Cranking Out Your Tuesday Links

Since late last night, I’ve been culling linkage for today. Let’s get to them.

Terry Lefton and Daniel Kaplan at Sports Business Journal discuss how Indianapolis hotels are gouging customers for Super Bowl Week.

Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press reviews NBC’s online presentation of the Super Bowl for this Sunday.

Sergio Non of USA Today looks at the UFC on Fox rating from Saturday.

Michael Learmonth of Advertising Age says USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter wrecked Super Bowl ads for good.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch provides his thoughts on The Big Lead’s profile of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter has an appreciation for The Beautiful Game.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at the highly successful “This is SportsCenter” ad campaign.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost says NBC is copping $4 million per Super Bowl ad.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes that a survey shows that a majority of readers feel Super Bowl XLVI will set a viewership record.

Toni gives us a media buyer’s primer on the Super Bowl.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life says advertisers want to get buzz about Super Bowl commercials weeks before the Big Game.

The Daily says it appears Madonna’s set list for the Super Bowl halftime show has been leaked.

Peter Schrager of Esquire lists 10 current NFL players who could make a second career on TV.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes that Jerry Seinfeld and the Soup Nazi will appear in a Super Bowl ad.

Frances Martel of Mediaite reviews the ESPN2 show, “Dan Le Batard is Extremely Crazy Highly Questionable.”

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online has details of the Mexican TV reporter who made an impression during Super Bowl Media Day.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at ESPN taking over Pan Am Plaza in downtown Indianapolis for the Super Bowl.

Karen Hogan of SVG writes that sports has entered into reality TV in a big way.

Summer Harlow of the University of Texas Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas writes about CBSSports.com’s firing of Adam Jacobi over his premature report on Joe Paterno’s death.

Karen Rosen of TV Guide talks with ESPN’s Hannah Storm about her NFL special tonight.

All Access says a new ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate will launch tomorrow in Chicago.

Mark Miller of Examiner.com says Gary Thorne makes his Pro Bowling announcing debut this Sunday on ESPN.

Larry Mahoney of the Bangor (ME) Daily News speaks with former MLB’er Matt Stairs who joins NESN as a studio analyst for the 2012 season.

Michael Hayes of the Clinton (CT) Patch says ESPN will report from the geological center in between Gillette and Met Life Stadiums on Sunday.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has an interesting story on a small Connecticut NPR station which has a sports talk show that is not your typical run-of-the-mill program.

Judy Battista of the Times notes that the NFL will address head safety in one its in-house ads during the Super Bowl.

David Hinckley of the New York Daily News says rivals WFAN and ESPN Radio New York are squaring off in their Giants Super Bowl coverage.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes the release of ESPN’s Bracketbusters schedule.

Stacy Jones of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says Super Bowl advertisers are hoping to hook viewers from their computers and mobile devices as well as through their TV’s.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times notes Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia’s countdown of the worst sports villains of all-time.

Long-time New Orleans sports anchor Jim Henderson is retiring from WWL-TV, however, he’ll remain as Voice of the Saints.

Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune gets reaction Henderson on his retirement.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle discusses the busy Super Bowl week and the ads.

Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer speaks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews about sports, life and her hosting the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Annual Awards Banquet this week.

Tim Evans of the Indianapolis Star says Radio Row at the Super Bowl is the perfect place for star gazing this week.

Emily Hatton of the Indy Star gives us an inside look at ESPN’s Pan Am Plaza set.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has NBC’s Bob Costas calling for a revote if National League MVP Ryan Braun of the Brewers loses his appeal for testing positive for steroids last year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says ESPN College GameDay visits the Missouri campus this weekend.

Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs Gazette says ESPN may pull the Winter X Games out of Aspen after an 11 year relationship.

Jason Blevins of the Denver Post writes that ESPN has been airing this year’s Winter X in 3-D.

Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News says longtime UCLA voice Chris Roberts was honored by his peers as was Daily News sports media writer Tom Hoffarth.

And Tom writes an appreciation for being honored last night.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has videos of the Big Ten Network going behind the scenes with Gus Johnson.

Josh Tinley of Midwest Sports Fans explains how the Super Bowl got its name and why every game has Roman numerals.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes the NHL All-Star Game did really well for CBC.

And that will do it for now.

Hannah Storm Gets Her Own Interview Special on ESPN

Next Tuesday, ESPN will air a one-hour interview special hosted by SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm. During the special, Hannah talks with four of the biggest newsmakers in the NFL, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

Hannah speaks to each man in relaxed settings such as a restaurant, a park, a training facility and a museum.

The special airs at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, January 31 on ESPN2.

Not only do we have the press release, but we also have some pictures and a video preview. Not bad, huh? Here’s the press release with some pictures.

SportsCenter Special: NFL Face to Face with Hannah Storm

In-depth interviews with Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Ndamukong Suh and Jim Irsay; Airs Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2

Before the 2011 NFL season culminates with Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, SportsCenter Special: NFL Face to Face with Hannah Storm (Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2) will highlight some of the biggest newsmakers of the year in pro football. The one-hour special’s long-format interviews will offer a personal look inside some of the sport’s biggest stars, as well as the team owner hosting Super Bowl XLVI, who is also facing the biggest decision of the NFL offseason:

Hannah interviews Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the local restaurant in Green Bay where he has eating every week since his rookie season.

• Aaron Rodgers – The Green Bay Packers star quarterback and favorite for the 2011 NFL MVP takes Storm to historic Lambeau Field and to the local restaurant where he has eaten every week since his rookie season. During their far-ranging conversation, Rodgers discusses how his life has changed since last year’s Super Bowl title, how he handled the Brett Favre transition, his pranks, his personal life and what he wants his legacy to be.

Hannah talks with Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton at Welcome All Park in the Atlanta area where Newton played football during his childhood.

• Cam Newton – The Carolina Panthers quarterback and leading candidate for NFL Rookie of the Year in his only national television interview of the season visits Welcome All Park in the Atlanta area where he played football during his childhood. Newton talks about the difficulties he encountered this season and apologizes for his behavior after a loss to the divisional rival Falcons, his hometown team. He also discusses at length the criticism aimed at him prior to the 2011 NFL Draft, as well as the pay-for-play investigation of his father during his final season at Auburn.

Hannah (l) interviews Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh in the weight facility he funded at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

• Ndamukong Suh – The Detroit Lions dominating defensive lineman tours his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with Storm, where he shows her the weight room facility he funded. In the only in-depth one-on-one interview since his Thanksgiving Day stomping incident, Suh discusses what happened in detail that day and in other incidents involving Andy Dalton, Matt Ryan and Jay Cutler. He speaks openly about his private meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and addresses the criticism directed towards him. He talks about being labeled ‘the NFL’s dirtiest player’ and how he plans to change that image by bringing the Lions back to prominence and by continuing to be among the most charitable athletes in sports.

Hannah with Indianapolis Colts owner and CEO Jim Irsay at the Indiana State Museum.

• Jim Irsay – In a rare sit-down, the Colts owner and CEO shares his personal collection with Storm, which is on display at the Indiana State Museum through Super Bowl. Items include Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” scroll and a collection of rare guitars – including one given to him by Steve Stills that he plays a rendition of Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page.” The outspoken Irsay talks about the franchise’s decisions regarding Peyton Manning’s future and how the team will handle the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. He also delves into his often painful childhood, the relationship with his father, Bob Irsay, and his own battle with addiction.

“This is a project I’m very passionate about and one I’ve wanted to do for several years; it’s a classic format that offers fans a more intimate look at their favorite sports stars beyond the statistics and labels that are often used to define them,” said Storm. “It was revealing to see some of the biggest names in the NFL open themselves up, both in our interviews and by taking our ESPN cameras to places that were very personal to them. I think that viewers will walk away understanding how complex and fascinating each of these highly accomplished four men are.”

And here’s the video preview.

That will do it.

Let’s Do Some Monday Linkage

Ok, I won’t be in all day on Tuesday, although I will have my iPad and I’ll try to post any breaking news from a conference in Taunton, MA tomorrow. But while I’m in the office now, it’s time for some linkage.

Starting with Sports Business Daily, we learn that Game 4 of the World Series soundly beat Sunday Night Football, but the rating was still the lowest Game 4 overnight ever.

SBD talks with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon about working ten years on “Pardon The Interruption”.

To SBD’s sister publication, Sports Business Journal and John Ourand who looks at NBC Sports’ move to pack up its operations and move to Connecticut.

Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated says Tim McCarver is no longer useful as an analyst. I totally agree.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says a unique four-way trade between three networks allowed CBS to air the November 5th LSU-Alabama game in primetime.

Soccer writer extraordinaire Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated has some thoughts and concerns on Fox’s winning bid for the FIFA World Cups from 2015 through 2022.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that Fox’s and Telemundo’s winning World Cup bids definitely upset the soccer TV apple cart.

Bill Cromwell from Media Life Magazine says Fox’s and Telemundo’s bids show soccer has truly arrived on the big stage in the United States.

Multichannel News looks at MLB Network’s offseason studio show schedule.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball looks at the final ratings for Game 4 of the World Series on Fox.

A couple of media moves.

Congratulations to Timothy Burke, the owner of the 30fps.Mocksession and Gifulmation sites. He becomes the Video/Assignment Editor for Deadspin. Timothy had been with SportsGrid.

And a heartfelt congrats to Kristi Dosh, the Sports Biz Miss, who now becomes ESPN’s Sports Business reporter. Kristi’s site which she founded, the Business of College Sports will be headed up now by Alicia Jessop.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders why Tim Tebow has so many haters.

Keith Thibault from Sports Media Journal feels the Red Sox media coverage during the postseason is a teaching moment for journalism students.

Sheldon Spencer of ESPN’s Front Row PR blog looks at the 200 head gear picks Lee Corso has made on ESPN College GameDay.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick wishes he can listen to the World Series on radio.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the World Series ratings.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union explores the CBS move of LSU-Alabama into primetime.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says Army-Air Force now gets a network TV timeslot.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner asks if the Big 12 will poach other conferences in order to survive.

Tom Jones in the St. Petersburg Times has a look back at the weekend in sports television.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says World Series Game 4 outrated the Cowboys in the Metroplex on Sunday.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the Texans are receiving praise from the national media.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Carson Palmer’s debut for the Raiders did well locally, but not enough to make the KC-Oakland game #1 in the market.

John says HBO’s Boxing After Dark will be in town next month.

Bob Wofley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has Fox’s Jimmy Johnson warning the Packers about a couple of tough games coming up.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch feels ESPN should have given Albert Pujols historic night more play over the Michigan State Hail Mary pass.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos QB Tim Tebow remains under the national media’s microscope.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Times has your sports calendar for this week.

Raju Mudhar from the Toronto Star feels the NHL has a chance to gain some ground on the NBA during the league’s extended lockout.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some Monday thoughts.

Sports Media Watch says ratings were flat for the only Chase for the Sprint Cup NASCAR race on network television.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media speaks with ESPN’s John Buccigross.

Bob’s Blitz has the video of ESPN’s Hannah Storm helping out Josina Anderson during a live spot during Sunday’s SportsCenter.

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online has the video of CBS’ Greg Gumbel dissing wrestler Hulk Hogan for his diss of Broncos QB Tim Tebow. Man, Tim Tebow is such a lightning rod.

And that’s where I’ll end it for today.

The Thursday Linkage All Tied Up In A Nice Red Bow

Let’s do the Thursday linkage and there are a few stories to get to.

First, this broke late last night, Joe Flint at the Los Angeles Times confirmed that the number two man at NBC Sports, Ken Schanzer is following his boss Dick Ebersol and leaving the company.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal also writes about Schanzer’s departure from NBC Sports.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today talks with Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton who will be hosting a show on MSG Network this summer.

Reid Cherner at USA Today has the first ad in the Women’s Tennis Association’s new campaign “Strong is Beautiful”.

Etan Vlessing at the Hollywood Reporter writes about CTV/TSN getting figure skating back for ten years after having it on CBC previously.

Husna Haq of the Christian Science Monitor looks at the tome, “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN.”

My podcast partner, Southern New England media mogul Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal reviews the ESPN book.

Lev Grossman of Time also reviews the book.

And Robert Siegel of NPR’s All Things Considered interviews ESPN book co-author James Andrew Miller.

For a longer interview, you can hear the latest Sports Media Weekly podcast with Jim Miller right here.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser has video of memorial services for Chicago TV sports anchor Daryl Hawks who died while covering the Bulls-Atlanta Hawks series.

Over to SportsGrid where Dan Fogarty notes that South Park skewered the NCAA in last night’s episode.

We have a press release from Hannah Storm’s production company about her new documentary that will be part of ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a report on the man who bought 49% of the Mets.

Richard Sandomir and Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times report on the new minority owner of the New York Mets.

The Buffalo News says Buffalo Sabres TV voices Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale will work a reduced schedule next season.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that KFC is now the official fried chicken of the DC NFL Team.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the three bids for the US TV rights for the 2014/16 Olympics.

Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel writes that ESPN Radio is organizing a relief drive throughout the SEC to help Alabama tornado victims.

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says the voice of the Cleveland Browns, WKYC-TV sports anchor Jim Donovan will be undergoing a procedure to battle leukemia. He’ll also take a leave of absence from his TV work for a while. Jim has been battling leukemia for ten years.

WKYC also provides video of Jim making the announcement that he’ll be leaving for the time being.

Jim has been in the Cleveland area since 1985 and became the voice of the Browns when the team returned to the NFL in 1999. He and Doug Dieken have formed a very good broadcast team and I hope he’ll be back when the NFL season gets underway, whenever that is.

The Nebraska State Paper says the Cornhuskers game against Iowa will be seen on ABC the day after Thanksgiving.

Awful Announcing has video of Dan Patrick and ESPN book author Jim Miller going back and forth on various subjects.

I’ll leave it there for now.

Bringing Out The Monday Linkage

This weekend was a very lost weekend for me and for you on the blog as I was unable to do anything either Saturday and Sunday. I attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday in Massachusetts and that took most of the day, then I went to a sports bar that night to see the Manny Pacquaio-Sugar Shane Mosley fight and I’m glad I did not have to pay a cover as Mosley just did not do anything. I fought to stay awake as the fight was very boring.

And on Mother’s Day, I had several errands to run so the blog was very quiet. I was happy nothing broke because I would not have been able to do anything. But we’re back today and let’s get cracking on some overdue linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says ESPN/ABC’s NBA analysts were very down on the Los Angeles Lakers’ effort in their series-ending loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Sports Business Daily has Screamin’ Gus Johnson calling reports of his departure from CBS “premature.”

SBD notes that the NBA Playoffs did very well in the weekend overnight ratings.

SBD also looks at the NFL possibly working under different rules from last year if the lockout is lifted.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that Golf Channel is giving CBS’ David Feherty his own primetime show.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Pacquaio-Mosley fight will most likely lead to more boxing pay per view events.

Mike goes inside the new Pac-12 Conference media rights deals.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about the league and its media rights deal with Comcast/NBC.

Diego Vasquez at Media Life Magazine writes on how sponsors can get true brand activation at the Preakness Stakes.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser has video of what Oracle is doing to make the viewing of this year’s America’s Cup more enjoyable to fans at home.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid reviews the silly Captain Blowhard-Keith Olbermann renewal of their Twitter feud over the weekend.

That wasn’t the only Twitter feud this weekend, supermodel Chrissy Teigen and Jay Mohr had one also. Very silly these Twitter fights.

At Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Greg Wyshynski looks at whether Versus’ Jeremy Roenick crossed the line or was being candid when he said San Jose’s Patrick Marleau was “gutless” following the team’s surprising loss to Detroit last night.

At ESPN Front Row, PR specialist Josh Krulewitz speaks with Hannah Storm on sports and Mother’s Day.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says Animal Kingdom owner Bill Irwin’s candor during NBC’s Kentucky Derby broadcast enlightened an otherwise technical glitch-filled broadcast.

Jonathan Bombulie of The Citizens’ (PA) Voice notes that ESPN’s E:60 newsmagazine will profile the young fan of a minor league hockey team, who has been battling a debilitating disease.

Mark Brown from the Baltimore Sports Report talks with legendary Maryland Terrapins voice Johnny Holliday about Gary Williams’ retirement.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the local ESPN Radio affiliate had egg on its face for reporting a false rumor on Maryland’s coaching situation.

Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times has ESPN’s Herman Edwards giving some advice to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on enduring the filming of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” as the Bucs are a candidate for the series this summer, provided there is a season.

Rodney Page of the Times has a look at the weekend in sports TV.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel says the Pac-12 came out smelling like a rose in its new TV deals.

Bud Withers of the Daily Oklahoman notes that the Pac-12 can no longer be considered a college sports doormat.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Bulls radio voice Chuck Swirsky.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post writes that fans got to see the Lakers’ fatal flaws yesterday.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Steve Gress from the Corvallis (OR) Gazette-Times says Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott definitely delivered for the league.

Eric Degerman of the Tri-City (WA) Herald says MLB Network has a nightly tribute to the late Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has the ratings for the Fan 590 and TSN 1050 in April.

Raju Mudhar in the Toronto Globe and Mail says the city’s courtship of the NFL through the Ford family has one glaring omission.

Paul Kennedy at Soccer America feels ESPN2′s MLS soccer highlights last Saturday did the league a great disservice.

Daniel Feuerstein at MLS Talk has his thoughts on Fox Soccer Channel’s inaugural Soccer Night in America broadcast.

Sports Media Watch notes that the camera operator is the anonymous person who is a big part of the sports broadcast you watch.

SMW says Bulls-Hawks has been a big draw for TNT.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for Night 23 of the NHL Playoffs.

Joe Favorito says boxing and horse racing are taking baby steps in getting back into the national conscience.

The Big Lead says ESPN’s Erin Andrews was among the beautiful people attending the Kentucky Derby and why not as Erin is a beautiful person.

And I’ll end the links there.

ESPN & ESPN Radio Live Schedule From Fort Worth For Tuesday

Day 2 of Super Bowl Week for ESPN begins once again with Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN2 and ESPN Radio. And you have a whole slew of live programming from Sundance Square in Fort Worth. Hannah Storm also joins the fray hosting Media Day from Cowboys Stadium with Darren Woodson. Check out what’s in store for you on Tuesday.

ESPN and ESPN Radio Super Bowl XLV Programs Originating Live from Sundance Square in Fort Worth – Tuesday, Feb. 1

ESPN’s multimedia coverage of Super Bowl XLV continues Tuesday from North Texas with Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb scheduled to make a special guest analyst appearance on SportsCenter Special and NFL Live (2-3:30 p.m. CT). Hannah Storm and three-time Cowboys Super Bowl champion and ESPN analyst Darren Woodson will also provide live reports from Super Bowl Media Day at Cowboys Stadium on SportsCenter (9 -11 a.m.). ESPNEWS and ESPN Radio will also provide reports.

All ESPN TV and radio shows are originating live from Sundance Square (195 West 3^rd Street) in Fort Worth throughout the week and fans are encouraged to attend. Tuesday’s schedule highlights (all times CT):

5 a.m.         Mike and Mike in the Morning (ESPN Radio/ESPN2)
Hosts: Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic
Guests: ESPN sr. NFL writer John Clayton (5:30 a.m., by phone), ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale (6:15 a.m., phone), Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs (6:30 a.m., phone), NFL analyst Cris Carter (7:15 a.m.) and former Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown (9 a.m.),

9 a.m.         First Take/1^st and 10 (ESPN2)**
On-site (in order of appearance): Brown (8:30 a.m.).

9 a.m.         The Herd (ESPN Radio/ESPNU)
Host: Colin Cowherd
Guest: Brown (11:15 a.m.) and Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King (12:15 p.m.)

8 a.m.         SportsCenter (ESPN)
Host: Storm. Analyst: Tom Jackson and Woodson
Note: Storm and Woodson will report live from Media Day (9-11 a.m.) at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington

Noon          Around the Horn (ESPN) … to air at 4 p.m.**
On-site: Bill Plaschke (Los Angeles Times)

1 p.m.        Scott Van Pelt Show (ESPN Radio/ESPN2)
Hosts: Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo
Guests: Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (3:15 p.m.) and former Titans running back Eddie George (3:30 p.m.)

2 p.m.        SportsCenter Special / NFL Live (ESPN)
Host: Mike Tirico/Trey Wingo. Analysts: Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski and Mark Schlereth.
Guests: Packers running back Ryan Grant, George and McNabb.

3 p.m.        SportsNation (ESPN2)
Hosts: Michelle Beadle and Colin Cowherd
Guests: Grant and Chargers wide receiver Patrick Crayton

3:30 p.m.    Rome is Burning (ESPN)
Host: Jim Rome
Guests: ESPN.com sr. writer Jeffri Chadiha

3 p.m.        Pardon the Interruption (ESPN) … to air at 4:30 p.m. **
On-site: Michael Wilbon

5 p.m.        SportsCenter (ESPN)
Host:  Greenberg. Analysts: Golic and Woodson.

7 p.m.        SportsCenter (ESPN Deportes)
Host: Ciro Procuna. Analysts: Raul Allegre and Alvaro Martin

8 p.m.        SportsCenter (ESPN) (to air at 10 p.m.)
Host: Steve Levy. Analysts: Cris Carter and Trent Dilfer

All times CT

Note: Commentator and guest schedules subject to change
** Select interviews/segments originating from North Texas

And I have one more release coming up.

The Lovely Hannah Storm To Stay With ESPN

I happened on this press release at ESPN’s public relations website. Surprised I did not receive this today. But I found it and I’m happy. Hannah Storm, who signed with ESPN and launched the 9 a.m. ET SportsCenter block in 2008, has been signed to a contract extension that gives her additional duties including hosting the NBA on ABC and ESPN, tennis and the Super Bowl. When Hannah left The Early Show, I wondered where she would go and was happy that she signed at ESPN. She’s become quite popular thanks to her dress on SportsCenter, but before she even joined ESPN, I had wondered about her wardrobe.

Here’s the announcement from ESPN.

Hannah Storm Signs Extension with ESPN

Hannah Storm – a trailblazing and award-winning sportscaster and newscaster who joined ESPN in 2008 to help launch, live daytime SportsCenter ­– has signed a multi-year extension with ESPN, which expands her role.

Storm co-hosts the 9 a.m. to noon ET edition of ESPN’s flagship news and information program with Josh Elliott. As part of the extension, Storm expands her responsibilities beyond her initial SportsCenter role to include on-site studio hosting duties from marquee events such as the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Wimbledon and the US Open.

In addition, Storm continues her role as host of NBA coverage, including on ABC and ESPN. She will conduct high-profile interviews with NFL newsmakers and make appearances on Sports Reporters and other shows.

“Hannah brings a wealth of experience, hard work and professionalism into every assignment,” said Norby Williamson, Executive Vice President, Production. “She will continue to help drive the success of the morning SportsCenter and her added presence will strengthen our big event coverage.”

Since joining ESPN, Storm has enjoyed an expanded array of responsibilities including host of ESPN Sports Saturday on ABC which debuted in 2010.  During the NFL season, she hosts the Sunday morning edition of SportsCenter, leading into Sunday NFL Countdown. She will continue to co-host the Tournament of Roses Parade on ABC.

This past September, Storm made her debut as a film producer on ESPN’s Unmatched, a one-hour documentary in the critically acclaimed 30 for 30 series. Unmatched tells the story about the rivalry and friendship between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Storm will next be directing a short film for Women’s World Cup, which will air later this year.

The University of Notre Dame graduate came to ESPN after five years with CBS News, and a successful career which included 10 years with NBC Sports, and three with CNN.

That will do it.

Bringing In The Monday Links

Lots of things to get to today. I hope to get everything in during one long linkfest, but if I can’t, I’ll try to do it in multiple parts.

We begin with USA Today’s Mike McCarthy who says despite the ratings being down for the Rose and Fiesta Bowls as ESPN takes over the games from ABC and Fox, respectively, the viewership was actually right at the same level from last year, which suits ESPN just fine.

Mike talks with ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards who clarifies the story that SportsbyBrooks had this weekend over her confrontation with Ron Franklin before last week’s Chick-Fil-A Bowl. If you don’t know, Franklin apparently called Edwards “asshole” after first sarcastically calling her “Sweet Baby.” Franklin was then removed from his next assignment, the Fiesta Bowl on ESPN Radio which he would have worked with Edwards. And this isn’t the first time Franklin has had an incident with a female sideline reporter, getting demoted after the 2005 following an on-air incident with Holly Rowe.

James O’Brien at Pro Hockey Talk says the NHL Winter Classic is the most watched NHL regular season game since 1975!

Sports Business Daily wraps up the media reaction to the Winter Classic.

At Sports Business Journal, Terry Lefton and John Ourand speak with several sports industry executives about what they foresee for sports in 2011.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy looks at NBC’s high flying cameras utilized at the Winter Classic. 

Bob’s Blitz has the video of ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Hannah Storm celebrating the firing of Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini during SportsCenter this morning. It has to be seen to be believed.

Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the Rose Bowl ratings being down from last year being on ESPN as compared to ABC, but the game still set a cable viewing record.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable says a West Palm Beach, FL sports radio station which has been producing a nightly sportscast for the local NBC affiliate, now adds the local Fox TV station to its portfolio.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that the WWE is bringing back its “Tough Enough” reality series to USA Network.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing gets a coup and interviews Screamin’ Gus Johnson.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says the Rose and Fiesta Bowl’s ratings may have been down from last year when they were on broadcast TV, but they set records for ESPN on cable.

Newsday’s Neil Best has some random thoughts regarding the sports weekend on TV.

Being interrupted. Check this space for more links later in the day.

UPDATE, 4:45 p.m.: Time for some more linkage now.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy has ESPN’s Ron Franklin apologizing for his actions regarding Jeannine Edwards from last week. 

ABC News is reporting that two former New York Jets message therapists will be filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against Brett Favre.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh has plenty of leverage for his next job.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Golf Channel is looking for higher ratings in 2011. 

Nick Bromberg of Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog notes that ratings all but five NASCAR Sprint Cup races fell in 2010.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost notes that while TV manufacturers are rushing out 3-D TV’s on the market, consumers aren’t rushing out to buy them.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott was not impressed with the debut of a new talk show earlier today.

Ken says the move of the NHL Winter Classic to primetime due to rain turned out to be a good one for NBC.

Evan Weiner from the New Jersey Newsroom says the four major sports leagues face some very interesting times in 2011. 

Laura Nachman says the Philadelphia NBC affiliate has a new news reporter who can do sports.

Dan Stefano of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says the Penguins are sad to see HBO’s cameras go.

Karen Price of the Tribune-Review writes that the NHL Winter Classic is a true ratings hit.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Steel City’s new ESPN Radio affiliate started broadcasting today. 

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says CBS aired too many promos during the Bengals-Ravens game on Sunday.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog goes inside DC’s ratings for the NHL Winter Classic.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also talks about the NHL Winter Classic’s ratings.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has a look at a busy weekend in TV sports.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News has the Metroplex’s rating for the Rose Bowl.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about former local sports anchor Chris Wragge who is now hosting CBS’ The Early Show.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Packers pulled a big rating on Sunday.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business is predicting labor strife in 2011.

LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Fox Sports North takes a three part inside look at the area’s sports teams.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says ESPN has made Monday Night Football into a cable ratings giant.

John Henderson of the Post writes that the BCS has ruined the tradition of watching bowl games on New Year’s Day and I’ll agree with this. No juice for college football anymore.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune notes that the Utah Jazz’s TV ratings are way up this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the peace between Canadian media giants Rogers Communications and Bell Globalmedia is going to be tested this year.

Sports Media Watch says Fox Sports finished the NFL regular season on an up note.

SMW notes that NBC had its best overnight ratings for an NFL season finale.

But Paulsen tells us that CBS’ ratings for its final NFL doubleheader of the season finished down from last season.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media reports that Versus will pick up the NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft later this month.

And that’s where we’ll end it for today.

Fang’s Bites’ Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2010

Another year is over and another year is just beginning. It’s time to review the 12 biggest stories in sports media in the year of 2010 A.D. We had plenty of stories to choose from. Not every one made the cut. Some will receive honorable mentions. Others will be listed here. Sports media never sleeps and that’s been proven throughout the year. Let’s go through the list and there is plenty of stuff to review. I’ll go in reverse order from 12 and go to number 1.

12. Silly Carriage Disputes Prevent Fans From Watching NHL, MLB and Other Programming

The Versus/DirecTV dispute started in September 2009 and carried over until March of this year, causing NHL fans to lose almost five months of games. And while Versus had decent ratings during the first days of the dispute, the dispute caught up with the network and the loss of millions of subscribers eventually hurt. And it took six months for the channel to return to DirecTV at basically the same terms it had when it was dropped.

At the beginning of 2010, Fox and Time Warner Cable averted a dispute that would have meant the loss of the BCS and the NFC Championship in several major markets.

But the silliest dispute of the year was between Fox and Cablevision that lasted for two weeks and led to the loss of the National League Championship Series and NFL games in New York, New Jersey and parts of Philadelphia. When Fox’s local stations as well as a number of cable channels returned to Cablevision, it left a bitter taste in the mouths of the cable provider.

As we close out 2010, Versus’ sister network, Golf Channel is in danger of being pulled by DirecTV and you have the dispute between the Sinclair stations with Time Warner Cable so this Merry-Go-Round continues and it leaves viewers holding the bag. Basically, no one wins.

11. Passing of Broadcasting Legends

2010 meant the passing of several broadcasting legends including Chicago Cubs analyst Ron Santo, Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame announcer Dave Niehaus, Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell and original Monday Night Football analyst Don Meredith. The mourning of each man from all over the country, especially Harwell and Santo show how much impact they had on broadcasting. Harwell handled his death with dignity exuding class throughout his last interviews and final public appearances. The outpouring of love and affection for each man after their passing was truly touching.

10. The Rise of 3-D TV, But Virtually No Impact

ESPN launched ESPN 3D in 2010, and other networks aired events in 3-D such as The Masters, NASCAR, MLB, Hockey Night in Canada, the US Open, the World Cup and even an NFL preseason game. But reaction to 3-D has been cold to lukewarm. Sales of 3-D TV’s have fallen short of expectations as the TV industry has been surprised by the lack of enthusiasm by consumers.

And while programming for 3-D is certainly not close to filling a complete day, there was speculation whether ESPN would kill 3D if it didn’t take off. In my own informal poll on Twitter and on Facebook, there isn’t interest from consumers to buy a 3-D set. The cost is prohibitive and so are the glasses which are bulky and can only be used with the set you buy.

There are rumors that Toshiba is developing a 3-D set that won’t require glasses, but it wouldn’t be coming to the United States by mid-decade at the earliest. TV manufacturers may have made a huge miscalculation on 3-D.

9. Potential Free Agents Remain At Home

As we entered 2010, there was talk that it could be a year of upheaval for network free agents. But when it was all said and done and the dust cleared, the free agents decided that home was where the heart was.

It began in February with speculation that ESPN’s Chris Berman could leave the Mothership for a role with DirecTV or NFL Network. It never happened as Boomer signed a new contract in April to remain at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

At the end of March, lead Fox voice Joe Buck signed a new four year deal ensuring that he would call MLB and NFL games as long as both remain with the network.

Just before the current NFL season, Rich Eisen agreed to a four year deal of his own to remain at NFL Network, giving him expanded duties including hosting NFL GameDay Morning, his own podcast and continuing as main host for NFL Total Access.

But it appeared the most speculation was over Erin Andrews as her star rose earlier this year as she did “Dancing With the Stars” and finished third during the Spring 2010 season. Then we learned in July that Erin would indeed remain at ESPN with host duties during an expanded College Gameday.

In broadcasting, sometimes the best move is the one you don’t make. In the cases of Chris Berman, Joe Buck, Rich Eisen and Erin Andrews, staying put ends up being the right move.

8. Deadspin’s Continues To Influence the Sports Agenda

We saw Deadspin’s influence in 2009 when it went all Wu-Tang on ESPN. The influence got even bigger on two particular stories, the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger mess and the Rex Ryan foot fetish story.

Both stories forced the mainstream media to report on them. In the case of Favre’s alleged sexting to Sterger, it led to an NFL investigation into whether Favre violated league workplace conduct policies. Of course, the story came to, ahem, a head (sorry) when Favre was fined $50,000 for not cooperating with the league’s probe (sorry again). We’ll see if it leads to a lawsuit from Sterger (most likely) and where it leads.

For her part, Sterger might have been able to stem some of the negative reaction towards her had she used her now canceled show, The Daily Line, to at least make a one or two sentence statement about the situation. Instead, she said nothing and any buzz the show might have received went by the wayside.

As far as Rex Ryan is concerned, more foot fetish pictures of his wife have come out and we probably haven’t heard the end of this as we go into 2011.

7. ESPN’s 30 for 30

The series began last year and continued into 2010. While there were some misses (Jordan Rides the Bus, Four Days in October), there were many hits and successes for ESPN’s foray into the sports documentary genre. Films such as The Two Escobars, June 17, 1994, and the extremely poignant Once Brothers showed that when ESPN gets serious, it can put together some really compelling and excellent television. Bill Simmons wanted to prove that HBO did not have a monopoly in sports documentaries and he certainly has made ESPN a player. 30 for 30 has now become a successful brand for ESPN.

6. NBC’s Olympics Record Ratings Were Offset by Huge Financial Losses

For NBC, the Vancouver Winter Olympics that made Curling into a household sport for two weeks, had a great hockey tournament and gave Canada tremendous national pride, the Games were a mixed bag. While overall, Vancouver ended up being the 2nd most watched Olympic Games in history, it had to write down a loss of $225 million based on a larger rights fee and increased production costs.

The losses are being taken into account by the new owners of NBC, Comcast which will be dealing with the bidding for the 2014/2016 Olympics as well as ESPN, CBS/Turner and Fox who will join NBC at the table in Lausanne, Switzerland. Whether NBC can retain the rights in 2014/2016 and beyond is anyone’s guess.

5. ESPN’s World Cup Coverage

As with 30 for 30, ESPN’s understated and low key coverage of the World Cup led to high interest for the final between the Netherlands and Spain as a total of 24.3 million people watched on ABC and Univision this summer. Ian Darke became a star in the United States thanks to his World Cup calls and eventually became the signature voice for soccer on ESPN.

There were fears that ESPN might go over the top for its coverage of the World Cup, but it gave the event plenty of respect and gave a flavor of the enthusiasm for the games in South Africa. It gives hope if the Alleged Worldwide Leader gains the rights for the Olympics.

4. Women in Media Start Up Debate Once Again

I thought that the debate over female reporters in locker rooms had ended, but it all started once again when TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz was allegedly harassed by the New York Jets when she tried to interview Mark Sanchez. For her part, Ines really didn’t pursue the whole case, but it led to men being angry about women being allowed in locker rooms. It was a polarizing issue on the talk shows for a couple of weeks.

One other issue involving women was Tony Kornheiser’s comments about Hannah Storm’s attire on SportsCenter which has been a subject of debate over the last couple of years. ESPN suspended Mr. Tony for two weeks over his comments. It also led former CNN Sports and News anchor Daryn Kagan to blog about the issue as well.

Will this lead to other things in 2011? Good question.

3. NFL TV Record Ratings

Every week, I get press releases from each of the NFL TV partners and they keep going up. Records keep getting set. NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package had its highest ratings ever as did ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Week after week, the NFL’s ratings top everything whether it was primetime programming, NBA games and for the first time ever, the World Series head-to-head.

Based on these trends, one would have to think that Fox is in gear to see a viewership record for Super Bowl XLV as CBS did for Super XLIV in 2010.

2. CBS/Turner Gains Rights to NCAA Tournament

After broadcasting the NCAA Tournament all by its lonesome since 1991, CBS brought in a partner, Turner Sports to help do the heavy lifting. There was speculation that ESPN would take the tournament back, but in mid-April, there was surprising news that it was dropping out of the bidding leaving CBS/Turner all alone.

CBS had mentioned that it was losing money on the Tournament and a report surfaced that it tried to get ESPN to take the event off its hands, a request that was eventually turned down. CBS manages to keep the tournament and allow a cable partner to get involved.

And now to our number one sports media story:

1. Athletes Trying To Control Their Message and Doing It Badly

Since the dawning of social networking, athletes have tried to circumvent the normal channels of sending their message to the world, doing an end run around reporters. However, there’s no doubting the power of television to reach a mass audience. Two instances of athletes trying to use TV to their advantage and not coming off well were Tiger Woods and LeBron James.

In Tiger Woods’ case, he gave both ESPN and Golf Channel five minutes to interview him and Tom Rinaldi and Kelly Tilghman had to ask questions in rapid fire succession. While both Rinaldi and Tilghman were told they could ask any question, they did not really ask what happened to Woods on  the fateful night that changed his life. But since then, Woods has joined Twitter and tried to be more user-friendly.

But the ultimate failure was The Decision, 73 minutes of truly painful TV. All involved came off badly from ESPN to interviewer Jim Gray (who may have made $500,000 off his brutal questioning) to LeBron James who instantly became a villain. ESPN got plenty of viewers, but it led to negative reaction all around. James may wonder why no one is focusing on the donations to the Boys & Girls Club, but he made The Decision all about him by making a two minute announcement into a 73 minute egofest.

It’s safe to say that ESPN probably won’t do this type of program again.

Honorable Mentions:
Fox Sports Hires Mike Pereira As An NFL Rules Analyst
Fox Sports Gains Rights to Big Ten Football Championship Game
NBC Sports Renews Kentucky Derby for Five More Years
Jay Mariotti’s arrest and subsequent suspension and departure from Fanhouse

That concludes 2010. I hope you have a great 2011. It’s certainly going to be quite an interesting year for sports media as Comcast takes over NBC, the Olympics rights bidding, potential lockouts for the NBA and NFL, and the NHL rights bidding. Very interesting stuff coming up in the next 365 days.

ESPN Announces Coverage of NBA Opening Week

ESPN tells us that it will be all over the start of the 2010-11. And as the Unofficial Official Network of the Miami Heat and all things LeBron James, it will feature the team on both ESPN Radio and the Mothership during Opening Week.

In addition, Hannah Storm returns to the NBA as a host of NBA Countdown. Nice to see the lovely Ms. Storm hosting once again. This is a rather long press release so we’ll require a jump break.

ESPN’s Extensive Coverage of NBA Tip-Off ’10

Heat Opener vs. Celtics on ESPN Radio; ESPN Doubleheaders Oct. 27 & 29, Including Heat Home Opener vs. Magic; Hannah Storm Joins NBA Studio Team

ESPN, Inc.’s comprehensive coverage of the 2010-11 NBA season will tip off when the Miami Heat and its new core of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh visit the Boston Celtics featuring Rajon Rondo and its own big three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen Tuesday, Oct. 26, on ESPN Radio (coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET). Jim Durham will provide play-by-play for the broadcast, part of ESPN Radio’s 26-game NBA regular-season schedule, with Hall of Famer Dr. Jack Ramsay. Additionally, Hannah Storm will host SportsCenter’s coverage from Boston with analysts Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon.

ESPN’s coverage of NBA Tip-Off ’10 will continue with doubleheaders on Wednesday, Oct. 27, and Friday, Oct. 29, highlighted by the Heat home opener against the Orlando Magic and Dwight Howard Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. ESPN’s NBA Countdown pregame show (previously NBA Shootaround), with host Stuart Scott and analysts Magic Johnson, Barry and Wilbon, will be on site in Miami to preview the game at 7 p.m. The second half of the doubleheader will feature a rematch of the Western Conference Finals when the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant visit the Phoenix Suns and two-time league MVP Steve Nash.

Earlier in the week, ESPN’s Wednesday night doubleheader (Oct. 27) will showcase some of the brightest young stars in the league as the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose visit the Oklahoma City Thunder and Kevin Durant at 8 p.m., followed by the L.A. Clippers, with the highly-anticipated debut of Blake Griffin, hosting the Portland Trail Blazers and Brandon Roy. NBA Countdown will preview the Wednesday night games at 7 p.m.

All four games will also be available via ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV. ESPN and ABC – the home of The Finals – will combine to deliver a 90-game flexible regular-season schedule.

ESPN’s Opening Week NBA schedule:

More of this release comes to you have the jump.
Let’s get details on the game announcers plus other plans for the NBA on ESPN this season. 

ESPN Game Commentators

ESPN’s game coverage will include the play-by-play voices of Mike Breen, Mike Tirico, Dan Shulman, Mark Jones, Dave Pasch and Terry Gannon; analysts Jackson, Van Gundy, Hubie Brown, Doris Burke, Barry and Tim Legler; and reporters Burke, Lisa Salters, Heather Cox and Ric Bucher.

Hannah Storm Joins ESPN NBA Studio Coverage
ESPN SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm will join the NBA studio team, splitting NBA Countdown hosting responsibilities with Stuart Scott this season. Storm previously was the full-time host of NBC’s NBA studio coverage from 1997-2002, which followed a five-year stint as part-time host and sideline reporter for the network.

NBA Preseason Schedule
ESPN’s preseason NBA schedule will continue with a doubleheader Friday, Oct. 22 – a prelude to the Opening Week matchup, when the Heat meet the Magic (game held in Tampa) at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors (game held in Ontario) at 10 p.m.  Mike Breen will call the Heat/Magic game with analysts Hubie Brown and Jeff Van Gundy, with Terry Gannon calling the Lakers/Warriors matchup with analyst Mark Jackson. NBA Countdown, with host Storm and analysts Jon Barry and Jalen Rose, will preview the action. 

ESPN Studio Coverage
NBA Countdown (formerly NBA Shootaround)
ESPN’s pregame show (Wednesdays and Fridays) will regularly be hosted by Scott or Storm with analysts Barry, Wilbon and Rose. 

NBA Tonight (formerly NBA Fastbreak)
The nightly highlights, news and information show – regularly airing at 1 a.m. (10 p.m. PT) on ESPN2 – will frequently be hosted by Kevin Connors or Jonathan Coachman with analysts Legler, Mashburn, Rose and Bruce Bowen. 

NBA Coast to Coast
ESPN2’s signature whiparound format show will continue to provide fans with live look-ins to games, along with analysis, news and information, generally Tuesdays throughout the season. Commentators will regularly include host Connors and analysts Legler, Mashburn and Bowen.

Reporters J.A. Adande, Chris Broussard, Bucher and Marc Stein will also contribute to ESPN studio programs. 

ESPN.com
ESPN.com’s extensive NBA content will include:

• Live coverage
  • Daily Dime Live – on game nights, the application launches at 7 p.m. on the front page of the NBA section and includes live discussion and observations on the teams and players participating from ESPN’s deep lineup of reporters, analysts and commentators
  • ESPN3.com will provide simulcasts of every NBA game airing on ESPN throughout the season
  • GameCast, ESPN’s statistical feed which provides live game information
  • Local coverage
    • ESPN has launched the Heat Index, providing in-depth coverage of the Miami Heat throughout the season
    • ESPN.com also features local sites in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York, which deliver coverage of the seven NBA franchises in those markets
    • the TrueHoop Blog Network includes 36 different blogs, providing vast NBA coverage
    • Social coverage
      • Daily Dime Live aggregates Twitter feeds from players and league executives and contains polls, photos, video and other media to enhance the experience for NBA fans
      • ESPN.com’s NBA team also maintains a Twitter feed (@NBAonESPN) and Facebook page

ESPN Classic
NBA Season Tip-Off Marathon Oct. 24
ESPN Classic will televise an NBA Marathon showcasing some of the best teams in NBA history on Sunday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. until midnight. 

The schedule (all times Eastern):

10 a.m.	1970 NBA Finals, Game 7: Lakers vs. Knicks
12 p.m.	1983 NBA Finals, Game 4: 76ers vs. Lakers
2 p.m.	1986 NBA Finals, Game 6: Rockets vs. Celtics
4 p.m.	1987 NBA Finals, Game 6: Celtics vs. Lakers
6 p.m.	1989 NBA Finals, Game 4: Pistons vs. Lakers
8 p.m.	1992 NBA Finals, Game 6: Trail Blazers vs. Bulls
10 p.m.	1996 NBA Finals, Game 6: Sonics vs. Bulls

That will do it.

Some Tuesday Linkage

Ok, I was trying to work out some e-mail issues at the home office and now I’m back at the Massachusetts office so it’s time to give you some linkage today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that the NFL continues to rule the ratings roost over baseball.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says with Monday Night Football beating Game 3 of the American League Championship Series last night, it’s obvious that the NFL is king in the United States. 

Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog says we should not be surprised that football beat baseball in the ratings.

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk is not surprised that a less than stellar MNF game beat baseball in the ratings.

Gregg says ESPN asked Tennessee and Jacksonville coaches to take late timeouts to extend the Monday Night Football game so it could run more commercials.

Craig Calcaterra from NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk says don’t worry about the NFL beating MLB. 

Back to Darren who says a Wrangler Jeans official is denying that the company pulled ads featuring Brett Favre on NFL games.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says sports programming is saving primetime TV ratings and notes that the NBA’s popularity could supplant MLB as the country’s second most popular sport.

Mike Farrell and John Eggerton from sister publications Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News note that the Cablevision/Fox dispute is now in its 4th day with no end in sight.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News notes that Time Warner Cable customers will be able to access the regular ESPN TV channel, not just ESPN3.com, online and through cell phones.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine says TBS is off to a strong start with the ALCS.

The Bleacher Report which is full of fan blogs and has a bad reputation in the blogging community has signed a new content agreement with the Washington Post.

Leena Rao of TechCrunch reports that Fox Sports has purchased the sports blogging network, Yardbarker. Interesting.

Jay Busbee at Yahoo’s From The Marbles blog notes that NASCAR’s TV ratings fell again on Saturday, but not as much as the season average.

Yahoo’s Kelly Dwyer says ESPN has hired a former NBA Deputy Commissioner to analyze the upcoming league labor negotiations that could lead to a lockout.

Andrew Neff of the Bangor (ME) Daily News writes that long time sports radio station WZON is flipping to a sports-politics hybrid format.

The lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald talks about WEEI’s morning show heading to TV and being simulcast on NESN. 

Eric Wilbur from the Boston Globe wants to know why Patriots quarterback Tom Brady isn’t listed higher on the NFL’s Top 100 players. Please. I can name 10 quarterbacks better than Brady.

Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that New Jersey’s Governor is threatening to get involved in the Cablevision/Fox dispute.

Bob Raissman at the New York Daily News says the Cablevision/Fox dispute could get unstalled if the Yankees make the World Series.

Bob wants the TBS announcing to cater to his needs.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post writes that talks between Cablevision and Fox broke down again on Monday.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS’ John Smoltz who’s analyzing the American League Championship Series along with Ron Darling.

Neil has a little more on John in his blog.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the college football TV schedule in the Capital Region.

Pete also has the NFL TV schedule for Week 7.

Peter Van Allen at the Philadelphia Business Journal says Fox Sports had a busy weekend in the City of Brotherly Love. 

Shannon Owens at the Orlando Sentinel says the NFL’s hiring of supermodel Marisa Miller as a Super Fan spokesperson is an interesting choice.

Shannon says ESPN’s E:60 magazine will profile a three-way football friendship that has Orlando ties.

The Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune says Missouri will have to conduct its homecoming parade later than usual on Saturday after College Gameday wraps up its show.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says Dish Network subscribers are in danger of not seeing the Thunder’s season opener on Fox Sports Oklahoma next week.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that CBS’ Boomer Esiason was adamant about Green Bay’s quarterback Aaron Rodgers being allowed to play after having a concussion. 

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Sunday’s ratings for the Rams were slightly below the season average.

Randy Peterson from the Des Moines Register reports that Iowa State has turned down a Fox College Sports request to air its October 30th game against Kansas. 

Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says if ESPN picks up the November 6th Hawaii-Boise State, it would cause the University and its TV partners to take a hit on pay per view revenue.

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the Canadian Olympic Broadcasting Consortium of CTV/TSN and Rogers Sportsnet that successfully bid for the 2010/2012 Games plans to bid for the 2014/2016 Olympics as well.

Dashiell Bennett of the Business Insider looks at ESPN influencing Jacksonville and Tennessee to call late timeouts during last night’s Monday Night Football game.

Sports Media Watch notes that Hannah Storm will return to the NBA as a host on ESPN’s coverage.

SMW says the NBA’s other TV partner, TNT, will be sending its Emmy-award winning Inside The NBA show on the road to start the season.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that the ratings for the NLCS are approaching Stanley Cup levels as far as the younger demographic is concerned.

The Big Lead says New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is apparently dating a reporter from Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

That will complete the links for today.

Tuesday Linkage

Yesterday was not the day to get sick. So many things happened last night, Jets owner Woody Johnson apologizing to Azteca TV reporter Ines Sainz, Monday Night Football doubleheader, US Open men’s final moving from CBS to ESPN2 and then cutting out for Monday Night Football, Jay Mariotti getting charged on domestic violence against his girlfriend and I went to bed at 6:30 last night. That’ll learn me to get sick.

Anyway, let’s do linkage that I couldn’t get to yesterday. Lots of stuff to do. I’ll try to give you plenty of links.

Starting with Mike McCarthy of USA Today who writes that Jets owner Woody Johnson has apologized to Sainz for the team’s action during her visit to the team’s training camp on Saturday.

Sainz herself appeared on the Today Show this morning to talk about the incident.

I give her credit saying she was not a victim, but at the same time, she wasn’t wearing anything out of hand. Ines is a beautiful woman, but from what I saw, she was being professional. For anyone to say she was asking to be harassed is like saying a person deserved to be murdered. Come on.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times cannot believe the reaction to Sainz. 

Sports Business Daily recaps the coverage on Sainz including her saying she won’t pursue any legal action against the Jets.

Caroline Howard of Forbes weighs in on the Ines Sainz controversy.

In Sports Illustrated, Ann Killion says the Ines Sainz story is another example of male athletes behaving badly. 

Sports Business Daily notes that ESPN will not use Fanhouse writer Jay “The Rat” Mariotti in the wake of him being charged with domestic violence.

Back to USA Today, Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings from various events from the weekend.

Hiestand writes about TBS using Ernie Johnson, Jr. as its lead announcer for the MLB postseason. 

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says TBS is 90% sold for its ad sales for the MLB postseason.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry feels NBC’s Cris Collinsworth doesn’t measure up to John Madden. Really, who does?

Broadcasting & Cable’s Jon Lafayette talks with NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol who has been named as B&C Broadcaster of the Year.

Ryan Nakashima of the Associated Press talks to former Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner about his decision to buy Cap Cities/ABC in the mid-1990′s, stating that ESPN was really the crown jewel of that purchase.

David Mercer of the AP writes about how fans helped to make the Big Ten Network into a success.

Bill Krueger of the Poynter Institute talks with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King about the changing world of sports writing which includes Twitter.

From Sports Business Journal, John Ourand looks at some of things we learned from the Disney/Time Warner carriage agreement that heavily involved ESPN.

Liz Mullen at SBJ takes a gander at the NFL Players Association possibly decertifying and thus, preventing a NFL labor lockout.

I don’t think I’ve ever linked to Rolling Stone, but I am now. Matt Taibbi takes ESPN Radio Hack Colon Cowherd to task for his stance on unions. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Erik Hayden of The Atlantic can’t believe how both CBS and ESPN2 mistreated the US Open men’s final last night.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at the increased amount of 3-D productions in sports.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says with so many factors now, the season ticket may be going by the wayside.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn writes that 98.5 The Sports Hub has overtaken long-time Boston sports radio behemoth WEEI in the all-important men 25-54 demographic rating.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News takes the NFL Sunday pregame shows to task for not reporting the Ines Sainz story.

Neil Best of Newsday has Ines Sainz’s reaction to the Jets controversy.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post says CBS has a powder keg in Shannon Sharpe. 

John Koblin of the New York Observer was incredulous when CBS switched the US Open men’s final to ESPN2. 

Lynn Zinser of the New York Times says the delayed US Open men’s final caused CBS and others to lose money all around.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union says a local sports radio station has hired a new program director/talk show host.

Pete also has the Capital Region NFL TV schedule for Week 2.

Laura Nachman says Comcast subscribers in Philadelphia will get a free preview of NFL Network’s RedZone this week.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia does what it can to cover the Eagles. 

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun cuts and pastes NBC’s press release on its Sunday Night Football ratings.

Over to the DC Sports Bog and the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg who has DC NFL team running back Clinton Portis opining on the Ines Sainz situation and all I can say is, “Wow.”

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio says Portis (actually the DC NFL Team) has issued an apology. 

Travis Haney of the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier says next Saturday’s (not this Saturday’s) South Carolina-Auburn game will be in primetime on ESPN.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times is disgusted with Stuart Scott, Matt Millen and Steve Young. I’m disgusted with Jones thinking Scott is a real journalist. 

Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel says Ines Sainz and the Association for Women in Sports Media aren’t on the same page. 

Andrew Gribble from an Alabama newspaper (I don’t know which one. The website really doesn’t identify which one) notes that College Gameday is heading to Auburn this Saturday.

WJXT in Jacksonville reports that several “F” bombs were heard on CBS’ NFL coverage on Sunday.

Over to Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News who writes that more than a million homes in the Metroplex were tuned to Sunday Night Football.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has some thoughts on Sunday’s NFL coverage.

David also has the August radio ratings for Houston.

David writes about Jim Nantz’s 25 years in sports broadcasting.

David has Jim listing his top 25 moments that he’s called. 

David says Texans-Colts and Cowboys-DC NFL team did well in the local ratings.

And David talks with ESPN’s Hannah Storm about producing tonight’s 30 for 30 documentary.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News also has some thoughts on the NFL TV coverage.

The Indianapolis Star says ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso is heading to the Indiana University Hall of Fame. 

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Bucks and Fox Sports Wisconsin have announced their 2010-11 schedule.

Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel notes that many NFL TV analysts are in love with the Packers for the Super Bowl.

From earlier this month, Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says an extended NFL schedule could wreak havoc with TV schedules in the future.

Terez A. Paylor from the Kansas City Star goes behind the scenes with the Monday Night Football crew at Arrowhead Stadium. 

The Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal notes that a new ESPN Radio affiliate has debuted on the FM dial.

Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times says Jay Mariotti has been charged with domestic violence in the wake of his alleged dispute with his girlfriend last month. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Mary McNamara of the Times reviews tonight’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova rivalry and friendship.

EPL Talk notes that the shining star of ESPN’s coverage of the World Cup, Ian Darke, is about to become the voice of the English Premier League for ESPN2.

Ballpark Digest says Versus will air the Triple A Minor League Baseball Championship this month as part of a new three year deal.

Sports Media Watch has a few ratings notes.

SMW says the US Open Women’s Final drew its lowest overnight numbers in more than a decade.

Joe Favorito says both Women’s Professional Soccer and the United Football League are trying to find their niches in these troubled economic times.

Alex Walsh over at Sports Business Digest says the ratings for Week 1 of the NFL were very impressive.

Ok, you have plenty of links today and I’m not at 100% so you have a bonus today! I’ll have some press releases later.

Doing the Mid-Week Link Thing

Ok, doing some linkage today. Lots of stuff to get to.

Starting with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who says one has to take NBC’s Olympic primetime ratings with a grain of salt.

Michael also writes about Tony Kornheiser’s two week suspension for his comments about Hannah Storm’s attire.

From Slate, Jack Shafer says Mr. Tony isn’t the nicest guy, but his suspension wasn’t warranted.

John Feinstein, Kornheiser’s colleague at the Washington Post and notorious ESPN-hater, calls out the Mothership for hypocrisy. 

The Sports Business Daily/Sports Business Journal Winter Olympics site says the NBC’s coverage is drawing younger viewers.

Tripp Mickle of SBD/SBJ writes that Panasonic is using the Olympics to showcase 3-D TV.

And Tripp says Yahoo! has increased its commitment to covering the Olympics and has made it profitable.

John Ourand in Sports Business Journal says Turner Sports will meet with the NBA on tweaking the Slam Dunk competition for next year and beyond.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Japadog has been a big seller in Vancouver. What is a Japadog? Darren explains. 

Dan Levy of On The DL writes in the Sporting News’ Sporting Blog that NBC has made the Olympics a test lab and we the viewer are the lab rats.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Canadians are flocking to CTV’s Olympics website to watch the games online.

Multichannel News has Versus’ NHL spot that has been running during the Olympics.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says NBC’s Monday Olympics primetime ratings actually fell below the Turin games for the first time.

Steve McClellan of Adweek notes that Americans have been flocking to NBC’s multiple platforms to watch the Olympics and to catch up on certain moments.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine reports that after losing to NBC’s Olympic coverage last week for the first time, Fox’s American Idol was back on top last night.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has your Olympic viewing guide for today.

Long time Red Sox beat writer for the Providence Journal, Country Joe McDonald has left the paper and joined ESPN Boston as of today.

Christopher Clarey of the New York Times writes that a moguls skier who was paralyzed in an accident three years ago is now an Olympic analyst for French TV. 

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says today’s USA-Switzerland game will be live on NBC for the Eastern half of the country.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette has the Yankees spring training TV schedule.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News notices that a local TV news anchor has forgotten or doesn’t seem to know that the Olympics are on.

Tim Lemke lists his favorite Winter Olympics sports from top to bottom.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner says tonight’s Olympic lineup on NBC could be filled with gold medal winners in alpine skiing and short track. 

Jim says there will be plenty of thrilling Olympic hockey to watch today.

Sarah Talalay from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says the Miami Heat are freezing season ticket prices for current holders and holding the line on concessions.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News is not in any mood to hear complaints about USA-Canada not being on NBC.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman also delves into the USA-Canada on MSNBC issue.

Crain’s Chicago Business’ Ed Sherman wants to know why the Windy City’s baseball announcers aren’t ranked higher on MLB Network’s greatest announcers list.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says people complain about NBC’s tape delayed Olympics coverage, but they’re still watching.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says there’s no excuse for Tony Kornheiser’s comments on Hannah Storm’s attire.

Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune would prefer to watch hockey over ice dancing.

Helene Elliot of the Los Angeles Times says NBC is showing the USA-Switzerland game on delay, but it will be live online.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Monday’s coverage on CTV’s Olympic Broadcast Consortium was a mixed bag.

Chris also talks about the Olympics experience online.

The Sports Media Watch says ESPN2 saw a ratings decline for Danica Patrick’s second NASCAR race.

SportsbyBrooks explores why Tony Kornheiser was suspended from Pardon The Interruption and not his local radio show where he made his now-infamous comments about Hannah Storm.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media received an assurance that NBC will air today’s USA-Switzerland game in its entirety despite its 2 hour timeslot listed in newspapers and websites.

And we end with Len Berman’s Top 5 stories of the day.

Later today, I’ll post the Sports Media Weekly podcast and this week the guest is Dave Sims from Westwood One Radio and FSN Northwest.

Keep your RSS and Twitter feeds updated.

Daryn Kagan Reacts to Tony Kornheiser Suspension

Since the Tony Kornheiser suspension was handed down by ESPN earlier today, I’ve seen all types of reactions. There are those which agree with ESPN and those which don’t. There are men who are outraged, there are women who are outraged. I’m in the camp that ESPN should not suspended Kornheiser. One person who shares this opinion is former CNN anchor Daryn Kagan who worked for the network in both news and sports. And she’s someone with whom I have discussed various issues on Twitter. She wrote about the Kornheiser suspension at her website, DarynKagan.com and Daryn has granted me permission to reprint what she has written on her blog.

February 24, 2010: ESPN Blew It

I’m going to step out the usual confines of this blog to share my two cents on a breaking news story in the world of sports broadcasting.

ESPN has suspended Pardon The Interruption host Tony Kornheiser for comments he made on his radio show about fellow ESPN personality Hannah Storm’s clothing.

According to FoxSports.com Kornheiser reportedly said, “Hannah Storm in a horrifying, horrifying outfit today,” Kornheiser said. “She’s got on red go-go boots and a catholic school plaid skirt … way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now.

“She’s got on her typically very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body … I know she’s very good, and I’m not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won’t … but Hannah Storm … come on now! Stop! What are you doing?”

And for that ESPN has suspended Tony Kornheiser for two weeks.

So folks are asking me on Twitter and Facebook what I think about that.

Why me? Well, in another life I covered sports at CNN for 3 1/2 years.  So I know only too well what it means to work in that arena.  I learned very quickly that there are few jobs more fun.  I also learned very quickly that sports is still a man’s world unlike few professions.  I knew that if a male colleague messed up an athlete’s name, the response would be, “Oh, Fred messed up a name.”  If I messed up a name, the response would be, “Oh, she doesn’t know sports.”  Was that fair?  Absolutely not.  Were those the rules of the game?  Absolutely.  I knew that going in.  I knew that I had to know my names, stats, and stories cold.  If I didn’t like the rules of the game, then I figured I shouldn’t be playing in that arena.

Let me also say that I think the world of Hannah Storm.  Boy, does she know her stuff.  Even in the middle of his ridiculous rant, Kornheiser acknowledged she is “very good.”

All that being said, I think ESPN blew it.  They decided to pull the PC card and protect the woman’s honor.  Bad move.  If you follow the sports world, you know ESPN has developed into a cesspool male sports personalities with way too many sexual harassment situations.  The latest one came just a few months ago when married baseball analyst Steve Phillips got involved with an entry-level young woman half his age.  They’ve both been let go.  It’s just the latest in a long line of embarrassing stories for the network.  I think that’s why they went PC making statement with Kornheiser’s suspension.

The difference is Hannah isn’t some little girl, she’s a well-respected peer and colleague.  I promise you ESPN would not have suspended Kornheiser if he made a comment about John Kruk’s weight or if he thought Mike Golic wore an ugly shirt.  Besides, Tony is hired to do opinion.  That’s his job!  You’re suspending him for the very thing you’re supposed to pay him for.

One rule of the TV game is that it is a visual medium.  People are looking at you. Any woman who has worked in sports has had someone comment on her appearance and what she wears.  Any woman who has worked news has covered a huge story has had her own mother comment, “I don’t think I like that blue blazer.”  When I told my own mother back in 2003 that I was heading off to cover the start of the war her response was, “What are you going to wear?” (True story.)

Can it be frustrating that viewers focus on what women wear first before listening to what they say? Absolutely. But like I said, it’s one of the rules of the game.  If you don’t like it, don’t play.

What I see here is a missed opportunity.  There was such a ripe chance here to deal with this thing with humor.  I mean have you seen Tony Kornheiser?  I’m a huge fan of his PTI show, but really, someone who looks like Tony commenting on anyone’s appearance? That’s the softest toss for a punch line ever. 

So, to Hannah I would say, brush it off, come out swinging with those red boots.  You’re great at your job.  You know your sports as well as Kornheiser or any of the other dudes.  You’re fitter and have a better physique than Kornheiser could ever dream of having.  Add that all up, my friend, and walk on with the last laugh.

ESPN– instead of focusing defending a woman’s honor why don’t you give us women sports fans more of what really counts–even higher profile roles for women like Hannah, Suzie Kolber, Linda Cohn and Reschiea Candidate? How about for once, let’s see saucy, opinionated woman kick up their boots by filling in on PTI?  Now that would be a worthwhile move.

Feel free to agree or disagree with me on Twitter or Facebook.

This has been one of the best opinions that I have read since the suspension came down. Thanks to Daryn for allowing me to reprint her article.

And to see what’s possible, don’t forget to visit DarynKagan.com and check out her blog as well.

BREAKING NEWS: Tony Kornheiser Suspended For Two Weeks

ESPN has officially handed down its suspension to Tony Kornheiser and it’s not for three days as originally reported, but for two weeks. Apparently the Powers That Be at ESPN decided that what Mr. Tony said about Hannah Storm’s wardrobe was egregious and harmful. So the suspension that apparently began yesterday will last for ten business days. The statement from ESPN Corporate.

“Tony Kornheiser’s comments about Hannah Storm were entirely inappropriate. Hurtful and personal comments such as these are not acceptable and have significant consequences. Tony has been suspended from PTI for two weeks. Hannah is a respected colleague who has been an integral part of the success of our morning SportsCenter.”

John Skipper, ESPN Executive Vice President, Content

Dan Levy of On The DL writes in the Sporting Blog that Kornheiser addressed the suspension on his radio show today. It’s an interesting reaction to say the least. As I wrote in my original post on the matter today, is this based on face value or is there something behind the move? We’ll continue to monitor.

Some Tuesday Linkage

Let’s do the Tuesday linkage. Had to finish some paperwork and I’ll do linkage now.

From Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily, Olympics ratings are still up from 2006, but there’s another showdown with American Idol coming tonight.

SBJ/SBD notes that NBC’s daytime ratings for the Olympics are decent as well.

John Ourand from the Sports Business Daily write that Comcast is seeking to have an FCC complaint filed by the Tennis Channel dismissed.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with NBC Sports officials about the network’s strategy to protect its primetime Olympics programming at all costs.

From USA Today, Michael Hiestand wishes NBC would have thrown out the playbook and aired the USA-Canada men’s hockey game on the main network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell discovers that 30 years later, Miracle On Ice memorabilia is still a hot seller. 

The Hollywood Reporter picks up an Associated Press story in which a Federal Appeals Court is taking up the Janet Jackson nip slip case against CBS once again.

Also from the Hollywood Reporter, James Hibberd writes that the Olympics have lifted NBC out of 4th place in the overall primetime ratings for the season. For now.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says NBC’s cable networks are attracting younger viewers to the Olympics.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says while USA-Canada Olympic men’s hockey paid dividends for MSNBC, USA Network remained on top of the cable primetime ratings.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says hockey is the hot sport of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times says he’s enjoying NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, tape delayed or not. 

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News is none too happy that USA-Canada got the short stick from NBC.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times says NBC gave USA-Canada only a mere few seconds during its Sunday Olympics primetime coverage.

Richard notes USA-Canada set a viewing record up in the Great White North.

Richard also talks with NBC’s hockey voice Mike Emrick who is sometimes calling doubleheaders during the Olympics.

Jerry Barmash of the New York Examiner writes that a former WABC-TV sports anchor has been arrested for raping a 14 year old prostitute.

Alan Sepinwall of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says despite the complaints about NBC’s tape delays, people are still watching the Winter Olympics in droves.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says the world stopped to watch Tiger Woods’ apology on Friday.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at how the bidding for the NCAA Tournament could impact the rights for the 2014/2016 Olympics.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News remembers one of the most infamous days in Bob Knight’s career.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has the national ratings for Tiger Woods’ apology.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a look at what prognosticators are saying about the Brewers and Marquette University.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks about Aaron Boone leaving baseball to become an analyst for ESPN.

Tom also delves into the ESPN suspension of Tony Kornheiser for his comments regarding the always lovely Hannah Storm.

Tom has readers comments responding to NBC’s Bob Costas’ criticisms of people who criticize the network’s Olympics coverage.

Tom quotes a Sports Business Daily story in which USA women’s hockey star Angela Ruggiero wants to participate in The Amazing Race with gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson. I wouldn’t mind that pairing at all!

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star writes about the monster ratings for USA-Canada.

William Houston in Truth & Rumours wonders about the cozy relationship between a Toronto Star writer and Team Canada goalie Martin Brodeur.

Lowell Ulrich of the Vancouver Province gets on NBC for pushing USA-Canada to MSNBC.

The Winnepeg Free Press picks up a Canadian Press story in which NBC’s Brian Williams finally met CTV’s Brian Williams.

Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski conveys a story about Al Michaels that actually does not relate to the Miracle On Ice.

The great SportsbyBrooks blog quotes sources as saying that NBC Sports has a huge leg up on ESPN on the bidding for the ’14/’16 Olympics.

Sports Media Watch says while NBC won the ratings on Monday due to the Olympics, they were the lowest since the Games began.

The Big Lead looks at the battle between the International Olympic Committee and a blogger over the footage of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

And Len Berman has his Top 5 stories.

That will do it for today.

ESPN Suspends Mr. Tony

I’m ready to do links and was going to incorporate this story into them, but it appears this Tony Kornheiser/Hannah Storm story is growing legs, and I’m not talking about Hannah’s although they are quite lovely. Ok, that’s disingenuous. I go on.

Last week, we learned that Tony Kornheiser made some disparaging remarks on his radio show about Hannah’s wardrobe which included the following:

She’s got on her typically very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body … I know she’s very good, and I’m not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won’t … but Hannah Storm … come on now! Stop! What are you doing?

Well, this has been percolating at the Worldwide Leader and despite an on-air apology to Hannah and her promising to auction off her boots on Tony’s TV show, Pardon The Interruption, ESPN stepped in and suspended Mr. Tony from PTI. First, Tony made the comments on his radio show, not PTI. Yes, the station is an ESPN affiliate and while the statements pertained to an ESPN employee, but suspended from your ESPN TV show? That’s a stretch.

First, Hannah has accepted Kornheiser’s apology. Second, I’m sure ESPN has talked to Tony and was subsequently reprimanded. Third, while Tony’s comments towards Hannah weren’t well thought out, he did speak what has been on many people’s minds, especially mine.

So we have growing reaction. First, The Big Lead broke the story today about Kornheiser’s suspension.

The great Robert Littal at Black Sports Online feels Tony crossed the line in speaking out on a female journalist’s wardrobe.

And SportsbyBrooks discovers that Kornheiser will be off PTI for three days.

I do think this is the last of this story unless Mr. Tony messes up again, but to be honest, this really did not merit a suspension from PTI. That is, unless there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

Some Friday Night Megalinks

Let’s give you some linkage this evening. I’m going to weed out the Tiger Woods previews so this may not be as extensive as past editions. Your Weekend Viewing Picks has your sports viewing including college basketball and Olympic viewing guide.

Let’s get to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand tells NBC it’s time to go live with Olympic events.

Seth Livingstone of USA Today says NBC will not be showing the USA-Canada men’s hockey game on the main network relegating it to MSNBC instead. 

Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Daily/Journal says NBCOlympics.com and Yahoo! Sports are battling it out for online traffic this month.

Tripp Mickle of SBD/SBJ writes that NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol sent a letter to his staff Thursday congratulating his employees for beating American Idol in the ratings this week.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBC is averaging almost 25 million viewers a night for the first seven days of the Olympics.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says as Americans win gold medals in the Olympics, ratings for NBC keep going up.

My Twitter trophy wife, Amanda Rykoff in the OCD Chick compares Dick Ebersol’s production of the Olympics to American Idol.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter says it appears that after initially expecting losses, the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium will break even on the Vancouver Games.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that multiple medal-winning skier Julia Mancuso could turn out to be a marketing gold medal winner.

Darren says for sponsors, Tiger Woods’ refusal to set a timetable to return to golf is most troubling.

Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated has the very funny video of Golf Channel analyst Charlie Rymer crying after Tiger Woods make his robotic apology in the Friday afternoon edition of Hot Clicks (scroll down).

Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable has various golf analysts reactions to Tiger Woods’ wooden apology.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek writes that the PGA Tour’s TV partners will just have to wait for Tiger Woods’ return. 

Gail Sideman writing in the Sports Networker blog says Tiger’s announcement was bad timing as far as public relations are concerned.

The Sports Media Watch looks at how the networks covered the Tiger Woods announcement today.

SMW also has some idle notes.

SportsbyBrooks says Tony Kornheiser has apologized to Hannah Storm for saying she dresses like a harlot.

AJ Daulerio at Deadspin says ESPN has actually banned some of Hannah’s wardrobe.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe defends NBC’s handling of the Olympics.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram also compares the Olympics to American Idol.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, a frequent critic of NBC’s tape delayed Olympic coverage, is begrudgingly learning to live with the delays in the Vancouver Games.

Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News feels Mets manager Jerry Manuel is helpful in feeding the media beast with soundbites.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty critiques some of NBC’s announcers at the Olympics.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record has some spring training TV schedules. First, the Yankees, the Mets, MLB Network, ESPN and WGN America.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says the first network analysis was kind to Tiger Woods. 

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun is not happy how NBC has stopped mentioning the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during its coverage.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that advertisers were sad to see Baltimore sports radio host Anita Marks leave last month.

Tim Lemke doesn’t quite understand NBC’s Olympic philosophy.

South

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike will be back in town next month.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says Oklahoma University baseball games will be seen on local cable TV.

Mel says two Australian TV commentators are in trouble for making homophobic comments about US figure skater Johnny Weir.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press wants the tape delayed Olympics coverage on NBC to stop.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is puzzled why Milwaukee is on top of the nation’s ratings for the Olympics.

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

Ed notes that the White Sox will be part of a new reality show on MLB Network.

Ed also analyzes Tiger Woods’ apology.

Charles F. Rouse of the Kansas City Examiner says Big 12 fans want Brent Musberger and Bob Knight removed from the conference’s basketball games.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders if the Cardinals could be heading to the FM dial this season.

Dan writes that part-time Redbirds analyst Jack Clark will return for another season on Fox Sports Midwest.

West

Scott D. Pierce from the Deseret (UT) News says the reconstructed arena football Utah Pride have a TV deal in place.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune doesn’t like how the local NBC affiliate is playing coy about the Olympic delays.

Jay writes that Padres voice Jerry Coleman will be working less this season, but be doing more.

John Maffei of the North County Times says the West Coast is to blame for the Olympic delays.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes about the Olympics finally beating American Idol in the ratings.

Jim says the Olympics are bringing down the ratings for the Daytona 500 and the NBA.

Over to Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times who reports on Tiger Woods’ apology.

Diane adds that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth was critical of Woods. 

Phil Rosenthal writes in the Times that MSNBC will put the politics aside on Sunday and air the anticipated USA- Canada men’s hockey game which will be seen live in all time zones.

The Times publishes several readers’ complaints about the Olympic delays to the West Coast even though the Vancouver Games are taking place in their time zone.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says it’s no surprise that hockey is tops in CTV’s Olympic coverage.

In Yahoo! Canada, William Houston critiques CTV’s coverage to date.

In his Truth & Rumours blog, William has a few columns in one.

Bill Brioux of the Canadian Press wonders if CTV’s all-out approach for the Olympics is too much of a good thing.

And that will complete the links.

Some Linkage On This Thursday

I love the comments and e-mails I’m getting from those defending NBC’s coverage. Look, NBC has its reasons for holding events, but if it’s going to do that, it should at least allow us to watch it live online and then cut it up as much as they want in primetime. It really is an insult to those of us who want to watch the Olympics live. Those who want to watch in a short form can, but don’t penalize the ones who want to see the entire event live. NBC continues to treat viewers like little children and in this day and age, it’s not right.

Ok, to the links.

The Sports Business Daily/Journal Winter Olympics sites notes that NBC got a big ratings win over American Idol on Wednesday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a suggestion for Tiger Woods on what to say in his statement on Friday.

Rick Chandler at NBCSports.com looks at a statement that may or may not be the leaked Tiger statement. I tend to doubt it myself.

SportsbyBrooks confirms that the statement is indeed false. 

Laurie Sullivan at Mediapost writes about a new animated series that will launch at FoxSports.com in March. 

Business Week picks up a story written by Mark Long of the Associated Press in which NASCAR is pleased by the TV coverage of the sport this year thus far.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred says when writing a story, it’s the details that can make or break it.

The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay answers questions about NBC’s Olympic coverage and Tiger Woods’ statement.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes about Tuesday’s Olympic ratings which did not quite match American Idol.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has your Olympic viewing guide.

SI’s Michael Rosenberg is frustrated by NBC’s tape delayed Olympics.

In the New York Times, Bill Carter and Richard Sandomir write that American Idol remains the gold standard in the ratings, but what will they write about last night’s AI defeat?

Brian Stelter of the Times wonders why there isn’t more live streaming available at NBCOlympics.com.

Jerry Barmash of the New York Examiner notes that WCBS-TV’s sports anchors will be heard nightly doing the late night update on WFAN radio.  

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at a website that is taking amusing bets on Tiger Woods’ statement.

Pete also has the New York Mets spring training TV schedule. 

Ken McMillan in the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says New York doesn’t share the same interest in the Olympics as Canadians.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News notes that the Olympics also beat American Idol in Western New York last night.

Michael Kline in the Lansdale (PA) Reporter feels NBC puts any Olympics competition on the back burner at the expense of creating drama and storylines.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner wonders why DC’s regional sports networks don’t rank higher in the ratings of all RSN’s in the nation.

In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog notes that NBC’s Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick went all out arguing about Alex Ovechkin. 

Gary Smits of the Florida Times-Union has one Golf Channel commentator calling out Tiger Woods saying his appearance on Friday is a sham.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has some thoughts on the upcoming Tiger Woods dog-and-pony show.

Barry is amazed how the Olympics trounced American Idol on Wednesday.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says local viewers are watching the Olympics in droves.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business feels the timing for Tiger Woods’ announcement is rather strange.

Jim O’Connell of the Chicago Sun-Times says Tiger will push the Olympics to the back pages for one day.

Bob Mayhall of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat says Gateway City residents are watching the Olympics. 

Eric Sorrentino of the Lawrence (KS) Journal-World writes that Big 12 fans are frustrated by the runovers by Big East games during ESPN’s Big Monday college basketball doubleheader which involves teams from both conferences.

Mike Tokito of The Oregonian reports that the state legislature is getting involved in the dispute between Comcast SportsNet Northwest and several cable companies that is preventing fans from seeing the Portland Trail Blazers.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star feels one CTV analyst went too far in his comments.

William Houston in Truth & Rumours talks to a veteran Olympics TV producer about the Vancouver Games.

And writing for Yahoo.ca, William says hockey should give CTV a big ratings boost, not that it needs it.

The Sports Media Watch says the Olympics pulled a huge ratings upset on American Idol on Wednesday.

Chris Byrne at the Eye on Sports Media wishes NBC would explain the rules of curling during the Olympics.

Using the tragedy at the luge track at the Olympics, Joe Favorito looks at how to handle crisis management.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC is treating hockey fans like dogs.

The Big Lead has Tony Kornheiser basically calling Hannah Storm a tramp. Hey, I’ve met Hannah and I have her back. Lay off, Mr. Tony. Although he kind of makes my point.

That’s it.

Sunday Links on an NFL Sunday

On this first Sunday of the NFL season, I have already DVR’d NFL Gameday This Morning, Fox NFL Sunday and plan to DVR Football Night in America.

In addition, thanks to DirecTV, I have the Red Zone Channel with Andrew Siciliano as the more than capable host and DirecTV Supercast which has improved greatly from last season enabling me to watch games online. I’m in football heaven.

So let’s give you some links on this Sunday.

Newsday’s Neil Best, back from vacation, has a Sunday column on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Maury Brown in the Biz of Football talks about ESPN’s use of Axis technology for MNF.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman wants MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann taken off Football Night in America until the election concludes.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post remains in a grumpy mood today.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at the changes in the NFL TV partners’ rosters.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media site has found out what happened to Bob Trumpy on Westwood One Radio’s coverage of the NFL.

Mike Flaherty of Variety says despite the hard economic times, the NFL still can reel in the ad revenue.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable talks with Fox Sports President Ed Goren about online streaming of the NFL and its other sports properties.

John Gonzalez of the Philadelphia Inquirer looks at the various programming devoted to the Eagles on TV and radio.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks separately to Fox Sports Joe Buck and Troy Aikman about each other.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some NFL TV news and notes in his Sunday column.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has comments from John Elway on the Brett Favre saga on Fox Sports Radio’s Andrew Siciliano and Krystal Fernandez’s show.

The Sports Media Watch has its usual weekend ratings predictions.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wishes TV production crews would help out official reviews during college football games.

Chris Olds of the Orlando Sentinel notices that Florida QB Tim Tebow has a fan in ESPN’s Hannah Storm.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says the Sabres’ road games will not be aired in HD this season.

Robin Finn of the New York Times profiles tennis analyst/Olympic host/Real Sports correspondent Mary Carillo.

And Richard Sandomir of the Times has noticed the Yankees have not honored Babe Ruth in the last season of the House that Ruth Built.

Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes that with the loss of the Sonics to Oklahoma City, FSN Northwest has to depend on more Pac 10 programming in the winter months.

That’s all for now.

Your Monday Linkage

Let’s do your Monday links and somehow, I’ll try to write The Week Ahead.

I am not in a position to see the new live SportsCenter that debuted at 9 a.m. ET today. However, other people are keeping track of the Josh Elliot-Hannah Storm pairing including Awful Announcing which is doing a live blog.

Newsday’s Neil Best noted the first thing Hannah did on SportsCenter was to tease a Brett Favre story! Neil was also happy to hear the old NBA on NBC theme music during the USA-China men’s basketball game on Sunday.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says more is not less for NBC as far as Olympic ratings are concerned. Robert Bianco of the Nation’s Newspaper says so far, NBC’s coverage is looking like a winner.

In his Monday wrap, David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch writes about Gordon Edes making his Yahoo debut and how NBC is already ahead of ESPN in the disclosure department.

We’ve got a few things from a very busy Darren Rovell from CNBC. First, he writes how the Beijing Organizing Committee’s choosing of Li Ning to light the cauldron might have rubbed addidas and Nike the wrong way. Darren says Li Ning’s sporting apparel company came out a big winner after the Opening Ceremonies. Darren also discusses an elaborate Olympics ticket scam that duped many people around the globe. And Daren writes that Speedo is coming out a big winner thanks to 22 of 24 swimming races won in the new LZR suit.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says his city ranked first in the nation of those watching the Olympics. Ray also mentions that he likes the world record line shown in swimming.

From the Schenectady Gazette, Ken Schott has some thoughts on the Olympics including his dislike of the world record line shown in swimming.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is very grumpy today.

The Sports Media Watch talks about NBC’s successful online streaming of the Olympics.

The Seattle Times says even NBC’s online coverage has limitations.

Matthew Futterman and Sam Schechner of the Wall Street Journal says it’s apparent with the Olympics that online streaming will not hurt overall TV ratings.

Tony Pierce of the Los Angeles Times appeals to NBC to stop saying “live” when the Olympics are not actually live on the West Coast.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC is going live in primetime, except in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

David Carr of the Times says NBC, more or less, tried to TiVo the Olympics Opening Ceremonies from us.

Also from the Times, George Vescey says NBC is in Michael Phelps Standard Time.

The Sports Business Daily/Journal’s Olympic website has some news and notes from Communist China including some ratings news on the first two days of the Games.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star goes over the best and worst CBC Olympic analysts. And Zelkovich says CBC still needs to work out some kinks.

Les Perraux of the Toronto Globe and Mail says if you’re wondering why the Olympics are being held in hot and humid August in Communist China, then you might want to ask NBC.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post says there’s a reason why you won’t see boxing or other Olympic sports in primetime … women.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News wonders how Meet the Press suddenly appeared in NBC’s Olympic primetime coverage on Sunday.

Mark Madden (I’m wondering if this is the former Pittsburgh sports radio talk show host) writing for the Beaver County Times, wonders what happened to the crusading sports journalist.

David Goetzl of MediaPost writes that Time Warner Cable is continuing its talks with the Big Ten Network.

Terri Trespicio writing for the Boston Sunday Globe magazine writes about her experience being cast on NESN’s reality show abomination, Sox Appeal. Pink Hat Hell looks at her date on season premiere of the show.

And that will do it. I expect another NBC press release about the Olympic overnight ratings coming very soon and when I get it, I’ll post it immediately.

Saturday Hello’s

I’ll give you some links, but before I get into the linkage, I wanted give you my thoughts on the Olympics Opening Ceremonies and NBCOlympics.com.

First, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know I make references to China as Communist China. Being of Taiwanese descent, I’m not a supporter of the Communist government, especially of its poor human rights record, but I can also be fair when necessary. I have linked to stories about media censorship at the Olympics as you’re well aware if you visit here regularly.

As far as the Olympics Opening Ceremonies are concerned, it was the best I have seen. China was trying to prove several points. First and foremost, it’s arrived as a world economic power. That’s one of the points. Second, China was showing the contributions it has made to the world. Third, the ceremonies showed that China can use a lot of manpower to do anything. Fourth, the presence of the Army to raise the Chinese and Olympic flags was a show of intimidation. Finally, China was also saying to London, “Try and top this in 2012.” China definitely set the standard for Opening Ceremonies for several years to come.

As I mentioned in the megalinks yesterday, I was able to watch CBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies live through Justin.tv. The person who put that channel up most likely has been banned because I haven’t seen him again. Also, the International Olympic Committee has been trying to take down the channels to protect its TV partners who have paid lots of money to stream the Games. But if NBC wants to prevent this four years from now in London, it either can show the Opening Ceremonies live in the afternoon or stream them on NBCOlympics.com. It was nice to also see parts of the ceremonies again online in crystal clear high definition, but it would behoove NBC to put the event live on the internet in 2012. Vancouver in 2010 won’t be an issue since the next the winter games will be in a time zone that will be more friendly for NBC and CBC.

Last night, I was watching the men’s cycling road race on NBCOlympics.com. It took a while to get used to not hearing announcers and following the race through live blogging, but it was actually quite nice. NBC tapped into the world feed and just let the pictures run while every five minutes, the blog updated. It’s a nice feature, but I would prefer to hear some announcers.

This morning, I watched some of the equestrian, women’s basketball and volleyball. Quite impressed with the quality of the picture and blogging, but again, I would like to her some announcers, but I’m sure the cost is prohibitive for NBC.

Now to the linkage.

Newsday’s Neil Best gives Cablevision customers pointers on how to access NBCOlympics.com material. And Neil is not as angry as others who did not like NBC delaying the Opening Ceremnonies last night.

Neil linked to a New York Times story in his post, written by Brian Stelter which mentions people going to the internet to watch the Opening Ceremonies while NBC was in other programming on Friday.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Beijing’s Opening Ceremonies set a ratings record for NBC.

James Hibbard of the Hollywood Reporter also writes about NBC’s record ratings for the Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

Barry Garron of the Hollywood Reporter was concerned about NBC’s lack of candor during the Opening Ceremonies.

The Sports Media Watch has a whole host of links reviewing NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies. And the SMW has its weekend ratings predictions.

Stephen Kaus of the Huffington Post is not a fan of NBC hoarding Olympic events for primetime.

Rafat Ali of Paidcontent.org agrees with me on missing the commentators on NBCOlympics.com, but he does like the four screen feed and I agree with that as well.

Chris Matyszczyk of CNET is bewildered by NBCOlympics.com’s uncensored live blogging.

Over to William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail who says CBC just narrowly averted disaster during the Opening Ceremonies.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty writes that local sports anchor Andrew Catalon had his Olympics debut today on MSNBC.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says NBC has begun its marathon Olympics coverage. And Barry was disappointed in the season premiere of HBO’s Hard Knocks.

If you want to read up on the Olympics, ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap lists the five best books on the Games for the Wall Street Journal.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News reviews WGRZ’s story about the University of Buffalo rejecting a 1958 bowl bid over racial prejudice.

The Green Bay Post-Gazette says the local CBS affiliate is looking into carrying as many New York Jets games as possible to give Packers fans their fill of Brett Favre.

MaryEllen Fillo of the Hartford Courant talks with Hannah Storm as she prepares for her ESPN debut on SportsCenter on Monday.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun likes DirecTV’s move to put MASN and MASN2 on consecutive channel locations.

Joe Guy Collier of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Lee Corso’s mascot head pick on College Gameday will now be sponsored. I’m sure the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick will complain about this.

Jeffrey Sheban of the Columbus Dispatch says the Big Ten Network is expected to pick up the Ohio State season opener. And Sheban writes that talks are continuing between BTN and Time Warner Cable, but once again, time is running out for the start of the season.

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press looks at the CBS Sports production crew who are working hard to put the PGA Championship on the air.

Missy Frederick of the Washington (DC) Business Journal says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s studio shows will have new looks starting tonight.

Clea Simon of the Boston Globe writes about the annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Telethon which takes place next week.

Greg Oliver of the Daily Journal of South Carolina will miss Skip Caray.

That will do it for now. I’ll be back tomorrow.

Some Wednesday Night Links

I’ve got to get up really early on Thursday so I won’t have the links for you right off the bat so you’ll have to make due with my Wednesday night links for now.

I’ll start with the NBA since the Association released its schedule today. I’m not a huge NBA fan so I was not into posting schedule-related links this afternoon. But I’ll give you some stuff now so you can peruse the games and plan your viewing accordingly.

I’ll go West Coast first as Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that the Lakers and Celtics have the maximum amount of national appearances on ESPN, ABC and TNT.

Awful Announcing has the ESPN/ABC schedule for 2008-09.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record notices that the Knicks and Nets have been omitted from TNT’s schedule. And Ken tells us the Knicks aren’t on ESPN/ABC’s schedule either.

The Sports Media Watch says there are five, count ‘em, five NBA games on Christmas Day, all to be shown nationally. And the SMW breaks down the national appearances for each team.

And the Crowe’s Nest has a link to the defending champions Celtics schedule.

Moving from the NBA to the Olympics, where we go back to Ken McMillan who writes that WFAN will have hourly updates from Westwood One Radio. And Ken says 1050 ESPN Radio will air Westwood One’s nightly Olympics show.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a guide of NBC’s hosts and announcers for the Olympics.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says despite what you heard about live coverage, a lot of NBC’s primetime Olympics programming will be delayed.

The following link comes courtesy of Awful Announcing. Ina Fried of CNET goes into the huge effort NBC is undertaking to bring you the Olympics from its New York headquarters to your computer.

Pip Bulbeck of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Australia’s 9 Network is being banned from filming in and around Olympic venues at Beijing after rightsholder 7 Network caught a 9 Network photographer at the Water Cube and complained to the International Olympic Committee.

Stephanie Levitz of the Canadian Press says CBC is going all out for its last Olympics games for at least six years.

Scott Greczkowski of Multichannel blogs that both DirecTV and Dish Network have signed up to provide NBC Universal’s HD Olympic Networks as well as having foreign language coverage.

Lisa Snedeker of Media Life Magazine reports that ad buyers are nervous about protests at the Olympics.

Variety’s Brian Lowry and Clifford Coonan write that the Olympics are shrouded in secrecy over the Opening Ceremonies.

Broadcasting & Cable reports that the Daily Show will be sending Rob Riggle to Communist China to file reports from the Olympics.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail feels the start of the English Premier League on Setanta Sports later this month will hold its own against the Olympics on CBC.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says an FCC test of white spaces using unlicensed mobile devices will take place at the August 9th Bills-Redskins game.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch remembers the time when the Boston Globe’s Will McDonough punched out Raymond Clayborne of the New England Patriots. True story.

And speaking of the Patriots, WBCN, the flagship of the Patriots Rock Radio Network has listed the four games it will stream for free at its website.

John Consoli of Mediaweek reports that Gillette will sponsor ESPN’s college football Kickoff Week which begins on August 28.

Back to Awful Announcing which shows that ESPN’s Erin Andrews is undaunted after being criticized for wearing a quote-unquote revealing dress last week.

Here’s a transcript of a chat Hannah Storm conducted on ESPN.com in advance of the premiere of the live morning SportsCenter block next week.

Barstool Sports was happy to see the lovely Tina Cervasio back on NESN covering the Little League World Series Regionals.

The 38Cliches blog finds a video of former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano being interviewed on local access cable.

Joe Favorito says it’s important for an athlete to be involved in their own branding and marketing campaign.

Britt Braudo of the Detroit News talks with CBS’ Ian Baker-Finch who’s part of the crew calling the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills this week.

Barry Silverman of the Maryland Press Box site looks at the week in sports media from the Baltimore perspective.

That’s it until Thursday links later in the day. See you then.

Videos of the Week: NBA on NBC Opens

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

Let’s go over some of the openings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Friday Media Megalinks

We have a lot of links to get to so let’s get to them.

Viewing Picks

Interleague play in baseball and the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown headline the weekend viewing picks.

NBC Sports will have complete coverage of the Preakness Stakes live from Baltimore starting at 4:30 on Saturday. Luckily, we won’t have a silly red carpet show. Big Brown will be the favorite to take the next step towards the Triple Crown. During NBC’s show, Bob Costas will hold a roundtable discussion on the dangers of horse racing in the wake of the Eight Belles tragedy at the Kentucky Derby. And ESPN will have the Preakness undercard starting at noon.

As mentioned, interleague play starts this weekend in Major League Baseball. In a rare piece of programming, Fox Sports does not jump on the New York Mets-New York Yankees matchup for its Saturday Game of the Week. Instead, Fox chooses the Brewers-Red Sox, Cleveland at Cincinnati and the Dodgers at Anaheim for its games at 3:55 p.m. WGN has the White Sox at San Francisco Saturday night at 9 and the lone National League series, the Cubs hosting Pittsburgh, Sunday at 2. TBS also has Milwaukee at Boston, Sunday at 1;30 p.m. ESPN will take the Mets-Yankees for the Sunday night game.

Both NHL Conference Finals could conclude this weekend. NBC Sports has two Games Five, Dallas at Detroit on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. NBC is hoping this won’t go into overtime to avoid a repeat of last year when Buffalo-Ottawa went OT and shuffled the game to Versus so it could start its Preakness Stakes pre-race show on time. On Sunday, NBC will not have potential conflicts as it will cover Philadelphia at Pittsburgh at 3 p.m.

The NBA schedule is a bit up in the air. ABC is scheduled to carry one game at 3:30 p.m., Sunday and it could be a Game 7 in the Boston-Cleveland series or Game 7 in the Utah-Los Angeles Lakers series or Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Motorsports is busy this weekend. NASCAR has its annual All Star Race on the Speed Channel this Saturday night at 7. Indy Car continues the Indianapolis 500 Time Trials throughout the weekend on ESPN2 and ABC.

The PGA Tour continues without Tiger Woods with the AT&T Classic on CBS at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The LPGA Sybase Classic is picked up by ESPN2, Saturday and Sunday at 2.

HBO has Boxing After Dark Saturday night at 9:45 p.m. with three scheduled fights.

ESPN2 begins coverage of the NCAA Division I Softball tournament with regional action on Saturday.

The WNBA begins the Candace Parker era with the LA Sparks visiting the Phoenix Mercury on ABC this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

And track and field fans can watch the Adidas Track Classic from Carson, CA Sunday on ESPN at 4 p.m.

The TV sports listings can be seen at USA Today. To the links now.

National

ESPN Ombudsman Le Ann Schreiber takes ESPN to task for the Miguel Tejada ambush interview on E:60.

Michael McCarthy of USA Today says HBO’s Real Sports interview of former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh keeps the Spygate scandal in the spotlight.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch was busy keeping track of the John Tomase mea culpa at the Boston Herald as well as following a story involving NESN’s Heidi Watney before she joined the network.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe says NESN has hired former Red Sox utility infielder Lou Merloni as a studio analyst.

Newsday’s Neil Best talked with SNY’s Mets announcer Gary Cohen before he called yesterdays game against the Washington Nationals from the Shea Stadium’s upper deck with analysts Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. In his blog, Neil talks with Mets announcers Cohen, Howie Rose, Hernandez and Darling about their childhood experiences sitting in the cheap seats.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talks with ESPN’s Doris Burke (and Providence College alumnus) who has found a role on the network’s college basketball and NBA broadcasts.

From the New York Post, Phil Mushnick laments the number of young men and women who are entering the professional poker business.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman wonders why Fox Sports omitted the Mets-Yankees from tomorrow’s MLB schedule and chose Brewers-Red Sox instead.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that Fox Sports Radio updates are truly lacking.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun looks at NBC’s coverage of the Preakness Stakes. John Wostendiek of the Sun talks with Dave Rodman, the track announcer at Pimlico, who will call his 17th Preakness Stakes, but you won’t hear him on TV or radio.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says the Preakness Stakes is an event made for ESPN’s Kenny Mayne.

Dan Daly of the Washington Times says sensationalism such as John Tomase’s story in the Boston Herald is hurting sports journalism.

Midwest

Heading to the Akron Beacon Journal, George M. Thomas talks about ESPN taking SportsCenter live in the mornings starting in August.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press also writes about the live morning SportsCenters.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Brewers hit the national TV spotlight this weekend thanks to its interleague matchup with the Red Sox.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talks with former Toronto Raptors radio voice Chuck Swirsky who’s returning to Chicago as the radio voice of the Bulls.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Judd Zulgad tells us that the family of Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad is looking to buy more radio stations.

Paul Christian from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says NBC Sports likes the fact that there is a clear cut favorite in this year’s Preakness Stakes.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News wonders why some TV announcers won’t admit they’re wrong after seeing the replay.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune is back from vacation and notes that he didn’t miss the umpire bashing on the Padres TV broadcasts. Jay also has the ratings from last weekend in San Diego.

From the North County Times, John Maffei writes about Hannah Storm returning to sports TV as an anchor in ESPN SportsCenter’s live morning block.

Over to the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle talks about NBC’s roundtable discussion of horse racing during its coverage of the Preakness.

John Scheibe of the Los Angeles Times also writes about the NBC roundtable talk about Eight Belles in the weekly Sound and Vision column.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says ESPN feels the need to send out press releases at breakneck speed. In his media notes, Tom says hearing Charley Steiner and Steve Lyons on Dodgers road games makes him yearn for Vin Scully. One side note, Tom has picked up on Hannah Storm’s sexy poses, something I noted earlier this week.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Canada’s all-sports cable channels are making good money.

South

The State’s Doug Nye talks with the long time radio voice of Clemson baseball.

Barry Jackson from the now Dan Le Batard-less Miami Herald says the NBA continues to keep the real NBA Draft Lottery off camera.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel is a fan of interleague play and finds an ESPN MLB analyst who agrees with him.

Over to the Houston Chronicle where David Barron says colleague Jerome Solomon has been dropped by sports radio station KFNC.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN is competing against itself with its upcoming live morning SportsCenters in August.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman writes about Hannah Storm joining ESPN (again note the sexy pose). In his notebook, Mel has a few ESPN-related items. Finally, Mel has his viewing picks.

Blogs

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says headbands are now a big part of the NBA’s sales.

In his Sports Marketing and Public Relations blog, Joe Favorito says there are plenty niche sites to get your sports news.

The Big Lead says Yahoo! Sports was the most visited sports website in April closely followed by ESPN.com.

Awful Announcing likes ESPN’s promos for Euro 2008.

In case you missed it from earlier this week, the Sox & Dawgs blog has the video of Manny making a catch in Baltimore, high fiving a fan in the stands, then throwing the ball into the infield for a double play.

That’s going to do it. Back later.

Wednesday Evening Links

Our busy Wednesday is continuing. News just keeps coming out of the woodwork.

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch says the Boston Herald’s John Tomase will finally come out of hiding and give his explanation later this week as to what happened with his mysterious source in the Patriots videotape story.

And David Heuschkel of the Hartford Courant says former Patriots employee Matt Walsh will be working with HBO Sports on a story about Spygate. No word if this will be for Real Sports or Costas Now.

Ian over at the Sox & Dawgs blog has the video from today’s Red Sox-Orioles game in which Manny Ramirez makes a great running catch, then high fives a fan, then throws the ball into the infield for a double play. The video has to be seen to be believed.

Who knew that ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons is a disgruntled employee? Will Leitch of Deadspin has the e-mail exchange between him and Simmons as to why the former Boston Sports Guy hasn’t been writing as much for the website.

The following link comes courtesy of Neil Best of Newsday. Daniel Kaplan and John Ourand of Sports Business Journal report that YES Network is not for sale. Last August, Fortune Magazine reported that YES was for sale, a story that was quickly denied by the New York Yankees, but it appears that any sale is definitely off the table.

Another link courtesy of Neil, the Big Lead has a guest post from former Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard.

Speaking of Neil, he has a complete recap of ESPN’s network upfront presentation from Tuesday. Neil writes that SNY’s Mets announcing crew will do Thursday’s game from the upper echelons of Shea Stadium.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says some Olympic sponsors may be pulling back their plans for hospitality suites for the Summer Games in Communist China. And Darren talks to the owner of a website which keeps track of celebrity endorsers and the products they actually use.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Monday night’s Game 2 between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was the highest rated NHL game on Versus. And Reynolds writes that thanks to the NBA Playoffs, TNT has won the cable primetime ratings for a second week in a row. Linda Moss of Multichannel clarifies some confusion over the Outdoor Channel’s status on DirecTV.

Rick Kissell of Variety writes that TNT’s NBA Playoffs telecasts on cable even beat NBC’s American Gladiators in the ratings.

Joseph De Avila of the Wall Street Journal talks with NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Adam Silver about the NBA’s increased TV ratings and digital rights.

Awful Announcing says ESPN will devote two hours of coverage to the NBA Draft Lottery which is one hour and fifty minutes too long.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim gives his opinions on the new US Open contract with ESPN in his weekly tennis mailbag.

David Brauder of MinnPost.com writes that ESPN has hired Minneapolis Star Tribune Vikings beat reporter Kevin Seifert continuing a trend of hiring writers from established newspapers.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks with Hannah Storm about her move to ESPN.

Tim Wilkin of the Albany Times Union did not enjoy watching the Preakness Draw on ESPN.

The Orbitcast satellite radio blog says XM will carry six major college conference baseball tournaments starting May 21st.

That will do it for tonight.

A Busy Wednesday

There’s a lot of news today so let’s get to the links right away.

First, the Boston Herald apologized today for the erroneous story John Tomase wrote just before Super Bowl XLI that former Patriots employee Matt Walsh taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough the day before Super Bowl XXXVI.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the history of this story and wonders if the Herald’s apology goes far enough.

David Scott from BSMW does a great job in recapping Tuesday’s events including Tom Brady’s interview on WEEI in which he castigates ESPN.

The Sox & Dawgs blog has a couple of items including an entry stating that the Herald and Tomase need to be held accountable. And the blog has video of Patriots owner Robert Kraft stating he’s happy with the apology.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has the transcript of the Kraft interview.

Newsday’s Neil Best also looks at the story and notes Tom Brady’s comments about the Giants and Jets in the WEEI interview.

Let’s move from Spygate to ESPN’s live SportsCenter block in the mornings.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated looks at the ESPN upfront presentation to advertisers in New York.

Shahnaz Mahmud of Adweek and John Consoli of Mediaweek combine on a story saying that ESPN is trying to broaden its appeal with the live SportsCenter in the mornings.

I’ve never separated Neil Best links, but I have to today. First, Neil has comments from Hannah Storm about her move to ESPN. And Neil has some stuff from ESPN’s John Skipper about going with 9 live hours of SportsCenter.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also has a short story on the ESPN SportsCenter morning block.

Richard also confirms what Neil Best wrote earlier this month, that the NFL Network was interested in having Al Michaels call Thursday Night games, but he has apparently turned down their offer. And Neil also has a suggestion to the NFL Network on who should call the games.

Roger Van Der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer writes that the NFL Network and Time Warner Cable are no closer to an agreement than last month. And Van Der Horst says MASN and Time Warner are also locked at an impasse.

Mike Lucas of the Capital Times writes that NFL Films is putting together a new series on teams that fell short of winning the Super Bowl.

You want more news? Of course you do. From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg reports that Tony Kornheiser is leaving the paper having accepted a buyout last night. That link came courtesy of Deadspin and Neil Best.

As you can see, this is a busy day. And this is a rare day when I have the USA Today media column buried midway in the links. Michael McCarthy says blog hater Bob Costas will host another roundtable discussion, this one on NBC during the Preakness Stakes about the pitfalls of horse racing.

And another post from Neil Best, this one on HBO’s segment on the slaughter of some horses that was outlined on Real Sports on Monday. By the way, I owe you a real time review of Real Sports and that will come later in the week.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Versus’ ratings are on the rise.

The Sports Media Watch says the NHL’s ratings on Versus shows that people are indeed watching the playoffs. The SMW has the final weekend ratings. And the blog says the NBA Playoffs have steered TNT to its second straight victory in the Cable Primetime ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NBA Commish David Stern is not a fan of the pregame histrionics at various arenas.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has a preview of this week’s Sports Illustrated.

Awful Announcing has the video of Erin Andrews’ interview on “The Big Idea” with Donny Deustch on CNBC. Erin looks rather lovely.

That’s it for now. A busy day. If anything else breaks, I’ll let you know.

Is Hannah Storm Sexing It Up?

When the news broke that Hannah Storm would be returning to sports television by becoming an anchor on the new live SportsCenter block from 6 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET on ESPN, her picture has been all over the internet. Now no doubt, Hannah is an attractive woman, but I don’t quite recall seeing her dressed in sexy outfits or making sexy poses. Here are a sampling of pictures I have seen over the last few days.

This picture was in Neil Best’s Watchdog blog on the ESPN network upfronts.

How about this picture that was in ESPN’s own press release? Granted, she did not pose for ESPN, this came off the jacket from her book, Notre Dame Inspirations. A fan blowing her hair to add an effect. Do you ever recall Hannah looking like this during her days on CNN Sports Tonight, the NBA on NBC or The Early Show on CBS?

And then there’s this pic at Wikipedia. And a similar one is posted in the New York Post’s TV Sports blog.

Not that I mind them, but I hardly recall her looking like this on TV. Then again, this pic and the first one I posted are from various events so you would not see these dresses on The Early Show.

That’s it for now.

SportsCenter Live from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET

In advance of the ESPN network upfronts today, the Alleged Worldwide Leader announced that it will get rid of the taped editions of SportsCenter and will go live for 9 hours between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

During that time, two anchors will work in three hour shifts and that will include former NBC Sports and CBS Early Show anchor Hannah Storm who will be in the 9 a.m. – noon rotation.

The new live 9 hour morning edition of SportsCenter will debut on August 11 during the first week of the Summer Olympics in Communist China.

ESPN officials say that a taped edition of SportsCenter no longer fits in the changing landscape of sports.

It appears the other anchors of the morning editions will come from the ESPN ranks. Ms. Storm is the only hire from outside the company.

A Tuesday Link Thing

I’m here to give you your links for this morning. Let’s get to them.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he has the ratings of selected events from the weekend.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with Coca-Cola about why it chose Kobe Bryant to endorse Vitaminwater.

David Bauder, TV writer for the Associated Press, says Hannah Storm will join ESPN in August.

Neil Best from Newsday talks about the ESPN documentary on former Mets manager Bobby Valentine who’s thriving in Japan these days. And Neil has a bit more on the doc in his blog.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also talks about the Bobby Valentine documentary which airs on ESPN2 tonight.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says new Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni was greeted with plenty of skepticism from the media.

Laura Nachman has the video of a Philly sportscaster who got emotional after watching a story on Eagles’ coach Andy Reid visiting a cancer ward.

Keith Groller from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says thanks to the Celtics and Lakers, the NBA’s playoff ratings have gone up.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Brewers drew well in the ratings with its weekend series with the St. Louis Cardinals.

John Ryan from the San Jose Mercury News says his Morning Buzz column will go into summer mode.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune profiles host Scott Ferrall who’s hosting a show on Howard 101 on Sirius Satellite Radio. And Dave writes about KRON-TV airing a local road race which is also a battle of the sexes.

William Houston from the Toronto Globe and Mail says Don Cherry has certainly struck a chord during his ESPN appearances.

Nick Rousso from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes about ESPN’s Kenny Mayne.

That will do it for now.