Fang's Bites

Some Tuesday Links

Don’t have time to provide a full set of links today so I’ll give you what I’ve culled thus far. Some good stuff here.

Some stories from this week’s Sports Business Journal.

First, John Ourand reports that ESPN and MLB could butt heads over TV Everywhere streaming rights. ESPN has its model. MLB has its silly subscription model. We’ll see where it ends.

SBJ’s Liz Mullen talks with Fox NFL Sunday’s Michael Strahan about the transition from his playing career to a broadcasting career and goes inside his day on the Fox set during NFL season.

Liz chronicles the NFL Broadcast Boot Camp held every year to give players a taste of being in front of the camera.

And SBJ lists some of the current players and coaches who could make a go at broadcasting when they decide to leave the field.

One story that bears watching. Last week, the FCC opened a review on the antiquated NFL blackout rules and Todd Shields of Bloomberg has a story on it.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wrote about the FCC blackout review as well.

Gary Holmes at MediaPost looks at how the NFL continues to be a ratings draw over a 40 year span.

Tennis Channel announced on its Facebook page that it’s back on Verizon Fios systems.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News has a story on the new Tennis Channel/Verizon agreement.

John Eggerton of Multichannel says Tennis Channel wants the FCC to force Comcast to adhere to an Administrative Law Judge ruling stating the cable provider has to offer the network to its subscribers as an equal to its own Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman talks with NASCAR head honcho Brian France about the future of the sport on TV and how ESPN needs to improve its presentation.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a throwaway line from the Baltimore Ravens’ Terrell Suggs on Sunday Night Football back in November is now the subject of a nasty trademark dispute.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has details on the budding feud between UFC’s Dana White and ESPN over a report on Outside the Lines that looked at fighter pay.

Timothy Burke’s Mocksession site has a funny error from ESPN promoting tonight’s Big Ten basketball game.

Nate Smeltz at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog provides an inside look at how a game becomes SportsCenter highlight.

Shirley Brady at Brandchannel previews some of the Super Bowl ads that will air during the Big Game.

Sports TV Jobs looks at the Ten Worst Moments in Sports TV history.

At Boston Sports Media Watch, former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor/reporter Jackie Pepper chronicles her rise from covering sports in a very small market to Boston, the 7th largest in the country.

Newsday’s Neil Best tweeted that Josh Lewin of the Lisping Lewins is a candidate to join the New York Mets radio booth.

Neil says WFAN’s Mike Francesa has a new name for his show.

Neil says Giants-Packers topped the ratings on Sunday.

Back to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who looks at Fox Sports’ NFL Rules analyst Mike Pereira making a rare disagreement over a call during Sunday’s Giants-Packers game.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes a local sports reporter has been suspended for making an obscene gesture on the air.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says it appears the Ravens set a viewing record for Sunday’s game against the Texans.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams joins a local radio station as an analyst.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans-Baltimore game set a local ratings record.

David says a local TV station made a tasteless report on the Detroit Pistons’ emergency landing on Monday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the ratings for the Giants-Packers playoff game.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times says new TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal is enjoying his new role on TV.

Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star says the International Olympic Committee has thrown out the joint bid by Bell Media/CBC for the 2014/2016 Games.

Mike Silva in his Sports Media Watchdog introduces Mets fans to Josh Lewin.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that NBC got a decent rating for the NHL last Saturday.

That’s going to do it.

Back With The Friday Megalinks

Due to a crazy schedule for most of this week and then having a medical procedure done yesterday, I have not been able to blog like I’ve wanted to. Links have been scarce, but I’m available to do them now and hopefully, won’t be interrupted.

Your Weekend Viewing Picks have your sports and entertainment programming for Halloween weekend. Let’s get to the links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that Tim McCarver has been broadcasting for a very long time and reports that Ron Franklin makes a return to the broadcast booth next week.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that if the NBA loses an entire season, corporate partners Time Warner and Disney would take some hits in the short term, but see moderate profits in the long term.

Philiana Ng of the Reporter says Game 6 of the World Series dominated the primetime ratings on Thursday.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says DirecTV is crying foul to the FCC about Fox’s ad in their carriage dispute over several networks including FX, 19 Fox Sports Net affiliates, Fox Soccer and Speed.

George Winslow of B&C notes that NASCAR.com has developed the first app for Google TV.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Varsity will stream high school games for co-owned Cablevision subscribers.

Mike says last week’s bidding for US World Cup media rights doesn’t help FIFA’s corrupt reputation.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute delves into ESPN’s role in the college sports realignment game.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that baseball’s problems are magnified when a historic moment as in last night’s World Series Game 6 comes so late for East Coast viewers.

Ben Koo from Awful Announcing criticizes MLB.com for its silly policy of not allowing websites like mine to embed certain videos.

Awful Announcing gives praise to Joe Buck for his plagiarized call of David Freese’s walk off home run in last night’s Game 6 World Series.

Deadspin’s AJ Daulerio exchanged e-mails with Buck on his call.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes that a Dallas TV station jumped the gun in saying the Texas Rangers won the World Series last night.

Sports Video Group reports that CTV/TSN has won the Canadian rights to the FIFA World Cups from 2015 through 2022.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell explains why we’re suddenly closer to an NBA deal and a complete 82 game season.

Sports Media Watch writes about the World Series Game 6 ratings.

Dave Kohl in the Broadcast Booth looks at the reporting on Dan Wheldon’s death.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe looks at the World Series ratings vs.the NFL this season.

Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with Fox 25′s Kristine Leahy.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at MLB Network’s latest Bob Costas special with Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

Neil says ESPN2′s SportsNation will do an ode to LIVE with Regis and Kelly on Monday.

Over to the New York Post where Phil Mushnick is again filled with hatred.

Justin Terranova of the Post has 5 questions for Sirius XM MLB Network Radio co-host Jim Duquette.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Fox finally got a ratings payoff for the World Series.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest on the Baltimore-Washington, DC sports media.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner interviews the host of Bloomberg’s weekly “Sportfolio” program.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says former Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder gets the opportunity to talk about his former team twice a week on local sports radio.

Barry Horn at the Dallas Morning News writes that Game 6 of the World Series is now the most watched baseball game in the history of the Metroplex.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle says the Texans continue to top the local TV ratings.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes ESPNU will air a basketball fundraiser for the Joplin, MO tornado victims.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with local website owners who want businesses to help ensure the Bengals won’t be blocked out in the local market.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that viewers are the losers in the DirecTV/Fox carriage dispute.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tells us that Week 7′s Vikings-Packers game was the most watched TV program of last week, topping all network programming.

Bob notes that Milwaukee and surrounding towns are part of a rare TV marketplace where a significant amount of viewers still don’t have cable or satellite.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business notes that classic Bulls games will be aired on Comcast SportsNet during the winter.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar writes that Fox has hit the megaload with a long World Series.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that last week’s brawl with Arizona gave UCLA some TV time, but for the wrong reasons.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star says Christmas doesn’t need NBA games.

Jim notes that ESPN took a big hit when it lost the World Cup bidding to Fox.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News talks with ESPN’s College GameDay’s Lee Corso.

Tom talks with SoCal broadcaster Steve Physioc.

Tom says people are confused over the battlelines in the DirecTV/Fox carriage dispute.

Tom talks with Dan Patrick about the #occupygameday movement.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that CTV/TSN has wrested the World Cup rights away from CBC.

Friday Megalinks Or The Return of Linkage

Due to being at jobsites for the last few days, I haven’t been able post links like I’ve wanted to. I apologize for that. I have tried to be diligent in updating as much as I can.

I have quite a bit to catch up with. I may be a blogging machine as I have to post a lot of things today. Plus, I to get ready to head to New York tomorrow for Blogs with Balls 4 so I’m going to be quite busy. Let’s get to the linkage.

But first, there’s always the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment planning.

National

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal writes that ESPN will do everything it can to head off NBC/Versus at the pass.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch asks if sports broadcasting and politics should mix?

Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press says the Big 12′s TV contracts helped to keep the conference together for now.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog notes that among various TV programming, sports in primetime continues to do well.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy talks with CBS/WFAN/Westwood One’s Boomer Esiason on how the NFL should investigate the Dallas Cowboys’ medical staff for clearing Tony Romo to play last Sunday.

Mike says ESPN is denying any responsibility for the recent college football chaos and says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have anything to do with it. I think Texas A&M, Missouri and other Big 12 schools would beg to differ.

Bob Velin of USA Today writes that CBS’ 48 Hours Mystery program will investigate the mysterious and unsettling death of boxer Arturo Gatti.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand of USA Today debate whether schools or TV wield the power in college sports.

John Taylor of College Football Talk writes that Brett Favre gets his first taste of being an analyst next week for CSS.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that the FCC has ruled that Cablevision-owned MSG Network cannot withhold its HD signal to other cable providers violating program-access rules.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that YES received its second highest rating ever for the American League East Division clinching game this week.

Mike says Golf Channel and NBC Sports are teaming up for a promotion to give a lucky viewer of “The Big Break” a chance to win a trip to see Notre Dame play in Ireland next year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says the NFL has pulled an ad for its fantasy football product which used a picture of Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles after he was injured last week.

David Lieberman of Deadline reports that Time Warner Cable is planning to offer a low cost tier that will not include ESPN in the lineup.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown calling Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones something else.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the sixth and perhaps final installment of New Era’s Yankees-Red Sox Alec Baldwin-John Kraskinski ads. They have been quite good. This latest one may have taken it a bit too far.

Also from SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty reviews the ESPN Films documentary “Catching Hell”, on Steve Bartman and the 2003 Chicago Cubs.

Sports Media Watch talks with the crew of ESPN’s College GameDay.

SMW says despite being on tape delay, Fox drew a decent audience for its first English Premier League game on Sunday.

SMW notes that the ratings for CBS’ 2nd game of its NFL doubleheader dropped from last year.

SMW says the NBA lockout has forced the cancellation of the start of training camp and over 40 preseason games.

And SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito looks at one imaginative marketing campaign that helped Eye Black this week.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews “Moneyball.”

Darren has some interesting facts on sports participation in America.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group looks at how CBS Sports Network was able to bring the Tim Brando Show into a TV simulcast from his base in Shreveport, LA.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has this week’s network TV on-screen typos.

Ben Koo from AA says tomorrow is when Gus Johnson and FX get their real grand opening in college football.

At The Stir, Maressa Brown feels ESPN’s Erin Andrews is unqualified to demonstrate CrossFit.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that WEEI’s Glenn Ordway has suffered a rather severe pay cut due to lower ratings for his afternoon drive show.

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

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Dale Arnold is pleased to be back with NESN after leaving in 2007.

Lang Whitaker and Ian Lovett of the New York Times give us an inside look at DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel and NFL Network’s RedZone.

John Jeansonne of Newsday reviews ESPN Films’ documentary on transgendered tennis player Renee Richards.

Newsday’s Neil Best says fans seem to be buying into the New York Islanders’ future.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post has news that some Time Warner Cable subscribers have been waiting for, that the company appears to be close to a carriage agreement with NFL Network.

Phil Mushnick at the Post can’t stand ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Justin Terranova of the Post says last month’s Russian plane crash that killed 44 members of the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl really hit home for MSG Network analyst Joe Micheletti.

And Justin has five questions for Joe.

Lou Lumenick of the Post says “Moneyball” is one of the best baseball movies of all-time.

I’ll break my self-imposed embargo on the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman for a week for this story on the Yankees’ radio rights which are in flux and so are the fates of broadcasters John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that MSG Network has named Steve Cangialosi to replace Mike “Doc” Emrick on New Jersey Devils games.

And Pete talks with Steve about his new gig.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is not a fan of a new local sports talk show host.

Ken notes that NBC Sports is extending its “Summer at Saratoga” series for at least two more years.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has announced its Capitals and Wizards schedules.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the college football conference merry-go-round could have some legal ramifications.

Jim says the ratings for the NFL in both Baltimore and Washington were very strong.

South

In the Miami Herald, Joseph Goodman notes the irony of ESPN possibly saving college football from massive chaos.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel catches up with ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer.

Jeff Sentell of the Birmingham (AL) News says ESPN is not ponying up to air high school games from the region.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that an Astros broadcaster is celebrating 25 years with the club.

David asks readers if they find the idea of the Longhorn Network offensive.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says an Oklahoma State wide receiver will be profiled on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Midwest

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says Cleveland MLB team radio voice Mike Hegan is leaving he broadcast after this season.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Reds voice Marty Brennaman can’t campaign on-air for his former partner Joe Nuxhall for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award.

Micahel Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press wonders why the DirecTV/NBC series “Friday Night Lights” didn’t do better in the ratings.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says actor Brad Pitt saw “Moneyball” as a compelling story.

Bob says the Green Bay Packers will be showcased aplenty in the late afternoon window on both CBS and Fox this season.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship failed to draw viewers away from the NFL on Sunday.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with WMAQ-TV sports anchor Paula Ferris.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders why Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been missing of late.

Kevin Haskin of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes that CBS Sports Network was in town to air an NCAA Division II football game this week.

West

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Big Ten Network won’t allow the local Cox system to pick up Saturday’s San Diego State-Michigan game on a one-time only basis.

The North County Times’ John Maffei writes that unless fans can find a sports bar, they’ll have to listen to San Diego State on the radio.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star says it’s too bad Southern California couldn’t see the end of the exciting Oakland-Buffalo game due to silly NFL rules.

Jim says HBO will replay last Saturday’s controversial Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says a bankruptcy court has given the Dodgers permission to change their flagship radio station for next season.

Tom says the NFL secondary market rule needs to be changed.

Tom also has a few notes that he couldn’t get into his Friday column.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News looks at the Pac-12′s decision to stand pat, TV’s role in the whole thing and where BYU may be headed.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s P.J. Stock is regretting his initial comments on Wade Belak’s death.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog is not so fast to forgive P.J.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that CBC has made some additions to its Hockey Night in Canada crew.

And there you have it for your links today.

A Quiet Wednesday Linkfest

Was out of the office again earlier today so I’m getting to these rather late. Let’s look at what we have today.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says the new CBS Sports/Showtime documentary on this year’s Army-Navy football game will have touches of reality TV.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal and ESPN bloviator Skippy Bayless are throwing insults at each other.

At the Hollywood Reporter, Carolyn Giardina and Adrian Pennington report that at least 10 Olympic venues in London are expected to get the 3-D TV treatment. About 16 people in the US will be able to watch that.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN will make its news feeds available to the Pulse mobile app.

Gregg Rosenthal at Pro Football Talk cites a Phil Mushnick report that the man who helped ruin the Cleveland Browns, Eric Manmoron Mangini will be an ESPN NFL analyst this season.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggan of the St. Petersburg Times previews the ESPN Films documentary on the real-life Rocky Balboa who got his shot at the championship.

Lauren Indvik of Mashable looks at how Sports Illustrated is on top of digital technology by publishing a tablet edition of its magazine.

In SportsNewser, Marcus Vanderberg talks with Bomani Jones about the end of his morning show at The Score on Sirius Satellite Radio in Canada.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser tells us to get ready for the NASCAR-themed drama “Tits in the Pits”. You can’t make this shit up.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Merril Hoge took to Twitter to say that Tim Tebow isn’t going to be a good NFL quarterback.

Former Boston Sports Media Watch blogger David Scott writes in ESPN’s Front Row about the Alleged Worldwide Leader breaking ground on a new building and pledging to create an additional 200-800 new jobs in Connecticut over the next five years.

Kristi Dosh, the SportsBizMiss, of the Business of College Sports tries to predict the future and creates four potential BCS “Superconferences” out of the remains of the Big 12 and the Big East.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that video game manufacturer EA Sports could stand to lose one billion dollars if a lawsuit by college athletes goes against it.

Darren talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about the league’s upcoming regional sports networks.

And Darren looks at a new venture that could bring fans closer to their favorite athletes by consolidating social media and personal websites into one site.

John Talty of the International Business Times writes that the NBA lockout won’t be much of a drain on the economy, only to the league’s fans.

Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal writes about the Big East Conference looking forward to a potential huge media rights payday in two years.

Kevin says Big East Commissioner John Marinatto is denying reports that the conference may have to drop a few schools in order to get big TV money.

Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant says the next TV negotiations for the Big East will be the league’s most important in its history.

Mara Lee of the Courant talks about ESPN’s planned expansion in Connecticut.

JC Reindl of the Day of New London (CT) writes that Connecticut came up with plenty of tax breaks so ESPN could expand its Bristol headquarters.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times writes that despite conventional wisdom, the Big East is a big player in college sports.

Lenn Robbins of the New York Post says a lucrative TV contract will ensure the Big East’s success in the long term.

Sean Daly of the Post says NBC is really going after ESPN with its rebranding of Versus.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the winner of SNY’s Kidcaster contest got to call a Mets home run last night.

Neil says ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is now downplaying reports that overzealous Ohio State fans forced him to move from his native Columbus to Tennessee.

Neil writes that there appears to be a cease fire between WFAN’s Mike Francesa and the New York Jets.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says two local radio stations will pick up Compass Media’s NFL schedule this fall.

Ken says this month’s US Open tennis coverage will be divided among three networks again.

And Ken has the preliminary Westwood One Radio NFL schedule for the first six weeks of the season.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner says the NFL and the league’s Players Association may not be done negotiating yet.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes previews from Sports Illustrated’s Peter King and ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd on the DC NFL Team.

Bridget Cary of the Miami Herald says ESPN Deportes Radio is changing stations to get a better signal in South Florida.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local ratings from the weekend.

Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman says the Longhorn Network has made Texas untouchable to other BCS conferences.

Jim Thomas of the Canton (OH) Repository profiles local native Dan Dierdorf on his second career as an NFL analyst.

Shane Hoover of the Repository notes that the NFL continues to find new fans via social and new media.

Steve Ballard of the Indianapolis Star notes that Sunday’s Brickyard 400 scored for ESPN.

David Brauer of MinnPost says the Twin Cities’ ESPN Radio affiliate is pulling Colin Cowherd and inserting a local talk show in his place.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says it’s not known if the NHL’s marriage to Versus will pay off in the long run.

To the Biz of Baseball and Maury Brown who reports that one section of Ohio that was hit with blackouts of the Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburgh Pirates won’t be blacked out anymore.

Larry Brown Sports has former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach sticking up for suspended ESPN.com writer Bruce Feldman on Fox Sports Radio last night.

The Days of Y’Orr Boston Bruins blog notes the creation of a new Jack Edwards soundboard. It’s tremendous.

Kissing Suzy Kolber notes that ESPN’s sponsored segments are getting a bit out of hand.

Melina Travis of Pro Sports Communications talks about the power of sports documentaries.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead wonders if the Big East has any juice with fans.

Awful Announcing kicks around some ideas for the next batch of ESPN Films documentaries.

We have a lot of links today. That’s good for you. I’ll be back later tonight.

Silly Wimbledon Delays 2011

If you’re a regular reader, you know my thoughts on NBC’s tape delay practices at both Wimbledon and the Olympics. In fact, I’ve written about this time and time and time again over this subject

There was a lot of anger over NBC’s decision to tape delay the Wimbledon women’s semifinals today. Interestingly enough, the Maria Sharapova-Sabine Lisicki match ended before NBC took the air at noon ET so those who were monitoring the contest through backdoor websites knew the results before NBC started. ESPN2 did air the Petra Kvitova-Victoria Azarenka  match live, but could not make any mention of Sharapova-Lisicki until NBC hit the air which is just ridiculous.

NBC made a statement to Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch about Friday’s coverage of the men’s semifinals which will again fall under these silly rules. ESPN2 will take the Jo-Wilfried Tsonga-Novak Djokovic match live at 8:15 a.m. ET while NBC will show the Andy Murray-Rafael Nadal match. This will be seen at noon in all time zones. NBC will not show the match online outside of its noon window and people will have to either resort to going to illegal websites to see a live stream (which I do not encourage you to do, but you do what you gotta do), or wait until noon in your time zone to see NBC’s coverage.

Now this is the last year for NBC’s contract with Wimbledon and Sports Illustated’s Jon Wertheim tweets that we should know next week the results of the bidding for the US rights for the next few years between NBC and ESPN. It will be interesting to see if the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will keep the status quo with NBC/ESPN and Tennis Channel as the rightsholders or go with ESPN. ESPN2 and Tennis Channel still have two years to go on their deals. If ESPN takes NBC’s package, one can expect the silly tape delays to end. Perhaps under the new Mark Lazarus era at the NBC Sports Group, the tape delays will end altogether. Let us hope so.

UPDATE, 4:35 p.m.: One thing I omitted. Tomorrow’s Murray-Nadal match will be streamed online at NBCSports.com across the country live at noon ET. It will pick up NBC’s coverage of wherever the match is at that point and go live from then on. So if you live from the Central through the Pacific time zones, you can see the match live online when NBC picks up its coverage at noon ET so you don’t have to wait for your local affiliate to air tape delayed coverage.

Getting The Wednesday Linkage In

Let’s do the Wednesday links while I can. It’s going to get busy the next couple of days as I try to wrap things up for the 4th of July weekend so blogging may get sparse through the weekend. Just giving you a heads up.

Here are the links for this Wednesday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN is going all out for the Women’s World Cup whether we like it or not.

Karolos Grohmann of Reuters reports that General Electric has pledged to sponsor the Olympic Games through 2020 as part of the deal that kept the US media rights with NBC.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Tiger Woods has signed his first endorsement deal since his marital troubles began in November 2009.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL wants Congress to leave the silly TV blackout rules in place.

Tim Baysinger of B&C notes that Fox Soccer received its highest audience ever for last Saturday’s Gold Cup Final between the US and Mexico.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News notes the improved ratings for TNT halfway through its NASCAR season.

Mike also recaps the ESPN/espnW Women’s World Cup viewing party in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.

Mike discusses NBC Sports Group providing full coverage of the Tour de France.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi says the NBA playoffs steered TNT to a cable ratings win in the 2nd quarter of this year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek really likes DirecTV’s Football Cops ad starring Peyton and Eli Manning.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred provides a lesson on just who Grantland Rice was and why he’s so revered.

Robert Niles of the Online Journalism Review at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism looks at the limits of free speech citing ESPN’s Jemele Hill defending David Tyree’s anti-gay marriage stance.

SportsGrid has video of Charles Barkley visiting the Sportsnet One booth during last night’s Pittsburgh-Toronto game.

SportsGrid’s Glenn Davis wonders if ESPN’s Robert Flores was caught napping on the job today.

SportsNewser’s Cam Martin writes that video game producer EA Sports plans to build a new studio in Texas.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Nike’s CEO and President Charlie Denson on a myriad of sports business topics.

SportsbyBrooks is reporting that former Indiana and Texas A&M coach Bob Knight is preventing ESPN from hiring former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl as an analyst. I didn’t know coach Knight wielded that much power.

Andrew Gauthier of TV Spy notes the return of Len Berman to the Today Show this morning. And no one got hurt!

The lovely Kristi Dosh of the Business of College Sports explains how she got into the sports blogging business.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times reviews USA Network’s new football-based series.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Derek Jeter haters will like one new internet product that allows them to ignore the Yankees shortstop.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says tonight’s Red Sox-Phillies game originally scheduled for ESPN2 will now be seen on the ESPN mothership.

Ken says New York’s Capital Region will be blacked out on July 8 when Bob Costas and Al Michaels team up to call their first baseball game ever.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that NBC golf reporter Dottie Pepper reaches out to the community when she’s back home.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says handouts to sports owners are not a good thing.

John George of the Philadelphia Business Journal says MLB Network’s Mitch Williams will be seen on a DIY Network show.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog recaps a visit from consumer advocate Ralph Nader to the WaPo offices to discuss sports coverage and a new venture he’s helping to organize.

Graham Cawthorn of the Shelby (NC) Star looks at ESPN wanting to stream the American Legion World Series.

Danny Aller of the Albany (GA) Herald says Braves fans will finally be able to watch Peachtree TV games through the Fox Sports South affiliate.

Joel Hammond of Crain’s Cleveland Business says the Browns will launch a nightly radio show on the market’s dominant sports radio station.

Steve Brandt of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says local officials are denying that there’s a potential bid for the 2020 Olympics in the works.

The Syracuse (NE) Journal-Democrat reports that ESPN3 will stream all games of the American Legion World Series under a new four year contract.

Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times says former Chicago Sun-Times writer Jay Mariotti must stand trial on stalking and assault charges.

The Elk Grove (CA) Citizen notes that a local high school rejected ESPN’s request to air a football game this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about HBO hitting the ice once again next season.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on TNT’s ratings were up again this past weekend.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says viewership for the NHL Draft was up from last year.

The Big Lead wonders if NASCAR fired an in-house blogger for mentioning Kyle Busch’s marital problems.

That’s all for now.

Doling Out Tuesday Linkage

Got to work early so I figure that I’ll do linkage early and then do some what I have to do at the office.

Let’s begin with a look at some of the ratings from the weekend via USA Today’s Michael Hiestand.

Michael notes that the Cam Newton saga at the NFL Draft could bring viewers to the table for ESPN and NFL Network despite ongoing lockout drama.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Fox’s Howie Long blasted the NFL Scouting Combine in a taping of a Big Lead/The Experts Network Draft Special. Disclaimer: Fang’s Bites is a member of Big Lead Sports, but is an independently owned and operated blog.

A couple of interesting op-ed pieces today. First, NFL Commish Roger Goodell in the Wall Street Journal claims the end of the league as we know it if there’s no collective bargaining agreement with the players.

Next in the Washington Post, Washington DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder explains why he’s suing the Washington City  Paper and it certainly doesn’t help his argument.

If you want to help the Washington City Paper in its fight against Snyder, go here and lend your support.

To the Sports Business Journal and John Ourand who says ESPN’s new endorsement guidelines are just a small ointment to a bigger problem.

John writes that NBA Draft prospect Jimmer Fredette has authorized a production company to follow him for a potential documentary on his experience leading up to the Draft.

Daniel Kaplan from the SBJ says NFL teams and sponsors are getting ready for the NFL Draft.

And Terry Lefton at the SBJ notes that Michael Vick’s image is at the point where he can endorse products again.

Tom Van Riper at Forbes is in favor of Major League Baseball expanding its playoffs.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago garnered record ratings for Canucks-Blackhawks Game 6 on Sunday.

Mike Reyolds at Mulitchannel News says NESN received its third highest ever ratings for a Boston Bruins playoff game on Saturday.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has ESPN/ABC’s Mark Jackson calling out ESPN The Magazine for publishing an anonymous NBA player’s column.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says despite first round ousters, the Knicks and Rangers drew very good TV ratings in New York.

Also from SportsNewser, Cam Martin notes that a documentary on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick is in the works.

And Alex Weprin of SportsNewser talks with ESPN personality Stephen A. (A is for Angry) Smith.

Bill Mann of Marketwatch.com says the NBC/Versus deal with the NHL will have a ripple effect in Canada.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group looks at NFL Network’s production preparation for the NFL Draft.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says all Judge Susan Nelson did in overturning the NFL lockout was to lead to massive confusion among the league and the players.

The Boston Globe notes that local athletic shoe company, Saucony is launching a new ad campaign that will air on ESPN and other sports networks starting this week.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch profiles local resident and ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Draft programming for both ESPN and NFL Network.

Pete says the New York Knicks delivered killer ratings for both ABC and MSG Network.

Pete has the updated NBA Playoffs TV schedule.

From the New Jersey Press, David P. Willis looks at the new Cablevision iPad app which allows subscribers to watch TV programs on their Apple tablets.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner wonders why politicians aren’t speaking out against the NFL lockout.

Zach Berman from the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger has five questions for NFL Network Draft guru Mike Mayock.

Mike Jensen from the Philadelphia Inquirer profiles native Mike Mayock of NFL Network.

Joseph Santoliquito of the Marple Newtown (PA) Patch profiles Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia host Michael Barkann who is a longtime resident of the community.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that former DC NFL Team executive Vinny Cerrato will now co-host a nightly radio show in Baltimore.

The Spartanburg (SC) Herald Journal reports that the local ESPN Radio affiliate will pick up high school football games this fall.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that TNT’s Mike Fratello got the job done during last night’s Denver-Oklahoma City NBA playoff game.

Bill Haisten from the Tulsa (OK) World says local native Dari Nowkhah of ESPN almost quit TV for teaching until a sudden call from Bristol, CT came his way.

Jamie Samuelsen in the Detroit Free Press says Matt Millen should expect a less-than-warm welcome to Ford Field when he makes his first return there with the Monday Night Football crew this fall.

Robert Snell of the Free Press says NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk owes the IRS a big chunk of change.

Cole Manbeck of the Manhattan (KS) Mercury says Kansas State is expecting a huge cash payment from the new Fox/Big 12 TV deal.

Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Journal-Review says baseball fans in town are fed up of being blacked out of six teams that claim the market as their territory.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog goes after Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail for not doing his homework.

Sports Media Watch notes that NBA ratings in Boston and Chicago are way up from last year.

SMW also looks at the local NHL ratings in various markets.

And SMW has some more NHL ratings for us.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for nights 9 and 10 of the NHL Playoffs on Versus.

And I think we’re done now. Back to work now.

Cranking Out Some Saturday Links

Let’s do some linkage. I couldn’t get to them yesterday as I was racing in between two offices and by the time I got home, I wasn’t in the mood to sift through media links. I’ll do some now and include some Friday stories.

First, USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at the old ABC’s Wide World of Sports getting some attention from ESPN next week.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal explores the battle over the Los Angeles Dodgers’ media rights between two big media giants.

Ronald Grover and Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg News says the Dodgers’ agreement with Fox for the team’s rights must be approved by MLB.

Stu Hackel of Sports Illustrated says the NHL deal with NBC Sports Group is a win-win for both parties and for fans.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says MSG Network is seeing high ratings for the New York Rangers.

Mike notes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago garnered record ratings for both the Bulls and Blackhawks on Thursday.

Mike says the soon-to-be renamed Versus will really be known as the Home of the NHL under the new NBC Sports Group contract with the league.

Mike reports that on Monday, an FCC Administrative Law Judge will hear the case of Tennis Channel’s carriage complaint against Comcast.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred remembers a Virginia sportswriter who gave it all for his paper and his love of Duke basketball.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser notes that the agent of former New York Football Giants running back Tiki Barber knew his media career was doomed from almost the beginning.

Dashiell Bennett at the Business Insider Sports Page has Josh Elliot’s emotional farewell to SportsCenter. Josh heads to become the news reader on Good Morning America.

Cork Gaines of the Business Insider explains why MLB won’t repeal its silly and archaic blackout rules.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Ticketmaster’s CEO about bringing dynamic pricing into ticket sales.

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe speaks with Friend of Fang’s Bites Tina Cervasio of MSG Network and Chad also reviews the ratings of the two local sports radio stations.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wonders if the NHL should have taken less money to get on ESPN.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com takes a look at the Baltimore Orioles’ TV ratings as well as other Baltimore-DC sports media news.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner writes that there will be plenty of coverage for Rangers-Caps today.

Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times says Navy jumped at the chance to air its spring football game on CBS Sports Network today.

Dave Poe of the Parkersburg (WV) News and Sentinel notes that ESPN will pick up the annual “Coal Bowl” matchup.

Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer says the college football game formerly known as the “Meineke Car Care Bowl” will get a new sponsor this year.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald says ESPN is streamlining its NFL Draft coverage next week.

Creg Stephenson of the Mississippi Press says local Atlanta Braves fans after being able to watch TBS for years, are now scrambling for ways to watch games.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has some sports media news and notes.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local sports radio host is leaving the area for a new opportunity elsewhere.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that former Reds shortstop and current ESPN analyst Barry Larkin could make his way into the team’s broadcast booth in the future.

John also talks with Barry who jumped ship from MLB Network to ESPN’s Baseball Tonight this season.

Rob Oller at the Columbus Dispatch says TV has changed the spring college football game into big business.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Bucks’ TV ratings fell this season.

Bob says giving Bill Parcells his own pre-NFL Draft show on ESPN could lead to some good television.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says despite having throat ailment, Joe Buck continues to call MLB games for Fox.

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says it appears likely that Cox Cable won’t be airing Padres games after this season.

John Maffei of the North County Times reports that Fox Sports Net appears to have won the Padres’ TV rights although nothing is official.

John says the NFL lockout has put the Draft into an bigger spotlight.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star is not a fan of the NFL Draft.

Jim talks about the NHL landing big money in its new TV contract.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times looks at Fox and Time Warner Cable fighting over the Dodgers’ media rights.

Diane Pucin of the Times goes into detail on Fox’s personal $30 million loan to Dodgers owner Frank McCourt that led MLB to take control of the team.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says ESPN’s Jon Gruden is showing himself to be a deft developer of young quarterbacks.

Tom goes over the week in sports media.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that those bidding for the US rights to the NHL took losing Phoenix into account.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore has the most watched NHL Playoff games on Versus through the first week of play.

And that’s going to do it for links today. I might be back with some press release posts throughout the day.

Springing Out The Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide the links on this very Spring-like Thursday. The sun is out in Southern New England after the April showers of this week. Nice to see the skies bright instead of being gray and drab as like the last few days.

We begin with Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute writing in her role as ESPN Ombudsman. She says the new ESPN guidelines on endorsements are a good start, but still don’t go far enough.

Sofia M. Fernandez from the Hollywood Reporter says despite a $30 million loan from Fox and hopes of a 20 year contract with Fox Sports Net to solve money troubles, Major League Baseball still stepped in and took over control of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

TMZ reports that Fox is not interested in repurchasing the Dodgers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says despite MLB taking over the Dodgers, we haven’t heard the last from owner Frank McCourt.

Darren wonders if Major League Baseball is having an attendance problem.

Darren finds in what sports Americans like to participate.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says World Fishing Network has struck a deal with the National Cable TV Cooperative.

David Kiefaber of Adweek looks at a new outdoor ad campaign featuring Mike Tyson. Yes, Mike Tyson.

Carolyn Braff of Sports Video Group says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia was kept on its toes last Saturday as it had to scramble through weather issues to cover four teams.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser has the latest addition to the ESPN.com/Captain Blowhard project.

At ESPN Front Row, Kevin Ota explains how ESPN wants to make the digital media experience more personal for users.

Michael S. Schmidt and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times take a look at MLB taking control of the Dodgers.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer explores Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s move to produce live sportscasts for NBC’s KNTV and if it could happen in Philly.

Frank Seravalli of the Inquirer says the NHL and NBC could very well choose the Flyers for the Winter Classic on January 2, 2012.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has the radio call of last night’s game winning goal in the 2nd overtime of Game 4 of Caps-Rangers.

The Naples (FL) Daily News says a minor league baseball team will have selected games on the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from ESPN’s Jon Gruden about the NFL Draft and yes, there are several “this guy” references.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that today’s Arizona-Reds game will be aired on MLB Network, but there’s one interesting caveat.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also has some thoughts from Gruden about a Wisconsin draft prospect.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says tonight is going to be a big night for the local Comcast SportsNet affiliate.

The Reno (NV) Gazette Journal notes that ESPN2′s Friday Night Boxing series is coming to town.

In the Tucson (AZ) Citizen, Victor Rodriguez talks with NBC’s Andrea Kremer about covering the NFL in the locker room.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times couldn’t be happier to see MLB step in and take control of the Dodgers away from Frank McCourt.

Bill Shakin of the Times writes that the Dodgers could be in legal limbo for the foreseeable future.

The Los Angeles Daily News has a timeline of the tumultuous McCourt ownership of the Dodgers.

Alan Brettman of The Oregonian says unlike ESPN, other TV networks are not publishing a list of endorsement deals by their announcers.

Ferd Lewis at the Honolulu Advertiser says ESPN’s networks will air three Hawaii football games this fall.

Ferd says Hawaiians don’t understand why they’re being blacked out of San Francisco Giants games.

Julie DiCaro from Aerys Sports says MLB continues to drop the ball when it comes to catering to female fans.

Terrence Henderson from the T Dog Media Blog looks at the NBC Sports Group deal with the NHL.

Sports Media Watch says MLB on Fox’s ratings are up for the first two weeks of the season.

SMW says NASCAR on Fox’s ratings for the last two races are a mixed bag.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says last night in the NHL was made for the new NBC/Versus deal, but we won’t see it until next year.

Steve also has five suggestions to make the Black Friday NHL game on NBC into a special event.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jason Clinkscales of A Sports Scribe talks about starting up a new podcast and another Friend of Fang’s Bites will be his guest.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing lists the Top 13 Craziest calls by NESN’s Jack Edwards.

And we’re done for today with the links.

Some Monday Linkage

Ok, let’s provide you with some linkage that’s been missing since early Friday. I was hoping to complete the megalinks, but was out for most of the day helping the family with some issues, then working all day on Saturday and Sunday prevented me from doing weekend stuff.

There’s a lot of stuff today so let’s provide you with linkage and see how much we get today.

James Hibberd of the Hollywood Reporter broke news late last night that ESPN Radio hack Colon Cowherd has sold a sitcom based on himself (who else) to CBS. I won’t be watching that show at all.

At Press Coverage, Dan Levy shares his thoughts on this disastrous sitcom idea.

We have a good amount of stories from the Sports Business Journal today. First, Terry Lefton and John Ourand report on the widening gap between MLB and MLB Advanced Media which forces sponsors to deal with two entities instead of one and has angered Fox in the process.

Don Muret of SBJ looks at the Los Angeles NFL stadium project which is drawing inspiration from the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

SBJ’s Michael Smith has three stories on the combined CBS/Turner Sports entity which is now in control of the NCAA Tournament. His first story is on the sales for the Tournament which is being handled by a joint CBS/Turner staff.

Michael writes that with the NCAA Tournament having as many as four national feeds at once, it means more exposure for advertisers.

And Michael tells us that Turner and CBS are looking to tinker with the NCAA’s corporate cponsor program for cars.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says even with a losing record, the Dallas Cowboys remain a big TV draw.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry writes that sports journalism on the internet begins and ends with the link. On what do you think this site survives?

Dave Kindred also has an article for IU on how journalism is still a decent profession to follow.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine says the NFL dominated the Sunday overnight ratings for both NBC and Fox.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that Fox missed a play after a brief blackout at the New Meadowlands Stadium during yesterdays Cowboys-Gians game.

Neil notes that fired New York Islanders coach Scott Gordon was trending this morning. 

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says CBS and ESPN enable the SEC to be a dirty conference. That’s a big stretch there.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the NFL Week 11 TV schedule for New York’s Capital Region.

Pete says Time Warner Cable will air five local high school football playoff games.

Ken McMillan from the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record notes that Versus will premiere a new nightly NHL highlights show starting tonight.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who call tonight’s Philadelphia-Washington game on Monday Night Football.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner speaks with MLB Network’s Matt Yallof about the return of Hot Stove.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times reviews what happened on sports television this past weekend.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes the hometown and national calls of the Hail Mary pass that beat the Texans yesterday.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has crackpot Bill James’ assessment of the Brewers.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Northwestern’s Athletic Director about an upcoming football game at Wrigley Field.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the Cardinals may have a three man announcer rotation in the Fox Sports Midwest TV booth.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post tells us to get ready for a huge feast of college basketball starting at midnight.

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

Bruce Dowbigin of the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that referees’ trends should be fodder for TV analysts. Really?

Sports Media Watch notes that last night’s Patriots-Steelers game on NBC did not do as well as last year’s Pats-Colts game.

Joe Favorito says the value of military academies as brands and stories becomes larger every day.

The Big Lead wonders about MLB’s archaic video policy.

Awful Announcing has the video of Screamin’ Gus Johnson calling the Hail Mary at the Jacksonville-Houston game.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid talks with SB Nation CEO Jim Bankoff.

And we will end it there.

Let’s Do Some Saturday Linkage

Time to provide some linkage on this Saturday. Lots of stuff going on.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes.com notes that Cablevision and Fox are now acting like spoiled little children. 

John Simon from Bloomberg reviews the Broadway play, “Lombardi”.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred wants to see the wall of ethics return in sports journalism.

Mandi Bierly of Entertainment Weekly writes that TBS has hired “Bull Durham” director Ron Shelton to create a minor league baseball comedy. 

The Lalate blog notes that the TOcho show on Versus garnered really low ratings on Tuesday. Really, really low. 

To SB Nation Boston, where Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen discusses the local media and fan reaction to Patriots cheap shot artist Brandon Meriweather.

Dan Mangan of the New York Post reports that Brett Favre tried to contact Jenn Sterger a year after texting pictures of his manjunk. According to the Post, Favre allegedly called her when he was in New York for the premiere episode of HBO’s Joe Buck Live. Thanks to Robert Littal of Black Sports Online for this link.

New York Magazine chronicles Week One of the Cablevision/Fox dispute. 

Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper notes that a group of former ESPNZone restaurant workers in Baltimore and DC is forming a class action lawsuit saying the the closing of the theme establishments was handled illegally.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call notes that the son of the late Phillies announcer Harry Kalas will sing “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch of tonight’s Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

Tim Guidera of WTOC-TV in Savannah, GA is angry over the NFL not allowing his station to air the Falcons and requiring it to show the Jaguars instead. Thanks to the506.com for the link.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with ESPN’s Jon Gruden.

Victor Godinez of the Morning News has Fox skeptical of restoring its cable networks including its Sports Net affiliates to Dish Network anytime soon. 

Jim Ingraham of the Morning Journal (OH) assesses the MLB Postseason announcers.

Patricia Babcock McGraw of the Chicago Daily Herald notes that there are mixed opinions on the new espnW.

Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes that the Timberwolves have finally released their TV schedule. 

The Boulder (CO) Daily Camera reports that FSN Rocky Mountain will be all over University of Colorado sports over the next four months. 

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the FCC wants proof from Cablevision and Fox that they’re bargaining in good faith. Certainly does not appear to be the case.

The Los Angeles Wave looks at the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on former Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.

The Eugene (OR) Register-Guard notes that Versus is picking up the Oregon-Cal game on November 13.

Sports Media Watch says CBS is seeing its highest NFL ratings in over a decade.

SMW points out that Fox garnered a season low for its early NFL window last week and wonders if that was a result of not having Cablevision subscribers.

And SMW says NLCS Game 5 got the highest ratings of this year’s MLB Postseason.

We’re done with the linkage for today. We’ll be on top of any breaking news if it happens.

Poll: Should The NFL Allow Sites To Embed Their Videos?

Dan Levy put this poll on Press Coverage and I’ll put it up here as well. I think the NFL should allow sites to embed their videos. There’s so much stuff that could be expanded if the NFL allowed this. Last year, the NFL had an agreement with Yahoo and I was hoping it would expand to blogs and so many other sites.

However, the NFL is very protective about its video. I’m hoping that will change down the line. Take a look. Vote in the poll and express your opinion in the comments below. I would love to embed NFL highlights here on Fang’s Bites.

Cranking Out Sunday Linkage

Let’s give you some linkage on this Sunday of the Labor Day holiday weekend for most of you. I’ve been working so I don’t know what it’s like to have this off. Anyway, here’s linkage.

SportsGrid has the video of WGN sports anchor Pat Tomasulo dunking on a five year old boy, the same kid he dunked on last year.

SportsGrid also has Comcast SportsNet analyst Dan Hampton summoning a Hurricane Katrina reference involving New Orleans. Why not use a 9/11 reference about New York, Dan? 

Aaron Gray of the Virgin Islands Daily News says TBS has signed a deal that lifts a blackout on the islands seeing its coverage of the MLB Postseason.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News breaks news in his column today. In a column in which he laments Jet QB Mark Sanchez deciding to tone down his media obligations, Raissman also reports that motormouth Joe Theismann appears to be joining the NFL Network Thursday Night Football booth this season and also reports that Fox NFL Sunday analysts will be joining certain regional games from the studio.

Dr. Doom and Gloom in the New York Post writes about something only he cares about.

In SB Nation NY, Puck The Media’s Steve Lepore notes that the problems over Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract with the New Jersey Devils drew little interest from the New York media. 

Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer has a few sports media tidbits in his Sunday column (scroll down).

Bob Cohn of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes that Thursday’s Steelers preseason finale killed the Pittsburgh Panthers season opener in the ratings. It’s not a level playing field as the Steelers were on KDKA-TV locally and the Panthers were on Versus.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with CBS College Sports college football man Tony Barnhart.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog has the emotional farewell of a Comcast SportsNet anchor’s last night in Washington. 

Dave McKenna in the Washington City Paper looks at the origin of the NFL’s silly blackout rules.

Jim speaks with ESPN’s Rece Davis about the new Capital One Cup.

D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution talks with the NBC Sunday Night Football crew about the NFL season opener. 

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel delved through the NFL Information Guide to find some fun facts on the Green Bay Packers.

Bob McNamaman of the Arizona Republic has the analysts for Sunday and Monday Night Football predicting the upcoming season.

Matt Solinsky of The Desert Sun (CA) answers readers’ questions on a couple of sports TV issues.

Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times says Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver has found her niche on ESPN2′s tennis coverage.

Stephanie Myles of the Montreal Gazette caught ESPN2 analyst John McEnroe actually being friendly with Tennis Channel’s Jimmy Connors. The two have not been the best of friends over the years.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions.

Sox & Dawgs has a funny NESN promo involving Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield and Wally the Green Monster.

And we’ll finish it there. Have a good Sunday. I’ll be working.

DEVLOPING: MLB.com Cracks Down On Its Staff Writers On Twitter

Started hearing about this tonight on Twitter and it appears to be confirmed that MLB.com has ordered its beat writers to stop tweeting non-baseball issues on their accounts. I don’t know if this has anything to do with what Peter Gammons has been tweeting in regards to politics or music, but this new policy was apparently handed down today.

This is similar to when ESPN cracked down on its staff Tweeting last year and established a new social networking policy.

Aaron Gleeman of NBCSports.com and Rotoworld.com has apparently confirmed this and says the new policy is unfortunate. However, it appears that MLB does not want non-baseball tweets to appear in its main Twitter feed. Gleeman adds that MLB has scolded players for Tweeting which is just ridiculous.

This brings writers and players closer to their fans and by not allowing them to Tweet non-baseball stuff smacks of censorship. Before the policy, we got to see writers’ personalities, their likes and dislikes and in the case of Peter Gammons, interesting musical tastes.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal says Baltimore Orioles MLB.com beat writer Britt Ghiroli is only allowed to tweet about the Orioles and nothing else. Britt had used her account to talk about her beloved Michigan State Spartans, but now all of those tweets are expunged. Too bad.

Hopefully, MLB.com will reverse this policy and realize fans like the interaction with writers through social networks. And there’s no need to crack down on players either.

It’s all very silly.

Mid-Week Links

Time for some linkage today. Back after being away at a jobsite yesterday so let’s catch up on the linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes about Versus’ disappearing act on DirecTV this week.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says Dish Network is hoping to capitalize on the Versus/DirecTV dispute.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy NHL blog says the war of words between DirecTV and Versus is mushrooming.

Wayne Friedman of Mediapost also has a story on the Versus/DirecTV split.

Stuart Levine of Variety says the dispute is over which tier DirecTV wants to position Versus, causing the channel to lose subscribers.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the DirecTV decision will affect University of Texas fans.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the Versus/DirecTV fight as well as the Tennis Channel/Cablevision dispute.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the fight has gotten very ugly.

To other stories now.

Back to Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he writes how Arnold Palmer helped to change the way golf was seen on TV.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says local blackouts of home games could be the norm for the NFL this season.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says blackouts may be prevalent for Chargers fans this season as the team’s exhibition finale won’t be seen live this Friday.

However, Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says based on the August numbers, the NFL is expecting strong ratings for the regular season.

John Koblin of the New York Observer has his early observations of ESPN2′s coverage of the US Open.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has August’s Sports Twitter rankings.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local pro football show returns to the airwaves next week.

Pete says MLB has moved the September 27 Yankees-Red Sox from the traditional Sunday Night slot to early afternoon so as not to conflict with Yom Kippur.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette reports that MLB is adding games to the MLB Network and TBS’ schedules this month.

Ken says local high school football games can be seen and heard over the next two months.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call has comments from Fox’s NFL analysts regarding the Philadelphia Eagles.

To Laura Nachman who covers the Philadelphia TV and radio scene so well. She has news about Comcast SportsNet adding to its Eagles presence.

Laura tells us that the 76ers have a new TV analyst.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says Proctor & Gamble will be an official sponsor of the US Olympic team in 2010 and 2012.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN Radio’s version of College Gameday will be in Arlington, TX on Saturday.

In the Orlando Sentinel, Josh Robbins says Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports will combine for 70 Magic games this season.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News says Mavericks announcer Chuck Cooperstein will be calling some college football games before NBA season begins.

Barry says the Dallas-Fort Worth area will have a total of 26 college football games to watch from Thursday through Monday.

Barry has some various tidbits from Fox Sports Southwest.

Barry talks about a lineup shift at one of the local sports radio stations.

And Barry wonders who will pick up the 2 Dallas Stars games that aren’t slated for TV.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the Fox NFL analysts’ quotes about the Green Bay Packers.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says the Bears-Broncos exhibition game on NBC did well nationally and locally.

Ed asks college football teams not to schedule cupcakes.

Bob Shallit of the Sacramento Bee writes that a new series of NFL Network ads have been produced in the local area.

Zennie Abraham of the San Francisco Chronicle says a “confused” Erin Andrews will return to ESPN this week.

Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer says security will not be tightened when Erin makes her return to ESPN on Thursday for the South Carolina-NC State game.

Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer says NC State appreciates the early national exposure on ESPN.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has the TV ratings in Canada from the weekend.

Leigh Holmwood of the Guardian says ESPN UK has secured the rights to the UEFA Europa League, continuing its shopping spree of soccer rights in England.

Michael Bush of Ad Age writes that Wendy’s will be sponsoring “Football Fridays” on ESPN.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that YES will have exclusive replays of Notre Dame home football games this season.

Mike says Verizon Fios subscribers will receive the NFL Network’s RedZone channel this fall.

And Mike has more on the Tennis Channel-Cablevision dispute that has left tennis fans without some US Open coverage.

Maury Brown in the Biz of Baseball wonders if the new in-market streaming by some MLB teams will change the archaic blackout rules across the country.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has renewed his content agreement with the Sporting News.

The Sports Media Watch has the entire MLB Postseason schedule.

SMW has the weekend ratings.

SMW tells us that the ratings for the PGA Tour’s The Barclays increased big time from last year.

And SMW has some ratings odds and ends.

Chris Byrne in the Eye on Sports Media looks at the NFL blacking out in-game tweets from its players.

Kristine Leahy has today’s edition of The Five at WEEI.com.

And that will do it for today. Lots of linkage.

NBC Continues to Eff With Us

On the 4th of July holiday where many of you have today off, I know a lot were looking forward to seeing the Wimbledon men’s semifinals today. Now the first semi got off without a hitch with ESPN2 carrying the Roger Federer-Tommy Haas match live at 8 a.m. ET which Federer swept in three sets.

About 20 minutes after Federer won his semifinal, the Andy Roddick-Andy Murray match began. However, you did not see that live on ESPN2. The network was forced to show last year’s Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final. I’m sure you all wanted to relive that on a day where there was live tennis ongoing. And NBC delayed “Andymonium” so it could air the match at noon in all time zones.

When NBC signed on at noon Eastern time, it was at the beginning of the match, while the BBC and other rightsholders around the world were showing it live in real time. When NBC started showing the match, Roddick and Murray had already won one set apiece and were well into the 3rd set.

I went over this on Wednesday when NBC chose to air the completed Roger Federer-Ivo Karlovic match over any possible live matches because it did not want to blow away the Today Show.

On Twitter, people were again sending their vitriol towards NBC and its mishandling of Wimbledon. It has sent fans scrambling to backdoor sites to see the match because they don’t want to be treated like little children being told when they can see the match instead of being provided the match as it happens.

One person tweeted, “That explains why NBC is 2 hrs late on delivery of Roddick-Murray, USPS is the telecast sponsor.”

Another said, “i heart Ustream…” Ustream is one of the backdoor sites that is providing a live online stream of the match. I’m sure you can find the others.

One more stated, “Lots of posts about where to watch Roddick live online…the new reality of our world, fascinating…

It shows you that in this day and age of the internet, people want things now. Three hours, no one hour is old, especially when people can read Tweets or go to live blogs to read the results. And NBC’s decision to hold matches for later viewing is not only a slap in the face to hardcore tennis fans, it’s casual fans from getting interested in tennis.

I suggested a solution that NBC could do for next year in my last diatribe and I don’t need to repeat it again. But if NBC wants increased ratings and profits from Wimbledon, it had better scrap the tape and start showing matches live otherwise there will be an even bigger backlash next year.

A Mid-Week Link Thing

Let’s do your links. I want to finish these as I’m heading into Boston later tonight for an HBO screening of the Ted Williams documentary that will air on July 14. I’ll give you a report after I get home. Thanks to the fine people at HBO’s public relations department for sending me the invitation. I also have a preview DVD so expect a full review within a week.

Linkage now.

Earlier today, I wrote about NBC’s decision to tape delay the Roger Federer-Ivo Karlovic match across the country while other matches were underway, forcing ESPN2 to pick up doubles matches and stop Wimbledon programming at 10 a.m. in all time zones. Well, this apparently has struck a chord.

John Ourand of the Sports Business Daily says NBC decided to air the Federer match instead of Andy Roddick-Lleyton Hewitt because it’s “following history“. Thanks to the SBD for not only opening up the page today, but also mentioning Fang’s Bites.

Henry Blodget of the Business Insider writes not only is NBC screwing fans on TV, it’s also screwing fans online by forcing them to upgrade their Microsoft Silverlight players for those who want to watch live matches at NBCSports.com.

Awful Announcing which also links to me (thanks, Brian!) says don’t expect this tape delaying practice to end anytime soon.

The Orange County (CA) Metroblog is also angry with the NBC practice of tape delaying matches especially on the West Coast.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes about how the 1st “Breakfast at Wimbledon” almost started with NBC joining the Gentlemen’s Final in progress.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is in London following Wimbledon and he writes that local favorite Andy Murray’s sponsors are getting plenty of mileage. Darren reports that golfer Vijay Singh is not wearing the logo of embattled sponsor, Stanford Financial at the AT&T National PGA Tour stop. And Darren is fascinated by a lawsuit involving the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Back to the Sports Business Daily where Terry Lefton reports that the NBA has signed Taco Bell to replace McDonald’s as an official league sponsor.

Justin Rice of Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab looks at the ethics behind league-owned channels hiring and paying working journalists to cover stories.

Ben Klayman of Reuters writes about the UFL looking at overseas expansion even as it has yet to play a single down.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his Media Power Rankings for June. And Richard talks with an ESPN executive about the network’s plans for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Newsday’s Neil Best who’s blogging while on vacation says the US-Brazil final at the Confederations Cup scored well in New York. Neil informs us that he’s “100% testosterone.”

Laura Nachman says the date of the memorial service for the late Philadelphia sports anchor Gary Papa has been set.

From the Washington Post, Leonard Shapiro talks with Chick Hernandez of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times laments the loss of certain sports traditions. He’s way off on the roof at Wimbledon.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News tells Cowboys fans that their favorite Super Bowl teams will be featured on the NFL Network this holiday weekend. Barry says the Texas Rangers rated high on Fox Sports Southwest on Tuesday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about the Best Damn Sports Show Period and NFL Network’s “America’s Game” marathon this weekend.

The Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart writing in his TV Barn blog talks about TV novice Jamie Quirk of Fox Sports Kansas City making his national debut this week on MLB Network. I know, that last sentence was wordy. Sorry.

James Edward of the Deseret (UT) News feels it was ESPN which made viewers want to watch soccer. I wouldn’t go that far.

Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times says ESPN could not be happier about its soccer ratings on Sunday.

Peter Ottesen of the Stockton (CA) Record previews a new fishing show that premieres on Comcast SportsNet California this weekend.

Melissa Grego of Broadcasting & Cable talks with FX President John Landgraf who’s looking at sports to increase the network’s ratings.

Katherine Rushton of Broadcast Now in the UK reports that ESPN plans to produce a daily sports show as part of its English Premier League broadcasts.

From the Sports Media Watch, we find that the ratings for the NBA Draft last week took a double digit drop. SMW says NASCAR saw a ratings increase for the first time this year. SMW has some news on various sports figures. And you have the weekend overnight ratings.

Chris Byrne at the Eye on Sports Media writes that Fox Sports South has laid down the law for comments on its Facebook page. Chris also looks at a post that former Deadspin editor Will Leitch made about which sports death would have the most impact similar to Michael Jackson.

Paula Duffy of Examiner.com writes about the NFL Broadcasting Boot Camp.

And that will do it. When I return from the HBO screening, I’ll provide a quick impression on the Ted Williams documentary and post the press releases that have flooded my inbox today. See you then.

NBC is Effing with Tennis Fans Again

I have to thank my good friend, Amanda for giving me the title of this post. NBC is currently showing the Roger Federer-Ivo Karlovic match which finished before 10 a.m. ESPN2 was not allowed to show this match. And it joined the Tommy Haas-Novak Djokovic match in progress, but not after showing the Williams sisters in doubles and James Blake in a doubles match as well.

This was quite maddening to tennis fans who wanted to see the Federer match which he won easily in three sets, 6-3, 7-5 and 7-6 (7-3). Yes, I’m spoiling the results because this is what NBC deserves for short changing fans once again. And not only is NBC showing it on tape delay at 10 a.m. in the East, it’s going to do it at 10 a.m. in all time zones so by the time the West Coast sees the match, it will have been more than three hours old.

And while NBC is preventing ESPN2 from showing certain matches as it calls exclusivity not only today, but for the rest of the week, it is streaming matches from Centre Court and Court No. 1 live on NBCSports.com. So while the network is screwing with viewers on TV, it’s saying, “Come over to our website and watch the match on a small player.” It’s not the same as watching it live on your TV whether it be in sparkling clear high definition or in old school standard def.

We’re in the age of the internet and also in an era where fans (like me) can find the BBC’s coverage on backdoor websites and circumvent any ratings NBC might get for its taped delayed coverage.

This is a disservice to fans and an insult to their intelligence. Fans want to see matches live, they don’t want to be stuck with tape knowing they can find the results elsewhere.

Ok, NBC doesn’t want to blow away the Today Show and any profits it gets from the show. I get that. Here’s a solution. Put a live match on an affiliate’s secondary channel. In this age of High Definition television, over the air stations have secondary channels. Put a match there so fans can watch it. In addition, allow ESPN2 to show a match live in its entirety even if it goes past the 10 a.m. start time for NBC. Then if the main NBC network wants to show a tape delayed match at 10 a.m. in all time zones, it can do so, but continue live coverage on the secondary channel. That way, you won’t have people across the country complaining about tape delayed matches and it won’t short change the fans.

Until NBC finds a solution to this, fans in the U.S. will get stuck with insulting taped matches. I pledge to you that if this happens again next year, I will reveal the websites and ways you can watch the BBC live. I won’t do it this year because I do not want to promote piracy, but I will next year if this situation does not improve.

Thursday’s Link Stuff

Now that I’ve finished my work for the day and walked five laps around my office building, I’ll do the links. I’ve found that I’m more productive in my new office than the last building. Perhaps it’s the setting, perhaps it’s the honeymoon I have with the new landlord, perhaps I just have found this new place to feel like home, whatever it is, I’m doing more work here than I ever did. And I’m finding the time to blog here as well. I hope I can keep up this production.

Anyway, here’s your links for today.

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy writes about ESPN The Magazine now doing ESPN The Nude Issue meaning athletes will be posed “tastefully” in the buff. Whatever.

The lovely Christine Brennan of USA Today appeals for viewers for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

Chris Littman of the Sporting News says Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury actually foresaw ESPN The Nude Issue 13 years ago.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has his list of athletes who he thinks will pose for ESPN The Nude Issue. Darren likes the fact that this year’s viewership for the NBA Finals is beating last year’s.

BBC News reports that ESPN is saying it has no plans to buy the cash-strapped Setanta Sports.

Ainsley Thompson of the Dow Jones News Service writes that ESPN does not ruling out buying Setanta’s rights to the English Premier League, however.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the Mets are discounting tickets for this week’s key series against the Phillies. Neil says the New Jersey Nets still plan to break ground for their proposed arena in Brooklyn. Neil writes that NBC Sports is gearing up for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that local viewers will be able to see John Smoltz do a rehab start for the Pawtucket Red Sox later this afternoon.

Laura Nachman will miss listening to Philadelphia’s Channel 6 on the FM dial due to the digital TV conversion.

Chico Harlan of the Washington Post’s Nationals Journal blog says fans tuning to MASN2 on certain Comcast systems had trouble watching last night’s Reds-Nats game.

Dan Steinberg of the Post’s DC Sports Bog chronicles what exactly happened as the game was suddenly pulled off Comcast.

Paul Farhi of the Post talks about CBS Radio’s plans to challenge Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s Red Zebra group of sports radio stations.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times delves into the Nationals’ negotiations with draft pick Stephen Strasburg. Tim also looks at the Nationals TV issues with Comcast last night.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the local ABC affiliate will delay its digital conversion until after Game 4 of the NBA Finals is complete.

Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune writes about Frank Thomas talking with his former White Sox teammates for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a former Packer is taking part in the NFL Broadcast Boot Camp.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says former Rams coach Mike Martz will be on NFL Network today and tomorrow.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News feels the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash is doing a great job as an NBA Finals reporter for David Letterman.

Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times says it’s a taste of TNT’s Inside the NBA on NBA TV.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders what Mark Jackson’s next move will be after calling this year’s NBA Finals on ABC.

John Ryan from the San Jose Mercury News likes one NFL Network Top 10 program with one exception.

Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times gets into the debate over reporters vs. bloggers, especially in the wake of the Raul Ibanez controversy that began in the Midwest Sports Blog.

As a follow up, Jerod Morris of the MSB has what he hopes are his final thoughts on the whole thing.

The CBC says Hockey Night in Canada analyst Marc Crawford goes back to coaching next season with the Dallas Stars.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes that an advertiser actually got its message across by unfurling a huge banner at a Brazilian soccer game.

Ryan Berenz of Channel Guide Magazine talks with Joe Buck in advance of his new HBO show which premieres on Monday.

The Sports Media Watch says TNT also saw a ratings drop for NASCAR last Sunday. SMW has a quarter-hour breakdown of the ratings for the NBA and NHL from Tuesday.

Chris Byrne’s Eye on Sports Media says the Boxing Writers Association of America will webcast their annual awards on Friday. Chris says CBS’ Tim Brando will be honored by college Sports Information Directors. And Chris feels the NCAA’s new rules on social network go beyond any logic or common sense.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says MLB.com has delayed the wait for archived games by double the time as requested by its TV partners.

Some good video from Sox & Dawgs, two of which I forgot to post yesterday. First, there’s a video of a woman slapping her ass during NESN’s Red Sox montage from Tuesday’s Red Sox-Yankees game. Also from Tuesday’s game, NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley admits he’s clueless. One of the reasons why Eck is so refreshing in the booth. And here’s a screengrab from last night’s Yankees-Red Sox game showing a woman laughing at Nick Swisher for failing to make a catch.

Dave Kohl of the Major League Programs blog looks into the Celtics possibly streaming their games online.

Tim Conneally of BetaNews.com says a group of smaller cable providers is asking Congress to
limit ESPN’s cost for its broadband 360 site.

CBSSports.com has an excerpt of Jim Nantz’s book, “Always By My Side”.

Plenty of links. I have a press release post coming up.

NBC Shows a Tape Delayed Match at the French Open

If you watched or are watching NBC’s coverage of the French Open, you may have noticed it’s not the Roger Federer-Juan Martin Del Potro match that is currently underway. It’s a good match and is currently in the 4th set.

Newsday’s Neil Best noticed this as well. Why NBC did not choose the Federer match is beyond me, but then again, a lot of NBC does with its tape delayed action is beyond my comprehension. Expect more of this during Wimbledon later in the summer.

I’m watching Fox Sports Australia’s coverage through a backdoor site. You can try to find it either through Justin or Ustream. I won’t give links but you can find them through Google if you wish.

Saturday Link Action

I went to work this morning, went to lunch and now I’m back at the home office. Time for some linkage before the Final Four tips off.

I’m still in shock over the news that the New York Times Company is threatening to close the Boston Globe. I knew things were bad at the Globe, but for it to get to the point where the paper could be in its last month of operation, it’s really mind-boggling. The paper is where Peter Gammons, Will McDonough, Bob Ryan and others have received notoriety for their reporting. At one time, the sports section was considered the best in the country, and it’s where the news and notes column became famous. Now, we could be seeing the paper in its final days and it’s very sad. As a person who grew up in New England and would buy the Sunday Globe just to read Gammons and McDonough along with one of the first sports media columns written by Jack Craig, it’s quite sad to see this happen. I hope somehow the situation gets resolved before we see one of the nation’s great newspapers fall by the wayside. Thus far, we’ve seen two major papers shut down this year, the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I’m afraid to say they won’t be the last.

To your links.

It’s rare that I start with Newsday’s Neil Best on a Saturday, but he has a story today on his experience at the new Yankee Stadium on Friday. Neil says he shucked the chance to take media tours of Yankee Stadium and Citi Field and wanted to experience his first time in both as any fan would. That was a long introduction, wasn’t it? But Neil did take an opportunity to go into the spacious Yankee Stadium clubhouse. Neil mentions the TV camera shot from high above home plate is cause for concern for fans. And Neil says Mets fans may miss the first hour of the game against Florida on April 11th due to silly MLB on Fox blackout rules.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says it’s time for the Yankees to replace their radio broadcast team and I could not agree more.

Dave Hughes of the Baltimore-centric Press Box looks into the Orioles broadcast cut off from earlier this week.

Rich Polikoff of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says the Kansas City Royals are trying to get their broadcasts into Northwest Arkansas.

But maybe the Royals should work on Topeka, Kansas first as Rick Dean of the Topeka Capital-Journal writes, Fox Sports Kansas City does not have a deal with Cox Cable for all 140 broadcasts this season.

Bob Holliday of the Bloomington (IN) Pentagraph says Cardinals fans will have to scramble see 20 games that won’t be picked up by Comcast which are on Fox Sports Midwest’s schedule.

The Sports Media Watch says the 2009 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight ended up being tied for the lowest rated ever. SMW looks at the ratings for this year’s NCAA Tournament to date. And Paulsen looks at the ratings for the Final Four going back to 1999.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says UConn could pull off its second double basketball championship like it did in 2004.

The Detroit News’ Joanne C. Gerstner caught up with former University of Detroit coach Dick Vitale who’s in town for his current job. You know that one.

Joe Lapointe of the New York Times writes about how Dick Vitale turned from just being an ex-basketball coach into basketball analyst extraordinaire.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner tells you all you need to know on CBS’ coverage of today’s NCAA Men’s Final Four. And Jim says the NCAA Women’s Final Four is also worth watching on Sunday.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says this is a great weekend to watch sports on TV.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with a bunch of network TV personalities on the events they’re covering this weekend. Barry has an anecdote about Texas Rangers owner and former radio station butcher Tom Hicks (disclosure: I worked at a Clear Channel radio station owned by Hicks so I’m not really a fan of his …. just so you know).

Keith Thibeault of Sports Media Journal wonders why ESPN even bothers sometimes. Case in point, ESPN.com’s latest cross promotion for ESPN Radio.

Howard Herman of the Berkshire (MA) Eagle says Comcast SportsNet New England has hashed out a deal with Time Warner Cable that keeps Celtics games on TV in Western Massachusetts.

And things have been worked out in Maine as well.

David Tanklefsky of Broadcasting & Cable writes about DirecTV’s interactive coverage of The Masters.

Kelly Jasper of the Augusta (GA) Chronicle writes that former CBS and Fox sportscaster Pat Summerall will in town next week for a speaking engagement in advance of The Masters.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says a local TV sports anchor has huge shoes to fill.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says a local TV station is adding a sports segment and hiring a new reporter which bucks a trend.

Branson Wright of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has his sports theme tune Hall of Fame.

Over at Puck The Media, your girl Saturday, Wrap Around Curl has another edition of Bad NHL Merchandise.

Lots of good links today. Enjoy your Saturday.

Sunday Links

As I get ready to run some errands and listen to the NFL on Sirius Satellite Radio, I’m going to give you some links.

We start with dueling columns and that’s always fun to have in the links.

Neil Best of Newsday has an extensive sit-down interview with WFAN’s Mike Francesa as he discusses the break-up he and Chris Russo, three months later. Neil follows up the column with a sidebar piece saying that Mike and WFAN have yet to find a partner for his show. And Neil shares his thoughts in his blog.

Then Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News spoke with Francesa’s ex-partner, Chris Russo for his column.

The always-grumpy Phil Mushnick from the New York Post goes after Warren Sapp and Mike Francesa.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News has some random thoughts about announcers’ misstatements.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekend ratings predictions.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that ESPN continued its shopping spree with the BCS and looks over other properties it has purchased in recent months.

USA Today’s Game On! blog has CBS’ Jim Nantz telling ESPN to leave something behind for the broadcast networks.

The Baltimore Sun’s TV critic David Zurawik talks with president of CBS News and Sports Sean McManus about football’s effect on 60 Minutes.

Roger van der Horst of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer says MLB owners could have done something about its silly territorial blackout rules, but did not.

Kurt Streeter of the Los Angeles Times writes that ESPN’s bid for the BCS and baseball’s spending on free agency might tell us something about what both parties feel about the future of the economy.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News says Raycom is sad as it goes into its final weekend of syndicating SEC football throughout the South.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks with ESPN’s College Gameday crew following their show yesterday at the Oklahoma University campus. Scott Wright of The Oklahoman says College Gameday stays in the Sooner State, going to Stillwater this Saturday for the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News mentions what else is on TV Sunday besides the NFL. Barry also transcribes Tim Brando’s scathing commentary on the BCS during yesterday’s College Football Today pregame show on CBS.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says during last night’s Satellite Hotstove segment on CBC, Al Strachan who has been wrong more than not, said more than ever, the NHL wants back on ESPN at the expense of one of its current TV partners. And Steve says maybe it’s best for the NHL to remain on Versus/NBC and I have to agree with that.

David Naylor of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with CFL fan Chris Berman. That’s right. Well, if you’ve watched the last two Monday Night Football halftime shows, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Chris Jaster of the Regina Leader-Post says a new era is being ushered in with a cable-only broadcast of the Grey Cup today.

Bill Harris of the Edmonton Sun writes that TSN is putting its game face on for its first-ever production of the Grey Cup.

The Canadian Press finds one fan who hasn’t been able to watch the CFL this season because TSN has the entire TV schedule.

Ok, good linkage on a Sunday. I’ll have your regular Sunday features, quotage from the NFL pregame shows and The Amazing Race 13 order of finish, later on.

I’m Too Busy To Blog Today, But I Do Have A Few Links

I’m in the midst of heading to the home office which does not have wi-fi or high speed internet access so I won’t be giving you an update until later tonight.

I can recommend this excellent article from Friend of Fang’s Bites Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog. He has Part II of his Cablization of Television Sports Properties series. Today, Chris talks about ESPN’s disregard for viewers who don’t have cable, especially in the wake of its obtaining the Bowl Championship Series, the first major US sports championship that will not air on over-the-air television starting in 2011.

If you have not read Part I yet, I highly suggest you do so. Since I began blogging regularly last year, Chris has become a good friend and I can’t stress enough the hard work he puts into his blog.

USA Today’s Game On! blog tells us what it learned from watching 24 hours of college hoops on ESPN.

Neil Best of Newsday talks about MSG Network cancelling two shows as of January. Neil also talks with MSG Media president Mike Bair about the moves. Neil says Fox/MSG announcer Kenny Albert has one thing on his resume that his dad Marv will probably never acheive. Neil previews a new Tennis Channel show premiering on Sunday.

Guest blogging for CNBC’s Darren Rovell, Jim Zissler of the Inside Sports & Marketing Group wonders what would be the price to create a “Plus One” game for the BCS.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says no decision has been made about MLB’s silly territorial blackout rules. And Maury says the sale of the Cubs is inching towards its December 1 deadline.

Laura Nachman says the 2008 World Series DVD gets a red carpet premiere in Philly next week. Laura says the Phillies are changing their over the air TV flagship stations for next season.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says the New York City area actually gets an NFL TV doubleheader on Sunday.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn finds out which Cowboys are the best interviews.

The Big Lead says media members tried to snake tickets to the SEC Championship Game for their wives.

The lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says the Celtics are red hot on Comcast SportsNet New England.

Those are more links than I thought I would provide today. I was thinking 2 or 3, but I kept finding stories. I’ll be back tonight with an update.

Monday Night Update

Let’s give you some links this evening.

First, from Neil Best of Newsday, he has transcribed what Chris Russo of WFAN said to open the Mike & the Mad Dog show today. Russo responds to Neil’s story that Mike & the Mad Dog could split up by Labor Day.

A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says Don Imus may have said something unwise again.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says HBO is going to give the Duke-North Carolina rivalry the same treatment it gave to Michigan-Ohio State.

Fox Sports makes the announcement that it will formally introduce Michael Strahan as a member of the Fox NFL Sunday team tomorrow.

Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post says Strahan didn’t wait long to sign with Fox Sports.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that ABC/ESPN will televise three days of horse racing from the famed Saratoga race track.

The next link comes from Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times. Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog talks with suspended ESPN.com columnist Jemele Hill about the line referencing Hitler that got her in hot water.

ESPN.com has now published Hill’s apology with some expanded comments.

The New York Post’s TV Sports blog has Rocco Mediate downplaying Johnny Miller’s comments that he had to apologize for.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell pays tribute to the late George Carlin.

ESPN Radio is going to launch an online affiliate network providing live streaming of its radio stations in various cities.

In one of the worst kept secrets, Barry Melrose is leaving ESPN to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Linda Moss of Multichannel News writes that Dish Network subscribers get six dedicated channels to ESPN2′s coverage of Wimbledon.

Chris Albrecht of NewTeeVee.com wonders if Wimbledon will be a hit online.

Pete Barlas of Investor’s Business Daily writes that NBC will provide the entire Olympics experience online, but only if you have Windows Vista. Windows XP and Mac users are out of luck.

Staci D. Kramer of PaidContent.org writes for the Washington Post that NBC is playing hardball with websites that offer video from the U.S. Olympic trials. This sounds a lot like the NFL. Swimming World magazine reports that any website must take down Olympic trials video permanently by August 7.

Gretchen Hansen of Entertainment Weekly already has Olympic fever.

Brendan Savage of the Flint (MI) Journal tells us that even without Tiger Woods, there will be plenty of national and local TV coverage of the Buick Open at Warwick Hills.

The Orlando Business Journal says Golf Channel will be premiering a new reality series.

Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press cautions readers to beware of the Big Ten Network-Comcast deal.

I think that will do it for us tonight.

Your Saturday Links

I’m going to be heading to work soon so I’ll give you some quick links here and then head out.

Let’s start with Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News who writes about Texas Rangers radio voice Eric Nadel who’s going into his 30th season with the club.

Over to the San Antonio Express-News and Jerry Garcia who talks with local personalities about their Final Four picks. And Jerry has a rundown of what you’ll see on CBS during the Final Four today.

Dan Caesar says Kansas’ victory over Davidson last Sunday assured CBS of powerhouse matchups in the Final Four today.

From the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding” department, Awful Announcing reports that the NCAA has pulled a Hooters ad from its Final Four program. That ad is not even offensive. Silly.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable talks with President of CBS News and Sports Sean McManus who’s been quite busy with election season, the Final Four and the Masters coming up.

The Little Falls (NY) Evening Times says the Mercer basketball team will be featured on a CBS program just before the Final Four today.

Rick Dean of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes that when CBS College Sports went live from the Kansas practice yesterday, it almost had the injury that sidelined reserve guard Rodrick Stewart.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail, William Houston writes that CBC Sports is rooting for an Ottawa-Montreal playoff series.

The Sports Media Watch has noticed that Bill Walton has been missing from NBA telecasts on ABC/ESPN.

Ray Frager in the Baltimore Sun writes in his blog that he wants to give credit where credit is due and he also talks about the now famous Earl Weaver outtakes.

Friend of Fang’s Bites, Christopher Byrne of the Eye On Sports Media blog has the streaming schedule for the World Men’s Curling Championships which are being played in North Dakota so don’t think curling is just for Canadians. LOL.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes about Stephen A. Smith leaving ESPN Radio.

The Louisville Courier-Journal says Mike Battaglia who’s seen on NBC Sports horse racing coverage is cutting his duties at Churchill Downs.

Jan Falstad of the Billings (MT) Gazette has a story on Mariners baseball fans in Big Sky country missing out on some games as the local cable company does not want to pay for a full package of FSN Northwest telecasts. Last night, I linked to a similar story from Alaska.

That will do it for now.

Some Saturday Links

I’ve been out running errands on the day before the Super Bowl. I am monitoring the Prof Football Hall of Fame announcements on the NFL Network as well and when they’re up, I’ll post them on the blog.

First, Newsday’s Neil Best writes that NFL Films President Steve Sabol is another person who’s been to every Super Bowl played. Neil advises us to keep an eye on Ryan Seacrest’s red carpet interviews for an interesting reason. And Neil writes that Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter has an agenda in this whole Spygate thing. Finally, Neil notes that today is Kenny Albert’s 40th birthday.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says glitz and glamor have hit the Super Bowl.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News profiles Fox Sports Director Artie Kempner who will be calling the shots in the production truck for the Super Bowl.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News writes about the beginning of ESPN Radio in San Antonio and what fans should know about the Super Bowl.

The Sports Media Watch says the Pats-Giants could bring big ratings numbers for the second time this season.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner gives us a link to a preview of the Super Bowl ads.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that EA Sports simulations on Madden ’08 have the Patriots beating the Giants.

Chris Pursell of TV Week recaps last night’s ESPN Super Bowl pregame party in his Pressbox blog.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun in his Medium Well blog has a few news and notes.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady (NY) Gazette profiles New York State native Jamie Dukes who has his own show on the NFL Network.

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s William Houston says the Super Bowl is a couch potato’s dream.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald gives his winners and losers during Super Bowl Week.

George Hesselberg of the Wisconsin State Journal writes that a local theater won’t show the Super Bowl because of the silly NFL rules.

Carl Kotala of Florida Today says NFL replay officials will be doing their reviews for the Super Bowl in high definition.

Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune writes about the new technology that has helped viewers enjoy the NFL. Speaking about new technology, Sam Farmer from the Los Angeles Times talks with the inventor of the overhead cablecam, Jim Rodnunsky.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News talks with Fox Sports’ Troy Aikman about Patriots QB Tom Brady.

Will Leitch of Deadspin writes for the New York Times’ Fifth Down blog about his visit to Radio Row at the Phoenix Convention Center during Super Bowl week. Katie Thomas from the Times says the Super Bowl is not a place for the average fan.

Radio legend George Von Benko remembers the late Ray Scott calling the first Super Bowl on CBS.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star writes about ESPN coming into PAC 10 country for the first time in a very long time for tonight’s Arizona-UCLA game.

David Knox of the Birmingham News writes about Dick Vitale’s absence from ESPN.

George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press writes about a change in format for a college hockey show on FSN Detroit.

That’s it for now. Super Bowl pick coming up tomorrow morning. I’m going out.

Another Late Tuesday Night Update

I just can’t seem to stop blogging today.

By the way, I’ve been watching the re-broadcast of Super Bowl XXXVI, the game which started the Patriots Dynasty. Besides seeing what is in essence the start of the Patriots’ rise in the NFL over the last 7 years, the highlight for me was watching the performance of U2 in the halftime show. To me, it’s the best musical performance in a Super Bowl ever. I’ve seen most of them including Up with People, the creepy Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Janet Jackson (who didn’t see that?), Paul McCartney, etc., etc., etc. The banner of those who died in 9/11 was emotional just seeing it unfurl over the stage and all of the songs from Beautiful Day to The Streets Have No Name were done brilliantly. It was tremendous to watch.

If you missed any part of Super Bowl Media Day, you can read the live blog done by SI.com which includes the comments of Richard Deitsch.

Steven Zeitchik of the Hollywood Reporter writes that cable will have plenty of options for you to watch opposite the Super Bowl halftime show.

The Daily News Tribune (MA) reports that a church in Pembroke, MA will not air the Super Bowl on a 55 inch TV screen as planned due to potential copyright violations. No NFL game can be aired in public on a screen larger than 50 inches. This is true. And a very silly rule.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that the NHL All Star Game on Versus saw a slight uptick in the ratings as compared to last year.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that a proposed CBC amateur sports channel in Canada faces several hurdles including objections from TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.

Joe Favorito has some thoughts on the Kelly Tilghman, Dana Jacobsen and Rick Majerus incidents.

Awful Announcing has a look at funny censorship over at Foxsports.com.

The 38Cliches blog laments the end of the Glenn Geffner era in Boston (kidding!).

CBS Sports gives us a preview of the PGA FBR Open which it will cover this weekend. And CBS tells us what college basketball games it’ll be airing.

Here’s ESPN’s press release on its partnership with Domino’s Pizza.

If you’re wondering what games the NHL Network will carry next month in the US, you can click here.

That’s it. Good night.

Time for the Sunday Links

Let’s give you some Sunday links today.

We begin with Newsday’s Neil Best who writes about seeing NHL games online through its Center Ice package. In his blog, Neil talks more about Center Ice and why he likes to go off the beaten path in his columns.

Interesting story from the Sports Media Watch blog that steroids are advertised on the CNN.com website.

The increasingly bitter Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says it will be interesting to hear Tiki Barber’s comments about Eli Manning just before tonight’s Redskins-Giants game.

The always bitter Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after MLB Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr for his comments after the Mitchell Report was released.

Well, someone has to defend the cockroach Bobby Petrino and Wally Hall of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette does saying that ESPN is piling on poor Bobby for quitting on the Falcons and taking the Arkansas job. Just wait, Arkansas. You’re next.

Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune thinks the NBA policy of miking coaches for TV is a bad idea.

Jeffrey McCall writes an Op-Ed piece for the Indianapolis Star stating that fans are being used as pawns in the Big Ten and NFL Network disputes.

Loren Steffy of the Houston Chronicle goes over the NFL Network’s demands of big cable.

Bill Burt of the Lawrence (MA) Eagle-Tribune writes that the Patriots are now America’s Team based on the TV ratings.

Eric Stark of the Lancaster (PA) Newspapers wonders why Comcast carries certain channels while not carrying others leaving many NFL fans in the dark.

Those are the links for now. I’ll be working on the Amazing Race Asia, Episode 4 recap and other things as well.

It’s the Saturday Links

Let’s give you our Saturday links as we in the Northeast prepare for the big storm on Sunday.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes about some shuffling of the NFL Network announcing team over the next few games and also talks with Fox’s Joe Buck.

Jerry Garcia in the San Antonio Express-News reviews the history of sports radio in the Alamo City as a third all-sports station is about to enter the market.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a story on a local Fox affiliate which chose to run with the erroneous and unsubstantiated report that Cardinals first baseman Luis Pujols was named in the Mitchell Report.

Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the Falcons have had two of the lowest rated games in the history of Monday Night Football this season.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star did not have a media column on Friday, but he did blog about the steroids issue.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes in his Four DVRs, no waiting blog about the so-so ratings for the Broncos-Texans game on Thursday.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the NBA policy of miking coaches has already produced some unwanted results. Tim Buckley of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says Utah Jazz Jerry Sloan isn’t pleased with ESPN showing him cursing on national TV. And Russ Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune writes while ESPN has apologized for airing the curse despite it being on tape, Sloan is still feeling betrayed. Geoff Lepper of the Contra Costa (CA) Times says Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson is not happy having cameras in the locker room which is another new NBA policy.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times writes that ESPN will pick up the Nationals’ home opener at their new ball park to open the 2008 MLB season.

Ryan Sharrow of the Baltimore Business Journal reports that the Orioles will debut a new hot stove show on both TV and radio in January.

Peter Lauria in the New York Post has a story on Comcast filing a lawsuit against the NFL Network alleging breach of contract. Just what we need, more Comcast vs. NFL Network stories. Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News has more on this story.

An editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes the irony of the NFL running to the Texas state legislature about big cable when it’s the legislature that awards cable franchises.

Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer says local fans won’t be able to watch tonight’s Bengals-49ers game because the NFL Network is not carried on Time Warner Cable. Patrick Kinmartin of the Chico (CA) Enterprise-Record says sports bars will be doing good business tonight as 49ers fans flock in to watch the game off satellite.

Mark Katz of the Dayton Daily News writes that Time Warner officials don’t see carrying the Big Ten Network anytime soon.

Rhiannon Potkey of the Salt Lake Tribune says BYU has finally hit ESPN after being relegated to CSTV, FSN, the mtn., and Versus this season.

Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post says FSN Florida won’t be carrying tonight’s Panthers-Red Wings game so it can air a high school football championship game instead.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press previews tonight’s FSN Detroit’s 10 year anniversary special.

And that should do it for the links today.

Friday Megalinks will be late

Thanks to the snowstorm that hit Southern New England that tied up traffic from 1 p.m. to essentially midnight and to the fact I was at a jobsite in the middle of said snowstorm and had to drive in that mess for six hours to my house, I was not able to blog about the Mitchell Report as hoped.

Plus, I will be away from a computer for most of the day tomorrow, but I should be able to give you the Friday megalinks in the evening.

I thank you for your patience.