Time for some links on this Thursday.
Starting with the Associated Press which states that the American Sportscasters Association has named Lesley Visser as the top female sportscaster.
Here’s the release from the American Sportscasters Association and those who are ranked after Lesley.
Based on her career, I would agree with this. Lesley was the first female sideline reporter for Monday Night Football and was the first woman to host the Super Bowl trophy presentation. Lesley is also an excellent writer, worked for the Boston Globe and was taught by one of the best NFL reporters, Will McDonough. I cannot disagree with the ASA’s choice at all.
Comparing Lesley to Erin Andrews, Erin is more of a personality and I would not even begin to consider her as a journalist. In fact, she is becoming bigger than the event she covers which is a danger to any sports broadcaster. That’s when you start losing credibility and while I love looking at Erin and love posting and linking to her pictures, as a journalist, she hardly measures up to Lesley, Andrea Kremer or any of the pioneering women who are on the ASA list. In fact, she’s not even considered which would be correct in my mind. Putting on my journalist hat which I did wear in the 1980’s through the early 21st Century, I would consider Lesley, Andrea, Bonnie Bernstein, Andrea Joyce and Linda Cohn (misspelled on the ASA website!) fellow journalists. Erin who says TMZ.com is her favorite website cannot even be considered in the same league as the other women.
Off my soapbox now. To the other links
ESPN’s Ron Franklin tells Mel Bracht of the Oklahoman that he’ll retire after the 2010 NIT.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Phil Ivey in the World Series of Poker’s last table will bring the ratings for ESPN.
Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch says Comcast is pleased over the preliminary numbers for Red Sox on Demand.
Over to Neil Best of Newsday says WFAN remains the sports king in New York. Neil writes about the whole shenanigans at Mad Dog Radio. And Neil says YES and SNY are grabbing ratings for their baseball coverage.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local sports talk show will replaced with national programming next week as the host will be on vacation.
Ray Frager of the Sports Media Journal feels that Twitter is not for everyone.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that it’s Tom Watson’s wish to be playing at the Open Championship on Sunday instead of working for ESPN.
Tim Lemke of the Washington Times reports that Australia is looking to ban alcohol sponsorship of sporting events.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews a Friday column on TVG trackside reporter and host Christina Olivares.
The Pacific Business News reports that Hawaiian Airlines has been named the sponsor of the inaugural Diamond Head Classic, a college basketball tournament owned by ESPN Regional Television.
Last night, I linked to a story in Mediapost which stated ESPN is using clips of SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt to sell upfront spots. It just so happens I have found the site that contains those clips.
Tonight, Wayne Friedman of Mediapost says Versus continues to rack up good ratings for the Tour de France.
Sports business writer Evan Weiner writes that network TV contracts could be responsible for labor actions by the NFL and the NBA in 2011.
John Consoli of Mediaweek says it was Cartoon Network that helped TNT cement its long-term contract for the PGA Championship.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says St. Louis supported the All-Star Game with high viewership.
Steve Lepore of Puck The Media suggests 10 NHL games Versus should air.
A couple of programming notes.
On Friday, Jessie Karangu, a 16 year old internet radio talk show host will speak with UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghe and Jessie has asked me to plug his show which I will do. The show starts at 7 p.m. (I believe that is Eastern time) and you can call in and ask questions of the UFL Commish.
Also on Friday, ESPN’s Outside the Lines has obtained some interesting tape in regards to the Pacman Jones case:
ESPN has obtained never-before-released documents, as well as video of Adam “Pacman” Jones “making it rain” in a Las Vegas strip club, which precipitated a melee that ended in a triple shooting outside the club. The video, evidence jurors are likely to see when Jones takes the stand as a witness, will run Friday on ESPN.com, live SportsCenters, 3 p.m. Outside the Lines and ESPNEWS
I do respect the work of Outside the Lines, so I’ll give that a plug as well.
See you Friday.
