In St. Louis, Dan Caesar writes the Rams in '13 "figure to end up lagging behind the rating they drew in St. Louis" in '12. Nielsen data shows that 17.5% of homes in the market have tuned in, on average, to Rams games this year, and it would take "some massive numbers over their last two contests to bring the season figure up to the 21.0 rating the team drew last year." This year’s figure has been "hampered by a low number the Rams drew for a Monday night game that competed with" Red Sox-Cardinals World Series Game 4, which "pulled a mammoth 43.8 rating." The Rams' rating that night was 10.9, which was "the worst Rams rating for their 19 seasons in St. Louis." The previous low was 11.6 for a '08 game against the 49ers. Meanwhile, Fox is broadcasting the Buccaneers-Rams game on Sunday "to just five percent of the nation, the smallest number of any of the six NFL games it is showing regionally that day" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20).
BAND TOGETHER: In Boston, Chad Finn wrote of "Band of Bearded Brothers," the film on the '13 Red Sox produced by NESN in conjunction with MLB, "The NESN version of a championship film tends to be a little more in-depth and a little less formal than the official World Series video produced by MLB." The film is "not at all redundant." It is narrated by NESN's Kevin Millar, and "somewhat surprisingly, he’s a pleasant storyteller." While the film does not take "gratuitous shots" there is "a bit of an overemphasis on pointing out all of the writers who predicted the Red Sox would have another difficult season." The film "should have moved on from 2012 as quickly as the players and fans did" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/20).
SPEAKING FRANKLY: NBCSPORTS.com's Tony DiZinno noted former IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti on Thursday addressed his future, and he "seems to desire a future team role with Target Chip Ganassi Racing." However, when asked of the potential to go into broadcasting, Franchitti "admitted it held some interest." Franchitti: "Yeah, I’m open to it, absolutely. If it was done in the right way, yes, I would be open to it" (NBCSPORTS.com, 12/19).
