Wednesday Linkage

Greetings from my steaming office. Air conditioning is still down, but I’m dealing. Wanted to thank Darren Rovell of CNBC.com who sent me a very kind e-mail the other day. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I link to his blog quite often and it was nice of him to send me a note. Thanks, Darren.

Speaking of Darren, he has an entry on the money Brady Quinn of my beloved Cleveland Browns lost by being picked number 22 in the NFL Draft. Quinn finally signed a contract yesterday after holding out for an extended period of time. In this Browns fan’s opinion, Quinn was an idiot for holding out for so long.

A quick note on the Barry Bonds 756th home run last night. I subscribe to MLB Extra Innings on DirecTV so I watched the coverage from FSN Bay Area. Duane Kuiper had a very nice understated call. The camera work from FSN was very good. They had all the angles covered. And I thought a nice touch was the video from Hank Aaron congratulating Bonds on breaking his record. Aaron may not have been at Pac Bell Park (or whatever the hell they’re calling it these days), but sending a video message was class. However, Commissioner Bud Selig copied the late Bowie Kuhn by not being at the park for the moment. While Selig was in San Diego for home run 755, he should have been in San Francisco for number 756. Selig may not like Bonds and he has shown his disdain by not applauding number 755, but at least show up. Bud is definitely the most incompetent Commissioner in sports. I didn’t see ESPN2’s coverage, but I’m sure the calls are on YouTube. Find them now before MLB takes them down.

The Sports Media Watch blog has a roundup of the Bonds coverage from last night. Neil Best of Newsday in his blog says the ESPN2 crew including Dave O’Brien and the lovely Erin Andrews can all go home now. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says ESPN2’s crew of Rick Sutcliffe and Dave O’Brien offered balance in calling the historic home run. The Berkshire (MA) Eagle talked with O’Brien before last night’s game. And here are the transcribed calls from O’Brien and FSN’s Duane Kuiper.

To the links, Michael Hiestand of USA Today tells us about NBC’s huge effort to bring the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to the American viewing public. Over 3,600 hours on both the networks of NBC Universal and online will be made available. I like that. Here’s the press release from NBC Sports. And NBC has launched its website for the Beijing Olympics as the Games are officially a year from today. The New York Times also offers a story on the online coverage. John Dempsey of Variety writes about the huge initiative of NBC Sports to cover these Olympics.

Here’s another cable company vs. a RSN battle. Tim Povak of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Orlando Magic fans may not be able to watch 35 games as they go to FSN Florida from an over the air channel. FSN does not have an agreement with Bright House cable.

William Houston in the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Craig Simpson leaves his job as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers to be reunited with Jim Hughson on Hockey Night in Canada. The two worked together previously on Rogers Sportsnet.

Also launching will be a new version of ESPN360, the online site for the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Adam Thompson of the Wall Street Journal writes about ESPN relaunching the site next month, but at the same time suffering from a lack of visitors because of a faulty business model. Thompson says ESPN360 has led to confusion and its hoped that the relaunch will clear that problem. Staci Kramer from PaidContent.org also has a story on the new site which will focus more on live events instead of archived programming.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune writes that MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had an opportunity to move to Chicago in 1996, but the opportunity slipped away.

Crosstown, Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times says while David Beckham may have “lost” to Tiger Woods in ESPN’s silly and fake “Who’s Now” competition, his impact on global sports is real.

TNT offers 60 hours of live TV and online coverage of the PGA Championship. John Consoli of Mediaweek also talks about the online coverage which will be available on CBS.Sportsline.com and PGATour.com. John Stancavage of the Tulsa World newspaper writes about CBS and TNT providing the world feed for the PGA Championship.

The Big Ten Network has completed its on air lineup which includes Roger Twibell of ESPN/ABC and Scott Graham, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies. Evan Weiner of the New York Sun writes about the Big Ten Network. Even the headline of the story says “Big East Must Consider Reorganizing for TV”, it’s more about BTN rather than the Big East. In the Burlington (IA) Hawk Eye, Susan Denk and John Bohenkamp write that time is running out for BTN to make a deal with Mediacom Cable for the August 30 launch.

Those are your links for now. I’ll have an update if it warrants.