Fang's Bites

A Wednesday Link Thing

Let’s do our links for today.

Starting with a very strange story out of ESPN.com. David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch breaks the news that the website somehow listed the late Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle in its transactions page and inexplicably left it there for two days.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has CBS’ spin on the lower ratings for the NCAA Tournament.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has a story on two local TV stations showing highlights of the NCAA Tournament without the permission of CBS Sports.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog says CBS’ Billy Packer is the least popular man among blog readers.

The Kerrville (TX) Daily Times talks with native Carter Blackburn who made his NCAA Tournament debut on CBS last week.

Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle says FSN Bay Area changes its name to Comcast on Monday. John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News also has a story on Comcast officially taking over FSN Bay Area. And in his blog, Ryan says Comcast may show the A’s-Red Sox game on April 2. Jonathan Okanes of the Monterey County Herald says Comcast is planning plenty of local programming around its sports teams.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is narrowing down his Minor League Baseball Logo Contest to the Elite Eight in Day 13 of the voting.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says DirecTV and Comcast are apologizing for outages that left Red Sox and A’s fans in the dark yesterday morning.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with longtime Yankees’ public address announcer Bob Sheppard who will miss the home opener. And Neil has some more from Bob in his blog.

Kevin Modesti of the Long Beach Press-Telegram accuses ESPN of East Coast bias when it comes to its baseball coverage.

Linda Moss of Multichannel News reports that Comcast subscribers in northern New Jersey will be able to watch Mets games in HD this season.

The Orbitcast satellite radio blog says XM Satellite Radio is bringing back its “Play Ball!” channel on March 29.

Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says the NFL and NBC will move the season opener up one hour to 7 p.m. ET on September 4 so as not to conflict with John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

Marty James of the Napa Valley (CA) Register says the NFL Draft will look different this year on ESPN and the NFL Network.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times writes in his Two Cents blog that former NBA player Derrick Coleman got injured during the taping of the Spike TV show, Pros vs. Joes.

TNT will have a Western Conference NBA doubleheader this week.

Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer profiles the Voice of the Cavs, Joe Tait, who calls his 3,000th game tonight.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe & Mail looks into other NHL announcers who pulled off similar doubleheaders that CBC’s Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson did on Saturday.

Laura Nachman says a midday talk show host for sports radio WIP in Philadelphia is out.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talks about his first experience as a fill-in talk show host on sports radio WMVP on Tuesday.

Martin Henderson of the Los Angeles Times writes in the Varsity Times Insider blog talks about ESPN buying a girls’ and women’s basketball website.

David Gurian-Peck in the Daily Pennsylvannian, the school newspaper for the University of Pennsylvannia, talks with UPenn alumnus Andrea Kremer of NBC Sports and HBO’s Real Sports.

That’s it for now.

The Wednesday Stuffage

Time for some links on this Wednesday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Various Wednesday Afternoon Links

A few links for you this afternoon.

First, Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website reports that DirecTV has finally added the NHL Network in both High and Standard Definition as of today. It’s located at channel 215 if you’re wondering. Dish Network has added NBA TV in HD.

Nice to have Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner back with us. He writes in his Watch This! blog that Baltimore is heavily into the NBA even though the Bullets left town in the 1970′s.

Brian Schmitz and Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel write that Bright House Cable still hasn’t come to an agreement with FSN Florida and tonight’s Magic season opener won’t be seen by its subscribers.

Bob Finnan of the News-Herald of Ohio writes that Austin Carr will work 70 Cleveland Cavs games on FSN Ohio.

David Goetzl of the Media Daily News says ESPN will webcast its NBA games.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes that the NBA and Turner appear to be close to an agreement to have TNT run NBA TV and in turn get wider distribution through Time Warner Cable.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is also blogging again. He says it appears Taco Bell really did promote this taco giveaway. Remember when Terrell Owens used a Sharpie to sign a football after he scored a touchdown on Monday Night Football? Well, Darren found out that same Sharpie is being auctioned off.

Boston Sports Media Watch guest blogger David Vidinha writes that Gregg Easterbrook was on WEEI this morning with Dennis & Callahan. Easterbrook, in his twisted logic, Easterbrook tried to explain what he was thinking when he wrote his column in which he felt the NFL was hiding something when it destroyed the Patriots’ spy tapes. You can listen for yourself here:

WEEI – Dennis and Callahan – Gregg Easterbrook
David Sweet of MSNBC writes about the challenges facing the Big Ten Network as it tries to get viewers. Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch is tired of the dueling ads by BTN and Comcast. Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that Big Ten Network officials say they have ended talks with Time Warner Cable. Nathan Greenhalgh of the Reedsburgh (WI) Times Press writes that bowing to its customers’ wishes, the Reedsburgh Utility Commission has added BTN to its lineup. The Houston Chronicle picks up an AP story in which the Wisconsin state legislature is considering a bill which make BTN and the NFL Network available on cable in the Dairy State. Jeff Richgels and Judith Davidoff from the Capital (WI) Times write that even if the bill is passed, politicians can’t force a channel onto a cable lineup. In the meantime, Todd Spangler of the Multichannel News reports that Turner Sports’ webcasting division will show 9 Big Ten basketball games online.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that Comcast seems to be adding costs, but not any channels of consequence including the Big Ten Network. Sherman also writes that the new deal between the Chicago Bulls and radio station WMVP is a win-win for both sides.

John Moritz of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that a Texas state legislator plans to get involved in the NFL Network-Time Warner/Charter dispute and give the state’s public regulatory commission more power if the issue doesn’t get resolved.

John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that Fox has sold 90% of its ad inventory for Super Bowl XLII.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune writes that the numbers CBS cited in the ratings for the Patriots-Cowboys game should not have included markets that did not get the game.

Nick Groke of the Denver Post says the Monday Night Football game between Green Bay and Denver did very well in the local ratings.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog says that one CBS affiliate in College Station, TX is trying to find a way to show the Patriots-Colts game to viewers even though it’s scheduled to show Texans-Raiders, but the NFL appears to be cracking down.

Rob Moseley of the Register Guard in Oregon writes that with FSN invoking its rights to air the Arizona State-Oregon game live, the Oregon State Network is left to scramble to find a partner to show the game as well. With FSN, OSN and ESPN all showing this game, I’m surprised the Pac 10 just didn’t pick one outlet so there would not be any confusion.

ESPN2 will pick up the Hawaii-Fresno State game this Saturday.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon will be on Late Night with David Letterman tonight. We’ll see if he does his jig.

Citing numbers that can probably be refuted, CBS says it’s the most watched network for the NFL.

This is like a megalink Friday where we have links all over the place. We had lots of them both this morning and this afternoon. Check back tonight as we may have another update.

Thursday Night Links

Hello. Time for an update since I didn’t have one earlier today.

I won’t be able to give a Friday morning update and may not be here for the afternoon as work gets in the way of the blog. I will give an update when I can, but let’s get to the links now.

We haven’t mentioned much of the Tour de France and for good reason. Really. With all of the doping scandals in this year’s edition, it’s hard to get into it and the race has lost credibility with a lot of fans across Europe. Paulsen in his Sports Media Watch blog discusses the problems of the Tour and how this can affect sports here.

Barry Bonds is after Bob Costas in a big way. On Tuesday’s edition of “Costas Now” on HBO, Bob interviewed BALCO chemist Patrick Arnold and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schiling. Bonds’ name came up prominently. The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers has more on Bonds’ comments which include calling Costas a “little midget man who absolutely knows shit about baseball, who never played the game before.” Way to ingratiate yourself, Barry.

The Trib’s Teddy Greenstein has details of WMVP’s Dan McNeil’s return to the airwaves.

Newsday’s Neil Best has a plethora of posts in his blog today. One includes his ode to ABC’s Bill Flemming who passed away this week.

You remember the Fiesta Bowl back in January where Boise State beat Oklahoma on a two point conversion by running back Ian Johnson. Right after scoring the winning points, Johnson went down on one knee and proposed to cheerleader hottie Chrissy Popadics. It was a great story. Unfortunately, both are now receiving death threats for their bi-racial relationship. Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesmen has the unfortunate development to this story. And Murphy has some updated quotes in his blog.

In his CNBC.com Sports Business blog, Darren Rovell suggests to Nike that it drop Michael Vick, yesterday.

Jim Williams in his Watch This! blog in the DC/Baltimore Examiner says two Baltimore TV stations will have primetime specials devoted to Cal Ripken, Jr.

CBS Sports has announced its complete SEC college football schedule including two games that will start at 5 p.m. ET. Staying with the Southeastern Conference, Lindsay Jones of the Palm Beach Post says Commissioner Mike Slive is considering a TV network of its own.

From the Boston 9 blog, Bob416 wonders when NESN decided to move away from focusing on the Red Sox and go to reality TV. The channel has been promoting a dating show (Sox Appeal) to which I refuse to give any more attention.

I made a concerted effort to ESPN out of this update and I succeeded! That’s it for now. Once again, the Friday update will be late and most likely will be combined into one huge megalinkfest either in the afternoon or evening.

The Wednesday Links

Time for the links on this Wednesday.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks with former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent about the NBA referee gambling scandal. You may remember Vincent was in charge when the Pete Rose gambling story ruled the front pages.

Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the NBA TV partners still have confidence in the league despite the referee gambling scandal.

Neil Best of Newsday writes that Don Imus more than likely won’t be returning to WFAN and Boomer Esiason will be his replacement.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks about ESPN’s re-entry into NASCAR with plenty of bells and whistles.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner compares David Beckham’s MLS debut on Saturday to Geraldo Rivera’s opening of Al Capone’s safe. Harsh, but there’s a certain ring of truth to it. And Williams says in his blog that the ratings for Saturday on ESPN was a big hit as far as soccer is concerned.

CBS will air a PGA Championship preview this weekend.

Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star says Indiana University fans are worried that they won’t be able to see games once the Big Ten Network launches.

Continuing on conference TV networks, Mark McGrane of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Mountain West Conference is concerned about carriage for the mtn. channel which is still struggling to get agreements with cable companies.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein writes that WMVP’s Dan McNeil returns from suspension today. Apparently McNeil insulted a Comcast Sportsnet Chicago executive on the air. Real nice, Dan. And Greenstein reports that WSCR morning show host Mike North has garnered his best ratings since moving to morning drive.

Dave Weekley of the Charleston (WV) Gazette has praise for ESPN’s new College Football Live show which debuted this week.

In Bob Wolfey’s column in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jon Anderson of ESPN says he was surprised that Dan Patrick announced his departure from the network (scroll down).

That’s it for now.

Friday is Finally Here!

Nice to have Friday come along. Long week for me, hope it was a good week for you. Plenty of stuff to link to today. Let’s get to it.

First, the Boston Globe’s Susan Bickelhaupt has a look at the new NBA TV deal, but she also has a blurb on a sexual harassment suit filed by a make-up artist. The suit alleges that Jay Crawford and Woody Paige made lewd comments and made unwanted advances to her when she worked for the ESPN2 show, Cold Pizza. The show has since become First Take. This could become a major story. But if Harold Reynolds was fired for sexual harassment without any recourse, why haven’t Crawford and Paige? I wonder.

USA Today has more on that story. In the nation’s newspaper, Michael Hiestand has a sarcastic look at the future of the NBA on TV. He also has a story on the college football announcing teams for ESPN.

In this morning’s New York Daily News, Bob Raissman wonders as the New York Yankees go down in flames, will the ratings for YES follow suit? And if they do, what will YES do?

Richard Sandomir in the New York Times was in the audience for a screening of the upcoming HBO documentary on the Brooklyn Dodgers and its departure from the New York borough for Los Angeles.

As I’ve said in the past, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post has made me laugh for some of his off-the-wall opinions. But lately, I’ve been agreeing with him. I know that he can now sleep at night knowing that I agree with him, but I find this week’s column on the media finally waking up on the WWE right on.

Laura Nachman from the Bucks County Courier Times has her weekly Sports TV column and she talks about Jimmy Kimmel hosting the ESPY Awards.

Last week, Nachman wrote about the documentary on the fabled Palestra arena that debuts on ESPN Classic next month. This week, Bob Cooney of the Philly Daily News follows suit.

I enjoy reading Ray Frager in the Baltimore Sun. Today, he does a bunch of bullet points and his first and foremost point is on the ESPN sexual harassment suit mentioned earlier in this entry.

In the Baltimore/DC Examiner, Jim Williams talks to former Oriole Cal Ripken about his ex-team. Cal works for TBS this Sunday on the All-Star Game Selection Show and during the postseason.

Dave Darling in the Orlando Sentinel marks the 20th anniversary of Sports Radio with the beginning of WFAN and he talks to Chris “Mad Dog” Russo who got his start in Jacksonville and Orlando.

In the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson talks about changes coming to sports radio in that market.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says ESPN was all over the Bucks picking Chinese Yi Jian-lian in last night’s NBA Draft.

This had been rumored for a while, the NFL has decided to fold NFL Europa.

Judd Zulgad in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune says the media got it wrong when trying to gauge Kevin Garnett trade rumors.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says there’s been some drama going on over at WMVP in regards to host Dan McNeil.

Over to the Houston Chronicle, David Barron says former Rocket Calvin Murphy returns to the area airwaves.

John Maffei of the North County times says the San Diego college sports radio announcing picture is finally coming into focus as we approach football season.

In the LA Daily News, Tom Hoffarth also marks the 20th anniversary of WFAN in New York by talking to former KNBC-TV anchor and current nighttime host, Steve Somers.

Some late news from Neil Best in his Newsday blog (he’s writing while on vacation!), all roads are pointing to a possible Don Imus return to CBS Radio and WFAN. He’s definitely coming back for the 20th reunion to be held this weekend.

That’s it for now. I’ve got the Top 20 Moments on WFAN in the next entry.