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NY sports media milestone: Cablevision buys WatchDog
Thanks for reading in July.
It's been an interesting month in the local sports media world. But not as interesting as August will be.
Did I mention I work for a different company than when the month began? I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt for now and hoping for the best.
What choice do I have?
Tags: cablevision
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'Hard Knocks' considered inviting Giants . . . briefly
Just got off a conference call with Jerry Jones, NFL Films boss Steve Sabol and HBO Sports boss Ross Greenburg to discuss the premiere Wednesday night of the latest edition of "Hard Knocks," featuring the Cowboys.
More on that in the paper next week. But just to stir up trouble I asked Sabol whether he considered the Giants for this season's show, given the fact their head coach would be as likely to give cameras unlimited access behind the scenes at training camp as he would be to go club-hopping with the Jeremy Shockey in Vegas.
"We were thinking about them this year, but the Cowboys were our first choice,'' said Sabol, who acknowledged Tom Coughlin likely would have been reluctant. (Not to mention Giants ownership.) "A lot depends on the head coach," he said.
Sabol said the Bucs and Saints also were considered.
"The Cowboys were our first choice, so it never went beyond talking to Jerry and Wade [Phillips] about it."
By the way, Sabol called the Cowboys "the presumptive Super Bowl favorite." Really? Why?
Jones said one of the highlights NFL Films' cameras caught during the first week of camp was Jessica Simpson's father checking out the site the day before she was to visit.
Tags: hbo
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'My Boys' producer knows baseball writers with time off!
Just got off the phone with Betsy Thomas, executive producer of TBS' "My Boys," the best show about a fictional sportswriter who never works since "Everybody Loves Raymond."
I will be addressing this matter at length in a future newspaper column, but the short story is that Ms. Thomas would love to show more of the lead character, PJ Franklin, at work, but there simply isn't time in a nine-episode season focused primarily on her relationships with her male, poker-playing, beer-drinking buddies.
Fair enough. But how does Franklin have time to socialize at all during baseball season?
Thomas said she researched the matter before the show launched in 2006, including shadowing then LA Times baseball writer Steve Henson.
"I've chatted with many who say, 'I don’t travel all the time during the season; I don’t travel to all the games,"' she said. "But I've spoken to others who say you have no life. I think it depends."
Lennon? O'Brien? Davidoff? Heyman? Your thoughts?
Tags: baseball
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SportsCenter to add live hours Aug. 11 . . . and today!
Just got off a conference call with high-ranking ESPN exec Norby Williamson and SportsCenter anchors Hannah Storm and Chris McKendry to discuss the new live, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. SC block debuting Aug. 11.
Before taking questions Williamson announced that SportsCenter would go live at noon today to discuss developing matters such as Manny maybe being Manny somewhere other than Boston, Ken Griffey Jr. finally getting away from Reds TV analyst Jeff Brantley and Brett Favre in limbo and presumably unimpressed by Craig Carton and his bullhorn.
Williamson said a busy weekday morning/afternoon such as this one is exactly why the live concept came about.
"It sort of validates where we’re going when you look at what’s been going on this morning,'' he said, adding that a week into the project next month, ESPN will "look back at it and say, 'Man, why didn’t we do this sooner?'"
Tags: craig carton, espn
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TMI from columnist on Erin Andrews in Cubs locker room
The Big Lead uncovered this disturbing column about Erin Andrews' visit to the Cubs' locker room, in which she is described as wearing inappropriate work attire and being a smidgen too friendly with the jocks, and in which the Cubs shamelessly ogle her.
This column achieves a rare double.
For one thing, it besmirches a generally well-liked, well-respected pro who has been remarkably patient and good-natured about her status as the sports media's unofficial sex symbol of the moment.
For another, it blatantly violates man rules. Over the past quarter century I have heard dozens of comments uttered by athletes, coaches and fellow writers when in the presence of attractive female journalists. But I never even thought about repeating them in an article. Holy cow!
Male journalists - all males - have an obligation to fight sexism, discrimination and harassment of women. But guys making harmless comments to other guys about a woman's level of attractiveness?
Dude, that stuff stays between us!
Tags: espn
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Gary Cohen, Damion Easley both know Florida ballpark
Wednesday night, top of the seventh, two outs, one on for Damion Easley.
SNY's Gary Cohen: "Easley, who played here a couple of years ago as a Florida Marlin, knows this ballpark well and knows the place to hit a home run is right down the leftfield line, with that short fence."
Three seconds later: "Two-oh, line drive deep leftfield, right down the line, that ball is outta here! Damion Easley with a pinch-hit, three-run homer and he gets the Mets back to within a run. It's 5-4 Florida. I guess he remembered."
Tags: sny
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Paul O'Neill respectfully takes issue with Edwar Ramirez
I think Paul O'Neill is quite good as an analyst on YES. It's a shame for viewers he severely limits his schedule so he can spend more time with this family.
In the seventh inning of today's Yanks-O's tilt, O'Neill calmly and respectfully ripped Edwar Ramirez for throwing at Kevin Millar's head, which earned the pitcher an ejection after one toss.
YES' analysts get less attention than do SNY's, partly because there are so many of them and it is so difficult to keep their schedules straight.
Which one is your favorite? Which is your least favorite? Be nice.
Tags: yes
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Yanks-Bosox games top ESPN Sunday night ratings
Sunday night's Yanks-Bosox tilt on ESPN was the highest-rated "Sunday Night Baseball" game of the season, attracting 3.3 percent of homes that have ESPN and an estimated 4.23 million people.
It surpassed the previous high, which was a 3.2 and 4.13 million viewers July 6 . . . for a Yanks-Bosox game.
That one surpassed the previous high, which was a 3.1 and 3.90 million viewers April 13 . . . for a Yanks-Bosox game.
Thus ends today's lesson in baseball TV scheduling. Rule 1: Schedule the Yankees against the Red Sox as often as possible.
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Finally, Sirius announces a new sports talk hire!
Sirius Satellite Radio announced today that Marty Schottenheimer will join the service Monday, co-hosting "Movin' the Chains" from 3 to 7 p.m. Thereafter he will host "The Sirius Blitz" Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and "The Red Zone" Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m.
I received this information via e-mail from the Sirius public relations department. So the reason Sirius has not returned my calls or e-mails for six weeks must not be a glitch in their computer system.
So what could it be? Hmm.
Tags: football
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Chris Carlin confirms Russ Salzberg is his replacement
I reported Friday that Russ Salzberg was a leading candidate for the Giants' pre- and post-game gig on WFAN that Chris Carlin is giving up this season.
I don't think the team or station has made an official announcement on this yet, but Carlin just confirmed it on the air, so I guess that's close enough to official.
I know Rich Ackerman was a candidate also. Not sure who else was on the short list. No one asked me. But I've got bigger ambitions.
It's been almost 24 hours since Cablevision bought Newsday, and still no calls from headquarters proposing a daily, late-afternoon debate show starring Glauber and me. I'm waiting.
(Feel free to suggest a name for such a show in the comments section, but be nice.)
Tags: wfan
