TV MONITOR: Last night's 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition
of FSN's "The National Sports Report" led with Game Five of
the Devils-Flyers series, followed by Astros-Brewers.
"TNSR" had 12:04 of NBA coverage and 9:20 of NHL coverage.
Last night's 11:00pm ET 30-minute edition of CNN/SI's
"Sports Tonight" led with Devils-Flyers, followed by Game
Two of the Trail Blazers-Lakers series. "Sports Tonight"
had 4:28 of NBA coverage and 3:21 of NHL coverage. Last
night's 11:00pm ET 60-minute edition of ESPN's
"SportsCenter" led with Trail Blazers-Lakers, followed by
Devils-Flyers. "SportsCenter" had 7:46 of NBA coverage and
11:26 of NHL coverage. Note: Monday's schedule had one NBA
playoff game and one NHL playoff game (THE DAILY).
WEEKEND RATINGS: ABC's 4.6 overnight Nielsen rating for
Saturday's Preakness Stakes was up 21% over last year
(BOSTON HERALD, 5/23)....In Miami, Game Seven of the Knicks-
Heat series on Sunday earned a local 19.1 rating (273,885
HHs) on WTVJ-NBC (MIAMI HERALD, 5/23)....In Dallas, Barry
Horn reports that Sunday's Stars-Avalanche Game Four on ABC
earned an 11.3 overnight on WFAA-Dallas, while the Knicks-
Heat earned a 4.4 on KXAS-NBC. Sunday's Stars-Avalanche
game earned a 17.8 in the Denver market (DALLAS MORNING
NEWS, 5/23)....Game Six of the Heat-Knicks series Friday
earned a 7.85 rating (539,688 HHs) on MSG, the fourth
highest-rated Knicks regular season or playoff game on
record for the net. Meanwhile, the post-game show at
12:00am ET generated a 3.71 HH rating (255,063 HHs), marking
MSG's highest-rated Knicks playoff post-game show (MSG).
TNT's studio analyst Charles Barkley, on his new role: "In
this job you have to watch every game. There's just a lot
of bad basketball going on. ... These games aren't fun to
watch." Barkley: "If the Knicks and Heat meet again in the
playoffs. I'm going to tell [Time Warner Vice Chair] Ted
Turner to give every game to NBC" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/23).
NOTES: Fox Sports President Ed Goren said that Fox and
NBC are "in an exclusive bargaining position" for a new MLB
TV deal until June 5. Goren said he hopes MLB remembers "we
stepped in at a tough time and helped bring the sport back
dramatically" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/23)....USA TODAY's Chris
Jenkins cites HoopsTV.com in his "Hot Click" column and
writes, "This basketball site captures the irreverent street
vibe ESPN The Magazine covets" (USA TODAY, 5/23)....In
Akron, Chris Tomasson reviews athlete Web sites and writes
that "it's estimated that about" 20% of NBA players have
their own site. Magic C John Amaechi: "As ballplayers,
there are not that many ways to have control over
information about you. But the Internet gives you that."
Tomasson: "It has been suggested that many of the players on
AthletesDirect and AthleteNow are doing their sites
primarily for endorsement opportunities." Nets C Jayson
Williams: "The one on AthleteNow is like an endorsement.
After all, you're talking with the most computer illiterate
person on the planet. I don't believe in e-mail when you can
just pick up the telephone" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 5/23).
