Fang's Bites

Night Before Thanksgiving Links

I’ll provide some more linkage tonight. Sorry about the lack of posting during the day, but until my laptop gets fixed, I’ll be doing more blogging at night. My apologies.

The Sports Media Watch says the NFL did not draw great numbers in primetime for Week 12.

Linda Moss of Multichannel News writes that Nielsen might have overstated overall ratings for the NFL Network cablecast of the Jets-Patriots game, but at the same time, understated viewership on three local stations carrying the game. What?

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving is fast becoming a turkey of a telecast.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks about the birth of the Cowboys Salvation Army Halftime show which you’ll see again on Thanksgiving Day.

Multichannel News says ESPN won the cable primetime ratings by a razor thin margin.

When I saw a blurb for this column on Fox Sports.com, I knew I should have put it in this afternoon’s links, but I was so eager to get off my slow computer, that I ignored it and it’s now become the talk of the blogosphere. It’s Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star ripping ESPN for its inattention to Ball State. Good take no prisoners column from Jason.

KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah says the mtn. saw a ratings surge for BYU-Utah last Saturday.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times says the 76 Classic will be played in Anaheim in front of a host of empty seats this holiday weekend, but ESPN could care less.

Roger van der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer has the times and channels for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels two ads featuring Maria Sharapova and Paula Creamer are too made up.

Joe Favorito says in times of trouble, minor league baseball can be a great source of innovation and affordable entertainment.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times was surprised to hear that Microsoft dumped LeBron James as an endorser of Windows Vista because he did not know a deal existed in the first place.

Steve Lepore of the Puck The Media blog remembers when Owen Nolan had a hat trick during the 1997 NHL All-Star Game on Fox. I liked Fox’s coverage of the NHL, but I did hate that blue puck.

Curt Schilling announces that he’s moving his blog from his 38 Pitches site to WEEI.com. Interesting.

That’s it for now. I could be back on Thanksgiving morning with some quick links. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy your holiday.

The First Official "Mamilla" Fan Video

As I mentioned on Sunday, the girls at the AfterEllen site are abuzz over the possibility of the coupling of Maria Sharapova and actress Camilla Belle.

Publicly, the two are BFF. However, there might be signs that the two are more than that. If you want to look further, you can.

AshleyLimaFan over at YouTube made what is believed to be the first official “Mamilla” video (as the posters at After Ellen have dubbed them). Here’s the video.

You can decipher what you wish.

A Sunday Link Thing

After a few glitches involving my computer, I think I’m ready to bring you some links this morning.

Starting off with Neil Best of Newsday, he writes a column about father and son broadcasters, Joe Castiglione, voice of the Red Sox, and his son, Duke Castiglione who works for Fox 5 in New York. And tell Neil that you totally enjoyed this column. In his blog, Neil has reader e-mails denouncing the Personal Seat License plan in the new Giants/Jets stadium.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the Giants and Jets are shaking down fans with the Personal Seat Licences for the new stadium.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman has Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw backing down from his retirement talk from earlier this year.

Looking lovely as always, Daryn Kagan has the inspirational story of a blind mountain climber who uses adversity as a metaphor to succeed in life.

Albert Breer and Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News team up on a fascincating story on former Cowboys wide receiver and CBS NFL analsyt Frank Clarke who disappeared from the spotlight to become a nanny.

In his Olympics notebook, David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ratings for the Diving and Gymnastics trials did well locally (scroll down).

Mulichannel News reports on two long-time ESPN employees moving up the corporate ladder.

Dick Scanlon of the Lakeland (FL) Ledger writes that the NFL is facing reality with the NFL Network.

Josh Kendall of the Macon (GA) Telegraph says the Southeastern Conference is in a position of strength as it approaches a new round of TV negotiations.

Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun talks about the second season of a University of Maryland football reality series that is believed to be the first of its kind.

Michael Learmonth of the Silicon Valley Insider site has several ways you can watch the Euro 2008 final today in case you’re not in front of a TV.

Dave Weekley of the Charlestown (WV) Gazette-Mail writes that Hulu.com offers plenty of sports gems.

Bob Buttitta of the Ventura County Star writes that the Johnny Miller apology over comments he made at the U.S. Open over Rocco Mediate shows that the nation has become oversensitive.

John Pye of the Associated Press writes that the Tennis Channel’s Justin Gimelstob has apologized for disparaging comments made about Anna Kournikova.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog watched George Carlin on the very first Saturday Night Live program and noted the first joke he made was about sports.

Mike Tankersley of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser writes about FSN’s new series on Baseball’s Golden Age.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) goes behind-the-scenes of a FSN Detroit telecast of the Tigers.

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times says Chicago is getting attention from ESPN usually reserved for Boston or New York.

Mike DiMauro of the Bleacher Report wishes TSN would get its act in gear and syndicate its CFL games to the United States.

Dave Donofrio of the Concord (NH) Monitor says the NASCAR TV package allows the sport to market itself overseas.

Ted Cox of the Chicago Daily Herald says give credit to ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike for beating WSCR’s Mike North in the ratings fair and square.

The AfterEllen site wonders if Maria Sharapova and 10,000 B.C. star Camilla Belle are more than BFF.

That’s going to do it. I’ll have the Week Ahead posted sometime this evening.

Maria Sharapova vs. Bethanie Mattek

Today at the French Open, it’s going to be one of the more intriguing matchups. It may not be a close match as Maria Sharapova is expected to win, but it’s intriguing because of the fashion. You may remember back in September during the US Open where Bethanie Mattek was seen wearing some outrageous outfits including a leopard-skin outfit and then one which showed so much cleavage that a ballboy could not stop gazing at her.

The match is expected to be played at 2:15 p.m. ET weather permitting. It has been raining in Paris today and some matches may have been pushed back due to the weather.

But if you’re at work and need to see what I’m talking about, you can go to ESPN360 for live, streaming coverage or other backdoor sites.

For good measure, I give you the infamous cleavage shot.

UPDATE – Due to weather and darkness, the match between Maria and Bethanie was suspended with Sharapova ahead, 6-2, 2-3. The match will resume at 5 a.m. ET on the Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel.com.

Late Friday/Early Saturday Links

I’ll give you some quick late night links as we head into the weekend.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott writes in his blog that Versus is beginning to reap the benefits of having the NHL Playoffs.

NBC Sports talks about covering Game 5 of the New York Rangers-Pittsburgh Penguins series this Sunday.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Buzz Bissinger acknowledges that Will Leitch is actually a nice guy.

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings odds and ends. And the SMW notes that the NASCAR Nationwide Series race last week finished quite well in the ratings last weekend.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says the airing of dirty laundry of some sports celebrities this week was done by traditional media outlets, not blogs.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that Maria Sharapova may be serving up some potential problems for the WTA down the line.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable writes that HBO is showing the Oscar De La Hoya-Steve Forbes fight free of charge to subscribers.

John Consoli of Mediaweek reports that Turner Sports is teaming up with Applebee’s restaurants to make customized spots to run during TBS’s coverage of MLB Sunday Afternoon games. Awful Announcing isn’t too happy about this.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News writes in his blog that it appears Comcast paid the San Francisco Giants $100 million to keep the team on its SportsNet Bay Area channel for 25 years.

Chris Pursell of TV Week writes in his Pressbox blog that the NFL got praise for shortening the Draft, but lost viewers in the process.

Stuart Levine of Variety says NBC is hoping to recoup most, if not all, of the $894 million rights fee paid to broadcast the Summer Olympics from Communist China.

ESPN previews the stories E:60 will air next Tuesday.

And that will do it. A look back at the last 12 months since I re-launched Fang’s Bites comes your way later this morning.

Videos of the Week – Some Tennis Stuff

Since the Australian Open is about to begin this weekend, I’ll give you some interesting tennis videos.

I have to thank SI.com for this one. Here’s a video of tennis couples past and present.

Here’s Maria Sharapova imitating Andy Roddick’s serve as Andy’s charity event.

And here’s Andy imitating Maria

Here’s a preview of the Australian Open. Nice for the Aussie Open to have a channel on YouTube.

From Australia’s Channel 7, this is a feature on Ana Ivanovic during last year’s Aussie Open.

Contrast that feature with one the BBC did on Ana during Wimbledon.

Finally, here’s a slideshow of Maria Sharapova.

That’s it.