Fang's Bites

A Very Busy Set of Monday Links

I spent the morning away from the office and after lunch, I’ve been dealing with crazy shit so I’m just getting to the links late this afternoon. I’ll put in as many as I can. This week is shaping up to be very busy so just bear with me as you may not see links for a couple of days. I will post press releases when I can.

The sports blogosphere has been abuzz with the release of the first excerpt from the new book on the Alleged Worldwide Leader, “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside The World of ESPN” co-written by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. I am working on getting James as a guest for the Sports Media Weekly podcast for either next week or the week following.

In any event, the excerpt published in this week’s GQ Magazine looks at the tidal wave known as Keith Olbermann and his time co-anchoring SportsCenter with Dan Patrick.

Of course, Keith already has an opinion on the excerpt and has responded on Twitter. Dashiell Bennett of the Business Insider’s Sports Page recaps so I don’t have to.

At Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Tripp Mickle report that ESPN parent company, Disney, is looking to sweeten the pot for its bid for the 2014/16 Olympic TV rights.

Also from the SBJ, John and Terry Lefton look at the impact of the old XFL on both the NFL and on the league’s TV partners.

Terry also writes about one particular XFL technical innovation that is gone, but not forgotten.

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

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says the arrest of ESPN’s Matthew Barnaby over the weekend is another example in a long line of bad behavior among the network’s personalities.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs has some of the funniest typographical errors on sports TV.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have turned down an invitation to appear on HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer, and say it with me, provided there is an NFL season.

Speaking of which, Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk says the NFL has confirmed that there is an option to shutdown the league if the lockout is lifted by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that several NFL players have been told by their agents not to work out as they won’t be covered by the team if they get hurt.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe confirms that NESN’s Jerry Remy is back in the booth tonight.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says there’s a high anticipation to read the new ESPN tome by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels YES’ Michael Kay is embellishing the truth when it comes to Yankee Stadium’s attendance.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that the NBA’ Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 outrated Red Sox-Yankees in New York.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says fans are getting the short stick.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times looks at the weekend that was in sports TV.

Doug Demmons of the Birmingham (AL) News was surprised to see Fox go split screen during yesterday’s NASCAR coverage.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the ESPN/ABC crew gave praise to the Oklahoma City crowd during Game 7 of the Thunder-Memphis Grizzlies series.

Bob Wolfley looks forward to the new ESPN book.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says a new charity event will carry the legacy of the late Cubs legend Ron Santo.

In the Kansas City Star, Bruce Dancis reviews the 2nd DVD box set of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says April 18, 2011 will live forever in the annals of the National Hockey League.

Scott Terrell of the Tucson Citizen talks about the Pac-12 TV contract and what it means for fans.

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

Tom looks at the first excerpt of the new ESPN book.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail feels CBC did not do enough reporting on Derek Boogaard’s death.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star tells aspiring sportscasters to be careful what they wish for if they want to enter a new Canadian TV contest.

Sports Media Watch talks about the record NBA ratings for TNT.

In the Huffington Post, Colorado University journalism student Weston Gentry responds to Rick Reilly’s speech to his alma mater.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for Versus throughout the NHL Conference Semifinals.

EPL Talk says with it being Survival Sunday, fans should tell both ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel what games they want to see.

I’m going to end it there.

Follow Friday VIII

Time for another edition of Follow Friday and it’s the 4,000th post on Fang’s Bites! Did not have time to do one last week so I’ll make up for it this week. To check previous Follow Friday’s, click here.

Amanda Bruno is a freelance writer for the Springfield Republican and has written for the Boston Globe. She has her own blog which I stumbled upon last week through Bleacher Report. I then looked through Batter-up with Bruno and found it to be well-written. She has stuff on the Red Sox and some musings on the sports media in Boston. I’ve linked to it a few times since finding it. Amanda also does some work on Sox & Dawgs when Ian Bethune is away from the computer so do me the favor of bookmarking her blog and putting the RSS feeds into your browser.

Cameron Frye is a Boston-based blogger who loves her hockey. She’s also a fashionista and sometimes does cross-blogging with her friend, Wrap Around Curl who has been given a Follow Friday shoutout here. You may remember the story of Cameron who was unceremoniously dumped from blogging about the Bruins at Comcast SportsNet’s New England website due to some things she wrote for Deadspin. Cameron started her own site and has been blogging since January. She has an edge and she’s also on Twitter. Check her stuff out. I always laugh at her cutting humor.

Sportspoop is a relatively new site having started in May, but it’s grown quite fast. It focuses on sports, women and humor. I also appreciate the site’s help in boosting my numbers on Ballhype so I ask that you follow the site and visit often.

Lisa Horne writes about college football for FoxSports.com. She covers all types of issues and was a very good source when the Pac 10 conducted its media days. Very good writer and enjoyable to exchange Tweets with.

Patrick Gordon at FanIQ loves his Boston teams and isn’t afraid to speak his mind whether it be on his blog or on Twitter. I’ve come to enjoy reading his thoughts. And even when I disagree, I find his writings to be quite entertaining.

Three sports media writers to follow and all are on the West Coast. I mentioned him before in Follow Friday, but I’ll give him another mention. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News not only gets blogging, but he embraces it. He has a great media blog and he’s one of the few sports media writers who will leave the office and cover stories. Neil Best of Newsday is another. Tom has tried broadcasting a minor league baseball game, curling, and has written some fascinating essays on Los Angeles’ past sports history. Tom has also linked to this blog on occasion, but that’s not why I’m giving him a second Follow Friday mention. He’s a very good writer.

Tom’s crosstown rival, Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times is one of the few women to write about the sports media. In fact, I think she’s the only newspaper sports media beat writer. She started to cover the beat this year after the Times tried to find a successor to long-time writer Larry Stewart. Diane has done a great job taking over the beat and she has become a go-to link here. Diane is also a tennis fan which I appreciate as well. I don’t know if the Times has officially given her the beat, but here’s hoping she stays there for a long time.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star is a good read giving another West Coast perspective. He has Friday media columns as well as general sports columns on Tuesday. Since I started doing the Friday megalinks, Jim has become a mainstay and has e-mailed me a couple of times here and there. Very good columns.

To our non-sports recommendations, I have found another good web series for you to try. Seeking Simone is a new series on the trials and tribulations of Simone trying to find love through online dating in gay Toronto. The lines are funny. The acting is good. And even if you’re not gay, you can relate to Simone’s problems in dating. I really enjoyed the first three episodes.

And for those of you who are fans of the Whedonverse (creator Joss Whedon who produced Buffy/Angel/Firefly and now Dollhouse), you’ll know the name of Felicia Day. She’s not only been in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but she’ll have an expanded role in Dollhouse this upcoming season. Felicia is one of the busiest actresses not only acting on TV, but also producing the web series, “The Guild” which has one of the largest followings online. Every time I look at her Twitter page, she seems to be working on a new project. If you haven’t seen her on Dollhouse, make sure you do so this season.

That concludes this week’s edition of Follow Friday. The megalinks are coming up.

Follow Friday VII

Time for another edition of Follow Friday where I recommend several sites to visit and if you so choose, start following regularly. To see past recommendations, go here.

One of the more interesting social experiments is happening all day Friday into Saturday. It’s the 24 hours of StarburyMarbury Marathon. Yes, that’s right, Stephon Marbury is on the internet streaming live at Ustream and he’s answering your tweets. Sometimes he raps, sometimes, he sings, sometimes he holds his fashion drawings up to the camera, but overall, it’s just him sitting in front of his computer and a camera answering questions. There are times when the audio or video goes down, but when it’s up, it’s pretty compelling. So for your Friday, the 24 hours of StarburyMarbury is our first site recommendation today.

Real Clear Sports does what I do, links you to a series of articles each day. It does a morning and afternoon edition of links, but it’s not just sports media, it links to whatever the story of the day is. In addition to linking to newspaper articles, RCS also has some writers offering exclusive columns, so it has some very good content. Plus, it was a sponsor of the original Blogs with Balls conference in New York in June so it’s quite interested in the relationship between mainstream media and blogs.

A couple of links if you’re a Big Ten sports fan. There’s the Big Ten Network which is gearing up for football season. If you have BTN on your cable or satellite system, then you know that the network brings you Big Ten Conference sports, not just football, basketball, but also Olympic sports as well. The site provides all types of updates on Big Ten news and also keeps you up to date on programming.

For Michigan fans, the MGoBlue site, the official site of University of Michigan athletics (don’t worry, I’ll recommend other Big Ten sites down the line, I know Big Ten fans get angry if they don’t see their school) is a very comprehensive site offering news on the school’s teams. The content is there, although the colors are a bit too bright for my tastes, but the MGoBlue site is done quite well if you overlook the splashes of yellow.

Gunaxin is a site which mixes sports, gadgets, humor and of course, the obligatory shots of women, but they’re all done tastefully. It’s a site that doesn’t require heavy lifting, but then again, the site doesn’t want you to do a lot of thinking. It does the thinking for you. Good site to go to especially after a long day at work.

TheOBR or The Orange and Brown Report is a site that is devoted to my beloved Cleveland Browns. Plenty of blogs, reports and video content to bring you everything that you need to know on the fastest rising team in the NFL. Ok, I made that last part up, but I can dream, can’t I?

The Two Cents from Beantown blog provides thoughts on Boston sports. I just found this a couple of weeks ago and it’s being given my stamp of approval.

And the Without A Curse podcast hosted by Alex Reimer is up at The Sports Stuff site. Alex had gained notoriety especially on a late night talk show for being one of the youngest to ever host a podcast. He’s 16 now, but he’s been going strong for the last couple of years. I’m not endorsing this just because I was a guest earlier this week, but because Alex knows his stuff. Plus, he has had many Boston sports media heavy hitters on his podcast so make sure you download Alex’s podcast off iTunes.

As usual, two non-sports sites for you to visit, one with New England ties, the other without.

First, there’s Olivia Munn’s official website. She’s the co-host of Attack of the Show on G4. Olivia provides videos, blogs and pictures on her site, not just of herself, although she has her own gallery. And yes, she’s on Twitter as well.

Last but not least, Kay Hanley, the former lead singer of Letters to Cleo, is someone you should check out. Not only is she a devoted Red Sox fan, but she’s got a great singing voice as well. Check out the latest on Kay at her site and at her Twitter account. When Kay gets angry about the Red Sox, it’s tremendous reading so if you haven’t joined Twitter, just signing on to follow Kay is totally worth it.

That concludes this edition of Follow Friday.

Follow Friday VI

We’re back with another edition of Follow Friday, my recommendations on bloggers, writers and sites you should follow.

For previous Follow Friday recommendations, click here.

I’ll start with something I’ve been linking to all week long and that’s WEEI.com’s new feature, “The Five” hosted by Kristine Leahy. She tells what’s hot on the site plus lists the top five stories the website is covering. Since she started, we’ve been Tweeting back and forth so yes, there’s a personal interest in this recommendation, but I also would not make one if I did feel the blog, writer or video was good. This has hit the ground running and look for more of Kristine at WEEI.com in the future. Also, she loves to Twitter, so if you’re on the social network like me, you can follow Kristine and exchange tweets.

FanIQ is a sports social networking site with stories and the opportunity to talk with fellow sports fans about them. In addition, the site has grown by leaps and bounds over the last year. It’s one of the sites that bears watching in regards to social networking and sports.

Sports Crackle Pop! is a blog that includes sports and pop culture. It’s a site that does not take itself too seriously as some blogs do. It has a sense of humor and is willing to laugh at most everything sports without being too vicious. I also exchange tweets with the site and the people have a lot of fun in their posts. Good site.

One site that is plenty of fun and doesn’t require a lot of heavy lifting is Hail Mary Jane. It’s a site that focuses a lot of marijuana, but also on sports as well. The blog’s focus is on the legalization of pot, but also there’s some gossip as well as sports post. Lenny aka Houroc calls himself semi-educated, but he deserves more credit than that. HMJ is a fun blog to visit.

To get the women’s perspective, there’s SportsKatGirl’s …On Being a Sports Girl blog. She’s a fellow Red Sox fan, but that’s not why I recommend her. It’s to let you know that women can can blog about sports as well. Kat is a good writer and knows her hockey as well. Visit Kat’s blog and let her know that you’re a fan.

Right Fielders Women in Sports is another blog offering the female perspective, and it also introduces women athletes. The site could look better, but the content is pretty good. I’ve visited the blog quite a bit over the last few months and the posts have been good reads.

For non-sports blogs, there’s Cherry Grrl which offers the latest and greatest on lesbian entertainment and news. It’s a comprehensive site and the look is very easy on the eyes.

Boston Radio Watch offers the latest happenings in the market that is the Hub. It was on top of the WBCN/Mix 98.5/WBZ-FM story and it also gives perspective on personnel moves, ratings and formats. Great site.

And that is your Follow Friday for this week.

Follow Friday V

This is another edition of Follow Friday, originally started on Twitter. If you’re a regular reader, you know how it works. If not, you can find out how it began at Mashable.

Anyway, I don’t feel like explaining it right now so I’m just going to go into the feature. Here are several blogs and sites you should visit more than once.

He has become a giant on Twitter and he’s already a giant in blogging. Robert Littal’s Black Sports Online is a very fascinating site and he has a very good take on hoops, boxing and all things sports business. And when the BET Awards were on the air, his take on the entire affair was laugh out loud funny.

I’ve linked to Wrap Around Curl when she’s written a post for Steve Lepore’s NHL-centric Puck The Media site. Wrap has her own blog which is naturally called Wrap Around Curl. Wrap follows hockey, hockey fashion and she’s quite snarky. I find her blog quite funny and her Tweets are even snarkier, if that’s possible. But she knows her hockey which is more I can say about Carrie Milbank, who is a host for NHL.com.

If you’ve ever watched the daily morning editions of SportsCenter, you’ll know of a feature called “BlogBuzz” which measures what are the hot topics on sports blogs. The company that provides the information for ESPN is Sports Media Challenge which is a consulting firm for athletes, coaches and executives. Among their clients are Shaquille O’Neal, Derek Jeter, Geno Auriemma as well as various college programs, professional sports teams and sports leagues. According to its website, the firm helps its clients “maximize public exposure while minimizing its risks”. It was one of the first firms to suggest to its clients to use Twitter to reach a new audience and it’s working.

Ian Bethune runs Sox & Dawgs, a New England sports blog. Not only does it follow the Red Sox, but also UConn sports, the Patriots and the Celtics. Ian was one of the first blogs to follow Fang’s Bites regularly and he was a traveling companion to the Blogs With Balls conference in New York last month. Ian shows that a good New England sports blog doesn’t have to based in Boston to keep track of the area sports teams. Ian does a great job on Sox & Dawgs and I can safely say he’s become a very good friend.

I’ll run the next three sites in quick succession. All are TV reporters and all are Fang’s Bites faves. First, is former NESN Red Sox on-field reporter Tina Cervasio, currently of MSG Network in New York. She also Tweets as well.

Next is ESPN’s Bonnie Bernstein who made an appearance on IFC’s Z Rock series last month.

Last but not least is Charissa Thompson who is a rising star on Fox Sports and was a co-host on Best Damn Sports Show Period.

Bonnie and Charissa both have blogs at their sites.

As usual, two non-sports sites. For the latest and greatest in TV and Entertainment news, there’s The Ausiello Files headed by Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello.

And to keep up with the latest on Reality TV including Survivor, The Amazing Race and Big Brother, head on over to Reality Fan Forum. Headed up by Rob and my sweetheart, puddin, this is the best site to find out the latest on the above mentioned shows. Plus, the site also discusses other reality shows. The site has the best information on The Amazing Race and over the last three seasons, has been able to determine the actual route of the show. The TAR Detectives as they’re known are a very smart bunch and nothing get past them. So if you’re a fan of The Amazing Race, head on over to RFF and sign up.

That is it for this edition of Follow Friday.

Follow Friday IV

Time for another edition of Follow Friday. This is the weekly Twitter tradition in which members suggest others to follow and if you like what that person, you hit the “follow” button. I’ve written three previous Follow Friday’s here so you can take a look at what has been recommended here.

I’ll do bloggers first.

Jason Clinkscales is a writer for the New York Beacon newspaper, a publication geared towards the African American community. Jason also maintains an excellent blog, A Sports Scribe. He can delve into stories and issues that he cannot in the newspaper. I’ve come to know Jason both through e-mail and Facebook. He’s a very good writer and he’s good enough to be writing for a major newspaper. This is my call for an editor to hire this man.

Steve Scafa is the man behind I Had To Turn It Off When…. Some interesting background on Steve. He was involved in the famous college baseball game between St. John’s and Yale in which Frank Viola and Ron Darling pitched. Steve got the first hit against Darling after St. John’s was no-hit for 11 innings! Steve now looks at New York TV and radio from a former athlete’s point of view. Go visit Steve’s excellent blog.

One of the growing number of sports humor blogs is tonyblogs. This gives a humorous look at sports and also gives picks on certain games. Tony Arnoldine definitely has a different take on sports and it’s quite funny.

If you want to keep up with women’s tennis or just want to keep up to date on what the women on the WTA tour are wearing, head on over to the Women’s Tennis Blog which has gained quite a bit of notoriety over the last few years for its no-nonsense reporting of the WTA. This is run out of Serbia by Marija Sivlak and her writing is quite good. English is not her first language, but you would not know it when you read her posts. The WTA rankings are there along with the latest tournaments. I found the blog when I did a couple of posts on Bethanie Mattek’s attire two years ago (When Female Players Attack and Bethanie Mattek as a French Nanny?) at the U.S. Open. It’s been one of my favorite destinations ever since and you’ll notice it in “My Favorite Blogs” listed on the left as you scroll down.

Not related to women’s tennis is Sharapova’s Thigh which is a mix of sports, entertainment and women. Ever since Blogs With Balls which creator Matt Clapp did not attend, I’ve had the opportunity to exchange tweets with him and he’s a very sharp guy.

To get a good perspective on the Philadelphia sports scene, the 700 Level blog is one of the better blogs out there. The blogs loves all things Philly, the Phillies, the Eagles, the Sixers, the Flyers as well as its college teams. I love what Enrico, Matt and Kulp do there. Before Boston teams started winning, I felt a kinship with Philly with the suffering it endured with its sports teams. And now that the Phillies have won, you have a feeling that the tide is turning in the City of Brotherly Love. But the edge Philly sports fans have is nothing like anywhere else in the country.

Three sports media writers you should follow are Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette, Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union and Ken McMillan from the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record. All three are from outside the New York Metropolitan area, both Ken and Pete write with an upstate New York perspective. Ken Schott is a big Philadelphia Flyers fan and also covers college hockey quite well. Ken McMillan has been in TV and radio and offers that perspective in his writing. Add all of their blogs to your RSS readers.

To get the latest on the Celtics and the NBA, Jessica Camerato does a bang up job following both for WEEI.com. She’s also on Twitter so you can catch up with her posts there as well. I had the opportunity to meet the lovely Jessica at the Blogs With Balls conference in New York earlier this month and she’s very delightful. Besides my thoughts on Jessica, she’s a very good writer as well so make sure you read her reports on the Celtics at WEEI.com.

I mentioned the Play Ball podcast at ESPN Radio’s website last week, and I’m going to mention it again this week. In this week’s podcast, Amanda and Melissa interview ESPN Radio Los Angeles host Dave Dameshek and they also read an e-mail sent in by yours truly, but they also misidentify me. They get the name of the blog right, but for some reason, I’m named “Paul” despite me signing “Ken” on the e-mail. I don’t know where they got Paul, but it’s not important. The mention is after the interview just to give you a heads up. Visit their site and download their podcast every week.

Don’t forget to visit my new site at Boston Sports Media Watch. Follow that every day, not just on Fridays.

Two non-sports sites, for the latest and greatest in lesbian entertainment and media, head over to AfterEllen. This is the best site to find out what’s going on in lesbian culture. I would not have found the best web series on the net, B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye if it were not for AfterEllen. Editor Sarah Warn leads a great team of writers and bloggers who give their opinions on TV, movies and the media.

The next site has not been updated since February, but anything on one of my favorite TV actresses, Kate Walsh, deserves a mention. Kate-Walsh.com is a fansite and has a very nice photo gallery of the star of Private Practice. I can look at Kate Walsh all day. In fact, I’m looking at her picture .. never mind.

Ok, that’s it for this edition of Follow Friday. Make sure you visit each site.

Follow Friday III

Time for another edition of Follow Friday here at Fang’s Bites. If you follow my Twitter feed, you’ll note that I listed quite a few people to link up with.

Now it’s time to list some sites you may not be familiar with. I’ll recommend some sites that were part of the Blogs With Balls conference. There were an estimated 300 people in attendance last Saturday, not all of them blogs, of course, but I’ll list some more notable blogs that went.

I wanted to give some props to the organizers, the fine people at Hugging Harold Reynolds which had the foresight to start this conference and now they plan to hold BWB all over the country. Great job by them.

Dan Levy has a daily podcast at On the DL and he has a pretty impressive guest list. Subscribe to his podcast at iTunes and you’ll find his stuff is very good listening.

Miss Chatter runs a Washington Nationals-centric blog and has a pretty nice following in DC. Check her writings out.

Another good daily podcast is the Dugout Sports Show out of Cleveland. Glenn Moore and Dan Brock are another group who get good guests and give a perspective from my one of my favorite cities and the home to my beloved football team. It was great to meet Glenn at BWB and I hope to see him again in Vegas for BWB 2.0.

A couple of good Red Sox-centric blogs for you to visit. One is Fenway West which gives a perspective of the Sox from the left coast. And from New York, Josh Q. Public who is a big Sox fan. I had the opportunity to meet the man behind the blog and he’s a fun guy to hang with.

She did not attend Blogs with Balls, but to get a good idea of what’s going on with sports public relations, head over to the Sports PR Blog, headed up by Christy Hammond, an intern with the Detroit Red Wings. She will post job openings along with passing along her thoughts on various topics. Christy does a very good job on her blog.

Another podcast for you to check out is Play Ball with Amanda and Melissa. This is based out of ESPN Radio’s website and while I did not meet Amanda in person, she’s become a very good Twitter friend and she’s fun to go back and forth with. Even though Amanda’s a Yankees fan, I don’t hold that against her. Again, their podcast is also available at iTunes.

Let’s go to sites that are not related to BWB.

Visit Len Berman Sports, run by former WNBC-TV sports anchor Len Berman. Sign up to get his Top 5 e-emailed to you. The Top 5 are Len’s thoughts on five particular sports stories.

There’s also Hot Clicks compiled by Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina. It’s a great destination to go every morning to get your fill of the offbeat in sports as well as your pic of the hot chick of the day.

For sports business, one of the reporters bar none is Friend of Fang’s Bites Darren Rovell of CNBC. The subjects he keeps track of always fascinate me and if you follow this blog regularly, you’ll know that I link to him regularly.

Another good sports business writer is Tim Lemke of the Washington Times.

For non-sports sites, check out the official Mystery Science Theater 3000 website. I loved MST3K when it was on Comedy Central and the SciFi Channel. I laughed every time I saw the show and I was sad when it signed off. This is a way to relive the show and to get fresh takes from Mike Nelson.

And to get more info on MST3K, head to the official fan site, Satellite News.

Once again, Morgan Wick has asked me not to include him in this week’s Follow Friday. Keep this up, dude and I won’t include you at all! I’m joking. He tells me his site is undergoing a redesign and won’t be ready until next week. Let’s hope so. He’s been asking for a mention so let’s hope his site is up so I can include him.

That does it for this week’s Follow Friday. I’ll have the megalinks later tonight.

Follow Friday II

Time for another Follow Friday feature here at Fang’s Bites. Just a quick refresher. I’m bringing this over from Twitter. You suggest your favorite Tweeters for others to follow. If you like them, you click “follow” and go from there.

I’ll suggest some of my favorite sites for you to follow.

For Sports Media, Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch. Bruce has done a great job providing links to the all things Boston sports as well as providing a nice check on the writers who have massive agendas. And for disclosure purposes, I’m also a contributor there as the Friday megalinks are posted there as well.

Also in sports media, the great Sports Media Watch keeps up with the ratings for various sporting events and also does some good writing on various issues. Paulsen does a very good job researching his posts.

One more sports media blog and that’s the Eye on Sports Media run by Christopher Byrne.

For mainstream sports media blogs, there’s Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News who keeps up with all things in the Metroplex.

I like linking to Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News to get a West Coast perspective.

To baseball and Red Sox blogs, I’ve always like Dan Lemonthe’s Red Sox Monster blog. He does a great job keeping the blog updated. And he links to my blog.

For the NFL, there’s The NFL Chick. She may be a Ravens fan, but she’s quite nice and is a blogging sister of Steelergurl whom I recommended you follow last week.

It’s an easy pick, but Peter King of Sports Illustrated really is a must read for all NFL fans. Is his Monday Morning Quarterback self-indulgent? Is there too much manlove for Brett Favre? Yes and yes, but I enjoy reading him. Plus, he does get information that other reporters don’t.

Digital Sports Daily is in its infancy, but it’s fast becoming a very good destination as an electronic sports newsgathering operation. I’m not saying that because I’m occasional contributor, but I say that because I believe it. Visit it often.

For strict entertainment and pictures of hot chicks, visit Busted Coverage. I’ve seen this site grow from just a small site to a very popular one. And every once in a while, BC breaks stories. I have noticed the site went through a redesign and for some reason, Fang’s Bites was dropped from the blogroll. I hope that’s rectified.

There are a lot of bloggers who don’t like her, but I don’t have a problem with her. That’s Jennifer Sterger, the former Florida State Cowgirl who was got her claim to fame thanks to a cutaway shot during a college football game. She blogs, she tweets, she has her own YouTube channel, but overall, she’s a hot chick.

In Sports marketing and public relations, Joe Favorito has a very nice blog and keeps up with some stories across the country.

For non-sports blogs, head over to Moments of the Week, run by my good friend, Linda Dias. During American Idol, she kept up on the voting and the contestants. I avoid American Idol like a chemical weapon, but if you’re into it and many of you are, then check out Linda’s site.

And this one is a personal favorite not because of the subject, but because it’s run by my cousin Lina, The Traveling Food Critic. Thanks to her job, Lina gets to go to great American cities and sample the local cuisine. Sometimes when she comes to Boston, I’ll take part in the sampling. The blog provides a nice service especially if you travel or if you’re looking for a good restaurant in your own neighborhood. And drop a line to Lina to let her know that you’re visiting her site.

Finally, I would link to Morgan Wick, but he’s asked me not to link to him this week, so I won’t. He says once he’s ready which should be next week, I should do so next Friday. Ok, I’ll abide by his request.

That concludes your Follow Friday for today.

Follow Friday

If you’re on Twitter, there’s a feature that has caught on among members called “Follow Friday”. Each person suggests others to follow and if you like the person’s Tweets, you can hit “follow” and get that person’s updates.

Through this, I have found quite a few people to follow and have made some good connections. I’m going to extend that here to Fang’s Bites.

For Football even though I’m a massive Browns fan and hate everything Steeler-oriented, I give you, Steelergurl. She knows her football and always goes back and forth with NFLprguy Brian McCarthy on Twitter. I have a great respect for Steelergurl and her posts. Visit her blog as well.

For Baseball blogs, Red Sox-centric in particular, there’s Sox & Dawgs run by my good friend, Ian Bethune. Well, I haven’t met Ian personally, but we always e-mail and Tweet each other so I feel like I’ve known him for a while. Go visit Ian and enjoy not just his Red Sox posts, but on New England sports.

The hockey blog I visit constantly is Puck The Media run by Steve Lepore. He’s on top of all things regarding the hockey media. Very well run and I’m also an occasional contributor. Visit his site often.

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you know that I regularly link to Neil Best of Newsday practically every day. Not only is he quite prolific in posting, he also does quite a bit of reporting for his column.

There’s also Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated who returned to the magazine after 9 months at the University of Michigan doing a fellowship. I hope to have more from Richard in the future.

My former partner-in-crime at WPRI-TV, John Crowe has his sports media blog, the Crowe’s Nest. The stories I could tell you about how John and I developed scavanger hunts for associate producers and interns just to torture them. However, the Statute of Limitations still has not run out so I must keep quiet. Maybe one day, John and I will reveal them.

There’s also the Sports Media Journal headed up by Southern New England multimedia magnate Keith Thibeault. It’s also the home of former Baltimore Sun media writer Ray Frager. SMJ has very thoughtful posts and is one of the best sports media blogs out there.

I would be remiss if I did not include Maury Brown’s Biz of Baseball. Maury has become quite the expert on MLB’s blackout rules and also keeps up to date on baseball stadia, attendance and other things related to the Business of Baseball. He also has the Biz of Football, Biz of Basketball and Biz of Hockey. Visit them often.

And two of my favorite non-sports websites: Darynkagan.com just to see what’s possible and B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye with the best web series on the planet.

Every Friday, I’ll bring you different sites for my Follow Friday.