Watchdog

Interesting story from Tribune teammate (for now) Teddy Greenstein about NBC covering some sports in the Olympics the same way many of you do: Watching on TV in New York.

On an entirely different subject, here's a story from our two-rivers-over friends at The Star-Ledger about the potential investment value of the dreaded personal seat license.

I don't have too much to add to ABC's coverage of the British Open, oh, sorry, I mean, "The Open Championship," after Greg Norman's painful, slow-motion fade.

What stood out for me on the broadcast was Paul Azinger's willingness to bluntly criticize Norman's strategy. It was bold, and he turned out to be right.

You hardly ever hear criticism like that of Tiger Woods from network voices. Is that because they are afraid of him, or because he never is wrong? Or both?

Click below for the complete, 2,308-word NBC release regarding its announcing plans for the Beijing Olympics.

Once the All-Star Game is over later this Tuesday night, the next big event on the Tiger-free summer sports calendar will be the Beijing Olympics.

Thus Wednesday NBC will be revealing its announcing teams for the Games. Don't expect any big surprises.

Bob Costas is back as host, Tom Hammond is back on track, Al Trautwig is back on gymnastics, Dan Hicks is back on swimming, Bob Papa is back on boxing, Mike Breen is back on basketball, etc.

(Look for Papa officially to be named the play-by-play man for the NFL Network Wednesday morning, by the way.)

There will be 106 commentators in all for 3,600 hours of coverage.

Some of the more interesting roster members include Bela Karolyi on gymnastics, Rulon Gardner on wrestling, and Cris Collinsworth and Mary Carillo as correspondents.

Wolf Wigo is the water polo analyst. I remember interviewing him at the Empire State Games one summer when he was a student at Bronx High School of Science.

But I digress.

Sunday's edition of "Mike'd Up" on Ch. 4, I believe hosted by Bruce Beck this week, will feature cool home movies shot by long-time NBC announcer Les Marshak of his beloved Yankees at the pre-renovation, soon-to-be-gone Yankee Stadium.

The glimpses of his heroes are brief, but the coolest scenes are of the players arriving in street clothes to enter and exit the stadium amid their adoring fans.

Some sign autographs. Others don't.

The Mick said he was in a hurrry.

If, perchance, you have an interest in the Beijing Olympic Games next month, NBC is prepared to accommodate you, far beyond the capacity of any single human to consume.

Click below for 1,850 words or so of details direct from the network.

Enjoy.

Several easy newspaper column topics have come and gone during my vacation; here's another:

Dan Patrick is reuniting with Keith Olbermann on NBC's Sunday night football program this fall, another step in the network's strategy of hiring everyone in America other than Chris (Boomer) Berman and Norman (Boomer) Esiason to work on the show.

In other football studio show news, Showtime is going with James Brown, Cris Collinsworth and Phil Simms for the new version of "Inside the NFL."

Click below for the NBC release on Dan Patrick. Back to "vacation." Thanks for reading.

Here are two things that have nothing to do with sports, but I'm on vacation so I'm allowed to write about whatever I want:

1. NBC is replaying the debut episode of "Saturday Night Live" from Oct. 11, 1975, tonight, in honor of the late George Carlin, who hosted. (Bonus WatchDog kudos to the first person who can say what is factually incorrect in the previous sentence.)

2. I know there is a separate category for animated best picture these days, but I saw "Wall-E" today and it should be a candidate for THE Best Picture of 2008.

Thanks for your patience with non-sports matters.

Tiki Barber sighting this morning! No, really.

Naturally, this tip came from Mrs. WatchDog, who sometimes watches "Today" and told me Tiki was going to be sprinting against Michael Johnson.

Tiki did look good bursting out of the blocks between Johnson and 400-meter stud Jeremy Wariner. They did not show the end of the race, if there was one, so all I have to go on is the start.

(NBC televises the Olympics, by the way; hence its particular interest in such sports.)

Bashing Tiki has been fashionable for the past year or so, but I think he's fine on TV, and can do it for many years if he so chooses. I just think he'll eventually decide he has more important things to do with himself.

Michael Strahan, on the other hand, was born to do TV, and I can see him doing it forever.

Which current Giant will be the next eventually to take the network TV plunge? I would not bet on Jeremy Shockey, unless it's for some sort of scary reality series aimed at the young, reckless Oklahoman demographic.

Eli? Um . . . no. Antonio Pierce is a wannabe, but I don't see it.

I've got it! A reality series featuring Tom Coughlin and Chris Snee, a cross between "Coach" and "The Mothers-in-Law" and "All in the Family" and "Patton."

If anyone comes up with a good name for the show, he or she will be a candidate for the Friday comment contest award. "Coach-in-Law?" "Father Knows Football?" "Pulling Your Guard Down?" "NYFG Blue?" I don't know. Give it a shot.

And bonus WatchDog kudos to the first person to identify No. 932 in the picture.

I have a Friday newspaper column to write now. Ssssseee-ya!

I'm just taking an educated guess here, based on NBC and Notre Dame scheduling a conference call later this morning:

Assuming NBC doesn't have the cash to buy the university outright, the network and the Irish presumably are extending their contractual relationship in some fashion.

Good for them.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guarantee this: Notre Dame will be better in 2008 than it was in '07. You heard it here first!

I'm already looking forward to the Navy game. If the Midshipmen win again, Notre Dame should consider replacing them on their schedule with Cornell.

(UPDATE: Yup, it's official. ND and NBC hooked up through 2015.)

Wow. I was thinking this but was too cowardly to write it. Plus, it's got nothing to do with sports, other than the fact Tim Russert liked the Bills.

So I'm glad this dude from Slate did. Thanks to our friends at The Big Lead for the link.

It's about media members going a tad overboard in memorializing one of their own. Harsh, but true.

Tim Russert died today, a huge loss to NBC News in addition to his family and friends.

That news understandably will overshadow the death of another long-time NBC figure, sportscaster Charlie Jones, a stalwart of its AFL and NFL coverage for many years.

Jones wasn't a star of the magnitude of Jim McKay, who died last weekend, but he was a solid pro whom many of us grew up with.

Here is a statement from NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol:

"All of us at NBC are saddened at the passing of one of the great pioneers of NBC Sports. His work in particular on the NFL, golf and the Olympics left a lasting legacy."

Here is Jones blogging about McKay, courtesy of Fang's Bites.

This story describes some serious disagreements between Chinese officials and TV people scheduled to televise the Olympic Games, including NBC.

It poses the possibility that the Games will not be televised at all.

Whew. Now I can do other things with myself for those two weeks in August.

Thank you, my paranoid, authoritarian friends!

Here is the video of Monday night's report by Keith Olbermann regarding the latest bit of Red Sox memorabilia buried in the new Yankee Stadium.

Here is my newspaper story on that topic.

More later on Olbermann somehow relating all of this to the 1914 Boston Braves.

(Click below for the entire transcript of Olbermann's report on "Countdown."

NBC’s pre-Preakness roundtable smacked of a mea culpa for its lackluster coverage of the Eight Belles story at the Kentucky Derby.

But as always, Bob Costas was a natural in that format, and there was a memorable moment when analyst Gary Stevens seemed on the verge of tossing over the roundtable – actually, it was sort of oval – and lunging at columnist Bill Rhoden.

It was more eventful than the race itself, which merely set up the long gallop to Belmont.

The Super Bowl generates two weeks of hype for 3½ hours of action. The Belmont Stakes gets three weeks of hype for 2½ minutes of action.

At least betting on it is legal.

Speaking of hockey . . . A loyal reader wondered where the heck Pierre McGuire has been for NBC lately.

Turns out he was covering the world championships for TSN, in which Russia beat Canada in a thriller in the final.

Pierre will be back for the Stanley Cup finals, which could and should make a ratings comeback if the matchup is Detroit-Pittsburgh and if it lasts more than four or five games.

Let's hope so. I have a pro-hockey bias. Deal with it.

If the Stars and Flyers hadn't averted sweeps in the NHL conference finals, NBC would have ended up showing zero games in this round. (The NHL got bumped by golf last weekend.)

But now there will be two games this weekend. NBC wouldn't mind seeing the Red Wings and Penguins get it over with and advance at that point, though. Because that finals matchup is about as good as the network could have hoped for, ratings-wise.

Speaking of NBC, it is holding a Bob Costas-led roundtable discussion on the state of horse racing before the Preakness. The Eight Belles matter, which did not get enough attention on NBC on Kentucky Derby day, will be addressed in detail.

Might be interesting. The last time Costas hosted a roundtable, on HBO April 29, it certainly stirred stuff up.

The network p.r. people who set up conference calls for media scribes get really annoyed when you don't call in to participate and then use the comments other reporters have solicited.

I'm going to do that here for the Kentucky Derby call on NBC, throwing myself on the mercy of the Peacocks because of my gala first anniversary celebration and because if I didn't do this, I would not be acknowledging the Derby at all.

So click below for the highlights news release.

(Malkin just took a slow motion penalty shot against Lundqvist. What the heck was that about? I could have done that.)

I wrote a mixed mini-review in my Friday newspaper column on a show on Sunday on NBC in which the network trots out some old footage of sports "icons."

The friendly p.r. people sent me an extremely detailed transcript of the highlights.

I assume I'm allowed to share it with you.

Click below to read it in case you'll be busy analyzing the Titans' draft picks at 5 p.m. Sunday and thus unable to watch.

Here is my big story about NBC and the NHL staying together through next season.

It's under the part about the Flyers winning in OT.

This is a good thing for the NHL. There are plenty of puckheads at NBC who genuinely want what is best for the league. And of course promoting NHL stars in advance of the 2010 Olympics doesn't hurt.

You can fairly assume that the people at NBC are very pleased to have the Avs facing the Red Wings and the Rangers taking on the Pens in the second round.

Tomorrow Donruss will be issuing a Kathie Lee Gifford trading card as part of its Americana Celebrity Cuts set.

Ms. Gifford, who recently returned to morning TV on the "Today" show, has autographed 200 cards randomly inserted into the product.

The company has issued rookie trading cards for other great Americans, including William Shatner, Quentin Tarantino and Buzz Aldrin.

What does this have to do with sports?

Kathie Lee is married to Frank, of course. And I have some baseball cards in my closet from the early 1970s. That's about it.

I just read the bottom of the news release, and it says the suggested retail price per pack for this series, which includes six cards (two autograph or memorabilia cards, three commons or parallels and one insert) is . . . $150.

Um. That's a typo, right?

(UPDATE: I'm told it's not a typo.)

The Toronto Globe and Mail continues to say NBC is thisclose to re-upping with the NHL.

I have been hearing the same buzz, but as an American journalist I lack self confidence when it comes to TV hockey matters, so I defer.

Did I ever mention how in 1982 I was about to be hired as the assistant editor of The Hockey News until the lawyers got wind of the fact I was an American and nixed the offer?

I believe I have. Didn't drink a Molson for 10 years in protest.

Many thanks to all who voted, commented and e-mailed regarding last Friday's column about sports-themed TV shows.

There weren't as many votes as polls about hot-button personalities such as Suzyn Waldman or Mike Francesa, but still, pretty darn good.

"Friday Night Lights" won the (unscientific) poll for best sports-themed, fictional TV show with 26.4 percent of the vote, followed by "Sports Night" with 19.5, "Coach" with 18.5 and "White Shadow" with 13.1.

Two things stood out in the many e-mails and comments regarding FNL:

One, an amazing number of middle-aged geezers enjoy the show even though it primarily focuses on drama among high schoolers. (Or at least twentysomething actors who play high schoolers.)

Two, fans of the show believe it is very important that I and others considering watching it understand it is really about relationships and only peripherally about sports.

Fair enough. I'd watch it in October if I had DirecTV, but I guess I'll have to check it out in February on NBC.

I wrote a Sunday newspaper column about the recent renewal of "Friday Night Lights" and used that as an excuse to veer off into a discussion of the bleak history of sports-themed TV shows.

Read the column, vote for your favorite.

Thanks to everyone who responded to last week's query on best/worst sports-themed TV shows.

I'm going to write a newspaper column on that topic very soon . . . so this is your last chance to weigh in if you haven't already.

Wake the wife and kids and alert them, too.

A Canadian paper says NBC is headed toward renewing its contract with the NHL, which means it has to be true.

Thanks to Fang's Bites for this tip and for staying on top of the sports media world and most of all for linking to moi early and often.

The post below about "Friday Night Lights" inspired me to poll WatchDog Nation on the following question.

(I will use your answers to form a future column in the newspaper, probably.)

What is the best fictional, sports-themed show in TV history? (The worst?)

Discuss among yourselves.

I watched the first couple of episodes of "Friday Night Lights" and figured it was more of a teen-oriented soap opera than a serious, sports-themed drama.

I assume I was wrong, given the passion (and intelligence) of the show's diehard fans - although there are not enough of them to make it a ratings hit.

Now it turns out the show will be back for another season, through an unusual arrangement between DirecTV and NBC.

Kudos to loyal reader Matt for staying on top of the issue he first made WatchDog aware of many weeks ago regarding a time conflict between the NFL opener - likely featuring Our Giants - and John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican Convention.

Just for the record . . . when I called some of Matt's suggested solutions "ludicrous" I was not referring to the idea of playing the game earlier in the evening than usual.

I was referring to the notions of starting the entire season a week later and/or putting the game on the NFL Network and/or not playing the Thursday night game at all this year.

Anyway . . . good job by Matt for raising this issue in the first place!

I haven't played fantasy baseball since 1988, back when it was called something else (check the picture, young readers) and Jose Canseco was an incredible steal in the third round.

So I'm not really up to date on such things. But I did notice an interesting tidbit in a release about Rotoworld.com and its traffic increases in advance of baseball fantasy drafts. (Up 108 percent in page views and 94 percent in unique visitors in the past year.)

Turns out actual front office types use the site. The release said the Yankees get a mapping file each spring from Rotoworld so they can link to its player information from their internal scouting database.

I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Are fantasy drafts over already, or do they happen after the Red Sox opener in Japan? If the latter, here are some lists from the site:

Top five sleepers:
1) Ian Kinsler (Rangers)
2) Lastings Milledge (Nationals)
3) Conor Jackson (Diamondbacks)
4) Jeremy Hermida (Marlins)
5) Dustin McGowan (Blue Jays)

Top five busts:
1) Roy Oswalt (Astros)
2) Jeremy Bonderman (Tigers)
3) Edgar Renteria (Tigers)
4) Carlos Delgado (Mets)
5) Jose Guillen (Royals)

Top five "let someone else draft them":
1) Aaron Rowand (Giants)
2) Barry Zito (Giants)
3) Mike Lowell (Red Sox)
4) Joe Borowski (Indians)
5) Dontrelle Willis (Tigers)

More stuff from before Game 4, including a brief appearance by Jack Dempsey. (UPDATE: Loyal reader Dennis D'Agostino says he thinks that's Toots Shor, not Dempsey, at the 2:26 mark. Discuss among yourselves.)

OK, that's enough for now.

Happy Easter.

More from the pre-game stuff before Game 1. Various Nixon family members on hand, disrupting the warmups!

Curt Gowdy calls Bowie Kuhn "an articulate, dynamic man who has proven to be a great leader for baseball." Wow.

Here it is, the long lost Game 1 of the 1969 World Series, the one I've been trying to get SNY to show for the past two years despite the fact the good guys lost.

Well, it's the introductions, anyway. That's a start.

More from John Philips, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax and other important figures in sports history. Love the understated, muted colors on the set.

Thanks again, John Philips. I hope posting this stuff is legal.

Thank you, John Philips for another excellent YouTube post.

The highlight of this pre-game clip from the 1973 World Series comes about three minutes in, when Tony Kubek bluntly hammers Athletics owner Charles Finley in a fashion difficult to imagine from any current sideline reporter.

Then Catfish Hunter and Tom Seaver pile on!

Plus, Tony gets Seaver to handle the mike for him, as Curt Gowdy notes afterward.

Great stuff.

NBC and the NHL have not announced the "flexible schedule" choice for April 6, but WatchDog cleverly has deduced that it will be the Red Wings-Blackhawks game.

Interested readers wondered whether somehow the Rangers-Devils or Flyers-Pens game would be the choice, but the Rangers and Crosbys will have used up their allotment of four NBC games for the season by then, and there is no provision for additional appearances.

So Detroit-Chicago it is.

The Rangers will appear on NBC March 30 against . . . the Penguins, of course.

Here is the latest from Bay Hill, where Tiger Woods amazingly, hilariously has risen into a tie for the lead heading into the final round.

Click below for some glowing Tiger quotes from NBC types earlier in the week that I wasn't going to bother sharing with you but I now might as well . . .