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The Super Bowl Weekend Megalinks

Let’s do some linkage on this Super Bowl Weekend.

The Weekend Viewing Picks have my sports and entertainment suggestions.

Time for your links. As you can imagine, many of the stories will deal with Sunday’s Super Bowl.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about his past experiences in hosing a Super Bowl pregame show.

The Nielsen Wire Blog has a look at the 10 Most Liked Super Bowl ads in the last five years.

Daisy Whitney at MediaPost says a large portion of viewers go online to look up information about a Super Bowl ad.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that the Super Bowl is reaching almost half of all female viewers.

Peter Pachal of Mashable says NBC will hold a Google+ hangout to after the Super Bowl to discuss the ads.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter talks with NBC Sports Group Fearless Leader Mark Lazarus about the Super Bowl, winning the Olympics and losing Wimbledon to ESPN.

John Eggerton in Broadcasting & Cable writes that a fan lobbying group hopes the FCC will call for the elimination of the NFL’s antiquated TV blackout rules.

John says a Michigan man has been charged with illegally streaming NFL games online.

Thomas Umstead from Multichannel News says Saturday’s UFC pay per view event will be available in 3-D for the first time.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel looks at Verizon’s streaming of Sunday’s Super Bowl on select mobile devices.

Adweek talks with Sports Illustrated/NBC’s Peter King.

Tim Nudd from Adweek notes the return of the E*Trade baby to the Super Bowl.

The International Olympic Committee has awarded the Japanese rights for the 2014/16 Games at a much lower rate than the US rights paid by NBC.

Robert Livingston at Games Bid says the 2014 Olympics in Sochi will be the first to be produced in 3-D TV.

André Lowe of the Jamaica (yes the country) Gleaner says ESPN has gathered some former NFL players in a cruise ship for the Super Bowl at Sea. I’m not making this up.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre about his recent profile of ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd.

Allison Stoneberg at ESPN’s Front Row discusses how the network’s producers book guests for the studio and radio shows during Super Bowl Week.

Jack Dickey at Deadspin explains how the New York Times really messed up the story of former Yale quarterback Patrick Witt.

Dylan Stableford at Yahoo’s The Cutline explains why the Puppy Bowl has become so popular on Super Bowl Sunday.

Sports Media Watch delves into the expanded NFL Network Thursday Night Football schedule.

SMW has a few ratings news and notes including one on the Winter X Games.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group goes behind the scenes with NBC’s Super Bowl production crew.

Jason Dachman of SVG goes into NBC’s first-ever online streaming of the Super Bowl.

And Dan Daily from SVG writes about this year’s Super Bowl World Feed.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says Wednesday night NHL games are doing well for NBC Sports Network.

Northeast & Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe speaks with NBC’s Rodney Harrison on the unspoken revenge factor for the New England Patriots in this year’s Super Bowl.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette has NBC’s Cris Collinsworth talking about the Super Bowl.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says one of the Mets’ TV partners may help to bail out the team from its financial troubles.

Judy Battista of the Times reports on the expanded Thursday Night Football schedule.

Stuart Elliot of the Times says the Shazam mobile app will play a prominent role during many Super Bowl ads.

A rare appearance by Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News in the links. He has his Top 5 Super Bowl announcing teams of all-time.

Phil Mushnick from the New York Post has some Super Bowl storylines the media has missed.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette looks at the NFL Network announcement of five more games added to Thursday Night Football.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has NFL Commish Roger Goodell shooting down rumors of more Monday Night Football doubleheaders.

Pete says Commissioner Goodell is firing a warning shot at Time Warner Cable.

Pete reviews the 11 men who have called a Super Bowl on network television.

The Crossing Broad blog says the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer may be on a slow death march to oblivion.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call discusses NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl XLVI.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle notes that NBC’s Rodney Harrison may be an ex-New England Patriots, but he says he can remain fair.

David says NFL Network gets a beefed up schedule next season.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says NBC’s Cris Collinsworth gets to call his second Super Bowl on TV.

Mel notes that College GameDay will be covering the Big 12 on Saturday.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that one local radio show will be on radio row in Indianapolis today.

Scott Olson of the Indianapolis Business Journal says ESPN is very happy about choosing Pan Am Plaza as its Super Bowl headquarters this week.

The Indianapolis Star has what journalists are saying about the city as a Super Bowl host.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says two participants in last year’s Big Game will be on NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Cardinals TV voice Dan McLaughlin will return to call games this season.

Steve Walentik of the Columbia (MO) Tribune calls ESPN’s Jay Bilas, “College Hoops’ Deepest Thinker.” Ok.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says Al Michaels still loves calling Super Bowls.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says Michaels is hoping for overtime.

Jim has NBC’s Rodney Harrison keeping the David Tyree catch from Super Bowl XLVII in proper perspective.

Richard Varrier of the Los Angeles Times looks at the Fed crackdown on websites that were illegally streaming NFL games.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with former Lakers voice Paul Sunderland and lists the 20 best play-by-play men in Southern California.

Tom has more about Paul in his blog and adds a couple of media notes.

Canada

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail explains why Canada can’t see the U.S. Super Bowl ads in real time.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has NBC’s Super Bowl production by the numbers.

And that’s going to do it for the links. Enjoy the Big Game.

UFC Scores in Younger Male Demographics For Fox

UFC on Fox’s official debut last Saturday scored lower than its November special premiere, but when you look inside the numbers, Fox is happy with the ratings in the 18-34 and 18-49 categories. For advertisers, that’s what they want to hear.

The final rating for the mixed martial arts tripleheader was a 2.6 with a 5 share. The broadcast garnered 4.7 million viewers for the night.

In addition, Fox beat the other broadcast networks in the 18-34 and 18-49 demographics. Fox stresses that the audience grew with each passing fight which again is encouraging for the network.

Let’s take a look at the Fox press release and the numbers for the entire card.

UFC ON FOX DOMINATES PRIMETIME IN KEY DEMOS

Saturday night’s UFC on FOX event from the United Center in Chicago posted a 2.6/5 national rating/share, according to figures released by Nielsen Media Research today. As expected, FOX dominated the night on the important younger demographics. FOX’s 2.4 among Adults 18-49 nearly beat the combined ratings of ABC, CBS, and NBC (2.5 combined) and FOX’s 2.5 among Adults 18-34 easily beat those three network competitors combined (1.4). The three-bout broadcast on FOX averaged 4.7 million viewers from 8:00 PM – 10:19 PM ET.

The two-hour event, the first official network broadcast of FOX’s partnership with UFC, is off slightly (-16%) from the UFC on FOX premiere in November (3.1/5), which was only one hour and featured a highly-anticipated heavyweight championship fight. When comparing similar time periods for the two events, FOX posted a 3.0/5 from 9:00 – 10:15 PM ET, off only a tenth from the November UFC fight.

In several meaningful demographics, the last hour of Saturday’s broadcast rated higher than November’s UFC premiere on FOX with Men 25-49 up +3%, Men 25-54 up +3%, Men 35-54 up +4%.

As anticipation to the night’s main event grew so did the ratings and viewership. The night’s first match between Demian Maia and Chris Weidman scored a 2.2/4 rating/share. The next fight between Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping grew to a 2.7/5. Fans tuned in to see former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans take on undefeated former national champion wrestler Phil Davis with that bout posting a 3.4/6. More than 6 million viewers watched the five-round bout where Evans defeated Davis by unanimous decision.

The top five metered markets for Saturday’s UFC on FOX event are: Las Vegas – 4.1/8; Louisville – 4.1/7; Indianapolis – 3.9/7; Greenville – 3.9/6; Tulsa – 3.9/6; and Knoxville – 3.9/6.

And there will be another press release coming up.

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.

The Mighty Monday Links

I don’t know why they’re mighty, but they’re here. Let’s get to them.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy looks at Super Bowl Media Day which will be covered from all angles on both ESPN and NFL Network.

Preston Bounds from Sports Business Daily lists the top 11 most marketable NFL players. Your humble blogger is quoted in the story.

At the Poynter Institute, Kelly McBride takes both the New York Times and Yale Daily News to task for their handling of the Patrick Witt alleged sexual assault story.

Michael O’Connell of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the NFL Pro Bowl gave NBC a Sunday primetime win over weak competition.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that marketers and star players are for the most part, a winning combination.

Tim Nudd from Adweek looks at the advertiser rundown for Sunday’s Super Bowl on NBC.

Tim loves the extended Honda Ferris Bueller-themed Super Bowl ad.

Back to Crupi who delves into the April launch of Univision Deportes.

Adweek talks with Jim Rome about his move from ESPN to CBS.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says social media campaigns can enhance and also detract from the Super Bowl viewing experience.

The Nielsen Wire blog looks at the spending trends for Super Bowl ads over the last five years.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group notes that NFL Network is gearing up for a very busy Super Bowl Week.

Patrick Burns of Deadspin breaks down ESPN SportsCenter’s coverage from last week.

At All Things Digital, Peter Kafka says it’s ESPN that’s weighing down your cable bill.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes that NESN has made additions to its Red Sox broadcast team.

Here’s a rarity, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post giving praise and today he’s dishing it out to Knicks radio voice Spero Dedes.

Bob’s Blitz has caught WFAN’s Mike Francesa in a lie regarding his Super Bowl XLVII prediction.

From the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty notes that former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian has signed with SiriusXM to co-host some radio shows.

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

Cleveland Plain-Dealer ombudsman Ted Diadun discusses the reassignment of Browns beat writer Tony Grossi after a private tweet about Browns owner Randy Lerner went public.

The Waiting for Next Year blog looks at the Plain-Dealer decision.

Also from the Plain-Dealer, Bill Lubinger writes about how local TV rights money is playing a huge role in baseball free agency signings.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post notes that MLB Network has plucked Root Sports’ Alana Rizzo for a national gig.

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

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jackie Pepper is heading to the Super Bowl.

John Daly of the Daly Planet looks at NASCAR taking over operation of its website from Turner Sports.

John also looks at the future of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series on ESPN.

Sports Media Watch has the overnight ratings of the NHL All-Star Game and Australian Open finals.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says UFC on Fox’s ratings may have gone down from its November debut, but they’re still good in the desired demographic.

That will do it.

UFC on Fox Officially Begins on Saturday

Fox had a brief one fight UFC premiere in November, but on Saturday, the partnership between the two parties begins. Three fights will be seen on Fox starting at 9 p.m. ET with the prelims on Fuel at 5. Chicago’s United Center will be the venue.

Curt Menefee will be the host. Randy Couture and current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will join Curt.

As usual, the extremely talkative Mike Goldberg and conspiracy theorist Joe Rogan will be ringside to call the action.

Jay Glazer will be the host for the UFC shows on Fuel.

Light heavyweights Rashad Evans and Phil Davis will be the main event for the night. We have the Fox Sports press release for you.

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

UFC on FOX Officially Begins Partnership with Tripleheader from Chicago Saturday Night

UFC ON FOX TRIPLEHEADER LIVE FROM CHICAGO SATURDAY NIGHT – UFC on FOX officially kicks off  its partnership with a two-hour tripleheader broadcast on Saturday, Jan. 28 (8:00-10:00 PM ET), live from the United Center in Chicago.  In the night’s main event, former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans (21-1-1) takes on undefeated former national champion wrestler Phil Davis (9-0-0) to determine the next challenger to the 205-pound title currently held by Jon Jones. The co-main event features middleweight contender Chael Sonnen (27-11-1) battling British star Michael Bisping (23-3-0) for the right to fight champion Anderson Silva.  The action begins with dangerous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Demian Maia (15-3-0) taking on unbeaten Chris Weidman (7-0-0).  Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan call all the action inside the Octagon and versatile broadcaster Curt Menefee hosts pre- and postfight coverage with UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and the aforementioned Jon Jones offering their insights on the action.  During prefight coverage, fans get a special behind-the-scenes look at preparation for their big night in Chicago, including a feature on Rashad Evans as he and his family balance the excitement of being part of the main event in Chicago with the stress and tension of his brother’s impending deployment.

“This is the show that officially starts our deal with FOX and we’re bringing what the fans want – a night packed with great fights,” UFC President Dana White said. “We’re kicking this thing off with an incredible tripleheader. Rashad Evans looked fantastic in his last fight against Tito Ortiz and he wants to get the belt back. But Phil Davis is no joke. He’s undefeated at 9-0 and has stormed through guys like Brian Stann, Alexander Gustafsson and Rogerio Nogueira. He wants the title shot just as bad as Rashad.”

The weekend’s action kicks off Friday, Jan. 27 (5:00 PM ET) with the live “UFC on FUEL TV: Weigh-in.” Jay Glazer hosts the show while UFC veteran and FUEL TV’s “UFC Tonight” host Kenny Florian steps in as the analyst, commenting on all the activities from Chicago. Two-time MMA Journalist of the Year Ariel Helwani interviews fighters backstage. FUEL TV coverage continues Saturday, Jan. 28 (5:00 PM ET) with three hours of live preliminary bouts. Glazer is joined by Florian to introduce the fight, while Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan call the action live inside the Octagon. Helwani will interview fighters live backstage. Following these preliminary matchups on FUEL TV and three main events on FOX Sports, coverage returns to FUEL TV for the post-fight wrap-up show (10:00 PM ET).

History was made in November when the UFC made its broadcast television debut on FOX and a record audience tuned in as challenger Junior dos Santos defeated defending champion Cain Velasquez in a first round knockout to claim the coveted heavyweight crown. More than 5.7 million viewers tuned in to make it the most-watched UFC event ever and the most-watched professional fight of any kind on any network since 2003.

FLORIAN:  IT’S TOO EARLY FOR DAVIS TO FIGHT EVANS – FUEL TV’s UFC analyst Kenny Florian doesn’t believe Phil Davis is ready to fight Rashad Evans in the UFC on FOX main event Saturday, Jan. 28 (8:00 PM ET) from the United Center in Chicago. “It’s one or two fights too early for Phil Davis to fight Rashad Evans,” said Florian. “Evans’ experience and his ability to put it all together will be the difference. He’s going to win and face [current Light Heavyweight Champ] Jon Jones later this year.” Florian also picks Chael Sonnen over Michael Bisping and Chris Weidman over Demian Maia in the other main card match-ups.

Follow the talent on Twitter at: @jayglazer; @kennyflorian; @arielhelwani

DATE	TIME	EVENT	NET
Friday, Jan. 27	5:00 PM	UFC ON FUEL: WEIGH-IN LIVE	FUEL TV
Saturday, Jan. 28	5:00 PM	UFC ON FUEL: PRELIMINARY MATCHES: Dunham vs. Lentz/Russow vs. Einemo Swanson vs. Roop/Oliveira  vs. Wisely Johnson vs. Roller/Beltran vs. Johnson	FUEL TV FOX Deportes
Saturday, Jan. 28	8:00 PM	UFC ON FOX: Maia vs. Weidman Sonnen vs. Bisping Evans vs. Davis	FOX Sports FOX Deportes
Saturday, Jan. 28	10:00 PM	UFC ON FUEL: POST-FIGHT SHOW	FUEL TV

*All times Eastern

That will do it.

Some Tuesday Links

Don’t have time to provide a full set of links today so I’ll give you what I’ve culled thus far. Some good stuff here.

Some stories from this week’s Sports Business Journal.

First, John Ourand reports that ESPN and MLB could butt heads over TV Everywhere streaming rights. ESPN has its model. MLB has its silly subscription model. We’ll see where it ends.

SBJ’s Liz Mullen talks with Fox NFL Sunday’s Michael Strahan about the transition from his playing career to a broadcasting career and goes inside his day on the Fox set during NFL season.

Liz chronicles the NFL Broadcast Boot Camp held every year to give players a taste of being in front of the camera.

And SBJ lists some of the current players and coaches who could make a go at broadcasting when they decide to leave the field.

One story that bears watching. Last week, the FCC opened a review on the antiquated NFL blackout rules and Todd Shields of Bloomberg has a story on it.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times wrote about the FCC blackout review as well.

Gary Holmes at MediaPost looks at how the NFL continues to be a ratings draw over a 40 year span.

Tennis Channel announced on its Facebook page that it’s back on Verizon Fios systems.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News has a story on the new Tennis Channel/Verizon agreement.

John Eggerton of Multichannel says Tennis Channel wants the FCC to force Comcast to adhere to an Administrative Law Judge ruling stating the cable provider has to offer the network to its subscribers as an equal to its own Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman talks with NASCAR head honcho Brian France about the future of the sport on TV and how ESPN needs to improve its presentation.

Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter says a throwaway line from the Baltimore Ravens’ Terrell Suggs on Sunday Night Football back in November is now the subject of a nasty trademark dispute.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has details on the budding feud between UFC’s Dana White and ESPN over a report on Outside the Lines that looked at fighter pay.

Timothy Burke’s Mocksession site has a funny error from ESPN promoting tonight’s Big Ten basketball game.

Nate Smeltz at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog provides an inside look at how a game becomes SportsCenter highlight.

Shirley Brady at Brandchannel previews some of the Super Bowl ads that will air during the Big Game.

Sports TV Jobs looks at the Ten Worst Moments in Sports TV history.

At Boston Sports Media Watch, former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor/reporter Jackie Pepper chronicles her rise from covering sports in a very small market to Boston, the 7th largest in the country.

Newsday’s Neil Best tweeted that Josh Lewin of the Lisping Lewins is a candidate to join the New York Mets radio booth.

Neil says WFAN’s Mike Francesa has a new name for his show.

Neil says Giants-Packers topped the ratings on Sunday.

Back to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who looks at Fox Sports’ NFL Rules analyst Mike Pereira making a rare disagreement over a call during Sunday’s Giants-Packers game.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes a local sports reporter has been suspended for making an obscene gesture on the air.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says it appears the Ravens set a viewing record for Sunday’s game against the Texans.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams joins a local radio station as an analyst.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans-Baltimore game set a local ratings record.

David says a local TV station made a tasteless report on the Detroit Pistons’ emergency landing on Monday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the ratings for the Giants-Packers playoff game.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times says new TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal is enjoying his new role on TV.

Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star says the International Olympic Committee has thrown out the joint bid by Bell Media/CBC for the 2014/2016 Games.

Mike Silva in his Sports Media Watchdog introduces Mets fans to Josh Lewin.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that NBC got a decent rating for the NHL last Saturday.

That’s going to do it.

Our First Set of Linkage in 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sports Media Watch provides some predictions for 2012.

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

And that’s going to do it for today.

The 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.

Time For Some Thursday Linkage

Let’s do some links. May not be a full set. Depends on how much I can get done here.

We’ll start with Alexandra Bruell of Advertising Age who says Penn State University has hired a public relations firm to help with crisis management for the Jerry Sandusky story.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says all of NBC’s online golf content will be branded through Golf Channel.

George Winslow of B&C writes that UFC has launched an Android app allowing subscribers to see any pay per view event.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says tonight’s Thursday Night Football game between the Jets and Denver Broncos will be aired in New York without the help of two major cable providers.

Emma Bazilian at Adweek says the NFL has tabbed a Canadian outfit that no one has ever heard of to publish its new magazine.

Also at Adweek, Katy Bachman writes that Cablevision is appealing an FCC decision forcing the cable provider to provide HD feeds of the New York Knicks and Rangers to Verizon and AT&T U-Verse.

Steven Church at Bloomberg Businessweek says Fox is seeking a delay of hearing on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ attempt to sell its media rights.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us what the NCAA makes off the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from CBS/Turner and ESPN respectively.

The Inside Track at the Boston Herald notes Heidi Watney’s departure from NESN for the sunny skies in California.

Dan Lamonthe of the Springfield (MA) Republican in his Red Sox Monster blog jokingly says Heidi’s leaving means a curse on the Red Sox can be lifted.

For her part, Heidi did tweet the following when news began leaking of her departure.

Right now I'm enjoying vacation with my family in Australia and New Zealand, and will answer all questions when I return home. :)

November 17, 2011 6:09 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@HeidiWatney

Heidi Watney

NESN has released a statement announcing that Heidi is no longer with the network.

Ryan Durling at BostInnovation notes that NESN’s Bruins ratings are still high.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times looks at the Bob Costas interview of Jerry Sandusky and wonders why the embattled choose TV to defend themselves.

Jo Becker at the Times has the amazing story of how an internet posting helped to bring the investigation into Sandusky’s alleged molestations to the surface.

The Times’ Richard Sandomir notes that the Los Angeles Dodgers are suing Fox Sports saying the company is preventing the team’s sale.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that Golf Channel will be taking the air at an earlier time today for Day 2 of the Presidents Cup.

To the Washington Post where Matt Bonesteel notes that former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams will do some TV work this season.

The Post’s DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg has a couple of national writers coming down hard on the DC NFL team and coach Mike Shanahan.

Chad Conant of the Mansfield (OH) News Journal feels ESPN is overdoing it with MAC football this week.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has some various Windy City sports media news and notes.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News introduces SoCal to Heidi Watney.

Louis Brester of the San Bernadino (CA) Sun says ESPN will be all over NASCAR’s Sprint Cup finale this Sunday.

Blythe Blumleve at Awful Announcing has a story on the NFL on Fox robot, Cleatus, being embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal?

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has some mid-week thoughts.

The Sports Media Watch notes the conflicts of interest in reporting on the NBA lockout.

SMW says NASCAR’s next-to-last Sprint Cup race was up for ESPN.

We’ll end it there. It’s getting late. I have a lot of things to do later.

Various Sports Media Thoughts

I haven’t done a thoughts column in quite some time. And to boot, I’m doing this on the iPad. Not that you should care, but this will cause me to pause and think which is dangerous. Anyway, I’ll do this in bullet form.

Thanks for your indulgence.

• The Penn State media coverage has not been over the top as I had feared when the story went national. There has been great reporting from the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the Daily Collegian, the New York Times and NBC News. Bob Costas’ interview of Jerry Sandusky was excellent. In contrast, CBS’ overhyped 24 second interview of Mike McQuery gave us nothing. Not Armen Keteyian’s fault for the overhype, but we expected more. This story will not be going away any time soon. It will be interesting to see how the national outlets handle it as it moves into months and maybe even years.

• In my native area of New England, the big news is twofold, Don Orsillo staying as NESN Red Sox voice through 2015. He had been pursued by both Turner Sports and MLB Network. To be honest, I was convinced he would take the Turner job to be their main voice for Sunday Afternoon Baseball and the MLB Postseason on TBS, but on Wednesday, the news leaked that he would stay in New England to continue to be teamed with Jerry Remy, a pairing that dates back to 2001. Orsillo will continue to call the MLB Postseason for TBS. Sometimes, the best move is the one you don’t make.

• The other news from New England also involves NESN and the third member of the Red Sox team, Heidi Watney. It was reported that she’ll join Time Warner Cable to be the sideline reporter for the Los Angeles Lakers starting in the 2012-13 season. Heidi had been with NESN since 2008 and became popular with many male fans. Women were another story as she was polarizing. I was under the impression from several sources that the 2011 season would the last for Heidi at NESN. A native of California, Heidi returns to the West Coast. I thought she did a good job on NESN. She will be missed.

  The attention now turns to who will replace Heidi for 2012. One good candidate would be Boston native Jen Royle who has been cooling her heels in Baltimore for CBS Radio and has covered the Orioles the last two seasons on both MASN and 105.7 The Fan. Jen did a successful weekend guest spot on WEEI last month and has made it no secret that she yearns to return to Boston. A perfect way to bring her back would be as Heidi’s replacement on NESN or as a host on WEEI. Let’s get this done.

• I thought Fox did a decent job in its UFC debut last Saturday. Curt Menefee is a competent host and got the job done as pre and post fight host. UFC President Dana White was ok as an analyst, but the man who impressed me was Brock Lesnar who showed no fear challenging his boss on the set. While the UFC Heavyweight fight lasted just over a minute, it was better than having five rounds of boring action with the crowd booing. Fox’s production was good. UFC announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan were on top of everything although Rogan seemed to be high on something as he was yelling more than normal. I expect bigger and better things from Fox in the next UFC event in January.

• I watched Wednesday’s New Jersey Devils-Buffalo Sabres game on Versus. Dave Strader and Ed Olzyck did their usual bang-up job. However, Pierre McGuire needs a muzzle. He talks too much and continues to be abrasive during interviews. I would prefer Darren Pang or even Mike Milbury as the ice level analyst, anyone but Pierre McGuire. NBC Sports is doing a disservice to hockey fans by continuing to use this butcher on the air.

And that’s going to do it for now. Enjoy your Thursday.

It’s Time For Mid-Week Linkage

It’s Wednesday. It’s mid-week and it’s time for some sports media links. Let’s get to them without further delay.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about the “get” of accused child molester Jerry Sandusky for “Rock Center with Brian Williams”.

While NBC and Bob Costas are being praised for the Sandusky interview, Sofia M. Fernandez of the Hollywood Reporter writes CBS is being mocked for heavily promoting a disappointing “get” of Penn State assistant coach Mike McQuery.

If you didn’t see the :24 second interview, the Big Lead has the video.

Back to Michael Hiestand, he writes that two Penn State alums will be on the call for ESPN/ABC for the next two Nittany Lions games.

Patrick Rishe at Forbes says Golf Channel should see a ratings spike for the Presidents Cup for Tiger Woods and his ex-caddie Steve Williams.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable says despite losing UFC to Fox, Spike TV will launch a mixed martial arts newsmagazine.

George Winslow of B&C notes that HBO and Sports Illustrated will use social and digital media to promote their new documentary series premiering in 2013.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News advises NBA Communist Sympathizer David Stern to cut the “nuclear winter” rhetoric.

Mike says the Minnesota-Green Bay Monday Night Football game despite being a blowout, drew over 14 million viewers for ESPN.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says even though Fox’s UFC debut had a very brief fight, it still came out a winner.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that mobile production companies are being hit hard by the lack of NBA games.

SVG notes that CBS Sports Network will be airing National Lacrosse League games in primetime next year.

Dave Miller at the National Football Post says ESPN analyst Bob Davies will be the new head football coach at New Mexico.

Tim Malloy and Daniel Frankel of The Wrap take a look at how the NBA’s TV partners are coping with a lack of live games this season.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the NBA Players are taking a $3.3 billion gamble.

At the Boston Herald, Michael Silverman reports that Don Orsillo of NESN will stay on as Red Sox voice while reporter Heidi Watney is apparently heading back to her native California.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe confirms Heidi’s departure.

Sean McAdam of Comcast SportsNet New England also has the story.

Sean notes that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will take 2012 off and possibly pursue broadcasting opportunities for next season.

CSNNE’s Boston Bruins beat reporter Joe Haggerty says B’s forward Brad Marchand isn’t happy over a nickname created by a local sports radio talk show.

Greg Sullivan at the Fall River (MA) Herald says former NBA player Chris Herren has become a high demand speaker after the airing of his ESPN Films documentary “Unguarded”.

Amy Chozick of the New York Times says the NBA’s TV partners are trying to fill programming holes left behind by the lockout.

Claire Atkinson at the New York Post says NFL Network will put a full court press on Time Warner Cable during tomorrow’s Jets-Broncos game.

To Jerry Barmash and Fishbowl NY, he tells us that ESPN Radio New York broadcaster Jared Max will be honored by a gay publication.

At the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty has the Week 12 college football TV schedule.

Peter Van Allen at the Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Monday Night Football analyst Ron Jaworski will be the local spokesman for a national tire chain.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg has CBS News’ Armen Keteyian defending his piss poor interview with Mike McQuery.

Dan says the local CBS affiliate has yet to replace sports anchor Brett Haber who left station three months ago.

Maggie Fazelli Fard of the Post looks at the ESPN Zone auction in DC.

Bob Molinaro at the Virginian-Pilot is not a fan of the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman has the local ratings of the weekend sports action.

John Kiesewetter from the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable will air a couple of high school football championship games this weekend.

Scott Suttell of Crain’s Cleveland Business says ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt will host an awards show next year.

Bill Zavestoski of the LaJolla (CA) Patch says the local ESPN Radio affiliate will pick up Cal-San Diego basketball games.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes that the Dodgers are suing Fox Sports for interfering in the sale of the team.

Chris Erskine of the Times reviews the new book on the late ABC Sports broadcaster Howard Cosell.

Also from the Times, Kevin Baxter and Joe Flint  report that the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS are the latest team to join Time Warner Cable’s SoCal regional sports network.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News also looks at the Galaxy’s move to TWC from Fox Sports.

Tom has the football TV schedules in both college and the NFL for SoCal.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin feels Bob Costas missed an opportunity to get real answers from Jerry Sandusky. What interview was Dowbiggin watching?

Steve Lepore from Puck The Media wonders why the Chicago Blackhawks-Vancouver Canucks rivalry hasn’t been aired nationally in either Canada or the U.S.

Sports Media Watch has the NFL overnight ratings for Fox, NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Kelsey Smith at Transworld Business says NBC Sports Network will be the home of Pro Motorcross Championship in 2012.

And that’s going to do it.

Some Quickie Tuesday Links

I had surgery to remove a sebaceous cyst today so the blogging was minimal today. Trying to catch up now.

Here are some links.

Big buzz today regarding Bob Costas’ interview of Jerry Sandusky on Rock Center with Brian Williams last night.

Let’s get some links on that first.

Bob went on The Dan Patrick Show to discuss what was said, what wasn’t said and what you didn’t see on last night’s Sandusky interview.

Bill Carter of the New York Times has the story on how Costas got Jerry Sandusky on the phone.

Alan Sepinwall of HitFlix says Costas got the job done in his Sandusky interview.

Rebecca Ford of the Hollywood Reporter says Costas is being universally praised for last night’s interview.

At the Atlantic Wire, Dashiell Bennett wants to know why Sandusky agreed to do the interview.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports recaps the interview and tells us what it all means.

Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald says the Costas interview was the best one this year to date.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun writes that Costas gave Rock Center its signature moment.

Richard Roeper at the Chicago Sun-Times says Sandusky really didn’t help himself and might have made things worse.

While the interview got a lot of buzz, Ann Oldenberg of USA Today notes that it still lost in the ratings to ABC’s heavily promoted Gabby Giffords interview.

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly says CBS got the last laugh over all of the networks when all was said and done.

Brian Lowry at Fox Sports reviews ESPN’s production of Saturday’s Nebraska-Penn State game.

Philadelphia sports radio talk show host Michael Bradley writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that the Penn State story proves the need for in-depth reporting.

Now to other stories.

Lucia Moses at Adweek notes that corporate cousins HBO and Sports Illustrated will team up for a new TV series to air in 2013.

Diego Vasquez of Media Life talks with the CEO of a sports and entertainment agency on the impact of the NBA lockout on fans and the league’s TV partners.

Carolyn Braff of Sports Video Group profiles former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol as he’s about to be inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says UFC is suing New York to open up the state for mixed martial arts. Currently, UFC and other MMA events are banned in New York.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at NFL Network’s new announcing team for Thursday Night Football.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Presidents Cup TV schedule on Golf Channel and NBC.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that one local radio station has released its high school basketball schedule.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron has the overnight ratings for some of the weekend’s sporting  events.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Steelers-Bengals game on Sunday drew big ratings locally.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal writes that the Green Bay blowout of the Vikings hurt ESPN’s ratings for Monday Night Football.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman tells Bulls fans there’s still hope for an NBA season.

Michael Martinez of the Reno Gazette Journal says TV station KTVN resumed newscasts Monday with tributes to the late sportscaster, JK Metzker.

Gazette-Journal columnist Dan Hinxman has some advice for Metzker’s three young sons.

Joe Favorito says “Movember” is gaining momentum.

Bob’s Blitz has the great video of Al Michaels and his son trashing CBS’ Boomer Esiason on the Howard Stern show yesterday.

And I’ll end it there for now.

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.

UFC on Fox Scores In Key Demographics

In its first ever network television broadcast, UFC on Fox scored 5.7 million viewers, the most ever for a UFC event. And it brought in a total rating of 3.1 with a 5 share.

It apparently did not win the night though. Oregon-Stanford on ABC apparently won the overnight ratings overall and in 18-49.

As for the coveted 18-34 and 18-49 demographics, last night’s UFC Heavyweight Championship fight that lasted just barely over a minute, won for Fox. And the network says the 18-34 category brought in better ratings for every single college football game to date with the exception of last Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game on CBS. That’s quite impressive.

Las Vegas was the highest rated local market followed by Dallas and Phoenix.

Overall, I thought the UFC on Fox production was good and there was no dumbing down as with the UEFA Champions League Final (football vs. football). Here’s the press release.

UFC ON FOX DEBUT SCORES BIG

Heavyweight Championship is Most-Watched UFC Event Ever; Most Watched Pro Fight Since 2003

Los Angeles – History was made last night as the UFC made its broadcast television debut on FOX, and a record audience tuned in as the challenger, Junior dos Santos defeated defending champion Cain Velasquez in a first round knock out to claim the coveted heavyweight crown. It was the most-watched UFC event ever and the most-watched professional fight of any kind in eight years, according to fast national ratings made available by Nielsen Media Research.

The hour-long UFC on FOX premiere scored a 3.1/5 household rating/share, with 5.7 million viewers making it the most-watched UFC event ever and the most-watched professional fight of any kind on any network since 2003 when 7.0 million tuned in to watch Lewis-Klitschko on HBO. Velasquez-dos Santo is also the highest-rated and most-watched professional fight of any kind on a broadcast network for OSCAR DE LA HOYA’S FIGHT NIGHT on FOX. (4.3/6, 5.9 million viewers) in 1998.

FOX Research projects that last night’s UFC on FOX premiere broadcast to win the 9:00-10:00 PM time period across key demos including Adults 18-34 (3.2), Adults 18-49 (3.0); Men 18-34 (4.3) and Men 18-49 (4.0). Competitive fast national ratings for other networks are currently unavailable.

The UFC on FOX debuted strong opposite significant college football competition last night. ABC’s primetime Oregon-Stanford broadcast averaged a 6.0/11, while NBC’s Maryland-Notre Dame primetime broadcast averaged a 1.4/3 and ESPN averaged a 1.5/3 in prime for Alabama-Mississippi State (college football ratings are overnights – overnight for UFC on FOX event was 3.5/6). The three games combined to total 8.9/17 in primetime. Interestingly, among the Men 18-34 demographic, the UFC on FOX premiere posted a 4.3, strong enough to out-rate every college football telecast this season on any network with the exception of last week’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 LSU-Alabama match-up (through 11/5).

The most recent mixed martial arts programs on broadcast television were a series of EliteXC events on CBS in 2008. The premiere of UFC on FOX attracted an average audience +16% higher than the premiere of EliteXC on CBS (5/31/08), their most-watched EliteXC event (5.7 vs. 4.9 million viewers). UFC on FOX also out-performed the EliteXC show in household rating (3.1 vs. 3.0) and across key male demos: Men 18-34 +34% (4.3 vs. 3.2); Men 18-49 +33% (4.0 vs. 3.0); and Men 25-54 +23% (3.8 vs. 3.1).

Las Vegas led all local markets with a 5.3/9, followed by Dallas (5.1/10), Phoenix (5.1/9), San Antonio (5.1/8), Tulsa (4.9/8), San Diego (4.8/9), Greensboro (4.6/6), New Orleans (4.5/6) and Los Angeles (4.3/8).

We’ll do one more press release post that doesn’t have to deal with the NFL before moving to the Sunday pregame quotage.

Fox Announces Plans For First UFC Broadcast

The first UFC on Fox telecast comes up this Saturday as the network airs the UFC Heavyweight Championship between champion Cain Valasquez and challenger Junior dos Santos. This will not just involve the main Fox mothership, but the networks under the Fox Sports Media Group umbrella, Fuel TV, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports Radio.

Fuel TV will have pre and postfight programming hosted by Jay Glazer with UFC fighters Kenny Florian and Stephan Bonnar as analysts.

On Fox, Curt Menefee will be the host and will be joined by UFC President Dana White and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.

Then when the fight begins, the familiar UFC announcing crew of Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan will call the action.

We have Fox’s broadcast plans and schedules for its networks.

BELL SOUNDS FOR UFC ON FOX

FOX Sports Broadcasts Heavyweight Championship: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos Live in Primetime on Nov. 12
FUEL TV Kicks-off Four and a Half Hours of Fight Coverage Nov. 11; Network Offers Live Prefight & Post-fight Specials
FOX Deportes, FOXSports.com on MSN & FOX Sports Radio also Blanket Event

New York — No doubt about it: FOX Sports, FUEL TV, FOX Deportes, FOXSports.com on MSN and FOX Sports Radio all come out swinging for the inaugural event of the new landmark agreement between Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC) and FOX Sports Media Group.

Two of UFC’s brightest stars battle in a highly-anticipated heavyweight championship bout as current title holder Cain Velasquez (UFC 7-0) steps into the Octagon with No. 1 contender Junior dos Santos (UFC 7-0). FOX Sports presents its coverage of the main event in a one hour prime time special: UFC ON FOX: LIVE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT – VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS, Saturday, Nov. 12 (9:00-10:00 PM ET) from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. This historic presentation marks the first UFC event ever televised by a broadcast television network.

For FOX Sports’ live coverage of the Velasquez-Dos Santos bout, UFC President Dana White joins FOX Sports’ versatile host Curt Menefee to welcome viewers to the network’s coverage and set the scene, bringing fans all the sights and sounds of this historic event. Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who Velasquez beat for the title a year ago, joins FOX Sports’ prefight coverage as an analyst, while UFC commentator Joe Rogan provides interviews as the final prefight moments count down. Once the battle begins, Rogan and long-time UFC announcer Mike Goldberg have the call.

In the lead-up to the main event on FOX, FUEL TV inaugurates its unprecedented UFC programming with four and a half hours of Velasquez-Dos Santos coverage beginning Friday, Nov. 11 (7:00-7:30 PM ET), with UFC VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS WEIGH-IN LIVE.

Come fight night on Nov. 12, FUEL TV re-airs UFC VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS WEIGH-IN LIVE (5:30-6:00 PM ET) and UFC PRIMETIME, a multi-dimensional look at the two fighters that first aired on FOX (6:00-7:00 PM ET). FUEL TV’s live programming sandwiches FOX’s live fight coverage, beginning with UFC ON FUEL TV: VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS PREFIGHT SPECIAL LIVE (7:00-9:00 PM ET) hosted by Jay Glazer, with UFC title contender Kenny Florian serving as an analyst and UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar reporting backstage and interviewing fighters in attendance. The prefight special features an amazing champions’ roundtable including current champion Jon “Bones” Jones and former champs Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin and Frank Mir discussing the fight. In addition, Nicole Dabeau, host of FUEL TV’s weekly news show ACTION SPORTS PLUS, provides exclusive interviews from the red carpet as the athlete and celebrity turnout for the fight and gala post-fight party is expected to be stellar.

Glazer, Florian and Bonnar are back analyzing the outcome of the most historic fight in UFC history at 10:00 PM ET during UFC ON FUEL TV: VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS POST-FIGHT SPECIAL LIVE (10:00-11:00 PM ET). The hour-long special features live interviews with the fighters, plus coverage of the post-fight press conference.

FOX Deportes, the nation’s No. 1 Spanish-language sports network, is no stranger to UFC programming.  In the run up to Velasquez-Dos Santos, FOX Deportes airs the third and final installment of CAIN VELASQUEZ: BROWN PRIDE on Friday, Nov. 11 (7:00-8:00 PM ET). On Nov. 12, the network re-airs all three episodes of CAIN VELASQUEZ: BROWN PRIDE from 3:00-6:00 PM ET, followed by UFC LO MEJOR (Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar) from 6:00-7:00 PM ET.  FOX Deportes carries several preliminary fights, including Clay Guida vs. Benson Henderson and Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza, live from 7:00-9:00 PM ET, followed by the main event, Velasquez vs. Dos Santos live from 9:00-10:00 PM ET. Rodrigo Arana, Mario Delgado and Troy Santiago call the action.

In addition to television coverage provided by FOX Sports, FUEL TV and FOX Deportes, FOXSports.com plans to live stream the press conference on Wednesday, Thursday’s open workout, Friday’s weigh-in and the nine undercard bouts that precede the Velasquez-Dos Santos showdown on Nov. 12. Editorially, in the days leading up to the bout the site plans: a profile on UFC maestro Dana White by Bill Reiter; a story on the role of religion in fighting; how UFC training has helped several NFL players; profiles on Velasquez and Dos Santos; and more.

FOX Sports Radio airs five hours of live coverage on fight night, Nov. 12, starting with prefight analysis and interviews from the red carpet at 8:00 PM ET and highlighted by a simulcast of the fight from 9:00-10:00 PM ET. The fight is followed by a three-hour post-fight interviews and call-in show with host Larry Pepe from 10:00-1:00 AM ET. During fight week, FOX Sports Radio also covers Wednesday’s press conference and Friday’s weigh-in, as well as interviews from top UFC fighters.

** FULL TELEVISION SCHEDULE

DATE	TIME	EVENT	NET
Friday, Nov. 11	7:00 PM ET	UFC VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS WEIGH-IN LIVE	FUEL TV
Friday, Nov. 11	7:00 PM ET	CAIN VELASQUEZ: BROWN PRIDE – 3	FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 12	3:00 PM ET	CAIN VELASQUEZ: BROWN PRIDE – 1	FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 12	4:00 PM ET	CAIN VELASQUEZ: BROWN PRIDE – 2	FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 12	5:00 PM ET	CAIN VELASQUEZ: BROWN PRIDE – 3	FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 12	5:30 PM ET	UFC VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS WEIGH-IN (re-air)	FUEL TV
Saturday, Nov. 12	6:00 PM ET	UFC Primetime (re-air)	FUEL TV
Saturday, Nov. 12	6:00 PM ET	UFC LO MEJOR (Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar)	FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 12	7:00 PM ET	Preliminary Fights	FOX Deportes
Saturday, Nov. 12	7:00 PM ET	VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS PREFIGHT SPECIAL LIVE	FUEL TV
Saturday, Nov. 12	9:00 PM ET	UFC ON FOX HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT – VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS	FOX
Saturday, Nov. 12	10:00 PM ET	UFC ON FUEL TV: VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS POSTFIGHT SPECIAL LIVE	FUEL TV

That will do it.

A Few Sunday Links

Let’s provide some linkage on this NFL Sunday.

Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com writes that the SEC plans to reopen its humungous media rights contract with ESPN soon after its admission of Missouri into the conference is made official.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has video of ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit losing his concentration as an earthquake hit Oklahoma last night.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports that the Sportsman Channel will provide an outdoor programming block for ESPN International in Africa, the ANZAC region and the Middle East.

Chris Greenburg of the Huffington Post has videos of some of the sports topics that the late Andy Rooney discussed on “60 Minutes”.

Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald says UFC’s Dana White couldn’t be happier to bring MMA to Fox.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick can’t stand football being played outside of Saturday or Sunday.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about hosting Sunday Night Football at the game sites.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Soccer’s General Manager about bringing the World Cup into the Fox Sports Media Group.

Coley Harvey of the Orlando Sentinel tells us that this Saturday’s Miami-Florida State game will be an ESPN on ABC affair.

Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News says the Spurs will be showing some classic games to fill time during the NBA Lockout.

Mike Brudenell of the Detroit Free Press writes about Red Wings analyst Mickey Redmond being honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame next week.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel speaks with outgoing Brewers announcer Corey Provus about his new gig in Minnesota.

Bob also talks with new Thursday Night Football analyst Mike Mayock about the Green Bay Packers.

Harry Plumer of the Columbia Missourian talks with Fox Sports Net’s Jim Knox about the art of sideline reporting.

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News writes about BYU using its resources and media relationships to ensure that its game against Oregon State would be televised.

Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes that ESPN is changing the way the World Series of Poker is seen and produced.

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic recounts some of the sports topics the late Andy Rooney explored on 60 Minutes and in other arenas.

Lindsay Schnell of The Oregonian writes that the Oregon Ducks will be part of an ESPN College GameDay telecast once again this season.

Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette wonders if CBC will get shutout from the NHL in the next round of Canadian media bidding.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star talks with former NESN and MLB Network host Hazel Mae about her return to Canada and her old Rogers Sportsnet stomping grounds.

Sports Media Watch says CBS hit a season ratings high for its NFL national window in Week 8.

SMW says Fox continues to see a rise in ratings for the NFL.

SMW says college football on ABC did very well last week.

SMW notes that the SEC on CBS did not do well last week.

SMW says Notre Dame football hit a ratings low last Saturday.

SMW has some various college and pro football ratings news and notes.

And SMW has World Series ratings dating back to 1972.

We are now complete with the links for today.

Unleashing Some Friday Megalinks

Ok, let’s get this done. Lots of linkage from yesterday and today. I need to catch up. Let’s go.

Check out your Weekend Viewing Picks for the sports and entertainment programming for Saturday and Sunday.

National

Mike McCarthy of USA Today wonders if there’s a glass ceiling for women in sports television.

Former Comcast SportsNet New England anchor Jackie Pepper has her take about being a woman in sports television.

Back to USA Today, Michael Hiestand looks at the casting call for the new Broadway play focusing on the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry and friendship, produced by the same people who did Lombardi on Broadway.

Hiestand writes that Fox Sports will be using some of its own talent for its UFC debut next week.

Paul Thomasch of Reuters talks with CBS head honcho Les Moonves about the network’s SEC deal.

Emma Bazilian at Adweek notes that DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket promotion over the summer paid off in droves in the third quarter of this year.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions has his take on DirecTV’s subscriber spike.

The talk of the sports blogosphere the last couple of days has been the Deadspin story by A.J. Daulerio on a former ESPN executive who’s filed a lawsuit against an employee denying several displays of odd behavior including masturbating in Erin Andrews’ presence.

Congratulations to former ESPN reporter Amy K. Nelson who leaves the Alleged Worldwide Leader for SBNation. Deadspin has that story as well.

Aaron Kuniloff and David Mildenberg from Bloomberg Businessweek co-author a story on ESPN’s Longhorn Network and its ramifications on college sports.

Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek of Businessweek talk about the alternatives to the NBA and how the league’s TV partners have lost money airing the games.

Rick Chandler of NBC’s Off the Bench explains how an ESPN.com story mushroomed into the Occupy Tebow movement.

At ESPN Front Row, network spokesman Mike Soltys notes that the Alleged Worldwide Leader has new policy on employees writing books, something that got Bruce Feldman into trouble earlier this year.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group looks at a new MSG Network mobile app that brings live high school sports to your cell phone.

Ariel Sandler at the Business Insider Sports Page has video of two Canadian news anchors going crazy when their sports anchor is named the winner of a $2.5 million lottery on live TV.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reviews the results of having two In-N-Out Burgers shipped frozen across country.

Sports Media Watch says TNT’s replacement programming for the NBA’s canceled games on what would have been Opening Night of the season failed miserably in the ratings.

Joe Favorito wonders if the Bellator Fighting Championships can co-exist with UFC in Mixed Martial Arts.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says Brent Musburger got the job done in his cameo on an ABC sitcom.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth says it’s the subject matter, not the personalities that drive ratings for sports radio stations.

SportsbyBrooks notes that ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd sat with the beautiful people at last week’s Stanford-USC game.

Marisa Ingemi of In Lax We Trust reports that the National Lacrosse League has a deal in place with CBS Sports Network to air games in 2012-13.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe speaks with former ESPN MMA Live host Jon Anik who will work straight for UFC now.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Bill Doyle talks with Comcast SportsNet New England Celtics analyst Tommy Heinsohn who’s cooling his heels during the NBA lockout.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that WFAN’s Boomer & Carton show has really taken off in the ratings.

Neil has more with Boomer and Carton that he could not provide in his feature story.

Scott Shifrel and Bill Hutchinson of the New York Daily News write that former ESPN executive Keith Clinkscales is claiming that he is the victim of a smear campaign.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post wonders where’s the outrage on the Detroit Lions for what he feels was mocking Tim Tebow’s religion.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for Cleveland Browns franchise assassin and ESPN analyst Eric Mangini. No, I’m not bitter about his tenure as Browns coach.

Justin previews MLB Network’s special on the 1986 Postseason.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union hears from SEC on CBS analyst Gary Danielson on LSU-Alabama.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call also has quotes from Danielson regarding this year’s Game of the Century.

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

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg looks at a failed lobbyist’s efforts to get DC NFL team owner Dan Snyder to change the brand name.

And Dan has Joe Theismann’s thoughts on the whole John Beck/Rex Grossman QB controversy in Washington.

Monica Hesse of the Post says some of the items from the now-defunct ESPN Zone in DC are being sold at auction.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner finds out ESPN’s plans for this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup.

South

Sean Cartell of SEC.com has Verne Lundquist’s thoughts on LSU-Alabama.

Brian Reynolds in the Tuscaloosa News says ESPN is giving LSU-Alabama the Super Bowl treatment.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says both CBS and ESPN are pulling out all of the stops for LSU-Alabama.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that former Bengals QB Carson Palmer will be profiled on Sunday’s edition of The NFL Today.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says ratings for the World Series were good, but the games showed that instant replay was greatly needed.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that former Brewers radio voice Corey Provus now has a new gig with the Twins.

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

Ted Gruber in Chicago Now feels ESPN gets a big fail in covering Mixed Martial Arts.

Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Corey Provus takes over for former Minnesota Twins voice John Gordon who retired this year.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin talks about Provus’ hiring by the Twins.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch feels the national media undersold Albert Pujols’ achievement in Game 3 of the World Series.

West

Jeff Call of the Deseret (UT) News says ESPN’s partnership with BYU has been beneficial for both parties.

John Maffei in the North County Times notes how CBS obtained LSU-Alabama for primetime.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says it’s rare to get a #1 vs. #2 matchup in the regular season.

Jim says Brad Nessler is ready for primetime when Thursday Night Football begins next week.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says we’re in a Golden Age of sports documentaries.

Tom has more in his blog.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Hazel Mae is officially back with Rogers Sportsnet.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog which broke the news of Hazel’s return discusses what her duties will be.

That’s going to do it for the megalinks today.

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.

Some Really Quick Wednesday Links

I’m going to try to do some Wednesday linkage here. Also have a lot of end of the month/beginning of the month crap to do at work some I’m balancing the two off.

Here are the links that I have for now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at NBC’s plans to provide live online coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

At MediaPost, Erik Sass looks at the New York Giants integrating Twitter into its NFL preseason broadcasts.

David Goetzl at MediaPost notes that Fox has had a 51% majority stake in Big Ten Network since last year.

The Associated Press reports that Versus is adding a whole host of original programming to its weeknight lineup.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter also writes about Versus’ new original programming.

Lacey Rose and Lesley Goldberg at the Reporter report that HBO has given the green light for a drama based on boxer Mike Tyson.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable writes that Turner Sports is expanding the exclusive content offerings at NCAA.com.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says CBS Sports Network will air a documentary on the first black college football game played in New York.

To Adweek where Anthony Crupi chronicles how NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus lured former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol back to the company just mere months after he left.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine discusses how NBC is going to provide everything from track & field to archery live at 2012 London Olympics.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid looks at the sad tenure of Fred Hickman’s days at ESPN.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has the video preview of NFL Films’ documentary on Patriots coach  Bill Belichick.

On this final day for SportsNewser, let me link to a few stories. Marcus Vanderberg writes that former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand will be joining the school’s football broadcasts on radio. You may recall LeGrand was paralyzed last year and hopes to make a full recovery.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says fans will vote on the next nominee for the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Broadcaster Award.

Back to Marcus, he writes that Southwest Airlines will stream live MLB games to its passengers thanks to its in-flight internet provider. Now back to me.

Now back to SportsNewser where Marcus looks at Sports Illustrated’s Super Bowl picks.

Ok, that’s it for the SportsNewer links. The site will be missed.

Nat Ives of Advertising Age notes that a month-long sponsorship starting tomorrow, will allow the New York Times to open up five sections (including sports) in its iPad app from behind the dreaded paywall.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell couldn’t be more thrilled to be getting his own weekly show on Versus.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette talks about ESPN releasing its Big East and Big Monday basketball schedules.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog talks with former Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic original Russ Thaler about his new gig with Versus/NBC Sports Network.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that the U.S. Open will be well covered on TV and online.

Josh Robbins from the Orlando Sentinel says the Magic’s Gilbert Arenas has shut down his Twitter account.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes that a pair of Eastern transplants top the local sports radio ratings.

Mel says NFL preseason again led the local TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer has a preview of tonight’s HBO/NFL Films 10 year retrospective on Hard Knocks.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN’s Jon Gruden isn’t a fan of the new NFL replay rule.

Bob says the digital Sporting News Today has ceased publication.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says the city’s high school football and basketball championships are moving to a new TV home.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says all of the Dodgers’ announcers are coming back for 2012.

Ed Tait and John White of the Winnipeg Free Press says the new Jets have signed a 10 year deal with TSN for both TV and radio.

Sports Media Watch says Hurricane Irene coverage on many local ABC stations cut into NASCAR’s ratings on Saturday.

Deadspin shows a picture of HBO’s Bryant Gumbel being “beaten up” by UFC’s Chuck Liddell and Fox’s Jay Glazer.

Joe Favorito says the hiring of former Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl by a grocery company is a good marketing move.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Fox To Use English Premiere League, UFC and College Football To Fill Holes During Regional NFL Coverage

The rumors about Fox Sports airing English Premier League games during NFL season are indeed true. On three Sundays, Fox will air EPL games either at 2 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. Eastern time to fill holes when it has regional NFL coverage. The games will go opposite games on CBS, but Fox is not concerned about the ratings here, it wants to be able to fill programming holes that would otherwise go to local stations.

In addition, Fox will air a one-hour special on the UFC in anticipation of its November 12th debut on the network. And Fox will air a special on college football previewing the conference championship games it will be airing the following weekend.

And Fox also announces it will carry a live English Premier League game on Super Bowl Sunday. That matchup has yet to be announced.

We have Fox’s press release below.

FOX SPORTS MAKES SINGLEHEADER SUNDAYS SIZZLE

Barclays Premier League, College Football & UFC Specials Compliment NFL Lineup
Historic “Game Before the Game” on Super Bowl Sunday is First-Ever
Live Barclays Premier League Regular Season Match on US Broadcast Television

New York, NY – This fall, as the weather cools, FOX Sports turns up the heat on NFL singleheader Sundays with a big-event lineup that includes the hottest matches in Barclays Premier League soccer, an exclusive Ultimate Fighting Championship special and an in-depth college football championship preview.  All events air either immediately before or after the NFL ON FOX game assigned to a given market that day.

“FOX Sports is the destination for championship sports programming and events,” said Bill Wanger, FOX Sports Media Group EVP, Programming & Research.  “We’re excited to bring viewers historic coverage of the first-ever live Barclays Premier League regular season match to air on network television next February.  These unique events and specials are a terrific compliment to the day’s NFL on FOX coverage.”

FOX Sports’ regular season Barclays Premier League (BPL) coverage, a first for US broadcast television, kicks off Sunday, Sept.18 with a tape-delay match featuring Manchester United vs. Chelsea.  It is the first of four marquis events showcasing some of the world’s most storied soccer clubs. In addition to the Sept. 18 match, FOX Sports airs BPL contests on Oct. 2 when Tottenham takes on Arsenal (tape-delay) and Nov. 20 when Chelsea makes its second appearance, this time against Liverpool (tape-delay).  All three tape-delay games, which air either from 2:00-4:00 PM ET or 4:30-6:30 PM ET, will have aired live earlier in the day on FOX Soccer.  FOX Sports’ BPL coverage culminates with broadcast television’s first-ever live Barclays Premier League match on Super Bowl Sunday.  The “Game Before the Game,” which has set viewership records for FOX Soccer the past two years, airs live on FOX Sunday, Feb.5 beginning at 10:30 AM ET.

On Sunday, Oct. 30, in anticipation of the UFC’s landmark live primetime FOX debut in November, FOX Sports offers UFC PRIMETIME, an intense, one-hour, behind-the-scenes look at the fighters’ preparation leading up to the Nov. 12 main event.  FOX Sports recently announced a multi-year, multi-platform rights agreement that features programming on several FOX networks including FX and FUEL TV.  Featured programming includes live fights, pre and post shows, countdown shows, and a variety of UFC-produced original programs.

College football fans know that they’ll be watching history on FOX when teams square off in the inaugural Pac-12 and Big Ten Football Championship games.  Leading up to the big games, FOX Sports airs the COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SPECIAL Sunday, Nov. 27.  This hour-long preview highlights the match-ups and key players for those games and all the upcoming college football championship games. The Pac-12 Championship Game airs in primetime on FOX, Friday, Dec. 2 followed by the Big Ten Championship airing in primetime on Saturday, Dec. 3.

Following is a list of the additional scheduled events. NFL game assignments determining what time these specials air regionally are announced two weeks prior to game day.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2011
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER
Manchester United vs. Chelsea
2:00 – 4:00 PM ET (Pre-NFL) OR
4:30 – 6:30 PM ET (Post NFL – including post-game show)

SUNDAY OCTOBER 2, 2011
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER
Tottenham vs. Arsenal
2:00 – 4:00 PM ET (Pre-NFL) OR
4:30 – 6:30 PM ET (Post NFL – including post-game show)

SUNDAY OCTOBER 30, 2011
UFC PRIMETIME
3:00 – 4:00 PM ET (Pre-NFL) OR
4:30 – 5:30 PM ET (Post NFL – including post-game show)

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2011
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER
Chelsea vs. Liverpool
2:00 – 4:00 PM ET (Pre-NFL) OR
4:30 – 6:30 PM ET (Post NFL – including post-game show)

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2011
COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SPECIAL
3:00 – 4:00 PM ET (Pre-NFL) OR
4:30 – 5:30 PM ET (Post NFL – including post-game show)

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2012
BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER (LIVE)
10:30 AM – 1:00 PM ET / 7:30 AM – 10:00 AM PT

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.

Let’s Do Some Sunday Linkage

Time for some Sunday links. I’ll also attempt some Sunday thoughts later.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News writes that Comcast has dropped a lawsuit against DirecTV over its NFL Sunday Ticket ad campaign.

Tom Weir of USA Today explains how ESPN’s Dick Vitale got so angry at a sports radio talk show that he hung up.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today has Fox’s Jimmy Johnson ripping into former University of Miami booster Nevin Shapiro who blew the whistle on his payments former Hurricanes to Yahoo! Sports.

Former LA Times NBA beat writer Mark Heisler gives us an inside account of his layoff from the newspaper.

Will Brinson at CBSSports.com notes that people made CBS Sports and Golf Channel-themed sandcastles at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship.

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo’s Cutline blog explains how Yahoo! Sports broke the University of Miami violations story.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser writes that the first UFC on Fox card in November 12 will not conflict with the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight on the same night.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid notes that another ESPN camera was broken at the Little League World Series.

Ken Pishna of Yahoo! Sports has UFC President Dana White claiming ESPN canceled an interview with him after the announcement of the Fox deal.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group notes that Longhorn Network opened its doors to the media and University of Texas administration last week.

Plagiarist Ron Borges of the Boston Herald says boxing has fallen behind mixed martial arts in attracting younger males to the sport.

The New York Post talks with new SNY anchor/reporter Kerith Burke who makes her debut tonight.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the ESPN MLB schedule from now through the end of the month.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the NFL should make the Baltimore-Washington area a shared media market.

Matt Forman of the Miami Herald writes about former Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese joining the team’s radio broadcast booth.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News also writes about the UFC on Fox deal.

Art Garcia of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says with less than a week to go for its launch, no cable or satellite provider has yet to come forward to pick up the Longhorn Network.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discusses how NFL Films chose the three Green Bay Packers to be part of the latest edition of “America’s Game”.

Matt Erickson in the Chicago Tribune asks if the UFC and Fox are really a natural fit.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals have put former Midwest radio powerhouse KMOX back on top of the local ratings.

Dan also has the sports radio ratings for the Gateway to the West.

Stu Durando of the Post-Dispatch looks at Longhorn Network not being allowed to air high school football games.

James Mirtle of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes that NBC has signed NHL analyst Jeremy Roenick to a long-term deal. Thanks to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media for the link.

Deadspin has the video of the MLS’ Houston Dynamo’s announcer going crazy after a last second goal.

The Canadian Sports Media blog says TSN picks up Canada’s college football championship.

And that will do it for today.

The Friday Night Megalinks

I’ve been to Newton, MA and back, South Kingstown, RI and back and all over my hometown of North Kingstown, RI and all of this today. It’s time to do the megalinks and get them all done in one sitting.

There’s the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment programming.

National

Sports Business Daily goes over the UFC/Fox agreement that will put four live MMA events on network TV and plenty of ancillary programming on Fox’s cable networks.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that Fox Sports Media Group El Presidente Por Vida David Hill has done an about face on airing Mixed Martial Arts.

Sergio Non of USA Today writes that UFC will revamp its shows when they move from Spike and Versus to Fox’s networks.

Sergio has those who will take part in the first UFC on Fox card in November.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that the success of the UFC on Fox all depends on whether the sport can have a breakout star.

Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! says UFC President Dana White couldn’t be happier in making this deal with Fox.

Also from Yahoo!, Kevin Iole says it will be the fighters who will benefit the most from the new UFC on Fox contract.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser has Spike announcing that the new season of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter will be the last on its airwaves, naturally.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek looks into the particulars of the UFC on Fox deal.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that the Fox contract gives UFC some instant mainstream credibility.

There will be more UFC on Fox stories sprinkled throughout the megalinks. Let’s move on to other stories now.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman wonders if Showtime’s “The Franchise” is bringing down the San Francisco Giants this season.

Georg Szalai of the Reporter reports that Comcast has withdrawn a lawsuit against DirecTV over an ad campaign for NFL Sunday Ticket.

David Goetzl of MediaPost notes that DirecTV plans to expand its fantasy offerings for NFL Sunday Ticket.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at Versus/NBC Sports Network’s new exclusive NHL night in the first year of its new 10 year contract with the league.

Andrew McMains of Adweek looks at a new inspiring web video produced for the US Olympic Committee.

All Access says the ESPN Radio affiliate in Minnesota’s Twin Cities has chosen the hosts for its midday show.

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy explores which teams won and lost in the new NHL TV schedules.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser writes that former voice of the North Carolina Tar Heels, Woody Durham, will be honored for his contributions to college football.

The Big Lead wonders if Jay Bilas is the most respected voice at ESPN.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid investigates how former 2 Live Crew leader Luther Campbell managed to appear to appear on the Dan Patrick Show and the Colin Cowherd Show at the same time.

And Tim presents the Atlanta Braves’ Shake Cam and how it can make fans a bit too excited.

Sports Media Watch says the U-20 World Cup is scoring for Galavision.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has a look at some interesting sports media typos.

Matt shows us how the Baseball Tonight crew had trouble demonstrating its new touchscreen.

Joe Favorito looks at what’s new with professional lacrosse.

Patrick Stafford of Smart Company in Australia speaks with the owner of Footytips.com about how he sold his site to ESPN.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says the limited classic programming on NBA TV during the current league lockout can only take the channel so far.

Sox & Dawgs has the video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy wearing chicken hats in the booth.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes on how regional sports networks have increasing power and money to be a game changer for some professional teams.

Richard looks at the UFC on Fox deal that puts Mixed Martial Arts into the mainstream.

Dan Levin from the Times has a good story on how some athletes in Communist China are trying to buck their archaic system.

Mark DeCambre of the New York Post notes that the new Meadowlands Stadium now will have a sponsor when the new NFL season begins.

Justin Terranova in the Post looks at how Fordham University was a training ground for several NYC announcers.

Justin has five questions for SNY Jets analyst Anthony Becht.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes about Fox signing UFC for seven years.

Pete says local sports anchor Andrew Catalon’s call of tonight’s Browns-Lions game will be seen on NFL Network this weekend.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio station will air a full high school football schedule.

Ken says the NBC Sports Group is increasing its commitment to horse racing this fall.

And Ken writes that a new local sports radio talk show will be debuting soon.

To Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record who says the New York Rangers will be featured extensively on the national NHL TV schedules.

Crossing Broad has the audio of Philadelphia’s sports radio station WIP announcement that it’s taking over WYSP’s FM frequency killing off a heritage rock station.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News says ‘YSP staffers were melancholy about CBS Radio’s announcement killing off the station.

Jeff Wolfe of the Delaware County Times writes about WIP’s displacement of WYSP just as the rocker’s ratings were increasing.

Mike White in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says two local high school games hit the ESPN family of networks this fall.

Shelly Anderson of the Post-Gazette says the Penguins TV announcing crew will return for another season.

In the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik explains where Ravens fans can find the team on TV and radio.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that the Ravens did extremely well in the ratings in both Baltimore and Washington, DC in their NFL preseason opener.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with DC NFL Team radio voice Larry Michael.

And Jim writes that the Washington Capitals will have plenty of appearances on NBC/Versus (NBC Sports Network).

Mike Madden in the Washington City Paper says the local sports anchor is becoming a thing of the past.

Keith Loria of the Fairfax (VA) Times says native Lindsay Czarniak is about to make her debut on ESPN.

South

The Charleston (WV) Gazette notes that Root Sports Pittsburgh will carry some West Virginia and Marshall programming.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Bob Griese will be joining the Miami Dolphins radio broadcast team replacing the late Jim Mandich.

Andy Kent of the Miami Dolphins website has Griese’s thoughts about joining the broadcast team and also sharing thoughts about Mandich.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has some thoughts on the UFC/Fox deal, the Little League World Series on TV and CBS’ production of the PGA Championship.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says Yahoo! Sports does a better job of investigating college sports than the NCAA.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that Saturday’s US National Gymnastics championships get a network primetime slot.

Mike Finger and Brent Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News says the Longhorn Network hasn’t given up on airing high school football games in one form or another.

The Daily Oklahoman’s Mel Bracht looks at UFC getting a big payday from Fox.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with NBC’s Cris Collinsworth who’s going into his third season as Sunday Night Football analyst.

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal now knows why DirecTV was so willing to give him a free subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket after learning that the service will be offered to Sony Playstation 3 owners.

The Grand Rapids (MI) Press’ Michael Zuidema notes that a Big Ten Network analyst feels Nebraska is a perfect fit for the conference.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is amazed at ESPN’s ever-expanding army of NFL analysts and mountain of NFL programming.

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

Scott Dochterman in the Iowa City Gazette says NFL Network has picked up Mediacom for cable subscribers in the Hawkeye State.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says it’s not known which network will air the October 15th contest between BYU and Oregon State.

Dick Harmon of the Deseret (UT) News speaks with BYUtv’s Executive Director in a lengthy interview. Part I of which is here. Read Part II here.

Larry Bohannan at the Desert (CA) Sun says there’s evidence of not much live golf shown in a PGA Tour telecast.

John Maffei of the North County Times weighs the pros and cons of airing the Little League World Series.

In the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle looks at the contrasting opinions that John and Patrick McEnroe had on the state of American tennis on HBO’s Real Sports this week.

Jim explores the UFC on Fox deal.

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times says Fox paid a pretty penny to get UFC into the fold.

Meg James of the Times also writes about the UFC on Fox deal.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says when it came down to it, Fox didn’t have much of a choice but to sign UFC.

Tom says one sidebar to the UFC on Fox deal is the fact that Fox Sports Radio will also air MMA events.

Tom writes that former Dodgers radio voice Ross Porter has found his latest gig, calling high school sports online.

Canada

The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin feels TSN Radio isn’t getting the job done.

The Winnipeg Free Press notes that the Jets will get 22 games aired on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

And the number of links today are hearken back to the first two years of this blog. Lots of links. That’s it.

Fox & UFC Announce Multi-Year Deal

The announcement of the Ultimate Fighting Championships moving to Fox is going on as I’m writing this post. This multi-year deal brings UFC to network television with four events on Fox starting in November of this year. It also moves the popular “The Ultimate Fighter” series from Spike to FX starting in the Spring of next year. Other UFC programming will be spread on other Fox networks such as Fuel TV. It brings the male 18-34 demographic to the Fox networks as UFC is one of the most popular sports with the younger generation.

We have the joint announcement from Fox and UFC.

UFC & FOX PACK PERFECT PUNCH
FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP REACHES MULTI-YEAR, MULTI-MEDIA RIGHTS AGREEMENT WITH ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP

FOX to Broadcast Four Fights Annually Beginning November 2011
The Ultimate Fighter, Featuring a New Format, Moves to FX

Los Angeles – Today, Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC), the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization and No. 1 Pay-Per-View event provider in the world, finds its perfect media match in FOX, the No. 1 television network in the country. FOX Sports Media Group, the umbrella entity representing FOX Networks Group’s wide array of sports platforms, has reached a multi-year, multi-media rights agreement with Zuffa, LLC, owner of the UFC brand.

The landmark agreement, which puts UFC on par with many of the country’s professional sports organizations, delivers four live events in prime time or late night each year to the FOX broadcast network, home to the country’s biggest sports events, including the Super Bowl, World Series and Daytona 500. The first live event airs Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT. Additional programming on multiple FOX networks launches January 2012 and includes live fights, pre and post shows, countdown shows, UFC Unleashed, UFC Primetime, the UFC Knockout series, Best of Pride, weigh-in specials, and much more original content from extensive Zuffa archives. The agreement also provides for developing robust mobile and authenticated online offerings to exploit a vast array of digital platform rights.

In spring 2012, THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER, UFC’s signature weekly reality show moves to FX, FOX’s general entertainment cable network now in more than 99 million homes. With the move to FX, the show will feature a newly-designed format. FX is also set to televise another four-to six-live UFC events annually, with a mixture of additional events and programs heading to FSMG cable networks including FUEL TV.

“We’re excited to be part of the FOX family,” says Dana White, UFC President.  “The UFC is finally where it belongs on the number one network in the country and aligned with the most prestigious sports properties in the world. I’ve always said that the UFC will be the biggest sport in the world and with this relationship it will become a reality.”

“My brother Frank, Dana and I always believed that our passion for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts would help us to build the UFC into a successful global brand and ultimately make it one of the premier sports properties in the world,” said Lorenzo Fertitta, Chairman and CEO of the UFC. “The partnership with FOX is a major step in making this a reality and also builds on the great relationship that we already have established with FOX in Latin America, Australia and Europe.”

“Mixed martial arts is not only the fastest growing sport in the world, but also the world’s most exciting form of man-to-man competition, and the UFC is the world’s premier MMA organization,” said FSMG President & Co-COO Eric Shanks.  “Since FOX Sports is America’s No. 1 sports network and FOX is America’s No. 1 network for young adults, the UFC on FOX is a perfect match.”

“UFC’s growth over the past decade is nothing short of phenomenal and it has become one of the marquee sports in this country,” said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks.  “There is a reason for its rising popularity.  It features some of the greatest athletes in the world, and we believe it will be a terrific addition to our schedule and look forward to our relationship.”

Founded in 1993, UFC has been on a meteoric rise since 2001 when it was acquired by Zuffa, LLC, owned by Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III and Dana White. UFC’S first brush with FOX Sports goes back to June 2002, when Fox Sports Net carried UFC’s first non-pay-per-view event on basic cable television, and delivered what was then its largest audience to date. Through cooperation with state athletic commissions, consistent rules were established and refined for competition through officiating, judging, the addition of weight divisions, length of rounds and better equipment.  Combined with an unyielding devotion to fighter safety, the UFC has vaulted to mainstream status in the minds of US sports fans attracting major sponsors such as Bud Light, Dodge and Harley Davidson.

UFC has displayed tremendous growth in digital and social media consumption. Unique visitors to UFC.com tripled between 2006 and 2010 (2.1 million to 6.3 million), and UFC established local web sites in 10 countries and Latin America.  Using a unique blend of incentives, promotions and original content, including live bouts, UFC has seen its number of Facebook friends increase from 800,000 in 2009 to 6.1 million at present, outpacing the NFL, MLB and the NHL.  UFC currently ranks second to the NBA in social media followers among the major sports organizations. Additionally, UFC President Dana White regularly interacts with over 1.5 million fans that follow him on Twitter.

Mixed martial arts skews much younger than more established US sports, which ranged from age 43 for Super Bowl XLIV to 61 for horse racing’s Triple Crown in 2010. Thus far, the median age for UFC on Spike in 2011 is 36 and 56% of UFC fans fall into the adult 18-34 demographic. Live UFC programming performs extremely well in the advertiser attractive, hard-to-reach male 18-34 demographic, with live event programing averaging a 1.53 rating, making it a top-20 cable show this year.

More on this later

Doing Some Tuesday Links

Well, yesterday I was two jobsites. Today, I forgot to bring my computer AC adapter and my phone so for several hours, I was without any communication to the outside world. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but it certainly felt strange not to have connection to the internet or Twitter.

Now that I’m back, I can provide some linkage and also do some press release posts. I’ll do the linkage first.

Big news from John Ourand and Sports Business Daily. We learn that UFC will move its programming from Versus and Spike TV to Fox, FX and Fuel TV with four MMA events a year on Fox.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that ESPN will produce the Little League World Series in 3-D for the first time.

Adweek looks at a new ESPN ad that’s being aired in the UK.

Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life Magazine notes that a battle of unknowns in a playoff led to lower ratings for the PGA Championship on CBS.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page says details are coming out on the new ESPN Monday Night Football rights renewal from ESPN book author James Arthur Miller. This story has been out there since January when Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand broke it.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says ESPN’s Brent Musburger and CBS’s Verne Lundquist will be honored in New York for their contributions to college football.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says a former WABC-TV sports anchor has pleaded guilty inappropriately touching a minor.

SportGrid’s Ben Axelrod has video of Showtime’s Jim Gray berating boxing referee Russell Mora for missed low blows after the Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko fight. Jim Gray is a real bulldog, let me tell you. This is one of the best videos I’ve ever seen.

Dan Fogarty has video of ESPN’s Jon Gruden saying, “this guy” multiple times during last night’s Jets-Texans game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says there’s a glut of Terrelle Pryor jerseys. Were they exchanged for tattoos?

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group talks about ESPN going into the third dimension for the Little League World Series.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with CBS Sports Network analyst Rich Rodriguez about working in TV.

Joe Drape of the New York Times reports that NBC is in talks to air a series of Triple Crown prep races each Spring.

Daniel Massey in Crain’s New York Business writes that the Jets are catching up with the Giants as far as the New York tri-state area fan support is concerned.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a nationally syndicated radio show will be broadcasting live from Saratoga Race Course on Friday.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Notre Dame football will be heard locally throughout the season.

Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News writes about the announced departure of Howard Eskin from sports radio WIP.

John Miller at Philadelphia Sports Daily says Howard Eskin will be missed.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says Rick “Doc” Walker will sub for the talkative Joe Theismann for this Friday’s game on the DC NFL team’s local broadcast.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner writes that Texas A&M to the SEC will have a huge fallout in college football.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Mac Engel talks with former Monday Night Football sideline reporter and current Inside Edition reporter Lisa Guerrero.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron reports that Texans running back Arian Foster has signed to appear on both Yahoo! Sports Radio and a local radio station.

The San Antonio Express-News has a fascinating look at the evolution of every major sport on American TV in the last 21 years.

Jerry Garcia of the Express-News adds his thoughts on the most notable changes in sports television.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the local ratings from the weekend.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business talks about how Comcast SportsNet Chicago got an interview with embattled Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Tom Hoffarth has the Sports Calendar for this week.

Because of my busy schedule, I haven’t been able to cover the Barstool Sports/Tom Brady baby picture controversy as much I have liked. It’s a big story in Boston as sports radio station WEEI feigned outrage on a slow news day to get ratings. The story went national and Barstool Sports editor David Portnoy found himself today on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show to explain himself (you can go here and here to listen). Perhaps down the road I’ll spend more time on it and go into analytical mode on it.

In The Broadcast Booth, Dave Kohl looks at Howard Eskin’s announcement that he’s leaving his daily WIP show in Philadelphia.

The Canadian Sports Media blog notes that TSN accidentally leaked a portion of its 2011-12 NHL schedule over the weekend.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore says the NHL will finally release its national TV schedule on Thursday.

And that will do it. I’ve been trying to do these links since 3 p.m., but I’ve been interrupted so many times. Glad to finally be done.

Providing Your Tuesday Linkage

Let’s go for your links today.

Starting with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, he explores whether the Women’s World Cup can find an audience and he also scolds Pierre McGuire.

Steve Weiberg of USA Today says a group of former college athletes is suing ESPN and CBS plus other networks for using their likenesses on commercials, promos and classic programming without their permission. This is going to be a very interesting case.

Sergio Non of USA Today says Spike’s replay of an old UFC event beat a new UFC card airing on Versus in the ratings on Sunday.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost looks at the NFL seeking yet another TV package to help drive up revenue.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBA Digital saw record traffic for the Draft last week.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Sportsman Channel continues to gain HD access on Comcast systems in the South.

Mike says a couple of presenting sponsors of ESPN’s self-aggrandizing ESPY Awards are back for another year.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek tells us that TNT still has a few spots open for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Daytona this Saturday.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the Women’s World Cup is a top draw on TV this week.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser says Fang’s Bites fave Bethanie Mattek-Sands has issued a challenge to the Larry Brown Sports blog.

Chris Ariens at TVSpy notes that there’s a baby boom among female sportscasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex including my Twitter friend, Gina Miller of KTVT/KTXA .

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN’s True Hoop NBA blog network notes that the league’s techies and social media gurus are possibly looking at websites without the likenesses of any of its players in case a lockout becomes reality. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid notes that ESPN is stocking up on attractive blond female sportscasters.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with DirecTV Football Cop C.J. Hunter a.k.a. Eli Manning.

Dave Seminara of the New York Times’ Straight Sets blog isn’t a big fan of having to shuffle around NBC and ESPN2 to find the Wimbledon match he wants to watch.

Newsday’s Neil Best looks at Tiki Barber’s attempted NFL comeback.

And Neil has more with Tiki in his blog.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog has the results of a local magazine’s sports media poll.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes that former Cubs and Nationals manager Jim Riggleman will be a guest analyst for the Cubs-White Sox series on Comcast SportsNet.

The Idaho Press-Tribune notes that CBS Sports Network gets an important pickup in Big Sky country and for fans looking to watch Boise State football.

Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman says CBS Sports Network will be added to a digital tier which means customers will have to pay extra to see it.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL is going full speed ahead with a new TV package.

Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page says Comcast hopes to use a Thursday Night NFL Football package to challenge ESPN.

Jim Barthold of Fierce Cable talks about Comcast desperately wanting to pick up the NFL for Versus.

Barry Janoff of The Big Lead says when athletes tweet, they engage their fans.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says the Pierre McGuire-to-NBC story is just about official.

Sports Media Watch notes that the USA-Mexico Gold Cup Final captured plenty of viewers on Univision.

SMW says the NBC Sports Group has yet to settle on a new name for Versus.

SMW has some announcing recommendations for MLB’s TV partners.

Joe Favorito says it’s time for the Yankees Old Timers Game to shuffle into a new era and bring in a “new generation” of old timers.

Awful Announcing’s Bob Bender is not a fan of ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup or of women’s soccer in general. And the USA played North Korea today, not China.

And I’ll end it there for today.

Back to the Linkage Grind Edition

Ok, now that the Olympics bidding is over until the next round sometime later this decade, I can focus on other sports media stories and there are quite a few of them now.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that embattled cyclist Lance Armstrong has taken down his anti-60 Minutes website stating its report on his alleged PED use has been debunked.

Lindsay Rubino of Broadcasting & Cable notes that Game 4 of the NBA Finals scored a primetime win for ABC on Tuesday.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News talks about ESPN signing a new deal with the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says ESPN is ready to convert to a full HD format.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says Captain Blowhard is trying to save the internet from a certain type of advertising. Nice of him to appoint himself as our savoir.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the NBA Finals are on pace to become the most watched in seven years.

Bill Simmons’ Grantland site finally had its official launch yesterday. Already people are assessing it including Nicholas Jackson of Atlantic Monthly.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead has his first impressions.

Tim Carmody of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University wonders if Simmons’ mix of sports and pop culture will work.

Tommy Craggs at Deadspin tells us why Grantland Rice for whom Simmons’ site is named, was really overrated.

Deadspin runs an excerpt from former New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte’s new book in which he recalls an encounter with an overtalkative Bob Costas.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes that this week’s successful Olympic bid was key for the new NBC/Comcast.

The Nielsen Wire blog has a look at the top NHL players in name recognition.

Cam Martin at SportsNewser has TNT’s Charles Barkley ripping Miami Heat fans.

Cam says the Denver Post’s Woody Paige has apologized to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal for lifting quotes from an ESPN story he wrote.

Corey Nachman of the Business Insider Sports Page has his 100 Best Venues in Sports.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has the video of a Brazilian writer typing away on a small laptop while showing a bit more of himself than he realized.

And Dan says Steven A. “A is for Allude” Smith hinted on ESPN Radio that something is up with LeBron James, but won’t say exactly what.

Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner gives some examples from the ESPN book that he feels evidence how NBC’s Sunday Night Football is superior to Monday Night Football.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a strange endorsement story involving the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez.

ESPN PR pro Bill Hofheimer helps to unveil the new Monday Night Football logo that will be seen when the NFL starts playing again.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that NBC now has to follow through on promises to show the Olympics live.

Brian Stelter of the Times reports that UFC is in talks with Comcast to buy its G4 gaming channel.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that ESPN has added 7 more Big Ten games to its ESPN/ESPN2/ABC college football schedule.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable airs some local high school lacrosse finals this weekend.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will air 10 WNBA games this season.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that there’s something brewing between writer John Feinstein and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Iliana Limon at the Orlando Sentinel writes that Central Florida along with Conference USA have announced their TV schedules.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News reports that the SEC and ESPN are ready to re-evaluate their 15 year deal which now looks antiquated when it was signed in 2009.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the NBA is gaining increased interest in the area thanks to the Thunder.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says you can design a special bowtie for Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that would benefit Dhani Jones’ Bow Tie Cause Initiative.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Sentinel notes that outgoing ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson cites Rick Pitino was his best coach.

Yesterday was Tom Hoffarth’s birthday. Happy Belated Birthday, Tom.

Joe Flint at the Los Angeles Times says keeping the Olympics was top priority for NBC and Comcast.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury Times has some thoughts on ESPN’s new contract with the West Coast Conference.

Lisa K. Anderson in the Sandy (OR) Post writes about a local woman who’s hosting a reality show for Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

Dan Robson of the Toronto Star says CBC has signed a five year deal with the International Skating Union for figure skating, speedskating and other events.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN will air BBC’s coverage of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

Joe Caporoso of Gunaxin asks Erin Andrews or Michelle Beadle?

Cosby Sweaters looks at how Olympic viewing will change with Comcast in charge of NBC.

We have a new sports media blog, The Sports Tube, headed by Chris Hadley. He looks at the Olympic bidding.

Sports Media Watch notes the ratings for Games 2 & 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final are down from last year.

Joe Favorito wonders if any New York sports teams or events will take advantage of the Congressman Anthony Weiner mess.

That’s going to do it for now.

Mixing Up Some Sunday Links

Let’s do some linkage on this lazy Sunday.

Kari Lipschutz of Adweek writes that it’s a photo finish in the race to the US rights to the 2014/16 Olympics.

Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press looks into the Olympic bidding.

David Lieberman and Patrick Hipes at Deadline wonder what losing the Olympics could mean to NBC.

Jaqueline Magnay of the London (UK) Telegraph says the longtime Olympics rightsholder BBC is watching the US TV bidding with more than casual interest.

Glenda Korporaal of The Australian notes that current Australian Olympics rightsholder 9 Network is hoping it will keep the Games after taking them away from 7 Network for 2010/12.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News handicaps the Olympics bidding among the US networks.

Mike says viewership for the first two games of this year’s NBA Finals are outpacing the ratings from last year.

Mike writes that the NBC Sports Group is all over collegiate rugby this weekend.

Jackie Finlan of Rugby Magazine says NBC has put its full support behind airing rugby.

Pat Yasinkas at ESPN.com mourns the passing of Tampa Tribune sports editor Tom McEwen.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions asks if sports can save 3-D TV. I doubt it.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reviews the new book on Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post decides that ESPN is to blame for the world coming to an end.

Mike Harrington at the Buffalo News writes that MLB Network is trying to generate excitement over the MLB Draft.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that it’s time for Comcast to step up to the plate for the Olympics bidding.

Tim Whitaker at Philadelphia Magazine has this profile of Comcast SportsNet host Michael Barkann.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that sports on television continues to gain traction with viewers.

Joey Johnston of the Tampa Tribune has the obituary for former sports editor and columnist Tom McEwen.

Mike Baldwin of the Daily Oklahoman speaks with ESPN softball analyst Michele Smith.

Kent Sterling reacts to Fox Sports Indiana dropping Pacers pregame host and sideline reporter Stacy Paetz.

Blair Kerkhoff at the Kansas City Star looks at the Big 12 distributing its TV revenue more evenly to member schools.

Woody Paige of the Denver Post has his look at “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World at ESPN.”

Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera writes that Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott will hold some marquee events and games for the Conference’s in-house TV network.

Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News says former Dodger Steve Garvey would join fellow ex-Dodger and current ESPN’er Orel Hershiser in a potential bid to buy the team from Frank McCourt.

Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser notes that the Mountain West Conference now has to play catch up with the Pac-12 after it signed a megabucks TV deal last month.

Gayle MacDonald of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the Canadian TV landscape is getting crowded with the increased amount of players for sports TV rights.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing says ESPN’s Marty Reid wrongly called last night’s finish of the NASCAR Nationwide Race wrong. Oops.

Brandon Stroud at With Leather gets on UFC’s brainless analyst Joe Rogan for calling MMA writer Maggie Hendricks “a cunt”. Joe is an ass.

Sports Media Watch looks at NBC’s ratings for the first weekend of the French Open.

SMW notes that the PGA Tour’s ratings continue to rise this year.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that after getting off to a good start, the NHL Stanley Cup Finals hit a big ratings brick wall on Saturday.

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski also looks at the NHL’s mediocre ratings on Saturday.

Joe Favorito takes a look at two MLB teams which are trying to reach fans beyond their local areas.

SportsbyBrooks is looking into ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s relationship with 7-on-7 summer football camps which have come under scrutiny of the NCAA and the SEC.

Corey Nachman of the Business Insider Sports Page looks at the 20 Worst Sports Ads of All Time.

Sox & Dawgs has the video of NESN’s Jerry Remy making fun of on his on-air partner Don Orsillo’s capsizing of a paddle boat on Friday.

And I worked extra hard to squeeze as many links as I did today. I hope you enjoy them.

Friday Night Into Saturday Morning Megalink Action

Didn’t have time to do megalinks during the day as I was trying to get some end of the month/beginning of the month stuff done at the office. Time to get linkage in while I can.

The Weekend Viewing Picks are chockful of sports action and some primetime programming. Now to the linkage.

National

Jessica E. Vascellaro and Matthew Futterman combine for a Wall Street Journal story on the US TV bidding for the Olympics. Bids are due next week.

The Around The Rings Olympic blog notes that the US Olympic Committee will be on hand to monitor the US TV bidding as well.

Dorothy Pomerantz of Forbes handicaps the Olympic bidding.

Back to the Wall Street Journal, Tim Marchman reviews the ESPN book.

David Goetzl of MediaPost says DirecTV announcing that it won’t be charging customers for the NFL Sunday Ticket package during the lockout really should not be news.

Sean Leahy of USA Today writes about DirecTV’s announcement.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has Fox Sports’ NASCAR analyst Daryl Waltrip complaining that the sport forgot its roots while trying to promote the cars over its personalities.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser notes that ESPN NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby has been slapped with two orders of protection stemming from the domestic disturbance he was arrested for last month.

Mohammed Rahman from SportsGrid writes that UFC personality Joe Rogan called noted and respected MMA writer Maggie Hendricks “cunty”. What is up with the UFC people?

Jason Dachman at Sports Video Group looks at some TV tennis news.

Sports Media Watch writes that last Saturday’s MLB on Fox primetime presentation saw its second straight ratings increase.

SMW notes that the Indy 500 saw its highest ratings in three years.

SMW says Game 2 of the NBA Finals had increased ratings, but lower viewership.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has CBC’s opening from Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final and it reminds us how well the network covers hockey. Some nice use of Adele in the opening.

Awful Announcing has a podcast interview with ESPN book co-author James Andrew Miller.

AA also did a Q&A session with ESPN NBA voice Mike Breen to discuss the Finals and Bill from White Plains.

The Major League Programs blog has its usual review of sports media.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe can’t believe one local TV station did not send anyone to Vancouver to cover the Stanley Cup Final.

Chad also reviews the ESPN book.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the best of his blog in his latest column.

Nina Mandell of the New York Daily News says ESPN would love to have Shaquille O’Neal on its air.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick remembers the late NFL Hall of Famer Andy Robustelli.

Justin Terranova from the Post has five questions for Red Sox voice Dave O’Brien.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Jimmer Fredette now has his own YouTube channel.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says there will be plenty of coverage of the USA Track & Field Championships.

Evan Weiner of the New Jersey Newsroom goes over how Time Warner ruined sports in Atlanta.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says NBC is happy to have an Original Six team in the NHL Stanley Cup Final.

Rich Hofman at the Philadelphia Daily News is annoyed at how ESPN continually ignores the NHL.

Laura Nachman notes Philadelphia native John Kincaid will lose a gig now that the Atlanta Thrashers have left town.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says DC NFL team owner Dan Snyder’s lawsuit against the Washington City Paper is now the subject of Federal legislation.

Steven V. Roberts reviews the ESPN book in the Washington Post.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the NBA Finals won primetime on Thursday.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says the Tampa Bay Lightning’s playoff run drew viewers in the local market.

Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Big 12 has changed its TV revenue distribution formula for all members. In essence, every school gets more money.

Barry Horn of the Morning News says ESPN/ABC seems to spend more time obsessing over the Miami Heat rather than the Dallas Mavericks.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle recaps his visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame which included browsing through the broadcasters and writers wings.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press reviews HBO’s documentary on the John McEnroe-Bjorn Borg rivalry.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel goes over some of his favorite quotes from the ESPN book.

Crain’s Chicago Business’ Ed Sherman goes over his winners and losers this week.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talks with ESPN/ABC’s Mike Tirico about the Big Ten Football Championship.

West

Kyle Ringo of the Boulder Daily Camera reports that Colorado University is looking to sell local TV rights to some of its football games as it officially joins the Pac-12 Conference next month.

John Maffei at the North County Times says this round of Olympic TV bidding is very wide open.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that people love to hate the Miami Heat as evidenced by the TV ratings.

Rhiannon Potkey of the Star talks with ESPN Women’s College World Series analyst Jessica Mendoza.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times profiles the new Chairman of the NBC Sports Group, Mark Lazarus who leads the network’s Olympic bid next week.

And Joe says Lazarus is not a stranger to making big bids on sports properties.

Flint is impressed with former ESPN and now NFL Network executive Steve Bornstein’s candor in the ESPN book.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says someone needs to investigate this whole Vin Scully Star Hollywood Walk of Fame mess.

Tom notes that Hollywood seems to be back on board with a new movie on the late Jackie Robinson.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final was a ratings hit in both Canada and the US.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog speculates on whether a local sports radio talk show host has a new contract.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog finds a noteworthy feature in CTV’s plans for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

And that is going to do it. Took longer than I thought.

Providing You With Tuesday Linkage

For some of you, it’s a back to work Tuesday after a three day weekend. Not for me as I was at the office until late on Memorial Day. But you don’t want to read my complaining, you want linkage so I’ll get it to right away.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek says expect LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Dirk Nowitzki to draw viewers to the NBA Finals starting tonight.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes about TNT’s record NBA ratings and the potential for a blockbuster NBA Finals for ABC.

Jeff Neff and E.J. Schultz of Advertising Age say NFL advertisers are getting nervous as the lockout is starting to effect grocery in-store displays.

Sports Illustrated editor Terry McDonell gives readers an introduction to investigative reporter George Dohrmann who wrote the expose on former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel.

Sergio Non of USA Today says UFC’s Dana White is looking to put more cards on over the air TV.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says soccer-centric Gol TV will air another edition of its signature reality show.

Carolyn Braff of Sports Video Group writes that Versus had to overcome massive mud puddles in order to bring the Tour of California to viewers.

Paul Meehan at ESPN Front Row says the network’s NBA Marketing team is spending a lot of late nights creating TV and radio promos for the Finals.

Over at Mocksession, a very interesting post on how Fox Sports Net and ABC deceived viewers in various ways.

Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Cagewriter blog wishes the media would stop giving MMA fighter Quintin “Rampage” Jackson the time of day. It’s all over this video as Jackson pretends to motorboat reporter Karyn Bryant’s breasts.

The Big Lead goes into why Jackson is such a lightning rod with reporters.

MMA reporter Karyn Bryant who was the subject of Jackson’s attention last weekend tweets that she wasn’t offended.

I’ve now been told I have to run an errand. More later.

Some more links now.

Tripp Mickle and John Ourand from the Sports Business Journal report on the latest on the bidding for the US Olympic TV rights now that NBC’s Dick Ebersol is out of the picture.

Tripp teams with Terry Lefton on a story about sports marketers who plan to stay in Brazil after the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics are finished there.

And Kevin Sullivan of SBJ instructs athletes on how to tweet the right way.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN/ABC NBA analyst Mark Jackson is a finalist for the Golden State Warriors coaching job.

Cam says the Sports Illustrated story on Jim Tressel caused a Twitter spat among sportswriters.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports says the NBA’s TV partners should send thanks to LeBron James and the Miami Heat for increased ratings this season.

Gordon Cox of Variety notes that ESPN and the Tribeca Film Festival are teaming up to put three movies on Video on Demand.

Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports talks with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive about the BCS, college football TV contracts and his contract.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell cautions fans who think college football will change with Jim Tressel’s resignation.

Bill Gorman at zap2it’s TVbytheNumbers notes that Fox’s NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 zoomed past all network competition on Sunday.

Newsday’s Neil Best says former Yankees outfielder Paul O’Neill will now double his workload for YES.

Neil says NBC/Versus NHL host Liam McHugh appears to be on a fast track to stardom.

Stan Hochman of the Philadelphia Daily News looks at the ESPN book.

Former ESPN Radio host Mark Madden in the Beaver County Times feels the ESPN book doesn’t cover any new ground. How about bringing up your firing, Mark?

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has his take on DC NFL team owner Dan Snyder making the local media rounds last week.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says ABC expects to garner good ratings with the NBA Finals.

Shannon J. Owens at the Orlando Sentinel wonders why Urban Meyer would leave ESPN for Ohio State, especially at this juncture.

Ben Thomas of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says a local station is dropping ESPN Radio programming in favor of Sporting News Radio.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says national announcers have to deal with fans who feel they root against their teams.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN/ABC’s NBA crew denies that it was rooting against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals.

WLWT-TV in Cincinnati notes that NBC’s Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth has taken a job coaching high school football until the NFL lockout ends.

And at his website, Football Pros Live, Cris explains why he took the job.

The Big Lead says it appears that ESPN2 First Take buffoon Skip Bayless was forced to apologize to Chris Broussard after yelling at him on Monday.

EPL Talk says the UEFA Champions League Final drew a 1.8 overnight rating for Fox, a 64% increase from the year before.

EPL Talk notes that Fox dumbed down its Champions League pregame show.

Sports Media Watch notes that Charles Barkley will be back in Miami for the NBA Finals working the games for NBA TV.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media looks at how Boston and Vancouver have fared in the ratings throughout the NHL Postseason.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin notes that MLB.com is actually allowing some videos to be embedded! Hallelujah!!!

And we’re going to end it there for today.