Let’s do your links for this Wednesday which will probably won’t as busy as yesterday, but let’s see.
Starting with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who talks about the growing popularity of the always lovely Erin Andrews. The next story broke late yesterday. ESPN and former Baseball Tonight analyst Harold Reynolds have settled his wrongful termination lawsuit and USA Today’s Hiestand and Bob Nightengale say both sides are claiming victory.
Friend of Fang’s Bites, Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his weekly installment of his Media Circus including his support for Tom Hammond to replace Bryant Gumbel on the NFL Network.
Getting caught up with some Neil Best linkage. He was quite busy Tuesday writing for his Watchdog blog at Newsday.com. Neil says the final numbers for the views at March Madness on Demand set a new record. Neil mentions that Charles Barkley was not happy with the media treatment of Isiah Thomas. Apparently, tonight’s Nets game bumped from YES because of Red Sox-Yankees, will be bumped from WWOR-TV as well because of Flavor Flav’s new show.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the new Citi Field will have a tribute to the late Jackie Robinson. And Sandomir also writes about the settlement between ESPN and Harold Reynolds.
Joe Favorito also looks at the Jackie Robinson tribute at Citi Field and how he has been embraced by MLB.
From CNBC’s Darren Rovell, he says Candace Parker could become the new face of the WNBA. And Darren says the real winner of The Masters was not Trevor Immelman, but Nike.
George M. Thomas from the Akron Beacon Journal has the last word on the ratings for The Masters.
The Sports Media Watch has the TV ratings for most of the weekend’s events. The blog notes that while the ratings for Yankees-Red Sox on Sunday were good for ESPN, they weren’t as high as in the past. And Paul Sen has some thoughts on the new NFL schedule.
Rush & Malloy of the New York Daily News write that ESPN has put the kybosh on a planned Bill Simmons podcast with Senator Barack Obama.
John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News looks at last night’s Real Sports interview with Senator Barack Obama. Ryan also has a story on the Golden State Warriors filing suit against Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.
There are Red Sox bars on the West Coast, especially in the Los Angeles area for transplanted New Englanders, but did you know there’s a bar for Montreal Canadiens fans in SoCal? Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a video on the Habs hangout from NHL.com in his Farther Off the Wall blog.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle posted an entry in his Four DVRs, no waiting blog from the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in Chicago.
William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that despite the Raptors’ disappointing season, the TV ratings for the team are up and Houston reports that NBC is about to sign a two year extension with the NHL.
The Sports Media Journal has an interview with Maury Brown from the Business of Sports Network websites. Maury has the announcing lineup for TNT’s coverage of the NBA playoffs. And Maury is asking you to get educated on autism. On Monday, I linked to his very personal blog entry about his son being diagnosed with autism. Maury is one of the good people on the net and please do what you can to support the Autism Society of America.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says TNT’s Charles Barkley feels sorry for the Bucks organization.
Julianne Smolinski of TV Week reports that ESPN and the NBA have collaborated on a playoff-themed ad campaign.
ESPN has announced the field for December’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge which includes North Carolina vs. Michigan State at Ford Field in Detroit.
Apparently ESPN has come out with another cell phone in its second attempt to appeal to sports fans.
The Fort Mill (SC) Times says the NFL Network and Time Warner Cable are still far apart on a carriage agreement.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the Cowboys will remain in its traditional 4:15 p.m. ET slot on Thanksgiving Day on Fox after rumors it would be moved to the night slot for the NFL Network.
John Consoli of Mediaweek talks about the NFL Network starting its TV schedule earlier in the season.
That’s all for now.
