Fang's Bites

Attempting A Friday Megalink Post

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

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

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

National

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

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

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

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

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

John profiles legendary sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

East and Mid-Atlantic

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

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

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

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

Richard Sandomir from the Times examines the Dodgers sale.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

South

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Midwest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

West

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

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

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

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

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

Tom has more on Rome in his blog.

Canada

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

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

And that will conclude the megalinks.

CBS Sports is Proud of Its 26 Sports Emmy Award Nominations

CBS Sports is that organization that just keeps chugging along. It was in a very bleak period from 1994-1998 when it lost the NFL, no NBA, was outbid for the NHL and seemed to heading in downward spiral. But since Sean McManus came on board as its President and now Chairman, the division not only re-obtained the NFL, became a player in college football, kept its PGA Tour commitments, kept the NCAA Tournament thanks to its partnership with Turner Sports, added Showtime Sports to its arsenal and now has CBS Sports Network.

For the 33rd Sports Emmy Awards, CBS and its affiliated networks, Showime and CBSSports.com have received 26 Sports Emmy Award nods, third among the sports network groups behind ESPN and the NBC Sports Group.

Some of CBS’ nominations include Live Sports Special (The Masters), Playoff Coverage (SEC Championship), Studio Host (James Brown), Play-by-Play (Jim Nantz and Marv Albert), Game Analyst (Gary Danielson), Sports Reporter (Tracy Wolfson), Weekly Studio Show (with Showtime for Inside the NFL) and Sports Documentary (again with Showtime for Game of Honor).

In addition, the Army-Navy game received multiple technical nominations.

Here’s the CBS Sports press release.

JIM NANTZ, JAMES BROWN, GARY DANIELSON AND TRACY WOLFSON LEAD CBS’s 26 NOMINATIONS FOR 2011 SPORTS EMMY AWARDS

SHOWTIME/CBS Sports Garner Five Nominations for Epic Army-Navy Documentary A GAME OF HONOR”
CBS Sports’ Coverage of NCAA Tournament, Masters^®, SEC Football and Army-Navy Game Also Receive Nods to Highlight Network’s Other Nominations

Jim Nantz, James Brown, Gary Danielson and Tracy Wolfson lead the list of CBS’s 26 nominations for the 2011 Sports Emmy Awards to be presented on April 30 in New York City.  Nantz, who won the 2008 and 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality -– PLAY-BY-PLAY, once again earned a nomination in that category. Brown’s nomination also is in the category in which he won in 2007, Outstanding Sports Personality -– STUDIO HOST, for THE NFL TODAY and INSIDE THE NFL on Showtime, while Danielson earned a nomination for Outstanding Sports Personality -– SPORTS EVENT ANALYST and Wolfson gained a nod for Outstanding Sports Personality -– SPORTS REPORTER. In addition, Marv Albert (CBS/TBS/TNT) earned a nomination for Outstanding Sports Personality – PLAY-BY-PLAY.

Among the other nominations for CBS Sports include multiple nods for its collaboration with Showtime on the epic Army-Navy documentary A GAME OF HONOR. The documentary garnered five nominations:

CBS Sports, teaming up with Turner Sports, also gained multiple nominations for its coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship for Outstanding SHORT FEATURE (Human Highlight Reel – Manny Ohonme: The Great Samaritan); Outstanding LONG FEATURE (NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – Amongst Friends: A Story of Loss and Healing); Outstanding TECHNICAL TEAM STUDIO (NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – Road to the Final Four) and Outstanding NEW APPROACHES SPORTS EVENT COVERAGE (March Madness on Demand –- NCAA.com/CBS Sports/Turner Sports).

In addition, CBS Sports’ coverage of the Masters® earned multiple nominations for Outstanding LIVE SPORTS SPECIAL and The George Wensel TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (The Masters 3D Coverage –- CBS Sports/ESPN3D). And the Network’s coverage of the Army-Navy football game received three nominations for Outstanding OPEN/TEASE; Outstanding Post Produced AUDIO/SOUND and Outstanding MUSIC COMPOSITION/DIRECTION/LYRICS.

Rounding out CBS Sports’ nominations are Outstanding PLAYOFF COVERAGE – SEC Football Championship Game (Georgia vs. LSU); Outstanding STUDIO SHOW – WEEKLY – INSIDE THE NFL (Showtime/CBS Sports); and OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT TURNAROUND (Tour de France -– CBS Sports/Versus).

CBS’ Showtime, along with MLB Productions, earned three nominations for its series The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants for Outstanding Post Produced AUDIO/SOUND; Outstanding MUSIC COMPOSITION/DIRECTION/LYRICS and Outstanding EDITED SPORTS SERIES/Anthology.

Doing Some Friday Megalinks Now

Let’s do some megalinks on this Friday. My apologies for the lack of posts yesterday. The site was swamped with people linking to my post on How to Avoid Paying the $3.99 Fee For March Madness Live and it was down for most of the day. We seem to be ok today, although the site was down for a short stretch in the morning. But we’re back up now and time for some megalinks on this Friday.

The Weekend Viewing Picks are up and running. Lots of sports as the winter NCAA Championships including the basketball tournaments are underway.

Let’s get to your links.

National

Michael Hiestand from USA Today praises CBS/Turner for bringing the NCAA head of men’s basketball officiating back to explain controversial calls.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On blog remembers a great NCAA Tournmament buzzer beater from 1981 as called by NBC’s Marv Albert.

Sports Business Daily notes the overnight ratings for Thursday’s games from the NCAA Tournament were down, but still considered a win for CBS/Turner.

Matt Carmichael from Advertising Age tells us which two schools were Googled the most during yesterday’s NCAA Tournament action.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the absolutely hilarious video of a WGN morning news anchor trying to amp up the volume at ESPN’s Dick Vitale while technical difficulties arise.

Karen Hogan from Sports Video Group writes that the National Invitation Tournament may be the NCAA Tournament’s ugly sister, but it still gets major treatment from ESPN.

To Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing who notes another Twitter feud involving CNBC’s Darren Rovell, this one with Bomani Jones.

Sports Media Watch says Thursday’s 2nd round NCAA Tournament games received slightly lower overnight ratings from the year before.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth wants to know why name calling in sports radio is a more punishable offense than inaccurate reporting.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy asks if the NHL’s new Stanley Cup ad campaign to replace the great “History Will Be Made” promos can be as successful.

Laura Northrup of the Consumerist wonders why NBA League Pass hasn’t adjusted to Daylight Savings Time?

All Access says ESPN Deportes Radio in Chicago has picked up the Spanish rights to the White Sox.

La Liga Talk has learned that Al Jazeera has obtained the US TV rights to Spain’s La Liga from Gol TV.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn talks with ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

At SB Nation Boston, Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen says social networking may have created spoiled fans.

Tazina Vega from the New York Times says the NHL is hoping to lure viewers by airing all of its Stanley Cup Playoff games on various NBC Sports platforms.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels the CBS/Turner NCAA Tournament collaboration has become the Home Shopping Network. Whatever.

The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with CBS/Turner analyst Clark Kellogg.

Justin has 5 questions for MSG Network NBA analyst Kelly Tripucka.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the Onion has skewered the DC NFL Team.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with a Turner Sports Interactive executive on how Twitter is incorporated into this year’s NCAA Tournament coverage.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says NBC will air this fall’s Miami-Notre Dame football game in primetime.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle notes that CBS/Turner’s Charles Barkley criticized Baylor’s ugly neon yellow uniforms.

David has the CBS/Turner announcing assignments for Saturday’s NCAA Tournament action.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman notes that Cox Cable subscribers can access the NCAA March Madness Live app for free provided they authenticate.

John E. Hoover from the Tulsa World says the Big 12′s new TV deals will ensure the survival of the conference.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Reds voice Marty Brennaman can be heard in a new UPS March Madness ad.

While Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel enjoys the NCAA Tounament, there are some things he can do without.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business announces he’ll no longer be writing his sports business and media blog for the publication.

Ed says he will be launching a new site on the sports media and I look forward to seeing it when it finally comes to fruition.

Brigid Sweeney of Crain’s Chicago Business notes that Bulls TV analyst Stacey King now has a new fashion line.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says the national Junior College championships can be seen online.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the local CBS affiliate didn’t help matters by taking up a large portion of the screen during NCAA Tournament action for weather updates.

West

Bill Center at the San Diego Union-Tribune says maybe, maybe Fox Sports San Diego will launch on Saturday provided MLB approval comes that quickly.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star looks at the Erin Andrews network sweepstakes.

Jim says the NCAA Tournament has become predictable.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Richard Horgan of Fishbowl LA says ESPN will not discipline its SoCal reporters for getting a big story wrong on the Dodgers ownership bid process.

We are going to end the links there. Not as many as in past weeks, but still a hefty amount. Enjoy your weekend.

The Results For The “Official” Theme Songs For Sports Television

Last week, I asked you to vote on which themes should be the “official” tunes for each sport. This was a fun post and it was linked from Sports Illustrated. I appreciate all of the votes. The polls are now closed so let’s take a look at the results. I’ll provide the number of votes, the percentages and the video that will become the “Official” Theme Song for each sport. Some of the results will not be surprising, others may be.

Here they are:

BASEBALL

Total Votes: 765

Which Should Be The “Official” Theme For MLB?

The winner: MLB on ESPN

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Total Votes: 713

Which Theme Should Be The “Official” Song For College Football

The winner: SEC on CBS

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Total Votes: 719

Which is Your Choice for “Official” Theme For College Basketball

The winner: CBS/Turner March Madness

NBA

Total Votes: 748

What Should Be the “Official” Theme of the NBA?

The runaway winner: Roundball Rock

NFL

Total Votes: 735

Your Choice for “Official” Theme of the NFL

Our winner: Monday Night Football “Heavy Action”

While this remix is good, I prefer the ABC version used in the late 1980′s.

NHL

Total Votes: 479

Which Should Be The “Official” Theme For The NHL?

The Winner: NHL on ESPN over my wishes for Hockey Night in Canada, but the voters have spoken.

TENNIS

Total Votes: 295

Which Do You Like As the “Official” Theme for Tennis

The winner: Wimbledon on NBC

SPORTS ANTHOLOGIES

Total Votes: 315

What Should Be Our “Official” Theme For Sports Anthologies?

The overwhelming winner: ABC’s Wide World of Sports as it should be.

This was very enjoyable to do. I hope to do similar polls with you in the future.

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.

Bringing Out The Mid-Week Linkage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WGHP also has a special section devoted to Brenner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lack of tweets today have 1 great explanation: Welcome to the world, my beautiful daughter, @HarperRovell.

February 28, 2012 10:34 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@darrenrovell

darren rovell

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

My wife doesn't know yet, but I also locked up Gmail, Pinterest, Facebook and domain names for my three-hour old daughter, @HarperRovell.

February 28, 2012 10:43 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@darrenrovell

darren rovell

And we’ll end it there for today.

ESPN Announces Partial ACC Labor Day & Primetime Football Schedule

Continuing in an ESPN press release theme this morning, we have the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s announcement of its 2012 ACC football Labor Day and primetime schedule. Just five games released thus far, but in particular, the game on November 8th between Florida State and Virginia Tech in primetime has the potential to be a doozy. We’ll have to see how the season plays out, but on paper, it looks like a very good matchup.

For that and the other four games released thus far, check out the blurb below.

ESPN’s 2012 Labor Day and Thursday Primetime ACC Football Schedule

An ESPN Labor Day prime time telecast and four matchups on Thursday nights are among the games involving Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams slated for ESPN’s 2012 college football schedule. Additional games will be announced. Highlights include:

• ESPN’s Labor Day prime time telecast on September 3 will pit Georgia Tech at defending Coastal Division champion Virginia Tech at 8 p.m. ET.
• ESPN’s popular Thursday night series — ESPN College Football Primetime – will feature four ACC matchups, including three telecasts featuring at least one team ranked in an early ESPN.com pre-season poll:
• No. 8 Florida State at No. 20 Virginia Tech on November 8. The two teams last met in the 2010 conference championship, a 44-33 Virginia Tech victory.
• Defending conference champion No. 23 Clemson will take on Wake Forest on October 25.
• In addition to hosting Georgia Tech and Florida State, No. 20 Virginia Tech will visit Miami on November 1.

The 2012 ACC Labor Day and Thursday schedule (additional selections to be announced):

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Mon, Sep 3	8 p.m.	Georgia Tech at No. 20 Virginia Tech	ESPN
Thu, Oct 25	TBD	No. 23 Clemson at Wake Forest	ESPN
Thu, Nov 1	TBD	No. 20 Virginia Tech at Miami	ESPN
Thu, Nov 8	TBD	No. 8 Florida State at No. 20 Virginia Tech	ESPN
Thu, Nov 15	TBD	North Carolina at Virginia	ESPN

There you have it.

Doing Some Monday Linkage For You

Let’s do some long overdue linkage for you. It’s been owed big time.

We begin with Mike McCarthy of USA Today who writes that a San Diego sports anchor is in trouble for referring to NASCAR driver Danica Patrick as a “B.”

Michael Hiestand from USA Today says the NBA All-Star Game’s overnight ratings are down from last year.

Michael says Fox did its best to hype Danica Patrick during Sunday’s Daytona 500 rain delay coverage.

John Daly at the Daly Planet is doing yeoman’s work in updating his site on Fox’s plans for the Daytona 500 which is now scheduled to air at 7 p.m. ET.

The Nielsen Wire blog says despite her lack of multiple victories, Danica Patrick remains the most known motorsports driver.

The Associated Press says Fox Sports is looking to extend its current rights deal with NASCAR that will expire in 2014.

Michael Schottey at Bleacher Report has some suggestions on how to improve NFL Scouting Combine coverage.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Universal Sports has picked up a carriage deal with Dish Network giving the satellite provider “TV Everywhere” rights.

Jeanine Poggi of Advertising Age says CBS/Turner will make a big marketing push for March Madness.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with new Mets radio voice Josh Lewin.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post finds something to complain about today.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes that ESPN has unveiled its primetime ACC football schedule.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog looks at one local anchorman’s thoughts about changing the name of the DC NFL Team.

Skyler Swisher of the Daytona Beach (FL) News-Journal talks with ESPN motorsports pit reporter Jamie Little.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says the paper’s readers blame ESPN for ruining Ryan Braun’s reputation.

Shane Nyman of the Green Bay Gazette feels ESPN is overgushing over Jeremy Lin.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post reviews ESPN’s documentary on Magic Johnson’s announcement that he was HIV Positive.

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

Andrew Bucholz at Awful Announcing writes about ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham winning an Oscar for Best Documentary feature last night.

That will do it for now.

What Should Be The Official Theme Tune For Each Sport?

Since television began, theme songs have helped us to identify our favorite programs. This is certainly the case in sports where the theme for Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Wide World of Sports, the Olympics, The Masters and others have become iconic.

I thought about writing a post on which themes should be the “official” one for each sport since Paulsen at Sports Media Watch suggested ESPN trade for NBC’s “Roundball Rock” which became so identifiable with the NBA in the 1990′s.

Suggestion: ESPN trades the old 'NHL on ESPN' theme to NBC for 'Roundball Rock'. Works for both sides.

February 16, 2012 3:38 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@paulsen_smw

Paulsen

So in this post, I’m going to provide nominees for each sport from the various networks and have you vote on which one should be the “official” theme. Results will be released next Sunday.

Two examples of how themes are identified with sports. The Olympics on American television have been introduced with”Bugler’s Theme” composed by Leo Arnaud. Played originally on ABC’s coverage of the Olympics starting in 1968, it was purchased by NBC and used starting in 1992 all the way to the present.

Here’s Bugler’s Theme in its original version.

And this is the version used by NBC which is composed by John Williams combining “Bugler’s Theme” with “Olympic Fanfare” which was written for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The Masters has its own theme that has been used on CBS and around the world. The theme’s name is “Augusta”.

Those are two examples of iconic sports theme tunes. Now let’s go through the nominees for each sport. There will be no more than three for each sport except for the NFL and NHL otherwise this post could get ridiculously long.

BASEBALL

I have three nominees for Baseball.

This is ABC’s Monday Night Baseball theme from the late 1970′s and one of my all-time favorites.

Here’s the MLB on ESPN theme. This is the current incarnation.

And the MLB on Fox theme that was used from 1996 through 2010, then Fox decided to use its NFL theme for all sports.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

CBS March Madness Theme recut for its partnership with Turner Sports.

NBC’s College Basketball Theme from the mid-1980′s. Yes, NBC once had college basketball, kids.

ESPN’s college basketball theme from 1995 through 2001.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Your choices:

The SEC on CBS theme first introduced for Super Bowl XXI and subsequently used on its college football coverage, first the old CFA package in the late 1980′s, brought back in 1996 when CBS came back into college football after losing the sport in the early 1990′s and has been used ever since.

ESPN’s present College Football theme.

ESPN’s old College Football theme used until 1999. I like this one better than the current theme.

NBA

Here’s the NBA on CBS theme used from 1982 until 1990 when it left the sport for good. This is a clean copy of its open utilized from 1982 through 1988. The black spots are for video and voiceover. One of my all-time favorites.

The current NBA on TNT theme as composed by Trevor Rabin.

And you can’t have an NBA theme poll without NBC’s Roundball Rock composed by John Tesh and considered by many as the best sports theme of all-time. I’m inclined to agree.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

We have four choices, one for each network.

This is known as the NFL on CBS “Pots and Pans” theme that was used from 1986 through 1988. I’ve preferred this theme over the others have been utilized since. And ignore the quality of the video, just listen to the theme. And it was called “Pots and Pans” because some fans thought it sounded like pots and pans banging.

The NFL on Fox theme, now the music used for all sports, originally composed in 1994.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football theme composed by John Williams. We’re not using the “I’ve Been Waiting All Day For Sunday Night” sung by Faith Hill for obvious reasons. Someone put a compilation of the current themes together. I like it.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football Heavy Action theme.

NHL

I’ll do five here.

The NHL on ESPN theme that was used through 2005.

How about the NHL on Fox theme that was used from 1995 through 1998? Here’s a compilation of the theme. You can still hear it on Fox Sports Net affiliates that carry the NHL locally.

Here’s the NHL on NBC theme that is currently being used. Different variation from its main theme, but you get the idea.

The Hockey Song by Stompin’ Tom Collins, probably the second most beloved hockey theme in Canada.

The old CBC Hockey Night in Canada theme which is now known as the Hockey Theme as it was purchased and now owned by TSN. Used since 1968.

TENNIS

We have three candidates for tennis.

The NBC Wimbledon theme which won’t be heard anymore as ESPN has the rights to the tournament.

When NBC was in the bad habit of tape delaying matches, I would find ways to watch BBC’s coverage which was always live. I got used to its Wimbledon theme and grew to like it.

And USA Network’s US Open theme music that we no longer hear unfortunately. Remember when USA actually had sports?

I don’t have a clean copy of ESPN’s tennis theme so the three we have will have to suffice.

SPORTS ANTHOLOGIES

Finally, we have the sports anthologies from the networks. This should be quite interesting to get your take. Anthology shows would put together various different events in one show, like track & field, barrel jumping, tennis or diving. ABC’s Wide World of Sports was the first of its kind on American television and then the other networks followed until the anthologies went extinct.

First, from across the pond, BBC’s Grandstand which was one of the longest running sports series on television. This ran until 2007. These are various opens from the 1990′s. This theme is catchy.

Here’s the open from the CBS Sports Spectacular from 1979 using Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

NBC had SportsWorld in the 1970′s and 1980′s. I like this music.

And the original that started it all in the U.S., ABC’s Wide World of Sports. The voiceover is from the late Jim McKay. This open is from 1984.

And that is going to do it. Vote and leave your comments on any omissions below.

Wringing Out Some Friday Megalinks

Let’s do your media megalinks since last week you did not get any.

Hard to believe that college baseball, college lacrosse and NASCAR seasons are starting up, but they are and they’re included in the Weekend Viewing Picks along with the regular Golf, NBA, NHL, Skiing, Soccer, Tennis and Entertainment recommendations.

To your links now.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jeremy Lin will make his nationwide broadcast network debut this weekend.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that Floyd Mayweather’s next pay per view fight has been set by HBO for the spring.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that Jeremy Lin continues to drive the MSG Network ratings engine.

Mike Shields of Adweek looks at CBS/Turner Sports’ plans to charge to view the NCAA Tournament online.

Ted Johnson of Variety talks with Ken Solomon of Tennis Channel on his ongoing battle to get a better footing with Comcast.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says the Jeremy Lin media coverage is over the top.

Sports Media Watch notes the increased viewership for the NHL on NBC Sports Network.

SMW says Pardon the Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon have lent their voices to a Disney XD cartoon series.

Andy Hall at ESPN Front Row PR blog celebrates the 5th anniversary of NASCAR’s return to the network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Jeremy Lin’s agent.

Andrew Bucholtz writing his first article for Awful Announcing looks at the reaction to Jeremy Lin in Canada.

Mat Yoder at AA says the ratings for last weekend’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am show fans are still interested in Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Joe Favorito explores the steady growth of college lacrosse.

Mark J. Miller of Brandchannel says NASCAR fans don’t like it when drivers juggle sponsor logos throughout the Sprint Cup season.

The Big Lead has ESPN’s Erin Andrews out and about during New York’s Fashion Week.

Chris Chase at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner notes that ESPN has been coaching Jon Gruden to use his words judiciously.

Harrison Mooney of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy says Jeremy Lin’s drawing power might indirectly benefit the New York Rangers, Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils which have been missing from Time Warner Cable systems in addition to the Knicks.

David B. Wilkerson at MarketWatch wonders if the MSG/Time Warner Cable feud will eventually push sports into a premium tier.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn gets some advice for new NESN Red Sox field reporter Jenny Dell from MSG’s Tina Cervasio.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch pays tribute to Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan who announced he’s retiring after the London Olympics.

Surviving Grady has a podcast with Jen Royle.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the new charge for viewing the NCAA Tournament online.

Richard writes about the increased ratings for Knicks games since Jeremy Lin arrived on the scene.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post is in rare form today even for him.

Brett Cyrgalis of the Post has five questions for CBS college basketball analyst Bill Raftery.

The Post’s David Seifman reports that the New York City Council is pressuring MSG Network and Time Warner Cable to work out a deal.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that ESPN bumped tonight’s Hornets-Knicks game not realizing it would be another opportunity to showcase Jeremy Lin.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY has reaction from various NYC sports anchors to the death of former Mets catcher Gary Carter.

Mike Silva at the Sports Media Watchdog feels hockey coverage in New York is woefully inadequate.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local sports TV reporter received a New York Emmy nomination.

Pete lists his top studio analysts.

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

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has a clip of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon as cartoon characters.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says talks with sports business writer Evan Weiner about the NFL’s antiquated blackout rules.

South

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has some thoughts on Shaquille O’Neal’s rookie season at TNT and ESPN’s decision to remove Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Astros plan to bring in former players to their radio booth to celebrate the team’s 50th season.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes the first network appearance of Jeremy Lin is this Sunday.

Midwest

The Detroit Free Press notes that all of the Tigers games will be on TV this season.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Dick Enberg told a captive audience at Marquette University about the art of the pause and when to use it in broadcasting.

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

To the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin where Paul Christian writes that Fox Sports North will be all over the Minnesota Twins this season.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals have mostly put the kybosh on late afternoon games at Busch Stadium this season.

Dan says a local sports radio host is recovering after undergoing heart bypass surgery.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the new Fox Sports San Diego is set to launch next month.

Jay writes the San Diego Padres stand to double their rights fees from Fox as compared to Cox a year ago.

John Maffei at the North County Times says the official announcement between Fox Sports San Diego carrying the Padres is due any time now.

At the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle says NBC and the NHL have become very good partners.

Jim feels ESPN should not have jettisoned Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times notes that ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham is up for a Best Documentary Oscar.

Bill Shakin of the Times says Frank McCourt’s legal problems are holding up Fox’s announcement with the Padres.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News recaps a lecture from three noted network broadcasters discussing TV coverage of the Olympics.

And that’s going to conclude the megalinks for today.

Colonial Athletic Association Signs 5-Year Deal With NBC Sports Group

Becoming the first college sports conference to sign with the NBC Sports Group, the Colonial Athletic Association signs a five year deal giving TV and digital rights to NBC Sports Network, Comcast SportsNet and NBCSports.com.

Over the life of the contract that begins with the 2012-13 season, NBC Sports Network will air give CAA football games, at least 12 men’s basketball games as well as the CAA Tournament semifinals and championship game.

The Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates will air 13 regular season football games along with 39 men’s and women’s basketball games, the CAA Men’s Tournament quarterfinals plus the CAA Women’s Tournament.

Additional CAA championships will be streamed on NBCSports.com. We have the joint CAA/NBC Sports Group press release below.

CAA AND NBC SPORTS GROUP REACH FIVE-YEAR AGREEMENTS FOR NATIONAL BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL RIGHTS

RICHMOND, Va. – February 13, 2012 – The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) has reached five-year agreements with the NBC Sports Group that will provide the most extensive and comprehensive exposure of the conference in its history with coverage on NBC Sports Network and across the group’s regional sports networks.

The agreements, which begin with the 2012-13 season and runs through 2016-17, will provide national television coverage of CAA men’s basketball and football games on the NBC Sports Network, regional television coverage of CAA men’s and women’s basketball and football through the Comcast SportsNet regional networks and coverage of a variety of other CAA sports through NBCSports.com. The CAA is the first collegiate athletic conference to sign a broadcast agreement with the NBC Sports Network, which launched on January 2, 2012.

“We are thrilled to be associated with the NBC Sports Group,” CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said. “The NBC Sports Network now provides a national platform to elevate the conference in conjunction with the relationship we’ve had with the Comcast SportsNets, which have been the foundation of our television package for almost three decades.”

“We are very excited to begin our new relationship with the Colonial Athletic Association and extend our college sports offerings,” said Michael Sheehey, Senior Vice President, Sports Content and College Sports, NBC Sports Group. “Given our unique four-tier portfolio of assets, we are able to deliver high-quality production of the conference’s football, basketball and other sports to viewers nationally, regionally and online unlike anyone else.

NBC Sports Network will provide national television coverage for a minimum of 12 men’s basketball games each year, including the semifinals and finals of the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship. In addition, the NBC Sports Network will televise a minimum of five CAA Football games annually. CAA Football is regarded as the top conference in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.

The Comcast SportsNet regional networks, which have partnered with the CAA for the past 28 years, will regionally televise 39 additional men’s and women’s basketball games, including the quarterfinals of the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship and the semifinals and finals of the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship. The Comcast Sports Group will also televise an additional 13 regular-season CAA Football games.

Throughout the term of the agreement, there are plans to telecast numerous additional CAA games and various CAA championships on NBCSports.com.

SUMMARY OF CAA AGREEMENT WITH THE NBC SPORTS GROUP

• 12 national telecasts of CAA men’s basketball games, including national television coverage of the semifinals and finals of the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship for the first time.
• Five national telecasts of CAA Football games for the first time in conference history.
• A strong regional television package maintained with the Comcast SportsNet regional networks, featuring 39 men’s and women’s basketball games and 13 football games.
• Numerous other CAA games and CAA championships broadcast on NBCSports.com.

The Colonial Athletic Association is a 12-member Division I athletic conference with a geographic footprint that stretches from Boston to Atlanta and encompasses five of the nation’s nine largest metropolitan areas. The CAA has had two men’s basketball teams (George Mason – 2006, VCU – 2011) and one women’s basketball team (Old Dominion – 1997) advance to the NCAA Final Four and has produced 16 national team champions in five different sports. Member schools include the University of Delaware, Drexel University, George Mason University, Georgia State University, Hofstra University, James Madison University, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Northeastern University, Old Dominion University, Towson University, Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary.

CAA Football is an 11-member Division I conference that competes in the Football Championship Subdivision. CAA Football has produced five national champions (Massachusetts – 1998, Delaware – 2003, James Madison – 2004, Richmond – 2008, Villanova – 2009) and has had a team advance to the national title game in five of the last six years. Member schools include the University of Delaware, Georgia State University, James Madison University, the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, Old Dominion University, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Richmond, Towson University, Villanova University and the College of William and Mary.

More stuff as it becomes available.

Time For Our Thursday Linkage

Let’s do our linkage now. Lots of good stories.

First, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with NBC’s NFL crew on what we’ll see on Super Bowl Sunday.

Richard’s latest Media Circus podcast is up and his guest this week is NBC’s Cris Collinsworth who will call Sunday’s game with Al Michaels.

Good on Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead for breaking the story that Selena Roberts has left SI.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Time Warner Cable hopes to capture some good feelings with its local Super Bowl ad that will run in selected markets.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that General Motors is cutting back on its ad spending, but will remain on the Super Bowl.

Adweek’s Tim Nudd says Kia’s Super Bowl tries to cram a lot into its Super Bowl spot.

Robert Klara from Adweek notes that tennis players are getting more than just shoe endorsements these days.

Matthew Creamer at Advertising Age has a primer on the Super Bowl ads.

Brian Steinberg from AdAge notes that NBCUniversal corporate sibling Fandango will latch onto one Super Bowl movie ad.

Cotton Delo of AdAge says Honda’s Ferris Bueller ad is the most watched Super Bowl ad on the web right now.

Mark Wilson of Popular Mechanics wonders if NBC’s streaming of Super Bowl XLVI will lead to more events online.

Tom Cheredar from MediaBeat says the Feds cracked down today on several sites illegally streaming sports.

Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says Pats QB Tom Brady watched last year’s Super Bowl through an illegal website. Great thing to admit, Tom.

To Graham Watson at Yahoo’s Dr. Saturday blog and he says ESPN may have inadvertently helped USC coach Lane Kiffin commit a recruiting violation. It would not be the first time.

Good story from Jeremy Rapanich in Deadspin on NBC’s preparation for Super Bowl XLVI.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing looks at the next potential wave of NFL TV analysts.

Ryan Yoder at AA recaps Texas US Senate candidate Craig James interview on a state radio station.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid wonders if Steven A. “A is for Acrimony” Smith flipped the bird to Skip Bayless today.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn takes a look at Radio Row at the Super Bowl.

Newsday’s Neil Best says WFAN’s Mike Francesa and the agent for former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor are in a feud.

Neil says Miami sports radio host Sid Rosenberg is no longer doing morning drive sports reports for NYC radio station WINS.

Neil speaks with WFAN’s Giants beat reporter.

Neil says NBC is hopeful that Super Bowl XLVI will set a viewership record.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the rundown for NBC’s Super Bowl 6-hour pregame.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has ESPN’s BracketBusters schedule.

Evan Weiner of the New Jersey Newsroom notes that the NFL is the best of both capitalism and socialism.

Isabelle Khurshudyan of the University of South Carolina’s student newspaper, the Daily Gamecock, recaps a campus appearance by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says Fox Sports Ohio has set its Reds programming for this month.

Zak Keeler from the Indianapolis Star writes that visiting reporters are heaping praise on Indy as Super Bowl host.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is surprised over the Pro Bowl’s ratings.

Mark Schuttenhelm of the Jamestown (ND) Sun questions the choices NBC Sports Network has made for its college hockey games.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News breaks down the Super Bowl by play-by-play announcer.

The Los Angeles Times reports that ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad was admonished for live tweeting his jury selection. Really, Norman?

Jessica Lantz has a look at one of the better Super Bowl ads, only this one will play in Canada only.

Speaking of Canada, the Canadian Sports Media Blog says CTV will begin its promotional push for this year’s Summer Olympic Games during the Super Bowl.

Sports Media Watch says this year’s NHL All-Star Game ratings finished below last year’s.

Mike Silva at Sports Media Watchdog says this week’s Mike and the Mad Dog reunion reminds fans what they’ve been missing since 2008.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has some suggestions on how to improve NBC’s NHL coverage.

Jackie Pepper continues her coverage of Super Bowl XLVI.

And we’re done with our links for today.

The Mid-Week Linkage

I haven’t provided links on schedule so let me try to do it now.

We begin with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who talks about NBCUniversal’s big plans to blanket Super Bowl XLVI next week.

Wow. The secret organization Anonymous plans to attack ESPN.com over its support of SOPA and PIPA. In case anyone from Anonymous is reading, Fang’s Bites is an ardent critic of both bills.

Adrian Melville of Forbes says Fox is hoping to retain the US rights to the English Premier League.

Jeff Roberts at paidContent looks at USA Today Media Group’s purchase of Big Lead Sports.

Funny post. It’s a long one, but stay with it. Complex provides the 100 Worst Sports Tweets in history.

The Nielsen Wire blog reviews the year in sports advertising for 2011.

Rarely do we link to Self Magazine, but it has a story on ESPN SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele training for the upcoming Disney Princess Half Marathon.

Last week, ESPN’s Front Row PR blog posted part one of its behind the scenes look at Sunday NFL Countdown. Today, it provides part two of that look.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that current NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner will host a USA Network reality show that will premiere later this year.

James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly looks at NBC’s plans for the Super Bowl.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable says Massachusetts US Senator John Kerry wants DirecTV and Sunbeam to pledge that Super Bowl XLVI won’t be blacked out in Boston. Sunbeam’s WHDH-TV is off DirecTV right now over a carriage dispute and it’s the NBC affiliate.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says clothing retailer H&M is trying to put out a social media firestorm in advance of its first-ever Super Bowl ad.

Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age says CareerBuilder is keeping its lovable chimps for this year’s Super Bowl commercial.

Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth has the best Super Bowl ads ever.

Diego Vasquez from Media Life Magazine speaks with two people from a research firm to find out why some Super Bowl ads fail to connect with viewers.

Karlene Lukovitz from MediaPost’s Marketing Daily says Papa John’s is betting on the Super Bowl coin flip to help sell pizzas.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life notes that the NBA’s ratings despite the lockout are way up from last year’s record.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid catches ESPN2′s Patrick McEnroe firing off an “F” bomb during the Australian Open coverage last night.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has some myths and facts about the Super Bowl ticket market.

Mary Alice Gill from the Nashua (NH) Telegraph writes about the DirecTV/Sunbeam dispute that could affect Boston’s watching of the Super Bowl.

Johnny Diaz of the Boston Globe says area bars with DirecTV are scrambling for other possible ways to show the Super Bowl.

At SB Nation Boston, Kat Hasenauer Cornetta looks at how small market New England sports radio stations try to serve the needs of their audience.

Stuart Elliot of the New York Times says the pregame show has begun for the Super Bowl ads.

To Newsday and Neil Best who writes that reporter Kim Jones is leaving the YES network.

Justin Terranova and Phil Mushnick of the New York Post report that Jones is talking with a national network.

Don McKee of the Philadelphia Inquirer has an obituary for the late Andy Musser.

Ray Didinger of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia remembers Musser.

David Jones from Florida Today feels ESPN’s deal with the SEC is bad for the league.

Gregory A. Hall of the Louisville Courier-Journal notes that NBC has brought the Breeders’ Cup back under its fold.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron says a long-time local TV sports director is leaving after this year.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that the NFL Conference Championship Games drew big ratings locally.

Steve Nitz of the Morris (IL) Daily Herald is no longer a fan of ESPN.

NBC’s Michele Tafoya is ending her Minneapolis radio show.

Jon Bream at the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Tafoya has grown tired of a weekly 7 day grind between her show and Sunday Night Football.

David Brauer of MinnPost.com writes that Tafoya’s ratings weren’t great.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star looks at ESPN’s College GameDay’s visit to the University of Arizona campus this weekend.

Anthony Gimino of the Tucson Citizen says CBS Sports Network will have inside access to Rich Rodriguez and the University of Arizona during National Signing Day.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if TSN’s Dave Hodge was reaching when he tried to tweet a connection between Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas and the KKK after Thomas refused to go to the White House earlier this week.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at CBC’s dropping of the Curling’s Grand Slams.

To the Big Lead and Jason McIntyre who has a profile of ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd. Actually it’s a very good profile.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing has the Top 10 Sports Media Busts.

Blythe Brumleve at AA looks at CBS’ client stroke for E-Trade during the NFL Today on Sunday.

Sports Media Watch notes that the NHL is getting increased ratings on both NBC and NBC Sports Network.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media wants the in-game coach interviews during NHL games to end.

Steve tells us where the AHL All-Start Game can be seen in your market.

SportsRantz says NBC Sports Network is using the Super Bowl to get a ratings boost.

And Morgan Wick informs us what the Breeders’ Cup move back to NBC means.

And that is it.

Big Ten Network Special Programming Devoted to Joe Paterno

Starting tonight, Big Ten Network will begin two days of programming devoted to the late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. With Paterno’s passing correctly reported this morning instead of last night, Big Ten Network will air a special on the coach’s life tonight at 8, then there will be rebroadcasts of various milestones in his coaching career.

Here’s the BTN schedule for the next two days.

BTN PROGRAMMING ALERT

BTN is adding a special presentation, Remembering Joe Paterno, at 8 PM ET tonight following Minnesota at Nebraska’s Women’s Basketball. The special will include interviews from College Hall of Fame broadcaster Keith Jackson, Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema, former PSU player Kenny Jackson, Steve Jones, the voice of Penn State football and many others. Dave Revsine will anchor the special and be joined on set by BTN analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith, and Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News.

Following is BTN’s programming lineup for the remainder of Sunday and Monday.

SUNDAY, January 22
6:00 pm    ET    Minnnesota at Nebraska Women’s Basketball
8:00 pm    ET    Special Presentation: “Remembering Joe Paterno”
9:00 pm    ET    Big Ten Wrestling Iowa at Penn State
11:00 pm  ET    SPECIAL PRESENTATION: “REMEMBERING JOE PATERNO” RUNS FROM 11:00PM TO MONDAY 10:00AM

MONDAY, January 23
10:00 am ET    PSU Greatest Games Joe Paterno’s 400th win          (Northwestern at Penn State)
12:30 pm ET    Special Presentation: “Remembering Joe Paterno”
1:30 pm   ET     PSU Greatest Games Joe Paterno’s 408th win        (Penn State at Northwestern)
2:30 pm   ET     Special Presentation: “Remembering Joe Paterno”
3:30 pm   ET     PSU Greatest Games Joe Paterno’s 409th win        (Illinois at Penn State)
4:30 pm   ET     Special Presentation: “Remembering Joe Paterno”
5:30 pm   ET     Special Presentation: “Remembering Joe Paterno”
6:30 pm   ET     The Journey
7:00 pm   ET     The Pulse
7:30 pm   ET     Big Ten Women’s Basketball (Michigan State at Purdue)

That’s it.

NFL Network Airs Two College Football All-Star Games in Consecutive Weeks

NFL Network begins its coverage called “Path to Primetime” with the live airing of two college football All-Star Games in consecutive weeks.

Today, the NFL Network will show the longest running All-Star Game, the East-West Shrine Game starting with a pregame show at 3:30 p.m. then the game itself at 4 p.m. from St. Petersburg, FL. Paul Burmeister will call the game and he’ll be joined by analysts Mike Mayock and Charles Davis. Rebecca Haarlow will roam the sidelines.

Then next week, NFL Network will travel to Mobile, AL to bring the Senior Bowl to your living rooms. In addition to the game, NFL Network will be on the air all next week with Senior Bowl practice sessions.

Here’s the NFL Network preview.

EAST-WEST SHRINE GAME & SENIOR BOWL KICK OFF ‘PATH TO PRIMETIME’ 2012 NFL DRAFT ON NFL NETWORK

EAST-WEST SHRINE GAME – LONGEST RUNNING COLLEGE FOOTBALL ALL-STAR GAME –SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 AT 4:00 PM ET
EXCLUSIVE SENIOR BOWL GAME & PRACTICE COVERAGE JANUARY 23-28

With the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine rapidly approaching, NFL Network introduces fans to the league’s next generation of talent with coverage of the East-West Shrine Game Saturday, January 21 at 4:00 PM ET, followed by exclusive coverage of Senior Bowl week and the game January 23 – 28 from Mobile, AL.

NFL Network’s ‘Path to Primetime’ 2012 NFL Draft programming provides fans with unmatched coverage as college football’s best transition to the NFL. In addition to the East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl, the ‘Path to Primetime’ 2012 NFL Draft programming slate includes the Path to the Draft studio show, exclusive week-long coverage from the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine February 22-28, Pro Day workout reports and NFL prospect features on NFL Total Access leading into wall-to-wall coverage of the 2012 NFL Draft in primetime April 26-28.

Leading NFL Network’s ‘Path to Primetime’ team is draft expert Mike Mayock, who received wide praise in his first season as game analyst on NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football. Joining Mayock is fellow analyst Charles Davis and host Paul Burmeister.

For the second consecutive year, NFL Network provides exclusive coverage of the East-West Shrine Game – the longest-running all-star college football game – on Saturday, January 21 at 4:00 PM ET. Burmeister provides the play-by-play, while Mayock and Davis serve as game analysts. Rebecca Haarlow provides reports from the sidelines of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.

Coverage on Saturday begins at 3:30 PM ET with the NFL Total Access: East-West Shrine Pregame show.

Former NFL head coaches Bobby Ross and Brad Childress will coach the two teams in the 87th annual edition of the prestigious all-star game.

The following week, Burmeister, Mayock, Davis, Haarlow and former Super Bowl-winning fullback Heath Evans travel to Mobile, AL, to provide wall-to-wall information and analysis as NFL Network serves as the exclusive home of the Senior Bowl for the sixth consecutive year. Coverage begins with practices Monday, January 23 – Thursday, January 26. On game day Saturday, January 28 at 4:00 PM ET, Burmeister calls the game alongside analysts Mayock and Davis, while Haarlow and Evans provide reports from the sidelines.

NFL Network’s daily coverage of Senior Bowl practices kicks off on Monday, January 23 at 4:00 PM ET. Tuesday through Thursday, practice coverage airs from 11:00 AM-Noon ET (North team) and 5:30-7:00 PM ET (South team). A 30-minute recap show of the day’s action airs Monday through Thursday at 10:30 PM ET. Burmeister, Mayock and Davis analyze each day’s action and preview what is to come during the game, while Haarlow and Evans provide reports and player interviews from the practice field.

NFL.com also features exclusive coverage from Mobile, AL during Senior Bowl week with Bucky Brooks providing analysis and interviews with players, coaches and NFL front office personnel throughout the week.

The Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins staffs will coach the respective Senior Bowl North and South teams, which include an impressive list of quarterbacks such as Kellen Moore (Boise State), Russell Wilson (Wisconsin), Brandon Weeden (Oklahoma State) and Nick Foles (Arizona). Three members of the national champion University of Alabama squad will participate in the game, including the BCS National Championship’s Defensive Player of the Game, linebacker Courtney Upshaw.

Other notable players include running back Chris Rainey (Florida), safety Brandon Taylor (LSU), offensive lineman Will Blackwell (LSU), wide receiver Marvin McNutt, Jr. (Iowa) and running back Dan Herron (Ohio State).

For a complete list of the players invited and for more information on the Senior Bowl, visit http://www.seniorbowl.com/index.asp.

NFL Network’s East-West Shrine Game & Senior Bowl Programming Schedule

Saturday, January 21
3:30 PM – NFL Total Access: East-West Shrine Pregame
4:00 PM – 2012 East-West Shrine Game – LIVE from Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Monday, January 23
4:00 PM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 1 Practice
10:30 PM – Senior Bowl Day 1 Recap

Tuesday, January 24
11:00 AM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 2 Practice – North team
5:30 PM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 2 Practice – South team
10:30 PM – Senior Bowl Day 2 Recap

Wednesday, January 25
11:00 AM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 3 Practice – North team
5:30 PM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 3 Practice – South team
10:30 PM – Senior Bowl Day 3 Recap

Thursday, January 26
11:00 AM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 4 Practice – North team
5:30 PM – 2012 Senior Bowl: Day 4 Practice – South team
10:30 PM – Senior Bowl Day 4 Recap

Saturday, January 28
3:30 PM – NFL Total Access: Senior Bowl Pregame
4:00 PM – 2012 Senior Bowl – LIVE from Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, AL

That does it.

Some Tuesday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

I haven’t written a sports media thoughts post in quite some time. I owe you one do let’s do this without further delay. As always, they come in bullet form.

• Last night’s BCS National Championship Game between Alabama and LSU was another dull affair, just like their first game in the regular season. ESPN did its best to step up for the game. Brent Musburger seemed to be in hype mode more than usual. Kirk Herbstreit was on his game as analyst. As Alabama’s defense was in lockdown mode, not allowing LSU past mid-field until midway of the 4th quarter, Brent and Kirk were quick to point out the differences in approach by coaches Nick Saban and Les Miles.Production of the game was also championship-worthy. Replays were sharp and close calls were resolved through ESPN showing the correct angles.However, ESPN overused last year’s BCS National Championship Game coaches, Gene Chizik of Auburn and Chip Kelly of Oregon. Both were dull and in need of personality transfusions. ESPN barely used their own analysts for College GameDay.Because the game was so dull, Musburger could not make a tie-in to sponsor Allstate as he did last year for Tostitos. He did overuse “Honey Badger.” What last night’s game did was to assist the skeptics’ screams for a college football playoff or at least a Plus One game. Overall, I give ESPN a B+ for the game.
• Still no word on whether NESN is any closer to a replacement for Heidi Watney as Red Sox field reporter. Of the candidates NESN has conducted interviews and those I’ve been able to confirm through several sources include Erin Hawksworth of Fox Seattle, Courtney Fallon of ABC6 in Providence, and Britt McHenry from WJLA-TV in Washington. I told you last month that Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle was interviewed and is not believed to be a candidate at this time. If anything happens, I’ll certainly let you know.
• You have to believe that CBS is happy to be riding the Tim Tebow wave as it heads to Foxboro, MA this weekend as Denver takes on the New England Patriots in the NFL Divisional Playoff round. The only game during Wild Card Weekend to see massive gains over last year was Sunday’s Pittsburgh-Denver game, garnering an amazing 25.9/43 overnight number for CBS. This would mark the 5th straight week CBS and its number one team, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will have called the Broncos and Tebow. No matter how you feel about Tebow, he draws ratings and makes people watch. I don’t expect Saturday night’s game to draw near the Wild Card ratings because Saturday is not a big TV night, however, if Denver-New England is close going down to the wire, expect big numbers.
• Here’s looking forward to ESPN2/Tennis Channel’s coverage of the Australian Open starting Sunday night. Coverage will begin every night at 7 p.m. ET. Finals will take place in the wee hours of the morning at 3:30 a.m. on the East Coast, but it will lead to some very good tennis. The 16 hour time difference between Melbourne and the US Eastern time zone means for some disjointed viewing, but it’s always fun to see the summer weather from the Southern Hemisphere. Here’s looking forward to hearing from Chris Fowler, Cliff Drysdale, Pam Shriver, Patrick McEnroe, Darren Cahill, Bill Macatee, Martina Navratilova and Justin Gimelstob for two weeks.

And that’s going to it for the thoughts this morning.

Posting As Many Monday Links As I Can

Been busy again today, but I’ll try to post as many links here as possible. Don’t know if I can do a complete set, but I’ll see what I can do.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand hears from ESPN’s Brent Musburger who calls tonight’s BCS National Championship Game.

Tom Weir of USA Today says Tim Tebow mentions broke a Twitter record last night.

Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal says the winner of tonight’s BCS National Championship Game stands to cash in through licensing of its gear.

Eric Fisher and John Ourand of SBJ report that MLB has to make a decision very soon on an extra round of Wild Card playoff games and the TV network that would air them.

Sports Business Daily recaps the mixed reviews for Charles Barkley’s hosting of NBC’s Saturday Night Live this past weekend.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a lawsuit brought forth by basketball legends Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson over their likenesses used in video games now has the TV networks getting involved.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says LG Smartphone users will gain access to a new ESPN ScoreCenter app that will include exclusive HD video.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News has a quick blurb on ESPN gaining rights for the NYC Marathon.

At Adweek, Anthony Crupi looks at the NFL’s final regular season ratings for 2011.

Glen Davis of SportsGrid cannot believe the religious connotations behind last night’s ratings for Pittsburgh-Denver.

Dom Consentino of Deadspin says the NBC reporter arrested last month  on DUI charges after a party thrown by alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, tried to talk his way out of the arrest.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after Fox’s Charles Davis and NBC’s Mike Mayock for talking too much.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that Saturday’s NFL Divisional playoff action will be split among two local radio stations.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says MSG Network will be throwing a local viewing party to drum up support in its dispute with Time Warner Cable.

Ken McMillan with the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes about the NYC Marathon running to ESPN from NBC.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will begin airing a new live show modeled after NBC Sports Talk.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports TV.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that the Texans had their best local ratings since their inaugural game back in 2002.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says on Saturday, the Bengals did not do as well locally as its regular season games.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that NFL Network will re-air two Giants-Packers games.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes that CBS stepped up for last night’s Pittsburgh-Denver game.

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

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail continues to go after CBC’s Don Cherry.

Raju Mudhar from the Toronto Star says Toronto is not the only hockey hotbed around.

I’ll try to add more stuff later.

UPDATE, 5:50 p.m.: I’ll add some more links now.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that the top selling sports book of last year was not the ESPN book, but Tim Tebow’s autobiography.

Dave Zoren of the Delaware County Times notes that the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game did well on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Scott Sloan from the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader says a Kentucky-based high school sports TV and online provider has filed for bankruptcy.

At the Austin American-Statesman, Kirk Bohls says despite a lack of carriage agreements and viewers, ESPN remains committed to the Longhorn Network.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that legendary Dodgers voice Vin Scully finally gets his own bobblehead this season.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says theScore has signed a deal to pick up a whole host of college sports.

Sports Media Watch tells us that the Sugar Bowl had its worst ratings in 18 years.

Sports Media Watch says the Orange Bowl had its worst ratings in the BCS era.

The Waiting for Next Year blog notes that ESPN’s Erin Andrews will replace Scott Van Pelt as host of the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. That’s a huge upgrade.

Awful Announcing has the Broncos radio call of last night’s overtime win over the Steelers.

Joe Favorito wonders if MMA fighter Gina Carano is about to crossover to become a mainstream star.

The Sports Business Digest notes that the Lingerie Bowl will be played in Las Vegas.

NBC will partner with Panasonic to air the London Olympics in 3-D which only 145 people across the country can watch.

And that will do it for the links today.

Some Quick Sunday Links

I’m going to provide a few links for you since they’ve been lacking here over the last few days.

We begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deistch who talked with ESPN’s Brent Musburger who will call Monday’s BCS National Championship Game.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks with ESPN’s Chris Fowler about the BCS National Championship Game.

Lang Whitaker from GQ talks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews in advance of Monday’s BCS National Championship.

Brian Lowry at Variety writes that as sports rights fees become more expensive, expect cable to take over for network TV and pass on the cost to consumers.

Mike Ozanian at Forbes reports that Fox Sports is giving individual teams equity stakes in its regional sports networks to prevent them from taking offers from competitors.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says this season’s NFL’s TV ratings were off slightly from last year.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy notes that Pittsburgh Steelers QB Roethlisburger is blaming ESPN for overhyping Denver QB Tim Tebow.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today says the Orange Bowl on ESPN drew its lowest BCS TV ratings ever.

CJ Fogler of SportsGrid has videos of TNT paying tribute to the late Jim Huber this week.

Tom Lorenzo from SportsGrid has the video from last night’s Saturday Night Live’s Charles Barkley Post Game Translation App. Sharp-eyed viewers may notice Hazel Mae making an appearance.

Charles Apple of The American Copy Editors Society feels ESPN should be more careful in its on-screen graphics.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that CBS/Turner has signed Northwestern Mutual to be the exclusive insurance sponsor of the NCAA Tournament.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin did some investigating and found that salsa music played during last week’s Sunday Night Football game came directly from the NBC truck.

Dave Kindred at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center laments the death of the newspaper sports column.

Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times provides his 2012 sports media predictions in the National Sports Journalism Center.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says LSU coach Les Miles stands to get millions if he wins the BCS National Championship.

Ken Belson of the New York Times says ESPN has obtained the rights to the New York City Marathon and pledges to show it live across the country, something NBC’s Universal Sports could not do.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post feels the New York Jets coaching staff is just plain insensitive.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette informs readers what MSG Network is airing today as its dispute with Time Warner Cable continues.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union says what a lot of people tweeted yesterday, that Mike Mayock talked too much during yesterday’s Cincinnati-Houston game.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says YES will air a handful of Fordham basketball games.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News says the Bills will have a new flagship radio station for next season.

T.J. Pignataro of the News says the Sabres TV ratings have suffered since Time Warner Cable removed MSG Buffalo from its lineup.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner warns you that your cable bill will go up this year and sports will be to blame.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that Comcast’s distribution deal with Disney, ESPN in particular, shows that the company is thinking about the long-term.

Mike McGovern of the Reading (PA) Eagle pays tribute to the late Jim Huber.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says Nationals TV voice Bob Carpenter will return in 2012.

The Huntington (WV) Dispatch feels ESPN needs a geography and history lesson about West Virginia.

David Knox from the Birmingham (AL) News talks with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit about the BCS National Championship Game.

Dave Walker at the New Orleans Times-Picayune profiles LSU radio voice Jim Hawthorne.

Nakia Hogan of the Times-Picayune talks with an ESPN executive who denies the network has undue influence over college sports.

Berry Tramel of the Daily Oklahoman delves into Oklahoma University’s deal with Fox Sports to air sports on two of its regional sports networks.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Packers increased their TV ratings this season.

Bob says Milwaukee did not necessarily rate well for Monday Night Football.

The Chicago Tribune picks up a Variety story that Fox Sports wants to develop original programming that would air after live events.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says the Disney family is interested in buying the Dodgers.

Joshua Myers of the Seattle Times says the MLS’ Sounders have found an analyst for its games, but is still missing a play-by-play man.

Lehia Apana from the Maui (HI) News says Golf Channel’s coverage of this year’s Tournament of Champions has a few new wrinkles.

Sports Media Watch says despite strong numbers, last night’s Detroit-New Orleans drew the NFL’s lowest ratings for a Wild Card Playoff in three years.

SMW says Cincinnati-Houston suffered a precipitous ratings drop from last year’s Saints-Seahawks game.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing reviews Gus Johnson’s first year as top college football man for Fox.

In the Sports Media Watchdog, Mike Silva speculates on who should replace WFAN’s Mike Francesa if he leaves in 2014.

And that will conclude the links for today.

Pac-12 Conference Releases 2012 Football Schedule

We get this press release from the Pac-12 Conference regarding this fall’s conference schedule. For the first time, all games will be nationally televised, either through ESPN, Fox, FX or the soon-to-be-created Pac-12 Networks. Overall, 44 games will be split among the ESPN Family of Networks, Fox and FX. The Pac-12 Networks will air 34 games through its consortium of regional channels. The final TV schedules will be decided at a later date.

The Pac-12 has created eight Thursday and Friday night games that will be shown either on ESPN or Fox. This is definitely not your Grandfather’s Pac 8 or Pac-10 Conferences. This is a new era for the conference.

The first two weeks will be for non-conference games, but starting on September 15, the Pac-12 Conference schedule begins. Here’s the press release from the Pac-12.

PAC-12 CONFERENCE RELEASES 2012 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

All Games will be on National Television for First Time Ever, Including Eight Thursday and Friday Games on ESPN and FOX

WALNUT CREEK, CALIF. – The Pac-12 Conference has released its 2012 football schedule, which will feature every game on national television for the first time in Conference history, it was announced today.

With the new ESPN and FOX media rights agreement as well as the launch of the Pac-12 Networks in August, every Pac-12 football game will be available to fans on a national clearance, eliminating regional distribution which was prevalent in the prior broadcast arrangements. There will be 44 games on the combination of ESPN’s family of networks, Fox Broadcast and FX, while 34 games are scheduled to air on the Pac-12 Networks. Exact broadcast schedules will be  determined at a later date. The new schedule will also include eight Thursday and Friday specialty dates for ESPN and FOX. Dates during the first two weeks of the non-conference schedule are still being adjusted to accommodate television commitments, but the remainder of the schedule is set.

“The one thing we heard loud and clear from fans across the Conference is they want to see their teams play every week,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said.  “Starting in 2012 fans can see all games throughout the country.”

Utah is currently scheduled to get the 2012 season started on August 30 with a Thursday night game against Northern Colorado in Rice-Eccles Stadium. It will be one of 10 games hosted by Pac-12 teams in the opening week. Only UCLA (at Rice) and Washington State (at BYU) open on the opponent’s home field.

Week two features four games against national powerhouses: Arizona hosts Oklahoma State, UCLA plays Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, Wisconsin visits Oregon State and Washington travels to LSU.

The Pac-12 Conference schedule begins September 15 when Stanford and USC renew their rivalry at Stanford. Everyone else, except Washington, begins Pac-12 play the following week, including three-time defending champion Oregon, which will begin its title defense at home against Arizona on Sept. 22.

The Thursday night schedule will include Stanford at Washington on Sept. 27, USC at Utah on October 4, Arizona State at Colorado on Oct. 11 and Oregon at Arizona State on Oct. 18. The Friday games will include Washington at Cal on November 2, and three rivalry games on Nov. 23, Thanksgiving weekend: Arizona State at Arizona, Utah at Colorado and Washington at Washington State.

The Pac-12 Championship Game will be played Friday, Nov. 30 at the home field of the team with the best overall Conference record.

After the jump, I’ll give you the Pac-12 football schedule for 2012.

(continue reading…)

Some Back To Work Tuesday Links

On this day when many of you head back to work after the lazy holiday season, let’s provide some links as we get into the New Year.

I’m still saddened today by the passing of Turner Sports and PGA.com essayist Jim Huber. Reading the tributes on Twitter from those who knew him and those who did not, the man was widely well-liked. Jim gave us the facts, was willing to let the events come to him and never was one to call attention to himself. And when you finished reading or watching one of Jim’s essays, you felt the richer for having seen it.

Some links for you.

Scott Michaux from the Augusta (GA) Chronicle says Jim Huber’s passing was so sudden.

Michael Schulder, an Senior Executive Producer at CNN writes at SI.com, that Jim was not only a great writer, he was also a poet.

Ryan Ballengee at Golf Channel mourns Jim’s passing.

John Kim at PGA.com has an obit.

Carla Caldwell at the Atlanta Business Chronicle also has an obituary.

And the Turner Sports-run NBA.com has a story plus a video tribute to Jim Huber.

Other sports media links.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says ESPN has responded to a column written by The Oregonian’s John Canzano saying the network has bought access to the Rose Bowl while sacrificing journalism.

John Ourand & Michael Smith from Sports Business Journal report that Oklahoma University will have plenty of its sports programming seen in the Sooner State as well as Texas thanks to a new deal signed with Fox Sports.

Brian Steinberg at Advertising Age says NBC has sold out its Super Bowl XLVI ad inventory in sharp contrast to the last time it aired the Big Game when it was selling ads in the week leading up to the event.

And Brian writes that some Super Bowl advertisers are looking to make a big splash like Apple did with its famous “1984″ ad.

Alex Sherman of Bloomberg Business Week writes that NBC is getting as much as $4 million per 30 second ad for the Super Bowl. That’s a lot of money.

At the Hollywood Reporter, Georg Szalai writes about the neverending dispute between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable.

If you watched the NHL Winter Classic yesterday, you may have noticed a new ad from Bridgestone Tires with a fake press conference involving various ESPN personalities, one TNT analyst and if you’re really sharp-eyed, a reporter from Sports Business Journal. Shirley Brady of Brand Channel looks at the ad campaign that will climax at the Super Bowl.

To Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy where he laments the death of Versus.

Jeff Sonderman at the Poynter Institute looks at how Philly.com handled comments in the reporting of Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin’s alleged molestation of seven children.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group mourns the passing of an ABC Sports production legend.

Dan Daley of SVG looks at how Turner Sports wired its NBA broadcasts when the league returned to play on Christmas Day.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that Time Warner Cable has put NBA TV in MSG Network’s channel slot.

Richard says HBO’s 24/7 on the NHL Winter Classic is another part of the network’s winning formula in sports documentaries.

Richard looks at the Super Bowl ads selling out and setting a revenue record for NBC.

Newsday’s Neil Best says NBC did its best to sell hockey during yesterday’s Winter Classic.

At Fishbowl NY, Jerry Barmash catches up with former WABC-TV sports anchor Scott Clark.

Will Leitch at New York Magazine wants to know what’s going on with the MSG/Time Warner Cable spat.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette tells Time Warner Cable subscribers what they’re missing tonight on MSG and MSG Plus.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that two ESPN’ers and also Capital Region natives get an on-air reunion during this week’s Orange Bowl broadcast.

Pete says Fox Sports Radio has debuted yet another morning show.

WCAU-TV in Philadelphia has announced a deal to pick up ACC Network basketball games this season.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has highlights of the DC NFL Team Radio Network’s season finale from Sunday.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times has some thoughts on the holiday weekend in sports television.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron writes that Jim Rome is promising a return to H-Town in the near future after his local affiliate dropped his radio show.

To the Daily Oklahoman where Mel Bracht says ESPN got the job done for last night’s Fiesta Bowl.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post is a fan of NFL RedZone.

Jason Quick of The Oregonian says Comcast SportsNet Northwest has struck a deal allowing fans without access to the channel to view Portland Trail Blazers games online. For a fee, of course.

Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times feels Fox Sports NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira should call things both ways.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL Winter Classic drew its lowest overnight rating ever.

Sports Media Watch notes that TNT is putting Charles Barkley courtside this week.

SMW notes the Rose Bowl saw its lowest overnight rating in years.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead says Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is banning his players from Twitter and CNBC’s Darren Rovell is pissed.

Barry Janoff from The Big Lead looks at the aforementioned Bridgestone ad campaign.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has tweets from people angry over Matt Millen’s analysis during last night’s Fiesta Bowl. Millen was really awful last night.

Lots of good links for you today. That will do it.

Our First Set of Linkage in 2012

I’ll provide a quick set of links for you on this New Year’s Day. Because 1/1/2012 falls on a Sunday, it doesn’t feel like a holiday. It’ll feel more like the holiday tomorrow with college football and the NHL Winter Classic. Let’s look at what we have for you.

First, Rich Sands from TV Guide tells us what’s in store for NBC Sports Network when it officially changes from Versus tomorrow. Lots of interesting events including Olympics this year.

The Sports Biz Miss, Kristi Dosh, has a story at ESPN.com on the MSG Network/Time Warner Cable dispute.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal has Time Warner Cable’s full statement in reaction to its dispute with MSG Network.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News has Time Warner Cable’s side of the dispute.

Mike writes about MSG and MSG Plus going dark on TWC as of midnight today.

Multichannel News says Fuel TV is stepping into the UFC Octagon in a big way with a 24 hour marathon today.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also writes about the MSG/Time Warner Cable dispute.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says 2012 isn’t starting out the right way for Knicks and Rangers fans who subscribe to Time Warner Cable.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wishes ESPN’s college football announcers would learn the rules.

Pete has a poll on the MSG/Time Warner dispute.

At the Bergen (NJ) Record, Evan Weiner says consumers are the ones holding the bag in the MSG/Time Warner fight.

Over to the Philadelphia Daily News and Les Bowen who wants to know who exactly his colleague Bill Conlin really is. Conlin is accused of molesting several children in the 1970′s.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks with NBC Sports executive Jon Miller about tomorrow’s launch of NBC Sports Network.

Jeff Moss at the Detroit Sports Rag gives his Best and Worst in Motor City Sports Media in 2011.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks back at St. Louis sports media in 2011.

At the Salt Lake Tribune, Scott D. Pierce says CBS provided its best announcers for the Sun Bowl involving Utah while ESPN gave viewers scrubs on the Armed Forces Bowl with BYU.

To the Toronto Globe and Mail where Bruce Dowbiggin says the NHL labor talks will be a big story in 2012.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog provides its Big Dozen Sports Media Stories in 2011.

Sports Media Watch provides some predictions for 2012.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has a suggestion to make the NHL Winter Classic better.

And that’s going to do it for today.

The Best in Sports Broadcasting in 2011

I’m not going to go too wild on this. Other sites are doing similar posts as well.

I’ll provide what I feel are the best calls in Sports Broadcasting this year. The only way to do this is to post videos and that’s what I’ll do. I know I said Best and Worst earlier, but the search is taking too long. We’ll provide the best calls in 2011.

We’ll go sport-by-sport and you can either agree or disagree.

Baseball

Dan Shulman, ESPN Radio — Game 6, World Series, David Freese Walk-off home run

Gary Thorne, MLB International — Same as above. Two great calls of the same moment.

Boxing

Larry Merchant vs. Floyd Mayweather, HBO Pay Per View — Floyd cursed out Larry and then Larry had the comeback of the year.

College Basketball

Gus Johnson, CBS Sports — Pac-10 Championship, Isiah Thomas hits the game-winning shot. “COLD BLOODED!”

College Football

Joe Tessitore, ESPN — “TOUCHDOWN! THEY DID IT!!” Iowa State upsets Oklahoma State knocking the Cowboys out of the BCS.

Joe Tessitore, ESPN on ABC — “Iowa State, USC and Baylor just made a mess of the BCS.” Baylor upsets Oklahoma less than 24 hours later and Joe Tessitore was there.

Golf

Dan Hicks, Johnny Miller and the Golf Channel on NBC crew — The 72nd hole for Rory McIlroy as he wins the US Open at Congressional. Great job by Dan and Johnny as they describe Rory McIlroy winning his first major championship.

Horse Racing

Larry Collmus, NBC — The 137th Kentucky Derby. It marked Larry’s first race for NBC as he replaced Tom Durkin who left in 2010. And he got a huge upset as Animal Kingdom won the race.

Jack Edwards Calls of the Year

Living in New England and having access to NESN and Jack Edwards is the gift that keeps on giving. He was in rare form in 2011. We begin with Jack mocking Chad LaRose of the Carolina Hurricanes with a “Yapping, yapping, yapping all the way to the box.” Classic Jack.

“GET UP!” In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Roman Hamrlik of the Montreal Canadiens went down and Jack decided to yell at him.

In Game 7, Hamrlik went down again, but the Bruins went on to score and Jack decided to rub it in.

And after the B’s closed out the Habs, Jack decided to make some puzzling final comments about royalty and having fun. Eight months later, I’m still trying to figure them out.

NFL

none

NHL

Mike Emrick, Versus — Tim Thomas makes a tremendous save in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Women’s World Cup

Ian Darke, ESPN — “ABBY WAMBACH HAS SAVED THE USA’S LIFE IN THIS WOMEN’S WORLD CUP!” Ian Darke had a tremendous call of the goal that tied Brazil in extra time in the quarterfinals.

And that will do it for us.

ESPN’s Statement on The Collapse of SkyCam During The Insight Bowl

Last night at the Insight Bowl between Iowa and Oklahoma, the overhead camera known as “SkyCam” or “CableCam” fell to the ground, narrowly missing a Hawkeye player. It also caused a delay. SkyCam has become standard on many football games and other sporting events.

We have the video of the incident as called on ESPN by Sean McDonough and Matt Millen.

ESPN has issued a statement on the incident and says it is is under review.

“We apologize for the accident. The independent company that operates SkyCam for us is in the midst of a thorough review to determine the cause of the problem. We will work with them and bowl officials to determine our future course of action. As always our primary concern will be the safety of fans and those on the field.”

Luckily no one was hurt. There was a similar incident a few years ago during a primetime NFL game that also caused a delay. No one was hurt then either. Networks have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Some End of the Year Links

Time to provide you some links to close out 2011. Thanks for visiting the blog this year. I moved from my old Blogger site to a new server, only to get kicked off the new place because it couldn’t handle the traffic from you. But then I was able to find HostMonster in a pinch and they’ve been absolutely wonderful in hosting the site and it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Thanks to you, I keep plugging along at the site and will continue to do so.

Let’s do some linkage on this New Year’s Eve.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my Big Dozen Sports Media

We’ll begin with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who looks at Versus turning into NBC Sports Network on Monday.

Over to Adweek and Anthony Crupi who says the deadline to hash out an agreement between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable is fast approaching.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Time Warner Cable subscribers in New York may not be seeing Knicks and Rangers games for a while.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel writes that AT&T U-Verse is also fighting with MSG, but at least can provide the network in HD for its subscribers.

Mike talks with ESPN’s Chris Fowler about the bowl system and how it might lead to a “Plus One” playoff.

And Mike writes that CBS Sports Network provides a Tim Tebow programming marathon  starting tonight.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the site’s Best & Worst in Sports Media for 2011.

My podcast partner, Keith Thibault from Sports Media Journal lists his biggest sports media stories for 2011.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the video of ESPN’s SkyCam crashing down to the field at last night’s Insight Bowl causing a short delay. I like one of the bands doing a SportsCenter sting as the camera was being dragged off the field.

And Ben Koo at Awful Announcing even has video of how the SkyCam works and how it could snap as it did last night.

The great Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has a Year-in-Review of Boston media at SB Nation.

Max Tedford at WEEI.com has some of the top Boston sports media controversies.

Peter Abraham at the Boston Globe notes that the Red Sox AAA farm team, the Pawtucket Red Sox have found their replacement for announcer Dan Hoard who became the radio voice of the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this year.

At Sports Media Watchdog, the great Mike Silva has his 2011 “Stock Up/Stock Down” for New York sports media personalities.

Newsday’s Neil Best has a quick sports media roundup.

Neil has a few columns mixed into one for his year-end thoughts.

Neil notes how the NHL Winter Classic became exactly that in a short period of time.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that Friend of Fang’s Bites Ian Eagle is a busy man.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says through radio and TV, local NFL fans will have access to most of the 16 games played on Sunday.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun says one of the year’s highlights in local broadcasting was also one of the saddest.

David Zurawik of the Sun talks with Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle about her decision to leave Baltimore and return to her native Boston.

And David has some quotes from CBS’ Dan Fouts who will call Sunday’s Baltimore-Cincinnati game with the aforementioned Ian Eagle.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has his top sports media stories in 2011 for DC-Baltimore.

At the Washington City Paper, Dave McKenna who was embroiled in a legal battle with DC NFL Team owner Dan Snyder is leaving the publication, but not before he fires a few more shots.

Ira Kaufman at the Tampa Tribune gets Jon Gruden to say that he’s not leaving ESPN and will remain with Monday Night Football for the foreseeable future.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says one of Jim Rome’s long-time radio affiliates has dropped the show in favor of local programming.

John Carzano of The Oregonian doesn’t like how ESPN covers the Rose Bowl.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that the World Junior Hockey Championships are doing well on TSN.

In his sports business blog, Joe Favorito provides some thoughts for 2012.

Sports Media Watch reviews its predictions for 2011.

The Business Insider Sports Page provides its Winners and Losers in Sports for 2011.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has some ratings numbers from Versus’ various programming.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth has his last review of the week in sports media for 2011.

And that will end our linkage for 2011. I know I haven’t been providing as many links lately due to my personal schedules. I hope to do better in 2012. Again, thanks for visiting. I have a couple of more features to provide before 2011 is out. Keep your feeds updated.

ESPN Sends College GameDay, College Football Live & SportsCenter to the BCS

As we approach the beginning of the Bowl Championship Series on Monday, ESPN will have three of its signature studio programs covering the five games. College GameDay, College Football Live and SportsCenter will all have a presence leading up to the BCS National Championship Game on January 9.

The usual studio casts including Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Mark May, Lou Holtz, John Saunders, Jesse Palmer, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi and many others will be part of ESPN’s coverage of the BCS bowls throughout the week from January 2 through January 9.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik, Oregon coach Chip Kelly and USC coach Lane Kiffin will be among the guest analysts throughout the coverage.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

College GameDay, College Football Live & SportsCenter at the BCS

Joined by Special Guest Analysts Gene Chizik, Chip Kelly, Bret Bielema & Lane Kiffin; GameDay to Originate from All Four Locations

In addition to televising all five of the Bowl Championship Series matchups for the second straight year, ESPN will provide extensive on-site studio reports and analysis across multiple shows and platforms for each of the five bowls. Coverage will be highlighted by four special editions of the popular College GameDay: a two-hour show on January 2 at 10 a.m. ET to preview the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl; one-hour shows on January 3 and January 4 at 7 p.m. to preview the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, respectively; and a two-hour preview of the BCS National Championship on January 9 at 6 p.m.

In addition to College GameDay, one-hour editions of ESPN’s weekday College Football Live at the BCS (daily from 3 to 4 p.m.) will air from New Orleans, site of the BCS National Championship, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 3 through Monday, Jan. 9, the day of the title game (No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN 3D and ESPN Radio).

Chizik and Kelly Join ESPN as Guest Analysts
Auburn coach Gene Chizik and Oregon coach Chip Kelly – the two participants in last year’s BCS National Championship – will join ESPN as on-site studio analysts from New Orleans leading up to and through the BCS National Championship game. They will provide analysis across College GameDay, SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, College Football Live at the BCS, and pre, half-time and post-game coverage.

Special College GameDay from the Rose Bowl
College GameDay will originate from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. beginning at 10 a.m. ET on ESPNU and continuing at 11 a.m. on ESPN. Commentators include hosts Chris Fowler and Erin Andrews, and analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack.

On-set interviews and guest analysts:

• Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema and Oregon coach Chip Kelly will appear on set together for a live interview as they prepare to lead their teams in the Rose Bowl (Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3 and ESPN Radio).
• USC head coach Lane Kiffin will serve as a guest analyst.

Features:

• Big, Bad Badger Offensive Line: Erin Andrews takes a trip to Madison to visit with the Wisconsin players who make up one of the biggest offensive lines in college football history.
• Gruden’s Film Room: ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden breaks down film of the quarterbacks leading their teams in the Outback Bowl (January 2 at 1 p.m. on ABC), Georgia’s Aaron Murray and Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins.
• Andrew Luck Conversation: Tom Rinaldi will sit down with Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as he prepares for his final game with the Cardinal (against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl January 2 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3 and ESPN Radio).
• Images of the Year: A look at the images that made up the 2011 season.

ESPN daily on-site studio coverage:

Date	Time (ET)	Show	Network
Mon, Jan 2	10 a.m. & 11 a.m.	College GameDay (Pasadena) Hosts Chris Fowler and Erin Andrews; analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Todd McShay; and reporter Tom Rinaldi Special Guests: Bret Bielema (Wisconsin), Chip Kelly (Oregon) and Lane Kiffin (USC)	ESPNU (10 a.m.) ESPN (11 a.m.)
	Beginning at 5 p.m.	Rose Bowl (Pasadena) Pregame: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard & David Pollack Halftime: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso & Desmond Howard Postgame: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit & Desmond Howard	ESPN
		Fiesta Bowl (Glendale) Halftime & postgame: John Saunders & Jesse Palmer	ESPN
Tue, Jan 3	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) Wendi Nix, David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	7 p.m.	College GameDay (New Orleans) Host Chris Fowler and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack	ESPN
		Sugar Bowl Halftime: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & Desmond Howard Postgame: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & David Pollack	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Wendi Nix, David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard & David Pollack	ESPN
Wed, Jan 4	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (Miami & New Orleans) Miami: Rece Davis, Mark May & Lou Holtz New Orleans: John Saunders, Jesse Palmer & Desmond Howard	ESPN
	7 p.m.	College GameDay (Miami and New Orleans) Miami: Rece Davis, Mark May & Lou Holtz New Orleans: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & Jesse Palmer	ESPN
		Orange Bowl Halftime & postgame: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Wendi Nix, Desmond Howard & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler & Kirk Herbstreit	ESPN
Thu, Jan 5	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) John Saunders, Desmond Howard & Todd McShay	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Erin Andrews, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Jesse Palmer & David Pollack	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & David Pollack	ESPN
Fri, Jan 6	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer & Todd McShay	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) John Saunders, Desmond Howard, Jesse Palmer, Lou Holtz, Mark May & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Rece Davis, Lee Corso & Kirk Herbstreit	ESPN
Sat, Jan 7	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Multiple hosts, analysts & guests	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Multiple hosts, analysts & guests	ESPN
Sun, Jan 8	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly	ESPN
Mon, Jan 9	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) Set 1: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & May Mark Set 2: John Saunders & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m.	College GameDay (New Orleans) Set 1: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Set 2: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May Field reporters: Erin Andrews, Wendi Nix & Tom Rinaldi Field analysis: David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	7 p.m.	College GameDay (New Orleans) Set 1: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit & Desmond Howard Set 2: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Field reporters: Erin Andrews, Wendi Nix & Tom Rinaldi Field analysis: David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	Beginning at 8 p.m.	BCS National Championship Pregame: Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Halftime: Chris Fowler, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly	ESPN
	Conclusion of game	Postgame and SportsCenter Set 1: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Set 2: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May On field: Erin Andrews, Wendi Nix & Tom Rinaldi	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May, Jess Palmer, David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May	ESPN

And that’s going to do it.

Time For Some Thursday Links

Let’s give you some linkage on this Thursday.

We begin with Fox NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira who doesn’t mince words on ESPN’s Jon Gruden.

Bob’s Blitz reacts to Pereira’s strong post.

Jill Goldsmith of Variety says the clock is ticking for MSG Network and Time Warner Cable to hash out a new carriage agreement.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football experienced close to a double digit percentage ratings drop this season.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says nothing delivers the ratings like football whether it be college or the NFL.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos says coaches and leagues regulating how their players use Twitter is still up for debate.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that ABC 20/20 anchor Chris Cuomo is a fan of ESPN Monday Night Countdown’s “C’mon, Man” segment.

Mike Ozanian of Forbes says the Seattle Mariners could see a huge media rights increase in the very near future.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with the venerable TV play-by-play man of the Boston Celtics, Mike Gorman.

Chad notes that the Boston sports radio wars are getting a bit tighter in the ratings.

Johnny Diaz of the Globe writes that local businesses including Celtics rightsholder Comcast SportsNet New England are glad to have the team back in action.

Richard Huff of the New York Daily News looks at ESPN’s New Year’s Eve programming featuring two daredevil death-defying and record-breaking jump attempts.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette gives us his top 5 sports media stories of the year.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes about Mike Pereira’s column on Jon Gruden.

John Hopkins of the Towanda (NY) News offers to take a vow of abstinence from ESPN for a year.

Tim Pinaccio of CSNPhilly.com talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about HBO’s 24/7 series.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald says a local sports radio station is juggling its on-air lineup.

Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel says CBS Sports Network will be all-Tim Tebow from Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser notes that Auburn coach Gene Chizik will be returning to the BCS Championship Game this season, as an ESPN analyst.

At the Detroit News, Angelique S. Chegelis looks at the new partnership between the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences that would pit the conference’s football teams in interconference matchups in the first three weeks of the season. Games would benefit both conferences’ TV networks.

Tom Couzens at the Sacramento Bee gives a primer to Kings fans looking for the team’s games on satellite providers.

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if CBC can remain in the sports business.

Tommy Craggs of Deadspin looks into the Skip Baylessification of ESPN.

Kevin McCauley of SB Nation says now that charges against him have been dropped, Mike Milbury will return to NBC for the NHL Winter Classic.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Versus will utilize its NHL top analyst Eddie Olcyzk to help call its inaugural college hockey telecast this week.

Sports Media Watch continues its countdown of the Top 20 Sports Media stories of the year. Here are #5 — 2. And you have the #1 story of the year.

And that will conclude the links for now. I figured I would get them done early for a change.

Some Sunday Morning Sports Media Thoughts & One Musical Comment

As we get into the home stretch and the Christmas holiday is now just a week away, let me offer a few thoughts on sports media this morning. As usual, they’ll go in bullet form.

• So we have a couple of cable carriage disputes looming large as we end 2011. Looks like MSG Network and Time Warner Cable are heading towards a train wreck unless something drastic happens. It appeared the two sides were heading towards an agreement, but now, MSG Media is encouraging TWC subscribers in New York and Buffalo to find another cable provider in case MSG Network, MSG Plus, MSG Plus 2 and MSG Buffalo are pulled. It’s another example of both sides accusing the other of making ridiculous demands. And in the end, it’s the consumer that gets the shaft, not the cable or content provider.
• The other sports channel that’s in danger of being dropped is Universal Sports. A whole slew of providers are threatening to drop the channel on New Year’s Day unless NBCUniversal can convince them to keep it. Just this year, Universal Sports got an agreement with DirecTV, but any gains made with DirecTV will be lost when it goes dark on a bunch of providers that put it on a sports tier. Universal Sports airs Olympic sports that don’t get much play on the regular networks. Here’s hoping that this dispute will be resolved as well.
• With bowl season starting, I wonder how major college football has gone so long without a legitimate playoff system. The NCAA manages to get a championship done in the other divisions including the smaller Division I schools. Yet, the bowls and college presidents somehow think that they must protect the “integrity” and the “sanctity” of their systems. The Bowl Championship Series has done nothing but raise more questions and the fact that we have a #1 vs. #2 matchup involving teams from the same conference and also a rematch from a game this year totally stinks. Yet, the bowls make money from shoddy accounting and executives lining their pockets. The bowls make their matchup choices based on which schools “travel well” and can sell their allotment of tickets. Often these trips are money losing operations, but because the bowls have such a grip on the BCS schools, they refuse to change. Here’s hoping that at least we get a +1 addition to the BCS when the current TV contract with ESPN ends because what we have is not working right now.
• While we have seen resolution of TV rights for the NHL, Olympics, World Cup and NFL this year, it’s 2012 where we could see some upheaval in rights. Bidding for MLB and NASCAR will open up and there’s a lot of interest in baseball. Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig has said there’s more networks bidding for the rights than at any time. In the last contract, TBS took postseason rights from ESPN and half of the League Championship Series. We’ll see if Turner remains in the baseball business. Will NBC get back into baseball after leaving in 2000? Can Fox stay with MLB despite declining ratings in the regular season and postseason? Will ESPN spend to break back into the playoffs? We’ll find out when the new contracts are signed.And what about NASCAR? ESPN went all in to return for the Sprint Cup series. With three networks Fox, TNT and ESPN taking three different approaches to televising the sport, will the higher ups at NASCAR decide to make one certain style uniform or will we see one of the partners drop out? This will be quite interesting to see this play out.
• And lastly, we learned last week that Etta James, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, is terminally ill. While this is not sport media news, it’s sad to hear that one of the greatest voices in rock history will be leaving us. Etta gave us great songs like “At Last”, “A Sunday Kind of Love”, “Tell Mama” and “Something’s Got A Hold on Me.” She had a heroin addiction in the 1970′s and kicked that. She’s had several health problems over the last few years including dementia, but they don’t diminish what James gave us. She won’t have much more time with us, but her music will live on long afterwards. I’ll leave you with her signature song, “At Last.”

Enjoy your Sunday.

Providing The Friday Megalinks

Let’s get to the megalinks today. Lots to get to including some interesting news that is breaking today.

First, the Weekend Viewing Picks are back after a week’s absence. Check out what sports and entertainment viewing recommendations I’ve made.

Now to the links.

National

Developing today is a story out of Boston that CBC and NBC NHL analyst Mike Milbury allegedly assaulted a 12 year old boy during a youth hockey game last week. WCVB in Boston has broken the story and we’ll what develops. Milbury has been charged by police, but still worked on Versus this week.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says expect more reality TV like HBO’s 24/7 in sports.

Jen Floyd Engel from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes for Fox Sports that Craig James’ US Senate run should be music to college football fans who have had to endure his analysis on ESPN.

In a related note, Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that James is taking leave from ESPN due to his run.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says the NFL, the TV networks and the fans are all winners in the latest 9 year rights deal.

Richard says as he becomes more popular, it’s only natural to see more media coverage of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Pac-12 Networks about to take operation next year, has secured headquarters in San Francisco.

John Eggerton of B&C says the American Cable Association is sounding the alarm bell on the new NFL TV deals.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that AT&T U-Verse customers in Connecticut will see MSG Network and its companion networks in HD starting in January just after Verizon Fios picked them up as well.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at some of the negatives of the new NFL TV deals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us to prepare for DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket in cars. Yes, cars.

Leave it to Deadspin. Tommy Craggs has video of a young Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports appearing in an edition of HBO’s Real Sex from the 1990′s. Hilarious.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing breaks down the new NFL TV deals.

In the wee hours of this morning, I wrote some thoughts on the NFL TV deals and HBO’s 24/7 season premiere among other things.

Sports Media Watch says new NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal will not join Turner Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament in March.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore wonders what’s up with a new program listing for NHL Network.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe feels five NBA games on Christmas Day are too many.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times mulls over the numbers in the new NFL TV deals.

Richard reviews the upcoming Army-Navy documentary produced by CBS Sports/Showtime.

George Vescey has written his last “Sports of the Times” column for the New York Times.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New Yorkers will not see New England-Denver on CBS this Sunday.

Neil notes that TNT’s Charles Barkley now endorses Weight Watchers.

Neil looks at Jeff Van Gundy’s frequent flyer mileage as he works two NBA games on Christmas Day.

New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick says NFL TV analysts give Tim Tebow way too much credit.

Justin Terranova of the Post has ESPN/ABC announcer Sean McDonough complaining about too many bowl games.

Terranova has five questions for NFL Today analyst Shannon Sharpe.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at one local radio station’s move to dump the New York Mets in favor of the Boston Red Sox.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette likes the new edition of HBO’s 24/7 Flyers/Rangers.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says there’s nothing like the NFL as a ratings draw.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has the latest sports media news from the Baltimore-Washington, DC area.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that John Riggins has ended his daily sports talk show in favor of a new outdoors career.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the Nationals could see a hefty increase in their rights fee from MASN.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks with NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock who will call Saturday’s Dallas-Tampa Bay game with Brad Nessler.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some quotes from Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmy Johnson.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from TNT’s Charles Barkley on the two Los Angeles NBA teams.

Mel has TNT’s NBA analysts discussing the Oklahoma City Thunder’s chances this season.

Mel notes that ESPN/ABC’s Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy will be quite busy on Christmas Day.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer looks into the sudden quitting of one local sports talk show host this week.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Fox Sports Detroit NBA analyst Greg Kelser about the Pistons.

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

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that CBS’ Dan Dierdorf gets to call a rare “home” game on Sunday.

West

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Chargers have avoided a blackout for Sunday night’s game against the Ravens.

John Maffei of the North County Times says Louisiana Tech is happy to finally to have some exposure on the ESPN mothership after being relegated to ESPNU 9 times this season.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that the Los Angeles Clippers are no longer a media laughingstock.

Jim looks into the new NFL TV deals.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with former DC NFL team QB Mark Rypien and his daughter Angela, who’s now one in the Lingerie Football League.

Tom talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley.

Tom has a few more hits that didn’t make his Barkley column.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews the season premiere of HBO’s 24/7.

And that’s going to do it.

Sirius XM To Air Every Single Bowl Game This Season

Sirius XM Satellite Radio will air all of the college bowl games over a 23 day span starting on Saturday, December 17 and running through January 9 with the BCS National Championship Game. That’s correct, Sirius XM through ESPN Radio will also air the BCS games which are comprised of the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game.

And Sirius XM through ESPN Radio and various radio syndicators air bowls including the Las Vegas, New Orleans, Holiday, Cotton, Sun and others.

We have the entire list of the games plus the start times. Check them all out below in a nice neat package.

SiriusXM To Air Every Bowl Game This College Football Postseason

SiriusXM will be the only broadcaster offering live play-by-play of every bowl game through the BCS National Championship on January 9

NEW YORK – December 15, 2011 – Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today that it will offer listeners, for the first time, live play-by-play of every bowl game during the 2011-12 college football postseason.

Sirius and XM listeners will get access to 35 games, more than any season before, including the BCS National Championship, the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl.

The schedule will begin with the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday, December 17(2:00 pm ET, on ESPN Radio, SiriusXM channel 84) and continue through Monday January 9, when #1 ranked LSU faces #2 Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game (8:30 pm ET on ESPN Radio, SiriusXM channel 84). A complete schedule of games and channels appears below.

Fans can stay up to date on everything happening throughout the bowl season with SiriusXM College Sports Nation, channel 91, SiriusXM’s 24/7 college sports channel. From the best games, to the latest news and biggest stories happening around the college football landscape, SiriusXM College Sports Nation covers it all with a daily programming lineup that features 24/7 Sports Radio’s on Campus with Bill King (weekdays, 6:00 am ET); SiriusXM College Sports Today (weekdays, 9:00 am ET), hosted by Mark Packer and Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George; SiriusXM College Football Playbook (weekdays, 12:00 pm ET), hosted by veteran college football voice Jack Arute, the acclaimed Paul Finebaum Show (weekdays, 3:00 pm ET), College Football Coast-to-Coast with Chris Childers (weekdays, 7:00 pm ET), plus several college coaches shows.

SiriusXM College Sports Nation will broadcast live from New Orleans, the site of the BCS National Championship game from Thursday, January 5, through game day, January 9.  Hosts Jack Arute, Paul Finebaum, Eddie George, Mark Packer, Bill King and Chris Childers will be live on site where they will interview LSU and Alabama players and coaches, cover pre-game practices and preview the game.

SiriusXM’s College Bowl game schedule: (All times ET)

New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque, NM – Temple vs. Wyoming
December 17, 2:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Boise, ID – Ohio vs. Utah State
December 17, 5:30pm, SiriusXM channel 84

New Orleans Bowl, New Orleans, LA – San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
December 17, 9:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

St. Petersburg Bowl, St. Petersburg, FL – Florida International vs. Marshall
December 20, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Poinsettia Bowl, San Diego, CA – TCU vs. Louisiana Tech
December 21, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Las Vegas Bowl, Las Vegas, NV – Arizona State vs. Boise State
December 22, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Hawaii Bowl, Honolulu, HI – Nevada vs. Southern Miss
December 24, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Independence Bowl, Shreveport, LA – Missouri vs. North Carolina
December 26, 5:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Little Caesars Bowl, Detroit, MI – Western Michigan vs. Purdue
December 27, 4:30pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Belk Bowl, Charlotte, NC – Louisville vs. NC State
December 27, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Military Bowl, Washington, D.C. – Air Force vs. Toledo
December 28, 4:30pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Holiday Bowl, San Diego, CA – California vs. Texas
December 28, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Champs Sports Bowl, Orlando, FL – Florida State vs. Notre Dame
December 29, 5:30pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Alamo Bowl, San Antonio, TX – Washington vs. Baylor
December 29, 9:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Armed Forces Bowl, Dallas, TX – BYU vs. Tulsa
December 30, 12:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Pinstripe Bowl, Bronx, NY – Rutgers vs. Iowa State
December 30, 3:20pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Music City Bowl, Nashville, TN – Miss. St. vs. Wake Forest
December 30, 6:40pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Insight Bowl, Tempe, AZ – Iowa vs. Oklahoma
December 30, 10:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, Houston, TX – Texas A&M vs. Northwestern
December 31, 12:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas – Georgia Tech vs. Utah
December 31, 2:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Liberty Bowl, Memphis, TN – Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt
December 31, 3:30pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Fight Hunger Bowl, San Francisco, CA – Illinois vs. UCLA
December 31, 3:30pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Atlanta, GA – Virginia vs. Auburn
December 31, 7:30pm (approx.), SiriusXM channel 84

TicketCity Bowl, Dallas, TX – Houston vs. Penn State
January 2, 12:00pm, SiriusXM channel 85

Outback Bowl, Tampa, FL – Michigan State vs. Georgia
January 2, 1:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, FL – Ohio State vs. Florida
January 2, 1:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

Capital One Bowl, Orlando, FL – Nebraska vs. South Carolina
January 2, 1:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA – Wisconsin vs. Oregon
January 2, 5:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, AZ – Stanford vs. Oklahoma State
January 2, 8:30pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, LA – Michigan vs. Virginia Tech
January 3, 8:30pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Orange Bowl, Miami, FL – West Virginia vs. Clemson
January 4, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 84

Cotton Bowl, Arlington, TX – Kansas State vs. Arkansas
January 6, 8:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

BBVA Compass Bowl, Birmingham, AL – SMU vs. Pittsburgh
January 7, 1:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

GoDaddy.com Bowl, Mobile, AL – Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
January 8, 9:00pm, SiriusXM channel 91

BCS National Championship, New Orleans, LA – LSU vs. Alabama
January 9, 8:30pm, SiriusXM channel 84

All games airing on SiriusXM channel 84 are ESPN Radio broadcasts.

For more information, please visit www.siriusxm.com/collegesports.

And that does it.

ESPN Extends Agreement With NCAA For Championships Through 2023-24

The networks continue to lock in long-terms agreements and today, we receive this press release from ESPN regarding the NCAA Championships. With this agreement, the ESPN networks will air championships in sports including Football, Women’s Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Volleyball, Track & Field, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Softball and Baseball.

The championships will be aired on all ESPN platforms including TV and online. ESPNU will get a huge block of programming devoted to college sports. ESPN will also get various streaming rights for ESPN3.

ESPN picks up seven NCAA Championships in this agreement including three from CBS/CBS Sports Network women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field.

Here’s the announcement from ESPN and the NCAA.

ESPN and NCAA® Extend Rights Agreement through 2023-24

Expanded Rights Secured for ESPN3 and Other Multi-media Platforms for 24 NCAA Championships;
Exclusive International Rights for NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship;
NIT^® Season Tip-Off and NIT Postseason Coverage

ESPN, Inc. and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) today announced a multiyear agreement through 2023-24 for worldwide, multi-media rights to 24 NCAA championships and exclusive multi-media rights outside the United States, its territories and Bermuda for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The new agreement, which takes effect immediately, also provides expanded coverage of each round of the NIT Season Tip-Off and all games from the NIT Postseason Tournament across the ESPN networks.

The new agreement includes 600-plus hours and 300 telecasts of live coverage annually across more platforms than ever before. It contains rights for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile, ESPN FULL COURT, GamePlan, Buzzer Beater, Goal Line, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN.com and WatchESPN, with many of the 24 championships produced in high definition on ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ESPNU HD.

Exclusive coverage of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship and broad rights covering the NCAA Division I Football Championship, and the Men’s and Women’s College World Series, among others, will continue on the ESPN networks.

“We have enjoyed a great relationship with the NCAA that has spanned the history of ESPN,” said George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN and ABC Sports, and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. “This is our most comprehensive agreement yet and ensures sports fans will have access to top-level NCAA athletics across ESPN networks and platforms.”

“Thousands of inspiring and compelling student-athletes make it to the championship level every year, and we at the NCAA are excited to be able to share their stories with a broader audience than ever,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert. “Across all sports and divisions, our primary goal is to support student-athlete success both on the field and in the classroom, and this new agreement provides us a greater ability to do so.”

ESPN expands its exclusive final round NCAA coverage with 24 NCAA championships:

• Fall – Division I women’s soccer; Division I men’s soccer; Division I women’s volleyball; Division I football (FCS); Division II football and Division III football
• Winter – Division I men’s and women’s indoor track & field; Division I men’s and women’s swimming & diving; Division I women’s basketball; Division I wrestling; Division I men’s ice hockey; National Collegiate women’s bowling; National Collegiate women’s gymnastics and National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing.
• Spring – National Collegiate men’s volleyball; Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field; Division I softball and Division I baseball

ESPN is adding coverage of seven NCAA championships: National Collegiate women’s gymnastics, National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing, Division I women’s lacrosse, Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field and National Collegiate women’s bowling (previously sublicensed from CBS). ESPN will also air additional preliminary round coverage of selected NCAA championships including Division I football (FCS), Division I women’s volleyball, Division I softball and Division I baseball.

ESPNU

• Additional coverage on ESPN’s 24-hour college sports network, including high-profile, preliminary-round NCAA championships exposure. ESPNU has featured original NCAA content since the network’s inception on March 4, 2005
• During the 2011-12 season, 15 NCAA national champions will be crowned on ESPNU in the following events: National Collegiate women’s bowling; National collegiate men’s and women’s fencing; Division III football; National Collegiate women’s gymnastics; Division I men’s and women’s indoor track & field; Division I women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field; Division I men’s and women’s soccer; Division I men’s and women’s swimming & diving, and National Collegiate men’s volleyball
• More than 90 events and 220 hours of NCAA championship programming during the 2011-12 season

ESPN3

• ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network will feature exclusive coverage from selected rounds and sites of 16 NCAA championships including: Division I baseball; National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing; Division I football (FCS); National Collegiate women’s gymnastics; Division I men’s and women’s indoor track & field; Division I women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field; Division I women’s soccer; Division I softball; Division I men’s and women’s swimming & diving; Division I women’s volleyball and Division I wrestling
• Extensive early-round event coverage from Division I baseball, Division I football (FCS), Division I men’s ice hockey, Division I softball, Division I women’s volleyball and Division I wrestling
• 80-plus live exclusive events from NCAA championships, the NIT Season Tip-Off and NIT Postseason Tournament during the 2011-12 season

Women’s Basketball

• ESPN remains the exclusive home of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.  ESPN has carried the championship since 1996
• 2012 marks the 10^th consecutive year of airing the entire championship with all 63 games tipping-off live on ESPN networks
• ESPN continues to feature the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Special with Selection Monday on ESPN

Men’s Basketball

• International rights for the entire NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, including distribution in Latin America (Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America), the Middle East and Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands, Europe, Japan and Canada (via TSN)
• Selected highlight rights from the complete championship for distribution in the U.S. and international territories
• Exclusive home of the men’s basketball NIT Season Tip-Off and NIT Postseason Tournament, including expanded coverage of the tip-off event and all rounds from the postseason tournament
• Live studio coverage from inside the stadium at the Men’s Final Four^®

Studio Shows

• In addition to women’s basketball, ESPN maintains exclusive rights to selected NCAA championship selection shows. ESPNU will showcase Division I baseball, Division I football (FCS), Division I men’s ice hockey, Division I men’s lacrosse, Division I softball, and Division I women’s volleyball selection shows.

That will do it.