Fang's Bites

Wednesday Night Linkfest

Ok, I’m finally doing links for you. I was busy today. First, I was at the dentist’s office having a temporary crown placed on a back tooth. Then I got to the office around midday and immediately started working plus I’m still organizing a move. So I have that to deal with plus I’m trying to arrange new phone numbers, change of address and trying inform everyone of a new place. It’s very stressful and I still have to pack boxes, try to sell furniture and do everything by Sunday. Insane.

But you want linkage and I’m going to provide that now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that the Indianapolis 500 can no longer be considered a strong ratings draw.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch reviews a new book on how the Red Sox failed to win the World Series for 86 years and a curse was not responsible.

Newsday’s Neil Best reports that the New York Jets and its flagship radio station have extended their relationship. Neil notes that a couple of real life Chicago Cubs made appearances on the My Boys season finale on Tuesday.

Ken Belson of the New York Times says it’s a bleak outlook for the Class of 2009 hoping to get jobs in the sports industry.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the man who sold his share of the Cleveland Cavaliers to a company from Communist China. Darren reviews a fascinating book on an unknown Mexican indigenous tribe and its obsession on ultramarathoning. Darren says Vitaminwater may have to update its NBA Finals spot. Darren wonders if sponsor outrage is over.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s connection to baseball.

The Sports Media Journal’s Ray Frager is happy to see Monday’s Lakers-Nuggets game gaining more viewers than the season premiere of Jon & Kate Plus 8. SMJ mogul Keith Thibeault has a podcast previewing the big Blog with Balls conference in New York next month which this blogger hopes to attend.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local radio station got caught having to air Game 4 of the Cavs-Magic game during a Yankees rain delay and never returned when the delay was over. Pete writes that a telethon is forcing this Sunday’s NASCAR race off the local Fox affiliate.

Laura Nachman suggests Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia think outside the box for its new 76ers analyst.

Paul Vigna of the Patriot-News says the lack of a sponsor the LPGA’s season ending Tour Championship has forced the tournament off of NBC later this year.

Ron Musselman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that a long-time announcer at the local ESPN Radio affiliate was let go this week.

Kevin Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner writes that CBS golf analyst Ian Baker-Finch is getting ready for his Champions Tour debut.

Also from the Examiner, Jim Williams says fans who have both Tennis Channel and ESPN2 are seeing more French Open coverage than in the past. Jim adds that the NBA is really crowing about its record ratings.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says more and more athletes are Tweeting. Tim also looks at the NBA’s stellar postseason ratings.

Kathy Bergen of the Chicago Tribune says NBA legend Michael Jordan is appearing in new TV ads backing the Windy City’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman reports that ESPNU will show the NBA Draft Combine later this week.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has the ratings for the Dallas sports radio stations from April. Barry has a breakdown of the ratings hour by hour. Barry reviews the 2nd installment of 4th and Long. Barry writes that the NBA’s dream final appears to be slipping through its fingers. Barry says the ratings for last weekend’s Byron Nelson Championship were well under par.

Gabriel D. Brooks of the Longview (TX) News-Journal is not impressed with the state of sports broadcasting today.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has some thoughts coming out of Memorial Day Weekend. Tom looks at a new HBO soccer documentary that debuted tonight. Tom says Lakers fans will have a rare opportunity to listen to a Spero Dedes-Stu Lantz teaming on Friday night as regular radio analyst Mychal Thompson has a prior commitment.

Randy Harvey of the Los Angeles Times notes that ESPN’s Rick Reilly is blatantly rooting for the Nuggets.

Diane Pucin of the Times praises ESPN for sticking to the epic Josselin Ouanna-Marat Safin match during the French Open today instead of switching to Venus Williams. Diane writes that TNT will have an interview with former NBA’er Rodney Rogers who is paralyzed from the neck down after a dirt bike accident last year.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says hockey was very, very good to TSN this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has CBC Sports head Scott Moore discussing the NHL Stanley Cup Finals scheduling.

Spencer Hall of the Sporting News says ESPN’s Josh Elliott was needlessly hyping the UEFA Champions League Final today.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says the NBA Playoffs are a big hit on TNT.

The Sports Media Watch says the NBA Eastern Conference Finals are doing very well on TNT. SMW feels the NBA Finals ratings will be fine even if the Lakers and Cavs don’t make it. This is something SMW webmaster Paulsen and I discussed this last night on Twitter. If you’re on Twitter, make sure you follow SMW there. And make sure you follow me as well. That way, you can follow Paulsen and I when we discuss various ratings issues or we just discuss other things as well.

Back to the Sports Media Watch links. Paulsen says Monday’s rain shortened Coca-Cola 600 could end up outrating the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. And SMW notes that with the NHL Conference Finals finished, the Stanley Cup Finals begin on Saturday.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has the official Stanley Cup Finals TV schedule.

I will end it there. Another long day tomorrow.

Nuggets-Lakers Sets A Ratings Record Again!

The NBA Western Conference Finals seems to have struck a chord with sports fans. Here’s ESPN’s press release.

Nuggets/Lakers Game 4 – Most-Viewed NBA Game Ever on Cable

Most-Viewed Cable Telecast of the Year; ESPN’s Most-Viewed Basketball Telecast

ESPN’s exclusive telecast of the NBA Western Conference Finals Game 4 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets Monday, May 25, at 9 p.m. ET earned a 6.9 rating, representing an average of 6,746,000 households and 9,883,000 viewers (P2+) to become the most-viewed NBA game ever on cable (among viewers). The telecast was the most-viewed program this year on cable. It also became ESPN’s most-viewed basketball game ever (college or pro), surpassing last week’s mark (Game 1, May 19 – 7,352,000 viewers).

Additional highlights:

• Game 4 of the Nuggets/Lakers series outpaced last year’s Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 between Boston/Detroit by 62 percent in viewers (6,086,000), 51 percent in households (4,469,000) and 50 percent in rating (4.6);
• ESPN’s 17 NBA Playoff telecasts are averaging 4,426,000 viewers, an increase of 16 percent over last season’s 19 telecasts to date (3,819,000). The corresponding 3,299,000 households are up 12 percent (2,949,000), and the 3.4 rating is up 10 percent (3.1 rating);
• The Nuggets/Lakers game delivered a 21.3 rating in Denver, the highest-rated NBA game on ESPN or ABC ever locally (records date back to 2003). In L.A., the game posted a 16.1 rating, the highest-rated NBA Playoff game on ESPN (with records going back to 2003).

Western Conference Finals Game 3 Ratings Recap

The Western Conference Finals Game 3 (which aired Saturday, May 23, at 8:30 p.m. on ABC), garnered a final 5.4 rating representing 6,164,000 households and 8,731,000 viewers. The Western Conference Finals Game 3 broadcast was ABC’s most-viewed Conference Finals game ever. The broadcast was ABC’s best Saturday performance in viewers and young adults in over five months (since Dec. 6, 2008).

Western Conference Finals Continue on ESPN

Following tonight’s Game 5 (May 27 at 9 p.m.), ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the Western Conference Finals will continue with Game 6 – an elimination game – when the Denver Nuggets host the Los Angeles Lakers Friday, May 29, at 9 p.m. The series is currently knotted at two games apiece. Mike Breen will call the game with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. The game will also be available via ESPN HD, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV. Jim Durham will describe the game on ESPN Radio with analyst Dr. Jack Ramsay. ESPN’s coverage will tip off with NBA Shootaround, hosted by Stuart Scott with analysts Jon Barry, Magic Johnson and Michael Wilbon, at 8 p.m.

If the Western Conference Finals extend to a decisive Game 7, ABC will broadcast the matchup Sunday, May 31, at 8:30 p.m., with NBA Countdown previewing the action at 8 p.m. The NBA Finals – exclusively on ABC – will begin Thursday, June 4, with coverage beginning at 8:30 p.m.

NFL Commish Goodell Speaks About Comcast Deal

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will meet the media and talk about the league’s long-term deal to put the NFL Network on Comcast’s digital basic tier. He’ll speak at about 12:30 p.m.

I’ll monitor. If there’s anything earthshattering, I’ll put it up here. If not, I’ll wait for the press release and post it when it hits the Fang’s Bites inbox.

Until then, I’m eating corn on the cob for lunch.

UPDATE – 12:35 p.m.: The announcement is being streamed on NFL.com. Right now, the Commish is late.

UPDATE – 12:45 p.m.: Apparently the announcement is slated for this time, not 12:30 p.m. No matter. I’m getting work done while the blank screen is still up.

UPDATE – 12:49 p.m.: NFL.com is now streaming NFL Network and showing us Dallas-New York Giants when CBS had the NFC! Summerall and Madden. It was the game where Emmit Smith had a broken arm and ran all over the G-Men. I guess we’re watching this while waiting for the Commish who is now running late.

UPDATE – 12:55 p.m.: Now I get this notice from the fine people in the NFL’s PR department.

Conference Call TODAY (Tuesday, May 19) at 1:30 PM ET with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.

And Scott Hansen comes on from Fort Lauderdale, FL where the NFL meetings are taking place and announces that the Commish will speak at that time. I’ll just keep monitoring the live video.

So we go from 12:30 to 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. I’ll continue to work and you can keep your RSS feed updated.

UDPATE – 1 p.m.: Commish expected to speak at a news conference any moment in Fort Lauderdale. The media call is a separate event.

UPDATE – 1:03 p.m: Commish confirms the Comcast agreement and says the CBS and Fox two year extensions are now set in stone. Goodell says the new network agreements show the commitment to free TV.

UPDATE – 1:06 p.m.: The Commish says the real winners are the fans in the Comcast deal. They won’t have to pay extra for NFL Network. NFLN will be on a broad distribution which the league wanted all along.

UPDATE – 1:20 p.m: Not many questions about the Comcast deal, but one reporter asks Commish asked if the Comcast and CBS/Fox deals are related. Commish says no.

UPDATE – 1:22 p.m.: Commish now leaves the press conference to head to a conference call involving him and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts about the announcement. I’ll monitor that as well.

UPDATE – 1:27 p.m.: On hold for the media conference call between Commish and Roberts. Calling through Skype.

UPDATE – 1:30 p.m: Commish starts with comments thanking Comcast and Mr. Roberts for this partnership. It’s a win for the fans and consumers.

Roberts says it’s a long-term deal. It’s the beginning of a new chapter working with the NFL. Says Commish inherited the situation and he worked to bring a resolution.

Sean Leahy of USA Today asks how important was it for Commish to reach out to Roberts and for the NFL Network? Would the channel have survived if there were no agreement?

Commish says owners are committed to long-term survival of NFLN. Commish says he wanted a partnership that made sense for the fans and Comcast’s customers.

Leahy asks if the two men (Goodell and Roberts) were not involved, would the deal have come so quickly?

Commish says Brian was important to resolve the issue and he was involved the entire way.

Jim Williams of DC Examiner asks Roberts was it one or two things to get the deal done?

Roberts won’t talk about specifics for pricing for the channel. Roberts says to reposition the channel was to ensure it would cost right for consumers. They also did not want to have discussions a few years down the road. Long-term agreement was important. Says Comcast has carried NFL Network since the inception, but price was important and make sure it was not disruptive to package that was already offered. Both sides had to compromise. Gives credit to NFL for creativity. Says NFL wanted to commit a second channel for the Red Zone Channel. Says that might go on the sports tier. Says Comcast wishes to have NFL Sunday Ticket, but Red Zone Channel gives fans every touchdown. It changes the landscape.

Richard Sandomir, NY Times. How did they get past the rancor and acrimonious talks?

Roberts says if Commish had not personally taken the reins, they would not have had the happy outcome they had today. Roberts says the angry talks are in the past. Goodell’s leadership was important. He says the new partnership is a way to start over and have a new relationship.

Richard asks about the anger which was personal.

Commish says it was not personal. They were able to work through and forged a relationship and they understood the distribution of Comcast.

Roberts adds that both organizations there’s a lot to discuss, it took some time, but they’ve turned a new page.

Howard Eskin of WIP asks about cost to the consumer. Will there be a cost that customers will see? Why was it more effective for Comcast to keep it in an a la carte fashion?

Roberts says there was no specific charge. No plan for that. At first, wanted to keep NFLN on a sports tier, but he understood that would not be conducive for the league. So they wanted to find a way to distrubute the content for all customers, not just those who wanted to pay. This is good for 10 million fans to get this content. Huge increase in distribution.

Paul Domowitz, Philadelphia Daily News. Asks Roger what the deal means for other cable providers.

Roger says this deal increases subscriber base by 8.5 million. Roger says NFLN is on four of the top cable providers and that is an indication of the content. NFL is seeking broad distribution and is hopeful that it will get resolved soon. Says Roberts leadership will be recognized by the other CEO’s.

Tim Doyle asks about why the NFL agreed to lower fees.

Commish says he can’t talk about the fee. It was a compromise and it was good for consumers. Any deal requires compromise.

Tim asks any more such deals before the season?

Commish is hopeful. Points to DirecTV, Echostar (Dish) and Comcast, CBS and Fox deals. There’s plenty of momentum and they have gotten other media companies’ attention.

Don Walker, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Asks about Time Warner.

Commish says he doesn’t know of any talks with Time Warner Cable, but he’s hopeful that something gets done soon.

Bob Fernandez. Asks about DirecTV’s role in marginalizing cable’s role. Is Red Zone an acknowledgment to cable? What?

Commish says the NFL would not marginalize the cable industry. The NFL has been on cable since the mid 1980′s. Relationship with cable has been positive.

Red Zone will be a new way to create opportunities for the fans and their partners.

Josh Wine asks what effect the FCC and other court proceedings had on the deal.

Roberts says no way to precisely answer that. Says when they got close to a deal, they should not wait for the results of the legal proceedings. Ultimately, no one had to do a deal now, but it tells everyone that this is the right outcome.

Commish says he felt it would come to a negotiated settlement. That way, you control your own destiny and everyone wins.

Roberts talks about a lunch he had with Goodell telling him that if they’re not talking, they won’t settle.

Mike Reynolds asks Roberts if Red Zone Channel will be on sports tier.

Yes. Not official yet.

Commish says they’ll sit down how to deploy Red Zone Channel and where to position it. They’ll have to talk to CBS and Fox on how to deploy it in the most effective way.

Will NFL Network get a whole slate of regular season games if more games are added to the regular season?

Commish says that hasn’t been decided yet.

Matt Geiderman asks how the deal adds to the revenue structure to the NFL. Does it affect ability to help teams in trouble financially?

Commish says players are part of the great content. He says the partners have their challenges. Networks are challenged with advertisers. Cable has to deliver high quality product.

How does this affect collective bargaining. What?

Goodell says when you’re building, you have extraordinary costs like stadium. That risk falls to owners. For collective bargaining, they have to talk about growing the game.

David Bearing asks how important was it to retain full ownership of the channel instead of giving equity stakes as MLB Network did.

Commish says league was willing to negotiate, but there were compromises in different areas, but league retains 100% ownership.

Roberts says equity was not part of the talks. Always looking for total value and how that can get conveyed. He’s starting a new chapter today and he’s looking forward to a long relationship with the NFL.

And we’re done at 2:01 p.m.

My fingers are typed out. Back later.

MLB Network Announces Live Game Schedule Through June

MLB Network has sent us a release announcing its Thursday and Saturday Night Baseball through June. This includes a Yankees-Red Sox matchup and the annual Civil Rights Game.

MLB NETWORK ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE OF LIVE GAMES THROUGH JUNE

Games to air on “Thursday Night Baseball” and “Saturday Night Baseball”

Saturday coverage to include Gillette Civil Rights Game, with Chicago White Sox at Cincinnati Reds on June 20

Secaucus, N.J., May 19, 2009 – MLB Network today announced its schedule of live Thursday and Saturday night games from May 28 through June 2009, featuring 17 MLB clubs in ten live regular season games. MLB Network will carry at least 50 live regular season games in its first year.

Next week’s Thursday night game will air on May 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET, with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Chicago Cubs and MLB Network’s Bob Costas and Harold Reynolds calling the game. Broadcast teams for Thursday Night Baseball on MLB Network in June will include play by play by Matt Vasgersian and Victor Rojas, with analysis by Mitch Williams, Joe Magrane and Dan Plesac. Other highlights of the June game schedule include division rivals New York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox (June 11), with Bob Costas and Jim Kaat in the broadcast booth, and a re-match of last year’s World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies at the Tampa Bay Rays (June 25). The Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals will also be featured.

“It’s our goal to showcase every team, whether with MLB Tonight, Thursday Night Baseball or Saturday Night Baseball,” said Tony Petitti, President and Chief Executive Officer of MLB Network. “We’re excited to continue to bring live, national coverage from around the league to our fans twice every week, with on-air talent match-ups that bring a different perspective to each Thursday night game.”

The Saturday night game on May 30 at 9:00 p.m. ET will feature the St. Louis Cardinals at the San Francisco Giants. Saturday Night Baseball will also include national appearances for the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels, as well as the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds during the Gillette Civil Rights Game on June 20.

Saturday Night Baseball will primarily be simulcasts of local broadcasts, including local announcers. On Saturdays, MLB Tonight will provide in-game updates on developments throughout MLB as well as news, analysis and highlights following the game telecast. MLB Network will announce future Saturday night games coinciding with its selection windows.

MLB Network’s complete broadcast schedule from May 28 through June appears below.

MLB NETWORK LIVE GAME SCHEDULE THROUGH JUNE 2009 (all times Eastern):

May 28 – 8:00 p.m. Dodgers @ Cubs – Bob Costas & Harold Reynolds

May 30 – 9:00 p.m. Cardinals @ Giants

June 4 – 7:00 p.m. Cubs @ Braves – Matt Vasgersian & Joe Magrane

June 6 – 9:00 p.m. Orioles @ Athletics

June 11 – 7:00 p.m. Yankees @ Red Sox – Bob Costas & Jim Kaat

June 13 – 9:00 p.m. Padres @ Angels

June 18 – 8:00 p.m. Tigers @ Cardinals – Victor Rojas & Joe Magrane

June 20 – 7:00 p.m. Gillette Civil Rights Game: White Sox @ Reds

June 25 – 7:00 p.m. Phillies @ Rays – Matt Vasgersian, Joe Magrane & Mitch Williams

June 27 – 7:00 p.m. Yankees @ Mets

Games will be blacked out in each team’s home television territory, with the exception of the Gillette Civil Rights Game, which will be available on MLB Network in Cincinnati. Viewers in areas subject to blackouts will be provided with an alternate game telecast or other programming. MLB Network will continue to announce future Thursday Night Baseball and Saturday night games coinciding with its selection windows.

MLB Tonight, the signature program of MLB Network during the regular season, airs live beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET until the final MLB game of the night ends each Monday through Friday, featuring live look-ins of games in progress, updates, highlights, reporting and analysis. On Saturday nights, the show provides in-game updates and then airs after the game’s conclusion, while on Thursday nights, the show leads in to Thursday Night Baseball, providing viewers with highlights and analysis after the game as well as live studio updates during the game broadcast.

Bob Costas does two more games bringing his overall total to four games thus far. At this pace, he’ll do about eight games this season. I’m keeping an eye on this. I wonder who will call more regular season games for their respective networks, Bob Costas for MLB Network or Joe Buck for Fox.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

MLB

American League
Toronto at Red Sox – TSN2/NESN, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at New York Yankees – MASN/WWOR, 7 p.m.
Oakland at Tampa Bay – Comcast SportsNet California/Sun Sports, 7 p.m.
Texas at Detroit – KDFI/Fox Sports Detroit, 7 p.m.
Cleveland at Kansas City – STO/Fox Sports Kansas City, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Chicago White Sox – Fox Sports North/Comcast SportsNet Chicago, 8 p.m.
Anaheim Angels at Seattle – Fox Sports West/FSN Northwest, 10 p.m.

National League
Arizona at Florida – Fox Sports Arizona/Fox Sports Florida, 7 p.m.
Colorado at Atlanta – FSN Rocky Mountain/Peachtree TV, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Cincinnati – Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/Fox Sports Ohio, 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Washington – FSN Pittsburgh/MASN2, 7 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at St. Louis – WGN/Fox Sports Midwest, 8 p.m.
Milwaukee at Houston – Fox Sports Wisconsin/Fox Sports Houston, 8 p.m.
New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers – SNY/KCAL, 10 p.m.
San Francisco at San Diego – Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/Cox 4, 10 p.m.

MLB Tonight: 1st to 3rd – MLB Network, 8 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.
MLB Tonight: Roundtripper Final – MLB Network, 10 p.m.

NBA Playoffs
Western Conference Finals/Game 1, Denver at Los Angeles Lakers – ESPN, 9 p.m.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
Western Conference Finals/Game 2, Chicago at Detroit – TSN/RDS/Versus, 7:30 p.m.

NHL On The Fly – NHL Network, 11 p.m.

Entertainment
NCIS – CBS, 8 p.m.
Deadliest Catch – Discovery, 9 p.m.
Rescue Me – FX, 10 p.m.
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, 10 p.m.
Deadliest Warrior – Spike, 10 p.m.
My Boys – TBS, 10:30 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

ESPN Odds and Ends

And I have some ESPN releases. Crazy day today. It all started around 9:25 this morning when Comcast and NFL Network announced an agreement and it hasn’t stopped since. I may have to work through lunch break. Insane.

Three ESPN-centric releases and let’s go over the first one. This one deals with Mike Tirico leaving his radio show and leaving it solely in the hands of Scott Van Pelt. Plus, one hour of the show will be simulcast on ESPN2. Why not have the entire ESPN Radio schedule be simulcast on ESPN2?

New Expanded TV and Radio Role for Mike Tirico

Scott Van Pelt Show to be Simulcast on ESPN2 in July, adds Russillo

Accomplished ESPN personality Mike Tirico will expand his ESPN responsibilities with a variety of high-profile TV and radio assignments, including a new weekly pro and college football radio show. In addition to his continuing play-by-play efforts for Monday Night Football and the NBA, and hosting duties on the Masters, NFL Draft and other top events, Tirico will play a prominent role in ESPN’s upcoming TV coverage of U.S. Open tennis, World Cup soccer, BCS games and more.

On the radio side, ESPN Radio’s Tirico & Van Pelt show (2-4 p.m. ET M-F) will become The Scott Van Pelt Show on July 6 when Van Pelt will be joined by Ryen Russillo with the final hour of their show simulcast for the first time on ESPN2.

Tirico’s new radio role will include hosting a weekly two-hour football program (22 weeks of the year) devoted to college and pro football Fridays from 7-9 p.m. He will be joined by a variety of ESPN college and pro football analysts and football newsmakers. Additionally, Tirico will host on-site ESPN Radio shows Super Bowl week, long-form podcasts featuring commentaries and interviews with top newsmakers, and SportsBeat afternoon drive-time commentaries throughout the year. He will also handle radio play-by-play for the NBA Finals, 2010 Rose Bowl and 2010 BCS Championship Game.

“Mike Tirico is one of the industry’s best and a trusted voice for fans,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production. “A great thing about ESPN is the many existing and new opportunities available for his talents across TV, radio and beyond. On top of that, Scott Van Pelt has become a major radio presence and will continue to provide listeners with his informed perspective and entertaining flair.”

Tirico added, “These two years on the radio show have been awesome. Working with Scott and the rest of our show crew has made it fun to do every day. I look forward to the new television opportunities and the privilege of working two of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. While the schedule will not permit me to do the daily radio grind, I am very excited to continue my long association with ESPN Radio and will be a loyal listener at 2 p.m. Eastern every weekday.”

Russillo, who will join Van Pelt, is a veteran of the Boston radio and TV scene, and knows his way around ESPN Radio’s Bristol, Conn. studios, having hosted several shows and filled in on others in recent years.

“Clearly the show will miss Mike, and I am indebted to him for including me initially,” Van Pelt said. “That said, I am really fired up to get the chance to work with Ryen. He knows as much as anyone in the building about sports and we also have a lot in common aside from our love of sports which I am sure we will explore on air.”

Expanding ESPN Radio on TV

The Scott Van Pelt Show’s simulcast is the latest telecast of ESPN Radio programming which began with Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPNEWS (April 2004) then ESPN2 (January 2006). The Herd with Colin Cowherd (10 a.m.-2 p.m. M-F) is currently simulcast on ESPNU.

Cowherd will also co-host his own show on ESPN2 starting July 6 when he will be joined by Michelle Beadle on the new daily studio show SportsNation (4-5 p.m. M-F). Radio personalities hosting television shows is not unprecedented, as Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic took their morning show to prime time for an August 2004 special.

This just in and related to the Scott Van Pelt release, ESPN2 will offer a new show co-hosted by ESPN Radio blowhard Colin Cowherd and new ESPN’er Michelle Beadle. Take a look.

ESPN2 Introduces Fan-Interactive Studio Show: SportsNation with Colin Cowherd, Michelle Beadle

SportsNation, The Scott Van Pelt Show Set to Debut Back-to-Back July 6 on ESPN2

SportsNation on ESPN.com to Relaunch May 27

ESPN2 will introduce a new daily studio show, SportsNation, hosted by ESPN Radio personality Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle. Taking a cue from ESPN.com’s SportsNation, where fans interact with athletes, coaches, sportswriters, commentators and each other in real time, SportsNation is a live sports television show born from the Internet, fueled by fan interaction and focused on fun. The one-hour weekday show starts Monday, July 6, at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2, immediately following the television debut of ESPN Radio’s The Scott Van Pelt Show at 3 p.m.

SportsNation

“The fans will have unprecedented input in the show’s daily rundown,” said SportsNation coordinating producer Jamie Horowitz. “Our goal is to bring the fan into our production meetings. The fans choose the topics, provide the angles, and decide how much Brett Favre talk is really needed.”

The show will include discussion of the smaller stories that generate buzz on the Internet but often aren’t seen on television.

“SportsNation will focus on topics that dominate fans’ email exchanges and blogs,” added Horowitz. “The show will be a conversation between people who love sports but don’t take every story so seriously. The funny Web stories everyone forwards to their friends will find a home on SportsNation.”

Feeding off the producers’ theory that if two heads are better than one, 100,000 heads are better than two, SportsNation will engage hundreds of thousands of sports fans across the country via ESPN.com’s SportsNation. Fans will be able to interact with the hosts before, during and after the show by e-mail, text, Twitter or just making a phone call.

“SportsNation will really have three hosts – Colin, Michelle and the fans,” Horowitz said. “We are counting on the fans’ commentary and feedback to make the show unique. I’d like to rely on Colin, but he doesn’t listen to anything we tell him.”

Said Cowherd, “I’m stunned management let me do a TV show. I know what the producers and I find interesting and funny – and it leads me to conclude that we probably won’t be on the air very long.”

Michelle Beadle is also the host of People.com’s popular feature, What You Missed Over the Weekend. She recently joined 1050 ESPN New York as the New York SportsCenter anchor for The Michael Kay Show. Michelle does broadcast work at the YES Network as the New Jersey Nets pre, post-game and sideline reporter and as a co-host for SportsLife NYC, and she was previously the host of the Emmy Award-winning program Ultimate Road Trip. She has worked as a correspondent for NFL Films’ Under the Helmet and as a host for MLB Productions’ Cathedrals of the Game. Michelle has done broadcast work in the past with College Sports Television, CBS Sports, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel and TNN, and also previously worked as a freelance reporter for ESPN’s Titan Games.

“My excitement for the show is twofold,” said Beadle. “I am looking forward to seeing the world through my newly-acquired Colin Cowherd glasses and riding his coattails straight to the middle. I know Colin is great at talking. I’m really excited to teach him to listen.”

Added Cowherd, “It will be a great opportunity for Michelle for obvious reasons: She gets to work with me. It’ll be a high wire act. It’ll be dangerous, it’ll be funny. She’ll poke me in the ribs and I’ll fire back. We want to make it as if we’re just goofing off while there happens to be a camera in the room.”

The Scott Van Pelt Show

ESPN Radio’s Tirico & Van Pelt show (2-4 p.m. M-F) will become The Scott Van Pelt Show on July 6 when Tirico will focus on a variety of other network opportunities. Van Pelt will be joined by Ryen Russillo, a veteran of the Boston radio and TV scene, for the final hour of the show, which will be simulcast on ESPN2.

“I look forward to bringing the art work that adorns the wall behind me to the set and I will be leaving hideous messes that Mike and Mike can deal with in the morning,” said Van Pelt.

Van Pelt joins the ranks of already successful televised ESPN Radio shows such as Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN2 and Cowherd’s own The Herd with Colin Cowherd on ESPNU, and together with SportsNation adds a fresh punch to the summer lineup on ESPN2.

Van Pelt, who joined ESPN in 2001 as a lead golf reporter and went on to become a top SportsCenter anchor, shares two hours of radio time on weekdays – 2-4 p.m. – with fellow ESPN personality Mike Tirico during ESPN Radio’s Tirico & Van Pelt.

SportsNation on ESPN.com Relaunch

In advance of the television debut, SportsNation on ESPN.com will relaunch with a new design, a more blog-style chronological layout, new live chat index, enhanced features and direct tie-ins to SportsNation on ESPN2.

Each month, SportsNation averages nearly a million unique visitors, and in March 2009 visitors were up 18 percent compared to a year ago. Since its launch on ESPN.com in fall 2003, SportsNation on ESPN.com has hosted more than 4,000 chats annually and more than 10,000 polls – collectively generating and average of more than 100 million fan votes – annually. In 2008, fans logged 154 million votes in SportsNation polls.

ESPN, All England Club Expand Wimbledon Digital Rights Agreement

Nearly 650 Hours of Live ESPN360.com Coverage Across All Courts

More Live Mobile Streaming and Expanded Highlights on ESPN.com

ESPN and the The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club today announced that they have expanded their Wimbledon digital rights agreement in the Americas (U.S., Mexico, Central and South America* and the Caribbean). Under the expanded agreement, starting Monday June 22 ESPN will deliver nearly double the hours of live broadband coverage on ESPN360.com this year, expand its live mobile streaming on ESPN Mobile TV by nearly 60 percent and adds additional highlights on ESPN.com and ESPNdeportes.com.

“Wimbledon is one of the great ‘sports holidays’ on the calendar for fans each year,” said John Skipper, executive vice president, content, ESPN. “Through ESPN’s platforms, the competition, pageantry and personalities of Wimbledon will be available to fans at their desk, in their pocket and on their television like never before.”

ESPN360.com, the company’s signature live sports broadband network, will deliver live coverage of all courts (up to nine, depending on schedule of play) throughout the early rounds, and a total of nearly 650 hours of live coverage between opening day and the semi-finals – nearly doubling the total hours delivered last year.

ESPN360.com will also simulcast ESPN2′s nearly 100 hours of coverage and will have the Wimbledon Finals events on-demand the morning following competition.

In the U.S. in 2009, ESPN360.com will become the first broadband network to deliver live online coverage of all four Grand Slam tennis events – delivering nearly 1300 total hours of combined coverage this year. ESPN360.com’s Wimbledon coverage adds to more than 275 hours of live French Open coverage in May, at least 260 hours of US Open coverage in August and more than 100 hours of Australian Open coverage each year to cement ESPN360.com as the home for live broadband coverage of Grand Slam tennis.

ESPN360 in Mexico and Chile will also deliver all the live coverage delivered in the United States.

In addition, ESPN’s agreement with The All England Club includes:

• ESPN.com & ESPNdeportes.com: The leading sports site will deliver expanded highlights of Wimbledon at ESPN.com/tennis and ESPN.com/video, as well as Spanish-language highlights on ESPNdeportes.com.
• ESPN Mobile TV: ESPN’s 24/7 mobile video network will expand its live mobile streaming coverage, delivering more than 80 hours throughout the tournament.
• Wimbledon Central: ESPN.com will again feature Wimbledon Central, a dynamic content application that will feature the official live scoring for all matches throughout the tournament. Additionally, Wimbledon Central will be available for the first time on the ESPN Mobile Web site.
• ESPN Mobile Web and ESPN MVP: Fans will again be able to follow all the action throughout the championship via ESPN’s industry leading mobile Web site and through the signature ESPN MVP application on Verizon wireless.
• Interactive Television: for the second year, ESPN will offer U.S. tennis fans a six-screen mosaic presentation that can be seen in 18 million homes served by DIRECTV, now extending through the first Saturday of play.
• Wimbledon Archives: in the days leading up to Wimbledon past Wimbledon matches (full and condensed) will be available on-demand through ESPN.com and ESPN360.com.

* Includes all of Central and South America, except Brazil.

ESPNU Carriage News

Two pieces of news for ESPNU. First, Comcast which seems to be picking up sports networks left and right this week, is adding ESPNU and broadband carrier ESPN360. ESPNU will be added to Comcast’s Southern systems in time for college football season and the beginning of the SEC package. Here’s the release:

COMCAST ADDS ESPNU AND ESPN360.COM TO LINE UP WITH CONTENT ON TELEVISION, ON DEMAND AND ONLINE

BRISTOL, CT AND PHILADELPHIA, PA (May 19, 2009) – Disney and ESPN Media Networks and Comcast Corporation today announced an agreement to add ESPNU to its Digital Classic level of service and ESPN360.com to Comcast.net. Comcast will launch ESPNU in a majority of its cable systems in time for the start of the college football season. This includes Comcast’s southern systems which will enjoy coverage of ESPNU’s new Saturday game-of-the-week Southeastern Conference (SEC) package. Comcast will also make ESPN360.com available to its high-speed Internet customers for no additional charge through Comcast.net, which reaches 17 million unique users per month, also in time for this year’s college football season.

With this agreement, ESPNU will have more than 46 million subscribers and ESPN360.com will be available to nearly 41 million homes, a majority of broadband homes in America.

“ESPNU and ESPN360.com have been growing in popularity due to the dynamic live-event programming we’ve been adding to them, and we are thrilled Comcast will offer them to their huge fan base,” said David C. Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney and ESPN Media Networks. “This agreement is a tremendous step forward in serving fans – both on television and online — while growing our collective multi-platform businesses.”

“Comcast continues to be the place for sports fans to turn to for all the college, professional and high school sports action they want – on television, online and on demand,” said Matt Bond, executive vice president, content acquisition for Comcast Cable. “ESPNU and ESPN360.com will add to the thousands of live sports events that fans already watch on Comcast today.”

ESPNU provides college sports fans with more than 550 live events annually and televises some of the top Division I conferences in the nation, including: the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, MAC, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA that includes extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.

DIRECTV TO OFFER ESPNU IN ITS CHOICE™ PACKAGE

ESPNU’s Distribution More Than 46 Million Subscribers

Disney and ESPN Media Networks and DIRECTV, Inc., today announced an agreement to widen its distribution of ESPNU to DIRECTV’s CHOICE™ programming package beginning July 1. ESPNU will now be available to more than 46 million college sports fans across the country. As part of the agreement, DIRECTV will also launch ESPNU HD by the end of the first quarter 2010. Additionally, ESPN Classic will be repackaged into the DIRECTV SPORTS PACK.

ESPNU provides college sports fans with more than 550 live events annually and televises some of the top Division I conferences in the nation, including: the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, MAC, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA that includes extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.

“ESPNU is committed to college sports programming 365 days a year, and this move to DIRECTV’s CHOICE package allows better access for college sports fans — nationwide — to all of the quality content provided on the network,” said David C. Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney and ESPN Media Networks.

“DIRECTV continues to offer the best sports programming to its customers,” said Derek Chang, executive vice president, Content Strategy and Development, DIRECTV, Inc. “By expanding the distribution of ESPNU, we take that commitment to another level for all college sports fans across the country.”

ABC’s 2009-10 Primetime Schedule

Announced today in the midst of the craziness of the Comcast/NFL Network agreement and an ESPN upfront presentation today, ABC announced its primetime schedule for next season.

MONDAY:
8:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (two-hours)
10:00 p.m. Castle

TUESDAY:
8:00 p.m. Shark Tank
9:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars the Results Show
10:00 p.m. The Forgotten

WEDNESDAY:
8:00 p.m. Hank
8:30 p.m. The Middle
9:00 p.m. Modern Family
9:30 p.m. Cougar Town
10:00 p.m. Eastwick

THURSDAY:
8:00 p.m. Flash Forward
9:00 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy
10:00 p.m. Private Practice

FRIDAY:
8:00 p.m. Supernanny
9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
10:00 p.m. 20/20

SATURDAY:
8:00 p.m. Saturday Night College Football

SUNDAY:
7:00 p.m. America’s Funniest Home Videos
8:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

After DWTS ends, The Bachelor will air Monday nights, and Scrubs and Better Off Ted will air on Tuesdays.

CBS announces its schedule tomorrow.

Joint Comcast and NFL Press Release on Agreement

This is the official joint press release from Comcast and NFL Network on the long-term agreement.

Comcast and National Football League Reach Long-Term Carriage Agreement for NFL Network

Philadelphia and New York – May 19, 2009

Comcast Corporation and the National Football League announced today that they have reached a new, long-term agreement regarding carriage of NFL Network and complete settlement of all outstanding legal disputes. The carriage agreement consists of a broad array of video content, including the live (24/7) Network, video on demand for Comcast’s Digital Classic cable customers, and the ability to offer the NFL’s RedZone Channel when it is created.

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast will begin repositioning NFL Network from the Sports Entertainment Package to its Digital Classic level of service with a full launch by August 1, reaching nearly two-thirds of the company’s total digital customer base. In addition to NFL Network’s in-studio shows, commentary and live-game broadcasts, Comcast’s Digital Classic customers will now have access to a robust suite of NFL content On Demand, including game highlights, game replays, the “best” of NFL Films, players and coaches interviews, local team highlights, and other NFL programming whenever they want a piece of the action.

“We are delighted to have come to an agreement with the NFL,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation. “Our goal has always been to provide our digital customers with access to the NFL’s unique content and, working together, we have struck the right balance between value and distribution on a variety of viewing platforms. We are looking forward to bringing the NFL’s programming to our customers just in time for the start of the NFL season.”

“We are very pleased that NFL Network and other NFL content will be widely distributed in millions of more homes on Comcast’s service,” said National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. “We look forward to having NFL Network’s coverage of training camps and the preseason showcased this summer on Comcast. NFL Network is the only TV channel devoted exclusively to football 24/7, 365 days a year.”

The NFL and Comcast will take immediate joint action to discontinue pending legal actions before the Federal Communications Commission and a New York state court.

More later.

BREAKING NEWS: NFL and Comcast Reach Long-Term Agreement

Developing right now…. According to NFL public relations guy Brian McCarthy on Twitter, Comcast and the National Football League have come together on an agreement. Brian has this Tweet:

It’s official: Comcast and NFL Reach Long-Term Carriage Agreement for NFL Network

The full launch for the NFL Network on Comcast will be August 1. More to follow.

Press Release Leftovers

I forgot to post these press releases last night as I was so focused on the 2 hour 24 finale. So I’ll post these now and free up some space in the Fang’s Bites inbox.

TNT says the ratings for Game 7 of Magic-Celtics was the most watched second round NBA playoffs game in cable television history. That’s pretty good.

TNT’s Magic/Celtics Game #7 is Most Watched Second Round NBA Playoffs Game in Cable History

Final Magic/Celtics matchup on TNT is highest rated game of the 2009 NBA Playoffs on broadcast or cable to date

TNT‘s exclusive coverage of Game 7 between the Orlando Magic @ Boston Celtics on Sunday, May 17, set a record as the most watched second round NBA Playoff game in cable television history in households (5,907,000), viewers (8,406,000) and key adult and male demos. The game scored a 5.2 US HH rating, based on Nielsen Fast Nationals, marking the highest rated game of the 2009 NBA Playoffs on broadcast or cable to date. The Orlando Magic overpowered the Boston Celtics, winning 101-82, to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

TNT continues to score with strong growth for its coverage of the 2009 NBA Playoffs including:

· Most watched Conference Semifinals round in cable television history in households (averaged 3,786,000) and total viewers (averaged 5,073,000), beating the previous high for the second round of the 2004 NBA Playoffs.

· TNT’s second round coverage averaged a 3.3 US HH rating for 13 games, up 14% over last year (14 games).

· Magic/Celtics Game #7 earned strong viewership in key demos including:

· A18-34 (2,558,000)

· A18-49 (4,770,000)

· A25-54 (4,565,000)

· M18-34 (1,800,000)

· M18-49 (3,322,000)

· M25-54 (3,156,000)

· To date, the NBA Playoffs on TNT are averaging a 2.6 US HH rating for 36 games, up 8% over last year (36 games).

· Key adult and male demos have seen strong growth across the board for TNT’s 2009 NBA Playoffs coverage versus last year (36 games):

· A18-34 +10% (1,248,000 vs. 1,134,000)

· A18-49 +10% (2,289,000 vs. 2,073,000)

· A25-54 +4% (2,140,000 vs. 1,876,000)

· M18-34 +4% (896,000 vs. 862,000)

· M18-49 +8% (1,627,000 vs. 1,510,000)

· M25-54 +13% (1,513,000 vs. 1,334,000)

TNT’s strong second round growth follows the network’s best first round ratings in cable television history, including the Game #7 showdown of the Chicago Bulls @ Boston Celtics that was the most watched Round One game in cable television history in households (5,017,000) and total viewers (6,987,000).

TNT’s exclusive coverage of the 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals will get underway on Wednesday, May 20 at 8 p.m. ET with 30-minute edition of NBA Tip-Off with Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Reggie Miller (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst). At 8:30 p.m. ET, LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Orlando Magic in Game #1 of the best-of-seven series. Calling the action will be Marv Albert (play-by-play) and Doug Collins (analyst) with Craig Sager reporting courtside.

Next, ESPN tells us that the NBA Draft Lottery and Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals will be seen tonight.

NBA: Draft Lottery & Game One of Lakers/Nuggets in Western Conference Finals Tuesday

The Kobe Bryant-led L.A. Lakers host the Denver Nuggets, with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups, in the first game of the Western Conference Finals Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ESPN. Leading into the game, ESPN will present the 2009 NBA Draft Lottery at 8:30 p.m.

The best-of-seven Western Conference Finals will be televised exclusively on ESPN and ABC. Mike Breen will call the games with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. ESPN and ABC will offer pre-game studio shows at 8 p.m. throughout the series, including commentary from Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.

ESPN Radio will broadcast both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, with Jim Durham and analyst Dr. Jack Ramsay on the Lakers/Nuggets (Games 1 and 2) and Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown calling Cleveland/Orlando Games 1 and 2.

Date	Time (ET)	Programming	Network/Platform
Tues., May 19	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround Stuart Scott, Jon Barry, Magic Johnson, Michael Wilbon	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV
	8:30 p.m.	NBA Draft Lottery Bristol – Matt Winer, Avery Johnson, Tim Legler Secaucus – Mark Jones, Jay Bilas, Lisa Salters	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 1	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Thurs., May 21	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 2	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Sat., May 23	8 p.m.	NBA Countdown	ABC, ABC HD
	8:30 p.m.	L.A. at Denver, Game 3	ABC, ABC HD, ESPN Radio
Mon., May 25	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	L.A. at Denver, Game 4	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Wed., May 27	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 5*	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Fri., May 29	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	L.A. at Denver, Game 6*	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Sun., May 31	8 p.m.	NBA Countdown	ABC, ABC HD
	8:30 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 7*	ABC, ABC HD, ESPN Radio

*If necessary

The Golf Channel has added Charlie Rymer to its on-air lineup.

Charlie Rymer Joins GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Team

ORLANDO, Fla. (May 18, 2009) – GOLF CHANNEL announced the addition of Charlie Rymer to the network’s on-air team as an analyst for Golf Central, Live From telecasts and live tournament coverage.

An accomplished player, Rymer spent more than 10 years playing professional golf, with a third place at the 1995 Shell Houston Open his best PGA TOUR finish. He also won the 1994 South Carolina Classic on the Nationwide Tour, and as an amateur, was a two-time All American at Georgia Tech.

Prior to joining GOLF CHANNEL in a full-time capacity, Rymer treated golf fans to his quick wit and “down home” humor as a sports commentator for ESPN since 1998. A native of Fort Mill, S.C., Rymer also contributed to GOLF CHANNEL projects such as Road Trip: Myrtle Beach and served as a co-host on Big Break Prince Edward Island.

Big Ten Network to Air Baseball Tournament in its Entirety
Extensive coverage begins Wednesday from Columbus

CHICAGO – For the first time, the Big Ten Network will televise every game of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament from the first pitch on Wednesday, May 20, through the title game on Saturday, May 23. The tournament will be carried live from the new Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. An additional game will be played, if needed, at 12 PM ET on Sunday, May 24.*

The Big Ten Network will provide extensive tournament coverage, including post-game press conferences, expert analysis between games, and live interviews with coaches and players before, during and after the action.

“Between our live game and studio coverage, the Big Ten Network will give fans everything they need to follow the Big Ten Baseball Tournament,” said network President Mark Silverman.

Brian Barnhart will do the play-by-play, with Danan Hughes providing the analysis, for the tournament’s first two days. Barnhart, who for many seasons worked as an analyst in the minor leagues, and Hughes, a former Iowa baseball and football player, are both in their second year with the network. The second two days (and
Sunday, if needed) will be handled by Big Ten Network regular Brent Stover doing play-by-play and analysis from former New York Yankees player Scott Pose, also in his second baseball season with the network. Shireen Saski returns as the network’s reporter for all four days.

The Big Ten Network studio team of Dave Revsine, Rick Pizzo, and Mike Hall will provide extensive coverage between every game and on Big Ten Tonight, at 10 PM ET on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Big Ten Tonight team welcomes a new studio analyst, Cal Eldred, for those four shows and the between-game coverage. Eldred is a 14-year Major League Baseball veteran who played with the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals after his days as pitcher at Iowa.

Wednesday’s games will pit #4 seed Illinois (33-18, 16-8) against #5 seed Michigan State (23-29, 13-11) at 12:05 PM ET and #3 seed Indiana (28-25, 16-7) against #6 seed Purdue (24-24, 11-12) at 3:35 PM ET. The top seeds, #1 Ohio State (39-15, 18-6) and #2 Minnesota (35-15, 17-6), will have a bye for the first day’s games and
will begin action on Thursday. Minnesota will play the higher-seeded winner of Wednesday’s matchups at 3:35 PM ET and Ohio State will play the lower-seeded winning team at 7:05 PM ET.

Finishing the regular season, the top four teams were clustered at the top of the conference standings. Ohio State was able to break away from the pack with the regular season title thanks to an 8-6 win over Iowa and a Minnesota loss to Penn State by a score of 10-8. Purdue beat Illinois this weekend, securing the tournament’s last spot and giving Indiana the #3 seed and a half-game lead over the Illini.

*Due to the nature of double-elimination tournaments, the second championship game would be necessary if the winner of the first championship game had lost one game previously.

Game Broadcast Schedule: The Big Ten Network will present exclusive live coverage of ten Big Ten Baseball Tournament games.

All times Eastern

Wednesday, May 20
Game 1: 12:05 PM: No. 4 Seed Illinois vs. No. 5 Seed Michigan State
Game 2: 3:35 PM: No. 3 Seed Indiana vs. No. 6 Seed Purdue

Thursday, May 21
Game 3: 12:05 PM: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4: 3:35 PM: Highest Seed of Games 1 & 2 Winners vs. No. 2 Seed Minnesota
Game 5: 7:05 PM: Lowest Seed of Games 1 & 2 Winners vs. No. 1 Seed Ohio State

Friday, May 22
Game 6: 12:05 PM: Winner Game 3 vs. Lowest Seed of Games 4 & 5 Losers**
Game 7: 3:35 PM: Winner Game 6 vs. Highest Seed of Games 4 & 5 Losers**
Semifinal – Game 8: 7:05 PM: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4

Saturday, May 23
Semifinal – Game 9: 3:35 PM: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8
Championship – Game 10: 7:05 PM: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9

Sunday, May 24 (If Necessary)***
Second Championship – Game 11: 12:05 PM: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10

**Exception: if either of the Games 4 or 5 losers has already had a bye, that team will play in Game 6, regardless of seed.
***If winner of Game 10 is also the winner of Game 9, Winner and Loser of Game 10 will play in an 11th game on Sunday.

That does it.

Fang’s Bites’ Grade for 24, Season 7, Hour 24, 7 a.m. – 8 a.m.

Opening Sequence: Chloe is having trouble finding out the transmission – A.

Kim tells Renee they don’t have much time – A.

Jack squeezes through an opening into a garage and tries to break out by using a taxi – A.

Tony finds him and starts shooting – A.

Tony uses a forklift to open the door – A.

Jack then tries to use a flare to set off a gasoline fire – A.

But Tony kicks it away – A.

Ethan walks into Olivia’s office – A.

Aaron follows him – A.

They confront Olivia with the digital recording – A.

Aaron tells Olivia he suspected her for a while, but hoped he was wrong – A.

Ethan says Olivia can’t talk her way out of this situation – A.

Ethan wants President Taylor to take the next step – A.

Ethan wants the President to know the truth and wants Olivia to tell her – A>

Jack is chained to a fence – A.

He tries to tell Tony what he’s doing is wrong – A.

Jack asks Tony to let him die in peace – A.

Tony says he’s not intending to use Jack – A.

Tony tells Jack he’s been wanting to confront Alan Wilson for three years – A.

He says Wilson was the man behind Charles Logan, the hit on President Palmer and the death of Michelle (sob!) – A.

Tony says this is about justice – A.

Tony says he saved lives, not Jack – A.

Tony says he stopped Jonas Hodges – A.

Jack says he had to stop the attack – A.

Tony says Wilson is going to die – A.

Tony says he’s not going to kill Wilson, Jack is – A.

Tony straps an explosive to Jack – A.

Tony slaps duct tape over Jack’s mouth – A.

Cara tells Tony Wilson is on his way – A.

Cara wants Tony to keep quiet about them – A.

Tony agrees and Wilson arrives – C.

Wilson’s men get out at the hideaway where Cara and Tony area – A.

They search Tony and Cara and Wilson gets out of his limo – A.

Wilson sees Tony and Cara kisses Wilson – A.

Tony and Cara tell Wilson that Jack is inside – A.

Tony says there’s a lot more he can bring to the table – A.

Jack is brought to Wilson – A.

Just before Tony is about blow Jack and Wilson up, the FBI arrive in a helicopter – A.

FIREFIGHT!!!!!!!! – A+++++++++++++++++

Cara & Wilson escape – A.

Jack runs away and hides – A.

More explosions as gas canisters explode – A.

Walker shoots a bunch of people by riding on the the side of an SUV – A.

Walker disables the explosive device – A. Damn, she’s good!!!

Renee sets Jack loose – A.

Walker wants to know why or how they were tracked – A.

Tony shoots Cara!!!! – A+++++

Now Tony wants Wilson – A.

Tony puts a gun to Wilson’s head – A.

Wilson denies having a role in Michelle’s death – A.

Tony pistolwhips him – A.

Tony says Wilson took his life with Michelle away – A.

Tony starts to beat him up – A.

Tony tells him that Michelle was pregnant with his son – A.

Tony is ready to kill him, but is shot – A.

Tony is shot again, but not killed – A.

Wilson is taken into custody – A.

Tony yells at Jack – A.

Tony is taken into custody – A.

Jack collapses – B.

Wilson is patched up by FBI and Walker tells him that a lot of people died today and he will be charged with treason – A.

Walker wants him to cooperate – A.

Wilson denies any conspiracy – A.

Walker wants to beat him up, but doesn’t – A.

Jack refuses any drugs – A.

Renee sees Jack before he’s taken to the hospital – A.

She tells him Wilson won’t talk – A.

Renee wants to make him talk – A.

She asks Jack what to do – A.

Jack says he can’t tell her what to do – A.

Renee asks Jack if he regretted anything he did today – A.

Jack says no, but he doesn’t work for the FBI – A.

Jack tells Renee she can’t cross the line – A.

Jack tells her to make choices she can live with – A.

Jack touches Renee’s face and tells he not to say anything at all – A.

Jack is taken to the hospital – A.

Renee is left alone – A.

President Taylor sees Olivia and Henry in her office – A.

Olivia admits to President Taylor that Hodges died because of her – A.

She admits that she ordered the hit on Hodges – A.

Olivia says tried to call it off – A.

Olivia says Ethan knows about the whole thing – A.

Henry wants President Taylor to protect Olivia – F.

He wants President Taylor to destroy the recording – F.

Henry guilts President Taylor by saying her job cost Roger his life – F.

Henry wants President Taylor to destroy the recording – F.

Tim wants to tell President Taylor some good news – A.

Henry urges President Taylor to destroy the recording … Jerk – F.

Aaron waits outside – A.

Henry tells Olivia they’ll figure out what happens – F.

Tim talks to Janis about Wilson – A.

Janis awkwardly gives Chloe a compliment – A.

Chloe awkwardly gives one back – A.

President Taylor thinks about the future – A.

Dr. Sunny Macer tells Jack the disease is in an advanced stage – A.

She tells him she can give him morphine to induce a coma – A.

The Imam who Jack harassed two hours ago comes to visit him – A.

Jack asks forgiveness for his actions – A.

The Imam forgives Jack – C.

Dr. Macer gives Jack a shot of morphine – C.

Henry is with Olivia – F.

President Taylor hugs Olivia – A.

President Taylor tells Olivia she has to uphold the Constitution – A.

But she has Olivia arrested – A.

Henry is pissed. Good Get him off my TV now – A.

Pierce tells Olivia she’ll be held at Justice – A.

Henry can’t look at President Taylor – F.

President Taylor walks out alone – F.

President Taylor tells Ethan Kanin she’s lost her family – A.

Ethan Kanin is there to tell her that he’ll return as Chief of Staff – A.

Alan Wilson is brought to the FBI – C.

Renee looks at him with disdain – A.

Janis walks in and asks Renee to sign his transfer papers – A.

Renee wants to torture him … DO IT! – A.

Renee orders Janis to get out – A.

Janis refuses – F.

Renee has Janis handcuff her – A.

TORTURE WILSON, RENEE!!!!

Renee is ready to take the law into her own hands – A.

Janis uses the Larry Moss card – F.

Renee places her FBI shield on the table – A.

She goes in to see Wilson who smirks at her – F.

She closes the door – F.

Kim sees Jack in a coma – A.

Kim talks to the Imam – A.

Kim wants to do the stem cell operation to save Jack – A.

Dr. Macer prepares Jack for surgery – A.

Kim tells Jack she won’t lose him again – A.

That last scene was powerful.

Ok, I give this episode a B+.

Overall season grade – B.

We get ready for 24 again next year. Join us on January 17, 2010 for the last season of 24.

Fang’s Bites’ Grade for 24, Season 7, Hour 23, 6 a.m. – 7 a.m.

Opening Sequence: Olivia meets with the Deputy Attorney General investigating Jonas Hodges’ death – B.

President Taylor meets with the Cabinet – B.

President Taylor tells the Cabinet that “The Group” is ready for another attack – A.

Jack is with Tony as he’s being transported and Cara instructs him to get ready to break Tony out – B.

Cara tells Jack she’s looking at Kim at the airport – F.

Kim continues to hang with the couple that is looking to kidnap her – F.

Kim notices the guy, Bob, has a scratch on his neck – C.

Bob leaves and calls Cara – B.

Cara tells Bob he knows what he has to do – C.

Jack now points his weapon at a bewildered Agent Walker then shoots an FBI agent – B.

Jack then instructs the driver to break away from the FBI escort – B.

Janis tries to hail Walker – A.

Jack then admits to Renee that Cara has his daughter in sight – B.

Chloe and Janis track the van – B.

Cara instructs Jack where to have the driver park the van inside a tunnel – A.

Jack tells Renee to do whatever it takes to save Kim – A.

Renee is pissed. Jack is brought by Tony to Cara – B.

Tony tells Cara they’re going to take the bioweapon out of Jack’s blood and the Group will do the attack as planned. Whoa! – A.

Cara smiles – A.

Ethan Kanin comes to the White House, escorted by Aaron Pierce – A.

Pierce tells Ethan that Olivia may be involved in Hodges’ death – A.

Pierce asks Ethan to access the secret recording device in his old office, now Olivia’s office – A.

Pierce asks Ethan to help – A.

Ethan agrees – A.

He goes into the office and gets the recording – A.

The Deputy Attorney General’s office continues to question Olivia and she’s cleared to go – B.

Olivia is on her way and Pierce tells Ethan – A.

Olivia finds Ethan and he tells her that he was just clearing something out of his office – A.

Olivia is suspicious – A.

Olivia then discovers the recording device – A.

She realizes something is wrong and wants Ethan detained – A.

Ethan is then detained by Secret Service agents – A.

Walker tells Janis and Chloe that Kim is being watched by Cara’s people – B.

Chloe then patches Walker to Kim at the airport – A.

Walker tells Kim what’s going on – A.

Kim describes the suspicious couple to Walker – A.

She has to cut the phone call short when Bob approaches – A.

Kim is a little nervous and the couple notices – A.

Kim shows the woman her daughter – A.

Bob then starts shooting and Sarah the woman takes Kim hostage with a sharp object – A.

Bob shoots and airport security shoots back – A.

Bob shoots an innocent civilian – A.

Kim takes out a pen and stabs Sarah then airport security shoots Sarah dead – A.

Bob is shot in the leg – A.

Bob runs away – F.

Kim calls Walker and asks where airport police is – A.

Kim’s cell phone battery goes out and she yells “DAMMIT!!!” Like father, like daughter – A.

Kim follows Bob – A.

Olivia sees Ethan in holding – A.

Olivia wants the digital recording – A.

Ethan says it’s a personal recording – A.

Olivia wants it – A.

Ethan tries to stall, but Olivia wants the recording – A.

A Secret Service agent finds a disk and gives it to Olivia – A.

She tells him to release Ethan – A.

He leaves unhappily – A.

They exchange glares – A.

Ethan is escorted out of the White House while Olivia destroys a disk – A.

Pierce takes Ethan to his car and Ethan tells him he has the real recording – A.

Ethan says the other recording was blank – A.

Ethan says he can listen to the disk in his car – A.

Ethan tells Pierce he’ll let him know what he finds out – A.

Jack, Cara and Tony arrive at their destination – B.

Jack is taken to an area by two people with masks – C.

Jack is put on a table face down and a doctor is ready to do a spinal tap – A.

A doctor injects him with a sedative – A.

Tony tells Cara he wants a larger role in The Group – A.

Cara disagrees – A.

Tony wants in – A.

Cara says no – A.

Tony convinces her to talk to The Man – A.

Jack is immobilized and he undergoes a spinal tap. EWWWWWWWW! – A.

Olivia calls Martin and he tells her to relax – A.

Olivia is summoned to the Oval Office – A.

The FBI is now in the airport looking for Kim – A.

Walker talks to Janis and has the FBI issue an alert for her – A.

Kim follows a hobbling Bob into the airport garage – A.

Bob hides among cargo containers with Kim… Kim???!!! in pursuit – B.

Kim runs after him – A.

She hides as he goes up the stairs – A.

Kim finds a security guard and has him contact Renee – B.

Bob finds his car and barrelasses down a ramp and starts shooting to try to get out – A.

Bob shoots the two guards, but one of the guards shoots Bob – A.

Bob crashes – A.

The car is on fire – A.

Kim goes to the car to get Bob’s laptop out of the car – A.

She knows its a link to where Jack is located – A.

Bob grabs her – A.

Kim gets the laptop out while her arm is on fire – A.

She takes her jacket off – A.

Kim tells Renee that the laptop can be traced to where her father is – A.

Walker looks at Kim in bewilderment – A.

Kim tells Renee she used to work at CTU – A.

Kim finds out Chloe is back at the FBI – A.

Kim wants to talk to Chloe – A.

Ethan is at his car and takes the digital recording out – A.

He listens to the contents and finds Olivia’s conversation with Martin – A.

Tony goes to the Doctor and tells Tony that Jack’s organs have to be lifted for the pathogen to work – A.

Tony wants Jack moved – A.

Cara talks to The Man, Alan Wilson – A.

Cara says Tony wants a larger role – A.

Alan is worried – A.

Cara suggests a meeting between Tony and Alan – A.

Alan is convinced – A.

Alan says he’s going to go to her location to meet Tony – A.

Cara tells Tony that Alan will meet him – A.

The doctors prepare Jack for transport and he gets up and attacks – A.

Jack kills everyone with a scalpel and breaks the doctor’s neck – A++++++++.

Jack gets up and is ready to go after Tony – A.

Jack is shaking – A.

Jack gets out and sets off an alarm – A.

Tony and Cara discover Jack is gone – A.

End of episode – A.

Let’s get ready for the finale!!!

The Official Fox/MLB World Series Announcement

Here’s the official joint announcement from Fox Sports and Major League Baseball on the earlier start times for the World Series. It begins this year. Actually, it begins when Fox airs the American League Championship Series. Here’s the announcement.

FOX AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TO MOVE UP START TIMES FOR WORLD SERIES AND AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

— First Time a Regularly Scheduled Weeknight World Series Game Will Start Before 8 p.m. Eastern Since 1971 –

NEW YORK – The 2009 World Series and American League Championship Series on FOX will start before 8 p.m. ET on weeknights, it was announced today by FOX and Major League Baseball.

The last time a regularly scheduled World Series game on Monday through Friday started before 8 p.m. ET was 38 years ago when the Baltimore Orioles faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 5 of the 1971 World Series.

The FOX pre-game show will start at 7:30 p.m. ET for weeknight games with first pitch scheduled for 7:57 p.m. ET. Games on Saturday will start no later than weekday games and could start earlier. Games on Sunday will take place following the conclusion of the NFL on FOX as in year’s past.

“Our goal is to schedule games to allow the largest number of people to watch and this change puts our games in the window we believe will work the best for our fans,” said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. “We appreciate the work that FOX has done to make this happen and I expect that fans of all ages will respond favorably to this adjustment.”

“Prime time postseason games on FOX have always been scheduled for a window that maximizes the potential audience from coast to coast,” said FOX Sports President Ed Goren. “The fact is that over the last few years, games have been ending a bit later than we’d like. This new schedule, made possible through the cooperation of our stations, affiliates and Major League Baseball, should help fans of all ages see weeknight games from start to finish.”

The World Series will now have the earliest start time of any U.S. major sports championship excluding the Super Bowl.

It’s a good move especially for those of us on the East Coast. The next move is to allow online streaming of the Series.

Monday Afternoon Links

I wasn’t expecting to do afternoon linkage, but there are enough to do them for you. Plus, I need to pay full attention to the season finale of 24 tonight.

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann shares a story on his MLB blog that Vin Scully almost became the Voice of the Yankees in the mid-1960′s. Amazing.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says an agreement between the NFL and Comcast is expected early this week.

Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times reviews the new Spike TV reality show, 4th and Long.

Newsday’s Neil Best says SNY’s Beer Money premieres its second season on Tuesday.

Ray Frager at the Sports Media Journal gives his thoughts on the eventual NFL/Comcast deal. And Ray opines on the Jon Gruden for Tony Kornheiser on Monday Night Football story.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media writes that Sunday’s Game 1 of the NHL Western Conference Finals drew tremendous ratings for NBC.

The fearless leader of Boston Sports Media Watch, Bruce Allen says last night’s Game 7 of the Celtics-Magic series drew great ratings for TNT.

The Sports Media Watch tells us that Lakers-Rockets drew the lowest overnight ratings in this decade for an NBA second round Game 7 airing.

Congratulations to the Washington Times’ Tim Lemke who is the father of a new bouncing baby boy.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says MLB will unveil new caps that honor veterans in both the U.S. and Canada.

EPL Talk says classic English Premier League matches are going to be available on iTunes, but only in the UK for now.

That’s it for the time being.

NESN is Giving Away Money

Based on the show “Beer Money” on SNY and Comcast SportsNet Chicago, NESN is doing its own version called, “Pocket Money”. I’ve seen the SNY and CSN Chicago versions and prefer it being called “Beer Money”. “Pocket Money” sounds so politically correct. Anyway, here’s the NESN press release.

NESN GIVING AWAY “POCKET MONEY”

Network to Begin Production of New Original NESN Entertainment (ONE) Series

BOSTON, MA – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, announced plans to begin production of a new original series called Pocket Money. This multi-platform Original NESN Entertainment (ONE) program will include a dedicated interactive section on NESN.com. The series is scheduled to debut in August 2009 and will feature 20 half-hour episodes that will air weekdays at 5:30 PM and 11:30 PM.

Pocket Money will be hosted by Boston sports super-fan Paul “Fitzy” Fitzgerald as portrayed by comedian Nick Stevens. Fitzy will engage sports fans in public settings across the region and ask them New England sports trivia questions for a chance to win some ‘pocket money’ (in increments of $5, $10, and $20). The show will travel to popular locations including Boston Common, Fenway Park, MBTA stops, city streets, and college campuses.

“We are committed to developing diverse and locally focused programming for the network and our website,“ said Joel Feld, NESN’s executive vice president of programming and executive producer. “Each episode will include unique opportunities for sponsors to interact directly with our fans and our content. We like this engaging and fun concept and believe that it will bring out the competitive spirit in fans of New England sports.”

One such sponsor that has already signed on is Yankee Spirits, New England’s Liquor Store. Fitzy is scheduled to be at the Yankee Spirits store in Swansea, MA on Wednesday, June 17 from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM looking for sports fans that have what it takes to earn some ‘pocket money’.

Nick Stevens (aka Fitzy) is originally from Braintree, MA, and has been writing and performing sketch, standup and character comedy in NY for over ten years. In 2004 he was a contestant on the first season of ESPN’s Dream Job. He developed the Boston sports-obsessed “Fitzy” character which landed him a chance to cover the 2007 season of Monday Night Football for ESPN.com. Currently he writes and hosts the Burly Sports Show for Heavy.com and has done on-air comedic commentary for several networks including VH1, CNN HN and the NFL Network.

Pocket Money, based on a concept originally developed by IMG, will be produced by Natick, MA based Old Harbor Productions exclusively for NESN.

Why not have Heidi Watney host this?

French Open and NBA-Related Press Releases

On Sunday, the French Open begins and so does ESPN2′s coverage which will begin right after Tennis Channel which has the main cable rights. Take a gander at the release:

French Open on ESPN2 & ESPN360.com

Two Weeks of Action Starts Sunday, May 24; Women’s Semis Live June 4

Part Three of Another “Serena Slam”?….Step Two of Grand Slam for Nadal?

The best players in tennis will gather for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year on the red clay of Paris – Roland Garros, the 2009 French Open – beginning on ESPN2 on Sunday, May 24. The network – in its first year televising all four of tennis’ major events – will present more than 56 hours, culminating with the women’s semifinals live Thursday, June 4. ESPN networks have televised the French Open 1986 – 1993 and since 2002. In addition, ESPN360.com will have 277 live hours of coverage, also starting May 24, and continuing all days ESPN2 is on the air.

After the opening day, ESPN2’s schedule will continue with extensive coverage Tuesday, May 26 – Friday, May 29, resuming the next week, Monday, June 1 – 4. Except for June 4 and the women’s semifinals starting at 8 a.m. ET, coverage will begin each day at noon – directly following Tennis Channel’s morning programming – and will generally continue until 6:30 p.m. (See schedule below.) In addition, ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language U.S. sports network, will televise 39 hours from Paris starting Sunday, May 24 and culminating with the women’s semifinals live Thursday, June 4.

Dick Enberg will call his 23rd French Open, along with Cliff Drysdale and analysts Darren Cahill, Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver. Chris Fowler will serve as on-site host and call select matches while legendary tennis columnist Bud Collins will provide his insights as analyst and interviewer.

Previewing the Action

Rafael Nadal, fresh off his first Australian Open championship and sixth Grand Slam win, will be vying for his fifth straight victory on the red clay of Paris where he is an undefeated 28-0 lifetime. Roger Federer, with 13 Grand Slam titles just one behind Pete Sampras’ record of 14, has never won the French Open despite appearances in the finals against Nadal the last three years. His career record at the tournament: 32-10.

On the women’s side, Ana Ivanovic claimed her first career major championship at Roland Garros last year. She will defend the title against a field led by Serena Williams, winner of the last two Grand Slam titles (2008 US Open, 2009 Australian Open) and winner of the French Open in 2002. That victory was the first of four consecutive majors she won extending into 2003, the “Serena Slam.”

Patrick McEnroe on Nadal: “We’re Watching History”

“Despite the results this past weekend on clay in Madrid – Novak Djokovic testing Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer beating him for the title, the question in Paris is not ‘Can anyone beat Nadal?’….it’s ‘Can anyone take a set from him?’ That’s what it’s come to at Roland Garros. The fact that he has improved so much on the other surfaces has actually helped his clay court game. Others in the past who made adjustments to better themselves on faster surfaces – Lendl, Wilander and Courier come to mind – saw their clay court play suffer. Nadal is serving better, being more aggressive with his backhand and coming inside the court more often. He’s absolutely steamrolling people. He used to win on clay with his defense, now he is as good an offensive player. It’s scary to see he’s so much better than he already was. We’re watching history — he’s on his way to surpassing Bjorn Borg as the best ever on clay, and he has a serious chance at the Grand Slam this year.

“As for Federer, the most common question I get asked is ‘What’s wrong with Roger?’ Well, until he loses early in a major you can’t ask. He has been in the last four Grand Slam finals and has an amazing streak of reaching at least the semis in 19 straight majors. So you can’t write him off. What he did Sunday was impressive; he played the right style – was aggressive and didn’t get into many long rallys. It’s the first time I’ve seen him adjust his game on clay versus Nadal. But the biggest factor was the altitude in Madrid, which helps a big server. He is capable of losing to a number of people and that streak is in jeopardy. Even though Nadal defeated Djokovic in the semis in Spain, in a best-of-five match he still has the best chance to upset the reigning four-time champ.”

Mary Carillo on Serena: Last win in Paris was ‘02….four straight losses in ‘09…bad knee…yet “the favorite”

“Only two women in the draw have won the title – Serena Williams and the defending champ, Ana Ivanovic. Ana hasn’t played as well so far this year, but she’s still one of the best clay courters around, so we’ll see how well she handles the pressure of defending her crown.

“It’s been a while since Serena won in Paris; her lone French Open title came back in 2002. Now, she’s lost the last four matches she’s played, and she pulled out of Madrid with a bad knee…and yet she still has to be considered the favorite. I’d give Venus Williams a far smaller chance of getting to the final weekend…although in a few weeks she will be the favorite to win on the grass at Wimbledon.

“Dinara Safina, the top-ranked player in the world, has a good chance to go one step further and win her first major. Her best surface is clay. Svetlana Kuznetsova is rounding into form as well, and Jankovic is always handy on this stuff. I’ll also be watching closely younger players – Aleksandra Wozniaki and Victoria Azarenka. There’s a huge chance for someone to change their life, their reputation, and make some tennis history.”

ESPN360.com: 277 Hours Live Online

ESPN360.com will deliver 277 hours live from the three primary courts at Roland Garros on the days ESPN2 is televising — Sunday, May 24, plus Tuesday, May 26 – Friday, May 29 and Monday, June 1 – Thursday, June 4. Live action will include matches not televised on ESPN2, as well as the ESPN2’s coverage, either live or later that day.

ESPN360.com is ESPN’s live sports broadband network, giving fans a 24/7 online destination that delivers more than 3,200 live, global sports events annually. It is available at no cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. ESPN360.com is currently available in nearly 25 million homes, up 40 percent in the past 12 months and more than triple its distribution just 2 years ago. It is available via approximately 45 Internet service providers nationwide, including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and many more. It is also available at no cost to approximately 18 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks (those with “.edu” and “.mil” domains).

2009 French Open on ESPN2

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun., May 24	Noon – 6 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Tue., May 26	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Wed., May 27	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Thur., May 28	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Fri., May 29	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Mon, June 1	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Round of 16	Live & Same-day action
Tue., June 2	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live & Same-day action
Wed., June 3	Noon – 6:30 p.m.	Men’s Quarterfinals	Live & Same-day action
Thurs., June 4	8 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Women’s Semifinals	Live

2009 French Open on ESPN360.com

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun., May 24	5 a.m. – 6 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Tue., May 25	5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Wed., May 26	5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Thur., May 27	5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Fri., May 29	5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Mon, June 1	5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Round of 16	Live
Tue., June 2	5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live
Wed., June 3	8 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Men’s Quarterfinals	Live
Thurs., June 4	5 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Women’s Semifinals	Live

2009 French Open on ESPN Deportes

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun., May 24	Noon – 4 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Tue., May 26	Noon – 4 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Thur., May 28	1 – 5 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Fri., May 29	Noon – 5 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live & Same-day action
Mon, June 1	Noon – 6 p.m.	Round of 16	Live & Same-day action
Tue., June 2	Noon – 6 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live & Same-day action
Wed., June 3	Noon – 6 p.m.	Men’s Quarterfinals	Live & Same-day action
Thurs., June 4	8 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Women’s Semifinals	Live

And here’s TNT quotage from last night’s Game 7 of the Celtics-Magic.

Notes from TNT’s Coverage of the NBA Playoffs – Sunday, May 17, 2009

TNT’s exclusive coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals begins on Wednesday, May 20 with pre-game coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET followed by Game #1 of the Orlando Magic @ Cleveland Cavaliers at 8:30 p.m. ET

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TNT NBA Tip-off

Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber

Barkley on predicting the Orlando Magic would win the series against the Boston Celtics: “The Boston Celtics are going down and the Orlando Magic are going to win…guaranteed. They’ve got a better team. I always believe the best team wins a seven game series and the Orlando Magic are a better team without Kevin Garnett (on the Celtics).”

Barkley on rooting for the Rockets in their Game #7 against the Lakers: “I rooted for a team, I normally never care who wins but I was pulling for the Rockets before the game started. I’ve never done that before. You have to respect what they accomplished, as a fan and as a player you have to respect them beating that really good Lakers team twice without Yao Ming.”

Smith on what Lakers fans should be concerned about: “The only thing you worry about as a Lakers fan is their tendency to be complacent, that tends to make the non-Lakers fans not root for them.”

Barkley on the health of Rockets guard Tracy McGrady and center Yao Ming dictating the Rockets future: “It just shows the people who think (the Rockets) are a much better team without Tracy McGrady, they are just idiots. They are a much better team with Tracy McGrady. You have to ask yourself if Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are both going to be healthy. It is a legitimate, fair question because neither has been healthy basically for the last five years. You’ve got to make a decision on Ron Artest, he’s the biggest free agent on that team, but I don’t think you can judge this team at all until you see where Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are. Neither are young kids anymore. Microfracture surgery is a serious deal, not many people come back from it, especially after a certain age. And Yao Ming, you hope he becomes (Zydrunas) Ilgauskas in Cleveland who missed a couple of years with foot problems and then came back, because it’s a shame.”

Smith on the Rockets being a contender but trailing the Lakers: “(Houston) is a contending team when healthy. The Lakers are the best in the West without question and (the Rockets) took them to seven games. They are the best in the West and everyone chases them, even the Denver Nuggets.”

Webber on the Rockets needing to determine the philosophy of their team with regards to center Yao Ming: “There has never been a test study on a guy that big (as Yao Ming) playing. The toll it takes on these guys’ bodies to keep up with a guy six feet tall is a lot. Also, what’s the philosophy of their team? I think (the Rockets) need to figure that out. Hopefully, Yao Ming doesn’t have to be the best player, so do they rest him like Shaq? He plays hard so how do you watch his minutes? They need to figure out their philosophy moving forward when they draft and sign players.”

Barkley on his pick to come out of the Western Conference Finals: “I’m not changing my mind, the Denver Nuggets and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the two best teams I’ve seen in the playoffs so far and so I’m going with the Denver Nuggets in an upset.”

Smith on the Lakers coming out of the West: “I’m going with the Los Angeles Lakers. I do not think the Lakers deserve to win the title because they don’t play every night, but still will. They play because of their great skill level and great talent level, but I think it’s going to be too much for (Denver).”

Webber on why he believes the Nuggets will beat the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals: “I want to see LeBron and Kobe in the championship like everybody else, but I think Denver is going to win. The way that Kobe said (the Lakers are) bipolar and the lackadaisical play of the big fellows. If you saw today, (the Rockets) were scoring on (Pau) Gasol like he was lunch meat. If Nene and them come and play like that, you’ve got to watch out on the inside. Kobe said last year that there is maybe a lack of toughness and I’m wondering whether that will show this year.”

Smith on assessing player’s nerves before the game to know when to involve them: “For me, I used to look around and look in everyone’s eye and you can tell who is going to be there and who isn’t going to be there for you. As a point guard, delivering the ball to the right people when they’re ready was important to me, so I was just paying attention to who was out of character in their pre-game routine. I knew everyone’s routine before the game, so if you were doing things that you didn’t do before, I wasn’t coming to you early, I was coming to you late.”

Barkley on the stars needing to step up in Game #7: “Sometimes as a star you say, ‘I’m going to get everyone going and in Game #7 say, ‘boys you get your asses on my back and we’ll go forward,’ and you let them catch up. Role players can only pay well if stars get you off. If you’re a star you say ‘I’ve got to get going and make everyone follow’, that’s Paul Pierce and Dwight Howard and everyone’s got to follow.”

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Orlando Magic (101) @ Boston Celtics (82) – Magic wins the series 4-3 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Announcers: Marv Albert and Reggie Miller; with David Aldridge reporting

Miller on how the Magic need to approach the start of the game: “You want to get off to a quick start, you want to be tied or up at the end of the first quarter to take the crowd out of the game. If you’re the Boston Celtics, you know what you are going to get from your big guns in (Paul) Pierce and (Ray) Allen. To me, it’s all about the bench players. Eddie House, who was great in games one through three, needs to come up big to lead the bench.”

TNT’s David Aldridge interviewed Magic coach Stan Van Gundy after the first quarter.

Van Gundy on the Magic’s performance in the first quarter of play: “First six minutes outstanding and then a big lull I thought after that. We’ve got to get it back. It’s tough to get in the open court and get that ball movement. Our defense wasn’t as good and they were on the free throw line. When they are sitting on the free throw line a lot we’re in half court offense and it’s tough.”

Miller on great shooters not admitting when they have slumps: “Shooters continue to shoot. You talk to Ray Allen, he’s going to feel that he’s not in any slump, he’s just missing shots. Any great shooter will move on to the next shot.”

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Halftime Report

Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Chris Webber and Kenny Smith

Barkley on the Magic needing to go be more aggressive in the second half: “I’m disappointed in Orlando, they should be up by more than seven points. Dwight Howard has to quit committing silly fouls, he’s too good a player to get those. I don’t mind players getting fouls, but the fouls he’s getting are silly. I’d like to see the tempo sped up, I like what they are doing against Paul Pierce, they’re taking the ball out of his hands. But on the other end, JJ Redick hasn’t even taken a shot. Ray Allen is going now. If you’re going to let (Allen) rest on defense anything can happen. J.J. Redick, he’s scared to death out there. If he’s going to be scared out there, we should get him a dog.”

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Miller on anticipating that the Nuggets will play a physical series against the Lakers: “If you thought Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes were physical, just wait until the Birdman (Chris Andersen), Nene and Kenyon Martin, especially on five or six days of rest, come at you.”

Miller on Celtics guard Ray Allen getting a jumper to get going: “This is what the Boston faithful have been waiting for. Ray Allen off a series of screens, J.J. Redick a little late coming over and when you’re late, you’re too late.”

TNT’s David Aldridge interviewed Celtics coach Doc Rivers after the first quarter.

Rivers on the Celtics defense in the third quarter: “It comes down to the guard taking away penetration. We play great defense for 18 seconds, unfortunately there is a 24-second clock and we’ve got to finish the possession.”

Miller on Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu’s pregame meal of pizza: “(Hedo Turkoglu) is probably going to get Dominos (Pizza) as a sponsor if he continues to eat pizza like that before the game. Maybe that is his ‘go juice’ to get Hedo going.”

Miller on Magic guard Courtney Lee guarding Celtics guard Eddie House: “Courtney Lee will not let Eddie House get off a shot attempt. Right now Eddie House has not put up a shot in 14 minutes because Courtney Lee is his Linus blanket.”

Miller on Celtics center Kendrick Perkins matching up well with Magic center Dwight Howard: “(Kendrick Perkins) really went toe to toe with Dwight Howard, matched his physical nature and was great at both ends of the floor.”

TNT’s David Aldridge interviewed Magic center Dwight Howard after the Magic defeated the Celtics.

Howard on how the Magic will approach playing the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals: “We just have to dominate on both ends, and it starts with me on the inside being able to block shots and rebound and other guys will follow. I’m happy for my team right now. It feels good. We believe. We believe we can go all the way. It’s going to get harder, we stepped it up these last two games and this is what we’ve got to do for the rest of the playoffs.”

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Inside the NBA

Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Webber and Smith

Barkley on Celtics guard Ray Allen’s Game #7 performance: “Ray (Allen) was spectacular but he didn’t get much help from anyone.”

Barkley on Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo: “If (Rondo) could learn how to shoot the ball, he could be scary.”

Webber on how he would plan the Celtics future with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett: “I would let (Paul Pierce and Ray Allen) stay around as long as they can and be a unit as long as KG (Kevin Garnett) is still together. If news comes back that KG isn’t healthy and can’t play, then I’m going to re-think it because they are a little bit older. They are getting older but I think they are ok as long as KG is there. He’s the main question as they go forward.”

Smith on why the Orlando Magic need to get to the NBA Finals to have a successful season: “(The Orlando Magic) have to get to the NBA Finals for their season to be a success. They went to seven games against the Boston Celtics without Kevin Garnett. Then if they lose to Cleveland (in the ECF), they are still only the third best team in the East (Conference). They might have to re-think things if they don’t win (the ECF) and get to the NBA Finals. It is very important for the Orlando Magic to get to the NBA Finals or they are still the third best team in the East. They would not beat the Boston Celtics with Kevin Garnett and they won’t beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have to get to the Finals.”

Barkley on who is going to win the Eastern Conference Finals: “I think the Orlando Magic are going to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (in the ECF). I look at the match-ups and I don’t think (Cleveland) can match-up with Orlando’s starting unit. I think Orlando has a better bench. I look at it on paper and I know you don’t play the game on paper. Now (Cleveland) does have LeBron James.”

Smith: “What’s his name again? He makes a little bit of a difference because when you have LeBron James on your team, you take the paper match-up and tear it up.”

Barkley on the Lakers playing better at home: “You have to be amazed at how the Lakers play so well at home and so bad on the road.”

Barkley on the Denver Nuggets success in the playoffs: “The Denver Nuggets have played better than anyone in the West (Conference) in the playoffs. They’ve lost two games and played well in both of those games. They haven’t had a bunch of peaks and valleys. I think they have the physical strength and I think Carmelo Anthony has become the best scorer the league. Chauncey Billups has given them so much leadership. They play defense and Nene has picked his game up. J.R. Smith has been spectacular and ‘Birdman” (Chris Anderson) brings great energy. I think if they play like they’ve played so far (in the playoffs), they’ll beat the Lakers.”

Barkley on the Lakers not consistently playing at a high level: “It pisses me off for (the Lakers) to have that type of talent and play half-assed. If you take away my first couple of years in the league when I played with Doc (Julius Erving) and Moses (Malone), I doubt if I played with a guy as good as (Pau) Gasol, (Andrew) Bynum and maybe even Lamer Odom. I never played with that type of talent and for them to have a legitimate chance to win the (NBA) Championship and to half-ass it all the time, it pisses me off.”

Smith on the Lakers not playing hard at all times: “(The Lakers) might win (the NBA Championship) but I don’t know if they deserve it because I don’t know if they respect the league. They play against (the Rockets) without Yao Ming and they don’t give the same effort. Their skill level is so much higher than the Rockets and not respecting the league means that they just go about their business and say ‘we can win it anytime because we can get them in Game #6 or Game #7.’ For me, the teams that really win championships deserve it because they work hard from front door to back door, all the way through. I still think (the Lakers) are going to win it but I can’t root for that (mentality).”

Barkley on the passing of his former teammate Wayman Tisdale: “When I got the (news), I was in shock and my heart was sad all day. You’re never going to meet a nicer person (than Wayman Tisdale). I don’t think Wayman Tisdale was ever in a bad mood and he had the greatest smile. The world is sadder because he’s not here. It was an honor for me to play with him and get to know him. I feel bad for his whole family.”

That’s it for this post. I’m sure there will be more releases today.

The Indy 500 On ABC

ESPN/ABC gives us some background on its coverage of this year’s Indianapolis 500 and also some history of ABC’s broadcasts dating back 45 years. I’m kind of surprised ESPN actually embraced ABC’s history with the race.

Indianapolis 500 Airing on ABC for 45^th Consecutive Year

ESPN’s Production of Sunday’s Live Coverage Continues a TV Tradition Dating to 1965

When the Indianapolis 500 aired on ABC for the first time, Lyndon Johnson was in the White House, the NFL Championship was almost two years away from becoming the Super Bowl, the Beatles and Beach Boys were at the top of the charts and Bewitched and Bonanza ruled the TV airwaves.

One of the longest-running relationships between a sporting event and a network continues on Sunday, May 24, when the Indianapolis 500 airs on ABC for the 45^th consecutive year. ESPN on ABC’s live, high definition telecast from Indianapolis Motor Speedway begins at noon ET, with the green flag at 1 p.m.

Television coverage of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” has come a long way since highlights first appeared in black-and-white on ABC’s Wide World of Sports program following the 1965 edition of the race.

ESPN will use 59 cameras to televise the race fully in high definition, including a 360-degree rotating onboard camera mounted behind the driver on multiple cars. Unique views will be provided by Track Cam, a high definition camera running on a cable over pit road and the frontstretch that can move at more than 80 mph. All 33 cars will carry GPS boxes for the Sportvision RaceFX system to provide telemetry and pointers to help identify the cars for viewers. And ESPN will use a radio replay system that can record, play back and edit radios from any of the 33 drivers.

The one-hour pre-race show will include interviews with many of the starting drivers as well as four special features, including a look at the roller-coaster year of polesitter Helio Castroneves; the special relationship between Danica Patrick and her father; the “Super Team” of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti; and the Allure of Indy – why drivers will risk everything just to be able to compete in the Indy 500

ESPN’s veteran team returns for the Indianapolis 500 telecast. Marty Reid will call the race, with analysis by former IndyCar Series star Scott Goodyear and 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever. Reporting from the pits will be Jack Arute, Jamie Little, Brienne Pedigo and Vince Welch while Brent Musburger hosts the telecast. Arute has covered the event for ABC every year since 1984.

Some of the most familiar names in sports television history have been a part of ABC’s Indianapolis 500 coverage over the years, including Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Chris Schenkel, Bill Flemming, Al Michaels, Paul Page and current host Musburger.

Early in his television career, Indiana native David Letterman worked as a pit reporter for ABC in 1971, and years later the late night talk show host would win the race as a car owner in 2004 with driver Buddy Rice.

Chris Economaki was a pit reporter and analyst on ABC’s Indy 500 coverage for years, while Jackie Stewart, Bobby Unser, Sam Posey, Rodger Ward and Rusty Wallace are among those who served as driver-analysts.

Charlie Brockman, a television personality in Indianapolis at the time, was the commentator on ABC’s first coverage of the race in 1965. Brockman had previously been the lap-by-lap announcer for closed-circuit telecasts of the race that were the norm before ABC’s coverage began. The race remained part of Wide World of Sports until 1971, when it aired for the first time as a same-day, stand-alone, tape-delayed telecast in prime time.

Because Indianapolis Motor Speedway did not want the event to air live at the time, it was shown on a delayed basis until 1986. The race telecast is still blacked out in the Indianapolis area, airing later that night.

“The stewardship of ABC’s storied history at the Indianapolis 500 is something we take very seriously,” said Jed Drake, ESPN senior vice president and executive producer. “The heritage of this event, and the pure excitement and spectacle of it, are what we look forward to bringing to our viewers every year.”

Other ESPN Platforms

In addition to the live telecast on ABC, the Indianapolis 500 will receive multiplatform coverage on other ESPN outlets:

ESPN International’s networks and syndication of Indy 500 will reach 213 countries and territories and more than 292 million households. In addition, U.S. troops serving overseas and on Navy vessels around the world will watch via a broadcast agreement between ESPN and the American Forces Network.

ESPN.com will provide surround coverage of the Indy 500 with senior motorsports writer Terry Blount leading a team that includes IndyCar correspondent John Oreovicz and motorsports correspondent John Schwarb at the venerable speedway. In addition, anchor Marty Reid and analysts Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever will provide exclusive digital coverage of the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” led by Cheever’s frequent ESPN.com contribution, “Leave It To Cheever.”

On television, extensive reports, interviews and highlights will air on SportsCenter and ESPNEWS.

ESPN Classic will re-live some great classic Indianapolis 500 races of the past in a marathon on Saturday, May 23, beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The marathon, presented by GoDaddy.com, features racing legends and former Indy 500 winners Al Unser Sr. and Jr. and Dario Franchitti. Franchitti, the 2007 winner, will provide exclusive commentary about his experiences during that race for ESPN Classic. The Indy 500 Marathon begins with SportsCentury: Al Unser Sr., followed by the 1987, 1992, 2005, 2007 and 2008 races.

ESPN Radio’s Saturday RaceDay starts its engines at 6 a.m. ET with an hour of news, previews and analysis. ESPN Radio also provides auto racing fans the comprehensive Sunday RaceDay (6-7 a.m. Sundays), which covers the auto racing world.

ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s Spanish-language television, radio and Internet in the U.S., will cover the Indy 500 via SportsCenter and RPM Semanal, the network’s first news and information program completely aired online on ESPNdeportes.com. Former professional driver Alex Pombo will be in Times Square to cover the 33-driver starting field’s New York visit on Tuesday of race week. His report will focus on interviews with the Hispanic drivers, including Ernesto Viso, Helio Castroneves and Milka Duno. RPM Semanal will be available on ESPNdeportes.com starting Wednesday, May 20, at 1 p.m. ET. The show will offer post analysis of Indy 500 during its Wednesday, May 27 edition.

Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

ESPN on ABC

Indianapolis 500 Historical Notes

The telecast of the 2009 Indianapolis 500 by ESPN on ABC marks the 45^th consecutive year that the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” has been televised on ABC, one of the longest-running relationships ever between a sporting event and a TV network. Some important dates and milestones regarding the Indianapolis 500 on ABC:

1965 – The relationship between ABC and the Indianapolis 500 begins when highlights of the race are shown on the Wide World of Sports program. Charlie Brockman is the lap-by-lap announcer.

1966 – Chris Schenkel handles the lead announcer duties.

1967 – Jim McKay works the Indy 500 telecast for the first time as lap-by-lap announcer, with former race winner Rodger Ward in the new role of driver analyst on ABC’s coverage. Ward also works the 1968 and 1969 races for ABC. The race is shown in color for the first time after two years in black-and-white.

1971 – For the first time, ABC’s coverage of the Indianapolis 500 airs as a same-day, stand-alone, tape-delayed telecast in prime time rather than as part of the Wide World of Sports program. Chris Schenkel is host, with Jim McKay calling the action. Jackie Stewart makes his debut as driver analyst. Pit reporters include Chris Economaki, Bill Flemming, Keith Jackson and future Indy 500 winning team owner and late night talk show host David Letterman. The infamous crash of the pace car, in which Schenkel, astronaut John Glenn and speedway owner Tony Hulman were riding, into a photographer’s stand on the race start occurred this year.

1975 – Keith Jackson handles anchor duties for ABC as Jim McKay misses the race for the only time between 1967 and his final race in 1987.

1981 – Jackie Stewart works his final Indianapolis 500 as driver analyst. Sam Posey replaces him the following year.

1983 – Al Unser and Rick Mears carry onboard cameras, the first used in Indy 500 coverage.

1984 – Jack Arute works his first Indianapolis 500 for ABC as a pit reporter, a role that continues in 2009.

1986 – After many years of airing tape-delayed because Indianapolis Motor Speedway did not want a live telecast, the race is televised live for the first time. The race was still blacked out locally, a practice that continues to this day. Ironically, the race was rained out on both Sunday and Monday, so it was run the following Saturday and televised live on ABC. Jim Lampley makes his debut as lead announcer with Jim McKay in the host position.

1987 – Jim McKay, who serves as host, works his final Indianapolis 500 for ABC. Jim Lampley is lap-by-lap announcer, with driver analysts Bobby Unser and Sam Posey.

1988 – Paul Page becomes anchor for ABC’s coverage after serving as lead announcer on the IMS Radio Network for 10 years. Page is lead announcer from 1988-1998, then returns from 2002-2004.

1989 – Dr. Jerry Punch starts a 18-year run as a pit reporter on ABC’s Indianapolis 500 coverage.

1999 – Bob Jenkins is lead announcer for the first of three years, with Al Michaels as host of the telecast. Jenkins becomes host in 2002 when Paul Page returns to lead announcer slot.

2001 – Vince Welch works his first Indianapolis 500 as an ABC pit reporter. He had worked as a turn announcer and pit reporter for the IMS Radio Network since 1996.

2002 – Scott Goodyear makes his debut as driver analyst after retiring from driving following the 2001 Indy 500.

2004 – Several rain delays take the telecast to 8 l/2 hours, making for one of the longest single-event telecasts ever. A 180-degree rotating onboard camera was added to ABC’s coverage.

2005 – Brent Musburger becomes host of the telecast as Todd Harris fills the lead announcer role for one year. Jamie Little works her first Indianapolis 500 as a pit reporter.

2006 – Marty Reid makes his debut as lead announcer for the Indianapolis 500 with former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace joining Scott Goodyear as driver analyst. ABC introduces the “side-by-side” format, allowing viewers to continue watching the action during national commercial breaks.

2007 – The race is televised in high definition for the first time. ESPN on ABC is the first network to use two women as pit reporters in coverage of the Indianapolis 500 as Brienne Pedigo joins Jamie Little in the pits.

2008 – Eddie Cheever Jr., the 1998 winner, makes his debut as driver analyst, joining Scott Goodyear. Coverage includes a 360-degree rotating onboard camera, the first of its kind in American motorsports.

To be honest, I haven’t watched an Indianapolis 500 for many years, but it’s always interesting to read about ABC’s history with the race.

Monday’s Linkfest

Time to do some linkage on this back-to-work Monday. Sunday was a busy day, today is already shaping up to be a busy day so let’s give you the links as we have them.

First, Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media breaks news that Fox Sports is shaking up its top NFL production crew and also splitting up a long-time team. Chris has been working on this story for quite some time and give him credit for breaking it.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell suggests that jockey Calvin Borel choose a third horse so he can get his personal Triple Crown, having won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes on two different horses.

The Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand who broke the NFL TV deal story yesterday comes back with a story on Versus being pleased with its ratings for the Indy Racing League although they’re very small.

Jon Show of the SBJ writes that Tiger Woods’ return to golf has led to higher ratings for the PGA Tour’s TV partners.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the news that Tony Kornheiser is out on Monday Night Football. says the Fox’s and MLB’s decision to move up World Series start times is a step in the right direction.

Phil Mushnick from the New York Post says Yankees fans deserve someone better than John Sterling to call their games on the radio.

Laura Nachman writes that an Atlantic City TV sports anchor is the victim of station budget cutbacks.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner gives thumbs up to NBC’s coverage of the Preakness.

Christina Bellantoni of the Washington Times says ESPN was streamed over the White House live feed for ten minutes last week.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend in televised sports.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says big cable is the winner in the upcoming NFL Network deal with Comcast.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business continues his talk with Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with Nuggets radio voice Jerry Schemmel about the team’s playoff run.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth explains why KCAL tape delayed Saturday’s Dodgers-Marlins game.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News has the winners of the Northern California Sports Emmys. John talks about a new sports radio station in the Bay Area that launches today.

Chris Zelkovich from the Toronto Star says Rogers Cable has agreed to carry TSN2 in time for this week’s Blue Jays series against the Red Sox.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that NHL Commish Gary Bettman uses his Sirius XM show to put forth his agenda.

Alex Weprin and Claire Atkinson of Broadcasting & Cable say ESPN is trying to broaden its audience to reach advertisers.

The lovely Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine looks at the ratings increase for the Preakness Stakes.

The Sports Media Watch says the Celtics’ loss in its series with the Orlando Magic spells bad news for TNT.

That’s going to conclude this post for now. Every time I try to do links, news breaks. Yesterday, it was the NFL TV deals, today we have the World Series games starting earlier and Jon Gruden replacing Tony Kornheiser in the Monday Night Football booth and I’m keeping an eye on the network upfronts this week. This is going to a crazy week, I just know it. Back later.

Fox’s 2009-10 Primetime Schedule

This is the official schedule for Fox. It begins in September.

The Fox fall 2009 schedule:

Monday – 8 p.m., “House”; 9 p.m., “Lie to Me”

Tuesday – 8 p.m., “So You Think You Can Dance” (two hours)

Wednesday – 8 p.m., “So You Think You Can Dance” results show; 9 p.m., “Glee”

Thursday – 8 p.m., “Bones”; 9 p.m., “Fringe”

Friday – 8 p.m. “Brothers” (new comedy); 8:30 p.m., “Til Death”; 9 p.m., “Dollhouse”

Saturday – 8 p.m., “Cops”; 9 p.m., “America’s Most Wanted”

Sunday – 7 p.m., Football OT; 8 p.m., “The Simpsons”; 8:30 p.m., “The Cleveland Show”; 9 p.m., “Family Guy”; 9:30 p.m., “American Dad”

The Fox winter 2010 schedule:

Monday – 8 p.m., “House”; 9 p.m., “24”

Tuesday – 8 p.m., “American Idol”; 9 p.m., “Past Life” (new drama)

Wednesday – 8 p.m., “American Idol” results show; 9 p.m., “Human Target” (new drama)/ “Glee” (returns in spring)

Thursday – 8 p.m., “Bones”; 9 p.m., “Fringe”

Friday – 8 p.m. “Brothers” (new comedy); 8:30 p.m., “Til Death”; 9 p.m., “Dollhouse”

Saturday – 8 p.m., “Cops”; 9 p.m., “America’s Most Wanted”

Sunday – 7 p.m., Animation repeats; 7:30 p.m., “American Dad”; 8 p.m., “The Simpsons”; 8:30 p.m., “Sons of Tucson” (new comedy); 9 p.m., “Family Guy”; 9:30 p.m., “Cleveland Show”

I like this schedule, although I’ll miss the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

BREAKING NEWS: Tony Kornheiser Out, Jon Gruden In at MNF

This just in: ESPN has announced that Jon Gruden will join the Monday Night Football booth while Tony Kornheiser will leave. Here’s the press release:

Jon Gruden Joins ESPN’s Monday Night Football

Former Super Bowl-Winning Coach to Team with Tirico and Jaworski in MNF Booth

Former Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden is joining ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The dynamic, outspoken and often fiery Gruden will join commentators Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski in the booth when sports television’s signature series kicks off its 40^th season this fall. Gruden will also contribute analysis throughout the year on ESPN Radio and other platforms, in addition to being a part of ESPN’s 2010 Pro Bowl telecast and Super Bowl and NFL Draft coverage.

Gruden replaces Tony Kornheiser, who has decided to step down after three years in the Monday Night Football booth.

“I would like to thank Tony Kornheiser for his many contributions to Monday Night Football the past three years,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “He has been a big reason for the show’s success on ESPN. Pardon the Interruption is one of ESPN’s most important franchises and fans will continue to see Tony on the show and involved in other future ESPN projects for many years to come.”

Kornheiser added: “I am totally grateful for the MNF opportunity that I truly enjoyed the last three seasons. I feel we got better each year. My fear of planes is legendary and sadly true. When I looked at the upcoming schedule it was the perfect storm that would’ve frequently moved me from the bus to the air. I kept looking at the schedule the past month and wanted to find a way to quietly extricate myself. If I could handpick a replacement of a football guy, I would cast a net and drag in Jon Gruden. He is the two things you most want — smart and funny — and has the two things I don’t — good hair and a tan. I love PTI and am looking forward to continuing to yammer and yodel with Wilbon until the end of time.”

Gruden served as an NFL head coach the past 11 seasons with the Oakland Raiders (1998-2001) and most recently with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-08). He compiled a career record of 100-85 and led his teams to five division titles. Gruden’s best season was 2002 when the Buccaneers finished the regular season 12-4 and captured the Super Bowl XXXVII title with a 48-21 victory over the Raiders, the team Gruden had coached just one season earlier. At the time, the championship made then 38-year-old Gruden the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl.

“Jon is one of the best football minds in the game, he has a natural ability to communicate that knowledge and he brings great enthusiasm – everything you want in an analyst,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production. “Combining Mike, one of the top play-by-play commentators in TV and radio, and Jaws, arguably the NFL’s best X’s and O’s analyst, with Jon, a Super Bowl-winning head coach, will create a must-watch Monday Night Football booth during the 40^th season and in the years ahead.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity and I am very excited to be associated with ESPN and Monday Night Football,” said Gruden. “I grew up a fan of Monday Night Football, and whether I’ve coached on Monday night or watched, I’ve hardly missed a game all these years. To join Mike and Jaws in the booth and to work alongside this top-notch team is going to be a real thrill.”

Gruden began his NFL coaching career in 1990 when Mike Holmgren, then offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, hired him as an assistant in charge of quality control. Gruden quickly ascended through the ranks by learning the famed West Coast offense pioneered by longtime 49ers coach Bill Walsh.

When Holmgren left the 49ers to become head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1992, he named Gruden the Packers’ wide receivers coach. After three seasons in Green Bay, Gruden moved on to become the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator under head coach Ray Rhodes. In 1998, Gruden was chosen by Oakland owner and general manager Al Davis to be the Raiders’ new head coach at the age of 34.

A native of Sandusky, Ohio, Gruden grew up in a football family. His father, Jim, served as an assistant at Notre Dame in the late 1970s and later with the Buccaneers. Gruden graduated from the University of Dayton, where he was a back-up quarterback. After graduation, he started his career as a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee in 1986. He also served as the quarterback coach at Southeast Missouri State (1987-88), and the wide receivers coach at both Pacific (1989) and Pittsburgh (1991) in the college ranks.

Gruden worked as a guest analyst earlier this year with the NFL Network during the NFL Draft and Scouting Combine. He will make his Monday Night Football debut when ESPN kicks off its 2009 preseason schedule with a Super Bowl rematch between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, August 13 at 8 p.m. ET. Following four preseason games, Tirico, Jaworski and Gruden will call the Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots on September 14 at 7 p.m. in the opening game of the doubleheader that will kick off the 40^th season of Monday Night Football. Reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya will also continue to travel to each week’s MNF game, providing team updates throughout the day on Monday Night Countdown and other ESPN studio shows.

Quotes from ESPN’s Monday Night Football commentators:

Mike Tirico: “I can’t express how much I enjoyed working with Tony the past three years. It was a professional experience that I enjoyed and a lasting friendship that I will treasure. I think all of us on the show are better for the time we spent working with Tony.

“Looking ahead to this season, I am excited to welcome Jon to Monday Night Football. Every time you are in his company, you come away so impressed by his energy and passion for the game. He will be a perfect fit with our group. I was fortunate to be there at Super Bowl XXXVII when he reached the pinnacle of coaching success and I look forward to being next to him when he achieves greatness in this new chapter of his career.”

Ron Jaworski: “I’ve enjoyed working with Tony. He’s a class act and a brilliant man. He sees the game from the outside in and I see the game from the inside out. He brought me a new perspective and helped me grow in my role as an analyst. I also thank him for his friendship.

“I first got to know Jon when he was a coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was young, bright and energetic. He has a tremendous football mind and his career speaks for itself. He will bring a unique perspective to Monday Night Football and I am excited to work with him.”

ESPN’S MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

ESPN’s Monday Night Football is the most-watched series in cable television history and the only NFL series nominated for a Sports Emmy in the Outstanding Live Sports Series category the past three years (2006-08). In three seasons on ESPN, Monday Night Football has registered seven of the top 10 all-time biggest household audiences in cable history, led by the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys telecast (9/15/08), which attracted cable’s largest household audience ever (an average of 12,953,000 million homes and 18,608,000 P2+). For the 2008 season, MNF averaged an 8.9 rating and 8,679,000 homes (11,962,000 P2+); the accompanying MNF “game around the game” content on ESPN.com sparked an increase of Monday traffic to the site of 51% over the previous season with an average 68.1 million page views per week.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

MLB

American League
Chicago White Sox at Toronto – Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Rogers Sportsnet, 1 p.m.
Minnesota at New York Yankees – ESPN/Fox Sports North/YES, 7 p.m.
Oakland at Tampa Bay – Comcast SportsNet California/Sun Sports, 7 p.m.
Anaheim Angels at Seattle – Fox Sports West/FSN Northwest, 10 p.m.

National League
Arizona at Florida – Fox Sports Arizona/Fox Sports Florida, 7 p.m.
Colorado at Atlanta – FSN Rocky Mountain/Peachtree TV, 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Washington – FSN Pittsburgh/MASN, 7 p.m.
New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers – SNY/Fox Sports Prime Ticket, 10 p.m.

MLB Tonight: 1st to 3rd – MLB Network, 8 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10 p.m.
MLB Tonight: Roundtripper Final – MLB Network, 10 p.m.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
Eastern Conference Finals/Game 1, Carolina at Pittsburgh – TSN/RDS/Versus, 7:30 p.m.

Entertainment
24 (season finale) – Fox, 8 p.m. – there is nothing else
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

World Series Games To Start Earlier

One of the bigger pieces of news at the Fox upfronts today will be the announcement that weeknight World Series games will begin at 7:58 p.m. ET with a Saturday night game scheduled even earlier. This is good news for fans on the East Coast who complain that games go on too late and often past midnight.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand breaks the story for today. One particular passage sticks out:

MLB is bucking a trend that sees the starting times of marquee sports events — at least for the half of U.S. TV households that are on the East Coast— creeping later into the night.

The earlier start times might seem like a no-brainer, given that baseball’s weeknight postseason games can last past midnight. But despite last year’s weather-plagued Series averaging an all-time Series ratings low of 8.4% of U.S. households, Series ratings have generally suggested that viewers don’t seem all that bothered by games ending in the wee hours: Ratings usually climb as games progress.

One suggestion to put a Saturday game on in the afternoon has fallen on deaf ears. According to Michael, Fox says an afternoon game against college football would get lower ratings.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal says the new start times will also apply to the American League Championship Series which Fox will carry this year.

I think this is good news. The West Coast won’t be happy about not seeing the start, but fans will still be able to join in around the 3rd inning and watch the rest of the game.

BREAKING NEWS: NFL TV Deals with CBS, Fox and …. COMCAST!!!

It pays to monitor Twitter. I was at Home Depot in North Kingstown when I pulled out the iPhone and saw John Ourand of Sports Business Journal tweet the following:

Big story: NFL is negotiating to extend CBS/Fox broadcast contracts by two years.

Bigger story: NFL is on the verge of signing carriage deal with Comcast for digital basic.

I’m like “Whoa!” and sped back home to put this post up.

John, who broke the story, writes that the two deals are connected.

CBS and Fox extending their deals is a sign of the economy. Knowing that advertising revenue is down, the NFL instead of opening up to a wide scale negotiation just went with the terms of the existing deal and increased fees by a minimal amount. It also matches the expiration date of ESPN’s contract for Monday Night Football which ends in 2013. As John reports, NBC is expected to fall in line for two more years for Sunday Night Football.

The bigger part of this is getting the NFL Network on Comcast’s digital basic tier. As John writes:

The NFL Network deal would be much more surprising, given the public acrimony between the NFL and Comcast over the past year. Sources said the NFL dropped its 70-cent per subscriber license fee significantly in order to get digital-basic penetration, the same tier that houses MLB Network. Though a deal hasn’t been signed, sources said Comcast would not take equity in the network.

Sources credit Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for providing the impetus behind getting a deal so close. A digital-basic Comcast deal would account for more than 10 million homes, pushing total carriage for the network to more than 40 million homes.

But just as important for the NFL is that once Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, cuts a deal, that other cable operators generally will fall in line.

This will lead Time Warner, Bright House and Cox along with other major cable providers to make deals as well.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King says the Comcast deal could very well save the NFL Network’s life.

We’ll continue to monitor the developments.

Your Rainy Sunday Links

It’s a rainy day here in Southern New England and not a nice day, but not a bad day for linkage!

I’m switching back and forth from the Wimbledon Centre Court exhibition match showing off the new roof on ESPN Classic and the Madrid Open men’s final between Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal on the Tennis Channel and this final looks like it could be another classic between the two.

It’s great to have Sunday morning tennis on TV. We’re in that season right now so it’ll be fun to watch tennis from France and the UK in the next few weeks. And Federer has beaten Nadal in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-4. We’ll see what this does for Rog’s confidence when the French starts next Sunday.

Time for some linkage.

There’s a reason why I’m on Twitter. When CNBC’s Darren Rovell drops a tidbit like, “NBC Preakness overnights: Second highest race ratings in 19 years. Expect drop for Belmont,” or this from Howard Bloom from Sportsbusinessnews.com, “Preakness ON (overnight) ratings: Race portion 6:00-6:45 p.m. 7.9/18 a gain of 27% over last year’s race (6.2/14)“ or getting links, while there are imposters on Twitter (Erin Andrews, Kelly Ripa), when you find someone you know and trust, it can be an excellent networking and marketing tool.

To the Sunday links. Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the very first televised sporting event was the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News gets on the NBA for not scheduling today’s Lakers-Rockets game in primetime to protect ABC’s schedule. I think that has to do more with ABC than NBA, but I digress.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is angry at missed opportunities. Phil also pays tribute to the late lengendary Brazilian soccer coach Julio Mazzei who headed up the old New York Cosmos in the old North American Soccer League.

This next link comes from Radio Insight which says ESPN Radio may be purchasing a New York Times-owned FM radio station based on the company’s registering a web domain. And that link came from a communication I received from its Twitter page.

Ron Coderre of the Norwich (CT) Bulletin profiles NESN fishing charlatan Charlie Moore.

Jackie Majerus of the Bristol (CT) Press writes that ESPN is expanding its headquarters even further.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette gives us his NHL Conference Finals predictions.

Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News says Bob Salmi won’t return to the 76ers as TV analyst.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner writes that Turner Sports is quite busy today. And Jim says NBC will air the first game of the NHL Western Conference Finals today.

Barker Davis of the Washington Times looks at the PGA Tour trying to maintain its sponsorships and then some during a sluggish economy.

Gordon White of the Southern Pines (NC) Pilot writes that televised baseball is celebrating 70 years today.

Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles TBS/TNT Sports host Ernie Johnson, Jr.

Totally apropos is Awful Announcing having the funny video of Saturday Night Live skewering TNT for its promos during NBA basketball coverage.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune writes that the US Olympic Committee is working towards creating its own TV channel.

Patricia Babcock McGraw profiles Sarah Kustok of Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Mark Tupper of the Decatur (IL) Herald & Review writes that college basketball analyst Stephen Bardo has carved himself a niche at ESPN.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has Michael Irvin giving some advice to Brett Favre (scroll down).

Artie Gigantino of the San Francisco Examiner says a new sports radio station is set to shake up the area airwaves.

Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times says TBS hopes it’s found another personality in David Wells.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes the very first sporting event ever to be televised in the United States some 70 years ago today.

Loren Nelson of the North County Times says he enjoys the JoeSportsFan site.

Joe Favorito says MLS is working in the great Northwest.

The Sports Media Watch says the Players Championship saw a ratings uptick last week. And here are the SMW’s weekend ratings predictions.

38Cliches feels Dave Roberts is not doing much on NESN in subbing for Jerry Remy.

That’s going to do it for today. I have work to do around the house and I have to get to it.

Preakness Stakes Ratings Up From Last Year and Best in 19 Years

Call it interest in Mine That Bird, call it excitement over Rachel Alexandra winning, call it whatever you want, just know that NBC Sports is crowing over the overnight ratings for the Preakness Stakes. It’s rare to get a Sunday press release, but when you get great ratings for a certain event, you don’t wait until Monday to crow about it. Take a look at what NBC is saying and a list of the highest rated markets for the race.

“SUPER FILLY” PUSHES PREAKNESS RATINGS

Overnight Ratings up 27% from '08, Highest since '04 and Second Highest in 19 Years

NEW YORK - May 17, 2009 - The NBC Sports broadcast of the Preakness Stakes in which Rachel Alexandra became the first filly in 85 years to win the race as she held off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird by a length, had the highest overnight rating since 2004 and the second highest rating in nearly two decades. For the Preakness, NBC Sports continued its broad promotional effort to reach casual fans that led to the most watched Kentucky Derby in 20 years.  

The race portion (6:00-6:45 p.m. ET) earned an overnight rating of 7.9/18 a gain of 27 percent over last year's race (6.2/14) when the much-hyped Big Brown won to take the first two legs of the Triple Crown. The overnight rating for yesterday's race portion was the highest since 2004 (9.2/20).

All of the segments of NBC Sports' broadcast yesterday showed significant ratings gains:

- The total program (5-6:45) received an overnight rating of 6.3 and a share of 15 up 24 percent from last year (4.7/12), the highest since 2004 (7.2/16) and the second highest since 1990 (7.8/20).

- The Preakness Stakes special (4:30-5 p.m. ET), which featured an extended look at the story of Mine That Bird, posted an overnight rating of 2.7 and a 7 share up 42 percent from last year (1.9/5).

- The prerace (5-6 p.m. ET) produced a 5.1/12 up 46 percent from last year (3.5/9).

- The rating peaked from 6-6:30 p.m. ET at an 8.6/19.

With the Preakness and its "Girl vs. the Boys" storyline, NBC Sports continued the broad promotional effort designed to reach the casual fans that led to the most watched Kentucky Derby in 20 years. There were stories about the Preakness on Friday and Saturday on the TODAY show as well as jockey Calvin Borel's appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last Tuesday. 

Promo spots for the Preakness Stakes, which included the voice of a 10-year old girl as Rachel Alexandra, aired throughout NBC Primetime, the TODAY show and Late Night with Jay Leno as well as across the many cable networks of NBC Universal.

Top Twenty Markets for the Preakness (Race Portion):

1) Baltimore               25.1/51
2) Louisville               21.3/38
3) Ft. Myers                17.3/32
4) West Palm Beach   14.8/27
5) Columbus               13.3/26
6) Buffalo                   13.0/25
7) Dayton                    11.7/24
8) Providence             11.5/27
T9) Tampa                  11.2/23
T9) Orlando                11.2/22
11) Albuquerque         10.9/24
12) Richmond             10.8/21
13) Pittsburgh             10.7/20
T14) Indianapolis       10.5/22
T14) Hartford             10.5/21
16) Nashville              10.4/20
17) Knoxville             10.0/18
18) Memphis              9.6/18
T19) Cincinnati          9.3/18
T19) Greenville          9.3/17

Certainly not bad at all for NBC. Not surprised to see Baltimore as the highest rated market, but I am surprised to see my home market Providence ranked at #8. I’m doing links for you as we speak, but I didn’t want to wait to get this up.

Videos of the Week – ABC’s Wide World of Sports

Thanks to ESPN, this show doesn’t exist anymore. Ok, maybe I’m judgmental in saying ESPN killed this show since the Wide World title reappeared during ESPN/ABC’s coverage of the Belmont Stakes last year, but the program hasn’t been on the air in full since the late 1990′s when ESPN took over ABC Sports. But we take a look at some of the opening sequences and sports the show used to air. It premiered in 1961 as a summer series, but lasted all the way until 1998. Jim McKay was the main host until 1987. ABC used a whole plethora of hosts including Frank Gifford and Robin Roberts until the show’s end in 1998.

The show the first to bring Wimbledon, the ACC Tournament, the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500, track & field, figure skating, barrel jumping, rodeo, bowling and so many more sports to American television.

I loved this show. It aired Saturday’s at 5 p.m., running until 6:30 p.m. Then ABC moved the show up a half hour to 4:30 p.m. to accommodate local news. Here are some various openings and events that aired on the show.

This is pretty cool. During the Pro Bowlers Tour (another great program from ABC that’s no longer with us), the late Chris Schenkel talks about a new Wide World of Sports book. This dates back to 1966. Holy frijoles!

From 1967, this is Evel Knievel’s first jump on Wide World. He would be a staple on Wide World of Sports through the late 1970′s.

Here’s an opening from 1974.

I don’t have to use notes to recognize the athletes in this open. The figure skater in 1972 Olympics bronze medalists Janet Lynn, the boxer is George Foreman, the infamous “agony of defeat” ski jumper Vinko Bogataj who was more famous here than in his own country of Slovenia, Irish hurlers, Brazilian soccer legend Pele, I don’t remember the pole vaulter, but I believe that was from the Melrose Games in New York, Ken Norton and Muhammed Ali fighting, I don’t know who the skiers were, the racing sequence is from the Indianapolis 500, swimmer Mark Spitz, gymnast Olga Korbut from an exhibition at Madison Square Garden and then a point of view camera from the Grand Prix of Monaco. Why I know so many scenes is beyond me.

Let’s jump to 1977.

The opening scene is from a skiing event, overhead shot of Madison Square Garden, Great Wall of China, Grand Prix of Monaco, I guess that’s Larry Mahan in the rodeo scene, Little League World Series, Vinko again, barrel jumping, Olga Korbut, Dorothy Hamill from the 1976 Olympics, Evel Knievel, Ali/Frazier II, I don’t know who the swimmers are, I think that’s from the Kentucky Derby, same skiers I don’t know, then various stock footage.

To 1988 and a promo for Wide World. Note that the program still had some goofy events.

From 1991, ABC celebrated 30 years of Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay and Frank Gifford. The sound isn’t that great in this clip so you may have to turn up the volume depending on your computer.

From that same 30th Anniversary special, here’s a profile of Vinko.

And one more clip from the special, a look at how Evel Knievel played a big role in the history of Wide World.

In 1996, the opening became much shorter. Jim McKay’s intro is still intact though.

Sad to see if you ask me.

And that’s will do it. I could go into the boxing segments with Howard Cosell and Muhammed Ali, but that’s for another week. That’s it for now. Back later with Sunday links.

Preakness Stakes Replay – Rachel Alexandra Wins

Here’s the video of the Preakness Stakes in which heralded filly Rachel Alexandra took the lead around the 13 pole and then held off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to win. Watch the video.

And a much better call from Tom Durkin this time.

Three Press Releases I Forgot to Post

Deleting e-mails from my inbox, I came across these press releases which I did not post last night, so I’m posting them now while I can.

First, here are the stories you’ll see on Real Sports when the sports newsmagazine returns to HBO on Tuesday.

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL

PROFILES NEW NFLPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEMAURICE SMITH, EXPLORES THE EXTREME WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDING, EXAMINES THE MOTIVATIONS OF HYPER-AMBITIOUS SPORTS PARENTS, AND UPDATES ITS INVESTIGATION OF THOROUGHBRED HORSE SLAUGHTER WHEN THE SHOW RETURNS MAY 19

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL presents more enterprising features and reporting when its 146th edition, available in HDTV, debuts TUESDAY, MAY 19 (10:00 p.m. ET/PT & 9:00 p.m. CT), exclusively on HBO.

Segments include:

*A New Era. With its current labor contract heading toward expiration, the NFL Players Association has new leadership for the first time in more than 25 years. Tapped to guide the NFLPA through a critical era that includes negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement and bridging the growing divide between the union and retired players is DeMaurice Smith, a highly accomplished Washington-based attorney with no ties to the NFL. In this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated profile, correspondent Andrea Kremer sits down with the recently elected NFLPA executive director to ask why, after years of keeping its leadership “in the family,” he’s just the right “outsider” to lead the union through the storms ahead. Interviews include: DeMaurice Smith; New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; New York Giants center Shaun O’Hara; and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Producer: Mike Sullivan.

*Thrill Ride. In most sports, eight seconds goes by in a flash. In professional bull riding, eight seconds can be a lifetime. The best-known and most-popular rodeo event, it’s an extreme sport in every sense of the word. Correspondent Jon Frankel takes a closer look at what is arguably one of the toughest and most dangerous sports on the planet, where the motto could easily be, “it’s not a matter of if you get hurt, it’s a matter of when.” Interviews include: Professional riders Mike White and Shane Proctor; former rider Jerome Davis; PBR tour doctor Dr. Tandy Freeman; and PBR tour CEO Randy Bernard.

Producer: Tim Walker.

*The Next Level. In today’s ultra-competitive sports landscape, parents are going farther than ever to produce athletes with the ability to excel at the next level. Whether through private coaching, practicing almost nonstop, DNA testing to predict which sports a child is best suited to play or even selecting sperm donations from top athletes, parents seem willing to go as far as possible to produce children who obtain college scholarships or lucrative professional contracts. Are these parents pushing their kids to extremes, living vicariously through them or just doing everything within their power to help their children succeed? Correspondent Frank Deford investigates. Interviews include: Parents Aaron Branham and Amy Bingham; Athlete Corey Gahan; Pediatric sports physician Dr. Lyle Micheli; Youth sports league founder Frank Fiume; California Cryobank president Dr. Cappy Rothman.

Producer: Amani Martin.

*Running for Their Lives. In 2008, REAL SPORTS shed light on the little-known practice of thoroughbred horse slaughter for profit. When a thoroughbred race horse reaches the end of its career or is simply no longer profitable on the track, it is often taken directly to auction and sold for meat. Because horse slaughter is no longer practiced in this country, these thoroughbreds are now being shipped by “killer buyers” to slaughterhouses abroad, which are frequently less regulated and less humane than former domestic slaughterhouses. Now, after recently winning the Sports Emmy^® for Outstanding Sports Journalism for his initial investigation, correspondent Bernard Goldberg revisits the disturbing journey many of these young and healthy horses take from the track, to auctions, to slaughterhouses and finally to the plates of European and Japanese diners, finding some positive changes have been made. Interviews include: Former assistant trainer Becky Care; Another Chance 4 Horses founder Christy Sheidy; and Turning for Home volunteer Paige Hurley.

Producer: Lauren Gaffney, Joe Perskie.

CBC will air the NHL Conference Finals starting with Game 3 of each series meaning TSN will have the first two games of the Conference Finals before CBC takes over the rest of the way through the Stanley Cup Finals.

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA 2009 STANLEY CUP COUNTDOWN IS ON!

Conference Finals broadcast schedule starts on Friday, May 22

The original sixteen NHL playoff teams have been narrowed down to four as CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA gears up for the Conference Finals of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs – and the last stop on the road to exclusive Canadian coverage of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final.

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA kicks off its coverage with Hockey Tonight, hosted by Ron MacLean, on Friday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by Game Three of the best-of-seven Western Conference Final as the Chicago Blackhawks host Detroit Red Wings (available in High-Definition). Chris Osgood and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings will look to retain their title against Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and the youthful Blackhawks at the United Center. (Please see below for complete Conference Finals broadcast schedule).

The legendary Don Cherry will return to his usual spot on Coach’s Corner alongside MacLean in the first intermission. Play-by-play announcer Jim Hughson, analyst Craig Simpson and rinkside reporter Scott Oake will cover the series from Chicago along with Mike Milbury and Kelly Hrudey. P.J Stock will provide analysis of both Conference Finals.

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA will also provide coverage of the Eastern Conference Final series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, beginning with Game Three on Saturday, May 23. MacLean sets the stage for this Eastern Conference showdown at 7 p.m. ET with Scotiabank Hockey Tonight, as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin lead the Penguins against Eric Staal and the Hurricanes, who look to win their third Eastern Conference Championship in the past seven years. Bob Cole and Greg Millen will call the Pittsburgh/Carolina series and will be joined by reporter Elliotte Friedman.

Coverage of the Western Conference Final continues on CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA with Game Four on Sunday, May 24 at 3 p.m. ET; Game Five on Wednesday, May 27 at 7:30 p.m. ET; Game Six on Saturday, May 30 at 8 p.m. and Game Seven on Monday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET (if necessary).

Coverage of the Eastern Conference Final continues with Game Four on Tuesday, May 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET; Game Five on Friday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET; Game Six on Sunday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET and Game Seven on Tuesday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET (if necessary).

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA also presents Stanley Cup Interactive on CBCSports.ca throughout the entire 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hall of Fame journalist, Scott Morrison and HNIC Sirius Satellite Radio host, Jeff Marek host live chats with hockey fans across the country from the Stanley Cup I-Desk during all 2009 Stanley Cup Playoff games broadcast on CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA. In addition to extensive coverage on CBCSports.ca, Kelly Hrudey, Scott Oake, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek provide members of the on-line community with live insider posts on Twitter and blogs throughout the playoffs.

Hockey fans can now follow the road to the Stanley Cup on their iPhone by visiting cbcsports.ca/iphone/stanleycup2009. Users will be kept up-to-date on all playoff series with stats, scores and top stories – all at the CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA iPhone site, presented by McDonald’s.

CBC’s exclusive Punjabi broadcasts continue in the Conference Finals, featuring the Pittsburgh/Carolina series, Game Three to Seven and Game Six and Seven from the Detroit/Chicago series, live and on demand at CBCSports.ca. The Punjabi broadcasts will be available free to Bell TV subscribers on channel 249; to Rogers digital cable subscribers in Ontario and New Brunswick on channel 401; to Shaw Digital Cable subscribers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba on channel 333 and to Shaw Direct subscribers on channel 478. Viewers should contact their local service provider for more details. Parminder Singh, voice of CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA regular season Punjabi broadcasts will handle play-by-play duties while Harnarayan Singh, will provide analysis.

Hockey Night in Canada Radio on SIRIUS will also offer comprehensive coverage of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s Channel 122 airing Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. ET (encore presentation from 7-10 p.m. ET). Host Jeff Marek will be joined by CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA personalities and other guests throughout the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. With 28 services offered on Radio, Television, the Internet, satellite radio, digital audio, as well as through its record and music distribution service and wireless WAP and SMS messaging services, CBC/Radio-Canada is available how, where, and when Canadians want it.

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

2009 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS – ROUND THREE – CONFERENCE FINALS

BROADCAST SCHEDULE

All series best of seven. Schedule subject to change.

DETROIT RED WINGS (#2) VS. CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (#4)

G3 – Hockey Tonight, Friday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.

Detroit @ Chicago, 8 p.m.

G4 – Detroit @ Chicago, Sunday, May 24, 3 p.m.

G5 – Chicago @ Detroit, Wednesday, May 27, 7:30 p.m.

G6 - Hockey Tonight, Saturday, May 30, 7:30 p.m.

Detroit @ Chicago, 8 p.m.

G7 – Chicago @ Detroit, Monday, June 1, 7:30 p.m.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (#4) VS. CAROLINA HURRICANES (#6)

G3 – Hockey Tonight, Saturday, May 23, 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh @ Carolina, 7:30 p.m.

G4 – Pittsburgh @ Carolina, Tuesday, May 26, 7:30 p.m.

G5 – Carolina @ Pittsburgh, Friday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.

G6 – Hockey Tonight, Sunday, May 31, 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh @ Carolina, 7:30 p.m.

G7 – Carolina @ Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 2, 7:30 p.m.

And here’s what coming up on the Golf Channel.

COMING UP ON GOLF CHANNEL…May 18 – 24, 2009

Barkley’s Final Session Begins on The Haney Project

Network Premiere of Happy Gilmore; Grudge Match on Big Break Prince Edward Island

The Haney Project (new episode)

With the season finale looming on May 25, Hank Haney will join Charles Barkley to begin their final round together on the second-to-last episode of The Haney Project, Monday at 10 p.m. ET. During the round, the duo will be treated to one surprise after another, as friends and members of Charles’ hit list – people that he wants to beat on the golf course – make cameo appearances throughout the round, including Philadelphia radio host Howard Eskin, NBA Hall-of-Famer “Dr. J” Julius Erving, TNT’s Ernie Johnson, Philadelphia sports anchor Neal Hartman, LPGA professional Kris Tschetter and NBA veteran Chris Webber. Monday’s episode will re-air at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Happy Gilmore (Network Premiere)

Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET, GOLF CHANNEL’s Movies that Make the Cut series will continue with the network premiere of the comedy Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler. After his grandmother’s house is repossessed by the IRS, aspiring hockey player Happy Gilmore takes his talents to the golf course with monster drives and a fiery attitude in an attempt to earn enough money to purchase back her house.

Big Break Prince Edward Island (new episode)

Monday at 9 p.m. ET, the remaining eight contestants will go head-to-head in one-hole, stroke-play matches, where rivalries will be settled. The winners will earn $2,000, with the rest facing off in up-and-down challenges around the green to ultimately avoid elimination. Produced in high definition, the cast of Big Break Prince Edward Island are competing for a grand prize of $100,000 in cash. Hosted by Stina Sternberg and Charlie Rymer.

Original Programming Highlights

The Golf Fix

Monday at 8 p.m. ET, Michael Breed will break down the key shots from the Valero Texas Open and provide instructional tips to viewers on The Golf Fix, the network’s half-hour, fast-paced interactive instructional show featuring call-ins and emails from viewers.

The Approach with Callaway Golf

Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, Andrew Magee and Alex Miceli will tackle the top storylines in golf from different perspectives and preview the Byron Nelson Championship in an entertaining and informative manner on The Approach with Callaway Golf. Kraig Kann will serve as host and moderator.

Grey Goose 19^th Hole

Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, Vince Cellini and GolfChannel.com senior writer Rex Hoggard will debate the hot topics in golf and recap the top storylines from the Texas Open on the Grey Goose 19^th Hole, the network’s fast-paced half-hour talk show.

Live Tournaments Programming Highlights

PGA TOUR Primetime

Thursday – Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET, PGA TOUR Primetime will re-air the opening rounds of the Byron Nelson Championship with special bonus coverage not seen during the live telecast. Saturday and Sunday, GOLF CHANNEL will re-air CBS Sports’ coverage of the third and final rounds at 9:30 p.m. ET. Kraig Kann will host PGA TOUR Primetime Thursday and Friday from the network’s Orlando studios.

News and Talk Show Programming Highlights

Golf Central

Golf Central will take viewers through all of the news and highlights in the world of golf Monday – Sunday at 6 and 11:30 p.m. ET, featuring interviews and analysis from the network’s team of reporters and analysts from each of golf’s major tours. Inga Hammond will report for Golf Central on-site at the Byron Nelson Championship.

Golf Central Pre Game

Saturday and Sunday, Kraig Kann and Charlie Rymer will prepare viewers for all of the weekend action on the various tours on Golf Central Pre Game at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by live, lead-in tournament coverage of the Byron Nelson Championship from 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET. Golf Central Pre Game will return at 2:30 p.m. ET to prepare viewers for CBS Sports’ live coverage at 3 p.m. ET.

That’s going to do it.

Late Night Friday Megalinks Now Saturday Megalinks

Let’s give you the Friday megalinks.

Find the Weekend Viewing Picks here.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes about former Yankees pitcher David Wells moving to the TBS announcing booth.

John Paul Newport of the Wall Street Journal writes that former ABC Sports golf analyst Bob Rosburg died Thursday.

Matt Foran of the Nielsen ratings wire blog says internet buzz for Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez spiked as news of their steroids use broke.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at one of the contestants for this year’s World’s Strongest Man.

Joe Favorito looks inside the Miami Dolphins’ Land Shark deal to rename its stadium.

Steve Lepore of Puck the Media says Versus nabbed over a million viewers for Game 7 of the Penguins-Capitals series. Steve says Versus has set its announcing teams for the NHL Conference Finals. And NHL fashionista Wrap Around Curl hopes the league will not follow MLB and market pink hats.

The Sports Media Watch writes that advertisers may have jumped the gun on hyping LeBron James and Kobe Bryant for the NBA Finals. SMW notes the excellent ratings for the NHL regionally, but not nationally. And Paulsen says that the NBA’s ratings on network TV have eroded thanks to all of the games on cable.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that an FCC judge is ready to hear the case between MASN vs. Comcast on Monday.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Thursday’s Game 6 of the Lakers-Rockets series set a basketball ratings record for ESPN.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel writes that MLB has been granted a patent on setting internet blackouts for its MLB.TV service.

Dave Kohl of the Major League Programs blog looks at the latest sports-related lawsuit.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says the Boston sports fan has been quite busy with the Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox all playing simultaneously at times.

Newsday’s’ Neil Best talks with Sirius XM’s Chris Russo about life without former WFAN partner Mike Francesa. Neil adds his thoughts on Russo’s satellite radio show. Neil also looks at the new Spike TV reality show hosted by former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin on those hoping to get a team roster spot. Neil writes that Irvin used a premiere party for the show as a fundraiser for the Cowboys scouting assistant who was paralyzed when the team’s practice bubble collapsed. Neil has a bit more on the reality show. Neil marks an important date in the history of sports television.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels the New York Yankees need a refresher course in public relations as they’ve failed at it in recent weeks.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick lectures us on cheating. Just what we need.

Justin Terranova of the Post talks with NBC’s Donna Brothers about the Preakness Stakes. Justin has five questions for SNY Mets voice Gary Cohen.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union feels ABC is rooting for the Lakers to make it to the NBA Finals. Pete writes that a 50-1 shot winner in the Kentucky Derby is certainly bringining in some compelling storylines for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says the NHL Network will pick up Canada’s Memorial Cup tournament for Junior Hockey. Ken is tired of listening to the Yankees’ John Sterling.

UPDATE: 5/16/09, 12:15 p.m. – Well, I fell asleep trying to do the megalinks around 1 a.m. and listening to the Red Sox lose to Seattle. Well, picking up where I left off, I’ll add Saturday links here as well.

Back to Ken Schott, he reviews Spike Lee’s documentary on Kobe Bryant and actually likes it.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News feels the Kobe doc is a mixed bag.

Ray Frager of Sports Media Journal has some news and notes.

To Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner. He says Kobe Bryant’s documentary and the NBA’s Games 7 will be part of a busy viewing weekend. And Jim previews the Preakness Stakes with NBC’s Gary Stevens.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald enjoys Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN’s NBA broadcasts.

David Martindale of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram looks at the Kobe Bryant documentary.

Ray Buck of the Star-Telegram gave Dallas Mavericks TV analyst Derek Harper a chance to chime in on the Mavs loss to the Denver Nuggets.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that a long time sports radio executive has left his station.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News reviews Spike TV’s reality show, 4th and Long. Barry looks at the various radio spots 4th and Long host Michael Irvin did across the country. Barry also tries to predict the finalists of 4th and Long.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman also looks at 4th and Long. And Mel has his usual media notebook.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press looks at the next generation of TV analysts.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says tonight’s ESPN doc on Kobe Bryant will show an insider’s look at the egomaniac.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says Chicago-Detroit will get top billing in NBC’s NHL coverage. Ed also talks with Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz about his decision to televise home games full-time.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says the NHL Western Conference Finals will be difficult to find as Versus will air as many as five games in the series.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar urges the Rams to put ex-coach Jim Hanifan back in their radio booth. Dan notes other changes in the Rams radio broadcasts for this upcoming season.

West

Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic talks with Diamondbacks radio analyst Tom Candiotti.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune talks with a long-time sports radio executive about a local station that’s getting a makeover.

John Maffei from the North County writes that the Mountain West’s conference baseball tournament will get some extra attention on TV and across the country next week.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has a look at the Kobe Bryant documentary. Jim says former MLB on Fox pregame host Jeanne Zelasko will be calling Dodgers games on the internet.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News reviews the Kobe doc. Tom has more on the documentary in his extensive media notes. Tom looks back at the week in blogging and other media. Tom writes that it did not take long for the Dodgers to take Manny Ramirez’s mug off its billboards all over LA.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News looks at the Pac 10′s TV contract.

John Ryan of the Mercury News says despite the flap over his recent article in D magazine, David Feherty will be working at the Texas Open for CBS this weekend.

And that concludes the megalinks. Enjoy your weekend.