Tonight's "Inside the NBA" on TBS will feature Cavs
President Wayne Embry, along with Oscar Robertson, Bill
Russell and John Thompson, "discussing the impact" Martin
Luther King Jr. "had on their lives," according to Mary
Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The discussion
will be shown after today's NBA doubleheader on TBS (PLAIN
DEALER, 1/17). Meanwhile, today's 4:00pm ET Pistons-Knicks
game on TBS will be a "Kidcast" in an attempt to "draw in
young viewers home" for the MLK holiday. N.Y.-area teenagers
will join TBS' Kevin Calabro and Mike Fratello to "call part
of the game," and one of the kid teams will conduct an
interview with Grant Hill (PALM BEACH POST, 1/16).
THIS "RULES!": In Detroit, Kupelian & O'Hara wrote that
ESPN2's "NHL Rules!" received "mixed reviews from TV
critics. Predictably, it's being ripped in Canada ... and
applauded in the [U.S.]" (DETROIT NEWS, 1/16). The
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Noah Liberman writes that the
telecast "was compelling and extremely watchable."
Liberman: "Based on reactions from the broadcasters and the
viewers ... it was a rousing success." ESPN is "considering
more such events" and "more Web-TV integration" with the
NHL, which was "extremely cooperative in the development of
the project" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/17 issue).
