Fang's Bites

List of Monday Night Football Commentators

This was compiled by the fine people at ESPN. Here’s the list of Monday Night Football announcing teams dating back to when the series began on ABC in 1970. Since ESPN took over production in 1998, there has been a lot of upheaval in the announcing teams and you’ll notice this especially since the series moved to ESPN in 2006.

Monday Night Football Commentators All-Time (1970-present)

Year	Commentators
1970	Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith
1971	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith
1972	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith
1973	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith
1974	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Fred Williamson
1975	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Alex Karras
1976	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Alex Karras
1977	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith
1978	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith
1979	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Fran Tarkenton
1980	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Fran Tarkenton
1981	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Fran Tarkenton
1982	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Fran Tarkenton
1983	Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, O.J. Simpson
1984	Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, O.J. Simpson
1985	Frank Gifford, O.J. Simpson, Joe Namath
1986	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford
1987	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1988	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1989	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1990	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1991	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1992	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1993	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf
1994	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf, Lynn Swann
1995	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf, Lynn Swann
1996	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf, Lynn Swann
1997	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf, Lesley Visser
1998	Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, Lesley Visser
1999	Al Michaels, Boomer Esiason, Lesley Visser
2000	Al Michaels, Dan Fouts, Dennis Miller, Melissa Stark, Eric Dickerson
2001	Al Michaels, Dan Fouts, Dennis Miller, Melissa Stark, Eric Dickerson
2002	Al Michaels, John Madden, Melissa Stark
2003	Al Michaels, John Madden, Lisa Guerrero
2004	Al Michaels, John Madden, Michele Tafoya
2005	Al Michaels, John Madden, Michele Tafoya, Sam Ryan *
2006	Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Joe Theismann, Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya
2007	Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Ron Jaworski, Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya
2008	Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Ron Jaworski, Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya
2009	Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski, Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya
2010	Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski, Suzy Kolber, Michele Tafoya
2011	Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski **
2012	Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters

* Ryan filled in duringTafoya’s pregnancy/maternity leave
** Rotation of reporters (Kolber, Nichols, Nix, Paolantonio, Werder)

ABC – 1970-2005; ESPN – 2006-present

That’s it.

Ringing In Some Monday Linkage

Let’s do our Monday linkage today.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today writes that CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg will have a big “get” during halftime of Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament First Four game.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says MSG Network has a new show dedicated to the best and worst baseball trades and deals.

Mike says YES Network’s national feed will be seen by California cable subscribers for the first time.

Jason Del Ray of Advertising Age looks at SB Nation’s foray into producing original content for YouTube with former ESPN’ers Bomani Jones and Amy K. Nelson.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says the NCAA Tournament can be a sports marketer’s dream.

Kevin Wagstaff of Time Magazine says YouTube will be the official video player for NBCOlympics.com, however, don’t expect to see live Olympics on the video streaming service.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead spent a day following ESPN’s Jay Bilas at the Big East Tournament.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead wonders if NBC’s entrance into MLS will help to grow soccer in America.

Timothy Burke of Deadspin has the funny video of ESPN’s Dick Vitale being Dick Vitale during last night’s Bracketology show.

Ken Belson of the New York Times describes the Mets first-ever radio broadcast which included the late Howard Cosell as pregame host.

Michael O’Keefe of the New York Daily News talks with former ESPN’er Sean Salisbury who has been battling depression and hoping to make a TV comeback bid. The story never mentions Salisbury’s MTV2 gig with the Lingerie Football League.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post writes that TV continues to ignore athletes’ bad behavior.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the tip times for the FIRST FOUR and 2nd Round games of the NCAA Tournament.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that the voices of the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league affiliate get their call to the big club this week.

Bob Rossi in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says NBC will go all out for the NHL Playoffs this spring.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television and I find that I disagree with a couple of his points.

Richard Connelly of the Houston Press says the new Comcast SportsNet Houston plans to build studios that will allow for a Today Show-like atmosphere outdoors.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer is in talks to have a movie based on his interesting life.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says there wasn’t much anger directed at the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee this year from the TV analysts.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Dan McLaughlin returned to Fox Sports Midwest Sunday after a long suspension over his drunk driving arrests.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says Peyton Manning’s visit to the Mile High City gave the local media plenty to talk about over the weekend.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times had a chance to tour Jon Gruden’s offices as he prepared to host several incoming NFL quarterbacks for his ESPN shows this Spring.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about rebranding the conference.

Tom also has his sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the Canadian NHL clubs want some changes in CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Bruce also looks at the coverage of the death of Canadian skier Nik Zoricic over the weekend.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says when Don Cherry leaves Hockey Night in Canada, he will be sorely missed.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox lost a million viewers for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the previous year.

Paul Kennedy at SoccerAmerica feels NBC Sports Network did well in its MLS debut.

SoccerNation says NBC has tapped a well-known composer to produce its MLS theme music.

And that’s going to do it for now.

Wringing Out Some Friday Megalinks

Let’s do your media megalinks since last week you did not get any.

Hard to believe that college baseball, college lacrosse and NASCAR seasons are starting up, but they are and they’re included in the Weekend Viewing Picks along with the regular Golf, NBA, NHL, Skiing, Soccer, Tennis and Entertainment recommendations.

To your links now.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jeremy Lin will make his nationwide broadcast network debut this weekend.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that Floyd Mayweather’s next pay per view fight has been set by HBO for the spring.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that Jeremy Lin continues to drive the MSG Network ratings engine.

Mike Shields of Adweek looks at CBS/Turner Sports’ plans to charge to view the NCAA Tournament online.

Ted Johnson of Variety talks with Ken Solomon of Tennis Channel on his ongoing battle to get a better footing with Comcast.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says the Jeremy Lin media coverage is over the top.

Sports Media Watch notes the increased viewership for the NHL on NBC Sports Network.

SMW says Pardon the Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon have lent their voices to a Disney XD cartoon series.

Andy Hall at ESPN Front Row PR blog celebrates the 5th anniversary of NASCAR’s return to the network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Jeremy Lin’s agent.

Andrew Bucholtz writing his first article for Awful Announcing looks at the reaction to Jeremy Lin in Canada.

Mat Yoder at AA says the ratings for last weekend’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am show fans are still interested in Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Joe Favorito explores the steady growth of college lacrosse.

Mark J. Miller of Brandchannel says NASCAR fans don’t like it when drivers juggle sponsor logos throughout the Sprint Cup season.

The Big Lead has ESPN’s Erin Andrews out and about during New York’s Fashion Week.

Chris Chase at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner notes that ESPN has been coaching Jon Gruden to use his words judiciously.

Harrison Mooney of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy says Jeremy Lin’s drawing power might indirectly benefit the New York Rangers, Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils which have been missing from Time Warner Cable systems in addition to the Knicks.

David B. Wilkerson at MarketWatch wonders if the MSG/Time Warner Cable feud will eventually push sports into a premium tier.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn gets some advice for new NESN Red Sox field reporter Jenny Dell from MSG’s Tina Cervasio.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch pays tribute to Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan who announced he’s retiring after the London Olympics.

Surviving Grady has a podcast with Jen Royle.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the new charge for viewing the NCAA Tournament online.

Richard writes about the increased ratings for Knicks games since Jeremy Lin arrived on the scene.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post is in rare form today even for him.

Brett Cyrgalis of the Post has five questions for CBS college basketball analyst Bill Raftery.

The Post’s David Seifman reports that the New York City Council is pressuring MSG Network and Time Warner Cable to work out a deal.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that ESPN bumped tonight’s Hornets-Knicks game not realizing it would be another opportunity to showcase Jeremy Lin.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY has reaction from various NYC sports anchors to the death of former Mets catcher Gary Carter.

Mike Silva at the Sports Media Watchdog feels hockey coverage in New York is woefully inadequate.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local sports TV reporter received a New York Emmy nomination.

Pete lists his top studio analysts.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes has the latest in Baltimore-Washington DC sports media news in Press Box.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has a clip of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon as cartoon characters.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says talks with sports business writer Evan Weiner about the NFL’s antiquated blackout rules.

South

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has some thoughts on Shaquille O’Neal’s rookie season at TNT and ESPN’s decision to remove Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Astros plan to bring in former players to their radio booth to celebrate the team’s 50th season.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes the first network appearance of Jeremy Lin is this Sunday.

Midwest

The Detroit Free Press notes that all of the Tigers games will be on TV this season.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Dick Enberg told a captive audience at Marquette University about the art of the pause and when to use it in broadcasting.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.

To the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin where Paul Christian writes that Fox Sports North will be all over the Minnesota Twins this season.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals have mostly put the kybosh on late afternoon games at Busch Stadium this season.

Dan says a local sports radio host is recovering after undergoing heart bypass surgery.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the new Fox Sports San Diego is set to launch next month.

Jay writes the San Diego Padres stand to double their rights fees from Fox as compared to Cox a year ago.

John Maffei at the North County Times says the official announcement between Fox Sports San Diego carrying the Padres is due any time now.

At the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle says NBC and the NHL have become very good partners.

Jim feels ESPN should not have jettisoned Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times notes that ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham is up for a Best Documentary Oscar.

Bill Shakin of the Times says Frank McCourt’s legal problems are holding up Fox’s announcement with the Padres.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News recaps a lecture from three noted network broadcasters discussing TV coverage of the Olympics.

And that’s going to conclude the megalinks for today.

Some Quick Thursday Links

Ok, going to attempt some linkage here. Quite busy, but I’ll try to sneak some stuff for you.

Eric Fisher of Sports Business Daily looks at the new $3.99 charge for the new March Madness Live app for the NCAA Tournament.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News/Broadcasting & Cable also writes about the new March Madness Live app.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about being removed from the Monday Night Football booth.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has the impression that ESPN’s Jon Gruden didn’t agree with the decision to take Jaws out of the MNF booth.

Former New York Times columnist George Vecsey is now on Twitter and he’s a bit apprehensive about it.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid is confused about yesterday’s Colin Cowherd interview with Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit cover girl Kate Upton.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has audio of CNBC’s Darren Rovell explaining his Valentine Day’s proposal to Kate Upton.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says not every local MLB deal is equal and fair.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek notes that CBS El Capo di Tutti Capi Les Moonves predicts record ad rates for Super Bowl XLVII which will be aired on the Tiffany Network next year.

Adweek has a video with NASCAR CEO Brian France on the upcoming Sprint Cup season.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says thanks to the Super Bowl, NBC leads the February sweeps by a 2-1 margin over CBS.

Sam Eifling of The Big Lead talks with a Memphis sports radio host who kept grinding and has been rewarded with national recognition.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos talks about how to maximize your Facebook and Twitter strategies.

Also at the National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times cautions traditional media about falling into prejudicial traps when writing about Jeremy Lin.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group explains the logistics for CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says one sporting goods chain is going all in for Jeremy Lin.

Kevin Lincoln at the Business Insider’s Sports Page notes that Time Warner Cable is sending out small refund checks for those missing MSG Network.

WEEI’s Kirk Minihane lists the best and worst Boston TV announcers.

The Boston Herald’s Inside Track found Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez going through the ESPN “Car Wash” yesterday.

To the Worcester Telegram & Gazette where Bill Doyle gets Comcast SportsNet Celtics sideline reporter Greg Dickerson to talk about epilepsy and Tourette syndrome which have plagued him.

Over to the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir who looks into ESPN’s Monday Night Football personnel move.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the New York Mets Spring Training TV schedule.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record posts the Yankees Spring Training TV and Radio schedules.

Ed Barkowitz at the Philadelphia Daily News says Jaws being taken off Monday Night Football doesn’t mean the end for him at ESPN.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says DirecTV has added Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s overflow channel in HD, finally.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says a two man booth will benefit Monday Night Football.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times writes that local sports radio talk show host is out of a job today.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Astros voice Milo Hamilton may be retiring after this season, but the team won’t be losing him altogether.

The Houston Astros website has an entire section devoted to Hamilton’s career including some of his most famous radio calls.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Brewers will be featured at least six times on Fox’s Saturday baseball package.

Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times says the NHL finally has a TV partner which is fully promoting the league.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has reaction to Bob Ryan’s announced retirement from the Boston Globe.

Barry Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News gets some details of the new Pac-12 Network from league commissioner Larry Scott.

Blogs and reporters are constantly receiving public relations pitches. Here’s one regarding Jeremy Lin and it’s a bit over the top.

Sports Media Watch notes that the 2012 MLB on Fox schedule is reduced from last year due to the 2012 Olympics.

SMW says Golf Channel set a ratings record last Sunday.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the sports TV viewership numbers for last week.

Mike Silva of the Sports Media Watchdog has a review of the new CBS Radio Mike Francesa Show app.

Joe Favorito says the Phoenix Suns are using the Samsung Galaxy tablet on the sidelines.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the numbers for the NHL on NBC Sports Network from early this week.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing notes that ESPN is not tiring of the Jeremy Lin overkill.

Lou Clinton at 38 Cliches is rooting for former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano.

And that’s where we’ll end it. Enjoy your Thursday.

Some End of the Year Links

Time to provide you some links to close out 2011. Thanks for visiting the blog this year. I moved from my old Blogger site to a new server, only to get kicked off the new place because it couldn’t handle the traffic from you. But then I was able to find HostMonster in a pinch and they’ve been absolutely wonderful in hosting the site and it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Thanks to you, I keep plugging along at the site and will continue to do so.

Let’s do some linkage on this New Year’s Eve.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my Big Dozen Sports Media

We’ll begin with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who looks at Versus turning into NBC Sports Network on Monday.

Over to Adweek and Anthony Crupi who says the deadline to hash out an agreement between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable is fast approaching.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Time Warner Cable subscribers in New York may not be seeing Knicks and Rangers games for a while.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel writes that AT&T U-Verse is also fighting with MSG, but at least can provide the network in HD for its subscribers.

Mike talks with ESPN’s Chris Fowler about the bowl system and how it might lead to a “Plus One” playoff.

And Mike writes that CBS Sports Network provides a Tim Tebow programming marathon  starting tonight.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the site’s Best & Worst in Sports Media for 2011.

My podcast partner, Keith Thibault from Sports Media Journal lists his biggest sports media stories for 2011.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the video of ESPN’s SkyCam crashing down to the field at last night’s Insight Bowl causing a short delay. I like one of the bands doing a SportsCenter sting as the camera was being dragged off the field.

And Ben Koo at Awful Announcing even has video of how the SkyCam works and how it could snap as it did last night.

The great Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has a Year-in-Review of Boston media at SB Nation.

Max Tedford at WEEI.com has some of the top Boston sports media controversies.

Peter Abraham at the Boston Globe notes that the Red Sox AAA farm team, the Pawtucket Red Sox have found their replacement for announcer Dan Hoard who became the radio voice of the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this year.

At Sports Media Watchdog, the great Mike Silva has his 2011 “Stock Up/Stock Down” for New York sports media personalities.

Newsday’s Neil Best has a quick sports media roundup.

Neil has a few columns mixed into one for his year-end thoughts.

Neil notes how the NHL Winter Classic became exactly that in a short period of time.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that Friend of Fang’s Bites Ian Eagle is a busy man.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says through radio and TV, local NFL fans will have access to most of the 16 games played on Sunday.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun says one of the year’s highlights in local broadcasting was also one of the saddest.

David Zurawik of the Sun talks with Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle about her decision to leave Baltimore and return to her native Boston.

And David has some quotes from CBS’ Dan Fouts who will call Sunday’s Baltimore-Cincinnati game with the aforementioned Ian Eagle.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has his top sports media stories in 2011 for DC-Baltimore.

At the Washington City Paper, Dave McKenna who was embroiled in a legal battle with DC NFL Team owner Dan Snyder is leaving the publication, but not before he fires a few more shots.

Ira Kaufman at the Tampa Tribune gets Jon Gruden to say that he’s not leaving ESPN and will remain with Monday Night Football for the foreseeable future.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says one of Jim Rome’s long-time radio affiliates has dropped the show in favor of local programming.

John Carzano of The Oregonian doesn’t like how ESPN covers the Rose Bowl.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that the World Junior Hockey Championships are doing well on TSN.

In his sports business blog, Joe Favorito provides some thoughts for 2012.

Sports Media Watch reviews its predictions for 2011.

The Business Insider Sports Page provides its Winners and Losers in Sports for 2011.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has some ratings numbers from Versus’ various programming.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth has his last review of the week in sports media for 2011.

And that will end our linkage for 2011. I know I haven’t been providing as many links lately due to my personal schedules. I hope to do better in 2012. Again, thanks for visiting. I have a couple of more features to provide before 2011 is out. Keep your feeds updated.

Time For Some Thursday Links

Let’s give you some linkage on this Thursday.

We begin with Fox NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira who doesn’t mince words on ESPN’s Jon Gruden.

Bob’s Blitz reacts to Pereira’s strong post.

Jill Goldsmith of Variety says the clock is ticking for MSG Network and Time Warner Cable to hash out a new carriage agreement.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football experienced close to a double digit percentage ratings drop this season.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says nothing delivers the ratings like football whether it be college or the NFL.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos says coaches and leagues regulating how their players use Twitter is still up for debate.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that ABC 20/20 anchor Chris Cuomo is a fan of ESPN Monday Night Countdown’s “C’mon, Man” segment.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes says the Seattle Mariners could see a huge media rights increase in the very near future.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with the venerable TV play-by-play man of the Boston Celtics, Mike Gorman.

Chad notes that the Boston sports radio wars are getting a bit tighter in the ratings.

Johnny Diaz of the Globe writes that local businesses including Celtics rightsholder Comcast SportsNet New England are glad to have the team back in action.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News looks at ESPN’s New Year’s Eve programming featuring two daredevil death-defying and record-breaking jump attempts.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette gives us his top 5 sports media stories of the year.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes about Mike Pereira’s column on Jon Gruden.

John Hopkins of the Towanda (NY) News offers to take a vow of abstinence from ESPN for a year.

Tim Pinaccio of CSNPhilly.com talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about HBO’s 24/7 series.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald says a local sports radio station is juggling its on-air lineup.

Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel says CBS Sports Network will be all-Tim Tebow from Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser notes that Auburn coach Gene Chizik will be returning to the BCS Championship Game this season, as an ESPN analyst.

At the Detroit News, Angelique S. Chegelis looks at the new partnership between the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences that would pit the conference’s football teams in interconference matchups in the first three weeks of the season. Games would benefit both conferences’ TV networks.

Tom Couzens at the Sacramento Bee gives a primer to Kings fans looking for the team’s games on satellite providers.

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if CBC can remain in the sports business.

Tommy Craggs of Deadspin looks into the Skip Baylessification of ESPN.

Kevin McCauley of SB Nation says now that charges against him have been dropped, Mike Milbury will return to NBC for the NHL Winter Classic.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Versus will utilize its NHL top analyst Eddie Olcyzk to help call its inaugural college hockey telecast this week.

Sports Media Watch continues its countdown of the Top 20 Sports Media stories of the year. Here are #5 — 2. And you have the #1 story of the year.

And that will conclude the links for now. I figured I would get them done early for a change.

Quickie Tuesday Links

Let’s do some linkage while I can. Again, I’ve been away from the computer for most of the morning. Too busy.

Right after the end of the final Monday Night Football game of 2012 featuring Jon Gruden at the mic, reports surfaced that this ESPN analyst was a candidate for several potential coaching jobs including one in St. Louis. Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN is trying to squash those rumors saying Gruden is committed to remaining at the network. In October, Gruden signed a new five year contract giving ESPN exclusivity and first right of refusal to any coaching offer. The next contract takes effect next year so if he takes an offer now, he would not fall under any penalty. We’ll see what happens here.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has a take on Dana Jacobsen leaving ESPN First Take and why Skip Bayless seems to be taking more of a role on the show.

The great Jon Bois at SB Nation has the 25 Greatest Sportscasting Moments of 2011.

Bob’s Blitz asks who has the worst voice in sports broadcasting?

Sam Schechner and Christopher S. Stewart from the Wall Street Journal look at why cable programmers try to bundle less popular channels with their heavy hitters and how it leads to big disputes.

The WSJ’s Gabriele Marcotti explains why the English Premier League chooses to play so many games between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

The mysterious Nikki Finke from Deadline tells us what to expect from the new NBC Sports Network in 2012.

Barry Petchesky at Deadspin notes that ESPN omitted the hockey players who died from its year-end remembrances.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says Cincinnati Bengals fans are responding to the call to avoid a 7th blackout this season.

Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute wonders if ESPN can serve the female sports fan.

Glenn Davis from SportsGrid has the video of Betty White’s open for the final Monday Night Football game of the season.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports notes that the NBA is back in a big way.

The Voice of America’s Tala Hadavi talks with ESPN’s Arash Markazi about beating cancer not just once, but twice.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if a new and untested ice bath machine might have hurt an NBA player’s chances to return to his team.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about the NBA’s big ratings for its return on Christmas Day.

Evan Weiner of the New Jersey Newsroom says the NBA picture is not as rosy as Communist Sympathizer David Stern would have you believe.

Randy Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch has ESPN accusing Ohio State of trying to hide the truth in a case being heard in the Ohio Supreme Court.

Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times has a feature inexplicably praising the Perpetually Angry Doug Gottlieb of ESPN Radio.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has a look at the biggest sports media stories in Canada and the US in 2011.

I’ll end there for now. I hope to bring you more links later.

Five More Years of “This Guy”; Jon Gruden Signs New Contract With ESPN

Just happening in the last hour, ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden has reupped for five more years with the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Gruden joined ESPN for the 2009 season and while he’s been speculated for every open job in the NFL and college, he’s remained at ESPN.

This new contract will take effect in September 2012.

The announcement from ESPN.

Jon Gruden Agrees to Five-Year ESPN Extension

Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden has agreed to an exclusive agreement with ESPN that will keep him on sports television’s signature series and out of coaching for the next five years. The new contract begins in September 2012.

Since joining ESPN in May 2009, Gruden has teamed with play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico and analyst Ron Jaworski – earning two Sports Emmy Award nominations in the Best Analyst category – to help make MNF the most-watched series in cable television history. The Super Bowl-winning coach has contributed to ESPN’s annual NFL Draft and Super Bowl week coverage and other platforms. He was also part of the MNF team that called the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl.

In addition to his NFL role, Gruden has called a handful of marquee college football telecasts for ESPN, including the Rose Bowl (2010) and Bowl Championship Series National Championship games (2010 and 2011) for ESPN Radio, and the 2011 Outback and Orange bowl games.

Gruden has been widely praised for his groundbreaking SportsCenter Special: QB Camp prime time shows which have become a popular part of ESPN’s annual pre-NFL Draft coverage. The in-depth, one-on-one interviews and film sessions have featured Gruden mentoring top quarterback prospects such as first-round NFL Draft picks Sam Bradford, Cam Newton, and Tim Tebow.

“Our Monday Night Football crew is special, and to have the opportunity to continue to be a part of this team, working these big-time NFL prime time games every week on ESPN, I’m fired up,” said Gruden.

Norby Williamson, executive vice president, production, added: “Jon has made a remarkable transition from Super Bowl-winning head coach to one of the premier football analysts in our business. His long-term commitment to ESPN will continue to elevate our Monday Night Football presentation and we look forward to finding even more opportunities to take advantage of his passion for football and unique insights into the game.”

Bob LaMonte, Gruden’s agent, added: “Jon is a rare individual who has been successful at everything he has done, going from one of the youngest coaches to win a Super Bowl to reinventing himself with this new broadcasting career in his 40s. He has an unmistakable enthusiasm for football that will continue to entertain fans on ESPN.”

Gruden served as an NFL head coach for 11 seasons with the Oakland Raiders (1998-2001) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-08). He compiled a career record of 100-85 and led his teams to five division titles. Gruden’s best season was 2002 when the Buccaneers finished the regular season 12-4 and captured the Super Bowl XXXVII title with a 48-21 victory over the Raiders, the team he had coached just one season earlier. At the time, the championship made then 38-year-old Gruden the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl.

Gruden began his NFL coaching career in 1990 with the San Francisco 49ers as an assistant in charge of quality control. He quickly ascended through the ranks, also serving as the Green Bay Packers wide receivers coach (1992-94) and the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator (1995-97).

More stuff on the way.

Doing Sunday Links

Well, the blog is blowing up thanks to my latest edition of the Five Women Who Can Make Me Stop The Remote. CNBC’s Darren Rovell linked to the post as Erin Sharoni of his show “CNBC SportsBiz: Game On” is on the list. That’s as good as when Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated puts a link in his “Hot Clicks”. The site will be busy for the rest of the day and that’s a very good thing.

Let’s do some links on this NFL Sunday.

Tim Malloy of Reuters reports that NHL Network has been taken off AT&T U-Verse systems.

Bill Gorman at TV by the Numbers writes that CBS won the Saturday primetime ratings over ABC in a battle of college football games.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid says a week after Fox apologized for making up newspaper headlines, TBS was apparently guilty of the same thing yesterday in its MLB Postseason coverage.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video of the son of the Texas Rangers fan who died going for a foul ball earlier this year throwing out the first pitch of Friday’s Rays-Rangers ALDS game.

In the National Football Post, NFL superagent Leigh Steinberg notes that the NFL’s TV ratings are as healthy as they’ve ever been.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post isn’t a fan of seeing Jay-Z having a role in the Brooklyn Nets.

Phil claims pornography has taken over CBS. Go home, Phil.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says TBS messed up not once, but twice during last night’s Tigers-Yankees ALDS game.

Pete says MSG Network has gone to Canada to tap a new host/reporter for its Islanders coverage.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun writes that the Charm City is ready for its closeup tonight on Sunday Night Football.

David says an interview of former Maryland coach Ralph Friedgent exposed him as a fraud.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that watching the NFL and tweeting is America’s newest obsession.

Stephen F. Holder of the St. Petersburg Times says Colts-Bucs game will be aired locally on Monday night as the team avoided a blackout.

Stephen teams up with Rick Stroud for a story on an emotional Jon Gruden returning to Raymond James Stadium for Monday night’s game.

Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune also writes about Gruden’s return to RayJay for the first time since joining ESPN.

The Orlando Sentinel has the Week 6 college football national TV schedule.

Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham (AL) News has a sneak preview of a new ESPN special on Auburn selecting its new starting quarterback.

David Knox of the News writes that Texas A&M won’t add much to the SEC as far as TV is concerned.

One more from the News, Jon Solomon wonders if the SEC is reconsidering establishing its own TV network.

Jason Munz and Alan Hinton of the Hattiesburg (MS) review Brett Favre’s TV debut on CSS last night.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with TBS MLB analyst Cal Ripken about former teammate and current Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington.

Barry says Joe Buck’s voice is coming back slowly, but surely.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman liked the FSN pay per view crew working the Ball State-Oklahoma game.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the average ratings for the Brewers for the regular season set a new record for the team.

Bob likes TBS analyst Joe Simpson on the Diamondbacks-Brewers LDS.

In the Capital Times (WI), Rob Hernandez talks with ESPN/ABC’s Brent Musburger.

The Idaho Statesman interviews Versus college football analyst Shaun King.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says Fox Sports is suing the Dodgers in an attempt to force an auction on the team’s media rights.

Tom Huddleston, Jr. of The American Lawyer Daily also looks at the Fox Sports lawsuit against the Dodgers.

The San Francisco Business Times notes that the Giants had their highest ratings ever on cable.

Sports Media Watch says the Fox NFL Week 3 doubleheader did well in the ratings.

SMW says the NFL on CBS is down this season to date.

SMW notes that the MLB on Fox averaged a record ratings low for the 3rd straight year.

And we’ll end it there for today. The Sunday NFL pregame quotage is next.

Cranking Out Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday linkage for you.

MLB Postseason starts up really in earnest with four games on Saturday. College Football in full swing and the NFL completes its first month of games on Sunday. Your Weekend Viewing Picks have everything you need to know in sports and primetime programming.

To the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Fox Sports’ NASCAR coverage will be known for having the Brothers Waltrip next year.

Mike Reynolds of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Turner Sports will be all over the League Division Series for the first four days of the MLB Postseason.

Adweek has a graphic showing how much time we spend on watching football.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that TBS and Fox should see good ratings for the MLB Postseason based on an exciting final night of the season on Wednesday.

Nelli Andreeva of Deadline reports that ESPN is developing an ABC sitcom based on Boston sports fans. That’s going to go over well.

Bill Hofheimer in ESPN’s Front Row blog talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden about calling a “home game” this Monday.

Jim Romanesko of the Poynter Institute looks at the despicable reaction of Buffalo Bills fans to a column written by a female sportswriter at the Albany Times Union.

Bob’s Blitz has video of WFAN’s Mike Francesa attempting to add on the air.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group looks at ESPN placing microphones on various players and coaches during the WNBA Finals.

Brandon chronicles a wild Wednesday night at MLB Network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the advantages or lack of thereof having a bigger payroll in MLB.

The Sports Biz Miss Kristi Dosh tells us that despite not making the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox still get a share of the postseason pie.

The Sports Media Watch looks at how the tumultuous Final Night of the MLB season led to a ratings bonanza for ESPN.

SMW says for the MLB season, ESPN’s ratings went up slightly.

SMW says TBS’ ratings for the MLB regular season were flat compared with last year.

Joe Favorito looks at how Dick Vitale has made himself into a viable brand.

The Daly Planet delves into the changes with the Fox Sports NASCAR crew.

The Influencer Economy has a look into Blogs with Balls 4 and the future of sports media.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn at the Boston Globe (this is the last day I’ll be able to link to Chad as his columns go behind the dreaded paywall starting October 1) writes about NESN viewers unable to see analyst Dennis Eckersley on the last day of the season.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy shares some blame in the Red Sox collapse.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS’ Brian Anderson who steps into the network’s lead spot for the MLB Postseason.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post has five questions for NBC Football Night in America analyst Rodney Harrison.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a new local sports talk show host isn’t spending any time discussing any local topics.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about local radio stations picking up MLB League Division Series games.

To the New Jersey Newsroom where Evan Weiner says the college conference shuffle is making fans roll their collective eyes.

In the Allentown (PA) Morning Call, Keith Groller writes that MLB will have a hard act to follow in the postseason after a compelling final night of the regular season.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet will be all over the Phillies in the MLB Postseason.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes that sections of the Baltimore Sun’s sports website will go behind the dreaded paywall.

South

The Florida Times-Union reports that the Jacksonville Jaguars have avoided a blackout for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints.

To the St. Petersburg Times where Tom Jones says Sun Sports got big ratings for the Tampa Bay Rays’ march to the playoffs this week.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that MLB Network was all over the twists and turns from the final night of the regular season.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has his news and notes.

Midewest

John Kieswetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a local CBS affiliate will provide halftime highlights during Bengals games at Paul Brown Stadium.

John writes that Saturday’s Cincinnati-Miami game will be seen live online and on local TV on tape delay.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Tigers TV voice Mario Impemba about the team’s chances of advancing in the MLB Postseason.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel speaks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson about getting the top gig for TBS for the playoffs.

Bob has a couple of quotes from CBS’ Phil Simms about Sunday’s Denver-Green Bay game.

To Crain’s Chicago Business and Ed Sherman who writes that Nebraska’s addition to the conference can only help the Big Ten Network.

Ed has his winners and losers in sports media and business.

In the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin, Paul Christian talks with former Minnesota coach Tim Brewster who’s now patrolling the sidelines for Gus Johnson and FX’s college football game of the week.

Jennifer Mann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been arrested on DUI charges for the second time this year.

Dan Caesar of the Post-Dispatch writes that Fox Sports Midwest has suspended McLaughlin indefinitely.

West

Bill Center in the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres expect to bring back its TV booth, but no word on the team’s radio announcers or new TV contract for next season.

The Union-Tribune says Sunday’s Chargers game against the Dolphins will be blacked out.

John Maffei of the North County Times says the Padres hope to have a new TV deal (with Fox Sports Net) in place by the New Year.

At the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle writes that Wednesday’s MLB season finale was Must See TV.

Jim says despite being on a losing team, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp is in the center of the MVP debate among TV analysts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Jenn Brown’s endorsement deal with GNC.

Tom says Bill Macdonald’s full-time days with Fox Sports West are over.

Tom looks at TBS’ coverage of the MLB Postseason.

Tom wonders why the NFL pulled back the 1st half Thursday Night Football package from the table.

Canada

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin says MLB got a shot in the arm on Wednesday.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog writes that TSN has locked up curling on TV in Canada through the end of the decade.

And that’s going to do it. I may have a few more links later tonight.

A Few Saturday Links

I’ll be heading out later today, but before I do, I’ll provide a few links here.

Don’t forget your College Football Viewing Picks are here.

The always lovely Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press says the NFL is getting ready to negotiate new contracts with its TV partners.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes about John McEnroe joining Tennis Channel for its weekend primetime coverage of the U.S. Open.

Tim Baysinger of Multichannel notes that MLB Network has been picked up by Dish Network.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Nissan will unveil its sponsorship of the Heisman Trophy tonight on ABC.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid has the classic video of a penalty description during last night’s insane TCU-Baylor game.

Karen Hogan at Sports Video Group says NCAA.com will be unveiling a whole host of exclusive content for college football season.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that the New York Islanders now have an official tattoo shop.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports has details of the first UFC on Fox bill coming up in November.

Eric Adelson of Yahoo’s The PostGame says FoxSports.com produced a racially insensitive feature about Asians and football.

MediaMatters is on top of the story as well.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has a poll asking you about the best NFL announcing teams.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that a local radio station will air a rescheduled high school football game on Monday.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that ESPN mislabeled the DC NFL Team’s quarterback controversy.

Dan also talks with NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson about his mission to feed the poor before he joined NFL Network.

The Augusta (GA) Chronicle picks up a story from Gracie Shepard and Gary Smits about the Gator Bowl getting a new sponsor.

Greg Sullivan at The Tennessean talks with a more relaxed Kirk Herbstreit who moved to the Volunteer State from his native Columbus, OH.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News feels ESPN’s Lee Corso is still on top of his game on College GameDay, although some Twitter comments feel otherwise.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about the Longhorn Network getting a big pickup in Texas and it picking up one Big 12 Conference game.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Packers beat the Badgers in the ratings in a rare head-to-head matchup.

Bob says ESPN’s Jon Gruden feels New Orleans Saints head guy Sean Payton could coach for him.

Bob writes that Milwaukee has moved up a notch in the Nielsen TV market rankings.

Dave Newhouse of the Oakland Tribune profiles legendary announcer Barry Tompkins.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN got off to a bad ratings start for college football.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that despite losing the Thrashers, Atlanta will continue to get hockey games on TV.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing loves that paralyzed football player Eric LeGrand is going to be on Rutgers radio this season.

And I’ll end the linkage there for today.

Getting The Friday Megalinks Done

Let’s get these megalinks done as I hope to give you a weekend full of posts for the three day holiday. That’s my plan, at least. They could get changed due to family or weather. You never know.

I have the sports and entertainment programming in the Weekend Viewing Picks. Let’s get to the linkage now.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today discusses the NFL Films documentary on Bill Belichick that followed him for the entire 2009 season and got some rather interesting footage.

Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand speaks with a Fox Soccer exec about having English Premier League games air on the Fox mothership.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable reports that President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress next Thursday will not cut into the NFL regular season opener on NBC.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Big Ten Network’s BTN2Go service has been picked up by four cable and satellite providers.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid says former NFL cheap shot artist Chuck Cecil got off to an inauspicious start to his broadcasting career on Thursday.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has some really bad network typos from the last week.

Sports Media Watch looks at the extension of the PGA Tour’s deal with CBS Sports, Golf Channel and NBC Sports.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says the NHL’s TV partners should lead the discussion on head injuries and how they could lead to tragedies such as the deaths of Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien.

Joe Favorito says the Los Angeles Dodgers are using social media this month to try to get closer to the fans.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe looks at the PGA Tour’s extension with its TV partners and he talks about Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle talking with various area radio stations.

In SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has the ESPN Monday Night Football crew previewing this season’s Patriots team.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about college football writer “Free Bruce” Feldman leaving ESPN.com to go to CBS Sports.

Larry Dorman of the Times writes about the PGA Tour’s new contract with CBS, Golf Channel and NBC.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post continues to plaster hate all over his wretched columns.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for Monday Night Football’s Jon “This Guy” Gruden and Ron “I’m Telling You, Jaws” Jaworski.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local TV station is in its 13th year producing a high school football highlights show.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call tells football fans not to worry about President Obama’s speech interrupting the Saints-Packers NFL season opener on Thursday.

Laura Nachman has a press release announcing the winner of a Philadelphia sports radio talk show host contest.

DCTRV.com’s Dave Hughes in Press Box notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Russ Thaler moves to Versus for a national gig.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner has a few notes about this Sunday’s Baltimore Grand Prix.

Jim has Fox’s college football crew discussing the potential departure of Oklahoma from the Big 12.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald looks at some of the changes in the NFL TV broadcast booths for this season.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times has a preview of the weekend on sports television.

Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the Longhorn Network will help Texas down the road, but it’s already hurting its relationship with other schools.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reveals that Texas and Texas A&M were in talks to create a joint TV network four years ago.

David says University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum gets a national showcase on Fox Sports Net this weekend.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with the new voice of the Oklahoma Sooners.

In his notebook, Mel looks at the new Fox Sports studio team for college football.

Gina Mizell of the Oklahoman talks with ESPN Sport Science host John Brenkus about how an Oklahoma State athlete was chosen for a feature.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer is still rooting for the late Reds announcer Joe Nuxhall to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And John has a couple of local TV news and notes.

Mike Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman about the rivalry that is Michigan-Ohio State.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asks if social media has a place in sports broadcasts.

Scott Cooper Williams of the Green Bay Gazette says a bunch of NBC shows will be town to help hype the Saints-Packers NFL season opener on Thursday.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Tina Akouris of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about Dick Vitale’s new children’s book.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says Utah fans should be happy that a local TV station is picking up the team’s games for this season.

J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun says UNLV’s TV contract through the Mountain West Conference just plain sucks.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Padres fans should expect to watch games on a new channel next season.

John Maffei of the North County Times says there will be a plethora of college football games this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star notes the return of former Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter to play-by-play, but this time online.

Jim says Fox Sports West will be extensively covering high school football online.

Helene Elliot of the Los Angeles Times says Hall of Fame Kings announcer Bob Miller has signed a new contract that will bring him to 40 seasons with the team.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News also writes about Miller’s new deal.

Tom talks to network executives and producers about how and when to incorporate Twitter into a sports broadcast.

And that’s going to do it for the megalinks. If you’re traveling this weekend, be safe and if you’re still recovering from Hurricane Irene, I hope all returns to normal soon.

Some Really Quick Wednesday Links

I’m going to try to do some Wednesday linkage here. Also have a lot of end of the month/beginning of the month crap to do at work some I’m balancing the two off.

Here are the links that I have for now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at NBC’s plans to provide live online coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

At MediaPost, Erik Sass looks at the New York Giants integrating Twitter into its NFL preseason broadcasts.

David Goetzl at MediaPost notes that Fox has had a 51% majority stake in Big Ten Network since last year.

The Associated Press reports that Versus is adding a whole host of original programming to its weeknight lineup.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter also writes about Versus’ new original programming.

Lacey Rose and Lesley Goldberg at the Reporter report that HBO has given the green light for a drama based on boxer Mike Tyson.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable writes that Turner Sports is expanding the exclusive content offerings at NCAA.com.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says CBS Sports Network will air a documentary on the first black college football game played in New York.

To Adweek where Anthony Crupi chronicles how NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus lured former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol back to the company just mere months after he left.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine discusses how NBC is going to provide everything from track & field to archery live at 2012 London Olympics.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid looks at the sad tenure of Fred Hickman’s days at ESPN.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video preview of NFL Films’ documentary on Patriots coach  Bill Belichick.

On this final day for SportsNewser, let me link to a few stories. Marcus Vanderberg writes that former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand will be joining the school’s football broadcasts on radio. You may recall LeGrand was paralyzed last year and hopes to make a full recovery.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says fans will vote on the next nominee for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Broadcaster Award.

Back to Marcus, he writes that Southwest Airlines will stream live MLB games to its passengers thanks to its in-flight internet provider. Now back to me.

Now back to SportsNewser where Marcus looks at Sports Illustrated’s Super Bowl picks.

Ok, that’s it for the SportsNewer links. The site will be missed.

Nat Ives of Advertising Age notes that a month-long sponsorship starting tomorrow, will allow the New York Times to open up five sections (including sports) in its iPad app from behind the dreaded paywall.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell couldn’t be more thrilled to be getting his own weekly show on Versus.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette talks about ESPN releasing its Big East and Big Monday basketball schedules.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with former Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic original Russ Thaler about his new gig with Versus/NBC Sports Network.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that the U.S. Open will be well covered on TV and online.

Josh Robbins from the Orlando Sentinel says the Magic’s Gilbert Arenas has shut down his Twitter account.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes that a pair of Eastern transplants top the local sports radio ratings.

Mel says NFL preseason again led the local TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer has a preview of tonight’s HBO/NFL Films 10 year retrospective on Hard Knocks.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN’s Jon Gruden isn’t a fan of the new NFL replay rule.

Bob says the digital Sporting News Today has ceased publication.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says the city’s high school football and basketball championships are moving to a new TV home.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says all of the Dodgers’ announcers are coming back for 2012.

Ed Tait and John White of the Winnipeg Free Press says the new Jets have signed a 10 year deal with TSN for both TV and radio.

Sports Media Watch says Hurricane Irene coverage on many local ABC stations cut into NASCAR’s ratings on Saturday.

Deadspin shows a picture of HBO’s Bryant Gumbel being “beaten up” by UFC’s Chuck Liddell and Fox’s Jay Glazer.

Joe Favorito says the hiring of former Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl by a grocery company is a good marketing move.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Doing Some Tuesday Links

Well, yesterday I was two jobsites. Today, I forgot to bring my computer AC adapter and my phone so for several hours, I was without any communication to the outside world. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but it certainly felt strange not to have connection to the internet or Twitter.

Now that I’m back, I can provide some linkage and also do some press release posts. I’ll do the linkage first.

Big news from John Ourand and Sports Business Daily. We learn that UFC will move its programming from Versus and Spike TV to Fox, FX and Fuel TV with four MMA events a year on Fox.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that ESPN will produce the Little League World Series in 3-D for the first time.

Adweek looks at a new ESPN ad that’s being aired in the UK.

Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life Magazine notes that a battle of unknowns in a playoff led to lower ratings for the PGA Championship on CBS.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page says details are coming out on the new ESPN Monday Night Football rights renewal from ESPN book author James Arthur Miller. This story has been out there since January when Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand broke it.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says ESPN’s Brent Musburger and CBS’s Verne Lundquist will be honored in New York for their contributions to college football.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says a former WABC-TV sports anchor has pleaded guilty inappropriately touching a minor.

SportGrid’s Ben Axelrod has video of Showtime’s Jim Gray berating boxing referee Russell Mora for missed low blows after the Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko fight. Jim Gray is a real bulldog, let me tell you. This is one of the best videos I’ve ever seen.

Dan Fogarty has video of ESPN’s Jon Gruden saying, “this guy” multiple times during last night’s Jets-Texans game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says there’s a glut of Terrelle Pryor jerseys. Were they exchanged for tattoos?

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group talks about ESPN going into the third dimension for the Little League World Series.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with CBS Sports Network analyst Rich Rodriguez about working in TV.

Joe Drape of the New York Times reports that NBC is in talks to air a series of Triple Crown prep races each Spring.

Daniel Massey in Crain’s New York Business writes that the Jets are catching up with the Giants as far as the New York tri-state area fan support is concerned.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a nationally syndicated radio show will be broadcasting live from Saratoga Race Course on Friday.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Notre Dame football will be heard locally throughout the season.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News writes about the announced departure of Howard Eskin from sports radio WIP.

John Miller at Philadelphia Sports Daily says Howard Eskin will be missed.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says Rick “Doc” Walker will sub for the talkative Joe Theismann for this Friday’s game on the DC NFL team’s local broadcast.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner writes that Texas A&M to the SEC will have a huge fallout in college football.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Mac Engel talks with former Monday Night Football sideline reporter and current Inside Edition reporter Lisa Guerrero.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron reports that Texans running back Arian Foster has signed to appear on both Yahoo! Sports Radio and a local radio station.

The San Antonio Express-News has a fascinating look at the evolution of every major sport on American TV in the last 21 years.

Jerry Garcia of the Express-News adds his thoughts on the most notable changes in sports television.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the local ratings from the weekend.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks about how Comcast SportsNet Chicago got an interview with embattled Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Tom Hoffarth has the Sports Calendar for this week.

Because of my busy schedule, I haven’t been able to cover the Barstool Sports/Tom Brady baby picture controversy as much I have liked. It’s a big story in Boston as sports radio station WEEI feigned outrage on a slow news day to get ratings. The story went national and Barstool Sports editor David Portnoy found himself today on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show to explain himself (you can go here and here to listen). Perhaps down the road I’ll spend more time on it and go into analytical mode on it.

In The Broadcast Booth, Dave Kohl looks at Howard Eskin’s announcement that he’s leaving his daily WIP show in Philadelphia.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that TSN accidentally leaked a portion of its 2011-12 NHL schedule over the weekend.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore says the NHL will finally release its national TV schedule on Thursday.

And that will do it. I’ve been trying to do these links since 3 p.m., but I’ve been interrupted so many times. Glad to finally be done.

Bringing You Sunday Linkage

I’m at work again, but I’m trying to cope by flicking on the Watch ESPN for the Women’s World Cup game against Brazil. I’ll give you what linkage I can find today.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Turner Sports has reportedly hired Shaquille O’Neal for its NBA coverage. Still no official comment from Turner.

John Eggerton of Multichannel News reports on an FCC Enforcement Bureau recommendation to an administrative law judge about carriage for Tennis Channel.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel recaps YES’ special postgame show on Yankees shortshop Derek Jeter after he achieved baseball immortality on Saturday.

Mike writes that YES saw a ratings season high for the Jeter 3,000th hit game.

From Advertising Age, Brian Steinberg asks if Wimbledon is willing to put its matches all under one TV roof, will other sporting events follow its lead?

Yahoo Sports’ Michael Silver talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen about how the channel is handling the lockout.

Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead wonders if the LPGA should be selling sex to help market its stars.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has issued a statement about berating a caller with a gay slur late last month.

Marcus points out that CNN is no longer into sports.

Jesse Sawyer from the Avon (CT) Patch notes that ESPN’s Kenny Mayne will be hosting a football skills clinic this week. Before ESPN, Kenny was the starting quarterback at UNLV. The story also reveals that Kenny is moving back to Seattle, WA where he lived before hitting it big with ESPN.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the transcripts of both the radio and TV calls of the Jeter 3,000th hit.

Neil talks about a new era of TV coming into Wimbledon for next year.

George Vescey of the New York Times says the best way to view the Tour de France is from your TV.

Karen Crouse of the Times talks with an LPGA Tour rookie Ryan O’Toole who prepared for life on the tour through Golf Channel’s Big Break reality show.

Brent Briggeman of the Colorado Springs Gazette also spoke with O’Toole about her time on Big Break.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says ESPN2 will have the replay of today’s dramatic USA-Brazil Women’s World Cup game which had a lot of twists and turns.

Adam Sichko of the Albany (NY) Business Review notes that a local company will help produce live horse racing from nearby Saratoga for NBC.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks about Showtime getting into the sports reality TV realm with the new MLB TV series, “The Franchise”.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN’s Nomar Garciaparra about the Home Run Derby.

From the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn discusses the Longhorn Network making some on-air hires.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle tries to reassure readers about the availability of the Longhorn Network.

Kevin Benz at Culture Map Houston wonders if ESPN is making the Longhorn Network all about ESPN instead of University of Texas sports.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Bengals talks with ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden about the NFL lockout.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says TBS and MLB Network analyst John Smoltz still has a dream to be a professional golfer.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Fox’s Joe Buck about his recovery from an ailment that affected his voice. And many of you have either tweeted or e-mailed me about this and have noticed how he has sounded since the Super Bowl. Dan’s story pretty much explains what happened.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Joe Buck didn’t mince words when it came to the Dodgers ownership debacle.

That’s going to do it for today.

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.

Let’s Do Some Wednesday Linkage

On this rainy Wednesday in Southern New England, let me do some links. I hope the weather where you are is dry and sunny.

I’ll start today off with John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal who says Comcast may have appeared to have overbid for the Olympics, but it may pay off in the long run.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Dick Enberg who’s calling his final Wimbledon this year.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has video of Dick Enberg discussing “bloody blue balls” at Wimbledon and his on-air partner, Chris Evert making the perfect response.

SportsGrid also has the HBO Real Sports segment with Tiki Barber that was quite compelling TV.

Patrick Rishe of Forbes says Mark Cuban owning the Los Angeles Dodgers needs to happen soon.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans from the St. Petersburg Times writes that Barber is on a media redemption tour while David Feherty is learning the ropes in another manner.

Kirk Honeycutt of Reuters reviews the ESPN Films documentary on transsexual tennis player Renee Richards. The film was shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival and will premiere on ESPN in the fall.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that HBO has assembled some All-Star production talent to develop a new drama based on the early life of Mike Tyson.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS Sports Network has signed a multiyear deal with the Patriot League for various sports.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says the NFL’s TV partners are hopeful after hearing negotiations to end the league’s lockout are making substantial progress.

One thing to come out of the talks between the NFL and the Players Association is a full 16 week Thursday Night Football schedule that could begin in 2012. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explains what that means for the players and fans.

Jeff Fedotin at the National Football Post claims this guy, Jon Gruden of ESPN’s Monday Night Football, has the potential to be this generation’s John Madden. That remains to be seen.

Eric Spanberg of the Christian Science Monitor reviews the ESPN book.

The Lost Letterman blog has video of ESPN’s Erin Andrews confronting a fan at last year’s College World Series. I like Erin’s spirit in this and the guy was being an asshole.

Congratulations to ESPN.com baseball writer Jonah Keri who will be writing the quintessential history of the Montreal Expos.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times says there are plenty of marketing opportunities surrounding the 3,000th hit of Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

Jack Bell of the Times talks about legendary women’s soccer star Mia Hamm joining espnW to provide analysis on the Women’s World Cup.

At the New York Observer, Kat Stoeffel talks with ESPN Radio New York’s Jared Max about his decision to come out.

Matthew Margolis from the East Hampton (NY) Patch writes that a young actor got to do some voiceover work for ESPN’s Little League World Series coverage.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that Jimmer Fredette’s YouTube channel has a big following.

Mark Wogenrich at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call explores the new deal between CBS Sports Network and the Patriot League for four sports.

Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail feels it was smart of the Big East to turn down ESPN’s $1 billion offer to get a feel for the marketplace.

The Naples (FL) Daily News reports that locally, the U.S. Open scored well in the ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that a local sports radio morning drive host has been let go.

Doug Moe at the Wisconsin State Journal speaks with Randall Mell of the Golf Channel.

Sandra Guy in the Chicago Sun-Times looks at the new street-level studios for ESPN Radio Chicago.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks about Dick Enberg’s final fortnight at Wimbledon.

Matthew Fleischer of Fishbowl LA writes that ESPN WNBA analyst Rebecca Lobo tweeted about her plane’s emergency landing while heading to SoCal this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that Americans will get a nice dose of the CFL on the NFL Network.

George Dickie of zap2it talks with David Feherty about his new Golf Channel show.

Sports Media Watch says the CONCACAF Gold Cup has been a ratings hit for Univision and its sister network, Galavision.

SMW says the NHL Winter Classic goes back to primetime on January 2.

The Big Lead says Friend of Friend’s Bites Michelle Beadle is single once again. Sorry, Michelle, I had to put this one in.

The Sports Tube has an appreciation of Dick Enberg who’s making his final rounds at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.

That will do it.

ESPN’s Jon Gruden Holds “QB Camp” With Terrelle Pryor

Coming literally at the end of this month, June 30, ESPN will air a one hour special “QB Camp” hosted by Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden. He’ll be talking with former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The special will show Gruden coaching Pryor on the particulars of being an NFL quarterback. They’ll also show the two in the film room, a feature that has become popular with this guy. And I’m sure Gruden will throw in a few “This guy” references in as well. In addition, Gruden will talk with Pryor about his time at Ohio State and his former coach Jim Tressel who had to resign in disgrace earlier this month.

We have the press release and an excerpt from the special which will be hosted by Rece Davis.

ESPN Announces Gruden’s QB Camp – Terrelle Pryor

One-hour special on Thursday, June 30 at 9 p.m. ET

ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden will conduct a one-on-one film session and workout with former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor in the hour-long special Gruden’s QB Camp – Terrelle Pryor on Thursday, June 30, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN (re-airing at 10 p.m. on ESPN2). Excerpts from the special will be presented on SportsCenter beginning Monday, June 27.

An ESPN crew shot the Gruden-Pryor meeting Monday at Gruden’s office in Tampa and at the practice facility at the University of South Florida.

ESPN college football anchor Rece Davis will host the one-hour special. In addition to offering a unique behind-the-scenes look at Pryor’s film session with Gruden, Davis will provide a timeline and perspective on the events at Ohio State that forced head coach Jim Tressel’s resignation and eventually lead to Pryor’s decision to forgo his final year of eligibility and make himself eligible for the NFL’s supplementary draft.

Pryor is the latest NFL prospect to step into the film room at Gruden’s affectionately termed Fired Football Coaches Association (FFCA) offices. ESPN’s Super Bowl-winning head coach turned MNF analyst has also met with NFL Draft prospects the past two years, including Heisman Trophy winners Sam Bradford, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow. Gruden also conducted a similar session with Super Bowl XLIV champions Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton for Gruden’s Champ Camp– A Visit with the Super Saints in August 2010.

And here’s a preview.

That will do it.

Digging Out Some Tuesday Linkage

Time for the links on this Tuesday. Lots of good stuff to get to.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal looks at MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rejecting the Los Angeles Dodgers’ deal with Fox which now throws Frank McCourt’s ownership of the team into jeopardy.

In Sports Business Journal, Broadcasting & Cable Editor-in-Chief Ben Grossman has some suggestions for Major League Soccer on how to grow the sport in the U.S.

From the ESPN Ombudsman, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute says Bill Simmons’ Grantland site shows potential, but needs to do more.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his June Media Power List.

Richard also talks with the CEO of the polarizing Bleacher Report.

Had to catch up with those last three links from last week. I was so far behind after not doing linkage Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Curtis Eichelberger of Bloomberg writes that NFL quarterback Chad Pennington is taking a year off and will work for Fox Sports when the league comes back from lockout.

Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Comedy Central has canceled two sports-themed shows after just one season.

Marisa Guthrie of the Reporter notes that the U.S. Open’s final round ratings improved from Saturday’s numbers, but were still far below last year’s.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable has NBC being very apologetic about cutting “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance during Sunday’s coverage of the U.S. Open.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NBA’s digital platforms are all over this week’s NBA Draft.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says Rory McIlroy has yet to prove he’s a ratings draw.

Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports.com says the Big East turned down a big payday from ESPN to risk checking the free agent market.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com notes that you may not know that Turner Sports has a rather large online presence in golf.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser recaps Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ comments on NBC’s successful Olympics bid.

At SportsGrid, Dave Levy writes that Grantland failed to live up to the hype.

Dave says Bill Simmons could have left ESPN to create Grantland somewhere else.

And Dave has thoughts on Grantland here, here and here.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Dan Patrick Show has an unusual proposal on how to end the NFL lockout.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that flamboyant tennis fashionista Bethanie Mattek-Sands (who came to Fang’s Bites’ attention in 2007) has signed a new endorsement contract for an nontraditional tennis product.

Jay Busbee of Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog looks at Fox’s proposal to move some of its NASCAR races to cable in its next contract.

At the Daly Planet, John Daly has some thoughts on what this potential move means for the future of Speed.

Diane Mermigas of the Business Insider says innovation could help NBCUniversal pay for its $4.38 billion pricetag for the Olympics.

Olympic sports beat writer John Powers of the Boston Globe finally gets to write about NBC winning the rights to four Olympic Games.

Tom Rock of Newsday has some quotes of tonight’s HBO Real Sports profile of former New York Giants running back and NBC analyst Tiki Barber.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times looks at MLB rejecting the Los Angeles Dodgers’ deal with Fox.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that Rory McIlroy doesn’t move the TV ratings meter like Tiger Woods did.

Nate Mink writing for the Philadelphia Daily News recaps an ESPN taping of a program involving legendary coaches Joe Paterno of Penn State and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.

Joseph Santoliquito of the Marple Newtown Patch has a profile of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia anchor Ron Burke.

Greg Augman of the St. Petersburg Times notes that Jon Gruden is taping a session of his ESPN “QB Camp” series with former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an interview with Georgia Tech’s Athletic Director on a few subjects including the impact of the ESPN/SEC contract on the school.

Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes that Golf Channel is giving David Feherty a platform for his humor.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley has Keith Olbermann not impressed with the tome on ESPN.

Justin Albers at the Chicago Sun-Times chronicles ESPN’s Baseball Tonight’s visit to the Windy City on Sunday.

Robert Feder of Time Out Chicago says the local ESPN Radio affiliate is about to move to new streetside studios.

Chad Purcell of the Omaha World-Journal goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s crew at the College World Series.

Bill Shaikin and David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times have a story on MLB rejecting the Fox offer to Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt and putting the team into limbo.

The Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review has a profile of Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis who used to work in the area.

Kenyon Wallace of the Toronto Star responds to ESPN the Magazine ranking the Canadian city as the worst in all of pro sports.

Cathal Kelly of the Star says there are cities worse off than Toronto.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has its version of the NHL TV Awards.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing feels it’s time for Joe Buck to leave Fox Saturday Baseball. I called for this two years ago.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball writes that Frank McCourt is threatening legal action to hold onto the Dodgers.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin has video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy being amused by a Red Sox fan wearing a chicken hat. I found out later that she’s the sister of writer Joe Meloni who covers the Hockey East conference for College Hockey News.

And that’s where I’ll leave it for now. Lots of links today.

Springing Out The Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide the links on this very Spring-like Thursday. The sun is out in Southern New England after the April showers of this week. Nice to see the skies bright instead of being gray and drab as like the last few days.

We begin with Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute writing in her role as ESPN Ombudsman. She says the new ESPN guidelines on endorsements are a good start, but still don’t go far enough.

Sofia M. Fernandez from the Hollywood Reporter says despite a $30 million loan from Fox and hopes of a 20 year contract with Fox Sports Net to solve money troubles, Major League Baseball still stepped in and took over control of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

TMZ reports that Fox is not interested in repurchasing the Dodgers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says despite MLB taking over the Dodgers, we haven’t heard the last from owner Frank McCourt.

Darren wonders if Major League Baseball is having an attendance problem.

Darren finds in what sports Americans like to participate.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says World Fishing Network has struck a deal with the National Cable TV Cooperative.

David Kiefaber of Adweek looks at a new outdoor ad campaign featuring Mike Tyson. Yes, Mike Tyson.

Carolyn Braff of Sports Video Group says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia was kept on its toes last Saturday as it had to scramble through weather issues to cover four teams.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser has the latest addition to the ESPN.com/Captain Blowhard project.

At ESPN Front Row, Kevin Ota explains how ESPN wants to make the digital media experience more personal for users.

Michael S. Schmidt and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times take a look at MLB taking control of the Dodgers.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer explores Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s move to produce live sportscasts for NBC’s KNTV and if it could happen in Philly.

Frank Seravalli of the Inquirer says the NHL and NBC could very well choose the Flyers for the Winter Classic on January 2, 2012.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has the radio call of last night’s game winning goal in the 2nd overtime of Game 4 of Caps-Rangers.

The Naples (FL) Daily News says a minor league baseball team will have selected games on the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from ESPN’s Jon Gruden about the NFL Draft and yes, there are several “this guy” references.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that today’s Arizona-Reds game will be aired on MLB Network, but there’s one interesting caveat.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also has some thoughts from Gruden about a Wisconsin draft prospect.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says tonight is going to be a big night for the local Comcast SportsNet affiliate.

The Reno (NV) Gazette Journal notes that ESPN2′s Friday Night Boxing series is coming to town.

In the Tucson (AZ) Citizen, Victor Rodriguez talks with NBC’s Andrea Kremer about covering the NFL in the locker room.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times couldn’t be happier to see MLB step in and take control of the Dodgers away from Frank McCourt.

Bill Shakin of the Times writes that the Dodgers could be in legal limbo for the foreseeable future.

The Los Angeles Daily News has a timeline of the tumultuous McCourt ownership of the Dodgers.

Alan Brettman of The Oregonian says unlike ESPN, other TV networks are not publishing a list of endorsement deals by their announcers.

Ferd Lewis at the Honolulu Advertiser says ESPN’s networks will air three Hawaii football games this fall.

Ferd says Hawaiians don’t understand why they’re being blacked out of San Francisco Giants games.

Julie DiCaro from Aerys Sports says MLB continues to drop the ball when it comes to catering to female fans.

Terrence Henderson from the T Dog Media Blog looks at the NBC Sports Group deal with the NHL.

Sports Media Watch says MLB on Fox’s ratings are up for the first two weeks of the season.

SMW says NASCAR on Fox’s ratings for the last two races are a mixed bag.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says last night in the NHL was made for the new NBC/Versus deal, but we won’t see it until next year.

Steve also has five suggestions to make the Black Friday NHL game on NBC into a special event.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jason Clinkscales of A Sports Scribe talks about starting up a new podcast and another Friend of Fang’s Bites will be his guest.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing lists the Top 13 Craziest calls by NESN’s Jack Edwards.

And we’re done for today with the links.

Patriots Day Monday Linkage

With this being Patriots Day in Massachusetts and Maine, it’s time to give some links. It’s a day off for some in Massachusetts and Boston has the Marathon plus the 11 a.m. Red Sox game. Both of which are traditions I have come to enjoy.

Some interesting links today. We start with John Ourand and Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal who report that ESPN and the Big East Conference are talking contract extension a year before renewal talks were to begin.

John and David Broughton of the Sports Business Journal note that the Pittsburgh Penguins are on top of the local NHL TV ratings heap.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy crunches the NHL’s local TV numbers.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King in his Monday Morning Quarterback column has some interesting sports media notes. One, he talks with NFL Films President Steve Sabol about his treatment for a brain tumor. Steve is touched by the outreach of support from you.

Next, Peter talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden about several quarterback prospects and yes, there’s even a “this guy” quote.

Also, Peter takes NFL Network to task for making Bob Papa audition for the job he currently has.

And if you would rather see the entire MMQB column on one page instead of clicking through five pages, you can go here.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today speaks with TNT’s Reggie Miller about his former broadcast partner Doug Collins and his own front office aspirations.

Hiestands notes the very good overnight ratings for six of the eight NBA playoff games over the weekend.

Tom Weir of USA Today says Michael Strahan will get his first opportunity to guest host for Regis Philbin tomorrow on “Live with Regis & Kelly”.

USA Today and Tennis Channel have announced a new online feature that will run exclusively on USAToday.com.

ESPN has published the list of announcers and analysts who have endorsement deals. A couple of names noticeably absent are Chris Berman who has deals with Applebees and Nutrisystem and Chris Fowler who has one with Nike.

ESPN Executive Vice President for Production, Norby Williamson wrote the new endorsement guidelines and they were posted on ESPN’s Front Row.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter says the NBA Playoffs took ratings away from primetime on Sunday.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable advises you to enjoy the NBA while you can before the inevitable lockout occurs in the summer.

Tom Conroy of Media Life Magazine reviews the new “Sports Show with Norm Macdonald”.

Marc Watts of the new Sports PR Blog which is headed by Pro Sports Communications lists the top five NBA television analysts.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell gives us his observations about purposely staying away from Twitter for just under a week.

Darren has estimates of fan attendance at various spring college football games.

Craig Calcaterra from Hardball Talk has a picture of ESPN’s Wendi Nix trying to get some answers from Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington.

At Deadline, the mysterious Nikki Finke wonders if it’s time to end live sports TV coverage to prevent occasional swear words from slipping through the cracks. It doesn’t happen all of the time and sports fans won’t stand for delays.

Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe says Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown visited the NESN booth today and said other members of Congress are jealous of the Bay State’s sports teams.

From Claire Atkinson of the New York Post, there’s a power struggle between NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol and NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke over the bid for the 2014/2016 Olympics and don’t forget bids are due in a month in a half.

Also from the Post, Phil Mushnick is amazed that an MLB team used common sense.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals coach used a radio appearance to insult the venerable Madison Square Garden.

Dan says the Capitals’ TV ratings are far outpacing the Wizards’.

Doug Miles of the Tampa Bay Examiner wants to know why NBC dumped coverage of golf on Sunday in favor of the NHL.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend that was on sports television.

The Tennessean notes that ESPN has set the date and time for this year’s Music City Bowl.

In the Houston Chronicle, David Barron says he’s going to be away for a couple of weeks.

Tom Brew of the Indianapolis Star says Chris Denari, the TV voice of the Indiana Pacers, will finally get to call his first NBA Playoff game this week.

At Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman talks with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon about making a move back to the Windy City.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post loved the opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs.

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

Randy Starkman of the Toronto Star does not like Canada’s public funding for CBC when Don Cherry makes fun of concussions.

Raju Mudhar of the Star talks with the new head of CBC Sports.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if TSN had not paid close scrutiny to an uncalled penalty, would a suspension have followed?

To the Canadian Sports Media Blog where it also tackles the controversial concussion comments by Don Cherry on Saturday.

Over to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media who says NBC did not get the job done by not producing a clear-cut replay during yesterday’s Washington Capitals-New York Rangers game during a goal review.

Steve also looks at the local ratings for this weekend’s NHL on NBC double dip.

Mocksession, headed up by the great Timothy Burke a.k.a. @bubbaprog, has a comparison of Bobby Valentine’s and Marv Albert’s very similar hairstyles. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Sports Media Watch says TNT’s NBA tripleheader really did well on Sunday.

And this is where we’ll end it for now.

Coming Back For Sunday Links

After not being able to bring you the Friday megalinks or even Saturday linkage, I have some time to provide the Sunday linkage. Some good stuff here and don’t forget to read my Sunday thoughts.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy breaks news that former co-host of Versus’ The Daily Line, Jenn Sterger will give her first interview on the Brett Favre scandal to Good Morning America this week.

Mike notes that Jim Gray is not part of Golf Channel’s coverage of The Masters^® this year.

Rachel Cohen from the Associated Press says TV networks are trying to work out the kinks of shooting sports in 3-D.

From Yahoo’s The PostGame, Eric Adelson talks to former CBS golf announcer Ben Wright whose “Yes Sir!” call of Jack Nicklaus win in the 1986 Masters has been overshadowed and ignored by Verne Lundquist’s.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that ESPN’s ratings for its opening round coverage of The Masters^® were down from the year before.

Mike says the ratings for The Masters^® did go up Friday when Tiger Woods got back into contention.

R. Thomas Umstead at Multichannel says UFC has signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with Bud Light.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says when you take bar and hotel viewing into account, the ratings for the NCAA Tournament goes up 20%.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid writes that the Joe Buck hate reached a fever pitch on Twitter during yesterday’s Yankees-Red Sox game on Fox.

Mohammed Rahman of SportsGrid says ESPN’s Jon Gruden hasn’t met a player he hasn’t liked.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick goes after EA Sports for not toning down the violence in the Madden NFL 12 video game.

Annie Karni of the Post talks with Jenn Sterger’s ex-manager (not Jenn herself?) about how it’s all Brett Favre’s fault that she can’t get her career off the ground. If you read the story in full, you’ll see that apparently Sterger’s interview with Good Morning America could lead into her working for ABC. In what capacity, I have no idea.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says ESPN’s ratings for the 2nd round of The Masters^® were down from last year.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post has former Nationals President Stan Kasten denying that former MASN TV analyst Rob Dibble was let go following an e-mail from the father of pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

At the WaPo’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has Dibble responding to Kasten.

Mike Frandsen of the Washington Examiner says Dan Snyder’s Red Zebra DC radio station is defending its policy to pick up Baltimore Orioles games.

Greg Hardwig of the Naples (FL) Daily News talks with former CBS golf analyst Ken Venturi about watching The Masters without his good friend, the late golf producer Frank Chirkinian.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman says 60 Minutes will profile St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Albert Pujols today.

Evan Binns from the St. Louis Business Journal says Fox Sports Midwest has added some familiar names to its Cardinals games.

The Kirksville (MO) Daily Express reports that a local cable provider won’t be airing 20 Cardinals games this season over a rights fee dispute with Fox Sports Midwest.

David Southorn of the Idaho Press-Tribune has the complete 2011 Mountain West football TV schedule.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that NHL Network will reveal all of the playoff matchups tonight.

Awful Announcing says St. John’s basketball coach and former ESPN analyst Steve Lavin has prostate cancer. Our best wishes to Steve.

That’s going to do it for today.

Some Additional Wednesday Links

Let’s provide you with some more links.

Stephen Wilson of the Associated Press says the International Olympic Committee hopes to have the US TV rights for the 2014/16 Olympics and possibly the 2018/20 Games awarded by mid-June.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand notes that without UConn in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Game, ESPN did not suffer much of a ratings dropout last night.

Sports Illustrated tennis writer Jon Wertheim answers readers questions and frustrations about Tennis Channel.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser has the video of former sports anchor and boxing announcer Nick Charles talking to his former employer, CNN about his last stages of life. As you may be aware, Nick has incurable cancer and probably doesn’t have long to live. What a very poignant video.

And here’s the story from CNN.com on Nick Charles from Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk says ESPN is bringing back Jon “This Guy” Gruden’s QB camp.

ESPN’s First Take gives you a behind the scenes look at what it takes to bring a show together.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN Front Row explains what the ESPN Car Wash means.

Robin Berger at TV Technology says ESPN wants to change the way baseball is brought into your home.

The Atlantic 10 Conference has announced that it has extended a rights agreement with ESPN for two more seasons. CBS Sports remains the main rightsholder.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe reports that 98.5 The Sports Hub has reupped its afternoon drive team.

The Inside Track girls at the Boston Herald talk about Patriots running back Danny Woodhead’s visit to ESPN yesterday.

Barry Janoff of NY Sports Journalism speaks with CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg.

Celeste E. Whittaker of Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier Post enjoyed watching CBS/Turner’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament.

To the Baltimore Sun where Steve Gould says MASN is seeing significant ratings spikes for the Orioles in the young season.

Scott Claire of the Naples (FL) Daily News says ESPN’s Dick Vitale will be making an appearance at a local youth basketball league.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says this year’s viewership for the NCAA Tournament was up from last year.

Tom Groeschen of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Sean Casey made a triumphant return to the Reds last night as a member of Fox Sports Ohio.

Kari Petrie of the St. Cloud (MN) Times says Charter Communications does not have an agreement to pick up 45 extra Minnesota Twins games that will be aired on Fox Sports Net. Those 45 games came from over the air rightsholder WFTC.

The Grand Forks (ND) Herald says ESPN will have cameras at a University of North Dakota viewing party for cut-ins during its coverage of the NCAA Frozen Four on Thursday.

Anthony Gimino from the Tucson Citizen says this September’s Oklahoma State-Arizona game will be moved to a Thursday night to accommodate ESPN.

Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times talks Lakers with ESPN/ABC’s Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News who has been doing a bang up job covering the Pac 12 rights negotiations says it appears the conference is seeking to sign a very lucrative deal and NBC/Comcast seems to be the frontrunner.

Kevin Lynch at the San Francisco Chronicle talks with new 49ers radio analyst Eric Davis.

Cory Wolfe of the Saskatchewan Star Phoenix talks with new TSN Sportscentre anchor Natasha Staniszewski.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at the implications in the Quebec TV market if the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers pack up and leave for Canada for the 2012-13 season.

The Sports Media Watch notes that the overnight ratings for NASCAR on Fox dipped again on Sunday.

Wendy Parker notes that there are plenty of outlets for women’s basketball coverage.

And that’s where we’ll end it for linkage. I think you have plenty for now.

ESPN Crowing About A Combined 52 Sports Emmy Nominations

When you combine the Sports Emmy Award nominations for ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN.com, the sports behemoth has a massive 52 nods. It doesn’t mean that they’ll win them all, but that’s a very big number. In case you’re wondering, ESPN has 22 nominations, ABC with 13, ESPN2 has 9, and both ESPN Deportes and ESPN.com with 1.

Some of the notable nominations include Chris Berman and Scott Van Pelt for Outstanding Studio Host, Tom Jackson and Kirk Herbstreit for Outstanding Studio Analyst, Jon “This Guy” Gruden in the Outstanding Game Analyst category, last year’s World Cup, Monday Night Football, College GameDay, E:60, The Two Escobars, among others.

Let’s take a look at this long press release which has every of the ESPN family of networks and platforms 52 nominations.

ESPN, Inc. – Industry Leading 52 Sports Emmy Nominations

FIFA World Cup – Most-Honored Entrant; E:60 & NFL Also Lead the Way;
First Nomination for ESPNU; Debut of ESPN 3D Cited for Technical Achievement

ESPN, Inc. earned 52 Sports Emmy Award nominations, the most of any submitting company for the 10^th time in 11 years, it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  The winners will be announced Monday, May 2.

ESPN’s nominations were led by 12 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, more than the number earned by any other single production effort from any entrant.  Fittingly, as the largest commitment to a single event in ESPN’s 31-year history, it also earned the most nominations for any single entity ever for ESPN.  The nominations ranged from Outstanding Live Special for the final on ABC to ESPN Content Development’s I Scored A Goal in Edited Special to a variety of technical categories, including Technical Team Studio, Camerawork, Graphics and Music (two).

NFL programming garnered five nominations: Chris Berman (Studio Host), Tom Jackson (Studio Analyst, won in 2009), Monday Night Football (Live Series), Jon Gruden (Event Analyst, second nomination in his two years on MNF), and “ESPN NFL Unmasked” (a behind-the-scenes player profile regularly on Sunday NFL Countdown, in Production Design/Art Direction).

ESPN’s two critically acclaimed news magazine programs focusing on issues and personalities in sports combined for 10 nominations. E:60 totaled six (Edited Series, Journalism, three in Long Feature and Short Fetaure) while Outside the Lines earned four (Documentary, two for Long Feature and Short Feature).

NBA content drew four nominations.  The NBA Finals on ABC were cited in Live Special, Jeff Van Gundy earned a second straight nomination in Event Analyst; and the NBA Draft received two nominations (Open/Tease and Production Design/Art Direction).

ESPN Content Development also received four nominations.  In addition to I Scored a Goal, two “30 for 30” films were cited — “June 17, 1994” in Documentary and Editing and “The Two Escobars” in Documentary for its premiere on ESPN Deportes.

Among ESPN commentators, in addition to Berman, Jackson, Gruden and Van Gundy; Kirk Herbstreit, the 2010 winner, was again nominated in Studio Analyst; Orel Hershiser was a first-time nominee in Event Analyst; and another first-timer, Scott Van Pelt in Studio Host.

Other notable nominees:

• Three nominations combined in the two categories for Promotional Announcements:  “30 for 30” and The Open Championship in Episodic Promos, and “Is it Monday Yet?” in Institutional Promos.
• Two nominations for Technical Achievement:  ESPN 3D (debuted June 2010) and “Enhanced Visual Accompaniment,” a virtual studio technology used in a variety of ways, including Center Circle (soccer), Ultimate Uplink (NBA), and Virtual Pitch (MLB).
• ESPNU’s first nomination, for College Football Whiparound in Graphic Design
• The Breeders’ Cup World Championship in Live Special
• ESPN College Football in Live Series
• College GameDay in Weekly Studio Show (won in 2008 and 2010)

Overall, ESPN has won 135 Sports Emmy Awards in 23 years of eligibility.  ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.

ESPN’s nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):

Live Special
Breeders Cup World Championship
2010 FIFA World Cup (ABC)
The NBA Finals (ABC)

Live Series
College Football
Monday Night Football

Live Event Turnaround
World Series of Poker Final Table

Outstanding Playoff Coverage
2010 FIFA World Cup

Edited Special
I Scored a Goal (ABC)

Sports Documentary
June 17, 1994
Outside the Lines: Robben Island:  A Greater Goal (ESPN2)
The Two Escobars (ESPN Deportes)

Edited Series
E:60 (ESPN2)

Studio Show/weekly
College GameDay

Studio Show/daily
Pardon the Interruption
SportsCenter

Journalism
E:60 – Children of Bhopal (ESPN2)

Short Feature
E:60 – A League of her Own (ABC)
Outside the Lines: Santa Anita, A Dark History

Long Feature
E:60 – Josiah’s Time (ESPN2)
E:60 – Survival 1 (ESPN2)
E:60 — Unbreakable
Outside the Lines – Asian Carp
Outside the Lines – The Power of Dylan

Open/Tease
2010 FIFA World Cup (ABC)
NBA Draft

New Approaches – Short Format
Sport Science (ESPN.com)

Studio Host
Chris Berman
Scott Van Pelt

Studio Analyst
Kirk Herbstreit
Tom Jackson

Event Analyst
Jon Gruden
Orel Hershiser
Jeff Van Gundy (ABC)

Technical Team Remote
Winter X Games 14 (ESPN/ESPN2)

Technical Team Studio
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)

Camerawork
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)

Editing
2010 Scripps Howard Spelling Bee (ABC)
June 17, 1994

Writing
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)

Music
2010 FIFA World Cup: Day One Tease (ESPN/ABC)
2010 FIFA World Cup: U2 7 Soweto Gospel Choir (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)

Graphic Design
2010 FIFA World Cup
ESPNU College Football Whiparound (ESPNU)
Sports Science

Prod.Design/Art Direction
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)
NBA Draft
“ESPN NFL Unmasked”

Technical Achievement
ESPN 3D (ESPN 3D)
“Enhanced Visual Accompaniment”

Promo – Institutional
“Is it Monday Yet”

Promo – Episodic
ESPN Films: “30 for 30”
The Open Championship

That’s it.

2011 Sports Emmy Award Nominations

The Sports Emmy Nominations are out. Just released by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The awards will be handed on May 2 at Lincoln Center in New York. Our list of nominees is below.

Best Play-by-play has the usual suspects, last year’s winner Jim Nantz, Al Michaels, Joe Buck, even Bob Costas, but it’s nice to see Verne Lundquist nominated. Jon Gruden is an addition to the Game Analyst category. And you’ll see the usual suspects in the Studio Analyst category.

Breakdown of nominations will follow in a separate post.

The Nominations

Outstanding LIVE SPORTS SPECIAL

2010 FIFA World Cup: Final Match – Spain vs Netherlands – ABC
2010 Tour de France – Versus
Golf on CBS: The MastersCBS
NBA Finals on ABC – ABC
The Breeders’ Cup World Championship: The 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic – ESPN
The Ryder Cup – NBC/USA

Outstanding LIVE SPORTS SERIES

ESPN College Football – ESPN
ESPN Monday Night Football – ESPN
NASCAR on FOX and SPEED – FOX/SPEED
NBC Sunday Night Football – NBC
NFL on FOX – FOX

Outstanding LIVE EVENT TURNAROUND

Inside the Headsets:The 26th All?Star Challenge – SPEED/NASCAR Media Group
Sound FX: Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets – NFL Network/NFL Films
The 2010 World Series of Poker Final Table – ESPN
Tour de France on CBS – CBS
XXI Olympic Winter Games - NBC

Outstanding PLAYOFF COVERAGE

2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN
MLB Postseason on TBS – TBS
NBA Playoffs on TNT – TNT
NCAA Basketball on CBS: The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – CBS
NFL on FOX: NFC Championship Game – FOX

Outstanding EDITED SPORTS SPECIAL

24/7: Mayweather?Mosley – HBO
24/7: Penguins?Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic – HBO Bill Parcells: Reflections on a Life in Football – NFL Network/NFL Films
I Scored a Goal – ABC
Red Bull Young Jaws – Fuel/Red Bull Media House

Outstanding SPORTS DOCUMENTARY

June 17th, 1994 – ESPN
Lombardi – HBO
Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals – HBO
Robben Island: A Greater Goal – ESPN2
The Two Escobars – ESPN Deportes

Outstanding EDITED SPORTS SERIES/Anthology

Big Ten Basketball 2010: The Journey – Big Ten Network
E:60 – ESPN2
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets -HBO/NFL Films
NCAA on CBS: Championships of the NCAA – CBS
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel – HBO

Outstanding STUDIO SHOW ? WEEKLY

College Gameday – ESPN
Football Night in America – NBC
Inside the NBA on TNT – TNT
MLB Network’s Studio 42 with Bob Costas – MLB Network
NFL GameDay Morning – NFL Network

Outstanding STUDIO SHOW ? DAILY

Inside the NBA on TNT – TNT
MLB Postseason on TBS – TBS
MLB Tonight – MLB Network
Pardon the Interruption – ESPN/Rydholm Projects
SportsCenter – ESPN

Outstanding SPORTS JOURNALISM

E:60: Children of Bhopal – ESPN2
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel:Fallen Star – HBO
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: The Missing Link – HBO
Vanguard: Soccer’s Lost Boys – Current TV

Outstanding SHORT FEATURE

E:60: A League of Her Own – ABC
Inside the NFL: The Drew Swank Story – Showtime
NFL on CBS: Honoring Flight 93 – CBS
NFL on CBS ? Super Bowl XLIV: Wynton Marsalis ? ’43 Years’ – CBS
Outside the Lines: Santa Anita: A Dark History – ESPN

Outstanding LONG FEATURE

E:60: Josiah’s Time – ESPN2
E:60: Survival 1 – ESPN2
E:60: Unbreakable – ESPN2
Outside the Lines:Asian Carp – ESPN
Outside the Lines: The Power of Dylan – ESPN
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: Leading Man – HBO

Outstanding OPEN / TEASE

2010 FIFA World Cup – ABC
2010 NBA Draft – ESPN
Lombardi – HBO
NBA Playoffs on TNT: Jamie vs Justin – TNT
XXI Olympic Winter Games:Discovery – NBC

Outstanding NEW APPROACHES SPORTS EVENT COVERAGE

CBS NCAA March Madness On Demand IPhone App – CBS Interactive
MLB.com At Bat 2010 -MLBAM
NFL Sunday Ticket Experience on DIRECTV – DIRECTV
NFL.com Live: 2010 Scouting Combine – NFL.com
XXI Olympic Winter Games: Beyond the Broadcast – NBCOlympics.com

Outstanding NEW APPROACHES SPORTS PROGRAMMING

24/7:Mayweather?Mosley Face Off with Max Kellerman – HBO
Sunday Night Football Extra – NBCSports.com
The Science of Sports – NBCSports.com

Outstanding NEW APPROACHES ? SPORTS PROGRAMMING ? SHORT FORMAT

Sport Science – ESPN.com
The NFL Season: A Biography – NFL.com/NFL Network
XXI Olympic Winter Games – NBCOlympics.com

Outstanding Sports Personality ? STUDIO HOST

Chris Berman – ESPN
James Brown – CBS/Showtime
Bob Costas – NBC/MLB Network
Ernie Johnson – TNT
Dan Patrick – NBC /DirecTV
Scott Van Pelt – ESPN

Outstanding Sports Personality ? PLAY?BY?PLAY

Joe Buck – FOX
Bob Costas – MLB Network
Mike Emrick – NBC
Verne Lundquist – CBS
Al Michaels – NBC
Jim Nantz – CBS

Outstanding Sports Personality ? STUDIO ANALYST

Charles Barkley – TNT
Kirk Herbstreit – ESPN
Tom Jackson – ESPN
Howie Long – FOX
Harold Reynolds – MLB Network

Outstanding Sports Personality ? SPORTS EVENT ANALYST

Cris Collinsworth – NBC
Jon Gruden – ESPN
Orel Hershiser – ESPN
Phil Simms – CBS
Jeff Van Gundy – ABC

Outstanding TECHNICAL TEAM REMOTE

Golf on CBS – CBS
NASCAR on FOX – FOX
NFL on CBS ? Super Bowl XLIV – CBS
Winter X Games 14 – ESPN / ESPN2

Outstanding TECHNICAL TEAM STUDIO

2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN/ABC
MLB Tonight – MLB Network
XXI Olympic Winter Games – NBC

Outstanding CAMERA WORK

2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN/ABC
24/7: Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona – HBO
First Ascent: Fly or Die – Travel Channel/Sender Films
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets – HBO/NFL Films
NFL Films Presents: Shots of the Year - NFL Network/NFL Films
XXI Olympic Winter Games: Discovery -NBC

Outstanding EDITING

2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee – ABC
24/7: Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona – HBO
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets – HBO/NFL Films
Inside the NFL: Sounds of the Year – Showtime/NFL Films
June 17th, 1994 – ESPN

The Dick Schaap WRITING AWARD

2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN/ABC
24/7: Mayweather?Mosley – HBO
24/7: Penguins?Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic – HBO
Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals – HBO
XXI Olympic Winter Games: Discovery – NBC

Outstanding MUSIC COMPOSITION / DIRECTION / LYRICS

2010 FIFA World Cup: Day One Tease – ESPN/ABC
2010 FIFA World Cup: U2 & Soweto Gospel Choir – ESPN/ESPN2/ABC
Lombardi – HBO
Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals – HBO
NFL on CBS ? Super Bowl XLIV: Run This Town – CBS
NFL on CBS ? Super Bowl XLIV: Wynton Marsalis ? ’43 Years’ – CBS

Outstanding Live Event AUDIO / SOUND

MLB on FOX – FOX
NASCAR on FOX – FOX
NFL on FOX – FOX

Outstanding Post Produced AUDIO / SOUND

24/7: Penguins?Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic – HBO
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets – HBO
Inside the NFL: Sounds of the Year – Showtime/NFL Films
NFL on CBS ? Super Bowl XLIV: Run This Town – CBS
XXI Olympic Winter Games: Remember the Titans – NBC

Outstanding GRAPHIC DESIGN

2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN
ESPNU College Football Whiparound – ESPNU
MLB Network Studio Graphics – MLB Network
NBC Sunday Night Football – NBC
Sport Science – ESPN/Base Productions
XXI Olympic Winter Games – NBC

Outstanding PRODUCTION DESIGN / ART DIRECTION

2010 FIFA World Cup – ESPN/ESPN2/ABC
2010 NBA Draft – ESPN
ESPN NFL Unmasked – ESPN
NFL on CBS ? Super Bowl XLIV: Run This Town – CBS

The George Wensel TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Ballpark Cam – MLB Network
Enhanced Visual Accompaniment – ESPN
ESPN3D – ESPN
US Open Tennis Championships: 3D at US Open Tennis Championships – CBS

Outstanding SPORTS PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT? INSTITUTIONAL

Is It Monday Yet?: Monday Action, An Exit Away, Stone’s Throw – ESPN/Wieden & Kennedy
MLB All?Star Game: Sand – FOX/The Mill
NBC Sports Championship Season – NBC
NHL Winter Classic: Classic Rivalry; Classic Spectacle – NBC
XXI Olympic Winter Games: One Day; Dream It, Win it; One Dream – NBC

Outstanding SPORTS PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT ? EPISODIC

ESPN Films ? 30 for 30 ‘What if I told You…?’: Winning Time, The Two Escobars, Pony Express – ESPN
NFL ‘It’s Good to Have a Ring’: Booth; Airport; Pool Party – FOX/SMuggler
The Open Championship: Perception – ESPN
XXI Olympic Winter Games: One Day; Olympic Showdown; Dancing Stars – NBC

And those are your nominations for the 32nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards. More stuff on this coming up throughout the day.

The 4th Annual Fang’s Bites NFL TV Awards

With another regular season over, it’s time to hand out my awards for the best and worst in NFL TV. Lots of hardware to hand out. If you want to see past awards, you can check the inaugural, 2nd and 3rd annual awards.

Best Play by Play: I’m going to go Against the Grain this year. I could be obvious and go with Al Michaels again or even Jim Nantz, but I’m going to choose Gus Johnson, CBS. The man can rise to the occasion. He should be calling better games instead of the “E” game. But, he’s always assured of calling a game every week, but I hope CBS promotes him. As it has been pointed out, the Law of Gus Johnson means he’ll have something crazy happen like a Hail Mary or the famous Brandon Stokley play from last year. We’ll have an example coming up of the Law of Gus Johnson taking effect, but because of it, it means that he’ll have an exciting game and it means that there will be a scream, a “Ha! Ha!” or a moment that will be etched in our memories. Gus never disappoints. He gets Best Play by Play this season.

Best Game Analyst: Cris Collinsworth, NBC. I know many of you don’t like Collinsworth, but teamed with Al Michaels, he’s stepped up big time. Are there times when Collinsworth makes head scratching statements? Yes, absolutely, but he picks up trends, is right on top of plays and with Michaels, can tell how a replay review is going to come out. When Collinsworth was teamed with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, he often had to play the contrarian, but with Al, he can concentrate on talking football and Cris does a very good job.

Best Studio Show: The Original Red Zone Channel, DirecTV. This is the best and only way to watch football. Just completed its 6th year and 102 shows, the Red Zone Channel bounces from game to game and quite effortlessly with host Andrew Siciliano. Red Zone Channel spawned its own knockoff, NFL RedZone, but the original is still the best and when there’s a dead moment, Andrew goes to highlights or discusses fantasy stats. The show is produced extremely well and nothing comes close.

Best Studio Host: Andrew Siciliano, DirecTV. Yes, Andrew is the best studio host. He knows just about every player who comes on the screen. He can do play-by-play when he has to and he weaves us from game to game with humor and funny one-liners. He’s done it for 6 seasons now. I just wish DirecTV produced a pregame show for the playoffs because it’s right about now where I miss having Red Zone Channel.

Best Studio Analyst: Steve Mariucci, NFL Network. Mooch has grown into a very good analyst and using his coach’s knowledge, can break down plays with the best of them. He’s also learned to come in quickly during highlights and get out. He’s very good on NFL Network’s GameDay Morning, NFL GameDay Highlights, NFL GameDay Final and Thursday Night Kickoff.

Most Valuable Network: NBC. Sunday Night Football won the primetime ratings every week it was on. It averaged 21.8 million viewers. When Dick Ebersol got NBC back into the NFL in 2006, this is what he envisioned, the number one primetime series and high viewership. He got it in spades this season. All NBC needs is a cable package and it very well could get that when Comcast takes over and the network is combined with Versus sometime this year.

The Gus Johnson Call of the Year: Considering the Law of Gus Johnson, I am now instituting this new award. Let’s go to Week 10, Houston and Jacksonville tied at 24 with 3 seconds left and the Jags have one more play. It’s a Hail Mary and you know what happens next. We even get a “HA! HA!” Classic Gus.

Best NFL Insider: Jay Glazer, Fox. He’s back after a one year absence. Sure, he has huge conflicts of interest training certain NFL players for mixed martial arts, then reporting on them, but he gets the scoops. The tapes he obtained showing teams knocking down gunners on the sidelines were just amazing. Great stuff.

Best Announcing Team: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, CBS. They may not make headlines and Nantz isn’t someone to make controversy or make political statements like Al Michaels, but he’s a solid play-by-play man. Simms can see trends and isn’t afraid to go out on a limb, and he’s not afraid to admit he’s wrong when he makes a mistake. Nantz and Simms mesh well and you know they’re going to call a good game.

Most Improved Presentation: Football Night in America, NBC. Last year, I gave FNIA the Worst Studio Show Award. This year, it’s much better. Keith Olbermann is gone leaving Dan Patrick to do the highlights and that works out very well. Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison have grown comfortable in their roles as studio analysts. I can do with one interview instead of the normal two from the game sites so I can watch more highlights. I’ve grown tired of Bob Costas’ act, but he’s still better than most of the broadcasters on TV and radio. The show is much better than last year.

Best Game Coverage: Sunday Night Football, NBC. The game production is one of the best and led by Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff, I love how we just see football. There are no silly crowd cutaways and the games are done right for fans. Very rarely do we see mistakes during the production and NBC’s crew is one of the best. We see two teams on the field, but the one giving you the game is the third team that you don’t see. They’re working hard so you can enjoy the game.

Rookie of the Year: Mike Pereira, Fox. I don’t know why other networks haven’t done this before but Fox’s move to hire former NFL Director of Officiating Mike Pereira was a stroke of genius. Fox gave him similar resources to what he had in New York at the NFL offices and giving him the ability to cut in to discuss a controversial play. For a while, Pereira had predicted every replay review correctly. He did get one wrong, but that’s to be expected. Mike’s explanation of plays go so well that he’s a welcome addition to the games and he’ll be in the booth during the Super Bowl in Dallas for any replay reviews.

Most Touching Moment: Terry Bradshaw’s Tribute to Don Meredith, Fox. With someone else, this could have turned hokey and over the top, but with Terry Bradshaw, it turned out just right. Terry gave his heartfelt feelings on what Don Meredith’s passing meant to him along with some advice that Dandy Don gave to him just as he was about to go into television and he ended it by singing “Turn Out the Lights” and the lights did go out. Perfect.

Worst Play-by-Play: Joe Buck, Fox. I’ll get killed by my friends at Fox Sports PR for this, but Joe has really grated on me this season. He often takes the role of play-by-play man and analyst. He tries to make Troy Aikman agree with him and that is not his job. Throughout the season, he’s gotten worse and I really dread him calling Super Bowl XLV in February.

Worst Game Analyst: Joe Theismann, NFL Network. Here’s a guy who returned to the booth after two years in exile following his removal from Monday Night Football by ESPN. A disastrous guest stint for NBC in last year’s Wild Card playoff game should have been a clue as to what we would see this season. Joining last year’s Worst Game Analyst, Matt Millen and Bob Papa for Thursday Night Football, Theismann has tried to make up for two lost years by talking at every opportunity. He didn’t shut up. He talked too much and he interrupted both Millen and Papa quite often. He takes this award hands down. Theismann is awful. Bob Papa deserves hazard pay for having to endure Millen and especially, Theismann.

Worst Expression: “This Guy” by Jon Gruden, ESPN. I didn’t notice Gruden saying “this guy” when he first joined ESPN in 2009, but I’ve noticed it a hell of a lot this season. An example: “I’m telling you Jaws, this guy, Brett Favre is one hell of a player. This guy can play for me. This guy knows how to run this Minnesota Vikings offense. This guy can make things happen out there.” There were times he said, “This guy” twice in one sentence. He said it so often, I started a game on Twitter as to when in the first quarter he would make his first “this guy” reference. Most times, it would come in the first two minutes. And he said it so often, that partners Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski picked up the habit. In fact, Cris Collinsworth has been known to sprinkle in a “this guy” of his own on Sunday Night Football as well. Here’s an example of Gruden saying “this guy.”

Worst Studio Host: Stuart Scott, ESPN. There’s no need for Stuart at the game site for Monday Night Football. Having two sets of studio crews for Monday Night Football is overkill. Just having Stuart at a game is complete overkill. I can’t watch him. Horrible.

Worst Studio Analyst: Michael Irvin, NFL Network. NFL GameDay Morning used to be entertaining, but this year, he made the show totally unwatchable. He yelled, he pounded the table, he made a very good analyst Marshall Faulk yell with him. Warren Sapp often had to yell to get his point across. The one week when Irvin wasn’t in the studio and Deion Sanders subbed for him, the show got back to its entertainment level. Someone has to tell Michael to tone it down.

Worst Studio Show: Monday Night Countdown, ESPN. Besides from C’mon, Man, I can’t watch this show. Two sets of studio crews are not necessary. Just have the crew originate from Bristol or from the game site, one or the other. There is no need for two. It’s too much talking.

Worst Game Coverage: Thursday Night Football, NFL Network. NFL Network brought in Artie Kempner, a Fox Sports director who did Super Bowl XLII to improve its game coverage. It still didn’t work. Just like last season, replays were late, they sometimes ran long causing us to miss the start of plays, and there were times when the audio sounded garbled. Maybe with Joe Theismann, that was a good thing, but you can’t have that. NFL Network does a great job with its studio shows, but for the game coverage, it’s terrible. I don’t understand it. I really can’t.

That will conclude our NFL TV Awards for this season.

Jon Gruden’s Statement Shooting Down Miami Rumors

Earlier today, rumors surfaced that ESPN’s Jon Gruden was being offered the coaching job at the University of Miami following the firing of Randy Shannon on Saturday.

Someone named Lake Lewis, Jr. of Sports Journey tweeted this in the mid-afternoon causing Twitter to go crazy.

It caused reporters to work to either confirm or debunk the rumor. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King managed to shoot it down with a simple 11 word tweet.

And to finally end the speculation, ESPN has just released this statement in the name of Gruden.

Jon Gruden Statement

ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden issued the following statement this evening in response to reports about him and the University of Miami

“I am committed to Monday Night Football and to ESPN. I enjoy working with Mike, Jaws and our entire crew and am just trying to get better at this job.”

And this hopefully will put an end to the rumors that burned up Twitter today. Interesting how this broke from outside ESPN and it was debunked outside ESPN.

Time for the Friday Megalinks

Let’s do the Friday megalinks as we steam into Thanksgiving holiday week. Lots of links to get to so let’s not waste any more time.

The Weekend Viewing Picks have what’s in store for college football, college basketball, NFL, NASCAR and plenty of other sporting and primetime viewing picks.

To the links.

National

We’re hearing rumblings of executive firings at ESPN. This has to do with an affair that was originally outed by Deadspin and confirmed by the New York Post. And there are more details including affairs involving the talent as well. As Chris Rock said, “people have gone lost their minds.”

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says both Fox and ABC will have familiar announcing crews calling the BCS.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings is taking the NBA by storm.

Darren says a plan to sell “stock” in the Boise State athletic program is off to a rip-roaring start.

Len Berman went on the Today Show this morning to pimp his new book “The Greatest Moments in Sports“.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes credits Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass against Miami 25 years ago for increasing the audience for college football.

Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports speaks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that Detroit Tigers outfielder Curtis Granderson will host a new program that will tour various sports stadia and arenas across the country.

The Sports Media says last Sunday’s NASCAR event on ABC fell in the ratings, mirroring the downward trend for the entire year.

SMW has notes on two sports media figures who passed away this week.

SMW mentions that ESPN’s ratings for the NBA are down thus far this season.

Chris Byrne in the Eye on Sports Media suggests how best to use links in social media.

Chris tells us that the University of Michigan sports information department is credentialing bloggers for Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game at the Big House.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe lists some of the best personalities in the local sports media.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Comcast SportsNet New England is ready to take on NESN on TV and on the web.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times profiles Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News is fed up of the talk leading up to the Jets-Patriots game this Sunday.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels the NFL should go back to the 1950′s.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with ESPN/ABC’s Sean McDonough.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that Baltimore-Washington is becoming a huge media market.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post profiles John Riggins who has carved a niche for himself in the DC market.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald has the highs and lows of the NFL Network’s production of the Dolphins-Panthers game.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle talks with noted college football writer and CBS College Sports host Tony Barnhart.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that for the second year in a row, the State High School Football Championships won’t be televised.

In his media notebook, Mel writes that the first Oklahoma University basketball televised game was hard to watch.

Midwest

Jim Woods of the Columbus Dispatch says Erin Andrews’ alleged stalker apparently shot video of her in a local hotel room.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes about an 18 year kid who is calling college hockey games professionally.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN is hopeful that Jon Gruden will be with them for the long haul.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.

Brad Biggs of the Chicago Sun-Times has the transcript of an interview NBC’s Bob Costas did with WMAQ-TV in regards to the Bears refusing interview requests by the network for Sunday Night Football.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News would like to see a local sports personality back on the Utah Jazz game broadcasts.

The Arizona Daily News prepares readers for College Gameday’s visit to Tucson on Saturday.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune is feeling melancholy over not being able to see the NFL Network.

To John Maffei of the North County Times talks with CBS’ Dick Enberg who is enjoying calling a number of “home” games this season and is being considered to join the Padres broadcast team.

Jim Carlisle from the Ventura County Star says the economy is very much different for the NFL and the Olympics based on their ad sales.

Jim writes that Fox Sports Net West is celebrating 50 years of the Lakers in L.A.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times breaks news of a scuffle between TNT’s Marv Albert and 50 Cent’s entourage backstage at Jimmy Kimmel Live this week.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth talks with ESPN soccer analyst Alexi Lalas about his days as L.A. Galaxy GM.

Tom has more with Alexi in his blog as well as some news and notes.

Daniel Lyght of the Fresno Bee talks with ESPN football analyst Trent Dilfer who got to call his first game this week.

Bob Condotta from the Seattle Times has the TV info for next week’s annual Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Glove and Mail gets on his high horse and scolds a Denver Post reporter for reporting a shouting match that was overheard behind closed doors.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star talks with former Rogers Sportsnet personality Mike Toth.

William Houston of the Truth & Rumours gets on the Globe & Mail for having its reporters and editors taking part in the Olympic Torch Relay.

Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Journal writes about the effect of CBC’s wildly successful Battle of the Blades will have on figure skating in Canada.

The Canadian Press reports that Rush’ Neil Peart is recording a new version of TSN’s Hockey Song (formerly the theme to Hockey Night in Canada).

And that’s going to end the megalinks. Back later with press release stuff and maybe a late night linkage session.

My Take on The Top 25 Football Announcers

Lists by publications are made to stir debate and also give them a bit of publicity. The list that was published today by The Sporting News and sister publication Sports Business Daily/Sports Business Journal certainly does that. Already, I’m a bit perturbed that college and NFL announcers are mixed together as are play-by-play callers and analysts.

If it were up to me, I would separate the play-by-play men from the analysts. But that’s me. Just for kicks, here’s the list in full.

1. Gary Danielson, CBS
2. Cris Collinsworth, NBC
3. Al Michaels, NBC
4. Phil Simms, CBS
5. Kirk Herbstreit, ABC/ESPN
6. Troy Aikman, FOX
7. Ron Franklin, ABC/ESPN
8. Verne Lundquist, CBS
9. Joe Buck, FOX
10. Jim Nantz, CBS
11. Mike Tirico, ESPN
12. Brad Nessler, ESPN
13. Brent Musburger, ABC/ESPN
14. Jon Gruden, ESPN
15. Daryl Johnston, FOX
16. Ron Jaworski, ESPN
17. Greg Gumbel, CBS
18. Sean McDonough, ABC/ESPN
19. Todd Blackledge, ESPN
20. Dan Fouts, CBS
21. Bob Papa, NFL Network
22. Mike Patrick, ABC/ESPN
23. Chris Fowler, ESPN
24. Gus Johnson, CBS

25. Dick Enberg, CBS

I’m not enamored with this list. I’ll separate play-by-play and analysts and go from there.

Play-by-play and this includes college football and NFL.

1. Al Michaels – NBC’s Sunday Night Football
Probably the best all-around play-by-play voice ever. He’s called so many big games and rises to the occasion whenever there’s a big moment. Al does a tremendous job in doing football and yes, he does the wink-wink with the point spread, but there’s no one better at setting the scene, giving perspective and breaking down complicated moments than Al. Tops at play-by-play hands down.

2. Ron Franklin – ESPN College Football
Being forced out by ESPN after the college basketball season. Very classy. After Keith Jackson, one of the best ever to call college football. He’s a great fit at games. Why ESPN took him off the primetime package of games is beyond me. Ron is a very comfortable fit in the booth whether he’s calling the Big 12, SEC or other big conferences. ESPN is mistreating Ron this season.

3. Verne Lundquist – SEC on CBS
Calls a very good game. One of the announcer who just exudes college football. He wasn’t happy when CBS took him off the NFL after the 1998 season, but then he started on a tremendous run calling the SEC and he’s become quite comfortable calling the games. Whenever there’s a big game in the SEC, Verne is there and he’s very smooth. Love him and Gary Danielson.

4. Sean McDonough – ESPN/ABC College Football
One of my favorite announcers, his best sport is baseball, but he’s very good at college football and is unfortunately partnered with one of the worst analysts, Matt Millen. Sean is not afraid to call out bad plays and he’s also very good in spotting trends. Works extremely well with his partners to draw out the best analysis. Unfortunately, Millen’s credibility is shot.

5. Jim Nantz – NFL on CBS
He doesn’t scream. Jim gives the nuts and bolts of a game quite well. Has grown into a very good play-by-play man. He works well with Phil Simms. Jim won’t raise the decibel level on your TV. He’ll just provide you with the facts which is what you want.

6. Ian Eagle – NFL on CBS
He’s not on the list, but he should be. And he’s becoming a very good all-around announcer, calling the NFL, the NBA, college basketball and tennis. CBS would do everyone a favor in promoting him to the 3rd or 4th announcing team next season.

7. Dick Enberg – NFL on CBS
Dick has slipped over the past few seasons. One of the announcing elite, but he has made mistakes and miscalls. Still is better than many younger announcers.

8. Tom Hammond – Notre Dame Football on NBC
I think NFL Network should have hired Tom to replace Bryant Gumbel last season. He calls Notre Dame football quite well on NBC and only calls one NFL game a year, the Wild Card playoff game for the Peacocks. I’m glad he got to call 8 Notre Dames this season. He should have a full slate of games.

9. Sam Rosen – NFL on Fox
Sam is a very good nuts and bolts guy. He’s also a very good NHL announcer calling the New York Rangers on MSG Network. He’s always there with down and distance, who made the tackle and sets the scene very nicely. Sam should get more recognition for his work.

10. Gus Johnson – NFL on CBS
Yes, Gus yells. Yes, Gus screams. But yes, Gus can give you a signature call that gives the fan the exclamation point and proper perspective. The best case in point was during the Denver-Cincinnati game in Week 1. Tremendous stuff.

11. Mike Patrick – ESPN/ABC College Football
ESPN took Mike off the NFL when it lost the Sunday Night package and gained Monday Night Football. I thought Mike, Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann were perfect on SNF and should have remained the team for MNF, but what do I know? Mike is quite solid on college football. There are times when I wonder what hair color Mike is going to be from week to week, but that’s minor. He does get a tad too excited, but he’s very good.

12. Brad Nessler – ESPN/ABC College Football
There was a time I didn’t like Brad, but he’s grown on me. I can see Brad becoming a main guy for college football once Brent Musburger decides to retire from announcing. I like his style. He’s not forceful. His style is perfect for college football. I do hope to see him on some bigger games down the road.

13. Kenny Albert – NFL on Fox
A second generation announcer, Kenny has risen to the “B” team for Fox Sports. He’s been with Fox since the network got the NFL package in 1994 and he’s been a very good fit at the network. Another hockey guy who can call the NFL very well. I would take Kenny over Joe Buck any day.

14. Bob Papa – NFL Network
Bob does a great job calling the New York Giants on radio and does a very good job doing the games for NFL Network. Sometimes, the Thursday Night games are stinkers, but no fault to Bob as he doesn’t schedule the games. Bob is another guy who does multiple sports, NFL, boxing, basketball and does all of them well. He lets the action come to him and does a very good job in spotting trends. I’m hoping to see him get more games down the road.

15. Greg Gumbel – NFL on CBS
Greg was the #1 guy on the NFL on CBS and I liked he and Phil Simms. For some reason, CBS took him off, put him on the NFL Today for two seasons, then placed him on the #2 team with Dan Dierdorf. Greg is another guy who won’t go over the top. A very good nuts and bolts announcer and will give you the straight facts. Very good announcer.

16. Dave Sims – Westwood One Radio
Dave is one of the best announcers on radio, bar none. There was a time when he was so busy, you would see him doing Big East football on ESPN Regional TV, hear him doing the NFL on Westwood One Radio, basketball on ESPN and then perhaps a radio talk show guest spot. He calls Sunday Night Football on Westwood One and is a great listen. Calls the game well, spots the players, gives down and distance and is our eyes when we have to hear the radio call. Very good play-by-play man.

You may notice I’ve omitted Joe Buck who I think is horrible on the NFL. I’ve also left off Brent Musburger who I don’t think is a top notch college football announcer. He was a better host and is a better at doing college basketball, but I don’t think he belongs in the upper echelon of that sport either. Again, you can debate away.

Now to the analysts.

1. Phil Simms – NFL on CBS
I enjoy listening to Phil. He’s not afraid to admit he’s wrong. He studies tape every week and can spot things in the booth that other analysts cannot. I enjoy listening to his analysis whenever he calls a game.

2. Gary Danielson – SEC on CBS
I’ll agree that he’s the best college football analyst in the game today. He’s become an ardent apologist for the SEC which I find strange, but overall, Gary is an analyst who can spot a play before it happens. Very enjoyable listen. He and Verne Lundquist have become one of the best announcing teams on TV today.

3. Todd Blackledge – ESPN/ABC College Football
Todd and Gary traded positions a few seasons back. Remember Todd was teamed with Verne in the early aughts? He then left CBS to return to ESPN and then CBS hired Gary away from ESPN. Anyway, Todd has become a premier analyst in college football. Working with Brad Nessler, he’s an analyst who does a very good job in the booth. And his features finding great eating establishments in each town he visits have become must see TV.

4. Cris Collinsworth – NBC’s Sunday Night Football
There are times when Cris makes me scratch my head, but overall, he’s a quite good. When he did Thursday Night Football on NFL Network, he had to carry Bryant Gumbel for two seasons and that wasn’t easy. Cris is so good that he could be a studio analyst or a game analyst and for three seasons was both! It’s not easy to replace John Madden, but after 10 weeks of the NFL season, Cris has made the transition quite nicely.

5. Pat Haden – Notre Dame Football on NBC
It’s too bad that Notre Dame has fallen off the nation’s radar because Pat Haden would be considered one of the elite analysts. Pat used to be the top college football analyst for CBS and also did Sunday Night Football games on CBS Radio. Did them both well. Pat is also not afraid to scold bad quarterback play when he sees it.

6. Troy Aikman – NFL on Fox
I never thought I would see Troy in the booth when he was a player. I didn’t think he had TV in him, but he’s become quite good. At first, he was brought along by Daryl Johnston and Cris Collinsworth as he rose up the ladder on Fox. Now, he can stand alone and I wish he weren’t teamed with Joe Buck so we can really hear some good analysis. Troy is one of the best analysts in the NFL and I enjoy his work.

7. Bob Griese – ESPN/ABC College Football
Ok, taco comment aside, Bob is one of the better analysts in college football. He was teamed with Keith Jackson for a very long time and they formed one of the better announcing teams from the late 1980′s through the 1990′s. Bob may have slipped a bit, but he’s still good at spotting trends, noting passing routes and good on the telestrator.

8. Dan Dierdorf – NFL on CBS
I like Dan’s work from his days on Monday Night Football through now. Still keeps up with the game and gives a good perspective having been in the trenches on the offensive line.

9. Dan Fouts – NFL on CBS
Dan can analyze the NFL or college football with the best. He’s worked with some of the best play-by-play men, Al Michaels, Keith Jackson, Verne Lundquist and his current partner, Dick Enberg. Dan also had to deal with the failed Monday Night Football experiment with Dennis Miller. But through it all, Dan has persevered. His analysis is quite good. He’s had broadcasting in his background thanks to his dad who worked for CBS in the 1960′s. It would be nice if Dan had the opportunity to call a playoff game or two for CBS.

10. Jon Gruden – ESPN’s Monday Night Football
In less than one season, Gruden has shown that he can be one of the better analysts if he chooses to remain on TV. The thing is that no one believes he’s going to stay in the broadcast booth for long, despite signing a multi-year deal with ESPN this week. There were times earlier this season when I could not tell him or fellow analyst Ron Jaworski apart, but now I can. Jon has shown some humor and he’s not afraid to do so at his own expense. He’s very good and if he decides to stay in TV he can be one of the best analysts ever.

11. Daryl Johnston – NFL on Fox
Daryl has done TV for so long, it’s hard to remember that he got his start with CBS in 1998. He’s very smooth and yes, he has to endure Tony Siragusa who interrupts him quite often, but Daryl is such a team player that he seems to have fun with it. Moose’s analysis is solid and while he won’t be on the “A” team on Fox, he does get to call one playoff game a season and does it well teaming up nicely with Kenny Albert and Goose.

12. Craig James – ESPN/ABC College Football
Whenever Craig is in the booth, I enjoy his work. When he was in the studio, especially for ABC with Doug Flutie, I didn’t. I can’t explain it. But Craig is a good listen.

13. Ron Jaworski – ESPN’s Monday Night Football
Ron has a tendency to overhype things, but coming into the booth to replace Joe Theismann two seasons ago was a good thing. To be honest, he didn’t wow me last season when he started with Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser, but with Jon Gruden, has formed a good analysis team.

14. Boomer Esiason – Monday Night Football, Westwood One Radio
He’s good in the studio on the NFL Today, but when he’s on radio with either Marv Albert or Dave Sims on Monday Night Football, Boomer really shines. I like listening to his analysis and he’s not afraid to speak out when he has to. He and Marv are a good team, but I did enjoy when Boomer worked with Howard David.

15. James Lofton – Sunday Night Football, Westwood One Radio
James and Dave Sims are a very formidable radio team. James can spot trends as well and can give perspective on routes from his wide receiver days. Plus, being a Hall of Famer gives him a lot of credibility.

So you have my list of top football broadcasters.

This Is Monday’s Linkage

On this day when New England sports fans are talking about the Bill Belichick decision that cost the Patriots a win against the Colts, I’m enjoying the agony. Being a Browns fan, I need something to help me endure the season. And the Indianapolis Star has a picture of one of Belichick’s henchman shoving an NBC photographer after the game. Thanks to the Big Lead for the pic.

Let’s do the links for you.

We start with the Sports Business Journal and a few stories for you.

John Ourand writes that Comcast is set to compete with ESPN at the local level.

Tripp Mickle says not as many U.S. newspapers will be staffing the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February.

Terry Lefton reports that with the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl being held at the same venue in 2010, the NFL plans to offer some different events.

In today’s Sports Business Daily, Eric Fisher writes that ESPN.com is now featuring a new section for commentary including the ESPN Ombudsman.

To the Sporting News and Dan Levy of On The DL writes about Jon Gruden’s decision to sign a multi-year contract with ESPN.

Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk says ESPN isn’t saying much about Gruden’s staying to call Monday Night Football for next season and possibly beyond.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry says it’s time to blow up the current standard for the game story and invent a new one.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says now that Michelle Wie has won a golf tournament, what’s next for her?

Noam Cohen of the New York Times says ESPN’s Bill Simmons is the future of columnists. If he is, then I find that very sad. One of these days, I’ll explain why Simmons is one of the worst things to happen to sports and is a massive charlatan.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post loves to point at college football players who have arrest records and not properly mentioned on the networks.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union also looks at Jon Gruden’s new contract with ESPN.

Pete wonders if Sunday Night Football shouldn’t start earlier.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says this means that Gruden won’t be moving to the Bills.

John Rowe of the Bergen (NJ) Record says believe it or not, one school wanted to play in the 6 a.m. ET slot in tomorrow’s 24 hour college basketball marathon on ESPN.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about Jon Gruden’s staying with ESPN.

Jim provides the best quotage from the Sunday NFL pregame and postgame shows.

To Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times who reviews the weekend in televised sports and feels there are too many college football games on TV.

And Tom also has a story on Gruden’s new contract at ESPN. Apparently this is a big story today.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has the postmortem on the Cowboys’ loss to Green Bay yesterday.

Barry notes a former Dallas radio sports director who has been honored as a Minor League Baseball broadcaster of the year.

Barry also has his take on the Gruden/ESPN signing.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports South in HD has been added to local cable systems.

John writes the Bengals-Steelers game set a local ratings record on Sunday for the local CBS affiliate.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says noted local sports personality Mike North is doing a guest spot on one of the news/talk stations this week.

Ed looks at the economics of firing three noted coaches.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says there was plenty of Rx from the TV football doctors for what ailed the Packers.

Dusty Sanders of the Denver Post says Northern Colorado takes an early role in ESPN’s 24 hour college basketball marathon on Tuesday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this week’s sports calendar for SoCal.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail says a TSN CFL analyst is getting the job done.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star reviews ESPN’s 30 for 30 Wayne Gretzky documentary which has its Canadian premiere on Wednesday.

William Houston in the Truth & Rumours blog looks at the NHL’s record on head shots and the media’s passive attitude towards the league’s head of discipline, Colin Campbell.

The great Amanda Bruno of Batter-up with Bruno is joining a new website called BostonSportsWoman. Best of luck on the new venture, Amanda!

Also joining the site is a Twitter friend, Kayla Chadwick of the Off The Monster blog.

My best wishes to Amanda and Kayla and I wish nothing but success for Boston Sports Woman.

The Sports Media Watch says Cowboys-Packers steered Fox to big ratings yesterday.

And SMW notes that Pats-Colts did very well for NBC last night.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media takes us inside the production truck as he worked a women’s volleyball game yesterday. I love these features and I hope you do too.

Chris notes how one network creatively marketed its brand when it was using an outsourced production truck.

Chris lets us know the enormity of the production crew that regularly work a college football game.

And we end with The Five from WEEI.com hosted by Kristine Leahy.

That’s it for the day.