Fang's Bites

Some Quick Monday Afternoon Linkage

Was out for a bit today so I’m behind in what I want to get done here. I’ll do some links for you to tie you over.

I’ll start with a couple of stories from Sports Business Daily which looks at some record overnight ratings for Fox and NBC for the first Sunday of the NFL regular season.

John Ourand at SBD notes that ESPN has officially scrapped the musical opens for Monday Night Football for good.

From NFL UK, Nicholas Pike writes that viewers can watch Monday Night Football through BBC’s red button or through its website.

Sam Laird at Mashable says NBC’s Michele Tafoya has been sending video tweets from the sidelines during the NFL Kickoff Game and on Sunday Night Football.

Michael O’Connell at the Hollywood Reporter says NBC is really crowing about its Sunday Night Football overnights.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable reports that NFL Network has hired a former DirecTV executive to join its NFL Total Access show.

Christopher Heine of Adweek says the New York Giants are on the forefront of social media.

Adweek’s Emma Bazilian discovers that CNN Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer loves watching ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Media Life Magazine reports that CBS has almost sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory.

Merrill Knox at TV Spy says Friend of Fang’s Bites Courtney Fallon has taken her talents to South Beach from Providence.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell writes that Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA becomes the latest NFL facility to offer free Wi-Fi to its fans.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report looks at what’s in store this season on ESPN’s Monday Night Fotoball.

Ed says the NFL can’t be pleased over the length of some of Sunday’s games due to replacement refs.

Rob Tobias from the ESPN Front Row PR blog talks to the man who composed the iconic SportsCenter theme.

Also from the Front Row blog, Allison Stoneberg writes about ESPN’s Monday Night Football production truck.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air World Team Tennis this weekend.

Pete says the Baseball Hall of Fame has narrowed the field for the Ford C. Frick broadcasters award.

Pete writes that the local CBS affiliate has opted not to show the US Open men’s final today. The same here in Providence. It’s been pushed to its co-owned Fox affiliate’s secondary digital channel. Ouch.

At the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik talks with new Monday Night Football reporter Lisa Salters who got her start in TV news in the Charm City.

Rich Shopes of the Tampa Bay Times says the local blackout of the Buccaneers home opener is killing local sports bars.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a nice day plus a blowout lowered the Texans’ TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds’ radio ratings are truly amazing.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman took note of the replacement referees during yesterday’s San Francisco-Green Bay game.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with NBC’s Al Michaels.

The Arizona Republic’s Paola Boivin doesn’t have good news in the DirecTV-Pac 12 Networks talks.

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

Tom has your sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail downplays CBC’s acquisition of the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Matt Sarzyniak of Matt’s College Sports has a couple of notes on the ESPN/Fox Big 12 deal.

ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes To Air Pan American Games

ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes will combine for as much as 140 hours coverage of the Olympic sports competition involving countries from the Western Hemisphere including North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

ESPN Deportes will carry the boatload of the coverage, between 90 and 120 hours. ESPN2 will have carry an additional 20 hours of coverage from the 16th Pan Am Games that normally take place one year before the Olympics. This year’s event will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Coverage begins this Friday on ESPN Deportes and will continue through Sunday, October 30. Among the events that will be seen include Basketball, Boxing, Swimming, Track & Field and other Olympic sports.

We have the ESPN press release.

ESPN Deportes to Offer Multimedia Coverage of the XVI Pan American Games

Between 90-120 hours of exclusive live coverage; More than 90 ESPN Deportes team members in Guadalajara; ESPN2 to offer additional 20 hours of English-language coverage; ESPN Deportes coverage also available on ESPN3

ESPN Deportes will provide unmatched, daily coverage of the 16^th edition of the Pan American Games live from Guadalajara, Mexico Friday, October 14 – Sunday, October 30. Coverage of the Games will be featured on ESPN Deportes, ESPN3, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN Deportes La Revista. In addition,ESPN2 will provide additional coverage in English.

With the monumental Guadalajara Cathedral as the backdrop for the games, ESPN Deportes will bring 18 months of preparation to life with 90-120 hours of exclusive and dynamic coverage. The network will broadcast a minimum of three hours of live coverage featuring the top events each day. In addition, ESPN Deportes’ top news and information shows will offer daily, up-to-the-minute news and analysis of the competitions.

“Considered the ‘Olympics of the Americas,’ ESPN Deportes is fulfilling the needs of the U.S. Hispanic market by broadcasting this first-class sporting event in such a radically innovative fashion that fans will feel compelled to tune in,” said Lino Garcia, general manager of ESPN Deportes. “We are very excited to bring back The Pan American Games to our viewers this year.”

Highlights include:

• 90-120 hours of exclusive LIVE coverage on ESPN Deportes and ESPN3
• 20 hours of English-language coverage on ESPN2
• Pan American Games content across seven ESPN platforms: ESPN Deportes, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com, ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com and ESPN Deportes La Revista.
• Comprehensive coverage on ESPN Deportes’ SportsCenter, Nacion ESPN, Juego Cruzado and Los Capitanes.
• Special edition of Juego Cruzado hosted by Andres Agulla Live from the Guadalajara, in the heart of the festivities, prior to the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games.
• For the first time, ESPN Deportes’ coverage will be produced fully on-site with a team of more than 90, including reporters, commentators, producers and staff.
• A state-of-the-art ESPN set will be in the Cathedral’s square.
• Four Camera crews will be reporting from the different venues simultaneously.
• Renowned Mexican sports expert Jose Ramon Fernandez alongside Andres Agulla and Mauricio Pedroza will serve as hosts of the network’s coverage.
• In addition, the voice of more than 15 experts in every sports category will serve as the play-by-play commentary, including Fernando Palomo, Ernesto Jerez, Alex Pombo, Goga Ruiz, Carolina Guillen, Jose Noriega, Fernando Schwartz, among others.
• ESPNdeportes.com will feature a microsite dedicated to covering the games.ESPNDeportes.com/Panamericanos will include the latest news and information surrounding the competitions, athletes, and each country with exclusive content, video highlights, live chats with the experts on site, and live scores.
• ESPN Deportes Radio will provide daily updates across different shows and ESPN La Revista will present special features and exclusive interviews with the athletes.

The 2011 Pan American Games will feature 42 countries, 5,900 athletes and 46 competitions, all throughout the state of Jalisco in cities such as Lagos de Moreno, Tlaquepaque, Ciudad Guzmán, Zapopan, Ajijic and Puerto Vallarta

ESPN Deportes coverage will feature a wide range of competitions including soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, boxing swimming, and track & field, among others, in addition to a variety of events taking place in the different participating cities.

ESPN Deportes’ well-known personalities such as Andres Agulla, Jose Ramon Fernandez and Mauricio Pedroza will engage viewers integrating social media throughout the entire 2011 Pan American Games with live Tweets including pictures, videos, stats and interviews with top athletes.

That’s going to do it.

Bringing Out The Monday Links

With this being Columbus Day, it’s a holiday for some of you. Not for me, but for some. I hope you’re able to enjoy the day. Let’s do some links.

Sports Business Journal has a look at some of the important women in sports business.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona doesn’t see television in his future.

Reid Cherner of USA Today writes that overzealous NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus is clarifying his “I’m a Golden God”-like comment to “60 Minutes”.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says it’s a swing.. and a miss for Fox’s HD picture at the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter notes that Green Bay-Atlanta steered NBC to a big ratings win on Sunday.

Etan Vlessing at the Reporter writes that Don Cherry is out of step with CBC’s public position on head shots in the NHL.

Laura Martinez of Multichannel News reports that ESPN2 will air two episodes of a Spanish-language ESPN Deportes scripted series following a soccer doubleheader on Tuesday.

Daniel Frankel and Lucas Shaw of The Wrap tell us that ESPN and TNT could stand to lose a lot of revenue if the NBA doesn’t settle its lockout soon.

As the NBC gremlins force YouTube to take down the infamous hot dog thrown at Tiger Woods video, we note that it’s still up at SportsGrid as Dan Fogarty informs us.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing has video of Gus Johnson’s classic touchdown call from Saturday’s Texas A&M-Texas Tech game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with movie director Cameron Crowe on who was really the inspiration for movie character superagent Jerry Maguire. Last night, “60 Minutes” falsely said it was Drew Rosenhaus.

Pat Gordon of Cape Cod Online wishes Hank Williams, Jr. would go away.

Kevin Paul Dupont from the Boston Globe writes that Hank Williams, Jr. got it wrong by invoking Adolf Hitler when speaking of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Mark Blaudshun of the Globe has Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo saying ESPN was behind the Syracuse and Pittsburgh defections from the Big East to the ACC.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times says the college sports upheaval is also effecting mid-major conferences.

From the New York Daily News, Eric Barrow says ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge advises how you should tie a tie.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick seems to just get the notion that “You Can’t Predict Baseball.”

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Andrew Catalon who recently filled in on CBS for an NFL game. Andrew did a very good job, too.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio legend has retired.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says ESPN viewers will get multi-lingual coverage of the Pan American Games.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis wants to bring cell phone concessions to the Verizon Center.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says the Nationals’ TV ratings are looking up despite finishing dead last among all MLB teams in 2011.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans have signed a long-term extension with CBS Radio.

David says Texans voice Marc Vandermeer took yesterday’s loss to the Raiders quite hard.

Tim Twentyman of the Detroit News says Mike Tirico is able to drive his own car to call tonight’s Monday Night Football game instead of flying in ahead of time.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson who’s calling the NLCS on TBS.

Bob says the Brewers and Packers got a lot of national airtime on Sunday.

Bob has the local ratings for the Brewers and Packers.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business speaks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who gets to call a “home” game tonight.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that embattled announcer Dan McLaughlin has lost one of gigs in the wake of his second DUI arrest.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos QB Tim Tebow perked up an otherwise moribund sports weekend in the Rocky Mountain region.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says LA was not switched from Raiders-Texans yesterday to join the Chargers as it would have in the past.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s Ron MacLean chose to cover for Don Cherry rather than challenge his comments on fighting from last week.

The Toronto Star’s Raju Mudhar notes that Cherry is doing what he does best, stir the pot.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBA’s lockout strategy.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR race on ESPN had a slight ratings uptick.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media has a profile of Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame announcer Bob Miller.

Joe Favorito says UFC continues to steadily build its brand.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Monday Afternoon Update

I’ve been keeping track of the Pan American Games online. If you have access to ESPN360, you can watch the coverage from ESPN Deportes. The coverage is in Spanish, but if you don’t understand, you can either turn the volume down or just watch and listen to the announcers who are quite entertaining especially during the obligatory “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!” calls on soccer games. ESPN essentially uses the World Feed and probably has its announcers call the games from their studios in Bristol, CT rather than send them to Rio de Janeiro. To be honest, I have only seen sideline reporters on-site and not the announcers themselves. I know someone from ESPN visits this blog from time to time. If I’m wrong, please let me know.

Taking a look at the NBA Referee Gambling story, CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the media is looking in the wrong place to determine where Tim Donaghy influenced games. Darren says instead of looking at the point spread, the media should be looking at the over-under. Very good point, Darren. And Darren has a link to where you can look.

Neil Best of Newsday is blogging like crazy today. One entry bemoans the fact that ESPN splashed its logo all over its coverage of the Open Championship yesterday. And keeping tabs on the WFAN morning show gig, Best points out that neither Don Imus nor Boomer Esiason will host through the week of August 13.

RCN Cable has signed a content distribution deal with Disney that includes providing ESPN360 and ESPN2 HD.

Do you want a Best of X Games DVD? You can if you want now.

Holden Parrish of MSNBC.com says you may not like it or even care, but the over-the-top coverage of David Beckham is here to stay.

Versus has announced its on-air lineup for college football games including Ted Robinson and Rod Thulin who will call the Big 12 and Pac 10 for the channel.

Mike Tankersley of the Montgomery Advertiser has a news and notes column and it includes the number of Braves games increasing on FSN South next season (scroll down).

Those are your links for now.

Some Weekend Links

Checking across the internet, I came across a few things.

First, I didn’t know that the Pan American Games were coming up on Friday. Second, they’re being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Third, ESPN is going wall-to-wall coverage on the Pan Am Games. That’s fine since I believe the last American network to really give the Pan Am Games coverage was ABC/TBS in Cuba back in 1991. Since then, the games which are supposed to be a tuneup for the Olympic Games the following year have been mostly ignored because major U.S. athletes don’t participate. Then there’s this story on a United States Olympic Committee member making a poor joke that forced the USOC to issue an apology to Brazil. That’s not the way to get off on a good foot. Anyway, ESPN will have the games starting on Friday and it’ll be interesting to see how the network covers this since any sport it carries gets major highlights on SportsCenter while sports not on the networks of the Alleged Worldwide Leader like the NHL get ignored.

Here’s something for you, former Fox NFL analyst Bill Maas was arrested for carrying a loaded guns and drugs (including ecstacy, pot and coke) during a routine traffic stop Saturday night in East Peoria, Illinois. The passenger in his car, a 27 year old woman, was also arrested. Hmmmm. This might get some more play on Sunday. My question: why was Maas carrying a loaded handgun and that many drugs in his car? Maas was at one point a rising star on Fox, but only worked a handful of games last season. And his Wikipedia blurb already mentions the arrest, but the date is wrong.

UPDATE – The story linked above is wrong. Here’s a correct version. The date in Wiki is right.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about a new monthly magazine devoted to covering St. Louis sports started by two former sports radio executives.

Barry Horn in Saturday’s Dallas News says Fox will be using the All Star Game on Tuesday to talk Barry Bonds ad nauseum.

In his Watch This! blog in the DC/Baltimore Examiner, Jim Williams says John McEnroe and Mary Carillo have been on top of their games on the NBC Wimbledon broadcasts.

Variety magazine says even with this being a 20 year celebration for WFAN, there’s still a pall over the station as it still searches for the replacement for Don Imus.

Former ESPN and current Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein takes over the Coast to Coast radio franchise that was once hosted by Bob Costas. It’ll air Saturday nights on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Dave Lubach of the Sheboygan (WI) Press has an inside the scenes look at the production of the U.S. Senior Open taking place on NBC this weekend.

I may have links later on Sunday. We’ll keep an eye on this Bill Maas story. This may get more interesting as more info becomes available.