Let’s give you the Friday media links. It’s another busy weekend for both viewing and awards as the New England Emmy Awards will be handed out on Saturday. I’ll have a list as soon as it’s made available. In the meantime, let’s go over your viewing weekend.
Weekend Viewing Picks
One of the bigger events for golf asides from the Majors is the Players Championship. Tiger Woods is not in the field and that could mean lower ratings for both the Golf Channel and NBC which are televising the tournament. The Golf Channel finishes its coverage on Friday, then NBC takes over Saturday and Sunday with coverage starting at 2 p.m.
The NBA Playoffs continue this weekend. The Eastern Conference semifinals will be held on Saturday as Game 4 of the Detroit-Orlando series will be seen on ESPN at 5 p.m. and Game 3 of the Celtics-Cavs series will be on ABC in primetime at 8 p.m. On Sunday, both Western Confernce semifinals will be seen. ABC has Game 4 of the Lakers-Jazz series at 3:30 p.m. while TNT takes Game 4 of the Hornets-Spurs series Sunday night at 8.
Over to the NHL, the Conference Finals will be in primetime. Versus and CBC have Game 2 of Dallas-Detroit on Saturday at 7, and Game 2 of Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Sunday at 7:30.
Fox Sports has its usual slate of three regional baseball games Saturday afternoon at 3:55 and none of them have the team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. The Yankees return to Fox as they will head to Motown to take on the Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee takes on St. Louis and the Cubs host Arizona. WGN will have the White Sox at Seattle Saturday at 10 p.m. and the D’backs-Cubs Sunday at 2:10 p.m. TBS will show Yankees-Tigers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ESPN’s Sunday night game will be the Red Sox at Minnesota.
NASCAR has another Saturday night race. It’s at Darlington for the Dodge Challenger 500 at 7.
Qualifiying for the Indianapolis 500 takes place this weekend and ESPN and ABC will have coverage throughout the weekend.
Formula 1 travels to Istanbul, not Constantinople for the Turkish Grand Prix and Speed will have the coverage, Sunday morning at 7:30.
And boxing fans can watch the fight for the WBC Super Lightweight title on Showtime at 10:45 p.m. Saturday.
The entire slate of weekend sports coverage can be seen here.
To your links now.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand gives blog critics a lecture.
East and Mid-Atlantic
David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch has an update on the Gordon Edes vs. Boston Globe buyout story.
Paul Flannery of Boston Magazine’s Boston Daily Blog reports that the Boston Globe’s Marc Spears will take over the NBA beat from Peter May who took a buyout this year.
The Boston Globe’s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell says NESN’s Heidi Watney jumped at the chance to work in Boston.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times previews the new book by YES analyst Bobby Murcer.
Neil Best’s Friday column focuses on Yankees manager Joe Girardi’s growing pains in dealing with the New York media. And Neil has Yankees beat reporters talking about Girardi’s relationship with the media in his blog. Neil has a little more about this subject.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says WFAN’s Mike Francesca is no Oprah Winfrey.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels Mets manager Willie Randolph is being met with plenty of resistance from his players who have weekly radio interviews.
Ray Frager from the Baltimore Sun says NBC Sports will try to capture every splash at the 17th hole during the Players Championship this weekend.
West
John Maffei from the North County Times says Padres fans are venting about the team’s bad start on the radio postgame show.
The Ventura County Star’s Jim Carlisle is excited about HBO/NFL Films returning to nearby Oxnard to shoot this year’s Hard Knocks program at Dallas Cowboys training camp.
Nice to see Larry Stewart of the Los Angeles Times writing a TV column again, albeit for one week. In the Sound and Vision column, Stewart says the widow of the late Voice of the Lakers Chick Hearn says he would have loved to see his former team in the NBA playoffs this season.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has put his media column and notes on his Farther Off the Wall blog. And here are some additional notes from Hoffarth.
South
Doug Nye from The State in Columbia, SC says TV viewers don’t know how good they have things these days.
The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports that sports radio talker The Ticket beat rival WQAM in the winter Arbitron ratings.
Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel lists his favorite ten sports-themed Seinfeld episodes.
David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Rockets are now on hunt for a new radio announcing team.
Ray Buck in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the four overtime Game 6 between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks this past Sunday night into Monday morning made for a long day for the FSN Southwest crew.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman has a bunch of stories today. He first writes that sportscaster and former Oklahoma U. QB Jack Mildren is undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. Mel says sports radio talk show host Jim Traber is combative despite undergoing colon surgery two months ago. In his notebook, Mel writes about the ESPN documentary on former Mets manager Bobby Valentine. And finally, Mel has his viewing picks.
Canada
William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says legendary Hockey Night in Canada voice Bob Cole plans to continue working even as he goes into his upper 70’s.
The Vancouver Sun has a blurb on Don Cherry’s appearance on NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s show on XM Satellite Radio yesterday.
Midwest
Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that Robin Ventura will pinch-hit for Steve Stone on the White Sox radio broadcasts this weekend. Teddy has his five weekend viewing picks.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ratings for the NBA Playoffs could not be any better this season.
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local radio station will air a local road race this weekend.
Judd Zulgad from the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that a local TV sports anchor has no plans to leave despite seeing cutbacks all around his newsroom.
From the Rochester Post-Bulletin, Paul Christian writes that the island green at the TPC Sawgrass is one of the most famous golf holes in the world.
The Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan says FSN had good ratings for the Royals even with a rainout (scroll down).
Blogs
Joe Favorito’s public relations and sports marketing blog says giving a reporter access is very important to brand imaging and bringing a story to a wider audience.
The 38Cliches blog feels Jon Rish did a good job filling in for Dave O’Brien on the Red Sox-Detroit game on Wednesday.
The Sports Media Watch says the Rangers-Penguins series ended too quickly for Versus and NBC.
Michael Senno of the Biz of Hockey reports that Don Cherry makes his ESPN debut tonight.
Awful Announcing has the full video of the Rangers-Mariners brawl last night including the section where FSN Southwest’s Tom Grieve blasts Richie Sexson for charging the mound.
If you’re a Lost fan like I am, the Big Lead has some good Easter Eggs from last night’s episode.
That’s it. Good day, sir. Back later with viewing picks and an update.
