Fang's Bites

Some Quick Thursday Links

I’ll do a few links on this Thursday. Can you believe it’s November already?

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the NBA’s television partners are still setting their lineups as the season begins.

Hiestand reports that the Mitt Romney campaign is throwing a monkey wrench at ESPN in its attempts to get the GOP Presidential candidate to appear on the Mike & Mike radio show.

Sports Business Daily looks at some of the sports facilities in the Northeast that sustained damage due to Hurricane Sandy.

Patrick Rishe of Forbes says NBC is betting that soccer will produce eyeballs for NBC Sports Network.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter says Lakers fans are still shut out from seeing their team’s games on several cable and satellite providers.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says TNT had to revise its NBA plans tonight after the Knicks-Nets game was canceled.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek talks with the polarizing Frank Caliendo about his move from Fox to ESPN.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the World Series on Fox may have finished with its lowest ratings ever, but it was still able to gain a victory over NBC in the important 18-49 demographic.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with NBC/NFL Network’s Alex Flanagan about her crazy schedule during football season.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell goes over the New York City Marathon’s first live national TV coverage since the 1990′s.

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times talks with Captain Blowhard about his new role on ESPN’s NBA Countdown.

Jerry Barmash of FishbowlNY notes that WFAN will begin its FM simulcast on Friday.

Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Goalkeeper blog talks with an NBC Sports exec about the acquisition of the English Premier League.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV writes in Press Box about Baltimore’s sports radio ratings.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says Comcast SportsNet has hired a replacement for the opening left behind by Kelli Johnson who left for CSN Houston last month.

LSUSports notes that Tiger alum Lolo Jones will be the celebrity prognosticator on College GameDay this Saturday.

Mike Graham at the Dallas Morning News discusses Texas Tech’s new media rights deal with Fox Sports.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that the big cable and satellite providers have not made a deal with Comcast SportsNet for the Rockets games.

David said the Rockets’ season opener scored lower ratings as compared to last year.

The Oklahoman’s Mel Bracht talks with women’s basketball legend Nancy Lieberman about her new role as studio analyst for Thunder games.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch notes a former Indianapolis Colts cheerleader becoming a popular Windy City TV personality.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says a Real Salt Lake MLS playoff game next week may not be on live TV.

Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times says the Lakers updated their fans on the carriage dispute between several providers and Time Warner SportsNet.

Joe Flint of the Times says uncertainty about the Los Angeles Dodgers’ TV rights is influencing the reluctance of cable and satellite providers in regards to picking up the Time Warner regional sports network.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the five things he learned over the last week.

Sports Media Watch says Hurricane Sandy may have affected the ratings for the Celtics-Heat NBA season opener on TNT.

Steve Lepore at SB Nation’s Puck The Media says English Premier League games on NBC Sports Group should compliment the NHL, not compete with it, whenever it returns from its dreaded lockout.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth looks at some various sports radio news from across the country.

The Big Lead notes that ABC is considering to option a sitcom based on ESPN’s Sage Steele.

And that will do it.

Bringing Back The Friday Megalinks

It’s been too long since I’ve done a links post and why not do this with a Friday megalink post.

Your Weekend Viewing Picks have all of my sports and entertainment suggestions.

Now to your linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with Fox’s Erin Andrews about her being put under a bigger microscope now that she has higher profile gigs.

John Ourand & Michael Botta from Sports Business Daily handicap the bidding for the US rights to the English Premier League.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that the EPL bidding is going to a second round.

At Sports on Earth, Will Leitch makes no bones about being a Joe Buck apologist.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy looks at the ratings for three KHL airings on ESPN2.

To The Godfather, Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina who notes that in Hot Clicks, ESPN’s Samantha Steele is taken. Sorry, fanboys.

Jim Romenesko notices that ESPN.com is trying to play eye doctor.

Jane McManus of espnW looks at MLB’s new dress policy for reporters.

Sports Rantz explores the revamping of the 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter that could lead to more appearances for Lindsay Czarniak.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with CBS’ Doug Gottlieb about his first job in broadcasting.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos says reporters should throw objectivity out the window when it comes to social media.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group says YES Network is finding a TV-friendly environment at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN is trying to expand the SportsCenter brand beyond television.,

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has today’s New York Post cover involving the Yankees.

Kristi Dosh as ESPN.com says GoDaddy’s hiring of a new ad agency could lead to the dropping of spokesperson Danica Patrick.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell says it’s good that the Chicago White Sox listened to their fans and dropped ticket prices for next season.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has the worst sports tweets of 2012 to date.

Leah Goldman of the Business Insider’s Sports Page has what you need to know about ESPN’s Samantha Steele.

Joe Favorito looks at the Battle for the Big Apple, NBA style.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth takes a look at Joe Buck’s rare NFL/MLB doubleheader on Sunday.

Bob’s Blitz talks about CBS Sports Radio giving writer John Feinstein a daily show when the network launches in 2013.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Lewiston (ME) Sun Journal and Maine Hockey Journal have formed a partnership on local sports coverage.

At the Boston Globe, Chad Finn reviews Comcast SportNet New England’s NFL Pregame Live show.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with a former WEEI morning show personality.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Time Inc. has tapped a Sports Illustrated web editor to head its entire sports portfolio.

In the New York Post, Phil Mushnick wants everyone to be like him.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY notes that the Yankees and Giants top the local TV ratings.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union compares and contrasts Fox and TBS in the MLB Postseason.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call notes that a local sports talk show host is no longer employed at his radio station.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has Baltimore Ravens voice and local sports anchor Gerry Sandusky explaining why he won’t change his name.

Also in Press Box, Dave says the Washington Nationals are seeking a bigger rights fee from MASN.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the City Paper will not mention the DC NFL team by its regular name.

Dan says Fox was filming a spot regarding DC NFL team QB Robert Griffin III this week.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the Nationals’ brand is seeing more attention after its regular season success.

South

Rick Stroud at the Tampa Bay Times says Sunday’s game involving the Saints and Bucs did sell out in time.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has some college football announcer pairings and a few local news and notes.

In his media notebook, Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman looks at Bill Simmons making the dangerous move to television.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable picks up three local high school football games this weekend.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has ESPN college basketball analyst Dan Dakich handicapping the Big Ten.

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune says the Cubs, WGN and Comcast SportsNet will quickly decide on a replacement for Bob Brenly who left and took his talents to the Southwest.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch wonders why the Sun-Times would hire Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy to be a columnist.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the local Fox TV station had to juggle severe warning alerts while airing the Cardinals in the NLCS.

West

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the Diamondbacks have named their new TV broadcasting team.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes on a former San Diego Charger who’s deciding whether he wants to play in the CFL or pursue broadcasting full-time.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star explores the cast changes to ESPN’s NBA Countdown pregame show.

In his media notebook, Jim says the Pac-12 Network can be found online for subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers.

Jim has his Weekend Viewing Picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News is fed up of cable carriage disputes.

Tom has some stuff that didn’t make it into his column.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with former NHL coach and TV analyst Mike Keenan on how to survive the lockout.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog has some of the local sports radio ratings.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says MLB got a rare ratings win over the CFL last Friday.

And that will conclude the megalinks. Enjoy the sports weekend.

America To Be Subjected To Bill Simmons on NBA Countdown; Groans Heard All Over The Country

ESPN has tinkered with its NBA studio show once again, trying to find that magic touch to show that it can equal or surpass TNT’s beloved Inside the NBA. After losing a legitimate studio host and going with four analysts, ESPN is dropping Jon Barry and Chris Broussard and bringing in Bill “Captain Blowhard” Simmons and Jalen Rose in hopes of making television history.

Since I’m not an avid watcher of the NBA, I usually avoid the studio shows and occasionally watch the games. ESPN hopes that the new cast of Simmons and Rose joining Magic Johnson and Michael Wilbon will give viewers something to watch.

Rose will continue as an analyst on the basketball version of College GameDay.

We have ESPN’s press release on this latest incarnation of NBA Countdown.

ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Jalen Rose Join NBA Countdown

NBA Countdown – ESPN and ABC’s NBA pre-game show – will present a new look this season when Grantland editor-in-chief Bill Simmons and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose join NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Michael Wilbon. The new Countdown quartet, who will engage in the show’s lively roundtable format, will debut Friday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. ET during a special one-hour pre-game telecast, preceding ESPN’s season-opening doubleheader: Miami Heat/N.Y. Knicks at 8 p.m.; L.A. Clippers/L.A. Lakers at 10:30 p.m.

Mark Gross, ESPN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, on Countdown team:
“The unique, diverse perspectives of our new commentator team fit perfectly with the show’s free-flowing format. Bill brings a deep knowledge of the league past and present, an entertaining style and an ability to articulate his inventive thoughts from a fan’s point of view. Jalen’s lengthy playing experience and his strong, informed opinions will give fans great insight into how and why things happen on the court. They join a team that includes one of the greatest players of all time and one of our most versatile and engaging commentators.”

NBA Countdown guide

• Bill Simmons – author of The Book of Basketball – will make regular appearances during ESPN’s Wednesday and Friday NBA pre-game shows and ABC’s Sunday NBA pre-game shows.
• Jalen Rose will make regular appearances during ESPN’s Wednesday NBA pre-game shows and ABC’s Sunday NBA pre-game shows. Rose will also serve as a college basketball studio analyst for College GameDay and as an analyst for ESPN2’s Numbers Never Lie. He will appear on Friday’s NBA pre-game shows after the college basketball season.
• Magic Johnson will resume his role as a featured commentator on Countdown. Johnson will continue to provide expert insight and analysis, conduct interviews with the NBA’s biggest stars and contribute to the lively roundtable format.
• Michael Wilbon will continue his featured role on Countdown. Wilbon will add his journalistic insights and opinions on hot-button NBA topics, while helping to guide discussion and debate centered on the highest profile stories in the NBA.

Additional roles

• Jon Barry will transition to game analysis with regular assignments throughout the season, beginning Friday, Nov. 9, at 10:30 p.m. for Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets.
• Chris Broussard will continue to serve as ESPN NBA Insider for SportsCenter and other news and information programming. Broussard will also serve as reporter for ESPN’s game coverage, beginning Friday, Nov. 2, at 10:30 p.m. for Clippers/Lakers.

That’s it.

Let’s Break Out Some Monday Linkage

Here’s the Monday linkage wrapped in a nice bow for you.

From Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and Michael Smith, they report that ESPN will pay an average of $80 million per year to air the Rose Bowl. That more than doubles the current contract which pays $30 million.

Liz Mullen of SBJ says a noted movie studio is forming a sports talent agency further melding Hollywood and athletics.

Also from Sports Business Journal, Chris Botta notes that Brooklyn is ready and waiting if the New York Islanders can’t find a new home on Long Island

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Bill Walton returns to national TV through ESPN as he’ll become the network’s analyst for Pac-12 basketball games.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that the early sign up numbers for NBC’s Olympic apps are encouraging.

Mike says NBCUniversal is looking to make the 2012 London Games a truly digital experience.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about turning 60.

Talkers Magazine, the so-called Bible of Talk Radio, lists its 2012 Heavy 100 of Sports Talk. I agree with Mike Francesa and Dan Patrick in the Top 3, the rest I have issues with including a few in the New England area, plus why is Joe Morgan on the list? And there are only two women.

Lisa O’Carroll of the London (UK) Guardian says Britain’s oldest and largest black newspaper has been denied credentials to the Olympics Stadium for the track & field events.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable notes that it’s expected that social media will be heavily used for the Olympics.

Matt Rudnitsky of SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Captain Blowhard and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are engaging in the next Great Twitter feud.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs wonders how NFL Network’s new morning show can sustain fresh content over a four hour period every day.

Kirk Minihane of WEEI.com tackles the question over whether the Boston Red Sox should fire advisor Bill James over his comments on ESPN Radio about Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

If it’s Monday, then it must mean that the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is in a bad mood about something.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that Syracuse has negotiated an early exit to the ACC from the Big East Conference.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that ESPN is starting its weekday coverage of the Open Championship earlier than previously announced.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes writing in Press Box talks about the friendship that has developed between MASN’s Washington Nationals studio team of the great Johnny Holliday and Ray Knight.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog noticed that Democratic gargoyle strategist James Carville wore a Nats t-shirt on MSNBC over the weekend.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times has a look back at the weekend in sports television.

Mike Herndon of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register writes about the SEC releasing its early-season football TV schedule.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks back at the ten years since the failed US Olympic bids for the 2012 Games.

David imagines what if Houston had been awarded the 2012 Olympics.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says the Penn State scandal has been the talk of the town.

Matthew T. Hall at the San Diego Union-Tribune wants to organize a fan protest on the lack of movement on getting Padres games on local TV.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your weekly sports calendar.

Sports Media Watch looks at Bill Walton making his return to ESPN.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media suggests how the NHL Network can stop the inexorable amount of game reruns during the summer.

Cork Gaines from the Business Insider’s Sports Page says MLB Advanced Media gave a hollow apology for a system-wide outage preventing fans from watching MLB.TV online Friday.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says truTV has given the go to a Shaquille O’Neal-fronted viral video show.

This is where we’ll end the links for today.

ESPN Presents MLB Home Run Derby With … Wait For It … Chris Berman!

This is going to be the Summer of Chris Berman on ESPN. Next week, he’ll call the annual Home Run Derby in Kansas City and annoy fans with his calls, “That home run landed in Topeka!” or “Back! Back! Back! Back! Gone!!” Then on August 23, Berman will call his first NFL game, a preseason contest to prepare for the big one, September 9, the Monday Night Football opening season doubleheader late game between Oakland and San Diego.

Social networking sites will be burning up all three days. It all begins with the Home Run Derby live from Kauffman Stadium. Boomer will be joined by John Kruk of Baseball Tonight and Nomar Garciaparra. On the field conducting interviews will be Pedro Gomez and Jon Heyman hater Buster Olney (I’ll explain that in a future post).

The Home Run Derby airs Monday, July 9 at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN Radio will also have coverage and calling that will be Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton.

Oh, and another thing ESPN is pointing out, Captain Blowhard will be an analyst on the Celebrity Softball Game. Oh, can’t wait to hear his insufferable voice.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

ESPN to Present 2012 Home Run Derby

ESPN Radio to Exclusively Broadcast Home Run Derby & 83^rd MLB All-Star Game

ESPN will present the 2012 Home Run Derby from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. on Monday, July 9, at 8 p.m. ET. Chris Berman will call the action with analysts John Kruk and Nomar Garciaparra and reporters Buster Olney and Pedro Gomez The Derby will also be available on ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Mobile TV, WatchESPN and ESPN3 – available for the first time in both English and Spanish – online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and through ESPN on Xbox LIVE.

ESPN Radio’s Sunday Night Baseball team Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton will describe the action with additional on-site commentary from host Mark Kestecher and reporters John Rooney and Peter Pascarelli. In addition, the team will return the following night for ESPN Radio’s exclusive broadcast of the 83^rd MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 10, with coverage beginning at 7 p.m.

Home Run Derby rosters: AL and NL Derby teams.

ESPN’s State Farm Home Run Derby telecast will include:

• a special Derby open, which will celebrate the magic of the home run;
• a distance tracking system, which will also be available on ESPN.com, providing accurate distance readings immediately after the ball lands;
• ESPN Ball Track will include every participant’s Derby at-bat with a virtual spray chart showing the path for each home run;
• tweets from Derby participants, MLB All-Stars, MLB players and other athletes and celebrities;
• mic’d up Derby participants.

SportsCenter & Baseball Tonight will be on site throughout MLB All-Star in Kansas City from a set inside Kauffman Stadium. The 6 p.m. SportsCenter on Monday and Tuesday will present live batting practice reports and previews from the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game. The late-night SportsCenters will provide live post-Derby and post-game analysis and interviews. In addition, ESPN will televise a special Home Run Derby preview show Monday, July 9, at 7 p.m. Baseball Tonight will also preview All-Star action each day and provide post-event recaps with highlights, news and information. ESPN MLB commentators on-site will include hosts Karl Ravech and Steve Berthiaume and analysts Terry Francona, Barry Larkin and John Kruk.

Futures Game

ESPN’s All-Star coverage will begin with the 14^th annual Futures Game on Sunday, July 8, at 5 p.m. on ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile TV and via the WatchESPN app. Steve Berthiaume will provide commentary with analysts Aaron Boone and Rick Sutcliffe and reporters Keith Law and Pedro Gomez. Futures Game rosters: U.S.; World.

All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game: Bill Simmons to Serve as Analyst

ESPN columnist Bill Simmons will serve as analyst during ESPN’s telecast of the All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game. It will be available on ESPN, ESPN Mobile TV and WatchESPN immediately following the Derby on Monday. Simmons will join SportsCenter anchor John Anderson, who will host the coverage, and reporter Tim Kurkjian. Legends & Celebrity Softball Game participants will include former Cy Young and current ESPN MLB analyst Rick Sutcliffe. Complete roster.

ESPN.com & ESPN Baseball Tonight Facebook

• special ESPN.com MLB All-Star page;
• Home Run Derby Tracker - a customized version of GameCast available live during the Derby;
• “Baseball Tonight at the All-Star Game” – a 30-minute show to be live-streamed on ESPN.com Monday at 4 p.m.;
• #yourHRDerby – a week-long page devoted to fan feedback via social media leading up to the Home Run Derby;
• Daily ESPN Baseball Tonight Facebook posts;
• an MLB All-Star roundtable, hosted by Steve Berthiaume;
• Keith Law’s Futures Game breakdown;
• Stats & Info blogs with heat maps and advanced metrics related to the Derby and the All-Star Game;

ESPN Deportes & ESPN Deportes Radio

The 2012 Home Run Derby will be available on ESPN Deportes Monday, July 9, at 8 p.m. with Ernesto Jerez, Luis Alfred Alvarez, Candy Maldonado and Guillermo Celis providing commentary. Additionally, ESPN Deportes Radio will broadcast both the Derby and the MLB All-Star Game with Eduardo Ortega, Renato Bermudez and Jose Francisco Rivera calling the action.

ESPN International will offer live coverage of the All-Star Game and Futures Game on its networks serving Latin America (South America, Central America, Mexico, Brazil and the Caribbean), Africa, the Middle East and New Zealand.  Coverage of the Derby will be available in these regions, plus Australia. ESPN America, the only European network dedicated to North American sports, will televise the All-Star Game, Futures Game and Home Run Derby to 43 countries. 

And we’re done.

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.

Dropping A Few Tuesday Links

Let’s provide a few links here. Don’t think I can do a full set, but I’ll try.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand says MLB and Sirius XM have come to terms on streaming audio of live baseball games and will eventually be able to provide both home and away feeds starting next month.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age reports NBC is seeking close to $1 million per 30-second spot for its first-ever Thanksgiving Night NFL game.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today notes that the NFL has signed Tide as its official laundry detergent.

Marlen Garcia at USA Today’s Campus Rivalry blog writes that ESPN is interested in hiring former Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg as an analyst.

Bryan Armen Graham of Sports Illustrated talks with rapper Nas about ESPN using one of his songs for the NFL Draft and Jeremy Lin.

Ed Sherman says the latest ESPN promo featuring a man named Michael Jordan has gone viral.

Todd Spangler at Multichannel News reports that Microsoft is bringing both ESPN and CBS Interactive as advertisers to its Xbox 360 platform.

Tim Baysinger of Multichannel says Fox Sports Media Group will air fights from Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Most of them will be on Fox Deportes.

Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk says the NFL has reminded teams not to leak their draft picks before Commish Roger Goodell makes the official announcement on ESPN and NFL Network.

Mike Florio of PFT says you won’t see Warren Sapp on NFL Network during the draft.

Florio looks at some potential ESPN-on-ESPN crime between reporter John Barr and analyst Bill Polian.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that the NBA’s TV partners are on pace for another ratings record.

John Plunkett of the London (UK) Guardian looks at a new landmark radio deal with the English Premier League that an upstart British company could sublicense to the States.

MediaRantz says the NFL Network completely ignored the Mickey Loomis-New Orleans Saints eavesdropping story that was first reported by ESPN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says notorious cheating website AshleyMadison.com will reportedly pay a woman $1 million for schtupping Tim Tebow.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the dying art of the newspaper sports cartoon.

Gary Myers of the New York Daily News says the Saints are vehemently denying ESPN’s reports that GM Mickey Loomis eavesdropped on gameday radio transmissions.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union has ESPN’s Big Ten Football primetime schedule.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes a local record rating for Sunday’s Game 6 of the Bruins-Capitals OT game.

The Dallas Morning News reports on a domestic dispute that turned ugly between NFL Network’s Deion Sanders and his estranged wife. Deion tweeted what happened as the drama unfolded.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that Sunday’s Thunder-Lakers game on ABC set a local ratings record.

Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that it appears that Time Warner Cable may not pick up Fox Sports San Diego at all shutting out Padres fans this season.

Steve Donohue of Fierce Cable reports on one TV industry giant telling a Senate committee that ESPN and other cable TV companies should not be allowed to sell their programming directly to viewers.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing notes that Captain Blowhard is bitterly whining once again about not getting a Grantland writer credentialed.

Ryan Yoder of AA says ESPN is swinging the axe over a critique questioning its relationship with the Poynter Review Project.

Matt Yoder of AA notes that Jose Canseco has apparently deleted his Twitter account. Good riddance, Steroids Boy.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox saw a drop in its overnight ratings for the Kansas Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

SMW says the NBA’s TV partners do well when they carry the Miami Heat.

Beau Denison of Sports Page Magazine asks of boxing fans if they should be angry at HBO and Top Rank promoters for the way they handle the Sweet Science.

San Diego Padres fan blog Gaslamp Ball says if Time Warner Cable won’t pick up Fox Sports San Diego, then why should Friar fans keep the cable provider?

And we’re going to leave it there for today.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks Again

Linkage has been scarce around the site this week, but I should be able to get a good set of megalinks in today as we head into NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday. You deserve the links and I thank you for your patience around some server problems this week.

As usual, you can check the Weekend Viewing Picks for all weekend sports and entertainment recommendations.

Let’s get to the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today profiles ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi who got a big endorsement from Louisville’s Rick Pitino this week.

Erik Spanberg at Sports Business Journal looks at Major League Soccer hoping for big returns from its new contract with NBC Sports.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch explores NBC’s new approach to airing soccer and reviews ESPN’s new documentary on Magic Johnson.

Karen Hogan at Sports Video Group looks at ESPN’s innovative plans for MLS games this season.

Lindsay Flans of the Hollywood Reporter says A-List celebrities have caught Linsanity fever.

And the Reporter provides a seating chart of where celebrities sit at Madison Square Garden to get a glimpse of Jeremy Lin.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley feels the mid-major conferences sacrifice regular season integrity in exchange for TV exposure with their post-season tournaments.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is recovering after his alma mater, Northwestern, played its way out of the NCAA Tournament this week.

Joe Favorito says even in this day and age, the little guy can make a splash in sports marketing.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

SMW notes that NBC Sports will replace the departed Wimbledon with the Tour de France this summer.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says ESPN Films is suffering from an identity crisis.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC’s innovation in hockey production is now extending to the soccer pitch.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth isn’t a fan of speculation.

At Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog, Dan Devine says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made a gay joke at Bill Simmons’ expense with him present.

Erik Malinowski of Deadspin says Cuban has apologized for making that remark.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn looks at CBS/Turner’s plans for the NCAA Tournament.

Chad notes that a prodigal son is returning to WEEI this weekend.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen at SB Nation Boston says the Boston Herald will miss Patriots beat reporter Ian Rapoport as he departs for NFL Network.

George Cain at Sports of Boston compares and contrasts the two sports radio stations ratings.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says different generations watch sports differently.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch talks with ESPN High Grand Poobah of News Vince Doria.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with Magic Johnson about ESPN’s documentary on his HIV announcement 20 years ago.

Neil notes the opening of a new Broadway play on the rivalry between Magic and former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird.

Neil says it’s time for our annual search to find truTV for the NCAA Tournament.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after the “gang mentality” in football.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY notes that MSG Network is about to unveil a new baseball-centric show.

Chris Boyle at the Merrick (NY) Patch says two alumna of a local high school, now ESPN personalities, made a visit to their old stomping grounds.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that Buffalo Sabres games are back on MSG after a technical glitch prevented fans from seeing their games for two weeks.

Pete talks with Uncle Verne Lundquist of CBS who’s going into his 49th year of broadcasting.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times-Herald Record says a local man has been chosen to take part in this year’s MLB Fan Cave.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who says he’ll miss working with Ron Jaworski every Monday Night.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner speaks with tennis Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Chris Evert.

South

Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer says for the first time, viewers in the ACC footprint can see ESPN’s coverage of the ACC Tournament.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald likes watching the ESPN/ABC NBA studio show.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Comcast SportsNet Houston is getting ready for its fall launch.

And David expands on his column on CSN Houston in his blog.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has a few Sooner State sports media news and notes.

Midwest

Jeff Moss at Detroit Sports Rag has a field of 64 to decide the Worst Detroit Sports Media Personality.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says CBS and Turner are enjoying their NCAA Tournament partnership.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reviews the one week experiment of Joe Buck and Tim McKernan co-hosting a radio show that could turn into something bigger down the road.

Dan says don’t expect too many changes for this year’s NCAA Tournament coverage on CBS and Turner Sports.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times writes that if NCAA Tournament coverage ain’t broke, then CBS and Turner aren’t going to fix it.

John says Fox Sports San Diego is set to launch any day now, provided MLB approves the Padres’ deal to air games on the network.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the success of the CBS/Turner NCAA Tournament consortium surprised officials at both companies.

Jim says Peyton Manning’s former coach, Tony Dungy now of NBC, feels San Francisco would be a good fit for him.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Magic Johnson’s life-changing announcement, 20 years later.

Tom explores how Time Warner Cable will present LA Galaxy games while it’s still in the process of launching its new SoCal regional sports network.

Tom has a few items that didn’t make his weekly media column.

Percy Allen of the Seattle Times notes that ESPN will air next year’s Pac-12 Basketball Championship Game.

Canada

Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star says CBC’s Don Cherry and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke are acting like a couple of spoiled divas in their public spat.

And that’s going to do it for today. Enjoy your sports weekend.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks

Lots of things to get to today. Couldn’t do the links yesterday. Going to do a big megalink edition for you.

Let’s get cracking, but first, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks complete with a link to the busy College Basketball Viewing Picks which will be updated throughout the weekend.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Oscar-winner and ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham.

Sports Illustrated issued a statement standing by its feature story this week by George Dohrmann on UCLA’s troubles.

Yesterday, Captain Blowhard, a.k.a Bill Simmons of Grantland interviewed President Obama for his podcast. I haven’t listened to it nor read the transcript as I don’t want to be bothered. Dan Levy of Bleacher Report did and had some problems with it.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider’s Sports Page lists some writers who were most likely jealous over Simmons’ sitdown with the President.

Sports Business Daily says Captain Blowhard threw a hissy fit this week after Duke refused to issue a credential to one of Grantland’s writers for Saturday’s game against North Carolina.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable writes that NFL Today and Inside the NFL host James Brown will become a special correspondent for CBS News.

Gabriel Beltrone of Adweek writes that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is pitching Sprint phones.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to Super Bowl XLVI, NBC won the February sweeps, marking the third straight year that sports has steered the month.

Ryan Berenz of Channel Guide Magazine writes that NBC Sports Network will be all over a French bicycle race this month.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says while we know MLB will announce expanded Wild Card Playoff games today, we don’t know which network will air them.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com writes that the competition among mainstream sports websites is very intense.

Pam Modarelli-Hegner at Sports TV Jobs writes about the types of personalities and egos journalists encounter when interviewing athletes.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder writes in Puck Drunk Love about ESPN’s failure to cover the NHL.

In his regular site, Matt says CNBC’s Darren Rovell assigned his baby daughter several social networking accounts on her first day on earth.

Brady Green at AA has video of the Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia’s very funny impression of ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian that aired on Baseball Tonight.

John Daly at the Daly Planet looks at Showtime’s Inside NASCAR program taking the spring and summer off after one episode this week.

Barry Petchesky over at Deadspin notes that ESPN came up with another potentially racist headline for an Asian-American athlete.

Rachel Margolis at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with college basketball analyst Brooke Weisbrod who has a rather interesting day job that keeps her busy during the work week.

Joe Favorito says President Obama is courting sports fans through the Captain Blowhard podcast.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media reviews the new hockey movie, “Goon.”

Sports Media Watch has some of the ratings from last week’s sports action.

SMW says Jeremy Lin is helping to move the ratings needle for ABC and TNT.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says a San Diego sports anchor’s criticism of Danica Patrick shows that sexism still exists in sports.

Also in the National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos laments how social media has watered down traditional sports journalism.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan talks with ESPN’s college basketball analyst Doris Burke. High praise and I agree. Doris is one of the best.

Chad Finn of the Globe says despite having his original role reduced, Dale Arnold is remaining at WEEI.

Chad has some advice for rookie ESPN MLB analyst Terry Francona.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen writing in SB Nation Boston says Bill Simmons has had a meteoric rise to stardom.

Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says it was the Worcester Sharks’ radio voice who came up with the idea to have popular New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski spike a puck before a game last month.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks back at the 50th anniversary of one of the major milestones in sports that barely was covered by the media at the time.

Newsday’s Neil Best says two ESPN’ers will speak at their high school alma mater next week.

Neil says the Nets are not drawing well on YES.

Neil notes that CBS Sports Network utilizes a husband & wife team for its college hockey games.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick mocks the bracketologists handicapping the NCAA Tournament field.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NHL on NBC voice Mike Emrick.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says MSG Network continues to score with Knicks games.

Jerry reports that former WNBC-TV sports anchor Len Berman is back on TV in NYC.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air the America’s Cup next year.

Pete says YES is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NBC Sports Network is adding NHL games to its schedule for the playoff drive.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that a local service provider has snagged the rights to an incoming minor league hockey team.

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

South

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that a local sports anchor is recovering from a stroke he suffered last year.

David has a little more on the story in his blog.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with Fox Sports Oklahoma NBA studio analyst Stephen Howard.

Mel has more here with Stephen Howard.

Mel says NBA TV is marking the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game.

Midwest

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter says a movie script has been written about a deaf mute Reds player who changed the way umpires made calls.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wonders if another network will join Fox and TBS in airing the MLB Postseason this year.

Bob says ESPN still leads the way in cable subscriber fees, meaning how much cable and satellite providers are required to pay ESPN per subscriber.

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

Ed says a Big Ten Network profile of former Indiana University coach Bob Knight will mostly focus on his achievements and hardly touches on his tumultuous exit.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin notes NBA TV’s documentary on Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says not many Missourians will be able to see local teams in conference tournaments next week.

West

Dan Caesar of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that BYU is better off an a football independent rather than share money and TV time with other teams when it was part of the Mountain West.

John Maffei at the North County Times says local prep basketball games will be harder to find on local TV this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says who knew that product placement would be the big winner during Fox’s airing of the Daytona 500.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says CBS and MSG Network are considering buy the Dodgers in separate bids in order to get their TV rights.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at how the media covered (barely) Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game 50 years ago today.

Tom has some news and notes this week.

Canada

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says CBC premieres part two of the movie on Don Cherry’s life this weekend.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail can’t believe how well NHL Trade Deadline coverage does in the ratings.

Bruce says social media has changed sports reporting forever.

And that will do it. Enjoy your weekend.

Bringing Out The Mid-Week Linkage

Let’s do our linkage for today. It’s going to snow in Southern New England so I’m doing this early in case I have bug out later.

Starting with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, we learn that ESPN will be streaming its Championship Week games on Facebook, but not everyone will be able to see the games.

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk through John Ourand of Sports Business Journal writes that former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian will join ESPN in a couple of weeks.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley advises NBC Sports Network to stay the course and not panic in the wake of low ratings out of the box.

Eric Fisher at Sports Business Daily has the skinny on MLB Advanced Media’s unveiling of the new At Bat mobile app.

Stephen Galloway at the Hollywood Reporter has a fascinating update on cable television pioneer and Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner.

Eriq Gardner from the Reporter writes that former college athletes suing the NCAA over the use of their likenesses in video games and attempting to get information from TV contracts, have been sanctioned by the judge presiding over the case.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the National Association of Broadcasters has told the FCC to keep the antiquated NFL blackout rule in place.

Tim Baysinger at B&C notes the NFL has moved its regular season opening game back one day to accommodate the Democratic National Convention.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says after some early momentum, TNT saw rating drops for its NBA All-Star Weekend.

Wendy Davis at MediaPost writes that streaming service Justin.TV and YouTube are being sued for illegally showing a boxing pay-per-view fight.

All Access notes that CBS Radio’s WJFK has signed to remain the DC affiliate for Virginia Tech sports.

Greg Doyel of CBS Sports wants to know why ESPN is allowing Bob Knight to show his clear disdain for Kentucky.

The Mansfield (CT) Patch picks up a story from Kenneth Best who went behind the scenes when ESPN’s College GameDay visited the UConn campus last weekend.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at Twitter’s newest darling, NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski.

The Long Island Tennis Magazine says ESPN2 will air the annual BNP Paribas Showdown on tape delay with an MSG Network replay following a day later.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says the NFL regular season opener has been pushed back one day to accommodate President Obama.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the Nationals’ Bryce Harper has deleted his Twitter account.

The Winston-Salem (NC) Journal remembers a local sports anchor who passed away this week.

Deven Swartz of WGHP-TV also remembers Rich Brenner who was a beloved member of the community.

WGHP also has a special section devoted to Brenner.

Amanda Kelley at the Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun-Times says ESPN Radio is changing stations.

Luther Campbell, formerly of 2 Live Crew, in the Miami New Times accuses ESPN’s Skippy Bayless of race baiting.

Jon Solomon at the Birmingham (AL) News writes that the SEC’s member schools are reluctant to expand to 9 conference football games, but the league’s TV partners are seeking more inventory.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Daytona 500 did well in primetime for Fox, but ratings are down from last year.

Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the Padres are wondering why MLB is taking so long to approve its rights deal with Fox Sports.

Brady Green at Awful Announcing has the video of Rich Eisen’s annual 40 yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Andrew Bucholz at AA notes that Captain Blowhard is complaining about something no one cares about.

At the Bleacher Report, Dan Levy looks at the sexism one San Diego sports anchor threw at Danica Patrick and the reaction since.

John Daly of the Daly Planet reviews Fox’s performance at the Daytona 500.

John also explores ESPN’s Brad Daugherty inexplicably coming down hard on driver Brad Keselowski for Tweeting during the Daytona 500.

John Gennaro of the Bolts from the Blue blog looks at how the new Fox Sports San Diego will affect sports fans.

Congratulations to CNBC’s Darren Rovell who now has a baby daughter to take care of. She wasn’t even a day old when Darren signed her up for Twitter.

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/174684002865774593"]

And then Darren told us that he signed her up for other social networking services and bought her domain name. Darren? Put down the smartphone and walk away slowly.

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/174686172033990656"]

And we’ll end it there for today.

Churning Out The Tuesday Links

Early evening again. Let’s do some linkage here.

The Poynter Institute’s Jason Fry writes an article as the ESPN Ombudsman on how whiskey maker Jameson’s got stuck sponsoring the ESPN Films “Unguarded” documentary on addict Chris Herren.

Michael Bradley writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at a new e-book from Dallas Mavericks owner and social media maven Mark Cuban.

Tony Barnhart, a.k.a. “Mr. College Football”, writes a tribute to the late voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, Larry Munson at CBSSports.com.

Peter Schrager at Esquire talks with Baltimore sportscaster Gerry Sandusky, who’s often confused with the accused Penn State child molester.

At the Hollywood Reporter, Georg Szalai writes that the NBA lockout really didn’t effect the cable networks’ in the third quarter of this year.

Lacey Rose from the Reporter talks with Captain Blowhard about his Grantland site and a few other things that people really don’t care about.

One more from the Reporter, Gary Baum says Hollywood is taking sides for this weekend’s USC-UCLA game. Whatever.

Brian Steinberg at Advertising Age tells us how the ads for Super Bowl XLVI on NBC are shaping up.

Dan Hirschhorn of Ad Age says the networks are now hoping to poach NBA advertisers in the wake of the lockout.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable notes the plan of succession for ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer is now in place and will take in effect on New Year’s Day.

John Eggerton at B&C says NBC Sports Network gets into boxing next year.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that NASCAR’s season finale got a big rating for ESPN.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes about NBC Sports and the NHL teaming up for a new event hoping that it will be as successful as the Winter Classic.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes a new poll which shows that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s reputation has been ruined most likely for good.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the NFL is not as dependent on New York for ratings as the other sports leagues.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Week 12 TV schedule for the Capital Region.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable will air local high school football championships this weekend.

Ken says MSG Network airs some college hockey on Saturday.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks about NBA TV’s new show that premieres tonight.

Jim says the Big East could become a coast-to-coast conference.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about the ESPN chain of succession.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says as expected, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State drew big local ratings over the weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says try not to get too excited over Fox’s Galloping Gobbler Award.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business talks with an NBA agent who’s making due during the lockout.

Jay Drew of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that BYU’s TV contract is the main holdup for the school’s entry to the Big East.

Helene Elliot from the Los Angeles Times looks at the potential aftermath of the Dodgers ownership sale.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN’s NASCAR ratings went up this year.

Christopher Byrne of Eye on Sports Media has some thoughts on the passing of Georgia football announcer Larry Munson.

That’s going to be it.

Monday Linkage

Let’s do some links now. I have to write my recap of Blogs with Balls 4 while everything is still fresh in my mind. It really was a great event to attend and wonderful to meet so many good people. I hope to have the BwB recap up tonight.

Here are some links for you.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says Bill Parcells’ prediction on the Patriots-Bills game during ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown was off.

Ryan Chittum of the Columbia Journalism Review says ESPN has a massive conflict of interest with the Longhorn Network and conference realignment.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that NBC/Golf Channel will combine for extensive live and repackaged coverage of the Presidents Cup in November.

Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal reports that the NFL plans to continue playing regular season games in London.

The perpetually lovely Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press writes that some NFL coaches challenges sometimes aren’t made due to the lack of replays from the networks.

Andrew McCains at Adweek tells us that Mercedes-Benz won’t advertise in Super Bowl XLVI, but that doesn’t mean it’s giving up on the Big Game altogether.

Mark Walsh at MediaPost writes that Verizon’s NFL mobile app has grown by leaps and bounds from last year.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says ad buyers know that NBC’s Sunday Night Football is a sure ratings winner.

Barry Janoff at The Big Lead writes that the US may submit a bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Robert Seidman of TVbytheNumbers has the ratings for MLB Network’s worst show by far, Intentional Talk.

The Sports Biz Miss, Kristi Dosh explains what Texas A&M stands to gain from its move to the SEC.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has Red Sox pitcher John Lackey angry over a text from TMZ.com before he was about to pitch before yesterday’s game against the Yankees.

From Broadcast Engineering, Michael Grotticelli says ESPN’s new deal for Monday Night Football allows for 3-D productions.

Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says NFL Network’s Deion Sanders is refuting reports that he’s divorcing his wife, Pilar over her reality show fame.

Over to Phil Mushnick of the New York Post where he wants networks to embarrass athletes when they showboat.

Laura Nachman has the winners of the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards including those in the sports categories.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun feels NFL coaches don’t give CBS announcers much to go on in their pregame discussions.

From the DC Sports Bog in the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg writes that DC NFL team QB Rex Grossman doesn’t seem to pay attention to the sports media.

Brendan Brown of the Martinsburg (WV) Journal writes that West Virginia showed off its best features on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times goes over the weekend that was in sports television.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Joe Buck’s voice while better, is still not all the way back yet.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos fans wanted to talk about Tim Tebow after yesterday’s loss to Tennessee.

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

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star looks at the media coverage of last week’s racist banana tossing incident involving Wayne Simmonds and Hazel Mae’s return to Canada.

The Toronto Globe and Mail has Canadian Press video of CBC’s Battle of the Blades cast remembering the late Wade Belak.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Globe and Mail feels the NHL grew by leaps and bounds with Brendan Shanahan using video to explain disciplinary action by the league.

Joe Favorito explains why Blogs with Balls is important not just for bloggers, but for sports leagues.

The Days of Y’Orr blog busts Captain Blowhard for his lack of hockey knowledge. Again.

Ryan Durling of BostInnovation says Captain Blowhard got Twitter bombed.

And we’ll end the posts there for today. Keep it here for various updates throughout the day.

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.

What the Fuck Does This Mean? Grantland’s Insufferable 2nd Commercial

I guess this is supposed to be a high brow commercial for Captain Blowhard’s site, Grantland. A woman spouting nonsense and the guy allegedly figuring what the hell she’s talking about. There was already an ad for Grantland featuring a bookie taking a bet on how many words Blowhard would churn out in a column which is highly inaccurate since he hardly writes anymore.

Anyway, try to figure out what the hell this woman is saying. Does anyone seriously talk like this? If you do, then expect a punch in the mouth.

It’s late and it’s a holiday weekend. I don’t need a 30 second commercial trying to make me think.

A Few Late Night Links

Due to the fact that I had to go in and out of the office five times for various errands and meetings during the day, I was not able to provide linkage. And due to the fact that there are some good stories lingering, I don’t want to leave you without some links. So I’ll do a quick set of links now and hopefully will be able to do a full set on Wednesday.

Let’s start with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated who talks with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit who sets the record straight about why he moved away from his beloved Columbus to Tennessee.

Matthew Belloni of the Hollywood Reporter says a federal judge has shot down Comcast’s request to block a DirecTV ad campaign on offering “free” NFL games.

Jon Lafayette at Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News says ESPN helped to steer parent company Disney to higher earnings in the 3rd quarter of its fiscal year.

From Mike Reynolds from Multichannel, ESPN saw its highest viewership for an MLB contest dating back to 2007 thanks to Yankees-Red Sox on Sunday.

Mike writes that NFL Network saw its best Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony audience ever since it began airing the event in 2003.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine writes that media buyers are skeptical that the 2011-12 NBA season will begin on time if it’s played at all.

Writing for Forbes, the SportsBizMiss, the always lovely Kristi Dosh says revenue sharing might be how the NBA solves its labor problems.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says two MLB.com writers were robbed outside the Great American Ball Park after a Cincinnati Reds game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that Mike Tyson’s autograph is a hotter commodity now than it was when he was in his boxing prime.

Jeré Longman of the New York Times says despite increased attendance and TV ratings for Women’s Professional Soccer since the Women’s World Cup, the league’s future is very much in doubt.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the Syracuse football schedule and the networks airing the games.

Ken McMillan in the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Red Sox fans in the Catskill Mountains have a radio station to listen to their favorite team.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes NASCAR drama is truly reality TV.

Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is expanding its relationship with the Baltimore Ravens. This comes a year after the Ravens severed its relationship with MASN just before last season.

Dan discovers that two DC-area natives co-anchored ESPN’s SportsCenter last weekend.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also writes about CSN Mid-Atlantic taking in more Ravens programming.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local ratings for sports.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says four Brewers originally not scheduled for air will be picked up for TV.

The Cleveland Frowns blog wonders why CBS Radio is bringing in an outsider to be part of its daily lineup for its new FM sports radio station.

Bob writes that a local TV station is teaming up with the local ESPN Radio affiliate to produce a weekly show.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Tiger Woods has lost another sponsor and Ed also wants Tiger’s former caddie to shut up.

David Zahniser of the Los Angeles Times writes that a deal to build an NFL stadium at the Staples Center site received unanimous approval on Tuesday.

Times NFL writer Sam Farmer talks about what the deal approval means.

The Canadian Sports Media blog has some thoughts on what’s been happening in the Great White North.

CSMB notes that TSN is no longer airing the UEFA Champions League.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog wonders if anyone would buy Rogers’ attempt at a sports magazine in this day and age.

Sports Media Watch says Yankees-Red Sox had ratings drawing power during this past weekend.

And SMW notes that three of MLB’s TV partners saw ratings gains for Yanks-Red Sox.

Brian Packey at Awful Announcing refuses to call the hair on top of Bill Simmons’ lip that was seen on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, a porn mustache. Brian may not, but I will. That thing is hideous.

Dave Kohl at his renamed “Broadcast Booth” blog looks at sports radio ratings for various markets.

Ok, that’s going to do it. I found more links than I thought I would and it’s approach 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. I need sleep. Back later today.

Doing Some Megalinks

Today, I was all over the place going in between two offices, heading to see a client and running through Northern Rhode Island for no good reason. But I’m trying to do some megalinkage after not being able to do them last week so let’s not delay any further. Check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for sports and primetime recommendations.

Now to the linkage.

National

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says ESPN’s Michelle Beadle has quickly become one of the network’s most popular personalities.

With this being the one year anniversary of the abortion known as “The Decision”, ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute wonders if the network has learned anything after running the program.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that the new Time Warner Sports regional sports network has made two important hires.

Guest blogging for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Joe Gisondi tells aspiring writers that going for the offbeat can sometimes lead to some of the best stories.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that ESPN continues to use the MLB Home Run Derby as a guinea pig for new innovations.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that a year after “The Decision”, LeBron James still remains a pariah among sports fans.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN is still dealing with the fallout from “The Decision.”

The Business Insider’s Sports Page provides the best and worst of the first 30 days of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Sports Media Watch tells us that the ratings for the Women’s World Cup are up significantly from the previous event from four years ago.

SMW also has some ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito says Victor Martinez may not have been selected for the last American League All-Star Game roster spot, but it wasn’t due to his creative campaigning.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe compares and contrasts the Hub’s two regional sports networks, NESN and Comcast SportsNet New England.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the fill-ins on local sports radio and he remembers the late Boston Herald columnist and celebrated boxing writer, George Kimball.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram talks with Fox Sports MLB analyst Eric Karros about the All-Star Game.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the new season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm broaches some painful baseball memories.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post lectures everyone who thinks the Roger Clemens perjury trial is a waste of time.

Justin Terranova of the Post writes about Bob Costas and Al Michaels calling tonight’s Mets-Giants game on MLB Network and SNY.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com writes about some changes at a Baltimore sports radio station.

I hope this next story goes viral. From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg writes former quarterback Joe Theismann telling a local radio station how he got hoof and mouth disease playing in the CFL. Why does that seem appropriate for Theismann?

Jim Williams talks about Al Michaels and Bob Costas teaming up for MLB Network.

South

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald has former Hurricane quarterback Gino Torretta calling out Ohio State fans for forcing ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to move out of his native Columbus.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle discusses the Longhorn Network making some on-air hires.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that Tulsa native Dari Nowkhah will be the main host on ESPNU for the upcoming college sports season.

Mel has his sports media news and notes.

Midwest

Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal looks at “The Decision” one year later and where it leaves native LeBron James.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press has Joe Buck raving about the Detroit Tigers.

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley has Fox’s Tim McCarver discussing the Brewers’ All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Fox’s Tim McCarver who will be at the mic for his record 20th All-Star Game on Tuesday.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times looks at the HBO Curt Flood documentary that airs the night after the All-Star Game.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes about Al Michaels accepting Bob Costas’ invitation to call a game on MLB Network.

In his notebook, Jim writes that the Home Run Derby is watched by the MLB All-Stars as well.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Fox’s Joe Buck.

Tom has Joe willing to step aside to have Vin Scully call the World Series one more time.

Tom has his news and notes.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the doctor with a connection to Tiger Woods and pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges raised the ire of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that IndyCar makes two stops this summer in the Great White North and TSN will take Versus’ coverage of both events.

And with that and it being early Saturday morning, I’ll end the megalinks here.

Bringing Out The Friday Megalinks

Yup, time for the Friday megalinks. As long as I don’t get interrupted, I should be able to do this all in one shot for you.

Your Weekend Viewing Picks have a whole lot of sports and entertainment programs so take a gander and see what suits your fancy.

To the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about ex-Florida coach Urban Meyer diving headfirst into being a college football TV analyst for ESPN.

Nate Davis at USA Today’s The Huddle blog notes that ex-NFLer’s and current TV analysts Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp don’t take much stock in Tiki Barber’s comeback.

Also in USA Today, Devra Maza talks with Hall of Fame baseball announcer Bob Wolff about his memories calling Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest is seeking to change his name to “Metta World Peace” while his wife, Kimsha is being cast for the new edition of VH1′s “Basketball Wives”.

Jon Weisman of Variety says David Feherty’s new show gave Golf Channel its most watched premiere in the history of the network.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that Wednesday’s Mexico-Honduras Gold Cup semifinal match was the highest rated primetime sporting event ever on Univision.

Sports Media Watch has some various news and notes.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the new DirecTV Football Cops ad featuring the Manning brothers.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with WEEI’s Dale Arnold who had to watch the Bruins championship run while being mostly on the sidelines.

Rich Fahey of the Globe says former Bruins TV host Tom Larson followed through on a 30 year promise to shave his beard.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says with a lockout looming, the NBA Players Association is standing firmly behind its leadership.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post has praise for ESPN’s Bobby Valentine and Orel Hershiser, but has to somehow temper it.

The Post’s Brett Cyrgalis has four questions for Mets radio voice Howie Rose.

Newsday’s John Jeansonne looks at how John McEnroe was perceived as a player and perceived now as an analyst.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty says two local TV reporters were able to catch up with Jimmer Fredette after the NBA Draft.

Pete says Jimmermania kept fans watching the NBA Draft for about an hour.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at the new CBS Sports Network contract with the Patriot League.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes talks about the programming changes at one Baltimore sports radio station.

Dave says the Washington City Paper is firing back at DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder in his efforts to sue the publication.

South

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times feels ESPN should not be leading the charge to move the Rays out of Tampa Bay.

William Brethertont of the Marietta (GA) Daily Journal says an Atlanta Beat Women’s Professional Soccer star will be on ESPN’s Women’s World Cup coverage.

Dan Murtaugh of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says Tennis Channel will focus on a local program that benefits young women and weaves in a tennis exhibition to help raise funds.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle recognizes one sports anchor’s longevity in the market.

Berry Tremel at the Daily Oklahoman says FX’s early college football schedule is all-Oklahoma, all the time.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Thom and Marty Brennaman don’t seem to have time to work together in the Reds broadcast booth.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk will be swinging a golf club on NBC’s celebrity golf tournament next month.

Bob says local overnight ratings for the NBA Draft on ESPN were strong.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a local sports anchor is pinch hitting on the news side this month.

And Dan has a few news and notes.

West

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune looks at Urban Meyer moving to the TV booth on college football Saturdays for ESPN.

Richard Eng of the Las Vegas Journal-Review explores the decision of former Triple Crown caller Tom Durkin to step down this year.

John Maffei of the North County Times says this weekend is a big one for soccer fans.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star notes that the Los Angeles Lakers will have different voices for next season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reports that Lenny Dykstra is now tweeting.

Tom also has a column on Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Jack Humphreville of City Watch LA takes a look at Frank McCourt’s embattled ownership of the Dodgers and the collapse of his rich rights deal with Fox.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has yet another mediocre media column this week. I’m close to dropping him from the megalinks.

The Toronto Sports Media blog notes the one year anniversary of a huge lineup change on one local sports radio station.

And that’s going to do it for today.

Some Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide a few links on this Thursday. Another rainy day in Southern New England. What joy.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that HBO Pay Per View has signed Floyd Mayweather to his next fight in September.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek writes that the NBC Sports Group will make GolfChannnel.com into a more ad and social media-friendly site.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life says the NFL’s TV partners are hopeful in hearing that a new agreement is close between the league and its players association.

Ben Axelrod of SportsGrid has video of a Marine on Fox Sports Midwest playfully calling for the death of Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay. At least I hope so.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at what’s going on with the NFL collective bargaining talks.

All Access reports that a San Francisco radio station will flip to ESPN Deportes on Friday.

Michael Starr of the New York Post says there’s an online petition circulating appealing to Fox to have Vin Scully have a role at one last World Series. I can support that and will! You can go here to add your name to the petition.

Newsday’s Neil Best recaps the sometime contentious Mike Francesa-Tiki Barber interview that took place on WFAN on Wednesday.

Neil talks with ESPN Women’s World Cup analyst Mia Hamm.

Neil notes the influx of Fordham alums calling New York sports on TV and radio.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says get ready to see more of the CFL on NFL Network in the early part of the season.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers some thoughts after seeing a replay of Game 7 of the 1971 World Series on Root Sports.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports that popular DC sports anchor Lindsay Czarniak is leaving the local NBC affiliate to become an anchor for ESPN.

At the Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has video of some of the best moments in Lindsay’s time in DC.

Dan notes that DC is certainly an ESPN breeding ground.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says local and national media will be all over the first round picks for the Wizards during tonight’s NBA Draft.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer gives us inside look at how Yankees voice John Sterling does his “Yankees win!” catchphrase.

At the Milwaukee Sentinel, Bob Wolfley talks with a fired local sports talk show host.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Cubs TV voice Len Kasper received a much deserved contract extension.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an e-mail interview with Captain Blowhard about Grantland.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes that Fox will not support Dodgers owner Frank McCourt if he takes legal action to try to keep the team.

Sam Farmer of the Times says a former player with the USC Trojans and a later a Times writer admitted to taking money when he was in school.

Valerie Hauch of the Toronto Star says the Vancouver Riots Kissing Couple has hired an agent for possible endorsements.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that a local sports talk radio host has been given the heave-ho.

Paul Lebowitz has several questions on Wednesday’s Mike Francesa-Tiki Barber interview.

Sports Media Watch has some news on some various personalities.

SMW says ratings for the NASCAR Nationwide Series on ESPN are up this season.

Now that the NHL’s 2011-12 schedule is out, Steve Lepore at Puck The Media speculates as to how next season’s NBC schedule will shape out.

And Steve does the same for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada schedule.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing wants you to sign the Vin Scully World Series petition.

Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interested in buying the Dodgers.

Ryan Lambert at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy gives his best and worst of last night’s NHL Awards.

I guess I’ll end it there for today.

Cranking Out Some Friday Megalinks

Ok, it’s getting late and in the work day and I need to get these megalinks done. I’ve traveled to the MA office and now back in RI. Let’s get this done so I can watch the Bruins tonight.

All of your Weekend Viewing Picks are right here.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reviews the HBO documentary on the Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe rivalry.

David Bauder of the Associated Press analyzes how new NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus got to keep the Olympics in the network fold.

At Forbes, Mike Ozanian goes inside Comcast’s numbers to see how it can profit from its Olympic bid.

Craig Wolff at the Wall Street Journal says maybe the time has come for sportswriters to abandon the locker room interview.

Sam Eifling of the Columbia Journalism Review looks at Grantland’s debut.

Jonathan Landreth at the Hollywood Reporter notes that a record audience in Communist China watched Li Na win the Women’s Final at the French Open.

Lindsay Rubino from Broadcasting & Cable says Game 5 of the NBA Finals took home a ratings win for ABC on Thursday.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks with TNT NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty about the network’s Summer Season of races.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says the NBA Finals also pulled a win in key demographics on Thursday.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says last month’s Manny Pacquaio-Shane Mosley fight drew the most buys for a Pacquaio pay per view bout.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that the TD Garden in Boston quickly became enamored with actress and Bruins fan Rachel McAdams.

Joe Favorito looks at how the NBA is trying to engage social media throughout its platforms.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Yankees might be losing money on Derek Jeter’s chase for 3,000 career hits.

Awful Announcing has Fox Sports’ MLB analyst Mark Grace’s mugshot taken shortly after being arrested for DUI on Memorial Day Weekend.

At Captain Blowhard’s site, we have this great article by Alex French and Howie Kahn on the late, great sports daily, The National, which was way ahead of its time.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs looks at the news of the week in sports media.

Chris Hadley at The Sports Tube reviews the ESPN on ABC production of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final ratings of Games 3 & 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final on Versus.

Sports Media Watch notes that Boston (which is more fixated on the Bruins) is not watching the NBA Finals.

SMW looks at how NBA Finals Game 5′s overnight ratings finished lower than last year.

Erik Malinowski of Wired writes how ESPN is trying to keep ESPN 3D in the forefront and not let it slip away.

The Big Lead says ESPN 3D is trying to break out from being a niche channel.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer misses listening to Chicago Cubs radio analyst Ron Santo.

Michael Zuidema at the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with MLB Network host Ahmed Fareed about growing up in Michigan and hitting the national stage.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel hears from ESPN’s US Open analysts Andy North and Curtis Strange.

Bob reviews HBO’s McEnroe/Borg documentary.

And Bob looks at ESPN’s new logo for Monday Night Football.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about one local sports radio station that turns to a new program director.

And Dan has a few news and notes.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz who was in Utah when the Tiffany Network plucked him to be its college football host in 1985.

John Maffei in the North County Times reviews the McEnroe/Borg HBO doc.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth writes that Vin Scully’s start on the Hollywood Walk of Fame needs fixing.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that NBC/Versus analyst Mike Milbury isn’t making any friends on the Vancouver Canucks during the Stanley Cup Final.

Thomas Grillo of the Boston Herald says win or lose, several Bruins players could cash in as commercial pitchmen after the season.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette looks at Comcast SportsNet New England’s Bruins studio hosts.

The Springfield (MA) Republican notes that the Basketball Hall of Fame has named its print and broadcasting inductees for this year.

Newsday’s Neil Best chronicles his day in the MLB Man Fan Cave.

Neil has more on his day at the Fan Cave and the two men who are spending the entire MLB season inside.

Neil has his thoughts on NBC’s promise to go live at the Olympics.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post has five questions for ESPN’s Andy North on the upcoming US Open.

Bob’s Blitz recaps Jenn Sterger’s appearance on WFAN’s Boomer and Carton show today.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says the US Open will be missing a big storyline when ESPN opens its coverage next week.

Jeff DiVeronica of the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle says local soccer and Brazilian superstar Marta will be featured on an ESPN documentary.

Evan Weiner at the New Jersey Newsroom says the new Olympics deal with NBC/Comcast will help to increase your cable television bill.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun notes that former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams will be an analyst on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s US Open coverage next week.

Dave Hughes in Press Box says the host of a University of Maryland sports-themed show hopes to expand it outside of the Baltimore area.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Tony Kornheiser has reached his limit of shows for the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams notes that Dan Patrick will be joining NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Final for the rest of the series.

South

Jocelyn Syrstad of the Virginian-Pilot says ESPN is interested in a local beach soccer tournament.

Mark DeCotis of Florida Today profiles a local woman who will be working behind the scenes on TNT’s NASCAR coverage.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talks about the health struggles of two ESPN personalities working the NBA Finals.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews NBC’s big win in the Olympics bidding this week.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron notes that Astros broadcaster Bill Brown will be honored for his service to the team this weekend.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks about the McEnroe/Borg and the Olympics bidding.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says looks at the first ratings in city’s sports radio war.

And that’s going to do it.

Back to the Linkage Grind Edition

Ok, now that the Olympics bidding is over until the next round sometime later this decade, I can focus on other sports media stories and there are quite a few of them now.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that embattled cyclist Lance Armstrong has taken down his anti-60 Minutes website stating its report on his alleged PED use has been debunked.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Game 4 of the NBA Finals scored a primetime win for ABC on Tuesday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks about ESPN signing a new deal with the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says ESPN is ready to convert to a full HD format.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Captain Blowhard is trying to save the internet from a certain type of advertising. Nice of him to appoint himself as our savoir.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the NBA Finals are on pace to become the most watched in seven years.

Bill Simmons’ Grantland site finally had its official launch yesterday. Already people are assessing it including Nicholas Jackson of Atlantic Monthly.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead has his first impressions.

Tim Carmody of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University wonders if Simmons’ mix of sports and pop culture will work.

Tommy Craggs at Deadspin tells us why Grantland Rice for whom Simmons’ site is named, was really overrated.

Deadspin runs an excerpt from former New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte’s new book in which he recalls an encounter with an overtalkative Bob Costas.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes that this week’s successful Olympic bid was key for the new NBC/Comcast.

The Nielsen Wire blog has a look at the top NHL players in name recognition.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser has TNT’s Charles Barkley ripping Miami Heat fans.

Cam says the Denver Post’s Woody Paige has apologized to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal for lifting quotes from an ESPN story he wrote.

Corey Nachman of the Business Insider Sports Page has his 100 Best Venues in Sports.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the video of a Brazilian writer typing away on a small laptop while showing a bit more of himself than he realized.

And Dan says Steven A. “A is for Allude” Smith hinted on ESPN Radio that something is up with LeBron James, but won’t say exactly what.

Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner gives some examples from the ESPN book that he feels evidence how NBC’s Sunday Night Football is superior to Monday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a strange endorsement story involving the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez.

ESPN PR pro Bill Hofheimer helps to unveil the new Monday Night Football logo that will be seen when the NFL starts playing again.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that NBC now has to follow through on promises to show the Olympics live.

Brian Stelter of the Times reports that UFC is in talks with Comcast to buy its G4 gaming channel.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that ESPN has added 7 more Big Ten games to its ESPN/ESPN2/ABC college football schedule.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable airs some local high school lacrosse finals this weekend.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will air 10 WNBA games this season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that there’s something brewing between writer John Feinstein and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Iliana Limon at the Orlando Sentinel writes that Central Florida along with Conference USA have announced their TV schedules.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News reports that the SEC and ESPN are ready to re-evaluate their 15 year deal which now looks antiquated when it was signed in 2009.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the NBA is gaining increased interest in the area thanks to the Thunder.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says you can design a special bowtie for Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that would benefit Dhani Jones’ Bow Tie Cause Initiative.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel notes that outgoing ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson cites Rick Pitino was his best coach.

Yesterday was Tom Hoffarth’s birthday. Happy Belated Birthday, Tom.

Joe Flint at the Los Angeles Times says keeping the Olympics was top priority for NBC and Comcast.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury Times has some thoughts on ESPN’s new contract with the West Coast Conference.

Lisa K. Anderson in the Sandy (OR) Post writes about a local woman who’s hosting a reality show for Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

Dan Robson of the Toronto Star says CBC has signed a five year deal with the International Skating Union for figure skating, speedskating and other events.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN will air BBC’s coverage of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

Joe Caporoso of Gunaxin asks Erin Andrews or Michelle Beadle?

Cosby Sweaters looks at how Olympic viewing will change with Comcast in charge of NBC.

We have a new sports media blog, The Sports Tube, headed by Chris Hadley. He looks at the Olympic bidding.

Sports Media Watch notes the ratings for Games 2 & 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final are down from last year.

Joe Favorito wonders if any New York sports teams or events will take advantage of the Congressman Anthony Weiner mess.

That’s going to do it for now.

Up For Thursday Links

Time for some linkage on this very warm Thursday. I hope you all take a moment and say a prayer for the people of Western Massachusetts who head to deal with tornadoes yesterday. Four people are confirmed dead. It was quite devastating to see last night. Let’s hope the area can recover quickly.

To your links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Shaquille O’Neal, who retired from the NBA after 19 seasons, would be a logical choice to become an NBA television analyst.

The Sporting News notes that ESPN is looking to hire O’Neal.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has a profile on NBC’s NHL voice Mike “Doc” Emrick.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to the NBA Playoffs, TNT had the best ratings month in cable TV history.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS News will not apologize and stands by its 60 Minutes report on cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Michael Malone of B&C says the NBC Sports Group will be all over rugby this weekend.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that ESPN3D plans to air The Championship Wimbledon in the third dimension.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says NBC Sports gets an EPIC FAIL for airing a promo stating the Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Stanley Cup Final.

Noah Davis of The Business Insider Sports Page notes the national debut of a Wall Street Journal sports columnist.

Noah has the complete roster of writers who will staff Captain Blowhard’s Grantland.

Dan Fogarty in SportsGrid says Captain Blowhard has finally set an official launch date for the pretentiously-titled Grantland site.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group talks about 3-D TV stepping up at The Masters.

Ted Miller of ESPN.com says the Pac-12 has made announcements on seven nationally televised games.

Bill Hofhemier at ESPN’s Front Row discusses how ESPN’s award-winning World Cup production team is back together again for the Women’s World Cup.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first athletes to embrace social media.

Darren says Shaq’s retirement video gave an internet start-up a huge boost in more ways than one.

Darren talks with the men who marketed Shaquille O’Neal.

Martin Pave of the Boston Globe profiles the the Emmy Award-winning director of ESPN’s “Fab Five” documentary who has local ties.

Jessica Van Sack of the Boston Herald says fans don’t have to watch TV to follow the NHL.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir feels NBC needs a better way to air the French Open men’s semifinals.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that WFAN’s Mike Francesa is not just doing well without partner Chris Russo, he’s flourishing.

Neil has his entire interview with Francesa in his blog.

Neil talks with ESPN Radio New York’s Michael Kay who one day hopes to beat Francesa in the ratings.

Neil also has the ratings breakdown between WFAN and ESPN Radio New York for afternoon drive.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says tennis great Chris Evert is returning to TV as an analyst for ESPN2′s Wimbledon coverage.

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer says Rugby 7′s will get network TV exposure this weekend.

John George in the Philadelphia Business Journal says Comcast SportsNet will air a local bike race in HD.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the UEFA Champions League Final outrated Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in DC.

Dan finds out why ESPN Radio DC slapped a 24 hour waiting period on publishing podcasts.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner explains that DC had the highest ratings for the Champions League finale.

Jim says NBC received the best NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 1 overnight ratings in a dozen years.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald says the NBA Finals are drawing viewers both nationally and locally.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says Magic star Gilbert Arenas has returned to Twitter with often humorous results.

Chuck Goldberg of the Alabama Newspapers notes that Auburn will get early starts for its first three football games of the season.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News notes that Miami outrated Dallas for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with two-time Olympic softball player Michele Smith about the Women’s College World Series which begins on ESPN2 tonight.

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports that Fox Sports Indiana and the Pacers have dropped pregame show host Stacy Paetz effective immediately.

Kevin Kane of the Southside (IN) Times wonders when organizers will lift the local blackout on the Indianapolis 500.

Bob Wolfeley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Suds City topped all markets watching the Indianapolis 500.

At the Iowa City Gazette, Scott Dochterman writes that Fox plans to give the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game the Big Event treatment.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News gets the nitty gritty on why Vin Scully’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was covered and mistreated.

Dian Pucin of the Los Angeles Times instructs West Coast viewers on how to watch tomorrow’s French Open men’s semifinal live.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail explores the media’s handling of the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg story.

At Deadspin, A.J. Daulerio chronicles how ESPN.com’s Grantland site pursued and then later had misgivings about hiring site writer Tommy Craggs.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing tries to make sense of the whole thing.

Sports Media Watch says ABC had the most watched NBA Finals game since 2004.

And that will end the links for today.

Going For Wednesday Linkage

If you’ve been visiting the blog throughout the morning, you may have noticed a couple of theme changes and then the return of the current theme. I’ve been trying to make a few cosmetic changes, but I screwed them up so I had to delete the theme and then reinstall it. If you were visiting and saw a different look and got confused, I apologize. Just trying to make the blog look as best as possible. I can assure you I’m done with the cosmetic changes for a while.

Let’s do some links on this Wednesday.

Sean Leahy of USA Today notes that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth is so fearful that the NFL will lose half a season that he took a non-paying high school football coaching position for the fall.

Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings for the Indy 500, primetime baseball and the UEFA Champions League Final.

Lindsay Powers at the Hollywood Reporter writes that Lance Armstrong lawyers are demanding an apology from CBS News’ 60 Minutes stating that the program did shoddy journalism in a segment on his alleged steroid use.

Philiana Ng of the Reporter says NBC has selected its blockbuster hit, “The Voice” to air after Super Bowl XLVI next February.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable says the NBA has launched a Windows phone app.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News reports that ESPN and Tennis Channel have extended their multimedia alliance for the French and Australian Opens starting next year.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine writes that having a Canadian team in the NHL Stanley Cup Final won’t help NBC’s ratings.

Last night, ESPN’s Chris Berman called the San Francisco Giants-St. Louis Cardinals game for the Alleged Worldwide Leader and as expected, it turned out to be a disaster. Berman can’t call play-by-play to save his life. Two examples of this EPIC FAIL.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the video from Bubbaprog/Mocksession of Berman not getting the concept of a walk off win.

Then Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has video of Berman trying to be edgy or most likely, not having a clue about “Tossed Salad”.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser visited the MLB Man Fan Cave.

Joe Favorito says the NCAA College World Series is a missed opportunity for college baseball.

My Twitter Trophy Wife Amanda Rykoff has compiled a hockey glossary at espnW just in time for the Stanley Cup Final.

From the upcoming New York Times Sunday Magazine, Jonathan Mahler profiles Captain Blowhard who’s already complaining about Grantland and the site hasn’t officially launched yet. The profile is long so get ready to scroll.

Richard Sandomir of the Times reports that former Montreal Expos and New York Mets Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter has an inoperable brain tumor.

Mike Madden of the Washington City Paper notes that DC NFL team owner and bully Daniel Snyder is taking the next step in his lawsuit against the publication by subpoenaing Washington Post blogger Dan Steinberg for just linking to the City Paper column that led him to sue in court.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner reports that ABC received the best NBA Finals overnight rating since 2004.

Jim says the NBC Sports Group gets to keep the Stanley Cup Final all to itself for the next two and a half weeks.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes that a local reporter may have jumped the gun when he reported on an alleged contract extension for the Magic’s Dwight Howard.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman says Game 5 of the Dallas-Oklahoma City NBA Western Conference Finals did very well in the local ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the ESPN book has some Wisconsin ties.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business wonders if the Windy City will tune into the Stanley Cup Final.

Scott Dochterman of the Iowa City Gazette notes the rebranding of Big Ten Network.

Chris Foster from the Los Angeles Times speaks with “How I Met Your Mother Star” Cobie Smulders who like her character Robin Scherbatsky is a big Vancouver Canucks fan.

Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun says CBC’s Jim Hughson and Canucks voice John Shorthouse are happy to be calling their native Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final.

Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN2′s coverage of the French Open will be all live starting next year.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media predicts how the Stanley Cup Final will fare on NBC/Versus this year.

That will do it for now.

Sneaking In Some Saturday Linkage

I have the opportunity to do some linkage on this Saturday so let’s take advantage of this.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Fox has to be happy to have a dream matchup in today’s UEFA Champions League Final.

Sofia M. Fernandez of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Indianapolis 500 has plenty of celebrity star power this weekend.

Brad Biggs in the National Football Post reports that a non-profit sports fan organization is appealing to the FCC to end all sports blackouts including NFL games.

The Big Lead notes that Captain Blowhard has poached a New York Times writer for his ESPN-backed Grantland site.

Sean Leahy at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that popular Canadian chain Boston Pizza is changing its name for the duration of the Stanley Cup Final.

Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News says Sabres fans are lucky to still have voice Rick Jenneret around for next season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that frequent Gilbert Arenas critic Tony Kornheiser is quite similar to him in one very particular way.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says like them or not, the Miami Heat are jacking up the NBA’s TV ratings.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has confided to ESPN Radio’s Dr. Jack Ramsey that he feels Rick Carlisle is outcoaching opponents.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune says a last minute deal placed the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship on Big Ten Network.

Kristena Hansen in the Arizona Republic notes that a Fox Sports Grill in Scottsdale is changing its name citing poor business.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog wonders if the city could support an all-sports daily newspaper.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN has signed a new six year deal to air the French Open in the Great White North.

Sports Media Watch looks at the ratings for the NBA Conference Finals dating back to 2002.

SMW says NBA TV and TNT analyst Kevin McHale is apparently heading back to coaching.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL Western Conference Final averaged less than a million viewers for the entire series.

Joe Favorito notes that lacrosse is seeing increased interest, but it will still take some time to grow the game.

Bike World News says Fox Sports Net will air the Tour of Utah cycling road race in August.

And that’s where I’ll end it today. I could do some press release posts later.

Doing Some Friday Megalinkage

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

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

National

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

East and Mid-Atlantic

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

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

NESN has Heidi Watney visiting the MLB Fan Cave.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

South

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

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

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

Mel says the Thunder are setting local ratings records.

Mel also has his media notebook.

Midwest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

West

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

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

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

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

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

Canada

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

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

Chugging Along On A Thursday Linkage Edition

Time for the linkage here on this Thursday getting a late charge out of the gate as I’ve had to visit a jobsite and then had to run a couple of office errands, but we’re back inside ready to give you some linkage. Lots of stuff to get to now.

We begin with some sad news from Chicago. Sports anchor Daryl Hawks of WMAQ-TV, the NBC affiliate, was found dead this morning in an Atlanta hotel room as he was going to cover tonight’s Bulls-Hawks game. He was 38. No other details are available.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says this is the 2nd unexpected death to happen to the WMAQ-TV sports staff in less than a decade.

Robert Feder at TimeOut Chicago says Hawks’ friends and colleagues are stunned.

If I get more details about Hawks’ death, I’ll post it here.

From USA Today’s Arin Kariminian, we learn that the NFL players are suing for over $700 million in damages from the league over the disputed broadcast revenues that led to the lockout in the first place.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal who’s been wearing bow ties for charitable causes, tells us that he’ll be wearing one this week for the Red Sox-Yankees game that will be near and very dear to his heart. We at Fang’s Bites wholeheartedly support this.

Etan Vlessing from the Hollywood Reporter says the owner of Canadian sports TV network The Score has purchased the third largest sports mobile app provider in the US.

To Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser who tells us that ESPN3.com will stream the entire season of the National Lacrosse League.

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

In the Indiana National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times does not want athletes to stop tweeting their thoughts.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at one restaurant chain that is allowing customers to drink beer for free as long as the NFL lockout continues.

Darren suggests that Disney buy Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom if he wins the next leg of the Triple Crown.

Public relations maven Bill Hofheimer in ESPN Front Row talks with two ESPN’ers who hope to have their CBS sitcoms picked up in the network upfronts later this month.

Adam Proteau from the Hockey News says fans rallying around Sean Avery’s gay marriage stance and denouncing of Uptown Sports’ tweets against it shows a true evolution in the sport.

In the Boston Herald, Ian R. Rapoport has video of Tom Brady explaining why he cried during the ESPN/NFL Films documentary, “The Brady 6.”

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman writes an appreciation of collegue, cartoonist Bill Gallo who passed away at the age of 88.

The Daily News’ Flip Bondy has Gallo’s obituary.

And Mike Lupica says Gallo will live on through his work.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes about ESPN airing a college basketball game from a military aircraft carrier on Veterans Day.

A related note from the Associated Press and picked up by the Sporting News: the carrier that buried Osama bin Laden at sea could be the one that hosts the game.

Ken says the NBC Sports Group will be airing horse racing from Saratoga Race Course over the summer.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that NASCAR fans in the DC area will be flocking to Dover this weekend.

Garry Smits from the Florida Times-Union looks at the NBC Sports Group airing the Players Championship this week.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times says a popular local sports radio host has signed a new contract with his current station.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that police confiscated some 30 phony passes including some labeled “NBC Sports” from people attempting to attend the Kentucky Derby.

John E. Hoover at the Tulsa World notes that the Oklahoma-Florida State game will be aired in primetime by either ESPN or ABC.

Amanda Van Benschoten from the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth has been named to a national fitness panel.

Alan Babbitt of the Holland (MI) Sentinel says ESPN’s Outside the Lines will air a segment Sunday on the high school basketball team that had a player pass away on court earlier this year.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Arena Football League’s Mustangs will be heard on local radio.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business explores the latest troubles with Jay Mariotti.

Mariotti’s former paper, the Chicago Sun-Times uses wire copy to construct the latest story on his latest arrest on stalking and domestic violence charges.

John Vornhof, Jr. from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal writes that Fox Sports North jumps into the WNBA game this summer.

Scott Dochterman in the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette notes that Big Ten Network will air a new original series on conference coaches.

Ben Kaplan of the National Post writes about a new documentary on Donald Trump’s efforts to build a golf course in Scotland that was first chronicled by HBO’s Real Sports.

The Toronto Sports Media blog notes that a Rogers Sportsnet host who weighed in on the gay marriage debate on Twitter regarding Sean Avery’s stance, was fired yesterday.

Cathal Kelly of the Toronto Star says the host, Damian Goddard is standing by his tweets.

The Big Lead looks at the first review of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

The Pretty in Pinstripes blog takes down the SNY “More Sports, More Testosterone” ad campaign that was very inexplicably created by women.

Sports Media Watch says the Miami Heat series clincher over Boston took in a good rating, but not as good as Game 4.

Joe Favorito explores the new magazine being published by energy drink manufacturer Red Bull.

And that is where we’ll end it for today. Lots of links for you today.

Bringing You Some Mid-Week Links

On this Wednesday, it’s time to provide some linkage. Some stuff to get to. Let’s not delay any further.

Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that the NCAA spent a lot of money to protect the March Madness™ trademark.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Gus Johnson leaving CBS for Fox Sports.

Eben Novy-Williams at Bloomberg News delves into Gus’ departure from CBS.

The great Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Cagewriter says while Gus is leaving CBS, he will remain at corporate sibling Showtime to call boxing and MMA.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says while fans are cheering the Lakers’ exit now, they’ll regret it later.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that TNT scored an across-the-board ratings win in key demographics for Game 4 of the Miami-Boston NBA Playoff game.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel says Disney’s CEO is saying that the Olympics could help ESPN get more money from cable providers.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Disney’s CEO isn’t too worried about an NFL lockout hurting ESPN.

Crupi writes a weak field in the Kentucky Derby offset NBCUniversal’s heavy promotion for the Run for the Roses.

Tony Fitzgerald of Media Life also looks at the lower ratings for the Derby on NBC.

Sean Martin at Golfweek says college golf could see more airtime with the new megarights deals with the Pac-12 and University of Texas.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN will air the MLS Cup against Sunday Night Football again (provided there is an NFL season).

Cam has video of ESPN’s Barry Melrose comments about gays on NHL teams which really has to be seen to be believed.

Stephen Douglas a.k.a. Cousins of Ron Mexico at The Big Lead shoots down point-by-point, a guest column written by celebrity-wannabe Rob Kardashian in ESPN.com’s Page 2 section.

Speaking of ESPN.com, the Et tu, Mr. Destructo blog has a review of the soft launch of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site. The review is almost as long as the two articles that launched the site.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says he got to meet a star before she become one.

Darren says Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is hoping to fill a void in fantasy camps.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has a story on Jack Edwards signing an extension with NESN to call Bruins games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Gus Johnson moving to Fox Sports.

At the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wonders if Captain Blowhard is recruiting Tony Kornheiser to write for Grantland.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Maryland and Miami will open the ACC football season in primetime on ESPN.

Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Bengals have renewed their radio rights deal with Clear Channel Radio.

The South Bend Tribune reports that ESPN/ABC may put a November Notre Dame road game in primetime.

Anthony Schoettle from the Indianapolis Business Journal says IndyCar officials are talking about placing more of their races on ABC in the next TV contract.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that HBO’s Real Sports will profile Brewers voice Bob Uecker.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a suspended sports talk show host returns to the air today.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune suggests the International Olympic Committee should take NBC’s overbid for the 2010/12 Games into account for the bid for the ’14/’16 Olympics.

Dom Izzo at WDAY-TV in Fargo, ND says Twins fans are being shut out from a number of games thanks to a dispute between Fox Sports North and the local cable provider.

Scott D. Pierce in the Salt Lake Tribune doesn’t understand why ESPN did not choose Real Salt Lake for its MLS TV schedule.

In the Phoenix Business Journal, Patrick O’Grady writes that the Pac-12 Network could find it difficult to gain carriage into Arizona homes.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times discusses Gus Johnson signing with Fox to become its main college sports announcer.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says the controversy over Sean Avery’s support of gay marriage and the condemnation by Uptown Hockey has opened a Pandora’s Box.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog feels Uptown Hockey and NHL agent Todd Reynolds should not have gone there.

Lost Letterman wonders if ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla could be headed back into coaching.

Matt Sarzyniak at Matt’s College Sports Media analyzes the ESPN/ABC Pac-12 schedule.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Dan Patrick will host NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, more specifically, the later games.

Sports Media Watch has some various NHL ratings news and notes.

And that will do it.

Bringing Out The Monday Linkage

This weekend was a very lost weekend for me and for you on the blog as I was unable to do anything either Saturday and Sunday. I attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday in Massachusetts and that took most of the day, then I went to a sports bar that night to see the Manny Pacquaio-Sugar Shane Mosley fight and I’m glad I did not have to pay a cover as Mosley just did not do anything. I fought to stay awake as the fight was very boring.

And on Mother’s Day, I had several errands to run so the blog was very quiet. I was happy nothing broke because I would not have been able to do anything. But we’re back today and let’s get cracking on some overdue linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says ESPN/ABC’s NBA analysts were very down on the Los Angeles Lakers’ effort in their series-ending loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Sports Business Daily has Screamin’ Gus Johnson calling reports of his departure from CBS “premature.”

SBD notes that the NBA Playoffs did very well in the weekend overnight ratings.

SBD also looks at the NFL possibly working under different rules from last year if the lockout is lifted.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that Golf Channel is giving CBS’ David Feherty his own primetime show.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Pacquaio-Mosley fight will most likely lead to more boxing pay per view events.

Mike goes inside the new Pac-12 Conference media rights deals.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about the league and its media rights deal with Comcast/NBC.

Diego Vasquez at Media Life Magazine writes on how sponsors can get true brand activation at the Preakness Stakes.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser has video of what Oracle is doing to make the viewing of this year’s America’s Cup more enjoyable to fans at home.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid reviews the silly Captain Blowhard-Keith Olbermann renewal of their Twitter feud over the weekend.

That wasn’t the only Twitter feud this weekend, supermodel Chrissy Teigen and Jay Mohr had one also. Very silly these Twitter fights.

At Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Greg Wyshynski looks at whether Versus’ Jeremy Roenick crossed the line or was being candid when he said San Jose’s Patrick Marleau was “gutless” following the team’s surprising loss to Detroit last night.

At ESPN Front Row, PR specialist Josh Krulewitz speaks with Hannah Storm on sports and Mother’s Day.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says Animal Kingdom owner Bill Irwin’s candor during NBC’s Kentucky Derby broadcast enlightened an otherwise technical glitch-filled broadcast.

Jonathan Bombulie of The Citizens’ (PA) Voice notes that ESPN’s E:60 newsmagazine will profile the young fan of a minor league hockey team, who has been battling a debilitating disease.

Mark Brown from the Baltimore Sports Report talks with legendary Maryland Terrapins voice Johnny Holliday about Gary Williams’ retirement.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the local ESPN Radio affiliate had egg on its face for reporting a false rumor on Maryland’s coaching situation.

Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times has ESPN’s Herman Edwards giving some advice to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on enduring the filming of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” as the Bucs are a candidate for the series this summer, provided there is a season.

Rodney Page of the Times has a look at the weekend in sports TV.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel says the Pac-12 came out smelling like a rose in its new TV deals.

Bud Withers of the Daily Oklahoman notes that the Pac-12 can no longer be considered a college sports doormat.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Bulls radio voice Chuck Swirsky.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post writes that fans got to see the Lakers’ fatal flaws yesterday.

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

Steve Gress from the Corvallis (OR) Gazette-Times says Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott definitely delivered for the league.

Eric Degerman of the Tri-City (WA) Herald says MLB Network has a nightly tribute to the late Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has the ratings for the Fan 590 and TSN 1050 in April.

Raju Mudhar in the Toronto Globe and Mail says the city’s courtship of the NFL through the Ford family has one glaring omission.

Paul Kennedy at Soccer America feels ESPN2′s MLS soccer highlights last Saturday did the league a great disservice.

Daniel Feuerstein at MLS Talk has his thoughts on Fox Soccer Channel’s inaugural Soccer Night in America broadcast.

Sports Media Watch notes that the camera operator is the anonymous person who is a big part of the sports broadcast you watch.

SMW says Bulls-Hawks has been a big draw for TNT.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for Night 23 of the NHL Playoffs.

Joe Favorito says boxing and horse racing are taking baby steps in getting back into the national conscience.

The Big Lead says ESPN’s Erin Andrews was among the beautiful people attending the Kentucky Derby and why not as Erin is a beautiful person.

And I’ll end the links there.

Some Friday Night Links

I’m not going to go crazy with a full set of links, but some that are topical. I was all over the place today and could not do the megalinks and I’m not in the mood to gather a full set tonight. It usually takes over two hours to do the megalinks so I’ll do some national and regional links.

Sean Leahy of USA Today notes that the ratings for the first round of the NFL Draft were down double digits from last year.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand of USA Today debate who’s the real NFL Draft Guru.

Jeff Pearlman feels one of the more dramatic moments on ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage on Thursday was more exploitation than real.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter notes that ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage on Thursday beat The Office on NBC.

Kevin Iole at Yahoo talks about how CBS became a major part of the Manny Pacquaio-Sugar Shane Mosley fight.

From Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says the NBC Sports Group set ratings records for its NHL Playoffs 1st round coverage.

Mike says NBA TV received its highest ratings ever on Wednesday.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says stronger competition from the networks led to lower ratings for the NFL Draft this year.

From Every Day Should Be Saturday, Spencer Hall has this funny post on whether the late sportswriter Grantland Rice could ever work for the Captain Blowhard-led website, Grantland.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has deleted his Twitter account over harassment from Ohio State fans.

Jason Dachman of the Sports Video Group says NBC and Versus have become a one stop shopping for the NHL.

Sports Media Watch says the overnight ratings for the Lakers-Hornets series-clinching game finished lower than last year’s comparable game, but still was strong.

Puck The Media has Versus’ complete game ratings for the entire 1st round of the NHL Playoffs.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing reviews ESPN’s 1st night of NFL Draft coverage.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe speaks with NESN’s Jack Edwards.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the best of his blog in his sports media column.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says YES’ Michael Kay isn’t getting the job done.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says there was no mention of the “L” word during the NFL Draft (and no, I’m talking about the Showtime TV series).

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com looks at Daniel Snyder’s attempted lawsuit against the Washington City Paper.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at ESPN celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC’s Wide World of Sports.

David Neal of the Miami Herald says the late Jim Mandich was giving of himself whether it was as a player or as a broadcaster later in life.

Joe Rose of WQAM writes in his South Florida Sun-Sentinel blog about how much he misses his friend, Jim Mandich.

Tom Jones in the St. Petersburg Times has a Friday version of his sports media column.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press feels ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft goes on too long.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer would like to hear radio coverage of NASCAR in the Queen’s City.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a look at the local sports radio ratings.

And Dan has a breakdown of the ratings.

Iowa Tube Talk notes that Versus’ website is now part of NBCSports.com.

John Maffei from the North County Times says it appears the San Diego Padres have a rights deal in principle with Fox Sports Net for the next 15 seasons.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star wonders how ESPN would have covered the Royal Wedding.

Jim says New York Jets coach Rex Ryan is making the media rounds.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says Major League Baseball cannot approve the Dodgers’ deal with Fox Sports Net because Jamie McCourt has not signed off on it.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News says a panel discussion on sportscasting careers will be moderated by a Hall of Fame announcer next month.

Tom says Fox’s role in the Los Angeles Dodgers and in the McCourt ownership mess goes way back.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if Winnipeg will get left at the altar in its bid to get an NHL team.

That’s going to do it.

ESPN Unveils Name of Captain Blowhard’s New Site and Roster of Writers

It’s been rumored for months regarding this new “secret” project that Bill Simmons a.k.a. “Captain Blowhard” has been working on. Over the last couple of months, we’ve heard of several writers who have been tapped like Katie Baker of Deadspin, Chuck Klosterman among others. Now we have official word from ESPN on the name of the site (Grantland, as in sports writing legend, Grantland Rice) and the roster of writers. This is going to be a mixture of sports and pop culture and whatever else the Blowhard wants on the site.

And in addition to articles, there will be podcasts featuring the writers from the site. This is Blowhard’s baby. We’ll see how this proceeds.

All-Star Roster of Writers and Editors to Join New ESPN Web Site

Grantland.com– Conceived by ESPN’s Bill Simmons – to Debut in June

Bill Simmons, in association with ESPN, announced the first wave of writer and editor hires for Grantland.com, the much anticipated sports and pop culture web site. Conceived and led by Simmons – the most popular writer on ESPN.com and host of the No. 1 podcast The B.S. Report – the site will be home to every Simmons column and podcast and feature an accomplished and diverse lineup of the Internet’s leading writers and editors. With Simmons as editor-in-chief, Grantland.com is scheduled to launch in June with a mix of original columns, long-form features, blog posts, and podcasts. The name of the site honors the legacy of Grantland Rice, the legendary sportswriter who helped elevate sports into American culture during the early 20th Century.

Working closely with Simmons will be Dan Fierman, most recently a senior editor of GQ and previously a senior editor at Entertainment Weekly. Fierman will be the lead editor and a contributor to Grantland.com, working with deputy editors Lane Brown (former editor of Vulture.com, New York magazine’s culture and entertainment site) and Jay Caspian Kang (an accomplished fiction writer and contributor to theAtlantic.com and theawl.com).

Consulting editors to the site will include:

• Chuck Klosterman, a best-selling author of books, a former columnist for Spin, Esquire and ESPN.com, and a feature writer for New York Times Magazine, Esquire, GQ and Spin. Chuck will be writing about sports and culture exclusively for Grantland.com;
• Malcolm Gladwell, the international best-selling author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers and a feature writer for The New Yorker since 1996;
• Dave Eggers, founder and editor of the independent publishing house McSweeney’s and bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist for his memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

In addition, Grantland.com will feature the following writers:

• Michael Weinreb, author of the much-acclaimed books Bigger Than the Game and Game of Kings, as well as a feature writer for ESPN.com’s E-Ticket and GQ;
• Katie Baker, a contributor to the New York Times Magazine, Deadspin, Gawker, and Mediaite.com, who worked for Goldman Sachs for six years before deciding to write full-time;
• Molly Lambert, a popular blogger and most recently the managing editor of This Recording;
• Chris Ryan, who has written about soccer for GQ, The Village Voice, and the Wall Street Journal;
• Robert Mays III, an award-winning feature writer, who most recently worked at the Boston Globe;
• Bill Barnwell, managing editor of Football Outsider and a statistical consultant for Major League Baseball, who has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN The Magazine.
• Patrice Evans, creator of The Assimilated Negro (TAN) blog and author of the forthcoming book Negropedia. He has contributed to The New York Times, Gawker, EbonyJet.com and other major outlets.

Grantland.com will also feature a wide range of full-time writers, contributors and celebrity guest writers, who will be announced prior to launch.

“I grew up loving The National, Spy Magazine and Inside Sports,” said Simmons, who authored the No. 1 New York Times bestseller, The Book of Basketball, and was a co-creator of ESPN’s Peabody Award winning series 30 for 30. “Those three publications meant an inordinate amount to me, and I’m hoping that people will feel the same about this site.

“As we planned it over the last 18 months, my No. 1 goal was to figure out how to capture the spirit and creativity of 30 for 30 and transfer it to a website. We wanted original voices, and we found a bunch of them already. We’re going to take chances, come up with a few premises and ideas that you haven’t seen before, and be consistently entertaining day after day. You will never know what to expect when you come to the site – in a good way. That’s our ultimate goal.”

In addition to its content, Grantland.com will be set apart from information-rich sports and news sites with a simple and elegant graphic style designed by renowned magazine designer Walter Bernard. Said Simmons, “We will not throw up 100 posts every day. We’ve figured out a way to highlight the best things we publish and make it easier for people who might not have a chance to visit the site more than three or four times a week to find everything they want.”

And that is it. I restrained myself from writing something really nasty.

The Thursday Linkage, Finally

Finally getting to some linkage. Had some work to do first and of course, that takes precedence. Lots of stuff to get to.

First from John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily, he reports that Monday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya is leaving ESPN and most likely heading to NBC in an unspecified capacity.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today reports that ESPN.com has announced the name and roster for Captain Blowhard’s new sports and pop culture website. Kill me mow.

Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter says Fox has tapped a new man to lead Fuel TV.

At Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says the NBA Playoffs on TNT are scoring in the ratings and with affluent viewers as well.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel notes that Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia scored record ratings for Game 7 of the Buffalo-Flyers series.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that TNT’s highest ratings in the playoffs are for teams from the two biggest markets.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life tells us that both the NBA and NHL are seeing red hot ratings for their postseasons.

Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal wonders what if ESPN covered the Royal Wedding.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN Front Row talks with members of ESPN’s NFL blogging network on their approach to covering this year’s NFL Draft.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy goes over what ESPN was offering the NHL before NBC/Versus came and topped it.

We have the transcript of CNBC’s Darren Rovell interviewing embattled Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt about Major League Baseball taking operation of the team.

Andy Fixmer and Beth Jinks of Bloomberg recap McCourt’s appearance on Bloomberg Television.

At the Biz of Baseball, the great Maury Brown has McCourt blasting MLB for meddling after Fox agreed to give him a $30 million advance as part of a 20 year media rights deal.

Back to Bloomberg, Laurel Brubaker Calkins writes that Golf Channel officials are denying any knowledge of a Ponzi scheme run by an indicted financier who paid money to the network for sponsorships.

Cam Martin of Sports Newser writes that a new play on the late Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell, authored by Mitch Albom, will premiere tonight in the Motor City.

Cork Gaines of the Business Insider’s Sports Page reviews two nights of ESPN SportsCenter and breaks down how it covers sports news.

Emerson College Journalism Professor Mark Luccese writing in Boston.com discusses the surplus of sports coverage in Beantown.

98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston had an interview with NESN’s Jack Edwards in which he discusses the Canadiens, diving and a few other things.

Kirk Minihane of WEEI.com is not a fan of Jack Edwards.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times says Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum now has a new name.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter isn’t too happy over a new book written about him.

Jerry Bossert of the New York Daily News looks at the new voice of the Triple Crown on NBC.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the TV schedule for the 2nd round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Pete also has the NBA Playoff schedule through this weekend.

Bob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Post-Tribune says the Pittsburgh Penguins have signed a new deal with Root Sports keeping the team on the network for at least 18 more season.

John Feinstein takes out his computer keyboard and proceeds to hit DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder over his head with it.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the NBA’s ratings winning streak continues into the postsesaon.

Jim says NFL Draft coverage has turned into a marathon.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Comcast SportsNet ended its NBA and NHL postseason coverage with a bang.

Derrick Gold from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman refuted statements made by Houston Astros radio announcer Milo Hamilton.

Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal says extended NBA and NFL lockouts would have adverse effects on the local economy and advertising market.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen about this week’s Draft coverage.

Fight Hype says ESPN.com boxing reporter Dan Rafael could be moving to HBO in a much different capacity.

Joe Favorito says US sports teams need to get on the ball with social media in a way that their European counterparts have totally embraced.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs has a look at various local sports radio ratings.

And we’ll end it there for today.