Fang's Bites

Kelly Tilghman Returns to Golf Channel and Apologizes

During her return to the Golf Channel today in the 1st round of the Buick Invitational, Kelly Tilghman issued this apology for her words about Tiger Woods during the Mercedes-Benz Championships two weeks ago.

The Wednesday Stuffage

Time for some links on this Wednesday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes about the changes in the ESPN production of NASCAR for this upcoming season. The Daly Planet motorsports blog talks about the lovely Wendy Venturini returning to Speed this week.

Newsday’s Neil Best has Tiki Barber picking his former team to win the Super Bowl on his Sirius Satellite Radio show.

Christine McConville of the Boston Herald says the Patriots in the Super Bowl will bring a huge windfall for Fox and local station, Fox25. Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life magazine has a primer for the Super Bowl. Megan Manfull (I’ll let you make the joke there) of the Houston Chronicle writes about two Houston Texans players who will be in Super Bowl ads for the NFL.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at NBC/TSN NHL analyst Pierre McGuire who is usually located between the benches during games.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune reports that ESPN has suspended First Take co-host Dana Jacobsen for her behavior at the Mike & Mike Roast in Atlantic City earlier this month. Deadspin has more including an apology from Jacobsen on the matter. Apparently, the Catholic League got invovled after Dana made some disparaging remarks about Notre Dame where Mike Golic attended.

Ed Sherman also writes about WMVP’s afternoon drive show which is now the number one rated sports radio talk show in Chicago.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes about ESPN2′s extended coverage of the Australian Open from Friday morning into Saturday afternoon.

Mike Lucas of the Capital (WI) Times says it’s not the same without Dick Vitale on a college basketball broadcast.

Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News says the Bowl Championship Series just doesn’t compare to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Macleans magazine from Canada talks with Deadspin’s Will Leitch about his new book.

Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press says the Golfweek noose cover was wrong, but the message it was trying to convey was correct. And Monarrez talks with a crisis expert on what’s the best course for Kelly Tilghman to take when she returns to the Golf Channel tomorrow.

That will do us for now. Check back later for more stuff.

Our Wednesday Linkage

Let’s give you the links during this midweek.

We start with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who writes about ESPN’s Dick Vitale who underwent vocal cord surgery last month and has experienced some other health issues in the last week or so.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch talks about a strange story that broke late last night out of Orlando about an alleged dating violence incident involving the Patriots’ Randy Moss. Here’s the interview with WDBO reporter Rozzie Franco on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show from this morning.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes in his blog about meeting new Tribune company (and Newsday) owner Sam Zell. Neil says Tiki Barber picked his Giants on his Sirius Satellite Radio show last night.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that David Justice, named in the Mitchell Report, will not be used by the YES Network as a studio analyst this season. Justice says he wants to use the time to rebuild his house which was destroyed in the San Diego wildfires last year.

Justin Terranova in his New York Post TV Sports blog writes that FSN’s Best Damn Sports Show Period has booked a bunch of Giants players during Super Bowl week.

From the DC/Baltimore Examiner, Jim Williams writes in his blog about the media coverage of Jason Garrett leaving town this morning after meeting with the Ravens about its head coaching position.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun writes in his Medium Well blog about Billy Packer’s comments during the Maryland-Wake Forest game last night.

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings news for us today. First, the weekend ratings and second, other ratings news and notes.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley writes about Packers guard Daryn Colledge’s comments during a radio interview about the Cowboys’ loss to the Giants.

ESPN wants you to know it had a record year for growth for its video and multimedia sites.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that Saturday’s Kansas-Missouri game will be on ESPNU forcing many fans to scramble to watch it as the channel is not carried on many cable systems throughout the two states. Chuck Woodling of the Lawrence (KS) Journal-World is not enamored with putting the Border War on ESPNU. And Mark Berman of the Roanoke Times says fans in Virginia aren’t happy having tonight’s Virginia Tech-Virginia game on ESPNU.

This was broached in Michael Hiestand’s story in USA Today, and here’s a statement from NBC about Bob Costas and Dick Button co-hosting the U.S. Figure Skating Championships later this month. Olympics writer Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune suggests that Michelle Kwan be used on NBC’s broadcasts instead of the lovely Sandra Bezic. I like Sandra and she does a great job on analysis. I think Michelle would be better as a studio analyst.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that CBC will make the Pittsburgh-Montreal game its main broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada this Saturday and delegate the Toronto Maple Leafs to a local regional telecast.

Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press says Golf Channel never should have put Kelly Tilghman in the main play-by-play position. I don’t agree with that, but Monarrez is entitled to his opinion. On the other hand, Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Golf Channel is receiving a lot of e-mail support for Tilghman. And missed in the Kelly Tilghman controversy is the news that one of its popular anchors, Vince Cellini, has returned to Golf Channel after leaving late last year.

Lots of links on a Wednesday. Not bad. Check back for updates throughout the day.

Friday Megalinks, Finally

I managed to get back from the jobsite earlier than expected so I can do some links plus a few more things for you today.

So let’s do our megalinks first and go from there.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says humor has helped Fox NFL Sunday to be a success. And here’s the weekend TV schedule from the Nation’s Newspaper.

Today, we’ll go from west to east so we’ll start our local links with the LA Times’ Christine Daniels and her weekly Sound and Vision column. Today, the NFL playoffs top her viewing suggestions.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News feels the response to Kelly Tilghman’s inadvertent slur last week on the Golf Channel was too swift. And here are some media notes from Hoffarth in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

The Ventura County Star’s Jim Carlisle says it’s nice to have some meaningful NFL games to watch this weekend.

John Maffei of the North County Times says the San Diego Chargers’ Phil Rivers stirs talk on the sports radio stations.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner says it’s obvious CBS wants the Colts and Patriots in the AFC Championship game next Sunday.

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says University of Georgia President Michael Adams appealing for a college football playoff is just grandstanding.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that Monday’s BCS Championship Game between LSU and Ohio State garnered the third lowest rating in the history of the BCS.

Paul Christian in today’s Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says talks are ongoing to bring the Big Ten Network to Comcast.

Judd Zulgad in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and radio station 8-3-0 WCCO are close to renewing their broadcast deal. And here are some of the ratings for the Minneapolis-St. Paul market from last weekend.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune says even Tiger Woods defending Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman could not save her from being suspended.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that Roger Clemens’ appearance on 60 Minutes last Sunday was the third most watched TV program of the week in the local market.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has the most colorful comments from Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw about Cowboys QB Tony Romo.

The Orlando Sentinel’s Dave Darling says NBC’s annual special on the PGA’s Q-School is always high drama.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald also discusses the Kelly Tilghman suspension by the Golf Channel.

The State’s Doug Nye says it was obvious to him that Fox announcers Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis were rooting for Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game. Nye also has some notes from the weekend. And his TV best bet is the last NFL playoff game of the weekend, the Giants and Cowboys on Fox this Sunday.

Jim Williams writes in his Watch This! blog at the DC/Baltimore Examiner website that MASN deserves Rookie of the Year for its local programming.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has a tongue-in-cheek look at how a barroom ful of announcers would fare. And in his Medium Well blog, Frager says Comcast SportsNet outrated MASN in its Joe Gibbs retirement coverage.

The Bitter Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that the New York Football Giants don’t resonate in the national ratings.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post is writing a blog on sports media and one of his first entries this month is on the increased ratings for the NHL in New York. Also from the Post, Terranova talks with Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman about the Giants’ chances against the Cowboys and he has five questions for Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw. Phil Mushnick talks about Roger Clemens, Kelly Tilghman and Fox Sports’ coverage of the BCS.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times delves into the suspension of Kelly Tilghman.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman about him not being anti or pro-Cowboys. In his blog, Best says while Jessica Simpson has been a no-show at the Cowboys’ camp this week, Ines Sainz, a Mexican TV personality has certainly made her presence known.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe writes about former Northeastern assistant hockey coach Brendan Walsh doing work for NESN on Hockey East broadcasts.

Friend of Fang’s Bites, David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch, has some of the media pitfalls for Patriots playoff coverage this weekend. To be honest, it’s not going to be pretty, especially when watching know-nothing news anchors trying to talk sports.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star weighs in on the Kelly Tilghman controversy.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the fact that viewership for hockey is up in the US should be an encouraging sign.

With the Australian Open coming, CNBC’s Darren Rovell starts his Ana Ivanovic watch for the next two weeks with a story on her switching endorsements from Wilson to Yonex rackets.

The Sports Media Watch notes that the Boston Celtics are getting two national appearances on ABC.

That will do it for now. We’ll have other stuff including NFL picks, Primetime and Late Viewing Picks, College Basketball Viewing Picks and Weekend Viewing Picks. Keep it here.

Thursday Links

I’ve been avoiding the Kelly Tilghman issue because plenty of bloggers have been all over it since the story broke and then Al Sharpton has to get involved. But now that the story has mushroomed, I’ll say this.

I was watching Golf Channel on last Friday when I was doing the megalinks. I have to admit, I didn’t hear the comment in question because the volume on my TV was down. I will say that I don’t think Kelly was trying to be vindictive when she made the comment. Was it wrong? Yes. Does it warrant her to be suspended? Probably not, but with the story growing legs, Golf Channel didn’t have a choice. If Tiger Woods doesn’t have a problem with it, then we should not as well. If the comments can lead for some good discussion and discourse, then we’ll have learned, and hopefully we will.

Newsday’s Neil Best who broke the story in his Tuesday column has the report of Kelly’s suspension on his blog and has more on the story in the paper. Pete Dougherty in his Best Seat in My House blog says the comment was supposed to be lighthearted banter between Kelly and analyst Nick Faldo. And Kelly’s suspension is also covered by the Sports Media Watch. The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that Kelly doesn’t deserve the venom and I agree.

Moving on to other subjects, Best reports that former Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals announcer Wayne Hagin is a candidate to replace Tom McCarthy in the Mets radio booth. And Neil makes his video debut on Newsday.com and you can get the link here. Neil reacts to a New York Press story by Becca Taylor that the Knicks have employed actors to be fans in ads promoting their games. Best writes that the Yankees and Mets are popular attractions on TV. Finally from Neil, he tells us that Ian Eagle’s father, Jack, a well-known comic and actor has passed away at the age of 81. My condolences to Ian as well who has visited this site a few times.

Back to the Sports Media Watch, Paulsen has the ratings numbers from last weekend.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette has comments from CBS Sports’ NFL analysts Dan Dierdorf and Phil Simms on the Patriots.

And here is the CBS Sports’ press release on this weekend’s NFL divisional playoffs.

Joanne C. Gerstner of the Detroit News says Comcast is killing a channel devoted to high school sports in both Michigan and Indiana.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer who has enjoyed working for Fox Sports this season. And Mel has his notebook. Plus, Mel gives us his weekend viewing picks.

I saw this late last night and because I was working on the Amazing Race Asia episode recap, I could not put this in, but I’ll do it today. Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw tells Justin Terranova of the New York Post that he’s going to retire from Fox NFL Sunday when his current contract expires.

David Woods of the Indianapolis Star writes that Butler University appears on ESPNU quite often.

Tony Kornheiser returns to XM Satellite Radio after a 7 month hiatus for Monday Night Football.

The Associated Press reports that viewership for the just-completed NFL regular season is up from 2006.

The Washington (GA) News-Reporter says legendary Hall of Fame baseball announcer Ernie Harwell will be honored in his hometown in advance of his induction into the Georgia Hall of Fame next month.

The Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal talks about the new Kansas City Royals TV announcing crew for FSN Midwest.

That’s it for now.

Friday Megalinks, Late, but Still Here

Sorry about doing this at night, but I was about to do these this afternoon from home when I was called back into work. So after dinner, I’m giving you the links now. My apologies.

Let’s start with any further delay.

Starting as always with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, he does a mock fantasy draft of the top NFL announcing teams.

And we’ll just go from East to West tonight.

The great David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch delves into the collapse of the Entercom-Nassau Broadcasting deal. By the way, I got my Red Sox Nation magazine and David’s work is prominently displayed with several stories. If you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, that’s one of the benefits you receive. If you’re not a fan of the Red Sox, then you don’t get to read David, but there is one place you can, and it’s at CSTV doing a live blog on Saturday.

The Boston Globe’s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell profiles the lovely Laura Behnke who’s doing triple duty on radio and TV.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wonders if 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace can be tough on Roger Clemens when he’s already done a friendly profile on the pitcher some six years ago.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News returns from vacation and feels Sunday’s 60 Minutes interview with Roger Clemens will not yield anything new.

Heading over to the New York Post and Phil Mushnick, he, for some reason, feels the need to pick on Blackhawk helicopters flying over Ralph Wilson Stadium before the NHL Winter Classic. Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for ESPN’s Sean Salisbury. And Terranova previews the BCS Championship game with Fox Sports’ Charles Davis and ESPNU’s Larry Coker.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with Giants radio analyst Carl Banks who will call the team’s game on Sunday against the Buccaneers with Bob Papa and Dick Lynch. Over to Neil’s blog, he writes that WFAN’s Craig Carlton threw a shot at former ‘FAN host Sid Rosenberg today. And Neil says Rosenberg called him today to respond. Finally from Neil, we find out that Giants.com will have plenty of pre and postgame coverage online this weekend.

From his Watch This! blog, the DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams writes that there will be plenty of Redskins coverage on CSN.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun talks about the NHL Winter Classic on NBC. And Frager using his blog properly adds some items that were cut from his column.

Doug Nye of The State in South Carolina feels late night bowl games are not what fans want. But Doug’s Best Bet is the BCS Championship Game on Monday night.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald talks about the Dolphins’ Jason Taylor guesting in the NBC studio on Saturday.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Fox Sports is entering a busy stretch starting with the BCS and ending with the Daytona 500 next month.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Judd Zulgad writes that the Big Ten Network is still trying to strike a deal with the major cable providers for the conference basketball schedule. Judd also gives us the broadcast schedule for the Minnesota Gophers.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin has some quotes from NBC’s John Madden about the NFL Playoffs.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes about the start of Roger Twibell’s sports radio career.

Scott D. Pierce writes in today’s Deseret (UT) Morning News about the changes at CSTV leaving the Mountain West Conference in the lurch.

Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune writes about CBS Sports’ Phil Simms returning to the city almost a year later to call the Chargers in the playoffs. And we have a look at last week’s TV ratings.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that CBS couldn’t happier about doing the Tennessee-San Diego game.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has NBC’s John Madden expressing frustration over not being able to call more playoff games. Jim also has some news and notes including the ratings of the Patriots-Giants game last week.

Christine Daniels of the Los Angeles Times has her weekly Sound and Vision column.

Tom Hoffarth writes in the Los Angeles Daily News that college bowl season is not for the weak of heart. And Hoffarth has a lot of news and notes in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says 49ers coach Mike Nolan really didn’t say anything in his last weekly radio show of the season.

The Toronto Star reports that one of the sports writing giants of Canada, Milt Dunnell has died at the age of 102. In his career, Dunnell was not only a reporter, but an editor and a columnist. We get a touching tribute from his son, Mike, who was a sports writer himself. And we have a slideshow of Milt’s illustrious career. Stephen Brunt of the crosstown Toronto Globe and Mail pays tribute to Dunnell.

Also from the Star, Chris Zelkovich says US viewers will see plenty of Canadian broadcasters this weekend including Fang’s Bites fav, Stacey Dales.

And from the Globe and Mail, William Houston says the NHL is considering making an Outdoor Game a biennial event. That’s every two years if you’re confused.

The Sports Media Watch blog gives us the weekend ratings predictions.

I just had to say Kelly Tilghman looks lovely tonight on the Golf Channel’s presentation of the Mercedes-Benz Championships.

We continue on. CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Roger Clemens will sue in the wake of the Mitchell Report allegations and in turn, will Clemens be sued?

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog discusses what CSTV being absorbed into the CBS Sports’ operations means for you the viewer.

And that’s it. Thanks for your patience. I’m going to watch Ep. 7 of the Amazing Race Asia. Look for a recap sometime in the next few days.

Additional Wednesday Links

I’ll give you some more links this afternoon.

From USA Today, Jorge Ortiz writes about the increased profits for Major League Baseball Advanced Media which has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2001. The Biz of Baseball which was quoted in the article also has its reaction. MLBAM has led all of the US sports leagues in providing online video. MLBAM also has aligned with CBS Sports in providing video for the NCAA Tournament and with World Championship Sports Network to stream Olympic sports.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes in his Four DVRs, no waiting blog about his tour of the networks in New York.

The Chicago Daily Herald lets us know that the Big Ten Network will carry conference wrestling meets and college hockey games this winter.

Brian Powell of the East Valley (AZ) Tribune writes that ESPN has applied to have its Super Bowl headquarters in Scottsdale rather than Glendale where the game will be played.

Ed Bark of the Pegasus (TX) News says Monday Night Football which had the Patriots coming back against Baltimore was the most watched show on Monday. Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News blogs about the MNF game and also says it had a 12.2 overnight rating.

ESPN says it will have its next edition of E:60 next Tuesday.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week previews ESPN’s self-serving (my words, not Jon’s) “The Best of ‘This is SportsCenter’” special next week. And the publication also looks at the effectiveness of the in-stadium signage that was shown on TV during the World Series this year.

Greg Hardwig of the Naples (FL) Daily News writes that NBC and Golf Channel take over coverage of the Merrill Lynch Shootout this weekend after the unofficial PGA Tour event was on CBS Sports for the last 18 years.

Bill Vander Weele of the Sidney (MT) Daily Herald says football fans are the losers when the NFL Network carries big games.

I’ll have primetime viewing choices coming up.

Saturday Morning Links

Let’s give you some links from the Saturday papers and anything I may have missed from Friday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has two blog entries about Texas oil tycoon Boone Pickens who has donated a lot of money towards his favorite school, Oklahoma State. I mean, a lot of money. We’re talking in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the Cowboys. The first is about Pickens’ investment not paying dividends yet. Following that, Pickens contacted Darren and the two entered into a friendly wager on today’s Oklahoma State-Texas Tech game. Keep us posted, Darren. I want to hear how Pickens reacts when his team loses again.

Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has Tony La Russa’s reaction to ESPN choosing Houston-St. Louis for Sunday Night Baseball. And Dan Caesar writes that an undefeated start to its season has Missouri football on ESPN’s and FSN’s radar.

From the San Antonio Express-News, Jerry Garcia says the Cowboys-Bears matchup on Sunday night won’t hurt NBC’s ratings.

Barry Horn in the Dallas Morning News wonders why the Cowboys have been featured on Sunday Night Football two out of the first three weeks of the NFL season.

Mark Konkol of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about 10 year old Jason Krause who makes his opinions known on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News writes in his Morning Buzz blog that the San Jose Sharks and FSN may lift the blackout on 10 games that won’t be broadcast locally, but will be picked up by other out-of-town outlets. And Ryan reports that the Cleveland-Oakland game will be blacked out in the Bay Area because it wasn’t sold out.

The Capital Times (WI) reports that the Big Ten Network will pick up 13 hockey games including four from the University of Wisconsin. Ryan Meyer of the Chicago Sports Review says the Big Ten Network is destined to fail. I wonder what Meyer’s agenda on this is. Sounds like he works for Comcast.

Mike Klingaman of the Baltimore Sun talks with former Raven Rod Woodson who now works for the NFL Network.

Here’s what ESPN will show on both Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown.

Donna Ditota of the Syracuse Post-Standard goes behind the scenes with the Golf Channel at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Good friend, LC, reviews a letter from a reader of 38Cliches about the complaints concerning Red Sox broadcasting hack Glenn Geffner. Hack is as nice as I can put it.

That does it for this week. I’ll have Sunday links and Videos of the Week tomorrow.

Late Thursday Update

Well, not really late, but I’m trying to be short with the titles of the entries, unless it’s really, really important. Time for the links on this Thursday afternoon.

Newsday’s Neil Best continues to post pictures of women on his blog entries. He explains that the pictures are tasteful and are mostly relevant to his entries. Ok. Well, he has one on the re-teaming of Chris Carlin and the attractive Kim Jones (pictured in the entry) on WFAN … at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m.! And his next entry is on the hiring of Alyssa Milano (what do you think?) to blog for TBS at its Hot Corner site on MLB.com. Neil certainly loves the woman, don’t you think? I asked him in the entry on Alyssa if he could post pictures of Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansen “provided they’re relevant to the posts.”

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star blogs that FSN West will have a rare day without any live events to cover.

Julia Bauer of the Grand Rapids Press talks with cable subscribers who can’t watch the Big Ten Network. Here’s the coverage map for the Big Ten Network for the early games on Saturday.

Even though it’s Week 3 of the college football season, CBS Sports finally gets into the game this weekend with the season premiere of the SEC Game of the Week. The press release also notes that CSTV.com will stream CBS games, but for a price.

SI’s Richard Deitsch looks at the changes in the networks for their NFL broadcasting lineups. One thing Deitsch writes that needs to be corrected. He said Fox’ Troy Aikman has not called a game involving his former offensive coordinator, Norv Turner, now coaching San Diego. Um, Richard? Aikman did that on Sunday. UPDATE, 11:37 p.m. – Richard has now corrected this.

The Dallas-Miami game on Sunday will not be seen in the Naples, FL area.

For fans of the UEFA Champions League in Europe, they have an opportunity to see all the games on broadband in the US. The catch? Your ISP has to sign up for ESPN360.

Fans of NASCAR can listen to every race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup on Sirius Satellite Radio. Seth Livingstone of USA Today has a behind-the-scenes look at ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR.

Mark Gillespie of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that local NBC affiliate WKYC will be broadcasting the Indians-Royals game on Sunday and that will cut into NBC’s coverage of the PGA’s final stop, the Tour Championship. The PGA says due to expected stormy weather on Friday, tee times for the 2nd round have been moved up, but the Golf Channel will still show its coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on tape. And the Golf Channel will have coverage of the Solheim Cup, the competition between US and European female golfers this weekend.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that with its 11th season about to come to a close, the WNBA is beaming thanks to record attendance, record ratings and a new contract with ESPN.

That will do it for now. I may have an update tonight. Check back later.

Sunday Links or Day 7 of the D & C Lockout

We’ll probably find out tomorrow regarding the Dennis & Callahan lockout from WEEI. With their hopes of a competing regional network dashed, I’m thinking D & C are probably going to re-sign with Entercom. Stay tuned.

Let’s get to some links for you.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner in his Watch This! blog has a preview of tonight’s action. And he also calls the NASCAR Hot Pass feature on DirecTV one of the best innovations in sports television.

In the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn says Fox’s Daryl Johnston may do NFL games, but he isn’t afraid to speak out about disability payouts to former players.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch goes over the Big Ten Network-cable dispute. And Caesar goes over Tim McKernan’s decision to stay in St. Louis to do radio over going to New York to work for SNY as an anchor.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News looks at the changes this season in the Fox NFL Sunday pre-game show.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post has his usual Sunday column right off the bat, he trashes ESPN for its self-promotion during the Little League World Series, even down to the graphics it shows during at-bats.

Over to the New York Daily News where Bob Raissman writes that there will be on pressure on Boomer Esiason not to become a clone of Don Imus when he and Craig Carlton start their morning show on WFAN in September.

Bill Robinson in the Marietta (OH) Times says local cable company, Suddenlink, is among the cable companies that have not signed with the Big Ten Network.

Bryan Curtis of the New York Times’ Play magazine looks at the phenomenon of ogling at female sideline reporters. Also in Play, Charles McGrath talks to Nick Faldo of CBS and the Golf Channel.

Jonathan Landreth of the Hollywood Reporter looks at the task of bringing the Olympics in Beijing to reality, not only for China, but for the networks that will cover the games.

In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ray Buck talks to Eddie George who will try to show the positive side of sports in a new program premiering on FSN.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that the NFL Network is seeing an increase in subscribers, albeit a small increase, but the NFL Network will take what it can get at this point.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that his city has a higher percentage of households that don’t get cable or satellite TV as compared to the national average. Interesting.

Not bad for links on a Sunday. I’ll be back later with Videos of the Week.

Your Monday Update

Let’s give you a few links here.

Starting with CBS Sports and its ratings for the PGA Championship, the network received the 5th highest rating for the tournament since 1986. The other four? They all had Tiger playing for the win as well. CBS has had the rights for the PGA Championship since 1991. And here’s the official announcement from CBS Sports.

Paulsen from the Sports Media Watch blog looks at the overnight ratings for the sporting weekend. The PGA Championship did well and MLB on Fox went down for the 7th straight week.

Neil Best in his Newsday blog gives a couple of sports related programming highlights for HBO in the next two days.

From CNBC.com, Darren Rovell says the longer David Beckham continues to be on the sidelines with his injury, the less of an impact he’ll have on MLS. And I talked to one local vendor whose business is located less than a mile from Gillette Stadium. He told me fans came down from Canada to see Becks only to find out that he would not play in last night’s LA Galaxy-NE Revolution game. That’s not good.

The 38Cliches blog continues to investigate exactly what Glenn Geffner’s position is with the Boston Red Sox. He’s discovered that Goofie is actually an officer in the Red Sox chain of command, a VP of Communications. Is it right for an officer of the Red Sox to broadcast its games? In the past, this would be considered to be a conflict of interest, similar to when Dave Gavitt as Commissioner of the Big East conference would be the analyst for TV broadcasts syndicated by the Big East. So should Geffner be taken off the broadcasts? I think so.

Here’s one story from the weekend that I somehow missed. Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune profiles former Twin Cities news anchor Inga Hammond, now of the Golf Channel.

James Gandolfini’s first project since The Sopranos will be a movie for HBO about former Nike shoe executive Sonny Vaccaro who brokered all types of deals for athletes and coaches.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News writes in his Morning Buzz blog that he feels the cable companies will eventually win the battle vs. the NFL Network. The Consumerist blog wonders if the two sides will ever get together.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star gives his good, bad and ugly of the TV sports weekend.

Jim Williams in the DC/Baltimore Examiner says for the first time in two years, he was able to actually listen to a Washington Redskins broadcast on terrestrial radio. And Williams writes that the Baltimore Ravens’ in-house TV production unit will be ready for tonight’s Ravens-Eagles game.

Those are the links for now. Primetime and Late night viewing picks coming up.

Some Sunday Links

Let’s give you some Sunday links just before we head back to work on Monday.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir picks up Neil Best’s Newsday story on Gary Sheffield’s HBO interview that will air on Tuesday. Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News also looks at the Sheffield interview.

And in his Sunday news & notes column, Raissman says the networks should be shooting their focus on Hank Aaron in the Barry Bonds home run record chase, not Bonds.

Neil Best has a story today on the Yankees, but as the subject of many a Hollywood movie, TV show or other medium.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post says while Fox was being nice to umpire Bruce Froemming in the All Star Game last week, the Post curmudgeon says it should have remembered an anti-Jewish slur he made four years ago.

For the first time, the WNBA has received a TV and digital rights deal. It’s with ESPN, naturally. And the Sports Media Watch blog wonders why the WNBA would sign such a deal when it basically reduces the number of appearances on ABC, a network that could help promote the league. In the AP story put forth by Forbes.com, WNBA President Donna Orender says the deal is a tremendous vote of confidence, but is it?

Devin Gordon in the latest issue of Newsweek magazine calls ESPN, the World’s Biggest Cheerleader at the risk of its news reporting operation. Ben Grossman in his blog on the Broadcasting & Cable website says he has a love-hate relationship with the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Ethan Skolnick in his blog at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, suggests a new category for the ESPY Awards tonight.

In the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn says Big D was last of all rated markets for the All Star Game.

You remember the silly NFL policy banning video no more than 45 seconds on websites not directly affiliated with the No Fun League? Well, more attention is being focused on it and I hope this will eventually force the NFL to reverse its decision.

Jeff Elliot in the Florida Times-Union says the Jacksonville Jaguars still don’t have a local TV home for exhibition games that begin next month.

It appears that Vince Cellini has left the Golf Channel.

Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal says Orioles fans in North Carolina are the victims in the MASN-Time Warner Cable dispute.

I’ll be back Monday with more links. Now time to watch Entourage.

Monday Update

Looking at some of the websites around the country to get more links for you.

The ratings for the sporting weekend show a downward trend for events like the NBA Finals, PGA Tour and the Belmont Stakes, all of which had lower numbers this weekend. Sports Media Watch has the overnight ratings from both Saturday and Sunday, and the numbers for the Game 2 blowout last night in the NBA Finals don’t look good.

Good story from the New York Times today on the CBS purchase of a website (Max Preps) devoted to high school athletes, kind of like a MySpace or Facebook for athletes.

Marty James of the Napa Valley Register talks with former coach and current NFL Network analyst Dick Vermeil on his participating in the NFL Broadcasting Boot Camp this month.

It seems that Canadian media writers have been waiting to pounce on the NBA TV ratings just like US TV/Radio writers were all over the NHL TV ratings. Bruce Arthur of the National Post reads to me as if he’s regaling in the low ratings for last night’s Game 2 and says it was stupid of the NBA to go up against The Sopranos finale.

While the NBA can’t be happy over the low ratings for its postseason, Major League Baseball has to be happy over its ratings on ESPN and Fox to date. Mediaweek reports ratings on ESPN are up double digits from last year and Fox is doing well going a full season as compared to just 18 weeks last season.

The Detroit Free Press says FSN Detroit will debut “Tigers Squeeze Play”, a 30 minute condensed version of games.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has his review of sports TV weekend. In his column, Jones makes a great point about boxing migrating to pay cable and robbing its sport of million of fans in the process.

Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province newspaper says it’s easy to look at how the ratings for hockey in the US have fallen.

Versus has announced its college football schedule. With 5 Big Ten, 5 Pac 10 and 8 Mountain West games, the channel suddenly has a pretty decent slew of games, but the problem is finding it on your cable system.

Rich Lord of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that the city’s mayor is hoping coverage of the US Open this week on NBC, ESPN and through the Golf Channel will be a good tourist marketing tool for the area.

USA Today has a profile on Nick Faldo who as you probably know, is the lead golf analyst for the Golf Channel and CBS.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has some constructive criticism for TSN’s coverage of the Formula 1 race in Montreal.

Finally, Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says fans of the Orioles and the Nationals can catch how both teams’ announcers will call each other’s games as the O’s and Nats face off this week. MASN will carry both versions.

Friday Links

Ok, new month. Let’s do the Friday links. Lots of them today as usual.

Starting off with USA Today, Mike McCarthy has Fox’s Tim McCarver getting on the Yankees for not starting Roger Clemens against the Red Sox this weekend. I usually don’t like McCarver, but I do have to agree with him on this. The Yankees are in desperate times and they need a shot in the arm, 13.5 games back in the division.

The Boston Globe’s Susan Bickelhaupt writes about three channels, the Golf Channel, Speed and the Tennis Channel all finding audiences and also getting big events.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the way Alex Rodriguez is being treated by the media after news about being with another woman leaked this week.

And the New York Post which must have something against A-Rod actually ID’s the woman as a dancer at Scores Las Vegas.

Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick gets on players like Mets outfielder Carlos Delgado for not running hard on the basepaths.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News also has Tim McCarver criticizing the Yankees for not pitching Clemens in Boston this weekend and Raissman also gives his take on the matter.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders how the YES Network will handle the Yankees if they’re out of contention this summer.

Best also reports in his blog that WFAN’s Mike Francesca will take the Imus spot for CBS Radio starting Monday and for the rest of the month.

Pete Schnatz of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about Suzy Kolber of ESPN who will host NASCAR Countdown for ESPN/ABC starting this weekend.

David Jones of the Patriot News in upstate Pennsylvania wonders if fans of Penn State will be able to watch football games when the Big Ten Network launches this fall.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has some musings today and leading off is Comcast‘s decision to put the NFL Network on a digital sports tier.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes about Joe Rose of Sports talker 790 the Ticket wondering if he should leave for WQAM which has the Dolphin games.

Dave Darling has a story on the MLB Draft on ESPN2 and what features we can expect to see or not see on June 6.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune laments the changing of the rules in covering athletes in the A-Rod debacle. And he also gives his weekend viewing picks.

Judd Zelgad of the Minnepolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune says what I have been saying in this blog all along. That NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman can spin the ratings for the NHL all he wants, but when it comes down to the crunching, the numbers are horrible.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a feature on Joe Buck stating that MLB Commish Bud Selig should be on hand when and if Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record.

Andrew Guy, Jr. of the Houston Chronicle reports that Houston will get a 4th sports radio station this summer.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune discusses the upcoming MLB Draft which will be televised for the first time this month on ESPN2. The ratings for sports viewing in San Diego is also available here.

Larry Stewart of the LA Times has two articles today. His first is on Brett Hull who’s doing work with NBC for the NHL this season. The second is on Anaheim Ducks announcers John Ahlers and Brian Hayward who have been silenced since the second round of the playoffs due to exclusive rights for the Conference and Stanley Cup Finals on Versus and NBC.

The Sports Media Watch Blog has the numbers for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Versus and they’re not good.

Pat Hickey writes in the Montreal Gazette that his search for Versus while traveling in Scranton, PA was barely successful. In fact, Hickey said a bartender of a sports establishment had never heard of the channel. Are you listening, Gary Bettman?

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says the three man booth of Bob Cole, Harry Neale and Greg Millen on the CBC for the Stanley Cup Finals is working.

We’ll be back later with more links as they warrant.

More Wednesday Links

With the NBA Draft Lottery over, Boston Celtics fans are wondering what they did to deserve 21 years of bad luck. Twenty one years goes back to the last time the Celtics won an NBA Championship and fans were hoping last night’s lottery would be the beginning of the end of two generations of discontent. Instead, it looks like the discontent will continue as the Celtics which had the second best chance to land the first two picks of the draft instead ended up 5th. Bill Simmons of ESPN.com has a good column describing his pain. I’m not an NBA fan anymore, I stopped watching after the 1998 lockout, but even I felt pain watching the Celtics logo unveiled from the 5th place envelope.

Get ready to see Keyshawn Johnson on ESPN over the next few months. He’s retired from the NFL and has joined the Alleged Worldwide Leader for Sunday and Monday NFL Studio shows. Keyshawn was on ESPN’s draft coverage last month.

ESPNU, the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s college sports channel has been picked up in the Raleigh-Durham (NC) area.

The NBA Conference semi-finals helped the ratings for TNT and ESPN last week.

Christine Daniels of the LA Times starts a new online column today called “Day in LA” and she has stuff about the NBA Draft Lottery and how the Stanley Cup Final of Ottawa-Anaheim is the worst possible scenario for NBC.

By the way, Christine is the former Mike Penner, sportswriter of the LA Times. Yes, she had a sex change operation.

In his blog, Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press gives support for the Big Ten Network.

Neil Best in his Newsday blog says the Golf Channel is off Cablevision’s Sports Tier and will be made available to more viewers on digital basic.

Clay Travis of CBS Sportsline.com says fans should protest NBC’s decision to throw Saturday’s Ottawa-Buffalo game off the network in favor of the Preakness.

And Sporting News NHL beat reporter Kara Yorio calls the NBC move “a shame”.

Finally, this new blog by the NESN TV crew could be quite interesting. It also starts today and it explains the whole thing behind the fall of Jerry Remy during last week’s pregame show.

Primetime viewing choices coming up.

Tuesday Links

I’m still sad over the replacement of Jerry Trupiano from the Red Sox Radio Network. I’m one of those Red Sox fans who don’t like change and I grew accustomed to listening to Joe Castiglione and Trup every year. Last season, I started to hear inklings that he could be replaced and I was hoping he would come to terms with the Red Sox, but I guess the Sox wanted to go in a different direction. So Dave O’Brien was signed (good move) and Glenn Geffner was signed (bad move) to replace Trup. Regular readers of this blog know how much I’m not enamored with Goofner and his horrible style of broadcasting. O’Brien has been quite smooth in the booth while Goof has been very bad. There hasn’t been a game where he hasn’t made me roll my eyes. Because Jerry was let go late in the offseason, he couldn’t find another baseball play-by-play gig. He has picked up work here and there. Thanks to the 38Cliches blog, Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald has an update on Trup.

We continue to hear fallout of NBC’s decision to drop the NHL Eastern Conference game Saturday in favor of the Preakness Stakes. Richard Sandomir says this should not happen to a major sport in the playoffs and I totally agree.

Neil Best of Newsday kills NBC for its decision calling the cutaway to the Preakness, “one of those historic low moments that someday might be viewed as a turning point for its league — for better or worse.” Neil is a good writer and again, I totally agree.

And because I like his stuff, I’ll give a plug to Best’s Watchdog blog. He’s been quite prolific in his writing.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily news has a couple of items, one, the Torre watch and two, a story over which Suzyn Waldman confronted Chris Russo (part of Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN in New York). Russo and his partner, Mike Francesca, have been playing Waldman’s overzealous call of Roger Clemens return a couple of weeks back. I linked to it as well. Let’s just say according to Raissman and Best, it was an expletive laced tirade by Suzyn.

Jim Williams of the Baltimore/DC Examiner reviews the sporting TV weekend in the Baltimore/DC area.

Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette continues the criticism of NBC for cutting away from Saturday’s game.

And NBC, rather weakly I might add, tries to defend its decision to throw the NHL game to Versus.

Finally a positive story on the NHL, another link to the return of Peter Puck.

Here’s a story on ESPN.com being the most visited sports website.

This has nothing to do with sports business, but it’s a chance for me to link to a story on a hot chick, golfer Natalie Gulbis who has her own reality show on The Golf Channel. What’s that? You want pictures? You ask and you shall receive.

Very nice to see.

The Portland Trail Blazers has signed a new contract with Comcast to create a new sports channel in the Northwest.

St. Louis Cardinals fans can rejoice. Some 19 games picked up by Fox Sports Net Midwest will be seen on Mediacom Cable.

The new President of The Golf Channel, Page Thompson, answers questions from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

That’s it for now. I might be back a bit later on.

The Return of Peter Puck!

Old school NHL fans (like me) will remember when NBC and CBC ran a cartoon feature in-between periods explaining the nuances of hockey. It was a short called “Peter Puck” and intermission host Brian McFarlane would introduce the cartoons. Peter taught us about icing, offsides, tripping, checking, etc. The idea of Peter Puck was for NBC to introduce hockey to a Southern U.S. audience. Now, there are teams in the Southeast, but in the 1970′s, NBC affiliates in the South were wary of small audiences so they pre-empted the NHL in favor of other programming. Thus, Peter Puck was born in 1973.

The features ended in 1980 and have been barely seen since. But McFarlane did a smart thing, he bought the rights for Peter Puck from Hanna Barbera and has been working to bring the cartoon back. McFarlane is working to have Peter make his re-emergence in DVD’s, clothing and possibly, a new TV show. There’s even talk of having Peter Puck come back on Hockey Night in Canada next season.

As a kid in the 1970′s living in Rhode Island, I liked having Peter Puck around. I know purists hated Peter Puck, but it helped me understand the game.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans will have to deal with more games on Leafs TV and less on TSN and Rogers Sportsnet. They’ll also have to pay more to see the Leafs in person.

Today begins the Players Championship at the TPC in Sawgrass and the Golf Channel will broadcast the first two rounds. Kelly Tilghman will be in the 18th tower with Nick Faldo for TGC. This feature by her hometown Myrtle Beach Sun describes her typical day as she prepares to cover a tournament. She’s the first woman to have a premier play-by-play position for a major sport.

NBC’s coverage of the Players Championship will include shorter and fewer commercial breaks similar to the Masters on CBS.

And with Fox airing Super Bowl XLII in February, the network is giving advertisers an opportunity to widen their audience by providing them a presence on MySpace.

Finally, thanks to 38 Cliches for referencing this blog today.