Media Notes

Ogilvy's Sunday Match Earns 2.0 Overnight, Off 43% From Tiger's Match Last Year

Sunday's final round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on NBC, which saw Geoff Ogilvy defeat Paul Casey, earned a 2.0 overnight Nielsen rating, down 42.9% from a 3.5 overnight last year, which saw Tiger Woods defeat Stewart Cink. The 2.0 overnight is also down 4.8% from a 2.1 in '07, when Henrik Stenson beat out Ogilvy. Saturday's semifinals telecast earned a 1.7 overnight, down 46.9% from a 3.2 last year, and even from '07 (THE DAILY). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes the ratings are indicative of the "standard drop-off in comparing TV golf with and without Tiger Woods" (USA TODAY, 3/3).

TAKING IT EASY: In San Jose, John Ryan writes there will be "no blaming of CBS's attack-dog media when it comes to the NCAA tournament." Following his contentious exchange with a reporter following a February 21 game, Univ. of Connecticut men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun sat with CBS' Jim Nantz over the weekend for a "quote-unquote 'interview,' in which Calhoun reiterated that he regrets nothing" about what he said in the argument. After the segment aired, CBS' Greg Gumbel "fawned over the coach" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/3). 

CHERRY PICKING: A TORONTO STAR editorial states CBC "Hockey Night in Canada" analyst Don Cherry's act is "wearing thin, very thin." Cherry Saturday suggested that "attendance is down in Detroit because the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings have too many European players and play boring hockey." Cherry also took a "specific shot" at Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin, who is Russian, and suggested that he "should be cut in half." Somehow Cherry is "allowed to parade his xenophobia with impunity, at least on the CBC" (TORONTO STAR, 3/3).

NOTES: The Mavericks through the NBA All-Star Game were averaging a 2.1 local HH rating in Dallas-Ft. Worth for games on FS Southwest, KTXA-Ind, ESPN and TNT, down 25% for the season from the year-ago period (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/28)....Actor Russell Brand is "poised to make a return to radio" with a new soccer show for TalkSport "co-presented with Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher." Brand reportedly is "in the advanced stages of negotiations with the UTV-owned network about the show" (GUARDIAN.co.uk, 3/2).