Fang's Bites

Getting To The Monday Linkage

It’s the early evening on the East Coast, but I do have time to bring you some linkage. Lots of stuff to get to.

We’ll begin with John Ourand of Sports Business Journal who reviews ESPN’s new NFL studio shows which came as a result of its new Monday Night Football $2 billion rights fee.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that the NFL has put the Detroit Lions in the Week 13 Sunday night window in place of the lowly Indianapolis Colts.

Michael talks with ESPN College GameDay’s Lee Corso who threw an “F” bomb on Saturday’s show.

Sports Illustrated’s Grand Wahl says ESPN is removing John Harkes as its main soccer analyst and also looks at the moves NBC and Fox Soccer will make for next year.

Michael O’Connor at the Hollywood Reporter notes that Sunday Night Football on NBC drew modest ratings over the American Music Awards on ABC.

Dan Hirschhorn of Advertising Age says Spike TV is looking to stay in the mixed martial arts arena despite losing UFC to Fox.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes that NFL Commish Roger Goodell is considering starting the Sunday Night flex earlier in the season.

Dave Scott from ESPN’s Front Row has a recap of the best tweets from the weekend regarding some ESPN broadcasts.

Barry Janoff at The Big Lead speaks with officials from NBC Sports and the NHL about the new Black Friday game that both companies hope will become a tradition like the NHL Winter Classic.

CNN’s Howard Kurtz speaks with Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News reporter Sarah Ganim about breaking stories on the Penn State scandal.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of Cris Collinsworth saying what we were all thinking when a promo for the new edition of Fear Factor popped up during Sunday Night Football.

Sports Video Group looks at the numbers for NASCAR.com’s RaceBuddy feature for the Sprint Cup.

In SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks back at a busy week in local sports media.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post wants ESPN to stop with the crowd cutaways on its college football broadcasts.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call notes that WFAN’s Mike Francesa wasn’t happy with Philadelphia Eagles’ running back Desean Jackson.

The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik could no longer stand listening to CBS’ Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf and decided to listen to the Ravens Radio Network.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has some amusing exchanges between DC NFL team radio announcers Larry Michael, Sam Huff and Sonny Jorgensen during yesterday’s Dallas-Washington game.

Pat Dooley of the Gainesville (FL) Sun has ESPN college football analyst Urban Meyer denying reports that he interviewed for the Ohio State coaching job.

Sad news from Georgia as legendary Georgia Bulldogs football announcer Larry Munson died Sunday at the age of 89. Munson had retired a couple of years ago after numerous health problems, but is still revered by UGA fans. Munson had began as Voice of the Bulldogs in 1966 and remained until 2008. To many, he typified the love for college football in the South. Some of his calls were homerish, but Munson truly bled Georgia football. Fans loved him for it. But he could be fair as well.

Munson not only called the Bulldogs football team, he called the Atlanta Braves, the Falcons, and the Georgia basketball program.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an obituary written mainly by former staffer Tony Barnhart and Chip Towers.

Towers says Munson’s calls are forever linked with the players.

The AJC’s Mark Bradley says Munson will never be forgotten among Bulldog fans.

The AJC has reaction from fellow broadcasters to Munson’s passing.

Atlanta TV station WSB has a special section devoted to Munson.

In the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald, Marc Weiszer says Munson’s voice has finally been silenced.

The Banner-Herald’s Andrea Griffth conducted a video interview with Munson about his career.

And here are the raw unedited interviews between Ms. Griffith and Munson.

If you’re not from the South and don’t understand the love for college football, try to think about the love for your local team and multiply it by 1,000,000 and you’ll see the passion for the sport. Munson was part of that passion that remains today.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some local overnight ratings from college football and the MLS Cup.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown crew wondered if Green Bay could go perfect this season.

Bob notes that NBC’s Tony Dungy feels the Packers are vulnerable.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks about Bob Costas’ interview with Jerry Sandusky.

Rob Davis from the Voice of San Diego writes about some interesting changes coming to the San Diego Union-Tribune sports section.

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

Bob’s Blitz has video of ESPN’s Erin Andrews getting the Gatorade bath after the Oklahoma-Baylor game and her reaction afterwards.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page has the programming ESPN is using to replace NBA games in December.

And that will do it for us.

Let’s Do Some Monday Links

Time for some links. I expect press releases galore today announcing NFL ratings news so before they come fast and furious, I’ll do some linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says the NFL and its TV partners handled their 9/11 tributes yesterday as best as they could.

Scott Woolley at Forbes.com writes that cable operators are ready to fight ESPN over its huge rights deal for Monday Night Football.

David Lieberman of Deadline says the battle lines are drawn between cable operators and ESPN.

In the Hollywood Reporter, Lindsay Powers reports that the NFL saw its best season opening primetime ratings in 15 years.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable notes that NBC’s Universal Sports is going to be a cable-only channel starting in 2012. Universal is on several NBC owned-and-operated local digital channels and will be removed starting in January.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Universal Sports has begun an ad campaign asking cable and satellite distributors to pick it up in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek asks if the flashy Maryland football uniforms were a nightmare or a brilliant marketing scheme for athletic apparel manufacturer, Under Armour.

Anthony says Dunkin’ Donuts will be sponsoring ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown this season.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine writes that the NFL regular season opener last Thursday really scored for NBC.

Kat Stoeffel of the New York Observer notes that former Boston Globe curmudgeon Charlie Pierce is joining Bill Simmons’ Grantland. Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch points out that it comes after Pierce lambasted Simmons last December.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart being a dick to Associated Press reporter Jenna Fryer.

Deadspin has video of Fox Sports’ Chris Myers ordering a stiff drink on the air.

TMZ says former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Josh Elliot could replace Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos.

ESPN’s Front Row PR blog profiles the man who literally drives the bus for Monday Night Football.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post believes everything in the world is bad.

Ron Musselman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that the Temple-Penn State game will be on ESPN this Saturday.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun has fun with the CBS NFL Today analysts picking Pittsburgh before yestserday’s game with the Ravens.

Leigh Pressley of the Charlotte Observer says a local man will be seen on Golf Channel’s Big Break reality show this month.

Paul Woody of the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch profiles ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Jamie Little.

Paul also talks with ESPN’s NASCAR pit studio stage manager who is from Virginia.

Gary Smits of the Florida Times-Union says ESPN College GameDay comes back to Tallahassee this Saturday after a 10 year absence.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend in sports television and radio.

Mike Baldwin of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Oklahoma University is in a mini-slump when College GameDay goes to one of its games.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business is amazed at the local TV ratings for the Bears season opener.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will be seen on Golf Channel this week as part of an NFL-themed program.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer who will be working tonight’s Oakland-Broncos game.

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

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that one local talk show host was on the warpath last week.

Susan Krashinsky of the Globe and Mail explores the potential new partnership between Canadian TV rivals CTV and CBC for the 2014/16 Olympics.

Jamie Sturgeon of the National Post writes about Rogers’ decision to pull out of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Consortium.

Dusan Belic of IntoMobile says the NFL has launched a new Android tablet app.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing explains why ESPN’s GamePlan college football pay per view package has been rendered obsolete and worthless by ESPN.

Matt Clapp at AA has the stirring video of America’s Unofficial Anthem Singer, Jim Cornelison, helping to kick off the NFL season before yesterday’s Atlanta Falcons-Chicago Bears game.

Joe Favorito says even in its worst times, hockey finds a way to heal the sport and its players.

Dug out as many links as I could today. That’s it for now. More press release posts as they come in.

A Special Monday Night Linkfest

I’ll provide some linkage this evening. Some stuff has surfaced this evening since I did my original links today.

The Hollywood Reporter recaps the first excerpt from the ESPN book “Those Guys Have All The Fun” that was released by GQ today.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter says now that the NHL’s US TV rights are settled, the league is now looking to expand the game overseas and into the Middle East.

Mike Reynolds from Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News writes about the history-making ratings TNT received for the opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

At Multichannel, Mike looks at Tennis Channel providing 20 hours of 3-D coverage from the French Open.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says Spike is going to rebrand its TNA Impact wrestling programming.

David Goetzl of MediaPost looks at a long-running dispute between ESPN and Dish Network over ESPNU.

Some sad news out of Kansas City. Dick Kaegel of MLB.com reports that Royals TV analyst and former pitcher Paul Splittorff has been admitted to a local hospital for treatment of oral cancer and melanoma.

The Big Lead says ESPN Radio Hack Colon Cowherd had his CBS sitcom squashed.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says some MLB teams had better be ready to accept $1 ticket prices and low food prices.

Amy Phillips from ESPN’s Front Row has a podcast previewing the network’s upfront presentations in New York on Tuesday.

And that’s going to do it. Short and sweet.

Patriots Day Monday Linkage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some Additional Wednesday Links

Let’s provide you with some more links.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bringing Out the Wednesday Links

Ok, let’s do the Wednesday linkage. Quite a few things to get to.

We begin with Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal who when we last saw him during the World Series last October, was wearing a bowtie despite his protests to management. Well, we find that Ken will continue wearing a bowtie this season, but rather willingly and for a very good cause.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Hardball Talk applauds Ken for making this true fashion statement.

Now back to Ken, he writes at FoxSports.com that Major League Baseball has to do more to promote its game to a very tech-savvy fandom.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has a few sports media observations in the Game On! blog.

Also in USA Today’s Game On! Steve Coogan writes that Jennifer Hudson is out from CBS’ One Shining Moment NCAA Tournament final montage.

One more from Game On! Mike McCarthy reviews Charles Barkley’s comments on truTV. It was a joke, people.

I had no idea that the former bassist for Guns ‘N Roses, Jane Addiction and Velvet Revolver, Duff McKagan had his own column at ESPN.com. Well, this is a very touching and well-written column on the late Seattle Mariners voice Dave Niehaus.

ESPN’s corporate blog, Front Row, has now launched and has been churning out pictures since midnight to show “A Day in the Life” at its various offices around the world. I have to say it’s quite fascinating. The pictures will continue to be published until late tonight.

Marisa Guthrie and Lindsay Powers at the Hollywood Reporter discuss ESPN’s Josh Elliot moving to ABC’s Good Morning America replacing the always lovely Juju Chang.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes about ESPN’s latest pickup for Baseball Tonight.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says ESPN Films will air a documentary on Jack Nicklaus’ iconic 1986 win at The Masters^®.

The great Ryan Ballengee of NBC’s Pro Golf Talk says The Masters^® iPad app will stream all four days of live TV golf coverage next week. That is very cool.

Jack Neff of Advertising Age says Vaseline Men will be unveiling an ad campaign for the NFL Draft.

In Mediaweek, Anthony Crupi says ad buyers are looking for alternatives as the NFL lockout goes longer.

Doron Levin at Fortune notes that Cadillac has quietly returned to sponsoring golf tournaments.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell examines whether the Chicago Cubs made the right call for their public address announcer.

Darren looks at the MLB Fan Cave that has two men watching every single regular season and playoff game this year.

And Darren goes inside the numbers of college football.

All Access says a Muncie, IN radio station is dropping ESPN in favor of Fox Sports Radio.

All Access also discusses Trenni Kusnierek joining a Milwaukee radio station full-time.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News writes about ESPN’s Josh Elliot leaving SportsCenter to move to Good Morning America.

Newsday’s Neil Best takes a look at Yankees and Mets ticket prices on the resale market.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union looks at former Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer joining ESPN.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Fox’s Tim McCarver thoughts on the Mets and Yankees.

Conor Orr at the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says ESPN’s Jay Bilas is a man of many talents.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Times notes that Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready to cover the Phillies this season.

Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post is amused with a new Pimlico Raceway ad that acknowledges the infield debauchery during the Preakness Stakes.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that ESPN will be airing a prestigious high school basketball tournament live from the DC area.

Brandon Marcello of the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger says Mississippi State University now has the announcers who will replace legendary voice Jack Cristil who retired after the basketball season.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman discusses ESPN shaking up its Sunday Night Baseball announcers and adding a new twist to Baseball Tonight.

Doug Zaleski of the Muncie (IN) Star Press notes that a Ball State-Indiana football matchup could end up on ESPN on Labor Day weekend.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox Sports Wisconsin will add some bells and whistles to its Brewers game productions.

Jon Nyatawa of the Omaha (NE) World-Journal says the Kansas City Royals won’t be heard on local radio this season.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post looks at FSN Rocky Mountain changing its name as of Friday.

Lya Wodraska in the Salt Lake Tribune says the University of Utah is open to moving its football games to Sunday in case of an NFL lockout.

Scott D. Pierce of the Tribune looks at FSN Rocky Mountain’s change of name.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says FX’s plans to carry college football this fall might be part of a larger scheme to increase subscriber fees.

Mike DiGiovanna from the Times says while Fox Sports tested a new overhead camera during last night’s Dodgers-Angels exhibition game, players were concerned that it might be too intrusive.

Mark Hester from The Oregonian notes that ESPN is chock full of spring college football games.

Gretchen Holzang of the Portland Business Journal writes about FSN Northwest’s rebranding on Friday.

To the Toronto Globe and Mail where Bruce Dowbiggin talks with Rogers Sportsnet Blue Jays analyst Greg Zaun.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox hit a ratings low for the first time this season.

The Big Lead critiques CBS/Turner’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament.

And we’ll end it there today.

Finally, Our Tuesday Links

Thanks to the server host getting a Denial of Service attack last night, Fang’s Bites has been down for most of the day. Not happy for not being able to blog for most of the day, although I’m back up for now. I apologize for the inconvenience. I’ll give you linkage now and hope you’ll be able to continue to visit throughout the night. And I’ll try to catch up with press releases tonight.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that former CBS bitter curmudgeon college basketball analyst Billy Packer agrees with ESPN’s Jay Bilas in bashing VCU’s selection to the NCAA Tournament.

ESPN’s corporate blog, Front Row has launched before its official midnight unveiling.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal notes that Turner Sports accomplished its mission by getting fans to find truTV for the NCAA Tournament.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes notes that three DirecTV-owned FSN regional sports networks will be re-branded as of April 1.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry says two programs this week won’t forget what the NCAA Tournament is really about.

Royce Young of CBSSports.com notes that ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose was arrested earlier this month on DUI charges, something the Mothership is looking into.

Carolyn Giardina of the Hollywood Reporter explains why tonight’s Blackhawks-Bruins game is being transmitted via satellite to CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that Time Warner Cable has received cease and desist letters over its iPad app.

Paige Albiniak at Broadcasting & Cable reports that March Madness ate into syndicated TV’s ratings.

To the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center reviews Frontline’s documentary on March Madness.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser writes that MLB Extra Innings will be free to all for the first week and a half of the season.

Andrew Gauthier at TVSpy notes that a TV live truck got mobbed during the VCU Final Four celebration on Sunday.

At SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty notes that Jay Bilas continues to pound the case that he was right in his VCU assumption.

Joe Favorito says the Cleveland Baseball Team is totally embracing social media.

Joe looks at the ever-shrinking television newscast in the biggest market in the country.

Newsday’s Neil Best has Fox’s Tim McCarver saying that the Wilpon family will have to sell the New York Mets over their off the field troubles.

Neil talks with ESPN’s Bobby Valentine over his new gig.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call recaps an appearance by ESPN/ABC’s Matt Millen.

Neal Shaffer of Bmore Media reviews Jen Royle’s tumultuous year after joining MASN and CBS Radio.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks about the total audience that has viewed at least a portion of the NCAA Tournament.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times notes that the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg drew decent ratings on Sunday.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News says a local sports radio personality is switching stations.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says CBS is bringing back a classic version of “One Shining Moment” next week.

David also has a preview of tomorrow’s Real Sports on HBO.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Friend of Fang’s Bites Trenni Kusnierek will be joining a local radio station. She had hinted to me that she would be doing something locally after leaving MLB Network. Congrats to her on her new gig.

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic notes that Phoenix Suns voice and longtime network announcer Gary Bender is retiring at the end of the season.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News gets predictions on the Dodgers from a couple of network MLB analysts.

Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times says Fox is testing out a new camera during tonight’s Dodgers-Angels game on Fox Sports West.

NHL.com has posted some of the best calls of Edmonton Oilers voice Rod Phillips as he’s calling his final games with the tea.

Sports Media Watch notes that UConn steered ESPN to its highest NCAA Women’s Tournament ratings in eleven years.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that Sunday Night Baseball is back on TSN2 this season.

Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media wonders if CBS could brand the Final Four to draw viewers.

Emmett Jones of Sports Business Journal looks at ESPN Front Row.

And we’re done.

ESPN To Offer New Corporate Blog To Be Run By Its PR Department

From ESPN, we have this news that a new corporate blog called, “ESPN Front Row” will debut this week. It will come from inside ESPN and be about ESPN. A former writer with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and San Jose Mercury News will lead the blog. We have the details below.

ESPN to Launch New Corporate Blog – March 30

ESPNFrontRow.com to Offer Window into ESPN; Address Company Questions on Key Issues; Two-Way Communication

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ESPN announced the launch of its new corporate blog site, ESPNFrontRow.com, which will debut Wednesday, March 30.

The new blog, to be updated daily, will be managed by the Communications department, and be a collaborative effort among the company’s key personnel — meaning it will feature a variety of voices, opinions, and insights. Topics will focus on ESPN news and people, the employee experience, behind-the-scenes activity and will serve as a platform to address select company issues that are making news. ESPNFrontRow.com will feature a comment-posting functionality to allow two-way communication.

Sheldon Spencer, a journalist with more than 25 years of experience, will serve as the site’s primary voice.  Spencer, most recently an NFL editor for ESPN.com, working with NFL blogs, served as a staff writer for the National Sports Daily (1990-91), Seattle Post-Intelligencer (1991-96) and the San Jose Mercury News (1997-2000).

As a more informal and personal source of news and insights than a traditional website, ESPNFrontRow.com will engage readers with both personality and authority as a source of information, photos, video and more. The blog will feature posts that attempt to educate the consumer as well as entertain them.

Opening Day, ESPNFrontRow.com will launch with a collection of real time photos that depict “A Day in The Life” at ESPN.

“The goal for ESPNFrontRow.com is to provide fans a window into ESPN,” said Mike Soltys, ESPN vice president, communications, U.S. networks. “We will provide credible, relevant, informative and fun content that will take readers inside ESPN.”

Consumers will be able to access the site directly at www.espnfrontrow.com or via links on ESPN.com and ESPNMediazone.com home pages. Posts on the site will also be distributed via social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

I will be interested to see what comes out from this blog. It is not to be confused with the ESPN Ombudsman.