Watchdog

You are forgiven if you didn't notice, because, after all, that was part of the problem in the first place, but "MSG, NY" as we have known it over the past two-plus years closed up shop Sunday on MSG.

The finale included a four-minute highlight reel featuring interviews of sports and entertainment celebrities - from Angelina Jolie to Magic Johnson to Slash to Shaq to Jack Black - illustrating the unusual hybrid the show tried to be, a concept that never caught on with enough viewers.

MSG will beef up its Rangers and Knicks post-game shows on game nights, which is a good thing. But its departure from the nightly sports news show business after all these years - remember "SportsDesk?" - is a milestone worth noting, and leaves the genre entirely to SNY in the New York market.

Our corporate siblings at MSG Networks will be conducting their annual "Garden of Dreams Foundation" telethon Saturday night during the telecasts of the Rangers, Islanders and Devils games.

Click below for details, and give early and often. Among the Islanders' offerings is tickets to a game AND a visit to the booth to meet Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe. No word on whether you're allowed to do a shout-out to your friends into the mike.

Continue reading "MSG to hold 'Garden of Dreams' telethon Saturday" »

MSG Media president Mike Bair said last week that MSG planned to make Mike Francesa a big part of the network had it won its bid to take over the simulcast of Francesa's WFAN show from YES in 2009.

But YES exercised its right to match a deal believe to be worth around $2.5 million per year for five years, leaving MSG "quite disappointed," according to Bair.

Click below for his comments on this subject.

Continue reading "MSG had planned to give Mike Francesa a huge role" »

Speaking of scoops (see post below), I broke the news in the Thursday newspaper that as of the end of the calendar year, "MSG, NY" will cease to exist as we have known it lo these past two years. (As will "Hockey Night Live" on Saturdays.)

Basically, the ratings were poor, and the network figured it could better serve and attract viewers by "blowing out" the show on Knicks and Rangers game nights and turning it into something more like a postgame show and less like a peculiar mishmash of hockey and concert highlights.

(Once, when I was in a wiseacre mood, I wrote the show was apparently targeting the "Barbra Streisand/Sandish Ozolinsh demographic." I kind of liked that one, if I do say so myself.)

MSG Media president Mike Bair was nice enough to invite me into his office late Wednesday afternoon to discuss this after I inquired about a tip from a diligent, well-connected reader.

Click below for his comments.

Continue reading "'MSG, NY' to ditch current format effective January, '09" »

MSG's Tina Cervasio is running the New York City Marathon (and blogging about it) to raise awareness and funds for the Garden of Dreams Foundation.

I don't understand why my new Cablevision teammates at MSG didn't ask me to run to help the cause.

I once ran a mile without stopping, in under seven minutes.

In 1982.

I should write my Friday newspaper column now. Enjoy the Jim Leavitt Show at 1 p.m. on SNY.

I think he's the South Florida coach.

Was leaning toward following the kids on their candy-gathering rounds Friday rather than watching Wofford and Appalachian State on ESPN2 Friday.

Then I heard MSG Plus has Wagner at Sacred Heart at 7 p.m., featuring a Sacred Heart defense led by linebacker Chansler Davis (East Islip) and cornerback Andre Isla (Bellport).

Then I further heard my old Giants beat pal Paul Dottino will be on play-by-play, with former Hofstra receiver Steven Jackson as his analyst.

I'll just tell the kids to bring home their leftover candy apples, popcorn balls and rocks for me.

Peace for our time! Troy Aikman taped Boomer Esiason's show this afternoon - it debuts at 11 p.m. Wednesday on MSG - and they opened with Boomer apologizing for the recent unpleasantness between the two.

To review: Esiason had accused the Fox analyst of leaning the Cowboys' way during a recent Pokes-Cardinals game.

Here was the opening exchange:

Boomer: "All right, joining us now is my new bias, I mean best friend, Troy Aikman from Dallas. First let me say this publicly Troy, in front of everybody: I do apologize for our little tiff about two weeks ago. I’m sure your week has been a little calmer than it was two weeks ago.”

Aikman: “Yeah, you know it was a bit calmer and hey, I appreciate it. We both know we’ve been in the business long enough, we say things we regret, maybe wish we hadn’t have. I will tell you though, for a couple of old, washed-up, has-been quarterbacks, it was kind of nice being back in the headlines again.”

Boomer: “Yeah, it made us relevant, for all the wrong reasons, though.”

Click below for more from Aikman's appearance, via satellite.

Continue reading "Boomer Esiason apologizes to Troy Aikman on MSG" »

MSG is making an aggressive bid to succeed YES as the TV simulcast home of "Mike'd Up," formerly known as "Mike and the Mad Dog," a person familiar with the process said.

WFAN's afternoon show has been simulcast on YES since the network launched in 2002.

YES' contract to carry the show expires at the end of this year, but it had the right to cancel the simulcasts after the breakup of Chris Russo and Mike Francesa last month. It decided to keep the show through the end of December, as planned.

What about after that, though? YES has a right to match MSG's offer, but its level of interest in doing so is not clear.

The show provides many hours of programming, but Yankees president Randy Levine long has been interested in severing the relationship, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. With the contract ending and a new stadium opening, the Yankees and YES might conclude this is the time to part ways.

YES is believed to be considering launching its own talk show that would originate from the new Yankee Stadium.

Will YES seek to match MSG's offer? "We don’t publicly discuss strategy,'' spokesman Eric Handler said.

Is YES formulating its own show? "We are always exploring new programming opportunities, as evidenced by the four new programming series we launched in the first seven months of 2008 (The Joe Girardi Show, YESterdays, SportsLife NYC and Forbes Sports Money)," Handler said.

(MSG and Newsday both are owned by Cablevision.)

Darn it, I keep forgetting to post this information from MSG's series "Fans' Most Wanted: Knicks," and "Fans' Most Wanted: Rangers."

Better late than never; the finale of the Rangers' version is scheduled for four re-showings Monday.

Fans were asked to vote for an all-time team for both franchises. Here are the results.

Feel free to comment about the selections and boost my page views for August, since I'm taking some time off after today and will be doing limited blogging down the stretch.

Rangers: Goalie - Giacomin; Defensemen - Leetch, Park; Forwards - Messier, Gilbert, Ratelle; Coach - Francis

Knicks: Center - Ewing; Forwards - Oakley, King; Guards - Frazier, Monroe; Coach - Holzman

What about Richter, you say? Ed-die beat him out by only 1 percent.

NFL Films and HBO's "Hard Knocks" chose to chronicle Cowboys camp rather than schlep to Albany - not that the Giants would have agreed to do it anyway - but "MSG, NY" Sunday night will offer a behind-the-scenes look at Big Blue's camp.

Antonio Pierce was armed with a camera and recorded video of teammates doing, um, whatever it is football players do when reporters and fans are not keeping an eye on them.

I can't recall a local player - even Tiki Barber - pursuing media work in preparation for a post-playing career as aggressively as Pierce has the past couple of years.

He even was an intern for Howard Stern!