Watchdog

Well, WatchDog Nation, I made it through an entire Thursday without a new post, and now I'm checking out for the holiday weekend.

To heck with the August page views standings. It's more important I prove I am not a blogging addict and can stop whenever I want. Really, I mean it! I'm trying, anyway.

Meanwhile read the other interesting Newsday sports (and non-sports) blogs, conveniently rounded up here.

Newsday has been as aggressive as any newspaper in the country in embracing the Internet as a platform for the kind of quality journalism it has been providing Long Island and beyond since 1940.

(WatchDog kudos to first reader to identify the woman in the picture.)

At last, some good news for the ailing newspaper industry:

Jay Mariotti has left it!

(UPDATE: Here is a highly amusing statement from the Sun-Times regarding Jay's departure.)

(ANOTHER UPDATE: Roger Ebert is displeased with Jay.

The LPGA's crackdown on golfers who don't speak English is a shocker, and a great subject for debate, since both sides are wrong, and both sides are right.

Discuss among yourselves.

(Good thing the Chinese didn't institute a rule like this for the Olympics. I wonder how fluent Michael Phelps is in Mandarin.)

Here is Mark Herrmann's column on this topic.

The Jets' open auction for the priciest seats in the new stadium is going to be a fascinating piece of sports business theater this fall.

As for the team's decision to exempt the upper deck from PSLs . . . very interesting, and a mixed blessing for fans.

On one hand, it's nice not to have to lay out $1,000, as Giants fans will for those seats. On the other, some Jets fans are going to be jealous when the Giants' upper deck PSLs skyrocket in value on the secondary market in the coming years.

Thanks, Glauber, for handling this story for me while I'm off. On my beat, relevant stuff happens 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Feb. 29ths usually are quiet.

I wrote an article about ESPN's new-look "Monday Night Football" that will appear in the newspaper sometime next month, but I have been offering sneak previews, such as last week's post in which producer Jay Rothman had the following prediction for the number of booth guests this season: zero.

Here is an interesting quote from analyst Ron Jaworski regarding last season's approach, which featured booth guests and two sideline reporters:

“Many times, from my perspective, it was hard to get a flow for the game. I’m the guy delivering the X’s and O’s, why a play didn’t work, or why it did. It’s hard to go four or five plays and not get a word in because we’re on the sideline or with a booth guest, then pick it up from there and bring everyone up to speed.

“I’ll be honest, that was difficult to do. Now it’s going to be focused on the three of us in the booth, on the game, which is what people have told us they want.’’

Rule No. 1 in covering Michael Strahan news: Check Glazer regularly.

OK, I'm seriously going to start acting like I'm on vacation now before Mrs. WatchDog throws my laptop off a tall building. But before I go . . .

WFAN's schedule this week is a typical last-week-of-August mishmash, but behind the scenes the wheels are turning as Mike Francesa plans his new-look show.

The search for an update person seems to be further along than that for a new No. 2 man (or woman).

From what I have been able to piece together, the update list includes Bob Heussler, Jerry Recco, Sal Licata and Jonas Schwartz. Heussler, known as "Mr. Met" on the show, long has shown a willingness to stand up to Francesa and Chris Russo as well as a dry sense of humor.

As for the bigger job . . . all sorts of interesting names have been seriously discussed, from what I hear, including Sid Rosenberg, Chris Carlin, Ian Eagle and even ESPN.com's Bill Simmons.

Francesa and operations manager Mark Chernoff seem to be moving quickly on this. I know Mike and others at the station read the blog, so this is your last chance to weigh in and tell them what you think about potential hires.

Just keep it clean and respectful, or I'll be spending my vacation censoring the comments section. And Mrs. WatchDog will not be pleased.

Really, it's time for the major sports league to direct teams to include announcers on their injury lists, lest fans not understand and appreciate the context of their performances.

Take Monday night's Mets game. A source in the Shea Stadium press lounge said SNY's Kevin Burkhardt injured his tongue by biting it during the pregame meal, negatively affecting his ability to pronounce the letter "S" all night.

It's a good thing Santana didn't pitch for the Mets.

Burkhardt battled through the injury, making his the third most impressive effort of the night after Pelfrey and Delgado.

This is why I told Schwartz of the Post I will not pay off that bet I made with him back in 2002 that Strahan would play at least one down in the NFL in 2009 until the 2009 season is safely over upon the conclusion of Super Bowl XLIV.

Sunday's closing ceremony from Beijing attracted 15.2 percent of U.S. homes, the best for a non-domestic Summer Olympics since 1976. That's an impressive accomplishment in this era of ever-diminishing ratings on broadcast networks.

Overall, the Olympics averaged 27.7 million viewers and 16.2 percent of homes in prime time, well above the Athens Games four years ago, despite a significant dip in the second, post-Michael Phelps week.

NBC also is touting the Olympics as the most watched event in TV history, with 211 million people through Saturday, but that includes anyone who watched at least six minutes on any channel on any day. That number is of little interest to advertisers.

Still, the overall numbers were excellent. The 16.2 average was the best for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 (17.1), in a far less fractured media environment.

NBCOlympics.com also piled up huge numbers, with 75.5 million video streams, 51.9 million unique users, 1.24 billion page views and 9.9 million hours of video consumed.

Here are the top 10 major markets in average rating for the Games:

T1. Denver 23.1
T1. Salt Lake City 23.1
3. Minneapolis 22.1
T4. Indianapolis 21.3
T4. San Diego 21.3
T6. Baltimore 21.1
T6. Oklahoma City 21.1
8. Nashville 21.0
9. Columbus, Ohio 20.4
10. Portland, Ore. 20.2

Joseph Abboud has a new deal to clothe 31 of the 32 NFL coaches, off the field, anyway. (Not Joe himself. Actually, JA Apparel, which owns the brand now.)

You get one guess about the lone exception. Hint: The Abboud line does not include torn hoodies.

(Full disclosure: I own one sports jacket. It's a Joseph Abboud. But I do not have an endorsement deal.)

Click below for more excerpts from Tuesday night's "Real Sports" episode on PSLs in particular and rising ticket prices in general.

Why? Because HBO keeps sending this stuff, and I'm on vacation and don't feel like watching the entire review DVD I received today.

Yo, Jets, what about your PSL plan? Don't get too cute with this and wait until the Friday afternoon before Labor Day weekend to announce it.

The Giants did it on a Thursday.

Continue reading "HBO sits down with John Mara to talk PSLs" »

Barack Obama played basketball with and talked to Stuart Scott of ESPN last week in North Carolina, an interview that will debut on the 6 p.m. Monday SportsCenter.

Obama has a chance to become the best basketball player in the history of the U.S. Presidency, although let's face it: Lincoln was just born too soon.

Click below for excerpts, in which Obama talks about Dr. J. and beer-swilling, cutesy Cubs fans.

Continue reading "Barack Obama likes Julius Erving, Chisox" »

Just got my first edition of the new-look Sporting News in the mail, and naturally turned first to my favorite all-time magazine columnist - Hank Steinbrenner.

Here's Hank on Yankees injuries and looking ahead to next year and the media's lack of understanding:

"It obviously would be disappointing to miss the playoffs in the final season at Yankee Stadium, but you can't expect miracles. Not when we've been hit by injuries like that. It's not an excuse; it's reality.

"Most of the national media is full of Yankee haters. That's why I have to point out the injuries - because the media sweep that under the rug and say we're playing poorly. But next year, in the new stadium, we'll be much better."

Yikes! But what about the Rays missing their two best hitters and still . . . oh, never mind.

I love Hank's last two graphs:

"When we leave for the final time, the family and I will take some things with us. But we'll leave some things behind, including perhaps the biggest mystery of all:

"How did George Costanza last as long as he did here?"

Ron Darling sits down with Tom Seaver and Johan Santana for a joint interview that will debut at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday on SNY.

Click below for extensive highlights from the show that SNY was kind enough to send along.

Nothing controversial here, alas. Darling should have asked them about Strahan (see post below).

Continue reading "Ron Darling talks to Tom Seaver, Johan Santana" »

Uh, oh. It's only August and the media already is trying the patience of Coach Coughlin. Here is an exchange from Monday's news conference in which TC is asked one question too many about the potential for a return by Michael Strahan.

Sources say the "smart aleck" in question is none other than my old "Giants On-Line" teammate and current Cablevision teammate Anthony Fucilli, now entering his fifth season of trying Coughlin's patience.

Q: Moving Mathias, does it make it less likely that you will bring Michael back?

A: You guys keep asking me about something that, honestly, I have not been a part of any of those discussions. I’m more concerned with the team that we have right here in our locker room and that this team mentally prepares itself as best we can.

Q: Would you like to have him back?

A: Don’t ask me any more questions about that.

Q: You are the head coach, wouldn’t it be your job to say whether I want him or not?

A: Don’t be a smart-aleck. Don’t be a smart-aleck. I will be a part of every discussion that is ongoing in terms of helping our team, yes.

Click below for NBC's transcript of Bob Costas' sitdown with IOC boss Jacques Rogge, as well as Costas' closing remarks last night.

Limited blogging this week. Please be brave. You'll get through this, dear readers.

Continue reading "Bob Costas sits down with Jacques Rogge" »

Osi? Not Osi!

I'm sorry for your loss, Giants fans.

This reminds me way too much of the night 10 years and three days earlier when another unique athlete in his prime, Jason Sehorn, blew out his knee returning a kickoff against the Jets.

I've never been in a locker room more devastated by an injury than that one. Michael Strahan was particularly upset.

Speaking of Strahan . . . yo, Michael, are you sure you want to be retired?

NBC sent a DVD of a feature it produced on that Brazilian dude who got knocked off course by a wacko from the audience while leading the marathon in 2004, then went on to finish third.

I'm assuming it will run during Saturday night's live coverage of the men's marathon from Beijing, where the dreaded smog seems to have ceased to be a story.

Speaking of live stuff from Beijing, NBC will be showing the men's hoops final between the U.S. and Spain as it happens . . . beginning at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Normally I'm watching TV Land at that hour, but I suppose I could make an exception. I would like to see LeBron dunk on Rafael Nadal, that little pest.

I wrote a column a while back about 'Love Guru' star Mike Myers and his love of hockey, which in turn led to a poll on favorite hockey movies, which in turn led to a couple of readers encouraging me to check out "The Rocket," a film about Maurice Richard that came out in Canada in 2005 and had a limited theatrical run in Manhattan last year and now is on DVD at my local Blockbuster.

I checked it out Friday. It's admirably earnest, offers a primer on The Rocket for sports fans who don't know much about him and surely will cause French Canadians to swell with pride. Plus, the old-time hockey scenes are fascinating.

On the other hand, it's slow, it's overly worshipful, the English dubbing is a distraction and Mr. Richard turns out to be a man of painfully few words, in any language.

"The Rocket" is much better than "Love Guru," not nearly as good as "Slap Shot."

I don't cover the Giants anymore, but I still wait with bated breath every August for the results of the annual Writer Cup golf tournament that pits Jets writers against Giants writers the day before the teams meet in the preseason.

Thankfully, the good guys won again this year, as Boland graciously reports in his Jets blog. The Giants writers have won back-to-back Cups for the first time since 1999-2000.

I stole the picture from Vacchiano's Daily News Giants blog.

When it comes to the Writer Cup, beat bonds are stronger than corporate ones.

Fang's Bites interviewed me last week. Thanks to Mr. Fang for caring; don't know whether his readers will.

Yes, the subject of "Mike and the Mad Dog" came up. So did "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "My Boys" and the scandal of TV sportswriters who never work. So did the subject of blogging itself.

Speaking of Christopher Russo, he's scheduled to appear Monday morning on Ch. 5's "Good Day New York."