Fang's Bites

Sunday Links

For those of you just getting up this morning, the USA soccer controversy did not prevent the Women’s Soccer team from blasting Norway, 4-1 in the 3rd place match at the Women’s World Cup in China today. Brazil and Germany are scoreless at the time of this post.

I’ll give you a few links this morning.

Neil Best of Newsday writes his regular Sunday column about the landmark case that allowed female reporters in locker rooms. Fans of YES and NESN saw female reporters in the Yankees and Red Sox celebrations on their respective channels this past week.

Without even seeing a single broadcast, the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says he feels the TBS side of the MLB postseason will be a disaster. Way to be positive, Phil.

And Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News must have had what Mushnick ate for dinner last night because he feels the same way. These guys are a bit too jaded.

Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a look at the end of the Atlanta Braves era on TBS. I’m truly sad it’s coming to an end. And Tucker looks at the future TV options for the Braves.

Over to the Columbus Dispatch and Bob Baptist who says the deal between Big Ten Network and Wide Open West Cable has given leverage to BTN in its fight with Time Warner Cable.

Ryan Young of the Kansas City Star has a behind the scenes look at ESPN as it prepares for the Kansas 400 today.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany (NY) Times-Union profiles the head of studio programming for the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Some abbreviated links today. I’ll be out for most of the day (yes, I do other things than blog). I may be back with another post tonight, I’m not sure. Check back later.

Videos of the Week – Liz Phair

I love having this blog because I can have anything I want here.

Last week I had videos of Shandi Finnessey. This week, I’m going to give you videos of my favorite female singer, Liz Phair. Ever since I first listened to her, I knew she was special. And she’s fun in interviews as well. Love her songs.

I’ll start with my favorite from Liz, “Polyester Bride” from Whitechocolatespacegg:

There’s “Whip-Smart” from Whip-Smart:

Here’s “Extraordinary”from her self-titled “Liz Phair” CD (this is not the one that was regularly played to promote the movie “Raising Helen”):

Liz’ most gorgeous video, “Everything to Me”:

A very rarely seen video, “Jealousy” from “Whip-Smart”

A live performance of “Divorce Song” from her excellent “Exile in Guyville” album:

From the same performance, “Rock Me”

Of course, you can’t go without her biggest hit, “Supernova” from “Whip-Smart”:

Liz just plain rocks. And she’s hot and she’s gorgeous. It’s unfair how Capitol Records treated her and I’m hoping she’ll be on a new label down the road.

NFL Picks for Week 4

I had a bad week. Still over .500, but 8-7 for an overall record of 25-16 for a .610 winning percentage, but I could do better. It’ll start with this week.

Baltimore at Cleveland – CBS 1 p.m.
This is a bitter game for me as many of you know, rotten crook Art Modell moved my beloved Browns to Baltimore, eventually made them the Ravens and into Super Bowl Champions while the Browns had to be reconstructed from scratch. The Browns have former Ravens RB Jamal Lewis. But the Ravens have an excellent run defense. They barely won over the Cardinals last week when QB Kurt Warner led a comeback that almost succeeded. And he completed 15 passes for 258 yards against a very stingy defense. Derek Anderson is not Kurt Warner, but he has shown the potential to lead a team quite well. Although he threw for just one TD against Oakland last week (as opposed to the five he threw against Cincy in Week 2), Anderson did throw for 248 yards. And Lewis has to get on track against his former team. I would love to see the Browns win this game and I’m going to pick them as my upset special here. I’ll say Browns win by a Phil Dawson figgy, 23-20.

Chicago at Detroit – Fox, 1 p.m.
The Bears were exposed as a bad offensive team last week. QB Rex Grossman was finally replaced after a pitiful performance against the Cowboys last Sunday night. Brian Griese finally gets his shot to lead the team. Meanwhile, Detroit is wondering if last week’s showing against Philadelphia was the real Lions. One thing the Eagles did was to expose the Detroit secondary as Donovan McNabb had a field day throwing the football. On the other hand, Lions QB Jon Kitna and the passing game are averaging over 340 yards a game. If Chicago can start throwing the ball with any consistency on Sunday, they’ll beat the Lions. And the Bears also have to get its running game on track. The last three weeks, they’ve shown that they miss RB Thomas Jones. His replacements have not shown they can pick up the slack. I’m going to choose Detroit in this game to beat the Bears, 28-10.

St. Louis at Dallas – Fox, 1 p.m.
What happened to the Greatest Show on Turf? This season, the Rams’ offense is woefully inept. They rank 25th in total yards, 20th in passing, 21st in rushing and the most telling stat, 29th in scoring. That is not going to cut it in the NFL. On the other side, the Cowboys are 1st in scoring average, 2nd in total yardage, 5th in passing and 5th in rushing. So you would think this would be a mismatch and you would be right. Cowboys are favored at 13. Tony Romo threw for 329 yards against the Bears Sunday night and I expect him to do well again this week. Take the Cowboys. The Rams just can’t get anything right. Cowboys win, 35-10 over the Rams.

Green Bay at Minnesota – Fox, 1 p.m.
The question is, when will Brett Favre break Dan Marino’s career touchdown throwing record? Favre is going to throw in this game. The Vikings have to be prepared to stop it. The Packers got a quality win beating the San Diego Chargers last week. Now, it’s time for a division game in a place where Favre has not done well. Even though the Vikings have a 1-2 record, their run defense is ranked 3rd, but the passing defense is ranked 20th. Guess where the Packers will attack? But the Vikings do not allow opponents to score. I still think the Vikes‘ achilles heel will come back to bite them on Sunday. I’ll take the Packers to win a close NFC North game, 24-17.

Jets at Buffalo – CBS, 1 p.m.
This is not a fun game to pick, but it is a division game. The Jets have the aforementioned Thomas Jones who ran for over 100 yards last week against Miami. Both of these teams are staring above at New England who is the class of the AFC East. Buffalo doesn’t want to fall to 0-4 and sometimes, playing scared can lead to wins. The Bills have to depend on rookie QB Trent Edwards from Stanford to replace the injured J.P. Losman. I’m going to take the Jets here, albeit reluctantly, 28-17.

Oakland at Miami – CBS, 1 p.m.
In the 1970′s and 1980′s, this would have been a marquee matchup. Two teams that have winning histories, Hall of Fame coaches on both sides, John Madden and Don Shula, both have multiple Super Bowl championships, plus many Hall of Fame players to boot. But those are just distant memories now. The Raiders bring back former Dolphin Daunte Culpepper to Miami. But the Raiders are expected to showcase RB Lamont Jordan who ran roughshod over the Browns last week for 120 yards. Miami is favored by 4 and with Oakland doing the traveling here, I’ll factor that in and say the Fish will take this one, 16-9.

Houston at Atlanta – CBS, 1 p.m.
You’re kidding, right?

Tampa Bay at Carolina – Fox, 4 p.m.
Who knew this would be a fun matchup in Week 4? I thought the Bucs would be 0-3 by now, but they’ve won over New Orleans and taken the life from the Rams. However, Carolina is a much better team. The Panthers have won 7 out of the last 8 games between these two teams and are favored at home. But the Bucs are still trying to find their identity as many teams are this early in the season. WR Steve Smith has torched the Bucs‘ secondary in the past and he can again this week, but it’s still not known QB Jake Delhomme will start (bad elbow) or former Houston Texan statue David Carr will take the helm for the Panthers. If it’s Delhomme, expect that TB zone defense to come up and take its shots. But if it’s Carr, expect him to get sacked a lot because he holds the ball too long. I’m finally picking Tampa Bay to win this game as I think the Bucs finally have the weapons to beat the Panthers, 28-21.

Seattle at San Francisco – Fox, 4 p.m.
Last week, Seattle had a dogfight with the Bengals while the Niners fell from the unbeaten ranks against Pittsburgh. 49er QB Alex Smith once again struggled, but the team he doesn’t struggle against is Seattle. Last time these two teams last met in December, Frank Gore ran rampant through the Seahawk defense, rushing for 212 yards. While I don’t think he’ll run for that much on Sunday, he’ll be ready to rumble. And Alex Smith has got to get going with the help of his much-maligned receiving corps. Seattle has already dropped a division game to the Cards at home in Week 2. If the ‘Hawks want to win, Matt Hasselbeck’s receivers have to stop dropping his passes. This will be a good drag out fight. I’ll take the Niners to win this one, 33-16.

Denver at Indy – CBS, 4:15 p.m.
The Colts are 11-0 in their last 11 September games. What does this tell you? And Denver has not done well in Indy in recent times. If the Broncos want to be take seriously, they’ll have to win this game, but the Colts have too many weapons. Plus, the Jacksonville Jaguars went into the Mile High City and won last week, 23-14 using their two headed running attack. And David Garrard, hardly a premiere QB ran the offense quite well for the Jags. With the Colts’ RB Joseph Addai, I expect the Colts to move the ball against the Broncos quite often. Indy is favored by 9.5 and they should be. I’ll take them to win outright, 38-21.

KC at San Diego – CBS, 4:15 p.m.
The question in San Diego this week: What’s wrong with the Chargers? The running attack is only averaging 67 yards a game which ranks 30th. This is a team that has LaDanian Tomlinson, but he’s rushed for only 130 yards this season which is not right. So there’s a lot of soul searching in Chargerland. Meanwhile, the Chiefs may have found something when they started to throw the ball to beat Minnesota last week. While the Chiefs still want to showcase RB Larry Johnson, QB Damon Huard did get WR Dwayne Bowe involved and threw him the winning score. Philip Rivers did throw well against Green Bay last week, but it still wasn’t enough. I’ll say the San Diego Super Chargers get back into the win column on Sunday, 26-17.

Pittsburgh at Arizona – CBS, 4:15 p.m.
Interesting game. Cardinal head coach Ken Whisenhunt along with his top assistant, Russ Grimm will be getting ready to face their former team in which new Steeler coach Mike Tomlin has his unit humming along rather nicely. The Steeler offense is running on all cylinders and the 198 rushing yards a game ranks tops in the NFL. However, the Cards defense has stopped the run this year, so it will be up to Ben Roesthlisberger to air it out against a weak Cardinal secondary. WR Hines Ward won’t play. And I’ll be watching to see if the QB situation in Arizona gets sorted out. We saw Kurt Warner play very well against Baltimore last week while Matt Leinart did not. Leinart will start, but you know Whisenhunt will pull the trigger if the offense doesn’t get in gear. I’ll take the Steelers by a Jeff Reed figgy, 24-21.

Philadelphia at Giants – NBC, 8:15 p.m.
I know Iggle fans are hoping Donovan McNabb righted the ship last week against Detroit. WR Kevin Curtis became a featured weapon for McNabb by catching three TD’s in the first half last week. Giants fans are hoping Eli Manning righted the ship with the win over Washington last week. The G-Men will have WR Plaxico Burress even with a tender ankle. Eagles RB Brian Westbrook is a load to contend with. And there’s Giants’ Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo coaching against his former team and mentor, Andy Reid. Put this all together and you have a great Sunday Night NFC East game. And the Giants do want some revenge for last year’s playoff game which the Eagles won thanks to a David Akers figgy. This game will be close again simply because neither team wants to fall to 1-3. I’m going to take the Eagles to win another tight one, 16-14.

Patriots at Cincy – ESPN, 8:30 p.m., Monday
Pats. 38-10. The Pats always score 38. What’s to stop them this week?

Enjoy the games.

Saturday Night Links

Going into the links for you tonight. I’ve been out all day, but I’m getting ready to watch some baseball, college football and boxing.

Starting with baseball, TBS.com has relaunched its MLB section and it looks much better than last week. Sports Media Watch has the schedules and times for the Division, Championship and World Series.

One aside. I’m taking a look at Fox for the Washington-Phillies game and Matt Devlin is working with Tim McCarver. I believe this is the 40th partner McCarver has worked with this season. Since Joe Buck worked only eight games, McCarver has worked with (I’m going off the top of my head here) Kenny Albert, Matt Vasgerian, Dick Stockton, Devlin, Thom Brennamen and Josh Lewin. I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple here and there. If I’m David Hill the President of Fox Sports, I decide that this inconsistency is not good for my second most important sports franchise. The NFL will always be number one, but MLB is number two so if Joe Buck doesn’t want to work the full season, find someone who will. If Jon Miller, Dave O’Brien and Dan Schulman can work an entire season for ESPN despite their commitments, why can’t Buck who has little to no commitments during the summer? I know Fox wants Joe to be its signature voice, but working eight regular season games, then 8 – 14 more postseason games are not enough. Fox has a fine stable of announcers from its Fox Sports Net regional channels or it can find a totally new voice. Let’s give the viewers someone who wants to work an entire season.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox and give you a few links here.

In his Newsday blog, Neil Best tips us off to a funny clip from Steve “The Schmoozer” Somers of WFAN talking about jumping off the 59th Street Bridge in NYC after another painful Mets loss. But Mets fans are ok now after their team won today (at least I hope they are).

David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch has a blog entry on last night’s over the top Red Sox celebration after clinching the American League East plus he looks at some of the media’s behavior during their live shots. And Scott asks why was bulldog attorney Alan Dershowitz in the clubhouse? Good question.

Adam Thompson of the Wall Street Journal says TBS is trying to make sense of where and what it will air for the MLB postseason next week. R. Thomas Umstead of the Multichannel News says thanks to the upcoming MLB League Divisional Series, TBS HD has made significant subscriber gains in the last few weeks.

Gordon White of the Southern Pines (NC) Pilot talks with ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber. This is the second story today that I’ve linked to an interview with the ESPN Ombudsman. Is something going on? Why is Le Anne doing interviews?

The Philadelphia Daily News’ Joseph Santoliquito writes about the 10th anniversary of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and the show, “Daily News Live” that has been copied by other CSN outlets in Chicago, DC and New York. Santoliquito lists the Top 5 Moments on CSN. And Daily News Live host Michael Barkann gets a chance to sound off on his favorite moments on the show. And CSN Philly even has a special website to commemorate the occasion. I didn’t know this was such a big deal. LOL.

I’ll have NFL Picks as my last post of the week later tonight.

Saturday Morning Linkage

As I celebrate the Red Sox winning the American League East, Friday night was truly a great night of baseball. The Chicago Cubs clinched the National League Central, but they had to wait until Milwaukee lost to San Diego to celebrate. The Arizona Diamondbacks clinched a playoff spot, but didn’t find out until manager Bob Melvin told them. And the New York Mets continue to crumble in the National League East and the Philadelphia Phillies, counted out a week ago have now taken the lead by one game.

Following the Red Sox, NESN followed all angles of the game with the Twins, constantly updating the Yankees-Baltimore game. And after the Red Sox won, NESN remained in the studio with Tom Caron and Dennis Eckersley, showing shots of the Jumbotron which was showing the Yankees on the screen and cutting to shots of the crowd at Fenway Park which mostly stayed to watch the game as it went into extra innings. And when the O’s won on a strange bases loaded bunt by Melvin Mora, the Red Sox and the fans who stayed got to celebrate. NESN gets extra points for blowing away plans to air a taped debate of “candidates” for President of Red Sox Nation. Instead, NESN covered the celebrations in the locker room and the field (reporters Tina Cervasio and Kathryn Tappen deserve hazard pay for enduring champagne and beer showers). This was a night for the fan who had either the MLB Extra Innings package or ESPN which also updated the scores during the Padres-Brewers game. Fun night to watch.

Ok, let’s go to some links.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News writes that baseball is coming down to the wire on its final weekend and TBS is getting ready to air its first MLB postseason.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn also writes about TBS and the MLB postseason, but he also laments the passing of the Braves on TBS era and also has an interesting story on how the Texas Rangers almost became the third MLB team to air on a superstation.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about TBS snubbing Skip Carey for the playoffs and also goes into the channel’s plans for the League Divisional Series.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Tony Gwynn is just getting started on a whirlwind tour that begins this weekend for Cox Channel 4, then TBS.

Jonathan Okanes of the Contra Costa (CA) Times says TBS is stepping up to the plate for the playoffs.

In his Newsday blog, Neil Best reports that Time Warner Cable in New York and New Jersey will pick up TBS HD so fans of the Yankees (and possibly the Mets) can watch the MLB playoffs.

Mike Shields of Mediaweek says MLB.com and FoxSports.com will increase the online content for the MLB postseason with new pre and postgame shows involving talent from both sites. However, I don’t see anything on streaming games online for the US audience. I know that MLB streams games for International fans, but nothing yet for the United States.

TV Week provides the national sports ratings for the week of September 17-23.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the Yankees bringing Roger Clemens to pitch was almost worth the price of his salary.

On Sunday, 60 Minutes will have an interview with Tennessee Titans QB Vince Young and he’s still bitter over losing the Heisman Trophy to Reggie Bush.

John Dempsey of Variety has a feature of ESPN Ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune reports that city residents can now see the Big Ten Network on RCN Cable. Greenstein says the deals with RCN and Wide Open West (WOW) Cable signed Friday have now put the number of subscribers for BTN at 30 million. The Evansville (IN) Courier & Press says WOW will put BTN on its expanded basic tier.

Laura Nachman of the Bucks County Courier Times marks the 10th Anniversary of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

From the “Don’t They Have Anything Better To Do” Department comes this story from Stephanie Struglinski of the Deseret (UT) Morning News that five Western U.S. Senators are appealing to DirecTV and Dish Network to pick up the mtn. and get Mountain West games on TV. Tony Pizza (I guess that’s his real name) of the Daily Utah Chronicle, the University of Utah’s student newspaper writes about the mtn. picking up more cable carriage, albeit slowly.

Don’t call it a comeback, Mama said knock you out. SI’s Richard Deitsch talks with LL Cool J about his love for boxing.

On Friday, I linked to two stories about Boston’s WCVB-TV launching a new Sunday sports show. Here’s the station’s own story on the premiere this Sunday night. The show will be called SportsCenter 5 OT.

Those are the links for Saturday. When I started, I thought I would only have three or four, but I ended up having more than I expected which is a good thing. I’ll have NFL Picks coming up later today.

Weekend Viewing Picks

Saturday, September 29
Presidents Cup – NBC, 8 a.m.
NHL Season Opener from London – Anaheim vs. LA – CBC/HDNet, noon
MLB/Nationals at Phillies or Cubs at Reds or Angels at A’s – Fox, 3:55 p.m.
MLB/Minnesota at Red Sox – NESN, 7 p.m.
NFL Total Access – My NetworkTV, 9 p.m.
Showtime Championship Boxing/Chad Dawson vs. Adrian Diaconu – Showtime, 10 p.m.
World Championship Boxing/Kelly Pavlik vs. Jermain Taylor – HBO, 10:15 p.m.
Saturday Night Live with Lebron James (season premiere) – NBC, 11:30 p.m.

Sunday, September 30
FIFA Women’s World Cup/USA vs. Norway (3rd place match) – ESPN2, 4:55 a.m.
FIFA Women’s World Cup/Brazil vs. Germany (Final) – ESPN2, 7:55 a.m.
Presidents Cup – NBC, noon
NHL/Anaheim vs. LA live from London – Versus, noon
MLB/Minnesota at Red Sox – NESN, 2 p.m.
MLB/Detroit at White Sox – WGN, 2 p.m.
MLB/Atlanta at Houston (final Braves broadcast) – TBS, 2 p.m.
NASCAR/Kansas 400 – ABC, 2 p.m.
60 Minutes – CBS, 7:30 p.m.
The War (Part V) – PBS, 8 p.m.
Tell Me You Love Me – HBO, 9 p.m.
Curb Your Enthusiasm – HBO, 10 p.m.
Shark – CBS, 10 p.m.
Forbidden Temptations – Cinemax, 11:30 p.m.

NFL Viewing Picks for 09/30/07

Fox NFL Sunday – Fox, noon
Baltimore at Cleveland – CBS, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channel 704)
St. Louis at Dallas – Fox, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 708/723)
Chicago at Detroit – Fox, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 709/719)
Green Bay at Minnesota – Fox, 1 p.m. (DirecTV channels 710/720)
Seattle at San Francisco – Fox, 4 p.m. (DirecTV channels 711/724)
Denver at Indianapolis – CBS, 4:15 p.m. (DirecTV channels 713/721)
Kansas City at San Diego – CBS, 4:15 p.m. (DirecTV channels 715/723)
Football Night in America – NBC, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at NY Giants – NBC, 8:15 p.m.
NFL Gameday – NFL Network, 11:30 p.m.

Your coverage maps are as follows:
Fox regional coverage
CBS Early Games
CBS Late Games

And the channel assignments on Sirius Satellite Radio for Week 4.

College Football Viewing Picks for Saturday, 09/29/07 (all times Eastern)

College Gameday (live from the University of Oregon) – ESPN, 10 a.m.
Notre Dame at Purdue – ESPN, noon
LSU at Tulane – ESPN2, noon
Temple at Army – ESPNU, noon

Indiana at Iowa – Big Ten Network, noon (DirecTV channel 218/Dish Network channel 440)
Michigan at Northwestern – Big Ten Network, noon (DirecTV channel 219/Dish Network channel 441)
Penn State at Illinois – Big Ten Network, noon (DirecTV channel 220/Dish Network channel 439
Big Ten Network coverage map

Baylor at Texas A & M – Versus, 12:30 p.m.
Air Force at Navy – CSTV, 1 p.m.
Oklahoma at Colorado – FSN, 1:30 p.m.
Cal at Oregon – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Kansas State at Texas – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Maryland at Rutgers – ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Clemson at Georgia Tech – ABC/ESPN, 3:30 p.m.
Michigan State at Wisconsin – ABC/ESPN, 3:30 p.m.
ABC coverage map

Louisville at NC State – ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.
UTEP at SMU – CSTV, 4:30 p.m.
Florida State vs. Alabama at Jacksonville – CBS, 5 p.m.
UCLA at Oregon State – FSN, 6:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Virginia – ESPNU, 7 p.m.
USC at Washington – ABC, 8 p.m.
Auburn at Florida – ESPN, 8 p.m.
Ohio State at Minnesota – ESPN2, 8 p.m.
BYU at New Mexico – CSTV, 8:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at San Diego State – Versus, 10 p.m.

Here is the college football schedule on Sirius Satellite Radio.

"That’s the Wrong Video"

Thanks to Newsday’s Neil Best who posted this on his blog, this is an early candidate for Video of the Week.

Sometimes, local news broadcasts fail to check their rundowns and you get the wrong video. This video to accompany a story on Kevin Everett on a Florida TV station is not what the anchor had in mind.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

MLB/Minnesota at Red Sox – NESN, 7 p.m.
MLB/San Diego at Milwaukee – ESPN, 8 p.m.
College Football/West Virginia at South Florida -ESPN2, 8 p.m.
Live Earth Concert Special – My NetworkTV, 8 p.m.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team – CMTV, 8 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.
Bikini Chain Gang – Cinemax, 12:30 a.m

Friday Update – Big Ten Network picked up by WOW Cable and Other Stories

Some Breaking News for you.

The Big Ten Network has signed an agreement with Wide Open West (WOW) Cable meaning a presence in southwest Michigan, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus and Evansville, IN. Mark Snyder of the Detroit News has the story from the Michigan side. Jon Lafayette of TV Week writes a version of this breaking news as well. Marcus Hartman of Buckeye Sports.com says the channel will be picked up in time for the conference games this weekend. Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch says 400,000 subscribers in the Midwest will now have access to the channel.

Jeff Rabjohns of the Indianapolis Star says if you miss the Big Ten Network, you’re not missing much right now.

Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail talks Big East football with ESPN’s Sean McDonough. Keith Sargeant of the Asbury Park (NJ) Press notes that Rutgers’ football program is getting more network exposure.

Fox Sports has announced its MLB postseason schedule. Fox will cover the American League Championship Series and the World Series.

William Houston, blogging at the Toronto Globe and Mail, says John Buccigross’ edited column by ESPN.com is bad journalism. In his regular Friday column, Houston says the TNT production of the Presidents Cup from Montreal hit most of the right notes.

Chris Zelkovich in the Toronto Star says Bill Clement, Craig Simpson and Jeff Marek all were faced with some life-changing moments this NHL offseason.

That’s it for now. I’ll have Primetime Viewing Picks next. Check back later tonight for other stuff.

It’s Mega-Link Friday

Let’s not waste any time and get to the links. The theme of the day for the media writers across the country is TBS airing the MLB postseason for the first time.

We’ll start with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who writes about FSN’s Sports Science series which premieres this Sunday and the talk about the USA Women’s soccer team losing to Brazil yesterday.

From the Sports Media Watch blog, we find out that ESPN.com has squashed John Buccigross’ column in which he wrote that the Alleged Worldwide Leader wanted to get the NHL back. I had linked to the column here as well and we find out that it’s gone. Let’s hope there’s no action taken against Buccigross as I’m sure he was writing what he thought was the truth at the time.

Over to David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch where he opines that Patriots Radio announcers Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti should be replaced. I disagree, but Scott is more than entitled to his opinion. Scott also writes that WCVB-TV in Boston will launch a new Sunday night sports show.

Susan Bickelhaupt of the Boston Globe also writes about the new Sunday night show on ‘CVB.

Neil Best in Newsday writes about SNY and YES Network covering their respective teams as they get ready for the playoffs or in the Mets’ case, blow their chances for the postseason. Best has particular praise for SNY analyst Ron Darling.

In the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman says the Mets’ Paul Lo Duca makes a lot of waves speaking his mind whether it be his weekly spot on WFAN or to the media after games.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick didn’t seem to be in a bad mood when writing today’s column, but he still manages to throw some shots. He does talk about Keith Hernandez’s sometimes puzzling analysis on SNY. And Justin Terranova in the Post talks with NBC’s Tiki Barber about the Giants and his words may surprise you. Terranova also has five questions for MSG Network’s Joe Micheletti about the New York Rangers and the upcoming NHL season.

To the Baltimore Sun where Ray Frager talks about TBS not using long-time Atlanta Braves voice Skip Carey on its MLB postseason coverage. I thought this was going to be a given that Carey would be on. Chip Carey is on the number one team with Tony Gwynn, but this is a fine way for TBS to treat Skip who has been with the Braves since they started on the Superstation in 1977.

Doug Nye in The State (SC) has some news and notes for the weekend. Nye’s TV best bet is a South Carolina-Clemson college football doubleheader.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson writes about the owner of sports radio station 790 The Ticket taking shots at the Miami Dolphins and competitor WQAM. Strange.

Dave Darling in the Orlando Sentinel writes about the Braves on TBS era coming to an end this weekend. I’ll write a blog entry about it this weekend as well.

Dave Barron in the Houston Chronicle reports that the Texans-Falcons game won’t be in HDTV and Cowboys fans in the city won’t be able to see their team either.

Brian Windhorst in today’s Akron Beacon Journal has a story on the Cleveland Cavs’ Lebron James rehearsing to be host of Saturday Night Live tomorrow night.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says if Brett Favre breaks the NFL touchdown passing record in Minnesota, there won’t be much of a celebration and Fox will cover it as much as it can before going to commercial.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Judd Zulgad writes about the Mayor of Minneapolis declaring tomorrow Big Ten Network Day in the city and giving the appearance that he’s taking sides in the BTN/Comcast dispute.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin discusses TBS taking part in the MLB postseason for the first time, but he calls it “Ted Turner’s cable network”. Ted Turner hasn’t owned TBS since selling it to Time Warner in 1996.

Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune talks about TBS’ Skip Carey not being used for the MLB postseason.

From the North County Times, John Maffei writes about Tony Gwynn’s busy postseason for TBS.

In the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle focuses on TBS taking over the MLB League Divisional Series.

Two Sound & Vision columns from Christine Daniels in the LA Times. First is on the Voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully, being surprised that the Dodgers fell out of playoff contention. And she gives her choices for the TV sporting weekend.

Tom Hoffarth has his usual series of articles in the LA Daily News today and his first is on ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit being a frequent flyer during the college football season. The second story is on FSN’s Sports Science series plus Hoffarth has his What Smokes/What Chokes feature and Versus is not spared at all. In his Farther Off the Wall blog, Hoffarth expands on the Sports Science story. And he has another extensive expanded media notes entry as well.

There you go. Those are your mega-links for today. I’ll have more later. Check back when you can.

Some Thursday Night Links

Let’s give a few links tonight.

First, if you’re a subscriber to XM Satellite Radio and an NHL fan, you’re in luck because it will carry every game of the season. This is the first year of a long term agreement. The NHL had been with Sirius up until last season. Orbitcast has that story.

ESPNU has picked up 75,000 subscribers thanks to a new agreement with Armstrong Cable Systems. The channel can now be seen on Armstrong systems in Western PA, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland.

Tim Ott of MLB.com has a story on TBS getting ready to broadcast its first MLB postseason. Here are highlights of a TBS Conference Call with the media involving Cal Ripken, Jr., Tony Gwynn and Chip Carey.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley writes about the President’s Cup, Dan Dierdorf’s comments on Tony Kornheiser and Dan Marino being gracious about Brett Favre tying his touchdown record.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has the channel assignments for the Big Ten Network games at noon ET on both DirecTV and Dish Network. I will also list them tomorrow when I list the College Football Viewing Picks.

Allan Kreda at Porfolio.com writes about Joe Theismann’s unceremonious bouncing from ESPN.

Forbes Magazine lists the Top 40 Sports Brands in the World and at number one is ESPN. I’m sure CNBC’s Darren Rovell will have his take on this tomorrow. Here’s a slideshow of the brands from number 1-40.

Will Leitch of Deadspin writes in New York Magazine about the reaction to his story last week about Alex Rodriguez’s agent Scott Boras looking into buying the Chicago Cubs and it being pushed into the Sports Spin Cycle as Leitch calls it.

Dan Patrick posted on his blog Wednesday that he’s coming back next week.

By the way, if you’re a Comcast subscriber, you might be interested in the 5 Confessions of a Comcast Customer Service Rep posted on the Consumerist blog. I do this as a public service. Sometimes it’s not all sports here at Fang’s Bites.

And that’s going to do it. Friday will be busy as we’ll have our mega-links, Primetime Viewing Picks, Weekend Viewing Picks, College Football and NFL Viewing Picks and my NFL Picks. How will I get it all in?

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

Minnesota at Red Sox – NESN, 7 p.m.
College Football/Southern Mississippi at Boise State – ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
Survivor China – CBS, 8 p.m.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (season premiere) – CBS, 9 p.m.
Grey’s Anatomy (season premiere) – ABC, 9 p.m.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – FX, 10 p.m.
The Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

Thursday Afternoon Linkage

I’ll give you a few links here and then head for home. I may have an update tonight. Not sure.

First, Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News reports in his Farther Off the Wall blog that KLAC has made a change in its morning show, blowing out Fred Roggin, TJ. Simers and Tracy Simers today. Dan Patrick will take their place starting next Monday. Katy Bachman of Mediaweek reports on the premiere of Dan’s new show on Monday which will be syndicated from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET. Radio Ink magazine says the Content Factory will syndicate the show with Premiere Radio Networks distributing it. Phil Wallace of the SoCal Sports Observed blog has his take on the decision to remove Roggin and the Simers from KLAC.

Some Breaking News here, in a move that is not a surprise to anyone, Pro Football Talk breaks the story that Joe Theismann has been dropped by ESPN (scroll down to 2:08 p.m.).

Neil Best in his Newsday blog says Cablevision will add TBS HD next week in time for next week’s League Divisional Series.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says TBS is ramping up its promotion for the MLB Postseason.

CBS Sports tells us that it will have a Super Bowl QB symposium on the NFL Today this Sunday. And NFL analysts Dan Marino, Phil Simms, Dan Dierdorf and Rich Gannon chime in for Week 4, plus if you scroll down, CBS provides the announcer assignments for the next three weeks.

ESPN will have a special documentary on Outside the Lines on October 7 focusing on the son and grandson of the Reverend Jim Jones, who was the notorious cult leader who led hundreds to mass suicide in 1978.

That’s it for now.

The Thursday Stuff

Hello, time for some links. Pretty busy morning at work so I’m trying to squeeze in some information for you in between tasks.

First, ESPN Radio has made its announcer assignments for the MLB postseason. While ESPN TV no longer has the rights to the League Division Series as it once did, ESPN Radio will have complete coverage. The teams are as follows:

Divisional Series

Dan Shulman-Dave Campbell

Jon Miller-Dusty Baker

Gary Thorne-Steve Phillips

Jon Sciambi-Buck Martinez

LCS

Shulman-Campbell

Jon Miller-Joe Morgan

World Series

Miller-Morgan; Shulman, Campbell and Peter Pascarelli pre- and post-game analysis and interviews.

Over to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette where Bill Doyle writes that New England Patriots defensive back Ellis Hobbs is the star of a new furniture commercial airing locally.

In the Sports Media Watch blog, Paulsen writes that ESPN SportsCenter anchor and hockey maven John Buccigross has predicted that the Alleged Worldwide Leader will return to the NHL. Here’s Buccigross’ column from ESPN.com.

And thanks to Paulsen who links to the story on his blog, Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Skip Carey is angry with TBS for not selecting him for the MLB postseason coverage. I did find that odd. And Neil Best of Newsday blogs that leaving Skip off the TBS playoff roster isn’t a big deal.

Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail writes about TBS coming into the MLB postseason game for the first time.

Stuart Crosby in the Newnan Times-Herald laments the end of the Braves on TBS.

Mel Bracht in the Oklahoman (also home to Jenni Carlson) writes about the Atlanta Braves on TBS era sadly coming to an end. Bracht has some news and notes in his media notebook.

Another era coming to an end in Kansas City tonight where RSTN airs its last Royals game. Fox Sports Midwest takes over the Royals TV rights next season.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News writes that FSN Bay Area caught an incident between the Padres and Giants, but didn’t show it.

Best writes that ESPN2′s Julie Foudy ripped US Women’s Soccer coach Greg Ryan for his strategy for switching goaltenders for today’s USA-Brazil game (notice the lovely pic of Julie with Brandi Chastain). Brazil won 4-0 today. And Best says Heather Mitts (Neil has a rather steamy pic of Heather) is chiming in as well.

Mike Murphy, an Indiana State Representative, has written an anti-Big Ten Network piece in today’s Indianapolis Star. From Business Week’s Sports Business special issue, Geoff Gloecker has a feature on Big Ten Commissioner James Delaney saying the conference has now become big business. Todd Milewski of the Capital (WI) Times writes that even with less games being picked up by FSN Wisconsin and two games on rarely seen the Big Ten Network, the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach is not concerned over the reduced exposure.

And also from the Business Week Sports Business issue, Geoff Gloecker and Tom Lowry have a profile of what the magazine calls the most powerful man in sports, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The Inside Track girls in the Boston Herald write that ESPN will poke fun at the Patriots spygate scandal during the open on Monday Night Football next week.

Bill Fleischman of the Philadelphia Daily News writes in his NASCAR notebook (scroll down) that ESPN’s Suzy Kolber is enjoying her dual role as host of NASCAR Countdown and sideline reporter on Monday Night Football.

Scott Long in the Baseball Toaster blog says ESPN.com is no longer relevant. I agree.

Dish Network will pick up four Regional Sports Networks channels in HD.

The microsite for NBC’s Sunday Night Football has won an award for website design.

TSN has announced its features for its 70 game NHL national schedule in Canada. Bill Clement who lost his NHL studio hosting jobs on both NBC and Versus has picked up a gig with Rogers Sportsnet.

And CBC has signed a deal with YouTube to share content. Good move. I like this.

Those are your links for today.

Wednesday Night Update

You’re probably sick of me talking about The War, but I have to say this installment was very good. Episode 4 dealt with D-Day in Europe and the Battle of Saipan in the Pacific. Unbelievable footage that Ken Burns obtained for this part. Plus, the stories of the contributions of the Japanese and African American soldiers show us how diverse the military became in World War II. And Senator Daniel Inoye’s story of him rifle butting a German soldier thinking he was reaching for a gun, but was going to show him a picture of his wife shows us how brutal war can be. I’m just riveted to the TV. The next part is Sunday night.

Let’s give you a few links tonight.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews Business Week’s Sports Power 100 and he notes those who made it and those he feels should have made it. If you’re wondering, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is number one. I read the articles in the issue published in cooperation with ESPN the Magazine and they’re very good.

Newsday’s Neil Best blogs about WFAN’s Mike Francesca singing Cat Stevens. What?

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has a blog entry about the ESPN/MLB feud.

CSTV has announced that former Florida State QB Peter Tom Willis will be a guest analyst on the SEC Tailgate Show before CBS’ broadcast of Alabama-Florida State at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville.

The Boston Globe’s, ESPN’s and the Tennis Channel’s Bud Collins will be honored by the International Tennis Hall of Fame at a dinner in Boston next week. It’s well deserved.

NBC Sports talks about the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. And NBC’s Johnny Miller and Roger Maltbie headlined a conference call on the President’s Cup which takes place in Montreal starting tomorrow.

XM Satellite Radio begins its first year as the exclusive satellite home of the NHL. William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with NHL analysts Nick Kypreos of Rogers Sportsnet, Glenn Healy of TSN and Pierre McGuire of TSN and NBC about the upcoming season which begins this Saturday, believe it or not.

That’s it for this evening. Back on Thursday.

Primetime Viewing Picks

Atlanta at Philadelphia – ESPN, 7 p.m.
The War, Part IV – PBS, 8 p.m. or check your local listings
Bionic Woman (series premiere) – NBC, 9 p.m.
Hotel Babylon – BBC America, 9 p.m.
Inside the NFL – HBO, 10 p.m.

Mid-Week Update

Time for some more links for you on this Wednesday afternoon.

Neil Best has been blogging like crazy today in his Newsday Watchdog blog. He breaks news that TBS will assign Chip Carey and Tony Gwynn to the Yankees’ American League Division Series no matter who or where they play. And Best says the New York Islanders have created a “blog box” section on its website. Finally, Best writes that Mets and Yankees fans are hopeful that Cablevision, Dish Network and Verizon Fios will add TBS HD in time for the League Division Series next week, but it’s not looking good.

I’m not sure if MLB.com will stream the afternoon LDS games next week. If it does, I’ll certainly let you know.

Over at Dan Patrick’s website, the countdown to his new show is now at less than five days. He has a new statement on Brett Favre. He also has a new blog over at WordPress to go along with his interactive site. Also, there’s a clip in the video section of him calling Mike Tirico last week. Go check it out.

From the Oregon Daily Emerald, the student newspaper of the University of Oregon, we discover that ESPN’s College Gameday will be heading to the Eugene campus this Saturday.

Ray McNulty of the Sebastian (FL) Sun writes that ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack has had a stellar year on the network thus far. You may remember Cossack and Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren first gained notoriety for being legal analysts for CNN during the OJ Simpson trial.

Dale Anderson of the Buffalo News writes that long time sportscaster Don Criqui was one of six inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame last night.

Minneapolis’ Mayor has declared Saturday, Big Ten Network Day in the city.

John Carlson of the Des Moines Register is getting fed up of not being able to see the Cubs or the Iowa Hawkeyes because of blackout restrictions.

ESPN’s and MASN’s Gary Thorne writes in the Bangor (ME) Daily News about the danger of broadcasters not being objective thanks to team or league-created Regional Sports Networks. Thorne calls Orioles games on MASN, created by O’s owner Peter Angelos. Nothing like calling the kettle black, Gary.

Multichannel News’ Kent Gibbons reports that DirecTV has added 21 channels in HD including TBS HD, a shared channel for Versus and Golf Channel in HD in addition to the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network.

Those are your links for now

Wednesday Morning Links

Back to work on this Hump Day. Time for the links.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes about the South Carolina-Lee Corso “feud”. I put feud in quotation marks because its something Gamecock boosters are using to get fans motivated. And Corso’s co-hosts on College Gameday are using it to poke fun at him.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News has a few tidbits including NBA Commish David Stern being interviewed by San Francisco sports radio station KNBR.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer Bob Wolfley talks about the friendship between New York Giants GM Ernie Accorsi and former Green Bay GM Ron Wolf that’s part of a new book about Accorsi.

An editorial in the Daily Southtown paper in Chicago criticizes TBS for not putting the League Division Series on regular TV and leaving Cubs fans who don’t have cable without a way to watch the games. The last MLB TV contract had a provision for putting the LDS on over the air television, but TBS sought exclusivity this time around and got it.

Keith Reed in today’s Boston Globe writes that Comcast will add TBS to its high definition tier in time for next week’s League Division Series.

Brent Johnson of the Daily News Record (VA) says it appears Comcast is not going to add ESPN360.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says Monday Night Football and SEC football pushed ESPN to the top of the cable primetime ratings. And ESPN says Sunday NFL Countdown’s ratings have gone up 11% from last year.

Sunday Night Football ruled the ratings from the last week and The War also attracted viewers for PBS. NBC says Sunday Night Football’s ratings for Dallas-Chicago were the highest since the American Idol finale earlier this year.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner writes that the Washington Nationals have signed a new contract with Bonneville Radio keeping the team on WWWT and WTOP for many years to come.

James Paton of the Rocky Mountain News writes about FSN Rocky Mountain and Altitude showing more high school football games on their respective channels.

Matt Goul of the Morning Journal in Cleveland has a story about Browns kick returner Joshua Cribbs doing a reality show on FSN Ohio.

LA Times columnist T.J. Simers writes about his experience filming one line on the new Disney movie “The Game Plan” starring The Rock.

Cox Communications has announced its putting the NFL Network on its digital sports tier on systems in Northern Virginia.

CBC Sports has announced Winkler, Manitoba will be this season’s site for Hockey Day in Canada on February 9.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says a roundtable discussion on the NHL will air on The Score tonight.

Usually I don’t put fashion stories in here, but Lauren Beckham Falcone of the Boston Herald writes about a local stylist who’s outfitting the Monday Night Football crew for the second straight season. She also styles Katherine Couric if you care.

Tuesday Night Stuff

Time for some links on this Tuesday night.

Let me say The War is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. It’s compelling, the footage from the front lines taken by newsreels or by official military filmmakers is amazing. And hearing how people coped at home in four cities, Waterbury, CT; Mobile, AL; Lucerne, MN; and Sacramento, CA humanized the stories. Plus, the use of letters from soldiers and their families from home helps to give the viewer a sense of what everyone went through. It’s a device Director Ken Burns has used in The Civil War so well. Great TV. Tomorrow night, The War chronicles D-Day. Watch this when you can.

Ok, to the links.

The Sports Media Watch blog looks at the drop in ratings for ESPN’s Monday Night Football through the first three weeks of the NFL season.

Neil Best of Newsday blogs that The Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson has written a reply to Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy’s tirade against her last Saturday.

ESPN.com’s Gregg Easterbrook has his usual Tuesday Morning Quarterback column.

Not that this comes as a surprise, but a study shows that sports websites are mostly visited by males aged 18-34.

Milwaukee Bucks fans can see 70 games on FSN Wisconsin this season.

Ray Frager in his Medium Well blog at the Baltimore Sun says Fox’ Curt Menefee made a reference to “The View” to former QB Tim Hasselbeck. His wife, Elizabeth is a panelist on the show.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Frank Fitzpatrick writes that the ratings for Phillies games on Comcast SportsNet are up this season.

Darren Rovell from CNBC writes that the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against the New York Knicks will not affect them at the gate.

The 38Cliches blog looks at the comments at the petition site to remove Glenn Geffner from the Red Sox radio booth. And LC celebrates the long-awaited return of Dave O’Brien to the Shaw’s/Lowe’s/TD Banknorth/Covidien Red Sox Radio Network airwaves.

Will Leitch over at Deadspin has his take on the latest chapter of the ESPN/MLB feud.

And from the great Awful Announcing blog, apparently Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban likes to hold his rod.

Have a good night. See you Wednesday.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

Oakland at Red Sox – NESN, 7 p.m.
The War, Part III – PBS, 8 p.m. or check your local listings
Bones – Fox, 8 p.m.
Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later – HBO, 8 p.m.
Baseball Tonight – ESPN, 10 p.m.

Tuesday Afternoon Links Update

Time for some new links today.

CBS Sports is crowing about its college football ratings. The South Carolina-LSU game on Saturday was way up from last year at the same time.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the ratings of selected events from the weekend.

Looking at the weekend overnight ratings listed by the Sports Media Watch, Fox may have stemmed the tide for the NFL pregame shows. Fox NFL Sunday registered a 3.3/9 while the NFL Today on CBS mustered a 2.6/7. We’ll see what the final ratings register later in the week.

From the Daily Cardinal, the University of Wisconsin’s school newspaper, Charles Brace writes that two state legislators are calling on the state’s two major cable companies to provide the Big Ten Network to consumers.

John Ryan in his Morning Buzz blog at the San Jose Mercury News says it was quite an interesting weekend on the college football front for ESPN (Erin Andrews kissing West Virginia QB Pat White and Mike Patrick talking about Britney Spears). And Ryan notes that the San Jose Sharks are bringing back “Rock ‘n Roll, Part II” for goal celebrations after a one year absence.

Is the Commonwealth of Virginia piling on? A state grand jury has indicted suspended Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick on dogfighting charges. He faces 10 years if convicted.

In the Washington Post, Leonard Shapiro criticizes Comcast SportsNet for allowing Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to be interviewed by his close friend, George Michael, formerly of George Michael’s Sports Machine.

The Biz of Baseball’s Maury Brown writes that NBC’s Tim Russert will host the Red Sox Nation Presidential Debate that will air on NESN Friday night. Don’t ask. I’m a Red Sox fan and I’m embarrassed about this.

Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News has some stuff in his Farther Off the Wall blog on the Mike Gundy-Jenni Carlson incident from the weekend.

That’s it for now. Primetime Viewing Picks coming up.

Tuesday Morning Linkage

Let’s give you some links.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that CBS’ Jim Nantz lost sight of the big picture in the Chargers-Packers game on Sunday.

Neil Best of Newsday writes about TBS coming into the MLB postseason game and he mentions the strange exchange between Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge on ESPN. And Best has ESPN’s spin of Patrick’s comments in his blog.

Mark McCarter of the Huntsville (AL) Times tackles the Mike Patrick comments.

The Chicago Sun-Times says Cubs fans without cable won’t be able to see their team in the playoffs because TBS has the League Division Series and the League Championship Series and neither will be available on free TV. Paul Sullivan blogs in the Chicago Tribune that Chip Carey and Steve Stone could be re-teamed on the Cubs playoffs games for TBS. Carey and Stone worked Cubs games on WGN until 2004.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman praises SNY’s Mets analyst Keith Hernandez for being honest about the team.

Jim Williams of the Baltimore/DC Examiner has his regular Tuesday column.

Anthony Crupi in Mediaweek writes that while the ratings for Sunday and Monday Night Football are down, there’s no need for panic.

Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune says the Bay Area CBS and Fox affiliates don’t understand the NFL TV blackout rules which prevented both from airing a late game even though the Raiders were not shown locally.

Motor Sports TV critic John Daly writes in his Daly Planet blog that ESPN on ABC’s Nextel Cup broadcasts are still a work in progress.

The TV Voice of the Portland Trail Blazers, Mike Barrett, says there will be 76 regular season games combined on the new Comcast SportsNet Northwest and KGW-TV.

David Naylor in the Toronto Globe and Mail blogs that Canadians can be seen on American college football broadcasts.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about Sherali Najak who will oversee Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Najak has a very interesting story on how he got to Canada from Uganda.

The Canadian Press has a story on NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman including his statements on the cable TV contract.

That will do it for now. Check back for possible updates.

Monday Night Links

I just finished watching the second installment of Ken Burn’s The War on PBS. Just like The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, Mark Twain, Empire of the Air, and The West, this epic is excellent. I saw bits and pieces of the first installment on Sunday and all of tonight’s and Ken Burns’ storytelling is second to none. The interviews from those who experienced World War II whether on the front lines, from the air or at the home front cannot be duplicated. Plus, the footage that Burns has found from the War in Tunisia, Sicily and Rome is amazing. The newsreels can be seen over on Burns’ The War site which is linked above. This is compelling television and I will be recommending this in the Primetime Viewing Picks for Wednesday and Thursday.

Darren Rovell of CNBC has the outcome of the bet he made with Texas oilman and big-time Oklahoma State booster Boone Pickens.

Over to the Sports Media Watch blog where Paulsen has the broadcast teams for TBS during the MLB Division Series (as I told you last week, NESN’s Don Orsillo will be involved). And here are over the overnight ratings from the weekend. An offshoot from Paulsen’s story about the weekend TV ratings is this press release from NBC Universal touting the numbers for Sunday Night Football for Dallas-Chicago.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle in his Four DVR’s, no waiting blog says the Colts-Texans cleaned up in the ratings for the CBS affiliate. And Barron reviews the Sunday NFL pregame shows.

This is the official press release from Turner Sports about the announcer assignments for the MLB Postseason on TBS/TNT.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail has his take on the latest ESPN/MLB dispute.

Newsday’s Neil Best is also blogging tonight! My goodness! He talks about the 9.9 seconds of silence viewers had to endure during the halftime of tonight’s Monday Night Football game as Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser had trouble hearing each other for their mini-Pardon the Interruption segment.

The networks have selected the games and times for October 6. The Kansas-Kansas State game will be played at noon (11 a.m. local time) on FSN. Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News reports that the Red River Shootout between Oklahoma and Texas will played at 3:30 p.m. on ABC and FSN will pick up the Oklahoma State-Texas A&M game for 7:30 p.m. Mike Dearmond of the Kansas City Star reports that ESPN has selected Nebraska-Missouri for a primetime 9:15 p.m. ET slot. CBS will air Florida at LSU, also in primetime. From the Detroit News, Eric Lacy reports that the Big Ten Network will pick up the Michigan-Eastern Michigan game. Minnesota at Indiana will also be on BTN.

GoDaddy.com has announced that Cincinnati Bengals’ WR Chad Johnson will appear in its ads on ESPN college football games.

Bill Ordine of the Baltimore Sun blogs about the bizarre Mike Patrick comments about Britney Spears during the Georgia-Alabama game.

John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that advertisers are flocking to the NFL on the league’s TV partners’ broadcasts.

Nick Daschel of The Columbian (WA) interviews long time Pac 10 Commissioner Tom Hansen about his years as the Commish and the conference’s TV contracts with ESPN and FSN.

Jason Buhrmester of Wired magazine writes about NFL Films digitizing its extensive library and if you know the history of NFL Films, this is a huge project.

David Goetzl of Media Daily News reports that in exchange for carriage on basic, the Tennis Channel gave an equity stake to DirecTV.

Congratulations to LC who has got his old 38Cliches site back so again, adjust your bookmarks accordingly. You can put 38cliches.com in your bookmarks again and you’ll be able to see his entire site in its original glory.

A lot of links for you tonight. I’m heading to bed as it’s close to midnight, but I’ll catch a bit of Letterman before I do. I’ll see you Tuesday morning.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks

The War, Part II – PBS, 8 p.m. or check your local listings
Prison Break – Fox, 8 p.m.
How I Met Your Mother (season premiere) – CBS, 8 p.m.
Monday Night Football/Tennessee at New Orleans – ESPN, 8:30 p.m.
Two and a Half Men (season premiere) – CBS, 9 p.m.
The Late Show with David Letterman – CBS, 11:35 p.m.

MLB and ESPN Fighting Again

Remember back in July when ESPN was punished by MLB for breaking the embargo on the All Star game announcements? The announcements were supposed to be made by TBS on its own exclusive program and ESPN was to wait until everything was done, but instead, the Alleged Worldwide Leader made them as the TBS program was ongoing. So MLB punished ESPN by not allowing Baseball Tonight to have a set at Pac Bell Park during All Star Weekend. In fact, Neil Best of Newsday was among the first reporters to break the story.

Today, Best points to a Sports Business Journal story, written by John Ourand, that says ESPN and MLB are fighting again, this time over postseason promos that the league feels the network is supposed to air. MLB says the promos are supposed to say Fox and TBS are carrying the playoffs, but ESPN argues its policy prevents it from promoting other networks. MLB states ESPN carries promos for the NBA playoffs on TNT, but ESPN counters saying its NBA contract requires cross-promotion and its current contract with MLB does not. ESPN’s contract with MLB runs until 2013 and does not include any postseason coverage.

We’ll see how this plays out. Regular readers know how much I enjoy conflicts involving ESPN.

Monday Links

Been involved with too much work today. Yes, work getting in the way of blogging. Horrible, isn’t it? Ok, let’s get to the stuff for today.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he recaps the TV sporting weekend including the reaction to Donovan McNabb and Mike Patrick’s strangely-timed question about Britney Spears during the Georgia-Alabama game.

John Molori of the Boston Sports Media Watch criticizes the Fox NFL Sunday analysts for their criticism of Donovan McNabb’s comments on Real Sports.

A story surfaced this weekend that Alex Rodriguez’ agent, Scott Boras, was negotiating with the Tribune Company to buy the Chicago Cubs and thus, thinking about giving a stake to A-Rod. CNBC’s Darren Rovell says not only is this unlikely, but it’s also unlikely for A-Rod to join the Cubs next year anyway.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick goes after broadcasters who don’t admit they’re wrong even after replays show that they’ve erred.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein says the Big Ten Network has asked analyst Howard Griffin not to take part in the Harris college football poll.

From the New York Daily News, Dick Weiss says Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy should apologize to Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson for writing what he perceived was a negative piece. Newsday’s Neil Best says the rant ranks as one of the best anti-media rants ever. And here’s the video itself.

Warren Gerds of the Green Bay Press-Gazette says former Packer Darren Sharper has become an anchor for a Minneapolis TV station.

Jon Friedman of Marketwatch.com is not a fan of ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says the ratings for primetime football on NBC and ESPN are down quite a bit from last year. Mike Mulhern from the Winston-Salem Journal says the NFL regularly outpaces NASCAR in the ratings.

Dan McGrath of the Chicago Tribune says NBC stepped up in last night’s Dallas-Chicago game.

Michael Zuidema of the Grands Rapids Press reviews the Sunday NFL pregame shows.

Craig Stephenson of Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer writes that CBS has selected the Alabama-Florida State game for this Saturday and that means ESPN will have the Auburn-Florida in primetime.

Dusty Saunders in today’s Rocky Mountain News says ESPN won’t be part of the MLB postseason for the first time in over a dozen years. R. Thomas Umstead of the Multichannel News says TBS has a lot of plans for the playoffs.

In the New York Times, Wendy Lee says the TV screen is becoming more cluttered and she points out that this is especially true in sports broadcasts.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Fox’ Troy Aikman and TSN’s Glen Suitor are two of the best football analysts on TV.

That’s it for now.

Videos of the Week

I haven’t done anything on Fang’s Bites fav Shandi Finneseey for quite some time. The last video I posted of her was back on May 23 and the last picture I posted of her was on May 19, so it’s time that I give Shandi her due and devote an entire post to her.

This demo video is from her website:

This is from her Miss USA 2004 photo shoot. She says she’s hot and she truly is.

I’m not a fan of Dancing with the Stars, my parents like to watch it so when I’m at their house for dinner, it’s usually on the TV, but when Shandi was on, I could not help but to stop and stare.
This is from her first week.

Who could resist watching her especially when she wore the outfit that she had on this night.

I think this appearance was her last on the show. I don’t watch the show, but judging from the videos, I think she was eliminated. I wish there were more.

And this is Shandi and her partner from Dancing with the Stars on GSN’s quiznation.

That’s it. Maybe next week, I’ll devote an entire post to Shana Hiatt of NBC’s Poker After Dark.

"Why do we care…? Is she here?"

Thanks to the Sports Media Watch Blog which got it from the Awful Announcing blog, this almost became the Video of the Week. For some strange unknown reason, ESPN’s Mike Patrick decided to bring up Britney Spears during the overtime of the tense Georgia-Alabama game. I’ll say it again, during the overtime of the tense Georgia-Alabama game.

Listen to Patrick as he brings up Britney and how analyst Todd Blackledge responds rather incredulously. On the next snap, UGA wins the game. I mean, how can you go from the game to Britney? Where was the transition? And what was Mike thinking?

It’s a great video. Rather strange as well.