Holiday Afternoon Links

Some more links to give you on this Veterans’ Day afternoon.

Thanks to being off today, I can check out some daytime programming on the various sports networks. I already gave you my quickie opinion on ESPN’s First Take. Some Regional Sports Networks will just air programming from FSN, but in the case of YES and MASN, they’ll simulcast local sports radio talk shows. YES will air Mike & the Mad Dog, Mike Francesca and Chris Russ from WFAN while MASN simulcasts the Anita Marks Show from ESPN Radio 1300 in Baltimore. It’s a cheap way to fill time and also to sell ads.

As far as Mike & the Mad Dog, they’re the Gold Standard as far as sports radio is concerned. They have been together since 1989 and every sports talk show has to be compared to them. While some of their rants sound uninformed, Francesca and Russo do have their loyal listenership.

Anita started in Baltimore last year, but has quickly acclimated herself to the sports scene. She came over from Miami where she hosted an afternoon drive show. I’ve seen her off and on and have enjoyed hers show. Today, she’s hosting a post-mortem on the Ravens which lost to the Steelers and Bengals in a span of six days. She lets the callers talk and doesn’t interrupt. Anita also knows what drives sports radio and she allows the opinions to breathe.

Ok, let’s get to some links for you.

Neil Best of Newsday is back to blogging today. He has an entry on former Giants coach Jim Fassel who’s doing some color commentary for Westwood One Radio on NFL games. Best gives us some quotes from the Sunday NFL studio shows. And finally, Best has a brief blurb on Kevin Burkhardt of SNY who has some expanded duties at the RSN after signing a new contract.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog about the new programming schedule for 710 KSPN.

From the Sports Media Blog, Paulsen writes that it’s not time to shovel dirt on the NBA as its TV ratings are doing quite well.

The NFL Media website tells us that there will be no change in the Sunday Night Football game for Week 12 (November 25) which is Philadelphia at New England, but there is one slight change in the afternoon schedule:

The final Week 12 NFL schedule was announced today with the originally scheduled Philadelphia at New England Sunday night game on NBC remaining in place. The only game time change, as was previously announced, is the Denver Broncos at Chicago Bears game on Sunday, November 25 moving from 1:00 PM ET to 4:15 PM ET on CBS.

So there will be three late games on Sunday afternoon on Thanksgiving weekend, the Denver-Chicago game, Baltimore at San Diego and San Francisco at Arizona.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that the announcers for the Broncos-Chiefs game had little good to say about the local team on Sunday.

Jason Schwartz of Boston Magazine blogs that Patriots fans may get shut out of Week 17 game against the Giants as it’s on the NFL Network.

Multichannel News reports that Fox Soccer Channel will carry the next two international matches for the men’s US Soccer national team.

Rick Kissell of Variety writes that Sunday Night Football performed well for NBC last night.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable reports that Raycom has bought Lincoln Financial Group’s TV stations including its sports syndication arm. Raycom and Lincoln Financial Sports are partners for the ACC and LFS is the lone syndication partner for the SEC. Andrew Edwards of the Wall Street Journal says the deal totals $863 million.

The Birmingham News says the annual Iron Bowl, the clash between Alabama and Auburn will be picked up by ESPN on November 24 in primetime after CBS passed. Also from that date, the UConn-West Virginia game is in limbo because ESPN has to decide what time (noon, 3:30 p.m. or 8 p.m.) and which network (ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC) will carry it.

Richard Oliver of the San Antonio Express-News talks with ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

That’s it for today. Back with Primetime Viewing Picks and Videos of the Week.