Boston Sports Media Watch

The TV ratings are  an indication of how anticipated last night’s Bruins game was among fans.

The game garnered a 6.2 household rating, which is the highest rated regular season game in NESN’s history, as fans tuned in to see whether the team would retaliate against Matt Cooke and the Pittsburgh Penguins for the hit that left Marc Savard with a concussion that likely ended his season.

Fans ended up the evening disappointed, as the Bruins suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Stanley Cup Champions.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Celtics had a quick turnaround after their loss in Cleveland, playing the Pistons at the Garden last night. They came out strong and sustained it for a 119-93 win over Detroit.

Celts needed a laugher and got it - Mike Fine has the Celtics making some progress with the blowout win.

Pierce, Celtics come together - Chris Forsberg has the Celtics captain getting on track early last night.

A boost from the bench helps the C’s pass the Pistons - Rich Levine analyzes the bench play for the Celtics, both last night and recently.

If the shooter fits . . . - Steve Bulpett has Michael Finley earning playing time by knocking down his shots.

Shaken after a rough ride - Julian Benbow’s notebook has a tough plane ride shaking up the Celtics on Sunday night.

Musings on Bill Walker, Dice-K n’ more - Lenny Megliola clears out the Rolodex of the mind.

Watson never caught on with Patriots - Michael Felger says that the Patriots made the right move cutting ties with Benjamin Watson.

Pats’ Adalius Thomas not yet set on Jets - Karen Guregian has the Patriots linebacker denying he ever said he wanted to go play for the Jets.

Words don’t match Patriots’ actions - Tom E. Curran hits on a number of Patriots topics, including Asante Samuel’s charge that the team doesn’t care about its players.

Bruins floored early - Kevin Paul Dupont has the Bruins unable to overcome a three-goal first period by the New Jersey Devils.

GM backs proposed rule - Dupont’s notebook wraps up the rest of the news from last night.

For Lowell, the test begins - Alex Speier marks yesterday as the first day of the rest of Mike Lowell’s life.

David Ortiz takes stance - John Tomase has the Red Sox DH saying that he doesn’t have to prove anything in Spring Training.

Quick hits: Orioles 8, Red Sox 4 - Gordon Edes wraps up the action from yesterday.

Nelson always ready to throw an inning in relief –– and sign autographs - Daniel Barbarisi with a look at the 35-year-old Joe Nelson, who is trying to win a spot in the Red Sox bullpen.

Notes:

I checked out some of the ESPN broadcast of  last night’s Celtics game. For the second straight game, it was Mike Breen calling the action. I have to say I couldn’t believe it was the same guy. Totally different when paired with Hubie Brown and Jon Barry than he is when he’s with Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, more subdued, not over-the-top. Of course, neither LeBron or Kobe were playing in the game, but still, it was an amazing transformation.

The New England Revolution are coming to Comcast SportsNet. CSN has announced that they will be the new TV home for the MLS club, airing 27 games (out of 30) this season, all in High Definition. Veteran soccer broadcaster Brad Feldman returns for his 10th season with the Revolution and will handle play-by-play duties for all matches airing on Comcast SportsNet. He will be joined in the booth by Revolution legend and Longmeadow, Mass., product Jay Heaps, who begins his first season as color analyst after retiring from the Revolution in December following an 11-year MLS career.

The telecasts are produced by Kraft Sports Productions. The first game of the season for CSN is the team’s April 3 match at D.C. United.

I’ve actually missed Pete Sheppard the last few days, as WEEI has moved Mike Adams into the Big Show slot while Glenn Ordway takes time off. Nice move, Jason Wolfe, just hand the time slot for those times to 98.5 and Mike Felger – who has been dead-on about how Colin Campbell will be responsible for anything that happens when the Bruins and Penguins play on Thursday. Felger and Massarotti has been all over Campbell and how by saying that he’s going to be at the game on Thursday and addressing the teams prior to the game, Campbell is admitting that he screwed up by not issuing a suspension to Matt Cooke when he ended Marc Savard’s season with an elbow.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Last night there was quite a ruckus on Twitter as two very respected football reporters Michael Lombardi and Adam Schefter both reported that Leigh Bodden would be re-signing with the Patriots. Both guys are right far more than they’re wrong, especially Schefter, whose word I pretty much take as gospel these days. Meanwhile, Bodden’s agent, Alvin Keels was posting that nothing was done, or even agreed to.

We’ll see what happens today. If I had to bet, I’m siding with Schefter/Lombardi.

Speaking of the NFL free agency period, while Mike Reiss, Tom Curran, Christopher Price, Shalise Manza Young and Albert Breer have all done their usual solid jobs, I think the star of the first few days has been the Herald’s Ian Rapoport. He’s consistently brought good information, and angles and insight that some of the others have missed at times. The Rap Sheet has become a must-follow destination for Patriots fans, and he has been tearing it up on Twitter as well.

Otherwise, it’s a fairly slow day today with both the Celtics and Bruins off last night.

Selection of Tom Brady Makes 2000 Draft One to Remember - Jeff Howe concludes his series of reviewing the Patriots drafts under Bill Belichick with the coach’s first draft, one that is memorable for a certain sixth-round selection.

Patriots air of infallibility is waning - A good article from Tom E Curran, but headlines like that one really turn me off, and many times make me not want to even look at the article underneath the headline. Who ever said the Patriots were infallible? Who? C’mon. The article itself is candid, frank, without pushing silly agendas, but the headline is just dumb. (I know, Curran probably didn’t create it.)

Fielding more than his share of bad hops - Gordon Edes looks at how Dustin Pedroia used baseball as his focus when off-field things weren’t going so well for him last season. I also enjoyed this blog entry from Edes on Jose Iglesias in which Edes is giddy as a schoolboy over the potential of the phenom shortstop, and wonders if the Red Sox should put him right in the majors to start the season.

Why some Red Sox pitchers like throwing to some Red Sox catchers - The title of Rob Bradfords article this morning explains it all.

Big performances: Young trio impresses - Michael Silverman has a trio of young, gifted and intriguing outfielders making an impression on the Red Sox yesterday.

Beckett, Martinez on learning curve - Sean McAdam with another strong notebook from the action of yesterday.

La Russa still mover, shaker - Bob Ryan talks to Tony La Russa about his 33 years as a big league manager.

Hits like this don’t belong in hockey - Mike Loftus weighs in on the hit that Penguins forward Matt Cooke laid on Marc Savard Sunday.

Marc Savard fuzzy on details - Stephen Harris gets props for catching up with Savard at the Pittsburgh airport yesterday to talk to him about the hit and how he’s feeling.

Lockdown defense steadies KG - Chris Forsberg says that Kevin Garnett’s defensive performance down the stretch on Sunday night should be encouraging to Celtics fans.

Relentless defense critical to Celtics - Steve Bulpett says that the Celtics performance on defense in the last six minutes Sunday night showed that they are still capable of locking down an opponent, and that gives them no excuses going forward.

Also check out Greg Doyle’s Q&A With UNH TE Scott Sicko, who has gathered some interest from pro scouts.

Elsewhere, I was also disappointed with the news that Alice Cook was tossed at Ch. 4 after 25 years of service to the station. With the decreased amount of time that newscasts are giving to the sports segments, it makes sense to keep the rosters small, but I always enjoyed the job that Cook did, both with the sports reports, and on the Patriots pre and post game shows.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tom E. Curran shows a little sanity when talking Patriots and putting the “team of the decade” comparisons with the Colts in perspective. He notes that some of his colleagues are letting their facts get a little fuzzy when it comes to this topic.

You may recall the other day when Ron Borges, twisting the numbers to suit his agenda, stated the following:

The Colts have won more regular-season games this decade than the Patriots, won more consecutive games this decade than the Patriots, made the playoffs more often this decade than the Patriots (9-8), reached the playoffs more consecutive years than the Patriots (eight straight) and if they win Sunday will trail them by only one Super Bowl victory this decade.

Borges, was of course spouting the Polian company line, which doesn’t include playoffs in win totals or winning streaks.

Curran acknowledges that Borges is his friend, but does correct him nonetheless.

From 2000 through 2009, the New England Patriots went 126-52. They won three Super Bowls, four conference titles and made it to the AFC Championship five times.

They became the first team in history to go unbeaten over a 16-game regular season and became the first to win 18 in a row in a single season. Only once since 2000 did they finish under .500. And that was 2000.

They won three Super Bowls, four conference titles and made it to the AFC Championship five times. They didn’t go one-and-done in the playoffs until 2009. They finished tied for first place in the AFC East every season from 2001 through 2009. They had one winning streak of 21 games that went from 2003 through those playoffs and into 2004. They had another winning streak of 18 games (2007). They set the record for most consecutive postseason games won (10).

He then compared that to the Colts:

From 2000 through 2009, the Indianapolis Colts went 124-52 (with one game remaining). They won one Super Bowl, two conference titles and made it to the AFC Championship three times.

They set the record for consecutive regular-season games won with 22 in the 2008 and 2009 seasons (a playoff loss in the first-round of the 2008 playoffs prevented them from being able to break New England’s overall record). In their nine postseason appearances, they were one-and-done five times.

He also looks at the money spent by the two teams – another frequent accusation by Borges. It is very close between the two clubs.

——————

Check the coverage of last night’s Celtics win over the Nets at CelticsLinks.com.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A couple of notes from today:

The Beanpot is coming up over the next two Monday nights, and once again NESN has the complete coverage.

Coverage begins with Beanpot Hockey Tournament presented by SBLI beginning on Monday, February 1st.  The first game pits Boston College against Harvard at 5:00 PM followed by Boston University battling Northeastern University at 8:00 PM from the TD Garden. NESN’s coverage of the Beanpot championship game on Monday, February 8th will begin with Prelude to A Championship, a live, half-hour pre-game show starting at 7:30 PM.

Tom Caron and Andy Brickley will call all three games for NESN.

The championship game will also be available to 4.5 million homes in Canada on TSN2, which will rebroadcast the game in HD at 6:00 PM on February 9.

——
Pete Sheppard might’ve been the most high-profile radio guy to be laid off recently, but he’s not the only one. Yesterday WGAM Manchester/Nashua announced that producer P.J. Huot, who had been with the station since 2002, along with morning sports anchor Darrin Root and a traffic/production guy David Kimball had all been let go due to the economic conditions.

In addition, there is talk that the afternoon drive show with Mike Mutnansky could be cut back from 3-6PM to 4-6PM starting next week, though that is not set in stone just yet.

——

The biggest interview on Boston sports radio today was Vince Wilfork talking with Michael Holley and Lou Merloni on WEEI this morning, where the nose tackle voice his displeasure at his contract situation and that he does not want to be franchised.

Meanwhile on Patriots Daily, the question is asked: Should The Patriots Re-Sign Vince Wilfork?

Popularity: 8% [?]

We’re just a few weeks away from the start of spring training, and this afternoon, NESN announced their plans for expanded Red Sox spring training coverage which will begin with an evening edition of Red Sox Spring Break LIVE on February 18th at 7:00pm.

The show will be hosted by Tom Caron and Peter Gammons.

Here is the schedule for Red Sox Spring Break LIVE in February:

NESN will also broadcast nine Red Sox spring training games, starting with the annual game with Boston College on March 3rd. Here is the full slate of games:

NESN’s 2010 Spring Training Game Broadcast Schedule

Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy will team up for their tenth season together in the NESN broadcast booth with Red Sox reporter Heidi Watney joining them for her third season with the network.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Peter Gammons has been inducted in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, while Bob Ryan has been named sportswriter of the year for the third straight year. Dan Shaughnessy was named the Massachusetts state sportswriter of the year.

John Madden was inducted to the Hall along with Gammons, and Jim Nantz was named national sportscaster of the year,  his fifth award.

Elsewhere in New England, Mike Lynch was named the MA sportscaster of the year. In Rhode Island, Steve Hyder and Steve McDonald shared the sportscaster of the year award, while Joe McDonald was the sportswriter of the year. In NH, Mike Murphy is sportscaster of the year and Allen Lessels is sportswriter of the year. In Connecticut, Kevin Nathan and Jeff Jacobs were honored, In Maine, it is Clem LaBree and Rich Kimball on the sportscaster side and Peter Warner on the writing side. Finally, in VT, George Commo and Ted Ryan received the awards.

Get the full list here:

Gammons, Madden Earn 2009 NSSA Hall of Fame Inductions (Sports Media News)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Just mere hours after we learned that Peter Gammons was leaving ESPN, we learn that he joined MLB Network. That was expected. But was not expected was the announcement this evening that Gammons was joining NESN and NESN.com. This is a big coup for NESN which gets him from ESPN and the ESPN Boston site. Peter will not only be seen on NESN and MLB Network, he’ll write for NESN.com and MLB.com.

Here’s part of the press release that was issued by NESN this evening:

Gammons will serve as a studio analyst, reporter and offer commentary for over 50 of the network’s hour-long pre and post game shows and as co-host of Red Sox Hot Stove and Red Sox Spring Break LIVE. He will also make regular contributions to NESN.com.

“I’m a New Englander who wanted to be Jackie Jensen,” said Peter Gammons. “I started out at the Boston Globe and wrote about Jerry Remy when he was at Somerset High School. I was lucky enough to be there for the Munson-Fisk fight in 1973 and The Sixth Game and the ’78 playoff, and when my local cable company wouldn’t put NESN on our system I signed the override petitions.”

“NESN has given me the opportunity to come back to my roots and once again be part of my neighborhood, and I am truly excited about it. During the 2007 World Series, Matt Holliday said that what differentiated Fenway Park from any other stadium is that fans don’t react, they anticipated, and that creates a tension unlike any other audience in sports. It is a great feeling to be back with that audience.”

And not to be outdone, MLB Network and MLB.com had a release of its own:

MLB Network and MLB Advanced Media today announced that Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons has joined MLB Network and MLB.com as an on-air and online analyst. As part of a multi-year deal, Gammons will offer analysis and commentary on MLB Network for breaking news and special events like the Trade Deadline, First-Year Player Draft, Winter Meetings and Postseason. Gammons will also serve as a signature and regularly featured writer for MLB.com’s new columnist initiative, writing commentary on breaking news and posting several articles online each week.

During the 2009-2010 offseason, Gammons will appear on Hot Stove, MLB Network’s nightly offseason studio show featuring updates and analysis of the moves all 30 clubs are making and planning in preparation for the upcoming season. He will also contribute to MLB Network’s Spring Training program 30 Clubs in 30 Days and do studio work on short documentary-style pieces and other select programming. Gammons will also be a regular analyst on MLB Tonight, MLB Network’s signature nightly studio show.

So the baseball winter meetings have gone from very quiet to very busy with this news about Peter Gammons.

Popularity: 9% [?]

As mentioned in the morning links today, CSN is set to debut their new nightly show SportsNet Central tomorrow night.

COMCAST SPORTSNET DEBUTS SPORTSNET CENTRAL ON THURSDAY

Region’s Most In-Depth Live Local Sports Show Delivers Comprehensive Pats, B’s, Celts and Sox Coverage at 6 p.m., 10:30 p.m. 1 a.m. and from 6:30 to 9 a.m. the Next Day

Michael Felger Exclusive One-on-One with Tom Brady and First of 20

“Decade of Dominance” Special Segments Highlight Debut

BURLINGTON, MA – Comcast SportsNet unveils New England’s most comprehensive live local sports coverage with the launch of SportsNet Central on Thursday, December 3, at 6:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m., and 1 a.m. SportsNet Central’s debut shows feature an exclusive one-on-one with Tom Brady and in-depth reports on the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox. A morning edition of SportsNet Central will run from 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. the following morning.

SportsNet Central’s debut includes reports from:

San Antonio, TX
Celtics Insider A. Sherrod Blakely, play-by-play analyst Mike Gorman, color analyst Donny Marshall and courtside reporter Greg Dickerson report live on the Celtics matchup with Western Conference stalwart San Antonio Spurs before and after the game.

Wilmington, MA
Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty provides a report from Bruins practice as the surging Bruins prepare for their second matchup of the season with long-time rival Canadians.

Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran reports live from Foxboro as the Patriots regroup following Monday night’s defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. Curran’s reports will include reaction from Coach Bill Belichick and Patriots players.

Burlington, MA
Comcast SportsNet debuts its all-new SportsNet Central set. Carolyn Manno and Mike Giardi anchor the 6 p.m. show, and Chris Collins and Kevin Walsh anchor the 10:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. editions. Sean McAdam will preview the MLB Winter Meetings and potential Red Sox lineup changes.

The premier night of SportsNet Central will also feature an exclusive Michael Felger one-on-one with Tom Brady and the first of 20 specials on New England’s Decade of Dominance that will run each night in December during SportsNet Central and Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight. The specials will culminate in a 30-minute Decade of Dominance documentary that premieres on December 23.

The Decade of Dominance will include the unique perspective of prominent New England athletes and celebrities including NBC Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien, Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna, Larry Bird and many others.

Online, CSNNE.com will also prominently feature Decade of Dominance items throughout December with daily polls, uncut and extended interviews from the special, and feature columns from CSNNE.com’s insiders and columnists.

Comcasts SportsNet has sunk a lot of cash into revamping their on-air and web presence, and we’ll soon find out whether their investments will pay off.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Steve Adams of the Patriot Ledger had a piece over the weekend looking at the recent sports media frenzy in Boston, with ESPNBoston.com coming into town, Comcast SportsNet launching a multi-million-dollar cable network expansion and 98.5 The SportsHub launching as a rival to WEEI.

A sports media frenzy in Boston

I’m quoted toward the end of the article, in regards to whether 98.5 can be a serious competitor to WEEI.

Also, if you see a copy of the 11/25 edition of Patriots Football Weekly on the newsstands this week, be sure to check out my interview and column with CBS broadcaster Lesley Visser, who talked about breaking down barriers as the first female NFL beat writer as a 22-year-old with The Boston Globe in 1976.

Popularity: 10% [?]