Watchdog

I wrote a long story in the Sunday newspaper about the potential impact of the ongoing economic difficulties on New York sports - particularly on teams about to move into new buildings.

Since I wasn't the first sports business writer to tackle the subject, I figured I might as well be among the last.

Thanks to the executives and experts for going through their spiels one last time for the benefit of my readers and me.

These are the kinds of stories newspaper people have to write to be thorough and thoughtful on the issues of the day. So just take your medicine and read it, OK? Then I'll leave you alone and let you watch football.

One of the execs I spoke to was the Mets' Dave Howard.

So did Roslyn's own Darren Rovell of CNBC, who went into much more detail than I did with Mr. Howard on the Citi Field suites. It's right here.

It's a good thing I lost interest in the NFL Network vs. Big Cable dispute well before Cablevision bought Newsday, as now I can honestly say I'm trying to stay out of it and no one can accuse me of shying away because of who signs my checks.

Anyway, if you're still keeping score, the NFL won the latest round over Comcast in its bid to get back on a digital basic tier. Here's the story.

Just for old times' sake, here's my (still) official position on the NFL Network: In a rational world, it belongs either on a sports tier or as a choice in an a la carte system.

But in the real world - one in which Comcast can use its leverage to get wide distribution for channels it owns such as the Golf Channel and Versus - the NFL Network deserves a spot as much as if not more than many other outlets.

At a fair, competitive market price, of course.

Wow, tough choices early this afternoon on what to watch during the Cornell-Harvard commercial breaks on Versus.

Rutgers-Cincinnati on SNY (good Carlin-bashing fodder), Syracuse-West Virginia on ESPNU (real life rematch of apparently mischaracterized 1959 game between the teams depicted in new movie about Ernie Davis), Texas-Oklahoma on ABC (will Erin Andrews be there?).

Wait, come to think of it, I don't get ESPNU. Never mind.

(UPDATE: The Giants' Kevin Boothe, the best player out of Cornell currently in the NFL, relays a cheap shot at the school via Warren Sapp in today's NY Post.)

(UPDATE: Cornell scuffling in third quarter, 28-10. The play-by-play man just said he was Rich Ackerman. Is that OUR Rich Ackerman, WFANer and loyal WatchDog reader?)

(UPDATE: The Bengals' starting quarterback against the Jets Sunday went to Harvard!)

Tonight it's hockey and baseball. Apparently the Sarah Palin puck-dropping at the Rangers-Flyers game that I heartily endorsed the other day has been blasted by many as being politically motivated because Flyers boss Ed Snider is a big Republican donor.

I don't care. Let the hockey mom celebrate hockey, doggone it.

Speaking of the Islanders, did any of you have the same problem I did Friday night, in which the first period of the Isles-announcers version of the game did not appear on the overflow channel designated for said telecast?

I am looking into that situation.

Bob Cousy - a nice little point guard out of Andrew Jackson High in Queens - is out as a Celtics broadcaster, and he isn't happy about it.

Here's the story.

This just ain't right.

Yo, MSG, stick it to Comcast and the Celtics by bringing Bob home as a guest analyst!

I have to write a lengthy story now for the Sunday newspaper, so don't come here anymore today. In fact, take a break 'til Monday. Read Glauber instead.

And by the way, this weekend we are transitioning our e-mail system from Tribune (boo) to Cablevision (yay), so don't bother trying to send me anything because the system will be out of commission temporarily.

If it's important news, send a telegram.

(UPDATE: Now they say our e-mails will work until 12:01 a.m. Sunday. So feel free to e-mail Saturday. I just won't answer.)

When I do return to the blog Monday, it will be with a great vengeance and furious anger never before seen in these parts.

Whether it takes daily posts about Erin Andrews or hourly polls about Mike Francesa's supporting cast or other cheap blog gimmicks, my single-minded mission between then and Oct. 31 will be to increase my page views for a sixth consecutive month, a mark previously achieved by only one Newsday blogger.

Yup, Glauber. Sorry, Bob. Records are made to be shared.

(UPDATE: Check out this cuddly post from Glauber. Difficult to believe this guy covers football, isn't it? Sheesh. What's next? Brett Favre crying in a news conference?)

(UPDATE: Here's Glauber's response to the above.)

Media Matters, the folks who brought down Don Imus last year, this week uncovered some disturbing radio banter in Minnesota, of all places.

Turns out a couple of clowns (jokingly?) wondered whether Earvin Johnson had faked getting the virus that causes AIDS, prompting Magic to respond angrily. Click below for all that.

One of the strangest assignments of my career was writing the news story about Johnson's announcement in 1991. Of course no one would have believed you at the time if you had said Johnson would be alive and relatively well in 2008.

The next morning I read The New York Times' account and its lead paragraph and mine differed by a single word, as I recall. That was weird. You could look it up, if you had no life and nothing better to do.

Continue reading "Minneapolis yakkers claim Magic faked HIV/AIDS" »

Had a nice chat this morning with Dave Howard, the Mets' Grand Poobah of Business Related Stuff - and former quarterback at one of those Half Hollow Hills Highs (East, I think).

Among other things, I asked about the status of the Mets' discussions regarding a new radio contract now that their deal with WFAN is up.

"Good question," he said. "We have had an interesting competitive period of negotiations. There were two other stations that have expressed strong interest that have made offers. I think we’ll know relatively soon."

Howard wouldn't say what the two other contenders are or characterize the likelihood of the Mets returning to WFAN.

But I believe one of the two suitors was WNYM-AM (970). I also believe the Mets will end up back on WFAN, as I wrote a few weeks back.

Curious readers have asked when I will weigh in on the most pressing issue of our times: What lucky guy(s) or gal(s) Mike Francesa will tab for his supporting cast.

I quite enjoyed the trio of Francesa, Chris Carlin and Kim Jones, especially given the fact they were together for the quietest three-day period in the recent history of New York sports in October.

But as long as Mike continues to bring in prospective sidekicks, I will withhold final judgment. The Francesa/Benigno pairing Friday and Monday should be interesting.

(The best possible thing for Joe, of course, would be a Jets loss Sunday, which would make Monday at 1 a must listen.)

I am not going to point out that Joe is six months older than Mike, because far be it from me to be ageist. I have nothing against people over 50. My softball team has a shortstop who is 50!

Thanks for reading. I have to go now and look into rumors Mike will bring in Bill Mazer for a tryout next week.

It's always fun to watch Syracuse sports fans suffer, which is the basis of my pick for this week's comment contest award.

Our winner is "Andy," in response to my remark in a post about the Ernie Davis movie "The Express" that young readers might not be aware the Orangemen used to play home games outdoors.

Wroteth Andy: "As a Syracuse alum, this movie also serves as a reminder that SU used to play meaningful games that they'd even win occasionally."

In November of 1979 I attended what I assume was Syracuse's last "home" game outdoors. BC defeated the Orangemen at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca near the end of a season in which Syracuse played "home" games in Buffalo, Giants Stadium and Ithaca while the Carrier Dome was constructed.

Art Monk and Joe Morris played on that team, I believe. Way more people showed up than do for Cornell home games.

I still have not seen "The Express." Evidently Universal's public relations people don't know where to find me, as I'm kind of shy and not given to self-promotion. I'll take my daughter over the weekend and charge Newsday.

So far the critics have been somewhat mixed, but mostly positive. Newsday gave it three stars. Here is the review.

http://thebiglead.com/?p=8300#more-8300Heavens, that MMA card on CBS Saturday night does not seem to have gone well at all.

UFC boss Dana White on the EliteXC event, via The L.A. Times:

"What happened on CBS makes me sick to my stomach. It disgusts me. I've been working . . . for 10 years now to show the world what an amazing sport this is, and what amazing people are in it. It goes against everything the UFC stands for."

(UPDATE: Here's video of Mr. White - using a lot of R-rated language - further offering his opinions on this.)

Gov. Sarah Palin is dropping the first puck Saturday night at the Rangers-Flyers game?!

Wow. Politics aside - since we no longer talk politics around here - I must admit I am enjoying the attention Gov. Palin has been bringing to both Alaska and to hockey in recent weeks.

She has done a service in reminding Lower 48 dwellers that the state and sport both are as American as Mike Richter.

Did I ever mention the only time I was invited to drop a first puck? It was at the men's hockey final of the 1984 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, which I was covering for The Anchorage Times.

Wearing work boots, I thought I would stylishly slide the last few yards into the faceoff circle. But it turns out that freshly Zambonied ice is slippery, and soon I was on my back (and tush), looking up at University of Alaska-Anchorage center (and later head coach) John Hill, who shook his head.

I assume they still talk about that night during the long, dark winters of Yellowknife and have a chuckle at my expense over a few rounds of Molson XXX.

I think I have mentioned this here before. But that was before Gov. Palin started reading the blog. So, here's a fair warning, ma'am: Either put on skates, or walk gingerly.

Holy Duff!

I did a post earlier today in response to a couple of items in Chris Botta's new blog that I mostly intended as good-natured blog give-and-take to stir the juices and give Botta some free pub.

I forgot that nothing riles local hockey followers more than comparing and contrasting the three area NHL squads.

Yikes. Both Botta and I are getting bashed over this. I promise to follow up - in the newspaper, even! - with a more carefully considered exploration of the subject very early in the new season, especially the sensitive topic of pregame shows and the lack thereof.

OK? Now let me study my tape of Game Six of the 1979 Stanley Cup semifinals in peace. Good night.

I should have mentioned this Tuesday, but better late than never:

At 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, 1988, WNBC ceased to exist at 660-AM on the dial, and WFAN took over, improving its signal and picking up Mr. Don Imus, a pivotal event in the station's history.

I was much younger then. So was Don.

Former Isles mouthpiece Chris Botta is getting feisty in his blog, taking shots at two of Cablevision's prized possessions: Newsday (for lack of Isles coverage this week) and MSG Plus (for lack of Isles pregame shows).

The weird thing is there will be pregame shows for the Devils, the Isles' spiritual siblings in non-Rangers-land.

On the other hand, "Islanders Illustrated" will be shown regularly before games, a magazine-style show for which the Devils do not have an equivalent.

How do I feel about all this?

I feel it's more important to have a nice postgame, because hardly anyone watches pregame shows anyway. And the diehards who need more info he can get plenty of stuff on the Islanders' Web site, Newsday, Newsday.com and Logan's blog.

As for Botta's assertion Newsday already is tilting its coverage toward Cablevision owned teams . . . I don't know. If I'm supposed to be doing that, Mr. Dolan has done a poor job of letting me know, because I have heard nothing along those lines.

OK, now I'm really done for today. I need to put on my Rod Gilbert jersey and paint my face blue to prepare for the weekend.

Happily, Chris Russo's satellite radio show now is available via the Internet for Sirius subscribers in addition to XM subscribers.

I say "happily" because now people will stop e-mailing me to ask when the show can be heard on their computers. For now it is on live 2-7 p.m., then repeats the rest of the day.

At some point Chris will hire other hosts to fill out the day with live stuff.

Right now I am listening to the show on the Internet via the XM subscriber service.

Chris is talking to a caller about the Red Sox. This is funny: Chris threw it to the "Flash," which is what the sports updates are called at WFAN. Then he corrected himself to call it "Sports Bite."

Nice to hear Doggie still being Doggie.

(UPDATE: It's 4:25 p.m. now, and Chris just spent a few minutes reciting Lou Gehrig's year-by-year stats, and now is yelling about how much better he was than Clemente.)

The division series on TBS did better than most stuff on TV, but less well than last year's first round of baseball playoffs.

Apparently the lack of the Yankees hurt, as did the presence of Sarah Palin.

Whatever. I'm finally starting to come around to many readers' point of view when it comes to ratings:

I care less than I used to.

Our friends at The Final Score have weighed in on the most critical issue of our time, voting in an absentee ballot for Kimberly Jones as Mike Francesa's running mate.

Hmm. An all-Republican ticket featuring an aging guy with a quick temper and a younger woman who likes to gut moose? How original!

(Just kidding. I have no idea whether Ms. Jones enjoys gutting moose.)

(UPDATE: It's 2:15 and Ms. Jones is arguing with Mike about Brett Favre while simultaneously flipping through a newspaper. This is just like the MMD good old days!)

I have visited Jim Fassel in his (former) home, Kerry Collins in his (former) home, Michael Strahan in his (former) home, Tiki Barber in his (former) home, Jason Sehorn in his (former) home and David Tyree in his (former) home, but if I were T-Rock and covering the Giants these days, I'd be angling for a visit to Eli's Hoboken current home.

Motorized shades? A hidden bar? Southern hospitality?

Sign me up!

I think I first read about this on Deadspin. If so, thanks for beating me to another New York story.

No one tells me anything anymore.

See ya. Enjoy the Wrangler Pro Tour: Ariat Playoffs, from Puyallup, Wash., on MSG Plus at 8 p.m.

(What the heck were they thinking scheduling this for the night of the biggest Jewish holiday of the year? Jews love rodeo!)

My favorite moment of Tuesday's Francesa/Jones/Carlin experiment on WFAN was when the discussion turned to politics - always dangerous! - and Mike said his favorite commentator is Pat Buchanan because of his fairness and balance.

"I understand what his politics are," Mike said, "but I really think he actually at least is somewhat down the middle where he'll actually give the other side credit once in a while. So I actually think he is fairly fair."

I wish I were a political commentator this month. I really, really do. But I am not. So I hereby swear on the Baseball Encyclopedia that I will not do another post about the Presidential election until it is over . . . and preferably not even then.

TNT will televise Saturday night's outdoor preseason game between the Suns and Nuggets in Indian Wells, Calif., with Marv Albert, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller at the mikes.

Why? Why not?

Speaking of NBA preseason, we're in the middle of a rough couple of days for sports media what with the division series all ending relatively quickly for the second year in a row, the NFL playing only a couple of days a week and the NHL still awaiting its North American regular-season debut.

The sports yakkers are scrambling, Newsday put Joe Namath on the back page and SportsCenter led with . . . the Trail Blazers' preseason game!

Something about a heralded draft pick from last year returning to action. But still.

The Spectrum will be demolished sometime in 2009.

The Flyers played their final game there Wednesday.

Sigh.

Neiman Marcus is offering an end zone from Texas Stadium and a party with the Cowboys cheerleaders for a mere $500,000.

Why not? It's a better investment than anything currently available on Wall Street, no?

But it's still not as good a deal as the Mets' dugout from Shea, which last time I checked still could be had for $100,000. (Without a party featuring Mr. Met, alas.)

Well, what the heck, why not go stomping through a minefield in work boots . . .

What did you think of the Mike Francesa, Chris Carlin, Kim Jones ensemble on WFAN today? I'll reserve my observations for later in the week to avoid tainting your opinions.

Fair warning: Sexist jokes or chubby jokes will be deleted. Stick to critiques of the content, please.

Thanks for playing our game.

Our friends at TV Zone, the reigning Newsday blog champs, are playing the Gov. Palin card again.

Check out this post about the possibility of Ms. Sarah doing a cameo appearance on "Saturday Night Live."

Wait . . . doesn't she claim to watch Tina Fey's impression of her with the sound down? Ms. Fey should stick her fingers in her ears when the governor introduces herself.

I originally was going to lead my Tuesday newspaper column by making fun of Brian Cashman's recent thoughts regarding how the meanies in the New York media have treated him of late, and how that - strangely - motivated him to re-sign as GM.

Then I was going to make it a secondary item in the newspaper column..

Then I dumped it in the blog.

Then Craig Carton starting talking on the radio this morning about the Cashman quotes I posted from an XM Satellite Radio interview last week, and I started to wonder whether I should have written more about it after all.

So . . . click below for the complete transcript from XM.

That's it for today. Amuse yourself with our other blogs, or with important Newsday.com features such as our photo gallery of best NFL cheerleaders.

Continue reading "Brian Cashman reads papers, makes career decision" »

My Tuesday newspaper column has stuff in it about a new book on Eli Manning, about Keith Olbermann making a Sarah Palin-related crack that annoyed some conservatives and about "Hockey Night in Canada" coming to America.

The Eli book reveals that Wellington Mara preferred in 2004 to stick with Kerry Collins rather than trade for Manning.

I asked Collins - who quarterbacks one of the NFL's two undefeated teams - about that in an e-mail. He answered, but I was not clear on whether it was on the record, so I won't share with you exactly what he wrote.

I think it's fair to assume Collins is enjoying his (so far) successful season in Tennessee.

It took 14 seconds for Kimbo Slice’s 15 minutes of fame to end Saturday night on CBS, when the YouTube sensation went down, perhaps taking with him EliteXC and even mixed martial arts on broadcast TV.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

MMA in general and UFC in particular should continue to thrive on pay television, where it (like boxing) probably belongs.

MSG announced its 2008-09 Knicks schedule today. Conveniently, the national networks aren't interested in the squad, so every game is slated for MSG.

I posted the entire schedule for those inclined to click below, but I didn't know how to format it neatly so it's a complete mess.

Continue reading "Undaunted, Knicks still plan to play in 2008-09 season" »

Thanks to sharp-eared reader Jim for uncovering a Bill Simmons podcast from a couple of weeks back in which he calls me the "combination Woodward/Bernstein" of the "Mike and the Mad Dog" saga.

(Bill spoke to Mike Francesa about the sidekick gig, by the way, but annoying details such as an existing contract with ESPN presumably got in the way.)

It's about 57:20 into his Week 4 preview in the B.S. Report archive. Strange. But thanks, Bill.

I have heard that this Ernie Davis bio that hits theaters Friday is good, but Universal p.r. forgot to invite me to a screening, so I have not seen it and thus can't vouch for it one way or the other.

(Yes, young readers, Syracuse used to play home games outdoors.)

Excellent news today for fans of "My Boys," a series I have obsessively hyped since it debuted as the best show about a fictional sportswriter who never works since "Everybody Loves Raymond."

TBS announced it has picked up the series for a third season of nine episodes debuting early in 2009.

The lead character, P.J. Franklin, is a beat writer covering the Cubs, whose playoff flop should free up her schedule for more beer drinking and poker playing with her male pals.

Maybe TBS could cross-promote by having Frank Caliendo and Chip Caray appear on the show and do their amusing parodies of TV sportscasters.