ESPN announced yesterday that they have signed a multi-year deal to broadcast New England Patriots games on ESPN Radio outside of the New England market. The Patriots radio network flag-shipped by 98.5 The SportsHub will still have exclusive rights in this market, but Patriots fans who live outside of New England will get more opportunities to hear the Patriots on the radio.
Similar deals have been signed with the New York Giants, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins by ESPN Radio.
ESPN NFL analysts Herm Edwards, Bill Polian and Damien Woody will each work several of ESPN Radio’s national broadcasts. Additional commentators and the complete schedule will be announced at a later date.
Remy Ailing
NESN announced yesterday that Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy is suffering from seasonal allergies and will miss the next few games. Remy himself tweeted yesterday to assure fans “have no fear-that’s all that it is.”
Dennis Eckersley filled in on the broadcast last night, and will also be in the booth on Friday night when the Red Sox travel to New York to take on the Yankees. WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford will fill in tonight and tomorrow night in Philadelphia.
CSNNE, Celtics hold Boston Strong Auction (Last Day Is Today)
Comcast SportsNet, NECN and Boston Celtics are joining to auction 10 tickets in the Comcast SportsNet luxury suite to the Boston Strong concert on May 30, 2013 at the TD Garden. Night would include 10 tickets to the concert plus complimentary food and beverage.
The Boston Strong concert features performances from legendary Boston recording artists Aerosmith, Boston, J Geils Band, New Kids on the Block, and James Taylor; major recording acts Jason Aldean, Jimmy Buffett, Dane Cook, Extreme, Godsmack, and Carole King; and Boston comedians Dane Cook and Steven Wright.
To enter the auction, visit www.celtics.com.
The auction ends at 5:00pm today, Opening auction bid: $2,500
All proceeds from this auction will benefit the Richard Family Fund, c/o the St. Mark’s Area Main Street, 1914 Dorchester Ave. Dorchester, MA 02124. Visit Richardfamilyfund.org for details on the fund.
WEEI Offering “Ultimate Fenway Experience”
WEEI is giving people a chance to have the “Ultimate Fenway Experience” while helping the Pan-Mass Challenge. The prize includes four dugout seats to the June 19th game, a tour of the park including on-field access during batting practice, dinner for four at the EMC club, and a tour of the WEEI broadcast booth. Raffle tickets are only $2.00 each, and can be purchased here.
The drawing will be held on May 31st.
Get To Know Salk
The Boston Magazine website has an interview with WEEI afternoon host Mike Salk. He explains his philosophy on sports talk:
I don’t typically have the same opinion as the majority of people. I don’t view myself as a contrarian, and I never take a position just to argue it, but I think it just kind of happens. You don’t need to take a false position just to generate controversy. I don’t like that. You’re trying to relate to listeners and have a conversation with them that is something that you might have with your buddies at a bar. Adding an intellectual take on it is what I think makes it fun. Hopefully you say, “Oh, I never really thought about it that way.”
I’d like to see this show succeed, but the early returns haven’t been good.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
One thing about the Boston sports media, you can set your clocks by them. Here we go again with more columns,tweets and long winded opinions about a former player coming back in a different uniform and GASP!! getting booed! ( Papelbon)….
I know it’s an easy (lazy?) column and most of the “outrage’ is probably fake and contrived but still. When a former player comes back, no matter who it is, 99.9% of the time he’ll get booed (Ray Bourque might be the lone exception)….it’s just a way to bust the players chops. It DOESN’T mean the fans “hate” the player. It doesn’t mean the fans have forgotten what the player did for the team if it was a player like Vinatieri or Damon. It’s simple ball busting, nothing more, nothing less.
When these types of players come back for some anniversary celebration they’ll be showered with cheers. So all you media hacks can dismount your high horses.
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In some cases, it can also mean the fans are still afraid of him. Pap’s still pretty good, and these games actually mean something in the standings for Boston (as opposed to, say, the post-Borque Bruins. I’m also tempted to think of the Garden serenading Kobe with M-V-P chants). For my part, I’m disappointed the Sox couldn’t keep him, but he was pretty honest: he wanted the money. (There seemed to be some pretty bad blood there too, which was mostly papered over in public.) I wasn’t happy the Fenway fans booed him, but I wasn’t exactly shocked.
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I really want to like Mike Salk. I think he is talented and could do well in this market. I just wonder if having Holley sort of forced on him is what is dragging the show down. I am a big fan of MH but think maybe back to Middays might be the best move for him.
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Salk’s diction–not what he says, but specifically how he says it–bugs the crap out of me. He’s got an unemphatic, verbal-diarrhea kind of delivery, just like Mike Greenberg on ESPN. Listening to him talk makes me think more of a mosquito buzzing around my ear than of someone trying to make a point. And someone who thinks that not only is Rush the best band ever, but that Sammy Hagar was probably a better lead singer than Roth for Van Halen, most likely doesn’t have any other opinions worth hearing anyway.
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I totally agree PS. Even though it was time for a change with Ordway, Holley was exposed on the Big Show, he couldn’t keep up with Glenn’s knowledge and conversation flow, and the same thing is happening with Salk. Salk is smart and quick but Holley slows the show down and digresses too much which kills the flow on the show (happened with Glenn as i said earlier). It worked with Dale because both are so VANILLA, even it was a good show. But this is drivetime and he can’t handle in my opinion. They should take a look at Holley and not Salk as far as the weak link.
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“I’d like to see this show succeed, but the early returns haven’t been good.”
Bruce, have you done a review/editorial on S+H yet? Looking on other boards, there seemed to be a similar “ehh, but” reaction to the show. This has not changed and they clearly didn’t get a “Sox bump”, even with the team doing well. We have had a few discussions here on it, but I can’t say that there has been much in the past month. I’ve tuned in as the Bruins have progressed to hear Jack Edwards but the rest of the show seems to be the same as the first impressions. The gist of the “problems” seemed to focus on Holley being the weak link. Besides some periodic shots at Felger, there seems to be “no buzz” around the show. What’s said online might have no correlation to actual ratings but I’m getting the impression that if they have not made a dent by now, they won’t change.
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Semi-media matter: Something tells me that Dane Cook became a pretty unpopular person here last night.
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