More media notes than you can shake a bunker rake at
Those openly weeping in their oatmeal over Tiger Woods' injury-related hibernation for the rest of the '08 calendar year can use this opportunity to go over to John Ziegler's First Church of Tiger Woods site and begin to say a few prayers to the golf gods.
Ziegler's latest message to the parishoners:
"From the religious perspective there are two things to keep in mind here.
"First, Tiger does turn 33 this year, which is a year that was obviously not good for Jesus of Nazareth as well as many other bright lights that were extinguished far too early. The Pastor has always feared that something tragic would befall Tiger and take him (or at least his talents) away from us prematurely. The Pastor certainly hopes that this situation is not that event.
"Secondly, if there is an obvious lesson here it is to appreciate what you have when you still have it because no matter how great and indestructible it may seem, it can all be gone in an instant.
"Is that the lesson Tiger is trying to teach us through this? Who knows. But there is no doubt we should savor every moment we have to witness his greatness and certainly appreciate even more what he accomplished at the U.S. Open."
Now, on to more delicate matters after polishing off today's media column at this link:
==Hot off the Internet machine from Onion Sports:
Man Who Used Stick To Roll Ball Into Hole In Ground Praised For His Courage
SAN DIEGO--A man who used several different bent sticks to hit a ball to an area comprised of very short grass surrounding a hole in the ground was praised for his courage Monday after he used a somewhat smaller stick to gently roll the ball into the aforementioned hole in fewer attempts than his competitors.
"What guts, what confidence," ESPN commentator Scott Van Pelt said of the man, who was evidently unable to carry his sticks himself, employing someone else to hold the sticks and manipulate the flag sticking out of the hole in the ground while he rolled the ball into it.
"You have to be so brave, so self-assured, so strong mentally to [roll a ball into a hole in the ground]. Amazing."
The man in question apparently hurt his knee during this activity.
**NBA:
==There still has been no official transcription of Kevin Garnett's post-NBA title interview with ABC's Michele Tafoya, other than he did utter, "Michele, you look good, girl" at one point:
**OLYMPIC TRIALS
==NBC has Ted Robinson, Cynthia Potter and Andrea Kremer on its U.S. Olympic diving coverage, starting with men's 3-meter springboard finals on Saturday (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.). It continues Sunday with the men's and women's platform diving (noon to 3 p.m.)
The network also has Bob Costas and Bela Karolyi as the host and Al Trautwig, Elfi Schlegel and Tim Daggett and Andrea Joyce doing the commentary on the U.S. Olympic gymnastics. That begins Saturday with the men's finals (1:30 to 3 p.m.) and includes taped coverage of the women's prelims (Saturday, 8 to 10 p.m.). The women's finals are Sunday from 7-to-9 p.m.
**BASEBALL:
==Matt Vasgersian and Eric Karros call Saturday's Dodgers-Indians game from Dodger Stadium for Fox (12:45 p.m., Channel 11).
==ESPN takes the White Sox-Cubs game from Wrigley Field for its Sunday night game (5 p.m., Jon Miller and Joe Morgan).
**COLLEGE FOOTBALL:
==During a conference call Thursday to announce the five-year contract extension between NBC and Notre Dame to continue covering Irish home football games, NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol sounded silly in saying that the year-to-year performances aren't as important to the network as having possession of the "Notre Dame brand" that has as much clout at the Olympics, the NFL or the U.S. Open golf tournament.
"We're big believers in how Notre Dame time and time again over all these generations has maintained its strength," Ebersol said. "I don't see that going away ... I have no doubt that over the majority of years going forward this will be a sensational deal for both sides."
Ebersol said the contract, a flat fee, is not based on ratings. The current contract that expires in 2010 is reportedly worth $9 million a year.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis added in an NBC press release: "I'm thrilled on two levels to hear that Notre Dame will maintain its great relationship with NBC. As the head football coach, it is very beneficial for the program to have all of our home games broadcast into every living room in the country for the foreseeable future. As an alumnus, it is great to know that future students at Notre Dame will benefit from this partnership in the form of need-based scholarships."
==Now that Comcast is on board with the Big Ten Network, which was announced Thursday, everything seems honkey dorey for the regional channel that had a struggle in its first season of existence if cable TV was your primary carrier. Comcast agreed to launch the network as a basic service to customers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania starting Aug. 15 (there is no Comcast system in Iowa). In the spring of '09, Comcast "may elect" (according to the terms spelled out in a statment) to move the network to a "broadly distributed digital level of service" in those states. Outside of the Big Ten states, Comcast can put it on any level of service it feels is approrpriate.
"We are very pleased with the agreement we have reached with the Big Ten Network to carry hundreds of live Big Ten events," said Madison Bond, Comcast's executive VP of content acquisition. "We will be providing our customers with Big Ten programming through our signature video-on-demand service, and will have lots of highlights, replays, scores and more through Comcast.net so fans can keep pace with Big Ten action whenever they want to."
**TENNIS:
==Almost 100 hours of Wimbledon coverage starts Monday on ESPN2, with live coverage starting at 4 a.m. Dick Enberg is working his 25th Wimbledon, sharing the mike with Cliff Drysdale and analysts Darren Cahill, Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Patrick McEnroe, Pam Shriver and Brad Gilbert. On the SportsCenter desk, Chris Fowler tries to reign in Bud Collins and Luke Jensen.
ESPN360.com has live draw announcements of the brackets today at 2 a.m. (and available on demand after that). ESPN360.com has five channels of coverage -- one of them a simucast of ESPN2, one at the media centre for interviews, and the other three at Centre Court, Court One and Court Two.
In addition to ESPN's coverage of Wimbledon starting Monday, Sirius Satellite Radio has up to 13 hours of live daily coverage on Channel 119 starting at midnight.
**MISC.
==The Tuesday debut of the new, heavily promoted ABC show called "Wipeout" gives ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor John Anderson a chance to show his game-show hosting aptitude. The show, which ESPN's Kenny Mayne was offered but turned down, runs for eight weeks in the 8 p.m. slot -- a one-hour show that puts 24 contestants through a wacky obstacle course in hopes of winning a $50,000 top prize.
"Think of Tiger Woods' skill and determination, the NBA Finals athleticism and drive -- then imagine the exact opposite," said Anderson in a press release, describing the show's premise. "Which is why it's a lot funnier than watching Tiger, the Celtics or the Lakers. The show is an absurd combination of competitiveness and lack of coordination. Fortunately the only obstacles I have as host are staying out of the way of the crashing contestants and the comedy of my hilarious co-host John Henson (he of Talk Soup fame)."
Hijinx don't ensue. But you wish they did.
==A link to AOL Fanhouse, to a link on a site called Bloggingheads.tv, where former New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte and NY Times magazine writer Bryan Curtis discuss the state of current newspaper sports journalism versus that of the blogging community.
For more context, also check out Pat Jordan's recent piece for Slate magazine on why athletes don't trust sportswriters any more.
==A Q-and-A on Deadspin.com with one of our favorite former sports talk guys, Tony Bruno, on the state of sports-talk and why he's on the outside looking in for another gig.
==NBC Sports officials say there's been no arm twisting in trying to get Brett Favre to "make good on his earlier commitment" to play in next month's American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe, despite wire service reports. The retired Green Bay Packers quarterback said he would participate in the July 11-13 event, but his representatives sent an e-mail to NBC last week that said he was "probably not coming" due to a scheduling conflict, tournament spokesman Phil Weidinger said in an Associated Press story. Weidinger added that NBC officials "are still trying to get him to come, still working with Brett to see if there is a way he can fit this into his schedule ... They are making a last-minute plea."
==The ESPN/ABC schedule for this week's Euro 2008 games:
-Today: Croatia vs. Turkey (with Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth), 11:30 a.m., ESPN2
-Saturday: Netherlands vs. Russia (Rae and Smyth), 11:30 a.m., ABC (Channel 7)
-Sunday: Spain vs. Italy (Adrian Healey and Andy Gray), 11:30 a.m., ESPN
According to the ratings stats thrown out, ESPN is averaging a 0.5 number through 15 matches, averaging 655,000 viewers. It topped out with a 0.9 rating for the Sweden-Spain match on Saturday, June 14.
==Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear call Sunday's Ethanol IndyCar 250 from Iowa Speedway at 10 a.m. (Channel 7).
==Jim Nantz and Ian Baker-Finch are joined in the scaled-back crew by Peter Oosterhuis, Gary McCord, Peter Kostis and Bobby Clampett for CBS' coverage Saturday and Sunday (noon to 3 p.m. each day) of the PGA's Travelers Championship.
==The Sundance Channel's weekly program, The Green (today, 10 a.m.; Saturday at noon), includes a piece on how Billie Jean King and GreenSlam are working on their initiative to push eco-conscious programs through sports.
==FSN has picked up a second season of "Sport Science," new episodes that will begin next spring.
==One of the segments on the next installment of HBO's "Real Sports" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.) is an examination of the Chinese sports school system by host Bryant Gumbel, who went to the country to see it for himself. Reporter Andrea Kremer also has a piece on the future of the U.S. women's softball team, gold medalists in the '96 Games but with no where to go after these upcoming Summer Games.
**AND FINALLY:
==One last story from Onion Sports, for those fantasy baseball players who just feel the need to keep talking about their teams (and this includes our editing out of those nasty curse words):
Fantasy Baseball Owner Rips Team In Media
BROOKLYN, NY -- Mark Mendicus, 26-year-old Staples employee and principal owner of the fantasy baseball team Beat With Uggla Stick, blasted his underperforming team in the media Monday, going so far as to single out individual players, criticize their recent play, and question their commitment to winning.
"They all suck," a visibly frustrated Mendicus told reporters following Beat With Uggla Stick's head-to-head 8-2 loss to division rivals The Mark Currys. "[Alex] Rios sucks, Delmon [Young] sucks, Pedro [Martinez] f**king sucks. Everybody on my team sucks."
"The Beat With Uggla Sticks have a proud tradition of winning," continued Mendicus, whose team has made the playoffs the past two years, including a league championship win in 2006. "But apparently that means nothing to this group of players. Apparently they'd rather just lose every single 5x5 category. Apparently my players don't care about winning the 12-team Yahoo! Plus 'Mmm...Fantasy Baseball' league pennant as much as I do."
Mendicus had high expectations for his team coming into the season, but his players have been plagued by injuries and inconsistency, losing six of their first eight matchups en route to a 22-46-14 overall record. The historically temperamental owner did not hold back his opinions after their latest humiliating defeat, telling the New York Post that Prince Fielder "had better start hitting some fucking home runs already" before making several vicious personal attacks on the first baseman, calling him a "fatass," a "fat bastard," and a "fat f**k" in the course of one statement.
"I paid $38 for [Fielder], and this is what I get?" Mendicus said, directing reporters' attention to Fielder's "putrid" Yahoo! Game Log. "Twelve home runs. Twelve g**amn home runs. When you pay $38 for a guy, you had better give them a hell of a lot more than 12 home runs through the first half. I got you for your power, buddy, not your walks. This is a batting average league, anyway, not an on-base percentage league, so walks don't fucking matter. It's like these guys don't understand that."
Read on for yourself if you can stand it any longer ...
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