Tuesday Links

We’ll monitor the upfronts today and also what’s going on in the sports TV/Radio business. Busy day.

First off, our main focus of the blog. The NFL Network suffered a blow last week when a New York appellate judge ruled in favor of Comcast which wants to put the channel on a sports tier. The NFL Network wants to be on expanded basic, but apparently when Comcast lost out on the package of eight Thursday and Saturday night games, the NFL said the cable company could put the channel on the tier. The NFL will appeal. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has his analysis of the situation. The fact that the NFL put that in the language with Comcast is the smoking gun.

Neil Best of Newsday has his usual Tuesday column. He has his review of the New York sports radio stations’ midday programming which he describes as less than inspiring. WFAN and ESPN Radio have been battling it out with the well established FAN winning out in all dayparts, but ESPN has been trying with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman. So far, it isn’t working.

In his blog, Best notes that the rating for The Players this past weekend was pretty decent.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News gives support for Ralph Kiner who’s suffering from Bell’s Palsy. Kiner is still beloved by Mets fans for his malapropisms in the booth. At 84, he still does some games, but just does a few games here and there.

Greg Johnson and Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times have a joint effort on FOX and MLB announcing that the World Series will begin on October 24, a Tuesday night and the reasoning behind it.

An interesting milestone. UCLA has become the first school to win 100 Championships. A lot of it is due to Title IX, the legislation to bring equality in college sports. Appropriately enough, the 100th title was won by the women’s water polo team.

Jim Williams of the Baltimore/DC Examiner says FOX5’s (DC) Dave Feldman is quickly becoming the heir to George Michael’s crown as most popular sportscaster in the District. Feldman also does a sports radio talk show on WTEM.

Thanks to The Biz of Baseball blog, here’s the revised postseson schedule:

2007 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL POSTSEASON SCHEDULE

Italics indicate “if necessary.”

To the network upfronts, TV Guide.com has an analysis of ABC’s Primetime Schedule. Eleven new shows will be unveiled. One of those will be Private Practice, the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off starring the hot Kate Walsh. I do find her very sexy. But can two Grey’s shows be good for ABC? It’ll anchor the Wednesday night lineup.

Gary Levin of USA Today also has an inside look at the ABC sked.

When more details are released either on sports business or the network upfronts, we’ll be here.