Fang's Bites

Some Quick Monday Links

My apologies for not bringing you links over the last week. It’s been a crazy time for me. Some linkage now.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that NBC’s Rowdy Gaines doesn’t believe that Michael Phelps won’t be swimming competitively four years from now. And Hiestand reports that Matt Millen will ruin your college football viewing experience during primetime this fall.

John Ourand and Tripp Mickle at Sports Business Journal’s Olympics site find what former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol is doing in London during the Games.

Ourand talks with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts about the Olympics being a guinea pig for new media.

Ourand writes that NBC execs are feeling bullish on the Olympics after a very good start.

Mickle says a change in strategy has led the International Olympic Committee to increase its take in rights fees from global TV partners.

Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp writes that NBC saw a slight bump from Sunday’s Olympic Primetime from Beijing.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable says last night’s Olympic ratings were down from last Sunday.

Jeanine Poggi of Advertising Age says we can complain all we want, NBC is still laughing all the way to the bank with its increased Olympic TV ratings.

Media Life notes that NBC’s Today Show is back on top of the morning show ratings thanks to the Olympics.

A former GM of an NBC affiliate tells Chuck Ross of TV Week what the network can learn from the BBC in televising the Olympics.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report chastises NBC for not showing Usain Bolt’s gold medal-winning run in the 100 meters live yesterday.

Speaking of Bolt, BroBible has video of him stopping a post-race interview with a Spanish reporter as Sanya Richards-Ross was getting her gold medal at the Olympics.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes how the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium downsized its operation for London as compared to its huge undertaking in Vancouver.

Jason looks at BBC’s preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead says NBC’s handling of the London Olympics pales in comparison to the BBC in the UK.

Also from The Big Lead, Jason McIntyre notes that the increasingly bitter Phil Mushnick of the New York Post has set his sights on Olympic gymnasts wondering why they’re so tiny and don’t have any breasts. C’mon, Phil.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has video of the BBC track & field studio crew off-camera openly rooting for Mo Farah when he won his gold medal in the 10,000 meters and then again the following day for Usain Bolt in the 100 meters.

Peter Kafka of All Things Digital reports that the long-rumored Turner Sports purchase of the Bleacher Report for an estimated nine figures will finally close today.

John Koblin of Deadspin has the entire Twitter discussion between ESPN tome co-author James Andrew Miller and ESPN’s Darren Rovell from earlier today.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of NFL Network’s Mike Mayock singing during last night’s Hall of Fame preseason game.

Jane Kellogg of the Hollywood Reporter writes about NBC’s rights extension for the French Open.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says the NFL season hasn’t officially begun, yet CBS is close to being sold out for Super Bowl XLVII.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that US judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison got to meet Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers at the NBC Olympic studios in London where he’s the studio analyst for basketball.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post goes after MLB today.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says NBC is attempting to ride the Michael Phelps gravy train for as long as possible.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has video of the new Subway ad starring DC NFL Team QB Robert Griffin III.

Dan has a look at the DC NFL Team’s preseason TV schedule.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says NBC has not been hurt by tape delaying Olympic events.

Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes about last week’s debut of the new local sports radio station.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Friend of Fang’s Bites Trenni Kusnierek will be leaving her radio gig at the end of the month to become an anchor/reporter for Comcast SportsNet New England. In effect, Trenni replaces Nicole Zalmouis who left for NFL AM on NFL Network.

At Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks says outgoing Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok got a rousing sendoff from White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski the other night.

Sarah has a picture of the sendoff at her Twitter account.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY tells you where Sarah is going.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post looks at the Broncos’ radio and TV and other related broadcasts.

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

Sports Media Watch notes that NBC’s Olympic daytime ratings are up.

And I’ll end it there for now.

The Pre-Olympic Linkage

The Olympics get started tomorrow with women’s soccer action and while the Games don’t officially begin until Friday with the Opening Ceremony (live in most countries except the United States), today is really the calm before the Olympic storm. Starting tomorrow and going through August 12, this site will be awash in Olympics sports media coverage as it was in 2008 for Beijing and 2010 in Vancouver. While I’ll be covering other sports media news, I’ll be focusing on NBC’s coverage, the business of the Olympics and other news out of London. I hope you’ll continue to visit.

Ok, let’s do the linkage. It’s time to bring it back. I was doing so well last week, six straight days of links, then last Friday, I got bogged down with family stuff and wasn’t able to do what I wanted to. Sometimes that happens. Time to take life back now.

Starting with the great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, he has his Media Power List for July.

Ed Sherman of the Sherman Report talks with Big Ten Network’s President about doing an about-face and covering the Penn State story wall-to-wall on Monday.

Ed talks with NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell who takes the reins from his mentor, former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol, for London.

Sports Business Journal interviews the President of the Jacksonville Jaguars about stadium technology and the NFL Blackout policy.

Daniel Frankel of paidContent says the next sports network carriage dispute will be between the Pac-12 Networks and the two major satellite TV providers.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says NBC will provide an Olympics “Red Zone Channel” that will be online-only.

Shira Ovide of the Wall Street Journal says NBC will delay the Olympics Opening Ceremony and it won’t be seen live on cable or online.

The Big Lead says ESPN lured Brett McMurphy away from CBSSports.com to become one of its college football insiders.

Gabriel Beltone of Adweek looks at some of the best Olympic ads thus far.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says CBS Sports Network will piggyback on CBS’ coverage of the PGA Championship and US Open tennis.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age writes that the Penn State scandal could hurt the school’s marketability down the road.

David Goetzl at MediaPost says McDonald’s has begun its Olympic marketing campaign.

Steve McClellan at MediaPost writes that the Olympics help brand awareness.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says the International Olympic Committee should honor the Israeli athletes who were massacred during the 1972 Munich Games.

Sports Video Group notes that the MLB At Bat mobile and tablet app had its 5 millionth download.

Merrill Knox of TVSpy says a former Washington DC sports anchor returns home to the Bay Area.

Excellent story from Jason Schwartz of Boston Magazine on the hard fall of Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios. Nothing to do with sports media, but very good reporting.

The Boston Bruins announced Monday that it has signed an extension with radio flagship WBZ-FM.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says you’ll be able to see all of NBC’s live Olympics streams, provided you sign up.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about Sports Illustrated coming to TV.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says the Open Championship received its highest overnight rating in four years.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that NBC’s Olympic specialty channels will be picked up locally.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says Comcast will be all over the Olympics on its cable platforms.

David Selig of the Baltimore Sun says an Orioles pitching prospect will be featured on tonight’s premiere of Sports Illustrated on NBC Sports Network.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the area’s sports radio stations are getting ready for the Robert Griffin III era in DC.

Dan notes that Maryland’s field hockey coach Missy Meharg who will be an Olympics analyst for NBC.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci who will be a part of the magazine’s TV premiere tonight.

KSAT-TV in San Antonio named Jessica Ghawi an honorary member of its sports department. She was one of the 12 victims killed in the Aurora, CO movie theater massacre.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News writes about the KSAT honor for Jessica.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says MLB Advanced Media is bad for baseball.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says NBC’s Olympic coverage begins and ends with the Holy Diminutive One, Bob Costas.

Ben Fong-Torres of the San Francisco Chronicle profiles Ron Barr and his Sports Byline USA network which keeps plugging along from the Bay Area in a world dominated by ESPN Radio.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says Big Ten Network got the job done in covering the Penn State sanctions on Monday.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says ESPN should air TSN’s SportsCentre to gain street cred with hockey fans.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider’s Sports page notes that the Olympics helped to transform one of London’s seedier neighborhoods into a showcase.

And that’s going to do it.

It’s A Thursday Link Thing

Let’s do some linkage now. Fifth straight day! This is a record!

Michael Florek at USA Today’s Game On blog notes that Time Magazine will have six separate covers in four regions for its Olympic preview issue. For the U.S., guys will have Lolo Jones to gawk at, women get Ryan Lochte. Gymnast Gabby Douglas also adorns a cover.

To Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal who profiles NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell who is not only following in his mentor, Dick Ebersol’s footsteps, but still has to do his regular job of overseeing the Today show as well.

Sports Business Daily says a nightly Olympic light show in London will display colors based on the overall mood of Tweets during the Games. I kid you not.

Nick Zaccardi and Richard Deitsch at Sports Illustrated provide you with fifty Twitter feeds you should follow during the Olympics.

Speaking of SI, Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report delves into the staff cuts made this week at the fabled magazine.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age looks at where SI made its staff cuts.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable notes a new NFL analyst hire for ESPN.

Noreen O’Leary at Adweek writes that Cadillac has launched a new short film to target consumers just before the Olympics.

Jenny Tsao at Arbitron notes that sports radio on FM is drawing a higher and younger audience than AM.

Matt Hayes from the Sporting News reports that the college football four team playoff system could get a huge rights fee and that ESPN is a big favorite to get the whole kit and caboodle.

John Koblin of Deadspin finds more evidence of ESPN.com writer Lynn Hoppes lifting material.

Tom Ley at Deadspin had a funny battle with a horse dressage site this week. And thanks to Deadspin’s readers, the dressage site’s editor had to humbly apologize. The comments in both stories are just plain hilarious.

And Issac Rauch of Deadspin has video that has become a worldwide sensation, Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke’s pre-race dance before her heat at the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Sports Illustrated’s staff cuts.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says the MLB All-Star Game drew well in New York.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says the local ESPN Radio affiliate will have a weekly show devoted to the Saratoga horse racing season starting tonight.

Adam Sichko of the Albany Business Review says a local TV studio will assist NBC in producing its summer horse racing series at Saratoga.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local radio station will pick up the Buffalo Bills this season.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says Fox Soccer will air over 20 college soccer gamesin the fall.

In Press Box, Tim Richardson reports that a decision is close on the MASN/Washington Natonals rights fee dispute.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog writes that DC NFL Team linebacker Ryan Kerrigan guest anchored on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic this week.

Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com talks with Kerrigan about his experiences on the TV side.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that two sports radio hosts with local ties made Talkers Magazine’s Heavy 100 list.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch talks with ESPN Chicago NBA beat writer Nick Friedell.

Jack Denker of the Fremont (NE) Tribune profiles a native who’s working behind-the-scenes at ESPN.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says NBC is hoping for big numbers from the London Olympics.

Dave Paresh of the San Francisco Chronicle says NBC and Adobe have teamed up to create two Olympic mobile apps.

David P. Greisman at Boxing Scene says NBC is seeking to increase the time in-between rounds so it can squeeze in more commercials.

Joe Favorito says the Houston Rockets should be taking a page from the Brooklyn Nets’ playbook and start reaching out the community.

We are done.

Doing Some Tuesday Linkage

I was expecting to be out of the office today, but with the temperatures over 90 in Southern New England, being inside with air conditioning is probably the way to go today. I hope wherever you are, you’re staying cool and away from the sun.

I have some links.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter says the BBC is defending the size of its staff devoted to covering the London Olympics pointing out that NBC is bringing almost four times BBC’s number.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes that ESPN has hired an internationally-known soccer journalist to bolster its website.

Tim says Golf Channel has made a couple of hires.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable writes that the Pac-12 Networks have selected Cisco to distribute video throughout its systems.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says a US-based martial arts network is attempting to gain a foothold in Europe.

Gabriel Belton of Adweek looks at a new Olympics-themed ad from GlaxoSmithKline.

Rupal Parekh at Advertising Age says Ralph Lauren is taking a huge PR hit over its “Made in Communist China” US Olympic Opening Ceremony uniforms.

Michelle Smith of espnW profiles Lydia Murphy-Stephens who’s helping to launch the Pac-12 Networks.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin notes that NBC’s Today Show ran video of the wrong man during an interview with Philadelphia Eagles’  quarterback Michael Vick.

John Koblin of Deadspin says Sports Illustrated will not run an excerpt of Joe Posnanski’s upcoming book on Joe Paterno.

Ed Sherman in The Sherman Report says a promotional video for Posnanski’s book seems to be seriously outdated in the wake of the Freeh Report released last week.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing explores whether Baseball Night in America was a ratings success for Fox.

Matt Yoder of AA talks with ESPN tome author James Andrew Miller in a podcast.

And Matt speaks with Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel about Penn State and the BCS in a new podcast.

How about one more podcast? Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina interviews Fox’s Erin Andrews on why she left ESPN.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy explores whether the NHL’s new TV deals with NBC and HBO could prevent a prolonged lockout unlike the last one which wiped out an entire season.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says the Freeh Report shows that journalists cannot take a college football program at face value.

Also at the National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley blasts ESPN and Big Ten Network for their coverage of the Freeh Report.

Sports Video Group looks at a company that is streaming the Olympics to 70 countries worldwide.

Cork Gaines of the Business Insider Sports Page says ESPN actually censored its own Body Issue cover of New England  Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski this morning.

Newsday’s Neil Best ventures into NBC’s “Billion Dollar Lab” for the 2012 Olympics.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY notes that WFAN’s Mike Francesa tops the Talkers Magazine Heavy Hundred Sports Radio Talk Show Hosts.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty discusses Golf Channel’s new hires.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says the NFL is pricing out the regular fan.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning News says a former Eagles and Steelers offensive lineman is now working for NFL Films.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun is telling readers that Taylor Teagarden’s inadvertent “S” bomb after the Orioles win over Detroit on Fox Saturday is not a big deal.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog looks at where the local sports radio talkers rank on Talkers Heavy Hundred List.

Dan has video of a new Robert Griffin III commercial.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner explores the Nationals’ TV and radio ratings.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that native Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers will be profiled on HBO’s Real Sports tonight.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer has video of Charlie Sheen appearing with Joe Morgan (?) on Jay Leno’s Show of Hacks.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue included a local Olympic volleyballer.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Chris Scott says the site’s own online TV service will be live from the Del Mar Racetrack this week for Opening Day.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that the White House had trouble transcribing ESPN’s Mark Jones’ interview of President Obama during last night’s USA vs. Brazil pre-Olympic basketball exhibition game.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says NHL fans may not see hockey until at least Thanksgiving at the earliest.

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

That’s going to end the links for today.

FI-YAH!!! Nick DiPaolo & Artie Lange’s Radio Show Available To All Sirius XM Subscribers

If you’re a Howard Stern fan, then you’ll know the big part Artie Lange played on the show when it moved from CBS Radio to Sirius XM. And of course, one of Artie’s signatures during that period was his AC/DC “FI-YAH!” yell.

And if you’ve followed Artie’s career, you know about his suicide attempt, his subsequent departure from the Stern Show, then his comeback to where he and fellow comedian Nick DiPaolo have a syndicated radio show that is supposed to be about sports, but is all over the place.

The show is syndicated via the Premiere Radio Networks which also handles Dan Patrick and Jim Rome. It’s owned by DirecTV and will be simulcast on the service’s Audience Network just as the Dan Patrick Show is.

Sirius XM has announced that The Nick & Artie Show will be made available to all of Sirius XM’s subscribers starting Thursday and will be heard on Sirius channel 94 and XM 208. Here’s the announcement.

SiriusXM Adds Nick & Artie Show to Sports Talk Lineup

Popular show hosted by comics Artie Lange and Nick DiPaolo will be heard daily on Sirius channel 94 and XM channel 208
Nick & Artie make their SiriusXM debut July 19 with a special show in front of fans at Hard Rock Café at SiriusXM Celebrity Fantasy Football Draft event

NEW YORK – July 17, 2012 – Sirius XM Radio today announced that it has added The Nick & Artie Show, hosted by comedians Artie Lange and Nick DiPaolo and produced by DIRECTV Entertainment, to its sports talk lineup. The show will be available to SiriusXM listeners daily on Sirius channel 94 and XM channel 208 starting July 19.

The Nick & Artie Show airs weeknights (10:00 pm – 1:00 am ET) and features comedians Lange and DiPaolo teaming up for a comically irreverent and unfiltered approach to sports talk. Lange is best known for his decade on The Howard Stern Show and his successful stand-up comedy career. He co-wrote, produced and starred in the film Beer League and his first book, Too Fat To Fish, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list.

An All-County third baseman in high school, sports has been a major theme in Lange’s life and comedy career. DiPaolo’s career as a stand-up comedian dates back to the late 1980′s and he played football for University of Maine. He is known for his seething, sarcastic style and his outspoken disdain for “political correctness.” He is a regular on Comedy Central and has been featured on The Howard Stern Show, The Opie & Anthony Show and numerous late night talk shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Late Show with David Letterman. He was twice nominated for an Emmy for his writing on The Chris Rock Show.

Lange and DiPaolo will make their SiriusXM debut on July 19 with a special show in front of a live audience at the Hard Rock Café in New York. They will host from 8:00 to 10:00 am ET to kickoff SiriusXM’s annual Celebrity Fantasy Football Draft at the Hard Rock.  This marks the first time the show will be available to all SiriusXM listeners. The show aired previously only on XM (Extreme Talk, XM channel 165). The Nick & Artie Show will start airing in its regular timeslot (weeknights at 10:00 pm ET) on Sirius channel 94 and XM channel 208 on July 19.

The Nick & Artie Show is produced and syndicated by DIRECTV Entertainment/LABC Radio Group.

For more info visit www.siriusxm.com.

That is all.

Let’s Break Out Some Monday Linkage

Here’s the Monday linkage wrapped in a nice bow for you.

From Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and Michael Smith, they report that ESPN will pay an average of $80 million per year to air the Rose Bowl. That more than doubles the current contract which pays $30 million.

Liz Mullen of SBJ says a noted movie studio is forming a sports talent agency further melding Hollywood and athletics.

Also from Sports Business Journal, Chris Botta notes that Brooklyn is ready and waiting if the New York Islanders can’t find a new home on Long Island

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Bill Walton returns to national TV through ESPN as he’ll become the network’s analyst for Pac-12 basketball games.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that the early sign up numbers for NBC’s Olympic apps are encouraging.

Mike says NBCUniversal is looking to make the 2012 London Games a truly digital experience.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about turning 60.

Talkers Magazine, the so-called Bible of Talk Radio, lists its 2012 Heavy 100 of Sports Talk. I agree with Mike Francesa and Dan Patrick in the Top 3, the rest I have issues with including a few in the New England area, plus why is Joe Morgan on the list? And there are only two women.

Lisa O’Carroll of the London (UK) Guardian says Britain’s oldest and largest black newspaper has been denied credentials to the Olympics Stadium for the track & field events.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable notes that it’s expected that social media will be heavily used for the Olympics.

Matt Rudnitsky of SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Captain Blowhard and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are engaging in the next Great Twitter feud.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs wonders how NFL Network’s new morning show can sustain fresh content over a four hour period every day.

Kirk Minihane of WEEI.com tackles the question over whether the Boston Red Sox should fire advisor Bill James over his comments on ESPN Radio about Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

If it’s Monday, then it must mean that the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is in a bad mood about something.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that Syracuse has negotiated an early exit to the ACC from the Big East Conference.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that ESPN is starting its weekday coverage of the Open Championship earlier than previously announced.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes writing in Press Box talks about the friendship that has developed between MASN’s Washington Nationals studio team of the great Johnny Holliday and Ray Knight.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog noticed that Democratic gargoyle strategist James Carville wore a Nats t-shirt on MSNBC over the weekend.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times has a look back at the weekend in sports television.

Mike Herndon of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register writes about the SEC releasing its early-season football TV schedule.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks back at the ten years since the failed US Olympic bids for the 2012 Games.

David imagines what if Houston had been awarded the 2012 Olympics.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says the Penn State scandal has been the talk of the town.

Matthew T. Hall at the San Diego Union-Tribune wants to organize a fan protest on the lack of movement on getting Padres games on local TV.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your weekly sports calendar.

Sports Media Watch looks at Bill Walton making his return to ESPN.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media suggests how the NHL Network can stop the inexorable amount of game reruns during the summer.

Cork Gaines from the Business Insider’s Sports Page says MLB Advanced Media gave a hollow apology for a system-wide outage preventing fans from watching MLB.TV online Friday.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says truTV has given the go to a Shaquille O’Neal-fronted viral video show.

This is where we’ll end the links for today.

Some Rare Sunday Linkage

It used to be that I would be able to provide linkage all seven days of the week, but my schedule has been crazy lately especially on the weekends. My apologies for not being able to provide more weekend content.

But as I’m free right now, let’s not dilly-dally any longer and here are some links for you on this Sunday.

Christoper S. Stewart of the Wall Street Journal looks at NBC’s massive undertaking to provide online content for NBCOlympics.com.

Eddie Kim of Variety says it’ll be consumers, not the television networks who will decide how second screen usage in sports viewing will evolve.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBC’s owned-and-operated will be sending reporters to cover the 2012 Olympics in London.

At The Sherman Report, Ed Sherman says ESPN Radio and Big Ten Network failed in covering the Louis Freeh report on Penn State and Joe Paterno.

Ed hears from fired San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Tim Sullivan who landed on his feet in Louisville.

The excellent ESPN.com college basketball writer Dana O’Neill has a response to those who feel female sportscasters must be hot in order to be on television, knowledge in sports be damned. Thanks to Trenni Kusnierek of WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee for the link.

The Associated Press has announced its Olympic coverage plans.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos looks at some of the more interesting ideas in sports and social media.

Sports Video Group has looks at the Olympic venues that we’ll be seeing over the 16 days of competition starting on July 27. Actually a couple of days earlier if you count the Soccer Tournament. Here’s Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Joe Favorito looks at the return of the New York Cosmos.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that despite a .500 season, NESN still drew viewers in the first half of the 2012 campaign.

Chad also has the Boston radio ratings for the Spring Arbitron book.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about baseball stadia increasingly putting out the welcome mat for soccer exhibition games to generate new revenue.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the Freeh Report on Penn State shows that football was above the law.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that the local NBC affiliate has a conflict with the Olympics and the New York Giants preseason opening game.

Pete has NFL Network’s extensive preseason game schedule.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says Giants fans will have to do a little searching for the team’s preseason games in August.

Ken has the Olympic Basketball Tournament viewing schedule.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News looks forward to hearing the dulcet tones of Peter Alliss on the Open Championship this week.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner recaps the local reaction to the release of the Penn State report.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times wonders if the future of talk radio lies with sports rather than politics.

Stephen F. Holder of the Times writes that the Buccaneers will adhere to the new NFL TV blackouts bucking what the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers and Tennessee Titans had already announced.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel writes that the MLB All-Star Game received its lowest local ratings since 2005.

Back to Ed Sherman, he has an article in today’s Chicago Tribune on NBC’s new thinking about presenting every Olympic event live online.

Eric Zorn of the Tribune remembers a blind sportscaster who did his job so well, many listeners had no idea he was sightless. Thanks to Ed Sherman for the link.

The Reno Gazette-Journal talks with ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that reports of Heather Cox replacing Erin Andrews on the sidelines for Saturday Night Football may be premature.

Sports Media Watch has a look at Fox’s primetime MLB ratings over its eight week span.

SMW says Detroit leads all local markets in the MLB ratings.

Paul M. Banks at the Sports Bank wonders if it’s time for Matt Millen to leave ESPN.

Media Rantz looks at the NFL teams deciding not to adhere to the new TV blackout rules.

EPL Talk has the schedule for some of exhibition soccer games on TV over the next few weeks.

And that’s going to complete our links for today. I hope to have another post for you later. I hope time will allow me to do so. It’ll be good, I promise.

Let’s Do Some Wednesday Links

Lots of stuff to get to. Let’s not waste time.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reports on ESPN’s signing of four of its NFL insiders to long-term contracts.

SI’s Tom Verducci gives us some myths and truths about the MLB All-Star Game.

Tim Kenneally of The Wrap says the All-Star Game won the night for Fox in overall ratings and younger demographics.

At the Biz of Baseball, Maury Brown notes how surprised he is about the MLB All-Star Game’s overnight ratings seeing an increase from last year despite being a blowout.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes about the All-Star Game’s increased overnight ratings from last year.

To the Daily Beast where Howard Kurtz says NBC is betting that you’ll watch the Olympics despite not knowing anything about the sports inside the Games.

Andy Fixmer and Alex Sherman at Bloomberg Businessweek note that NBC expects to draw many cable viewers to watch the Olympics online.

Meg Carter at Co-Create notes how BBC is attempting to build the very first social Olympic Games.

Radio World says Fox Sports Radio will have a big presence at the London Olympics.

The Big Lead continues to break sports media stories this year. First, it breaks news that Fox and possibly NBC are interested in hiring ESPN Sunday Night Baseball voice Dan Shulman.

And then Jason McIntyre of TBL reports that CBS is making overtures at ESPN Radio’s Doug Gottlieb to work on its new radio network, become a college basketball analyst and host a show on its cable network.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs wonders if the competition is out for blood in poaching ESPN’s talent.

Barstool Sports in Boston somehow got its hands on a video featuring New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft making an audition tape with his 30 year old aspiring actress girlfriend, Ricki Noel Linder.

The video has gone viral and Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio says Kraft has issued a statement on that video going public.

Isaac Rauch of Deadspin has an interesting story on how ESPN.com entertainment writer Lynn Hoppes has apparently lifted several passages from Wikipedia either verbatim or with very few changes and inserted them into his features.

Patrick Burns of Deadspin sees what subjects ESPN is devoting its time covering on SportsCenter.

Glenn Davis from SportsGrid has video of Fox & Friends criticizing the U.S. Olympic team’s Opening Ceremony attire as looking too French. Seriously?

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report is still suffering from Ozzie Guillen Fatigue and isn’t enthused about tonight’s Showtime premiere of “The Franchise: A Season with the Miami Marlins.”

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at MLB International delivering the All-Star Game to a worldwide audience.

Brian Stelter of the New York Times reports on the NBC and Facebook partnership for the 2012 Olympics.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says WPIX in New York will pick up an NFL Network Thursday Night Football game involving the defending Super Bowl champs, the New York Football Giants, in September.

Bob’s Blitz notes that ESPN Radio NY despite a new powerful FM signal fell further behind WFAN in the June Arbitron ratings period.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette looks at Fox’s ratings increase for this year’s MLB All-Star Game.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local college will be part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon in November.

Keith Groller from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says a local cable sports channel will be all over a Minor League Baseball All-Star Game this week.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says a former Texas native is coming home to work in the local market as a TV sportscaster.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman looks at the local weekend ratings.

Mark Alesia and Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star write that the Colts will adhere to the old NFL TV blackout rules and will not have games air in the local market unless a game is totally sold out. The NFL relaxed the rules to 85% this season.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that CBS’ Lesley Visser gets her chance to run in the Miller Park Sausage Race on Friday.

Jordan Kobritz of the Prescott (AZ) Daily Courier looks at the MLB TV rights negotiations.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail explores a popular English-language sports radio station in Montreal flipping to French leaving many fans in the cold.

Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette says English speaking sports fans have lost a voice to vent.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says the Home Run Derby had a big audience in Canada.

Sports Media Watch notes that the MLB All-Star Game had its second lowest overnight rating ever.

Joe Favorito looks at a very unique way a New York soccer team found a sponsor.

At the Broadcast Booth, Dave Kohl explores the reasons why the NFL slightly relaxed its TV blackout rules.

And that’s going to do it for today.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks

Time for Friday linkage.

The Weekend Viewing Picks have your sports and entertainment suggestions. Let’s get cracking.

National

Michael Hiestand from USA Today looks at TNT’s plans to go mostly split-screen during breaks for Saturday’s NASCAR race.

Tom Perrotta of the Wall Street Journal reports that the one Wimbledon souvenir the players want is the towel.

Alex Sherman at Bloomberg Businessweek talks with NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus about the Olympics.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says enhancing the NFL fan experience might bring more people to games.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report is happy to learn that Jeremy Schaap’s ESPN Radio show is now available as a podcast.

Bob Pockrass at The Sporting News says NASCAR hopes that NBC Sports will be a bidder for the sport’s TV rights.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says ESPN Deportes scored with the EURO 2012 Final last Sunday.

Mike says Golf Channel has selected the venue for the next season of “Big Break”.

Christopher Heine of Adweek says MLB’s allowing Twitter votes for the All-Star Game for the first time may have had a hand in deciding which league hosts the World Series.

Jason Del Ray of Advertising Age says the impending Turner Sports purchase of Bleacher Report makes sense.

Wayne Friedman at MediaPost says the NFL easing requirements on local TV blackouts shows the league wants to reach the casual fan.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group says ESPN will be utilizing plenty of microphones at the MLB Home Run Derby.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder has a screengrab of a Canadian TV station messing up the Steve Nash trade to the Lakers.

And Matt has found an episode of Judge Sapp. Yes, that’s Warren Sapp.

The Big Lead soaked up the latest Twitter battle between ESPN’s Darren Rovell and Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch.

MediaRantz looks at the top 5 ESPN plagiarism scandals.

Nick Bromberg of Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog wonders what is the big deal with the TNT/truTV simulcast of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup race on Saturday.

Joe Favorito likes how MLS has adopted “Food Week” to get fans to explore its markets’ restaurants.

East and Mid-Atlantic

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen says it was time for Erin Andrews to leave the ESPN Mothership.

Jerry Barmsah of Fishbowl NY says CBS Radio’s WFAN could be headed to FM and could take the Yankees with it.

Yes, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, we know you hate ESPN.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for ESPN tennis analyst Brad Gilbert.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says the MLB Extra Innings pay per view package will be free next week.

Don Laible of the Utica (NY) Observer-Dispatch talks with the NHL on NBC’s Dave Strader about calling Olympic basketball.

Ken says a local minor league baseball team has found a new radio home.

Dave Sottile of the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News says there are no plans to bring Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic to the local area.

Tim Richardson in Press Box looks at the differences between the Washington Nationals and MASN over the team’s TV rights fee.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Chris Rose.

South

Kyle Veazey of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal says a popular local sports radio host is changing stations.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron writes that the new Comcast SportsNet Houston will air Conference USA football featuring the University of Houston.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says MLB feels it has restored integrity to the All-Star Game. It’s an exhibition game!

Paul M. Banks of the Chicago Sports Media Watch wonders who had the best mock NBA Draft?

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says the new TV voice of the Minnesota Wild will have an exciting team to call this season.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about Erin Andrews making her Fox debut next week.

Dan writes that Blues analyst Darren Pang turned down a full-time offer from TSN and will remain in St. Louis.

West

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this harsh takedown of Erin Andrews.

Here’s Tom’s column which has a little more on the last post.

Tom also links to reaction to his Erin Andrews column.

Matt Rudnitsky of SportsGrid replies point-by-point to Hoffarth.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes about Erin Andrews joining Fox.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star talks with Fox’s Joe Buck on the challenges of calling the MLB All-Star Game.

Jim has his Weekend Viewing Picks.

Matthew T. Hall at the San Diego Union-Tribune wonders where’s the fan outrage in the Fox Sports San Diego-Time Warner Cable dispute leaving Padres games off TV.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News tries to clear up some confusion over the Pac-12 Network.

And that will conclude our links for today.

Jonesing For Tuesday Linkage

Ok, maybe you’re not jonesing for the linkage, but at least you can read them at your leisure. Sometimes I think way too long about the title of the post and this is the case today. Anyway, let’s get to the links.

Joel Schectman of the Wall Street Journal reports that NBC and Google are preparing for possible hacking or denial of service attacks of online Olympic streams next month.

Lindsay Rubino at Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBC with U.S. Olympic Trials coverage in Track & Field, Swimming and Gymnastics won primetime on Sunday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says ESPN and ESPN2 are seeing huge ratings gains from Wimbledon.

Mike writes that NBC Sports Group has expanded its commitment to its Fight Night.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek says Fox Sports has sold out its ad inventory for the MLB All-Star Game.

Crupi says NBC scored with the U.S. Olympic Trials over the last week and a half.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost says if Sunday is any indication, NBC should do really well with the Olympics later this month.

George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter notes that BBC’s sports broadcasts of EURO 2012 and Wimbledon are leaving rival ITV in the ratings dust.

Nat Ives from Advertising Age notes that NBC and Sports Illustrated are teaming up for a monthly show.

Sam Marmudi of Marketwatch.com says NBC is getting ready for an Olympic takeover.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! writes that MLB’s antiquated blackout policy is hurting the sport.

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com says the media could be allowed to see the college football playoff selection process.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times writes that Erin Andrews is another example of ESPN losing another big name star.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks about why it’s important for Fox to have Erin Andrews make her debut next week at the MLB All-Star Game.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group says ESPN plans to change its production model of the X Games as it expands globally.

Darren Rovell bids farewell to CNBC.

At the ESPN PR Front Row blog, Mike Humes says the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest brings back memories for college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla.

Timothy Burke of Deadspin notes that Texas Rangers TV voice Dave Barnett who had a strange on-air moment last month, will be taking a medical leave for the rest of the season.

Andy Smith of the Providence Journal writes that almost a million people watched the America’s Cup World Series races on NBC over the weekend.

To Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, who looks at the on-going MLB TV rights negotiations. Some interesting news from Richard in the article.

Newsday’s Neil Best discusses MLB All-Star voting with Commissioner Bud Selig and Fox’s Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Bob’s Blitz has video of some of the WFAN gang with CBS Radio bigwigs ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange last week.

The Albany Times-Union’s Pete Dougherty says the PGA’s AT&T National on CBS set a six year ratings high.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record reports that NESN National is available to local Verizon Fios subscribers.

Ken says NBA TV is gearing up for Summer League games.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Bog has ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian predicting good things for the Nationals.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel recaps Erin Andrews’ appearance on the Dan Patrick Show today.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Samantha Steele of the Longhorn Network could be the beneficiary of Erin Andrews’ departure from ESPN.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks about Dave Barnett’s decision to take a medical leave from calling the Texas Rangers.

Gregg Tunnicliff of the Flint (MI) Journal talks with a long-time racing commentator.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has MLB Commissioner Bud Selig not having a problem with the sudden surge of fan voting from the Bay Area for the All-Star Game.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says the Pac-12 Network is set to launch in 40 million homes next month.

Michael Gehiken of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the eased NFL blackout rules probably won’t affect the Chargers this coming season.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news on the U.S. Olympic Trials and Baseball Night in America.

SMW notes that Wimbledon as an all-cable event is performing on par with last year.

Jason Lisk at The Big Lead is happy to note that ESPN blowhard Skip Bayless is wrong about racial profiling American white players in the NBA Draft.

Matt Yoder has some thoughts on ESPN’s EURO 2012 coverage.

Joe Favorito wonders if brands can make their Olympic sponsorship gambles pay off despite not having a name athlete to cling to.

And we’ll wrap up with Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth who looks back at WFAN’s 25 years in operation.

And we’re done.

A Rare Saturday Sports Media Thoughts Post

Usually late Friday afternoon/early evening is reserved for news that needs to be buried, but with some surprising breaking sports media news, it causes your humble blogger to write some rare Saturday sports media thoughts. On the sports media beat, one never knows when news can break and that is certainly the case here.

As usual, they come in bullet form.

• Kudos to Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who broke the story Friday that Fox Sports had emerged as a potential suitor for Erin Andrews’ services. Then shortly afterwards, ESPN’s Army of Public Relations personnel tweeted that Erin had indeed departed the network. And while it was speculated that Erin would stay at ESPN based on little to no offers from other networks, it seems that Fox Sports recently stepped to the plate and brought what she was looking for.

  The co-author of “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN”, James Andrew Miller put out a series of tweets shortly after the news broke Friday and explained why ESPN chose not to pursue Andrews. According to Miller, talks between ESPN and Erin had broken down even before Fox had made overtures to her.

  And Miller tweeted that ESPN’s offer for Andrews to stay was in essence the same duties that she had had since 2010, host of College GameDay’s first hour during football season and sideline reporter for Saturday Night Football and Primetime college basketball.

  It was reported that Erin was interested in the Monday Night Football sideline reporter’s position, but she was passed over in favor of Lisa Salters. And ESPN had grown weary of Erin’s star status outside of the network. And the network doesn’t like its employees to grow bigger than the ESPN brand.

  Bristol doesn’t want to be star factory. It wants loyal Workers, e.g. @BobLeyESPN@cmckendry_espn @mortreport John Anderson @sagesteele.

  — James Andrew Miller (@ESPNBook) June 30, 2012

  As far as Fox is concerned, if the reports are true that it’s in line to sign Erin, then it would be a big move. At this point in her career, she wants something other than roaming the sidelines. With Fox Sports airing Big 12/Pac-12 college football games in primetime this fall, I would think the network would look to her to host in the studio or from game sites.

  Jim Miller says unlike ESPN, Fox would embrace Erin Andrews as a star and brand.

  Fox would value @ErinAndrews as brand more than ESPN. Bristol didn’t place premium on DWTS, GMA gigs, mag photos,or her commercial success.

  — James Andrew Miller (@ESPNBook) June 30, 2012

  Is it a good move? I believe it is. She’ll get to branch out and possibly wean herself off the sidelines. And if Erin wants to be in entertainment, there are possibilities within the Fox family to do other things than sports.

• This week, NBC finally unveiled its list of announcers and hostsfor the 2012 Olympics in London Olympics. Many are holdovers from past Games like Dan Hicks, Rowdy Gaines, Tom Hammond, Ted Robinson, Tim Ryan, Andrew Catalon, etc. However, in this new era of Comcast ownership of NBCUniversal, there are plenty of new announcers for the Olympics. And talent has been tapped from the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates.

  For instance, Carolyn Manno (Sports Desk Anchor), Mike Gorman (Handball) and Donny Marshall (Basketball) come from CSN New England. Marshall Harris (Sports Desk Anchor) works at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. Bob Fitzgerald (Basketball play-by-play) and Jim Kozimorare from Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.

  This is just the tip of the iceberg for CSN. I would think we’ll see more Comcast SportsNet talent on future Olympics.

  As for other announcers, no longer do we have people loaned from ESPN like Mike Breen who called basketball in 2000, 2004 and 2008. There’s less of a dependence on Turner Sports although Craig Sager returns to the basketball sidelines without his loud wardrobe.

  Overall, I don’t have too many issues with the talent selection although I would have liked to have seen Mike Gorman who calls the Boston Celtics to be tapped for basketball.

• Sunday is WFAN’s 25th anniversary and this week, the station has been celebrating its influence as the nation’s first sports radio station. Back when it first launched on July 1, 1987, there were many skeptics. Media observers thought there was no way people could stand listening to sports 24/7. And in the first few months, WFAN’s future was quite shaky. Its first hosts including Greg Gumbel and Jim Lampley had national reputations. But WFAN found its voice by focusing on local sports, hiring talk show hosts with New York ties and realizing fans wanted to talk about their teams and athletes.
  
  There were big moments like WFAN moving its frequency from 1050 to 660 AM where it could be heard clearly at night throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Plus, Don Imus staying on the 660 AM frequency from WNBC gave the station huge credibility. However, the biggest move for New York sports radio was the pairing of Mike Francesa and Chris Russo to form “Mike and the Mad Dog”. The two were Type “A” personalities who wanted to host shows solo, but after they realized fans liked their banter and arguments, the two remained together from 1989 until 2008 when Russo accepted an offer from SiriusXM Radio to create his own station. For 19 years, the two were the show to listen to. And while they had their arguments, there’s no doubting their chemistry. Whenever the two pair up as they did again on Friday for a way too short 20 minute segment, it was as if they had never split.

  Once the sports radio format proved viable, other markets followed, Philadelphia, San Diego, Chicago and Boston. Sports radio is so successful that some markets now have as many as four or five stations.

  But WFAN started it all and it remains influential. Its format for sports updates every 20 minutes has been copied all over the country. Other stations have multiple hosts for shows sometimes even using as many as three hosts for one program. And CBS and NBC now want to create national sports talk networks of their own.

  Happy Anniversary to WFAN. May it last another 25 years.

And that will conclude the thoughts for today.

It’s A Friday Megalink Day

And can you believe I’ve been able to do linkage for most of the week? Hasn’t been like that in a long while. Glad I’ve been able to get it done.

Time for your Friday megalinks. As usual, we provide the Weekend Viewing Picks which has plenty of MLB and U.S. Olympic Trials action.

Let’s go to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at ESPN extending its current deal with the Rose Bowl.

Michael looks at Erin Andrews’ departure from ESPN.

Sports Business Journal has a sampling of what some sports business and sports media figures addressed to the graduating Class of 2012 at the nation’s colleges and universities.

At the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman explores the strange dispute between the Arizona Diamondbacks and TV voice Daron Sutton.

Ed also notes some media bashing of Chris Berman a few months in advance of his Monday Night Football debut.

Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the BBC has launched a new Facebook app to allow UK users to watch the Olympics online.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable says the Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling throwing out the FCC fine against CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Man, that was a long time ago.

Tim Baysinger of B&C says NASCAR Digital Media has hired five executives in advance of the sport’s takeover of its digital rights from Turner Sports next year.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes ESPN’s X Games production evolution.

The Nielsen Wire blog ponders the question of whether NBA Draft picks can do well in marketing products.

Deadline reports that ESPN’s ratings for the EURO 2012 semifinals this week are way up from EURO 2008.

One more week of writing, “CNBC’s Darren Rovell”. Today, CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that with less than a month to go until the Olympics, a major ticket dispute has erupted.

Joe Favorito notes how Delta Airlines’ sponsorship of English Premier League team Chelsea shows that the company wants to go outside of the US to gain awareness.

Sports Media Watch has a look at some of NBC’s Olympic assignments for London.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN and Bill Simmons removed a potential offensive part of his NBA Draft diary that is way too long for anyone to read.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing has the winners and losers from Thursday’s night’s NBA Draft coverage on ESPN.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes about a documentary on an Olympic hopeful who is attempting to gain a spot on the US women’s gymnastics team.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette talks with the Voice of the Worcester Tornadoes minor league baseball team.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN’s Mike Francesa on whether he’ll return to the station when his contract expires in two years.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post is not happy about Chris Berman calling Monday Night Football.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that local sports anchor Andrew Catalon gets another Olympics assignment.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that the NBA Draft’s ratings on ESPN were down from the year before.

Pete looks at 25 years of WFAN.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record analyzes the NBC Olympic assignments.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks about the later start time for the NFL national Sunday afternoon game.

Keith has some fun facts about WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com says Philadelphia Union voice JP Dellacamera will be calling Olympic soccer games for NBC.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes in Press Box says the Baltimore Orioles’ ratings on MASN are up.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the Nationals’ radio ratings.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner speaks with NBC’s Phil Liggett about the Tour de France which kicks off this weekend.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald culls media opinions regarding the Heat’s chances to repeat.

Jimmie E. Gates of the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger says a lawsuit against ESPN over a 30 for 30 documentary can proceed in state court.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says the Rockets are changing radio stations.

David writes the person who helped launch Houston’s original regional sports network will be part of the team that launches the city’s newest RSN.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says a local sports radio network will be slightly affiliated with the new CBS Sports Radio.

More links later.

UPDATE, 9:20 p.m.: Time for more linkage.

Midwest

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says Fox has replaced Daron Sutton from this Saturday’s Arizona-Brewers game.

Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune says WMAQ sports anchor Mike Adamle who’s been on leave from the station is expected to return soon.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin goes over the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2012 series.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times talks with TBS’ Cal Ripken about the MLB All-Star Game.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star rails against the current format of the All-Star Game.

Jim reviews some of this week’s sports media news in his notebook.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL has laid down guidelines for the league to return to the nation’s second biggest market.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News isn’t thrilled about NBC pulling tape delayed shenanigans for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Tom has more notes in his blog.

And we are finally done.

Breaking Out Some Wednesday Linkage

Time for some Wednesday links. Won’t be a full set as I’ll be monitoring NBC’s Olympic conference call.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio discusses Chris Berman heading to the Monday Night Football booth for two games.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says national nightmare Berman in the booth is not what NFL fans want.

Doug Farrar of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says it isn’t Berman who we should be worried about.

Matt writes about ESPN replacing Craig James on Thursday Night college football.

Michael Smith in Sports Business Daily writes that the PGA has a new sponsor for its developmental tour.

Scott Foxborough at the Hollywood Reporter notes the huge increase for EURO 2012′s ratings on ESPN from the last event four years ago.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says MLB Network has upgraded its production control room for its signature MLB Tonight show.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the Sportsman Channel is gaining ground for its HD network.

Patrick Hipes of Deadline notes the TV bidding for the new college football playoff system to begin with the 2014 season will be worth beaucoup bucks.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report talks with the former owner of WFAN and how it was a risk to start an all-sports radio station 25 years ago.

Ed says no matter what you think of him, Don Imus’ move to WFAN helped save the sports radio format and sent it flying to new heights.

Ed says ESPN’s public relations blog fired salvos on behalf of ESPN Radio at CBS and NBC.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group says Fox Sports Net has developed an MLB app for second screens.

In GoLocalProv, former WBZ-TV anchor Bob Lobel gives one of the greatest moments in his career when he brought Boston legends Bobby Orr, Larry Bird and Ted Williams together for one show. I watched that when it happened. It was a great show.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN 20/20 Sports update man John Minko.

Jerry also talks with another WFAN original, Steve Somers who schmoozes S-P-O-R-T-S every night.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes about Chris Berman and Trent Dilfer being teamed for two Monday Night Football games.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says Nationals’ ratings on MASN are way up from last season.

Barry Jackson from the Miami Herald reviews LeBron James’ appearance on Late Show with David Letterman last night.

Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic talks about the strange removal of Daron Sutton from Diamondbacks broadcasts.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com says the Diamondbacks have suspended Sutton for “insubordination” and won’t say anything more.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that the Pac-12 won the most NCAA Championships this academic year.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if it’s soccer time to shine in Canada and the U.S.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at CBC and CTV dropping their joint bid for the 2014/16 Olympics.

Sports Media Watch looks into the move to put Chris Berman into the Monday Night Football booth.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says bitter little hedgehog Danny Sheridan is buying Twitter followers.

Dave Kohl in The Broadcast Booth talks about multiple national sports radio networks.

And that’s going to do it today. Had to cut the links short because today will be quite busy. Leaving the afternoon free for the NBC Olympics announcements.

Our Monday Linkage

Let’s do some links on a rainy Monday in Southern New England.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at NFL Network’s new morning show.

Michael says ESPN has not confirmed whether Chris Berman will call a Monday Night Football game on the opening weekend of the season.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that CBS is about 80% sold for the Super Bowl.

Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal says Pepsi has signed a deal to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes notes that the Miami Heat is on the verge of getting a huge deal with Fox Sports Florida.

Former ESPN First Take co-host Dana Jacobsen writes in her blog that she was molested as a child. Courageous for her to speak publicly about this.

Scott Roxborough and Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter note that yesterday’s Italy-England EURO 2012 Quarterfinal game became the highest-rated and most watched game of the tournament in Europe.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at ESPN going all in at Wimbledon.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age wonders now that LeBron James has won a championship, will he reach Michael Jordan levels in marketing?

Staci D. Kramer of paidContent says ESPN’s streaming of the NBA Finals drew a decent audience.

Ed Sherman from the Sherman Report writes that sportswriter Frank Deford will appear on tonight’s Colbert Report.

The Big Lead looks at alleged bias by the HBO Boxing crew from the Manny Pacquaio-Timothy Bradley fight.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing reviews the train wreck that was Charlie Sheen’s guest appearance on Fox Saturday.

Matt analyzes the moves by CBS and NBC to create their own sports radio networks.

Dylan Murphy at SportsGrid says a French soccer player cursed out a reporter after the team’s loss at EURO 2012 last week.

Also from SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty notes that Oprah Winfrey will interview LeBron James and the Miami Heat this weekend which has train wreck potential written all over it.

Evan Weiner at Examiner.com writes that the NFL has a long way to go to get a foothold in Europe.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with some of the people who have worked at WFAN during its past 25 years.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says college presidents’ pleas to pray for the Jerry Sandusky abuse victims ring hollow. Did Phil want them to go to Jerry Sandusky’s jail cell and shoot him dead?

And Phil goes after his favorite target, WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN Operations Manager Mark Chernoff about the nation’s oldest radio station turning 25.

Jerry says a 1010 WINS sports anchor wants to go after those who mispronounce “Wimbledon”.

Bob’s Blitz has the WFAN 25th Anniversary lineup for this Sunday.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says a New York-Penn League minor league baseball team won’t have a radio partner this year.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that ESPN will be providing a lot of tennis action over the next fortnight.

At Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks talks with Danica Patrick about her transition from IndyCar to NASCAR.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes about ESPN’s extensive Wimbledon coverage.

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

Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune says all of San Diego State’s football games will be seen on TV, the question is where?

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail suggests that the NHL expand Hockey Night in Canada to Sundays.

Raju Mudhar with the Toronto Star writes about technology and sports melding together.

At Frontstretch, Amy Henderson writes that TV is actually hurting NASCAR and turning fans off.

Back to Paul M. Banks at the Sports Bank and he has video of ESPN’s Jenn Brown taking batting practice at the College World Series.

MediaRantz reviews WFAN at 25.

MediaRantz says noted Florida sports radio bad boy Dan Sileo could be headed to the new CBS Sports Radio.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says NBC’s shuffle of the NHL Draft wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Sports Media Watch says the NBA Finals’ ratings were down from last year.

SMW writes that MLB on Fox took a hit opposite the U.S. Open.

But SMW says this past weekend, MLB on Fox did significantly better.

Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo’s The Dagger blog writes that ESPN expects to replace analyst Hubert Davis with Jalen Rose on College GameDay.

Paul Magno at Yahoo says boxing may return to network TV as Oscar de la Hoya tries to bring a fight to CBS.

Kris Hughes at Rant Sports asks if Time Warner Cable could purchase the Longhorn Network from ESPN?

Gaslamp Ball talks with the head of Fox Sports San Diego.

And that will do us for today.

A Few Sports Media Bullet Points

Ok, as we’re all in denial over the Miami Heat winning the NBA Championship, it’s time for a few sports media thoughts. Too many things to go over, but I’ll do my best to cover as many things as I can.

As always, we do them in bullet form. And to drown out the thoughts of LeBron James celebrating, I’m listening to Korn on my iPad at the highest volume.

• Over 24 hours since first learning about Darren Rovell’s decision to leave CNBC for ESPN and I’m still baffled. Now, over all the sports media free agents I’ve mentioned or heard about for 2012, Darren’s name never came up. Darren who started his career at ESPN and left for CNBC in 2006 seemed to be happy with the NBCUniversal, having his own show on NBC Sports Network, his own CNBC site, and occasional appearances on NBC Sports events.

  But when the Worldwide Leader comes a’calling, you have to listen. Deadspin reported Thursday that Disney will pay Rovell $500,000 to file reports for both ABC News and ESPN.

  I don’t know if he’ll have his own show as he did with NBC Sports Network, I tend to doubt it. But the timing is rather interesting. Just after getting the sports business show that he had been clamoring, Darren leaves.

  ESPN has made a few recent sports business hires including Kristi Dosh and Michelle Steele. I wonder if ESPN is making a concerted effort to cover sports business again.

  And as we know, Darren is a prolific tweeter. Will his penchant for Twitter be controlled under ESPN’s social media policy? I’m sure this will all be addressed down the line.

• CBS Radio’s announcement that it was launching a sports radio network came as a surprise. The timing came just ten days after NBC announced it was launching a radio network of its own.

  This makes an already crowded radio scene even more so. Considering you have ESPN which has been firmly established since the 1990′s, Fox Sports Radio, Yahoo and even the Sports USA Radio Network, one wonders if there’s enough room for one more national radio net let alone two.

  Personally, I love to see more networks because competition can only lead to better programming, however, economic realities tell you that one of these fledgling entities may not make it.

  The eyeball test from the outset shows that CBS has the best infrastructure having already established sports stations in several major markets that will be part of CBS Sports Radio. Plus teaming with Cumulus Media’s 67 stations cross the country helps the reach.

  As for NBC, it’s just getting back into the radio business after General Electric had sold the Radio Network to Westwood One and its entire radio station group to various owners. It will partner with the former Westwood One now known as Dial Global.

  The question is whether this will lead to a bidding war for sports properties. ESPN Radio has the BCS, MLB and the NBA while Dial Global has the NFL, NCAA Championships and The Masters.

  Suddenly radio is red hot once again and I like it. And as SportsbyBrooks pointed out, it could lead to more poaching of ESPN talent by CBS and NBC to fill programming slots.

• I was disappointed to learn that Radio Wimbledon will not be handling the worldwide audio play-by-play of the Championships Wimbledon starting next week.

  Last October, Wimbledon’s parent, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club accepted a bid from IMG to take over the radio rights to call the matches. The new entity called Live@Wimbledon will be using some, but not all of Radio Wimbledon’s team. Over the years, Radio Wimbledon had been the only link to live tennis when NBC was pulling its tape delay shenanigans. Unfortunately, despite Radio Wimby attracting 2.7 million listeners in 2011, the AELTC decided to take IMG’s money and ruin a very good service for the fortnight.

  Radio Wimbledon will be missed.

• As Sports Business Journal reported this week, Fox Sports has begun talks with NASCAR in hopes of extending its current contract. It expires in 2014.

  As Fox has been successful in obtaining rights to the FIFA World Cup, Big 12 and Pac-12, the thinking behind many of these acquisitions has been to play keep away from NBC Sports Group. You know that with NASCAR rights in play, NBC Sports would love nothing more than to add inventory to NBCSN.

  If Fox is successful, it leaves only TNT’s mid-season Sprint Cup races and ESPN’s Chase for the Cup races being up for grabs. And both Turner and ESPN want to prevent NBC from grabbing their packages.

  With MLB, NASCAR, the Big East and the NBA negotiations all unsettled thus far, NBC still has a chance to lure one if not all to its war chest.

• Lastly, the aforementioned SportsbyBrooks tweeted that Chris Berman will call the late game for Monday Night Football’s season opening doubleheader on September 10. And in addition, he’ll call one preseason game as practice. If you thought the venom towards Berman is bad when he calls the U.S. Open or the All-Star Home Run Derby, just wait until he does the NFL. It’s probably best that ESPN public relations stay off social media on the nights Berman calls the NFL.

And that will conclude the thoughts. Enjoy your Friday.

Some Thursday Links

After an outage that ruined things from Sunday through Tuesday and being busy yesterday, my goal to have links every day this week has gone out the window. However, I can get a few links out to you today.

Let’s get to them.

Starting with Ed Sherman from the Sherman Report who talks with ESPN resident Prince of Darkness Vince Doria who not only hates Twitter, but is concerned that the social media site could bring “diminished standards.” No, hiring Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith brings “diminished standards.”

Ed feels ESPN’s hiring of Darren Rovell away from CNBC is a good move for all sides.

Christopher Botta and John Ourand from Sports Business Journal write that despite having ratings downturns for the NHL Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final, NBC and its sponsors are happy with the results.

Christopher notes that a budding Northwest US MLS rivalry is bringing excellent sponsor activation in the region.

At the Bleacher Report, Dan Levy asks ESPN to respond to the heavy viewer criticism brought forth to the network every time Chris Berman does the U.S. Open.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says the ESPN Family is doing well with EURO 2012.

Peter Kafka at All Things Digital writes that the on-again/off-again Turner purchase of the Bleacher Report seems to be on again. I promise my friends over at Bleacher Report that I won’t publish the Tsunami screengrab like Deadspin does.

Speaking of Deadspin, John Koblin tells us that CNBC’s Darren Rovell, will be getting $500,000 from Disney to work at ESPN and ABC News.

The Big Lead notes that Jalen Rose will be heading to the basketball version of ESPN’s College Gameday.

Simon Dumenico of Advertising Age notes the high amount of Tweets devoted to Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Media Life Magazine notes NBC’s ratings for last weekend’s US Open.

Evan Weiner at Examiner.com says while Roger Clemens was acquitted by a jury of his peers, he still has to get by the Hall of Fame jury known as the Baseball Writers of America.

Lance Venta at Radio Insight reports that with CBS Radio starting a new sports network, ESPN Radio will lose two affiliates in Florida.

To espnW where Amanda Rykoff went to an event which honored women in sports business including Kim Williams, the Chief Operating Officer of NFL Network.

Matt Rudnitsky at SportsGrid says today is D-Day for many Sports Illustrated employees. Godspeed to them.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group looks at how TNT tries to expand the fan experience during its six NASCAR Sprint Cup productions.

Jerry Barmash of FishbowlNY talks with MSG Network’s Walt “Clyde” Frazier about his popularity among Knicks fans.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says SNY’s Gary Cohen will be taking two rare days off this week.

Ken says WFAN will be airing Team USA Olympic basketball games.

And Ken talks about the launch of CBS Sports Radio.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says the Philadelphia Phillies’ troubles have become fodder for the local talk shows.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that the city is about to get its 5th sports radio station thanks to the new CBS Sports Radio.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says Game 4 of the NBA Finals set another local ratings record.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds’ ratings are up and they’re being noticed by Fox Sports.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Brewers analyst Bill Schroeder will work Saturday’s game against the White Sox for a different audience.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper guest tweeted on the White Sox official account this week.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily has begun a list of the top sports media voices of the landmark Title IX that gave women the opportunity to play sports. His first honoree is sports broadcasting pioneer Donna de Varona. Next is Mary Carillo. She’s followed by Ann Ligouri. Pam Ward is next. Basketball Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale follows. Read about Jeannine Edwards. Then look at the bio of Christine Brennan. Then there’s Michele Tafoya. Then Jamie Little. Next is Suzy Kolber. And she’s followed by Sally Jenkins. Great stuff by Tom.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that the NHL doesn’t want Maple Leafs rightsholders Rogers and Bell to form a consortium to bid for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada and they’ve been told to provide separate bids.

Michael Hill from Dolce Vita magazine profiles CTV Olympic host Brian Williams (not to be confused with NBC’s Brian Williams) about the many Games he has hosted over the years for either CBC or CTV.

Sports Media Watch speculates that NBC could be moving its NHL Game of the Week to Saturday afternoons for the 2012-13 season.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page has a slideshow on ESPN’s Erin Andrews who remains a free agent at this time.

Joe Favorito looks at the NBA possibly shutting the door on its players participating in the Olympics.

And that will do it for us today for the links.

Cranking Out Some Friday Megalinks

Ok, linkage has been really scarce over the last month and a half and I apologize for that. My schedules have been quite busy and it’s been tough to sit down for the time it takes to gather the links. I hope that changes over the next month or so.

I have some National links for you right now. I’ll follow up with more stuff later.

Here are the Weekend Viewing Picks for you.

National

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with the people at the Poynter Institute who are the ESPN Ombudsman.

Nate Davis at USA Today’s The Huddle has the Miami Dolphins not so enthusiastic about being on Hard Knocks this season.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with ESPN’s Sean McDonough who will undergo brain surgery later this year.

Ira Boudwell of Bloomberg Businessweek says ESPN is getting out of the high school sports business saying it’s not broad enough.

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski says this week’s blowout between David Stern and Jim Rome proves that the NBA Commissioner needs to go.

John Ourand of Sports Business Daily says Fox Sports San Diego is launching an ad campaign against Time Warner Cable which has still not picked up the regional sports network.

Good Morning America’s and former ESPN SportsCenter host Robin Roberts says she will beat the rare blood disorder that will require a bone marrow transplant.

Michael O’Connell of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the NBA Finals are pacing ABC to good ratings this week.

At Broadcasting & Cable, Tim Baysinger writes that this week’s Dream Team documentary gave NBA TV its best viewership ever.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says GolTV scored with this week’s soccer international friendly match between Brazil and Argentina.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life reports that NBC will debut two new sitcoms right smack dab in the middle of the Olympics.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report looks at the geriatric broadcasting team calling the NBA Finals for ESPN Radio.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid notes that even after the winning the Stanley Cup this week, the Los Angeles Kings still aren’t getting respect from the local media.

Former Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio returns to his former stomping grounds to do a massive takedown of Jay “The Rat” Mariotti.

Also from Deadspin, John Koblin writes that there doesn’t seem to be a clamoring for Erin Andrews beyond ESPN.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group says NBA TV and NBA Entertainment are appealing to the hardcore basketball fan for their Finals coverage.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead says Sports Illustrated could be laying off part of its staff.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has tweets from people who hated Chris Berman on the U.S. Open yesterday.

Sports Media Watch notes that this year’s Stanley Cup Final did not resonate with viewers.

SMW also has some various ratings news and notes.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that Brooklyn Nets gear is selling very well.

MediaRantz tells us that Sean Salisbury will be getting a new internet radio gig.

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Time for more linkage here.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe reports that May was a very good month for sports radio station WEEI as it finished ahead of 98.5 The Sports Hub.

At SB Nation, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch writes about golfer David Duval taking a turn in the broadcast tower at the U.S. Open.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette discusses Johnny Miller holding court for NBC at the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco this week.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with ESPN college baseball analyst Kyle Petersen who will be introducing many Long Islanders to the College World Series today.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after the Yankees for pricing out fans from the “Beautiful People” seats at Yankee Stadium.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY notes that SNY will unveil the all-time Mets team at a gala event on Sunday.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says the US Women’s National Soccer Team will be on TV and the web this weekend.

Ken says local Time Warner Cable subscribers will have access to the new Pac-12 Networks this summer.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says NBC Sports Group has announced the 2012 Summer at Saratoga schedule.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union talks with Jim Rome who marks his 16th year in New York’s Capital Region.

Pete says one of harness racing’s famous races changes networks this year.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call profiles a local cable TV sports reporter who is filling a double role this summer.

Keith has more on her in his blog.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes that a decision on the Washington Nationals TV rights has been delayed.

South

Barry Jackson from the Miami Herald has some NBA Finals Game 2 postgame reaction as well as Jon Barry saying he’s not a Miami Heat Hater.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Fox Sports Houston was well-prepared and staffed for Wednesday’s perfect game thrown against the Astros by Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman writes that ESPN on ABC was all over the non-foul call against the Thunder’s Kevin Durant during Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

The Oklahoman rounds up what sports reporters are saying on Twitter about the NBA Finals.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says an all-star high school football game will be shown locally this weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN is dropping its high school sports operation.

Bob criticizes Jim Rome for his questioning of NBA Communist China Sympathizer David Stern.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch says Cubs announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenly were silent when comedian Jeff Garlin brought up trading Alfonso Soriano.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin notes the rare occurrence of the U.S. Open and the NBA Finals going head-to-head on TV this Father’s Day.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that viewers of Fox Sports Midwest may need a scorecard to tell who’s in the Cardinals TV booth over the next few days.

Dan notes that next week will mark a decade since the passing of Jack Buck and Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile.

West

Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman says this fall’s Boise State-Southern Mississippi game will get the Fox treatment.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says Utahans are nervous about getting the Pac-12 Networkcomparing it to their experience with the ill-fated the mtn.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that Fox Sports San Diego has set its sights squarely on Time Warner Cable.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star says ESPN’s NBA Countdown show seems to work fine without a host.

Jim talks with NBC’s Johnny Miller about the U.S. Open.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times says Game 2 of the NBA Finals drew a good overnight number for ABC.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with former Kings voices about the Stanley Cup victory.

Tom has some more in his blog.

Canada

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin blames both Jim Rome and David Stern for their ugly exchange this week.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog says the NBA and NHL Commissioners are taking it on their chins this week.

And that’s going to do it.

Some Back To Work Tuesday Linkage

Back to work for many of you after the Memorial Day holiday. Because of my crazy schedule, I didn’t get to enjoy it, but you don’t care about that. Let’s do links.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that Cox Communications has dropped the New Orleans Hornets allowing Fox Sports to swoop up the rights.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News takes a look at the US TV coverage of the French Open.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that UK’s Channel 4 plans extensive coverage of the 2012 London Paralympics which will be held two weeks after the Summer Olympics.

Tim Nudd of Adweek reviews the latest WatchESPN spot.

Alex Weprin of TVNewser reports that HBO’s Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel will co-host Live with Kelly next week.

Evan Weiner at Examiner.com explains how NBC’s huge rights fee effectively ended Qatar’s bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report interviews legendary sportswriter Frank Deford.

Ed writes that USA Today’s Sports section is changing its reporting strategy.

Media Rantz remembers the Marv Albert arrest 15 years later. Disclosure: I’m quoted in this very well-researched article.

Will Brinson at CBSSports.com writes that Showtime/NFL Films has quietly dumped Warren Sapp from “Inside the NFL”, however, he remains on NFL Network.

Evan Sporer of SportsGrid has the great video of a soldier home from Afghanistan surprising his daughters at Sunday’s Minnesota Twins game. It has nothing to do with sports media. I’m just a huge sucker for reunion videos.

Chadd Scott at ChuckOliver.net explores how TV money has led to the “Wal-Martization” of college football.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing notes that former ESPN college football crackpot Craig James is running below “Undecided” in the Texas U.S. Senate Republican primary. Always a good place to be when trying to run a successful campaign.

Bob’s Blitz says former Miami sports radio talker Sid Rosenberg has a new gig.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick actually heaps praise this morning. And he does it to Hall of Fame hockey voice Mike Emrick.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable will air some local high school lacrosse playoff games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the NBA Draft Lottery will air from New York’s Times Square for the first time ever.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that apparently NFL Network will no longer air CFL games.

Ken adds that there’s no New York City radio home of the 2012 Olympics as of yet.

Ken provides the Compass Media college football schedule for the 2012 season.

And Ken has the Sports USA college football schedule as well.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times looks back at the weekend that was in sports television.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes that embattled South Florida sports radio talk show Sid Rosenberg is about to start a new gig.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a local sports radio station is about to acquire a rival FM station.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News says TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal spent some time talking to a local TV station and defending his co-hort Charles Barkley.

Roy Bragg of the Express-News says the Chuckster was glad to meet the peeps in San Antonio on Monday.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch has some linkage of his own to provide.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune talks with Utah Jazz TV voice Craig Bolerjack.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post looks at the mtn.: The Final Days.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that a hockey primer from 1993 still holds true today.

Steve Ladurantaye from the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Rogers and TSN are smelling blood and plan to bid for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada package.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail says Rogers Sportsnet has snatched IndyCar rights away from TSN.

The Canadian Sports Media blog looks at the silly PR hockey wars being conducted by Rogers Sportsnet and TSN.

Sports Media Watch gives us the overnight ratings for the Indianapolis 500 on ABC.

Steve Lepore at SB Nation’s Puck The Media predicts the ratings for this year’s Stanley Cup Final.

Joe Favorito says things are looking good at NBC Sports.

Jordan Golson at MacRumors talks with ESPN’s NASCAR pit reporter Dave Burns about using an iPad for his reports.

That’s going to do it for now.

Let’s Get To Some Linkage

Before the day is through, let’s do some linkage for you.

Steve Berkowitz from USA Today looks at the Pac-12′s TV contract which is the richest in college sports (for now).

Speaking of USA Today, Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report says the newspaper is restructuring its sports department and about a dozen staffers have been laid off. That includes Friend of Fang’s Bites Mike McCarthy and Game On! blogger Tom Weir. Very sad to see this. I met Mike a few years ago when we covered an event at ESPN. Good reporter and writer. I hope to be linking to him again soon.

Ed also writes about ESPN holding onto the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Institute watches ESPN’s interviewing guru critique the questioning style of some of its reporters.

Marisa Guthrie at the Hollywood Reporter looks at NBCUniversal’s plans to offer some 5,500 hours of coverage on the Olympics.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says Golf Channel will have live coverage of U.S. Open qualifying on June 4.

Tim Baysinger at B&C recaps last night’s Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily’s Sports Business Awards.

Rich Thomaselli from Advertising Age says the NHL’s social media and traditional ad campaigns have helped bring casual fans to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

After being disrespected by its own local media last week, the Los Angeles Kings made this infographic giving a brief history on its logo, names of players and number of times the team has been in the postseason. This season, the Kings have stepped its social media campaign and website to provide fans with a very humorous, but also informative experience. Keep it up, Kings. You guys rock!

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times, writing in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, notes the difficultly for women to find a proper role in sports television.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton’s past is preventing collectors from lining up at his doorstep.

Congratulations to Steve Lepore of Puck The Media who has become SB Nation’s NHL Media writer. Steve is a hard worker who has created a very good niche for himself. And his first column for SB Nation is about the ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final clincher.

Steve also writes about the controversy over NHL on NBC charlatan Pierre McGuire’s withholding of information over an incident between the benches during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY says MSG Network will air two specials on the upcoming Belmont Stakes in which I’ll Have Another will go for horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says in addition, MSG Plus will air some horse races this summer.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes that ESPN has expanded its 3-D coverage of Wimbledon.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says Al Jazeera will be launching two soccer channels this summer.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at ESPN on ABC’s plans for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says former ESPN’er Dave Feldman is leaving the local market to go home to his native Northern California.

Dan says former DC NFL Team running back and sports radio host John Riggins will be hosting an outdoors show next year.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says a deadline is fast approaching in which the Nationals will find out how much MASN will be paying them for TV rights.

Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times says the Rays are paying tribute to Fox Sports MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal by wearing bow ties.

Tom Jones of the Times says MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams ripped Tropicana Field.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle looks at the proposed uses for the abandoned Astrodome.

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports is on the Reds’ bandwagon.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that MLB Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig is holding firm to his retirement date.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch says the Big Ten Network has helped to expand the league and in part, raise Northwestern’s profile.

Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune says even though the Utah Jazz bought the sports radio station where he works, he’ll remain an independent voice.

Chris Jenkins from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Fox Sports San Diego’s Mark Sweeney is a natural fit as Padres analyst.

Tim Sullivan of the Union-Tribune says he enjoys listening to the Padres on the radio.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth can’t believe he’s seeing a farmers dating service ad on NBC Sports Network.

Laura Stone of the Toronto Star writes that a new feature by CBC for the NHL Stanley Cup Final has some hardcore female sports fans hopping mad.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin looks at the Twitter police for college sports programs.

Sports Media Watch notes the increased ratings for the series-clinching game of the NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Final on NBC Sports Network.

Joe Favorito examines the right way and the wrong way to attract Twitter followers.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth marvels at the LA media for getting the Kings logo and players wrong during local newscasts.

And I’ll end the linkage there for now. Enjoy the rest of your day.

You Need Linkage On That Wall….

Yes you do. It’s overdue. I thought being on unemployment would give me more time for doing the site. Instead, I have less. I don’t know how that’s happened.

Anyway, here are some links for you.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has soon-to-be NBC’s Michelle Beadle saying even she’s sick of the coverage on where she’s going next.

Michael takes a look at the Weekend TV ratings.

Nicole Auerbach of USA Today says Laurie Fine, wife of ex-Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, has officially filed her libel lawsuit against ESPN.

At Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Michael Smith report that the Southeastern Conference, in the midst of restructuring its media rights deal with CBS and ESPN, could be resurrecting its plans to start an SEC Channel.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News goes over the “trade” between TBS and MLB Network giving the young network its first postseason action this season.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN 3D will air the last five days of Wimbledon later this summer.

David Mercer of the Associated Press says citing low ratings, the Big Ten Network will drop academic non-sports programming in order to air higher rated sports.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek talks about GM pulling out of advertising in Super Bowl XLVII.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs tells aspiring sports TV anchors how to thrive in local markets despite the shrinking amount of time in newscasts.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid has video of TNT’s Charles Barkley admitting to America that he waxes his eyebrows.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid has this funny video of Saturday Night Live’s Jay Pharoah getting Stephen A. “A is for Acrimonious” Smith down pat.

From the New Haven Register, David Borges talks with long-time Red Sox radio voice and Connecticut native Joe Castiglione about his career and his new book.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette talks about CBS Sports sublicensing some college basketball games from ESPN.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union has the French Open TV schedule.

Pete says the overnight ratings for the Preakness Stakes dropped double digits from last year.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com says NBC Sports Network will tap some familiar names to call MLS action this weekend.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says NBC got the job done in its Preakness Stakes production.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is on the RGIII train.

The increasingly bitter Thomas Boswell of the WaPo feels MASN should pony up for the Washington Nationals media rights.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner writes that outgoing NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora is looking forward to working and writing for CBS.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says two writers from the newspaper including sports media writer Tom Jones will co-host a new morning show for the local sports radio station. Jones will now stop covering sports radio to avoid a conflict of interest.

Iliana Limón Romero of the Orlando Sentinel says the Big East is hopeful of finding a suitable TV suitor for the league.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some sports media observations.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman writes that TNT’s Charles Barkley is looking forward to visiting Oklahoma City for the NBA Western Conference Finals.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds gave local radio station WLW a big ratings win last month.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the local weekend ratings.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a technical glitch forced Cardinals fans to watch Fox Sports San Diego’s feed of last night’s Redbirds-Padres game and listen to Dick Enberg which is not a bad thing at all.

Bryce Miller of the Des Moines Reigster says Iowan and Olympics hurdler Lolo Jones is on a media blitz.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Dodgers will honor long-time Spanish radio voice Jaime Jarrin next month.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has video of NBC Sports Network’s Doc Emrick ripping diving in soccer.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says ratings for the NHL Conference Finals on the NBC Sports Group are down.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has some of Pam Ward’s “Greatest” hits over her years calling college football.

That will do it for now.

Finally Some Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday megalinks. You’ve been owed some and I haven’t been able to do links for most of the week.

Of course, you have the Weekend Viewing Picks which provide plenty of college sports, soccer, baseball and the NBA and NHL postseason action.

Now let’s do your links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today explores Jason La Canfora’s decision to leave NFL Network and bolt to CBS.

Media Rantz looks into the potential departure of Michelle Beadle from ESPN to NBC.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says E! will produce a special on New York Jets QB Tim Tebow.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report hears from a Fox Soccer executive on why the Fox Sports Media Group chose to air so many English Premier League games on the final day of the season.

Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk writes that despite reports to the contrary, it appears that the New York Jets won’t make another appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer.

Eriq Gardner at the Hollywood Reporter says a group of fans have filed a class action lawsuit against MLB and its TV partners on the antiquated and silly blackout policy.

Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel says while the Minnesota Vikings will finally get their long-awaited stadium, one state legislator attempted to sneak a bill ending all local NFL blackouts. I think that was a great idea.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News/Broadcasting & Cable writes the long-anticipated Time Warner Cable Los Angeles Lakers-centric regional sports network will launch in October.

At Adweek, Anthony Crupi writes that Fox has sold out its ad inventory for the UEFA Champions League Final.

Thomas Pardee of Advertising Age says social media is changing the way we watch sports.

In the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says there are times when the N-word should to be published in full.

Eric Goldschein at SportsGrid says CBC Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean stretched his analogy too far in comparing the 9/11 First Responders to NHL players this week.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group looks at NBC/Golf Channel’s joint production of this week’s Players Championship.

Brandon Costa of SVG explores ESPN’s expanded multiplatform rights for NCAA Championships.

And SVG tells us about the Big East Conference’s in-house production of the league’s Baseball Tournament.

Kristi Dosh at ESPN.com looks into the dollars and cents of the major college sports TV rights contracts.

Patrick Rishe at Forbes says while the ACC signed a rich contract with ESPN, it still doesn’t compare to the Pac-12′s huge megadeal.

My Twitter Trophy Wife, Amanda Rykoff chronicles her day spent at the MLB Fan Cave for espnW.

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch crunches the numbers behind the ratings rise for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and the lower for the NBA Playoffs.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing also looks into the ratings for the NBA and NHL Postseasons.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead notes the disturbing arrest of the PA Announcer for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth looks at some of the sports media stories that are irking him this week.

East and Mid-Atlantic

I haven’t been able to address the death of Carl Beane, the Red Sox public address announcer. Carl was a radio reporter in Western Massachusetts and also free-lanced for ESPN Radio, CBS Radio, Fox Sports Radio to report on various NFL and college games. He died this week when he suffered a heart attack and crashed his car. He was 59. It seemed everyone in New England had some connection to Beane. I’ll give you some of the stories that have been written about him this week.

David Scott at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog gets reaction from people at the network who knew him.

Gordon Edes at ESPN Boston says Beane felt he was born to be the Fenway Park public address announcer.

WEEI’s Mike Petraglia writes about his personal connection to Beane.

Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe says the Red Sox paid tribute to Beane at last night’s game by not having anyone do the PA.

Amanda Bruno of the Springfield Republican writes that Beane was a role model and mentor to her.

To other stories now, heading back to the Globe, Chad Finn says the ACC got its huge deal and it will affect member school Boston College in many ways.

Chad says former Red Sox voice Jerry Trupiano is getting some familial help in trying to get the Houston Astros radio gig.

Desmond Connor of the Hartford Courant says the Big East’s interim commissioner is hopeful his conference can cash in on the recent big spending by ESPN and other networks.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks with the legendary Vin Scully.

Richard profiles the person behind a fake Walt Frazier Twitter account.

Jack Bell of the Times interviews Fox Sports President Eric Shanks about Sunday’s unprecedented English Premier League coverage.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Times rails over player unions defending their membership for the wrong reasons.

The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with NBC’s Pierre McGuire.

Justin has five questions for TNT’s Kenny Smith.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says a former local sports reporter is returning to her roots with Time Warner Cable’s Southern California network.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says technical difficulties plagued a local radio broadcast of the Yankees.

Pete says many of NBC/Golf Channel’s cameras will be focused squarely on one hole at the Players Championship this week.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record explores the new SNY deal to air UConn women’s basketball games.

At the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner asks if high school football is doomed.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call watched the train wreck of former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens appearing on Dr. Phil this week and being confronted by his multiple baby mommas.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post says MLB Network compared the swings of the late Mickey Mantle and the Nationals’ Bryce Harper.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a new local sports radio morning host comes with some baggage from his old job.

David says Comcast and ESPN cut a deal this week for subscribers to watch the network online.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that Fox Sports Oklahoma will air specials next week on the state’s two major college football programs.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Reds TV and Radio ratings are up this season.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch explores the Cubs’ Kerry Wood blowing up at the local media this week.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post Bulletin looks at NBC’s coverage of The Players Championship.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that a local sports anchor gets to talk news on the radio.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says the local media plans to cover Junior Seau’s public memorial today.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star notes that outgoing flagship TV station KCAL gave another farewell to the Los Angeles Lakers this week.

Jim looks at the 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass which will get plenty of attention on NBC/Golf Channel at the Players Championship.

Jim provides his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Time Warner Cable’s new sports channels.

Tom tries to give Kings fans missing their local TV voices a silver lining.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News goes over the latest developments at the Pac-12 Networks.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC’s Ron MacLean had to clarify his 9/11 remarks before Game 6 of the New York Rangers-Washington Capitals series.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the announcing assignments for both CBC and TSN in the NHL Conference Final round.

And we are done. Enjoy your sports weekend.

Some More Overdue Sports Media Thoughts

Yesterday, I provided two overdue sports media thoughts. Today, it’s time to do some more. As always, they’re in bullet form.

• I like what the NBC Sports Group has done on the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Covering all the games has paid off with higher ratings thus far. By giving all of the games a national outlet, fans have found them and establishing CNBC and NHL Network as secondary homes in addition to NBC and NBC Sports Network was a wise move.

  While I miss having the local feeds in the Conference Semifinals, I understand why NBC Sports Group bought exclusivity there. If you’re going to grow the game nationally, you have to sacrifice the local feeds at some point. We get less of a Jack Edwards or Sam Rosen or Bob Miller, but we also get more games aired in their entirety and that’s good for hockey.

  A few things to improve upon for the future.

  Less local simulcasts on CNBC and NBCSN. NBC Sports Network should not be relying on Comcast SportsNet, CBC or TSN in the first round. NHL Network is another story, but less of the local simulcasts, please.

  Double weekend doubleheaders on NBC should be standard next season. I liked NBC’s Sunday doubleheaders in the first round. Expand them to Saturdays as well.

  And do not. Do not. Do not allow Erik Kusilias anywhere near a set next season. He is a bad host. NASCAR fans thought he was a butcher when ESPN put him as host of NASCAR Now. His brief stints as host in the Conference Quarterfinals on CNBC did nothing to dispel that notion.

  Other than those complaints, NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs gets high marks.

• Sports radio on FM is becoming more of a trend across the country. The latest market to get an FM sports station is the largest in the country, New York City. Last week, ESPN Radio flipped legendary Urban station KISS 98.7 FM to sports. It gave ESPN Radio NY a fighting chance against long-time Big Apple sports leader, WFAN. While the ‘FAN has dominated the New York market head-to-head against ESPN, that was when both were on the AM dial. WFAN’s ratings have dropped recently, but ESPN has not been able to pick up the slack. We’ll see if ‘FAN’s owner, CBS Radio, decides to give the station a new home. Right now, it’s not in the cards, but if ESPN Radio starts to cut into the lead, then CBS could rethink its strategy.

  CBS Radio has been successful with FM sports talk in other markets including Boston so we’ll see if it happens in New York down the road.

• Good on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to give former CBS Sports and ABC Sports Essayist Jack Whitaker a Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy last week.

  It would behoove the Academy to recognize Brent Musburger for his pioneering work as host of the NFL Today and CBS Sports Saturday/Sunday.

  I still find it hard to believe that Brent has never won a Sports Emmy. He should have won one for hosting the Pan American Games for CBS in 1987 and again for ABC in 1991 when they were held in Cuba.

• Belated congratulations to Ed Sherman, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business on the launch on his new national sports media site, The Sherman Report.
• Finally got to see this season’s version of “The Rundown” on MLB Network. I like the show and new co-host Lauren Shehadi has developed a very good chemistry with holdover Matt Yallof. I make sure I watch the show when I’m home. Now if MLB Network can do something about The Abortion Known As Intentional Talk…

Ok. Plenty of thoughts for you to absorb. I’ll try to provide more tomorrow.

Making Time For The Wednesday Linkage

I haven’t been able to links for a couple of days. I have a few leftover stuff since Monday, but nothing totally clogging up my browser, but I do want to give you a full set of stories today.

I’ve done my best to summarize the whole bizarre Sarah Phillips/ESPN.com/Scamming people story and that’s over here. If there any updates today, I’ll try to bring them to you, but it appears that there’s a new development every hour or so.

Let’s try to get what I have to you now.

Tom Weir of USA Today also looks into the Sarah Phillips saga.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Tiger Woods is being criticized for doing an end run around the news media and answering questions from fans via social media.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deistch critiques ESPN’s and NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Draft.

Kurt Soller of Esquire catches up with TNT’s Craig Sager and discusses his loud wardrobe.

Multichannel News reports on ESPN’s ratings for its first weekday English Premier League game.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life notes the NFL Draft was the second most watched in history.

Former ESPN’er Dana Jacobsen has started her own blog and says she’ll keep us up to date on where she lands next.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that HBO has renewed 24/7 for another NHL season and will get more input from the league’s media arm.

Greg talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about the league’s Stanley Cup Playoff ratings and other matters.

Jeff John Roberts at paidContent wonders if Bleacher Report can make its writers into viable media stars.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Review Project looks at one man who oversees the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s interviewing technique.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report warns how not to use Twitter like the Chicago Sun-Times’ columnist Joe Cowley.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that Harris Corp. which done a lot in developing broadcast equipment and had a hand in sports will now get out of the business.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the audio of Gus Johnson calling MLS action over the weekend. That’s right, MLS.

John Koblin at Deadspin says pariah Sarah Phillips and her partner-in-crime, Nilesh Prasad have been career scammers.

Deadspin’s Erik Malinowski has a parody Tweeter breaking character and giving his side of the story in the Sarah Phillips saga.

To Ben Koo of Awful Announcing who notes that the Tuesday late night edition of SportsCenter ended in silence.

Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel says the Crossing Broad blog posted an upskirt pic that was shown on TV and the site’s editor doesn’t get why the uproar.

Neil Best of Newsday talks with New York Knicks TV voice and ESPN NBA play caller Mike Breen.

Congrats to Neil as he celebrates 5 years of his WatchDog blog. Neil and I share a milestone today.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that MLB Network will air seven Minor League Baseball games this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says CBS has made one announcement for its SEC football schedule for the fall.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com talks with Gus Johnson about him calling soccer games.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog is amused at boring and extremely verbose ESPN.com columnist Gregg Easterbrook’s fears about DC NFL Team QB Robert Grifffin III’s play in the rain. I used to love Easterbrook’s TMQ columns, but they now grate on me. Can’t read them anymore.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has some South Florida sports radio moves.

Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News goes over the Sports Emmy winners.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says the Thunder continue to set local ratings records.

Mel says TNT’s Charles Barkley is squarely in the Thunder’s camp.

Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago says the Chicago Sun-Times have put sexist columnist Joe Cowley on what’s called “Final Notice.”

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch did not like how one female TV host kept hitting on St. Louis Cardinals World Series hero David Freese during a morning show segment.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune has TNT’s Kenny “The Jet” Smith discussing the Utah Jazz’s future.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail isn’t too thrilled about having the Maple Leafs on the next season of HBO’s 24/7.

Sports Media Watch says the Manchester Derby scored for ESPN on Monday.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says CNBC is doing well with the NHL Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth has a look at the sports radio scene across the country.

Normally I don’t link to Bleacher Report slideshows and it’s one of the things I’ve disliked about the site for a long time, but I will link to the 20 Hottest Redheads slideshow only for the fact that they used a pic that I posted of Jen Royle from last year’s Five Women Who Make Me Stop Flipping The Remote post. Actually that pic came from Jen herself so they should really credit her and not me.

And that’s going to do it.

The Wednesday Links

Let’s do some linkage today. Been doing pretty good in providing links this week and I don’t want to stop.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he talks with ESPN bloviator Chris Berman who compares himself to Ted Williams, then tries not to compare himself to Ted Williams, claims he doesn’t pay attention to criticism when he clearly does and then makes no sense about cameras. Yes, I’m showing my anti-Chris Berman bias.

Tom Weir of USA Today’s Game On writes that Jose Canseco’s Twitter account is back up and running. Oh joy.

At The Sherman Report, Ed Sherman looks at some classic anti-Mel Kiper rants from ESPN’s past coverage of the NFL Draft.

Sports Business Daily notes that Los Angeles Lakers nutjob Metta World Peace was a no-show on Conan O’Brien TBS program after his 7 game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City Thunder forward James Harden.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal writes about Fox’s deal with Golden Boy Promotions that will put live fights on Fuel and Fox Deportes.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says NHL ratings are up significantly for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which seemingly condones violence on the rink.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable notes that ABC’s ratings for the NBA are up 10% over last year despite the lockout that wiped out the first month of the season.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Stanley Cup Playoffs are good to the NBC Sports Network.

Multichannel News says Speed has renewed the rights to the 24 Hours of LeMans road race.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page has video of Chelsea’s goal that put them in the UEFA Champions League Final, but the best part was Gary Neville’s on-air orgasm for Sky Sports.

Jim Edwards of the Business Insider Sports Page looks into NBC’s reasons for an almost $1 million price tag for a 30 second ad for its Thanksgiving Night NFL game.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has Mike “Doc” Emrick in the latest edition of his podcast.

Matt has great video of some awkward banter between SportsCenter anchors Steve Weissman and Sage Steele. Poor Sage.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us that Shake Shack could be in more MLB parks around the country.

Leah Michaels of GoLocal Providence says ESPN’s Chris Berman was at his alma mater to honor Brown University’s athletic director.

All Access has Fox Sports Radio’s coverage plans for the NFL Draft.

Steven Beardsley of Stars and Stripes says NFL Network will feature cutaways during the NFL Draft to a battalion of troops based in Germany.

Kevin Paul Dupont in the Boston Globe provides a brief history on the greatest tradition in sports, the hockey handshake at the end of every playoff series.

In the New York Post, Phil Mushnick reports that ESPN Radio is close to deal with the New York Yankees that would put the team on FM after ten years of being on WCBS-AM.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the ESPN and NFL Network made the right call in not spoiling draft picks before they’re announced.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says we’re still waiting for the start times for the NHL Games 7 on Thursday.

Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal says he listened to the radio on Saturday over waiting for Fox to switch to Philip Humber’s perfect game.

Glenn Guilbeau in the Monroe (LA) News Star has New Orleans Saints interim coach Joe Vitt blasting ESPN for its latest story on the team.

KBTX in College Station, TX says Fox Sports Southwest received record ratings for the Pudge Rodriguez retirement ceremony before Monday’s Yankees-Rangers game.

George M. Thomas in the Akron Beacon Journal tells us that the networks are all over the NFL Draft.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune says swimmer Missy Franklin has become of the face of NBC’s Olympic promotional campaign.

Robert Kurson at Chicagoside Sports explains why after 25 years, he no longer listens to sports radio.

Matt Solinsky of the Desert (CA) Sun writes that Time Warner Cable and Fox Sports San Diego continue carriage talks that would put Padres games back on the provider.

Jamie Sturgeon of the Financial Post has CBC vowing in an increasingly expensive world to keep Hockey Night in Canada.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media talks about NBC Sports Group’s ratings for the NHL Playoffs on Monday.

Sports Media Watch explores ABC’s second straight year for record NBA TV ratings.

Joe Favorito looks at how sports brands can tap into National Train Day next month.

And that will put a wrap on the links.

Let’s Do Some Thursday Linkage

Why not do some links while I can?

We begin with USA Today and the national NFL TV schedule for this upcoming season.

Carolyn Giardana with the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC will utilize Avid Technology systems to develop video feeds for the London Summer Olympics.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says NESN has selected Sony to manage its video content.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that NBC is utilizing the “TV Everywhere” initiative to stream the Olympics live to mobiles, tablets and computers.

Mike talks with MLB Network President and CEO Tony Petitti about the new “Strike Zone” feature and what the network has in store for the next 12 months.

MediaRantz looks at the reaction from sports broadcasters upon learning that American Bandstand and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve host Dick Clark had died.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that a baseball panel will settle a dispute between the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals over how much MASN should pay the Nats for their media rights. The Nats’ rights are undervalued compared to what other teams are currently being paid.

A.J. Perez of Fox Sports talks with sports documentarian Sean Pamphilon whose audio of former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is front-and-center of the New Orleans Saints Bountygate scandal.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report feels sportswriters are unappreciated by the Pulitzer Prize committee. I agree.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing gets together with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, Dan Patrick Show Executive Producer Paul Pabst to hold the first ever NFL Media Fantasy Draft. Great stuff from AA.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says the NFL wants ESPN and the NFL Network to stop spoiling draft picks.

Andrew Gauthier of TVSpy notes that a long-time sports anchor in Sioux City, IA is moving a seat to the right to become his TV station’s news anchor.

Gavin O’Malley at MediaPost says even though it’s not an Olympics rightsholder, Fox is making a commitment to cover the Olympics online.

David Goetzl of MediaPost writes that in this increasingly DVR timeshifting world, viewers still want to see their sports live and not delayed.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin noticed that a Miami TV station showed the wrong logo when reporting on the Florida Panthers win over the New Jersey Devils the other night.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy finds that Hockey Night in Canada’s PJ Stock is endorsing Depends adult diapers in Canada????

The great Judy Battista of the New York Times talks with the NFL schedule maker Howard Katz who can’t please everyone.

Steven Silver at Philadelphia Magazine’s Philly Post blog wonders if national announcers are biased against the city as some fans perceive.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com profiles one Baltimore sports radio host who has changed stations, but vows to continue doing what he’s been doing.

Chris Korman of the Baltimore Sun says the Washington Nationals are looking to get more money from the Baltimore Orioles majority-owned MASN.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Capitals TV voice Joe Beninati about the team’s series with the Boston Bruins.

Chuck Carroll at CBS Washington looks at Britt McHenry’s decision to stay at WJLA-TV instead of taking a job with Fox Sports San Diego. Britt was also a candidate to replace Heidi Watney on NESN and Kim Jones on YES.

Tom Jones in the Tampa Bay Times talks with hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire about the perceived increased disrespect in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says ESPN’s Skippy Bayless was ripping the Oklahoma City Thunder this week.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network has another Top 100 show.

Howard Sinker of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave ESPN a try to get a different perspective on the Minnesota Twins.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says Utah Jazz broadcasters Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring make no bones about rooting for their team, but don’t call them homers.

Rob Katowski of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says a proposed merger between the Mountain West and Conference USA could still happen as long as the two leagues agree on sharing TV rights.

Tim Sullivan with the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the impasse between Fox Sports San Diego and Time Warner Cable is preventing Padres fans from seeing their team.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN has a tapped a man no one has ever heard of to host The ESPY’s.

SMW notes that former Portland Trail Blazer and NBA analyst Steve “Snapper” Jones has been plagued by massive health issues.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Game 2 of the Florida Panthers-New Jersey Devils series did very well for NBC Sports Network last Sunday.

Steven Morocco and John Morgan of MMA Junkie write that UFC wants a similar TV deal in the UK as it has with Fox in the States.

EPL Talk looks at Fox going all out for the English Premier League’s final day of the season next month.

Guyism notes that twice this week, MASN Nationals reporter Kristina Akra got soaked with Gatorade.

And that’s going to do it. Found more links than I thought I would and that’s very good for you.

Knocking Out Some Wednesday Linkage

Time for some linkage again.

Starting with Sports Business Daily which gauges media reaction to last night’s extravagant NFL regular season schedule release on both ESPN and NFL Network.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reviews both the Monday Night and expanded Thursday Night Football schedules.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report has your potential hits and misses in the 2012 NFL regular season schedule for all of the league’s TV partners.

Dan Levy of the Bleacher Report talks with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch about Skippy Bayless, ESPN’s free agents and Twitter.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that NBC is now going all in to provide a live online Olympic experience.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today says the NFL Schedule Release Shows on ESPN and NFL Network filled fans’ thirst for football news.

Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press says thanks to a NASCAR-less Sunday, IndyCar’s race on NBC Sports Network got a ratings bump.

Stuart Kemp and George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter says London is hoping to build buzz for the XXX Olympic Summer Games in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremony.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable notes the FCC is appealing to the Supreme Court, the ruling from a lower court throwing out its decency complaint over CBS’ airing of Janet Jackson’s nekkid boob during Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Sarah Mahoney of MediaPost’s Marketing Daily says advertisers are jumping on the Olympics 100 Day Countdown.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes that cable provider Comcast is proving to be a very good broadcast competitor.

Jason McIntyre of the Big Lead says a lawsuit brought forth by a former ESPN.com writer against New York Post NBA big mouth Peter Vescey has been settled out of court.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid talks with ESPN’s Michelle Beadle about what her next move is.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group notes that NBCOlympics has tapped AT&T to manage private networking systems for the London Summer Games.

Zac Wassink in Yahoo! says MLS on NBC Sports Network is doing decently in the ratings.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has the local sports radio ratings and CBS Radio continues to be on top.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC will stream all Olympic events live online, but there’s a bit of a catch.

Richard says the NBA is looking at allowing jersey sponsorships.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY notes the passing of a former Yankees, Islanders and Nets radio announcer.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette notes the good ratings for the NHL on NBC.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has a viewing primer for the upcoming NFL season.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call discusses and dissects NBC’s Sunday Night Football schedule.

Keith says the NHL’s Battle of Pennsylvania is drawing big ratings in the Keystone State.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com’s Goalkeeper blog says a Spanish League soccer game on ESPN2 beat MLS on NBC Sports Network in the ratings last weekend.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has pictorial proof of the Space Shuttle Discovery passing various local sports venues on its last flight to the Smithsonian yesterday.

Tom Robinson at the Virginian-Pilot reports that the United Football League could have a TV contract with CBS Sports Network.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the Texas Rangers’ ratings on Fox Sports Southwest are way up this season.

Mike Bailey of the Houston Chronicle talks with a local golfer who took part in the upcoming season of Golf Channel’s Big Break reality show.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says a local sports radio show moves from middays to afternoon drive.

Mel has the local weekend TV ratings.

Berry Tremel of The Oklahoman writes that NBC’s Sunday Night Football is the NFL’s premier TV package.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer remembers a former NBA announcer.

Bill Shea at Crain’s Detroit Business says the Tigers are looking at a big payday for their TV rights.

Robert Channick in the Chicago Tribune profiles Comcast SportsNet Chicago head man Jim Corno.

Eric Goodman at Mile High Sports feels he wasted three hours of his life watching ESPN’s NFL regular season schedule release special.

Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic says Phoenix Coyotes TV analyst Tyson Nash is feeling the wrath of Chicago Blackhawks fans for comments he made about a hit on ‘Hawks star Marian Hossa.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News mourns the passing of a former Kings radio voice.

Tom Cheredar of Venture Beat talks about NBC’s extensive plans to stream the Olympics online.

Sports Media Watch notes the rise of NHL ratings for a couple of regional sports networks.

SMW talks about CBS passing on broadcasting this upcoming season’s Pro Bowl.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says NBC may air both Bruins-Capitals NHL Playoffs games this weekend.

Joe Favorito says sometimes, it’s a little idea at a major network that could catch fire elsewhere.

And that is all for now.

Some Tuesday Links

Been crazy with the schedules again, but I’m giving you some linkage today because you’re owed some. Let’s get busy.

Sports Business Daily notes the dueling NFL regular season schedule release shows on ESPN and NFL Network today.

Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal says Comcast wants to replicate the success of its “Xfinity Live!” Philadelphia “mall of sports bars” in other cities.

Jason Fry of the ESPN Poynter Review Project a.k.a., the ESPN Ombudsman reviews the network’s ad-approval process.

Ed Sherman, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business has launched his new sports media website and I’m quite impressed. A couple of links to his site which started this week.

First, Ed talks with the polarizing Skippy Bayless of ESPN.

With tonight’s NFL regular season schedule being unveiled, Ed wonders which network will get Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos debut?

Laura Donovan at the Jane Dough is not a fan of a sexist WFAN ad featuring Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton.

MediaRantz predicts which NFL team will get the most primetime games in 2012.

Congratulations to Patriot-News reporter Sara Ganim who at the age of 24 becomes one of the youngest to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. She wins for her coverage of the Jerry Sandusky-Penn State scandal and she continues to report on the story.

Ivey DeJesus at the Patriot-News has the story on Ganim’s well deserved award for her reporting.

And here are pictures in the Patriot-News newsroom the moment Sara was informed that she won the Pulitzer.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Coconut Water is here to stay or will it become a huge bust?

George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter looks at the BBC and Eurosport putting a portion of their coverage of the London Olympics on the UK’s pay satellite service, BSkyB.

Marc Graser at Variety says Wrestlemania set a pay per view record for the WWE.

Lindsay Rubino at Broadcasting & Cable writes that the NBC Owned Stations group will sell national advertising for four Comcast SportsNet affiliates.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBC Sports Group is winning with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kristie Chong-Adler in ESPN’s Front Row blog looks at ESPN.com folding its Page 2 section into a new ESPN the Magazine-fronted portion of the website.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the video of a new Michael Jordan-themed ESPN promo.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing breaks down one of the funniest and uncomfortable moments in sports television as YES’ Ian Eagle and Mike Fratello seemed to mix it up during last Saturday’s Celtics-Nets game.

However, Ian tells the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says while the videos have gone viral, it was all in fun between he and the Czar of the Telestrator.

Matt at AA still doesn’t buy the explanation that it was a bit.

Bob’s Blitz notes that WFAN’s ratings took a tumble for the second straight Arbitron ratings period, but ESPN Radio New York failed to take up the slack.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that NBC saw higher ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to airing one more game than last year.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Jim Kaat about the Nationals.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog introduces readers to new MASN Nationals reporter Kristina Akra.

Tony Grossi at ESPN Cleveland and WKNR Radio explains why the Browns flagship TV station had to move the team’s first preseason game to another station (scroll down).

Bonnie Miller Rubin of the Chicago Tribune looks back at being her newspaper’s first “gal” sports reporter in 1973 and how far women sportswriters have advanced since then.

Sports Media Watch notes that Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins will be back on NBC this summer to analyze Olympic basketball, a role he filled in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

To Steve Lepore at Puck The Media who notes that the NHL on NBC Sports Network continues to rack up the ratings.

And Dave Kohl of the Broadcast Booth explores the Sacramento market.

I’ll be out for bit, but be back after 7 p.m. ET for the NFL TV schedules. We’ll analyze them together.

Back For Some Linkage

Yesterday, I focused on several press releases before heading out for errands. Today, it’s back to the links.

Daniel Kaplan at Sports Business Journal writes that the NFL wants to set up local zones in Super Bowl host cities similar to what Indianapolis did with a village and zip line this year.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes explores the sale of the San Diego Padres and how it contrasts greatly from the Dodgers sale.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch explores NBC’s plans for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and I liked what I saw during the first night of coverage on Wednesday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News feels NBC’s multiplatform coverage of the NHL postseason should increase ratings and open ad sale opportunities.

John Koblin at Deadspin looks at ESPN’s free agents and handicaps who stays and who goes.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable notes that one company will provide multiscreen coverage of the Olympics to computers.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing writes that HBO is interested in the Atlanta Falcons for the next season of Hard Knocks.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life explores how the NHL is expanding its brand by marketing a 21 foot tall replica of the Stanley Cup in New York’s Times Square.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley says no media outlet is safe from the budget ax.

Karen Hogan at Sports Video Group looks at SNY’s studio renovations.

SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer tells us how ESPN’s 3D production of The Masters^® has grown over the years.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Masters champion Bubba Watson is bound to be a marketing champion as well.

Ira Kantor at the Boston Herald writes that the Red Sox have chosen Comcast to provide computer networking services at their ballparks.

To Fishbowl NY and Jerry Barmash who says MSG Network saw excellent ratings for the New York Rangers this season.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says MLB Network is looking to gain “exclusive content” for the channel.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says CBS Sports Network airs a special on the Army Spring Football game this weekend.

Laura Nachman says a legendary Philadelphia sportscaster passed away over the weekend.

John F. Morrison of the Philadelphia has the obituary for late sports talk show host Steve Fredericks.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic plans to expand its Baltimore Ravens offseason coverage.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner has a couple of NHL on NBC analysts handicap the Capitals chances against the defending Stanley Cup Champions Boston Bruins.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that embattled Miami sports radio host Sid Rosenberg has been fired after his latest brush with the law.

And Radio-Info says another embattled sports talk show host takes Rosenberg’s place on his former station.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says a new sports talk show will debut in the market on Monday.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says ESPN’s Skippy Bayless had to backtrack from claims about his high school basketball career on First Take this week.

Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star says new royals TV analyst Rex “The Wonder Dog” Hudler is hoping to win over fans in his new gig.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that NHL fans will see more postseason games on TV than ever before.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the Broadway play on Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times misses Dodgers voice Vin Scully as he’s had to miss broadcasts due to a cold.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a local sports talk show host who late last year acknowledged he has Parkinson’s Disease now finds himself without a job.

The Chronicle gets the host’s reaction to his firing.

Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News says the firing came as a surprise.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC Sports Network’s NHL ratings are down from last year’s record ratings on Versus.

Martin Charles writes in the Sports PR blog says it’s important for athletes to get media training to understand how to properly handle reporters’ questions.

The Big Lead talks with multi-faceted Julie Alexandria.

And that’s going to do it for now.

Bringing Out Some Tuesday Linkage

Let’s do linkage again. Trying to get this done as I have several errands to run in the afternoon.

At Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says Fox Sports is eying several sports properties which are coming up for grabs as potential programming for a cable channel which would challenge ESPN.

Mike talks with the President of New York regional sports network SNY about what he’s looking for in 2012.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today discusses the lower ratings for The Masters^®.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter goes in-depth on Fox Sports taking over Saturday nights in 2012.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at New Era’s sequel to last year’s funny Yankees-Red Sox ads with a new batch for the Cubs-White Sox rivalry.

Mike Shields from Adweek explores how ESPN tries to get fans use its sites as “second screens” while they watch sports on other networks in real time.

David Goetzl at MediaPost notes that ESPN’s public relations blog has now added podcasts.

Also from MediaPost, Wayne Friedman talks about the NCAA Tournament being one of TV’s biggest social media activities.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life says while Bubba Watson brought excitement to The Masters^®, it didn’t translate in the ratings.

To Forbes where Trefis Team analyzes what a Fox Sports cable network would mean for parent company News Corp’s stock price.

Also from Forbes, Tom Van Riper looks at the commitment NBC Sports Group is assembling for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Fox Sports reports that NFL Network is unlikely to bring back Warren Sapp. He just recently filed for bankruptcy.

SportsbyBrooks notes that ESPN’s Skippy Bayless lied about his high school basketball career.

The Lost Ogle which looked into Bayless’ claims about his high school basketball career has an extensive post unearthing Daily Oklahoman stories and box scores. Great stuff.

Sports Video Group looks at one company that will stream the Olympics all over the world.

Evan Silva from Pro Football Talk says based on the success of Super Bowl XLVI, Indianapolis plans to make another run at hosting another Big Game.

Amy K. Nelson has the Miami Marlins statement suspending manager Ozzie Guillen for his comments in Time regarding Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has Magic Johnson talking about the exorbitant sales price for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Darren notes that incoming NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III has signed an endorsement deal with Castrol?

Alex Weprin of TV Newser has a video tour of MLB Network’s New Jersey studios.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says MLB will unveil its version of the Red Zone Channel tonight on three satellite and cable providers.

Laura Nachman notes that a former Philadelphia Phillie joins a local sports radio station for the 2012 season.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says a local sports radio host continues to fan the Crosby vs. Ovechkin flames.

Lisa De Moraes says “Cops” is the victim of Fox giving Saturday primetime to its sports division.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson says embattled sports radio host Sid Rosenberg has been suspended. Again.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Time Warner Cable subscribers won’t have access to three Astros games on Fox Sports Net.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Wednesday’s Reds game will be picked up by MLB Network.

Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago reports that a local sports radio host returned to work this week after being out due to health issues.

Sports Media Watch says Fox is reaching back to the old Baseball Network for “Baseball Night in America.”

At Awful Announcing, Ben Koo wishes there would be more synergy between NBC and the Comcast SportsNet regional networks.

To the Bleacher Report where Jim Williams asks which network offers the best MLB announcers?

That’s going to do it.

Grinding Out Some Monday Links

Let’s do some links on this Monday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game has become a showcase for upcoming NBA talent.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that NBC Sports Network will get a lion’s share of coverage for the London Summer Olympics.

Brian Stelter of the New York Times reports that no-talent hack Ryan Seacrest has signed a new contract with NBCUniversal that also gives him a role on NBC’s Olympic coverage. I shudder at the thought.

Chris Ariens at TVNewser says NBC is putting former Today Show co-host Meredith Viera on the Olympics Opening Ceremony with Bob Costas and Matt Lauer.

Joe Posnanski talks about leaving Sports Illustrated for a new venture with MLB Advanced Media and the USA Today Sports Group. Disclosure: Fang’s Bites is an independently-owned site affiliated with USA Today Sports Group and had no prior knowledge of Posnanski’s move nor of the joint venture with MLBAM.

ESPN.com’s Kristi Dosh, a.k.a. The Sports Biz Miss handicaps the upcoming MLB TV rights deal negotiations.

King Kaufman at the Bleacher Report explains why the site will never do April Fools’ parodies.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has some readers’ suggestions for CBS’ Jim Nantz to close out tonight’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship including one from yours truly.

The great Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo’s Cagewriter has some suggestions on how FX and the UFC can improve the new Ultimate Fighter reality show.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. You may know a parent, a friend, a relative or a neighbor who is affected by Autism in one way or another. Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball writes in his SportsBash site on how he has been personally affected.

My good friend (despite her being a Yankees fan) Alison Faye in Tales of a Rocket Scientist also writes about her experience with her son who has Autism.

And Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets that he’ll be wearing a bowtie to benefit Autism Speaks.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group notes that CBS’ courtside cameras give the network some signature shots for the Men’s Final Four.

Brandon also looks at CBS’ studio set and Super Slo-Mo cameras at the Superdome for the Final Four.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the new Broadway play focusing on Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post mourns the passing of New York Cosmos great Giorgio Chinaglia.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the Final Four received its best ratings on CBS in a decade.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that the local cable news network will cover Union in the NCAA Frozen Four this week.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says a local radio station will cover high school sports.

Jim Wiliams of the Washington Examiner talks with Jim Nantz about his unique double of calling the Final Four and The Masters^® in successive weeks.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Tom also talks with the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew.

Sam Pennington of Suthern Gameday remembers the late Hall of Fame voice of the Kentucky Wildcats, Caewood Ledford.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle notes two personnel moves at one local sports radio station.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explores the average age of those watching various sporting events.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says the first week in April is a literal smorgasbord for the sports fan.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News explores the reasons why MLB clubs are so gung-ho on regional sports network rights fees.

Tom has your sports calendar for this week.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star has what writers outside of Canada are saying about the Blue Jays.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail was amused by a verbal sparring match aired in Canada over the weekend.

Barry Petchesky at Deadspin looks at one April Fools newspaper column that went published without being properly vetted.

Sports Media Watch says ratings for the NBA on ABC saw big increases.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says the NHL on NBC also had a good number.

And Joe Favorito says Fenway Park is ready to celebrate its Centennial.

We’re done.