TV MONITOR: Last night's 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition
of FSN's "The National Sports Report" led with Tuesday
night's fight at Wrigley Field between several Dodgers
players and Cubs fans, followed by highlights of Wednesday's
Dodgers-Cubs game. The first non-MLB report on "TNSR," at
8:43 into the broadcast, was Rams QB Kurt Warner recovering
from an appendectomy. The first NBA report, at 9:32, was
Knicks-Heat. Last night's 11:00pm ET 30-minute edition of
CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" led with Knicks-Heat, followed by
Red Sox-Blue Jays. Last night's 11:00pm ET 60-minute
edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" led with Knicks-Heat,
followed by a report of the Wizards reportedly offering
their head coaching position to St. John's Univ.'s Mike
Jarvis. The first non-NBA report on "SportsCenter," at
8:54, was Tuesday's incident at Wrigley Field (THE DAILY).
IS PARCELLS CLOSE TO INTERNET DEAL? CNN/SI's Peter King
reported last night, "Word is, Bill Parcells rejected an
ESPN deal worth about $1.5 million annually, in part,
because ESPN wanted to tie up Parcells' Internet rights. ...
Parcells is negotiating with an Internet company which wants
to put his words, voice and video all over its site for
something in the range of seven figures. Funny, I didn't
even know Parcells likes to surf" ("Sports Tonight," 5/17).
MEDIA DEALS? In Toronto, William Houston notes that the
Canadian TV rights to U.S. MLB games "are up for grabs."
TSN is "apparently bidding to retain the rights, but sources
say there is competition, consisting of one, two or three
networks: CanWest Global, CTV Sportsnet and Headline Sports"
(Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 5/18)....In Newark, Matthew Futterman
examines the costs of YankeeNets establishing its own RSN
and writes that the organization will "face tough odds," as
"experts" estimate start-up costs "could run as high as"
$100M (STAR-LEDGER, 5/18). Cablevision President James
Dolan, on YankeeNets planning its own RSN: "I've heard it
from everyone but them" (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 5/15).
IT'S ALL IN THE NAME? In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley, on
ESPN "patting itself on the back" for using "Spanish accent
marks and the Spanish alphabet" when it puts Hispanic MLB
players' names onscreen: "We salute ESPN's dedication to
linguistic correctness and authenticity. We also expect any
day now an announcement that this same spirit has permeated
its commitment to the English language. 'SportsCenter,' we
trust, will be changed to 'Sports Center,' because you can't
have capital letters sprouting up willy-nilly in the middle
of a single name" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 5/18).
TOUGH COMPETITION? In Portland, ME, Eric Conrad noted
that "the explosion of ways to get" sports news has made
local sportscasters "more vulnerable than ever." Portland-
area sports anchor Norm Karkos: "We try to go 'local' all
the time. We're not ESPN. We're not CNN. We're not Fox.
I think the larger the market is, the less interest there is
in local sports" (Portland PRESS-HERALD, 5/17).
BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU? TNT's Peter Vecsey,
during TNT's coverage of last night's Knicks-Heat game, on
the Blazers-Lakers Western Conference Finals: "Let's promote
this as the Finals, because this is the Finals." TNT's
Ernie Johnson replied, "By the way, [NBC Sports Chair] Dick
Ebersol is on the phone for you, Peter" ("TNT," 5/17).
NOTES: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke reports that TNT and
CNN/SI "have offered" Marv Albert the play-by-play role on
its men's Wimbledon coverage (USA TODAY, 5/18)....In
Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley, on News Corp.'s Maximum Golf: "The
hip-replacement set is just going to hate Maximum Golf. And
judging from this first issue, that will be just fine with
its editors" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 5/18).
