Fang's Bites

Our Return to Work Links

Back to work for most of us today. Let me provide links for you.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who breaks news in his Monday column. He says Joe Theismann who refused to work college football games for ESPN when he was removed from Monday Night Football now willing to work Notre Dame games for NBC. In addition, Michael has items on the NFL deciding to charge $40 to watch 54 exhibition games online and ESPN announcing its team for the late Monday Night Football game in its opening night doubleheader.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch tweets some sad news. A producer for ESPN Dallas, Leah Siegel has passed away after a battle with breast cancer. My sympathies to Ms. Siegel, her family and her ESPN colleagues. Here’s her website chronicling her battle.

In the Sports Business Journal, John Ourand writes that the Open Championship seeing its lowest ratings ever in its first year as an all-cable event is not a cause for concern for ESPN or sports leagues in general. 

John also notes that the Red Sox on NESN has lost its local TV ratings lead to the St. Louis Cardinals on Fox Sports Midwest.

John and Tripp Mickel report that the International Olympic Committee may decide to sell the US TV rights for 2014 and 2016 by itself instead of using an outside source as it has in the past.

David Broughton of the SBJ writes that research shows that fans who use social media to connect to MLB and NFL are now more avid fans of the sports.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable profiles new Fox Sports President Eric Shanks. 

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that boxer Manny Pacquaio has set a pay per view date for November, it just won’t be with Floyd Mayweather.

Diego Vasquez in Media Life Magazine talks about how sponsors can reach an audience at small college football games.

In the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry suggests to newspaper websites that they provide links to outside sources as a service to readers.

The Inside Track girls at the Boston Herald says NESN mistook Bill Hall for Mike Cameron in a Red Sox promo.

At the New York Times, Richard Sandomir recaps the rainy festivities at Cooperstown, NY for the annual Baseball Hall of Fame Inductions.

Viv Bernstein of the Times says NASCAR notes that with the lack of younger viewers to the sport comes the lack of younger drivers as well.  

Phil Mushnick of the New York Times goes after Fox Sports’ Eric Karros for talking way too much during Saturday’s Mets-Dodgers game.

In SB Nation New York, Puck The Media’s Steve Lepore looks at SNY taking phone calls during a Mets blowout and Billy Jaffe losing his Islanders TV analyst gig. 

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Nationals are no longer on the bottom of MLB’s local TV ratings.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner explores the list of Forbes’ Top 50 Sports Franchises.

Dustin Long of the Virginian-Pilot writes that NASCAR is attempting to reach younger viewers which have abandoned the sport. 

Tom Jones in the St. Petersburg Times has his view of the weekend in televised sports.

Larry Harstein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explores an ESPN Outside the Lines report on stadium food safety. 

Doug Demmons in the Birmingham (AL) News says NASCAR should be concerned about its TV coverage based on its slipping TV ratings.

Crystal Forester in the Fort Worth Business Press notes that ESPN will be coming to town for the Super Bowl.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reacts to a British study on drivers who listen to sports on the radio.

Bud Shaw from the Cleveland Plain Dealer says criticism ESPN’s role in LeBron James’ 73 minute infomercial could prevent other athletes from pulling the same shenanigans. 

Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press says ESPN is interested in the story of the first girl to break the Little League Baseball gender barrier in 1973.

Jeff has more in this feature story on how the Little League gender barrier got broken.

Tim Feran of the Columbus Dispatch puts Ohio State fans on alert that Time Warner Cable could be taking ESPN and other Disney networks off its systems before the football season opener. 

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune notes that two local sportscasters have made the transition to news anchors.

Dusty Saunders in the Denver Post says you can’t keep track of the changes in local sports radio without a scorecard.

John F. Russell in the Steamboat (CO) Pilot profiles CBS’ Uncle Verne Lundquist who was honored by his Steamboat Springs City Council for his contributions to the local community.

Kimberly Nicoletti from the Summit (CO) Daily News says the Ski Channel is coming to the local Comcast system.

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

Brian T. Smith of The Columbian (WA) says Comcast is scoffing at a Portland Trail Blazers’ charge that the company is preventing fans from seeing their games. 

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star looks at a key personnel change at CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail says this change could lead to more down the road on HNIC.

The Sports Media Watch has a look at the state of ESPN both here and here.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito wonders if UFC Chief Dana White is mellowing.

Bruce Allen at Boston Sports Media Watch has a look at the Red Sox beat writers whining like bitter little hedgehogs when they can’t get their way.

Sox & Dawgs has a funny NESN promo featuring Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

And we’ll get these up now so you don’t have to wait until noon.

Friday/Saturday Megalinks

Mostly due to laziness, I’m doing the Friday megalinks late at night. I was at work today and that took precedence, but I did do some blog posts during the day, but any links. So I’ll take care of that now and combine Friday’s and Saturday’s links together.

Of course, we have the Weekend Viewing Picks to start.

We go into the last weekend of the NFL regular season with the AFC East, the NFC South, the AFC West and an AFC wildcard spot still in the balance. Both CBS and Fox have doubleheaders and the very last game of the regular season, Sunday night’s Denver-San Diego game will decide the winner of the AFC West and the last playoff spot. The entire viewing schedule plus distribution maps can be seen in the NFL Viewing Picks.

There are four college bowl games taking place this weekend, three on Saturday and on Sunday. ESPN will carry all of them. The Meineke Car Care Bowl kicks off the tripleheader on Saturday pitting West Virginia and North Carolina at 1 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., it’s the Champ Sports Bowl with Wisconsin battling Florida State, then in primetime at 8 p.m., it will be the Emerald Bowl as Miami (FL) takes on Cal. Then on Sunday, the Independence Bowl has Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech at 8:15 p.m.

Not much for college basketball this weekend as the holiday break takes hold. But CBS has West Virginia at Ohio State, Saturday at 4 p.m. You can take a gander at the national schedule in the College Basketball Viewing Picks.

Now onto the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand gives you a 2008 sports media quiz.

Pat Eaton-Robb of the Associated Press looks at Chris Berman who enters his 30th year at ESPN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Detroit Lions with a chance to go 0-16 have plenty of merchandise to commemorate the possibility of a reverse perfect season. And Darren looks at the lengths one man went to buy the famous Honus Wagner baseball card.

Joe Favorito says the Portland Trail Blazers expanded on last year’s initial Hanukah night with success.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says the renewal of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry brought ABC some nice Christmas ratings. Alex adds that MLB Network continues to add to its on-air roster.

John Eggerton of B&C writes about the Christmas Day launch of the new Ski Channel which started airing on various cable systems and DirecTV.

Multichannel News has a video produced by R. Thomas Umsted which looks inside the launch of the MLB Network.

The Sports Media Watch says Celtics-Lakers was the second highest rated NBA regular season game of this decade. The SMW says ABC’s NBA doubleheader including Celtics-Lakers did well. SMW says after seven seasons of broadcasting the NBA, ESPN/ABC seems that its finally hitting its stride.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick rips poker on ESPN.

Justin Terranova of the Post talks with CBS’ Boomer Esiason about the Jets’ season finale against Miami. And Justin has five questions for Fox NFL Sunday’s Howie Long.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says while the media rips the Yankees for spending in a down economy, history shows that the spending doesn’t always lead to a championship.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the NFL is the 800 lbs. ratings gorilla. Neil has some numbers in his blog to back his column. Neil reviews the year in sports media. Neil also reviews the year’s most watched sporting events. Finally, Neil reviews his sports media predictions for this year.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union writes that NBC is hoping for an assist from the weather for the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott lists his top ten broadcast media stories of 2008.

Laura Nachman says a former CN8 host is moving over to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

South

Roger van der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer talks ACC hoops with ESPN analyst Jason Williams. Roger says the ACC is dealing in a position of weakness as it prepares to negotiate a new football TV contract.

Doug Nye of The State says the NFL’s Greatest Game Ever Played remains as important today as it was in 1958.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald has the NFL explanation as to why Denver-San Diego was chosen as the Sunday night game instead of Dolphins-Jets.

Dave Darling from the Orlando Sentinel looks back at some of the best sports quotes of 2008.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram suggests some sports books to buy with your holiday bookstore gift card.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says local Cowboys fans will be able to watch their team in action this weekend without fear of blackout.

Barry Horn in the Dallas Morning News has some reaction to various sports media actions. In his blog, Barry catches up with Stars TV analyst Daryl Reaugh. Barry writes that ESPN NFL analyst Emmit Smith took the coin used in the last ever Texas Stadium coin flip. And Barry says ESPN’s Marcellus Wiley is blaming the Cowboys’ strength and conditioning coach for the team’s annual folds.

The Oklahoman’s Mel Bracht talks with ESPN/ABC college football analyst Craig James about his passion for ranching.

Midwest

Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic says Fox’s Jeanne Zelasko is applying for the Dodgers TV play-by-play gig.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Chargers’ Philip Rivers is a good fit on TV.

The North County Times’ John Maffei says that Al Michaels is happy to have a “home game” this Sunday night.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times says the TV ratings bear out that the Dallas Cowboys are truly America’s Team.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that snow at Wrigley Field would make for a perfect day for NBC for the NHL Winter Classic. Tom has a shortened version of his media notes, but lots of video. Tom asks why not Jeanne Zelasko for the Dodgers play-by-play gig. Finally, Tom reviews his week in blogging.

Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer previews the MLB Network launch.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes that TSN is providing plenty of coverage of the World Junior Hockey Championships from Ottawa.

Sheri Levine of the Canwest News Service says TSN will offer ten days of coverage from the event.

And that’s going to do it.

Your Friday Megalinks, Part Deux

Ok, time to provide you with the Part 2 of the Friday megalinks after Part I was done this afternoon. Not only that, I can also provide you with updates from the links that I had provided earlier.

But let’s pick up where we left off.

Midwest

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News talks with Dayton native Jon Seibel who’s holding his own on ESPN Radio.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that Fox NFL analysts Brian Billick and Jimmy Johnson don’t think it’s unrealistic for the Detroit Lions to go 0-16 this season.

And Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel say Billick and Johnson still like the Packers’ chances this season.

Shannon Ryan has the weekend viewing recommendations for Chicagoans in the Tribune.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says ESPN.com’s Mayne Street is one of the reasons why the internet is ruining the world. That’s a bit harsh. Perhaps Ted needs to get away from his computer and go to the Mosquito Coast.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says there’s a battle over the radio rights to the St. Louis University Billikens men’s basketball team.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News writes that fans can only watch BYU at Utah on the mtn. and nowhere else.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the world’s oldest goff tournament is breaking a new barrier, showing all four rounds on US cable TV. Jay also has the ratings from the San Diego market for last weekend.

John Maffei of the North County Times talks with CBS/CBS College Sports/Sports Radio USA college football/NFL analyst Dan Fouts about his multitasking this season.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star wonders if the BCS and the Rose Bowl could be cable exclusives come 2010.

The Los Angeles Times’ Diane Pucin says Anaheim Angels owner Arte Moreno is subtly using his own sports radio station to throw his team’s hat into the ring for free agent Manny Ramirez.

Over to the crosstown Los Angeles Daily News where Tom Hoffarth writes about LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks fans’ unhappiness over Fox Sports West’s excessive use of rinkside cameras during telecasts. Tom has extensive media notes including news about Hazel Mae joining the MLB Network. Tom says USC football voice Pete Arbogast managed to talk himself out of doing fill-in work for USC basketball. Good job, Pete. And Tom reviews the week in blogging.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says 49ers GM Scott McCloughan gave some cryptic answers when being interviewed this week.

Gary Washburn from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes that sports is getting less of a presence on local TV newscasts.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the internet is adding a huge wrinkle in the sports broadcasting business.

The Toronto Star’s Chris Zelkovich says much of Ontario province won’t be able to watch the Raptors this Sunday thanks to a conflict between TSN and Rogers Cable.

Now to some more links from the regions I already did in the first part of today’s megalinks.

National

A couple of things from The Big Lead. First, it reports that NBC Sports is expected to layoff employees at its website and the New York television office. And Yahoo! Sports has widened its lead over ESPN.com as far as hits and traffic are concerned.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media ran a semi-live blog from the Nashville Predators-Anaheim Ducks game.

Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine says sports TV is no longer recession-proof.

Steve Lepore of Puck the Media has decided to make following Jack Edwards’ calls a regular feature and he has the video of Jack going over the top during Thursday’s Habs-Bruins game.

Daniel Frankel of Variety writes that the new Ski Channel launches on Christmas Day on two prominent services.

And that will do it.

A Monday Night Update

Time to give you some links this evening.

We start out with some sad news. This link comes courtesy of the Boston Sports Media Watch, Bill Burt of the Lawrence (MA) Eagle-Tribune reports in his blog that the son of Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan has died. The Boston Globe has the story which states that Keith Ryan apparently took his life. It’s a horrible story. Bob Ryan is one of the nicest men in the sports media and I will certainly have him and his family in my thoughts tonight. Bruce Allen of BSMW gives his sympathies to the Ryan family. And David Scott does as well.

If you’re wondering why Michael Wilbon didn’t appear on “Pardon the Interruption” today, it was because he suffered a minor heart attack very early this morning. The Sports on My Mind blog has the story. Michael is ok.

Over to Newsday’s Neil Best who writes that NFL Network host Rich Eisen is frustrated with Cablevision and Time Warner cable. Neil follows that story up with a post on his blog. And Neil tells us that the Patriots’ interview session with coach Bill Belichick was a snoozefest.

Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher says this Super Bowl has the most media credentials ever. Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life magazine says Super Bowl XLII has the potential to be the most watched ever. John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that Foxsports.com will have plenty of webcasts and online coverage from Super Bowl XLII.

Ryan Sharrow of the Baltimore Business Journal writes that the Baltimore Ravens will air its preseason games on WBAL-TV which is part of the same company that has the games on radio.

Joel Sherman posts in the New York Post’s TV Sports blog that former Yankees pitcher David Cone will be an analyst on the YES Network.

Some ratings news from the Sports Media Watch blog. First, we get word that the ratings for the NHL All Star Game on Versus were up. It was a small increase, but an increase nonetheless. Next, the 4th round of the Buick Invitational featuring a Tiger Woods runaway beat the late NBA game featuring LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Paulsen also tells us that the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC finished fourth on Saturday night. Fourth!

Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the telecast on NBC showed that figure skating is not on life support.

In what has to be described as earth shattering news, Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that the Lingerie Bowl will be a no-show for the second year in a row. Curses!

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty reports in his Best Seat in My House blog that NBC has chosen the Anaheim Ducks-Detroit Red Wings game for its NHL Game of the Week on February 10.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that the Carolina Hurricanes have signed a contract extension with FSN South to air 65 games a season for at least the next five seasons.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News writes that San Francisco sports radio station KNBR wants to bring Tony Bruno into the fold. Bruno who was on the air on Sporting News Radio has left due to a contract dispute.

The Ski Channel has signed a distribution deal with Cox Cable as R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel tells us.

That’s it. Back tomorrow.

Monday Night Links

As I just finished watching the new Red Sox DVD about the 2007 season, I figured it’s time to give you some more linkage this evening.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders why WFAN can’t get its information straight about whether a Vikings loss would put the Giants into the playoffs. He also reports that sportscaster Warner Wolf is doing time on ESPN Radio in New York and on WABC simultaneously. Finally, Neil explains why fans in New York couldn’t see the Miami Dolphins’ winning TD live during CBS’ NFL Today postgame show.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News in his Farther Off the Wall blog says voting has begun for the annual “LA’s Greatest Moments”.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that The Ski Channel has made an agreement for programming when it launches next year. Multichannel also reports that there were 850K buys for the PPV of the Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather fight ending a record year for HBO PPV. And Reynolds writes in his blog about his long day of viewing football, both the soccer and the NFL variety.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says despite requesting a meeting, Senator John Kerry says he’s not sitting down with the NFL and big cable about getting the Patriots-Giants game on a wider distribution platform.

Mike Shields of Mediaweek reports that the NBA now has a channel on the Joost broadband service.

The Sports Media Watch says that CBS was the beneficiary of good ratings for the Patriots once again.

CBS has the more interesting quotes from the NFL Today on Sunday.

NBC also has some quotes from last night’s Football Night in America. Wow, Bob Costas is going to the host for the NHL Winter Classic, the outdoor game between Pittsburgh and Buffalo on New Year’s Day. You can already hear Costas complaining about the cold weather.

ESPN baseball analyst Fernando Vina, named in the Mitchell Report, has now made his first public statements about using HGH …. to ESPN. And you can see that interview from SportsCenter right now.

There you go. I’ll be back tomorrow.