Fang's Bites

Some Wednesday Linkage

I’m dragging this morning after writing my Amazing Race Asia, Episode 2 recap well into the wee morning hours. I’ve trapped myself into a corner writing them knowing that there’s a loyal audience from both Asia and the U.S. for them. I think because the last episode was 90 minutes, it was particularly hard to write. The next one should be easier and of course, The Amazing Race 13 premieres on Sunday and I’ll be writing recaps for that as well. I’ll definitely be sleep deprived by the end of the season.

Anyway to your links.

From Friend of Fang’s Bites, David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch, he tells us that noted plagiarist Ron Borges is leaving WEEI.com after a short few weeks and going to the Boston Herald full-time.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says ESPN will give college basketball lovers a huge cornucopia of games starting at midnight on November 18.

Dayton Morinaga of the Honolulu Advertiser says Hawaii will be involved in the ESPN college basketball tip-off marathon.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Kentucky-North Carolina will be the primetime showcase of the marathon on ESPN.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New York Giants radio analyst Dick Lynch has passed away after a long illness. I used to make fun of Lynch for whining on the air, but after he lost a son in 9/11 which took a lot out of him, I stopped. From what I understand, Lynch was a very nice man.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the love for Brett Favre in the local area appears to be waning.

Tierney Plumb of the Washington Business Journal says former Redskins linebacker LeVar Arrington will join Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic as an on-air studio analyst.

The Sports Media Watch has the final weekend ratings. SMW says despite not having Brett Favre, the Packers are still a national draw. And here are some various ratings notes.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media takes the NBC hyping of its ratings for Sunday Night Football with a grain of salt. And Chris wonders why a Georgia Tech game program had to take a shot at Barry Bonds.

Subscribers to Time Warner Cable in North Carolina may not be able to watch MASN, but according to the Raleigh News & Observer, they will be able to watch the Big Ten Network. The Greensboro News-Record says BTN will be available on Time Warner tomorrow.

Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says despite ties to both Minnesota and Ohio State, Big Ten Network analyst Glen Mason will be objective during Saturday’s game.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the college football TV viewing for the New York State Capital Region.

Over to Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star, he writes that Time Warner/Metro Sports is investigating the leak of some raw unaired footage of George Brett on YouTube.

The Sox & Dawgs blog has the video of Johnny Bench doing his best Harry Caray impression on NESN last night.

The great 38 Cliches blog has a link to the early days of Red Sox voice Joe Castiglione when he was in Cleveland.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun wonders why the tournament director of the PGA Senior Players Championship did not inform a sports radio talk show host that Tom Watson will not participate despite even with him being mentioned twice.

Joe Favorito says some intended goodwill by the Toronto Maple Leafs ended up being lost by the media.

Sam Schechner of the Wall Street Journal says Barack Obama and John McCain are advertising heavily on regional sports networks.

The Orlando Business Journal says Disney is adding a new event as part of renaming its Wide World of Sports complex this week.

That’s it for now. Look for an update later today on TBS’ online coverage of the MLB postseason.

Tuesday Afternoon Stuff

Let’s give you a few more links before I head out.

First, Darren Rovell of CNBC has a few things in one entry including a blurb on GoDaddy.com which is about to hire a new spokesperson who looks like this woman (Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard), not that I object.

The Sports Media Watch blog says Monday Night Football finally saw a ratings uptick last night.

CBS Sports says it and CSTV combined will provide 9 hours of college football coverage this Saturday.

The Detroit Free Press reports the Big Ten Network has picked up Michigan and Michigan State games for October 13.

SI.com picks up an Associated Press story about MLB tweaking the postseason schedule in hopes of bringing in more TV viewers. Neil Best of Newsday has a column for Wednesday about TBS using familiar baseball announcers for its playoff coverage. We had this story yesterday, but I’ll link to it again today. SNY’s Ron Darling has been hired by TBS to join its postseason announcing lineup. Roman Modrowski of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Cubs fans will have to stay up late for the first two games of the series with Arizona, then have to contend with the Chicago Marathon for a possible Game 4. Peter Mucha in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer warns residents without cable that they’ll have to listen to the radio or internet to catch the Phillies-Rockies series.

TV Week’s Chris Pursell writes in his Pressbox blog about the NFL Network airing its first regular season college football game this weekend. Last December, the NFL Network had some bowl games, but now, the channel is branching out into regular season college football.

OMG! Ron Borges has launched his own website!!! Tell me this isn’t true. Thanks to Boston Sports Media Watch for the link.

I forgot to mention it yesterday, but Dan Patrick began his new radio show for the Content Factory on Monday. You can hear it live from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on his website.

That’s it for now.

Tuesday Morning Stuff

After watching the finish of the evening session of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, it’s time to give you some links.

Let’s head over to Boston Sports Media Watch where Bruce Allen transcribed some rather idiotic comments made by former Boston Globe writer Ron Borges. He appeared on WEEI yesterday as substitute co-host for Dennis & Callahan and said that he got screwed by the Globe when he was fired for plagiarizing an NFL notes column from Mike Sando. Remember that, Ron? You don’t plagiarize other people’s work and pass it off as your own. And you don’t play yourself off as the victim in this either. Don’t make me go back to the Cold Hard Football Facts website which compares the two columns side by side. Dave Scott of BSMW has his take on the Borges debacle yesterday and also has an update on the Dennis & Callahan/WEEI negotiations. Ron, you may think you got screwed, but the only person who screwed you was yourself.

Paulsen from the Sports Media Watch blog has a look at the weekend ratings for the sporting weekend and the thing that sticks out is the fact that viewers are ready for football. MLB on Fox slipped for the 9th straight week.

In the New York Times, Richard Sandomir says Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson should not whine about the prize money from the PGA’s FedEx Cup which will be deferred and invested for the winner. Talk about a nice perk. But Woods and Mickelson apparently want the money now.

Checking your links on the Big Ten Network, Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch says Time Warner, Insight nor WOW cable expect to pick up the channel in Ohio. George M. Thomas from the Akron Beacon Journal says with the launch on Thursday, fans may still be left out in the cold. Jim Sabin of the Newark (OH) Advocate says Time Warner Cable is still negotiating down to the wire in hopes of coming to an agreement. The story is the same from Shawn Piatek from the Johnstown (PA) Tribune-Democrat where Comcast and Atlantic Broadband are the cable providers.

The NFL Network has been picked up by Grande Communications in San Antonio.

Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic spends five minutes with Pat Summerall.

Jean DePlacido of the Salem (MA) News profiles the lovely Michelle Bonner of ESPNews and anchors an occasional SportsCenter, who hails from nearby Marblehead, MA.

Mike Battaglino of the New York Post says the popular “Two-A-Days” show is moving from MTV to ESPN where it will get a new name.

ESPN has a big-ass press release hailing its coverage for college football including a weekly game of the week on radio. And the Alleged Worldwide Leader tells us that the last 11 races of the NASCAR Nextel series will be on ABC.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the NHL’s San Jose Sharks won’t have 10 games on TV this season.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the Michael Vick story received all types of coverage.

Those are your links for now. Check back later for updates.

Monday Night Links

Let’s check some links for you.

By the way, I’m getting hooked on Hell’s Kitchen on Fox. Chef Gordon Ramsay runs his kitchen like a drill sergeant, but he wants the trainees to learn. If you haven’t seen his other show, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America, it’s tremendous. It’s so tremendous that Fox is doing its own version with Ramsay this fall. He’s the best. I wouldn’t want to cook for him, but I love him yelling at people. As long as it’s not me, I’m entertained.

Ok, to some links.

We have two stories from the Sports Media Watch blog (and thanks for linking to me today). First is the overnight ratings from the sporting weekend. MLB on Fox was the highest rated sports event over the weekend beating the competition handily.

And the second story is entitled “Eight Simple Rules for Fixing the NBA” and I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment that ABC should go to later afternoon starts instead of airing 1 p.m. where the viewership is lower. Plus, not competing against the NCAA Tournament would be better for the NBA.

Ron Borges, disgraced from the Boston Globe for plagiarism, made his first appearance on WEEI in Boston today in eight years. Borges was prevented from appearing on WEEI due to the Boston Globe’s ban on its reporters from going there. I didn’t listen to him today because I personally find him reprehensible. Borgie has appeared previously on ESPN Radio in Boston with Michael Felger. Bruce Allen in the Boston Sports Media Watch blog has the recap of the appearance. Here’s Jonathan Wallach subbing for Dale & Holley introducing Borges. And at the end of the show, Borges crossed over with Big Show host Glenn Ordway who was licking his chops to talk to Borgie.

This year, the Tennis Channel aired its first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open. Next year, it appears to have won the cable and digital rights for Wimbledon. Here’s a story from MSNBC.com on the agreement. ESPN said last month it was close to coming to an agreement with the All England Lawn and Tennis Club. And in addition, the Tennis Channel reached an agreement with ESPN to carry part of the Australian Open next year so in two short years, the channel will have three of the four Grand Slam tournaments.

TNT will show its entire coverage online as John Consoli of Mediaweek tells us. In Canada, TSN will stream live coverage of all four rounds of the Open Championship from Carnoustie, but only from the 16th – 18th holes. What is that?

The Big Ten Network will carry more than 600 hours of Penn State sports programming. That’s a lot. In addition, Iowa football fans who were accustomed to watching a one hour replay show on Mediacom Connections cable will have to watch Iowa football replays on the Big Ten Network. By the way, Mediacom has not entered into an agreement to carry the Big Ten Network so fans will be shut out of any Iowa football games on the channel.

Brian Biggane reports in the Palm Beach Post that Steve Goldstein, the Florida Panthers‘ radio play-by-play man moves to the TV side and the team also changes radio stations in Miami.

Sprint cell phone customers will be able to hear Fox Sports Radio thanks to mSpot.

Lots of links this evening. That will do it until Tuesday.

Friday’s Links

Hello. Memorial Day Weekend here in the US and it means that warm weather is finally coming. Here in New England, 90 degree temps are expected and it nice to see. Also, it means summer movies and we’ll keep an eye on them here in the blog. But, we’ll always keep an eye on what the sports media is doing.

One other thing, I hope Shandi Finnessey will be on Quiznation this weekend on GSN. I have to admit after seeing her for the first time while flipping channels, I’m a bit smitten. Hey, she’s in Los Angeles, I’m in RI. Stranger things have happened, but I know the reality. We’ll continue our efforts to make her and Shana Hiatt the Next Big Star.

Ok, enough silliness, on to the links.

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy is a bit late to the party, but he has praise for ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber. This blog was all over it from her first column, but better late than never. McCarthy also has some notes on Jose Canseco pitching a reality show and the emergence of Mixed Martial Arts into the mainstream sports media. Again, McCarthy is a bit late to the party on MMA, but with UFC on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, there’s an increased focus on the sport.

Dave Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch says the Boston Globe is running a double standard criticizing Boston talk station, WRKO for trying to bring in embattled Don Imus producer Bernard McGuirk to audition (WRKO eventually backed down and scrapped the audition before it started), but keeping silent on the Ron Borges affair. Scott also has praise for Globe columnist Bob Ryan who has started a blog. To be honest, for Ryan who’s one of the best writers in the country, I say welcome to the blogosphere, Bob. Nice to have you join us.

Susan Bickelhaupt of the Globe has another story about NBC cutting off last week’s Ottawa-Buffalo game, but she defends the Peacock. She says it’s a matter of ratings and the numbers do show that the pre-race show got more viewers than the game, but it’s the principle. If it were an NFL or Notre Dame college football game, you had better believe there would be no cutting away.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also writes about MMA’s growing popularity.

New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick has some criticisms for ESPN’s Joe Morgan. I have to say I agree with them. Morgan is not a very good analyst and his constant harping on how the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds were the best team of all time grates on me. Then again, Morgan must feel he knows everything because his manager Sparky Anderson knew everything. Now I totally respect Sparky as the man won three championships in two different leagues, but Joe can only go so far. Besides, I have always respected Walpole Joe Morgan, former manager of the Red Sox, much more than ESPN’s Joe Morgan. ESPN’s Joe Morgan is not worthy of any links.

Do you care that the former “Bachelor” Jesse Palmer has retired from the CFL for a television career? Me neither.

Bob Raissman says the YES Network was unsurprisingly quiet on the Jason Giambi affair and also criticizes Peter Gammons for questioning the validity of the New York Daily News report that the “Geeambeeno” (as John Sterling calls him) failed a drug test.

Neil Best of New York Newsday looks at former New York Giant Phillipi Sparks whose daughter, Jordin won American Idol this week.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune looks at a new documentary on minor leaguers trying to make it to the Show and the Big Ten Network making ESPN’s Dave Revsine or “The Rever” it’s first on-camera hire.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks to former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy about widening the court in the NBA. I’m sure team owners would just love to lose those courtside seats in which they overcharge fans by the thousands of dollars.

Continuing to talk NBA here, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says the ratings for the early games of the NBA Conference Finals have not caught fire nor will they.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel writes about the Stanley Cup Finals getting top notch coverage from both Versus and NBC. Now if NBC would find a way not to shuttle overtime games to Versus.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune has his take on the NBC switch from the hockey game to the Preakness.

Do you notice how much this move by NBC has given the NHL some actual juice going into Monday’s Game 1? I do hope the NHL can capture this momentum, but knowing Commissioner Gary Bettman, he’ll probably lock out the players and delay the start of the season. He’s such an incompetent.

Greg Johnson of the LA Times talks about how hockey is struggling to find an audience in US.

Also from the Times, Larry Stewart says Versus has a negative connotation among hockey fans. And in his notebook column, Stewart says ESPN and the Tennis Channel will have plenty of coverage from the French Open which begins Sunday. He also mentions Ninja Warrior on G4!!!

Ron Borges is O-U-T! OUT!!!

In a move that smells to high heaven, Ron Borges has quote, retired, unquote. This move came late on Friday night. It also comes just one week after Borgie returned to work from a two month suspension, and just after he wrote one piece for the Boston Globe.

When he returned two Thursdays ago, Borgie said the truth will come out. Well, if the truth is that he has to “retire”, then there’s something more to the plagiarism of a Mike Sando football news & notes column from the Spokane News-Tribune. The Globe made a short, terse announcement late Friday night. Dave Scott from Boston Sports Media Watch was all over it.

Borges has been known to get the wrath of New England Patriots fans for constantly throwing barbs at Bill Belichick, not all of them deserved, in fact, most of them were not deserved. But the Globe which was once had a great sports department, now finds itself needing an in-depth football reporter. While Borges did this to himself, he also had tremendous contacts around the NFL.

You have to wonder where he will land. Borges is a very good boxing reporter and does have the knowledge to write football, but it’s a question if he’ll write for another newspaper, website or go the electronic route and go to radio/TV. What’s known is that his reputation has been shot and he’ll be remembered for ruining what was a very good career.

Friday Links

Lots of stuff for the upcoming sports weekend. We have the NHL and NBA Playoffs in full swing. The Players Championship continues. There’s MLB on Fox and ESPN plus the decision that came down late Thursday against the NFL Network. Let’s get to the national links.

First from Boston, Dave Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch continues to look into Ron Borges of the Boston Globe. Good article from Scott looking into possible conflicts of interest with Borges covering the De La Hoya – Mayweather fight last week while he may or may not have been on the payroll of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Borges returned to the Boston airwaves this week hardly sounding contrite or remorseful for being caught plagiarizing a football notes article two months ago. The Globe isn’t commenting and the Boston Newspaper Guild is defending Borges (why?). Scott goes into the entire matter and certainly does his due diligence in asking Golden Boy why Borges was working for them.

The Globe’s Susan Bickelhaupt writes about the transition of the Red Sox from Entercom’s WEEI to WRKO this season. WEEI/WRKO Program Director Jason Wolfe said he’s received positive feedback regarding Glenn Geffner. I find that hard to believe. In fact, the anti-Geffner blog, 38 Cliches calls Bickelhaupt’s article “rose colored” and I agree with that. Today’s entry says,

“Let’s deconstruct this a little bit. First, we know that Geffner in particular has not been “very well received”. The undersigned writer plumbs the depth of the digital and print opinions on the subject and offers both the good and bad on a daily basis. There is very little positive said about Geffner.”

Some disclosure here, I’m a member of the Remy Report Message Board and I started a thread titled, “The I Miss Jerry Trupiano Thread”. I thought it would get just a few replies, but I find a new complaint there almost every day. And when I’m in chat with members who listen to the games via the internet, there are complaints about Geffner’s style. And the complaints are getting louder. I put a link to 38Cliches on my site and I will continue to support it as long as it’s in existence.

As mentioned, golf’s “5th major”, the Players Championship, is taking place this weekend. Michael Hiestand of USA Today has a feature on NBC’s coverage and the 17th hole in particular, which is the TPC at Sawgrass’ signature hole. You’ve seen it, the island green that has caused the indigestion of many a golfer yesterday. Hiestand also has a blurb on a story that former US Women’s Soccer team member Julie Foudy will have on pregnancy and women’s college sports for ESPN’s excellent Outside the Lines program. From what I’ve read, the fact that some student-athletes are getting abortions to avoid losing their scholarships is quite alarming.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has a story about Roger Mayweather considering broadcasting as a new career.

The New York Post’s Pat Reichart has 5 questions for YES analyst Al Leiter.

Neil Best of New York Newsday has updated his column from last night.

Bob Raissman is showing his colors a bit. He has some harsh words for Roger Clemens.

Jim Williams of the Baltimore/DC Examiner has a feature on “When Good Broadcasters Go Bad”. Two examples, Gary Thorne on MASN making his comments about Curt Schilling’s bloody sock being faked, and Rick Dempsey really digging a hole for himself by using domestic abuse references on Jay Gibbons while interviewing Gibbons’ wife as she promoting a drive by the Baltimore Orioles’ wives on behalf of a battered women’s shelter. To Laura Giuliani’s credit, she just sat quietly. When will people ever learn?

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes about Fox using microphones for umpires and giving them an opportunity to show their humorous side.

The State’s (South Carolina) Doug Nye writes that the NBA is struggling to find viewers. To be honest, I’m finding myself less interested in the NBA since 1999 and really don’t care who wins.

The Toronto Star’s Chris Zelkovich says a new TV rights deal between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Rogers Sportsnet will have widespread implications across Canada.

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer is not supportive of an idea to spread the NFL draft over a three day period and have the first round on Friday in primetime.

Staying in Philly, Laura Nachman of Philly Burbs.com has a profile on Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

The NFL says it will appeal the ruling handed down yesterday that Comcast could put the NFL Network on a sports tier.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune applauds NFL Commish Roger Goodell for opening up access to the media.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an additional article about Fox miking MLB umpires.

Larry Stewart of the LA Times has more on NBC reducing the amount of commercial breaks in the Players Championship, plus he writes about the increased high definition coverage of sporting events.

And John Maffei of the North County Times has an extensive media column today and he has info on NBC and the Players Championship, review of ESPN’s reworked First Take (formerly Cold Pizza), and the son of the late “Voice of God” voiceover artist, John Facenda, suing over the use of his dad’s voice in ads and video games.

We’ll have the primetime viewing choices and perhaps some more links later.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

A couple of news items for you today.

Embattled Boston Globe writer Ron Borges appeared on the Michael Felger show on ESPN Radio in Boston today. Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has the story including some updates on the Curt Schilling comments on Barry Bonds. Bruce’s site is one of the best watchdog media sites in the nation and he usually keeps a sharp eye on the hypocrisy that is the Boston sports media. For those of you who are interested in media matters, bookmark his site or subscribe via RSS. You won’t go wrong.

The 38 Cliches blog continues to monitor Red Sox radio announcer Glenn Geffner. Last night, it blogged the broadcast from Toronto and it wasn’t pretty as I noted in my post below. Not pretty at all.

Later this month, the miniscule Tennis Channel begins its coverage of its first Grand Slam tennis tournament, the French Open. Currently, it’s available in only 10 million households, but it will go up to as many as 50 million viewers thanks to DirecTV which will carry its coverage. The Tennis Channel will team with ESPN to bring the French Open to the US. The New York Sun has more on the story.

Racing fans will be able to watch the Indianapolis 500 in Hi Def. This will be the only Indy Racing League event to be in HD, however.

The Big 12 Conference may have some of its Saturday night football games sold to ESPN from current rights holder Fox Sports Net. FSN has the cable contract to televise football games. For the past few years, FSN has subleased games to TBS, but Turner opted out this year to concentrate on the MLB postseason. According to the San Antonio Express, talks are heating up between FSN and ESPN. The over-the-air contract is held by ESPN. The Express reports that other possibilities are the NFL Network, Versus or even FSN itself.

Speaking of the NFL Network, starting this Thursday, it will delve into its library and televise some of the original broadcasts of the league’s classic games. It will be called NFL Classics, of course. Here are the schedule of games for this month:

May 10 at 8 p.m. ET
Chicago Bears vs. Arizona Cardinals (ESPN, 2006)

May 17 at 8 p.m. ET
Indianapolis Colts vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (ABC, 2003)

May 24 at 8 p.m. ET
Miami Dolphins vs. New York Jets (ABC, 2000)

May 31 at 8 p.m. ET
Houston Oilers vs. Buffalo Bills (NBC, 1993)

You can more details on the games at the link above.

Primetime Viewing

Red Sox at Toronto – NESN, 7 p.m.
Jericho (season finale) – CBS, 8 p.m.
Lost – ABC, 10 p.m.

Political Potpourri

This does not mean I’m going political, but stealing a phrase from John McLaughlin, I’ll do a mishmash of links on Fridays from the various media columns across the country. Depending on the time, I can do it early on Fridays or in the case of today, I’ll update things as the day progresses.

First, the return of Ron Borges to the Boston Globe and unfortunately, to the public airwaves. He was suspended two months ago for plagiarizing a football notes column from the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune. Cold Hard Football Facts chronicled the entire debacle when it happened two months ago. Before the incident occurred, Borges was notorious for being a contrarian and getting under New England Patriots fans’ skin. His prediction that the Pats would lose 73-0 to the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI is an example. Blogger Dave Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch has some suggestions for Borges as he comes back from disgrace this weekend.

Red Sox fans have not been too thrilled with Glenn Geffner as one of the replacements for ousted Jerry Trupiano. Trup was known for his calls of “WAAAAAAY BACK! WAAAAAAAAY BACK! FFFFFFFOOOOOWWWWWWLLL BAAAAAAWWWWWLLLLL!” on Red Sox radio broadcasts for 15 seasons starting in 1993. His contract was not renewed by the Red Sox in favor of a two man replacement, Geffner and Dave O’Brien, who’s been doing work for ESPN and the New York Mets. The general consensus among fans on message boards and the media is that O’Brien is more polished of the two. Geffner’s calls have sounded forced to this blogger. And because of O’Brien’s schedule with ESPN, calling Monday Night Baseball and Thursday MSL, Geffner has been getting the majority of games. One blog, 38Cliches has been tracking Geffner and has been critical. I think it’s deserved and I don’t think Geffner’s going to get any better.

If you’re wondering, here’s a list of Red Sox Broadcasters dating back to 1926. I kid you not.

To the national front, the NBA Playoffs may be compelling, but they’re not necessarily translating to eyeballs in front of the TV set. Yes, great upset by Golden State, the 8 seed out West upsetting No. 1 seed Dallas, but that means Dirk Nowitski is out along with Shaq and Kobe. The lack of marquee names could hurt ABC/ESPN and TNT in the long run. Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the lack of true rivalries in this year’s playoffs could lead to record lows for the NBA’s network partners. I agree. The NBA has seen record ratings in the regular season. I don’t mean record highs, I’m talking record lows for ABC which at one point this season, tied the NHL. It hasn’t hit the notorious zero-point-zero yet, but give the NBA a year or two and it just might.

We’ll have more later.