT rig to discuss the 25^th anniversary of his 200^th and final win on July 4, 1984 in Daytona, along with being in contention for the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Petty on his father Richard wearing a fire suit: “I’ve just got one simple question, does Mama know that you’re in a uniform?”

Richard Petty: “I slipped out and she said, ‘how many laps are you going to make?’ That’s what she was worried about. She said as long as I don’t make but one lap I’ll be able to come home tonight.”

Richard Petty on being one of 25 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class: “You’ve got to figure I’ve been here a long time. I think it started with who’s been here the longest. It started with Bill France and then Richard Petty. It’s a great honor to even be mentioned at the same time with a lot of guys whose names are on there. It makes you feel real honored.”

Current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader No. 14 Tony Stewart joined the TNT rig prior to the race.

Stewart on the heat affecting the track conditions: “It is absolutely hot here and we can sit there and wipe our foreheads, but as soon as we get the rag off it’s sweaty again. It’s blistering hot and handling is a premium here versus February. We even talk about in it February of Talladega and Daytona, Daytona is definitely the handling track. The asphalt is worn out but that’s what makes this place fun. That track has heat soaked all day long and it’s going to take a while before the track starts getting some grip in it again.”

Stewart on his old tradition of climbing a fence after he won a race: “I’m too fat to be climbing fences. It was fun to do that, but it’s a lot tougher than it looks, let me tell you. The first time I did it when we won the July Fourth race, I got to the top and I thought, ‘man, what was I doing?’ But it was such a cool view that I did it again the next week. But man, it’s a lot harder than it looks, I can promise you that.”

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ******

Countdown to Green

Marc Fein (host) and Wally Dallenbach (analyst)

TNT’s Wally Dallenbach interviewed No. 5 Mark Martin prior to the race

Martin on how his intensity benefits him: “I’m a real intense guy and I have real hard time relaxing. When it comes time to do business, whether it’s training, driving or anything like that, my intensity is a big benefit.”

Martin on competing in NASCAR at a high level while at the age of 50: “I suppose it is remarkable at this stage in the game and in (NASCAR) with the youth movement that we’ve experienced in the last few years. I’ve even surprised (myself) that I’m able to compete at this level.

Martin on how much he’s enjoyed this season: “I would like to freeze (this year) and do it over and over (again).”

Martin on how he has an advantage due to his experience: “There’s something to be said for experience. Obviously, at 50-years-old there are things that decline. My reaction time is not what it was 25 years ago. But what I do with that reaction time is better. I have as much fire and desire every day that I go to the racetrack as any 20-year-old.

TNT’s Lindsay Czarniak interviewed No. 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. prior to the race.

Earnhardt, Jr. on why he loves racing at Daytona and the strength of his car in this race: “I love the area, I’ve been coming here for a long time. It’s a fun racetrack, a fun area and a good time in the race car. We’ve got a pretty good car in the National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet. Hopefully all the troops who are watching will appreciate it, especially since it’s July Fourth. We’ve worked real hard to make this car drive good, the engine is amazing. I want to tell all the engine guys back at Hendrick that this is the best motor I’ve had down here in a long time. I can’t thank them enough for all the hard work they’ve done, they’ve made some big gains even since February. It’s pretty awesome.”

TNT’s Matt Yocum interviewed No. 39 Ryan Newman prior to the race.

Newman on driving the U.S. Army car: “All the Armed Forces, all the people who helped to get us to where we are and allow us to do this…there’s a lot more to it than fireworks. We’ll go out there with our U.S. Army Chevrolet and do our best job we possibly can and hopefully have a good run at it.”

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ******

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing: Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

Announcers: Ralph Sheheen (play-by-play), Wally Dallenbach (analyst) and Kyle Petty (analyst); Larry McReynolds (analyst) contributes from the in-field at the TNT Offtrack Robotic Car (TORC)

Pit reporters: Adam Alexander, Lindsay Czarniak, Marty Snider and Matt Yocum

TNT’s Wally Dallenbach spoke to No. 2 Kurt Busch on the radio prior to the green flag dropping.

Busch on scoring the most points at Daytona in the past six races but being unable to win the race: “I think scoring the most points means I just missed the most wrecks. But to have a good car it starts back at the race shop. I want to thank all my guys and all the viewers who root for the Miller Lite Dodge. This is as good car as any and we want to bring it home tonight.”

Dallenbach on No. 11 Denny Hamlin pushing No. 2 Kurt Busch to the front spot early in the race: “When (Hamlin) had him sideways (Busch) was really mad, but he’s really happy right now. When a guy does that, he’s like, ‘what the heck are you doing? Oh, I’m in the lead, it’s ok.’ It’s one thing to get pushed on the straightway, but you don’t want to get hit in the corner because it just turns you sideways.”

Dallenbach on the unscientific method he used to gauge if there was a problem with his car: “I used to say all the time, your butt never lies. What that race car is telling you and what you’re feeling in the seat you can never second guess. I’ll second guess the crew chief, I’ll second guess the tire guys, I’ll second guess everyone, but I won’t second guess my butt. If that car feels like something is wrong than you’ve got to believe it.”

Dallenbach on No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya being a lap down amongst race leaders: “The leaders don’t have much patience for a guy who is a lap down from the leaders. They want to be on the tail of a guy (who is on the lead lap). Especially coming in for a pit stop, that one or two seconds is critical when you leave pit lane and you don’t want to have a lap car in between you and the guy you’re racing.”

Petty on why No. 00 David Reutimann would attempt to repair his car and return to the race after a wreck: “You say why do we try to put this thing back together? Because we were right there in the cusp of being 12^th in points, we are 13^th in points or 14^th. We interviewed (Reutimann) out at Sonoma and he said I’d take a 15^th place finish and go to the house (rather) than lose time.”

Petty on the impact of pit selection during the race: “That’s why pit selection and qualifying is so important. It all starts when you unload that thing on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning for practice. That’s when everything starts that happens during the course of a race.”

Dallenbach: “And who you pit around. If a guy is going to come in like that (wild) you’ve got to know that going down the road.”

Petty: “People used to always pit next to me when I used to drive because they always knew I was going to wreck or fall out so they knew they’d have an extra pit.”

Dallenbach on the intense driving that is causing minor collisions on the track with only 40 laps left to go: “As it gets closer to the end of the race, you’re going to see more of this. It’s not erratic (driving), but you’re going to see these moves because everyone is trying to protect their real estate right now. You can’t afford to get shuffled to the back.”

Dallenbach on the final three laps of the race: “You’ve got to give it everything you’ve got. You either give a good finish or bring back the steering wheel.”

TNT’s Marty Snider interviewed No. 14 Tony Stewart who won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.

Stewart on winning in the final lap after a collision with No. 18 Kyle Busch: “I don’t know if I was real proud of that but I don’t know what else I could have I done there. I went where I had to go and he went where he had to go. You just hate seeing a guy who’s been up front all day, especially a guy that helped me the whole race, get wrecked like that. I don’t like winning them like that.”

Stewart on if the accident in the final lap was a product of the drivers doing what they needed to do: “It is but you still don’t like it. You’re kind of forced in that position. I made my move to the outside, got up to his right rear tire and when he went to block us and we were already there. It still doesn’t mean you like it, you don’t want to win that way. That’s not the way you want to win these things. We had a good car all day and you feel bad because you want him to have a good day too but we weren’t going to give it to him. If I did something wrong, I’m sorry. I don’t think I did but I was out there when he moved so you just feel bad about it. It’s not the way you want to win these things.”

Petty on Kyle Busch declining to comment about the finish of the race: “That’s probably good because you can tell he’s upset. I would be upset too. He had a shot at winning this race and (the accident) happened. That’s probably the best thing to do, not say anything because whatever you say, there are fans out there that love you and fans out there that hate you and the ones who hate you are going to use it against you so keep your mouth shut.”

Unofficial Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Results:

1. No. 14 Tony Stewart

2. No. 48 Jimmie Johnson

3. No. 11 Denny Hamlin

4. No. 99 Carl Edwards

5. No. 2 Kurt Busch

6. No. 47 Marcos Ambrose

7. No. 83 Brian Vickers

8. No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya

9. No. 17 Matt Kenseth

10. No. 26 Jamie McMurray

That’s it for press releases. Thanks to the MLB.com and Turner Sports for sending them out today.

Two Friday Press Releases

I have two press releases tonight as sports networks took the day off for the most part today. I had sent out a couple of e-mails to public relations reps today and was not expecting responses so imagine my surprise when these hit the Fang’s Bites inbox today.

From MLB.com, there’s this release on the All-Star Game voting which finished Thursday night.

ALL-STAR GAME ONLINE BALLOT ON MLB.COM CAPS RECORD-SETTING FAN BALLOTING PROGRAM

NEW YORK, July 3, 2009 – Fan balloting for the 16 elected starting position players in the 80th All-Star Game, to be played Tuesday, July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, came to a record-setting finish last night with the conclusion of the 2009 All-Star Game Online Ballot on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball.

Overall during the All-Star Game Online Balloting program, 223.5 million votes from 17.8 million ballots were cast at MLB.com and the 30 individual Club sites. Both figures are the largest figures recorded in the nine years of online balloting at MLB.com, surpassing the previous records established in 2008.

The American and National League All-Star Teams will be unveiled on the 2009 MLB All-Star Selection Show, televised nationally on TBS at 1 p.m. (EDT). MLB.com will provide comprehensive coverage of the All-Star Teams, including high quality video and details of every All-Star, immediately following the announcement. MLB Network will air a special MLB Tonight All-Star Edition, simulcast on MLB.com, at 6 p.m. (EDT) with expert analysis and a look at the players on the 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote ballot.

Also after the conclusion of the show, fans will once again select the final player for each League’s 33-man roster via the 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote exclusively online at MLB.com. Fans will also be able to cast votes by text exclusively on Sprint capable phones. Standard text rates apply.

The 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote will provide fans the opportunity to cast their votes from two lists of five players, one from each League, over a four-day period. American League All-Star manager Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays and National League All-Star manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies each will designate five players who will be the candidates for the 2009 All-Star Game Final Vote. Balloting will continue until 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 9. The winners will be announced exclusively on MLB.com shortly after the balloting closes.

And ESPN goes over what its upcoming “My Wish” series which debuts on SportsCenter on Sunday.

2009 Edition of SportsCenter ‘My Wish’ Series Debuts July 5 at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN

Five children’s wishes will feature athletes Marion Barber, Jimmy Rollins, Tony Hawk, Chris Paul and David Wright

The 2009 edition of SportsCenter’s “My Wish” series will debut Sunday, July 5 during the 10 a.m. ET edition of SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship news and information program. The series will continue Monday – Thursday featuring a new wish each day during the 6 p.m. ET edition of the program. Wishes include athletes Marion Barber NFL Pro Bowl running back for the Dallas Cowboys (Sunday), Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins (Monday), pro skateboarder Tony Hawk (Tuesday), New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul (Wednesday) and New York Mets third baseman David Wright (Thursday). Emmy Award-winning reporter Chris Connelly will again host. The series, a collaborative effort between the Make-A-Wish Foundation, ESPN SportsCenter and The Walt Disney Company, profiles the experiences of young children with life-threatening medical conditions as their unique sports-related wishes are being granted by the star athletes of their choosing. Highlights of the youngsters and their wishes:

Sunday, July 5: Marion Barber

Ian Gregory, Age – 6; Hometown – Canyon, Texas; Condition – T-cell lymphoma

Wish: To meet Marion Barber of the Dallas Cowboys (wish was granted on June 17)

The Cowboys welcomed Ian to minicamp where he was greeted by Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, shown the team’s five Super Bowl trophies, toured the locker room, rode the team bus to practice with Barber, took part in drills with the running backs and joined coach Wade Phillips to break the team huddle at the end of practice.

Shane Gregory, Ian’s father: “It’s been about five hours, and it seems like it’s been five of the greatest days of our lives. I want to thank the people with the Cowboys and Make-A-Wish for making this such a special day for Ian.”

Monday, July 6: Jimmy Rollins

Shaquille Jacobs – Age – 17 (turned 18 in April); Hometown – Greensboro, N.C.; Condition – acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Wish: To meet and play catch with Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins (wish was granted on March 1)

The wish was granted at Disney’s Wide World of Sports® Champion Stadium®. Shaquille was presented with a personalized jersey by Rollins in the Phillies dugout, and dressed in full uniform with the team. He joined the Phillies for pregame warm-ups – playing catch with Rollins, stretching with the team and taking batting practice. He hit a couple of rounds with Rollins’ bat, which Rollins gave him after they were done. Shaquille then joined the Phillies in the dugout for the game against the Atlanta Braves. Jacobs plans to attend North Carolina A&T, majoring in chemical engineering and will try out as a walk on for the baseball team.

Jacobs on his day with Rollins: “My favorite part was to be on the field with Jimmy, playing catch, stretching, racing with him and taking batting practice. They all treated me like I was one of the guys.”

Tuesday, July 7: Tony Hawk

Jamarkus Poole – Age – 12; Hometown – Tampa, Fla.; Condition – cystic fibrosis

Wish: To meet Tony Hawk (wish was granted on June 24)

Tony Hawk and six other pro skateboarders put on a high-flying exhibition for Jamarkus and his family in the private skatepark at Hawk’s San Diego-area headquarters. Jamarkus then had his own chance to skate with Tony on the ramps. They then enjoyed a pizza lunch, and played video games, where Jamarkus showed Hawk some of his own board tricks on the yet-to-be-released video game “Tony Hawk Ride.”

From Angel Shakleford, Jamarkus’ mom: “Jamarkus really isn’t an emotional guy and he’s kind of shy, but he really opened up with Tony during the wish. It really was a special day for him and our family.”

Wednesday, July 8: Chris Paul

Cole Johanson – Age – 10; Hometown – Portland, Ore.; condition – Burkitt’s lymphoma

Wish: To meet Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets (wish was granted on June 23)

Cole traveled to Chris Paul’s hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C., where Paul took him to see his childhood home, shoot hoops and play HORSE in the gym at West Forsyth High (Paul’s alma mater). They then ate lunch at Cole’s favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden.

Cole Johanson: “It’s amazing how cancer was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but the day I met Chris Paul was the best day of my life.”

Thursday, July 9: David Wright

Matthew Vojack – Age – 6; Hometown – South Barrington, Ill.; Condition – congenital heart defect TAPVR

Wish: To meet David Wright of the New York Mets (wish was granted on June 30)

Matthew’s wish was revealed with a surprise visit from Mets mascot Mr. Met at the family’s home in Illinois. Matthew then traveled to Milwaukee to play catch with Wright, meet several of Wright’s Mets teammates, and watch the Mets take on the Brewers at Miller Park. Matthew also met Bernie Brewer and held the finish-line tape for the Brewers’ Sausage Race.

From Debbie Vojack, Matthew’s Mom: “This wish meant the world to me. Being able to watch Matt interact with David was amazing. Matt loves baseball and being able to play with his favorite player was incredible. It was the experience of a lifetime.”

ESPN.com will offer additional and complementary content related to the five wish-granting experiences.

Here’s a video preview.

And that will do it for the press releases.

Links for Your Thursday Night

Time for some linkage finally. For the 4th of July holiday weekend, the posting may be sparse. It depends on the schedule. Friday will have your usual posts, Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks, Weekend Viewing Picks, Follow Friday and the megalinks. I know Saturday will be busy so I may not be able to provide links. I hope that Sunday will be a lazy day so I can do the Videos of the Week and other features for you. Keep your RSS feeds updated and if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll certainly know what is posted.

Let’s get to the links.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has TBS’ baseball analysts talking about the All-Star Game.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal talks with new NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes says attendance and TV ratings are proof that two teams in the Baltimore-Washington area cannot work.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes what many of you have been saying regarding NBC’s coverage of Wimbledon. It’s time to end the tape delays.

The Sports Business Daily has a roundup of columns denouncing NBC Sports for its Wimbledon coverage.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes an open letter to Lance Armstrong urging him not to participate in this month’s Tour de France.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog tells us that NASCAR fans are very loyal to buying American brand cars.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette reports that a local sports radio show is taking the Friday holiday off.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News has a dozen TV picks for the holiday weekend and Wimbledon, MLB and the NFL Network are included.

Ed Barkowitz of the Philadelphia Daily News says Eagles QB Donovan McNabb will star in a new IHOP commercial.

Ray Frager of the Sports Media Journal has highlights of a conference call no-talent hack Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle conducted in advance of their new ESPN2 show. Ray also has some “reflections” on the MASN simulcast of the Scott Garceau/Anita Marks radio show.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner has a look at ESPN The Magazine’s Ultimate Franchise ratings.

Tim Lemke from the Washington Times says the NBA’s long relationship with McDonald’s is over.

Tim writes that NBC’s coverage of Wimbledon is angering tennis fans across the country.

Angela Henderson of the Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch is happy that NBC is reuniting volleyball announcing team Chris Marlowe and Paul Sunderland this weekend.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes that a local sports radio host is resurfacing on the airwaves this week.

Mike Leggett of the Austin American-Statesman went fishing with ESPN college football and basketball announcer Ron Franklin.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports Ohio starts its University of Cincinnati sports coverage on Monday.

The Cherry Creek (CO) News says Dish Network abruptly pulled Tennis Channel as of June 30.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that ESPN Classic is bringing back reruns of the old “Sports Challenge” game shows hosted by Dick Enberg.

Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times talks with the Sparks’ Lisa Leslie about her participation in “The Superstars”.

Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle writes NBC’s coverage of Wimbledon has been inadequate and dreads ESPN2′s covering this year’s U.S. Open.

The Toronto Star’s Chris Zelkovich says Canadian TV won’t be part of the Toronto Indy IRL race.

Brian Bennett of ESPN.com says the Big East Football Confernce and ESPN Regional Television have announced the schedule for this season’s syndicated package.

Multichannel News says Speed is ready to launch what it calls “Big Block Thursday” later this month.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek writes that just under 4 million viewers watched the Confederations Cup final between the U.S. and Brazil on ESPN.

Joe Favorito says despite the hard economic times, NASCAR continues to build its brand and its fan base. Joe adds that during the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong will be all over social media.

Deadspin says Jay “The Rat” Mariotti is being rumored to join the Chicago Tribune.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball looks at the new MLB.com app for the Palm Pre.

Steve Donohue of the Contentinople blog chronicles how the Yankees in-market online streaming deal came about. And Steve talks with YES President Tracy Dolgin about the deal.

That’s it for tonight. Don’t forget the usual features on Friday. And actually, I do have one more press release post for tonight.

Three MLB-Centric Press Releases

I did not mean to make this a total press release day, but I’ve been busy with stuff at work. I’ll do links tonight and get you ready for your holiday weekend.

First, let’s remind you that voting for the All-Star Game is open until 11:59 tonight.

ONLY HOURS LEFT IN 2009 ALL-STAR GAME SPRINT ONLINE BALLOTING

NEW YORK, JULY 2, 2009 – The last 72 hours of the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Online Ballot on MLB.com have further tightened each League’s closest races and left many to be determined by the frantic final hours of exclusive online balloting. Fan voting continues at a record pace before tonight’s 11:59 (EDT) deadline, including 19.2 million votes cast on Wednesday alone.

American League All-Star Races

Will Ian Kinsler hold off Dustin Pedroia at second base? As of the last American League update, Kinsler held a lead of fewer than 7,000 votes, but over the past 72 hours of exclusive online balloting Pedroia has received 20% more votes than Kinsler.

Will Kevin Youkilis make it four straight years for a Boston first baseman to be voted the AL starter? Mark Teixeira is making a strong bid to end the Red Sox run by garnering 17% more online votes than Youkilis over the last 72 hours in hopes of closing a 40,000 vote gap.

Can Jacoby Ellsbury leapfrog three players in the scramble to earn the final starting spot in the AL outfield? The most recent update had Josh Hamilton leading the way, but over the past 72 hours of online voting Ellsbury has received at least 16% more votes than the other three challengers – Hamilton, Torii Hunter and Carl Crawford.

National League All-Star Races

Will Yadier Molina be the first National League catcher in 17 years to be voted a hometown starter? In the latest National League update, Molina was ahead of Brian McCann by just under 400,000 votes. McCann, however, is vying to make up the ground as he has recorded nearly 30% more online votes than Molina in the last 72 hours.

Has Carlos Beltran garnered enough votes to hold off the late charges from Alfonso Soriano and Shane Victorino? Among this triumvirate battling for the final starting spot in the National League outfield, Soriano trailed Beltran in the last update, but has received 11% more online votes in the past 72 hours than the other two challengers – Beltran and Victorino.

Will hometown All-Star Albert Pujols be the National League’s top vote-getter for the third time in his career? The most recent update had Pujols less than 100,000 votes ahead of last year’s National League top vote-getter, Chase Utley. Over the past 72 hours, Pujols has tried to extend the lead with 15% more online votes than Utley.

Answers to these questions will come on Sunday, July 5, when the American and National League All-Star Teams are unveiled on the 2009 MLB All-Star Selection Show, televised nationally on TBS at 1 p.m. (EDT). MLB.com will provide comprehensive coverage of the All-Star Teams, including high quality video and details of every All-Star, immediately following the announcement. MLB Network will air a special MLB Tonight All-Star Edition, simulcast on MLB.com, at 6 p.m. (EDT) with expert analysis and a look at the players on the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot.

For those of you who have the new Palm Pre, you can now download MLB.com for your phone, provided you pay for it.

MLB.COM DEBUTS PREMIUM MOBILE SERVICE FOR PALM PRE

Feature set includes live stats, video highlights and streaming audio broadcasts of every game

NEW YORK, July 2, 2009 – MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, announced that MLB.com Mobile Premium, a new mobile-optimized live game product developed for the Palm^® Pre™ smartphone, is available on the device via the MLB.com mobile Web site (wap.mlb.com).

Fans can stay connected to their favorite team wherever they go with these four live game components of MLB.com Mobile Premium:

• MLB.com Mobile Gameday Audio™ – Listen to live audio broadcasts of every Major League Baseball game through the final out of the 2009 World Series. Each game will offer the choice of listening to the home or away broadcasts without any blackout restrictions.

• MLB.com Gameday™ – Follow every pitch of every game with a detailed graphic presentation and live statistics.

• In-Game Video Highlights – Get real-time, high quality video highlights delivered directly to the smartphone quickly after the play happens on the field.

• Expanded scoreboard – View live statistical data from every MLB game, including linescores, current runners on base and other game details.

MLB.com Mobile Premium on the Palm^® Pre™ is available to subscribers for a one-time fee of $14.99 for the remainder of the 2009 season, including the entire postseason, or a monthly charge of $2.99.

And here’s something from Sirius XM. Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling had this to say to Chris Russo on Tuesday about steroids.

Tuesday (June 30, 2009) on “Mad Dog Unleashed” on SIRIUS XM Radio, host Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo spoke with former major league pitcher Curt Schilling, who weighed in with his thoughts on steroid users and the Hall of Fame, Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox’ 04’ championship, and who should shoulder the blame for the steroid era.

Host, Chris Russo: “If you had a vote, if you were a writer, Curt, would you put A-Rod, [Roger] Clemens, [Barry] Bonds in the Hall of Fame?”
Curt Schilling: “No, none of them.”

Russo: “Really? Nobody? How about A-Rod who’s got nine years left to recover and do a decent job?”
Schilling: “No. No.”

Russo: “Manny [Ramirez]?”
Schilling: “No, no, none of them.”

Russo: “What’s your take on Ramirez? You played with him, so here’s a good guy to ask. What’s your take on Manny Ramirez here in this last couple of months?”

Schilling: “In what way? What do you mean, ‘What’s my take?’”

Russo: “Are you surprised that he got caught?”
Schilling: “I’m surprised he got caught. I’m surprised anybody got caught nowadays. But no, I’m not surprised.”

Russo: “Are you disappointed?”
Schilling: “Absolutely.”

Russo: “Do you think it takes away a little bit from the Red Sox’ championship in ’04?”
Schilling: “Listen, if you’re going to be one of those guys who thinks there is a team in the last 15 years that has played with 25 clean guys for 162 games, you’re lying to yourself.”

Schilling: “Given what we know, given the numbers, there’s no team that went through a full season and won a world championship in the last 15 years, could be 20 years, that was [totally] clean. I don’t think it takes away from our championship because using that argument, how many players on the other side of the fence were using as well? We beat a Yankee team that had how many users on it?”

Schilling: “If you’re going to cheapen one you cheapen them all. The fact of the matter is people want to make an argument about, ‘Oh, these guys were cheating. It wasn’t a level playing field.’ It was absolutely a level playing field because there were guys on every team using it. That doesn’t make it right. That doesn’t make it just. That makes it the way it was.”

Russo: “Do you blame the Players Association?”
Schilling: “No. No. Because we’re grown men! I’m tired of people making excuses for the players. The players, we chose to do it. I blame the players. I don’t blame the Players Association. The union did what it was supposed to do. The union did what any union does which is try and protect its members. The players made these stupid-ass choices to use and cheat and they’re the ones that should pay for it.”

“Mad Dog Unleashed” airs nationwide every weekday (2-7pm ET) exclusively on SIRIUS XM’s Mad Dog Radio channel (SIRIUS channel 123 and XM channel 144).

I have more releases to post, but I’ll do them later.

Thursday’s Quickie Links

Maybe it’s the rain, maybe it’s was going to the dentist, maybe it’s male menopause, whatever it is, I just don’t feel like doing the links today. But I’ll do as many as I can.

Starting with Newsday’s Neil Best who talks with NBC’s Johnny Miller about his candor during golf telecasts. Neil has more with Johnny in his blog. Neil is amazed at famed golf journalist Dan Jenkins who is attending his 40th U.S. Open. That’s a lot. Neil also hitched a ride with NBC’s Bob Costas today. Neil has learned that former WFANer Sid Rosenberg returns to the FAN for a special guest spot on Friday.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir looks at Johnny Miller’s preparation for his U.S. Open broadcasts.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record has the NBC golf crew talking about the U.S. Open.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell who’s covering the U.S. Open, says the best value for a ticket to the event is the Monday playoff. Darren says Tiger Woods has done wonders for golf betting. Darren has video of an interview CNBC did regarding the New York Football Giants/Timex naming rights deal.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says DirecTV viewers get the full U.S. Open experience.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has a look at the May Metroplex sports radio ratings. Barry crunches the ratings even further.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says Mike North is lashing out at his critics who say he did not properly vette the co-founder of the local internet sports station which shut down for good on Wednesday. Ed says a former Chicago city official had dealings with the co-founder.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says HBO Sports has banned Artie Lange from future appearances on its programming.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times writes about Twitter’s increasing influence on sports.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes that Rogers is fast becoming a sports media titan in Canada.

David Tanklefsky of Broadcasting & Cable looks at the Red Sox Video on Demand deal with Comcast.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News has one last look back at the NBA and NHL postseasons.

Mike also writes about ESPN’s involvement at the U.S. Open when rain doesn’t delay its coverage.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball reviews the new MLB.com At Bat app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I basically agree with everything Maury wrote.

Deadspin has an interview with of all people, Buzz Bissinger.

Shortly after that interview was posted, Dan Levy of On the DL noticed Bissinger was blaming the whole Raul Ibanez controversy on “Harold Reynolds”, thinking that the actual Harold Reynolds was the one that linked to Jerod Morris’ post at Midwest Sports Fans. As you can imagine, the great blog, Hugging Harold Reynolds was quite amused.

Speaking of Jerod, he provides his thoughts in the wake of the Phillies’ Raul Ibanez going on the Disabled List today.

The Sports Media Watch has the ratings for the entire 2009 NBA postseason.

Congratulations to Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog for winning Hockey Writer of the Year from HockeyBarn.com. Greg also has his take on my NHL TV Awards. The comments on my awards at Puck Daddy are rather vicious to me, but I take it in stride. Thanks to Greg for the link here.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media likes how the NHL is trying to liven up its annual awards show.

Chris Byrne of Eye on Sports Media delves into one particular blog post from Friend of Fang’s Bites Joe Favorito.

Here’s the post Chris is referring to.

Joe says the Artie Lange controversy may have slowed Joe Buck’s chances to expand his brand.

Sox & Dawgs has the videos of the Red Sox congratulating their fans for 500 consecutive sellouts at Fenway Park.

I think that’s going to do it. Back later.

Two Releases That Need To Be Posted Now

I have two releases that should be posted today, one before 2:20 p.m.

Here’s one from MLB.com announcing live games on the At Bat app beginning today.

WATCH LIVE BASEBALL ON YOUR iPHONE BEGINNING TODAY AT 2:20 PM (EDT)

White Sox-Cubs Interleague rivalry launches live streaming in award-winning MLB.com app

NEW YORK, June 18, 2009 – After last night’s initial launch of live games streamed within MLB.com At Bat 2009, the award-winning mobile application developed exclusively for iPhone™ and iPod^® touch, fans can watch a pair of prominent Interleague Play rivalries today with the Chicago White Sox-Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Field at 2:20 p.m. (EDT) and the Detroit Tigers-St. Louis Cardinals from Busch Stadium at 8:15 p.m. (EDT).

Below are upcoming games scheduled to be available in MLB.com At Bat 2009 (all times are EDT; schedule subject to change; games subject to blackout restrictions). A continuously-updated schedule of live streaming games is available within the application.

Today

Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago Cubs, 2:20 p.m.

Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 p.m.

Friday, June 19

Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago Cubs, 2:20 p.m.

Atlanta Braves vs. Boston Red Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Saturday, June 20

Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago Cubs, 1:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 p.m.

Sunday, June 21

Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Mets, 1:10 p.m.

Florida Marlins vs. New York Yankees, 5:05 p.m.

Monday, June 22

Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves, 7:10 p.m.

Colorado Rockies vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 p.m.

And from National Geographic Channel, one program note for tonight. And this involves my home state of Rhode Island!

WORLD’S TOUGHEST FIXES: Giant Wind Turbine

Thursday, June 18, 2009, at 9 PM ET/PT

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/worlds-toughest-fixes

“The load is hanging in the air. The wind is picking up. SNAP! A line breaks!”

— Riley, on erecting a 336-foot wind turbine in Portsmouth, R.I.

Riley travels to Portsmouth, R.I., where residents are setting up a 115-ton wind turbine that will provide years of clean, green energy. The good news is that the winds here are constantly blowing. The bad news is that Riley is about to find out what it takes to raise giant blades in the midst of these unpredictable gusts. Riley joins a team of engineers, ironworkers, crane operators and riggers who must attach the 68-ton gearbox at the center of the blades to the very top of a 300-foot tower, all the while fighting forces strong enough to snap protective lines.

Video “Big Fix” – This town wants to generate its own energy but first it has to figure out how to assemble this turbine.

Video “Big Fix” – The wind is blowing. A cable snaps. Sixty-two metric tons of turbine swing freely. Yeah, it’s tough.

Great stuff as always.

Wrapping Up Wednesday’s Press Releases

I didn’t post any press releases today. I think it’s high time I do so. I hope I don’t fall asleep in the middle of doing them. Let’s go.

First, here’s what NFL Network will be showing through next week.

NFL NETWORK PROGRAMMING NOTES (6/18-6/23)

2009 BIG 33 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-STAR GAME

LIVE ON NFL NETWORK SATURDAY AT 7:00 PM ET

Ravens LB Terrell Suggs

In-Studio on NFL Total Access Thursday

Jason La Canfora Makes NFL Network Debut

on NFL Total Access Tuesday

Debut of NFL’s Top 10 Defenses Friday at 8:00 PM ET

2009 BIG 33 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-STAR GAME – Saturday at 7:00 PM ET

Saturday at 7:00 PM ET, NFL Network will simulcast the 2009 Big 33 High School All-Star game live from Hershey, PA. The game, which matches up Ohio’s best high school players versus all-star talent from the state of Pennsylvania, has boasted an alumnus in every Super Bowl ever played.

Some notable players to participate in the Big 33 All-Star game include: Super Bowl MVPs Joe Montana and Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Matt Millen and the youngest Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

NFL’S TOP 10 DEFENSES – Friday at 8:00 PM ET

We know they win championships, but which defense can claim bragging rights on this list? Friday’s 8:00 PM ET edition of NFL’s Top 10 counts down the top 10 defenses of all time. The 1985 Chicago Bears, 2000 Ravens, 1969 Chiefs and the ‘Steel Curtain’ are a few of the defenses to find a spot on this list.

NFL’s Top 10 provides a look at some of the most intriguing subjects in the NFL, creating and debating a top ten list for each category. Each 60-minute episode counts down from No. 10 to the top ranking in each category.

JASON LA CANFORA MAKES NFL NETWORK DEBUT ON NFL TOTAL ACCESS TUESDAY

Former Washington Post Redskins beat writer Jason La Canfora will make his NFL Network debut Tuesday on NFL Total Access. In addition to regular appearances on NFLTA, La Canfora will contribute to NFL Network’s Sunday shows NFL GameDay Morning and NFL GameDay Final during the season and reports from the NFL Draft, Scouting Combine, Hall of Fame and Super Bowl.

A 10-year veteran beat writer for The Washington Post, La Canfora will also file stories and blogs for NFL.com.

THIS WEEK ON NFL TOTAL ACCESS: LB Terrell Suggs, Trent Green In-Studio & Jason La Canfora Makes NFL Network Debut

Thursday, June 18

• ’32 Teams in 32 Days’ – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis on the golf course

Friday, June 19

• Ravens LB Terrell Suggs in-studio
• ’32 Teams in 32 Days’ – Denver Broncos
• Countdown of the top ten father-son combinations to play in the NFL
• Solomon Wilcots tours the Buffalo Bills training facility

Monday, June 22

• Trent Green in-studio
• ’32 Teams in 32 Days’ – Houston Texans

Tuesday, June 23

• Trent Green in-studio
• Jason La Canfora goes ‘Around the League’
• Tony Dungy opens up on the direction his life has taken after football
• ’32 Teams in 32 Days’ – Buffalo Bills

NFL.COM CHAT SCHEDULE: Titans LB Keith Bulluck

Thursday, June 18

• 12:00 NOON ET – NFL.com writer Bucky Brooks
• 4:00 PM ET – NFL Network analyst Solomon Wilcots

Friday, June 19

• 2:00 PM ET – NFL.com writer Pat Kirwan

DAY-BY-DAY PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE (all times listed are ET):

Thursday, June 18

1:00 PM – NFL Films Presents: J-E-T-S

2:00 PM – Starting 11: Week 5 (HD)

2:30 PM – Starting 11: Week 6 (HD)

3:00 PM – America’s Game: 1971 Dallas Cowboys (HD)

4:00 PM – America’s Game: 1995 Dallas Cowboys (HD)

5:00 PM – NFL Film Session: Super Bowl XXIII – San Francisco 49ers vs. Cincinnati Bengals

5:30 PM – NFL Replay: Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots (Week 16, 2007) (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – NFL’s Greatest Games: 1986 AFC Championship “The Drive” – Denver Broncos vs. Cleveland Browns

9:30 PM – NFL Film Session: Super Bowl XXI – New York Giants vs. Denver Broncos

10:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL’s Greatest Games: 1986 AFC Championship “The Drive” – Denver Broncos vs. Cleveland Browns

12:30 AM – NFL Film Session: Super Bowl XXI – New York Giants vs. Denver Broncos

1:00 AM – NFL Total Access (HD)

Friday, June 19

1:00 PM – NFL Films Presents: Championship Chase

2:00 PM – Starting 11: Week 7 (HD)

2:30 PM – Starting 11: Week 8 (HD)

3:00 PM – NFL’s Greatest Games: 1986 AFC Championship “The Drive” – Denver Broncos vs. Cleveland Browns

4:30 PM – NFL Film Session: Super Bowl XXXIII – Denver Broncos vs. Atlanta Falcons

5:00 PM – NFL Film Session: Super Bowl XXXIV – St. Louis Rams vs. Tennessee Titans

5:30 PM – NFL Film Session: Super Bowl XXI – New York Giants vs. Denver Broncos

6:00 PM – Game of the Week: New England Patriots vs. New York Giants (Week 17, 2007) (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Defenses

9:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Linebacking Corps

10:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Defenses

12 MIDNIGHT – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Linebacking Corps

1:00 AM – NFL Total Access (HD)

Saturday, June 20

1:00 PM – Game of the Week: Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers (Week 14, 2006) (HD)

1:30 PM – Game of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants (Week 15, 2006) (HD)

2:00 PM – Game of the Week: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals (Week 17, 2006) (HD)

2:30 PM – NFL Film Session: 2006 Year in Review

3:00 PM – America’s Game: 1995 Dallas Cowboys (HD)

4:00 PM – America’s Game: 1971 Dallas Cowboys (HD)

5:00 PM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Defenses

6:00 PM – NFL Total Access: Week in Review (HD)

7:00 PM – High School Football: 2009 Big 33 All-Star Game – LIVE

10:00 PM – NFL Total Access: Week in Review (HD)

11:00 PM – High School Football: 2009 Big 33 All-Star Game

2:00 AM – NFL Total Access: Week in Review (HD)

Sunday, June 21

9:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 One Shot Wonders

10:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Power Backs

11:00 AM – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Defenses

12 NOON – NFL’s Top 10: Top 10 Linebacking Corps

1:00 PM – NFL Replay Real-Time: Week 15 (HD)

2:00 PM – Live Wire: Week 15 (HD)

2:30 PM – Starting 11: Week 15 (HD)

3:00 PM – NFL Replay: Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

4:30 PM – NFL Replay: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

6:00 PM – NFL Replay: New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

7:30 PM – NFL Replay: New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

9:00 PM – NFL Replay Real-Time: Week 15 (HD)

10:00 PM – Live Wire: Week 15 (HD)

10:30 PM – Starting 11: Week 15 (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL Replay: Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

12:30 AM – NFL Replay: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

2:00 AM – NFL Replay Real-Time: Week 15 (HD)

Monday, June 22

7:00 AM – NFL Replay: Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

8:30 AM – NFL Replay: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

10:00 AM – NFL Replay: New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

11:30 AM – NFL Replay: New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

1:00 PM – NFL Replay: Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

2:30 PM – NFL Replay: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

4:00 PM – NFL Replay: New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

5:30 PM – NFL Replay: New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys (Week 15, 2008) (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – Super Bowl Classics: Super Bowl XXXVI – New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams (with U2 Halftime Show) (HD)

11:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

12 MIDNIGHT – Super Bowl Classics: Super Bowl XXXVI – New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams (with U2 Halftime Show) (HD)

Tuesday, June 23

11:00 AM – Super Bowl Classics: Super Bowl XXXVI – New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams (with U2 Halftime Show) (HD)

2:00 PM – Starting 11: Week 9 (HD)

2:30 PM – Starting 11: Week 10 (HD)

3:00 PM – NFL Follies: Most Super Fantastic (2008)

4:00 PM – NFL Follies: 2007 Fall Follies

4:30 PM – NFL Follies: Foul Ups, Fumbles and Follies (1990)

5:00 PM – NFL Follies: Super Bowl XXXV – Baltimore Ravens vs. New York Giants

5:30 PM – NFL Replay: 2007 AFC Wild Card – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (HD)

7:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

8:00 PM – Game of the Week: New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles (2006 Wild Card) (HD)

8:30 PM – Game of the Week: Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks (2006 Wild Card) (HD)

9:00 PM – Game of the Week: San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots (2006 Divisional Playoff) (HD)

9:30 PM – Game of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints (2006 Divisional Playoff) (HD)

10:00 PM – NFL Total Access (HD)

11:00 PM – Game of the Week: New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles (2006 Wild Card) (HD)

11:30 PM – Game of the Week: Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks (2006 Wild Card) (HD)

12 MIDNIGHT – Game of the Week: San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots (2006 Divisional Playoff) (HD)

12:30 AM – Game of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints (2006 Divisional Playoff) (HD)

1:00 AM – NFL Total Access (HD)