Fang's Bites

Attempting A Friday Megalink Post

This week has been hellish for me and I apologize for not being able to post as much as I would like. I’ve been away from my computer for most of the day and by the time I get home, I’m tired and don’t want to update the blog.

Well, with me already done my errands for today, I’ll give you some linkage that has been seriously lacking this week.

Of course, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks which you can peruse.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jim Rome is hoping to make a splash as he prepares to launch his new daily show on CBS Sports Network.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On! blog says perpetually angry ESPN college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb is throwing his hat into the Kansas State coaching ring.

The Associated Press was on hand to witness Root Sports Northwest’s production of the Seattle Mariners-Oakland A’s regular season openers in Japan without actually traveling to the Far East.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim has more thoughts on the numerous conflicts of interest in tennis broadcasting.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has Fox Sports’ statement on its carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable over Fox Sports San Diego.

John profiles legendary sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer.

Around the Rings has the press release regarding the European Broadcasting Union obtaining the rights to the World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Institute says college basketball analyst Bob Knight should not be allowed to live by his own rules when he’s on TV.

Scott Soshnick and Steven Church of Bloomberg Businessweek says the Los Angeles Dodgers sale was sparked by media rights.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter says former Sony Pictures head Peter Gruber who’s part of the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group could bring a new attitude towards marketing the team.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott calling rights fees for college football are undervalued.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NESN National is being launched in Indianapolis.

Tim Nudd at Adweek says Chrysler is unveiling four new follow ups to its “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spots during various events this weekend including the NCAA Final Four and Mad Men.

Adweek’s Mike Shields writes ESPN.com is partaking in Facebook’s Open Graph, but with some restrictions.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age notes that CBS/Turner brought in its highest sales revenue ever for March Madness Live.

Ronnie Ramos at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says March Madness has been enhanced by social media and the digital experience.

The Brothers Yoder at Awful Announcing cast the upcoming Anchorman sequel using ESPN’ers. This is good.

Ben Koo at AA is not a huge fan of the overhead shots employed by CBS/Turner for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Los Angeles Times feels there’s one person who could spoil the new ownership for the Dodgers.

Ahmed Yussuf at EPL Talk gives a first-hand account of following the English Premier League from Australia.

Sports Media Watch says last weekend’s rain-shortened NASCAR on Fox event did not do well in the ratings.

Joe Favorito asks if ‘The Hunger Games” could give archery a boost in time for this summer’s Olympics.

Jason McIntyre at The Big Lead reports that Joe Posnanski is leaving Sports Illustrated.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says the potential Fox cable sports network may not knock down ESPN, but could give it a run for its money.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about two rival Hollywood agencies representing Tim Tebow simultaneously.

Bob’s Blitz says WFAN’s Craig Carton browbeat former Tiger Woods swing coach Hank Haney to the point where he hung up.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says CBS returns to New Orleans where it began its Final Four journey 30 years ago.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says ESPN MLB analyst Curt Schilling is facing hypocrisy calls after he criticized his former Red Sox team this week.

Chad adds some thoughts on Schilling and on NESN’s Jenny Dell that didn’t make his column.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch writes in SB Nation that a Tiger Woods in contention is good for The Masters^® and its TV partners.

Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reviews this year’s edition of the MLB At-Bat app.

Richard Sandomir from the Times examines the Dodgers sale.

Anthony Riemer of Newsday looks at Jeremy Lin’s lunch with the sacked ESPN.com editor who unwittingly made a racial slur last month.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson should not be advocating violence. I don’t think he did, Phil, but continue to hate everything, ok?

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for former Tennessee and current Sirius XM analyst Bruce Pearl on the Final Four.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has the ESPN MAC football schedule.

Pete has CBS excited about this year’s Final Four.

Jane Kwiatkowski of the Buffalo News says this is a tough time for the local TV sportscast.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at a local PBS documentary on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready for Phillies baseball.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” gave another of many Capitals references.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Mitch “Wildi Thing” Williams.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Houston Open should be helped by a lot of interesting storylines.

David says Jim Rome is getting ready for his CBS Sports Network closeup.

David writes that Texans running back Arian Foster is taking his show to the team’s radio flagship station.

In The Oklahoman, Mel Bracht has ESPN’s MLB analysts predicting the upcoming season.

Mel says there will be plenty of baseball available in the Oklahoma City market.

Mel reports a local radio station has flipped to being a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel writes that a local radio sports director has been laid off thanks to Clear Channel.

Midwest

Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says New Orleans has provided CBS with plenty of Final Four excitement.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a local TV station plans to ride the Kentucky train for as long as possible.

John says a couple of long-time local radio veterans got the ax due to Clear Channel cost cutting.

John writes that a radio documentary on late Cincinnati Reds voice Waite Hoyt airs this weekend.

The Indianapolis Star says Butler coach Brad Stevens will be a guest analyst for CBS on the Final Four.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes the Brewers have extended their radio rights deal with their long-time flagship station.

Bob says a local sportscaster is back to work after a long illness.

Bob tells us that Marquette coach Buzz Williams will also be a guest analyst on CBS this weekend.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that CBS loves New Orleans at Final Four time.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says 20 Cardinals games won’t be seen by AT&T U-Verse subscribers this season.

Dan writes that the defending champions Cardinals will be in the national spotlight quite a few times this season.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Fox Sports San Diego is not optimistic of getting a deal with two cable providers in time for Padres opening day.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has ESPN’s MLB analysts praising Magic Johnson’s presence with the Dodgers.

Jim was surprised that Kentucky-Louisville wasn’t the nightcap for the Final Four.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Lakers fans are enjoying having guest analysts on radio broadcasts this season.

Tom talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Tom has more on Rome in his blog.

Canada

The usually uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC Sports appears to be rudderless as it heads into a new NHL negotiation.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the viewership numbers for Canadian sports television from last week.

And that will conclude the megalinks.

Some Rare Saturday Links

It’s been a long time since I was able to provide Saturday linkage. Many times, it’s due to the fact I try to sleep in or my weekend was planned for me behind my back and I have to play chauffeur. Anyway, I’m able to provide some links and since I did not do the megalinks on Friday, I’ll give you this as a replacement, although the number of stories won’t equal Friday’s usual amount.

We begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who mentions that NFL Network came close to firing Warren Sapp after he tweeted that former New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey “snitched” about the team’s bounties to the NFL officials.

Can you believe Bob Costas turned 60 this week??!! Well, he did. MLB Network’s senior editorial director Elliot Kalb who has worked with Bob at NBC writes this tribute.

From the Poynter Institute, ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry looks at why ESPN expunged a Mark Cuban gay joke from a Bill Simmons Grantland podcast.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says smartphones and tablets helped to drive a large percentage of traffic for March Madness Live online.

Mike Reynolds from Mulitchannel News writes that the NCAA Tournament saw a ratings decline from the year before for the first night of the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says a veteran cable TV programming exec has been promoted within the ranks of NBC Sports.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred mourns the passing of former Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher.

Eric Goldschein from SportsGrid has video of the Kazakhstan national anthem being played for a medalist of a shooting competition in Kuwait. Problem was that it was the version written for the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and not the real Kazakhstan national anthem. That’s funny.

Sports Video Group offers a review of the March Madness Live iPad app.

Busted Coverage says a Spokane, WA local sports anchor unwittingly decided to crack on Lesley Visser’s face.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the harsh punishments handed down by the NFL to the New Orleans Saints over Bountygate were likely tied to concussion lawsuits.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe speaks with CBS/Turner’s NCAA Tournament East Regional crew of Uncle Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery and Lesley Visser.

Chad has a few more things with Verne and Bill that didn’t make the column.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at MLB Network producing and staffing a pregame show for Fox Saturday Baseball.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the local CBS affiliate has been taping its late newscast for nights it follows NCAA Tournament action.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that the WFAN Mets Radio Network is not big at all.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest in Baltimore-DC sports media in Press Box.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News talks with Texas A&M’s athletic director about entering the SEC and why the Longhorn Network led to the school’s departure from the Big 12.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Texans radio voice Marc Vandermeer is leaving his radio talk show to focus squarely on the NFL team.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about Fox and MLB Network collaborating on a pregame show.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager who loves his job and picking out loud clothes for every game.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes about San Diego’s sports radio shuffles.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has a story on the Brothers Waltrip who are laughing it up at Fox.

Tom has more with Darrell and Michael Waltrip in his blog.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN is seeing a ratings surge for its studio shows thanks to a busy NFL offseason.

SMW says viewership is up for the NCAA Women’s Tournament on ESPN2.

Steve Lepore has a suggestion for ESPN on how to make the NCAA Hockey Tournament more TV friendly.

Joe Favorito looks at how NFL news broke this week.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing notes that Around the Horn host Tony Reali apparently had an on-the-job injury this week.

I’m going to end the Saturday links there.

Giving You Some Mid-Week Links

Time for some linkage on this Wednesday.

In case you missed it from early this morning, I wrote a post on how you can avoid paying the $3.99 fee to watch the March Madness Live app on your mobile, iPad or online.

And Maine Sports Media has a legal promo code which you can use to avoid paying the fee while supplies are still available.

Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated has a great story on when the NCAA Tournament truly became March Madness back in 1981 when NBC switched from buzzer beater to buzzer beater. I remember every one of these moments that Layden describes. Yes, I’m old.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand handicaps where ESPN’s Erin Andrews could be headed once her contract is up.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says Erin Andrews isn’t the only free agent at ESPN.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes having March Madness online is a good thing for everyone.

Michael Smith and John Ourand at Sports Business Daily report that the Big 12 is close to signing a rights extension with current TV partners ESPN and Fox Sports Net.

Tom Lorenzo of SportsGrid has video of President Obama making his Final Four picks on ESPN.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says FX had strong ratings for the premiere “The Ultimate Fighter”.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek writes that Time.com is launching a sports blog.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says CBS/Turner is not worried about losing viewers to the March Madness Live online app.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell suggests if Tim Tebow gets traded to Jacksonville, it would be huge for the franchise.

At Fishbowl NY, Jerry Barmash notes that WFAN’s Boomer & Carton will be skating for charity next week.

To the Schenectady Gazette where Ken Schott says ESPN has named its announcing teams for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Championships.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the overnight ratings for the NCAA Tournament’s FIRST FOUR™ games were down from last year.

Pete says NBA TV will be all over the NBA Trade Deadline.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that Time Warner Cable will air the New York State high school basketball championships.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Drexel got plenty of sympathy from the TV analysts during NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reports that a local sports radio talk show host who used a racial slur earlier this week has left the station.

Eric Deggans of the Times also has a story on the controversy.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says the NBA’s Thunder topped the local ratings last week.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Fox Sports Ohio is now airing “Reds Live” nightly.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman notes that Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf grants a rare interview tonight.

Ed says a new Chicago sports news website is preparing to launch next month joining an already crowded marketplace.

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times talks with ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC will shift focus from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the playoff-bound Ottawa Senators.

Sports Media Watch looks at the overnight ratings for the opening night doubleheader of the NCAA Tournament.

SMW tells us that the Knicks and Rangers are performing well in the ratings for MSG Network.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media learns that NBC will air its first-ever NHL playoff doubleheader in April.

Steve says NBC Sports Network will carry Thursday’s Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers game marking the return (again) of Sidney Crosby to the ice.

Steve also provides the coverage plans for NBC Sports Network and TSN for Crosby’s return.

Joe Favorito says horse racing is trying to make some inroads into the March sports calendar.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead wonders if an ESPN anchor attempted to recruit a high school basketball player for his alma mater.

And that is where the links will end for today.

More posts are on the way. Keep your feeds updated.

Tuesday Night Linkage

I owe you linkage. I’m in a bad stretch so linkage is scarce. I try to give you breaking news when I can.

Let’s start with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who reports that MLB on Fox will go eight straight weeks in primetime during the upcoming 2012 season.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King says it’s time for him to step down as a voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Matt Pepin of Boston.com announces that legendary writer Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe plans to retire after the London Summer Olympics. Ryan will be missed, but I have a feeling we’ll still be seeing him around.

At Sports Business Journal, John Ourand looks at how sports talk radio is thriving while other formats  in the medium are failing.

John talks with a DC-based sports radio show on how it focuses on doing its program the old fashioned way.

SBJ lists some of the markets where sports radio wars are hot and heavy.

And SBJ has a look at sports talk radio by the numbers.

Dave Kindred at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center has hope for the future of sports journalism.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing has the MSG Network and TSN calls of the Jeremy Lin three pointer to beat Toronto to guide the New York Knicks to their 6th straight win.

Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog says Jason Whitlock is backtracking after his racist Jeremy Lin tweet from last Friday.

Edmund Lee of Capital New York goes inside the “hard-working” descriptions for Jeremy Lin.

Advertising Age notes that NBC is utilizing Google and ComScore to measure how people watch this year’s London Olympics.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News looks at a new internet streaming TV service that will challenge copyright laws, but has the support of rich investors and one particular media mogul.

Tim Nudd of Adweek talks about Ford creating a fake Sports Illustrated swimsuit model for an ad in this year’s issue.

Tim looks at Samsung’s Super Bowl ad which poked fun Apple groupies.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the awkward video of CNBC’s Darren Rovell asking SI Swimsuit Issue Cover Girl Kate Upton to be his Valentine.

Darren says SI had to put Kate Upton on the cover or suffer the consequences.

Jason Brough at Pro Hockey Talk has New York Rangers fans angry over the MSG/Time Warner Cable dispute.

Tom Lorenzo at SportsGrid says Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton will grant his first post-relapse interview to … Glenn Beck TV?

Larry Mahoney of the Bangor (ME) Daily News says Maine native Ricky Craven will be a NASCAR analyst for ESPN this season.

NESN has a behind-the-scenes video with its Boston Bruins rinkside reporter Naoko Funayama on her gameday preparation.

NESN also has Friends of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle and ABC6′s Courtney Fallon talking about their dream dates as they attended a charity event in Boston last weekend. Former NESN Red Sox reporter Heidi Watney was also there.

Over to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who says NBC is hoping the London Olympics will outpace the ad sales for the Vancouver Winter Games which ended up at a loss for the network.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says WFAN has made it official that Josh Lewin replaces Wayne Hagin on Mets broadcasts this year.

Bob’s Blitz looks at the overhyped CBS Radio mobile app for WFAN’s Mike Francesa who once proclaimed it to be a “Twitta Killa.”

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union writes that despite not having Time Warner Cable subscribers watching, MSG Network’s ratings for Knicks games featuring Jeremy Lin are red hot.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record states that MSG will simulcast Knicks games in Spanish.

Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the Phillies are hoping to cash in when their TV rights go up for bid after this season.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has samples of Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis’ takes on the print media.

Jose Lambiet of the Miami Herald notes that local sports radio talk host Sid Rosenberg owes a lot of money to an illegal offshore gambling site.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Hall of Fame Astros announcer Milo Hamilton is expected to announce his retirement on Wednesday.

David speculates on who could replace Hamilton in 2013.

Steve Campbell of the Chronicle writes that Hamilton’s retirement is just one of the many changes expected for the ‘Stros.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says local viewers watched golf over the weekend.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News notes one of the finalists for this year’s MLB Fan Cave inhabitants.

John Daly at The Daly Planet feels NBC SportsTalk should bring NASCAR into the mix.

John also looks at ESPN’s NASCAR announcing lineup.

Sports Media Watch gives us last week’s sports television ratings.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL on NBC Sports Network drew decently last Sunday.

Steve looks inside the numbers of Sunday’s NHL on NBC Sports Network game.

Dave Kohl of the Broadcast Booth looks at Sid Rosenberg’s alleged gambling debts.

And we’ll end it there for now.

Time For Our Thursday Linkage

Let’s do our linkage now. Lots of good stories.

First, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with NBC’s NFL crew on what we’ll see on Super Bowl Sunday.

Richard’s latest Media Circus podcast is up and his guest this week is NBC’s Cris Collinsworth who will call Sunday’s game with Al Michaels.

Good on Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead for breaking the story that Selena Roberts has left SI.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Time Warner Cable hopes to capture some good feelings with its local Super Bowl ad that will run in selected markets.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that General Motors is cutting back on its ad spending, but will remain on the Super Bowl.

Adweek’s Tim Nudd says Kia’s Super Bowl tries to cram a lot into its Super Bowl spot.

Robert Klara from Adweek notes that tennis players are getting more than just shoe endorsements these days.

Matthew Creamer at Advertising Age has a primer on the Super Bowl ads.

Brian Steinberg from AdAge notes that NBCUniversal corporate sibling Fandango will latch onto one Super Bowl movie ad.

Cotton Delo of AdAge says Honda’s Ferris Bueller ad is the most watched Super Bowl ad on the web right now.

Mark Wilson of Popular Mechanics wonders if NBC’s streaming of Super Bowl XLVI will lead to more events online.

Tom Cheredar from MediaBeat says the Feds cracked down today on several sites illegally streaming sports.

Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says Pats QB Tom Brady watched last year’s Super Bowl through an illegal website. Great thing to admit, Tom.

To Graham Watson at Yahoo’s Dr. Saturday blog and he says ESPN may have inadvertently helped USC coach Lane Kiffin commit a recruiting violation. It would not be the first time.

Good story from Jeremy Rapanich in Deadspin on NBC’s preparation for Super Bowl XLVI.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing looks at the next potential wave of NFL TV analysts.

Ryan Yoder at AA recaps Texas US Senate candidate Craig James interview on a state radio station.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid wonders if Steven A. “A is for Acrimony” Smith flipped the bird to Skip Bayless today.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn takes a look at Radio Row at the Super Bowl.

Newsday’s Neil Best says WFAN’s Mike Francesa and the agent for former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor are in a feud.

Neil says Miami sports radio host Sid Rosenberg is no longer doing morning drive sports reports for NYC radio station WINS.

Neil speaks with WFAN’s Giants beat reporter.

Neil says NBC is hopeful that Super Bowl XLVI will set a viewership record.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the rundown for NBC’s Super Bowl 6-hour pregame.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has ESPN’s BracketBusters schedule.

Evan Weiner of the New Jersey Newsroom notes that the NFL is the best of both capitalism and socialism.

Isabelle Khurshudyan of the University of South Carolina’s student newspaper, the Daily Gamecock, recaps a campus appearance by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports Ohio has set its Reds programming for this month.

Zak Keeler from the Indianapolis Star writes that visiting reporters are heaping praise on Indy as Super Bowl host.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is surprised over the Pro Bowl’s ratings.

Mark Schuttenhelm of the Jamestown (ND) Sun questions the choices NBC Sports Network has made for its college hockey games.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News breaks down the Super Bowl by play-by-play announcer.

The Los Angeles Times reports that ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad was admonished for live tweeting his jury selection. Really, Norman?

Jessica Lantz has a look at one of the better Super Bowl ads, only this one will play in Canada only.

Speaking of Canada, the Canadian Sports Media Blog says CTV will begin its promotional push for this year’s Summer Olympic Games during the Super Bowl.

Sports Media Watch says this year’s NHL All-Star Game ratings finished below last year’s.

Mike Silva at Sports Media Watchdog says this week’s Mike and the Mad Dog reunion reminds fans what they’ve been missing since 2008.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has some suggestions on how to improve NBC’s NHL coverage.

Jackie Pepper continues her coverage of Super Bowl XLVI.

And we’re done with our links for today.

Mike & The Mad Dog Back Together Again… For 15 Minutes

It took the Super Bowl and Radio Row in Indianapolis to bring WFAN’s Mike Francesa and SiriusXM’s Chris Russo back together again. The duo had been together at WFAN in New York, part of the legendary Mike and the Mad Dog show fom 1989 until 2008 when Russo was lured to Sirius Satellite Radio to head up his own sports talk channel.

Since then, there was one reunion in 2009 when Francesa and Russo went on each other’s shows before the American League Championship Series.

Today for 15 short minutes, Russo joined Francesa once again on WFAN on “Mike’s On” live from Indianapolis. For that quarter- hour, the magic was back. Both talked about baseball, Russo’s son and a little bit about the Super Bowl. Thanks to the TV simulcast on YES Network, we have video of the encounter. It was fun to see them back, albeit for a short time. Here’s the video courtesy of YES.

Certainly fun to watch.

Cranking Out Your Tuesday Links

Since late last night, I’ve been culling linkage for today. Let’s get to them.

Terry Lefton and Daniel Kaplan at Sports Business Journal discuss how Indianapolis hotels are gouging customers for Super Bowl Week.

Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press reviews NBC’s online presentation of the Super Bowl for this Sunday.

Sergio Non of USA Today looks at the UFC on Fox rating from Saturday.

Michael Learmonth of Advertising Age says USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter wrecked Super Bowl ads for good.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch provides his thoughts on The Big Lead’s profile of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter has an appreciation for The Beautiful Game.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at the highly successful “This is SportsCenter” ad campaign.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost says NBC is copping $4 million per Super Bowl ad.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes that a survey shows that a majority of readers feel Super Bowl XLVI will set a viewership record.

Toni gives us a media buyer’s primer on the Super Bowl.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life says advertisers want to get buzz about Super Bowl commercials weeks before the Big Game.

The Daily says it appears Madonna’s set list for the Super Bowl halftime show has been leaked.

Peter Schrager of Esquire lists 10 current NFL players who could make a second career on TV.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes that Jerry Seinfeld and the Soup Nazi will appear in a Super Bowl ad.

Frances Martel of Mediaite reviews the ESPN2 show, “Dan Le Batard is Extremely Crazy Highly Questionable.”

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online has details of the Mexican TV reporter who made an impression during Super Bowl Media Day.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at ESPN taking over Pan Am Plaza in downtown Indianapolis for the Super Bowl.

Karen Hogan of SVG writes that sports has entered into reality TV in a big way.

Summer Harlow of the University of Texas Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas writes about CBSSports.com’s firing of Adam Jacobi over his premature report on Joe Paterno’s death.

Karen Rosen of TV Guide talks with ESPN’s Hannah Storm about her NFL special tonight.

All Access says a new ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate will launch tomorrow in Chicago.

Mark Miller of Examiner.com says Gary Thorne makes his Pro Bowling announcing debut this Sunday on ESPN.

Larry Mahoney of the Bangor (ME) Daily News speaks with former MLB’er Matt Stairs who joins NESN as a studio analyst for the 2012 season.

Michael Hayes of the Clinton (CT) Patch says ESPN will report from the geological center in between Gillette and Met Life Stadiums on Sunday.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has an interesting story on a small Connecticut NPR station which has a sports talk show that is not your typical run-of-the-mill program.

Judy Battista of the Times notes that the NFL will address head safety in one its in-house ads during the Super Bowl.

David Hinckley of the New York Daily News says rivals WFAN and ESPN Radio New York are squaring off in their Giants Super Bowl coverage.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes the release of ESPN’s Bracketbusters schedule.

Stacy Jones of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says Super Bowl advertisers are hoping to hook viewers from their computers and mobile devices as well as through their TV’s.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times notes Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia’s countdown of the worst sports villains of all-time.

Long-time New Orleans sports anchor Jim Henderson is retiring from WWL-TV, however, he’ll remain as Voice of the Saints.

Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune gets reaction Henderson on his retirement.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle discusses the busy Super Bowl week and the ads.

Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer speaks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews about sports, life and her hosting the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Annual Awards Banquet this week.

Tim Evans of the Indianapolis Star says Radio Row at the Super Bowl is the perfect place for star gazing this week.

Emily Hatton of the Indy Star gives us an inside look at ESPN’s Pan Am Plaza set.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has NBC’s Bob Costas calling for a revote if National League MVP Ryan Braun of the Brewers loses his appeal for testing positive for steroids last year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says ESPN College GameDay visits the Missouri campus this weekend.

Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs Gazette says ESPN may pull the Winter X Games out of Aspen after an 11 year relationship.

Jason Blevins of the Denver Post writes that ESPN has been airing this year’s Winter X in 3-D.

Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News says longtime UCLA voice Chris Roberts was honored by his peers as was Daily News sports media writer Tom Hoffarth.

And Tom writes an appreciation for being honored last night.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has videos of the Big Ten Network going behind the scenes with Gus Johnson.

Josh Tinley of Midwest Sports Fans explains how the Super Bowl got its name and why every game has Roman numerals.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes the NHL All-Star Game did really well for CBC.

And that will do it for now.

The Mighty Monday Links

I don’t know why they’re mighty, but they’re here. Let’s get to them.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy looks at Super Bowl Media Day which will be covered from all angles on both ESPN and NFL Network.

Preston Bounds from Sports Business Daily lists the top 11 most marketable NFL players. Your humble blogger is quoted in the story.

At the Poynter Institute, Kelly McBride takes both the New York Times and Yale Daily News to task for their handling of the Patrick Witt alleged sexual assault story.

Michael O’Connell of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the NFL Pro Bowl gave NBC a Sunday primetime win over weak competition.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that marketers and star players are for the most part, a winning combination.

Tim Nudd from Adweek looks at the advertiser rundown for Sunday’s Super Bowl on NBC.

Tim loves the extended Honda Ferris Bueller-themed Super Bowl ad.

Back to Crupi who delves into the April launch of Univision Deportes.

Adweek talks with Jim Rome about his move from ESPN to CBS.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says social media campaigns can enhance and also detract from the Super Bowl viewing experience.

The Nielsen Wire blog looks at the spending trends for Super Bowl ads over the last five years.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group notes that NFL Network is gearing up for a very busy Super Bowl Week.

Patrick Burns of Deadspin breaks down ESPN SportsCenter’s coverage from last week.

At All Things Digital, Peter Kafka says it’s ESPN that’s weighing down your cable bill.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes that NESN has made additions to its Red Sox broadcast team.

Here’s a rarity, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post giving praise and today he’s dishing it out to Knicks radio voice Spero Dedes.

Bob’s Blitz has caught WFAN’s Mike Francesa in a lie regarding his Super Bowl XLVII prediction.

From the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty notes that former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian has signed with SiriusXM to co-host some radio shows.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

Cleveland Plain-Dealer ombudsman Ted Diadun discusses the reassignment of Browns beat writer Tony Grossi after a private tweet about Browns owner Randy Lerner went public.

The Waiting for Next Year blog looks at the Plain-Dealer decision.

Also from the Plain-Dealer, Bill Lubinger writes about how local TV rights money is playing a huge role in baseball free agency signings.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post notes that MLB Network has plucked Root Sports’ Alana Rizzo for a national gig.

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

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jackie Pepper is heading to the Super Bowl.

John Daly of the Daly Planet looks at NASCAR taking over operation of its website from Turner Sports.

John also looks at the future of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series on ESPN.

Sports Media Watch has the overnight ratings of the NHL All-Star Game and Australian Open finals.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says UFC on Fox’s ratings may have gone down from its November debut, but they’re still good in the desired demographic.

That will do it.

Bringing Out Friday Megalinks

The last few Fridays, I haven’t been able to provide you with the megalinks. I have to do some today otherwise you’ll stop visiting me.

We begin as always with the Weekend Viewing Picks and there are quite a few for this snowy weekend in Southern New England.

Now to your links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw about Tim Tebow and the upcoming NFC Championship.

Jason Fry, part of the ESPN Poynter Review Project hears sideline reporter Holly Rowe’s side of the story regarding about her now-infamous incident where she shoved a Sugar Bowl staffer away to get an interview with Michigan coach Brady Hoke.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter looks at HBO’s new unscripted series on boxing trainer Freddie Roach.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans has a review of the Freddie Roach series in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center.

John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable says Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has written a letter to the FCC asking the agency to get involved in the Sunbeam-DirecTV dispute which could affect how viewers in Boston see the Super Bowl.

John says Comcast is seeking a reversal of a Federal decision that ruled in favor of Tennis Channel in their dispute.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says DirecTV has signed a rights deal to distribute Big Sky football and basketball games.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says History Channel has purchased a longer ad to promote its series, “Swamp People” during Super Bowl XLVI.

Brian Steinberg from Advertising Age tells us who’s buying what in Super Bowl XLVI.

AdAge looks at the 12 ads that changed Super Bowl marketing forever. Three guesses on number one and the first two don’t count.

Brian says marketers are going longer with their Super Bowl ads this year in an attempt to stand out.

Finally, Brian writes that even though we’re not thinking about next year’s Super Bowl XLVII, CBS already is and has been working on getting an early start on ad sales for that Big Game.

Inside Radio says all of Cumulus’ Bay Area radio stations will simulcast Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.

From across the pond, Amy Lawrence of The Guardian in the UK says Fox airing an English Premier League game live over the air is a big deal.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo looks into NBC Sports Network’s first foray into boxing.

Dan Levy at the Bleacher Report wonders which network can muster enough former NFL talent to drum up a flag football game.

Mac Nwulu of ESPN’s Front Row PR blog has an inside look at the preparation of Sunday NFL Countdown.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing chronicles this week’s Twitter feud between Sports Illusrated’s Richard Deitsch and CNBC’s Darren Rovell.

Speaking of feuds, The Big Lead looks at an internal ESPN squabble between college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and insider Andy Katz.

Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN is making a major scheduling change for the WNBA this year.

SMW has a look at some local NBA and NHL ratings.

Tennis Channel laments not being picked up by Cablevision.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group takes a look at CBS’ and Fox’s preparation for the NFL Conference Championship Games.

Sports TV Jobs has an interesting graphic of sample camera positions at various stadia and arenas.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe talks with a former Baltimore Raven who now works in Boston as a weekend sports talk show host.

Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette interviews legendary Patriots radio voice Gil Santos.

Newsday’s Neil Best says local TV is gearing up for the NFC Championship.

Neil talks with former New York Giants running back and NBC analyst Tiki Barber who makes his return to TV this weekend.

George Vescey at the New York Times looks forward to seeing Sunday’s English Premier League game live on Fox.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is not a fan of the NFL replay review process.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for CBS Sports’ and WFAN’s Boomer Esiason.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has some NFL TV analysts break down the four quarterbacks still playing for a shot in the Super Bowl.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Fox’s Troy Aikman talking about the NFC Championship.

Ken has more from Troy in his blog.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com notes in Press Box that last week’s Texans-Ravens game set a local ratings record.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun attempts to get answers from CBS on having Subway endorser Ndamukong Suh on last week’s NFL Today postgame show.

And David has former Ravens QB and current ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer opining on Ed Reed’s comments on current QB Joe Flacco.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says the Nationals are hoping to get more money from MASN as the sides negotiate a new contract.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with the radio voice of the Wizards about his busy schedule.

South

Keith Jarrett at the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times says the Big South may have to move its Conference Championship Game venue which could effect ESPN’s scheduling.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News says SEC partners CBS and ESPN want better scheduling for next football season.

Jerry Tipton of the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader writes that the SEC’s basketball coaches aren’t happy over the scheduling-for-TV moves this season.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans’ flagship radio station hopes to build on the team’s momentum when their new contract kicks in next season.

David has some news and notes that didn’t make his column.

Nancy Sarnoff of the Chronicle says NBC Sports Group is looking for a new facility to house the Comcast SportsNet Houston regional sports network which launches later this year.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that the Texas Rangers will have multiple appearances on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says HBO continues its string of acclaimed sports documentaries.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says don’t expect NFL Conference Championship Sunday to change its format for the foreseeable future.

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

Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune feels Fox Sports North just cheerleads for Minnesota teams and won’t criticize them.

Paul Christian from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin looks at Fox Sports North’s Hockey Day in Minnesota schedule.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has CBS Sports President Sean McManus wanting to keep the status quo for NFL Conference Championship Sunday.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times looks at MLB Network’s first-ever game show which premieres next week.

Jim Carlisle from the Ventura County Star says CBS was hoping to get Tim Tebow for its NFL Today pregame show on Sunday, but he declined.

At the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth profiles Fox Sports West host Patrick O’Neal and has his list of best and worst local sports anchors.

Tom has a bit more on O’Neal.

Canada

Bob Weeks in the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that CBC has gotten out of the curling business, a sport it has televised since 1962.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail says the Raptors may be suffering on the court, but not on TV.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at the International Olympic Committee throwing out CTV/CBC’s joint bid to air the 2014/2016 Games.

And that is it. Glad to be able to provide the Megalinkage for you.

Some Tuesday Links

Don’t have time to provide a full set of links today so I’ll give you what I’ve culled thus far. Some good stuff here.

Some stories from this week’s Sports Business Journal.

First, John Ourand reports that ESPN and MLB could butt heads over TV Everywhere streaming rights. ESPN has its model. MLB has its silly subscription model. We’ll see where it ends.

SBJ’s Liz Mullen talks with Fox NFL Sunday’s Michael Strahan about the transition from his playing career to a broadcasting career and goes inside his day on the Fox set during NFL season.

Liz chronicles the NFL Broadcast Boot Camp held every year to give players a taste of being in front of the camera.

And SBJ lists some of the current players and coaches who could make a go at broadcasting when they decide to leave the field.

One story that bears watching. Last week, the FCC opened a review on the antiquated NFL blackout rules and Todd Shields of Bloomberg has a story on it.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wrote about the FCC blackout review as well.

Gary Holmes at MediaPost looks at how the NFL continues to be a ratings draw over a 40 year span.

Tennis Channel announced on its Facebook page that it’s back on Verizon Fios systems.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News has a story on the new Tennis Channel/Verizon agreement.

John Eggerton of Multichannel says Tennis Channel wants the FCC to force Comcast to adhere to an Administrative Law Judge ruling stating the cable provider has to offer the network to its subscribers as an equal to its own Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman talks with NASCAR head honcho Brian France about the future of the sport on TV and how ESPN needs to improve its presentation.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a throwaway line from the Baltimore Ravens’ Terrell Suggs on Sunday Night Football back in November is now the subject of a nasty trademark dispute.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has details on the budding feud between UFC’s Dana White and ESPN over a report on Outside the Lines that looked at fighter pay.

Timothy Burke’s Mocksession site has a funny error from ESPN promoting tonight’s Big Ten basketball game.

Nate Smeltz at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog provides an inside look at how a game becomes SportsCenter highlight.

Shirley Brady at Brandchannel previews some of the Super Bowl ads that will air during the Big Game.

Sports TV Jobs looks at the Ten Worst Moments in Sports TV history.

At Boston Sports Media Watch, former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor/reporter Jackie Pepper chronicles her rise from covering sports in a very small market to Boston, the 7th largest in the country.

Newsday’s Neil Best tweeted that Josh Lewin of the Lisping Lewins is a candidate to join the New York Mets radio booth.

Neil says WFAN’s Mike Francesa has a new name for his show.

Neil says Giants-Packers topped the ratings on Sunday.

Back to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who looks at Fox Sports’ NFL Rules analyst Mike Pereira making a rare disagreement over a call during Sunday’s Giants-Packers game.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes a local sports reporter has been suspended for making an obscene gesture on the air.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says it appears the Ravens set a viewing record for Sunday’s game against the Texans.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams joins a local radio station as an analyst.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans-Baltimore game set a local ratings record.

David says a local TV station made a tasteless report on the Detroit Pistons’ emergency landing on Monday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the ratings for the Giants-Packers playoff game.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times says new TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal is enjoying his new role on TV.

Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star says the International Olympic Committee has thrown out the joint bid by Bell Media/CBC for the 2014/2016 Games.

Mike Silva in his Sports Media Watchdog introduces Mets fans to Josh Lewin.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that NBC got a decent rating for the NHL last Saturday.

That’s going to do it.

Some Quick Sunday Links

I’m going to provide a few links for you since they’ve been lacking here over the last few days.

We begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deistch who talked with ESPN’s Brent Musburger who will call Monday’s BCS National Championship Game.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks with ESPN’s Chris Fowler about the BCS National Championship Game.

Lang Whitaker from GQ talks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews in advance of Monday’s BCS National Championship.

Brian Lowry at Variety writes that as sports rights fees become more expensive, expect cable to take over for network TV and pass on the cost to consumers.

Mike Ozanian at Forbes reports that Fox Sports is giving individual teams equity stakes in its regional sports networks to prevent them from taking offers from competitors.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says this season’s NFL’s TV ratings were off slightly from last year.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy notes that Pittsburgh Steelers QB Roethlisburger is blaming ESPN for overhyping Denver QB Tim Tebow.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today says the Orange Bowl on ESPN drew its lowest BCS TV ratings ever.

CJ Fogler of SportsGrid has videos of TNT paying tribute to the late Jim Huber this week.

Tom Lorenzo from SportsGrid has the video from last night’s Saturday Night Live’s Charles Barkley Post Game Translation App. Sharp-eyed viewers may notice Hazel Mae making an appearance.

Charles Apple of The American Copy Editors Society feels ESPN should be more careful in its on-screen graphics.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that CBS/Turner has signed Northwestern Mutual to be the exclusive insurance sponsor of the NCAA Tournament.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin did some investigating and found that salsa music played during last week’s Sunday Night Football game came directly from the NBC truck.

Dave Kindred at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center laments the death of the newspaper sports column.

Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times provides his 2012 sports media predictions in the National Sports Journalism Center.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says LSU coach Les Miles stands to get millions if he wins the BCS National Championship.

Ken Belson of the New York Times says ESPN has obtained the rights to the New York City Marathon and pledges to show it live across the country, something NBC’s Universal Sports could not do.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post feels the New York Jets coaching staff is just plain insensitive.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette informs readers what MSG Network is airing today as its dispute with Time Warner Cable continues.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union says what a lot of people tweeted yesterday, that Mike Mayock talked too much during yesterday’s Cincinnati-Houston game.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says YES will air a handful of Fordham basketball games.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News says the Bills will have a new flagship radio station for next season.

T.J. Pignataro of the News says the Sabres TV ratings have suffered since Time Warner Cable removed MSG Buffalo from its lineup.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner warns you that your cable bill will go up this year and sports will be to blame.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that Comcast’s distribution deal with Disney, ESPN in particular, shows that the company is thinking about the long-term.

Mike McGovern of the Reading (PA) Eagle pays tribute to the late Jim Huber.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says Nationals TV voice Bob Carpenter will return in 2012.

The Huntington (WV) Dispatch feels ESPN needs a geography and history lesson about West Virginia.

David Knox from the Birmingham (AL) News talks with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit about the BCS National Championship Game.

Dave Walker at the New Orleans Times-Picayune profiles LSU radio voice Jim Hawthorne.

Nakia Hogan of the Times-Picayune talks with an ESPN executive who denies the network has undue influence over college sports.

Berry Tramel of the Daily Oklahoman delves into Oklahoma University’s deal with Fox Sports to air sports on two of its regional sports networks.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Packers increased their TV ratings this season.

Bob says Milwaukee did not necessarily rate well for Monday Night Football.

The Chicago Tribune picks up a Variety story that Fox Sports wants to develop original programming that would air after live events.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says the Disney family is interested in buying the Dodgers.

Joshua Myers of the Seattle Times says the MLS’ Sounders have found an analyst for its games, but is still missing a play-by-play man.

Lehia Apana from the Maui (HI) News says Golf Channel’s coverage of this year’s Tournament of Champions has a few new wrinkles.

Sports Media Watch says despite strong numbers, last night’s Detroit-New Orleans drew the NFL’s lowest ratings for a Wild Card Playoff in three years.

SMW says Cincinnati-Houston suffered a precipitous ratings drop from last year’s Saints-Seahawks game.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing reviews Gus Johnson’s first year as top college football man for Fox.

In the Sports Media Watchdog, Mike Silva speculates on who should replace WFAN’s Mike Francesa if he leaves in 2014.

And that will conclude the links for today.

A Friday Evening Megalink Thing

Let’s give you some linkage on this Friday. Been a busy day. You deserve some links

The Weekend Viewing Picks provide your sports and entertainment TV watching. And now to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy debate whether networks should hire ex-coaches knowing full well they could make news and leave for another job.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute takes the Alleged Worldwide Leader to task for its failure to press the Bernie Fine/Syracuse story and holding a tape for eight years.

Alex Weprin of TVNewser writes that ESPN has hired Bloomberg News sports business reporter Michele Steele.

Over to Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk who has Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid angry at NFL Network for its portrayal of wide receiver DeSean Jackson after last night’s game with Seattle.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News discusses the viewership increase for Thursday Night Football.

Mike writes about the quintet of games that will open the NBA season on Christmas Day.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has an advance clip of a CNN Sunday interview with ESPN Vice President of News Vince Doria speaking about the handling of the Bernie Fine/Syracuse story.

Dan has a very strong promo for the return of the NBA.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid notes that on the Dan Patrick Show, TNT’s Charles Barkley had some fighting words for notorious sports self-promoter Skip Bayless.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that mobile truck operators are happy to have the NBA back in action.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says while the NBA Lockout has been settled, there’s still a battle that will continue for several years.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NFL ratings for Week 12 for ESPN’s Monday Night Football, NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing looks at the machinations behind a longer Thursday Night Football schedule.

East and Mid-Atlantic

At the Boston Globe, Chad Finn looks at how Twitter broke the Bobby Valentine-to-Boston story and he handicaps the race to replace Heidi Watney as NESN Red Sox reporter.

Howard Beck at the New York Times notes that current NBA players are returning slowly but surely to NBA TV which has been stuck showing games from the 1980′s and early 1990′s.

The New York Post’s Claire Atkinson reports that the NFL is looking for big bucks from NBC to renew the rights to Sunday Night Football.

The Post’s Phil Mushnick wants the networks to stop showing touchdown celebrations.

Brett Cyrgalis of the Post has five questions for ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler.

Newsday’s Neil Best bids adieu to WFAN’s Tracy Burgess who left the Boomer and Carton show today.

Neil looks at ESPN being a stepping stone for coaches who are looking for their next job.

Neil has a quickie review of the ESPN Films documentary on former quarterback Todd Marinovich.

And Neil notes that local football players aren’t making news on social networks, but the old fashioned way… on radio.

Bob’s Blitz has pictures of Tracy Burgess’ last day at WFAN.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Fox is trying to get the word out that it’s back in the college football business.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Chris Herren, the subject of ESPN Films’ Unguarded documentary, will be in town to talk about his battle with addiction.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest Baltimore/Washington DC sports media news in this week’s Press Box.

In the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg tells us what happened to local sports radio host John Riggins who’s been missing as of late.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports’ Gus Johnson and Charles Davis about calling back-to-back conference championship games on successive nights.

South

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle talks with NFL on Fox sideline analyst Tony Siragusa who will be part of the crew calling the Atlanta-Texans game on Sunday.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge who will call the annual Bedlam game.

Mel says Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster are pulling double duty this weekend.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Time Warner Cable will be busy with local high school football this weekend.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that the Detroit Lions have received more national media attention whether it’s deserved or not.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley has Fox’s Charles Davis talking about Wisconsin running Montee Ball’s Heisman Trophy chances.

Bob says NASCAR races will be airing on a different Milwaukee radio station next year.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman has his weekly winners and losers.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says it’s going to be a busy weekend for Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster on Fox.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says St. Louis University may be a rising college basketball program, but it hasn’t translated to more national exposure.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says local Cox subscribers will be able to see Time Warner Cable’s coverage of the state high school football championships this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the Pac-12 Championship won’t be the showcase that Fox had in mind.

Jim says the SEC Championship will have BCS National Championship Game implications like it always does.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Fox is doing its best to sell a less than stellar Pac-12 Championship Game matchup.

Tom has what didn’t make his column in his blog.

Tom says the new Los Angeles Dodgers radio flagship will hire former manager Kevin Kennedy as a postgame host.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail gleefully points out that Don Cherry’s Coach’s Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada is drawing lower ratings than in the past.

And that’s going to do it for our linkage tonight.

Getting To The Monday Linkage

It’s the early evening on the East Coast, but I do have time to bring you some linkage. Lots of stuff to get to.

We’ll begin with John Ourand of Sports Business Journal who reviews ESPN’s new NFL studio shows which came as a result of its new Monday Night Football $2 billion rights fee.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that the NFL has put the Detroit Lions in the Week 13 Sunday night window in place of the lowly Indianapolis Colts.

Michael talks with ESPN College GameDay’s Lee Corso who threw an “F” bomb on Saturday’s show.

Sports Illustrated’s Grand Wahl says ESPN is removing John Harkes as its main soccer analyst and also looks at the moves NBC and Fox Soccer will make for next year.

Michael O’Connor at the Hollywood Reporter notes that Sunday Night Football on NBC drew modest ratings over the American Music Awards on ABC.

Dan Hirschhorn of Advertising Age says Spike TV is looking to stay in the mixed martial arts arena despite losing UFC to Fox.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes that NFL Commish Roger Goodell is considering starting the Sunday Night flex earlier in the season.

Dave Scott from ESPN’s Front Row has a recap of the best tweets from the weekend regarding some ESPN broadcasts.

Barry Janoff at The Big Lead speaks with officials from NBC Sports and the NHL about the new Black Friday game that both companies hope will become a tradition like the NHL Winter Classic.

CNN’s Howard Kurtz speaks with Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News reporter Sarah Ganim about breaking stories on the Penn State scandal.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of Cris Collinsworth saying what we were all thinking when a promo for the new edition of Fear Factor popped up during Sunday Night Football.

Sports Video Group looks at the numbers for NASCAR.com’s RaceBuddy feature for the Sprint Cup.

In SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks back at a busy week in local sports media.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post wants ESPN to stop with the crowd cutaways on its college football broadcasts.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call notes that WFAN’s Mike Francesa wasn’t happy with Philadelphia Eagles’ running back Desean Jackson.

The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik could no longer stand listening to CBS’ Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf and decided to listen to the Ravens Radio Network.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has some amusing exchanges between DC NFL team radio announcers Larry Michael, Sam Huff and Sonny Jorgensen during yesterday’s Dallas-Washington game.

Pat Dooley of the Gainesville (FL) Sun has ESPN college football analyst Urban Meyer denying reports that he interviewed for the Ohio State coaching job.

Sad news from Georgia as legendary Georgia Bulldogs football announcer Larry Munson died Sunday at the age of 89. Munson had retired a couple of years ago after numerous health problems, but is still revered by UGA fans. Munson had began as Voice of the Bulldogs in 1966 and remained until 2008. To many, he typified the love for college football in the South. Some of his calls were homerish, but Munson truly bled Georgia football. Fans loved him for it. But he could be fair as well.

Munson not only called the Bulldogs football team, he called the Atlanta Braves, the Falcons, and the Georgia basketball program.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an obituary written mainly by former staffer Tony Barnhart and Chip Towers.

Towers says Munson’s calls are forever linked with the players.

The AJC’s Mark Bradley says Munson will never be forgotten among Bulldog fans.

The AJC has reaction from fellow broadcasters to Munson’s passing.

Atlanta TV station WSB has a special section devoted to Munson.

In the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald, Marc Weiszer says Munson’s voice has finally been silenced.

The Banner-Herald’s Andrea Griffth conducted a video interview with Munson about his career.

And here are the raw unedited interviews between Ms. Griffith and Munson.

If you’re not from the South and don’t understand the love for college football, try to think about the love for your local team and multiply it by 1,000,000 and you’ll see the passion for the sport. Munson was part of that passion that remains today.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some local overnight ratings from college football and the MLS Cup.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown crew wondered if Green Bay could go perfect this season.

Bob notes that NBC’s Tony Dungy feels the Packers are vulnerable.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks about Bob Costas’ interview with Jerry Sandusky.

Rob Davis from the Voice of San Diego writes about some interesting changes coming to the San Diego Union-Tribune sports section.

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

Bob’s Blitz has video of ESPN’s Erin Andrews getting the Gatorade bath after the Oklahoma-Baylor game and her reaction afterwards.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page has the programming ESPN is using to replace NBA games in December.

And that will do it for us.

Unleashing Some Friday Megalinks

Ok, let’s get this done. Lots of linkage from yesterday and today. I need to catch up. Let’s go.

Check out your Weekend Viewing Picks for the sports and entertainment programming for Saturday and Sunday.

National

Mike McCarthy of USA Today wonders if there’s a glass ceiling for women in sports television.

Former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor Jackie Pepper has her take about being a woman in sports television.

Back to USA Today, Michael Hiestand looks at the casting call for the new Broadway play focusing on the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry and friendship, produced by the same people who did Lombardi on Broadway.

Hiestand writes that Fox Sports will be using some of its own talent for its UFC debut next week.

Paul Thomasch of Reuters talks with CBS head honcho Les Moonves about the network’s SEC deal.

Emma Bazilian at Adweek notes that DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket promotion over the summer paid off in droves in the third quarter of this year.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions has his take on DirecTV’s subscriber spike.

The talk of the sports blogosphere the last couple of days has been the Deadspin story by A.J. Daulerio on a former ESPN executive who’s filed a lawsuit against an employee denying several displays of odd behavior including masturbating in Erin Andrews’ presence.

Congratulations to former ESPN reporter Amy K. Nelson who leaves the Alleged Worldwide Leader for SBNation. Deadspin has that story as well.

Aaron Kuniloff and David Mildenberg from Bloomberg Businessweek co-author a story on ESPN’s Longhorn Network and its ramifications on college sports.

Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek of Businessweek talk about the alternatives to the NBA and how the league’s TV partners have lost money airing the games.

Rick Chandler of NBC’s Off the Bench explains how an ESPN.com story mushroomed into the Occupy Tebow movement.

At ESPN Front Row, network spokesman Mike Soltys notes that the Alleged Worldwide Leader has new policy on employees writing books, something that got Bruce Feldman into trouble earlier this year.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group looks at a new MSG Network mobile app that brings live high school sports to your cell phone.

Ariel Sandler at the Business Insider Sports Page has video of two Canadian news anchors going crazy when their sports anchor is named the winner of a $2.5 million lottery on live TV.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews the results of having two In-N-Out Burgers shipped frozen across country.

Sports Media Watch says TNT’s replacement programming for the NBA’s canceled games on what would have been Opening Night of the season failed miserably in the ratings.

Joe Favorito wonders if the Bellator Fighting Championships can co-exist with UFC in Mixed Martial Arts.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says Brent Musburger got the job done in his cameo on an ABC sitcom.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth says it’s the subject matter, not the personalities that drive ratings for sports radio stations.

SportsbyBrooks notes that ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd sat with the beautiful people at last week’s Stanford-USC game.

Marisa Ingemi of In Lax We Trust reports that the National Lacrosse League has a deal in place with CBS Sports Network to air games in 2012-13.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe speaks with former ESPN MMA Live host Jon Anik who will work straight for UFC now.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Bill Doyle talks with Comcast SportsNet New England Celtics analyst Tommy Heinsohn who’s cooling his heels during the NBA lockout.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that WFAN’s Boomer & Carton show has really taken off in the ratings.

Neil has more with Boomer and Carton that he could not provide in his feature story.

Scott Shifrel and Bill Hutchinson of the New York Daily News write that former ESPN executive Keith Clinkscales is claiming that he is the victim of a smear campaign.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post wonders where’s the outrage on the Detroit Lions for what he feels was mocking Tim Tebow’s religion.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for Cleveland Browns franchise assassin and ESPN analyst Eric Mangini. No, I’m not bitter about his tenure as Browns coach.

Justin previews MLB Network’s special on the 1986 Postseason.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union hears from SEC on CBS analyst Gary Danielson on LSU-Alabama.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call also has quotes from Danielson regarding this year’s Game of the Century.

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

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg looks at a failed lobbyist’s efforts to get DC NFL team owner Dan Snyder to change the brand name.

And Dan has Joe Theismann’s thoughts on the whole John Beck/Rex Grossman QB controversy in Washington.

Monica Hesse of the Post says some of the items from the now-defunct ESPN Zone in DC are being sold at auction.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner finds out ESPN’s plans for this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup.

South

Sean Cartell of SEC.com has Verne Lundquist’s thoughts on LSU-Alabama.

Brian Reynolds in the Tuscaloosa News says ESPN is giving LSU-Alabama the Super Bowl treatment.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says both CBS and ESPN are pulling out all of the stops for LSU-Alabama.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that former Bengals QB Carson Palmer will be profiled on Sunday’s edition of The NFL Today.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says ratings for the World Series were good, but the games showed that instant replay was greatly needed.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that former Brewers radio voice Corey Provus now has a new gig with the Twins.

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

Ted Gruber in Chicago Now feels ESPN gets a big fail in covering Mixed Martial Arts.

Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Corey Provus takes over for former Minnesota Twins voice John Gordon who retired this year.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin talks about Provus’ hiring by the Twins.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch feels the national media undersold Albert Pujols’ achievement in Game 3 of the World Series.

West

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News says ESPN’s partnership with BYU has been beneficial for both parties.

John Maffei in the North County Times notes how CBS obtained LSU-Alabama for primetime.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says it’s rare to get a #1 vs. #2 matchup in the regular season.

Jim says Brad Nessler is ready for primetime when Thursday Night Football begins next week.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says we’re in a Golden Age of sports documentaries.

Tom has more in his blog.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Hazel Mae is officially back with Rogers Sportsnet.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog which broke the news of Hazel’s return discusses what her duties will be.

That’s going to do it for the megalinks today.

It’s a Mid-Week Link Thing!

It’s Wednesday already? Goodness. Seemed like I was at the Rhode Island Convention Center just this week for an all-day seminar. Oh wait! I was. Anyway, let’s get to your linkage.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today feels that ESPN should pull Hank Williams, Jr. from Monday Night Football pronto.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that Williams gave ESPN one huge headache right from the start.

Brian Lowry from Fox Sports writes that the Hank Williams, Jr. mess shows that ESPN can’t handle controversy.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his Media Power List for October. A good list it is.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC Sports Group is now going all in on hockey as its new 10 year contract with the NHL begins on Thursday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says TBS is pulling a ratings rally as the MLB Postseason kicks into high gear.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has pictures of some of the female athletes who posed nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has a picture of curmudgeon Woody Paige as a young writer in the mid-1970′s.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the name of Michael Rubin should become familiar with sports fans very soon.

Darren mentions that Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers’ jersey is a high seller while Tim Tebow’s sales are crashing.

Comcast SportsNet New England’s Sean McAdam breaks the news that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will be a guest analyst for Fox on the American League Championship Series.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn writes that 98.5 The Sports Hub won the local sports radio wars in the latest ratings book.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS analyst John Smoltz who has been hitting out of the park with his work on the Tigers-Yankees series.

Neil notes that ESPN’s E:60 is celebrating a milestone tonight.

And Neil says the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols isn’t a fan of the Yankees playing in primetime.

James C. McKinley, Jr. and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times report that Madonna is being considered as the halftime act for Super Bowl XLVI on NBC. Holiday! Celebrate!

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that the local AHL team will be carried on the ESPN Radio affiliate.

Ken reports that Versus aka NBC Sports Network will be airing Notre Dame hockey games this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is not a fan of TBS covering the League Division Series.

Pete has the college football TV schedule for this weekend.

Pete notes that this is the first NFL week with the dreaded “byes” in effect.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom asks if freedom of speech even exists in sports.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Tony Kornheiser for the most part hates his radio station’s podcast policy. Don’t ever change, Mr. Tony.

Dan finds a 1997 magazine cover of two iconic DC sportscasters.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about the newest addition to the Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic staff.

Jim notes that the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals rank among the bottom of the local MLB TV ratings.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the local weekend ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a Wisconsin alum has been named as an executive with NBC Sports.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Big Ten Network would like to be known as something else.

Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette previews NFL Network’s documentary on Kurt Warner.

Tom Hoffarth has some quotes from the NHL on NBC/Versus talking what else? The NHL!

Tom says Stephen Colbert had the right idea on the ESPN/Hank Williams, Jr. controversy.

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about a local sports radio host who has just gone public with his Parkinson’s Disease after keeping it quiet from family and friends for almost 10 years.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC will have a lot of Winnipeg Jets games this season.

Sports Media Watch says the WNBA Finals saw a ratings uptick on ESPN2.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Hardball Talk links to a video from Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina showing WFAN’s Mike Francesa having no clue about a Detroit Tigers pitcher.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth feels many reporters failed to get the job done as the Terry Francona story developed on Friday.

And I’m going to end it there today.

Doing Some Tuesday Linkage

Having spent most of the day at the Providence Civic Center and the Rhode Island Convention Center for a seminar, I wasn’t able to provide linkage. I’ve collected quite a few links for you today so let’s get to them.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today goes over the ratings from the weekend and notes that the NFL regular season had no problem in the ratings with the MLB Postseason.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Anti-Defamation League is setting its sights on Hank Williams, Jr. for his remarks on President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner which led ESPN to pull his open from last night’s Monday Night Football game.

Sports Business Daily has a recap on the entire Hank Williams, Jr. controversy.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal says the Philadelphia Phillies climbed to the top of the local MLB ratings for this season.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports on the Tennis Channel’s long-term extension to carry the French Open.

Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that the Big 12 member schools have agreed on a plan that will distribute TV rights money equally among the institutions.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes.com reports that a Nielsen study has found that women make up a large portion of the sports audience.

Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo wonders when female sports reporters will stop being the target of some cruel male fans.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy writes that with the NHL season fast approaching, the league has yet to sign a deal to air its games in all of Europe. Yes, ALL of Europe.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says TBS has gotten it right with its HD coverage of the MLB Postseason.

At Media Bistro’s TVSpy, Andrew Gauthier has the video of a Seattle TV reporter not editing out the swears while reading live on the air a Seahawks fan chat from the station’s website.

The Big Lead has a picture of ESPN’s Erin Andrews and her trophy boyfriend.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has video that shows two things on one play, first the Cowboys’ Felix Jones is is not a MENSA candidate and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman had no idea it was 4th down.

To Bob’s Blitz which has audio of WFAN’s Mike Francesa pulling a nutty on the New York Jets for their performance in Baltimore on Sunday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell finds that using the color pink in the NFL’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign may be counterproductive to its message.

Darren wonders why Mercedes-Benz chose the New Orleans Superdome to purchase naming rights.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks into the extremely lengthy NFL Network-Time Warner Cable dispute.

Richard also delves into the Hank Williams, Jr./Monday Night Football mess.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says local college hockey will be heard on two stations.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Time Warner Cable also gets into the local college hockey act.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with MASN Nationals analyst F.P. Santangelo on his first year on the job.

Dan says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has raided MSG Network for its new Capitals studio host.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says both Sunday Night Football and the MLB Postseason are doing well in the ratings.

Michael Kruse and Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times looks at two fans who made both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Buccaneers games on the same night.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle has a look at some local college football and NFL ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says ESPN’s E:60 will do a story on former Bengals running back Ickey Woods and his foundation to promote asthma and organ donation awareness.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Green Bay Packers drew their largest ratings of the season on Sunday.

Bob says Versus’ Turning Point will focus on the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Dodgers will be changing flagship radio stations next season.

Sports Media Watch says the opener for the NLDS between Arizona and Milwaukee was a mixed bag for TBS.

SMW says Cards-Phils Game 1 was down.

SMW notes that Tigers-Yankees didn’t do well either.

To the NFL, SMW notes that Fox was the ratings winner in Week 4.

SMW tells us that CBS continues in a downward spiral for the NFL.

SMW informs us that NBC’s ratings for Sunday Night Football were down.

And Monday Night Football also took a big hit according to SMW.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final numbers for Versus’ preseason NHL games.

That’s going to do it.

Cranking Out Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday linkage for you.

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

To the linkage.

National

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brandon chronicles a wild Wednesday night at MLB Network.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

East and Mid-Atlantic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

South

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

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

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

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

Midewest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

West

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom looks at TBS’ coverage of the MLB Postseason.

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

Canada

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

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

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

A Pre-Hurricane Friday Megalinks Edition

As the Northeast battens down the hatches for the impending hit of Hurricane Irene this weekend and it’s not a matter of if it’s coming, but when, I’ll probably won’t be blogging much over the next few days. I’ll do my best as long as I have power, but disaster preparation will be high on the priorities the next two days.

For those of you looking for a diversion from Hurricane Irene coverage either on the Weather Channel or local news, I do have the sports and entertainment listings in the Weekend Viewing Picks. If you’re in the projected path or far from it, this will help you find the program you’re looking for.

Let’s get to the links.

National

Bob Velin of USA Today says Floyd “Money” Mayweather is ready for his HBO close-up again as he takes part in another edition of 24/7.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says ESPN golf analyst Paul Azinger took a jab at President Obama for playing golf on his vacation while people are out of work.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand debate the validity of the Longhorn Network.

Sean Gregory of Time says ESPN The Magazine’s story making Michael Vick a white man was wrong on several accounts.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has secured the rights to ACC sports including football and basketball.

Multichannel News says soccer-centric Gol TV will air the start of Spain’s La Liga following the resolution of a player’s strike this week.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that MSG Varsity will produce local editions of its High School SportsDesk program.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid reports that sports media site SportsNewser will be closing up shop at the end of this month. Sad to see. The site was a very good resource for Fang’s Bites. Marcus Vanderberg and Cam Martin from SportsNewser have become good friends and I hope they land on their feet soon.

Wayne Friedman at MediaPost says the New York Jets have become an innovator in their use of social media.

Joe Favorito looks at how sports marketing powerhouse IMG redefined itself into a marketer for college sports.

John Daly in his Daly Planet blog says Hurricane Irene coverage on several local ABC stations may put a crimp for fans who want to watch NASCAR on Saturday.

EPL Talk reports that Fox will air some English Premier League matches including the Chelsea-Manchester United rivalry game live on Super Bowl Sunday.

Sports Business Daily looks at the probability of EPL games airing on Fox.

The Big Lead takes a look at ESPN’s plans for its annual all-day and all-night College Basketball Marathon coming in November.

Brady Green at Awful Announcing notes that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis did a stab at play-by-play in last night’s game against the DC NFL team.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that fantasy sports can no longer be ignored by the mainstream media and he adds that Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle is a candidate to fill one of three potential vacancies at NESN.

At SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch wonders which reporter is apologizing for Patriots defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Entourage tapped New York Giants owner Steve Tisch for an appearance on the HBO show.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is back from a brief vacation to hate everything in his path.

Justin Terranova of the Post speaks with CBS’ Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason on what they expect from New York’s NFL quarterbacks this season.

Justin has five questions for ESPN2 tennis analyst Brad Gilbert on the U.S. Open.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says due to Hurricane Irene, the Jets and Giants have moved the starting time of their NFL exhibition game to Saturday afternoon.

Pete says Marv Albert is happy to be calling NFL games on television once again.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says Capital Region fans will have two opportunities to see the Jets-Giants on Saturday.

Ken talks with Versus horse racing host Laffit Pincay, Jr.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes about a former area high school athlete who’s doing overnight updates for WFAN in New York.

Richard Rys of Philadelphia Magazine blasts ESPN for airing every game ofthe Little League World Series.

Childs Walker, Jeff Zrebiec and Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun says Mike Flanagan’s friends including MASN’s Gary Thorne are still coming to grips with his death.

David Zurawik of the Sun writes that WBAL-TV is standing by its report as to why Flanagan took his own life.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that an original Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic personality said goodbye last night.

Dan has the debut Geico spot featuring DC NFL Team linebacker Brian Orakpo.

Dan says last night’s Washington-Baltimore NFL preseason game set a ratings record in the nation’s capital.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will split its feed to air pregame shows of both the Baltimore Ravens and DC NFL Team during weeks when they’re programmed simultaneously.

South

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that while Verizon FiOS signed to carry the Longhorn Network, it won’t have tonight’s launch on its system.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network is having less than an auspicious launch.

David says despite the low viewership numbers at the start, the Longhorn Network’s staff remains upbeat about its future.

Gary Dinges of the Austin American-Statesman says most Texas fans will probably miss tonight’s Longhorn Network launch barring some miracle cable and satellite pickups.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman also writes about the Longhorn Network’s launch.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable will air a slate of high school football games this fall.

Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star notes that ESPN is in town to air a couple of high school football games this weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NBC is going all out for the NFL regular season opener between the Saints and the Packers.

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

Paul Christan at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says don’t confuse NFL Network with DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket package.

Paul says the Minnesota Vikings without Brett Favre this season won’t be primetime darlings this season.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says don’t confuse BYUtv with the Longhorn Network.

John Maffei of the North County Times says if the NFL wants a Los Angeles franchise, it shouldn’t poach the Chargers.

T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times tells fans to stay home and watch the games on TV.

T.J. can’t believe the Dodgers are asking fans to evaluate Vin Scully’s performance as a broadcaster.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that Fox Sports West will air one high school football game a week and stream a whole host of them online.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says buyer beware when it comes to Twitter.

That will do it for today. Be safe wherever you are this weekend.

Doing Some Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide links while I can. Trying not to make this a week where links are scarce. Let’s get this done.

First, Jessica E. Vascellaro and Darren Everson of the Wall Street Journal look at how infusions of TV rights money has changed college sports not necessarily for the better.

John Ourand at Sports Business Daily notes that Longhorn Network has picked up its first major cable provider just ahead of Friday’s launch.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable also writes about Longhorn Network’s carriage deal.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at Fox Soccer signing a multiyear deal for the UEFA Europa League.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek says the Bleacher Report has raised $22 million in capital for future expansion of the site.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine explores the rich naming rights deal involving MetLife and the New Meadowlands Stadium.

Dave Kindred at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says there are not that many differences between “New School” and “Old School” writers.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says the operator of an illegal sports video streaming site was arrested by the Feds yesterday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels Danica Patrick’s popularity has hit the wall.

Dashiell Bennett of the Business Insider’s Sports Page notes that ESPN put up a controversial rendering (now since taken down) of Michael Vick as a white man.

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online has a problem with ESPN’s premise of making Vick a white man.

At ESPN Front Row, PR maven Mike Soltys informs us that the Alleged Worldwide Leader has revised its social networking policy.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post says any talk of the NFL and Time Warner Cable being close on a deal for NFL Network is just that. Talk.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that TBS has made a change for its Sunday MLB game due to Hurricane Irene.

Ken Schott says a local radio station will have a unique baseball-horse racing on-air schedule this Saturday.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says the MSG Networks will be airing plenty of college football in the fall.

Ken adds that MSG Network will air a prospects hockey tournament next month.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says an area native is doing overnight sports reports on WFAN.

Justin Fenton and Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun report that police have confirmed that former Orioles pitcher and broadcaster Mike Flanagan took his own life outside his home on Wednesday.

Peter Schmuck of the Sun says now is not the time to speculate why Flanagan chose to end his life.

The Sun’s Kevin Cowherd writes that Flanagan made people laugh as a player and as a broadcaster.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes says Flanagan’s death is still a mystery.

Matt Brooks in the Washington Post’s Early Lead blog says Flanagan’s death has hit the Orioles very hard.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that Danica Patrick’s move to NASCAR makes the Baltimore Grand Prix one of her last IndyCar races of her career.

Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte (NC) Observer says thanks to its new ESPN contract, ACC basketball will get plenty of TV exposure.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has a primer on the Longhorn Network.

Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus feeling the SEC will be standing pat for the foreseeable future.

Jimmy says Verizon FiOS will be distributing the Longhorn Network across the country.

The Houston Chronicle says a local TV station will begin airing Thursday night high school football games.

David Barron of the Chronicle writes that the Longhorn Network is ready to launch, but won’t be seen widely in Houston.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says Notre Dame has renewed a radio rights deal with WLS-AM.

Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times looks at a big reveal from ESPN Films’ documentary on the Steve Bartman 2003 NLCS inc

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has Sports Illustrated saying the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan in the Dodger Stadium parking lot earlier this year sealed the fate of the franchise.

Mason Kelly of the Seattle Times says a local high school gym got a facelift thanks to an ESPN program.

Only Deadspin. It has a spy inside ESPN’s State of the Union meeting with higher ups.

Sox & Dawgs looks at SNY’s UConn football coverage.

The Toronto Sports Media blog notes that long-time Maple Leafs voice Dennis Beyak is apparently heading to Winnipeg.

Sports Media Watch has some various football programming notes.

That is going to finish the links 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.

A Monday Link Thing

Let’s do the Monday linkage. Some interesting stories out there already.

I’ll start with some housekeeping from the weekend in regards to Saturday’s passing of Nick Charles.

Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski who wrote a wonderful and poignant article in March on Nick’s coming to peace with his cancer and how he attempted to make every day count, has another wonderful and poignant article on Nick’s passing.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun remembers Nick’s time in Baltimore.

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post has an obituary for Nick from another market where he worked before hitting it big with CNN.

Michael Marley at Examiner.com notes how boxer Mike Tyson made up with Nick before Charles’ passing.

Jason Levine of the Delaware News-Journal mourns Nick’s passing as well as USA Today baseball writer Rod Beaton.

Becky Schlikerman of the Chicago Tribune writes about Charles never forgetting his Windy City roots.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News also has a remembrance of Charles and calling his last fight earlier this year for HBO.

At Fight News, Nick’s Showtime partner, Steve Farhood, also gives his thoughts on Charles’ passing.

Now to other sports media and business news of the day and there’s quite a bit on this Monday.

One big story surfacing today is the potential bidding for the first half of a Thursday Night Football package that would begin in 2012. John Ourand and Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal write about it. I add some thoughts as well.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have filed for bankruptcy after MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the team’s 17 year deal with Fox for media rights. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on owner Frank McCourt’s filing in bankruptcy court.

The Times has the Dodgers’ statement on the bankruptcy filing.

Chris Dufrense of the Times has a good story on how the Dodgers lost their toehold on Los Angeles to the Lakers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports on some of the biggest Dodgers creditors.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal writes that McCourt’s filing sets up a battle with Selig.

David McLaughlin of Bloomberg News also has a story on this latest Dodgers development.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Pro Hardball Talk tells us what bankruptcy means for the Dodgers.

From Sports Business Journal, we have a couple of stories from this week’s issue.

First, Terry Lefton breaks news that the new Meadowlands Stadium, home to the Giants and Jets,  is close to having a new sponsor for naming rights.

Tripp Mickle reports that Sprint is about to roll out a new promotion with NASCAR that will benefit both fans and drivers.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today explains how NBC’s tape delayed shenanigans at Wimbledon will work this week. This is the last year of NBC’s contract with Wimbledon. Let’s hope the shenanigans end in 2011.

Mike writes that ESPN college football analyst Craig James could be starting a political career.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reviews ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.

Mick Mulvenney from Reuters says the International Olympic Committee says athletes can go on Twitter during competition during the 2012 Olympics so long as they don’t do it for commercial purposes.

Jason Fry writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center discusses some of the comparisons Grantland faces with the late, great The National.

SportsGrid notes some nutty behavior by some baseball announcers over the weekend.

SportsGrid has video from Wendi Nix’s subbing for Karl Ravech on Baseball Tonight from Sunday and it apparently didn’t go over well.

Fox Sports in Australia has announced that tennis analyst John McEnroe will be part of its Australian Open coverage in 2012. He had previously called matches for 7 Network, but had not been in Australia since 2004.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels WFAN’s Craig Carton can be a good listen when he wants to be.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY has ESPN Radio New York’s Jared Max reaction to the New York State Senate passing the same sex marriage bill last Friday.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that the Nationals’ TV ratings are beginning to surpass other teams in the market.

Dan has some observations from the news conference involving Wizards top draft pick Jan Vesely who made a big splash last week with a kiss from her girlfriend at the NBA Draft.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times shares his thoughts on the sports weekend on TV.

Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel says the local NBC station won’t be airing Wimbledon this week due to its wall-to-wall coverage of the Casey Anthony trial.

Jeff Korbelik of the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star says a new local sports radio station will pick up programming from Fox Sports and Premiere Radio Networks in addition to having some local shows.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says soccer’s popularity is rising.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your Southern California sports calendar for the week.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Pac-12 Conference is consideration all distribution options on both TV and the internet for its in-house channel.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about the NHL delaying a decision about participating in the Olympics and the media rights for the new Winnipeg Jets.

The Toronto Sports Media blog says expect to hear some changes at the local Rogers Sportsnet’s radio station.

With some upheaval expected for next season, Paulsen at Sports Media Watch has some announcing suggestions for the NBA’s TV partners.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore notes that the NHL Awards saw increased ratings on both Versus and CBC last week.

And Steve says NHL Network will pick up TSN’s coverage of the first day of the league’s free agent signing period.

Doug Farrar at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner wonders if NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens injured himself during the taping of a VH1 reality show.

EPL Talk looks at ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

The Big Lead notes that Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban shot a new Transformers 3 movie ad.

Jack Dickey at Deadspin says it seems Marv Albert’s conviction on sexual assault charges has been long forgotten.

And that’s where we’re going to leave it.

Some Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide a few links on this Thursday. Another rainy day in Southern New England. What joy.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that HBO Pay Per View has signed Floyd Mayweather to his next fight in September.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek writes that the NBC Sports Group will make GolfChannnel.com into a more ad and social media-friendly site.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life says the NFL’s TV partners are hopeful in hearing that a new agreement is close between the league and its players association.

Ben Axelrod of SportsGrid has video of a Marine on Fox Sports Midwest playfully calling for the death of Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay. At least I hope so.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at what’s going on with the NFL collective bargaining talks.

All Access reports that a San Francisco radio station will flip to ESPN Deportes on Friday.

Michael Starr of the New York Post says there’s an online petition circulating appealing to Fox to have Vin Scully have a role at one last World Series. I can support that and will! You can go here to add your name to the petition.

Newsday’s Neil Best recaps the sometime contentious Mike Francesa-Tiki Barber interview that took place on WFAN on Wednesday.

Neil talks with ESPN Women’s World Cup analyst Mia Hamm.

Neil notes the influx of Fordham alums calling New York sports on TV and radio.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says get ready to see more of the CFL on NFL Network in the early part of the season.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers some thoughts after seeing a replay of Game 7 of the 1971 World Series on Root Sports.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports that popular DC sports anchor Lindsay Czarniak is leaving the local NBC affiliate to become an anchor for ESPN.

At the Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has video of some of the best moments in Lindsay’s time in DC.

Dan notes that DC is certainly an ESPN breeding ground.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says local and national media will be all over the first round picks for the Wizards during tonight’s NBA Draft.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer gives us inside look at how Yankees voice John Sterling does his “Yankees win!” catchphrase.

At the Milwaukee Sentinel, Bob Wolfley talks with a fired local sports talk show host.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Cubs TV voice Len Kasper received a much deserved contract extension.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an e-mail interview with Captain Blowhard about Grantland.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes that Fox will not support Dodgers owner Frank McCourt if he takes legal action to try to keep the team.

Sam Farmer of the Times says a former player with the USC Trojans and a later a Times writer admitted to taking money when he was in school.

Valerie Hauch of the Toronto Star says the Vancouver Riots Kissing Couple has hired an agent for possible endorsements.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that a local sports talk radio host has been given the heave-ho.

Paul Lebowitz has several questions on Wednesday’s Mike Francesa-Tiki Barber interview.

Sports Media Watch has some news on some various personalities.

SMW says ratings for the NASCAR Nationwide Series on ESPN are up this season.

Now that the NHL’s 2011-12 schedule is out, Steve Lepore at Puck The Media speculates as to how next season’s NBC schedule will shape out.

And Steve does the same for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada schedule.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing wants you to sign the Vin Scully World Series petition.

Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interested in buying the Dodgers.

Ryan Lambert at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy gives his best and worst of last night’s NHL Awards.

I guess I’ll end it there for today.

Tiki Barber’s Contentious Interview With WFAN’s Mike Francesa

On Wednesday, embattled former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber gave an interview with WFAN’s Mike Francesa. The first 20 minutes of this interview were as contentious as you could get. It really got fiery when Francesa brought up Barber’s time at NBC which was less than stellar. Several times, Barber’s agent intervened. The last ten minutes somehow became a lovefest. This was really unbelievable radio and I give this to you in its entirety. I’m not sure why Tiki agreed to do this, but he really sounded bad especially when talking about his days at NBC. I’ll also give you a partial transcript of the interview below too.

Barber: “I think you’re throwing a little bit of hyperbole out there, Mike, because I didn’t have a ‘big failure’ in broadcasting. I think if you laid the stage as you and Chris at the time tried to, that I was (to) be the next Matt Lauer, yeah, you could say it was a failure. But I had a lot of fulfillment at NBC. I did a lot of great stories that I think had impact over the three years that I was there.”

Barber: “You’re putting it in simple terms. And if that’s how you need to do it, Michael, fine, you put it in simple terms. But I don’t consider my time at NBC a failure.”

Francesa: “The guys at NBC, and I know all of them, they felt that you did a bad job and they said that they thought you were entitled. I mean, they were not complimentary about your work. Let’s not run away from that, this is part of the story.”

Barber: “If you tell me who it was and you get that person on air, I will have a debate with them. I think that’s cowardly of someone to talk behind someone’s back and not tell them, because the truth of the matter is, I don’t know what I could have done better at NBC.”

“I respect you because I think you have a great knowledge about sports and about the game of football. Do you always do it the correct way? I’m not sure. Do you interview people the correct way, because we’re talking about my life here. I’m not so sure.”

“Mike, I understand what you’re saying. You’re not wrong but you’re also not right. Because to characterize the three years that I had at NBC as abject failure is just wrong. It’s just not correct.”

Barber talked about his popularity in New York:

“You know, I grew up in Virginia, where people are cordial about everything that they do. I came and lived in New York for ten years, played in New York for ten years and realized that every single person here has an opinion. I can’t chance people’s opinions about me based on, honestly I don’t even know what.

“And so, does it hurt me? Yeah, it does, because I think in some ways people are not appreciating who I was as a player. But does it hurt me that they have an opinion that’s negative against me? Not necessarily, because they’re all entitled to it, just like I’m entitled to my own opinions about you or Joe Schmo down the street.”

And why some Giants fans dislike him:

“I’m sure it probably has to do with the fact that I criticized Tom Coughlin and he goes and wins a Super Bowl. Or the conversations that I had about Eli Manning (that) got blown out of proportion. Things like that (where) people felt like I, as someone with knowledge, was attacking somebody that I just left, when it really wasn’t. It was just giving my opinion about things, and I’ve always been opinionated. You’ve known that, Mike.”

Quite interesting and very, very compelling.

Up For Thursday Links

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

To your links.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neil has his entire interview with Francesa in his blog.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that will end the links for today.

Handing Out The Wednesday Links

Time for the mid-week links. Lots of stuff to get to.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings from some of the events held this past weekend.

Michael says networks may have to scramble to fill holes if the NFL lockout extends into October and November.

Brian Lowry at Fox Sports wonders if teams should be looking at the broadcast booth for their next coaches.

Andy Lewis of the Hollywood Reporter reviews the new book on ESPN co-authored by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

Jason Gay at the Wall Street Journal also reviews the tome.

Sam Schechner of the Journal has some of Dick Ebersol’s departing thoughts as he prepares to leave NBC Sports.

Erin Griffith from Adweek says Lance Armstrong’s brand and Livestrong organization are being hurt by the latest doping allegations.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes HBO had decent viewership for its boxing card last Saturday.

Mohammed Rahman of SportsGrid has the Tosh.0 video from last night which teamed two sports blogosphere icons, Screamin’ Gus Johnson and Brian Collins of “Boom Goes the Dynamite” fame.

Some sad news from CNBC. Original anchor Mark Haines, host of Squawk Box and Squawk on the Street died suddenly on Tuesday. He leaves behind his wife, Cindy and a son and a daughter. He was well known in the financial world and well loved by viewers. I remember him when he co-anchored the news on WPRI-TV in Providence in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s. He was very good.

CNBC has an entire section of memories from co-workers and viewers.

Darren Rovell shares his memories of Mark Haines.

Jason Dachman at Sports Video Group writes that Sony will extend its sponsorship of ESPN 3D.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY says for the first time, ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike beat WFAN’s Boomer & Carton in younger male demos, but WFAN turned the tables in the important categories.

David Hinckley of the New York Daily News also writes about the ESPN Radio/WFAN ratings.

Richard Sandomir in the New York Times notes that the Mets finances are very shaky.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom blames Ronald Reagan for much of the sports labor and business troubles of today.

In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg finds that Tony Kornheiser still cannot forgive a former colleague for his review of Monday Night Football.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says outgoing NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol would make for a good replacement for MLB Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig.

Bob wonders if the Green Bay Packers wouldn’t mind being on HBO’s Hard Knocks.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Turner Sports sets the standard for NBA coverage.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune writes that the Windy City continues to watch the Bulls in the NBA postseason.

Phil also has a story on Dick Ebersol leaving NBC Sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says a SoCal-based radio duo will get a tryout in Portland.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL Eastern Conference Final is performing solidly for Versus.

Steve writes that Boston is shining brightly in the NHL ratings universe.

SportsbyBrooks says a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter is now looking into the machinations with Jim Tressel and the Ohio State football program.

The Big Lead puts together its sports announcing dream teams.

And I’ll end here for now, but I’m not close to being done with the linkage. I have to leave the office so I’ll post more later.

UPDATE: 8:20 p.m. – Here are some more links.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today writes that ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose has pleaded guilty to DUI charges stemming from an arrest in Michigan back in March.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has Fox Sports President Eric Shanks saying the network would go live from the Olympics in 2014 and 2016.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that TNT saw received an audience of just under 10 million for Game 4 of the Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says ESPN is changing satellite distribution system to affiliates.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says with Vancouver in the NHL Stanley Cup Final, NBC desperately needs Boston to advance to help its ratings.

Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com says the Pac-12 Conference is looking at an additional $1 billion in revenue over a 7-10 year period from a league-owned channel.

Reuters reports that actor Russell Crowe is attempting to bring Australia’s National Rugby League to the United States through Fox Sports.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser says Fox Sports Net has purchased a weekly baseball series to be hosted by former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the audio of Dan Patrick telling “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN” co-author Jim Miller about his abusive relationship with ESPN management.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says the local Time Warner Cable system will air the AHL Calder Cup Final.

Robert Cox of the New Rochelle (NY) Talk of the Sound says ESPN took over a local high school to shoot a high school prom theme for the ESPY’s.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner notes the viewership for TNT from Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Ron Higgns of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that the Liberty Bowl is moving from ESPN to ABC and expanding its reach to a bigger audience in the process.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has CBS golf analyst Gary McCord picking his favorites for the upcoming Byron Nelson Championship.

Bob has Fox Soccer Channel host Eric Wynalda singing the praises of Lionel Messi of Barcelona in advance of this Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final.

Scott D. Pierce from the Salt Lake Tribune notes that despite a down year, the Utah Jazz are constantly on TV while the minor league baseball Salt Lake Bees aren’t able to get on TV.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times says the Pac-12 could move football games to Sundays or even Monday nights if the NFL lockout goes into the fall.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog reports that CTV/TSN have snagged the rights to Skate Canada events from CBC.

Sports Media Watch says the final round of the PGA Tour’s Colonial Invitational saw a big jump for CBS.

SMW Sunday’s NASCAR on Fox race saw a huge ratings increase.

Joe Favorito asks if Newark, NJ could become a sports capital.

I’ll end it there. You’re up to date on links.

Doing The Tuesday Links

I need to get these up quickly as the NBC/NHL conference call will occur at 1 p.m. today. I won’t be able to monitor it, but I do hope to provide details as they become available. Lots of links to get to.

The major news of the day thus far is NBC’s renewal of its agreement with the NHL. It means NBC and Versus will keep the rights to the league and it’s for 10 years/$200 million. Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy tells us what it all means.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand who has been tremendous in reporting this story has the full details of the new agreement between NBC/Comcast and the NHL.

Anthony Crupi says NBC/Comcast has won its first battle in what should be many against Disney/ESPN.

Barry Pachesky of Deadspin puts the NBC/Comcast contract with the NHL into perspective.

Keara Dowd of Aerys Sports says ESPN really wanted to get the NHL back.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says NBC/Comcast will have increased rights to the NHL with the new 10 year deal.

And in a related note, PBS’ Nightly Business Report had a segment on Comcast’s purchase of NBC and wanting to gain a big foothold in sports.

Back to Wyshynski, he gives us the best of NESN’s Jack Edwards from last night’s Game 3 of the Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens series. Jack was more over the top than usual.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says for Generation Y, sports is about getting together, not necessarily competing against each other.

Also from USA Today, Sean Leahy notes that despite the lockout, the NFL is pressing ahead with plans to release its 2011 regular season schedule tonight.

Sean speculates on some of the NFL’s marquee games for this season.

Sean says Joe Theismann has tweeted (since removed) that he is indeed out of the NFL Network Thursday Night Football booth.

Back to the Sports Business Journal and Terry Lefton who notes that the NFL continues with its Draft even as the lockout continues.

John Ourand and David Broughton of Sports Business Journal report that San Antonio reigns over the local TV ratings for the league.

Over at Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says the NBA on TNT’s opening Sunday NBA Playoff tripleheader drew 36% more viewers than the year before.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek says the big TV ratings for the opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs means more revenue for ESPN and Turner Sports.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that the NBA’s postseason ratings could set a record.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with someone in the know about the Feds’ crackdown on offshore poker websites.

Sports Business Daily looks at ESPN’s decision to drop all poker advisertising.

Cam Martin from SportsNewser says ESPN is going to be dropping all poker advertising and related programming for the foreseeable future.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing tells us what ESPN’s decision on poker advertising and programming means to the niche sport.

Russell Scibetti from the Business of Sports shares his thoughts on the Feds’ crackdown on poker websites and what it means for the networks that air poker.

Emmett Jones of Sports Business Digest notes that Pittsburgh is on top of the local NHL TV ratings heap.

The great Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says MLB’s TV partners are bullish about ad revenue for this season.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir writes about ESPN posting the endorsement deals made its announcers and analysts.

ESPN has announced that the extremely insufferable Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News will host a one hour daily show for ESPN Radio in New York. I refuse to link to any stories about this. You’ll thank me later.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes the early postseason ratings for both the NBA and NHL.

Dejan Kovacevic at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talks about the Penguins being number one in the local NHL TV ratings.

John Steigerwald of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter who wrote the incendiary column last week about Giants fan Bryan Stow who is still in a coma after being beat up by two Los Angeles Dodgers fans, tries to explain himself this week and claims everyone across the country is to blame for misunderstanding his original incendiary column.

To Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner who says the NBC Sports Group outdueled three other networks for the NHL.

Jerry Ratcliffe of the Charlottesville (VA) Daily Progress writes about the bond between Fox NFL Sunday co-horts and odd couple Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long.

Rick Bozich from the Louisville Courier-Journal feels ESPN owes the University of Kentucky an apology.

Ryan Clark of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that ESPN’s Bob Knight should be fired for remarks he made about the Kentucky basketball program.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman previews one segment on tonight’s HBO Real Sports program.

Mark Dawidziak of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says a local man will get a shot at his dream to work for ESPN.

Diane Pucin from the Los Angeles Times looks at the new NBC/NHL deal.

TV Sports Jobs looks at 10 Worst Acting Performances in sports movies.

The great Bob’s Blitz blog has the ratings for WFAN and ESPN Radio New York for last month.

Pressdog notes the ratings for ESPN2′s airing of last weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide race.

The Canadian Sports Media blog feels CBC’s curling coverage ain’t what it used to be.

Sports Media Watch says TNT is off to its best start ever for an NBA postseason.

SMW says ESPN had good numbers for its NBA Playoffs opening tripleheader.

And SMW notes ABC had really good numbers for its opening two games of the NBA Playoffs.

Another post from Russell Scibetti, this time in the Business Insider Sports Page, where he noticed that MLB.com has stopped its free streaming of a game a night on Facebook.

Joe Favorito says in addition to promoting team pride, NBA and NHL Playoff teams might want to attach a worthy cause as well. I like this idea.

OK, lots of links and lots of stories. I think we’ll end it there.

Finally Getting To The Linkage

Being surprised earlier today by a sudden trip to a jobsite threw me off today so I’m late getting to the linkage, but it’ll be here. Let’s go.

First, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute pens the first column as the ESPN Ombudsman. She and two other Poynter Institute faculty will write monthly columns, sometimes more, as the Ombudsman.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Louisville coach Rick Pitino getting his second guest analyst gig in two weeks, this time for ESPN.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today writes about Tiger Woods’ new pricey iPhone app.

Eammon Brennan of ESPN.com says more people are watching the NCAA Tournament than ever.

Julie Jargon from the Wall Street Journal says ESPN Insider content will be available at Starbucks in-store digital wireless network throughout the country.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable says New York’s WWOR is set with a new 21 game Yankees schedule.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at the Sport Emmy Award nominations.

Kurt Badenhausen from Forbes writes about MLB’s most valuable franchises with the teams you’d expect at 1-2.

Also from Forbes, Michael Humphrey says the NFL could learn a thing or two from March Madness on Demand.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says CBS/Turner is bringing in guest analysts for all three of its platforms for the NCAA Tournament.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid talks about Buzz Bissinger going off on Jimmer Fredette.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that Sunday night was a big night for the NCAA Tournament on cable.

Tim Nudd from Adweek examines ESPN’s new MLB Opening Day promo.

Alex Colon from PC Magazine notes that ESPN Radio will now be available on Slacker Radio mobile apps.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says a number of MLB ballparks will be serving Food Network-sponsored concessions.

Darren looks at the top MLB team jersey sales.

And Darren points out that a coach who gets hot during the NCAA Tournament can make it very difficult for a smaller school to keep him.

Dan Lewandowski of Speed.com looks at Versus’ broadcast team for IndyCar races this season.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen has some suggestions for sports writers who don’t quite know how to use Twitter correctly.

Kimberly Primicerio of the Meriden (CT) Record-Journal talks about ESPN’s commitment to expand its World Headquarters in the Constitution State.

Newsday’s Bobby Cassidy points out that the courageous Nick Charles who’s been fighting cancer, will call the first fight on HBO’s Boxing After Dark card on Saturday.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the WWOR-TV Yankees schedule for this season.

At Fishbowl NY, Jerry Barmash talks with a WFAN part-timer who’s hosting an internet sports talk show.

Jerry talks with a WCBS-TV anchor who’s hosting an NCAA Tournament wrap-up show that’s been airing on CBS-owned stations.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia will appear on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Pete has MLB Network’s live game schedule for April.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times notes that ESPN’s Jon Gruden got his second Sports Emmy nomination in as many years.

Eric Deggans from the Times wonders if the NFL lockout could get into the way of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ chances to be in HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer.

Charles Hollis from the Birmingham (AL) News likes having Charles Barkley on the NCAA Tournament.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN2 HD viewers missed out on much of Sunday’s NCAA Women’s Tournament game involving the Sooners.

Mel says the NCAA Tournament is dominating the sports TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says fans will get to see a different side of the Reds on Sunday both in person and on TV.

John has more on the live Reds event.

John notes that two announcers with Cincinnati ties are up for Sports Emmys.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says a lineup change at the local ESPN Radio affiliate is only temporary.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s MLB analysts pin some high hopes on the Brewers.

Bob says CBS/Turner continues to bring in current college coaches to its March Madness coverage.

Eric Morken from the Alexandria (MN) Echo Press says Twins fans won’t be able to watch games on over the air TV anymore.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail examines the MLS ratings in Canada.

The Lost Letterman blog grades the TNT additions to the CBS/Turner NCAA Tournament staff.

Sports Media Watch says the NHL on NBC really got beat up on Sunday.

SMW says thanks to the NCAA Tournament, truTV had its most watched week.

I’ll end it there for now. I hope to do some night linkage later.

Slinging the Tuesday Links Your Way

Let’s do some linkage while I still can on this Tuesday. Lots of stuff to get to provided I don’t get interrupted.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today writes about Louisville coach Rick Pitino making the media rounds this week.

I may have linked to this so if I have already, I apologize. Nate Davis of USA Today’s The Huddle blog notes that NFL Films President Steve Sabol has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. To send your best wishes to Steve, you can send him an e-mail at sabol.nflfilms@nfl.com.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the NCAA Tournament’s ratings on CBS/Turner have hit an 11 year high, but there are some caveats.

Sports Business Daily looks at the increased ratings for the NCAA Tournament.

Stuart Levine of Variety notes that ESPN leads all networks in Sports Emmy Award nominations.

The Wall Street Journal picks up an Associated Press story on ESPN adding jobs at its Bristol, CT headquarters.

Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com says the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a prime candidate to be this year’s subject of HBO’s Hard Knocks, if there’s a season.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable notes that ESPN will be all over MLB Opening Week starting at the end of this m month.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Turner Sports’ March Madness on Demand has been a huge hit in the first week of the NCAA Tournament.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life notes the NCAA Tournament has been very good to CBS and Turner.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says WFAN’s Mike Francesa went all Wu Tang on a caller who wanted to talk about the New York Mets owners legal issues over convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser examines how a former New Hampshire Sportswriter of the Year gets convicted for running a prostitution ring.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group says Verizon Fios TV is adding ESPN 3D in time for The Masters.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that LeBron James and Michael Vick have seen their positive perceptions go up while Tiger Woods still remains unchanged.

Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski has announced the subject of his latest book project.

The lovely Jayme Lamm at the Blonde Side recaps the Blogs with Balls panel on sports media at the recently completed SxSW festival in Austin, TX.

Dave Kindred at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism talks about Washington Post DC NFL Team beat writer Rick Maese doing what reporters do when extraordinary circumstances strike.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY has former WCBS-AM sports director Jared Max talking about his sendoff by his former workmates.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Women’s World Cup TV schedule.

Michael Bradley at Philadelphia Magazine says ESPN’s Jay Bilas isn’t as smart as he’s cracked up to be.

Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that Phillies fan favorite Chris Coste will work on Comcast SportsNet this summer.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com notes that MASN will launch a new baseball TV show at the end of the month.

Avi Miller of the Baltimore Sports Report says reporter Jen Royale is leaving MASN, but staying in the city to remain on radio.

C.L. Brown from the Louisville Courier-Journal has Rick Pitino explaining why he’s making multiple TV appearances during the NCAA Tournament.

Glenn Guilbeau at the Baton Rouge Daily Advertiser say the NCAA Tournament became infinitely better to watch.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says MLB Network picks up another cable TV provider.

Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press notes that viewers like the four network NCAA Tournament strategy.

However, Jamie Samuelson writing in the Free Press wishes we would go back to the old way of CBS having all of the games.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that the two local teams still in the NCAA Tournament will be aired on TBS and CBS respectively.

Frank Rajkowski from the St. Cloud (MN) Times says he has ended up liking CBS/Turner’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament more than he originally thought.

Brad Elliot Schlossman of the Grand Forks (ND) Herald looks at what the announcement of a Big Ten hockey conference will mean to the WCHA and its remaining schools.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News updates us on the Pac 12 TV rights negotiations.

Congratulations to Steve Lepore of Puck The Media who announces that he’s going to be writing for Versus.com for the rest of the NHL season.

Steve’s first two efforts for Versus can be found here.

At Globe St., Jennifer LeClaire writes that Golf Channel is expanding its corporate headquarters in Orlando.

Sports Media Watch has various news and notes on some personalities.

SMW says NASCAR’s winning ratings streak ended on Sunday.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing and the new Big Ten-centric Delaney’s Dozen blog interviews Big Ten Network host Dave Revsine.

Speaking of Awful Announcing, Matt talks with EPL Talk editor extraordinaire Chris Harris, a.k.a. The Gaffer, both here and here.

And I’m going to end it there. Busy day with the Sports Emmy Award nominations.

Some Monday Linkage

Getting a late start on the Monday links. Part of it was due to the Masters thesis I wrote on the NCAA Tournament earlier today. Let’s do the links for you.

From USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, we have him saying that having the NCAA’s National Director of Officiating on to explain controversial calls only added positives to CBS/Turner’s coverage this past weekend.

Sports Business Journal lists its annual Forty Under 40 sports executives and personalities. The media section will interest you. Or at least it should. The entire section is open to all. I won’t link to everyone, but the names are listed and you can read at your leisure.

Marisa Guthrie at the Hollywood Reporter notes that the NCAA Tournament on CBS/Turner is garnering its best ratings in two decades.

TMZ reported yesterday that Charlie Sheen met with Fox Sports executives about possibly doing some work for them. Yes he did. #winning.

Nellie Andreeva of Deadline confirms the TMZ report with Fox execs.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable says an NCAA Tournament overrun helped CBS win primetime on Sunday.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that Verizon Fios TV is picking up ESPN 3D for its 6 subscribers who have a 3-D TV.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says a Hispanic cable TV network has won the right to show the Puerto Rican Basketball League in the States.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says the NCAA Tournament won’t return to regionalizing its games anytime soon.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament paid dividends to the four national game strategy.

Jason Fry writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center delves into the Associated Press new policy for writing game leads.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says fans can vote for the athlete who will adorn the cover of the Madden NFL ’12 video game.

SportsGrid’s Dan Fogarty has video of Charles Barkley ripping the Big East on TBS last night.

From Sports TV Jobs, Brian Clapp has a video telling aspiring sports TV anchors some tips on how to get a job.

Brian gives you a day in the life of a sports TV producer.

Pam Modarelli Hegner in Sports TV Jobs, advises young sportscasters not to root in the press box.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that the owners of the New York Mets are seeking to get a case against them dismissed over their knowledge or lack thereof, of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Charles Barkley has given CBS/Turner’s NCAA Tournament studio a much needed battery charge.

Anthony Rieber of Newsday reports that New York Yankees skipper Joe Girardi won’t be making daily appearances on WFAN as originally announced.

Neil gets the reaction from WFAN’s Mike Francesa who made that original announcement.

Somebody take Phil Mushnick’s temperature because he actually gives praise to CBS/Turner for its coverage of the Butler-Pittsburgh game.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Herald has this year’s NCAA Hockey Tournament TV schedule.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner notes the NCAA Tournament is not only doing well in the ratings, but also online.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks back at a busy weekend in sports television.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle has the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 tip times for Thursday and Friday.

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley notes some strong words from former URI and Texas coach Tom Penders on various CBS and ESPN college basketball announcers.

At Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman looks at the Cubs’ search for a new Public Address announcer.

Ed says the local sports radio host who was suspended from his job after a DUI arrest is now undergoing rehab.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with CBS/Turner’s Verne Lundquist who got to call rare “home” games at the NCAA Tournament this weekend.

Dusty also speaks with the lovely Lesley Visser who worked with Verne and Bill Raftery in Denver. And one thing mentioned in the story that I didn’t know. Lesley divorced Fox/Turner announcer Dick Stockton last year.

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

And Tom rates Charles Barkley’s performance on the NCAA Tournament.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says if soccer doesn’t get good ratings in Canada now, it never will.

Ruju Mudhar from the Toronto Star talks with Rogers Sportsnet head Scott Moore about putting more baseball on the network and the possibility of the company’s purchasing Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.

Sports Media Watch notes the 17 year ratings high for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

Steve Lepore at Puck the Media wishes NBC had more time to talk about the classless and big time thug Matt Cooke’s hit during yesterday’s Penguins-Rangers game.

And that’s going to do it.

Quick Monday Afternoon Links

I have found a few more links today and instead of shoving them into the earlier edition, I’ll just a whole new set of links.

First, Sports Business Daily says the overnight ratings for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show were down significantly from last year.

Eric Fisher at Sports Business Daily says MLB Advanced Media has signed a contract to webcast the Webby Awards.

SBD notes a new app that can analyze live statistics and can notify a fan through a mobile app when to turn on a game.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions says Verizon FiOS TV customers will see truTV in HD starting this week just in time for the NCAA Tournament.

At the Wall Street Journal, Matthew Futterman says the NFL is well funded in case the lockout goes long.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says two Army spring sports programs will be heard on radio.

At the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg says the Capitals hit yet another TV ratings milestone.

Matt Murschel from the Orlando Sentinel notes that the Big 12 Conference is about to renew a deal with Fox.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that ESPN went after the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

To the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where Bob Wolfley talks about former Marquette and current Indiana coach Tom Crean going to truTV this week.

Through Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated, Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video of ESPN’s Bob Knight fast asleep as Mike Francesa was about to interview him on WFAN.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says yesterday’s NHL Game of the Week on NBC finished even in the ratings with last week.

Steve wants NBC to pick up Blackhawks-Lightning.

I told you there were a lot of Monday afternoon links. Certainly more than I expected.