Woke up late after I struggled to stay up to watch the US-Japan bronze medal game in baseball online and the Argentina-Nigeria men’s soccer gold medal match. I fell asleep and missed the endings of both games. But I was awake long enough to discover that Barack Obama had chosen Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Since this is not a political blog, I won’t be commenting on that, but immediately, MSNBC went back into political coverage and will probably stay there throughout the weekend.
As we head to the end of the Olympics, it’s time to give you some linkage on this Saturday.
I’ll begin with CNBC’s Darren Rovell who says the International Olympic Committee’s strange rules are preventing athletes from getting endorsements the day after the Games.
Brent Hunsberger of The Oregonian’s Playbooks and Profits blog looks into Nike’s alleged efforts to squash rumors it had convinced Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang to pull out of his race so as not to minimize its investment in him. Interesting.
Tripp Mickle of the Sports Business Daily/Journal’s Olympic website notes that bloated and overrated TV host Oprah Winfrey is working hard to get every U.S. medalist, not just gold medalist, but every single one on her show.
Jim Williams writing for the SBD/SBJ is enjoying Ato Boldon’s work on track & field for NBC.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also likes Ato Boldon’s analysis of the sprint events at track & field for NBC and adds Boldon’s comments about Usain Bolt have made him public enemy #1 in Jamaica and even in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has been mostly quiet regarding the Olympics and today, he has some observations.
Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says the announcement of Joe Biden as Obama’s running mate ran into some glitches during NBC’s late night Olympics coverage early this morning.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News notes how the Olympics has stomped on the Cowboys in the ratings this summer. And Barry feels NBC is treating Olympics basketball like a bastard stepchild.
Tom Maurstad of the Morning News looks at the difference between Super Bowl and Olympics ads.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says NBC’s Mary Carillo and Cris Collinsworth are making sure no one forgets that the Olympics are fun.
Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News talks about how the Olympics have made big ratings, are big business and also have some big problems.
Ron Judd of the Seattle Times live blogged NBC’s primetime coverage on Friday.
Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News tells us what we can expect for the Closing Ceremonies. And Tom has some closing thoughts on the Olympics.
Steve Springer of the Los Angeles Times says online, NBCOlympics.com was not even number 1 in web visits.
Emily Steel from the Wall Street Journal says NBC did not make as much revenue from online video as it could have.
Elizabeth Kim of the Stamford (CT) Advocate looks at the team behind NBC’s Olympics website.
Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel explores whether Tiki Barber called Jenna Wolfe a “cunt” on MSNBC.
Scott Greczkowski of Multichannel News says DirecTV gave its customers a better presentation of the Olympics than Dish Network.
William Houston from the Toronto Globe and Mail says digital media is the big winner from the Beijing Olympics.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has some suggestions of which Olympic sports should be tosssed for being unwatchable.
The Sports Media Watch says the Olympics had its lowest rated night on Thursday. The SMW notes that MLB on Fox hit its lowest ratings last Saturday. And here are the SMW’s weekend ratings predictions.
The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott has some New York State Capital Region radio notes for us. And Ken says Chris Russo will be a guest on a local radio show on Sunday. In his Saturday column, Ken writes that today’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga will be sent out nationally on radio.
The New York Post’s TV Sports blog reports Russo will be a guest on Fox 5’s Good Day New York program on Monday to promote his new show on Sirius XM.
Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says 1250 ESPN Radio has gone in a different direction after Mark Madden was fired.
Jonathan V. Last of the Weekly Standard says Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is doing his best to destroy DC sports radio.
The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson writing a column for Pro Football Weekly says the reunion of Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann should work magic on NBC’s Football Night in America.
Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog has most of the national college football telecasts for this fall. Noticeably missing are SEC games as those are selected by CBS and ESPN about 10 days before they air.
Brian T. Sm
ith of the Bristol (TN) Herald Courier calls ESPN/ABC’s Dr. Jerry Punch the Voice of NASCAR. And Brian profiles ESPN/ABC’s pit reporters Jamie Little and Shannon Spake.
You have a lot of links on this Saturday. I have another update for you coming up because I don’t want the news to get buried in this entry.
