Back to Work Monday Linkage

It’s tough to be back to work on a Monday after having a nice weekend, but it’s back to the grind, but it’s also nice knowing that there’s a 3 day weekend just ahead. I’m certainly looking forward to that. But in the meantime, let’s get to our links. First, I’ll monitor the Michael Vick court appearance in Richmond, VA today so keep posted here for any updates. Let’s get links right now.

In this morning’s edition of USA Today, Michael Hiestand says ESPN won’t duck the Michael Vick case during Monday Night Football when his former team, the Atlanta Falcons play Cincinnati at the Georgia Dome.

John Molori of Boston Sports Media Watch.com has an internet column on the sports media. He took a hiatus for five months and is now back. He talks with HBO’s Cris Carter about his former teammate Randy Moss and looks at the coverage of the Little League World Series yesterday.

Thanks to Boston Sports Media Watch for the following link. Craig Liadis of the New Hampshire Union-Leader writes that the new agreement between Entercom and Nassau Broadcasting to simulcast WEEI’s signal has begun with the station entering the Granite State on two Nassau stations.

Over at the World Track & Field Championships in Japan, Veronica Campbell of Jamaica just edges Lauryn Williams of the US for the gold medal in the 100 Meters. Both had a time of 11.01 seconds. Carmelita Jeter of the US gets the bronze at 11.02. It took a long time for the judges to go over the photo, but Campbell gets the gold. It’s nice to watch Track & Field online at work.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post rakes MLB over the coals for allowing the Yankees and Detroit Tigers to play a game at 11:06 p.m. Friday after a four hour rain delay. The Game did not finish until 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

Newsday’s Neil Best wants you to know he’s still around, but his blog is still on hiatus until he returns from vacation. Thanks for the update, Neil.

Jim Williams in his Watch This! blog at Examiner.com says there will be plenty of coverage on the Michael Vick court appearance and he also says WUSA in DC won the battle of the Redskins-Ravens game dueling broadcasts.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that there will be of high school football coverage on the airwaves plus he has news that CBS’ Jim Nantz will have a book out in time for Father’s Day 2008.

The Chicago Tribune has an editorial calling on Comcast and the Big Ten Network to end their dispute. While the Big Ten has its own channel, what about individual schools? Don’t think a university like Notre Dame hasn’t thought about creating its own cable channel and Mike Casazza of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail writes that West Virginia University is thinking about the possibilities as well. Brian Hedger of the Gary (IN) Post-Tribune is hopping mad about the Comcast/BTN dispute. Todd Spangler of the Multichannel News says AT&T is hyping the fact that its U-Verse service (whatever the hell that is) has the Big Ten Network. Bob Heisse in his Back in Happy Valley blog for the Centre (PA) Daily Times sides squarely with Comcast.

By the way, the Big Ten Network is not the first conference to form its own channel. The Mountain West Conference did that last year and its channel, the mtn. cannot be seen on major cable companies in Nevada, Utah, Colorado or California and doesn’t even have an agreement with DirecTV or Dish Network. And Doug Robinson of the Deseret (UT) Morning News is frustrated over the fact that he can’t watch the channel.

Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says Thursday night has become a prime night for college football.

Brian Morrissey of Adweek writes about the NFL revamping its website to make it a one-stop destination for video to rival ESPN.com and CBSSports.com.

Jack Carey of USA Today writes about the TV kickoff of the college football season.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News talks about the US Open with CBS’ Dick Enberg.

Those are your links for now. I’ll have an update later today.