Fang's Bites

Classless. Just Classless

No words. None. I hope Celeb Boutique was not aware of the shootings in Aurora, CO today, but even so, how can anyone make this type of tweet in the wake of the 12 people who died and 59 others who were injured?

#Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress Shop: celebboutique.com/aurora-white-p…

— Celeb Boutique (@celebboutique) July 20, 2012

Bad. Just plain bad. That’s all for today.

Not Surprising: Curt Schilling on Leave From ESPN

Quietly announced Saturday by ESPN PR maven, Josh Krulewitz, Curt Schilling who has been embroiled in the 38 Studios mess in my home state of Rhode Island, will be on leave from the network for the foreseeable future.

ESPN mutually agreed w/ Curt Schilling to have him take a leave as he works thru business issues. We expect he’ll return later this season

— Josh Krulewitz (@jksports) June 16, 2012

Schilling has mostly been in hiding ever since his video game company went down in flames last month and laid off its entire staff. If you’re not aware, Schilling took a $75 million loan from the State of Rhode Island in 2010 to move his video game company, 38 Studios from Massachusetts to the Ocean State, and depending on whom you believe, either the State failed to guarantee Schilling tax cuts or the former Red Sox pitcher lied to the State about its bottom line leading to the collapse of the venture. And when the company could not pay back an installment on the loan, news of the potential collapse became front page news here in RI. Plus, there have been reports that have surfaced on financial mismanagement and potential lawsuits from both sides. No matter what, the State and its taxpayers have been left holding the bag.

So in the interim, Schilling will not appear on ESPN to analyze MLB and had he done so, ESPN would have been in the awkward role of having to ask him questions on the issue. So to avoid that, it appears both ESPN and Schilling have agreed not to have him appear on air for now.

We’ll see what the future brings for Schilling.

Finally Some Friday Megalinks

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

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

Now let’s do your links.

National

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

East and Mid-Atlantic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Justin has five questions for TNT’s Kenny Smith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

South

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

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

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

Midwest

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

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

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

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

West

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

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

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

Jim provides his weekend viewing picks.

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

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

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

Canada

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

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

And we are done. Enjoy your sports weekend.

Some Saturday Linkage

Wasn’t able to post as much as I wanted to yesterday and this weekend has been planned for me once again so I won’t be on too much here today and tomorrow. But if something breaks, I’ll do my best to post it here.

Let’s do some quick links today.

First, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is in a firestorm for writing this column Friday suggesting the Jay-Z-owned Brooklyn Nets be called the New York N-words. And then went farther by saying the cheerleaders be named the Brooklyn Bitches or Hoes.

After negative reaction, Bob’s Blitz got a hold of Mushnick and he refused to apologize for the column and the Post is backing him. At least for now.

Larry McShane of the New York Daily News looks at the reaction to Mushnick’s column.

MediaRantz says the Post needs to get rid of Mushnick.

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online also calls for the Post to fire Mushnick.

Joe Lucia from Awful Announcing can’t believe Mushnick went so far.

And Tommy Craggs at Deadspin calls Mushnick a troll.

This controversy won’t be going away anytime soon and unless the Post takes some kind of action, I suspect there could be a few protests outside the Post’s offices next week. Unbelievable.

To other stories now.

Rarely do I link to Grantland because most of the stories are boring and way too long, but this one from Bryan Curtis is quite the good read. This focuses on a group of old guard sportswriters known as “The Chipmunks” and how they once represented the best and brightest.

Today’s FA Cup Final in the UK between Chelsea and Liverpool will have a first on British television. ESPN UK’s Rebecca Lowe becomes the first woman to host a major soccer broadcast as Laura Williamon of the London Guardian reports.

Jay Yarow of the Business Insider Sports Page notes Captain Blowhard had to give up his NBA MVP vote because he actually made a wager on the award. Stupid.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report talks with NBC’s Tom Hammond about today’s Kentucky Derby.

The Big Lead notes that Dan Patrick is pissed at ESPN once again.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says it’s DP vs. Colin Cowhack of ESPN Radio.

Richard Rys of Philadelphia Magazine looks at the dwindling sportscasts on local TV newscasts.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times wonders why announcers don’t report on no-hitters in progress.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News tackles the same subject.

And that’s where we’ll end it today.

How A Bizarre Story Gets Even More Bizarre

Yesterday, Deadspin published a story on an ESPN.com freelance writer who was seemingly hired sight unseen after writing for a gambling website. The over 5,000-word story by John Koblin details how this writer, Sarah Phillips, got entangled into a scheme to purchase or in the case of the Deadspin story, outright steal Facebook and Twitter parody accounts in the guise of creating a sports comedy site. Shortly after Deadspin posted its story about Sarah Phillips, ESPN.com canned her and then all types of stories came out on her schemes to buy up the accounts and also how she with a partner attempted to scam people out of money. In addition, this Sarah Phillips not only misrepresented herself, she tried to conceal her identity by using another person’s pictures as Larry Brown Sports discovered.

Not only is Deadspin continuing to update its story, but it’s finding out more information on Phillips.

Aaron Nilsen writes how he was scammed by Phillips out of his Twitter account and how her partner attempted to threaten him.

Ben Koo from Awful Announcing then looks at Phillips buying up a popular Twitter parody account to filter traffic to her sports comedy website.

And then Ben investigates Phillips’ mysterious partner, Nilesh Presad, who seems to be the mastermind behind the scams.

Before Tuesday afternoon, Sarah Phillips was a blip on the radar screen. Now, she’s become a whole meme herself on Twitter. For her part, Phillips responded to the charges on her Twitter account.

Phillips has gone from Oregon sports fan, to a columnist for a sports gambling website to a freelancer for ESPN.com and alleged sports scammer in a relative short period of time.

Sawley Vickrey of Larry Brown Sports suggests that Phillips may have started to scam people to cover her own gambling debts.

Wherever this leads, I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of her. And one thing she should learn from all this is that when the internet goes against you, the world can be a very lonely place.

The only thing I can think of that can describe this whole story is OMC’s How Bizarre. Indeed how bizarre, how bizarre.

Some Leftover Linkage

I need to clear my brower of links I was hoping to get to sometime over the last few days. Since I couldn’t do the Friday megalinks or any Saturday morning linkage, I’ll do some Sunday evening leftover links.

Consider this the Sunday entrée to the beginning of the workweek. I honestly don’t know what that means.

Here’s some linkage for you to chew on.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports is not a fan of Shaquille O’Neal on TNT.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel News writes that Time Warner Cable is hoping to obtain more sports properties for its new Southern California regional sports network.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel says the first round of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs was the most watched on record.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable reports that no talent hack Ryan Seacrest will be haunting NBC Sports as well as NBC News in an all-new, all-encompassing contract with NBCUniversal.

Tim Baysinger at B&C says ESPN’s ratings for the First Round of the NFL Draft were up double digits from the year before.

Sam Laird at Mashable writes that social media is influencing sports in many ways.

To Sean Newell of Deadspin who looks at the strange Twitter meltdown of Chicago Sun-Times reporter Joe Cowley who went all-sexist on female pilots and one of his co-workers.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report writes that former CBS and ABC Sports essayist Jack Whitaker is receiving a long overdue honor from the Sports Emmys on Monday.

Ryan Yoder from Awful Announcing reviews the good and the bad of ESPN’s First Round coverage of the NFL Draft.

Joe Lucia of AA does the same for NFL Network.

Back to Matt from AA, apparently Tim McCarver fancies himself an expert on climate change

From the Tampa Bay Times, Eric Deggans reviews ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group has ESPN optimistic that its Los Angeles studios will put itself in a unique position to cover the Lakers and Clippers in the NBA Playoffs.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck can ever match Peyton Manning’s marketability.

Providence’s WJAR-TV and Cox Communications announce a new partnership that will simulcast the NBC affiliate’s local newscasts and also put Cox Sports RI’s programming on a new cable channel.

Amy Chozick and Nick Wingfield of the New York Times explore the growing world of TV mobile and tablet apps which include the soon-to-be released NBC Olympics iPad app.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times profiles actor Peter Scolari who plays three important roles in the Magic/Bird Broadway play.

Breaking a ban of linking to Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News who has an interesting story regarding Yankees voices John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman and whether they’ll be leaving if the team changes flagship radio stations after this season.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick has no hope for our society. Lighten up, Phil. Time to travel to Moldova or Johannesburg. Somewhere you don’t have to watch sports anymore.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says MSG Network’s ratings for Game 7 of the Ottawa Senators-New York Rangers series were the best since the 1994 Stanley Cup-clinching game on the network.

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the 76ers are leaving long-time home WIP and switching to ESPN Radio Philadelphia.

Crossing Broad says the Sixers’ move came as a surprise.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks with Jim Rome and his new CBS home.

Laura Newberry of the Orlando Sentinel says Golf Channel has become a Central Florida mainstay.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that the Rockets are not only moving to a new TV home next season, but are currently looking for a new radio flagship station as well.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman transcribes Mike Tirico’s call of Kevin Durant’s winning shot for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.

The Cincinnati Enquirer says one local cable provider will pick up NFL Network, but it’s not Time Warner.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch says the Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley may be headed towards a suspension.

Danny Ecker at Crain’s Chicago Business says the Bulls generated their highest regular season TV ratings since the Michael Jordan years.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says scheduling of playoff games never has the fans in mind.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says ESPN gave the Utah Jazz the benefit of the doubt in its series opener.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC got the job done in choosing its NHL Playoff series for the Conference Semifinal round.

Peter Adler from the Edmonton Journal says the Oilers’ documentary series Oil Change which runs on NHL Network should return for a third season

Howard M. Alperin of Midwest Sports Fans asks why CBSSports.com doesn’t include soccer coverage?

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has TSN’s top hockey bloopers of the 2011-12 season.

That’s a lot of leftover linkage. Glad I was able to clear this out before Monday.

Let’s Do Some Thursday Linkage

Why not do some links while I can?

We begin with USA Today and the national NFL TV schedule for this upcoming season.

Carolyn Giardana with the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC will utilize Avid Technology systems to develop video feeds for the London Summer Olympics.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says NESN has selected Sony to manage its video content.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that NBC is utilizing the “TV Everywhere” initiative to stream the Olympics live to mobiles, tablets and computers.

Mike talks with MLB Network President and CEO Tony Petitti about the new “Strike Zone” feature and what the network has in store for the next 12 months.

MediaRantz looks at the reaction from sports broadcasters upon learning that American Bandstand and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve host Dick Clark had died.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that a baseball panel will settle a dispute between the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals over how much MASN should pay the Nats for their media rights. The Nats’ rights are undervalued compared to what other teams are currently being paid.

A.J. Perez of Fox Sports talks with sports documentarian Sean Pamphilon whose audio of former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is front-and-center of the New Orleans Saints Bountygate scandal.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report feels sportswriters are unappreciated by the Pulitzer Prize committee. I agree.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing gets together with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, Dan Patrick Show Executive Producer Paul Pabst to hold the first ever NFL Media Fantasy Draft. Great stuff from AA.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says the NFL wants ESPN and the NFL Network to stop spoiling draft picks.

Andrew Gauthier of TVSpy notes that a long-time sports anchor in Sioux City, IA is moving a seat to the right to become his TV station’s news anchor.

Gavin O’Malley at MediaPost says even though it’s not an Olympics rightsholder, Fox is making a commitment to cover the Olympics online.

David Goetzl of MediaPost writes that in this increasingly DVR timeshifting world, viewers still want to see their sports live and not delayed.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin noticed that a Miami TV station showed the wrong logo when reporting on the Florida Panthers win over the New Jersey Devils the other night.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy finds that Hockey Night in Canada’s PJ Stock is endorsing Depends adult diapers in Canada????

The great Judy Battista of the New York Times talks with the NFL schedule maker Howard Katz who can’t please everyone.

Steven Silver at Philadelphia Magazine’s Philly Post blog wonders if national announcers are biased against the city as some fans perceive.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com profiles one Baltimore sports radio host who has changed stations, but vows to continue doing what he’s been doing.

Chris Korman of the Baltimore Sun says the Washington Nationals are looking to get more money from the Baltimore Orioles majority-owned MASN.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Capitals TV voice Joe Beninati about the team’s series with the Boston Bruins.

Chuck Carroll at CBS Washington looks at Britt McHenry’s decision to stay at WJLA-TV instead of taking a job with Fox Sports San Diego. Britt was also a candidate to replace Heidi Watney on NESN and Kim Jones on YES.

Tom Jones in the Tampa Bay Times talks with hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire about the perceived increased disrespect in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says ESPN’s Skippy Bayless was ripping the Oklahoma City Thunder this week.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network has another Top 100 show.

Howard Sinker of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave ESPN a try to get a different perspective on the Minnesota Twins.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says Utah Jazz broadcasters Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring make no bones about rooting for their team, but don’t call them homers.

Rob Katowski of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says a proposed merger between the Mountain West and Conference USA could still happen as long as the two leagues agree on sharing TV rights.

Tim Sullivan with the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the impasse between Fox Sports San Diego and Time Warner Cable is preventing Padres fans from seeing their team.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN has a tapped a man no one has ever heard of to host The ESPY’s.

SMW notes that former Portland Trail Blazer and NBA analyst Steve “Snapper” Jones has been plagued by massive health issues.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Game 2 of the Florida Panthers-New Jersey Devils series did very well for NBC Sports Network last Sunday.

Steven Morocco and John Morgan of MMA Junkie write that UFC wants a similar TV deal in the UK as it has with Fox in the States.

EPL Talk looks at Fox going all out for the English Premier League’s final day of the season next month.

Guyism notes that twice this week, MASN Nationals reporter Kristina Akra got soaked with Gatorade.

And that’s going to do it. Found more links than I thought I would and that’s very good for you.

Ryan Seacrest in Primetime at the Olympics on NBC

Earlier this week, we learned that when NBCUniversal was in the midst of signing no talent hack Ryan Seacrest, Brian Stelter of the New York Times reported that the American Idol host would be getting a role on the Olympics.

Then this morning on NBC’s Today show, Seacrest in an interview with Matt Lauer announced his new role at NBC will involve some work with the morning show, but also on the Olympics. While Seacrest himself didn’t come out with it, we’ve now learned through Washington Post TV critic Lisa de Moraes that he will be getting a role in NBC’s primetime coverage of the London Games. That apparently means he will be co-hosting with Bob Costas.

Yesterday, I speculated on the hosts for NBC’s coverage this July and hoped that Seacrest would not be in primetime. Well, one of my greatest fears has surfaced.

Listen To Lexington Burn Down In Real Time

Right after Kentucky won the NCAA Championship over Kansas, someone had the bright idea to post the Lexington, KY police scanner on Twitter and since about midnight ET, listening to the college students and fans go crazy burning couches, shooting each other, breaking trees and selling weed has been one of the most amazing things I’ve heard since the city of Vancouver went wild after the Boston Bruins beat the Canucks for the Stanley Cup last June.

Since I’ve been listening, I’ve counted three people shot, several small fires, police surrounded by a mob, and someone trying to uproot a tree. All this in a span of 50 minutes.

You can listen in real time as Lexington, KY goes crazy. Crazy. Imagine if Kentucky had lost.

Quick Monday Linkage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’ll do some more linkage tonight.

ESPN Announces Primetime Edition of First Take and It’s About Tim Tebow

I can’t even write a description. This is unbelievable. A primetime edition of ESPN’s First Take on Friday and it’s on …. Tim Tebow. Sigh.

First Take Makes its Move to Primetime

This Friday evening, Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith will bring their unique style of sports debate to primetime with a special presentation of First Take – #TebowTakesManhattan.  With the controversial quarterback making his move to the Big Apple following the Manning deal to the Broncos, Bayless and Smith will discuss Tebow’s likely role with Gang Green, options both sensible and senseless, and the overall impact this move will have on the future of both Tim Tebow and the New York Jets.  First Take – #TebowTakesManhattan will air at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN this Friday, March 23. Fans can join in the conversation with #TebowTakesManhattan on Twitter.

Nothing more can be said. Watch at your own risk.

Three Quick Thursday Sports Media Thoughts

A couple of sports media thoughts on this early Thursday morning in bullet form.

• The Sports Emmy Award nominations are out and while most honor the Best in Sports Broadcasting, they always have a few mind-boggling nods and this year is no exception. While I can overlook a nomination for hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire in the Sports Reporter category, I cannot ignore the nod to demagogue Skippy Bayless who somehow was nominated for Outstanding Sports Personality — Studio Analyst.

  Besides yelling and inexplicably latching onto Tim Tebow, what does Skippy is bloviate and make a spectacle of himself. He makes himself the story instead of covering it. The Academy got this nomination wrong. I just hope Skippy isn’t labeled “Emmy Award-winning” this year or any other year.

• As we approach the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA Tournament, let me hand out a couple of accolades and a couple of darts.

  My first accolade is to the freedom of choice viewers have. With four networks airing games now, we can switch to whatever game we choose. And thanks to the scoreboard on top of the screen, we’re kept up to date on the other games. Social media is also a help especially when someone tweets that there’s an upset brewing, we can switch channels. CBS/Turner is doing a good job there.

  Second accolade goes to Brian Anderson who did well in his CBS/Turner debut. He’s had a nice coming out party for Turner, being TBS’ main announcer for last year’s MLB postseason and now for Turner on the NCAA Tournament. Very nice job.

  A dart goes to analyst Bob Wenzel for his extremely pedestrian announcing. He really doesn’t too much to the broadcasts unless you like incessant yelling or trying too hard to be witty going into break. The end of the Bob Wenzel experience cannot come quickly enough.

  The last dart goes to Reggie Miller. He has added very little to the team of Kevin Harlan and Len Elmore.

• Happened to find one of my 1980′s crushes, Kathleen Sullivan on Twitter. Kathleen was a double pioneer in the 1980′s, being one of the very first anchors when CNN began and she was the first woman to host an Olympic broadcast on American television, working the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles the same year for ABC. Hard to believe that women had hardly been on the air during the Olympics prior to 1984, but Kathleen certainly opened a door. In fact, she was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award for her work on the Olympics, she was that good.

  I was a big fan when she was on CNN, ABC and CBS. And Kathleen remains a big sports fan. Glad to have found her on Twitter.

That will end the thoughts.

What is This Local News Anchor Wearing?

This afternoon after running errands, I turned on the TV for the local news and I noticed that anchor Alison Bologna of WJAR-TV in Providence, RI was wearing one of the most hideous things I have ever seen. It was so distracting, that I had no idea what she was reading off the teleprompter. Luckily, my trusty iPhone was nearby and I took this picture from Wednesday’s 7 p.m. newscast.

See if you can figure out if those are feathers or something else on her top. It certainly wasn’t the way I was expecting to see my news delivered tonight.

I’ve been told by someone who knows fashion that it could be a Pucci dress or a similar knockoff. I have no idea what that means. Suffice to say that this is a fashion faux pas.

Late Monday Afternoon Links

This week is going to be busy for me. I was cleaning out an office for most of the day and it looks like that will be on the agenda for the rest of the month. I’ll do my best to post what I can here. But just know that I may be scarce. I’ll do what I can to post breaking news when I can.

Let’s do some linkage.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the NBA on ESPN/ABC crew did not go overboard in covering Sunday’s Dallas-New York Knicks game.

Irving DeJohn and Helen Kennedy of the New York Daily News speak with the ESPN editor who lost his job over the Jeremy Lin headline slur that was seen on the network’s mobile site.

Ole Skaar and Helen Kennedy of the Daily News have Jeremy Lin forgiving and forgetting about the ESPN.com headline.

Ty Duffy from The Big Lead feels ESPNews anchor Max Bretos who was suspended for a month by the Alleged Worldwide Leader in reference to Jeremy Lin, got too harsh a punishment.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also writes about ESPN’s actions in the wake of the Jeremy Lin headline.

Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo has Lin appealing to the Taiwanese media to leave his relatives alone.

Patrick Burns at Deadspin has ESPN SportsCenter going way overboard in Jeremy Lin mentions last week. That’s not good at all.

Paul Bond of the Hollywood Reporter has Glen Beck going after ESPN and ABC for the Max Bretos suspension.

Mike Silva at Sports Media Watchdog feels ESPN overreacted.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch interviews Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel and ESPN’s Michelle Beadle in the latest edition of his podcast.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has the full joint statement from MSG Network and Time Warner Cable in regards to their agreement.

In this week’s SBJ issue, John writes that NBC Sports Network’s ratings are off to a slow start.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Network will take viewers inside the World’s Most Famous Arena’s Phase I renovation.

Tim Nudd of Adweek writes that M&M’s won the YouTube 2012  Super Bowl Ad Blitz.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age writes that sponsors are knocking on Jeremy Lin’s door, hoping he will endorse their products.

Ryan Berenz from Channel Guide magazine talks with CBS/Golf Channel’s David Feherty.

It’s no secret that the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick hates the WWE.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman speculates that ESPN jettisoned Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football in case Peyton Manning becomes available.

Jaworski speaks with Philadelphia sports radio host Mike Missanelli about being taken off Monday Night Football.

Thanks to Sports Radio Interviews for the link.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal and ESPN’s Jon Barry about the Wizards.

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

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel speaks with Frank Deford about his new memoir.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post notes the rise of Linsanity.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports schedule for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail explores the policy of NHL teams that allow reporters to fly on their private planes with the players.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star looks at the ugly side of Linsanity.

Sports Media Watch notes the overnight ratings for the NASCAR Budweiser Shooting on Fox were up from last year.

SMW says the first half of NBC’s Hockey Day in America did well.

And that will do it.

ESPN Takes Additional Action in Jeremy Lin Headline Slur

ESPN has announced disciplinary action against the person responsible for the Asian slur on the network’s mobile site and ESPNews anchor Max Bretos who used the same phrase earlier in the week.

ESPN won’t name the headline writer, but needless to say that person has been fired. Bretos has been suspended for a month. ESPN says a person who used the same slur on its New York radio affiliate last week is not a company employee and will not be disciplined.

Here’s the official statement from ESPN.

Follow-up Statement and Action

At ESPN we are aware of three offensive and inappropriate comments made on ESPN outlets during our coverage of Jeremy Lin.

Saturday we apologized for two references. We have since learned of a similar reference Friday on ESPN Radio New York.

The incidents were separate and different. We have engaged in a thorough review of all three and have taken the following action:

• The ESPN employee responsible for our Mobile headline has been dismissed.
• The ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for 30 days.
• The radio commentator is not an ESPN employee.

We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.

More later if news warrants.

A Few Sunday Links

Looks like I’ll be out for most of the day today. Avoided my day being planned for me on Saturday, but not on Sunday.

Multichannel News looks at NBC Sports Group’s Hockey Day in America coverage.

Kent Gibbons of Multichannel writes that Fuse which was dropped by Time Warner Cable ahead of its dispute with MSG Network, has been restored.

Aaron Couch at the Hollywood Reporter says ESPN has had to apologize for an Asian slur on its mobile site.

The Asian American Journalists Association is glad ESPN apologized, but is disappointed the slur was put up in the first place.

Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes couldn’t believe ESPN went there with Jeremy Lin.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid says Saturday Night Live tackled the Jeremy Lin issue with some inappropriate Asian humor.

Kansas City sportscaster Herbie Teope provides his reaction to the Jeremy Lin slur on ESPN.com.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that Super Bowl XLVI set a new standard in broadcasting.

Joe Favorito says Hockey Weekend in America is gathering momentum.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that ESPN apologized twice in regard to Jeremy Lin.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post wants Nicki Manaj nowhere near the NBA.

That’s it for now. Time for me to head out. Day’s planned for me behind my back again.

ESPN Had To Go There With Jeremy Lin

From the “What Were They Thinking?” Department, someone at ESPN put a “Chink in the Armor” headline at its mobile and tablet site for Jeremy Lin’s first loss. While it was not visible at its desktop site, many people saw it and quickly put screengrabs on Twitter.

The headline was removed, but not after an uproar ensued. I’m sure a statement is being crafted by ESPN on this matter.

And Guyism points out that this isn’t the first time at ESPN a “Chink in the armor” reference was used regarding Jeremy Lin this week.

I’m going to give ESPN the benefit of the doubt that this was unintentional, but as someone who’s been called “chink” growing up, this is very offensive. The network has to be very careful in the future.

h/t The Big Lead, SportsGrid, Bob’s Blitz, Busted Coverage, Romenesko

UPDATE, 9:08 a.m.: ESPN has issued a statement apologizing for the headline.

Statement on New York Knicks Jeremy Lin Headline

Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.

Hopefully, this is the last we have to hear of this.

UPDATE, 1:15 p.m.: ESPN has also issued this apology in regard to Max Bretos’ using “Chink in the armor” on ESPNews Wednesday. It was read on the air by anchor Jorge Andres at 12:35 p.m. today.

ESPNEWS Apology Regarding Jeremy Lin Question

Wednesday night on ESPNEWS, an anchor used an inappropriate word in asking a question about Jeremy Lin. ESPN apologizes for the incident, and is taking steps to avoid this in the future.

That’s it.

UPDATE, 3:20 p.m.: Here’s the video of the apology that aired on SportsCenter this afternoon.

ESPN Statement on Removed Comment Section on Female Announcers

Yesterday, it was discovered through a sharp-eyed web user (Megan Soisson) that ESPN had a special comment section for anyone to criticize its female announcers. The Gawker-owned website Jezebel was tipped off and subsequently broke the story. Apparently the comment section was part of a viewer response form to deal with the complaints that ESPN received when it first assigned women to call play-by-play for college football. The section on that form was put up so all the complaints could remain in one place.

ESPN now acknowledges that section should never have been put up in the first place and not allowed to remain for all this time. The company says its proud of its record of hiring women both on-air and off.

We have a statement issued by ESPN:

We apologize for the mistake on the viewer response form template. We’ve been an industry leader for more than 30 years and are extremely proud of the leadership role we continue to play in providing high-profile opportunities and assignments for female commentators – from SportsCenter anchors to play-by-play announcers, analysts, reporters and more. We appreciate that this matter was brought to our attention and it was addressed and deleted immediately.

ESPN says the form was put up to get feedback on how female announcers were doing in traditional male roles, but it says that was not the forum to do it and action was taken to remove that part of the viewer response form. to allow viewers to contact ESPN and leave comments if they so chose.

The question is who thought of this in the first place and did it have to take someone to point it out for it to be removed?

Penn State Media Coverage Links & Thoughts

With another day of wall-to-wall media coverage of the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky story, I’ll provide some links and at the end, some thoughts what has transpired through our computer, TV and mobile screens over the last few days.

First some links.

From the Poynter Institute, ESPN Ombudsmen Jason C. Fry and Kelly McBride are highly critical of the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s early coverage of the scandal.

I wonder if ESPN Front Row issued a podcast with Executive Vice President Norby Williamson explaining the coverage in response to the Ombudsman column.

Through “ESPN.com News Services”, we have a timeline on the Jerry Sandusky case and his alleged child molestations.

In the Beaver County Times back in April, Pittsburgh sports radio talk host Mark Madden penned a column outlining some of the allegations against Sandusky and wondered how the whole thing would play out.

Then today, Madden appeared on Boston station WEEI and unloaded a bombshell saying Sandusky possibly pimped out boys to rich donors to his charity, the Second Mile Foundation. Let us hope that is not true.

Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times says the Penn State story is causing some serious challenges for sports reporters.

At Outkick The Coverage, Clay Travis has the video of the news conference held by the Penn State Board of Trustees announcing Joe Paterno’s firing and the embarrassing line of questions from student reporters.

Ben Koo from Awful Announcing critiques last night’s coverage from CNN, ESPN and Big Ten Network.

Speaking of CNN, Guyism has the video of British CNN anchor Isha Sesay having a little trouble with the concept of American football during last night’s Anderson Cooper 360°.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman about the channel’s coverage or lack thereof on the Penn State coverage.

Marlen Garcia of USA Today speaks with some public relations professionals on Penn State’s handling of the crisis.

In a related note, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I talked with Gail Sideman of the PR and media firm, PUBLISIDE, for her take on the story.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has ESPN’s Jay Bilas not mincing his words on the scandal.

To Lost Letterman where it has a video of ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi forgetting where he’s reporting from.

At the Daily Beast, the bombastic Buzz Bissinger goes ballistic on Penn State and Joe Paterno.

Aly Semigran of Entertainment Weekly says an uninformed tweet on Joe Paterno by Two and a Half Men star Ashton Kutcher is causing the actor to stop going on Twitter for now.

Dave Goren, the Executive Director of the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, gives praise to the men and women who have covered this story.

After the Penn State Board of Trustees press conference, students went into State College where light poles were overturned and a satellite TV news van belonging to WTAJ-TV in Altoona, PA was tipped over.

The Big Lead notes that Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski has been strangely silent on the Penn State story as he was authoring a book on Coach Paterno.

And Bob’s Blitz has video of WFAN’s Craig Carton lecturing a Penn State journalism student who called in to defend Coach Paterno.

Now to the coverage this week.

In a story which has blindsided many fans and observers, the media with the exception of a couple of outlets has been playing catch up on a story that has been percolating for a long time. Through the coverage of the Harrisburg Patriot-News and the Daily Collegian, it’s noted that newspapers are far from dead. They just need a story to lead the coverage and the Patriot-News has done just that. The PN’s special section on the Sandusky story led by reporter Sarah Ganim has been stellar and been updated almost hourly. Her interviews with two victims’ mothers and a sister have been extraordinary.

The Daily Collegian is doing what independent student newspapers rarely do. Be on top of a story and not let go. Its reporting of the riots in downtown State College plus use of Twitter was the way to inform readers and get information accurately and quickly.

As far as the television coverage has been concerned, it’s been spotty. ESPN wants to be known as the leader when it comes to breaking news in sports, but it was caught dead to right when the Sandusky story surfaced. At first, people were questioning if ESPN was protecting interests as it did a couple of years ago with the Ben Roethlisberger alleged sexual assault. But as the story ramped up on Monday, ESPN sent reporters to the scene, trying to blanket the Penn State campus. However, ESPN continued to use its analysts like Kirk Herbstreit via the phone to talk about the story.

It also had the memorable scene of PSU alum Matt Millen breaking down on SportsCenter in front of anchor Chris McKendry on Tuesday following the school’s cancellation of a weekly press conference involving Coach Paterno. But ESPN’s constant promotion of that emotional breakdown throughout the day seemed as if the network was trying to exploit that moment and create news.

On Wednesday when the PSU Board of Trustees called a press conference at 10 p.m. ET, ESPN had trouble with its borrowed live truck and had to rely on a phone to get sound to viewers. It was quite bizarre hearing the announcement of the firing via a static phone signal while video of the coach was being played on the screen.

It was CNN that had live pictures and also the start of the student gathering on the Penn State campus, then in downtown State College. As noted earlier, anchor Isha Sesay was a little bewildered about football, however, remember CNN is a news network, not a sports network. Also, Anderson Cooper 360° is aired not only in the US, but around the world on CNN International, so I can give Isha a pass for her lack of knowledge on American sports. But during its coverage of the breaking story, CNN was on top of the press conference, the start of the riots and interviews with local reporters and college football writers until it broke away around midnight to go to political coverage. During the two hours CNN and ESPN simultaneously carried the story, I give the edge to CNN by a wide margin.

In the moments after the Board of Trustees press conference, ESPN chose not to show pictures of the students’ groundswell and instead went to dueling analysts. The story was the growing number of students on campus and then into town, not talking with Matt Millen, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler and Rece Davis.

Later, ESPN did go to reporters on the ground, but it was handicapped by a lack of live pictures from the scene whether it was in State College or at Joe Paterno’s house where the coach gave statements to the media. ESPN had to depend on footage from outside the Disney family, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, NBC’s regional sports network and KYW, a CBS owned-and-operated station. While ABC Radio’s Aaron Katersky and in-house reporter John Barr were big assets in ESPN’s coverage, Tom Rinaldi and ABC’s Mi Seon Lee were not as both seemed to be stationed at the wrong locations to be effective.

The only demerit in CNN’s coverage was bringing in media opportunist Dr. Phil to discuss the Sandusky case with Anderson Cooper. While Dr. Phil may have said something substantial on the story, it appeared excessive to have him interviewed.

And the Big Ten Network did have coverage on Wednesday, but when it needed to step up big, the channel chose to air a “classic” game instead of the Board of Trustees press conference. Big Ten Network is not a bastion of journalism, but I do expect it to air some press conferences when it had the opportunity.

But the most bizarre moment was at 1 a.m. ET when ESPN was re-airing KYW footage of the Board of Trustees press conference when it switched without warning to NBA Commissioner David Stern announcing the Lockout negotiations would continue into Thursday. No comments from anchors Steve Levy or Stuart Scott, just a sudden switch. You could not make that up.

Overall, the TV coverage has been above average. ESPN which is expected to step up in breaking stories only did so late. Its resources have not been put to good use and lack of live pictures last night were telling. It still has time to make a dent in the coverage, but right now, I’m depending on the old fashioned print outlets to provide the stories.

Some Penn State Scandal Links

It’s been an amazing day. Couldn’t provide links yesterday. There’s a lot of stuff out there today.

I’d be remiss if I ignored the Penn State story involving the cover-up on former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and the failure of the administration to act properly on the alleged child molestations.

We begin with a powerful front page editorial on the front page of the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News which has been front and center of the story since it broke.

Here’s the editorial on the Patriot-News’ website complete with comments.

The Centre Daily Times in State College, PA has devoted an entire section to the Jerry Sandusky case.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes the networks’ coverage of the story on Monday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Penn State has a giant fail in crisis management.

At the New York Times, Steve Reddicliffe gauges the media reaction from around the country to the scandal and Joe Paterno’s handling of it.

In the Washington Post, former Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington, now a sports radio talk show host in DC, provides his thoughts on Sundusky who was a coach at the University when he attended the school.

With the Joe Paterno weekly press conference gaining lots of attention about what he’ll say on the scandal (PSU officials say he will take football questions only), media outlets are announcing their streaming plans. We know that CSNPhilly.com, NBCPhiladelphia.com and SI.com will take it live so people at work will be able to see it. ESPN’s SportsCenter and ESPNU will carry it live at 12:15 p.m., however, no plans to stream it on ESPN.com.

We’ll keep you up to date on the story. Right now, the plans for the Sports Media Weekly podcast is to discuss the media coverage and how Penn State has handled the story from a PR standpoint.

UPDATE, 11:50 a.m.: Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News broke the story that Penn State President Graham Spanier has canceled the press conference. Bad move.

The Patriot-News also has a special section devoted to the Penn State scandal.

Bringing Out The Thursday Links

Wednesday was a lost cause for me as I was away from the office all day and spending time with my week old nephew in Boston. I helped my sister out with a few things as she’s dealing with her first child. There will be days like that on the blog for the next few weeks so please be patient. For the next time that occurs, I’ll do my best to write features ahead of time so the blog won’t be completely bare like it was Wednesday.

Let’s do the links.

Sports Business Daily addresses the fallout of the Boston Globe article on the Red Sox September swoon authored by Bob Hohler, but seemingly came directly from the Red Sox front office on the collapse of the team and the sullying of former manager Terry Francona.

Current’s Keith Olbermann, a friend of Terry Francona, comes to the ex-Red Sox manager’s defense and fires back at Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino.

Nate Davis of USA Today writes that CBS NFL analyst Phil Simms once talked with the late Raiders owner Al Davis to become a coach of the team.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has Fox Sports less than bullish on using Hank Williams, Jr. on any of its programming.

From the ESPN Ombudsman, Jason Fry and Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute give their take on ESPN’s handling of the Hank Williams, Jr. mess.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated says soccer insiders are very interested in seeing whether ESPN or NBC Sports Group wins the bidding for the 2018/2022 World Cups.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand handicaps the World Cup rights race.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter says a rain delay in the American League Championship Series last night ended up hurting Fox in the primetime ratings.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid notes that Tim McCarver was proven tremendously wrong during Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says a dominant Jimmie Johnson is not good for NASCAR.

ESPN PR man Nate Smeltz in the ESPN Front Row blog tells us how the network will replace NBA games in the first two weeks of the canceled regular season.

Patrick Bernard of the Stamford (CT) Patch wonders if NBC Sports will move its operations to Stamford, CT.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir feels the NBA season could stand to lose some more games.

From the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record, Ken McMillan says Army’s basketball season opener will be aired live on CBS Sports Network.

Paul J. Gough of the Pittsburgh Business Times writes that the Pirates will have a new radio flagship next season.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says the Nationals have hired a consultant to help them get fair market value from MASN for their TV rights.

Dan Kausler, Jr. of the Birmingham (AL) News talks with ESPN’s BCS guru about Alabama and LSU.

Greg Auman at the St. Petersburg Times speaks with ESPN’s Urban Meyer about his coaching future and his work at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

In the Daily Oklahoman, Mel Bracht says this year’s renewal of the annual Red River Shootout did monster ratings in Oklahoma City.

The Indiana Pacers and Fox Sports Indiana have announced that Brooke Olzendam (Collins) will be the team’s new host/sideline reporter of its broadcasts if and when the season gets underway.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that Fox Sports Wisconsin is keeping mostly mum on losing Bucks games.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Times has a look at the football TV schedule, both college and pro for this week.

Tom quotes Lakers legend Jerry West on the late broadcaster Chick Hearn.

J.J. Fidler of the Grunion (CA) Gazette writes about a local woman who has hit the big time with Fox.

The Oregonian reports that ESPN has chosen the spot on the University of Oregon campus from where ESPN’s College GameDay will air live this Saturday.

The Thoroughbred Times notes that ESPN will air a documentary on ill-fated Triple Crown candidate Charismatic.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR seems to be finally picking up from its 2010 ratings woes.

SMW notes that this year’s American League Championship Series got a ratings boost from Game 3 on Tuesday night.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Tuesday’s edition of NHL Overtime on Versus almost became Fight Night.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says Terry Francona’s too brief gig with should have taught the networks something staying about the status quo.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth notes that three Midwestern radio stations had interesting local baseball-football doubleheaders over a two day span last week.

And that’s where we’ll end things for now. I’ll do my best to catch up with the press releases.

Bringing Out The Tuesday Links

Let’s do some links for you now.

First, Sports Business Journal’s editorial team talked with ESPN and NFL executives on the decision to remove Hank Williams, Jr.’s open from Monday Night Football.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings from the weekend in sports television.

Mike Lopresti of USA Today writes about Turner Sports’ Ernie Johnson’s tough month.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that Hank Williams, Jr.’s new song rips ESPN, Fox News and everyone else in his path.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that several ex-NHL fighters plan a response to CBC’s Don Cherry who called them out last week.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona got the job done for Fox in Games 1 & 2 of the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter says ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between Chicago and Detroit is the network’s 2nd highest rated game of the year.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that the NBA’s national and local TV partners are now scrambling to find other programming in the wake of the cancellation of the 1st two weeks of the regular season.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says YES Network is not happy over Cablevision’s live iPad app.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi writes that ESPN/ABC and TNT will have to find a way to replace almost a billion dollars in ad revenue if the entire 2011-12 NBA season is lost.

Andrew McMains from Adweek looks at Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash spending the NBA lockout as a pitchman.

Media Life Magazine’s Toni Fitzgerald says the ALCS and NLCS helped to take a chunk out of the network ratings on Monday.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports says the Big East feels ESPN definitely had a hand in its current inner turmoil.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes a sign in Detroit that made fun of an ESPN NFL analyst on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group both broadcasters and production companies know they’re going to take a hit with the NBA lockout.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell gets Twitter reaction from real people about the impact of the NBA lockout on their lives.

Richard Goldstein of the New York Times remembers the late ABC, CBS and Fox Sports director Joe Aceti who worked many of sports’ biggest events.

Newsday’s Neil Best feels Joe Buck’s voice is coming back.

Neil says Terry Francona shows potential if he wants to be a full-time TV analyst.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Week 7 college football TV schedule.

From the Washington Post, the DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg has an old picture of Tim Brant and former DC NFL team QB Joe Theismann from a 1980 media guide.

David Teel from the Newport News (VA) Daily Press has Virginia and Virginia Tech athletic officials refuting what Boston College’s athletic director said about ESPN influencing the ACC’s decision to add Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some local football TV ratings.

John Kiesewette of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals hit their season ratings low on Sunday.

John says Fox Sports Ohio will pick up a good number of Xavier basketball games this season.

Eric Lacy of the Detroit News says preliminary ratings show both the Tigers and Lions pulled big numbers on Monday.

Jo-Ann Barnas of the Detroit Free Press goes behind the scenes with ESPN’s Monday Night Football at Ford Field.

The Free Press has three questions for Fox Sports Detroit MLB analyst Rod Allen.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NBA broadcasters are officially on lockout watch.

Bob looks at the national numbers for the Green Bay-Atlanta Sunday Night Football game.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business hopes to have the NBA back by Christmas. Good luck.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog says NBA labor strife doesn’t help its local and national TV partners.

The Los Angeles Times notes that the USC Trojans have announced their basketball TV schedule.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog asks if Don Cherry went too far.

Sports Media Watch notes that Game 1 of the National League Championship Series hit its lowest ratings ever.

SMW has some various overnight ratings.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has the final numbers for the NHL opening night on Versus.

Steve also has last Friday’s ratings for the NHL’s Europe game on Versus.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the video of Joe Buck’s call of Texas’ walkoff win against Detroit in Game 2 of the ALCS on Monday.

And that’s where we’ll end things for today.

Bringing Out The Monday Links

With this being Columbus Day, it’s a holiday for some of you. Not for me, but for some. I hope you’re able to enjoy the day. Let’s do some links.

Sports Business Journal has a look at some of the important women in sports business.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona doesn’t see television in his future.

Reid Cherner of USA Today writes that overzealous NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus is clarifying his “I’m a Golden God”-like comment to “60 Minutes”.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says it’s a swing.. and a miss for Fox’s HD picture at the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter notes that Green Bay-Atlanta steered NBC to a big ratings win on Sunday.

Etan Vlessing at the Reporter writes that Don Cherry is out of step with CBC’s public position on head shots in the NHL.

Laura Martinez of Multichannel News reports that ESPN2 will air two episodes of a Spanish-language ESPN Deportes scripted series following a soccer doubleheader on Tuesday.

Daniel Frankel and Lucas Shaw of The Wrap tell us that ESPN and TNT could stand to lose a lot of revenue if the NBA doesn’t settle its lockout soon.

As the NBC gremlins force YouTube to take down the infamous hot dog thrown at Tiger Woods video, we note that it’s still up at SportsGrid as Dan Fogarty informs us.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing has video of Gus Johnson’s classic touchdown call from Saturday’s Texas A&M-Texas Tech game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with movie director Cameron Crowe on who was really the inspiration for movie character superagent Jerry Maguire. Last night, “60 Minutes” falsely said it was Drew Rosenhaus.

Pat Gordon of Cape Cod Online wishes Hank Williams, Jr. would go away.

Kevin Paul Dupont from the Boston Globe writes that Hank Williams, Jr. got it wrong by invoking Adolf Hitler when speaking of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Mark Blaudshun of the Globe has Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo saying ESPN was behind the Syracuse and Pittsburgh defections from the Big East to the ACC.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times says the college sports upheaval is also effecting mid-major conferences.

From the New York Daily News, Eric Barrow says ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge advises how you should tie a tie.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick seems to just get the notion that “You Can’t Predict Baseball.”

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Andrew Catalon who recently filled in on CBS for an NFL game. Andrew did a very good job, too.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio legend has retired.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says ESPN viewers will get multi-lingual coverage of the Pan American Games.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis wants to bring cell phone concessions to the Verizon Center.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says the Nationals’ TV ratings are looking up despite finishing dead last among all MLB teams in 2011.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans have signed a long-term extension with CBS Radio.

David says Texans voice Marc Vandermeer took yesterday’s loss to the Raiders quite hard.

Tim Twentyman of the Detroit News says Mike Tirico is able to drive his own car to call tonight’s Monday Night Football game instead of flying in ahead of time.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson who’s calling the NLCS on TBS.

Bob says the Brewers and Packers got a lot of national airtime on Sunday.

Bob has the local ratings for the Brewers and Packers.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business speaks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who gets to call a “home” game tonight.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that embattled announcer Dan McLaughlin has lost one of gigs in the wake of his second DUI arrest.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos QB Tim Tebow perked up an otherwise moribund sports weekend in the Rocky Mountain region.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says LA was not switched from Raiders-Texans yesterday to join the Chargers as it would have in the past.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s Ron MacLean chose to cover for Don Cherry rather than challenge his comments on fighting from last week.

The Toronto Star’s Raju Mudhar notes that Cherry is doing what he does best, stir the pot.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBA’s lockout strategy.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR race on ESPN had a slight ratings uptick.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media has a profile of Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame announcer Bob Miller.

Joe Favorito says UFC continues to steadily build its brand.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Some Thursday Links

I was hoping today would be quiet, but instead, the Hank Williams, Jr. story is released and all hell breaks loose. What can you do?

Anyway, let’s do some links while I can. With Hank Williams, Jr. being the stop story, I’ll start with those links first.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch.

USA Today’s Reid Cherner

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter

Andrea Morabito in Broadcasting & Cable/Multichannel News

Leah Goldman with the Business Insider’s Sports Page

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir

Newsday’s Neil Best

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth

Sports Media Watch

The Big Lead

Awful Announcing

Yours Truly

I think those are enough links on Hank Williams, Jr.

Now to the other sports media stories of the day.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid says ESPN had Bobby Valentine and Herman Edwards get into an argument that made no sense.

Andrew Gauthier from Media Bistro’s TV Newser gets a video tour of the MLB Network studios. They’re nice.

Sports Video Group’s Ken Kerschbaumer remembers a legendary ABC Sports and Fox Sports director who passed away yesterday.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes about NHL Network getting a new master control area.

Bill Pennington of the New York Times profiles long-time Yankees radio voice John Sterling.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Syracuse’s game against Tulane will be seen in the New York area this Saturday.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans notes the changes that Apple’s Steve Jobs made in TV viewing.

Chip Brown of OrangeBloods notes that the Longhorn Network will not air any high school highlights as part of a new agreement between Texas and the Big 12.

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter remembers a local sportscaster who passed away today.

Craig Lyndall of Waiting For Next Year looks at the new Cleveland Cavs radio announcing team that will begin announcing the new season whenever the new season gets here.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that NBC’s Rodney Harrison is picking Green Bay to beat Atlanta on Sunday Night Football.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News takes a gander at the NFL TV ratings by market.

Tom has the college and pro football TV schedules for SoCal this weekend.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the Hockey Night in Canada regional splits for October.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog recaps some of the NHL TV partners offseason moves.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the viewership numbers for the NHL Opening Night numbers on US TV dating back to 2003.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page has the video of the Busch Stadium squirrel that wreaked havoc on yesterday’s Game 4 of the Phillies-Cardinals series. Of course, the squirrel now has its own Twitter account.

Joe Favorito says the lesson from Steve Jobs is never squash creativity.

And that’s where we’ll end it today.

Statement From Hank Williams, Jr.

That was quick. After the ESPN announcement removing his open from Monday Night Football, Hank Williams, Jr. fired back. He’s not happy to say the least and he claims it was his decision to pull the song from MNF.

Hank Jr. reacts to being pulled from ESPN from the Oct 3rd Monday Night game opener

AFTER ESPN SUSPENDS HANK JR. FOR ONE-WEEK, HANK JR. DECIDES TO PULL HIS SONG FROM BEING USED ON ESPN FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON!

“After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE.  It’s been a great run.” — Hank Williams Jr

That puts a wrap on this story unless ol’ Hank decides to file a lawsuit.

BREAKING NEWS: The Monday Night Party is Over for Hank Williams, Jr.

Just breaking now, ESPN has announced that it will no longer use Hank Williams, Jr.’s iconic “Are You Ready For Some Football” open in the wake of his controversial comments to Fox News earlier this week.

Last Monday, ESPN made a statement about Williams’ analogy comparing a golf summit between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to a golf meeting between Adolf Hitler and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. It subsequently pulled the open and was quiet on the matter until now. Williams apologized the day after for his comments, but apparently it was not enough. We have the statement from ESPN.

ESPN statement on Hank Williams, Jr. – 10/6/11

“We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years.  The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue.”

Williams has sung the open in one version or another since 1989 on MNF either on ABC or ESPN. That association with Monday Night Football has ended as of today. We’re waiting on a statement from Hank Williams, Jr. When it becomes available, it’ll be posted here.

UPDATE, 10:50 a.m.: We have a couple of tweets from ESPN PR man Mike Soltys who has given us a couple of statements outside the official on provided by the network.

The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue. Full statement: http://t.co/OfPIhKpE

October 6, 2011 10:18 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@espnmikes

Mike Soltys

And this one:

ESPN notified Hank Jr. first thing this morning of our decision.

October 6, 2011 10:34 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@espnmikes

Mike Soltys

And we have dueling statements from ESPN saying it was a mutual decision to pull the open while Hank Williams, Jr. says the decision was all his. The end result is that you’ll no longer see Hank Williams, Jr. at the beginning of Monday Night Football

It’s a Mid-Week Link Thing!

It’s Wednesday already? Goodness. Seemed like I was at the Rhode Island Convention Center just this week for an all-day seminar. Oh wait! I was. Anyway, let’s get to your linkage.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today feels that ESPN should pull Hank Williams, Jr. from Monday Night Football pronto.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that Williams gave ESPN one huge headache right from the start.

Brian Lowry from Fox Sports writes that the Hank Williams, Jr. mess shows that ESPN can’t handle controversy.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his Media Power List for October. A good list it is.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC Sports Group is now going all in on hockey as its new 10 year contract with the NHL begins on Thursday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says TBS is pulling a ratings rally as the MLB Postseason kicks into high gear.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has pictures of some of the female athletes who posed nude for ESPN The Magazine’s Body issue.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has a picture of curmudgeon Woody Paige as a young writer in the mid-1970′s.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the name of Michael Rubin should become familiar with sports fans very soon.

Darren mentions that Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers’ jersey is a high seller while Tim Tebow’s sales are crashing.

Comcast SportsNet New England’s Sean McAdam breaks the news that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will be a guest analyst for Fox on the American League Championship Series.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn writes that 98.5 The Sports Hub won the local sports radio wars in the latest ratings book.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS analyst John Smoltz who has been hitting out of the park with his work on the Tigers-Yankees series.

Neil notes that ESPN’s E:60 is celebrating a milestone tonight.

And Neil says the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols isn’t a fan of the Yankees playing in primetime.

James C. McKinley, Jr. and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times report that Madonna is being considered as the halftime act for Super Bowl XLVI on NBC. Holiday! Celebrate!

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that the local AHL team will be carried on the ESPN Radio affiliate.

Ken reports that Versus aka NBC Sports Network will be airing Notre Dame hockey games this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union is not a fan of TBS covering the League Division Series.

Pete has the college football TV schedule for this weekend.

Pete notes that this is the first NFL week with the dreaded “byes” in effect.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom asks if freedom of speech even exists in sports.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Tony Kornheiser for the most part hates his radio station’s podcast policy. Don’t ever change, Mr. Tony.

Dan finds a 1997 magazine cover of two iconic DC sportscasters.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about the newest addition to the Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic staff.

Jim notes that the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals rank among the bottom of the local MLB TV ratings.

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

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a Wisconsin alum has been named as an executive with NBC Sports.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Big Ten Network would like to be known as something else.

Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette previews NFL Network’s documentary on Kurt Warner.

Tom Hoffarth has some quotes from the NHL on NBC/Versus talking what else? The NHL!

Tom says Stephen Colbert had the right idea on the ESPN/Hank Williams, Jr. controversy.

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about a local sports radio host who has just gone public with his Parkinson’s Disease after keeping it quiet from family and friends for almost 10 years.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC will have a lot of Winnipeg Jets games this season.

Sports Media Watch says the WNBA Finals saw a ratings uptick on ESPN2.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Hardball Talk links to a video from Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina showing WFAN’s Mike Francesa having no clue about a Detroit Tigers pitcher.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth feels many reporters failed to get the job done as the Terry Francona story developed on Friday.

And I’m going to end it there today.

Hank Williams, Jr. Apologizes

A day after making the controversial comments to Fox News making an analogy of President Obama’s golf summit with House Speaker John Boehner to a golf match between Hitler and Israeli Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Hank Williams, Jr. has apologized. Writing on his website, Williams called his comments on Fox & Friends, “a Dumb statement” and emphasized that he wrote it, not his publicist. In the wake of the controversy, ESPN pulled his iconic “Are You Ready For Some Football” open from last night’s Monday Night Football game and made a short statement.

Williams apologized today. The statement is taken verbatim from his website and has not been edited.

I have always been very passionate about Politics and Sports and this time it got the Best or Worst of me. The thought of the Leaders of both Parties Jukin and High Fiven on a Golf course, while so many Families are Struggling to get by simply made me Boil over and make a Dumb statement and I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone. I would like to Thank all my supporters. This was Not written by some Publicist.”  — Hank Williams Jr

No statement from ESPN on whether the open will return next Monday.

Doing Some Tuesday Linkage

Having spent most of the day at the Providence Civic Center and the Rhode Island Convention Center for a seminar, I wasn’t able to provide linkage. I’ve collected quite a few links for you today so let’s get to them.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today goes over the ratings from the weekend and notes that the NFL regular season had no problem in the ratings with the MLB Postseason.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Anti-Defamation League is setting its sights on Hank Williams, Jr. for his remarks on President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner which led ESPN to pull his open from last night’s Monday Night Football game.

Sports Business Daily has a recap on the entire Hank Williams, Jr. controversy.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal says the Philadelphia Phillies climbed to the top of the local MLB ratings for this season.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports on the Tennis Channel’s long-term extension to carry the French Open.

Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that the Big 12 member schools have agreed on a plan that will distribute TV rights money equally among the institutions.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes.com reports that a Nielsen study has found that women make up a large portion of the sports audience.

Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo wonders when female sports reporters will stop being the target of some cruel male fans.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy writes that with the NHL season fast approaching, the league has yet to sign a deal to air its games in all of Europe. Yes, ALL of Europe.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says TBS has gotten it right with its HD coverage of the MLB Postseason.

At Media Bistro’s TVSpy, Andrew Gauthier has the video of a Seattle TV reporter not editing out the swears while reading live on the air a Seahawks fan chat from the station’s website.

The Big Lead has a picture of ESPN’s Erin Andrews and her trophy boyfriend.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has video that shows two things on one play, first the Cowboys’ Felix Jones is is not a MENSA candidate and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman had no idea it was 4th down.

To Bob’s Blitz which has audio of WFAN’s Mike Francesa pulling a nutty on the New York Jets for their performance in Baltimore on Sunday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell finds that using the color pink in the NFL’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign may be counterproductive to its message.

Darren wonders why Mercedes-Benz chose the New Orleans Superdome to purchase naming rights.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks into the extremely lengthy NFL Network-Time Warner Cable dispute.

Richard also delves into the Hank Williams, Jr./Monday Night Football mess.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says local college hockey will be heard on two stations.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Time Warner Cable also gets into the local college hockey act.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with MASN Nationals analyst F.P. Santangelo on his first year on the job.

Dan says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has raided MSG Network for its new Capitals studio host.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says both Sunday Night Football and the MLB Postseason are doing well in the ratings.

Michael Kruse and Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times looks at two fans who made both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Buccaneers games on the same night.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle has a look at some local college football and NFL ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says ESPN’s E:60 will do a story on former Bengals running back Ickey Woods and his foundation to promote asthma and organ donation awareness.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Green Bay Packers drew their largest ratings of the season on Sunday.

Bob says Versus’ Turning Point will focus on the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Dodgers will be changing flagship radio stations next season.

Sports Media Watch says the opener for the NLDS between Arizona and Milwaukee was a mixed bag for TBS.

SMW says Cards-Phils Game 1 was down.

SMW notes that Tigers-Yankees didn’t do well either.

To the NFL, SMW notes that Fox was the ratings winner in Week 4.

SMW tells us that CBS continues in a downward spiral for the NFL.

SMW informs us that NBC’s ratings for Sunday Night Football were down.

And Monday Night Football also took a big hit according to SMW.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final numbers for Versus’ preseason NHL games.

That’s going to do it.

ESPN Pulls Hank Williams, Jr. Opening From Tonight’s MNF Game

After an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” morning program comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler, ESPN has announced it will pull Hank Williams, Jr.’s iconic “Are You Ready For Some Football?” opening from tonight’s Monday Night Football game.

On Fox, Williams in an interview likened a golf “summit” between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to a golf match between Hitler and (Israel Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu.

Once the news broke, ESPN was asked for a statement and this came shortly before 6 p.m. ET.

“While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has more on the story.

I’ll have more later.

UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.: Hank Williams, Jr. has just issued a statement on the issue. He doesn’t really apologize for making his analogy to Fox News this morning. He doesn’t apologize, but he does try to clarify.

“Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme – but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me – how ludicrous that pairing was. They’re polar opposites and it made no sense. They don’t see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President.”

“Every time the media brings up the tea party it’s painted as racist and extremists – but there’s never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons… Working class people are hurting – and it doesn’t seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change.” – Hank Williams, Jr.

That’s it.