Fang's Bites

TBS Remembers George Steinbrenner Through 10 Classic Seinfeld Episodes

TBS has announced that it will run ten Seinfeld episodes featuring George Steinbrenner (played by Lee Bear and voiced by Larry David). This was one of the show’s best seasons, featuring George Costanza being the Traveling Secretary for the New York Yankees and him preparing for his wedding to Susan Biddle Ross. The recurring appearances of the fictional George Steinbrenner were extremely funny and I’m happy to see TBS re-airing these episodes.

TBS Honors George Steinbrenner with Week of Classic Seinfeld Episodes Featuring Character Based on Legendary Yankees Owner

TBS will celebrate the life of George Steinbrenner with a full week of classic Seinfeld episodes featuring Larry David as the legendary New York Yankees owner. The 10-episode collection will air Monday, July 19 – Friday, July 23, at 7 and 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The week will kick off with “The Opposite,” the fifth-season finale in which George Costanza (Jason Alexander) lands a job with the Yankees. The tribute will close out with “The Muffin Tops” episode, in which George loses his job when Steinbrenner trades him for new chicken concessions at Yankee Stadium.

Schedule:

Monday, July 19

7 p.m. – “The Opposite” – George convinces Steinbrenner to give him a job.

7:30 p.m. – “The Secretary” – George finds out Steinbrenner’s secretary makes more than he does.

Tuesday, July 20

7 p.m. – “The Race” – George heads to Cuba to recruit baseball players for Steinbrenner.

7:30 p.m. – “The Wink” – Steinbrenner lists all the people he’s fired over the years.

Wednesday, July 21

7 p.m. – “The Hot Tub” – Steinbrenner convinces George that a hot tub is the perfect way to relieve stress.

7:30 p.m. – “The Caddy” – George’s father (Jerry Stiller) confronts Steinbrenner about a traded player.

Thursday, July 22

7 p.m. – “The Calzone” – Steinbrenner gets the idea to put Yankees clothes in a pizza oven.

7:30 p.m. – “The Nap” – George’s napping habits at work lead Steinbrenner to think he has ESP.

Friday, July 23

7 p.m. – “The Millennium” – George does everything he can to get fired, but Steinbrenner loves what he does.

7:30 p.m. – “The Muffin Tops” – George’s relationship with the Yankees finally ends when Steinbrenner trades him.

Great stuff.

Some Thursday Links

Been busy this week shuffling between two offices and while I’m trying to tie up a few things from last month, I’ll do a few links for you.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says ESPN is pulling out the stops to cover this week’s Open Championship.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his Media Power Rankings for June/July.

Jason Whitlock at Fox Sports has his facetious take on “The Decision.”

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry feels All-Star Games in every sport need some punching up.

John Ourand and Terry Lefton of the Sports Business Journal have a good feature story on the rivalry between ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and MLB Network’s MLB Tonight.

Tripp Mickle of the SBJ says World Cup sponsors are pleased by the early results of their activation.

Tripp and John look at the short-term and long-term effects of the high World Cup TV ratings.

Mark Walsh in MediaPost says both ESPN and Univision saw increases in online viewing for the World Cup.

Sommer Saadi in Bloomberg Businessweek writes that while the TV ratings were good, neither ESPN nor Univision made money from the World Cup.

Lauren Goode of the Wall Street Journal says the World Cup helped to bring viewers to ESPN’s Mobile TV, but the numbers are small compared to other media. 

Shira Ovide of the Journal writes that Turner Sports is ready to take on ESPN on the web.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, the St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans says ESPN’s “The Decision” blurs the line between promotion and journalism.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse looks at the anemic All-Star Game ratings.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age speaks with the agent who helped to bring the LeBron James Decision into live TV fruition. 

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says LeBron James did not take as much of a hit on his brand from “The Decision” as you would think.

Darren also looks at the New York Islanders signing a new cupcake deal.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN’s World Cup coverage gave the International Olympic Committee notice that it could cover an international event.

Glen Dickson of B&C looks at the company that provided worldwide streams of the World Cup for various media outlets.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says DirecTV has increased its coverage of the Open Championship for subscribers.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel writes that ESPN and Univision saw their biggest-ever audiences for the World Cup. 

Todd Spangler in Multichannel tells us to get ready for another cable retransmission fight, this one between Time Warner and Disney which includes ESPN.

Katy Bachman of Mediaweek writes that Michael Irvin will begin a new syndicated radio show on July 25.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine looks at the precipitous ratings drop for this year’s MLB All-Star Game.

Michael Whitmer of the Boston Globe says the LPGA Tour is being mistreated by its TV partners.

Dan Shaughnessy from the Globe mourns the passing of Jack Craig who was the nation’s first sports media TV and Radio critic for the newspaper.  

Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette laments the loss of the Open Championship from over the air TV. 

Ken Belson and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times look at the Yankees’ plans to honor former public address announcer Bob Sheppard and owner George Steinbrenner this weekend.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says it was hard to root for Steinbrenner based on his past and how he treated people.

From the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman says a big part of Steinbrenner’s legacy is the YES Network.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says the four NCAA Tournament play-in games will be aired on truTV under the new CBS/Turner contract.

Pete puts the MLB All-Star Game ratings drop squarely on the shoulders of Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com talks to John Riggins whose show returned to MASN this month. 

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post says “The Decision” calls ESPN’s integrity into question yet again. 

Dan Steinberg in the Post’s DC Sports Bog says Verizon Fios will be adding MASN2 in HD.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with an ESPN exec about its first start-to-finish coverage of the Open Championship.

Dustin Long of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot says ESPN’s NASCAR analyst Rusty Wallace has apologized for calling driver Kyle Busch “a dumbass” after last week’s Nationwide race in Chicago. 

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says Michael Irvin’s syndicated radio show will be heard in South Florida later this month.

Sarah Talalay in the South Florida Sun Sentinel says Dolphins owner Steve Ross could be the beneficiary of some tax breaks … in New Jersey.

Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel profiles Erin Andrews’ sideline replacement on ESPN’s Thursday night college football package, Jenn Brown.

Corrie MacLaggan from the Austin American-Statesman says a local ESPN Radio host has been off the air since May due to his candidacy for the State legislature. 

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley talks about the Brewers’ ranking in a poll naming their favorite baseball team and the All-Star Game TV ratings.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf had a unique relationship with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune writes that the US Olympic movement owes a huge debt of gratitude to George Steinbrenner.

Bob Mayhall in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reports that Missouri Tigers football voice Mike Kelly will call Kansas City Chiefs exhibition games next month.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the Cardinals will be all-cable next season. 

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews the second season (what?) of Shaq Vs.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Sunday’s World Cup Final cleaned up in the ratings for CBC.

Sports Media Watch looks at the 50 most watched sports programs on broadcast and cable TV through the half year.

I don’t follow the ESPY’s and have never watched them, but The Big Lead did and has a nice roundup of red carpet pictures of the various hot chicks who were in attendance.

Joe Favorito says Netball is approaching its Centennial and could be finding a global audience and more importantly, some sponsors.

Matthew Coller at the Biz of Hockey has the NCAA Frozen Four locations for 2013 and 2014.

Dave Kohl at the Major League Programs blog says having Michael Irvin start his syndicated radio show in Miami is a good fit for both parties.

SportsbyBrooks found ESPN hottie Michelle Beadle (and a candidate to appear in this year’s Five Women Who Can Make Me Stop the Remote) in a bar after the ESPY’s.

And we’ll end it there.

YES Statement On The Passing of George Steinbrenner

We have the following statement from YES Network on the passing of George Steinbrenner.

Following is a statement from Mr. Tracy Dolgin, the president and CEO of the YES Network, on the passing of George M. Steinbrenner III:

“We at YES are saddened by the passing of George M. Steinbrenner. He was a New York icon and a sports icon, a true visionary who will be greatly missed. His vision of a team-owned regional sports network for the Yankees, resulting in the formation of the YES Network, revolutionized the sports business. Mr. Steinbrenner’s influence on the world of sports is tremendous, and will be felt long after he’s gone. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the Steinbrenner family and the Yankees organization.”

More coming up.

George Steinbrenner’s Commercials and Appearances

On this day of the passing of one of the larger-than-life personalities in sports, what better way to remember him with some of his more famous ads and appearances. While George was known not to have much of a sense of humor, he did realize that poking fun at himself would endear himself to fans.

In the 1970′s and 1980′s when he was in the midst of hiring and firing manager Billy Martin five times, Steinbrenner and Billy appeared in this Lite Beer ad. While it dubbed poorly to have George say, “You’re hired,” it originally aired as “You’re fired.” It still works.

Years later, Steinbrenner would appear in a VISA ad with star shortstop Derek Jeter. Watch for George in the Conga line.

Of course, Steinbrenner was parodied on Seinfeld. Actor Lee Bear was shot from behind and Larry David voiced Steinbrenner. His scenes were usually with George Costanza (Jason Alexander). The rest was pure comedy. Here’s the fictional Steinbrenner talking with George about firing Mr. Morgan and bringing in Billy Martin in the process.

Here’s “Steinbrenner” testifying for George in the “Good Samaritan” episode. Watch for Jerry Stiller.

And here’s Steinbrenner’s actual cameo on Seinfeld with George and Elaine.

Here is an excerpt from a 1987 60 Minutes profile of Steinbrenner done by the late Ed Bradley.

Lastly, here’s a YES Network tribute to George Steinbrenner done in 2008.

If I find more videos, I’ll post them.

George Steinbrenner, 1930-2010

A sad day for baseball. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died today after suffering a massive heart attack. If you build a Mount Rushmore of baseball owners, Steinbrenner would have to be there. He bought the Yankees in 1973 for $10 million from CBS. At the time, the Yankees were run into the ground and a laughingstock. Their championship days were behind them.

He infused cash, started to bring in free agents in a new era of player freedom in MLB. His ways won championships in 1977 and 1978. While he hired and fired managers as frequently as people changed shirts, there was no questioning his will to win. In the 1980′s, the Yankees did not win championships, but there was no doubt who was The Boss. He became a laughingstock himself and his treatment of Dave Winfield got him suspended from the game in the early 1990′s.

When he returned, the Yankees started winning championships again, four out of five between 1996 and 2000. It took nine long years to win again in 2009, but he dies going out on top and you know he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Steinbrenner’s business acumen also transcended to the sports media. In 1988, the Yankees signed at that time what was the richest local TV rights deal in the history of sports, a 12 year, $486 million contract with MSG Network. It gave the Yankees plenty of revenue to spend on the organization and free agents.

Then in 2002, the Yankees along with the New Jersey Nets formed the YES Network, an innovative regional sports network that was run by an investment group. As reported in the New York Times, YES Network amassed $257 million by 2005, becoming the richest RSN in the country.

In addition, the Yankees formed a long term relationship with sports apparel company, adidas, beginning in 1997 and ended last year. The deal gave adidas licensing and logo rights. In 2009, the Yankees switched to Nike.

Steinbrenner also knew that the media was the best way to get his message across. Newspaper beat writers knew to keep their phones open in case he would call. He would appear in Lite Beer commercials with Billy Martin, VISA ads with Derek Jeter and allow himself to be parodied in Seinfeld.

But through it all, Steinbrenner became a revered man and was loved by Yankee fans in his twilight years. He gave day-to-day operations to his sons, Hank and Hal, but George always remained The Boss.

The team is now worth $1.6 billion and he leaves the team on very sound financial ground.

George leaves behind his wife, two sons, two daughters and several grandchildren.