Fang's Bites

Mike Francesa is a Bitter Old Coot … and Vain!

During today’s Mike Francesa show in Tampa, FL, the Pope decided that he doesn’t like being shot from the side. As he was coming back from break on both WFAN and YES, Francesa saw a camera shot of him from his right side and he immediately went off on the production crew. It reminds me of Barbra Streisand who insists on being shot from her left side because it makes her look more feminine. Now, this is Francesa who doesn’t like being shown from any side and insisted the YES cameras focus on him from the front.

This is becoming fodder for Francesa observers who watch for this stuff every day. Here’s the video which comes to us from the television circa 1973 owned by Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina. Upgrade the TV, Jimmy!

Along with the story that Francesa required a police escort to his flight to New Orleans (since denied by Franchesa) and 2013 is starting like gangbusters for the little fat man.

Spring Training TV Schedules For The Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and White Sox

I have the Spring Training TV schedules for four MLB teams. These are on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, NESN and YES.

Let’s take a look at what we have.

I’ll go in alphabetical order by teams. First, the Boston Red Sox will have 14 Spring Training games aired on NESN a.k.a. New England Sports Network. They’ll be called by Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy with Jenny Dell reporting from the field. All but three of the games will originate from the Red Sox’s Spring Training home of JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, FL.

NESN’s 2013 Red Sox Spring Training Game Telecasts

*Available on NESNplus. Visit NESN.com/nesnplus for updated channel listings

Over to Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the home of both the Cubs and White Sox. CSN Chicago will air seven games in seven days. Five games will be from the White Sox and two from the Cubs.

Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Steve Stone will call the White Sox games with Len Kasper and new partner Jim Deshaies calling the Cubs games. The seven days of games will begin on March 22 and last through March 28.

Here’s the schedule.

COMCAST SPORTSNET
2013 Chicago White Sox & Chicago Cubs Spring Training Schedule

Composite “SEVEN GAMES IN SEVEN DAYS” White Sox/Cubs Spring Training Schedule:

1.      Friday, March 22 — 9:00 pm, WHITE SOX at Oakland, Phoenix, AZ (replay at 1:30 am)
2.      Saturday, March 23 — 9:00 pm, WHITE SOX at LA Dodgers, Glendale, AZ (replay at 12:30 am)
3.      Sunday, March 24 — 3:00 pm, WHITE SOX vs. Kansas City, Glendale, AZ (replay at 12:30 am)
4.      Monday, March 25 — 3:00 pm, CUBS vs. San Francisco, Mesa, AZ (replay at 12:30 am)
5.      Tuesday, March 26, 3:00 pm, WHITE SOX at Texas, Surprise, AZ (replay at 1 am)
6.      Wednesday, March 27, 2:00 pm, WHITE SOX vs. Cleveland, Glendale, AZ (replay at 1 am)
7.      Thursday, March 28 — 2:00 pm, CUBS vs. Seattle, Mesa, AZ (replay at 7 pm)

White Sox Spring Training Schedule:

Friday, March 22 — 9:00 pm, WHITE SOX at Oakland, Phoenix, AZ (replay at 1:30 am)
Saturday, March 23 — 9:00 pm, WHITE SOX at LA Dodgers, Glendale, AZ (replay at 12:30 am)
Sunday, March 24 — 3:00 pm, WHITE SOX vs. Kansas City, Glendale, AZ (replay at 12:30 am)
Tuesday, March 26 — 3:00 pm, WHITE SOX at Texas, Surprise, AZ (replay at 1 am)
Wednesday, March 27 — 2:00 pm, WHITE SOX vs. Cleveland, Glendale, AZ (replay at 1 am)

Cubs Spring Training Schedule:

Monday, March 25 — 3:00 pm, CUBS vs. San Francisco, Mesa, AZ (replay at 12:30 am)
Thursday, March 28 — 2:00 pm, CUBS vs. Seattle, Mesa, AZ (replay at 7 pm)

All Times Central Time
All Game Produced in High-Definition (HD)
Schedule Subject to Change

And YES will air 19 Yankees games.  Michael Kay and Ken Singleton will call February 24 contest against Toronto.  Other YES talent working the games include David Cone, John Flaherty, Al Leiter, Paul O’Neill and Lou Piniella.

And Jack Curry and Meredith Marakovits will alternate as on-field reporter.

YES Network’s 2013 New York Yankee Spring Training Telecast Schedule

Sunday, February 24 — Toronto, 1:00 pm
Wednesday, February 27 — Baltimore, 1:00 pm
Thursday, February 28 — Toronto. 1:00 pm
Friday, March 1 — Philadelphia, 1:00 pm
Saturday, March 2 — Detroit, 1:00 pm
Sunday, March 3 — @ Boston, 1:30 pm
Tuesday, March 5 — Atlanta, 7:00 pm
Wednesday, March 6 — Dominican Republic, 1:00 pm
Saturday, March 9 — Atlanta, 1:00 pm
Monday, March 11 — St. Louis, 1:00 pm
Wednesday, March 13 — Philadelphia, 7:00 pm
Friday, March 15 — Miami, 1:00 pm
Saturday, March 16 — Philadelphia, 12:00 pm
Wednesday, March 20 — Boston, 1:00 pm
Thursday, March 21 — Minnesota, 7:00 pm
Sunday, March 24 — Tampa Bay, 1:00 pm
Tuesday, March 26 — Houston, 7:00 pm
Friday, March 29 — @Washington (in D.C.), 2:00 pm
Saturday, March 30 — Army (West Point), 2:00 pm

Schedule subject to change
All times ET

That will do it.

Michael Kay Signs Multi-Year Extension With YES

Original YES staffer Michael Kay has signed a multi-year extension with the network. Kay has been with the network since it launched in the New York metro area in 2002. He’s called over 100 New York Yankees games a season for the network and has hosted its “CenterStage” program interview celebrities and athletes.

He’ll continue to host his radio show on ESPN Radio NY.

We have the announcement from YES Network.

EMMY AWARD-WINNER MICHAEL KAY SIGNS MULTI-YEAR EXTENSION WITH YES NETWORK

NEW YORK, January 28, 2013 – Michael Kay, whose voice has been synonymous with the YES Network since its launch in 2002, has signed a multi-year extension with the network to remain its lead New York Yankees play-by-play voice.  Kay, who has earned 21 Emmy nominations and 3 Emmy wins while at YES, will also continue hosting YES’ award-winning CenterStage with Michael Kay show, along with other shows and specials on the network.

The YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the country the past 10 years, is the exclusive television home of the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Nets. YES, which has earned 266 Emmy Award nominations and 60 Emmy Awards since its March 2002 launch, also televises original biography, studio and magazine programs, in addition to college sports.

“We are pleased that Michael will continue to play a vital role here at YES,” said John J. Filippelli, president of production and programming at the YES Network. “For the past decade on YES, Michael has been the voice of the Yankees, deftly capturing the drama, intensity and passion associated with the greatest franchise in sports. He is one of the pre-eminent play-by-play announcers in baseball and is a first-rate interviewer as well, as evidenced by his stellar work on CenterStage.”

“I really could not be happier,” said Kay. “Continuing to live a childhood dream as the TV voice of the Yankees while working with the best group of people in the business on the country’s best regional sports network is as good as it gets. I can’t wait to start another season.”

In addition to his work at YES, Kay hosts The Michael Kay Show, a sports talk show heard weekdays on ESPN Radio 98.7 in New York.   The influential Radio Ink magazine, which covers the radio industry, named him the second-most influential local sports talk show host in America in December 2012.

Prior to joining the YES Network in 2002, Kay worked at the MSG Network since 1989 as a Yankees reporter. In 1992, he added Knicks locker room reporter to his responsibilities, and continued in that role until the 1998-99 season.

Kay was awarded the Dick Young Award for Excellence in Sports Media by the New York Pro Baseball Scouts in 1995.  In 1998, he was on the MSG Network team that won a New York Emmy for “Outstanding Live Sports Coverage – Series.”

In 1996 and 1997, he was a member of the MSG Network team that won New York Emmys for “Outstanding Live Sports Coverage – Single Program” for Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter and “The Battle for New York: Yankees vs. Mets.”  He was also a part of the Yankees/MSG Network production team that was nominated for New York Emmy Awards for six consecutive years.

In addition to his television work, the Bronx, NY, native worked as Yankees analyst on WABC Radio from 1992 through the 2001 season which concluded with the classic Yankees-Diamondbacks World Series. Kay was a winner of “Best Sports Reporter” honors at the 2000 New York Metro Achievement in Radio Awards. In 1998, Kay also began co-hosting Sports Talk with John Sterling and Michael Kay, a nightly sports radio call-in show which aired on WABC Radio during the winter months.

Shortly after graduating from Fordham University in 1982 with a B.A. in Communications, Kay worked at SportsPhone and as the public address announcer for the New York Pro Summer Basketball League.

In 1982, Kay landed the job as general assignment writer for the New York Post. Two years later, he began covering college basketball (1984-85) and then spent two years as the writer covering the New Jersey Nets. In 1987, he moved to baseball at the Post, serving as the Yankees beat reporter. While he was in that position, he got his first television job with MSG Network as host of the Hot Stove League segment of MSG’s SportsNight.

In 1989, Kay moved to the New York Daily News, where he was the Yankees beat reporter before taking the job as a Yankees broadcaster on WABC Radio in 1992. With that jump, Kay became the first newspaper reporter in any sport to make the move into the broadcast booth full-time, performing both play-by-play and analysis.

Kay stayed on the radio for 10 years, broadcasting the Yankees’ four World Series championships during that time, before moving to the television side to become the lead play-by-play man for YES in 2002.

Kay has been involved in the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.), a charitable organization whose mission is to provide assistance to members of the baseball community.  He co-hosted the 2013 B.A.T. fundraising dinner in New York. Kay also will be master of ceremonies at the 2013 Thurman Munson Awards fundraising dinner in New York, scheduled for February 5.

In 2005, he was honored in his home borough of the Bronx, having an honorary street sign in his name erected on the Grand Concourse. Kay is active with the Alzheimer’s Association in memory of his mother, Rose, who passed away from the disease in 2006. He has also teamed up with Yankees manager Joe Girardi and Girardi’s Catch 25 Foundation to organize annual charity dinners to raise money for Alzheimer’s research.

Kay and his wife Jodi Applegate have a daughter, Caledonia Rose Kay, born earlier this month.

Congrats to Michael Kay on this new contract.

Wringing Out Some Thursday Linkage

This has been a rather bizarre 24 hour period trying to follow this Manti Te’o story.

I’m going to provide some linkage for you.

Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey at Deadspin provide some information on what the media missed on the Manti Te’o fake girlfriend story.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says it’s time for the sports media to stop putting athletes on pedestals.

TMZ is on the case of the Manti Te’o fake girlfriend. You know what it did with Tiger Woods.

Jackie Pepper talks with a Notre Dame player who acknowledges that the team knew that Manti Te’o's girlfriend was a lie all along.

In Outkick the Coverage, Clay Travis chronicles how Manti Te’o's fake girlfriend broke the internets last night.

Ed Sherman in The Sherman Report praises Deadspin’s story on Manti Te’o, but with one caveat.

Jim Romenesko has statements from the South Bend Tribune’s executive editor in response to readers’ questions in regards to its story on Te’o back in October.

Todd Spangler of Broadcasting & Cable says the Oprah Winfrey Network will stream tonight’s interview with Lance Armstrong as will several cable and satellite providers.

Juliet Macur of the New York Times has several questions that Oprah should have asked Lance Armstrong.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the New York Islanders pending move to Brooklyn hasn’t affected the team’s broadcasters. Yet.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says YES generates the ratings.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with CBS Sports Radio’s Doug Gottlieb.

Sports Media Watch notes that Fox scored with Seattle-Atlanta.

SMW says last Saturday’s Packers-49ers game was the lowest-rated NFL Divisional Playoff game on Fox in four years.

SMW tells us that last Saturday’s Ravens-Broncos scored for CBS, but was still down from last year’s comparable NFL playoff game.

That will conclude the linkage for now.

YES Network Claims 10 Years of Ratings Dominance

This from YES Network. According to the New York-based regional sports network, it’s the most watched RSN in the nation for the 10th consecutive year.

Not only was it tops in total day viewing (sunrise to sunset), but it was also number one of all RSN’s in primetime viewing. YES not only had strong viewership in its home market of New York, but also in outer markets of Hartford, Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse.

YES was very strong in key male demographics across the board. Not only were the Yankees helpful in YES’ ratings, a resurgent New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets team in 2012 gave the RSN an increase in NBA ratings.

We have the full press release from YES.

YES’ Decade of Dominance… 

YES IS MOST-WATCHED REGIONAL SPORTS NETWORK IN THE COUNTRY FOR THE 10TH STRAIGHT YEAR

NEW YORK, January 16, 2013 – The YES Network, which celebrated its 10^th anniversary year in 2012, finished the 2012 broadcast year* as the most-watched regional sports network (RSN) in the country in Total Day delivery (Monday-Sunday, 6a-2a) for the 10th straight year.

YES – named as the 7^th-most valuable sports business brand in the world by Forbes in October 2012 — also finished the 2012 broadcast year as the most-watched RSN in the country in Primetime delivery (Monday-Sunday, 7p-11p) for the eighth time in 10 years.

In addition, the YES Network  have seen significant viewership increases in key demographics, and has also performed superbly in outer markets such as Hartford-New Haven, Binghamton, Albany, Syracuse and Buffalo.  YES’ digital and social platforms also experienced tremendous growth last year.

2012 YES Network Ratings

• YES averaged 27,000 Total Day TV Households in the New York DMA in the 2012 broadcast year.  By comparison, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia was second in Total Day TV Households with an average of 17,000 (37% less than YES).
• YES’ Total Day delivery in Males 18-49 increased by 11%.
• YES averaged 68,000 Primetime TV Households in the New York DMA in the 2012 broadcast year.  By comparison, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia was second in Primetime TV Households with an average of 55,000 (19% less than YES).
• YES’ Primetime delivery increased in several key demos, including Males 18-34 (12%), Males 18-49 (16%), Males 25-54 (7%), Persons 18-34 (8%) and Persons 18-49 (10%).

2012 New York Dominance

• YES’ average of 27,000 Total Day TV Households in the New York DMA in 2012 was only slightly less than two other New York RSNs (MSG and SNY) combined (29,000).
• YES’ Total Day dominance extends across key demographics; it tied the next top two New York RSNs combined (MSG and SNY) in Persons 25-54 (14,000 vs. 14,000).

2012 Yankees on YES Dominance in New York

• YES’ Yankees telecasts this past season averaged 290,000 TV Households in the New York DMA.  This was 74% more than what SNY’s Mets telecasts averaged (167,000 TV Households in the New York DMA).
• Demo deliveries for Yankees games on YES increased by 11% in Men 18-49.
• YES’ Yankees pre-game shows averaged 45,000 TV Households in the New York DMA, which more than doubled SNY’s Mets pre-game show delivery (21,000).  YES’ post-game shows averaged 97,000 TV Households, more than twice the delivery of SNY’s Mets post-game coverage (48,000). (YES out-delivers SNY’s post-game coverage by 102%).
• The Yankees on YES delivered more than twice the audience than the Mets on SNY in the following key demos: Men 18-49; Men 25-54; Persons 18-49; and Persons 25-54.
• 67 Yankees telecasts on YES in 2012 achieved a 4.0 or better average TV HH rating, vs. only 3 Mets telecasts on SNY.
• YES’ daytime Yankees telecasts frequently out-rated SNY’s and WPIX’ primetime Mets telecasts this past season.

The Resurgent Nets!

• This season, through January 13^th, 2013, Nets game telecasts have experienced a more than 150% increase in TV Household viewership in the New York DMA versus YES’ 2011-12 Nets regular-season average (76,000 vs. 30,000).
• Brooklyn Nets games on YES have seen an even greater demo viewership growth in the New York DMA from last season, including 167% in Males 18-34, 167% in Males 18-49, 300% in Males 25-54, 200% in Persons 18-34, 150% in Persons 18-49, and 200% in Persons 25-54.
• Through January 13^th, 2013, the first 32 Nielsen-rated Nets telecasts on YES, there have been 16 games (50%) that achieved at least a 1.0 TV Household Rating in the New York DMA.  The last time the Nets on YES was able to attain at least 16games of at least a 1.0 rating within the same parameters was during the 2005-06 Season.

2012 Dominance throughout YES’ “Home-Team” Footprint

• During the May 2012 and July 2012 Nielsen Sweeps Periods, Yankees games on YES held overwhelming advantages over the Mets games on SNY in average TV household ratings in every market beyond the New York DMA
  • The average TV Household ratings for Yankees on YES was 250% greater than the Mets on SNY in the Binghamton DMA; 483% greater than the Mets on SNY in the Syracuse DMA; 220% greater in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy DMA, 800% greater in the Hartford-New Haven DMA, and 433% greater in the Buffalo DMA.
• The YES Network’s combined average Total Day delivery (32,000 TV Households) in the three metered markets (New York, Buffalo and Hartford-New Haven) within its footprint was more than MSG (16,000) and SNY (14,000) combined.
• In those same three metered markets, the YES Network’s average PrimeTime delivery (78,000 TV Households) was significantly greater than MSG (54,000) and SNY (41,000).

YES Network’s Digital/Social Media Growth

• YESNetwork.com, which was named the best regional/local Web site last year by cable industry publication CableFAX Daily, saw its number of video views increase by 42% year-over-year.
• More than 432,000 people follow YES Network’s family of  Twitter feeds, which include the @YESNetwork institutional feed, feeds from YES talent including Michael Kay, Paul O’Neill, Ken Singleton, Mike Fratello, John Flaherty, David Cone, Bob Lorenz,  Jack Curry, Meredith Marakovits, Ryan Ruocco, Sarah Kustok, Chris Shearn, Ross Tucker, Gary Myers, Greg Anthony and Howard Cross, and feeds for specific YES Network programs.  The 432,000 figure is a 260% year-over-year increase.

*2012 Broadcast Year: December 26, 2011 through December 30, 2012

Television Ratings Source: The Nielsen Company, Live + Same Day Data

That will do it.

Some Tuesday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

I’m on the train heading from Kingston, RI to New York City. I’ll be at a sports media event at the world-famous CBS Broadcast Center. If you follow me on Twitter or on my Facebook page, I’ll be live tweeting if possible from the event.

In the meantime, Amtrak’s wifi service is as fast as dial-up so if I try to do linkage, it’ll take me longer than the entire trip from Kingston to NYC to complete, so in lieu of links, I’ll provide a long overdue thoughts post. If you’ve been a regular visitor to the site, then you’ll know they come in bullet form. Let’s get cracking.

• The game was a blowout and was virtually over by the coin toss, but that didn’t stop ESPN from giving it all during Monday night’s BCS National Championship Game. While Alabama thoroughly dominated Notre Dame in all facets, Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit were honest and forthright throughout. They didn’t try to use hyperbole to keep viewers by hoping for a comeback. When the Crimson Tide scored its fourth touchdown in the first half to go up, 28-0, Musburger declared the game over. And in a halftime interview with Heather Cox, Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly answered honestly, “Maybe Alabama doesn’t come back in the second half. It’s all Alabama.”

  ESPN’s pictures were stellar. Replays were clear and when a potential challenge wasn’t made, the network quickly brought in a rules analyst who explained why a review wasn’t necessary.

  Yes, Brent Musburger creeped people out with his gushing over Miss Alabama Katherine Webb who’s also Crimson Tide quarterback A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend was over the top. And the four cutaways (by my count) helped to increase her Twitter following to over 100 thousand. That’s the power of being seen on a high profile game. But as people were raking Musburger as a creepy old man, former ABC, CBS and CNN anchor Kathleen Sullivan quickly came to his defense.

  I’ve known Brent Musburger since working with him in ’76. He hasn’t oogled a woman since Jayne Kennedy.

  — kathleen sullivan (@kathleennewsie) January 8, 2013

  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Brent drool over a woman in the crowd. Lest we forget Brent going gaga over Jenn Sterger at a Florida State game in 2009.

  Well, as we move from Brent’s oogling to the ESPN production, overall it went as well as it could considering the circumstances. Before the game, there were predictions that the game could set a cable viewership record had the game been close, but with Alabama establishing its authority early and often, that seems to be out the window. Although ESPN is saying the overnight numbers are way up over year.

  I’ll give ESPN a B for its efforts. The game was a D, but that’s not ESPN’s fault.

• A story surfaced (subscription required) in yesterday’s Sports Business Journal that Fox Sports 1 (when it finally begins operation) can tap the Fox local regional sports networks to fill its MLB schedule. Fox Sports 1 will air 40 MLB games beginning in 2014 with the Fox mothership airing just 12 games. John Ourand of SBJ reports that 26 of those games will be from the local Fox Sports Net affiliates which have rights to MLB teams. Like the old days when FX had the rights to Saturday night games in the aughts, Fox Sports 1 will pick up games from one of the Fox Sports Net affilates. The key is rather than be blacked out in the local markets as was the case with FX, the local RSN will be blacked out and fans will have to watch the locally RSN-produced game on Fox Sports 1. So if Fox Sports 1 airs a Yankees-Angels game, YES and Fox Sports West in the home markets would be blacked out and fans would have to find FS1 to see it. How the financials will be worked out to compensate the RSN’s for loss of local revenue has yet to be worked out. And with the late-2012 purchases of YES and Sports Time Ohio, this new provision would affect them as well.In addition, Fox/FS1 will be able to air as many as 18 New York Yankees games a season thanks to its purchase of 49% of the YES Network. This will be the case for all of the teams to which Fox has the rights. However, for a non-Fox team like the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, Fox will only have rights to 8 games. Of those 26 locally FSN games, a team can be seen as many as 10 times. For the nationally produced Fox/Fox Sports 1 games, a team can appear no more than 8 times so you get the picture of the 18 Yankees games.

  It’s an amazing story and one that is going to confuse fans at the beginning when the new MLB contracts begin in 2014.

• Last week, this site began hearing word that the usual NFL on Fox “B” team of Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa would not be working one of the NFL Divisional Playoff games this weekend and would be replaced by Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick and Laura Okmin. Fox confirmed the move to Newsday’s Neil Best last week. Why did Fox make the move? A Fox spokesman told Neil that the network wanted to give a new team an opportunity to call the playoff game. But was there another reason? Is there smoke here?We eventually learned that Brennman, Billick and Okmin would work the Seattle-Atlanta game on Sunday.
  Sports Rantz speculates there could be a reason behind the move, but there could be another as well as in an issue of Sports Illustrated, Richard Deitsch listed Albert, Moose and Goose among his three worst NFL announcing teams this season.

  Whatever the reason for the move, all we know is that we won’t have that trio this weekend on any of Fox’s games.

  While I like Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston, I can do without Tony Siragusa, although Goose is good on DIY Network’s Man Caves.

That’s going to finish things for us for now. I’ll see if I can post some press releases on my way back from New York.

The Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2012

Time for the look back at the Year in Sports Media in 2012. Lots of great stuff. The year has been very interesting and we have seen a lot of things.

Just doing a Top Ten is never enough for the Year in Review. It’s always an even dozen with some honorable mentions mixed in.

Let’s go over what were the Sports Media Stories of 2012.

12. Embrace Debate Leads To Rob Parker Suspension

One of the silliest stories in 2012 was ESPN’s commitment to debate programming. Two shows were revamped to accommodate more debate among ESPN personalities, First Take and Numbers Never Lie. Due to outrageous statements made on First Take, mostly by Skip Bayless, the show received lots of attention and increased ratings. But the pressure to stand out may have caught up with Rob Parker who questioned whether DC NFL Team quarterback Robert Griffin III’s authenticity.

It led to Parker’s suspension and allegedly more oversight over the shows. We’ll see if it leads to some more control and fewer outrageous statements.

11. Steve Sabol (1942-2012)

One of the pioneers in sports television passed away in 2012. Steve Sabol’s impact on the National Football League’s popularity through NFL Films cannot be measured. With his father Ed, the Sabols brought fans closer to the game by thinking outside the box. Games weren’t just regular contests, they became movies with Hollywood production values and full orchestrations. Instead of showing games from high in the stadium, NFL Films went to field level and made extreme closeups of the players. In addition, Ed and Steve introduced slow motion photography to sports.

In 2011, Ed Sabol was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It would behoove voters to induct Steve sometime soon to join his dad.

10. Big Media Taps Into New Media

2012 saw Turner Sports purchased the much-criticized and now-improving Bleacher Report, USA Today buying Big Lead Sports and NBC Sports aligned itself with Yahoo! Sports. This is more than getting pageviews and improving comScores, this is about expanding portfolios and attracting younger audiences. According to comScore, Yahoo! has been the most popular sports news site for several years outpacing ESPN.com. Bleacher Report may get criticized for its multiple and questionable slideshows, but its hiring of some respected editors and writers have increased the quality of the site to the point where Turner Sports purchased the site for beaucoup bucks. And I have to make this disclaimer, Fang’s Bites is an independently-owned blog that is affiliated with USA Today Media Group. We will see more purchases in 2013.

9. NASCAR Renews with Fox

Fox Sports was the first of NASCAR’s TV partners to renew its ties with the sport taking the first half of the Sprint Cup season. For an estimated pricetag of over $2.4 billion through 2022, Fox remains with NASCAR in a relationship that dates back to 2002. Fox is expected to put some of its races on its new all-sports channel, but we’ll get to that later. And expect live on-streaming in this new contract. However, NASCAR’s ratings are a question-mark, but bidding for the second half in 2013 is expected to bring even more money. It’s all going to be quite an interesting year for NASCAR.

8. NBC Steals English Premier League and Formula One From Fox

October turned out to be a good month for NBC Sports Group as far as acquisitions were concerned. It first obtained the rights to Formula 1 as Fox gave just a nominal bid. Then a couple of weeks later, it emerged as the frontrunner to the English Premier League and then won out over a concerted combined bid from ESPN/Fox. While NBC Sports Network won’t be known as a college sports destination or for MLB, perhaps it can become an international sports channel with the EPL, Formula 1 and Olympic Sports. NBC Sports Network will have some sports to watch year-round with the English Premier League, Formula 1, MLS and the NHL (when it finally returns).

7. NFL Network Picks Up Its Last Two Holdouts

Since 2010, NFL Network has been gaining momentum in picking up carriage agreements with the major cable providers. It finally was able to sign deals in 2012 with its last two remaining holdouts, first Cablevision in August and then the very last one, Time Warner Cable in September. Thanks to the increased audience, NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package had record ratings for its new 13 game schedule. It was a struggle for NFL Network to get all eight major cable and satellite providers on board, but after eight years, it finally got it done.

6. MLB New TV Contracts For A Lot of $$$

It started in August when ESPN renewed rights for its three nights of baseball games, a return to postseason and an increased amount of games for a total of $5.6 billion over eight years. Then in October, MLB announced deals with Fox and Turner for a combined $6.8 billion through 2021, providing them with TV Everywhere rights, postseason deals and a package of regular season games. For Fox, it allows the network to put games on its anticipated all-sports cable channel, but again, more on that later.

5. CBS & NBC Announce New Sports Radio Networks

2012 brought two new national networks to the sports talk radio scene. Within two days of each other, NBC Sports Radio and CBS Sports Radio were announced by both companies and with respective partners Dial Global and Cumulus Radio. NBC Sports Radio has been airing limited weekend programming since September, however, CBS Sports Radio chose to wait until this month to begin full operation with a 24/7 lineup. Both have a long way to go to match the firepower and the reputation of ESPN Radio that has been on the scene since the early 1990′s, however, CBS has hired familiar names like Jim Rome, Doug Gottlieb, John Feinstein, Scott Ferrall and Dana Jacobson. NBC will wait until the NCAA Final Four to finalize its weekday lineup. No matter the case, ESPN Radio finds itself with some formidable competition to join Yahoo! Sports Radio and Fox Sports Radio for listeners.

4. ESPN Free Agency

We had some big names leave the ESPN nest, Erin Andrews, Steve Berthiaume, Michelle Beadle, Cindy Brunson, Doug Gottlieb, Dana Jacobson, Michael Yam to name a few, but many stayed including Scott Van Pelt. This seemed to be quite the year for free agency for ESPN. In some cases, the network chose not to renew and wave goodbye to those departing, others decided not to return for other opportunities while in others, ESPN went out of its way to make sure its desired talent stayed. For the first time, ESPN was transparent in making statements about its free agency signings or departures. In the past, it had issued terse statements when media inquiries were made.

3. Fox Spending Spree

As the year-end was approaching, Fox Sports through its parent, News Corp., went on a spending spree unlike any other in sports media. It not only set up an all-sports cable channel for operation in 2013 (again, more on this later), but it bought into the YES Network which will eventually lead into a majority share of the New York Yankees regional sports network and fully purchased Sports Time Ohio for the Cleveland MLB Team. In addition, Fox is reportedly close to signing a long-term deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for its media rights. News Corp. had money to spend with the company splitting off its publishing holdings into a separate company and of course, the proverbial fiscal cliff where tax credits were about to change. Will we see more of Fox’s financial muscle in 2013? I think that’s a safe bet.

2. The Emergence of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2

While NBC Sports Network was attempting to bid for major sports properties, Fox Sports was quietly forming its cable sports strategy for 2013 and beyond. We began hearing rumblings about Fox rebranding Speed into an all-sports channel that would be named “Fox Sports 1″ then at the end of the year, the company’s Fuel channel would also be rebranded as “Fox Sports 2″.

In its new contracts with MLB, NASCAR, the Pac-12, UFC and other sports properties it signed in 2012, Fox had a provision to put games and events on Fox Sports 1. As part of its new contract with Major League Baseball, Fox Sports can place 40 regular season games on cable as well as several postseason games. We should expect a number of NASCAR Sprint Cup races on FS1 and most likely see some UFC events as well.

The strategy is in place. Let’s see how it’s enacted in 2013 and beyond.

1. NBC’s Olympics Both Fail and Succeed

Up until the London Olympics begin in late July, NBCUniversal had been downplaying both ratings and financial expectations stating that it expected to lose money and the ratings for a tape delayed event would not be as good as in 2008 when events were carried live from Communist China. Somewhere along the way, something happened. NBC broke even financially on the Olympics and they became the most watched event in US television history. That was the successful part.

The failure was the tape delayed aspect when many viewers wanted to watch events live. The #NBCFAIL hashtag on Twitter quickly spread like wildfire during the first weekend of the Olympics. In addition, online streaming was sluggish and haggard. But even with the delays and streaming problems, Americans still watched in droves. When the games were said and done, NBCUniversal could pat itself on the back.

Honorable Mentions:

Struggles of new regional sports networks to gain carriage agreements.
NHL Does Well; But Shoots Itself in the Foot with the Lockout
Tim Tebow Overload
ESPN Continues Dominance in College Sports

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 12/22 & 12/23/2012, All Times Eastern

Men’s schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, December 22

Gotham Classic, New York, NY
Syracuse vs. Temple — ESPN2, noon

Diamond Head Classic, Honolulu, HI
Quarterfinals
Indiana State vs. Mississippi — ESPNU, 4 p.m.
San Diego State vs. San Francisco — ESPNU, 6:30 p.m.
Arizona vs. Tennessee State — ESPNU, 10:30 p.m.
Miami (FL) vs. Hawaii — ESPNU, 1 a.m. (Sunday)

Virginia Governor’s Cup, Richmond, VA
Richmond vs. George Mason — NBC Sports Network, 3 p.m.
Old Dominion vs. Virginia — NBC Sports Network, 5:30 p.m.

noon
American at Georgetown — Big East Network
Murray State at Dayton — CBS Sports Network
McNeese State at North Carolina — ESPNU

1 p.m.
Coppin State at Iowa — Big Ten Network
Tennessee Tech at Oklahoma State — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox College Sports Atlantic

Women’s: UConn at Hartford — SNY

1:30 p.m.
USC at Georgia — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Midwest/North/Prime Ticket./an Diego/South/Southwest/Wisconsin/Sun Sports)

2 p.m.
Maryland-Baltimore County at DePaul — Big East Network
Florida State vs. Charlotte at Charlotte, NC — CBS Sports Network
Georgia State at URI — Cox Sports RI
Mercer at Alabama — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Houston/New England/Northwest)
Texas at Michigan State — ESPN2
LSU at Marquette — ESPNU
Arizona State at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Southwest Plus/Fox Sports Arizona/Fox Sports West/Fox College Sports Central

3 p.m.
Tulsa at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Atlantic
Houston Baptist at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Oregon/Washington)

Women’s: Duke at USC — Pac-12 Network

4 p.m.
Wright State at Cincinnati — Big East Network
Kansas at Ohio State — CBS
Marshall at Kentucky — ESPN2
Citadel at Georgia Tech — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Florida/North/San Diego/South/Prime Ticket/Wisconsin/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)
Southern at Texas A&M — Fox Sports Southwest Plus/Fox Sports West/Sun Sports/Fox College Sports Central

Women’s: Stanford at Tennessee — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/SportSouth)

5 p.m.
Prairie View A&M at Cal — Pac-12 Network

6 p.m.
Missouri vs. Illinois at St. Louis, MO — ESPN2

7 p.m.
Lafayette at Minnesota — Big Ten Network
Northern Illinois at Washington — Pac-12 Network

8 p.m.
Winthrop at Auburn — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/New England)
Davidson at Drexel — NBC Sports Network

8:30 p.m.
Florida vs. Kansas State at Kansas City, MO — ESPN2
Louisville vs. Western Kentucky at Nashville, TN — ESPNU

9 p.m.
Missouri State at New Mexico State — Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox College Sports Atlantic
Oregon State vs. San Diego State at Las Vegas, NV — Pac-12 Network

9:15 p.m.
Milwaukee at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network

11 p.m.
Fresno State at UCLA — Pac-12 Network

Sunday, December 23

Diamond Head Classic, Honolulu, HI
Consolation
ESPNU, 3 p.m.
ESPNU, 9 p.m.

Semifinals
ESPNU, 5:30 p.m.
ESPN2, 11:30 p.m.

Las Vegas Classic, Las Vegas, NV
3rd Place Game
CBS Sports Network, 9 p.m.

Championship Game
CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.

11:30 a.m.
UNH at Penn State — Big Ten Network

noon
Siena at Fordham — YES

5 p.m.
Kennesaw State at Pittsburgh — Big East Network

Time For Some Tuesday Links

Let’s do some Tuesday links. Lots of stuff to get to.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Bob Costas is receiving his share of criticism for his anti-gun commentary during halftime of Sunday Night Football.

Busted Coverage has video of Bob Costas telling Dan Patrick that he’s not backing off on his anti-gun comments.

Michael Katz of USA Today’s Game On blog recaps Vin Scully’s first and way too brief foray into Twitter on Monday.

From Yahoo’s Cagefighter, the great Maggie Hendricks tells us that Mixed Martial Arts viewing will be different in 2013.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Universal Sports will be moving its operations from Los Angeles to the Comcast Media Center in Denver.

From Advertising Age, Brian Steinberg writes that Mercedes-Benz plans to bring out some big guns for its Super Bowl ad in February.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell notes that Lincoln cars are looking to make a return to Super Bowl advertising.

Tom Conroy of Media Life Magazine reviews the new NFL Films-produced Travel Channel documentary series on the Cleveland Browns support staff.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report reviews two documentaries that debut this week.

The Nielsen Wire says the Los Angeles Lakers are the most marketable of all NBA teams.

Steve Burton of WBZ-TV in Boston is the only one reporting that the NHL Lockout is close to ending.

Bill Carter of the New York Times says Bob Costas put the spotlight on himself with his anti-gun Sunday Night Football halftime commentary.

The New York Daily News reports that the Jets have renewed their radio rights deal with ESPN Radio New York.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says YES Network had its best ratings ever for a Nets game.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says Monday night’s Giants-DC NFL Team contest hit the ratings jackpot for ESPN.

Chris Korman of the Baltimore Sun writes that the Orioles are denying yesterday’s Sports Business Journal report that Fox Sports attempted to buy MASN.

Sarah Kogod from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog tells us that many DC-area athletes stayed up to watch Robert Griffin III on Monday Night Football.

Erik Wemple at the WaPo talks about sports networks tackling political topics.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times reviews what happened on sports television over the weekend.

The Fort Pierce (FL) Tribune reports that the local ESPN Radio affiliate will continue to produce nightly sports report for the local NBC and Fox stations.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Jim Deshaies’ departure for Chicago is a big loss for the Astros.

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says Fox is close to purchasing Sports Time Ohio and gaining the rights to the city’s MLB team.

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune talks about the Cubs hiring a new analyst.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the five things he learned from the weekend.

Joe Flint from the Los Angeles Times says NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football is eating into the ratings of the league’s other TV partners.

Sports Media Watch notes that the MLS Cup had a slight decline in its overnight ratings as the game moved from a Sunday night to late Saturday afternoon.

The Huffington Post has video of ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit giving Northern Illinois blackboard material by ripping the team’s invitation to the Orange Bowl.

That’s where I’ll end it today.

Going For Some Tuesday Links

Let’s bring you some linkage. Two days in a row! This is something!

Shameless plug department: I wrote Some Long Overdue Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts earlier this morning and make sure you give it a gander. Many thanks.

Sam Gustin of Time writes that News Corp.’s purchase of a minority stake in YES could help Fox challenge ESPN down the road.

Alicia Jessop at Forbes notes how the NFL successfully marketed to women to the point where they are now 44% of the league’s fan base.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports on the potential megadeal between Fox and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In part two of his interview with SiriusXM’s Dino Costa, Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report goes into the relationship the Mad Dog radio host has with his boss, Chris Russo.

Salvej Schou of Entertainment Weekly says a Hollywood movie executive is angry at NFL Network for censoring at the last minute, a Rich Eisen interview with actor Bradley Cooper.

John Koblin of Deadspin speaks with some media professionals on the plagiarism issues plaguing ESPN.com and writer Lynne Hoppes.

Media Rantz looks at the impending launch of Fox Sports 1.

Les Carpenter of Yahoo! has a profile on former New Orleans Saints quarterback turned popular sports radio talk show host, Bobby Hebert.

Carl Marcucci of Radio & Television Business Report writes about CBS Sports Radio’s new morning show.

Newscast Studio looks at CBS Sports Network’s new college football studio.

Fox Soccer may have lost the English Premier League rights in the US, but Fox Sports in Australia has retained the rights to all of the EPL’s games Down Under.

The New York Post’s Kirsten Fleming talks with NBC’s Michelle Beadle.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says NBC Sports Network has added a college hockey game to its schedule.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that there’s no change to the NFL schedules in the next few weeks.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says CBS Sports Network will be re-airing a host of Army-Navy football games next week.

Dave Hughes in Press Box notes that Baltimore’s CBS-owned sports radio station will drop all ESPN Radio programming in favor of CBS Sports Radio in January.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says TNT is once again comparing the Wizards to the hapless Harlem Globetrotters whipping team, the Washington Generals.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks at the local weekend ratings for Thanksgiving weekend.

Scott Wright at The Oklahoman says Fox Sports will air three high school championship games on its Oklahoma Plus channel.

The Detroit Free Press summarizes an ESPN The Magazine interview with controversial Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh.

Sports Media Watch notes that Fox Sports drew close to the rear in the college football ratings for Week 13.

SMW says an Iron Bowl blowout did not help the SEC on CBS’ ratings.

And SMW looks at college football TV ratings on ESPN, ABC and NBC.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing delves into the Fox/Dodgers deal.

Joe Favorito likes how the Green Bay Packers have embraced Movember.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs says the future is very bright for sports broadcasting.

That is going to wrap up our links for today.

Some Long Overdue Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts

I’ve been bottling up some sports media thoughts from the last time I wrote a similar post. You’re due for some more. Let’s provide you with some. They’re below in bullet form as always.

• We’re getting closer to seeing Fox Sports 1 coming to fruition. While Fox is not saying anything official, behind the scenes, it’s working very hard to show that it is very serious about making this a true alternative to ESPN. In this week’s Sports Business Journal (subscription required), John Ourand writes that Fox has already trademarked “Fox Sports 1,” purchased a dot-com to host a Fox Sports 1 website, developed a logo, and has showed a video to several professional league and college conference officials that displays what the network is all about.

  Ourand cites sources who have seen the video that Fox is looking to launch the network in August of 2013, rebranding the existing Speed channel, and then making a big platform launch during Super Bowl XVIII week in February 2014 which will air on the Fox mothership.

  While many sports media observers were watching NBC Sports Network to see if it was going to be the challenger to ESPN, Fox has quietly been working to sign long term contracts with existing partners MLB, NASCAR, UFC as well as the Big 12 and the Pac-12 to help establish programming on Fox Sports 1. When the network finally launches next summer, Fox Sports 1 will be in very good position and hit the ground running with some major sports programming, something that NBCSN has been unable to achieve.

  And with the NBA and English Premier League coming up for bid in 2015 and the Big Ten in 2016, Fox Sports 1 could make a very good destination for all three.

  We’ll be monitoring this story well into 2013.

• In a related note, Fox’s parent company, News Corp., made huge news last week with its purchase of 49% of the YES Network plus reportedly being close to retaining the rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a staggering $280 million annually.

  Through buying into YES and keeping the Dodgers, News Corp. would have the rights to three of the four MLB teams in the nation’s two largest markets. And with the option to increase its ownership of YES to 80% within three years, Fox is in a very good position to maintain its position in MLB through local rights.

  I would not be surprised if Fox goes after ownership stakes in NESN in Boston, co-owned by the Red Sox and Bruins, and Altitude in Denver, partners with the Avalanche and the Nuggets. I don’t think News Corp. is done with its spending spree. It will have a lot of cash to spend as it’s spinning off its publishing unit and focusing solely on television and movies.

  By positioning the Fox Sports Nets with long term contracts with several MLB, NBA and NHL teams, Fox ensures the survival of its regional sports networks for many years to come.

• ESPN’s 12 year contract to air the college football playoff plus the Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls shows that the Alleged Worldwide Leader has faith in the sport and wants maintain its firm control of the postseason.

  We saw that when it placed all of the Bowl Championship Series on cable in 2010, that ESPN was very serious about controlling the postseason. And while ABC is given major college football games during the regular season, it carries just a few bowl games, most are aired on either ESPN or ESPN2.

  When your humble blogger went to ESPN last year to talk with Executive Senior Vice President of Studio and Event Production, Norby Williamson, he told me that ESPN was the perfect destination for the BCS as the network could provide fans with programming surrounding the games not just pre and post, but through coverage in the days leading up to the Championship Game. I’m sure his feeling has not changed now that ESPN has obtained the rights to the playoffs.

  While there’s no doubting that ESPN does college football well, its control of all of the BCS Automatic Qualifying conferences is disturbing. By guaranteeing control through long-term contracts that go well into the next decade, ESPN will continue airing games for the foreseeable future without interruption.

• Whenever I eat dinner at my parents’ house, one program they like to watch while dining is Inside Edition. While the show has its positive qualities, one huge negative is its coverage of celebrities, Lindsay Lohan in particular. It seems every move she makes is extensively covered, no matter how big, no matter how small. One night, as the show was in its 3,608th consecutive day of covering Lindsay Lohan, I said out loud, “This is like ESPN with Tim Tebow,” and it suddenly hit me that Inside Edition’s obsession with Lohan is just like ESPN’s with Tim Tebow.

  Now is this so far off? Inside Edition goes to court whenever Lohan violates her probation whether it be drunk driving or stealing a necklace (allegedly). ESPN went to New York Jets training camp to cover Tebow.

  Inside Edition went into battle mode when handlers called 9-1-1 when Lohan failed to wake up for a call on set of the Lifetime movie, “Liz and Dick”. ESPN made sure we all celebrated Tim Tebow’s birthday via SportsCenter.

  Inside Edition covered Lohan’s snub of ABC’s Barbara Walters. ESPN asked actor Liam Neeson about Tim Tebow even though he was hardly familiar with the QB.

  Inside Edition can’t seem to go one day without mentioning Lohan. Doug Gottlieb admitted to Dan Patrick that ESPN management told him to mention Tebow on his radio show.

  These are just a few instances, but again, I ask is this so far off to make the analogy that Lindsay Lohan is to Inside Edition as Tim Tebow is to ESPN?

  I’m sure I’ll hear from ESPN’s extensive public relations machine on this, but they can’t convince me that Tebow isn’t their Binky.

• I’ve seen all of season 3 of Downton Abbey except for the Christmas Special that will air on ITV in the UK on Christmas Day (naturally). While I won’t give any spoilers, I will give some news that has already been reported. Shirley MacLaine gives some great energy to the first few episodes playing Elizabeth “Cora Grantham” McGovern’s mother, visiting from the United States. The season begins in 1920 with Robert in financial difficulty and Downton’s future in doubt, Mr. Bates in jail and Matthew and Lady Mary engaged.

  What transpires next is the usual drama, comedy and plot twists that make the series great. There will be joy and there will be sadness, but you’ll have to see what happens when the third season premieres on PBS on January 6.

  I’m giving away nothing. If you want spoilers, buy me a few drinks and I’ll tell you.

We’re done. Enjoy your Tuesday.

Breaking Out The Monday Linkage

It’s been a while since I’ve done linkage. I’ll provide some on this Cyber Monday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says having Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game will bring in some monster ratings for ESPN.

Chris Chase of USA Today’s Game On notes that the NFL had Rich Eisen and NFL Network pull an interview segment with actor Bradley Cooper due to NFL gambling references.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with Turner Sports’ Chris Webber and reviews the weekend in sports television.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that Notre Dame is as close to a guaranteed ratings success for college football as anything.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter says the NHL’s TV partners are caught trying to fill programming holes due to the lockout.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report has the first of a two part interview with SiriusXM’s Dino Costa.

Brad Gagnon of Awful Announcing writes that the Sunday NFL pregame shows are dramatically losing viewers this season.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer had to apologize for doing the “Hook ‘Em Horns” sign upside down.

Bruce Allen at Boston Sports Media Watch throws some cold water on some silly agendas by the Hub’s sports writers.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says don’t expect too many changes to YES with News Corp. buying a minority stake in the channel.

In the New York Post, Phil Mushnick says Rutgers’ move to the Big Ten is all about the money. Tell me something I don’t know, Phil.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with John Gilchrist who played Mikey in the iconic Life cereal commercials.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the college football TV schedule for Week 14.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with Eastern PA native Lisa Salters about returning home for ESPN’s Monday Night Football tonight.

It’s official. David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun hates CBS.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner feels Maryland’s move to the Big Ten makes sense.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times has his review of the weekend in sports television.

Over to Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News who has a profile of ESPN’s Ed Werder and his daughter’s successful battle to beat a nasty brain tumor.

David Barron looks at a few items in his regular sports media column.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has ESPN’s Trent Dilfer commenting on the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line.

Paul M. Banks at the Chicago Sports Media Watch notes the high overnight rating for Notre Dame-USC.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says compares the current Broncos radio analyst to the very first one.

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

And Tom has the five things he learned from this weekend.

Sports Media Watch says the move of the Thanksgiving Night game from NFL Network to NBC paid off in spades this year.

SMW says the Thanksgiving afternoon game on Fox suffered a drop from the year before.

SMW notes that the early Thanksgiving Day game on CBS had the best ratings of the three games on Turkey Day.

Joe Favorito says Atlantis in the Bahamas is fast becoming the place for premiere college basketball teams.

Adam Herman at the New York Rangers Blog says the NHL instructed NBC Sports not to air a charity hockey game this past weekend.

That’s going to do it for now.

Back For Some Tuesday Links

Let’s do some linkage. I need to do this more than twice a week.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at the potential replacements for Jon Gruden in the Monday Night Football booth should he decide to leave as rumored.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal has a plethora of subjects in his latest media column.

Rachel Bachman of the Wall Street Journal says the expansion of the Big Ten to the Atlantic seaboard is purely for television.

Andy Fixmer and Scott Soshnick at Bloomberg report on a story that bears watching, YES Network will retain the media rights to the New York Yankees through 2042 which opens the door for News Corp. to buy a stake in the channel.

Andy and Alex Sherman from Bloomberg write about Fox opening the door for Fox Sports 1.

Alicia Jessop at Forbes writes that the NBA will stream D-League games on YouTube.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek tells us that NBC is garnering big ad rates for its Thanksgiving Night NFL game.

A story from the weekend, Awful Announcing’s Joe Lucia notes that CBS/Sports Illustrated/Turner’s Seth Davis apologized for calling UFC “homoerotic”.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News notes that ESPN has rebooted its “Watch ESPN” Xbox 360 app.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says NBC’s Sunday Night Football killed the competition in primetime.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report says the NFL game experience doesn’t compare to watching it on your TV.

Jordan Rabinowitz of SportsGrid has video of NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski drinking on SportsCenter after celebrating his win.

The lovely Kristi Dosh at ESPN.com says both Rutgers and Maryland are in desperate need of the TV money that both institutions will receive as members of the Big Ten Conference.

Ryan Hannable of Boston Sports Media Watch speaks with WEEI’s Glenn Ordway.

Tony LaRoce in the Providence Journal talks with Providence College basketball radio voice John Rooke about a book he’s written about Rhode Island radio.

Richard Sandomir and Amy Chozik of the New York Times write that News Corp.’s stake in YES could value the network as high as $3 billion.

Nate Silver of the New York Times looks at the geography of college football fans across the country and delves into the crazy conference realignment.

Newsday’s Neil Best checks on the progress of Madison Square Garden’s “transformation.”

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Time Warner Cable airs an AHL game on Friday.

David Zurawik in the Baltimore Sun writes that the Big Ten’s TV acumen will help Maryland in the long run.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, a noted Maryland alum, weighing in on the Maryland to the Big Ten move.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner speaks with Jim Rome about his new Showtime series.

Stephen F. Holder of the Tampa Bay Times says the Bucs have a long way to go if the team wants to sell out its game against Atlanta and avoid a local TV blackout.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says former Astros analyst Jim Deshaies is a candidate for the Cubs TV job.

David says overtime helped push the Texans’ ratings upwards in Houston.

The Indianapolis Star transcribed some of the things ESPN’s Bob Knight said during last night’s Indiana-Georgia game. It marked the first time Knight had called an Indiana game for ESPN.

The Chicago Tribune has an infographic on how many TV viewers each school in the Big Ten can bring to the table.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says Altitude has had to make a programming adjustment without the Colorado Avalanche this season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has five things he learned from the weekend.

SportsRantz looks at the reported morning show for CBS Sports Radio.

Classic Sports TV and Media explores when was the actual first college football primetime broadcast.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page notes that this week’s Sports Illustrated cover is basically an ad for adidas.

Sports Media Watch says CBS saw rating increases for its NFL windows on Sunday, but the late games are the second-lowest rated for this season.

SMW notes NBC’s Sunday Night Football wasn’t as big a draw with Ravens-Steelers.

And that will do it for today.

YES Announces News Corp. To Purchase Minority Stake

Just made official by YES Network and News Corp., the owner of Fox Sports Media Group, YES is selling a 49% stake in its network to News Corp. In addition, YES will retain the media rights to the New York Yankees through 2042.

The stories that have surfaced about this purchase have stated that News Corp. could increase its stake in YES to as much as 80% within three years. And that the media rights for the Yankees would be worth $350 million annually by the end of the deal.

News Corp. owns 19 regional sports networks across the country as well as a stake in the Big Ten Network. YES is a big feather in its cap.

Here’s the announcement.

NEWS CORPORATION AND YANKEE GLOBAL ENTERPRISES ANNOUNCE NEWS CORPORATION’S ACQUISITION OF AN EQUITY STAKE IN THE YES NETWORK

NEW YORK – November 19, 2012 – News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) and Yankee Global Enterprises today announced an agreement that calls for News Corporation to acquire a 49 percent equity stake in the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES). The YES Network delivers exclusive live local television coverage of New York Yankees baseball and Brooklyn Nets basketball, as well as other leading local and national sports-related programming. The YES Network also announced a media rights agreement that will keep Yankees baseball on the YES Network through 2042.

The media rights agreement is subject to Major League Baseball approval. The investment is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.

The current owners: Yankee Global Enterprises, Goldman Sachs and other investors will reduce their ownership in connection with this transaction. After three years, News Corporation may acquire an additional stake in the YES Network that could bring its ownership to 80 percent, at which time Yankee Global Enterprises would retain a significant minority stake in the network.

Since its inception in 2002, YES has grown its footprint to include local availability in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and parts of Pennsylvania, as well as national availability on several cable and satellite television distributors. The network currently showcases live Yankees and Nets games to approximately 9 million households in the teams’ television territory in the New York area. Outside of the New York area, the YES Network also distributes a variety of national programming to millions of homes across the country.

“We’ve long been a believer in the unique appeal of sports entertainment. Partnering upstream with rights holders is even more important today in the dynamic media marketplace in which we compete. This is a tremendous opportunity to enhance News Corporation’s industry-leading portfolio of sports properties, while also strategically re-entering the New York market,” said James Murdoch, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation. “The YES Network represents the gold standard for regional sports networks and is a pioneer in sports media. We look forward to working with Yankee Global Enterprises, the network’s management team, and all of our partners to build on a decade of success and take the YES Network to even greater heights.”

Hal Steinbrenner, Chairman of Yankee Global Enterprises, said, “This transaction underscores the great value we and our partners created in establishing the YES Network and sets the network on the path for even greater achievements in the future. We are excited to have News Corporation as a partner. Its stature and acumen in sports broadcasting on a global scale is unmatched. We look forward to the many opportunities for growth and development that this investment by News Corporation will bring to YES. The Steinbrenner family expects to have a continuing, long-term ownership stake in the YES Network and we will continue our yearly commitment of fielding a championship caliber team for decades to come.”

Fox Sports Media Group is the leader in regional sports programming, operating a leading array of 20 owned-and-operated U.S. regional sports networks, which collectively produce over 5,000 live local events each year and serve as the local TV homes to more than half of all MLB, NHL, and NBA teams.

We also have YES’ statement about the News Corp. purchase.

STATEMENT FROM MR. TRACY DOLGIN, PRESIDENT & CEO, YES NETWORK RE: NEWS CORPORATION’S ACQUIRING EQUITY STAKE IN YES

“We at YES, along with the New York Yankees and our financial partners Goldman Sachs, NJ Holdings and Providence Equity, had an incredible opportunity to build a network that quickly became – and remains — the number one regional sports network in the country, based on any metric. We were able to accomplish this because we have the greatest sports brand in the world, the New York Yankees, other important programming such as the rejuvenated Brooklyn Nets, the unwavering support of our board and, last but not least, an incredibly talented and dedicated group of employees.

FOX wrote the book on regional sports networks, and we are excited to partner with FOX and take advantage of this opportunity to build upon our leadership position. In particular, Ray Hopkins (YES Network COO), John Filippelli (YES Network, President of Production and Programming) and I have all previously worked at FOX, and we are eager to renew our working relationships with the company and with many of our friends and former colleagues.  At the same time, we are fortunate to continue to benefit from the vision and support of our current ownership.  We are particularly thrilled for our valued employees, who will continue with the YES Network and will benefit from the multitude of resources and opportunities that FOX brings to the table.  We look forward to having FOX join our winning team.”

About The YES Network

• Launched March 19, 2002
• Exclusive broadcaster of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets
• Most-watched regional sports network in the country the past nine years (Nielsen)
• Distribution within YES’ home-team footprint:  approximately 9 million subscribers
• Total national distribution:  approximately 15 million subscribers
• Listed among the Top Ten sports business brands in the world by Forbes the past three years
• Since 2003, YES has won 60 New York Emmy Awards and accumulated 266 New York Emmy Award nominations

That will do it.

Doing Some Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday megalinks. Haven’t done any in a couple of weeks.

The Weekend Viewing Picks have all of your sports and entertainment TV needs.

Time for the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes the rising rights fees for the college football postseason.

Michael writes about Today show Executive Producer Jim Bell coming home to NBC Sports to oversee all Olympic broadcasts.

Chris Chase from USA Today has 60 Minutes responding to Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers’ complaints about a recent profile.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the Outdoor and Sportsman Channels plan to merge.

Will Leitch at Sports on Earth says the Rick Reilly experiment at ESPN has not worked.

Bryan Curtis of Grantland notes that last night’s Celtics-Nets game was the first game that Brooklyn native Marv Albert got to call in the borough.

Alex Weprin of TV Newser reports that Keith Olbermann will be back on sports television next week by doing a guest stint on a league-owned network.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing feels ESPN has lost its viewers trust.

The Big Lead speculates whether Sports Illustrated’s Peter King will remain with the magazine or leave when his contract expires.

Sports Media Watch says despite a fight, ESPN’s ratings for the next-to-last Sprint Cup race of the season finished down from last year.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz who’s back on the Patriots beat this week.

Chad has five questions with Nantz.

Boston Sports Media Watch Fearless Leader Bruce Allen speculates in SB Nation on who might become the Flash Boy or Girl for WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette has NESN’s Jack Edwards becoming increasingly skeptical about playing hockey this season.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir notes that a new Broadway play will delve into the history of the Yankees.

Amy Chozick and Michael Cieply of the Times write about Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. buying a stake into the YES Network.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about Mike Emrick calling college hockey tonight.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick conducts a character assassination on ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for New York Knicks radio voice Spero Dedes.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Dottie Pepper who’s leaving NBC Sports for a position with the PGA of America.

Ken McMillen of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Darrelle Revis’ comments to NFL Network’s Andrea Kremer about his season-ending injury for the New York Jets.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that the ratings increases for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals reflect their successes on the field.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has some thoughts on the NFL Network’s documentary on John Riggins.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN’s NASCAR voice Allen Bestwick about the last race of the season.

South

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that most CBS stations across the country and even in Texas have chosen to air the Dallas Cowboys over the Texans.

David has a few viewing picks for the weekend.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel doesn’t agree with Aaron Rodgers’ complaints about 60 Minutes.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch notes that the NCAA has removed one-third of the media’s courtside seats at the Final Four™.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about a local sports radio host who lost his job after making remarks about African Americans.

West

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has his Weekend Viewing Picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at a new documentary on the UCLA-USC rivalry.

Tom wonders why it took so long for DirecTV and Time Warner Cable SportsNet to make an agreement.

Tom has stuff that didn’t make it into today’s sports column.

And that’s going to do it.

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 11, 11/10/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live on board the USS San Diego — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
ACC Blitz — ACC Network, noon
BTN Football Postgame — Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 4 p.m.
The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 8:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 10 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 10 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Sunday)

noon
Louisville at Syracuse — ABC (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)
Miami at Virginia — ABC (Tom Hart/John Congemi)

Cincinnati at Temple — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

Purdue at Iowa — Big Ten Network (Josh Lewin/Chris Martin/J Leman)

Arkansas at South Carolina — CBS (Tim Brando/Steve Beuerlein/Marty Snider)

William & Mary at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)

Northwestern at Michigan — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Wisconsin at Indiana — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Niki Noto)
Army at Rutgers — ESPNU (Joe Beninati/Peter Najarian/George Smith)

Kansas at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WLVI/KICU (Joe Myers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
St. Francis (PA) at Monmouth — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy)
Southeast Missouri State at Eastern Illinois — Fox College Sports Pacific (Bob Belvin/Kevin Ingram)

Iowa State at Texas — Longhorn Network (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)/ABC (Iowa only) (Mark Neely/Ray Bentley)

Williams at Amherst — NESN (Tom Caron/Steve DeOssie/Katy Fitzpatrick)

Harvard at Penn — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Ross Tucker/Marshall Harris)

Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. (Mike Morgan/Chris Doering)
Missouri at Tennessee — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. (Dave Ware/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

Princeton at Yale — YES

12:30 p.m.
Georgia Tech at North Carolina — ACC Network

Colgate at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Todd Christensen/Evan Washburn)

1:30 p.m.
Colorado at Arizona — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)

3 p.m.
Oregon State at Stanford — Fox (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)
Wake Forest at NC State — Fox Sports Net (regional) (North Plus/South/Southwest Plus/Prime Ticket)/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN (Mike Hogewood/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)

Arizona State at USC — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

3:30 p.m.
Penn State at Nebraska — ABC/ESPN2 (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich)
West Virginia at Oklahoma State — ABC/ESPN2 (Dave Lamont/Kelly Stouffer)

Minnesota at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Derek Rackley/Jon Jansen)

Texas A&M at Missouri — CBS (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)

Maryland at Clemson — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)

Baylor at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Pacific/WLVI/WMCN/WDCA/KICU (Steve Physioc/JC Pearson/Laura McKeeman)
South Dakota State at North Dakota State — Fox College Sports Central (Brian Shawn/Lee Timmerman/Kevin Feeney)

Air Force at San Diego State — NBC Sports Network (Ari Wolfe/Blaine Fowler)

Portland State at Montana State — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

5 p.m.
Tulsa at Houston — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Aaron Talor/Lauren Gardner)

7 p.m.
Mississippi State at LSU — ESPN (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)
Georgia at Auburn — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Allison Williams)
Vanderbilt at Mississippi — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Angela Mallen)

Kansas State at TCU — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)
Southern Mississippi at SMU — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central (Ron Thulin/Dave Lapham/Desmond Purnell)
Central Florida at UTEP — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Mike Gleason/Ben Leber/Lesley McCaslin)

Louisiana Tech at Texas State — Longhorn Network (Dave Armstrong/Ray Bentley — 2 games in one day!)

Hawaii at Boise State — NBC Sports Network (Paul Bermeister/Rod Woodson)

8 p.m.
Notre Dame at Boston College — ABC (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)

10:15 p.m.
Idaho at BYU — ESPNU (Joe Davis/Jay Walker)

10:30 p.m.
Oregon at Cal — ESPN (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Samantha Steele)
UCLA at Washington State — ESPN2 (Adam Amin/Tom Luginbill/Shelley Smith)

Utah at Washington — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

Greg Anthony Joins YES Network As Nets Game Analyst

Just announced today, YES Network says former UNLV and New York Knicks guard Greg Anthony will join YES Network as a game analyst for the Brooklyn Nets. He’ll join Ian Eagle on Monday when they call the Minnesota Timberwolves. Anthony is also an analyst for NBA TV and CBS Sports.

Anthony will not replace any of the existing analysts, he’ll join Mike Fratello and Jim Spanarkel as one of the analysts for the 2012-13 season.

For the first Nets game at the Barclays Center on Saturday, Ryan Ruocco and Spanarkel will call the game as Brooklyn hosts Toronto.

We have the announcement from YES Network. Check it all out in black and white below.

GREG ANTHONY JOINS YES NETWORK AS NETS ANALYST; HIS FIRST YES TELECAST IS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

Joins YES as Network Chronicles Historic Inaugural Season in Brooklyn

NEW YORK, November 2, 2012 – Greg Anthony, the former Knicks first-round draft pick who went on to enjoy an 11-year NBA career, has joined the YES Network as a Brooklyn Nets game analyst. Anthony’s first Nets telecast will be Monday, November 5, when he joins YES play-by-play man Ian Eagle as the Nets host the Timberwolves at 7:30 pm ET. (YES pre-game show at 7:00 pm ET).

The former point guard will join Mike Fratello and Jim Spanarkel as YES’ Nets analysts this season as the franchise plays its inaugural season in a new arena in a new city, with a new identity and a vastly improved roster. Eagle will handle play-by-play duties for YES, Ryan Ruocco will also call games, and Sarah Kustok is the network’s Nets sideline reporter (she is also the host of YES’ weekly Nets Magazine show) as the Nets become the first major professional sports franchise based in Brooklyn since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957.

YES will televise the Nets’ season-opening game tomorrow (Saturday) night against the Raptors from the Barclays Center at 7:30 pm ET (YES pre-game show at 7:00 pm ET).  Ryan Ruocco will handle play-by-play and Jim Spanarkel will provide color commentary.

The New York Knicks drafted Anthony with the 12^th pick in the first round of the 1991 NBA Draft. He played for the Knicks until 1995, when he was selected with the second pick of the NBA Expansion Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. He played two seasons with the Grizzlies and later played for Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Milwaukee.  Anthony retired in 2002.

“As a former point guard, Greg possesses a tremendous court vision and has a sixth sense of what will happen on the court,” said John J. Filippelli, President of Production and Programming at the YES Network. “Greg’s addition to the YES roster will make a very strong broadcast team that much better as we embark on our historic first year of Nets coverage in Brooklyn.”

A native of Las Vegas, Anthony was the point guard on the UNLV team which defeated Duke for the 1990 NCAA basketball championship. He graduated from UNLV with a degree in political science.

Anthony currently is also an NBA analyst for TNT and NBA TV, and is a college basketball analyst for CBS Sports.

There you have it.

College Football Viewing Picks for Week 10, 11/03/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Baton Rouge, LA — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 a.m.
ACC Blitz — ACC Network, noon
Fox College Football Saturday — Fox, 2 p.m.
BTN Football Postgame — Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
College Football Today — CBS, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 10 p.m.
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Sunday)
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 1 a.m. (Sunday) TURN BACK YOUR CLOCKS!!!!

Noon
Oklahoma State at Iowa State — ABC (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)
Temple at Louisville — ABC (Dave Lamont/Kelly Stouffer)

Syracuse at Cincinnati — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

Michigan at Minnesota — Big Ten Network

Air Force at Army — CBS Sports Network (Ben Holden/Randy Cross/Cadet Ted Kostich)

Texas at Mississippi State — ESPN (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)
Missouri at Florida — ESPN2/ESPN 3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Vanderbilt at Kentucky — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Allison Williams)

Houston at East Carolina — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/KICU (Rod Thulin/Dave Lapham/Desmond Purnell)
Troy at Tennessee — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Bob Rathbun/Tim Couch/Elizabeth Moreau)
Tennessee State at Murray State — Fox College Sports Pacific

Towson at Delaware — NBC Sports Network (Ari Wolfe/Anthony Herron/Carolyn Manno)

Tulsa at Arkansas — SEC Network (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

12:30 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Arkansas — ACC Network
Virginia at North Carolina State — ACC Network

Lehigh at Holy Cross — Fox College Sports Atlantic

New Mexico State at Auburn — CSS (Matt Stewart/Chris Doering/Angela Mallen)

Yale at Brown — YES

2 p.m.
Stanford at Colorado — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)

3 p.m.
TCU at West Virginia — Fox (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)

Washington State at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

3:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Michigan State — ABC/ESPN2 (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich)
Texas at Texas Tech — ABC/ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)

Iowa at Indiana — Big Ten Network

Mississippi at Georgia — CBS (Tim Brando/Steve Beuerlein/Marty Snider)
Florida Atlantic at Navy — CBS Sports Network (Grant Boone/Todd Christensen/Sheehan Stanwich Burch)

James Madison at Maine — Comcast SportsNet (California/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)

Illinois at Ohio State — ESPN (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Lewis Johnson)
Penn State at Purdue — ESPNU (Tom Hart/John Congemi)

Kansas at Baylor — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WDCA/WMCN/KICU) (Steve Physioc/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
Boston College at Wake Forest — Fox Sports Net (regional)/NESN (Rich Waltz/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)
Duquense at Robert Morris — Fox College Sports Pacific

Pittsburgh at Notre Dame — NBC (Dan Hicks/Mike Mayock/Alex Flanagan)

Montana at Weber State — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain/Audience Network (DirecTV)

4 p.m.
Texas-San Antonio at Louisiana Tech — ESPN Plus (Trey Bender/Jay Taylor)

7 p.m.
SMU at Central Florida — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Corey Chavous/Evan Washburn)

UAB at Southern Mississippi — CSS

Clemson at Duke — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Jessica Mendoza)
UConn at South Florida — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)

Oregon at USC — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)

Montana State at Sacramento State — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

8 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Kansas State — ABC (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)

Alabama at LSU — CBS (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)

10:30 p.m.
San Diego State at Boise State — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Lauren Gardner)

Arizona State at Oregon State — ESPN2 (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Tom Luginbill)

Arizona at UCLA — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

Bringing Back The Friday Megalinks

It’s been too long since I’ve done a links post and why not do this with a Friday megalink post.

Your Weekend Viewing Picks have all of my sports and entertainment suggestions.

Now to your linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with Fox’s Erin Andrews about her being put under a bigger microscope now that she has higher profile gigs.

John Ourand & Michael Botta from Sports Business Daily handicap the bidding for the US rights to the English Premier League.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that the EPL bidding is going to a second round.

At Sports on Earth, Will Leitch makes no bones about being a Joe Buck apologist.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy looks at the ratings for three KHL airings on ESPN2.

To The Godfather, Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina who notes that in Hot Clicks, ESPN’s Samantha Steele is taken. Sorry, fanboys.

Jim Romenesko notices that ESPN.com is trying to play eye doctor.

Jane McManus of espnW looks at MLB’s new dress policy for reporters.

Sports Rantz explores the revamping of the 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter that could lead to more appearances for Lindsay Czarniak.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with CBS’ Doug Gottlieb about his first job in broadcasting.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos says reporters should throw objectivity out the window when it comes to social media.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group says YES Network is finding a TV-friendly environment at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN is trying to expand the SportsCenter brand beyond television.,

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has today’s New York Post cover involving the Yankees.

Kristi Dosh as ESPN.com says GoDaddy’s hiring of a new ad agency could lead to the dropping of spokesperson Danica Patrick.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell says it’s good that the Chicago White Sox listened to their fans and dropped ticket prices for next season.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has the worst sports tweets of 2012 to date.

Leah Goldman of the Business Insider’s Sports Page has what you need to know about ESPN’s Samantha Steele.

Joe Favorito looks at the Battle for the Big Apple, NBA style.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth takes a look at Joe Buck’s rare NFL/MLB doubleheader on Sunday.

Bob’s Blitz talks about CBS Sports Radio giving writer John Feinstein a daily show when the network launches in 2013.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Lewiston (ME) Sun Journal and Maine Hockey Journal have formed a partnership on local sports coverage.

At the Boston Globe, Chad Finn reviews Comcast SportNet New England’s NFL Pregame Live show.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with a former WEEI morning show personality.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Time Inc. has tapped a Sports Illustrated web editor to head its entire sports portfolio.

In the New York Post, Phil Mushnick wants everyone to be like him.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY notes that the Yankees and Giants top the local TV ratings.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union compares and contrasts Fox and TBS in the MLB Postseason.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call notes that a local sports talk show host is no longer employed at his radio station.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has Baltimore Ravens voice and local sports anchor Gerry Sandusky explaining why he won’t change his name.

Also in Press Box, Dave says the Washington Nationals are seeking a bigger rights fee from MASN.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the City Paper will not mention the DC NFL team by its regular name.

Dan says Fox was filming a spot regarding DC NFL team QB Robert Griffin III this week.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the Nationals’ brand is seeing more attention after its regular season success.

South

Rick Stroud at the Tampa Bay Times says Sunday’s game involving the Saints and Bucs did sell out in time.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has some college football announcer pairings and a few local news and notes.

In his media notebook, Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman looks at Bill Simmons making the dangerous move to television.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable picks up three local high school football games this weekend.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has ESPN college basketball analyst Dan Dakich handicapping the Big Ten.

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune says the Cubs, WGN and Comcast SportsNet will quickly decide on a replacement for Bob Brenly who left and took his talents to the Southwest.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch wonders why the Sun-Times would hire Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy to be a columnist.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the local Fox TV station had to juggle severe warning alerts while airing the Cardinals in the NLCS.

West

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the Diamondbacks have named their new TV broadcasting team.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes on a former San Diego Charger who’s deciding whether he wants to play in the CFL or pursue broadcasting full-time.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star explores the cast changes to ESPN’s NBA Countdown pregame show.

In his media notebook, Jim says the Pac-12 Network can be found online for subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers.

Jim has his Weekend Viewing Picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News is fed up of cable carriage disputes.

Tom has some stuff that didn’t make it into his column.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with former NHL coach and TV analyst Mike Keenan on how to survive the lockout.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog has some of the local sports radio ratings.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says MLB got a rare ratings win over the CFL last Friday.

And that will conclude the megalinks. Enjoy the sports weekend.

Your Thursday Linkage

Let’s do a few links for you.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the local MLB TV ratings.

Mike Ozanian from Forbes explains what the new national MLB TV deals mean for the upcoming bids for the Los Angeles Dodgers TV rights.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter has an NBC Sports executive defending its decision not to air live coverage of the Paralympics.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry at the Poynter Institute discusses ESPN taking credit for the work of others and standardizing its editorial policies.

Bradley Klein of Golfweek was not enamored with the amount of commercials in NBC’s Ryder Cup coverage. Thanks to Ed Sherman for the link.

Speaking of Ed, he wonders if this season will be the last for the partnership of Chicago White Sox TV announcers Ken Harrelson and Steve Stone.

Jill Goldsmith from Variety discusses the new carriage deal between Disney and Cablevision that includes WatchESPN, Longhorn Network and other ESPN platforms.

Broadcasting & Cable reports on Golf Channel’s record viewership for the third quarter of 2012.

Dan Daly from Sports Video Group explores how Fox and Turner are preparing to pick up audio during the MLB Postseason.

ESPN’s Kristi Dosh looks at the next Manchester United cash deal.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell wonders how much Master Swindler Curt Schilling can receive for selling his bloody sock. I live in Rhode Island and I’m an angry taxpayer on the hook thanks to Curt’s 38 Studios deal.

Rocco Pendoia at The Street wonders if national sports radio can generate revenue for CBS.

Jordan Rabinowitz at SportsGrid has the painful video of actor Liam Neeson’s appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter as Mike Hill asked him about Tim Tebow. You can only imagine the results.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with SiriusXM’s Chris Russo.

Jerry Barmash at FishbowlNY says YES has received its best ratings in two years for the last two Red Sox-Yankees games.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott says local sports anchor Andrew Catalon will call UConn women’s basketball on SNY this season.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Week 5 NFL TV schedule for the Capital Region.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record looks at the SNY UConn Women’s basketball schedule.

Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger talks with ESPN analyst John Congemi about Saturday’s UConn-Rutgers game.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says IndyCar racing returns next year to Pocono Raceway, but in a shorter form and with ABC televising the race over NBC Sports Network.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun has a slideshow in which he gives grades to the MASN Orioles broadcasters for this season.

David notes the O’s home finale’s ratings on MASN almost doubled from the last season.

In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wants to know why former WaPo columnist Michael Wilbon trashed DC in ESPN The Magazine.

Dan also responds to Michael’s trashing of him.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the final day of the Astros season meant saying goodbye on both TV and radio.

Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes that several Oklahoma City Thunder players were gripped by ESPN’s “Broke” 30 for 30 documentary.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Reds set a ratings record on Fox Sports Ohio.

In the Los Angeles Times, Joe Flint writes about the Disney carriage deal with Cablevision.

Joe Eskanazi of San Francisco explains how the Bleacher Report became so big.

John Carvalho at ChuckOliver.net delves into the feud between South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier and a newspaper columnist.

Andrew Kameka of Mobile Play says WatchESPN is now adding support for Apple AirPlay through iOS6.

Dave Kohl has some various sports media thoughts in The Broadcast Booth.

I’m going to end it there.

Some Wednesday Evening Linkage

I’ll provide a few links on this Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at CBS pushing its Sunday primetime lineup to 7:30 p.m. ET to accommodate the NFL.

Michael Kruse of Grantland has a very good story catching up with former ESPN Radio host Nanci Donnellan aka “The Fabulous Sports Babe”.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report has some thoughts on Notre Dame joining the ACC except for football and hockey.

Ed notes that Michelle Beadle might be headed to mornings on NBC Sports Network.

ESPN’s Kristi Dosh writes that despite losing Notre Dame, the Big East can still get a big TV rights eal.

Darren Rovell of ESPN says Notre Dame won’t becoming a full-time member of the ACC simply due to the fact that it likes its deal with NBC for football.

Georg Szalai from the Hollywood Reporter has CBS Head Honcho Leslie Moonves boasting about Super Bowl ads being sold for more than $4 million per 30 second spot.

Todd Spangler of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Google Fiber has added ESPN and several other Disney networks.

Tim Baysinger of B&C says Fox Sports has partnered with Oklahoma University to provide exclusive content on its Fox Sports Net channels.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek tells us NBC’s Sunday Night Football set another ratings record.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age says ESPN is launching an ad campaign for its pay Insider service.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life writes that thanks to the Olympics, NBC cruised to a summer ratings victory.

John Koblin of Deadspin has the great video of WFAN’s Mike Francesa falling asleep during his NFL Now show that was simulcast on YES last Sunday.

John also looks at the NFL going further into Sunday primetime.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing looks at Tim Brando’s Twitter war with Ohio State fans that stemmed from an interview during his radio show today.

Bill Carter of the New York Times discusses CBS adjusting its Sunday primetime schedule for the NFL.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY says the New York Giants season opener on NBC topped the ratings in the Big Apple.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call is one of the few who likes Bob Costas’ Sunday Night Football halftime commentaries.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the local ratings for the DC Football Team’s season opener and RGIII’s pro debut.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle looks at the new Fox Sports-Oklahoma University rights deal.

David has a few notes in his blog including one on retiring Astros voice Milo Hamilton.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman says the NFL topped the local weekend ratings.

Berry Tremel of The Oklahoman looks at the new Fox Sports-OU relationship.

Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World has details of the Fox Sports-Oklahoma agreement.

Guerin Emig of the World has a Q&A about the new Sooner Sports TV programming arrangement.

Paul M. Banks from the Chicago Sports Media Watch says the White Sox set a 3 year ratings high for Comcast SportsNet on Tuesday.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune anticipates the 50,000th edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the next inductee to the Broadcasters Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame could be going in as both a player and a broadcaster.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says a documentary on soccer match fixing is a reason why Canada needs the CBC.

Sports Media Watch says Monday Night Football got off to a slow start.

SMW notes that the U.S. Open men’s final on Monday afternoon didn’t do as well as it could have.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth noticed an error in one of Fox Sports’  MLB promos.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC Sports Network is increasing its college hockey schedule in case of an NHL lockout.

That’s going to do it for now.

Let’s Get Some Linkage Out

I’ve accumulated a lot of links. They’re slowing down my browser so let’s clear them so I can let my computer get back some memory. Lots of stuff going on.

Let’s start with ESPN stuff as it dominated the news today with its network upfront presentation to advertisers and also confirmed personnel moves.

First, Sports Media Watch talks about Scott Van Pelt reupping with ESPN.

The ESPN Front Row blog has a Q&A podcast with Van Pelt in which he explains why he decided to remain with the Bristolians.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today recaps today’s ESPN upfront presentation in New York.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that with Michelle Beadle leaving ESPN, the network is now focusing on keeping Erin Andrews in the fold.

The Hollywood Reporter goes over some ESPN upfront news including its plans to bring back the 30 for 30 documentary series.

Stuart Levin from Variety also has a story on the new set of 30 for 30 docs.

Jeannie Poggi of Advertising Age also reviews ESPN’s upfronts.

Alex Weprin from TVNewser says ESPN and ABC News will co-produce an interview series to be fronted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts.

Mike Shields from Adweek says ESPN.com will now partner to sell ads.

ESPN’s Vice President of College Sports Programming, Burke Magnus responds to a Dan Wetzel/Yahoo Sports article on the new ACC TV contract.

Chad Scott at ChuckOliver.net explains how third tier media rights work in college sports.

Andy Fixmer and Alex Sherman at Bloomberg report on how ESPN may expand its WatchESPN app to Apple TV platforms.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says CBS is ready to take the coveted 18-49 ratings title from perennial winner Fox with the airing of Super Bowl XLVII next season.

The great SportsbyBrooks tweets that Erik Kuselias’ move to NBC Sports Network from Golf Channel’s Morning Drive is being considered a demotion by network higher-ups. I had a feeling this was the case. Do you consider this tweet inane, Mike Francesa?

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report enjoyed watching Survival Sunday on the Fox Sports platforms, but wondered why the most important English Premier League game was on another network.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has four different calls of the same moment when Manchester City won the EPL title on Sunday.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal writes about a now-defunct Twitter account that got under the skin of several sports network executives.

Earlier today, WFAN’s Mike Francesa

If you want to see Mike’s veins popping out during this rant, you can see it here on the YES Network website.

And while Francesa seemingly hates Twitter, Media Rantz points out that Francesa has an app where he does something similar to Twitter.

Bruce Jenkins from Sports Illustrated says Tennis Channel failed to serve the WTA Tour’s Madrid Open like it did with the ATP’s side of the same tournament.

Phil Allaway at Front Stretch looks at ESPN’s coverage of this past weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Race.

BBC Sport has announced it will have 24 live HD streams dedicated to the Olympics this summer.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBCUniversal has set the Olympics programming lineup for Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News notes that a Federal Appeals Court has upheld an FCC ruling that Time Warner Cable did not discriminate against MASN when it refused to put the regional sports network on its North Carolina systems.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the college conference realignment game won’t be settled for at least another decade.

Matt Boutwell of Maine Sports Media looks at a case I wrote about three years ago, about the mysterious tweeter, BrianAdExec.

NESN goes behind the scenes with Jenny Dell and the network’s production team on what goes on during a typical Red Sox gameday.

Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post has SNY’s president talking about the regional sports network’s plans to air UConn Women’s basketball next season.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with NBC Sports’ Mike Emrick about calling his old team, the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

In the New York Times, Jay Schreiber talks about the last time the Devils and the New York Rangers met in the Eastern Conference Final and how he had to monitor the series without smartphones back then.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on ESPN’s plans to bring back 30 for 30.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY writes that MSG Network will provide of wraparound coverage of the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says YES Network will air a Yankeeography on David Wells this week.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that MSG Network will begin airing the WNBA’s New York Liberty starting this weekend.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says two local global conglomerates including Comcast expect to make some big money from the London Olympics.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com Sports goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s MLS production.

Jeff Barker from the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles and the Washington Nationals are waiting word from MLB on a decision on how much MASN should pay the Nats.

Over to Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog who writes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is making a change in its DC NFL team beat reporter.

Dan talks about former Post columnist Howard Bryant ranting against Washington Nationals ownership.

Mike Finger at the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network may offer more Texas football games in another attempt to get carriage from state cable providers.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT set another local ratings record.

In Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks goes over some hate mail.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune writes that Utahans should be able to see the Running Utes thanks to wider distribution of the Pac-12 Networks than the soon-to-be defunct the mtn.

Tuesday night, KNBC-TV did a story on the busy postseason in Los Angeles, but aired the wrong graphic for the Kings and showed the Sacramento Kings instead of the LA Kings. C’mon, man!

Martin Miller of the Los Angeles Times says ESPN upfront presentation showed the network was ready for some football.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media is telling everyone that a New York Rangers-Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final might not mean boffo ratings as some NHL observers are saying.

Jay Koot of Busted Coverage is disgusted by Erik Kuselias’ engagement to Morning Drive news reader Holly Sonders.

And that’s where we’ll end the links tonight.

Some Tuesday Links

Been crazy with the schedules again, but I’m giving you some linkage today because you’re owed some. Let’s get busy.

Sports Business Daily notes the dueling NFL regular season schedule release shows on ESPN and NFL Network today.

Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal says Comcast wants to replicate the success of its “Xfinity Live!” Philadelphia “mall of sports bars” in other cities.

Jason Fry of the ESPN Poynter Review Project a.k.a., the ESPN Ombudsman reviews the network’s ad-approval process.

Ed Sherman, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business has launched his new sports media website and I’m quite impressed. A couple of links to his site which started this week.

First, Ed talks with the polarizing Skippy Bayless of ESPN.

With tonight’s NFL regular season schedule being unveiled, Ed wonders which network will get Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos debut?

Laura Donovan at the Jane Dough is not a fan of a sexist WFAN ad featuring Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton.

MediaRantz predicts which NFL team will get the most primetime games in 2012.

Congratulations to Patriot-News reporter Sara Ganim who at the age of 24 becomes one of the youngest to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. She wins for her coverage of the Jerry Sandusky-Penn State scandal and she continues to report on the story.

Ivey DeJesus at the Patriot-News has the story on Ganim’s well deserved award for her reporting.

And here are pictures in the Patriot-News newsroom the moment Sara was informed that she won the Pulitzer.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Coconut Water is here to stay or will it become a huge bust?

George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter looks at the BBC and Eurosport putting a portion of their coverage of the London Olympics on the UK’s pay satellite service, BSkyB.

Marc Graser at Variety says Wrestlemania set a pay per view record for the WWE.

Lindsay Rubino at Broadcasting & Cable writes that the NBC Owned Stations group will sell national advertising for four Comcast SportsNet affiliates.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBC Sports Group is winning with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kristie Chong-Adler in ESPN’s Front Row blog looks at ESPN.com folding its Page 2 section into a new ESPN the Magazine-fronted portion of the website.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the video of a new Michael Jordan-themed ESPN promo.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing breaks down one of the funniest and uncomfortable moments in sports television as YES’ Ian Eagle and Mike Fratello seemed to mix it up during last Saturday’s Celtics-Nets game.

However, Ian tells the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says while the videos have gone viral, it was all in fun between he and the Czar of the Telestrator.

Matt at AA still doesn’t buy the explanation that it was a bit.

Bob’s Blitz notes that WFAN’s ratings took a tumble for the second straight Arbitron ratings period, but ESPN Radio New York failed to take up the slack.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that NBC saw higher ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to airing one more game than last year.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Jim Kaat about the Nationals.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog introduces readers to new MASN Nationals reporter Kristina Akra.

Tony Grossi at ESPN Cleveland and WKNR Radio explains why the Browns flagship TV station had to move the team’s first preseason game to another station (scroll down).

Bonnie Miller Rubin of the Chicago Tribune looks back at being her newspaper’s first “gal” sports reporter in 1973 and how far women sportswriters have advanced since then.

Sports Media Watch notes that Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins will be back on NBC this summer to analyze Olympic basketball, a role he filled in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

To Steve Lepore at Puck The Media who notes that the NHL on NBC Sports Network continues to rack up the ratings.

And Dave Kohl of the Broadcast Booth explores the Sacramento market.

I’ll be out for bit, but be back after 7 p.m. ET for the NFL TV schedules. We’ll analyze them together.

MLB Ratings News

Before I start posting the NFL preseason TV schedules, we have some ratings news for ESPN’s Opening Night game between the defending World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins at the new Marlins Park in South Florida.

ESPN2 received a 1.8 overnight rating which was flat with last year’s game which pitted the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Locally, St. Louis saw an astounding 15.9 overnight rating, the highest for any local market for an ESPN/ESN2 Opening Night Game and Miami had a 5.4 which set a record for a regular season MLB game on the ESPN Family of Networks.

Here’s the press release from MLB.

2012 MLB SEASON OPENS WITH STRONG TV RATINGS

With three games in the books, early signs point to fans of baseball on television being excited about the return of the national pastime.

Last night’s Opening Night telecast on ESPN – a 4-1 victory by the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals over the Miami Marlins in the debut of the new Marlins Park – registered a 5.4 rating in Miami, the highest rating ever on record for a regular season game on ESPN in Miami.

St. Louis registered the highest rating in the country at 15.9, the highest rating in any market for an Opening Night telecast on ESPN or ESPN2 in the past five years. Nationally, the game drew a 1.8 overnight rating in the metered markets, even with last year’s Opening Night game between the Dodgers and Giants, also on ESPN.

The MLB Opening Series, two games that took place in Tokyo last week between the A’s and Mariners, registered an 11.3 rating on Japanese network NTV.  The rating marks a +10% increase from the 10.3 rating averaged between the Red Sox and Athletics in 2008, the last time MLB opened the season in Japan.

In today’s Opening Day action, ESPN2 will feature the Red Sox at Tigers at 1:00 p.m. ET followed by the Marlins at Reds at 4:00 p.m. In tonight’s only prime time game, MLB Network will present the Dodgers at Padres at 7:00 p.m. ET, featuring a simulcast of the Dodgers’ local feed with the legendary Vin Scully in the booth.

And on YES, the Mets-Yankees Spring Training game set a ratings record for a New York regional sports network. According to YES, the network saw a 1.29 household rating with 95,000 average households viewing the game. YES says the previous high was set on March 3, 2009 when the Yankees took on Team USA before the World Baseball Classic. That game saw a 1.24 household rating with an average 92,000 households watching the game.

The information came directly from YES Network.

More posts are on the way.

YES Network Crows About Its Five Emmy Awards

Last night at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in New York City, the New York Emmy Awards were handed out. YES Network was a multiple award winner, receiving five Emmys including one for its Forbes SportsMoney show and two for its New York Yankees games, one for Live Sports Event: Series and the other for Live Sports Event: Special. While competitor MSG Network received the most Emmys with 14, YES certainly held its own.

We have YES’ press release on its five New York Emmy Awards.

YES NETWORK CAPTURES THE TWO MOST PRESTIGIOUS TEAM PRODUCTION AWARDS AT NEW YORK EMMY AWARDS DINNER

NEW YORK, April 2, 2012 — The YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the country the past nine years, won the two most prestigious team production awards at last night’s New York Emmy Awards dinner.

YES captured the “Live Sports Event: Series” Emmy for its New York Yankees telecasts, and the “Live Sports Event: Program or Special” Emmy for its coverage of the July 9, 2011 Yankees game in which Derek Jeter registered his 3,000^th career hit, went 5-for-5, and drove in the go-ahead run against Tampa Bay.

YES won a total of five Emmy Awards last night. It also won in the “Technical Achievement” category for its groundbreaking use of its YES-MO camera which presents the clearest, most definitive replays within Yankees telecasts. YES’ Forbes SportsMoney show, co-produced in conjunction with Forbes magazine, won its first Emmy, in the “Business or Consumer: Program or Special” category. YES’ fifth Emmy last night was for research, for Yankeeography, which is co-produced with MLB Productions.  Yankeeography has won 18 Emmy Awards since 2003.

YES, which marked the 10^th anniversary of its launch on March 19, 2012, has won 60 New York Emmy Awards and has earned 266 Emmy nominations since its inception.

And we’ll be back with linkage later in the day.

55th New York Emmy Award Winners in Sports Categories

Last night, the New York Emmy Awards were handed out at the Marriott Marquis Hotel Ballroom in New York City. A star-studded gala featuring the best and brightest in New York City television were on hand. Among the big winners were MSG Network with 14 trophies, the most of any station; Steve Cangialosi of MSG pulling a rare double, Best Sports Anchor and Best Play-by-Play and YES Network winning for Best Live Sports Event: Series for the New York Yankees. SNY’s Ron Darling won for Best Analyst.

The entire list of winners is available at the New York Emmy Awards website.

The sports winners are listed below. First, we’ll post the press release and the New York Emmy Award winners in the sports categories come after a jump break.

THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF THE 55th ANNUAL NEW YORK EMMY^® AWARDS

New York, NY, April 1, 2012 – MSG was the big winner tonight at the 55th Annual New York Emmy® Awards which took place at the Marriott Marquis’ Broadway Ballroom.

Following MSG with 14 Awards was WNBC-TV, which won 11 New York Emmy^® Awards.

WNJU Telemundo 47’s Tormenta de Nieve 2011 took home the Emmy^® for best “Evening Newscast (Under 35 Minutes)” for its January 7, 2011 broadcast.

WCBS-TV took home the Emmy® for best “Evening Newscast (Over 35 minutes)” for its Irene Aftermath.

The Governors’ Award, the New York Chapter’s highest honor, was presented to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for his outstanding contributions to advance and promote television and production in New York City and the successful “Made in NY” program.

The numerical breakdown of winners, as compiled by the independent accountancy firm of Lutz and Carr, LLP, is as follows:

Total Number of Winning Entries

MSG — 14
WNBC-TV — 11
News 12 Connecticut — 7
WPIX-TV — 6
MSG Varsity — 5
WNJU Telemundo 47 — 5
WXTV Univision 41 — 5
YES Network — 5/(MLB Productions for YES Network – 1)
News 12 Long Island — 4
News 12 New Jersey — 4
Thirteen/WNET — 4/(Thirteen/WNET & GetTheMath.org – 1)
WABC-TV — 4
CUNY-TV — 3
NYC Life — 3
Plum Hamptons — 3
WCBS-TV — 3
WNYW Fox 5 — 3
MSG Plus — 2
News 12 Westchester — 2
Newsday — 2
SNY — 2
WGRZ-TV — 2
Bard Entertainment — 1
BronxNet — 1
CBSNewYork.com — 1
EPIX — 1
ESPD — 1
MySmallFactory.com — 1
NJN Public Television – 1
NY1 News — 1
WROC-TV — 1
WXXA Fox 23 — 1

Attached is the complete list of winners for the event. The New York Emmy^® Awards will be broadcast on CUNY-TV, channel 75 on Sunday, April 8th at 9pm. Encore presentation will air Sunday, April 15th at 1pm. For additional information, visit www.nyemmys.org.

After the break, the list of winners in the sports categories for the 55th New York Emmy^® Awards

(continue reading…)

Our NCAA Tournament Tuesday Links

I know not many of you will feel it necessary to watch tonight’s FIRST FOUR™ doubleheader of the NCAA Tournament, but I will. Yes, the Tournament doesn’t start in earnest until Thursday, but seeing some postseason college basketball one day after Selection Sunday is always welcome.

Let’s do some links for you.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks the fanboys off the ledge, debunking the rumor that Erin Andrews is leaving ESPN.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has a viewer’s primer for the NCAA Tournament.

Brian Lowry of Variety says longer postseasons help the networks to offset rising fees to sports leagues.

In Baseball Prospectus, the Biz of Baseball’s Maury Brown gives us the real reason why Jeff Moorad pulled his offer to take control of the San Diego Padres and it wasn’t because of the team’s new contract with Fox Sports.

Tim Baysinger of Fox Sports Detroit says the regional sports network’s long-time VP of communications died suddenly over the weekend.

Mike Farrell at Multichannel News writes that sports networks carry the most expensive price tag for cable and satellite providers.

R. Thomas Umstead and Mike Reynolds of Multichannel sit down with YES Network officials to talk about the regional sports network’s 10th anniversary.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek says golf and sports magazines are preparing to cover The Masters^®.

Bill Imada at Advertising Age says the frenzy over Linsanity may be fading, but the lessons from that period are still being learned.

Simon Dumenco of AdAge writes that social TV data helped to save a Fox Sports Detroit marketing campaign that seemed doomed from the start.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life speaks with a media researcher about the increased ad inventory for the NCAA Tournament thanks to all the games being made available on TV.

Dan Fogarty of Sports Grid has the video of the national anthem being sung by fans led by the celebrated Timbers Army before last night’s MLS game between the Philadelphia Union and the Portland Timbers. It’s an awesome sight to say the least.

All Access reports that DC sports radio personality Doc Walker is staying with ESPN Radio Washington.

Jack Messmer of the Radio Business Report tells us that a new union contract with NBC gives the rank and file access to NBC Sports Network assignments.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says a woman who kept letters from the late George Steinbrenner dating back to when they were teens has died.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY writes that a veteran New York sportscaster is retiring after four decades.

Newsday’s Neil Best says ESPN will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the landmark Title IX which brought women’s sports into equal footing with men’s on the collegiate level.

Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer has comments from MLS Commissioner Don Garber and NBC Sports VP Jon Miller about their new partnership.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times says a local sports radio morning show host called three African American NFL free agents “monkeys”.

A rare Barry Horn sighting for us. In the Dallas Morning News, Barry says the viewership for MLS on NBC Sports Network wasn’t great, but it was up from last year.

Mel Bracht at the Oklahoman notes that Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is fast becoming a TV darling.

John Keating of Fox Sports Detroit remembers the regional sports network’s PR man who passed away last weekend.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune reviews the local TV broadcast of Real Salt Lake’s MLS season opener.

Jeff Pearlman talks with former ESPN’er Sean Salisbury

Jeremiah Oshan of SB Nation says MLS’ debut on NBC Sports Network didn’t do well in the ratings, but was better than on its previous home.

And that will wrap it up for today.

Ringing In Some Monday Linkage

Let’s do our Monday linkage today.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today writes that CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg will have a big “get” during halftime of Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament First Four game.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says MSG Network has a new show dedicated to the best and worst baseball trades and deals.

Mike says YES Network’s national feed will be seen by California cable subscribers for the first time.

Jason Del Ray of Advertising Age looks at SB Nation’s foray into producing original content for YouTube with former ESPN’ers Bomani Jones and Amy K. Nelson.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says the NCAA Tournament can be a sports marketer’s dream.

Kevin Wagstaff of Time Magazine says YouTube will be the official video player for NBCOlympics.com, however, don’t expect to see live Olympics on the video streaming service.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead spent a day following ESPN’s Jay Bilas at the Big East Tournament.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead wonders if NBC’s entrance into MLS will help to grow soccer in America.

Timothy Burke of Deadspin has the funny video of ESPN’s Dick Vitale being Dick Vitale during last night’s Bracketology show.

Ken Belson of the New York Times describes the Mets first-ever radio broadcast which included the late Howard Cosell as pregame host.

Michael O’Keefe of the New York Daily News talks with former ESPN’er Sean Salisbury who has been battling depression and hoping to make a TV comeback bid. The story never mentions Salisbury’s MTV2 gig with the Lingerie Football League.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post writes that TV continues to ignore athletes’ bad behavior.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the tip times for the FIRST FOUR and 2nd Round games of the NCAA Tournament.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that the voices of the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league affiliate get their call to the big club this week.

Bob Rossi in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says NBC will go all out for the NHL Playoffs this spring.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television and I find that I disagree with a couple of his points.

Richard Connelly of the Houston Press says the new Comcast SportsNet Houston plans to build studios that will allow for a Today Show-like atmosphere outdoors.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer is in talks to have a movie based on his interesting life.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says there wasn’t much anger directed at the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee this year from the TV analysts.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Dan McLaughlin returned to Fox Sports Midwest Sunday after a long suspension over his drunk driving arrests.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says Peyton Manning’s visit to the Mile High City gave the local media plenty to talk about over the weekend.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times had a chance to tour Jon Gruden’s offices as he prepared to host several incoming NFL quarterbacks for his ESPN shows this Spring.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about rebranding the conference.

Tom also has his sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the Canadian NHL clubs want some changes in CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Bruce also looks at the coverage of the death of Canadian skier Nik Zoricic over the weekend.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says when Don Cherry leaves Hockey Night in Canada, he will be sorely missed.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox lost a million viewers for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the previous year.

Paul Kennedy at SoccerAmerica feels NBC Sports Network did well in its MLS debut.

SoccerNation says NBC has tapped a well-known composer to produce its MLS theme music.

And that’s going to do it for now.

YES Network Celebrates Ten Years On The Air

This Tuesday, the YES Network will air a special celebrating 10 years on the air. I can’t believe it’s been ten years. It seems just yesterday when it launched and got into a huge pissing match with Cablevision over carriage (does this sound familiar?).

After getting a deal brokered between the City of New York, YES got carried by Cablevision and now is one of the highest rated regional sports networks in the country. While it was not the first regional sports network, it became a model for others across the country and now, teams across the country realize how the double revenue stream of advertising and cable subscriber fees can stuff their pockets.

So on Tuesday, YES looks back at the past decade and will air some of the highlights of carrying the New York Yankees, New Jersey Nets and the first live simulcast of a sports radio show, WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog which also became a model for other RSN’s across the country.

While it will be aired throughout YES’ home in the tri-state region of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, as some RSN’s say in their disclaimer, “May not be available in all areas.”

Let’s look at the YES press release.

10 YEARS OF YES PREMIERES TUESDAY, MARCH 13

Anniversary Program Captures Special Moments of YES Network’s First 10 Years

NEW YORK, February 14, 2012 – The YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the country the past nine years, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a two-hour special entitled 10 Years of YES on Tuesday, March 13 that will highlight its most memorable on-air moments and events since the network launched on March 19, 2002. The special will premiere at 10:00 pm ET on March 13, immediately following YES’ Red Sox-Yankees Spring Training telecast that evening.

10 Years of YES will offer a thorough review of the most indelible moments in the history of the groundbreaking television network. YES’ announcers will regal viewers with their fondest memories of moments and occasions ranging from the exhilarating to the humorous; from the entertaining to the poignant and inspiring.

The show will draw heavily from not only YES’ Yankees coverage, but also its Nets coverage, its signature interview show CenterStage, Yankeeography - which has won 17 New York Emmy Awards since 2003, and the network’s full lineup of studio and magazine shows. 10 Years of YES will also recall the famous and not-so-famous names, faces and stories which have graced the network over the past decade. Among the segments featured in the March 13 special:

• Yankees – a look at the Bronx Bombers’ 2009 World Series championship season, the various individual milestones achieved over the past decade (Jeter’s 3,000th career hit, Mariano Rivera’s milestone saves among them), the team’s final season in the old Yankee Stadium, and the inaugural season in the new Stadium; also included will be exclusive interviews with fans who attended the Red Sox-Yankees game on July 1, 2004 when Derek Jeter dove into the stands
• Nets – a look back at the team’s back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals, the Jason Kidd-Vince Carter-Richard Jefferson era, and a special piece on the Sixers-Nets game of February 23, 2009 in which only after referees viewed YES’ replays did they change their decision by deciding that Devon Harris’ half-court shot did in fact beat the buzzer, thus giving the Nets a 98-96 victory. This marked the first time that instant replay was used to overturn a call at the buzzer to decide the outcome of an NBA game
• A roundtable discussion with YES veteran voices Michael Kay, Ken Singleton, John Flaherty, Ian Eagle and Bob Lorenz during which they reminisce about their most memorable moments on-air.
• Interviews with Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo discussing their pioneering WFAN simulcast on YES – the first live simulcast of a sports radio talk show – and Francesa’s talking about his more recently being a solo host
• We Know Them When – YES provided a stage for young athletes and others who would later hit the big time: YES televised high school basketball games featuring LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Sebastian Telfair; featured current Buffalo Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick during a Harvard football telecast; Hilary Duff appeared on Yankees on Deck in 2003; current Glee star Jenna Ushkowitz hosted Yankees on Deck in 2006; and Robinson Cano and Brett Gardner showed glimpses of what was to come when YES televised their minor league games (Trenton Thunder and Staten Island Yankees, respectively).
• CenterStage – the premier full-length interview show, hosted by Michael Kay, has welcomed some of the biggest names of sports, entertainment and media. Mike Tyson spoke frankly about the demons which helped derail his championship boxing career; Bernie Williams and his band played a set for CenterStage’s studio audience; and Paul Simon had fans at the edge of their seats as he recounted tales from his Hall of Fame singing and songwriting career. A cross-section of bold-faced names including Derek Jeter, Larry David, Jay Z, Shaquille O’Neal and Adam Sandler have sat down next to Kay for revealing interviews
• YES Is Global! – if there is a story to be told, YES has hit the road (or the friendly skies) to tell it. Network personnel have travelled to Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Iraq, Dominican Republic and London to bring viewers great original programming. YES produced and televised live games in Japan (Yankees) and London (Nets). YES even conducted a sit-down interview with then-First Lady Laura Bush in the White House.

There’s no mention of ESPN’s Michelle Beadle who hosted “Kids on Deck” and “Ultimate Road Trip” plus did work on Nets games on YES. Maybe they’ll give us a brief glimpse.

Anyway, 10 Years of YES premieres Tuesday night following Red Sox-Yankees Spring Training.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks

Lots of things to get to today. Couldn’t do the links yesterday. Going to do a big megalink edition for you.

Let’s get cracking, but first, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks complete with a link to the busy College Basketball Viewing Picks which will be updated throughout the weekend.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Oscar-winner and ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham.

Sports Illustrated issued a statement standing by its feature story this week by George Dohrmann on UCLA’s troubles.

Yesterday, Captain Blowhard, a.k.a Bill Simmons of Grantland interviewed President Obama for his podcast. I haven’t listened to it nor read the transcript as I don’t want to be bothered. Dan Levy of Bleacher Report did and had some problems with it.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider’s Sports Page lists some writers who were most likely jealous over Simmons’ sitdown with the President.

Sports Business Daily says Captain Blowhard threw a hissy fit this week after Duke refused to issue a credential to one of Grantland’s writers for Saturday’s game against North Carolina.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable writes that NFL Today and Inside the NFL host James Brown will become a special correspondent for CBS News.

Gabriel Beltrone of Adweek writes that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is pitching Sprint phones.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to Super Bowl XLVI, NBC won the February sweeps, marking the third straight year that sports has steered the month.

Ryan Berenz of Channel Guide Magazine writes that NBC Sports Network will be all over a French bicycle race this month.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says while we know MLB will announce expanded Wild Card Playoff games today, we don’t know which network will air them.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com writes that the competition among mainstream sports websites is very intense.

Pam Modarelli-Hegner at Sports TV Jobs writes about the types of personalities and egos journalists encounter when interviewing athletes.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder writes in Puck Drunk Love about ESPN’s failure to cover the NHL.

In his regular site, Matt says CNBC’s Darren Rovell assigned his baby daughter several social networking accounts on her first day on earth.

Brady Green at AA has video of the Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia’s very funny impression of ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian that aired on Baseball Tonight.

John Daly at the Daly Planet looks at Showtime’s Inside NASCAR program taking the spring and summer off after one episode this week.

Barry Petchesky over at Deadspin notes that ESPN came up with another potentially racist headline for an Asian-American athlete.

Rachel Margolis at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with college basketball analyst Brooke Weisbrod who has a rather interesting day job that keeps her busy during the work week.

Joe Favorito says President Obama is courting sports fans through the Captain Blowhard podcast.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media reviews the new hockey movie, “Goon.”

Sports Media Watch has some of the ratings from last week’s sports action.

SMW says Jeremy Lin is helping to move the ratings needle for ABC and TNT.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says a San Diego sports anchor’s criticism of Danica Patrick shows that sexism still exists in sports.

Also in the National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos laments how social media has watered down traditional sports journalism.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan talks with ESPN’s college basketball analyst Doris Burke. High praise and I agree. Doris is one of the best.

Chad Finn of the Globe says despite having his original role reduced, Dale Arnold is remaining at WEEI.

Chad has some advice for rookie ESPN MLB analyst Terry Francona.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen writing in SB Nation Boston says Bill Simmons has had a meteoric rise to stardom.

Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says it was the Worcester Sharks’ radio voice who came up with the idea to have popular New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski spike a puck before a game last month.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks back at the 50th anniversary of one of the major milestones in sports that barely was covered by the media at the time.

Newsday’s Neil Best says two ESPN’ers will speak at their high school alma mater next week.

Neil says the Nets are not drawing well on YES.

Neil notes that CBS Sports Network utilizes a husband & wife team for its college hockey games.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick mocks the bracketologists handicapping the NCAA Tournament field.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NHL on NBC voice Mike Emrick.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says MSG Network continues to score with Knicks games.

Jerry reports that former WNBC-TV sports anchor Len Berman is back on TV in NYC.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air the America’s Cup next year.

Pete says YES is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NBC Sports Network is adding NHL games to its schedule for the playoff drive.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that a local service provider has snagged the rights to an incoming minor league hockey team.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes has the latest developments in Baltimore-Washington, DC sports media at Press Box.

South

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that a local sports anchor is recovering from a stroke he suffered last year.

David has a little more on the story in his blog.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with Fox Sports Oklahoma NBA studio analyst Stephen Howard.

Mel has more here with Stephen Howard.

Mel says NBA TV is marking the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game.

Midwest

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter says a movie script has been written about a deaf mute Reds player who changed the way umpires made calls.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wonders if another network will join Fox and TBS in airing the MLB Postseason this year.

Bob says ESPN still leads the way in cable subscriber fees, meaning how much cable and satellite providers are required to pay ESPN per subscriber.

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

Ed says a Big Ten Network profile of former Indiana University coach Bob Knight will mostly focus on his achievements and hardly touches on his tumultuous exit.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin notes NBA TV’s documentary on Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says not many Missourians will be able to see local teams in conference tournaments next week.

West

Dan Caesar of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that BYU is better off an a football independent rather than share money and TV time with other teams when it was part of the Mountain West.

John Maffei at the North County Times says local prep basketball games will be harder to find on local TV this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says who knew that product placement would be the big winner during Fox’s airing of the Daytona 500.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says CBS and MSG Network are considering buy the Dodgers in separate bids in order to get their TV rights.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at how the media covered (barely) Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game 50 years ago today.

Tom has some news and notes this week.

Canada

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says CBC premieres part two of the movie on Don Cherry’s life this weekend.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail can’t believe how well NHL Trade Deadline coverage does in the ratings.

Bruce says social media has changed sports reporting forever.

And that will do it. Enjoy your weekend.