USA TODAY's Nina Mandell noted Sarah Spain and Prim Siripipat on Saturday were scheduled to debut their new "Spain and Prim" ESPN Radio show, which is thought to be "one of the first national sports radio shows to be hosted and produced by women" (USATODAY.com, 1/23). SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote ESPN Radio Program Dir Louise Cornetta deserves credit for "making the push for a pioneering show for ESPN's audio division." Cornetta believes that the show "can be compelling and attract a national audience because ... both hosts have experience working in sports at a national level, both are opinionated, and both posses the ability to be self-deprecating" (SI.com, 1/25).
SPECIAL K: In Tampa, Tom Jones writes Fox "did a really nice job covering Sunday's Duke-St. John's game," which was the 1,000 career win for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. The net did "solid work giving a historical recap of Krzyzewski's legendary career before and during the game." Announcer Gus Johnson had "one of his better days putting it all in perspective and then conducting a good interview with Krzyzewski after the game" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/26).
TIME TO FOCUS: THE MMQB's Jenny Vrentas profiled Pro Football Focus, a website started nine years ago by Neil Hornsby outside of London. Hornsby moved to the U.S. last fall and "now counts 13 NFL teams ... as clients, including seven teams from this season's playoff field." He oversees a staff "of roughly 80 full- and part-time employees who watch countless hours of game footage from their home offices in California, Northern Ireland and seemingly everywhere in between" (MMQB.SI.com, 1/25).
RIGHTS DEALS NOTES: The Padres and XERPS-AM have extended their relationship through '16. XERPS has been the team's flagship radio station since '04 (Padres)....Real Salt Lake has signed a deal with KMYU-MYT that will see 26 of the club's 34 games air locally. The other eight games are "set to broadcast nationally on either ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports 1 or Univision" (DESERET NEWS, 1/24).
