ESPN's Bob Ley will examine the current state of sports in
Russia in an "Outside the Lines" special airing July 18 at 9:30pm
(ESPN)...."Baseball, Minnesota," a 22-part, reality-based series
on the life and times of the St. Paul Saints premieres August 25
on fX. The series is called an "MTV's 'The Real World' in
cleats" by SI's Charyl Rosenberg (SI, 7/15)....Dennis Rodman, on
his newly announced MTV series, which will debut this fall:
"It'll be a Rodman tour, like Metallica. Wherever I land, if I'm
not hung over, that's where I'm at" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES,
7/11)....Although SportsChannel's TV deal with the ABL allows all
games to be available to the Prime Network, it doesn't look as
though the ABL's Portland franchise will be televised in the
Portland area. No cable companies in the Portland metro area
carry SportsChannel. Amy Affeld, Programming Coordinator at the
Prime Network affiliate in Seattle, said it hadn't been
determined if they will carry the games, adding "it doesn't seem
likely" (Portland OREGONIAN, 7/11).....In Toronto, Rob Longley
writes on the CFL Pay-Per-View telecast of the Toronto-Winnipeg
game. Viewers paid $7.95 and were "subjected to a telecast
clearly inferior to what TSN and CBC provide." Longley: "Does
the CFL really need to insult its shrinking fans base by forcing
them to pay to watch bad TV?" (TORONTO SUN, 7/12).
