Fang's Bites

Finally, Our Tuesday Links

Thanks to the server host getting a Denial of Service attack last night, Fang’s Bites has been down for most of the day. Not happy for not being able to blog for most of the day, although I’m back up for now. I apologize for the inconvenience. I’ll give you linkage now and hope you’ll be able to continue to visit throughout the night. And I’ll try to catch up with press releases tonight.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that former CBS bitter curmudgeon college basketball analyst Billy Packer agrees with ESPN’s Jay Bilas in bashing VCU’s selection to the NCAA Tournament.

ESPN’s corporate blog, Front Row has launched before its official midnight unveiling.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal notes that Turner Sports accomplished its mission by getting fans to find truTV for the NCAA Tournament.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes notes that three DirecTV-owned FSN regional sports networks will be re-branded as of April 1.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry says two programs this week won’t forget what the NCAA Tournament is really about.

Royce Young of CBSSports.com notes that ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose was arrested earlier this month on DUI charges, something the Mothership is looking into.

Carolyn Giardina of the Hollywood Reporter explains why tonight’s Blackhawks-Bruins game is being transmitted via satellite to CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that Time Warner Cable has received cease and desist letters over its iPad app.

Paige Albiniak at Broadcasting & Cable reports that March Madness ate into syndicated TV’s ratings.

To the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center reviews Frontline’s documentary on March Madness.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser writes that MLB Extra Innings will be free to all for the first week and a half of the season.

Andrew Gauthier at TVSpy notes that a TV live truck got mobbed during the VCU Final Four celebration on Sunday.

At SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty notes that Jay Bilas continues to pound the case that he was right in his VCU assumption.

Joe Favorito says the Cleveland Baseball Team is totally embracing social media.

Joe looks at the ever-shrinking television newscast in the biggest market in the country.

Newsday’s Neil Best has Fox’s Tim McCarver saying that the Wilpon family will have to sell the New York Mets over their off the field troubles.

Neil talks with ESPN’s Bobby Valentine over his new gig.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call recaps an appearance by ESPN/ABC’s Matt Millen.

Neal Shaffer of Bmore Media reviews Jen Royle’s tumultuous year after joining MASN and CBS Radio.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks about the total audience that has viewed at least a portion of the NCAA Tournament.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times notes that the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg drew decent ratings on Sunday.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News says a local sports radio personality is switching stations.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says CBS is bringing back a classic version of “One Shining Moment” next week.

David also has a preview of tomorrow’s Real Sports on HBO.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Friend of Fang’s Bites Trenni Kusnierek will be joining a local radio station. She had hinted to me that she would be doing something locally after leaving MLB Network. Congrats to her on her new gig.

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic notes that Phoenix Suns voice and longtime network announcer Gary Bender is retiring at the end of the season.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News gets predictions on the Dodgers from a couple of network MLB analysts.

Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times says Fox is testing out a new camera during tonight’s Dodgers-Angels game on Fox Sports West.

NHL.com has posted some of the best calls of Edmonton Oilers voice Rod Phillips as he’s calling his final games with the tea.

Sports Media Watch notes that UConn steered ESPN to its highest NCAA Women’s Tournament ratings in eleven years.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that Sunday Night Baseball is back on TSN2 this season.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media wonders if CBS could brand the Final Four to draw viewers.

Emmett Jones of Sports Business Journal looks at ESPN Front Row.

And we’re done.

Some Thursday Links

This day has been a headspinner as there was too much commotion at my Massachusetts office and the minute I step into the Rhode Island office, there was too much commotion. It’s the type of day where college basketball needs to reign supreme and thankfully, the NCAA Tournament is back in action. In case you’re wondering who is calling the games, check out my post on the Sweet Sixteen tip times.

Now to the links.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says former NFL coach Bill Parcells returns to ESPN for a one-time special on the Draft.

Tim Gardner of USA Today says Virginia Commonwealth University is taking the opportunity to bash ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

Reid Cherner from USA Today looks at a new movie based on high school wrestling.

At the Sporting News, Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Daily/Journal writes that the NASCAR Media Group is trying to diversify its portfolio.

Interesting interview conducted by XX Sports Radio with CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus who assesses how the first week of the NCAA Tournament went under the new CBS/Turner Sports consortium.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi says CBS/Turner made the NCAA Tournament into a viewing masterpiece.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says Turner Media Group is using real-time billboards to keep commuters updated on the NCAA Tournament.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser says the two Oregon men arrested for stealing the Lee Corso head from the College GameDay set have pleaded guilty to the theft.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid says Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi went too far in asking whether University of Florida basketball players are engaging in premarital sex.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group looks at how TV production crews try to pick up the crack of the bat during MLB games.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with Tiger Woods about his new pricey iPhone app.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports proposes a new NCAA Tournament drinking game to liven up your watching of college basketball.

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly says Eliza Dushku will play the character based on Friend of Fang’s Bites Michelle Beadle in the new CBS sitcom that will star Damon Wayans who is supposedly playing a character based on ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

Eliza made the announcement on her Facebook page and on Twitter last night.

Tom Renner of The Daily Fairfield (CT) recaps an appearance made by four ESPN SportsCenter anchors led by Bob Ley.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says WPIX has announced its Mets schedule for 2011.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner writes that we may not like it, but sports owners are entitled to every penny they make from sweetheart stadium revenue deals.

Keith Groller from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says former CBS college basketball bitter curmudgeon analyst Billy Packer will be on HBO next week.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia has announced its 2011 Phillies schedule.

Jen Royle writes her last post for MASN as she leaves the regional sports network to focus on radio.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that Jen will be the host of a new Baltimore Orioles-centric pre and post game show.

Jim says the ratings prove that viewers like having access to all of the NCAA Tournament games.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says through TV and mobile apps, fans are finding ways to watch the NCAA Tournament.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with CBS’ Clark Kellogg.

Bob also talks with ESPN’s Jay Bilas.

Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times notes that Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller was once on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

ESPN Films documentary on “The Fab Five” will air in Canada next week.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that the Canadian Soccer Championships will be on TV once again.

Dave Kohl from Major League Programs talks about the NCAA Tournament coverage.

We’ll end with a video that’s making the rounds of the sports blogosphere today. It’s Funny of Die getting Screamin’ Gus Johnson to describe some of the greatest moments in history as only Gus can.

And we’re done.

The Monday Back to Work Linkage

Let’s do some links on this back to work Monday. Many of the links will focus on the NCAA Tournament so let’s get cracking.

Starting with John Ourand and Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal, they report that Fox is about to sign a new cable rights deal with the Big 12 Conference that would include football and basketball and possibly start a new channel.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says ESPN’s analysts did a lot of yelling about the NCAA Tournament selections.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch does a Q&A on our viewing the NCAA Tournament.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, wonders if the new NCAA Tournament on CBS and Turner is an exercise in excess.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporters says the controlling stake in Canada’s top TV sports property is up for sale.

Also from Hollywood Reporter, Kimberly Nordyke writes that Dish Network and LIN TV have resolved their differences and 17 markets have their local stations back.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Network will air its first live concert in its history tonight.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that media analysts feel the NFL lockout won’t last very long.

Mike Stern of Media Life says radio would be hurt by an extended NFL lockout.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that Charles Barkley and old bastard curmudgeony analyst Billy Packer are continuing their feud.

My Twitter Trophy Wife, Amanda Rykoff of espnW, says watching a baseball game in the press box is extremely different than watching from the stands.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell goes inside the numbers of the NCAA Tournament.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post doesn’t care about eating at the game, he just wants to watch it.

Neil Best from Newsday says it’s time for truTV’s big moment.

Neil says ESPN thumped the desk the loudest over the NCAA Tournament selections.

Neil writes that MLB Network will air some rare footage tonight.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the NIT TV tip times.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says WWOR-TV will air a handful of Yankees games this season.

Ken says the NIT will be aired exclusively on the networks of ESPN.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that a Capitals-centric NHL ad will debut tonight.

To Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner who writes that viewers finally have control of their NCAA Tournament viewing.

Jim talks with Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Capitals studio analyst Alan May.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle makes a long answer to a reader’s question.

David says Comcast in Houston will add truTV HD starting today.

And David has the early TV lineup for the NCAA Tournament.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer explains what having four networks airing NCAA Tournament games means for local viewers.

A story that’s being picked up across the country in blogs and newspapers, Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch says ESPN’s and Ohio State alumnus Kirk Herbstreit is moving away from the area because Buckeye fans don’t understand that he has to be objective.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviews the credentials of TNT’s Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

Bob says ESPN’s Jay Bilas came out railing against the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

And Bob has CBS’ Uncle Verne Lundquist recalling a story on the late Al McGuire.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business talks about the new world of NCAA Tournament viewing this year.

Philip Hersh from the Chicago Tribune reports that the International Skating Union has postponed the World Figure Skating Championships originally scheduled for Tokyo this month due to the Japan earthquake. This affects NBC’s plans as it is the rightsholder for the event.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says having Turner Sports involved in the NCAA Tournament is a plus for fans.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with CBS/TNT’s Steve Kerr.

Tom also has your Southern California sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says it appears CBC’s Mike Milbury is the Voice of Reason in the NHL violence debate.

The Toronto Star has entertainment reporter Raju Mudhar taking over the sports media beat for Chris Zelkovich. Raju looks at the battle between TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore has the transcript of the discussion of fighting between NBC’s Mike Milbury and Pierre McGuire.

And we’ll end it there for now.

NCAA Tournament Should Be In Good Hands With CBS/Turner

There have been articles written by various sports media critics regarding the way the NCAA Tournament will be handled by CBS Sports and new partner Turner Sports starting this year. Some are salivating over all of the games being aired nationally. Others are lamenting the end of the old way CBS aired the tournament, cutting away from and cutting into action to show potential buzzer beaters.

I think we’ll be in good hands. With as many as four games at once, we’ll be able to change back and forth from CBS to TBS to TNT and then to truTV. In addition, if you have your computer and iPad/iPhone/iPod, you’ll be able to access the new March Madness on Demand which will be run by Turner Sports. You’ll be able to see as many as three games at once if you have your TV on as well. This is better than having to pay out of your pocket for the old Mega March Madness package from DirecTV to access all of the games.

CBS has given us previews of some of the announcing teams that you’ll see over the next three weeks. Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr will call the Final Four and they worked the Big Ten Tournament semifinals today. I thought Kellogg and Kerr had good chemistry and worked well off each other. They also called the BYU-San Diego State game three weeks ago and gave us a good indication that they will be on the ball at the Final Four in Houston in April.

Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Dan Bonner did the Conference USA Championship today and while Reggie sometime forces his opinion, I thought he did a good job working with Harlan with whom he has done NBA games on TNT. Dan Bonner is an average analyst, but gave Reggie enough room to give his opinions. In addition, Bonner and Miller showed the potential to be a decent announcing team.

My only regret is not having Gus Johnson call at least one game of the Final Four. For many fans, he has become Mr. March Madness with his calls of buzzer beaters and last minute wins. While Emmy Award winner Jim Nantz is a comfortable fit, having him call just one regular season game then 14 NCAA Tournament contests is similar to Joe Buck’s failure to work the entire MLB on Fox schedule and taking half the season off. CBS should assign Nantz to more college basketball regular season games instead of having him do early PGA Tour events. Bill Macatee can host the PGA on CBS in his place.

CBS unveiled a new studio set and instead of making it look like the NCAA Tournament renting the NFL Today studios, it appeared like an actual set for basketball complete with a hoop and multiple screens. This is a welcome addition on this end.

Come Sunday, we’ll get another preview of how TNT’s Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will be worked into the studio segments when they make their CBS debuts during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show. While Barkley has been feuding with former CBS bitter curmudgeon analyst Billy Packer, he won’t go over the top as he does on TNT and he’ll give the NCAA Tournament an added dimension.

I do like how CBS will give us different combinations in the studio, Greg Gumbel or Ernie Johnson, Jr. hosting with Greg Anthony, Seth Davis, Barkley and Smith rotating throughout the first two weeks of the tournament. And unlike in past tournaments, we’ll have pregame and postgame coverage which will be hosted by NBA TV’s Matt Winer from the Turner studios in Atlanta.

The wild card in the coverage will be truTV. It still is not on every cable system, but Turner is using the NCAA Tournament to get wider carriage for the channel. In addition, it’s not in high definition on most systems where it is picked up. DirecTV has announced that all truTV NCAA Tournament games will be seen in HD, but that is the only system that I have heard that has made the commitment. No other cable or satellite provider has announced its plans for truTV as of yet, but you may hear of some as the First Four games approach on Tuesday.

Turner’s touches have already been seen with the use of contemporary music acts for the music as the theme for a particular sports property, i.e. Bon Jovi for MLB Postseason on TBS. And Turner is known for its promotion of its sports properties which has been high gear since February for March Madness. This has not been over the top and has been respectful of the Tournament.

Here’s looking forward to watching the coverage this season.

Saturday’s Links

Let’s provide some linkage for you on this Saturday. Haven’t done links on a Saturday in a while.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the NFL lockout could cause the networks to lose billions of dollars in ad revenue should games be canceled.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Ilustrated has your NCAA Tournament Viewing Primer.

The Associated Press says NBC’s Cris Collinsworth was among 83 people who had to be rescued when a floating seafood restaurant broke from its moorings on the Ohio River.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser has a preview of tonight’s HBO documentary on the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV.

Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe gets NESN’s explanation as to why it doesn’t show more Red Sox Spring Training games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talks with four New York sports TV anchors about their diminishing role on local newscasts.

Newsday’s Neil Best says you’re now in control of how you view the NCAA Tournament.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog talks with college basketball curmudgeon Billy Packer.

From the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn looks at the new way the NCAA Tournament will be seen by viewers.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says a local sports talk show who was arrested on DUI charges and suspended from his job, is not returning as expected.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reviews two college basketball sports documentaries premiering this weekend.

Christopher Estrada of Indy Racing Revolution says IndyCar is ending its online streaming of its races leaving many fans in the dark.

Lou Clinton at 38 Cliches notes that former Red Sox radio voice Jerry Trupiano now has a new website in hopes of landing a new full-time gig.

The Sports Media Watch says the NHL on NBC received a subpar rating last Sunday.

And that will do it for the links today.

Some Mid-Week Linkage

Ok, time for some links on this Wednesday. Let’s provide some for you while I can.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that former CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer is not enthused about the new TV arrangement for the NCAA Tournament.

I’ve written a story for Dan Levy’s Press Coverage site on what the Los Angeles Lakers’ new regional sports networks will mean for viewers.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports is not a fan of excess sports coverage like the NBA All-Star Weekend.

Milton Kent at Fanhouse recaps the strange, but very interesting appearances by embattled actor Charlie Sheen on the Dan Patrick Show.

Mark Cina of the Hollywood Reporter also recaps Sheen’s call to DP on Wednesday.

Etan Vlessing of the Reporter notes that ESPN’s new Sunday Night Baseball voice Dan Shulman will return to Canada to provide some baseball commentary for his original network, TSN.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that Cartoon Network is tapping stars from the sports world to take part in its inaugural awards show.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel takes a look at the new Time Warner Cable/Lakers regional sports networks.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser recaps Jay Mariotti’s first public appearance since his arrest on domestic assault charges and the subsequent loss of his jobs from ESPN and Fanhouse.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell takes a closer look at St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols and his contract demands.

Darren says Sports Illustrated did a great job marketing this year’s Swimsuit Issue.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has the comments from outgoing WEEI midday host Dale Arnold who is the odd man out in a lineup shuffle.

Chad also writes about the WEEI lineup changes that smack of desperation.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that ESPN has apparently dropped out of the bidding for the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner wonders if NBC will pick up the Belmont to reunite the race with the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

Press Box says WBAL-AM will pick up a slew of Baltimore Orioles spring training games.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle takes a look at two of the bigger sports media stories from the week.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer has Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Cheryl Burke admitting she had a fling with Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. I know, it’s not a sports media story, but it fascinates me and I like Cheryl Burke, ok?

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discovers that the Brewers are not on the MLB on Fox schedule.

Paul Sullivan at the Chicago Tribune says the Cubs have found a replacement for the late Ron Santo on their radio broadcasts.

Steve Rosenbloom of the Tribune wants to know if Cubs fans are ready to hear a traditional radio broadcast from now on.

Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with new Cubs radio analyst Keith Moreland.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the Blackhawks have extended their deal with WGN-TV.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times says the new Time Warner Cable deal with the Lakers may end up hurting the team in the long run.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says one local sports radio station might be left behind in a battle of media titans.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog speculates what the 2012 Olympics will look like on the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium.

Dashiell Bennett from the Business Insider sports page notes that ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons has hired Deadspin contributer Katie Baker (and a Friend of Fang’s Bites) for some unknown project at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing notes that many people were none too happy over ESPN’s experimentation during the Mississippi State-Kentucky game.

Deadspin has obtained a copy of the Colin Cowherd sitcom script. It’s not pretty, let me tell you.

Brad Cohen at SportsGrid tells us how the extremely overrated Oprah Winfrey got the Michael Vick interview.

Dave Kohl of Major League Programs talks about the new Time Warner Cable/Lakers deal.

I’ll leave it there for now.

Some Snowy Wednesday Links

On this day of massive snow here in the Northeast, I’ll provide you with some linkage. Crazy day as local meteorologists first predicted 4-8 inches, then as the storm organized, the totals were revised upward and upward. Now, it appears we have more on the ground here. Not quite the perfect storm, but damn close. And who would have thought 49 states of the Union have snow on the ground? Including Hawaii? Insane.

Let’s do some linkage today to get our minds off the snow.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today gives us a reality check on ESPN’s ratings for the BCS.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today talks with the head of powerful sports agency IMG about a whole slew of topics including gambling.

Sean Leahy at USA Today’s The Huddle notes Jon Gruden’s announcement that he’ll return to ESPN next season.

Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal looks at Brent Musburger giving Tostitos free advertising this week.

Ben Klayman from Reuters writes about General Motors signing a huge advertising deal with NBC for the 2012 London Olympics.

Milton Kent at Fanhouse doesn’t like how golf allows viewers to call in to report violations on PGA Tour players.

Fanhouse’s Viv Bernstein finds that former college basketball analyst Billy Packer is not being docile in his retirement from broadcasting. 

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that GolTV will air a Central America soccer tournament.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek looks at ESPN’s record ratings for the BCS National Championship Game.

Anthony writes in Adweek that ESPN will be a big sponsor target this year. 

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine also writes about ESPN’s ratings for Auburn-Oregon.

The great Darren Rovell of CNBC has his Golden Rules of Twitter.

Noah Davis of SportsNewser looks at LeBron James’ tweeting at the expense of his old Cleveland Cavs team.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid reviews the premiere episode of Onion SportsDome.

Across the pond, David Evans of Autosport notes that ESPN UK has obtained the rights to the popular World Rally Championship, keeping the sport away from free TV in England. 

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes a Boston connection to Onion SportsDome. 

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wasn’t too thrilled with Brent Musburger’s call of the BCS National Championship Game.

Richard talks about Yahoo! Sports launching an all-new online magazine.

Speaking of the new Yahoo! Sports online magazine, called The PostGame, it has a feature on Fang’s Bites fave, Charissa Thompson. 

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the love-hate, mostly hate relationship between the New York Jets and WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that Time Warner Cable will produce several AHL games.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says ESPN’s Dick Vitale will remain in the fold for a while.

Jason Reid of the Washington Post recaps the DC Sports Owner summit.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the BCS’ ratings on cable are down considerably from when the games were on broadcast TV.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Dish and DirecTV subscribers will be able to see tonight’s Cincinnati Bearcats game.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Packers-Eagles is the most watched TV show of the season.

Bob says CBS’ Bill Cowher gives praise to the Packers’ defensive plan to contain the Eagles’ Michael Vick.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune talks about Brent Musburger’s Tostitos plug late in the BCS National Championship Game.

The Chicago Sun-Times picks up a story that local NBC affiliate sports anchor Mike Adamle has been arrested on DUI charges.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune wonders if ESPN can objectively report on college football and the BCS.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail handicaps the upcoming changes in Canadian sports radio.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media breaks news that NBC will have six hours of coverage for Hockey Day in America next month.

Steve also compares Tuesday’s editions of NHL Overtime and NHL on the Fly.

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch notes that the BCS National Championship on ESPN finished lower in the ratings than the game on ABC last year.

Joe Favorito says the Indianapolis Colts may have lost Saturday, but won with its social networking approach to its FanCam.

Awful Announcing has Twitter reaction to Onion SportsDome.

And that will do it for today. I’ll be digging out the rest of the day.

Back with Thursday Linkage

Due to the clean up to from the Great Flood of 2010, I wasn’t able to give you linkage on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus I had to postpone the recording of this week’s edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast. Things are slowly getting back to normal, but I’m going to be applying for disaster relief as will many Rhode Islanders. I’ll let you know how that goes, but driving to work today was quite the experience as Route 95 was shut down. Hopefully by this time next week, we can get back to operating at 100%.

Let’s do some links for you.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that Augusta National will allow ESPN to air Tiger Woods’ first shot at The Masters next week, but not much after that unless he falls into the live coverage window at 4 p.m. ET.

Richard says 3-D will add a new dimension to The Masters.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says a select few got to see a preview of next week’s 3-D production of The Masters.

Alex Weprin of B&C writes that there will be more live streaming from The Masters.

Also from B&C, David Tanklefsky says ESPN will be unveiling plans for its 3-D network later this month.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek tells us that TNT will be using the star power to promote the 2010 NBA playoffs.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell asks how much will Indianapolis lose by having home team Butler play in the Final Four.

Darren looks at the new Nike contract signed by LeBron James.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says 11 NFL exhibition games will be aired nationally this summer.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner writes that long-time Wizards/Bullets analyst Phil Chenier will be honored before Friday’s game with the Bulls.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals get some national attention during NFL exhibition season.

John writes that a local radio station is picking up Notre Dame football games this season.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a long term deal is in the works between WGN Radio and the Blackhawks. 

Ed adds that WGN-TV will be airing back-to-back specials on the White Sox and Cubs this Sunday.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with former CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer about the expansion of the NCAA Tournament.

To the Los Angeles Daily News and Tom Hoffarth who reports that the Dodgers and flagship station KABC are about to announce a one year contract extension.

Tom says the Anaheim Angels’ flagship radio station has signed a deal to simulcast some 60 games on another area station to improve the team’s coverage.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, David Shoalts says NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is optimistic that he can garner big money in the next TV contract. Thanks to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media for the link.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star is amazed that curling continues to do well in the Canadian TV ratings.

In Truth & Rumours, William Houston says CBC’s biopic on Don Cherry rated well in Canada.

From the Sports Media Watch, we have some various news and notes.

I will say that SMW almost got me with his April Fool’s story this year. Almost. This year’s story was really good.

Speaking of April Fool’s, Joe Favorito remembers some of the best fake media stories on April 1.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball launches this year’s Autism Awareness Campaign across his Business of Sports Network as International Autism Awareness Month begins today. Please do what you can to donate to Autism Speaks to help in the treatment and prevention of autism. Maury not only has a son with autism, but I also have a friend who’s daughter has it. I’m happy to say that my niece is healthy, but it can happen to anyone so do what you can to give. Doesn’t have to be a lot. Every bit helps.

That does it for the links today.

Doing the Friday Megalinks

Let’s do the megalinks for you. Time to give them to you now.

As always, you get the Weekend Viewing Picks which this weekend has the skinny on the college basketball conference tournaments and other sports.

Now to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at ESPN providing ABC with some sports programming starting in April.

Writing for SI.com, Kevin Armstrong profiles popular ESPN/CBS college basketball analyst Bill Raftery.

The Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center recognizes the winners of the Associated Press Sports Editors Awards.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says the ESPN Mobile TV service is being picked up by Sprint cell phones.

Multichannel News looks at Speed’s changes to its Formula 1 announcing crew. 

The Sports Media Watch notes that last Sunday’s NHL Game of the Week did not get a post-Olympics bump, but still did well for NBC.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR ratings dropped yet again.

SMW informs us that TNT’s Inside the NBA crew will be heading courtside to call its first game since 2001.

Joe Favorito can’t wait to see the new movie on Vince Lombardi which would star Robert De Niro.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says HBO Sports will focus its next documentary on the Philadelphia Flyers of the 1970′s.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with long-time WBZ-TV sports reporter Alice Cook who was given the pink slip last week.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram interviews local native J.P. Ricciardi who goes from being Blue Jays General Manger to ESPN analyst.

Joe Haggerty from Comcast SportsNet New England writes about a new ESPN ad starring Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz and Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher.

A rare Neil Best sighting! The Boston Herald picks up a story from Newsday which continues to hide behind pay wall. In this story, Neil writes about CBS being poised to keep the NCAA Tournament. 

From the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman looks at the possibility of the NCAA opting out of its current contract with CBS.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post is nitpicking over a dunk highlight.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with CBS/Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis about Siena’s experience as an NCAA player.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record has an appreciation of the late Merlin Olsen.

Tim Lemke explains why he is now a fan of the college basketball conference tournaments.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner says NBC begins its Paralympics coverage this weekend.

Jim transcribes an interview Billy Packer did with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Jim talks about a Baltimore radio host who’s conducting a contest to give Orioles Opening Day tickets to several families.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talks with sports radio host Sid Rosenberg about his new book.

Sarah Talalay from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says JetBlue will unveil a Florida Panthers tailfin on Tuesday.

Ray Buck in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes that HBO has some big plans for tomorrow’s Manny Pacquaio-Joshua Clottey championship fight at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

To David Barron of the Houston Chronicle who discusses the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Reggie Miller’s rivalry with the New York Knicks.

David catches up on some ratings news and notes since returning home from the Olympics.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer remembers an interesting story regarding the late Merlin Olsen and former NBC NFL analyst Bob Trumpy.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times writes that the White Sox have shot down manager Ozzie Guillen’s request for a website.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his usual Friday winners and losers.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Time Warner Cable gave subscribers frozen pictures that hampered fans from viewing of the Big East Tournament.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin writes that hockey fans in the Gopher State will have plenty of action to watch this weekend.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says not everyone in the Gateway City will be able to see the Atlantic 10 Tournament this weekend.

West

Scott D. Pierce in the Deseret (UT) News says DirecTV subscribers won’t be able to see the Mountain West Conference men’s and women’s basketball championship games as they will be carried on Versus.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune speaks with Padres voice Dick Enberg who won’t be calling his first game until the season opener in April.

John Maffei in the North County Times says the San Diego State men’s basketball team might get some national love if they keep winning in the Mountain West Tournament.

Over to the Ventura County Star where Jim Carlisle says Hall of Fame defensive lineman Merlin Olsen was also a great broadcaster.

Jim is not a fan of the NCAA Tournament expanding to 96 teams.

Diane Pucin in the Los Angeles Times says both CBS and ESPN will be all over the NCAA Tournament selections.

In the Los Angeles Daily News, Kevin Modesti with help from Tom Hoffarth, has a remembrance of Merlin Olsen.

Tom has his usual media notes.

Tom has Dick Enberg’s thoughts on his former broadcast partner, Olsen.

Tom also looks back at the week in sports media.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the NHL knocking out head shots was the right thing to do.

The Toronto Star says CTV has relented and will show the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics live, but only in British Columbia.

Chris Zelkovich of the Star says the Paralympics are not a huge money maker, but are worthy of TV coverage for the Canadian Olympics Broadcast Media Consortium.

William Houston in Truth & Rumours says the head of the Media Consortium may be leaving.

And that will do it for the Megalinks. 

Some More Thursday Links

Let’s give you some more links before they become out of date.

Laura Petrecca of USA Today tells workers to watch the NCAA Tournament online in moderation.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell can’t believe there’s an official ladder of the Final Four.

Newsday’s Neil Best has a breakdown of where the NCAA Tournament games are going to.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the breakdown of who chose whom in ESPN.com’s Tournament Challenge. Pete says a large percentage of the nation will get Ohio State-Siena on Friday.

Jim Williams of the DC Examiner says CBS Sports staffers have a long day ahead of themselves today and tomorrow.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes that the NCAA Tournament is one of the few sporting events that has been exclusively linked with one network for more than two decades. The Masters on CBS is another I think of off the top of my head.

Mark Washburn of the Charlotte Observer says we started watching the NCAA Tournament 30 years ago and we haven’t stopped.

David Scott of the Observer catches up with Billy Packer.

CBS’ Tim Brando writing in the Shreveport (LA) Times says the NCAA Tournament is a great American event.

Rick Kretzschmar of the Longview (TX) News-Journal is not a fan of Screamin’ Gus Johnson or Billy Packer.

Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman says subscribers to Dish Network in the Potato State will have to scramble to watch the NCAA Tournament as the satellite provider is locked in a dispute with the Boise CBS affiliate.

Matt Youmans of the Las Vegas Journal-Review talks about Bob Knight joining Billy Packer for his FSN NCAA Tournament studio show.

The Sports Media Watch says the ratings for the ACC Tournament on ESPN were down from last year. But SMW says ratings for the Big East Tournament were up.

And Wrap Around Curl at Puck The Media is not a fan of March Madness. In fact, it makes her stabby.

Now to some non-NCAA Tournament-related links.

Dave Kane of the State Journal Register (IL) says the LPGA State Farm Classic will air in June on NBC.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News feels USC football voice Pete Arbogast really embarassed himself during an appearance on an online show.

The Gaffer at the EPL Talk blog reports that ESPN has lost the US TV rights to air the UEFA Champions League to Fox Soccer Channel.

Fox Soccer Channel has announced its announcing team for Women’s Professional Soccer games.

Laura Martinez of Multichannel News writes that ESPN Deportes is taking its shows to the people.

That’s all for now.

It’s the Mid-Week Links

Let’s do some linkage as it’s still early on NHL Trade Deadline day. Usually the trades don’t start happening until sometime after noon, then it’s a flurry to the finish, although Ottawa and Columbus made the first trade of the day just before 10 a.m., forward Antoine Vermette goes to the Blue Jackets for goaltender Pascal Leclaire and a second round pick.

Heading to USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, he writes that former Kansas City coach Herman Edwards is looking forward to being an ESPN NFL analyst for a long time.

Ken Davidoff and Neil Best of Newsday have your World Baseball Classic viewing guide. Neil says the WBC will carry on even if Alex Rodriguez sits out. Neil says WFAN’s Mike Francesa is out sick today showcasing the reason why he wants to get an on-air partner soon. And Neil writes that YES set a ratings record yesterday during which Derek Jeter played against his beloved Yankees.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell likes the Minnesota Timberwolves’ plan to allow those who have lost their jobs to return their season tickets.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says most of the MAAC Tournament will be available on TV, but all of the games can be seen online for a fee.

The Reading (PA) Eagle says the Reading Phillies have named a new radio announcer.

Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the NHL’s US TV Partners have failed its fans yet again during Trade Deadline Day. I agree.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun notices that he gets the most reaction on his blog to posts about local sports talk radio hosts. And Ray has a fictitious phone conversation between a team executive and a radio station.

Jim Williams of the DC Examiner says there’s been plenty of rip jobs against former Nationals GM Jim Bowden. And Jim writes that MLB Network will carry Ken Griffey’s return to the Seattle Mariners tonight.

Speaking of the MLB Network, the Big Lead has the video of MLB Tonight host Matt Vasgersian throwing an “F” bomb live on the air. Oops.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has an update on Michael Irvin’s reality show on Spike. Barry notes the changing opinions of John Tortorella on the New York Rangers’ pissant Sean Avery.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley has former CBS and NBC college basketball analyst Billy Packer seeing the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson showdown in the NCAA Tournament as pivotal for the sport.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says a local sports radio host recently celebrated 25 years on the air.

Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if anyone thinks like Don Cherry these days.

Tim Arsenault of the Halifax (Canada) Chronicle Herald says NHL Trade Deadline makes for Must See TV.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the Scouting Combine brought plenty of viewers to the NFL Network.

Awful Announcing has a preview of Season 2 of FSN’s Emmy Award winning “Sport Science”.

CBS’ Jim Nantz has signed an endorsement deal with Furnitureland South.

Johnathan Starling at the EPL Talk blog has today’s US TV schedule for the English Premier League.

That’s going to do it for now.

If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Linkage

Time for some linkage on this Tuesday.

I did listen to the debut of Andy Gresh on Sirius XM Radio last night. It was good. Gresh knows how to generate calls and get people to talk. I listened from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. and he had a good interview with former Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart in regards to Rickey Henderson’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was typical Gresh and he was able to get some good stories from Stewart on Rickey. Overall, I’d give Greshie a B plus for his debut. If you want more info on the show, you can head to the official website which launched yesterday.

On to the linkage.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today looks at the ratings of selected weekend events.

The Sports Media Watch says the ratings for the Arizona-Carolina NFL playoff game were down from last year. The SMW writes the ratings for the Eagles-Giants game were also down despite having the #1 and #4 media markets. But the ratings for San Diego-Pittsburgh were the highest of the weekend, but were also down from last year. The SMW has some random ratings news. Finally, the blog says T-Mobile has pulled its ads featuring Charles Barkley.

Newsday’s Neil Best does not give Giants unofficial spokesman Antonio Pierce a pass for not talking to reporters on Sunday and Monday, and speaking only to WFAN which is a paid appearance. Neil says it’s only fair to call out Pierce because he himself appointed himself as team spokesman. Neil has posted video of one of the reasons why older Giants fans don’t like attending games in person.

Bill Hutchinson of the New York Daily News writes that Fox Sports’ Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Tim McCarver all received illegal U.S. Marshal escorts to the 2007 World Series in Boston and Super Bowl XLII in Tampa thanks to a Fox staffer who was also a U.S. Marshal. The Smoking Gun has the Report of Investigation into the matter.

Also from the Daily News, Bob Raissman says Fox got the short ratings straw by drawing the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with the outgoing commissioner of the National Lacrosse League. Darren asks for your vote on the greatest TV product. Darren says it’s a good thing that Jim Rice got elected to the Hall of Fame. And Darren writes that FIFA may need a new information technology sponsor for the 2010 World Cup in the wake of Satyam’s economic troubles.

Keith Groller of the Allentown Morning News says Donovan McNabb’s phone antics during the Eagles-Giants game were subject of debates.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun talks about some changes in local sports radio. And Ray talks with host Rob Long about why he changed stations.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Cleveland sports radio station WKNR has made a change to its lineup.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune was not enthused over Mike North’s and Dan Jiggetts’ debut on Comcast SportsNet on Monday.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has a quick sports business round-up. Ed wonders if the Washington Redskins cutting 20 positions is going to be a trend around the NFL.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Eagles-Giants playoff game was the most watched of the four NFL playoff games locally (scroll down).

Billy Packer and Bob Knight are teaming up for five shows on Fox Sports Net to analyze the NCAA Tournament from the Wynn Las Vegas casino.

Walt Belcher of the Tampa Tribune writes that CBS will have another Super Bowl Commercials special at the end of the month broadcast from Randall James Stadium.

SJ Munoz of the York (NE) News-Times says there was a time when ESPN was actually known for giving sports news.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn feels the Super Bowl is ratings-proof no matter which teams are participating. Barry handicaps the Dallas Cowboys radio rights sweepstakes.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says Vin Scully has been named as Best Sportscaster of All-Time.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has the entire list of Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times says Washington-Oregon will not be on FSN this week.

Starr Begley of the Maui (HI) News goes behind the scenes of Golf Channel’s production of the Mercedes-Benz Championship last weekend.

Michael David Smith of AOL Fanhouse is not enamored with NBC’s hiring of Matt Millen for the Super Bowl.

Steve Lepore in the Puck The Media blog says the Anaheim Ducks have ended their ice level camera broadcasts on Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket. Steve has the final three of the NHL Tournament of Announcers after clearing up some shenanigans with the Jack Edwards-Sam Rosen vote. And Steve has a look at the NHL if it were on The CW.

And I’ll end the links here for now.

Giving You Some Monday Links

Busy weekend. I still have to watch HBO’s new sports documentary, “Breaking The Huddle: The Integration of College Football” so I can give you a quick review before you see it tomorrow night. I have to watch it tonight and provide you with a review tomorrow. But before we get to Tuesday, let’s provide you with some links.

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy writes that the Plaxico Burress issue was the main topic on the Sunday NFL pregame shows.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes his Tuesday column on Monday and also talks about the Plax issue on the Sunday pregame shows. And Neil has some Plax quotage from the pregame shows in his blog.

Joe Favorito looks at the New York Giants’ reaction to the Plax mess.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick blames the colleges for recruiting players like Plaxico Burress. So what does Phil propose colleges do?

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun noticed that Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots were showing their senses of humor during the Ravens-Bengals game yesterday. And Ray summarizes the quotage from the Sunday NFL pregame shows.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Fox analysts were right on top of the Panthers-Packers game.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ESPN is trying to instill life into Monday Night Football.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News looks back at the weekend in football.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News talks about the Detroit Lions’ ugly showing on Thanksgiving.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth talks with ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio about his new football book. And Tom has a couple of more things from Sal Pal in his blog.

Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal says the WTA Tour has tapped an NFL Network executive to sit on its advisory board.

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has the official WEEI announcement that pitcher Curt Schilling will be blogging for its website.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the TV schedule for the final week of college football.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in televised sports.

Ryan Finley of the Arizona Daily Star writes that this Saturday’s Arizona-Arizona State game will be on both ESPN and Fox Sports Arizona.

Steve Duin of The Oregonian says point the finger at ESPN if you want to look at inequities in the BCS system.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog clears up some misconceptions raised by ESPN’s Sports Reporters program about a person who is not even involved in the BCS. And Chris says the biggest college football game this weekend is not the SEC nor or the Big 12 Championship.

Puck The Media says President-elect Barack Obama (by the way, Steve Lepore, that’s the correct title for Mr. Obama now, not Senator) may attend the NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on New Year’s Day.

Nick Sloan of the Kansas City Kansan feels Billy Packer and Dick Vitale should not have been inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

David Goetzl of Mediapost says 2010 may be the last time you’ll see NHL players in the Winter Olympics.

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2008 two weeks from tomorrow in New York.

That will do it for now. I’ll have Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

EDITED TO ADD (11:55 a.m.) – I reworked today’s links. If you visited right after I posted this entry, you’ll notice that this now looks a bit different and I grouped the links by subject. I also added Neil Best’s and Joe Favorito’s stories on the Plax mess and Christopher Byrne’s entries from his blog on college football. I figure I should disclose this in case you’re making multiple visits today. If this is your first visit, then never mind.

Some Monday Night Links

My computer problems aren’t fixed, but I did steal my mother’s Mac from her house (don’t worry, she has another computer, she’s not using the Mac).

I’ll give you some links tonight. Not a whole lot, but enough for a nice update.

Starting with Newsday’s Neil Best, he transcribes a conversation between WFAN’s Mike Francesa and a regular caller who rips regular station contributor Jon Heyman.

From the New York Times, Jack Bell writes in the Goal blog that ESPN/ABC has finally found a voice for MLS and he was right under their nose all along.

Carolyn Giardina of the Hollywood Reporter tells us that the NFL is going 3D for its December 4 game between San Diego and Oakland.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable has NFL Commish Roger Goodell saying that the NFL Playoffs are not following the BCS’ lead and going to cable.

Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press writes that the NFL has quietly changed its policy allowing cable systems carrying the over-the-air station that is simulcasting an NFL Network game to show it without having to black it out.

Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press reports that the Lions have been given an extension to sell out Thursday’s game against Tennessee.

Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star recaps Dick Vitale’s induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend.

Randy Covitz of the Star talks with Billy Packer who was also inducted into the Hall with Vitale.

Mike Campbell of the Anchorage (AK) Daily News says despite not having ESPN airing the Great Alaska Shootout this year for the first time since 1985, the tournament is finding ways to get TV coverage across the Lower 48 States.

I could not find this article for the Friday megalinks, but somehow, I found it today. Doug Nye from The State says South Carolinians are blacked out from watching the Charlotte Bobcats.

Stuart Miller of Multichannel News writes that online streaming is giving fans and sports leagues more options.

Jeff Lee of the Vancouver Sun says there’s a debate brewing over the use of streaming video and the internet to deliver news from the Olympics.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a new sports radio station has tapped an anchor from Fox Sports Midwest to join its lineup.

AHN talks about MLB becoming the last of the big four sports leagues to launch a TV network of its own.

Roger van der Horst of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer says the dispute between MASN and Time Warner Cable is leaving plenty of MLB fans in the dark in the Triangle.

And that will do for tonight.

Late Night Links

For the first time since the Olympics began, I lost a bit of interest in the coverage tonight. I think mostly it was due to Michael Phelps not having a medal to swim for this evening. He did have a 200 individual medley semifinal, but that was it for his schedule for tonight. NBC did have Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor in beach volleyball, but they dispatched of their opponents so quickly that the network had too much time to fill before heading to swimming. NBC is currently in gymnastics coverage, but that is going quite late on the East Coast so I shut off the TV and am blogging just before I go to sleep tonight.

Subscribers to DirecTV’s Sports Pack will know that over the past month and a half, the channels of the various Regional Sports Networks have been changing and this week, it’s time for Comcast SportsNet New England, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, FSN North, Fox Sports en Espanol and NESN to change locations. This has been a gradual migration of channels that will be completed in October. The moves are being done to create more room for several new channels like the mtn. which starts later this month. For a list of new locations, you can check them out here.

Now to some linkage.

I’ll begin tonight with Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun who writes that Baltimore remains on top of the ratings heap of markets watching the Olympics.

The Sports Media Watch notes that other sports running opposite the Olympics are getting hit hard by the Summer Games in the ratings.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that the first numbers of NBC’s measurement index of those watching the Olympics online, on TV and on cell phones have been released.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine says despite the high ratings, teenagers aren’t watching the Olympics.

Add Patty Fisher of the San Jose Mercury News to those who are angry over NBC’s decision to delay the Olympics on the West Coast.

Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle would like NBC to ease up on the West Coast Olympics delay.

Scott Collins and Lynn Smith of the Los Angeles Times says like Michael Phelps, NBC is in pursuit of an Olympic record.

The Sports Business Daily/Journal feels NBC’s Cris Collinsworth has been just short of creepy in his features at the Olympics.

Variety’s John Dempsey and Diane Garrett write that 17.7 million people have watched the Olympics online or on cell phones.

I happened to see CNBC’s Darren Rovell this morning interviewing agent Evan Morganstein whose clients include swimmers Dara Torres and Jason Lezak and gymnast Natasha Liukin and this is the transcript of the interview. And Darren discovers that despite a DUI arrest in 2004, Anheuser-Busch would not hesitate to sign Michael Phelps for endorsements.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post feels NBC is glossing over too many of China’s faults in its Olympics coverage.

James Hibberd of the Hollywood Reporter wishes NBC would take more of a news reporting approach to the Olympics.

A British TV photographer was among those arrested at a Tibet protest in Beijing on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star says the Chiefs-Bears exhibition game last week almost matched the ratings of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, however, the two events did not go head-to-head.

Deadspin has a Sean Salisbury sighting.

Christopher Byrne of the excellent Eye on Sports Media blog noticed that original NHL2nite host Bill Pidto has left ESPN and there’s been no reason given for his departure.

Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star has a story on the Indy Racing League’s meetings with Versus which will air most of the IRL’s races starting next year.

Now it’s time for the annual Big Ten Network vs. cable industry fight to the deadline stories.

Mark Alesia of the Star writes that the Big Ten Network makes its Comcast debut this Friday morning.

However, the Chillicothe (OH) Gazette says fans of the Ohio State University are getting nervous as BTN and Time Warner Cable are not close to an agreement.

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the signs are not encouraging for BTN and Time Warner Cable.

Cory Giger of the Altoona (PA) Mirror says customers of Atlantic Broadband are unlikely to see Penn State games on the Big Ten Network anytime soon.

CBS Sports previews its coverage of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship this weekend.

Matt Farr of the New Baltimore (MI) Voice Newspapers writes about CBS’ Dick Enberg hosting his own golf tournament in Michigan and gets his reaction to Billy Packer’s departure from the network.

I have enough links for now. I’ll be back with more links later.

The Mid-Week Links

It’s Wednesday. The All-Star Game is over, thank goodness. I stayed up to watch every single pitch and out until 1:30 a.m. ET. What could have been another embarrassing tie ended up with the American League winning 4-3.

Now that the Mid-Summer Classic is over, we can now focus on the Open Championship which begins tomorrow. Later tonight, I’ll post the sites where you can watch live streaming coverage while at work.

And once the Open Championship is finished on Sunday, our next focus in the sporting world will be on the Summer Olympics in Communist China and that is a theme in today’s links.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at the NBC announcing assignments for the Olympics.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has the complete list of announcers and analysts for the Olympics.

In the Houston Chronicle, David Barron hails fellow Chronicle soccer columnist Glenn Davis who will be part of the NBC Olympics soccer announcing team.

From the Hollywood Reporter, Paul J. Gough says NBC went with experience and plenty of medal winners for its Olympic announcing team.

Chris Preimesberger of eWeek has a technical article on NBC’s ambitious plans to bring the Olympics online and to your cell phone.

Michael Learmonth of Silicon Valley Insider says while NBC is putting the Olympics online, it’s not sharing the Games with its Hulu video site.

Digital Home Canada laments the fact that NBC’s online coverage of the Olympics won’t be made available to Canadians.

However, Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter reports that CBC will offer 1,500 hours of online coverage of the Olympics.

CBC Sports announces that its entire 282 hours of TV coverage of the Olympics will be broadcast in HD. TSN says its 150 hours of coverage of the Beijing Olympics will also be in HD.

Rob Longley of the Vancouver Sun says CBC’s cameras will be able to take live shots of Tienamen Square.

Newsday’s Neil Best who seems to be grumpy now that his vacation is over says there won’t be any surprises when NBC formally announces the announcing assignments today. Neil also applauds the NFL Network decision to name New York Giants radio announcer Bob Papa as its announcer on Thursday and Saturday Night Football. And this is a first as far as I know. Neil will take part in a live chat today at 1 p.m. ET. In his special Wednesday column, Neil says Fox Sports had an up and down All-Star Game. In his blog, Neil takes Fox to task for waiting until the 11th inning to pay tribute to the late Bobby Murcer.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Mariano Rivera had the defining moments of the All-Star Game on Fox.

From the Chicago Tribune, Ameet Sachdev writes that a Cubs-only cable channel is a distinct possibility when the team’s rights with Comcast SportsNet expire in 2019.

MLB says Fox and TBS Sports are collaborating on a massive pitch for the playoffs.

Awful Announcing says Howard Stern Wack Packer High Pitch Eric solicited ESPN’s Erin Andrews to appear on the Stern show.

The Sports Media Watch says ESPN drew great ratings for the Home Run Derby.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says the Home Run Derby is the highest rated show of the year to date on cable.

Bob Smizik from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the local ESPN Radio affiliate dropped the All-Star Game in the bottom of the 10th inning and never went back.

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recaps MLB Walking Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday.

Surely by now, you’re aware of the New York Daily News taking Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon’s statements about finishing the All-Star Game out of context. The Sox & Dawgs blog takes the New York media to task for overblowing Papelbon’s comments. And Sox & Dawgs says the sensationalism put Papelbon’s wife at risk.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Josh Hamilton will start getting endorsements. Darren also talks with MLB’s Executive Vice President of Business Operations on the launch of the MLB Network.

Joe Favorito says Vitamin Water hit a big marketing home run during All-Star Game weekend.

The 38Cliches blog links to an interview with former Red Sox announcing hack Glenn Geffner.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post writes that Billy Packer has had more than just “One Shining Moment”. And Michael Wilbon of the Post says Packer was a pro’s pro on TV.

In his Over the Top blog, Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes about Bob Papa taking the NFL Network play-by-play gig. Also from the Star, Aaron Barnhart says the NFL Network went with the safe route when it should have selected ESPN’s Pam Ward.

Bruce Allen from the Boston Sports Media Watch says WEEI has officially announced that former Boston Herald writers Rob Bradford and Michael Felger are joining the company to report for the radio station’s website.

Michael Buteau of Bloomberg writes that without Tiger Woods, the Open Championship will have lower ratings and a wide open field.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune looks forward to the next NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on NBC.

The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams asks if Baltimore wants a minor league hockey team.

Tim Lemke from the Washington Times writes that two rival MMA pay per view events take place this Saturday.

Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine says NASCAR has rebounded in the ratings, but not in ad revenue.

A lot of links today. I’ll have more stuff later.

Some Tuesday Links

I have to head to a jobsite soon so I’ll provide as many links that I can before I have to leave.

ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber says some ESPN personalities have learned a hard lesson about crossing the line of good taste. She cites the Jemele Hill and Bonnie Bernstein incidents as examples.

This link comes courtesy of the 38Cliches blog, Andrew Ryan of the Boston Globe has a story on Red Sox radio announcers Joe Castiglione and Dave O’Brien.

Two stories from Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. First is on Billy Packer leaving CBS Sports. And Richard writes about the brief four year period when Major League Baseball had two All-Star Games per season.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand with a special Tuesday column says Billy Packer is upbeat now that his broadcasting career is over.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein also checks in on the Billy Packer story.

The DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with Billy Packer.

Newsday’s Neil Best also writes about Billy Packer’s thoughts on leaving CBS Sports. In his blog, Neil has comments from Packer’s colleagues and friends. Neil feels as far as being a TV personality, ESPN’s Rick Reilly is a very good writer.

And in that blog entry, Neil links to Awful Announcing which feels Reilly’s comments about the racial makeup of last night’s Home Run Derby were annoying.

Two things from the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman. The first story has Fox’s Tim McCarver stating that Yankee Stadium will be the real star of the All-Star Game. And Raissman talks to McCarver’s partner, Joe Buck who won’t change his broadcast style despite the backlash over his comments that he prefers watching “The Bachelorette” over baseball.

Terry Foster from the Detroit News says Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delaney is relieved now that the Comcast squabble is over.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal talks about a new program premiering Wednesday on the Big Ten Network.

Mark Tupper of the Decatur (IL) Herald & Review discusses a Big Ten Network reality program that will follow Illinois football coach Ron Zook.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth looks into Ashley Harkleroad’s nude layout in this month’s Playboy.

The Sports Media Watch has the final weekend TV ratings. And the SMW has a look inside the ratings for the first half of the MLB season on ESPN and Fox.

That’s going to do it for now.

Monday Night Linkage

As I was watching ESPN’s coverage of the Home Run Derby through MLB.com, two quick observations. Chris Berman is just plain awful. And during one commercial break, Chris asked his producer during a blimp shot, “Is that the Empire State Building?” Had that been me, I would have replied, “Um, what the hell do you think, Jerky?” That’s probably the reason why I’m not a producer. I would not have the patience. And when Erin Andrews walked behind home plate while Justin Morneau was batting in the second round, she got a huge round of cheers from the fans. Very funny.

To some linkage.

Newsday’s Neil Best cautions his readers not to jump to any conclusions as WFAN’s Mike & the Mad Dog are back together again, for now. Neil tells us that ESPN has hired former NFL QB Trent Dilfer as an analyst.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Dilfer will join ESPN’s NFL Primetime and other various ESPN studio shows. Eggerton adds that the Open Championship on ABC may not be the only TV work that Tom Watson will do.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with two New York Yankees executives who say that the time will lose money this season.

John Consoli of Mediaweek reports that despite a slow start to the season, MLB TV partners, ESPN, Fox and TBS have had strong ad sales.

Also from Mediaweek, Mike Shields writes that NBC is almost sold out of its online ads for the Olympics and is getting ready for record web traffic to its website.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC could rake in a record $1 billion in ad revenues for the Olympics in Communist China.

Ray Melick of the Birmingham News reports that Ken Stabler is taking himself off University of Alabama football broadcasts after he was arrested on drunk driving charges last month. Cecil Hunt of the Tuscaloosa News says Stabler is taking a leave of absence for this season.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron talks with Billy Packer who says his departure from CBS was planned since last year.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette wonders what will be Packer’s next move.

Alan Ford of the Shelby (NC) Star says he won’t miss Packer.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald Record says Clark Kellogg looks forward to filling Packer’s seat next to Jim Nantz.

Chris Pursell in his TV Week Pressbox blog says Kellogg is a perfect fit with Nantz.

Here’s the press release from CBS announcing Kellogg’s promotion.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has tributes from Packer’s colleagues. Pete also has the entire NFL Network exhibition game schedule.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has Ron Darling’s comments during TBS’ telecast of the Red Sox-Orioles game on Sunday.

Greg Auman of the St. Petersburg Times writes that Florida high school football coaches aren’t happy about ESPN placing college football games on Friday nights.

That’s going to do it for tonight.

Monday Links

As we get ready for the All-Star Game tomorrow, let’s give you some links.

Newsday’s Neil Best, back from vacation, writes about Billy Packer’s departure from CBS.

Roger Van Der Horst in the Charlotte News & Observer says Packer was prepared for this day.

Reid Cherner and Tom Weir of the USA Today Game On! blog have Dick Vitale’s thoughts on Packer’s departure.

Blair Kerkhoff from the Kansas City Star also has a story on CBS dropping Billy Packer.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News says there will be plenty of hoopla surrounding the All-Star Game.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post criticizes the networks for not picking up on the increased ticket prices at the new Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says YES’ Bobby Murcer was a great teammate to the end.

David Hinckley in the New York Daily News writes that radio stations, WCBS, WFAN and WPEN will all have coverage of the All-Star Game.

Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine writes that Fox is raking in the advertising dollars for the All-Star Game.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner tells us not to blame MASN for the Washington Nationals’ low ratings, blame the product on the field.

The Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan has ESPN’s Rick Sutcliffe appealing for cancer screening.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Tom Watson will join Mike Tirico and Paul Azinger in the ESPN on ABC booth for the Open Championship.

The Bunker Shot blog says Turner Sports will offer live multi-platform coverage of the Open Championship including a live stream at PGA.com.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in televised sports.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that both Tony Romo and Ben Roesthlisberger are both quoted as supporting Brett Favre’s comeback.

John Ourand and Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal write that Sun Sports has signed a new 10 year media rights deal with the University of Florida which means that an SEC Channel may not be a reality this year.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Anheuser-Busch will continue to advertise heavily on sporting events now that the company has been bought out by Belgian brewer InBev.

In an editorial, the Orlando Sentinel says the fans are the losers in the Bright House cable-FSN Florida dispute.

Mark Shanahan and Paysha Rhone of the Boston Globe report that former NESN hottie Hazel Mae hosted a party in which she bid farewell to Beantown (scroll down).

Chris Littman of the Sporting News warns us that we’ll see more “Frank TV” ads on TNT and TBS sporting events.

That’s all for now

BREAKING NEWS: Billy Packer Out at CBS

Kudos to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald for breaking the news that Billy Packer will not return to CBS as the top analyst for college basketball. Packer has been with CBS since it obtained the rights for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 1981. He has called 34 consecutive Final Fours and was partnered with Dick Enberg and Al McGuire in what has been acknowledged to be one of the best announcing teams of all time.

It’s expected that Clark Kellogg will join Jim Nantz courtside.

John Ourand and Terry Lefton of the Sports Business Journal also report that Greg Anthony who was an ESPN NBA analyst and did work on CBS College Sports for the NCAA Tournament is expected to replace Kellogg in the studio.

Reid Cherner and Tom Weir of the excellent Game On! blog on USA Today also check in on the news.

Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times says it will be strange not to hear Packer calling the Final Four next year.

CBS is expected to make a formal announcement today.