Fang's Bites

Latest 30 for 30 Short on 1972 US Olympics Men’s Basketball Team Debuts

It’s only 12 minutes, but the subject really requires two hours at minimum. A very good 30 for 30 short on the 1972 US Olympic basketball team’s refusal to accept the silver medal has debuted today at Grantland. Director Rory Karpf got all of the members from that team for a meeting to look at the game footage as it aired on ABC and discuss what happened in the chaotic final seconds in which FIBA Director Dr. Robert Jones interfered and meddled so the Soviet Union could win a controversial gold medal final, 50-49 over the United States.

The film is very good and I wish it was longer. It’s now available for viewing at Grantland.

30 for 30 Shorts: 1972 USA Men’s Olympic Basketball Team Come Together for Silver Reunion

The next installment of ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 Shorts series, Silver Reunion, debuted today on Grantland.com. Forty years after the USA Men’s Olympic Basketball team declined their silver medals after controversially losing the gold to the Soviet Union, the 12 team members gathered together to ultimately either accept or refuse the medals for a game the players believe they never lost.

The short film, directed by 5-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker Rory Karpf, features the complete team together for the first time since the 1972 Olympics discussing the controversial calls surrounding the Soviet Union’s win and if they will ever accept the silver medal as a team.

Previous films from the ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 Shorts series include Arnold’s Blueprint, Ali: The Mission, and Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner, among others. All can be viewed on Grantland.com.

That will do it.

ESPN, Inc. Pounds Its Chest Over 43 Sports Emmy Nominations

The ESPN Family of Networks received 43 Sports Emmy nominations. Some of the major nods include Mike Breen for Play-by-Play, Jon Gruden for Event Sports Analyst, College GameDay for Weekly Studio Show, Pardon the Interruption in Daily Studio Show, the Indy 500 for Live Sports Special, Monday Night Football in Live Sports Series, 30 for 30 in Edited Sports Series/Anthology, E:60 for Sports Journalism and even Grantland got three nominations giving Bill Simmons another ego blast.

Here’s what ESPN is saying about their Sports Emmy nominations.

ESPN, Inc. – 41 Sports Emmy Nominations

Outside the Lines, E:60 Lead the Way; First Three Nominations for Grantland.com

ESPN, Inc. received 41 Sports Emmy Award nominations for 2012 across its platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN 3D, ABC, ESPNU, ESPNEWS and Grantland.com), it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  The winners will be announced Monday, May 6, in New York.

The company’s initiatives in enterprise journalism and storytelling led the way – five nods for E:60, four for Outside the Lines, ESPN Films earned four nominations including two for 30 for 30 documentaries, and three for Grantland.com, the site’s first nominations. OTL has won 14 Sports Emmy Awards in history, including three last year.  Grantland.com gained two nominations in New Approaches – Sports Programming with “The Arnold Palmer” and “Royce White Battles Anxiety on Draft Day” as well as one in New Approaches – Short Format for “Story Time with Jalen Rose.”

Monday Night Football, the most-watched series in cable television, was nominated in Live Series and its analyst Jon Gruden was nominated for the fourth consecutive year and reporter Lisa Salters received her first-ever nod.  In technical categories, ESPN 3D garnered a pair of nominations, including in Technical Team Remote for the Winter X Games for which the network won in 2012.  Also, last summer’s UEFA Euro 2012 month-long tournament received nominations in Technical Team Studio and in Graphic Design.

Overall, ESPN has won 148 Sports Emmy Awards in 25 years of eligibility.  ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.

ESPN’s nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):

Live Special                                   Indianapolis 500 (ABC)
Live Series                                     Monday Night Football
Edited Special                                Outside the Lines – Believe
Sports Documentary                      26 Years: The Dewey Bozella Story (ESPN2)
The Announcement
Edited Series                                 30 for 30
Studio Show/weekly                       College GameDay
Studio Show/daily                          NFL Live (ESPN2)
Pardon the Interruption
Journalism                                     E:60 – Beitar Jerusalem (ESPN2)
                                                      E:60 – Busted Coverage (ESPN2)
Short Feature                                 College GameDay – Fist Bump: A Brotherly Bond
E:60 – Perfect (ESPN2)
SportsCenter – Kick of Hope
SportsCenter – Run with Me
Long Feature                                  E:60 – Mike Powell: In Relentless Pursuit (ESPN2)
New Approaches –                         Unite (ESPNU)
Sports Programming                     Royce White Battles Anxiety on Draft Day (Grantland.com)
The Arnold Palmer (Grantland.com)
New Approaches – Short Format    ESPNU Unite Social Highlight (ESPNU)
Story Time with Jalen Rose (Grantland.com)
Numbers Never Lie Whiteboard (ESPN2)
Play by Play                                   Mike Breen (ABC)
Event Analyst                                 Jon Gruden
Reporter                                         Lisa Salters
Technical Team Remote                 The Masters (ESPN 3D with CBS)
Winter X Games (ESPN 3D)
Technical Team Studio                  UEFA Euro 2012
Camerawork                                   E:60 – Remember Bluffton (ESPN2)
Outside the Lines – Breaking the Silence
Editing                                           Grand Slam Tennis (ESPN2
Outside the Lines – Breaking the Silence
Writing                                           The Open Championship – Old
The Open Championship – Essays
30 for 30 – Ghosts of Ole Miss
Graphic Design                              UEFA Euro 2012
                                                      Sport Science (ESPN-ESPN2-ESPNEWS)
Prod.Design/Art Direction              Outside the Lines – Defiance: The Story of FC Start
Promo – Institutional                     “It’s not crazy, it’s sports.”
“Nothing Beats First Place”

That’s going to do it.

Some Wednesday Evening Linkage

I’ll provide a few links on this Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at CBS pushing its Sunday primetime lineup to 7:30 p.m. ET to accommodate the NFL.

Michael Kruse of Grantland has a very good story catching up with former ESPN Radio host Nanci Donnellan aka “The Fabulous Sports Babe”.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report has some thoughts on Notre Dame joining the ACC except for football and hockey.

Ed notes that Michelle Beadle might be headed to mornings on NBC Sports Network.

ESPN’s Kristi Dosh writes that despite losing Notre Dame, the Big East can still get a big TV rights eal.

Darren Rovell of ESPN says Notre Dame won’t becoming a full-time member of the ACC simply due to the fact that it likes its deal with NBC for football.

Georg Szalai from the Hollywood Reporter has CBS Head Honcho Leslie Moonves boasting about Super Bowl ads being sold for more than $4 million per 30 second spot.

Todd Spangler of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Google Fiber has added ESPN and several other Disney networks.

Tim Baysinger of B&C says Fox Sports has partnered with Oklahoma University to provide exclusive content on its Fox Sports Net channels.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek tells us NBC’s Sunday Night Football set another ratings record.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age says ESPN is launching an ad campaign for its pay Insider service.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life writes that thanks to the Olympics, NBC cruised to a summer ratings victory.

John Koblin of Deadspin has the great video of WFAN’s Mike Francesa falling asleep during his NFL Now show that was simulcast on YES last Sunday.

John also looks at the NFL going further into Sunday primetime.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing looks at Tim Brando’s Twitter war with Ohio State fans that stemmed from an interview during his radio show today.

Bill Carter of the New York Times discusses CBS adjusting its Sunday primetime schedule for the NFL.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY says the New York Giants season opener on NBC topped the ratings in the Big Apple.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call is one of the few who likes Bob Costas’ Sunday Night Football halftime commentaries.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the local ratings for the DC Football Team’s season opener and RGIII’s pro debut.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle looks at the new Fox Sports-Oklahoma University rights deal.

David has a few notes in his blog including one on retiring Astros voice Milo Hamilton.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman says the NFL topped the local weekend ratings.

Berry Tremel of The Oklahoman looks at the new Fox Sports-OU relationship.

Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World has details of the Fox Sports-Oklahoma agreement.

Guerin Emig of the World has a Q&A about the new Sooner Sports TV programming arrangement.

Paul M. Banks from the Chicago Sports Media Watch says the White Sox set a 3 year ratings high for Comcast SportsNet on Tuesday.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune anticipates the 50,000th edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the next inductee to the Broadcasters Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame could be going in as both a player and a broadcaster.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says a documentary on soccer match fixing is a reason why Canada needs the CBC.

Sports Media Watch says Monday Night Football got off to a slow start.

SMW notes that the U.S. Open men’s final on Monday afternoon didn’t do as well as it could have.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth noticed an error in one of Fox Sports’  MLB promos.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC Sports Network is increasing its college hockey schedule in case of an NHL lockout.

That’s going to do it for now.

Grinding Out Some Tuesday Links For You

Let’s do some links. Couldn’t get to them yesterday. Time to grind some out today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN won’t be an oasis away from political advertising this fall.

Michael also has the ratings on Wimbledon and NASCAR.

Bill King of Sports Business Journal looks at NBC bringing back boxing to network television.

Sports Business Daily Global notes that the Wimbledon men’s final drew well in both the US and the UK.

SBD says the International Olympic Committee is under fire for renewing sponsorship deals with McDonald’s and Coke in the midst of an increasing obesity crisis.

And Eric Fisher of SBD notes that MLB will allow players to Tweet during tonight’s All-Star Game.

Jason Fry of the ESPN Ombudsman’s Poynter Review Project notes that the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s reporting has changed thanks to Twitter.

Alicia Jessop at Forbes writes that Kansas City expects a big financial windfall from the MLB All-Star Game.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at Fox’s ever-changing production of tonight’s All-Star Game.

Chris Ariens of TVNewser has a clip of Erin Andrews’ interview with Fox News’ Shepard Smith in Kansas City.

Glenn Davis from SportsGrid notes that one cover of ESPN the Magazine’s Body issue will feature a nekkid Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots.

A rare link to Grantland finds a 15,612 word oral history of WFAN written by Alex French and Howie Kahn. It’s really good, but read it at your own pace and not all at once.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable says the Gentlemen’s Final at Wimbledon drew ESPN’s best tennis ratings ever.

Tim says NBA TV is all over Summer League games in the next two weeks.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News notes that the combined TNT/truTV effort for last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race brought the highest ratings for the Daytona 400 in four years.

Ann Killion of Adweek says Olympic athletes are trying to get their piece of marketing gold in the midst of companies getting all of the sponsorship money.

Also from Adweek, Anthony Crupi writes that NBC and Turner Sports appear to be fighting for the main cable rights to MLB.

Lifestyle Mirror has a fantastic photo shoot with Fang’s Bites fave Charissa Thompson.

To The Sherman Report where Ed Sherman has Part 1 of a two part series with Fox Sports MLB analyst Tim McCarver. And here’s Part 2.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times is amused that SNY, the home of the Mets, has erected a billboard at the Yankee Stadium subway train stop.

Richard says Jerry Seinfeld, a big baseball fan, will break down the iconic Abbot & Costello comedy skit, “Who’s on First?” on MLB Network.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local TV station has hired a new sportscaster.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says WFAN and ESPN Radio NY will split Dial Global Radio’s Olympic coverage later this month.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that new DC NFL Team QB Robert Griffin III was asked on local sports radio if he’s already more popular than the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.

Dan says DC NFL Team radio analyst Sam Huff has worked so long on the game broadcasts that the network feels he can call his own shots now.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports’ Tim McCarver.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times writes that a local TV station has signed to air NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football Bucs-Vikings game.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says MLB Network airs a documentary on the life and death of former Astros pitcher Darryl Kile.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says ESPNU will re-air four games involving Sooner State schools in its top college football games of the season.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that despite the U.S. Women’s Open being played locally, there wasn’t much interest either on ESPN2 or on NBC.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Fox Sports Florida sideline reporter Laura McKeeman was crowned Miss Florida over the weekend.

SportsRantz also profiles Ms. McKeeman.

Sports Media Watch says last night’s MLB Home Run Derby had a slight ratings decline from last year.

SMW says Fox’s Baseball Night in America ended its 8 week run on a high note thanks to Yanks-Red Sox.

Some Saturday Linkage

Wasn’t able to post as much as I wanted to yesterday and this weekend has been planned for me once again so I won’t be on too much here today and tomorrow. But if something breaks, I’ll do my best to post it here.

Let’s do some quick links today.

First, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is in a firestorm for writing this column Friday suggesting the Jay-Z-owned Brooklyn Nets be called the New York N-words. And then went farther by saying the cheerleaders be named the Brooklyn Bitches or Hoes.

After negative reaction, Bob’s Blitz got a hold of Mushnick and he refused to apologize for the column and the Post is backing him. At least for now.

Larry McShane of the New York Daily News looks at the reaction to Mushnick’s column.

MediaRantz says the Post needs to get rid of Mushnick.

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online also calls for the Post to fire Mushnick.

Joe Lucia from Awful Announcing can’t believe Mushnick went so far.

And Tommy Craggs at Deadspin calls Mushnick a troll.

This controversy won’t be going away anytime soon and unless the Post takes some kind of action, I suspect there could be a few protests outside the Post’s offices next week. Unbelievable.

To other stories now.

Rarely do I link to Grantland because most of the stories are boring and way too long, but this one from Bryan Curtis is quite the good read. This focuses on a group of old guard sportswriters known as “The Chipmunks” and how they once represented the best and brightest.

Today’s FA Cup Final in the UK between Chelsea and Liverpool will have a first on British television. ESPN UK’s Rebecca Lowe becomes the first woman to host a major soccer broadcast as Laura Williamon of the London Guardian reports.

Jay Yarow of the Business Insider Sports Page notes Captain Blowhard had to give up his NBA MVP vote because he actually made a wager on the award. Stupid.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report talks with NBC’s Tom Hammond about today’s Kentucky Derby.

The Big Lead notes that Dan Patrick is pissed at ESPN once again.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says it’s DP vs. Colin Cowhack of ESPN Radio.

Richard Rys of Philadelphia Magazine looks at the dwindling sportscasts on local TV newscasts.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times wonders why announcers don’t report on no-hitters in progress.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News tackles the same subject.

And that’s where we’ll end it today.

Dropping A Few Tuesday Links

Let’s provide a few links here. Don’t think I can do a full set, but I’ll try.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand says MLB and Sirius XM have come to terms on streaming audio of live baseball games and will eventually be able to provide both home and away feeds starting next month.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age reports NBC is seeking close to $1 million per 30-second spot for its first-ever Thanksgiving Night NFL game.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today notes that the NFL has signed Tide as its official laundry detergent.

Marlen Garcia at USA Today’s Campus Rivalry blog writes that ESPN is interested in hiring former Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg as an analyst.

Bryan Armen Graham of Sports Illustrated talks with rapper Nas about ESPN using one of his songs for the NFL Draft and Jeremy Lin.

Ed Sherman says the latest ESPN promo featuring a man named Michael Jordan has gone viral.

Todd Spangler at Multichannel News reports that Microsoft is bringing both ESPN and CBS Interactive as advertisers to its Xbox 360 platform.

Tim Baysinger of Multichannel says Fox Sports Media Group will air fights from Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Most of them will be on Fox Deportes.

Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk says the NFL has reminded teams not to leak their draft picks before Commish Roger Goodell makes the official announcement on ESPN and NFL Network.

Mike Florio of PFT says you won’t see Warren Sapp on NFL Network during the draft.

Florio looks at some potential ESPN-on-ESPN crime between reporter John Barr and analyst Bill Polian.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that the NBA’s TV partners are on pace for another ratings record.

John Plunkett of the London (UK) Guardian looks at a new landmark radio deal with the English Premier League that an upstart British company could sublicense to the States.

MediaRantz says the NFL Network completely ignored the Mickey Loomis-New Orleans Saints eavesdropping story that was first reported by ESPN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says notorious cheating website AshleyMadison.com will reportedly pay a woman $1 million for schtupping Tim Tebow.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the dying art of the newspaper sports cartoon.

Gary Myers of the New York Daily News says the Saints are vehemently denying ESPN’s reports that GM Mickey Loomis eavesdropped on gameday radio transmissions.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union has ESPN’s Big Ten Football primetime schedule.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes a local record rating for Sunday’s Game 6 of the Bruins-Capitals OT game.

The Dallas Morning News reports on a domestic dispute that turned ugly between NFL Network’s Deion Sanders and his estranged wife. Deion tweeted what happened as the drama unfolded.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that Sunday’s Thunder-Lakers game on ABC set a local ratings record.

Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that it appears that Time Warner Cable may not pick up Fox Sports San Diego at all shutting out Padres fans this season.

Steve Donohue of Fierce Cable reports on one TV industry giant telling a Senate committee that ESPN and other cable TV companies should not be allowed to sell their programming directly to viewers.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing notes that Captain Blowhard is bitterly whining once again about not getting a Grantland writer credentialed.

Ryan Yoder of AA says ESPN is swinging the axe over a critique questioning its relationship with the Poynter Review Project.

Matt Yoder of AA notes that Jose Canseco has apparently deleted his Twitter account. Good riddance, Steroids Boy.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox saw a drop in its overnight ratings for the Kansas Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

SMW says the NBA’s TV partners do well when they carry the Miami Heat.

Beau Denison of Sports Page Magazine asks of boxing fans if they should be angry at HBO and Top Rank promoters for the way they handle the Sweet Science.

San Diego Padres fan blog Gaslamp Ball says if Time Warner Cable won’t pick up Fox Sports San Diego, then why should Friar fans keep the cable provider?

And we’re going to leave it there for today.

Some Rare Saturday Links

It’s been a long time since I was able to provide Saturday linkage. Many times, it’s due to the fact I try to sleep in or my weekend was planned for me behind my back and I have to play chauffeur. Anyway, I’m able to provide some links and since I did not do the megalinks on Friday, I’ll give you this as a replacement, although the number of stories won’t equal Friday’s usual amount.

We begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who mentions that NFL Network came close to firing Warren Sapp after he tweeted that former New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey “snitched” about the team’s bounties to the NFL officials.

Can you believe Bob Costas turned 60 this week??!! Well, he did. MLB Network’s senior editorial director Elliot Kalb who has worked with Bob at NBC writes this tribute.

From the Poynter Institute, ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry looks at why ESPN expunged a Mark Cuban gay joke from a Bill Simmons Grantland podcast.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says smartphones and tablets helped to drive a large percentage of traffic for March Madness Live online.

Mike Reynolds from Mulitchannel News writes that the NCAA Tournament saw a ratings decline from the year before for the first night of the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel says a veteran cable TV programming exec has been promoted within the ranks of NBC Sports.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred mourns the passing of former Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher.

Eric Goldschein from SportsGrid has video of the Kazakhstan national anthem being played for a medalist of a shooting competition in Kuwait. Problem was that it was the version written for the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and not the real Kazakhstan national anthem. That’s funny.

Sports Video Group offers a review of the March Madness Live iPad app.

Busted Coverage says a Spokane, WA local sports anchor unwittingly decided to crack on Lesley Visser’s face.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the harsh punishments handed down by the NFL to the New Orleans Saints over Bountygate were likely tied to concussion lawsuits.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe speaks with CBS/Turner’s NCAA Tournament East Regional crew of Uncle Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery and Lesley Visser.

Chad has a few more things with Verne and Bill that didn’t make the column.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at MLB Network producing and staffing a pregame show for Fox Saturday Baseball.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the local CBS affiliate has been taping its late newscast for nights it follows NCAA Tournament action.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that the WFAN Mets Radio Network is not big at all.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest in Baltimore-DC sports media in Press Box.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News talks with Texas A&M’s athletic director about entering the SEC and why the Longhorn Network led to the school’s departure from the Big 12.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Texans radio voice Marc Vandermeer is leaving his radio talk show to focus squarely on the NFL team.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about Fox and MLB Network collaborating on a pregame show.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager who loves his job and picking out loud clothes for every game.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes about San Diego’s sports radio shuffles.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has a story on the Brothers Waltrip who are laughing it up at Fox.

Tom has more with Darrell and Michael Waltrip in his blog.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN is seeing a ratings surge for its studio shows thanks to a busy NFL offseason.

SMW says viewership is up for the NCAA Women’s Tournament on ESPN2.

Steve Lepore has a suggestion for ESPN on how to make the NCAA Hockey Tournament more TV friendly.

Joe Favorito looks at how NFL news broke this week.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing notes that Around the Horn host Tony Reali apparently had an on-the-job injury this week.

I’m going to end the Saturday links there.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks

Lots of things to get to today. Couldn’t do the links yesterday. Going to do a big megalink edition for you.

Let’s get cracking, but first, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks complete with a link to the busy College Basketball Viewing Picks which will be updated throughout the weekend.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Oscar-winner and ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham.

Sports Illustrated issued a statement standing by its feature story this week by George Dohrmann on UCLA’s troubles.

Yesterday, Captain Blowhard, a.k.a Bill Simmons of Grantland interviewed President Obama for his podcast. I haven’t listened to it nor read the transcript as I don’t want to be bothered. Dan Levy of Bleacher Report did and had some problems with it.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider’s Sports Page lists some writers who were most likely jealous over Simmons’ sitdown with the President.

Sports Business Daily says Captain Blowhard threw a hissy fit this week after Duke refused to issue a credential to one of Grantland’s writers for Saturday’s game against North Carolina.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable writes that NFL Today and Inside the NFL host James Brown will become a special correspondent for CBS News.

Gabriel Beltrone of Adweek writes that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is pitching Sprint phones.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to Super Bowl XLVI, NBC won the February sweeps, marking the third straight year that sports has steered the month.

Ryan Berenz of Channel Guide Magazine writes that NBC Sports Network will be all over a French bicycle race this month.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says while we know MLB will announce expanded Wild Card Playoff games today, we don’t know which network will air them.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com writes that the competition among mainstream sports websites is very intense.

Pam Modarelli-Hegner at Sports TV Jobs writes about the types of personalities and egos journalists encounter when interviewing athletes.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder writes in Puck Drunk Love about ESPN’s failure to cover the NHL.

In his regular site, Matt says CNBC’s Darren Rovell assigned his baby daughter several social networking accounts on her first day on earth.

Brady Green at AA has video of the Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia’s very funny impression of ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian that aired on Baseball Tonight.

John Daly at the Daly Planet looks at Showtime’s Inside NASCAR program taking the spring and summer off after one episode this week.

Barry Petchesky over at Deadspin notes that ESPN came up with another potentially racist headline for an Asian-American athlete.

Rachel Margolis at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with college basketball analyst Brooke Weisbrod who has a rather interesting day job that keeps her busy during the work week.

Joe Favorito says President Obama is courting sports fans through the Captain Blowhard podcast.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media reviews the new hockey movie, “Goon.”

Sports Media Watch has some of the ratings from last week’s sports action.

SMW says Jeremy Lin is helping to move the ratings needle for ABC and TNT.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says a San Diego sports anchor’s criticism of Danica Patrick shows that sexism still exists in sports.

Also in the National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos laments how social media has watered down traditional sports journalism.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan talks with ESPN’s college basketball analyst Doris Burke. High praise and I agree. Doris is one of the best.

Chad Finn of the Globe says despite having his original role reduced, Dale Arnold is remaining at WEEI.

Chad has some advice for rookie ESPN MLB analyst Terry Francona.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen writing in SB Nation Boston says Bill Simmons has had a meteoric rise to stardom.

Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says it was the Worcester Sharks’ radio voice who came up with the idea to have popular New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski spike a puck before a game last month.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks back at the 50th anniversary of one of the major milestones in sports that barely was covered by the media at the time.

Newsday’s Neil Best says two ESPN’ers will speak at their high school alma mater next week.

Neil says the Nets are not drawing well on YES.

Neil notes that CBS Sports Network utilizes a husband & wife team for its college hockey games.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick mocks the bracketologists handicapping the NCAA Tournament field.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NHL on NBC voice Mike Emrick.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says MSG Network continues to score with Knicks games.

Jerry reports that former WNBC-TV sports anchor Len Berman is back on TV in NYC.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air the America’s Cup next year.

Pete says YES is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NBC Sports Network is adding NHL games to its schedule for the playoff drive.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that a local service provider has snagged the rights to an incoming minor league hockey team.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes has the latest developments in Baltimore-Washington, DC sports media at Press Box.

South

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that a local sports anchor is recovering from a stroke he suffered last year.

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

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with Fox Sports Oklahoma NBA studio analyst Stephen Howard.

Mel has more here with Stephen Howard.

Mel says NBA TV is marking the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game.

Midwest

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter says a movie script has been written about a deaf mute Reds player who changed the way umpires made calls.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wonders if another network will join Fox and TBS in airing the MLB Postseason this year.

Bob says ESPN still leads the way in cable subscriber fees, meaning how much cable and satellite providers are required to pay ESPN per subscriber.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Ed says a Big Ten Network profile of former Indiana University coach Bob Knight will mostly focus on his achievements and hardly touches on his tumultuous exit.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin notes NBA TV’s documentary on Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says not many Missourians will be able to see local teams in conference tournaments next week.

West

Dan Caesar of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that BYU is better off an a football independent rather than share money and TV time with other teams when it was part of the Mountain West.

John Maffei at the North County Times says local prep basketball games will be harder to find on local TV this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says who knew that product placement would be the big winner during Fox’s airing of the Daytona 500.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says CBS and MSG Network are considering buy the Dodgers in separate bids in order to get their TV rights.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at how the media covered (barely) Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game 50 years ago today.

Tom has some news and notes this week.

Canada

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says CBC premieres part two of the movie on Don Cherry’s life this weekend.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail can’t believe how well NHL Trade Deadline coverage does in the ratings.

Bruce says social media has changed sports reporting forever.

And that will do it. Enjoy your weekend.

Churning Out The Tuesday Links

Early evening again. Let’s do some linkage here.

The Poynter Institute’s Jason Fry writes an article as the ESPN Ombudsman on how whiskey maker Jameson’s got stuck sponsoring the ESPN Films “Unguarded” documentary on addict Chris Herren.

Michael Bradley writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at a new e-book from Dallas Mavericks owner and social media maven Mark Cuban.

Tony Barnhart, a.k.a. “Mr. College Football”, writes a tribute to the late voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, Larry Munson at CBSSports.com.

Peter Schrager at Esquire talks with Baltimore sportscaster Gerry Sandusky, who’s often confused with the accused Penn State child molester.

At the Hollywood Reporter, Georg Szalai writes that the NBA lockout really didn’t effect the cable networks’ in the third quarter of this year.

Lacey Rose from the Reporter talks with Captain Blowhard about his Grantland site and a few other things that people really don’t care about.

One more from the Reporter, Gary Baum says Hollywood is taking sides for this weekend’s USC-UCLA game. Whatever.

Brian Steinberg at Advertising Age tells us how the ads for Super Bowl XLVI on NBC are shaping up.

Dan Hirschhorn of Ad Age says the networks are now hoping to poach NBA advertisers in the wake of the lockout.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable notes the plan of succession for ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer is now in place and will take in effect on New Year’s Day.

John Eggerton at B&C says NBC Sports Network gets into boxing next year.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that NASCAR’s season finale got a big rating for ESPN.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes about NBC Sports and the NHL teaming up for a new event hoping that it will be as successful as the Winter Classic.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes a new poll which shows that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s reputation has been ruined most likely for good.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the NFL is not as dependent on New York for ratings as the other sports leagues.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the NFL Week 12 TV schedule for the Capital Region.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable will air local high school football championships this weekend.

Ken says MSG Network airs some college hockey on Saturday.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks about NBA TV’s new show that premieres tonight.

Jim says the Big East could become a coast-to-coast conference.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about the ESPN chain of succession.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says as expected, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State drew big local ratings over the weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says try not to get too excited over Fox’s Galloping Gobbler Award.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business talks with an NBA agent who’s making due during the lockout.

Jay Drew of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that BYU’s TV contract is the main holdup for the school’s entry to the Big East.

Helene Elliot from the Los Angeles Times looks at the potential aftermath of the Dodgers ownership sale.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN’s NASCAR ratings went up this year.

Christopher Byrne of Eye on Sports Media has some thoughts on the passing of Georgia football announcer Larry Munson.

That’s going to be it.

Let’s Do Some Monday Links

Time for some links. I expect press releases galore today announcing NFL ratings news so before they come fast and furious, I’ll do some linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says the NFL and its TV partners handled their 9/11 tributes yesterday as best as they could.

Scott Woolley at Forbes.com writes that cable operators are ready to fight ESPN over its huge rights deal for Monday Night Football.

David Lieberman of Deadline says the battle lines are drawn between cable operators and ESPN.

In the Hollywood Reporter, Lindsay Powers reports that the NFL saw its best season opening primetime ratings in 15 years.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable notes that NBC’s Universal Sports is going to be a cable-only channel starting in 2012. Universal is on several NBC owned-and-operated local digital channels and will be removed starting in January.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Universal Sports has begun an ad campaign asking cable and satellite distributors to pick it up in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek asks if the flashy Maryland football uniforms were a nightmare or a brilliant marketing scheme for athletic apparel manufacturer, Under Armour.

Anthony says Dunkin’ Donuts will be sponsoring ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown this season.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine writes that the NFL regular season opener last Thursday really scored for NBC.

Kat Stoeffel of the New York Observer notes that former Boston Globe curmudgeon Charlie Pierce is joining Bill Simmons’ Grantland. Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch points out that it comes after Pierce lambasted Simmons last December.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart being a dick to Associated Press reporter Jenna Fryer.

Deadspin has video of Fox Sports’ Chris Myers ordering a stiff drink on the air.

TMZ says former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Josh Elliot could replace Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos.

ESPN’s Front Row PR blog profiles the man who literally drives the bus for Monday Night Football.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post believes everything in the world is bad.

Ron Musselman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that the Temple-Penn State game will be on ESPN this Saturday.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun has fun with the CBS NFL Today analysts picking Pittsburgh before yestserday’s game with the Ravens.

Leigh Pressley of the Charlotte Observer says a local man will be seen on Golf Channel’s Big Break reality show this month.

Paul Woody of the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch profiles ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Jamie Little.

Paul also talks with ESPN’s NASCAR pit studio stage manager who is from Virginia.

Gary Smits of the Florida Times-Union says ESPN College GameDay comes back to Tallahassee this Saturday after a 10 year absence.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews the weekend in sports television and radio.

Mike Baldwin of the Daily Oklahoman writes that Oklahoma University is in a mini-slump when College GameDay goes to one of its games.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business is amazed at the local TV ratings for the Bears season opener.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will be seen on Golf Channel this week as part of an NFL-themed program.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer who will be working tonight’s Oakland-Broncos game.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that one local talk show host was on the warpath last week.

Susan Krashinsky of the Globe and Mail explores the potential new partnership between Canadian TV rivals CTV and CBC for the 2014/16 Olympics.

Jamie Sturgeon of the National Post writes about Rogers’ decision to pull out of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Consortium.

Dusan Belic of IntoMobile says the NFL has launched a new Android tablet app.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing explains why ESPN’s GamePlan college football pay per view package has been rendered obsolete and worthless by ESPN.

Matt Clapp at AA has the stirring video of America’s Unofficial Anthem Singer, Jim Cornelison, helping to kick off the NFL season before yesterday’s Atlanta Falcons-Chicago Bears game.

Joe Favorito says even in its worst times, hockey finds a way to heal the sport and its players.

Dug out as many links as I could today. That’s it for now. More press release posts as they come in.

What the Fuck Does This Mean? Grantland’s Insufferable 2nd Commercial

I guess this is supposed to be a high brow commercial for Captain Blowhard’s site, Grantland. A woman spouting nonsense and the guy allegedly figuring what the hell she’s talking about. There was already an ad for Grantland featuring a bookie taking a bet on how many words Blowhard would churn out in a column which is highly inaccurate since he hardly writes anymore.

Anyway, try to figure out what the hell this woman is saying. Does anyone seriously talk like this? If you do, then expect a punch in the mouth.

It’s late and it’s a holiday weekend. I don’t need a 30 second commercial trying to make me think.

The Recovering After Irene Links

Yesterday at 8:30 a.m., I lost power at my house and as of this post, I still don’t have it. The northern part of my town has power, but I live in the southern part and there’s nothing. That’s not good. And RI did not get hit that hard by Irene so I don’t know how we could lose power for so long. Anyway, it appears that my office never lost electricity as the clocks appear to be on time so I’m blogging from work. Hopefully, I won’t be without power for that long.

Here are your links.

Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal writes that UPS and MillerCoors are looking to become very aggressive sponsors of college sports.

Eric Fisher of SBJ says a new site has launched to cover digital fan marketing.

Terry Lefton of SBJ speaks with a sports marketer who believes stadium naming rights work.

Mimi Turner of the Hollywood Reporter says the BBC will air every hour of every single event at the 2012 London Olympics. That’s quite ambitious.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says with Hurricane Irene out of the way, New York can focus on the U.S. Open for the next two weeks.

Mike says Tennis Channel will reach 50 million homes for the Open.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride from the Poynter Institute says there’s nothing wrong with ESPN airing the Little League World Series to which I ask her, are you crazy?

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says reporting on suicides and speculating why they happen as in the case of former Baltimore Orioles pitcher and broadcaster Mike Flanagan demonstrate the need for due diligence by news organizations.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says a short two days after Vin Scully announced his return to the Dodgers, so did Spanish voice Jaime Jarrin.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that Houston Texan RB Arian Foster is not a fan of ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowhack. Really, who is?

Zombie Journalism has a problem with ESPN’s social networking policy that bans its reporters from breaking news on Twitter.

TMZ reports that wrestler Ric Flair is contemplating a lawsuit against Captain Blowhard-led Grantland.com for a long article on him that was published last week.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir speaks with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck about his ailing voice.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick decides that he’s a man of the people, which probably couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with CBS college football host Tim Brando about his radio show being aired on CBS Sports Network.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks at the weekend in sports television including a poor local broadcast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason games.

Sean Pendergast in the Houston Press says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have enough content to be successful.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s Chris Spielman picks Wisconsin to win the Big Ten title.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dan Caesar writes that Missouri’s new football analyst has a football background, but also one in intelligence. As in CIA. Yup.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post is amazed at the media controversy swirling around Broncos third-string quarterback Tim Tebow.

Andrew Malcolm from the Los Angeles Times says ESPN has warned golf analyst Paul Azinger over his tweet criticizing President Obama.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News speaks with Olympic swimmer Janet Evans who turned 40 on Sunday. Wow.

Tom writes about Dodgers Spanish broadcaster Jaime Jarrin’s return for next year.

Tom also has your sports calendar for this week.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says the lockout doesn’t seem to be effecting the NBA.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail advises us not to look for Rogers Sportsnet to wrest the CFL rights away from TSN in the next bidding.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog says the Maple Leafs are close to hiring a new announcer.

Sox & Dawgs has a look at the UConn Radio Network for the 2011-12 season.

Mike Shields at DigiDay notes that ESPN’s College GameDay will really sink its teeth into social networking this season.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing is critical of the ESPN Ombudsman for letting ESPN off the hook for airing the Little League World Series.

Joe Favorito feels the World Fire and Police Games taking place in New York are brand and activation opportunities for potential sponsors.

And lastly, here’s a video I made last night driving down the main road of my town showing how dark it was. Definitely no fun without power.

That’s all. Back later.

Let’s Do Some Thursday Linkage

Today is going to be a busy day with the UFC on Fox press conference and the NHL TV schedule announcement. I figure now would be a good time to linkage and I hope I don’t get interrupted here at work.

The big news that broke late yesterday was DirecTV announcing that it would offer its NFL Sunday Ticket package to Sony Playstation 3 platforms. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that the package will be offered to both non and current DirecTV subscribers.

In Sony’s official Playstation 3 blog, Philip Rosenberg explains what Playstation fans will see with the NFL Sunday Ticket offering.

Kari Lipschutz of Adweek tells us what this move means for Playstation owners.

CBS Radio continues to kill off its heritage rock stations and flip them to FM sports. It killed off rock stations in Boston and Cleveland in favor of new FM sports stations. Today’s it’s Philadelphia’s turn as long-time rocker WYSP will go by the wayside for a simulcast of WIP which was the 2nd station in the country after WFAN to go all-sports. All Access says the flip to sports will occur after Labor Day.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News has the full details of the format change.

The Crossing Broad blog provides its reaction to the move.

The 700 Level analyzes what this all means for the Philly sports fan.

Back to Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds writes that the University of Hawaii will launch its own regional sports network on Friday, beating the Longhorn Network’s launch by a week.

Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com says a big payday for the Big East’s TV contract could lead to major changes in the conference.

The LPGA has announced that it’s hired long-time Golf Channel anchor Kraig Kann as its chief communications officer.

Bob Cook at Forbes.com detests ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group says the New York Jets will add a 1st and 10 line to its in-house game productions.

At SportsGrid, Timothy Burke has the audio of USA Today’s Danny Sheridan backing off a promise to name the money provider in the Cam Newton scandal and then he attacked bloggers. Not a good way to go, Danny.

To CNBC’s Darren Rovell who wonders why the NFL Players Association settled for as little as it did with the NFL.

At the Business of College Sports, the SportsBizMiss, Kristi Dosh goes over why the SEC did not formally invite Texas A&M to join its conference.

Tim Walker of the Independent in the UK explores the launch of ESPN.com’s Grantland and praises the site.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says former WEEI personality Pete Sheppard resumes his duties at Patriots.com next month.

Joe Drape at the New York Times says NBC Sports will air horse racing from the Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky in October.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has a look at the ACC Network schedule.

Laura Nachman notes that Vince Papale won’t be hosting Eagles Confidential this season.

Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that Root Sports will change its night for high school football programming where it can show most of it live.

Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wants to know who should be added to the Miami Dolphins radio broadcast team.

Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes that the Grizzlies will be changing radio stations when the NBA returns from lockout.

B.J. Bethel of the Dayton Daily News says ESPN is part of the problem with college football.

James Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press says Lions fans won’t be heckling Matt Millen as he’s been taken off ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown show.

The Holland (MI) Sentinel reports that Fox Sports Detroit will increase its high school football coverage this fall.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network will air the 2010 Packers edition of America’s Game the night before the NFL regular season opener.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business notes that a new book on the late Walter Payton will be published in October.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reviews an HBO Real Sports segment comparing and contrasting the Brothers McEnroe’s opinions on how to revive American tennis.

Tom talks with two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Danielle Kang.

Gary Lycan of the Orange County Register writes about the New York Jets being heard on Southern California radio this season.

Sports Media Watch notes that the first preseason Monday Night Football game received lower ratings from last year’s opener.

SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito wonders if the NBA’s D-League can benefit from the NBA lockout.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing looks at ESPN’s reluctance to cover the Miami payment scandal that was uncovered by Yahoo! Sports this week.

Scott Christ at Bad Left Hook takes a look at boxing’s TV ratings this year to date.

I’m going to end the links there. It’s going to be a busy day here. Keep your RSS and Twitter feeds updated. The posts could get fast and furious this afternoon.

A Few Tuesday Links

Got bogged down with a bunch of paperwork so I can’t do a full set of links. I’ll do my best to give you what I can plus catch up with any press release posts. To be honest, I really haven’t seen any releases come in today, but I’ll do some posting for you tonight during the All-Star Game.

Steve Gardner of USA Today spends some time with ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst John Kruk.

Great story from the Wall Street Journal’s Reed Albergotti and Cameron McWhirter on how Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium has become a huge tax burden for the city and its residents.

A couple of things from Awful Announcing. First, it has the video of ESPN’s Bobby Valentine saying “fagged out” on Baseball Tonight and then backtracking.

Then Matt Yoder from AA has angry tweets targeted at Chris Berman’s performance at the Home Run Derby.

The Big Lead also found people who just could not stand Berman’s play-by-play and frankly, I could not either.

Crossing Broad had the patience to live blog the Home Run Derby.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin notes that ESPN photoshopped Hope Solo’s nipple out of a shot. Don’t go crazy, guys, it’s not what you think.

Tom Scocca of Deadspin fires a shot at Captain Blowhard’s Deadspin site for some questionable quotes in an article written by noted plagiarist Mike Barnicle.

At the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh explains why the NCAA doesn’t go after a school’s bowl or TV money when it imposes sanctions.

The Lost Lettermen explore the lawsuit filed by ESPN against Ohio State for the school’s failure to release records pertaining to the NCAA’s investigation into the Jim Tressel era.

Elizabeth Haldane at ESPN Front Row talks with Women’s World Cup analyst Julie Foudy about the people she follows on Twitter.

Sports Media Watch says the NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at the Kentucky Speedway received solid numbers on TNT.

SportsbyBrooks looks at the new book by former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach who claims ESPN was part of a conspiracy to force him out from the school.

And that will tie you over for links for now.

Doing Some Megalinks

Today, I was all over the place going in between two offices, heading to see a client and running through Northern Rhode Island for no good reason. But I’m trying to do some megalinkage after not being able to do them last week so let’s not delay any further. Check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for sports and primetime recommendations.

Now to the linkage.

National

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says ESPN’s Michelle Beadle has quickly become one of the network’s most popular personalities.

With this being the one year anniversary of the abortion known as “The Decision”, ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute wonders if the network has learned anything after running the program.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that the new Time Warner Sports regional sports network has made two important hires.

Guest blogging for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Joe Gisondi tells aspiring writers that going for the offbeat can sometimes lead to some of the best stories.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that ESPN continues to use the MLB Home Run Derby as a guinea pig for new innovations.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that a year after “The Decision”, LeBron James still remains a pariah among sports fans.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says ESPN is still dealing with the fallout from “The Decision.”

The Business Insider’s Sports Page provides the best and worst of the first 30 days of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Sports Media Watch tells us that the ratings for the Women’s World Cup are up significantly from the previous event from four years ago.

SMW also has some ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito says Victor Martinez may not have been selected for the last American League All-Star Game roster spot, but it wasn’t due to his creative campaigning.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe compares and contrasts the Hub’s two regional sports networks, NESN and Comcast SportsNet New England.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at the fill-ins on local sports radio and he remembers the late Boston Herald columnist and celebrated boxing writer, George Kimball.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram talks with Fox Sports MLB analyst Eric Karros about the All-Star Game.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the new season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm broaches some painful baseball memories.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post lectures everyone who thinks the Roger Clemens perjury trial is a waste of time.

Justin Terranova of the Post writes about Bob Costas and Al Michaels calling tonight’s Mets-Giants game on MLB Network and SNY.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com writes about some changes at a Baltimore sports radio station.

I hope this next story goes viral. From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg writes former quarterback Joe Theismann telling a local radio station how he got hoof and mouth disease playing in the CFL. Why does that seem appropriate for Theismann?

Jim Williams talks about Al Michaels and Bob Costas teaming up for MLB Network.

South

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald has former Hurricane quarterback Gino Torretta calling out Ohio State fans for forcing ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to move out of his native Columbus.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle discusses the Longhorn Network making some on-air hires.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that Tulsa native Dari Nowkhah will be the main host on ESPNU for the upcoming college sports season.

Mel has his sports media news and notes.

Midwest

Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal looks at “The Decision” one year later and where it leaves native LeBron James.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press has Joe Buck raving about the Detroit Tigers.

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley has Fox’s Tim McCarver discussing the Brewers’ All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder.

Crain’s Chicago Business’ Ed Sherman has his winners and losers in sports business.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Fox’s Tim McCarver who will be at the mic for his record 20th All-Star Game on Tuesday.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times looks at the HBO Curt Flood documentary that airs the night after the All-Star Game.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes about Al Michaels accepting Bob Costas’ invitation to call a game on MLB Network.

In his notebook, Jim writes that the Home Run Derby is watched by the MLB All-Stars as well.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Fox’s Joe Buck.

Tom has Joe willing to step aside to have Vin Scully call the World Series one more time.

Tom has his news and notes.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the doctor with a connection to Tiger Woods and pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges raised the ire of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that IndyCar makes two stops this summer in the Great White North and TSN will take Versus’ coverage of both events.

And with that and it being early Saturday morning, I’ll end the megalinks here.

Some Quick Thursday Links

Trying to squeeze linkage in while I can. This won’t be a full set of links. I will do the megalinks tomorrow, but today will be a quickie links day.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today reports that the ratings for the USA-North Korea game in the Women’s World Cup drew decently for ESPN.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says industry analysts expect 3-D TV sales to be very slow this year, but eventually ramp up by mid-decade.

Edmund Lee of Advertising Age talks with the publisher and co-founder of The Awl, Bill Cho, who’s leaving to go to join Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions explains why the sales of TV’s in the 3rd dimension are tanking.

David Goetzl from MediaPost says NBC Sports is raising its profile for the Tour de France which begins this weekend.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says David Tyree’s anti-gay stance brings some strong challenges for journalists.

This story has been burning up the sports blogosphere since Wednesday afternoon. A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says Hollywood movie producers are thinking of making a movie from the tome, “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside The World of ESPN”.

Alexandra Kuczynski-Brown of SportsGrid says the BBC has developed a product that will reduce the grunting and shrieking at Centre Court in Wimbledon.

Andy Blesser at Beet TV talks about the Watch ESPN mobile app.

Brandon Costa of the Sports Video Group discusses ESPN 3D going live from Wimbledon this week.

Dave Nagle of ESPN’s Front Row PR blog talks with ESPN2′s Chris Evert on her return to TV at SW19 for the fortnight.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at what lies ahead of NBA Communist China Sympathizer David Stern as the lockout is now in full effect.

Kurt Helin of NBC’s Pro Basketball Talk has the organizers of last year’s “The Decision” starring LeBron James and his talents, surprised by the backlash against the made-for-TV event. Really? C’mon, man.

All Access reports that personalities from Philadelphia’s sports radio WIP will guest host Comcast SportsNet’s Daily News Live starting next week.

The Around the Rings blog says BBC Sport has been named as the UK rightsholder for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir writes about General Electric’s increased sponsorship of the Olympics.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders why NBC did not air today’s Maria Sharapova-Sabine Lisicki Wimbledon semifinal match live.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the MLB Network live game schedule for July.

The Centre Daily (PA) Times previews tonight’s ESPN presentation of Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

From Capitol File magazine, ESPN’s Erin Andrews answers a few questions.

KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa says a local cable company will pick up 16 extra Minnesota Twins games ending a dispute with Fox Sports North.

Jay Heater of the Idaho State Journal says a Pocatello radio station is changing its affiliation from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews tonight’s ESPN program with Penn State’s JoePa and Duke’s Coach K.

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area notes that Bob Costas and Al Michaels will make a guest appearance on its local broadcast of July 8th’s New York Mets-San Francisco Giants game. The pair will call most of the game on MLB Network, but will slide over to CSN Bay Area for a half inning.

The Maui News says NBC golf reporter Mark Rolfing will no longer be the organizer for a PGA Tour event.

Marty McGee of the Daily Racing Form talks with NBC’s horse racing reporter Donna Brothers.

Noel Murray at the A.V. Club looks at the ESPN book.

The Football Girl is not a fan of a full NFL Thursday Night Football schedule.

Stars Entertainment speaks with Tennis Channel anchor Angela Sun. The story mentions that she worked for ESPN, but I have never seen her on ESPN. Yahoo, yes. Tennis Channel, yes. ESPN? No. I’ve never seen her there. Maybe you have.

Sports Media Watch notes that the U.S. Open’s ratings were down for all four rounds.

SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

And SMW has some news and notes on some coming attractions.

Barry Janoff from The Big Lead speaks with prolific reality TV producer Mark Burnett.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs reviews the latest in sports media.

And I found more links than I thought and that’s a bonus for you. Back later tonight.

A Monday Link Thing

Let’s do the Monday linkage. Some interesting stories out there already.

I’ll start with some housekeeping from the weekend in regards to Saturday’s passing of Nick Charles.

Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski who wrote a wonderful and poignant article in March on Nick’s coming to peace with his cancer and how he attempted to make every day count, has another wonderful and poignant article on Nick’s passing.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun remembers Nick’s time in Baltimore.

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post has an obituary for Nick from another market where he worked before hitting it big with CNN.

Michael Marley at Examiner.com notes how boxer Mike Tyson made up with Nick before Charles’ passing.

Jason Levine of the Delaware News-Journal mourns Nick’s passing as well as USA Today baseball writer Rod Beaton.

Becky Schlikerman of the Chicago Tribune writes about Charles never forgetting his Windy City roots.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News also has a remembrance of Charles and calling his last fight earlier this year for HBO.

At Fight News, Nick’s Showtime partner, Steve Farhood, also gives his thoughts on Charles’ passing.

Now to other sports media and business news of the day and there’s quite a bit on this Monday.

One big story surfacing today is the potential bidding for the first half of a Thursday Night Football package that would begin in 2012. John Ourand and Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal write about it. I add some thoughts as well.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have filed for bankruptcy after MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the team’s 17 year deal with Fox for media rights. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on owner Frank McCourt’s filing in bankruptcy court.

The Times has the Dodgers’ statement on the bankruptcy filing.

Chris Dufrense of the Times has a good story on how the Dodgers lost their toehold on Los Angeles to the Lakers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports on some of the biggest Dodgers creditors.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal writes that McCourt’s filing sets up a battle with Selig.

David McLaughlin of Bloomberg News also has a story on this latest Dodgers development.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Pro Hardball Talk tells us what bankruptcy means for the Dodgers.

From Sports Business Journal, we have a couple of stories from this week’s issue.

First, Terry Lefton breaks news that the new Meadowlands Stadium, home to the Giants and Jets,  is close to having a new sponsor for naming rights.

Tripp Mickle reports that Sprint is about to roll out a new promotion with NASCAR that will benefit both fans and drivers.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today explains how NBC’s tape delayed shenanigans at Wimbledon will work this week. This is the last year of NBC’s contract with Wimbledon. Let’s hope the shenanigans end in 2011.

Mike writes that ESPN college football analyst Craig James could be starting a political career.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reviews ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.

Mick Mulvenney from Reuters says the International Olympic Committee says athletes can go on Twitter during competition during the 2012 Olympics so long as they don’t do it for commercial purposes.

Jason Fry writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center discusses some of the comparisons Grantland faces with the late, great The National.

SportsGrid notes some nutty behavior by some baseball announcers over the weekend.

SportsGrid has video from Wendi Nix’s subbing for Karl Ravech on Baseball Tonight from Sunday and it apparently didn’t go over well.

Fox Sports in Australia has announced that tennis analyst John McEnroe will be part of its Australian Open coverage in 2012. He had previously called matches for 7 Network, but had not been in Australia since 2004.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels WFAN’s Craig Carton can be a good listen when he wants to be.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY has ESPN Radio New York’s Jared Max reaction to the New York State Senate passing the same sex marriage bill last Friday.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that the Nationals’ TV ratings are beginning to surpass other teams in the market.

Dan has some observations from the news conference involving Wizards top draft pick Jan Vesely who made a big splash last week with a kiss from her girlfriend at the NBA Draft.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times shares his thoughts on the sports weekend on TV.

Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel says the local NBC station won’t be airing Wimbledon this week due to its wall-to-wall coverage of the Casey Anthony trial.

Jeff Korbelik of the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star says a new local sports radio station will pick up programming from Fox Sports and Premiere Radio Networks in addition to having some local shows.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says soccer’s popularity is rising.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your Southern California sports calendar for the week.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Pac-12 Conference is consideration all distribution options on both TV and the internet for its in-house channel.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about the NHL delaying a decision about participating in the Olympics and the media rights for the new Winnipeg Jets.

The Toronto Sports Media blog says expect to hear some changes at the local Rogers Sportsnet’s radio station.

With some upheaval expected for next season, Paulsen at Sports Media Watch has some announcing suggestions for the NBA’s TV partners.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore notes that the NHL Awards saw increased ratings on both Versus and CBC last week.

And Steve says NHL Network will pick up TSN’s coverage of the first day of the league’s free agent signing period.

Doug Farrar at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner wonders if NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens injured himself during the taping of a VH1 reality show.

EPL Talk looks at ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

The Big Lead notes that Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban shot a new Transformers 3 movie ad.

Jack Dickey at Deadspin says it seems Marv Albert’s conviction on sexual assault charges has been long forgotten.

And that’s where we’re going to leave it.

Bringing Out The Friday Megalinks

Yup, time for the Friday megalinks. As long as I don’t get interrupted, I should be able to do this all in one shot for you.

Your Weekend Viewing Picks have a whole lot of sports and entertainment programs so take a gander and see what suits your fancy.

To the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about ex-Florida coach Urban Meyer diving headfirst into being a college football TV analyst for ESPN.

Nate Davis at USA Today’s The Huddle blog notes that ex-NFLer’s and current TV analysts Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp don’t take much stock in Tiki Barber’s comeback.

Also in USA Today, Devra Maza talks with Hall of Fame baseball announcer Bob Wolff about his memories calling Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest is seeking to change his name to “Metta World Peace” while his wife, Kimsha is being cast for the new edition of VH1′s “Basketball Wives”.

Jon Weisman of Variety says David Feherty’s new show gave Golf Channel its most watched premiere in the history of the network.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that Wednesday’s Mexico-Honduras Gold Cup semifinal match was the highest rated primetime sporting event ever on Univision.

Sports Media Watch has some various news and notes.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the new DirecTV Football Cops ad featuring the Manning brothers.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with WEEI’s Dale Arnold who had to watch the Bruins championship run while being mostly on the sidelines.

Rich Fahey of the Globe says former Bruins TV host Tom Larson followed through on a 30 year promise to shave his beard.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says with a lockout looming, the NBA Players Association is standing firmly behind its leadership.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post has praise for ESPN’s Bobby Valentine and Orel Hershiser, but has to somehow temper it.

The Post’s Brett Cyrgalis has four questions for Mets radio voice Howie Rose.

Newsday’s John Jeansonne looks at how John McEnroe was perceived as a player and perceived now as an analyst.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty says two local TV reporters were able to catch up with Jimmer Fredette after the NBA Draft.

Pete says Jimmermania kept fans watching the NBA Draft for about an hour.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at the new CBS Sports Network contract with the Patriot League.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes talks about the programming changes at one Baltimore sports radio station.

Dave says the Washington City Paper is firing back at DC NFL Team owner Daniel Snyder in his efforts to sue the publication.

South

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times feels ESPN should not be leading the charge to move the Rays out of Tampa Bay.

William Brethertont of the Marietta (GA) Daily Journal says an Atlanta Beat Women’s Professional Soccer star will be on ESPN’s Women’s World Cup coverage.

Dan Murtaugh of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says Tennis Channel will focus on a local program that benefits young women and weaves in a tennis exhibition to help raise funds.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle recognizes one sports anchor’s longevity in the market.

Berry Tremel at the Daily Oklahoman says FX’s early college football schedule is all-Oklahoma, all the time.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Thom and Marty Brennaman don’t seem to have time to work together in the Reds broadcast booth.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk will be swinging a golf club on NBC’s celebrity golf tournament next month.

Bob says local overnight ratings for the NBA Draft on ESPN were strong.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has this week’s winners and losers in sports business and media.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a local sports anchor is pinch hitting on the news side this month.

And Dan has a few news and notes.

West

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune looks at Urban Meyer moving to the TV booth on college football Saturdays for ESPN.

Richard Eng of the Las Vegas Journal-Review explores the decision of former Triple Crown caller Tom Durkin to step down this year.

John Maffei of the North County Times says this weekend is a big one for soccer fans.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star notes that the Los Angeles Lakers will have different voices for next season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reports that Lenny Dykstra is now tweeting.

Tom also has a column on Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

Jack Humphreville of City Watch LA takes a look at Frank McCourt’s embattled ownership of the Dodgers and the collapse of his rich rights deal with Fox.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has yet another mediocre media column this week. I’m close to dropping him from the megalinks.

The Toronto Sports Media blog notes the one year anniversary of a huge lineup change on one local sports radio station.

And that’s going to do it for today.

Some Thursday Linkage

Let’s provide a few links on this Thursday. Another rainy day in Southern New England. What joy.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News reports that HBO Pay Per View has signed Floyd Mayweather to his next fight in September.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek writes that the NBC Sports Group will make GolfChannnel.com into a more ad and social media-friendly site.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life says the NFL’s TV partners are hopeful in hearing that a new agreement is close between the league and its players association.

Ben Axelrod of SportsGrid has video of a Marine on Fox Sports Midwest playfully calling for the death of Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay. At least I hope so.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at what’s going on with the NFL collective bargaining talks.

All Access reports that a San Francisco radio station will flip to ESPN Deportes on Friday.

Michael Starr of the New York Post says there’s an online petition circulating appealing to Fox to have Vin Scully have a role at one last World Series. I can support that and will! You can go here to add your name to the petition.

Newsday’s Neil Best recaps the sometime contentious Mike Francesa-Tiki Barber interview that took place on WFAN on Wednesday.

Neil talks with ESPN Women’s World Cup analyst Mia Hamm.

Neil notes the influx of Fordham alums calling New York sports on TV and radio.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says get ready to see more of the CFL on NFL Network in the early part of the season.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers some thoughts after seeing a replay of Game 7 of the 1971 World Series on Root Sports.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post reports that popular DC sports anchor Lindsay Czarniak is leaving the local NBC affiliate to become an anchor for ESPN.

At the Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has video of some of the best moments in Lindsay’s time in DC.

Dan notes that DC is certainly an ESPN breeding ground.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says local and national media will be all over the first round picks for the Wizards during tonight’s NBA Draft.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer gives us inside look at how Yankees voice John Sterling does his “Yankees win!” catchphrase.

At the Milwaukee Sentinel, Bob Wolfley talks with a fired local sports talk show host.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says Cubs TV voice Len Kasper received a much deserved contract extension.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an e-mail interview with Captain Blowhard about Grantland.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes that Fox will not support Dodgers owner Frank McCourt if he takes legal action to try to keep the team.

Sam Farmer of the Times says a former player with the USC Trojans and a later a Times writer admitted to taking money when he was in school.

Valerie Hauch of the Toronto Star says the Vancouver Riots Kissing Couple has hired an agent for possible endorsements.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that a local sports talk radio host has been given the heave-ho.

Paul Lebowitz has several questions on Wednesday’s Mike Francesa-Tiki Barber interview.

Sports Media Watch has some news on some various personalities.

SMW says ratings for the NASCAR Nationwide Series on ESPN are up this season.

Now that the NHL’s 2011-12 schedule is out, Steve Lepore at Puck The Media speculates as to how next season’s NBC schedule will shape out.

And Steve does the same for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada schedule.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing wants you to sign the Vin Scully World Series petition.

Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interested in buying the Dodgers.

Ryan Lambert at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy gives his best and worst of last night’s NHL Awards.

I guess I’ll end it there for today.

Digging Out Some Tuesday Linkage

Time for the links on this Tuesday. Lots of good stuff to get to.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal looks at MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rejecting the Los Angeles Dodgers’ deal with Fox which now throws Frank McCourt’s ownership of the team into jeopardy.

In Sports Business Journal, Broadcasting & Cable Editor-in-Chief Ben Grossman has some suggestions for Major League Soccer on how to grow the sport in the U.S.

From the ESPN Ombudsman, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute says Bill Simmons’ Grantland site shows potential, but needs to do more.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his June Media Power List.

Richard also talks with the CEO of the polarizing Bleacher Report.

Had to catch up with those last three links from last week. I was so far behind after not doing linkage Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Curtis Eichelberger of Bloomberg writes that NFL quarterback Chad Pennington is taking a year off and will work for Fox Sports when the league comes back from lockout.

Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Comedy Central has canceled two sports-themed shows after just one season.

Marisa Guthrie of the Reporter notes that the U.S. Open’s final round ratings improved from Saturday’s numbers, but were still far below last year’s.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable has NBC being very apologetic about cutting “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance during Sunday’s coverage of the U.S. Open.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NBA’s digital platforms are all over this week’s NBA Draft.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says Rory McIlroy has yet to prove he’s a ratings draw.

Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports.com says the Big East turned down a big payday from ESPN to risk checking the free agent market.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com notes that you may not know that Turner Sports has a rather large online presence in golf.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser recaps Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ comments on NBC’s successful Olympics bid.

At SportsGrid, Dave Levy writes that Grantland failed to live up to the hype.

Dave says Bill Simmons could have left ESPN to create Grantland somewhere else.

And Dave has thoughts on Grantland here, here and here.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Dan Patrick Show has an unusual proposal on how to end the NFL lockout.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that flamboyant tennis fashionista Bethanie Mattek-Sands (who came to Fang’s Bites’ attention in 2007) has signed a new endorsement contract for an nontraditional tennis product.

Jay Busbee of Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog looks at Fox’s proposal to move some of its NASCAR races to cable in its next contract.

At the Daly Planet, John Daly has some thoughts on what this potential move means for the future of Speed.

Diane Mermigas of the Business Insider says innovation could help NBCUniversal pay for its $4.38 billion pricetag for the Olympics.

Olympic sports beat writer John Powers of the Boston Globe finally gets to write about NBC winning the rights to four Olympic Games.

Tom Rock of Newsday has some quotes of tonight’s HBO Real Sports profile of former New York Giants running back and NBC analyst Tiki Barber.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times looks at MLB rejecting the Los Angeles Dodgers’ deal with Fox.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that Rory McIlroy doesn’t move the TV ratings meter like Tiger Woods did.

Nate Mink writing for the Philadelphia Daily News recaps an ESPN taping of a program involving legendary coaches Joe Paterno of Penn State and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.

Joseph Santoliquito of the Marple Newtown Patch has a profile of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia anchor Ron Burke.

Greg Augman of the St. Petersburg Times notes that Jon Gruden is taping a session of his ESPN “QB Camp” series with former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an interview with Georgia Tech’s Athletic Director on a few subjects including the impact of the ESPN/SEC contract on the school.

Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes that Golf Channel is giving David Feherty a platform for his humor.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley has Keith Olbermann not impressed with the tome on ESPN.

Justin Albers at the Chicago Sun-Times chronicles ESPN’s Baseball Tonight’s visit to the Windy City on Sunday.

Robert Feder of Time Out Chicago says the local ESPN Radio affiliate is about to move to new streetside studios.

Chad Purcell of the Omaha World-Journal goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s crew at the College World Series.

Bill Shaikin and David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times have a story on MLB rejecting the Fox offer to Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt and putting the team into limbo.

The Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review has a profile of Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis who used to work in the area.

Kenyon Wallace of the Toronto Star responds to ESPN the Magazine ranking the Canadian city as the worst in all of pro sports.

Cathal Kelly of the Star says there are cities worse off than Toronto.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has its version of the NHL TV Awards.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing feels it’s time for Joe Buck to leave Fox Saturday Baseball. I called for this two years ago.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball writes that Frank McCourt is threatening legal action to hold onto the Dodgers.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin has video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy being amused by a Red Sox fan wearing a chicken hat. I found out later that she’s the sister of writer Joe Meloni who covers the Hockey East conference for College Hockey News.

And that’s where I’ll leave it for now. Lots of links today.

Working On Your Tuesday Links

It’s been a busy day for me as I’ve been working on the story on NBC approving plans for a Stanley Cup Final Viewing Party at TD Garden in Boston. Amazing how things fall into place on a story like that. But still working to confirm on the Bruins and Garden end of the story. Once that happens, the story will be complete.

Let’s do links while I can.

Sports Business Daily notes that the NBA Finals finished as the 2nd most watched NBA Finals since 2004, but still finished below last year’s Celtics-Lakers series.

The Sporting News picks up a story from the Sports Business Journal’s Tripp Mickle about Fox’s increased ratings for NASCAR this season.

Sarah Kuta of the Associated Press Sports Editors page notes that economic realities have hit newspaper sports coverage quite hard.

Ken Campbell of the Hockey News gives us this item that hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire is being offered a full-time position at NBC/Versus (scroll down).

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has the overnight ratings from Monday night’s Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry shares his thoughts on the launch of Grantland.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry says the Miami Heat’s crash and burn in the NBA Finals is not what the script doctor ordered.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that ESPN Classic will become home to ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 documentaries and all future projects.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek says ABC scored with the NBA Finals.

And Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life also writes about the NBA Finals’ ratings.

Matt Hegerty of the Daily Racing Form says this year’s Belmont Stakes received higher ratings on NBC than last year’s race on ABC.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser notes that ESPN NFL analyst Tedi Bruschi unveiled Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s media rules.

Ben Axelrod of SportsGrid notes that today is the “24th Anniversary” of the Keith Hernandez spitting incident made famous on Seinfeld.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says the NFL Network is tapping the podcast for actual programming.

ESPN.com’s David Ubben talks with Big 12 Commissioner Don Beebe about the new revenue distribution and the TV appearance formula for member schools.

Richard Lawler from Engadget HD looks at the expansion in programming at ESPN 3D.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says tickets for Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final are a hot commodity due to the lack of a secondary ticket market in Vancouver.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times notes that NBA Finals Game 6 brought in the viewers as compared with last year.

Richard says a LeBron James critic writing a book on the Miami Heat star got the happy ending he was hoping for.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Wimbledon TV schedule.

Pete says Fox NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip will be inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame later this year.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says LeBron James’ attack of his critics shows us what’s wrong with sports.

Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says a recent reairing of Super Bowl XIV gave him an appreciation of Pat Summerall as a play-by-play man.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that DC United’s TV ratings are way, way up this season.

Del Milligan of the Lakeland (FL) Ledger says get ready for plenty of TV coverage from the U.S. Open.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Game 6 of the NBA Finals brought in record ratings locally.

Fox Sports Southwest will air the Dallas Mavericks victory parade this week.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman writes that the local ABC affiliate saw a ratings record for the NBA Finals.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the local minor league hockey team returns to radio next season.

Mark Snyder at the Detroit Free Press says former Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez heads to the broadcast booth for the upcoming season.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the NBA Finals did not do as well locally as compared to last year.

Bob says Packers coach Mike McCarthy revealed in a radio interview that he had his players sized for Super Bowl rings the night before the game!

Robert Feder from Time Out Chicago says the Tribune is losing its media critic (and a good resource for Fang’s Bites as well).

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business continues his talk with White Sox analyst Steve Stone.

Mark Faller of the Arizona Republic isn’t a fan of the Longhorn Network ads.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that one website recognizes Pac-12 Commish Larry Scott as a pretty powerful guy.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that CBC Hockey Night in Canada Radio host Jeff Marek is quite in demand now that his contract is up.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog reviews the first two weeks of Canadian sports television.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that an estimated 12 million people watched Stanley Cup Final Game 6 across the US and Canada.

Sports Media Watch says Gold Cup Soccer is gathering a strong audience for Univision’s networks.

TV Technology notes that NBC/Versus tapped a Swiss company for its telestrator graphics on the Stanley Cup Final.

Ryan Ballengee of Pro Golf Talk has the video of a new Golf boy band that debuted on Golf Channel.

Emma Carmichael of Deadspin talks about her time working for the NBC Olympics unit.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead reviews “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN”

And that will end the links.

Cranking Out Some Friday Megalinks

Ok, it’s getting late and in the work day and I need to get these megalinks done. I’ve traveled to the MA office and now back in RI. Let’s get this done so I can watch the Bruins tonight.

All of your Weekend Viewing Picks are right here.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reviews the HBO documentary on the Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe rivalry.

David Bauder of the Associated Press analyzes how new NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus got to keep the Olympics in the network fold.

At Forbes, Mike Ozanian goes inside Comcast’s numbers to see how it can profit from its Olympic bid.

Craig Wolff at the Wall Street Journal says maybe the time has come for sportswriters to abandon the locker room interview.

Sam Eifling of the Columbia Journalism Review looks at Grantland’s debut.

Jonathan Landreth at the Hollywood Reporter notes that a record audience in Communist China watched Li Na win the Women’s Final at the French Open.

Lindsay Rubino from Broadcasting & Cable says Game 5 of the NBA Finals took home a ratings win for ABC on Thursday.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks with TNT NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty about the network’s Summer Season of races.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says the NBA Finals also pulled a win in key demographics on Thursday.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says last month’s Manny Pacquaio-Shane Mosley fight drew the most buys for a Pacquaio pay per view bout.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that the TD Garden in Boston quickly became enamored with actress and Bruins fan Rachel McAdams.

Joe Favorito looks at how the NBA is trying to engage social media throughout its platforms.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Yankees might be losing money on Derek Jeter’s chase for 3,000 career hits.

Awful Announcing has Fox Sports’ MLB analyst Mark Grace’s mugshot taken shortly after being arrested for DUI on Memorial Day Weekend.

At Captain Blowhard’s site, we have this great article by Alex French and Howie Kahn on the late, great sports daily, The National, which was way ahead of its time.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs looks at the news of the week in sports media.

Chris Hadley at The Sports Tube reviews the ESPN on ABC production of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final ratings of Games 3 & 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final on Versus.

Sports Media Watch notes that Boston (which is more fixated on the Bruins) is not watching the NBA Finals.

SMW looks at how NBA Finals Game 5′s overnight ratings finished lower than last year.

Erik Malinowski of Wired writes how ESPN is trying to keep ESPN 3D in the forefront and not let it slip away.

The Big Lead says ESPN 3D is trying to break out from being a niche channel.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer misses listening to Chicago Cubs radio analyst Ron Santo.

Michael Zuidema at the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with MLB Network host Ahmed Fareed about growing up in Michigan and hitting the national stage.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel hears from ESPN’s US Open analysts Andy North and Curtis Strange.

Bob reviews HBO’s McEnroe/Borg documentary.

And Bob looks at ESPN’s new logo for Monday Night Football.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about one local sports radio station that turns to a new program director.

And Dan has a few news and notes.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz who was in Utah when the Tiffany Network plucked him to be its college football host in 1985.

John Maffei in the North County Times reviews the McEnroe/Borg HBO doc.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth writes that Vin Scully’s start on the Hollywood Walk of Fame needs fixing.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe notes that NBC/Versus analyst Mike Milbury isn’t making any friends on the Vancouver Canucks during the Stanley Cup Final.

Thomas Grillo of the Boston Herald says win or lose, several Bruins players could cash in as commercial pitchmen after the season.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette looks at Comcast SportsNet New England’s Bruins studio hosts.

The Springfield (MA) Republican notes that the Basketball Hall of Fame has named its print and broadcasting inductees for this year.

Newsday’s Neil Best chronicles his day in the MLB Man Fan Cave.

Neil has more on his day at the Fan Cave and the two men who are spending the entire MLB season inside.

Neil has his thoughts on NBC’s promise to go live at the Olympics.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post has five questions for ESPN’s Andy North on the upcoming US Open.

Bob’s Blitz recaps Jenn Sterger’s appearance on WFAN’s Boomer and Carton show today.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says the US Open will be missing a big storyline when ESPN opens its coverage next week.

Jeff DiVeronica of the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle says local soccer and Brazilian superstar Marta will be featured on an ESPN documentary.

Evan Weiner at the New Jersey Newsroom says the new Olympics deal with NBC/Comcast will help to increase your cable television bill.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun notes that former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams will be an analyst on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s US Open coverage next week.

Dave Hughes in Press Box says the host of a University of Maryland sports-themed show hopes to expand it outside of the Baltimore area.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Tony Kornheiser has reached his limit of shows for the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams notes that Dan Patrick will be joining NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Final for the rest of the series.

South

Jocelyn Syrstad of the Virginian-Pilot says ESPN is interested in a local beach soccer tournament.

Mark DeCotis of Florida Today profiles a local woman who will be working behind the scenes on TNT’s NASCAR coverage.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talks about the health struggles of two ESPN personalities working the NBA Finals.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reviews NBC’s big win in the Olympics bidding this week.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron notes that Astros broadcaster Bill Brown will be honored for his service to the team this weekend.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks about the McEnroe/Borg and the Olympics bidding.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says looks at the first ratings in city’s sports radio war.

And that’s going to do it.

Back to the Linkage Grind Edition

Ok, now that the Olympics bidding is over until the next round sometime later this decade, I can focus on other sports media stories and there are quite a few of them now.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that embattled cyclist Lance Armstrong has taken down his anti-60 Minutes website stating its report on his alleged PED use has been debunked.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Game 4 of the NBA Finals scored a primetime win for ABC on Tuesday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks about ESPN signing a new deal with the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says ESPN is ready to convert to a full HD format.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Captain Blowhard is trying to save the internet from a certain type of advertising. Nice of him to appoint himself as our savoir.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the NBA Finals are on pace to become the most watched in seven years.

Bill Simmons’ Grantland site finally had its official launch yesterday. Already people are assessing it including Nicholas Jackson of Atlantic Monthly.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead has his first impressions.

Tim Carmody of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University wonders if Simmons’ mix of sports and pop culture will work.

Tommy Craggs at Deadspin tells us why Grantland Rice for whom Simmons’ site is named, was really overrated.

Deadspin runs an excerpt from former New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte’s new book in which he recalls an encounter with an overtalkative Bob Costas.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes that this week’s successful Olympic bid was key for the new NBC/Comcast.

The Nielsen Wire blog has a look at the top NHL players in name recognition.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser has TNT’s Charles Barkley ripping Miami Heat fans.

Cam says the Denver Post’s Woody Paige has apologized to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal for lifting quotes from an ESPN story he wrote.

Corey Nachman of the Business Insider Sports Page has his 100 Best Venues in Sports.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the video of a Brazilian writer typing away on a small laptop while showing a bit more of himself than he realized.

And Dan says Steven A. “A is for Allude” Smith hinted on ESPN Radio that something is up with LeBron James, but won’t say exactly what.

Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner gives some examples from the ESPN book that he feels evidence how NBC’s Sunday Night Football is superior to Monday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a strange endorsement story involving the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez.

ESPN PR pro Bill Hofheimer helps to unveil the new Monday Night Football logo that will be seen when the NFL starts playing again.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that NBC now has to follow through on promises to show the Olympics live.

Brian Stelter of the Times reports that UFC is in talks with Comcast to buy its G4 gaming channel.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that ESPN has added 7 more Big Ten games to its ESPN/ESPN2/ABC college football schedule.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable airs some local high school lacrosse finals this weekend.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will air 10 WNBA games this season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that there’s something brewing between writer John Feinstein and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Iliana Limon at the Orlando Sentinel writes that Central Florida along with Conference USA have announced their TV schedules.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News reports that the SEC and ESPN are ready to re-evaluate their 15 year deal which now looks antiquated when it was signed in 2009.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the NBA is gaining increased interest in the area thanks to the Thunder.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says you can design a special bowtie for Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that would benefit Dhani Jones’ Bow Tie Cause Initiative.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel notes that outgoing ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson cites Rick Pitino was his best coach.

Yesterday was Tom Hoffarth’s birthday. Happy Belated Birthday, Tom.

Joe Flint at the Los Angeles Times says keeping the Olympics was top priority for NBC and Comcast.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury Times has some thoughts on ESPN’s new contract with the West Coast Conference.

Lisa K. Anderson in the Sandy (OR) Post writes about a local woman who’s hosting a reality show for Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

Dan Robson of the Toronto Star says CBC has signed a five year deal with the International Skating Union for figure skating, speedskating and other events.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN will air BBC’s coverage of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

Joe Caporoso of Gunaxin asks Erin Andrews or Michelle Beadle?

Cosby Sweaters looks at how Olympic viewing will change with Comcast in charge of NBC.

We have a new sports media blog, The Sports Tube, headed by Chris Hadley. He looks at the Olympic bidding.

Sports Media Watch notes the ratings for Games 2 & 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final are down from last year.

Joe Favorito wonders if any New York sports teams or events will take advantage of the Congressman Anthony Weiner mess.

That’s going to do it for now.

Up For Thursday Links

Time for some linkage on this very warm Thursday. I hope you all take a moment and say a prayer for the people of Western Massachusetts who head to deal with tornadoes yesterday. Four people are confirmed dead. It was quite devastating to see last night. Let’s hope the area can recover quickly.

To your links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Shaquille O’Neal, who retired from the NBA after 19 seasons, would be a logical choice to become an NBA television analyst.

The Sporting News notes that ESPN is looking to hire O’Neal.

The great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has a profile on NBC’s NHL voice Mike “Doc” Emrick.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says thanks to the NBA Playoffs, TNT had the best ratings month in cable TV history.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS News will not apologize and stands by its 60 Minutes report on cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Michael Malone of B&C says the NBC Sports Group will be all over rugby this weekend.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that ESPN3D plans to air The Championship Wimbledon in the third dimension.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says NBC Sports gets an EPIC FAIL for airing a promo stating the Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Stanley Cup Final.

Noah Davis of The Business Insider Sports Page notes the national debut of a Wall Street Journal sports columnist.

Noah has the complete roster of writers who will staff Captain Blowhard’s Grantland.

Dan Fogarty in SportsGrid says Captain Blowhard has finally set an official launch date for the pretentiously-titled Grantland site.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group talks about 3-D TV stepping up at The Masters.

Ted Miller of ESPN.com says the Pac-12 has made announcements on seven nationally televised games.

Bill Hofhemier at ESPN’s Front Row discusses how ESPN’s award-winning World Cup production team is back together again for the Women’s World Cup.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first athletes to embrace social media.

Darren says Shaq’s retirement video gave an internet start-up a huge boost in more ways than one.

Darren talks with the men who marketed Shaquille O’Neal.

Martin Pave of the Boston Globe profiles the the Emmy Award-winning director of ESPN’s “Fab Five” documentary who has local ties.

Jessica Van Sack of the Boston Herald says fans don’t have to watch TV to follow the NHL.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir feels NBC needs a better way to air the French Open men’s semifinals.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that WFAN’s Mike Francesa is not just doing well without partner Chris Russo, he’s flourishing.

Neil has his entire interview with Francesa in his blog.

Neil talks with ESPN Radio New York’s Michael Kay who one day hopes to beat Francesa in the ratings.

Neil also has the ratings breakdown between WFAN and ESPN Radio New York for afternoon drive.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says tennis great Chris Evert is returning to TV as an analyst for ESPN2′s Wimbledon coverage.

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer says Rugby 7′s will get network TV exposure this weekend.

John George in the Philadelphia Business Journal says Comcast SportsNet will air a local bike race in HD.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the UEFA Champions League Final outrated Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in DC.

Dan finds out why ESPN Radio DC slapped a 24 hour waiting period on publishing podcasts.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner explains that DC had the highest ratings for the Champions League finale.

Jim says NBC received the best NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 1 overnight ratings in a dozen years.

Barry Jackson in the Miami Herald says the NBA Finals are drawing viewers both nationally and locally.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says Magic star Gilbert Arenas has returned to Twitter with often humorous results.

Chuck Goldberg of the Alabama Newspapers notes that Auburn will get early starts for its first three football games of the season.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News notes that Miami outrated Dallas for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with two-time Olympic softball player Michele Smith about the Women’s College World Series which begins on ESPN2 tonight.

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports that Fox Sports Indiana and the Pacers have dropped pregame show host Stacy Paetz effective immediately.

Kevin Kane of the Southside (IN) Times wonders when organizers will lift the local blackout on the Indianapolis 500.

Bob Wolfeley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Suds City topped all markets watching the Indianapolis 500.

At the Iowa City Gazette, Scott Dochterman writes that Fox plans to give the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game the Big Event treatment.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News gets the nitty gritty on why Vin Scully’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was covered and mistreated.

Dian Pucin of the Los Angeles Times instructs West Coast viewers on how to watch tomorrow’s French Open men’s semifinal live.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail explores the media’s handling of the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg story.

At Deadspin, A.J. Daulerio chronicles how ESPN.com’s Grantland site pursued and then later had misgivings about hiring site writer Tommy Craggs.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing tries to make sense of the whole thing.

Sports Media Watch says ABC had the most watched NBA Finals game since 2004.

And that will end the links for today.

Going For Wednesday Linkage

If you’ve been visiting the blog throughout the morning, you may have noticed a couple of theme changes and then the return of the current theme. I’ve been trying to make a few cosmetic changes, but I screwed them up so I had to delete the theme and then reinstall it. If you were visiting and saw a different look and got confused, I apologize. Just trying to make the blog look as best as possible. I can assure you I’m done with the cosmetic changes for a while.

Let’s do some links on this Wednesday.

Sean Leahy of USA Today notes that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth is so fearful that the NFL will lose half a season that he took a non-paying high school football coaching position for the fall.

Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings for the Indy 500, primetime baseball and the UEFA Champions League Final.

Lindsay Powers at the Hollywood Reporter writes that Lance Armstrong lawyers are demanding an apology from CBS News’ 60 Minutes stating that the program did shoddy journalism in a segment on his alleged steroid use.

Philiana Ng of the Reporter says NBC has selected its blockbuster hit, “The Voice” to air after Super Bowl XLVI next February.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable says the NBA has launched a Windows phone app.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News reports that ESPN and Tennis Channel have extended their multimedia alliance for the French and Australian Opens starting next year.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine writes that having a Canadian team in the NHL Stanley Cup Final won’t help NBC’s ratings.

Last night, ESPN’s Chris Berman called the San Francisco Giants-St. Louis Cardinals game for the Alleged Worldwide Leader and as expected, it turned out to be a disaster. Berman can’t call play-by-play to save his life. Two examples of this EPIC FAIL.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the video from Bubbaprog/Mocksession of Berman not getting the concept of a walk off win.

Then Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has video of Berman trying to be edgy or most likely, not having a clue about “Tossed Salad”.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser visited the MLB Man Fan Cave.

Joe Favorito says the NCAA College World Series is a missed opportunity for college baseball.

My Twitter Trophy Wife Amanda Rykoff has compiled a hockey glossary at espnW just in time for the Stanley Cup Final.

From the upcoming New York Times Sunday Magazine, Jonathan Mahler profiles Captain Blowhard who’s already complaining about Grantland and the site hasn’t officially launched yet. The profile is long so get ready to scroll.

Richard Sandomir of the Times reports that former Montreal Expos and New York Mets Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter has an inoperable brain tumor.

Mike Madden of the Washington City Paper notes that DC NFL team owner and bully Daniel Snyder is taking the next step in his lawsuit against the publication by subpoenaing Washington Post blogger Dan Steinberg for just linking to the City Paper column that led him to sue in court.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner reports that ABC received the best NBA Finals overnight rating since 2004.

Jim says the NBC Sports Group gets to keep the Stanley Cup Final all to itself for the next two and a half weeks.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes that a local reporter may have jumped the gun when he reported on an alleged contract extension for the Magic’s Dwight Howard.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman says Game 5 of the Dallas-Oklahoma City NBA Western Conference Finals did very well in the local ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the ESPN book has some Wisconsin ties.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business wonders if the Windy City will tune into the Stanley Cup Final.

Scott Dochterman of the Iowa City Gazette notes the rebranding of Big Ten Network.

Chris Foster from the Los Angeles Times speaks with “How I Met Your Mother Star” Cobie Smulders who like her character Robin Scherbatsky is a big Vancouver Canucks fan.

Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun says CBC’s Jim Hughson and Canucks voice John Shorthouse are happy to be calling their native Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final.

Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN2′s coverage of the French Open will be all live starting next year.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media predicts how the Stanley Cup Final will fare on NBC/Versus this year.

That will do it for now.

Sneaking In Some Saturday Linkage

I have the opportunity to do some linkage on this Saturday so let’s take advantage of this.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Fox has to be happy to have a dream matchup in today’s UEFA Champions League Final.

Sofia M. Fernandez of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the Indianapolis 500 has plenty of celebrity star power this weekend.

Brad Biggs in the National Football Post reports that a non-profit sports fan organization is appealing to the FCC to end all sports blackouts including NFL games.

The Big Lead notes that Captain Blowhard has poached a New York Times writer for his ESPN-backed Grantland site.

Sean Leahy at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that popular Canadian chain Boston Pizza is changing its name for the duration of the Stanley Cup Final.

Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News says Sabres fans are lucky to still have voice Rick Jenneret around for next season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that frequent Gilbert Arenas critic Tony Kornheiser is quite similar to him in one very particular way.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says like them or not, the Miami Heat are jacking up the NBA’s TV ratings.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has confided to ESPN Radio’s Dr. Jack Ramsey that he feels Rick Carlisle is outcoaching opponents.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune says a last minute deal placed the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship on Big Ten Network.

Kristena Hansen in the Arizona Republic notes that a Fox Sports Grill in Scottsdale is changing its name citing poor business.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog wonders if the city could support an all-sports daily newspaper.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN has signed a new six year deal to air the French Open in the Great White North.

Sports Media Watch looks at the ratings for the NBA Conference Finals dating back to 2002.

SMW says NBA TV and TNT analyst Kevin McHale is apparently heading back to coaching.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL Western Conference Final averaged less than a million viewers for the entire series.

Joe Favorito notes that lacrosse is seeing increased interest, but it will still take some time to grow the game.

Bike World News says Fox Sports Net will air the Tour of Utah cycling road race in August.

And that’s where I’ll end it today. I could do some press release posts later.

Chugging Along On A Thursday Linkage Edition

Time for the linkage here on this Thursday getting a late charge out of the gate as I’ve had to visit a jobsite and then had to run a couple of office errands, but we’re back inside ready to give you some linkage. Lots of stuff to get to now.

We begin with some sad news from Chicago. Sports anchor Daryl Hawks of WMAQ-TV, the NBC affiliate, was found dead this morning in an Atlanta hotel room as he was going to cover tonight’s Bulls-Hawks game. He was 38. No other details are available.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business says this is the 2nd unexpected death to happen to the WMAQ-TV sports staff in less than a decade.

Robert Feder at TimeOut Chicago says Hawks’ friends and colleagues are stunned.

If I get more details about Hawks’ death, I’ll post it here.

From USA Today’s Arin Kariminian, we learn that the NFL players are suing for over $700 million in damages from the league over the disputed broadcast revenues that led to the lockout in the first place.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal who’s been wearing bow ties for charitable causes, tells us that he’ll be wearing one this week for the Red Sox-Yankees game that will be near and very dear to his heart. We at Fang’s Bites wholeheartedly support this.

Etan Vlessing from the Hollywood Reporter says the owner of Canadian sports TV network The Score has purchased the third largest sports mobile app provider in the US.

To Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser who tells us that ESPN3.com will stream the entire season of the National Lacrosse League.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group looks at NBC/Golf Channel’s production of this weekend’s Players Championship.

In the Indiana National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times does not want athletes to stop tweeting their thoughts.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at one restaurant chain that is allowing customers to drink beer for free as long as the NFL lockout continues.

Darren suggests that Disney buy Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom if he wins the next leg of the Triple Crown.

Public relations maven Bill Hofheimer in ESPN Front Row talks with two ESPN’ers who hope to have their CBS sitcoms picked up in the network upfronts later this month.

Adam Proteau from the Hockey News says fans rallying around Sean Avery’s gay marriage stance and denouncing of Uptown Sports’ tweets against it shows a true evolution in the sport.

In the Boston Herald, Ian R. Rapoport has video of Tom Brady explaining why he cried during the ESPN/NFL Films documentary, “The Brady 6.”

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman writes an appreciation of collegue, cartoonist Bill Gallo who passed away at the age of 88.

The Daily News’ Flip Bondy has Gallo’s obituary.

And Mike Lupica says Gallo will live on through his work.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes about ESPN airing a college basketball game from a military aircraft carrier on Veterans Day.

A related note from the Associated Press and picked up by the Sporting News: the carrier that buried Osama bin Laden at sea could be the one that hosts the game.

Ken says the NBC Sports Group will be airing horse racing from Saratoga Race Course over the summer.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that NASCAR fans in the DC area will be flocking to Dover this weekend.

Garry Smits from the Florida Times-Union looks at the NBC Sports Group airing the Players Championship this week.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times says a popular local sports radio host has signed a new contract with his current station.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that police confiscated some 30 phony passes including some labeled “NBC Sports” from people attempting to attend the Kentucky Derby.

John E. Hoover at the Tulsa World notes that the Oklahoma-Florida State game will be aired in primetime by either ESPN or ABC.

Amanda Van Benschoten from the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth has been named to a national fitness panel.

Alan Babbitt of the Holland (MI) Sentinel says ESPN’s Outside the Lines will air a segment Sunday on the high school basketball team that had a player pass away on court earlier this year.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Arena Football League’s Mustangs will be heard on local radio.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business explores the latest troubles with Jay Mariotti.

Mariotti’s former paper, the Chicago Sun-Times uses wire copy to construct the latest story on his latest arrest on stalking and domestic violence charges.

John Vornhof, Jr. from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal writes that Fox Sports North jumps into the WNBA game this summer.

Scott Dochterman in the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette notes that Big Ten Network will air a new original series on conference coaches.

Ben Kaplan of the National Post writes about a new documentary on Donald Trump’s efforts to build a golf course in Scotland that was first chronicled by HBO’s Real Sports.

The Toronto Sports Media blog notes that a Rogers Sportsnet host who weighed in on the gay marriage debate on Twitter regarding Sean Avery’s stance, was fired yesterday.

Cathal Kelly of the Toronto Star says the host, Damian Goddard is standing by his tweets.

The Big Lead looks at the first review of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site.

The Pretty in Pinstripes blog takes down the SNY “More Sports, More Testosterone” ad campaign that was very inexplicably created by women.

Sports Media Watch says the Miami Heat series clincher over Boston took in a good rating, but not as good as Game 4.

Joe Favorito explores the new magazine being published by energy drink manufacturer Red Bull.

And that is where we’ll end it for today. Lots of links for you today.

Bringing You Some Mid-Week Links

On this Wednesday, it’s time to provide some linkage. Some stuff to get to. Let’s not delay any further.

Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that the NCAA spent a lot of money to protect the March Madness™ trademark.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Gus Johnson leaving CBS for Fox Sports.

Eben Novy-Williams at Bloomberg News delves into Gus’ departure from CBS.

The great Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Cagewriter says while Gus is leaving CBS, he will remain at corporate sibling Showtime to call boxing and MMA.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says while fans are cheering the Lakers’ exit now, they’ll regret it later.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that TNT scored an across-the-board ratings win in key demographics for Game 4 of the Miami-Boston NBA Playoff game.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel says Disney’s CEO is saying that the Olympics could help ESPN get more money from cable providers.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Disney’s CEO isn’t too worried about an NFL lockout hurting ESPN.

Crupi writes a weak field in the Kentucky Derby offset NBCUniversal’s heavy promotion for the Run for the Roses.

Tony Fitzgerald of Media Life also looks at the lower ratings for the Derby on NBC.

Sean Martin at Golfweek says college golf could see more airtime with the new megarights deals with the Pac-12 and University of Texas.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN will air the MLS Cup against Sunday Night Football again (provided there is an NFL season).

Cam has video of ESPN’s Barry Melrose comments about gays on NHL teams which really has to be seen to be believed.

Stephen Douglas a.k.a. Cousins of Ron Mexico at The Big Lead shoots down point-by-point, a guest column written by celebrity-wannabe Rob Kardashian in ESPN.com’s Page 2 section.

Speaking of ESPN.com, the Et tu, Mr. Destructo blog has a review of the soft launch of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site. The review is almost as long as the two articles that launched the site.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says he got to meet a star before she become one.

Darren says Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is hoping to fill a void in fantasy camps.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has a story on Jack Edwards signing an extension with NESN to call Bruins games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Gus Johnson moving to Fox Sports.

At the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wonders if Captain Blowhard is recruiting Tony Kornheiser to write for Grantland.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Maryland and Miami will open the ACC football season in primetime on ESPN.

Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Bengals have renewed their radio rights deal with Clear Channel Radio.

The South Bend Tribune reports that ESPN/ABC may put a November Notre Dame road game in primetime.

Anthony Schoettle from the Indianapolis Business Journal says IndyCar officials are talking about placing more of their races on ABC in the next TV contract.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that HBO’s Real Sports will profile Brewers voice Bob Uecker.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a suspended sports talk show host returns to the air today.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune suggests the International Olympic Committee should take NBC’s overbid for the 2010/12 Games into account for the bid for the ’14/’16 Olympics.

Dom Izzo at WDAY-TV in Fargo, ND says Twins fans are being shut out from a number of games thanks to a dispute between Fox Sports North and the local cable provider.

Scott D. Pierce in the Salt Lake Tribune doesn’t understand why ESPN did not choose Real Salt Lake for its MLS TV schedule.

In the Phoenix Business Journal, Patrick O’Grady writes that the Pac-12 Network could find it difficult to gain carriage into Arizona homes.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times discusses Gus Johnson signing with Fox to become its main college sports announcer.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says the controversy over Sean Avery’s support of gay marriage and the condemnation by Uptown Hockey has opened a Pandora’s Box.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog feels Uptown Hockey and NHL agent Todd Reynolds should not have gone there.

Lost Letterman wonders if ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla could be headed back into coaching.

Matt Sarzyniak at Matt’s College Sports Media analyzes the ESPN/ABC Pac-12 schedule.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Dan Patrick will host NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, more specifically, the later games.

Sports Media Watch has some various NHL ratings news and notes.

And that will do it.