Fang's Bites

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

MLB
Red Sox at Tampa Bay – NESN/ION, 7 p.m.
Texas at New York Yankees – FSN Southwest/YES, 7 p.m.
Kansas City at Baltimore – FSN Kansas City/MASN, 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati – FSN Pittsburgh/FSN Ohio, 7 p.m.
Washington at Florida – MASN2/FSN Florida, 7 p.m.
New York Mets at St. Louis – ESPN/SNY/FSN Midwest, 7 p.m.
Cleveland at Chicago White Sox – STO/Comcast SportsNet Chicago, 8 p.m.
Detroit at Minnesota – FSN Detroit/FSN North, 8 p.m.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston – FSN Prime Ticket/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
San Diego at Colorado – Cox 4/FSN Rocky Mountain, 9 p.m.
Milwaukee at Arizona – FSN Wisconsin/FSN Arizona, 9:30 p.m.
Oakland at Anaheim Angels – KICU/FSN West, 10 p.m.
Toronto at Seattle – Rogers Sportsnet/FSN Northwest, 10 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at San Francisco – Comcast SportsNet Chicago +/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10 p.m.

Olympic Trials
Swimming – USA, 8 p.m.
Track & Field – USA, 11:05 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon Primetime – Tennis Channel, 7 p.m.

Entertainment
Locked Up Abroad – National Geographic, 9 p.m.
Jon & Kate Plus 8 – TLC, 9 p.m.
Weeds – Showtime, 10 p.m.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl – Showtime, 10:30 p.m.

John Tomase Makes His 1st TV Appearance To Talk About Spygate

Comcast SportsNet New England makes a big splash tonight with the appearance of the Boston Herald’s John Tomase on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight. Here’s the press release:

JOHN TOMASE TALKS PUBLICLY FOR THE FIRST TIME

TONIGHT ON COMCAST SPORTSNET’S

MOHEGAN SUN SPORTS TONIGHT

BURLINGTON, MA – Boston Herald Patriots beat writer John Tomase will make his first TV appearance tonight at 10 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet’s Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight to talk Patriots training camp, the Red Sox and to address the controversy over his walkthrough tape story.

Host Michael Felger and guest co-host Sean Grande will interview Tomase who will comment on “tapegate” for the first time since he issued an apology in the Boston Herald after Matt Walsh denied taping the Rams’ Super Bowl walkthrough in meetings with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter.

Also appearing this evening on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight is Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and NBC Sports.com’s Tom Curran at 6:30 and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak at 10 p.m.

This will amount to Must See TV tonight.

UPDATE, 3:18 p.m. – David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch says this will be Tomase’s first appearance since April 24 and co-hosts Felger and Grande need to show some cajones in their questioning.

A Monday Linkage Day

We’re back with some links. During this holiday week, I won’t be posting as much. I have some work to finish before Friday so the posting will be a bit sporadic. You will get links at the beginning of the day, but probably not at night.

If media links are available on the 4th of July, then I will post the megalinks. We’ll see if the media writers across the country do their stories on Thursday or Friday.

Let’s get to the links for today.

Starting with Michael Hiestand’s USA Today who returns to work after a week off, he writes that Fox has some major plans for the All Star Game at Yankee Stadium next week.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick rallies behind former Rutgers University radio voice Bruce Johnson who lost his job last week in favor of WFAN’s Chris Carlin.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in TV sports and also looks forward to Red Sox-Rays tonight.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News writes that a local sportscaster has been cut from his TV station.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a review of a new book about golf.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News writes that Tennis Channel analyst Justin Gimelstob was classless in his comments about Anna Kournikova.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Vin Scully correctly called an error on the Angels’ Jeff Weaver before it was ruled by the official scorer during Saturday’s game in which the Dodgers won despite being no-hit. And Tom says Lenny Dykstra is trying to sell his house.

The Toronto Star’s Chris Zelkovich feels TSN’s one announcer booth was better than ESPN’s two announcers on Euro 2008.

Multichannel News reports that ESPN2 will air a five part documentary on the U.S. Men’s Basketball team as it prepares for the Olympic Games in Communist China.

Michael Learmonth of Silicon Valley Insider writes that NBC is going to botch the online presentation of the Olympics.

Steven Musil of CNET feels the web is taking a backseat to NBC’s televised portion of the games.

That will do it for now.

The Week Ahead

As Euro 2008 has finished, the sporting eyes turn to the 4th of July holiday weekend in the United States and the finish of Wimbledon in Europe.

As Interleague play finally finishes, some of the traditional rivalries return to baseball this week. In the early week series, American League East division rivals Tampa Bay and Boston square off in a battle for first place. In the AL Central, the White Sox host last place Cleveland and the second place Twins host Detroit. And in the AL West, the Angels head to Oakland as the top two teams in the division play an important series.

Starting on Thursday, the Red Sox and Yankees will start a four game series in which New York has its opportunity to get back in the AL East race. Saturday’s game will be on Fox. ESPN will have the series finale on Sunday night.

In the National League, the Mets have a chance to get back in the East division battle when it takes on Philadelphia. The Dodgers and Giants will also renew their rivalry this weekend.

Wimbledon starts off the quarterfinals in both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles on Monday and ESPN2 and NBC will combine for live and same day coverage. ESPN2 will start its coverage each day at 7 a.m. NBC takes over at 10 a.m., Monday-Wednesday, then at noon for the women’s semis on Thursday and then noon again on Friday for the men’s semis. Then on Saturday and Sunday, it’s Breakfast at Wimbledon at 9 a.m. for the Ladies and Gentlemen’s Finals, respectively. If you’re looking for online coverage, ESPN360 simulcasts ESPN2′s coverage each day. NBCSports.com will also be streaming its coverage through the finals (major props for that).

NASCAR heads to its traditional 4th of July weekend race at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400 which TNT carries Saturday night starting at 6:30.

Indy Car will be in New York for something called the Camping World Indy Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. ABC has the race on Sunday.

Formula 1 fans have the British Grand Prix to watch this Sunday as well.

The PGA Tour heads to Congressional in Maryland for the AT&T National. Golf Channel and CBS combine for the coverage.

The LPGA will be playing the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship which CBS carries during the weekend.

The U.S. Olympic Trials continue as the swimming and track & field teams will continue to be selected. USA Network will have late night coverage of the track & field trials on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Swimming fans can watch the trials every night from 8-9 p.m. starting tonight and all the way through next Sunday on either NBC or USA. Steaming online coverage can be seen also on NBCOlympics.com.

And that is your week ahead in sports.

A Sunday Link Thing

After a few glitches involving my computer, I think I’m ready to bring you some links this morning.

Starting off with Neil Best of Newsday, he writes a column about father and son broadcasters, Joe Castiglione, voice of the Red Sox, and his son, Duke Castiglione who works for Fox 5 in New York. And tell Neil that you totally enjoyed this column. In his blog, Neil has reader e-mails denouncing the Personal Seat License plan in the new Giants/Jets stadium.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the Giants and Jets are shaking down fans with the Personal Seat Licences for the new stadium.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman has Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw backing down from his retirement talk from earlier this year.

Looking lovely as always, Daryn Kagan has the inspirational story of a blind mountain climber who uses adversity as a metaphor to succeed in life.

Albert Breer and Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News team up on a fascincating story on former Cowboys wide receiver and CBS NFL analsyt Frank Clarke who disappeared from the spotlight to become a nanny.

In his Olympics notebook, David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ratings for the Diving and Gymnastics trials did well locally (scroll down).

Mulichannel News reports on two long-time ESPN employees moving up the corporate ladder.

Dick Scanlon of the Lakeland (FL) Ledger writes that the NFL is facing reality with the NFL Network.

Josh Kendall of the Macon (GA) Telegraph says the Southeastern Conference is in a position of strength as it approaches a new round of TV negotiations.

Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun talks about the second season of a University of Maryland football reality series that is believed to be the first of its kind.

Michael Learmonth of the Silicon Valley Insider site has several ways you can watch the Euro 2008 final today in case you’re not in front of a TV.

Dave Weekley of the Charlestown (WV) Gazette-Mail writes that Hulu.com offers plenty of sports gems.

Bob Buttitta of the Ventura County Star writes that the Johnny Miller apology over comments he made at the U.S. Open over Rocco Mediate shows that the nation has become oversensitive.

John Pye of the Associated Press writes that the Tennis Channel’s Justin Gimelstob has apologized for disparaging comments made about Anna Kournikova.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog watched George Carlin on the very first Saturday Night Live program and noted the first joke he made was about sports.

Mike Tankersley of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser writes about FSN’s new series on Baseball’s Golden Age.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) goes behind-the-scenes of a FSN Detroit telecast of the Tigers.

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times says Chicago is getting attention from ESPN usually reserved for Boston or New York.

Mike DiMauro of the Bleacher Report wishes TSN would get its act in gear and syndicate its CFL games to the United States.

Dave Donofrio of the Concord (NH) Monitor says the NASCAR TV package allows the sport to market itself overseas.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says give credit to ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike for beating WSCR’s Mike North in the ratings fair and square.

The AfterEllen site wonders if Maria Sharapova and 10,000 B.C. star Camilla Belle are more than BFF.

That’s going to do it. I’ll have the Week Ahead posted sometime this evening.

Videos of the Week: NBA on TBS/TNT

Back in 1984, SuperStation TBS purchased the rights to the National Basketball Association, a partnership that has continued through today. Then in 1988, the NBA began airing on TBS’ sister network TNT, and since 2002, has shared the cable rights with ESPN.

For many NBA fans, TNT has become the network of record for the NBA thanks to its long run of airing games. Let’s give you some various opens and promos from TBS.

From 1985, here’s a promo for Monday Night NBA between Philadelphia and San Antonio. When TBS first got the NBA, it labeled the league as America’s Game, something David Stern really liked.

Here’s an intro for Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Pistons. Bob Neal and Doug Collins were the broadcast team and Charlie Neal (no relation) was the on-site host.

In 1991, the Suns beat the Celtics in a regular season game and your postgame host is Ernie Johnson, Jr. as it is today, but look how small the studio looks. Of course, you don’t have Kenny Smith or Charles Barkley.

In 2003, TNT used its “We Know Drama” line for the NBA Playoffs and here’s director Spike Lee.

“Remember the Name” was the theme of TNT’s playoff coverage in 2006.

Here’s the “Remember the Name” intro just before Game 6 of the 2006 Western Conference Finals.

Here’s Entourage’s Jeremy Piven doing the introduction to the 2007 Playoffs.

This is TNT’s opening to the 2007-08 season.

This is Chris Rock doing the intro for the 2008 All Star Game.

Here’s Terrence Howard’s introduction to the 2008 NBA Playoffs on TNT.

Here’s the current NBA on TNT theme.

One cannot forget about Inside the NBA, winner of four Sports Emmy Awards for Best Studio Show. The show took off when Charles Barkley joined Kenny Smith and host Ernie Johnson, Jr. Here’s video from 2002 after a Denver blowout loss at the hands of Detroit. This is when the three are at their best.

From 2004, Yao Ming wishes Kenny Smith a Happy Birthday.

From the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, TNT shows Charles Barkley on roller blades.

Of course, there’s the classic moment from earlier this season when Ernie punked Charles with the famous “I’m a dumbass” line.

But the best is when the Inside the NBA pulls out the pictures and here is prom night featuring guest analyst Magic Johnson.

There you go. Starting next week, we’ll get ready for the Summer Olympics with various looks at coverage from previous summer games.

Some Saturday Linkage

I was out earlier today so it’s time to give some links on this Saturday night.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that a local sports anchor is very deserving of a recent promotion.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says fans are hoping the news about the NFL Network games moving to ESPN Classic is true.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that a local sports radio host has won a seat in the World Series of Poker.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes about properly using the term “legendary” for certain sports broadcasters.

From the San Antonio Express-News, Jerry Garcia reports that a local Sporting News Radio affiliate is giving way to country music.

Neil Best of Newsday writes that the Mike & the Mad Dog saga turned up to be a topic of conservation on SNY. And Neil reports that the producer of a minor league baseball show has pulled the series from SNY.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Chicago Cubs owner Sam Zell has a dilemma whether to sell now or later. And Darren writes that the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul may have pulled off the best sports promotion ever.

Joe Favorito says the Soul’s move is a bit risky, but a good idea nonetheless.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner reports that Baltimore TV sports anchor Scott Garceau will no longer report five nights a week. Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun spoke with Garceau about his decision.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Canadians have been watching the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions. The SMW says the ratings for the College World Series were up for ESPN. And Euro 2008 has been a hit for the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Jeff Hash of the EPL Talk blog says Spain-Italy was the highest rated match for ESPN’s Euro 2008 coverage.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes ESPN and ESPN2 scored their best ratings ever for the College World Series.

Scotty Thompson of the Dublin (GA) Courier-Herald feels ESPN’s Mike Patrick did not do a good job during the College World Series.

From the “I’m Permanntly Scarred for Life” Department, the Sox & Dawgs blog has the video of three guys streaking at a recent Cape Cod League Summer League game. From the “This is Much Better” Department, Sox & Dawgs has the farewell video NESN put together for Hazel Mae’s last sportscast.

The 38 Cliches blog keeps track of former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano’s trip to Houston this weekend.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog has the transcript of Bonnie Bernstein’s apology for statements she made on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike show. Awful Announcing has the actual video of Bonnie saying Palestinian kids want to grow up to be suicide bombers. Bonnie was actually making a good point before she brought suicide bombers into the equation.

Mike DiMauro of the Bleacher Report says ESPN needs to showcase all MLB teams, not just a selected few. And in part 2 of his column, Mike writes that ESPN does not need to schedule games months in advance.

Bob Sassone of the TV Squad blog hates ESPN’s Wimbledon scoreboard graphic and I totally agree. It’s very confusing.

Craig Dolch of the Palm Beach Post says NBC did not show the U.S. Women’s Open much respect by not cutting away from Wimbledon coverage this afternoon and cutting into golf coverage. And what Dolch did not write is that NBC then cut away from the golf again at 6 p.m. ET, jettisoning the Open to ESPN2.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says NBC would love to have another U.S. Open playoff this Monday.

David Bauder of the Associated Press writes that NBC Sports is diving in head first into online streaming and live blogging for the Summer Olympics in Communist China.

Speaking of which, I’m watching the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials live on NBC Olympics.com while the Red Sox are on my TV. The picture quality through Microsoft Silverlight is excellent. If this is how the Olympics are going to look on my computer, then I have seen the future of sports television.

That will do it for now. I’m back tomorrow.

Radio Daze

I’m not in a good mood right now and it’s not because Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic were eliminated on consecutive days at Wimbledon (ok, it’s partly because of that), but it’s mostly due to the fact that one of my good friends lost his job yesterday.

Having worked in radio in Providence for a number of years, I have made many good friends. Even though I’m no longer in the business, I have still kept my friendships that I made when I was at WHJJ/WHJY/WSNE/B-101. Over the years, one-by-one, my friends have been picked off by the management. Friday, my friend, Brian Mulhern of 93.3 Coast FM lost his job. I’ve known Brian since he worked for Carolyn Fox at 94HJY. As fellow Red Sox fans, we’ve suffered together through many heartbreaking losses and then celebrated over two Red Sox championships. We’ve gone to many Sox games together. We’ve comiserated over lost relationships, congratulated each other through the good times and through it all, remained good friends.

We love talking about comedy such as Arrested Development, Brian Regan, Larry David and anything under the sun.

Earlier this year, my friends over at the Score AM-FM in Providence lost their jobs and now Brian loses his. Radio is a tough business. Unless you’re a Howard Stern who can name his own price and employer, my suggestion is to stay out of radio for now. It’s not a fun place to be.

UPDATE, 9:55 P.M – John Crowe over at the Crowe’s Nest has his reaction to Brian’s firing.

And on another note, it was Mike Francesa’s turn to address the situation with him and Chris Russo on WFAN. Newsday’s Neil Best was watching on YES and listening to the FAN and was amazed at what he heard.

Unless Francesa is pulling an acting job, it appears the Mike & the Mad Dog show is very much in flux at this point. This is a situation we’ll continue to monitor.

Weekend Viewing Picks

Saturday, June 28

Boxing
WBC Lightweight Championship/David Diaz vs. Manny Pacquaio – HBO PPV, 9 p.m.

Golf
U.S. Women’s Open, 3rd Round – NBC, 3 p.m.
PGA Tour/Buick Open, 3rd Round – CBS, 3 p.m.

Indy Car Series
SunTrust Indy Challenge – ESPN, 8 p.m.

Horse Racing
Hollywood Gold Cup – ESPN2, 7 p.m.

MLB
Atlanta at Toronto – SportSouth/CBC, 1 p.m.
New York Yankees at New York Mets – Fox, 3:55 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox – Fox, 3:55 p.m.
Red Sox at Astros – NESN/FSN Houston, 7 p.m.
Cincinnati at Cleveland – FSN Ohio/STO, 7 p.m.
Colorado at Detroit – FSN Rocky Mountain/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City – FSN Midwest/FSN Kansas City, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee at Minnesota – FSN Wisconsin/FSN North, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh – FSN Florida/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at Washington – MASN2/MASN, 7 p.m.
Arizona at Florida – FSN Arizona/Sun Sports, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Texas – CW57/FSN Southwest, 8 p.m.
San Francisco at Oakland – KNTV/KICU, 9 p.m.
Anaheim Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers – KCOP/KCAL, 10 p.m.
Seattle at San Diego – FSN Northwest/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10 p.m.

NASCAR
Nationwide Series/CampingWorld RV Sales 200 – ABC, 3 p.m.

Olympic Trials
U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials – NBC, 8 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon – ESPN2, 8 a.m./NBC, noon/ESPN2, 3 p.m.

Entertainment
America’s Most Wanted – Fox, 9 p.m.
Robin Hood – BBC America, 9 p.m.
Havoc – IFC, 9 p.m.
Lost and Delirious – IFC, 10:30 p.m.
Saturday Night with George Carlin (debut episode from October 11, 1975) – NBC, 11:30 p.m.
Girl from B.I.K.I.N.I – Cinemax, 12:20 a.m.

Sunday, June 29

Euro 2008
Championship/Germany vs. Spain – ABC, 2:30 p.m.
2008 Euro Highlight Show – ESPN Classic, 7 p.m.

Golf
U.S. Women’s Open, final round – NBC, 3 p.m.
PGA Tour/Buick Open, final round – CBS, 3 p.m.

MLB
Cincinnati at Cleveland – FSN Ohio/STO, 1 p.m.
Colorado at Detroit – KTVD/FSN Detroit, 1 p.m.
Atlanta at Toronto – SportSouth/CBC, 1 p.m.
New York Yankees at New York Mets – TBS/YES/WPIX, 1 p.m.
Arizona at Florida – FSN Arizona/FSN Florida, 1 p.m.
Baltimore at Washington – MASN2/MASN, 1:30 p.m.
Red Sox at Astros – NESN/KTXH, 2 p.m.
Milwaukee at Minnesota – FSN Wisconsin/FSN North, 2 p.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City – KDSK/FSN Kansas City, 2 p.m.
San Francisco at Oakland – Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/KICU, 4 p.m.
Anaheim Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers – KCOP/KCAL, 4 p.m.
Seattle at San Diego – FSN Northwest/Cox 4, 4 p.m.
Philadelphia at Texas – CW57/FSN Southwest, 6 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 7 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox – ESPN, 8 p.m.

NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series/LENOX Industrial Tools 301 – TNT, 2 p.m.

Olympic Trials
Track & Field Trials – NBC, 7 p.m.
U.S. Swimming Trials – NBC, 8 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon (tape) – NBC, noon

Entertainment
60 Minutes – CBS, 7 p.m.
Million Dollar Password – CBS, 8 p.m.
Ice Road Truckers – History Channel, 9 p.m.
Dateline NBC – NBC, 9 p.m.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent – USA, 9 p.m.
Army Wives – Lifetime, The Network That Hates Men, 10 p.m.
Factory (series premiere) – Spike, 10 p.m.
In Plain Sight – USA, 10 p.m.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

MLB
Cincinnati at Cleveland – FSN Ohio/STO, 7 p.m.
Colorado at Detroit – FSN Rocky Mountain/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
Atlanta at Toronto – SportSouth/Rogers Sportsnet, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh – ION/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at Washington – MASN/MASN2, 7 p.m.
Arizona at Florida – FSN Arizona/FSN Florida, 7 p.m.
Red Sox at Houston – NESN/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
New York Yankees at New York Mets – YES/WPIX, 8 p.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City – FSN Midwest/FSN Kansas City, 8 p.m.
Milwaukee at Minnesota – FSN Wisconsin/FSN North, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Texas – Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/FSN Southwest, 8 p.m.
San Francisco at Oakland – KNTV/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 10 p.m.
Seattle at San Diego – FSN Northwest/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10:15 p.m.
Anaheim Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers – FSN West/FSN Prime Ticket, 10:30 p.m.

Entertainment
19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards – Bravo, 8 p.m.
George Carlin: It’s Bad For Ya – HBO, 9 p.m.
Dateline NBC – NBC, 9 p.m.
Doctor Who – SciFi, 9 p.m.
20/20 – ABC, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.
Co-Ed Confidential 2 Sophomores – Cinemax, 12:15 a.m.

Our Friday Megalinks

Time for our Friday megalinks. Before we get to the links, we look at the weekend viewing.

Weekend Viewing Picks

This weekend is quite busy for the sports calendar. There’s interleague play in baseball as the natural rivalries come into play in New York, Chicago, Washington-Baltimore, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Wimbledon goes into its first weekend of its traditional fortnight, but without many favorites like Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick. Euro 2008 concludes on Sunday. The U.S. Olympic trials in several sports will take place over the weekend and the U.S. Women’s Open is being played in Minnesota.

The Yankees-Mets and Cubs-White Sox will be the focus of the national attention this weekend. Fox will carry both matchups as part of its regional Game of the Week coverage on Saturday. TBS has the fourth game of the Subway Series (Yanks-Mets) on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ESPN will carry Cubs-White Sox Sunday night at 8 p.m.

ESPN2 and NBC will combine for live and same day coverage of Wimbledon on Saturday starting at 8 a.m. NBC will pick up its coverage from SW19 at noon, then ESPN2 returns at 3 p.m. until the day’s conclusion of play. On the traditional vacant Sunday, NBC will have a review of the week’s play at noon.

The Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain can be seen on ABC at 2:30 p.m.

NBC has coverage of the U.S. Olympic track & field trials this weekend in primetime on both Saturday and Sunday. The swimming trials will also be in primetime on Sunday.

The U.S. Women’s Open will be on NBC as well. Dan Hicks who normally teams with Johnny Miller won’t be at the Open, covering swimming instead. Johnny will be joined by Mark Rolfing in the 18th tower. This will be the last U.S. Open for Annika Sorenstam as she leaves the LPGA Tour after this season. NBC has 3rd and final round coverage at 3 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

The PGA Tour heads to Michigan for the Buick Open. CBS has coverage throughout the weekend at 3 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday.

For those who enjoy the Indy Car Series, the stop is in Richmond, VA for the SunTrust Indy Challenge. ESPN has it at 8 p.m. Saturday.

NASCAR’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series are in Loudon, NH. The Camping World RV Sales 200 will be on ESPN2 on ABC, Saturday at 3 p.m. TNT has the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 starting at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The WBC Lightweight title is on the line Saturday as David Diaz defends his belt against Manny Pacquaio in Las Vegas. HBO Pay Per View has the bout Saturday night at 9.

The complete listings for the weekend can be seen over at USA Today.

Now let’s get to your links.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch writes that Comcast SportsNet’s Laura Behnke is changing coasts, leaving the New England area to head for a new job in San Francisco.

The Boston Globe’s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell talks with Rhode Island’s own Alan Bestwick who will be working the NASCAR Nationwide race for ABC this Saturday.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says WFAN’s Boomer and Carton took at a cheap shot at a Mets pitcher. Justin Terranova of the Post talks with YES’ David Cone about this weekend’s Subway Series. And Justin has five questions for ESPN/MSG Network NBA voice Mike Breen.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says Mets fans won’t be able to enjoy Ron Darling this Sunday as he’ll be part of the locally blacked out TBS telecast of the Yankees-Mets.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about the agony of Personal Seat Licenses being sold in the new Giants/Jets stadium. In his blog, Neil says the middle class is the loser in the PSL sale. And Neil has a letter from the Giants to season ticket holders explaining the PSL’s. Finally, Neil writes that PSL’s are proving unpopular with Big Blue Nation.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local sports radio talk show will hit the road starting next month.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has a bunch of sports media news and notes leading off with the Big Ten Network’s agreement with Comcast.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner writes that the Ravens will have to move their summer exhibition games from the NBC affiliate to the ABC affiliate during the Olympics. And Jim reports that starting tonight, the Washington Nationals will have Spanish language radio broadcasts. In his Watch This blog, Williams says CN8′s Lynn Doyle wants more women to love NASCAR like she does.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald feels ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft improved this year.

Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel lists his Top Ten Favorite Summer Sports Movies.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says former Red Sox and Astros announcer Jerry Trupiano will be in town this weekend. And David reports that the Houston Rockets have a new radio play-by-play man.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram raves about FSN’s Baseball Golden Age series which premieres next month.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says Texas Rangers TV analyst Tom Grieve is happy to be back in the booth after being treated for prostate cancer. Mel also has some questions for Grieve about the Rangers. In his notebook, Mel has some various media news and notes. And Mel has his weekend viewing picks.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Bucks’ trade before the NBA Draft got ESPN’s coverage off to a rousing start.

Michael Ziudema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes about a local TV sports anchor who has received an award for hockey coverage.

Teddy Greenstein talks with Fox Sports’ Thom Brennaman about his dad’s comments about Cubs fans earlier this year. Teddy has his weekend viewing picks.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune talks with the NBC Sports golf crew about the U.S. Women’s Open which is being played in Minnesota this weekend.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says lightning problems asides, ESPN has done a very good job in airing the Euro 2008 tournament.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner writes that the Padres’ flagship radio station is not treating the team with kid gloves. Jay has the ratings from last weekend.

John Maffei of the North County Times says an ESPN-NFL Network deal could broaden the channel’s subscriber base.

John Scheibe of the Los Angeles Times writes in the Sound and Vision column that there will be plenty of backup generators to prevent a technical glitch at the Euro 2008 final on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth says the three cuts in coverage during Wednesday’s Germany-Turkey game at Euro 2008 gave viewers a shock. And Tom’s media notes seem even longer than normal which is a good thing.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s proposed all-amateur sports channel may not get approved by regulators. And Houston talks about the new era in Canada as TSN will air all 77 games of the Canadian Football League on cable.

Alison Korn of the Toronto Sun says CBC is hoping some high profile athletes in the booth will help the ratings for the Olympics.

Kent Gilchrist of the Vancouver Province scolds TSN for not hyping the CFL a bit more.

Blogs

CNBC’s Darren Rovell laments the loss of some potential nicknames during the NBA Draft.

David J. Warner of the AOL Fanhouse blog and Awful Announcing both get on ESPN for not sending announcers to Euro 2008 as the BBC did.

The Big Lead grades ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.

SportsbyBrooks notes that newspaper sports departments are shrinking and lack in diversity.

That will do it.

Thursday Night and More Links

After being at a jobsite for the afternoon and spending time away from a computer in the early evening, it’s time to provide some links now.

Neil Best of Newsday will be listening to WFAN’s Mike Francesa on Friday just in case he goes off like Chris Russo did on Monday. And Neil has video of ESPN/ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy criticizing New York Knick coach Isiah Thomas on SNY.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has an update on the Tiger Woods apple core story.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott is fed up of listening to whining Yankees radio announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

The 38 Cliches blog says it appears that former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano may have a reunion in Houston this weekend.

Deadspin’s Will Leitch is getting melancholy as he approaches his day as editor of the website.

Bob Kimball of USA Today talks with Andy Gray who has garnered rave reviews in his work during Euro 2008 for ESPN.

The following link comes from Awful Announcing. Graham Smith of the Daily Mail in London says the BBC is thinking of suing UEFA for the outage during the Germany-Turkey game that left viewers scrambling to the radio or the internet.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that ESPN may use its Axis virtual replays on other sports. It has been used extensively during Euro 2008.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that the NFL and ESPN are offering to conduct a white space test using unlicensed devices during actual football games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says ESPN turned into NBA TV during the NBA Draft tonight.

Julianne Smolinski of TV Week writes that ESPN has promoted two of its long-time employees of its communications department.

Ron Judd writes in his Olympics insider blog at the Seattle Times is fed up of NBC tape delaying events on the West Coast.

Chad Haynie of the Bleacher Report writes that the future of TV rights of the Southeastern Conference will be interesting to watch.

Matt Hayes of the Sporting News says the SEC TV rights will be a battle between CBS and Fox.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that the Big Ten Network’s next target is Time Warner Cable now that a deal with Comcast is in place.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune reports that BTN will follow Illinois football coach Ron Zook for its second season of “The Journey”.

Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel says a winning bidder can have ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike broadcast their syndicated morning show from his/her house.

The Boston Herald’s Inside Track girls bid adieu for now to Hazel Mae who leaves NESN after Friday.

Eric Wilbur of the Boston Sports Blog at Boston.com complains that NESN is force feeding interviews and promotions during Red Sox home games and I have to agree with this.

Amy Derjue posts in the Boston Daily blog that Roush Fenway Racing Day at Fenway Park and on NESN the other night was too much.

The Canadian Press has a story about TSN taking over the entire CFL TV contract tonight after sharing it with CBC.

And that’s going to do it for tonight.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

MLB
San Francisco at Cleveland – Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/STO, 7 p.m.
Cincinnati at Toronto – FSN Ohio/Rogers Sportsnet, 7 p.m.
New York Yankees at Pittsburgh – YES/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Texas at Houston – FSN Southwest/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.

NBA
NBA Entry Draft – ESPN, 7 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon Primetime – Tennis Channel, 7 p.m.

Entertainment
Million Dollar Password – CBS, 8 p.m.
George Carlin: What Am I Doin’ in New Jersey? – HBO2, 8 p.m.
George Carlin: Doin’ It Again – HBO2, 9 p.m.
My Boys – TBS, 9:30 p.m.
Hopkins – ABC, 10 p.m.
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List – Bravo, 10 p.m.
George Carlin: Jammin’ in New York – HBO2, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

Thursday Linkage

I have to be at a jobsite later today so I’ll be giving you some quick links. Let’s get to the links.

Starting with Newsday’s Neil Best, he writes that a reporter plans to take in both ends of the Yankees-Mets day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium by walking from one place to the other to raise money. It’s a great idea.

As he approaches his last day as editor of Deadspin, Will Leitch reflects on the site’s relationship with ESPN.

One story that’s coming out of Wimbledon is Novak Djokovic damaging his relationship with sponsor Adidas by wearing Nike shoes. CNBC’s Darren Rovell has been monitoring the situation. And Darren feels that a story about Tiger Woods’ apple core being sold on eBay is a hoax.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News is not a fan of ESPN’s scoreboard graphic that has debuted at Wimbledon. It is very confusing.

Ken McMillan of the Times Herald-Record writes in his blog that Versus is getting ready for the Tour de France by airing the Tour of Pennsylvania this week.

Nice to see Christopher Byrne back at the Eye on Sports Media blog. I know he was in mourning after the passing of his mother. He has the talent profile of New York Giants broadcaster Bob Papa who Neil Best reports will be the new play-by-play man for the NFL Network.

Erik Kirschbaum of Variety writes about the technical glitch that knocked out the world feed at the Euro 2008 semifinals yesterday. EPL Talk also goes over the outages that plagued ESPN’s airing of Germany-Turkey.

Tamira Madsen of the Capital (WI) Times says former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace is making a name for himself in the ESPN broadcast booth.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune talks with ESPN’s Kyle Peterson who was working the College World Series.

Gregory Ball of the La Jolla (CA) Light writes about the celebration of Charlie Jones’ life that took place last week.

The St. Louis American says without Tiger Woods, NBC’s Johnny Miller is now golf’s biggest attraction. I wouldn’t go that far.

Brendan Savage of the Flint (MI) Journal says CBS’ David Feherty always leaves viewers laughing.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that NFL owners rejecting owning a stake in Comcast that would probably have prevented the current venom between NFL Network and the cable provider.

Craig Harvey of the Evening (NY) Observer talks about CBS’ college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg giving a lecture to young students and their parents yesterday.

Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with former WSCR talk show host Mike North.

Those are your links for now.

The World Doesn’t See The End of Germany-Turkey

Well, if you were watching Germany-Turkey in the semifinals of Euro 2008 on ESPN or any other outlet from around the world, you know about the technical glitches that marred the last sixteen minutes of the second half including stoppage time.

Apparently, thunderstorms knocked out the transmission of the game from the Euro 2008 International Broadcast Center in Vienna, Austria even though the game was played in Basel, Switzerland.

During that stretch, three goals were scored including the game winner by Germany in the 90th minute. The picture came back off and on, but when the picture went out for good just after the goal by Phillip Lahm of Germany, viewers around the world missed the last five minutes of stoppage time.

Neil Best of Newsday tries to put the glitch into perspective.

The New York Post TV Sports blog says viewers missed a great finish.

ESPN had to rely on its studio show with Rece Davis, Julie Foudy and Tommy Smyth to fill time and to report that Germany’s Miroslav Klose had scored to put Germany up, 2-1. The picture came back just after Turkey scored to tie, 2-2, then another glitch occured forcing ESPN to scramble in studio once again. Video returned in time for Derek Rae and Andy Gray to see the winning goal by Lahm, but the picture went out for good causing ESPN to show pictures of the Euro 2008 fan zone outside the stadium and miss the entire stoppage period.

ESPN says it’s re-airing the game in its entirety without the technical glitches three more times this week including on ESPN Classic tonight.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that TSN also had to fill in the blanks.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says all of the world’s feeds except for Swiss TV and Al-Jazeera (?) were affected by the outage.

Over in the UK, Graham Tibbets of the London Telegraph says BBC viewers were angered by the glitch.

Alana Semuels writes in the Los Angeles Times’ Technology blog that lightning wiped out BOTH the primary and secondary feeds of the game.

The lesson? Make sure you have a third feed of the game just in case.

Save Jericho Again

A new ad paid for by fans of the canceled CBS show, “Jericho”.

If you’re a fan of the show like I am, lend your support to this site and sign up.

BREAKING NEWS: Report says Bob Papa to be new NFL Network Voice

According to Neil Best of Newsday, Giants play-by-play man Bob Papa will be the man to replace Bryant Gumbel in the NFL Network booth for Thursday and Saturday night football games. Gumbel took himself off play-by-play earlier this year.

This is a good move if it proves to be true. Papa has been calling the Giants on radio since 1995.

Gumbel did play-by-play for the first two seasons of NFL Network games and came under heavy criticism for his inexperience in calling games.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

College World Series
Game 3, Fresno State vs. Georgia – ESPN, 7 p.m.

MLB
Arizona at Red Sox – ESPN2/FSN Arizona/NESN, 7 p.m.
San Francisco at Cleveland – Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/STO, 7 p.m.
St. Louis at Detroit – FSN Midwest/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
Cincinnati at Toronto – FSN Ohio/TSN, 7 p.m.
New York Yankees at Pittsburgh – YES/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Seattle at New York Mets – FSN Northwest/SNY, 7 p.m.
Anaheim Angels at Washington – FSN West/MASN2, 7 p.m.
Colorado at Kansas City – FSN Rocky Mountain/FSN Kansas City, 8 p.m.
Baltimore at Chicago Cubs – MASN/WGN, 8 p.m.
Texas at Houston – FSN Southwest/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Oakland – Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 10 p.m.
Minnesota at San Diego – FSN North/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
Chicago White Sox at Los Angeles Dodgers – WCIU/KCAL, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN2, 10 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon Primetime – Tennis Channel, 7 p.m.

Entertainment
Deal or No Deal – NBC, 8 p.m.
On Location: George Carlin at USC – HBO2, 8 p.m.
NOVA scienceNOW – PBS, 9 p.m.
George Carlin Again! – HBO2, 9:30 p.m.
Primetime: Crime – ABC, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

Some Wednesday Links

Let’s give you some links today.

Starting with the Sports Media Watch which writes that NASCAR got good ratings on TNT Sunday, but they were lower from last year. The SMW says the NBA Finals ended on a high note. And the blog has the final ratings from the weekend.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman writes about Michael Strahan’s Fox Sports press conference yesterday.

From the New York Post, Mark Cannizzaro says TV was not on Strahan’s mind when he retired after the Super Bowl.

Joshua Robinson of the New York Times says the Fox Sports press conference ended up being an edition of Fox NFL Sunday.

George Vescey of the Times writes about ESPN’s Andy Gray who has made a name for himself doing commentary for Euro 2008.

Newsday’s Neil Best says even with the addition of Strahan, Fox has no plans to eliminate any of the other elements of Fox NFL Sunday. Neil says Don Imus didn’t help himself with his explanation of his Pacman Jones comments.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the late George Carlin had some great sports rants. And Bob has comments from Michael Strahan’s press conference yesterday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his blog that the reaction to Imus and Shaquille O’Neal’s rap on Kobe Bryant is much ado about nothing.

Adam Schmadtke of the Orlando Sentinel writes that a Notre Dame “home” game will be played in Orlando in 2011 and broadcast on NBC.

Jordon Golson of the Industry Standard says Windows Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate users are the only ones who will be able to download NBC’s broadcast of the Olympics in Communist China.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says Mike North no longer works at WSCR radio. Phil Rosenthal of the Tribune writes that the Sun-Times’ Jay Mariotti is a natural for sports radio.

Doug Doughty of the Roanoke (VA) Times says the University of Virginia has hired a new radio play-by-play man.

Brian Christopherson from the Lincoln (NE) Journal Star tells us that none of the Big 12′s TV partners have picked up any of the first three Nebraska football games. Steven M. Sipple of the Journal Star says it’s no surprise that Nebraska won’t be on national TV.

Antoine Pitts of the Ann Arbor News talks with Big Ten Network president Mark Silverman.

Kyle Nagel of the Dayton Daily News says despite the Big Ten Network having a deal with Comcast, Time Warner Cable shows no sign of agreeing to carry BTN.

Ryan White of The Oregonian tries to find the latest on the distribution for Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

Last night, the Red Sox honored NESN analyst Jerry Remy for his 20 years in the booth. The 38 Cliches blog noticed that Jerry slighted his longtime partner, Sean McDonough.

Joe Favorito says the PGA of America partnering with the WNBA is a good idea.

Awful Announcing reports that ESPN brings back its auction and My Wish for the summer.

That will do it for now.

Some Extra Videos from Back Nine at Cherry Hills: The Legends of the 1960 U.S. Open

One great thing about the internet is that you can find some extra material to a documentary or movie you have watched. I thank HBO for putting this extra material from the excellent documentary, Back Nine at Cherry Hills: The Legends of the 1960 U.S. Open. As you’re well aware, this ran earlier this month and my review can be seen right here.

I won’t go into the documentary again, you can read the review or head over to the HBO website for more information. Some of these videos were not seen in the documentary.

Our first video has Ben Hogan biographers James Dodson and Curt Sampson talking about how the death of Hogan’s father drove him to succeed.

Here’s the great golf writer Dan Jenkins giving us some insight about Ben Hogan. This is great stuff.

This video looks at Arnold Palmer’s father and his influence on Arnie.

Here, Arnold talks about the impact his dad had on his golf game.

Jack Nicklaus’ devotion to golf started at an early age.

Jack talks about his father being his best friend.

This documentary was really good and while the subject may not be as dramatic as say, Joe Louis, Barbaro or the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team, the writing was done very well. See the documentary on HBO or On Demand if you have the opportunity.

Real Time Review of Real Sports for 06/24/2008

This is a review of the latest edition of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel as it airs on June 24, 2008. As usual, there are four segments. As we approach the Summer Olympics in Communist China, Real Sports has three stories on Olympic sport and an update on the horse breeding story that aired last month.

Segment #1 – The System

Narrated by Bryant Gumbel, this story is a look inside the China sports school system where training Olympic athletes has become a way of life. Students at the Zheng Xing Lin Sports School in Hangzhou certainly believe they have what it takes to become an Olympic star. The 1,000 students who attend the school spend most of their day training in all types of Olympic sports. Bryant asked 15 year old Yen Ling, an aspiring weightlifter, says she’s in training from 2 to 5 p.m. every day. She tells Bryant that she wants to be a star and Bryant asks her if London 2012 is in her sights and she says yes. Yen Ling is one of half a million students in China’s system harboring Olympic hopes. The Zheng Xing Lin school is one of 3,000 schools across the country and they’re responsible for developing all of China’s international athletes.

Because there are no interscholastic leagues, this is the only way for Chinese athletes to get into sports. While many have called the system outdated, over the last 25 years, China has become a world power on the Olympic stage.

Terry Rhodes, an American running a sports marketing firm in China says the results are difficult to argue with. Rhodes says it’s very possible for China to harvest the most gold medals and overall medals in the 2008 Olympics for the first time in its history, something unfathomable 30 years ago.

Bryant points out that the training system in place goes back some 50 years. When Mao Zedong brought the Communists into power 50 years ago, China was weak militarily, economically and physically. So he brought in a physical fitness program. Mao also thought athletics would bring China prestige so he started the sports school system modeled after the Soviet Union. Athletes would go into servitude for the good of the state.

Rhodes says sports scouts spread out into the countryside looking for athletes to train, some as young as three years old. However, in most cases, the selection does not work out and only 1%, that’s one percent of the 400 million Chinese children are chosen by the current system. Rhodes says finding that one special athlete is like finding a needle in a haystack. Most of the students at the Zheng Xing Lin school come from the countryside and some parents find free education, room and board and possible glory for China are too good to pass up.

But under China’s One Child Policy, most parents look for other options, wanting to make sure their children are educated and get white collar jobs instead of going into the sports school system. Rhodes says 20 years ago, parents could not say no, but now, more and more parents are saying no and opting for other choices for their children.

Students do spend their mornings and evenings studying at Zheng Xing Lin, but their afternoons are focused on athletic training. The best from Zheng Xing Lin are sent to the best sports academies like the Beijing Shi Cha Hai Sports School where the elite find the training more focused and more intense.

One thing Bryant noticed is that the students at Shi Cha Hai don’t smile or look like they’re having fun. He asked the school’s principal why this is the case and she answered in educational settings, students don’t smile either. Shi Cha Hai produced four gold medalists at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Bryant said he saw a young girl clearly fatigued and crying when she was told to continue her training. He asked if this what it was all about. The principal replied, each individual student has his or own standard and she was probably being criticized for not reaching that standard. She said some children will probably be sad that they are trying, but can’t fulfill their wishes.

Rhodes says the kids are pushed so much to the limit that they break down and feel the pain of the training that they’re doing. Rhodes says he’s amazed in the 14 years that he’s lived in China seeing the amount of punishment the athletes are willing to put up with to meet their goals.

And with many athletes trying to reach the standard to get their rewards, Bryant asked the principal just how the state would reward the athletes and she said if they set records of a certain standard, they get the pick of what school they want to attend, go to college and get financial rewards. While some have received financial rewards, only a handful of athletes have reached such heights. Many are left behind and are ill equipped to fight for themselves in the world’s biggest job market.

Yen Ling wants to become a coach when she retires. It’s the same dream that retired weightlifter Liu Chengju had. She was told there were no female weightlifting coaches, so she trained hard to reach that goal. She eventually became a national champion and as luck would have it, she married a fellow weightlifter, also a product of the national system. He was not only a national champion, but an Asian champion. They married and had a daughter, but when their careers ended, so did their good times. They fell on hard times financially and Liu because she trained so hard developed knee and back problems. Her husband suffered severe respiratory problems.

Liu believes they were a result of him training so hard. She said because of the training, his weight went up and his immune system got weak. The state would not pay any medical bills. Liu said they had to pay out of their own pockets and the state probably should have paid some. In 2003, Liu’s husband developed pneumonia after refusing to go the hospital because of the cost and died suddenly. At age 33, Liu’s husband had just $17 in the bank. Five years later, Liu raises her daughter in a crowded apartment and works for low money for the city’s water department.

Bryant asked her what she got out of giving the state her time, her body, her soul and her years for training. She would not say.

And Liu’s story is not uncommon. A recent report suggests 80% of China’s retired athletes are suffering from injury, unemployment or poverty. Liu says she sacrificed so much. The country should give her something in return.

Bryant says China has spent more money than any other country in developing athletes.

Segment grade – A

Segment #2 – Yer Out

Reported by Andrea Kremer, this is a look at the elimination of softball as an Olympic sport after this year. International Softball Federation President Don Porter has hundreds of letters from young women who want to take part in the Olympics as a member of their country’s softball team. Porter says it breaks his heart because the Federation did not do enough to keep their Olympic dreams alive. Porter is trying to get the sport back in. Softball is the first sport to be eliminated from the Olympic program in 70 years.

Twelve years ago, softball made its debut at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the women who participated were the golden girls of the games. Players like Lisa Fernandez of the USA became overnight sensations. And the game helped to develop a new generation of players like Jessica Mendoza, Monica Abbott and Jennie Finch all joined Fernandez on this year’s team. Jennie says she was waiting for Lisa’s autograph in 1996 hoping that she too would be in the Olympics.

The US won gold in 1996, 2000 and thoroughly dominated in 2004. But during that time, there were ominous signs that the sport would be dropped. In 2002, International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge started a plan to downsize the games so baseball, softball and Modern Pentathlon were all targeted for elimination. It came as a shock to International Softball Federation President Don Porter. He did manage to stave off the death sentence for a short time, but in 2005, Rogge tried again, this time targeting all sports. Each sport needed just a simple majority of the 105 IOC members to stay afloat. Porter felt he had 65 to 70 votes, but when the ballots were counted, softball was eliminated by one vote.

Jennie Finch said she was in shock. Jessica Mendoza felt it was like a death in the family. Because the vote was done by secret ballot, no one knows how someone voted or why. Rogge said softball was eliminated because of its lack of global appeal. The results bear him out, only three other countries besides the U.S. have medaled in the sport. But Porter says he’s doing all he can to raise the competitive level of the sport around the world.

And Fernandez says if it’s because of the U.S. dominance in the sport, then the Olympics should have gotten rid of men’s basketball because of the U.S. dominance by the NBA players until 2004. But she says now the world has caught up. Jessica says it takes time for the world to catch up. Twelve years is not enough to allow the world to catch up in softball.

Andrea Kremer says Real Sports contacted 30 IOC members believed to have voted against softball, but none agreed to talk. But many close observers feel softball was taken out of the games because of anti-American sentiment. Canadian IOC member Dick Pound says softball and baseball might have been eliminated because of US policies in Iraq. And Pound says many IOC members misunderstood that softball is just baseball for women. In addition, because Major League Baseball players were not participating in the Olympics and baseball’s drug policy, softball became a victim of guilt by association. Pound says while many IOC members may not know softball, it’s incumbent of the sport to have the members be familiar on what they’re voting.

So the 78 year old Porter is traveling around the world lobbying IOC members to reinstate the sport when the next vote comes up in 2009. The Federation has sent more than $2.5 million of softball equipment to 90 countries to grow the game. Jessica Mendoza has gone to South Africa, Guatemala and the Czech Republic hosting clinics to get the next generation hooked on softball. But Jessica fears that funding of which 90% comes from the Olympics will dry up and she won’t be able to travel to showcase the game she loves to other girls.

Porter says if the sport is not reinstated, it’s not a death blow, but it will be more difficult to develop facilities and to grow the game worldwide. Jessica hopes that the IOC will be watching in Beijing.

During the transition, Andrea says Porter knows he’s up against a lot of competition to get back in the Olympics. She says he probably got some false hope from committee members. And Porter is going to try to get IOC members to attend softball in Beijing to show them how the sport is played.

Here’s a synopsis of the report.

Segment grade – B+.

Segment #3 – Breaking Away

Reported by Jon Frankel and combined with Sports Illustrated, this story is a look at cycling, a sport that has been riddled with drugs scandal and blood doping. In 2006, Floyd Landis was stripped of his Tour de France title after he tested positive for steroids. In addition, nearly a dozen riders were exposed with other drug violations. The sponsorships have dried up, the public no longer believes in cycling and a man who put a needle in his arm to gain an unfair advantage is now sticking a needle in his arm to convince organizers that he’s now clean.

David Millar, a British cyclist, is rather blase about drawing blood because he’s done it before. But when he began his career, Millar was not only clean, but adamant about being clean. He was known as an idealist. Millar says doping was totally against his beliefs when he was an amateur.

But in his second year as a pro, it all changed. He took a blood test after winning a race and showed a teammate that his results were clean, the teammate wondered why he wasn’t doping. Without drugs, Millar became one of the best cyclists in the world. He won the opening stage of the 2000 Tour de France, defeating defending champion Lance Armstrong.

But in 2001, Millar had several injuries and suffered through his worst season. A team official and teammate sat him down to have a talk. He was told to “prepare properly” and Millar knew exactly what that meant. He knew it meant blood doping. Millar knew it was time to start doping and join the dark side. He started taking EPO, a drug that helps boost blood cells. It helps endurance riders recover faster and enhance performance.

It worked and within two weeks of using it, Millar won the first and sixth stages of the Tour de Spain. But he had no excitement because he felt the pressure to win. Millar says he used EPO only twice more, once before the 2003 World Time Trials which he won.

But the following year, Millar’s team was embroiled in a drug scandal and French police found used syringes with traces of EPO in his apartment, sitting on his bookshelf. Millar was arrested and spent 48 hours in jail. He was suspended from cycling for two years after confessing to everything. During his suspension, he drank. Didn’t touch a bike for a year.

But when he got back on, he enjoyed it and decided that it was he did best. But this time, he would come back, do it cleanly and find a team that shared his beliefs. Luckily, he found a someone who did. Jonathan Vaughters, a teammate of Lance Armstrong, saw the damage decades of drug scandals had on his sport. So in 2003, Vaughters started Slipstream, a completely drug-free team. He instituted a stringent drug-free policy, even stricter than many sports. Vaughters said he did it to show that athletes can win cleanly and don’t have to resort to doping.

And Slipstream’s policy of testing uses a new way of keeping cyclists honest. Dr. Paul Strauss has developed a way of determining changes in the blood to see if responds to any kind of doping. Dr. Strauss says the test will find new steroids as blood responds to it instead of testing for steroids. And the riders police each other and given a Blackberry so they can be tested at any time.

Vaughters says the team is going to everything to enhance performance, but do it cleanly. And he says it’s absolutely necessary because sponsors are drying up. This year, about one fourth of the teams will not have sponsors. Millar says the move to stay clean is needed because sponsors don’t have faith in the sport.

The clean approach is paying dividends for Slipstream. It’s signed a sponsor and has been invited to the Tour de France. Millar says he also wants to be known for bringing his sport back. Millar says he has a responsibilty to young riders to tell them what he went through and ensure it never happens again.

Frankel tells Bryant that Garmin and one other sponsor have come into Slipstream. But the real payoff is being on the winner’s podium. While they’re the exception than the rule, more teams, Frankel says, are looking at Slipstream.

Good segment. A+

Segment #4 – Behind the Barn Door

This is an updated story reported by Bernard Goldberg about the horse, Storm Cat, a descendant of the great champion, Secretariat and another champion, Northern Dancer. Backin the 1980′s, Storm Cat was not a champion on the track, he ran eight times and won four. We first met Storm Cat at the Overbrook Farm in Lexington, KY.

It’s at Overbrook where Storm Cat has lived up to his bloodlines. A session to produce a live foal costs $500,000 per. That’s half a million dollars per session. Rick Waldman runs Overbrook Farm, and says Storm Cat produces two foals a day, 7 days a week.

So every morning during the breeding session from February to June, he’s brought from his paddock, into a barn to mount a mare. Once that’s done, he takes a rest and does it again in the afternoon. Waldman says it takes 5 to 10 seconds for each session. During his racing career, Storm Cat made $500,000 total. Now he makes that much for Overbrook for each time he’s brought into the barn to mate.

Waldman says the real pot of gold is when a horse goes to stud and a career in stud can last 20 years while a racing career can last just one to three years. Since he’s gone to stud, Storm Cat has made Overbrook $25 million a year, making him one of the highest paid athletes in the country. Because of his less than stellar racing career, Overbrook only charged $30,000 per session, but because there were few takers, his price dropped to $20,000.

Then his first crop of foals ran well, then the next crop also ran well, and by the time he got to the 5th and 6th crops, the proof was in the pudding and the fees began to go up. Storm Cat has sired up to 1,400 foals who have earned more than $100 million in winnings.

Waldman says the real reason why the stud fee is $500,000 is because Storm Cat is a sire’s sire. His sons are also prolific studs. Because of the goods, Storm Cat just doesn’t waltz in and have sex with mares. That’s too dangerous because the mare could kick him if she’s not in the mood.

So a “teaser” is brought in. A teaser is a horse who tests the mare to see if she’s in the mood. Joe Yulcum, the head veterinarian at Overbrook uses a teaser to flirt with the mare, get her worked up, and then the real stud is brought in to finish the job. If the mare still isn’t ready, the teaser will do a test jump, but he can’t have sex with the mare and has to wear a diaper. And whlie Storm Cat gets the just desserts, the teaser is lucky according to Yulcum to have sex maybe once out of a 100 times.

When the mare is ready, she’s brought into the breeding shed, outfitted with padded shoes in case she does kick, and Storm Cat waltzes in and mounts her. Not all stallions are as efficient as Storm Cat. Some are coached, others have to be taken outside while others are cheered on. Storm Cat’s session are taped so other farms know who the father is. Overbrook has an armed guard standing over Storm Cat to make sure no shenanigans go on.

But last month, Overbrook finally decided to put Storm Cat to pasture. He wasn’t producing foals like he once was. At 25, Storm Cat is rather old for a stud and officially retired. Waldman says Storm Cat will no longer have sex with mares. In the last mating season, his success rate once at 80%, fell to just 10%.

Don’t feel sorry for Storm Cat. His 11 year old son, Giants Causeway, is carrying on the tradition at a farm just 30 minutes away and his stud fees are $300,000. Like father, like son.

Bernie played this up for humor. Yes, there were plenty of puns. Grade – B.

Final Segment – Bryant’s comments

Bryant talks about Pacman Jones shedding his nickname. Bryant advised Adam Jones that football players throughout the years have had nicknames and not to get rid of it. Citing Bronco Nagurski, Refrigerator Perry, Mean Joe Greene and Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, Bryant says the NFL could use more colorful characters. But Bryant says it’s Adam’s call.

This was one of Bryant’s weaker commentaries. Grade – C.

Overall grade – B+

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

College World Series
Game 2, Fresno State vs. Georgia – ESPN, 7 p.m.

Golf
CVS Caremark Charity Classic – Golf Channel, 8 p.m.

MLB
Arizona at Red Sox – FSN Arizona/NESN, 7 p.m.
Anaheim at Washington – FSN West/MASN2
San Francisco at Cleveland – Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/STO, 7 p.m.
St. Louis at Detroit – FSN Midwest/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Florida – ION/FSN Florida, 7 p.m.
Seattle at New York Mets – FSN Northwest/SNY, 7 p.m.
New York Yankees at Pittsburgh – WWOR/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Cincinnati at Toronto – FSN Ohio/TSN, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee at Atlanta – FSN Wisconsin/Peachtree TV, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at Chicago Cubs – MASN/WGN, 8 p.m.
Texas at Houston – KDFI/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
Colorado at Kansas City – FSN Rocky Mountain/FSN Kansas City, 8 p.m.
Chicago White Sox at Los Angeles Dodgers – Comcast SportsNet Chicago/FSN Prime Ticket, 10 p.m.
Philadelphia at Oakland – Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 10 p.m.
Minnesota at San Diego – FSN North/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon Primetime – Tennis Channel, 7 p.m.

Entertainment
Wipeout (series premiere) – ABC, 8 p.m.
Deadliest Catch – Discovery, 9 p.m.
Hell’s Kitchen – Fox, 9 p.m.
Frontline/World: Jesus in China – PBS, 9 p.m.
Primetime: The Outsiders – ABC, 10 p.m.
Rescue Me – FX, 10 p.m.
30 Days – FX, 10:05 p.m.
Big Break: Ka’anapali – Golf Channel, 10 p.m.
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel – HBO, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

Tuesday Linkage

After getting stuck trying to get some paperwork done (sometimes work gets in the way of blogging), I can provide you with some links. Once again, I’ve been enjoying Wimbledon online. Whether you watch from ESPN360 or Mediazone or various backdoor sites, it has been fun to watch. The big test will be in August when the Olympics start. Will any work get done while the events are taking place?

Heading to your linkage, I’ll start with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who talks about Michael Strahan going to Fox and also looks at the weekend ratings.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman feels interim Mets manager Jerry Manuel might help diffuse a media angry over the Willie Randolph days.

Newsday’s Neil Best joins Martin C. Evans on a story about Don Imus getting into hot water for another comment involving an African American athlete. In his blog, Neil gets comments from Imus cast member Warner Wolf about the whole incident. Neil has a short blurb about Michael Strahan joining Fox NFL Sunday. Neil also has Chris Russo shooting down speculation that he and Mike Francesa are splitting up. Lastly from Neil, he explains that he did not give a negative review to Russo’s first book.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call hopes Mike & the Mad Dog remain together.

Speaking about WFAN, Ken McMillan of the Times Herald-Record says the FAN’s Chris Carlin will pick up Rutgers basketball duties in addition to calling Rutgers football.

Here’s Fox Sports’ story on Strahan joining the network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell asks the question, are sports retailers feeling the pinch during these difficult economic times?

Ken Schott of the Schectady Gazette writes that an interim weekend sports anchor gets the interim tag removed.

Adam Chapman of the Dallas Morning News gets negative reaction from Adam “Pacman” Jones who was the subject of Imus’ comments yesterday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with ESPN’s Jay Bilas about the NBA Draft and the prospects for Wisconsin player Brian Butch.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says Fox Sports’ Joe Buck had a good appearance on Letterman last night.

Wayne Friedman of Mediapost blogs that the Beijing air pollution is contrary to the message of a green Olympics on NBC.

A couple of things from the Washington Post or as people in DC like to call it, the WaPo. Staci D. Kramer of Paidcontent.org writes about ESPN360 carring live cricket, NBC’s plans to send Olympic content to Windows Vista users and content from the YES Network will now be available on the New York Times website.

Leonard Shapiro of the Post catches up with former DC Sportscaster Steve Bassett.

Rick Cleveland of the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger feels NBC is paying too much to air Notre Dame football games.

Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel wonders now that the Big Ten Network has its agreement with Comcast, will the Southeastern Conference be next?

Thomas Hauser who wrote the quintessential biography on Muhammed Ali, writes for ESPN.com that a Showtime-CBS synergy could not only help the two networks and boxing itself.

That’s going to do it for now.

Monday Night Update

Let’s give you some links this evening.

First, from Neil Best of Newsday, he has transcribed what Chris Russo of WFAN said to open the Mike & the Mad Dog show today. Russo responds to Neil’s story that Mike & the Mad Dog could split up by Labor Day.

A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says Don Imus may have said something unwise again.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says HBO is going to give the Duke-North Carolina rivalry the same treatment it gave to Michigan-Ohio State.

Fox Sports makes the announcement that it will formally introduce Michael Strahan as a member of the Fox NFL Sunday team tomorrow.

Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post says Strahan didn’t wait long to sign with Fox Sports.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that ABC/ESPN will televise three days of horse racing from the famed Saratoga race track.

The next link comes from Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times. Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog talks with suspended ESPN.com columnist Jemele Hill about the line referencing Hitler that got her in hot water.

ESPN.com has now published Hill’s apology with some expanded comments.

The New York Post’s TV Sports blog has Rocco Mediate downplaying Johnny Miller’s comments that he had to apologize for.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell pays tribute to the late George Carlin.

ESPN Radio is going to launch an online affiliate network providing live streaming of its radio stations in various cities.

In one of the worst kept secrets, Barry Melrose is leaving ESPN to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Linda Moss of Multichannel News writes that Dish Network subscribers get six dedicated channels to ESPN2′s coverage of Wimbledon.

Chris Albrecht of NewTeeVee.com wonders if Wimbledon will be a hit online.

Pete Barlas of Investor’s Business Daily writes that NBC will provide the entire Olympics experience online, but only if you have Windows Vista. Windows XP and Mac users are out of luck.

Staci D. Kramer of PaidContent.org writes for the Washington Post that NBC is playing hardball with websites that offer video from the U.S. Olympic trials. This sounds a lot like the NFL. Swimming World magazine reports that any website must take down Olympic trials video permanently by August 7.

Gretchen Hansen of Entertainment Weekly already has Olympic fever.

Brendan Savage of the Flint (MI) Journal tells us that even without Tiger Woods, there will be plenty of national and local TV coverage of the Buick Open at Warwick Hills.

The Orlando Business Journal says Golf Channel will be premiering a new reality series.

Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press cautions readers to beware of the Big Ten Network-Comcast deal.

I think that will do it for us tonight.

BREAKING NEWS: Michael Strahan to join Fox NFL Sunday

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reports that the former New York Giant defensive end will join Fox Sports as a studio analyst.

Strahan has a home in Southern California near the Fox Sports studio so this move is a natural for him. In addition, Strahan did work for Fox last season and was on the set of Fox NFL Sunday during the bye week.

More as it develops.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

College World Series
Game 1, Fresno State vs. Georgia – ESPN2, 7 p.m.

MLB
Arizona at Red Sox – ESPN/FSN Arizona/NESN, 7 p.m.
Anaheim Angeles at Washington – FSN West/MASN, 7 p.m.
Seattle at New York Mets – FSN Northwest/SNY, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee at Atlanta – FSN Wisconsin/FSN South, 7 p.m.
Colorado at Kansas City – FSN Rocky Mountain/FSN Kansas City, 8 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10 p.m.

PGA Tour
CVS Caremark Charity Classic, 1st Round – Golf Channel, 8 p.m.

Tennis
Wimbledon Primetime – Tennis Channel, 7 p.m.

Entertainment
Jon & Kate Plus 8 – TLC, 9 p.m.
Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card – HBO, 9 p.m.
Weeds – Showtime, 10 p.m.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl – Showtime, 10:30 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

Back to the Grind Links

I was enjoying my weekend, but it’s back to the grind today as I was at a jobsite earlier today and it’s the reason why these links are coming late. But I’m here and time to give you the Monday linkage.

Also wanted to mention the passing of George Carlin who was a great influence on me in my younger days. The man was comic genius and was prolific in writing material. His HBO specials were great and he was always on top of his game. George was also a sports fan and his comparison of baseball and football was classic. Of course, who could not forget the Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. He will definitely be missed. His website was not kept up to date, but you can certainly visit to see some of his past material

Let’s start with Phil Mushnick of the New York Post who takes some glee in seeing the networks suffer without Tiger Woods.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that listeners to WFAN’s Mike & the Mad Dog program were certainly up in arms over the news that the duo might split up. Neil notes that Mike & the Mad Dog are older than the internet. Neil writes that WFAN host-in-exile Sid Rosenberg is hosting an online chat on his website.

This next link comes courtesy of Neil. Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated looks at the 20th anniversary of my favorite baseball movie, Bull Durham by projecting what happened to Crash Davis and Annie Savoy.

The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has some thoughts on the sports TV weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage plans (scroll down).

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein writes that WSCR’s Mike North is off the air for now and might not come back.

The Orbitcast blog says XM Satellite Radio has taken its MLB “Bobble Yourself” campaign to Facebook.

NBC will allow you to download your favorite Olympics event to your computer and you can watch at your convenience.

David Wilkerson of Marketwatch.com reports that ABC and ESPN will make selected programs available online at Veoh.com.

Westwood One Radio will have coverage of the College World Series championship series between Georgia and Fresno State starting tonight. Former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano will be involved in the coverage.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the major shoe companies have yet to sign one of the potential NBA 1st round draft picks.

John Doyle of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that ESPN’s decision to air the Euro 2008 soccer tournament was revolutionary.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about ESPN’s multi-platform coverage of Wimbledon.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says TSN is gambling on a TV rookie to be one of the analysts for CFL games.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter reports that IMG Sports Media will take over distribution of Fox Sports International programming.

That’s going to do it for now.

The Week Ahead

Tennis’ third Grand Slam tournament and the most tradition-laden, The Championships, Wimbledon begin Monday. The fortnight at SW19 in London is one of the great events on the sporting calendar. It’s an event so big, it now has three U.S. TV partners, NBC, ESPN and now Tennis Channel which begins its first year of airing the tournament. Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic are your #1 seeds. Since the tournament will be underway when most of us in the States will be at work, there are a couple of ways to keep track of your favorite players online.

Wimbledon prefers you to buy your way in and watch the matches through its official online partner, Mediazone. You’ll have to shell out $24.99 for the entire fortnight or $9.99 for a one day pass.

However, if your internet service provider is partnered with ESPN, you’ll be able to watch matches for free through the ESPN360 service.

If you don’t want to pay anything or don’t have access to ESPN360, there’s Radio Wimbledon which is available online or for no extra charge on Sirius Satellite Radio.

DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers will get an interactive presentation with 7 different channels and four dedicated to different courts.

ESPN2 begins its coverage every morning at 7 ET/4 PT. Tennis Channel will have Wimbledon Primetime at 7 p.m. each night. NBC begins its coverage this Saturday.

Euro 2008 continues with the semifinals this week. Germany takes on Turkey on Wednesday. ESPN has coverage at 2:30 p.m. The other semifinal will pit Russia against Spain. That will air on ESPN2 on Thursday also at 2:30 p.m. Both games are also available on ESPN360. The final will be held next Sunday and ABC will carry the game.

Hard to believe that I would put baseball third after two European events, but it’s happened. Interleague play continues this week. Intriguing matchups in the first part of the week include the Red Sox hosting Arizona, San Francisco at Cleveland in a matchup of two franchises that met in the 1954 World Series, the Yankees will be in Pittsburgh in a rematch of the 1960 World Series, and the Cubs host Baltimore. Later in the week, the Cubs will take on the White Sox in part 2 of the Crosstown Rivalry, Cleveland hosts Cincinnati in the Battle of Ohio, the Mets take on the Yankees in the Bronx, the Giants head to Oakland for the Battle of the Bay Area and the Dodgers and Angels play in the Freeway Series. On Saturday, Fox will carry the Mets-Yankees and Cubs-White Sox.

The PGA Tour heads to Michigan for the Buick Open. Golf Channel and CBS combine for the coverage. Before the Buick Open, there’s the CVS Caremark Charity Classic in my native Rhode Island which will have U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate in the field. Golf Channel will pick up coverage on Monday and Tuesday.

The USGA holds the U.S. Women’s Open in Edina, MN. ESPN and NBC have the coverage starting Thursday.

NASCAR heads to the New Hampshire International Speedway for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. TNT has the race Sunday at 1 p.m.

The NBA Draft is this Thursday on ESPN at 7 p.m.

And that’s a look at the Week Ahead.

Sunday Linkage

Time to give you some links today and coming up later will be a look at the Week Ahead.

We begin with a story from Newsday’s Neil Best that is really causing some reaction on the blogosphere. Neil breaks news in his Sunday column that the most successful show in the history of sports radio, WFAN’s Mike & the Mad Dog program could be splitting up due to a personal rift between Chris Russo and Mike Francesa. In his blog, Neil wonders if the whole thing is a contract ploy.

Awful Announcing hopes that the news about a breakup isn’t true.

Johnny Crowe over at the Crowe’s Nest is hoping that the pair find a way to work out their differences.

The Big Lead also gives its reaction to the possible end of Mike & the Mad Dog.

Meanwhile, over at Mikefrancesa.com (not owned by Francesa), the people there feel the whole thing is a publicity stunt.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels SNY came through when it covered the whole Willie Randolph mess.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is actually waxing poetic today about a golfing buddy who is the last person ever to hit a home run at the old Ebbets Field.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Johnny Miller’s apology for his comments about Rocco Mediate during the U.S. Open.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun is back from vacation.

Bob Fernandez and Larry King (no, not that one) from the Philadelphia Inquirer say the NFL Network has apparently blinked in its battle with Comcast.

Allison Waldman of the TV Squad blog wonders if the news about the NFL Network and ESPN is coming to fruition.

Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press feels there are no winners in the Big Ten Network-Comcast dispute.

Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne (IN) News-Sentinel says despite a lost 2007 season, NBC still believes in the power of Notre Dame.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that the son of Kansas City Royals voice Bob Davis is not ready to replace his dad despite being in the broadcasting business himself.

The Week Ahead is coming up later tonight.

Videos of the Week: NBA on NBC Opens

Last week, I gave you various NBA on CBS opens. Now it’s NBC’s turn. In 1989, NBC outbid CBS for the rights to the Association. It ended up being one of the worst decisions for CBS Sports as the NBA witnessed great growth and ratings under NBC’s watch. The Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan won six championships in eight seasons and the league saw great rivalries between the New York Knicks and the Bulls, the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers and the Pacers and the Bulls. During its 12 season tenure, the NBA and NBC had a great partnership. But in 2002, the ratings for the NBA were falling and parent company GE wanted to make money on sports so in swooped ESPN to take the rights away from NBC and put the over the air games on ABC.

Let’s go over some of the openings.

From NBC’s first NBA Finals in 1991, the intro to Game 3 between the Bulls and the Lakers.

Christmas Day has traditionally been a day for joy, celebration and a primetime game. In 1992, NBC went for the Knicks-Bulls. Here’s the open voiced by the great Marv Albert. Note a young Doc Rivers.

The 1992 NBA Finals pitted the Bulls taking on the Portland Trail Blazers. And NBC has a nice blimp shot of the old Chicago Stadium and construction of the United Center next door.

From the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, Game 5 between the Bulls and the Knicks during the height of their great rivalry. And for me, the best team during the NBA on NBA, Marv and the Czar of the Telestrator, Mike Fratello. Great intro using Metallica.

NBC’s NBA pregame show was called NBA Showtime and Bob Costas was the host. In the first year of the package, Bob co-hosted with Pat Riley, but when Riley took the Knicks head coaching job for the 1991-92 season, Quinn Buckner was brought in from CBS as the co-host. Here’s an open from 1993. The open always had the Phoenix Suns gorilla to cap things off.

From 1997. the NBA Finals pitted the Bulls taking on the Utah Jazz. This was Marv’s last finals (see below) until 2001. Hannah Storm had taken over hosting NBA Showtime as Costas wanted to cut back on his schedule. This is the transition between Showtime and Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

In 1997, Marv pleaded guilty to assault and battery charges stemming from an embarrassing sex scandal and was forced out from NBC. Bob Costas took over as play-by-play man. This is the open for NBA Showtime ahead of the 1998 All Star Game at Madison Square Garden. Hannah was teamed with John Salley. And note how Ahmad Rashad was not ready for Hannah’s toss, but quickly recovered by getting his binky, Michael Jordan for an interview.

Here’s an intro voiced by Costas from 2000 just before the Sacramento Kings vs. the Philadelphia 76ers.

Marv returned in 2001 to NBC and called the Finals between the Lakers and 76ers.

During the 2002 NBA Finals, NBC brought back its original open from the 1990-91 season.

After Game 4 of the 2002 Finals, NBC said goodbye to the NBA with this great montage of its 12 season association with The Association.

To be honest, I’ve felt the NBA’s best TV partners have been CBS, NBC and Turner Sports (TBS and TNT). ESPN has been an abomination to the sport and it has shown since it got the rights in 2002. This past season has been much better production-wise for the Alleged Worldwide Leader, but the studio show and announcing teams have paled in comparison to the the aforementioned networks. Coming up next week, the opens for the NBA on TBS/TNT.