Fang's Bites

Tom Brady on Comcast SportsNet

Press release from Comcast SportsNet New England:

MIKE FELGER GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH TOM BRADY ON

COMCAST SPORTSNET’S MOHEGAN SUN SPORTS TONIGHT

BURLINGTON, MA – Tonight on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight, Mike Felger goes one-on-one with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The interview can be seen on the 6:30 and 10 p.m. editions of Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight.

Primetime Viewing Picks

NBA/Dallas at Cleveland – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Private Practice – ABC, 9 p.m.
Hotel Babylon – BBC America, 9 p.m.
Inside the NFL – HBO, 10 p.m.
The Sarah Silverman Program – Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.
NBA/Seattle at Denver – ESPN, 10:30 p.m.

Various Wednesday Afternoon Links

A few links for you this afternoon.

First, Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website reports that DirecTV has finally added the NHL Network in both High and Standard Definition as of today. It’s located at channel 215 if you’re wondering. Dish Network has added NBA TV in HD.

Nice to have Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner back with us. He writes in his Watch This! blog that Baltimore is heavily into the NBA even though the Bullets left town in the 1970′s.

Brian Schmitz and Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel write that Bright House Cable still hasn’t come to an agreement with FSN Florida and tonight’s Magic season opener won’t be seen by its subscribers.

Bob Finnan of the News-Herald of Ohio writes that Austin Carr will work 70 Cleveland Cavs games on FSN Ohio.

David Goetzl of the Media Daily News says ESPN will webcast its NBA games.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes that the NBA and Turner appear to be close to an agreement to have TNT run NBA TV and in turn get wider distribution through Time Warner Cable.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is also blogging again. He says it appears Taco Bell really did promote this taco giveaway. Remember when Terrell Owens used a Sharpie to sign a football after he scored a touchdown on Monday Night Football? Well, Darren found out that same Sharpie is being auctioned off.

Boston Sports Media Watch guest blogger David Vidinha writes that Gregg Easterbrook was on WEEI this morning with Dennis & Callahan. Easterbrook, in his twisted logic, Easterbrook tried to explain what he was thinking when he wrote his column in which he felt the NFL was hiding something when it destroyed the Patriots’ spy tapes. You can listen for yourself here:

WEEI – Dennis and Callahan – Gregg Easterbrook
David Sweet of MSNBC writes about the challenges facing the Big Ten Network as it tries to get viewers. Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch is tired of the dueling ads by BTN and Comcast. Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that Big Ten Network officials say they have ended talks with Time Warner Cable. Nathan Greenhalgh of the Reedsburgh (WI) Times Press writes that bowing to its customers’ wishes, the Reedsburgh Utility Commission has added BTN to its lineup. The Houston Chronicle picks up an AP story in which the Wisconsin state legislature is considering a bill which make BTN and the NFL Network available on cable in the Dairy State. Jeff Richgels and Judith Davidoff from the Capital (WI) Times write that even if the bill is passed, politicians can’t force a channel onto a cable lineup. In the meantime, Todd Spangler of the Multichannel News reports that Turner Sports’ webcasting division will show 9 Big Ten basketball games online.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that Comcast seems to be adding costs, but not any channels of consequence including the Big Ten Network. Sherman also writes that the new deal between the Chicago Bulls and radio station WMVP is a win-win for both sides.

John Moritz of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that a Texas state legislator plans to get involved in the NFL Network-Time Warner/Charter dispute and give the state’s public regulatory commission more power if the issue doesn’t get resolved.

John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that Fox has sold 90% of its ad inventory for Super Bowl XLII.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune writes that the numbers CBS cited in the ratings for the Patriots-Cowboys game should not have included markets that did not get the game.

Nick Groke of the Denver Post says the Monday Night Football game between Green Bay and Denver did very well in the local ratings.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog says that one CBS affiliate in College Station, TX is trying to find a way to show the Patriots-Colts game to viewers even though it’s scheduled to show Texans-Raiders, but the NFL appears to be cracking down.

Rob Moseley of the Register Guard in Oregon writes that with FSN invoking its rights to air the Arizona State-Oregon game live, the Oregon State Network is left to scramble to find a partner to show the game as well. With FSN, OSN and ESPN all showing this game, I’m surprised the Pac 10 just didn’t pick one outlet so there would not be any confusion.

ESPN2 will pick up the Hawaii-Fresno State game this Saturday.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon will be on Late Night with David Letterman tonight. We’ll see if he does his jig.

Citing numbers that can probably be refuted, CBS says it’s the most watched network for the NFL.

This is like a megalink Friday where we have links all over the place. We had lots of them both this morning and this afternoon. Check back tonight as we may have another update.

Season 4 of Veronica Mars (alas .. what could have been)

So sad not having Veronica Mars on TV somewhere this season. I don’t know who posted this on YouTube, but I’m cherishing this.

This would have been the premiere of Season 4 had The CW picked it up. VM in the FBI. This would have been good. Instead, Kristen Bell is on Heroes. Oh, what could have been. Enjoy.

So sad. I know I would have enjoyed this.

Wednesday Links and Maybe Some Other Stuff

Let’s get to some links. We had a lot late last night so let’s see what we have now.

Starting with USA Today, Michael Hiestand writes that CBS will not do any extra hype for Sunday’s New England-Indianapolis game which is good. If Fox or ESPN had the game, you would see hype up the ying-yang, but CBS prefers to let the game speak for itself.

Mike Mulligan of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher should talk to the media instead of by-passing reporters.

James Day of the Salem (OR) Statesman Journal says ESPN and the Pac 10 decided to make Saturday’s Arizona State-Oregon a national broadcast.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says if Joe Torre is hired by the Dodgers as manager, he would bring back a celebrity quotient to the games.

From the Raleigh News & Observer, Tim Simmons writes that Taco Bell got plenty of publicity for some mentions of free tacos thanks to the World Series.

David Scott & Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer write that if Time Warner gets the naming rights for the Bobcats arena, it could give up the cable TV rights and have Fox Sports South gain them.

John Denton of Florida Today says the Orlando Magic’s first game which will be aired on Fox Sports Net Florida will not be carried by Bright House Cable. Dick Scanlon of the Lakeland Ledger writes about the FSN-Bright House dispute.

The Arkansas-Tennessee game on November 10 will be carried on Lincoln Financial Sports. In other SEC news, the Georgia-Auburn game will be picked up by CBS Sports for the 3:30 p.m. ET slot on the same day. From the WAC, Brian McInnis of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin says a decision will be made today whether ESPN will pick up the Hawaii-Fresno game.

The Waterbury Republican-American’s Ed Daigneault says UConn’s athletic director feels ESPN is using the school as a pawn in an attempt to get ESPNU carried on Comcast. Shawn Courchesne of the Hartford Courant has another version on the UConn/ESPNU/Comcast story. And Chip Malafronte from the New Haven Register has more on UConn being angry at ESPN.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks with ESPN NBA analysts Hubie Brown and Jeff Van Gundy about the Bucks. And from Tuesday, Wolfley says ESPN spent too much time deferring to Packers QB Brett Favre.

Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle says Bay Area fans have a dilemma this Sunday. The Texans-Raiders game is not sold out and if it’s not by the Thursday deadline, CBS will beam Patriots-Colts instead. Mark Gillispie of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the local CBS affiliate won’t be able to show New England-Indianapolis despite not carrying the Browns this Sunday. David Heuschkel of the Hartford Courant talks with Jim Nantz and Bill Cowher of CBS Sports about the Patriots running up the score.

Neil Best of Newsday writes that the Yankees allowed ESPN into its conference call announcing Joe Girardi as manager.

Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune writes that Comcast SportsNet and the Blackhawks have obtained a sponsor to present the team’s home games starting November 11. Tim Cronin of the Chicago Daily Southtown says it’s time the Blackhawks show its home games on local TV.

Jim Benton of the Rocky Mountain News has three questions for ESPN’s Suzy Kolber. Chuck Abrams from Insider Racing wonders what’s causing apathy towards NASCAR. Jon Lafayette of TV Week says ESPN/ABC’s overall ratings for NASCAR might be dipping, but it’s pointing to a rise in ratings for certain demographics.

Here’s ESPN’s press release touting its “multi-platform” approach to the NBA which will include carrying games on ESPN360, cell phones, live audio on ESPN.com and sending games to your home phone. I’m joking about that last part, but you just never know what ESPN is thinking.

Maury Brown in his Biz of Basketball website reports that NBA TV will air the D-League draft tomorrow. That will certainly be compelling TV.

A lot of links for midweek. We’ll be back later today.

Some Tuesday Night Links or TBS Hot Corner was Pretty Popular

Checking around the ‘net for links this evening, I came across a few things that I did not cover earlier today so I’ll give you some stuff before turning in for the evening.

Before going into the links, watching the coverage of the Red Sox Rolling Rally from New England Cable News through MLB.com was ok. Most of the interviews inside Fenway Park came from NESN so I don’t understand why MLB.com did not pick up NESN’s coverage anyway. With NESN being the Red Sox rightsholder and the only broadcasters allowed to do anything in the park while other outlets had to remain outside, it would have behooved MLB.com to pick up NESN unless the channel did not give permission. New England Cable News has a decent stable of reporters including sports anchor Chris Collins and the venerable R.D. Sahl who seems to have been in television since the 1950′s, but gives a nice historic perspective. It wasn’t bad, but I would have preferred to see NESN online. As far as I know, NESN did not offer its live coverage of the Rolling Rally online, but I have recorded it so I can compare it to NECN’s. At least Tom Ellis wasn’t involved otherwise, he might have recited a poem that no one would have wanted to hear.

A quick aside here. I knew someone who used to work at NECN and she told me that Tom would deviate from the teleprompter and the guys in the control room would have no idea where he was going or how long he would take before introducing a report. It would be a miracle if his broadcasts ended on time, but I don’t know if does that anymore. Anyway, let’s get to the links.

I knew there was a reason why I was live blogging TBS Hot Corner for all of its live webcasts during the League Division and National League Championship Series. Besides wanting to see Heather Catlin and Kelly Cross, the show was pretty decent and actually gave some pretty good information. As I mentioned in my posts, the Atlanta segments were well produced while the segments from MLB.com looked like they were produced in a dentist’s office. Well, it seems many of you were watching as well. Neil Best of Newsday blogged today that Sports Business Journal has done a story this week on TBS Hot Corner’s popularity and the online show had a million views during its coverage. Neil put up a picture of Alyssa Milano and while she was involved in Hot Corner, she was not on the live show albeit for one phone call. I cannot link to the Sports Business Journal story because the site requires a subscription, but you can get a four week trial subscription if you so choose.

The Sports Media Watch blog has the overnight ratings for Monday Night Football which had no sports competition from baseball and won the night for cable programs. Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News has more on the ratings for MNF. Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter says 14 million viewers on average watched Monday Night Football.

Last week’s Monday Night Football contest between Indianapolis and Jacksonville was the most watched cable primetime program for the period ending October 28..

Reynolds of Multichannel News adds that TBS and ESPN were tied for the top spot for the cable primetime ratings in October. And Reynolds writes that FSN Southwest hopes that the San Antonio Spurs can pace the channel to the top spot of the NBA Regional Sports Network ratings again.

John Dempsey of Variety writes that TBS saw a 123% increase in viewers in October as compared to a year ago thanks to the MLB Postseason.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that Fox’s Jay Glazer appears to be the spokesman for Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher.

David Hinckley of the New York Daily News says baseball sleezebag Scott Boras manipulated the media during Game 4 of the World Series on Sunday.

Blogging for Broadcasting & Cable, Jim Cheney says that he doesn’t find Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as objectionable as he used to, but adds Fox crammed the commercials into each World Series game.

Michael McCarthy of USA Today has comments from TNT’s Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith in advance of tonight’s opening of the NBA season.

Gregg Easterbrook tries to tell us in his latest version of “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” that last week’s crazy column on “Good vs. Evil”, a comparison between the New England Patriots (“Evil”) and the Indianapolis Colts (“Good”) was satire (whatever), and he also rails against the NFL Sunday Ticket being on DirecTV. Keep it up, Gregg. You’ll have no friends by the end of the season.

James Fussell of the Kansas City Star writes that the NFL is increasing its marketing to women. Also from the Star, Jeffrey Flanagan says CBS’ Kevin Harlan wishes he could call the Green Bay-Kansas City game this Sunday instead of it being on Fox. Harlan has ties to both teams.

Albert Breer of the Dallas Morning News writes that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is enlisting powerful Texas state legislators in an attempt to get the NFL Network on cable systems in the Lone Star State. The Wisconsin State Legislature is looking at ways to get the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network on state cable systems. Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable writes about the NFL Network’s plans to air 36.5 hours of coverage on the Patriots-Colts game this Sunday. John Consoli of Mediaweek also writes about the NFL Net’s plans for the Pats-Colts. The NFL Network will carry its second college football regular season game this Saturday.

Mike O’Hara of the Detroit News reports that Fox is pulling back two Lions games to prevent NBC from picking them up for primetime.

Diane Sherrer of the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette says NBC will show the start of the New York City marathon this Saturday on the Today show, then hand it off to NBC Sports.com which will show it live online (don’t forget it’s $4.95).

Nathan Summers of the Greenville (NC) Daily Reflector says MASN is in a dispute with Suddenlink Communications to get its channel shown in the area.

The Business First Journal of Louisville says Churchill Downs will air a daily half hour horse racing preview show online as well as on HRTV. Lenny Shulman of Bloodhorse.com writes that the ratings for the Breeders’ Cup on ESPN last Saturday saw only a marginal increase from last year and a viewership well below NBC’s ratings two years ago. Fred Angst of the Thoroughbred Times has his version of the story.

David King of the San Antonio Express-News writes that the 15 lateral play by Trinity to beat Millsaps can still be seen online, but not on YouTube. It can be seen over at ESPN.com, but of course, you can see it on Fang’s Bites here.

The Danbury (CT) News-Times says the UConn Huskies game against Rutgers will be on ESPNU this weekend, but many across the Nutmeg State will not be able to see the game because the channel is not carried by Comcast.

Plenty of links tonight. Back on Wednesday with more.

Primetime Viewing Picks

E:60 – ESPN, 7 p.m.
NHL/Pittsburgh at Minnesota – Versus, 7 p.m.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown – ABC, 8 p.m.
NBA/Portland at San Antonio – TNT, 8 p.m.
Nip/Tuck – FX, 10 p.m.
NBA/Houston at LA Lakers – TNT, 10:30 p.m.

More Tuesday Links

Time to give some more links. I drove past a Taco Bell in Norwood, MA and the line was already long. It was 2:30 p.m. Taco Bell at least in my surrounding area is probably thinking this was a great promotion.

Getting to our links, the Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and Daniel Kaplan co-author a story in which the NFL Network is seeking help from the Feds to get cable carriage. Hoo boy.

Neil Best linked to the above story and says the whole saga of the NFL Network vs. cable is increasingly tiresome. Best had a sidebar column regarding Michael Kay of YES going to miss Joe Girardi in the broadcast booth. And Best links to an interview in The Big Lead blog in which writer John Feinstein takes a shot at ESPN the Magazine. Finally, Best tells us the NFL Network plans to hype the Patriots-Colts game like the Super Bowl.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has reaction from the NFL studio show analysts on this past Sunday’s Giants-Dolphins game in London.

The Detroit Free Press has Michigan State athletic director-in-waiting Mark Hollis backpedaling from his comments that the Big Ten Network set a November 15 deadline for big cable to pick it up.

That’s it for now.

Our Tuesday Links

I’m watching NESN’s coverage of the Red Sox Rolling Rally through redsox.com. There are other ways to watch it, either through Boston’s 5ABC, WBZ TV or Channel 7, but they’re all taking the interviews from NESN why not just watch NESN, it’s just easier. But MLB.com has decided to pick up coverage from New England Cable News.

Time for some links.

First, the final ratings for the World Series are in and while they are higher than last year’s St. Louis-Detroit series, they are still the second lowest of all time as noted by the Sports Media Watch blog. And also from the Sports Media Watch, we get the weekend TV ratings.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings of selected events from the weekend including the Breeders’ Cup on ESPN which sank lower than last year.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News also has a story on the World Series ratings.

As the NBA is set to begin another forgettable season, David DuPree of USA Today gives us the ten games to watch. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about the digital platforms to watch NBA games.

Sandomir also writes about First Class Jerk Scott Boras hijacking Game 4 of the World Series with his news about Alex Rodriguez. Neil Best of Newsday talks with the person credited with breaking the Bores-Us/A-Fraud story, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says he’ll miss having Alex Rodriguez around.

In his blog, Neil Best writes that ESPN1050 in New York is saying it broke the story that Joe Girardi would be the next Yankees manager.

Turning to the Big Ten Network, there’s a lot of fallout regarding the channel picking up the Ohio State-Wisconsin this Saturday. George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal calls this a mistake. The Cleveland Plain Dealer says after this week, Ohio State will be seen on ABC for its remaining two games. Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch says because Time Warner Cable has still not piocked up the Big Ten Network, Buckeyes fans will have to go to a friend’s house or to their local sports bar to see the game. Adam Mertz of the Capital (WI) Times reports that the Mount Horeb Telephone Company is adding BTN this week in time for the OSU-Wisconsin game. Michael Poppy also of the Capital Times writes that many Wisconsin fans are angry over not being able to see the game. Mark Tupper of the Bloomington (IL) Pentagraph says BTN is still in a stalemate with the major cable companies. John Bohnenkamp of the Burlington Hawk Eye writes that Mediacom is not close to adding BTN to its lineup.

While the Ohio State-Wisconsin game will not be seen by a wide audience, the Oregon-Arizona State game will. Bud Withers of the Seattle Times says ESPN, FSN and the Pac 10 all came in to make sure the contest will be seen by a West Coast audience. The Pac 10 says the game will be seen on FSN on its Arizona, Northwest and West channels and nationally on ESPN. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News explains the Pac 10 TV situation for this Saturday.

University of South Carolina fans are happy that the Gamecocks’ next two games are going to be on ESPN/ESPN2.

Keith Sargeant of the Ashbury Park (NJ) Press says because this Saturday’s Rutgers-UConn game will be on ESPNU, many Scarlet Knights fans won’t be able to see it.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes that the Bulls are moving back to ESPN 1000 after being away for a year.

Tom Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Magic fans won’t be able to see 14 of the first 18 games because Bright House Networks has not reached an agreement with FSN Florida as it has the rights to 35 games this season.

That’s it for now. Don’t forget to get your free taco today between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Some Monday Night Links

Ok, I wasn’t able to update you earlier today, but I can now so let’s get to some linkage.

First, let’s give you the overnight ratings for Game 4 of the World Series which beat all comers last night. The Sports Media Watch says the World Series finished strong for Fox. CNBC’s Darren Rovell says despite the four game sweep, Fox may still have made money on the World Series. But John Dempsey of Variety says Fox will have lost millions in potential ad revenue by having to offer makegood spots for a pre-sold Game 5.

Rovell handicaps the favorites in the A-Rod sweepstakes and his #1 choice really makes a lot of sense. In fact, I hope it becomes true.

Let’s give you some quotes from the various NFL studio shows from Sunday. First we get the notable quotes from CBS’ The NFL Today. In case you were watching something other than NBC’s Football Night in America, here’s what you missed.

Here are the features you will see on ESPN’s E:60 newsmagazine on Tuesday.

This Saturday’s Arizona State-Oregon game, originally to be televised locally in both states, will now be distributed nationally on ESPN while still being shown in the home markets on FSN. The Business Journal of Phoenix says the ratings for Arizona State-Cal were quite high in Phoenix. ESPN picks up the Florida-South Carolina game for its 7:45 p.m. primetime slot on November 10.

The Chicago Daily Herald reports that the Bulls will be returning to ESPN1000 as of Wednesday.

NBC Sports.com, NBCOlympics.com and MediaZone are all offering the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials online … for a price.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com says DirecTV offered a sneak peak of the NHL Network in both High and Standard Definition last week and has just put NBA TV in High Def.

The Baltimore Business Journal reports that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will carry a schedule of 166 college basketball games involving the ACC, CAA, Pac 10 and Big 12.

In his Four DVRs, no waiting blog, the Houston Chronicle’s David Barron says Houston will be one of the few markets that won’t be getting the big New England-Indianapolis game this Sunday.

Crain’s Chicago Business has the official announcement from the Blackhawks that its first of 11 home games to be televised this season will be on November 11.

Bill Clement, the former NHL studio host on NBC and Versus, has picked up some work on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

There you go. More links coming on Tuesday.

Primetime Viewing Picks

How I Met Your Mother – CBS, 8 p.m.
NHL/San Jose at Dallas – Versus – 8 p.m.
Monday Night Football/Green Bay at Denver – ESPN, 8:30 p.m. (at its regular time with no World Series game tonight)
Jon & Kate Plus 8 – TLC, 9 p.m.
CSI: Miami – CBS, 10 p.m.

Back to Work Monday Links or the Red Sox Hangover

Well, after watching two World Series games go past midnight (especially Saturday’s which went beyond four hours) this weekend, Red Sox fans in New England and across the Eastern and Central time zones are a bleary eyed on this back to work day. Usually, I’m not like the Eastern media writers who constantly complain about long postseason games, but to be honest, going four hours and nineteen minutes is out of hand. MLB should really consider cracking down on Fox which starts the games past 8:30 p.m. ET and has over two minutes of ad time in between half-innings.

But as I’m on Cloud 9 over the Sox World Championship, I will say it was a disgrace for baseball uber-agent Scott Boras to release news that his all-about-himself client Alex Rodriguez to release the fact that he was opting out of his Yankees contract during Game 4. Silly.

Time for some links, though. David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch reviews the Boston TV reporters some of whom again showed some bad behavior during the postgame coverage (i.e., Butch Stearns of Fox 25) and some whom did not (Don Orsillo of NESN). I especially liked David’s line about Tom Ellis of NECN (those who have seen Tom Ellis do news in Boston since the invention of TV know that he’s anchored news in the area since the invention of the medium … kidding!).

Neil Best of Newsday blogs that Boras played the media game to a T by releasing the A-Fraud news while the World Series was in progress.

The Sports Media Watch blog notes the ratings for Game 3 of the World Series.

Phil Mushnick from the New York Post gives praise to Fox’s Tim McCarver for his analysis while pounding ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser.

Dusty Saunders in the Rocky Mountain News writes that with the end of the World Series, Monday Night Football has tonight all to itself.

Emily Bryson York of Advertising Age says Taco Bell got a bargain due to its “Steal A Base, Get a Free Taco” World Series promotion.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes that Fox overdid the promos during the World Series.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the Fox coverage of the Giants-Miami game in London plus how the pregame show analysts deviated from the party line on playing international games during the regular season.

The Oregonian reports that ESPN’s College Gameday will return to Oregon for the second time this season.

Jerome Richard of the Burlington (NC) Times-News profiles ESPN’s college football analyst Jim Donnan who will be honored in his native North Carolina.

Sacramento Kings fans will see a new sideline reporter on TV broadcasts this season. Meet Angela Tsai (nice to see an Asian sister getting a job).

NBC Sports.com will be the official sports channel for MSNBC.com. John Consoli of Mediaweek has more on this story.

Adam Mertz and Jeff Richgels of the Capital (WI) Times report that the Big Ten Network will pick up the Ohio State-Wisconsin matchup this Saturday. The Columbus Dispatch also has a blurb on this. While fans in Ohio and Wisconsin will have to scramble to watch the game, fans in Michigan are rejoicing that the Michigan-Michigan State game will be on ABC. Terry Foster of the Detroit News couldn’t be happier. The Detroit Free Press reports that Michigan-Michigan State will be aired at 3:30 p.m.

Those are your links for now.

Videos of the Week – Crazy College Football Plays

In the wake of yesterday’s crazy 15 laterals by Division III Trinity to win over Millsap on the final play of the game, let’s give you some crazy plays. First, if you haven’t seen it, here’s the play. Count them, 15 laterals and Trinity beats Millsap to win, 28-24.

On November 23, 1984, Boston College’s Doug Flutie cemented his legendary status in New England by throwing this “Hail Mary” pass to Gerard Phelan to defeat the “U”, Miami, 47-45 in one of the craziest games ever. Brent Musburger called the game on CBS along with Pat Haden and Ara Parsegian.

Ten years later, Kordell Stewart of Colorado broke the hearts of Michigan fans by throwing a Hail Mary TD pass of his own. The great Keith Jackson had the call on ABC.

Five years ago, LSU pulled off the Bluegrass Miracle against Kentucky by going 75 yards on a tipped pass. JP Sports even flashed that Kentucky had won even as LSU scored. Final, LSU 33-30. Kentucky fans are bitter to this day.

And of course, there’s the finish of the Cal-Stanford game in 1982 that was one of the greatest endings of all time. Before the crazy laterals by Cal, Stanford QB John Elway led the Cardinal down the field to get a FG to go ahead, 20-19. Then came the craziest kickoff return you’ll ever see, laterals, the Stanford band went on the field and there was pandemonium. Joe Starkey, the Voice of the Cal Bears and San Francisco 49ers just went beserk.

To this day, Stanford doesn’t recognize the result putting the final score as “Stanford 20, Cal 19″. Elway is still bitter about the game despite winning two Super Bowls. Everyone else knows the final as Cal, 25-20 winners.

Sunday Morning Linkage

Let’s give you some links this morning and sometime before the World Series, I’ll do the Videos of the Week. I still haven’t decided the theme as of yet.

First, Neil Best is not happy over the length of Saturday’s World Series Game 3 which went four hours and nineteen minutes (a full nine innings!) and ended about 1 a.m. ET. Thanks, Fox for a pregame show that went too long and filling commercial time that went 2:20 in between innings. And in his column, Best gives praise to former Jets QB Ray Lucas who has been doing studio work with SNY on its Jets programming. In the Watchdog blog, Best adds some things that didn’t make it into the column. You want more Ray Lucas stuff? Neil is only happy to oblige. Finally, Neil posts one more addendum to his Friday column in which he praised SNY for its commitment to newsgathering (I only link to it because there’s a picture of the lovely Bonnie Bernstein of ESPN).

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says MSG Network has finally taken the gloves off on New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, but still won’t mention owner James Dolan.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post feels ESPN won’t discuss the Travis Henry story in its NFL pregame shows today or tomorrow. Henry of the Broncos is facing a second drug suspension and reportedly has fathered nine children with nine women. Nothing like spreading your gene pool.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times notes that it’s a good time to be a Boston sports fan and mentions that the Bruins moved their game time yesterday so not to compete with the Red Sox.

The Sports Media Watch blog talks about ESPN/ABC butchering its NASCAR coverage.

In his Four DVRs, no waiting blog, the Houston Chronicle’s David Barron writes about ESPN’s Darren Woodson using an unfortunate choice of words in regards to the Houston-San Diego game.

We haven’t done this in a while so let’s give you a bunch of links on the Big Ten Network. Bob Heisse of the Centre (PA) Daily Times writes in his blog that Comcast is updating subscribers on why it’s not carrying the Big Ten Network. Drew Sharp and Shannon Shelton of the Detroit Free Press report that BTN is setting a deadline for next month for Comcast and Time Warner Cable to pick it up in time for basketball season. Michael Rosenberg also of the Free Press puts the blame squarely in Comcast’s corner. Rosenberg says the Comcast-BTN feud is getting close to Michigan-Michigan State proportions. Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi and Big Ten Conference President Jim Delaney co-author an editorial in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune stating that Comcast is the culprit in the dispute. Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer says this fight involving BTN and the NFL Network against Comcast is much ado about nothing. The Capital Times of Wisconsin says that long-time state broadcaster Jay Wilson joins BTN to call women’s basketball games. And Ohio State fans will have to scramble to see the Buckeyes’ game vs. Illinois on November 10 as Doug Harris of the Dayton Daily News writes it will most likely be on the Big Ten Network.

Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News talks about the NFL turning to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to get the NFL Network on cable. Todd Mavreles of the Brownsville (TX) Herald writes that two Cowboys games scheduled for the NFL Network won’t be available in the area on Time Warner Cable.

Joanne Ostrow of the Denver Post spent last night in the Fox Sports production truck as it produced Game 3 of the World Series.

The lovely Tina Cervasio of NESN has been writing a blog for MLB.com about her experiences covering the World Series. I like it.

Steve Wiseman of The State writes that a lucky fan who produces a winning video could see a BCS game.

Guy Cipriano of the Centre Daily Times chronicles ESPN College Gameday’s day at Penn State.

Those are your links for today. Videos of the Week will come later today.

NFL Picks for Week 8

Thanks to the World Series which went until 1 a.m. ET, I neglected to do my NFL Picks. Since we’re getting close to the start of the games, I’ll do them Quick Hits style. Last week, I told you it would be a tricky week to pick games and I was only 8-6 for an overall record of 57-36, a .612 winning percentage. Not good. Let’s get to the picks now.

Cleveland at St. Louis – CBS, 1 p.m.
Cleveland wins and extends the Rams winless season for another week, 28-17.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati – CBS, 1 p.m.
How did Pittsburgh manage to lose last week is beyond me. But then again, most of you didn’t watch and neither did I because of ALCS Game 7. Take Pittsburgh to win, 28-25.

Indy at Carolina – CBS, 1 p.m.
Say hello to 7-0, Indianapolis. Vinny Testaverde will have no shot. Indy wins, 38-10.

Raiders at Tennessee – CBS, 1 p.m.
The Raiders are improved, but they still don’t win. Titans, 17-6.

Detroit at Chicago – Fox, 1 p.m.
The Lions are bad on the road. Until they fix their road woes, always go with the home team. Detroit loses, 26-3.

Giants vs. Miami at Wembley Stadium, London – Fox, 1 p.m.
Miami will prove that they suck on two continents (I give props to Mike Lupica of the Sports Reporters for that line). By halftime, the Brits will be asking for their money back. G-Men take this 19-3.

Philadelphia at Minnesota – Fox, 1 p.m.
I want to believe in the Eagles, but they keep burning me. Same for the Vikes, but I think Adrian Peterson will be the star of the show again this week. Vikings, 20-14.

Houston at San Diego – CBS, 4:05 p.m.
For a while, it was thought this game would have to played in Arizona or Seattle, but thanks to the hard work of the firefighters and a break in the weather, Qualcomm Stadium will be the site of this game. The Chargers want to prove all is back to normal so they’ll win this easily, 24-3.

Jacksonville at Tampa Bay – CBS, 4:05 p.m.
I’ll take the Bucs to win this, 17-7.

Buffalo at New York Jets – CBS, 4:05 p.m.
Someone has to win this game. Take the Jets at home, 16-10.

New Orleans at San Francisco – Fox, 4:15 p.m.
Two former division rivals face each other. Saints seem to have righted the ship. Niners have not. New Orleans wins, 23-20.

Washington at New England, Fox, 4:15 p.m.
Tom Brady will throw to Kyle Brady. Tom Brady will throw to Randy Moss. Tom Brady will throw to Wes Welker. Tom Brady will throw to Donte Stallworth. And the Pats will run up the score, but not as bad as the last two weeks because Bill Belichick actually respects Joe Gibbs. Pats, 38-24.

No Sunday night game because of the World Series so we go to Monday Night:
Green Bay at Denver – ESPN, 8:30 p.m.
The Denver fans will be in full football mode as the World Series ends tonight so all of Colorado’s attention will be solely on this game. Take the Broncs, 31-25 in a fun shootout.

There you go. Next week, we’ll have our picks in the proper format.

Saturday Link Stuff

Time for some linkage on this Saturday.

Neil Best of Newsday has the ratings for Game 2 of the World Series. And he explains why he gave praise to SNY in yesterday’s column.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes that the Dallas-Fort Worth area just isn’t interested in the World Series.

Dan Caesar in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about the antiquated NFL blackout rules which require a home game to be sold out 72 hours before game time so it can be shown in the local market. This Sunday’s Browns-Rams game will not be shown in St. Louis because the rule has been enforced.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin normally writes on Friday, but has his weekly media column today and he has a lot of news and notes including the beginning of the NBA season which starts next week.

Some posts from the Sports Media Watch blog. First, one on the World Series ratings which are up from last year, but still the fourth lowest of all-time according to the blog. Good update from Paulsen who notes that the NBA will not sell NBA.com nor NBA TV which had been speculated earlier. And we get the weekend ratings predictions.

Chris Pursell of TV Week looks at the NFL’s Week 8 broadcast assignments in his Pressbox blog.

Rick Kissell of Variety says sports continue to do well in the ratings.

From the Charlotte Business Journal comes a story in which Raycom, a syndicator of the ACC, is considering buying Lincoln Financial Sports, its partner in the ACC and the lone holder of the SEC syndication rights.

Dave Goldberg of the AP has a story on the NFL Network’s fight for exposure.

The Boston Globe’s Joanna Weiss says the Taco Bell/World Series promotion went over the top.

The Sports Business Daily has some news and notes on the World Series ratings for Fox, plus other news including the silly Taco Bell promotion.

Richard Stevens of the Albuquerque (NM) Tribune wonders why ESPN doesn’t bother to carry University of New Mexico football games.

Dan Clutter of the Bucyrus (CA) Telegraph-Forum says ESPN and Fox definitely have East Coast bias.

Travis Haney of the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier writes that ESPN will pick up the South Carolina-Arkansas game on November 3 after all.

Corky Simpson writes in the Tuscon (AZ) Citizen that bloggers are a necessary evil. Hey!

A lot of good links for this Saturday. I’ll have NFL picks later tonight.

The Friday Megalinks, Finally

I was at a jobsite all day and didn’t get home until after 4:30 p.m. so you didn’t get them at your regular time, but better late than never.

Starting off with a couple of posts from David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch. He first wrote Wednesday about dueling press releases from Comcast SportsNet and NESN in regards to their World Series coverage. Next, Scott has some odds and ends in his regular Friday post.

John Powers of the Boston Globe writes about the different starting times for the World Series on Fox.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes about Fox preparing for its NFL broadcast in London and what ESPN is doing to pump the Breeders’ Cup.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times isn’t enamored with the product placement in the World Series.

Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News says Hank Steinbrenner is a chip off the old block.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post is in a hating mood. He rails against Yankees President Randy Levine and Fox Sports’ Matt Vasgerian.

Newsday’s Neil Best gives praise to SNY for its Yankees coverage, but notes that ESPN SportsCenter outrates the channel in New York. And we give you some blog posts from Best from last night into today. First, Best reports that UFC has renewed its contract with Spike TV. Best has an addendum to his column about the newsgathering operations for WFAN and 1050 ESPN Radio. Neil notes that Tennis Channel has removed “The” from its name. And Best showing his Yankees bias says Red Sox fans are the most annoying on earth. It’s the other way around, Neil.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about the ridiculous World Series Taco Bell promotion that was overplayed on Fox the last two nights. And Darren writes about the reach of Allstate Insurance with its advertising on college football through the BCS and the netting behind the goalposts.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has a bunch of stuff in his Friday column including comments on Rick Reilly leaving Sports Illustrated for ESPN and Joe Torre’s overall popularity. In his Medium Well blog, Frager wonders why the World Series doesn’t get more play on Baltimore radio.

From The State newspaper in South Carolina, Doug Nye has some TV notes. His weekend TV Best Bet is South Carolina at Tennessee on ESPN. And Nye’s Friday column talks about Gamecock fans being angry at ESPN’s choosing not to show the South Carolina-Arkansas game on November 3.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson writes about the tough obstacles facing WQAM in the wake of losing the Dolphins and the soon-to-be-departed Hank Goldberg.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel picks up an Associated Press story about the challenges Fox Sports is facing by televising the first NFL regular season game in London which of course, involves the Dolphins.

Cary Estes of the Orlando Sentinel writes about the SEC college basketball media day on Thursday in which the coaches complained about a lack of TV exposure (what?). And Dave Darling of the Sentinel also writes about the “trade” of Rick Reilly for Dan Patrick between ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

From the Houston Chronicle, David Barron writes that there was more interest this year in Game 1 of the World Series than last year.

To the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley who gives us some of the things that will be shown during ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast involving Packers and Broncos.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Judd Zulgad says the Twins couldn’t be happier with first year radio flagship staion, KSTP.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News says Game 1 of the World Series was a hit for Fox both nationally and in Denver.

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says the Mountain West Conference could have had a deal to put the mtn. on Dish Network in the seven states that encompass the conference’s market, but decided to hold out for a national deal and now, it’s not on Dish, DirecTV or Comcast.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune has three stories today. One we now know is outdated, but I’ll link to it anyway. Posner writes that the Texans-Chargers game would be televised into the San Diego no matter where it’s played and we now know it’ll be at Qualcomm Stadium this Sunday. Posner says the USC-Oregon game will be on FSN Prime Ticket, a channel not available to San Diego cable subscribers. And as usual, Posner gives the ratings for last weekend in San Diego.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that San Diego sports reporters turned over to news to help report on the megafires this week and Maffei also reviews the news coverage as well.

In the Los Angeles Times, Christine Daniels has her Sound and Vision column which attacks Fox for its silly virtual ads during the World Series.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News profiles FSN’s Andrew Siciliano who does a great job anchoring the DirecTV Red Zone Channel which is part of the NFL Sunday Ticket’s Superfan service. And Hoffarth gives us a story on the NHL Network which is finally making its debut in the US on Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable, Cox and other subscription TV services.

Jim Carlisle from the Ventura County Star writes that Fox traded out less MLB postseason games in its latest TV contract and it’s paid off with hgher ratings. And in his notebook, Carlisle writes that the Lakers will open the NBA season on TNT.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail has a story on the top paid Canadian sportscasters. And Houston says Leafs TV ignored a big developing story involving the Maple Leafs. Finally, Houston writes that Greg Zaun is doing a good job analyzing the MLB Postseason on Rogers Sportsnet.

And Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes about Dan Schulman picking up NBA play-by-play work on ESPN which means he will drop Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Radio which is unfortunate.

Over to the 38Cliches blog and LC says the petition requesting WRKO and the Red Sox to dump Glenn Geffner is still going strong.

To the Sport Media Watch blog and it states that while Game 1 of the 2007 World Series had a huge ratings jump from last year, it still is low compared to other Games 1. And Paulsen notes that with Game 2 in the books, the numbers for the World Series are still trending low.

Yet, with the lower ratings for Game 2, Fox still won the night.

The Biz of Baseball website says that Comcast is extending its hours in Boston so customers can pick up HDTV boxes for the World Series.

The Orbitcast blog which covers the Satellite Radio industry says that Sirius will pick up the audio from World Championship Sports Network for the World Cup Skiing Season.

That’s it for now. The Megalinks are up and I’m happy. I’ll give you Saturday links and NFL Picks tomorrow.

Weekend Viewing Picks

Saturday, October 27
Breeders’ Cup Championships from Monmouth Park, NJ – ESPN, noon
PGA Golf/Ginn Classic, 3rd Round – Golf Channel, 3 p.m.
NHL/Philadelphia at Boston – NESN, 4 p.m.
NHL/Toronto at NY Rangers – CBC/NHL Center Ice, 7 p.m.
NHL/Montreal at Pittsburgh – CBC/NHL Center Ice, 7 p.m.
World Series/Red Sox at Colorado, Game 3 – Fox, 8 p.m.
NHL/Edmonton at Los Angeles – CBC/NHL Center Ice, 10 p.m.

Sunday, October 28
NASCAR/Pep Boys 500 – ABC, 2 p.m.
PGA Golf/Ginn Classic, 4th Round – Golf Channel, 3 p.m.
Figure Skating/Skate America – NBC, 4 p.m.
60 Minutes – CBS, 7 p.m.
World Series/Red Sox at Colorado – Fox, 8 p.m.
College Football/Central Florida at Southern Mississippi – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Tell Me You Love Me – HBO, 9 p.m.
Curb Your Enthusiasm – HBO, 10 p.m.
NHL/Detroit at Vancouver – FSN Detroit/NHL Center Ice, 10 p.m.

NFL Viewing Picks for 10/28/07

All Times Eastern
Fox NFL Sunday – Fox, noon
Indianapolis at Carolina – CBS, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 704/719)
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati – CBS, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 705/720)
Cleveland at St. Louis – CBS, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channel 706)
New York Giants vs. Miami at London – Fox, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 708/724)
Detroit at Chicago – Fox, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 709/723)
Houston at San Diego – CBS, 4:05 p.m. (DirecTV channels 712/720)
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay – CBS, 4:05 p.m. (DirecTV channels 713/725)
Washington at New England – Fox, 4:15 p.m. (DirecTV channels 714/719)
Football Night in America – NBC, 7 p.m. (No Sunday Night game)
NFL Gameday – NFL Network, 11:30 p.m.

NFL Coverage Maps
CBS Regional Coverage
Fox Early Games
Fox Late Games

DirecTV channel assignments
Sirius Satellite Radio channel assignments

College Football Viewing Picks for 10/27/07 (All Times Eastern)

College Gameday, Live from Penn State University, PA – ESPN, 10 a.m.

ABC Coverage Map for noon, ET
West Virginia at Rutgers – ABC, noon
Colorado at Texas Tech – ABC, noon

Big Ten Network Coverage Map – DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-Verse and Wow channel assignments are on the map.
Ball State at Illinois – Big Ten Network, noon
Northwestern at Purdue – Big Ten Network, noon
Indiana at Wisconsin – Big Ten Network, noon

Michigan State at Iowa – ESPN2, noon

Delaware at Navy – CSTV, 1 p.m.
Howard at Norfolk State – ESPNU, 1 p.m.

USC at Oregon – FSN, 3 p.m.

ABC Coverage Map for 3:30 p.m. ET
Nebraska at Texas – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Clemson at Maryland – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
South Florida at UConn – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Georgia vs. Florida at Jacksonville, FL – CBS, 3:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Michigan – ESPN Classic, 3:30 p.m. (on ABC7 in Detroit)

Virginia at NC State – ESPNU, 4:30 p.m.
Rice at Marshall – CSTV, 4:30 p.m.

UCLA at Washington State – FSN, 6:30 p.m.
Kansas at Texas A&M – ESPN2, 7 p.m.
South Carolina at Tennessee – ESPN, 7:45 p.m.
Ohio State at Penn State – ABC, 8 p.m.
Duke at Florida State – ESPNU, 8 p.m.

Cal at Arizona State – FSN, 10 p.m.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

Back from the jobsite. It was a long day. This is the first of several posts tonight. Yes, Friday Megalinks are still on the way, but first, we’ll give you Primetime Viewing Picks, College Football Viewing Picks, NFL Viewing Picks, Friday Megalinks, NFL Picks and other stuff I have not thought of. In the meantime, the Primetime picks.

College Football/Cornell at Princeton – ESPNU, 7 p.m.
NHL/San Jose at Detroit – FSN Bay Area/FSN Detroit/NHL Center Ice, 7:30 p.m.
College Hockey/BU at Michigan – CSTV, 8 p.m.
Deal or No Deal – NBC, 8 p.m.
Friday Night Lights – NBC, 9 p.m.
College Football/Boise State at Fresno State – ESPN2, 9 p.m.
NHL/Colorado at Calgary – Rogers Sportsnet West/NHL Center Ice, 9 p.m.
Giada’s Weekend Getaways/Paris – Food Network, 10:30 p.m.
Hollywood Sexcapades 04 – Cinemax, midnight
Girl from B.I.K.I.N.I. – Cinemax, 12:30 a.m.

Friday Megalinks Will Be Late

Because I will be at a jobsite all day on Friday, the Friday megalinks will be late. Just wanted to let you know.

Primetime Viewing Picks

NHL/Chicago at Boston – NESN, 7 p.m.
College Football/Boston College at Virginia Tech – ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
World Series, Colorado at Red Sox, Game 2 – Fox, 8 p.m.
Survivor China – CBS, 8 p.m.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – CBS, 9 p.m.
College Football/Air Force at New Mexico – Versus, 9 p.m.
NHL/Minnesota at Edmonton – NHL Center Ice, 9 p.m.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – FX, 10 p.m.

A Thursday Update

Let’s get some links for you now.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has been busy today blogging from Boston. First, he took Fox Sports to task for inserting two ads in the middle of Game 1 of the World Series. Then Rovell writes about Fox’s response to his entry. And Rovell posts an interview he did with the Red Sox’s David Ortiz.

The Boston Red Sox are a big hit. Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball site reports that the ratings for Game 1 of the World Series were up 37% compared to Game 1 between St. Louis and Detroit last year. The Zap2it site has the overall overnight ratings which show that Fox wiped out the network competition thanks to the World Series.

Jim Cheney blogged last night’s Fox broadcast of Game 1 for Broadcasting & Cable.

The NFL has rescheduled the Cowboy, Giants and Jets for November 18.

A former Pittsburgh ESPN announcer and PA announcer for Pittsburgh football and women’s basketball, John Duffy was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in prison after pleading guilty to child porn charges.

From the Buffalo News, the Sabres will appear three times in November on the NHL Network.

Awful Announcing notes a major error in an SI.com story on the World Series.

NBC Sports is pleased over critics’ praise for Football Night in America.

That will do it for now.

Your Thursday Morning Links

Here are your links for today.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says Fox Sports’ Joe Buck is looking forward to going to Coors Field.

Neil Best in his Newsday blog writes that Buck tries to pass the time on baseball broadcasts by trying to fit in words and phrases that his friends text him on his cell phone. And Best has a story in today’s Newsday about the Yankees banning ESPN from its conference calls.

Ed Sherman in the Chicago Tribune writes that Sports Illustrated will endure a big loss when Rick Reilly leaves for ESPN.

Inside Indiana Business has the logo for the Big Ten Women’s and Men’s Basketball Tournaments, both of which will be played at Canseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis next March.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says the Big Ten Network is crowing about its ratings for October 13 (scroll to the bottom). Also from the Beacon Journal, Malcolm X. Abram is not a fan of ESPN’s Emmit Smith.

Charles Elmore in the Palm Beach Post says local viewers are unhappy with their lack of options for watching sports.

Terry Frei from the Denver Post says the Fox production of World Series Game 1 was better than TBS for the NLDS and NLCS.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell points to two moments in last night’s World Series Game 1 that were blatant ads.

Andrew Sodergren of the Naples (FL) Daily News reports that the high school football team will be featured during halftime of Sunday Night Football.

Gregory A. Hall of the Louisville Courier-Journal says Breeders’ Cup officials hope that ESPN can raise the ratings of the event through its “multi-platform” coverage.

J.P. Giglio of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer says Virginia Tech likes playing on Thursday night for ESPN as it will tonight against Boston College.

Mark Monteith of the Indianapolis Star says Reggie Miller got practice for his TNT analyst job when he was playing for the Indiana Pacers.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that the NFL may move up the Packers-Broncos game to avoid a conflict with a potential World Series Game 5 in Denver.

Dave O’Brien (not the Red Sox/ESPN announcer) of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogged from Fenway Park before Game 1 of the World Series about his hob-nobbing with other reporters.

Bob Thomas of the Florida Times-Union talks with former Miami coach Larry Coker about his work for ESPN this season.

Kyle Nagel of the Springfield (OH) News-Sun writes that the University of Dayton will have at least 12 of its men’s basketball games on TV this season.

ESPN announces its announcing teams for the NBA including an increased role for Dan Schulman.

Those are your links for now. Back later.

Your Wednesday Night Links

While I’m watching Game 1 of the World Series and chatting with fellow Red Sox fans online, I’ll give you some links.

First, Neil Best breaks the news that the Yankees are banning ESPN from future conference calls after it aired the Joe Torre announcement live despite the team’s request not to. This is not a good year for the Alleged Worldwide Leader. It got banned from the MLB All Star Game for breaking the All Star Game announcement embargo and almost got banned from the World Series. Now this. It’s these incidents that have people thinking ESPN is arrogant.

And Best writes about Reggie Miller joining the NBA on TNT “A” announcing team with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello.

Darren Rovell of CNBC starts a series of blog entries on the Business of the World Series. And speaking about Business of the World Series, the Sports Media Watch Blog reports that Fox and MLB couldn’t be happier to have the Red Sox in the World Series. This is echoed by Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated.

Some Big Ten Network news for you now. Former Purdue coach Gene Keady and his infamous combover will join the channel as a studio analyst. USA Today picks up an AP wire story. Former Ohio State standout Jim Jackson will also be part of the Big Ten Network’s college basketball studio team. And Jon Lafayette of TV Week has the full trio of analysts who will join Dave Revsine on BTN. Randall Yakey of the Oakland (MI) Press says if the Michigan-Michigan State game is picked up by BTN on November 4, a majority of fans could miss the game.

From the TV Predictions.com site, Joseph Whip advises the NFL to stop complaining about the Comcast-NFL Network battle.

CBS Sports has announced its college basketball lineup for the 2007-08 season and Chris Pursell of TV Week has it for you.

Jeremy Mullman of Advertising Age wonders if ESPN can stem the tide of declining ratings for the Breeders’ Cup which starts this Friday.

I’ll have more links tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.

Primetime Viewing Picks

World Series/Colorado at Red Sox, Game 1 – Fox, 8 p.m.
Hotel Babylon – BBC America, 9 p.m.
Inside the NFL – HBO, 10 p.m.

The Amazing Race 12 Teams Have Been Announced

CBS has aired its first promo for the latest version of The Amazing Race 12 which premieres on November 4.

And the teams have been announced and their pictures are up at a CBS alpha site. I’ll have more details plus stuff on The Amazing Race Asia which will premiere on AXN-Asia on November 1 down the line.

The Mid-Week Links

Here we are with our links for Wednesday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has an extensive column which includes stuff about Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes going into broadcasting while being an active player, plus stuff on TNT hiring Mike Fratello to join Marv Albert and Reggie Miller on the NBA.

Neil Best of Newsday blogs that MLB President and CEO Bob DuPuy feels that postseason games are getting too long and links to a Washington Post story about it. You want to cut down the length of games? It’ll never happen, but cut down the time in-between innings from two minutes and twenty seconds to 90 seconds. That’s 50 seconds per half inning and almost two minutes per a full inning. That’s a big savings in time over a full game, but Fox and TBS want the ad revenue. My fear is that the time could increase to a full three minutes in the next contract. Just when you think it couldn’t happen, you get news that the time will increase. I hope MLB will consider this.

Now that the World Series is here, it means that only the flagship radio stations can air the games in the home cities. The network affiliates are not allowed to air the games because ESPN Radio has national exclusivity. But if you have XM Satellite Radio, you can hear the hometown calls of the Red Sox from WRKO and the Rockies from KOA. The Orbitcast blog on satellite radio has more. You can also hear the home broadcasts through MLB.com’s Gameday Audio service for a fee.

And Howard Herman of the Berkshire (MA) Eagle writes about ESPN Radio airing the World Series. Also from the Eagle, Amy Carr has a story about the Super Bowl having more of a cultural impact on the country than the World Series.

Jackie Majerus of the Bristol (CT) Press writes that ESPN will have extensive coverage of the Series.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail previews Fox’s coverage of the World Series which will include 25 cameras and 100 microphones. Chris Zelkovich in the Toronto Star says Fox and MLB pushed back the start of the World Series to mid-week to maximize revenues. Stan Grossfeld of the Boston Globe talks with kids who get to stay up late for to watch the Series. Mark Newman of MLB.com talks to the Fox Sports crew about its preparation for the Series. And Newman writes about the online features that are available for fans.

Cary Snyder of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writes that the Fox affiliate in Chyenne has had service interruptions and can’t guarantee it won’t go out during the World Series.

Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune says Blackhawks players are treating the news of Comcast SportsNet airing home games this season positively.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says the World Series just isn’t special any more.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times recaps the HBO Real Sports interview with Joe Torre. And Sandomir has a story on the New York Rangers wanting to control its own website instead of having it belong to NHL.com.

Clint Boulton of eWeek writes that avid sports fans keep visiting ESPN.com.

Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail writes that the Big East conference is really happy over the new deal with ESPN.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek writes that despite hitting an all-time ratings low for Monday Night Football last week, it still led the cable primetime ratings.

Michael Learmonth of Variety says NBC Sports’ Football Night in America will kickoff the network’s week long eco-friendly programming on November 4.

Some stories from the NFL Owners Meeting in Philadelphia. Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News has NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell unhappy with Comcast. And Matt Young from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times writes that the NFL has rejected Time Warner Cable’s proposal to put its games on Pay Per View, plus the league has committed to keeping games on the NFL Network through 2011. Michael David Smith of the New York Sun says the streamlining of the NFL Draft shows that the league is taking the opportunity to market the event even further.

That’s it for now. Check back for updates throughout the day.

Our Tuesday Night Update or How Does Gregg Easterbrook Still Have His ESPN.com Gig?

Here’s a brief update for you.

Gregg Easterbrook is not making friends out in the blogosphere. I like his Tuesday Morning Quarterback column, but it’s getting hard to defend him especially when he makes totally inane comments and tries to present them as facts. Earlier this month, ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber correctly took Easterbrook to task for stating his opinions on the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick as reported fact. This week’s TMQ is no exception. Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch dissects what Easterbrook writes and offers rebuttals, paragraph by paragraph. Bruce links to a Kissing Suzy Kolber blog entry which also takes Easterbrook to task for his slanted writings. It’s one thing to state your feelings on the Cameragate story, but it’s another to totally take your opinions and state them as fact. I can see another column by Schreiber wondering if Easterbrook has learned anything. I’m not a Patriots fan by any means, but Easterbrook is making the Patriots a sympathetic character, if that’s possible. And read the comments in the KSK entry. Great stuff. And Deadspin is speechless. Finally, you have this reader who’s been motivated to write the ESPN Ombudsman to complain.

Let’s get to some other links before my head explodes on this Easterbrook subject.

Chris Pursell of TV Week writes in his Pressbox blog about the NFL streamlining its Draft.

Over to the Sports Media Watch, first we get the final ratings for Game 7 as well as for the entire American League Championship Series. It’s noted that TNT has decided to add the Czar of the Telestrator, Mike Fratello to the announcing team of Marv Albert and Reggie Miller for the NBA and this is indeed a good move.

Here’s CBS’ announcement about Joe Torre appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman next week.

That’s going to do it. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.