Fang's Bites

Bringing You Thursday Linkage

Let’s do the Thursday links. I’m waiting on an employee who was supposed to be here at 9:30. It’s now past ten. Not good when someone’s late.

Here are your links.

USA Today’s Vicki Michaelis looks at the legacy of former International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch who died yesterday at the age of 89 including what he meant to NBC and its broadcast of the Olympic games.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at how NFL Network and ESPN will handle their respective coverages of the Draft this week.

And here’s NFL Network’s open for tonight’s Draft. Looks special.

ESPN Ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer discusses various issues including announcers who talk too much, President Obama’s NCAA Tournament brackets and complaints about Big East basketball runovers.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN and the NHL are among the first to use a new Facebook feature.

David Tanklefsky of B&C talks with Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman about carrying President Obama’s commencement speech to the University of Michigan.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at the NFL Draft going into primetime tonight.

Aaron Kuriloff of Bloomberg News says the NFL is betting on their fans watching the Draft in droves in primetime. 

From the Boston Herald, Jessica Heslam writes about NESN’s Heidi Watney who has been missing from Red Sox games since the beginning of the season.

You can hear that interview Jessica refers to in her story, Heidi talking with WZLX’s Kevin Karlson and Pete McKenzie (both of whom I worked in Groton, CT at Q-105 a long time ago. Karlson  & McKenzie, not Heidi) right here.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir asks if you’re ready for the NFL Draft at night?

Richard also writes about the inauspicious end of the US Olympic Network before it even go to make the air.

Jen Wielgus of the Bucks County Courier Times says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia will be all over the Eagles’ draft picks. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner feels ESPN will get the job done during its NFL Draft coverage.

And Jim says three DC outlets will be all over the picks by the Washington NFL team.

Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wonders if Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will ham it up for the cameras during tonight’s Draft. 

John Niyo of the Detroit News says the NFL Draft has evolved from the smokey-filled rooms to Radio City Music Hall.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Green Bay Packers get four primetime games this season.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times profiles legendary Cleveland Cavaliers announcer Joe Tait who will leave his job after next season.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that ESPN and NFL Network have a heightened interest in the Rams’ 1st round draft pick.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times feels TNT’s Charles Barkley went too far in calling co-horts Ernie Johnson, Jr. and Kenny “The Jet” Smith a-holes this week.

Marcia C. Smith of the Orange County Register profiles Los Angeles Lakers announcer Spero Dedes.

Matthew Coller of the Biz of Hockey delves into why the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff TV ratings are up.

Sports Media Watch asks the legitimate question, is the NFL getting arrogant?

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media feels CBC made the wrong choice in going with the Penguins-Ottawa series instead of taking Washington-Montreal.

Steve says the ratings for the San Jose-Colorado NHL playoff series is doing well in the Bay Area.

This will do it. With the announcement of the NCAA Tournament going to CBS and Turner Sports, I’ll be covering that for the next hour or two.

Wednesday Night Linkage

After being busy for much of the day, time to do some linkage. Better late than never.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says both ESPN and NFL Network are pulling out the star power for their coverage of the NFL Draft in primetime on Thursday and Friday.

Peter Barzilai of USA Today’s Daily Pitch blog says ESPN’s Joe Morgan will be a special adviser to the Reds and will keep his TV job.

Paul White in the same blog writes that Fox Sports President Ed Goren is not saying anything over the NFL’s decision to schedule a Sunday Night Football game opposite Game 4 of the World Series for the first time.

Nate Davis of USA Today’s The Huddle blog has the NFL’s side as to why it scheduled a Sunday Night game against the World Series this season.

Sergio Non of USA Today’s MMA Fighting Stances blog notes that Fox Sports Net is scoring ratings for the season opener of the Bellator Fighting Championships.

Tripp Mickle and John Ourand write in today’s Sports Business Daily that the US Olympic Committee and Comcast have ended plans for a proposed Olympics channel.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says it’s going to take a long time for 3-D TV to get a foothold with the average the sports fan.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the number of athletes surgeon Dr. James Andrews has saved over his career.

Darren says former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is a hot commodity even if he isn’t drafted in the first round on Thursday.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Cartoon Network plans to increase its sports-themed programming including an awards show.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says cable’s TNT and Versus are putting up solid numbers for the NBA and NHL postseason.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that it appears the New York Jets are going to be cable primetime darlings in the 2010 NFL regular season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union provides the TV schedules for all three days of the NFL Draft.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record speaks with Freddie Coleman who will host ESPN Radio’s coverage of the NFL Draft.

Ken also has the NFL viewing schedule for the New York metropolitan area.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says Fox will carry most of the DC NFL team’s games this upcoming season.

Jim also has a transcript of an interview wide receiver Terrell Owens did with Fox Sports Radio’s Stephen A. “A is for Acrimony” Smith lobbying to join the Washington NFL team.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times feels the NFL is really sticking it to Major League Baseball by scheduling a Sunday Night Football game on October 31 which would be opposite the World Series.

Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that NFL.com is establishing fan war rooms for the Draft.

Suzanne Halliburton of the Austin American-Statesman says three former Texas Longhorns including quarterback Colt McCoy will be hosting ESPN at their Draft parties this week.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson’s thoughts on Sam Bradford entering tomorrow’s Draft.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer is amazed at the radio ratings for Reds’ Opening Day.

The Columbus Dispatch notes that Ohio State will play three primetime football games on ESPN/ABC this season. 

Noted Olympics writer Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune remembers former International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch who died today and had a profound influence on the way the Games are currently broadcast.

Hersh also writes that the US Olympic Network which was announced last year to heavy fanfare will now go by the wayside without ever having made it to air.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says Thursday will be a very busy day for Comcast SportsNet with the network carrying three games on various platforms.

Ed is bewildered that despite a losing record last season, the Bears will still be primetime player in 2010.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the NFL is pushing player conduct very heavily.

Also from the Journal Sentinel, Don Walker says former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is joining the Big East Conference as an unpaid adviser to help on future TV contracts. 

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that you are the reason why the NFL Draft went to primetime.

Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star says two local sports television executives are leaving their company to start their own business. 

New Mexico Business Weekly reports that Fox Sports Radio has signed an extension for distribution with Premiere Radio Networks.

The Arizona Republic says Fox Sports Arizona has created an overspill channel to accommodate Diamondbacks and Phoenix Coyotes conflicts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Kevin Millar’s signing with the MLB Network.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail is flabbergasted that Rogers Sportsnet would push the Blue Jays off its main channel due to conflicts.

Chris Zelkovich in the Toronto Star notes that the Montreal Canadiens are drawing ratings in Canada.

Chris says a Toronto sports radio host got carried away over a critical article written by a Chicago sportswriter.

In Truth & Rumours, the now very calm William Houston says the head of Canada’s Olympic Olympic Broadcasting Consortium now has a new job at CTV.

Sports Media Watch notes that the NHL Playoffs are doing well locally.

SMW looks at the featured NFL matchups on CBS and Fox this season.

SMW has the weekend overnight ratings.

SMW also looks at the highest rated MLB, NBA and NHL teams.

SMW has some news and notes.

Lauren Hatch at the Business Insider looks at ESPN’s Rick Reilly dumping his magazine column in exchange for more facetime on camera.

The Huffington Post has the video of former New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank throwing an F and an S bomb on ESPN2′s First Take.

Good amount of links tonight plus I did them while watching both the Bruins and the Red Sox win in extra sessions. A good night. I’ll be back on Thursday with more stuff. Keep it here.

Wednesday Evening Links

Let’s do some linkage this evening. Lazy night for sports, but never a lazy night for blogging. Let’s do the links then I have some housekeeping to do later. Blog housekeeping, not house housekeeping. That’s for later.

I’ll start with Friend of Fang’s Bites and fellow puckhead Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette who is thrilled over his Flyers coming to Fenway Park to take on my Bruins at Fenway Park for the 2010 Winter Classic.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN used SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt in several tongue-in-cheek videos to sell upfront ads.

David looks at NBC’s deal with the NHL and IMG selling the international rights for the NFL.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media has the potential NHL on NBC schedule for next season. Steve speculates on the possible CBC Hockey Night in Canada sked. And Steve looks at what Versus could air next season.

In the Biz of Hockey, Maury Brown talks about the extension of NBC Sports’ revenue sharing agreement with the NHL.

Maury in the Biz of Baseball looks into his crystal ball at the sites for the All-Star Game in the next few years.

The Hollywood Reporter picks up a story from Mediaweek’s Anthony Crupi about the MLB All-Star Game hitting a ratings home run for Fox last night.

THR also picks up a Mediaweek story from Mike Shields about AOL buying an MMA website.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union provides the times for coverage for all four days of the Open Championship.

Glen Dickson from Broadcasting & Cable says this will be the last year we’ll have to put up with watching the Open Championship in old school standard definition.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes about DirecTV providing expanded coverage of the Open Championship.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media has the BBC TV and radio broadcast schedule for the Open Championship. Chris says the PGA Tour’s Facebook page got embroiled in a mini-controversy over the Open Championship.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says Stan Savran will remain on FSN Pittsburgh while losing his nightly talk show.

Ray Frager of the Sports Media Journal gives major props to a Baltimore sports talk show host for coming clean about his painkiller addiction.

Here is the piece that Ray refers to in the Baltimore-centric Press Box site.

Also in Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com says news/talk WBAL-AM still holds a big piece of the local sports pie.

SECSports.com has the official announcement from Fox SportsNet about its agreement with ESPN to air SEC football, basketball and other conference sporting events in the conference footprint.

Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Fox Sports South will be part of the SEC cable syndication package.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times writes that Sun Sports will pick up the same SEC package in Florida.

Tom writes about the worst days in sports.

Patrick Finley of the Arizona Daily Star says after failing to make a deal with Fox Sports Arizona, the University of Arizona is starting its own syndicated TV network.

Radio Online says veteran play-by-play man Bill Rosinski joins ESPN Radio for college football games.

Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com reports that none of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ home exhibition games will be aired on local television.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune looks at Don Ohlmeyer who will be the ESPN Ombudsman starting next month.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times also writes about Don Ohlmeyer.

Chicago Tribune and LA Times Olympics reporter Philip Hersh finds out why the International Olympic Committee is on NBC’s side in regards to the creation of the US Olympic Network.

Steve Silver from the Las Vegas Sun takes a behind the scenes trip with ESPN for its preparation for the World Series of Poker.

Ben Klayman of Reuters writes that the Tour de France is steering Versus to high ratings this month.

The Sports Media Watch looks at the 50 most watched sporting events on broadcast TV through the first half of 2009. And the SMW has the 50 most watched sporting events on cable in the 1st half of the year.

The Two Cents from Beantown blog looks at a new monitoring system that will be installed at every ball park that will measure every player’s defensive capabilities.

Fashionistas Cameron Frye and Wrap Around Curl get catty over Erin Andrews’ dress that has caused a stir on the sports blogosphere.

Phil Lowe of the i365Fight blog says ESPN is close to picking up the rights to air UFC programming in the UK.

Ciaran Hancock of the Irish Times says Setanta Sports picked up a key package of English Premier League games in Ireland helping it stay afloat after it lost a series of games to ESPN earlier this month.

The EPL Talk blog says Fox Soccer Channel will pick up three “friendlies” involving Liverpool starting this month.

That’s going to do it for tonight. Back later with some press release stuff.

An All-Star Break Linkfest

Let’s give you some linkage today.

Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix tells us that CBS Radio is moving Mix 98.5 to heritage rock station WBCN’s 104.1 FM frequency and that a new FM sports radio station will be on the 98.5 frequency. Thanks to Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch for the link.

I’ve also written a story on this late breaking news at the Fang’s Bites page at Boston Sports Media Watch.

Lance Venta from Radio Insight also has a look at the Boston sports radio flip.

The lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says the Boston Bruins will be joining the new CBS Radio sports station.

Major props to Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated for breaking the story on Twitter that ESPN has hired former NBC Sports Executive Producer and Monday Night Football producer Don Ohlmeyer to be its new Ombudsman. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link. I don’t like this selection seeing that Ohlmeyer really doesn’t have a journalism background, he comes from TV production. I liked Le Anne Schreiber who was not afraid to be critical and question ESPN’s policies. We’ll see how this works out.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today has the ratings of various events from the weekend.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells the LPGA players who ousted commissioner Carolyn Bivens that the right players need to win for the tour to get sponsors.

Darren looks at General Motors cutting its sports spending in order to get out of bankruptcy.

Darren writes that you can bet on whether President Obama’s first pitch at the All-Star Game will bounce before it crosses home plate.

Darren also looks at MLB attendance.

Wayne Friedman of Mediapost’s TV Watch blog looks into NBC’s problem with the US Olympic Network.

Boston Globe Olympics reporter John Powers feels the announcement of the USON was bad timing for the Chicago 2016 Olympics bid.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says TV is what helped to make the MLB All-Star Game special.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette tells us that HBO will honor the late boxer Arturo Gatti by replaying his trilogy with Irish Mickey Ward starting this Friday.

Keith Groller in the Allentown Morning Call says NBC and ESPN focused more on Saucon instead of the Saucon Valley during the U.S. Women’s Open.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with St. Louis native Joe Buck of Fox Sports on why the Gateway City is such a great baseball town. Jim gives us his All-Star Game viewing and listening planner.

From the Washington Times, Tim Lemke has official word on WJFK-FM’s flipping to all-sports.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News looks at the final four of 4th and Long.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says being at the Home Run Derby was better in person than watching on TV. Ed says he wasn’t surprised at the firing of Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon last night.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviews the HBO documentary on Ted Williams.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times talks about ESPN and YouTube forging an alliance.

The Sports Media Watch says the ratings for the U.S. Women’s Open were down from last year.

The University of Arkansas’ Steve Dittmore looks at a study that concludes bloggers are not sports journalists.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says the MLB All-Star Game is suffering from an identity crisis.

The Right Field Bleachers blog has evidence of Erin Andrews’ bruise from getting hit with a line drive on the chin last week.

That will do it for now. Back later with press release stuff. Because of the CBS Radio Boston and DC announcements and ESPN Ombudsman release, this post was delayed several hours. I’m happy to have it up now.

A Crazy Monday Linkfest

I’ve been going crazy following two different stories today, one being the Chris Russo Firing Stunt and the other the launch of a new video feature on WEEI.com. Lots of stuff going on for what is supposed to be a slow sports day.

Let’s give you links and go from there.

First, let me plug some new Friends of Fang’s Bites, the fine people at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/California tell me that they will have the re-air of Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter from last Friday. It will air this Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific time, 10 p.m. Eastern time. On DirecTV, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area is on channel 696. Thanks to the people at CSNBA/CSNC for giving me that info. I wanted to pass it along to my West Coast friends.

Before going into the national links, a couple of links to my own stuff. First, I wrote a piece for my site at Boston Sports Media Watch about the launch of a new video feature at WEEI.com. Take a gander at “The Five” hosted by Kristine Leahy below.

Kristine definitely looks quite lovely there.

Early this morning, I reviewed the HBO Ted Williams documentary.

And I call shenanigans on the Chris Russo/Mad Dog Channel tirade from last week.

Ok, to your links.

Good on Friend of Fang’s Bites Richard Deitsch for breaking the story on President Obama joining Joe Buck and Tim McCarver during tomorrow’s All-Star Game broadcast on Fox.

Richard also writes about the person who shot the video of LeBron James being dunked upon, but then had Nike take said video. Thanks to Richard for linking to my ESPN College Football Announcing lineup post.

A couple of sports business stories from the Sports Business Journal.

Tripp Mickle says the International Olympic Committee made plenty of money on the 2008 Summer Games in Communist China.

Tripp writes that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman got a big raise in salary during the 2007-08 season.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that EA Sports and the NCAA are apparently ignoring a lawsuit by releasing the new version of a college football video game.

Darren says UFC and sponsor Bud Light weren’t too pleased when Brock Lesnar specifically mentioned Coors Light in a postfight interview last Saturday.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick wonders where’s the outrage on the Donte Stallworth story?

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says ESPN will use Doppler Radar to instantly measure shots during tonight’s Home Run Derby.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times talks with new WTA President Stacey Allaster.

Ray Frager at Sports Media Journal noticed that there was one thing missing from ESPN’s feature on Disco Demolition Night.

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

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News previews tonight’s 4th and Long show. Barry decides who should be on the Metroplex’s Media Mount Rushmore.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business looks at the ticket prices for tomorrow’s All-Star Game. Ed is concerned about NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol’s comments about Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics being in jeopardy.

Olympics writer Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times has more on Ebersol’s thoughts on the US Olympic Network that’s supposed to launch in 2010.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says the morning drive wars on local sports radio is heating up.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News feels Brock Lesnar’s postfight interview on UFC100 was embarrassing.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail feels play-by-play man Jamie Campell could be doing better on Blue Jays broadcasts on Rogers Sportsnet.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says ESPN on ABC did its best to showcase the city during yesterday’s Indy Toronto race.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media tells us that the Basketball Hall of Fame will honor TNT’s Doug Collins and the New York Post’s/NBA TV’s Peter Vescey.

Matt Sebek at the Joe Sports Fan blog says Chris Berman sits alone and with nobody else at the All-Star Game.

The great Steve Lepore of Puck The Media whose site is blowing up so much that he now ignores my Tweets (I’m joking, Steve), has some thoughts on the NHL upon his return after a week away from blogging. Steve talks about the real reason behind Darren Pang’s departure from Phoenix to join the St. Louis Blues’ TV team.

That’s it for now.

Saturday’s Linkfest

I’m going to forego the megalinks for one week only. I spent Friday attending a memorial service for my mother’s close friend. I wrote my thoughts about her on Twitter, but I’ll expand on them here.

Even though my mother’s friend wasn’t a blood relative, she was close enough for me to call her “Auntie”. From the first day my parents met when we moved to Rhode Island, she was so nice to us. Always smiling, always thinking of others, she always made sure you felt welcome. She raised three wonderful children, foregoing a career and allowing her husband to work.

Over the last six years, she had gotten sick, but during that time, she never complained, she never asked for anything. She kept going to church, she kept teaching Bible class. Even though she was just five feet tall, she remained a pillar of strength.

In fact, when I took my mother to see her in the hospital, the first thing she did was ask me if I had a girlfriend (no, LOL) and she also told me to take care of my mom. Here she was, not feeling well in her last days, but still not thinking of herself.

At the memorial service, it was amazing to see the church she attended filled with all of the people she had touched over the years. I had not seen her children in a long time. They have grown up to have children of their own. To see them fully grown carrying her values, well, you just can’t ask for anything better as a parent. So I’m thinking about her and her friendship with my mother on this day.

So you can understand why I didn’t get to the megalinks on Friday. My apologies to you and I’ll get to them next week.

To the links for today.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell interviews UFC Iron Fist Ruler Dana White about tonight’s UFC100 event in Las Vegas.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch says the Boston Herald has hired a new Patriots beat writer.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol none too pleased about the US Olympic Network.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that MLB Network is surpassing ESPN as the fan’s destination for baseball. I agree with Ken. To see last night’s no-hitter by Jonathan Sanchez, I went to MLB Network over ESPN.

Ken has ESPN’s Thursday Night college football schedule.

Laura Nachman has one very interesting anecdote from the Gary Papa memorial service this week. And she has details on those who were in attendance.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner previews this weekend’s baseball action.

Brian Van Ochten from the Grand Rapids Press writes that Matt Millen could be back in Michigan this season with ABC for college football coverage.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News reviews HBO’s documentary on Ted Williams.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has Fox Sports’ Joe Buck crowing about the silly All-Star Game format.

The Sports Media Watch says the Federer-Roddick final at Wimbledon was a big ratings draw. However, the women’s final between Venus and Serena Williams was not. SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media has a big project that he’s undertaking. Despite recent layoffs, Chris notes that ESPN is indeed hiring.

That’s it for now.

Some Thursday Night Links

I have a lot of work to do on the blog tonight and was delayed thanks to mom insisting I take her to the mall so she could find something for a memorial the entire family is attending on Friday. Suffice to say the plans I had for this evening have been pushed back to about 4 a.m. with all of the shit I have to do. I understand, mom doesn’t like dad driving at night and she’s not confident with her driving skills at this time so I have to drive to her place to pick her up and take her to the places she wants to go. I grit my teeth, but I do it. Gotta do it. She’s the only mom I have.

Anyway, let’s do some late night links then I have a slew of press releases for tonight, then some housekeeping for tomorrow since the megalinks will most likely be late again with all of the stuff I have to do at work and for the memorial.

Starting with Stephen Wilson of the Associated Press who has a scathing statement from the International Olympic Committee regarding the U.S. Olympic Network.

Seattle Times Olympics beat writer Ron Judd wonders if the USON announcement might undermine the U.S. bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times says the U.S. Olympic Committee’s actions only stand to hurt Chicago’s chances to host the Games.

Meg James of the Times says USON is already causing headaches just mere days after the formal announcement.

Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch, he tells us that long time Voice of your New England Patriots, Gil Santos, will be inducted into the WBZ Hall of Fame. Gil was the morning drive sports anchor at News Radio 1030 WBZ for 38 years. It’s a well-deserved honor. Gil remains with the Patriots and is the longest tenured announcer in the NFL.

Ray Frager of the Sports Media Journal says a Baltimore sports talk show has been told to fix things. Keith Thibeault of SMJ talks about ESPN’s Ball Track technology that will be unveiled at the Home Run Derby.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record feels Ball Track could be like Fox Sports’ glowing puck if not used correctly. Ken writes that Army football has a new home in the Hudson Valley.

Laura Nachman recaps the memorial for Philly sports anchor Gary Papa.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Darren Pang joins Fox Sports Midwest as an analyst for the Blues, moving current analyst Bernie Federko to ice-level.

Norm Sanders of the Belleville (IL) News-Democrat also writes about Panger coming from Phoenix to join the Blues.

Back to the L.A. Times, Mark Medina writes that Candace Parker lands her own SportsCenter promo later this month.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the local ESPN Radio affiliate is making some lineup changes as of Friday.

Fabio Pereira of the Hollywood Reporter says mixed martial arts is growing thanks to UFC and its Ultimate Fighter series on Spike.

The Big Lead gets ESPN’s official statement on Erin Andrews taking a ball to the chin during Wednesday’s Dodgers-Mets game.

Dan Levy of On the DL wonders in the Sporting News if ESPN hates the San Diego Padres.

Dave Kohl from the Major League Programs blog looks at classic offerings on CBS Sports as well as the decline of ESPN Classic.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball makes an announcement of a new content partnership.

That’s going to end our links for now. Stories that will be part of the Friday megalinks are already out so I’ll stop with the links and work on a bunch of press release posts.

A Thursday Link Thing

Let’s do some links for the day.

We start with some stories about yesterday’s announcement about the U.S. Olympic Network.

Meg James of the Los Angeles Times looks at the new U.S. Olympic Network that is scheduled to launch next year.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that the U.S. Olympic Committee felt it had to keep pace with other league-owned channels.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner has the USOC feeling that the new channel’s time has come.

Former LA Times writer, Alan Abrahamson, writing for Universal Sports says there are a lot of questions surrounding USON.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says USON could be a potential rival for Universal Sports.

Matthew Futterman from the Wall Street Journal says NBC Sports has to be looking over its shoulder at USON.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes that NBC Sports isn’t commenting about USON.

Steve Donahue of the Contentinople blog has USON partner Comcast saying the new channel will not hurt NBC directly.

Philip Hersh and Kathy Bergen of the Chicago Tribune write that the International Olympic Committee’s disapproval of USON might hurt the US’ bid to have the 2016 Summer Games in Chicago.

Eddie Pells of the Associated Press says the USOC is surprised at the IOC’s complaints about USON.

Brian Gomez from the Colorado Springs Gazette that the USOC is not concerned about the IOC’s disapproval.

Now to other stories

CNBC’s Darren Rovell previews what you’ll see on his latest special, “Inside Track: Refueling The Business of NASCAR”. It airs tonight on CNBC at 9.

Darren wonders if the tape of Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James will ever be released.

Darren says Kazakhstan is getting a boost from a company that is sponsoring Lance Armstrong’s team in the Tour de France.

Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Daily says Versus.com saw a huge traffic boost thanks to its streaming of the Tour de France.

Kristina Petersen of the Wall Street Journal reports that the Mountain West Conference has signed the Bowl Championship Series agreement with ESPN.

Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake City Tribune feels the MWC should not have signed off.

Glen Dickston of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN will unveil “Ball Track” for the All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday.

Sports Illustrated picks up an AP story about the 20th anniversary of the Celebrity Golf Championship on NBC.

Mark Newman of MLB.com writes that the debut of the in-market streaming of the Yankees was a big success.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says a local sports talk show will be taking the day off tomorrow and replaced with national programming.

Patrick Cloohan of the McKeesport (PA) Daily News reports that Stan Savran, a fixture on FSN Pittsburgh for 18 years, will be leaving the channel on Monday.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the preliminary lineup when news/talk radio station WJFK flips to sports later this month.

In the Chicago Tribune, radio personality Steve Dahl remembers his role behind the infamous Disco Demolition Night at the old Comiskey Park some 30 years ago.

Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun-Times says ESPN Deportes Radio is looking for a Windy City outlet (scroll down).

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business feels sorry for Cleveland.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN is ranking the Brewers as fourth best odds to land Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says ESPN is bored this summer.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Tom Hoffarth talks about ESPN picking up English Premier League rights in the Irish Republic.

EPL Talk has surmised which English Premier Games will be seen on US television starting in August.

The Sports Media Watch says the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR race on the 4th of July did not do TNT any favors. And the SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

The Big Lead has a review of last night’s E! True Hollywood Stories on Baseball Wives.

Joe Favorito says sports and entertainment entities must use the right mix in targeting the youngest audience.

The Sports Media Journal’s latest podcast has Southeastern New England media mogul Keith Thibeault talking with a TV sports anchor from one of the smallest markets in the country.

I think that’s going to do it for now. Back later.

The Mid-Week Linkage

Let’s do some linkage today. Plenty of stuff to go over.

First, Sports Business Daily’s Tripp Mickle and John Ourand have details of the all-new U.S. Olympic Network which begins operation in 2010 and gets a big boost launching on Comcast.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says the new channel will provide Olympic Sports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Noted Olympics reporter, Ron Judd of the Seattle Times, says USON as it will be called, will be available on multiple platforms.

Wayne Friedman of Mediapost says USON will show live events and past Olympics through documentaries and movies.

But Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the International Olympic Committee is already blasting the new channel.

Also from the Times, Ken Belson writes that Women’s Professional Soccer operates without a major TV contract and with a reduced budget than its previous incarnation.

Back to the Sports Business Daily which lists the Top 10 most viewed sporting events in the 2nd quarter of 2009.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that ESPN is unveiling new graphics for the MLB All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday.

Christian Red of the New York Daily News talks with Laura Posada, wife of Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, about her debut on a new reality series about baseball wives on E!

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner previews a Darren Rovell-hosted special on CNBC about NASCAR and its future.

Paula Cee in the DC Examiner says local news/talk radio station WJFK could flip to all-sports any day now.

Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean talks with several NFL writers and TV analysts about the latest developments in the Steve McNair case.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports Ohio has taken care of an upcoming Reds-University of Cincinnati football conflict.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business is already tired of the Tribune sale/non-sale of the Cubs.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about the All-Star Game continuing its incentive for the World Series and Tiger Woods outrating the Brewers-Cubs on Sunday.

Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post says ex-Colorado Rockies skipper Clint Hurdle plans to have more appearances on the MLB Network this summer.

Kelly Burgess of the Los Angeles Times tells us that ESPN will air Tony Hawk’s segment of the tearjerking series, “My Wish” on SportsCenter throughout Thursday.

The BBC reports that ESPN has been granted the rights by the English Premier League to show its package of games into Ireland. That package was held by Setanta Sports.

The Sports Media Watch has a look at the weekend ratings.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says the ACC is pulling its baseball tournament from Myrtle Beach, SC scheduled for 2011, 2012 and 2013 over the state’s flying of the Confederate flag at its capital.

I’ll end it there for now.

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Olympic Committee To Launch its Own TV Network

In a move that is going to be watched over the next few years, the U.S. Olympic Committee today announced the formation of a new TV network. It will be called U.S. Olympic Network or USON for short. With NBC’s Universal Sports, this now gives the consumer two full-time dedicated TV channels to Olympic Sports. As NBC shovels track & field, skiing, figure skating and gymnastics among other sports to Universal Sports, it will be interesting to see if the two networks compete for the same events and if the governing bodies of the Olympic sports decide to go with USON over Universal.

In addition, the U.S. Olympic Committee was smart in partnering with Comcast giving USON instant credibility. I do have the press release and it states as follows:

With USON providing the U.S. Olympic Trials after 2012, would it decide to keep all of the programming itself or perhaps partner with the U.S. TV Network of the 2014 and 2016 Olympics to share? It's all a different playing field for Olympic sports. I'm sure NBC would not have bought WCSN if it were not in the Olympics for the long haul. My question, would NBC partner with USON or perhaps buy an equity stake in the channel? A lot of question to be answered. This will be an interesting race between the two for Olympic sports programming.