Bears WR Brandon Marshall will be part of the cast this season for Showtime's "Inside the NFL," and in Chicago, Rich Campbell notes it "remains to be seen just how extensive Marshall's obligations will be." But it "certainly will be worth monitoring as the Bears dive into the regular season." Bears coach Marc Trestman: "I trust Brandon. He asked me about it. I trust him to make decisions that are in the best interests of the team first" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 8/15). Marshall said of how he would approach talking about the Bears on air, "You’ve just got to be transparent and continue to give the audience what they want without crossing those boundaries of hurting the team." In Chicago, Rick Morrissey notes Marshall also "mentioned his work" with WMAQ-NBC the last two seasons as an example of how he can balance playing for the Bears and talking about them on air. Still, Morrissey writes the Bears "are so demanding of their players that this has to be an issue within the organization." There "will be people at Halas Hall who won’t like the idea of the team’s top receiver yapping on his day off rather than resting" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 8/15).
MISTAKEN IDENTITY: In Las Vegas, Kira Terry noted the Twitter account for ESPN's NASCAR coverage on Thursday mistakenly attached a photo of driver Tony Stewart onto a link to a story about the funeral for Kevin Ward Jr., who was killed by Stewart last weekend. The account also "tweeted the wrong name" in another tweet, identifying the deceased driver as Tony Ward Jr. The account "has since deleted both tweets and tweeted an apology." The tweet: "Deepest apologies to all for getting Kevin Ward Jr.’s name and photo wrong in an earlier tweet today" (REVIEWJOURNAL.com, 8/14).
WRITER TRANSACTIONS: The INDIANAPOLIS STAR reports columnist Bob Kravitz has left the paper after 14 years "to go work" for WTHR-NBC. Star Managing Dir of Digital & Sports Ronnie Ramos said that the paper "has begun a national search for a major sports columnist" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/15)....The Rams on Thursday announced that former Sporting News and Yahoo Sports writer Myles Simmons has joined the team as its primary online scribe (Rams).
