Friday Links

Ok, new month. Let’s do the Friday links. Lots of them today as usual.

Starting off with USA Today, Mike McCarthy has Fox’s Tim McCarver getting on the Yankees for not starting Roger Clemens against the Red Sox this weekend. I usually don’t like McCarver, but I do have to agree with him on this. The Yankees are in desperate times and they need a shot in the arm, 13.5 games back in the division.

The Boston Globe’s Susan Bickelhaupt writes about three channels, the Golf Channel, Speed and the Tennis Channel all finding audiences and also getting big events.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the way Alex Rodriguez is being treated by the media after news about being with another woman leaked this week.

And the New York Post which must have something against A-Rod actually ID’s the woman as a dancer at Scores Las Vegas.

Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick gets on players like Mets outfielder Carlos Delgado for not running hard on the basepaths.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News also has Tim McCarver criticizing the Yankees for not pitching Clemens in Boston this weekend and Raissman also gives his take on the matter.

Newsday’s Neil Best wonders how the YES Network will handle the Yankees if they’re out of contention this summer.

Best also reports in his blog that WFAN’s Mike Francesca will take the Imus spot for CBS Radio starting Monday and for the rest of the month.

Pete Schnatz of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about Suzy Kolber of ESPN who will host NASCAR Countdown for ESPN/ABC starting this weekend.

David Jones of the Patriot News in upstate Pennsylvania wonders if fans of Penn State will be able to watch football games when the Big Ten Network launches this fall.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has some musings today and leading off is Comcast‘s decision to put the NFL Network on a digital sports tier.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes about Joe Rose of Sports talker 790 the Ticket wondering if he should leave for WQAM which has the Dolphin games.

Dave Darling has a story on the MLB Draft on ESPN2 and what features we can expect to see or not see on June 6.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune laments the changing of the rules in covering athletes in the A-Rod debacle. And he also gives his weekend viewing picks.

Judd Zelgad of the Minnepolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune says what I have been saying in this blog all along. That NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman can spin the ratings for the NHL all he wants, but when it comes down to the crunching, the numbers are horrible.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a feature on Joe Buck stating that MLB Commish Bud Selig should be on hand when and if Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record.

Andrew Guy, Jr. of the Houston Chronicle reports that Houston will get a 4th sports radio station this summer.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune discusses the upcoming MLB Draft which will be televised for the first time this month on ESPN2. The ratings for sports viewing in San Diego is also available here.

Larry Stewart of the LA Times has two articles today. His first is on Brett Hull who’s doing work with NBC for the NHL this season. The second is on Anaheim Ducks announcers John Ahlers and Brian Hayward who have been silenced since the second round of the playoffs due to exclusive rights for the Conference and Stanley Cup Finals on Versus and NBC.

The Sports Media Watch Blog has the numbers for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Versus and they’re not good.

Pat Hickey writes in the Montreal Gazette that his search for Versus while traveling in Scranton, PA was barely successful. In fact, Hickey said a bartender of a sports establishment had never heard of the channel. Are you listening, Gary Bettman?

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says the three man booth of Bob Cole, Harry Neale and Greg Millen on the CBC for the Stanley Cup Finals is working.

We’ll be back later with more links as they warrant.