Fang's Bites

Some Labor Day Holiday Links

Before I have to head out to the office (again, my day has been planned for me), I’ll provide you with some linkage.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record liked the work of ESPN’s Eric Collins and Shaun King in Friday’s Army-Temple game.

Joe Favorito looks at the athletic background of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend of televised sports.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News says one local sports station has not only changed its frequency, but has also changed its sound.

The Baseball Hall of Fame has released the candidates for the Ford C. Frick Award, the local broadcaster who will be inducted into the Hall next year. Voice of the Seattle Mariners Dave Niehaus was inducted this year.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball has comments from TBS’ Chip Carey and Buck Martinez during yesterday’s White Sox-Red Sox game.

I don’t know how I missed this. Awful Announcing has the very first commercial starring ESPN’s Erin Andrews.

The Sports Media Watch says ABC’s Saturday Night Football got off to a hot start.

Dave Ornauer of the Stars and Stripes newspaper says Armed Forces Network offers up a lot of college football for our enlisted men and women.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star talks about changes that are coming to Canada’s third all-sports network, The Score.

Grant Robertson of the Toronto Globe and Mail says The Score’s owners are investing a lot of money in these changes.

The Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch says a local golfer will be featured on a Golf Channel special on up-and-coming golfers getting tutored by an acclaimed swing coach.

In his mailbag, Sports Illustrated tennis writer Jon Wertheim talks about YouTube launching a new US Open channel (scroll down).

Ann LoPrinzi of the Times of Trenton (NJ) talks with the Boston Globe’s/ESPN’s/Tennis Channel’s Bud Collins about his new book on tennis.

There you have it. Not many links, but it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. I may be back with another update, keep your RSS feeds updated.

The Back to Work Monday Links

I know, a three day weekend and you’re dragging. I’m aware that you’re feeling this way, but it’s never fun to go back to work after a three day holiday. But we’re back and it’s time for linkage.

Yesterday’s Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal match at Wimbledon took my concentration so I did not want to link or miss a single moment. I will say that after not watching NBC’s coverage throughout the fortnight, I went to a backdoor site to watch the BBC and it was much better. No commercials and less talk. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Wimbledon online and not having to deal with the silly restrictions that NBC has placed on the tournament, not showing live tennis and preventing ESPN from airing matches until NBC was finished with its coverage. Not the way to present this tournament which deserves so much better.

Let’s get to your links and some leftovers from yesterday before heading into today’s stuff.

Neil Best of Newsday has the transcript of some of John McEnroe’s comments during yesterday’s Gentlemen’s Final at Wimbledon. Also, Neil has Bud Collins’ thoughts on the Federer-Nadal final. And Neil has the transcript from the interview Verne Lundquist and Nick Faldo conducted with Tiger Woods during CBS’ coverage of the AT&T National.

The Sports Media Watch says Saturday’s Ladies Final at Wimbledon between Venus and Serena Williams gave NBC its best Breakfast at Wimbledon ratings for the women since 2005.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley (NY) Times Herald-Record says tennis got a big boost from the finals at Wimbledon on both Saturday and Sunday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News won’t bash John McEnroe for his gushing during the post-match interviews with Federer and Nadal.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times writes in his Two Cents blog that the Wimbledon men’s final is the greatest tennis match he’s ever seen.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says the Federer-Nadal match on NBC was a masterpiece for the ages.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his Media Power Rankings for the just-completed month of June.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has the new Showtime Inside the NFL lineup and the picks by CBS Sports for the panel may surprise you.

Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post talks about one long-time Inside the NFL panelist who won’t be returning.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says Inside the NFL will have three permanent panelists and one rotating analyst.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that CBS Sports has tapped three veteran announcers for Inside the NFL.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week has two stories for us today. One is on the fresh faces on Inside the NFL. Jon’s other story is on NBC’s research effort on Olympic viewers as an attempt to show advertisers their real bang for their buck.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC will attempt to track Olympic viewers who watch the Olympics through its various platforms.

David Bauder of the Associated Press also writes a story on NBC’s tracking of how people are watching the Olympics, whether it be online or through the traditional televised method.

Greg Johnson of the Los Angeles Times tells us that digital technology will play a major role in how we watch the Olympics.

Brent Gardner-Smith of the Aspen (CO) Daily News writes that the media is preparing for anything to happen at the Olympics in Communist China.

Samuel Chamberlain of Editor & Publisher says newsroom cutbacks and possible restrictions by the Communist goverment will affect coverage of the Summer Olympics.

Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal writes that the Bowl Championship Series has hired IMG Sports Media to negotiate its next set of TV contracts. Fox Sports has the contract through 2010. Another story from the SBJ, Daniel Kaplan and John Ourand write that ESPN is seeking to extend its deal to carry Monday Night Football through 2018 as part of the talks to bring the NFL Network to ESPN Classic.

Ted Hearn of Multichannel writes that the NFL and Comcast are seeking a mediator to resolve their dispute over the NFL Network.

Congratulations to CBS Sports’ Dan Dierdorf, already a Pro Football Hall of Famer, who will receive the Pete Rozelle Radio-TV Award for contributions in the broadcast booth.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick writes that YES struck gold when it caught a picture of a ball perched on top of Yankee Stadium’s left field wall after Johnny Damon crashed into the wall.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if the pre-nuptial agreement between Alex and soon-to-be ex-wife Cynthia Rodriguez is valid.

Steve Warden of the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette facetiously writes about the days before ESPN and HDTV.

Kyle Nagel of the Dayton (OH) Daily News urges us to give Joe Buck a break for his anti-baseball comments on ESPN Radio. No.

Chris Langrill of the Idaho Statesman talks with new Boise State football and basketball announcer Bob Behler who comes over from the University of Massachusetts (I’m sure David Scott is sad over this).

Bob Hertzel of the Times West Virginian writes about the Mountaineer Sports Network which broadcasts West Virginia University’s football and basketball games dating back to the 1940′s.

There you have for it today.

Fast Monday Night Update

I’ll give you a few links tonight. I’ve got to get to work, but there’s enough news to warrant a quickie update.

The Sports Media Watch says the finals of Euro 2008 drew a 3.1 overnight rating for ABC on Sunday. Pretty decent for a steamy Sunday afternoon here on the East Coast. And the SMW reports that the U.S. Olympic Trials drew decent ratings for NBC’s primetime lineup.

The lovely Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the U.S. Olympic Trials led NBC to a primetime win on Sunday.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says just two weeks after NBC purchased a stake in WCSN and rebranding it, Universal Sports has now been picked up by Time Warner Cable in New York and Los Angeles.

Greg Johnson of the Los Angeles Times writes about Time Warner placing Universal Sports in its lineup.

Paul Sweeting writing for Digital Media Wire says NBC is going to have a hard time preventing peer-to-peer sites from offering torrents of Olympic coverage.

Chris Albrecht of NewTeeVee.com is worried that NBC will delay some of its Olympic events from the web too long for consumers’ tastes.

In his Olympics insider blog, Ron Judd of the Seattle Times provides the tape delayed times for the U.S. Olympic Trials on NBC and USA Network for this week.

By the way, if you want to get acquainted with some other Olympic athletes not from the United States, Australian Olympics rightsholder 7 Network has produced a weekly show, “Road to Beijing” which can be seen online here. It’s actually a decent program and well produced. You can say you know some of the Australian swimmers before anyone else in your neighborhood.

Mike Shields of Mediaweek writes that Yahoo will be launching a stand alone website and mobile site devoted to the Olympic games in Communist China.

Robert Weintraub of the Guardian in the UK says Euro 2008 got a big infusion in the States from British announcers.

Clement Lisi of the New York Post says Euro 2008 was a big hit here in the US.

The Gaffer at EPL Talk says ESPN has the power to make soccer work in the States.

Today is Darren Rovell’s 30th birthday! I wish a Happy Birthday to Darren who was one of the first to e-mail me about my blog.

Broadcasting & Cable reports that in the Subway Series ratings race, YES beat WPIX on Friday while the two swapped places on Sunday.

David Goetzl of TV Watch writes that ESPN is going beyond cable TV.

Ray Hanania of the Southwest (IL) News Herald and head of the National Arab American Journalists Association writes that it’s best to forgive Bonnie Bernstein about her comments about Palestinian children.

Art Spander of the Oakland Tribune is happy to see Bud Collins back at Wimbledon after suffering ulcers in his legs.

Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune writes that Mike North makes his first appearance since leaving WSCR on Tuesday.

John Daly of the Daly Planet motorsports blog says TNT hasn’t had much help from the racers in its NASCAR coverage.

Condolences go out to Jim Nantz whose father died over the weekend. David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reports.

That will do it tonight.

Wednesday Night Update

You’re probably sick of me talking about The War, but I have to say this installment was very good. Episode 4 dealt with D-Day in Europe and the Battle of Saipan in the Pacific. Unbelievable footage that Ken Burns obtained for this part. Plus, the stories of the contributions of the Japanese and African American soldiers show us how diverse the military became in World War II. And Senator Daniel Inoye’s story of him rifle butting a German soldier thinking he was reaching for a gun, but was going to show him a picture of his wife shows us how brutal war can be. I’m just riveted to the TV. The next part is Sunday night.

Let’s give you a few links tonight.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews Business Week’s Sports Power 100 and he notes those who made it and those he feels should have made it. If you’re wondering, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is number one. I read the articles in the issue published in cooperation with ESPN the Magazine and they’re very good.

Newsday’s Neil Best blogs about WFAN’s Mike Francesca singing Cat Stevens. What?

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has a blog entry about the ESPN/MLB feud.

CSTV has announced that former Florida State QB Peter Tom Willis will be a guest analyst on the SEC Tailgate Show before CBS’ broadcast of Alabama-Florida State at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville.

The Boston Globe’s, ESPN’s and the Tennis Channel’s Bud Collins will be honored by the International Tennis Hall of Fame at a dinner in Boston next week. It’s well deserved.

NBC Sports talks about the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. And NBC’s Johnny Miller and Roger Maltbie headlined a conference call on the President’s Cup which takes place in Montreal starting tomorrow.

XM Satellite Radio begins its first year as the exclusive satellite home of the NHL. William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with NHL analysts Nick Kypreos of Rogers Sportsnet, Glenn Healy of TSN and Pierre McGuire of TSN and NBC about the upcoming season which begins this Saturday, believe it or not.

That’s it for this evening. Back on Thursday.

Tuesday Updated Links

Let’s give you a few more links today.

Joseph Whip blogs about HDTV and he criticizes NBC for taking bandwidth away from its picture and thus, causing pixelation. Whip blames the Weather Plus subchannel for this.

The LA Times’ Larry Stewart talks with country star Faith Hill about recording “I’ve Been Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” for NBC Sports.

Tom Hoffart of the LA Daily News has more in his Farther Off the Wall blog on FSN picking up the re-air of the Appalachian State-Michigan game from the Big Ten Network.

Fans of WSCN will be able to access videos of its Olympic Sports coverage on FoxSports.com.

Mike Battaglino of the New York Post catches up with Bud Collins who says he’s been busier than ever since being unceremoniously fired by NBC earlier this year. Bud also said to Battaglino that in addition to doing work for ESPN for its Grand Slam tournaments, Bud will also contribute to the Tennis Channel and I find that to be good news.

Mike Reynolds of the Multichannel News outlines some of the changes coming at ESPN, some of which I have already mentioned in this blog.

LC in the 38 Cliches blog is happy to have Dave O’Brien back in the Red Sox radio booth, but he points out that with Obie out for 10 games doing various ESPN assignments, his point of references for the Red Sox is out of whack. Hopefully that changes next season and we won’t have to deal with long stretches of Glenn Geffner. No Geffner, not a little, no Geffner will go a long way with us Red Sox fans who have had to suffer with his talking incessantly off notecards, rushing through live reads of commercials and just making inane points. By the way, LC was worried that Dave would be going to China to call the FIFA Women’s World Cup later this month, and I can assure him that Dave is not going to the Far East.

ESPN has announced the relaunch of ESPN360.com that only subscribers to certain Internet Service Providers can access (including Verizon DSL and Fios).

From the Toronto Star, Chris Zelkovich writes about Canada’s first all-sports radio station, The Fan 590 turning 15 today.

Primetime Viewing Picks coming. I can’t wait for next week when I can finally select some good network fare for you.

More Tuesday Linkage

Let’s give you some more links today. It’s just so hot in my office, I’ve got to finish this set and I’m getting out of there.

I mentioned in the first set of links today that Bud Collins has been hired by ESPN. Here’s the statement from ESPN itself. And here’s the Press Release.

In his Watchdog blog, Newsday’s Neil Best says it’s nice to have Mike and the Mad Dog back together again on WFAN. They’ve been apart due to their vacations since June.

Over to the Sports Media Watch blog where we find out that The Content Factory has apparently hired former ESPNer Michael Irvin who was inducted into Pro Football’s Hall of Fame this past weekend. Irvin joins Dan Patrick who has already been hired to do a show for the company. The question is, can Irvin carry his own show? I was not a fan of his work at ESPN where Michael seemed to yell every time Chris Berman went to him on NFL Countdown. I hope Michael won’t be yelling on his radio show.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Tiger Woods is worth the price of endorsement for some companies including American Express which is actually dumping him in. Tiger does make a lot of money, but Rovell questions if Woods has enough bang for the big bucks he’s being paid.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the radio and TV calls of Alex Rodriguez’ 500th homer and Barry Bonds’ 755th home run. Sandomir praises former Pawtucket Red Sox announcer Dave Flemming who called Bonds’ homer on KNBR and current Red Sox announcer Dave O’Brien who had the call on ESPN2. Jim Williams in his Watch This! blog in the DC/Baltimore and San Francisco Examiners says Frank Robinson will be on hand representing MLB during the Bonds Watch tonight.

TBS Sports has announced a new online broadband channel on MLB.com called “The Hot Corner”. This starts in September in anticipation of TBS’ extensive postseason coverage. It will include a pre-game show for the playoffs. And Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter has written a story on this new channel.

Starting Thursday, PGATour.com will offer broadband coverage of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, OK. For the first and second rounds, the website will have simulcasts of TNT’s coverage, plus coverage of select groups of players. On the weekend, CBS’ coverage will not be available online, only the coverage of select groups. The site for online coverage is here.

R. Thomas Ulmstead of Multichannel News reports on a very interesting clause in the NHL’s contract with Versus. Both parties can pull out after this coming season if the channel doesn’t reach certain distribution levels. Ulmstead says it appears Versus isn’t interested in ending its deal and will continue with a planned three year extension into the 2010-11 season. We’ll see how this develops.

From the Oakland Tribune, Andy Altman-Ohr writes that the Bay Area media will have Friday’s Bill Walsh memorial service covered like a blanket.

Keith Jarrett of the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times says while conferences like the ACC and SEC are paid handsomely by the TV networks to air their football and basketball games, smaller conferences like the Southern Conference (SoCon) have to pay to get their games broadcast.

Doug Smith of the Toronto Star has a suggestion for the CBC when it comes to airing Raptors games (scroll down). Hire Fang’s Bites fav, Stacey Dales (yes, she’s Canadian).

Those are your links for now. Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up

Tuesday Linkage

As my office air conditioning has gone down on a very hot and humid day, I give you the Tuesday links today.

Let’s start with Susan Bickelhaupt of the Boston Globe who writes that her colleague, Bud Collins, has been hired by ESPN to work on its tennis coverage and will also be featured on its various outlets. I’m glad to see this as NBC unceremoniously dumped him during Wimbledon. He’ll also be reunited with Dick Enberg.

Neil Best of Newsday reports that the New York Football Giants have signed a deal with Fox New York for all types of programming.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says it took just one hour for the sports collectable industry to try to cash in on Alex Rodriguez’ 500th home run.

USA Today reports the ratings for ESPN Saturday on the Barry Bonds’ 755th home run were low. That’s to be expected since Saturday night is the lowest rated night for TV. People are out especially at 10 p.m. But John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says locally, the Bay Area is watching.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated gives his Media Power Ratings for July.

CBS Sports announces its crew for the PGA Championship this week.

Michael Marotta of the Boston Herald says one fun part of “The Bronx is Burning” is the celebrity cameos.

Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter reports that the boxing reality series, “The Contender” returns to ESPN this fall.

Brian Watkins of Insider Racing News.com says he’s fed up of NASCAR’s TV partners and it’s time for a new NASCAR channel.

ESPN’s Chris Berman will host a memorial service for the late Bill Walsh this Friday.

George M. Thomas in today’s Akron Beacon Journal writes that most Ohioans are wondering when they’ll be able to see the NFL and Big Ten Networks.

Mark Zuckerman of the Washington Times writes that MASN’s Bob Carpenter, radio announcers Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler will be ready in case Barry Bonds hits his 756th home run against the Nationals tonight or tomorrow.

Those are the links for now. I’ll be back later with an update.

Tuesday Musings

First, let me start by discussing the Home Run Derby cablecast on ESPN. Once again, Chris Berman was doing the play-by-play, Joe Morgan did the color and joining them this year, was former Giants and Cubs manager Dusty Baker. I guess the only reason Baker was there was that he had managed in AT&T Park. Other than that, all three were lackluster. Berman’s play-by-play is extremely weak. Morgan doesn’t add anything and Baker just exclaimed when a long home run was hit.

Berman continues to make these stupid exaggerations using local references, “That one was hit to Sausalito!” or “That was hit to Alcatraz!” or “That one was hit to the Coit Tower!” These add nothing especially when home runs land in the crowd. A ball going out of the stadium, I can see, but ones that land in the crowd? No. All this proves is that Berman as a play-by-play announcer is a decent studio host. His play-by-play is terrible whether he’s doing baseball or golf. Rather than describe the action, he seemed to be more worried if his pick to win the Home Run Derby would survive to the final round rather than call the action or discuss the fact that the twilight caused trouble for hitters in the first round.

Plus, Berman likes to yell thinking if his decibel level increases, then he can convey the excitement of the action. The crowd cheering is enough. It’s not all about you, Chris. It’s too bad TBS could not have wrested the rights for the Home Run Derby to compliment its coverage of the postseason in its new contract. I know Jon Miller prefers to have the All Star Game off rather than be involved in the coverage, but ESPN would be better served by having him in the booth rather than have Berman.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Baseball Tonight was in the studio instead of being at AT&T Park. Because ESPN had broken an embargo on the All Star Game roster selections, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would not allow the Alleged Worldwide Leader to have a set at the stadium as in the past. So reporters were allowed inside, but ESPN was not allowed to have a presence with Baseball Tonight so Karl Ravech, Steve Phillips and John Kruk were in Bristol, CT while Peter Gammons, Tim Kurkjian and others were inside the park. It was strange to see the guys do their thing from the studio, but to be honest, ESPN didn’t lose anything. But it was nice to see ESPN get punished for not adhering to MLB’s rules. Here’s hoping that the next violation leads to MLB revoking its rights to show games altogether.

I’ll give ESPN a C minus for its coverage, mostly because of Berman, Morgan and Baker. Fox’s big albatross in the booth is Tim McCarver, but he’s canceled out by Joe Buck. I’ll have a review of Fox’s coverage tomorrow.

Let’s get to the links now.

The Dan Patrick announcement was the big story for bloggers. I have heard rumors that there’s more to meet the eye on Dan’s announcement that he’s leaving ESPN, but all have been unsubstantiated and I don’t think they’re true. In any event, Reid Cherner of USA Today has a story on the announcement made yesterday on Dan’s show. In USA Today’s sports blog, it noted that Dan’s entry in Wikipedia was updated almost immediately, but with some silly information. Richard Sandomir in the New York Times has a quick hit on Patrick’s departure including some critical words for the ESPY Awards. Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News is back from vacation and the first thing he does is speculate if Patrick will go to WFAN, but as we found out yesterday from Neil Best in Newsday, that will not happen. Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune who had sources telling him last week that Patrick was going to leave says the next thing for Dan could be satellite radio. Now that’s something we haven’t heard. The fact that Greenstein was the first to get confirmation instead of speculating what could happen tells me that the satellite radio thing might be credible. David Barron of the Houston Chronicle spoke to Patrick after his show and got a tidbit that Patrick had been considering leaving for 2 and a half years. Larry Stewart of the LA Times also talked with Dan. Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner also is on the Dan Patrick-to-WFAN bandwagon, but again, that dog won’t hunt as Dan Rather used to say.

Sandomir also has a story on ESPN breaking the MLB All Star Game announcement embargo.

Bob Raissman says tonight’s MLB All Star Game is damaged goods due to falling ratings and the steroids issue. Hint to Bob, the rating has gone down since 2001, but the game still wins the night and gets the demographics Fox desires. In a 500 channel universe, I don’t think events like the All Star Game or the NBA Finals are going to get real blockbuster ratings. The only sporting event that will draw monster ratings is the Super Bowl.

Fox Sports will have what it’s calling “Multi-platform” coverage of tonight’s All Star Game. And John Consoli of Mediaweek says starting tonight, MLB will hype the postseason, the earliest it has ever done so.

Just like Red Sox beat writers giving their midseason grades for the team, good friend LC in the 38 Cliches blog has his midseason assessment of the Red Sox radio broadcast team. I totally agree with his grade for Glenn Geffner.

The Big Ten Network launches a new ad campaign called “This is Big Ten Country”. Is John Mellencamp going to be singing on the commercial?

John Feinstein in the Washington Post gives thanks to Bud Collins.

Chris Zelkovich in the Toronto Star has praise for NBC’s coverage of Wimbledon.

Tom Jones of the St. Pete Times gives his best and worst of the sporting TV weekend.

Alex Bleth of SI.com says if you want to get a sense of the 1977 Yankees, the focus of “The Bronx is Burning” on ESPN, there are DVD’s to buy and rent. And due to the Home Run Derby, the premiere of the mini-series began an hour late and Mike Malone of Broadcasting & Cable takes the Alleged Worldwide Leader to task for it.

I had more links than I expected. I’ll have an update later if it’s warranted.

It’s Monday.

Beginning of the work week. It’s hot here in the East. Yesterday, so many people flocked to Rhode Island beaches that they shut down the parking lots and turned cars away. The hot weather that hit the West last week is here in the East so it’s our turn to suffer after a nice start to July. But enough about the weather. This is not a weather blog so let’s get to the Sports stuff.

In May, I wrote about Ninja Warrior on G4. I found that Kaki Sports loves it as well. In fact, the person I linked to in that entry, Kaki Flynn of After Ellen.com, is the keeper of the Kaki Sports blog. Check her out. Kaki links to here so I thank her for that.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has his Monday column and included is the news that Fox will drop Bill Maas after his arrest this past weekend on gun and drug charges. No official word on the Fox Sports.com site.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the MLB steroids investigation by George Mitchell is not strong enough.

Diane Werts of Newsday has high praise for “The Bronx is Burning”. And in the New York Daily News, David Bianculli gives the ESPN mini-series 3 out of 4 stars.

In his blog, Neil Best of Newsday says maybe it’s the right time for Bud Collins to be leaving NBC.

The battles lines have been drawn in the Big Ten Network vs. Comcast fight. Either you’re for the Big Ten Conference to see the football games or you’re for Comcast because you don’t want to pay extra on your cable bill. Frank Bodani of the Evening Sun of Harrisburg and Gettysburg, PA says Comcast is protecting the consumer. Chris Walsh in the Tuscaloosa (AL) News says the Southeastern Conference is watching the launch very closely as the SEC is mulling over whether to launch its own channel.

John Consoli of Mediaweek says ad rates for NBC’s Sunday Night Football are up 25% from last year.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Fox Sports Executive Producer Ed Goren is one of several subjects interviewed (including Larry King????) in HBO’s new documentary on the Brooklyn Dodgers that airs this week.

In the Toronto Star, Michael Geist writes a guest column appealing to sports leagues and commissions to give the Internet a chance. Good stuff there. He mentions the stupid NFL restriction on video on websites.

David Snyder sings the praises of Sid Rosenberg, now the morning host of 790 The Ticket in Miami.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News talks about ESPN’s ejection from the All Star Game.

Jason Peterson in the Daily Utah Chronicle, a college newspaper, says ESPN just plain sucks for showing the Rock, Paper, Scissors Championships.

David Neal of the Miami Herald says MLB, NBA NFL and NHL are all dealing with the YouTube era and wondering how to handle clips that end up on the site. Some partner like the NBA and NHL partner up, but the NFL just plain removes them.

Red Sox fans are going to have to deal without Joe Castiglione for the first series after the All Star break. 38 Cliches says Joe C. takes it off leaving us having to deal with Glenn Geffner again. Dave O’Brien will be there, but it’s going to be rough listening to Goof reading off notecards.

That will be it for now. I’ll monitor ESPN Radio at 1 p.m. and I’ll post whatever Dan Patrick says.

Sunday Night Links

I’ll do a few links for you tonight as I wait for Meadowlands after watching one of the funniest episodes of Entourage.

Some more reviews for “The Bronx is Burning”. The Boston Herald has some high praise. The Seattle Times says it’s a home run. Richard Sandomir in the New York Times has a mostly positive review. Mike Tankersley of the Mobile Advertiser also likes the ESPN program. Neil Best in Newsday likes the book on which the mini-series is based more than the TV program. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is not happy with ESPN over the filming of the mini-series.

New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick has some pet peeves over some words and phrases that have been used by sportscasters.

Remember we linked to Neil Best’s story in his Newsday blog about ESPN being punished for breaking the All Star Game announcement embargo? Well, the Baseball Tonight studio gang will do doing its wrap-ups of the game from the Bristol, CT campus. Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter also has a write-up.

Curt Rallo of the South Bend Tribune says if the conflict between the Big Ten Network and Comcast isn’t resolved by August 1, then the conference will begin to urge fans to switch to DirecTV. This was done by the YES Network when it first launched five years ago and it was in a dispute with Cablevision. By Opening Day, the conflict was resolved, but I don’t think with Comcast victorious over the NFL Network, I can see Comcast holding out for a long time.

The Sports Media Watch blog says boredom is setting in at the Alleged Worldwide Leader with its new SportsCenter series, City by City.

Last night, this blog was among the first to discuss the Bill Maas arrest in East Peoria, IL. Here’s Cathy Bayer of the Peoria Journal Star with the story.

Frank Deford in SI.com says NBC is poorer for letting Bud Collins go. And I did see NBC’s tribute to Bud today. While well-produced, it simply wasn’t long enough to show him the proper respect.

Variety says ad buys for the NFL are about 75% sold out for this season. That’s good news for the TV partners.

Jeff Elliot in the Florida Times-Union says Fox and ESPN will battle it out for attention at this week’s All Star Game.

Despite being the San Francisco Giants announcer and ESPN’s lead play-by-play guy, Jon Miller is getting the night off for the All Star Game.

Karen Bailis says the MSG Network is saving money on WNBA telecasts by having the broadcast crew do road games from the MSG studios rather than travel with the New York Liberty.

That’s it for now. Until Monday.

Thank God it’s Friday! Friday! Friday! Yeah!

You think I’m happy that Friday is here? Yesterday felt like Monday with the holiday smack in the middle of the work week. But a Friday is a Friday so we have the weekend. Time for some links.

As usual, I’ll go from East to West as I give you links from the morning papers. Starting with the Boston Globe, Susan Bickelhaupt writes that the Fox #1 MLB team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver (isn’t it time for someone else to be #1 MLB analyst? McCarver has been doing this since the mid-1980′s with ABC, I think someone else who has a better connection to the game can do this, but I digress) won’t be able to avoid talking about Barry Bonds in Tuesday’s All Star Game.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about Bud Collins’ final broadcast for NBC at Wimbledon. Hiestand has some nice tidbits on Collins’ broadcast career. Again, I want to stress that Bud will still write for the Boston Globe and be at the Big W next year, he won’t be on TV unless the Tennis Channel or ESPN2 change that.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times is grossed out by the coverage of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

It doesn’t take long for New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick to get ramped up and he’s taking the New York Yankee radio announcers, John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, to task. He calls listening to Sterling and Waldman, “elective torture”. Tell us how you really feel, Phil. Come up to New England and listen to Glenn Geffner for two minutes and your assessment of him will be much worse, if that’s possible.

It appears both Neil Best of Newsday and Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News took this week off. They’re entitled.

Laura Nachman of the Philly Burbs newspapers writes about former Philadelphia native Chris McKendry who is hosting “The Complete Wimbledon” highlights show for ESPN2. Chris played tennis in high school so she knows the game.

Down to Florida and the Miami Herald. Barry Jackson writes about ESPN and Fox muscling for position to be the network to show Barry Bonds’ record breaking home run. Interestingly enough, both are still negotiating with MLB.

Dave Darling in today’s Orlando Sentinel discusses two programs premiering next week focusing on New York, The Bronx is Burning on ESPN and The Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush on HBO.

To the Midwest, Teddy Greenstein had the big story of the week, saying that Dan Patrick is 90% gone from ESPN. Still no official word as of yet, but we’ll probably find out next week. In any event, Greenstein writes in today’s edition that one sticking point is Patrick is still under contract until next year. And Greenstein talks about Fox MLB analyst Mark Grace wondering why the White Sox haven’t given pitcher Mark Buehrle a no-trade clause.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says Joe Buck of Fox has high praise for the Brewers.

In the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, Judd Zulgad says ratings for the Twins are still high even with the team’s struggles this season.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle talks to two Houston natives who had a hand in the beginning of WFAN in New York.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune, Jay Posner says Fox’ Joe Buck and Tim McCarver finally make it to Petco Park for a game.

John Maffei in the North County Times says the even though Buck and McCarver are in San Diego Saturday and ESPN will do the Sunday night game at Petco as well, the Padres aren’t sexy enough for national TV.

Larry Stewart in the LA Times also previews the HBO documentary bringing the Dodgers to Los Angeles. And Stewart in his news and notes column talks about TNT’s of the Pepsi 400 at Daytona tomorrow night.

Over to the crosstown LA Daily News where Tom Hoffarth’s media column has news on the Bonds situation and adds to his media column with his blog, Farther Off the Wall.

That will do it for now. More links later.

The Day Before the 4th of July

I’d rather have the 4th of July holiday on either a Monday or Friday and next year, being a leap year, the 4th will fall on a Friday, but this year, it’s in the middle of the week so we all have to deal. But as many have taken the week off, some of us are still at work so in the meantime, I provide you with links.

I don’t know why I’m so upset over the Bud Collins firing by NBC. Bud will still work for the Globe, but I guess it’s the fact that someone I’ve grown accustomed to seeing on tennis tournaments every year is not going to be there next year. I’m hoping that will change. Susan Bickelhaupt of the Globe has a short story. Larry Stewart of the LA Times has NBC denying it fired Collins. In the Palm Beach Post, Charles Elmore has Collins saying he’s not retiring.

The New York Post follows up on its own story of Cynthia Rodriguez wearing a t-shirt to Sunday’s game saying, “Fuck you” on the back. She had her kids with her at the time.

Over to the Midwest region where the Big Ten Network continues to make news. It’s launch on August 30 is fast approaching, but the channel still doesn’t have agreements with Bright House, Comcast and Time Warner. Two days after the launch, the channel starts televising games. Carol Slezak in today’s Chicago Tribune says the Big Ten Conference is arrogant thinking fans will flock to watch what she calls “a D-list football game”. Harsh. But she may be right. Over in Bloomington, Indiana, fans there are wondering if Bloomington-Normal cable and Insight cable will pick up the channel. Centre Daily Times editor Bob Heisse says Comcast is right to want to put the Big Ten Network on a sports tier. And Variety says the Big Ten Network will have fewer subscribers at launch than it had hoped for.

Former Vermont men’s basketball coach Tom Brennan has signed a contract extension with ESPN.

The Follow the Media site has a good feature on the rising price of digital rights for sports leagues like the NBA and events such as the Olympics.

And in the story, there’s mention of the NFL imposing a 45 second rule on websites showing video of player interviews. That’s right, we’re not even talking game footage, we’re talking about interview of players at mini-camp or press conferences. This is because the NFL wants you to go to its website where it will get all the web hits. Thanks to Deadspin which picked up the story from Foul Balls.net, we find tht the NFL is enforcing this silly rule.

The great Houston Chronicle columnist John McLain shows you how silly this rule is.

Those are the links for now. I’m not sure I’ll be back with an afternoon update. I will have primetime viewing choices and maybe something tonight. If I don’t see you here later, have a great 4th.

Ken

More on Bud Collins

I first saw word of Bud Collins leaving NBC late Sunday night/early Monday morning when Michael Hiestand’s article came out in USA Today, buried down deep. Then the tennis beat reporters at Wimbledon found out. Charles Bricker of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel posted it on his Wimbledon blog and later filed a story. Neil Best followed with his reaction in his Newsday blog. Then Palm Beach Post tennis beat reporter Charles Elmore had three versions of his story on Bud, the last being updated at 6:36 p.m. ET.

Bud’s own paper, the Boston Globe chose to run wire copy on its website. I’m hoping someone at the Globe will write a much better story than that for Tuesday’s editions. We’re talking one of the ambassadors of the game here.

Before tennis had a big explosion in the 1970′s into the early 1980′s, Bud was one of the few American writers who would regularly cover tournaments. He would go to Wimbledon, the French Open, go to the Italian Open, do play-by-play of tennis tournaments on PBS during the summer, especially from the Longwood Cricket Club outside Boston. Bud’s expertise got him hired by not only PBS, but NBC and CBS. For a while, he did color on NBC with Jim Simpson doing the play-by-play, was the lead announcer on CBS for the U.S. Open and also did play-by-play for PBS with Donald Dell as his color man. And through it all, he filed his stories for the Boston Globe.

Yes, his signatures on his broadcasts were his loud pants and the nicknames. Steffi Graf was “Fraulein Forehand”. John McEnroe was “John Patrick McEnroe” during big points. Wimbledon became “The Big W”. When Boris Becker got up after diving for a point and celebrated, Bud called it “the Becker Boogie.” Sure it was corny, but you accepted it from Bud. And whenever there was a big tournament, you knew Bud would be there.

His writing was as colorful as his television commentary. And because he had been to so many locations, the Globe used him in its Travel section. Why not? Bud has practically been everywhere.

But when NBC decided to hire John McEnroe for analysis, Bud’s role on tennis telecasts got smaller and smaller. First, it was third man in the booth. McEnroe was so good, that there was no need to have Bud there. And then Mary Carillo soon filled that third person in the booth role. So Bud would offer taped reports and would be on the sidelines for interviews. But now, NBC is moving away from features and the post match interviews are conducted by the host broadcasters that Bud is practically being shoved out the door. NBC is planning on a tribute to Collins at the end of its Wimbledon broadcast on Sunday. Two minutes simply cannot do justice, but Jimmy Roberts and the NBC staff will try. It just won’t be enough.

If you read Bud’s Wimbledon diary on his website, you’ll see that he’s lost nothing off his fastball. And during the post-match press conferences aired on Radio Wimbledon, you can hear Bud firing away at the players.

I do hope CBS, ESPN or the Tennis Channel hires Bud. He won’t be on the U.S. Open on USA Network as it’s owned by NBC, so scratch that off your list. He’s forgotten more tennis than any of us will know. Here’s hoping that he’ll be gracing our televisions in time for the Australian Open come January.

Monday Update

Time to give you a few links.

Newsday had a special section congratulating WFAN on its 20th Anniversary. Included were a few stories. Neil Best chronicles the early days of the station until now. Best’s next story discusses how Suzyn Waldman (the first voice heard on the station) and Mike Francesca pursued jobs at the FAN. Here are some station milestones. No talk station can survive without callers. WEEI in Boston has its regulars such as Frank from Gloucester, the late Butch from the Cape and the Man on the Way Up. WFAN has its regulars. If you listen regular to Mike and the Mad Dog, you’ll know neither are graduates from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, but Chris Russo certainly has had his malapropisms. And one of the more notorious hosts was Sid Rosenberg who has battled drug and gambling demons along with getting suspended for racial comments about Venus and Serena Williams and was on the air with Don Imus on the day the comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team were made.

Newark (NJ)Star-Ledger has its own series of stories on the FAN. Matthew Futterman has a profile of Ian Eagle who rose from an intern at WFAN to producer of Mike and the Mad Dog to play-by-play of the Nets and Jets to CBS where he does the NFL and NCAA Tournament. And Futterman gives some of best … and worst moments of WFAN.

We’re getting more reaction on the firing of Bud Collins from NBC. The Palm Beach Post has Bud saying this isn’t retirement for him and he’ll seek employment from either ESPN or the Tennis Channel. In his Newsday blog, Neil Best writes that Bud will be missed. I’m sure there will be more articles tomorrow.

The Sports Media Watch blog has a look at the ratings when the Williams sisters are in contention for a Grand Slam title.

Mike Battaglino of the New York Post looks at John Turturro’s portrayal of the late Yankee Billy Martin in The Bronx is Burning which will be shown on ESPN this month.

The Indianapolis Star regurgitates the Big Ten Network’s press release on its launch. Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press has his take on the first day of the channel.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle has a bunch of news and notes today.

For those of you who have XM Satellite Radio, you’ll be pleased to know that it’ll have All Star Game Week covered from wall to wall. And the Orbitcast satellite radio blog has details of the NHL becoming exclusive to XM. It had been heard on both Sirius and XM the last two seasons.

Bill Burt of the Lawrence (MA) Eagle-Tribune goes after Michael Wilbon for making comments about why African Americans don’t want to come to Boston.

That’s it for now.

Beginning of a Short Work Week

Back on a Monday as it’s a rather strange work week. 4th of July falls in the middle of the week. Some of you have the week off and I hope you have a good vacation. In any event, I will probably not have any entries on the holiday unless something breaks.

Let’s get to our links today. In USA Today, Michael Hiestand writes about this weekend’s NASCAR race at Daytona which will have limited commercial interruptions on TNT. Only local commercials will run on the race. TNT will break only during the cautions and for gearheads, that’s great news.

Hiestand also has news that this year’s Wimbledon will most likely be the last tennis tournament for the legendary Bud Collins on NBC. Bud has been one of the great ambassadors for tennis since the 1970′s on PBS, CBS and on NBC. He would do play-by-play for all three networks. He was at the mike when John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg staged their epic battles at Wimbledon in 1980 and 1981. His role, however, has been reduced since McEnroe entered the booth. Bud still writes for the Boston Globe and has covered the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics as well as tennis. He also writes extensively for the Globe’s Travel section. One of Bud’s trademarks is his loud pants. I had the opportunity to talk to Bud at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI and as one would expect, was a joy to interview. ESPN or CBS could definitely use someone like Bud for its coverage, not only a colorful personality, but also an excellent tennis historian.

In the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman in his expanded Sunday column says boxing charlatan Max Kellerman decided to turn to down, no, make that flat out refused to take “Boxing After Dark” assignments after HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg decided to retain Larry Merchant following some negative publicity over dropping Merchant. If jerkface Kellerman is replaced on “BAD”, then I can see HBO dropping him altogether because why would they need three analysts really doing the work of one man? Stay tuned.

The New York Post has the story of Cynthia Rodriguez, wife of Alex, sitting in the Yankee Stadium stands with a t-shirt saying, “Fuck You” on the back. Nice, Cynthia.

Also in the New York Post, Phil Mushnick says if Yankee observers are expecting a full-scale blowup by owner George Steinbrenner, you may have to wait. Mushnick writes it would have happened by now.

In the DC/Baltimore Examiner, Jim Williams says Maryland Men’s Basketball coach Gary Williams will be an analyst for Comcast SportsNet this weekend for the PGA Tour event at the Congressional Country Club.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders (as do I) why the WWE is erasing all mentions of the late Chris Benoit.

It seems as if I’m getting news on the Big Ten Network every day. Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that the channel will launch on August 30. In the Bucyrus (OH) Telegraph Forum, Ohio State fans are sounding off on whether they’ll get the channel or just suffer without it. Right now, DirecTV and 75 cable systems in the midwest have signed up to carry the channel, but the heavy hitters, Comcast and Time Warner cable are holding out.

Diane Werts in Newsday says watching live TV like Wimbledon on a cell phone is not as bad as she thought. And being a subscriber of V-CAST from Verizon will allow you to watch Wimbledon.

Next week, the Home Run Derby on ESPN will be known as the “State Farm Home Run Derby“.

BREAKING NEWS – I guess the word is coming out that NBC has fired Bud Collins. I mentioned up top that Bud was leaving, but this is more serious. Bud confirmed that he was fired on June 22 (!) to South Florida Sun-Sentinel tennis writer Charles Bricker.

In the Cape Cod Times, Walter Bingham complains about the inequity of coverage in the U.S. Men’s Open and the U.S. Women’s Open on NBC/ESPN.

Mark Purdy lists the Top 25 Most Powerful People in Sports in the Bay Area. That includes Ted Griggs, vice president and interim general manager of Fox Sports Net Bay Area.

Mark Cardillo in the Connecticut Post lists his favorite MLB broadcast teams.

This article on FSN Northwest says the channel has carved out a niche for sports fans.

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar says the Cardinals’ recent slump has caused a drop in the ratings for TV partners FSN Midwest and KSDK.

The Dallas News’ Barry Horn rips the new NBA TV deal. Good.

When I restarted this blog back in May, one of my first posts was on the Rich Eisen/Suzy Shuster/Alycia Lane story in which Alycia e-mailed swimsuit pictures of herself to Rich. Eisen’s wife Suzy got hold of the pictures and sent a nasty note back to Alycia. Well, the story died down until the Philadelphia Weekly decided to get a rise out of everyone by posting this. Thanks, jerks. And you go over the entire PW archive of Alycia Lane stuff.

That’s it for now.