Well, where do I begin? There’s the Erin Andrews story which continues to pick up momentum. And we have ESPN finally acknowledging the Ben Roethlisberger civil lawsuit story two days after other media outlets have been reporting it. Personally, I found some Harry Chapin albums on iTunes and videos on YouTube so expect to see those in a future edition of Videos of the Week.
Here’s one video before we go to links. Harry Chapin doing “Mr. Tanner” with bassist John Wallace doing the baritone backup. Great song.
After that, it’s time to delve into the links.
Yesterday, I did an interview with 16 year old Alex Reimer of the Without A Curse podcast. We talked about the WEEI/WBZ-FM competition. Click here and you can forward the podcast to about the six minute mark and we talk for about ten minutes or so. Adam does a good job. He knows his stuff.
Starting with Sean Leahy of USA Today’s The Huddle blog, he writes that ESPN finally reported the Roethlisberger story last night.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that ESPN for whatever reason played it cautious with the Roethlisberger civil lawsuit.
I’m warning you before the link that Newsday’s website underwent a major redesign so you may be a bit shocked when you see white fonts on a blue background instead of dark fonts on a white background. Anyway, Neil writes about ESPN’s decision to come out of its ivory tower and report on Roethlisberger.
Christopher Byrne of Eye on Sports Media writes that ESPN is taking a hit to its integrity to which I say it hardly has any for its reporting of this story.
Kevin Blackistone of Fanhouse believes ESPN swung and missed by joining the coverage late.
Excellent article from the great Ed Berliner, a former sports TV anchor himself, saying ESPN did not do itself any favors.
Dan LeBatard writing in the Miami Herald says ESPN showed restraint by not reporting the story originally. I don’t think it was restraint, it might have been protecting an interest.
To the Erin Andrews story.
Bob’s Blitz which has done a tremendous job following the story says the New York Post is hitting back at ESPN banning its reporters from its network and radio stations for publishing pictures of the creepy video, saying Erin Andrews’ lawyer is to blame for all this putting the name of the website on its complaint.
Here’s the New York Post Page Six article referred to in Bob’s Blitz post.
The Big Lead asks now that New York Post reporters are banned from ESPN, will Fox News be next after Bill O’Reilly ran the video on his show last night.
Jay Mariotti of Fanhouse fires shots at everyone over the video.
The Rookies blog fires back at Jay.
The Buffalo News reports the video may have been shot in Western New York, although that is rather sketchy.
Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune says the coverage of Erin Andrews has hypocrisy written all over it.
Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times wants all of us to grow up.
Reid Cherner and Tom Weir of USA Today’s Game On! blog has Christine Brennan clarifying her comments about Erin Andrews.
Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says NESN’s Heidi Watney has chimed in on the video.
To the SEC Network.
Tim Griffin of ESPN.com says the Big 12’s fears came true when it was announced that the SEC Network’s footprint extended into Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
Marc Weiszer of the Savannah (GA) Morning News says the SEC just got bigger thanks to ESPN’s power.
Andy Bitter and David Hale of the Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer write that ESPN will air 23 more SEC football games this season thanks to the SEC Network.
Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tries to sort out the new ESPN/SEC contract.
Bill King of the AJC says Georgia fans can sit back and turn on their TV to see every game this season.
Tommy Hicks of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register says the SEC has released the TV schedule for the first three weeks of the season.
Let’s move on to other links now.
This might have been a lead story had it not been for Erin Andrews, Ben Roethlisberger and the SEC Network. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is suing the Internal Revenue Service for not allowing him to claim a tax deduction after he donated his house to the local fire department. Is suing the IRS a good idea?
Writing in the Baltimore-centric Press Box site, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has several local news and notes including the departure of the long-time WBAL-AM vice president and station manager.
From the DC Metro Weekly paper, Sean Bugg interviews Tennis Channel analyst and World Team Tennis player Rennae Stubbs.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writ
es that the Capitals will remain on its current radio flagship station.
Back to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and TV/radio writer Rodney Ho who reports the Braves are changing their radio flagships next season.
John Royal of the Houston Press says the Texas Bowl made the right move in going to ESPN after not being seen on the NFL Network for the last three years.
Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers a day early.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about tonight’s ESPN Homecoming show starring former Rams QB Kurt Warner.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News digs into the Sports Illustrated vaults and finds an article from 1979 about a small cable TV network that was hoping to show sports 24 a day.
John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News asks what’s the big fuss over the LeBron James dunk video which was no big deal after it was released yesterday afternoon.
Erica Ogg of CNET.com looks at the MLB At Bat iPhone app which now has every game available on streaming video.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball has an excellent article on the top 10 Marketing issues facing MLB right now.
Evan Weiner writing at the MCN Sports site calls on Congress to change the cable TV laws that allowed networks like ESPN to get too big.
David Goetzl of Mediapost writes about Fox Sports taking a stake in Open Sports Network for fantasy sports.
Wayne Friedman of Mediapost says NBC Universal putting on the USA-Mexico World Cup qualifying match on a little-known and barely seen channel is all about business.
Colby Hall of Mediaite talks with ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons. The less I say about him the better.
Chuck Hanf of the Two Cents from Beantown blog lists his five top sports stars of all time in the Hub. I like his top choice.
I would be remiss if I didn’t link you to the latest edition of The Five on WEEI.com hosted always by the lovely Kristine Leahy.
Wow. Lots of links. I need to clear my head so I’m taking a walk. See you later.
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