The Day Before the 4th of July

I’d rather have the 4th of July holiday on either a Monday or Friday and next year, being a leap year, the 4th will fall on a Friday, but this year, it’s in the middle of the week so we all have to deal. But as many have taken the week off, some of us are still at work so in the meantime, I provide you with links.

I don’t know why I’m so upset over the Bud Collins firing by NBC. Bud will still work for the Globe, but I guess it’s the fact that someone I’ve grown accustomed to seeing on tennis tournaments every year is not going to be there next year. I’m hoping that will change. Susan Bickelhaupt of the Globe has a short story. Larry Stewart of the LA Times has NBC denying it fired Collins. In the Palm Beach Post, Charles Elmore has Collins saying he’s not retiring.

The New York Post follows up on its own story of Cynthia Rodriguez wearing a t-shirt to Sunday’s game saying, “Fuck you” on the back. She had her kids with her at the time.

Over to the Midwest region where the Big Ten Network continues to make news. It’s launch on August 30 is fast approaching, but the channel still doesn’t have agreements with Bright House, Comcast and Time Warner. Two days after the launch, the channel starts televising games. Carol Slezak in today’s Chicago Tribune says the Big Ten Conference is arrogant thinking fans will flock to watch what she calls “a D-list football game”. Harsh. But she may be right. Over in Bloomington, Indiana, fans there are wondering if Bloomington-Normal cable and Insight cable will pick up the channel. Centre Daily Times editor Bob Heisse says Comcast is right to want to put the Big Ten Network on a sports tier. And Variety says the Big Ten Network will have fewer subscribers at launch than it had hoped for.

Former Vermont men’s basketball coach Tom Brennan has signed a contract extension with ESPN.

The Follow the Media site has a good feature on the rising price of digital rights for sports leagues like the NBA and events such as the Olympics.

And in the story, there’s mention of the NFL imposing a 45 second rule on websites showing video of player interviews. That’s right, we’re not even talking game footage, we’re talking about interview of players at mini-camp or press conferences. This is because the NFL wants you to go to its website where it will get all the web hits. Thanks to Deadspin which picked up the story from Foul Balls.net, we find tht the NFL is enforcing this silly rule.

The great Houston Chronicle columnist John McLain shows you how silly this rule is.

Those are the links for now. I’m not sure I’ll be back with an afternoon update. I will have primetime viewing choices and maybe something tonight. If I don’t see you here later, have a great 4th.

Ken