Media Notes

On his Tuesday show on ESPN Radio 1050-N.Y., host Michael Kay "asked a very relevant question: Why would [former Pacers President & CEO] Donnie Walsh even want to come to a 'cesspool' of an organization like the Knicks?" Mike Breen, play-by-play announcer for ESPN/ABC and MSG, later "took issue with his pal Kay's characterization" and called it an "insult to someone like me who works there." Breen "outlined the problems plaguing the Knicks before saying ... in a somber tone: 'It is not a cesspool, There are great people who work at [MSG]. ... Everybody feels the pain'" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/30).

NOTES: In N.Y., Gary Myers asked, "How can the NFL not schedule the Cowboys to be the opponent for the Giants in what has become the traditional stand-alone Thursday night opener for the Super Bowl Champion?" Myers: "The hype for a Cowboys-Giants opener would have been tremendous after the Giants knocked them out of the No. 1 seed in January" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/29)....NASCAR Truck series ratings through two races on Speed "are up 17[%] over last season." ESPN's coverage of the Nationwide series has seen a "drop  of 13[%] in ratings in its four cable broadcasts and down 9[%] on the one race on ABC from a year ago" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/29).