After recovering from my office move last week, I will now provide the Friday megalinks.
For the Weekend Viewing Picks, there is a lot to choose from.
The NHL Stanley Cup Finals are well underway. With Pittsburgh and Detroit tied at 2 games apiece, NBC could not be happier to see at least a six game series. NBC and CBC have Game 5 at Joe Louis Arena this Saturday night at 8.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals is on Sunday night. ESPN/ABC officials hope Game 2 will be much closer than the Lakers blowout of the Orlando Magic on Thursday. Gametime is 8 p.m.
It’s championship weekend for the French Open. The women’s final is an all-Russian affair between Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova. NBC has it Saturday morning at 9. Then the men’s final pits Roger Federer seeking a career Grand Slam against Robin Soderling. NBC has that Sunday morning at 9.
Jockey Calvin Borel goes for a personal Triple Crown this Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. Borel will be back on Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird as Preakness Stakes champ Rachel Alexandra did not enter the mile and a half race. ABC has the race starting at 5:30 p.m
Baseball is in full swing. Fox will have three games with Philadelphia at the Dodgers being the featured broadcast. WGN has a double dose of Cubs-Reds this weekend. TBS carries the Texas-Red Sox game, Sunday at 1:30 p.m. And the Sunday night ESPN game is Phillies-Dodgers at 8 p.m.
TNT has the first of six NASCAR races starting on Sunday afternoon with the Pocono 500 at 2.
Fox has same day coverage of the Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The PGA Tour is in Ohio for the Memorial Tournament hosted by Jack Nicklaus. Golf Channel and CBS combine for coverage for the weekend.
For more Weekend Viewing Picks as well as primetime selections, head over here.
Now to the links.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that ESPN/ABC hopes jockey Calvin Borel will steer the network to some good ratings.
But CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels Borel did horse racing a disservice by not riding Mine That Bird in the Preakness. And Darren has an exclusive interview with the man who motivated Michael Jordan, the one and only Leroy Smith.
Keith Thibeault of the Sports Media Journal hears from ESPN as to why it opened up a West Coast SportsCenter.
Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media says ESPN won two Gracie Awards this week.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball feels it’s just a matter of time before baseball uniforms have advertising patches.
Jon Weisman of Variety says Game 1 of the NBA Finals gave ABC a primetime ratings win on Thursday.
Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable writes that TiVo is teaming up with the NBA to help promote the Finals.
Multichannel News’ Mike Reynolds says the WNBA’s New York Liberty will put 18 games online.
Mike writes that the Comcast Sports Group will air four Women’s Professional Soccer games on its regional sports networks.
And Mike tells us that the Yankees steered YES to its highest rated start for baseball on any New York regional sports network.
The Sports Media Watch says ratings for Game 1 of the NBA Finals were way down from last year. And Paulsen writes that Fox suffered through its lowest rated NASCAR season ever.
Joseph Tartakoff of paidContent.org writes that ESPN the Magazine will start charging for its online content.
Canada
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail breaks news that the NHL and NBC Sports are close to a two year extension of their current rights deal.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says NBC and CTV have won approval to have Pierre McGuire on ice level for hockey games during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Bruce Constantineau of the Vancouver Sun says NBC is getting ready and negotiating for broadcast sites at the Olympics.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that TNT’s Charles Barkley courted trouble once again during the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals.
Thomas Grillo of the Boston Herald says the Celtics want to put their games online for free next season.
Craig M. Douglas of the Boston Business Journal says NESN’s Red Sox ratings are off 14% from last year.
Bill Doyle in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has an ally with his brother Jeff courtside working for ABC.
Sox & Dawgs has the video of the NESN Dance Party plus Jim Rice’s Line of the Night.
Frank Juliano of the Connecticut Post tells us that Dan Patrick will get his own Man Cave thanks to DIY Network.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Pierre McGuire working for NBC and CTV inside the glass during the 2010 Olympics.
Richard also explains why both men’s semifinals at the French Open were not shown live on Friday.
Jeff Z. Klein of the New York Times says NBC has put the kybosh on having Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals seen on a big screen outside the Igloo as has been the case thro
ughout the NHL Playoffs.
Newsday’s Neil Best says NBC is getting ready for the U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black course in two weeks. Neil gets some impressions from NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol regarding Tiger Woods. Neil adds that NBC’s Dan Hicks played the Bethpage Black course recently. Neil mentions that WFAN’s Boomer and Carton show will be aired live from the SNY studios next week. Neil adds that NBC Sports tried to switch French Open semifinals on Friday.
Newsday’s Trading Paint blog reports that ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Jaime Little will be a judge on Iron Chef America on Food Network this Sunday.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News takes the opportunity to rip Yankees voice John Sterling.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union feels ESPN/ABC should have removed Jeff Van Gundy from the NBA Finals to avoid a conflict of interest with his brother Stan.
Laura Nachman says the Phillies had to do some shuffling in the radio booth this week. Laura also looks at how Fox 29 is handling sports.
Tim Lemke of the Washington Tmes goes into a lengthy explanation as to why NBC could not show the Roger Federer-Juan Martin Del Potro match at the French Open on Friday.
South
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald likes MLB Network over NFL Network and NBA TV.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about a former sports talk show host making do calling high school baseball games.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says Texas Rangers voice Eric Nadel may be back in the booth as early as Monday after having retina surgery.
Midwest
Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News talks with NBC NHL voice Mike Emrick.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about the overhaul at NBC’s Football Night in America.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has this week’s winners and losers in sports business and media.
Ted Cox from the Chicago Daily Herald writes about a local sports talk show host returning to his roots. Ted also writes about some shuffling at one particular sports station.
Bob Foltman of the Chicago Tribune looks at why NBC didn’t air the Roger Federer semifinal at the French Open.
Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin says new NBC NFL analyst Tony Dungy is not sold on the Bears.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dan Caesar says NHL fans do not have a national outlet to listen to the Stanley Cup Finals.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret Morning News goes after Comcast SportsNet for its production of the San Jose-RSL MLS game.
Jay Posner from the San Diego Union-Tribune enjoys Jeff Van Gundy’s commentary.
Jay adds that a La Jolla native will produce NFL Network games this season.
John Maffei of the North County Times takes a look at the new Football Night in America cast.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says ESPN/ABC is not hiding Jeff Van Gundy’s ties to Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy.
Jim also looks at the new Football Night in America on NBC.
Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times writes that NBC gambled and lost on the French Open men’s semifinals.
Diane says NBA Entertainment is always looking for the inside story of the NBA Finals.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Lakers fans have several choices for postgame shows following the NBA Finals.
Tom reviews how Jeff Van Gundy did in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Tom has more on the ESPN on ABC production as well as other media notes in his blog. Tom has a few more notes.
The San Jose Mercury News’ John Ryan wonders if Jeff Van Gundy can step up and criticize his brother.
Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times writes that FSN Northwest will air five games of the WNBA’s Storm.
And that’s going to do it for the megalinks. Nice to have them back after a week’s absence.
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