Boston Sports Media Watch

Ken from Fang’s Bites here again. I figured I would give you a new post during the weekend. I listed this on my blog, but this applies more to BSMW.

The Boston/New England Emmy Awards were handed out Saturday night at the Marriot Copley Place Hotel in Boston.

I am going to list the winners in the sports category. For those who want to find the complete list of winners in Newscast, Spot News and other categories, you can go the Boston/New England Emmy website.

NESN won four Boston/New England Emmys, but Comcast SportsNet got the big prize of Best Live Sporting Event winning for its production of the Boston Celtics.

Here are the winners:

Sports Series - Sox Appeal - NESN (This I just don’t understand)
Sporting Event/Game-Live/Unedited - Boston Celtics Basketball - Comcast SportsNet
Sports One-Time Special - Champions Again: The Story of the 2007 Boston Red Sox - NESN/Major League Baseball Productions
Sports Feature/Segment - UConn’s Little Fan - WTNH, New Haven, CT
Editor Program - Red Sox Report Composite; 2007 Season in Review - NESN/Red Sox Productions
Graphic Arts Program - Boston Bruins Open 2007 - NESN
On Camera Talent Reporter-Sports - John Holt - WFSB, Hartford, CT (over Tina Cervasio???)
News Specialty Report Sports News - Street Stories: Backyard Wiffleball - WPRI, Providence, RI

Again, the entire list can be seen over at Boston Emmyonline.org.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day.

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Ken from the Fang’s Bites blog here once again with your Friday Media Megalinks. Unlike last week which focused on the Kentucky Derby, there isn’t much of an underlying theme in the links. So, let’s get to them. As usual, it’s another busy weekend for viewing.

Weekend Viewing Picks

The Celtics-Cavs series shifts to Cleveland this weekend. Game 3 is going to be in primetime on Saturday and ABC will pick it up. Locally, WCVB, WMUR and ABC6 in Providence will carry the game starting at 8. And the other Eastern Conference semifinals will be held on Saturday as Game 4 of the Detroit-Orlando series will be seen on ESPN at 5 p.m. On Sunday, both Western Confernce semifinals will be seen. ABC has Game 4 of the Lakers-Jazz series at 3:30 p.m. while TNT takes Game 4 of the Hornets-Spurs series Sunday night at 8.

The Red Sox travel to Central Division leading Minnesota this weekend for a four game weekend wraparound series. NESN has coverage of Friday, Saturday and Monday. Tonight’s game is at 8, Saturday’s will be on the air at 7, Sunday is an ESPN game at 8 and Monday, also on ESPN goes on at 7.

Fox Sports has its usual slate of three regional baseball games Saturday afternoon at 3:55 and none of them will have the team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. The Yankees return to Fox as they travel to Detroit to challenge the Tigers, Milwaukee takes on St. Louis and the Cubs host Arizona. WGN will have the White Sox at Seattle Saturday at 10 p.m. and the D’backs-Cubs Sunday at 2:10 p.m. TBS will show Yankees-Detroit on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Over to the NHL, the Conference Finals will be in primetime. Versus and CBC have Game 2 of Dallas-Detroit on Saturday at 7, and both networks will carry Game 2 of Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Sunday at 7:30.

One of the bigger events for golf asides from the Majors is the Players Championship. Tiger Woods is not in the field and that could mean lower ratings for both the Golf Channel and NBC which are televising the tournament. The Golf Channel finishes its coverage on Friday, then NBC takes over Saturday and Sunday with coverage starting at 2 p.m. NBC Sports says it will have microphones placed around the famous 17th green at the TPC at Sawgrass to capture the splashes as the balls hit the water from the tee.

NASCAR has another Saturday night race. It’s at Darlington for the Dodge Challenger 500 at 7.

Qualifiying for the Indianapolis 500 takes place this weekend and ESPN2 and ABC will have coverage throughout the weekend.

Formula 1 travels to Istanbul, not Constantinople, for the Turkish Grand Prix and Speed will have the coverage, Sunday morning at 7:30.

And boxing fans can watch the fight for the WBC Super Lightweight title on Showtime at 10:45 p.m. Saturday.

The New England Revolution takes on CD Chivas on TV-38, Sunday at 3 p.m.

The entire slate of weekend sports coverage can be seen here.

To your links now.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand gives blog critics a lecture.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott has an update on the Gordon Edes vs. Boston Globe buyout story.

Paul Flannery of Boston Magazine’s Boston Daily Blog reports that the Boston Globe’s Marc Spears will take over the NBA beat from Peter May who took a buyout this year.

The Boston Globe’s Nancy Marrapese-Burrell says NESN’s Heidi Watney jumped at the chance to work in Boston.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times previews the new book by YES analyst Bobby Murcer.

Neil Best’s Friday column focuses on Yankees manager Joe Girardi’s growing pains in dealing with the New York media. And Neil has Yankees beat reporters talking about Girardi’s relationship with the media in his blog. Neil has a little more about this subject.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says WFAN’s Mike Francesca is no Oprah Winfrey.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels Mets manager Willie Randolph is being met with plenty of resistance from his players who have weekly radio interviews.

Ray Frager from the Baltimore Sun says NBC Sports will try to capture every splash at the 17th hole during the Players Championship this weekend.

West

John Maffei from the North County Times says Padres fans are venting about the team’s bad start on the radio postgame show.

The Ventura County Star’s Jim Carlisle is excited about HBO/NFL Films returning to nearby Oxnard to shoot this year’s Hard Knocks program at Dallas Cowboys training camp.

In the Sound and Vision column in today’s Los Angeles Times, Larry Stewart says the widow of the late Voice of the Lakers Chick Hearn says he would have loved to see his former team in the NBA playoffs this season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has put his media column and notes on his Farther Off the Wall blog. And here are some additional notes from Hoffarth.

South

Doug Nye from The State in Columbia, SC says TV viewers don’t know how good they have things these days.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports that sports radio talker The Ticket beat rival WQAM in the winter Arbitron ratings.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel lists his favorite ten sports-themed Seinfeld episodes.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Rockets are now on hunt for a new radio announcing team.

Ray Buck in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the four overtime Game 6 between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks this past Sunday night into Monday morning made for a long day for the FSN Southwest crew.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman has a bunch of stories today. He first writes that sportscaster and former Oklahoma U. QB (and New England Patriot) Jack Mildren is undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. Mel says sports radio talk show host Jim Traber is combative despite undergoing colon surgery two months ago. In his notebook, Mel writes about the ESPN documentary on former Mets manager Bobby Valentine. And finally, Mel has his viewing picks.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says legendary Hockey Night in Canada voice Bob Cole plans to continue working even as he goes into his upper 70’s.

The Vancouver Sun has a blurb on Don Cherry’s appearance on NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s show on XM Satellite Radio yesterday.

Midwest

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune writes that Robin Ventura will pinch-hit for Steve Stone on the White Sox radio broadcasts this weekend. Teddy has his five weekend viewing picks.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ratings for the NBA Playoffs could not be any better this season.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says a local radio station will air a local road race this weekend.

Judd Zulgad from the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that a local TV sports anchor (from a CBS-owned station) has no plans to leave despite seeing cutbacks all around his newsroom.

From the Rochester Post-Bulletin, Paul Christian writes that the island green at the TPC Sawgrass is one of the most famous golf holes in the world.

The Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan says FSN had good ratings for the Royals even with a rainout (scroll down).

Blogs

Joe Favorito’s public relations and sports marketing blog says giving a reporter access is very important to brand imaging and bringing a story to a wider audience.

The 38Cliches blog feels Jon Rish did a good job filling in for Dave O’Brien on the Red Sox-Detroit game on Wednesday.

The Sports Media Watch says the Rangers-Penguins series ended too quickly for Versus and NBC.

Michael Senno of the Biz of Hockey reports that Don Cherry makes his ESPN debut tonight.

Awful Announcing has the full video of the Rangers-Mariners brawl last night including the section where FSN Southwest’s Tom Grieve blasts Richie Sexson for charging the mound.

If you’re a Lost fan like I am, the Big Lead has some good Easter Eggs from last night’s episode.

That’s it. Enjoy your weekend.

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You may have heard this article talked about on the Dale & Holley show this morning, but I think it’s worthy of mention and discussion here as well.

Dan Pompei in the Chicago Tribune tells readers it is time to forget Spygate and remember how good that Bill Belichick really is. He tells us that while the black hat does fit Belichick well, he adds:

On the day before the most recent Super Bowl, the Boston Herald ran a story stating a member of the team’s video department taped the Rams’ final walk-through on the day before the 2002 Super Bowl.

Matt Walsh, the former video assistant for the Patriots who was negotiating with the league about information he claimed to have regarding the tapings, did not deny the allegation. And the controversy was fueled by grandstanding U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

With the way it’s starting to look, that black hat fits Specter, Walsh and the Herald better than it fits Belichick.

After issuing criticism of Walsh and Specter, he then has the following to say about the Boston Herald:

The Herald meanwhile, bit on a story that more responsible media outlets did not. The Herald was not the only outlet that had the information it printed Feb. 2, the day before the Super Bowl, but they were the only outlet that deemed the story solid enough to print.

It’s now starting to filter out that other media outlets got the same information that John Tomase did, but they didn’t run with it.

They’re not absolved of blame, however, because as we know, they all certainly jumped on the story and ran with it once the Herald published it. They no longer had to worry about whether the information was shoddy or not, they could just state “The Boston Herald reports that…” and go merrily along their way of speculating that the tape of the Rams walkthrough might be out there and what it could mean if Walsh turned it in to the league.

Pompei closes by saying “Belichick’s reputation won’t be sullied by this affair as much as the reputations of some others.”

“Some others” includes not only Walsh, Specter and the Herald, but most of the sports media at large.

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Ken from Fang’s Bites back with you with the Friday media megalinks.

Don’t forget to vote in the latest Approval Ratings which today focuses on 7NBC’s Joe Amorosino.

Before we do the links, let’s go over the weekend viewing.

Weekend Viewing Picks

The 134th running of the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, will be run in its traditional first Saturday in May slot. NBC Sports will have live coverage from Churchill Downs in Louisville. The announcing crew will include blog hater Bob Costas, Tom Hammond, Gary Stevens, Tom Durkin, Bob Neumeier and a cast of thousands. One of the worst ideas ever, a red carpet show hosted by Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush will begin NBC’s coverage at 4 p.m. The race will be run sometime after 6 p.m. ESPN will have coverage of the racing undercard beginning at noon ET. If you can’t be near a TV, ESPN Radio has coverage and Sirius Satellite Radio picks up the Run for the Roses on channel 120. ESPN Radio 890 will have a show hosted by Adam Jones live from Suffolk Downs tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. with the Kentucky Derby broadcast hosted by Brent Musberger at 5.

Oscar De La Hoya will be fighting once again on Saturday. He’ll fight a former “Contender” contestant, Steve Forbes, live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing Saturday night at 10 p.m. Jim Lampley, Emanuel Steward and Larry Merchant will have the call.

The NBA Playoffs continues this weekend. The Celtics try to close out their series with the Hawks tonight at the Phillips Arena. Comcast SportsNet has the game at 8. Approval ratings leader Mike Gorman, Donny Marshall and Greg Dickerson will have the call. TNT will have a Saturday night doubleheader as Detroit takes on Orlando at 7:30 and San Antonio visits New Orleans at 10 p.m.

In the NHL, Versus has coverage of Game 5 of the Philadelphia-Montreal series Saturday night at 7:30. NBC will have Game 5 of the New York Rangers-Pittsburgh series Sunday at 2 p.m. Any other playoff games this weekend depends on tonight’s action.

Baseball continues into its second month of action. The Red Sox hope to avenge last weekend’s sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays. NESN has all three games of the series, tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Fox Sports has its usual three games on Saturday which includes the rivalry game of the Chicago Cubs at St. Louis. On Sunday, WGN will have the Chicago White Sox at Toronto at 1 p.m., TBS carries the New York Mets at Arizona at 4 p.m. and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball has the Cubs-Cards at 8:05.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series is in Richmond, VA for the Dan Lowry 400. Fox has it at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The PGA Tour’s Wachovia Championship will be on CBS Sports Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.

And the New England Revolution host Chicago this Saturday night at 7:30 on TV-38.

If you want to check out the national sports listings, head on over to USA Today.

Now to your links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the red carpet may become a staple of live sports coverage.

Now we’ll go to the links across the country.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch tries to clean up the Buzz Bissinger mess on Costas Now and the Yahoo blogging mess.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe writes that there will be plenty of Access at the Kentucky Derby.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels the New York Lottery is playing games. Mike Puma of the Post writes about YES analyst Bobby Murcer returning to the broadcast booth tonight.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News writes that Yankees manager Joe Girardi is not showing a prowess with the media.

Neil Best in today’s Newsday covers a bunch of subjects in today’s column including the Costas Now program, MLB showing vintage games on its new MLB Network, media speculation involving the Yankees’ Phillip Hughes and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. In his blog, Neil says ESPN Classic will run a bunch of sports documentaries this weekend. And Neil links to video of Howard Cosell interviewing Mickey Mantle.

Ray Frager from the Baltimore Sun talks about the Kentucky Derby on NBC and how MASN will pick up some minor league baseball games this summer.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says hockey is finally making waves in the TV ratings. And in his blog, Tim makes excellent points on the Buzz Bissinger fiasco on Costas Now.

Midwest

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says Big Brown is the talk of the Kentucky Derby.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune has a bunch of subjects in his column including White Sox players who want to buy the microphone in which Lee Elia made his now-famous tirade.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the Costas Now segment in which Buzz Bissinger came out swinging.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says the NHL and NBA playoffs are just plain good TV.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin talks with NBC Sports’ horse racing handicapper Mike Battaglia about Big Brown’s chances in the Kentucky Derby.

Judd Zulgad in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune says KSTP-TV is looking to go in a different direction as its main sports anchor is leaving.

South

Doug Nye of The State wonders when the NCAA will turn to a college football playoff.

From the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson writes that the media is dancing around the Bill Parcells/Jason Taylor situation.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel talks about the Kentucky Derby on NBC Sports.

Ray Buck from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the NFL Network has closed the gap on ESPN on NFL Draft coverage.

Mel Bracht of the Oklahoman says ESPN/ABC NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy is liking his job more and more. Mel has his media notebook which includes the Sports Emmys. And Mel has his viewing picks.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News wonders why TV networks forget about the Mountain Time Zone.

John Maffei in the North County Times says ESPN and NBC are taking different approaches to their Kentucky Derby broadcasts.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star discusses NBC’s coverage of the Run for the Roses.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times has Vin Scully clarifying his retirement comments. John Scheibe has the Sound and Vision column.

Tom Hoffarth from the LA Daily News says Oscar De La Hoya wants to put boxing back on free TV. It would definitely help the sport. Tom has his extensive media notes in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about the Bissinger blasts on Costas Now.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has stuff on an anchor at The Score.

Blogs

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog looks into the possible impropriety of a U.S. Marshal arranging limo service for Fox Sports at the 2007 World Series.

Joe Favorito in his Sports Marketing and Public Relations blog says the Arena Football League is a marketing success.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with super agent David Falk. And Darren talks about the packaging of Under Armour shoes.

That’s it. Enjoy your weekend.

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Tomorrow night, HBO will present a special 90-minute edition of Costas Now, which will focus on sports and the media. HBO Sports President Russ Greenberg says “On April 29 we’re going to take stock of the sports media landscape.” The format will be a Town Hall style discussion. At the end of the ninety minute broadcast, the media is expected to blame bloggers, and then fans in general, for any problems identified by the panels. The show will air at 10:00pm (ET) tomorrow night, and will consist of the following five segments:

Segment One: Sports Talk Radio. Video package interviews: Chicago radio host Mike North, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, WFAN radio hosts Mike & The Mad Dog. Live Panel: NY Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, best selling author and radio host Mitch Albom and WFAN radio host Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo.

Segment Two: The Internet and Impact of Bloggers. Video package interviews: deadspin.com editor Will Leitch, TV writer and media critic Michael Schur and Washington Post columnist and PTI host Michael Wilbon. Live panel: Pulitzer Prize winning author Buzz Bissinger, Will Leitch and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards.

Segment Three: Sports Television. Video package interviews: NBC Sports broadcaster Al Michaels, former ABC and NBC executive and producer Don Ohlmeyer, syndicated columnist Norman Chad. Live panel: Fox Sports broadcaster Joe Buck, ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico and Sports Illustrated’s Dan Patrick.

Segment Four: Athletes and the Media: A Complicated Marriage. Video package interviews: Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, Former NBA star and Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley, Chicago columnist Sam Smith and NBC Sports broadcaster Al Michaels. Live panel: NBC’s Tiki Barber, Sports Illustrated columnist Selena Roberts and former tennis star and current tennis analyst John McEnroe.

Segment Five: A Discussion on Race. Video package interviews: Washington Post columnist and PTI host Michael Wilbon, former NFL star Kellen Winslow, Sr., espn.com editor-in-chief Rob King. Live Panel: former NFL star and current ESPN commentator Cris Carter and Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock.

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Ken from the Fang’s Bites blog here again with your Friday media megalinks.

Don’t forget to vote in the latest Approval Ratings poll which involves WBZ-TV’s Steve Burton.

And Bruce has a very good entry on an erroneous blog post made by “Who’s Better Making a Blog Error Than” Butchie Stearns.

Let’s get to the links.

Viewing Picks

The NFL Draft is the Viewing Pick of the weekend. Both ESPN and the NFL Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the Draft starting Saturday at 3 p.m. and continuing through Sunday. This year’s draft is starting later, but there will be less time in-between picks so the first round should go quicker than the unbelievably long six hours of last year. Both ESPN and the NFL Network will have a four hour pre-draft show at 11 a.m. Chris Berman, Mel Kiper, Jr., Swampscott’s Todd McShay and Steve Young will be among the hundreds of analysts who will be seen on the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Rich Eisen anchors the coverage for the NFL Network.

Both the NBA and NHL Playoffs are in full swing. The NHL has just begun the Conference Semifinals while the NBA is still in the midst of the first round. NBC will have Game 2 of the Detroit-Colorado series on Saturday with the New York Rangers visiting Pittsburgh on Sunday. Versus will carry Philadelphia at Montreal on Saturday night and Dallas at San Jose on Sunday.

The Celtics are back in action after another two day layoff. Comcast SportsNet will carry Game 3 of its series against Atlanta at 8 p.m. Saturday. ABC, ESPN and TNT will all have coverage of the NBA playoffs this weekend.

The Red Sox are in Tampa to take on the Rays (don’t call them the Devil Rays anymore). NESN has all of the games this weekend. Fox has its usual regionalized coverage of Major League Baseball on Saturday featuring the Yankees at Cleveland. WGN carries the White Sox hosting Baltimore, Saturday night and the Cubs at Washington on Sunday afternoon. TBS’ Sunday Afternoon Baseball will cover the Yankees-Cleveland and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball will be in Detroit to cover the Angels-Tigers at 8:05 p.m.

Motor racing fans will have plenty of stuff to watch this weekend. The Formula 1 circuit will be in Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix. The Speed Channel will pick up that race at 7:30 a.m., Sunday.

The Indy Racing League will be in Kansas City for the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m Sunday.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention NASCAR. The Nationwide Series’ Aaron’s 312 airs on ABC Saturday at 3 p.m. The Sprint Cup Series’ Aaron’s 499 airs on Fox Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

The PGA Tour is in Irving, TX for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Golf Channel has the 2nd round coverage at 3 p.m. today. CBS picks up coverage on Saturday at 3 p.m.

For those of you who care, the New England Revolution will be on TV-38 Saturday night against the Chicago Fire.

The entire sports TV listings can be seen at USA Today.

Now let’s get to your links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks about the NFL Draft having its own language.

Now I’ll start in the East, then go west, then fill in the country in the middle.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch reports that the Boston Globe is playing hardball with Gordon Edes’ buyout application.

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe has a column remembering legendary sports anchor Don Gillis who called play-by-play for just about every sports team in Boston during his career. Gillis died this week at the age of 85. Martin Pave of the Globe looks back at Gillis’ long career.

Also from the Globe, Nancy Marrapese-Burrell talks with Boston Celtics’ TV voice Mike Gorman about calling the playoffs.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says Harold Reynolds gets to reunite with his old college roommate, Mets’ GM Omar Minaya. H.R. was hired yesterday to work as a studio analyst during selected Mets games on SNY.

Newsday’s Neil Best also writes about Reynolds going to SNY and briefly goes into HR’s wrongful termination lawsuit against ESPN that was settled last week. In his blog, Neil talks more about Harold. Neil also expands on another item in his Friday column which was about the increased ratings for Versus for the NHL playoffs.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post reviews some of the things that irritated him on TV and Radio this week. Mushnick reports that Harold Reynolds will start his new gig at SNY tonight. The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with YES Network’s David Cone about the Yankees’ struggling starting pitcher Ian Kennedy. And Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about the NFL Draft.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says the NFL Draft will be covered gavel-to-gavel this weekend.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner talks with ESPN’s Floyd Reese about what goes on in an NFL Draft War Room.

West

From the Deseret (UT) Morning News, Scott D. Pierce says if the Utah Jazz reach the NBA’s Western Conference semifinals, fans will have to be prepared not to watch the games on KJZZ-TV.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jay Posner says less will be more in the NFL Draft telecasts on ESPN and the NFL Network this year. Posner has two recommendations for sports viewing this weekend. And Jay has the ratings from San Diego last weekend.

Interesting that the North County Times’ John Maffei also goes into the “less is more” theme in his column about the NFL Draft on ESPN.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes about a new NBC Sports special which will show some of its archival material on Sunday. It’s probably worth TiVoing.

John Scheibe of the Los Angeles Times also does the “less is more” thing talking about the NFL Draft coverage in the Sound and Vision column.

From the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth also discusses the NFL Draft on ESPN. Hoffarth also has his media notes in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

Midwest

Over to the Akron Beacon Journal, George M. Thomas says the NFL Draft rules the viewing weekend.

Mark Curnutte of the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with ESPN’s Merril Hoge who will be involved in the NFL Draft coverage for the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley says once the NFL Draft is over, look out for Snap Judgment Monday.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press writes that the NFL Draft may be shorter, but there will still be plenty of time for analysis.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is happy to see less talk at the NFL Draft.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that the NFL Draft has become a made-for-TV event.

Heading over to the Chicago Tribune, Teddy Greenstein talks to the reporters who were on hand for the infamous meltdown by Cubs manager Lee Elia some 25 years ago. And Teddy has his weekend viewing picks.

The Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan talks with former Royals second baseman Frank White who will make his FSN debut tonight. And Jeffrey posts a rather large picture of Wendi Nix in his story as she’ll be covering the Chiefs for ESPN during the NFL Draft.

South

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN plans faster coverage for the NFL Draft. Mel’s notebook includes the discussion of Bob Costas’ live show next Tuesday on HBO. And Mel tells us what to watch this weekend.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram hopes that mental illness will not scare NFL teams from drafting Texas Christian Defensive End Tommy Blake whose story has been the subject of an E:60 profile.

Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle talks with Rockets broadcasters Jim Foley and Gene Peterson who will both retire at the end of the season.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel writes about the live Town Hall meeting Bob Costas will conduct on HBO next Tuesday.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says the NFL Draft plans to pick up the pace this year.

But despite the NFL Draft dominating the weekend, Doug Nye of The State says the NBA playoffs provide more excitement.

Canada

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment wants to expand its programming.

Blogs

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks at some of his favorite college football trading cards.

The Big Lead has the video of WFAN’s Mike Francesca’s non-reaction to David Letterman’s comments about him when partner Chris Russo appeared on the Late Show earlier this week.

Awful Announcing says Tom Hammond and Chris Collinsworth are the voices of the new Madden ‘09 video game which the blog says pretty much confirms them as the new NFL Network announcing team.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Basketball blog reports on the excellent ratings for TNT during the NBA playoffs.

That’s it for this week. I’ll be back with the media links again next Friday.

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Boston is mourning the loss of a TV sportscasting legend today with the passing of former channel 5 sports anchor Don Gillis. Gillis was 85 years old.

In the 1950’s, Gillis worked with Curt Gowdy on the Red Sox radio broadcasts at WHDH. He also hosted a weekly sports radio program with writers from the Boston Herald Traveler and other personalities.

On the television side, he was the first anchor in Boston to do a sportscast, starting in 1962. He was also the long time host of candlepin bowling programs on the station right up until 1995.

He was also the father of former channel 7 sportscaster Gary Gillis.

WCVB report: Don Gillis, Dean Of Boston TV Sports, Dies

Video

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Ken from the Fang’s Bites blog here with the Friday media links. My apologies for being so late. I was away from the office during the morning and then swamped with work. It happens sometimes. But the links are here and you can peruse them throughout the weekend.

This weekend, the NBA Playoffs begin and the NHL Playoffs continue. Baseball concludes its third weekend of play. The PGA Tour chugs into Hilton Head, South Carolina without Tiger Woods while NASCAR goes to Mexico for the Nationwide Series.

ESPN and ABC kick off the NBA Playoffs with four games on Saturday. Then TNT and ABC will combine for four more games on Sunday. The Celtics series with Atlanta tips off on Sunday night. Comcast SportsNet and TNT will both have coverage at 8:30 p.m. Mike Gorman, Tommy Heinsohn and Bob Cousy will have the call from courtside at the Garden.

NBC Sports will carry two NHL games this weekend, Game 5 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Washington Capitals series on Saturday, then Game 6 of the Detroit-Nashville series on Sunday. Versus will also carry games throughout the weekend. For Bruins fans, NESN will put Game 6 of the B’s-Canadiens series from the Garden on Saturday in HD and if the game goes to a 7th game on Monday, that game will also be in HD. NESN will have the game starting at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Red Sox take on the Texas Rangers in a weekend wraparound series. Having already won on Friday, the Sox hope to continue their winning ways against the Rangers. NESN will have coverage of all games including the one on Patriots’ Day at the traditional time of 11 a.m. Fox Sports’ Saturday Baseball Game of the Week will have coverage of three games, Mets at Phillies, Cleveland at Minnesota and Dodgers at Braves starting at 3:55 p.m. TBS will goes back to its roots by showing Dodgers-Braves, Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball will have Mets at Phillies at 8:05 p.m.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series takes the weekend off, but the Nationwide Series stops in Mexico City for the Corona Mexico 200 which will be seen on ESPN this Sunday at 2 p.m.

The PGA Tour’s Verizon Heritage Open will be on CBS on Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. CBS also has coverage of the LPGA Ginn Open both days starting at 1 p.m.

HBO’s World Championship Boxing has a Light Heavyweight Bout with Bernard Hopkins taking on Joe Calzaghe live from Las Vegas, Saturday night at 9:45.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour will be in Charleston, South Carolina for the Family Circle Cup which ESPN2 will carry this Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Boston Marathon will be run Monday. With economic realities setting in, only WBZ-TV will have live coverage of the race. WCVB has dropped out citing expenses. And it marks the final time we’ll see Bob Lobel live from the finish line. WBZ will start its coverage at 8 a.m. Monday and will stream its coverage on its website starting at 9 a.m. Versus will start its live coverage at 9:30 a.m. and WCSN.com will also have a live stream of the Marathon for free.

The complete listing of sporting events and times can be seen at USA Today’s Sports on TV page.

I’ll start with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand as usual. He writes about CBS College Sports getting involved in competitive eating.

Now I’ll start in the East and Mid-Atlantic Regions.

East and Mid-Atlantic

David Scott of the Boston Sports Media Watch wonders when NESN will finally make its decision to replace Tina Cervasio. The season is almost three weeks old and so far, no sideline reporter in place for Red Sox games.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Bill Doyle has some quotes from TNT’s Charles Barkley in advance of the NBA Playoffs.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says a player like Sean Avery (?) is good for the National Hockey League.

Neil Best of Newsday writes that despite the New York Knicks not making the NBA playoffs, they’re still making an impact from the broadcast booth. Neil notes in his blog that two SNY shows predicted the Mets sweep of Washington this week. Also, Neil says the visit of Pope Benedict will push the Detroit-Nashville NHL playoff game from WNBC-TV to its secondary digital channel.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick rips into ESPN’s Joe Morgan. Again. Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for former Yankees, Rangers and Diamondback manager and current ESPN MLB analyst Buck Showalter. And Justin talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley about the NBA playoffs.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks into the possible move of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.

Paul Vigna of the Philadelphia Daily News writes the Phillies have become the first sports team to sign up for a service to measure people’s listening habits.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says three of TNT’s NBA analysts do not agree when it comes to handing out their end of season awards. Frager advises you to blog at your own risk, especially if you’re a Washington Post reporter.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says it will be busy this weekend as the Orioles, Nationals, Capitals and Wizards will all be in action and on TV and mostly in HD.

Midwest

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says NBA TV analysts are not happy to see trash talking against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Charles Barkley’s forthright style on TNT irks some NBA players.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talks about the Big Ten Network getting into Spring Football on Saturday. The Tribune also has the audio of Hall of Fame Cincinnati Reds announcer Marty Brennaman ripping Cubs fans during the broadcast Friday. Dave Van Dyk of the Tribune gets Cubs manager Lou Piniella’s reaction which really wasn’t much of a reaction.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Judd Zulgad wishes announcers would stop harping on the referee and focus on the game.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin says get ready for an NBA postseason onslaught.

South

Doug Nye of The State informs his readers that college baseball outside of the SEC is not as popular as other college sports.

Barry Jackson writing in the Miami Herald has ABC/ESPN NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy wondering what’s wrong with the Heat.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel says TV viewers should be prepared for a lot of documentaries and movies in the next few months. Subscribers to ESPN the Magazine get ready to be yelled at. Shannon J. Owens of the Sentinel reports Steven A. Smith will be joining the ranks at the magazine.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says the Rockets turned things around and made their radio broadcasters happy.

Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN NBA analysts Van Gundy and Mark Jackson are split on the Dallas Mavericks’ fate in the playoffs.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has the opinions of various NBA TV analysts on the move of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City. Mel says the verdict is split on the Hornets-Mavericks series. And Mel has what to watch this weekend.

West

From the Deseret (UT) Morning News, Real Salt Lake, the MLS team, has signed an agreement with a local TV station to broadcast a package of regular season games. Scott D. Pierce says ESPN will look back at the 2002 Olympics Figure Skating judging scandal.

Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune talks with CBS’ Dick Enberg who has written a play about his college basketball broadcast partner and friend, the late Al McGuire. Jay Posner writes that the NBA is praying for a Celtics-Lakers final. In his media notebook, Posner says there’s no apparent end in sight in the NFL Network-Time Warner Cable dispute. Jay also has the ratings for San Diego from last weekend.

John Maffei of the North County Times says ESPN is jumping feet first into the movie business.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes it’s a good thing Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak decided not to trade Kobe Bryant in the offseason and it has led to higher ratings for the NBA and could lead to bigger things in the playoffs.

Larry Stewart of the Los Angeles Times says that TNT’s Charles Barkley is warning the Lakers not to look past the Denver Nuggets.

Tom Hoffarth’s media column in the Los Angeles Daily News also talks about the NBA wanting a Celtics-Lakers final for the ratings and media interest. Hoffarth has more stuff in his media notebook in his Farther Off the Wall blog. Tom also has an entry in which ESPN wants you to write a eulogy in case it ever bit the dust. I wouldn’t mind if ESPN bit the dust. Maybe this is ESPN trying to tell us something.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says the Houston Astros’ Miguel Tejada tried to take the high road during an ambush interview with ESPN’s E:60 news magazine. Ryan says Sharks’ TV announcer Randy Hahn had a good call of the Joe Thornton’s (remember him?) winning goal in Game 4 of its series with the Calgary Flames.

Canada

The Toronto Star’s Chris Zelkovich writes that Raptors analyst Jack Armstrong looks like he’ll be remaining on the team’s broadcasts even though the team is changing its TV home next season.

Sam Toman and Andrew Chin of the Toronto Globe and Mail write that three local hoops fans have gained an international following with their podcast.

Media Publications

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News says Yankees games are scoring for the YES Network.

John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that ratings for NBA regular season games on ESPN rose 14% from the year before.

Wayne Friedman of the Mediapost Publications wonders what impact NBC Sports veteran producer Michael Weisman will have on Comcast’s sports networks.

Brooks Boliek of the Hollywood Reporter says it’s round 2 for the NFL Network and Comcast.

Blogs

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders how much will the buried David Ortiz Red Sox jersey will fetch at auction.

Joe Favorito has the latest Public Relations Move of the Day in his sports marketing and PR blog.

The Big Lead talks about Will Purdue’s silly comments on blogs and Mike Greenberg defending them during the Mike & Mike in the Morning show on ESPN Radio.

Awful Announcing has the audio of TNT’s Charles Barkley criticizing ESPN’s E:60 ambush interview of Miguel Tejada on the Dan Patrick Show.

Other

From the “Rut ro!” Department, Selena Roberts and David Epstein of Sports Illustrated have found the man whom Jose Canseco calls “Max” in his new book and he does not corroborate any of Canseco’s claims.

Once again, my apologies for the tardiness of the links. I should be here with the links at its normal time next week. Enjoy your holiday weekend.

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Bruins fans will not like this news. NESN has announced that Game 5 of the Bruins-Canadiens series will be moved to its NESNplus channel. This means that the game will be seen in Standard Definition, not in sparking clear HD.

This means that game 2 of the Red Sox-Yankees series will be on NESN HD on Thursday night. While NESN had been moving Red Sox games during conflicts with the Bruins-Habs series, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry appears to take precedence.

Bruins fans in the BSMW forum are naturally up in arms over this and I can’t blame them. To find the NESNplus channel for your service provider, you can click here.

My sympathies to the Bruins fans.

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Ken here from the Fang’s Bites blog with your weekly Friday media megalinks.

This weekend’s sports TV viewing includes The Masters which will be in full swing. Saturday is traditionally known as Moving Day as the top contenders rise to the surface. As long as Tiger Woods makes the cut, he’ll be in the hunt for his 5th Green Jacket. Last year’s champion, Zach Johnson will try to become the first repeat winner since Tiger did it in 2002-03. ESPN has the 2nd round coverage today starting at 4 p.m. CBS will have weekend coverage, beginning Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET and 18 hole coverage on Sunday beginning at 2:30 p.m. Of course, there’s online coverage at Masters.org and CBSSports.com before CBS takes the air.

Baseball’s version of the Hatfields and McCoys resumes as the Yankees and Red Sox get together again. It’s a bit early for my tastes, but any time the two teams play, something always happens. NESN has tonight’s game at 7. Fox has the Saturday game going to 95% of the country starting at 3:55 p.m. and ESPN has the Sunday night game starting at 8:05 p.m. This means that Public Enemy No. 1, Tim McCarver will be here on Saturday and Public Enemy No. 2, Joe Morgan will be in the ESPN booth on Sunday.

The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs are in the midst of the first round or quarterfinals as it likes to say. Versus will be on top of things with coverage of Game 1 of the Washington-Philadelphia series tonight at 7. Then NBC will have Game 2 of the series on Sunday. On Saturday, NBC has Game 2 of Nashville-Detroit. NESN will have Montreal-Boston Saturday night. No conflicts to worry about Saturday so no talk of whether it will be in HD or in SD. That discussion on WEEI was a bit tedious on Thursday.

The NBA is making its playoff run. The Celtics are home tonight hosting Milwaukee at 7:30 tonight and visiting Atlanta tomorrow night at 7. Comcast SportsNet will have both games. ESPN2 carries Cleveland at Chicago tonight and ABC has a doubleheader Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

ESPN has the NCAA Men’s Hockey Championship between Boston College and Notre Dame, Saturday night at 7.

There’s boxing on both HBO and Showtime, Saturday night. World Championship Boxing on HBO has two welterweight championshp fights at 10 p.m.. And on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9 p.m., there will be two Light Heavyweight title bouts, one involving IBO Champion Antonio Tarver taking on IBF Champ Clinton Woods.

NASCAR is in Arizona this weekend. Fox Sports will have coverage of the Subway Fresh Fit 500, Saturday night at 8.

Here’s the full weekend viewing schedule from USA Today.

Let’s do our links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today suggests the Olympic torch be run above the earth’s atmosphere to prevent protestors from extinguishing the flame.

Now let’s go from East to West today.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Starting with Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News, he says it’s too early for Mets fans to be calling talk shows and panicking.

From the New York Post, Phil Mushnick is in a bad mood, but correctly goes after CBS’ Billy Packer for not questioning why Memphis didn’t foul before Mario Chalmers’ shot to take the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship into overtime. Justin Terranova talks with ESPN’s Jon Miller and Fox’s Tim McCarver about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. And Terranova has five questions for the best play-by-play voice in hockey, Mike “Doc” Emrick.

Newsday’s Neil Best says network executives love televising Yankees-Red Sox games because they’re ratings gold. Neil mentions this in his column, but he wrote it first in his blog that 1050 ESPN Radio in New York will expand Michael Kay’s show by an hour.

The Philadelphia Daily News talks about Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia’s coverage of the Washington-Flyers series which begins tonight.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun talks about CBS’ coverage of The Masters. Ray has a couple of tidbits that did not make his column. And Ray is asking for reader comments on which announcer you feel is the most biased. My nomination is Fox Sports’ Tim McCarver.

South

Doug Nye of The State in Columbia, South Carolina says The Masters on CBS is the true sign that Spring is here.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says FSN along with the national networks are seeking more access in their sports telecasts.

Dave Darling from the Orlando Sentinel says ESPN did not mess with the tradition unlike any other, The Masters.

And David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ESPN just followed CBS’ lead in the first round of The Masters.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman is happy to have more coverage of The Masters. Mel has his weekend viewing picks. And here’s his media notebook.

Midwest

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that the Cleveland Indians beat the the Cavs in the ratings last week and the Tribe even outrated King James in an afternoon broadcast.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship was not a ratings hit locally.

From the Chicago Tribune, Teddy Greenstein writes that Wednesday night’s extra innings game between the Cubs and Pirates led to some comic relief for TV announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenley.

Judd Zulgad in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the Minnesota Wild may have lost their playoff opener on Wednesday, but they beat everyone in the ratings including American Idol.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin writes that one tradition unlike any other at The Masters is Jim Nantz at the 18th hole for CBS.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star says it was surprising that the ratings for Kansas’ win Monday night were lower than five years ago when the Jayhawks were last in the NCAA Men’s Championship.

West

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News seems annoyed that ESPN’s Dick Vitale was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The North County Times’ John Maffei says CBS will be devoting more coverage to Amen Corner at Augusta National during The Masters.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that a move by an ESPN producer to the X Games helped him grow professionally. Jay writes that neither ESPN nor CBS have free rein in broadcasting The Masters. And here are the ratings for San Diego from last week.

Jim Carlisle from the Ventura County Star says Jim Nantz always looks for that one special moment at The Masters.

John Scheibe has the Sound and Vision column in the Los Angeles Times today as Christine Daniels is on vacation.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with CBS’ David Feherty who’s in Augusta just a month after getting into a motorcycle accident in Dallas. And Tom has his extensive weekly media notes in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says fans who missed the first six minutes of the Sharks playoff opener against Calgary on due to a conflict on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area Wednesday will not see that happen again. And Ryan writes in his Morning Buzz blog that with all four Bay Area teams in action, Comcast SportsNet has more sports than it can handle.

Canada

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Tiger Woods will be the focus of coverage during The Masters.

Chris Zelkovich from the Toronto Star says Rogers Sportsnet is making it hard for Blue Jays fans to watch the games.

That will do it for this week. I’ll be back next Friday with more media links. See you then.

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