NCAA
Apr
29
ESPN to Cover All NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Regionals for the First Time
Here’s our last ESPN-centric post for now. The Alleged Worldwide Leader says it will cover all of the 16 sites comprising the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Regionals. This will occur between May 31 through June 3. This marks the first time that the entire first round of the college baseball tournament will be covered either through television or online.
In addition, ESPN will launch Bases Loaded, a Red Zone Channel-type platform that will launch on Friday, May 31 and last through Monday, June 3. ESPN3 will carry all four days of Bases Loaded in its entirety. ESPN2 or ESPNU will simulcast the new service in between games or during rain delays.
This will all lead to the Super Regionals and then the College World Series in Omaha, NE in June. Let’s take a look at the ESPN announcement.
ESPN to Cover All 16 Division I Baseball Championship Regionals for First Time
Bases Loaded Platform to Provide Day & Night Whip-Around Coverage
ESPN will continue to increase its commitment to college baseball by covering all 16 sites of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship from Friday, May 31 to Monday, June 3. It will mark the first time every first-round game of the event – up to 7 games from each of the 16 locations for a total of a possible 112 matchups over four days – will be available to fans live on a national platform. ESPN provided coverage of six sites in 2012, four in 2011 and two the previous six years.
ESPN will also launch Bases Loaded, a four-day platform to update fans throughout the action. Similar to ESPN’s Goal Line and Buzzer Beater networks, Bases Loaded will provide unlimited live cut-ins and highlights from numerous games, plus up-to-the-minute commentary from ESPN analysts and experts each day of the Regionals. Bases Loaded will be available Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1, from 2 p.m. ET to midnight; Sunday, June 2, from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m.; and Monday, June 3, from 6 p.m. to midnight. ESPN3 will carry the network in its entirety while ESPNU and ESPN2 will simulcast at select times, including between games and rain delays when time permits. Every game will also be available on WatchESPN.
ESPN offered a network record 272 regular-season and conference championship games – 160 exclusively – across ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN2 and ESPN in the 2013 campaign. This season’s lineup marks an increase of 50 exclusive games over the 110 regular-season and conference championship matchups on ESPN platforms in 2012.
In addition to the expanded Regionals schedule, ESPN will continue to cover every Super Regional site (up to 24 games from eight sites) and all possible 17 games of the College World Series.
Selection Show
The 2013 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship field of 64 teams will be announced on May 27 at Noon on ESPNU.
And I have a couple of more posts for you, but they won’t involve ESPN.
Apr
05
CBS Airs NCAA Division II Men’s Championship on Sunday
CBS Sports continues its college basketball coverage on Sunday with live coverage of the NCAA Division II Men’s Championship live from Philips Arena in Atlanta. Metro State takes on Drury. Tim Brando and Dan Bonner will have the call with Lewis Johnson on the sidelines.
In addition, Greg Gumbel, Doug Gottlieb and Seth Davis will be on hand for the halftime festivities. The game takes the air at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Before that, CBS/Turner Sports offers taped coverage of the College All-Star Game at 2 p.m. ET.
Here’s the press release from CBS Sports.
CBS SPORTS HOOPS IT UP ON SUNDAY WITH NCAA DIVISION II MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
CBS Sports and Turner Sports Present Reese’s College All-Star Game
CBS Sports continues its live college basketball coverage from Atlanta on Sunday, April 7 with the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship and College All-Star game.
For the 23rd consecutive year, CBS Sports broadcasts the NCAA Men’s Division II Basketball Championship. Metro State takes on Drury live from Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga. at 4:00 PM, ET. Tim Brando, Dan Bonner and reporter Lewis Johnson call the action. Ken Mack produces and Andy Goldberg directs.
AT THE HALF, CBS Sports’ halftime studio show, hosted by Greg Gumbel along with analysts Doug Gottlieb and Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis, provide all the day’s news, scores and highlights live from Phillips Arena. Eric Mann produces and Bob Matina directs. Harold Bryant is Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
Turner Sports and CBS Sports present the College All-Star game (2:00 PM, ET; Taped 4/5) from the Georgia Dome featuring the top senior college basketball players. Turner Sports’ Matt Winer, Greg Anthony, Mike Gminski and reporter Tracy Wolfson are courtside to handle the call. Mack produces and Goldberg directs.
And ESPN’s coverage plans at the Women’s Final Four is next.
Nov
16
Doing Some Friday Megalinks
Let’s do some Friday megalinks. Haven’t done any in a couple of weeks.
The Weekend Viewing Picks have all of your sports and entertainment TV needs.
Time for the linkage.
National
Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes the rising rights fees for the college football postseason.
Michael writes about Today show Executive Producer Jim Bell coming home to NBC Sports to oversee all Olympic broadcasts.
Chris Chase from USA Today has 60 Minutes responding to Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers’ complaints about a recent profile.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the Outdoor and Sportsman Channels plan to merge.
Will Leitch at Sports on Earth says the Rick Reilly experiment at ESPN has not worked.
Bryan Curtis of Grantland notes that last night’s Celtics-Nets game was the first game that Brooklyn native Marv Albert got to call in the borough.
Alex Weprin of TV Newser reports that Keith Olbermann will be back on sports television next week by doing a guest stint on a league-owned network.
Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing feels ESPN has lost its viewers trust.
The Big Lead speculates whether Sports Illustrated’s Peter King will remain with the magazine or leave when his contract expires.
Sports Media Watch says despite a fight, ESPN’s ratings for the next-to-last Sprint Cup race of the season finished down from last year.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz who’s back on the Patriots beat this week.
Chad has five questions with Nantz.
Boston Sports Media Watch Fearless Leader Bruce Allen speculates in SB Nation on who might become the Flash Boy or Girl for WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show.
Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette has NESN’s Jack Edwards becoming increasingly skeptical about playing hockey this season.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir notes that a new Broadway play will delve into the history of the Yankees.
Amy Chozick and Michael Cieply of the Times write about Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. buying a stake into the YES Network.
Newsday’s Neil Best talks about Mike Emrick calling college hockey tonight.
The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick conducts a character assassination on ESPN’s Dick Vitale.
The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for New York Knicks radio voice Spero Dedes.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Dottie Pepper who’s leaving NBC Sports for a position with the PGA of America.
Ken McMillen of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Darrelle Revis’ comments to NFL Network’s Andrea Kremer about his season-ending injury for the New York Jets.
Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that the ratings increases for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals reflect their successes on the field.
In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has some thoughts on the NFL Network’s documentary on John Riggins.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN’s NASCAR voice Allen Bestwick about the last race of the season.
South
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that most CBS stations across the country and even in Texas have chosen to air the Dallas Cowboys over the Texans.
David has a few viewing picks for the weekend.
Midwest
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel doesn’t agree with Aaron Rodgers’ complaints about 60 Minutes.
Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch notes that the NCAA has removed one-third of the media’s courtside seats at the Final Four™.
Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about a local sports radio host who lost his job after making remarks about African Americans.
West
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has his Weekend Viewing Picks.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at a new documentary on the UCLA-USC rivalry.
Tom wonders why it took so long for DirecTV and Time Warner Cable SportsNet to make an agreement.
Tom has stuff that didn’t make it into today’s sports column.
And that’s going to do it.
Oct
09
CBS Sports Announces 2012-13 College Basketball Schedule
This just released by CBS Sports, the 42 games schedule for college basketball. This marks the 32nd consecutive year CBS has been airing college basketball and it culminates with the Final Four to be played this season at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
CBS will carry games from the A-10, ACC, Big East, Big 12, Pac-12 and the SEC. As usual, CBS carries a women’s doubleheader on NFL Wild Card Saturday opposite NBC’s games.
In addition, CBS airs five conference championship games. One change has CBS carrying the Mountain West Championship Game on March 16, 2013 replacing the Pac-12 Championship which will alternate between ESPN and Fox.
Lets take a look at the CBS announcement and schedule.
CBS SPORTS COLLEGE BASKETBALL 2012-13 REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTED BY TOP TEAMS FROM 10 CONFERENCES
FIVE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGHLIGHT CBS SPORTS’ 32nd CONSECUTIVE REGULAR-SEASON
CBS Sports’ 32nd consecutive season of college basketball tips off on Saturday, Dec. 1 (12:30 PM, ET) with a national broadcast featuring Baylor taking on Kentucky. CBS Sports’ 2012-13 schedule includes 42 games featuring top teams from 10 conferences, including five Conference Championships.
CBS Sports’ lead college basketball announce team is Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg for the fifth consecutive year. Mark Wolff serves as Coordinating Producer, College Basketball, and Bob Fishman is the lead director.
Harold Bryant is Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
Highlights of the 16-week Regular-Season schedule include:
42 Regular-Season Match-ups – 10 Conferences:
- 40 men’s contests and two women’s games featuring teams from top conferences including the Big Ten, Big East, ACC, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12 and Atlantic 10.
Outstanding Non-Conference Games:
- Baylor at Kentucky – Saturday, Dec. 1
- Kansas at Ohio State – Saturday, Dec. 22
- Kentucky at Louisville – Saturday, Dec. 29
- Temple at Kansas – Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013
Key Conference Contests:
- Michigan at Ohio State – Sunday, Jan. 13
- Maryland at Duke – Saturday, Jan. 26
- Michigan State at Indiana – Sunday, Jan. 27
- Ohio State at Wisconsin – Sunday, Feb. 17
- Georgetown at Syracuse – Saturday, Feb. 23
- Florida State at North Carolina – Sunday, March 3
- Florida at Kentucky – Saturday, March 9
Wildcard Weekends – Big Ten (Sunday, Feb. 24; Sunday, March 3; Sunday, March 10).
Women’s National Doubleheader highlighted by:
- Notre Dame at Connecticut – Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013
- Championship Weekend Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17, 2013, where the Big Ten, Conference USA, Mountain West and Atlantic 10 crown their regular-season champions and earn automatic bids to the 2013 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
- CBS Sports also broadcasts the Missouri Valley Conference Championship game on Sunday, March 10, 2013.
Five Conference Championships on CBS Sports: In addition, CBS Sports Network returns to the court for its 10th season of college basketball programming with its most extensive slate of games ever. In all, CBS Sports Network airs 172 contests tipping-off the Network’s schedule on Friday, Nov. 16. Throughout the season, CBS Sports Network showcases action from 16 conferences including the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, SEC, Pac-12, Atlantic 10, Mountain West, Conference USA, Patriot League, Colonial Athletic Association and Ivy League.
The complete 2012-13 broadcast schedule follows.
* * *
(All Times ET)Saturday, December 1
Baylor @ Kentucky – 12:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Rupp Arena, Lexington, KYSaturday, December 8
Arkansas @ Michigan – 12:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, MISaturday, December 15
Indiana vs. Butler – 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, INSaturday, December 22
Kansas @ Ohio State – 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Value City Arena, Columbus, OHSaturday, December 29
Kentucky @ Louisville – 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KYSaturday, January 5
Purdue @ Nebraska (Women’s) — 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Devaney Center, Lincoln, NENotre Dame @ UConn (Women’s) — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, CTSunday, January 6
Temple @ Kansas – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. OR 1:30 – 4 p.m.
Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, KSSunday, January 13
Michigan @ Ohio State – 1:30-4:00 p.m. OR 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Value City Arena, Columbus, OHSaturday, January 19
West Virginia @ Purdue – 2:00 – 4:00 p.m./Regional
Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, INAND
Kansas @ Texas – 2:00 – 4:00 p.m./Regional
Erwin Center, Austin, TXOregon @ UCLA – 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CASaturday, January 26
Maryland @ Duke – 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NCSunday, January 27
Michigan State @ Indiana – 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Assembly Hall, Bloomington, INSaturday, February 2
Miami @ North Carolina State – 4:00 – 6:00 p.m./Regional
PNC Arena, Raleigh, NCAND
St. John’s @ Georgetown – 4:00 – 6:00 p.m./Regional
Verizon Center, Washington, DCSaturday, February 9
Mississippi @ Missouri – 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Mizzou Arena, Columbia, MOSunday, February 10
Indiana @ Ohio State –1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Value City Arena, Columbus, OHSaturday, February 16
Kentucky @ Tennessee – 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. / Regional
Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TNAND
Pittsburgh @ Marquette – 1:00 – 3:00 p.m./Regional
BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WISunday, February 17
Ohio State @ Wisconsin – 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Kohl Center, Madison, WISaturday, February 23
South Carolina @ Georgia — 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, GAGeorgetown @ Syracuse — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NYSunday, February 24
Cincinnati @ Notre Dame — 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Purcell Pavilion at Joyce Center, Notre Dame, INBig Ten Wildcard — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Michigan State @ Ohio State
Value City Arena, Columbus, OHOR
Illinois @ Michigan
Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, MIOR
Northwestern @ Purdue
Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, INSaturday, March 2
Louisville @ Syracuse – 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NYWest Virginia @ Kansas – 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, KSKentucky @ Arkansas — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, ARSunday, March 3
Florida State @ North Carolina — 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NCBig Ten Wildcard — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Michigan State @ Michigan
Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, MIOR
Purdue @ Wisconsin
Kohl Center, Madison, WIOR
Penn State @ Minnesota
Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MNSaturday, March 9
Florida @ Kentucky – 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Rupp Arena, Lexington, KYUCLA @ Washington –2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, WANotre Dame @ Louisville — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KYSunday, March 10
VCU @ Temple – 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, PAMissouri Valley Championship — 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MOBig Ten Wildcard — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Indiana @ Michigan
Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, MIOR
Illinois @ Ohio State
Value City Arena, Columbus, OHOR
Northwestern @ Michigan State
Breslin Student Events Center, East Lansing, MISaturday, March 16
C-USA Championship — 11:30 a.m.– 1:40 p.m.
BOK Center, Tulsa, OKBig Ten Semifinal #1 — 1:40 – 3:40 p.m.
United Center, Chicago, ILBig Ten Semifinal #2 — 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
United Center, Chicago, ILMountain West Championship — 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
Sunday, March 17
Atlantic 10 Championship — 1:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NYBig Ten Championship — 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.
United Center, Chicago, IL
That will do it.
Aug
08
Checking Out Some Wednesday Linkage
Let’s provide some mid-week linkage before I get too busy later on.
Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily writes that NBC’s overnight rating for Tuesday’s Olympic primetime was up from the comparable night four years ago.
Tripp Mickle of SBJ says NBC is about to set up a set of exhibition beach volleyball matches between the US and China later this year.
In an SBJ podcast, Tripp meets with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch to talk about the media coverage of the 2012 Olympics.
Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter will not complain about NBC’s Olympic coverage.
Daniel Miller of the Reporter says swimmer Ryan Lochte is in discussions to star in his own reality TV show.
Also from the Reporter, Marisa Guthrie has five lessons NBC should learn from the 2012 Games.
Another from the Reporter, a majority of those polled think Ryan Seacrest is doing a good job at the Olympics? Who is being polled?
And finally from the Reporter, Eriq Gardner reports that the NCAA has been ordered to hand over TV licensing revenue documents in a case involving video game manufacturer Electronic Arts which is using likenesses of student-athletes without permission from the athletes themselves.
Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead has video of Lolo Jones breaking down on the Today Show this morning.
Meanwhile, Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of medal winners Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells being rather candid about their opinions on Lolo with Michelle Beadle this morning.
Jen Floyd Engel at FoxSports.com says despite what the media says, this is not the Olympics of the Woman as the media is stating.
Graeme McMillan of Time asks if NBC should offer the Olympics as reality TV or just straight sports?
Joe Posnanski talks with former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol about working his last Olympics for American television, the 2012 London Games.
Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On has a look at the upcoming slate of 30 for 30 documentaries.
Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated profiles ESPN’s Joe Tessitore who is getting a high profile college football assignment after years of taking on crazy schedules.
SI’s Richard Deitsch has a college football roundtable featuring writers Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples and Holly Anderson on what they expect from the TV side of the sport this season.
Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable says NBC Sports Network is setting viewership records with Olympic programming.
Tim writes that AT&T U-Verse has signed a new agreement to carry NFL Network and RedZone.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the 2012 Olympics are on pace to become the most-watched TV event in US history.
Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that online sports viewers can tolerate the bombardment of ads seen during the Olympics.
Thomas Pardee of Advertising Age says the Olympics are topping social TV sites like GetGlue, but HBO’s True Blood is showing its reach.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life looks at the winners and losers from broadcasting the Olympics.
Phil Swann at TV Predictions says DirecTV may be adding five new channels including one sports network run by Al Jazeera.
Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report notes that a former Boston Globe college sports columnist is now on his own and got a big scoop this week.
Ed has a couple of NBC Sports-related announcements that have nothing to do with the Olympics.
Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at NBC’s operations at Olympic Stadium.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell notes that it’s better for sponsors that Michael Phelps remain retired instead of him being an active Olympian.
CBS Radio has officially announced that Scott Zolak will be the radio analyst for New England Patriots games starting this Thursday. He replaces Gino Cappeletti who retired last month.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that NBC is getting a mixed ratings bag for the Olympics from the last few days.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union tells readers where they can find this week’s New York Giants preseason opener.
Pete has ESPN’s schedule of MLB games for most of this month.
Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that former Jets and Giants coach Bill Parcells will appear on ESPN Radio NY opposite his buddy, WFAN’s Mike Francesa during NFL season.
Ken says NBC Sports Network will have Olympic reruns throughout August.
From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd is up to his old tricks again.
Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times wonders if the Olympic promos for the NBC’s “Go On” might actually hurt the show in the long run.
Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald looks at last night’s Hard Knock premiere on HBO.
Izzy Gould at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that the Miami Dolphins put the team up for display on Hard Knocks.
Gould says Hard Knocks did not explore the Dolphins’ injuries.
Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says the local NBC affiliate’s ratings are down from 4 years ago.
T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times talks with Vin Scully about calling Sandy Koufax’s perfect game back in 1965.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Scully made a great argument for using instant replay in baseball during an argument on the field Monday night.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog says while viewers in the Great White North are complaining about Olympic coverage, the ratings are saying otherwise.
Ben Koo of Awful Announcing goes in-depth into the Turner Sports purchase of the Bleacher Report.
Matt Yoder of AA defends Lolo Jones against the very strange media backlash that began over the weekend in the New York Times.
John Koblin of Deadspin writes that even our troops stationed abroad are victims to NBC’s tape delays and can’t watch the Olympics live!
Sports Media Watch says UFC on Fox set yet another record low for mixed martial arts on network TV.
The Big Lead, in a sponsored post, speaks with CBS’ Clark Kellogg.
That is going to do it for today.
Jun
27
Breaking Out Some Wednesday Linkage
Time for some Wednesday links. Won’t be a full set as I’ll be monitoring NBC’s Olympic conference call.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio discusses Chris Berman heading to the Monday Night Football booth for two games.
Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says national nightmare Berman in the booth is not what NFL fans want.
Doug Farrar of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says it isn’t Berman who we should be worried about.
Matt writes about ESPN replacing Craig James on Thursday Night college football.
Michael Smith in Sports Business Daily writes that the PGA has a new sponsor for its developmental tour.
Scott Foxborough at the Hollywood Reporter notes the huge increase for EURO 2012′s ratings on ESPN from the last event four years ago.
George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says MLB Network has upgraded its production control room for its signature MLB Tonight show.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the Sportsman Channel is gaining ground for its HD network.
Patrick Hipes of Deadline notes the TV bidding for the new college football playoff system to begin with the 2014 season will be worth beaucoup bucks.
Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report talks with the former owner of WFAN and how it was a risk to start an all-sports radio station 25 years ago.
Ed says no matter what you think of him, Don Imus’ move to WFAN helped save the sports radio format and sent it flying to new heights.
Ed says ESPN’s public relations blog fired salvos on behalf of ESPN Radio at CBS and NBC.
Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group says Fox Sports Net has developed an MLB app for second screens.
In GoLocalProv, former WBZ-TV anchor Bob Lobel gives one of the greatest moments in his career when he brought Boston legends Bobby Orr, Larry Bird and Ted Williams together for one show. I watched that when it happened. It was a great show.
Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN 20/20 Sports update man John Minko.
Jerry also talks with another WFAN original, Steve Somers who schmoozes S-P-O-R-T-S every night.
Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes about Chris Berman and Trent Dilfer being teamed for two Monday Night Football games.
At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says Nationals’ ratings on MASN are way up from last season.
Barry Jackson from the Miami Herald reviews LeBron James’ appearance on Late Show with David Letterman last night.
Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic talks about the strange removal of Daron Sutton from Diamondbacks broadcasts.
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com says the Diamondbacks have suspended Sutton for “insubordination” and won’t say anything more.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that the Pac-12 won the most NCAA Championships this academic year.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if it’s soccer time to shine in Canada and the U.S.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at CBC and CTV dropping their joint bid for the 2014/16 Olympics.
Sports Media Watch looks into the move to put Chris Berman into the Monday Night Football booth.
Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says bitter little hedgehog Danny Sheridan is buying Twitter followers.
Dave Kohl in The Broadcast Booth talks about multiple national sports radio networks.
And that’s going to do it today. Had to cut the links short because today will be quite busy. Leaving the afternoon free for the NBC Olympics announcements.
May
23
ESPN & ESPN2 To Air NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship
It seems like Memorial Day Weekend has crept up on us. Maybe it’s the cooler than normal temperatures in the Northeast this Spring. Maybe it’s due to the fact that days are running together for me. Maybe it’s me. Who knows?
Anyway, ESPN and ESPN2 will air the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship live from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on Saturday and Monday. The event has grown in leaps and bounds every year and whether the Championship is played in Baltimore or Foxboro, the Lacrosse Semis and Championship draw good crowds.
The semifinals will be aired on ESPN2 this Saturday and in the first game, Notre Dame will take on the top seed, Loyola (MD) at 2:30 p.m. ET with ACC rivals Maryland and Duke squaring off in the second game at 5 p.m.
On Monday, the Championship Game will be played at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Calling the games will be Eamon McAnaney and Quint Kessenich with Paul Carcaterra on the sidelines.
Here’s the ESPN announcement for you.
2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship Semifinals Set
National Championship Game to be Played Monday, May 28, at 1 p.m. on ESPN & ESPN3
The last four teams remain as the field is set for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship championship weekend – Saturday, May 26 and Monday, May 28, from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The semifinals commence Saturday on ESPN2 and ESPN3 with No. 4 Notre Dame facing top-seeded Loyola (Md.) at 2:30 p.m. ET and Maryland against No. 3 Duke at 5 p.m. The 2012 season will culminate with the National Championship Monday at 1 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN3.
ESPN has covered 29 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships since 1980 and 2012 marks the 18th consecutive year of televising the National Semifinals and Championship Game.
Commentators
- Eamon McAnaney will be calling his first-ever championship weekend games as the play-by-play announcer
- Quint Kessenich will join McAnaney in the booth and sideline analyst Paul Carcaterra is a newcomer on the field for the biggest weekend of the season
Studio
- Host Anish Shroff and analyst Mark Dixon will cover the National Semifinals from ESPNU’s Charlotte, N.C. headquarters
- The duo will be on site in Foxborough for the National Championship on Memorial Day with pregame and halftime reports
- In addition, Shroff and Dixon will anchor the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Post Game Show on ESPNU and ESPN3, immediately following the title game, which will include game reaction, postgame celebration, trophy presentation and net cutting
- Bill Tierney, head coach at Denver and six-time NCAA Championship coach at Princeton, will join Shroff and Dixon in studio for the coverage of the semifinals
Game Features
- A series of bumps and full-length teases that combine Native American narrative with current day life from the Onondaga Nation in upstate New York
- Microphones will be worn by all three game officials during the semifinals and championship, providing on-field dialogue throughout the telecast with periodic switches to each official
- The telecast will use nine cameras, plus the SkyCam and Super Slo Motion camera, which will allow viewers to experience a visually enhanced presentation
ESPN Digital
- All three games from Gillette Stadium simulcast on ESPN3
- Full coverage of the postgame celebration, trophy presentation and the net cutting on Monday on ESPN3
- Fans who receive ESPN’s linear networks as part of their video subscription via Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV or Comcast Xfinity will also have access to WatchESPN for live coverage online at WatchESPN.com and through the WatchESPN app on smartphones and tablets, in addition to ESPN3’s multi-screen offering
ESPN.com
- ESPNBoston.com will cover all the weekend’s action from Gillette Stadium
Sports Science Lab
Former Johns Hopkins All-American and current Boston Cannon star Paul Rabil put his skills to the test at the ESPN Sport Science lab, demonstrating why some call him the world’s greatest lacrosse player. Using state of the art technology, John Brenkus and his team analyze Rabil’s immensely powerful shot, which can exceed 100 miles per hour, plus record his speed, power and accuracy. The team also breaks down the art of the lacrosse shot with one of the game’s finest players ever.
ESPN International
- The semifinal games will be shown live on ESPN PacRim, ESPN2 Australia and ESPN2 Caribbean, and next day delay on ESPN America
- The title game will air live on ESPN America, ESPN PacRim and ESPN2 Caribbean
- Same day/next day airs for the championship game will be available on ESPN Africa, ESPN2 Australia, ESPN Israel, ESPN Middle East, ESPN Brazil HD and ESPN Latin America
ESPN’s Coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship
(Subject to change)
Date Time (ET) Game/Commentators Network(s) Sat, May 26 2:30 p.m. Semifinal #1: No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 1 Loyola (Md.)
(Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.)Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul Carcaterra
ESPN2/ESPN3 5 p.m. Semifinal #2: Maryland vs. No. 3 Duke
(Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.)Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul Carcaterra
ESPN2/ESPN3 Mon, May 28 1 p.m. National Championship: Semifinal winners
(Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.)Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul Carcaterra
ESPN/ESPN3 3:30 p.m. NCAA Lacrosse Championship Post Game Show Anish Shroff & Mark Dixon
ESPNU
That will do us.
May
11
Finally Some Friday Megalinks
Let’s do some Friday megalinks. You’ve been owed some and I haven’t been able to do links for most of the week.
Of course, you have the Weekend Viewing Picks which provide plenty of college sports, soccer, baseball and the NBA and NHL postseason action.
Now let’s do your links.
National
Michael Hiestand of USA Today explores Jason La Canfora’s decision to leave NFL Network and bolt to CBS.
Media Rantz looks into the potential departure of Michelle Beadle from ESPN to NBC.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says E! will produce a special on New York Jets QB Tim Tebow.
Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report hears from a Fox Soccer executive on why the Fox Sports Media Group chose to air so many English Premier League games on the final day of the season.
Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk writes that despite reports to the contrary, it appears that the New York Jets won’t make another appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer.
Eriq Gardner at the Hollywood Reporter says a group of fans have filed a class action lawsuit against MLB and its TV partners on the antiquated and silly blackout policy.
Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel says while the Minnesota Vikings will finally get their long-awaited stadium, one state legislator attempted to sneak a bill ending all local NFL blackouts. I think that was a great idea.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News/Broadcasting & Cable writes the long-anticipated Time Warner Cable Los Angeles Lakers-centric regional sports network will launch in October.
At Adweek, Anthony Crupi writes that Fox has sold out its ad inventory for the UEFA Champions League Final.
Thomas Pardee of Advertising Age says social media is changing the way we watch sports.
In the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says there are times when the N-word should to be published in full.
Eric Goldschein at SportsGrid says CBC Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean stretched his analogy too far in comparing the 9/11 First Responders to NHL players this week.
Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group looks at NBC/Golf Channel’s joint production of this week’s Players Championship.
Brandon Costa of SVG explores ESPN’s expanded multiplatform rights for NCAA Championships.
And SVG tells us about the Big East Conference’s in-house production of the league’s Baseball Tournament.
Kristi Dosh at ESPN.com looks into the dollars and cents of the major college sports TV rights contracts.
Patrick Rishe at Forbes says while the ACC signed a rich contract with ESPN, it still doesn’t compare to the Pac-12′s huge megadeal.
My Twitter Trophy Wife, Amanda Rykoff chronicles her day spent at the MLB Fan Cave for espnW.
Paulsen at Sports Media Watch crunches the numbers behind the ratings rise for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and the lower for the NBA Playoffs.
Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing also looks into the ratings for the NBA and NHL Postseasons.
Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead notes the disturbing arrest of the PA Announcer for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth looks at some of the sports media stories that are irking him this week.
East and Mid-Atlantic
I haven’t been able to address the death of Carl Beane, the Red Sox public address announcer. Carl was a radio reporter in Western Massachusetts and also free-lanced for ESPN Radio, CBS Radio, Fox Sports Radio to report on various NFL and college games. He died this week when he suffered a heart attack and crashed his car. He was 59. It seemed everyone in New England had some connection to Beane. I’ll give you some of the stories that have been written about him this week.
David Scott at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog gets reaction from people at the network who knew him.
Gordon Edes at ESPN Boston says Beane felt he was born to be the Fenway Park public address announcer.
WEEI’s Mike Petraglia writes about his personal connection to Beane.
Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe says the Red Sox paid tribute to Beane at last night’s game by not having anyone do the PA.
Amanda Bruno of the Springfield Republican writes that Beane was a role model and mentor to her.
To other stories now, heading back to the Globe, Chad Finn says the ACC got its huge deal and it will affect member school Boston College in many ways.
Chad says former Red Sox voice Jerry Trupiano is getting some familial help in trying to get the Houston Astros radio gig.
Desmond Connor of the Hartford Courant says the Big East’s interim commissioner is hopeful his conference can cash in on the recent big spending by ESPN and other networks.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks with the legendary Vin Scully.
Richard profiles the person behind a fake Walt Frazier Twitter account.
Jack Bell of the Times interviews Fox Sports President Eric Shanks about Sunday’s unprecedented English Premier League coverage.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Times rails over player unions defending their membership for the wrong reasons.
The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with NBC’s Pierre McGuire.
Justin has five questions for TNT’s Kenny Smith.
Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says a former local sports reporter is returning to her roots with Time Warner Cable’s Southern California network.
Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says technical difficulties plagued a local radio broadcast of the Yankees.
Pete says many of NBC/Golf Channel’s cameras will be focused squarely on one hole at the Players Championship this week.
Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record explores the new SNY deal to air UConn women’s basketball games.
At the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner asks if high school football is doomed.
Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call watched the train wreck of former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens appearing on Dr. Phil this week and being confronted by his multiple baby mommas.
Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post says MLB Network compared the swings of the late Mickey Mantle and the Nationals’ Bryce Harper.
South
David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a new local sports radio morning host comes with some baggage from his old job.
David says Comcast and ESPN cut a deal this week for subscribers to watch the network online.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that Fox Sports Oklahoma will air specials next week on the state’s two major college football programs.
Midwest
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Reds TV and Radio ratings are up this season.
Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch explores the Cubs’ Kerry Wood blowing up at the local media this week.
Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post Bulletin looks at NBC’s coverage of The Players Championship.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that a local sports anchor gets to talk news on the radio.
West
John Maffei of the North County Times says the local media plans to cover Junior Seau’s public memorial today.
Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star notes that outgoing flagship TV station KCAL gave another farewell to the Los Angeles Lakers this week.
Jim looks at the 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass which will get plenty of attention on NBC/Golf Channel at the Players Championship.
Jim provides his weekend viewing picks.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Time Warner Cable’s new sports channels.
Tom tries to give Kings fans missing their local TV voices a silver lining.
Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News goes over the latest developments at the Pac-12 Networks.
Canada
Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC’s Ron MacLean had to clarify his 9/11 remarks before Game 6 of the New York Rangers-Washington Capitals series.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the announcing assignments for both CBC and TSN in the NHL Conference Final round.
And we are done. Enjoy your sports weekend.
May
07
ESPN Networks All Over NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championships
Starting this Saturday, the ESPN Family of Networks will air all 15 games of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships. It starts with a quadrupleheader each on Saturday and Sunday including six games on ESPNU. It all culminates with the National Semifinals and Championship Game on Memorial Day Weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA.
Eamon McAnaney moves from the sidelines in previous years to the broadcast booth to become part of the main announcing team along with Quint Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra.
We have the full press release from ESPN looking at the field and also providing the announcing teams for the entire 15 game NCAA Lacrosse Championships.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to air all 15 tournament games
The 16-team bracket for the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship was unveiled exclusively Sunday on ESPNU with Loyola (Md.) earning the top seed in the field. Tournament play begins with first-round action Saturday, May 12, featuring Syracuse at No. 3 Duke at noon ET on ESPN and ESPN3. The defending national champion, No. 5 Virginia will host Princeton in Sunday’s opening first-round game at 1 p.m., also on ESPN and ESPN3. The remaining first-round games will be shown on ESPNU and ESPN3, highlighted by a match-up between perennial contenders Denver and No. 8 North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 12.
ESPN networks will provide exclusive coverage of all 15 games of the NCAA Championship for the sixth straight year. Coverage will be in high definition across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 beginning Saturday, May 12, and concluding with the national title game on Monday, May 28.
ESPN has assembled some of the top lacrosse commentating teams for this year’s coverage of the NCAA Championship. ESPNU host Anish Shroff will be joined in studio throughout the Championship by analyst Quint Kessenich or Mark Dixon. Paul Rabil, former Johns Hopkins All-American who is widely known as one of the top players in the world, will be joining Shroff and Kessenich in studio on Sunday, May 13.
Early round announce teams include former Tewaaraton Award winner and Virginia attackman Matt Ward, former Brown All-American Jamie Munro, Johns Hopkins midfielder Mark Dixon and legendary former Army head coach Jack Emmer. ESPN newcomer this season, three-time Princeton All-American Ryan Boyle will also be part of the game action.
Veteran play-by-play voice Eamon McAnaney will be in the booth for his first championship weekend after spending several years as the sideline reporter. He will be joined by analysts Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra. Carcaterra will provide his analysis from the sidelines.
In 2012 the ESPN networks will air over 400 hours of NCAA Spring Championships coverage, increasing more than 30 hours from 2011. As part of ESPN’s extended rights agreement with the NCAA, spring championship programming highlights seven sports over eight weeks: Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s Volleyball, Baseball and Softball. For the first time, ESPN networks will also air the Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field and Women’s Lacrosse Championships.
ESPN’s Coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship
(Subject to change)
Date Time (ET) Game/Commentators Network(s) Sat, May 12 Noon First Round (Koskinen Stadium, Durham, N.C.)
Syracuse at No. 3 Duke
Eamon McAnaney and Paul CarcaterraESPN/ESPN3 2:30 p.m. First Round (Garber Field, Amherst, Mass.)
Colgate at No. 6 Massachusetts
Joe Beninati and Jack EmmerESPNU/ESPN3 5 p.m. First Round (Ridley Athletic Complex, Baltimore, Md.)Canisius at No. 1 Loyola
Mike Corey and Mark DixonESPNU/ESPN3 7:30 p.m. First Round (Fetzer Field, Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Denver at No. 8 North Carolina
Eamon McAnaney and Matt WardESPNU/ESPN3 Sun, May 13 1 p.m. First Round (Klockner Stadium, Charlottesville, Va.)
Princeton at No. 5 Virginia
Eamon McAnaney and Paul CarcaterraESPN/ESPN3 3 p.m. First Round (Homewood Field, Baltimore, Md.)
Stony Brook at No. 2 Johns Hopkins
Mike Corey and Mark DixonESPNU/ESPN3 5:15 p.m. First Round (Arlotta Stadium, Notre Dame, Ind.)
Yale at No. 4 Notre Dame
John Brickley and Jamie MunroESPNU/ESPN3 7:30 p.m. First Round (Ulrich Sports Complex, Bethlehem, Pa.)
Maryland at No. 7 Lehigh
Joe Beninati and Ryan BoyleESPNU/ESPN3 Sat, May 19 Noon Quarterfinal Game #1(Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Md.)
Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich and Paul CarcaterraESPN2/ESPN3 2:30 p.m. Quarterfinal Game #2(Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Md.)
Eamon McAnaney. Quint Kessenich and Paul CarcaterraESPN2/ESPN3 Sun, May 20 Noon Quarterfinal Game #3(PPL Park, Chester, Pa.)
Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich and Paul CarcaterraESPNU/ESPN3 2:30 p.m. Quarterfinal Game #4(PPL Park, Chester, Pa.)
Eamon McAnaney,Quint Kessenich and Paul CarcaterraESPNU/ESPN3 Sat, May 26 2:30 p.m. Semifinal Game #1 (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.)
Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul CarcaterraESPN2/ESPN3 5 p.m. Semifinal Game #2(Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.)
Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul CarcaterraESPN2/ESPN3 Mon, May 28 1 p.m. National Championship (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.)
Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul CarcaterraESPN/ESPN3 3:30 p.m. NCAA Lacrosse Championship Post Game Show
Anish Shroff & Mark DixonESPNU
That’s it for this post.
Apr
23
NCAA.com To Stream 400 Hours of Spring Championships
NCAA.com will stream some 400 hours of live coverage of its Spring Championships starting this weekend. Most of the championships will be in Division II and III, but unlike many Division I Championships which are granted to ESPN’s networks, NCAA.com is the only way to watch the live action.
The Championships will range in sports from volleyball, track & field, golf, tennis, baseball, rowing and so much more.
Streaming begins on Friday, April 27 with the Division III Men’s Volleyball Tournament and will last until Sunday, June 3 with early coverage of the Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Tournament.
So you can see, there will be a wide range of sports covered by NCAA.com. Here’s the press release.
NCAA.com to Provide More than 400 Hours of Live Streaming Video from 2012 NCAA® Spring Championships
NCAA.com to serve as official online and mobile destination for all 37 NCAA Spring Championships
Turner Sports and the NCAA have announced that fans can enjoy the 2012 NCAA spring championships -– with more than 400 combined hours of live streaming video from more than 200 events – on NCAA.com and the free NCAA Sports iPhone app. Live coverage begins Friday, April 27, with the inaugural Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship from Springfield, Mass., and continues through June 3. A total of 30 championships will be streamed live exclusively on NCAA.com including Division I men’s and women’s golf, Division I men’s and women’s tennis, National Collegiate men’s volleyball, National Collegiate women’s water polo and Division II and III men’s lacrosse.
To prepare fans for the upcoming championships, NCAA.com will also stream 20 selection shows to reveal the championship fields and key matchups.
“We’re thrilled to provide college sports fans with the most live video coverage of spring championships available anywhere,” said Mark Johnson, vice president and general manager, NCAA Digital. “NCAA.com continues to expand its reach within collegiate athletics and truly is the only website where fans can track and follow their schools and student-athletes across all sports.”
In addition to the live streaming coverage, NCAA.com will serve as the official online and mobile hub for the NCAA spring championships. During the seven-week period, fans will be able to experience all the action from their favorite sports, athletic programs and student-athletes through the site’s coverage of all 37 NCAA spring championships including the College World Series, Women’s College World Series and Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse Championships. Coverage will include:
- Interactive Tournament Brackets:The content hub for each championship, this bracket provides quick links to all relevant content for each matchup.
- Video Highlights/Interviews/Features: Extensive video content, including game highlights from all 37 spring championships, coach and student-athlete interviews and behind-the-scenes video features.
- Live Scores and Statistics: The latest scores and schedules from each championship, as well as box scores and play-by-play
- Comprehensive Editorial Coverage: In-depth analysis from the NCAA.com editorial team including previews, on-site student-athlete and team features, and recaps from all the championship action.
“Providing fans, our membership, our student-athletes and the student-athletes’ families with the convenience of accessing our NCAA championships in real-time and on multiple platforms keeps them engaged and updated on the tournaments,” said Mark Lewis, NCAA executive vice president for championships and alliances. “We also have an opportunity to potentially increase the fan base and viewership of NCAA sports that aren’t normally televised through additional online streaming and mobile device applications, which ultimately puts more eyes on the accomplishments of NCAA student-athletes.”
NCAA.com Live Video Streaming Schedule for NCAA® Spring Championships
(start times TBD)
Friday, April 27 Division III Men’s Volleyball Quarterfinals (Springfield, MA) Saturday, April 28 Division III Men’s Volleyball Semifinals (Springfield, MA) Sunday, April 29 Division III Men’s Volleyball Finals (Springfield, MA) Thursday, May 3 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Semifinals (Los Angeles, CA) Tuesday, May 8 Division III Women’s Golf First Round (Angola, IN) Wednesday, May 9 Division III Women’s Golf Second Round (Angola, IN) Thursday, May 10 Division III Women’s Golf Third Round (Angola, IN) Friday, May 11 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo First Round (San Diego, CA) Division III Women’s Golf Fourth Round (Angola, IN) Saturday, May 12 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Consolation Games (San Diego, CA) National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Semifinals (San Diego, CA) Sunday, May 13 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo 7th Place Game (San Diego, CA) National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo 5th Place Game (San Diego, CA) National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo 3rd Place Game (San Diego, CA) National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Finals (San Diego, CA) Tuesday, May 15 Division III Men’s Golf First Round (Howey-in-the-Hills, FL) Division II Softball Finals (Louisville, KY) Wednesday, May 16 Division III Men’s Golf Second Round (Howey-in-the-Hills, FL) Division II Women’s Golf First Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s Golf First Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team Finals – First Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Softball Finals (Louisville, KY) Thursday, May 17 Division III Men’s Golf Third Round (Howey-in-the-Hills, FL) Division II Women’s Golf Second Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s Golf Second Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team Finals – Quarterfinals (Louisville, KY) Division II Softball Finals (Louisville, KY) Friday, May 18 Division III Men’s Golf Fourth Round (Howey-in-the-Hills, FL) Division II Women’s Golf Third Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s Golf Third Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team Finals – Semifinals (Louisville, KY) Division II Women’s Lacrosse Semifinals (Louisville, KY) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team First Round (Athens, GA) Division II Softball Finals (Louisville, KY) Division III Softball Finals (Salem, VA) Saturday, May 19 Division II Women’s Golf Fourth Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s Golf Fourth Round (Louisville, KY) Division II Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team Finals – First Round (Louisville, KY) Division III Women’s Lacrosse Semifinals (Louisville, KY) Division II Softball Finals (Louisville, KY) Division III Softball Finals (Salem, VA) Sunday, May 20 Division II Women’s Lacrosse Semifinals (Louisville, KY) Division III Women’s Lacrosse Semifinals (Louisville, KY) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Quarterfinals (Athens, GA) Division III Softball Finals (Salem, VA) Monday, May 21 Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Semifinals (Athens, GA) Division III Softball Finals (Salem, VA) Tuesday, May 22 Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Quarterfinals (Cary, NC) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team Finals (Athens, GA) Division III Softball Finals (Salem, VA) Wednesday, May 23 Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Semifinals (Cary, NC) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis First Round (Singles) (Athens, GA) Thursday, May 24 Division II Outdoor Track & Field Finals (Pueblo, CO) Division III Outdoor Track & Field Finals (Claremont, CA) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team - 3rd Place (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Team Finals (Cary, NC) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Second Round (Singles) (Athens, GA) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis First Round (Doubles) (Athens, GA) Friday, May 25 Division II Outdoor Track & Field Finals (Pueblo, CO) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Round of 32 (Singles) (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Round of 16 (Singles) (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Round of 16 (Doubles) (Cary, NC) Division III Outdoor Track & Field Finals (Claremont, CA) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Round of 16 (Singles/Doubles) (Athens, GA) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Division I Women’s Rowing Day 1 Heats (West Windsor, NJ) Division II Women’s Rowing Day 1 Heats (West Windsor, NJ) Division III Women’s Rowing Day 1 Heats/Qualifier (West Windsor, NJ) Saturday, May 26 Division II Outdoor Track & Field Finals (Pueblo, CO) Division III Outdoor Track & Field Finals (Claremont, CA) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Quarterfinals (Singles) (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Quarterfinals (Doubles) (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Semifinals (Singles) (Cary, NC) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Quarterfinals (Singles/Doubles) (Athens, GA) Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Division I Women’s Rowing Day 2 Semifinals (West Windsor, NJ) Division II Women’s Rowing Day 2 Repechage (West Windsor, NJ) Division III Women’s Rowing Day 2 Finals (West Windsor, NJ) Sunday, May 27 Division II Men’s Lacrosse Finals (Foxborough MA) Division III Men’s Lacrosse Finals (Foxborough, MA) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Semifinals (Doubles) (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Singles Final (Cary, NC) Division III Men’s & Women’s Tennis Doubles Final (Cary, NC) Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Semifinals (Singles/Doubles) (Athens, GA) Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Division I Women’s Rowing Day 3 Finals (West Windsor, NJ) Division II Women’s Rowing Day 3 Finals(West Windsor, NJ) Monday, May 28 Division I Men’s & Women’s Tennis Finals (Singles & Doubles) (Athens, GA) Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Tuesday, May 29 Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Division III Baseball Finals (Appleton, WI) Wednesday, May 30 Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Thursday, May 31 Division I Men’s Golf First Round (Pacific Palisades, CA) Division I Women’s Golf First Round (Franklin, TN) Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Friday, June 1 Division I Men’s Golf Second Round (Pacific Palisades, CA) Division I Women’s Golf Second Round (Franklin, TN) Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Saturday, June 2 Division I Men’s Golf Third Round (Pacific Palisades, CA) Division I Women’s Golf Third Round (Franklin, TN) Division II Baseball Finals (Cary, NC) Sunday, June 3 Division I Men’s Golf Fourth Round (Pacific Palisades, CA) Division I Women’s Golf Fourth Round (Franklin, TN)
That will do it.
Mar
14
ESPN Networks All Over The NCAA Hockey Championship
Starting with the Selection Show this Sunday and then starting in earnest on Friday, March 23, the ESPN Family of Networks, mainly ESPN2 and ESPNU will cover the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Championships starting with the Regional Semifinals and heading to the Frozen Four in Tampa, FL.
All but two of the games will be shown on the combination of ESPNU/ESPN3. ESPN2 will air one Frozen Four semifinal and the Championship Game on April 5 and 7 respectively.
John Buccigross and Barry Melrose will be seen on the Selection Show and they’ll call the East Regional in Bridgeport, CT. Barry will then head to Tampa and be joined by Gary Thorne who will call the Frozen Four.
We have details of the coverage from ESPN.
Sunday’s Selection Show to feature three-time Stanley Cup Champion Aaron Ward
For the eighth consecutive year, ESPN will present every glass-crushing moment of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship starting with the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Selection Show on Sunday, March 18, and culminating with the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., April 5 and 7. All 15 games will air live on ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN3. Four regional games will be shown on ESPN3 with additional coverage on ESPNU in tape delay. For 2012, ESPN will debut its Advanced Replay Tool (ART) which allows graphics to be used in a replay, a first in the network’s coverage of NCAA hockey.
As in past years, the tournament brackets will be announced on the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Selection Show by SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross, analyst Barry Melrose and new to the selection show this year, three-time Stanley Cup champion Aaron Ward. Airing Sunday, March 18, at noon ET on ESPNU, Ward’s three-consecutive NCAA Championship appearances while playing at Michigan brings a second layer of expertise to the passion and enthusiasm Melrose infuses into the 30-minute special. The show will also include features from current NHL standouts reflecting on their own NCAA memories, including Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis, Buffalo’s Ryan Miller, New Jersey’s Zach Praise and Ottawa’s Matt Gilroy.
The ART, developed by ESPN Emerging Technology, allows graphics to be instantaneously embedded within a replay, providing commentators greater visual resources to communicate analysis to viewers. It has seen previous success in ESPN’s coverage of basketball, football and golf telecasts.
Melrose, Gary Thorne and Clay Matvick will utilize the tool during ESPN’s Frozen Four telecasts. Former NCAA players Sean Ritchlin (Michigan), Dave Starman (Hartford) and Billy Jaffe (Michigan) will also contribute analysis throughout the two week coverage span. ESPN has aired games from the Championship since 1980 and recently extended its commitment to the NCAA, which includes airing the entire Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship through 2024.
Date Time (ET) Game/Commentators
Network (s) Sunday, Mar 18 noon NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Selection Show
John Buccigross, Barry Melrose and Aaron WardESPNU Friday, Mar 23 3 p.m. East Regional Semifinal 1 (Bridgeport, Conn.)
John Buccigross and Barry MelroseESPNU/ESPN3 5:30 p.m. Midwest Regional Semifinal 1 (Green Bay, Wis.)
Ben Holden and Sean RitchlinESPN3 6:30 p.m. East Regional Semifinal 2 (Bridgeport, Conn.)
John Buccigross and Barry MelroseESPNU/ESPN3 9 p.m. Midwest Regional Semifinal 2 (Green Bay, Wis.)
Ben Holden and Sean RitchlinESPNU/ESPN3 11:30 p.m. Midwest Regional Semifinal 1 (Green Bay, Wis.)
Ben Holden and Sean RitchlinESPNU* Saturday, Mar 24 1:30 p.m. West Regional Semifinal 1 (Saint Paul, Mass.)
Clay Matvick and Dave StarmanESPN3 4 p.m. Northeast Regional Semifinal 1 (Worcester, Mass.)
Dan Parkhurst and Billy JaffeESPNU/ESPN3 5 p.m. West Regional Semifinal 2 (Saint Paul, MN)
Clay Matvick and Dave StarmanESPN3 6:30 p.m. East Regional Final (Bridgeport, Conn.)
John Buccigross and Barry MelroseESPNU/ESPN3 7:30 p.m. Northeast Regional Semifinal 2 (Worcester, Mass.)
Dan Parkhurst and Billy JaffeESPN3 9 p.m. Midwest Regional Final (Green Bay, Wis.)
Ben Holden and Sean RitchlinESPNU/ESPN3 11:30 p.m. Northeast Regional Semifinal 2 (Worcester, Mass.)
Dan Parkhurst and Billy JaffeESPNU** Sunday, Mar 25 12:30 p.m. West Regional Semifinal 1 (Saint Paul, Minn.)
Clay Matvick and Dave StarmanESPNU** 3 p.m. West Regional Semifinal 2 (Saint Paul, Minn)
Clay Matvick and Dave StarmanESPNU** 5:30 p.m. West Regional Final (Saint Paul, Minn.)
Clay Matvick and Dave StarmanESPNU/ESPN3 8 p.m. Northeast Regional Final (Worcester, Mass.)
Dan Parkhurst and Billy JaffeESPNU/ESPN3 Thursday, Apr 5 4:30 p.m. Frozen Four Semifinal 1 (Tampa Bay, Fla.)
Gary Thorne, Clay Matvick and Barry MelroseESPNU/ESPN3 8 p.m. Frozen Four Semifinal 2 (Tampa Bay, Fla.)
Gary Thorne, Clay Matvick and Barry MelroseESPN2/ESPN3 Saturday, Apr 7 7 p.m. NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship (Tampa Bay, Fla.)
Gary Thorne, Clay Matvick and Barry MelroseESPN2/ESPN3 *Tape Delayed from earlier March 23 live game on ESPN3
**Tape Delayed from earlier March 24 live game on ESPN3
That will end our posts for the night.
Mar
14
Giving You Some Mid-Week Links
Time for some linkage on this Wednesday.
In case you missed it from early this morning, I wrote a post on how you can avoid paying the $3.99 fee to watch the March Madness Live app on your mobile, iPad or online.
And Maine Sports Media has a legal promo code which you can use to avoid paying the fee while supplies are still available.
Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated has a great story on when the NCAA Tournament truly became March Madness back in 1981 when NBC switched from buzzer beater to buzzer beater. I remember every one of these moments that Layden describes. Yes, I’m old.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand handicaps where ESPN’s Erin Andrews could be headed once her contract is up.
Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says Erin Andrews isn’t the only free agent at ESPN.
Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes having March Madness online is a good thing for everyone.
Michael Smith and John Ourand at Sports Business Daily report that the Big 12 is close to signing a rights extension with current TV partners ESPN and Fox Sports Net.
Tom Lorenzo of SportsGrid has video of President Obama making his Final Four picks on ESPN.
R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says FX had strong ratings for the premiere “The Ultimate Fighter”.
Emma Bazilian of Adweek writes that Time.com is launching a sports blog.
Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says CBS/Turner is not worried about losing viewers to the March Madness Live online app.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell suggests if Tim Tebow gets traded to Jacksonville, it would be huge for the franchise.
At Fishbowl NY, Jerry Barmash notes that WFAN’s Boomer & Carton will be skating for charity next week.
To the Schenectady Gazette where Ken Schott says ESPN has named its announcing teams for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Championships.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the overnight ratings for the NCAA Tournament’s FIRST FOUR™ games were down from last year.
Pete says NBA TV will be all over the NBA Trade Deadline.
Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that Time Warner Cable will air the New York State high school basketball championships.
Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Drexel got plenty of sympathy from the TV analysts during NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday.
Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reports that a local sports radio talk show host who used a racial slur earlier this week has left the station.
Eric Deggans of the Times also has a story on the controversy.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says the NBA’s Thunder topped the local ratings last week.
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Fox Sports Ohio is now airing “Reds Live” nightly.
In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman notes that Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf grants a rare interview tonight.
Ed says a new Chicago sports news website is preparing to launch next month joining an already crowded marketplace.
Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times talks with ESPN’s Dick Vitale.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC will shift focus from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the playoff-bound Ottawa Senators.
Sports Media Watch looks at the overnight ratings for the opening night doubleheader of the NCAA Tournament.
SMW tells us that the Knicks and Rangers are performing well in the ratings for MSG Network.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media learns that NBC will air its first-ever NHL playoff doubleheader in April.
Steve says NBC Sports Network will carry Thursday’s Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers game marking the return (again) of Sidney Crosby to the ice.
Steve also provides the coverage plans for NBC Sports Network and TSN for Crosby’s return.
Joe Favorito says horse racing is trying to make some inroads into the March sports calendar.
Ty Duffy of The Big Lead wonders if an ESPN anchor attempted to recruit a high school basketball player for his alma mater.
And that is where the links will end for today.
More posts are on the way. Keep your feeds updated.
Feb
29
Bringing Out The Mid-Week Linkage
Let’s do our linkage for today. It’s going to snow in Southern New England so I’m doing this early in case I have bug out later.
Starting with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, we learn that ESPN will be streaming its Championship Week games on Facebook, but not everyone will be able to see the games.
Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk through John Ourand of Sports Business Journal writes that former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian will join ESPN in a couple of weeks.
At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley advises NBC Sports Network to stay the course and not panic in the wake of low ratings out of the box.
Eric Fisher at Sports Business Daily has the skinny on MLB Advanced Media’s unveiling of the new At Bat mobile app.
Stephen Galloway at the Hollywood Reporter has a fascinating update on cable television pioneer and Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner.
Eriq Gardner from the Reporter writes that former college athletes suing the NCAA over the use of their likenesses in video games and attempting to get information from TV contracts, have been sanctioned by the judge presiding over the case.
John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the National Association of Broadcasters has told the FCC to keep the antiquated NFL blackout rule in place.
Tim Baysinger at B&C notes the NFL has moved its regular season opening game back one day to accommodate the Democratic National Convention.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says after some early momentum, TNT saw rating drops for its NBA All-Star Weekend.
Wendy Davis at MediaPost writes that streaming service Justin.TV and YouTube are being sued for illegally showing a boxing pay-per-view fight.
All Access notes that CBS Radio’s WJFK has signed to remain the DC affiliate for Virginia Tech sports.
Greg Doyel of CBS Sports wants to know why ESPN is allowing Bob Knight to show his clear disdain for Kentucky.
The Mansfield (CT) Patch picks up a story from Kenneth Best who went behind the scenes when ESPN’s College GameDay visited the UConn campus last weekend.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at Twitter’s newest darling, NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski.
The Long Island Tennis Magazine says ESPN2 will air the annual BNP Paribas Showdown on tape delay with an MSG Network replay following a day later.
Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says the NFL regular season opener has been pushed back one day to accommodate President Obama.
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the Nationals’ Bryce Harper has deleted his Twitter account.
The Winston-Salem (NC) Journal remembers a local sports anchor who passed away this week.
Deven Swartz of WGHP-TV also remembers Rich Brenner who was a beloved member of the community.
WGHP also has a special section devoted to Brenner.
Amanda Kelley at the Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun-Times says ESPN Radio is changing stations.
Luther Campbell, formerly of 2 Live Crew, in the Miami New Times accuses ESPN’s Skippy Bayless of race baiting.
Jon Solomon at the Birmingham (AL) News writes that the SEC’s member schools are reluctant to expand to 9 conference football games, but the league’s TV partners are seeking more inventory.
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Daytona 500 did well in primetime for Fox, but ratings are down from last year.
Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the Padres are wondering why MLB is taking so long to approve its rights deal with Fox Sports.
Brady Green at Awful Announcing has the video of Rich Eisen’s annual 40 yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Andrew Bucholz at AA notes that Captain Blowhard is complaining about something no one cares about.
At the Bleacher Report, Dan Levy looks at the sexism one San Diego sports anchor threw at Danica Patrick and the reaction since.
John Daly of the Daly Planet reviews Fox’s performance at the Daytona 500.
John also explores ESPN’s Brad Daugherty inexplicably coming down hard on driver Brad Keselowski for Tweeting during the Daytona 500.
John Gennaro of the Bolts from the Blue blog looks at how the new Fox Sports San Diego will affect sports fans.
Congratulations to CNBC’s Darren Rovell who now has a baby daughter to take care of. She wasn’t even a day old when Darren signed her up for Twitter.
[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/174684002865774593"]
And then Darren told us that he signed her up for other social networking services and bought her domain name. Darren? Put down the smartphone and walk away slowly.
[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/darrenrovell/statuses/174686172033990656"]
And we’ll end it there for today.
Feb
16
CBS, Turner Sports & NCAA Announce The New March Madness Live & New $3.99 Charge
Ok, CBS, Turner Sports and the NCAA have just announced what is being called “NCAA March Madness Live” and it replaces the familiar March Madness on Demand that CBS had in place for the NCAA Tournament for many years. It was the way many fans could watch the Tournament at work for the first and second round games.
With Turner Sports coming on board and taking over the streaming for the NCAA Tournament, it was thought it would come up with a way to charge for the event and it has. There is confusion over the way this new system is coming about as fans have been used to watching the games online for free.
Starting this year, Turner Sports will charge $3.99 so you can watch all of the games online. Now this is where it gets confusing. You have to stay with me. To watch all of the games on NCAA March Madness Live mobile and tablet apps for Apple and Android devices, you will pay that $3.99 charge.
Here is how you can watch the games for free and not have to pay the $3.99 charge.
- If you have the TBS/TNT/truTV mobile or tablet apps and your cable company participates in the TV Everywhere initiative, you can watch games for free.
- Games on CBS.com will be free
There is confusion on this. If you have questions, I will attempt to answer them in an upcoming mailbag.
Here’s the press release.
Tournament Coverage Expands to More Platforms than Ever Giving Fans More Ways – However, Wherever – to Watch All 67 Games Live
Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA today announced that NCAA® March Madness® Live, formerly March Madness on Demand, will now provide college basketball fans with more opportunities to watch every minute of every game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Produced by Turner Sports Interactive, NCAA® March Madness® Live is a suite of live products presented across multiple screens, including online and as an iPad, iPhone and iPod touch app and, for the first time, on Android phones.
NCAA® March Madness® Live will be available to users across all video screens – online, mobile and tablet– and over Wi-fi and 3G for $3.99 beginning on March 7. Fans will be able to enjoy live streaming video of every broadcast for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship as they are televised by TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, starting with the NCAA Basketball Selection Show on Sunday, March 11, and continuing through the Men’s Final Four® and National Championship Game from New Orleans on March 31 and April 2.
NCAA® March Madness® Live will continue to be launched from NCAA.com, CBSSports.com and SI.com.
NCAA® March Madness® Live will offer higher quality live video streams across platforms; video highlights for every game of the Tournament on the iPhone and Android phones; live game alerts for Android phones, as well as iPhones and iPads; an updated design; and live radio broadcast courtesy of Westwood One/Dial Global Radio Network, for all 67 games across the suite of digital products. In addition to the new offerings, NCAA® March Madness® Live will again provide the same fan-favorite features from last year including: schedules and live game scoring, live tournament brackets, personal channel lineup features, live stats, and live social companion views.
The NCAA® March Madness® Live video player is presented by NCAA Corporate Champions AT&T, Capital One and Coke Zero. To generate fan excitement leading into March Madness Live coverage, Coke Zero will provide a limited number of fans the opportunity to receive free NCAA® March Madness® access. The promotion launches the week of Feb. 20.
“Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA are committed to providing the excitement of March Madness on as many screens as possible – television, online, mobile and tablets – for viewers to experience all of the exciting action of this great event wherever they are,” said Matthew Hong, senior vice president and general manager of operations for Turner Sports. “Combining TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV with the enhanced offerings of the new NCAA® March Madness® product provides fans with instantaneous on-the-go access ensuring they won’t miss a moment of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.”
“We continue to look at ways to bring the tournament to more of our fan base and keep them connected to the excitement that culminates with the Final Four,” said NCAA interim executive vice president of championships and alliances Greg Shaheen. “NCAA® March Madness® Live is one of many options college basketball fans will have to watch this year’s tournament how they want, when they want.
The 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship will be available through the following platforms:
- For the second consecutive year, all 67 games will be televised across four television networks in their entirety — TBS, CBS, TNT, and truTV.
- Turner will stream its linear television games online for free on an authenticated basis on the Turner websites (TBS.com, TNT.tv and truTV.com) for consumers who have a cable, satellite or telco subscription that includes these respective Turner networks. Authenticating this year’s Tournament across the Turner Networks is an extension of the company’s TV Everywhere initiative, which is currently available to over 75 million households.
- All games airing on CBS will be available for free on CBSSports.com.
NCAA® March Madness® features include:
- My Channels: Through My Channels, fans can easily find games using this personalized channel finder. By plugging in their zip code, users can select their TV provider and see their channel lineup for every game on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.
- The Game Center View: The Game Center view provides fans with a control center at their fingertips for live in-game stats such as player stats, team leaders, scoring streaks, biggest lead and foul trouble, depending on which device they use – along with a graphic lead tracker – and live social features.
- The NCAA March Madness Social Arena: Extending the conversation beyond the broadcast, NCAA March Madness Social Arena will return as the social water cooler for March Madness conversation. New this year, features will be live across the entire NCAA March Madness suite of products and, for the first time, let fans grab key game moments and share them with friends and family. In addition, fans will be able to view social commentary from other fans and celebrities everywhere, answer live tournament trivia, and cheer for their favorite teams. The Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena will extend onto Coke Zero’s Facebook page – offering a complete video gallery of all fan-grabbed moments, complete access to specially-aggregated Twitter feeds of all 68 teams, a uniquely-visualized bracket view of the loudest fans, and more.
NCAA March Madness will be played at 14 venues around the country beginning March 13. For more information, go to NCAA.com.
Last year, more than 176 million people tuned into the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
That is it.
Dec
20
Tuesday Linkage
Let’s do some links for today. Lots of stories and lots of stuff going on. From the NFL announcing the online streaming of Super Bowl XLVI to some mind blowing revelations about reporters, this has been an amazing day. It will call for some sports media thoughts later tonight. First the links.
I’ll begin with a story that’s breaking now. Nancy Phillips of the Philadelphia Inquirer breaks the story about Baseball Hall of Fame writer Bill Conlin being accused of molesting four children in the 1970′s. For his part, Conlin denies the allegations and has resigned from his columnist position at the Philadelphia Daily News. Last month, Conlin wrote the following about the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
In what has to be a giant conflict of interest, we learn from TMZ and the Crossing Broad blog that Jay Gray of NBC News was arrested on DUI charges after leaving a party thrown by Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola who invited a bunch of reporters to his house to curry favors for interviews of his client down the line.
Timothy Burke at Deadspin notes the ESPN Monday Night Football debut of sideline reporter John Sutcliffe of ESPN Deportes. For such a big game, ESPN brought in someone who had not worked on the MNF package on the Mothership (he has been sideline reporter for Deportes) and it didn’t work.
Last night on Twitter, I said something about Sutcliffe that I should not have. It was wrong. You will not find that tweet now. I’ve deleted it. I apologize and it will not happen again.
Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com writes that ESPN’s ratings for Monday Night Football are down this season.
The Futon Critic notes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football won the ratings last night not just on cable, but across all networks.
Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter writes about the NFL’s plan to stream Super Bowl XLVI online.
Georg Szalai of the Reporter talks with an industry analyst regarding the new NFL TV deals.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times also has a story on the Super Bowl going online for the first time.
Aaron Kuriloff of Bloomberg reports on the potential increase of the Thursday Night Football schedule on NFL Network as early as next season.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the war of words between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable over their carriage talks is ratcheting up.
Mike says ESPN has ponied up $500 million to expand its deal with the NCAA.
John Eggerton of Multichannel writes that Tennis Channel has won a key FCC Administrative Law Judge ruling against Comcast.
Anthony Crupi of Adweek says ESPN’s ad sales for 33 college football bowls are red hot.
Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his NBA Broadcasting Guide for the upcoming season.
Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid talks about ESPN’s plans to overhaul its NBA pregame show.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell suspects Nike will raise prices to make up for lost revenue.
Elizabeth Kim of the Stamford (CT) Advocate goes in-depth on how NBC Sports decided to move to Connecticut.
Brian Stelter and Amy Chozick of the New York Times say you pay for sports on your cable bill whether you like it or not.
Newsday’s Neil Best reports that Fox has assigned Kenny Albert, Moose and Goose for the battle of New York this Saturday.
Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia aired CSN Mid-Atlantic’s coverage of the 76ers road game against the Washington Wizards last week.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local weekend ratings.
John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals ratings on Sunday weren’t very good.
John says a local sports radio talk show host who left his regular gig earlier this month may have another one in line.
And I’ll end it there for now. I’ll try to bring some more linkage later.
Dec
18
Some Sunday Morning Sports Media Thoughts & One Musical Comment
As we get into the home stretch and the Christmas holiday is now just a week away, let me offer a few thoughts on sports media this morning. As usual, they’ll go in bullet form.
- So we have a couple of cable carriage disputes looming large as we end 2011. Looks like MSG Network and Time Warner Cable are heading towards a train wreck unless something drastic happens. It appeared the two sides were heading towards an agreement, but now, MSG Media is encouraging TWC subscribers in New York and Buffalo to find another cable provider in case MSG Network, MSG Plus, MSG Plus 2 and MSG Buffalo are pulled. It’s another example of both sides accusing the other of making ridiculous demands. And in the end, it’s the consumer that gets the shaft, not the cable or content provider.
- The other sports channel that’s in danger of being dropped is Universal Sports. A whole slew of providers are threatening to drop the channel on New Year’s Day unless NBCUniversal can convince them to keep it. Just this year, Universal Sports got an agreement with DirecTV, but any gains made with DirecTV will be lost when it goes dark on a bunch of providers that put it on a sports tier. Universal Sports airs Olympic sports that don’t get much play on the regular networks. Here’s hoping that this dispute will be resolved as well.
- With bowl season starting, I wonder how major college football has gone so long without a legitimate playoff system. The NCAA manages to get a championship done in the other divisions including the smaller Division I schools. Yet, the bowls and college presidents somehow think that they must protect the “integrity” and the “sanctity” of their systems. The Bowl Championship Series has done nothing but raise more questions and the fact that we have a #1 vs. #2 matchup involving teams from the same conference and also a rematch from a game this year totally stinks. Yet, the bowls make money from shoddy accounting and executives lining their pockets. The bowls make their matchup choices based on which schools “travel well” and can sell their allotment of tickets. Often these trips are money losing operations, but because the bowls have such a grip on the BCS schools, they refuse to change. Here’s hoping that at least we get a +1 addition to the BCS when the current TV contract with ESPN ends because what we have is not working right now.
- While we have seen resolution of TV rights for the NHL, Olympics, World Cup and NFL this year, it’s 2012 where we could see some upheaval in rights. Bidding for MLB and NASCAR will open up and there’s a lot of interest in baseball. Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig has said there’s more networks bidding for the rights than at any time. In the last contract, TBS took postseason rights from ESPN and half of the League Championship Series. We’ll see if Turner remains in the baseball business. Will NBC get back into baseball after leaving in 2000? Can Fox stay with MLB despite declining ratings in the regular season and postseason? Will ESPN spend to break back into the playoffs? We’ll find out when the new contracts are signed.And what about NASCAR? ESPN went all in to return for the Sprint Cup series. With three networks Fox, TNT and ESPN taking three different approaches to televising the sport, will the higher ups at NASCAR decide to make one certain style uniform or will we see one of the partners drop out? This will be quite interesting to see this play out.
- And lastly, we learned last week that Etta James, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, is terminally ill. While this is not sport media news, it’s sad to hear that one of the greatest voices in rock history will be leaving us. Etta gave us great songs like “At Last”, “A Sunday Kind of Love”, “Tell Mama” and “Something’s Got A Hold on Me.” She had a heroin addiction in the 1970′s and kicked that. She’s had several health problems over the last few years including dementia, but they don’t diminish what James gave us. She won’t have much more time with us, but her music will live on long afterwards. I’ll leave you with her signature song, “At Last.”
Enjoy your Sunday.
Dec
15
ESPN Extends Agreement With NCAA For Championships Through 2023-24
The networks continue to lock in long-terms agreements and today, we receive this press release from ESPN regarding the NCAA Championships. With this agreement, the ESPN networks will air championships in sports including Football, Women’s Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Volleyball, Track & Field, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Softball and Baseball.
The championships will be aired on all ESPN platforms including TV and online. ESPNU will get a huge block of programming devoted to college sports. ESPN will also get various streaming rights for ESPN3.
ESPN picks up seven NCAA Championships in this agreement including three from CBS/CBS Sports Network women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field.
Here’s the announcement from ESPN and the NCAA.
Expanded Rights Secured for ESPN3 and Other Multi-media Platforms for 24 NCAA Championships;
Exclusive International Rights for NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship;
NIT® Season Tip-Off and NIT Postseason CoverageESPN, Inc. and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) today announced a multiyear agreement through 2023-24 for worldwide, multi-media rights to 24 NCAA championships and exclusive multi-media rights outside the United States, its territories and Bermuda for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The new agreement, which takes effect immediately, also provides expanded coverage of each round of the NIT Season Tip-Off and all games from the NIT Postseason Tournament across the ESPN networks.
The new agreement includes 600-plus hours and 300 telecasts of live coverage annually across more platforms than ever before. It contains rights for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile, ESPN FULL COURT, GamePlan, Buzzer Beater, Goal Line, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN.com and WatchESPN, with many of the 24 championships produced in high definition on ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ESPNU HD.
Exclusive coverage of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship and broad rights covering the NCAA Division I Football Championship, and the Men’s and Women’s College World Series, among others, will continue on the ESPN networks.
“We have enjoyed a great relationship with the NCAA that has spanned the history of ESPN,” said George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN and ABC Sports, and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. “This is our most comprehensive agreement yet and ensures sports fans will have access to top-level NCAA athletics across ESPN networks and platforms.”
“Thousands of inspiring and compelling student-athletes make it to the championship level every year, and we at the NCAA are excited to be able to share their stories with a broader audience than ever,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert. “Across all sports and divisions, our primary goal is to support student-athlete success both on the field and in the classroom, and this new agreement provides us a greater ability to do so.”
ESPN expands its exclusive final round NCAA coverage with 24 NCAA championships:
- Fall – Division I women’s soccer; Division I men’s soccer; Division I women’s volleyball; Division I football (FCS); Division II football and Division III football
- Winter – Division I men’s and women’s indoor track & field; Division I men’s and women’s swimming & diving; Division I women’s basketball; Division I wrestling; Division I men’s ice hockey; National Collegiate women’s bowling; National Collegiate women’s gymnastics and National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing.
- Spring – National Collegiate men’s volleyball; Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field; Division I softball and Division I baseball
ESPN is adding coverage of seven NCAA championships: National Collegiate women’s gymnastics, National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing, Division I women’s lacrosse, Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field and National Collegiate women’s bowling (previously sublicensed from CBS). ESPN will also air additional preliminary round coverage of selected NCAA championships including Division I football (FCS), Division I women’s volleyball, Division I softball and Division I baseball.
ESPNU
- Additional coverage on ESPN’s 24-hour college sports network, including high-profile, preliminary-round NCAA championships exposure. ESPNU has featured original NCAA content since the network’s inception on March 4, 2005
- During the 2011-12 season, 15 NCAA national champions will be crowned on ESPNU in the following events: National Collegiate women’s bowling; National collegiate men’s and women’s fencing; Division III football; National Collegiate women’s gymnastics; Division I men’s and women’s indoor track & field; Division I women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field; Division I men’s and women’s soccer; Division I men’s and women’s swimming & diving, and National Collegiate men’s volleyball
- More than 90 events and 220 hours of NCAA championship programming during the 2011-12 season
ESPN3
- ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network will feature exclusive coverage from selected rounds and sites of 16 NCAA championships including: Division I baseball; National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing; Division I football (FCS); National Collegiate women’s gymnastics; Division I men’s and women’s indoor track & field; Division I women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field; Division I women’s soccer; Division I softball; Division I men’s and women’s swimming & diving; Division I women’s volleyball and Division I wrestling
- Extensive early-round event coverage from Division I baseball, Division I football (FCS), Division I men’s ice hockey, Division I softball, Division I women’s volleyball and Division I wrestling
- 80-plus live exclusive events from NCAA championships, the NIT Season Tip-Off and NIT Postseason Tournament during the 2011-12 season
Women’s Basketball
- ESPN remains the exclusive home of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. ESPN has carried the championship since 1996
- 2012 marks the 10th consecutive year of airing the entire championship with all 63 games tipping-off live on ESPN networks
- ESPN continues to feature the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Special with Selection Monday on ESPN
Men’s Basketball
- International rights for the entire NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, including distribution in Latin America (Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America), the Middle East and Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands, Europe, Japan and Canada (via TSN)
- Selected highlight rights from the complete championship for distribution in the U.S. and international territories
- Exclusive home of the men’s basketball NIT Season Tip-Off and NIT Postseason Tournament, including expanded coverage of the tip-off event and all rounds from the postseason tournament
- Live studio coverage from inside the stadium at the Men’s Final Four®
Studio Shows
- In addition to women’s basketball, ESPN maintains exclusive rights to selected NCAA championship selection shows. ESPNU will showcase Division I baseball, Division I football (FCS), Division I men’s ice hockey, Division I men’s lacrosse, Division I softball, and Division I women’s volleyball selection shows.
That will do it.
Dec
01
Turner Launches New NCAA Sports Mobile App
Just announced by Turner Sports, a new NCAA Sports mobile app that will be made available for the iPhone and Android platforms. This will give mobile phone users the opportunity to see over 60 NCAA Championships.
The live game streaming will begin with finals coverage of Divisions I-III field hockey and Division II and III soccer.
Turner has also optimized the NCAA.com site for mobile users. Here’s the press release from Turner Sports on the new NCAA Sports app.
NCAA.com also launches new mobile website for touchscreen mobile devices
Turner Sports and the NCAA announced today the launch of NCAA Sports, a new iPhone app that provides in-depth regular season coverage of college football and basketball, as well as NCAA championship coverage of all NCAA sports. In addition, NCAA Sports offers fans exclusive live video streaming of more than 60 NCAA championship events including Division II football, Divisions II and III wrestling, Divisions I, II and III field hockey, Divisions II and III men’s and women’s soccer, and Divisions II and III women’s volleyball. Turner-hosted NCAA.com is also unveiling a new mobile website for touchscreen phones (iPhone, Android, etc.), accessible via your mobile browser. The new mobile website will allow fans to get live scores, schedules, news, rankings and video recaps suitable for the mobile screen.
For fans on the go, NCAA Sports provides college sports news and scores throughout the year, with live and on-demand video coverage of NCAA championships. Users also will be able to virtually check into games and chat with friends via Facebook and Twitter. NCAA Sports is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod Touch.
Click to here to access NCAA Sports
“With the launch of the NCAA Sports iPhone app and the new NCAA.com mobile website, we’re giving college sports fans greater access to NCAA championship and regular season content than ever before,” said Mark Johnson, vice-president of Turner Sports’ NCAA Digital group. “College sports content is underserved in the mobile space right now and we’re excited to offer fans mobile products that are 100% dedicated to college sports.”
“NCAA Sports is the next step in providing fans with more convenient digital access to many NCAA championships. We’ve seen the success with March Madness on Demand and other NCAA.com initiatives over the years and are excited to launch these new features for fans of our other NCAA championships,” said Greg Shaheen, NCAA interim executive vice president for championships and alliances.
“The NCAA Sports mobile app will provide live game streaming, interactive opportunities and access to more championship information,” Shaheen added. “This new mobile capability also will broaden the NCAA audience and overall reach with messaging whether fans are at the championship or viewing from another location.”
To kick-off the live game streaming, NCAA Sports will feature live finals coverage of: Divisions I, II and III women’s field hockey, Divisions II and III men’s and women’s soccer, National Collegiate men’s water polo and Divisions II and III women’s volleyball. The live video streaming coverage also will include Division II football quarterfinal games on December 3.
Additionally, the NCAA.com mobile website is now available for touchscreen devices by typing ncaa.com in your address bar. Fans have the opportunity to follow their favorite NCAA sports and receive live scores, schedules, video recaps and interviews with the same feel as the home site – NCAA.com.
That’s it.
Nov
30
ESPN3 & ESPN GamePlan To Air NCAA Division I Football Playoff Games
This Saturday, it’s the second round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship. The non-BCS schools comprise the Football Championship Subdivision and there will be eight second round games played on Saturday. ESPN has the rights to all of the games. They will be streamed online on the ESPN3.com platform. In addition, they’ll be made available on the ESPN GamePlan pay per view package.
The games include those involving Montana and Montana State. Both schools have games at home, but because ESPN had originally planned to stream both contests online, it made fans of both institutions scramble because ESPN3.com is not readily available in Big Sky Country. However, thanks to the intervention of the state’s two U.S. Senators, the games will be put on GamePlan and that is readily available in Montaana.
Here’s the press blurb from ESPN.
NCAA Football Championship Series Second-Round Games on ESPN3, ESPN GamePlan
Coverage of the NCAA Football Championship Series continues with second-round games Saturday, Dec. 3, on ESPN3 and ESPN GamePlan. The first game will begin at 1 p.m. with Old Dominion vs. No. 3 Georgia Southern live from Statesboro, Ga.
The schedule on ESPN3 marks the most number of FCS Championship games ever distributed live nationally. Fans will also have an opportunity to subscribe and watch the eight games on ESPN GamePlan — ESPN’s nationwide, subscription television outlet available to all multichannel video providers.
Date Time (ET) Match-Up Sat, Dec 3 1 p.m. Old Dominion vs. #3 Georgia Southern
Allen E. Paulson Stadium, Statesboro, Ga.2 p.m. Central Arkansas vs. #4 Montana
Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Mont.Maine vs. Appalachian State
Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, N.C.3 p.m. Stony Brook vs. #1 Sam Houston State
Bowers Stadium, Huntsville, TexasNew Hampshire vs. Montana State
Bobcat Stadium, Bozeman, Mont.3:30 p.m. Lehigh vs. Towson
Johnny Unitas Stadium, Towson, Md.4 p.m. James Madison vs. #2 North Dakota State
Fargodome, Fargo, N.D.5 p.m. Wofford vs. #5 Northern Iowa
Uni-Dome, Cedar Falls, Iowa
There you have it.
Nov
29
Some Quickie Tuesday Links
I’ve been away from the computer again today so it led to minimal blogging. Let’s provide some links now.
We begin with some breaking news from the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman who reports that TNT will air the NBA season opening game on Christmas Day between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. ESPN/ABC usually airs the Christmas Day games, but TNT has the rights to the league’s first game and Turner Sports apparently won out here.
Jason Lisk at the Big Lead criticizes ESPN for sitting on the Bernie Fine Syracuse story for more than eight years.
Allen Barra of the Daily Beast talks about ESPN and the Syracuse Post-Standard sitting on the Bernie Fine story for way too long.
At ESPN Front Row, Vince Doria, network vice president for news content defends ESPN’s handling of the story.
NASCAR driver Tony Stewart announced on his annual Sirius XM show that the sport has extended its agreement with the satellite radio provider for another five years.
[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/#!/SBJSBD/statuses/141626213369257984"]
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that YES Network will premiere a new series providing viewers access to Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson.
Anthony Crupi of Adweek says CBS/Turner expect big bucks from ad sales in the multiple platforms showing the NCAA Tournament.
David Goetzl of MediaPost says Paramount Pictures will incorporate NHL footage into promos for the latest Mission: Impossible movie on both US and Canadian TV.
Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that a Tampa-St. Petersburg TV station accidentally showed a man’s schlong during a report from the Buccaneers locker room.
Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group notes that Big Ten Network has launched a mobile app for the Apple iPhone, iPod and yes, the iPad.
Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant says ESPN has signed a deal with the America East conference for 47 basketball games on the network’s various platforms.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on the feud between Los Angeles Dodgers Frank McCourt and Fox Sports over media rights for the team.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner notes the longevity of “Inside the NFL”.
Emily Adamson of NBCMontana says the NCAA is now encouraging ESPN to find a way to air the Division I Football playoff games involving Montana and Montana State in Big Sky country. The games are only available on ESPN3.com which is not readily available in Montana.
Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic talks with NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner about Tim Tebow.
I’ll try to get some more links later on.
Aug
14
Doing Some Sunday Links
I haven’t been able to provide a Sunday link dump for you in a while so it’s time to provide some while I can. I do have to do a Sunday thoughts column and again, haven’t done one in a while so I hope to get that done for you later today. Too many thoughts in my head and I have to release them!
I apologize for not being able to do links since Wednesday. I’ve been at jobsites in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and that has taken my days to the point when I get home, it’s tough to do anything. I hope this upcoming week won’t be as busy.
To the links.
Richard Deitsch from Sports Illustrated has his latest Media Power List. Some good names on the list I should say.
Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that the NFL preseason opener on ESPN took down MTV’s Jersey Shore on Thursday. Maybe there is hope for us all.
EJ Schultz of Advertising Age says Anheuser-Busch is taking a big $50 million gamble by having Bud Light become the official beer of the NFL replacing Coors Light.
Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that the media still has some lessons to learn from the public fallout between Tiger Woods and his former caddie, Steve Williams.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell finally finds an Under Armour running shoe he likes.
Speaking of Darren, SportsNewser’s Marcus Vanderberg writes that Darren and Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio will be getting their own shows on the soon-to-be rebranded Versus in the new year.
Marcus tells us that ESPN Radio Los Angeles will be picking up New York Jets games this season. Ok.
Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group looks at Fox tackling college football in a big way through its Game of the Week series on FX.
Pete Thamel of the New York Times explores the anarchy that reigns college football.
Newsday’s Neil Best has a partial transcript from HBO’s Real Sports interview with Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post proclaims to be looking out for the little guy. Whatever.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes one TV station in New York’s Capital Region will be busy with sports.
Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record lists the local affiliates for the Jets and Giants radio networks.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN NASCAR voice Allen Bestwick about calling a race at the Watkins Glen road course as opposed to traditional oval tracks.
Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says former Braves broadcaster, the late Ernie Johnson, Sr. is being remembered fondly. Johnson died Friday at the age of 87.
Mark Bradley of the AJC says Johnson was the kindest of men.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle provides some thoughts on the NCAA’s ban of college networks airing high school games.
Dan Caesar in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that NFL Network has finally been picked up by Charter Communications.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an extensive interview with Dodgers GM Ned Colletti.
Sports Media Watch says ESPN’s NFL preseason opener drew better ratings than last year’s game.
Joe Favorito writes that Northwestern University is conducting a highly original marketing campaign for a Heisman Trophy candidate.
The Toronto Sports Media blog notes some changes at TSN Sports Radio.
And TSM talks about some wholesale changes at the Toronto Star that will effect its sports section.
And that’s it for now. I hope to add some more links later.
Aug
01
Dragging Out The Monday Linkage
Lots of stuff coming out today. Rebranding news galore as we found out that Versus will undergo a name change on January 2, 2012. Then there’s Sporting News Radio changing its name to Yahoo! Sports Radio as of today. And Westwood One Radio has merged with Dial-Global today. Crazy day. Let’s do some linkage and hope nothing else breaks.
First, Mike McCarthy of USA Today broke the news last night of the Versus rebrand.
We have the reason for the rebrand to NBC Sports Network directly from NBC.
Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has a story on the Versus rebrand.
Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the goal of the Versus rebrand is to gain more access for NBC Sports Network and to raise subscriber fees.
Georg Szalai at the Hollywood Reporter says NBC Sports hopes to provide marketers and affiliates with a better value for the channel.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that the new name for Versus will launch on January 2.
Stuart Levine from Variety says NBC Sports hopes the new name will give the channel better footing in competing against ESPN.
All Access looks at Sporting News Radio becoming Yahoo! Sports Radio as of today.
The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron explores the rebranding of Sporting News Radio.
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer say local SNR affiliates were informed of the new name today.
To other stories now.
ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute wonders if ESPN got too entrenched in its NFL lockout coverage.
Eric Morath of the Wall Street Journal says Fox Sports is protesting an MLB-backed plan to sell media rights for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Overseas, Current’s Keith Olbermann writes in the London (UK) Guardian how News Corp. President Rupert Murdoch hired and fired him from Fox Sports Net.
Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com says Texas A&M is appealing to the NCAA to use a 17 year old rule to block Texas and the Longhorn Network from airing high school football games.
Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says a Seattle sports radio host gave former Mariners pitcher Erik Bedard a real parting shot as he heads to Boston in a trade to the Red Sox.
Also at SportsGrid, Timothy Burke has a mashup of horrible Tim McCarver analysis from Saturday.
To Cam Martin of SportsNewser who writes is ESPN is renaming its RISE brand to reflect its true focus.
Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine notes the return of fans to NFL team websites which bodes well for the regular season.
Richard Lawler from Engadget HD notes that AT&T U-verse suddenly booted ESPN 3D off its lineup last night without any warning.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the NFL fantasy business seems to have recovered from the lockout.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is calling out some sports reporters for being lapdogs.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has his reaction to NBC changing Versus’ name.
Pete also has the MLB Network schedule of games for early August.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes NBC/Versus NHL voice Mike Emrick will be honored by the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner says football may be back, and so will the stadium hostage game.
The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog says former ESPN’er Brett Haber is leaving his local DC gig to spend more time with his family.
Here’s the announcement of Haber’s departure from his local station.
Mark Washburn of the Charlotte (NC) Observer says two local radio stations are swapping their national ESPN and Fox Sports Radio affiliations.
Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in sports TV.
In his blog, David Barron of the Houston Chronicle briefly touches upon the Sporting News Radio rebrand and discusses the passing of a legendary Texas play-by-play man.
The Pittsburg (KS) Morning Sun has a story from Jesse Cordova that ESPN will air a high school football game in neighboring Missouri.
The Denver Post’s Dusty Saunders says despite having a losing record last season, the Broncos will be covered aplenty on TV.
In the Salt Lake Tribune, Scott D. Pierce says Utah fans are already screaming about the lack of TV exposure in this year’s Pac-12 football schedule.
Brian T. Smith of the Tribune talks with new Fox Sports college football announcer Craig Bolerjack who comes over from CBS.
Tom Hoffarth in the Los Angeles Daily News has this week’s sports calendar.
Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News looks at how TV rights and market size come into play for any future Pac-12 expansion.
Jonathan Okanes in the Mercury News says there’s a new FM sports radio station in the Bay Area.
Rachel Bachman of The Oregonian talks with ESPN’s Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit and Erin Andrews about the 25th anniversary of College GameDay.
Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says sports seems to be getting the reality TV treatment throughout visual mediums.
Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says TSN seems to be a retraining ground for coaches.
To The Big Lead and Jason Lisk where he looks at the rather interesting tweets by NFL insiders Peter King and Adam Schefter.
Sports Media Watch learns that Turner Sports’ Marc Fein is leaving to pursue other opportunities.
That’s going to do it. Lots of links today.
Jul
26
Some Tuesday Night Links
Today was just too busy as I was in between two offices and had to run errands for most of the day. I apologize for not bringing these links earlier, but I do have time now so let’s get to them.
Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that the NCAA is now looking into the viability of the Longhorn Network.
John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal says despite the lockout, ad sales for NFL games on the league’s TV partners are going very well.
Wayne Friedman at MediaPost notes that the best place for marketers to reach young males is the NFL and advertisers are very happy the lockout is done.
Mike Fleming at Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox has apparently optioned a script for a movie version of the James Arthur Miller/Tom Shales book, “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World At ESPN.”
Jon Lafayette from Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL’s TV partners could not be happier to see the end of the lockout.
Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News tells us that NASCAR.com’s free Sprint Cup online app will be used to showcase three Nationwide Series races for the first time.
Diego Vasquez of Media Life Magazine advises marketers that it’s not early to think about next year’s NFL Draft to reach potential clients.
Jason Fry at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center gives five good tips on Twitter as the service turns five years old.
Cam Martin of SportsNewser says former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach was denied a press credential at the Big 12 Media Days on Monday.
The Big Lead speaks with HBO Sports documentary writer Aaron Cohen about his latest project, the Derek Jeter 3K project.
Gracie Blackburn of ESPN Front Row looks at the SEC football coaches going through what’s known as the ESPN “Car Wash”.
Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group writes about TV production trucks ready to head to NFL stadiums now that the lockout is over.
The great Darren Rovell of CNBC notes that the fans never really counted in the NFL lockout.
Yesterday, a lot of blogs and sites embedded this video from the Evolution of Dance guy like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. First, I hate the Evolution of Dance guy. I never liked his videos. I never thought they were good or funny. Then ESPN hired him to make a video of Evolution of Football Dances. I watched it for 20 seconds before I tried to rip the screen off my laptop. If you’re a fan, fine. Leave me out of it. The Evolution of Dance guy (whom I can’t bring to call by name) needs to fall off a cliff.
Eric Rueb of Rhode Island Central says WPRI-TV, a station where I used to work, recreated moments of a local golf tournament and represented them as fact, a clear journalism ethics violation. I embed the offending video below.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the NFL has now set the preseason schedule in stone and has given NBC a new game to air in the wake of losing the Hall of Fame Game.
To Eric Deggans at the St. Petersburg Times says the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers TV contract might be a harbinger of things to come for the team.
Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Conference USA has announced its TV schedule for this football season.
David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the NCAA will meet next month to discuss the Longhorn Network and other institutional-backed TV channels airing high school football games.
Mike Finger of the Chronicle says the Longhorn Network was a big topic of discussion at the Big 12 Media Days.
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that MLB Network will air a Reds-centric documentary this weekend.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NFL Network will show a documentary honoring NFL Films founder Ed Sabol as he enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame next week.
Dave Strader, outgoing TV voice of the Phoenix Coyotes, tells the fans that he’s leaving for NBC/Versus.
Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News has a happy final update on Vin Scully’s Star on the Walk of Fame.
Scott Collins at the Los Angeles Times says the networks and marketers are pleased as punch to get the NFL back.
Sajid Farooq of NBC Bay Area says the San Francisco 49ers have signed an extension with their current radio flagship station.
Jon Gudel of the Elk Grove (CA) Citizen notes that ESPN will be in town to air a local high school football game in the fall.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that CTV has announced some of its announcer lineup for next year’s 2012 London Summer Olympics.
Sports Media Watch looks at some ratings news and notes.
Paddock Talk explores ESPN’s return to NASCAR with the Brickyard 400 this Sunday.
And that’s going to wrap up our linkage for this evening. Thanks for your patience.
Jul
12
A Few Tuesday Links
Got bogged down with a bunch of paperwork so I can’t do a full set of links. I’ll do my best to give you what I can plus catch up with any press release posts. To be honest, I really haven’t seen any releases come in today, but I’ll do some posting for you tonight during the All-Star Game.
Steve Gardner of USA Today spends some time with ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst John Kruk.
Great story from the Wall Street Journal’s Reed Albergotti and Cameron McWhirter on how Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium has become a huge tax burden for the city and its residents.
A couple of things from Awful Announcing. First, it has the video of ESPN’s Bobby Valentine saying “fagged out” on Baseball Tonight and then backtracking.
Then Matt Yoder from AA has angry tweets targeted at Chris Berman’s performance at the Home Run Derby.
The Big Lead also found people who just could not stand Berman’s play-by-play and frankly, I could not either.
Crossing Broad had the patience to live blog the Home Run Derby.
Barry Petchesky of Deadspin notes that ESPN photoshopped Hope Solo’s nipple out of a shot. Don’t go crazy, guys, it’s not what you think.
Tom Scocca of Deadspin fires a shot at Captain Blowhard’s Deadspin site for some questionable quotes in an article written by noted plagiarist Mike Barnicle.
At the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh explains why the NCAA doesn’t go after a school’s bowl or TV money when it imposes sanctions.
The Lost Lettermen explore the lawsuit filed by ESPN against Ohio State for the school’s failure to release records pertaining to the NCAA’s investigation into the Jim Tressel era.
Elizabeth Haldane at ESPN Front Row talks with Women’s World Cup analyst Julie Foudy about the people she follows on Twitter.
Sports Media Watch says the NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at the Kentucky Speedway received solid numbers on TNT.
SportsbyBrooks looks at the new book by former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach who claims ESPN was part of a conspiracy to force him out from the school.
And that will tie you over for links for now.
Jul
01
ESPN & ESPN2 See Increased Audience For College World Series
Received this blurb from Bristol, CT in regards to the increased viewership for both ESPN and ESPN2 during the College World Series. In addition, the two game Championship Series saw significant increases from the previous year.
ESPN & ESPN2’s College World Series Presentation Posts Audience Growth
ESPN’s Two-Game Finals Series Shows Significant Increase
ESPN and ESPN2’s complete coverage of the College World Series posted audience growth over last year, highlighted by significant increases for both telecasts of the championship finals.
The best-of-three championship, won in two games by South Carolina, averaged 2,233,000 total viewers, 1,618,000 households and a 1.6 rating, marking increases of 43% (vs. 1,558,000), 33% (vs. 1,220,000) and 33% (vs. 1.2), respectively, over last year.
Overall, ESPN’s 11 telecasts averaged 1,310,000 viewers, 994,000 households and a 1.0 rating for increases of 9% (vs. 1, 198,000), 7% (vs. 933,000) and 11% (vs. 0.9), respectively, over last year’s six contests. ESPN2 also showed growth, averaging 999,000 viewers, 771,000 households and a 0.8 rating for four games, marking increases of 26% (vs. 794,000), 28% (vs. 603,000) and 33% (vs. 0.6).
Back later.
Jun
15
College World Series Starts Saturday On ESPN
The networks of ESPN will carry college baseball’s signature event, the College World Series in Omaha, NE. This year, the event takes place at a new venue, TD Ameritrade Park after retiring Rosenblatt Stadium in 2010.
Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser and Robin Ventura will be the main announcing team. The Wednesday Night Baseball team of Dave O’Brien and Nomar Garciaparra will be the other announcers. Jon Sciambi will also call games from Omaha for ESPN. Jenn Brown replaces Erin Andrews as the main on-field reporter and Kyle Peterson will also be on hand as well.
Here’s the schedule of games on ESPN and ESPN2.
Two of the eight qualifying teams are making consecutive College World Series appearances, including defending National Champion South Carolina and Florida. No team has won the national championship back-to-back in over five decades. The first four matchups:
- First-time College World Series participant Vanderbilt will take on North Carolina, playing in its fifth College World Series in the past six years.
- Texas will play in its record 34th College World Series, taking on Florida which is making its second since 2005.
- California, making its first College World Series appearance in 19 years, will take on Virginia, which earned its second berth in the event ever and finished the season with the best record in college baseball.
- Defending Champion South Carolina will take on Texas A&M, playing in its first College World Series since 1999.
* If necessary
Date Time (ET) Game Matchups / Commentators Network Sat, Jun 18 2 p.m. 1 Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina
Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV 7 p.m. 2 Texas vs. Florida
Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra & Kyle PetersonESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Sun, Jun 19 2 p.m. 3 California vs. Virginia
Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV 7 p.m. 4 Texas A&M vs. South Carolina
Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra & Kyle PetersonESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Mon, Jun 20 2 p.m. 5 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV 7 p.m. 6 Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Jon Sciambi, Orel Hershiser & Kyle PetersonESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com Tue, Jun 21 2 p.m. 7 Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Jon Sciambi, Nomar Garciaparra & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com 7 p.m. 8 Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser & Kyle PetersonESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Wed, Jun 22 7 p.m. 9 Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 5
Jon Sciambi, Robin Ventura & Kyle PetersonESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com Thu, Jun 23 7 p.m. 10 Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 7
Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser & Kyle PetersonESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com Fri, Jun 24 2 p.m. 11 Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 9
Jon Sciambi, Orel Hershiser, Nomar Garciaparra & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com 7 p.m. 12 Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10
Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Kyle PetersonESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Sat, Jun 25 2 p.m. 13 ** If necessary
Jon Sciambi, Nomar Garciaparra & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV 7 p.m. 14 ** If necessary
Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Kyle PetersonESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Mon, Jun 27 8 p.m. 1 Series Final
Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser, Robin Ventura, Kyle Peterson & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Tue, Jun 28 8 p.m. 2 Series Final
Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser, Robin Ventura, Kyle Peterson & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV Wed, Jun 29 8 p.m. 3 * Series Final
Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser, Robin Ventura, Kyle Peterson & Jenn BrownESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV ** If only Game 13 is necessary, it will be played at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
That will do it.
Jun
08
CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network Combine For NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
This weekend, both CBS Sports Network and the CBS Sports mothership combine to air the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I Track & Field Championships from Drake Stadium in Des Moines, IA. CBS Sports Network airs primetime coverage on Friday. CBS has the coverage Saturday afternoon. Ian Eagle will have the call and he’ll be joined by analysts Larry Rawson, Screaming Carol Lewis and former US gold medal-winning decathlete Dan O’Brien. Here’s the press release.
CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network team up for the sixth consecutive year to provide live coverage of the NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S AND WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS during four hours on Friday and Saturday from Des Moines, Iowa.
The event is highlighted by CBS Sports’ broadcast on Saturday, June 11 (1:00-3:00 PM, ET) when the 2011 men’s and women’s team champions are crowned. Both team titles are expected to be hotly contested. Texas A&M is the defending champion in both the men and women’s competition. On the men’s side, they will be challenged by Florida and Florida State, while on the women’s side, indoor champion Oregon and sprint powerhouse LSU will be their chief competitors.
CBS Sports Network airs two hours of action on Friday, June 10 (7:30-9:30 PM, ET), highlighted by the Men’s and Women’s 100 Meter finals.
CBS Sports’ Ian Eagle, along with analyst Larry Rawson, 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympian and 1983 and 1985 NCAA Outdoor Long Jump Champion Carol Lewis, and 1996 Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist Dan O’Brien call the action from Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa for both CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. CBS Sports’ Craig Silver serves as producer for both broadcasts, while Mark Grant directs. Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
That’s all.
Jun
05
Mixing Up Some Sunday Links
Let’s do some linkage on this lazy Sunday.
Kari Lipschutz of Adweek writes that it’s a photo finish in the race to the US rights to the 2014/16 Olympics.
Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press looks into the Olympic bidding.
David Lieberman and Patrick Hipes at Deadline wonder what losing the Olympics could mean to NBC.
Jaqueline Magnay of the London (UK) Telegraph says the longtime Olympics rightsholder BBC is watching the US TV bidding with more than casual interest.
Glenda Korporaal of The Australian notes that current Australian Olympics rightsholder 9 Network is hoping it will keep the Games after taking them away from 7 Network for 2010/12.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News handicaps the Olympics bidding among the US networks.
Mike says viewership for the first two games of this year’s NBA Finals are outpacing the ratings from last year.
Mike writes that the NBC Sports Group is all over collegiate rugby this weekend.
Jackie Finlan of Rugby Magazine says NBC has put its full support behind airing rugby.
Pat Yasinkas at ESPN.com mourns the passing of Tampa Tribune sports editor Tom McEwen.
Phil Swann at TV Predictions asks if sports can save 3-D TV. I doubt it.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reviews the new book on Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post decides that ESPN is to blame for the world coming to an end.
Mike Harrington at the Buffalo News writes that MLB Network is trying to generate excitement over the MLB Draft.
Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that it’s time for Comcast to step up to the plate for the Olympics bidding.
Tim Whitaker at Philadelphia Magazine has this profile of Comcast SportsNet host Michael Barkann.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that sports on television continues to gain traction with viewers.
Joey Johnston of the Tampa Tribune has the obituary for former sports editor and columnist Tom McEwen.
Mike Baldwin of the Daily Oklahoman speaks with ESPN softball analyst Michele Smith.
Kent Sterling reacts to Fox Sports Indiana dropping Pacers pregame host and sideline reporter Stacy Paetz.
Blair Kerkhoff at the Kansas City Star looks at the Big 12 distributing its TV revenue more evenly to member schools.
Woody Paige of the Denver Post has his look at “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World at ESPN.”
Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera writes that Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott will hold some marquee events and games for the Conference’s in-house TV network.
Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News says former Dodger Steve Garvey would join fellow ex-Dodger and current ESPN’er Orel Hershiser in a potential bid to buy the team from Frank McCourt.
Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser notes that the Mountain West Conference now has to play catch up with the Pac-12 after it signed a megabucks TV deal last month.
Gayle MacDonald of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the Canadian TV landscape is getting crowded with the increased amount of players for sports TV rights.
Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing says ESPN’s Marty Reid wrongly called last night’s finish of the NASCAR Nationwide Race wrong. Oops.
Brandon Stroud at With Leather gets on UFC’s brainless analyst Joe Rogan for calling MMA writer Maggie Hendricks “a cunt”. Joe is an ass.
Sports Media Watch looks at NBC’s ratings for the first weekend of the French Open.
SMW notes that the PGA Tour’s ratings continue to rise this year.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that after getting off to a good start, the NHL Stanley Cup Finals hit a big ratings brick wall on Saturday.
Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski also looks at the NHL’s mediocre ratings on Saturday.
Joe Favorito takes a look at two MLB teams which are trying to reach fans beyond their local areas.
SportsbyBrooks is looking into ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s relationship with 7-on-7 summer football camps which have come under scrutiny of the NCAA and the SEC.
Corey Nachman of the Business Insider Sports Page looks at the 20 Worst Sports Ads of All Time.
Sox & Dawgs has the video of NESN’s Jerry Remy making fun of on his on-air partner Don Orsillo’s capsizing of a paddle boat on Friday.
And I worked extra hard to squeeze as many links as I did today. I hope you enjoy them.
May
30
Sports Illustrated’s Investigation Into Ohio State Football and Coach Jim Tressel
The story about wrongdoing in the Ohio State football and the subsequent coverup by coach Jim Tressel has been published on Sports Illustrated’s website. It’s a pretty amazing story and one that forced the coach to resign early on Monday. The ramifications will be quite damaging for the program as the NCAA is investigating Tressel.
George Dohrmann and David Epstein looked into the Ohio State program and found alleged NCAA violations dating back to 2002, Tressel’s 2nd year with the University. If true, this could lead to severe sanctions against the football program including loss of scholarships and no bowl appearances. We have some excerpts of the article plus a link to the story.
The Fall of Jim Tressel:
A Sports Illustrated Investigation Reveals the Full Extent to Which Jim Tressel Lost Control of the BuckeyesViolations stretch back to 2002; allegedly involving at least 28 football players; includes accusations that players traded memorabilia for marijuana.
Former Buckeye Robert Rose on trading memorabilia for tattoos: “It was just something I had to do….I was in a hard-spot….Other guys were doing it for the same reasons.”
Tressel potentially broke NCAA rules as an assistant under Earle Bruce – according to a fellow assistant at the timeNew York, NY (May 30, 2011) – A Sports Illustrated investigative report by senior writer George Dohrmann, with staff writer David Epstein, reveals a program rife with alleged NCAA rules violations. The new allegations include that the memorabilia-for-tattoos and cash violations stretch back to 2002, involve at least 28 players (22 more than had previously been reported) and accusations that Buckeyes traded memorabilia for marijuana. Former OSU defensive end Robert Rose spoke on the record about his dealings, and a source points to a much deeper relationship between Fine Line Ink and OSU players that involves tickets, cars and favors.
Last Friday, SI informed Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch of all the new allegations and asked that Tressel be made aware of them. Lynch said that the school would have some comment by the end of the day. No comment came, and on Saturday, Lynch told SI to contact Tressel’s attorney, Gene Marsh, for any response from the coach; Lynch also said he could not confirm that Tressel had been apprised of the new allegations. The implication was clear: Ohio State was distancing itself from Tressel, who resigned on Monday. (E-mails from SI to Tressel and to Marsh and multiple phone messages for Marsh went unanswered.)
Excerpts from The Fall of Jim Tressel include:
Former defensive end Robert Rose told SI: he made transactions at Fine Line Ink that were NCAA violations and said “at least 20” other players did as well. He says he has no regrets: “I knew how much money that the school was making. I always heard about how Ohio State had the biggest Nike budget. I was struggling, my mom was struggling.?.?.?. It was just something that I had to do. I was in a hard spot.?.?.?.[Other] guys were doing it for the same reasons. The university doesn’t really help. Technically we knew it was wrong, but a lot of those guys are from the inner city and we didn’t have much, and we had to go on the best we could. I couldn’t call home to ask my mom to help me out.”
Columbus, Ohio tattoo artist Dustin Halko worked out of Dudley’z Tattoos & Body Piercing in Columbus from the fall of 2002 until early 2004 and revealed to SI that he inked at least 10 Buckeyes in trades for memorabilia and estimates that at least 15 different players committed NCAA violations at Dudley’z in similar fashion to the six OSU Buckeyes found to have committed NCAA violations at Fine Line Ink. “What they brought in depended on the kind of tattoo they wanted,” says Halko. “If it was just something small, it might be a signed magazine or something like that. If it was a full sleeve, they might bring in a jersey.” (Tattoos range in price from less than $100 for simple designs to several thousand dollars for more elaborate ones like the full-sleeve inkings of some Buckeyes players.) Halko says those working in the shop preferred receiving items with multiple autographs. His most memorable acquisition was a scarlet-and-gray training jacket with between 10 and 15 signatures on it, including Tressel’s. Halko says he also traded tattoo work for a magazine bearing the coach’s autograph.
A former employee — “Ellis” (a pseudonym to protect his identity) — of Eddie Rife (owner of Fine Line Ink) provides a startling description into the scope of the relationship between Rife, OSU players and memorabilia and marijuana: “Eddie had storage units all over town,” he says, “and he also sold some stuff off to people.” (Through Stephen Palmer, his lawyer, Rife declined to comment on his involvement with Ohio State players.) Ellis estimates that Pryor alone brought in more than 20 items, including game-worn shoulder pads, multiple helmets, Nike cleats, jerseys, game pants and more. One day Ellis asked Pryor how he was able to take so much gear from the university’s equipment room. Ellis says the quarterback responded, “I get whatever I want.”
Also from the story: The Department of Justice alerted Ohio State to a transaction in which an unnamed player gave Rife a watch and four tickets to the Rose Bowl in exchange for a Chevy Tahoe. That player, Ellis says, was running back Jermil Martin: “Jermil came in to the shop and said, ‘Are we doing this deal on this truck?’ They went outside, and Eddie signed the title over and Jermil shook his hand and off he went.” Martin did not give Rife anything at that moment, Ellis says, but a short time later Rife said in a telephone call to Ellis that he was in Pasadena and that Martin had gotten him tickets. Martin was particularly close to Rife, Ellis says; about a year earlier Rife had given Martin a different car, a 2004 Jaguar sedan. (Repeated attempts to locate Martin, including calls, Internet searches and Facebook messages to past friends and coaches, were unsuccessful)
“Eddie tossed him the keys, and off Jermil drove,” Ellis says. (Through Palmer, his lawyer, Rife declined to comment.). Ellis showed SI pictures of players—Pryor, Thaddeus Gibson, Dan Herron and Solomon Thomas—being tattooed or showing off their artwork. Rife appears in one photo with a player. Ellis also produced a photo of 11 plastic bags filled with what appears to be marijuana; he says the photo was taken at Fine Line Ink. A letter the Department of Justice sent to Ohio State last December stated, “There is no allegation that any of these players were involved in or had knowledge of Mr. Rife’s drug trafficking activities.” Ellis says that is true but that he did witness four other Buckeyes trade memorabilia for weed. Three of those transactions involved a small amount of the drug, he says, but in one instance a player departed with what Ellis was told was a pound. (Rife’s lawyer denies that his client gave marijuana to any players.)
Ohio State declined to make any of its current players available to respond to SI.
From Tressel’s days as an OSU Assistant: While Tressel was an assistant under head coach Earle Bruce, one of his duties was to organize and run the Buckeyes’ summer camp. Most of the young players who attended it would never play college football, but a few were top prospects whom Ohio State was recruiting. At the end of camp attendees bought tickets to a raffle with prizes such as a pair of cleats and a jersey. According to a fellow assistant, Tressel rigged the raffle so that the elite prospects won. Says the former colleague, “In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach. Then, in the afternoon, he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets. That’s Jim Tressel.”
To read in full on SI.com click here
I’m sure there will be more coming out. This is probably the tip of the iceberg.
May
27
Big Ten Network To Air NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championships
This is a Lacrosse Championship Weekend for the NCAA. The men have the Division I Championships being played in Baltimore on this Memorial Day weekend. The women are also having their championships as well being played Saturday and Sunday in Stony Brook, NY. On Saturday, Big Ten Network will have exclusive national coverage of the semifinals on tape delay starting at 10:30 p.m. or immediately following the conclusion of Big Ten Baseball Tournament action. The following day, the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship will be aired live at 4 p.m. Eastern.
The Final Four of Women’s Lacrosse this year will involve Northwestern vs. North Carolina and Duke vs. Maryland as you can see it’s ACC-heavy. We have the press release from Big Ten Network.
NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Semifinals, Championship Game to Air on Big Ten Network
Sunday’s championship game to air live at 4 PM ET
CHICAGO – The Big Ten Network and the NCAA announced today that the Big Ten Network will provide national television coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship from Stony Brook, N.Y., this weekend.
One semifinal, Northwestern (19-2) vs. North Carolina (15-5), will air on delay beginning at 10:30 PM ET, or following the network’s coverage of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament. The other semifinal, Duke (15-4) vs. Maryland (20-1), will follow immediately after. Both games will re-air beginning at 8 AM ET, Saturday morning, with Duke-Maryland, followed by Northwestern-North Carolina at 10 AM ET.
Sunday’s championship game will air live at 4 PM ET, or immediately following the network’s coverage of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament championship game.
The Big Ten Network is available to more than 80 million households across the country through more than 300 cable, satellite and telco affiliates. For local channel information, go to www.bigtennetwork.com/channelfinder.
The Terrapins, the tournament’s top seed, own the nation’s top defense, allowing fewer than seven goals per game. The second-seeded Wildcats have reached the national semifinals for the seventh-straight season and have eliminated the Tar Heels on the tournament’s final weekend each of the last two years. No. 3 North Carolina and No. 5 Duke are both in the national semifinals for the sixth time in program history.
That is all.
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