Boston Sports Media Watch

A couple of late morning notes today:

I’ve sworn off his blog, but apparently Curt Schilling is finding new outlets to express himself. He’s a Guest Columnist on WEEI.com this morning, weighing on on Pedroia being named the MVP and also about Evan Grant leaving Pedroia off of his ballot.

The very busy Jessica Heslam reports that NESN has signed Heidi Watney to a contract extension.

Also, the Red Sox have traded center fielder Coco Crisp to the Royals.

Popularity: 16% [?]

The very busy Jessica Heslam also has the news that Dennis Eckersley and NESN have agreed to a multi-year contract extension.

This is great news for viewers of the NESN pre and post game shows, as Eckersely is easily the most insightful and entertaining analyst in their rotation.

Eckersley also received one of the highest Approval Ratings from the BSMW voting earlier this year, with a whopping 96% approval.

Eckersley, who went national for the MLB postseason on TBS, has gotten attention for his unique vocabulary. During the playoffs, TBS provided this “Ecktionary“:

Cheese = Fastball

Salad = Bad Pitch

Paint = Good Control

Johnson = Home Run

Moss = Hair

Boiling = Fat

Iron = Money

Filet = Ugly Person

Popularity: 12% [?]

TBS has released their Telecast Schedule and Broadcast Teams for the MLB Division Series coverage.

The Red Sox games will be called by Chip Carey, with Buck Martinez as the color analyst. Craig Sager will do the reporting.

NESN’s Don Orsillo gets the call for the Tampa Bay series against either the Twins or White Sox. Orsillo is teamed with Harold Reynolds.

NESN’s Dennis Eckersley will be in the TBS studios for the pregame TBS MLB on Deck show, and the postgame Inside MLB show as well.

For national radio, Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell will have the Red Sox/Angels series on ESPN Radio.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Celtics have come to an agreement to extend the contract of Head Coach Doc Rivers through the 2010-2011 season.

Nick Cafardo on the Boston.com Extra Bases Blog reports that NESN has signed play-by-play man Don Orsillo to an extension that takes him through the 2012 season. The deal also allows Orsillo to call postseason games for TBS.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Fluto Shinzawa on the Boston.com Bruins blog reports that NESN has hired Naoko Funayama to replace Rob Simpson as Bruins reporter on the network’s telecasts.

Funayama has been a freelance reporter for NESN on Red Sox stories while working at NH’s WMUR-TV as a full time sports reporter.

She was born in Tokyo and speaks fluent Japanese, this garnered her some attention during the early days of the Daisuke Matsuzaka era as she was pretty much the only local media person who could talk directly wth the Japanese ace. She stepped in as a translator in at least one early press conference.

She has a hockey background, as her NESN bio states that she is a youth hockey volunteer and serves as a coach for SCORE Boston, a program that provides inner-city youth with an opportunity to participate in the sport of hockey.

Here’s an archived article from the New Hampshire Union Leader on Funayama.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Jerry Remy, the “RemDog” is the color analyst for Red Sox games on NESN.

We’re a week late on this one, because if I had any sense of timing, Remy would’ve been in this space last week on Jerry Remy Day at Fenway Park.

After a playing career in the majors with the Angels and Red Sox, Remy began his broadcast career in the NESN booth alongside the late Ned Martin in 1988.

He’s had several other partners over the years, including Bob Kurtz, Sean McDonough, and currently Don Orsillo.

In addition to his NESN duties, Remy occasionally fills in on Red Sox broadcasts on the FOX network, and does a weekly segment on the Dennis and Callahan show on WEEI. He also oversees The Remy Report website.

Remy can be prone to silliness from time to time, and his increasingly raspy voice and cough sometimes take away from the brilliant skills he has in analyzing the game. Remy knows baseball, and he knows the Red Sox, and can oftentimes call a pitch or steal attempt before it happens.

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Popularity: 26% [?]

I did this story at Fang’s Bites yesterday, but it’s worthy of a mention here.

NESN’s Dennis Eckersley has been tapped by TBS do work the All-Star Game Selection Show this Sunday. He’ll work alongside host Ernie Johson, fellow Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr., and Harold Reynolds, formerly of ESPN.

This is the press release from MLB.com:

TBS announced today the addition of two-time All-Star Harold Reynolds and six-time All-Star and 2004 Hall of Fame inductee Dennis Eckersley to its studio team for the network’s exclusive coverage of the MLB All-Star Game Selection Show presented by Chevy at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 6. Reynolds and Eckersley will join TBS studio host and two-time Emmy® award-winner Ernie Johnson and TBS MLB studio analyst Cal Ripken, a 19-time All-Star, two-time All-Star Game MVP (1991, 2001) and 2007 Hall of Fame inductee. Immediately following the show TBS will air the Chicago Cubs @ St. Louis Cardinals at 3 p.m. ET, with Chip Caray (play-by-play) and Buck Martinez (analyst) calling the action.

“We are excited to add analysts to our studio show with the on-air credentials and on-field experience of the caliber of Harold and Dennis,” said Jeff Behnke, SVP and executive producer for Turner Sports. “We look forward to providing their insights and opinions as fans and players around the country learn who will be representing their teams in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game.”

During the telecast, TBS will exclusively reveal the All-Star Game starters elected by fan voting, as well as the player selections and manager picks to round out this year’s AL and NL squads. Throughout the hour-long telecast Reynolds, Eckersley and Ripken will provide in-depth review and analysis.

Reynolds, who currently serves as a baseball commentator for MLB.com and an analyst for SportsNet New York (SNY), played 12-seasons in the Major Leagues, spending time with the Seattle Mariners (1983-92), Baltimore Orioles (1993) and California Angels (1994). Along with his two All-Star appearances (1987 & 1988), Reynolds won three Gold Gloves (1988 - 1990), led the American League in steals with 60 in 1987 and received MLB’s Roberto Clemente Award (1991) for his community service work. Reynolds previously served as a studio analyst on ESPN’s Emmy® award-winning Baseball Tonight.

Eckersley currently serves as a studio analyst for select Boston Red Sox games on New England Sports Network (NESN). The AL 1992 Cy Young award and MVP winner, Eckersley enjoyed success as both a starter and reliever and is one of only two pitchers to have both a 20-win season (1978) and a 50-save season (1992) in a career. Affectionately known as “Eck,” the pitcher played 24 years in the big leagues for the Cleveland Indians (1975-77), Boston Red Sox (1978-84, 1998), Chicago Cubs (1984 - 86), Oakland Athletics (1987-95) and St. Louis Cardinals (1996-97), winning a World Series championship with the A’s in 1989.

TBS is the exclusive home of all four MLB Division Series as well as the 2008 American League Championship Series. This season the network launched Sunday MLB on TBS, featuring 26 consecutive Sunday afternoon match ups with Chip Caray providing play-by play, alongside analysts Ron Darling and Buck Martinez throughout the season.

Because of his candor in the NESN studio, Eck has become one of the most popular media personalities in the area based on the BSMW Approval Ratings.

Not only does this make TBS stronger in the studio, but it also gives the network a team that could rival or even surpass ESPN’s Baseball Tonight during the playoffs.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Consider yourself flashed…

Jayme Parker is a NESN reporter for SportsDesk. She’s been with the network since November of 1996.

She has worked as a freelance news writer for WCVB-TV Channel 5, WHDH-TV Channel 7 and WBZ-TV Channel 4 in Boston. Currently, Parker serves as a sideline reporter for Boston College football radio broadcasts.

Parker also has a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College in Boston.

She has also filled in the flash booth at WEEI, where the opening line of this post is her trademark signoff.

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Popularity: 24% [?]

The Eck is up today…

After a Hall of Fame playing careerwith the Indians, Red Sox, Cubs, A’s and Cardinals, Dennis Eckersley began his broadcast career as a color analyst for the A’s TV broadcasts in 1999.

For the last several years Eckersley has been in the rotation of studio analysts for the Red Sox telecasts on NESN, and has consistently proven himself to be the most candid,  and also insightful of the group. On occasion he has also filled in during the game in the booth, either in place of Jerry Remy on the TV telecasts, and even a few times in the radio booth.

He’s developed his own unique lingo over the years, referring to pitches with “hair” or throwing “cheese.” He is not limited to just commenting on pitching however, as his knowledge of the game allows him to speak to all parts of the game.

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Popularity: 26% [?]

With Hazel Mae slated to exit NESN at the end of the month, we might be seeing a whole lot more of Kathryn Tappen on the network.

According to her official web site, Tappen has wanted to be a newscaster since the eighth grade. She has an athletic background, having competed in cross country and track and field for Rutgers University.

She broke onto the New England media scene in 2005 at NBC Channel 10 in Providence, Rhode Island, where she was the weekend sports anchor and sports reporter for the station.

In August 2006, she moved over to NESN, where she is the Boston Bruins studio host and serves as a weekend anchor and reporter for SportsDesk.

David Laurila did one of his RedSoxNation.net interviews with Tappen a while back.

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Popularity: 30% [?]