Fang's Bites

Some Quick Tuesday Linkage

I know. I haven’t done links in a very long time. Let me provide some for you. I won’t make promises about providing them regularly as every time I do, something happens to make me break that promise. But I hope to bring linkage to you more often.

I’ll begin with John Ourand of Sports Business Journal who talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz about the crazy moments that occurred in Super Bowl XLVII, the NCAA Tournament and The Masters.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch informs us on NFL Draft coverage plans for both ESPN and NFL Network.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter about the network not tipping off draft picks on Twitter. And Ed asks Adam about Twitter in general and other issues.

Mike McCarthy at Advertising Age says the National Football League plans to provide airline frequent flier-type perks to season ticket holders.

The ESPN Front Row PR blog announces that former New York Times writer Robert Lipsyte will become the network’s newest Ombudsman.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine previews tonight’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the 1983 NFL Draft.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing reviews the 30 for 30 doc.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says newspapers showed their value during the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the NBA is lifting the blackout in the Capital Region for Thursday night’s Game 2 of the Chicago-Brooklyn series.

From the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, Andrew Carter writes about the ACC’s new media policy that will prevent further defections.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner interviews Friend of Fang’s Bites Amy Van Dyken about her Fox Sports Radio show.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times discusses the potential suitor for Tennis Channel.

Also from the Times, Sam Farmer relives the 1983 NFL Draft through tonight’s 30 for 30 documentary.

I hope to provide you with regular linkage down the line.

Latest 30 for 30 Short on 1972 US Olympics Men’s Basketball Team Debuts

It’s only 12 minutes, but the subject really requires two hours at minimum. A very good 30 for 30 short on the 1972 US Olympic basketball team’s refusal to accept the silver medal has debuted today at Grantland. Director Rory Karpf got all of the members from that team for a meeting to look at the game footage as it aired on ABC and discuss what happened in the chaotic final seconds in which FIBA Director Dr. Robert Jones interfered and meddled so the Soviet Union could win a controversial gold medal final, 50-49 over the United States.

The film is very good and I wish it was longer. It’s now available for viewing at Grantland.

30 for 30 Shorts: 1972 USA Men’s Olympic Basketball Team Come Together for Silver Reunion

The next installment of ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 Shorts series, Silver Reunion, debuted today on Grantland.com. Forty years after the USA Men’s Olympic Basketball team declined their silver medals after controversially losing the gold to the Soviet Union, the 12 team members gathered together to ultimately either accept or refuse the medals for a game the players believe they never lost.

The short film, directed by 5-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker Rory Karpf, features the complete team together for the first time since the 1972 Olympics discussing the controversial calls surrounding the Soviet Union’s win and if they will ever accept the silver medal as a team.

Previous films from the ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 Shorts series include Arnold’s Blueprint, Ali: The Mission, and Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner, among others. All can be viewed on Grantland.com.

That will do it.

34th Annual Sports Emmy Awards Nominations Announced

Just received this from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the full press release of the nominations for the 34th Annual Sports Emmy Awards.

NBC Sports Group received the most nominations with 58 followed by ESPN with 43 and Turner in third with 27.

Bob Costas was nominated yet again for Outstanding Studio Host along with Dan Patrick, James Brown, Ernie Johnson and Rich Eisen.

There were only four nominees for Outstanding Play-by-play, Mike Breen, Mike Emrick, Al Michaels and Jim Nantz.

Cris Collinsworth received another nomination for Outstanding Event Analyst. He’s joined by Ato Boldon of NBC Olympics, Jon Gruden, Jim Kaat and Mike Mayock.

Studio Analyst was full with Charles Barkley of TNT, Tony Dungy of NBC’s Football Night in America, CBS’ Boomer Esiason, MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds, Bill Ripken also from MLB Network and Kurt Warner of NFL Network.

Let us take a look at the full list. We need a jump break in here as well. Let’s go. Lots of things to read through. Get ready to scroll.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES ANNOUNCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 34th ANNUAL SPORTS EMMY® AWARDS

Winners to be Honored During the May 7th Ceremony At Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center

New York, NY – March 20, 2013 – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) today announced the nominees for the 34th Annual Sports Emmy® Awards.

More than 170 nominees were announced in 34 categories including Outstanding Live Sports Special, Live Series, Sports Documentary, Studio Show, Promotional Announcements, Play-by-Play Personality and Studio Analyst. The Awards will be given out at the prestigious Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center located in the Time Warner Center on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 in New York City.

“What a world we live in,” said Malachy Wienges, Chair, NATAS. “The Olympics, NASCAR, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the World Series, The Stanley Cup, The NBA, the US Open, the Masters…it just goes on and on! This is another outstanding year for the sports community and for The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The entries received in this year’s Sports Emmy Awards illustrate the high-water mark of quality each of us gets to enjoy every time we turn on our favorite program. With so much talent vying for the prestigious Emmy Award and with many of the today’s leading sports broadcasters, personalities, and television professionals in attendance, it promises to be an exciting evening.”

The networks of NBC Sports Group (NBC, NBC Sports Network, Golf Channel nbcolympics.com, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, nbcsports.com, & Telemundo) lead the nomination totals with 58, ESPN (ESPN, ESPN2, grantland.com, ABC, ESPN3D, ESPNU & ESPNews), garnered 43, and Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, NCAA.com & truTV) garnered 27. A complete list of all Networks and individual show nominations follows below.

A complete list of all nominees is attached and also available at www.emmyonline.tv/sports

34th Annual Sports Emmy Award Nominations by Network Group
Network or Network Group Nominations

NBC Sports Group (NBC, NBC Sports Network, Golf Channel, nbcolympics.com, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, nbcsports.com, Telemundo) — 58
ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, grantland.com, ABC, ESPN 3D, ESPNU, ESPNews) — 43
Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, truTV, NCAA.com) — 27
FOX Sports Media Group (FOX, SPEED, FOX Soccer Channel) — 17
HBO Sports — 17
NFL Network (NFL Network, NFL Media, NFL.com) — 16
CBS (CBS, Showtime, CBS Sports Network) — 15
MLB Network — 9
DIRECTV — 1
YouTube — 1

34th Annual Sports Emmy Award Nominations by Network

NETWORK — NOMINATIONS

NBC — 36
ESPN — 23
HBO Sports — 17
FOX — 13
NFL Network — 13
TNT — 13
CBS — 10
ESPN2 — 10
MLB Network — 9
NBC Sports Network — 9
TBS — 5
NBA TV — 4
Showtime — 4
truTV — 4
grantland.com — 3
NBCOlympics.com — 3
Speed — 3
ABC — 2
Bravo — 2
ESPN3D — 2
ESPNU — 2
Golf Channel — 2
MSNBC — 2
NFL Media — 2
Telemundo — 2
CBS Sports Network — 1
CNBC — 1
DIRECTV — 1
ESPNews — 1
FOX Soccer Channel — 1
nbcsports.com — 1
NCAA.com — 1
NFL.com — 1
YouTube — 1

BREAKDOWN OF MULTIPLE PROGRAM — SERIES NOMINATIONS

Program/Network/Nominations
Games of the XXX Olympiad (NBC/Bravo/CNBC/MSNBC/NBC SportsNetwork/NBCOlympics.com/Telemundo) — 14
NBA on TNT (TNT) — 6
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (TNT) — 6
E:60 (ESPN2) — 5
24/7 (HBO) — 4
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Miami Dolphins (HBO) — 4
MLB on FOX (FOX) — 4
Outside the Lines (ESPN) — 4
Sunday Night Football (NBC) — 4
NASCAR on FOX (FOX) — 3
NFL Films Presents (NFL Network) — 3
30 for 30 (ESPN) — 2
A Football Life (NFL Network) — 2
College Gameday (ESPN) — 2
The Dream Team (NBA TV) — 2
Inside the NBA (NBA TV) — 2
Inside the NFL (Showtime) –2
MLB Network Division Series (MLB Network) — 2
MLB Tonight (MLB Network) — 2
Namath (HBO) — 2
NCAA March Madness (TBS) — 2
NFL on FOX (FOX) — 2
SportsCenter (ESPN) — 2
Sport Science (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNews) — 2
UEFA Euro 2012 (ESPN) — 2

The nominations are coming after a jump break.
(continue reading…)

Some Quick Monday Sports Media Thoughts

Haven’t done a sports media thoughts post in a while. Figured you’re owed one. Let’s do this in bullet form, of course.

• ESPN’s 30 for 30 series has been good since it started, but Sunday’s “Survive and Advance” documentary on the 1983 North Carolina State NCAA Championship team elevated it to something very special. Directed by Jonathan Hock and executive produced by the team’s point guard, Derek Whittenburg, the documentary chronicled the miracle NC State team that entered the ACC Tournament with 10 losses and needed to beat Wake Forest, North Carolina and Virginia to get to the NCAA Tournament and did. And then continued its run to the Final Four where it beat Georgia to advance to the National Championship Game against Phi Slamma Jama, Houston.

  There were interviews with several members of the team including Thurl Bailey, Whittenburg, Terry Gannon who is now a broadcaster for ESPN and NBC, Cozell McQueen and others. The only ones missing were Jim Valvano who died of cancer in 1993 and Lorenzo Charles who scored the winning basket who died in a bus accident in 2011. Director Hock captured the feeling of the magical run. As usual in the 30 for 30 films, no narrator, just sound bites and archival footage, but it works extremely well in this case.

  While the team comes off very well, the star of the documentary is Gannon who is very funny and weaves some great tales. His best story was his telling of taking a charge from Houston’s Clyde Drexler in the National Championship Game.

  The 30 for 30′s have been very good, but “Survive and Advance” is truly the best of the series to date. It’s not just a very good sports documentary, but one of the best documentaries I’ve seen in any category. There are a lot of things where ESPN has fallen short, but 30 for 30 is the network’s star. It’s quality television and if you have an opportunity to watch the re-airs later this week, by all means do so. You won’t be sorry.

• College basketball’s Championship Week gave us the opportunity to see some great basketball in the conference tournaments. It also allowed us to hear Bill Walton throughout the Pac-12 Tournament. Now, I don’t have the Pac-12 Network as DirecTV continues to keep it off its lineup, but thanks to the ESPN Family of Networks, viewers were able to hear some gems from the Big Red. Yes, Walton can go off on tangents, but they are so entertaining that I watched all three games that I normally may not have viewed. It’s hard to imagine that Walton had retired a few years ago due to chronic back pain and even considered suicide. Thankfully, Walton reconsidered and underwent a procedure to correct the pain. His return to the airwaves is the viewer’s gain.

  Kudos go to Dave Pasch for being a very good straight man and for also being patient when Walton went on his rants.

  I gathered quotage from Thursday’s quarterfinals, Friday’s semifinals and Saturday’s final. It’s good reading. You’ll definitely get a laugh.

• CBS’ NCAA Tournament Selection Show returned for the 32nd consecutive year on Sunday. The network has the selections down to a science, first the number one overall seed, the picks for each region, reaction shots from selected schools, an interview with the Selection Committee Chairman and analysis. One addition this year was the Perpetually Angry Doug Gottlieb.

  Already in a crowded studio with Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony and Seth Davis, Gottlieb shoehorned his opinions and overpowered Anthony and Davis to the point where they had to interrupt the ESPN retread. I understand Gottlieb is fulfilling a dream by calling NCAA Tournament games, but the studio is not his strength. Gottlieb’s performance on Sunday is on par with Joe Montana’s horrendous performance in the NFL on NBC studio back in 1995. While Gottlieb did not look like a deer caught in the headlights like Montana did, he did not come off well. He looked angry. He pointed at the American people and he tried to cram too many opinions while trying to stir things up with Davis. It was not good television. I am afraid of what will happen when Gottlieb joins the CBS/Turner studio for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight with Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.

• Lastly, we expect an announcement on the SEC TV network next month. Conference commissioner Mike Slive told Yahoo’s Pat Forde that the league will make an official unveiling of the network sometime next month. The SEC already makes megabucks from CBS and ESPN in contracts that led other conferences to follow and lead to massive upheaval ending long standing rivalries. It’s expected that ESPN will partner in an SEC cable network similar to how Fox Sports partners with the Big Ten for its network.

  When the infrastructure is in place, the SEC will make a boatload of money and follow in the footsteps of the Big Ten Network in becoming a cash cow. And viewers who were getting used to watching the over the air SEC Network which replaced Raycom in syndicating third tier games, now will have to transition to seeing those events on cable.

  More upheaval is exactly what sports fan want.

We’re done. Enjoy your Monday.

“30 for 30″ Returns With “You Don’t Know Bo”

ESPN’s critically acclaimed “30 for 30″ documentary series returns Saturday with a look at none other than Vincent “Bo” Jackson, the two-sport star who was not only good in baseball and football, but he was a marketing machine.

“You Don’t Know Bo” will premiere this Saturday at approximately 9 p.m. ET following the Heisman Trophy Presentation on ESPN.

It’s going to be a fascinating documentary that look at his college career at Auburn and then to his days in both MLB and in the NFL.

We have a preview from ESPN.

30 for 30 Fall Slate Concludes with You Don’t Know Bo December 8 on ESPN

Documentary chronicles the life and career of sports legend Bo Jackson

ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 will premiere You Don’t Know Bo on Saturday, December 8 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPNHD, immediately following the conclusion of the Heisman Trophy Presentation. The film explores the feats of the former Heisman trophy winner from his childhood to his early days at Auburn University and through his career as a professional baseball and football star.  The trailer for the film can be viewed at espn.com/30for30.

“With each 30 for 30 film, we aim to tell a story that resonates with sports fans and few, if any, athletes in professional sports have captured the nation’s attention the way that Bo Jackson did in his prime,” said Connor Schell ESPN Films vice president and executive producer. “From his college career to his professional baseball and football careers, and even his mainstream appeal with Nike’s “Bo Knows” marketing campaign, Bo Jackson’s achievements help him remain one of the most captivating and revered athletes of all time, nearly two decades after his retirement.

You Don’t Know Bo, directed by Michael Bonfiglio and produced by @radical.media, takes a close look at two-sport athlete Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson and the creation of a legend. As the only athlete ever selected to play in the NFL Pro Bowl and the MLB All-Star Game, Jackson will forever be known as a cultural icon who looms larger than life as one of the most famous athletes of all time. This film examines the truths and tall tales that surround Jackson, and how his seemingly impossible deeds captured the country’s collective imagination for an all-too-brief period in time.

“Bo Jackson is like a superhero straight out of a comic book,” Bonfiglio said. “If we had scripted this story it would feel like a cliché, but what’s so incredible is that for the most part, the legend of Bo Jackson is actually true. And the parts that aren’t true have been cemented into the minds of fans to somehow become the truth.”

All of the 30 for 30 films from this past slate are available on iTunes and Amazon.com. The 30 for 30 Film Favorites Collection, a new gift set including the most popular titles from ESPN Films, is also available on DVD. Fans can get additional information at www.facebook.com/espn30for30 and .

That will do it.

Some Sunday Linkage

I have some time on this NFL Sunday to provide some rare weekend linkage. Let’s get to it.

Chris Chase at USA Today’s Game On blog notes that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder has confirmed that he’s dating ESPN College GameDay’s Samantha Steele.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about the Pac-12 Networks being made available to Apple mobile devices as long as they’re subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report reviews this week’s 30 for 30 documentary which has a Chicago slant.

Sports Media Watch says expect Fox to be a player for the rights to the second half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season if ESPN and Turner falter in their negotiations next year.

SportsRantz says Jen Royle is owed an apology by Toronto Blue Jays fans after she correctly reported that John Farrell was a target of the Red Sox for its managerial opening.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says Fox Sports is ready to launch its New Orleans channel with the rights to the Hornets in hand.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead notes that actress Natalie Portman turned heads at the Baylor-Texas game last night.

Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead has video evidence of Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte being dumber than you and me.

Tom Ley at Deadspin notes that ESPN’s Rick Reilly got fooled by web satire once again.

Once again, Phil Mushnick at the New York Post finds something to hate.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog recaps President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s comments on DC NFL team QB Robert Griffin III on Fox NFL Sunday.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with Doug Gottlieb about his new CBS Sports Network late night show.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times rates the commissioners‘ of MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL.

Nice to have Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News back in Fang’s Bites. He wonders where are the Cowboys fans as the team’s TV ratings have fallen like a rock this season.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle bids farewell to Big Tex, the huge statue that adorned the Texas State Fair outside Dallas that burned down on Friday and the voice of Big Tex.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman reviews Fox Sports Net’s production of last night’s Oklahoma blowout of Kansas.

The Oklahoman notes that ESPN’s College GameDay will be at the Notre Dame-Oklahoma game in Norman next Saturday.

The Cincinnati Enquirier’s John Kiesewetter talks with NBC’s Al Michaels who got his big break in the Queen City.

John has some outtakes with Al that didn’t make the newspaper story.

Joe Reedy of the Enquirer talks with Cris Collinsworth who will have a heavy heart working with Al Michaels tonight.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco has his work cut out for him in negotiating a new TV contract for the conference.

At TimeOut Chicago, Robert Feder discusses Jenny McCarthy joining the Sun-Times as a columnist, the Tribune going behind the dreaded paywall, and Bob Brenly’s replacement as Cubs analyst.

At the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth recalls the 31st Anniversary of “Blue Monday” for the Dodgers with Vin Scully.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog enjoys the MLB International productions over TBS and Fox in the postseason.

And that will do it.

The Latest Installment of 30 for 30, “9.79*” Premieres Tonight on ESPN

The second film in the fall series of ESPN’s critically-acclaimed 30 for 30 series premieres tonight. “9.79*” looks at the iconic men’s 100 meters race in track and field at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Director Daniel Gordon manages to get all eight of the men who ran the race including disgraced winner Ben Johnson of Canada to talk about the impact of the race. Carl Lewis who finished second, but was eventually declared the winner by the International Olympic Committee plays a large role in the film.

Johnson who rarely talks to the media is featured prominently and he talks about taking steroids to overtake Lewis between 1984 when Lewis won four gold medals in the Los Angeles Olympics and 1988 in Seoul.

This is very good and the film uses historical footage from both Olympics and various races throughout the 1980′s. Quite impressed with this installment of the 30 for 30 series.

Here’s the press release from ESPN Films.

ESPN Films’ 9.79* to Premiere October 9 on ESPN

Latest 30 for 30 documentary examines the infamous Ben Johnson/Carl Lewis 100m final at the 1988 Seoul Games

ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 will premiere 9.79* on ESPN/ESPN HD on Tuesday, October 9, at 8 p.m. ET.  A selection at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, 9.79* is directed by Daniel Gordon and examines the unforgettable showdown between Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis in the men’s 100m final at the 1988 Olympic games as well as the steroids scandal that followed. Grantland.com will debut two features related to 9.79* including a Bill Simmons’ “The B.S. Report” podcast with Malcolm Gladwell, and a first-hand account of the event by Grantland writer Charlie Pierce who attended the race in Seoul. 9.79* can be viewed at the newly redesigned 30 for 30 site (espn.com/30for30/).

On September 24, 1988, Johnson beat Lewis in the 100m final at the Seoul games, lowering his own world record to 9.79 seconds in what was perhaps the most thrilling sprint in Olympic history. Within 48 hours, however, Johnson had tested positive for an anabolic steroid and was stripped of the gold medal. In the ensuing years, it has been revealed that five other competitors in that race had either tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs or were implicated in a drug scandal. All eight sprinters in that 100m final were interviewed for 9.79* as it explores what is often considered the most infamous race in history.

The remaining films for this slate of 30 for 30 documentaries will air as follows:

• Tuesday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. – 9.79* (Daniel Gordon)
• Tuesday, Oct. 16, 8 p.m. – There’s No Place Like Home (Maura Mandt and Josh Swade)
• Tuesday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m. – Benji (Coodie and Chike)
• Tuesday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m. – Ghosts of Ole Miss (Fritz Mitchell)
• Saturday, Dec. 8, 9 p.m. – You Don’t Know Bo (Michael Bonfiglio)

Newsday’s Neil Best also has a review. There you have it.

Your Thursday Linkage

Let’s do a few links for you.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the local MLB TV ratings.

Mike Ozanian from Forbes explains what the new national MLB TV deals mean for the upcoming bids for the Los Angeles Dodgers TV rights.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter has an NBC Sports executive defending its decision not to air live coverage of the Paralympics.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry at the Poynter Institute discusses ESPN taking credit for the work of others and standardizing its editorial policies.

Bradley Klein of Golfweek was not enamored with the amount of commercials in NBC’s Ryder Cup coverage. Thanks to Ed Sherman for the link.

Speaking of Ed, he wonders if this season will be the last for the partnership of Chicago White Sox TV announcers Ken Harrelson and Steve Stone.

Jill Goldsmith from Variety discusses the new carriage deal between Disney and Cablevision that includes WatchESPN, Longhorn Network and other ESPN platforms.

Broadcasting & Cable reports on Golf Channel’s record viewership for the third quarter of 2012.

Dan Daly from Sports Video Group explores how Fox and Turner are preparing to pick up audio during the MLB Postseason.

ESPN’s Kristi Dosh looks at the next Manchester United cash deal.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell wonders how much Master Swindler Curt Schilling can receive for selling his bloody sock. I live in Rhode Island and I’m an angry taxpayer on the hook thanks to Curt’s 38 Studios deal.

Rocco Pendoia at The Street wonders if national sports radio can generate revenue for CBS.

Jordan Rabinowitz at SportsGrid has the painful video of actor Liam Neeson’s appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter as Mike Hill asked him about Tim Tebow. You can only imagine the results.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with SiriusXM’s Chris Russo.

Jerry Barmash at FishbowlNY says YES has received its best ratings in two years for the last two Red Sox-Yankees games.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott says local sports anchor Andrew Catalon will call UConn women’s basketball on SNY this season.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Week 5 NFL TV schedule for the Capital Region.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record looks at the SNY UConn Women’s basketball schedule.

Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger talks with ESPN analyst John Congemi about Saturday’s UConn-Rutgers game.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says IndyCar racing returns next year to Pocono Raceway, but in a shorter form and with ABC televising the race over NBC Sports Network.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun has a slideshow in which he gives grades to the MASN Orioles broadcasters for this season.

David notes the O’s home finale’s ratings on MASN almost doubled from the last season.

In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wants to know why former WaPo columnist Michael Wilbon trashed DC in ESPN The Magazine.

Dan also responds to Michael’s trashing of him.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the final day of the Astros season meant saying goodbye on both TV and radio.

Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes that several Oklahoma City Thunder players were gripped by ESPN’s “Broke” 30 for 30 documentary.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Reds set a ratings record on Fox Sports Ohio.

In the Los Angeles Times, Joe Flint writes about the Disney carriage deal with Cablevision.

Joe Eskanazi of San Francisco explains how the Bleacher Report became so big.

John Carvalho at ChuckOliver.net delves into the feud between South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier and a newspaper columnist.

Andrew Kameka of Mobile Play says WatchESPN is now adding support for Apple AirPlay through iOS6.

Dave Kohl has some various sports media thoughts in The Broadcast Booth.

I’m going to end it there.

Bringing Out Some Wednesday Links For You

Time for some linkage in this mid-week and last day of the 2012 MLB regular season. Lots of things to get to.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand analyzes the new MLB TV deals with Fox and Turner.

Nate Davis of USA Today’s Game On blog previews tonight’s NFL Network “A Football Life” documentary.

John Ourand and David Broughton of Sports Business Journal report on this season’s local MLB TV ratings.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter has a Fox Sports executive being very bullish on soccer.

Alex Ben Block of the Reporter goes over the MLB contracts with Fox and Turner.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that the American Cable Association, which hates everything, is railing against the MLB TV deals.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News also delves into the new MLB deals.

Mike says Monday night’s Chicago Bears-Dallas Cowboys game garnered cable’s third biggest audience of the year.

Kristian Dyer at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog notes that Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones has apologized for an unintentional insensitive tweet responding to the paralyzed Eric LeGrand.

Spiracle Media through Storify harnessed some tweets from athletes who watched the extremely fascinating 30 for 30 documentary, “Broke” on ESPN.

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report anticipates Fox’s next move to create an all-sports cable channel.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at PGA.com’s video coverage of the Ryder Cup.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell explores the NFL financial advisory program in hopes of preventing athletes from going broke.

NFL referee Ed Hochuli is on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe explores the latest Arbitron ratings for the city’s sports radio stations.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the new MLB TV deals.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Week 6 college football TV schedule.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that ESPN’s and former DC sports reporter Lindsay Czarniak celebrated the Nationals on SportsCenter.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about the new MLB TV deals.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says last Saturday’s Texas-Oklahoma State game registered huge local ratings.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mark Dawidziak tells us that former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel will be joining a local TV station as a weekly contributor. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a local sports anchor will not face charges stemming from a domestic violence case.

Howie Magner of Milwaukee Magazine profiles Trenni Kusnierek, now of Comcast SportsNet New England, on her battle with depression.

Robert Feder of TimeOut Chicago writes that the Bulls have renewed their Spanish radio rights (scroll down).

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch has a full story on the Bulls’ renewal.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the new TV deals with Fox and Turner gives MLB plenty of stability into the next decade.

James Mirtle of the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that CBC’s Don Cherry is blasting the Maple Leafs for their treatment of one of their players.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Globe and Mail notes that the MLB Postseason will have teams from both small and big markets.

Cork Gaines at the Business Insider Sports Page has some memorable quotes from last night’s 30 for 30 “Broke” documentary.

John Daly at the Daly Planet explores the possibilities for the much discussed, but unconfirmed Fox Sports 1.

Joe Favorito says College Radio Day is a very good thing for aspiring broadcasters.

The legend of Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke is growing thanks to a new animated gif showing her warming up in the rain. This has nothing to do with sports media. Just me linking to Michelle Jenneke.

And that is all.

Quick Tuesday Linkage

Let’s do a few links on this Tuesday.

Edmund Lee of Bloomberg analyzes the new MLB TV deals with Fox and Turner.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says with some playoff spots decided, ESPN has dropped plans for a duel MLB doubleheaders on Wednesday.

Jacqueline Palank of the Wall Street Journal reviews ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary, “Broke” which premieres tonight.

Nat Ives from Advertising Age writes that one unexpected beneficiary of the NFL referees lockout was Buffalo Wild Wings.

At Forbes, the great Maury Brown writes about Time Warner Cable launching not one, but two regional sports networks in Southern California.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says NBC’s Sunday Night Football is expected to dominate the night, but media buyers say ABC’s lineup is a good alternative.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report looks at tonight’s 30 for 30 premiere.

Jordan Rabinowitz of SportsGrid has a sneak peek of tonight’s 30 for 30 doc.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says two regional sports networks made their debuts Monday with lots of fanfare, but a low viewership.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable notes that NBC Sports Network has signed its second NCAA Division I Conference to air its basketball games.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell wonders what’s keeping Mark Sanchez from losing his job as New York Jets starting quarterback.

Tim Burke at Deadspin has video of an ESPN raw feed of a motorsports event that really has to be seen to be believed.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that ESPN will focus on the American League East in its final day of MLB regular season coverage.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says Army makes a couple of appearances on CBS Sports Network’s college hockey coverage.

Kevin Cooney of the Bucks County (PA) Courier Times notes a milestone for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes about CBS Sports Network making a new hire.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says MASN and a local radio station are bolstering their baseball coverage for the postseason.

Dan notes that ESPN The Magazine devoting an entire issue to DC sports.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal says two central Florida radio stations have switched to NBC Sports Radio.

The Orlando Sentinel looks at one sports radio station flipping to NBC Sports Radio from ESPN Radio.

Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that Georgia football coach Mark Richt makes an appearance in a College GameDay promo.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports Ohio will air Xavier basketball games this season.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch recaps yesterday’s Bulls Media Day.

The Kansas City Star explains why it doesn’t put the DC NFL team’s name in its copy.

Joe Flint from the Los Angeles Times says MLB hit a home run by more than doubling its rights fees from Fox and Turner.

James Mirtle of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about ESPN getting the rights to the Russian KHL featuring locked out NHL players.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing notes former New York Knicks GM Isiah Thomas could be coming to ESPN.

Sports Media Watch says Bears-Cowboys gave ESPN some big overnight numbers for Monday Night Football.

That’s going to do it for today.

ESPN’s 30 for 30, Volume 2 Begins in October

ESPN’s award-winning 30 for 30 documentary series returns next month with six films shown over a period of six weeks beginning on Tuesday, October 2. The first in the series is “Broke” which focuses on athletes who begin to lose their money after playing days through bad investments, deficit spending, hangers on and medical issues.

The film was directed by Billy Corben and was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. Among the former athletes to be showcased in the film will be former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, former NFL wide receiver Andre Rison and many others discussing how they lost fortunes after being paid big money during their playing careers.

“Broke” will be the first of 30 documentaries that will be part of what ESPN Films is calling “Volume 2″ of the 30 for 30 series.

Here’s the press release from ESPN Films.

ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 Series Returns with Broke to Premiere October 2 on ESPN

Documentary by Billy Corben Examines Financial Challenges Facing Pro Athletes

ESPN Films announces the return of the Emmy-nominated and Peabody award-winning film series with Broke, a 30 for 30 documentary from The U director Billy Corben. Broke, a 2012 Tribeca Film Festival selection, will premiere on ESPN/ESPN HD on Tuesday, October 2, at 8 p.m. ET. The film will be accompanied by an essay on Grantland.com and a podcast by Bill Simmons. The trailer for Broke can be viewed at the newly redesigned 30 for 30 site (http://espn.go.com/30for30/).

Broke explores the roads to fortune in American sports and eventually, the many detours to bankruptcy. Curt Schilling, Bernie Kosar, Andre Rison and Cliff Floyd are among the athletes who talk openly about the challenges of managing their money. In an era when big contracts don’t necessarily support bigger lifestyles, athletes are often sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders and saddled with medical problems. Eventually, many pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. A story of the dark side of success, Broke is an allegory for the financial woes haunting economies and individuals all over the world.

“There are often catchy headlines and sensationalized stories about professional athletes and their roads to financial ruin that give sports fans only one point of view of a much larger issue,” said Connor Schell, vice president of ESPN Films. “With Broke, Billy is expanding the understanding of this problem with a detailed exploration of the financial challenges that some athletes face, hopefully bringing greater insight to the issue for both fans and aspiring athletes.”

The upcoming slate of 30 for 30 documentaries will air as follows:

• Tuesday, Oct. 2, 8 p.m. – Broke (Billy Corben)
• Tuesday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. – 9.79* (Daniel Gordon)
• Tuesday, Oct. 16, 8 pm. – There’s No Place Like Home (Maura Mandt and Josh Swade)
• Tuesday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m. – Benji (Coodie and Chike)
• Tuesday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m. – Ghosts of Ole Miss (Fritz Mitchell)
• Saturday, Dec. 8, 9 p.m. – You Don’t Know Bo (Michael Bonfiglio)

Each 30 for 30 film will be available on iTunes and Amazon.com the day after its television premiere. 30 for 30 Film Favorites Collection, a new gift set including the most popular titles from ESPN Films, will be available on DVD on September 25, 2012.

30 for 30-related updates are available at www.facebook.com/espn30for30 and www.twitter.com/30for30.

More later.

Checking Out Some Wednesday Linkage

Let’s provide some mid-week linkage before I get too busy later on.

Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily writes that NBC’s overnight rating for Tuesday’s Olympic primetime was up from the comparable night four years ago.

Tripp Mickle of SBJ says NBC is about to set up a set of exhibition beach volleyball matches between the US and China later this year.

In an SBJ podcast, Tripp meets with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch to talk about the media coverage of the 2012 Olympics.

Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter will not complain about NBC’s Olympic coverage.

Daniel Miller of the Reporter says swimmer Ryan Lochte is in discussions to star in his own reality TV show.

Also from the Reporter, Marisa Guthrie has five lessons NBC should learn from the 2012 Games.

Another from the Reporter, a majority of those polled think Ryan Seacrest is doing a good job at the Olympics? Who is being polled?

And finally from the Reporter, Eriq Gardner reports that the NCAA has been ordered to hand over TV licensing revenue documents in a case involving video game manufacturer Electronic Arts which is using likenesses of student-athletes without permission from the athletes themselves.

Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead has video of Lolo Jones breaking down on the Today Show this morning.

Meanwhile, Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of medal winners Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells being rather candid about their opinions on Lolo with Michelle Beadle this morning.

Jen Floyd Engel at FoxSports.com says despite what the media says, this is not the Olympics of the Woman as the media is stating.

Graeme McMillan of Time asks if NBC should offer the Olympics as reality TV or just straight sports?

Joe Posnanski talks with former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol about working his last Olympics for American television, the 2012 London Games.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On has a look at the upcoming slate of 30 for 30 documentaries.

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated profiles ESPN’s Joe Tessitore who is getting a high profile college football assignment after years of taking on crazy schedules.

SI’s Richard Deitsch has a college football roundtable featuring writers Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples and Holly Anderson on what they expect from the TV side of the sport this season.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable says NBC Sports Network is setting viewership records with Olympic programming.

Tim writes that AT&T U-Verse has signed a new agreement to carry NFL Network and RedZone.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the 2012 Olympics are on pace to become the most-watched TV event in US history.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that online sports viewers can tolerate the bombardment of ads seen during the Olympics.

Thomas Pardee of Advertising Age says the Olympics are topping social TV sites like GetGlue, but HBO’s True Blood is showing its reach.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life looks at the winners and losers from broadcasting the Olympics.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions says DirecTV may be adding five new channels including one sports network run by Al Jazeera.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report notes that a former Boston Globe college sports columnist is now on his own and got a big scoop this week.

Ed has a couple of NBC Sports-related announcements that have nothing to do with the Olympics.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at NBC’s operations at Olympic Stadium.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell notes that it’s better for sponsors that Michael Phelps remain retired instead of him being an active Olympian.

CBS Radio has officially announced that Scott Zolak will be the radio analyst for New England Patriots games starting this Thursday. He replaces Gino Cappeletti who retired last month.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that NBC is getting a mixed ratings bag for the Olympics from the last few days.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union tells readers where they can find this week’s New York Giants preseason opener.

Pete has ESPN’s schedule of MLB games for most of this month.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that former Jets and Giants coach Bill Parcells will appear on ESPN Radio NY opposite his buddy, WFAN’s Mike Francesa during NFL season.

Ken says NBC Sports Network will have Olympic reruns throughout August.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd is up to his old tricks again.

Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times wonders if the Olympic promos for the NBC’s “Go On” might actually hurt the show in the long run.

Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald looks at last night’s Hard Knock premiere on HBO.

Izzy Gould at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that the Miami Dolphins put the team up for display on Hard Knocks.

Gould says Hard Knocks did not explore the Dolphins’ injuries.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says the local NBC affiliate’s ratings are down from 4 years ago.

T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times talks with Vin Scully about calling Sandy Koufax’s perfect game back in 1965.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Scully made a great argument for using instant replay in baseball during an argument on the field Monday night.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says while viewers in the Great White North are complaining about Olympic coverage, the ratings are saying otherwise.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing goes in-depth into the Turner Sports purchase of the Bleacher Report.

Matt Yoder of AA defends Lolo Jones against the very strange media backlash that began over the weekend in the New York Times.

John Koblin of Deadspin writes that even our troops stationed abroad are victims to NBC’s tape delays and can’t watch the Olympics live!

Sports Media Watch says UFC on Fox set yet another record low for mixed martial arts on network TV.

The Big Lead, in a sponsored post, speaks with CBS’ Clark Kellogg.

That is going to do it for today.

It’s A Friday Megalink Day

And can you believe I’ve been able to do linkage for most of the week? Hasn’t been like that in a long while. Glad I’ve been able to get it done.

Time for your Friday megalinks. As usual, we provide the Weekend Viewing Picks which has plenty of MLB and U.S. Olympic Trials action.

Let’s go to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at ESPN extending its current deal with the Rose Bowl.

Michael looks at Erin Andrews’ departure from ESPN.

Sports Business Journal has a sampling of what some sports business and sports media figures addressed to the graduating Class of 2012 at the nation’s colleges and universities.

At the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman explores the strange dispute between the Arizona Diamondbacks and TV voice Daron Sutton.

Ed also notes some media bashing of Chris Berman a few months in advance of his Monday Night Football debut.

Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the BBC has launched a new Facebook app to allow UK users to watch the Olympics online.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable says the Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling throwing out the FCC fine against CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Man, that was a long time ago.

Tim Baysinger of B&C says NASCAR Digital Media has hired five executives in advance of the sport’s takeover of its digital rights from Turner Sports next year.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes ESPN’s X Games production evolution.

The Nielsen Wire blog ponders the question of whether NBA Draft picks can do well in marketing products.

Deadline reports that ESPN’s ratings for the EURO 2012 semifinals this week are way up from EURO 2008.

One more week of writing, “CNBC’s Darren Rovell”. Today, CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that with less than a month to go until the Olympics, a major ticket dispute has erupted.

Joe Favorito notes how Delta Airlines’ sponsorship of English Premier League team Chelsea shows that the company wants to go outside of the US to gain awareness.

Sports Media Watch has a look at some of NBC’s Olympic assignments for London.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN and Bill Simmons removed a potential offensive part of his NBA Draft diary that is way too long for anyone to read.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing has the winners and losers from Thursday’s night’s NBA Draft coverage on ESPN.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes about a documentary on an Olympic hopeful who is attempting to gain a spot on the US women’s gymnastics team.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette talks with the Voice of the Worcester Tornadoes minor league baseball team.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN’s Mike Francesa on whether he’ll return to the station when his contract expires in two years.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post is not happy about Chris Berman calling Monday Night Football.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that local sports anchor Andrew Catalon gets another Olympics assignment.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that the NBA Draft’s ratings on ESPN were down from the year before.

Pete looks at 25 years of WFAN.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record analyzes the NBC Olympic assignments.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks about the later start time for the NFL national Sunday afternoon game.

Keith has some fun facts about WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com says Philadelphia Union voice JP Dellacamera will be calling Olympic soccer games for NBC.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes in Press Box says the Baltimore Orioles’ ratings on MASN are up.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the Nationals’ radio ratings.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner speaks with NBC’s Phil Liggett about the Tour de France which kicks off this weekend.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald culls media opinions regarding the Heat’s chances to repeat.

Jimmie E. Gates of the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger says a lawsuit against ESPN over a 30 for 30 documentary can proceed in state court.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says the Rockets are changing radio stations.

David writes the person who helped launch Houston’s original regional sports network will be part of the team that launches the city’s newest RSN.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says a local sports radio network will be slightly affiliated with the new CBS Sports Radio.

More links later.

UPDATE, 9:20 p.m.: Time for more linkage.

Midwest

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says Fox has replaced Daron Sutton from this Saturday’s Arizona-Brewers game.

Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune says WMAQ sports anchor Mike Adamle who’s been on leave from the station is expected to return soon.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin goes over the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2012 series.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times talks with TBS’ Cal Ripken about the MLB All-Star Game.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star rails against the current format of the All-Star Game.

Jim reviews some of this week’s sports media news in his notebook.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL has laid down guidelines for the league to return to the nation’s second biggest market.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News isn’t thrilled about NBC pulling tape delayed shenanigans for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Tom has more notes in his blog.

And we are finally done.

Let’s Get Some Linkage Out

I’ve accumulated a lot of links. They’re slowing down my browser so let’s clear them so I can let my computer get back some memory. Lots of stuff going on.

Let’s start with ESPN stuff as it dominated the news today with its network upfront presentation to advertisers and also confirmed personnel moves.

First, Sports Media Watch talks about Scott Van Pelt reupping with ESPN.

The ESPN Front Row blog has a Q&A podcast with Van Pelt in which he explains why he decided to remain with the Bristolians.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today recaps today’s ESPN upfront presentation in New York.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that with Michelle Beadle leaving ESPN, the network is now focusing on keeping Erin Andrews in the fold.

The Hollywood Reporter goes over some ESPN upfront news including its plans to bring back the 30 for 30 documentary series.

Stuart Levin from Variety also has a story on the new set of 30 for 30 docs.

Jeannie Poggi of Advertising Age also reviews ESPN’s upfronts.

Alex Weprin from TVNewser says ESPN and ABC News will co-produce an interview series to be fronted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts.

Mike Shields from Adweek says ESPN.com will now partner to sell ads.

ESPN’s Vice President of College Sports Programming, Burke Magnus responds to a Dan Wetzel/Yahoo Sports article on the new ACC TV contract.

Chad Scott at ChuckOliver.net explains how third tier media rights work in college sports.

Andy Fixmer and Alex Sherman at Bloomberg report on how ESPN may expand its WatchESPN app to Apple TV platforms.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says CBS is ready to take the coveted 18-49 ratings title from perennial winner Fox with the airing of Super Bowl XLVII next season.

The great SportsbyBrooks tweets that Erik Kuselias’ move to NBC Sports Network from Golf Channel’s Morning Drive is being considered a demotion by network higher-ups. I had a feeling this was the case. Do you consider this tweet inane, Mike Francesa?

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report enjoyed watching Survival Sunday on the Fox Sports platforms, but wondered why the most important English Premier League game was on another network.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has four different calls of the same moment when Manchester City won the EPL title on Sunday.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal writes about a now-defunct Twitter account that got under the skin of several sports network executives.

Earlier today, WFAN’s Mike Francesa

If you want to see Mike’s veins popping out during this rant, you can see it here on the YES Network website.

And while Francesa seemingly hates Twitter, Media Rantz points out that Francesa has an app where he does something similar to Twitter.

Bruce Jenkins from Sports Illustrated says Tennis Channel failed to serve the WTA Tour’s Madrid Open like it did with the ATP’s side of the same tournament.

Phil Allaway at Front Stretch looks at ESPN’s coverage of this past weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Race.

BBC Sport has announced it will have 24 live HD streams dedicated to the Olympics this summer.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBCUniversal has set the Olympics programming lineup for Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News notes that a Federal Appeals Court has upheld an FCC ruling that Time Warner Cable did not discriminate against MASN when it refused to put the regional sports network on its North Carolina systems.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the college conference realignment game won’t be settled for at least another decade.

Matt Boutwell of Maine Sports Media looks at a case I wrote about three years ago, about the mysterious tweeter, BrianAdExec.

NESN goes behind the scenes with Jenny Dell and the network’s production team on what goes on during a typical Red Sox gameday.

Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post has SNY’s president talking about the regional sports network’s plans to air UConn Women’s basketball next season.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with NBC Sports’ Mike Emrick about calling his old team, the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

In the New York Times, Jay Schreiber talks about the last time the Devils and the New York Rangers met in the Eastern Conference Final and how he had to monitor the series without smartphones back then.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on ESPN’s plans to bring back 30 for 30.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY writes that MSG Network will provide of wraparound coverage of the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says YES Network will air a Yankeeography on David Wells this week.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that MSG Network will begin airing the WNBA’s New York Liberty starting this weekend.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says two local global conglomerates including Comcast expect to make some big money from the London Olympics.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com Sports goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s MLS production.

Jeff Barker from the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles and the Washington Nationals are waiting word from MLB on a decision on how much MASN should pay the Nats.

Over to Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog who writes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is making a change in its DC NFL team beat reporter.

Dan talks about former Post columnist Howard Bryant ranting against Washington Nationals ownership.

Mike Finger at the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network may offer more Texas football games in another attempt to get carriage from state cable providers.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT set another local ratings record.

In Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks goes over some hate mail.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune writes that Utahans should be able to see the Running Utes thanks to wider distribution of the Pac-12 Networks than the soon-to-be defunct the mtn.

Tuesday night, KNBC-TV did a story on the busy postseason in Los Angeles, but aired the wrong graphic for the Kings and showed the Sacramento Kings instead of the LA Kings. C’mon, man!

Martin Miller of the Los Angeles Times says ESPN upfront presentation showed the network was ready for some football.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media is telling everyone that a New York Rangers-Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final might not mean boffo ratings as some NHL observers are saying.

Jay Koot of Busted Coverage is disgusted by Erik Kuselias’ engagement to Morning Drive news reader Holly Sonders.

And that’s where we’ll end the links tonight.

ESPN Announces The Return of “30 for 30″

Today is the ESPN Upfront presentation, its unveiling of its programming to advertisers. The presentation is streaming live and I’ve been able to watch what is transpiring at New York’s Best Buy Theater. You can catch it as well and it will be archived starting at 2 p.m. ET today.

We have some press releases coming from the Upfronts and I’ll be posting those this morning. Our first announcement is the return of the ESPN Films brand “30 for 30″.

The 30 for 30 documentaries were unveiled for the 30th anniversary of ESPN and once the films were completed, the network put the brand away, but continued to churn out documentaries under the ESPN Films banner. However, people kept using “30 for 30″ and today, ESPN announced that it will bring the brand back this fall.

The new batch of documentaries will be called “30 for 30, Vol. II” and will have an additional 30 documentaries. Included will be a movie on Bo Jackson. Also, there will be “30 for 30 Shorts” which will be separate and allow filmmakers to provide stories in a reduced format.

Here is the ESPN Films press release.

ESPN Films Announces the Return of the Acclaimed Series 30 for 30

Second Season Includes the Launch of 30 Additional Short Films to Debut on Grantland.com

ESPN Films has announced the return of the Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning 30 for 30 film series. As with the first series, which included collaborations with acclaimed filmmakers such as Peter Berg (Kings Ransom), Barry Levinson (The Band That Wouldn’t Die), Ice Cube (Straight Outta L.A.) and Academy Award-winner Barbara Koppel (The House of Steinbrenner), ESPN Films will once again partner with a wide array of filmmakers to tell incredible stories that capture the core of how sports inspire and entertain. 30 for 30 Vol. II is scheduled to premiere in October.

“30 for 30 was conceived as a finite collection and when the original series ended in December of 2010 with Pony Excess, we had underestimated the strength of the connection fans had made between sports documentaries and the 30 for 30 brand,” said Connor Schell, vice president of ESPN Films. “We’re proud to have created a brand that has become synonymous with quality sports storytelling and we see value in bringing back a second collection of 30 films.”

In addition to a second slate of 30 feature-length documentaries, ESPN Films will broaden its scope to support a whole new crop of stories with the creation of 30 for 30 Shorts – a 30-part digital short film series. 30 for 30 Shorts will be similar to the feature-length films in that each piece will represent a specific point of view of the filmmaker and will be a reflection of how they blend the narrative with their own visual style. Beginning in September, a new short film will debut monthly on Bill Simmons’ Grantland.com. A 30 for 30 Short entitled “Here Now” about Pete Rose is currently online as preview of the series.

Schell continued: “Launching the new 30 for 30 Shorts brand will give us the chance to widen the array of talented storytellers we can work with who are passionate about sports and have something to say.  The short film genre frees the filmmaker from some of the constraints common with long-form projects.”

The new season of 30 for 30 will have a much more defined multimedia component through closer integration with Grantland.com by featuring filmmaker podcasts with Bill Simmons, topical oral histories, in-depth features and more.  Each of the feature-length films and digital shorts will be complemented with a long-form written piece on Grantland.com that will deepen the experience for the viewer by providing them with additional context.

“We didn’t know what to expect when we created 30 for 30, but the response wildly exceeded our expectations,” said Grantland.com editor-in-chief Bill Simmons, who is a co-creator of the series. “We learned through social media and word of mouth, that each film seemed to provoke a broader conversation about the topic, so with these digital extensions on Grantland, we’re giving fans the opportunity to dive deeper into each film subject. It’s the logical next step for the 30 for 30 series – to make it the most ambitious multi-media storytelling project that we could imagine while continuing to innovate the genre with each new film.”

Films scheduled to air as part of 30 for 30 Vol. II include:

Benji (Coodie and Chike)
In 1984, 17-year-old Ben Wilson was a symbol of everything promising about Chicago: a sweet-natured youngster from the city’s fabled South Side, and America’s top high school basketball prospect. Nicknamed “Magic Johnson with a jump shot,” Wilson’s natural talents and drive assured his best years were yet to come. Then, in November of his senior year, the life of this exceptional youngster was abruptly and tragically cut short. Wilson’s grim fate sent ripples of horror through the city and the country.

Broke (Billy Corben)
Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders, saddled with medical problems, and naturally prone to showing off, most pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. Drawing surprisingly vulnerable confessions from retired stars like Keith McCants, Bernie Kosar, Leon Searcy and Andre Rison, as well as commentary from Marvin Miller, the former executive director of the MLB Players Association, Bart Scott of the New York Jets and many other informed voices, this fascinating documentary digs into the psychology of men whose competitive nature carries them to victory on the field and ruin off it.

Bo Knows (Mike Bonfiglio)
A close look at the legendary sports figure Bo Jackson and the marketing campaign that shaped his legacy and redefined the role of the athlete in the pop cultural conversation. Even without winning a Super Bowl or World Series, Bo will forever be known as one of the most famous athletes of all time. This film will look at the marketing of athletes, impossible expectations and the legend of Bo Jackson.

The Season of Their Lives (Jonathan Hock)
When the 1982-83 college basketball season began, Jim Valvano and his North Carolina State Wolfpack faced high expectations with equally high aspirations. But with ten losses for the season, the Wolfpack’s only hope of making the NCAA Tournament was to win the ACC Tournament and earn the conference’s automatic berth. Nine straight improbable tournament wins later over the likes of Sampson, Jordan, Olajuwon and Drexler, N.C. State had “survived and advanced” its way to a national championship. In The Season of Their Lives, director Jonathan Hock takes a poignant look through the eyes of senior captain Dereck Whittenburg at a dream fulfilled and explores what at times has been a tragic and heartbreaking aftermath in the 30 years since.

Previews of the 30 for 30 Vol. II trailer and the 30 for 30 Short “Here Now” can be viewed at ESPN.com/30for30.

More stuff from ESPN Upfronts coming up throughout the day. I’ll have to read through the press release to make sure I’m not giving you unadulterated spin.

Cranking Out The Sunday Links

Let’s give you some linkage on this Sunday morning. I’m at work again. No rest for the weary here.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser writes that Sports Illustrated’s Peter King broke news this weekend about HBO’s Hard Knocks.

David Whitley of the Sporting News says there’s some hypocrisy in the Big 12′s criticism of the Longhorn Network.

John Taylor at College Football Talk says ESPN.com’s Joe Schad reported a story on a potential LSU violation without giving credit to its original source.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid has video of NESN’s Jerry Remy trashing Mike Lowell during a commercial break, but knowing Remy during commercial breaks and him knowing that the monitors at Fenway Park can be heard, I’m 100% positive he was joking.

Awful Announcing gathered tweets from people watching Fox Saturday Baseball as Dick Stockton and Thom Brennaman were calling separate games. Let’s just say the reaction wasn’t pretty.

Joe Favorito has some tips for anyone using social media.

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe says the Celtics will have a lot of green thanks to its deal with Comcast SportsNet New England.

I’ll break my boycott of Dr. Gloom & Doom, Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News for a week. Today, Gloom & Doom has a story filled with backhanded compliments and vitriol on the successful return of Stephen A. “A is for Angry” Smith to ESPN Radio New York. No quotes from Smith though.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about college hockey games possibly being aired on Versus.

On this Baseball Hall of Fame Day, Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom states that the HOF is barren without two people who made a huge impact on the game.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner notes that ESPN’s Nicole Briscoe gets a bigger role in the network’s NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage starting next weekend.

Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes about Florida Marlins broadcaster Dave Van Horne being inducted into the broadcaster’s wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend.

Andrew Carter of the Sun Sentinel says the director of the ESPN Films 30 for 30 documentary on Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams plans to film a follow-up.

Berry Tremel of the Daily Oklahoman has former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer weighing in on the Fox Sports/Big 12 alliance.

John Klein of the Tulsa World feels the Longhorn Network controversy is much ado about nothing.

Jeff Korbelik of the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star writes that the sports radio format is finding its niche in town with a second station launching this week.

Warren Gerds of the Green Bay (WI) Gazette talks about a local reading of “Lombardi” which recently finished its Broadway run, featuring most of the original actors who performed in the play.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for Southern California for the upcoming week.

In the Los Angeles Times, college football writer Chris Dufrense looks at the SEC Media Days event that has become larger-than-life.

Sports Media Watch notes the end of ESPN The Weekend at Walt Disney World.

And that will end the linkage for today.

ESPN Films Has A Home On ESPN Classic

Thanks to the success of the “30 for 30″ series, ESPN Films will make ESPN Classic its home. I think this is a good move. So every weekend, 50 hours of films will be aired on ESPN Classic starting Friday night at 10 ET and lasting until Sunday at midnight. That’s a lot of films. And it’s your chance to catch up on any documentaries you might have missed.

Here are the details.

ESPN ANNOUNCES “ESPN FILMS ON CLASSIC”

ESPN Classic Expands to Showcase the Power of Sports Films

On the heels of the Peabody Award-winning 30 for 30 documentary series, ESPN Films is set to build on the critical acclaim and viewer interest by creating a consistent destination for sports documentaries on ESPN Classic.  “ESPN Films on Classic” will feature an expanded focus on the channel’s unique ability to reach sports fans through films and is designed to target the fans whose interests are broader than news and analysis, and more focused on entertainment.

“One of the things that makes sports storytelling so captivating is that when a pivotal moment happens, it is almost instantly considered ‘classic’, said Keith Clinkscales, SVP, Content Development and Enterprises. “With 30 for 30, we were able to prove that classic sports stories resonate with a large and diverse audience so our intent with “ESPN Films on Classic” is to create a permanent destination for this genre.  We feel this is a natural brand extension for ESPN Classic, which already features documentary and historical programming.”

The current programming plan for “ESPN Films on Classic” is to showcase films for 50 hours each weekend starting at 10 p.m. ET every Friday through midnight every Sunday.  ESPN Films currently owns an extensive catalog of titles and additional documentaries are being produced annually.  ESPN Films will also look to make tactical acquisitions of sports films to complement existing programming.

Additionally, ESPN Films is creating an annual documentary film series, to debut on ESPN in the Fall, following the same general parameters as 30 for 30.  This will give the company an ongoing relationship with some of today’s most talented filmmakers, while at the same time, delivering inspirational sports stories that connect with both avid and casual fans.

“We feel that 30 for 30 represented an evolution in how we tell sports history at ESPN,” said Connor Schell, executive producer, ESPN Films.  “We’ve learned that we can provide a window into American culture through detailed sports storytelling as it can serve as a very effective time capsule of people, places and events that often shape our lives.”

The upcoming programming schedule includes two featured films from the 30 for 30 series.  As the weekend starts on June 17^th, the first film will be Oscar-nominated director Brett Morgen’s June 17^th 1994, a documentary that showcases a day like no other in the sports world.  That will be followed by Game 5 of the1994 NBA Finals between the Rockets and the Knicks, which was taking place during the O.J. Simpson car chase and is featured prominently in the film.  This weekend also marks the 25th anniversary of Len Bias’ death so the second featured film will be Kirk Fraser’s Without Bias.  That film will be followed by one of Bias’ most notable games, the 1986 matchup between Maryland and UNC.   Additional programming will include a mix of content produced by ESPN Films along with acquired content.

Schell continued: “Acquisitions will play a key role in our programming plan for “ESPN Films on Classic” as we know that some of the most creative storytelling in this genre comes from independent filmmakers and this new approach allows us to create an on-air film festival for our own documentaries as well as others in the field.”

That’s it.

Working On Your Tuesday Links

It’s been a busy day for me as I’ve been working on the story on NBC approving plans for a Stanley Cup Final Viewing Party at TD Garden in Boston. Amazing how things fall into place on a story like that. But still working to confirm on the Bruins and Garden end of the story. Once that happens, the story will be complete.

Let’s do links while I can.

Sports Business Daily notes that the NBA Finals finished as the 2nd most watched NBA Finals since 2004, but still finished below last year’s Celtics-Lakers series.

The Sporting News picks up a story from the Sports Business Journal’s Tripp Mickle about Fox’s increased ratings for NASCAR this season.

Sarah Kuta of the Associated Press Sports Editors page notes that economic realities have hit newspaper sports coverage quite hard.

Ken Campbell of the Hockey News gives us this item that hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire is being offered a full-time position at NBC/Versus (scroll down).

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has the overnight ratings from Monday night’s Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry shares his thoughts on the launch of Grantland.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry says the Miami Heat’s crash and burn in the NBA Finals is not what the script doctor ordered.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that ESPN Classic will become home to ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 documentaries and all future projects.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek says ABC scored with the NBA Finals.

And Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life also writes about the NBA Finals’ ratings.

Matt Hegerty of the Daily Racing Form says this year’s Belmont Stakes received higher ratings on NBC than last year’s race on ABC.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser notes that ESPN NFL analyst Tedi Bruschi unveiled Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s media rules.

Ben Axelrod of SportsGrid notes that today is the “24th Anniversary” of the Keith Hernandez spitting incident made famous on Seinfeld.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says the NFL Network is tapping the podcast for actual programming.

ESPN.com’s David Ubben talks with Big 12 Commissioner Don Beebe about the new revenue distribution and the TV appearance formula for member schools.

Richard Lawler from Engadget HD looks at the expansion in programming at ESPN 3D.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says tickets for Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final are a hot commodity due to the lack of a secondary ticket market in Vancouver.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times notes that NBA Finals Game 6 brought in the viewers as compared with last year.

Richard says a LeBron James critic writing a book on the Miami Heat star got the happy ending he was hoping for.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Wimbledon TV schedule.

Pete says Fox NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip will be inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame later this year.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says LeBron James’ attack of his critics shows us what’s wrong with sports.

Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says a recent reairing of Super Bowl XIV gave him an appreciation of Pat Summerall as a play-by-play man.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that DC United’s TV ratings are way, way up this season.

Del Milligan of the Lakeland (FL) Ledger says get ready for plenty of TV coverage from the U.S. Open.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Game 6 of the NBA Finals brought in record ratings locally.

Fox Sports Southwest will air the Dallas Mavericks victory parade this week.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman writes that the local ABC affiliate saw a ratings record for the NBA Finals.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the local minor league hockey team returns to radio next season.

Mark Snyder at the Detroit Free Press says former Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez heads to the broadcast booth for the upcoming season.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the NBA Finals did not do as well locally as compared to last year.

Bob says Packers coach Mike McCarthy revealed in a radio interview that he had his players sized for Super Bowl rings the night before the game!

Robert Feder from Time Out Chicago says the Tribune is losing its media critic (and a good resource for Fang’s Bites as well).

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business continues his talk with White Sox analyst Steve Stone.

Mark Faller of the Arizona Republic isn’t a fan of the Longhorn Network ads.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that one website recognizes Pac-12 Commish Larry Scott as a pretty powerful guy.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that CBC Hockey Night in Canada Radio host Jeff Marek is quite in demand now that his contract is up.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog reviews the first two weeks of Canadian sports television.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that an estimated 12 million people watched Stanley Cup Final Game 6 across the US and Canada.

Sports Media Watch says Gold Cup Soccer is gathering a strong audience for Univision’s networks.

TV Technology notes that NBC/Versus tapped a Swiss company for its telestrator graphics on the Stanley Cup Final.

Ryan Ballengee of Pro Golf Talk has the video of a new Golf boy band that debuted on Golf Channel.

Emma Carmichael of Deadspin talks about her time working for the NBC Olympics unit.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead reviews “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN”

And that will end the links.

Quick Sunday Linkage

The last couple of days have killed me going to New York on Friday for business then having to go to work on Saturday preventing me from really reacting to the Dick Ebersol resignation. I will do a Sunday thoughts column today and also start answering the mailbag. Good questions from all of you. If you want to squeeze question in, you can send it to kzf1@fangsbites.com and I do have some swag for you.

But let’s do some linkage first.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about Tennis Channel and ESPN2 beginning their two weeks of French Open coverage today.

Mike says thanks to free previews, Tennis Channel’s audience will expand for the French Open.

Jessica E. Vascellero and Sam Schechner of the Wall Street Journal write that NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol clashed with Comcast corporate officials over money.

Marisa Guthrie at the Hollywood Reporter explains why Dick Ebersol chose to resign.

Brent Lang at The Wrap wonders what Ebersol’s next move will be.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable says NBC local affiliates really appreciated Dick Ebersol’s support of the broadcast stations.

Jon Lafayette of B&C notes that upfront ads have been selling fast and furious for the NFL despite the uncertainty over its season.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that automakers are buying up the available Super Bowl XLVI spots making NBC quite happy.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy reports that ESPN has reupped analyst Cris Carter for Sunday NFL Countdown.

Steve Jones of USA Today reviews the 2nd volume of the ESPN Films 30 for 30 DVD gift set.

Rick Chandler of NBCSports.com reviews the whole Chris Berman “You’re with me, Leather” incident that the Swami tried to deny in the new ESPN book.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at the new ESPN book and recounts some of his experiences at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Chris Ariens of SportsNewser notes that CNN’s John King (a URI alumnus and a guy with whom I attended journalism classes) caught David Ortiz’s 300th career home run at Fenway Park.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe previews tonight’s MLB Network airing of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.

William S. Paxton of the Stamford (CT) Advocate catches up with Chris Berman to talk about the NFL.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Dick Ebersol won’t have a chance to redeem himself from the heavy financial losses from the 2010 Olympics.

At the New York Post, Phil Mushnick says taped Olympics and XFL brought down Ebersol’s legacy. Leave it to the Gloomster to find something negative.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the new book on ESPN has definitely struck a chord.

Greg Connors at the Buffalo News talks with Tennis Channel’s Mary Carillo.

In the Philadelphia Inquirer, John Gonzalez speaks with ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi about replacing Josh Elliot on the daily morning SportsCenters. You’ll have to mute the autoplay video that starts as soon as the page loads. Just a warning.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com talks about the spike in TV ratings for the Baltimore Orioles.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with Mary Carillo about her move to Tennis Channel.

Jodi Belgard at the Alexandria (LA) Town Talk profiles a local student who got an internship with ESPN.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes that ESPN’s NBA analysts were critical of the Oklahoma City Thunder last night.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune has Dick Ebersol saying that he expects NBC/Comcast to put forth a very strong bid for the 2014/16 Olympics.

Bryce Miller in the Des Moines (IA) Register talks with ESPN/ABC NASCAR analyst Brad Daugherty.

Bryce also profiles the technician from Iowa who’s working ESPN on ABC’s production of today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

Trevor Hughes of The Coloradoan recaps Denver News columnist Woody Paige’s honoring by Colorado State University about his piece last year about the suicide of a Broncos player and his brush with killing himself.

Dick Harmon from the Deseret (UT) News writes about BYUtv preparing to add more sports coverage to its agenda.

John Maffei at the North County Times reports that the San Diego Padres and Fox Sports are about to come together on a two decade, nine figure deal.

Michael Oliveira of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC is no longer bullish on 3-D TV.

EPL Talk says ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel have improved their English Premier League coverage, but still have a ways to go.

Sports Media Watch says the ratings Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on ESPN were up from last year.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference Final on Versus.

Ian Bethune of Sox & Dawgs has the video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy cracking up on the air again.

And that will do it.

A Very Busy Set of Monday Links

I spent the morning away from the office and after lunch, I’ve been dealing with crazy shit so I’m just getting to the links late this afternoon. I’ll put in as many as I can. This week is shaping up to be very busy so just bear with me as you may not see links for a couple of days. I will post press releases when I can.

The sports blogosphere has been abuzz with the release of the first excerpt from the new book on the Alleged Worldwide Leader, “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside The World of ESPN” co-written by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. I am working on getting James as a guest for the Sports Media Weekly podcast for either next week or the week following.

In any event, the excerpt published in this week’s GQ Magazine looks at the tidal wave known as Keith Olbermann and his time co-anchoring SportsCenter with Dan Patrick.

Of course, Keith already has an opinion on the excerpt and has responded on Twitter. Dashiell Bennett of the Business Insider’s Sports Page recaps so I don’t have to.

At Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Tripp Mickle report that ESPN parent company, Disney, is looking to sweeten the pot for its bid for the 2014/16 Olympic TV rights.

Also from the SBJ, John and Terry Lefton look at the impact of the old XFL on both the NFL and on the league’s TV partners.

Terry also writes about one particular XFL technical innovation that is gone, but not forgotten.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his Media Power List for April.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says the arrest of ESPN’s Matthew Barnaby over the weekend is another example in a long line of bad behavior among the network’s personalities.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs has some of the funniest typographical errors on sports TV.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have turned down an invitation to appear on HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer, and say it with me, provided there is an NFL season.

Speaking of which, Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk says the NFL has confirmed that there is an option to shutdown the league if the lockout is lifted by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that several NFL players have been told by their agents not to work out as they won’t be covered by the team if they get hurt.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe confirms that NESN’s Jerry Remy is back in the booth tonight.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says there’s a high anticipation to read the new ESPN tome by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels YES’ Michael Kay is embellishing the truth when it comes to Yankee Stadium’s attendance.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the NBA’ Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 outrated Red Sox-Yankees in New York.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says fans are getting the short stick.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times looks at the weekend that was in sports TV.

Doug Demmons of the Birmingham (AL) News was surprised to see Fox go split screen during yesterday’s NASCAR coverage.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the ESPN/ABC crew gave praise to the Oklahoma City crowd during Game 7 of the Thunder-Memphis Grizzlies series.

Bob Wolfley looks forward to the new ESPN book.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says a new charity event will carry the legacy of the late Cubs legend Ron Santo.

In the Kansas City Star, Bruce Dancis reviews the 2nd DVD box set of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says April 18, 2011 will live forever in the annals of the National Hockey League.

Scott Terrell of the Tucson Citizen talks about the Pac-12 TV contract and what it means for fans.

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

Tom looks at the first excerpt of the new ESPN book.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail feels CBC did not do enough reporting on Derek Boogaard’s death.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star tells aspiring sportscasters to be careful what they wish for if they want to enter a new Canadian TV contest.

Sports Media Watch talks about the record NBA ratings for TNT.

In the Huffington Post, Colorado University journalism student Weston Gentry responds to Rick Reilly’s speech to his alma mater.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for Versus throughout the NHL Conference Semifinals.

EPL Talk says with it being Survival Sunday, fans should tell both ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel what games they want to see.

I’m going to end it there.

Thursday’s Links Are Here … Finally

Been doing some work and also keeping an eye on the Detroit-Yankees game online. It’s been a joy watching games online. It has been a lifesaver when I’ve been at work bogged down with stuff in the office. And MLB.TV is free for Apple iOS users via the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

Anyway, let’s do some links.

John Ourand at the Sports Business Daily mentions that ESPN has filed suit in court his week against Conference USA for not bargaining its TV rights in good faith and awarding them to Fox instead.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid is calling MLB’s “Always Epic” ad campaign an “Epic Fail”. I have yet to figure out what the ad with San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson is all about.

However, SportsGrid’s Glenn Davis is amused at the new SportsCenter ad also featuring Brian Wilson.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN’s Front Row talks about the launch of the corporate blog.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News explains why ESPN is not included in the Time Warner Cable iPad app.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek notes that MSG Network has reupped with the MLS’ New York Red Bulls for another three years.

Kunur Patel at Advertising Age says a sponsor is coming through to allow Apple devices to have free access to MLB.TV for a month.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the NFL’s TV partners could stand to be the biggest loser of any prolonged lockout.

Alex Weprin at SportsNewser notes that SB Nation has launched a new baseball-only blogging site.

At TVNewser, Chris Ariens says ESPN was among those honored for a prestigious Peabody Award for its 30 for 30 documentary series. HBO also received a Peabody for Magic & Bird.

The Boston Herald’s Jessica Heslam notes that two local sports radio stations brought in good ad revenue from last year.

Brian Stelter of the New York Times discusses ESPN’s Josh Elliot’s move to Good Morning America.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that YES and DirecTV’s agreement runs out on Friday if a new carriage accord is not reached soon.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union also writes about the YES/DirecTV deadline.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that a local radio station is bumping the Yankees on Saturday in favor of the Final Four^®? What happened to Most Favored Nation status for baseball on the radio?

Ken says a local NBC sports anchor is heading to Augusta to call The Masters^® on DirecTV.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record talks about MSG Network bringing the New York Red Bulls back into the fold.

Cindy Boren at the Washington Post’s Early Lead blog says a federal appeals court ruled against the DC NFL Team stating it must provide captions of all song lyrics and text public service announcements at the Stadium formerly known as Jack Kent Cooke for its hearing-impaired fans.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that it’s MLB Opening Day not only for the sport and its fans, but for TV as well.

Kristi E. Swartz, Larry Hartstein and Alexis Stevens of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution report on former Hawks star, current vice president and TV analyst Dominique Wilkins getting attacked by a former NBA referee following his broadcast spot last night.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Fox’s MLB analysts are bullish on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ed Sherman with Crain’s Chicago Business says the early start of the MLB season means a busy time at Wrigley Field and the Park formerly known as Comiskey.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with announcers, young and old, local and national, about what Dodgers voice Vin Scully means to them.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose has apologized for getting arrested earlier this month on DUI charges.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore finds the tentative Stanley Cup Finals TV schedule for NBC/Versus.

The NFL Chick pays tribute to women in sportscasting.

Cee Angi at Aerys Sports’ Essence of Baseball site gets on the MLB Fan Cave for reaching to the lowest common denominator.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs likes seeing MLB Opening Day and the Final Four finally separated.

And that’s where we’ll end the links for today.

ESPN Crowing About A Combined 52 Sports Emmy Nominations

When you combine the Sports Emmy Award nominations for ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN.com, the sports behemoth has a massive 52 nods. It doesn’t mean that they’ll win them all, but that’s a very big number. In case you’re wondering, ESPN has 22 nominations, ABC with 13, ESPN2 has 9, and both ESPN Deportes and ESPN.com with 1.

Some of the notable nominations include Chris Berman and Scott Van Pelt for Outstanding Studio Host, Tom Jackson and Kirk Herbstreit for Outstanding Studio Analyst, Jon “This Guy” Gruden in the Outstanding Game Analyst category, last year’s World Cup, Monday Night Football, College GameDay, E:60, The Two Escobars, among others.

Let’s take a look at this long press release which has every of the ESPN family of networks and platforms 52 nominations.

ESPN, Inc. – Industry Leading 52 Sports Emmy Nominations

FIFA World Cup – Most-Honored Entrant; E:60 & NFL Also Lead the Way;
First Nomination for ESPNU; Debut of ESPN 3D Cited for Technical Achievement

ESPN, Inc. earned 52 Sports Emmy Award nominations, the most of any submitting company for the 10^th time in 11 years, it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  The winners will be announced Monday, May 2.

ESPN’s nominations were led by 12 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, more than the number earned by any other single production effort from any entrant.  Fittingly, as the largest commitment to a single event in ESPN’s 31-year history, it also earned the most nominations for any single entity ever for ESPN.  The nominations ranged from Outstanding Live Special for the final on ABC to ESPN Content Development’s I Scored A Goal in Edited Special to a variety of technical categories, including Technical Team Studio, Camerawork, Graphics and Music (two).

NFL programming garnered five nominations: Chris Berman (Studio Host), Tom Jackson (Studio Analyst, won in 2009), Monday Night Football (Live Series), Jon Gruden (Event Analyst, second nomination in his two years on MNF), and “ESPN NFL Unmasked” (a behind-the-scenes player profile regularly on Sunday NFL Countdown, in Production Design/Art Direction).

ESPN’s two critically acclaimed news magazine programs focusing on issues and personalities in sports combined for 10 nominations. E:60 totaled six (Edited Series, Journalism, three in Long Feature and Short Fetaure) while Outside the Lines earned four (Documentary, two for Long Feature and Short Feature).

NBA content drew four nominations.  The NBA Finals on ABC were cited in Live Special, Jeff Van Gundy earned a second straight nomination in Event Analyst; and the NBA Draft received two nominations (Open/Tease and Production Design/Art Direction).

ESPN Content Development also received four nominations.  In addition to I Scored a Goal, two “30 for 30” films were cited — “June 17, 1994” in Documentary and Editing and “The Two Escobars” in Documentary for its premiere on ESPN Deportes.

Among ESPN commentators, in addition to Berman, Jackson, Gruden and Van Gundy; Kirk Herbstreit, the 2010 winner, was again nominated in Studio Analyst; Orel Hershiser was a first-time nominee in Event Analyst; and another first-timer, Scott Van Pelt in Studio Host.

Other notable nominees:

• Three nominations combined in the two categories for Promotional Announcements:  “30 for 30” and The Open Championship in Episodic Promos, and “Is it Monday Yet?” in Institutional Promos.
• Two nominations for Technical Achievement:  ESPN 3D (debuted June 2010) and “Enhanced Visual Accompaniment,” a virtual studio technology used in a variety of ways, including Center Circle (soccer), Ultimate Uplink (NBA), and Virtual Pitch (MLB).
• ESPNU’s first nomination, for College Football Whiparound in Graphic Design
• The Breeders’ Cup World Championship in Live Special
• ESPN College Football in Live Series
• College GameDay in Weekly Studio Show (won in 2008 and 2010)

Overall, ESPN has won 135 Sports Emmy Awards in 23 years of eligibility.  ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.

ESPN’s nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):

Live Special
Breeders Cup World Championship
2010 FIFA World Cup (ABC)
The NBA Finals (ABC)

Live Series
College Football
Monday Night Football

Live Event Turnaround
World Series of Poker Final Table

Outstanding Playoff Coverage
2010 FIFA World Cup

Edited Special
I Scored a Goal (ABC)

Sports Documentary
June 17, 1994
Outside the Lines: Robben Island:  A Greater Goal (ESPN2)
The Two Escobars (ESPN Deportes)

Edited Series
E:60 (ESPN2)

Studio Show/weekly
College GameDay

Studio Show/daily
Pardon the Interruption
SportsCenter

Journalism
E:60 – Children of Bhopal (ESPN2)

Short Feature
E:60 – A League of her Own (ABC)
Outside the Lines: Santa Anita, A Dark History

Long Feature
E:60 – Josiah’s Time (ESPN2)
E:60 – Survival 1 (ESPN2)
E:60 — Unbreakable
Outside the Lines – Asian Carp
Outside the Lines – The Power of Dylan

Open/Tease
2010 FIFA World Cup (ABC)
NBA Draft

New Approaches – Short Format
Sport Science (ESPN.com)

Studio Host
Chris Berman
Scott Van Pelt

Studio Analyst
Kirk Herbstreit
Tom Jackson

Event Analyst
Jon Gruden
Orel Hershiser
Jeff Van Gundy (ABC)

Technical Team Remote
Winter X Games 14 (ESPN/ESPN2)

Technical Team Studio
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)

Camerawork
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)

Editing
2010 Scripps Howard Spelling Bee (ABC)
June 17, 1994

Writing
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)

Music
2010 FIFA World Cup: Day One Tease (ESPN/ABC)
2010 FIFA World Cup: U2 7 Soweto Gospel Choir (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)

Graphic Design
2010 FIFA World Cup
ESPNU College Football Whiparound (ESPNU)
Sports Science

Prod.Design/Art Direction
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)
NBA Draft
“ESPN NFL Unmasked”

Technical Achievement
ESPN 3D (ESPN 3D)
“Enhanced Visual Accompaniment”

Promo – Institutional
“Is it Monday Yet”

Promo – Episodic
ESPN Films: “30 for 30”
The Open Championship

That’s it.

ESPN Announces the 2nd Volume of “30 for 30″ DVD Gift Set

Back in September of last year, ESPN announced the first half of the critically acclaimed 30 for 30 documentary series would be released on DVD just in time for the Christmas shopping season. Now, get word that the second half of the series, including The Two Escobars and the House of Steinbrenner will be included in this set. In addition, a limited edition set of all 30 DVD’s will released. This all comes out on May 17, which is Father’s Day. We have all the details of what will be released and other information in this announcement.

ESPN Films ‘30 for 30’ DVD Gift Set – Volume 2: Final 15 Films from Award-Winning Series to Be Released; Limited Edition 30 Film Collector’s Set Also Available

ESPN Home Entertainment, in conjunction with Team Marketing, will release ESPN Films “30 for 30” Gift Set – Volume 2, on May 17, in time for Father’s Day.  The six-disc “30 for 30” gift set, with  the final 15 films from the critically acclaimed series, presents a fresh take on some of the most extraordinary sports stories from the last 30 years.

In addition, fans will be able to purchase the ”30 for 30” Limited Edition Collector’s Set of all 30 films in a collectible box set at key retailers.  This limited edition will include “30 for 30” Gift Sets – Volume 1 & Volume 2 as well as an exclusive retro ESPN hat featuring the company’s original logo.

From sports-loving filmmakers with such diverse backgrounds as Barbara Kopple, NBA star Steve Nash, Ron Shelton and John Singleton each film showcases its crafters’ unique skill set and point of view.  Proving the sports world can be fertile ground for excellence in dramatic storytelling, several films were official selections from the Cannes, Toronto and Tribeca Film Festivals.  Films from the series were among the highest rated documentaries on ESPN and the final installment, Pony Exce$$, was the most watched documentary in the history of the network.

The first DVD installment of the series included Films 1-15 and was released for Holiday 2010, and the “30 for 30” series was honored with the 2010 International Documentary Association’s (IDA) Distinguished Continuing Series award.

Films from the second DVD installment include: The Two Escobars directed by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, The Birth of Big Air produced by Academy Award nominee Spike Jonze,

Marion Jones: Press Pause directed by Academy Award nominee John Singleton, Jordan Rides the Bus directed by Academy Award nominee Ron Shelton and The House of Steinbrenner directed by two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple. Also included is the never before released on DVD One Night In Vegas by Reggie Rock Bythewood. Complete list of films and information for Volume 2.

In addition to the last 15 films in the series, the six-disc gift set includes more than three hours of bonus features, including deleted scenes, extended interviews, trailers and director’s statements.  Total running time is 1153 minutes (more than 19 hours).

The “30 for 30” Gift Set Volume 2 has a suggested retail price of $74.95.  The “30 for 30” Limited Edition Collector’s Set has a suggested retail price of $149.95.

“30 for 30” Gift Set  – Volume 2
Street Date:                                                      May 17
Direct prebook:                                                 March 22
Distributor prebook:                                          April 5
Pricing:                                                             $74.95 SRP
Run Time:                                                         1153 Minutes
Aspect Ratio:                                                    Widescreen
Audio:                                                              Stereo
Languages:                                                       English
Closed Captions:                                              Yes

“30 for 30” Limited Edition Collector’s Set
Street Date:                                                      May 17
Direct prebook:                                                 March 22
Distributor prebook:                                          April 5
Pricing:                                                             $149.95 SRP
Run Time:                                                         2314 Minutes
Aspect Ratio:                                                    Widescreen
Audio:                                                              Stereo
Languages:                                                       English
Closed Captions:                                              Yes

Film Festival Selections
Official Selection 2010 Tribeca Film Festival: The Two Escobars, The Birth of Big Air
Official Selection 2010 Festival de Cannes: The Two Escobars
Official Selection 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival: The Two Escobars
Official Selection 2010 Toronto Film Festival: Into the Wind
Official Selection 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival: Once Brothers

And that will do it.

Some Monday Night Linkage

I’ll add some links to the ones I provided earlier today. Let’s do this while the BCS National Championship Game is on.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says ESPN will commemorate Martin Luther King’s Birthday with a live, Town Hall Meeting.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek notes that Fox and NBC scored in the ratings for the NFL Wild Card playoffs.

Michael Dunaway of Paste magazine talks with the Executive Producer of ESPN Films and the 30 for 30 series.

Radio Ink magazine reports that the Dan Patrick Show has renewed its syndication agreement with Premiere Radio Networks at the same time the show has re-upped with DirecTV. 

Noah Davis at SportsNewser says NHL Network US has hired an ESPN veteran to be its Executive Producer.

At the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty notes Fox’s ratings for the the NFC Wild Card playoff game.

David Zurawik at the Baltimore Sun says CBS did not get the job done during the Ravens-Chiefs Wild Card playoff game.

The Baltimore Sports Report speaks with the lovely Jen Royle of MASN. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with the new MASN Nationals analyst.

Aaron Knox of the Tampa Bay Tribune says ESPN is not apologizing for putting the BCS on cable.

To the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Ray Buck who writes that Fox had a unique opportunity for a dress rehearsal for Super Bowl XLV with last Friday’s Cotton Bowl at Cowboys Stadium. 

W. Scott Bailey of the San Antonio Business Journal tells us that the Spurs top the local NBA ratings across the country. 

David Burger in the Salt Lake Tribune writes that country star Kenny Chesney is producing his second football-centric documentary for ESPN.

In the Los Angeles Times, David Kronke says The Onion is skewering both ESPN and CNN in two new shows.

Sports Media Watch says CBS got a huge rating for Baltimore-Kansas City on Sunday. 

SMW notes that the Packers-Eagles game was the most viewed Wild Card playoff contest ever.

Chris Byrne at the Eye on Sports Media has the national and local honorees for the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

And that’s going to finish us for the night.

Fang’s Bites’ Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2010

Another year is over and another year is just beginning. It’s time to review the 12 biggest stories in sports media in the year of 2010 A.D. We had plenty of stories to choose from. Not every one made the cut. Some will receive honorable mentions. Others will be listed here. Sports media never sleeps and that’s been proven throughout the year. Let’s go through the list and there is plenty of stuff to review. I’ll go in reverse order from 12 and go to number 1.

12. Silly Carriage Disputes Prevent Fans From Watching NHL, MLB and Other Programming

The Versus/DirecTV dispute started in September 2009 and carried over until March of this year, causing NHL fans to lose almost five months of games. And while Versus had decent ratings during the first days of the dispute, the dispute caught up with the network and the loss of millions of subscribers eventually hurt. And it took six months for the channel to return to DirecTV at basically the same terms it had when it was dropped.

At the beginning of 2010, Fox and Time Warner Cable averted a dispute that would have meant the loss of the BCS and the NFC Championship in several major markets.

But the silliest dispute of the year was between Fox and Cablevision that lasted for two weeks and led to the loss of the National League Championship Series and NFL games in New York, New Jersey and parts of Philadelphia. When Fox’s local stations as well as a number of cable channels returned to Cablevision, it left a bitter taste in the mouths of the cable provider.

As we close out 2010, Versus’ sister network, Golf Channel is in danger of being pulled by DirecTV and you have the dispute between the Sinclair stations with Time Warner Cable so this Merry-Go-Round continues and it leaves viewers holding the bag. Basically, no one wins.

11. Passing of Broadcasting Legends

2010 meant the passing of several broadcasting legends including Chicago Cubs analyst Ron Santo, Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame announcer Dave Niehaus, Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell and original Monday Night Football analyst Don Meredith. The mourning of each man from all over the country, especially Harwell and Santo show how much impact they had on broadcasting. Harwell handled his death with dignity exuding class throughout his last interviews and final public appearances. The outpouring of love and affection for each man after their passing was truly touching.

10. The Rise of 3-D TV, But Virtually No Impact

ESPN launched ESPN 3D in 2010, and other networks aired events in 3-D such as The Masters, NASCAR, MLB, Hockey Night in Canada, the US Open, the World Cup and even an NFL preseason game. But reaction to 3-D has been cold to lukewarm. Sales of 3-D TV’s have fallen short of expectations as the TV industry has been surprised by the lack of enthusiasm by consumers.

And while programming for 3-D is certainly not close to filling a complete day, there was speculation whether ESPN would kill 3D if it didn’t take off. In my own informal poll on Twitter and on Facebook, there isn’t interest from consumers to buy a 3-D set. The cost is prohibitive and so are the glasses which are bulky and can only be used with the set you buy.

There are rumors that Toshiba is developing a 3-D set that won’t require glasses, but it wouldn’t be coming to the United States by mid-decade at the earliest. TV manufacturers may have made a huge miscalculation on 3-D.

9. Potential Free Agents Remain At Home

As we entered 2010, there was talk that it could be a year of upheaval for network free agents. But when it was all said and done and the dust cleared, the free agents decided that home was where the heart was.

It began in February with speculation that ESPN’s Chris Berman could leave the Mothership for a role with DirecTV or NFL Network. It never happened as Boomer signed a new contract in April to remain at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

At the end of March, lead Fox voice Joe Buck signed a new four year deal ensuring that he would call MLB and NFL games as long as both remain with the network.

Just before the current NFL season, Rich Eisen agreed to a four year deal of his own to remain at NFL Network, giving him expanded duties including hosting NFL GameDay Morning, his own podcast and continuing as main host for NFL Total Access.

But it appeared the most speculation was over Erin Andrews as her star rose earlier this year as she did “Dancing With the Stars” and finished third during the Spring 2010 season. Then we learned in July that Erin would indeed remain at ESPN with host duties during an expanded College Gameday.

In broadcasting, sometimes the best move is the one you don’t make. In the cases of Chris Berman, Joe Buck, Rich Eisen and Erin Andrews, staying put ends up being the right move.

8. Deadspin’s Continues To Influence the Sports Agenda

We saw Deadspin’s influence in 2009 when it went all Wu-Tang on ESPN. The influence got even bigger on two particular stories, the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger mess and the Rex Ryan foot fetish story.

Both stories forced the mainstream media to report on them. In the case of Favre’s alleged sexting to Sterger, it led to an NFL investigation into whether Favre violated league workplace conduct policies. Of course, the story came to, ahem, a head (sorry) when Favre was fined $50,000 for not cooperating with the league’s probe (sorry again). We’ll see if it leads to a lawsuit from Sterger (most likely) and where it leads.

For her part, Sterger might have been able to stem some of the negative reaction towards her had she used her now canceled show, The Daily Line, to at least make a one or two sentence statement about the situation. Instead, she said nothing and any buzz the show might have received went by the wayside.

As far as Rex Ryan is concerned, more foot fetish pictures of his wife have come out and we probably haven’t heard the end of this as we go into 2011.

7. ESPN’s 30 for 30

The series began last year and continued into 2010. While there were some misses (Jordan Rides the Bus, Four Days in October), there were many hits and successes for ESPN’s foray into the sports documentary genre. Films such as The Two Escobars, June 17, 1994, and the extremely poignant Once Brothers showed that when ESPN gets serious, it can put together some really compelling and excellent television. Bill Simmons wanted to prove that HBO did not have a monopoly in sports documentaries and he certainly has made ESPN a player. 30 for 30 has now become a successful brand for ESPN.

6. NBC’s Olympics Record Ratings Were Offset by Huge Financial Losses

For NBC, the Vancouver Winter Olympics that made Curling into a household sport for two weeks, had a great hockey tournament and gave Canada tremendous national pride, the Games were a mixed bag. While overall, Vancouver ended up being the 2nd most watched Olympic Games in history, it had to write down a loss of $225 million based on a larger rights fee and increased production costs.

The losses are being taken into account by the new owners of NBC, Comcast which will be dealing with the bidding for the 2014/2016 Olympics as well as ESPN, CBS/Turner and Fox who will join NBC at the table in Lausanne, Switzerland. Whether NBC can retain the rights in 2014/2016 and beyond is anyone’s guess.

5. ESPN’s World Cup Coverage

As with 30 for 30, ESPN’s understated and low key coverage of the World Cup led to high interest for the final between the Netherlands and Spain as a total of 24.3 million people watched on ABC and Univision this summer. Ian Darke became a star in the United States thanks to his World Cup calls and eventually became the signature voice for soccer on ESPN.

There were fears that ESPN might go over the top for its coverage of the World Cup, but it gave the event plenty of respect and gave a flavor of the enthusiasm for the games in South Africa. It gives hope if the Alleged Worldwide Leader gains the rights for the Olympics.

4. Women in Media Start Up Debate Once Again

I thought that the debate over female reporters in locker rooms had ended, but it all started once again when TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz was allegedly harassed by the New York Jets when she tried to interview Mark Sanchez. For her part, Ines really didn’t pursue the whole case, but it led to men being angry about women being allowed in locker rooms. It was a polarizing issue on the talk shows for a couple of weeks.

One other issue involving women was Tony Kornheiser’s comments about Hannah Storm’s attire on SportsCenter which has been a subject of debate over the last couple of years. ESPN suspended Mr. Tony for two weeks over his comments. It also led former CNN Sports and News anchor Daryn Kagan to blog about the issue as well.

Will this lead to other things in 2011? Good question.

3. NFL TV Record Ratings

Every week, I get press releases from each of the NFL TV partners and they keep going up. Records keep getting set. NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package had its highest ratings ever as did ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Week after week, the NFL’s ratings top everything whether it was primetime programming, NBA games and for the first time ever, the World Series head-to-head.

Based on these trends, one would have to think that Fox is in gear to see a viewership record for Super Bowl XLV as CBS did for Super XLIV in 2010.

2. CBS/Turner Gains Rights to NCAA Tournament

After broadcasting the NCAA Tournament all by its lonesome since 1991, CBS brought in a partner, Turner Sports to help do the heavy lifting. There was speculation that ESPN would take the tournament back, but in mid-April, there was surprising news that it was dropping out of the bidding leaving CBS/Turner all alone.

CBS had mentioned that it was losing money on the Tournament and a report surfaced that it tried to get ESPN to take the event off its hands, a request that was eventually turned down. CBS manages to keep the tournament and allow a cable partner to get involved.

And now to our number one sports media story:

1. Athletes Trying To Control Their Message and Doing It Badly

Since the dawning of social networking, athletes have tried to circumvent the normal channels of sending their message to the world, doing an end run around reporters. However, there’s no doubting the power of television to reach a mass audience. Two instances of athletes trying to use TV to their advantage and not coming off well were Tiger Woods and LeBron James.

In Tiger Woods’ case, he gave both ESPN and Golf Channel five minutes to interview him and Tom Rinaldi and Kelly Tilghman had to ask questions in rapid fire succession. While both Rinaldi and Tilghman were told they could ask any question, they did not really ask what happened to Woods on  the fateful night that changed his life. But since then, Woods has joined Twitter and tried to be more user-friendly.

But the ultimate failure was The Decision, 73 minutes of truly painful TV. All involved came off badly from ESPN to interviewer Jim Gray (who may have made $500,000 off his brutal questioning) to LeBron James who instantly became a villain. ESPN got plenty of viewers, but it led to negative reaction all around. James may wonder why no one is focusing on the donations to the Boys & Girls Club, but he made The Decision all about him by making a two minute announcement into a 73 minute egofest.

It’s safe to say that ESPN probably won’t do this type of program again.

Honorable Mentions:
Fox Sports Hires Mike Pereira As An NFL Rules Analyst
Fox Sports Gains Rights to Big Ten Football Championship Game
NBC Sports Renews Kentucky Derby for Five More Years
Jay Mariotti’s arrest and subsequent suspension and departure from Fanhouse

That concludes 2010. I hope you have a great 2011. It’s certainly going to be quite an interesting year for sports media as Comcast takes over NBC, the Olympics rights bidding, potential lockouts for the NBA and NFL, and the NHL rights bidding. Very interesting stuff coming up in the next 365 days.

ESPN’s 30 for 30 Series Ends On A High Note

The last documentary in the “30 for 30″ series, Pony Excess, received very good ratings for ESPN, garnering a 1.8 final rating and a respectable audience of 2.5 million viewers. There will be a couple of more 30 for 30 films in 2011, but they won’t be scheduled weekly as they were the last couple of years. We have the final ratings of the series plus some highlights. We’ll require a jump break.

Critically Acclaimed ‘30 for 30’ Wraps up with Pony Exce$$ – ESPN’s Most-Watched Documentary

           

ESPN Films  wrapped up the critically acclaimed “30 for 30” films with Thaddeus D. Matula’s Pony Exce$$, Saturday, Dec. 11, immediately following the Heisman Trophy presentation, earning a 1.8 rating, according to Nielsen. That represents an average of 1,843,000 million homes (2.517,000 viewers, P2+) to become ESPN’s most-watched documentary of all time. 

Pony Exce$$ edged out Billy Corben’s The U, which earned a 1.8 rating (1,801,000 homes, 2.368,000 viewers) in December 2009, and Jon Hock’s The Best That Never Was, which earned a 1.8  rating (1,760,000 homes, 2,229,000 viewers) last month. Overall, the “30 for 30” slate of 30 films averaged a 1.0 rating (958,000 homes, 1,193,000 viewers).  The series, created in celebration of ESPN’s 30^th anniversary, not only highlighted some of the most memorable moments in sports history but examined the impact that they had on pop culture and society as a whole.

“Storytelling is at the heart of what ESPN does – whether on TV, online, radio or in print – in our features, game summaries, event productions or, of course, documentaries,” says John Skipper, executive vice president, content, ESPN. “The positive feedback from media and fans shows there is an audience for long-form, high-quality storytelling, and it belongs on ESPN.”

Connor Schell, executive producer, ESPN Films, adds, “We worked with an extraordinary group of directors for the ’30 for 30’ series. Due to the enormous creativity of the storytellers, the collection of films was as interesting in style as in subject matter. We intend to continue making quality, point-of-view films going forward.”

Highlights for the series include –

• Airing in March 2010 on NCAA men’s basketball’s “Selection Sunday,” Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, directed by Peabody Award-winning director Dan Klores, posted a 1.5 rating, the fourth highest ever for an ESPN documentary and the highest-rated show ever in the time slot following the Bracketology program.

• The Two Escobars has played at the prestigious 2010 Tribeca, Cannes and Los Angeles Film Festivals, garnering critical acclaim. Its televised premiere June 21 was ESPN Deportes’ top-rated documentary ever with a 1.2 Hispanic household rating.

• “30 for 30″ won the 2010 International Documentary Association’s “Distinguished Continuing Series” award.

Although major markets nationwide played a big role in the success of the series, it was the Southeast that was the biggest supporter, posting the highest average market rating per film. Birmingham, Charlotte and Louisville were the three top markets for the “30 for 30” series, averaging a 2.0, 1.6 and 1.5 respectively. Smaller markets that posted the highest rating for select films include Birmingham (3.6 for Jordan Rides the Bus), Austin (2.2 for Run Ricky Run) and Knoxville (2.0 for Tim Richmond: To the Limit). 

On several occasions the city or location being depicted in the film was not the top-rated market for that film. Notably, The U earned a 5.6 rating in Birmingham while Miami came in sixth with a 3.3. Additionally, Straight Outta L.A. rated the highest in Miami with a 2.0 while Los Angeles came in seventh (0.8). 

And after the jump, some more fun facts from some of the more popular documentaries.
Here are the aforementioned highlights.

“30 for 30? Film Facts

With the series coming to an end, here are some “film facts” on a few of the documentaries that garnered critical acclaim over the past 18 months.

Kings Ransom (Directed by Peter Berg)

• Kings Ransom features never-before-seen footage of Wayne Gretzky’s wedding to Janet Jones.
• Peter Berg, a dedicated Los Angeles Kings fan even before Gretzky joined the team, has been a close friend of Wayne’s since the 1990s, when they played in a softball tournament together.
• Berg’s next project will be directing Universal’s feature adaptation of the popular board game Battleship.

The Band That Wouldn’t Die (Directed by Barry Levinson)

• 43 interviews were conducted including one with Jim Irsay, son of the man who took the team away in the middle of the night. Levinson thought that enough time had passed – 25 years – that he might want to talk about it.
• During the 12 years Baltimore was without a professional football team, the Baltimore Colts Marching Band still performed at events including The Preakness, 4^th of July parade, Cleveland Browns halftime and the 1991 Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.
• Baltimore’s Marching Ravens is an all-volunteer organization comprising more than 300 musicians, flagline, color guard and equipment crew. It is the largest musical organization associated with the NFL. The members come from all over Maryland and several surrounding states to practice every week from March to the end of the football season.

The Legend of Jimmy The Greek (Directed by Fritz Mitchell)

• Jimmy threw legendary Super Bowl parties that included many Hollywood celebrities and sometimes went on for a week at a time. For one Super Bowl, he rented a penthouse suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Because Warren Beatty was renting the other, Jimmy hired a guy to give haircuts in his suite so guests wouldn’t leave to go to Beatty’s. 
• Gerry Ford is famous for pardoning Richard Nixon, but during his brief presidency he also pardoned Jimmy. In a petition to the President for The Greek’s pardon, the FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley stated that Jimmy was an informant for the FBI. 

Without Bias (Directed by Kirk Frasier)

• Fraser initially recorded interviews with people who knew Len Bias in an effort to find out who Bias really was, with the intent to write a script for a motion picture. The interviews were compelling enough that he decided to produce the documentary first.
• In 1988, Congress passed a stricter Anti-Drug Act that is known as The Len Bias Law. It was backed by both parties and it reinforced the previous Drug Law with stiffer penalties and created the DARE program.

The U (Directed by Billy Corben)

• Because of low ticket sales in the late ‘70s, the local Burger King would give away tickets to the Miami Hurricane games just to fill the seats.
• In the 1992 Orange bowl, Nebraska, which was actually the home team, had requested Miami not run out of the tunnel with their signature smoke. At the last minute Miami’s mascot, Sebastian the Ibis, went out and borrowed a fire extinguisher from the local firehouse so the team could run through the tunnel with smoke.
• Among the 38 program insiders interviewed for the documentary were: players Bennie Blades, Melvin Bratton, Alonzo Highsmith, Michael Irvin, Bernie Kosar, Santana Moss, Brett Perriman, Jeremy Shockey and former head coaches Dennis Erickson, Jimmy Johnson and Howard Schnellenberger.

Muhammad and Larry (Directed by Albert Maysles)

• Albert Maysles is the only person with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews of both Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes in the two months leading up to their epic fight.
• Kool & The Gang re-wrote their hit song “Ladies Night” with lyrics specifically for Larry Holmes. Holmes is seen singing along to it in the film.
• Muhammad Ali’s training facility had a camp-like atmosphere. People of all ages would go to watch him practice, tell jokes and even do magic tricks.

Silly Little Game (Directed by Adam Kurkland and Lucas Jansen)

• In 1981, the members of the Rotisserie League tried to pool their resources and buy an actual baseball team: a double-A minor league franchise in Massachusetts called the Holyoke Millers, whose owners were looking to sell. Their $85,000 bid was matched by a local group and the owners gave it to them instead. The new owners later sold the franchise for four million dollars, a profit of more than 4500%.
• The legendary meeting in Manhattan at La Rotisserie Francaise restaurant, during which Dan Okrent planted the New York seeds for the Rotisserie League, was actually his second attempt to get friends involved. The first effort was at a barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas.
• In the early 1980s there was little space in sports publications to cover insider information on injuries and other vital details. To make smarter trades, the Rotisserie Leaguers resorted to calling the offices of Major League teams and posing as reporters for fictional sports publications, in order to talk their way through to the trainer or assistant coach who could give them precious pearls of backstage dish.

Run Ricky Run (Directed by Sean Pamphilon and Royce Toni)

• Most people think his decision to retire was spontaneous, but Ricky told his sister, Nisey, around the same time that he felt “football isn’t my gift, I’m supposed to heal people.”
• Sean Pamphilon quit his job as a producer in sports television to hit the road with two friends and begin filming the documentary. In the following 28 days, they interviewed approximately 30 intimates in Miami, New Orleans, Texas and San Diego.
• The original plan for this film was to be totally independent, take 5-6 months and be completed by the Super Bowl in early ’05. Over the next few years the plan changed several times, until Ricky and Sean both agreed the best place for the film to air would be on the very network (ESPN) that covered so much of his troubles.

Straight Outta L.A. (Directed by Ice Cube)

• Raiders gear was the top seller in the league for a number of years because of its association with rap as well as the exposure it received in music videos.
• N.W.A. did not call themselves a rap group; they referred to themselves as a gang who rapped about their experiences. This then coined the term “gangsta rap.”
• According to Al Davis, the inspiration to add silver to the Raiders’ uniforms came from seeing the success that shoe retailer Stuart Weitzman had selling silver women’s shoes in Oakland.

Birth of Big Air (Directed by Jeff Tremaine, Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze)

• Hoffman went from virtually unknown to a sponsored rider with just one event – a bicycle freestyle championship at Madison Square Garden in 1986.
• Because he got tired of going to the hospital so often, Hoffman used to carry around his own suture kit to stitch up his own injuries.
• Hoffman has had a total of two comas, 21 broken bones, 23 surgeries, 100+ concussions and 300+ stitches.

Jordan Rides the Bus (Directed by Ron Shelton)

• On the day it was announced that Michael Jordan would be playing for the team, more Birmingham Barons tickets were sold in half a day then in the entire year before.
• Current Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona was the manager of the Birmingham Barons when Jordan joined the team in 1994.

One Night In Vegas (Directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood)

Among those interviewed for the documentary were:

• Hip hop artist Nas
• Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton
• Actor Mickey Rourke
• Poet/Author Dr. Maya Angelou
• Former C.E.O. Death Row Records Marion “Suge” Knight
• Former heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon

Guru of Go (Directed by Bill Couturie)

• Paul Westhead is the only coach to win a WNBA and NBA title.
• Hank Gathers and his brother, Derrick, would break into the local gym at night to play basketball until 3 a.m.
• Being a former teacher, Paul Westhead used to quote Shakespeare to players to motivate and teach them life lessons.
• In a February 1990 LMU/LSU game, Hank racked up a total of 48 points—the most any player has ever gotten against Shaquille O’Neal.

That’s going to do it.

ESPN’s 30 for 30 Series Ends On A High Note

The last documentary in the “30 for 30″ series, Pony Excess, received very good ratings for ESPN, garnering a 1.8 final rating and a respectable audience of 2.5 million viewers. There will be a couple of more 30 for 30 films in 2011, but they won’t be scheduled weekly as they were the last couple of years. We have the final ratings of the series plus some highlights. We’ll require a jump break.

Critically Acclaimed ‘30 for 30’ Wraps up with Pony Exce$$ – ESPN’s Most-Watched Documentary

           

ESPN Films  wrapped up the critically acclaimed “30 for 30” films with Thaddeus D. Matula’s Pony Exce$$, Saturday, Dec. 11, immediately following the Heisman Trophy presentation, earning a 1.8 rating, according to Nielsen. That represents an average of 1,843,000 million homes (2.517,000 viewers, P2+) to become ESPN’s most-watched documentary of all time. 

Pony Exce$$ edged out Billy Corben’s The U, which earned a 1.8 rating (1,801,000 homes, 2.368,000 viewers) in December 2009, and Jon Hock’s The Best That Never Was, which earned a 1.8  rating (1,760,000 homes, 2,229,000 viewers) last month. Overall, the “30 for 30” slate of 30 films averaged a 1.0 rating (958,000 homes, 1,193,000 viewers).  The series, created in celebration of ESPN’s 30^th anniversary, not only highlighted some of the most memorable moments in sports history but examined the impact that they had on pop culture and society as a whole.

“Storytelling is at the heart of what ESPN does – whether on TV, online, radio or in print – in our features, game summaries, event productions or, of course, documentaries,” says John Skipper, executive vice president, content, ESPN. “The positive feedback from media and fans shows there is an audience for long-form, high-quality storytelling, and it belongs on ESPN.”

Connor Schell, executive producer, ESPN Films, adds, “We worked with an extraordinary group of directors for the ’30 for 30’ series. Due to the enormous creativity of the storytellers, the collection of films was as interesting in style as in subject matter. We intend to continue making quality, point-of-view films going forward.”

Highlights for the series include –

• Airing in March 2010 on NCAA men’s basketball’s “Selection Sunday,” Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, directed by Peabody Award-winning director Dan Klores, posted a 1.5 rating, the fourth highest ever for an ESPN documentary and the highest-rated show ever in the time slot following the Bracketology program.

• The Two Escobars has played at the prestigious 2010 Tribeca, Cannes and Los Angeles Film Festivals, garnering critical acclaim. Its televised premiere June 21 was ESPN Deportes’ top-rated documentary ever with a 1.2 Hispanic household rating.

• “30 for 30″ won the 2010 International Documentary Association’s “Distinguished Continuing Series” award.

Although major markets nationwide played a big role in the success of the series, it was the Southeast that was the biggest supporter, posting the highest average market rating per film. Birmingham, Charlotte and Louisville were the three top markets for the “30 for 30” series, averaging a 2.0, 1.6 and 1.5 respectively. Smaller markets that posted the highest rating for select films include Birmingham (3.6 for Jordan Rides the Bus), Austin (2.2 for Run Ricky Run) and Knoxville (2.0 for Tim Richmond: To the Limit). 

On several occasions the city or location being depicted in the film was not the top-rated market for that film. Notably, The U earned a 5.6 rating in Birmingham while Miami came in sixth with a 3.3. Additionally, Straight Outta L.A. rated the highest in Miami with a 2.0 while Los Angeles came in seventh (0.8). 

And after the jump, some more fun facts from some of the more popular documentaries.
Here are the aforementioned highlights.

“30 for 30? Film Facts

With the series coming to an end, here are some “film facts” on a few of the documentaries that garnered critical acclaim over the past 18 months.

Kings Ransom (Directed by Peter Berg)

• Kings Ransom features never-before-seen footage of Wayne Gretzky’s wedding to Janet Jones.
• Peter Berg, a dedicated Los Angeles Kings fan even before Gretzky joined the team, has been a close friend of Wayne’s since the 1990s, when they played in a softball tournament together.
• Berg’s next project will be directing Universal’s feature adaptation of the popular board game Battleship.

The Band That Wouldn’t Die (Directed by Barry Levinson)

• 43 interviews were conducted including one with Jim Irsay, son of the man who took the team away in the middle of the night. Levinson thought that enough time had passed – 25 years – that he might want to talk about it.
• During the 12 years Baltimore was without a professional football team, the Baltimore Colts Marching Band still performed at events including The Preakness, 4^th of July parade, Cleveland Browns halftime and the 1991 Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.
• Baltimore’s Marching Ravens is an all-volunteer organization comprising more than 300 musicians, flagline, color guard and equipment crew. It is the largest musical organization associated with the NFL. The members come from all over Maryland and several surrounding states to practice every week from March to the end of the football season.

The Legend of Jimmy The Greek (Directed by Fritz Mitchell)

• Jimmy threw legendary Super Bowl parties that included many Hollywood celebrities and sometimes went on for a week at a time. For one Super Bowl, he rented a penthouse suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Because Warren Beatty was renting the other, Jimmy hired a guy to give haircuts in his suite so guests wouldn’t leave to go to Beatty’s. 
• Gerry Ford is famous for pardoning Richard Nixon, but during his brief presidency he also pardoned Jimmy. In a petition to the President for The Greek’s pardon, the FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley stated that Jimmy was an informant for the FBI. 

Without Bias (Directed by Kirk Frasier)

• Fraser initially recorded interviews with people who knew Len Bias in an effort to find out who Bias really was, with the intent to write a script for a motion picture. The interviews were compelling enough that he decided to produce the documentary first.
• In 1988, Congress passed a stricter Anti-Drug Act that is known as The Len Bias Law. It was backed by both parties and it reinforced the previous Drug Law with stiffer penalties and created the DARE program.

The U (Directed by Billy Corben)

• Because of low ticket sales in the late ‘70s, the local Burger King would give away tickets to the Miami Hurricane games just to fill the seats.
• In the 1992 Orange bowl, Nebraska, which was actually the home team, had requested Miami not run out of the tunnel with their signature smoke. At the last minute Miami’s mascot, Sebastian the Ibis, went out and borrowed a fire extinguisher from the local firehouse so the team could run through the tunnel with smoke.
• Among the 38 program insiders interviewed for the documentary were: players Bennie Blades, Melvin Bratton, Alonzo Highsmith, Michael Irvin, Bernie Kosar, Santana Moss, Brett Perriman, Jeremy Shockey and former head coaches Dennis Erickson, Jimmy Johnson and Howard Schnellenberger.

Muhammad and Larry (Directed by Albert Maysles)

• Albert Maysles is the only person with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews of both Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes in the two months leading up to their epic fight.
• Kool & The Gang re-wrote their hit song “Ladies Night” with lyrics specifically for Larry Holmes. Holmes is seen singing along to it in the film.
• Muhammad Ali’s training facility had a camp-like atmosphere. People of all ages would go to watch him practice, tell jokes and even do magic tricks.

Silly Little Game (Directed by Adam Kurkland and Lucas Jansen)

• In 1981, the members of the Rotisserie League tried to pool their resources and buy an actual baseball team: a double-A minor league franchise in Massachusetts called the Holyoke Millers, whose owners were looking to sell. Their $85,000 bid was matched by a local group and the owners gave it to them instead. The new owners later sold the franchise for four million dollars, a profit of more than 4500%.
• The legendary meeting in Manhattan at La Rotisserie Francaise restaurant, during which Dan Okrent planted the New York seeds for the Rotisserie League, was actually his second attempt to get friends involved. The first effort was at a barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas.
• In the early 1980s there was little space in sports publications to cover insider information on injuries and other vital details. To make smarter trades, the Rotisserie Leaguers resorted to calling the offices of Major League teams and posing as reporters for fictional sports publications, in order to talk their way through to the trainer or assistant coach who could give them precious pearls of backstage dish.

Run Ricky Run (Directed by Sean Pamphilon and Royce Toni)

• Most people think his decision to retire was spontaneous, but Ricky told his sister, Nisey, around the same time that he felt “football isn’t my gift, I’m supposed to heal people.”
• Sean Pamphilon quit his job as a producer in sports television to hit the road with two friends and begin filming the documentary. In the following 28 days, they interviewed approximately 30 intimates in Miami, New Orleans, Texas and San Diego.
• The original plan for this film was to be totally independent, take 5-6 months and be completed by the Super Bowl in early ’05. Over the next few years the plan changed several times, until Ricky and Sean both agreed the best place for the film to air would be on the very network (ESPN) that covered so much of his troubles.

Straight Outta L.A. (Directed by Ice Cube)

• Raiders gear was the top seller in the league for a number of years because of its association with rap as well as the exposure it received in music videos.
• N.W.A. did not call themselves a rap group; they referred to themselves as a gang who rapped about their experiences. This then coined the term “gangsta rap.”
• According to Al Davis, the inspiration to add silver to the Raiders’ uniforms came from seeing the success that shoe retailer Stuart Weitzman had selling silver women’s shoes in Oakland.

Birth of Big Air (Directed by Jeff Tremaine, Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze)

• Hoffman went from virtually unknown to a sponsored rider with just one event – a bicycle freestyle championship at Madison Square Garden in 1986.
• Because he got tired of going to the hospital so often, Hoffman used to carry around his own suture kit to stitch up his own injuries.
• Hoffman has had a total of two comas, 21 broken bones, 23 surgeries, 100+ concussions and 300+ stitches.

Jordan Rides the Bus (Directed by Ron Shelton)

• On the day it was announced that Michael Jordan would be playing for the team, more Birmingham Barons tickets were sold in half a day then in the entire year before.
• Current Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona was the manager of the Birmingham Barons when Jordan joined the team in 1994.

One Night In Vegas (Directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood)

Among those interviewed for the documentary were:

• Hip hop artist Nas
• Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton
• Actor Mickey Rourke
• Poet/Author Dr. Maya Angelou
• Former C.E.O. Death Row Records Marion “Suge” Knight
• Former heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon

Guru of Go (Directed by Bill Couturie)

• Paul Westhead is the only coach to win a WNBA and NBA title.
• Hank Gathers and his brother, Derrick, would break into the local gym at night to play basketball until 3 a.m.
• Being a former teacher, Paul Westhead used to quote Shakespeare to players to motivate and teach them life lessons.
• In a February 1990 LMU/LSU game, Hank racked up a total of 48 points—the most any player has ever gotten against Shaquille O’Neal.

That’s going to do it.

ESPN’s 30 for 30 Series Ends On A High Note

The last documentary in the “30 for 30″ series, Pony Excess, received very good ratings for ESPN, garnering a 1.8 final rating and a respectable audience of 2.5 million viewers. There will be a couple of more 30 for 30 films in 2011, but they won’t be scheduled weekly as they were the last couple of years. We have the final ratings of the series plus some highlights. We’ll require a jump break.

Critically Acclaimed ‘30 for 30’ Wraps up with Pony Exce$$ – ESPN’s Most-Watched Documentary

           

ESPN Films  wrapped up the critically acclaimed “30 for 30” films with Thaddeus D. Matula’s Pony Exce$$, Saturday, Dec. 11, immediately following the Heisman Trophy presentation, earning a 1.8 rating, according to Nielsen. That represents an average of 1,843,000 million homes (2.517,000 viewers, P2+) to become ESPN’s most-watched documentary of all time. 

Pony Exce$$ edged out Billy Corben’s The U, which earned a 1.8 rating (1,801,000 homes, 2.368,000 viewers) in December 2009, and Jon Hock’s The Best That Never Was, which earned a 1.8  rating (1,760,000 homes, 2,229,000 viewers) last month. Overall, the “30 for 30” slate of 30 films averaged a 1.0 rating (958,000 homes, 1,193,000 viewers).  The series, created in celebration of ESPN’s 30^th anniversary, not only highlighted some of the most memorable moments in sports history but examined the impact that they had on pop culture and society as a whole.

“Storytelling is at the heart of what ESPN does – whether on TV, online, radio or in print – in our features, game summaries, event productions or, of course, documentaries,” says John Skipper, executive vice president, content, ESPN. “The positive feedback from media and fans shows there is an audience for long-form, high-quality storytelling, and it belongs on ESPN.”

Connor Schell, executive producer, ESPN Films, adds, “We worked with an extraordinary group of directors for the ’30 for 30’ series. Due to the enormous creativity of the storytellers, the collection of films was as interesting in style as in subject matter. We intend to continue making quality, point-of-view films going forward.”

Highlights for the series include –

• Airing in March 2010 on NCAA men’s basketball’s “Selection Sunday,” Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, directed by Peabody Award-winning director Dan Klores, posted a 1.5 rating, the fourth highest ever for an ESPN documentary and the highest-rated show ever in the time slot following the Bracketology program.

• The Two Escobars has played at the prestigious 2010 Tribeca, Cannes and Los Angeles Film Festivals, garnering critical acclaim. Its televised premiere June 21 was ESPN Deportes’ top-rated documentary ever with a 1.2 Hispanic household rating.

• “30 for 30″ won the 2010 International Documentary Association’s “Distinguished Continuing Series” award.

Although major markets nationwide played a big role in the success of the series, it was the Southeast that was the biggest supporter, posting the highest average market rating per film. Birmingham, Charlotte and Louisville were the three top markets for the “30 for 30” series, averaging a 2.0, 1.6 and 1.5 respectively. Smaller markets that posted the highest rating for select films include Birmingham (3.6 for Jordan Rides the Bus), Austin (2.2 for Run Ricky Run) and Knoxville (2.0 for Tim Richmond: To the Limit). 

On several occasions the city or location being depicted in the film was not the top-rated market for that film. Notably, The U earned a 5.6 rating in Birmingham while Miami came in sixth with a 3.3. Additionally, Straight Outta L.A. rated the highest in Miami with a 2.0 while Los Angeles came in seventh (0.8). 

And after the jump, some more fun facts from some of the more popular documentaries.
Here are the aforementioned highlights.

“30 for 30? Film Facts

With the series coming to an end, here are some “film facts” on a few of the documentaries that garnered critical acclaim over the past 18 months.

Kings Ransom (Directed by Peter Berg)

• Kings Ransom features never-before-seen footage of Wayne Gretzky’s wedding to Janet Jones.
• Peter Berg, a dedicated Los Angeles Kings fan even before Gretzky joined the team, has been a close friend of Wayne’s since the 1990s, when they played in a softball tournament together.
• Berg’s next project will be directing Universal’s feature adaptation of the popular board game Battleship.

The Band That Wouldn’t Die (Directed by Barry Levinson)

• 43 interviews were conducted including one with Jim Irsay, son of the man who took the team away in the middle of the night. Levinson thought that enough time had passed – 25 years – that he might want to talk about it.
• During the 12 years Baltimore was without a professional football team, the Baltimore Colts Marching Band still performed at events including The Preakness, 4^th of July parade, Cleveland Browns halftime and the 1991 Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.
• Baltimore’s Marching Ravens is an all-volunteer organization comprising more than 300 musicians, flagline, color guard and equipment crew. It is the largest musical organization associated with the NFL. The members come from all over Maryland and several surrounding states to practice every week from March to the end of the football season.

The Legend of Jimmy The Greek (Directed by Fritz Mitchell)

• Jimmy threw legendary Super Bowl parties that included many Hollywood celebrities and sometimes went on for a week at a time. For one Super Bowl, he rented a penthouse suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Because Warren Beatty was renting the other, Jimmy hired a guy to give haircuts in his suite so guests wouldn’t leave to go to Beatty’s. 
• Gerry Ford is famous for pardoning Richard Nixon, but during his brief presidency he also pardoned Jimmy. In a petition to the President for The Greek’s pardon, the FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley stated that Jimmy was an informant for the FBI. 

Without Bias (Directed by Kirk Frasier)

• Fraser initially recorded interviews with people who knew Len Bias in an effort to find out who Bias really was, with the intent to write a script for a motion picture. The interviews were compelling enough that he decided to produce the documentary first.
• In 1988, Congress passed a stricter Anti-Drug Act that is known as The Len Bias Law. It was backed by both parties and it reinforced the previous Drug Law with stiffer penalties and created the DARE program.

The U (Directed by Billy Corben)

• Because of low ticket sales in the late ‘70s, the local Burger King would give away tickets to the Miami Hurricane games just to fill the seats.
• In the 1992 Orange bowl, Nebraska, which was actually the home team, had requested Miami not run out of the tunnel with their signature smoke. At the last minute Miami’s mascot, Sebastian the Ibis, went out and borrowed a fire extinguisher from the local firehouse so the team could run through the tunnel with smoke.
• Among the 38 program insiders interviewed for the documentary were: players Bennie Blades, Melvin Bratton, Alonzo Highsmith, Michael Irvin, Bernie Kosar, Santana Moss, Brett Perriman, Jeremy Shockey and former head coaches Dennis Erickson, Jimmy Johnson and Howard Schnellenberger.

Muhammad and Larry (Directed by Albert Maysles)

• Albert Maysles is the only person with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews of both Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes in the two months leading up to their epic fight.
• Kool & The Gang re-wrote their hit song “Ladies Night” with lyrics specifically for Larry Holmes. Holmes is seen singing along to it in the film.
• Muhammad Ali’s training facility had a camp-like atmosphere. People of all ages would go to watch him practice, tell jokes and even do magic tricks.

Silly Little Game (Directed by Adam Kurkland and Lucas Jansen)

• In 1981, the members of the Rotisserie League tried to pool their resources and buy an actual baseball team: a double-A minor league franchise in Massachusetts called the Holyoke Millers, whose owners were looking to sell. Their $85,000 bid was matched by a local group and the owners gave it to them instead. The new owners later sold the franchise for four million dollars, a profit of more than 4500%.
• The legendary meeting in Manhattan at La Rotisserie Francaise restaurant, during which Dan Okrent planted the New York seeds for the Rotisserie League, was actually his second attempt to get friends involved. The first effort was at a barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas.
• In the early 1980s there was little space in sports publications to cover insider information on injuries and other vital details. To make smarter trades, the Rotisserie Leaguers resorted to calling the offices of Major League teams and posing as reporters for fictional sports publications, in order to talk their way through to the trainer or assistant coach who could give them precious pearls of backstage dish.

Run Ricky Run (Directed by Sean Pamphilon and Royce Toni)

• Most people think his decision to retire was spontaneous, but Ricky told his sister, Nisey, around the same time that he felt “football isn’t my gift, I’m supposed to heal people.”
• Sean Pamphilon quit his job as a producer in sports television to hit the road with two friends and begin filming the documentary. In the following 28 days, they interviewed approximately 30 intimates in Miami, New Orleans, Texas and San Diego.
• The original plan for this film was to be totally independent, take 5-6 months and be completed by the Super Bowl in early ’05. Over the next few years the plan changed several times, until Ricky and Sean both agreed the best place for the film to air would be on the very network (ESPN) that covered so much of his troubles.

Straight Outta L.A. (Directed by Ice Cube)

• Raiders gear was the top seller in the league for a number of years because of its association with rap as well as the exposure it received in music videos.
• N.W.A. did not call themselves a rap group; they referred to themselves as a gang who rapped about their experiences. This then coined the term “gangsta rap.”
• According to Al Davis, the inspiration to add silver to the Raiders’ uniforms came from seeing the success that shoe retailer Stuart Weitzman had selling silver women’s shoes in Oakland.

Birth of Big Air (Directed by Jeff Tremaine, Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze)

• Hoffman went from virtually unknown to a sponsored rider with just one event – a bicycle freestyle championship at Madison Square Garden in 1986.
• Because he got tired of going to the hospital so often, Hoffman used to carry around his own suture kit to stitch up his own injuries.
• Hoffman has had a total of two comas, 21 broken bones, 23 surgeries, 100+ concussions and 300+ stitches.

Jordan Rides the Bus (Directed by Ron Shelton)

• On the day it was announced that Michael Jordan would be playing for the team, more Birmingham Barons tickets were sold in half a day then in the entire year before.
• Current Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona was the manager of the Birmingham Barons when Jordan joined the team in 1994.

One Night In Vegas (Directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood)

Among those interviewed for the documentary were:

• Hip hop artist Nas
• Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton
• Actor Mickey Rourke
• Poet/Author Dr. Maya Angelou
• Former C.E.O. Death Row Records Marion “Suge” Knight
• Former heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon

Guru of Go (Directed by Bill Couturie)

• Paul Westhead is the only coach to win a WNBA and NBA title.
• Hank Gathers and his brother, Derrick, would break into the local gym at night to play basketball until 3 a.m.
• Being a former teacher, Paul Westhead used to quote Shakespeare to players to motivate and teach them life lessons.
• In a February 1990 LMU/LSU game, Hank racked up a total of 48 points—the most any player has ever gotten against Shaquille O’Neal.

That’s going to do it.

Putting Together Some Linkage

Ok, been busy, but I’m going to do some links while I can.

We’ve all seen the video of the Metrodome roof collapsing under the weight of heavy, wet snow. Michael Hiestand of USA Today has Fox Sports explaining how it made that video.

Michael also looks at some of the ratings from the weekend.

Sports Business Journal has its annual look at the 50 most influential people in sports.

You can get more of an in-depth look at who’s on the list starting with 41-50, 31-40, 21-30, 11-20 and finally, 1-10. SBJ also has a breakdown of the list by category.

Those are the most links to Sports Business Journal I’ve made in a long time.

Eric Fisher in Sports Business Daily has Fox Sports President Eric Shanks downplaying the role of 3-D TV.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter notes that if the NFL goes through a lockout next season, it could stand to lose some $3 billion in ad revenue. 

Broadcasting & Cable Editor-in-Chief For Life Ben Grossman notes that Fox Sports has renewed its rights deal for the UEFA Champions League.

George Winslow of B&C says ESPN will go all out for its 2011 venture, The Year of the Quarterback.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says ESPN has tapped the announcers to call its first 3-D production of an NBA game

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says Speed Channel plans to roll out some new primetime series in 2011.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that the Phoenix Suns become the first team to offer a social media suite package.

Darren tells us what newly-signed Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee left on the table by refusing to sign a bigger contract with the Yankees.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk says the clock is ticking on whether the Vikings can use University of Minnesota’s stadium as a stopgap to host next Monday night’s game against the Bears.

Janice Podsada of the Hartford Courant reports that Connecticut’s Attorney General worked through Monday trying to get the Giants-Vikings aired in the Constitution State, only to have his appeals fall on deaf ears.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with MLB Network’s Bob Costas about viewing Game 7 of the 1960 World Series again

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman likes how SNY Jets analyst Joe Klecko doesn’t hold back when it comes to the team’s recent pitiful play.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at the NFL Week 15 TV schedule in New York’s Capital Region.

Pete talks about Golf Channel’s new live morning show.

Ken McMillan at the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record takes a gander at this year’s college football bowl season.

Laura Nachman liked how Eagles radio voice Merrill Reese recognized the late basketball writer Phil Jasner.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says ESPN’s Monday Night Football stepped up late in the Ravens-Texans game just as it was getting exciting.

David says Ravens-Texans scored big in the local ratings.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says DC is well represented on the Sports Business Journal sports most influential list.

Sarah Talalay from the South Florida Sun Sentinel says the Miami Dolphins are enhancing their social media strategy.

Pete Alfano of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN the Magazine will host two events in the city during Super Bowl week.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle tallied the number of appearances by Texas media in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, Pony Excess.

Wayne Peal of the Northville (MI) Patch says a local high school swimmer who became a TV sports reporter is back close to home working at Fox Sports Detroit. 

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about how the NFL pundits are trashing Green Bay’s playoff chances.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says the Metrodome roof collapse comes at a good time for Vikings owner Zygi Wilf who’s been campaigning for a new stadium.

At the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Paul Walsh reports that the Minnesota Twins will have two familiar voices calling some games in the 2011season.

Lindsay Jones of the Denver Post notes that Screamin’ Gus Johnson will be on the call for this Sunday’s Broncos-Raiders game.

Dusty Saunders of the Post loves NFL RedZone.

Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times raves about HBO’s documentary on Vince Lombardi.

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee says fans noticed Fox sneaking music during replays and timeouts during Sunday’s Seahawks-49ers game. 

Noah Davis of SportsNewser says the ESPN 30 for 30 series plans a documentary on Michigan’s Fab Five which went to two NCAA Basketball Championship Games.

Also from SportsNewser, Marcus Vanderberg interviews NFL Today host James Brown. 

Joe Favorito says the NFL handled what could have been a difficult situation in Minneapolis with dignity.

Sports Media Watch notes that Pats-Bears on CBS scored the highest NFL overnight ratings of the season.

SMW says Army-Navy’s overnight ratings dropped from last year, but still finished strong.

SMW also has a few ratings news and notes.

EPL Talk prefers watching English Premier League games on ESPN2 than Fox Soccer Channel.

At Mashable, Zachary Sniderman notes that The Onion’s fake sports news show has spawned a new website on Comedy Central.

Due to various interruptions, it’s taken me four and a half hours to complete the linkage. It’s yours now.

A Look Back At ESPN’s 30 for 30 Series

With the 30 for 30 series coming to an end, one of the most ambitious projects to bring documentaries to span the last 30 years in sports has been a joy to watch. I’ve seen most of the films and I’ll do a ranking of the best of the series down the road. First, this comes from ESPN Films and it’s a trailer showing the highlights of each of the documentaries in the series.

That will do it for the night.