Fang's Bites

It’s a Mid-Week Link Thing!

It’s Wednesday already? Goodness. Seemed like I was at the Rhode Island Convention Center just this week for an all-day seminar. Oh wait! I was. Anyway, let’s get to your linkage.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today feels that ESPN should pull Hank Williams, Jr. from Monday Night Football pronto.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that Williams gave ESPN one huge headache right from the start.

Brian Lowry from Fox Sports writes that the Hank Williams, Jr. mess shows that ESPN can’t handle controversy.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his Media Power List for October. A good list it is.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC Sports Group is now going all in on hockey as its new 10 year contract with the NHL begins on Thursday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says TBS is pulling a ratings rally as the MLB Postseason kicks into high gear.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has pictures of some of the female athletes who posed nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has a picture of curmudgeon Woody Paige as a young writer in the mid-1970′s.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the name of Michael Rubin should become familiar with sports fans very soon.

Darren mentions that Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers’ jersey is a high seller while Tim Tebow’s sales are crashing.

Comcast SportsNet New England’s Sean McAdam breaks the news that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will be a guest analyst for Fox on the American League Championship Series.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn writes that 98.5 The Sports Hub won the local sports radio wars in the latest ratings book.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS analyst John Smoltz who has been hitting out of the park with his work on the Tigers-Yankees series.

Neil notes that ESPN’s E:60 is celebrating a milestone tonight.

And Neil says the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols isn’t a fan of the Yankees playing in primetime.

James C. McKinley, Jr. and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times report that Madonna is being considered as the halftime act for Super Bowl XLVI on NBC. Holiday! Celebrate!

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that the local AHL team will be carried on the ESPN Radio affiliate.

Ken reports that Versus aka NBC Sports Network will be airing Notre Dame hockey games this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is not a fan of TBS covering the League Division Series.

Pete has the college football TV schedule for this weekend.

Pete notes that this is the first NFL week with the dreaded “byes” in effect.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom asks if freedom of speech even exists in sports.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Tony Kornheiser for the most part hates his radio station’s podcast policy. Don’t ever change, Mr. Tony.

Dan finds a 1997 magazine cover of two iconic DC sportscasters.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about the newest addition to the Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic staff.

Jim notes that the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals rank among the bottom of the local MLB TV ratings.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the local weekend ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a Wisconsin alum has been named as an executive with NBC Sports.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Big Ten Network would like to be known as something else.

Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette previews NFL Network’s documentary on Kurt Warner.

Tom Hoffarth has some quotes from the NHL on NBC/Versus talking what else? The NHL!

Tom says Stephen Colbert had the right idea on the ESPN/Hank Williams, Jr. controversy.

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about a local sports radio host who has just gone public with his Parkinson’s Disease after keeping it quiet from family and friends for almost 10 years.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC will have a lot of Winnipeg Jets games this season.

Sports Media Watch says the WNBA Finals saw a ratings uptick on ESPN2.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Hardball Talk links to a video from Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina showing WFAN’s Mike Francesa having no clue about a Detroit Tigers pitcher.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth feels many reporters failed to get the job done as the Terry Francona story developed on Friday.

And I’m going to end it there today.

Doing Some Tuesday Linkage

Having spent most of the day at the Providence Civic Center and the Rhode Island Convention Center for a seminar, I wasn’t able to provide linkage. I’ve collected quite a few links for you today so let’s get to them.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today goes over the ratings from the weekend and notes that the NFL regular season had no problem in the ratings with the MLB Postseason.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Anti-Defamation League is setting its sights on Hank Williams, Jr. for his remarks on President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner which led ESPN to pull his open from last night’s Monday Night Football game.

Sports Business Daily has a recap on the entire Hank Williams, Jr. controversy.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal says the Philadelphia Phillies climbed to the top of the local MLB ratings for this season.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports on the Tennis Channel’s long-term extension to carry the French Open.

Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that the Big 12 member schools have agreed on a plan that will distribute TV rights money equally among the institutions.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes.com reports that a Nielsen study has found that women make up a large portion of the sports audience.

Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo wonders when female sports reporters will stop being the target of some cruel male fans.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy writes that with the NHL season fast approaching, the league has yet to sign a deal to air its games in all of Europe. Yes, ALL of Europe.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says TBS has gotten it right with its HD coverage of the MLB Postseason.

At Media Bistro’s TVSpy, Andrew Gauthier has the video of a Seattle TV reporter not editing out the swears while reading live on the air a Seahawks fan chat from the station’s website.

The Big Lead has a picture of ESPN’s Erin Andrews and her trophy boyfriend.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has video that shows two things on one play, first the Cowboys’ Felix Jones is is not a MENSA candidate and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman had no idea it was 4th down.

To Bob’s Blitz which has audio of WFAN’s Mike Francesa pulling a nutty on the New York Jets for their performance in Baltimore on Sunday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell finds that using the color pink in the NFL’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign may be counterproductive to its message.

Darren wonders why Mercedes-Benz chose the New Orleans Superdome to purchase naming rights.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks into the extremely lengthy NFL Network-Time Warner Cable dispute.

Richard also delves into the Hank Williams, Jr./Monday Night Football mess.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says local college hockey will be heard on two stations.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Time Warner Cable also gets into the local college hockey act.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with MASN Nationals analyst F.P. Santangelo on his first year on the job.

Dan says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has raided MSG Network for its new Capitals studio host.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says both Sunday Night Football and the MLB Postseason are doing well in the ratings.

Michael Kruse and Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times looks at two fans who made both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Buccaneers games on the same night.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle has a look at some local college football and NFL ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says ESPN’s E:60 will do a story on former Bengals running back Ickey Woods and his foundation to promote asthma and organ donation awareness.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Green Bay Packers drew their largest ratings of the season on Sunday.

Bob says Versus’ Turning Point will focus on the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Dodgers will be changing flagship radio stations next season.

Sports Media Watch says the opener for the NLDS between Arizona and Milwaukee was a mixed bag for TBS.

SMW says Cards-Phils Game 1 was down.

SMW notes that Tigers-Yankees didn’t do well either.

To the NFL, SMW notes that Fox was the ratings winner in Week 4.

SMW tells us that CBS continues in a downward spiral for the NFL.

SMW informs us that NBC’s ratings for Sunday Night Football were down.

And Monday Night Football also took a big hit according to SMW.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final numbers for Versus’ preseason NHL games.

That’s going to do it.

College Football Viewing Picks For 10/01/11, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

College GameDay live from Madison, WI — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.

noon
Rutgers at Syracuse — Big East Network

Minnesota at Michigan — Big Ten Network

Air Force at Navy — CBS
Tulane at Army — CBS Sports Network

William & Mary at Villanova — Comcast SportsNet New England/The Comcast Network

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas at Arlington, TX — ESPN
Northwestern at Illinois — ESPN2
Penn State at Indiana — ESPNU
Toledo at Temple — ESPN Plus

Texas Tech at Kansas — Fox Sports Net (national)
Mississippi State at Georgia — Fox Sports Net (regional)

Kentucky at LSU — SEC Network (12:21 p.m. kickoff)

12:30 p.m.
Wake Forest at Boston College — ACC Network

Buffalo at Tennessee — CSS

2:30 p.m.
Nevada at Boise State — Versus

3 p.m.
College Football Countdown — ABC

3:30 p.m.
Baylor at Kansas State — ABC/ESPN
Georgia Tech at NC State — ABC/ESPN
Michigan State at Ohio State — ABC/ESPN

Bowling Green at West Virginia — Big East Network
Marshall at Louisville — Big East Network
Western Michigan at UConn — Big East Network

Auburn at South Carolina — CBS
SMU at TCU — CBS Sports Network

Bethune-Cookman at Miami (FL) — ESPNU

Washington State at Colorado — Fox College Sports Pacific
Arizona at USC — Fox Sports Net (national)
Towson at Maryland — Fox Sports Net (regional)

Richmond at James Madison — The Comcast Network

4 p.m.
San Jose State at Colorado State — the mtn.

6 p.m.
Clemson at Virginia Tech — ESPN2

Penn at Dartmouth — Fox College Sports Atlantic

7 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN
Duke at Florida International — ESPNU
Hawaii at Louisiana Tech — ESPN Plus

Washington at Utah — Fox Sports Net (national)
Texas at Iowa State — FX

8 p.m.
Nebraska at Wisconsin — ABC

Alabama at Florida — CBS
North Carolina at East Carolina — CBS Sports Network

Notre Dame at Purdue — ESPN/ESPN 3D

New Mexico State at New Mexico — the mtn.

9:15 p.m.
Mississippi at Fresno State — ESPN2

10:30 p.m.
Oregon State at Arizona State — Fox College Sports Pacific
UCLA at Stanford — Fox Sports Net

Friday Megalinks Or The Return of Linkage

Due to being at jobsites for the last few days, I haven’t been able post links like I’ve wanted to. I apologize for that. I have tried to be diligent in updating as much as I can.

I have quite a bit to catch up with. I may be a blogging machine as I have to post a lot of things today. Plus, I to get ready to head to New York tomorrow for Blogs with Balls 4 so I’m going to be quite busy. Let’s get to the linkage.

But first, there’s always the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment planning.

National

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal writes that ESPN will do everything it can to head off NBC/Versus at the pass.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch asks if sports broadcasting and politics should mix?

Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press says the Big 12′s TV contracts helped to keep the conference together for now.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog notes that among various TV programming, sports in primetime continues to do well.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy talks with CBS/WFAN/Westwood One’s Boomer Esiason on how the NFL should investigate the Dallas Cowboys’ medical staff for clearing Tony Romo to play last Sunday.

Mike says ESPN is denying any responsibility for the recent college football chaos and says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have anything to do with it. I think Texas A&M, Missouri and other Big 12 schools would beg to differ.

Bob Velin of USA Today writes that CBS’ 48 Hours Mystery program will investigate the mysterious and unsettling death of boxer Arturo Gatti.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand of USA Today debate whether schools or TV wield the power in college sports.

John Taylor of College Football Talk writes that Brett Favre gets his first taste of being an analyst next week for CSS.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that the FCC has ruled that Cablevision-owned MSG Network cannot withhold its HD signal to other cable providers violating program-access rules.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that YES received its second highest rating ever for the American League East Division clinching game this week.

Mike says Golf Channel and NBC Sports are teaming up for a promotion to give a lucky viewer of “The Big Break” a chance to win a trip to see Notre Dame play in Ireland next year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says the NFL has pulled an ad for its fantasy football product which used a picture of Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles after he was injured last week.

David Lieberman of Deadline reports that Time Warner Cable is planning to offer a low cost tier that will not include ESPN in the lineup.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown calling Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones something else.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the sixth and perhaps final installment of New Era’s Yankees-Red Sox Alec Baldwin-John Kraskinski ads. They have been quite good. This latest one may have taken it a bit too far.

Also from SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty reviews the ESPN Films documentary “Catching Hell”, on Steve Bartman and the 2003 Chicago Cubs.

Sports Media Watch talks with the crew of ESPN’s College GameDay.

SMW says despite being on tape delay, Fox drew a decent audience for its first English Premier League game on Sunday.

SMW notes that the ratings for CBS’ 2nd game of its NFL doubleheader dropped from last year.

SMW says the NBA lockout has forced the cancellation of the start of training camp and over 40 preseason games.

And SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito looks at one imaginative marketing campaign that helped Eye Black this week.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews “Moneyball.”

Darren has some interesting facts on sports participation in America.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group looks at how CBS Sports Network was able to bring the Tim Brando Show into a TV simulcast from his base in Shreveport, LA.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has this week’s network TV on-screen typos.

Ben Koo from AA says tomorrow is when Gus Johnson and FX get their real grand opening in college football.

At The Stir, Maressa Brown feels ESPN’s Erin Andrews is unqualified to demonstrate CrossFit.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that WEEI’s Glenn Ordway has suffered a rather severe pay cut due to lower ratings for his afternoon drive show.

At SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at a busy week in local sports media news.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Dale Arnold is pleased to be back with NESN after leaving in 2007.

Lang Whitaker and Ian Lovett of the New York Times give us an inside look at DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel and NFL Network’s RedZone.

John Jeansonne of Newsday reviews ESPN Films’ documentary on transgendered tennis player Renee Richards.

Newsday’s Neil Best says fans seem to be buying into the New York Islanders’ future.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post has news that some Time Warner Cable subscribers have been waiting for, that the company appears to be close to a carriage agreement with NFL Network.

Phil Mushnick at the Post can’t stand ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Justin Terranova of the Post says last month’s Russian plane crash that killed 44 members of the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl really hit home for MSG Network analyst Joe Micheletti.

And Justin has five questions for Joe.

Lou Lumenick of the Post says “Moneyball” is one of the best baseball movies of all-time.

I’ll break my self-imposed embargo on the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman for a week for this story on the Yankees’ radio rights which are in flux and so are the fates of broadcasters John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that MSG Network has named Steve Cangialosi to replace Mike “Doc” Emrick on New Jersey Devils games.

And Pete talks with Steve about his new gig.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is not a fan of a new local sports talk show host.

Ken notes that NBC Sports is extending its “Summer at Saratoga” series for at least two more years.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has announced its Capitals and Wizards schedules.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the college football conference merry-go-round could have some legal ramifications.

Jim says the ratings for the NFL in both Baltimore and Washington were very strong.

South

In the Miami Herald, Joseph Goodman notes the irony of ESPN possibly saving college football from massive chaos.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel catches up with ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer.

Jeff Sentell of the Birmingham (AL) News says ESPN is not ponying up to air high school games from the region.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that an Astros broadcaster is celebrating 25 years with the club.

David asks readers if they find the idea of the Longhorn Network offensive.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says an Oklahoma State wide receiver will be profiled on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Midwest

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says Cleveland MLB team radio voice Mike Hegan is leaving he broadcast after this season.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Reds voice Marty Brennaman can’t campaign on-air for his former partner Joe Nuxhall for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award.

Micahel Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press wonders why the DirecTV/NBC series “Friday Night Lights” didn’t do better in the ratings.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says actor Brad Pitt saw “Moneyball” as a compelling story.

Bob says the Green Bay Packers will be showcased aplenty in the late afternoon window on both CBS and Fox this season.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship failed to draw viewers away from the NFL on Sunday.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with WMAQ-TV sports anchor Paula Ferris.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders why Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been missing of late.

Kevin Haskin of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes that CBS Sports Network was in town to air an NCAA Division II football game this week.

West

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Big Ten Network won’t allow the local Cox system to pick up Saturday’s San Diego State-Michigan game on a one-time only basis.

The North County Times’ John Maffei writes that unless fans can find a sports bar, they’ll have to listen to San Diego State on the radio.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star says it’s too bad Southern California couldn’t see the end of the exciting Oakland-Buffalo game due to silly NFL rules.

Jim says HBO will replay last Saturday’s controversial Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says a bankruptcy court has given the Dodgers permission to change their flagship radio station for next season.

Tom says the NFL secondary market rule needs to be changed.

Tom also has a few notes that he couldn’t get into his Friday column.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News looks at the Pac-12′s decision to stand pat, TV’s role in the whole thing and where BYU may be headed.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s P.J. Stock is regretting his initial comments on Wade Belak’s death.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog is not so fast to forgive P.J.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that CBC has made some additions to its Hockey Night in Canada crew.

And there you have it for your links today.

College Football Viewing Picks For 09/24/11, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

College GameDay live from Morgantown, WV — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.

noon
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh — ABC

Toledo at Syracuse — Big East Network

Big Ten Network Gamefinder
Louisiana-Monroe at Iowa — Big Ten Network
San Diego State at Michigan — Big Ten Network

North Carolina at Georgia Tech — ESPN
Eastern Michigan at Penn State — ESPN2
Central Michigan at Michigan State — ESPNU

SMU at Memphis — Fox Sports Net (national)

Georgia at Mississippi — SEC Network (12:21 p.m. kickoff)

Cornell at Yale — Versus

12:30 p.m.
Temple at Maryland — ACC Network

2 p.m.
Bacone at Texas-San Antontio — Longhorn Network

Tennessee State at Air Force — the mtn.

3 p.m.
College Football Today — CBS

3:30 p.m.
ABC/ESPN2 Coverage Map
Colorado at Ohio State — ABC/ESPN2
Oklahoma State at Texas A&M — ABC/ESPN2

Big Ten Network GameFinder
South Dakota at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network
Western Michigan at Illinois — Big Ten Network

Arkansas at Alabama — CBS
Virginia Tech at Marshall — CBS Sports Network

UNH at Richmond — Comcast SportsNet New England/The Comcast Network

Florida State at Clemson — ESPN/ESPN 3D

UCLA at Oregon State — Fox College Sports Pacific
Cal at Washington — Fox Sports Net (national)
Southern Mississippi at Virginia — Fox Sports Net (regional)

Southern vs. Florida A&M at Atlanta — Versus

5 p.m.
Fresno State at Idaho — WAC Sports Network

6 p.m.
UConn at Buffalo — ESPN Plus

Idaho State at Northern Arizona — Fox College Sports Pacific

7 p.m.
North Dakota State at Minnesota — Big Ten Network

James Madison at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Comcast SportsNet New England

Florida at Kentucky — ESPN
Vanderbilt at South Carolina — ESPN2
Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State — ESPNU

Rice at Baylor — Fox College Sports Atlantic
Nevada at Texas Tech — Fox College Sports Central
Florida Atlantic at Auburn — Fox Sports Net (regional)

7:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Wyoming — Versus

8 p.m.
LSU at West Virginia — ABC

Tulsa at Boise State — CBS Sports Network

Georgia State at Houston — CSS/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus

Missouri at Oklahoma — FX

9 p.m.
Southern Utah at UNLV — the mtn.

10:15 p.m.
USC at Arizona State — ESPN
Oregon at Arizona — ESPN2

Boston Battle Lines Are Drawn with WEEI/NESN & Sports Hub/CSNNE

Just announced on Boston’s 98.5 The Sports Hub, the city’s top rated sports radio station, its afternoon drive show hosted by Michael Felger and the Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti will be simulcast on Comcast SportsNet New England. No date has been set, but it’s expected to start soon. Felger has been a host on CSNNE’s Sports Tonight program for several years and has been affiliated with Comcast SportsNet dating back several years.

Just this year, NESN started simulcasting WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan every morning from 6 — 9 a.m.

In Felger & Massarotti’s case, all four hours of their show will be aired on Comcast SportsNet New England from 2 — 6 p.m.

Here’s the joint press release from WBZ-FM/CSSNE.

And that’s it.

Going For Sunday Linkage

Doing some Sunday links for you.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today says ESPN’s golf analyst Paul Azinger is at it again, this time tweeting about the SEC on CBS crew. Azinger was disciplined for violating ESPN’s social media policy last August by tweeting about President Obama.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that the controversial ending to last night’s Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight keeps hope alive for a Mayweather-Manny Pacquaio mega pay per view bout down the line.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says Time Warner Cable and ESPN Deportes will team up for a marketing campaign.

If you haven’t seen the contentious postfight interview between Floyd Mayweather and HBO’s Larry Merchant, Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has it. Merchant’s retort to Mayweather’s smackdown of Larry is classic.

Timothy Burke at the Mocksession site has one of the funniest network graphics typos you’ll ever see. FX was the culprit last night.

Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com writes about Minnesota Twins radio broadcaster John Gordon’s decision to retire at the end of this season.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says A’s TV analyst Ray Fosse doesn’t seem to be too enthused about the upcoming “Moneyball” movie.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick prefers the NFL play 12 weeks, have all games at 10 a.m. and air the games in black & white.

Joseph Barracato of the Post says ESPN’s Monday Night Football megadeal may put cable bills out of reach for some.

The Albany Times-Union says a well-known local sports radio host is out as of Friday.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union talks with the host.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette also writes about the host’s sudden ouster.

Alan J. Heavens of the Philadelphia Inquirer has an obituary of veterans radio sports reporter Jack O’Rourke.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with a Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic producer about the channel’s busy day producing a Ravens and a DC NFL team postgame simultaneously to Baltimore and Washington, respectively.

The West Virginia Metro News reports that next Saturday’s LSU-West Virginia will be a primetime game on ABC and bring College GameDay into Morgantown.

Bob Ferrante of The Lakeland (FL) Ledger notes that ESPN’s Lee Corso came home to Florida State yesterday.

Jeff Barlis of the Gainesville (FL) Sun writes that Sun Sports is using Florida’s radio voices for the channel’s Sunday game replays over their long-time TV announcers.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times praises ESPN’s Trent Dilfer for his work on the late Monday Night Football game last week.

Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel writes that College GameDay brought Florida State back into the college football spotlight again.

Rick Cantu of the Austin (TX) American-Statesman notes the increasing audience for high school football games on TV.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Cox is offering on-demand channels for Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has Fox’s Jim Mora, Jr. saying TV is nothing like coaching.

Bob says Fox chose the wrong moment to promote its programming during yesterday’s Rays-Red Sox game.

Bill Shakin of the Los Angeles Times writes that the Dodgers are now trying to sell their TV rights pending bankruptcy court approval.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has the combined US and Canada national TV NHL preseason schedule.

Joe Favorito has some thoughts on the always changing uniform landscape.

And that will do it.

College Football Viewing Picks For 09/17/2011, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

College GameDay live from Tallahassee, Florida — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.

noon
Auburn at Clemson — ABC

Big Ten Network Channel Finder
Eastern Michigan at Michigan — Big Ten Network
Southeast Missouri State at Purdue — Big Ten Network

Penn State at Temple — ESPN
Pittsburgh at Iowa — ESPN2
West Virginia at Maryland — ESPNU
Central Michigan at Western Michigan — ESPN Plus

Mississippi at Vanderbilt — SEC Network (12:21 p.m. kickoff)

12:30 p.m.
Duke at Boston College — ACC Network

Kansas at Georgia Tech — Fox Sports Net (regional)

1:30 p.m.
Colorado State at Colorado — Fox Sports Net (national)

2 p.m.
Louisiana-Monroe at TCU — the mtn.

3 p.m.
College Football Today (season premiere) — CBS

3:30 p.m.
ABC/ESPN Blackout Map
Texas at UCLA — ABC/ESPN
Washington at Nebraska — ABC/ESPN

Big Ten Network Channel Finder
Miami (OH) at Minnesota — Big Ten Network
South Carolina State at Indiana — Big Ten Network

Tennessee at Florida — CBS
Northwestern at Army — CBS Sports Network

Michigan State at Notre Dame — NBC
Texas Tech at New Mexico — Versus

4 p.m.
Arkansas at Virginia Tech — Fox Sports Net (regional)

Nevada at San Jose State — WAC Sports Network

6 p.m.
Navy at South Carolina — ESPN2

Lehigh at Princeton — Fox College Sports Atlantic

Washington State at San Diego State — the mtn.

6:30 p.m.
URI at UMass — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus/Comcast SportsNet New England

7 p.m.
SEC Today — CBS Sports Network
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN

Florida A&M at South Florida — Big East Network

Arizona State at Illinois — Big Ten Network

Louisville at Kentucky — ESPNU

Kent State at Kansas State — Fox College Sports Central

7:30 p.m.
Ohio State at Miami (FL) — ESPN

Troy at Arkansas — CSS

North Texas at Alabama — Fox Sports Net (regional)

8 p.m.
Oklahoma at Florida State — ABC

Syracuse at USC — FX

9:15 p.m.
Utah at BYU — ESPN2

10 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Tulsa — Fox Sports Net (national)

Hawaii at UNLV — the mtn./CBS Sports Network

10:45 p.m.
Stanford at Arizona — ESPN

Comcast SportsNet Announces Local Versions of NBC SportsTalk

Just sent in from Comcast SportsNet, the local websites of the regional sports networks will be revamped to have them include a local version the NBC SportsTalk web platforms. And there will be local NBC Sports Talk programming integrated into the Comcast SportsNet affiliates in Boston, Mid-Atlantic, Chicago and the Bay Area.

Plus, where there are owned-and-operated NBC affiliates as is the case in Chicago, Washington and San Francisco, there will be synergy between both the local TV stations and the Comcast SportsNet channel.

So NBC Sports is further integrating the Comcast SportsNet affiliates into the Group’s umbrella. We’ll see if this means additional NBC Sports programming on each of the regional sports networks over the next few months.

Here’s the press release which comes from Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Comcast Sports Group Launches REDESIGNED LOCAL DIGITAL SPORTS PLATFORMS

Sites’ New Features Include Localized Versions of NBC Sports Talk

PHILADELPHIA (September 14, 2011) – Comcast Sports Group announced a comprehensive redesign of the digital platforms for the company’s regional sports networks.  The new sites will feature the debut of localized versions of NBC Sports Talk integrated with the networks’ comprehensive local sports news, opinion and original commentary. CSNPhilly.com will re-launch in September with sites serving Baltimore, Washington, Northern California, Chicago and New England following in October.

Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia will launch the revamped CSNPhilly.com in September with the following highlights:

• Local versions of NBC Sport’s successful Talk franchise with Eagles Talk, Phillies Talk, Flyers Talk and Sixers Talk containing continually updated postings from CSNPhilly.com’s Insiders, columnists, staff writers and on-air talent
• The ability to customize the site to feature their favorite teams, writers and social networks
• Enhanced video playback
• Weather forecast and local news provided by WCAU-TV

Since 2010, Comcast Sports Group’s major local sites have each hired team-specific ‘Insider’ correspondents, launched mobile apps, and developed exclusive local online shows and other content. With these and other enhancements, the websites have delivered rapid traffic growth, including a 274% increase in unique visitors from August 2010 to July 2011, according to ComScore.

“Our networks, across multiple platforms, are providing the best local sports experience in the markets we serve,” said Comcast Sports Group Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Eric Grilly. “The new localized ‘SportsTalk’ sites will leverage national NBC sports resources, including ProFootball Talk, Hardball Talk, ProBasketball Talk and ProHockey Talk, by highlighting content that is relevant to fans we serve locally in our markets.  We are continuing to make the necessary investments and enhancements to solidify our leadership position and deliver the compelling, relevant and differentiated content that sports fans want.

More coming up later today.

Let’s Do Some Linkage, Shall We?

I was in between offices yesterday and could not do the links as I had wanted. Let’s provide some now while I can.

Nate Davis at USA Today writes about ESPN extending the rights to air Monday Night Football and keep the series on cable through 2021.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that tonight’s Presidential jobs speech has forced the networks to change their schedules including NBC regarding tonight’s NFL season opener.

Marisa Guthrie of the Reporter talks about ESPN’s new MNF deal.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says ESPN is in position to air an NFL Wild Card Playoff game sometime in the future.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi notes ESPN’s eight year NFL extension includes a whole host of digital rights.

Lucia Moses of Adweek says Sports Illustrated is tapping into younger readers’ appetites by going high-tech.

All Access notes that Boston’s sports radio WEEI announced an FM simulcast today.

Also from All Access, Fox Sports Radio nighttime host Tony Bruno is leaving to take a midday hosting job in Philadelphia.

It’s rare that I get a sports media story from Women’s Wear Daily, but I have one today. John Koblin of WWD talks with ESPN tennis courtside reporter Pam Shriver.

Hey, we link to Grantland! Jonah Keri writes that the Texas Rangers are positioning themselves to be an MLB power for the long-term thanks to its mega rights deal with Fox Sports Southwest.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says The Onion’s online parody of ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption is everything its TV sports shows were not.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid examines the new ESPN/Monday Night Football deal and what it really means.

Congrats to former Yardbarker Managing Editor Alana G. who has left the company and becomes Executive Producer for the San Francisco Chronicle’s website.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group writes that ESPN’s “SpiderCam”, the overhead camera providing spectacular shots at the U.S. Open has been added to the tournament’s world TV feed.

Karen Hogan of SVG notes that NBC is pulling out all of the technical stops for Sunday Night Football this season.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that an injured Peyton Manning could cost fantasy players some money.

Darren says the University of Michigan has inserted an audio chip for this week’s game program for the Notre Dame contest.

Jorge Rivas at Colorlines says FoxSports.com has pulled the web series that made fun of Asian USC students not knowing football and also mocking their accents.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe reviews the NFL Films documentary focusing on Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says WEEI is ramping up for the next phase of its sports radio war with 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Ian Rapoport of the Herald has some interesting tidbits from the NFL Films Bill Belichick doc.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks inside the ESPN MNF deal.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the particulars of the ESPN Monday Night Football contract extension.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union reports on the Fox Sports Radio show that will replace Tony Bruno.

Pete notes that MSG Network will be New York Giants-heavy this fall.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner interviews Russ Thaler who goes from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic to Versus as the host of NBC SportsTalk.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle writes about the local college football ratings.

Bob Finnan of the News-Herald (OH) talks with Cleveland Browns radio voice and sports anchor Jim Donovan about returning to work after taking the summer off for a bone marrow transplant.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has CBS’ Phil Simms and Dan Dierdorf extolling the virtues of having a running game in the NFL.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business writes about Bears games being broadcast on FM for the first time this season.

Ed says the Chicago Tribune is bolstering the Bears beat.

Scott Dochterman at the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette says those who want to watch this Saturday’s Iowa-Iowa State game will have to do a little searching.

Robin Carlin at Mile High Sports says yesterday’s plane crash in Russia that killed all but two on board was truly a dark day for hockey.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily Herald likes the 9/11 commemorative football jerseys.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that Rogers is pulling out of the Canadian Olympics Broadcasting Consortium for the 2014/16 Games.

Joe Favorito says the BCS conferences might want to consider picking up one of the Service Academies.

And that’s going to do it for today’s linkage.

Bringing Out Some Sunday Links

I’m linking in the middle of doing some badly needed DIY projects here at the Fang’s Bites abode so I might be a bit scarce today. I’ll do what I can on this lazy Sunday, the middle of the Labor Day Weekend.

The ESPN Ombudsman, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute responds to Bruce Feldman’s allegations about his (alleged) suspension.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Cablevision and Verizon FiOS dropped Tennis Channel this morning as part of yet another installment of their long-running dispute.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has video of ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza pulling a Heidi Watney and gagging on air after taking a swig of pickle juice. Or it hearkens to when Tracy Wolfson tried Cammy Cam Juice.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post has some suggestions for the NBA Players Association.

Page Six of the New York Post says Andy Roddick dislikes John McEnroe so much that he refused to do an ESPN interview until he left the set.

Joseph Barracato of the Post ridicules CNBC’s Darren Rovell’s Versus show even before it takes air.

Steve Politi of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says the Bayonne Bleeder, Chuck Wepner, will get his story of his 1976 fight with Muhammed Ali told by Hollywood and ESPN in separate projects.

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams talks with the multifaceted Trevor Matich of ESPN and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

In Texas Monthly, Jason Cohen takes a look at the trials and tribulations of the Longhorn Network.

Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News says the Longhorn Network will pick up five Texas-San Antonio games this season.

EPL Talk says the interesting battle in soccer will be Fox vs. NBC.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

SMW says the first leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup did not do well.

Joe Favorito takes a look at MetLife buying the naming rights for New Meadowlands Stadium.

And that will do it for the Sunday links.

Getting The Friday Megalinks Done

Let’s get these megalinks done as I hope to give you a weekend full of posts for the three day holiday. That’s my plan, at least. They could get changed due to family or weather. You never know.

I have the sports and entertainment programming in the Weekend Viewing Picks. Let’s get to the linkage now.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today discusses the NFL Films documentary on Bill Belichick that followed him for the entire 2009 season and got some rather interesting footage.

Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand speaks with a Fox Soccer exec about having English Premier League games air on the Fox mothership.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable reports that President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress next Thursday will not cut into the NFL regular season opener on NBC.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Big Ten Network’s BTN2Go service has been picked up by four cable and satellite providers.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid says former NFL cheap shot artist Chuck Cecil got off to an inauspicious start to his broadcasting career on Thursday.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has some really bad network typos from the last week.

Sports Media Watch looks at the extension of the PGA Tour’s deal with CBS Sports, Golf Channel and NBC Sports.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says the NHL’s TV partners should lead the discussion on head injuries and how they could lead to tragedies such as the deaths of Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien.

Joe Favorito says the Los Angeles Dodgers are using social media this month to try to get closer to the fans.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe looks at the PGA Tour’s extension with its TV partners and he talks about Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle talking with various area radio stations.

In SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has the ESPN Monday Night Football crew previewing this season’s Patriots team.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about college football writer “Free Bruce” Feldman leaving ESPN.com to go to CBS Sports.

Larry Dorman of the Times writes about the PGA Tour’s new contract with CBS, Golf Channel and NBC.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post continues to plaster hate all over his wretched columns.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for Monday Night Football’s Jon “This Guy” Gruden and Ron “I’m Telling You, Jaws” Jaworski.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local TV station is in its 13th year producing a high school football highlights show.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call tells football fans not to worry about President Obama’s speech interrupting the Saints-Packers NFL season opener on Thursday.

Laura Nachman has a press release announcing the winner of a Philadelphia sports radio talk show host contest.

DCTRV.com’s Dave Hughes in Press Box notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Russ Thaler moves to Versus for a national gig.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner has a few notes about this Sunday’s Baltimore Grand Prix.

Jim has Fox’s college football crew discussing the potential departure of Oklahoma from the Big 12.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald looks at some of the changes in the NFL TV broadcast booths for this season.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times has a preview of the weekend on sports television.

Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the Longhorn Network will help Texas down the road, but it’s already hurting its relationship with other schools.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reveals that Texas and Texas A&M were in talks to create a joint TV network four years ago.

David says University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum gets a national showcase on Fox Sports Net this weekend.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with the new voice of the Oklahoma Sooners.

In his notebook, Mel looks at the new Fox Sports studio team for college football.

Gina Mizell of the Oklahoman talks with ESPN Sport Science host John Brenkus about how an Oklahoma State athlete was chosen for a feature.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer is still rooting for the late Reds announcer Joe Nuxhall to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And John has a couple of local TV news and notes.

Mike Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman about the rivalry that is Michigan-Ohio State.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asks if social media has a place in sports broadcasts.

Scott Cooper Williams of the Green Bay Gazette says a bunch of NBC shows will be town to help hype the Saints-Packers NFL season opener on Thursday.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Tina Akouris of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about Dick Vitale’s new children’s book.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says Utah fans should be happy that a local TV station is picking up the team’s games for this season.

J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun says UNLV’s TV contract through the Mountain West Conference just plain sucks.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Padres fans should expect to watch games on a new channel next season.

John Maffei of the North County Times says there will be a plethora of college football games this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star notes the return of former Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter to play-by-play, but this time online.

Jim says Fox Sports West will be extensively covering high school football online.

Helene Elliot of the Los Angeles Times says Hall of Fame Kings announcer Bob Miller has signed a new contract that will bring him to 40 seasons with the team.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News also writes about Miller’s new deal.

Tom talks to network executives and producers about how and when to incorporate Twitter into a sports broadcast.

And that’s going to do it for the megalinks. If you’re traveling this weekend, be safe and if you’re still recovering from Hurricane Irene, I hope all returns to normal soon.

Some Late Thursday Afternoon Linkage

Came home a bit early from work so let me provide you with some linkage today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Marcus Allen will join Fox Sports Media Group’s coverage of college football.

Ryan Ballengee of Pro Golf Talk discusses the new 9 year deal signed between the PGA Tour and its TV partners.

Philiana Ng of the Hollywood Reporter also looks at the PGA Tour’s deal with CBS, NBC and Golf Channel.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says NFL RedZone has been picked up by a small cable provider.

Emma Bazilian reviews a new Burger King ad featuring UFC’s Anderson Silva lip syncing Minnie Ripperton’s “Lovin’ You” to shill a heart attack-waiting-to-happen.

Alex Weprin writes the final farewell for SportsNewser as it shut down for good on Wednesday.

Jason Dachman of the Sports Video Group notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and Philadelphia will have a decent schedule of college and high school football.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has video of UK Channel 4 host Otis Deley having trouble hosting the IAAF World Athletics Championships. This is why the BBC usually airs these events.

NESN says the always screaming Kevin Millar will be wired on the network during tonight’s Yankees-Red Sox game.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the sports cameos will be hot and heavy on HBO’s Entourage this Sunday.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the college football TV schedule for this weekend.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette notes that Time Warner Cable is back with high school football this weekend.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about Versus getting some new original programming starting next week.

Ken writes that an Army hockey game has been selected by CBS Sports Network.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun writes about radio reporter Jen Royle dropping her lawsuit against a local radio station.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the new PGA Tour rights deal with its TV partners.

Jim takes a look at the beginning of the college football season tonight.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals will be blacked out on NFL Network tonight, but they will be seen live locally.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about the PGA Tour keeping the status quo with its TV partners.

Bob says Big Ten Network sees Wisconsin doing well in the conference this football season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders what’s up with ESPN’s “Jim Rome is Burning” show.

Ed Tait from the Winnipeg Free Press says the Jets have signed a new 10 year deal with TSN for TV rights.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog reviews the Toronto media coverage of former Maple Leafs enforcer Wade Belak’s death.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some mid-week thoughts on what’s going on.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth doesn’t like Universities throwing their weight around on school newspapers.

Sports Media Watch says the NFL Preseason Week 3 didn’t bring as strong ratings as the last two weeks.

SMW has various ratings news and notes.

Awful Announcing has a new podcast with the great Timothy Burke from SportsGrid and Mocksession.

And I’ll end it there for now.

With the college football season kicking off, the College Football Viewing Picks return on Friday. And next week, we’ll have the NFL Viewing Picks so the schedule for viewing picks on Friday will be:

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks — 8 a.m.
College Football Viewing Picks — 9 a.m.
NFL Viewing Picks — 10 a.m.
Weekend Viewing Picks — 11 a.m.

You can look for that throughout the fall months.

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Obtains Rights To ACC Sports

This coming in the last few days, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has obtained the rights to the Atlantic Coast Conference. This is a cable syndication contract that is part of ESPN’s rights to the conference. As a result, Comcast SportsNet will be able to air a weekly conference football game, 14 in all. It will also have the rights to air up to 59 basketball games, 31 of them focusing in men’s action. And in addition, Comcast SportsNet will have the rights to air ACC baseball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and other sports. So this is a big deal and gives Comcast SportsNet some 120 conference events as programming.

We have the press release for you.

COMCAST SPORTSNET MID-ATLANTIC ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL

LONG-TERM AGREEMENT ALSO FEATURES BASEBALL, SOCCER AND LACROSSE

Bethesda, Md. (Aug. 25, 2011) – Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, the region’s leading source for multiplatform sports coverage, has acquired long-term television rights to live Atlantic Coast Conference football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, soccer and lacrosse, as well as other conference events. Through the multi-sport agreement, Comcast SportsNet remains the region’s official sports network of the ACC and will televise up to 120 live conference events annually.

The comprehensive package begins this season and provides Comcast SportsNet with a weekly schedule of live ACC football for the first time since 2004 and significantly expands its lineup of other conference sporting events. The network, which obtained the rights as part of the new ACC Network sublicensed regional package, will deliver this programming exclusively to more than 4.7 million households throughout Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

“Our longstanding relationship with the ACC, its member schools and their many fans throughout the region make our network an ideal partner for the conference and a great home for their exciting product,” said Comcast SportsNet Senior Vice President and General Manager Rebecca Schulte. “This partnership represents a considerable increase in our high-quality programming and confirms our position as the region’s leader in college sports coverage.”

Comcast SportsNet will be the regional rights-holder for 14 ACC football games this season, beginning with James Madison at North Carolina on Sept. 3 at 3:30 p.m. Other match-ups scheduled to air on the network include NC State at Wake Forest on Sept. 10 at 3:30 p.m. and a doubleheader on Sept. 17 featuring Kansas at Georgia Tech (12:30 p.m.) and Arkansas State at Virginia Tech (4 p.m.) The remainder of the football schedule will be announced throughout the season.

Also highlighting the new package of ACC programming is up to 59 basketball games, including up to 31 men’s games – featuring 16 conference match-ups – and 28 women’s basketball games. In addition, Comcast SportsNet now has the rights for up to 20 conference baseball games, including ACC baseball tournament games, and a variety of soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, softball and field hockey. The network will also be home to ‘ACC All Access,’ a weekly half-hour program.

Comcast SportsNet also has established partnerships with the three ACC programs in the region, the University of Maryland, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. These school partnerships will complement the network’s robust conference programming with special team and coaches’ shows, encore game presentations and marketing and branding elements. The network also has partnerships with other colleges throughout the region, including the University of Richmond, Towson University, Old Dominion, James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University.

The new ACC package adds to Comcast SportsNet’s already substantial live-game coverage of college athletics. As the official sports network of the Colonial Athletic Association, the network produces and airs a full schedule of conference football and basketball games and serves as the region’s exclusive provider of syndicated football, basketball and baseball games from the nation’s top conferences, including the Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA.

That’s all.

A Pre-Hurricane Friday Megalinks Edition

As the Northeast battens down the hatches for the impending hit of Hurricane Irene this weekend and it’s not a matter of if it’s coming, but when, I’ll probably won’t be blogging much over the next few days. I’ll do my best as long as I have power, but disaster preparation will be high on the priorities the next two days.

For those of you looking for a diversion from Hurricane Irene coverage either on the Weather Channel or local news, I do have the sports and entertainment listings in the Weekend Viewing Picks. If you’re in the projected path or far from it, this will help you find the program you’re looking for.

Let’s get to the links.

National

Bob Velin of USA Today says Floyd “Money” Mayweather is ready for his HBO close-up again as he takes part in another edition of 24/7.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says ESPN golf analyst Paul Azinger took a jab at President Obama for playing golf on his vacation while people are out of work.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand debate the validity of the Longhorn Network.

Sean Gregory of Time says ESPN The Magazine’s story making Michael Vick a white man was wrong on several accounts.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has secured the rights to ACC sports including football and basketball.

Multichannel News says soccer-centric Gol TV will air the start of Spain’s La Liga following the resolution of a player’s strike this week.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that MSG Varsity will produce local editions of its High School SportsDesk program.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid reports that sports media site SportsNewser will be closing up shop at the end of this month. Sad to see. The site was a very good resource for Fang’s Bites. Marcus Vanderberg and Cam Martin from SportsNewser have become good friends and I hope they land on their feet soon.

Wayne Friedman at MediaPost says the New York Jets have become an innovator in their use of social media.

Joe Favorito looks at how sports marketing powerhouse IMG redefined itself into a marketer for college sports.

John Daly in his Daly Planet blog says Hurricane Irene coverage on several local ABC stations may put a crimp for fans who want to watch NASCAR on Saturday.

EPL Talk reports that Fox will air some English Premier League matches including the Chelsea-Manchester United rivalry game live on Super Bowl Sunday.

Sports Business Daily looks at the probability of EPL games airing on Fox.

The Big Lead takes a look at ESPN’s plans for its annual all-day and all-night College Basketball Marathon coming in November.

Brady Green at Awful Announcing notes that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis did a stab at play-by-play in last night’s game against the DC NFL team.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that fantasy sports can no longer be ignored by the mainstream media and he adds that Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle is a candidate to fill one of three potential vacancies at NESN.

At SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch wonders which reporter is apologizing for Patriots defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Entourage tapped New York Giants owner Steve Tisch for an appearance on the HBO show.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is back from a brief vacation to hate everything in his path.

Justin Terranova of the Post speaks with CBS’ Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason on what they expect from New York’s NFL quarterbacks this season.

Justin has five questions for ESPN2 tennis analyst Brad Gilbert on the U.S. Open.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says due to Hurricane Irene, the Jets and Giants have moved the starting time of their NFL exhibition game to Saturday afternoon.

Pete says Marv Albert is happy to be calling NFL games on television once again.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says Capital Region fans will have two opportunities to see the Jets-Giants on Saturday.

Ken talks with Versus horse racing host Laffit Pincay, Jr.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes about a former area high school athlete who’s doing overnight updates for WFAN in New York.

Richard Rys of Philadelphia Magazine blasts ESPN for airing every game ofthe Little League World Series.

Childs Walker, Jeff Zrebiec and Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun says Mike Flanagan’s friends including MASN’s Gary Thorne are still coming to grips with his death.

David Zurawik of the Sun writes that WBAL-TV is standing by its report as to why Flanagan took his own life.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that an original Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic personality said goodbye last night.

Dan has the debut Geico spot featuring DC NFL Team linebacker Brian Orakpo.

Dan says last night’s Washington-Baltimore NFL preseason game set a ratings record in the nation’s capital.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will split its feed to air pregame shows of both the Baltimore Ravens and DC NFL Team during weeks when they’re programmed simultaneously.

South

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that while Verizon FiOS signed to carry the Longhorn Network, it won’t have tonight’s launch on its system.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network is having less than an auspicious launch.

David says despite the low viewership numbers at the start, the Longhorn Network’s staff remains upbeat about its future.

Gary Dinges of the Austin American-Statesman says most Texas fans will probably miss tonight’s Longhorn Network launch barring some miracle cable and satellite pickups.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman also writes about the Longhorn Network’s launch.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable will air a slate of high school football games this fall.

Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star notes that ESPN is in town to air a couple of high school football games this weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NBC is going all out for the NFL regular season opener between the Saints and the Packers.

Ed Sherman has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Paul Christan at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says don’t confuse NFL Network with DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket package.

Paul says the Minnesota Vikings without Brett Favre this season won’t be primetime darlings this season.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says don’t confuse BYUtv with the Longhorn Network.

John Maffei of the North County Times says if the NFL wants a Los Angeles franchise, it shouldn’t poach the Chargers.

T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times tells fans to stay home and watch the games on TV.

T.J. can’t believe the Dodgers are asking fans to evaluate Vin Scully’s performance as a broadcaster.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that Fox Sports West will air one high school football game a week and stream a whole host of them online.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says buyer beware when it comes to Twitter.

That will do it for today. Be safe wherever you are this weekend.

Doing Some Tuesday Links

Well, yesterday I was two jobsites. Today, I forgot to bring my computer AC adapter and my phone so for several hours, I was without any communication to the outside world. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but it certainly felt strange not to have connection to the internet or Twitter.

Now that I’m back, I can provide some linkage and also do some press release posts. I’ll do the linkage first.

Big news from John Ourand and Sports Business Daily. We learn that UFC will move its programming from Versus and Spike TV to Fox, FX and Fuel TV with four MMA events a year on Fox.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that ESPN will produce the Little League World Series in 3-D for the first time.

Adweek looks at a new ESPN ad that’s being aired in the UK.

Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life Magazine notes that a battle of unknowns in a playoff led to lower ratings for the PGA Championship on CBS.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page says details are coming out on the new ESPN Monday Night Football rights renewal from ESPN book author James Arthur Miller. This story has been out there since January when Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand broke it.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says ESPN’s Brent Musburger and CBS’s Verne Lundquist will be honored in New York for their contributions to college football.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says a former WABC-TV sports anchor has pleaded guilty inappropriately touching a minor.

SportGrid’s Ben Axelrod has video of Showtime’s Jim Gray berating boxing referee Russell Mora for missed low blows after the Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko fight. Jim Gray is a real bulldog, let me tell you. This is one of the best videos I’ve ever seen.

Dan Fogarty has video of ESPN’s Jon Gruden saying, “this guy” multiple times during last night’s Jets-Texans game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says there’s a glut of Terrelle Pryor jerseys. Were they exchanged for tattoos?

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group talks about ESPN going into the third dimension for the Little League World Series.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with CBS Sports Network analyst Rich Rodriguez about working in TV.

Joe Drape of the New York Times reports that NBC is in talks to air a series of Triple Crown prep races each Spring.

Daniel Massey in Crain’s New York Business writes that the Jets are catching up with the Giants as far as the New York tri-state area fan support is concerned.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a nationally syndicated radio show will be broadcasting live from Saratoga Race Course on Friday.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Notre Dame football will be heard locally throughout the season.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News writes about the announced departure of Howard Eskin from sports radio WIP.

John Miller at Philadelphia Sports Daily says Howard Eskin will be missed.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says Rick “Doc” Walker will sub for the talkative Joe Theismann for this Friday’s game on the DC NFL team’s local broadcast.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner writes that Texas A&M to the SEC will have a huge fallout in college football.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Mac Engel talks with former Monday Night Football sideline reporter and current Inside Edition reporter Lisa Guerrero.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron reports that Texans running back Arian Foster has signed to appear on both Yahoo! Sports Radio and a local radio station.

The San Antonio Express-News has a fascinating look at the evolution of every major sport on American TV in the last 21 years.

Jerry Garcia of the Express-News adds his thoughts on the most notable changes in sports television.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the local ratings from the weekend.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks about how Comcast SportsNet Chicago got an interview with embattled Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Tom Hoffarth has the Sports Calendar for this week.

Because of my busy schedule, I haven’t been able to cover the Barstool Sports/Tom Brady baby picture controversy as much I have liked. It’s a big story in Boston as sports radio station WEEI feigned outrage on a slow news day to get ratings. The story went national and Barstool Sports editor David Portnoy found himself today on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show to explain himself (you can go here and here to listen). Perhaps down the road I’ll spend more time on it and go into analytical mode on it.

In The Broadcast Booth, Dave Kohl looks at Howard Eskin’s announcement that he’s leaving his daily WIP show in Philadelphia.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that TSN accidentally leaked a portion of its 2011-12 NHL schedule over the weekend.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore says the NHL will finally release its national TV schedule on Thursday.

And that will do it. I’ve been trying to do these links since 3 p.m., but I’ve been interrupted so many times. Glad to finally be done.

A Few Late Night Links

Due to the fact that I had to go in and out of the office five times for various errands and meetings during the day, I was not able to provide linkage. And due to the fact that there are some good stories lingering, I don’t want to leave you without some links. So I’ll do a quick set of links now and hopefully will be able to do a full set on Wednesday.

Let’s start with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated who talks with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit who sets the record straight about why he moved away from his beloved Columbus to Tennessee.

Matthew Belloni of the Hollywood Reporter says a federal judge has shot down Comcast’s request to block a DirecTV ad campaign on offering “free” NFL games.

Jon Lafayette at Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News says ESPN helped to steer parent company Disney to higher earnings in the 3rd quarter of its fiscal year.

From Mike Reynolds from Multichannel, ESPN saw its highest viewership for an MLB contest dating back to 2007 thanks to Yankees-Red Sox on Sunday.

Mike writes that NFL Network saw its best Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony audience ever since it began airing the event in 2003.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine writes that media buyers are skeptical that the 2011-12 NBA season will begin on time if it’s played at all.

Writing for Forbes, the SportsBizMiss, the always lovely Kristi Dosh says revenue sharing might be how the NBA solves its labor problems.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says two MLB.com writers were robbed outside the Great American Ball Park after a Cincinnati Reds game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that Mike Tyson’s autograph is a hotter commodity now than it was when he was in his boxing prime.

Jeré Longman of the New York Times says despite increased attendance and TV ratings for Women’s Professional Soccer since the Women’s World Cup, the league’s future is very much in doubt.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the Syracuse football schedule and the networks airing the games.

Ken McMillan in the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Red Sox fans in the Catskill Mountains have a radio station to listen to their favorite team.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes NASCAR drama is truly reality TV.

Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is expanding its relationship with the Baltimore Ravens. This comes a year after the Ravens severed its relationship with MASN just before last season.

Dan discovers that two DC-area natives co-anchored ESPN’s SportsCenter last weekend.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also writes about CSN Mid-Atlantic taking in more Ravens programming.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local ratings for sports.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says four Brewers originally not scheduled for air will be picked up for TV.

The Cleveland Frowns blog wonders why CBS Radio is bringing in an outsider to be part of its daily lineup for its new FM sports radio station.

Bob writes that a local TV station is teaming up with the local ESPN Radio affiliate to produce a weekly show.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Tiger Woods has lost another sponsor and Ed also wants Tiger’s former caddie to shut up.

David Zahniser of the Los Angeles Times writes that a deal to build an NFL stadium at the Staples Center site received unanimous approval on Tuesday.

Times NFL writer Sam Farmer talks about what the deal approval means.

The Canadian Sports Media blog has some thoughts on what’s been happening in the Great White North.

CSMB notes that TSN is no longer airing the UEFA Champions League.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog wonders if anyone would buy Rogers’ attempt at a sports magazine in this day and age.

Sports Media Watch says Yankees-Red Sox had ratings drawing power during this past weekend.

And SMW notes that three of MLB’s TV partners saw ratings gains for Yanks-Red Sox.

Brian Packey at Awful Announcing refuses to call the hair on top of Bill Simmons’ lip that was seen on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, a porn mustache. Brian may not, but I will. That thing is hideous.

Dave Kohl at his renamed “Broadcast Booth” blog looks at sports radio ratings for various markets.

Ok, that’s going to do it. I found more links than I thought I would and it’s approach 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. I need sleep. Back later today.

Versus To Air Documentary On 1st Openly Gay Baseball Player

Coming this Tuesday, Versus will air a Comcast SportsNet Bay Area-produced documentary on Glenn Burke, the very first openly gay baseball player and the demons he had to endure during his playing career. Originally aired on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area last November, the documentary has been nominated for awards for its reporting of Burke’s story. The documentary shows Burke’s shunning by baseball after his teammates and management became aware that he was gay. And it doesn’t hide from the fact that Burke turned to drugs after the sport he loved so much turned its back on him. But in his dying days, the documentary also shows that the Oakland A’s did reach out to him and that touched Burke greatly.

We have a preview of the documentary below.

VERSUS PRESENTS “OUT. THE GLENN BURKE STORY,” ABOUT FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER

Comcast SportsNet Documentary Nominated for Both Emmy and GLAAD Media Awards to Air on VERSUS August 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT

NEW YORK – August 3, 2011 – “Out. The Glenn Burke Story,” which documents Burke’s legacy as the first openly gay Major League Baseball player, will have its national premiere on VERSUS on Tuesday, August 9, at 10 p.m. ET. Nominated for a Northern California Area Emmy Award and a nominee for Outstanding Documentary at the 22nd Annual GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards, “Out. The Glenn Burke Story” originally premiered on and was produced by Comcast SportsNet Bay Area last November.

VERSUS will provide encore presentations of the documentary on Saturday, August 13, at 11 p.m. ET and Wednesday, August 17, at 11 p.m. ET

Glenn Burke, the first openly gay Major League Baseball player, ended his journey through baseball where it began, in Oakland, California. His sports career had many stops along the way, starting as a multi-sport star at Berkeley High School, followed by a stint at the University of Nevada, Reno as a prized basketball recruit, and then into professional baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he was hailed by one coach as “the next Willie Mays.” Early in his career, Burke felt he had to hide his true self from his teammates. Later, when he began to reveal glimpses into his sexuality, the baseball establishment began to shut him out.

“Out. The Glenn Burke Story” tells the dramatic tale of Burke’s Major League career as an outfielder for the Dodgers and as a starter in Game One of the 1977 World Series, to being traded to the Oakland Athletics the following season, and then walking away in 1980 from the game that he deeply loved. Many of Burke’s teammates were aware of his homosexuality during his playing career, as were members of management. Many of those teammates believe that Burke’s sexuality led to the premature derailment of his baseball career.

“Out. The Glenn Burke Story” explores the wedge that was driven between Burke and the Los Angeles Dodgers management, the ensuing similar situation in Oakland that led to Burke’s abrupt retirement, and the hero’s welcome that Burke received in San Francisco’s Castro District after he left professional baseball. The documentary follows him through his public announcement of his homosexuality in a 1982 Inside Sports magazine article and on The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel, to his downward spiral after his split from baseball, a split that drove Burke to drugs and prison, and eventually to living on the same San Francisco streets where he was once recognized as an icon.

Burke’s story took on another level of tragedy when he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1994. At the end of Burke’s life, the game that he claimed had abandoned him so many years before reached out to one of its own. The Oakland A’s found Burke and provided him with constant support in his final months, as did some of his former teammates. “Out. The Glenn Burke Story” features numerous interviews with Burke’s teammates and friends, including Dusty Baker, Davey Lopes, Reggie Smith, Rick Monday, Manny Mota, Rickey Henderson, Claudell Washington, Mike Norris, Shooty Babitt, Tito Fuentes, and former Major Leaguer and gay rights activist Billy Bean.

“Out. The Glenn Burke Story” is produced by Comcast SportNet Bay Area’s Ted Griggs, David Koppett, Sean Maddison and Doug Harris. The documentary is narrated by Dave Morey, who was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in the class of 2010 after 26 years as a morning host at KFOG radio in San Francisco and nearly 40 years in broadcasting.

Excerpts from “Out. The Glenn Burke Story”:

Abdul-Jalil al-Hakim (Childhood friend and sports agent):
On Burke’s homosexuality and the homophobia in Major League Baseball: “It was uncompromising on both ends. Glenn was comfortable with who he was. Baseball was not comfortable with who he was.”

Davey Lopes (Former Los Angeles Dodgers infielder, Dodgers coach):
On Burke being traded to the A’s: “You don’t break up, disrupt a team going as well as it was going to make changes. I didn’t feel it was going to make us a better ball club. Billy North was not going to make us, at that time, any better of a ballclub. Probably not the real reason why things happened.”

Dusty Baker (Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, Cincinnati Reds manager):
On the rumors of Burke’s sexual preference and his trade to the A’s: “I think the Dodgers knew; I think that’s why they traded Glenn.”

Reggie Smith (Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder):
On the suspicions about Burke’s sexuality: “I certainly didn’t want to accuse him of that, because one thing’s for sure – at that time period, it was a kiss of death for a ballplayer. He would’ve been excused from the game, so to say.”

Vincent Trahan (Berkeley High School classmate):
On Dodger management and their suspicions: “Al Campanis and Walter O’Malley had called him into the office and offered him $75,000 to get married. And Glenn, being his comic self, said, ‘I guess you mean to a woman?’”

On the Dodgers’ controversial trade of Burke to the A’s: “He was hurt because they traded him not for his baseball ability but for his life choice.”

Rick Monday (Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, Dodgers broadcaster):
On Burke battling personal and professional demons: “We didn’t understand the challenges he was going through on a daily basis at the time. You put it into perspective when you say, here is a guy that is fighting not only the opposing pitcher that was trying to get him out, he was fighting the unknown.”

Lyle Spencer (MLB.com, former Los Angeles Dodgers beat writer):
On the reaction of Burke’s teammates the day he was traded: “I was shocked that he was traded… I walked into the clubhouse…and guys were visibly distraught over the trade, and that told me that my sense of how important he was to them internally was accurate. I even remember a few players crying when they found out about it at their lockers, which is stunning.”

Billy Bean (Former Major League outfielder, gay rights activist):
On Burke in baseball: “Baseball wasn’t ready for Glenn Burke. He was a pioneer and he caught them off guard.”

On dealing with discrimination: “The closet hurts people – forever. Everyone’s career ends, but to do it because you don’t feel you belong there when you’ve proven that you do is damaging. And it affects everything, and I’m sure that’s why Glenn swam in the waters of drugs and alcohol – to take away his frustration.”

Lutha Davis (Burke’s Sister):
On AIDS: “A lot of people were scared because I think, at the time, you didn’t know whether you can just breathe on somebody and get AIDS or just touch them.”

Pamela Pitts (Oakland A’s Director of Baseball Administration):
On Burke’s reaction to hearing the A’s would help him: “Glenn started to cry and said, ‘I’ve been told you’re going to help me. I can’t believe someone wants to help me.’”

On Burke’s death: “I do believe he was in a much better place. His demons were gone.”

“Out. The Glenn Burke Story” trailer available at:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/pages/video?PID=xvYiUIwU7T_ZDt6XSawqgAW_NR88XaG

That will do it.

People You Should Follow On Twitter, Part 9 & The Last One

Ok, this is the final installment of this mini-series that took much longer than I thought. I began this on July 17 and with a few stops and starts, finally finishing this in August. You’ve had quite a few categories, sports media, sports business, sports TV PR, MLB, NFL, NHL, Tennis, college basketball, college football, and Olympics. You can check out my previous installments here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Today, I’m calling this the Best of the Rest. I’ll provide some of my favorite tweeps in sports and those outside of sports. This will be rather long, but I want to finish and get on to other projects I have planned for the blog. I hope you find this useful.

BEST OF THE REST — SPORTS

ESPNBook — This is the official Twitter account of the co-author of the book “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN”, James Arthur Miller. When the book was coming out, Jim was tweeting very good information and as he prepares for the paperback edition, he’s still churning out good stuff. And he engages with tweeps who ask questions about ESPN. This has 9,923 followers.

kevinspaul — Kevin Paul is a freelance writer having written for FoxSports.com. He currently maintains the site, The Wife Hates Sports which is devoted to all sports and to guys whose wives control the TV remote. Kevin is a funny guy and a person who will tweet about anything. Follow him, ok? Kevin has 980 followers.

SBJSBD –The official account of the sports industry magazines Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily, this provides links to articles that are published in both publications. Some articles are behind paywalls as both are subscription-based, however, there are times when articles are opened to the public and if you follow sports media, sports business, sports arenas and stadiums, agents or other industry news, then this is for you. It’s one of the most influential sports industry publications. This has 20,636 followers.

JimmyTraina — The editor of SI.com’s Hot Clicks page, Jimmy Traina is like The Godfather of the Internet. Treat him nicely and you can get your blog or site linked in Hot Clicks and get increased traffic for days. Or you can anger him and not get linked to at all. A link in Hot Clicks can increase pageviews tenfold or even twentyfold. I’ve had the pleasure to be mentioned several times in Hot Clicks. While Jimmy is a Yankees fan, I can overlook that. He has some good observations in his Twitter account. He has 19,007 tweeps.

BobsBlitz — This represents Bob’s Blitz, a site that is a mix of sports, pop culture, videos and anything Bob wants to publish. Bob constantly posts videos from New York sports radio station, WFAN and keeps up with the station 24/7. I don’t know where Bob gets the pictures of hot chicks on his site, but I’m not complaining. It’s a very good blog and do yourself a favor and follow Bob. Be part of the 2,060 and more who follow him.

blogswithballs — This is for Blogs with Balls, an event for sports bloggers that has been held three times since 2009. The 4th incarnation will be held this fall. I follow this for news, projects and general tweets regarding BwB. This is a very good account to follow. Blogs with Balls has 2,312 followers.

asportsscribe — Jason Clinkscales was one of my first friends on Twitter. He maintains A Sports Scribe, a general sports blog and he also co-hosts The Exchange on Blog Talk Radio with Sumit Dasgupta. Jason’s claim to fame was being misidentified by Tom Jackson as a student at Eli Manning’s press conference on C’mon, Man on ESPN. C’mon, Man! Anyway, Jason is a very good writer and provides excellent observations on his Twitter account. And listen to The Exchange every Tuesday night at 9 Eastern time. Jason has 654 followers. Do your part to increase that.

kathleenhessert — Kathleen Hessert is the CEO of Sports Media Challenge and Buzz Manager. Kathleen helps her clients understand the power of the media and social media. She steered Shaquille O’Neal to Twitter to take control of several fake Shaq accounts and he has been an extreme Power Tweeter ever since. I had the pleasure to hear Ms. Hessert speak at Blogs with Balls 1.0 in 2009 and have followed her account ever since. If you’re looking to get into social media management, Kathleeen is a must follow. She has 7,295 followers for good reason.

katrinakaye — This is the account of Katrina Younce, a founder of Pro Sports Communications, a sports public relations firm, and one of the authors of the Pro Sports Communications blog. Katrina’s account has plenty of links to the blog and other sites in regards to sports media, sports PR and sports social media. Katrina and her firm’s partners are always updating the blog writing articles and giving advice to readers. Katrina has 2,022 followers.

SportsTVjobs — A former sports TV insider, Brian Clapp maintains the site, Sports TV Jobs, which provides advice from professionals on how to get a job in sports television. Brian also blogs at his site and interviews current TV insiders on the state of the profession today. His Twitter account has good observations as well. This has 693 followers.

StacyCason –Stacy is a Production Assistant at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and a Digital Media Producer at CSN’s two websites, CSNBaltimore and CSNWashington. She’ll post links to videos on both sites and preview what’s coming up on CSN Mid-Atlantic. If you live in the Baltimore-Washington area, then follow Stacy to see what’s going on. And she also provides some personal observations too. Give Stacy a follow. She’s at 343 followers.

ttiana — The very sexy Ttiana is part of ESPN’s NASCAR technical crew. She provides pictures and insights on each ESPN NASCAR stop whether it be during the Nationwide Series or the Sprint Cup Series. The things I love about Ttiana’s account is that she’ll talk about traveling to each NASCAR destination, engage her followers and give some behind the scenes information on the ESPN telecast. One of the nicer people on Twitter, she’s also not afraid to mix it up if someone pisses her off. I’m surprised she has 1,404 followers because that number should be much higher.

texas_gal — A transplanted Texan now living in Boston, Texy as she’s known on Twitter is a huge Red Sox and Bruins fan. She knows her sports and is a very quick study. She’s been all over the country attending baseball and hockey games. Texy has been a regular at both Fenway Park and TD Garden. And she’s well-known by many of the hockey tweeps I recommended you follow a couple of weeks ago. Oh, and if you want to remain on Texy’s good side, don’t ever rag on her Texas Longhorns. She has 1,645 followers and counting.

Stefmara — For equal time, I’ll put a Yankees fan in here. Actually, Jimmy Traina’s a Yankee fan too. I think I need to equal that out with another Red Sox fan. Anyway, if you’ve followed the news, then you know Stefanie Gordon for the famous Space Shuttle launch picture she took from her airplane seat. I knew Stefanie on Twitter long before she took that picture and she’s a very good follow. She loves her Yankees and New York Rangers. I don’t fault her for this. And if you’re in the sports industry, hire Stef. She has 4,928 followers.

Jackie_Pepper — For former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor Jackie Pepper. She keeps tabs on her former New England beats and she’ll also exchange tweets with followers. And Jackie will tweet general observations as well. And if you’re in TV, view her video and hire her. You’ll get a hard worker. Jackie has 1,519 followers.

bruceallen — Why I’ve omitted the webmaster of Boston Sports Media Watch is beyond me. Bruce Allen should have been on my list weeks ago. I’ve been associated with Bruce doing a mirror site at BSMW since 2009. One of the inspirations for Fang’s Bites, Bruce’s media links on Boston sports plus acting as a check on the beat writers has made Bruce’s site a must visit for New England sports fans. He tirelessly puts out his links way before I do and is a very good clearinghouse for Boston sports links. Bruce is a diehard Patriots fans, but I don’t hold this against him. He has 1,665 followers.

BobLeyESPN — Another oversight. Mr. Ley is a tremendous follow. While he hasn’t tweeted since July, Bob has been on vacation since hosting the Women’s World Cup in Germany so he’s given a pass. Bob has tweeted about soccer, Bruce Springsteen, news events and so much more. He’s very well-read and I’m sure when Bob returns to work, he’ll be tweeting once again. Bob is a very good person to exchange tweets with. He has 39,972 followers.

That will wrap up the sports tweeps and with the 17 I’ve recommended tonight, overall that makes 165 accounts I’ve recommended.

Now let’s move to non-sports. There will be a lot more when all is said and done here.

NON-SPORTS/NEWS/TV/ENTERTAINMENT

johnsberman — A general assignment reporter for ABC News, John Berman is also an avid Red Sox fan. He tweets a lot about the Red Sox, but he’ll also tweet about the stories on which he’s reporting, but his account is mostly sports. A very good follow, John also has his own Facebook page which you can “like”. John has 16,794 followers.

brianstelter — Brian Stelter reports on TV and digital media for the New York Times. He contributes to the Media Decoder blog and appears on various cable news shows when there’s a big story like the News Corp. phone hacking scandal. He’s well connected and uses Twitter to compliment his reporting. Brian also has a personal Twitter account which discusses his 90 pound weight loss. His professional account has 70,808 followers.

michaelausiello — He loves Snapple, the Smurfs and Lauren Graham. Overall, Michael Ausiello, the Editor-in-Chief of TV Line is one of the best and entertaining TV beat writers. His Ask Ausiello column is widely read by fans. His Twitter account is always chock full of information. If you don’t like spoilers, then by all means, don’t read his columns, but Michael’s always on top of the industry. He has 1,149,569 loyal tweeps.

tdogmedia — The T Dog Media Blog follows Chicago TV and Radio and quite well. Terence Henderson keeps on top of all things in the Chicago market. Because of the competition in the Windy City among radio and TV stations, there’s always plenty of news to write about. Terence’s stories are well-written and well-thought out. His Twitter account is full of TV industry news. Only 280 followers so you can help increase that to a higher number.

bostonradio — This is for the excellent blog, Boston Radio Watch, which you can imagine follows the Boston radio scene. The blog is constantly being updated and so is the Twitter account which not only contains Boston radio news, but personal insights. Boston radio has 1,813 followers.

radioinsight — Lance Venta runs the very good sight Radio Insight which like Boston Radio Watch follows radio, but on a national level. The account has links to the site, and also engages with followers. I’ve found Lance to be a very good resource on ownership changes, format flips and the latest news on a medium that remains very near and dear to my heart. This has 2,181 followers.

ShandiMissUSA — For former Miss USA, Lingo co-host and Quiznation host Shandi Finnessey. A lot of people use Twitter for angst and complaints. Shandi’s account is very positive. I love her tweets. Plus, Shandi has her own site. She’ll engage with followers and be very supportive. Shandi has 4,283 followers.

chrissyteigen — For Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen. She’s an avid sports fan and will tweet about sports, but she will also tweet about anything that comes to mind. She’s constantly mixing it up with tweeps. Chrissy has her own blog as well. Chrissy has 59,262 followers.

kayhanley — I love Kay Hanley. The former Letters to Cleo lead singer and Boston native is now out in Los Angeles. She’s a big Red Sox fan and will tweet about the game she’s watching. And when she gets angry about the Red Sox, look out! I love following Kay Hanley. You can find her music on MySpace. Kay has 9,514 followers.

rajskub — If you’ve followed this blog for a while, then you know that I needed to get a 24 tweep somehow on this list. If you watched 24, you’ll know Mary Lynn Rajskub played “Chloe” from season 3 until the end of the series. And she’ll most likely be in the movie whenever it comes out. A comedian by trade, Mary Lynn tweets very funny thoughts and she’ll give some aspects of what happened during her time on 24. Mary Lynn has 65,102 followers.

allialexander/amomknowsbest — These are the Twitter accounts for former WLNE-TV anchor Allison Alexander and the lead writer and editor of the Mommy blog, A Mom Knows Best. Allison became a popular anchor during her time in Providence and started her site shortly after becoming a mother. Unfortunately, a management change at WLNE led to her being let go, but I’m sure Allison will be getting a gig soon. A very positive person, her accounts are full of good tweets from her site and her own thoughts. Allison’s account has 3,275 followers while A Mom Knows Best has just over 1,500 tweeps.

ebertchicago — The official Twitter account of Pulitzer Award-winning Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert, this isn’t just about movie reviews. Roger tweets on a whole plethora of subjects. Sometimes they can be political, other times he’ll link to interesting stories. It’s a very good account and the tweets are high quality. Roger has 510,879 tweeps.

GailSimone — This is the account for DC Comics writer Gail Simone. The former head writer for Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey and Secret Six, this is full of tweets to her fans talking about her characters, links to interviews and personal observations. Gail will be taking over the Batgirl series as DC Comics does a massive reboot of its entire line. I became familiar with her writing for the Birds of Prey series. If you’re into graphic novels, Gail is a good account to follow. She has 15,824 followers.

SU2C — For the cancer research fundraising organization, Stand Up 2 Cancer, this provides information on the latest news the group and retweets followers who do their part to spread the message about cancer. While founder Laura Ziskin recently lost her battle to cancer, it doesn’t end her efforts to wipe out the disease. Stand Up 2 Cancer has 64,107 followers.

mariamenounos — For the extremely lovely Access Hollywood host and sometimes NBC News reporter (and soon-to-be Extra co-host) Maria Menounos, a Massachusetts homey. Maria’s tweets are not full of entertainment gossip. There are other accounts for that. This is for Maria’s personal tweets about her dog, personal pics of various appearances and for taunting Lakers fans as Maria is a huge Celtics fan. Maria has 130,322 followers.

And that’s going to end this series. It’s finally done. With an additional 15 non-sports tweeps, this make for a total of 180 accounts you should follow. I’m finally glad this is over. Now I can move on to another project that I hope to finish before the NFL preseason begins.

Going For Some Monday Linkage

Let’s do the linkage on this busy Monday where it appears the NFL will be back this week as the league and the NFL Players Association appear to have come together on a collective bargaining agreement that would last 10 years with no opt-out. We’re just waiting official word on everything.

I’ll provide linkage until I get the joint press release from the NFL and NFL Players Association.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that TV analysts are predicting the first few weeks of the NFL year will be extreme chaos.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the NFL’s TV partners are ready to broadcast football.

Awful Announcing is down to the Final Four of its Joe Morgan Memorial Tournament.

In SportsNewser, Cam Martin has the official trailer for “Haywire” starring MMA babe Gina Carano. Yes, starring. And you won’t believe the cast of stars in the film.

Joe Favorito says with this being the 25th anniversary of the downfall of the USFL, it’s time for a league to explore playing spring football again.

To SportsGrid where Timothy Burke condenses this morning’s five hours of media overgushing on Brett Favre into 60 seconds. I hate Brett Favre.

Canadian sports network TSN provides 12 reasons for Canada to watch the 2012 Olympics.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the fantasy football business is hoping for a quick recovery now that the lockout is over.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post hates Yankees voice John Sterling.

Neal Zoren from the Delaware County Times notes a Comcast SportsNet Philly reporter will be taking part in a celebrity bicycle race.

In the Washington Post’s Reliable Source column, it looks at Lindsay Czarniak planning a move to ESPN and a wedding at the same time.

From the Centreville (VA) Patch, Mary C. Stachyra talks with Lindsay about leaving the DC area and working at ESPN.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times chronicles an on-air argument between Tampa Bay Rays TV broadcasters DeWayne Staats and Brian Anderson.

Mike Herndon of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says the Longhorn Network has thrown a monkey wrench into the Big 12′s wheels.

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network isn’t worth the time or the trouble.

David Barron of the Chronicle provides some thoughts on the departure of Ross Greenburg from HBO Sports and a few other news and notes.

Jeff Potrykus from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the media has given its picks for Big Ten division champs. Leaders and Legends. Are you serious?

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has a new appreciation for the Park formerly known as New Comiskey 20 years after it opened.

The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star says Time Warner Cable will put Big Ten Network on its standard service tier after the channel threatened to play hardball with Cornhusker games in the wake of originally being put on a digital sports tier.

Blair Kirkhoff of the Kansas City Star has Texas coach Mack “Big Daddy” Brown hopeful that the Longhorn Network can air state high school football games.

Andrew Logue of the Des Moines (IA) Register writes that the Longhorn Network has many Big 12 schools concerned about the conference’s future.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says HBO’s Bryant Gumbel’s commentary on the US Women’s soccer team certainly gave him some food for thought.

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News says ex-Brigham Young players are ecstatic about the school’s new contract with ESPN.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBS/Golf Channel analyst David Feherty is now the face of golf. Big, big, big stretch.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star tries to make sense of the ESPN suspension/non-suspension of Bruce Feldman.

And that will do it for our links today. The players have unanimously ratified the NFL collective bargaining agreement meaning we have football once again. Thank goodness.

And I’ll be off Twitter, Facebook and Google + for the foreseeable future so this is where you’ll have to come to get the latest from me.

Cranking Out The Sunday Links

Let’s give you some linkage on this Sunday morning. I’m at work again. No rest for the weary here.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser writes that Sports Illustrated’s Peter King broke news this weekend about HBO’s Hard Knocks.

David Whitley of the Sporting News says there’s some hypocrisy in the Big 12′s criticism of the Longhorn Network.

John Taylor at College Football Talk says ESPN.com’s Joe Schad reported a story on a potential LSU violation without giving credit to its original source.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid has video of NESN’s Jerry Remy trashing Mike Lowell during a commercial break, but knowing Remy during commercial breaks and him knowing that the monitors at Fenway Park can be heard, I’m 100% positive he was joking.

Awful Announcing gathered tweets from people watching Fox Saturday Baseball as Dick Stockton and Thom Brennaman were calling separate games. Let’s just say the reaction wasn’t pretty.

Joe Favorito has some tips for anyone using social media.

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe says the Celtics will have a lot of green thanks to its deal with Comcast SportsNet New England.

I’ll break my boycott of Dr. Gloom & Doom, Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News for a week. Today, Gloom & Doom has a story filled with backhanded compliments and vitriol on the successful return of Stephen A. “A is for Angry” Smith to ESPN Radio New York. No quotes from Smith though.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about college hockey games possibly being aired on Versus.

On this Baseball Hall of Fame Day, Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom states that the HOF is barren without two people who made a huge impact on the game.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner notes that ESPN’s Nicole Briscoe gets a bigger role in the network’s NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage starting next weekend.

Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes about Florida Marlins broadcaster Dave Van Horne being inducted into the broadcaster’s wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend.

Andrew Carter of the Sun Sentinel says the director of the ESPN Films 30 for 30 documentary on Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams plans to film a follow-up.

Berry Tremel of the Daily Oklahoman has former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer weighing in on the Fox Sports/Big 12 alliance.

John Klein of the Tulsa World feels the Longhorn Network controversy is much ado about nothing.

Jeff Korbelik of the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star writes that the sports radio format is finding its niche in town with a second station launching this week.

Warren Gerds of the Green Bay (WI) Gazette talks about a local reading of “Lombardi” which recently finished its Broadway run, featuring most of the original actors who performed in the play.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for Southern California for the upcoming week.

In the Los Angeles Times, college football writer Chris Dufrense looks at the SEC Media Days event that has become larger-than-life.

Sports Media Watch notes the end of ESPN The Weekend at Walt Disney World.

And that will end the linkage for today.

Cranking Out Some Mid-Week Linkage

Time for some Wednesday links. Let’s get to them.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his reaction to the ESPN Ombudsman column on the Bruce Feldman suspension or non-suspension depending on whom you choose to believe.

Sports Business Daily looks at the media reaction to the death of Myra Kraft, the wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Mrs. Kraft had cancer and died this morning at the age of 68.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at why the NBA an entire regular season TV schedule in the wake of its lockout.

Gavin J. Blair of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Women’s World Cup Final got huge ratings in Japan even with the game starting at 3:45 a.m. in Tokyo.

At Broadcasting & Cable, R. Thomas Umstead writes that HBO has set a premiere date for its new documentary on Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

R. Thomas Umstead has an article in Multichannel News talking about the NBA going all in with full TV schedules for ESPN and TNT despite an ongoing lockout.

In Radio Ink, Chadd Scott speaks with Atlanta sports radio duo Chuck and Chernoff about moving to a new timeslot.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine looks at the drop in viewership for the ESPY’s.

Over to Timothy Burke at SportsGrid who notes that while ESPN is now embracing Twitter, it still doesn’t understand the service.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says MLB isn’t happy over the use of the Giants logo in an alternative weekly newspaper ad.

Cam Martin of SportsNewer notes that CBS’ Lesley Visser will be marrying for the second time this weekend. Her previous marriage to Dick Stockton ended in divorce last year following 28 years together.

To Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing who tries to determine when ESPN lost its journalistic integrity.

Stuart Elliot of the New York Times writes that McDonald’s will be walking a fine line with its sponsorship of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union breaks news that the Versus brand will be retired by the end of the year.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that NBC begins airing its horse racing series, “Summer at Saratoga” this weekend.

At the Allentown (PA) Morning Call, Keith Groller agrees with HBO’s Bryant Gumbel commentary on the US Women’s Soccer team.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg has video of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Chick Hernandez losing it on the air after co-anchor Julie Donaldson made a funny.

Dan says the Washington Wizards’ JaVale McGee is having a Twitter fashion feud with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that the Magic’s Dwight Howard must feel slighted as the NBA’s TV networks fawn over Florida’s other team.

Don Kausler, Jr. of the Birmingham (AL) News says the University of Alabama is part of Fox Sports Net’s early SEC football schedule.

The University of Texas’ official sports site interviewed ESPN’s Stephanie Druley who’s in charge of getting the Longhorn Network off the ground.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday topped the local ratings on Sunday.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says it’s a good thing the Bulls’ schedule is backloaded with marquee games in case the NBA lockout is settled midway through the 2011-12 season.

From the Arizona Republic, Jim Gintonio writes that Phoenix Coyotes TV voice Dave Strader is leaving to take a full-time position with NBC/Versus. Thanks to Steve Lepore of Puck The Media for the link.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wasn’t sure exactly when Lesley Visser divorced ex-husband Dick Stockton. If you were with me in March, you’ll remember this story from Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post in which Lesley mentions her divorce.

The Los Angeles Times’ TJ Simers talks with Angels analyst Mark Gubicza about his daughter who’s 2 years removed from having brain surgery to end seizures.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says a local sports talk morning drive host understands why he’s losing his show as his station undergoes a format change.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that the format change means one reporter is leaving for TSN Radio.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some suggestions for CTV as it counts down to one year until the 2012 Olympics in London.

Andrew Bucholtz at The Good Point looks at ESPN’s struggle with ethics in the wake of the Bruce Feldman suspension or non-suspension. I have some quotes in the story.

To The Daly Planet where John Daly leaves clues on a potential new TV partner for NASCAR.

Wendy Parker at Extracurriculars says it’s time to take off the kid gloves when it comes to women’s sports.

Sox & Dawgs looks at a new movie focusing on former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

That is where we’ll end the linkage for today.

A Full Tuesday Linkfest! Finally!

For the last week, I haven’t been able to do a full set of links. Work has been crazy, but I hope to give one today. It’s either going to the other office or heading out with the boss to various work sites or head to meetings, but today should be calmer.

I’ve started a series on People You Should Follow on Twitter in response to Sports Illustrated’s list published last week. Part 1 was posted Monday night and Part 2 came out Tuesday night. Look for more installments throughout the week.

Let’s get started.

First, ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute writes about the ESPN/Bruce Feldman suspension/non-suspension and for some reason, doesn’t do full due diligence on the story.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing does an excellent point-by-point takedown of the Ombudsman’s acceptance of ESPN’s company line on the Feldman suspension.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has graphic evidence of ESPN Radio Hack Colon Cowherd being a complete idiot.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand notes that ESPN is about to fully embrace Twitter and social media.

In the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh has a fascinating post on which sports turn a profit for BCS schools and which ones don’t.

Mike Reynolds from Mulitchannel News writes about the Women’s World Cup Final resonating with viewers.

Mike says a marketing firm is looking to package two pre-World Cup Western Hemisphere qualifying tournaments to networks.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek looks at Ross Greenburg’s departure from HBO Sports.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine goes inside the Women’s World Cup’s stellar ratings.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry writes about the marriage between sports and Twitter.

Vinnie Iyer of AOL Sporting News has HBO being optimistic that a new edition of Hard Knocks will be filmed this summer. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.

Jonathan Wall of Yahoo’s Devil Ball blog critiques ESPN’s coverage of the Open Championship.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is suing sports apparel manufacturer Champion for dropping him from endorsements after his tweets about Osama bin Laden last month.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe delves into the Boston Celtics buying a large stake into Comcast SportsNet New England.

Roger Catlin at the Hartford Courant says ESPN came out as the real winner of the Women’s World Cup Final.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says ESPN produced a fair and compelling Women’s World Cup Final broadcast.

Richard Huff at the New York Daily News looks at ESPN premiering a Spanish language-edition of E:60.

Michael Blaustein of the New York Post writes that ESPN’s miniature cameras at the World Series of Poker are giving competitors an interesting advantage.

At Fishbowl New York, Jerry Barmash reports that Len Berman is dropping his sports reports on a local radio station and will be replaced by the same man who replaced him at WNBC-TV.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Open Championship final round ratings.

Evan Weiner at the New Jersey Newsroom wonders what the UK phone hacking scandal could mean for News Corp.’s sports partners here in the US.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that NFL Today host James Brown didn’t like how DC NFL team coach Mike Shanahan handled QB Donovan McNabb.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the ratings for the Women’s World Cup Final.

Travis Sawchik of the Charleston (SC) Post & Courier says lucrative TV contracts have helped to make college football a big business.

Candace Carlisle of the Dallas Business Journal says Fox Sports Southwest has hired a veteran writer from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to beef up its online coverage.

Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle says Texas A&M Regents are concerned over Texas’ Longhorn Network and what it means for the future of the Big 12 Conference.

Ryan Sharp of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Big 12 Conference schools can’t be too happy over the Longhorn Network’s airing of Texas high school football games.

Steven Matthews of the Dayton Daily News says the Western & Southern Open will have plenty of new looks including extensive TV exposure this summer.

Tim Prahl of the Muskego (WI) Patch talks with former MLB Network reporter Trenni Kusnierek about returning home to Milwaukee to co-host a radio show.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes two games scheduled for the Chicago Bulls that may never get played.

Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera says the University of Colorado is in a unique position where it can sell the TV rights to its games this season.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times goes over some of the changes in the proposed NFL collective bargaining agreement including a new TV package.

Steve Zeitchik of the Times looks at Ross Greenburg leaving HBO.

Elizabeth Salaam of the San Diego Reader says a recent Facebook poll wasn’t kind to Padres TV voice Dick Enberg.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some thoughts on various topics.

Sports Media Watch has some news and notes.

And we have some more news and notes from SMW.

Joe Favorito looks at who will benefit when the NFL lockout finally comes to an end.

And there is your full set of links.

Some Quick Monday Links

Don’t know how work turned out to be so busy, but it’s cutting into blogging which I hope hasn’t discouraged you from visiting. The weekend also turned out to be unnecessarily busy as well. Anyway, this won’t be a whole set of linkage. I’ll do what I can.

Sports Business Daily looks at the 8.6 overnight rating the Women’s World Cup Final received on ESPN.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and John Lombardo break news that the Boston Celtics will purchase a 20% stake in Comcast SportsNet New England and keep its rights on the regional sports network for many years to come.

While Peter King is on vacation, NBC’s Al Michaels guest writes the Monday Morning Quarterback column in Sports Illustrated and raises some tremendous points. Someone should give Al a weekly or monthly column. I love this.

SI’s Richard Deitsch evaluates ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today praises ESPN for not cheerleading during yesterday’s Women’s World Cup Final.

The Hollywood Reporter looks at one of the big sports media stories to break over the weekend, that HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg is out.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports analyzes what led to Greenburg’s  ouster from HBO after 33 years.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid is amazed at the Women’s World Cup ratings.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says the Women’s World Cup set a record on Twitter.

Advertising Age says yesterday’s loss in the Women’s World Cup cost the US Women’s Soccer Team millions in endorsements.

SportsbyBrooks says ESPN irrevocably harmed Bruce Feldman’s reputation.

At SBNation, Rob Neyer explains how he was suspended from ESPN.

The Sportscasters Talent Agency of America notes that Kathryn Tappen has left NESN for the NHL Network. She will be missed on NESN. Very good host.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has the interesting audio of a minor league baseball announcer quitting his job on the air noting the bad ownership of the team.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at how the #freebruce story snowballed on Twitter and forced ESPN to respond.

Bobby Cassidy at Newsday has HBO’s official statement on the Ross Greenburg departure.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about the Women’s World Cup ratings.

I will have to end it there for now. I hope to have more links later.

The Law Firm of Costas & Michaels Plus Other Sunday Thoughts

I haven’t done a Sunday Thoughts post in a very long while. I’ve been wanting to do one, but either due to my day being planned for me or having to go to work or going out on Saturday and getting up late the following day, things haven’t worked out. But today, we have a nice harmonic convergence where everything came together for this post. Let’s get this done before things change.

Hey, We Should Have Bob Costas & Al Michaels Call Baseball Again!

On Friday, we finally got the awaited pairing of Bob Costas and Al Michaels on the New York Mets-San Francisco Giants game on MLB Network. Judging from their performance on MLB Network, SNY and Comcast SportsNet BayArea, I would welcome the teaming up of the two announcers again.

Costas had asked Michaels to join him on a broadcast and after clearing of schedules, the idea came to fruition with Al joining Bob at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

During the broadcast, Costas & Michaels split the first three innings on MLB Network before splitting the 4th and 5th on the Mets network, SNY, then heading over to the Giants’ flagship of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area for the 6th and 7th and finally ending on MLB Network for the 8th and 9th.

I was able to see all three broadcasts with the help of DirecTV, MLB.TV and the MLB At Bat iPad app. Officially, Michaels had not called a baseball game since the 1995 World Series, although he did a guest spot on ESPN a few years back. No matter when Al last called baseball, an entire generation of sports fans have not. While Costas to Michaels suggested that calling baseball after 16 years was like riding a bicycle, Al replied, “If the bicycle has me saying, ’3rd and 5′, then you know you’re in trouble.”

Al did show some rust in his first and half inning on MLB Network, but grew more comfortable as the game went along. He weaved tales of his time calling baseball locally in Cincinnati in the early 1970′s which led to an appearance on NBC TV and radio for the 1972 World Series, and in San Francisco which came in handy for the appearance on Comcast SportsNet.

One thing about baseball is the ability to tell stories during a broadcast and Michaels is an expert at it. During his time on all three networks, Michaels talked about calling the 1989 World Series for ABC and being in San Francisco when the massive earthquake hit during the first minutes of the broadcast’s open.

Costas and Michaels sometimes did play-by-play for each other, but it was ok. And so was not having an analyst. It reminded me of a radio MLB broadcast which usually has two play-by-play men alternating innings. Throughout their time on MLB Network, SNY and CSN Bay Area, Bob and Al had great chemistry, playing well off each other and showing humor throughout the game such as Michaels marveling at the immaculate booths of SNY and CSN while Al kept a mess in MLB Network’s.

MLB Network, SNY and CSN all weaved Bob’s and Al’s calls from the past, splicing in moments from past postseasons. However, the best tape came from CSN and was from 1975. It was Michaels’ radio call of the last out of a no-hitter thrown by Giants pitcher Ed Halicki. Al told Costas that it was the first time he had heard the tape since calling the game way back when.

While the shuffling from MLB Network to SNY to CSN back to MLB Network might have been confusing, it was to give audiences in New York and San Francisco an opportunity to hear Bob and Al as the national broadcast was blacked out in the local markets.

From what I heard on Twitter, the feedback from fans was mostly positive. People wanted to hear more of Bob and Al and hoped to see them work together again. I certainly hope we don’t have to wait 16 years for Michaels to call another game. In fact, I would think if the NFL lockout lasts into August, we might hear Al call another baseball game then.

ESPN Taking Another Event That Used To Be On Network TV

The big news last week was ESPN purchasing all US media rights for Wimbledon for the next 12 years. Of course, NBC had aired the event for 43 consecutive years ending last Sunday, July 3. I can go into the maddening tape delay policies that drove fans to the internet to look for illegal feeds and how it led Wimbledon to turn to ESPN, but I won’t. That’s not the point here.

The point of this thought is yet another event that goes all-cable starting next year. While ESPN can say those who have the rabbit ears can still see Wimbledon on ABC, they will just be table scraps or taped highlights on the middle Sunday of the fabled fortnight and on the day of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s finals.

While fans will soak in the live coverage on both ESPN and ESPN2 next year, it means another event that had been on over the air TV won’t be from 2012 through 2023. I’m not going to be like some newspaper reporters who claim that they’re looking out for the little guy who doesn’t have cable. There aren’t that many and most of the country watches TV through cable or satellite. But I still lament the loss of a great event from network TV. And while the playing field between cable/satellite is almost level with network TV since the digital conversion, you wonder if more events will be heading to the pay side.

Let’s face it, over the last few years, ESPN has purchased the rights to the Bowl Championship Series, the Open Championship, NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and now Wimbledon. All had been broadcast mainstays, but no longer. And in 2015, the NCAA Final Four^® becomes a cable event every other year alternating between TNT and CBS.

For ESPN, it’s certainly about ratings and money, but at the same time, the channel doesn’t have to have the ratings of ABC, NBC or CBS because the audience is smaller and the network doesn’t have to worry about spilling into other programming. ESPN can be flexible since it’s airing just sports and not a myriad of daytime, news and entertainment programming. And ESPN doesn’t have to respond to affiliates that can hold the network hostage.

But even with all this, I don’t see an end to the migration of events to cable. There may be a time where NBC may want to get out of the tennis business now only having the French Open. Perhaps Tennis Channel will take that all to itself leaving just the U.S. Open as the lone tennis Grand Slam event on network TV. That hasn’t happened yet, but it might.

ESPN’s main rival is NBC. Comcast is hoping to build Versus as a competitor and alternative to ESPN. There will be plenty of opportunities for the two companies to bid against each other for events and you can rest assured that the money will be flowing. It also means more events will move to cable, leaving a much smaller pie for the broadcast networks to fight over.

And that concludes the Sunday thoughts

Bringing Out Some Saturday Linkage

While I’m at work on this Saturday, I’ll do some linkage for you.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson used a gay slur to berate a caller on a Sirius XM radio show last week.

At The Grio, Marcus looks at the legacy of the train wreck that’s known as “The Decision” a year later.

According to The Wrap, ESPN Classic will become the home of the recently wrapped “Friday Night Lights” series.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the record viewership for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.

At the Buffalo News, Greg Connors reviews HBO’s documentary on Curt Flood.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner has written a FAQ on the NBA and NFL lockouts.

From the Baltimore Sun, Matt Vensel writes that a local sports radio talk show host is on the streets looking for a new gig.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals voice Joe Beninati and John Feinstein will call Kastles World Team Tennis matches this summer.

The St. Petersburg Times tells readers not to expect the NFL Network on Bright House cable systems anytime soon.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn says the incident from Thursday’s Oakland-Texas game where a fan died trying to catch a ball tossed into the stands by Josh Hamilton was greatly mishandled by both of the networks covering the contest.

Andrew Ferraro of the Houston Chronicle writes that an exhibition NHL game scheduled for Reliant Stadium in September has been canceled and Fox Sports Southwest is now looking for another way to get the Dallas Stars into the Houston market.

Berry Tremel at the Daily Oklahoman says the Longhorn Network taking a Big 12 Conference game from Fox Sports Net is opening a can of worms for fans.

Rick Noland from the Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram says we should forget about celebrating any anniversary of “The Decision.”

Steve Watkins of the Cincinnati Business Courier says the ratings for the Reds on Fox Sports Ohio are up significantly from last season.

Dave Lubach of the Sheboygan (WI) Press recaps an appearance by CBS/Golf Channel personality David Feherty at a charity golf event.

Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Fox Sports North will be airing a Minnesota Wild reality show over the next few months.

Tavis Govindjie of the Marin (CA) Independent Journal gives us this profile of a Comcast SportsNet Bay Area graphic designer.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Oakland A’s TV voices Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse have come under fire for being insensitive during the incident in Arlington that killed a fan. In their defense, they did not know how far the fan fell nor did they know his condition. It’s easy to sit here and criticize, but at the time, they did not know how serious the situation was.

Cam Inman of the Oakland Tribune talks with former ABC/CBS/NBC NFL analyst John Madden about the lockout and the Madden NFL ’11 video game.

The Hamilton Spectator in Canada notes that some recently found CFL footage discovered in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame has been digitized and put online.

Derek Zona of SB Nation ranks all of the NHL TV broadcasters from top to bottom.

Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest didn’t think the Bob Costas-Al Michaels mashup for last night’s Mets-Giants game was anything special. I disagree.

Dave Kohl in Major League Programs explains why ESPN went all in for its Wimbledon bid.

World Cup Buzz says ESPN is doing the Women’s World Cup right this year.

EPL Talk has the US TV schedules for the English Premier League “friendlies” that will take place this month.

Quite a few links today which is good to see after working into the wee hours of this morning on the Megalinks. I’ll be back tomorrow with more linkage.

Doing Some Megalinks

Today, I was all over the place going in between two offices, heading to see a client and running through Northern Rhode Island for no good reason. But I’m trying to do some megalinkage after not being able to do them last week so let’s not delay any further. Check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for sports and primetime recommendations.

Now to the linkage.

National

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says ESPN’s Michelle Beadle has quickly become one of the network’s most popular personalities.

With this being the one year anniversary of the abortion known as “The Decision”, ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute wonders if the network has learned anything after running the program.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that the new Time Warner Sports regional sports network has made two important hires.

Guest blogging for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Joe Gisondi tells aspiring writers that going for the offbeat can sometimes lead to some of the best stories.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that ESPN continues to use the MLB Home Run Derby as a guinea pig for new innovations.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that a year after “The Decision”, LeBron James still remains a pariah among sports fans.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN is still dealing with the fallout from “The Decision.”

The Business Insider’s Sports Page provides the best and worst of the first 30 days of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Sports Media Watch tells us that the ratings for the Women’s World Cup are up significantly from the previous event from four years ago.

SMW also has some ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito says Victor Martinez may not have been selected for the last American League All-Star Game roster spot, but it wasn’t due to his creative campaigning.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe compares and contrasts the Hub’s two regional sports networks, NESN and Comcast SportsNet New England.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the fill-ins on local sports radio and he remembers the late Boston Herald columnist and celebrated boxing writer, George Kimball.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram talks with Fox Sports MLB analyst Eric Karros about the All-Star Game.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the new season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm broaches some painful baseball memories.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post lectures everyone who thinks the Roger Clemens perjury trial is a waste of time.

Justin Terranova of the Post writes about Bob Costas and Al Michaels calling tonight’s Mets-Giants game on MLB Network and SNY.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com writes about some changes at a Baltimore sports radio station.

I hope this next story goes viral. From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg writes former quarterback Joe Theismann telling a local radio station how he got hoof and mouth disease playing in the CFL. Why does that seem appropriate for Theismann?

Jim Williams talks about Al Michaels and Bob Costas teaming up for MLB Network.

South

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald has former Hurricane quarterback Gino Torretta calling out Ohio State fans for forcing ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to move out of his native Columbus.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle discusses the Longhorn Network making some on-air hires.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that Tulsa native Dari Nowkhah will be the main host on ESPNU for the upcoming college sports season.

Mel has his sports media news and notes.

Midwest

Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal looks at “The Decision” one year later and where it leaves native LeBron James.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press has Joe Buck raving about the Detroit Tigers.

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley has Fox’s Tim McCarver discussing the Brewers’ All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder.

Crain’s Chicago Business’ Ed Sherman has his winners and losers in sports business.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Fox’s Tim McCarver who will be at the mic for his record 20th All-Star Game on Tuesday.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times looks at the HBO Curt Flood documentary that airs the night after the All-Star Game.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes about Al Michaels accepting Bob Costas’ invitation to call a game on MLB Network.

In his notebook, Jim writes that the Home Run Derby is watched by the MLB All-Stars as well.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Fox’s Joe Buck.

Tom has Joe willing to step aside to have Vin Scully call the World Series one more time.

Tom has his news and notes.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the doctor with a connection to Tiger Woods and pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges raised the ire of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that IndyCar makes two stops this summer in the Great White North and TSN will take Versus’ coverage of both events.

And with that and it being early Saturday morning, I’ll end the megalinks here.

Unveiling The Thursday Links

Been a busy day at work once again. Doing these late and I’ll try to put forth as many links as I can before being told to leave the office.

Sports Business Daily takes a look at the one year anniversary of the infamous “The Decision” that made LeBron James a pariah in Cleveland and most of the country.

Patrick Kemp at the Buffalo News reports that ESPN NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby will perform 500 hours of community service as he was sentenced Wednesday for a domestic disturbance case involving his estranged wife and her boyfriend. I asked ESPN for a statement on this matter and received this response: “Now that its (sic) gotten to the point in the process, we need to regroup and have follow up conversations.” This means that ESPN is evaluating Barnaby’s employment for the upcoming NHL season.

At The Sweet Science, boxing writer Thomas Hauser remembers fellow colleague and former Boston Herald columnist George Kimball who has passed at the age of 69.

Michael Woods of The Sweet Science also pauses to reflect on Kimball.

Another former Kimball colleague, Michael Gee gives his thoughts on his friend’s passing in the Boston Herald.

Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter has a preview of Showtime’s MLB reality show, “The Franchise” focusing on the San Francisco Giants.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable looks at CBS’ Jim Nantz getting an award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times says ESPN winning the Wimbledon media rights is just a small part of a big battle between ESPN/Disney and Comcast/NBC.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN Front Row talks with original ESPN’er Bob Ley on who he follows on Twitter. I’m honored to be one of those to be followed by Mr. Ley.

Last night, comedian Artie Lange made his first radio appearance since his suicide attempt and subsequent departure from the Howard Stern Show. Dylan P. Gadino of Punchline live blogged the guest spot Artie did with fellow comic Nick DiPaolo on Fox Sports Radio. Reading Gadino’s writing, it’s apparent he is not a sports fan.

Fox Sports Radio host Ben Maller writing in Yahoo’s The Post Game chronicles how he lost 200 pounds.

Dan Fogarty has audio of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd blaming Canada for its health care system and insinuating Tiger Woods takes steroids.

CTV has finally relaunched its Olympics site for the 2012 London Games.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell marvels at how 2018 Olympics host Pyeongchang, Sout Korea is already halfway finished in building venues and it was just awarded the Games on Wednesday.

Marc Berman at the New York Post writes that Spero Dedes’ deal to become the radio voice could be in limbo stemming from his DWI arrest over the weekend.

Newsday’s Neil Best says ticket prices remain high for upcoming Yankees games as fans try to see the contest where Derek Jeter gets his 3,000th career hit.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that a Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic anchor gave a tongue-in-cheek motivational speech to interns.

Writer John Feinstein explains why he quit doing Navy football radio broadcasts effective immediately.

Gary Dinges of the Austin American-Statesman says the ESPN-owned Longhorn Network has chosen the site for its studios and named three of its on-air staffers.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Bengals writes that former radio voice Brad Johansen will call the team’s preseason games on TV starting this season, provided there is a preseason.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Pro Football Hall of Fame is ready to say hello to CBS’ Jim Nantz.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News feels the Pro Football Hall of Fame redeemed itself with Jim Nantz after selecting Chris Berman as its TV-Radio Award recipient last year.

Tom transcribes what Colin Cowherd said about the Dodgers today.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that former CBC Hockey Night in Canada Radio host Jeff Marek has officially joined Rogers Sportsnet.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog writes about Jeff Marek’s role with Sportsnet.

Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN has picked up the Canadian rights to Wimbledon starting next year.

And Canadian Sports Media tells us that TSN’s arrangement to air The Championships, Wimbledon is similar to ESPN’s.

Barry Pachesky of Deadspin says ESPN’s deal with Wimbledon is the future of sports television.

Deadspin’s Brian Hickey notes that Versus had a big, blue phallic symbol creep into its Tour de France coverage.

SportsbyBrooks has word on some college football network TV on-air hires.

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

SMW notes that the ratings for last weekend’s NASCAR Daytona 400 on TNT fell from last year.

EPL Talk notices that FIFA is considering to break up the 2022 World Cup in Qatar into three 30-minute periods due to the oppressive heat and humidity.

The latest Awful Announcing podcast has the great Darren Rovell of CNBC.

That’s going to do it for today.

Some Quick Thursday Links

Trying to squeeze linkage in while I can. This won’t be a full set of links. I will do the megalinks tomorrow, but today will be a quickie links day.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today reports that the ratings for the USA-North Korea game in the Women’s World Cup drew decently for ESPN.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says industry analysts expect 3-D TV sales to be very slow this year, but eventually ramp up by mid-decade.

Edmund Lee of Advertising Age talks with the publisher and co-founder of The Awl, Bill Cho, who’s leaving to go to join Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions explains why the sales of TV’s in the 3rd dimension are tanking.

David Goetzl from MediaPost says NBC Sports is raising its profile for the Tour de France which begins this weekend.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says David Tyree’s anti-gay stance brings some strong challenges for journalists.

This story has been burning up the sports blogosphere since Wednesday afternoon. A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says Hollywood movie producers are thinking of making a movie from the tome, “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside The World of ESPN”.

Alexandra Kuczynski-Brown of SportsGrid says the BBC has developed a product that will reduce the grunting and shrieking at Centre Court in Wimbledon.

Andy Blesser at Beet TV talks about the Watch ESPN mobile app.

Brandon Costa of the Sports Video Group discusses ESPN 3D going live from Wimbledon this week.

Dave Nagle of ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with ESPN2′s Chris Evert on her return to TV at SW19 for the fortnight.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at what lies ahead of NBA Communist China Sympathizer David Stern as the lockout is now in full effect.

Kurt Helin of NBC’s Pro Basketball Talk has the organizers of last year’s “The Decision” starring LeBron James and his talents, surprised by the backlash against the made-for-TV event. Really? C’mon, man.

All Access reports that personalities from Philadelphia’s sports radio WIP will guest host Comcast SportsNet’s Daily News Live starting next week.

The Around the Rings blog says BBC Sport has been named as the UK rightsholder for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir writes about General Electric’s increased sponsorship of the Olympics.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders why NBC did not air today’s Maria Sharapova-Sabine Lisicki Wimbledon semifinal match live.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the MLB Network live game schedule for July.

The Centre Daily (PA) Times previews tonight’s ESPN presentation of Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

From Capitol File magazine, ESPN’s Erin Andrews answers a few questions.

KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa says a local cable company will pick up 16 extra Minnesota Twins games ending a dispute with Fox Sports North.

Jay Heater of the Idaho State Journal says a Pocatello radio station is changing its affiliation from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews tonight’s ESPN program with Penn State’s JoePa and Duke’s Coach K.

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area notes that Bob Costas and Al Michaels will make a guest appearance on its local broadcast of July 8th’s New York Mets-San Francisco Giants game. The pair will call most of the game on MLB Network, but will slide over to CSN Bay Area for a half inning.

The Maui News says NBC golf reporter Mark Rolfing will no longer be the organizer for a PGA Tour event.

Marty McGee of the Daily Racing Form talks with NBC’s horse racing reporter Donna Brothers.

Noel Murray at the A.V. Club looks at the ESPN book.

The Football Girl is not a fan of a full NFL Thursday Night Football schedule.

Stars Entertainment speaks with Tennis Channel anchor Angela Sun. The story mentions that she worked for ESPN, but I have never seen her on ESPN. Yahoo, yes. Tennis Channel, yes. ESPN? No. I’ve never seen her there. Maybe you have.

Sports Media Watch notes that the U.S. Open’s ratings were down for all four rounds.

SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

And SMW has some news and notes on some coming attractions.

Barry Janoff from The Big Lead speaks with prolific reality TV producer Mark Burnett.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs reviews the latest in sports media.

And I found more links than I thought and that’s a bonus for you. Back later tonight.

Providing Your Tuesday Linkage

Let’s go for your links today.

Starting with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, he explores whether the Women’s World Cup can find an audience and he also scolds Pierre McGuire.

Steve Weiberg of USA Today says a group of former college athletes is suing ESPN and CBS plus other networks for using their likenesses on commercials, promos and classic programming without their permission. This is going to be a very interesting case.

Sergio Non of USA Today says Spike’s replay of an old UFC event beat a new UFC card airing on Versus in the ratings on Sunday.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost looks at the NFL seeking yet another TV package to help drive up revenue.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBA Digital saw record traffic for the Draft last week.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Sportsman Channel continues to gain HD access on Comcast systems in the South.

Mike says a couple of presenting sponsors of ESPN’s self-aggrandizing ESPY Awards are back for another year.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek tells us that TNT still has a few spots open for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Daytona this Saturday.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the Women’s World Cup is a top draw on TV this week.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says Fang’s Bites fave Bethanie Mattek-Sands has issued a challenge to the Larry Brown Sports blog.

Chris Ariens at TVSpy notes that there’s a baby boom among female sportscasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex including my Twitter friend, Gina Miller of KTVT/KTXA .

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN’s True Hoop NBA blog network notes that the league’s techies and social media gurus are possibly looking at websites without the likenesses of any of its players in case a lockout becomes reality. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid notes that ESPN is stocking up on attractive blond female sportscasters.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with DirecTV Football Cop C.J. Hunter a.k.a. Eli Manning.

Dave Seminara of the New York Times’ Straight Sets blog isn’t a big fan of having to shuffle around NBC and ESPN2 to find the Wimbledon match he wants to watch.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at Tiki Barber’s attempted NFL comeback.

And Neil has more with Tiki in his blog.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog has the results of a local magazine’s sports media poll.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes that former Cubs and Nationals manager Jim Riggleman will be a guest analyst for the Cubs-White Sox series on Comcast SportsNet.

The Idaho Press-Tribune notes that CBS Sports Network gets an important pickup in Big Sky country and for fans looking to watch Boise State football.

Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman says CBS Sports Network will be added to a digital tier which means customers will have to pay extra to see it.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL is going full speed ahead with a new TV package.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page says Comcast hopes to use a Thursday Night NFL Football package to challenge ESPN.

Jim Barthold of Fierce Cable talks about Comcast desperately wanting to pick up the NFL for Versus.

Barry Janoff of The Big Lead says when athletes tweet, they engage their fans.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says the Pierre McGuire-to-NBC story is just about official.

Sports Media Watch notes that the USA-Mexico Gold Cup Final captured plenty of viewers on Univision.

SMW says the NBC Sports Group has yet to settle on a new name for Versus.

SMW has some announcing recommendations for MLB’s TV partners.

Joe Favorito says it’s time for the Yankees Old Timers Game to shuffle into a new era and bring in a “new generation” of old timers.

Awful Announcing’s Bob Bender is not a fan of ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup or of women’s soccer in general. And the USA played North Korea today, not China.

And I’ll end it there for today.