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Guest Column: Announcer Moves and League-owned College Networks

We continue with the guest columns. This one comes from reader Corneilus Green. Three columns in one for you.

Sports Broadcasting Talent Moves

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The summer is definitely heating up with the speculation of who is staying or who is going to new networks.

Michelle Beadle is the most high profile talent to leave ESPN (which was mostly expected) and she gets to do more at NBC. It was definitely a shocker that Michelle Bonner left ESPN and the same for Dana Jacobson.

Scott Van Pelt whom I would have preferred leave for NBC/Comcast, remained at ESPN which is good for him, however, his radio partner, Ryen Russillo is near the end of this contract and who knows where he might go.

Doug Gottlieb, whose contract is up in September, could have a contract offer from CBS Sports according to SportsbyBrooks. Whatever CBS offers to Gottlieb has to be astronomical for him to leave the Worldwide Leader, though I think he should go if the opportunity was presented.

I feel Erin Andrews will stay at ESPN. Her stock has fallen since a few years ago and thus does not have value to another network should she still want to cover sports.

The lowest profile re-signing was John Buccigross. Buccigross stayed at ESPN mainly because he would the #1 voice for NCAA Frozen Four replacing Gary Thorne. Buccigross is one of the few at ESPN along with Linda Cohn and Steve Levy who trumpet hockey, which is amazing because as we know, it gives little to no coverage to the sport.

Had Buccigross not stayed with ESPN, it was expected that NHL Network would have offered him the chance to be its main anchor and be the face of the network. It will be interesting to see where all the sports talent lands.

NBA TV and MLB Network should utilize field reporters who can report from the various team’s headquarters instead relying on the insiders and the writers on the dot-com side.

I will be watching to see who the Pac-12 Network hires in addition to Summer Sanders, Ronnie Lott, and Rick Neuheisel. I would like for the Pac-12 Network to hire Tom Ramsey. I miss hearing him call college football. I fully expect Fox to elevate Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, and Petros Papadakis as the main team for college football on FX, also make Gus Johnson its main voice for the Pac-12 on Fox and move Steve Physioc to part-time on Pac-12 football and become the main voice for college basketball for the Big Ten Network.

Fox should replace Kevin Frazier with Fran Charles on as college football studio host and also add another analyst to Marcus Allen.

Never has there been more interest in sports media and who’s staying or who’s going. This year has unofficially been the year of the media rights deals and sports talent moves. Do not expect that to change during the summer.

SEC Network

An SEC Network could become reality in 2014. The SEC has called this Project X. It’s one of a number of things that has come up during the renegotiation the conference’s media rights deals with CBS and ESPN. With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, it opened the league to an increase of its media rights fees.

An SEC Network was close to starting in 2009 but ESPN threw a boatload of money at the conference not to start one. It appears that the SEC added two schools just for the sake of addition. The conference was already recruiting Texas and Missouri which wanted more money though they should have gone to the Big Ten had an offer been extended to both, but they were wishy-washy while Nebraska was jumping to the Big Ten without any hesitation. Texas A&M kicked and screamed its way to the SEC, but I’ll save that for another day.

The SEC is close to agreeing to an increase its TV rights fees, but the holdup has been CBS. The Tiffany Network has balked at paying more because its game inventory will not change. CBS is justified in balking. Mizzou and Texas A&M do not have the same attraction as Nebraska.

ESPN, which has been trying to establish a monopoly on televised college athletics, will most likely try to buy CBS’ slate of SEC games if CBS does not change its stance. CBS should hold out to the very end and get more doubleheaders and more night games to justify paying more for SEC games.

It’s being speculated that ESPN will partner with the SEC to establish an SEC Network. This would be likely picked up within a year on all the cable, digital cable, and satellite companies in the conference’s footprint because of the league’s popularity. The SEC has a bigger footprint than all of the conferences and the most rabid fan bases.

An SEC Network would most likely be modeled after the Big Ten Network. Many observers thought the SEC should have started its own network instead of allowing ESPN to talk them out of it by dangling more money. This makes Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany look a lot smarter than SEC head honcho Mike Slive in that perspective.

If the conference agrees to establish a TV network, this would put more cash in the SEC membership’s coffers, surpassing the Big Ten in revenue. The conference has enjoyed six consecutive years of a school wining the BCS National Championship Game.

It’s high time the SEC gets its own network. In my opinion, NBC/Comcast would be a better equity partner for the league in establishing an SEC Network than ESPN.

Pac-12 Network

The Pac-12 Network was the crown jewel when it came to the historic media rights deal between the conference and ESPN/Fox. Even more historic was the creation of seven networks, the main Pac-12 Network and seven regional channels.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has proved himself to be a power broker in college athletics and he has grown the conference into a financial power. In addition, his experience in negotiating TV contracts brought four digital cable companies as partners to carry the networks when he announced their formation.

While this all sounds good in theory, the hard part will be trying to convince all of the cable and satellite companies to carry all seven networks. Most likely all will carry the main Pac-12 network, but not the other six. Thus, the challenge of starting a sports channel and ensuring most of the country can watch it.

The Mtn. went dark on May 31 because it could not get distribution beyond DirecTV and various smaller cable providers in the West. Longhorn Network is having difficulty gaining carriage in Texas.

Time Warner Cable will have a tough time convincing cable and satellite companies to pick up its two new regional networks it is starting with the Los Angeles Lakers. As reported by John Ourand from the Sports Business Journal, Time Warner is charging companies $3.95/subscriber fee. That’s insane.

DirecTV President and CEO Mike White said that the satellite provider will not carry the Longhorn Network. Another statement could potentially spell bad news for the Pac-12 Network. White said DirecTV will most likely not carry all seven Pac-12 Networks. If you’re Larry Scott, you should be concerned. It appears DirecTV will only carry the main network and not the regional channels. Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse are probably thinking the same thing.

While Larry Scott’s thinking was out of the box, it could be a bad move for now. The Big Ten Network has been largely successful, but it was just one network. The Pac-12 Networks will have major challenges in gaining carriage. As a U-verse customer, I would like to be able to watch all of the networks from their inception. The question is: Can the Pac-12 convince every digital and satellite company to carry all seven networks? Good luck, Larry Scott.

Corneilus Green resides in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Currently unemployed, but Corneilus is a sports enthusiast who once had a dream of being a sports broadcaster and commentator. He still might do it.

Thanks to Corneilus for the column. More guest columns will published throughout the week.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/30/sports/sp-tvcol30

Making Time For The Wednesday Linkage

I haven’t been able to links for a couple of days. I have a few leftover stuff since Monday, but nothing totally clogging up my browser, but I do want to give you a full set of stories today.

I’ve done my best to summarize the whole bizarre Sarah Phillips/ESPN.com/Scamming people story and that’s over here. If there any updates today, I’ll try to bring them to you, but it appears that there’s a new development every hour or so.

Let’s try to get what I have to you now.

Tom Weir of USA Today also looks into the Sarah Phillips saga.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Tiger Woods is being criticized for doing an end run around the news media and answering questions from fans via social media.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deistch critiques ESPN’s and NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Draft.

Kurt Soller of Esquire catches up with TNT’s Craig Sager and discusses his loud wardrobe.

Multichannel News reports on ESPN’s ratings for its first weekday English Premier League game.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life notes the NFL Draft was the second most watched in history.

Former ESPN’er Dana Jacobsen has started her own blog and says she’ll keep us up to date on where she lands next.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that HBO has renewed 24/7 for another NHL season and will get more input from the league’s media arm.

Greg talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about the league’s Stanley Cup Playoff ratings and other matters.

Jeff John Roberts at paidContent wonders if Bleacher Report can make its writers into viable media stars.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Review Project looks at one man who oversees the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s interviewing technique.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report warns how not to use Twitter like the Chicago Sun-Times’ columnist Joe Cowley.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that Harris Corp. which done a lot in developing broadcast equipment and had a hand in sports will now get out of the business.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the audio of Gus Johnson calling MLS action over the weekend. That’s right, MLS.

John Koblin at Deadspin says pariah Sarah Phillips and her partner-in-crime, Nilesh Prasad have been career scammers.

Deadspin’s Erik Malinowski has a parody Tweeter breaking character and giving his side of the story in the Sarah Phillips saga.

To Ben Koo of Awful Announcing who notes that the Tuesday late night edition of SportsCenter ended in silence.

Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel says the Crossing Broad blog posted an upskirt pic that was shown on TV and the site’s editor doesn’t get why the uproar.

Neil Best of Newsday talks with New York Knicks TV voice and ESPN NBA play caller Mike Breen.

Congrats to Neil as he celebrates 5 years of his WatchDog blog. Neil and I share a milestone today.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that MLB Network will air seven Minor League Baseball games this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says CBS has made one announcement for its SEC football schedule for the fall.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com talks with Gus Johnson about him calling soccer games.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog is amused at boring and extremely verbose ESPN.com columnist Gregg Easterbrook’s fears about DC NFL Team QB Robert Grifffin III’s play in the rain. I used to love Easterbrook’s TMQ columns, but they now grate on me. Can’t read them anymore.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has some South Florida sports radio moves.

Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News goes over the Sports Emmy winners.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says the Thunder continue to set local ratings records.

Mel says TNT’s Charles Barkley is squarely in the Thunder’s camp.

Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago says the Chicago Sun-Times have put sexist columnist Joe Cowley on what’s called “Final Notice.”

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch did not like how one female TV host kept hitting on St. Louis Cardinals World Series hero David Freese during a morning show segment.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune has TNT’s Kenny “The Jet” Smith discussing the Utah Jazz’s future.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail isn’t too thrilled about having the Maple Leafs on the next season of HBO’s 24/7.

Sports Media Watch says the Manchester Derby scored for ESPN on Monday.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says CNBC is doing well with the NHL Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth has a look at the sports radio scene across the country.

Normally I don’t link to Bleacher Report slideshows and it’s one of the things I’ve disliked about the site for a long time, but I will link to the 20 Hottest Redheads slideshow only for the fact that they used a pic that I posted of Jen Royle from last year’s Five Women Who Make Me Stop Flipping The Remote post. Actually that pic came from Jen herself so they should really credit her and not me.

And that’s going to do it.

Three Quick Thursday Sports Media Thoughts

A couple of sports media thoughts on this early Thursday morning in bullet form.

• The Sports Emmy Award nominations are out and while most honor the Best in Sports Broadcasting, they always have a few mind-boggling nods and this year is no exception. While I can overlook a nomination for hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire in the Sports Reporter category, I cannot ignore the nod to demagogue Skippy Bayless who somehow was nominated for Outstanding Sports Personality — Studio Analyst.

  Besides yelling and inexplicably latching onto Tim Tebow, what does Skippy is bloviate and make a spectacle of himself. He makes himself the story instead of covering it. The Academy got this nomination wrong. I just hope Skippy isn’t labeled “Emmy Award-winning” this year or any other year.

• As we approach the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA Tournament, let me hand out a couple of accolades and a couple of darts.

  My first accolade is to the freedom of choice viewers have. With four networks airing games now, we can switch to whatever game we choose. And thanks to the scoreboard on top of the screen, we’re kept up to date on the other games. Social media is also a help especially when someone tweets that there’s an upset brewing, we can switch channels. CBS/Turner is doing a good job there.

  Second accolade goes to Brian Anderson who did well in his CBS/Turner debut. He’s had a nice coming out party for Turner, being TBS’ main announcer for last year’s MLB postseason and now for Turner on the NCAA Tournament. Very nice job.

  A dart goes to analyst Bob Wenzel for his extremely pedestrian announcing. He really doesn’t too much to the broadcasts unless you like incessant yelling or trying too hard to be witty going into break. The end of the Bob Wenzel experience cannot come quickly enough.

  The last dart goes to Reggie Miller. He has added very little to the team of Kevin Harlan and Len Elmore.

• Happened to find one of my 1980′s crushes, Kathleen Sullivan on Twitter. Kathleen was a double pioneer in the 1980′s, being one of the very first anchors when CNN began and she was the first woman to host an Olympic broadcast on American television, working the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles the same year for ABC. Hard to believe that women had hardly been on the air during the Olympics prior to 1984, but Kathleen certainly opened a door. In fact, she was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award for her work on the Olympics, she was that good.

  I was a big fan when she was on CNN, ABC and CBS. And Kathleen remains a big sports fan. Glad to have found her on Twitter.

That will end the thoughts.

Some Early Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

Another sports media thoughts post which means more original content and that’s good for you. And they’re in bullet form as always.

• CBS/Turner went back to basics for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show this year streamlining the set. Jettisoning Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Charles Barkley off the Selection Show and leaving Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony and Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis to analyze the 68 team field led to a more efficient show as compared to last year’s edition where Barkley was woefully miscast and seemed to be snake bitten. This year, Anthony and Davis gave some strong analysis on the field, although Seth freed from having to cede time to Barkley and Smith, seemed to be more forceful in jamming his opinions.

  The Selection Show was much stronger this year and it gave the viewer more meat and potatoes. However, the satellite delays from various school viewing parties are still annoying and forced Gumbel to vamp until the reaction was given. Perhaps going fiber optic will help, but until we get to that point, we’ll have to endure the delays.

  Overall, I was glad to see CBS/Turner return to a less crowded set for the Selection Show.

• CBS/Turner’s first foray into extended analysis of the Tournament field with NCAA Hardcore Brackets on truTV was more of a mixed bag. Barkley and Smith joined Gumbel, Anthony and Davis plus Selection Committee Chairman Jeff Hathaway and Vice Chair Mike Bobinski were interviewed extensively. Barkley’s questions to Hathaway and Bobinski came off more like statements and led to long awkward pauses. Plus, having Hathaway and Bobinski stay for a half hour actually slowed the pace, which was not their fault. Some tweaking is needed for Hardcore Brackets, but the show was a nice alternative to ESPN’s Bracketology.
• Speaking of Bracketology, ESPN kept mostly its tried-and-true formula of having Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis, the Perpetually Angry Doug Gottlieb, Digger Phelps and Dick Vitale analyze the field. While there was no extreme anger over omissions like Drexel as compared to Bilas going insane over VCU getting in last year. Vitale did go classic Vitale at the end of the show, but overall, the two hour show went off without too much controversy.
• One leftover thought from Sunday’s sports media post regarding ESPN’s coverage of Championship Week. If you watched the ACC, Big East and SEC Tournaments on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ABC, you may have noticed that the shot clock was superimposed on the floor, near each basket. For some reason, seeing this large clock on the floor distracted me from the action and creeped me out whenever someone stepped over it. I could understand if there was no shot clock, but ESPN had one on its scoreboard bar on the bottom of the screen. I don’t know if it was ESPN’s way of trying to be cute or just showing off, but the whole concept was annoying. Not a bad idea, but the execution was off.
• I know we won’t have Gus Johnson on the NCAA Tournament this year, but if I could suggest that radio rightsholder Dial Global hire him for next year. It would bring back the event’s signature voice to its rightful place and be a great PR move. Plus, it would bring an audience to the radio calls. Gus has called radio for the New York Knicks for MSG so why not have him do it for the NCAA Tournament? Just a thought. Let’s make this happen.

That will conclude the thoughts for this Monday.

Cranking Out Your Tuesday Links

Since late last night, I’ve been culling linkage for today. Let’s get to them.

Terry Lefton and Daniel Kaplan at Sports Business Journal discuss how Indianapolis hotels are gouging customers for Super Bowl Week.

Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press reviews NBC’s online presentation of the Super Bowl for this Sunday.

Sergio Non of USA Today looks at the UFC on Fox rating from Saturday.

Michael Learmonth of Advertising Age says USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter wrecked Super Bowl ads for good.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch provides his thoughts on The Big Lead’s profile of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter has an appreciation for The Beautiful Game.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at the highly successful “This is SportsCenter” ad campaign.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost says NBC is copping $4 million per Super Bowl ad.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes that a survey shows that a majority of readers feel Super Bowl XLVI will set a viewership record.

Toni gives us a media buyer’s primer on the Super Bowl.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life says advertisers want to get buzz about Super Bowl commercials weeks before the Big Game.

The Daily says it appears Madonna’s set list for the Super Bowl halftime show has been leaked.

Peter Schrager of Esquire lists 10 current NFL players who could make a second career on TV.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid notes that Jerry Seinfeld and the Soup Nazi will appear in a Super Bowl ad.

Frances Martel of Mediaite reviews the ESPN2 show, “Dan Le Batard is Extremely Crazy Highly Questionable.”

Robert Littal of Black Sports Online has details of the Mexican TV reporter who made an impression during Super Bowl Media Day.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at ESPN taking over Pan Am Plaza in downtown Indianapolis for the Super Bowl.

Karen Hogan of SVG writes that sports has entered into reality TV in a big way.

Summer Harlow of the University of Texas Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas writes about CBSSports.com’s firing of Adam Jacobi over his premature report on Joe Paterno’s death.

Karen Rosen of TV Guide talks with ESPN’s Hannah Storm about her NFL special tonight.

All Access says a new ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate will launch tomorrow in Chicago.

Mark Miller of Examiner.com says Gary Thorne makes his Pro Bowling announcing debut this Sunday on ESPN.

Larry Mahoney of the Bangor (ME) Daily News speaks with former MLB’er Matt Stairs who joins NESN as a studio analyst for the 2012 season.

Michael Hayes of the Clinton (CT) Patch says ESPN will report from the geological center in between Gillette and Met Life Stadiums on Sunday.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has an interesting story on a small Connecticut NPR station which has a sports talk show that is not your typical run-of-the-mill program.

Judy Battista of the Times notes that the NFL will address head safety in one its in-house ads during the Super Bowl.

David Hinckley of the New York Daily News says rivals WFAN and ESPN Radio New York are squaring off in their Giants Super Bowl coverage.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes the release of ESPN’s Bracketbusters schedule.

Stacy Jones of the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger says Super Bowl advertisers are hoping to hook viewers from their computers and mobile devices as well as through their TV’s.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times notes Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia’s countdown of the worst sports villains of all-time.

Long-time New Orleans sports anchor Jim Henderson is retiring from WWL-TV, however, he’ll remain as Voice of the Saints.

Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune gets reaction Henderson on his retirement.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle discusses the busy Super Bowl week and the ads.

Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer speaks with ESPN’s Erin Andrews about sports, life and her hosting the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Annual Awards Banquet this week.

Tim Evans of the Indianapolis Star says Radio Row at the Super Bowl is the perfect place for star gazing this week.

Emily Hatton of the Indy Star gives us an inside look at ESPN’s Pan Am Plaza set.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has NBC’s Bob Costas calling for a revote if National League MVP Ryan Braun of the Brewers loses his appeal for testing positive for steroids last year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says ESPN College GameDay visits the Missouri campus this weekend.

Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs Gazette says ESPN may pull the Winter X Games out of Aspen after an 11 year relationship.

Jason Blevins of the Denver Post writes that ESPN has been airing this year’s Winter X in 3-D.

Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News says longtime UCLA voice Chris Roberts was honored by his peers as was Daily News sports media writer Tom Hoffarth.

And Tom writes an appreciation for being honored last night.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has videos of the Big Ten Network going behind the scenes with Gus Johnson.

Josh Tinley of Midwest Sports Fans explains how the Super Bowl got its name and why every game has Roman numerals.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes the NHL All-Star Game did really well for CBC.

And that will do it for now.

Some Quick Sunday Links

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that will conclude the links for today.

The Best in Sports Broadcasting in 2011

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

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

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

Baseball

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

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

Boxing

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

College Basketball

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

College Football

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

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

Golf

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

Horse Racing

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

Jack Edwards Calls of the Year

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

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

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

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

NFL

none

NHL

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

Women’s World Cup

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

And that will do it for us.

The Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2011

Time for the Fang’s Bites Sports Media Year in Review. The year isn’t big enough for a Top Ten, but it is big enough for a Big Dozen. Let’s get to the list and we’ll count down from 12 and also have some Honorable Mentions.

12. ESPN The Book

One of the most anticipated books of the year for the sports media was “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” co-authored by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Some of the more salacious and sensational stories were leaked and released before its publication. But when all was said and done, the tome was more of a detailed history lesson of how ESPN was created and rose to become the biggest content provider in sports media. The book became a New York Times best seller and is being made into a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox.

11. ESPN vs. NBC

The battle lines have already been drawn between the two networks, but with owner, Comcast, merging its cable sports properties of Versus, Golf Channel and the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates under the NBC Sports Group, the Peacock is positioning itself to become a major competitor to ESPN. NBC Sports has already obtained Major League Soccer and horse racing, increased NHL content, announced an Olympic presence and will create a Sunday NFL pregame show for Versus which will be rebranded this weekend.

ESPN is not sitting back aggressively expanding its college sports portfolio and keeping Monday Night Football.

With MLB, NASCAR and the BCS up for bid in 2012, NBC Sports could be strengthened with more content for its cable properties or ESPN could continue its monolithic path to World Domination.

10. UFC Signs With Fox

Mixed Martial Arts went mainstream with the Ultimate Fighting Championships signing an 8 year, multi-million dollar contract with Fox. The first UFC bout on Fox in November didn’t last very long, but it did do well in the key male demographics. Starting in January, UFC programming will be seen on various Fox platforms including FX and Fuel. Both sides expect to reap huge benefits and I would not doubt to see UFC get big bids for its second network contract in eight years.

9. Long-time Executives Leave Their Respective Networks

Just before NBC Sports was about to present its bid for the Olympics, Emperor Dick Ebersol resigned over a contract dispute. While observers thought it would leave NBC Sports vulnerable, it still won the rights for four Olympiads and kept Sunday Night Football. While he may have clashed with the new Comcast administration, Ebersol’s legacy on the network over two decades cannot be diminished. He is still working for NBC as a consultant on Sunday Night Football and will assist on the 2012 London Olympics.

HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg resigned in July after being with the network for 33 years. Under his tenure, Greenburg increased HBO’s commitment to documentaries and created the successful 24/7 reality series, not just focusing on the network’s signature sport of boxing, but reaching out to NASCAR and the NHL. Greenburg is now producing content for both NBC Sports and the NHL.

And George Bodenheimer announced late this year that he would leave as President and become Chairman of the Alleged Worldwide Leader. He’ll be succeeded by Vice President of Content John Skipper. Bodenheimer steered ESPN into high definition and helped to create ESPN 3D. Plus, he was able to make Monday Night Football into a cable series after 35 years as a network TV mainstay. Bodenheimer, who I’ve jokingly labeled the ESPN Dictator will no longer be in a day-to-day role with ESPN.

8. NBA/NFL Lockout Coverage

Two sports leagues stressed out their fans by making them wait out negotiations over collective bargaining agreements with their players. Instead of anticipating the draft or schedule releases, coverage over labor talks dominated sports media. As negotiations dragged on, reporters were camped out waiting for the latest news which came out as quickly as toothpaste being pushed out of a tube.

NFL Network and ESPN went wall-to-wall with non-stop coverage as a deal neared. The same for NBA TV.

Both leagues finally hashed out agreements and brought labor peace. Eventually, the NFL only lost a preseason game after a ten year CBA with its union. The NBA wasn’t as lucky as almost two months of its schedule was lost and it had to proceed with a reduced 66 game schedule.

7. ESPN/Univision Lose the World Cup to Fox/Telemundo

Honestly, who saw this coming? ESPN’s signature global sports event has been the World Cup. It’s been carrying the event since 1994. Univision’s history with the World Cup dates back to 1978. Both networks have been known for carrying the World’s biggest soccer games. However, that will change in 2015 when Fox and Telemundo take over the English and Spanish language US rights respectively for two Men’s and Women’s World Cups through 2022.

ESPN and Univision were simply outbid by Fox and NBC, the owner of Telemundo. One could argue that the World Cup whose ratings have been steadily going up became a desired property thanks to ESPN’s and Univision’s coverage.

ESPN and Univision get one more World Cup to bid farewell to FIFA and that will be in Rio in 2014.

6. NBC Sports Group Keeps The NHL

Fending off a spirited bid by ESPN, NBC signed a 10 year deal to keep the NHL in the fold in a combined network and cable bid. After pledging to increase games on cable and also give fans national access to all postseason games on its platforms, NBC Sports Group was able to keep the NHL rights. Now the NHL has a permanent place to call its home and NBC has firmly committed to hockey which pleases the sport’s fans to no end.

And please, let’s not mention that ESPN would be better for the NHL.

5. ESPN’s Influence on College Sports including The Longhorn Network

It’s amazing to see how much inventory ESPN has collected in college sports. Not only has it signed the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC, several non-BCS conferences and a few individual schools to long-term contracts, it also has created the Longhorn Network for the University of Texas. The whole concept of the Longhorn Network has led to massive upheaval among the BCS conferences with Texas A&M leaving the Big 12 and heading to the SEC, the Big East’s Pittsburgh and Syracuse leaving for the ACC and other schools wanting to leave their leagues for bigger exposure and more ESPN cash.

And not only does ESPN have a hand in these chess games (despite massive denials), it has to cover all of this leading to conflicts of interest. And while ESPN pays megabucks for the NFL, its roots are firmly entrenched in college sports as we have seen with its new contract with the NCAA to air several championships.

ESPN also owns a whole host of bowl games and college basketball tournaments all of which are needed inventory for programming. By owning the games, ESPN doesn’t have to pay a rights fee. Crowds aren’t needed because ESPN makes money once the ads are sold and fees are paid by the cable and satellite providers.

ESPN’s influence in college sports will be a story that will followed for several years to come.

4. #freebruce

This story became a story thanks to SportsbyBrooks and social networking. Without these two combinations, an ESPN internal suspension might not have been noticed, reported and scrutinized. This all began with then-ESPN.com college football writer Bruce Feldman co-authored a book with former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach. In the book, Leach alleged that then-ESPN college football analyst Craig James had a hand in his firing from the school over treatment of James’ son.

Feldman says he informed his bosses that he was writing a book with Leach and got their blessing. When the book was released, ESPN suspended Feldman. It was there that blogs and social networking got involved. SportsbyBrooks reported that Feldman was suspended. ESPN denied it. Other college football writers who follow Feldman on Twitter noticed he wasn’t tweeting. The story boomeranged on ESPN. It didn’t end until Feldman left ESPN for CBS Sports.

But this whole story made observers wonder why ESPN chose to hang its hat with James.

3. CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC Renew the NFL at a Hefty Price

Starting in 2014, the NFL will receive an estimated $5 billion in rights fees from its TV partners. That’s a huge increase from the current amount from the four networks. In addition, all of the current packages will remain with the current networks so there will be no upheaval as in the past three NFL TV contracts.

All of the networks except for ESPN have signed on for 9 years. ESPN reupped for 8. ESPN looks like it will enter the postseason with a Wild Card Playoff game. NBC gains a Thanksgiving Night game, a Divisional Playoff game and more flex scheduling. CBS and Fox also get some flex scheduling to boost their ratings.

And with CBS, Fox and NBC paying on the average of $1 billion each, the NFL has fattened its war chest. Expect another partner for a Thursday Night Football package to be announced sometime in 2012.

The NFL is the ratings king and the money is proof.

2. NBC Keeps the Olympics at a Hefty Price

There were indications before the bidding for the 2014/16 Olympics that NBC was vulnerable (see #9 above). Long-time NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol had left. ESPN and Fox showed indications that they wanted to take the Games away from NBC which had been broadcasting the Olympics since 1988. It looked like the International Olympic Committee was poised go with another TV partner. But when all was said and done, NBC had ponied up $4.38 billion for four Olympiads from 2014 through 2020 and the Olympics were firmly under the NBCUniversal umbrella.

What happened? ESPN bid for only one set of Olympics, 2014/16 and Fox made two separate bids and came close at $3.4 billion. However, when it came time to step up, NBC did and kept the Games in a very spirited bid to the IOC.

After losing money on the 2010 Winter Olympics, NBC’s parent company, Comcast claims it will be profitable on the four set of Games. That remains to be seen.

1. Penn State/Syracuse Media Coverage

Scandal once again dominated the sports media. However, in the case of Penn State, it wasn’t sports writers who uncovered the alleged molestation of young boys by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Taking the lead in the coverage was the Harrisburg Patriot-News and in particular, crime reporter Sarah Ganim. Also, Penn State’s student newspaper, the Daily Collegian didn’t sit tight either reporting the story. The national media finally caught up and Bob Costas’ interview of Sandusky on NBC’s Rock Center raised eyebrows. And while ESPN tried its best to report the story, it was way behind. The Sandusky scandal will continue as it goes to trial and it won’t be going away any time soon.

As for the Syracuse story on the alleged molestations by former Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine, ESPN had a tape of Fine’s wife, Laurie, talking to one of the accusers. The problem was, it was 8 years old and ESPN gave the appearance that it sat on the story. While network bosses tried to explain their decision, some accused ESPN of not giving what they had to the police. No matter of the explanations, ESPN’s role in this story will be debated and whatever it says won’t be enough for some critics.

There were lessons learned in the reporting of both scandals. We learned that local reporters on the ground will always have an advantage over national correspondents. And we learned that while ESPN has a good stable of reporters, it can’t be everywhere.

Honorable mentions:

• ESPN Fires Ron Franklin
• CBS/Turner 1st Partnership on the NCAA Tournament is Successful
• NFL Films Founder Ed Sabol Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• ESPN Nabs Wimbledon from NBC
• Los Angeles Lakers Sign Long-Term Deal to Create a Regional Sports Network With Time Warner Cable
• Los Angeles Dodgers Fight with Fox Over Media Rights
• Gus Johnson Leaves CBS for Fox
• Women’s World Cup Scores For ESPN
• Hank Williams, Jr. Pulled From Monday Night Football
• Matthew Barnaby Loses ESPN Gig

Coming up before the year is over, Best and Worsts in Sports Broadcasting in 2011 and Predictions for 2012.

The 5th Annual Fang’s Bites College Football TV Awards

It’s time for me to bring back the annual College Football TV Awards. I’ve been wanting to write this for a while. Because of my schedule over the last week, I have not been able to bring it to you until now. Thanks for your patience.

Let’s get this started.

The College GameDay Award for Best Pregame Show — Yes, College GameDay. There was integration between the ESPN primetime game and College GameDay again this year. There were just a handful of times when GameDay went to a non-ESPN game (LSU-Alabama, SEC Championship), but the show remains the same, a cultural phenomenon that seems to get bigger with each passing year. It’s still the best pregame show on television today. The signs which have been a big part of the show, seemed to grab more of the spotlight this season with the #occupygameday movement from the Dan Patrick Show and other creative signs (1, 2, 3) that slipped through the security guards at various sites. Chris Fowler remains one of the best hosts on TV, Desmond Howard has improved yearly, Kirk Herbstreit is still one of the best analysts in the sport, however, Lee Corso’s slippage after his stroke is very evident with slurred speech. Still, his headgear segment is one of the most anticipated moments on college football Saturdays. The show is still going strong.

The Keith Jackson Award for Best Play-by-Play — Joe Tessitore, ESPN/ABC. Assigned mostly to Friday nights, Joe Tessitore had the fortune to call many barnburners this season. It was as if the Law of Gus Johnson was transferred to Joe Tess. And in each of the games, Joe stepped up. The season began with a crazy 50-48 game between Baylor and TCU and continued all the way to end. During one crazy weekend, he called upsets of Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on successive nights for ESPN and ABC respectively. Joe did an excellent job throughout the season and here’s hoping he gets some Saturday primetime slots for ESPN/ABC next season.

Honorable mentions — Brad Nessler (ESPN/ABC), Gus Johnson (Fox/FX), Tom Hammond (NBC)

The Frank Broyles Award for Best Game Analyst — Charles Davis, Fox/FX. Back on college football with Gus Johnson as his new partner, Charles really had a chance to shine. Teamed previously with Thom Brennaman during Fox’s failed BCS years, Davis was weighed down by an announcer who really didn’t give him an opportunity to speak other than to agree with him. With Gus, Charles was able to spot trends, correctly predict plays ahead of time and showed some humor. Next season, Gus and Charles will call games on the Fox mothership. Here’s looking forward to some fun games in 2012.

Honorable mentions — Todd Blackledge (ESPN/ABC), Gary Danielson (CBS), Randy Cross (CBS Sports Network), Mike Mayock (NBC)

Best Overall Announcing Team — Gus Johnson/Charles Davis (Fox/FX). They didn’t have that many great games this season, the Big Ten Championship Game was probably their best of the year. However, Gus and Charles formed one of the best announcing teams in just their first season together. I was impressed how quickly they jelled and how well they worked off each other. Watching them was an enjoyable experience this season.

Honorable mentions — Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge (ESPN/ABC), Joe Tessitore/Rod Gilmore (ESPN), Tom Hammond/Mike Mayock (NBC)

The Jim Lampley Award For Best Studio Host — John Saunders, ESPN on ABC. He was hurt for much of the season due to a horrific fall, but when he came back in November, it was as if he did not miss a beat. While ESPN had various hosts such as Scott Van Pelt take John’s place, it was rather obvious that the ESPN on ABC college football studio missed Saunders. He’s really an Old Reliable in the studio chair during college football on ABC. John gets this award for this season.

Honorable Mentions — Rece Davis (ESPN), Liam McHugh (NBC/Versus)

Best Studio Analyst — Spencer Tillman, CBS. The co-host of CBS’ studio with Tim Brando, Spencer goes an excellent job breaking down the highlights and also providing strong opinions about the BCS and a potential playoff system. Spencer’s not afraid to give an opinion and has formed a very good team with Tim Brando and is also willing to share when CBS provides with him with a guest such as Archie Manning or Tony Barnhart.

Honorable Mentions — Jesse Palmer (ESPN on ABC), Doug Flutie (NBC/Versus), Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN)

The Jack Arute Award for Sideline Reporting — Holly Rowe, ESPN/ABC. Sideline reporting is a thankless job. There’s the brief injury updates, the halftime interview of coaches, plus the discovery of little tidbits to pass along all without intruding on the action of the game. Holly does all of this rather well and hardly gets noticed. Well, I’m recognizing the job she does. One of the best reporters on TV, period, Holly is very good at gathering information and doesn’t unnecessarily call attention to herself.

Honorable mentions — Alex Flanagan (NBC), Heather Cox (ESPN/ABC)

Most Valuable Network — Fox. Fox, you say? Yes, Fox. It only had two games this season, but they were big ones, the inaugural Pac-12 and Big Ten Conference Championship Games. While the Pac-12 Championship was nothing to write home about, Fox had a great Big Ten Championship. Both games drew pretty decent ratings for Fox and both had Gus Johnson on the call. While the Pac-12 production was choppy, the Big Ten’s was much better. Fox has decided to invest in college football the right way in its second foray into the sport and I think it will do much better this time around.

Honorable Mention — SEC on CBS

Best Overall Coverage — CBS. For one game each week, CBS provides excellent coverage of the SEC. The network has given each game a Big Event feel and it showed especially during LSU-Alabama in primetime. CBS does a very good job on the SEC and you can tell the network enjoys having the conference as a partner.

Honorable Mention — ESPN

Best Move — CBS moving LSU-Alabama to a primetime slot after making a four way trade with ESPN, CBS Sports Network and Versus in exchange for future considerations. The result was huge ratings for “The Game of the Century.”

The Pam Ward Award for Worst Play-by-Play — Craig Bolerjack, Fox Sports Net. I am not a fan of Bolerjack and he depends too much on clichés. He seems to be in love with his own voice and unnecessarily cranks up the volume just to prove that he has good pipes. I’m actually surprised myself that I didn’t give Pam Ward the award again this year, but Bolerjack takes it this season.

Dishonorable Mention — Pam Ward (ESPNU)

Worst Game or Studio Analyst — Matt Millen, ESPN/ABC. The man has no credibility. He comes off as a bad evaluator of talent and he talks too much. Sean McDonough deserves a much better partner.

Worst Move — Creation of the Longhorn Network, ESPN. Forget about the bad precedent it sets and it being a conflict of interest, what the channel set off was another huge round of conference upheaval. It led Texas A&M to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, TCU to leave the Big East for the Big 12, and then indirectly, Syracuse and West Virginia to leave the Big East for the ACC and then the Big East picking up seemingly every single school not in the East. The Longhorn Network was a bad idea to begin with and major cable providers in the Lone Star State have yet to be convinced of its viability. Texas will receive a huge financial windfall while other schools that don’t have a network will not. Because the NCAA is so weak, it won’t force Texas to end its relationship with ESPN.

Worst Slippage — Verne Lundquist, CBS. Uncle Verne still remains one of the best announcers around, but he continues on a downward spiral. He’s been having more missed calls including wrong names and there was this call of an interception that wasn’t during the LSU-Alabama game.

Once an announcer starts slipping, it’s hard to get it back. Here’s hoping that Verne has a much better season in 2012.

Most Bizarre Moment — Lee Corso’s F Bomb on College GameDay in Houston. Here’s the entire segment from beginning to end. Oh my.

Of course, it led to an apology shortly afterwards.

Honorable Mention — Lee Corso firing off guns again at the Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl.

And that will do it for another season of college football.

A Few Sunday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

I’ll be away for most of the day as my Sunday has been planned behind my back once again. I’ll have the Sunday NFL pregame quotage later in the afternoon.

Let’s provide some sports media thoughts. As always, they’ll go in bullet form.

• In its first college football conference championship weekend, Fox Sports had a mixed bag. Not only was the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday between UCLA and Oregon not a good game, Fox’s production was very choppy. While the announcing team of Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster were fine, the audio for the Pac-12 was at times muffled and the crowd sometimes overpowered Davis’ analysis. Gus went into breaks rather awkwardly and there were times the replay didn’t show the proper angle. It wasn’t until the second half when the production hit its stride, but by that time, the game was already decided and most of the audience had probably tuned out.

  For the Big Ten Championship, the regular College Football on Fox production crew that had been working with Gus, Charles and Tim all season on FX was on hand in Indianapolis and this was a much better production. Replays were sharp, the picture was much better than in Eugene for the Pac-12.

  As for the other parts of the production, the college football studio needs improvement. Lots of improvement. Kevin Frazier is an awful host. He’s bad on Tennis Channel. He’s bad on Fox. He comes off unprepared. Marcus Allen is a very weak analyst. John Lynch did a decent job at the Pac-12 and Dhani Jones when he wasn’t trying to ask questions was ok at the Big Ten. Last year, Fox utilized Darrin Horton for its college football host and I don’t know it didn’t keep him for this season. Kevin Frazier must go.

  And I want to talk about why Tim Brewster starts off every question with “talk about.” It’s almost as annoying as when Paul McGuire started off every replay with “Ha ha! I’ll tell you what!” on ESPN’s Sunday Night Football. It’s obvious Tim Brewster wants to coach again because he’s not polished on TV.

  As for Gus Johnson and Charles Davis, they were on their “A” game for both the Pac-12 and Big Ten. They’ve formed one of the best announcing teams in college football. Gus was back in his realm in the national spotlight especially with a barnburner in the Big Ten. If Gus was auditioning for Joe Buck’s spot on the NFL on Fox, he passed with flying colors. While it’s great to have Gus in college football, he really belongs back on the NFL.

• If Tennis Channel wants to be taken seriously, it really should send announcing crews to the events rather than having them call matches off a monitor in its Los Angeles studios. For tournaments like the WTA World Tour Finals and this weekend’s Davis Cup Finals between Spain and Argentina, Tennis Channel has had Brett Haber, Ted Robinson and Leif Shiras call matches off a TV. You may not notice the difference, but when the satellite picture is lost, the announcers have to vamp and act like they’re there. Tennis Channel does send crews to the Grand Slam tournaments, but it should start treating other tournaments the same way as it does the Australian, French, US Opens and Wimbledon. In addition, the announcers are held hostage to the world feeds and cannot give us a sense for the atmosphere or giving us a sense of how the players look off camera. Tennis Channel needs to step up its game or it will continue to be treated as a bastard stepchild.
• The Big Lead is reporting that Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jon Heyman is leaving to take a job with CBSSports.com. That would be a huge get for CBS which has brought in Bruce Feldman from ESPN.com and a couple of other writers. I’m thinking this is part of a bigger picture upgrade for CBS and to possibly set up content for CBS Sports Network which currently is stuck in the ghosts of its previous brand, CBS College Sports. Maybe CBS decides to bid for baseball for CBS Sports Network. It would certainly help as the channel currently doesn’t have much summer programming besides from college sports repeats.
• ESPN is trying to sell us the BCS as a major event. While the ratings for the BCS National Championship Game have been good, until the college presidents decides on a way to decide on a legitimate postseason playoff system, we’re going to be stuck with the potential of an LSU-Alabama game every year. Not the two teams, but the way the final teams for the mythical college football national championships are chosen. The NCAA has over 60 championships including college football, but not in what is called the Football Bowl Subdivision or whatever they’ll name it in the future. As ESPN has so much invested in college sports, it may be up to the Alleged Worldwide Leader to throw some money around to help develop a way for a college football tournament to come to fruition. Until then, we’ll hear BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock give infuriating explanations as to why the BCS is good for college football.
• Nothing new to report on the continuing soap opera that is NESN’s search to replace Heidi Watney. Jen Royle of 105.7 FM in Baltimore was brought in for an interview last week. I heard it went well. Erin Hawksworth of the Fox affiliate in Seattle is also in the running. I believe it’s down to these two and as you know, I’m fully behind Jen in this. If you need any further convincing, let us remind you of Erin’s most famous moment from two months ago.

  I don’t think I need to add anything more.

Enjoy your Sunday

A Friday Evening Megalink Thing

Let’s give you some linkage on this Friday. Been a busy day. You deserve some links

The Weekend Viewing Picks provide your sports and entertainment TV watching. And now to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy debate whether networks should hire ex-coaches knowing full well they could make news and leave for another job.

ESPN Ombudsman Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute takes the Alleged Worldwide Leader to task for its failure to press the Bernie Fine/Syracuse story and holding a tape for eight years.

Alex Weprin of TVNewser writes that ESPN has hired Bloomberg News sports business reporter Michele Steele.

Over to Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk who has Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid angry at NFL Network for its portrayal of wide receiver DeSean Jackson after last night’s game with Seattle.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News discusses the viewership increase for Thursday Night Football.

Mike writes about the quintet of games that will open the NBA season on Christmas Day.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has an advance clip of a CNN Sunday interview with ESPN Vice President of News Vince Doria speaking about the handling of the Bernie Fine/Syracuse story.

Dan has a very strong promo for the return of the NBA.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid notes that on the Dan Patrick Show, TNT’s Charles Barkley had some fighting words for notorious sports self-promoter Skip Bayless.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that mobile truck operators are happy to have the NBA back in action.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says while the NBA Lockout has been settled, there’s still a battle that will continue for several years.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NFL ratings for Week 12 for ESPN’s Monday Night Football, NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing looks at the machinations behind a longer Thursday Night Football schedule.

East and Mid-Atlantic

At the Boston Globe, Chad Finn looks at how Twitter broke the Bobby Valentine-to-Boston story and he handicaps the race to replace Heidi Watney as NESN Red Sox reporter.

Howard Beck at the New York Times notes that current NBA players are returning slowly but surely to NBA TV which has been stuck showing games from the 1980′s and early 1990′s.

The New York Post’s Claire Atkinson reports that the NFL is looking for big bucks from NBC to renew the rights to Sunday Night Football.

The Post’s Phil Mushnick wants the networks to stop showing touchdown celebrations.

Brett Cyrgalis of the Post has five questions for ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler.

Newsday’s Neil Best bids adieu to WFAN’s Tracy Burgess who left the Boomer and Carton show today.

Neil looks at ESPN being a stepping stone for coaches who are looking for their next job.

Neil has a quickie review of the ESPN Films documentary on former quarterback Todd Marinovich.

And Neil notes that local football players aren’t making news on social networks, but the old fashioned way… on radio.

Bob’s Blitz has pictures of Tracy Burgess’ last day at WFAN.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Fox is trying to get the word out that it’s back in the college football business.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Chris Herren, the subject of ESPN Films’ Unguarded documentary, will be in town to talk about his battle with addiction.

Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has the latest Baltimore/Washington DC sports media news in this week’s Press Box.

In the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg tells us what happened to local sports radio host John Riggins who’s been missing as of late.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports’ Gus Johnson and Charles Davis about calling back-to-back conference championship games on successive nights.

South

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle talks with NFL on Fox sideline analyst Tony Siragusa who will be part of the crew calling the Atlanta-Texans game on Sunday.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge who will call the annual Bedlam game.

Mel says Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster are pulling double duty this weekend.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Time Warner Cable will be busy with local high school football this weekend.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that the Detroit Lions have received more national media attention whether it’s deserved or not.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley has Fox’s Charles Davis talking about Wisconsin running Montee Ball’s Heisman Trophy chances.

Bob says NASCAR races will be airing on a different Milwaukee radio station next year.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman has his weekly winners and losers.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says it’s going to be a busy weekend for Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster on Fox.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says St. Louis University may be a rising college basketball program, but it hasn’t translated to more national exposure.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says local Cox subscribers will be able to see Time Warner Cable’s coverage of the state high school football championships this weekend.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the Pac-12 Championship won’t be the showcase that Fox had in mind.

Jim says the SEC Championship will have BCS National Championship Game implications like it always does.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Fox is doing its best to sell a less than stellar Pac-12 Championship Game matchup.

Tom has what didn’t make his column in his blog.

Tom says the new Los Angeles Dodgers radio flagship will hire former manager Kevin Kennedy as a postgame host.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail gleefully points out that Don Cherry’s Coach’s Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada is drawing lower ratings than in the past.

And that’s going to do it for our linkage tonight.

Fox Sports Gets Ready For College Football Conference Championship Weekend

Fox Sports gets some college football to make for a busy weekend. The Pac-12 Championship airs on Friday night from Eugene, Oregon as the UCLA Bruins take on the Oregon Ducks in the first-ever championship game for the Pac-12. Then there’s the inaugural Big Ten Championship on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis between Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster will have the call of both games. Fox Sports will utilize Kevin Frazier and Marcus Allen in the Los Angeles Fox Sports studios. They’ll be joined by John Lynch on Friday and Dhani Jones on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Johnson, Davis, Brewster, Lynch and Jones joined Fox Sports President Eric Shanks for a media conference call to speak about the upcoming games.

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

FOX Sports Presents College Football Championship Weekend
UCLA Battles Oregon For Pac-12 Football Championship Friday at 7:30 PM ET
Wisconsin vs. Michigan State For Big Ten Football Championship Saturday at 7:30 PM ET

FOX SPORTS COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS AIR FRIDAY & SATURDAY – Championship weekend on FOX Sports is here! Earlier today, the FOX Sports Media Group conducted a conference call to preview Championship weekend on FOX where the network proudly presents exclusive coverage of the Pac-12 Conference Football Championship game between UCLA and Oregon on Friday, Dec. 2 (7:30 PM ET) and the Big Ten Conference Football Championship game between Wisconsin and Michigan State on Saturday, Dec. 3 (7:30 PM ET).  FOX Sports Co-President and Executive Producer Eric Shanks, was joined by FOX Sports college football announcer Gus Johnson and analysts Charles Davis, John Lynch & Dhani Jones to preview both championship telecasts.

Below are highlights transcribed from the preview conference call.

Lynch on Rick Neuheisel coaching his final game after being fired by UCLA: “Rick Neuheisel is handling it in as professional a manner as you can. After practice, I heard him talking about going, ‘deep, deep, deep’ in their playbook. Rick has nothing to lose. I’ve been in those situations both in college and in pros. Players are out of their comfort zones and you can’t blame it on the old coach anymore, it’s on you. What you put out there is going to be on film and you’re playing for your job next year. Some kids are playing for scholarships. Neuheisel has been in a tight situation where he knew that unless he moved the needle on the program, his job was on the line. Now, he takes the gloves off and can coach aggressively.”

Johnson on UCLA storylines:  “We have great stories, we have great leading men. UCLA deciding to part ways with Rick Neuheisel gives us a great story. Now, we get to see if coach Neuheisel can wrench out one last stand with his guys. Are they going to come and play real hard for him?”

Lynch on what it’s like to be such a large underdog, like UCLA:  “I was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early-90’s and they called us the “Yucks,” not the Bucs. People say, ‘a 31-point underdog, how could it ever happen?’ How did my alma mater, Stanford, and Jim Harbaugh in his first year go down to the Coliseum and knock off USC when they were at a 41-point underdog? Is it possible? Absolutely. Players know that and coaches are selling it. I’ve been there before. The pressure is off you because you aren’t supposed to win.”

Davis on Pac-12 Football Championship Game being played at the home stadium of the team with the best conference record: “The Pac-12 is not a driving conference, yet it’s one of the most perfectly modeled travel conferences. By comparison, the SEC is a driving conference. You can pretty much get where you need to get to by hopping in the car and that’s not easily done in the Pac-12. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and his conference did a great job in deciding early on to put it at home sites because atmosphere is what makes a championship game too. We’ll have that championship feel on Friday night. And remember, the team that’s hosting has earned that opportunity.”

Johnson on Oregon storylines:  “For Oregon, you have a man like Chip Kelly who came from New Hampshire and in four years has done incredible things in leading this program to become one of the top-10 in the country. He has a unique style of play. Everything is fast, uptempo and precise.”

Johnson on calling back-to-back championship college football games: “It’ll be fun. This is an exciting time of year. We’re honored to be the team that broadcasts these two back-to-back championships during their inaugural seasons on FOX Sports. The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for all of those years was wonderful, sometimes calling four games in one day but doing back-to-back college football games is a totally different animal. Especially when you consider that these two conferences are two of the great conferences in the history of college football. There have been times this year and in the past where I’ve done a college football game on a Saturday and an NFL game on a Sunday. That happened to me this year with Iowa St.-Texas. Charles and I did that game and then we got in a car and drove to Kansas City and did Chiefs-Vikings. I think those kinds of experiences give you more traction than doing college basketball.”

Davis on what Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson needs to do to be successful on Saturday: “For Wilson in this game he just needs to continue to be who he is. I would not be surprised if they put a little bit more on him in the throwing game, especially early in this game to start things off.”

Davis previews Wisconsin vs. Michigan State:  “It wouldn’t surprise me if both teams come out with some wrinkles. We are going to get some things that we have not seen. We know who they are and these two teams fit perfectly in terms of style to make it a fight. Both teams are very tough on defense, run the football on offense, with big offensive lines, quarterbacks that don’t make mistakes but know how to make winning plays when the game is on the line. The only difference this year is that Michigan State hasn’t run the ball as well as Wisconsin has. That’s the glaring stat that jumps out at you.”

Jones & Davis react to Wisconsin running back Montee Ball’s season and a lack of Heisman recognition:
Jones:  “He’s having a fantastic season. Sometimes Big Ten players don’t get as much recognition. I think there is a lot of focus on other conferences. For this championship game he will be able to show a lot of his skills on a national platform which gives him more visibility and at the end of the day, your contention for those awards [Heisman trophy, etc.] rest on people seeing what you’ve done.  As he starts to gain interest within the league later down the line, that’s going to be a part of it because they know he’s a capable running back that can score touchdowns.”

Davis: “If you look at the Wisconsin website for most of the season, the Heisman Trophy campaign was for Russell Wilson, not Montee Ball. He’s having a season as good as a running back can have as we have seen in recent years. When you start using the name Barry Sanders in the same sentence with a young man, you know he’s having that kind of season, but I think those back-to-back losses for Wisconsin in the last second, blew him and Russell Wilson off of the Heisman grid because there were so many other candidates and they just got over looked.”

BIG TEN NETWORK PROVIDES EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME BEGINNING FRIDAY – The Big Ten Network’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Big Ten’s inaugural football conference championship (#B1GFCG) begins Friday, as the Michigan State Spartans prepare to take on the Wisconsin Badgers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Coverage kicks off at 4:00 PM ET as Mike Hall hosts live coverage of the press conferences for Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema as well as key players from both teams. Rick Pizzo and analysts Derek Rackley and Tim Doyle host a new episode of The Pulse at 6:30 PM ET. At 7:00 PM ET, BTN replays the epic Oct. 22 matchup between the two teams when Michigan State upset Wisconsin, 37-31. The win dashed Wisconsin’s national title hopes and propelled Michigan State into the conference championship race. At 9:00 PM ET, Dave Revsine, Hall, Howard Griffith, Gerry DiNardo and Glen Mason host a full 60-minute preview on a special edition of the Big Ten Football Report from Lucas Oil Stadium. They are joined on the set by Bielema and Dantonio.

On Saturday, Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith and Mason are live at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Championship Pregame Show Saturday at 6:30 PM ET. Pizzo will join the BTN team in Indianapolis to provide viewers with arrival interviews and a behind the scenes glimpse at the championship game.  Immediately following the championship game on FOX, Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith and Mason will return for complete postgame coverage, analysis and interviews with coaches and players.

That will do it.

Fox Sports College Football Games For Week 14

Fox has two conference championship games on consecutive nights, the Pac-12 Championship and Big Ten Championship, Friday and Saturday. Fox Sports Net also has one game and that will end Fox’s college football coverage for the season.

Overall, it’s been great having Gus Johnson calling college football, although the quality of games weren’t great, quite a few were blowouts. Still, the Big Ten Championship has the potential to be quite good.

We have the schedule of games for you right here.

College Football on FOX Advance Programming
December 2 & 3
All times Eastern unless otherwise indicated

DATE	TIME	GAME	OUTLET	Announcers
Friday, Dec. 2	8:00 PM	UCLA at Oregon (Pac-12 Championship)	FOX	Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Tim Brewster
Saturday, Dec. 3	12:30 PM	Iowa State at Kansas State	FSN	Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis
Saturday, Dec. 3	8:00 PM	Wisconsin vs. Michigan State (B1G Championship, Indianapolis, IN)	FOX	Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Tim Brewster

That concludes this post.

Some Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

While I’m away from a computer this morning, I provide these thoughts to you so you have some fresh material here. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend.

As usual, I’ll go in bullet form.

• We’re three games into NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football schedule and the duo of Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock have already made my list of favorite announcing teams. After five years of juggling announcers, NFL Network may have finally found some stability in the broadcast booth. And the problems that plagued its production: missed replays, coming out of replays late and graphics that made no sense seemed to have disappeared. If NFL Network gets an expanded schedule next season, I look forward to hearing Nessler and Mayock on more games.
• With the NBA Lockout seemingly settled, the big beneficiary would be ESPN/ABC as the league’s new Opening Day would be Christmas, December 25. The networks would divide three games on that day. Also, TNT which has desperately missed the NBA on Thursday nights will be happy to have doubleheaders again. While I’m not an NBA watcher, I could get behind a 66 game schedule and a Christmas Opening Day every year. This is something the NBA should seriously consider, but it won’t.
• With the college football conference championship games coming up this weekend, I’ll be interested to see how Fox handles the Pac-12 and Big Ten Championships on successive nights with the same announcing crew of Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brewster. While Fox’s last foray into college football with the BCS was next to disastrous, at least this trio has worked an entire season on FX. I feel Fox should have assigned two crews, but I know the network wants to gain as much mileage from having Gus call both games. Still, flying from Eugene, OR to Indianapolis overnight is not going to be much fun.
• As NESN is considering candidates to replace Heidi Watney as its Red Sox field reporter, I can tell you that an early favorite, Molly Sullivan, sideline reporter for the mtn., is no longer in the running. I’ve heard NESN felt she wasn’t right for the job. Plus Molly said on Twitter that she’s comfortable with her current gig and staying in Las Vegas where she currently lives.
• I hear NESN is considering Jen Royle of 105.7 FM in Baltimore. Good article on her Sunday by Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle. Jen was back in New England to do another guest stint on WEEI. Once again, she killed co-hosting with Kirk Minehane. I don’t know if Jen is a top candidate on NESN, but as I’ve said in the past, she should be.

  Another person NESN should consider if it already hasn’t is Courtney Fallon of WLNE in Providence. Just on the job for three months, Courtney has already made an impression here. She would be good on NESN. And if it doesn’t want to hire her for the Red Sox reporter’s job, the network should at least consider her for its NESN Daily show.

• I’ve seen just a few episodes, but Brian Kenny seems to have found a signature show in Clubhouse Confidential on MLB Network. Now if only Brian could find that boxing gig to go with his baseball assignments.
• Speaking of MLB Network, I miss Trenni Kusnierek. I know she’s happy co-hosting a sports show on WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee.

And we’re done. Enjoy your Monday

Fox Sports All Over Inaugural Pac-12 & Big Ten Championships

Next weekend, Fox Sports will air the inaugural Pac-12 and Big Ten Football Championships and both games will be called by the same broadcast team on successive nights. The College Football on FX team Gus Johnson, Charles Johnson and sideline analyst Tim Brewster will first call the Pac-12 Championship on either the campus of Stanford or Oregon on Friday, December 2 at 8 p.m. East/5 p.m. West.

Then the next night, Saturday, December 3, the crew flies to Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium for the first-ever Big Ten Football Championship at 8 p.m.

The studio will be manned by College Football on Fox host Kevin Frazier with analyst Marcus Allen. They’ll be joined by guest analysts for both games, NFL on Fox’s John Lynch and Dhani Jones.

The Big Ten Network which is co-owned by the Big Ten Conference and Fox Sports will offer extensive pre and postgame coverage of the Big Ten Championship.

We have the full details of the games from Fox Sports.

FOX SPORTS AIRS INAUGURAL PAC-12 & BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES ON PRIME TIME STAGE

Lead Broadcast Team – Johnson, Davis & Brewster – Call Both Games; Former Stanford & Michigan Standouts John Lynch and Dhani Jones Added
Big Ten Network Complements FOX Coverage

Two legendary conferences. Two historic nights. One exclusive network.

For the first time in their long, storied histories, two of America’s premier collegiate athletic conferences, the Pac-12 and the Big Ten, present their inaugural football championship games, live and in prime time on FOX. First up is the PAC-12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME on Friday, Dec. 2 (8:00 PM ET-conclusion), followed by the BIG TEN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME on Saturday, Dec. 3 (8:00 PM ET-conclusion). Both games are preceded at 7:30 PM ET by live on-site pregame shows, while the Big Ten game is complemented by extensive coverage from the Big Ten Network (BTN).

Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and sideline analyst Tim Brewster, FOX Sports’ lead college football broadcast team, call the action both nights, despite the games likely being separated by over 2000 miles.

FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL host Kevin Frazier, Heisman Trophy winning analyst Marcus Allen and Brewster anchor the pregame coverage, each night with a special guest analyst by their side. NFL on FOX analyst John Lynch, a former Stanford University All-American and All-Pac-10 safety, joins Frazier, Allen and Brewster on-set during the Pac-12 Championship pregame and postgame shows. On Saturday, former University of Michigan and three-time All-Big Ten linebacker Dhani Jones takes over as guest analyst for the Big Ten Championship coverage. After pregame duties conclude, Lynch and Jones, both former NFL standouts, join Coach Brewster on the sidelines to provide in-game analysis. Jones was a key member on the Wolverines 1997 National Championship Team. FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL rules analyst Mike Pereira is also available each game to offer perspective on rules interpretation and controversial plays live from his FOX command center in Los Angeles.

The Big Ten Network (BTN) is scheduled to carry more than five hours of pre and postgame coverage of the BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME live from Chicago and Indianapolis over two days. Leading up to kick-off, BTN airs the Big Ten Football Championship team press conferences on Friday, Dec. 2 (4:00-5:00 PM ET). Later, BIG TEN FOOTBALL REPORT: CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW airs (9:00-10:00 PM ET) with Mike Hall, Rosevelt Colvin and Tony Banks. The show features live reports from Lucas Oil Stadium with Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, Howard Griffith and Glen Mason. Game day coverage begins with BTN LIVE (11:00 AM-Noon ET) with Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith and Mason live from Big Ten Fan Fest. The same four are back just hours before kick-off with BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP PREGAME (6:30-7:30 PM ET) leading right into FOX Sports’ pregame coverage, and postgame with extensive analysis and highlights on the BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP POSTGAME. BTN also provides reports from Indy during the network’s basketball coverage on Saturday afternoon.

Brad Zagar produces the Pac-12 Football Championship Game for FOX Sports. Doug Freeman directs. Loy Maxon produces the Pac-12 Championship pregame and postgame shows. FOX College Football Coordinating Producer Chuck McDonald produces the Big Ten Football Championship Game.  Rich Dewey directs. The Big Ten Championship pregame and postgame shows are produced by Don Bui. Roy Hamilton serves as Coordinating Pregame and Postgame Producer.

David Hill, Eric Shanks and Doug Sellars are the Executive Producers of FOX Sports.

That will do it.

Back For Monday’s Linkage

After not being able to provide linkage for a few days, let’s get back to it. I probably won’t be able to do the links as I have to undergo a medical procedure. Nothing serious. I should be back on Wednesday.

Let’s do your links.

Sports Business Daily looks over the reviews of ESPN’s handling of Penn State’s first game since the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke.

Tripp Mickle and John Ourand at Sports Business Journal say YouTube is now entering the sports media rights landscape.

Tripp says Versus will air over 30 hours of action sports programming as NBC Sports retakes ownership of the Dew Tour

Jason Belzer and Darren Heitner of Collegiate Sports Advisors write in Sports Business Journal that colleges and universities should not force a social media blackout on their student-athletes.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says the NFL pregame show analysts either praised or criticized Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson depending on their former positions.

Mike writes Saturday’s Nebraska-Penn State game got higher ratings for ESPN.

Ben Grossman at Broadcasting & Cable says a quick knockout in Fox’s airing of its first UFC bout wasn’t as bad as originally thought.

At Yahoo! Sports, Maggie Hendricks reviews Fox’s first production of a UFC card.

Dave Meltzer of Yahoo says UFC on Fox delivered a ratings punch.

At Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Greg Wyshynski tells us what the NHL’s hiring of Ross Greenburg, formerly of HBO Sports, will mean for the league.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Saturday’s Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez might have set up a big payday for the Pacman to fight Floyd Mayweather on pay per view next year.

Mike says NFL Network received the most viewers ever for a Thursday Night Football season opener.

Michael O’Connell of the Hollywood Reporter says Sunday Night Football won the ratings for NBC.

The Reporter notes that several advertisers have pulled their ads from upcoming Penn State football games on ESPN’s networks.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says sports continues to draw viewers on what normally are dead Saturday nights.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid says Gus Johnson was being Gus when USC pulled off a fake punt during its game against Washington on Saturday.

Sports Video Group says NBC will air the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials later this year.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has what former Penn State coach Joe Paterno should have said last week.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at UFC on Fox’s preliminary ratings.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post feels it’s hard to love college football.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the Week 11 NFL TV schedule for the Capital Region.

Pete says Time Warner Cable will carry all local high school football regional playoff games.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that Versus and HDNet will combine for a Thanksgiving holiday college basketball tournament.

Deborah Ann Tripoldi of the Nutley (NJ) Sun writes that Friend of Fang’s Bites Tina Cervasio was inducted into a local Hall of Fame.

Laura Nachman says a Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia reporter is now engaged.

The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News has the remarks of ESPN’s Jon Ritchie about accused child molester Jerry Sandusky. Ritchie grew up near Penn State.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun is still not a fan of CBS’ Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf especially when they call Ravens games.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with an official with NCAA.com about the streaming of over 20 championships.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says ESPN got the job done for Nebraska-Penn State on Saturday.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Texans fans wanting to watch yesterday’s game against the Bucs in the Rio Grande Valley of the Lone Star State were SOL.

Fang’s Bites welcomes back Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News as we have not linked to him in a very long time. Jerry reports on a sudden switch on the local CBS affiliate that left Cowboys fans angry.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman notes that the ESPN on ABC crew assigned to Texas Tech-Oklahoma State had plenty of time to fill.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football open for tonight’s Packers-Vikings game will honor the military.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the Big Ten Conference has removed Joe Paterno’s name from its championship trophy.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a lengthy conversation with embattled Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin about his two drunken driving arrests.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with a local news anchor who would like to return to his old sports roots.

Sad story out of Reno, NV as KTVN sports anchor JK Metzker died Sunday after being hit by a car. He leaves behind a wife and three sons.

Chris Murray of the Reno Gazette-Journal rememebers Metzker as a friend outside of the newsroom.

Lenita Powers of the Gazette-Journal says Metzker was loved in the local market.

Powers writes that KTVN canceled its newscasts on Sunday to grieve over Metzker’s death.

KTVN meteorologist Mike Alger says Metzker was a true friend.

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

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says UFC isn’t leaving the sports landscape anytime soon.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says it’s time for the NHL to have a Red Zone Channel. I agree.

Sports Media Watch says NBA TV will premiere a new roundtable discussion program as the 2011-12 season looks more in doubt.

SMW says ABC’s Saturday Night Football received a record ratings low opposite LSU-Alabama on CBS.

The Big Lead has NBC’s Al Michaels talking the Penn State story with Sirius XM’s Howard Stern.

And we’ll leave it there. Lots of links for you to digest today.

Big Ten Network To Air 175 Basketball Games; Gus Johnson To Call About 30 Of Them

Big Ten Network, a.k.a. BTN, will air 175 college basketball games, 115 of them will be men’s contests. Gus Johnson will call about 30 games.

The press release.

Gus Johnson Scheduled to Call Nearly 30 Basketball Games on BTN

Big Ten Digital Network to offer free, live streaming coverage of Basketball Media Day on Thursday

CHICAGO – America’s favorite play-by-play announcer, Gus Johnson, returns for his fourth basketball season on BTN. Johnson is scheduled to call nearly 30 men’s basketball games this season, including the network’s four Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament games, plus bitter rivalries like Indiana-Purdue and marquee matchups such as Butler-Indiana.

Johnson is scheduled to make an appearance on the vast majority of BTN Super Wednesday doubleheaders during the regular season. The Michigan native will once again team with Shon Morris during BTN telecasts of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis. The network will carry four tournament games for the first time as the tournament bracket expands to include Nebraska. BTN will televise the first two games on Thursday and both Friday night quarterfinals.

The Big Ten Digital Network will also provide free, live streaming coverage of Big Ten Basketball Media Day on Thursday. The conference’s men’s and women’s basketball coaches will address the media for 10 minutes each beginning at 9am ET. Fans can find the schedules for the press conferences and watch them live at http://video.btn.com.

In all, the network will televise 115 men’s basketball games this winter, including 68 conference matchups, four Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament games and non-conference contests.

During conference play, BTN will air Super Wednesday doubleheaders with additional games on most Tuesdays and Thursdays and frequent doubleheaders on Saturdays and Sundays.

On the women’s side, BTN will televise approximately 60 games, including 38 regular season conference matchups and 10 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament games.

BTN returns some of the nation’s top women’s college basketball analysts including Debbie Antonelli, former Purdue All-American Stephanie White, former Ohio State All-American Katie Smith, former Wisconsin coaches Mary Murphy and Lisa Stone, former Hoosier assistant coach Vera Jones and former All-Big Ten player and WNBA analyst Patricia Babcock-McGraw.

The network will typically televise women’s basketball games on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays during conference play.

Complete BTN television and streaming schedules for men’s and women’s basketball can be found at www.BTN.com.

That will do it.

Bringing Out The Monday Links

With this being Columbus Day, it’s a holiday for some of you. Not for me, but for some. I hope you’re able to enjoy the day. Let’s do some links.

Sports Business Journal has a look at some of the important women in sports business.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona doesn’t see television in his future.

Reid Cherner of USA Today writes that overzealous NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus is clarifying his “I’m a Golden God”-like comment to “60 Minutes”.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says it’s a swing.. and a miss for Fox’s HD picture at the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter notes that Green Bay-Atlanta steered NBC to a big ratings win on Sunday.

Etan Vlessing at the Reporter writes that Don Cherry is out of step with CBC’s public position on head shots in the NHL.

Laura Martinez of Multichannel News reports that ESPN2 will air two episodes of a Spanish-language ESPN Deportes scripted series following a soccer doubleheader on Tuesday.

Daniel Frankel and Lucas Shaw of The Wrap tell us that ESPN and TNT could stand to lose a lot of revenue if the NBA doesn’t settle its lockout soon.

As the NBC gremlins force YouTube to take down the infamous hot dog thrown at Tiger Woods video, we note that it’s still up at SportsGrid as Dan Fogarty informs us.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing has video of Gus Johnson’s classic touchdown call from Saturday’s Texas A&M-Texas Tech game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with movie director Cameron Crowe on who was really the inspiration for movie character superagent Jerry Maguire. Last night, “60 Minutes” falsely said it was Drew Rosenhaus.

Pat Gordon of Cape Cod Online wishes Hank Williams, Jr. would go away.

Kevin Paul Dupont from the Boston Globe writes that Hank Williams, Jr. got it wrong by invoking Adolf Hitler when speaking of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Mark Blaudshun of the Globe has Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo saying ESPN was behind the Syracuse and Pittsburgh defections from the Big East to the ACC.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times says the college sports upheaval is also effecting mid-major conferences.

From the New York Daily News, Eric Barrow says ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge advises how you should tie a tie.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick seems to just get the notion that “You Can’t Predict Baseball.”

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Andrew Catalon who recently filled in on CBS for an NFL game. Andrew did a very good job, too.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio legend has retired.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says ESPN viewers will get multi-lingual coverage of the Pan American Games.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis wants to bring cell phone concessions to the Verizon Center.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says the Nationals’ TV ratings are looking up despite finishing dead last among all MLB teams in 2011.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans have signed a long-term extension with CBS Radio.

David says Texans voice Marc Vandermeer took yesterday’s loss to the Raiders quite hard.

Tim Twentyman of the Detroit News says Mike Tirico is able to drive his own car to call tonight’s Monday Night Football game instead of flying in ahead of time.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson who’s calling the NLCS on TBS.

Bob says the Brewers and Packers got a lot of national airtime on Sunday.

Bob has the local ratings for the Brewers and Packers.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business speaks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who gets to call a “home” game tonight.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that embattled announcer Dan McLaughlin has lost one of gigs in the wake of his second DUI arrest.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos QB Tim Tebow perked up an otherwise moribund sports weekend in the Rocky Mountain region.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says LA was not switched from Raiders-Texans yesterday to join the Chargers as it would have in the past.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s Ron MacLean chose to cover for Don Cherry rather than challenge his comments on fighting from last week.

The Toronto Star’s Raju Mudhar notes that Cherry is doing what he does best, stir the pot.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBA’s lockout strategy.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR race on ESPN had a slight ratings uptick.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media has a profile of Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame announcer Bob Miller.

Joe Favorito says UFC continues to steadily build its brand.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Friday Megalinks Or The Return of Linkage

Due to being at jobsites for the last few days, I haven’t been able post links like I’ve wanted to. I apologize for that. I have tried to be diligent in updating as much as I can.

I have quite a bit to catch up with. I may be a blogging machine as I have to post a lot of things today. Plus, I to get ready to head to New York tomorrow for Blogs with Balls 4 so I’m going to be quite busy. Let’s get to the linkage.

But first, there’s always the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment planning.

National

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal writes that ESPN will do everything it can to head off NBC/Versus at the pass.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch asks if sports broadcasting and politics should mix?

Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press says the Big 12′s TV contracts helped to keep the conference together for now.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog notes that among various TV programming, sports in primetime continues to do well.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy talks with CBS/WFAN/Westwood One’s Boomer Esiason on how the NFL should investigate the Dallas Cowboys’ medical staff for clearing Tony Romo to play last Sunday.

Mike says ESPN is denying any responsibility for the recent college football chaos and says the Longhorn Network doesn’t have anything to do with it. I think Texas A&M, Missouri and other Big 12 schools would beg to differ.

Bob Velin of USA Today writes that CBS’ 48 Hours Mystery program will investigate the mysterious and unsettling death of boxer Arturo Gatti.

Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand of USA Today debate whether schools or TV wield the power in college sports.

John Taylor of College Football Talk writes that Brett Favre gets his first taste of being an analyst next week for CSS.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports that the FCC has ruled that Cablevision-owned MSG Network cannot withhold its HD signal to other cable providers violating program-access rules.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that YES received its second highest rating ever for the American League East Division clinching game this week.

Mike says Golf Channel and NBC Sports are teaming up for a promotion to give a lucky viewer of “The Big Break” a chance to win a trip to see Notre Dame play in Ireland next year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says the NFL has pulled an ad for its fantasy football product which used a picture of Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles after he was injured last week.

David Lieberman of Deadline reports that Time Warner Cable is planning to offer a low cost tier that will not include ESPN in the lineup.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown calling Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones something else.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the sixth and perhaps final installment of New Era’s Yankees-Red Sox Alec Baldwin-John Kraskinski ads. They have been quite good. This latest one may have taken it a bit too far.

Also from SportsGrid, Dan Fogarty reviews the ESPN Films documentary “Catching Hell”, on Steve Bartman and the 2003 Chicago Cubs.

Sports Media Watch talks with the crew of ESPN’s College GameDay.

SMW says despite being on tape delay, Fox drew a decent audience for its first English Premier League game on Sunday.

SMW notes that the ratings for CBS’ 2nd game of its NFL doubleheader dropped from last year.

SMW says the NBA lockout has forced the cancellation of the start of training camp and over 40 preseason games.

And SMW has some various ratings news and notes.

Joe Favorito looks at one imaginative marketing campaign that helped Eye Black this week.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews “Moneyball.”

Darren has some interesting facts on sports participation in America.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group looks at how CBS Sports Network was able to bring the Tim Brando Show into a TV simulcast from his base in Shreveport, LA.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has this week’s network TV on-screen typos.

Ben Koo from AA says tomorrow is when Gus Johnson and FX get their real grand opening in college football.

At The Stir, Maressa Brown feels ESPN’s Erin Andrews is unqualified to demonstrate CrossFit.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that WEEI’s Glenn Ordway has suffered a rather severe pay cut due to lower ratings for his afternoon drive show.

At SBNation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch looks at a busy week in local sports media news.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette writes that Dale Arnold is pleased to be back with NESN after leaving in 2007.

Lang Whitaker and Ian Lovett of the New York Times give us an inside look at DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel and NFL Network’s RedZone.

John Jeansonne of Newsday reviews ESPN Films’ documentary on transgendered tennis player Renee Richards.

Newsday’s Neil Best says fans seem to be buying into the New York Islanders’ future.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post has news that some Time Warner Cable subscribers have been waiting for, that the company appears to be close to a carriage agreement with NFL Network.

Phil Mushnick at the Post can’t stand ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Justin Terranova of the Post says last month’s Russian plane crash that killed 44 members of the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl really hit home for MSG Network analyst Joe Micheletti.

And Justin has five questions for Joe.

Lou Lumenick of the Post says “Moneyball” is one of the best baseball movies of all-time.

I’ll break my self-imposed embargo on the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman for a week for this story on the Yankees’ radio rights which are in flux and so are the fates of broadcasters John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that MSG Network has named Steve Cangialosi to replace Mike “Doc” Emrick on New Jersey Devils games.

And Pete talks with Steve about his new gig.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is not a fan of a new local sports talk show host.

Ken notes that NBC Sports is extending its “Summer at Saratoga” series for at least two more years.

At Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has announced its Capitals and Wizards schedules.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the college football conference merry-go-round could have some legal ramifications.

Jim says the ratings for the NFL in both Baltimore and Washington were very strong.

South

In the Miami Herald, Joseph Goodman notes the irony of ESPN possibly saving college football from massive chaos.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel catches up with ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer.

Jeff Sentell of the Birmingham (AL) News says ESPN is not ponying up to air high school games from the region.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that an Astros broadcaster is celebrating 25 years with the club.

David asks readers if they find the idea of the Longhorn Network offensive.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says an Oklahoma State wide receiver will be profiled on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Midwest

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says Cleveland MLB team radio voice Mike Hegan is leaving he broadcast after this season.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Reds voice Marty Brennaman can’t campaign on-air for his former partner Joe Nuxhall for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award.

Micahel Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press wonders why the DirecTV/NBC series “Friday Night Lights” didn’t do better in the ratings.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says actor Brad Pitt saw “Moneyball” as a compelling story.

Bob says the Green Bay Packers will be showcased aplenty in the late afternoon window on both CBS and Fox this season.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship failed to draw viewers away from the NFL on Sunday.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with WMAQ-TV sports anchor Paula Ferris.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders why Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin has been missing of late.

Kevin Haskin of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes that CBS Sports Network was in town to air an NCAA Division II football game this week.

West

Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune says Big Ten Network won’t allow the local Cox system to pick up Saturday’s San Diego State-Michigan game on a one-time only basis.

The North County Times’ John Maffei writes that unless fans can find a sports bar, they’ll have to listen to San Diego State on the radio.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star says it’s too bad Southern California couldn’t see the end of the exciting Oakland-Buffalo game due to silly NFL rules.

Jim says HBO will replay last Saturday’s controversial Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says a bankruptcy court has given the Dodgers permission to change their flagship radio station for next season.

Tom says the NFL secondary market rule needs to be changed.

Tom also has a few notes that he couldn’t get into his Friday column.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News looks at the Pac-12′s decision to stand pat, TV’s role in the whole thing and where BYU may be headed.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s P.J. Stock is regretting his initial comments on Wade Belak’s death.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog is not so fast to forgive P.J.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that CBC has made some additions to its Hockey Night in Canada crew.

And there you have it for your links today.

Handing Out Some Labor Day Sports Media Links

A nice day here in Southern New England and I’m at home watching some good sports action as we have afternoon MLB games, the U.S. Open, a little CFL and some college football later. A good sports day for the Labor Day holiday. Before I do the links, let’s go into one of the stranger nights on sports television on Sunday.

Last night, ESPN got stuck with two weather delays for two events, in college football at the Marshall at West Virginia game and at NASCAR in Atlanta. ESPN handled both situations as best as it could, first updating viewers on lighting approaching Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, WV. As players were hustled off the field before 6 p.m., ESPN threw to its studio with Ryan Burr and Robert Smith who deftly filled the time with highlights and comments.

Then as the NASCAR window approached, Burr threw it to Atlanta and the NASCAR Countdown crew led by Nicole Briscoe. The prerace program went as scheduled for the half-hour and at 7 p.m. when the race coverage was supposed to begin, ESPN updated viewers on the rain from Tropical Storm Lee that hit Atlanta and was wreaking havoc. However, ESPN said that it was hoped that the race would begin “within the hour.”

It was during this time ESPN kept switching back and forth between Atlanta and the ESPN studios in Bristol, CT to fill time. Then at 8:50 p.m., ESPN went back to Morgantown for the game. While ESPN did not inform viewers publicly, it was learned via Twitter that the game would be switched to ESPNU if NASCAR started and we also learned via Twitter that NASCAR was hoping to get the race started at 10:30 p.m.

ESPN was balancing between the two venues hoping that it would not have to bump one event for the other. And at 9:05 p.m., ESPN got another jolt when authorities pulled Marshall and West Virginia for another lightning delay. Ryan Burr and Robert Smith were back to quickly throw things back to Atlanta where Nicole Briscoe relayed to viewers of the 10:30 p.m. start time and it was when we began seeing shots of the track dryers going around the Atlanta Speedway circuit.

During the delay, ESPN went back to Morgantown for an update on the weather from its announcing team, Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore and sideline reporter Quint Kessenich. It was during this update that ESPN showed a lightning strike at 6:02 p.m. that looked like it struck the stadium. Kessenich reported that the strike hit the stadium and a fan in the upper deck and from the screengrab, it certainly looks like it did. However, scuttlebutt was surfacing that there were no independent news on the strike.

And later, West Virginia State Police denied that no fan had been hit and the lightning strike was close to the stadium, but did not hit it. In addition, West Virginia University Media Relations published its own statement on the story.  So where did Kessenich get his information and as Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand correctly asked, why didn’t ESPN issue a correction on the story? ESPN certainly had plenty of chances to correct it.

At 10 p.m., ESPN had Robert Flores and Stuart Scott start SportsCenter early. It went right to Atlanta where NASCAR race caller Allen Bestwick interviewed NASCAR President Mike Helton who announced that with the rains from Tropical Storm Lee, it was impossible to restart the race Sunday and as rains would continue into Monday, the race would be rescheduled to 11 a.m. Tuesday.

A quick toss back to SportsCenter and then, at 10:24, ESPN thew it back to Morgantown where it was announced the game was going to be called with West Virginia leading Marshall 34-13. Again, the lightning strike from 6:02 p.m. was shown. After 11 p.m., the strike was not referenced and the report of the fan was not raised again. So why didn’t ESPN retract or correct it? No word from the network on this. However, it’s a situation where a story is front of them and they didn’t get it right. And there was no correction. ESPN has to do a better job.

And as I watched the 2 p.m. SportsCenter on ESPNews, the network has chosen to ignore its erroneous report on the lightning strike rather than issue a correction.

Now to the links.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says despite being dropped by Verizon FiOS, Tennis Channel is talking with the cable provider to return to the lineup.

The Associated Press reports that Missouri is the next Big 12 school to announce its own digital network joining Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas State.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the video of Rafael Nadal cramping up during his U.S. Open press briefing yesterday.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid wonders why a mascot is being taken off the court on a stretcher during the EuroBasket Championships.

Timothy Burke at his Mocksession site shows an unfortunate ESPN crowd cutaway during yesterday’s Marshall-West Virginia game.

Joe Favorito asks smaller universities if it’s worth the payday to go to a large FCS school and get beaten up on the football field.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times explores the dispute between Tennis Channel and cable providers Cablevision and Verizon FiOS.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has praise for NBC’s Notre Dame coverage and ESPN’s College GameDay.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle speculates on the future of the Longhorn Network if Texas goes to the Pac-12.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman liked Gus Johnson and Charles Davis’ work on the Tulsa-Oklahoma game, but Kevin Frazier and Marcus Allen, not so much.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Colorado fans will have to scramble to find Saturday’s game against Cal.

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

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says NFL gamers are gearing up for the season.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if the public really needed to know the details of Wade Belak’s suicide.

The Paranoid Puck reports that former Dallas Stars coach Marc Crawford will be joining TSN and former MSG host Christine Simpson returns to Canada to work for Rogers Sportsnet.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some Labour Day thoughts.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has some typos both on TV and online.

Sports Media Watch says Nielsen will be tracking fewer TV households this year.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that Versus will be airing some NHL preseason games for the first time.

And that will do it for today.

Fox College Football Game of the Week With Gus Johnson Begins Saturday

The inaugural season of Fox College Football Game of the Week kicks off Saturday on FX. Gus Johnson along with Charles Davis and Tim Brewster will be on hand for the first of 14 regular season games on the network. In addition, there will be games on other Fox networks including Fox Sports Net and Fox College Sports. We have the announcing assignments and networks that will air the games.

Let’s take a look at the Fox press release on the opening weekend of college football on the Fox Sports Media Group.

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

FSMG College Football Coverage Kicks-Off:
Tulsa at Oklahoma – FX Game of the Week Saturday at 8:00 PM ET

FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP KICKS-OFF 2011-12 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE – FX kicks-off its inaugural FOX College Football game of the week schedule with the USA Today Coaches’ Poll preseason No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners hosting the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday, Sep. 3 (8:00 PM ET). College football on FOX lead play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson is joined by analyst Charles Davis and sideline analyst Tim Brewster to call all of the action from Norman, OK.

FSN begins with the Mississippi State Bulldogs traveling to Memphis to take on the Tigers on Thursday, Sep. 1 (8:00 PM ET).  On Saturday, Sep. 3 (12:00 PM ET) Missouri hosts Miami (OH) and FOX College Sports joins the party at 7:00 PM ET with Oklahoma State hosting Louisiana Lafayette.

Full weekend schedule below:

DATE	TIME	GAME	OUTLET	Play by play	Analyst	Sideline
Thursday, Sep. 1	8:00 PM	Miss St. at Memphis	FSN (National)	Ron Thulin	JC Pearson	Jim Knox
Saturday, Sep. 3	12:00 PM	Miami (OH) at Missouri	FSN (National)	Bill Land	Dave Lapham	Jim Knox
Saturday, Sep. 3	3:30 PM	UCLA at Houston	FSN (National)	Craig Bolerjack	Joel Klatt	Petros Papadakis
Saturday, Sep. 3	7:00 PM	Louisiana?Lafayette at OSU	FCS Central	Steve Physioc	Yogi Roth	Desmond Purnell
Saturday, Sep. 3	8:00 PM	Tulsa at Oklahoma	FX	Gus Johnson	Charles Davis	Tim Brewster
Saturday, Sep. 3	10:00 PM	Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss	FSN (National)	Ron Thulin	JC Pearson	Jeremy Bloom
Sunday, Sep. 4	7:30 PM	SMU at Texas A&M	FSN (National)	Joel Meyers	Joel Klatt	Jim Knox

And that will do it.

It’s A Slowly Getting Back To Normal After Irene Linkfest

Yesterday about 2 p.m., I got the power back at the Fang’s Bites abode and after walking around the neighborhood, I saw that I was quite lucky in not getting any tree limbs falling on my house or any leaks in the basement. So while Hurricane Irene was quite deadly and caused major damage up and down the East Coast, I consider myself very lucky in being able to get through the storm without any major interruptions and I thank National Grid for getting the power back to my house within a day after being knocked offline.

Let’s do some linkage. Already a couple of major sports media stories breaking today.

First, Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that NBC has tapped Today show Executive Producer Jim Bell and former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol protégé as the Executive Producer of the 2012 London Olympics.

Tim Malloy at The Wrap says NBC feels Bell is uniquely qualified to helm the Olympics for the network.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Bell will continue to oversee the Today show while working on the Olympics.

The lovely Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press writes that NBC will show all Olympic events live in one platform or another.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette is happy to see NBC airing events live.

In a related note, Meredith Galante of the Business Insider notes that the aforementioned former Emperor is selling his Colorado home for a huge pricetag.

And maybe this is why Ebersol is selling his house, Bill Carter and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the former Emperor is returning to NBC Sports as a senior adviser. You can’t make these things up.

Our other big sports media story involves the University of Kentucky revoking the school newspaper’s media credential for playing by its rules.

Scott Sloan of the Lexington Herald-Leader looks into why this occurred.

And from the Kentucky Kernel, the school newspaper’s managing editor Becca Clemons gives the publication’s response. This now is becoming a First Amendment issue and had the school’s Sports Information Department had handled this differently, this would not have blown up. Instead, the SID reacted poorly and this is the result.

To other stories now.

USA Today notes that there are a few changes coming to NFL Network including the hiring of Andrew Siciliano full-time and the shuffling of anchors for NFL Total Access.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek says advertisers are flocking to Fox’s UFC package knowing they can reach large numbers of young males.

To the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center and Jason Fry whose final column for the site provides sportswriters with the five changes in digital sports they need to look for in the very near future. Also, Jason has collected 19 of his National Sports Journalism Center columns into a eBook and it’s available for download at Amazon or at Smashwords. Jason has been a great resource here and I hope to let you know where he’ll be landing soon.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser says syndicated radio host Paul Finebaum will be writing a column for SI.com.

Glenn Davis in SportsGrid has the latest Alec Baldwin-John Krasinski Yankees-Red Sox rivalry New Era ad that premieres tonight. It’s very funny.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group looks at Big Ten Network’s programming schedule to reflect the new football season.

Brandon writes about the launch of Kansas State’s new KStateHD.TV.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch takes to TwitLonger to ask why ESPN’s new social media policy is not being applied equally.

David Whitely of AOL Sporting News wonders if airing the Little League World Series on TV is too much pressure on the kids.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the addition of Texas A&M to the SEC won’t add much value to its TV contracts.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post writes that the US Tennis Association is considering charging viewers for watching the U.S. Open online.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union wishes ESPN would lighten up.

David N. Dunkle of the Patriot-News (PA) writes a long-time Harrisville R&B radio station flips to ESPN Radio this week.

Mark Berman of the Roanoke (VA) Times says ESPN’s new contract with the ACC means more Virginia Tech sports on TV.

Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that former CNN/ESPN/YES/Fox Sports South host Fred Hickman has signed with a local TV station to become its sports director.

Susan Blaskovich of the Pegasus (TX) Times says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gets his chance to pick games on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday.

The Grand Rapids (MI) Press notes the passing of long-time Detroit Lions beat writer Tom “Killer” Kowalski.

The Ann Arbor News has reaction to Kowalski’s passing.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel looks at how WTMJ radio will handle conflicts between the Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers.

Bob has some interesting tidbits from the NFL Films America’s Game documentary on the 2010 Packers that airs next week.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business feels the number of documentaries released now focusing on the Cubs is bad timing.

Mike Imrem of the Chicago Daily Herald says he might be part of the problem in ESPN’s airing of the Little League World Series.

Josie Becker of LA Galaxy Confidential suggests that NBC use the ESPN model for hiring announcers for MLS instead of the Fox Soccer way of doing things.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball says the MLB At Bat for iPhone and iPod Touch underwent a nice upgrade in time for the pennant races.

Brady Green at Awful Announcing enjoys Gus Johnson reenacting his famous Brandon Stokley call.

And I think that will do it for the links today.

Fox Sports Unveils NFL Announcing Lineup For 2011-12 Season; Gus Johnson Joins Fox For Selected Games

Quite a few changes in the NFL on Fox lineup for the upcoming season. While the top two teams will stay the same (Joe Buck/Troy Aikman, Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnson/Tony Siragusa), there is some upheaval with the announcers from the “C” team and beyond.

Tom Brennaman and Brian Billick go from the “D” team to the C” team. Dick Stockton is now on the “D” team and was paired with Charles Davis and Jim Mora loses both partners and will get John Lynch who was promoted after working with Ron Pitts.

Chris Myers becomes a full-time play-by-play man and will work with Tim Ryan who had been teamed with Sam Rosen.

Ron Pitts will be teamed with Jim Mora. Sam Rosen will work selected games with quarterback Chad Pennington who’s taking this season off to rehab an injury in hopes of returning to play in 2012.

And Gus Johnson, Charles Davis & Tim Brewster who are Fox Sports’ #1 college football team, will work selected NFL games and make their NFL on Fox debut on October 2.

Let’s take a look at what we have from Fox Sports.

NFL ON FOX DEEPENS TALENTED ROSTER, ADDS TWO-TIME NFL COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR CHAD PENNINGTON TO LINEUP

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver Return as Top Crew for 10^th Season
New FOX Sports Play-By-Play Announcer Gus Johnson Calls Select NFL Games

New York—FOX Sports returns for an 18^th season as the favorite home for NFL viewers, adding quarterback Chad Pennington to its already outstanding roster of broadcasting talent. Six-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, NFL Hall of Famer Troy Aikman and premier NFL pregame and sideline reporter Pam Oliver headline as the NFL on FOX’s lead broadcast team for the 10^th season. The announcement was made today by FOX Sports Co-President and COO Eric Shanks.

“FOX Sports’ talented broadcasters are a big reason we’ve been the number one sports network for 14 straight years,” said Shanks. “We’ve built the best team to inform, analyze and entertain, with the goal of bringing fans closer to the NFL than ever before. The addition of Chad Pennington brings a fresh perspective to our already championship caliber lineup and we’re excited to welcome him to the FOX Sports team.”

An 11-year NFL veteran, former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington is the only player to be named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year twice in his career. Pennington led the Jets and Dolphins to a combined four playoff appearances and holds the distinction of ranking number one on the NFL’s all-time career completion percentage list. He joins Sam Rosen in the booth this season, calling his first game Sunday, Sept. 11 as the Carolina Panthers take on the Arizona Cardinals.

This season marks Buck’s 18^th with FOX Sports and Aikman’s 11^th, while sideline reporter Pam Oliver returns for her 17^th. The group calls its first game from Washington on Sunday, Sept. 11 as the Redskins host the New York Giants. For the fifth consecutive year, former Cowboys fullback Daryl Johnston teams with play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert and on-field analyst Tony Siragusa. Kenny, “Moose” and “Goose” are in Chicago Week 1 as the Bears take on the Atlanta Falcons. Former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira returns for his second season as FOX Sports’ first-ever rules analyst. Pereira is available to interact with FOX NFL SUNDAY studio personalities and interpret officiating calls with game crews at stadiums across the country, both on- and off-camera.

Renowned play-by-play broadcaster Gus Johnson, who joined the FOX Sports Media Group in May as the lead college football announcer, calls select NFL on FOX games this season. His first assignment comes Week 4 when he teams with his FX College Football Game of the Week team, analyst Charles Davis and former University of Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster, to call the Washington Redskins’ game against the St. Louis Rams.

Each week, the NFL on FOX broadcast day begins with FOX NFL SUNDAY (12:00 PM ET), America’s most-watched NFL pregame show. The one-hour prelude is the recipient of 20 Emmy Awards and stars co-hosts Terry Bradshaw and Curt Menefee, analysts Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan, premier NFL insider Jay Glazer, comedic prognosticator Frank Caliendo, and Pereira. Bradshaw and Long have been with the show since its debut in 1994, and Bradshaw won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Studio Analyst, his third.

The 2011 NFL on FOX campaign kicks off Sunday, Sept. 11 (1:00 PM ET) with doubleheader coverage of seven games, highlighted by a clash between last season’s NFC South Champion Atlanta Falcons led by Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Ryan traveling to Soldier Field to face the reigning NFC North Champion Chicago Bears.  Week 1 also features Eli Manning and the Giants taking on their NFC East division foe the Washington Redskins and what some are calling the Philadelphia Eagles “Dream Team” traveling to St. Louis to battle the Rams.

Following are the NFL on FOX announcer pairings for 2011:

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman & Pam Oliver
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston & Tony Siragusa
Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick & Laura Okmin
Dick Stockton & John Lynch
Chris Myers & Tim Ryan
Ron Pitts & Jim Mora
Sam Rosen & Chad Pennington
Gus Johnson, Charles Davis & Tim Brewster

Stockton, Pitts and Albert have the distinction of being the only members of the group to work NFL on FOX games full-time since FOX Sports’ inception in 1994. Oliver, as previously mentioned, is in her 17^th season, followed by Rosen (16), Buck (14), Aikman and Johnston (11), Ryan (10), Brennaman (9), Glazer and Siragusa (8), Myers (7), Billick (4), Okmin (4), Lynch (3), Mora (2) and Pennington.

The complete 2010 regular season averaged 20.1 million viewers, smashing the previous NFL on FOX record of 19.1 million set in 2009 by a million viewers. As for the household ratings, 2010 averaged an 11.8/24, its best rating in 15 years (12.5/29 in 1995) and surpassed 2009’s then record-setting campaign by +4% in rating (11.8 vs. 11.4) and +5% in viewership (20.1 million vs. 19.1 million).

David Hill, Eric Shanks and Doug Sellars are the Executive Producers of FOX Sports.  Bill Brown is Senior Producer.  Scott Ackerson is Executive Vice President and Executive Producer of all studio programming. Bill Richards is the Coordinating Producer of FOX NFL Sunday and Bob Levy directs.

And that will conclude this post.

Handicapping The Thursday Night Football Race

As we learned last week, the NFL is shopping around the first half of a Thursday Night Football package that would begin in time for the 2012 season. The games would come from the Sunday afternoon games from CBS and Fox and be aired during Weeks 2 — 9 of the regular season. NFL Network would continue carrying the second half of the package starting in Week 10. NBC has the traditional Season Opener at the home of the defending Super Bowl champion in Week 1 so that’s how Thursday Night Football would breakdown.

NFL owners feel the first half of Thursday Night Football would be worth an estimated $700 million a year and there are certainly interested networks interested in bidding for the package.

As John Ourand and Daniel Kaplan wrote in Sports Business Journal, the early frontrunners for the first half of Thursday Night Football are Turner Sports which could place the games either on TBS, TNT or truTV and NBC/Comcast which would air the games on Versus. Fox is a possible suitor and it could place the package on FX which the company is attempting to make a sports destination. And there’s always the possibility that ESPN could swoop in and take the package, although that looks rather distant right now as Thursday nights on the Alleged Worldwide Leader have been reserved for college football.

If you think it’s strange that the NFL would break up a package, there is precedence. Back in 1990, the NFL decided to expand its cable Sunday Night Football package from the second half of the regular season which had been awarded to ESPN to a full season. TNT was awarded the first half and kept the package until 1997 when ESPN decided it wanted the games all to itself and took Sunday Night Football until 2005.

So let’s take a look at the interested parties and how they might fare.

Turner Sports
As mentioned, Turner is a previous NFL TV rightsholder. Since losing Sunday Nitro in 1997, Turner has been yearning to get back into airing pro football. In the last negotiation in 2005, TNT went so far to look to hire potential analysts for games, only to see ESPN take Monday Night Football, Sunday Nitro go to NBC and a new Thursday Night package go to NFL Network. Turner would love nothing more to gain the rights once again and it could use the first half of the NFL regular season as a nice lead-in to its NBA Thursday night package. Where would the games air? Either TBS, TNT or tru TV, but with TBS airing MLB playoff games in October, I would think that would be out. truTV was found during the NCAA Tournament and Turner could increase its profile by putting games there, but the best destination would be TNT.

Who could we see on an NFL on Turner Sports package? Hosts could be either Ernie Johnson, Jr. who hosted from 1991 — 1994 or NBA TV host Matt Winer. For play-by-play, there’s Marv Albert, but he was just hired by CBS and I’m not sure if he would want to double up on games early in the season. Kevin Harlan is a possibility also, but again, he would have to double up early, but he does it for a full season on CBS and calling Monday Night Football on Westwood One Radio. Turner desperately wants to get the NFL back and this would be ideal for the company. Can you imagine TNT using “Thursday Nitro”?

Just for old times sake, here’s a Sunday Nitro promo from 1990.

I miss Sunday Nitro. Even though TNT used for just one season, it resonated with me.

Odds of Turner winning Thursday Nitro: 4-1.

NBC Sports Group/Comcast
In 2004, Comcast offered a reported $450 million to the NFL to put an 8 game Thursday night package on what was then known as OLN (Outdoor Life Network). Comcast was willing to give the NFL an equity stake in the channel, but the league rejected the offer and eventually placed the games on NFL Network. It led to a nasty dispute between the NFL and Comcast as the league wanted placement for NFL Network, but Comcast was only willing to put the channel on unpopular sports tier. After extensive bickering and rancorous negotiations, the two parties were finally able to settle their differences in May 2009. And with Comcast taking over NBC earlier this year, the relations between the two entities are now quite peaceful.

Here’s another chance for Comcast to purchase an 8 game NFL package to place on its flagship sports cable TV network and create even more clearance for Versus. Who would we see on a Thursday Night Football package on Versus? With NBC Sports Group running the channel, perhaps you’ll see NHL and Tour de France host Liam McHugh as the studio host. Maybe Tom Hammond who was passed over for NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football play-by-play could call the games on Versus. Bob Papa who lost the NFL Network play-by-play gig for no good reason could get a little revenge by calling the first half of the season for Versus. Heck, even throw in Mike Mayock as an analyst to give him a full season of calling the Thursday Night package on both Versus and NFL Network, but I doubt that would happen.

Odds of Versus winning Thursday Night Football: 3-1

Fox/FX
I would think Fox would be interested in a cable package for FX as an extension of its NFL on Fox brand. And this would be perfect for Gus Johnson who has become Fox Sports’ college football announcer. Imagine him back with the NFL in primetime! He and analyst Charles Davis could call an NFL game on Thursday night and do a Big 12, C-USA or Pac-12 game on Saturday for eight weeks. It would be a great combo. And Fox Sports could use Curt Menefee as host for Thursday Night Football and bring in the guys from Fox NFL Sunday to do the pregame. The only drawback is that Fox really can’t raise subscriber rates for FX according to Ourand and Kaplan from Sports Business Journal. If that’s the case, then FX won’t be able to get maximum monetization from the NFL, getting that double revenue stream from subscribers and ads that ESPN and NFL Network can take advantage of.

Even with this potential roadblock, expect Fox to at least take a look.

Odds of Fox/FX winning Thursday Night Football: 12-1

ESPN
Back in 2005, ESPN was negotiating for both Sunday and Monday Night Football. As was chronicled in “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN”, a combined bid for the two packages was seen as not reflecting fair market value at the time and that’s when the NFL went to NBC for Sunday Night Football. With ESPN successful on Thursday nights for college football, I’m not sure if the network would want to bid for another NFL package, but one cannot predict what the powers that be in Bristol are thinking. Thursday night college football games could be pushed to ESPN2. Would we see the Monday Night Football crew call games on Thursday night? I would say that’s unlikely. Maybe ESPN would bring Brad Nessler to the fold and have him call the first half of the package and not have him do NFL Network after this season. The network has plenty of analysts who could call games and yes, expect Chris Berman to host if ESPN wins the package.

I do see ESPN bidding on this just to see if it can force the others to raise their price. There’s an outside chance that it could win. As long as ESPN can see itself making money, then a Thursday Night Football package on the Alleged Worldwide Leader is not outside the realm of possibility.

Odds of ESPN winning Thursday Night Football: 15-1.

Viacom’s Spike TV could also put in a bid, but I think the NFL would want to have the games on a channel that has established sports properties.

My personal favorite is Turner Sports, but I can see Comcast being awarded the games as well. The others are outsiders at this point. Once the NFL lockout is resolved, this is a story I’ll be monitoring for you.

Golf Channel’s Live Golf Action This Week

This Golf Channel press release has been coming too few and far between lately. This used to come every Wednesday and I would try to post this before the golf tournaments began on Thursday. However, this release came this afternoon after two tournaments started airing. But out of loyalty to the good people at the NBC Sports Group/Golf Channel, I’ll post this. I’ll edit out today’s action.

So here’s what you’ll see on Golf Channel this weekend.

Golf Channel Live Tournament Coverage: June 24-26

Live, Four-Round Coverage of the LPGA Championship
PGA TOUR Heads to Connecticut for Travelers Championship
Champions Tour Returns to Endicott for Dick’s Sporting Goods Open
Live Coverage of the PGA Professional National Championship

LPGA Championship
Dates: June 23-26
Venue: Locust Hill Country Club, Pittsford, N.Y.

Airtimes (Eastern):
Friday              12:30-2:30 p.m. (Live) / Midnight-2 a.m. (Replay)
Saturday          4-7 p.m. (Live) / 9:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)
Sunday            4-7 p.m. (Live) / 9:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)

Golf Channel Tournament Broadcast Team
Terry Gannon (Play by Play)
Judy Rankin (Analyst)
Tom Abbott (Tower)
Jerry Foltz (On Course)
Jane Crafter (On Course)
Val Skinner (On Course)
Rich Lerner (Show Host/Interviews)

Broadcast Notes:

• Live, Exclusive Four-Round Coverage – Golf Channel will air live, four-round coverage of the LPGA’s second major of the year.
• High Definition Broadcast – The LPGA Championship will be produced and broadcast in high definition.
• Walk and Talks Featured – Golf Channel’s Jerry Foltz, Val Skinner and Jane Crafter will interview players as they are walking the fairways during all four rounds of the tournament.
• Featured Groupings: Featured groupings the first two days of action will include Michelle Wie/Cristie Kerr and Brittany Lincicome; Yani Tseng/Ai Miyazato/Juli Inkster; and Sandra Gal/Suzann Pettersen/Paula Creamer.

Travelers Championship
Dates: June 23-26
Venue: TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Conn.

Airtimes (Eastern):
Friday 3-6 p.m. (Live)/8:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)

Golf Central Pre Game (Live)
Friday         2:30-3 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday        12:30-1 p.m.

Golf Central (Live)
Monday-Friday                6-6:30 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday             7-7:30 p.m.

Golf Channel Tournament Broadcast Team:
Kelly Tilghman (Play by Play)
Frank Nobilo (Analyst)
Peter Oosterhuis (Tower)
Craig Perks (Tower)
Phil Parkin (On Course)
Mike Ritz (Interviews)

Golf Central On-Site Broadcast Team
Whit Watson (Host)
Brandel Chamblee (Analyst)
Mike Ritz (Reporter)

Broadcast Notes:

• Golf Central On-site at Travelers Championship – Golf Central and Golf Central Pre-Game will broadcast live and on-site Thursday-Sunday at TPC River Highlands.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Open
Dates: June 24-26
Venue: En-Joie Golf Course, Endicott, N.Y.

Airtimes (Eastern):
Friday              6:30-8:30 p.m. (TD)
Saturday          7:30-9:30 p.m. (TD)
Sunday            7:30-9:30 p.m. (TD)

Golf Channel Live Tournament Broadcast Team:
Brian Hammons (Play by Play)
Curt Byrum (Analyst)
John Mahaffey (Tower)
Matt Gogel (On Course)
Billy Ray Brown (On Course)

Broadcast Notes:

• Headlining the Field: Nick Price, Tom Watson, Tom Lehman, Fred Funk, defending champion Loren Roberts, Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Kite, Hale Irwin, Jay Haas, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Pernice Jr., Gary Koch, Tommy Armour III and Hal Sutton.
• Watson to Make First Appearance at Endicott in 35 Years – Golf Channel will break down Tom Watson’s swing in a feature during tournament coverage.  Watson will be making his first appearance at En-Joie Golf Course this week since 1976.

BMW International Open
Dates: June 23-26
Venue: Golfclub Munchen Eichenreid, Munich, Germany

Airtimes (Eastern):
Friday                          9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Live)
Saturday                      8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Live)
Sunday                        8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Tape Delay)

Golf Channel Tournament Broadcast Team:
Steve Burkowski (Studio Host)
Renton Laidlaw (Play by Play)
Warren Humphreys (Analyst)
Julian Tutt (On Course)

PGA Professional National Championship
Dates: June 26-29
Venue: East Course, Hershey Country Club, Hershey, Pa.
West Course, Hershey Country Club, Hershey, Pa.

Airtimes (Eastern)
Sunday                        2-4 p.m. (Live)
Monday                       3:30-6 p.m. (Live)
Tuesday                       3:30-6 p.m. (Live)
Wednesday                 3:30-6 p.m. (Live)

Golf Channel Tournament Broadcast Team:
Dave Marr (Play by Play)
Michael Breed (Analyst)
Mark Lye (Tower/ On Course)
Donna Caponi-Byrnes (On Course)
Mike Ritz (Interviews, Tue-Wed)

Broadcast Notes:

• One Minute Lessons from PGA Professionals – Throughout the four days of live tournament coverage, Golf Channel will air a series of one-minute lessons from PGA Professionals.
• Michael Breed Takes on Hersheypark – PGA Professional and The Golf Fix host Michael Breed will visit Hersheypark to “teach” people how to ride roller coasters, play arcade games and eat park food in a special feature during the telecast.

And we’re done. One more press release post coming up.

The Fifth Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Time for another mailbag and let’s answer the sports media questions that have landed in the Fang’s Bites inbox over the last week or so. Thanks to all who sent e-mails and left comments. I’ll do my best to answer as best as I can. And don’t forget, I have two $50 Nike.com gift cards. If I can get one other piece of swag to give way, I’ll make an announcement. The recipients will be chosen at random and be e-mailed.

Disclaimer as to where the cards came from and what promotion they’re associated with:

• The Sprite Spark Parks Project is a multi-year commitment to build and restore play environments where teens, families and neighbors can get outside and be active. The big idea: play, be active, be inspired and have fun. The campaign began several weeks ago where people had the opportunity to nominate their courts and we now need your vote to determine which parks will get the funding. If you want one of those refurbished courts to be accessible for your child, all you have to do is head to The Sprite Facebook Page and VOTE!
• The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company.  The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.
• Entrants must be located in the US or Canada only.

Now to your questions:

What does (Dick Ebersol’s resignation) mean for NBC’s production of the 2012 Olympics? Is it likely to be different, with less tape delay and non-live events? And what does this mean for NBC’s long term Olympic prospects? Does this basically hand the rights to ESPN? – Shep H.

Hi Shep. Ebersol’s resignation won’t mean much change for NBC next year. With London five hours ahead of New York, primetime will still mean tape delays. It’ll also mean continued holding of glamor events (gymnastics, swimming, track & field) for evening viewing. While Ebersol’s resignation hurts NBC, many of his disciples are still working there and if it wins the bid for 2014/16, expect many of his old producers and directors to remain. While the bid became more wide open, NBCUniversal still is the favorite. This does not mean ESPN automatically gets the rights.

If you’re an executive at an ABC affiliate, would you be disappointed that ESPN won’t allow you to carry one game of the Western Conference Finals (most notably Game 3 on Saturday night in which ABC has to show “Spider-Man 3″ instead) and would you be even more disappointed if the Los Angeles Lakers were in the Western Finals instead of the Dallas Mavericks? – Jimmy D.

Thanks, Jimmy. Yes, this is a bone of contention among ABC affiliates losing sports. Over the years, ABC has lost Monday Night Football, NASCAR, the Open Championship, the Rose Bowl and college basketball. I know ESPN has the philosophy that the difference between cable and broadcast is close to nil, but you do have a broadcast network that is used to carrying sports programming. If I’m an ABC affiliate general manager, I would be very angry about losing NBA Conference Final programming and bring this up at the next affiliates meeting. But with ESPN being a cash cow for Disney, there’s not much the local stations can do. I would not be surprised to see ABC lose even more sports programming down the line.

I love your blog and read it every day!  Here is my question—How do you think the current NFL Lockout and the looming NBA lockout will affect how the networks cover sports?

Obviously CBS, NBA and FOX use the NFL to promote other prime time programs and they are on the hook for the rights fees unless there is a court decision that forces the NFL to return the money. – Benjamin G.

Appreciate the kind words, Benjamin. If the NFL lockout extends to the fall, CBS, NBC and Fox will have huge holes to fill on Sundays. ESPN is in a better position as it can slot college football games into Sunday and possibly even Mondays. NBC says it will put game shows in Sunday Night Football’s slot for the first couple of weeks. CBS and Fox have not announced what they will do. All of the networks continue to sell ads.

As far as the NBA is concerned, TNT can plug in dramas on Thursdays and ESPN can plug college basketball or poker into the lost NBA slots. And yes, the networks are on the hook for the rights fees. They’ve already paid the NFL. Not sure about the NBA.

Hey Ken I just want to know with this new espn book out will those so called journalist’s actually take responsibility for the actions they do like in the real news world? I find it hard to believe that in todays world those guys are not punished for their irresponsible journalism. – Ari

I’m not sure what example of irresponsible journalism you’re talking about. If you’re talking about the sexual activities, those who have been caught have either been fired or suspended. I really can’t speak about anything else because I need a better example of what you’re talking about.

What do you think was behind Gus Johnson’s departure from CBS? His ego? The ego of other CBS announcers who were jealous of the attention that he received? Or was it just plain money? – Jeff H.

Thanks, Jeff. I think Gus knew that he wasn’t going to supplant Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, Ian Eagle and Kevin Harlan at CBS. He got a very good offer to be the number one guy calling college football and basketball at Fox plus more money. It’s tough to leave the network that made you, but there’s always a chance that Gus could return to CBS down the line. That story about people at CBS being jealous was probably planted by Gus’ people. I find it hard to believe that Jim Nantz or anyone at CBS was jealous of Gus, but you never know.

Do you see the new NBC Sports Group trying to nab the cable TV rights to either Wimbledon or the French Open to air on Versus (and hopefully not take away anything from Tennis Channel) to complement their NBC network coverage? I can see NBC going after, say, Wimbledon on cable (Versus taking over for ESPN2) and unifying the daytime coverage with NBC network, where they can do a reverse mirror sort of thing between NBC and Versus to show one single live feed that bounces between NBC and Versus differently in each timezone (ex: 10am to 1pm local time is the NBC window, so at 10am ET, Eastern Time viewers are told to switch from NBC to Versus for the next 3 hours and then come back, 1 hour later the Central Time viewers do the same, and so on, with Versus airing some alternate program during the NBC blackout, and viewers essentially not missing any important live action but still having to watch on NBC). – Jason B.

Hi Jason. With Wimbledon, the U.S. and Australian Opens locked into long-term deals over the last few years, the first Grand Slam that would be up for bid would be the French Open, however, that  deal with Tennis Channel could last until 2016. Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australia are locked solidly with ESPN2 for quite some time. I’m not a fan of NBC’s tennis coverage live or delayed so I’m not sure if I want to see a combined NBC Sports Group effort on the French or Wimbledon.

Hey, love the blog, but on to my question. With the NBC Sports Group losing out on the PAC-12 to Fox/ESPN, what other deals are up soon that they can go gung-ho for? I know MLB isn’t up for another two years, same with the Big East, but they’d likely remain on ESPN, as all the group really has is sublicensed Mountain West games and the NHL, which is great, but not big time like the PAC-12 is. Also, one other question, I love Gus Johnson and his style, I think it’ll fit well at Fox, do you think it was a good move for that? Then, who will CBS get to fill Gus’s slot in both the NFL and March Madness? Thanks again for the info! – P.J.

Other than the Olympics, which properties (MLB, MLS, conference USA, etc.) are up up for bidding in the next 2 years and which have a chance to turn hands? – Chaz B.

Since Chaz and P.J. have similar questions, I’ll kill two birds with one stone.

As far as college, the Big East are up, but they aren’t up until 2013. ESPN wants to renew the rights, but the Big East seeing how the Pac-12 did, is being smart and will probably allow for open bidding.

2013 – 2015 is what I call Sports Rights Armageddon as MLB, NASCAR, NBA and NFL being a cycle of possible upheaval. MLB will go first as negotiations start next year. ESPN will probably want to get the MLB postseason back after losing the games to TBS. I think Fox will want to get into the NBA game and who knows what will happen with the NFL?

P.J. as far as who will take Gus Johnson’s place, Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News reported Marv Albert is a candidate and I wouldn’t mind that at all. Ian Eagle or Kevin Harlan would be good choices for promotion for the NCAA Tournament.

For regionally distributed games like the MLB on FOX , do local affiliates that do not have local ties to a game, like KTTV in L.A. this weekend, do the affiliates get to chose what game they show or does FOX select the game for them? – Ben F.

Ben, in some cases, it falls under the MLB territorial rules which are just too tedious to explain. If a region like Las Vegas falls under a team’s territory (and claimed by five teams, by the way), then it could get the Dodgers, Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants or Padres depending on which team is on Fox. In Connecticut, the Fox station usually chooses the Yankees over the Red Sox if both teams are playing games on the network, despite the fact that most of the Constitution State has been deemed Red Sox territory. I hope that answers your question. I hate MLB territorial rules and so does Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball.

Hi, Ken!

I appreciate all the hard work you do on maintaining your blog. It’s a valuable took for me to keep up in what’s going on or coming up in my industry.

I did notice that the majority of information and news you provide focus on personalities and ratings. Do you plan on or know of someone who plans on doing more features or profiles on behind the camera personnel like producers, directors and/or technical staff? I’m always interested in what a motivates a producer or director to do the type of show they create and how they got to their status in the business. – Andre’

You might want to check out Sports Video Group which has a mixture of ratings, technical and other articles that might be of interest to you. Unfortunately, the mainstream media usually focuses on sports personalities with a few behind-the-scenes articles thrown in.

With the advent of watching  sports on HD Television’s and mobile media devices  with Sport season subscriptions that are almost cheaper than attending a single game  how our  teams adapting  to less and less fans at the stadium?  Also what are they telling their advertisers? – Robert D.

Good question, Robert. Stadiums knowing that fans can watch the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV or NFL Red Zone on cable are now trying to enhance the gameday experience. They’re adding TV’s to selected seats, all you can eat promotions and wifi. They’re doing everything except for discounting ticket prices, although some MLB teams are doing that now. I think you’ll see more teams adding to the gameday experience to attract fans, but to be honest, it’s all about winning. Put a winning team on the field, people will come. Produce like the Pittsburgh Pirates and it doesn’t matter how many features you offer.

With the end of the Premier League Season what did you think of the coverage of the Premier League and other leagues around Europe this season by Fox, ESPN, GOL TV?  What do you think that Fox and ESPN could do better to add to the coverage next season?   Who is your Premier League Announcer of the Year?   What would you credit more to the growth of the game here in the States from where it was 15 years ago to now between TV coverage by Fox, ESPN, and GOL TV where you can watch 50 or so games a week with digital cable or the growth of the Internet where a fan interested in soccer could finally go to get results and opinions that were previously next to impossible to get before the internet.

Thanks for all of you hard work it’s really appreciated! – CFTV

Thanks for the kind words, CFTV. Both Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN2 have improved their presentation of the English Premier League by leaps and bounds. I like how ESPN2 no longer uses the world feed and has Ian Darke and Steven McManaman for EPL games. Fox Soccer Channel now has to step up its game and should no longer use the world feed announcers. Martin Tyler is perfect for EPL games and does a great job. But I like Ian Darke and his colorful descriptions.

I’d like to see Bob Ley involved in EPL studio shows seeing how much he loves the game.

I like how Fox Soccer Channel is using the NFL on Fox studio for EPL and Champions League, but the look of the games still has a long way to go.

Any news on if there is going to be any other telecast outlets for the Canadian Football League in the US ? While its nice to have the one game on NFLN for part of the season, three other games are not available over the air all season long at this time in the US as far as I am aware, and none at all once the NFL preseason starts and even into September. The old arrangement of having the regional sports net providing an outlet was okay, but what about Versus ? They have lots of available time slots throughout the CFL season,and would be perfect. With the NFL likely not playing until perhaps October or November we really could use all CFL games being telecast nationally across the US this summer and autumn, as well as in future years and seasons. – MaytheHorseBeWithYou

It appears the NFL Network will carry CFL games once again, but not any of the playoff games, unless there’s a lockout, of course.

What is the latest on the United States Football League (USFL) starting play in February 2012 ? Not much can be found about this anywhere, so I assume at this point it is a no-go. I wonder if the NFL lockout carries into September and beyond, will the USFL starting be a possibility; or is the window for getting things going 9 months from now closed ? I suspect a 2013 start is more possible, but still not probable. – Lefty

Hi Lefty. Your guess is as good as mine.

That’s it. Thanks for your questions. I will contact the winners of the gift cards by e-mail.

Cranking Out Some Mid-Week Links

As the rain continues to fall in the Northeast and the sun remains behind the clouds for one more day, I’ll provide some links for you. Trying to finish work before doing links and I’d like to provide these earlier, but sometimes, it can’t be helped. Anyway, here are the sports business and media stories that have been written today.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand isn’t too excited about ESPN’s fall lineup.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says the networks are a bit nervous not certain about the NFL season.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk says Tony Kornheiser’s comments about a former Washington Post colleague Sally Jenkins could get him in hot water with his bosses again.

However, Dan Steinberg of the Post’s DC Sports Bog says Jenkins is not even offended by the comments and even goes to bat for Mr. Tony. So there’s no war here.

Your turn, Mike?

Rob Brunner at Entertainment Weekly has apparently broken the embargo by the publisher of “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World at ESPN” and revealed some juicy bits that weren’t in the first excerpt made public by GQ earlier this week.

Andrew Gauthier of TV Spy says a Buffalo TV station remembered Chicago sports anchor Daryl Hawks who died last week covering the Bulls in Atlanta. Hawks was a native of Buffalo.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN Deportes will be offering some new programming in the fall.

Emma Bazilian at Adweek says Disney is prepared to step up in its bid to wrest Olympic TV rights away from NBC.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life recaps the ESPN Upfront presentation from Tuesday.

At ESPN Front Row, producer Jason Romano talks with Bob Ley about how he came up with the “ESPN Car Wash” moniker.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell finds that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is well liked by marketers.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says Game 2 of the Bruins-Lightning NHL Eastern Conference Final set a huge local rating for Versus last night.

Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston paid a visit to NFL Films.

Newsday’s Neil Best asks ESPN’s Vice President of Content John Skipper about the new book written by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

Greg Bishop from the New York Times talks with a classy Gus Johnson who’s looking forward to working with Fox and doesn’t close the door on returning to CBS down the road.

Howard Beck at the Times talks with a sports media consultant to athletes about how LeBron James and Dwayne Wade handle their pre and postgame interviews.

Also from the Times, Melissa Hoppert looks at the NBC Sports Group’s coverage of this weekend’s Preakness Stakes from Pimlico.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union compiles the French Open TV schedule for you.

Scott Levin of Buffalo’s WGRZ-TV says Matthew Barnaby’s domestic violence case has been delayed

At the Washington Post, Mike Wise talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley who says it’s no big deal having gay teammates because he’s played with gay teammates.

Dustin Long at the Virginian-Pilot reports on the ESPN split screen that will be employed during commercial breaks on NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase races.

Scott Rabalais of the Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate says ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town for LSU’s season opener about Oregon in September.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN’s NBA analysts had high praise for Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has some sports media news.

Ed says the Bulls’ introduction during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals took TNT’s Marv Albert and Steve Kerr back to the team’s glory days with Michael Jordan.

Robert Feder of Time Out Chicago says WMAQ-TV plans to replace the late Daryl Hawks, but does not have a timetable at this point.

NBC Chicago says the Bulls will give the Hawks family an autographed game ball from Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks, the same game he was supposed to cover the night of his death.

Jeff Wolf of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Cleveland still carries a torch for LeBron James judging from the TV ratings.

Steve Carp of the Review-Journal writes that a Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez is getting closer to reality as it needs a TV partner now.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times writes that the networks are telling advertisers that they’re confident that the NFL season will be played, but behind closed doors, they’re saying something different.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has Dan Patrick expressing regret about the backstabbing at ESPN.

Jack Humphreville from City Watch LA writes that bankruptcy may be the best option for Dodgers owner Frank McCourt as he awaits approval of his huge TV rights megadeal with Fox Sports.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Blue Jays announcer Alan Ashby can work well on TV and on radio, a rarity among broadcasters.

Deadspin notes that not only did CBS pass on the Colon Cowhack sitcom, but also the Mark Schlereth one as well.

A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin says the new ESPN book certainly won’t mend any fences between Michelle Beadle and Erin Andrews.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN is seeing a ratings uptick for MLB.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the final viewership numbers for Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Final for Versus.

Joe Favorito says maybe it’s time baseball teams look to market rain delays.

Ok. I’m still absorbing what Michelle Beadle said about Erin Andrews. I’m not judging. Just absorbing. That is all.

Bringing Out Some Sunday Links

I’m going to try to do some Sunday links and write my Sunday thoughts later. Usually, it’s been one or the other, but I’m hoping to get both done today.

Linkage first and let’s get to it.

I didn’t get to see this last night as I was at a wedding, but The Big Lead captures six minutes of painful television with Sarah Silverman in the booth during Red Sox-Yankees on Fox.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Sage Steele used an unfortunate choice of words this morning on SportsCenter.

In ESPN Front Row, ESPNU production assistant Meghan O’Leary writes about her experience to make the U.S. Olympic Rowing team.

Dan Barry from the New York Times writes about an NBA executive deciding to come out.

Phil Mushnick gets on overzealous tweeps for driving Mets catcher Jose Thole off Twitter.

Gene Warner of the Buffalo News reports on ESPN and TSN NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby pleading not guilty to various domestic violence charges regarding an incident involving his ex-wife and another woman.

The Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle has Barnaby issuing a statement following his arraignment.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner says fans are being punished by sports leagues, but they keep coming back for more.

Shawn Nisson from the Delmarva (MD) Daily Times writes about a local resident who will take part in Golf Channel’s Big Break series.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner has Gus Johnson discussing his departure from CBS and moving to Fox.

Dustin Long at the Virginian-Pilot writes that a ratings rebound among younger viewers has NASCAR executives optimistic.

Annette Fuller of the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal recaps the commencement address from ESPN’s Stephen A. (A is for Acrimonious) Smith to the Class of 2011 yesterday.

Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News notes that officials at the University of Texas-San Antonio are hopeful over a new reality series from Fox Sports Southwest will show their school in a positive light.

Joyanna Weber of the Cleveland Banner says a local resident will star in a new reality show produced by Versus.

Tom Loxas of Chicago Now says the Cubs and ESPN Radio in Chicago were angry at Colin Cowhack for irresponsible reporting on Friday.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel previews Bob Uecker’s segment on HBO’s Real Sports this Tuesday.

In the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth looks at the controversial new book on sportswriting by former New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte.

And that will do us for today.

Doing Some Friday Megalinkage

Now that I’ve learned that I don’t have to travel in between two offices today, I’ll do some megalinks for you.

You can check out the Weekend Sports and Primetime Viewing Picks here. Now to your links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with TNT’s Steve Kerr on the similarities he sees between the Chicago Bulls teams he played on with Michael Jordan and the Miami Heat of today.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News breaks news that TNT’s Marv Albert is in talks with CBS to possibly replace Gus Johnson for the NCAA Tournament. Bob isn’t national, but it’s big enough news to be placed here.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Michael Smith report on how ESPN and Fox came together for the Pac-12 TV contract.

Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter says Oprah Winfrey’s booking of the United Center for her overblown farewell shows has forced the NBA to juggle the schedule for the Eastern Conference Finals.

To Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News who writes that TNT is on a fast track to have its highest-rated NBA postseason in its history.

Mike has a story on the NBC Sports Group signing Saratoga Race Course for horse racing programming in the summer.

Noted FoxSports.com basketball writer Jeff Goodman announces that he’s leaving for CBSSports.com.

Also writing his farewell column is noted hockey reporter E.J. Hradek who’s leaving ESPN.com for the NHL Network.

At the Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh says despite what rivals’ complaints, there’s nothing unfair about the new Longhorn Network.

Matt Hinton at Yahoo’s Dr. Saturday college football blog notes that ESPN.com really messed up in reporting the death of Alabama offensive lineman Aaron Davis.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem about a faltering Tiger Woods and what it means to the Tour.

Darren explores the new magazine put forth by energy drink distributor Red Bull.

Darren notes that Nike is coming under fire again for factory conditions in Asia.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the ratings for nights 25-28 of the NHL Playoffs.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has audio of a Captain Blowhard call into the Tony Korneheiser show this week.

Dan also has video of a deeply subdued Gus Johnson talking to Dan Patrick about his move to Fox.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that Versus’ Jeremy Roenick gave praise to Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks, two games after calling him “gutless”.

In Publiside, the lovely Gail Sideman advises athletes to keep using social media despite some recent incidents where some did not think before tweeting.

In Major League Programs, Dave Kohl reviews the sports media news of the week.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe quotes a WCVB-TV interview with NESN’s Jerry Remy in which he states he expects to return to analyzing Red Sox games on Monday. Remy has been out with pneumonia. Chad also breaks news that NESN’s Kathryn Tappen is being targeted by NHL Network as a possible studio host.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen says the Bruins now have the Hub’s attention all to themselves.

NESN has Heidi Watney visiting the MLB Fan Cave.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee actually saw Tiger Woods’ implosion at the Players Championship coming before it happened.

Melissa Hoppert of the New York Times discusses NBC Sports Group bringing Saratoga horse racing into the fold.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick hates everything and everybody today, but when is that different from any other day?

Justin Terranova at the Post has five questions for NBA TV’s Kevin McHale.

Ken Belson from the New York Times writes that the famed Melrose Games may leave its Madison Square Garden home where it’s been held for almost a century.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Siena lacrosse fans have a few ways to monitor their team’s NCAA Tournament game against Syracuse this weekend.

Ken says an NCAA Division III Lacrosse Tournament game will be online for fans to listen.

Patrick Berkery from the Philly Burbs papers talks with Comcast SportsNet Phillies analyst Chris Coste.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Nationals’ ratings on MASN are way up from this same time last year.

Dan says the DC sports media is firing shots at each other over whether DC NFL Team quarterback Donovan McNabb refused to wear a wristband to help him calls plays because it didn’t look good.

Dan says one DC radio show is sending barbs at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic over its reporting on the McNabb wristband.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says NBC will be all over The Players Championship this weekend.

Jim notes that NASCAR is coming to the Mid-Atlantic region this weekend.

And Jim says the NBA is heating up on both ESPN and TNT.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times looks at the latest sports media news.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle talks with the man who’s spearheading ESPN’s Longhorn Network and getting it ready for launch this summer.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has a chat with NBA TV’s Kevin McHale over Oklahoma City’s win over Memphis the other night.

Mel says the Thunder are setting local ratings records.

Mel also has his media notebook.

Midwest

Jeff Bell of Columbus Business First writes that Fox Sports Ohio will be a corporate sponsor of the local sports commission.

The Detroit News says last night’s wild Game 7 between the Red Wings and San Jose Sharks set a ratings record for Fox Sports Detroit.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about ESPN getting all hands on deck for a special college basketball game on Veterans Day.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman lists his weekly winners and losers.

Erin Meyer of the Chicago Tribune says the staff of WMAQ-TV is shocked over the death of sports anchor Daryl Hawks who was found in a hotel room as he was to cover last night’s Bulls-Hawks game.

Maudlyne Ihezjerika of the Chicago Sun-Times says another WMAQ-TV sportscaster died under similar circumstances almost a decade ago.

NBC Chicago has a slideshow of Daryl’s career not only at the station, but before he came to the Windy City.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a local sports radio executive’s tumultuous tenure is coming to an end.

West

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that the Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers now have a local TV deal.

John Maffei of the North County Times talks about announcers shuffling back and forth between networks.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says TNT’s Charles Barkley’s premonition about the Lakers ended up coming true.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News answers real sports media questions from fake readers.

Tom looks at an organization that aids reporters and writers in need of assistance.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin says golf viewership is getting out of red numbers.

We’re going to end it there. Enjoy your sports weekend

Bringing You Some Mid-Week Links

On this Wednesday, it’s time to provide some linkage. Some stuff to get to. Let’s not delay any further.

Steve Wieberg of USA Today writes that the NCAA spent a lot of money to protect the March Madness™ trademark.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Gus Johnson leaving CBS for Fox Sports.

Eben Novy-Williams at Bloomberg News delves into Gus’ departure from CBS.

The great Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Cagewriter says while Gus is leaving CBS, he will remain at corporate sibling Showtime to call boxing and MMA.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says while fans are cheering the Lakers’ exit now, they’ll regret it later.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that TNT scored an across-the-board ratings win in key demographics for Game 4 of the Miami-Boston NBA Playoff game.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel says Disney’s CEO is saying that the Olympics could help ESPN get more money from cable providers.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Disney’s CEO isn’t too worried about an NFL lockout hurting ESPN.

Crupi writes a weak field in the Kentucky Derby offset NBCUniversal’s heavy promotion for the Run for the Roses.

Tony Fitzgerald of Media Life also looks at the lower ratings for the Derby on NBC.

Sean Martin at Golfweek says college golf could see more airtime with the new megarights deals with the Pac-12 and University of Texas.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN will air the MLS Cup against Sunday Night Football again (provided there is an NFL season).

Cam has video of ESPN’s Barry Melrose comments about gays on NHL teams which really has to be seen to be believed.

Stephen Douglas a.k.a. Cousins of Ron Mexico at The Big Lead shoots down point-by-point, a guest column written by celebrity-wannabe Rob Kardashian in ESPN.com’s Page 2 section.

Speaking of ESPN.com, the Et tu, Mr. Destructo blog has a review of the soft launch of Captain Blowhard’s Grantland site. The review is almost as long as the two articles that launched the site.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says he got to meet a star before she become one.

Darren says Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is hoping to fill a void in fantasy camps.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has a story on Jack Edwards signing an extension with NESN to call Bruins games.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Gus Johnson moving to Fox Sports.

At the DC Sports Bog at the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wonders if Captain Blowhard is recruiting Tony Kornheiser to write for Grantland.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says Maryland and Miami will open the ACC football season in primetime on ESPN.

Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Bengals have renewed their radio rights deal with Clear Channel Radio.

The South Bend Tribune reports that ESPN/ABC may put a November Notre Dame road game in primetime.

Anthony Schoettle from the Indianapolis Business Journal says IndyCar officials are talking about placing more of their races on ABC in the next TV contract.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that HBO’s Real Sports will profile Brewers voice Bob Uecker.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a suspended sports talk show host returns to the air today.

Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune suggests the International Olympic Committee should take NBC’s overbid for the 2010/12 Games into account for the bid for the ’14/’16 Olympics.

Dom Izzo at WDAY-TV in Fargo, ND says Twins fans are being shut out from a number of games thanks to a dispute between Fox Sports North and the local cable provider.

Scott D. Pierce in the Salt Lake Tribune doesn’t understand why ESPN did not choose Real Salt Lake for its MLS TV schedule.

In the Phoenix Business Journal, Patrick O’Grady writes that the Pac-12 Network could find it difficult to gain carriage into Arizona homes.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times discusses Gus Johnson signing with Fox to become its main college sports announcer.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says the controversy over Sean Avery’s support of gay marriage and the condemnation by Uptown Hockey has opened a Pandora’s Box.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog feels Uptown Hockey and NHL agent Todd Reynolds should not have gone there.

Lost Letterman wonders if ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla could be headed back into coaching.

Matt Sarzyniak at Matt’s College Sports Media analyzes the ESPN/ABC Pac-12 schedule.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Dan Patrick will host NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, more specifically, the later games.

Sports Media Watch has some various NHL ratings news and notes.

And that will do it.