Fang's Bites

CBS Sports’ Live Coverage of The U.S. Open Resumes Today

Due to the craziness from the bad weather up and down the East Coast, the U.S. Open has experienced weather delays up the wazoo. The finals have been pushed back a day as a result. Today would have been the women’s Semifinals on CBS, but instead, it’s the men’s quarterfinals and two Americans, Andy Roddick and John Isner are participating. Here’s what CBS is saying.

MEN’S QUARTERFINALS HIGHLIGHT CBS SPORTS’ COVERAGE OF U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

CBS Sports’ continuing coverage of the U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS on Friday, Sept. 9 (12:30-6:00 PM, ET) is highlighted by the men’s quarterfinal matches.

Coverage is highlighted by No. 2-seed Rafael Nadal taking on No. 21-seed Andy Roddick preceded by No. 4-seed Andy Murray against No. 28-seed John Isner.

Lead play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg will be joined by expert analysts Mary Carillo and John McEnroe in the booth for the 12th consecutive year. Bill Macatee and analyst Jim Courier also will call tennis action for CBS Sports. Mary Joe Fernandez serves as reporter.

Bob Mansbach serves as coordinating producer of CBS Sports’ live coverage of tennis’ final major of the year. Mansbach, David Winner and Ken Mack produce. Lead director Bob Fishman will direct along with Jim Cornell. Harold Bryant is Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

And that’s it. I’m behind on the Friday features. They’ll be up sometime today.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Let’s Do Some Linkage, Shall We?

I was in between offices yesterday and could not do the links as I had wanted. Let’s provide some now while I can.

Nate Davis at USA Today writes about ESPN extending the rights to air Monday Night Football and keep the series on cable through 2021.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that tonight’s Presidential jobs speech has forced the networks to change their schedules including NBC regarding tonight’s NFL season opener.

Marisa Guthrie of the Reporter talks about ESPN’s new MNF deal.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says ESPN is in position to air an NFL Wild Card Playoff game sometime in the future.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi notes ESPN’s eight year NFL extension includes a whole host of digital rights.

Lucia Moses of Adweek says Sports Illustrated is tapping into younger readers’ appetites by going high-tech.

All Access notes that Boston’s sports radio WEEI announced an FM simulcast today.

Also from All Access, Fox Sports Radio nighttime host Tony Bruno is leaving to take a midday hosting job in Philadelphia.

It’s rare that I get a sports media story from Women’s Wear Daily, but I have one today. John Koblin of WWD talks with ESPN tennis courtside reporter Pam Shriver.

Hey, we link to Grantland! Jonah Keri writes that the Texas Rangers are positioning themselves to be an MLB power for the long-term thanks to its mega rights deal with Fox Sports Southwest.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says The Onion’s online parody of ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption is everything its TV sports shows were not.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid examines the new ESPN/Monday Night Football deal and what it really means.

Congrats to former Yardbarker Managing Editor Alana G. who has left the company and becomes Executive Producer for the San Francisco Chronicle’s website.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group writes that ESPN’s “SpiderCam”, the overhead camera providing spectacular shots at the U.S. Open has been added to the tournament’s world TV feed.

Karen Hogan of SVG notes that NBC is pulling out all of the technical stops for Sunday Night Football this season.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that an injured Peyton Manning could cost fantasy players some money.

Darren says the University of Michigan has inserted an audio chip for this week’s game program for the Notre Dame contest.

Jorge Rivas at Colorlines says FoxSports.com has pulled the web series that made fun of Asian USC students not knowing football and also mocking their accents.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe reviews the NFL Films documentary focusing on Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says WEEI is ramping up for the next phase of its sports radio war with 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Ian Rapoport of the Herald has some interesting tidbits from the NFL Films Bill Belichick doc.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks inside the ESPN MNF deal.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the particulars of the ESPN Monday Night Football contract extension.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union reports on the Fox Sports Radio show that will replace Tony Bruno.

Pete notes that MSG Network will be New York Giants-heavy this fall.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner interviews Russ Thaler who goes from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic to Versus as the host of NBC SportsTalk.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle writes about the local college football ratings.

Bob Finnan of the News-Herald (OH) talks with Cleveland Browns radio voice and sports anchor Jim Donovan about returning to work after taking the summer off for a bone marrow transplant.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has CBS’ Phil Simms and Dan Dierdorf extolling the virtues of having a running game in the NFL.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business writes about Bears games being broadcast on FM for the first time this season.

Ed says the Chicago Tribune is bolstering the Bears beat.

Scott Dochterman at the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette says those who want to watch this Saturday’s Iowa-Iowa State game will have to do a little searching.

Robin Carlin at Mile High Sports says yesterday’s plane crash in Russia that killed all but two on board was truly a dark day for hockey.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily Herald likes the 9/11 commemorative football jerseys.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that Rogers is pulling out of the Canadian Olympics Broadcasting Consortium for the 2014/16 Games.

Joe Favorito says the BCS conferences might want to consider picking up one of the Service Academies.

And that’s going to do it for today’s linkage.

How To Fix The U.S. Open

Last year, I wrote a column for Dan Levy’s Press Coverage site on how to fix the U.S. Open as the tournament sits in yet another weather delay. I suggested that the United States Tennis Association move the U.S. Open back a week and end the tournament on Labor Day. It makes too much sense.

So for kicks and giggles, I bring back the column and post it here. In fact, I’ll continue to post it for as long as the USTA remains pigheaded and steadfast in its position of running the tournament into Week 1 of the NFL season.

This was published on Press Coverage on September 15, 2010 and not one word was changed.

Fixing the U.S. Open (Suggestions for CBS, ESPN & USTA)

Now that another U.S. Open tennis tournament is in the books and yet another finals weekend was butchered by weather and television, it’s time to come up with a solution that doesn’t end up with multiple networks covering one final. When rain delayed the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic from Sunday until Monday, CBS and the U.S. Tennis Association announced it would begin the final no earlier than 4 p.m. Eastern. This has been the case for the previous two years when weather wreaked havoc with the schedule.

When another rain delay arrived one set into the match, CBS decided it was not going to have tennis butcher its primetime schedule and shuffled it to ESPN2 which is the U.S. Open’s partner on cable. This is somewhat understandable. CBS felt that tennis didn’t have enough ratings heat during a weeknight and decided to give up on the final.

So the match is running into the 10 p.m. hour in the East. On ESPN, a lightning delay, the same weather that caused the U.S. Open men’s final to stop for more than an hour, has forced the Monday Night Football opener between the Jets and Ravens to push back its start by 30 minutes. That’s going to run into the kickoff of the San Diego-Kansas City game that’s scheduled for 10:15 p.m. It’s announced that the U.S. Open will be pushed to ESPN Classic. Luckily, the final ends, but the trophy ceremony for Nadal is awkwardly cut off for the start of Chargers-Chiefs. Check out the awkward transition here.

So what have we learned? Well, we’ve learned that once Labor Day weekend arrives, we’re in football mode. So what should the U.S. Open do? I suggest that for its own and its TV partners sake, the USTA should move the tournament back a week so it can end on Labor Day. What? That’s right, move the U.S. Open so we can avoid NFL conflicts, CBS mistreating the finals and tennis fans can have some peace.

Last year, rain forced the women’s and men’s finals to played on Sunday and Monday, respectively. CBS gave the women’s final to ESPN2 and aired the men’s finals the next afternoon. And in 2008, CBS aired the men’s final on Monday afternoon as well. However, not all CBS affiliates picked up the match and some shuffled it to secondary channels.

So to avoid all this malarkey and confusion, start the U.S. Open earlier and start it on a Sunday. This way, the tournament gets three weekends of coverage. The French Open does this and gets a full day on Tennis Channel and ESPN2. Next year, I would have the Open begin on August 21st and end on Labor Day, September 5. Give CBS the opening day of play, that way it would be guaranteed to have the stars, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, one of the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova.

Then, ESPN2 and Tennis Channel can share coverage through the second weekend of the tournament (August 27 & 28) where CBS would have the daytime sessions and then hand off to ESPN2 or Tennis Channel. The best part would be the women’s semifinals would be scheduled for Friday, September 2, the men’s semis can still be a Super Saturday, September 3. And finally there would be a scheduled day in between the finals, the women can play late afternoon or primetime Sunday, September 4 and the men’s final would be held on Labor Day, September 5 with the entire CBS network airing it.

The U.S. Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where the finals are scheduled the day after the semifinals and it lends for some bad tennis. We’ve seen this with the women’s final for the last 15 years. There’s not been a three set final since 1995. Not good.

Will the weather delays end with this schedule? Probably not, but that’s an issue that’s not going to be addressed here. Will one U.S. Open prep tournament get eliminated as a result? Most likely, but no one cares about it anyway. With this scheduling, there’s no fear of football conflicts, the U.S. Open will gets its share of sports coverage and it will be done on Labor Day leaving us all ready for football and the baseball pennant drive.

Should the USTA, CBS, ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel sign off? YES! Will they? No. But this makes too much sense for all parties involved.

And if we get weather delays like this next year, I’ll bring the column out of mothballs again.

Also from last year, Katie Baker (now of Grantland) in Deadspin chronicled how CBS and ESPN2 butchered the men’s final. If the U.S. Open moved back a week, some of this silliness could be avoided.

Cranking Out Some Tuesday Linkage

We have some linkage for you. It’s a bit late, but better late than never.

First, Mike McCarthy at USA Today writes that former NBC Football Night in America analyst Tiki Barber is reportedly “devastated” that no NFL team called him to inquire about his comeback.

Sports lllustrated’s Richard Deitsch provides his annual NFL broadcasting guide.

At the Wall Street Journal, Matthew Futterman reports on the NFL’s mega sponsorship deal with Pepsi.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable writes about NBCUniversal going all out to promote the NFL regular season opener.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News delves into the PGA Tour’s new TV contracts.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that NBC has brought in a record haul for Super Bowl ad sales and is just about sold out which contrasts to Super Bowl XLIII where it had to wait until the final week to sell out its inventory.

Gabriel Beltrone of Adweek reviews the NFL’s “Back to Football” ad that’s been airing throughout the preseason.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says NBC has to sell five more ads to sell out the Super Bowl in February.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group says despite having its best ratings for the NFL in its history, Fox is not resting on its laurels and is looking to improve its game presentation this season.

Brandon Costa of SVG writes that ESPN and DirecTV raised the bar for their US Open Mix channel.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at Chad Pennington calling the NFL on Fox for this season and the Tennis Channel dispute with Cablevision and Verizon FiOS.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of NBC’s Jimmy Roberts catching himself about to swear before changing course.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post kills ESPN for ignoring certain facts that are just important to him.

Sean Daly of the Post wonders with sales of 3-D TV’s in the crapper, will ESPN finally pull the plug on its minimally watched 3-D network?

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio station will carry just the first half of Thursday’s Mets doubleheader with the Braves.

Al Gregson of the York (PA) Daily Record has praise for CBS’ Jim Nantz.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun writes that the weekend of motorsports in the Charm City, while a success in person, might not have been on TV.

Alan Blondin of the Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun News talks with “The Voice of Golf” Peter Kessler about his adjustment from leaving Golf Channel to doing radio.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times tries to explain the reasons why NFL Network still hasn’t been picked up by Time Warner Cable/Bright House.

Tom Patri at the Naples (FL) Daily News asks if the PGA Tour gave CBS, NBC and Golf Channel a hometown discount to renew their TV deals?

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle catches up on some of the college football sports media news from the last couple of weeks.

Gina Mizell of the Daily Oklahoman says Oklahoma States loves playing one Thursday night football game a year on ESPN.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has highlights of ESPN’s NFL conference call with Chris Berman, Tom Jackson & Company.

Scott Dochterman of the Iowa City Gazette notes that Iowa’s men’s basketball team will be seen at least six times on the ESPN family of networks in the 2011-12 season.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that ESPN college football analyst Trevor Matich has former DC NFL team coach Steve Spurrier to thank for going into TV.

The Big Lead notes that an ESPN NBA beat writer has quietly left the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing offers the quintessential primer on the whole “Free Bruce”/ESPN dispute.

Ben Koo of AA reviews the first week of college football on TV.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth reviews how the networks handled the massive weather delays during various events this past weekend.

The Angry Asian Man blog takes FoxSports.com to task for producing a racist bit on Asians and their knowledge of football.

And that’s where I’ll leave it for now.

“The Best 11 Days of My Career”

This is an 11 minute feature that CBS aired during Sunday’s coverage of the U.S. Open celebrating the 20th anniversary of the amazing run of then-39 year old Jimmy Connors. It started with a five set, first round match against Patrick McEnroe that lasted until 1:35 a.m. and ended on Super Saturday in the men’s semifinals against Jim Courier. In between Connors got America cheering for him as he defeated Michiel Shapers, Karel Novacek, Aaron Krickstein and Paul Haarhuis, the last two in spectacular fashion.

In this feature, CBS gets Connors to talk about the run in his own words and finds McEnroe, Krickstein and Haarhuis to give their memories about their matches. I’m glad that CBS is allowing blogs to embed this so you all can see this.

CBS’ coverage of the U.S. Open continues Friday with live airings of the Men’s Doubles Finals and the Women’s Semifinals starting at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

Handing Out Some Labor Day Sports Media Links

A nice day here in Southern New England and I’m at home watching some good sports action as we have afternoon MLB games, the U.S. Open, a little CFL and some college football later. A good sports day for the Labor Day holiday. Before I do the links, let’s go into one of the stranger nights on sports television on Sunday.

Last night, ESPN got stuck with two weather delays for two events, in college football at the Marshall at West Virginia game and at NASCAR in Atlanta. ESPN handled both situations as best as it could, first updating viewers on lighting approaching Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, WV. As players were hustled off the field before 6 p.m., ESPN threw to its studio with Ryan Burr and Robert Smith who deftly filled the time with highlights and comments.

Then as the NASCAR window approached, Burr threw it to Atlanta and the NASCAR Countdown crew led by Nicole Briscoe. The prerace program went as scheduled for the half-hour and at 7 p.m. when the race coverage was supposed to begin, ESPN updated viewers on the rain from Tropical Storm Lee that hit Atlanta and was wreaking havoc. However, ESPN said that it was hoped that the race would begin “within the hour.”

It was during this time ESPN kept switching back and forth between Atlanta and the ESPN studios in Bristol, CT to fill time. Then at 8:50 p.m., ESPN went back to Morgantown for the game. While ESPN did not inform viewers publicly, it was learned via Twitter that the game would be switched to ESPNU if NASCAR started and we also learned via Twitter that NASCAR was hoping to get the race started at 10:30 p.m.

ESPN was balancing between the two venues hoping that it would not have to bump one event for the other. And at 9:05 p.m., ESPN got another jolt when authorities pulled Marshall and West Virginia for another lightning delay. Ryan Burr and Robert Smith were back to quickly throw things back to Atlanta where Nicole Briscoe relayed to viewers of the 10:30 p.m. start time and it was when we began seeing shots of the track dryers going around the Atlanta Speedway circuit.

During the delay, ESPN went back to Morgantown for an update on the weather from its announcing team, Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore and sideline reporter Quint Kessenich. It was during this update that ESPN showed a lightning strike at 6:02 p.m. that looked like it struck the stadium. Kessenich reported that the strike hit the stadium and a fan in the upper deck and from the screengrab, it certainly looks like it did. However, scuttlebutt was surfacing that there were no independent news on the strike.

And later, West Virginia State Police denied that no fan had been hit and the lightning strike was close to the stadium, but did not hit it. In addition, West Virginia University Media Relations published its own statement on the story.  So where did Kessenich get his information and as Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand correctly asked, why didn’t ESPN issue a correction on the story? ESPN certainly had plenty of chances to correct it.

At 10 p.m., ESPN had Robert Flores and Stuart Scott start SportsCenter early. It went right to Atlanta where NASCAR race caller Allen Bestwick interviewed NASCAR President Mike Helton who announced that with the rains from Tropical Storm Lee, it was impossible to restart the race Sunday and as rains would continue into Monday, the race would be rescheduled to 11 a.m. Tuesday.

A quick toss back to SportsCenter and then, at 10:24, ESPN thew it back to Morgantown where it was announced the game was going to be called with West Virginia leading Marshall 34-13. Again, the lightning strike from 6:02 p.m. was shown. After 11 p.m., the strike was not referenced and the report of the fan was not raised again. So why didn’t ESPN retract or correct it? No word from the network on this. However, it’s a situation where a story is front of them and they didn’t get it right. And there was no correction. ESPN has to do a better job.

And as I watched the 2 p.m. SportsCenter on ESPNews, the network has chosen to ignore its erroneous report on the lightning strike rather than issue a correction.

Now to the links.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says despite being dropped by Verizon FiOS, Tennis Channel is talking with the cable provider to return to the lineup.

The Associated Press reports that Missouri is the next Big 12 school to announce its own digital network joining Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas State.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the video of Rafael Nadal cramping up during his U.S. Open press briefing yesterday.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid wonders why a mascot is being taken off the court on a stretcher during the EuroBasket Championships.

Timothy Burke at his Mocksession site shows an unfortunate ESPN crowd cutaway during yesterday’s Marshall-West Virginia game.

Joe Favorito asks smaller universities if it’s worth the payday to go to a large FCS school and get beaten up on the football field.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times explores the dispute between Tennis Channel and cable providers Cablevision and Verizon FiOS.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has praise for NBC’s Notre Dame coverage and ESPN’s College GameDay.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle speculates on the future of the Longhorn Network if Texas goes to the Pac-12.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman liked Gus Johnson and Charles Davis’ work on the Tulsa-Oklahoma game, but Kevin Frazier and Marcus Allen, not so much.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Colorado fans will have to scramble to find Saturday’s game against Cal.

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

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says NFL gamers are gearing up for the season.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if the public really needed to know the details of Wade Belak’s suicide.

The Paranoid Puck reports that former Dallas Stars coach Marc Crawford will be joining TSN and former MSG host Christine Simpson returns to Canada to work for Rogers Sportsnet.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some Labour Day thoughts.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has some typos both on TV and online.

Sports Media Watch says Nielsen will be tracking fewer TV households this year.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that Versus will be airing some NHL preseason games for the first time.

And that will do it for today.

CBS Sports Talks About Its Labor Day Coverage of the U.S. Open

Starting at 11 a.m. Monday, CBS Sports will have another 7 hours of coverage of the U.S. Open which will run until 6 p.m. Eastern time.

On the docket for Labor Day, CBS will have a women’s glamor matchup between Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams. In addition, American Mardy Fish will be in action and CBS also hopes to get World #1 Novak Djokovic in its window as well.

We have the blurb from CBS Sports discussing its coverage plans.

CBS SPORTS’ 2011 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS LABOR DAY COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTED BY FOURTH-ROUND ACTION – NO. 16-SEED ANA IVANOVIC vs. NO. 28-SEED SERENA WILLIAMS; NO. 8-SEED MARDY FISH vs. NO. 11-SEED JO-WILFRIED TSONGA; AND NO. 7-SEED FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE vs. NO. 17-SEED ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA ON MONDAY, SEPT. 5  

Men’s No. 1-Seed Novak Djokovic-No. 22-seed Alexandr Dolgopolov Match Also Featured

CBS Sports presents the U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS, tennis’ final major of the year and the only one played in the United States, for the 44^th consecutive year. Labor Day coverage continues on Monday, Sept. 5 (11:00 AM–6:00 PM, ET) with men’s and women’s fourth-round action.

Headlining CBS Sports’ coverage is the women’s No. 16-seed Ana Ivanovic taking on No. 28-seed Serena Williams; men’s No. 8-seed Mardy Fish against No. 11-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; and women’s No. 7-seed Francesca Schiavone against No. 17-seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Also scheduled is men’s No. 1-seed Novak Djokovic against No. 22-seed Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Lead play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg will be joined by expert analysts Mary Carillo and John McEnroe in the booth for the 12^th consecutive year. Jim Courier returns for his third year as analyst and will call the action alongside Bill Macatee. Mary Joe Fernandez serves as reporter. Ian Eagle serves as contributor.

That’s it.

CBS Sports Talks About Its Sunday Coverage At The U.S. Open

We have CBS’ press release discussing what it will air on Sunday for its coverage of the U.S. Open. CBS takes the air at 11 a.m. just after Face The Nation on the East Coast. Coverage will last until 6 p.m. Eastern. Among those in action include Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick. During the 7 hours of the U.S. Open on CBS, a feature will air on the then 39 years old Jimmy Connors run in 1991 to the quarterfinals that had fans captivated. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years.

Here’s the CBS press release.

CBS SPORTS’ 2011 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGHLIGHTED BY MEN’S THIRD-ROUND COVERAGE OF NO. 2-SEED RAFAEL NADAL vs. DAVID NALBANDIAN;
NO. 21-SEED ANDY RODDICK vs. JULIEN BENNETEAU AND
NO. 24-SEED JUAN IGNACIO CHELA vs. DONALD YOUNG ON SUNDAY, SEPT. 4

CBS Sports presents the U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS, tennis’ final major of the year and the only one played in the United States, for the 44^th consecutive year. Labor Day Weekend coverage continues on Sunday, Sept. 4 (11:00 AM–6:00 PM, ET) with men’s third-round action.

Headlining CBS Sports’ coverage is the men’s No. 2-seed Rafael Nadal taking on David Nalbandian; No. 21-seed Andy Roddick against Julien Benneteau; and No. 24-seed Juan Ignacio Chela against Donald Young.

Also scheduled is No. 28-seed John Isner against Alex Bogomolov, Jr.

In addition to live match coverage on Sunday, Sept. 4, CBS Sports will air a feature on five-time U.S. Open champion Jimmy Connors on the 20^th anniversary of his magical semi-final run in the 1991 U.S. Open at age 39.  In the feature, Connors recounts his U.S. Open run describing it as “the best 11 days of my career.”

Among those interviewed in the piece include Patrick McEnroe, who Connors defeated in the first round after trailing two sets and down 3-0 in the third set; Aaron Krickstein, who Connors beat in the fourth round in a five-set tie-breaker; and Paul Haarhuis, who Connors battled to win in four sets, including one of the most memorable points in U.S. Open history.  CBS Sports’ Jason Ross is the producer. To watch a clip from the feature, see below.

Lead play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg will be joined by expert analysts Mary Carillo and John McEnroe in the booth for the 12^th consecutive year. Jim Courier returns for his third year as analyst and will call the action alongside Bill Macatee. Mary Joe Fernandez serves as reporter. Ian Eagle serves as contributor.

*      *      *

QUOTABLE QUOTES OF THE DAY

? CBS Sports’ John McEnroe predicting the outcome of the No. 9-seed Tomas Berdych-No. 20-seed Janko Tipsarevic after Berdych got medical treatment following his first set, 4-6, loss: “This has ‘no mas’ potential.”  Berdych retired five games later, 4-6, 0-5.

? No. 28-seed Serena Williams to CBS Sports’ Mary Joe Fernandez in a pre-match interview as she was taking the court against No. 4-seed Victoria Azarenka: “[The match] feels like the semi-finals or quarters.”

And here’s the clip of Jimmy Connors are Paul Haarhuis talking about one sequence which typified the magical run.

Tha’s it.

CBS Sports Promotes Its Saturday Coverage of the U.S. Open

The first of three consecutive days at the U.S. Open begins Saturday at 11 a.m. Eastern time. The legendary Dick Enberg will begin calling his last Open for CBS Sports. He’ll be joined in the booth by John McEnroe and Mary Carillo. Bill Macatee and Jim Courier will call matches on the outer courts. ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez will be the reporter to silly questions of the athletes before and after matches. And Ian Eagle will serve as host and sometimes play-by-play man.

Among those in action on Saturday afternoon will be Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Mardy Fish and Roger Federer. Let’s take a look at what CBS is saying.

CBS SPORTS’ 2011 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS THIRD-ROUND COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTED BY NO. 3-SEED ROGER FEDERER vs. NO. 27-SEED MARIN CILIC; NO. 1-SEED CAROLINE WOZNIACKI vs. VANIA KING AND NO. 4-SEED VICTORIA AZARENKA vs. NO. 28-SEED SERENA WILLIAMS ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 3

CBS Sports presents the U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS, tennis’ final major of the year and the only one played in the United States, for the 44^th consecutive year. Coverage begins on Saturday, Sept. 3 (11:00 AM–6:00 PM, ET) with men’s and women’s third-round action.

Headlining CBS Sports’ coverage is the men’s No. 3-seed Roger Federer taking on No. 27-seed Marin Cilic; women’s No. 1-seed Caroline Wozniacki versus Vania King; and the women’s No. 4-seed Victoria Azarenka against No. 28-seed Serena Williams.

Also scheduled include No. 8-seed Mardy Fish against Kevin Anderson.

Lead play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg will be joined by expert analysts Mary Carillo and John McEnroe in the booth for the 12^th consecutive year. Jim Courier returns for his third year as analyst and will call the action alongside Bill Macatee. Mary Joe Fernandez serves as reporter. Ian Eagle serves as contributor.

CBS Sports provides live comprehensive coverage during both weekends of the event and on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5 (11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET) and on Friday, Sept. 9 (12:30-6:00 PM, ET).  The 2011 women’s championship highlights the Network’s “Super Saturday” coverage live in prime time on Saturday, Sept. 10 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET).  All the action during CBS Sports’ coverage of the 2011 U.S. Open will be broadcast in HDTV.

CBS Sports’ schedule of live U.S. Open Tennis action as follows:

Saturday, September 3 – 11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s and women’s third round singles)

Sunday, September 4 – 11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s third round/women’s fourth round)

Monday, September 5 – 11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s/women’s fourth round singles)

Friday, September 9 – 12:30-6:00 PM, ET (men’s doubles final/women’s semi-finals)

Saturday, September 10 – 12:00 NOON-6:00 PM ET (men’s semi-finals)

Saturday, September 10 – 8:00-10:00 PM, ET (women’s singles championship)

Sunday, September 11 – 4:00-7:00 PM, ET (men’s singles championship)

Additionally, the entire slate of U.S. Open play on CBS Sports, including both the men’s and women’s singles championships, will be streamed live on CBSSports.com. For the matches played during the opening weekend (Sept. 3, 4, 5), CBSSports.com will allow users to choose between any of the action played on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium or the Grandstand. Users can also log onto CBSSports.com to watch daily news and match previews and highlights with Kaylee Hartung, Lauren Shehadi and CBS Sports tennis analyst Justin Gimelstob.

Working his 31^st U.S. Open, Bob Mansbach will serve as coordinating producer of CBS Sports’ live coverage of tennis’ final major of the year.  Mansbach and David Winner will produce, and lead director Bob Fishman and Jim Cornell will direct.

Harold Bryant is Executive Producer & Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

And that will be it.

John McEnroe Joins Tennis Channel For Primetime U.S. Open Coverage

On Saturday and Sunday, Tennis Channel will have live primetime coverage of the U.S. Open as ESPN2 will have NASCAR and MLB commitments on both nights. So to give its coverage an upgrade, Tennis Channel has signed John McEnroe to join Ted Robinson for the weekend. And it gives the U.S. Open a USA Network feel for a couple of days. Of course, Ted and John have worked together not only on USA Network for the U.S. Open, but for Tennis Channel and NBC for the French Open and NBC again for Wimbledon. So both are quite familiar with each other.

This will not effect McEnroe’s work for CBS and ESPN2 on the Open. That will continue.

We have the press release from Tennis Channel about this latest development.

HALL OF FAMER JOHN MCENROE TO JOIN TENNIS CHANNEL’S US OPEN TEAM

Multi-Grand Slam Champion to Offer Commentary from Flushing Meadows Labor Day Weekend

NEW YORK, September 2, 2011 – Tennis Channel announced today that tennis icon John McE nroe will lend his unique analysis and commentary to the network’s US Open prime-time broadcast Labor Day weekend, September 3-4.

As with previous Tennis Channel telecasts, McEnroe will be teamed with broadcasting legend Ted Robinson. The two have appeared in the network’s booth at the French Open since 2007 and have made numerous Davis Cup appearances on the channel. McEnroe continues to be a US Open analyst for CBS and ESPN2.

As one of the most recognizable and credible television analysts in tennis today, McEnroe has captivated sports fans since bringing his fiery personality to the pro tennis scene in the late 1970s. He won 77 singles and 78 doubles titles during his career, including four US Open and three Wimbledon singles championships. McEnroe won the French Open mixed doubles championship with fellow Tennis Channel analyst Mary Carillo in 1977, and reached the tournament’s singles final in 1984. He is possibly the most dominant Davis Cup player of all time, winning the championship five times as a member of the U.S. team and remains the all-time record holder in U.S. Davis Cup total wins (59 wins vs. 10 losses), singles wins (41-8), ties or rounds played (30), and years played (12). McEnroe was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.

More later.

Some Really Quick Wednesday Links

I’m going to try to do some Wednesday linkage here. Also have a lot of end of the month/beginning of the month crap to do at work some I’m balancing the two off.

Here are the links that I have for now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at NBC’s plans to provide live online coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

At MediaPost, Erik Sass looks at the New York Giants integrating Twitter into its NFL preseason broadcasts.

David Goetzl at MediaPost notes that Fox has had a 51% majority stake in Big Ten Network since last year.

The Associated Press reports that Versus is adding a whole host of original programming to its weeknight lineup.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter also writes about Versus’ new original programming.

Lacey Rose and Lesley Goldberg at the Reporter report that HBO has given the green light for a drama based on boxer Mike Tyson.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable writes that Turner Sports is expanding the exclusive content offerings at NCAA.com.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says CBS Sports Network will air a documentary on the first black college football game played in New York.

To Adweek where Anthony Crupi chronicles how NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus lured former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol back to the company just mere months after he left.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine discusses how NBC is going to provide everything from track & field to archery live at 2012 London Olympics.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid looks at the sad tenure of Fred Hickman’s days at ESPN.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video preview of NFL Films’ documentary on Patriots coach  Bill Belichick.

On this final day for SportsNewser, let me link to a few stories. Marcus Vanderberg writes that former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand will be joining the school’s football broadcasts on radio. You may recall LeGrand was paralyzed last year and hopes to make a full recovery.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says fans will vote on the next nominee for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Broadcaster Award.

Back to Marcus, he writes that Southwest Airlines will stream live MLB games to its passengers thanks to its in-flight internet provider. Now back to me.

Now back to SportsNewser where Marcus looks at Sports Illustrated’s Super Bowl picks.

Ok, that’s it for the SportsNewer links. The site will be missed.

Nat Ives of Advertising Age notes that a month-long sponsorship starting tomorrow, will allow the New York Times to open up five sections (including sports) in its iPad app from behind the dreaded paywall.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell couldn’t be more thrilled to be getting his own weekly show on Versus.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette talks about ESPN releasing its Big East and Big Monday basketball schedules.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with former Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic original Russ Thaler about his new gig with Versus/NBC Sports Network.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that the U.S. Open will be well covered on TV and online.

Josh Robbins from the Orlando Sentinel says the Magic’s Gilbert Arenas has shut down his Twitter account.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes that a pair of Eastern transplants top the local sports radio ratings.

Mel says NFL preseason again led the local TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer has a preview of tonight’s HBO/NFL Films 10 year retrospective on Hard Knocks.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN’s Jon Gruden isn’t a fan of the new NFL replay rule.

Bob says the digital Sporting News Today has ceased publication.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says the city’s high school football and basketball championships are moving to a new TV home.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says all of the Dodgers’ announcers are coming back for 2012.

Ed Tait and John White of the Winnipeg Free Press says the new Jets have signed a 10 year deal with TSN for both TV and radio.

Sports Media Watch says Hurricane Irene coverage on many local ABC stations cut into NASCAR’s ratings on Saturday.

Deadspin shows a picture of HBO’s Bryant Gumbel being “beaten up” by UFC’s Chuck Liddell and Fox’s Jay Glazer.

Joe Favorito says the hiring of former Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl by a grocery company is a good marketing move.

And we’ll end it there for today.

It’s A Slowly Getting Back To Normal After Irene Linkfest

Yesterday about 2 p.m., I got the power back at the Fang’s Bites abode and after walking around the neighborhood, I saw that I was quite lucky in not getting any tree limbs falling on my house or any leaks in the basement. So while Hurricane Irene was quite deadly and caused major damage up and down the East Coast, I consider myself very lucky in being able to get through the storm without any major interruptions and I thank National Grid for getting the power back to my house within a day after being knocked offline.

Let’s do some linkage. Already a couple of major sports media stories breaking today.

First, Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that NBC has tapped Today show Executive Producer Jim Bell and former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol protégé as the Executive Producer of the 2012 London Olympics.

Tim Malloy at The Wrap says NBC feels Bell is uniquely qualified to helm the Olympics for the network.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Bell will continue to oversee the Today show while working on the Olympics.

The lovely Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press writes that NBC will show all Olympic events live in one platform or another.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is happy to see NBC airing events live.

In a related note, Meredith Galante of the Business Insider notes that the aforementioned former Emperor is selling his Colorado home for a huge pricetag.

And maybe this is why Ebersol is selling his house, Bill Carter and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the former Emperor is returning to NBC Sports as a senior adviser. You can’t make these things up.

Our other big sports media story involves the University of Kentucky revoking the school newspaper’s media credential for playing by its rules.

Scott Sloan of the Lexington Herald-Leader looks into why this occurred.

And from the Kentucky Kernel, the school newspaper’s managing editor Becca Clemons gives the publication’s response. This now is becoming a First Amendment issue and had the school’s Sports Information Department had handled this differently, this would not have blown up. Instead, the SID reacted poorly and this is the result.

To other stories now.

USA Today notes that there are a few changes coming to NFL Network including the hiring of Andrew Siciliano full-time and the shuffling of anchors for NFL Total Access.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek says advertisers are flocking to Fox’s UFC package knowing they can reach large numbers of young males.

To the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center and Jason Fry whose final column for the site provides sportswriters with the five changes in digital sports they need to look for in the very near future. Also, Jason has collected 19 of his National Sports Journalism Center columns into a eBook and it’s available for download at Amazon or at Smashwords. Jason has been a great resource here and I hope to let you know where he’ll be landing soon.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser says syndicated radio host Paul Finebaum will be writing a column for SI.com.

Glenn Davis in SportsGrid has the latest Alec Baldwin-John Krasinski Yankees-Red Sox rivalry New Era ad that premieres tonight. It’s very funny.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group looks at Big Ten Network’s programming schedule to reflect the new football season.

Brandon writes about the launch of Kansas State’s new KStateHD.TV.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch takes to TwitLonger to ask why ESPN’s new social media policy is not being applied equally.

David Whitely of AOL Sporting News wonders if airing the Little League World Series on TV is too much pressure on the kids.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the addition of Texas A&M to the SEC won’t add much value to its TV contracts.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post writes that the US Tennis Association is considering charging viewers for watching the U.S. Open online.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wishes ESPN would lighten up.

David N. Dunkle of the Patriot-News (PA) writes a long-time Harrisville R&B radio station flips to ESPN Radio this week.

Mark Berman of the Roanoke (VA) Times says ESPN’s new contract with the ACC means more Virginia Tech sports on TV.

Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that former CNN/ESPN/YES/Fox Sports South host Fred Hickman has signed with a local TV station to become its sports director.

Susan Blaskovich of the Pegasus (TX) Times says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gets his chance to pick games on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday.

The Grand Rapids (MI) Press notes the passing of long-time Detroit Lions beat writer Tom “Killer” Kowalski.

The Ann Arbor News has reaction to Kowalski’s passing.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel looks at how WTMJ radio will handle conflicts between the Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers.

Bob has some interesting tidbits from the NFL Films America’s Game documentary on the 2010 Packers that airs next week.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business feels the number of documentaries released now focusing on the Cubs is bad timing.

Mike Imrem of the Chicago Daily Herald says he might be part of the problem in ESPN’s airing of the Little League World Series.

Josie Becker of LA Galaxy Confidential suggests that NBC use the ESPN model for hiring announcers for MLS instead of the Fox Soccer way of doing things.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says the MLB At Bat for iPhone and iPod Touch underwent a nice upgrade in time for the pennant races.

Brady Green at Awful Announcing enjoys Gus Johnson reenacting his famous Brandon Stokley call.

And I think that will do it for the links today.

The Recovering After Irene Links

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

Here are your links.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom also has your sports calendar for this week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s all. Back later.

Finally Back To Linking

The last couple of days have been tough to provide links as I was out of the office. Glad to be back linking again, although you never know if I’ll be called away again. I’ll try to do what I can.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today attended the NFL on CBS media day on Tuesday which introduced the network’s announcing teams for this season. Mike got some interesting quotage from NFL Today analyst Boomer Esiason on Denver Broncos third string QB Tim Tebow.

Mike reported earlier this week that ESPN’s Brian Kenny is leaving the network to possibly take a position with MLB Network.

Erik Brady of USA Today writes that the late Al McGuire’s granddaughter, once a basketball player at Virginia, is now an accomplished model.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal chronicles what NBC Sports Group is doing to position Versus as a major player in sports television.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS Sports officials were worried about a potential NFL lockout, but continued to sell ads and carried on with its business of getting ready for this season.

Tim Baysinger of  B&C has Marv Albert pleasantly surprised to be calling the NFL on TV again.

Over to Multichannel News and Mike Reynolds who writes that the Pac-12 Conference has hired a sports media veteran to run its seven Pac-12 Networks.

Mike says Tennis Channel has signed a new deal with the National Cable Television Cooperative that takes it off sports tiers on member’s cable systems.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says MTV2 will air some live Lingerie Football League games starting on Friday.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that concerns over the NFL lockout led advertisers to turn to college football for commercial buys.

Crupi adds that NFL Network has signed up another cable provider leaving Cablevision and Time Warner as the last two major holdouts.

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk writes that former Patriots, Dolphins and Saints running back Heath Evans will retire and join NFL Network’s large cadre of analysts.

Mike Florio of PFT says NFL owners realize that empty stadiums don’t make for exciting TV.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser writes that ESPN is hiring another WWE veteran to join its on-air staff.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown crew was dressed in SWAT uniforms for an promo shoot.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group says the Baltimore Ravens are successfully producing all home preseason TV games in-house rather than outsource production to a local TV or cable network.

The Big Lead’s Barry Janoff recaps the NFL on CBS Media Day.

Rich Arden at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog says you can now put the Monday Night Football schedule into your Google calendar. Seriously!

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that if it’s US Open time, then it must mean another battle between Cablevision and Tennis Channel.

Richard says after many repeated offers, MetLife is finally taking the plunge and buying the naming rights to the New Meadowlands Stadium.

Barry Bearak of the Times profiles former play-by-play announcer Dom Valentino who’s currently fighting several life battles.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News reports that WCBS-TV sports anchor and sometimes CBS Sports reporter Sam Ryan is leaving to take a job with MLB Network.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at MetLife slapping its name on New Meadowlands Stadium for a rather large fee.

During Tuesday’s NFL on CBS Media Day, Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union asked CBS Sports President Sean McManus about a few non-NFL related issues.

Pete says 18 years later, CBS NFL analyst Steve Tasker is still correcting those who think it was he who prevented Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett from scoring at Super Bowl XXVII.

Ken Schott in the Schenectady Gazette says the University of Albany is shifting its football season opener to a different radio station as its flagship has a conflict.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that Time Warner Cable won’t be airing any local high school football games this season.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel talks with ESPN College GameDay analyst Desmond Howard about his new book and his usage of social media.

Henry Unger of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution speaks with NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus about replacing the former Emperor Dick Ebersol.

Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the ESPN College GameDay crew will be in Austin to help launch the Longhorn Network.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network’s immediate future looks rather murky right now.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman notes that former Sooners safety Roy Williams will be a part of the school’s radio broadcasts this season.

Mel says the NFL preseason topped the local TV ratings.

Mike Baldwin of the Oklahoman says ESPN’s All-Access series on the Sooners is compelling TV.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Bengals garnered a huge local rating on Sunday.

John says the new Joe Morgan radio show is being heard locally.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will appear weekly on the local NBC station.

The Provo (UT) Daily Herald notes that ESPN has released the 2011-12 West Coast Conference men’s basketball schedule.

Ryan Casey of the Denver Post tells us that Root Sports Rocky Mountain will air the state high school football and basketball championships this year.

The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal reports NFL Network will be seen on the local cable provider this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC is shooting down claims that it’s biased against Western Canadian NHL teams in its new Hockey Night in Canada schedule.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says TSN and CBC are teaming up for coverage of this weekend’s LPGA Canadian Women’s Open.

Sports Media Watch says the PGA Championship’s ratings fell to a three year low.

SMW also has some various ratings news and notes.

Daniel Feuerstein of MLS Talk feels NBC will be a big boost for Major League Soccer.

Joe Favorito writes that Fordham University has been a fertile training ground for several of NYC’s sports voices.

Last night, I had the privilege to be a guest on

The only Steeler fan I really like, Steelergurl, explains why she hasn’t been blogging lately. Get well soon, Lahne.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth looks at what NBC Sports Group is doing to improve Versus.

And that is going to finish out the links today.

CBS & US Tennis Association Extend 3-D TV Coverage of US Open

CBS Sports will offer 3-D TV coverage of matches its airs from both Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstong stadiums during the same time as its airing the contests in HDTV during Labor Day Weekend and Championship Weekend of the U.S. Open from Flushing Meadow. This marks the second year that CBS will offer coverage in the third dimension for the 16 people who own such as a set.

Let’s take a look at what CBS and the United States Tennis Association have in store for “The World’s Toughest Tennis” this year.

CBS SPORTS, PANASONIC AND USTA AGAIN TEAM UP TO PRESENT EXPANDED 2011 US OPEN TELECASTS IN 3D

Emmy-Award Winning Coverage Extended to Armstrong Stadium

FLUSHING, N.Y., August 22, 2011 – The USTA today announced that Panasonic, a global leader in 3D broadcast technology, will once again work with CBS Sports and the USTA to broadcast the US Open Tennis Championships in 3D for a second year. This year’s 3D broadcasts also will extend to coverage of CBS Sports’ matches from Louis Armstrong Stadium.

CBS Sports will serve as the host broadcaster producing the 3D coverage for the USTA and Panasonic. It will produce 3D versions of all Arthur Ashe Stadium matches that it broadcasts in High Definition both on Labor Day Weekend and on Finals Weekend, September 9-11.

Last year’s 3D production of the 2010 US Open Tennis Championships – the first world-wide 3D broadcast of a tennis major – was honored with a 2010 Emmy Award for technical achievement (George Wensel TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD).

This year’s expanded 3D broadcast coverage will include new, 3D-specific positions designed by the telecast partners to provide the best 3D perspectives. The action will be covered by 10 3D broadcast cameras and a high-speed 3D replay system. The overall court coverage will again be based around the innovative 3D broadcast camera shadow rigs designed by the Cameron Pace Group and used last year.

Panasonic – which returns as the official 3D electronics sponsor and the official television of the US Open Championships, as well as sponsor of CBS Sports’ 2D and 3D US Open telecasts – will enable fans at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to experience the immersive world of 3D via public viewing galleries featuring the latest large-screen VIERA Full HD 3D TVs. These on-site Panasonic “Experience Amazing” exhibits will demonstrate a wide range of 3D programming including movies and live TV events. They will also showcase Panasonic’s VIERA Connect technology in web-connected TVs and Blu-ray Disc players, which feature Skype video calling, Facebook, Twitter and lots more. The Panasonic “Experience Amazing” 3D exhibits can be found on the ground level of Louis Armstrong Stadium, at the Panasonic 3D Gaming Center within the SmashZone, and at the Panasonic VIERA Connect booth in the South Plaza in front of Court 10.

CBS Sports’ 3D telecasts of the 2011 US Open will again be available on DirecTV’s channel 103, “n/3D Powered by Panasonic.” This year, Comcast will also carry the 3D broadcast coverage to its subscribers on Xfinity 3D, making CBS Sports coverage of the 2011 US Open available via the nation’s two largest multi-channel video providers. Distribution discussions with additional providers are ongoing. Additionally, the men’s and women’s finals will be streamed live in 3D on USOpen.org, the official website of the tournament.

“Working with our partners CBS Sports and Panasonic, we once again expect to be a leader in presenting our sport to fans in breathtaking new ways,” said USTA Harlan Stone, Chief Business and Communications Officer. “Last year we saw the impressive production values for 3D television and now, by including Louis Armstrong Stadium and expanding our distribution, we are bringing this innovative new look to the sport to more people than ever before.”

“Panasonic is delighted to again be sponsoring the US Open Tennis Championships and bringing the passion and power of this premier tennis event in stunning 3D to TV screens across the country,” said Joseph M. Taylor, Chairman & CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America.

“The tennis pros on the courts will be broadcast in 3D by sports production pros at our partner CBS, and with the USTA itself, we are thrilled to be back at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for this top event.”

“As we saw from last year, there may be no better sport to broadcast in 3D than tennis,” said Harold Byrant, Executive Producer & Vice President, Production, CBS Sports. “With our additional broadcast cameras and enhanced positions, including low, court-level positions, viewers will feel like they’re actually on the court with some of the world’s greatest players. CBS Sports is once again looking forward to using this groundbreaking technology during our coverage of the US Open Tennis Championships. This year, as action and play dictate, we will also have the ability to cover the matches from Louis Armstrong Stadium in 3D.”

The 3D broadcasts will use a separate production team and equipment from the traditional HD broadcasts of the tournament. Plans call for two special 3D production trucks and a unique 3D dedicated CBS Sports broadcast team. CBS has designed and upgraded 3D broadcast camera placements lower to the court than traditional TV locations in order to capture the close-up and personal, athletic dimension of tennis that make 3D such a powerful experience.

Panasonic will also engage fans on-site with promotions including a FourSquare program where fans can check into the Panasonic exhibits via FourSquare to receive special offers as well as the “Experience Amazing” Scavenger Hunt in which QR codes will be located in select locations throughout the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Fans that scan all of the codes receive a special premium and will be eligible to win prizes including a Panasonic Full HD 3D Home Entertainment system. Details on these promotions will be announced at a later date.

Away from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Panasonic and DirecTV will also provide the live CBS Sports 3D broadcasts of the US Open semi-final and final matches to hundreds of TV retail outlets nationwide, including scores of Best Buy stores.

There you have the U.S. Open press releases for now.

Tennis Channel’s 2011 U.S. Open Coverage Plans

Tennis Channel’s partnership with ESPN2 continues with the final Grand Slam tournament of the year in the U.S. Open. Tennis Channel will open its coverage at 11 a.m. each day starting Monday, August 29 and continuing through Thursday, September 8. It will mostly carry daytime coverage starting with the first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, then cover the outside courts as ESPN focuses mainly on Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums. During Labor Day Weekend, Tennis Channel will have primetime coverage on Saturday, September 3 and Sunday, September 4.

Bill Macatee will be the main host along with Mary Carillo. They’ll also call selected matches. Joining them on play-by-play will be Ted Robinson, Ian Eagle and Leif Sheras. On analysis will be Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Jimmy Connors, Jimmy Arias, Justin Gimblestob and Corina Morariu.

In the Tennis Channel studios, Kevin Frazier and Lindsay Davenport will co-host Breakfast at the Open and U.S. Open Tonight. Frazier has not improved as host and remains one of the worst at pronouncing names. As a sports host, he’s a very good entertainment reporter if you catch my drift.

Bud Collins will contribute essays and reports throughout Tennis Channel’s coverage.

We have the press release below.

TENNIS CHANNEL’S US OPEN COVERAGE GETS UNDERWAY WITH FIRST MATCH MONDAY, AUGUST 29

Mary Carillo Joins On-Air Team with Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport and Others, as Sixth Television Court  is Made Available for Broadcasters This Year
Prime-Time Labor Day Weekend Highlights Two Weeks of More than 230 Hours, with 72 Hours of Live Matches and 41 Hours of US Open Tonight and Breakfast at the Open

And that will do it.

ESPN2 Gets Ready For The U.S. Open in New York

Next week, the U.S. Open gets underway in Flushing Meadow at the National Tennis Center in New York. Three networks will cover the event, CBS will have Labor Day Weekend and Championship Weekend coverage and it’ll mark the last time Dick Enberg will call the event. Tennis Channel will have daytime coverage from the outer courts as well as primetime coverage during Labor Day Weekend. And the most comprehensive coverage will come from ESPN2 which has come to really embrace America’s major tennis championship.

Known as “The World’s Toughest Tennis”, the U.S. Open will start with action during the day at 11 a.m. ET and again with nighttime sessions at 7 p.m. ET. For tennis fans like me, it’s a literal smorgasbord of action for two weeks.

For ESPN2, you have the usual tennis crew led by Chris Fowler, Cliff Drysdale, Patrick McEnroe, Darren Cahill, Mary Jo Fernandez, Pam Shriver, Brad Gilbert and Chris Evert. Joining ESPN2 for the tournament will be John McEnroe. Mike Tirico, Hannah Storm and Chris McKendry will be on hand as hosts.

ESPN2 will begin from the first day of action and continue through to the Women’s Doubles Final on Sunday, September 11. We have the press release for you.

ESPN & the 2011 US Open: 100 Hours on ESPN2 HD; 420 on ESPN3.com, Growing Online & Mobile Presence

Brackets Announced on ESPN August 25; Chris Evert Makes ESPN US Open Debut

ESPN’s multi-platform and worldwide coverage of tennis’ final Grand Slam event of the year, the US Open from New York August 29 – September 11 will include 100 hours in high definition on ESPN2 HD, 420 hours on ESPN3.com’s multi-court offering plus coverage across ESPN’s platforms in the U.S. and around the world.  The tournament will mark the ESPN US Open debut for Chris Evert, who joined ESPN this summer at Wimbledon. With a record six US Open titles among her 18 major singles championships, she will serve as both a studio and match analyst. For a taste of ESPN’s coverage, here is a promo spot: http://bit.ly/ESPNUSOad.

Before play begins, ESPN will be home of the exclusive announcement of the men’s and women’s draw during SportsCenter on Thursday, Aug. 25, at noon.  Patrick McEnroe and Mary Joe Fernandez will discuss the pairings live from the National Tennis Center in New York with player interviews including defending champion Rafael Nadal.

During the first week of the tournament, ESPN2’s coverage will start at 1 p.m. each weekday and will continue nonstop for at least 10 hours through both the day and evening sessions.  The latter, Primetime at the US Open, will begin at 7 p.m. and continue until 11 p.m. or when play is concluded, whichever is later. The second week, ESPN2 will have Primetime at the US Open at 7 p.m. on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 5, followed by day-long windows Tuesday – Thursday starting at 11 a.m. On Thursday, Sept. 8, the evening telecast will include a special doubles exhibition with actors Will Ferrell and Matthew Perry and Tennis Hall of Famers John McEnroe and Jim Courier.

All of ESPN2’s telecasts are also available online through ESPNnetworks.com, and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.  Both are accessible to fans who receive their video service from an affiliated provider.

While ESPN2 is on the air, SportsCenter will have the right to cut-in live for updates and key moments.  SportsCenter’s daytime edition is on ESPN until 3 p.m. with later editions from 6-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-midnight.  On ESPNEWS, SportsCenter airs from 3-6 p.m. and 7-11 p.m.

On the final day of the tournament, Sunday, Sept. 11, ESPN2 will televise live the women’s doubles championship at 1 p.m., and will review all the action at 10 p.m. with a special two-hour edition of SportsCenter at the US Open.

ESPN2’s Commentator Lineup
The addition at Wimbledon of Evert bolstered television’s best tennis team, led by Cliff Drysdale, a former US Open finalist.  Cliff has been with ESPN since its first tennis telecast September 14, 1979, exactly one week after the network launched, making him second in ESPN tenure among commentators behind only Bob Ley. Chris Fowler, ESPN’s lead studio anchor for Grand Slam tennis since 2003, will serve as a host and call matches. Mike Tirico of Monday Night Football, Hannah Storm and Chris McKendry will also serve as hosts. John and Patrick McEnroe will again often be paired in the booth, and the rest of the ESPN tennis team returns:  Darren Cahill, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert and Pam Shriver. In addition, Tom Rinaldi will contribute features and essays.

More US Open from ESPN, Inc.
ESPN3.com, the company’s live multi-screen sports network, will cover the action from six courts (up from five) beginning at 1 p.m. the first five days. ESPN3.com will also simulcast ESPN2 for the full tournament, select additional court coverage and a simulcast of the Women’s Doubles final for a total of approximately 420 hours of US Open tennis on the web.

ESPN3.com gives fans a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of live, global sports events annually. It is available in nearly 70 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.  It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.  The network is also accessible on the go via the WatchESPN app and on ESPN on Xbox LIVE through an affiliated provider.

ESPN.com

• Courtcast: A multi-tool application with all-court scoring, match stats, Cover It Live conversations, poll questions, rolling Twitter feeds and scrolling bottom line.
• Center Court: A daily video review of the day’s best highlights and most notable results.
• Digital Serve: Exclusive daily dotcom video segment previewing the next day’s action.
• Slam Central: Home of all the best US Open content, including columns by Greg Garber, highlights and the latest results.
• Open Notebook: An aggregation of what the latest happenings are on the grounds of Flushing Meadows. From interviews, latest results, and even vetting the food, fans will get a taste of everything.

ESPN Interactive TV will be presented on DIRECTV. During the ESPN2 telecast windows for the first five days, a six-screen mosaic will include the ESPN2 program, along with matches with commentary from five other courts. In total, viewers will have access to more than 435 hours of live tennis action and 140 extra matches. Production will be enhanced with press conferences, interviews and features that will be added during court changeovers and between matches. All six screens can be expanded to full screen or picture-in-picture at the touch of the remote button. In addition, DIRECTV will offer “Matches On Now,” a graphic across the bottom with scores from each of the matches currently on the court channels, with the ability to tune directly to the match, and “Results,” an instant look at real-time scores and schedule info for matches ahead – all without leaving the match the viewer is watching.

ESPN Deportes, the multi-media Spanish-language U.S. initiative, will present live action during the first week of the US Open through its radio and online platforms. ESPNdeportes.com will serve U.S. Hispanic fans featuring daily webisodes of “ESPiaNdo” with the latest news and information. In addition, the site will offer special daily reports, highlights from New York and updates on Twitter by Varela, Cortina, and Alvarez. ESPN Deportes Radio will feature daily segments during the morning drive show Al Despertar.

ESPN International will offer over 170 hours of live coverage throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. In Latin America, coverage will be available in high definition. Coverage to Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America will be anchored by Luis Alvarez and Eduardo Varela with analysts Javier Frana and Jose Luis Clerc and reporters Nicolas Pereira, Carolina Guillen and Pablo Ferreira. Sam Gore and Mark Brown will handle English play-by-play with analysts Kathy Rinaldi and Jimmy Arias. Latin America’s ESPN Play will feature over 500 hours of live streaming coverage which will include up to six tennis courts in separate windows early on in the tournament. Additional Spanish content will be available on ESPN360.com, ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN Mobile, featuring daily webisodes of “ESPiaNdo” hosted by Varela, access to reports from New York and daily highlights.

The WatchESPN app, for fans with Apple or Android devices and who receive ESPN’s linear networks as part of their video subscription via Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Verizon FiOS TV, will present ESPN2’s live coverage, in addition to ESPN3.com’s multi-screen offering.  Also, ESPN Mobile TV will carry 65 hours of live coverage.

ESPN Classic:  Great US Open Matches from the Past
Leading up to this year’s action, ESPN Classic will present great US Open matches from the past, highlighted by a 21-hour marathon starting late Thursday, Aug. 25 at midnight.  In addition, the morning the tournament starts Monday, Aug. 29, at 7 a.m. and leading directly into ESPN2’s live coverage at 1 p.m., ESPN Classic will air the most recent two men’s finals – Juan Martin Del Potro defeating Roger Federer in a dramatic five-setter in 2009 and Rafael Nadal beating Novak Djokovic for a career Grand Slam last year.

Of special note are showings of three noteworthy matches upon significant anniversaries:

• the 1981 Men’s Final – 30 years ago – when John McEnroe defeated Bjorn Borg 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 for his third of four US Open titles Thurs., Aug. 25, at 1 a.m. (Wed., Aug. 24, at 10 p.m. PT).  Borg quickly left the court and played very few matches ever again, and never in a major.  The match will also be aired on Tuesday, Sept. 13, the exact 30^th anniversary date, at 8 p.m.
• also on its 30^th anniversary, the 1981 Women’s Final will be presented Monday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m.  In a memorable match, Tracy Austin came from way back to defeat Martina Navratilova 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 for her second and last major championship before back injuries shortened her career.
• A 10^th anniversary look back at the 2001 Men’s Quarterfinal, in which no. 10 seed Pete Sampras edged no. 2 Andre Agassi in four sets, all of which went to a tiebreaker:  Fri., Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. (Thurs., Aug. 25 at 10 p.m. PT).

The ESPN Classic schedule:

Date	Time (ET)	Match
Thur, Aug 25	1-3 a.m.	1981 Men’s Final: John McEnroe vs. Bjorn Borg
	7-9 p.m.	1995 Men’s Final: Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi
	MID-1 a.m.	1979 Women’s Final: Tracy Austin vs. Chris Evert Lloyd
Fri, Aug 26	1-3:30 a.m.	2001 Men’s Quarterfinal: Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi
	3:30-5:30 a.m.	1989 Men’s Quarterfinal: Jimmy Connors vs. Andre Agassi
	5:30-8 a.m.	1982 Men’s Final:  Jimmy Connors vs. Ivan Lendl
	8-11 a.m.	1992 Men’s Semifinal: Stefan Edberg vs. Michael Chang
	11 a.m.-1 p.m.	1994 Men’s Final: Andre Agassi vs. Michael Stich
	1-3 p.m.	1995 Women’s Final: Steffi Graf vs. Monica Seles
	3-5 p.m.	2004 Women’s Quarterfinal: Serena Williams vs. Jennifer Capriati
	5-7 p.m.	1990 Men’s Final: Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi
	7-9 p.m.	1995 Men’s Final: Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi
Mon, Aug 29	7-10 a.m.	2009 Men’s Final: Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Roger Federer
	10 a.m.-1 p.m.	2010 Men’s Final: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic
Mon, Sept 12	8-10 p.m.	1981 Women’s Final: Tracy Austin vs. Martina Navratilova
Tue, Sept 13	8-10 p.m.	1981 Men’s Final: John McEnroe vs. Bjorn Borg

ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place
Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup in 2009, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), and Wimbledon since 2003, with exclusivity for live television with all other rights extended added in a 12-year agreement starting in 2012.

ESPN debuted September 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, September 14, a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing.

In addition, broadband network ESPN3.com, now in nearly 70 million homes, carries thousands of hours of tennis annually, including all four Grand Slam events, plus ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments, usually with additional, exclusive matches. Also, ESPN Classic shows great matches from the past and the sport receives extensive coverage on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. ESPN 3D aired its first tennis at Wimbledon in 2011.

ESPN2 HD & the 2011 US Open

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Mon, Aug 29	1-7 p.m. 7-11 p.m.	First Round Primetime at the US Open: First Round
Tues, Aug 30	1-7 p.m. 7-11 p.m.	First Round Primetime at the US Open: First Round
Wed, Aug 31	1-7 p.m.	Men’s First Round/Women’s Second Round
Thur, Sept 1	7-11 p.m. 1-7 p.m. 7-11 p.m.	Primetime at the US Open: First & Second Rounds Second Round Primetime at the US Open: Second Round
Fri, Sept 2	1-7 p.m. 7-11 p.m.	Men’s Second Round/Women’s Third Round Primetime at the US Open: Second & Third Rounds
Mon, Sept 5	7-11 p.m.	Primetime at the US Open: Round of 16
Tues, Sept 6	11 a.m.-7 p.m. 7-11 p.m.	Men’s Round of 16, Women’s Quarterfinals Primetime at the US Open: Women’s Quarterfinals
Wed, Sept 7	11 a.m.-7 p.m. 7-11 p.m.	Quarterfinals Primetime at the US Open: Quarterfinals
Thur, Sept 8	11 a.m.-7 p.m.	Men’s Quarterfinals
	7-11 p.m.	Primetime at the US Open: Men’s Quarterfinals
Sun, Sept 11	1-3 p.m.	Women’s Doubles Final
	10-MID p.m.	SportsCenter at the US Open

 

Tennis Channel’s coverage plans are next.

Our Mid-Week Links

Any time I put “Quick” in the title, it appears I find more linkage than I set out to. Nothing wrong with that. Again, I ended up being outside of the office for an extended time and it looks like that will happen again tomorrow. Don’t know work is so crazy all of a sudden. I hope the weekend won’t be too busy, but you never know until it gets here. So I won’t put “Quick” in the title today.

In the meantime, I’ll do as many links as I can.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today writes that ESPN has actually dropped two NFL studio analysts to help make room for five new guys coming to the network.

Michael Hiestand at USA Today explains why Jerry Rice chose to become a TV analyst now.

In Sports Business Daily, John Ourand has the story on how NBC Sports Group signed a new multiyear contract with MLS.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch writes that the NBC Sports deal might be the boost that MLS has been seeking.

Jack Bell of the New York Times looks at the particulars of the deal.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog says NBC Sports Group grabbing the MLS is a big blow to Fox Soccer which previously had this portion of the contract.

Daniel Feuerstein from MLS Talk also reviews this new MLS contract.

Now to other links.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says Cablevision and Tennis Channel may spar again when its contract with a cable collaborative expires. Again, this could affect viewership of the U.S. Open in New York.

Autoweek talks about ESPN renewing its deal to air the Indianapolis 500 on ABC for the long-term.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that a longtime Baltimore Sun writer is leaving to join the WWE.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser tells us that age was a factor in having CNBC’s Darren Rovell replace John Feinstein on the ESPN Radio affiliate in Washington DC. It’s never good to admit that publicly.

Ben Axelrod from SportsGrid says U.S. Women’s Soccer team goalie Hope Solo will be posing nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue.

Major League Baseball has announced its postseason schedule and it starts early and would end well before Halloween.

Over to the aforementioned Darren Rovell who provides us with his annual College Football All-Name Team.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog looks at Darren joining a DC sports radio station for a weekly guest spot.

Dan writes that a DC TV station will air Baltimore Ravens preseason games for the first time.

Bert Pfankuch of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune is changing cable companies and tearfully says goodbye to Golf Channel.

Angela Woolen in the Macon (GA) Telegraph says ESPN is in town to air the Little League Baseball World Series Southeast Regional this week.

Ben Flanagan from the Huntsville (AL) Times recaps comments from South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier to Dan Patrick in which he stated that he felt ESPN gave Alabama preferential treatment.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says former Packers running back Ahman Green joins Big Ten Network for selected games this college football season.

Bob talks about former NFL coach Bill Parcells rejoining ESPN for this season.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that NBC Sports plans to put one or two Notre Dame games on the NBC Sports Network starting next season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily finds an angry message to Dodgers owner Frank McCourt inside Dodger Stadium.

Ferd Lewis at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says an announcement to tout a new University of Hawaii sports channel has been delayed again.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail goes over caddie Steve Williams’ bitter remarks to CBS shortly after Adam Scott won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Kristen Douglas of the Campbell River (Canada) Mirror says NBC Sports was in the local area to shoot a segment for an adventure show.

Sports Media Watch advises us to keep on an eye on the battle between ESPN and the NBC Sports Group.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder goes over Jerry Rice’s hiring at ESPN.

And AA talks with soccer announcer extraordinaire Ian Darke.

The Biz of Baseball’s Maury Brown says MLB’s attendance numbers are quite deceptive.

The Football Girl blog looks at the ESPN/NFL Network analyst wars plus the NFL on Fox announcing lineup.

And that is going to conclude the linkage 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.

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.

Mary Carillo Joins Tennis Channel

In a very good move and a natural one, Tennis Channel has signed Mary Carillo for the French and U.S. Opens. In addition to analysis and some play-by-play, Mary will be seen at the host desk to conduct interviews and do features. Of course, Mary left ESPN2 during the U.S. Open for some undisclosed dispute.

Here’s the press release.

TENNIS CHANNEL SIGNS MARY CARILLO

Renowned Sportscaster, Tennis Champion to Join French Open, US Open On-Air Teams

LOS ANGELES, May 12, 2011-Tennis Channel is adding Mary Carillo, whose path has taken her from winning the French Open to winning a Sports Emmy Award, as the newest member of its star-laden French Open and US Open telecast teams.  Starting in Paris in two weeks she will host the network’s live tournament desk, conduct interviews, offer perspective and analysis, and occasionally handle play-by-play duties during select matches.  Additionally, Carillo will have wide latitude to produce the type of in-depth, human interest stories and segments for which she has garnered numerous awards throughout her 31-year television career.

“Tennis Channel just continues to impress everyone with the passion and knowledge they bring to covering this sport, and I really wanted to be a part of that,” said Carillo.  “I’ve done things with them several times in the past but never as a member of their broadcast team.  It will be great to get going with them at the French Open and contribute to the quality of work they’re producing.”

The agreement brings Carillo, one of the most respected voices in sports journalism, to Tennis Channel’s on-air team for the first time and pairs her with John McEnroe, the childhood friend with whom she won the 1977 French Open mixed-doubles championship.  McEnroe has been a part of the network’s Paris team since 2007, its first year in the City of Light.  In addition to McEnroe, she joins a roster of Grand Slam champions that includes Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Justin Gimelstob and Corina Morariu.  She will also appear on the set of French Open Tonight with host Bill Macatee, another longtime face of Tennis Channel’s Grand Slam coverage.

Carillo will repeat this role later in the year during Tennis Channel’s coverage of the US Open in her New York City hometown.  The annual late-summer event takes place in the borough of Queens, where she grew up and first grabbed a tennis racquet.

“What executive producer wouldn’t want to add Mary Carillo to their broadcast team?” said Larry Meyers, executive producer and senior vice president, production, Tennis Channel.  “We continue to build upon the group of incredible people who cover the French Open for Tennis Channel.  The chance to bring Mary into a lineup that already includes McEnroe, Navratilova, Davenport, Macatee, (Ted) Robinson and (Ian) Eagle is another great opportunity for us and our viewers.  We really feel like there’s no other sport in the world that has this level of talent covering it on one network.”

Known for both wisdom and wit, Carillo has carved a place for herself in the television sportscast landscape like few others in the industry.  Beginning as a tennis analyst for USA Network following her retirement from professional tennis in 1980, she has branched out to cover a wide variety of sports stories for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, HBO Sports, ESPN and Bravo.  Beyond her candid tennis commentary she is equally lauded for her work at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and as a correspondent on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, HBO’s monthly magazine show.  Carillo has become recognized and praised for two signatures: the refreshing honesty of her opinions and poignant, deeply measured human interest stories that add heartbeats to athletes and the people who share their hopes and sorrows.  Among these are features on the tragic death of young Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, and the story of the family of Ironman athlete Rick Hoyt, who triumphed despite the challenges of his cerebral palsy.

Carillo won a 2006 Sports Emmy Award for her uplifting Hoyt family report and a 2000 George Foster Peabody Award for her contribution to Dare to Compete: The Struggle for Women in Sports, a documentary she co-wrotewith Frank Deford.  She won an additional Peabody Award for the 2006 documentary Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer (which appeared on Tennis Channel after its initial HBO premiere).  She became the first female recipient of the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism in 2010 and has been named “Best TV Commentator” by Tennis magazine repeatedly.  The WTA Tour, the governing body of women’s professional tennis, has twice awarded Carillo with its “Broadcaster of the Year” honor.

This year’s French Open will mark Tennis Channel’s fifth telecast of the most prestigious clay-court tournament in the world.  The network plans to offer more than 100 hours of live matches and more than 40 hours of nightly prime-time show French Open Tonight. In all, given encore replays and a round-the-clock coverage schedule during the event, Tennis Channel will devote close to 250 hours to the French Open in 2011.  This does not include the multiple live and on-demand matches that will be free again on the network’s web site, www.tennischannel.com.  A full broadcast schedule will be announced on the eve of the tournament.

Good pick up by Tennis Channel and one that’s welcomed here.

CBS Sports Celebrates Six Sports Emmy Awards

At the Sports Emmy Awards, CBS Sports bagged six Sports Emmy Awards including a new trophy for Outstanding Playoff Coverage for the NCAA Tournament. Two features from CBS’ Super Bowl XLIV coverage also received Emmys.

CBS SPORTS WINS SIX EMMY AWARDS
NCAA Tournament, Super Bowl XLIV, Golf and U.S. Open Tennis Championships Garner Honors for Network at 32^nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards

CBS Sports won six Emmy Awards at the 32^nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards on Monday, May 2 at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Highlighting CBS Sports’ winning night were Emmy Awards for its 2010 coverage of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, Super Bowl XLIV, GOLF ON CBS and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

CBS Sports garnered trophies for OUTSTANDING PLAYOFF COVERAGE (The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament); OUTSTANDING SHORT FEATURE (Sarah Rinaldi; Wynton Marsalis – ’43 Years’; Super Bowl XLIV); OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN / ART DIRECTION (Pete Radovich, Jr.; Run This Town; Super Bowl XLIV); OUTSTANDING MUSIC COMPOSITION / DIRECTION / LYRICS (Pete Radovich, Jr.; Run This Town; Super Bowl XLIV); OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM REMOTE (Golf on CBS) and the George Wensel TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (3D at U.S. Open Tennis Championships).

We’ll go to NFL Films next.

2011 Sports Emmy Awards In Real Time. Well, Kind Of

I’ll be posting the Sports Emmy Awards as they’re being handed out. I’m not there, but thanks to live tweets from ESPN public relations maven Josh Krulewitz and Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, I’ll be posting the awards as I get them.

As I begin this post, some awards have already been handed out including a few upsets. For the complete list of nominations, you can go here.

I’ll be listing these in the order they’re handed out.

Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly
College Gameday – ESPN

Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound
NASCAR on Fox – Fox

The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award
US Open Tennis Championships: 3D at the US Open Tennis Championships – CBS

Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction
NFL on CBS/Super Bowl XLIV: Run This Town – CBS

Outstanding Short Feature
NFL on CBS/Super Bowl XLIV: Wynton Marsalis – 43 Years – CBS

Outstanding Editing
24/7: Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona – HBO

Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement/Institutional
MLB All-Star Game: Sand – Fox/The Mill

Outstanding Technical Team Studio
XXI Winter Olympic Games – NBC

Outstanding Graphic Design
TIE
Sport Science – ESPN/Base Productions
XXI Winter Olympic Games – NBC

Outstanding Sports Documentary
Lombardi – HBO/NFL Films

Outstanding New Approaches Sports Event Coverage
XXI Winter Olympic Games: Beyond the Broadcast – NBCOlympics.com

Outstanding Playoff Coverage (New Category)
NCAA Basketball on CBS: The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – CBS

Outstanding Camera Work
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets – HBO/NFL Films

Outstanding Edited Sports Special
24/7: Penguins/Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic – HBO

Outstanding Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics
TIE
2010 FIFA World Cup: U2 & Soweto Gospel Choir – ESPN
NFL on CBS – Super Bowl XLIV: Run This Town – CBS

Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement/Episodic
NFL ‘It’s Good To Have A Ring’: Booth; Airport; Pool Party – Fox/SMuggler

Outstanding Sports Personality – Play-by-Play
Mike Emrick – NHL on NBC

Outstanding New Approaches Sports Event Coverage
NFL Sunday Ticket Experience on DirecTV – DirecTV

Outstanding Open/Tease
XXI Winter Olympic Games: Discovery – NBC

Outstanding Post Production Audio/Sound
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets – HBO/NFL Films

Outstanding Sports Personality – Sports Event Analyst
Cris Collinsworth – Sunday Night Football, NBC

The Dick Schaap Writing Award
2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN

Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Analyst
Kirk Herbstreit – College Gameday, ESPN

Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming – Short Format
XXI Winter Olympic Games – NBC

Outstanding Studio Show – Daily
MLB Tonight – MLB Network

More as I get them.

Lifetime Achievement Award
Al Michaels – NBC

UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. – Back to the awards now.

Outstanding Technical Team Remote
Golf on CBS – CBS

UPDATE: 9:15 p.m. – More awards being handed out.

Outstanding Long Feature
E:60: Survival 1 – ESPN2

Outstanding Edited Sports Series – Anthology
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets – HBO/NFL Films

Outstanding Live Sports Series
Sunday Night Football – NBC

Outstanding Sports Journalism
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: The Missing Link – HBO

Outstanding Live Event Turnaround
Sound FX: Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets – NFL Network/NFL Films

Outstanding Live Sports Special
2010 FIFA World Cup: Final Match – Spain vs. Netherlands – ESPN on ABC

Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Host
Bob Costas – NBC/MLB Network (SHOCKER! Not really, Costas seems to win every year)

There are your awards. I’ll be posting press releases as they come in.

It’s a Mid-Week Linkfest

Now back at 100%, it’s now time to give you some linkage. Glad to be over a 36 hour bug that was bothering me. A couple of things that I confirmed from being sick. One, ginger ale was amazing medicinal qualities in settling upset stomachs. Two, sleeping 13 hours can be very good. And three, illness can force you to lose five pounds, which can be a good thing.

OK, let’s get to the linkage while I can.

First, Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at TBS putting Ernie Johnson, Jr. as its lead announcer for the MLB postseason and discussing the debut of a new live morning show on Golf Channel.

Mark Kriegel of Fox Sports feels Ines Sainz cannot have it both ways in regards to harassment. 

Jamele Hill at ESPN.com feels the Jets and Sainz both share the blame in the entire situation.

On The DL’s Dan Levy interviews the Washington Post’s Cindy Boren about the Ines Sainz story and what Boren had to endure in her early career.

Ed Berliner feels Ines Sainz is in it for the publicity. 

Amanda Rykoff, a.k.a. The OCD Chick, dusts off a 1992 paper she wrote at the University of Pennsylvannia on the Lisa Olson sexual harassment story and see how well it holds up today in the wake of Ines Sainz.

From Broadcasting & Cable, Andrea Domanick has the Chief Operating Officer of Fox’ parent company lowering the expectations for 3-D TV.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks about the record ratings for ESPN’s Monday Night Football doubleheader.

Mike is critical of the way both CBS and ESPN2 treated the US Open men’s final on Monday.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says NFL-themed shows including the league’s season opener and Sunday Night Football season premiere steered NBC to a rare ratings win.

Toni says Monday Night Football’s season opener was up 6% from last year.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse writes about the excellent NFL Week 1 TV ratings for both Fox and NBC.

Milton says tennis fans were left to scramble after CBS and ESPN played musical channels with the US Open men’s final.

Greg Couch of Fanhouse writes that the juggling of the final totally disrespected the US Open.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser interviews Jamele Hill of ESPN. 

Former hotel roommates Neil Best and Bob Glauber of Newsday team up like Woodward and Bernstein on the NFL talking to the Jets for lewd behavior during Ines Sainz’s visit to the team’s training camp on Saturday.

Neil also talks with WFAN’s Craig Carton about his morning show’s simulcast on MSG Network.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun feels Jon Gruden let his anti-Ravens bias show on Monday Night.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog mentions the launch of a third sports radio station in the local market.

Cindy Boren at the Post’s Early Lead can’t believe we’re still talking about women reporter’ access to the locker room.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner explores the record ratings for Monday Night Football.

Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that Miami Hurricanes coach Randy Shannon has forced his team to shut down all Twitter accounts until further notice.

In the Daily Oklahoman, Mel Bracht speaks with Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmy Johnson’s experiences on Survivor which premieres tonight on CBS.

With the Bears taking on the Cowboys on Sunday, Crain’s Chicago Business’ Ed Sherman can’t help but feel a little stadium envy.

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar says Sam Bradford’s Rams debut was a ratings hit locally.

Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman writes that CBS College Sports is negotiating to be added to a local cable system in time for this Saturday’s Boise State-Wyoming game. 

Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Busness Journal says local ratings for the Arizona Cardinals-St. Louis Rams were very good locally.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News celebrates the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking book, “Ball Four” by former pitcher Jim Bouton.

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin fears bloggers taking over the world. 

Brett Packey at Awful Announcing has seven minutes of Mike Leach’s debut this past weekend on CBS College Sports. It has to be seen to be believed.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest tells us that Detroit Lions rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh becomes the spokesman for a famous food product.

Sports Media Watch has the weekend overnight ratings.

SMW notes that NASCAR’s ratings were down for the 16th time this year.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media is happy over NHL references in an FX sitcom.

I have a post over at Press Coverage suggesting how to fix the US Open for the US Tennis Association and its TV partners.

And that’s going to do it.

Tuesday Linkage

Yesterday was not the day to get sick. So many things happened last night, Jets owner Woody Johnson apologizing to Azteca TV reporter Ines Sainz, Monday Night Football doubleheader, US Open men’s final moving from CBS to ESPN2 and then cutting out for Monday Night Football, Jay Mariotti getting charged on domestic violence against his girlfriend and I went to bed at 6:30 last night. That’ll learn me to get sick.

Anyway, let’s do linkage that I couldn’t get to yesterday. Lots of stuff to do. I’ll try to give you plenty of links.

Starting with Mike McCarthy of USA Today who writes that Jets owner Woody Johnson has apologized to Sainz for the team’s action during her visit to the team’s training camp on Saturday.

Sainz herself appeared on the Today Show this morning to talk about the incident.

I give her credit saying she was not a victim, but at the same time, she wasn’t wearing anything out of hand. Ines is a beautiful woman, but from what I saw, she was being professional. For anyone to say she was asking to be harassed is like saying a person deserved to be murdered. Come on.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times cannot believe the reaction to Sainz. 

Sports Business Daily recaps the coverage on Sainz including her saying she won’t pursue any legal action against the Jets.

Caroline Howard of Forbes weighs in on the Ines Sainz controversy.

In Sports Illustrated, Ann Killion says the Ines Sainz story is another example of male athletes behaving badly. 

Sports Business Daily notes that ESPN will not use Fanhouse writer Jay “The Rat” Mariotti in the wake of him being charged with domestic violence.

Back to USA Today, Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings from various events from the weekend.

Hiestand writes about TBS using Ernie Johnson, Jr. as its lead announcer for the MLB postseason. 

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says TBS is 90% sold for its ad sales for the MLB postseason.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry feels NBC’s Cris Collinsworth doesn’t measure up to John Madden. Really, who does?

Broadcasting & Cable’s Jon Lafayette talks with NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol who has been named as B&C Broadcaster of the Year.

Ryan Nakashima of the Associated Press talks to former Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner about his decision to buy Cap Cities/ABC in the mid-1990′s, stating that ESPN was really the crown jewel of that purchase.

David Mercer of the AP writes about how fans helped to make the Big Ten Network into a success.

Bill Krueger of the Poynter Institute talks with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King about the changing world of sports writing which includes Twitter.

From Sports Business Journal, John Ourand looks at some of things we learned from the Disney/Time Warner carriage agreement that heavily involved ESPN.

Liz Mullen at SBJ takes a gander at the NFL Players Association possibly decertifying and thus, preventing a NFL labor lockout.

I don’t think I’ve ever linked to Rolling Stone, but I am now. Matt Taibbi takes ESPN Radio Hack Colon Cowherd to task for his stance on unions. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Erik Hayden of The Atlantic can’t believe how both CBS and ESPN2 mistreated the US Open men’s final last night.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at the increased amount of 3-D productions in sports.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says with so many factors now, the season ticket may be going by the wayside.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn writes that 98.5 The Sports Hub has overtaken long-time Boston sports radio behemoth WEEI in the all-important men 25-54 demographic rating.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News takes the NFL Sunday pregame shows to task for not reporting the Ines Sainz story.

Neil Best of Newsday has Ines Sainz’s reaction to the Jets controversy.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post says CBS has a powder keg in Shannon Sharpe. 

John Koblin of the New York Observer was incredulous when CBS switched the US Open men’s final to ESPN2. 

Lynn Zinser of the New York Times says the delayed US Open men’s final caused CBS and others to lose money all around.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union says a local sports radio station has hired a new program director/talk show host.

Pete also has the Capital Region NFL TV schedule for Week 2.

Laura Nachman says Comcast subscribers in Philadelphia will get a free preview of NFL Network’s RedZone this week.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia does what it can to cover the Eagles. 

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun cuts and pastes NBC’s press release on its Sunday Night Football ratings.

Over to the DC Sports Bog and the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg who has DC NFL team running back Clinton Portis opining on the Ines Sainz situation and all I can say is, “Wow.”

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio says Portis (actually the DC NFL Team) has issued an apology. 

Travis Haney of the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier says next Saturday’s (not this Saturday’s) South Carolina-Auburn game will be in primetime on ESPN.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times is disgusted with Stuart Scott, Matt Millen and Steve Young. I’m disgusted with Jones thinking Scott is a real journalist. 

Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel says Ines Sainz and the Association for Women in Sports Media aren’t on the same page. 

Andrew Gribble from an Alabama newspaper (I don’t know which one. The website really doesn’t identify which one) notes that College Gameday is heading to Auburn this Saturday.

WJXT in Jacksonville reports that several “F” bombs were heard on CBS’ NFL coverage on Sunday.

Over to Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News who writes that more than a million homes in the Metroplex were tuned to Sunday Night Football.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has some thoughts on Sunday’s NFL coverage.

David also has the August radio ratings for Houston.

David writes about Jim Nantz’s 25 years in sports broadcasting.

David has Jim listing his top 25 moments that he’s called. 

David says Texans-Colts and Cowboys-DC NFL team did well in the local ratings.

And David talks with ESPN’s Hannah Storm about producing tonight’s 30 for 30 documentary.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News also has some thoughts on the NFL TV coverage.

The Indianapolis Star says ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso is heading to the Indiana University Hall of Fame. 

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Bucks and Fox Sports Wisconsin have announced their 2010-11 schedule.

Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel notes that many NFL TV analysts are in love with the Packers for the Super Bowl.

From earlier this month, Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says an extended NFL schedule could wreak havoc with TV schedules in the future.

Terez A. Paylor from the Kansas City Star goes behind the scenes with the Monday Night Football crew at Arrowhead Stadium. 

The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal notes that a new ESPN Radio affiliate has debuted on the FM dial.

Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times says Jay Mariotti has been charged with domestic violence in the wake of his alleged dispute with his girlfriend last month. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Mary McNamara of the Times reviews tonight’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova rivalry and friendship.

EPL Talk notes that the shining star of ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup, Ian Darke, is about to become the voice of the English Premier League for ESPN2.

Ballpark Digest says Versus will air the Triple A Minor League Baseball Championship this month as part of a new three year deal.

Sports Media Watch has a few ratings notes.

SMW says the US Open Women’s Final drew its lowest overnight numbers in more than a decade.

Joe Favorito says both Women’s Professional Soccer and the United Football League are trying to find their niches in these troubled economic times.

Alex Walsh over at Sports Business Digest says the ratings for Week 1 of the NFL were very impressive.

Ok, you have plenty of links today and I’m not at 100% so you have a bonus today! I’ll have some press releases later.

US Open Men’s Final To Air Monday at 4 p.m. Eastern on CBS

For the third straight year, rain has wreaked havoc with the U.S. Open schedule and forced the men’s final to be played on Monday afternoon. As usual, CBS won’t put it in primetime, so the final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will be scheduled for 4 p.m. New York time and the network will carry it, but that means not all local affiliates will. Some will carry local programming and shuffle the match to a secondary channel, perhaps a co-owned CW affiliate or even secondary digital channel, a .2 let’s say. Check your local listings and websites for time and channel.

THIS JUST IN…

            …FROM CBS SPORTS             

            The men’s final of the 2010 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP featuring No. 1-seeded Rafael Nadal taking on No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic on Sunday, September 12, has been postponed due to inclement weather. The men’s final will air live on the CBS Television Network on Monday, Sept. 13 (4:00 PM, ET) as CBS Sports concludes its coverage of the 2010 U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

CBS Sports’ coverage also will be streamed live on CBSSports.com, as well as on USopen.org.

            Lead play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg will be joined by expert analysts Mary Carillo and John McEnroe in the booth for the 11th consecutive year. Mary Joe Fernandez serves as reporter.

Bob Mansbach serves as coordinating producer of CBS Sports’ live coverage of tennis’ final major of the year. Mansbach, David Winner and Ken Mack produce. Lead director Bob Fishman will direct along with Jim Cornell. Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

That’s it.

CBS Ends Its US Open Coverage With The Men’s Final

The last part of the US Open is tomorrow with the Women’s Doubles Final on ESPN2 at 1 p.m., then the Men’s Final starting at 4 p.m. I’d like to say CBS had a good US Open, but I haven’t seen any of their coverage having worked all last weekend, and missing Friday’s women’s semifinals and today’s men’s semifinals all due to work. Luckily, I have enough of a body of work on all announcers to do the second annual tennis TV awards.

Anyway, here’s CBS’ press release complete with ratings information on Friday’s women’s semifinals.

CBS SPORTS PRESENTS MEN’S FINAL OF 2010 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS AS NO. 1-SEEDED RAFAEL NADAL TAKES ON NO. 3-SEEDED NOVAK DJOKOVIC LIVE ON CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

CBS Sports’ coverage of the men’s final of the 2010 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS on Sunday, Sept. 12 (4:00 PM, ET) features No. 1-seeded Rafael Nadal taking on No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic live on the CBS Television Network.

* * * * *

CBS Sports’ live coverage of the U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS on Friday, Sept. 10 (12:30-6:44 PM, ET), highlighted by the women’s semi-final matches, earned an average national household rating/share of 1.3/5 for Vera Zvonareva’s defeat of Caroline Wozniacki, up 44% from last year’s 0.9/2.  Kim Clijsters’ defeat of Venus Williams in the other women’s semi-final earned a national household rating/share of 1.9/5, up 111% from last year’s 0.9/2, which was rain coverage. The women’s semi-final matches earned an average of 1.7/5, up 89% from last year’s 0.9/3 of rain coverage.

The men’s doubles final, which saw Mike and Bob Bryan defeat Rohan Bopanna and Aisam–Ul-Haq Quereshi, earned a 1.3/5, up 8% from last year’s 1.2/4.

We’re done for now. On Sunday, expect plenty of NFL pregame quotage plus the second annual comparison of DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket’s Red Zone Channel and NFL Network’s RedZone.

CBS Ready For Super Saturday at the US Open

One of these days, the US Open will come to its senses and change this silly scheduling of having the finals played the day after the semifinals. It’s the only Grand Slam tournament that does this. But it’s all for CBS and you have Super Saturday, the men’s semifinals in the afternoon followed by the women’s final in the night session. And the US Open should start on a Sunday instead of a Monday to ease up on the cramming of the play, but as long as CBS has the rights, you’re going to see this for at least the next four years.

We have CBS’ preview of Super Saturday.

CBS SPORTS’ “SUPER SATURDAY” COVERAGE OF 2010 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGHLIGHTED BY KIM CLIJSTERS vs. VERA ZVONAREVA WOMEN’S FINAL SATURDAY, SEPT. 11 IN PRIME TIME

Afternoon Coverage of Men’s Semi-Finals Features Rafael Nadal-Mikhail Youzhny and Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic Preceding Women’s Final

            CBS Sports’ “Super Saturday” coverage on Saturday, Sept. 11 of the 2010 U.S. OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS will be highlighted by the women’s final in prime time as two-time U.S. Open champion and No. 2-seeded Kim Clijsters takes on No. 7-seeded Vera Zvonareva (8:00 PM, ET).

            Coverage of the men’s semi-finals (12:00 NOON, ET) will feature No. 1-seeded Rafael Nadal vs. No. 12-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, followed by five-time U.S. Open champion and No. 2-seeded Roger Federer against No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic.

Lead play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg is joined by expert analysts Mary Carillo and John McEnroe in the booth for the 11^th consecutive year.  CBS Sports’ Bill Macatee also will call action alongside Jim Courier as analyst.  Mary Joe Fernandez serves as reporter.

Bob Mansbach serves as coordinating producer of CBS Sports’ live coverage of tennis’ final grand slam of the year. Mansbach, David Winner and Ken Mack produce. Lead Bob Fishman directs along with Jim Cornell.  Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

            CBS Sports’ coverage of the 2010 U.S. Open Tennis Championships will conclude on Sunday, Sept. 12 (4:00-7:00 PM, ET) with the men’s final.

* * * * *

ALL WE ARE SAYING…

During CBS Sports’ coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships on Friday, September 10, CBS Sports’ Mary Joe Fernandez interviewed United Nations Ambassador to India, H.E. Mr. Hardeep Sing Puri and U.N. Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Abdullah H. Haroon on the doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna (India) and Aisam–Ul-Haq Quereshi (Pakistan) as they took on Americans Mike and Bob Bryan in the men’s doubles final:

MJF: Ambassador Puri, what was your initial reaction when you heard of this partnership, and the people of India, what do they think?

PURI: Very positive. Everybody was delighted that they had gotten to the semi-final, an Indian and Pakistani playing on the same side, and then they made it to the final.  So, people are thrilled.

MJF: And Ambassador Haroon, how meaningful can this be from the partnership that were seeing right here with Quereshi?

HAROON: I think this is fantastic. We’ve offered to play on the border of India and Pakistan, in which Bopanna will play for Pakistan and Quereshi for India. Absolutely marvelous. I think these things should be encouraged. I believe they make a significant difference. If you remember when (inaudible) went to Japul for the cricket, they refused to war; when the Americans went to play ping pong in China. These things do matter. And it’s not just the politicians that the people trust. They trust the instincts of the sports people. It’s a glorious event, the two of us playing this way. We should do much more of it. It should lead to far more harmony than exists today. I think they are setting a great lead for politicians to follow and I hope they do so.

(On news of the Bryan Brothers donating some of their prize money to help flood relief in Pakistan)

HAROON: Yes, I am obliged. To each obliged. There is a 5,000-year-old custom in our country, both in India and Pakistan, where we give hands-on cloth dyed in indigo. I hope to be giving both of them that as a thank you gesture.  It’s very kind of them, what they’re doing.     

Coverage begins at noon East/9 a.m. West on CBS.

CBS Sports Airs US Open Women’s Semifinals Live

On Friday, CBS Sports airs the women’s semifinals at the US Open, the last tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year. The lone American hope is Venus Williams and she’ll be taking on Kim Clijsters. Here’s CBS’ press release.

The NFL Season Opening Links

Well, the morning of NFL regular season opener is like Christmas. You’ve been waiting all night to unwrap the presents and you’re high in anticipation. And when the kickoff occurs, it’s like getting that toy or game you’ve been wanting for months. It’s like that with the NFL. The Super Bowl ends, then there’s the anticipation for the season to begin. The waiting is over and the games begin for real tonight.

And the NFL has made the season opener a very good matchup involving the Super Bowl defending champions which is a very good thing. Tonight’s Minnesota Vikings-New Orleans Saints game should do quite well in the ratings. So let’s go to the linkage which has a lot of NFL slants which is understandable.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated provides all of the pregame and game announcing crews for all of the NFL TV partners.

Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand says NBC and DirecTV have teamed up to produce Sunday Night Football promos sponsored by NFL Sunday Ticket. 

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says new Fox Sports NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira will be on TV to help fans understand the league’s regulations.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says the NFL will provide a delayed webcast for markets where local games have been blacked out.

Mike says Dan Hampton who apologized for comments about Hurricane Katrina in last week’s Pro Football Weekly show will have to make another apology for another wild analogy in the same program.

The Nielsen Wire blog notes the Dallas Cowboys are still America’s most popular NFL team.

Georg Szalai in the Hollywood Reporter says while an NFL lockout looms next season, the league’s TV partners won’t lose much financially even though they’ll still be paying rights fees if games aren’t played.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse writes local blackouts blot the record of NFL Commish Roger Goodell.

Milton says Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Joe Montana told Dan Patrick that the movie Rudy was not very accurate. I’ve always doubted the validity of some of the events in that overrated movie.

Noah Davis of SportsNewser recaps a CBS Sports NFL Today conference call from Wednesday.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says despite high interest from consumers, not many people are running out to buy 3-D TV sets. The price is too high and the glasses are a hindrance.

Todd says ESPN will showcase its 3-D programming next week to help sell more TV sets.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at Mr. America, Tim Tebow, creating his own social networking empire. I think we have a new glossary term, but Tim Tebow is not in the sports media.

Darren writes about a $300 pair of athletic shoes.

Andrea Kremer of NBC Sports writes for the Today show that women can get into football too.

Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo’s Cagewriter blog says Mixed Martial Arts fans have trouble seeing some events on TV.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that CBS’ NFL “A” announcing team spends plenty of time calling Patriots games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says HBO’s Hard Knocks helped to transform the attitude surrounding the New York Jets.

John Martin of the Times wonders if 3-D TV can be used as a training tool for tennis players. 

Neil Best sighting! Neil Best sighting! Newsday’s Neil Best also looks at the season finale of Hard Knocks.

To Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says MSG+ has hired Butch Goring to replace Billy Jaffe on Islanders game broadcasts.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog writes that all regular season Capitals and Wizards games will be aired in HD on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times tells Tampa Bay Bucs fans how they can watch Sunday’s blacked out game.

The Tampa Tribune’s Ira Kaufman talks with Bucs’ cornerback Ronde Barber who remembers the last time the team was blacked out on TV locally.

Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel says a local man beat the Inside the NFL crew to win a visit to the show’s set and NFL Films headquarters in New Jersey.

Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes that former Saints coach Jim Mora, Sr. will join a local NBC affiliate’s pregame show in anticipation of today’s season opener. 

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has the weekly football shows and appearances on local radio for the season.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman recaps the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson’s appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bearcats’ home opener on Saturday will be seen on local over the air TV.

John talks with Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham who’s starting his 25th season in the broadcast booth.

John has more with Dave in his blog.

John says Fox Sports Ohio may not show the entire pregame ceremony honoring Pete Rose on Sunday. 

John Fay of the Enquirer says former Reds announcer George Grande will return to Fox Sports Ohio this month to call 7 games.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks with the editor of the latest SB Nation local site.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says Vikings-Saints is true primetime drama.

Over to Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who writes that NFL TV analysts like the progress of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the NFL games on TV in SoCal this week.

Tom says today is the 45th anniversary of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game for the Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs.

Sports Media Watch notes that the PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank Championship sank in the ratings from last year.

SMW says Labor Day Weekend didn’t bring viewers to the U.S. Open on CBS.

SMW has various ratings news and notes.

SMW says ESPN saw a slight increase for last Sunday’s NASCAR race.

For some reason, Chris Berman is sporting a porn mustache. 

Joe Favorito notes that Mercedes Benz is getting high brand activation in New York City.

Plenty of linkage on this Thursday. Enjoy the NFL season opener.