Fang's Bites

Attempting A Friday Megalink Post

This week has been hellish for me and I apologize for not being able to post as much as I would like. I’ve been away from my computer for most of the day and by the time I get home, I’m tired and don’t want to update the blog.

Well, with me already done my errands for today, I’ll give you some linkage that has been seriously lacking this week.

Of course, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks which you can peruse.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jim Rome is hoping to make a splash as he prepares to launch his new daily show on CBS Sports Network.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On! blog says perpetually angry ESPN college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb is throwing his hat into the Kansas State coaching ring.

The Associated Press was on hand to witness Root Sports Northwest’s production of the Seattle Mariners-Oakland A’s regular season openers in Japan without actually traveling to the Far East.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim has more thoughts on the numerous conflicts of interest in tennis broadcasting.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has Fox Sports’ statement on its carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable over Fox Sports San Diego.

John profiles legendary sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer.

Around the Rings has the press release regarding the European Broadcasting Union obtaining the rights to the World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Institute says college basketball analyst Bob Knight should not be allowed to live by his own rules when he’s on TV.

Scott Soshnick and Steven Church of Bloomberg Businessweek says the Los Angeles Dodgers sale was sparked by media rights.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter says former Sony Pictures head Peter Gruber who’s part of the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group could bring a new attitude towards marketing the team.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott calling rights fees for college football are undervalued.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NESN National is being launched in Indianapolis.

Tim Nudd at Adweek says Chrysler is unveiling four new follow ups to its “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spots during various events this weekend including the NCAA Final Four and Mad Men.

Adweek’s Mike Shields writes ESPN.com is partaking in Facebook’s Open Graph, but with some restrictions.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age notes that CBS/Turner brought in its highest sales revenue ever for March Madness Live.

Ronnie Ramos at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says March Madness has been enhanced by social media and the digital experience.

The Brothers Yoder at Awful Announcing cast the upcoming Anchorman sequel using ESPN’ers. This is good.

Ben Koo at AA is not a huge fan of the overhead shots employed by CBS/Turner for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Los Angeles Times feels there’s one person who could spoil the new ownership for the Dodgers.

Ahmed Yussuf at EPL Talk gives a first-hand account of following the English Premier League from Australia.

Sports Media Watch says last weekend’s rain-shortened NASCAR on Fox event did not do well in the ratings.

Joe Favorito asks if ‘The Hunger Games” could give archery a boost in time for this summer’s Olympics.

Jason McIntyre at The Big Lead reports that Joe Posnanski is leaving Sports Illustrated.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says the potential Fox cable sports network may not knock down ESPN, but could give it a run for its money.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about two rival Hollywood agencies representing Tim Tebow simultaneously.

Bob’s Blitz says WFAN’s Craig Carton browbeat former Tiger Woods swing coach Hank Haney to the point where he hung up.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says CBS returns to New Orleans where it began its Final Four journey 30 years ago.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says ESPN MLB analyst Curt Schilling is facing hypocrisy calls after he criticized his former Red Sox team this week.

Chad adds some thoughts on Schilling and on NESN’s Jenny Dell that didn’t make his column.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch writes in SB Nation that a Tiger Woods in contention is good for The Masters^® and its TV partners.

Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reviews this year’s edition of the MLB At-Bat app.

Richard Sandomir from the Times examines the Dodgers sale.

Anthony Riemer of Newsday looks at Jeremy Lin’s lunch with the sacked ESPN.com editor who unwittingly made a racial slur last month.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson should not be advocating violence. I don’t think he did, Phil, but continue to hate everything, ok?

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for former Tennessee and current Sirius XM analyst Bruce Pearl on the Final Four.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has the ESPN MAC football schedule.

Pete has CBS excited about this year’s Final Four.

Jane Kwiatkowski of the Buffalo News says this is a tough time for the local TV sportscast.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at a local PBS documentary on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready for Phillies baseball.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” gave another of many Capitals references.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Mitch “Wildi Thing” Williams.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Houston Open should be helped by a lot of interesting storylines.

David says Jim Rome is getting ready for his CBS Sports Network closeup.

David writes that Texans running back Arian Foster is taking his show to the team’s radio flagship station.

In The Oklahoman, Mel Bracht has ESPN’s MLB analysts predicting the upcoming season.

Mel says there will be plenty of baseball available in the Oklahoma City market.

Mel reports a local radio station has flipped to being a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel writes that a local radio sports director has been laid off thanks to Clear Channel.

Midwest

Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says New Orleans has provided CBS with plenty of Final Four excitement.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a local TV station plans to ride the Kentucky train for as long as possible.

John says a couple of long-time local radio veterans got the ax due to Clear Channel cost cutting.

John writes that a radio documentary on late Cincinnati Reds voice Waite Hoyt airs this weekend.

The Indianapolis Star says Butler coach Brad Stevens will be a guest analyst for CBS on the Final Four.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes the Brewers have extended their radio rights deal with their long-time flagship station.

Bob says a local sportscaster is back to work after a long illness.

Bob tells us that Marquette coach Buzz Williams will also be a guest analyst on CBS this weekend.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that CBS loves New Orleans at Final Four time.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says 20 Cardinals games won’t be seen by AT&T U-Verse subscribers this season.

Dan writes that the defending champions Cardinals will be in the national spotlight quite a few times this season.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Fox Sports San Diego is not optimistic of getting a deal with two cable providers in time for Padres opening day.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has ESPN’s MLB analysts praising Magic Johnson’s presence with the Dodgers.

Jim was surprised that Kentucky-Louisville wasn’t the nightcap for the Final Four.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Lakers fans are enjoying having guest analysts on radio broadcasts this season.

Tom talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Tom has more on Rome in his blog.

Canada

The usually uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC Sports appears to be rudderless as it heads into a new NHL negotiation.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the viewership numbers for Canadian sports television from last week.

And that will conclude the megalinks.

Bringing You Some Mid-Week Links

On this Wednesday, it’s time to provide some linkage. Some stuff to get to. Let’s not delay any further.

Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that the NCAA spent a lot of money to protect the March Madness™ trademark.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Gus Johnson leaving CBS for Fox Sports.

Eben Novy-Williams at Bloomberg News delves into Gus’ departure from CBS.

The great Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Cagewriter says while Gus is leaving CBS, he will remain at corporate sibling Showtime to call boxing and MMA.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says while fans are cheering the Lakers’ exit now, they’ll regret it later.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that TNT scored an across-the-board ratings win in key demographics for Game 4 of the Miami-Boston NBA Playoff game.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel says Disney’s CEO is saying that the Olympics could help ESPN get more money from cable providers.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Disney’s CEO isn’t too worried about an NFL lockout hurting ESPN.

Crupi writes a weak field in the Kentucky Derby offset NBCUniversal’s heavy promotion for the Run for the Roses.

Tony Fitzgerald of Media Life also looks at the lower ratings for the Derby on NBC.

Sean Martin at Golfweek says college golf could see more airtime with the new megarights deals with the Pac-12 and University of Texas.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN will air the MLS Cup against Sunday Night Football again (provided there is an NFL season).

Cam has video of ESPN’s Barry Melrose comments about gays on NHL teams which really has to be seen to be believed.

Stephen Douglas a.k.a. Cousins of Ron Mexico at The Big Lead shoots down point-by-point, a guest column written by celebrity-wannabe Rob Kardashian in ESPN.com’s Page 2 section.

Speaking of ESPN.com, the Et tu, Mr. Destructo blog has a review of the soft launch of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site. The review is almost as long as the two articles that launched the site.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says he got to meet a star before she become one.

Darren says Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is hoping to fill a void in fantasy camps.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has a story on Jack Edwards signing an extension with NESN to call Bruins games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Gus Johnson moving to Fox Sports.

At the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wonders if Captain Blowhard is recruiting Tony Kornheiser to write for Grantland.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Maryland and Miami will open the ACC football season in primetime on ESPN.

Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Bengals have renewed their radio rights deal with Clear Channel Radio.

The South Bend Tribune reports that ESPN/ABC may put a November Notre Dame road game in primetime.

Anthony Schoettle from the Indianapolis Business Journal says IndyCar officials are talking about placing more of their races on ABC in the next TV contract.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that HBO’s Real Sports will profile Brewers voice Bob Uecker.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a suspended sports talk show host returns to the air today.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune suggests the International Olympic Committee should take NBC’s overbid for the 2010/12 Games into account for the bid for the ’14/’16 Olympics.

Dom Izzo at WDAY-TV in Fargo, ND says Twins fans are being shut out from a number of games thanks to a dispute between Fox Sports North and the local cable provider.

Scott D. Pierce in the Salt Lake Tribune doesn’t understand why ESPN did not choose Real Salt Lake for its MLS TV schedule.

In the Phoenix Business Journal, Patrick O’Grady writes that the Pac-12 Network could find it difficult to gain carriage into Arizona homes.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times discusses Gus Johnson signing with Fox to become its main college sports announcer.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says the controversy over Sean Avery’s support of gay marriage and the condemnation by Uptown Hockey has opened a Pandora’s Box.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog feels Uptown Hockey and NHL agent Todd Reynolds should not have gone there.

Lost Letterman wonders if ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla could be headed back into coaching.

Matt Sarzyniak at Matt’s College Sports Media analyzes the ESPN/ABC Pac-12 schedule.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Dan Patrick will host NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, more specifically, the later games.

Sports Media Watch has some various NHL ratings news and notes.

And that will do it.

Wednesday Into Thursday Linkage

Because I was at a jobsite today, I was not able to provide links so I’ll catch up on them now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Steven A. Smith who is leaving ESPN this week. Michael writes that Tweeting by TV announcers is gaining momentum.

Bill Griffith writing for Sports Illustrated gives his grades to ESPN and NFL Network for the Draft.

Ben Klayman of Reuters says Red Sox owner John Henry is making an offer to buy the Boston Globe.

Over to Newsday’s Neil Best who breaks news that NBC is unlikely to renew Jerome Bettis on Football Night in America. Neil says if Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Washington NHL Playoff game goes beyond one overtime, NBC will shuffle it over to Versus to make way for the Kentucky Derby. Neil says on Tuesday, the Yankees barely beat the Rangers in the ratings. Neil says the Baltimore Sun has parted ways with excellent sports media writer Ray Frager, a regular Fang’s Bites link and I certainly hope Ray finds work very soon. He is an excellent reporter and I have come to enjoy his columns. We exchanged e-mails back in February and he will be missed in the Friday megalinks.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says lost in the reporting on Under Armour’s earnings yesterday was the fact that its shoe sales are climbing fast up the charts. Darren reviews the reasoning behind the price reduction for selected Yankee Stadium premium seats. Darren says it’s one thing for Jenny Craig to own a horse running in the Kentucky Derby, but she might want to change his name. Darren says Wells Fargo was shamed into taking Wachovia’s name off of this week’s PGA Tour stop.

Tom Hererra of the AOL Fanhouse blog talks with the ravishing Erin Andrews.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is not feeling the love for Versus and I totally agree with him.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says MLB Network will air the first round of this year’s MLB Draft. Ken also talked to local elementary school students today about his job.

Mike Kerwick of the Bergen (NJ) Record profiles ESPNews anchor Mike Yam who takes care of his grandmother when he’s not in Bristol, CT.

Laura Nachman says Wednesday was the last day for one Philly sports anchor.

Ron Musselman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says FSN Pittsburgh is taking some heat for back-to-back in-game blackouts last week.

Scott Brown of the Pittsburth Post-Tribune writes that Thursday could be the final day for the NFL Network on Comcast systems across the country.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has the TV schedule for the Capitals-Penguins NHL Playoff series.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says NBC will stay with Caps-Penguins in the local markets even if the game cuts into the Kentucky Derby.

Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times says former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Grudin was comfortable in front of the cameras during the NFL Draft.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News notes that TNT’s Charles Barkley is not a fan of the Mavericks. Barry says in the series clincher with San Antonio, the ratings for the Mavs finally hit paydirt.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News was amused by TNT’s Spurs edition of “Gone Fishin’”.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that after Clear Channel’s bloodletting of a local sports radio station, it replaced all but one local program with Fox Sports Radio.

Speaking of the Clear Channel bloodletting, Dave Kohl of the Major League Programs blog goes into some of its other sports radio stations that let go of staff this week. Clear Channel means we’re clearing staff.

George James Malik of Michigan Live says Fox Sports Detroit will have up to four games of the Red Wings-Anaheim Ducks series.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says the NFL Draft’s ratings were solid.

WTMJ in Milwaukee talks with MLB Network’s and Fang’s Bites fav Trenni Kusnierek. Thanks to LC over at the 38 Cliches blog for that link.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with TNT’s Doug Collins who almost became coach of the Bulls before this season.

Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star says CBS/TNT’s Kevin Harlan returns to the Chiefs to call two exhibition games this summer. He was the radio voice of the Chiefs from the mid-1980′s to early 1990′s.

Samuel McKewon of the Nebraska State Paper reports that former ESPN and CBS College Sports college football analyst Trev Alberts has become the Athletic Director of Nebraska-Omaha despite not having any administrative experience.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News did play-by-play for an inning of minor league baseball today. Really. And Tom links us over to a press release on the whole thing. And Tom talks of his experience calling the game. I can’t wait to get a hold of the .mp3 file that Tom will post on Friday.

Ted Green of the Los Angeles Times writes a blasphemous blog post calling out Vin Scully?

Richard Guzman of Los Angeles Downtown News reports that Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket will get some new digs.

Chris Zelkovich from the Toronto Star says fans actually found the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts games online when its flagship radio station could not air some games due to various conflicts. Chris says thanks to having the Calgary Flames on its air, TSN’s ratings were up while CBC’s were down.

Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says May is a good month for boxing on Pay Per View.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that TNT’s NBA ratings are solid gold.

Mike says the Chicago Blackhawks gave Comcast SportsNet Chicago its highest rated NHL game.

Kevin Downey from Media Life Magazine says TNT is seeing its best ratings ever for the first round of the NBA Playoffs while ESPN’s are sluggish.

The Sports Media Watch says the NHL Playoffs did not score for NBC last weekend. SMW says the NFL Draft’s ratings were flat with last year. Paulsen notes that Yankees-Red Sox are still a ratings draw. And SMW has some news and notes on various media personalities.

I will end it there. Good night now. Oh actually, I have one more press release to give you. I’ll say good night later.

Quick Late Night Update

It looks like this will be a late night for me. I’m going to finish my review of Real Sports from Tuesday and I want to give you some links before the night is finished. Here we go.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is into his Elite Eight in his “As Seen On TV” products tournament.

Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball has the apparent winner of the Chicago Cubs sweepstakes. Maury reports that the Houston Astros have announced a deal to remain on Clear Channel flagship KTRH for at least four more seasons.

Shane Bacon of the AOL Fanhouse blog talks with A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin about ESPN quoting Deadspin as a source about Mark McGwire’s brother injecting him with steroids.

Thanks to Bob Ekstrom at the Boston Sports Media Watch for this link. Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com explains that the CBS Scene restaurant next to Gillete Stadium played a big role in the Patriots moving its programming from ABC affiliate WCVB to CBS-owned WBZ and WSBK.

Thanks to Friend of Fang’s Bites Ian Bethune of the Sox & Dawg blog, the great Art Martone of the Providence Journal has the list of Red Sox Spring Training games to be carried by both NESN and radio flagship WRKO.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin about his new reality show.

LeAnna Kosub of the San Antonio Express-News has another sports radio victim of the Clear Channel nationwide personnel purge.

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the Diamondbacks has cut its Spanish language TV broadcasts for the time being.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that Versus plans to ride Lance Armstrong’s coattails during the Tour of California next month. Tom has a preview of his Friday column which is about his tagging with the TNT crew during its telecast of the Cavs-Lakers game on MLK Day.

Kevin Dunleavy of the DC Examiner went inside the TNT truck for the Celtics-Wizards game on Monday.

Steve DeClue of the Baltimore Sports Examiner is not happy to have Anita Marks back for one more year.

Despite my requests for college basketball press releases from CBS Sports, I still don’t receive them and I have to depend on the CBSSports.com site to link you to the network’s coverage for this weekend.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has an in-depth look at the Capitals’ TV ratings.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media blog has the highlights of a Versus media conference call about the channel’s coverage of Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game. And Steve has CBC’s press release about its All-Star Game coverage.

From the Nielsen TV blog, it shows that moving the NHL All-Star Game away from direct competition from football turned out to be a good idea for the ratings.

Ron Judd of the Seattle Times writes that Universal Sports is picking up coverage of one of alpine skiing’s most famous events this weekend.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel TV says GolTV has acquired the US and Canadian rights to the top Brazilian Soccer League.

Alex Marvez of the Scripps Howard News Service talks with former WWE personality-turned ESPNews anchor Jonathan “Coach” Coachman.

Peter Svensson of the Associated Press has some tips for you in case you want to buy that HDTV set in time for the Super Bowl.

Andy Scheidler of the Franklin (NC) Press suggests you watch the Australian Open to help your warm up during this cold winter.

Ok, that’s going to do it. Back tomorrow with more links. In the meantime, look for the Real Sports review up in about a couple of hours.