Ken from Fang’s Bites here again with the second half of the Megalinks. Sorry for the delay.
Let me add a couple of things to the Weekend Viewing Picks that I had omitted from Part I.
The Bruins are in action Saturday against Detroit in a great Original Six matchup at the Garden. NESN has it at 7 p.m.
And the Celtics are in Charlotte Saturday night to take on the Bobcats. Comcast SportsNet has that game at 7.
Now let’s pick up where we left off from last time.
South
Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail writes that West Virginia fans will see plenty of basketball games on TV this season.
Doug Nye of The State has some news and notes today.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says flex scheduling has Week 16 and 17 games up in the air.
Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel has some sports DVD’s, games, books and other gift ideas.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has college football analysts split over the Texas-Oklahoma BCS rankings issue.
In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ray Buck writes that Dick Vitale shows no sign of slowing down. And Ray has a story on how the Dallas Cowboys were made to look bad by playing football on the weekend of the JFK assassination.
From the Dallas Morning News, Barry Horn reviews the football action from Thanksgiving. And Barry predicts Giants-Cowboys will be the highest rated NFL game of the season.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman writes that ESPN/ABC’s Kirk Herbstreit is not traveling as much this season. And Mel has his weekly media notes.
Midwest
Over to Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News who feels ESPN is overdoing it with the branding.
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says the NFL Network is no more than a luxury at this point.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that despite the merger of two local TV stations, their sports departments will operate independently.
Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin says a new agreement between KSTC and the Minnesota State High School League restricts other TV stations from taping their own highlights.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) News says College Gameday was right about the BYU-Utah game for the wrong reasons.
Jay Posner of San Diego Union-Tribune says Matt Vasgersian will say goodbye to San Diego this Sunday. Jay has last weekend’s ratings from San Diego.
John Maffei of the North County Times talks with a native San Diegan who’s joining the Golf Channel.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the Skins Game is just part of a big TV holiday weekend menu.
The Los Angeles Times’ Diane Pucin writes that about half of the NBA uses video games to check up on the competition.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News lists his Dubious Dozen, the worst sports media moments of the year. In his blog, Tom has some more moments that did not make his list. Tom has his usual extensive media notes. And Tom talks with ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio about his new book.
Beth Bragg says despite ESPN not televising the Great Alaska Shootout this year, the SportsCenter theme can still be heard during the tournament.
Canada
William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that when it comes to news, sports plays second fiddle.
Bill Harris of the Winnepeg Sun suggests putting the CFL Grey Cup on both CTV and TSN to satisfy fans who don’t have cable.
The Canadian Press reports that Barenaked Ladies have put their stamp on the old Hockey Night in Canada theme which is now property of CTV/TSN.
East and Mid-Atlantic
I’ll add some more links since the first part of the Black Friday Megalinks.
Connor Enis of the New York Times delves into the Ball State ranking controversy that was raised by Jason Whitlock on FoxSports.com.
National
Mitch Howard of Major League Soccer Talk says now is the time for ESPN and MLS to work together to improve the league’s tepid ratings.
Multichannel News reports the mtn. received its highest ratings ever for last week’s BYU-Utah game.
Joe Favorito says looks at some good and bad news on the football front.
Maury Brown in the Biz of Baseball says the unsealing of the records in the Barry Bonds-BALCO case unveils the weakness in the prosecution’s case.
That’s going to do it for the Megalinks. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
Boston Sports Media Watch 