Fang's Bites

We’ll Miss You, Ernie

Even though we knew that Ernie Harwell’s passing was coming, it doesn’t make the sadness go away any quicker. For a man to be so beloved not only in his adopted hometown of Detroit, but around the country shows how well he was liked. Ernie told MLB Network’s Bob Costas in his last interview that he wasn’t bitter about the cancer that would eventually take him away from us, “I knew God was in charge and whatever happens, happens for the best. I really have a lot of serenity and great support from my wife family and friends. It’s been so far a fairly easy task to accept it.”

I still hearken back to the days when I was a kid and would listen to the radio to see what stations I could find. In fact, I mentioned this on Twitter on Saturday. During hot summer nights, I would listen to the Red Sox with Ned Martin and Jim Woods, then find the New York stations to listen to the Yankees broadcasts with Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer and Bill White. If I couldn’t hear the Yankees, I’d go to the Mets to hear Lindsay Nelson, Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy call the games. Then I would hear the Orioles broadcasts on WBAL with Chuck Thompson and Bill O’Donnell. Sometimes, I could hear WSB and pick up the Braves broadcasts with Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson, Sr. (yes, EJ’s dad) and John Sterling. There would be nights I could hear the Cleveland Indians on 3WE and the Reds with Marty Brennaman on WLW. When the Phillies went to the old WCAU Radio, I could listen to Harry Kalas, Andy Musser, Richie Ashburn and Chris Wheeler rotate innings for the Philadelphia team.

On humid nights, signals from Chicago would come in strong and I could listen to Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall call the White Sox and Jack Brickhouse call the Cubs on WGN.

But the one constant that I could pick up was WJR out of Detroit, clear as a bell on 760 AM. And I would listen to Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey call the games from Tiger Stadium. The press box was so close to the field, you could hear the ball hit the bat so clearly.

Ernie just had this manner of description that made the game come to life. He had a friendly voice and you felt he could be one of your neighbors. With the announcers calling every game on your radio, it was if they were part of your family. Familiar voices coming on the same time every night from the same station, it was no wonder that when Ernie was inexplicably fired by the Tigers and Bo Schembechler in particular in 1992, fans practically revolted. The wrong was righted a year later when Ernie returned, but Tigers fans never forgave Bo for the deed.

My love for baseball was enhanced by listening to games on the radio and hearing the great announcers boom into my room on the 50,000 watt stations from across the country. Their signal could reach 38 states and go into Canada.

There aren’t many of the old school baseball announcers left, those who have spent most of their careers with one team and have spanned multiple generations. Vin Scully of the Dodgers comes to mind and interestingly enough, Vin joined the Brooklyn Dodgers to replace Ernie who went to the New York Giants. There’s Marty Brennaman still calling games for the Reds on WLW. Dave Niehaus has been with the Seattle Mariners since their inception in 1976. Jerry Coleman is still with the San Diego Padres, however, he’s on a reduced schedule and only doing color analysis. Jerry Howarth of the Toronto Blue Jays like Niehaus has been with his team since 1976.

And in this century, we’ve lost Jack Buck, Chuck Thompson, Harry Kalas, Skip Caray and now, Ernie. Thank goodness, we still have some of their best calls immortalized on tape and Tigers fans can hear Ernie’s call of the 1984 World Series in perpetuity.

MLB.com has created a tribute page for Harwell that contains stories, tributes and videos.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal shares some of his thoughts on Ernie’s passing.

Vin Scully remembers Ernie as only he can.

MLB Network broke into regular programming to run this segment on Ernie.

Justice B. Hill at Real Clear Sports gives thanks to Ernie.

Michigan native Tim Cary says Ernie helped to fill his summers.

The Detroit News has statements from Tigers ownership and management on Ernie Harwell.

John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press says Tigers manager Jim Leyland was saddened to hear of Ernie’s death.

John has reaction from all over Michigan, the baseball community and beyond.

Rob Neyer of ESPN.com recalls his one encounter with Ernie.

I’m sure there will be more stories and tributes to Ernie on Wednesday. I’ll be sure to bring them to you.

One last note, MLB Network will re-air Bob Costas’ interview with Ernie Harwell conducted last November. It will be seen Wednesday at 4 p.m. East/1 p.m. West.

The highlights of the interview include the following:

ON HIS HEALTH

Back in July, the doctors gave me six months to live, give or take a few months. I’m hoping to reach my birthday on January 25 but I’m pretty sure I won’t make the baseball season. But you never know as the Lord works wonders.

I’m not overwhelmed by the circumstances. One of the doctors said, “If you were my father, I’d say, don’t do anything, just relax and wait for the inevitable.” But I had great peace about that and closure to it and I knew God was in charge and whatever happens, happens for the best. I really have a lot of serenity and great support from my wife family and friends. It’s been so far a fairly easy task to accept it.

On Returning to Comerica Park on September 16

That was a great event for me. First of all, I addressed the team, which was a real honor. Jim Leyland had the whole team around. And after a couple innings, they sent me out there with a microphone and I said a few words of farewell. It was very heartwarming for me to see the way people felt about me.

The old voice hasn’t changed that much in 50 years and I thank mainly the genes, the good health the Lord gave me, and the fact I enjoyed the job so much. I never looked at it as work. It was something I got great pleasure out of; Getting to know the people in baseball, traveling with them, and being a part of that great Major League Baseball fraternity.

ON SUPPORT FROM FANS

I don’t think there’s any reason for this response except that I was the Tiger announcer. I showed up and did the best I could. I tried to be myself and my whole philosophy was the game was the main thing and don’t ever interfere with the game. People tune in to what the Tigers are doing. No matter whose doing the game, they’re going to tune in.

ON BEING A LOCAL MLB ANNOUNCER

I do feel like those people out there were my friends and I hope I was their friend. It is a unique association that you have with your listener. I really appreciate the fact that they’ve taken interest in me. I don’t know that I deserve that. All I tried to do was be myself. I wanted to broadcast the game that I thought I’d like to hear as a listener. I tried to give the score as often as I could. I let the play take over and fill in with anecdotes or historical information that maybe nobody else came up with. There were going to be some people who like you and some who don’t like you and you have to accept that when you start out. 

On moving from the segregated South to Brooklyn in 1948

It was a little strange seeing a black man play against white competition. I accepted it and Jackie Robinson became a very good friend of mine. I played cards with him, played golf with him, rode the train with him. It’s the most exciting and most eventful thing that’s happened in sports history, the breaking of the color line by Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey.

On leaving Baltimore IN 1960 and taking THE job WITH THE DETROIT TIGERS

So I made the jump and it was probably the best move I ever made because the people in Michigan have really been super. They’re great fans, it’s an original franchise, and they have a great passion for baseball.

RIP, Ernie. You will be missed.

Your Sunday Linkage

Let’s do some Sunday links. The big news today is that WABC-TV in New York has pulled its signal from Cablevision systems meaning 3.5 million people are without ABC programming including the Academy Awards tonight. It also means for as long as ABC is off Cablevision, viewers won’t be able to see various NBA games and next week’s SEC Tournament games. We’ll see how long this goes.

Owen Canfield in the Hartford Courant says UConn fans are angry they can’t see the women’s basketball team as their first two Big East Tournament games are on ESPNU.

Dave Anderson of the New York Times says NBC and others are waiting for word on whether the NHL will be involved in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Jack Bell of the Times analyzes ESPN’s announcer lineup for the World Cup.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News is already declaring the NHL’s TV ratings dead. Nice, Bob.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post gets on the Mets for finally coming clean about obstructed view seats.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union praises the announcers in the MAAC Tournament for not holding back on bad officiating calls yesterday.

Former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bill Lyon reviews a new book on the late Phillies announcer Harry Kalas.

Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says the NHL has to find a way to capitalize on the success of the Olympics. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with former Los Angeles Times writer Steve Springer who was in the HBO Sports documentary, “Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals”.

Artie Gigantino of the San Francisco Chronicle says the NHL is missing out on a chance to capitalize on the great ratings hockey received during the Olympics.

Deadspin notices that CBS’ March Madness on Demand online feature is a blatant ad for its Facebook fan page. 

The Sports Media Watch has its Weekend Ratings Predictions.

Joe Favorito notes how sports can truly bring us together.

That’s going to do it for now.

Moving Through the Friday Megalinks

Around 3 p.m., I was ready to do the Friday megalinks so I could leave my evening free, but thanks to some unknown issue that prevented many bloggers who use Google’s Blogspot service from logging in, I could not do them. So I’m doing them at night. Again.

Anyway, let’s get these done so I can move on to other things.

As usual, we have the Weekend Viewing Picks. Baseball and the start of the NFL dominate our viewing weekend.

The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry takes precedence on the networks. Saturday and Sunday, the games are on national TV with the worst that the networks have to offer. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are on the case on Fox for Saturday at 4:10 p.m. Then ESPN with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan call the game Sunday night at 8.

If you need an alternative this weekend, MLB Network will have the Cubs-Rockies, Saturday night and TBS’ Sunday game is Minnesota-Detroit. Of course, I have the schedules below, but if you want to see what Fox, ESPN and TBS have to say about their games, click here.

The NFL exhibition season starts Sunday with the Hall of Fame game between Buffalo and Tennessee. Both teams will wear throwback jerseys as the NFL celebrates the 50th anniversary of the old American Football League and you’ll see plenty of celebration with the NFL this season.

On Saturday, there’s the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies which both ESPN and NFL Network will carry. Since Comcast started carrying NFLN on digital basic last week, you’ll have the chance to see how NFLN covers the ceremonies, but you won’t be able to avoid Chris Berman no matter what you do because he’s delivering the introduction speech for Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson. The less I say about Berman, the better. The Hall of Fame inductions start at 7 p.m. on both ESPN and NFL Network.

Golf Channel and CBS have the last PGA Tour stop before next week’s PGA Championship, and this tournament, the Bridgestone Invitational has 49 of the top 50 golfers. Tiger Woods is always in contention at this tourney. Golf Channel kicks off coverage at noon on both Saturday and Sunday with CBS coming in at 2.

NASCAR stops at Watkins Glen for a race and I don’t feel like writing the sponsor. Suffice to say, ESPN carries the race on Sunday starting at 2.

UFC 101 is this Saturday and it’s on pay per view at 10.

The US Open Series continues this weekend and the men are in DC for the Legg Mason Classic while the women are still on the West Coast for the LA Women’s Tennis Championships. ESPN2 and Tennis Channel team up for coverage and the times are listed below.

If you want to see beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh in first action since giving birth, she’s at the Hermosa Beach Open this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on NBC.

And if you want to avoid sports, there’s IFC’s miniseries, Bollywood Hero which is on IFC Saturday at 10 p.m. I also suggest the series premiere of 10 Dollar Dinners with Melissa (the winner of The Next Food Network Star last week) which is on Sunday at 12:30 on Food Network.

There’s True Blood which last week had its best episode on HBO, Sunday night at 9. If you don’t have HBO, National Geographic Channel has a fascinating special called “Drain The Ocean” which looks at what’s really on the ocean floor. That’s on Sunday night at 9 as well. My viewing picks for the weekend are here. Check them out.

Now time for the links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Cris Collinsworth is ready to take the mantle from John Madden this Sunday.

From the Wall Street Journal, Michael Judge reviews ESPN’s documentary, “The Lost Son of Havana”.

Sports Business Daily’s William Cooper catches up NFL Network’s Rich Eisen who emcees the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies on Saturday.

William has another article for SBD and it’s regarding Virgin America making a splash by sponsoring this weekend’s Hermosa Beach AVP Tour stop.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says an unsold sponsorship for a tennis exhibition later this month might be a good bargain.

Darren writes the New York Jets are doing one thing right by embracing Twitter.

And Darren looks into the deferred contracts that the Arizona Diamondbacks are paying well into the next decade.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media looks at a Redskins fan who became an embedded team beat reporter for CBSSports.com.

The Hugging Harold Reynolds blog chronicles how it got mistaken for a Harold Reynolds impersonator on Twitter and got banned in the process.

The Sports Media Watch looks at the ratings to date for the MLB on Fox.

SMW looks at the big ratings for the Buick Open thanks to Tiger Woods’ win last Sunday.

James Young from Variety says Telemundo and mun2 stand to get high ratings for the USA-Mexico World Cup qualifying match.

By the way, DirecTV is putting mun2 on channel 203 for the soccer match on August 12.

Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says Fox Sports Detroit and Comcast are working together to put the Tigers On Demand.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that Turner Sports is already launching new media coverage for next week’s PGA Championship.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe looks at the machinations of WEEI and the new WBZ-FM leading up to next week’s launch of 98.5 FM The Sports Hub.

Chris Reidy of the Globe writes about ESPNU being made available on Comcast systems in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

Amanda Bruno of the Batter-up with Bruno blog looks at the possibility of the Boston Globe charging for its content online.

Kristine Leahy has Friday’s edition of The Five on WEEI.com.

And WEEI.com has something called “The WEEIk That Was“. This may be the one and only time we link to this.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at this week’s Hofstra University sportscasting workshop originally targeted at teens, but getting a more diverse crowd this year.

Neil says Rutgers University has a new analyst for its football radio network.

Neil discusses the new Sunday Night Football announcing team. Neil talks about the possibility of having SNF’s sideline reporter Andrea Kremer Tweet during the games.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News is angry for no good reason.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post gets on ESPN for failing to explain the background of the Nolan Ryan beating of Robin Ventura. Like the network should have had a three minute thesis on the whole issue. What exactly do Raissman and Mushnick want? I don’t understand sometimes. No, make that most of the time.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for Giants radio play-by-play man Bob Papa.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that Giants linebacker Gary Clark isn’t waiting for retirement to look at a broadcasting career.

In his blog, Pete mentions that an Albany TV sports anchor gets a plum assignment for NBC at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Philly.com has pictures of the Phillies honoring their late broadcaster Harry Kalas by putting his portrait on their Wall of Fame.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks about the weekend sports fare on TV.

Jim says he would like to hear more of the Examiner’s sports staff on DC sports radio.

And Jim writes that Joe Theismann returns to the airwaves this Monday.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talks about Cris Collinsworth moving from the studio to the booth for NBC this season and also mentions a Miami sports radio host moving to Boston.

Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution talks with ESPN’s Lee Corso who hopes to be back on TV in time for the College Gameday season premiere in Atlanta.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says native Cris Collinsworth looks forward to being a game analyst again.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that an area university will video stream its games on the internet so parents can watch their kids in action.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says new Sirius NFL Radio host Rich Gannon sang the praises of the Packers.

Tom Miller of the Janesville (WI) Gazette writes about an ESPN photographer who’s accompanying NFL insider Chris Mortensen on his road trip.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business talks about a new show that premieres on Comcast SportsNet Chicago this Sunday.

And Ed has his winners and losers of the week.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald writes that the Allstate Arena will weather the loss of the Arena Football League’s Chicago Rush.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says the post-Madden era begins on Sunday.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at the sports radio ratings.

Dan mentions that two Missouri University football games are heading to pay per view.

West

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says it appears that Chargers fans may have to deal with local regular season blackouts for the first time since 2004.

John Maffei in the North County Times says a San Diego sports radio station’s hard work paid off when Jake Peavy was traded.

Jim Carlisle from the Ventura County Star feels Cris Collinsworth has some big pants to fill.

Jim writes that the NBA is now treating Christmas Day as just another day.

Diane Pucin in the Los Angeles Times writes that despite being fired from Fox Sports, Steve Lyons still takes a shoot-from-the-hip attitude to Dodgers games.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News takes a look at some of the youngest generation who might down the road be heard on our TV and radios.

Tom has his usual extensive media news and notes. Tom also looks at the week in blogging and also links to Fang’s Bites once again. Thanks, Tom!

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says some Hollywood directing star power is looking to bring 3D to hockey.

That will do it for the megalinks.

A Thursday Linkfest

Time for some linkage today.

Since we burned up our server with yesterday’s picture of ESPN’s Erin Andrews in a hot dress (thank you, Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated), we have an entire gallery of Erin in hot dresses as she was in Los Angeles yesterday (again thank you, Jimmy). If you scroll down today’s edition of Jimmy’s Hot Clicks at SI.com, you’ll see Heather Graham wearing that same dress.

If you want more Erin news, Mike Snider and Brett Molina of USA Today’s Game Hunters blog talk with EA about her being featured in a video game for EA Sports.

Newsday’s Neil Best has Erin talking to TMZ.com about her getting a ball to the chin at the Dodgers-Mets game last week.

That’s your Erin fix for the day. Now on to other links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says don’t get up late otherwise you might miss something during the Open Championship.

ESPN Plus, ESPN’s syndication arm for various conferences including the SEC, has relaunched its website today to include its schedule for SEC football.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says WEEI and WBZ-FM stand to split advertising dollars for the sports listening audience.

Evans Clinchy of NESN.com reviews the HBO Ted Williams documentary.

Here’s Kristine Leahy and the latest edition of “The Five” at WEEI.com.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Ted’s daughter, Claudia, was a standout in the HBO documentary.

Laura Nachman recalls one funny story from the new Harry Kalas book that’s now available.

Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News his colleague, sports curmudgeon Bill Conlin will be inducted into the city’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says you have to get up early if you want to catch the Open Championship this week.

Jon Solomon from the Birmingham (AL) News writes that Fox Sports Net has signed a syndication deal with ESPN Regional TV to carry seven SEC football games for three of its regional networks in the conference footprint.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the June ratings f0r the city’s sports radio station are another version of wash, rinse, repeat. Barry says Dallas-Fort Worth just doesn’t seem to care about the MLB All-Star Game.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recaps Green Bay Packer WR Donald Driver’s interview on Sirius NFL Radio on Wednesday.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says sports radio WSCR now has an iPhone app. Ed writes that Steve Stone is returning to WSCR as a regular guest.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times says athletes and actors like hanging out together for a certain awards show that I try to ignore.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about NBC renewing its rights deal with the NHL for the next two seasons.

The Associated Press reports that ESPN and Sky Sports have picked up the rights to air the Scottish Premier League in both the UK and Ireland. This month, ESPN has been picking up soccer TV rights in the UK this month establishing its presence with a giant boot.

Chris Byrne of Eye on Sports Media says a Comcast Sports Southeast producer is recovering from injuries suffered from a car accident.

A couple of things from The Big Lead. There’s a preliminary report on a certain awards show that I often try to ignore. Apparently, the US-Mexico World Cup qualifying match next month will be seen only on Univision.

I think that will conclude the links for now.

Some Sunday Links

I’ll give you some Sunday links now that I’ve finished my work for the day.

Tom Perrotta of the Wall Street Journal live blogged the French Open men’s final and also had some comments on NBC’s broadcast.

Newsday’s Neil Best celebrates his 5,000th blog post. Neil has a bit more on yesterday’s big story that the Yankees and Cablevision will stream games live into the New York market.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also has more on the Yankees’ plans to stream games online.

Bob Raissman feels NBC’s Tiki Barber is the forgotten man on Football Night in America.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post takes Versus to task for delaying its NHL Stanley Cup Game 3 postgame show by 30 minutes (scroll to the bottom).

Laura Nachman says Philadelphia’s Broadcast Pioneers will salute the late Harry Kalas. Laura adds that sports radio station WIP plans to audition more co-hosts for Howard Eskin.

Dave Weekley of the Charleston (WV) Gazette says he’s getting into the habit of turning on the MLB Network.

Daryl Maxie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution chronicles the Atlanta Hall of Fame induction ceremonies which included Braves announcers Pete Van Wieren and the late Skip Caray.

Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times profiles CNN Headline News morning sports anchor Rafer Weigel who is following in his late dad’s footsteps.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that several Comcast SportsNet Chicago personalities took to the links.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says local ratings for Game 1 of the NBA Finals are down locally (scroll down).

Sean Keeler of the Des Moines Register writes that Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz will be featured on ESPN’s College Football Live when it rolls through the Hawkeye State later this week.

Artie Gigantino of the San Francisco Examiner writes that the NBA Finals should have plenty of intrigue for viewers.

The Honolulu Advertiser looks at ESPN’s Neil Everett Hawaiian ties.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals won Saturday night’s ratings for NBC, but will most likely be the lowest rated game of the series.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions.

The Orbitcast blog says Derek Jeter will be interviewed by Cal Ripken on Sirius XM tomorrow.

Sox & Dawgs has the great video of Red Sox outfielders Mark Kotsay and Rocco Baldelli playing scissors, paper, rock today.

MASN says Orioles announcers Gary Thorne and Buck Martinez won regional Emmy Awards last night.

The PGA of America has signed a broadcast rights agreement for the PGA Championship and Senior PGA Championship in Japan.

Ok, that’s going to do it. I might be back later tonight with another post. Keep your RSS feeds refreshed and check on Twitter for updates.

A Megalink Friday

Time to give you your Friday megalinks. Again, we begin with the Weekend Viewing Picks.

The Kentucky Derby is the prime event with tomorrow being the first Saturday in May. NBC has the actual race at 6:20 p.m. with coverage beginning at 4. ESPN has several races from the undercard starting at noon. If you want to get a head start on Kentucky Derby coverage, Bravo has the Kentucky Oaks at 5 p.m. today.

The NBA Playoffs finally finish the first round this weekend and also begin the Conference semifinals. Game 7 of the epic Celtics-Bull series is on Saturday night with TNT picking up coverage at 8. If there’s a game 7 of Atlanta-Miami, ABC will have it at 1 p.m. Sunday. ABC will definitely have Game 1 of Dallas-Denver at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are in the Conference semifinal round as well. On Saturday, NBC has Game 1 of Pittsburgh-Washington at 1 p.m. Versus takes Game 2 of Chicago-Vancouver, Saturday night at 9. Then on Sunday, NBC will air Game 2 of Anaheim-Detroit at 2 p.m. and then that night, Versus takes Game 2 of Carolina-Boston at 7:30.

Plenty of baseball on the national airwaves. Fox has regional coverage of three games including the Mets visiting the defending World Championship Philadelphia Phillies. The game start at 3:30 p.m., note the special start time. MLB Network will have Oakland at Seattle, Saturday night at 9. WGN picks up the White Sox at Texas, Saturday night at 8, then on Sunday, it will carry the Cubs hosting Florida at 2:20 p.m. TBS has Red Sox-Rays, Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and the ESPN Sunday night game will be White Sox-Texas at 8 p.m.

NASCAR races under the lights Saturday at Richmond. Fox has it at 7 p.m.

The PGA Tour with a top heavy field including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson has the Quail Hollow Championship. CBS and Golf Channel share coverage throughout the weekend starting at 1 p.m.

The full Weekend Viewing Picks can be seen here.

Now to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Tom Durkin who will call his 9th Kentucky Derby for NBC.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media has some tips for watching this Saturday’s Derby.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell asked his readers to rename Jenny Craig’s entry for the Derby. Darren likes a new online ad featuring Novak Djokovic for a tennis racket. And Darren wonders if looks helped in the NFL Draft.

The Sports Media Watch feels that cable does not deserve to show Game 7 of the Celtics-Bulls series.

Maury Brown from The Biz of Baseball says Fox Sports Wisconsin has extended its rights deal to show Milwaukee Brewers games past the current 2012 deal.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says boxing needs good numbers for the Manny Pacquaio-Ricky Hatton PPV fight this Saturday.

Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that NFL Network and Comcast are continuing to talk past a deadline that would removed the channel from the cable provider’s lineup.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with NESN Bruins announcer Jack Edwards who has become a favorite in the blogosphere for his extreme homer calls.

Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times looks at Selena Roberts’ new book on Alex Rodriguez.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says Mets manager Jerry Manuel is a media manipulator.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes about former New York Giant Brad Benson who has become a star for selling cars on WFAN. Neil has comments from former A-Rod teammate Jeff Brantley.

From the New York Post, Phil Mushnick goes after the Yankees for spinning the empty seats at their new stadium.

Also from the Post, Justin Terranova talks with SNY Mets analyst Keith Hernandez about the Amazin’s. Justin has five questions for NBC’s Gary Stevens about the Kentucky Derby.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says David Wells has the potential to be a good MLB analyst.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette gives his Stanley Cup Conference Semifinal predictions.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says an ad taped by the late Harry Kalas before his death has been re-edited and will be shown on TV this weekend only. Peter Mucha of the Inquirer says Bruce Springsteen used Harry’s voice in a concert at the old Spectrum this week.

This week, the Baltimore Sun fired 61 staffers Ray Frager who was a regular link on the Friday megalinks. Ray bids farewell to his readers. In his blog, Ray mentioned he’ll still be writing about the sports media in another venue and we hope to continue linking to him here.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says NASCAR fans have some Friday night action to watch. Jim writes there’s plenty of good baseball on TV this weekend. And Jim says ESPN will have pre-Kentucky Derby coverage starting at noon on Saturday.

I’ve been called away from the office so I’ll finish the megalinks later.