Fang's Bites

Bringing You A Few Wednesday Sports Media Thoughts And More…

Let’s do a few sports media thoughts and a couple non-sports thoughts. They’re in bullet form, of course.

• Fox did its usual good job in covering the MLB All-Star Game. The production was spot on. Joe Buck was decent. Ken Rosenthal was good in his role. Fox did not shove Erin Andrews down our throats in her Fox debut as she made just a few appearances. Tim McCarver’s analysis still is lacking and there were times when his statements were head scratchers (“Electric stuff is a new baseball term”). Basing it on the pictures and replays, Fox usually steps up and it did so on Tuesday.

  However, the postgame ceremonies with All-Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera were quite awkward as MLB Commissioner Bud Selig looked confused and wooden like he always does and MLB Nerwork’s Matt Vasgersian wasn’t helpful as Cabrera had difficulty speaking English, yet Matt didn’t try to bail him out. He just let Melky struggle. Bad spot by Matt there.

  While the game was a blowout early and there was most likely a late tune out factor, the All-Star Game’s ratings will probably be on a par with last year’s all-time record low 6.9 rating.

• On Monday night, ESPN carried the Home Run Derby and while ratings for this year’s event were up compared to 2011, one had to think the numbers increased despite Chris Berman’s presence behind the mic.

  While the Derby itself was dull, the highlight of the broadcast was Hall of Fame Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett bringing barbecue ribs to the set and seeing John Kruk demolish them.

  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Chris Berman’s act is old. ESPN puts him on the U.S. Open and Home Run Derby every year and the complaints about his performance pick up on social media. Every ball that was hit started with either a “WOW!” or an “OH!” How is that a good call? And when Berman tried to get cute with geography by saying one blast was headed to Omaha, Brett chimed in with “Wrong direction,” which made my night.

  Berman is not a play-by man and I wish he was taken off the Home Run Derby.

  The social media bashing of Berman will rise to new heights next month when he handles his first NFL play-by-play assignment.

• The Big Lead reported on Tuesday that ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball voice Dan Shulman could be in demand when his contract expires later this year.

  Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead wrote that Fox and possibly, NBC would be interested in Shulman’s services. Of course, Shulman can call baseball and basketball, both of which he calls very well. If Fox retains baseball, Shulman could easily supplant Joe Buck as lead voice, call the entire season of Fox Saturday Baseball which Buck does not do, and have a role in the MLB Postseason for the network. He could also call college basketball for either Fox’s cable entities, Big Ten Network or Fox Sports Net.

  Should NBC get a piece of the MLB contract, then Shulman again could be the lead voice and also call basketball if NBC gets Big East rights. Of course, NBC could also give Shulman an Olympic sport to call every two years.

  And there’s always the option that Dan could remain with ESPN where he calls the League Championship Series and World Series on Radio and call college basketball with a few NBA games thrown in for good measure.

  Shulman certainly has some options after the final out is recorded at this year’s World Series.

• After failing to come to an agreement, Viacom pulled 17 networks off DirecTV including MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, and Spike, among others. No one wins in these disputes. Both sides blame the other. It all comes down to money. Viacom wants more money from DirecTV, but the satellite provider says it doesn’t want to pay it. No matter what, I see a slide in the Viacom Network’s place. This is all unnecessary and avoidable, yet it happens time and time again.
• Is there a better network meteorologist than Ginger Zee of ABC’s Good Morning America and World News? I didn’t think so. She can chase storms for me any time.

And we’re done.

Let’s Get Some Linkage Out

I’ve accumulated a lot of links. They’re slowing down my browser so let’s clear them so I can let my computer get back some memory. Lots of stuff going on.

Let’s start with ESPN stuff as it dominated the news today with its network upfront presentation to advertisers and also confirmed personnel moves.

First, Sports Media Watch talks about Scott Van Pelt reupping with ESPN.

The ESPN Front Row blog has a Q&A podcast with Van Pelt in which he explains why he decided to remain with the Bristolians.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today recaps today’s ESPN upfront presentation in New York.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that with Michelle Beadle leaving ESPN, the network is now focusing on keeping Erin Andrews in the fold.

The Hollywood Reporter goes over some ESPN upfront news including its plans to bring back the 30 for 30 documentary series.

Stuart Levin from Variety also has a story on the new set of 30 for 30 docs.

Jeannie Poggi of Advertising Age also reviews ESPN’s upfronts.

Alex Weprin from TVNewser says ESPN and ABC News will co-produce an interview series to be fronted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts.

Mike Shields from Adweek says ESPN.com will now partner to sell ads.

ESPN’s Vice President of College Sports Programming, Burke Magnus responds to a Dan Wetzel/Yahoo Sports article on the new ACC TV contract.

Chad Scott at ChuckOliver.net explains how third tier media rights work in college sports.

Andy Fixmer and Alex Sherman at Bloomberg report on how ESPN may expand its WatchESPN app to Apple TV platforms.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says CBS is ready to take the coveted 18-49 ratings title from perennial winner Fox with the airing of Super Bowl XLVII next season.

The great SportsbyBrooks tweets that Erik Kuselias’ move to NBC Sports Network from Golf Channel’s Morning Drive is being considered a demotion by network higher-ups. I had a feeling this was the case. Do you consider this tweet inane, Mike Francesa?

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report enjoyed watching Survival Sunday on the Fox Sports platforms, but wondered why the most important English Premier League game was on another network.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has four different calls of the same moment when Manchester City won the EPL title on Sunday.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal writes about a now-defunct Twitter account that got under the skin of several sports network executives.

Earlier today, WFAN’s Mike Francesa ranted on how much he hates Twitter.

If you want to see Mike’s veins popping out during this rant, you can see it here on the YES Network website.

And while Francesa seemingly hates Twitter, Media Rantz points out that Francesa has an app where he does something similar to Twitter.

Bruce Jenkins from Sports Illustrated says Tennis Channel failed to serve the WTA Tour’s Madrid Open like it did with the ATP’s side of the same tournament.

Phil Allaway at Front Stretch looks at ESPN’s coverage of this past weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Race.

BBC Sport has announced it will have 24 live HD streams dedicated to the Olympics this summer.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBCUniversal has set the Olympics programming lineup for Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News notes that a Federal Appeals Court has upheld an FCC ruling that Time Warner Cable did not discriminate against MASN when it refused to put the regional sports network on its North Carolina systems.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the college conference realignment game won’t be settled for at least another decade.

Matt Boutwell of Maine Sports Media looks at a case I wrote about three years ago, about the mysterious tweeter, BrianAdExec.

NESN goes behind the scenes with Jenny Dell and the network’s production team on what goes on during a typical Red Sox gameday.

Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post has SNY’s president talking about the regional sports network’s plans to air UConn Women’s basketball next season.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with NBC Sports’ Mike Emrick about calling his old team, the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

In the New York Times, Jay Schreiber talks about the last time the Devils and the New York Rangers met in the Eastern Conference Final and how he had to monitor the series without smartphones back then.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on ESPN’s plans to bring back 30 for 30.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY writes that MSG Network will provide of wraparound coverage of the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says YES Network will air a Yankeeography on David Wells this week.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that MSG Network will begin airing the WNBA’s New York Liberty starting this weekend.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says two local global conglomerates including Comcast expect to make some big money from the London Olympics.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com Sports goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s MLS production.

Jeff Barker from the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles and the Washington Nationals are waiting word from MLB on a decision on how much MASN should pay the Nats.

Over to Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog who writes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is making a change in its DC NFL team beat reporter.

Dan talks about former Post columnist Howard Bryant ranting against Washington Nationals ownership.

Mike Finger at the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network may offer more Texas football games in another attempt to get carriage from state cable providers.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT set another local ratings record.

In Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks goes over some hate mail.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune writes that Utahans should be able to see the Running Utes thanks to wider distribution of the Pac-12 Networks than the soon-to-be defunct the mtn.

Tuesday night, KNBC-TV did a story on the busy postseason in Los Angeles, but aired the wrong graphic for the Kings and showed the Sacramento Kings instead of the LA Kings. C’mon, man!

Martin Miller of the Los Angeles Times says ESPN upfront presentation showed the network was ready for some football.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media is telling everyone that a New York Rangers-Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final might not mean boffo ratings as some NHL observers are saying.

Jay Koot of Busted Coverage is disgusted by Erik Kuselias’ engagement to Morning Drive news reader Holly Sonders.

And that’s where we’ll end the links tonight.

ABC News’ This Week with Christiane Amanpour’s Interviews On The Penn State Scandal

I believe this is the second or third time I have posted a Sunday network news program transcript. The other times have been for Super Bowl interviews on the Sunday news programs. This one deals with the Penn State story and comes from ABC’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour. This morning, the University of Rhode Island Journalism graduate talked with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and USA Today’s Christine Brennan about the developments last week at Penn State regarding the alleged child molestations by former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

I mention Amanpour’s URI connection only for the fact that she and I attended URI at the same time, but she attended school in Providence while I was in Kingston, so we never met. I did know CNN’s John King who went to URI , but that’s neither here nor there.

Here’s the press release.

GOVERNOR TOM CORBETT ON “THIS WEEK WITH CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2011

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett speaks with Christiane Amanpour about the sex abuse scandal at Penn State that has exploded into public view. Plus, USA Today columnist and ABC News contributor Christine Brennan provides her insights on the sex abuse investigation and the culture of college football.  

A transcript of “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” airing this morning, November 13, 2011 on ABC News is below. 

Christiane Amanpour is the anchor of “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.” Rick Kaplan is the executive producer. The program airs Sundays on the ABC Television Network (check local listings). Visit the “This Week” website to read more about the show at: www.abcnews.go.com/thisweek

-ABC-

TRANSCRIPT:

AMANPOUR:  So an eventful week on the campaign trail, but not enough to eclipse the story that continues to shock America, the unfolding scandal at Penn State, the outrage of a revered coach and esteemed university president looking the other way as an alleged pedophile preyed on children.

Yesterday, the Nittany Lions took to the field for the first time since the sordid story spilled into the open. Before kickoff, a moment of silence, as players dropped to their knees in recognition of the young victims. The (Nittany) Lions lost the game, their first without Coach Joe Paterno. And this morning, emotions on campus and around the state remain raw.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett was the attorney general who began investigating accused sexual predator Jerry Sandusky, and he joins me now from Harrisburg. Governor, thank you for joining me.
CORBETT:  Thank you for having me on, Christiane.

AMANPOUR:  Let — let me just ask you, why do you think it took this sort of public shaming for the university to finally act? Why do you think everyone, basically, hid this thing for so long, from the president to Coach Paterno?
CORBETT:  Well, Christiane, first, I have to put on the record that it’s hard for me to talk about a lot of the — the past. We have to look to the future, because I was the attorney general involved in the investigation. I have certain ethical rules that I have to follow.

But I would note that the board of trustees has appointed Ken Frazier to lead the investigation, along with my secretary of education, to determine exactly the question that you’re asking. What happened? Why did it happen? And most importantly, how does the university move on from here? I think that you saw yesterday a very good outpouring of support for everyone. When those two teams came together and, really, that whole stadium came together with those two teams.

AMANPOUR:  Well, let me — let me ask you, because this is obviously massively serious. And I understand your ethical and legal obligations. However, don’t you think that the mere risk that somebody who you’ve been investigating for more than two years, the mere risk that he could have continued to abuse during this investigation, demanded a call to the police? Should that not have been, at the very least, something that the coach, that the president should have done?
CORBETT:  We would have expected law enforcement to have been involved much sooner than it got involved. And as you know from newspaper reports, our office, as the attorney general became involved, not in a case related to the university, but in a case from a next-door county, Clinton County, and a school there, where Mr. Sandusky was helping out as a coach.

AMANPOUR:  Do you think others are going to be held accountable? How far up do you think that this should go? Do you think Coach Paterno is going to face legal issues?
CORBETT:  Well, as you know, again, Attorney General Linda Kelly has already said at this point that he’s not a subject of the investigation. And she stopped at that point. When you have investigations like this — and I’m not going to talk about this one — but the one thing you learn when you’re conducting investigations is that, as people face charges, they may start to cooperate, they may start talking about different things. The investigation is an ongoing one. So, because of that, I can’t make projections or speculation as to where this may go.

AMANPOUR:  Well, let me ask you about the former graduate assistant coach, Mike McQueary, who allegedly witnessed Sandusky actually raping a child at Penn State in 2002, but did not intervene. You have said that if you — if it had been you, you would have intervened. Why do you think that he didn’t? And why do you think that that was not taken up the chain of command?
CORBETT:  That’s a good question for Coach McQueary, as to why something didn’t happen. I’m sure it’s going to be answered at some point in time during the course of the facts being revealed in this investigation over the course of a trial. Mr. McQueary is a witness in this trial. And I’m sure that the facts will be determined as to exactly how far up that knowledge was passed through the chain of command.

AMANPOUR:  Do you think that Joe Paterno should have come out and actually talked to the students about what happened, instead of just allowing this rioting to go on, I mean, take some responsibility?
CORBETT:  Well, it’s not for me to figure out what’s going through Joe Paterno’s mind. Certainly, he was under a great deal of pressure, a shock that he’d just been told that he was no longer the coach of Penn State. And I think your question was one that you have to deliver to him.

AMANPOUR:  What do you think?  Do you think adults should take responsibility for so brazenly failing children?
CORBETT:  Well, in my role as attorney general, my role as a U.S. attorney, and now as governor, I believe adults should always stand up for children.

AMANPOUR:  Governor, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us.
CORBETT:  Thank you.

AMANPOUR:  And clearly, in this case, they didn’t. For some perspective on the Penn State story, let’s bring in USA Today sportswriter Christine Brennan.

Christine, what happened? Is this really just yet another example of how hallowed these sports teams are, how untouchable they are on college campuses?
BRENNAN:  Absolutely, Christiane. Let’s look at the culture of college football. McQueary, of course, is the man, as you just mentioned, who witnessed — allegedly witnessed this rape of a 10-year-old boy in the showers at Penn State. And I believe he thought he was doing a lot, that he was going above and beyond by going to Joe Paterno’s house the next day and telling the revered coach what he saw.

In this case, unfortunately, in this world of college football, Joe Paterno is bigger than the police. These college programs, people love them. People watch them. I’ve been around them for decades. And they kind of go into hibernation in July or August, and they come up for air in January, after the bowl games, and they’re living in an entirely different world than you and I.

And so the fact that this man saw this reprehensible thing and, as I said, I believe we’ll find out that he thought he was going above and beyond by going to Joe Paterno’s house on a day off to tell the coach. And I think that tells us all we need to know about how out-of-control college football programs are.

AMANPOUR:  And discussing with my fellow round-tablers and others, I mean, at the very least perhaps he could have gone and stopped it, stopped what he was seeing happening in front of his eyes.

But let me ask you.  Everybody’s sort talking about this as if it’s only just come out into the open. As you well know, the Harrisburg local newspaper started reporting this, you know, last March, March of this year, and yet nothing was said about it. It didn’t have a ripple effect. How do you explain that?
BRENNAN:  It’s stunning, except for the fact that — and in the Internet day and age, too, of course, where you would think this story would get some traction. This is such a monumental disaster and such a window into the world of this fiefdom, this world of not only college football, but Penn State, where, as you know, the president of the university said after reading the grand jury — those 23 awful pages of the grand jury report, the president, Graham Spanier, said that — called the charges “groundless” and gave his unconditional support to the two men who now are gone from the team — or from the university.

So I think that there was such a culture, a groupthink that was either in denial or either knew about Sandusky and didn’t want to go any further with it, we’ll get to those answers eventually. But you’re right. How in the world does — you know, this explodes and you have this reaction all week, and yet, as you said, people in Pennsylvania have known about this for years.

AMANPOUR:  And just very briefly, is there any realistic thought that this kind of thing will be corrected? And, of course, this is the extreme of an ongoing list of things that go on. Anything goes, win at all costs in college sports. Is there any way that you think this will really not happen again?
BRENNAN:  It’s a great question.  And I think the hope really comes in if the university president — if the outrage is so extreme, university presidents, maybe 20 or 25, get together and say, “This has got to stop,” and they take back their universities from these run-amok college football programs and other college sports that are causing so much trouble.

AMANPOUR:  Christine Brennan, thank you so much, indeed, for joining us.

We’ll move to the Sunday NFL pregame quotage next.

Doing A Few Sunday Links

Let’s some linkage on this Sunday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that the NBA lockout has forced the cancellation of the rest of its November games forcing ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and regional sports networks to fill huge programming holes.

Michael Malone at Multichannel notes that some Hawaiian viewers lost part of Thursday’s Game 6 of the World Series due to a transmission error with Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

Zak Keefer at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center recaps a lecture given to students by ESPN Sr. VP for Print and Digital Media Rob King.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid notes that the ESPN Sign Police failed to do their job during yesterday’s College GameDay.

The Dan Patrick Show has some more signs that slipped through the Sign Police that referred to the show’s #occupygameday effort.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has video of some possibly drunk Steelers fans bombing Albert Breer’s live shot on NFL Network today.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions looks at DirecTV’s FCC complaint over Fox’s ads regarding their carriage dispute which is fast approaching Tuesday’s drop dead date.

And Phil says now DirecTV has been caught lying.

SportsFans.org have a column in the Business Insider Sports Page criticizing the DirecTV/Fox dispute.

Dave Wedge of the Boston Herald interviews former NBA star Chris Herren, the subject of ESPN Films’ latest documentary.

Alexander Soule at the Fairfield County (CT) Business Journal writes about NBC Sports’ move to Stamford, CT.

Martin B. Cassidy of the Stamford (CT) Advocate says NBC Sports coming to town will be beneficial for neighboring businesses.

Stuart Elliot of the New York Times notes that a new scripted series on ESPN Deportes will have many  products woven into the storyline making for a lot of product placement.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with former New York Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer taking on his second career as a broadcaster.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post gets on Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News reports that the Yankees have signed a new deal to remain on WCBS for another season.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has late, breaking news from CBS’ Bill Cowher.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner feels the Big East has some options even as other conferences are picking on its bones.

Gary Smits of the Florida Times-Union says golf’s ratings are up across the board this fall.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times speaks with former Florida State QB and current ESPNU analyst Danny Kanell.

David Knox from the Birmingham (AL) News talks with CBS Sports Network analyst Rich Rodriguez.

The Daily Oklahoman reports that the long-time voice of the Oklahoma Sooners, Bob Barry has passed away.

Jim Benson at the Bloomington (IN) Pantagraph feels Lee Corso adds laughs to ESPN’s College GameDay.

Robert Feder at TimeOut Chicago says popular local sportscaster Paula Faris is leaving at the end of the year to become an anchor with ABC News.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Game 7 of the World Series drew big ratings for Fox both nationally and locally.

Dan also has a ratings chart for the entire World Series for this year.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that Lee Corso did a tree dance on College GameDay.

Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times looks at a new genre of sports movies which includes ESPN’s “Unguarded” that premieres on Tuesday.

Sports Media Watch notes that the ratings for the World Series ended being up from last year.

SMW looks at the World Series Game 7′s ratings from Friday.

Joe Favorito says two events, Pro Bull Riding and the New York City Marathon need to tap into their fanbases who can’t attend live in person.

And we’ll end the linkage there.

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.

US Women’s Soccer Team To Appear On GMA

The US Women’s National Soccer Team is back in the United States after losing in penalty kicks to Japan. But it will not stop a media tour for the women. They’ll begin in New York with a stop at the Good Morning America studios in Times Square. This is our first ABC News press release and I’m happy to post it.

USA WOMENS NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM ON“GOOD MORNING AMERICA” TUESDAY, JULY 19

Just back from Frankfurt, Germany after their defeat to Japan in the Women’s World Cup finals, the Women’s National Soccer Team will appear live on ABC News “Good Morning America” tomorrow, July 19. Hope Solo, Abby Wombach, and Megan Rapinoe, along with the rest of the team, will discuss their experience, plus reaction to setting a new record for global Twitter volume, and respond to criticism for losing to Japan for the first time, and how this was an especially poignant time for Japan to get their first win.

“Good Morning America” is a two-hour, live program anchored by Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. Josh Elliott is the news anchor, Lara Spencer is lifestyle anchor and Sam Champion is the weather anchor. The morning news program airs MONDAY-FRIDAY (7:00-9:00 a.m., EDT), on the ABC Television Network. James Goldston is the senior executive producer and Tom Cibrowski is the executive producer of ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”

One more press release post before I work on Part 2 of the Twitter accounts you should follow.