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College Basketball Viewing Picks for 03/14/08 (All Times Eastern)

Because there are so many conference tournaments today, I’ll separate the college basketball viewing picks from the Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks. The Friday megalinks are coming up, but I wanted to get this in before the early games today.

ACC Tournament
North Carolina vs. Florida State – ESPN2/Raycom, noon
Virginia Tech vs. Miami (FL) – ESPN2/Raycom, 2:30 p.m.
Duke vs. Georgia Tech – ESPN2/Raycom, 7 p.m.
Clemson vs. Boston College – ESPN2/Raycom, 9:30 p.m.

A-10 Tournament
Xavier vs. St. Joseph’s – A-10 TV/FSN Ohio/SNY, 6:30 p.m.
Temple vs. Charlotte – A-10 TV/FSN Ohio, 9 p.m.

Big East Tournament
Georgetown vs. West Virginia – ESPN, 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh vs. Marquette – ESPN, 9:30 p.m.

Big 12 Tournament
Texas vs. Oklahoma State – ESPN Plus/ESPNU, 12:30 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Colorado – ESPN Plus/ESPNU, 3 p.m.
Kansas vs. Nebraska – ESPN Plus, 7 p.m.
Kansas State vs. Texas A&M – ESPN Plus, 9:30 p.m.

Big West Tournament
UC-Santa Barbara vs. Cal-Irvine – ESPNU, 8:30 p.m.
Cal State-Northridge vs. Cal State-Fullerton – ESPNU, 11 p.m.

Conference USA Tournament
Memphis vs. Southern Mississippi – CSTV, 4:30 p.m.
Tulsa vs. UTEP – CSTV, 7 p.m.

Mid-America Conference Tournament
Western Michigan vs. Akron – FSN Ohio/FSN Detroit+, 7 p.m.
Kent State vs. Miami (OH) – FSN Ohio/FSN Detroit+, 9:30 p.m.

Mountain West Conference Tournamnent
BYU vs. San Diego State – CSTV, 9 p.m.
UNLV vs. Utah – CSTV, 11:30 p.m.

PAC 10 Tournament
USC vs. UCLA – FSN, 9 p.m.
Washington State vs. Stanford – FSN, 11:30 p.m.

Patriot League Championship
Colgate at American – ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.

SEC Tournament
Tennessee vs. South Carolina – Raycom, 1 p.m.
Arkansas vs. Vanderbilt – Raycom, 3:30 p.m.
Mississippi State vs. Alabama – Raycom, 7:30 p.m.
Kentucky vs. Georgia – Raycom, 9:45 p.m.

WAC Tournament
Boise State vs. Utah State – WAC TV, 8 p.m.
Nevada vs. New Mexico State – WAC TV, 10:30 p.m.

Check tomorrow for College Basketball Viewing Picks of what will be a very busy day.

Late Thursday/Early Friday Links

I’ve been writing a review of Real Sports that premiered earlier this week and I’ll have it up tomorrow night.

Let’s do some linkage on this late night Thursday/early morning Friday.

First, Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that KCAL-TV and FSN Prime Ticket will pick up the Dodgers-Padres exhibition games in Communist China this weekend, and that MLB.com will show the very last Dodger exhibtion game at Vero Beach, FL on Monday.

The Sports Media Watch has news on various ESPN personalities.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun advises you get your VIP pass for March Madness on Demand now.

Newsday’s Neil Best says WFAN suffered the dreaded technical difficulties during the Mike & the Mad Dog broadcast of the West Virginia-UConn game at the Big East Tournament from Madison Square Garden.

CBS Sports says CSTV will relaunch as CBS College Sports Network this Sunday and debut a new sports news program the following day.

Triangle Busines News (NC) says two sister sports radio stations in the Raleigh-Durham area will carry the NCAA Tournament.

If you’re a member of Joost, you can watch the NCAA Tournament live online.

TV Week’s Chris Pursell blogs from the IMG World Congress of Sports in New York and says with most of the major sports properties coming up for bid in 2013, network sports presidents are urging caution on spending.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable recaps the Sports Emmy nominations. CBS Sports says legendary golf producer Frank Chirkinian will receive a Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy for his innovative work. Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says HBO leads the way with 31 noms.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says golf tournaments with Tiger Woods almost double the TV ratings of those that don’t have him.

NBC Sports talks about this Sunday’s Philadelphia-Pittsburgh matchup which will be the NHL Game of the Week.

If you’re interested, here are excerpts from ESPN on Bob Knight’s debut from Wednesday.

From the WTF Department, the AOL Fanhouse blog tells us that ESPN the Magazine has hired a fashion editor. It’s not just about sports anymore at the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

The Canadian Broadcasting Company has announced its hosts for the Summer Olympics Games in Communist China. This marks the last Olympics for CBC as CTV will do the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in London.

The Friday megalinks will be up sometime in the morning. See you then.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, March 8, 2008
College Gameday, live from Duke University – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Louisville at Georgetown – CBS, noon
Miami at Florida State – Raycom, noon
NC State at Wake Forest – Raycom, noon

Minnesota at Illinois – Big Ten Network, 1 p.m.
UAB at Memphis – CSTV, 1 p.m.

Stanford at USC – CBS, 2 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Alabama – Raycom, 2 p.m.

Wisconsin at Northwestern – Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
San Diego State at Air Force – the mtn., 3 p.m.

Missouri at Oklahoma – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Boston College – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Cal at UCLA – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Kansas at Texas A&M – CBS, 4 p.m.
Marquette at Syracuse – ESPN, 4 p.m.
LSU at Mississippi State – Raycom, 4 p.m.
Utah at UNLV – Versus, 4 p.m.

New Mexico at Colorado State – the mtn., 5:30 p.m.
Auburn at Arkansas – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Duke University – ESPN, 8 p.m.

North Carolina at Duke – ESPN, 9 p.m.
BYU at TCU – the mtn., 9 p.m.

Arizona at Oregon – FSN, 11 p.m.

Sunday, March 9
Michigan State at Ohio State – Big Ten Network, noon
Florida at Kentucky – CBS, noon

Virginia Tech at Clemson – Raycom, 1:30 p.m.

Indiana at Penn State – ESPN, 2 p.m.
South Carolina at Tennessee – Raycom, 2 p.m.

Purdue at Michigan – CBS, 4 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Texas – ESPN, 4 p.m.

Maryland at Virginia – FSN, 7:30 p.m.

Conference Tournaments

Big South Championship - Winthrop vs. UNC-Asheville – ESPN2, Saturday, 11:30 a.m.

Horizon League Tournament
Cleveland State vs. TBD – ESPNU, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Butler vs. TBD – ESPNU, Saturday, 6:30 p.m.

Atlantic Sun Championship – ESPN2, Saturday, 7 p.m.

WCC Tournament
Gonzaga vs. TBD – ESPN2, Sunday, 9:30 p.m.
St. Mary’s vs. TBD – ESPN2, Sunday, 11:30 p.m.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, March 1
College Gameday, live from Lawrence, KS – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Duke at NC State – CBS, noon
Pittsburgh at Syracuse – ESPN, noon
Wright State at Valparaiso – ESPN2, noon

Northwestern at Purdue – Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
Georgetown at Marquette – CBS, 2 p.m.
Texas A&M at Oklahoma – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Wichita State at Drake – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech – Raycom, 2 p.m.
Virginia at Miami (FL) – Raycom, 2 p.m.
Alabama at Mississippi – Raycom, 2 p.m.

North Carolina at Boston College – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Texas at Texas Tech or Mississippi State at Florida – CBS, 4 p.m.
Memphis at South Mississippi – CSTV, 4 p.m.
Ohio State at Minnesota – ESPN, 4 p.m.
Washington State at Stanford – FSN, 4 p.m.
Utah at Wyoming – the mtn., 4 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Arkansas – Raycom, 4 p.m.

Illinois at Iowa – Big Ten Network, 6 p.m.
SMU at Tulane (women’s) – CSTV, 6 p.m.
Iowa State at Colorado – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.

TCU at UNLV – the mtn., 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Lawrence, KS – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Michigan at Penn State – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.

Kansas State at Kansas – ESPN, 9 p.m.

Colorado State at San Diego State – the mtn., 10 p.m.

Sunday, March 2
Kentucky at Tennessee – CBS, noon
Providence at Cincinnati – ESPNU, noon

Indiana at Michigan State – CBS, 2 p.m.
Indiana State at Creighton (women’s) – ESPNU, 2 p.m.
Georgia at LSU – Raycom, 2 p.m.

Villanova at Louisville or UCLA at Arizona – CBS, 4 p.m.
Sacred Heart at Central CT State – ESPNU, 4 p.m.

Tennessee at Georgia (women’s) – ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Clemson at Maryland – FSN, 7:30 p.m.
Oregon at Oregon State – FSN, 10 p.m.

Friday Quickie

Let’s do a quick Friday update before I end it for the weekend.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady (NY) Gazette says he’ll watch Bob Knight on ESPN just to watch the potential fireworks with Dick Vitale. Chris Pursell of TV Week has a story on the Knight hiring. David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks about the Bob Knight and Cris Carter hirings at ESPN.

Dan Frommer of the Silicon Valley Insider blog says ESPN plans to produce more web-only videos this year.

Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about the 60 year association between the Chicago Cubs and WGN-TV that will be marked with a documentary and a book.

MASN has announced that the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals will each have 96 games aired on the RSN this season. Earlier this week, MASN announced both teams will have 40 games shown in HD.

Tom Jicha of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel talks about the two new sports radio stations joining the three existing stations in the area.

Jeff Borden from Business Week magazine writes that the creator of the 1st and 10 line on football broadcasts, Sportvision, plans to expand its market overseas.

Jonathan Oostling of the Michigan Live website recaps an interview with Michigan State Tom Izzo in which he also blames Comcast for the Big Ten Network mess. Earlier in the week, Izzo called BTN, “a PR nightmare”.

Kyle Hightower of the Orlando Sentinel says CBS is preparing its CSTV channel to be a big player in the college sports TV negotiations next year.

Jeff Richgels of the Capital (WI) Times has a story on the NFL Network commissioning a poll showing most people want to watch their football games on TV.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says FSNY will be rebranded as MSG Plus starting March 10.

Well, I ripped him back in October, but Fang’s Bites non-fave Beau Estes has an interview with TNT’s (and North Carolina alum) Kenny Smith at the Inside Carolina.com website.

Eugenia Levenson of Fortune magazine talks with CBS Sports producer Lance Barrow about his road travels.

David Sweet of MSNBC writes that bowling is getting back into the network TV picture when CBS airs an event in May.

Crash Cameron of the London Free Press in Canada talks with Rogers Sportsnet anchor Martine Gaillard.

I’ll have Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

It’s a Sunday Morning Thing

Doing the links this morning on a Dell Dimension XPS T600 Pentium III computer with a dial-up connection from an office where I usually am not based. This is going to be interesting how long this will take. I’m starting at 10 a.m. so take a look at the timestamp below to see how long I need to compile the links. Once you have Verizon Fios DSL at your office and home, you think anything else (especially dial-up) is like molasses. But anyway, you don’t want to read me complaining so let’s get to your links.

If you have yet to see the HBO Joe Louis documentary that premiered last night, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has a review for you. Like other HBO fare, the documentary will be repeated several times over the week so if you have the channel, you’ll be able to catch it.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News talks with YES analyst Al Leiter who still is not totally convinced that Roger Clemens took the juice.

The New York Post is not happy that ESPN scheduled a high school basketball at 9 p.m. on a school night.

From Newsday, Neil Best writes about the 100th Anniversary of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” which will be celebrated across Major League Baseball on Opening Day. Neil has a sidebar column on a real-life Katie Casey who feels she lives “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” every day. And Neil expands on his column in his blog. Thus far, it’s taken me 45 minutes to get this many links. Not good.

Continuing on, Dave Weekley of the Charleston (WV) Gazette says ESPN will have two documentaries based on the contributions of African Americans to coaching and college sports while overcoming racial prejudice. In addition, Dave references this site’s intereview with Curt Chapin regarding his Miracle on Ice call (thanks, Dave!). And for those of you coming over to read the post, you can go here.

Jeremy Peter of the Cincinnati Enquirer profiles native Brooke Weisbrod who’s working as an analyst for ESPN. Also from the Enquirer, Rory Glynn talks with former Xavier coach Pete Gillen who’s calling today’s Dayton-Xavier game for CSTV.

Writing a guest column for the Los Angeles Daily News, Sgt. Michael Molinaro, who’s stationed in Iraq, is asking what happened to his sports highlights on ESPN?

Charles Rich of the AOL Fanhouse blog says CBS’ college basketball coverage on Saturday did not inspire much hope for the NCAA Tournament next month.

Craig Dolch of the Palm Beach Post caught up with CBS Sports’ golf analyst David Feherty and they talked about how Tiger Woods is head and shoulders ahead of everyone else on the PGA Tour.

Alex Marvez of Fox Sports.com reports that the NFL Network will no longer show the player weigh-ins at the Scouting Combine due to requests from some participants.

From the Indianapolist Star, Mark Chappell writes how the Combine grew from such a small event into a huge media event.

FSN Florida has announced its schedule for the Tampa Bay (don’t call them the Devil) Rays this season.

That’s going to do it. It took me over an hour and a half on dial-up to find the links for you and another 30 minutes to wait for my boss to leave the area so I could post this. Oh well.

I will probably be back later with an update.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, February 22
College Gameday, live from Memphis, TN – ESPN, 11 a.m.
VCU at Akron – ESPN2, 11 a.m.
UConn at Villanova – ESPN, noon
George Mason at Ohio – ESPN2, 1 p.m.

Arkansas at Kentucky or Army at Navy – CBS, 2 p.m.
Lehigh at Lafayette – CSTV, 2 p.m.
Iowa at Michigan State – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Jackson State at Grambling – ESPN Classic, 2 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech – Raycom, 2 p.m.
Maryland at Miami (FL) – Raycom, 2 p.m.

Creighton at Oral Roberts – ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Oklahoma at Texas or Oregon at UCLA – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Illinois at Michigan – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Kansas at Oklahoma State or St. John’s at Duke – CBS, 4 p.m.
Pepperdine at Loyola Marymount – CSTV, 4 p.m.
Mississippi State at South Carolina – Raycom, 4 p.m.
Georgia at Vanderbilt – Raycom, 4 p.m.

Drake at Butler – ESPN2, 5 p.m.
Arizona State at Washington – FSN, 6 p.m.
Miami (OH) at Valparaiso – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
Marist at Cleveland State – ESPNU, 6:30 p.m.

Indiana at Northwestern – Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Memphis TN – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Tennessee at Memphis – ESPN, 9 p.m.
Rider at CSU-Northbridge – ESPNU, 9 p.m.

Arizona at Washington State – FSN, 10 p.m.
BYU at San Diego State – CSTV, 11 p.m.
Kent State at St. Mary’s – ESPN2, 11:59 p.m.

Sunday, February 23
George Washington at St. Joseph’s (women’s) – CSTV, noon
Michigan State at Purdue (women’s) – ESPN2, 1 p.m.
Penn State at Minnesota – Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
Syracuse at Notre Dame or Alabama at Auburn – CBS, 2 p.m.
Xavier at Dayton – CSTV, 2 p.m.
Texas A&M at Texas (women’s) – ESPN2, 3 p.m.

Wisconsin at Ohio State – CBS, 4 p.m.
St. Joseph’s at URI – Cox Sports RI, 4 p.m.
Notre Dame at DePaul (women’s) – ESPNU, 4 p.m.

NC State at Virginia – FSN, 4:30 p.m.
Wake Forest at North Carolina – FSN, 6:30 p.m.
Wright State at Illinois State – ESPNU, 6:30 p.m.
California at Stanford – FSN, 9 p.m.

Quick Wednesday Update

Still dealing with work issues, but I can break away to give you some links today.

First, John Ourand of the Sports Business Daily breaks the news that Dish Network is moving the NFL Network to a less popular tier, cutting its subscriber base by 4 million.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a word from Roger Clemens on Vitamin B-12. No, it’s not that Roger Clemens, but Dr. Roger Clemens of USC.

Speaking of that Roger Clemens, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the Rocket is pulling out of the annual ESPN the Weekend event at Disney World later this month. Scott Powers from the Business, Tourism and Aviation blog of the Orlando Sentinel has more on this story.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union reports in his Best Seat in My House blog that ESPN will assign upstate New York native Joe Tessitore to Arena Football League games this spring.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Tom Jones has an interview with sports writer Frank Deford in his Two Cents blog.

Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch has the Five Best Mainstream Sports Blogs in Boston.

In his Four DVRs no waiting blog, the Houston Chronicle’s David Barron wonders if anyone has switched to recording shows on DVD or does anyone still use antiquted VCRs? Personally, I use DVD recorders. Much easier and you don’t lose quality.

Maury Brown of the Business of Sports websites has an interview with CNBC’s Darren Rovell about his Nike documentary.

NBC Sports will pick up coverage of the PGA Tour starting with the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship this weekend.

The Business First of Buffalo reports that ESPN2 will host its Friday Night Fights program at the Seneca Allegany & Casino on March 28.

Multichannel News tells us that the former CSTV and ESPNU have picked up more cable subscribers. Linda Haugsted of Multichannel says DirecTV will offer viewers three extra channels of coverage for The Masters in April.

Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer says sports radio station WIP will join co-owned 94WYSP in carrying Eagles games next season.

The Detroit News reports that for the first time, all 162 Tigers games will be broadcast either on FSN Detroit or on national TV. One game that was not going to be aired on TV has now been picked up.

I’ll have Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

Some More Friday Links

I’ve been searching for stuff tonight and found a few things I can give you.

From TV Week, Julianne Smolinski says DirecTV will offer its NASCAR Hot Pass PPV service in high definition. And Sergio Ibarra has the national sports TV ratings for the week ending February 10.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the soon-to-be-relaunched CSTV will debut next month with new graphics, a new look and new programming from CBS Sports. And Reynolds writes that fans can vote and determine the winner of the NBA Slam Dunk contest.

Newsday’s Neil Best reports that WFAN in New York has hired former Rockies and Cardinals announcer Wayne Hagin as the replacement for Tom McCarthy for Mets games.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks at TNT’s Craig Sager and his wacky wardrobe.

Maury Brown’s Biz of Basketball website reports that the NBA All Star Game will be seen in a record 123 countries this year.

Paulsen over at the Sports Media Watch says even though the NBA All Star Game’s ratings have fallen since TNT first acquired it in 2003, it remains an attractive property for the network. And Paulsen says NASCAR is hoping for a fresh start and higher ratings as it begins a new season.

Jerry Bonkowski of Yahoo! Sports says it was CBS Sports’ decision to air the Daytona 500 in its entirety for the first time in 1979 that led to the explosion in NASCAR’s popularity.

Mark DeCotis of Florida Today talks with ESPN lead NASCAR announcer Dr. Jerry Punch about his Daytona 500 memories.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says NASCAR and the NBA are the stars of the sports TV weekend.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Marc Narducci says TNT’s Doug Collins turned down an opportunity to coach again with the 76ers.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his blog that FSN Prime Ticket and KCAL will combine to bring 150 Dodgers games to viewers and all will be in high definition.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald writes about the 12 hour Harry Caray marathon on Comcast SportsNet this Monday.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN’s legal analysts were out in force this week during the Roger Clemens appearance in front of Congress.

Max Showalter of the Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier reports that Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman is optimistic that a deal with the major cable providers is forthcoming.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse Blog writes that ESPN’s Erin Andrews called embattled Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson “very honest” during tonight’s early SportsCenter edition.

ESPN’s Gary Thorne writes in the Bangor (ME) Daily News about some lessons learned from watching the Super Bowl.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks to Deadspin’s Will Leitch about the Chris Berman videos and what blogs mean to our culture. Good stuff.

Radio Online.com reports that ESPN Radio will premiere three new shows including one hosted by Eric Kuselias beginning next week.

FSN Rocky Mountain and the University of Colorado have announced a new multiyear contract extension for the channel to air the school’s sports and create programming.

CBS Sports previews the two college games it will broadcast this weekend including the return of Screamin’ Gus Johnson to the broadcast table.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 02/16 & 02/17/2008 (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, February 16
College Gameday, live from Bloomington, IN – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Georgetown at Syracuse – ESPN, noon
Virginia Tech at North Carolina – CBS, 1 p.m.
LSU at Kentucky – Raycom, 1 p.m.
Minnesota at Wisconsin – Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
Navy at Lafayette – CSTV, 2 p.m.
Louisville at Providence – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Lehigh at Army (women’s) – ESPNU, 2 p.m.

Florida State at Maryland – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Clemson at NC State – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Florida at Vanderbilt – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Tennessee at Georgia – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Oklahoma at Texas A&M – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Stanford at Arizona – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Purdue at Northwestern – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Arkansas at Mississippi State – ESPN, 4 p.m.
Butler at UW-Green Bay (women’s) – ESPNU, 4 p.m.
San Diego State at Utah – Versus, 4 p.m.

Texas at Baylor – ESPN, 6 p.m.
Holy Cross at Bucknell – ESPN2, 6 p.m.
Yale at Penn – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
UNC-Wilmington at George Mason – ESPNU, 6 p.m.

Illinois at Penn State – Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Bloomington, IN – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Old Dominion at VCU – ESPN2, 8 p.m.
Villanova at St. John’s – ESPN Classic, 8 p.m.
Gonzaga at San Francisco – ESPNU, 8 p.m.

UNLV at BYU – CSTV, 9 p.m.
Michigan State at Indiana – ESPN, 9 p.m.
Washington State at Oregon – FSN, 9 p.m.

St. Mary’s at Loyola Marymount – CSTV, 11 p.m.

Sunday, February 17
Charlotte at Xavier (women’s) – CSTV, noon
American at Colgate – ESPNU, noon
Ohio State at Michigan – CBS, 1 p.m.
St. Louis at UMass – CSTV, 1 p.m.
Virginia at Boston College – Raycom, 1 p.m.
Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech – Raycom, 1 p.m.
UConn at Pittsburgh (women’s) – ESPNU, 2 p.m.
Texas Tech at Texas A&M (women’s) – ESPN2, 4 p.m.

Duke at Wake Forest – FSN, 7:30 p.m.
UCLA at USC – FSN, 10 p.m.

It’s a Thursday Afternoon Update

Here’s some more linkage for you.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes in his blog that the first instance of CBS with the recently rebranded CSTV comes next Wednesday when Billy Packer works his first game for the channel.

From the police blotter, Justin Terranova from the New York Post reports that former LSU quarterback and Fox broadcaster John Booty was hit with a taser following his arrest for DUI early today.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the transcript of WFAN’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo debating Republican Congressman Daniel Issa during CBS’ Early Show. And Neil says one of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models will be on SNY later today.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News talks about ESPN reducing the commercial load during NASCAR races this season.

The LA Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that Versus will have coverage of the Tour of California on Sunday.

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News wonders in his blog why ESPN’s Roger Cossack defended Roger Clemens during coverage of the Congressional Steroids Hearings.

Jon Laging of the Albert Lea (MN) Tribune says it’s too bad Gophers fans can’t follow their basketball team on regular TV due to the games being on the Big Ten Network. Jason McMahon of the Capital (WI) Times has a story on fans who went to the Kohl Center in Milwaukee so they could watch the Wisconsin-Indiana game on the arena’s big screen because the game was on the Big Ten Network.

Brian Davis of the Dallas Morning News says the Baylor-Notre Dame game in 2012 will be moved from the new Cowboys Stadium to the Louisiana Superdome and will be broadcast on NBC. Nothing like planning ahead.

The Nevada Appeal reports a Reno radio station will flip from ESPN Deportes Radio to Fox Sports Radio.

Danny Knobler of the Ann Arbor News talks about the MLB blackout issue for Tigers fans in Ohio, but are considered as part of the Tigers home market.

Bob Wolfley in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story about ESPN ranking two stars with city connections as top NBA sleepers.

There you go.

More Tuesday Links

I’ll give you some more links for tonight.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union gives us the Yankees TV Spring Training schedule on YES. And Pete has a funny “Separated at Birth” comparison regarding Brian McNamee.

The Sports Media Watch blog notes the coverage of the Congressional Steroids Hearings today on the network news broadcasts.

Melissa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable magazine looks at how Roger Clemens performed during the Congressional Steroids Hearings today.

I linked to Laura Nachman’s site earlier today, but now she’s split the news about the Philadelphia Eagles staying on radio flagship 94WYSP for the next few years into a separate post.

From his Farther Off the Wall blog, Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News points out that ESPN sent out a press release regarding SportsCenter by the numbers for no good particular reason.

You had a feeling this was coming. Jason Fell of Folio magazine says ESPN the Magazine will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a one hour TV special … on ESPN.

Just a day after announcing a rebranding of CSTV, Jon Lafayette of TV Week writes that CBS Sports has laid off 40 of its employees.

John Consoli of Mediaweek lets us know about Fox Sports’ plans to unveil what’s known as the Gopher Cam during the Daytona 500 this weekend.

FSN gives us its programming for the week including a salute to Black History Month.

NBC Sports hypes the Detroit-Dallas rivalry which will be the showcase for the NHL Game of the Week this Sunday.

USA Today’s Jon Saraceno talks with TNT’s Kenny Smith about the efforts to help New Orleans overcome Hurricane Katrina.

The Big Ten Network says it will air seven conference championships starting February 29.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star looks at a new TV sports reporter in the market.

The Washington (GA) News-Reporter reports that legendary Atlanta Braves announcer Pete Van Wieren will participate in a luncheon honoring Hall of Fame announcer and Washington native Ernie Harwell.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says TSN has hired former Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Ferguson as a guest analyst.

That will do it for the night. Back tomorrow.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 02/09 & 02/10/2008 (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, February 9
College Gameday, live from Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Marquette at Notre Dame – ESPN, noon
Creighton at Drake (women’s) – ESPNU, noon

Boston College at Duke – CBS, 1 p.m.
Alabama at Kentucky – Raycom, 1 p.m.

East Carolina at Marshall – CSTV, 2 p.m.
Iowa at Minnesota – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Southern at Grambling – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
South Florida at DePaul – ESPNU, 2 p.m.

Georgia at Florida – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Tennessee at LSU – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Texas at Iowa State – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Virginia at Wake Forest – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
USC at Washington State – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Penn State at Michigan – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Central Florida at Memphis – CSTV, 4 p.m.
Georgia Tech at UConn – ESPN, 4 p.m.
Hampton at Delaware State – ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Oklahoma at Colorado – ESPNU, 4 p.m.

Utah at Air Force – CSTV, 6 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Kansas State – ESPN, 6 p.m.
Hawaii at Nevada – ESPN2, 6 p.m.
Cincinnati at Rutgers – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
Seton Hall at Villanova – ESPNU, 6 p.m.

Northwestern at Michigan State – Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.
Harvard at Brown – YES, 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY – ESPN, 8 p.m.
NC State at Maryland – Raycom, 8 p.m.

Purdue at Wisconsin – Big Ten Network, 9 p.m.
Georgetown at Louisville – ESPN, 9 p.m.

Sunday, February 10
Lehigh at American – ESPNU, noon
URI at Fordham – Cox Sports RI/SNY/Comcast SportsNet West, noon
Indiana at Ohio State – CBS, 1 p.m.
Marquette at Syracuse (women’s) – CSTV, 1 p.m.
East Carolina at UTEP or Georgia at LSU or Oklahoma State at Nebraska or Pittsburgh at Notre Dame (women’s) – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Arizona State at Arizona – FSN, 2:30 p.m.
La Salle at St. Louis (women’s) – CSTV, 3 p.m.
Boston College at NC State or Louisville at DePaul or Ohio State at Wisconsin or Washington at UCLA (women’s) – ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Toledo at Bowling Green – ESPNU, 4 p.m.
UCLA at Washington – FSN, 4:30 p.m.
New Mexico at Wyoming (women’s) – CSTV, 5 p.m.
Clemson at North Carolina – FSN, 6:30 p.m.
Southern Illinois at Creighton – ESPNU, 7 p.m.

Tuesday Afternoon Updated Links

Let’s give you some more links on this Tuesday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us that he’s going to have a show on Nike air next Tuesday (unfortunately opposite the season premiere of Jericho).

ESPN wants you to know it’s expanding its multimedia coverage of NASCAR on the web and on your cell phone.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says thanks to the Super Bowl, Fox won the weekly ratings battle. Eggerton adds a story in which Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is proposing a bill protecting churches that want to show the Super Bowl on screens larger than 55 inches.

David Goetzl of Mediapost’s Media Daily News says celebrities scored high ratings among those who TiVo’d the Super Bowl spots.

Neil Best referred to this in his blog the other day and ESPN is now announcing that NFL writer Len Pasquarelli is recovering from heart surgery which he underwent on Saturday following the Pro Football Hall of Fame vote.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post says some analysts at ESPN and at Fox tried to gloss over Spygate.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune says Fox missed the big picture during the Super Bowl. And Dave talks to Jaymee Sire, the newest hire to FSN Bay Area.

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic caught up with FSN’s Chris Rose.

Keith Jarrett of the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times writes that ESPN will black out the Duke-North Carolina game locally to protect the Raycom Sports regional telecast in the ACC region.

The Sporting News picks up a story from sister publication, Sports Business Journal, written by Eric Fisher that the web will be busy tomorrow as National Signing Day kicks off. CSTV says it will have 24 hour coverage of National Signing Day. Natalie Meisler of the Denver Post says CSTV is ready for the big day.

From the Los Angeles Times, Olympics beat writer Philip Hersh reports that NBC will be the home of the World Figure Skating Championships in 2009. ESPN will have the event this year.

Ryan Corazza of Chicago Sports Weekly says the outtake of Chris Berman that was leaked to YouTube last week is probably the tip of the iceberg as far as similar clips are concerned.

The Orlando Magic have announced a new behind-the-scenes show with FSN Florida and Sun Sports.

Jeff Richgels of the Capital (WI) Times has a story on the cost of the Big Ten Network to the cable TV providers.

Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Braves games will be divided among three TV outlets this season.

Phil Swann of the TVPredictions.com website says DirecTV plans to show 40 MLB games a week in HD as part of its MLB Extra Innings PPV package.

That’s going to do it.

Our Friday Night Update

Time to give you an update.

Newsday’s Neil Best has been busy at the Super Bowl. First, he recaps Giants coach Tom Coughlin’s press conference. Then Neil writes about the four men who have covered all 42 Super Bowls.

Also from Newsday, Jim Baumbach writes about his experience riding on the Goodyear Blimp.

Chris Pursell of TV Week is in Arizona covering the Super Bowl and he has been blogging all day and will continue throughout the weekend. Chris goes inside ESPN’s Situation Room, the command post for all of its TV and radio operations at the Super Bowl. He also talks with Eric Weinberger, executive producer of the NFL Network, who is hopeful Steve Mariucci stays with the channel instead of taking the Washington Redskins coaching job. And Chris writes that the NFL is now making a big push online.

Also from TV Week, Daisy Whitney writes that Hulu.com, the video sharing service started by NBC and Fox, will have the Super Bowl ads on the site after the game ends.

TV Technology.com tells us that 80% of Super Bowl ads will be aired in HD.

John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that Super Bowl ads have a shelf life after the game.

Jesse Kohl of Media in Canada looks at the Super Bowl ads airing there.

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic catches up with Olympic gold medal swimmer Amanda Beard who’s in town for FSN’s Best Damn Sports Show Period.

Gillian Wee of Bloomberg reports that Super Bowl XLII could set a viewing record.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell gives us his video log from his day at the Super Bowl.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with Ryan Seacrest about hosting the red carpet portion of the Fox Super Bowl Sunday pregame show. Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says Fox is trying to turn the Super Bowl into the Golden Globes.

Mike Nahrstedt of the Sporting News catches up with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck who will call the Big Game on Sunday. Michael E. Hill of the Washington Post talks to Buck’s partner, Troy Aikman, about how he got into the broadcast booth.

Bill Ordine of the Baltimore Sun has some choices for you in case you don’t want to watch the Super Bowl.

Here are the Super Bowl picks of 30 ESPN on-air personalities.

Clint DeBoer of Audioholics.com has a technical article outlining how Fox puts together its high definition broadcast of Super Bowl XLII. David Coburn of Popular Mechanics talks with the inventor of the telestrator, Dr. Leonard Reiffel.

Wayne Friedman of Media Daily News says the Super Bowl was time shifted by as much as an hour by most TiVo subscribers last year.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes about the ESPN one hour special on Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills.

Ben Wolfgang of the Pottsville (PA) Republican & Herald says a story on this week’s Inside the NFL on HBO about the NFL stripping the 1925 title from the Pottsville Maroons could not have come at a better time. And Larry O’Rourke from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says the town is still bitter over the move.

Mike Shields of Mediaweek reports that CBS Sports and CSTV have unveiled a new online community service similar to MySpace.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that ESPN Deportes has been picked up by Bright House Cable in Tampa. John Lafayette of TV Week also has the story.

Jordan Kobritz writes in the Prescott (AZ) Daily Courier looks at the problems with the NHL which begin with the signing of Versus as its national cable TV partner.

Tucker Carlson (not the one from MSNBC) of Charter Communications writes an opinion piece in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin saying the Big Ten Network offers a bad deal for subscribers. But BTN President Mark Silverman writes back in the same newspaper that the channel is willing to talk to Charter.

Curtis Pashelka of the Contra Costa (CA) Times says the West Coast Conference is happy with its exposure on the ESPN family of networks.

Sports Illustrated picks up an AP story about a play about the late Al McGuire, written by Dick Enberg, that’s coming to Hofstra University later this month.

Jim Balow of the Charleston (WV) Gazette says ESPN will be coming to town in early July to tape the “America’s Strongest Man’s” competition.

Jo-Ann Barnas of the Detroit Free Press finds plenty of fans who were critical of NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last week.

We certainly have more links than I expected tonight, but that’s a good thing. I’ll be back tomorrow with Saturday morning links and my Super Bowl pick.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 02/02 & 02/03/2008 (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, February 2
College Gameday, live in Los Angeles – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Syracuse at Villanova – ESPN, noon
Maryland at Georgia Tech – ESPN2, noon
Lehigh at Holy Cross – ESPNU, noon
Bridgeport at New Haven (women’s) – CSTV, noon

Pittsburgh at UConn – CBS, 1 p.m.
Kentucky at Georgia – CBS, 1 p.m.
Virginia at Virginia Tech – Raycom, 1 p.m.

Dayton at URI – Cox Sports RI, 2 p.m.
Oklahoma at Texas Tech – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Rider at Siena – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Eastern KY at Tennessee Tech – ESPNU, 2 p.m.

Stanford at Washington State – FSN, 3 p.m.
Florida at Arkansas – Raycom, 3 p.m.
LSU at Alabama – Raycom, 3 p.m.
Purdue at Illinois – Big Ten Network, 3:30 p.m.
Kansas at Colorado – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Miami (FL) at Duke – ABC, 3:30 p.m.

South Alabama at UL-Monroe – ESPN2, 4 p.m.

Ohio State at Iowa – Big Ten Network, 6 p.m.
DePaul at Notre Dame – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
Harvard at Princeton – ESPNU, 6 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Los Angeles – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Michigan State at Penn State – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.

SMU at Tulsa – CSTV, 9 p.m.
Arizona at UCLA – ESPN, 9 p.m.

Sunday, February 3
Army at Bucknell – ESPNU, noon
Wake Forest at NC State – Raycom, noon
Wisconsin at Minnesota – Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
North Carolina at Florida State – FSN, 2 p.m.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, January 26
College Gameday, live from Southern Illinois University – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Gonzaga at Memphis – ESPN, noon
Drury at Indianapolis (women’s) – CSTV, noon
Tennessee State at Tennessee Tech (women’s) – ESPNU, noon
UConn at Indiana – CBS, 1 p.m.
South Carolina at Kentucky – Raycom, 1 p.m.
NC State at Florida State – Raycom, 1:30 p.m.

Hope at Calvin – CSTV, 2 p.m.
Texas A&M at Oklahoma State – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Southeast Missouri State at Murray State – ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Missouri at Texas (women’s) – ESPNU, 2 p.m.

Washington at Arizona – FSN, 3 p.m.
Auburn at Alabama – Raycom, 3 p.m.

Wisconsin at Purdue – ESPN, 4 p.m.
UNLV at San Diego State – Versus, 4 p.m.
Loyola (MD) at Manhattan – ESPNU, 4 p.m.
Colorado State at Wyoming – CSTV, 4 p.m.
Virginia Tech at Boston College – Raycom, 4 p.m.

Utah State at New Mexico – ESPN2, 6 p.m.
Rutgers at Pittsburgh – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
St. Joseph’s at Temple – ESPNU, 6 p.m.
Penn State at Iowa – Big Ten Network, 6 p.m.

Georgetown at West Virginia – ESPN, 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Southern Illinois University – ESPN2, 8 p.m.

DePaul at Marquette – ESPNU, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Ohio State – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.

Creighton at Southern Illinois – ESPN2, 9 p.m.
USC at Oregon – FSN, 9 p.m.
Arkansas at LSU – ESPN Classic, 9 p.m.

Sunday, January 27
Army at Navy – ESPNU, noon
Temple at URI (women’s) – CSTV, noon

Michigan at Michigan State – CBS, 1 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Florida – Raycom, 1 p.m.
Clemson at Miami (FL) – Raycom, 1 p.m.
Duquense at Fordham (women’s) – CSTV, 2 p.m.

Georgia Tech at Virginia – FSN, 4:30 p.m.
Georgia at Oklahoma (women’s) – ESPN2, 5 p.m.
Duke at Maryland – FSN, 6:30 p.m.
UConn at Notre Dame (women’s) – ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Northwestern at Illinois – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.

Thursday Night Linkage

I was out at a job site all day preventing me from giving you links today. I’ll give them to you tonight. I did get back in time to give you video of the Kelly Tilghman apology on the Golf Channel and I just saw the re-air as the 1st Round of the Buick Invitational and it’s contrite and short. Hopefully, that will be the end of the story. But as Kelly returns, we find the Dana Jacobsen controversy just won’t go away.

The Big Lead blog contacted Scott Cronick of the Atlantic City Press who covered the Mike & Mike Celebrity Roast earlier this month. He tells the blog that Jacobsen never said “F*ck Jesus!” as the Catholic League and Christian Defense Coalition have said. The Sports Media Watch blog reports that the Christian Defense Coalition will hold a demonstration and prayer vigil outside ESPN headquarters demanding that Jacobsen be fired. Here’s the press release from the Christian Defense Coalition on the protest. The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty writes in his Best Seat in My House blog that Jacobsen’s suspension should be longer than a week. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that Jacobsen is paying the price in more ways than one. Michael Hiestand of USA Today in a rare Thursday column chimes in on the Jacobsen controversy.

Moving onto other subjects, Hoffarth has the text of Kelly Tilghman’s apology. In his golf blog, the Chicago Tribune’s Ed Sherman says there was an audio glitch when Tilghman was stating her apology (which was corrected in the primetime airing). World Golf News has a press release from Golfweek announcing a new editor replacing David Seanor who was fired after the noose cover controversy last week.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes in his blog that WFAN’s Mike Francesca has signed a long term deal with the station.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner writes in his blog that the NFL has 13 of the 15 most watched TV shows this season. That’s impressive.

Joanne C. Gerstner of the Detroit News is bored with the Big Ten Network/Comcast dispute.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla who will call the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game with Ron Franklin on Monday night. Bracht has his weekly media notebook. He also lists the TV ratings for the past week. And Bracht gives his viewing picks for the next few days.

Shawn Courchesne of the Hartford Courant says ESPN will run a five part series on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moving to a new racing team for the upcoming NASCAR season.

Robert Crow from the Southern Illinoisan writes that ESPN’s College Gameday will be broadcasting live from the SIU Arena in advance of the game against Creighton Saturday night.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable magazine reports that CSTV.com and USAToday.com are teaming up to form an online alliance.

The NCAA is proud of TV ratings and attendance for college football during the regular season and college bowls.

Greg Stiles of the Mail Tribune (OR) writes that a new sports radio station will pop up in the local area and will include Dan Patrick in its programming.

That will do it for tonight. Friday megalinks coming up in the morning.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, January 19
College Gameday, live from Gainesville, FL – ESPN, 11 a.m.

Villanova at Syracuse – ESPN, noon
LSU at Vanderbilt – Raycom Sports, 1 p.m.
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech – Raycom Sports, 1 p.m.
Illinois at Purdue – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Mississippi State at Alabama – Raycom Sports, 3 p.m.

Ohio State at Tennessee – CBS, 3:30 p.m.
USC at UCLA – CBS, 3:30 p.m.
Maryland at North Carolina – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Texas A&M at Kansas State – ESPN, 4 p.m.
BYU at Utah – Versus, 4 p.m.
Eastern Illinois at Tennessee State – ESPNU, 5:30 p.m.

Clemson at Duke – ESPN, 6 p.m.
Oregon State at Washington – FSN, 6 p.m.
Kent State at Ohio -ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
Iowa at Michigan – Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Gainesville, FL – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Kansas at Missouri – ESPNU, 8 p.m.
Miami at NC State – Raycom Sports, 8 p.m.
Boston College at Virginia – Raycom Sports, 8 p.m.

Kentucky at Florida – ESPN, 9 p.m.
Northwestern at Wisconsin – Big Ten Network, 9 p.m.
Wyoming at San Diego State – CSTV, 11 p.m.

Sunday, January 20
Holy Cross at Bucknell (women’s) – ESPNU, noon
Florida State at Wake Forest – Raycom Sports, 1 p.m.
Penn State at Indiana – Big Ten Network, 1 p.m.
Richmond at UMass (women’s) – CSTV, 2 p.m.
Louisville at Rutgers (women’s) – ESPNU, 2 p.m.
Baylor at Oklahoma (women’s) – ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Michigan State at Minnesota – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Oregon at Washington State – FSN, 8 p.m.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, January 12
College Gameday, live from Lincoln, NE – ESPN2, 11 a.m.

NC State at North Carolina – ESPN, noon
Auburn at Florida – Raycom Sports, noon

Vanderbilt at Kentucky or Oklahoma State at Texas Tech – CBS, 1:30 p.m.
UConn at Georgetown – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Minnesota at Penn State – Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
Georgia at Mississippi State – Raycom Sports, 2 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Miami (FL) – Raycom Sports, 2 p.m.
Maryland at Virginia Tech – Raycom Sports, 2 p.m.
Washington State at UCLA – FSN, 2:30 p.m.

Arizona at Houston – ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Morehead State at Tennessee-Martin – ESPNU, 3 p.m.
Rice at UTEP – CSTV, 4 p.m.
Ohio State at Purdue – Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.

Iowa State at Baylor – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
Wyoming at TCU – CSTV, 6 p.m.
Michigan at Northwestern – Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
Villanova at Cincinnati – ESPNU, 7 p.m.

College Gameday, live from Lincoln, NE – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Michigan State at Iowa – Big Ten Network, 8:30 p.m.
Kansas at Nebraska – ESPN, 9 p.m.

Sunday, January 13
Notre Dame at West Virginia (women’s) – ESPNU, noon
Syracuse at West Virginia – ESPNU, 2 p.m.
Duquense at URI – Cox Sports (RI), 2 p.m.
Southern Mississippi at SMU (women’s) – ESPN2, 3 p.m.
Alabama at Arkansas – Raycom Sports, 4 p.m.
Stanford at Oregon or Illinois at Indiana – CBS Sports, 4:30 p.m.
Xavier at George Washington (women’s) – ESPN2, 5 p.m.
Virginia at Duke – FSN, 8 p.m.

Time For Tuesday Links

It’s Tuesday and time for some links. We have reaction to the Roger Clemens press conference and the breaking news in which Joe Gibbs suddenly resigned as coach and President of the Washington Redskins.

First, we have Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who says in just a short 24 hour period, we saw the edited and raw versions of Roger Clemens.

Newsday’s Neil Best writes that Roger Clemens has become a compelling figure. In his blog, Neil links to a SI.com story in which former Newsday reporter Jon Heyman sat with Brian McNamee while 60 Minutes was on (you can go to Heyman’s story here as well). And Neil expands on a tidbit in his column about Tony Kornheiser planning to return to Monday Night Football, at least for now.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says Giants coach Tom Coughlin has silenced his TV and radio critics.

It’s nice to have Jim Williams writing on a regular schedule again. The DC/Baltimore Examiner sports media writer blogs today that Washington TV and radio stations will be all over Joe Gibbs’ press conference later today.

The Baltimore Sun’s Ray Frager writes in his Medium Well blog that Cris Collinsworth worked well with Tom Hammond during NBC’s coverage of the Washington-Seattle game.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune says the Patriots-Giants game last month was a commercial bonanza for CBS, NBC and the NFL Network.

In the Chicago Tribune, Ed Sherman gives some hope for Big Ten fans, Comcast and the Big Ten Network appear close to an agreement.

The Sports Media Watch says going into last night’s BCS Championship Game, Fox Sports has seen lower ratings for the Sugar, Fiesta and Orange Bowls.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders what affect the NCAA’s Death Penalty had on Southern Methodist University. In the mid-1980′s, the NCAA took away scholarships and bowl appearances from its football program after SMU was found guilty of multiple recruiting and other violations.

Jennifer Wielgus of the Bucks County Courier Times says ESPN has pulled its programming from a local radio station. And Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News says the format change will not affect LaSalle basketball games which are broadcast on the station.

Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reports on a three way radio competition for sports fans during afternoon drive time.

The Providence Journal’s Paul Kenyon chronicles how the URI-Dayton game went from a non-televised game to being shown nationally and in the local markets.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the Canada-Sweden gold medal game in the World Junior Hockey Championships killed in the ratings for TSN.

Chris Pursell of TV Week says the third season of the syndicated “Whacked Out Sports” has been cleared in 75% of the country.

Laura Nachman has statements galore from KYW-TV, Alycia Lane’s attorney and from various news outlets on the firing of the lovely Alycia.

That will do it for now. Back later.

It’s a Saturday Morning Thing

Time to give you some links this morning. I’ll have the NFL Wild Card Playoff Picks coming up.

Starting with Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he writes that despite their poor season, the Rams still manage to get the ratings.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has some tongue-in-cheek predictions for sports on TV in 2008.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram talks to Pat Summerall about Michael Irvin’s return to the airwaves and about his own performance in the Cotton Bowl.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the college football bowl season is really irrelevant.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner is back on a regular writing schedule and we’re glad for that. In his blog, Williams has quotes from NBC’s John Madden about the Wild Card playoffs and has more about ESPN’s and Comcast SportsNet’s coverage of the Redskins.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany (NY) Times Union writes in his Best Seat in My House blog about ESPN reporting scores from events it covers and failing to provide scores from events it does not.

Alan Pergament in today’s Buffalo News has some leftovers from the NHL Winter Classic. In his story, Pergament refers to “A guy with a raspy voice who appears on cable’s SportsNet New York” and that guy is Scott Ferrall who appears nightly on Sirius Satellite Radio on Howard 101.

Katie Walsh of the Sandusky (OH) Register writes that a local sports bar is suing DirecTV for charging him to show the Patriots-Giants game while the game was free all over town on CBS and NBC. And the bar’s owner says he lost money because the game was no longer exclusive to the NFL Network and not as many patrons came into his place because of it. I don’t see other sports bar suing.

Michael Learmonth of the Silicon Valley Insider blog explains why the TV networks pay so much money to air the NFL.

An editorial in today’s Berkshire (MA) Eagle criticizes the NFL Network for playing games with cable.

Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal talks with CBS’ Billy Packer about the Louisville Cardinals’ chances of advancing into the NCAA Tournament.

Paul Kenyon, college basketball writer extraordinaire for the Providence Journal, writes that next Wednesday’s game involving my University of Rhode Island Rams and the Dayton Flyers, a matchup of two Top 25 teams, will be on TV in both markets. It originally was not scheduled to be televised anywhere, but A-10 conference TV rights holder CSTV has finally relented to having the game carried locally.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable has some requests for TV networks and sports leagues for 2008.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek tells us that USA Network topped all cable networks for viewing in 2007, but ESPN and TBS finished in 3rd and 4th based on Monday Night Football and the MLB postseason respectively.

Gayle MacDonald of the Toronto Globe and Mail previews a new drama on CBC called “MVP” which is described as a sexy, primetime soap opera based on life in the NHL, with a few added twists.

And that’s it for now. NFL Picks coming up.

College Basketball Viewing Picks (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, January 5
College Gameday, live from South Bend, IN – ESPN, 11 a.m.
Kansas at Boston College – ESPN, noon
Maryland at Charlotte – ESPNU, noon
Iowa at Wisconsin – Big Ten Network, noon
Penn State at Michigan State (women’s) – CBS, noon

Michigan at Purdue – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Tennessee at Notre Dame (women’s) – CBS, 2 p.m.
Oregon at Arizona – FSN, 2 p.m.
UTEP at Texas Tech – ESPNU, 2 p.m.

Louisville at Kentucky – CBS, 4 p.m.
Oregon State at Arizona State – FSN, 4 p.m.
Robert Morris at Quinnipiac – ESPNU, 4 p.m.

UCLA at Cal – FSN, 6 p.m.
Cincinnati at St. John’s – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
New Mexico at Wyoming – CSTV, 6 p.m.

College Gameday, live from South Bend, IN – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Providence at Depaul – ESPN Classic, 8 p.m.
LSU at Texas A&M – ESPNU, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Michigan State – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.

UConn at Notre Dame – ESPN, 9 p.m.

Sunday, January 6
Northwestern at Ohio State – Big Ten Network, noon
UConn at Purdue (women’s) – CBS, 1:30 p.m.
Penn State at Illinois – Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
Tulane at Houston (women’s) – ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Cornell at Duke – FSN, 5:30 p.m.
North Carolina at Clemson – FSN, 7:30 p.m.

Friday Megalinks, Late, but Still Here

Sorry about doing this at night, but I was about to do these this afternoon from home when I was called back into work. So after dinner, I’m giving you the links now. My apologies.

Let’s start with any further delay.

Starting as always with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, he does a mock fantasy draft of the top NFL announcing teams.

And we’ll just go from East to West tonight.

The great David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch delves into the collapse of the Entercom-Nassau Broadcasting deal. By the way, I got my Red Sox Nation magazine and David’s work is prominently displayed with several stories. If you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, that’s one of the benefits you receive. If you’re not a fan of the Red Sox, then you don’t get to read David, but there is one place you can, and it’s at CSTV doing a live blog on Saturday.

The Boston Globe’s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell profiles the lovely Laura Behnke who’s doing triple duty on radio and TV.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wonders if 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace can be tough on Roger Clemens when he’s already done a friendly profile on the pitcher some six years ago.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News returns from vacation and feels Sunday’s 60 Minutes interview with Roger Clemens will not yield anything new.

Heading over to the New York Post and Phil Mushnick, he, for some reason, feels the need to pick on Blackhawk helicopters flying over Ralph Wilson Stadium before the NHL Winter Classic. Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for ESPN’s Sean Salisbury. And Terranova previews the BCS Championship game with Fox Sports’ Charles Davis and ESPNU’s Larry Coker.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with Giants radio analyst Carl Banks who will call the team’s game on Sunday against the Buccaneers with Bob Papa and Dick Lynch. Over to Neil’s blog, he writes that WFAN’s Craig Carlton threw a shot at former ‘FAN host Sid Rosenberg today. And Neil says Rosenberg called him today to respond. Finally from Neil, we find out that Giants.com will have plenty of pre and postgame coverage online this weekend.

From his Watch This! blog, the DC/Baltimore Examiner’s Jim Williams writes that there will be plenty of Redskins coverage on CSN.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun talks about the NHL Winter Classic on NBC. And Frager using his blog properly adds some items that were cut from his column.

Doug Nye of The State in South Carolina feels late night bowl games are not what fans want. But Doug’s Best Bet is the BCS Championship Game on Monday night.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald talks about the Dolphins’ Jason Taylor guesting in the NBC studio on Saturday.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Fox Sports is entering a busy stretch starting with the BCS and ending with the Daytona 500 next month.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Judd Zulgad writes that the Big Ten Network is still trying to strike a deal with the major cable providers for the conference basketball schedule. Judd also gives us the broadcast schedule for the Minnesota Gophers.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin has some quotes from NBC’s John Madden about the NFL Playoffs.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes about the start of Roger Twibell’s sports radio career.

Scott D. Pierce writes in today’s Deseret (UT) Morning News about the changes at CSTV leaving the Mountain West Conference in the lurch.

Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune writes about CBS Sports’ Phil Simms returning to the city almost a year later to call the Chargers in the playoffs. And we have a look at last week’s TV ratings.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes that CBS couldn’t happier about doing the Tennessee-San Diego game.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has NBC’s John Madden expressing frustration over not being able to call more playoff games. Jim also has some news and notes including the ratings of the Patriots-Giants game last week.

Christine Daniels of the Los Angeles Times has her weekly Sound and Vision column.

Tom Hoffarth writes in the Los Angeles Daily News that college bowl season is not for the weak of heart. And Hoffarth has a lot of news and notes in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says 49ers coach Mike Nolan really didn’t say anything in his last weekly radio show of the season.

The Toronto Star reports that one of the sports writing giants of Canada, Milt Dunnell has died at the age of 102. In his career, Dunnell was not only a reporter, but an editor and a columnist. We get a touching tribute from his son, Mike, who was a sports writer himself. And we have a slideshow of Milt’s illustrious career. Stephen Brunt of the crosstown Toronto Globe and Mail pays tribute to Dunnell.

Also from the Star, Chris Zelkovich says US viewers will see plenty of Canadian broadcasters this weekend including Fang’s Bites fav, Stacey Dales.

And from the Globe and Mail, William Houston says the NHL is considering making an Outdoor Game a biennial event. That’s every two years if you’re confused.

The Sports Media Watch blog gives us the weekend ratings predictions.

I just had to say Kelly Tilghman looks lovely tonight on the Golf Channel’s presentation of the Mercedes-Benz Championships.

We continue on. CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Roger Clemens will sue in the wake of the Mitchell Report allegations and in turn, will Clemens be sued?

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog discusses what CSTV being absorbed into the CBS Sports’ operations means for you the viewer.

And that’s it. Thanks for your patience. I’m going to watch Ep. 7 of the Amazing Race Asia. Look for a recap sometime in the next few days.

Thursday Night Links

I’m such a political junkie, I’m glued to CNN and MSNBC watching the results of the Iowa Caucuses. Don’t worry, this won’t become a political blog, this will always be a sports media blog first, followed by the Amazing Race and anything else, but the anything else won’t be politics. But I do enjoy watching the election results as they come in. If you’re watching on TV or the internet, you know who’s winning, I won’t link or put them here because you can find your own trusted sources for the results.

Ok, on to some links.

On Sunday, CBS’ 60 Minutes will have the first interview with Roger Clemens since he was named in the Mitchell Report last month. While teammate Andy Pettitte who was also named has admitted taking steroids during his rehab, Clemens remains steadfast in denying ever taking them. It will be interesting how Clemens comes off with Mike Wallace.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders if Clemens is actually telling the truth.

One blog that we haven’t been linking to and should be regularly is the Best Seat In My House blog written by sports media writer Pete Dougherty of the Albany (NY) Times Union. I’ve linked to his stories in the paper here and there, but after reading his blog today, I’ve not only decided to add him to the blogroll, but start regularly linking to him as well. He’s got some good stuff. Today, Dougherty talks about CBS taking over CSTV’s business operations.

Curtis Eichelberger of Bloomberg writes that CBS taking over CSTV will allow the network to sell advertising on the channel. And Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says CBS will now take over the reins of CSTV. Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says CSTV founder Brian Bedol will no longer have a day-to-day role in the channel and will serve as an advisor.

The Sports Media Watch blog has been busy over the past week and today is no exception. First, Paulsen looks at the final ratings for the NFL regular season and Fox remains the Sunday afternoon ratings winner, but CBS has reasons to be proud as well. And ratings for the BCS on Fox are down from last year.

Dave Curtis of the Orlando Sentinel says Florida coach Urban Meyer will be a guest analyst on Fox Sports’ coverage of the BCS Championship Game on Monday.

Awful Announcing tells us that ESPN has hired three analysts for the NFL playoffs this week.

NBC Sports will have the Miami Dolphins’ Jason Taylor as a special guest in its Football Night in America studio for Wild Card Saturday.

In an editorial for tomorrow’s editions, the Hartford Courant says the viewer pays in the NFL Network vs. Cable dispute.

Nellie Andreeva of the Hollywood Reporter says the networks got a boost from the NFL on Saturday and Sunday nights. The San Francisco Chronicle picks up a story from the AP’s David Bauder on the Patriots-Giants game being the most watched program of the week. Gary Levin of USA Today has another version of the same story.

Jeff Bercovici’s Mixed Media blog in Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com site has a not-so-nice entry on the NFL Network’s Bryant Gumbel.

ESPN.com’s Jim Caple has a funny article on what if the news networks covered the NFL like they did the elections.

Katy Bachman of Mediaweek looks at XM Satellite Radio picking up Dan Patrick’s radio show.

Last night we told you that NBC Sports had won an Eclipse Award for the Kentucky Derby. Today, HBO has won one for its documentary on Barbaro.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that the NHL Network will rebroadcast the Winter Classic this weekend. And Reynolds writes in his blog that his New Year’s Day had two new viewing choices.

That’s it. And I’ll remind you that the Friday megalinks which I try to finish in the morning will be late tomorrow as I’ll be at a jobsite. I’ll try to get them to you as fast as I can.

A Few Thursday Afternoon Links

Let’s give you some links this afternoon.

Kevin McGran and Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star team up on a story about the good ratings for the NHL Winter Classic.

Broadcasting & Cable says the ratings for the Winter Classic are the best for a regular season NHL game in more than a decade.

A couple of things from Newsday’s Neil Best. First, he reports in his blog that 1050 ESPN Radio in New York has found a New Jersey station to simulcast its signal. And Ticketmaster has now backed off its Florida residents only restriction on those buying tickets for the Giants-Buccaneers game.

The Sports Media Watch blog reports that Fox won last night in the 18-49 demographic with the Sugar Bowl, but lost the overall overnight ratings to NBC. And Zap2It has more on the overnight ratings story.

We get a preview of the Tennessee-San Diego NFL Wild Card Playoff Game from CBS Sports. And CBS Sports will now take over the day-to-day operations of CSTV.

The Orbitcast blog on satellite radio has more on Dan Patrick’s radio show going to XM.

Joseph De Avila of the Wall Street Journal writes about male salons offering beer, wine, ESPN, and pool tables in addition to haircuts. The price for the haircuts are a bit high, but if I can drink a beer before getting a haircut, I’m all for it.

That will do it. I may have an update tonight. Keep it here.

Giving You the Friday Megalinks

Let’s do the megalinks today.

Starting with USA Today, we get the weekend viewing picks.

We’ll do the links from East to West today.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe says Patriots fans got a huge holiday season present on Saturday.

A couple of stories from the Boston Herald. The lovely Jessica Heslam writes that the ratings winner among WBZ, WCVB and WHDH for tomorrow night’s Patriots-Giants game will depend on which local pre-game show viewers prefer to watch. Jessica and Jay Fitzgerald report that WCVB is in talks with the NFL about losing its exclusive rights to the game.

From the New York Post, Phil Mushnick rips the NFL Network. Also from the Post, Justin Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Lee Corso. Terranova talks to the NFL Today’s Bill Cowher about the Giants.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about Giants fans selling their tickets for tomorrow’s game to Patriots fans. And Neil says in his blog that his scheduled appearance on MSNBC today was pre-empted due to coverage of the Benazir Bhutto funeral in Pakistan.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the move by the NFL to put Saturday’s Patriots-Giants game on CBS and NBC was a lesson in humility for the league.

Brian Heyman of the White Plains (NY) Journal News writes that WWOR is still fuming over losing exclusive over the air New York rights for the Patriots-Giants game.

Laura Nachman has the Philadelphia Sports Media Year in Review.

From the Baltimore Sun, Ray Frager says the three way simulcast on Saturday is a win for fans. Bill Ordine of the Sun praises Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter for looking out for fans.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News says the ratings for the Papajohns.com Bowl were up for ESPN.

Doug Nye of The State has his Best Bet for viewing this weekend.

Dave Darling from the Orlando Sentinel has his Top 10 Sports Media stories of 2007.

Keeping up with that theme, Barry Jackson has his Best and Worst of Sports Radio and TV for the Miami Herald.

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ray Buck writes about Fox Sports’ Grumpy Old Coaches, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News says the NFL and the NHL will be the viewing picks for this holiday weekend.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the NFL served its own interests by putting tomorrow’s Patriots-Giants game on CBS and NBC.

Paul Christian from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin talks about the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day being telecast on NBC.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says the NFL took a sack for this weekend.

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says the fans win out with the Patriots-Giants being on three outlets.

Over to the San Diego Union-Tribune and Jay Posner says look up “caved” in the dictionary and the NFL’s picture will be there. Here are the ratings from last week in San Diego.

John Maffei of the North County Times says it’s tough to predict the NFL Wild Card playoff picture for next weekend.

Jim Carlisle in today’s Ventura County Star says NBC is trying to sell the NHL’s Winter Classic as a special event.

In the Los Angeles Times, Christine Daniels in her Sound and Vision column says football will be the viewing choice this weekend. Also from the Times, Greg Johnson writes that advertisers get one stop shopping with Fox Sports for the Bowl Championship Series.

Tom Hoffarth in the Los Angeles Daily News talks about the late Stu Nahan’s movie cameos. And Hoffarth talks about NBC’s preparation for the NHL Winter Classic. And in his Farther Off the Wall blog, Hoffarth has his extensive weekly media notes.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has his Best and Worst in Canadian and U.S. Sports Media for 2007.

Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province says the NHL Network is great for American hockey fans.

The Sports Media Watch talks about the lowest ratings ever for network primetime NFL games this season. And Paulsen has some ratings news and notes.

Jon Friedman of Marketwatch.com says don’t confuse the NFL with Santa Claus on the Patriots-Giants issue.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball website shoots down the rumors that Fox Sports’ MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal is leaving to go to ESPN.

Phil Swann of TVPredictions.com reports about ESPNews’ HDTV plans. And Swann says DirecTV has added Tennis Channel and CSTV in HD today.

Lot of links today. That will do it. I’ll be back later.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 12/08 & 12/09/07 (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, December 8
Arizona vs. Illinois at Chicago – ESPN, noon
Michigan at Duke – CBS, 2 p.m.
Depaul at Kansas – ESPN, 2 p.m.
Dayton at Louisville – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Iowa at Iowa State – ESPNU, 2 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Washington – FSN, 3 p.m.
Kentucky at Indiana – CBS, 4 p.m.
Purdue at Missouri – ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Marquette at Wisconsin – ESPN2, 6 p.m.
URI at Syracuse – SNY, 7 p.m.
Texas at Rice – CSTV, 8 p.m.
Seton Hall at Penn State – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.

Sunday, December 9
George Washington at Virginia Tech – FSN, 5:30 p.m.
Villanova at Temple – ESPNU, 7 p.m.
Boston College at Maryland – FSN, 7:30 p.m.

A Tuesday Update

Time for an update this afternoon.

Starting with Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News, we find that last Thursday’s Packers-Cowboys set a viewing record for the NFL Network. Mike Cassidy of Undertone Networks writes for Online Video Insider about his experiences watching the NFL.com Live webcast for last Thursday’s game. The Cumberland (MD) Times-News reports that the NFL Network along with FSN Pittsburgh will be seen in HD on Atlantic Broadband cable systems starting this week.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some of the opinions shared on the Packers-Cowboys game this past weekend on ESPN (scroll down).

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch runs a press release stating that ESPN Radio has signed a carriage deal with Big League Broadcasting to turn an existing talk station into a full service affiliate.

The Jossip website gives praise to ESPN for spending huge amounts of money on hardcore sports journalists. Stop laughing. This is true.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News writes that ESPN is expanding the ESPN360 brand to Brazil.

CSTV, which had a really restrictive TV contract with the A-10 conference, has eased up a bit and signed a new deal to syndicate basketball games to regional sports networks (mostly on Comcast-owned RSN’s) in the conference’s geographic area. Last season, CSTV prevented many games from being aired because it had exclusivity and wouldn’t sell them to local channels. Now with this new contract, 32 men’s basketball games will be carried in the syndication package in addition to some 30 games that will be aired on CSTV. That’s much better. Here’s the press release from CSTV.

Jeff Richgels of the Capital (WI) Times reports that DirecTV has added FSN Wisconsin to its HD lineup. And Phil Swann who runs the TV Predictions website says FSN NY and MSG Network will also be added by DirecTV to the HD channel lineup.

John Consoli writes in today’s edition of Mediaweek that ratings for the NBA on the FSN regional channels are up significantly including those for the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs.

Former Fox Sports NFL Analyst Bill Maas goes on trial on drug and weapons charges in March.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says there’s no clear winner between the two sports radio stations in town.

Ok, you have your links for the afternoon. Primetime Viewing Picks coming up.

College Basketball Viewing Picks for 12/01 & 12/02/2007 (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, December 1
Duke vs. Davidson at Charlotte, NC – ESPNU, noon
UC-Riverside at Minnesota – Big Ten Network, 1 p.m.
North Carolina at Kentucky – ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Indiana State at Purdue – Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
UConn vs. Gonzaga at Boston, MA – ESPN, 3:30 p.m.
Weber State at Illinois – Big Ten Network, 5 p.m.
Washington at Oklahoma State – ESPN, 5:30 p.m.
Michigan at Harvard – ESPNU, 5:30 p.m.
Boston College vs. Providence at Boston, MA – ESPN Classic, 6 p.m.
Cincinnati at UAB – CSTV, 6 p.m.
Jacksonville at Michigan State – Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.
Ohio State at Butler – ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.
Indiana at Southern Illinois – ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.
UC-Santa Barbara at Loyola Marymount – CSTV, 10 p.m.
Missouri at California – FSN, 11 p.m.

Sunday, December 2
Kansas at USC – FSN, 2 p.m.
Arizona State at Nebraska – ESPNU, 2 p.m.
St. John’s at Miami (FL) – FSN, 4 p.m.
Stanford at Colorado – ESPNU, 4 p.m.
Texas A&M at Arizona – FSN, 6 p.m.
Oklahoma at TCU – CSTV, 7 p.m.
Texas at UCLA – FSN, 8 p.m.