Fang's Bites

Just A Few Thursday Links

I’m rushing to finish a project before noon, 11, actually, so I really can’t provide extensive links.

I’ll start with myself today. I have a column at Digital Sports Daily on what else? The NCAA Tournament.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun wants to know what’s the big deal about Suzy Kolber’s hair in HD? Ray says the NCAA Tournament can be heard on the radio in Charm City.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says a WGN-TV sports anchor decided not to retire this year out of love.

Adam Rose of the Los Angeles Times says the March Madness Sports Illustrated’s cover is out.

Joe Favorito wonders if two other college basketball tournaments that are being played other than the NCAA and NIT have any specific value to the schools playing in them.

38 Cliches again takes MLB Network to task for using the world feed for the World Baseball Classic instead of its own production crew. I’ll agree with this. The production of the world feed has been quite poor and it’s missed key plays.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says the Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez will be part of DirecTV’s promotional campaign for its CricketTicket pay per view package.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NBC has renewed with Microsoft for its Silverlight technology to drive its online video streamining for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Mike writes that Gol TV has renewed its rights to show Spain’s top soccer league.

I have to end it there. I’ll be back later.

Tuesday Evening Links

Let’s give some more links on this Tuesday evening here on the East Coast of the States.

First, Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch transcribes a segment on WEEI’s The Big Show with the Big Fat Tub of Lard, Glenn Ordway in which he attacks fantasy football and those who play it. That’s like oh, millions of football fans Ordway is alienating.

A few things from Neil Best of Newsday. Neil tells us that Showtime/CBS Sports has hired a new correspondent for Inside the NFL. Neil has some comments from Chris Russo assessing his first show at Sirius XM. Finally, Neil has Mike Francesa’s rant on Russo leaving and on the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman. It’s great stuff.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times talks about MASN expanding its HD programming.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell delves into what happened to the Magic Johnson co-sponsored Washington Mutual loan centers that eventually closed. And Darren wonders if the Spanish language version of Madden video game has a curse as well.

Joe Favorito likes how the NFL handled the Vince Young situation.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth has the NFL schedule for Week 3 in SoCal and he wonders where are the Raiders?

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union lists the college football games available in the New York State Capital Region this weekend.

A few things from the Sports Media Watch. Last night’s Eagles-Cowboys game set a record rating for ESPN. SMW says even with a blowout, Ohio State-USC still garnered good ratings for ABC on Saturday. And the blog states that NASCAR ratings on ABC got double digit increases from last year, but are still low.

Laura Nachman says Eagles-Cowboys cleaned up in the ratings in Philadelphia.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Football breaks down the record Monday Night Football ratings.

Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News says the Eagles-Cowboys will be re-aired on NFL Network on Wednesday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers is gaining some national attention.

The Capital (WI) Times tells us that the Big Ten Network will be going political this week.

Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune says the Chicago Tribune Live show on Comcast SportsNet Chicago is reaching a milestone.

Sergio Ibarra of TV Week reports that WGN-TV and WGN America will re-air Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitter of the Houston Astros this Friday night.

Craig Harris of the Arizona Republic says the Diamondbacks’ strategy of fewer sponsors and one lone TV partner instead of two is paying off with a better product on the field.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star has Marty Schottenheimer saying his picking the Raiders over the Chiefs was all for show. What? Jeffrey has CBS’ Rich Gannon saying the Chiefs are far from the worst in the NFL. Finally Jeffrey says Kansas and Missouri football did well in the ratings this past weekend.

The Gainesville (GA) Times reports that ESPN will pick up Georgia-Alabama in primetime on September 27.

Tom Kensler of the Denver Post says ESPN’s Chris Fowler returns home to the University of Colorado Thursday to call the Buffaloes against West Virginia.

Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times caught up with ESPN’s Linda Cohn as she was promoting her book yesterday.

Mike Hutton of the Gary Post-Tribune says former Indiana University basketball coach Dan Dakich will be hosting a sports radio talk show in Indianpolis starting next month.

Del Milligan over at The Ledger (FL) says there will not a shortage in TV coverage of the Ryder Cup this weekend.

NBC’s Bob Costas speaks to the AfterElton site about why the network did not mention that Australian gold medal-winning diver Matthew Mitcham was openly gay.

The Gaffer at EPL Talk wonders why Setanta Sports doesn’t air in HD in the States.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine looks at the premiere of Whatever, Martha featuring two of my favorite radio co-hosts, Jennifer Koppelman-Hutt and the extremely lovely Alexis Stewart.

That will do it tonight. I’ll put up a review of the latest edition of Real Sports later this week.

Some Mother’s Day Links

I hope you’re treating your mom to a nice lunch or dinner today. As we get to our links, don’t forget who helped to put you into this world. Of course, we’ll remember dad next month too. He had a role as well.

Getting to our links, Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says NBC’s Bob Costas failed to bring the proper emotion to the Kentucky Derby coverage after Eight Belles was euthanized.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels the cost of Yankees collectibles is getting out of hand.

From the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty writes in his blog that he enjoyed today’s edition of The Sports Reporters on ESPN as Mike Lupica was not on.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that there will be plenty of college sports on the radio today.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Fox Sports Jeanne Zelasko has plenty of reasons to enjoy Mother’s Day.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says TNT’s studio crew for Inside the NBA will go barefoot tonight for a good reason.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News also has a blurb on the TNT crew going barefoot.

Aileen Voisin of the Sacramento Bee profiles TNT NBA studio host Ernie Johnson, Jr.

The Toledo (OH) Blade’s Ryan Autillo speaks with ESPN First Take host Jay Crawford.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley talks with former Chicago Bulls TV voice Wayne Larrivee who was droppped from WGN-TV broadcasts.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle asks his readers how important are Rockets radio broadcasts.

Wendy Carpenter of the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune says the players from Central Washington University and Western Oregon have gone on a whirlwind media tour ever since the story broke of the sportsmanship they displayed.

Ron Green, Jr. of the Charlotte Observer writes about Jim Nantz’s new book.

Tom Witosky of the Des Moines Register says it doesn’t appear that Mediacom will be picking up the Big Ten Network anytime soon (scroll down).

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media says Buzz Bissinger just doesn’t get it if he continues to defend his swearing on Costas Now.

The Sox & Dawgs blog has good video of two NESN Red Sox promos currrently airing on the network.

The 38Cliches blog says Dave O’Brien tried to instigate Uncle Joe Castiglione during last night’s Red Sox-Twins game.

Awful Announcing has the video of CBC’s Don Cherry calling Detroit a “redneck town” during his ESPN debut.

That’s going to do it. I’ll have the Week Ahead in Sports coming later today. Enjoy your Mother’s Day.

Saturday Quickie Links

As I’m back home after being away for most of the day. I’ll give you some linkage. By the way, I recorded Cubs Forever: Celebrating 60 Years of WGN-TV and the Chicago Cubs which looks back at the longest relationship between a sports team and a television station. From what I’ve seen, it’s very good.

First off, thanks to Neil Best of Newsday for wishing Fang’s Bites a Happy Birthday.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the Playmaker, Michael Irvin has made a smooth transition as a sports radio talk show host.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News wonders if anything was learned from the Buzz Bissinger vs. blogs segment on Costas Now.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar writes that a former sports radio talk show host has sued his former station for wrongful termination and may go after the Cardinals next.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News has some thoughts on TV sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that former ESPN anchor and current KCAL sports anchor Gary Miller embraces blogs.

Andy Tarnoff of On Milwaukee talks with the lovely Trenni Kusnierek of FSN Wisconsin.

Thomas Zambito of the New York Daily News writes that ESPN is being sued by the publishers of the Saturday Evening Post for using a Norman Rockwell painting in “The Bronx is Burning” without permission. Rut ro.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions.

Jim Jordan of the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader writes that NBC Sports will air 6 hours of the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

Paul Vigna of the Philadelphia Daily News writes that FSN will look at the one year the Eagles and Steelers combined to form one football team.

Kevin Robbins of the Austin (TX) American-Statesman says golfer Dana Quigley had a very good debut as analyst on the Golf Channel this weekend.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is thinking of forming its own TV network and that’s making Minnesota hockey fans a bit nervous.

Keith Reed of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Bengals fans may not be able to see the November 20 game against Pittsburgh unless the major cable providers get an agreement with who? The NFL Network! We’re back to playing this game again and it’s not even football season!

And I’ll be back on Sunday with more links.

Some Wednesday Links

I’m back from running errands so it’s time for some links on this Wednesday.

First, I’m seeing increased traffic the last two days. It’s all for my post last year on Hot Chicks, formerly in Sports Broadcasting, who should be back in Sports Broadcasting. It’s mainly for this picture of Jillian Reynolds.

If anyone knows why people are searching for this picture, please let me know.

On to the links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the vacant New York Knicks coaching and GM positions could throw a monkey wrench in the NBA TV analyst world.

Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy spares his usual venom and pays tribute to WBZ-TV sports anchor Bob Lobel who signed off for the last time on Tuesday night.

Adam Leetch of the Portsmouth (NH) Times Herald profiles local resident Dave O’Brien who has his dream job as secondary radio voice of the Red Sox.

Doug Doughty of the Roanoke (VA) Times says the Voice of the Virginia Cavaliers has resigned.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that the Voice of the Chiefs is not leaving the booth and nor is he moving to TV.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Basketball blog says TNT is still seeing double digit ratings increases for the NBA Playoffs.

Langston Wertz, Jr. of the Charlotte Observer likes Inside the NBA on TNT (scroll down).

From CNN Money, Time Warner is selling off its cable unit which includes CNN, TNT, TBS and HBO.

Greg Augman of the St. Petersburg Times writes that says organizers from the city, ESPN, the Big East and Conference USA are making a presentation to the NCAA for yet another college football bowl game.

The Chattanoogan of Tennessee tells us that FSN’s Amazing Sports Stories will feature a 17 year old girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1931.

Chris Dufrense of the Los Angeles Times writes that Fox Sports is not standing in the way of the BCS changing format.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN Deportes Radio is coming into town.

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Blackhawks apparently will move to WGN-AM next season.

That’s going to be it for now.

Hello, It’s Wednesday

Time to give you some midweek linkage.

Starting with USA Today, Michael Hiestand writes that The Masters has reached the digital age with live streaming video on cell phones.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says ESPN promises not to go overboard when it airs The Masters starting today.

Stan Awtrey in a story picked up by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about The Masters Par 3 Contest being televised for the first time ever.

Steve Uhles of the Augusta (GA) Chronicle says the Par 3 Contest will be a family affair.

Del Milligan of The Ledger (FL) looks forward to watching The Masters this week.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says despite what’s being reported, he feels the Olympic torch run will continue as planned.

David Scott from Boston Sports Media Watch has the post-mortem from Memphis following the NCAA Men’s Tournament.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks about the ratings for the Final Four.

Awful Announcing feels it’s time for Billy Packer to go. And the blog has the Yankees upset at ESPN’s scheduling.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post blogs that SNY plans to continue with phone calls during Mets games during blowouts and rain delays.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talks about SNY hiring Darryl Strawberry as a studio analyst for Mets games.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman also writes about the Darryl Strawberry hire.

Neil Best of Newsday also talks about Strawberry joining former teammates Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Lee Mazzilli as an analyst for SNY. In his blog, Neil has some additional items that did not make his column. And Neil reports that WCBS-TV has cut its Sunday sports wrap-up show as a result of the wave of cuts by the parent company.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes about some technical difficulties that plagued WGN’s broadcast of Monday’s Cubs-Pirates game.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner talks with the voice of the Washington Capitals, Steve Kolbe about the Caps-Penguins series.

From the Rocky Mountain News, Aaron Lopez has seven questions for ESPN NHL analyst Barry Melrose.

The Consumerist blog looks into why Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is not on DirecTV.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about TSN’s Chris Cuthbert climbing Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this year.

Roger Van Der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer writes that while Time Warner Cable will now be able to see the Charlotte Bobcats on FSN South, they still cannot watch Orioles and Nationals games on MASN.

Robert W. Dalton of the Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal says a South Carolina House subcommittee refused to take up the NFL Network vs. cable dispute.

The Columbus (OH) Dispatch reports that the Big Ten Network will show Ohio State’s spring football game on tape delay.

That’s going to do it for today.

Tuesday Night Linkage

Since I was not able to provide you with links this morning, I’ll combine morning and evening updates to make one huge update tonight. You deserve it.

Starting with Newsday’s Neil Best, he writes that Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain’s weekly radio guest spot on 1050 ESPN Radio was rejected by the higher ups. And Neil writes with Tom Rock that Yankees fans were baffled by the decision to cancel’s Monday’s season opener. Neil reports in his blog that SNY did well in the ratings with the Mets season opener in Florida.

Multichannel News talks about the good ratings for the MLB season openers on ESPN and SNY. John Consoli of Mediaweek says the Sunday night opener on ESPN drew well across the board in most of the the key male demographics. And Julianne Smolinski of TV Week has a version of the ESPN story as well. Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable writes in his blog that Johan Santana’s debut for the Mets scored for SNY on Monday.

The constantly angry Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News criticizes the Yankees for postponing its season opener on Monday with nary a drop of rain.

Friend of Fang’s Bites David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch says NESN appears to have found a replacement for Fang’s Bites fav Tina Cervasio.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is down to the Final Two in the Minor League Baseball Logo Contest.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes in his $ports Biz blog that the Washington Nationals opening their new park Sunday night against Atlanta was the highest rated Opening Night on ESPN. Ever.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the mystery that is Sidd Finch.

Don Ketcham of the Arizona Republic catches up with original Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter who returns to ESPN this season as a studio analyst.

The Allentown (PA) Morning Call’s Keith Groller talks with Phillies broadcaster Chris Wheeler about another Opening Day.

The San Jose Mercury News picks up a story in which viewers in Santa Cruz County will have trouble finding tonight’s Giants-Dodgers game.

Jeffrey Flanagan writes in the Kansas City Star that FSN had an inauspicious debut on Monday televising the Royals’ season opener.

Josh Hoke of the Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun News tells us that Atlanta Braves fans will have a hard time seeing all of the team’s games this season.

Skip Weaver in the Lebanon (OH) Western Star says Monday’s season opener for the Reds was tough without the late broadcaster Joe Nuxhall.

And the Chicago Tribune reports that the widow of Harry Caray is not happy with AT&T ads having an actor portray the late White Sox and Cubs announcer.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that blowouts in the NCAA Tournament have hurt CBS’ ratings.

Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says CBS is hoping for monster ratings in the Final Four with all four #1 seeds intact.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says putting North Carolina in primetime for the Final Four makes sense.

Chris Foster of the crosstown Los Angeles Times says ESPN has moved the Tennessee-UCLA football game to open the season on Labor Day. Brian Bennett of the Louisville Courier-Journal says Kentucky and Louisville will play their annual rivalry game the day before Tennessee-UCLA on ESPN.

Paul Costanzo of the Port Huron (MI) Times Herald talks with NBC’s/Versus’ NHL voice Mike Emrick who has been nominated for a Sports Emmy for Play-by-play.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Blackhawks will be split all 82 games between Comcast SportsNet and WGN-TV for the next three seasons. Teddy Greenstein of the Tribune says WGN-TV will broadcast about 20 games a season. Phil Swann of the TV Predictions site says Dish Network is in talks to carry WGN in HD.

Bob Matthews in the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle feels ESPN should be getting better matchups for Monday Night Football.

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer speculates that my Browns could host a Thanksgiving Night game on the NFL Network this season.

Matt Watson of the AOL Sports Fanhouse Blog suggests the NBA take a page from March Madness and run its playoffs like the NCAA Tournament.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says it’s unlikely that Canadians will see ESPN on their cable systems even though there’s talk of opening up Canadian TV to more American networks.

Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune has NBC’s Johnny Miller enjoying last week’s dustup between Bubba Watson and Steve Elkington during the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

We have two things from CBS Sports. First, we have the rundown for “The Final Four Show” on Saturday, that will run two hours before the first tip. Before “The Final Four Show”, Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated will host a show called, “Road to the Final Four: Outside the Games.”

ESPN says Bob Knight will be heavily involved in the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s coverage of the Men’s Final Four this year. And the Bristol Behemoth tells us that it will have “multiplatform” coverage of the first two rounds of The Masters this year.

Awful Announcing has the video of Tony Kornnheiser and Michael Wilbon pulling an April Fools joke on Pardon the Interruption.

That will do it for tonight.

It’s a Thursday Thing

Before I start, I’ll say I’ll have news on a sports talk show host whom I talked about earlier this week. I’ll even identify him, Andy Gresh, formerly of the Score in Providence was seen in New York last week. I should find out more about what’s next with him either today or tomorrow. Keep your RSS feeds on.

Let’s give you some more links this morning.

Starting with David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch, he has a statement from ESPN on the mistaken transaction listing the late Corey Lidle.

Good article from Evan Weiner of the New York Sun. He says the subprime mortgage lending crisis has not hit sports hard. Yet.

Here’s an interesting story from Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News. There’s an internal battle brewing between the NFL Network and NFL Films. Apparently NFL Films feels the Network is not using its inventory and depending more on other programming.

From the Washington Post’s Redskins Insider blog, it appears that the Super Bowl Champions New York Giants will take on the Washington Redskins in the NFL Season Opener on September 4.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com has an update on the cable and satellite providers that will offer MLB’s Extra Innings pay per view package in HD. And RCN says it will provide the Extra Innings package in HD as well.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that WGN-TV and the Cubs are celebrating 60 years as broadcast partners. Sherman has a timeline of the Cubs and WGN.

Newsday’s Neil Best has practically written a column in his blog. He has a bunch of news and notes today.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball has the announcing teams for TBS’ Sunday Afternoon Baseball coverage. And Michael Hiestand of USA Today has a version of this as well.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has news on one Milwaukee Brewers player on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the latest on the famous sausage races at Miller Park.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has Day 14 of his Minor League Baseball Logo Contest. And Darren talks about Kansas State’s Michael Beasley turning pro, Under Armour and NBA jersey sales.

Suzanne Choney of MSNBC.com says while you’re watching March Madness at work, someone is most likely monitoring what you’re doing on your computer.

Tim Clodfelter of the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal says March Madness has sparked a lot of sales of HD monitors.

Mike Sachoff of the WebProNews blog says March Madness on Demand is a true home run for CBS.

Tom Dorsey of the Louisville Courier-Journal does a Q and A about how CBS schedules games in the NCAA Tournament.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun in the Medium Well blog reviews some of the past “One Shining Moment” montages that CBS has run at the end of many of its NCAA Tournaments. And Ray recaps Tiger Woods’ interview on ESPN2′s First Take in which he talked about throwing an “F” bomb at a photographer last week.

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press talks with ESPN golf analyst Andy North who loves his Wisconsin Badgers.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back later.

Monday Morning Links

Let’s give you the Monday links today.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about Speedo Guy from the North Carolina-Duke game and other things seen on TV over the weekend.

This is great. Neil Best of Newsday is now big enough that there is now a parody website in his honor. Neil is a bit shocked.

Ian Begley of the New York Daily News looks at ESPN’s new documentary, Black Magic which airs next Monday. And Vic Ziegel from the Daily News gives his thoughts on the documentary as well.

We have Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times talking about the weekend in televised sports in his Two Cents blog.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball blog reports that Major League Baseball is now going after the Cape Cod League on a copyright dispute.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says the CBC’s Elliotte Friedman is one of the best sideline reporters in the business.

Teddy Greenstein has an article on ESPN’s Erin Andrews. Also from the Tribune, Paul Sullivan talks with Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney who’s happy to see more games go to Comcast SportsNet at the expense of WGN-TV.

John Boyette from the Augusta (GA) Chronicle says Braves fans outside of Atlanta are angry they can’t see 45 games that will be on Peachtree TV.

Joe Favorito talks about an Oregon doctor who’s doing a rather unusual March Madness promotion.

The Central Valley Business Times reports that March Madness will cost businesses $1.7 billion in lost worker productivity.

Jack Neff of Advertising Age says a documentary on Olympic hopefils will produce many Kleenex moments.

The Springfield Republican is mad at Comcast SportsNet New England for making fun of Athol.

Luke DeCock of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer says the NHL Network will cost extra for NHL Center Ice Time Warner Cable subscribers.

Some good news and bad news from The L Word. First, the good news, Showtime has renewed the show for a 6th season. But the bad news it will be its last.

That’s it for now.

Friday Quickie

Let’s do a quick Friday update before I end it for the weekend.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady (NY) Gazette says he’ll watch Bob Knight on ESPN just to watch the potential fireworks with Dick Vitale. Chris Pursell of TV Week has a story on the Knight hiring. David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks about the Bob Knight and Cris Carter hirings at ESPN.

Dan Frommer of the Silicon Valley Insider blog says ESPN plans to produce more web-only videos this year.

Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about the 60 year association between the Chicago Cubs and WGN-TV that will be marked with a documentary and a book.

MASN has announced that the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals will each have 96 games aired on the RSN this season. Earlier this week, MASN announced both teams will have 40 games shown in HD.

Tom Jicha of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel talks about the two new sports radio stations joining the three existing stations in the area.

Jeff Borden from Business Week magazine writes that the creator of the 1st and 10 line on football broadcasts, Sportvision, plans to expand its market overseas.

Jonathan Oostling of the Michigan Live website recaps an interview with Michigan State Tom Izzo in which he also blames Comcast for the Big Ten Network mess. Earlier in the week, Izzo called BTN, “a PR nightmare”.

Kyle Hightower of the Orlando Sentinel says CBS is preparing its CSTV channel to be a big player in the college sports TV negotiations next year.

Jeff Richgels of the Capital (WI) Times has a story on the NFL Network commissioning a poll showing most people want to watch their football games on TV.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says FSNY will be rebranded as MSG Plus starting March 10.

Well, I ripped him back in October, but Fang’s Bites non-fave Beau Estes has an interview with TNT’s (and North Carolina alum) Kenny Smith at the Inside Carolina.com website.

Eugenia Levenson of Fortune magazine talks with CBS Sports producer Lance Barrow about his road travels.

David Sweet of MSNBC writes that bowling is getting back into the network TV picture when CBS airs an event in May.

Crash Cameron of the London Free Press in Canada talks with Rogers Sportsnet anchor Martine Gaillard.

I’ll have Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

Tuesday is Linkage Day

Time to give you some links. With the Rockies sweep finishing late on the East Coast, there won’t be any final critiques of TBS’ coverage from the newspapers until tomorrow, but I’m sure there will be reviews of the NFL pregame shows from the weekend. Let’s check out the links.

First, John Molori of Boston Sports Media Watch is not a fan of either ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson or Fox’s Terry Bradshaw.

The Sports Media Watch blog has a look at the League Championship Series ratings on both TBS and Fox and they’re aren’t pretty. And Paulsen looks at the weekend overnight ratings, but at the time of the post, the ALCS numbers weren’t available. And Michael Hiestand of USA Today analyzes the ratings of selected sporting events.

The Multichannel News says TBS isn’t doing well with the National League Championship Series. The State newspaper in Columbia, SC has a blurb on TBS’ low ratings. Jon Lafayette of TV Week says the short series in both the League Division and Championship Series have hurt TBS in both the ratings and in revenue.

Barry Horn on the Dallas Morning News writes that the Patriots-Cowboys game did well in the ratings for CBS.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner profiles Fox Sports Radio talk show host and DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel (from NFL Sunday Ticket) anchor Andrew Siciliano, a DC area native.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has his choice for Best Sports Halloween Costume.

Patrick Kampert of the Chicago Tribune writes that the playoff chase helped midwest powerhouse radio station WGN Radio in the most recent ratings period. And the Trib’s Ed Sherman says this is the best time to be a Boston sports reporter or fan (isn’t that the truth?).

I hope you’re noticing that I’m making a conscious effort not to lead with New York papers as in the past. They seem to have their media columns every Tuesday like clockwork and Newsday’s Neil Best is no exception. Today, he writes about ESPN’s new E:60 newsmagazine which premieres tonight and about Versus getting two big Pac 10 upsets in the past two weeks.

Mike Battaglino of the New York Post talks with Jeremy Schaap who will be part of E:60. April Bethea of the Charlotte Observer previews one story on E:60 about the former University of North Carolina mascot who gave the gift of life in death.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News criticizes MLB and TBS for playing Game 3 of the NLCS on Sunday in horrible weather conditions.

The LA Times reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have returned to KABC as its flagship station after being on KFWB for the last five seasons. Announcers Vin Scully and Charley Steiner have also signed contract extensions through 2009. Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News also has a story on the change in stations for the Dodgers. And the Ventura County Star picks up wire copy for the story.

With baseball over for Turner Sports, it now focuses on the NBA, its other signature sport and the Multichannel News writes that TBS/TNT wants to purchase NBA.com and get the rights to NBA League Pass, the PPV cable/satellite package.

Jim Carlisle of the Star writes in his regular Tuesday column that with all the ESPN hype surrounding the Patriots-Cowboys, you would think the Alleged Worldwide Leader was airing the game.

I’ll give you three press releases from ESPN. Former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has found a job for next season, as part of the lead broadcast team for the NBA on ESPN. Second, here are the features that will on tonight’s premiere of E:60. And ESPN will pick up three Pac 10 regular season games for its upcoming college basketball season.

Chris Pursell of TV has a story on the Pac 10 on ESPN.

Mekeisha Madden Toby of the Detroit News says the Frank TV promos on TBS during the MLB Postseason went beyond overkill.

George M. Thomas in today’s Akron Beacon Journal prefers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver of Fox on the ALCS over Chip Carey, Tony Gwynn and Bob Brenly for the ALDS. He might be the only one.

The Michigan-Minnesota game on October 27 will be picked up by ESPN Classic. Carter Strickland of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the annual Georgia-Florida game will be in its traditional 3:30 p.m. ET spot on CBS.

Rick Maese of the Baltimore Sun spent Sunday at ESPN looking at what goes on with the Sunday NFL Countdown studio analysts off camera.

Bob Molinaro of the Virginian-Pilot laments the late starts for baseball playoff games. Unfortunately, it’s a reality. Live with it.

Rene Hurtado, part of Time Warner Cable’s public relations team, writes an op-ed piece in the Newspaper Tree of El Paso against picking up the NFL Network.

Bob Young in the Arizona Republic talks with FSN college football analyst Petros Papadakis.

This is like a Friday megalink update. Coming up, I’ll have Saturday Night Live’s spoof of those horrible Dane Cook/MLB Postseason ads.

Your Sunday Morning Links

Let’s give you some links before the NFL and ALDS games get underway.

Starting with Neil Best of Newsday, his regular Sunday column has a critique of TBS’ coverage of the Yankees-Indians series. Neil says for the most part, it’s been a mixed bag for viewers, some good and some bad. In his blog, Best expands on his column.

Last week, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feared the worst heading into TBS’ coverage of the League Division Series saying it was potential for disaster. I give credit to Phil for keeping an open mind and coming out this week saying their coverage is better than he thought it would be.

Rick Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal looks inside the TBS production of the first two games of the Yankees-Indians series.

Larry Stone of the Seattle Times says he can’t complain about the new League Division Series format spacing out the games for TBS and the network gaining exclusivity for the first round, but he does urge MLB to finish the season before November arrives.

William Paxton of the Connecticut Post is mostly positive about TBS’ coverage.

Ed Sherman in the Chicago Tribune writes that Ron Santo knew quickly in the WGN Radio booth that it wasn’t going to the Cubs’ night and Sherman also gives a blurb on Frank Thomas in the TBS studio.

Tara Sullivan of the Bergen (NJ) Record says TBS should have at least put the League Division Series games on over the air TV in the home markets of each team.

The Sports Media Watch blog says Turner, Fox and MLB are all hoping that the Yankees remain in the postseason based on the ratings for Game 1 of its series with Cleveland.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman writes that NBA Commissioner David Stern has to come out of his shell and suspend Madision Square Garden’s James Dolan and Isiah Thomas of the New York Knicks for their conduct in the wake of the Anucha Browne Sanders sexual harassment verdict.

Ray Paige of the Lansing (MI) State Journal says the Big Ten should not expect fans to pay extra to watch its channel

And those are your links for today.

A Massive Friday Update

Here’s an update for you. Don’t forget I’ll have College Football Viewing Picks, NFL Viewing Picks, NFL Picks for Week 5, Primetime Viewing Picks and Weekend Viewing Picks coming up throughout the day so keep refreshing the site or subscribe through RSS.

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch breaks news that the very solid Eric Frede is no longer the host of Bruins broadcasts on NESN and the younger Kathryn Tappen will take his place. As Scott says, it’s a very odd move.

Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News has posted his media notes in the Farther Off the Wall blog. Among his notes, an expanded interview with Dan Patrick and a nice picture of Big Ten Network sideline reporter Charissa Thompson whom you may have seen on FSN.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin in his weekly media news and notes column says the scheduling by TBS and MLB for the League Division Series is hurting baseball. We get this every year from a media columnist but I don’t see it with the record setting attendance and TV ratings across the country. You’d think the sport was about to disappear with every similar column that is published every year for the past twenty years. I’ve seen nary an article criticizing the NBA for putting the Finals on at 9 p.m. ET and having the games end close to midnight on the East Coast.

SI’s Richard Deitsch has his Media Power Rankings for September.

The Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan talks with Royals TV analyst Paul Splitorff who says he may not want to work a full season when Fox Sports Net Midwest takes over the team’s broadcasts next year. FSN plans to do 140 games.

Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website says MASN is looking to do selected Nationals and Orioles games in HD next season. Swann adds that TBS is not in HD on Dish Network. And Stephen Silver of E-Gear says TBS HD is not available in Phoenix. Keith Reed in the Boston Globe says customers of Verizon Fios and some Comcast customers can’t see the games in HD. Bruno Matarazzo, Jr. of the Salem (MA) News says some Red Sox fans are shut out of TBS because they don’t have cable or satellite.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says TBS is getting good ratings for Day 1 of the League Division Series. And MLB says the first day average was higher than last year when ESPN and Fox covered the LDS. John Dempsey of Variety also reports on the higher ratings for the LDS this year.

Sean Duncan of the Times-Mail of Indiana says TBS’ coverage has hooked him back into baseball this year. Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Daily Herald writes that Cubs fans feel TBS is pro-Diamondbacks. And the Daily Herald says WGN Radio is trying to sync its audio with TBS’ video so fans can listen to Pat Hughes and Ron Santo without any delays. Ted Cox of the Daily Herald can’t stand TBS’ coverage. The Cleveland Plain Dealer talks with Alyssa Milano who as you know participates in TBS Hot Corner online coverage and has a blog on the site.

Paul Doyle of the Hartford Courant reports that local Giants and Jets fans won’t be able to see the Battle of New York as WFSB-TV will carry the Browns-Patriots game instead.

The Detroit Free Press says fans of Michigan and Michigan State are getting hit this weekend as the Big Ten Network picks up their games this weekend and the largest cable provider in the state, Comcast still has not resolved its dispute with the channel. From the Citizens Voice in Pennsylvania, an editorial says Comcast needs competition so it won’t hold viewers hostage. Beth Hudson of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with BTN lead analyst Charles Davis about Penn State.

Marc Katz of the Dayton (OH) Daily News says he’s happy to hear Dan Patrick on the radio again.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports the NHL Network has picked up its first cable carriage deal in the US with Time Warner Cable. NHL Network had been previously in Canada only.

NBC Sports gives us excerpts of its weekly media conference call with John Madden and Cris Collinsworth. Both talk about Brett Favre as Chicago-Green Bay will be the Sunday Night Football game this week.

ESPN provides the features that will air on Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown. I see one potential disaster with the cast of “Dirty Sexy Money”. And the Alleged Worldwide Leader boasts that it had the best viewing third quarter ever for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNews.

Versus has announced a new weekly show with Dennis Miller. If he didn’t work on Monday Night Football, what does Versus think that he’ll work now? Variety’s Josef Adalian has more on this show.

I found more links than I expected. I’ll have Primetime Viewing Links later.

Friday Night Update or How I Spent My Night Off

Let’s give you some links here before giving you the Weekend Viewing Choices. I will be out all day tomorrow so the next time I update the blog after the viewing picks will be Sunday morning.

Since I couldn’t do it this afternoon, Neil Best of Newsday recaps the final hour of Dan Patrick’s show on ESPN Radio. And Best says he’ll be shutting down his blog for now and probably won’t be making as many entries when he returns from vacation. But Bob Glauber thinks Best will crack and post during his vacay. I love this give and take, but then again, it might be a Newsday thing to get readers to go to both blogs.

The Sports Media Watch also recaps Patrick’s final show and looks towards the future (thanks for the link, Paulsen). Sports Media Watch also goes in-depth into the sinking ratings for MLB on Fox over the last 7 weeks.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders why the Tribune Company approved the Cubs signing Carlos Zambrano when they’re trying to sell the team, Wrigley Field and flagship stations, WGN-TV and WGN-AM.

Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star says it may be a while before Indiana sees the Big Ten Network. In the Bloomington (IN) Pentagraph, Mark Tupper says BTN and the cable companies are still in the negotiation stage and there’s no resolution in sight. The Dayton Daily News says while fans of the Big Ten won’t be able to see their team, they’ll be able to see plenty of the Olympics. Randy Petersen of the Des Moines Register writes that Mediacom and BTN are mulling proposals to have the channel on Iowa TV’s in time for the August 30 launch.

I am always willing to give ESPN its due when it does something right and it won an Investigative Journalism award for its coverage of the Pat Tillman friendly fire story. ESPN was right in the forefront of the story and has done excellent coverage on Outside the Lines and on SportsCenter.

Brent Trowbridge in the Towanda Daily Review says ESPN wants to bring higher production values to NASCAR.

That’s it. Weekend Viewing Picks coming up.

Thursday Links

Been out and about today, but I’ll give you a few links here.

The return of ESPN to NASCAR is this weekend. If you haven’t watched ESPN lately, you’re lucky not to have seen the many promos which have flooded all of the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s programs. Anyway, John Sturbin of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram looks forward to the return. Payton Towns III of the Dublin (GA) Courier Herald also looks forward to ESPN returning to NASCAR. From the Daly Planet blog which follows TV coverage of motorsports, John Daly dreads ESPN’s re-entry into the NASCAR market. Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal says while ESPN was great for NASCAR when it covered the races in the 1980′s and 1990′s, he shares the same concerns as Daly.

And the bashing of the Alleged Worldwide Leader continues. Mario Sarmento of the Boca Raton (FL) News says ESPN is doing a big disservice to fans.

Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about the town meeting ESPN conducted last night concerning Barry Bonds. John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says there was one voice heard loud and clear at the event.

Pierce Huff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune says Arena Football League officials are happy in its first year of a five year contract with ESPN.

Mike Cronin of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says the not guilty plea of John Duffy of ESPN Radio in the Steel City has led to problems for another John Duffy who has also worked for ESPN Radio, Pittsburgh. Weird.

Fans of Steve Stone will get to see him back on WGN-TV again, but working on a White Sox game.

From Mark Snyder’s Big Ten blog in the Detroit Free Press, it appears the battle between the Big Ten Network and various cable and satellite companies isn’t going away anytime soon. And the Big Ten Network says the move by Echostar to classify the channel as a Regional Sports Network is a “brazen ploy”. The Columbus Dispatch looks at the 24 classic Big Ten football games that will be aired on the network. And Bryce Miller of the Des Moines Register says the Big Ten Network is looking for other events to televise, not just football and basketball.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News reports that Denver will get another sports radio station.

From the 38Cliches blog, LC notes that Glenn Geffner has been torturing Red Sox radio listeners for 14 straight games?????!!!!!! The prisoners at Abu Gharib weren’t subjected to that.

That’s it for now.