I'm continuing with the NFL opens with the first cable partner for the league. Being awarded rights to eight Sunday Night games in 1987, ESPN has been a fixture with the NFL ever since, gaining full season rights in 1998 after TNT had the first half of the season, then taking over Monday Night Football from ABC in 2005.
Surprisingly, I don't find too many videos. I guess ESPN has removed them from YouTube, but the ones I do have, I will definitely pass along.
This intro is from 1989, the second year of ESPN's foray into the NFL. After using Mike Patrick, Roy Firestone and a series of guest analysts, ESPN tapped Joe Theismann from CBS Sports and continued to use him until 2006. Here's Mike and Joe doing the Dallas-Washington game from the old RFK Stadium.
This is the opening to the very first ESPN Monday Night Football game, a doubleheader as a matter of fact. Try to figure out what ESPN was trying to do here.
Here's the intro from the Redskins-Eagles from last year. Hank Williams and his all star band is in this one.
One can't forget about NFL Primetime which has yet to be equaled by NBC's Football Night in America. This is from September 27, 1992 when Brett Favre made his first start for Green Bay.
And don't even ask me to find NFL on TNT videos because there aren't any. If you do want to check the last three weeks for ABC Monday Night Football opens, NFL on NBC videos and NFL on CBS, feel free to do so.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Videos of the Week: NFL on ESPN Opens
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Ack! I'm Still Offline
I'm still having major computer issues so it may be a while when I get back online. I'm writing this from an office which has dial-up and when you've worked on Verizon Fios both at home and work, this is like going from eating Filet Mignon every night to eating oatmeal. You can't do it.
So I hope to be back soon to give you the links again.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks
MLB
Seattle at New York Yankees - FSN Northwest/WWOR, 7 p.m.
Texas at Cleveland - FSN Southwest/STO, 7 p.m.
Minnesota at Detroit - FSN North/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at Tampa Bay - MASN2/ION, 7 p.m.
Kansas City at Toronto - FSN Kansas City, 7 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh - Comcast SportsNet Chicago/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
San Francisco at Florida - Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/FSN Florida, 7 p.m.
Arizona at Atlanta - FSN Arizona/Peachtree TV, 7:30 p.m.
Milwaukee at Washington - FSN Wisconsin/MASN, 7:30 p.m.
Anaheim at Chicago White Sox - FSN West/WGN, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Houston - Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
New York Mets at Colorado - SNY/FSN Rocky Mountain, 9 p.m.
Baseball Tonight - ESPN, 9:30 p.m.
Red Sox at Oakland - NESN/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 10 p.m.
Cincinnati at San Diego - FSN Ohio/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
St. Louis at Los Angeles Dodgers - FSN Midwest/FSN Prime Ticket, 10:30 p.m.
NBA Western Conference Finals
Game 2/San Antonio at Los Angeles Lakers - TNT, 9 p.m.
Entertainment
Dateline NBC - NBC, 9 p.m.
20/20 - ABC, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman - CBS, 11:35 p.m.
Forbidden Temptations - Cinemax, 11:45 p.m.
Friday Megalinks Will Be Late
Right now, I'm having major computer issues and I don't know when they'll be fixed. I'm borrowing someone else's computer.
I'll put up the megalinks when I can. I will have the Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks coming up. My apologies for the delay.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks
MLB
Baltimore at New York Yankees - MASN/YES, 7 p.m.
Anaheim at Toronto - FSN West, 7 p.m.
New York Mets at Atlanta - SNY/Peachtree TV, 7 p.m.
Arizona at Florida - FSN Arizona/FSN Florida, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh - FSN Wisconsin/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Cleveland at Chicago White Sox - STO/Comcast SportsNet Chicago, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Houston - Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
Cincinnati at San Diego - FSN Ohio/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
NBA Eastern Conference Finals
Game 2/Detroit at Boston - ESPN, 8:30 p.m.
Entertainment
Grey's Anatomy (season finale) - ABC, 9 p.m.
Engineering Connections: Super Skyscraper - National Geographic Channel, 9 p.m.
Naked Earth: Deadly Cyclone - National Geographic Channel, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman - CBS, 11:35 p.m.
Here Come the Thursday Links
I've been in the midst of finishing some work before the holiday weekend as I won't be in the office tomorrow. No, I'm not starting the weekend early, I'll be at a jobsite so the Friday megalinks will be up sometime during the afternoon. Let's get to the links while I can.
Richard Sandomir from the New York Times decided to test Willie Randolph's theory that SNY was purposely showing him in a negative light.
Neil Best of Newsday continues to talk about the Willie Randolph anti-SNY comments and his claims that they were supposed to be off the record. Neil also talks with Ian O'Connor, the reporter who talked to Randolph. And Neil writes that the SNY studio crew came to Randolph's defense. Neil says the YES Network apparently played the infamous Earl Weaver tape of him talking about outfielder Terry Crowley on the air.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that a computer glitch knocked the Orioles-Yankees game off WTMM last night.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says ESPN/ABC has a legitimate reason to focus its cameras on Danica Patrick at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
Maury Brown in the Biz of Baseball blog says DirecTV has developed new technology which will search for an alternative channel in case a viewer tunes in a game that is blacked out. Over to Maury's Biz of Hockey blog which states that XM Satellite Radio will carry three different feeds of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Heather Havenstein of Computerworld writes that the NHL is using web technology to promote the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Sports Media Watch says the NBA Draft Lottery and Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday combined to bring some respectable ratings for ESPN.
Bud Withers of the Seattle Times says ESPN and the West Coast Conference are in talks to move their basketball games to Thursday nights to compete with FSN's Pac 10 games.
Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Journal reports that only one Nebraska football games is scheduled to be on ABC or ESPN.
Carole Goldberg of the Hartford Courant says ESPN's Kenny Mayne will promote his book at a local bookstore tonight.
Dan Daly of the Washington Times says the NFL will find a way to work things out to get the NFL Network on cable.
ESPN will re-air the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea this Saturday on ESPN Classic.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Some More Wednesday Links for You
I'll give you an evening update here. I wasn't planning on it as I was at an event in East Greenwich, RI, but I got back earlier than expected.
One observation, Marv Albert's toupee really looks unnatural tonight. If you're watching the NBA Western Conference Finals on TNT, you know what I mean. What is that thing on his head? A raccoon?
From Neil Best of Newsday, he writes that Yankees radio voice John Sterling might be hinting that the Bronx Bombers are a bad team. Neil also gives a suggestion to Mets manager Willie Randolph the next time he thinks of spouting off to the media. And Neil links to an interview Randolph did with WFAN apologizing for his remarks.
The Sports Media Watch says the NHL Stanley Cup Final will be a hit, but perhaps not in the first two games as they will be on Versus.
NBC Sports gives us highlights of a conference call previewing the Stanley Cup Finals.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes in his blog that the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday drew its highest ratings ever on ESPN.
Darren Rovell of CNBC looks at NBA Commish David Stern's comments about the OJ Mayo investigation before the NBA Draft Lottery. And Darren goes behind the marketing of "Let's Get Ready to Rumble", the famous phrase made famous by ring announcer Michael Buffer.
Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog notices that Bill Simmons continues to take shots at his ESPN.com editors on his own personal blog.
Charles Warner in the Huffington Post blog says it's a bad idea for media conglamorates to own sports teams.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Jim Nantz of CBS Sports is in town to promote his new book, but it's also a chance for him to visit his father who has Alzheimer's Disease.
John Consoli of Mediaweek goes in-depth on the new CBS College Sports Media which will be an interactive ad network.
Bobbie Whiteman of Variety says Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports will share rights to England's FA Cup.
Awful Announcing has the penalty kick phase of the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea.
CBS Sports previews the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the next stop on the PGA Tour.
LC over at 38Cliches is wincing at the notion that Glenn Geffner is trying to stir up memories of calling Clay Buchholz's no hitter last season.
The Sox & Dawgs blog has the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated.
That's it for tonight.
Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks
MLB
Kansas City at Red Sox - FSN Kansas City/NESN, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at New York Yankees - MASN/YES, 7 p.m.
Seattle at Detroit - FSN Northwest/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
Anaheim at Toronto - KCOP, 7 p.m.
New York Mets at Atlanta - ESPN/SNY/FSN South, 7 p.m.
Arizona at Florida - FSN Arizona/FSN Florida, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh - FSN Wisconsin/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Washington - Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/MASN2, 7 p.m.
Cleveland at Chicago White Sox - STO/WCIU, 8 p.m.
Texas at Minnesota - FSN Southwest/FSN North, 8 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Houston - Comcast SportsNet Chicago/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
Cincinnati at Los Angeles Dodgers - FSN Ohio/KCAL, 10 p.m.
St. Louis at San Diego - FSN Midwest/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight - ESPN, 10 p.m.
NBA Western Conference Finals
Game 1/San Antonio at Los Angeles Lakers - TNT, 9 p.m.
Entertainment
The Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular - CBS, 8 p.m.
Depression: Out of the Shadows - PBS, 9 p.m.
Top Chef - Bravo, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman - CBS, 11:35 p.m.
Westwood One Radio's Announcing Assignments for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals
WESTWOOD ONE
AND NHL RADIO
PRESENT THE
2008
-- Exclusive Play-By-Play Coverage --
Westwood One and NHL Radio Present the 2008
Game 1 Saturday, May 24
Game 2 Monday, May 26
Game 3 Wednesday, May 28
Game 4 Saturday, May 31
Game 5 Monday, June 2
Game 6 Wednesday, June 4
Game 7 Saturday, June 7
*If necessary
To find out where to hear Westwood One’s NHL broadcasts in your area please use the
The Mid-Week Linkage
It's Wednesday and time to get some linkage today.
I forgot to link to this last night. Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch wrote a very good piece about Spygate and the behavior of the national media during the whole scandal.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks about the return of ESPN's Rick Sutcliffe and CBS' David Feherty who both had to deal with medical issues.
Newsday's Neil Best has comments from SNY's announcers in response to Mets manager Willie Randolph's comments that the network is trying to make him look bad. In his blog, Neil says Willie Randolph has fueled talk shows in New York. Neil talks about the newest inductees to the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says the NBA's TV ratings are up halfway through the Playoffs.
Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has the Best and Worst jobs in sports.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says CBS' Jim Nantz will be in town to promote his book.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Detroit is going to have to deal with conflicts on Saturday and Monday nights when the Red Wings and the Pistons play at the same time in key postseason games.
Mel Bracht of the Oklahoman talks with New Orleans Hornets analyst Gerry Vaillancourt about the team's loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Wayne Friedman of Mediapost Publications says the NBA's ratings are way up on ABC and ESPN.
Multichannel News reports that the NBA Playoffs are pacing TNT to its third straight win in the cable primetime ratings.
The Hollywood Reporter says TNT is now hosting chats online during the NBA Playoffs.
Sarah Hoye of the Tampa Tribune says ESPN filmed the College Gameday intro at the University of South Florida campus this week.
John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS and the NCAA have teamed up to create CBS College Sports Media.
Rick Kissell of Variety says Fox won the season crown in the TV ratings being paced by the Super Bowl and the NFL.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says NASCAR's ratings on Fox are red hot as well.
Patrick Cloonan of the McKeesport (PA) Daily News says the local media has jumped all over the Pittsburgh Penguins bandwagon.
William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CTV/TSN/Rogers Sportsnet are about to name their announcing assignments for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
Dan Lamothe from the Red Sox Monster blog on MassLive.com talks with three women involved with the great Sexy Sox Girls website.
That will do it for now.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tuesday Evening Links
I've been having trouble with the computer tonight. Mostly memory issues, but I'm hoping that my computer will be able to get through them so I can give you a full update.
We begin with Newsday's Neil Best who notes in his blog that SNY's announcers got on Mets manager Willie Randolph who has issues with the regional sports network.
The New York Post's TV Sports blog also has comments from SNY's Keith Hernandez about Randolph's problems with SNY.
Paul Newberry of the AP writes that ESPN's Rick Sutcliffe returns to the booth Wednesday night after being diagnosed with colon cancer in spring training.
Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald writes that the Celtics outrated the Red Sox on Sunday.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says viewers in Big D watched the NBA Playoffs over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the NHL Western Conference Finals on Sunday.
The Sports Media Watch has the final ratings from the weekend. And the SMW says the NBA Playoffs are dominating the Cable Primetime Ratings.
CNBC's Darren Rovell writes that the Lakers and Spurs could find themselves scrambling for transport as their charter airline goes out of business at the end of this month. And Darren says while the NHL has its dream Stanley Cup Final, he wonders if it will translate to TV viewers.
Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says Yellowbook will sponsor TNT's NBA Playoffs online video player plus features that will be seen online and on the network.
Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says after reaching record low ratings last year, both the NBA and NHL are looking to rebound to bigger heights this season.
John Consoli of Mediaweek says ratings for the NBA on ABC and ESPN through the conference semifinals are up 28% and 27%, respectively. Consoli adds the ratings for the NBA on TNT are up 14%.
Beverly Keel of The Tennessean profiles Liz Allison, the widow of NASCAR driver Davey Allison, who now reports on the sport for a Nashville radio station.
Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun writes that CN8 will air high school lacrosse championship games on Wednesday.
Clifford Coonan of Variety writes that the Communist government in China will attempt to allow the world's media to cover the Summer Olympics in Beijing without restrictions.
The Portland (OR) Business Journal says FSN has signed a deal to show the Gorge Games, an adventure sports competition.
Fox Soccer Channel has signed a deal to show England's FA Cup in the US. Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News goes into detail on the new rights deal.
ESPN will have extensive coverage of Wednesday's Champions League final from Moscow.
ESPN Regional Television has announced the date of the new St. Petersburg Bowl pitting teams from Conference USA and the Big East.
Here's more reason to hate ESPN. The Gizmodo eletronics gadget blog says the Alleged Worldwide Leader is trying to control your TV through its "Ultimate Remote". David Carnoy of CNET takes a closer look at the ESPN remote and what makes it the ultimate.
That's going to do it for now.
Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks
MLB
Kansas City at Red Sox - FSN Kansas City/NESN, 7 p.m.
Baltimore at New York Yankees - MASN/YES, 7 p.m.
Seattle at Detroit - FSN Northwest/FSN Detroit, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Washington - Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/MASN2, 7 p.m.
Arizona at Florida - FSN Arizona, 7 p.m.
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh - FSN Wisconsin/FSN Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Cleveland at Chicago White Sox - STO/Comcast SportsNet Chicago, 8 p.m.
Texas at Minnesota - FSN Southwest/FSN North, 8 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Houston - WGN/FSN Houston, 8 p.m.
San Francisco at Colorado - Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/FSN Rocky Mountain, 8:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at Los Angeles Dodgers - FSN Ohio/FSN Prime Ticket, 10 p.m.
St. Louis at San Diego - FSN Midwest/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
NBA Eastern Conference Finals
Game 1/Detroit at Boston - ESPN, 8:30 p.m.
Entertainment
E:60 - ESPN, 7 p.m.
NCIS - CBS, 8 p.m.
Deadliest Catch - Discovery, 9 p.m.
Hell's Kitchen - Fox, 9:02 p.m.
Big Break: Ka'anapali - Golf Channel, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman - CBS, 11:35 p.m.
News
Kentucky and Oregon Primary Coverage - CNN/Fox News/MSNBC, 7 p.m.
NHL Stanley Cup Finals Schedule
This is the schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals beginning this Saturday.
Game 1/Pittsburgh at Detroit - Saturday, May 24, CBC/Versus, 8 p.m.
Game 2/Pittsburgh at Detroit - Monday, May 26, CBC/Versus, 8 p.m.
Game 3/Detroit at Pittsburgh - Wednesday, May 28, CBC/NBC, 8 p.m.
Game 4/Detroit at Pittsburgh - Saturday, May 30, CBC/NBC, 8 p.m.
* Game 5/Pittsburgh at Detroit - Monday, June 2, CBC/NBC, 8 p.m.
* Game 6/Detroit at Pittsburgh - Wednesday, June 4, CBC/NBC, 8 p.m.
* Game 7/Pittsburgh at Detroit - Saturday, June 7, CBC/NBC, 8 p.m.
* If necessary
All games will be heard on NHL Radio. The NHL Network will have a live edition of On the Fly from the arena starting at 6 p.m. ET.
NHL - Dallas vs. Detroit, Game 6 Highlights
Here are the highlights from Game 6 of Dallas-Detroit won by the Red Wings called by Mike Emrick on Versus.
Tuesday Stuff
I was out at a jobsite earlier today, but I'm back now. Let's get to the links.
USA Today's Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings of some of the weekend events.
Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch says Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby is one of the reasons why the NHL's ratings are up significantly this season.
Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says Hank Steinbrenner has a tendency to blow a lot of hot air, then backtrack.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that TNT's Charles Barkley has said he has paid off his gambling debt to a Las Vegas casino.
Newsday's Neil Best says Mets manager Willie Randolph is not a fan of SNY. And Neil picks up on an item from last night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC that the construction worker who allegedly buried a David Ortiz jersey in the new Yankee Stadium has buried something else in the concrete foundation. And Neil has the video of the Olbermann report. Then Neil talked with Keith about a creepy incident at Braves Field in Boston back in 1914. Neil says Jay-Z will represent the New Jersey Nets at the NBA Draft Lottery tonight.
Evan Weiner of the New York Sun says the NFL Network's survival is the top priority among the league's owners.
Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says Philadelphia Flyers TV voice Jim Jackson has been busy even though he could not call the just recently finished series with the Penguins.
Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says FSN's hiring of former Pirates pitcher Kent Tekulve for the postgame show is a big hit.
From the Washington Post, Leonard Shapiro asks the question "why" over the entire Spygate issue.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some ratings news from the city.
Jeffrey Flanagan from the Kansas City Star has a couple of media notes.
Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Journal writes that the Big 12 Conference has five football games scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend with four of them on ABC or FSN.
The Arizona Republic says the NHL's ratings appear to be turning a corner.
Dave Del Grande of the Oakland Tribune suggests that MLB spread out its interleague series instead of doing every series in one weekend.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the NBA's ratings on ABC, ESPN and TNT are going through the roof.
David Wilkerson of Marketwatch.com says ESPN is getting ready for ad growth.
Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website writes that ESPN's ratings in HDTV households are going through the roof.
ESPN's coverage of the French Open begins Sunday.
Sorry for the delay in getting these up. My talkative employee who never shuts up has prevented me from publishing today's links for an hour. My apologies. Updates later.
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Monday Night Update
There's a lot to get to including CBS naming the announcing team for the Elite XC mixed martial arts event it will carry later this month, plus a few other things. So let's get to them now.
First, Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website says Fox Sports Net plans to broadcast its entire lineup in HD by this time next year.
Newsday's Neil Best says NBC's roundtable discussion on horse racing at the Preakness was kind of a makeup for its lack of coverage of the Eight Belles tragedy at the Kentucky Derby. Neil also has a summary of how the Yankees, Mets and ESPN broadcast teams called the Carlos Delgado non-home run on Sunday night. And the big news from CBS is that Screamin' Gus Johnson will call the MMA event on May 31.
The Big Lead says it will live blog the event.
Let's go to the Sports Media Watch for a few things. First, Game 7 of the Cavs-Celtics gave ABC an 82% boost in the NBA's ratings from last year. That's 82%!! NBC continues to see increased ratings for the NHL. And overnight ratings for the Preakness Stakes were down from last year despite having Big Brown as the winner.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says NBC was a double winner with the NHL this weekend. John Consoli of Mediaweek tells us that NBC's NHL ratings were 14% higher over this same weekend last year.
Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable says WWE's Smackdown will debut on MyNetworkTV in October. Also John Eggerton of B&C says that the Ski Channel plans to launch in August.
Larry Barrett of Multichannel News writes that ION network will show programming from NFL Films and Madison Square Garden Network.
Ian over at the Sox & Dawgs blog is smitten with NESN's Heidi Watney as am I.
LC at the 38Cliches blog has a lecture for Celtics' radio voice Sean Grande.
That's going to do it for now.
Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks
MLB
Kansas City at Red Sox - FSN Kansas City/NESN, 7 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Houston - ESPN/Comcast SportsNet Chicago/FSN Houston, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Washington - Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/MASN, 7 p.m.
Texas at Minnesota - FSN Southwest/FSN North, 8 p.m.
San Francisco at Colorado - Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/FSN Rocky Mountain, 8:30 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Oakland - FSN Florida/Comcast SportsNet Bay Area Plus, 10 p.m.
St. Louis at San Diego - FSN Midwest/Cox 4, 10 p.m.
Cincinnati at Los Angeles Dodgers - FSN Ohio/FSN Prime Ticket, 10 p.m.
Baseball Tonight - ESPN, 10 p.m.
NBA Playoffs
Game 7/San Antonio at New Orleans - TNT, 8:30 p.m.
NHL Playoffs
Game 6/Detroit at Dallas - CBC/Versus, 8 p.m.
Entertainment
Bones - Fox, 8 p.m.
How I Met Your Mother - CBS, 8:30 p.m.
Two and a Half Men - CBS, 9 p.m.
House - Fox, 9 p.m.
Dateline NBC, 9:28 p.m.
The Late Show with David Letterman - CBS, 11:35 p.m.
NHL Highlights - Philadelphia-Pittsburgh, Game 5
These are highlights from yesterday's Game 5 clincher of the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh series in which the Penguins closed out, 6-0. Mike Emrick had the call on NBC.
Monday Morning Stuffage
Let's give you the links for this back to work Monday.
By the way, I've added two new sites to my blogroll. One is called "Lina in Lancaster" and the other is "The Traveling Food Critic". Both are run by my cousin so I ask that you click on the links, visit both sites and tell her you like her blogs. Neither have anything to do with sports, but because she's family, I ask that you give her a few clicks to run up her hit count. I thank you and my cousin thanks you. And tell her you came over from Fang's Bites
Our first media-related link is from David Scott from Boston Sports Media Watch. He has the winners and losers from the whole John Tomase/Spygate affair.
Michael McCarthy of USA Today says he's sick of Spygate, but he wouldn't mind seeing Patriots coach Bill Belichick testify in front of Congress. And Mike mentions that Fang's Bites fave Charissa Thompson of FSN gets more face time on Best Damn Sports Show Period, plus she's going to be a sideline reporter for the NFL on Fox. More of Charissa is good for the public. And let me say that I was one of the first blogs to jump on the Charissa bandwagon.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says fans who went to the rained Mets-Yankees game on Friday got soaked, literally and figuratively.
Neil Best of Newsday writes that after working for TSN at the World Hockey Championships, Pierre McGuire will return to NBC for the Stanley Cup Finals.
Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union wonders why networks don't disclose that they're showing taped coverage of golf. And Pete says umpires blew a home run call in last night's Mets-Yankees game and so did ESPN's Joe Morgan.
From WCBS radio, apparently Sports Director Jared Max noticed that ESPN showed stock footage of the Manhattan skyline during last night's Mets-Yankees game.
Ray Frager from the Baltimore Sun reviews NBC's coverage of the Preakness Stakes. And Ray has some more thoughts in his blog.
Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says NBC rebounded in the Preakness after dropping the ball in the Kentucky Derby. And Jim ' in his Watch This! blog.
Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times also says NBC did well on Saturday in his weekly Shooting From the Lip post in his blog.
From the Eye on Sports Media blog, Christopher Byrne says a horse breeder he talked to won't watch competitive horse racing.
CNBC's Darren Rovell wonders if the owners of Big Brown didn't leave some money on the table for the horse's breeding rights.
Friend of Fang's Bites, Maury Brown, writes in the Biz of Hockey blog that the International Ice Hockey Federation has voted the 1980 Miracle on Ice as the top hockey story in the last 100 years. That's really a no brainer. In his Biz of Baseball blog, Maury has the comments made by TBS' Skip Carey and Ron Darling in Sunday's Brewers-Red Sox game.
Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News says a local sports radio station is ending a simulcast that will leave listeners outside of Denver without access.
Jack Bogacyzk from the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail says the West Virginia-Pittsburgh game will get some national exposure on ABC this Thanksgiving weekend.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says CBS College Sports will be on Cablevision systems come this July.
Crain's Business Detroit says FSN garnered slightly higher ratings for the Red Wings from last year.
Lots of good stuff on this Monday. I'll be back later with an update.
