Fang's Bites

REPORT: US Open Close to Moving to ESPN

From Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand, we learn that ESPN is close to taking another Grand Slam tennis tournament away from network television. In 2011, ESPN wrested Wimbledon away from NBC after the network had broadcast the event dating back to 1968. The entire tournament became an all-cable event last year.

Now, ESPN appears to have convinced the United States Tennis Association to make the U.S. Open all-cable as well. CBS has broadcast the U.S. Open since 1968. In the 1980′s, USA Network signed to air the preliminary matches. In 2009, ESPN2 and Tennis Channel took over USA’s portion of the event while CBS continued to air weekend coverage and the semifinals and finals.

Ourand reports that CBS’ exclusive negotiation window with the USTA ended earlier this year allowing ESPN to make a pitch to make the U.S. Open all-cable. Under the ESPN proposal, the network would air the tournament similar to how it produces Wimbledon with ESPN and ESPN2 simultaneously airing matches during the second week. And even though ESPN and ESPN2 have college football commitments in the first week of September, ESPN has promised to air both the men’s and women’s semifinals and finals.

Over the last four years, rain delays have forced the men’s final to a Monday afternoon finish. While CBS picked up the final under its contract with the USTA, its affiliates have often moved the event to secondary channels causing ratings to drop.

Another part of ESPN’s commitment to the US Open would be TV Everywhere rights which would stream the entire tournament to authenticated cable and satellite subscribers.

CBS still is negotiating with the USTA to keep a portion of the tournament, but it appears ESPN has one foot in the door. It’s not known if Tennis Channel will continue to be part of the U.S. Open.

ESPN has rights to all four Grand Slam Tournaments and air start-to-finish coverage of the Australian Open and Wimbledon. It is the lead cable rightsholder to the U.S. Open. However, for the French, ESPN is the secondary cable rightsholder for the French Open as Tennis Channel is the lead there.

If ESPN is successful in gaining the U.S. Open, the French Open would remain as the only Grand Slam tennis tournament left on broadcast television.

CBS Serves Up Tennis Before Elite Eight This Weekend

Before the NCAA Tournament Regional Final action today and tomorrow, CBS will offer the women’s and men’s final of the Sony Open. Today at noon ET, it’s the women as #1 seed Serena Williams takes on the #3 seed Maria Sharapova. On Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET, the men’s final pits Andy Murray against David Ferrer.

CBS’ tennis voices of Bill Macatee and Mary Carillo will call the matches. Mary Jo Fernandez works courtside.

CBS SPORTS SERVES UP SONY OPEN WOMEN’S AND MEN’S FINALS ON SATURDAY, MARCH 30 AND SUNDAY, MARCH 31

Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray vs. David Ferrer

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR broadcasts the women’s and men’s finals of the SONY OPEN live on Saturday, March 30 (12:00-2:30 PM, ET) and Sunday, March 31 (11:30-2:00 PM, ET), respectively, from Crandon Stadium in Miami, Fla.

Saturday’s women’s final will see world No. 1 Serena Williams take on No. 2 Maria Sharapova. On the men’s side world No. 3 Andy Murray takes on No. 5 David Ferrer in the men’s final on Sunday.

CBS Sports’ Bill Macatee, Mary Carillo and Mary Joe Fernandez call the action from Miami. CBS Sports’ Bob Mansbach produces and Andy Goldberg directs. Harold Bryant is the Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

That’s all.

Some Quick Tuesday Linkage

On my way to New York for the Fox Sports 1 unveiling and I’m going to try to do some links with the limited wifi that Amtrak has provided. It’s not the best, but it’ll do for what I need today.

Let’s begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who along with Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing, John Ourand from Sports Business Journal and Randy McClure of Rush the Court, conducted a sportscaster draft for the NCAA Tournament. Fascinating stuff.

At Awful Announcing, Matt Yoder explains the reasoning behind his draft picks.

In the shameless plug department, I have a post at AA on “What if” Keith Olbermann returns to ESPN. That is a huge “what if,” by the way.

On this site, I ask “What Can We Expect From Fox Sports 1 and 2?”

David Lieberman of Deadline has a Fox official telling its investors that Fox Sports 1 and 2 are expected to lose money at first, but it’s all about the long-term with the new channels.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter says Fox is downplaying expectations about Fox Sports 1 competing with ESPN.

At $ports Biz USA, Mike McCarthy talks with Jay Glazer about his new Fox Sports 1 show.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report says ESPN is reminding Fox about who has a 33 year head start in the all-sports cable business.

Richard Sandomir and Amy Chozick in the New York Times have an extensive look at the new Fox Sports venture.

Even with Fox starting a new network to compete with ESPN, it still has formed an Unholy Alliance with the Alleged Worldwide Leader. John Ourand of Sports Business Journal has the story.

Addy Dugdale at Fast Company looks at the new Fox Sports 1.

Good article from Paulsen at Sports Media Watch on how SportsCenter has drifted into the abyss. I was thinking about using a Matrix reference, but I’ve used them up on Twitter.

Jason Lisk of The Big Lead profiles ESPN college basketball analyst Sean Farnham who will get a plum assignment at the ACC Tournament next week.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead tweets that Tom Rinaldi and his traveling piano have been re-signed by ESPN.

Will Leitch from Sports on Earth feels a Keith Olbermann return to ESPN is not a good idea.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today has the weekend sports ratings.

Mark Blaudshun in A Jersey Guy reports that the remnants of the old Big East plan to play its first postseason tournament without Syracuse, Pittsburgh and the Catholic 7 in Hartford. Good choice.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says ESPN Deportes will continue carrying Mexican League soccer.

Dieter Kurtenbach from the South Florida Sun Sentinel says 11 months after joining Miami’s WQAM, controversial talk show host Dan Sileo has been fired.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman notes that the Thunder are featured twice this week on TNT.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says University of Kentucky athletics has signed a promotional deal with Time Warner Cable.

Robert Feder of TimeOut Chicago writes that a former Windy City sportscaster refused to take part in a farewell to two long-time news anchors.

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

Joe Favorito says World Tennis Day on Monday helped to give the sport a global boost.

Back to Paulsen at Sports Media Watch, he notes that the PGA Tour experienced its fourth straight week of ratings declines.

And let’s end with one of the silliest moments on ESPN from Monday. Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that ESPN’s Stephen A. “A is for Awkward” Smith didn’t realize that ties were eliminated from the National Hockey League in 2004.

That will end the links for today. As long as I have wifi or 3G access (I know, 4G LTE users are laughing at me), I’ll provide tweets and a live blog on the Fox Sports 1 press event and upfronts today in New York. If communication is cut off, then all bets are off, but I’m willing to go out on a limb that we’ll have wifi access somehow, at least for the press conference this afternoon.

Keep your RSS, Twitter and any other syndication feeds updated.

ESPN2 Airs BNP Paribas Showdown At MSG

As part of today’s World Tennis Day festivities, ESPN2 will air the BNP Paribas Showdown. It will join the action at Madison Square Garden in New York in progress at 9 p.m. ET. The exhibition matches will include a matchup between the women’s world #1 and #2 ranked players, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams and one between the returning Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro.

Chris Fowler will call the matches and be joined by Cliff Drysdale, Mary Jo Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe. ESPN3 will start the coverage at 7 p.m. with ESPN2 joining at 9 p.m.

Here are the particulars of the coverage from ESPN.

Tennis’ BNP Paribas Showdown Live from MSG on March 4

No. 1 Serena vs. No. 2 Azarenka in US Open Rematch
Nadal – Sidelined July-February – in First U.S. Match in 11 Months vs. Del Potro

ESPN3 and ESPN2 will present live the BNP Paribas Showdown 2013 from Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday, March 4, with two star-studded matches:  a US Open rematch between the world’s top two ranked players, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka followed by Rafael Nadal – who recently returned to action after being sidelined since Wimbledon last summer – facing former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

ESPN holds exclusive live rights to the matches, and ESPN3 will begin at 7 p.m. ET with ESPN2 joining at 9 p.m. Chris Fowler will call the matches with Cliff Drysdale, Mary Joe Fernandez and Patrick McEnroe. The Nadal-Del Potro match will also be available on broadband in the U.S. in Spanish on ESPN Deportes +.

“The BNP Paribas Showdown – with top stars in compelling matchups from a venue rich in tennis history – launches a great month of tennis from ESPN, crisscrossing the country from Indian Wells to Miami and in early April the Family Circle Cup from Charleston,” said Jason Bernstein, senior director, programming and acquisitions in ESPN’s programming department. “We enjoyed a successful start to the year with the Australian Open, and ESPN is there with a year-round narrative, showcasing the deepest tennis schedule on television, broadband and via WatchESPN for fans on the go.”

Williams, holder of 15 major titles, regained the world’s top ranking after last week’s WTA event in Qatar, despite losing to Azarenka in the final 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3. Azarenka, winner of the last two Australian Open championships, is now ranked No. 2. The two return to New York, where Williams defeated Azarenka in last September’s thrilling three-set US Open final.

Nadal, who counts seven French Open titles among his 11 major victories, recently returned to action after a seven-month hiatus because of injury. He recently reached the final of both singles and doubles in his first comeback event and is ranked No. 5 in the world.  He has not competed in the U.S. since playing in Miami last March.  Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champ, is currently ranked No. 7.

The BNP Paribas Showdown from MSG will air live internationally on ESPN’s networks in more than 130 countries and over 47 million households throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, UK, Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Rim, including on ESPN Latin America in Del Potro’s home country of Argentina.  In addition, ESPN’s broadband players in Latin America & the Caribbean (ESPN Play) and Australia & New Zealand (ESPN3) will also stream live simulcast coverage of this event.

That’s it.

ESPN Moves Aussie Open Men’s Semis & Both Singles Finals to The Mothership

In a move that came out of the blue, ESPN has announced that it has moved the Thursday’s Australian Open men’s semfinals as well as both singles finals from ESPN2 to the Mothership. In the olden days of ESPN, before there was an ESPN2, the Australian Open finals were always on the main channel. Now with ESPN showing the Wimbledon finals as of last year, it seems a natural fit for the Mothership to air the year’s first Grand Slam Final.

The Women’s Semifinals will be aired tonight on ESPN2 as scheduled. The men’s semifinals will air on ESPN on Thursday and Friday at 3:30 a.m. ET.

Then the finals will be seen Saturday and Sunday morning at 3:30 ET.

We have the release from ESPN.

Australian Open:  Men’s Semis, Both Finals Move to ESPN

Top Four Men’s Seeds in Semis
Surprising Sloane Stephens to face Defending Champ Azarenka, Sharapova-Li for Slots in Championship

The men’s semifinals and both the women’s and men’s championship matches of the Australian Open will now be aired live on ESPN.  The encore presentations of those matches will remain on ESPN2.

For the second straight year, the men’s semifinals feature the top four seeds.  In the first semifinal, top-seeded Novak Djokovic, seeking his third consecutive title Down Under, will face No. 4 David Ferrer on ESPN late tonight (Wednesday) at 3:30 a.m. ET (half past midnight PT). In the other semi, No. 2 Roger Federer plays No. 3 Andy Murray 24 hours later, late Thursday night at 3:30 a.m.  Federer – who counts four victories in Melbourne among his all-time best 17 Grand Slam titles – will be aiming for his 25^th career major final. Murray, who broke through with his first major title last year at the US Open, is seeking to win back-to-back Grand Slam events.

Tonight on ESPN2, No. 2 Maria Sharapova plays No. 6 Li Na in a semifinal at 9:30 p.m.  The other women’s semifinal will follow, pairing the defending champion and No. 1 seed Victoria Azarenka against the 19-year old American who ousted Serena Williams Tuesday night in the Quarterfinals – Sloane Stephens. The Florida native is the No. 29 seed and has never advanced this far in a major event.  Should the top two seeds Azarenka and Sharapova advance to the championship, it would be a rematch of last year where Azarenks took home her first Grand Slam trophy.

The two weeks of live late-night, marathon telecasts will climax with the women’s championship Saturday, Jan 26, and the men’s championship Sunday, Jan. 27, both at 3 a.m. Each will reair at 9 a.m. and in prime time. The telecasts are available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.

ESPN’s 29th consecutive Australian Open represents the company’s longest uninterrupted professional sports programming relationship.

Late Night Thrills

Since the Australian Open finals became a prime-time event in Melbourne (men in 2005, women in 2009), the live telecasts at 3:30 a.m. ET have provided ESPN2’s biggest five audiences at that time of day in the last 10 years (since January 2003, measured by average number of households tuned to ESPN2 during the program). Last year’s men’s final is tennis’ longest Grand Slam final ever, with Djokovic outlasting Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in five hours, 53 minutes.

Date	Event	Players	Rating	Homes – avg.
Jan 31, 2009	Men’s Final	Nadal-Federer	0.9	860,000
Jan 30, 2010	Men’s Final	Federer-Murray	0.7	671,000
Jan 28, 2012	Men’s Final	Djokovic-Nadal	0.7	662,000
Jan 26, 2008	Men’s Final	Djokovic-Tsonga	0.6	582,000
Jan 29, 2010	Women’s Final	S.Williams-Henin	0.6	589,000
Sept 29, 2012	College Football Final	–	0.6	568,000

2012 Australian Open on Television

This week’s television schedule (For these charts, all times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET.  Therefore, the listing Sat., Jan. 26 at 3 a.m. ET is actually very late on Saturday night.):

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Wednesday, January 23	9:30 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Women’s Semifinals Sharapova-Li Azarenka-Stephens	ESPN2	LIVE
Thursday, January 24	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1 Djokovic-Ferrer	ESPN	LIVE
	Noon – 4 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	ESPN2	encore
Friday, January 25	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2 Federer-Murray	ESPN	LIVE
	Noon – 4 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	ESPN2	encore
	3 – 5:30 a.m.	Women’s Championship	ESPN	LIVE
Saturday, January 26	9 – 11 a.m.	Women’s Championship	ESPN2	encore
	10 p.m. – MID	Women’s Championship	ESPN2	encore
Sunday, January 27	3 – 6:30 a.m.	Men’s Championship	ESPN	LIVE
	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Men’s Championship	ESPN2	encore
	7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.	Men’s Championship	ESPN2	encore

There you have it.

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.

Tennis Channel Airs U.S. Open Series

Starting tonight with the WTA’s Bank of the West tournament, Tennis Channel will cover just about all of the tournaments of the U.S. Open Series leading up to the U.S. Open in late August.

The coverage includes five ATP Tour events and three WTA tournaments plus one combined event. That means nine of the 10 events in the U.S. Open Series will be seen on Tennis Channel.

Calling the tournaments will be Ted Robinson, Leif Shiras, Ian Eagle and Brett Haber. The analysts include Lindsay Davenport, Justin Gimestob and Jimmy Arias. Sideline reporters will be Corina Morariu and Ashley Fisher.

Tennis Channel will do mostly the weekday coverage before handing off to ESPN2 or CBS for the weekend action.

Here is the Tennis Channel announcement.

TENNIS CHANNEL’S US OPEN SERIES COVERAGE TO INCLUDE MORE THAN 100 HOURS OF LIVE AND SAME-DAY MATCHES

 Weekly Tournament Schedule Features Nine Events During Summer Hard-Court Season before US Open

LOS ANGELES, July 11, 2012 – Tennis Channel will cover nine US Open Series events during the seven weeks between now and the US Open, offering more than 100 match hours from the annual North American summer hard-court season. The network’s lineup includes five men’s ATP and three women’s WTA tournaments, along with a combined event with both men’s and women’s draws at the same venue. Featuring singles semifinal, quarterfinal, and early round action – in addition to select doubles play – series coverage will first air Thursday, July 12, and run through Friday, August 24.

In all, Tennis Channel will cover nine of the 10 US Open Series tournaments, with the women’s New Haven Open at Yale as the lone exception. The network’s lineup: ATP – Atlanta Open (Atlanta), Farmers Classic (Los Angeles), Citi Open (Washington, D.C.), Rogers Cup (Toronto) and Winston-Salem Open (Winston-Salem, N.C.); WTA – Bank of the West Classic (Stanford, Calif.), Mercury Insurance Open (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Rogers Cup (Montreal). Tennis Channel will also showcase the men’s and women’s Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati).

This summer marks the ninth consecutive year that Tennis Channel has covered the US Open Series, continuing a streak that began when the USTA created the circuit in 2004. As it has done since 2008, the network will produce all coverage for itself and fellow series broadcasters ESPN and CBS Sports, other than the Cincinnati and Canada-based events.

On-Air Talent
Tennis Channel’s US Open Series play-by-play team features network regulars Ted Robinson, Ian Eagle, Brett Haber and Leif Shiras. The analyst roster includes Lindsay Davenport, Justin Gimelstob and Jimmy Arias, with Ashley Fisher and Corina Morariu handling sideline reporting duties. Former player, sports agent, promoter, broadcaster and all-around tennis go-to guy Donald Dell also will make a special booth appearance during Tennis Channel’s coverage of Washington’s Citi Open, a tournament he co-founded in 1969.

Tennis Channel’s 2012 US Open Series live and same-day telecast schedule (all times ET) and on-air talent follows: For encore replays, visit www.tennischannel.com/schedule.

July 12-13 — Bank of the West Classic (WTA)
Thursday, July 12 – 5 p.m.-9 p.m.; 11 p.m.-1 a.m. (singles round of 16)
Friday, July 13 – 5 p.m.-9 p.m.; 10 p.m.-12 a.m. (singles quarterfinals)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Robinson, Analyst – Davenport, Sideline Reporter – Morariu

July 20-21 — Atlanta Open (ATP)
Friday, July 20 – 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (singles quarterfinal)
Saturday, July 21 – 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Haber, Analyst – Arias, Sideline Reporter – Fisher

July 21 — Mercury Insurance Open (WTA)
Saturday, July 21 – 1 a.m.-3 a.m.; 5 p.m.-7 p.m. (singles quarterfinal; singles semifinal)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Robinson, Analyst – Davenport, Sideline Reporter – Morariu

July 26-29 — Farmers Classic (ATP)
Thursday, July 26 – 5 p.m.-9 p.m.; 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (singles round of 16)
Friday, July 27 – 5 p.m.-9 p.m.; 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (singles quarterfinals)
Saturday, July 28 – 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. (doubles semifinal)
Sunday, July 29 – 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m. (doubles final)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Shiras, Analyst – Arias, Sideline Reporter – Fisher

Aug. 2-4 — Citi Open (ATP)
Thursday, Aug. 2 – 4 p.m.-8 p.m. (singles round of 16)
Friday, Aug 3 – 2 p.m.-4 p.m.; 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (singles quarterfinals)
Saturday, Aug. 4 – 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Shiras, Analysts – Arias and Dell, Sideline Reporter – Fisher

Aug. 6-9 — Rogers Cup (ATP/WTA)
Monday, Aug. 6 – 1 p.m.-9 p.m. (ATP singles early round action)
Tuesday, Aug. 7 – 1 p.m.-9 p.m. (ATP/WTA singles early round action)
Wednesday, Aug. 8 – 1 p.m.-9 p.m. (ATP/WTA singles early round action)
Thursday, Aug. 9 – 6 p.m.-10 p.m. (WTA singles early round action)
Talent:   ATP: Host – Shiras, Play-by-Play and Analyst – TPL World Feed Commentators
WTA: Play-by-Play – Haber, Analyst – Davenport

Aug. 13-15 — Western & Southern Open (ATP/WTA)
Monday, Aug. 13 -11 a.m.-10 p.m. (ATP/WTA early round action)
Tuesday, Aug. 14 – 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (ATP/WTA early round action)
Wednesday, Aug. 15 – 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (ATP/WTA early round action)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Eagle and Haber, Analyst – Davenport and Gimelstob

Aug. 23-24 — Winston-Salem Open (ATP)
Thursday, Aug. 23 – 5 p.m.-7 p.m. (singles quarterfinal)
Friday, Aug. 24 – 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Shiras, Analyst – Arias, Sideline Reporter – Fisher

And that does it.

Some Sunday Sports Media Thoughts

Let’s provide a few sports media thoughts on this Sunday. You know they’ll be in bullet form.

• ESPN’s live coverage of Wimbledon has been a joy over the last two weeks. Most everything has been shown on the Family of Networks. And in the second week when both ESPN and ESPN2 were deployed for the Round of 16 and the Quarterfinals, viewers were able to switch in between matches on Centre Court and the outer courts for the first time. No longer did viewers have to wait through frustrating NBC tape delays or find illegal back door internet feeds. Everything was shown live.

  We’ve seen similar coverage on the U.S. Open with ESPN2 and Tennis Channel on the early rounds, but this could be a model for future Grand Slam tournaments. I’d like to see ESPN do this on the Australian and U.S. Opens for the later rounds as well.

  I’ve liked the Breakfast at Wimbledon studio shows. This has given SW19 a special big event feel on ESPN. Hannah Storm has done well as host and interviews conducted by Mike Tirico have gone smoothly.

  As far as the announcing is concerned, this is where ESPN needs some improvement. Chris Fowler talks too much and tries to steer analysts to his point of view. In addition, he attempts to do analysis which is the analysts’ job. I don’t mind if the play-by-play person challenges the analyst, but Fowler often makes loaded points and questions to ensure the analyst agrees with him. That’s not what he’s there for. During the Ladies Final between Agnieszka Radwanska and Serena Williams, there was a point in the second set with Serena leading 4-3 where Fowler asked Chris Evert if Radwanska was feeling the match was slipping away. Evert disagreed, Fowler kept pressing. Radwanska would eventually win the second set and I certainly felt Radwanska at 3-4 would not think the match was slipping from her grasp.

  I’d like for ESPN to utilize Mike Tirico in the booth in the Semifinals and Finals. While Mike is certainly a very good host as he’s proved these last two weeks, he’s also very good on tennis play-by-play. And while it’s obvious ESPN original Cliff Drysdale is being phased out, I still think he still can serve aces in the booth.

  As far as the analysts are concerned, bringing in John McEnroe was a very good move and Chris Evert has been decent, I am not enamored with Pam Shriver and she’s to the point of being very annoying.

  Also, during the first week, ESPN appears to be too much in love with the studio and doesn’t show enough action. There seems to be too many interviews and talk, and not enough play on the court.

  For the fortnight, I give ESPN a B minus for the first week and a B plus for the second week.

• Saturday night ended Fox’s eight week run of “Baseball Night in America”. While the ratings were a mixed bag, I think Fox may increase the number of primetime games next season. As Fox looks to provide sports the opportunity to program Saturday nights, why not go to primetime? And I like having the afternoons freed up for local games. Now if only Fox can provide fans with access to its out-of-market games either online or through the MLB Extra Innings package.

  Having national games starting at 7:15 p.m. ET has been quite enjoyable.

• Did you notice that NBC is airing the Tour de France live on both days this weekend? That’s to fill the holes left from losing Wimbledon to ESPN. Expect that to become a permanent fixture from now on. I just wish NBC had called it “Croissants and Cycling” or something to that effect.

Those are the sports media thoughts.

ESPN Set To Air Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final Live on Sunday

ESPN’s first year of airing the entire Wimbledon fortnight has been a success. Ratings steady with last year, online viewership way up and the audience is skewing younger.

It all ends on Sunday with a historic Gentlemen’s Final between Roger Federer and Scot Andy Murray. ESPN will air Breakfast at Wimbledon with Hannah Storm anchoring at 8 a.m. ET followed by the Gentlemen’s Final at 9 a.m.

Chris Fowler, Patrick McEnroe and John McEnroe will have the call in the commentary box.

ABC will carry highlights of the match starting at 3 p.m. ET. By the way, ABC was the first US TV network to carry Wimbledon. It did on Wide World of Sports in the 1960′s before NBC began its 43 year relationship with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 1968 that ended last year.

Here’s the ESPN preview for tomorrow’s match.

History to be Made in Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final Live on ESPN

Federer Seeking Record-Tying 7^th Title & No. 1 Ranking, Murray Hopes to End 76-Year Drought

History will be made in the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Championship live on ESPN on Sunday, July 8, at 9 a.m. ET. Either Roger Federer will gain his record-tying seventh crown at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, or a kingdom will celebrate the end of a 76-year drought.

Federer has 16 Major titles, the most of any man in tennis history, but none since the 2010 Australian Open. Now 30, a victory Sunday not only would tie Pete Sampras with seven Wimbledon victories, it might be even more noteworthy in that he would regain the No. 1 ranking. Also, it would be the 286^th week of his career he has held the top spot, again tying Sampras for the most ever in men’s tennis.

Andy Murray of Scotland carries the athletic hopes and dreams of long-suffering fans on his shoulders in his quest to be the first man from Great Britain to win the local tennis Major since Fred Perry in 1936.  It has been almost as long since a British man has played in the final – Bunny Austin in 1938. He has played in three Grand Slam event finals (two Australian Opens, one US Open) and has not won a set.

The Gentlemen’s Championship will be preceded at 8 a.m. by the one-hour Breakfast at Wimbledon, hosted by Hannah Storm. ABC will reair the finals on the day they take place, July 7 and 8, at 3 p.m.

All the action on ESPN is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.  ESPN 3D will televise both Championships live.

ESPN and Wimbledon

The new schedule for ESPN’s 10^th Wimbledon – exclusive and all-live – is the result of a 12-year agreement between ESPN and the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced just after the conclusion of the 2011 Championships. The remaining schedule:

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Sun, July 8	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN/ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Championship No. 3 Roger Federer vs. No. 4 Andy Murray	ESPN/ESPN3D/ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Championship	ABC	Tape

That is all.

ESPN Crows About Wimbledon Viewership

We have this from ESPN discussing the viewership both on TV and online for The Championships, Wimbledon. ESPN says the combined viewership for ESPN/ESPN2 is up 24% from when the cable portion of last year’s tournament on solely on ESPN2. And the rating is up this year averaging 0.6 from 0.5 last year.

ESPN says the younger male demographic is up from the time NBC/ESPN2 aired the fortnight in 2011. In addition, online viewership has jumped a whopping 86% from last year.

So ESPN is happy taking over the entire rights to Wimbledon from NBC. And I’m sure the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is pleased that it’s not hearing complaints about tape delayed shenanigans.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

The New Wimbledon a Winner for ESPN and Fans

ESPN Sets Wimbledon Records, Young Male Audience Grows, Digital Usage Soars
Live Championships This Weekend Have History Calling

The all-new, all-ESPN, all live Wimbledon is reaching more people, has brought ESPN its largest audiences in 10 years at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and a much younger audience to the television while driving a surge in consumption across digital platforms.

• Through Wednesday, July 4, the audience for this year’s ESPN/ESPN2 presentation was 24 percent larger than ESPN2’s audience in 2011, 727,000 viewers (P2+), up from 588,000. The average rating is up 20 percent, from 0.5 to 0.6 (U.S. ratings), according to Nielsen.
• The ESPN/ESPN2 rating is equal to last year’s NBC/ESPN2 coverage, but the key male demographic groups are enjoying strong double-digit increases in impressions: Men 18-34 up 28 percent, Men 18-49 up 30 percent, and Men 25-54 up 21 percent.
• Two ESPN telecasts during the fortnight stand as ESPN’s most-watched ever from Wimbledon – 979,000 homes on Saturday, June 30 and 978,000 on Wednesday, July 4.  Each earned a 1.0 coverage rating, tying ESPN’s best ever at Wimbledon.  Two of the three previous 1.0 ratings also came on a July 4:  ESPN2 on July 4, 2007, for the Ladies’ Quarterfinals; ESPN on July 4, 2003, for a Gentlemen’s Semifinal; and ESPN on July 1, 2004, for a Ladies’ Semifinal.  Saturday’s 10-hour, 10-minute ESPN telecast (the third longest Wimbledon telecast ever, behind only an ESPN2 telecast in 2010 and Day One this year) – earned a 0.9 U.S. rating, the best for the “middle Saturday” since 2007 (1.0).
• Through Saturday, June 30, 19.2 million people had watched Wimbledon on ESPN or ESPN2, an increase of 32 percent compared to the same point a year ago (14.5 million).
• On Wednesday, July 4, the value of the ESPN / ESPN2 “Cross Court Coverage” was on display as both networks aired live matches, with ESPN2 airing nine hours and ESPN on the air for seven of those hours. The ESPN/ESPN2 combined rating was 1.0, up 43 percent from 0.7 for ESPN2/NBC last year. The audience was up 51 percent, to 1,354,000 viewers from 895,000.  The key male demographic groups all more than doubled:  Men 18-34 up 134 percent, Men 18-49 up 123 percent, and Men 25-54 up 122 percent.

Digital Usage Nearly Doubled

• Through July 4, ESPN3/WatchESPN has registered 72.1 million live minutes of viewing across all platforms, up 86 percent compared to the same point in 2011.

The Championships Conclude with History Beckoning

ESPN’s exclusive presentation of Wimbledon will culminate with a live national telecast of the Ladies’ Championship on Saturday, July 7, and the Gentlemen’s Championship on Sunday, July 8, both at 9 a.m. ET.  Both will be preceded at 8 a.m. by the one-hour Breakfast at Wimbledon, hosted by Hannah Storm. ABC will reair the finals on the day they take place at 3 p.m.

All the action on ESPN is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. ESPN3 and ESPN 3D will televise both Championships live. In addition, ESPN3 will stream all matches on Centre Court (starting at 9 a.m.) and No. 1 Court (starting at 8 a.m.), including the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Doubles Championships live and in their entirety following the Ladies’ Championship.

Both matches will offer potential historic outcomes:

• In the Ladies Championship, either a tennis legend will further elevate her legacy, or an emerging star will win her first Major and will become the top-ranked woman in the world. Serena Williams, the No. 6 seed, will be vying for her 14^th Major title and fifth at Wimbledon, but her first since Wimbledon two years ago. Since then, a series of health issues derailed her career. On the other side of the net, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska is playing in her first Major final but will be the top-ranked player in the world with a win. She is the first Pole to play for the Wimbledon Championship since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1937.
• In the Gentlemen’s Championship, either Roger Federer will gain his record-tying seventh crown at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, or a kingdom will celebrate the end of a 76-year drought. Andy Murray of Scotland carries the athletic hopes and dreams of Great Britain on his shoulders in his quest to be the first man from Great Britain to win the local tennis Major since Fred Perry in 1936. It has been almost as long since a British man has played in the final – Bunny Austin in 1938.

And ESPN previews Saturday’s Ladies’ Final between Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Serena Can Complete Comeback with Wimbledon Title Live Saturday on ESPN

Radwanska in First Major Final; Serena Gunning for 14^th Major but First in Two Years

When ESPN televises live the Wimbledon Ladies Championship on Saturday, July 7, at 9 a.m. ET, either a tennis legend will further elevate her legacy, or an emerging star will win her first Major and will become the top-ranked woman in the world.

Serena Williams, the No. 6 seed, will be vying for her 14^th Major title and fifth at Wimbledon, but her first since Wimbledon two years ago.  Since then, a series of health issues derailed her career.  On the other side of the net, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska is playing in her first Major final but will be the top-ranked player in the world with a win.  She is the first Pole to play for the Wimbledon Championship since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1937.

Chris Evert on the Matchup, and Serena

“The Championship is Serena’s to win or lose. She controls every point with her power, be it her serve or her return. It will be interesting to see Radwanska’s game plan. She can’t try to overpower Serena. She will have to mix it up and get Serena off her rhythm. 

“Since Serena has been back, look at her results in Majors. She was understandably rusty here last year, got tight in the US Open final, and had bad losses in Australia and Paris. But it’s a different Serena we see now. We haven’t seen Serena play as well as she has these last two matches since before she hurt her foot. She has great power and movement and the confidence she needs to go with that.”

ESPN and Wimbledon

The new schedule for ESPN’s 10^th Wimbledon – exclusive and all-live – is the result of a 12-year agreement between ESPN and the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced just after the conclusion of the 2011 Championships.  The remaining schedule:

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Sat, July 7	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Ladies’ Championship No. 3 Radwanska vs. No. 6 Williams	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Ladies’ Championship	ABC	Tape
Sun, July 8	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Championship	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Championship	ABC	Tape

That does it.

ESPN Airs The Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Semifinals All Live on Friday

It was nice having the Wimbledon Ladies Semifinals all live on ESPN today. Had NBC and ESPN2 shared coverage as in the past, you know the Victoria Azarenka-Serena Williams match would have been held on tape delay by the Peacocks until noon in all time zones. Instead, ESPN aired that match live when it began and carried it through to its conclusion without having to fill time with a doubles contest or something taped from the day before.

And with the Gentlemen’s Semifinals on Friday, it will be the same scenario for ESPN. Both the Novak Djokovic-Roger Federer and Andy Murray-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga matches will be seen live starting at 8 a.m. ET. Now let’s play “what if?” Had NBC had the rights this year, it would have carried Djoko-Fed forcing ESPN to stall. And most likely with the Murray-Tsonga match running into NBC’s window, the Alleged Worldwide Leader would have had to carry that match on tape at 3 p.m. ET after NBC had finished its coverage. But in the Brave New World of entirely live tennis from SW19, ESPN carries both matches live preceded by Breakfast at Wimbledon at 7 a.m. and we’re all happy tennis fans.

So the Men’s semifinals will be all live on ESPN tomorrow. Djoker Nole-Federer kicks it off with Murray-Tsonga following. And it’s quite interesting to see a Djokovic-Federer semifinal being an opening act, but with the UK rooting for Murray, it’s understandable why that match is the “nightcap” in the tennis doubleheader on Centre Court tomorrow.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

Dream Matchup in Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Semifinals Live on ESPN

Federer-Djokovic to Meet for First Time at Wimbledon in Friday’s Semifinal
Four of Top Five Seeds Meet for Place in Sunday’s Championship

A dream matchup of two of tennis’ all-time best who have met 26 times but never at Wimbledon highlights the Gentlemen’s Semifinals live on ESPN on Friday, July 6, at 8 a.m.  Novak Djokovic,– the world’s top ranked player and defending champion – will face six-time winner Roger Federer, seeded No. 3.  Federer, with an unmatched 16 Grand Slam titles, owns a 14-12 career record against Djokovic, who owns six Major crowns and has won their last three meetings.  The two have met in the semifinal round in six of the last eight Majors, but have never played on the grass courts of Wimbledon.

With No. 4 seed Andy Murray – carrying the weight of a 76-year drought for men from Great Britain at Wimbledon into his fourth straight appearance in the semifinals – playing No. 5 seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga, four of the top five seeds have reached the penultimate stage of tennis’ most storied event.

Those matches, plus the Ladies’ Championships on Saturday, July 7, and the Gentlemen’s Championship on Sunday, July 8, will be preceded by the one-hour Breakfast at Wimbledon, hosted by Hannah Storm (7 a.m. Friday, 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday). ABC will reair the finals on the day they take place, July 7 and 8, at 3 p.m.

All the action on ESPN is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.  ESPN 3D is televising live the final five days of action from Centre Court beginning with the men’s quarterfinals Wednesday, July 4, through the Championships.

Patrick McEnroe on the Semifinals

“Federer and Djokovic is obviously the blockbuster matchup.  Can Federer find the magic to get back to the final?  This may be his best chance to win another Major.  It’s his favorite surface and Nadal is out of his way.  The clock is ticking.

“The clock is also ticking on the Brits…since 1936. Despite that pressure, this is Andy Murray’s best opportunity to win his first Major, also based on Nadal losing.  Butit won’t be easy. Tsonga is a Big Spot Player. He’s at his best in the biggest matches, especially here. He’s going to bring a lot of exuberance and passion. It’s a very, very tough ask for Andy, but he can counterpunch  Tsonga’s firepower with guile.”

Ladies Championship

The Ladies Championship will see No. 6  seed Serena Williams vying for her 14^th Major title and fifth at Wimbledon play No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska who is playing in her first Major final but will be the top-ranked player in the world with a win  She is the first Pole to play for the Wimbledon Championship since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1937.

ESPN and Wimbledon

The new schedule for ESPN’s 10^th Wimbledon – exclusive and all-live – is the result of a 12-year agreement between ESPN and the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced just after the conclusion of the 2011 Championships.  The remaining schedule:

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Fri, July 6	7 – 8 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	8 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Semifinals No. 1 Djokovic vs. No. 3 Federer No. 4 Murray vs. No. 5 Tsonga	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
Sat, July 7	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Ladies’ Championship No. 3 Radwanska vs. No. 6 Williams	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Ladies’ Championship	ABC	Tape
Sun, July 8	8 a.m. – 9 a.m.	Breakfast at Wimbledon	ESPN / ESPN3	Live
	9 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Championship	ESPN / ESPN3D / ESPN3	Live
	3 – 6 p.m.	Gentlemen’s Championship	ABC	Tape

That will do it.

Guest Column: Grading French Open TV Coverage

We continue the guest columns today. I hope you had a chance to read the first column written by Paul Lebowitz on Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. We’ll continue with the guest columns throughout the week and we certainly have quite a bit of good material for you.

This comes from recent college graduate Ryan Scheb. A tennis fan, Ryan has been watching the French Open on ESPN, NBC and Tennis Channel and he gives his grades to all three rightsholders.

2012 French Open: Media Grades

Three networks, ESPN, The Tennis Channel and NBC have all teamed up to provide all but round-the-clock coverage of tennis’ most grueling tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. While the three networks are playing nice together, which is a great benefit to viewers, each network still has their own unique style. Here I’ll spend some time analyzing and grading each of the network’s coverage.

ESPN

Last year, ESPN and the Tennis Channel decided to swap coverage windows. ESPN now owns the rights to all courts from 5AM – 10AM Eastern. While ESPN lauded the move as being able to show more live tennis, the French Open schedule makers have put the best matches later in the day – outside ESPN’s viewing window.  Many times, the 3^rd match on Court Phillipe Chatrier (Roland Garros’ Center Court) has been the premiere match of the day. This usually starts around 9:30AM, Eastern Time. As ESPN’s window ends at 10AM, they have sometimes elected to not even show the beginning of the match because they will obviously not be able to show it to its conclusion.

That being said, one of the greatest assets of ESPN’s coverage is their ESPN 3 website and Watch ESPN app for iPhones and iPads. Both allow a viewer to watch live coverage of ongoing matches that are not currently airing on ESPN as well as ESPN’s coverage if a television is not available.

While their coverage window at the French Open continues to be somewhat frustrating, their coverage remains first class. I have long said that ESPN’s tennis crew has the best chemistry in all of sports. Tennis, by its very nature, has a bit of a club-like mentality. Because almost all of the broadcasters are put of this club, they all seem to know each other quite well. This makes watching the ESPN coverage of tennis so much fun because viewers can tell that the commentators are more than colleagues, they are friends.

Unfortunately, this exclusive club causes conflicts of interest that some broadcasters have trouble getting over. Patrick McEnroe is the Director of Player Development for the USTA; he also serves as lead analyst for ESPN. McEnroe is a pretty good analyst and he does a fairly good job of overcoming his bias. While he (and the rest of the ESPN team) root for Americans, he seems able to be objective in his commentating.

The same cannot always be said for Mary Joe Fernandez, the captain of the Women’s Fed Cup team. While she is an adequate analyst, although I find her a little boring, I was frustrated with her early in the tournament when she refused to answer a question about which up and coming American tennis player had the best chance to really make it. The response of “they all have some chance” does not serve the viewer well.

Led by the versatile Chris Fowler of College GameDay fame, the entire ESPN crew is the best in the business. Fowler serves as occasional host, although more and more he is calling matches.  It is clear that he really enjoys tennis which viewers appreciate.  Darren Gilbert, Brad Gilbert, Chris Evert and Pam Shriver join McEnroe and Fernandez as analysts for ESPN. All are good analysts and very comfortable on television. Gilbert is quirky but provides good strategic analysis (he was a very successful coach.) He was at his best during the Djokovic-Tsonga quarterfinal on Tuesday Cahill who joined the team when Gilbert left to coach Andy Murray has really grown into his role as a commentator.

Shriver is a personal favorite, although she can be polarizing. I believe she is the most objective commentator on the team. Ironically, she is the most separate from the “tennis club” mentioned before. Chris (Chrissie) Evert is the newest member of the team; she replaced the outspoken Mary Carillo. Evert is smart, well-spoken and ready to be critical when necessary. But, even with Shriver and Evert, Carillo is missed. (More on her later.) Both Shriver and McEnroe have begun to call matches as “play-by-play commentators” with another analyst. Of course, unlike in other sports, tennis commentators do not actually talk during the points, so very few descriptions of what is happening take place. Nevertheless, both have done well in this role.

Chris McKendry serves as host for the network’s coverage and does a good job. She does a much better job in that role than Hannah Storm. Cliff Drysdale, who was one of ESPN’s first ever employees, continues to call matches with the team. He was not in Paris for the French Open but will rejoin the crew for Wimbledon.

The Grade: A-. Great announcing team, solid production and online streaming give the ESPN tennis team production a very respectable grade.

How to Improve: Cliff Drysdale has probably seen his better days; it is time for him to retire. I’d like to see ESPN get Ted Robinson to help them with Wimbledon and the US Open since he will not be working during either of those tournaments. Also, I’m not a huge fan of Mary Joe Fernandez. She adds little to the commentary and struggles to remain objective. Getting Carillo back would be a HUGE win for ESPN.

Tennis Channel

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 10 years since the Tennis Channel was launched. In these quick nine years, it’s come a long way. What once started as an outlet for tennis fanatics to watch no-name tournaments has turned into a must have network for even the faintest of tennis fans. Their turnaround is no more obvious than at the French Open, where they signed their first contract at a Grand Slam back in 2007. Since then they have acquired some sort of rights at all four slams.

Despite having come a long way, there is still room for improvement. Their graphics package looks like it comes from the 1980s and the lack of online streaming is a major drawback. Sunday morning when Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were struggling, I would have liked to be able to watch both matches. If this took place during ESPN’s television window, that would have been simple with the aforementioned ESPN3. Tennis Channel did not offer that opportunity. This continued during the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were in a tight match on Chatrier while Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro were battling on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Tennis Channel, which had coverage until 1PM Eastern Time was only able to show one match at a time. When ESPN took over coverage, I was immediately able to watch both matches thanks to online streaming.

Without question, the French Open is their biggest event of the year. As such, they bring their best crew to Paris. With NBC, they share Ted Robinson, John McEnroe and Mary Carillo. Simply put, there is no better broadcast booth in tennis. Robinson is a pro and he knows how to handle McEnroe, who despite being tennis’ best analyst can be overly talkative. Carillo, although toned down when McEnroe is in the booth, is no stranger to highly opinionated commentary. Carillo is so respected that she is constantly pegged by Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch as one of the best broadcasters of any sport. (Note: For Tennis Channel’s coverage, Carillo does not join Robinson and McEnroe in the booth. Despite the fact that the two are good friends, this is per McEnroe’s request.) The fact that the Tennis Channel uses the best commentary team in all of tennis is impressive.

Unfortunately, the highlights end there. Other analysts for the Tennis Channel include Lindsay Davenport, Rennae Stubbs, Justin Gimelstob and Jon Wertheim. Ian Eagle, Brett Haber, Bill Macatee and Cari Champion round out the team. Davenport and Stubbs are average analysts, but both, Davenport especially, seem extremely shy. Gimelstob is polarizing. While some, including CNBC’s Darren Rovell have given their approval, many others find him annoying, myself included. Tennis Channel’s analysts, save for Carillo and McEnroe, are just a little wet behind the ears. They definitely know the game, but they lack the TV presence that make ESPN’s team such a pleasure to watch.

The Grade: I’ll give the Tennis Channel a B-. Not bad for a network that three years ago would have gotten a D.

How to Improve: Time will help Tennis Channel’s newer analysts. Better graphics and online streaming would greatly enhance their coverage.

NBC

NBC offers very limited coverage of the French Open. Robinson, McEnroe and Carillo do all the commentating for the network. As mentioned, they are a great crew. Frankly, there isn’t too much else to say about the network. They own a three hour window on the weekend days of the tournament and then air some of the men’s semifinals on Friday and the two finals on the final weekend. NBC has been doing tennis for a long time and they know what they are doing, except when it comes to airing live coverage outside of the Eastern Time Zone on weekdays.

The Grade: Not much to grade, so I’ll give them an “S” for Satisfactory. They do the job and do it well.

How to Improve: Live Coverage to all time zones on semifinal Friday.

Overall, tennis fans are treated to pretty good coverage. ESPN is by far the superior network, but both the Tennis Channel and NBC do a nice job rounding out the coverage.  Looking ahead, ESPN has complete coverage of Wimbledon this year, from the first serve to championship point. Mercifully, gone are the days where NBC would take over midday during the 2^nd week of the tournament and then refuse to air live coverage to the entire country. ESPN will air the tournament live to the entire country, plus every television court will be available on ESPN 3/Watch ESPN throughout the tournament, including the finals. This is a great victory for tennis fans!

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Ryan Scheb graduated from the University of Florida; he majored in Finance. This fall he will move to New York City where he will join the Volunteer Program at Cristo Rey New York High School. Ryan is a diehard Packers fan/owner and longtime tennis fan. He has always had an interest in sports media and loves to write so he had a lot of fun writing this guest column.

And we have more guest columns coming tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

ESPN2 Announces French Open Coverage Plans; New Start Time

Starting Sunday, the second Grand Slam tournament on the Tennis calendar begins in Paris. Officially known as “Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros”, the French Open will go for two weeks. ESPN2 will have live tennis action for the first 6 days of the tournament starting at 5 a.m. ET and will last until 10 a.m. ET. During the second week, ESPN2′s start time will differ as the network has live coverage of the Round of 16 through to the Women’s Semifinals. For the previous four years, ESPN2 had begun its coverage at noon ET and went until 5 p.m. or until the conclusion of its matches.

Now as ESPN2 and Tennis Channel enter a new phase of joint Grand Slam coverage, ESPN2 which is the secondary rightsholder for this tournament will kick off the day with Tennis Channel picking things up from 10 a.m. ET until the conclusion.

Chris Fowler and Chris McKendry will share host duties. Fowler will be the main announcer as well. Chris Evert, Patrick McEnroe, Darren “Killer” Cahill, Brad Gilbert, Mary Joe Fernandez and Pam Shriver will all be on hand for ESPN2. Cliff Drysdale will skip Roland Garros and will be back for Wimbledon.

We have ESPN’s schedule of coverage.

ESPN at the French Open: New TV Schedule Live Every Day; Evert’s ESPN/Paris Debut

Djoker-Slam for Novak? Are Azarenka, Serena & Maria a New Big Three?
Action on ESPN2 HD & ESPN3 Starts Sunday, May 27; Women’s Semis Live June 7

The best tennis players in the world are headed for a collision on the red clay of Paris:  Roland Garros, the 2012 French Open starting on ESPN2 HD and ESPN3 on Sunday, May 27.  ESPN2’s new schedule of live action every day – starting at 5 a.m. ET most days – continues weekdays through Thursday, June 7, culminating with the women’s semifinals. ESPN3 will provide up to seven screens of action on the days ESPN2 is on the air, totaling 320 hours.

Chris Evert, who won the French Open a record seven times among her 18 Major singles championships, will work the event for ESPN for the first time. She joined the ESPN tennis team at last year’s Wimbledon.

The Storylines

Both sides of the draw present intriguing storylines, as challengers to the “trivalry” of Djokovic/Federer/Nadal (winners of 27 of the last 28 Majors) seem to be closing and the previously wide-open women’s field seems to be coalescing around a new “Big Three.”

Defending and six-time champ Rafael Nadal is ranked No. 2, after beating top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the finals in Rome on May 21.  The Serb has won the last three Majors and is seeking a historic “Djoker Slam,” but has never reached the final in Paris.  Roger Federer, a finalist a year ago, has the best record on the tour since the US Open.  After that, No. 4 Andy Murray had a career-best semifinal appearance last year and a slew of contenders are threatening to break up the Fab Four – local favorites Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic, Juan Martin Del Potro and 6-9 American John Isner who recently cracked the Top 10 in rankings for the first time.

On the women’s side, Victoria Azarenka, who recently ascended to the world’s top ranking, enters Paris off a tremendous early season including an Australian Open title but also recent losses to Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.  The trio seems to have separated themselves from the field in creating a new triumvirate at the top of the women’s game.  No. 2  Sharapova, the Aussie runnerup and winner last week in Rome, would love a French title to complete a career Grand Slam, and Williams, the 2002 champion, is playing far better than her No. 5 ranking.  In addition, the field includes four other former champions (Ana Ivanovic, Li Na, Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova) plus Venus Williams continues her comeback and enters her first Major since her sudden withdrawal from the US Open.

TV Coverage

After the opening day, ESPN2’s schedule will continue with an all-live telecast starting at 5 a.m. each day through Friday, June 1 and again on Monday, June 4.  The network will air live quarterfinal action Tuesday, June 5, at 1 p.m. and Wednesday, June 6 at 8 a.m.  ESPN2 will air the women’s semifinals live Thursday, June 7 at 8 a.m.  All the action on ESPN2 is also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.

Chris Fowler and Chris McKendry will again share host duties on ESPN2, with Fowler also calling matches. They will be joined by Evert, along with returnees Darren Cahill, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver. Cliff Drysdale will rejoin the team next month for ESPN’s first-ever exclusive start-to-finish coverage of Wimbledon.

For the sixth consecutive year, ESPN2 is working with Tennis Channel to bring viewers an almost around-the-clock tournament experience, with each channel cross-promoting the other’s schedule. Tennis Channel will produce all coverage for both channels, with each making use of its own on-air team.

ESPN3

ESPN3’s French Open schedule totals 328 hours with a multi-screen offering of up to seven courts and ESPN2’s coverage and is available on the days the network is televising.  ESPN3 will begin each day early in the morning with the first ball in the air and continue to the last shot of the day.  Matches will also be available after they take place via replay. Additionally, ESPNPlay in Latin America and the Caribbean will provide customers with extensive live coverage with multiple windows totaling over 500 hours in both English and Spanish on broadband platforms in addition to televised coverage throughout the regions.

ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold level members.  It is currently available to 73 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.  The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.

Other ESPN Platforms

Fans will have a variety of ways to follow the French Open with live action and updates on an array of ESPN platforms wherever they are and regardless of whether there is live television offered.

ESPN.com will provide comprehensive coverage before, during and after the French Open, highlighted by an enhanced Courtcast section that – for the first time – will feature all the live action from ESPN3. As always, it will also include real-time scoring from all courts, plus continuous live polling with results revealed immediately in ESPN2’s telecasts. In addition to all the results, news, analysis, schedules and more, ESPN.com will provide live blogging throughout the tournament so fans can follow the action even when there is no live television coverage. Also, fans can watch Digital Serve daily with ESPN2 commentators discussing the latest action and previewing key matches. Other highlights include:

• The Latest Dirt – a daily notebook roundup of all the day’s action;
• Center Court – a tennis video show featured each week on all the major news from Roland Garros;
• Quest for the Quad – a daily look at Novak Djokovic via previews, match reactions, blogs and more as he attempts to complete the “Djoker Slam” for winning four straight majors;
• Slam Central – comprehensive coverage of everything that transpired each day;
• What We Learned – ESPN.com senior writer Greg Garber and others will highlight the day’s news and notes with quick video snippets on the overlooked storylines.

The WatchESPN App – for fans who receive ESPN’s linear networks as part of their video subscription via Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV or Comcast Xfinity – will provide access to for ESPN2’s live coverage online at WatchESPN.com and through the WatchESPN app on smartphones and tablets, in addition to ESPN3’s multi-screen offering.

ESPN Mobile TV will have 51 hours of live coverage, simulcasting all of ESPN2’s live programming, highlighted by the women’s semifinals Thursday, June 7.

ESPN Interactive TV, exclusive to DIRECTV, will present the French Open showing ESPN2 or Tennis Channel’s live coverage along with five other courts available with commentary.  Other features include interactive data, the tournament draw, up-to-date scores, and daily order of play.

ESPN International will present up to 130 hours of the French Open to more than 60 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean on a variety of regional networks.  Matches will be chosen based on local interest and commentary will be offered in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place

Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup in 2009, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), and Wimbledon since 2003, with exclusivity for live television with all other rights extended added in a 12-year agreement starting in 2012.

ESPN debuted September 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, September 14, a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing.

In addition, broadband network ESPN3, now in nearly 72 million homes, carries thousands of hours of tennis annually, including all four Grand Slam events, plus ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments and WTA Premier Events, and season-ending championships for both tours. Also, ESPN Classic shows great matches from the past and the sport receives extensive coverage on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine.  ESPN 3D aired its first tennis at Wimbledon in 2011.

2012 French Open on ESPN2 & ESPN2 HD

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun, May 27 – Fri, June 1	5 – 10 a.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Mon, June 4	5 – 10 a.m.	Round of 16	Live
Tue, June 5	1 – 7 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live & Same-day action
Wed, June 6	8 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live
Thur, June 7	8 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Women’s Semifinals	Live

2012 French Open on ESPN3

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun, May 27 – Fri, June 1	5 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Early Round Action	Live
Mon, June 4	8 a.m. – 7 p.m.	Round of 16	Live
Tue, June 5	8 a.m. – 7 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live
Wed, June 6	5 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Quarterfinals	Live
Thur, June 7	5 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Men’s Doubles Semis Women’s Semifinals	Live

That will do it.

CBS Airs A Double Dose Of Tennis This Weekend

While CBS is focusing on the Final Four in New Orleans, it also will be airing the women’s and men’s finals of the Sony Ericsson Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Miami. There has been some great tennis these last two weeks as we’ve seen some great upsets with Andy Roddick beating Roger Federer and Australian Open champion Vika Azarenka losing her first match of 2012.

Bill Macatee, Mary Carillo and Mary Jo Fernandez will call the matches for CBS. The women’s final featuring Maria Sharapova is at 12:30 p.m. ET today. The men’s final between Aussie Open champion Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray is scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow.

We have the preview from CBS Sports.

CBS SPORTS SERVES UP SONY ERICSSON OPEN WOMEN’S AND MEN’S FINALS ON SATURDAY, MARCH 31 AND SUNDAY, APRIL 1

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR broadcasts the women’s and men’s finals of the SONY ERICSSON OPEN live on Saturday, March 31 (12:30-3:00 PM, ET) and Sunday, April 1 (1:00-3:30 PM, ET), respectively, from Crandon Stadium in Miami, Fla.

Saturday’s women’s final will see No. 2-world Maria Sharapova takes on No. 5-world ranked Agnieszka Radwanska. On the men’s side No. 1 Novak Djokovic takes No. 4-world ranked Andy Murray on Sunday.

CBS Sports’ Bill Macatee, Mary Carillo and Mary Joe Fernandez call the action from Miami. CBS Sports’ Bob Mansbach produces and Suzanne Smith directs. Harold Bryant is the Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

That will do it.

Attempting A Friday Megalink Post

This week has been hellish for me and I apologize for not being able to post as much as I would like. I’ve been away from my computer for most of the day and by the time I get home, I’m tired and don’t want to update the blog.

Well, with me already done my errands for today, I’ll give you some linkage that has been seriously lacking this week.

Of course, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks which you can peruse.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jim Rome is hoping to make a splash as he prepares to launch his new daily show on CBS Sports Network.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On! blog says perpetually angry ESPN college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb is throwing his hat into the Kansas State coaching ring.

The Associated Press was on hand to witness Root Sports Northwest’s production of the Seattle Mariners-Oakland A’s regular season openers in Japan without actually traveling to the Far East.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim has more thoughts on the numerous conflicts of interest in tennis broadcasting.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has Fox Sports’ statement on its carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable over Fox Sports San Diego.

John profiles legendary sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer.

Around the Rings has the press release regarding the European Broadcasting Union obtaining the rights to the World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Institute says college basketball analyst Bob Knight should not be allowed to live by his own rules when he’s on TV.

Scott Soshnick and Steven Church of Bloomberg Businessweek says the Los Angeles Dodgers sale was sparked by media rights.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter says former Sony Pictures head Peter Gruber who’s part of the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group could bring a new attitude towards marketing the team.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott calling rights fees for college football are undervalued.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NESN National is being launched in Indianapolis.

Tim Nudd at Adweek says Chrysler is unveiling four new follow ups to its “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spots during various events this weekend including the NCAA Final Four and Mad Men.

Adweek’s Mike Shields writes ESPN.com is partaking in Facebook’s Open Graph, but with some restrictions.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age notes that CBS/Turner brought in its highest sales revenue ever for March Madness Live.

Ronnie Ramos at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says March Madness has been enhanced by social media and the digital experience.

The Brothers Yoder at Awful Announcing cast the upcoming Anchorman sequel using ESPN’ers. This is good.

Ben Koo at AA is not a huge fan of the overhead shots employed by CBS/Turner for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Los Angeles Times feels there’s one person who could spoil the new ownership for the Dodgers.

Ahmed Yussuf at EPL Talk gives a first-hand account of following the English Premier League from Australia.

Sports Media Watch says last weekend’s rain-shortened NASCAR on Fox event did not do well in the ratings.

Joe Favorito asks if ‘The Hunger Games” could give archery a boost in time for this summer’s Olympics.

Jason McIntyre at The Big Lead reports that Joe Posnanski is leaving Sports Illustrated.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says the potential Fox cable sports network may not knock down ESPN, but could give it a run for its money.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about two rival Hollywood agencies representing Tim Tebow simultaneously.

Bob’s Blitz says WFAN’s Craig Carton browbeat former Tiger Woods swing coach Hank Haney to the point where he hung up.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says CBS returns to New Orleans where it began its Final Four journey 30 years ago.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says ESPN MLB analyst Curt Schilling is facing hypocrisy calls after he criticized his former Red Sox team this week.

Chad adds some thoughts on Schilling and on NESN’s Jenny Dell that didn’t make his column.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch writes in SB Nation that a Tiger Woods in contention is good for The Masters^® and its TV partners.

Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reviews this year’s edition of the MLB At-Bat app.

Richard Sandomir from the Times examines the Dodgers sale.

Anthony Riemer of Newsday looks at Jeremy Lin’s lunch with the sacked ESPN.com editor who unwittingly made a racial slur last month.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson should not be advocating violence. I don’t think he did, Phil, but continue to hate everything, ok?

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for former Tennessee and current Sirius XM analyst Bruce Pearl on the Final Four.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has the ESPN MAC football schedule.

Pete has CBS excited about this year’s Final Four.

Jane Kwiatkowski of the Buffalo News says this is a tough time for the local TV sportscast.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at a local PBS documentary on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready for Phillies baseball.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” gave another of many Capitals references.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Mitch “Wildi Thing” Williams.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Houston Open should be helped by a lot of interesting storylines.

David says Jim Rome is getting ready for his CBS Sports Network closeup.

David writes that Texans running back Arian Foster is taking his show to the team’s radio flagship station.

In The Oklahoman, Mel Bracht has ESPN’s MLB analysts predicting the upcoming season.

Mel says there will be plenty of baseball available in the Oklahoma City market.

Mel reports a local radio station has flipped to being a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel writes that a local radio sports director has been laid off thanks to Clear Channel.

Midwest

Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says New Orleans has provided CBS with plenty of Final Four excitement.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a local TV station plans to ride the Kentucky train for as long as possible.

John says a couple of long-time local radio veterans got the ax due to Clear Channel cost cutting.

John writes that a radio documentary on late Cincinnati Reds voice Waite Hoyt airs this weekend.

The Indianapolis Star says Butler coach Brad Stevens will be a guest analyst for CBS on the Final Four.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes the Brewers have extended their radio rights deal with their long-time flagship station.

Bob says a local sportscaster is back to work after a long illness.

Bob tells us that Marquette coach Buzz Williams will also be a guest analyst on CBS this weekend.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that CBS loves New Orleans at Final Four time.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says 20 Cardinals games won’t be seen by AT&T U-Verse subscribers this season.

Dan writes that the defending champions Cardinals will be in the national spotlight quite a few times this season.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Fox Sports San Diego is not optimistic of getting a deal with two cable providers in time for Padres opening day.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has ESPN’s MLB analysts praising Magic Johnson’s presence with the Dodgers.

Jim was surprised that Kentucky-Louisville wasn’t the nightcap for the Final Four.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Lakers fans are enjoying having guest analysts on radio broadcasts this season.

Tom talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Tom has more on Rome in his blog.

Canada

The usually uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC Sports appears to be rudderless as it heads into a new NHL negotiation.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the viewership numbers for Canadian sports television from last week.

And that will conclude the megalinks.

Some Long Overdue Linkage

Due to crazy personal schedules on Tuesday and Wednesday, I wasn’t able to update the site as much as I would like. I apologize to you as I’ve been trying to keep you apprised of the latest sports media news. A few housekeeping notes, first I did some Sports Media Thoughts earlier this morning and you read them here.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing was kind to ask me on his podcast and we recorded it on Wednesday while I was on the road so the phone quality isn’t great (damn you, AT&T 3G). You can listen to what Matt and I discussed at the Awful Announcing site.

And lastly, Keith Thibault and I recorded our latest Sports Media Weekly podcast this week and our guest is Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette and the subject is college hockey coverage.

Now to our links.

Michael Smith & John Ourand from Sports Business Journal look at the possibility of ESPN and Fox Sports teaming up once again, this time to control the media rights to the Big 12 Conference. The two companies combined for the Pac-12 last year in an attempt to keep NBC Sports out of college sports and it appears the two are back at work again on the Big 12 rights.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim makes a very good point on the perceived conflict of interests of ESPN’s tennis announcers and the players to which they’re connected, case in point, Mary Jo Fernandez seen sitting with Roger Federer’s wife during the BNP Paribas Open last week on ABC.

Andrew McCalvy at MLB.com writes that Milwaukee Brewers Hall of Fame voice Bob Uecker will be honored with a statue outside Miller Park. Congrats to Uke on a well deserved honor. We all remember his character, Harry Doyle from the “Major League” movies and his great quote, “Juuuuust a bit outside.” Classic.

Interesting study from the Media Behavior Institute which shows a great majority still watch the NCAA Tournament on TV, but online numbers comprise a large chunk.

Ben Grossman at Broadcasting & Cable reports that Major League Baseball is looking at placing postseason games on MLB Network to boost its subscriber numbers.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that MLB Network will produce a pregame show for Fox Saturday Baseball.

Tom Comi of Channel Guide Magazine would like a halt to the Tim Tebow media circus.

Mike Miller at NBC’s College Basketball Talk notes that the NCAA Tournament ratings on CBS/Turner are just about even with last year.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid has video of ESPN’s Mike Tirico losing it during last night’s Lakers-Mavericks game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Wheaties may be dying a very slow and painful death.

Ronnie Ramos in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says coaches and players are learning the proper use of Twitter.

Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy notes that Rogers Sportsnet picked up on a popular internet meme and used it in an on-screen graphic.

To Fishbowl NY where Jerry Barmash talks with Kenny Albert.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that NBC Sports Network set a ratings record for hockey in NYC.

Neil notes that ESPN has a new head man-in-charge.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that CBS/Turner will bring in two coaches as guest analysts for the NCAA Tournament.

Pete says ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball crew will be busy in the first week of the MLB season.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Lehigh left an impression on CBS during the NCAA Tournament.

Matt Brooks of the Washington Post’s Early Lead has your viewing guide for tonight’s Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has links to some of the best columns from the late Furman Bisher.

Some of Bisher’s friends pay tribute to the man.

The AJC has a gallery of pictures showing Bisher throughout his career.

Mel Bracht of the Oklahoman looks at HBO Real Sports’ update on the 2001 plane crash that hit the Oklahoma State basketball program extremely hard.

Mel says local viewers chose Fox Sports Oklahoma over ESPN for two Oklahoma City Thunder games last week.

David Jablonski of the Dayton (OH) Daily News says a local man leads the millions of entries in ESPN’s Bracketology contest.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer is not a fan of NCAA Tournament scheduling.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the radio analyst for Bucks games has been off the air since last month.

Bob says former Brewers voice Matt Vasgersian will host the MLB Network-produced MLB on Fox pregame show.

Tom Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times remembers pioneering sportswriter Lacy J. Banks who died Wednesday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has video of Bob Costas pontificating on the Saints suspensions.

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin writes about the media fighting over staged NHL fights.

The Toronto Sports Media blog explores the local newspapers imploring the Maple Leafs to apologize to their fans for missing the playoffs.

Sports Media Watching notes that ratings on NBA TV are up.

Media Rantz says ESPN got fooled by a fake Adam Schefter Twitter account during Tim Tebow coverage last night.

We have a picture of that fake Adam Schefter tweet. “Adarn Schefter”?

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing explores the Gus Johnson departure from CBS and how it may leave him without his signature event for a long time to come.

The Convoluted Mind of a Single Man site looks at the innovations John Madden brought to NFL broadcasting.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth says league-owned networks are making big strides in production and programming.

And that will finish our links for today.

Bringing Out The Mid-Week Linkage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WGHP also has a special section devoted to Brenner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And we’ll end it there for today.

Chris Evert Joins ESPN Full-Time

Last year, Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert joined ESPN for Wimbledon and the US Open tournaments. She also worked the Australian Open this year and just announced by the Alleged Worldwide Leader, she’ll be working all four Grand Slams for ESPN2 under a new four year contract. In addition to the slams, she’ll work various other tennis events for the network.

The next tournament for Chris will be the French Open in May. Before ESPN, she worked for NBC in the 1990′s, but left the network to become a mother to raise her three sons.

She also runs her own tennis academy.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

Chris Evert to Serve as ESPN Tennis Analyst Year Round

Hall of Famer to Work All Four Majors and More in Four-Year Deal

Tennis great Chris Evert, who joined ESPN at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, has signed a four-year deal to work all four of tennis’ majors and other events. One of the most accomplished players in history, she also recently worked the Australian Open, including the women’s final, on ESPN2. That event completed her “tennis TV Grand Slam,” fitting for someone who won a “career Grand Slam” on the court. Her next assignment for ESPN will be the French Open – a title she won a record seven times.

Evert won 18 major singles championships, including at least one each year for 13 consecutive years (1974-1986).  In addition to her seven wins in Paris, she took home a record six US Opens, plus three Wimbledon championships and two at the Australian Open.  She retired in 1989 with 157 singles titles overall, and a career win-loss record of 1,309-146 (.900), the best of any professional player in history.

“Last year we quickly discovered what Chris brings to our telecasts – the perspective of having been at the sport’s pinnacle, keen knowledge of the game today and a personality that sparkles with both candor and humor,” said John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, production.  “She instantly fit well into our hard-working team and it’s appropriate a champion of all the Grand Slam events will work all four for us.”

Evert said, “Everyone from ESPN – from the commentators to the production staff – made me feel part of the family from day one.  I couldn’t ask for a more helpful or engaging group of people to team with. The Grand Slams were such an important part of my life, and I am excited to be going back to them.  I look forward to expressing the emotions, as well as the strategies, that the current players are feeling at these special events.”

I had a crush on Chris Evert growing up. I think a lot of tennis fans in growing up in her era did.

Some Early Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

Time for some sports media thoughts once again. I owe you some since I wasn’t able to do them after last Monday’s post. As always, they come in bullet form.

• Since I was out for most of the afternoon on Sunday, I missed the Pregame coverage and 3/4 of the AFC Championship Game, but I was able to see the entire 4th quarter and watched all of the NFC Championship. From what I saw of the AFC Championship Game, I thought CBS did a decent job, but there was a glaring omission in the last minute.

  First, by not having a rules analyst like Fox with Mike Pereira, CBS really didn’t delve into whether a ruled incompletion thrown by Joe Flacco to Lee Evans should have been reviewed or discussed whether it was an incompletion in the first place. As it was later explained later, it was ruled correctly, but not until after CBS went off the air.

  And CBS never tried to get an answer as to why Ravens place kicker Billy Cundiff ran onto the field late, influencing his missed game tying field goal attempt. Jim Nantz didn’t even mention Cundiff’s tardiness as it was happening. And the NFL Today postgame show didn’t discuss either issue.

  For the NFC Championship, Fox was on its game from the call of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, to key replays showing that 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams muffed fielding a kick when the ball glanced off his knee. Replays were very conclusive. I thought Fox had one of its best broadcasts of the season and it ended the 2011-12 NFL campaign by going out in top.

  CBS could have done a better job by servicing its viewers at the end of the game.

• Thanks to its third overtime in the last five NFC Championship Games, I expect Fox to get a huge viewership number, somewhere near 60 million viewers. I’m not kidding. If records were set for the NFL Wild Card and Divisional Playoffs, why not for Championship Sunday?

  And NBC has to love having the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. With two teams with national followings, plus a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, I think another viewership record will be broken this year for the Big Game.

• Two changes on the national radio coverage of the NFL. First, Westwood One has been officially taken over by Dial Global. The two companies merged last year, but earlier this month, Westwood One was rebranded as Dial Global Sports.

  In addition, Dial Global’s broadcasts of the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl are no longer blacked out in the home markets. In Boston, Dial Global affiliate WEEI aired the AFC Championship opposite New England Patriots radio flagship WBZ-FM. And WEEI will air the Dial Global’s feed of the Super Bowl as well. So stations that carry Dial Global’s NFL schedule won’t have to stop with the Divisional Playoffs in case the team in their local market makes it to the Conference Championship and beyond.

• Being a tennis fan, I am loving the combined Tennis Channel/ESPN2 coverage of the Australian Open. I also love as a DirecTV subscriber having six channels to choose from, either the network coverage, or individual court channels showing commercial-free, uninterrupted action.

  A couple of complaints. ESPN2 could spend some more time showing live matches instead of constant talking from the set. I don’t mind postmatch interviews with players, but sometimes, ESPN2 falls into the trap of too much discussion while matches are underway.

  We are definitely missing Mary Carillo in Melbourne. For some reason, she chose to take this year’s Australian Open off and her presence has been missed. I do love having Tracy Austin on Tennis Channel this year and I hope she’ll be used during the French Open. And could John McEnroe be borrowed from Fox Sports Australia for ESPN2 or Tennis Channel? He’s been missed also.

That will do it. Enjoy your Monday.

ESPN3 To Carry 150 Hours/Year of Women’s Tennis

ESPN has signed a new deal with the Women’s Tennis Association to carry all of the WTA Tour events on ESPN3, the network’s online platform. This new agreement spans six years and will last through 2016. Included in the deal are 11 premier tournaments and 70 matches from around the world. The deal takes effect with this week’s WTA Championships which are taking place in Turkey.

ESPN3 will carry the preliminary matches through to the semifinals with ESPN2 carrying the finals on Sunday on tape delay.

We have the exclusive joint press release coming from both ESPN and the Women’s Tennis Association below. Take a gander

ESPN Inc. Signs Multi-Platform Agreement with the WTA

Deal Through 2016 Completes ESPN3’s Tennis Programming Slate as the Premier Destination in the US for Every Major Global Tennis Event

ESPN Inc. has signed a six-year agreement with the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) to carry live coverage of its events across ESPN’s multiple platforms. The deal solidifies ESPN3, ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, as the premier destination for every major global tennis event on the men’s and women’s circuit in the US.

“This new agreement with the WTA says a lot about the power of ESPN’s multi-platform scale and its ability to serve passionate tennis fans,” said Jason Bernstein, senior director of programming and acquisitions, ESPN. “We have a long history with professional tennis in our 32 years, and now we are slated to carry all the top-tier tennis events from around the world across our networks.”

“With simultaneous matches and global events held year round, ESPN3 is an ideal platform for tennis,” said Damon Phillips, vice president, ESPN3. “Fans have come to know the network as a leading destination for live tennis, including outer court and exclusive coverage. Now with the WTA through 2016, ESPN3 is the year-round destination for tennis fans in the US.”

”ESPN has long served tennis fans in the US, and we are pleased to continue to partner with them to deliver enhanced coverage of world class women’s tennis across ESPN’s multiple platforms,” said Stacey Allaster, CEO of the WTA.

The deal includes rights to season-long WTA matches as well as the following events:

• WTA Championships: Championships singles final from Istanbul on ESPN2 and ESPN3, with round robin and semifinals coverage on ESPN3.
• WTA Premier Events: Live coverage of more than 70 matches from 11 events on ESPN3, including early round matches and select quarterfinals between January-October annually.

Coverage begins today with the TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships live from Istanbul. ESPN3’s live coverage will feature select round robin matches, both semifinals and the final on Sunday, October 30, at 11 a.m. ET. ESPN2 will provide television coverage of the final at 1 p.m. Players featured in the Championship include top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na, Vera Zvonareva, Samantha Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska.

The WTA is the governing body of the global circuit of women’s professional tennis events (with the exception of the Grand Slams and Fed Cup) and features the top-ranked women’s players in the world. This year marks the 41st edition of the Championships. The Championships consists of the top eight singles players and top four doubles teams, competing for $5 million in prize money and the year-end No. 1 rankings.

With today’s deal, ESPN3 adds 150 live hours of women’s tennis each year to its programming slate. The network now carries all four Grand Slam tournaments, all ATP World Tour 500 and ATP Masters 1000 events – including Indian Wells and Miami – the WTA Premier events, and the season-ending championships of both tours – the TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. In 2011, tennis on ESPN3 accounted for over 2,750 live hours, including more than 2,200 exclusive hours.

ESPN’s 2011 tennis schedule of more than 585 televised hours is highlighted by all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done. One week after ESPN’s debut on September 7, 1979, ESPN carried its first tennis telecast with a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at US from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), Wimbledon since 2003 and the US Open since 2009.

That will do it.

Providing Some Sunday Linkage

Let’s do some linkage on this Sunday morning. Some good stuff to get to.

TVbytheNumbers says World Series Game 3 easily won the primetime ratings last night over college football and repeats on NBC.

The Associated Press has an in-depth story on how Fox and Telemundo won the rights to the 2015-22 World Cups.

Marisa Guthrie and Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter report on NBCUniversal’s all-in bid for Telemundo for the rights to FIFA’s World Cups from 2015 through 2022.

R. Thomas Umstead from Multichannel News writes on the winning bids by Fox and Telemundo for the US media rights to the World Cup.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says a Cox Cable employee in Arizona has pleaded guilty to inserting a brief clip of a porno movie during the Super Bowl in 2009.

Also from Multichannel, Mike Reynolds writes that Golf Channel is adding five international tournaments to close out 2011.

Oh here we go again. There’s another silly carriage dispute and it involves Fox again. Remember last year’s Cablevision/Fox dispute that left the network off cable systems in New York and Philadelphia? Well, this time Fox is having a dispute with DirecTV and among the channels that could be pulled: FX, Fox Soccer & Fox Soccer Plus, Speed, Fuel and 19 Fox Sports Net regional channels. That’s just great. We get the latest from Alex Weprin from TV Newser.

John Ourand from Sports Business Daily also looks at the Fox/DirecTV dispute.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions has a suggestion on how to prevent these disputes in the future.

Richard Pagliaro of Tennis Magazine writes that ESPN has obtained the online rights of several women’s tennis tournaments.

Glenn Davis from SportsGrid has the video of Michigan State’s amazing Hail Mary pass to win last night’s game against Wisconsin.

At the Sox & Dawgs blog, good friend Ian Bethune has the full page ad former Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein placed thanking Red Sox fans.

Jeré Longman of the New York Times looks at Fox and Telemundo winning the World Cup bids.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks back at the 25th anniversary of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series from NBC’s point of view.

The great Bob Glauber of Newsday has a story on several NFL teams showing concern about being miked up for games and having their signals heard not only on TV, but by opposing teams.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick has the preposterous theory that the World Series is watered down.

Paul Tharp of the Post says the lure of tax breaks led NBC Sports to move its headquarters to Connecticut.

Harvey Zucker of the Jersey Journal reviews ESPN’s documentary on boxer Chuck Wepner, affectionately known as “The Bayonne Bleeder” and one who knocked down Muhammed Ali.

Tracee Hamilton of the Washington Post says the Nationals deserve a better TV deal.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Navy’s associate athletic director about allowing Showtime to film a year-long documentary on its rivalry with Army.

Mike Mooneyham from the Charleston (SC) Post & Courier looks at E:60′s profile of WWE wrestler Scott Hall.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times notes that Florida State and Tampa Bay Bucs radio voice Gene Deckerhoff is pulling off a unique double dip this weekend.

David Knox of the Birmingham (AL) News talks with ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham who is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

Doug Demmons of the News says ESPN is pleased with its NASCAR Non-Stop Coverage.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN’s Brad Nessler and Todd Blackledge got the job done during last night’s Texas Tech-Oklahoma game.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says CBS has relented and the market will get today’s Oakland-KC game and Carson Palmer’s Raiders debut.

John notes that Joe Morgan’s syndicated radio show has changed from a nightly program to weekends-only.

Kathleen Lavey from the Lansing (MI) State Journal writes about the crowd that showed up for ESPN’s College GameDay on the Michigan State campus yesterday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with ESPN College GameDay’s Lee Corso about how elaborate his headgear picks have become.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with MLB Network host and Gateway City native Greg Amsinger.

Dan says Joe Buck’s voice rose to the occasion in last night’s World Series Game 3.

The Los Angeles Times’ Lisa Dillman says some soccer fans fear the Fox cross promotion for the World Cup.

Sports Media Watch says the SEC on CBS fell to near season-low ratings.

SMW says college football on ABC is way up this season.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Versus is having an up-and-down start to the NHL season.

Joe Favorito says Dan Wheldon’s death should not halt IRL’s initiatives to be more transparent with the public.

And we’ll end it there for today. The Sunday NFL pregame quotage will be posted throughout the day.

Bringing Out Some Sunday Links

I’m linking in the middle of doing some badly needed DIY projects here at the Fang’s Bites abode so I might be a bit scarce today. I’ll do what I can on this lazy Sunday, the middle of the Labor Day Weekend.

The ESPN Ombudsman, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute responds to Bruce Feldman’s allegations about his (alleged) suspension.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Cablevision and Verizon FiOS dropped Tennis Channel this morning as part of yet another installment of their long-running dispute.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has video of ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza pulling a Heidi Watney and gagging on air after taking a swig of pickle juice. Or it hearkens to when Tracy Wolfson tried Cammy Cam Juice.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post has some suggestions for the NBA Players Association.

Page Six of the New York Post says Andy Roddick dislikes John McEnroe so much that he refused to do an ESPN interview until he left the set.

Joseph Barracato of the Post ridicules CNBC’s Darren Rovell’s Versus show even before it takes air.

Steve Politi of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says the Bayonne Bleeder, Chuck Wepner, will get his story of his 1976 fight with Muhammed Ali told by Hollywood and ESPN in separate projects.

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams talks with the multifaceted Trevor Matich of ESPN and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

In Texas Monthly, Jason Cohen takes a look at the trials and tribulations of the Longhorn Network.

Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News says the Longhorn Network will pick up five Texas-San Antonio games this season.

EPL Talk says the interesting battle in soccer will be Fox vs. NBC.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

SMW says the first leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup did not do well.

Joe Favorito takes a look at MetLife buying the naming rights for New Meadowlands Stadium.

And that will do it for the Sunday links.

Dick Enberg To Be Honored By International Tennis Hall of Fame

Coming up in September, legendary announcer Dick Enberg will receive the Eugene L. Scott Award by the International Tennis Hall of Fame. As this is Enberg’s last year for calling both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Enberg will be honored for his contributions to tennis and his suport for the game. Enberg began calling tennis in 1980 and has continuously called Grand Slam events since then. He called his last Wimbledon for ESPN2 in June and will call his final U.S. Open for CBS in September. After this year, Dick will focus on calling the San Diego Padres as the team moves to Fox Sports West in 2012.

We have the press release from the International Tennis Hall of Fame and CBS Sports.

Sportscaster Dick Enberg to be honored for commitment to tennis at The Legends Ball

Enberg, a 13-time Emmy award winning broadcaster, will be presented with the Eugene L. Scott Award. The award will be presented at The Legends Ball, a gala social event during the US Open for the benefit of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum.

NEWPORT, R.I. — On Friday, September 9, the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum will gather hundreds of tennis enthusiasts and industry leaders at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City for The Legends Ball, an annual social event that celebrates tennis and honors some of the sport’s greatest champions and contributors. In addition to paying tribute to the International Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2011 inductees – Andre Agassi and Peachy Kellmeyer, who received the highest honor in the game on July 9 – the event will salute a great contributor and long time supporter of tennis, Dick Enberg.

Enberg will be presented with Eugene L. Scott Award which honors an individual who embodies Scott’s commitment to communicating honestly and critically about the game, and who has had a significant impact on the tennis world. Scott founded Tennis Week magazine and wrote the most widely read and well-respected column about the sport, “Vantage Point” until his death in 2005.  Previous recipients of the award have been: John McEnroe (2006); Andre Agassi (2007); Billie Jean King (2008); Arthur Ashe and his wife Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (2009); and Martina Navratilova (2010).

“The International Tennis Hall of Fame’s Legends Ball is an opportunity to pay tribute to the outstanding contributors to the sport of tennis who have played an instrumental role in its growth, and Dick Enberg is at the very top of that list. We are pleased to be able to say thank you at this very special event, and invite the tennis community to join us in doing so,” said Christopher E. Clouser, chairman of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum.

Thirteen-time Emmy award winning sportscaster Dick Enberg is widely regarded as one of the most versatile, engaging sportscasters on the national level. In his 50-year career, Enberg has called sports ranging from all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments to NCAA basketball, NBA, NFL, MLB and PGA TOUR events. Enberg’s poignant delivery has brought a vivid impression of the energy and emotion of some of the biggest events in sports from courts, fields, and courses around the world to living rooms across the nation. He has been the voice of four Summer Olympics, Super Bowls, The Masters, The PGA Championship, the Breeders Cup and the four tennis Grand Slams— the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. In addition to his Emmy awards, Enberg has been named National Sportscaster of the Year nine times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, and was inducted to that organization’s Hall of Fame. He was also recognized as Sportscaster of the Year five times by the American Sportscasters Association. He is one of just four sportscasters to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1989, Enberg was named Tennis Play-by-Play Man of the Year by Tennis Magazine. Enberg is retiring from the Grand Slam tournaments this year, after more than two decades of broadcasting the world’s most exciting tennis events. He will be focusing his energy on the San Diego Padres MLB team, where he is the play-by-play announcer. In September, Enberg will deliver his final US Open broadcast on CBS.

Former WTA Tour Pro and Emmy award winning broadcaster Mary Carillo will serve as master of ceremonies for The Legends Ball. A legendary line-up of tennis greats will be in attendance, including current players, Hall of Famers, officials from the ATP World Tour, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam tournaments and tennis fans from around the world. In celebration of their Hall of Fame induction, which occurred in July, speaking programs and video presentations will pay tribute to the one-and-only Andre Agassi, former world No. 1 and eight-time grand slam tournament champion, and Peachy Kellmeyer, an influential tennis executive whose vision, dedication and hard work has been a driving force behind the growth of women’s pro tennis since the 1970s. The evening will also feature a very special tribute presentation honoring the remarkable life and career of Hall of Famer and humanitarian Arthur Ashe, in recognition of the 25^th anniversary of his Hall of Fame induction.

Always a highlight of the evening, The Legends Ball auction will feature an array of exclusive experiences and luxury items that will excite tennis fans and non-tennis fans alike. In the past, auction items have included hit sessions with tennis luminaries Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Monica Seles; ticket and travel packages to Grand Slam events; golf at legendary courses like Winged Foot; autographed tennis memorabilia from Roger Federer and Andre Agassi; exotic vacation packages; and golf, baseball, hockey, basketball and football tickets and memorabilia.

Proceeds of The Legends Ball, which has been held annually since 1980, will benefit the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum and support the mission of preserving the history of the game, honoring the legends and inspiring the future.

That is all.

This Weekend on CBS Sports…

Usually in August, CBS Sports starts getting busy with the PGA Championship, NFL preseason and the U.S. Open and we’re seeing that this weekend with golf, tennis, college football preview and a fringe event. From September until April is CBS Sports’ busy period and then it goes into hibernation from after The Masters® until the beginning of August. That’s too long to be dormant, but CBS has a philosophy and it’s sticking to it.

Here’s this weekend’s programming for CBS Sports.

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR PRESENTS “DRAG BOAT RACING” ON SATURDAY, AUG. 20

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR features the action-packed Top Fuel Hydro, Top Alcohol Hydro, Top Alcohol Flat, and Pro Modified racing of the DRAG BOAT RACING series on Saturday, Aug. 20 (1:00-2:00 PM, ET; taped 7/30/11) from Wheatland, Mo. This high horsepower motorsport showcases 8,000 horsepower boats that skim over the race course at over 250 mph in under three-and-a-half seconds. Cameron Steele, Ken Stout, Rob Klepper and Keli Snyder call the action for CBS Sports. CBS Sports’ Ryan Galvin serves as coordinating producer.

CBS SPORTS’ COLLEGE FOOTBALL CREW PREVIEWS 2011 SEASON ON SATURDAY, AUG. 20

CBS Sports’ Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman and Tony Barnhart give their expert insights into what to expect during the upcoming 2011 college football season on CBS Sports’ COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW on Saturday, Aug. 20 (2:00-3:00 PM, ET). Brando, Tillman and Barnhart discuss everything from which teams to watch, to who will hold the Heisman Trophy, how all the off-season news and coaching changes will affect the game, and what teams they see playing for the BCS Championship. CBS Sports’ Vin DeVito produces and Bob Matina directs.

CBS SPORTS FOCUSES ON U.S. OPEN WITH TENNIS IN CINCINNATI ON AUGUST 21

With its eye focused on the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in a couple of weeks, CBS Sports broadcasts the men’s final of the U.S. Open Series WESTERN AND SOUTHERN OPEN on Sunday, Aug. 21 (12:30-3:00 PM, ET) live from Cincinnati, Ohio. Among the notables in the field this year are the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who looks to continue his great season by winning his 11^th ATP World Tour tournament with a win in Cincinnati; four-time Western & Southern Open champion and two-time defending champion, World No. 3 Roger Federer; No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 5 Robin Soderling, No. 6 David Ferrer, No. 7 Mardy Fish and No. 8 Gael Monfils, among others. CBS Sports’ Mary Carillo provides play-by-play for the first time in her career on CBS Sports, and Jim Courier serves as analyst. CBS Sports’ Bob Mansbach produces and Bob Fishman directs.

Harold Bryant is Executive Producer & Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

And we’re done here.

Bringing You Some Friday Megalink Love

Ok, seeing some good stories on this Friday and it appears that I’m staying in the office today so I can give you a full set and not have to leave for another site. Let’s git ‘er done!

We start as always with the Weekend Viewing Picks which are getting busier with each passing weekend as we get closer to football. And in September, you’ll have College Football Viewing Picks and the NFL Viewing Picks to go along with the weekend picks so you can expect to see those every Friday from September through the end of both football seasons.

Let’s do the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy of USA Today debate whether networks really need to use ex-jocks to be analysts.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that HBO PPV will air the Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez fight with replays of the 24/7 documentary series airing on CNN. Interesting.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel says Comcast is going after DirecTV for what it says is a deceptive ad campaign by the satellite provider for offering “free” NFL games.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine looks at how Kraft used its Macaroni & Cheese brand to help warm up football fans tailgating in cold weather cities.

Jason Fry in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center gives some tips on starting up a digital sports journalism program.

At NFL.com, Adam Rank gives his top six favorite features from NFL Films as founder Ed Sabol goes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid is giddy over Stephen Colbert taking over MLB’s Twitter account for all day today.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser has the latest New Era Red Sox-Yankees ad featuring notorious Yankees fan Alec Baldwin and Red Sox fan John Krasinski. This ad called “One Hitter” is the best of the series thus far.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group says NASCAR.com is expanding its online RaceView program from Sprint Cup only to three Nationwide Series races.

Sports Media Watch notes that the ratings for the MLS All-Star Game on ESPN2 went up slightly from last year.

Joe Favorito talks about motorsports trying to tap into the New York market.

Barry Janoff of The Big Lead notes that Pepsi is returning to advertise in the Super Bowl by using the winner of Fox’s X Factor contest into NBC’s broadcast.

Brady Green at Awful Announcing reports a story that we’ve been following closely here, that Versus may make a big commitment to college hockey.

AA also introduces its Fan Forum where you get a voice on the blog.

In Sports TV Jobs, ESPN’s Clay Matvick talks about what it takes to be a play-by-play announcer.

Kristi Dosh, the SportsBizMiss, notes how big a business college sports is in the Business of College Sports.

Law professor Roger Groves writes in Forbes that the Pac-12 deal while lucrative, may end up costing college sports in the long run.

East and Mid-Atlantic

To the Lewiston (ME) Sun Journal and Randy Whitehouse who writes that the Maine Sports Network has carved a niche for itself by broadcasting local high school sports and talk shows to a hungry audience.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks about the rebranding of Versus to fit the NBC Sports Group.

At Boston Sports Media Watch, Ryan Hadfield has some local media musings.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about the ailing NFL Films team of Ed and Steve Sabol who are holding on to see Ed finally make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry hasn’t lost any of its luster to ESPN or Fox.

Neil says MSG Network has finalized a deal with Spero Dedes for him to call New York Knicks games on radio.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is filled with hatred for the entire world today.

Marc Berman at the Post says MSG is overlooking a recent DWI arrest in hiring Dedes.

Justin Terranova in the Post has five questions for CBS/TNT golf analyst Ian Baker-Finch.

In the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty would like YES to stop airing a certain smoking cessation ad.

Pete says NFL Network has confirmed talks with Time Warner Cable to possibly get carriage for this season.

Pete talks with player agent J.R. Rickert about having to squash inaccurate media reports about his clients.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says NFL Network will have up to six live preseason on its air this month.

Laura Nachman says a Philly sports reporter is teaming up on a new book on the hapless 1972 Phillies.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has hired a new Capitals insider for TV and online appearances.

At the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams says the rebrand from Versus to NBC Sports Network is more than just a name change.

South

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle talks Texans with NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that Cox has released its local high school football schedule.

Mel says Tulsa native Bob Carpenter may be looking for a new gig after MASN did not pick up his option to call Washington Nationals games.

Midwest

Josh Weir in the Canton (OH) Repository profiles NFL Films founder Ed Sabol as he enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.

Josh writes that Ed’s relationship with the late NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle changed the fate of the league and NFL Films.

Josh says Ed’s hiring of the late John Facenda as the voice of NFL Films added a mystique to the NFL.

Josh says Ed’s successor at NFL Films, his son Steve, has been ailing almost as much as Ed has.

And Josh writes that before Ed was a filmmaker, he was a very good swimmer at Ohio State.

Over to the Akron Beacon Journal, Jason Lloyd goes behind the scenes with CBS Sports as it airs this weekend’s coverage of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a former Bengals radio pregame host is returning to his position this season.

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

John says Fox Sports Ohio picks up an additional Cincinnati Reds game later this month.

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press says ESPN will make next month’s Michigan-Notre Dame game into a big primetime affair.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says Versus will air a documentary on MLB’s first openly gay player next week.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Green Bay Packers’ weekend scrimmage will be picked up on TV both locally and nationally.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin says eight years after its creation, NFL Network finally gets picked up by Charter Communications.

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar writes the NFL Network-Charter agreement was a compromise on where the channel would be placed.

Dan says the St. Louis Cardinals were kicked off Fox’s national MLB schedule to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a rare spotlight.

West

John Maffei in the North County Times says the NFL’s TV partners are hopeful viewers will watch preseason football.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Ed Sabol is worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Tom wonders if Ed was actually a candidate to succeed the late Pete Rozelle as NFL Commish.

Ed looks at the sports media’s connection to this year’s class of 2011 for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Tom says ESPN has invented a quarterback rating statistic and wants everyone to know about it.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about a new reality series in which a former CFL’er is trying to make Canada’s bobsledding team.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at CBC and Rogers Sportsnet teaming up to air two tennis tournaments this month.

And the Canadian Sports Media Blog lists the Gemini Award nominees in the sports categories. The Geminis are Canada’s version of the Emmys.

That will conclude the links today.

People You Should Follow On Twitter, Part 8

Man, this has gone on much longer than I thought. When I started this whole series, I thought I could do it all in one sitting, but boy, was I wrong. It’s now spanned eight installments and will actually have a ninth on Wednesday. But I can assure you it will be the last one. The next time I do this, I will assign it to an intern to gather all of the information and then I’ll write it. Of course, the next time I hire an intern will be the first, but anyway.

If you want to look at previous posts in this series, go here, here, here, here, here, here and here. I’ve suggested 128 accounts thus far. We’ll have much more than that when all is said and done.

Tonight will focus on tennis and Sports TV public relations. Let’s get to it.

TENNIS

womenstennis — Marija Zivlak of the Women’s Tennis Blog does a tremendous job on her site. Maintaining the blog from her native Serbia, Marija keeps track of the entire WTA Tour and keeps readers on top of fashion, the latest news on the players plus videos showing their personal side. I’ve communicated off and on with Marija since 2007 and I’m pleased to see her site grow from a small site to one that is widely read. Marija’s account is mostly an RSS feed with an occasional personal tweet. She has 1,420 followers. Follow her to keep track of the WTA Tour.

thetennistimes — Another good site for you to visit, The Tennis Times based in Australia and the UK follows not just one tour like the Women’s Tennis Blog, but all tours, the ATP, WTA, the Grand Slams and all news that deals with tennis. The Twitter feed is mostly a clearinghouse for posts, but it also keeps you up to date on when the site is updated. The Tennis Times has 3,574 followers.

Clijsterskim — The official of champion Kim Clijsters, this is how an athlete’s Twitter account should be maintained. Kim provides news, reaction and interacts with her followers. It’s really a well done account. Just like Kim, it’s classy and every once in a while, she talks about being a mom. Kim has 109,252 followers.

radiowimbledon — The team of Radio Wimbledon prove year-in and year-out that tennis on the radio can work and work rather well. All of the broadcasters are British and they work other radio jobs, but when the fortnight rolls around, they work for two weeks calling all matches through the Finals. This year, Radio Wimbledon blew up on Twitter and the broadcasters read tweets in between points not only from the UK, but from all over the world. Radio Wimbledon has 1,776 followers now, but at its peak during the tournament, that total was much higher.

DjokerNole — This is the account of World’s #1 men’s tennis player and current Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic. This is done in both Serbian and English. There’s plenty of humor in the tweets and that is welcomed on this end. Djokovic provides plenty of personal tweets, pictures, retweets and heavily interacts with his followers. Very good account to follow if you’re a tennis fan. This has 243,898 followers.

carowozniacki — For the World’s #1 women’s tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki tweets in her native Danish, English, German and just about any other language she knows. Quite multilingual. And there is plenty of good stuff in this account. Caroline has 162,434 followers.

Jon_wertheim — Jon Wertheim is the tennis writer extraordinaire from Sports Illustrated. His account is chock full of information on tennis news plus offers links to his latest stories. Jon will live tweet matches that he’s covering. In addition, his weekly mailbag is one of his best features on SI.com. He’s extremely connected within the tennis world. Jon has 9,362 followers.

PatrickMcEnroe — This is for the ESPN tennis analyst who not only loves his tennis, but all sports. P-Mac will interact with his followers as well. He’s more than just a tennis guy and his Twitter account reflects that. He has 23,103 followers and you can be one of the tweeps that brings him closer to 25,000. I do enjoy Patrick’s tweets especially when he’s covering a Grand Slam tournament for ESPN2.

SPORTS TV PUBLIC RELATIONS

jksports — There is no reason for ESPN PR maven Josh Krulewitz to have the default Twitter egg at this point. He’s been on Twitter for long enough to have something else in its place, but I digress. Josh is the go-to guy for any statements, pictures of ESPN personalities and all-around information on the Mothership. Josh has 2,108 followers.

b_hofheimerespn — Bill Hofheimer is the ESPN contact for Monday Night Football and the World Cup. He also tweets about the World Series of Poker and is very quick with programming updates on ESPN. One of the more conscientious PR people I’ve met, Bill is constantly updating his Twitter account on all things ESPN. He has 6,332 followers.

MsPotts_ESPN — The lovely Keri Potts was once the PR contact for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, but now is part of the college football PR team at the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Another person who’s tweeting about ESPN, but sometimes provides other information. While she’s no longer following me, I still follow Ms. Potts for the entertaining back and forth she has with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch. Keri has 3,221 followers.

ESPNFrontRow — ESPN Front Row is the blog for ESPN’s PR department, this provides the posts for the site. There’s no interaction with any followers, this is just the feed for the blog. There are some posts that make for interesting reading. Overall, follow this site just to keep up to date on the blog. There are some posts that have made it into the linkage. This account has 4,520 followers.

NBCSportsPR — This provides any and all information pertaining to NBC Sports and the entire NBC Sports Group. The account will retweet sports media reporters and bloggers if it includes references to one of NBC Sports’ properties. I like how it does this. This account will also tweet ratings information which comes in handy. NBC Sports PR has 4,659 tweeps.

danpbell — This is for Dan Bell, Vice President of Communications for Fox Sports. Like the ESPN accounts, Dan provides anything and everything pertaining to the Fox Sports Media Group. He’ll tweet about the NFL on Fox, MLB on Fox, Fox College Football, NASCAR on Fox and he will defend Fox Sports personalities if he feels a tweep has gone too far. Dan has 769 followers.

FoxSportsLily — If you’ve watched Fox NFL Sunday, you may have gotten a glimpse of Lily sitting at the computer, maintaining the Twitter account for Fox Sports. She is one of the more delightful tweeps whom I follow. She tweets about the Fox Sports properties as well as retweeting Fox personalities. Outside of Fox, Lily has her own website highlighting her personal photography. It’s very well done. FoxSportsLily has 1,061 tweeps and she should have much more than that.

CBSSportsGang — We have the official PR Twitter account for CBS Sports. It’s not updated as much as it should, but it is a good follow for ratings info plus for any press releases that are provided from CBS Sports. This has 4,791 tweeps.

TurnerSportsPR — The official account of Turner Sports, this provides any press releases and announcements of the entire Turner sports portfolio. This is very good to keep track of if you’re into sports media. This account is followed by 2,738 tweeps.

TVvince — This is for former Fox Sports PR man Vince Wladika. Now that he’s free from having to spin numbers for any network, Vince has taken off the shackles and talks about anything. He’s not afraid to give his opinion and he’s quite interesting. Vince has 262 followers, but that should be way higher. Do your part by giving Vince a follow.

InsideNFLMedia — This is for NFL Network PR guy Dennis Johnson. Dennis is a good follow for the fact that he responds to followers, retweet others, and he can tweet with the best of them. I have come to appreciate his work promoting NFL Network from the West Coast. This has 11,049 followers and for good reason.

brennareneenfl — Our final account for tonight, Brenna Webb provides press releases on NFL Network programming. Brenna updates her account with NFL Network news plus she’ll retweet those she’s following. A good account to follow and it currently stands at 3,914 tweeps.

So with 20 new tweeps tonight, it means you have a total of 148 accounts for you to consider. That’s all.

A Full Tuesday Linkfest! Finally!

For the last week, I haven’t been able to do a full set of links. Work has been crazy, but I hope to give one today. It’s either going to the other office or heading out with the boss to various work sites or head to meetings, but today should be calmer.

I’ve started a series on People You Should Follow on Twitter in response to Sports Illustrated’s list published last week. Part 1 was posted Monday night and Part 2 came out Tuesday night. Look for more installments throughout the week.

Let’s get started.

First, ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute writes about the ESPN/Bruce Feldman suspension/non-suspension and for some reason, doesn’t do full due diligence on the story.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing does an excellent point-by-point takedown of the Ombudsman’s acceptance of ESPN’s company line on the Feldman suspension.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has graphic evidence of ESPN Radio Hack Colon Cowherd being a complete idiot.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand notes that ESPN is about to fully embrace Twitter and social media.

In the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh has a fascinating post on which sports turn a profit for BCS schools and which ones don’t.

Mike Reynolds from Mulitchannel News writes about the Women’s World Cup Final resonating with viewers.

Mike says a marketing firm is looking to package two pre-World Cup Western Hemisphere qualifying tournaments to networks.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek looks at Ross Greenburg’s departure from HBO Sports.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life Magazine goes inside the Women’s World Cup’s stellar ratings.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry writes about the marriage between sports and Twitter.

Vinnie Iyer of AOL Sporting News has HBO being optimistic that a new edition of Hard Knocks will be filmed this summer. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.

Jonathan Wall of Yahoo’s Devil Ball blog critiques ESPN’s coverage of the Open Championship.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is suing sports apparel manufacturer Champion for dropping him from endorsements after his tweets about Osama bin Laden last month.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe delves into the Boston Celtics buying a large stake into Comcast SportsNet New England.

Roger Catlin at the Hartford Courant says ESPN came out as the real winner of the Women’s World Cup Final.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says ESPN produced a fair and compelling Women’s World Cup Final broadcast.

Richard Huff at the New York Daily News looks at ESPN premiering a Spanish language-edition of E:60.

Michael Blaustein of the New York Post writes that ESPN’s miniature cameras at the World Series of Poker are giving competitors an interesting advantage.

At Fishbowl New York, Jerry Barmash reports that Len Berman is dropping his sports reports on a local radio station and will be replaced by the same man who replaced him at WNBC-TV.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Open Championship final round ratings.

Evan Weiner at the New Jersey Newsroom wonders what the UK phone hacking scandal could mean for News Corp.’s sports partners here in the US.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that NFL Today host James Brown didn’t like how DC NFL team coach Mike Shanahan handled QB Donovan McNabb.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the ratings for the Women’s World Cup Final.

Travis Sawchik of the Charleston (SC) Post & Courier says lucrative TV contracts have helped to make college football a big business.

Candace Carlisle of the Dallas Business Journal says Fox Sports Southwest has hired a veteran writer from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to beef up its online coverage.

Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle says Texas A&M Regents are concerned over Texas’ Longhorn Network and what it means for the future of the Big 12 Conference.

Ryan Sharp of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Big 12 Conference schools can’t be too happy over the Longhorn Network’s airing of Texas high school football games.

Steven Matthews of the Dayton Daily News says the Western & Southern Open will have plenty of new looks including extensive TV exposure this summer.

Tim Prahl of the Muskego (WI) Patch talks with former MLB Network reporter Trenni Kusnierek about returning home to Milwaukee to co-host a radio show.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes two games scheduled for the Chicago Bulls that may never get played.

Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera says the University of Colorado is in a unique position where it can sell the TV rights to its games this season.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times goes over some of the changes in the proposed NFL collective bargaining agreement including a new TV package.

Steve Zeitchik of the Times looks at Ross Greenburg leaving HBO.

Elizabeth Salaam of the San Diego Reader says a recent Facebook poll wasn’t kind to Padres TV voice Dick Enberg.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some thoughts on various topics.

Sports Media Watch has some news and notes.

And we have some more news and notes from SMW.

Joe Favorito looks at who will benefit when the NFL lockout finally comes to an end.

And there is your full set of links.

Tennis Channel To Air The US Open Series

Starting next weekend, Tennis Channel gets back to airing live tennis with the preliminary rounds of several US Open Series tournaments. These are the prelims before the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, the U.S. Open in New York. A total of 8 tournaments will be aired starting with the Atlanta Tennis Championships on July 22 and ending with the Winston-Salem Open on August 26. Through its agreement with the USTA and ESPN, Tennis Channel will air early rounds and one singles semifinal. It will also air the doubles final in several championships as well.

We have the schedule plus the announcers who will work the tournaments.

TENNIS CHANNEL TO AIR CLOSE TO 100 HOURS OF LIVE AND SAME-DAY COVERAGE DURING SUMMER’S US OPEN SERIES

Network will Carry Nine Tournaments in High-Definition During Annual North American Hard-Court Season that Leads to the US Open

LOS ANGELES, July 15, 2011 – Tennis Channel will provide the sport’s fans with close to 100 high-definition hours of live or same-day match play during the 2011 Olympus US Open Series this summer.  The network will cover singles semifinal, quarterfinal and early round matches during the annual North American hard-court circuit this year, in addition to prime-time Sunday doubles finals.  Matches from the six-week series will first appear on the channel Friday, July 22, and conclude Friday, Aug. 26, on the eve of the network’s US Open telecast that begins two days later.

During the 2011 Olympus US Open Series players will compete at five men’s ATP tournaments, four women’s WTA competitions and one combined event that features both men and women at the same venue.  Tennis Channel will cover nine of the 10 tournaments that make up the series, with the exception being the women’s New Haven Open at Yale the week of August 21.

In Tennis Channel’s 2011 US Open Series lineup: ATP – Atlanta Tennis Championships (Atlanta), Farmers Classic (Los Angeles), Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington, D.C.), Rogers Masters (Montreal) and the new Winston-Salem Open (Winston-Salem, N.C.); WTA – Bank of the West Classic (Stanford, Calif.), Mercury Insurance Open (San Diego) and Rogers Cup (Toronto).  The network will also cover the combined men’s and women’s Western and Southern Open (Cincinnati).

Tennis Channel has televised the Olympus US Open Series every summer since the United States Tennis Association (USTA) first linked the tournaments into a season in 2004, along with ESPN and CBS Sports.  Other than the Cincinnati and Canada-based events, Tennis Channel will produce all Olympus US Open Series coverage for the three networks this year.  The channel has been producing most of the series for the three networks since 2008.

On-Air Talent
Emmy Award-winning announcers Ian Eagle and Brett Haber will handle play-by-play duties for Tennis Channel during the 2011 Olympus US Open Series, as will former player and longtime Tennis Channel booth presence Leif Shiras.  Analysts’ responsibilities fall on former players Lindsay Davenport, Jimmy Arias, Justin Gimelstob and Corina Morariu, with Morariu again sharing sideline-reporting duties with Australian doubles specialist Ashley Fisher on occasion.

The network will also feature a desk on the tournament grounds in Atlanta, Stanford, Washington, Montreal, Cincinnati and Winston-Salem.  An Olympus US Open Series tournament-by-tournament breakdown of the network’s booth assignments follows, included in the on-air coverage schedule.

Tennis Channel’s 2011 Olympus US Open Series live and same-day telecast schedule (all times ET):  For encore replays, visit www.tennischannel.com/schedule.

July 22-24            Atlanta Tennis Championships (ATP)
Friday, July 22 – 12 p.m.-2 p.m. (singles quarterfinal)
Saturday, July 23 – 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Sunday, July 24 – 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m. (doubles final)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Brett Haber, Analyst – Justin Gimelstob, Sideline Reporter – Ashley Fisher

July 29                 Bank of the West Classic (WTA)
Friday, July 29 – 5 p.m.-7 p.m.; 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (singles quarterfinals)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Brett Haber, Analyst – Lindsay Davenport, Sideline Reporter – Coriana Morariu

July 29-31            Farmers Classic (ATP)
Friday, July 29 – 3 p.m.-5 p.m. (singles quarterfinal)
Saturday, July 30 – 5 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (singles semifinal, doubles semifinal)
Sunday, July 31 – 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m. (doubles final)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Leif Shiras, Analyst – Justin Gimelstob, Sideline Reporter – Ashley Fisher

Aug. 4-7                Legg Mason Tennis Classic (ATP)
Thursday, Aug. 4 – 4 p.m.-8 p.m. (singles round of 16)
Friday, Aug 5. – 2 p.m.-4 p.m.; 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (singles quarterfinals)
Saturday, Aug. 6 – 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Sunday, Aug. 7 – 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m. (doubles final)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Brett Haber, Analyst – Justin Gimelstob

Aug. 6                    Mercury Insurance Open (WTA)
Saturday, Aug. 6 – 5p.m.-7 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Leif Shiras, Analyst – Lindsay Davenport, Sideline Reporter – Coriana Morariu

Aug. 8-10              Rogers Masters/Rogers Cup (ATP/WTA)
Monday, Aug. 8 – 1 p.m.-9 p.m. (early round action)
Tuesday, Aug. 9 – 1 p.m.-9 p.m. (early round action)
Wednesday, Aug. 10 – 1 p.m.-9 p.m. (early round action)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Leif Shiras, Analyst – Lindsay Davenport, TPL World Feed Commentators

Aug. 15-17            Western & Southern Open (ATP/WTA)
Monday, Aug. 15 -11 a.m.-11 p.m. (early round action)
Tuesday, Aug. 16 – 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (early round action)
Wednesday, Aug. 17 – 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (early round action)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Ian Eagle, Analyst – Lindsay Davenport and Justin Gimelstob, Sideline Reporter – Fisher

Aug. 25-26            Winston-Salem Open (ATP)
Thursday, Aug. 25 – 5 p.m.-9 p.m. (singles quarterfinals)
Friday, Aug. 26 – 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (singles semifinal)
Talent: Play-by-Play – Leif Shiras, Analyst – Jimmy Arias, Sideline Reporter – Ashley Fisher

That will do it.

Bringing Out Some Saturday Linkage

While I’m at work on this Saturday, I’ll do some linkage for you.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson used a gay slur to berate a caller on a Sirius XM radio show last week.

At The Grio, Marcus looks at the legacy of the train wreck that’s known as “The Decision” a year later.

According to The Wrap, ESPN Classic will become the home of the recently wrapped “Friday Night Lights” series.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at the record viewership for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.

At the Buffalo News, Greg Connors reviews HBO’s documentary on Curt Flood.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner has written a FAQ on the NBA and NFL lockouts.

From the Baltimore Sun, Matt Vensel writes that a local sports radio talk show host is on the streets looking for a new gig.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals voice Joe Beninati and John Feinstein will call Kastles World Team Tennis matches this summer.

The St. Petersburg Times tells readers not to expect the NFL Network on Bright House cable systems anytime soon.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn says the incident from Thursday’s Oakland-Texas game where a fan died trying to catch a ball tossed into the stands by Josh Hamilton was greatly mishandled by both of the networks covering the contest.

Andrew Ferraro of the Houston Chronicle writes that an exhibition NHL game scheduled for Reliant Stadium in September has been canceled and Fox Sports Southwest is now looking for another way to get the Dallas Stars into the Houston market.

Berry Tremel at the Daily Oklahoman says the Longhorn Network taking a Big 12 Conference game from Fox Sports Net is opening a can of worms for fans.

Rick Noland from the Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram says we should forget about celebrating any anniversary of “The Decision.”

Steve Watkins of the Cincinnati Business Courier says the ratings for the Reds on Fox Sports Ohio are up significantly from last season.

Dave Lubach of the Sheboygan (WI) Press recaps an appearance by CBS/Golf Channel personality David Feherty at a charity golf event.

Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Fox Sports North will be airing a Minnesota Wild reality show over the next few months.

Tavis Govindjie of the Marin (CA) Independent Journal gives us this profile of a Comcast SportsNet Bay Area graphic designer.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Oakland A’s TV voices Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse have come under fire for being insensitive during the incident in Arlington that killed a fan. In their defense, they did not know how far the fan fell nor did they know his condition. It’s easy to sit here and criticize, but at the time, they did not know how serious the situation was.

Cam Inman of the Oakland Tribune talks with former ABC/CBS/NBC NFL analyst John Madden about the lockout and the Madden NFL ’11 video game.

The Hamilton Spectator in Canada notes that some recently found CFL footage discovered in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame has been digitized and put online.

Derek Zona of SB Nation ranks all of the NHL TV broadcasters from top to bottom.

Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest didn’t think the Bob Costas-Al Michaels mashup for last night’s Mets-Giants game was anything special. I disagree.

Dave Kohl in Major League Programs explains why ESPN went all in for its Wimbledon bid.

World Cup Buzz says ESPN is doing the Women’s World Cup right this year.

EPL Talk has the US TV schedules for the English Premier League “friendlies” that will take place this month.

Quite a few links today which is good to see after working into the wee hours of this morning on the Megalinks. I’ll be back tomorrow with more linkage.

Bringing Back The Linkage

Even though I didn’t links on Wednesday, it feels I haven’t done them in ages. You’re owed a chunk of them. Here goes.

Nathan Vardi of Forbes reports that ESPN basketball writer Chris Sheridan is suing New York Post basketball chameleon Peter Vecsey for libel. Interesting. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

David B. Wilkerson at Marketwatch.com says ESPN is not worried about losing NFL programming.

At NPR, Frank Deford says there has to be a reason why ESPN didn’t bid hard for the Olympics.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter notes that Universal Sports has finally signed a long-awaited distribution deal with DirecTV.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable writes that last night’s Stanley Cup Final Game 7 won the night for NBC in key demographics.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports that CBS Sports Network picks up Comcast subscribers in three Southern markets.

Mike talks with Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Jim Corno about running the area’s various sports networks over the years.

Emma Bazilian of Adweek writes that NBCUniversal has signed a deal with comic book creator Stan Lee’s Guardian Media Entertainment to market the NHL’s Superhero franchise which to date, no one understands. I saw the Guardians unveiled during the NHL All-Star Game earlier this year and I had no idea what it was supposed to represent.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says Stanley Cup Final Game 7 finished rather well for NBC last night.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser has video of ESPN’s Michelle Beadle admitting on Live with Regis & Kelly that she’s watched internet porn.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has some videos from last night’s crazy riots in Vancouver that took place after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Now imagine if the Canucks had won!

Here’s today’s front page of the Vancouver Province showing what the story was last night.

The Vancouver Sun’s front page had what the story should have been.

This is the front page of the Boston Herald. I like this picture.

And the Brockton (MA) Enterprise with a classic front page.

Noah Davis at the Business Insider Sports Page says it’s obvious that tablets are the future of magazines.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Chinese tennis star Li Na has signed an endorsement deal with Mercedes Benz.

The Big Lead has tennis analyst John McEnroe calling for a Hard Knocks-type reality series to help market the sport.

All Access says the St. Louis Rams have signed a new deal to remain in their current flagship radio station.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant writes that Comcast SportsNet New England will air select Connecticut Sun WNBA games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks about CBS signing a new six year deal with the Big Ten for basketball.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced a new broadcast team for selected road games for next season.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog says local ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final were very good. They were certainly higher than the national number.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks about the NHL’s ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Jim says the U.S. Open at Congressional will be covered like a wool blanket this week.

Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks about the launch date for ESPN’s Longhorn Network.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has a couple of sports media notes.

Mike Finger of the Chronicle discusses the launch of the Longhorn Network plus its quest to get carried throughout the Lone Star State and beyond.

Michigan Live says the University of Detroit will name its basketball court after ESPN’s Dick Vitale. He coached there before going to the NBA and then to ESPN in 1979.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal notes that Cincinnati Bengals Dhani Jones gave NFL Network a list of the top NFL linebackers that includes himself.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says Cubs owner Ed Ricketts did not help himself by talking to the media this week.

Scott Dochterman in the Iowa City Gazette discusses CBS signing a new deal with the Big Ten for basketball.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Wimbledon finals can be seen in 3-D at various theaters around SoCal.

In another uniformed column, the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin feels Twitter is what ails everything in sports.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBC’s overnight ratings for the Stanley Cup Final Game 7.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the half hour overnight ratings breakdown of Game 7.

Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski explains how NBC got good ratings for Game 7 despite having a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup Final.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing can’t believe the wallpaper Don Cherry used as a suit for CBC’s Coach’s Corner last night.

SportsbyBrooks looks into yet another plagiarism charge against Denver Post columnist Woody Paige.

Chris Hadley at The Sports Tube remembers NBC’s failed Olympics Triplecast experiment for the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs feels sports radio in both Dallas and Miami failed by not having local programming immediately following the NBA Finals Game 6 to give fans opportunities to vent or celebrate.

We’ll leave it there for now.