Fang's Bites

Providing The Friday Megalinks

Let’s get to the megalinks today. Lots to get to including some interesting news that is breaking today.

First, the Weekend Viewing Picks are back after a week’s absence. Check out what sports and entertainment viewing recommendations I’ve made.

Now to the links.

National

Developing today is a story out of Boston that CBC and NBC NHL analyst Mike Milbury allegedly assaulted a 12 year old boy during a youth hockey game last week. WCVB in Boston has broken the story and we’ll what develops. Milbury has been charged by police, but still worked on Versus this week.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says expect more reality TV like HBO’s 24/7 in sports.

Jen Floyd Engel from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes for Fox Sports that Craig James’ US Senate run should be music to college football fans who have had to endure his analysis on ESPN.

In a related note, Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that James is taking leave from ESPN due to his run.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says the NFL, the TV networks and the fans are all winners in the latest 9 year rights deal.

Richard says as he becomes more popular, it’s only natural to see more media coverage of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Pac-12 Networks about to take operation next year, has secured headquarters in San Francisco.

John Eggerton of B&C says the American Cable Association is sounding the alarm bell on the new NFL TV deals.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that AT&T U-Verse customers in Connecticut will see MSG Network and its companion networks in HD starting in January just after Verizon Fios picked them up as well.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at some of the negatives of the new NFL TV deals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us to prepare for DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket in cars. Yes, cars.

Leave it to Deadspin. Tommy Craggs has video of a young Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports appearing in an edition of HBO’s Real Sex from the 1990′s. Hilarious.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing breaks down the new NFL TV deals.

In the wee hours of this morning, I wrote some thoughts on the NFL TV deals and HBO’s 24/7 season premiere among other things.

Sports Media Watch says new NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal will not join Turner Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament in March.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore wonders what’s up with a new program listing for NHL Network.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe feels five NBA games on Christmas Day are too many.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times mulls over the numbers in the new NFL TV deals.

Richard reviews the upcoming Army-Navy documentary produced by CBS Sports/Showtime.

George Vescey has written his last “Sports of the Times” column for the New York Times.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New Yorkers will not see New England-Denver on CBS this Sunday.

Neil notes that TNT’s Charles Barkley now endorses Weight Watchers.

Neil looks at Jeff Van Gundy’s frequent flyer mileage as he works two NBA games on Christmas Day.

New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick says NFL TV analysts give Tim Tebow way too much credit.

Justin Terranova of the Post has ESPN/ABC announcer Sean McDonough complaining about too many bowl games.

Terranova has five questions for NFL Today analyst Shannon Sharpe.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at one local radio station’s move to dump the New York Mets in favor of the Boston Red Sox.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette likes the new edition of HBO’s 24/7 Flyers/Rangers.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says there’s nothing like the NFL as a ratings draw.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has the latest sports media news from the Baltimore-Washington, DC area.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that John Riggins has ended his daily sports talk show in favor of a new outdoors career.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the Nationals could see a hefty increase in their rights fee from MASN.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks with NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock who will call Saturday’s Dallas-Tampa Bay game with Brad Nessler.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some quotes from Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmy Johnson.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from TNT’s Charles Barkley on the two Los Angeles NBA teams.

Mel has TNT’s NBA analysts discussing the Oklahoma City Thunder’s chances this season.

Mel notes that ESPN/ABC’s Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy will be quite busy on Christmas Day.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer looks into the sudden quitting of one local sports talk show host this week.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Fox Sports Detroit NBA analyst Greg Kelser about the Pistons.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that CBS’ Dan Dierdorf gets to call a rare “home” game on Sunday.

West

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Chargers have avoided a blackout for Sunday night’s game against the Ravens.

John Maffei of the North County Times says Louisiana Tech is happy to finally to have some exposure on the ESPN mothership after being relegated to ESPNU 9 times this season.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that the Los Angeles Clippers are no longer a media laughingstock.

Jim looks into the new NFL TV deals.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with former DC NFL team QB Mark Rypien and his daughter Angela, who’s now one in the Lingerie Football League.

Tom talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley.

Tom has a few more hits that didn’t make his Barkley column.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews the season premiere of HBO’s 24/7.

And that’s going to do it.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 15, 12/18/11, All Times Eastern

NFL Coverage Maps (the506.com)

Blackouts: Buffalo

NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
The NFL Today — CBS, noon

1 p.m.
CBS
Cincinnati at St. Louis — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
Miami at Buffalo — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Tennessee at Indianapolis — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts (“The Bird” & “The Beard”)

FOX
Carolina at Houston — Ron Pitts/Charles Davis/Drea Avent
Green Bay at Kansas City — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
New Orleans at Minnesota — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Jennifer Hale
Seattle at Chicago — Chris Myers/Tim Lynch/Jaime Maggio!!!
Washington at New York Giants — Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver

4:05 p.m.
FOX
Detroit at Oakland — Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin

4:15 p.m.
CBS
Cleveland at Arizona — Bill Macatee/Steve Tasker
New England at Denver — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
New York Jets at Philadelphia — Marv Albert/Rich Gannon

7 p.m.
Football Night in America — NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights — NFL Network

8:30 p.m.
NBC
Sunday Night Football
Baltimore at San Diego — Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya

midnight
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network

Westwood One Radio
12:30 p.m.
New Orleans at Minnesota — Mark Champion/Mark Malone

3:45 p.m.
New England at Denver — Howard David/Tony Boselli

7:30 p.m.
Baltimore at San Diego — Dave Sims/James Lofton/Scott Kaplan

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius XM Radio Week 15 Schedule
NFL RedZone

Trying To Bring You Some Linkage

This week has been a bad one for me. Haven’t been able to provide links since last Friday and that’s not good. Been busy and it’s cutting into bringing you the latest sports media news. I’ll try to do better over the next few days.

We’ll begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who speaks with ESPN’s Mark Schwartz about the network’s handling of the Syracuse-Bernie Fine story.

Paul Thomasch and Lisa Richwine of Reuters write that the NFL is confident that it will receive significant increases in rights fees from its TV partners.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today says the NFL is looking to expand its Thursday Night Football schedule.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter looks at the TV winners and losers of the NBA’s return.

Michael Bradley writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says new Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer will influence how the national media, ESPN in particular, will cover the school.

Chris Mottram of SB Nation announces that the site has hired writers Bomani Jones and Matt Ufford joining recent hire Amy K. Nelson who came over from ESPN.

Adam Watson of Yahoo’s The PostGame magazine profiles CNBC’s SportsBiz GameOn! sideline reporter Erin Sharoni.

Dan Levy at the Bleacher Report goes over the staggering number of bowl games on ESPN.

Rigo Gonzalez of Slam! laments the precipitous fall of the Great Alaska Shootout.

The Midnight Yell blog got its hands on an e-mail from former Big 12 Commissioner Don Beebe on how ESPN and Fox have formed an alliance to keep NBC out of college sports.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin notes that Dan Patrick got to host his own category on last night’s Jeopardy.

One of the funniest posts you’ll see today. Last night, a Michigan State cheerleader was hurt in a fall during the game against Florida State. She’s fine after a brief stay in the hospital. Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that the cheerleader’s dad decided to show some humor about it all on Facebook.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says the America East conference has signed new rights deals with both CBS Sports Network and ESPN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tim Tebow jersey sales are growing fast.

Mike Cole at NESN notes that Patriots coach Bill Belichick shot down Boston TV reporter Kristine Leahy as she tried him to ask a question about the Colts.

Mary Ellen Godin and Stephanie O’Connell of the Meriden (CT) Record-Journal team up for a story on ESPN being quite happy in seeing the NBA’s return.

Howard Beck and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times discuss how the NBA will open its truncated season on Christmas Day with 5 games.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that with the NFL giving Fox Denver at Minnesota this week, it now becomes the network’s featured early game on Sunday.

Michael J. Connor of the Syracuse Post-Standard explains why the newspaper did not hand over its copy of the Laurie Fine tape to authorities back in 2003.

Buffalo Business First says the Bills are facing their first NFL blackout of the season.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg summarizes what Tony Kornheiser had to say about the Capitals firing former coach Bruce Boudreau.

Dave Walker in the New Orleans Times-Picayune says Monday night’s Giants-Saints game scored big locally.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle has some local sports media notes.

David says Comcast SportsNet Houston has hired its first General Manager.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the Sooners got their worst TV ratings of the season on FX last Saturday.

Joel Hammond of Crain’s Cleveland Business says Fox Sports Ohio couldn’t be happier about the NBA’s return.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the most popular TV commentator among NFL players is “This Guy.”

Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star writes that the new online Mizzou Network is now up and running.

The Cedar Valley (IA) Daily Times says cable provider Mediacom is providing a free month-long preview of NFL Network.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the football TV schedule.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore is enjoying Versus’ version of NHL Live.

Sports Media Watch has the final ratings for college football Week 12.

SMW says CBS saw a season ratings low for its NFL doubleheader in Week 11.

SMW says Fox had strong numbers for NFL Week 11.

And we’ll end it there. A full set of links which is good for you and for me.

A Few Thanksgiving Eve Links

Let’s do a few links for you on this day before Thanksgiving. And my best to you. Be safe in your travels.

We begin with John Ourand of Sports Business Daily who convenes a roundtable of fellow SBD writers to look at ESPN’s new NFL studio shows.

Mason Levinson of Bloomberg News says ESPN college football analyst Urban Meyer will not work Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game on ABC to avoid being a distraction over stories that he’ll be the next Buckeyes coach.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today writes that NBC Sports had no problems in switching Versus’ NHL scheduled Monday game from Bruins-Canadiens to Islanders-Penguins to air Sidney Crosby’s season debut.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that there are still questions behind ESPN’s most recent executive shuffle.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek explores Disney’s machinations moving ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer out of day-to-day operations and handing them to Executive Vice President John Skipper.

At ESPN’s Front Row blog, PR man David Scott looks at a new Quinnipiac University course on ESPN. Yes, ESPN.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports that a mediator will be hearing the dispute between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fox Sports over the team’s media rights.

Mike says regional sports networks are seeking rebates from lost NBA games due to the lockout.

David Goetzl from MediaPost says ESPN and whiskey maker Jameson’s both share blame in the sponsorship of the documentary “Unguarded” which depicted Chris Herren’s struggles with addiction.

Stuart Levine of Variety says the NHL is teaming up with Paramount Pictures for the league’s first movie promotional tie-in.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid says Canadian rock group Nickelback responds to fans who are petitioning them to be removed from the halftime performance during the Green Bay-Detroit game.

Karen Hogan at Sports Video Group says TSN will be all over the CFL Grey Cup this Sunday.

Ryan Durling at Bostinnovation has a Boston viewing guide for the Thanksgiving football games.

Newsday’s Neil Best says incoming ESPN President John Skipper is a noted soccer fan.

Neil previews an upcoming Bob Costas MLB Network interview with former YES analyst Jim Kaat.

Neil notes an upcoming HBO documentary on former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath.

Neil says MLS’ New York Red Bulls are booting the media from the best seats in Red Bull Arena and making them accessible to ticket holders.

And Neil is happy to see that Marv Albert will be calling this Sunday’s Jets game on CBS.

In the New York Daily News, Bernie Augustine says Sunday’s MLS Cup on ESPN shown live Sunday nigh was beaten in the ratings by the taped English Premier League game on Fox.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Week 13 college football TV schedule.

Crissa Shoemaker Bree of the Philly Burbs newspapers says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and her company have signed a deal to exchange coverage on Philadelphia professional and high school sports coverage.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says the NFL Network is treating tomorrow’s San Francisco-Baltimore games as one of its biggest in its short history.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau is still a bit perturbed almost a year later on how HBO Sports portrayed Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma in the 24/7 series.

Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel has ESPN college football analyst Urban Meyer again denying reports that he’s signed a 7 year, $40 million contract to coach Ohio State. Whatever. We know he’s going to Columbus, it’s just a matter of time.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals have already announced that Sunday’s game against the Browns has been blacked out. Oof!

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

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News notes that the BYU-to-the Big East courtship is now dead with the school’s media contract with ESPN being the main sticking point.

Peter Johnson of the Great Falls (MT) Tribune says fans of Montana and Montana State are pleading with ESPN to put their Football Championship Subdivision playoff games on TV instead of on ESPN3.com.

Fritz Neighbor of the Missoula (MT) Missoulian says Montana Grizzlies fans are scrambling to find an internet feed of Saturday’s playoff game.

Meg James at the Los Angeles Times says ESPN has a new Skipper in charge of the network’s day-to-day operations.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your Thanksgiving weekend football schedule.

SoCal Tech reports that NFL Network has signed a deal with a tech company to provide news and game highlights to 12,000 gas pumps across the country.

Joshua Meyers of the Seattle Times blogs that Sounders announcer Arlo White might be a candidate to call MLS on NBC Sports Network next season.

Paul Gardner at Soccer America feels ESPN got rid of the wrong soccer announcer when it chose to drop John Harkes.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has last week’s sports TV ratings.

And I’ll end it there.

Back With The Friday Megalinks

Due to a crazy schedule for most of this week and then having a medical procedure done yesterday, I have not been able to blog like I’ve wanted to. Links have been scarce, but I’m available to do them now and hopefully, won’t be interrupted.

Your Weekend Viewing Picks have your sports and entertainment programming for Halloween weekend. Let’s get to the links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that Tim McCarver has been broadcasting for a very long time and reports that Ron Franklin makes a return to the broadcast booth next week.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that if the NBA loses an entire season, corporate partners Time Warner and Disney would take some hits in the short term, but see moderate profits in the long term.

Philiana Ng of the Reporter says Game 6 of the World Series dominated the primetime ratings on Thursday.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says DirecTV is crying foul to the FCC about Fox’s ad in their carriage dispute over several networks including FX, 19 Fox Sports Net affiliates, Fox Soccer and Speed.

George Winslow of B&C notes that NASCAR.com has developed the first app for Google TV.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Varsity will stream high school games for co-owned Cablevision subscribers.

Mike says last week’s bidding for US World Cup media rights doesn’t help FIFA’s corrupt reputation.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute delves into ESPN’s role in the college sports realignment game.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that baseball’s problems are magnified when a historic moment as in last night’s World Series Game 6 comes so late for East Coast viewers.

Ben Koo from Awful Announcing criticizes MLB.com for its silly policy of not allowing websites like mine to embed certain videos.

Awful Announcing gives praise to Joe Buck for his plagiarized call of David Freese’s walk off home run in last night’s Game 6 World Series.

Deadspin’s AJ Daulerio exchanged e-mails with Buck on his call.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes that a Dallas TV station jumped the gun in saying the Texas Rangers won the World Series last night.

Sports Video Group reports that CTV/TSN has won the Canadian rights to the FIFA World Cups from 2015 through 2022.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell explains why we’re suddenly closer to an NBA deal and a complete 82 game season.

Sports Media Watch writes about the World Series Game 6 ratings.

Dave Kohl in the Broadcast Booth looks at the reporting on Dan Wheldon’s death.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe looks at the World Series ratings vs.the NFL this season.

Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with Fox 25′s Kristine Leahy.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at MLB Network’s latest Bob Costas special with Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

Neil says ESPN2′s SportsNation will do an ode to LIVE with Regis and Kelly on Monday.

Over to the New York Post where Phil Mushnick is again filled with hatred.

Justin Terranova of the Post has 5 questions for Sirius XM MLB Network Radio co-host Jim Duquette.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Fox finally got a ratings payoff for the World Series.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest on the Baltimore-Washington, DC sports media.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner interviews the host of Bloomberg’s weekly “Sportfolio” program.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says former Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder gets the opportunity to talk about his former team twice a week on local sports radio.

Barry Horn at the Dallas Morning News writes that Game 6 of the World Series is now the most watched baseball game in the history of the Metroplex.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle says the Texans continue to top the local TV ratings.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes ESPNU will air a basketball fundraiser for the Joplin, MO tornado victims.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with local website owners who want businesses to help ensure the Bengals won’t be blocked out in the local market.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that viewers are the losers in the DirecTV/Fox carriage dispute.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tells us that Week 7′s Vikings-Packers game was the most watched TV program of last week, topping all network programming.

Bob notes that Milwaukee and surrounding towns are part of a rare TV marketplace where a significant amount of viewers still don’t have cable or satellite.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business notes that classic Bulls games will be aired on Comcast SportsNet during the winter.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar writes that Fox has hit the megaload with a long World Series.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that last week’s brawl with Arizona gave UCLA some TV time, but for the wrong reasons.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star says Christmas doesn’t need NBA games.

Jim notes that ESPN took a big hit when it lost the World Cup bidding to Fox.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News talks with ESPN’s College GameDay’s Lee Corso.

Tom talks with SoCal broadcaster Steve Physioc.

Tom says people are confused over the battlelines in the DirecTV/Fox carriage dispute.

Tom talks with Dan Patrick about the #occupygameday movement.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that CTV/TSN has wrested the World Cup rights away from CBC.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 6, 10/16/2011, All Times Eastern

NFL Coverage Maps

Blackouts: Cincinnati, Tampa-St. Petersburg

Byes: Arizona, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Seattle & Tennessee

NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
Fox NFL Sunday — Fox, noon

1 p.m.
CBS
Buffalo at New York Giants — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Indianapolis at Cincinnati — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Jacksonville at Pittsburgh — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

FOX
Carolina at Atlanta — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Drea Avent
Philadelphia at Washington — Sam Rosen/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin
San Francisco at Detroit — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
St. Louis at Green Bay — Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Jaime Maggio!!!

4:05 p.m.
CBS
Cleveland at Oakland — Marv Albert/Rich Gannon
Houston at Baltimore — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf

4:15 p.m.
FOX
Dallas at New England — Thom Brennaman/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
New Orleans at Tampa Bay — Ron Pitts/Jim Mora/Jennifer Hale

7 p.m.
Football Night in America — NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights — NFL Network

8:15 p.m.
NBC — Sunday Night Football
Minnesota at Chicago — Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya

midnight
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius XM Schedule
NFL RedZone

Doing Sunday Links

Well, the blog is blowing up thanks to my latest edition of the Five Women Who Can Make Me Stop The Remote. CNBC’s Darren Rovell linked to the post as Erin Sharoni of his show “CNBC SportsBiz: Game On” is on the list. That’s as good as when Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated puts a link in his “Hot Clicks”. The site will be busy for the rest of the day and that’s a very good thing.

Let’s do some links on this NFL Sunday.

Tim Malloy of Reuters reports that NHL Network has been taken off AT&T U-Verse systems.

Bill Gorman at TV by the Numbers writes that CBS won the Saturday primetime ratings over ABC in a battle of college football games.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid says a week after Fox apologized for making up newspaper headlines, TBS was apparently guilty of the same thing yesterday in its MLB Postseason coverage.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video of the son of the Texas Rangers fan who died going for a foul ball earlier this year throwing out the first pitch of Friday’s Rays-Rangers ALDS game.

In the National Football Post, NFL superagent Leigh Steinberg notes that the NFL’s TV ratings are as healthy as they’ve ever been.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post isn’t a fan of seeing Jay-Z having a role in the Brooklyn Nets.

Phil claims pornography has taken over CBS. Go home, Phil.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says TBS messed up not once, but twice during last night’s Tigers-Yankees ALDS game.

Pete says MSG Network has gone to Canada to tap a new host/reporter for its Islanders coverage.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun writes that the Charm City is ready for its closeup tonight on Sunday Night Football.

David says an interview of former Maryland coach Ralph Friedgent exposed him as a fraud.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that watching the NFL and tweeting is America’s newest obsession.

Stephen F. Holder of the St. Petersburg Times says Colts-Bucs game will be aired locally on Monday night as the team avoided a blackout.

Stephen teams up with Rick Stroud for a story on an emotional Jon Gruden returning to Raymond James Stadium for Monday night’s game.

Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune also writes about Gruden’s return to RayJay for the first time since joining ESPN.

The Orlando Sentinel has the Week 6 college football national TV schedule.

Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham (AL) News has a sneak preview of a new ESPN special on Auburn selecting its new starting quarterback.

David Knox of the News writes that Texas A&M won’t add much to the SEC as far as TV is concerned.

One more from the News, Jon Solomon wonders if the SEC is reconsidering establishing its own TV network.

Jason Munz and Alan Hinton of the Hattiesburg (MS) review Brett Favre’s TV debut on CSS last night.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with TBS MLB analyst Cal Ripken about former teammate and current Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington.

Barry says Joe Buck’s voice is coming back slowly, but surely.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman liked the FSN pay per view crew working the Ball State-Oklahoma game.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the average ratings for the Brewers for the regular season set a new record for the team.

Bob likes TBS analyst Joe Simpson on the Diamondbacks-Brewers LDS.

In the Capital Times (WI), Rob Hernandez talks with ESPN/ABC’s Brent Musburger.

The Idaho Statesman interviews Versus college football analyst Shaun King.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says Fox Sports is suing the Dodgers in an attempt to force an auction on the team’s media rights.

Tom Huddleston, Jr. of The American Lawyer Daily also looks at the Fox Sports lawsuit against the Dodgers.

The San Francisco Business Times notes that the Giants had their highest ratings ever on cable.

Sports Media Watch says the Fox NFL Week 3 doubleheader did well in the ratings.

SMW says the NFL on CBS is down this season to date.

SMW notes that the MLB on Fox averaged a record ratings low for the 3rd straight year.

And we’ll end it there for today. The Sunday NFL pregame quotage is next.

Cranking Out Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday linkage for you.

MLB Postseason starts up really in earnest with four games on Saturday. College Football in full swing and the NFL completes its first month of games on Sunday. Your Weekend Viewing Picks have everything you need to know in sports and primetime programming.

To the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Fox Sports’ NASCAR coverage will be known for having the Brothers Waltrip next year.

Mike Reynolds of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Turner Sports will be all over the League Division Series for the first four days of the MLB Postseason.

Adweek has a graphic showing how much time we spend on watching football.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that TBS and Fox should see good ratings for the MLB Postseason based on an exciting final night of the season on Wednesday.

Nelli Andreeva of Deadline reports that ESPN is developing an ABC sitcom based on Boston sports fans. That’s going to go over well.

Bill Hofheimer in ESPN’s Front Row blog talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden about calling a “home game” this Monday.

Jim Romanesko of the Poynter Institute looks at the despicable reaction of Buffalo Bills fans to a column written by a female sportswriter at the Albany Times Union.

Bob’s Blitz has video of WFAN’s Mike Francesa attempting to add on the air.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group looks at ESPN placing microphones on various players and coaches during the WNBA Finals.

Brandon chronicles a wild Wednesday night at MLB Network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the advantages or lack of thereof having a bigger payroll in MLB.

The Sports Biz Miss Kristi Dosh tells us that despite not making the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox still get a share of the postseason pie.

The Sports Media Watch looks at how the tumultuous Final Night of the MLB season led to a ratings bonanza for ESPN.

SMW says for the MLB season, ESPN’s ratings went up slightly.

SMW says TBS’ ratings for the MLB regular season were flat compared with last year.

Joe Favorito looks at how Dick Vitale has made himself into a viable brand.

The Daly Planet delves into the changes with the Fox Sports NASCAR crew.

The Influencer Economy has a look into Blogs with Balls 4 and the future of sports media.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn at the Boston Globe (this is the last day I’ll be able to link to Chad as his columns go behind the dreaded paywall starting October 1) writes about NESN viewers unable to see analyst Dennis Eckersley on the last day of the season.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy shares some blame in the Red Sox collapse.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS’ Brian Anderson who steps into the network’s lead spot for the MLB Postseason.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post has five questions for NBC Football Night in America analyst Rodney Harrison.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a new local sports talk show host isn’t spending any time discussing any local topics.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about local radio stations picking up MLB League Division Series games.

To the New Jersey Newsroom where Evan Weiner says the college conference shuffle is making fans roll their collective eyes.

In the Allentown (PA) Morning Call, Keith Groller writes that MLB will have a hard act to follow in the postseason after a compelling final night of the regular season.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet will be all over the Phillies in the MLB Postseason.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes that sections of the Baltimore Sun’s sports website will go behind the dreaded paywall.

South

The Florida Times-Union reports that the Jacksonville Jaguars have avoided a blackout for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints.

To the St. Petersburg Times where Tom Jones says Sun Sports got big ratings for the Tampa Bay Rays’ march to the playoffs this week.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that MLB Network was all over the twists and turns from the final night of the regular season.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has his news and notes.

Midewest

John Kieswetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a local CBS affiliate will provide halftime highlights during Bengals games at Paul Brown Stadium.

John writes that Saturday’s Cincinnati-Miami game will be seen live online and on local TV on tape delay.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Tigers TV voice Mario Impemba about the team’s chances of advancing in the MLB Postseason.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel speaks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson about getting the top gig for TBS for the playoffs.

Bob has a couple of quotes from CBS’ Phil Simms about Sunday’s Denver-Green Bay game.

To Crain’s Chicago Business and Ed Sherman who writes that Nebraska’s addition to the conference can only help the Big Ten Network.

Ed has his winners and losers in sports media and business.

In the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin, Paul Christian talks with former Minnesota coach Tim Brewster who’s now patrolling the sidelines for Gus Johnson and FX’s college football game of the week.

Jennifer Mann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been arrested on DUI charges for the second time this year.

Dan Caesar of the Post-Dispatch writes that Fox Sports Midwest has suspended McLaughlin indefinitely.

West

Bill Center in the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres expect to bring back its TV booth, but no word on the team’s radio announcers or new TV contract for next season.

The Union-Tribune says Sunday’s Chargers game against the Dolphins will be blacked out.

John Maffei of the North County Times says the Padres hope to have a new TV deal (with Fox Sports Net) in place by the New Year.

At the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle writes that Wednesday’s MLB season finale was Must See TV.

Jim says despite being on a losing team, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp is in the center of the MVP debate among TV analysts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Jenn Brown’s endorsement deal with GNC.

Tom says Bill Macdonald’s full-time days with Fox Sports West are over.

Tom looks at TBS’ coverage of the MLB Postseason.

Tom wonders why the NFL pulled back the 1st half Thursday Night Football package from the table.

Canada

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin says MLB got a shot in the arm on Wednesday.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog writes that TSN has locked up curling on TV in Canada through the end of the decade.

And that’s going to do it. I may have a few more links later tonight.

Some Late Thursday Afternoon Linkage

Came home a bit early from work so let me provide you with some linkage today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Marcus Allen will join Fox Sports Media Group’s coverage of college football.

Ryan Ballengee of Pro Golf Talk discusses the new 9 year deal signed between the PGA Tour and its TV partners.

Philiana Ng of the Hollywood Reporter also looks at the PGA Tour’s deal with CBS, NBC and Golf Channel.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says NFL RedZone has been picked up by a small cable provider.

Emma Bazilian reviews a new Burger King ad featuring UFC’s Anderson Silva lip syncing Minnie Ripperton’s “Lovin’ You” to shill a heart attack-waiting-to-happen.

Alex Weprin writes the final farewell for SportsNewser as it shut down for good on Wednesday.

Jason Dachman of the Sports Video Group notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and Philadelphia will have a decent schedule of college and high school football.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has video of UK Channel 4 host Otis Deley having trouble hosting the IAAF World Athletics Championships. This is why the BBC usually airs these events.

NESN says the always screaming Kevin Millar will be wired on the network during tonight’s Yankees-Red Sox game.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the sports cameos will be hot and heavy on HBO’s Entourage this Sunday.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the college football TV schedule for this weekend.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette notes that Time Warner Cable is back with high school football this weekend.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about Versus getting some new original programming starting next week.

Ken writes that an Army hockey game has been selected by CBS Sports Network.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun writes about radio reporter Jen Royle dropping her lawsuit against a local radio station.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the new PGA Tour rights deal with its TV partners.

Jim takes a look at the beginning of the college football season tonight.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals will be blacked out on NFL Network tonight, but they will be seen live locally.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about the PGA Tour keeping the status quo with its TV partners.

Bob says Big Ten Network sees Wisconsin doing well in the conference this football season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders what’s up with ESPN’s “Jim Rome is Burning” show.

Ed Tait from the Winnipeg Free Press says the Jets have signed a new 10 year deal with TSN for TV rights.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog reviews the Toronto media coverage of former Maple Leafs enforcer Wade Belak’s death.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some mid-week thoughts on what’s going on.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth doesn’t like Universities throwing their weight around on school newspapers.

Sports Media Watch says the NFL Preseason Week 3 didn’t bring as strong ratings as the last two weeks.

SMW has various ratings news and notes.

Awful Announcing has a new podcast with the great Timothy Burke from SportsGrid and Mocksession.

And I’ll end it there for now.

With the college football season kicking off, the College Football Viewing Picks return on Friday. And next week, we’ll have the NFL Viewing Picks so the schedule for viewing picks on Friday will be:

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks — 8 a.m.
College Football Viewing Picks — 9 a.m.
NFL Viewing Picks — 10 a.m.
Weekend Viewing Picks — 11 a.m.

You can look for that throughout the fall months.

Back With Monday Links

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

And SMW has more ratings news here.

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

And that is all for today.

A Quiet Wednesday Linkfest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting The Wednesday Linkage In

Let’s do the Wednesday links while I can. It’s going to get busy the next couple of days as I try to wrap things up for the 4th of July weekend so blogging may get sparse through the weekend. Just giving you a heads up.

Here are the links for this Wednesday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN is going all out for the Women’s World Cup whether we like it or not.

Karolos Grohmann of Reuters reports that General Electric has pledged to sponsor the Olympic Games through 2020 as part of the deal that kept the US media rights with NBC.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Tiger Woods has signed his first endorsement deal since his marital troubles began in November 2009.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL wants Congress to leave the silly TV blackout rules in place.

Tim Baysinger of B&C notes that Fox Soccer received its highest audience ever for last Saturday’s Gold Cup Final between the US and Mexico.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News notes the improved ratings for TNT halfway through its NASCAR season.

Mike also recaps the ESPN/espnW Women’s World Cup viewing party in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.

Mike discusses NBC Sports Group providing full coverage of the Tour de France.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi says the NBA playoffs steered TNT to a cable ratings win in the 2nd quarter of this year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek really likes DirecTV’s Football Cops ad starring Peyton and Eli Manning.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred provides a lesson on just who Grantland Rice was and why he’s so revered.

Robert Niles of the Online Journalism Review at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism looks at the limits of free speech citing ESPN’s Jemele Hill defending David Tyree’s anti-gay marriage stance.

SportsGrid has video of Charles Barkley visiting the Sportsnet One booth during last night’s Pittsburgh-Toronto game.

SportsGrid’s Glenn Davis wonders if ESPN’s Robert Flores was caught napping on the job today.

SportsNewser’s Cam Martin writes that video game producer EA Sports plans to build a new studio in Texas.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Nike’s CEO and President Charlie Denson on a myriad of sports business topics.

SportsbyBrooks is reporting that former Indiana and Texas A&M coach Bob Knight is preventing ESPN from hiring former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl as an analyst. I didn’t know coach Knight wielded that much power.

Andrew Gauthier of TV Spy notes the return of Len Berman to the Today Show this morning. And no one got hurt!

The lovely Kristi Dosh of the Business of College Sports explains how she got into the sports blogging business.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times reviews USA Network’s new football-based series.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Derek Jeter haters will like one new internet product that allows them to ignore the Yankees shortstop.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says tonight’s Red Sox-Phillies game originally scheduled for ESPN2 will now be seen on the ESPN mothership.

Ken says New York’s Capital Region will be blacked out on July 8 when Bob Costas and Al Michaels team up to call their first baseball game ever.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that NBC golf reporter Dottie Pepper reaches out to the community when she’s back home.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says handouts to sports owners are not a good thing.

John George of the Philadelphia Business Journal says MLB Network’s Mitch Williams will be seen on a DIY Network show.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog recaps a visit from consumer advocate Ralph Nader to the WaPo offices to discuss sports coverage and a new venture he’s helping to organize.

Graham Cawthorn of the Shelby (NC) Star looks at ESPN wanting to stream the American Legion World Series.

Danny Aller of the Albany (GA) Herald says Braves fans will finally be able to watch Peachtree TV games through the Fox Sports South affiliate.

Joel Hammond of Crain’s Cleveland Business says the Browns will launch a nightly radio show on the market’s dominant sports radio station.

Steve Brandt of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says local officials are denying that there’s a potential bid for the 2020 Olympics in the works.

The Syracuse (NE) Journal-Democrat reports that ESPN3 will stream all games of the American Legion World Series under a new four year contract.

Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times says former Chicago Sun-Times writer Jay Mariotti must stand trial on stalking and assault charges.

The Elk Grove (CA) Citizen notes that a local high school rejected ESPN’s request to air a football game this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about HBO hitting the ice once again next season.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on TNT’s ratings were up again this past weekend.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says viewership for the NHL Draft was up from last year.

The Big Lead wonders if NASCAR fired an in-house blogger for mentioning Kyle Busch’s marital problems.

That’s all for now.

Up For Thursday Links

Time for some linkage on this very warm Thursday. I hope you all take a moment and say a prayer for the people of Western Massachusetts who head to deal with tornadoes yesterday. Four people are confirmed dead. It was quite devastating to see last night. Let’s hope the area can recover quickly.

To your links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Shaquille O’Neal, who retired from the NBA after 19 seasons, would be a logical choice to become an NBA television analyst.

The Sporting News notes that ESPN is looking to hire O’Neal.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has a profile on NBC’s NHL voice Mike “Doc” Emrick.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to the NBA Playoffs, TNT had the best ratings month in cable TV history.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS News will not apologize and stands by its 60 Minutes report on cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Michael Malone of B&C says the NBC Sports Group will be all over rugby this weekend.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that ESPN3D plans to air The Championship Wimbledon in the third dimension.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says NBC Sports gets an EPIC FAIL for airing a promo stating the Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Stanley Cup Final.

Noah Davis of The Business Insider Sports Page notes the national debut of a Wall Street Journal sports columnist.

Noah has the complete roster of writers who will staff Captain Blowhard’s Grantland.

Dan Fogarty in SportsGrid says Captain Blowhard has finally set an official launch date for the pretentiously-titled Grantland site.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group talks about 3-D TV stepping up at The Masters.

Ted Miller of ESPN.com says the Pac-12 has made announcements on seven nationally televised games.

Bill Hofhemier at ESPN’s Front Row discusses how ESPN’s award-winning World Cup production team is back together again for the Women’s World Cup.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first athletes to embrace social media.

Darren says Shaq’s retirement video gave an internet start-up a huge boost in more ways than one.

Darren talks with the men who marketed Shaquille O’Neal.

Martin Pave of the Boston Globe profiles the the Emmy Award-winning director of ESPN’s “Fab Five” documentary who has local ties.

Jessica Van Sack of the Boston Herald says fans don’t have to watch TV to follow the NHL.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir feels NBC needs a better way to air the French Open men’s semifinals.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that WFAN’s Mike Francesa is not just doing well without partner Chris Russo, he’s flourishing.

Neil has his entire interview with Francesa in his blog.

Neil talks with ESPN Radio New York’s Michael Kay who one day hopes to beat Francesa in the ratings.

Neil also has the ratings breakdown between WFAN and ESPN Radio New York for afternoon drive.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says tennis great Chris Evert is returning to TV as an analyst for ESPN2′s Wimbledon coverage.

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer says Rugby 7′s will get network TV exposure this weekend.

John George in the Philadelphia Business Journal says Comcast SportsNet will air a local bike race in HD.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the UEFA Champions League Final outrated Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in DC.

Dan finds out why ESPN Radio DC slapped a 24 hour waiting period on publishing podcasts.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner explains that DC had the highest ratings for the Champions League finale.

Jim says NBC received the best NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 1 overnight ratings in a dozen years.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald says the NBA Finals are drawing viewers both nationally and locally.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says Magic star Gilbert Arenas has returned to Twitter with often humorous results.

Chuck Goldberg of the Alabama Newspapers notes that Auburn will get early starts for its first three football games of the season.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News notes that Miami outrated Dallas for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with two-time Olympic softball player Michele Smith about the Women’s College World Series which begins on ESPN2 tonight.

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports that Fox Sports Indiana and the Pacers have dropped pregame show host Stacy Paetz effective immediately.

Kevin Kane of the Southside (IN) Times wonders when organizers will lift the local blackout on the Indianapolis 500.

Bob Wolfeley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Suds City topped all markets watching the Indianapolis 500.

At the Iowa City Gazette, Scott Dochterman writes that Fox plans to give the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game the Big Event treatment.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News gets the nitty gritty on why Vin Scully’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was covered and mistreated.

Dian Pucin of the Los Angeles Times instructs West Coast viewers on how to watch tomorrow’s French Open men’s semifinal live.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail explores the media’s handling of the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg story.

At Deadspin, A.J. Daulerio chronicles how ESPN.com’s Grantland site pursued and then later had misgivings about hiring site writer Tommy Craggs.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing tries to make sense of the whole thing.

Sports Media Watch says ABC had the most watched NBA Finals game since 2004.

And that will end the links for today.

Sneaking In Some Saturday Linkage

I have the opportunity to do some linkage on this Saturday so let’s take advantage of this.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Fox has to be happy to have a dream matchup in today’s UEFA Champions League Final.

Sofia M. Fernandez of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Indianapolis 500 has plenty of celebrity star power this weekend.

Brad Biggs in the National Football Post reports that a non-profit sports fan organization is appealing to the FCC to end all sports blackouts including NFL games.

The Big Lead notes that Captain Blowhard has poached a New York Times writer for his ESPN-backed Grantland site.

Sean Leahy at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that popular Canadian chain Boston Pizza is changing its name for the duration of the Stanley Cup Final.

Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News says Sabres fans are lucky to still have voice Rick Jenneret around for next season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that frequent Gilbert Arenas critic Tony Kornheiser is quite similar to him in one very particular way.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says like them or not, the Miami Heat are jacking up the NBA’s TV ratings.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has confided to ESPN Radio’s Dr. Jack Ramsey that he feels Rick Carlisle is outcoaching opponents.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune says a last minute deal placed the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship on Big Ten Network.

Kristena Hansen in the Arizona Republic notes that a Fox Sports Grill in Scottsdale is changing its name citing poor business.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog wonders if the city could support an all-sports daily newspaper.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN has signed a new six year deal to air the French Open in the Great White North.

Sports Media Watch looks at the ratings for the NBA Conference Finals dating back to 2002.

SMW says NBA TV and TNT analyst Kevin McHale is apparently heading back to coaching.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL Western Conference Final averaged less than a million viewers for the entire series.

Joe Favorito notes that lacrosse is seeing increased interest, but it will still take some time to grow the game.

Bike World News says Fox Sports Net will air the Tour of Utah cycling road race in August.

And that’s where I’ll end it today. I could do some press release posts later.

The Fifth Fang’s Bites Mailbag

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

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

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

Now to your questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hi, Ken!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hi Lefty. Your guess is as good as mine.

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

Doling Out Tuesday Linkage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And Alex Weprin of SportsNewser talks with ESPN personality Stephen A. (A is for Angry) Smith.

Bill Mann of Marketwatch.com says the NBC/Versus deal with the NHL will have a ripple effect in Canada.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group looks at NFL Network’s production preparation for the NFL Draft.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says all Judge Susan Nelson did in overturning the NFL lockout was to lead to massive confusion among the league and the players.

The Boston Globe notes that local athletic shoe company, Saucony is launching a new ad campaign that will air on ESPN and other sports networks starting this week.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch profiles local resident and ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Draft programming for both ESPN and NFL Network.

Pete says the New York Knicks delivered killer ratings for both ABC and MSG Network.

Pete has the updated NBA Playoffs TV schedule.

From the New Jersey Press, David P. Willis looks at the new Cablevision iPad app which allows subscribers to watch TV programs on their Apple tablets.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner wonders why politicians aren’t speaking out against the NFL lockout.

Zach Berman from the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger has five questions for NFL Network Draft guru Mike Mayock.

Mike Jensen from the Philadelphia Inquirer profiles native Mike Mayock of NFL Network.

Joseph Santoliquito of the Marple Newtown (PA) Patch profiles Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia host Michael Barkann who is a longtime resident of the community.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that former DC NFL Team executive Vinny Cerrato will now co-host a nightly radio show in Baltimore.

The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal reports that the local ESPN Radio affiliate will pick up high school football games this fall.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that TNT’s Mike Fratello got the job done during last night’s Denver-Oklahoma City NBA playoff game.

Bill Haisten from the Tulsa (OK) World says local native Dari Nowkhah of ESPN almost quit TV for teaching until a sudden call from Bristol, CT came his way.

Jamie Samuelsen in the Detroit Free Press says Matt Millen should expect a less-than-warm welcome to Ford Field when he makes his first return there with the Monday Night Football crew this fall.

Robert Snell of the Free Press says NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk owes the IRS a big chunk of change.

Cole Manbeck of the Manhattan (KS) Mercury says Kansas State is expecting a huge cash payment from the new Fox/Big 12 TV deal.

Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Journal-Review says baseball fans in town are fed up of being blacked out of six teams that claim the market as their territory.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog goes after Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail for not doing his homework.

Sports Media Watch notes that NBA ratings in Boston and Chicago are way up from last year.

SMW also looks at the local NHL ratings in various markets.

And SMW has some more NHL ratings for us.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for nights 9 and 10 of the NHL Playoffs on Versus.

And I think we’re done now. Back to work now.

Cranking Out Some Saturday Links

Let’s do some linkage. I couldn’t get to them yesterday as I was racing in between two offices and by the time I got home, I wasn’t in the mood to sift through media links. I’ll do some now and include some Friday stories.

First, USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at the old ABC’s Wide World of Sports getting some attention from ESPN next week.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal explores the battle over the Los Angeles Dodgers’ media rights between two big media giants.

Ronald Grover and Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg News says the Dodgers’ agreement with Fox for the team’s rights must be approved by MLB.

Stu Hackel of Sports Illustrated says the NHL deal with NBC Sports Group is a win-win for both parties and for fans.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Network is seeing high ratings for the New York Rangers.

Mike notes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago garnered record ratings for both the Bulls and Blackhawks on Thursday.

Mike says the soon-to-be renamed Versus will really be known as the Home of the NHL under the new NBC Sports Group contract with the league.

Mike reports that on Monday, an FCC Administrative Law Judge will hear the case of Tennis Channel’s carriage complaint against Comcast.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred remembers a Virginia sportswriter who gave it all for his paper and his love of Duke basketball.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser notes that the agent of former New York Football Giants running back Tiki Barber knew his media career was doomed from almost the beginning.

Dashiell Bennett at the Business Insider Sports Page has Josh Elliot’s emotional farewell to SportsCenter. Josh heads to become the news reader on Good Morning America.

Cork Gaines of the Business Insider explains why MLB won’t repeal its silly and archaic blackout rules.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Ticketmaster’s CEO about bringing dynamic pricing into ticket sales.

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe speaks with Friend of Fang’s Bites Tina Cervasio of MSG Network and Chad also reviews the ratings of the two local sports radio stations.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wonders if the NHL should have taken less money to get on ESPN.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com takes a look at the Baltimore Orioles’ TV ratings as well as other Baltimore-DC sports media news.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner writes that there will be plenty of coverage for Rangers-Caps today.

Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times says Navy jumped at the chance to air its spring football game on CBS Sports Network today.

Dave Poe of the Parkersburg (WV) News and Sentinel notes that ESPN will pick up the annual “Coal Bowl” matchup.

Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer says the college football game formerly known as the “Meineke Car Care Bowl” will get a new sponsor this year.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald says ESPN is streamlining its NFL Draft coverage next week.

Creg Stephenson of the Mississippi Press says local Atlanta Braves fans after being able to watch TBS for years, are now scrambling for ways to watch games.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has some sports media news and notes.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local sports radio host is leaving the area for a new opportunity elsewhere.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that former Reds shortstop and current ESPN analyst Barry Larkin could make his way into the team’s broadcast booth in the future.

John also talks with Barry who jumped ship from MLB Network to ESPN’s Baseball Tonight this season.

Rob Oller at the Columbus Dispatch says TV has changed the spring college football game into big business.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Bucks’ TV ratings fell this season.

Bob says giving Bill Parcells his own pre-NFL Draft show on ESPN could lead to some good television.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says despite having throat ailment, Joe Buck continues to call MLB games for Fox.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says it appears likely that Cox Cable won’t be airing Padres games after this season.

John Maffei of the North County Times reports that Fox Sports Net appears to have won the Padres’ TV rights although nothing is official.

John says the NFL lockout has put the Draft into an bigger spotlight.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star is not a fan of the NFL Draft.

Jim talks about the NHL landing big money in its new TV contract.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times looks at Fox and Time Warner Cable fighting over the Dodgers’ media rights.

Diane Pucin of the Times goes into detail on Fox’s personal $30 million loan to Dodgers owner Frank McCourt that led MLB to take control of the team.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says ESPN’s Jon Gruden is showing himself to be a deft developer of young quarterbacks.

Tom goes over the week in sports media.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that those bidding for the US rights to the NHL took losing Phoenix into account.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore has the most watched NHL Playoff games on Versus through the first week of play.

And that’s going to do it for links today. I might be back with some press release posts throughout the day.

Springing Out The Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide the links on this very Spring-like Thursday. The sun is out in Southern New England after the April showers of this week. Nice to see the skies bright instead of being gray and drab as like the last few days.

We begin with Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute writing in her role as ESPN Ombudsman. She says the new ESPN guidelines on endorsements are a good start, but still don’t go far enough.

Sofia M. Fernandez from the Hollywood Reporter says despite a $30 million loan from Fox and hopes of a 20 year contract with Fox Sports Net to solve money troubles, Major League Baseball still stepped in and took over control of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

TMZ reports that Fox is not interested in repurchasing the Dodgers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says despite MLB taking over the Dodgers, we haven’t heard the last from owner Frank McCourt.

Darren wonders if Major League Baseball is having an attendance problem.

Darren finds in what sports Americans like to participate.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says World Fishing Network has struck a deal with the National Cable TV Cooperative.

David Kiefaber of Adweek looks at a new outdoor ad campaign featuring Mike Tyson. Yes, Mike Tyson.

Carolyn Braff of Sports Video Group says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia was kept on its toes last Saturday as it had to scramble through weather issues to cover four teams.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser has the latest addition to the ESPN.com/Captain Blowhard project.

At ESPN Front Row, Kevin Ota explains how ESPN wants to make the digital media experience more personal for users.

Michael S. Schmidt and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times take a look at MLB taking control of the Dodgers.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer explores Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s move to produce live sportscasts for NBC’s KNTV and if it could happen in Philly.

Frank Seravalli of the Inquirer says the NHL and NBC could very well choose the Flyers for the Winter Classic on January 2, 2012.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has the radio call of last night’s game winning goal in the 2nd overtime of Game 4 of Caps-Rangers.

The Naples (FL) Daily News says a minor league baseball team will have selected games on the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from ESPN’s Jon Gruden about the NFL Draft and yes, there are several “this guy” references.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that today’s Arizona-Reds game will be aired on MLB Network, but there’s one interesting caveat.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also has some thoughts from Gruden about a Wisconsin draft prospect.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says tonight is going to be a big night for the local Comcast SportsNet affiliate.

The Reno (NV) Gazette Journal notes that ESPN2′s Friday Night Boxing series is coming to town.

In the Tucson (AZ) Citizen, Victor Rodriguez talks with NBC’s Andrea Kremer about covering the NFL in the locker room.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times couldn’t be happier to see MLB step in and take control of the Dodgers away from Frank McCourt.

Bill Shakin of the Times writes that the Dodgers could be in legal limbo for the foreseeable future.

The Los Angeles Daily News has a timeline of the tumultuous McCourt ownership of the Dodgers.

Alan Brettman of The Oregonian says unlike ESPN, other TV networks are not publishing a list of endorsement deals by their announcers.

Ferd Lewis at the Honolulu Advertiser says ESPN’s networks will air three Hawaii football games this fall.

Ferd says Hawaiians don’t understand why they’re being blacked out of San Francisco Giants games.

Julie DiCaro from Aerys Sports says MLB continues to drop the ball when it comes to catering to female fans.

Terrence Henderson from the T Dog Media Blog looks at the NBC Sports Group deal with the NHL.

Sports Media Watch says MLB on Fox’s ratings are up for the first two weeks of the season.

SMW says NASCAR on Fox’s ratings for the last two races are a mixed bag.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says last night in the NHL was made for the new NBC/Versus deal, but we won’t see it until next year.

Steve also has five suggestions to make the Black Friday NHL game on NBC into a special event.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jason Clinkscales of A Sports Scribe talks about starting up a new podcast and another Friend of Fang’s Bites will be his guest.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing lists the Top 13 Craziest calls by NESN’s Jack Edwards.

And we’re done for today with the links.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 16

All Times Eastern

Coverage Maps Courtesy of the506.com

Blackouts: Cincinnati, Oakland, Tampa-St. Petersburg

Fox NFL Sunday – Fox, noon

1 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Baltimore at Cleveland – Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts
New England at Buffalo – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
New York Jets at Chicago – Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Tennessee at Kansas City – Bill Macatee/Rich Gannon

Fox Coverage Map
Detroit at Miami – Dick Stockton/Charles Davis/Laura Okmin
San Francisco at St. Louis – Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
Washington at Jacksonville – Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan/Nischelle Turner

4:05 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Houston at Denver – Don Criqui/Steve Beuerlein
Indianapolis at Oakland – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
San Diego at Cincinnati – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker

4:15 p.m.
Fox Coverage Map
New York Giants at Green Bay – Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
Seattle at Tampa Bay – Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Chris Myers

7 p.m.
Football Night in America – NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Final – NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Assignments
XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

NFL RedZone

Minnesota-Philadelphia now postponed until Tuesday, 8 p.m. on NBC

More Wednesday Links

Ok, got interrupted today, but let’s finish up the linkage for this mid-week. Lots of good stuff out there.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy catches up with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to discuss the Winter Classic and the league’s TV rights.

Sports Business Journal lists some of the best sports tweets from athletes and journalists.

Sports Business Daily has Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson criticizing the NBA for scheduling five games on Christmas Day and has a roundup of other media reaction to two other league’s handling of the Holy Day.

Rachel Cohen from the Associated Press talks about the increased ratings for the NBA, even taking out the ratings for the Miami Heat.

Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk also discusses the higher NBA TV numbers.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans from the St. Petersburg Times shares his thoughts on what could and should happen in the sports media in 2011.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl on ESPN beat the UConn women on ESPN2 in the overnight ratings last night.

John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable says the NBC-Comcast deal will not be voted on by the FCC before year’s end disappointing both parties.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says cable and satellite providers are happy to learn that pay per view darling Manny Pacquaio will have another fight in May.

Lucia Moses of Mediaweek says Time, Inc. is splitting its combined News & Sports Group into two different entities.

All Access says all-around sports charlatan Max Kellerman will join ESPN Radio’s Los Angeles affiliate after the New Year.

Joseph Tartakoff of paidContent notes that Bleacher Report raised another $10.5 million of capital. 

To Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy and a look at the NHL’s trailer for the Winter Classic.

Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk is crowing about a new iPhone app. 

Nick Caito of the Hartford Courant reports that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is petitioning the NFL, Fox Sports and ESPN to not black out the Constitution State for New York Giants as it was last week for the G-Men/Vikings game.

The Waterbury (CT) Republican-American says the UConn women got decent ratings for ESPN2, but still did not reach a record for women’s college basketball.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg wonders which Capitals fan started the “We Want Pittsburgh” chant. 

Jim Williams with the Washington Examiner notes that DC and Baltimore had the NFL rank #1 in the local ratings once again.

To the South Florida Sun Sentinel where Sarah Talalay tells us that the latest edition of the LeBron James shoe will be unveiled on Christmas Day.

Sun Sports helped to give an Orlando military newlywed couple a treat during halftime at the Magic game on Tuesday. Thanks to the Orlando Sentinel for the link.

Tommy Hicks from the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says the locally-based GoDaddy.com Bowl has renewed its rights agreement with ESPN.

Shannon Owens of the Sentinel looks at DirecTV possibly dropping Golf Channel by year’s end. 

Kyle Veazey of the Clarion (MS) Ledger looks at three state teams playing in holiday basketball tournaments this week that are all owned by ESPN.

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune says the Cubs and WGN-AM will begin the search to replace late radio analyst Ron Santo.

Debbie Goffa of the Los Angeles Times writes that NHL Network will be all over the IIHF World Junior Championships starting this weekend.

Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer talks about FSN Northwest undergoing a name change in the Spring.

Bruce Dowbiggin with the Toronto Globe and Mail says Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson makes his job harder by being confrontational with beat reporters.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jason Clinkscales of A Sports Scribe explains how he made his national television debut on the “C’mon, Man” segment on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.

My former TV partner-in-crime Johnny Crowe at The Crowe’s Nest lists his top five announcers in various sports.

Paulsen at the Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes. 

SMW says TNT’s NBA ratings are on the up-and-up.

And Paulsen says CBS had a slight drop for its Week 15 NFL late Sunday game.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs talks about the NBA smorgasbord of games on Christmas Day.

We’re finally done with the linkage.

Time For A Tuesday Link Thing

Let’s do some linkage while I can.

We’ll start with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who looks at the NFL ratings from Sunday.

Kevin Allen of the Nation’s Newspaper takes a look at some of the players who got the HBO spotlight on 24/7 Penguins/Capitals to see how they’re doing since the show started airing.

Speaking of 24/7, Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy speaks with NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood about the NHL Winter Classic.

From Sports Business Journal, John Ourand provides his sports media predictions for 2011. 

David Goetzl from MediaPost says ESPN’s popular ScoreCenter mobile app is now moving to internet-enabled TV’s.

Mike Shields at Mediaweek says ScoreCenter will be on one particular line of internet-enabled TV’s. 

Andrea Domanick of Broadcasting & Cable says two CBS Sports public relations staffers have been promoted. And congrats to Jennifer Sabatelle and Jerry Caraccioli, both well deserved and two people who have been very nice to me since I began receiving press releases from CBS.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow will be endorsing a sports energy drink, but not the one you’re thinking of.

The constantly angry Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says Mike Francesa was a Giants apologist on Sunday.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about the NBA scheduling the New York Knicks in the noon Eastern time game on Christmas Day.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Week 16 TV schedule for New York’s Capital Region.

To the Washington Post and Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog… Dan tells us how outgoing Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen named his blog.

Steven Overly of the Post talks about SB Nation’s collection of blogs and the company’s philosophy on reporting. 

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the local CBS affiliate has already given up on airing this Sunday’s Bengals game.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has some books you should read.

Consider this part one of the links. I’ll be back later with more links. Keep your feeds updated.

Some Frakking Linkage

Ok, I’ve been accumulating links when I finally got ready to provide them for you and I have enough that it’s time to bring them to you now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand goes into two sports specials which are Pittsburgh-heavy.

Austin Karp at Sports Business Daily notes that for the more part, college football ratings were down this season. 

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry feels ESPN failed to find Cam Newton’s flaws during the Heisman Trophy presentation. 

Fanhouse’s Milton Kent says the star of tonight’s MLB Network rebroadcast of Game 7 from the 1960 World Series is the restored Kinescope that was recently found in Bing Crosby’s archives.

Rupal Parekh of Advertising Age writes that Pizza Hut will make its first Super Bowl ad.

David Goetzl of Mediapost says for NBC to retain the Olympics, new owners Comcast have to show that they love the games just as much as or more than previous owner General Electric.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk notes that NBC garnered record ratings for Sunday night’s Eagles-Cowboys game.

Noah Davis at SportsNewser notices that ESPN is a featured player in Sports Illustrated’s annual Year in Sports Media issue.

Andrew Wallenstein of paidContent says ESPN is refuting a study that shows as many people watch programs online as they do on TV.

In the Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner reports that a rabbi is suing ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel for using his YouTube video without permission in a comedy bit about LeBron James.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News writes that Best Buy is seeing poor sales for 3-D TV sets.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine says the NFL appears to be on its way to setting a record Super Bowl viewership.

The Hartford Business Journal reports that ESPN will be donating $5 million to a development project. 

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at MLB Network’s reairing of the deciding game of the 1960 World Series.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says expect plenty of swearing in tonight’s premiere of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner speaks with HBO Sports head honcho Ross Greenburg about the 24/7 series on the Penguins and Capitals.

The Florida Times-Union’s Gary Smits notes that the Gator Bowl has a new sponsor.

Sarah Talalay at the South Florida Sun Sentinel says the history of South Florida sports dating back to 1966 is the subject of a new documentary.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the local CBS affiliate is already making alternative plans for Sunday not confident that the Bengals will sell out by Thursday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NFL TV audiences are growing by leaps and bounds.

Bob tells us that fans do not like the new Division names in the Big 10.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business delves into why “Legends” and “Leaders” were chosen for Big 10 division names instead of “East” and “West” or “North” and “South”.

Phil Rosenthal at the Chicago Tribune says Comcast SportsNet has given an expanded role to one of its hosts.

Chris Dignan of Chicago Now feels with increased coverage of Michael Vick, ESPN should increase its coverage of dogs.

The San Diego Union-Tribune notes that the Chargers avoided a blackout for Thursday night’s game against the 49ers.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Canada is harping on a molehill about the Winter Olympics opening ceremony instead of another issue.

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch lists his Worst of Sports Media 2010.

Paulsen has the Weekend Overnight ratings as well.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has a producer of the HBO series 24/7 Penguins/Capitals talk about the swearing in tonight’s episode.

We’re going to end it there.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 13

All Times Eastern

Coverage Maps Courtesy of the506.com

Blackouts: Cincinnati & Tampa Bay

Fox NFL Sunday, noon

1 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Buffalo at Minnesota – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Cleveland at Miami – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
Denver at Kansas City – Ian Eagle/Rich Gannon
Jacksonville at Tennessee – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker

Fox Coverage Map
Chicago at Detroit – Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan/Jennifer Hammond
New Orleans at Cincinnati – Ron Pitts/John Lynch
San Francisco at Green Bay – Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Charissa Thompson!!!
Washington at New York Giants – Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa

4:05 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Oakland at San Diego – Jim Nantz/Dan Fouts

4:15 p.m.
Fox Coverage Map
Atlanta at Tampa Bay – Dick Stockton/Charles Davis/Laura Okmin
Carolina at Seattle – Chris Rose/Ross Tucker/Jaime Maggio
Dallas at Indianapolis – Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
St. Louis at Arizona – Chris Myers/Kurt Warner/Nischelle Turner

7 p.m.
Football Night in America – NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights – NFL Network

8:20 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Baltimore – NBC, Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer

midnight
NFL GameDay Final – NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Assignments
XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

NFL RedZone

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 10

All Times Eastern

Coverage Maps Courtesy of the506.com

Blackouts: Buffalo, Tampa Bay

Byes: Green Bay, New Orleans, Oakland and San Diego

Fox NFL Sunday – noon

1 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Cincinnati at Indianapolis – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
Houston at Jacksonville – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker
New York Jets at Cleveland – Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Tennessee at Miami – Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

Fox Coverage Map
Carolina at Tampa Bay – Dick Stockton/Charles Davis/Jim Mora, Jr./Laura Okmin
Detroit at Buffalo – Ron Pitts/John Lynch/Charissa Thompson!!!
Minnesota at Chicago – Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa

4:05 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Kansas City at Denver – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots

4:15 p.m.
Fox Coverage Map
Dallas at New York Giants – Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
Seattle at Arizona – Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Nischelle Turner
St. Louis at San Francisco – Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan/Chris Myers

7 p.m.
Football Night in America – NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL Gameday Highlights – NFL Network

8:20 p.m.
New England at Pittsburgh – NBC, Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer

midnight
NFL Gameday Final – NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Assignments
XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

NFL RedZone

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 7

All Times Eastern

NFL Coverage Maps Courtesy of the506.com

Blackouts: Tampa Bay

Byes: Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, New York Jets

Fox NFL Sunday – Fox, noon

1 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Buffalo at Baltimore – Don Criqui/Steve Beuerlein
Cincinnati at Atlanta – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker
Cleveland at New Orleans – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Jacksonville at Kansas City – Bill Macatee/Rich Gannon
Pittsburgh at Miami – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf

Fox Coverage Map
Philadelphia at Tennessee – Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
San Francisco at Carolina – Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan/Nischelle Turner
St. Louis at Tampa Bay – Dick Stockton/Charles Davis/Larua Okmin
Washington at Chicago – Thom Brennaman/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver

4:05 p.m.
Fox Coverage Map
Arizona at Seattle – Chris Myers/Brian Billick/Charissa Thompson!!!

4:15 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
New England at San Diego – Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Oakland at Denver – Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

7 p.m.
Football Night in America – NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL Gameday Highlights – NFL Network

8:15 p.m.
Minnesota at Green Bay – NBC, Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer

midnight
NFL Gameday Final – NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

NFL RedZone

Monday’s Links Wrapped In A Nice Bow For You

Let’s do your links on this Monday.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says MLB’s League Championship Series are in a position to do well in the ratings although last night, Sunday Night Football on NBC beat NLCS Game 2 on Fox quite handily.

Here’s big news. Nat Worden of Dow Jones Newswires reports that next Monday’s New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game will be streamed live as part of the new “TV Everywhere” service for Time Warner Cable customers only.

Adam Satariano and Andy Fixmer of Business Week report ESPN will start streaming some of its programming online for Time Warner Cable customers next week.

Jonathan Ratner of the Financial Post writes that ESPN’s content deal with Time Warner Cable could be the model for other networks and end carriage disputes altogether.

Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal writes that NASCAR’s Chief Marketing Officer will be showcased in an episode of CBS’ Undercover Boss.

Tripp and John Ourand team up for a story on how ESPN and NASCAR are befuddled over the precipitous ratings drop for the sport this year.

Sports Business Daily says the NFL has created a group to look at ways to battle blackouts.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry says newspaper sports departments are actually digital innovators.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Brett Favre’s Wrangler Jeans ads were pulled from NFL game broadcasts, but still aired on other programming.

Katy Bachman of Mediaweek writes about the Cablevision/Fox dispute which is now in its third day.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine has a story on Sunday Night Football taking down the National League Championship Series last night.

Toni also looks at the Cablevision/Fox dispute.

Kelly Riddell of Bloomberg says Cablevision and Fox are set to get back to the negotiating table today.

David Carr of the New York Times delves into the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger story and doesn’t like what he sees. Carr also doesn’t name Sterger in the story, but we know who he’s talking about.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post says Fox left out some noticeable items during Game 1 of the NLCS.

Bobby Cassidy of Newsday reviews ESPN’s 30 for 30 film on the late NASCAR driver Tim Richmond.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette remembers a local TV sports anchor, Bob McNamara, who passed away over the weekend.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union also remembers McNamara and an incident that led him to leave TV altogether.

Mark McGuire at the Times Union writes the obituary. 

The anchor’s former station, WNYT in Albany has a story on his passing.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times would like the Philly ESPN Radio affiliate to pick up more national programming. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that Sunday Night Football had a very strong local and national rating last night.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says yesterday’s blackout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was truly disappointing.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Dan Patrick about his show which will be picked up on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet affiliates across the country starting next week.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post was not impressed with Fox College Sports’ production of Baylor-Colorado on Saturday. 

Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the NFL is fighting a losing battle with blackouts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the week’s sports calendar for Southern California.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Blue Jays catcher Greg Zaun is going to make for a very good analyst.

Sports Media Watch says Fox Sports received decent ratings for the NLCS, but not great.

SMW says CBS’ NFL ratings outdrew last night’s Sunday Night Football game.

Actor and director Ed Burns talks about his new movie on sports talk radio.

Ok, let’s end it here. I’ve been working on the links for three hours. I need to do some work.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 6

All Times Eastern

TV Coverage Maps Courtesy of The506.com

Blackouts: Tampa-St. Petersburg

Byes: Arizona, Buffalo, Carolina, Cincinnati

The NFL Today – noon

1 p.m.
CBS Coverage Map
Baltimore at New England – Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Cleveland at Pittsburgh – Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Kansas City at Houston – Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker
Miami at Green Bay – Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts
San Diego at St. Louis – Don Criqui/Steve Beuerlein

Fox Coverage Map
Atlanta at Philadelphia – Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
Detroit at New York Giants – Dick Stockton/Charles Davis/Laura Okmin
New Orleans at Tampa Bay – Sam Rosen/Tim Ryan/Nischelle Turner
Seattle at Chicago – Chris Myers/Brian Billick/Charissa Thompson!!!

4:05 p.m.

CBS Coverage Map
New York Jets at Denver – Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
Oakland at San Francisco – Bill Macatee/Rich Gannon

4:15 p.m.
Fox Coverage Map
Dallas at Minnesota – Thom Brennaman/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver

7 p.m.
Football Night in America – NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL Gameday Highlights – NFL Network

8:15 p.m.
Indianapolis at Washington – NBC, Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer

midnight
NFL Gameday Final – NFL Network

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Assignments
XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

NFL RedZone

Some Quick Mid-Week Linkage

I’m at a FedEx office in Cambridge, MA using its free wi-fi and taking every advantage of its LapNet Station. I could go all out and start using the copiers and printers, but free wi-fi is enough for me. I’m a happy blogger when I can connect from outside the office. It means you deserve some linkage. Let’s get started.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy has TNT’s Charles Barkley defending Brett Favre saying the media is a bunch of jackals. Chuck may be right about that, but he’s wrong about Favre not doing anything wrong.

Sean Leahy in USA Today’s The Huddle blog has ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. denying that he’s too close with certain agents. This week’s Sports Illustrated has a story of a former NFL agent who contended that Mel Kiper was used to help attract potential clients. That story is a must read. Tremendous stuff in the article.

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk says ESPN is now looking into Kiper’s relationship with agents as a result of the SI article.

Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal also talks about the ESPN investigation into Mel Kiper, Jr.

The Nielsen ratings Wire blog notes that the NFL is tops in commercial viewing for the first week of the 2010-11 TV season. 

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says ESPN didn’t measure up to covering the surroundings of the Vikings-Jets game.

Jelisa Castrodale at NBC Sports says Jenn Sterger has become a hot topic for some very strange reasons. 

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says ESPN’s Monday Night Football matchup received the 6th highest audience in US cable TV history. 6th!

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine says the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger saga helped to give Monday Night Football a big ratings spike.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says the recently unearthed TV broadcast of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series will air on MLB Network later this year.

Richard talks with the author of a new biography on Mickey Mantle.

Newsday’s Neil Best delves into the unique arrangement between the New York Islanders and Hofstra University’s student-run radio station.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says the NHL Network will be airing American Hockey League games this season.

The Tampa Tribune reports that the Buccaneers game with the defending Super Bowl Champions Saints this Sunday is blacked out.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says thanks to the Reds playoff run, WLW-AM topped the local radio ratings.

From the Indianapolis Star, Bob Kravitz says his journalism students believe the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger story is truly news. 

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says the Blackhawks banner raising ceremony will be reaired tonight on Comcast SportsNet.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Rogers Sportsnet is using a novel concept to talk about the NHL teams they cover.

We’ll end there for now. I’ll be back later with more linkage.

More Thursday Linkage

Ok, lets provide some more linkage. Crazy day today.

Well, the long-awaited Brett Favre schlong pics are out including those voicemails to Jenn Sterger that may or may not have come from the quarterback. Deadspin has them all and you can decide whether they come from Favre or a very good impersonator. Just be careful if you’re at work.

Sean Leahy at The Huddle for USA Today says Buffalo will experience its first NFL blackout since 2006 while Detroit gets an extension to avoid one.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell crunches MLB’s numbers and notes that there indeed IS parity in baseball.

The great NHL writer Chris Botta notes on the Islanders Point Blank blog that the team is about to finalize a deal to have its games aired on the Hofstra University student station.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg talks about the perils of live sports radio interviews.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News notes that Texas Rangers radio voice Eric Nadel is on the ballot for this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award.

Barry says at first glance, the ratings for Game 1 of Rangers-Tampa Bay were nothing to write home about.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News says tonight’s Spurs NBA preseason opener is on TV, but not easy for fans to find.

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports Ohio’s ratings for the Reds jumped by almost 100% this season most likely at the expense of the Bengals.

John has former Reds shortstop Barry Larkin saying this year’s Reds team is better than the 1990 team that won the World Series.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business notes that the Sporting News has named the Windy City as top sports city in the nation.

Ed says the Blackhawks season opener being exclusively on Versus and Dan Patrick coming to Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says TBS and Conan O’Brien are trying to ride the fine line between too little and too much promotion for his new show during the MLB Postseason. 

Don Walker at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Green Bay Packers have had a helping hand in the excellent NFL TV ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel says the late Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke will be showcased on NFL Network tonight.

Kim Briggeman of The Missoulian (MT) chronicles Brent Musburger’s talk to University of Montana journalism students where he stated the media was out of step on the steroids story. 

Scott Collins of the Los Angeles Times looks at the high TV ratings for the NFL.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says fans just can’t get enough of pro football.

SportsbyBrooks says former ESPN’er Dan Patrick will be a featured player in the new book on the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

In the Biz of Baseball, Maury Brown has the local ratings for Day 1 of the League Division Series. 

Sports Media Watch says the ratings for IndyCar on Versus are up double digits, but still well below ESPN and ESPN2 levels.

Awful Announcing says there’s a new Screamin’ Gus Johnson iPhone app. I must download this.

And that is where we’ll end it. I’ll post NFL TV press releases during the MLB Postseason coverage tonight.

Sneaking In The Tuesday Linkage

I’m traveling between two offices, the big boss is here, but I’m trying to provide linkage while I can. This may be cut short.

Let’s start with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who talks about TBS adding a batting cage to its MLB Postseason studio set.

Michael also has a check on the weekend ratings.

Andrea Domanick of Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBC’s Sunday Night Football set a ratings record.

John Consoli at Mediaweek talks about the International Olympic Committee pushing back the bidding for the US rights for the 2014/16 Games until next year.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine says ad sales for the MLB Postseason on TBS and Fox are ahead of last year’s pace.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that the NBA and HBO are partnering with the new Google TV.

The SportsCOMMENTary blog speaks with a talent agent who tells athletes what they have to do to become effective broadcasters. 

Nadine Cheung at SportsNewser says HBO Sports has a job opening. 

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has the tale of OchoCincO’s cereal and a phone sex line. 

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News talks about YES being left out in the cold as TBS and Fox take over the MLB Postseason. 

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is happy that Chip Caray is not calling the MLB Postseason for TBS.

At the Schenectady Gazette, Ken Schott says Union College hockey will be heard on new stations this season.

Ken mentions that Union will also be on TV in December.

Ken McMillan at the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says Fox Sports will provide coverage of the MLB Postseason on its Spanish language channel.

Ken says both TBS and ESPN Radio have set their announcing lineups for the League Division Series.

Laura Nachman likes Michael Barkann of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog previews tonight’s E:60 profile of DC NFL team owner Daniel Snyder. Just an aside, have you noticed how Friend of Fang’s Bites Ian Eagle and Snyder share a resemblance? Ian was even mistaken for Snyder when he was calling Monday Night Football for Westwood One Radio.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also discusses the E:60 Snyder feature.

Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun Sentinel looks at how the Sun Life Stadium grounds crew managed to transition the field from baseball to football for last night’s Patriots-Dolphins game.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with TBS’ Brian Anderson who will call the Reds-Phillies League Division Series.

John has more with Brian in his blog.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business notes that the Bears-Giants debacle pulled a big rating in the Windy City.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the ratings for the Rams on Sunday slipped from last week, but still was strong.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune notes that the NFL is going after sports bars that transmitted the blacked out Cardinals-Chargers game. Thanks to Ben Maller of Fox Sports Radio for the link.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes about Dan Patrick taking his show to Fox Sports Net while keeping it on DirecTV.

Tom reviews tonight’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Sports Media Watch says the overnight ratings for CBS’ regional coverage on Sunday were flat with last year.

SMW says ABC’s Saturday college football doubleheader was a mixed bag.

SMW notes that CBS’ primetime offering of Florida at Alabama was down from last year.

SMW says announcer Marv Albert feels hatred for the Miami Heat will only help the NBA.

And SMW tells us that MLB on Fox finished the regular season with solid ratings.

John Daly at The Daly Planet notes that ESPN is still having issues airing NASCAR races four years into its current contract.

Jeff Levine at the Biz of Football says the NFL Players Association has to control its message and stick to it leading up to its showdown with the NFL.

Let’s end it there for now.