Fang's Bites

Quick Monday Linkage

Don’t have much time today. I’ll do a few links for you here while I can.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg saying he wouldn’t be surprised if Kentucky lost in the Final Four this weekend.

Mr. College Football, Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports, remembers his former colleague at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Furman Bisher.

Tim Wood at the Bleacher Report announces some new hirings. BR has been on a hiring binge lately.

ESPN2 aired the Jets/Tim Tebow press conference today with a twist. Can you believe showing Skippy Bayless on his laptop, live tweeting the event? Yes indeed. Very bad television.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid notes that a SiriusXM Radio host decided to use his satellite radio show to criticize the Miami Heat for the famous picture of the entire team wearing hoodies in support of Trayvon Martin.

Doug Farrar at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says Fox Sports is considering using suspended New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton as an analyst this season.

To Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk who says don’t expect the NFL to give the public a partial 2012 regular season schedule release this week.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal catches up with CBS Sports Network/Dial Global Radio announcer Dave Ryan who’s calling the NCAA Women’s Tournament on radio this week.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group notes that Longhorn Network uses fiber optics rather than satellite trucks to transmit game action from University of Texas campus back to its broadcast facility.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says a NCAA Tournament overrun helped CBS win the Sunday night primetime ratings.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age says the NFL and Nike are hyping their new partnership which both companies say will revolutionize the league’s apparel.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tiger Woods’ win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend might have helped his popularity.

Yesterday, we learned that legendary boxing writer and historian Bert Sugar died at the age of 75. Sugar was one of the most popular figures covering the sweet science. But in addition to covering boxing, Sugar wrote about baseball and was good at it. When I hosted a one-hour radio sports show in Groton, CT, Bert gave me one of the best interviews I ever had. He was witty, funny, brilliant and put everything into its proper perspective. And he sent me a book that he had written about boxing. One of the nicest men in the sports media you’ll ever have the chance to meet. And unfortunately, he’s gone.

Tim Smith of the New York Daily News says Sugar had been suffering from lung cancer, but typical of Bert, he kept it quiet from most of his friends.

Dan Rafael of ESPN.com says Bert will be missed.

Michael Woods of ESPN New York has an appreciation of Sugar.

Bob Velin of USA Today also has an obituary for Sugar.

Gary Mihoces of USA Today says Sugar was definitely a colorful character.

Lem Satterfield of The Ring, the digital home of Ring Magazine where Sugar once worked, has reaction to his death.

Promoter Jackie Kallen in Boxing Insider bids farewell to her friend.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun has a couple of memories of Bert Sugar.

I’ll do some more linkage tonight.

Tuesday Linkage

Let’s do some links for today. Lots of stories and lots of stuff going on. From the NFL announcing the online streaming of Super Bowl XLVI to some mind blowing revelations about reporters, this has been an amazing day. It will call for some sports media thoughts later tonight. First the links.

I’ll begin with a story that’s breaking now. Nancy Phillips of the Philadelphia Inquirer breaks the story about Baseball Hall of Fame writer Bill Conlin being accused of molesting four children in the 1970′s. For his part, Conlin denies the allegations and has resigned from his columnist position at the Philadelphia Daily News. Last month, Conlin wrote the following about the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

In what has to be a giant conflict of interest, we learn from TMZ and the Crossing Broad blog that Jay Gray of NBC News was arrested on DUI charges after leaving a party thrown by Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola who invited a bunch of reporters to his house to curry favors for interviews of his client down the line.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin notes the ESPN Monday Night Football debut of sideline reporter John Sutcliffe of ESPN Deportes. For such a big game, ESPN brought in someone who had not worked on the MNF package on the Mothership (he has been sideline reporter for Deportes) and it didn’t work.

Last night on Twitter, I said something about Sutcliffe that I should not have. It was wrong. You will not find that tweet now. I’ve deleted it. I apologize and it will not happen again.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com writes that ESPN’s ratings for Monday Night Football are down this season.

The Futon Critic notes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football won the ratings last night not just on cable, but across all networks.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter writes about the NFL’s plan to stream Super Bowl XLVI online.

Georg Szalai of the Reporter talks with an industry analyst regarding the new NFL TV deals.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also has a story on the Super Bowl going online for the first time.

Aaron Kuriloff of Bloomberg reports on the potential increase of the Thursday Night Football schedule on NFL Network as early as next season.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the war of words between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable over their carriage talks is ratcheting up.

Mike says ESPN has ponied up $500 million to expand its deal with the NCAA.

John Eggerton of Multichannel writes that Tennis Channel has won a key FCC Administrative Law Judge ruling against Comcast.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says ESPN’s ad sales for 33 college football bowls are red hot.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his NBA Broadcasting Guide for the upcoming season.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid talks about ESPN’s plans to overhaul its NBA pregame show.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell suspects Nike will raise prices to make up for lost revenue.

Elizabeth Kim of the Stamford (CT) Advocate goes in-depth on how NBC Sports decided to move to Connecticut.

Brian Stelter and Amy Chozick of the New York Times say you pay for sports on your cable bill whether you like it or not.

Newsday’s Neil Best reports that Fox has assigned Kenny Albert, Moose and Goose for the battle of New York this Saturday.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia aired CSN Mid-Atlantic’s coverage of the 76ers road game against the Washington Wizards last week.

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

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals ratings on Sunday weren’t very good.

John says a local sports radio talk show host who left his regular gig earlier this month may have another one in line.

And I’ll end it there for now. I’ll try to bring some more linkage later.

Bringing Out Some Saturday Links

I started to do the Megalinks last night, but I fell asleep at my computer while doing them. I was out for most of the Friday so it prevented me from sitting down and pounding out the linkage yesterday. I’ll do it now to get you going for the 4th of July weekend. There’s a lot of sports happening so the Weekend Viewing Picks provides you with the programming that you may want to watch.

Let’s do the linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with multiple network tennis analyst John McEnroe on how to spice up tennis’ ratings.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that an extended NBA lockout will hurt TV partners ESPN and TNT.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk didn’t like Jon Gruden’s gushing over former Ohio State quarterback Tyrelle Pryor during ESPN’s QB Camp.

Brooks Peck of Yahoo’s Dirty Tackle blog notes that ESPN.com lifted some of his fictitious quotes over Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi.

At Baseball Digest, Jerry Milani profiles MSG Network’s and Friend of Fang’s Bites Tina Cervasio.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that a Southern California radio host’s firing from the Anaheim Angels was racially motivated.

Dave Levy from SportsGrid looks at the future of the Pac-12 Conference.

Adam Watson of Yahoo’s The PostGame talks with Renée Herlocker who will be the sideline reporter for the Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes that TSN wants to bring CFL viewers even closer to the game.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group says distributing Wimbledon in 3-D to movie theaters shows the need for one standard for the format.

Beth Healy of the Boston Globe writes that the newspaper’s parent company, the New York Times has sold part of its 17% stake in the Red Sox for a sizable profit.

Taryn Luna of the Globe says watering holes in the vicinity of the TD Garden are worried about losing business in the wake of the NBA lockout.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that sports radio talk in New York actually turns 90 years old today.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has Lindsay Czarniak saying when she’ll be moving to ESPN and what her duties for the Alleged Worldwide Leader will be.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune notes that the Big Ten Network came to fruition thanks to an ESPN lowball bid back in 2004.

And Jessica Guyin and Dawn C. Chmielski of the Los Angeles Times look at Google’s potential bid to buy Hulu which has NFL Films videos.

Sports Media Watch has news and notes on some media personalities.

SMW notes that Nike has re-signed Michael Vick.

I’m going to end it there.

Getting The Wednesday Linkage In

Let’s do the Wednesday links while I can. It’s going to get busy the next couple of days as I try to wrap things up for the 4th of July weekend so blogging may get sparse through the weekend. Just giving you a heads up.

Here are the links for this Wednesday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN is going all out for the Women’s World Cup whether we like it or not.

Karolos Grohmann of Reuters reports that General Electric has pledged to sponsor the Olympic Games through 2020 as part of the deal that kept the US media rights with NBC.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Tiger Woods has signed his first endorsement deal since his marital troubles began in November 2009.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL wants Congress to leave the silly TV blackout rules in place.

Tim Baysinger of B&C notes that Fox Soccer received its highest audience ever for last Saturday’s Gold Cup Final between the US and Mexico.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News notes the improved ratings for TNT halfway through its NASCAR season.

Mike also recaps the ESPN/espnW Women’s World Cup viewing party in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.

Mike discusses NBC Sports Group providing full coverage of the Tour de France.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi says the NBA playoffs steered TNT to a cable ratings win in the 2nd quarter of this year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek really likes DirecTV’s Football Cops ad starring Peyton and Eli Manning.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred provides a lesson on just who Grantland Rice was and why he’s so revered.

Robert Niles of the Online Journalism Review at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism looks at the limits of free speech citing ESPN’s Jemele Hill defending David Tyree’s anti-gay marriage stance.

SportsGrid has video of Charles Barkley visiting the Sportsnet One booth during last night’s Pittsburgh-Toronto game.

SportsGrid’s Glenn Davis wonders if ESPN’s Robert Flores was caught napping on the job today.

SportsNewser’s Cam Martin writes that video game producer EA Sports plans to build a new studio in Texas.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Nike’s CEO and President Charlie Denson on a myriad of sports business topics.

SportsbyBrooks is reporting that former Indiana and Texas A&M coach Bob Knight is preventing ESPN from hiring former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl as an analyst. I didn’t know coach Knight wielded that much power.

Andrew Gauthier of TV Spy notes the return of Len Berman to the Today Show this morning. And no one got hurt!

The lovely Kristi Dosh of the Business of College Sports explains how she got into the sports blogging business.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times reviews USA Network’s new football-based series.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Derek Jeter haters will like one new internet product that allows them to ignore the Yankees shortstop.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says tonight’s Red Sox-Phillies game originally scheduled for ESPN2 will now be seen on the ESPN mothership.

Ken says New York’s Capital Region will be blacked out on July 8 when Bob Costas and Al Michaels team up to call their first baseball game ever.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that NBC golf reporter Dottie Pepper reaches out to the community when she’s back home.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says handouts to sports owners are not a good thing.

John George of the Philadelphia Business Journal says MLB Network’s Mitch Williams will be seen on a DIY Network show.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog recaps a visit from consumer advocate Ralph Nader to the WaPo offices to discuss sports coverage and a new venture he’s helping to organize.

Graham Cawthorn of the Shelby (NC) Star looks at ESPN wanting to stream the American Legion World Series.

Danny Aller of the Albany (GA) Herald says Braves fans will finally be able to watch Peachtree TV games through the Fox Sports South affiliate.

Joel Hammond of Crain’s Cleveland Business says the Browns will launch a nightly radio show on the market’s dominant sports radio station.

Steve Brandt of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says local officials are denying that there’s a potential bid for the 2020 Olympics in the works.

The Syracuse (NE) Journal-Democrat reports that ESPN3 will stream all games of the American Legion World Series under a new four year contract.

Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times says former Chicago Sun-Times writer Jay Mariotti must stand trial on stalking and assault charges.

The Elk Grove (CA) Citizen notes that a local high school rejected ESPN’s request to air a football game this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about HBO hitting the ice once again next season.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on TNT’s ratings were up again this past weekend.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says viewership for the NHL Draft was up from last year.

The Big Lead wonders if NASCAR fired an in-house blogger for mentioning Kyle Busch’s marital problems.

That’s all for now.

Doing Some Friday Megalinkage

Now that I’ve learned that I don’t have to travel in between two offices today, I’ll do some megalinks for you.

You can check out the Weekend Sports and Primetime Viewing Picks here. Now to your links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with TNT’s Steve Kerr on the similarities he sees between the Chicago Bulls teams he played on with Michael Jordan and the Miami Heat of today.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News breaks news that TNT’s Marv Albert is in talks with CBS to possibly replace Gus Johnson for the NCAA Tournament. Bob isn’t national, but it’s big enough news to be placed here.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Michael Smith report on how ESPN and Fox came together for the Pac-12 TV contract.

Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter says Oprah Winfrey’s booking of the United Center for her overblown farewell shows has forced the NBA to juggle the schedule for the Eastern Conference Finals.

To Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News who writes that TNT is on a fast track to have its highest-rated NBA postseason in its history.

Mike has a story on the NBC Sports Group signing Saratoga Race Course for horse racing programming in the summer.

Noted FoxSports.com basketball writer Jeff Goodman announces that he’s leaving for CBSSports.com.

Also writing his farewell column is noted hockey reporter E.J. Hradek who’s leaving ESPN.com for the NHL Network.

At the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh says despite what rivals’ complaints, there’s nothing unfair about the new Longhorn Network.

Matt Hinton at Yahoo’s Dr. Saturday college football blog notes that ESPN.com really messed up in reporting the death of Alabama offensive lineman Aaron Davis.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem about a faltering Tiger Woods and what it means to the Tour.

Darren explores the new magazine put forth by energy drink distributor Red Bull.

Darren notes that Nike is coming under fire again for factory conditions in Asia.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for nights 25-28 of the NHL Playoffs.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has audio of a Captain Blowhard call into the Tony Korneheiser show this week.

Dan also has video of a deeply subdued Gus Johnson talking to Dan Patrick about his move to Fox.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that Versus’ Jeremy Roenick gave praise to Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks, two games after calling him “gutless”.

In Publiside, the lovely Gail Sideman advises athletes to keep using social media despite some recent incidents where some did not think before tweeting.

In Major League Programs, Dave Kohl reviews the sports media news of the week.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe quotes a WCVB-TV interview with NESN’s Jerry Remy in which he states he expects to return to analyzing Red Sox games on Monday. Remy has been out with pneumonia. Chad also breaks news that NESN’s Kathryn Tappen is being targeted by NHL Network as a possible studio host.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen says the Bruins now have the Hub’s attention all to themselves.

NESN has Heidi Watney visiting the MLB Fan Cave.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee actually saw Tiger Woods’ implosion at the Players Championship coming before it happened.

Melissa Hoppert of the New York Times discusses NBC Sports Group bringing Saratoga horse racing into the fold.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick hates everything and everybody today, but when is that different from any other day?

Justin Terranova at the Post has five questions for NBA TV’s Kevin McHale.

Ken Belson from the New York Times writes that the famed Melrose Games may leave its Madison Square Garden home where it’s been held for almost a century.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Siena lacrosse fans have a few ways to monitor their team’s NCAA Tournament game against Syracuse this weekend.

Ken says an NCAA Division III Lacrosse Tournament game will be online for fans to listen.

Patrick Berkery from the Philly Burbs papers talks with Comcast SportsNet Phillies analyst Chris Coste.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Nationals’ ratings on MASN are way up from this same time last year.

Dan says the DC sports media is firing shots at each other over whether DC NFL Team quarterback Donovan McNabb refused to wear a wristband to help him calls plays because it didn’t look good.

Dan says one DC radio show is sending barbs at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic over its reporting on the McNabb wristband.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says NBC will be all over The Players Championship this weekend.

Jim notes that NASCAR is coming to the Mid-Atlantic region this weekend.

And Jim says the NBA is heating up on both ESPN and TNT.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks at the latest sports media news.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle talks with the man who’s spearheading ESPN’s Longhorn Network and getting it ready for launch this summer.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has a chat with NBA TV’s Kevin McHale over Oklahoma City’s win over Memphis the other night.

Mel says the Thunder are setting local ratings records.

Mel also has his media notebook.

Midwest

Jeff Bell of Columbus Business First writes that Fox Sports Ohio will be a corporate sponsor of the local sports commission.

The Detroit News says last night’s wild Game 7 between the Red Wings and San Jose Sharks set a ratings record for Fox Sports Detroit.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about ESPN getting all hands on deck for a special college basketball game on Veterans Day.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman lists his weekly winners and losers.

Erin Meyer of the Chicago Tribune says the staff of WMAQ-TV is shocked over the death of sports anchor Daryl Hawks who was found in a hotel room as he was to cover last night’s Bulls-Hawks game.

Maudlyne Ihezjerika of the Chicago Sun-Times says another WMAQ-TV sportscaster died under similar circumstances almost a decade ago.

NBC Chicago has a slideshow of Daryl’s career not only at the station, but before he came to the Windy City.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a local sports radio executive’s tumultuous tenure is coming to an end.

West

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that the Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers now have a local TV deal.

John Maffei of the North County Times talks about announcers shuffling back and forth between networks.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says TNT’s Charles Barkley’s premonition about the Lakers ended up coming true.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News answers real sports media questions from fake readers.

Tom looks at an organization that aids reporters and writers in need of assistance.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin says golf viewership is getting out of red numbers.

We’re going to end it there. Enjoy your sports weekend

Grabbing Some Tuesday Linkage and Putting All In One Place For You

Let’s do the linkage and get it all done so you get on with your workday. That also goes for me as well. Here goes.

From USA Today, Mike McCarthy talks with a Frito-Lay executive on whether Brent Musburger was following orders on saying “This is for all the Tostitos” just before the winning kick during last night’s BCS National Championship Game.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today crunches the rating numbers from various weekend sports on TV.

Bob Velin from USA Today takes a look at FX’s new series “Lights Out” which focuses on boxing.

USA Today’s TV critic Robert Bianco reviews “Lights Out”.

John Ourand in this week’s Sports Business Journal explores why there’s no outrage in ESPN’s close to $2 billion rights fee for Monday Night Football.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry reviews ESPN’s production of the BCS National Championship Game.

From Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News, ESPN received cable’s highest overnight rating for the BCS National Championship Game.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine remembers the old Alcoa Fantastic Finishes that aired at the 2 minute warning of NFL games in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Auburn will get a big spike in its licensing royalties thanks to winning the BCS National Championship.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred writes that he’s pleased to see the reaction to Steve Buckley’s coming out in the Boston Herald. 

In the New York Times, Richard Sandomir notes that during the BCS National Championship Game, ESPN glossed over the shootings in Tuscon that injured Rep. Giselle Giffords and left six people dead.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News is reaching when he compares CBS’ promotion of this Sunday’s Jets-Pats NFL playoff game to the shootings in Arizona.

Laura Nachman notes that Phillies radio announcer Scott Franzke received a national honor.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says DC NFL team owner Daniel Snyder won’t be allowing HBO’s cameras into his locker room.

Dan also talks about the WaPo’s DC sports owner summit that had all of the area’s sports team owners in one place.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says a decision on whether the NFL TV partners have to pay the league a rights fee during a potential lockout could decide if a stoppage will be an extended one.

Jon Solomon at the Birmingham (AL) News gives ESPN high praise for its presentation of the BCS National Championship Game.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady went to see the Broadway play, “Lombardi” over the weekend.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews “Lights Out”.

Tom says the Los Angeles Dodgers have set up an e-mail account where wellwishers can send their sympathies to scout John Green who’s daughter Christina died in the tragic shooting in Arizona on Saturday.

Let’s head up to Canada and Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail who writes that Canadian sports behemoth TSN is looking to start a sports radio network to challenge The FAN which is owned by rival, Rogers Communications.

Ian Walker of the Vancouver Sun says the NHL and HBO are looking to bring the 24/7 series to the Stanley Cup Playoffs as soon as this season.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest notes that while Under Armour fitted BCS National Champion Auburn, it’s Nike that’s still winning the sports apparel wars.

Russell Scibetti of The Business of Sports says Brent Musburger’s mention of Tostitos during the BCS National Championship Game can’t be measured in dollars and cents.

Sports Media Watch says the BCS National Championship Game got a huge rating in Birmingham, AL.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media compares and contrasts Monday’s edition of NHL Network’s NHL on the Fly with Versus’ NHL Overtime.

The Big Lead can’t believe super Jets fan Fireman Ed has his own mobile app.

And that will do it for this Tuesday.

Cranking Out The Tuesday Links

Let’s do some linkage on this Tuesday. Don’t know if I can get everything done today as I’ll be all over the place later today so I don’t know if this will be a complete set of links or an abbreviated edition. Time to get started.

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

Stuart Levine at Variety has Fox Sports Vice Chair Ed Goren hoping for an extended World Series. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.

Let the media vultures swarm over the World Series now. Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter has the angle that this year’s Fall Classic could be the lowest rated ever.

Milton Kent of Fanhouse confirms what I reported two weekends ago, that Fox is now using its football theme as the official music of Fox Sports. 

I’ll say this. The World Series always finishes 1 or 2 in primetime programming every year. It’ll win most of the nights it’s on. It does well in the 18-49 demo. While the ratings may fluctuate from year-to-year depending on the matchup, the World Series does get people to watch. It may not be NFL numbers, but what does? The NFL is rare programming that is communal and brings people together to watch. If you look on Twitter and Facebook, people constantly talk about the NFL when the games are on.

The same goes for the World Series, but not in the same manner of the NFL. The NBA doesn’t have that same appeal as the NFL, the only other sports that can do this are the Olympics and the World Cup and they’re not on every week like the NFL. And people are forgetting that with Dallas and San Francisco involved, these are Top 10 markets. Many of the so-called “experts” who are saying that this year’s World Series will be low-rated are on the East Coast. I have a feeling this World Series will do better than some are saying. I’m getting off my soapbox now.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable writes that there are only two spots left to be sold for Super Bowl XLV on Fox.

John Eggerton of Multichannel News says Fox is defending itself to the FCC in its dispute with Cablevision.

John has Cablevision’s side of the argument.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine looks at tonight’s TNT NBA season opener.

The Smoking Gun has obtained the tape of the prank call made by an online vandalism group to ESPNU’s Elizabeth Moreau. Thanks to Barry Rothbard of SportsGrid for the link.

Some sad news, BBC News reports that Paul the Octopus, the cephalopod that became famous for correctly predicting eight World Cup matches including Spain’s win in the final, has died. I’m actually saddened by this. I actually liked the little fella. Actually, he wasn’t so little, but you get the idea. The Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany where Paul was housed has a statement.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions says it’s unlikely the Feds will get involved in the Cablevision/Fox fight.

Phil says Cablevision is reportedly telling subscribers to watch Fox off an supposedly illegal website.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell likes the new Nike LeBron James ad, but wonders if it will help sell shoes?

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the very first rules of basketball, written by sport creator Dr. James Naismith, will be sold at auction in December.

Newsday’s Neil Best says TNT’s Charles Barkley is already in midseason form. 

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News goes after the NFL for selling violence, while trying to crack down at the same time.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is another East Coast critic who wonders if the World Series is doomed for ratings disaster.

Pete notes that Time Warner Cable subscribers can now access ESPN and ESPN3 online.

Pete has the entire national NBA television schedule for 2010-11.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that Fox and ESPN Radio are set to air the World Series.

Jim says TNT and ESPN Radio will be all over NBA Opening Night.

The Orlando Business Journal notes that the Magic will broadcast a handful of games in Spanish. 

Julie McGowan of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Oklahoma Baptist University will be teaching a course on the inner workings of ESPN and Google. 

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Bengals matched their season ratings average on Sunday.

Michael Rothstein of AnnArbor.com writes that a University of Michigan wide receiver will be profiled on this week’s College Gameday about his Twitter use. 

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune writes that a member of the Ricketts family which owns the Cubs taped an episode of Undercover Boss that will air in November.

Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman notes that Boise State’s move to the Mountain West next year will curtail its appearances on ESPN. 

Jimmy Bramlett in the LAist reviews tonight’s 30 for 30 documentary on former Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.

Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser says ESPN needs Boise State to sign off on its intentions to air the November 6th game with Hawaii.

Sports Media Watch says Fox saw a big increase for its Week 7 NFL regional coverage.

SMW also has some ratings news and notes.

I’ll end it there. I have to get ready to leave the office. I’ll be back later with more.

Friday Megalinks, Part I

I’m going to do the Friday megalinks in two parts once again. I’m going to leave the office before 4 p.m. ET so I can get a few things done at home and then I’ll do the rest of the megalinks tonight then post some press releases. Once again, I’ll post the National and Northeast links first and the rest tonight.

July 4th weekend is a busy weekend with plenty of baseball, the World Cup quarterfinals, Breakfast at Wimbledon and NASCAR at Daytona. Check out when and what channels are showing the respective events in the Weekend Viewing Picks.

Now to your links.

National

Michael Hiestand in USA Today looks at the World Cup from a different perspective.

Fanhouse’s Milton Kent asks why are the Lakers’ Lamar Odom and wife Khloe Kardashian being considered for a reality TV show?

Milton also has some NFL TV and Radio news. 

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the value of arena naming rights especially when LeBron James is playing in said arenas.

Darren also looks at a big hot dog. This is not just any big hot dog.

The Nielsen Wire blog says that after the England-Germany World Cup game, there were plenty of calls worldwide for soccer to institute instant replay.

And Nielsen notes that official World Cup sponsors have gotten the attention back from ambush marketing conducted by Nike.

Mark Dolliver of Mediaweek says a new survey shows that most Americans aren’t following the World Cup very closely.

Gavin J. Blair of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the very first 3-D TV baseball game will be produced and viewed in Japan, just days before the first 3-D MLB broadcast in the US.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable reports that a TV production company is unveiling a second 3-D truck that will be primarily used by ESPN 3D.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Versus is prepping for multiplatform coverage of the “final” Tour de France for Lance Armstrong.

The Sports Media Watch has some various news and notes.

David Goetzl of Mediapost reports that Hispanic radio is seeing record ratings for World Cup broadcasts. 

Joe Favorito says the iron is hot for U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan to expand his brand.

Bill Gorman at TV by the Numbers says ESPN will once again air the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest live from Coney Island on the 4th of July.

Deadspin notes that ESPN is moving its magazine operations from New York to Bristol, CT next year.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News says MSG Network’s NBA free agent show turned out to be a mouthpiece for the Knicks’ effort to sign LeBron James.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post writes about beloved Cubs radio analyst Ron Santo.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable is moving YES and Golf Channel to more favorable channel positions.

Ken McMillan in the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says Army is shifting around its broadcast teams.

Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News writes that Donyell Marshall is leaving Comcast SportsNet to join the George Washington coaching staff.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV writes in Press Box that the Baltimore Ravens have penetrated the DC market with two radio affiliates in the District.

Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun says Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams is happy to have a DC radio affiliate for his school.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with Tennis Channel/NBC/ESPN2/BBC/7 Network tennis analyst John McEnroe about Breakfast at Wimbledon.

We’ll end it there for now. Links from the rest of the country and Canada coming up tonight.

Let’s Do The Sunday Links

Went out last night for my friend’s 40th birthday party and let me say it was a rather raucous caucus. Singing, dancing, drinking, yelling, screaming and fighting, a good time was had by all. Well, maybe no fighting, but the other parts did occur.

Anyway, late start on the links today. Let’s get to them.

Later today, I’ll do a review on the first three days of the World Cup coverage on both ESPN and Univision. Expect that sometime tonight.

To the links and we start with Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News who writes that Univision had an excellent start to the World Cup more than doubling the ratings of ESPN on the opening day of the event.

Mike adds that NBC’s excellent ratings for the clinching game of the Stanley Cup Final paves the way for the rights renewal talks with the NHL.

Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press writes the NHL’s rise in the ratings comes at a good time for the league’s TV negotiations. 

TVbytheNumbers says more people watched the World Cup kickoff concert on Univision than on ESPN2. 

David Bauder of the Associated Press says ESPN did not attempt to dumb down its World Cup telecasts.

Yinka Adegoke of Reuters says both ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel hope to reap the ratings benefits after the World Cup.

The Nielsen Wire blog notes that Nike is not an official World Cup sponsor, but has managed to get some recognition thanks to some guerrilla marketing.

Overseas in the UK, ITV was airing the USA-England World Cup match yesterday and inexplicably, the HD feed suddenly went to commercial in the 4th minute. That was when Steven Garrard scored his goal putting England ahead. When ITV came back, it was just in time for Garrard’s celebration. You can imagine the ire of the viewers. Those watching the Standard Definition feed did not have any problems.

Matt Lawless of the London Daily Mail chronicles what happened.

The Sun says ITV really screwed up.

Anita Singh from the London Telegraph writes that about a million and a half viewers were affected by the glitch.

James Meikle of the London Guardian says an on-air apology was met with anger.

UK World Cup co-rightsholder BBC is a public broadcaster and does not run commercials so had the game aired on that network, there would not have been any commercial glitch.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says a holdout by Jets cornerback Darnell Revis is being played to the maximum for HBO/NFL Films which is airing Hard Knocks from the team’s training camp in August.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Steve Lepore at Puck The Media is writing the media column at SBNation’s New York site and he tells us five things YES Network does better than its counterpart, SNY.

Keith Gabriel in the Philadelphia Daily News writes that ESPN’s World Cup coverage is heavily slanted with a British accent.

Jeff Schuler of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says MLB is trying its hand at a televised draft. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN World Cup host Bob Ley about the network’s efforts to bring the event’s flavor to the United States.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tries to temper the excitement into Stephen Strasburg.

KCTV in Kansas City is reporting that the Big 12 is proposing a new Big 12/Pac 10 TV network in an attempt to keep the Pac 10 from poaching the remaining 10 members of the Big 12. 

John Henderson of the Denver Post says the conference shifts in the Pac 10 and Big 10 are all being done for television. 

Chad Cripe from the Idaho Statesman writes that the Mountain West is hoping to increase its rights fees by bringing in Boise State into the conference.

Artie Gigantino of the San Francisco Examiner enjoys ESPN/ABC’s NBA broadcasting crew.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says NBC affiliates are worried they will lose big tickets sports events if the Comcast purchase of the network goes through. 

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Abby Sunderland and her family are rays of shining light.

Tom scolds the second guessers in the Abby Sunderland story. 

Katie Baker at Deadspin looks into the media maelstrom that Abby Sunderland’s rescue has become.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions.

SMW notes that ABC got big numbers for USA-England yesterday.

We’re done for today.

Some Thursday Linkage

I’ll give you some linkage. Later today, I’ll be heading to Boston to see the 3-D presentation of The Masters. It will be quite interesting. Looking forward to it. I’ll give you a review sometime during the weekend.

To your links.

Speaking of 3-D, David Tanklefsky of Broadcasting & Cable says Sony and the World Cup in South Africa have unveiled the 3-D broadcast schedule for the event.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News discusses an over 30% ratings gain for UConn’s win at the NCAA Women’s Final Four for ESPN.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that media time buyers are confident that this weekend’s Masters audience could top 20 million due to interest in Tiger Woods.

Also from Media Life, Diego Vasquez talks with former CBS Sports President Neil Pilson on his thoughts about Tiger and this weekend’s audience for The Masters.

John Paul Newport of the Wall Street Journal reviews the 3-D coverage of The Masters. 

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the new Nike Tiger Woods ad raises more questions about the man than it answers.

Stuart Elliot and Stephanie Clifford of the Times get reaction to the commercial from various ad executives.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Nike Tiger ad has been polarizing in the hours since it premiered. 

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald notes some programming changes at CBS Radio’s sports radio station.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union tells us MSG Plus will air mixed martial arts programming.

Pete says a local sports talk show is going on hiatus for three days.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call has Fox Sports’ Joe Buck being high on the Philadelphia Phillies for this season.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the Baltimore Orioles season opener on Monday gave MASN its highest audience ever.

Jim talks with Donald Trump about his new Golf Channel series and his new golf course in the DC area.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business provides his reaction to the Tiger Woods ad.

Ed has the odds of Tiger winning The Masters.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times says Tiger at The Masters will change how the sports media covers athletes. I thought it already changed.

Bob Mayhall from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat writes that Tiger will dominate coverage at The Masters no matter where he finishes this weekend.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News talks about Tiger and the high interest in The Masters this weekend. 

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times wonders what exactly is Tiger trying to achieve with the new Nike ad?

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star is trying to lower the expectations for the ratings for The Masters this weekend.

Joe Favorito says the Twins and Angels kicked off MLB Opening Week with some interesting promotions.

The Sports Media Watch notes that last Saturday’s Manchester United-Chelsea matchup on ESPN2 set a record rating for an English Premier League match in the United States.

SMW says Sunday’s Yankees-Red Sox MLB season opener on ESPN2 fared worse than last year’s game and was beaten by the Women’s Final Four on ESPN.

SMW also has the ratings for The Masters dating back to 1982.

Sox & Dawgs has the video of a new Olympia Sports ad airing during Red Sox games featuring the always lovely softball star, Jennie Finch.

Dave Kohl in the Major League Programs blog looks at the local radio ratings for MLB. 

That’s going to do it for today.

Back with Thursday Linkage

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

Let’s do some links for you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That does it for the links today.

A Saturday Link Thing

Let’s give you links on this very cold morning on the East Coast. I’m cold as the boiler in my house is malfunctioning again, but hopefully, it’ll get warm later.

Brad Adgate of Advertising Age says the ratings for the NFL defy the problems currently surrounding network TV.

Also from Ad Age, Brian Steinberg writes that NBC Universal is expanding its viewer research for the Winter Olympics.

One more from Advertising Age, Jeremy Mullman says it appears that the Clydesdales will make an appearance in the Super Bowl after all.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that a Super Bowl advertiser found some spots at a bargain price. 

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says a new Nike ad is bringing the NBA handgun issue to the forefront again.

Alan Pergament from the Buffalo News says Bills running back Marshawn Lynch will take part in ESPN’s Sport Science special next week.

From the Wilmington (DE) News Journal, we learn of the passing of former Philadelphia Eagles defensive back and CBS NFL analyst Tom Brookshier. Before Pat Summerall and John Madden became the “A” broadcasting team for CBS, Brookie and Summerall were the most popular broadcasting duo in the late 1970′s. Brookie was the comedian and Pat was the straightman. Both were very good friends and Brookie was there for Summerall when Pat was sent to rehab for alcohol abuse. Brookie was also a morning host on Philadelphia sports radio station, WIP.

In Press Box, Larry Harris discusses the passing of a Pro Football Hall of Fame sportswriter who covered the Baltimore Colts in their heyday.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner looks forward to seeing the Australian Open men’s final on ESPN2 early Sunday morning.

Writing in the Daily Caller, Jim says the Super Bowl hype machine is about to begin.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks with Jon Gruden about his first season on Monday Night Football. 

Tim Lemke says ESPN360 is hoping for big growth this year. 

In his Saturday column in the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn talks with Michael Irvin about his local sports radio show.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks back at the week in blogging. And thanks to Tom for the two links to Fang’s Bites!

William Houston of Truth & Rumours wishes Hockey Day in Canada would tackle some serious hockey issues instead of being all syrupy.

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings news for us.

First, the NHL on NBC saw a ratings uptick last Sunday.

Figure skating drew solid ratings for NBC last weekend.

College basketball did well for CBS.

People tuned out the ESPN gimmick of Dick Vitale calling an NBA game.

And we have some ratings news and notes from the SMW.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media looks at CBS’ rejection of a gay-themed Super Bowl ad.

Joe Favorito looks at how the New Jersey Nets try to get fans in the arena while undergoing a huge losing season.

We’ll end it for now. Back later.

Some Mid-Week Links

Doing some linkage and my computer has been acting up on me. This is all connected with me falling asleep with the lights and my glasses on. I have a feeling I dropped my computer while asleep so I have to deal with it shutting off about seven times today. So while I deal with trying to stabilize the machine, I’ll do some linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about Peter Gammons leaving ESPN for the MLB Network.

Tom Singer of MLB.com looks at the Gammons move to MLB Network and MLB.com.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy writes about Gatorade dropping a line of Tiger Woods-theme drinks before the Tiger Slam into a fire hydrant.

The Sports Business Daily looks at the latest Tiger Woods news including the lack of his TV ads since his scandal broke the day after Thanksgiving.

Reed Albergotti of the Wall Street Journal writes that Woods may not be getting the best PR advice.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says now is the time to buy Tiger Woods memorabilia.

Darren talks with Kobe Bryant about his new Nike shoe.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn writes about Peter Gammons’ decision to join NESN and the MLB Network.

The Boston Herald’s John Tomase and Michael Silverman also have a story about Gammons’ departure from ESPN.

Jessica Heslam of the Herald has a look at the sports radio ratings.

Will Leitch of New York Magazine wonders if the Tiger Woods story is changing sports journalism.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is a bit surprised that NBC and the NFL chose to stand pat with its Sunday Night game in Week 15.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says up to 10 college bowl games will be on local sports radio this holiday season.

Ken says CBS Sports will have its top college football announcing team on Army-Navy this weekend.

Laura Nachman says another Philadelphia Inquirer reporter is moving to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia’s upgraded website.

Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that Orange Bowl officials as well as Miami tourism officials are hoping Iowa fans will make the trip to see their team in droves as they did in 2003.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says it appears Josh Lewin will return to call the Texas Rangers on TV for next season and beyond.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks at the local ratings of the college football conference championships as well as high school football.

Over to Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business who wants to put an end to the Tiger Woods coverage.

Ed writes about a new website devoted to Chicago high school sports.

Ed looks at more shuffling between the Tribune and Sun-Times.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal writes that the Bucks get another shot on national TV this Friday.

Chicago Tribune Olympics reporter Philip Hersh says webcasts are no longer the bane of figure skating.

Barry Stavro of the Los Angeles Times writes that Lakers fans will hear some different voices on the radio calling games this weekend.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the NFL TV schedule for Week 14.

Tom says the Bowl Championship Series is extremely unfair.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star looks at the battle between the mainstream sports media and the sports leagues.

William Houston of Truth & Rumours says the Tiger Woods story is inciting both thoughtful and stupid comments.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says the Cowboys will use its huge videoboard to conduct a 3-D test on Sunday during its game with the Chargers.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that Spike’s Ultimate Fighter season finale drew its highest ratings to date.

Some NFL ratings from the Sports Media Watch.

First, Sunday Night’s Packers-Cardinals game did well for NBC.

Fox saw excellent ratings for Cowboys-Giants.

But CBS experienced a big drop for its regional coverage.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football did very well.

SMW wraps up the ratings from Week 12.

SMW has the weekend overnight ratings.

And the SMW talks with Kenny “The Jet” Smith of TNT’s Inside the NBA.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media shows us the new face of Canadian sportscasting.

Emmett Jones of the Sports Business Digest has Ana Ivanovic’s dress for the Australian Open next month (it’s next month?!!!).

Maury Brown in the Biz of Baseball says Bloomberg is making a big push to get a foothold into baseball analytics.

We end with Kristine Leahy doing The Five on WEEI.com.

That’s it for now.

Tuesday Afternoon Update

I have enough links to warrant an update today.

Starting with two links from the Sports Business Daily and thanks to the fine people there for opening these pages to the public.

Comcast-owned Golf Channel and Versus saw the biggest year-to-year viewership gains for a sports network as Austin Karp writes.

Erik Swanson talks to several media writers (all familiar names if you read Fang’s Bites regularly) about NBC’s tape delayed Wimbledon coverage.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that Versus is all over the Tour de France. Jim adds that Versus will have Ben Stiller on its Tour de France primetime show this evening.

Thom Weidlich of Bloomberg News reports the City of New York has settled a lawsuit with a Yankees fan. Thanks to Deadspin for the link.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Gatorade is releasing limited edition Michael Jordan bottles to celebrate his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Big Ten Network has quietly started a channel on Hulu.

Bruce Allen at the Boston Sports Media Watch has a great post today on some of people who have graced The Hub as sports anchors. They are some great names who have gone national, Dick Stockton, Len Berman, Keith Olbermann, Roger Twibell, Jack Edwards, Jimmy Myers to name a few.

Ray Frager of Sports Media Journal writes that Nike is timely with its ads.

If you live near the Chicago area or have Comcast SportsNet Chicago on DirecTV, Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business will be on at 5:30 p.m CT today to talk about the Cubs sale. Ed says the Cubs are still talking to interested parties as the sale to the Ricketts family is not final.

The Biz of Baseball’s Maury Brown says all living U.S. Presidents will appear in a video before next week’s MLB All-Star Game with President Clinton throwing out the first pitch.

The Big Lead reviews ESPN2′s SportsNation.

Chris Byrne of Eye on Sports Media has some post-Wimbledon thoughts.

Mimi Turner of the Hollywood Reporter says ESPN will launch its UK channel next month as well as one in HD.

Rick Kissell of Variety writes that golf and tennis led the ratings on Sunday.

Steve Clarke of Variety reports that the Wimbledon men’s final grabbed 50% of all viewers in the UK.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that CBS College Sports and the mtn. will get a boost from Cox Communications in Arizona and Orange County, CA.

That’s it from here. Press releases coming up later.

Very Early Thursday Morning Update

I may not be able to blog on Thursday morning so I will give you this quickie update to get you by until the next post.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that ESPN.com’s resident crackpot Bill Simmons weighed in on the possibility of Max Kellerman moving to WFAN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Horizon League Champion Cleveland State Vikings could stand to get an attendance boost. Darren writes that Kellogg’s is not commenting about the donation of 3,800 pounds of Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes with Michael Phelps’ image on the box.

Joe Favorito wonders if the Netherlands can cash in on its new-found fame in baseball.

A couple of things from the Sports Media Journal. T.J. Donegan looks at the Wall Street 24/7 post on the 10 Major Newspapers That Could Be the Next to Collapse. Keith Thibeault has part 1 of his poll on sports blogs. One piece of disclosure, I took part in the poll.

Caulton Tudor of the Raleigh News & Observer says the Duke-North Carolina game was a ratings smash both nationally and locally for CBS.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn has the highlights of a Michael Irvin press conference hyping his Spike reality show and yes, the subject of Terrell Owens came up.

From Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman says the new Nike Tiger Woods ad has one notable detractor.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says it appears that Jim Rome’s Guest of Rexes streak is over at 20.

The Sports Media Watch says this year’s MLS Cup will be a cable-only event. And the SMW finds it strange for NASCAR to beat the NHL in New York especially when the Rangers were playing on Sunday.

Speaking of New York, Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog is in the Big Apple and talked about his experience of being at Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament.

That’s going to do it for now.

Monday Afternoon Links

I see that there’s enough linkage out there on this Monday to warrant an update.

One of the pioneers in sportswriting died on Sunday. Terry Olberle, sports editor emeritus of the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal remembers Mary Garber who died yesterday at the age of 92. As far as anyone can determine, Garber was the first full-time female sportswriter at a daily newspaper and her career spanned six decades. Lenox Rawlings of the Journal says Mary might have been just five feet tall, but she stood way above many of her colleagues. And Bill Cole of the Journal says two of college basketball’s greatest coaches have great fondness for Mary. Finally, Mary’s co-workers share some of their stories.

Ed Hardin of the Greensboro (NC) News-Record says “Miss Mary” Garber was a great influence on many sportswriters in the region.

Claire Noland of the Los Angeles Times also remembers Garber.

We move on. CNBC’s Darren Rovell has received confirmation from Nike that it is getting out of the swimwear business.

From the Sports Business Journal, Steve Donohue writes that the tough economic times are forcing newspapers to scale back their sports coverage.

And Eric Fisher from the SBJ says while attendance and revenue projections are going to fall short for this season, MLB is still bullish on the sport.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union feels ESPN was a bit intrusive during last night’s Yankees-Orioles game. And Pete has ratings news from certain sporting events over the weekend.

Flip Bondy of the New York Daily News says ESPN asked the Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures to delay their famous lineup roll call, to which the Creatures told the Alleged Worldwide Leader to stick it. Good for them.

Some great stuff from Neil Best of Newsday who attended last night’s Yankee Stadium farewell. First, Neil spoke to Baseball Hall of Fame announcer Bob Wolff who called many great moments at the Stadium. And Neil caught up with current Yankees announcer John Sterling who talks about his favorite memories. Neil says ailing ex-New York Football Giants GM Ernie Accorsi made it to last night’s festivities. Neil talks with former Yankees first baseman Chris Chambliss who thought ex-2nd baseman Willie Randolph slipped when he actually slid during the ceremonies. Neil says Reggie Jackson helped out ESPN’s Jon Miller in the booth last night. Finally, Neil writes that the Yankees beat Sunday Night Football in the ratings in New York, but football beat everyone else nationally.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has the ratings for Cowboys-Packers in Big D. And Barry has a money quote from Brett Favre that ESPN’s Ed Werder got in advance of tonight’s Jets-Chargers game.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News likes the latest Sony ad featuring Peyton Manning.

Bob Diddlebock of the Denver Examiner liked Troy Aikman’s analysis of yesterday’s Saints-Broncos game.

I got this press release earlier today. NBC says Cowboys-Packers ran all over the Emmy Awards telecast on ABC on Sunday.

Two more press releases to pass along. Here are some quotes from Rich Eisen, Deion Sanders and Steve Mariucci from last night’s NFL Gameday Final on the NFL Network.

And CBS Sports says its ratings for Week 3 went up from last year.

From the Kansas City Star, Jeffrey Flanagan reviews the comments from the TV and radio announcing crews during yesterday’s Chiefs-Falcons game.

Christopher Byrne at the Eye on Sports Media blog tells us that CBS has selected Kentucky-Alabama as its SEC national game on October 4.

Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham (AL) News says as a result of CBS’ pick, ESPN has chosen to air Auburn at Vandy at 6 p.m. on the same date.

And completing the SEC TV lineup for October 4, Raycom will show Arkansas-Florida in the early afternoon slot.

And in primetime on October 4, ESPN has selected Nebraska-Missouri.

A while back, I linked to a fascinating story in which Al Michaels told the Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth about his brief cameo appearance on Hawaii Five-O. Leave it to Awful Announcing to find Al’s scene.

The Big Lead has Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander taking a massive shot at ex-colleague Jay Marrioti.

Joe Favorito says Action Sports America’s larger-than-life marketing puts the company in a unique spotlight.

That will do it for now.

Last Olympic-Sized Friday Megalinks Until 2010

This marks the final weekend of Olympics action and it’s really time for the Games to end. I enjoyed the Games really up until Wednesday when I started to get burned out on the Mary Carillo puff pieces, the tape delay of track & field despite knowing the results and stories about Tiki Barber, whether he muttered or didn’t mutter the word “cunt” during an MSNBC Olympic update show. It’ll all be over by this Sunday and we won’t have to worry about a Summer Olympics until 2012, but we will have to deal with the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, but that’s a ways away.

Of course, the last weekend of the Olympics from Communist China dominate the Weekend Viewing Picks.

Among the action coming up this weekend are live coverage of gold medal matches in men’s basketball (Sunday, 2:30 a.m. on NBC), boxing (shown between 12:30 a.m. – 5 a.m. Sunday), men’s marathon (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.), men’s soccer (midnight, CNBC), and baseball (USA/Telemundo, Saturday, 6 a.m.). Tape delayed coverage on NBC includes the men’s 4 x 400 relay in track (Saturday, primetime) and men’s diving.

Finally on Sunday, NBC delays the Closing Ceremonies for primetime although I’m sure someone will have them streaming live on the internet sometime around 8 a.m.

Over to baseball, Fox Sports has regional coverage of three games Saturday at 3:55 p.jm. including Tampa Bay at the White Sox. The regional divide, announcing assignments and probable starters can all be seen here. On Sunday, TBS has the Rays-White Sox at 2 p.m., WGN has the Cubs in action against Washington at Wrigley Field at 2:10 p.m. and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball has the Dodgers taking on the Phillies at 8 p.m.

The NFL is in action again this weekend. CBS has two games, one tonight which has the battle of Texas, Houston at Dallas at 8. Then on Saturday night, CBS beams Pittsburgh and Minnesota, also at 8. The NFL Network jumps in Sunday night with the Indianapolis Colts hosting Buffalo again at 8.

The Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA finally finishes this weekend. ESPN and ABC combine for coverage. On Saturday, ABC has a championship doubleheader starting with the International Championship between Japan and Mexico which starts at 12:30 p.m. Then the US Championship pits Lake Charles, LA against Waipahu, HI at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday, the 3rd place game is on ESPN at noon followed by the LLWS Championship Game on ABC at 3:30 p.m.

NASCAR heads to Bristol, TN for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. Tonight, it’s the Food City 250, Saturday night at 8. On Saturday, it’s primetime again for ESPN as the Sharpie 500 gets underway also at 8 p.m.

Formula 1 racing heads to Valencia, Spain for the European Grand Prix. Speed Channel has coverage of qualifying this Saturday morning at 8, then the actual race, Sunday morning at 7:30.

For golf, the LPGA Tour’s Safeway Classic is covered by ESPN2, Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The first leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup which no one can understand begins with The Barclays. This will mark the end of CBS’ golf coverage for the year. The Barclays gets underway on CBS with 3rd round coverage on Saturday at 3 p.m. On Sunday, final round coverage begins at 2 p.m.

The last tennis tournament before the U.S. Open begins on Monday concludes on Saturday. CBS has the women’s final of the Pilot Pen from New Haven, CT at 1 p.m. ESPN2 has the men’s final at 7 p.m.

And the Travers Stakes, horse racing from Saratoga Springs, New York will be seen on ESPN this Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Now let’s do your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that the Olympics will end with a bang on Sunday.

The Sports Business Daily/Journal’s Olympics website reports that NBC’s ratings for Wednesday were below Athens for the comparable night.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at some of the most marketable sports names over the years.

The Sports Media Watch says Michael Phelps’ success has brought swimming more exposure for the next four years. On Wednesday, Awful Announcing had a clip of Usain Bolt’s record breaking 200 meter win before NBC showed the race and SMW talks about how the network used its muscle to have Google shut down AA for a short period. And the blog says NBC had its lowest rated night of the Olympics on Thursday.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that the Olympics also dominated NBC Nightly News, more than any other network newscast.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News says the former “Bachelor”, Jesse Palmer joins ESPN’s Thursday Night college football crew.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes that the Beijing Games now ranks second after Lillehammer in 1994 as the most watched Olympics in history. And Toni reports that the only major demographic that’s not into the Olympics are girls aged 12-17.

Clifford Coonan of Variety says the International Olympic Committee is proud to have opened the viewing to online platforms.

Daisy Whitney of TV reports that NBC did not rake in the cash from online ad revenue for its Olympics website.

CBS says the lovely beach volleyball gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh make their first late night appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday. And CBS Sports has announced the announcer pairings for the 2008 NFL season. A good pickup for CBS is Dan Fouts who was with ESPN/ABC for the last ten seasons.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott from the Boston Sports Media Watch has some good words for Michael Felger in the first week of operation for the new WEEI.com.

Barbara Matson of the Boston Globe is not happy with NBCOlympics.com.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post writes that the YES Network’s Michael Kay made some strange comments about replay in baseball.

The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with SNY’s Lee Mazzilli about the baseball pennant races. And Justin has five questions for CBS’ Dick Enberg who will be in New York for the U.S. Open.

The spiteful Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News complains about the New York Jets giving favorable treatment regarding Brett Favre to 1050 ESPN Radio and WFAN while slighting beat reporters and cable partner SNY on which Raissman regularly appears and the Daily News is a partner.

Newsday’s Neil Best has CBS being giddy over having Brett Favre and the Jets on their network for most of the NFL season. In his blog, Neil likes Ato Boldon’s commentary on track & field. And Neil has an item on John McEnroe which did not make it into his column.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says NBC wants to ride the Michael Phelps wave for as long as it can.

Tim Lemke from the Washington Times says Gene Upshaw’s death has left the NFL Players Association in limbo.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says maybe it’s not a bad thing for the national college football analysts to disrespect Brigham Young University.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune talks about ESPN horse racing analyst Randy Moss picking up work with the NFL Network. Jay says the Sporting News picked the Chargers to win the Super Bowl, but nary a Charger to be on the cover. And Jay has the ratings for San Diego over the last week.

John Maffei of the North County Times feels track & field is getting the short stick on NBC’s Olympics primetime coverage.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with FSN West’s Lindsay Soto who’s doing yeoman’s work for NBC in Communist China. And Tom has more with the lovely Lindsay in his extensive media notes in his blog.

Brent Hunsberger of The Oregonian’s Playbooks & Profits blog says this has not been a good Olympics for Nike.

South

Doug Nye of The State in South Carolina says he’ll have plenty of non-Michael Phelps memories of the Olympics. And Doug says ESPN has set its crew for the South Carolina-NC State game next Thursday.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald doles out his medals to NBC’s announcers for the Olympics.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel says NBC did a solid job in broadcasting the Games.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News says NBCOlympics.com has had plenty of visitors during the 17 Days of Glory.

Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that long-time Mavericks analyst Bob Ortegel returns to TV after being on radio for a year.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks about the NBA possibly streaming live local games to your computer. Here’s Mel’s media notes. And Mel has his weekend viewing picks.

Midwest

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal does not like a new DVD documentary on the late Ohio State coach Woody Hayes.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says NBC gets a silver medal for its Olympics coverage.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post Bulletin says the clock is running out on NBC’s Olympics broadcasts.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes about infamous “Boom Goes the Dynamite” anchor Brian Collins who after his disastrous sportscast has managed to find work in Texas. And Jeffrey writes about a Dan Patrick/Sports Illustrated interview with ex-decathlete Bruce Jenner.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star prefers watching CBC’s live coverage of the Olympics over NBC’s production of taped primetime program.

William Houston from the Toronto Globe and Mail says Ron McLean’s reveal about his mother’s death was poignant and telling.

That’s it for now. More coming later.

Late Tuesday Night Links

As I return home from work, I notice there are some stories I can link you to tonight.

We start things off with Newsday’s Neil Best who’s been on top of the Mike & the Mad Dog contract talks and stands by his story that the pair could split by Labor Day. Tonight, Neil has word that if Mike Francesa does not come to an agreement with WFAN, one possible landing is at MSG Network. Things get more interesting by the day.

Two things from CNBC’s Darren Rovell (I always feel classier whenever I link to Darren, I don’t know why). First is his take on the possible sale of the Pittsburgh Steelers by the Rooney family to take advantage of the Inheritance Tax which is expected to go exponentially in 2010. Next, Darren says Nike could not be happier with the exposure it received at the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that the Wimbledon men’s final could be a big boon for tennis.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes about NBC’s plans to bring the Olympics from Communist China home to the viewer.

Ken McMillan of the HudsonValley Times Herald-Record says the 3,600 hours of coverage from Communist China is a massive undertaking.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog says fans of swimming and gymnastics will see their favorite sports in primetime while track & field will be seen in the morning.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter has the breakdown of the sports each NBC network will cover.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that the 3,600 hours of coverage surpasses the amount of any past Olympics by far.

John Consoli of Mediaweek says every Olympic sport will be televised or streamed.

However, with all the hype surrounding the Olympics, Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine reports that advertisers are not lining up to buy spots because of the bad press coming out of Communist China.

By the way, here’s the breakdown by network of how many hours the networks of NBC Universal will show during the Olympic games, Monday – Friday:

By Network:
NBC: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.*** All time zones
8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.** ET/PT
Midnight – 1:30 a.m.** ET/PT
MSNBC: 5 a.m. – 5 p.m.* ET
CNBC: Midnight – 4:30 a.m.* ET
5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.* ET
USA: 2 a.m. – 12 p.m.*ET
OXYGEN: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.** ET/PT

Chronological:
CNBC: Midnight – 4:30 a.m.
USA: 2 a.m. – 12 p.m.
MSNBC: 5 a.m. – 5 p.m.
NBC: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
CNBC: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
OXYGEN: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
NBC: 8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
NBC: Midnight – 1:30 a.m. (late night show)

Brent Hunsberger of the Oregonian writes in his Playbook & Profits blog that NBC got decent ratings for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field and Swimming trials on Sunday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders if FSN would ever show the entire replay of the Dodgers’ Hiroki Kuroda’s near perfect game against the Braves.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post writes that the Nationals are drawing miniscule ratings on MASN. Thomas Boswell of the Post wonders why the Nats are striking out on TV. And Marc Fisher in the Post blogs that MASN does not treat the Nationals as its number one priority.

Scott Venci of the Green Bay Press-Gazette talks with ESPN’s John Anderson who’s having a big summer as host of ABC’s Wipeout.

Bob Hertzel of the Times West Virginian says TV is what drives college football and basketball.

Ryan Suchomel of the Iowa City Press-Citizen says the Big Ten Network and Mediacom are heading to the table in attempt to bring the channel into the Hawkeye State.

Jake Schaller over at Red Orbit writes that beleaguered Mountain West network, the mtn., will debut on DirecTV in August.

There’s your update for tonight. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.

Your Tuesday Links Are Here

Time for me to give you the links. Sorry about the delays.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about ESPN crashing The Masters party. Neil has the winners in the sports category of the New York Emmy Awards. Neil has noticed that YES is trying to add some revenue streams during the Mike & the Mad Dog WFAN simulcast. And Neil says the college basketball studio analysts on both CBS and ESPN questioned Memphis coach John Calipari not calling for his team to foul before Mario Chalmers’ three pointer to tie the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship last night. Neil reports SNY has hired former Mets outfielder Daryl Strawberry for the studio.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News goes after MSG Network again.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks about William Shea who helped to bring the Mets to New York after the National League had left the city and whose name is on the stadium where the Mets are playing their final season.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell blogged from the Nike Olympic Innovation Summit on Monday.

Los Angeles Business reports that ESPN has signed a video syndication deal with AOL. Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable has more on the online deal.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune says incoming Cal basketball coach Mike Montgomery enjoyed his two year stint on TV and radio.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about ESPN’s Dick Vitale being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Doug Fernandes from the Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune also writes about Vitale’s reaction. Kamon Simpson of the Bradenton (FL) Journal also has a story on the Vitale induction.

A few things from the Sports Media Watch. First, it wonders why CBS chose to keep its studio show in New York for the Final Four. Next, the overnight ratings for the Memphis-Kansas game on CBS were down. And here are the final weekend ratings.

John Consoli of Mediaweek says ratings for the Final Four on CBS were down 6% from last year.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Sports Fanhouse blog says CBS showed its signature video “One Shining Moment” too late for East Coast viewers. And if you missed it, here it is:

Daniel Shirley of the Macon (GA) Telegraph discusses ESPN coming into Augusta for The Masters.

Carlos Monarrez from the Detroit Free Press talks with Michigan native Mike Tirico about his hosting The Masters for ESPN this week.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says Cleveland TV is mourning the loss of a legendary broadcaster.

Jefferson George of the Charlotte Observer says the NBA’s Bobcats have a new arena naming rights deal as well as a new TV home.

Turning now to the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that FSN Pittsburgh will be picking up two Penguins playoff games and dropping two Pirates games in the process.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that FSN North and KSTC will alternate televising games for the Wild-Colorado series.

Rich Hofman of the Philadelphia Daily News writes that the Philadelphia-Washington series will be showcased nationally by both Versus and NBC.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun writes in his blog that NBC Sports is tacking on a half hour to its Kentucky Derby broadcast.

If my computer works tonight, I’ll have an update this evening. Expect Primetime & Late Night picks coming up.

Videos of the Week – Nike Sparq Commercial

I’m not a fan of Nike for various reasons, but I do like their commercials that have run in the NCAA Tournament. Here is the Nike Sparq ad. It’s very good.

And if you’re wondering what song is used on the commercial, it’s the kickass Saul Williams doing “List of Demands.”

And here’s a really great live version with Saul and Nine Inch Nails at the Voodoo Festival in 2005.