Here are some press releases that hit the Fang’s Bites inbox either yesterday or early Friday evening. Because I did the Megalinks relatively early, I just didn’t feel like blogging last night. Then I got bogged down today doing family stuff so while I have a respite, let me post these releases and then I have to get ready for another big thing around 9 tonight.
First, MLB Network will re-air the Mark Buehrle perfect game from earlier this week on Sunday morning so get your DVR’s ready.
MLB NETWORK TO RE-AIR CHICAGO WHITE SOX P MARK BUEHRLE’S PERFECT GAME ON SUNDAY, JULY 26 AT 10:00 A.M. ET
July 24, 2009 – MLB Network will re-air Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on Sunday, July 26 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Buehrle threw the 18th perfect game in Major League Baseball history at Comiskey Park on Thursday, July 23, 2009. A 15-second promo including highlights from the game is attached.
Following the re-airing, MLB Network will begin its coverage of the 2009 National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at 12:30 p.m. EDT with MLB Tonight: Hall of Fame Edition, a pre-ceremony show from MLB Network’s studios in Secaucus, N.J. Hosted by Greg Amsinger and MLB Network Baseball Insiders and Hall of Fame voters Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal, the pre-ceremony show will feature profiles on Gordon, Henderson and Rice. Live coverage of the ceremony, including each inductee’s acceptance speech, will begin at 1:30 p.m. EDT and will feature on-site reporting from MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds and Victor Rojas. MLB.com will simulcast MLB Network’s coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
As the release states, here’s the promo:
Mark is also going to be on the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday doing the Top Ten List.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX STAR AND PERFECT GAME PITCHER MARK BUEHRLE PRESENTS THE TOP TEN LIST ON CBS’s “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN,” MONDAY, JULY 27
NEW YORK, July 24 — Chicago White Sox star Mark Buehrle, who pitched a perfect game on Thursday, will present the Top Ten List on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Monday, July 27 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Buehrle faced 27 batters and threw 76 strikes out of 116 pitches in the White Sox 5-0 victory Thursday over the Tampa Bay Rays, becoming only the 18th pitcher in Major League Baseball history to pitch a perfect game and also throwing the second no-hitter of his career. Also on hand to help present the Top Ten List with Buehrle will be teammates Josh Fields, who hit a grand slam in Thursday’s game, and center fielder DeWayne Wise, who robbed the Rays’ Gabe Kapler of a leadoff home run in the ninth inning to get the assist in Buehrle’s perfect game.
Also featured on the LATE SHOW Monday will be interviews with actor Eric Bana, musician Dave Matthews and musical guests Dave Matthews Band, who will perform the first of two nights on the broadcast (they’ll also visit the show on Friday, July 31). The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Maria Pope, Jude Brennan and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.
ESPN provides us with quotage from a press conference that the network’s NASCAR production and announcing crew did at the Indy Motor Speedway in advance on Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
Quotes From ESPN News Conference at Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayESPN will have live, high definition coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 26, beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET, the first of 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races to be televised on ESPN and ABC to close out the 2009 season. Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports, event production, and four former NASCAR Sprint Cup champions who are members of the telecast team – Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree, Rusty Wallace and Ray Evernham – participated in a news conference Friday at the speedway. Some highlight quotes:
RICH FEINBERG
On the subject of ESPN starting its portion of the Sprint Cup schedule at Indianapolis:“It’s extremely special. ESPN and ABC’s relationship with this track is, I believe, the second-longest relationship in a broadcast entity that it has with any sports property. As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing in the world like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This place changes peoples ‘s lives, and it’s a privilege to start our coverage here at this track knowing that the event and whatever unfolds, however it takes place, is going to change somebody’s life. It changed my life, as well. I came here in 1986 as (Indy 500 pit reporter) Jack Arute’s water boy.”
RAY EVERNHAM
On the subject of winning the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 as crew chief for Jeff Gordon:“The sharpest memory I have is how emotional, how draining it was. We pushed the car out onto the track and when I turned away from the car, it hit me all at once where we were and what we were getting ready to do. We had been so focused on the car with practice and qualifying and all of a sudden we were getting ready to start the race. I got all choked up. When we won the thing (in 1994 with Jeff Gordon), I have pictures in Victory Lane and I just have this blank look on my face. The biggest memory is how much emotion caught up with me when I realized w
here we were. For me, it’s a place I’ve always loved. I started out wanting to go Indy car racing. I wanted to race in the Indy 500. A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and those guys were my heroes.”ANDY PETREE
On the subject of the first Brickyard 400, in which he was crew chief for Dale Earnhardt:“We never thought we’d ever be invited to come here. This is a very special open-wheel facility – one race a year. We never thought that we would actually race here, and when we got to race here it was really special. We felt like, as a sport, we had really come somewhere.”
RUSTY WALLACE
On the subject of drivers learning to control their emotions:“It’s pretty hard to control emotions here at this particular racetrack because this place is overwhelming. When I was a driver, I would come to this particular track and I was just (eaten) up with emotions. It was a race that I had circled on my calendar. We’re only here for three days, but I felt like I was here for two weeks. I felt like it was a race that is so important. It’s incredible. When I’m sitting on the line, getting ready to start the race, I am all jacked up, but I’m a little nervous, too. And I’m dying for it to start. Everything going on around me becomes numb. It becomes a different sound. I’m not hearing people. I’m just real focused on what I’m doing. It would be easy to over-think the track, to over-plan, to over-do a lot of things you normally don’t do. I guess the key thing that I would try to do is to keep my routine going on that I had done every single week that got me to that point. It’s hard to stay focused because this is such a special event and a lot of things go through your mind that doesn’t normally go through your mind at different events.”
DALE JARRETT
On drivers controlling their emotions:“Looking at this race, as a driver you have to understand your position throughout a whole season and putting things in perspective and trying to win a championship. This is one of 36. Or one of 26 in trying to get yourself situated in the Chase. It is an enormous race, and you are going to hear us talk about how big it is and how special it is to be here. You’re going to hear all these drivers talk about how special it is to try and win or to be here and race at Indy. Everybody wants to kiss the bricks. Everybody wants that trophy. If you’re in those first six positions (in the Chase), I think you’re pretty safe and you can kind of throw caution to the wind a little bit and run your race. You can take a few more risks because you’re pretty much locked into the Chase unless things just go terribly bad. Those guys from seventh back to 14th have to look at this race totally different. So, they have to keep their emotions in check a lot more. If it’s a bump that makers them mad. Or if it’s a bad pit stop that gets them upset. Is it a mistake they make on the track? You have to really keep that in check and this is a tough place to do that because the racing is so tight.”
On the subject of double-file restarts in the Brickyard 400:
DALE JARRETT: “We’ve seen it be exciting so far. But this has the chance of being the most exciting and changing the race. If the leader comes in on that last pit stop and he happens to get beat by one person, which means by the time he gets out of Turn 1 and out of Turn 2 going down the back straightaway he may be back to fifth or sixth before he can get in line. We’re going to see some pretty drastic measures if we get late-race cautions here because that patience starts going away. And these guys are going to get extremely aggressive. The ones on the outside are going to really have to squeeze these guys on the inside. You’re going to see guys rubbing against each other, really pinning guys down, which can create situations. So, I think we’re going to see the most exciting restarts we have seen in this situation. You hear a lot of these drivers saying how the double-file restarts have caused some ill will between them. I think after Sunday we might hear a lot more about it.”
RUSTY WALLACE: “That is probably going to be one of the biggest stories throughout the race, those double-file restarts. When you’re a lapped car and you’re on the inside, you feel like you have to give way to the guy on the outside. Really, the guy up front is the only guy who can get a lap back at that point. But you’re going
to have all of these guys going through Turn 1 and Turn 3 feeling like: ‘Hey man, I don’t have to give way to anybody. I’m racing all of these guys.’ Third place, fourth place, fifth place – they’re all going to bomb into Turn 1 and probably somebody is going to wreck if they do it right and if they have a lot of nerve and don’t give up. Nobody is going to be giving way.”
In the latest gimmick to raise NASCAR’s anemic ratings, ESPN will not use a play-by-play announcer for the Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway next month.
ESPN’s Champions Take Over Booth at Michigan Nationwide Series Race
Backseat Drivers To Call Action Without Play by Play AnnouncerESPN’s live coverage of the Aug. 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway will have a new and different approach as the telecast will prominently feature five former NASCAR champions and will be done without a traditional “play by play” announcer.
ESPN’s “Backseat Drivers” telecast will engage NASCAR fans with the authenticity and experience of analysts Tim Brewer, Ray Evernham, Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree and Rusty Wallace. With Brewer contributing reports and analysis from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, Evernham, Jarrett, Petree and Wallace will call the race from the booth.
“Our goal is to give viewers a different presentation, one filled with discussion, observations, and stories from some of the most respected champions NASCAR has crowned, and their unique unfiltered perspective on an event,” said Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports.
“This is an opportunity for our viewers to have the experience of sitting around watching a race with these champions from their couch at home, and without the traditional approach to sportscasting.“
Jarrett and Wallace were NASCAR Sprint Cup champion drivers in 1999 and 1989, respectively. Petree won the 1993 and 1994 championships as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, while Brewer won the 1978 title as crew chief for Cale Yarborough and the 1981 title with Darrell Waltrip. Evernham won the 1995, 1997 and 1998 titles as crew chief for Jeff Gordon.
In addition to the five champions, the telecast will include pit reporters Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, while Allen Bestwick will host. The race airs Saturday, Aug. 15, at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
And Golf Channel says its website saw record hits last month.
GOLF CHANNEL POSTS RECORD WEB TRAFFIC; SURPASSES 2 MILLION MONTHLY USERS
GolfChannel.com Remains #1 Golf Web Site in 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (July 24, 2009) – GOLF CHANNEL announced today that its online arm, GolfChannel.com, experienced record traffic numbers last month, cementing it as the #1 golf site on the Web. GolfChannel.com exceeded 2 million unique users for the first time during the month of June (sources: comScore, 2,632,000; and Nielsen, 2,090,000). According to comScore, GolfChannel.com also has been the #1 golf Web site for four of the past six months of 2009, beating out other golf centric Web sites including, PGATOUR.com, PGA.com and Golf.com.
GolfChannel.com’s most popular content in June included the site’s wide array of news articles written by a dedicated editorial team, live updates and analysis, customizable leaderboard and over 2,500 instructional videos. The impressive traffic numbers also are a reflection of GolfChannel.com’s extensive U.S. Open coverage last month which included breaking news reports, inside analysis, compelling features such as the popular “Shag Bag” blog, and live on-site reporting from Bethpage Black by Rex Hoggard, Jay Coffin, Randall Mell and David Allen.
“We are seeing a tremendous amount of growth both on the GOLF CHANNEL network with our new original programming line-up and now with our expanded online offerings on GolfChannel.com,” said Gene Pizzolato, GOLF CHANNEL chief revenue and marketing officer, who also has recently assumed new duties as chief operating officer for GOLF CHANNEL New Media Ventures. “It is extremely important to us to continue to set ourselves apart from the other network and golf Web sites with new, exciting content that appeals to golfers of all skill levels who are looking for news on all of the major tours, tips on improving their game, and getting insight on the latest equipment and golf destinations.”
I have a few things to so I’ll probably see you next on Sunday morning with the Video of the Week.
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