Time to give you some links today.
Mel Bracht of The Daily Oklahoman writes that Cox Communications will beam 25 games of the New Orleans Hornets into Oklahoma City. As you know, the Hornets played in Oklahoma City for two years while New Orleans recovered from Hurricane Katrina. And the Hornets have returned to New Orleans for this season. And Bracht gives his media notebook for today which includes the ratings for the Patriots-Cowboys from Sunday.
Neil Best of Newsday blogs about the large group of reporters that have descended on Tampa to find out about the fate of New York Yankees manager Joe Torre.
In the New York Times, Richard Sandomir says ESPN’s E:60 news magazine did not break any new ground and some of the stories had been previously reported. Robert Weintraub of Slate.com agrees with Sandomir and goes even further damning ESPN.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that Monday Night Football hit an all-time ratings low as it was up against the ALCS and NLCS earlier this week.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Jerry Remy provided some of the analysis on NESN for Games 3 & 4 of the ALCS that Tim McCarver of Fox did not. I know the whole name of the game is exclusivity and revenue for the networks, but it would be nice if the local cable or over the air flagships could broadcast the games so fans would be served. Until 1975, this was allowed, but when ABC got involved in the MLB picture, local TV was out.
Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that Notre Dame football is the subject of laughs for NBC’s Saturday Night Live. And Sherman says that last night would have been a good night to watch a Blackhawks home game, but it was not to be.
The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams has a story on his alma mater, South Florida, which is getting more publicity in the wake of its #2 ranking in the first BCS poll of the season.
The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron talks about the channel switch of TBS, Golf Channel and other networks by Comcast.
Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star writes that the city is going to get its third sports radio station.
Dick Scanlon of the Lakeland (FL) Ledger says late night baseball playoff games aren’t going away anytime soon.
Gary Baines in the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera writes that the media has done an about face in its treatment of the Rockies now that the team is heading to the World Series.
Maryellen Fillo of the Hartford Courant says Richard Simmons and horror author Stephen King will be part of the new ESPN “This is SportsCenter” campaign.
Rick Malwitz from the New Brunswick (NJ) Home News Tribune has a story about ESPN preparing for the South Florida-Rutgers game tonight.
The Colonial Athletic Association which includes George Mason, James Madison and Drexel has announced it will have 38 games on the ESPN family of networks, the most the conference has had aired on the Alleged Worldwide Leader.
Chris Elsbury from the Connecticut Post profiles former Duke center and current FSN/CBS college basketball analyst Mike Gminski who will be inducted into a local Hall of Fame.
From the Orlando Sentinel, Steve Doyle remembers the birth of Mr. October 30 years ago tonight.
Joe Freeman in the Oregonian talks about the launch of Comcast SportsNet Portland in three weeks.
Paul Friesen of the Winnepeg Sun reports that ESPN’s Chris Berman will be visiting Canada next June to be the keynote speaker for a convention in the Great White North.
A lot of links on this Thursday. Check back for any breaking news and updates.
