Rodriguez originally criticized Darvish on air for the pitcher's handling of an injuryESPN IMAGES
In Chicago, Teddy Greenstein notes after Alex Rodriguez "went after" Cubs P Yu Darvish during a "Sunday Night Baseball" telecast two weeks ago, Cubs manager Joe Maddon "slammed" the ESPN analyst on local radio. Maddon called Rodriguez’ comments "plastic, probably rehearsed … and contrived." But the two "made peace" yesterday. Maddon: "Alex and I had a really nice discussion. I felt good about it. Hopefully he felt the same. We talked openly about it." Rodriguez: "We had a brief, very positive conversation" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 8/13).
PLAYING HOOKY: BROADCASTING & CABLE's Jon Lafayette noted ESPN's "Ditch Days" promotion, which launched yesterday, is "part of ESPN's 'Life Needs Sports' brand campaign." The net is "encouraging viewers to share their best reasons why they should skip the job on Twitter." The best original ideas will "win a pair of tickets" to an upcoming MLB day game. ESPN is working with Droga5 for the campaign and will "distribute 300 game tickets during the promotion" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 8/12).
PLAYING THE LANG GAME: SEC Network has hired Alyssa Lang as a host and anchor for its studio show programming. Lang joins the net as the new host of "SEC Featured" on Monday nights, and she will have a supporting role in "Thinking Out Loud." Following football season, Lang will join the "SEC Now" anchor desk rotation with mainstays Peter Burns and Dari Nowkhah. Lang was previously a sports anchor and reporter at First Coast News in Jacksonville for two seasons. Lang will also serve as an anchor this fall with WCNC-NBC in Charlotte (ESPN).
