Neil Best
Feb
06
Sports Media Weekly No. 137 — Neil Best, Newsday & Kevin Harlan, CBS/Dial Global/TNT
Back with our post-Super Bowl edition of Sports Media Weekly. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Weekly and I are joined by Newsday’s Neil Best as the Third Man in for our News of the Week segment.
The Super Bowl dominated our discussion. We talked about the ratings and viewership which were down from the two previous Super Bowls.
We also discussed the way CBS handled the Superdome blackout and why the NFL did not provide anyone to the network to answer questions as to why the power went out in the stadium.
And all of us went over the performance of Phil Simms which baffled us to no end and finally, we reviewed CBS’ production of the Big Game.
We then moved to the 2014 Olympics and NBC’s one year kickoff to the Games in Sochi. We previewed what NBC plans to do with the Winter Olympics one year from now.
And we ended with a look at Fox tapping Gus Johnson as its Voice of the World Cup.
Our guest is Kevin Harlan of CBS Sports, Dial Global Radio and TNT. Fresh off the Super Bowl, he and I talked about his calling another Big Game on national radio. Most of our conversation focused on the Super Bowl blackout and how it was handled on radio. We aired a clip of Kevin describing the scene courtesy of Dial Global Radio.
You can subscribe to the podcast like I have through iTunes doing a search for Sports Media Journal or go right here to listen
.
And as I have done in the past, I neglected to post last week’s podcast. Our third man in was Mike McCarthy, formerly of USA Today and currently of Sports Biz USA. Our guest was co-author of Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, James Andrew Miller. That was a very good podcast. And you can find it
.
Feb
01
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 90 — Super Bowl Edition, Neil Best & Kevin Harlan
Yes, we have two guests on the Sports Media Weekly podcast this week. No news segment just guests and that is good for you.
Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and yours truly begin with Neil Best of Newsday. Neil is in Indianapolis covering the Super Bowl for Newsday. Unlike the last time he covered the Super Bowl when the New York Giants were in the Big Game, Neil is covering this having seen several Giants games. Neil gives us a taste of the atmosphere in Indianapolis and how this Super Bowl is different for him in terms of covering 11 previous games. And I asked Neil the very important question of whether he had ridden the Super Bowl Village zip line.
Then Keith and I talk with the great Kevin Harlan of CBS Sports, Dial Global/Westwood One Radio and TNT. This week, is a busy week for Kevin and he tells Keith and I about his schedule, first calling the Chicago Bulls-New York Knicks for TNT on Thursday, traveling to Indianapolis to do radio interviews for the Super Bowl, heading to South Bend, IN on Saturday to call the Marquette-Notre Dame game on CBS and then calling Super Bowl XLVI on Dial Global/Westwood One on Sunday.
Kevin also talks about the differences about calling play-by-play on radio and TV as he does the NFL on CBS on Sundays and then Monday Night Football for Dial Global/Westwood One. He also describes working with Boomer Esiason on radio.
Kevin tells us about his preparation for the Super Bowl, and he can count on one hand the occasions he has used his famous “No regard for human life” line.
The first time we’ve had two live guests on the podcast in one program. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did taking part. You can subscribe at iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” or you can listen
.
Dec
07
Quick Tuesday Linkage
Been all over the place today and I have a free moment to do some links for you. Let’s get to them.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand remembers the late Don Meredith.
Mike also looks at some of the ratings from the weekend.
The Baseball Writers Association of America has announced that Philadelphia Daily News writer Bill Conlin has won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award and will be inducted into the writers wing of Baseball Hall of Fame next year.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch wonders if ESPN threw Derek Anderson under the bus by showing him laughing on the sidelines during the San Francisco-Arizona game two Monday nights ago.
Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, the St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans has high hopes for espnW.
Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says Super Bowl XLV is proving to be a car adfest.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says LeBron James’ return to Cleveland may have proven to be a dud on the court, but it was a ratings winner.
Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says retired manager Joe Torre is considering a return to broadcasting.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels the NBA taking over the New Orleans Hornet would not be worth it for the league.
Janice Prodaska of WTIC-TV and CTNow.com says Foxwoods Casino is increasing its advertising on MSG Network.
Neil Best sighting! Neil Best sighting! Newsday’s Neil Best tells us that the dreaded pay wall at Newsday.com is down! Temporarily.
Neil writes that the ratings for Monday Night Football in Boston for Jets-Patriots were higher than in New York.
Neil says Dandy Don Meredith was a one-of-a-kind personality.
Douglas Martin and Bill Carter of the New York Times also write about Meredith.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has Frank Gifford’s thoughts on Meredith’s passing.
To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog and Dan Steinberg who says one DC radio station is expanding its coverage of the Capitals.
Michael Wilbon writes his last column for the Post and bids farewell to his readers. Wilbon will join ESPN full-time.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the ratings for the PGA’s Chevron World Challenge with Tiger Woods in contention were decent against the NFL.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News tells us that the Texas Rangers may be changing radio stations.
Tim Colishaw of the Morning News says ranks Don Meredith among the greatest Cowboys quarterbacks.
Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram doesn’t want the party to end with Don Meredith’s passing.
Ray Buck of the Star-Telegram also writes about Don Meredith.
David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Meredith wanted football to be fun.
John McClain of the Chronicle says Meredith was a giant on the field and off.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business shares a personal story about Ron Santo.
I will end it there for now. I’ll have more linkage tonight.
Jun
23
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 38
Our latest edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast brings us a repeat guest, Neil Best of Newsday. I would link you to his site, but as you many of you know, it’s behind a dreaded paywall so I won’t. He is on for the entire podcast with Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and yours truly.
We discuss the success of World Cup through two weeks and how ESPN is approaching this event by using mostly British announcers to call the games. And we talk about how people are engaged by soccer on both TV and online.
We then talk about the latest celebrity conflict between Lady Gaga whose behavior at a recent Mets game got comedian Jerry Seinfeld angry as he vented on sports radio station WFAN. Neil has extensively covered this story.
Neil, Keith and I talk about the NBA and NHL ratings and kick around the topics in the Associated Press Sports Editors Convention.
It’s a good podcast. Neil’s always a good listen. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes searching for Sports Media Journal or listen to it
.
Feb
10
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 22
Once again, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I get together for another edition of the Sports Media Weekly podcast. For the entire length of the podcast, our guest is the great Neil Best of Newsday. If you’re a regular reader of Fang’s Bites or have been with me since the rebirth of the blog in May 2007, you’ll know how much Neil was a resource for me until October of last year when Newsday’s owner, Cablevision put up a paywall and since then, many of us no longer have access to Neil’s blog and columns.
Well, for one day and one day only, Keith and I bring Neil from behind the paywall and to your computers for free. In this podcast, we discuss the record viewership for Super Bowl XLIV, the ads and Neil’s thoughts on the CBS production of the broadcast.
I get Neil to wax poetic (albeit briefly) about the destruction of Giants Stadium and we also talk about the impending NFL labor strife.
We talk about the rebranding of the ESPN360.com broadband web service to ESPN3.com and what confusion that will cause in the short term.
We also touch on the Olympics and how much Neil plans to watch. WFAN’s Mike Francesa and his curmudgeon-like ways are discussed. And we also bring up the dreaded Newsday.com paywall and how that has affected his readership.
It’s a very good podcast and one that was quite enjoyable to tape. You can find the podcast
or go to iTunes to download it. Make sure you leave feedback and please, name and town, name and town, name and town. We want to know what you think and so would iTunes.
Oct
27
Newsday’s Neil Best Says Goodbye
As Newsday.com becomes a pay site as of tomorrow, sports media writer extraordinaire and a Friend of Fang’s Bites, Neil Best has written a post in his blog wishing farewell to those who will not be paying $5 a week to subscribe to the site. I am part of those who will not pay. Unfortunately, this affects Fang’s Bites as Neil was a tremendous source of material not only for this blog, but many others across the country. A little piece of trivia, when I restarted my blog in earnest on May 2, 2007, Neil began his Watchdog blog and little did he know how popular it would become.
Through the blog, Neil has a loyal readership across the country, but with Cablevision’s purchase of Newsday and its desire to generate revenue from its website, it becomes a subscription model as of tomorrow. It’s Cablevision’s decision. I don’t have to like it, but I’m not running Newsday so the time has come to wish Neil nothing but the best (no pun intended). Normally, I would link to his blog post, but as of tomorrow, you won’t be able to read it unless you’re a subscriber. So I’m going to copy and paste his farewell. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but in order to reach the maximum audience, I provide it to you in full.
Thank you, WatchDog Nation
Alas, the time has come to say farewell to many members of WatchDog Nation, those who will not be joining us in our transition to a “subscriber” site, effective Wednesday.
The move has generated passionate debate, as in the 131-comment discussion that followed my post on this topic last week.
The fact people care so deeply must mean Newsday.com has done a good job of becoming a part of your lives.
But drastic times call for drastic measures. The latest newspaper circulation figures are grim – although Newsday fared much better than most.
The figures are depressing, but they also ignore the elephant in the room: More people are reading our stuff than ever, yet we are deriving little business benefit out of them. It’s ridiculous and unsustainable.
The question is how to justify it all in business terms. Direct revenue is one way, of course.
But the Cablevision/Newsday strategy, in which subscribers to Newsday and to Cablevision’s Internet service will continue to get Newsday.com gratis, is more nuanced and interesting than that.
The most thorough, honest explanation I have read about the decision and its implications can be found toward the bottom of this post by Davidoff.
Newsday’s core mission since 1940 has been covering Long Island – and the teams Long Islanders follow – more thorougly than any other media entity, now more than ever.
If this helps us do that as a viable, healthy business into the future, I’m all for it.
For those readers who won’t be coming along for the ride – especially those outside Cablevision territory who in many ways are innocent bystanders in all this – thank you for your readership, input and support.
You will be missed.
Thanks, Neil. I’ve come to know Neil, first through e-mails, then personally at Blogs with Balls 1.0 in New York earlier this year which was quite a thrill. But Neil is not totally going away. He’s on Twitter and also on Facebook so I’m sure we’ll be hearing from him down the line.
Jun
16
Some More Blogs With Balls Recaps
I know I said I would wrap up Blogs With Balls yesterday, but there’s really some good stuff out there that you should read about the conference.
Blogs With Balls owner HHR Media has put together a bunch of recaps from those who attended the event on Saturday. Some you may have read since I did a post yesterday, but there are a slew which I didn’t get to. This is part one of BWB’s round up. Here’s part 2. And part 3. Here’s part 4.
Dan Levy of On the DL podcast brought Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy and Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog from the Washington Post back together after their argument on Saturday. It ended up to be a fascinating discussion and you can listen to it. Very good podcast.
Keith Thibeault of Sports Media Journal continues his video interviews with some of the attendees of Blogs With Balls. He has an interview with some guy who runs a blog called Fang’s Bites. The guy nods his head and waves his hands a lot. What’s wrong with that guy?
And Keith talks with Newsday’s Neil Best.
Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com also has two interviews from BWB. He talks with Chris Lucas, the co-head poobah of HHR Media which organized the conference. And Jonathan speaks with A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin.
And if there are any more recaps to link to, I’ll bring them to you. Thanks for your patience on this.
Jun
15
Wrapping Up Blogs With Balls
Going over the Tweets and the various blog posts on Blogs With Balls, I can say unequivocally that it was a big success. With an estimated 300 people attending, ESPN doing a story on the conference and Sports Illustrated sending representation, it shows that sports blogs are here to stay. I’m going to link to various recaps and impressions from those who attended BWB, both from the mainstream media and from my fellow bloggers.
Let’s begin with Newsday’s Neil Best who says he enjoyed attending BWB.
Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com gives his impressions of the conference. Jonathan also talked with Dan Povia of Hugging Harold Reynolds, one of the event’s organizers.
The great Jimmy Traina of SI.com links to three recaps of the conference (including mine) at Hot Clicks. Thanks, Jimmy.
Jeff Pearlman of Sports Illustrated writes in his own blog that he admires bloggers’ passion for sports, something he currently lacks.
Blogs With Balls even made ESPN’s Blog Buzz on SportsCenter today. But they can do better by labeling us “Sports Bloggers Conference” and we were ranked very low in my opinion.
Now let’s go to various bloggers to get their thoughts.
Dan Levy of On the DL says the event was a big success.
Russell Scibetti of The Business of Sports has some highlights.
Keith Thibeault of Sports Media Journal gives us his thoughts on the conference. Keith also shot video and interviewed various participants including yours truly. I’ll post those when they become available. Here’s Keith’s talk with Chris Lucas of HHR Media.
Good interview, Keith. Great job.
A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin incorporates his thoughts about BWB into a post on Mike Florio’s PFT joining NBC Sports.
Ian Bethune of Sox & Dawgs writes a nice recap on the conference.
Brian from MGOBLOG has a very detailed recap and I share his opinion on Gary Vaynerchuck.
Ben Koo from Koo’s Corner got an interview with BWB founder Kyle Bunch.
Red Cup Rebellion came up from Mississippi (mad props to them) and has the first part of its recap.
For a woman’s perspective (and there were many women there), here’s Erica Boeke of GoGameFace.com with her thoughts.
Sarah Spain adds her thoughts at Mouthpiece Sports.
That’s a small sampling of what has been written about Blogs With Balls. I certainly had a great time there and if BWB returns to New York or holds a Boston event, I’ll be sure to attend.
Jun
14
Recap of Blogs With Balls 1.0 Conference
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the Blogs With Balls 1.0 Conference in New York City. It was a chance for bloggers to meet each other, put faces with names, talk to mainstream media writers and reporters and to network. In addition, there were several panel discussions on the influence of blogs, how the mainstream media is adjusting to blogs and how social networking is influencing sports.
The event was held at Stout on West 33rd Street. While this was a good venue, it did not provide us with the chance to live blog from the event. More on that later. Let’s recap the day from the beginning.
First, I got up. …. No, I won’t do it like that. Sorry.
I met up with Ian Bethune of Sox & Dawgs at Grand Central Station. He came down from the S&D World Headquarters in Hartford, CT. From there, we walked to Stout.
After a brief wait in the main section of the bar, we were ushered downstairs to where the event was taking place.
During the registration hour between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., it was an opportunity to meet those in attendance. I was able to catch up with fellow New Englanders Jessica Camerato of WEEI.com and Keith Thibeault of Sports Media Journal.
Between 10 and 11, some 300 people entered. You can take a look at some of those in attendance.
Shortly after 11 a.m., the first of 8 panel discussions began. Knowing the organizers wanted to get a star-studded lineup and get a lot of Q&A, they packed the panels. I felt we had two panels too many. And there were some that did not work. I’ll give you the panels, the participants and my quick review of each.
We began with a video from Sports Illustrated’s Peter King welcoming us to the conference (thanks to Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans for letting me know that Lacrosse All Stars had the clip).
After a couple of tries, the video finally got off the ground.
Panel #1 – The Future of Sports Media with Jim DeLorenzo of Octagon, Richard Ting of R/GA Media Group, Christopher Russo (not that one) of Fantasy Sports Ventures and Kathleen Hessert of Sports Media Challenge.
This was a fascinating panel. The personalities all discussed those athletes who have embraced social media like Twitter have found the network to be a great tool to get their messages across. Kathleen Hessert discussed how Shaquille O’Neal, instead of going after a fake Shaq on Twitter, just signed on, then began Tweeting and then squashed the imposter. Richard Ting discussed how the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard uses social media to reach his fans. Overall, this was the best panel of the first part of the day.
Panel #2 – Confirm or Ignore, Leveraging Social Media with Sarah Braesch of BlogHer, Julia Roy of Undercurrent.com and JuliaRoy.com, Dan Levy of On The DL with Dan Levy and Matt Sebek of JoeSportsFan.com.
Easily the worst segment of the conference to no fault of the panelists. This was supposed to be interactive with the audience Tweeting questions to the panel. However, no one was really feeling this. I later learned that the Tweets to the panel were supposed to be seen on the monitors all around the room. However, this did not work for various unknown reasons. The audience was mostly bored. While the panelists did their best to talk about the subject, the discussion lacked flavor. Had we seen the Tweets to the panel, this segment would have worked better.
Panel #3 – Hi Mom! Claming That Earned Media with Michael Tunison of Kissing Suzy Kolber, Todd Lippincott of Who Dey Revolution, Sarah Spain of Mouthpiece Sports and one other panelist (I forgot, sorry).
By this time, I had found another section of the room that had a large bar and was losing interest fast. However, there were some good points in this. Tunison was very funny in talking about his firing from the Washington Post after he revealed his identity at KSK. Sarah discussed her gaining notoriety when she tried to auction herself as a date to the Super Bowl in 2007. And she discussed the difficulty of being a woman covering sports.
By this time, I was hanging out and eating lunch when of all people, Newsday’s Neil Best walked into the room. After brief introductions, we talked for a good 20 minutes about a whole myriad of topics, blogs, newspapers, sports media, other sports media writers, etc. It was a great discussion that spilled over into the next portion of the schedule.
I did not pay attention to the next two discussions, “Making It Big: The Secret of My Success” with A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin, Matt Ufford of With Leather, Dan Shanoff of DanShanoff.com and Jimmy Traina of SI.com’s Hot Clicks; and “Power In Numbers: Content Networks” with Pete Vlastelica of Yardbarker, Jim Bankoff from SB Nation, Jarrett Myer of Uproxx, Dan Kelly of Bleacher Report and Adam Best of FanSided and Arrowhead Addict.
When you have an opportunity to schmooze with Neil, then Jimmy Traina, Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy and Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead, you have to take it. And I did. Fun to meet and talk with all of them. And it’s nice to know that they all read Fang’s Bites. It’s much appreciated. I may have Statcounter to see how many hits I have here, but I don’t know who’s behind each visit. It’s nice to see that the blog is recognized. I’ll never have the hits of Deadspin, but getting read by a loyal audience is appreciated.
I also did a video interview with the great Keith Thibeault of Sports Media Journal and look for that in the next week or so.
When I got back to the main room, it was time for the three best panel discussions of the day.
Panel #6 – Make The Leap, Make It Your Job with Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy, Spencer Hall of The Sporting Blog, Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog.com, Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead
One of the most entertaining panel discussions. I wouldn’t say there was much advice for those who want to make blogging their full-time jobs. Jason did suggest to not quit our day jobs first, then try to make blogging work. He said to make sure the blog becomes successful before making that leap.
Greg said one of the more controversial comments of the day when he said that he has been in hockey press boxes and found reporters to be quite staid and emotionless. Greg also said he had no interest in talking to athletes and listening to their cliched quotes after the game. This sparked an argument, but we’ll get to that later.
All talked about how much they loved blogging and setting their own hours. Jason talked about working for US magazine and having fun doing The Big Lead.
Very entertaining discussion.
Panel #7 – Show Me The Money, Advertising with Pete Vlastelica of Yardbarker, Nat Berman of Uncoached, Paul Dalessio of Fleishman Hilliard and Micah Baldwin of Lijit and LearnToDuck.
This was a discussion of how to set rate cards and getting the right advertiser to your website. Good talk.
Panel #8 – Why We Hate You: The Media’s Take with Bethlehem Shoals of FreeDarko.com, Jeff Pearlman of Sports Illustrated, Amy K. Nelson of ESPN, Mike Hall of NESN.com and Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog.
I loved this discussion. The controversy over Raul Ibanez and the Midwest Sports Fans blog came up.
Pearlman and Steinberg both were bothered by Wyshynski’s comments. Pearlman said part of the experience of sports reporting is not just hearing the cliched answer from the star athlete, but talking to the second string or third string players and finding stories.
Bethlehem Shoals was absolutely fantastic giving us anecdotes and analogies. Mike Hall said NESN is not going to break stories, but cover stories that involve the two main teams on its network, the Red Sox and Bruins.
Amy K. Nelson said one blog (Sharapova’s Thigh) actually helped her in covering the Nick Adenhart story back in April.
All said while they did not like what was in Midwest Sports Fans, they felt what Jerod Morris said about Ibanez was well-written and researched. Pearlman felt that Morris should have asked Ibanez about it. But it was pointed out that since the Philadelphia Inquirer had access to Ibanez, the paper was able to ask him about the blog’s thoughts. Amy said Jerod did not have to talk to Ibanez. All felt that blogs needed to show some responsibility and respectability.
Pearlman said that the reason newspapers are dying is that stories are getting shorter. He used to write 2,000 to 3,000 word stories. Now they’re down to 500 words and that newspapers are fast becoming outdated. People want to read stories about today’s news not yesterday’s and before.
Shoals kept being colorful and was the best panelist of the day. Moderator Dan Levy could not cut in fast enough as each panelist wanted to get his or her say. It was tremendous. All said they did not hate blogs and did not feel they should dislike them either. By the end, the bloggers gave the panel a standing O.
Now, I don’t know whether an argument between Steinberg and Wyshynski took place before or after this discussion. But they apparently sparred over the comments that Greg made about going into locker rooms and reporters being lazy.
Our last speaker was Greg Vaynerchuk, a guy who talked about following the dream. Fine. He had some good one liners, but he made his money in wine, not sports. What did this have to do with blogging and sports?
Praises and Criticisms
Overall, it was a good conference.
My criticisms: There should have been a bigger venue. While being downstairs at Stout was nice, we were packed in tight. The lighting was too dark. I felt the organizers were trying to tell us something by putting us in the dark basement at Stout.
Free Guiness beer was served starting at 1 p.m. and lasted for an hour. I’m all for free beer, but hand it out at the end, not in the middle of the day. People were getting tipsy after 2 p.m.
We should have been allowed to bring our laptops and live blog. Because of the limited space, we were advised not to bring our computers. The organizers asked us to Tweet instead and while that was fine, many of us lost battery power in our iPhones, Blackberrys, etc. in the middle of the conference. Please let us bring laptops for the next conference. And it would only help to promote Blogs with Balls and create more of a demand for the next one.
There were too many panel discussions. This should have been cut down by two or three.
Also, the conference began at 11 and ended at 6:30. I would have begun the conference at 10 and ended at 3 or 4.
Eliminate the keynote speaker or get someone who is involved in blogging. Yeah, Gary has a blog, but he’s made his money elsewhere.
Praises: The conference moved quickly. The panelists were solid.
Food was excellent. Nice mini-hamburger and cheeseburgers. Good panini sandwiches. Water and coffee was served throughout. I give the wait staff massive props for its hard work.
I was happy for the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers and talk strategy of getting noticed.
Thanks to Ian Bethune for being a great guy to hang out with. I thoroughly enjoyed his company.
To get a flavor of the Tweeting from Blogs With Balls, go here.
Also, the Dugout Sports Show did a live podcast from the conference and spoke to many of the big stars from the blogosphere including Sarah Spain.
Overall, I give Blogs With Balls a B. For the first time, it was a very good effort.
Jun
05
Follow Friday
If you’re on Twitter, there’s a feature that has caught on among members called “Follow Friday”. Each person suggests others to follow and if you like the person’s Tweets, you can hit “follow” and get that person’s updates.
Through this, I have found quite a few people to follow and have made some good connections. I’m going to extend that here to Fang’s Bites.
For Football even though I’m a massive Browns fan and hate everything Steeler-oriented, I give you, Steelergurl. She knows her football and always goes back and forth with NFLprguy Brian McCarthy on Twitter. I have a great respect for Steelergurl and her posts. Visit her blog as well.
For Baseball blogs, Red Sox-centric in particular, there’s Sox & Dawgs run by my good friend, Ian Bethune. Well, I haven’t met Ian personally, but we always e-mail and Tweet each other so I feel like I’ve known him for a while. Go visit Ian and enjoy not just his Red Sox posts, but on New England sports.
The hockey blog I visit constantly is Puck The Media run by Steve Lepore. He’s on top of all things regarding the hockey media. Very well run and I’m also an occasional contributor. Visit his site often.
If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you know that I regularly link to Neil Best of Newsday practically every day. Not only is he quite prolific in posting, he also does quite a bit of reporting for his column.
There’s also Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated who returned to the magazine after 9 months at the University of Michigan doing a fellowship. I hope to have more from Richard in the future.
My former partner-in-crime at WPRI-TV, John Crowe has his sports media blog, the Crowe’s Nest. The stories I could tell you about how John and I developed scavanger hunts for associate producers and interns just to torture them. However, the Statute of Limitations still has not run out so I must keep quiet. Maybe one day, John and I will reveal them.
There’s also the Sports Media Journal headed up by Southern New England multimedia magnate Keith Thibeault. It’s also the home of former Baltimore Sun media writer Ray Frager. SMJ has very thoughtful posts and is one of the best sports media blogs out there.
I would be remiss if I did not include Maury Brown’s Biz of Baseball. Maury has become quite the expert on MLB’s blackout rules and also keeps up to date on baseball stadia, attendance and other things related to the Business of Baseball. He also has the Biz of Football, Biz of Basketball and Biz of Hockey. Visit them often.
And two of my favorite non-sports websites: Darynkagan.com just to see what’s possible and B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye with the best web series on the planet.
Every Friday, I’ll bring you different sites for my Follow Friday.
Aug
23
Interview with Newsday’s Neil Best
In the wake of his Mike & the Mad Dog scoop that came to fruition earlier this month, I thought it was a good time to conduct an e-mail interview with Neil Best of Newsday. I feel a bit of a kinship with Neil since he and I started our blogs on the same day.
Neil is the sports media writer for Newsday and has been covering the beat since 2005. Before that, Neil was the New York Giants beat reporter for the paper for ten years. His other assignments for Newsday have included St. John’s and Big East basketball and New York City high school sports.
In an exchange of e-mails that spanned much longer than I had planned, we finally finished the interview on Friday. Here is what transpired over this past week.
Fang's Bites: First, congratulations on the Mike & the Mad Dog scoop. Without going into specifics, what led you to believe that the duo would split up before Labor Day?
Neil Best: I was told by several people over the weeks from June 22 through the news finally becoming official Aug. 14 that this was almost definitely going to happen. I admit I got a little nervous at times as the weeks dragged on and no other papers followed up on this, but I kept getting reassured and just to be patient.
FB: How do you see Mike and Chris faring without each other? And who do you think will be more successful in their respective platforms?
NB: Mike will do fine as long as he makes good choices for his supporting cast. The WFAN brand - and the Francesa brand - are very strong, and only years of sustained mediocrity would drag down him and the show. Chris' success will be harder to quantify because Sirius isn't about ratings, it is about subscribers. How do you separate out what Chris is responsible for? I think he can pull off the national show format, but that doesn't mean people in Arkansas are going to care what he has to say.
FB: What makes Francesa and Russo interesting subjects to write about?
NB: Wow, that's a hard one. There was just something about them that compelled people to love and hate them, but most of all to listen. There is no easy way to put your finger on a phenomenon such as this. It just happens.
FB: I've heard rumors about Sid Rosenberg joining the Mad Dog Channel on Sirius XM. Have you heard similar rumors?
NB: He told me he won't.
FB: Moving to blogging, have you enjoyed it and do you now find it more to be a chore?
NB: Both. I enjoy it and it's a chore. The worst thing is feeling guilty when I'm not doing it. I'm in a weird position because I'm still a full-time newspaper writer and sometimes leave my house. But the access I get as a writer for a major newspaper also obviously benefits the blog.
FB: Do you feel that newspapers are embracing blogging or do you feel that papers see blogging as a necessary evil?
NB: Some the former, some the latter. Newsday has been extremely aggressive in embracing the Internet in general and blogs in particular. They still don't pay me for it, though.
FB: What is your assessment of blogging after doing it for 15 months now?
NB: I enjoy it, in many ways more than writing newspaper columns. But it certainly is a burden to juggle along with the column, family life, etc. I wish I could discipline myself to limit the number of posts per day to keep it sane, but so far I haven't.
FB: What blogs do you regularly visit?
NB: Deadspin, Big Lead, Awful Announcing, Fang's Bites are four most frequent. But I periodically check in on many others. I guess I should mention (Newsday football writer Bob) Glauber's.
FB: Thank you so much for the nice plug. Much appreciated. Now about Glauber, can you describe the dynamic between the two of you? He leaves snarky comments on your blog. He also makes references to you in his. Do you think he has a man crush on you?
NB: Clearly, he does. He and I shared a hotel room once when there was a mix-up with our reservations on a Giants road trip and there was only one room for the two of us. Separate beds. I promise.
FB: In your chat (August 6), I asked you about the Olympics and the amount of live streaming. You mentioned that this is a watershed event along with March Madness two years ago. We now have the NFL streaming Sunday Night Football this season. Do you see other sports leagues following the free streaming model or will they follow MLB's pay per view system? (Even I feel that was long-winded)
NB: The model presumably would be pay per view if leagues are going to put everything on line, as MLB does. But there is no question we will be seeing more and more of this over time.
FB: James Dolan recently purchased Newsday. How do you see his ownership influencing how Newsday's sports department covers the Knicks and Rangers?
NB: The intention is to cover them exactly as we always have. The concern is much more about self-censorship than direct censorship. We have been told to behave exactly as always, but will individual writers hit a mental delete button before ripping James Dolan? That's the real issue.
FB: What grade would you give to NBC for covering these Olympics? And with you and I being on the East Coast, do you sympathize with West Coasters for complaining about the "LIVE" graphic when the events shown in their primetime are not live?
NB: I'd give them a nice solid B-plus, I guess. The live/not live thing is really confusing, and I think as of 2012 it's time to throw in the towel and put everything on live, then replay the good stuff in prime time. The issue is not the LIVE graphic, it's the fact it's not live, graphic or no graphic. The women's gymnastics stuff last week ended after 1 a.m. live in the East. Why not have that on at 10 p.m. PDT!?
FB: What Olympic events do you feel NBC paid too much attention and what events did they pay too little?
NB: One of the biggest weaknesses of the prime time show is not at least giving people a flavor of the cool stuff being shown on the cable outlets and on-line. I guess I'd say too much beach volleyball, much as I enjoy the uniforms, and not enough team handball!
FB: In your last chat (August 20), I asked you if you thought Brett Favre would increase ratings on CBS's AFC package of NFL games. What is CBS' feeling of having Favre on their network regularly after him being on Fox for all these years?
NB: CBS is ecstatic.
FB: Will the NFL Network ever get on Cablevision and other big cable companies?
NB: Yes, but maybe not until DirecTV's Sunday Ticket exclusive expires in 2011.
FB: I have to ask a question about the sports behemoth known as ESPN. Do you feel they try to influence the sports agenda?
NB: Hmm. That's way too complicated and big of a question to answer here. Mostly they try to keep up ratings and subscriber fees and make money.
FB: Are there good things about ESPN? And what do you feel are the bad?
NB: Again, that's the subject for a college thesis, sir! The best thing about ESPN is the tonnage of quality sports stuff they provide for sports fans. The worst thing is their too-close relationship with the athletes, teams and leagues they cover.
FB: What story have you enjoyed covering the most since taking over the media beat at Newsday? What have you enjoyed the least?
NB: My best and most fun idea for a story, although the execution wasn't as good as I would have liked, was when I went to the home of the woman who does the closed caption typing for Francesa and Russo and wrote about her challenge in keeping up with a Russo monologue. The one I enjoyed least probably was the breakup of Francesa and Russo. Even though it turned out I was right, I was frustrated by having very little concrete to report for readers wanting more information for a solid two months.
FB: Everybody Loves Raymond vs. My Boys. Raymond Barone vs. PJ Franklin. Who do you think is the better sportswriter and which show better depicts sportswriters as doing the least amount of work?
NB: Both are good, well written shows, although I'd have to give the edge to Raymond. As far as the non-working sportswriter thing goes, at least Raymond was a columnist. PJ is a friggin' baseball beat writer and yet has endless hours to play poker and drink beer!
FB: Finally, do you think this e-mail interview can take any longer than the four to five days that it has spanned?
NB: It's a good thing I aced my ninth grade typing class.
Again, thanks to Neil for agreeing to do the interview. It's much appreciated.
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