Some Weekend Links

Checking across the internet, I came across a few things.

First, I didn’t know that the Pan American Games were coming up on Friday. Second, they’re being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Third, ESPN is going wall-to-wall coverage on the Pan Am Games. That’s fine since I believe the last American network to really give the Pan Am Games coverage was ABC/TBS in Cuba back in 1991. Since then, the games which are supposed to be a tuneup for the Olympic Games the following year have been mostly ignored because major U.S. athletes don’t participate. Then there’s this story on a United States Olympic Committee member making a poor joke that forced the USOC to issue an apology to Brazil. That’s not the way to get off on a good foot. Anyway, ESPN will have the games starting on Friday and it’ll be interesting to see how the network covers this since any sport it carries gets major highlights on SportsCenter while sports not on the networks of the Alleged Worldwide Leader like the NHL get ignored.

Here’s something for you, former Fox NFL analyst Bill Maas was arrested for carrying a loaded guns and drugs (including ecstacy, pot and coke) during a routine traffic stop Saturday night in East Peoria, Illinois. The passenger in his car, a 27 year old woman, was also arrested. Hmmmm. This might get some more play on Sunday. My question: why was Maas carrying a loaded handgun and that many drugs in his car? Maas was at one point a rising star on Fox, but only worked a handful of games last season. And his Wikipedia blurb already mentions the arrest, but the date is wrong.

UPDATE – The story linked above is wrong. Here’s a correct version. The date in Wiki is right.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about a new monthly magazine devoted to covering St. Louis sports started by two former sports radio executives.

Barry Horn in Saturday’s Dallas News says Fox will be using the All Star Game on Tuesday to talk Barry Bonds ad nauseum.

In his Watch This! blog in the DC/Baltimore Examiner, Jim Williams says John McEnroe and Mary Carillo have been on top of their games on the NBC Wimbledon broadcasts.

Variety magazine says even with this being a 20 year celebration for WFAN, there’s still a pall over the station as it still searches for the replacement for Don Imus.

Former ESPN and current Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein takes over the Coast to Coast radio franchise that was once hosted by Bob Costas. It’ll air Saturday nights on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Dave Lubach of the Sheboygan (WI) Press has an inside the scenes look at the production of the U.S. Senior Open taking place on NBC this weekend.

I may have links later on Sunday. We’ll keep an eye on this Bill Maas story. This may get more interesting as more info becomes available.