We have a bunch of press releases to post tonight. It’s not going to be a scrollfest, but enough to make this a good sized post.
Starting with NESN which will air a commercial-free special a week from this Saturday on Jim Rice’s induction into the Hall of Fame.
NESN TO PREMIERE JIM RICE: THE JOURNEY TO COOPERSTOWN ON SATURDAY, JULY 18 AT 9 PM
Original NESN Entertainment (ONE) Special to air Commercial Free
BOSTON, MA – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, will premiere Jim Rice: The Journey to Cooperstown on Saturday, July 18 at 9:00 PM. This Original NESN Entertainment special will recount Rice’s passage from a segregated small town high school team to the daunting left field role at Fenway Park during the tumultuous 1970’s in Boston. Former teammates including, Ellis Burks, Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman, Fred Lynn, Jerry Remy and Carl Yastrzemski share anecdotes and stories from his remarkable career.
Earlier this month, NESN cameras accompanied Jim to his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina where Rice introduces viewers to the people and places which shaped him as a ballplayer, and how they influenced his career with the Red Sox.
“Along with Red Sox fans everywhere, we are very excited that Jim is receiving the recognition he richly deserves as one of baseball’s all-time greats,” said Joel Feld, NESN’s executive vice president of programming and executive producer. “Jim humbly allowed us to follow him back to his hometown in South Carolina to document where he grew up and to meet many of the people that helped make him into the extraordinary player and person that he is today.”
Jim Rice was one of the most feared sluggers in all of baseball in the late 70’s and 80’s while playing leftfield for the Boston Red Sox. He was an 8-time All-Star and was voted the American League MVP in 1978. Since retiring in 1989, Rice has served in several roles in the Red Sox organization including the team’s hitting coach from 1995 to 2000 and since 2003 he has served as a studio analyst on NESN. In January 2009, Rice was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 15th and final year of eligibility.
Here’s an update on the MLB All-Star Final Vote.
LEAD CHANGES HIGHLIGHT DAY TWO OF ALL-STAR GAME SPRINT FINAL VOTESandoval and Kinsler re-gain top spots in tight races after briefly losing them overnight
NEW YORK, July 7, 2009 – Both races in this year’s All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote saw lead changes last night after day one frontrunners Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants and Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers fell behind Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies and Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers, respectively. At the 48-hour mark, Sandoval and Kinsler have each re-gained those leads with balloting ahead of last year’s record pace as 22.2 million votes have been cast exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites.
While Sandoval and Victorino swapped the top spot on the ballot last night, Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers each have garnered nearly two million votes and are looming in this very close race for the final roster spot on the 2009 National League All-Star Team. They are followed by Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals.
Over in the American League, Inge eclipsed Kinsler for first place last night before the Rangers second baseman re-gained the lead earlier today. Overall, Kinsler, Inge and Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim each have tallied more than two million votes while Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays and Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays are in position to make a run.
The eighth annual All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot commenced exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites at 2 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday and will continue until the voting concludes at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 9, 2009.
Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones and fans can send the word “Vote” to 1122 to receive the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot. Standard text rates apply. In Canada, fans should text the word “Vote” to 88555.
Here is y
our schedule of tournaments that will be aired on the Golf Channel this week.
GOLF CHANNEL TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
July 6 – July 12, 2009
John Deere Classic
Dates: 7/9 – 7/12
Venue: TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill.
Airtimes (Eastern):
Thursday 3 – 6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Replay)
Friday 3 – 6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Replay)
GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:
Rich Lerner (Play by Play)
Peter Oosterhuis (Analyst)
Bobby Clampett (Tower)
Mark Lye (Tower)
Matt Gogel (On Course)
Scott Walker (Interviews)
Broadcast Notes: Thursday – Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET, PGA TOUR Primetime will re-air the opening rounds of the John Deere Classic with special bonus coverage not seen during the live telecast…
3M Championship
Dates: 7/10 – 7/12
Venue: TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minn.
Airtimes (Eastern):
Friday 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. (Live)
Saturday 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 7 – 9:30 p.m. (Live)
GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:
Brian Hammons (Play by Play)
Frank Nobilo (Analyst)
John Mahaffey (Tower)
David Marr (On Course)
Donna Caponi-Byrnes (On Course)
Ford Wayne Gretzky Charity Classic presented by Samsung
Dates: 7/9 – 7/12
Venue: The Georgian Club, Georgian Bay, Canada/ Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay, Georgian Bay, Canada
Airtimes (Eastern):
Thursday 1 – 3 p.m. (Live)
Friday 1 – 3 p.m. (Live)
Saturday 1 – 4 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 1 – 4 p.m. (Live)
GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Talent:
Jerry Foltz (Play by Play)
Curt Byrum (Analyst)
Jason Buha (On Course)
John Maginnes (On Course)
Adam Barr (Interviews)
The Barclays Scottish Open
Dates: 7/9 – 7/12
Venue: Loch Lomond, Glasgow, Scotland
Airtimes (Eastern):
Thursday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Live)
Friday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Live)
Saturday 9:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. (Live) / 9:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Prime Replay)
Sunday 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 (Live) / 9:30 – 11:30 p.m. (Prime Replay)
Tennis.com says it was the destination for fans during Wimbledon. I’ll have to take the site’s at its word.
TENNIS.COM DRAWS MORE THAN ONE MILLION
UNIQUE USERS FOR WIMBLEDON
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 7, 2009 – They may play on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon in “classic tennis whites,” but when fans want the news, they turn to the Internet. For the second consecutive Grand Slam tournament, TENNIS.com, the world’s leading tennis website, attracted more than one million unique visitors and over 11 million page views.
TENNIS.com’s increased traffic during the Wimbledon fortnight represented a 34% increase in page impressions and 25% increase in unique visitors from last year. The 2009 French Open, which is one day longer than Wimbledon, garnered a record 1.1 million unique visitors to TENNIS.com this year.
The same growth was evident during the classic final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. The match attracted 104,022 unique users and 994,250 page views. Last year’s showdown between Federer and Rafael Nadal recorded 83,234 unique users and 643,171 page views.
“The extraordinary growth of TENNIS.com is something we’re very proud of, and a testament to the quality and quantity of our reporting,” said James Martin, Editor of TENNIS.com. “Amid our competitors, we’re the first to post on breaking news and big match results. Tennis fans know that if they want to stay on top of the game, TENNIS.com is the best place to go.”
Here are just a few examples of TENNIS.com delivering breaking news from Wimbledon first.
Friday, June 19: Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon
- TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 2:14 pm (as it happened)
- No other major sports website (ESPN.com, ESPN.com’s tennis page, SI.com, Yahoo! Sports’ tennis page, or FoxSports.com) has the story mentioned through 2:16 pm
- At 2:21 pm, ESPN.com reports the story on their main page and tennis page and offers a link
- Yahoo! Sports tennis still
had no report at 2:22 pmWednesday, June 24: Maria Sharapova eliminated in second round of Wimbledon
- TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 10:23 am (as it happened)
- ESPN.com’s tennis page did not break this until after 10:35 am – by 10:41 am, it was posted
Thursday, June 25: Lleyton Hewitt beats No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in the 2nd round
- TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 10:44 am (as it happened)
- Yahoo mentioned the result at 10:46 am, but only as a small lead
- ESPN.com’s tennis page did not break the story until 10:49 am
Saturday, June 27: Melanie Oudin beats No. 6 Jelena Jankovic in the third round of Wimbledon.
- TENNIS.com has the story as lead at 10:08 am (as it happened)
- Yahoo! Sports’ tennis page and ESPN.com’s tennis page do not have the result at 10:18 am and 10:19 am, respectively
“From our in-depth blogs and viewpoints to our instruction, gear, and fitness coverage, TENNIS.com is one-stop shopping for the tennis enthusiast. Our message board community has grown by leaps and bounds, a reflection of the passion of our fans. And you can follow us through Twitter and Facebook,” explained Martin. “All in all, we offer an unsurpassed tennis experience.”
And National Geographic Channel has a fascinating special about living on the moon airing on the day before the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission landing.
NAKED SCIENCE: LIVING ON THE MOON
Sunday, July 19 at 9PM ET/PT
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked-science/4253/Overview
The day before the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11, NGC presents Living on the Moon. Man has always dreamed of living on the moon, and now a team of NASA scientists is proving that dream could be achieved in our lifetime. We take viewers inside Constellation, the space program’s plan to establish a human outpost on the moon by 2020. Take a closer look at the plans under way, from upgraded space suits to housing modules and moon vehicles, and examine the challenges ahead, such as finding water, making oxygen, growing food and protecting residents from deadly radiation. Then, using 3-D animation, we’ll visualize how the remarkable outpost will take shape.
CGI: Astronaut with moon dust. (Credit: © National Geographic Channel)
Video “Moon Water” – Maybe the moon has water. Maybe the moon has lots of water. How on earth will we get to it?
Video “Moon Colony” – Humans are colonizers, and the moon is ripe for populating. But how? And who?
As usual, I look forward to seeing NatGeo’s documentaries. They’re always fun to watch.
