TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET editions of FSN's
"Primetime" (Fox Sports Net South), CNN/SI's "Sports
Tonight" and ESPN's "SportsCenter" all led with Reds-Braves
and followed with Astros-Mets. The first non-MLB story on
all three programs -- 7:10 into the "Primetime" broadcast,
4:23 into "Sports Tonight" and 6:41 into "SportsCenter" --
was Saints RB Ricky Williams' ankle injury (THE DAILY).
Also, FSN's Keith Olbermann credited "the cable network
ESPN" for reporting that Williams "has a torn ligament in
[his] ankle [and] will miss five weeks" (THE DAILY).
MORE NOTES: NBC Sports announcer Bob Costas will call
tonight's Tigers-Mariners game on ESPN along with Joe
Morgan, as part of an agreement between NBC and ESPN (See
THE DAILY 3/9). The two are set to call another game for
ESPN on September 21 (Baltimore SUN, 8/24)....In Portland
(ME), Larry Woodward reported that WPME-UPN "won't carry
either" Celtics or Bruins games next season. The Celtics
"won't be available to the station" because of their
"exclusive" contract with Fox Sports Net New England. The
Bruins "remain available," but WPME has chosen to drop its
coverage of the team because of "poor ratings" (Portland
(ME) PRESS-HERALD, 8/24)....The DAILY SOUTHTOWN's Tim Cronin
reported on local ratings for last weekend's sporting events
in the Chicago area and noted that last Sunday's Target
Grand Prix at the new Chicago Motor Speedway, which pulled a
4.4 local rating, "outdrew everything" but WGN's coverage of
the Cubs-Rockies game, which pulled a 6.8 rating (DAILY
SOUTHTOWN, 8/24)....Raycom Sports' syndicated sports show
"More Than a Game" has been picked up by N.Y.'s WNYW-Fox for
the fall. The show, which is produced by The Marquee Group,
currently has 85% clearance in the country, including 48 of
the top 50 markets (Raycom Sports).