Lots of stuff to give you.
First, Michael Vick has agreed to a plea agreement and possible prison time. The Feds had recommended he serve 18 – 36 months in a Federal penitentiary, but Vick’s attorneys wanted that reduced to under a year. According to CNN, he’s expected to plead guilty at U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia next Monday. CNBC’s Darren Rovell explores the recent popularity of Vick in both Google hits and eBay sales despite the negative stories regarding his alleged involvement in dogfighting.
The Sports Media Watch blog looks at the overnight weekend ratings for the sporting weekend. MLB on Fox dropped for the 8th week in a row despite having the Yankees back on the schedule.
And thanks to Sports Media Watch, we find from the New York Times that Keith Olbermann will host a special Sunday primetime edition of his MSNBC program, Countdown on parent network NBC just before the Philadelphia Eagles-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL exhibition game next week. I don’t find that to be necessarily a good lead-in. Will Countdown be more sports oriented that night? I do like watching Countdown on MSNBC every once in a while, but having Keith pontificate on politics before the NFL? I don’t know if that will work. I know NBC is trying to reintroduce Keith to sports audience, but that can be done another way. Here’s the press release from NBC Universal.
DirecTV will offer some 300 hours of the US Open later this month from USA Network including interactive features and multiple channels. They did this last year, but the satellite pay service is devoting five channels to the Grand Slam tennis event.
In the San Jose Mercury News, John Ryan’s blog, The Morning Buzz, looks into the claims of DirecTV which offers the NFL Sunday Ticket pay for view package.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reports in his blog, “Four DVR’s, no waiting” that today was a tough opening day for the city’s 4th sports radio station. And Barron says Jim Rome will broadcast live from Houston tomorrow.
PGA Tour.com has relaunched its website in time for its “playoff” run which no one understands.
CBC Sports czar Scott Moore is apologizing profusely for cutting away from the Saskatchewan-Edmonton CFL game Saturday night only allowing residents in Saskatchewan and those who had online access to watch the rest of the broadcast. The CBC aired the game to the entire nation from the point when it cut away earlier this morning.
That’s it. I’ll give you the viewing picks in a few.
